will@cvradio.com
EU referendums: beyond desinformation and the democratic crisis
Published on December 31, 2016
Story by Eyes on Europe
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In 1972, the first referendum on European integration took place in France. Since then, 40 referendums on EU topics have been conducted in member states and candidate countries. Topics ranged from membership issues to the Eurozone and the Greek bailout. While referendums attract many critical voices, a strong case can also be made in favour of them.
Referendums have always attracted vocal critics. One can easily raise concerns on the simplicity of a yes/no question. Indeed, the complexity of the issues at stake are usually of such controversial nature that they rarely fit into one simple question. The outcome of a referendum, be it a yes or no, can easily be utilized for offsetting the decreasing legitimacy of politicians actions. It can be operated as a sort of carte blanche for questionable decisions, as a very convincing argument leading his policy choices, since it is the peoples will. Furthermore, a referendum per se does not consist of a form of democracy if correct and complete information to citizens is not available. Due to the lack of nuance, referendums tend to have a very divisive effect on a population.
Although shortfalls of referendums are numerous, certainly support can also be found for this form of direct democracy. It can count as an effort to mobilize citizens for the political cause, for example. In this regard, the main disadvantage, namely the simplicity of the question can also be seen as an advantage. Indeed, many citizens that normally opt out on complex and opaque politics, can feel empowered to give their opinion.
European Constitution
In 2005, French and Dutch citizens voted against the so called European Constitution which consequently was never ratified. The referendum in the Netherlands was one of consultative status, thus non-binding for the government. In the referendum, 61.6% of the voters said no, 38.4% voted in favor of the Constitution. Whereas one could conclude from this that the Dutch are apparently a rather Eurosceptic people, a more nuanced view is needed. Indeed, many Dutch voted against because they opposed the so called primacy of EU laws in relation to national laws. One can argue rightly that the democratic value of this repacking of the EU constitution into different wording was questionable to say the least.
Brexit
This referendum is an especially good example of the problem of the simplicity of the question asked. Indeed, in the case of the Brexit no opinion was asked on whether voters opted for a hard or soft Brexit. Because voters were forced to choose between yes or no however, there was no room left for nuance. The whole out-camp was portrayed as a homogenous group, while the contrary was true. Furthermore, it seemed that a lot of voters were ill informed about the consequences of a possible exit of the UK out the EU, since the campaign was focused on catch phrases rather than facts. Therefore, we can conclude that yes, many British voters wanted the UK to leave the EU, but this does not take away the fact that these reasoned and competent decisions were in many cases based on misleading information. Very doubtful promises have been made during the campaign, and it is unquestionably true that a large part of the voters based themselves on these kind of promises when voting. Another thorny issue on this referendum, was the age distribution of the yes and no votes. Furthermore, youngsters voted to stay in the EU, whilst older people opted to exit the EU. This resulted in a lot of frustration amongst young people and the feeling of feeling "betrayed by the older generation.
Migrants
A third referendum that exposes some weak point of referendums is the Hungarian migrant quota referendum in October 2016. Citizens were asked to vote on whether they agreed with the proposed relocation scheme for migrants, as set out by the EU. The English translation of the question asked, goes as follows: Do you want the European Union to be able to mandate the obligatory resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens into Hungary even without the approval of the National Assembly? This connotation makes it seem as if the EU is to impose impossible burdens on Hungary, while the contrary was true. Hungary would benefit from the relocation scheme, since 54,000 refugees would be relocated from Hungary to other EU states. From this, it becomes clear that this referendum was more about rhetoric and political visibility for Viktor Orban, rather than real questions. This narrative clearly worked, since Hungarian voters, in an almost unanimous way, voted against the relocation plan. This referendum, besides the misinformation, also illustrates the opportunity for a leader to exploit the outcome of a referendum. Viktor Orban will happily use this will of his people to ignore EU obligations.
How to move on from this?
The narrative of the big EU monster imposing its will on powerless EU states is eagerly exploited by many European leaders that call for referendums. A referendum is an easy way for a protest vote, where, no matter which specific issue is at stake, disillusioned voters are tend to vote in whatever way the EU would be disadvantaged. Moreover, it is also possible that referendums become second-order elections. This concept is based upon the notion that EU politics are too complicated and far removed from national voters to allow them to engage with it meaningfully, which leads voters to rely on national proxies as a cue. At this point, we thus have to find a form of political participation that includes the advantages of referendums, such as the mobilization of citizens. However, it should always be complemented with a more nuanced form of participation, where citizens can not only give a simple yes or no, but are also encouraged to argue why they chose this. In this way, a lack of information, or even worse, false information, can be countered by other citizens giving their opinion.
As such, citizens are not obligated to choose between black and white but rather are encouraged to form opinions, listen, compromise and so on. The outcome of these representative groups of societys debates could have the same function as the outcome of the referendum, namely help politicians decide on controversial matters, while taking into account citizens grief.
This article was originally published on the official website of Eyes on Europe.
* | Eyes On Europe
Created in 2004 by a group of students, Eyes On Europe is an organization dealing with European affairs. Through their magazine and their website, they promote European citizenship and dialogue. For more information, check their Facebook page.
Story by Eyes on Europe
Raneem Matouk: How to survive a Syrian prison
Published on January 4, 2017
Story by Ivo Alho Cabral
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According to Amnesty International, more than 18,000 people have died in Syrian prisons under Bashar Al-Assad's regime. Raneem, a Syrian refugee who has lived in Germany since 2015, spent four months in prison, where torture was part of her everyday life.
A lot has been aired about the airstrikes and hordes of Syrian refugees fleeing their country but not so much has been said about arbitrary arrests and tortures in prisons across the whole country. The Syrian Network for Human Rights, an independent and non-partisan organisation, claims to possess lists of over 117,000 detainees with no criminal charges against them.
Amnesty International (AI) issued a report last August claiming that 17,723 people had been killed. Survivors have spoken of torture, forced confessions, "welcome party" beatings, rape, electric shocks, solitary confinement and other psychological and physical mistreatment. To shed some light on their situation, Amnesty launched a campaign which involved creating a 3D model of the infamous Saydnaya prison, based on prisoners' testimonies.
Amnesty International says most of the people arrested are peaceful activists, journalists, writers and human rights defenders. Raneem Matouk, a fine arts student who spent four months under custody of the Syrian authorities, fits that description. Her only crimes were participating in peaceful protests against the government, and being daughter of a well-known human rights lawyer.
Raneems agony started with an unexpected visit from a group of policemen. Thirty officers broke into the house; all of them looking to arrest a girl of 5'2", cowering in her own home with her mother and little brother. She was taken to a detention centre in Kafar Souseh, in Damascus, more than two hours away by car from her native Homs.
25-year-old Raneem, who has lively dark eyes and dark curly hair, explains her situation in a conference organised last December in Brussels by a local citizens' platform for the support of refugees. More than a hundred people packed out a classroom. She starts by asking if there are any kids in the room: the story she is about to tell is not suitable for minors and sensitive people.
But Raneem remains undaunted when explaining the ironically-named "welcoming ceremony" at the police station. Abandoning her usual smile, she explains how the officers put her naked against the wall. "They stripped and frisked us. They started beating us up without asking any warning, mostly my face and my head. They took it out on me."
She shared a cell measuring two metres by four metres with nine other women, some of whom were pregnant. There were only five mattresses on the floor. They had to take turns sleeping, or at least trying to: "From our cell, we could see the torture chambers. They were even using electricity." Through her interpreter, she explains how officers attacked and raped them. "24 hours a day we could hear people screaming. The smell of death was with us all the time. There was a small window in the iron door which we spent our time watching in case we saw somebody we knew, particularly a family member."
According to Raneem, the prisons of the regime have other purposes further than repression: "I've seen people taken away from their cells to have their organs removed, then thrown back in there to die. Sometimes corpses stayed within the cells for days, where other inmates continued living."
One day, she had enough and started a hunger strike. The governor called her to his office, where there was already another girl who had come up with the same idea. Raneem doesnt tell what happened to her, as if she didnt want to remember, but relates how her colleague got raped, being obliged to sit on a bottle.
In June, after four months of smelling death, Raneem was brought to court, where the judge asked her if she had money. Luckily for her, she did she went home.
Suddenly, her smile comes back to her face. "Sometimes I laugh or we do theatre about what happens in prisons." She explained to me how once, in university, she heard a mortar attack. A friend who was with her said: "Shall we go see if someone needs help?" She replied, chuckling: "OK, but if we die it will be on you."
"We transform fear into jokes," she says. "Every day, when leaving for my university lessons, I had to say goodbye to my mother, my brother, my friends Would we ever see each other again? Every day could be our last."
After leaving prison, Raneem knew it was time to escape. She took a taxi to the border with Lebanon, 20 kilometres from Homs. She got lucky: the taxi driver turned out to be against the regime too. When she got to the border a customs officer stopped her, but he knew a relative of hers and let her go. Once in Lebanon, the driver dropped her off, making her promise to "never ever ever come back." Few days after, she applied for a refugee visa at the German embassy in Beirut. Now she is safe and living in Neubrandenburg.
Raneem is not sure if she will keep her promise to the taxi driver. She wants to return home once the rule of law is back. "It depends on the attitude of Russia and the US and when they decide to put an end to Al Assad. Germany is very very tough. Syria is a very beautiful land. I cannot imagine someone living in my house."
Story by Ivo Alho Cabral
News / Local
by Mary Charamba
Government has reportedly imposed a ban on food vending in Harare as the capital city is battling typhoid, Bulawayo24.com has heard.The prohibition order was announced by Government inter-ministerial task force committee today.Two deaths have been reported in Harare out of 126 suspected and 12 confirmed cases.A treatment camp has since been set up at Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital.The task force comprise of Ministry of Health, Local Government, Water, Environment and Climate and Small to Medium and Co-operative Development.More to follow :
CATTU SG - Government Has Intenstion To Destroy Union Leaders Through Corruption Wilson MUSA
The National Executive Secretary of Cameroon Teachers Trade Union, CATTU, Wilfred Tassang has revealed that the government of Cameroon is presently in a desperate attempt to forcefully get schools to resume come Monday Jan 9.
He discloses that Huge sums of money were dulled out to traditional rulers this Christmas through Governors to First class rulers, SDOs to Second class and DOs to Third class rulers. However this cannot be verified.
Mr Wilfred Tassang has cautioned chiefs against taking such money to sell their consciences, he says Whilst we caution any of our fathers who have taken this money of wickedness not to further desecrate the throne and their authority by taking the wrong side in this struggle, we appeal to all stakeholders not get give up at this point in time, when victory is so close.
He added that "Those who are for us are more than those who are against us. That's the only reason to be advanced for the fact the President's speech leaked more than 3hrs to presentation. We have friends in very high places.
According to Mr Tassang after governments failure to force-start schools on the 9th, Yaounde will also be forced to face reality.
To him, the multiple secret visits to Bamenda Tuesday January 4, 2017 and this Wednesday by very highly placed and thought of members of government is another sign of desperation. That the government up to now has not affected nor announced any measures taken to solve either the problems raised by lawyers or teachers is indicative of the fact that they all run a great danger if they allow the strike to collapse. If it does, we shall be greatly spited and the regime will not be under pressure to address these grievances.
Mr Tassang has warned union leaders against taking of bribes that will undermine the strike, in his words For union leaders and others at the forefront of this struggle, beware! It has been revealed in the spirit realms, the release of a huge amount of VOODOO money meant to maim the brain and cause heavy carnage. We hereby call on all to fear God and resist the enemy that he may flee from us.
The firebrand Executive Secretary of Cameroon Teachers trade Union, Wilfred Tassang ended by appealing on fathers, mothers, and children, to remember that teachers and lawyers are not fighting for personal gains and also not to forget that their kids gave up their lives so that their siblings may have a brighter future; that scores of them are still under abduction.
Prime Minister Philemon yang has been announced for Bamenda this Wednesday January 4, 2017 but Teachers Trade Unionists say they have not been summoned to any meeting. It is also widely believed that higher Education Minister Prof. Jacques Fame Ndongo was in Kumba to do same exercise.
News / National
by Staff reporter
A man believed to be a police officer allegedly gunned down himself over maintenance issues.A photograph of the dead body lying next to a gun on a heap of sand with the head shot has emerged online.Some people on social media claim that the cop was stations at Matapi Police Station in Mbare, Harare.More to follow...
Paul Atanga Nji Archives
Some Elites and members of government including Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement, CPDM, MPs, Senators and General Managers of State Structures, who hail from the North West region have signed a communique asking parents to send their children to school come Monday January 9, 2017.
They maintained that the end of year message of Head of State Paul Biya was clear and certain that he wanted dialogue to take centre stage in the ongoing crisis.
Read Full Release
Communique by the North West Elite, Senators and Members of National Assembly reechoing their call for peace and resumption of schools in the North West and South West Regions.
"Mindful of the Head State's New Year Message to the Nation on 31st December, 2016;
Mindful of his strong condemnation of all acts of violence regardless of their sources and their perpetrators and his resolve to draw conclusions from the ongoing enquiries on all the allegations of the recent violence carried out in the North West and South West Regions;
Considering his reassurances that "all voices that spoke have been heard and most of the substantive issues cannot be overlooked because of their pertinence" and his resolve to find lasting solutions to all the problems posed through peaceful dialogue;
Mindful of his appeal urging the various parties concerned to participate without any bias in the various discussions and engage in frank dialogue within the framework of the two Ad Hoc Committees created to look into the Anglophone teachers' and lawyers' grievances;
Considering the Head of State's unwavering determination to continue the building of a united, inclusive and bilingual nation, embarked upon by all Cameroonians without exception, a legacy bequeathed by our founding fathers and national heroes;
Considering the Head of State's reaffirmation that the Cameroonian experience is unique in Africa and can be perfected as we listen to each other and remain open to constructive ideas within the framework of the laws and regulations in force in our country;
Considering the announcement by the Head of State to go the extra mile and put in place a National Entity tasked with proposing solutions aimed at maintaining peace, consolidating our country's unity and strengthening our resolve and our day-to-day experiences of LIVING TOGETHER;
Mindful of the Head of State's strong resolve to ensure that all Cameroonians live in peace, unity and harmony in ONE united and INDIVISIBLE Nation, Cameroon.
We, the North West Elite, Senators and Members of the National Assembly, pursuant to our communique of 4th December 2016 hereby:
Appeal for schools to reopen in the North West and South West Regions come January 9, 2017 and for peace and harmony to continue to reign in the two Regions;
Appeal to all teachers, teachers' syndicates, school proprietors, parents, the civil society, politicians, traders, economic operators, taxi men, motorbike riders, students, pupils and all citizens of good will, to ensure that schools effectively resume in the North West and South West Regions to save our children the already jeopardized school year and hence ensure their future;
Reiterate our total support for peace, stability and tranquility in our Regions;
Reaffirm our unflinching support for a One, United, Bilingual and Indivisible fatherland, Cameroon; and Pledge our unflinching support to His Excellency President Paul Biya as he continues to find lasting solutions to all our challenges in view of consolidating our National Unity."
Done in Yaounde, on Tuesday, 3rd January 2017
Signed:
Atanga Nji Paul, Mbah Acha nee Rose Fomundam, Fuh Calistus Gentry, Doh Jerome Penbaga, Shey Jones Yembe, Enyih Atogho, Abety Peter, Awanga Zacharias, Emma Eno Lafon, Dingha Ignatius B., Nji Fidelis, Njingum Musa, Fon Chafah Isaac, Doh Anderson, Roselyne Mutia, Melo Uphie Chinje, Fru Angwafor, Sammy Chumbow, Tan Paul, Baye Francis, Gabsa Wilfred, Nwa
Emeutes a Bamenda (08/12/2016) CIN SC
Read in all churches on New Year as message of the Moderator to Christians. Rt Rev Dr Fonki Samuel called on the government to hasten the dialogue process because the main people in North West have refused dialogue which will not be genuine.
Read On:
Presbyterian Church in Cameroon
Dear Presbyterians,
Dear brothers and Sisters in the Lord.
Pastoral Letter: Our God is a God of History
We bring you fraternal greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Lords. We join you to thank God for the blessings and graces of 2016, the year of our Lord. The year 2016 was a challenging one for us as a church and as a nation amidst collective and personal successes on the field of evangelization and our drive towards transformation on the one hand; And on the other hand, we all were affected by the Esseka train accident and towards the end of the year, there were upheavals in the major towns of the Northwest and Southwest Regions of our country mainly the English-speaking part of our country. In all these challenges, the God whom we serve showed himself as our refuge, stronghold and comfort in times of trouble. When such calamities happen, we should not lose faith because Jesus Christ himself warns us that, In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33). Increasingly, we cannot trust the systems of this world for peace, that is why Christ said, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid (John 14:27).
We look forward to the year 2017 with great expectations for what we want to achieve as a church. We are also looking up to our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ as a people and as a faith community. Yet our anxieties and uncertainties on some of the things happening around us continue to be of great concern. We hear news of civil strife, we are not certain how the school year will commence, and we do not know how a breakthrough will come in a deadlock pitting the government of Cameroon and the Teachers Trade Union and the Common-Law Lawyers. We are not sure whether many Cameroonians may be able to afford food, medicines and basic utilities. This is the reason why as a church we must pray and lend ourselves to the service of God and our nation, to pray for peace but also to take our responsibilities in peace building.
Let me share our thoughts on the common issue plaguing our country today.
We are referring to what has been called the marginalization of Anglophone. In the last few months our country has witnessed upheavals in some towns and cities in the English-speaking parts of Cameroon creating a situation of mutual suspicion between the leaders of Teachers Trade Unions and the government of Cameroon, each side portraying their own version that further deepen wounds and heighten the elements of suspicion and mistrust. This kind of situation may lead our leaders into the temptation of the insistence of an uneasy co-existence, secession, federalism and the much talked about decentralization. One thing is clear; the God we serve is the God of our history. None of us can explain how they came to be born in Cameroon; none of us know why God permitted the Germans to be defeated during the 1st World War. None of us know why God permitted the French and the English mandate to dominate Cameroon after the Versailles treaty. None of us know why God permitted a small section of our country to be called Southern Cameroons. Only God knows why the things that are, came into being.
Therefore, in times like this, we should repent from relying on our human wisdom on issues that have a bearing in Gods genuine plan for Cameroonians and for mankind as a whole. One thing which is clear is that God remains the Lord of our history and calls us to repentance so that our country can experience the reason why He made us Cameroonians. Those who insist on the uneasy coexistence should be able to answer how can there be co-existence without mutuality and trust? Those who call for federalism must also be reminded that even in the new fragments of the federation, there would be minority problems. Those who call for secession must be reminded historically that there cannot be any secession without bloodshed like the cases of Yugoslavia, South Sudan, and Eritrea to mention a few. Those who call for decentralization must answer why for all this while the so-called devolution of competences to local councils have dragged on or why should institutions in one council pay their taxes to another council area. So, you see, the problem of Cameroon has been one of peace without justice and Justice without truth. This is the time for truth.
Our today just like our tomorrow remains in Gods hands. We cannot craft out a future outside of Gods plan for our lives, we cannot build tomorrow by our own might and neither can we redeem our history by our own strength. So the question is what is Gods plan for Cameroon at this juncture? In times like this when our history challenges us and our people cry out for justice, no weapon or might can stop the restlessness of a people who cry out to God in distress seeking rescue. Rather, we all must come together like a family to pray together and seek Gods face so that our country should not degenerate into despair. So we call on all Cameroonians to turn to God Cameroon, keep God at the center of your politics, keep God at the center of your thinking, keep God at the center of your actions and it will surprise you what the Lord God Almighty will do for you.
The cultural heritage of English speaking Cameroon and its bearing on their professional and socio-economic life is a fact of history that no amount of political gymnastics can erase or hide. Nonetheless, we also recognize the strength of our unity and no parochial political interests should be allowed to destroy a people with a long geographical, political and cultural ancestry. We should seek Gods favor as we look forward to 2017, we should attempt great things for God and we must be determined to cultivate peace so that the children of God can rise up and claim their inheritance in true brotherly love.
Some people are confused on our stance on this issue. But as you all know, the church is not the Moderator, the PCC is her Christians and the specialized committees that have been formed to govern the church. We can only say what the respective bodies of the church ask us to say. Therefore, do not confuse the prophetic expressions of some pastors on the field. It represents their individual emotions and understandings of the things that are happening; some of those expressions genuine or not genuine do not represent the official opinions of the church. The role of the Presbyterian Education Teachers Trade Union (PEATTU) is independent, as a trade union they reserve the right to join other trade unions to militate on issues affecting their sector.
The Synod of Unfailing Love meeting in Bamenda from the 20th 21st of November 2016 addressed a message to the Head of State of the Republic of Cameroon, amongst other things calling for urgent dialogue between the government of Cameroon, Teachers Trade Unions and Common Law Lawyers. After the sad incident of violence that happened in Bamenda on the 8th of December 2016 will reiterate emphatically our stance as a church.
We recognize the efforts of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Cameroon in creating ad hoc committees to see into the issues tabled by Teachers Trade Union and Common Law Lawyers. While this is a starting point, may all the preliminary objections be cleared comprehensively in order for these committees to function fully? Those who are called to these committees must show a high sense of patriotism, truth and humaneness. We call for dialogue, peace and understanding so that we can identify the points of weaknesses, the areas of our common strength and how we can rekindle a spirit of trust, a spirit of tolerance and a spirit of love.
We condemn acts of violence perpetuated by forces of law and order and some civil authorities. Such acts should be investigated and those officers brought to book. In the same light, anyone who is in detention should be proven guilty of violence before detention; otherwise it is unlawful to keep people behind bars for an indeterminate period of time.
All proposals for reconciliation should have both short and long term considerations.
The government of Cameroon, the Teachers Trade Unions and Common Law Lawyers should do everything possible to see into the commencement of schools and private practice of the Common-Law Lawyers.
We volunteer our services and our facilities as a church that will lead to genuine reconciliation and long lasting peace; hoping that this will contribute to the healing of our Land.
Our times are not in our hands but in Gods hands for He is the Lord of our history, He is the author of our lives, He is the beginning and the end, the pioneer and perfecta of our faith. We call on Cameroon and Cameroonians to pray fervently and to call upon God to direct our minds to be our Light as we grapple with the dark edges of our political history.
Finally, we anticipate that 2017 shall be hopeful and more rewarding. We look forward to ensure sustainability of our Mission fields and business operations, we anticipate commitment of our staff especially those in the health and educational departments so that they as co-creators in Gods vineyard will be able to touch lives in a positive way and further the kingdom of God here on earth. We trust that the spiritual lives of our Christians will experience a surge in 2017 and that we would be able to win more souls for Christ Jesus. We enjoin Christians to remain peaceful and hopeful in the expression of their faith so that together we may be able to do great things for God in 2017.
May God in His infinite mercy redeem our land and accompany each and every one of us safely on to the shores of 2017.
Yours for the Sake of the Faith
Rt. Rev. Fonki Samuel Forba
Moderator, PCC
| BY Ricki Green |
The latest installment of the Budget Directs new campaign has launched via 303 MullenLowe, Sydney. In the commercial, Captain Risky has somehow managed to crash his gyrocopter into the only tree in the outback and is now helplessly stuck. There is one tiny ray of hope. A curious but slightly skittish kangaroo. Will he go to the farmhouse and get Risky some help?
Says Jonathan Kerr, director, marketing and digital at Budget Direct: This campaign is all about setting up the contrast between the calm, ordered lives of Budget Direct customers and Captain Riskys world. Our customers Get More with a 24/7 phone claims service, something they can depend on, night or day. Captain Risky gets a kangaroo.
Says Richard Morgan, ECD, 303 MullenLowe: Captain Risky is a classic daredevil, the kind of character we recognise from 70s TV shows. Kangaroo happily plays in that world, its a world we all know and love while also managing to make a serious point.
Budget Direct Captain Riskys Kangaroo is now running across television, digital and social channels.
Client: Budget Direct
Director, Marketing & Digital: Jonathan Kerr
General Manager Brand and Media Marketing: Warren Marsh
Marketing Manager- New Customer Acquisition: Catherine Harty
Agency: 303MullenLowe Sydney
ECD: Richard Morgan
Head of Copy: Sean Larkin
Head of Art: Adam Whitehead
Agency Producer: Sean Ascroft
Head of Business Management: Tony Dunseath
Business Director: James Lammert
Production Company: Goodoil Films
Director: Hamish Rothwell
Executive Producer: Sam Long
Producer: Andrew McLean
DOP: Crighton Bone
VFX: ALT VFX
Editor: ARC Edit
Trump to Iowa crowd: 'I will very, very, very probably' run for president
Donald Trump teased the crowd with his expected presidential candidacy at a Sioux City event where he stumped for Chuck Grassley and Kim Reynolds.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017 at 3:30AM
You know Lenovos ThinkPad line as a staple in the enterprise market. Making sure this segment gets the latest and greatest specs and features, Lenovo has updated this line to fit current requirements and wants of the modern-day worker. We take a quick look at the three devices.
First, we have the more conventional laptop, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. It smaller and lighter but still as powerful. It comes in at under 2.5 lbs. and has a 14-inch IPS display housed in a 13-inch form factor. It runs on 64-bit Microsoft Windows 10 Pro, up to Intel Core 7th-generation processor, and up to 1TB storage. Its said to have LTE-A (4G) connectivity to help you stay connected while on the move. The big draw for the Carbon though is the promised 15.5-hour battery life. Security is key with support for Windows Hello, a fingerprint sensor, and FIDO-enabled biometric authentication for PayPal. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon retails for US$1,349 (roughly CA$1,800) and will come with a silver color option when its released in February.
Next, we have the flexible, multi-mode-capable ThinkPad X1 Yoga. This model also gets the silver treatment and shares a lot of other features with the Carbon. Just like the Carbon, it has Thunderbolt 3 port for faster file transfers, it runs on Windows 10 Pro, up to 1TB storage, and around 15 hours of battery life. The Yoga is more for a doodler, though, as it comes with a new ThinkPad Pen Pro. The design of this rather durable hybrid laptop introduces a retractable keyboard that hides away when you lay the keyboard side flat on a surface, making it easier to sketch or write on the 14-inch OLED display. The ThinkPad X1 Yoga will be available next month for US$1,499 (roughly CA$2,010).
Last, is the more portable ThinkPad X1 Tablet. Like the Yoga, this slate has been tested against 12 military-grade requirements and passed over 200 quality checks. The Tablet can run on either Windows 10 Pro Signature Edition like the others or on Windows 10 Home. LTE-A (4G) connectivity is also present with this device. A stylus included with the Tablet fully supports Office 2016. It can take up to 1TB of storage as well and last up to 15 hours of life, if you add on the Productivity Module. The ThinkPad X1 Tablet will be released in March for US$949 (roughly CA$1,270).
"Then we kept in touch, we had coffee a few times and it was actually Zed that contacted me, I think it was the end of 2011, and said 'I know that we talked about this and you said maybe you had an interest in politics, we've got an election coming up next year, have you thought about running in it?' "
News / National
by Staff Reporter
Some Indian investors have expressed interest to acquire land to establish a sugarcane plantation in Zimbabwe.This was said by India's ambassador to Zimbabwe, Ambassador Rungsung Masakui when he paid a courtesy call on Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa this Wednesday morning.Ambassador Masakui embarked on his tour of duty as India's top diplomat in June last year.Talking to journalists after a closed door meeting with Mnangagwa, Ambassador Masakui said the courtesy call was to renew and follow up on discussions held when he presented his credentials and promised to deepen relations in the agriculture and health sectors.An Indian company, Varun Beverages is currently constructing a US$30 million Pepsi bottling plant in Harare and Ambassador Masakui said some Indian investors have expressed interest to establish a sugar plantation in Zimbabwe.Ambassador Masakui said they held fruitful discussions with Mnangagwa who gave them some options whether to engage private players, ARDA or government and they will be taking the matter to the Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development.He also revealed that a medical team from India will be visiting Zimbabwe from the 16th to 18th of this month to assess the health sector needs and meet with stakeholders as they are plans to set up a speciality hospital probably in partnership with Parkview Hospital.Ambassador Masakui said he made submission for Indian doctors to come to Zimbabwe on a rotational basis which is not possible at the moment.He also said Indian universities have expressed interest to collaborate with Zimbabwean universities, especially in the medical field.India is already co-operating with Zimbabwe in the SMEs sector where it has provided machinery at the Harare Institute of Technology.
"Once these people have entered the communities of the host country and have stayed there for several years, their claims to remain permanently are influenced by factors unrelated to the original claims for refugee status such as marriage and other compassionate or humanitarian grounds," his cabinet proposal reads.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce: "What it clearly shows to people is there's a future for the coal industry and there better be 'cause it's one of our nation's biggest exports and it's one of NSW's biggest exports and it employs an awful lot of people." Photo: Bradley Kanaris
The agency says the relocation compensation package is still a draft and yet to be finalised and that there will be work for its employees in Canberra right up to 2019 so they have plenty of time to make plans for their families.
SpeedCast International, a global satellite communications and network service provider, has entered a multi-year service agreement with Roshan, Afghanistan's main telecommunications provider, to upgrade its cellular backhaul network to support 3G services over satellite in Zabul province, southwestern Afghanistan. Roshan has more than 6.5 million active subscribers across 287 districts and cities in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan.
With the upgraded network, operators like Roshan can provide new and better service offerings to end users by providing reliable and scalable connectivity. Once customers have access to better connectivity, it inevitably leads to a rapid increase in bandwidth demand. The new backhaul network over satellite also allows operators to explore and develop new business opportunities and revenue streams, such as offering broadband and managed network solutions to banks, governments and home users using VSAT, said PJ Beylier, CEO of SpeedCast.
This is our first 3G backhaul service deployment in Afghanistan Mr. Beylier commented. This win provides us a strong foothold in the growing cellular backhaul market in the Middle East, as mobile operators and service providers are upgrading their service capacity to meet the surging data adoption in both the enterprise and consumer markets. SpeedCast sees cellular backhaul as an important growth driver for us as telecommunication providers continue to expand coverage into remote areas, he said.
SpeedCasts cellular backhaul suite of solutions, under the CelCast brand, are designed to optimize satellite traffic in telecommunication environments, lowering the total cost of ownership and bringing unrivalled quality of service to its customers networks.
Opinion / Columnist
HARARE - Any hopes that there would be a let-up in Zanu PF's vicious tribal, factional and succession wars in 2017 have evaporated before the new year has barely got out of first gear, with the ruling party's two brawling camps going at each other hammer and tongs this week.On the one hand, the powerful Zanu PF women's league - linked to the Generation 40 (G40) group, which is rabidly opposed to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeding President Robert Mugabe - confirmed to the Daily News yesterday that it was upping its efforts to regain one of the ruling party's two vice presidency posts.On the other hand, Zanu PF supporter and pro-Mnangagwa activist Energy Mutodi, has released his own 2016 ratings of the ruling party's politburo members, in which he predictably rubbishes Mugabe and all G40-linked bigwigs while praising those who are in the opposite Team Lacoste camp (the Mnangagwa faction).In an interview with the Daily News this week, women's league secretary for finance Sarah Mahoka said - following last month's complaint by Mugabe regarding Zanu PF's lack of implementation of party resolutions - they would be going all out to ensure the re-introduction of the policy that guarantees a woman was one of the party's two vice presidents."The president made it clear (at last December's Zanu PF annual conference in Masvingo) that he was not happy with a situation where the party makes resolutions that are not implemented," said the outspoken Hurungwe East legislator."So, Amai (influential First Lady Grace Mugabe, who also leads the women's league) said we should start implementing all our resolutions now by making sure that the women's quota clause is incorporated in the party's constitution," Mahoka said.The women's league, which was interestingly the only party organ which was given the chance to present its resolutions at the Masvingo conference, went big on the issue of women's representation in Zanu PF's presidium - in a move that party insiders say could torpedo Mnangagwa's mooted presidential aspirations."We are concerned with lack of implementation of party resolutions made in 2015 in Victoria Falls. We made it clear that we wanted the constitution to be changed to allow an earlier provision that one of the two VPs should be a woman. This has not been implemented," the league's deputy secretary, Eunice Sandi-Moyo, thundered at the Masvingo gathering.Mahoka said yesterday that the women's league was waiting for Grace's return from her month-long annual holiday with Mugabe, to receive instructions on how it would follow up on this critical issue and other league programmes."She is away right now and we are waiting for her return. Remember we take instructions from our leaders and all we do is carry out the work that is assigned to us. We do not talk too much, we act," she said."Amai has said she wants women to participate more in the politics of the country, especially in the 2018 elections. She wants women to vie for elected positions and become MPs, councillors and so forth," the Zanu PF Member of Parliament said."It is clear also what the president wants and we have since endorsed him as our candidate for 2018, despite claims by some sections that he was going to hand over power to someone else at the Masvingo conference, which did not happen," she said."We expected those we hear to be harbouring ambitions to replace him to come forth and declare their interest, but all they do is talk, with no action. We want action that takes the country forward. We want to see our roads rehabilitated, and we want to see our economy picking up, not all this divisive talk they engage in every day," Mahoka added in an apparent dig at Mnangagwa and his allies.The Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial executive has previously launched a stinging attack on the Midlands godfather, accusing him of failing to rein in his allies who are allegedly causing divisions in Zanu PF by pushing for his ascendancy to the presidency.And her women's league also accuses party secretary for legal affairs, Patrick Chinamasa - who is linked to Team Lacoste - of deliberately blocking the implementation of the controversial resolution to have a woman become one of the party's two vice presidents again.Writing on his Facebook page yesterday, businessman-cum-musician, Mutodi, savaged Mugabe and all alleged G40 kingpins in his politburo ratings for 2016.In a move that will horrify many of the increasingly frail nonagenarian's supporters, he ranked Mugabe only at number four in terms of "performance", in a list in which he predictably placed Mnangagwa first and Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi number two.Not surprisingly, his worst 10 politburo members, starting with allegedly "the most incompetent" were Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko, Higher Education minister Jonathan Moyo, Zanu PF youth league leader Kudzai Chipanga, Indigenisation minister Patrick Zhuwao, Local Government minister Saviour Kasukuwere, Sandi-Moyo, politburo member Cleveria Chizema, Industry minister Mike Bimha, Labour minister Prisca Mupfumira and Bulawayo resident minister Cain Mathema." . . . Mugabe has shed three places in politburo rankings for the year 2016. The veteran president, who is the country's only ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, has presided over a dying economy mainly due to his poor policies, corruption and economic mismanagement," he said."Among these polices include the land reform and the indigenisation policies that do not only scare away investors but also breed unemployment and poverty. Zimbabwe no longer has a currency of its own and millions of its people have fled to other countries in search of employment and better standards of living," Mutodi said."Mugabe's poor rankings in the latest politburo rankings are best explained by his refusal to name a successor despite his old age, as well as his shielding of corrupt ministers from arrest. He has also been accused of nepotism after he appointed his son-in-law Simba Chikore as new Air Zimbabwe boss," the maverick politician said."The president has also recently shown signs of poor reasoning after he fell prey to a G-40 led ploy to isolate him from his support base, mainly war veterans, who delivered the country's independence," Mutodi charged.
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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..Commentary Magazine..03 January '17..For the mainstream media, explaining Israeli politics is difficult work. A country where the poor and disenfranchised immigrants from the Middle East have traditionally supported the party of the right (Likud) while the wealthy and the upper middle-class of largely European origin are the last strongholds of the political left does not translate easily into American political context. In the United States, political culture is rooted in very different concerns than those of the average Israeli, where security issues and attitudes toward the Arab world still dominate. The temptation to make flawed analogies, it seems, is still irresistible. That led to the New York Timess attempt to ascribe reactions in Israel to Secretary of State John Kerrys astonishing attack on the Jewish state last week to a divide between red state and blue state Israeli voters. The piece not only failed to effectively analyze the Israeli response to the Obama administration but also the reason why the Middle East conflict hasnt been solved.NewJerusalem bureau chief Peter Baker isnt entirely wrong when he says that there is a stark divide between left and right in Israel. For some who live in secular and liberal Tel Aviv, what goes in Jerusalem and even along the border with Gazalet alone West Bank settlementshas sometimes been of little interest. I can recall conversing with Tel Aviv residents about a visit to Sderot in the south eight years ago, which at the time was besieged by Palestinian missile fire, in which they reacted as if I was speaking of what was happening in Afghanistan. The disconnect between the minority who blame their own country for the lack of peace and the majority who correctly see the problem as the function of Palestinian intransigence is great, even if Hamass 2014 missile attacks on the secular metropolis erased some of the lefts complacency.Yet the left-wing establishment that once dominated Israeli politics and society was effectively marginalized by the collapse of the peace process in the carnage of the second intifada. In the wake of the Palestinians refusal of an offer of statehood from the last Labor-led government in 2000, the even split between left and right that had characterized Israeli politics since the 1970s was transformed into a new reality in which power rested with a dominant right and an ever-changing roster of centrist parties. The fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now serving his third consecutive term in power and that the only viable alternative comes from Yair Lapid of the centrist Yesh Atid Party speaks volumes about how little influence leftist organs likehave, even as it continues to support attacks on the Jewish state from foreign critics like Kerry.Even Baker had to acknowledge his red state/blue state analogy falls short because of the decline of the left. Many liberal Israelis took umbrage at Kerrys speech just as they were appalled by Obamas Cairo speech in 2009. The one-sided, anti-Israel bias of both speeches, as well as the way Kerry and Obama have worked hard to treat Jewish Jerusalem as being as much of an illegal settlement as the most remote West Bank hilltop settlement, discredited the administration in the eyes of many Israelis. That, and Obamas appeasement of Iran, only strengthened Netanyahus continued hold on power.Theres a broader problem with the red and blue story line. The Islamists of Hamas make no distinction between the settlers that Obama let the UN brand as outlaws and those blue state Israelis lounging in Tel Aviv cafes sniping at Netanyahu. They want them all dead. The moderates of Fatah sometimes pay lip service to a two-state solution. But when pressed to say the words that would mean they are giving up the war against Zionism for gooda recognition of the legitimacy of a Jewish state, no matter where its borders might be drawnthey also still refuse and continue to praise terrorists and foment hatred of Israelis and Jews that fuels violence.Whether or not they oppose settlements or embrace a two-state solution, the vast majority of Israelis understand that what happened at the UN was an effort to strip their country of any leverage it might have in the peace talks the Palestinians refuse to rejoin. Whether or not they like Netanyahu, a clear majority know that Palestinians have repeatedly rejected peace and still have a conception of national identity that makes peace impossible for the present. Israeli society is split along religious, economic, security, and political fault lines. But when placed in the context of Palestinian hate, international anti-Semitism and Obamas betrayal, the cultural divide between right and left is not quite as great as Israels critics would have us believe.
Avtex and Genesys Partner for Better Contact Center Solutions
Customer service is one of those areas where theres always room for improvement. This is true in any environment, whether it be retail, in a restaurant, or in a contact center. Agents are constantly learning from past experiences and centers are always looking for the best contact center solutions to implement in order to improve services further.
On the surface, it would appear that Avtex and Genesys are as good as it gets when it comes to customer service. After all, both companies are known for their exceptional services and offerings. Avtex is a full-service Customer Experience consultancy focused on helping organizations build trust with their customers. The company offers a full line-up of CX supporting technologies, including solutions for Contact Center, Customer Intelligence, Business Productivity and more. Meanwhile, Genesys is an omnichannel customer experience and contact center solutions provider. Customer service and contact center solutions are the name of their game, yet both companies can still improve.
How so? Well, theyve taken a major step in the right direction by forming a strategic partnership. By coming together, Avtex will be joining the Genesys Value Added Reseller network of providers authorized to architect, build, deliver and support the full suite of products and solutions on the Genesys Customer Experience Platform.
This partnership brings together Genesys proven technological solutions and Avtexs hands-on customer support approach. Now, current and future Genesys clients will have the option to rely on Avtex for personalized deployment, integration and maintenance of Genesys products. Meanwhile, Avtex clients will benefit as well because they will be offered additional technology options to execute CX strategies.
Both companies are excited about the partnership and look forward to what the future has to bring: We are excited about this new partnership and look forward to the deployment capabilities and innovation that Avtex has to offer, said Paul Rolfe, Genesys VP Global Partners and Alliance. Avtex and Genesys have a common goal to enable our clients to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
This partnership will allow us to extend in to contact center back office automation and deeper omnichannel integrations. Our focus on CX consulting and rich CX technology application development, as well as our mutual alliance with Microsoft Digital CX Technologies, make this partnership a great fit for our customers long term success, says George Demou, President and CEO of Avtex. We are truly excited to add the Genesys product line to our portfolio, and look forward to creating a lasting relationship with an organization that shares our vision and values.
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.
Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.
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You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
If you've dreamed of studying Down Under and exploring the outback of Australia, you're not alone. Australia is the third most popular study-abroad destination behind the United States and United Kingdom - and for good reason.
Australia isn't just kangaroos, koalas and beautiful scenery. Australia is also known for its vibrant cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane, along with its outstanding university system.
Educational institutions in Australia offer a wide variety of courses and degrees with affordable tuition. Not to mention, Australia is at the forefront of technology and scientific research. [You might also want to read: Why study in Australia?]
That's why, in 2015 over 600,000 students chose Australia as their study destination, a 9.8 percent increase on 2014 and comparable to the average annual growth rate of 6.1 percent per year over the past 10 years.
How much does it cost to study in Australia?
Australia continues to be a top destination for Indian students with 72,504 enrolling in 2015. Those students accounted for 11.2 percent of all international students in Australia, behind only China, and up 15.6 percent since last year.
If you're looking to study in Australia, you'll need to prove your English-language skills for a student visa. Lucky for you, the TOEFL test is accepted by every single university in Australia. That means that no matter which university you apply to, your TOEFL score will be recognized.
The TOEFL test is an English-language assessment that measures your ability to use and understand English as it is read, written, heard and spoken in the university classroom. So your future professors will trust that when you attend class, you'll be an active participant. If you're looking to admire the Sydney Opera House or explore the Great Barrier Reef, the TOEFL test can take you anywhere in Australia.
Even more good news: Once you don your cap and gown and receive your diploma, you can apply to stay in Australia. TOEFL scores are now used for Australia's post-study, business, skilled migration, work and holiday visas. This means you can focus on preparing for one test throughout your entire journey.
For more information about the TOEFL test and how scores can be used, visit the TOEFL website.
Also read:
CAMEROUN :: South West CPDM barons have declared their unflinching support for the Southern Cameroons struggle
Highly placed government officials from the South West region have declared their unflinching support for the Southern Cameroons nationalism. The political elites based in Yaounde the nations capital have reportedly addressed an anonymous letter to the Anglophone teachers and the Common Law Lawyers consortium. Our senior political correspondent in the Center region reported that tension seems to be mounting deep within the ruling party for Biya to resolve amicably the Anglophone problem. Below is a copy of the document as sent to our London news desk:
To Southern Cameroonians and Particularly To The Consortium.
We want to applaud the efforts put forth already by the southern Cameroonians in the fight for our liberation. We understand that as CPDM militants our efforts might be hindered by party lines but with what a few of us have seen and experience these days in Yaounde has made some of us to start having a rethink thereby choosing the liberation movement over party bonuses. We want all of you to first of all understand that this fight is legitimate as it is backed by our constitution. We all as Southern Cameroonians have been marginalized and manipulated irrespective of our political affiliations. The future of our grand and great grandchildren is in jeopardy.
During the last presidential address, the president ignored all our advices given to him which were aimed at either organizing a referendum for a federal state or putting the decentralization model into practice. We also asked him not to be harsh when addressing the Anglophone problem but because his believes in what Prof. Fame Ndongo tells him, he went on to call us extremist. How can he then call for dialogue with people termed as Extremist?.
Our main aim of writing is to encourage all southern Cameroonians not to give up now. Yaounde the capital is in serious dilemma. If we relent our efforts and go back to school or courts it means we will NEVER be taken seriously. This is the period to double our efforts so that our demands can be made instantly. For this to be achieved we call on the various Teachers Trade Union Leaders and Lawyers. Parents most understand that this fight is for a more propitious future for their children because if we allow things they way there are now, our children will not have any voice in this Union in the next thirty years or so.
Most ministers, directors, and corrupt government officials have build many hostels in Buea and they are afraid of their investment being destroyed. Also most of their children are in Anglophone boarding secondary schools and Universities thus they will want our grievances to be resolved at all cost. We should understand at this point that the president hardly fulfils his promises. If we dont double our efforts his promise of creating a permanent National Institution to look into our problems will just die a natural death just like other previous promises. What we are saying in that the STRIKE MOST CONTINUE in full swing. We have gone far and many people have died for this struggle to end without concrete solutions. We are happy because with your expertise in social media as we have experienced, this message will be rapidly spread for everyone to be aware of some of our positions to this struggle.
New York States Department of Financial Services (DFS) in December issued a new regulation that prohibits insurance companies from denying commercial crime insurance coverage to New York businesses employing people with criminal convictions.
The regulation, called Insurance Regulation 209, serves as the first of its kind in the U.S. and is set to take effect on July 1, 2017, with respect to all insurance policies issued, renewed or delivered in New York state on or after that date. New York is among a select group of states that often set the tone for a broader development of regulation and law.
The regulation defines commercial crime coverage as coverage under a policy of commercial risk insurance that provides burglary and theft insurance or fidelity insurance.
Its aim is to make it easier for businesses across New York state to hire formerly incarcerated employees, as well as help those businesses obtain coverage for any loss or damage caused by an employee with a criminal record.
Some in the industry have applauded these efforts as a step forward in ending discrimination and enabling Americans with criminal records to find jobs and integrate back into society.
We support Governor Cuomos efforts to provide employers with commercial crime insurance that does not exclude coverage for individuals on the basis of their past criminal records, Andrew Potash, chairman of Distinguished and a board member of The Osborne Association, said in a press release issued by the New York State DFS.
John S. Kiernan, president of the New York City Bar Association, added in the release that the new regulation will not only help to increase employment opportunities for individuals with criminal records, but it is also consistent with the states public policy and efforts to support its communities.
It will eliminate the catch-22 currently faced by employers trying to comply with state law but also to obtain the insurance they need to protect their businesses, he said.
Paul King, senior vice president, national MPS director and cyber practice leader at USI Insurance Services added that increased premium levels in a historically depressed crime market could be one benefit seen from the new regulation.
Other potential benefits include justification for increased deductibles and self-insured retentions due to increased risk, as well as New York insureds having to implement better processes and controls due to increased risk of loss, he added.
Challenges for Insurers
That said, others in the insurance industry are not as optimistic, expressing concerns about increased losses for insurers and difficulty for underwriters due to the new regulation.
I dont see much in the way of benefits, said Tim Dodge, assistant vice-president of research at Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York Inc. Its pretty clear from the comments that [the industry has] misgivings about this.
One big challenge insurers see with the new rule is that they will now have to provide coverage in situations where an employee with a past felony record steals from his employer, Dodge explained. Underwriters will have to evaluate these employees when deciding whether or not to offer crime insurance to a given employer.
They will have to weigh factors such as the seriousness of the prior offense, how long ago it happened, signs of rehabilitation or recidivism and job duties, he said. These are evaluations they dont currently have to make. So the challenge for insurers will be complying with the regulation while still underwriting the risks in ways that will be profitable.
Increased losses on crime policies in aggregate dollars, percentage of book or both are an anticipated challenge at the top of many insurers minds, King said.
Insureds are likely correct in thinking it could give rise to increases in premium or deductibles, he said. For brokers and insurers alike, making sure clients/insureds do not run afoul of regulatory issues will increase workload, etc. There are other lines of cover that must be considered beyond just crime coverage EPL insurance, contractual/MSA impact, etc. These will all need to be considered in light of this new law.
Insurers have until next summer to file new policy forms that comply with the regulation, Dodge said. They will then phase in the new forms as individual accounts are newly written or renew through the second half of the year.
While its possible that underwriters may become more cautious about offering crime insurance, and they may start charging higher premiums, I do not foresee this change causing them to make the coverage less available, he added, stating that while there is a lack of enthusiasm from the industry regarding the new regulation, he anticipates it will have minimal impact on the market as crime insurance produces relatively low premium volume compared to other lines of coverage such as liability, property and workers compensation.
Background on the Regulation
According to the press release issued by the New York State DFS, 2.3 million people in New York have a criminal conviction on their record. This new regulation will ensure employers can obtain this coverage after considering a set of eight factors outlined in New York States Correction Law that oversee the hiring of employees with criminal convictions. These factors include whether the offense is related to the duties the employee will perform, the time that has passed since the conviction and evidence of good conduct by the applicant.
This first-in-the-nation action will further break down artificial barriers that prevent previously incarcerated New Yorkers from obtaining work and turning their lives around, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in the release. We are taking one more step to restore fairness and dignity to our society while also increasing public safety by providing opportunity and reducing recidivism.
This move comes as commercial crime insurance policies in New York are often found to have provisions excluding coverage for loss or damage caused by an employee who has been convicted of a criminal offense, where the employer knew about the conviction prior to the loss or damage, according to the regulation.
This puts employers in the untenable position of either not being able to obtain insurance or violating the Correction Law by not hiring the individual, even though a review of the Correction Law factors would weigh in favor of employment, the regulation states.
Because of this, New York Department of Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo determined that it would be an unfair method of competition or an unfair or deceptive practice in the insurance industry in New York for an insurer that writes commercial crime insurance policies to exclude coverage where the employer has weighed the factors set out in New York law and decided to hire the employee, according to the regulation.
It is simply inexcusable for an insurer in New York to exclude a potentially valuable employee from insurance coverage just because he or she has a criminal conviction, Superintendent Vullo said in the release. So long as every business owner follows the letter of the law, we should encourage more companies to hire prospective employees rather than punish someone for a mistake in the past.
How Crime Insurance Works
Crime insurance is often written as part of a package policy that includes liability and property coverages, but it is seldom written by itself, Dodge said.
Probably the single biggest factor underwriters consider is the controls the employer has in place to prevent or detect crime losses, Dodge said. For example, they want to see multiple people involved with bookkeeping, so the person reconciling the books is not the same person who writes the checks. Theyre interested in supervision of employees who may have the opportunity to steal money or property. If an employer has a history of past employee dishonesty losses, the underwriter will want to know what the employer is doing differently now to prevent future losses, and a higher deductible than the one the employer requested may be a condition of offering coverage.
There is typically a standard crime insurance application process that asks questions about background check practices, any known losses caused by employees at current or previous places of employment, what control procedures are in place to ensure dual controls and checks/balances around money. A history of frequent losses and/or inadequate controls in place to prevent losses would most likely cause an underwriter to decline to offer coverage.
It is not arduous, but it is a standardized process that either results in a quote or request for additional or supplemental information, King said.
What Happens Next?
Going forward, insurance application forms will need to be changed to address this new regulation, most likely via endorsement for New York insureds until the carveback becomes standardized, King said. For forms that do not exclude insureds who hire employees with past convictions, the changes should be minimal, he added, stating that most crime policies have a prior dishonesty clause stating crime coverage terminates for any employee as soon as the employer becomes aware of any prior dishonest or fraudulent act.
Because the New York State DFS adopted this regulation due to obligations employers have under New York States Correction Law, if other states have similar requirements in their laws, they could be seen adopting this regulation as well, Dodge said.
New York, like California, Illinois, Delaware and a few other states often sets the tone for development of regulation and law, said King. There is no reason other states wont follow suit, especially in light of New Yorks decision and the ability of the plaintiffs bar to point to that development, specifically in bringing actions against employers in other states.
The new regulation is the latest recommendation offered by Governor Cuomos Council on Community Reentry and Reintegration in support of criminal justice reform.
Beginning last spring, the Governors Council engaged in a series of conversations with employers across the state about the challenges and rewards they experienced in hiring people with criminal convictions. The Council heard from business owners repeatedly about not having access to loss or damage insurance coverage for this group of employees.
Alfa Romeo is getting ready to launch their first high performance model in years, Giulia QV in Australia.
Scheduled to hit dealers in February, the car is carrying a starting price of AU$143,900 (equal to USD $103,825), plus on-road costs, which means that its roughly AU$4,000 (US$2,886) more expensive than the equivalent BMW M3, but AU$11,000 (US$7,937) cheaper than the Mercedes-AMG C63 S.
The range-topping Giulia comes with numerous technology and driver assist equipment, but the highlight is the 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 engine, which was co-developed with Ferrari, paired to an eight-speed automatic. It pushes out 503 horsepower and 600 Nm (442 lb-ft) of torque to the rear wheels, allowing the QV to accelerate from rest to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 3.9 seconds, before topping out at 305 km/h (190 mph).
In this form, the impressive Italian machine holds the Nurburgring lap record for production sedans at 7 minutes and 32 seconds, but its not just fast, as it turns out to be safe too, after achieving the top rating in Euro NCAPs tests.
PHOTO GALLERY
The driver of a dark saloon crashed while entering an 80 km/h (50 mph) zone on the Bruxner Highway in Australia, ditching the car after a very rough impact.
As many of the comments indicate, its possible the car was stolen or perhaps the driver had been drinking, hence the swift departure from the scene of the accident.
NSW police said that there were three men inside the car at the time of the accident, all of whom fled the scene, according to the DailyTelegraph.
Police have been told a green Ford Falcon was traveling west into Alstonville when it overtook another vehicle, lost control and rolled, landing on its roof. Three males on-board fled the scene and police were called. It is unknown if the three occupants were injured as a result of the crash, said the police in a statement.
Regardless of why the driver ran away, it would be interesting to know what compelled him to ignore the law and fail to reduce his speed the rearwards camera angle points to a considerable speed difference between the dashcam vehicle and the saloon that crashed.
We can imagine how disturbing of an image this was for the driver of the dashcam car, who had to perform an evasive maneuver in order to avoid the debris that got sprayed onto the highway after the initial impact.
In the end, this feels like yet another accident that could have been easily avoided.
VIDEO
Kia has dropped the first official images and details of the new generation Picanto, which is set to celebrate its premiere in a couple of months, during the 2017 Geneva Motor Show.
Penned by the brands design centers in Frankfurt, Germany and Namyang, South Korea, the small hatch comes with new looks and a 15 mm (0.59 in) longer wheelbase, which now spans 2,400 mm (94 in), while maintaining the same length as its predecessor at 3,595 mm (141.5 in).
The color palette is said to be more vibrant than ever and the cabin has been reworked too, adding the latest technology features, a new touchscreen infotainment system with a floating design, automatic climate control, a multifunction steering wheel, heated front seats, AUX and USB ports, leather seats with contrast stitching and others, available either as standard or optional.
Besides the added tech, Kia also states that the cabin and cargo space of the all-new Picanto is more generous than its rivals, without providing numbers though just yet.
There are no details on the engine lineup either, but previous info indicates towards the usage of a 1.0-liter petrol lump, taken from its predecessor, along with a 1.0-liter T-GDI 3-cylinder turbo borrowed from the Ceed.
Full details on the 2018 Kia Picanto will be released in March, once the city car arrives on set at the Swiss automotive event.
PHOTO GALLERY
McLaren officially confirmed that the 650S successor will be revealed in Geneva, showing us for the first time the second-generation carbon fiber Monocage II tub.
Codenamed P14, the model that will replace the 650S in McLarens lineup will reportedly carry the 720S nameplate and according to the company, will tip the scales at just 1,283kg, which is 18kg less than a 650S with comparable specification.
McLaren says that their new Super Series models will be the lightest in its class, thanks to the new Monocage II carbon tub. The new chassis structure also allowed for an even lower centre of gravity for better handling, a wider cabin entrance and lower sills to improve access.
The company also revealed that they will offer a Visible Monocage option to customers who wish to showcase the carbon chassis, exposing the material on the inside area of the A-pillar.
Super Series is the core of the McLaren business and personifies the blend of extreme performance, crafted luxury and unparalleled driver involvement that is the McLaren heartland, said McLarens CEO, Mike Flewitt. This is the first time we have replaced a product family and the new Super Series will be absolutely true to McLarens pioneering spirit in being a revolutionary leap forwards, both for our brand and the supercar segment.
So far we heard that the new, reportedly named 720S will be powered by an updated twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 that makes 710hp (720PS), with the new supercar to feature a hardcore Track mode which is similar to that of the P1.
The same reports say that sections of the dashboard will physically lower when Track mode is enabled in order to help the driver focus on his driving, with the only visible information to be the tachometer, current gear, oil and cooling temperature and tire pressure.
And since this is McLaren were talking about, the new car is also said that it will be as fast as the P1 on track, as the company is eager to showcase their progress with the new generation.
The new McLaren will make its debut on March 7 at the Geneva Motor Show, so expect the first official images to show up in early March.
Test car photo sourced from Petrol Ped, YouTube
PHOTO GALLERY
It might be nothing more than an artists study, but this Mitsubishi looks just about ready to take off.
Penned by Piotr Moskala and posted on DesignerSpace, the small SUV features aggressive lines across its exterior, an odd-shaped grille that sits above an aggressive bumper, flanked by futuristic-looking headlights and large wheels wrapped in low-profile tires.
So far, however, theres no indication so far that Mitsubishi plans to enter the subcompact SUV segment. Instead, the Japanese automaker is busy readying the next generation of the Outlander Sport / ASX that should launch sometime this year.
The new crossover has been already scooped in the wild, with its styling cues inspired by the XR-PHEV II Concept, with a slightly sloping roof line and a sporty rear end. The new SUV will be powered by a range of petrol and diesel engines and come in front- and all-wheel drive versions, while a plug-in hybrid could also be part of the lineup.
PHOTO GALLERY
In the lead up to the Geneva Motor Show in March, Pagani has released a new teaser image of the upcoming Huayra Roadster.
Although it is hard to pinpoint just what part of the car is revealed, it does show an engraved Roadster emblem on a component finished in a beautiful shade of gold.
Although Pagani is bound to release more teaser images in the coming weeks, we already know what the droptop Huayra will look like, thanks to numerous spy shots and the release of an official rendering.
Among the most obvious visual changes will be a new diffuser, prominent rear buttresses and aerodynamic flics above the taillights.
As with the coupe, power will continue to come from a twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter V12 AMG engine but power is expected to rise by approximately 20 hp, lifting power to around 750 hp. Despite the extra strengthening set to be employed to ensure the Huayra Roadster remains exceptionally rigid, Horacio Pagani revealed in early 2015 that the car will actually be lighter than its hardtop sibling.
So everything had to come together as if it was a car carved out of a block of Carrara marble Horacio Pagani. #pagani #huayra #roadster #huayraroadster #geneva2017 A photo posted by Pagani Automobili Official (@paganiautomobili) on Jan 3, 2017 at 7:01am PST
PHOTO GALLERY
A group of backpackers in Australia have been left devastated after one of their rented SUVs rolled off a ferry near Australias Fraser Island.
The moment was captured by backpacker Chloe Swift and shows the Toyota Land Cruiser slowly rolling off the back of the ferry and into the water. It then stayed afloat for about 30 seconds before sinking.
In a Facebook post, Swift said Luckily nobody inside the car! But quite a few phones, debit cards, passports and valuables all gone.
Speaking with the Brisbane Times, another tourist who was on board, Katrina Lawrence, said that the Land Cruiser began to slowly roll backwards at approximately 11 am. Despite one mans attempt to stop the vehicle by grabbing onto it, nothing could be done to stop it slipping off the back of the ferry.
According to Manta Ray Fraser Island Barges who operate the boat, an internal investigation has been launched.
Video
If you won the lottery or an enormous inheritance from some relative you never knew, what would be the first thing you would buy? If youre like us (and if youre reading these pages we suspect you might be), picking up a million-dollar hypercar would likely rank high on your list. But ordering one new could take months or even years. So what are you to do (in the meantime at least)? Head to one of the worlds premier supercar dealerships, like SEMCO Exclusive Cars.
Located in Munich, Germany, SEMCO has a jaw-dropping array of exotics for sale on JamesList. Dig the latest generation of hybrid hypercars? The dealer has two silver Porsche 918 Spyders (at $1.4 million apiece), a black McLaren P1 ($2m), and a red LaFerrari ($3m) on offer and it looks like it recently handled another LaFerrari as well.
Want a Bugatti? SEMCO has two: a Veyron Vitesse roadster enveloped in brown carbon fiber ($2.3m) and a Sang Noir edition ($1.6m). It also has a Pagani Huayra ($2m) and a one-off Koenigsegg Agera (price on request).
Prefer a naturally aspirated Prancing Horse? The showroom features a Ferrari F12 TdF ($994k), a 599 Speciale Aperta ($1.36m), and a 458 Speciale Aperta ($680k). McLarens more your thing? Try one of three orange 675LTs (~$400k each) or the 650S Can-Am ($300k). Lambos? Theres an Aventador LP720-4 anniversary edition ($440k), an LP750-4 SuperVeloce ($500k), and a Huracan Spyder ($225k). Theres even a Porsche Carrera GT ($840k) and a rare Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss speedster.
Its enough to go quietly mad or not so quietly, for that matter. And if we were in the market, itd be one of the first places wed look. The biggest problem wed have, then, is choosing which one to take home (though our eyes keep getting drawn in by that gorgeous blue carbon Huayra). Cost no object, which would you pick?
Photo Gallery
Photo: Contributed
Kelowna Transit is marking 40 years of service with a year-long marketing and promotional campaign.
The campaign will focus on the role transit plays in the community and build on the advancements of transit within the community.
It is an exciting year ahead for the Kelowna Regional Transit system, said Jerry Dombowsky, transit and programs manager.
An interactive timeline has been set up, outlining the various service and infrastructure milestones of the local transit system during the past 40 years.
These include:
1981 - Introduction of HandyDart
1982 - Opening of Orchard Park exchange and service to what is now West Kelowna.
1992 - Service introduced to Peachland and Lake Country
2002 - Introduction of double decker buses to the fleet
2007 - RapidBus funding announced
Weve created a transit trivia game that people can follow on the Citys Facebook page, Dombowsky said. "
The trivia questions will be posted on the citys Facebook page and all of the answers to the transit trivia questions can be found on the transit timeline."
The campaign will share interesting facts about the history of transit in Kelowna and the province.
Photo: Contributed
The Okanagan Valley saw nine overdoses over the course of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day this year.
Officials with the BC Ambulance service were not able to break down on which day nor in which cities those overdoses occurred, citing privacy concerns.
BC Ambulance records data for full days, rather than on an hourly basis, and does not provide numbers for communities when those numbers are five or fewer for that day.
For both days, in each community from Vernon down to Osoyoos, BC Ambulance reported five or fewer overdoses.
But combined, the entire Valley saw nine overdoses over both days.
This New Years Eve had the potential to be a deadly one, in the midst of a nation-wide crisis which has led to recent decisions to set up new supervised injection sites in Kelowna and Kamloops, causing considerable debate.
The overdose crisis also hit Vernon by surprise, including one day in August that saw a total of five overdoses, while in Penticton the crisis came late, but hit suddenly in November.
Photo: The Canadian Press
A decision expected later today could drive up the cost of rebuilding Fort McMurray after a wildfire swept through the northern Alberta city last spring.
Prices for drywall, a building material considered vital to replace 1,800 houses and dozens of other structures destroyed by the fire, have risen dramatically since Canada slapped anti-dumping duties in September on U.S.-made products imported to Western Canada.
Claude Bureau, owner of Genroc Drywall in Fort McMurray, says he is paying wholesale suppliers about $4.60 more per 4x12 sheet of drywall now compared with the price before duties were imposed.
He said he has had to raise his price including installation by $1.25 per square foot, adding about $1,750 to the cost of building a typical 1,400-square-foot house.
Fort McMurray Mayor Melissa Blake is asking the federal government to fund a grant program to help property owners recover increased costs related to the drywall duties.
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal is scheduled to rule today on whether to make permanent its preliminary duties of up to 276 per cent on U.S. drywall imports into Canada for use in the four western provinces and the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
Photo: The Canadian Press
A man and three females, including a 10-year-old girl, have been found shot to death in a home in rural Nova Scotia.
RCMP found the bodies at about 6 p.m. Tuesday after being called to the home in Upper Big Tracadie, a largely African-Nova Scotian community of about 40 people.
Initial indications are that a 33-year-old man shot himself and that three females, aged 52, 31 and 10, also died of apparent gunshot wounds, police said. Two guns were found at the scene, they said.
"The male's gunshot wounds appear to be self-inflicted. There were no signs of forced entry into the residence," police said in a release.
"The RCMP extends sincere condolences to the family and community during this difficult time."
Cpl. Jennifer Clarke would not comment on the relationships of the victims, citing the Privacy Act, but one relative told The Canadian Press family members were among the deceased.
She said her sister was among the dead, and she described herself as an aunt to other deceased.
"It's hard to explain right now," said the relative, overcome with emotion.
Deputy warden Sheila Pelly of the Municipality of the District of Guysborough said the deaths have stunned the community, adding that she knew the people but did not want to comment.
"Everybody's in shock," she said. "They can't believe it."
Madonna Boucher, who lives down the road from the scene of the deaths on Highway 16, said she heard police vehicles racing to the area Tuesday evening, but didn't know what was happening.
"It's sad, really sad," she said. "It's crazy I've never experienced anything around here like that."
Clarke said there was no risk to the public.
She said she could not release further details about what RCMP found because authorities were in the initial stages of the investigation. A press conference is planned for this afternoon at the Mounties' Antigonish detachment.
Photo: Getty Images
Once again, Vernon residents dug deep and not only helped the Vernon Jubilee Hospital Foundations Light a Bulb Campaign reach its goal, but surpass it.
When the annual campaign launched in December, 2016 it had a target of $250,000, but donors took their giving a step farther and the campaign raised $280,000.
Every donation we received was important in making this happen. We want to sincerely thank everyone who contributed to Light a Bulb for better health care in the North Okanagan, said Kevin Arbuckle, Light a Bulb chairperson.
Funds raised from Light a Bulb will purchase high-definition camera heads and control units for VJH operating rooms.
Benefits of the new equipment include enabling surgeons to perform keyhole surgeries for faster healing due to smaller incisions, less pain and less chance of infection.
The technology also provides improved visualization in the surgical field with brighter images in dark areas of the body, particularly in ear, nose and throat surgeries.
More than 3,000 surgeries are performed each year at VJH, with nearly one-third being laparoscopic. This new equipment will help deliver better health outcomes for North Okanagan residents.
Photo: Contributed
He's not even 10 years old, but already Toran Edwards is one of the best BMX racers in the nation.
The nine-year-old Vernon phenom currently holds district, provincial and national No. 1 rankings in his age group.
He also is ranked third for all boys of all ages in Canada for points standing, said his mom, Naomi Shaw.
Later this month Edwards, who races out of the Vernon BMX Club, will be heading south of the border to compete.
He will be racing his first U.S race Jan.13-15 in Las Vegas, Nevada, said Shaw, adding Edwards was recently factory sponsored by the CBS/Rift/Tangent factory team.
Photo: Contributed
A couple who showed up at an alleged drug dealer's home in Penticton last week got an unpleasant surprise once he answered the door.
The pair had taken a taxi to a residence on Van Horne Street at about 1 a.m. on Dec. 30 because the husband wanted to confront the man who lived there for selling crack cocaine to his wife, said Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth with the Penticton RCMP.
When the man answered the door he was holding a firearm, causing the pair to call the police.
Once police arrived, the firearm turned out to be a pellet gun, which was not pointed at anyone.
Police escorted the two parties to safe locations and told them stay away from each other.
Photo: Getty Images
Crystal Brook is resting a little easier knowing a suspect who is believed to have broken into her home has been arrested.
On Monday, Jan. 2, at around 9 a.m., Brook stepped out of her Alexis Park home for a few minutes to take her husband to work. When she returned 15 minutes later, she found her house had been robbed while four of her children slept in their beds.
On Wednesday, Brook told Castanet that police had made an arrest in the brazen morning robbery.
Police have not released the name of the suspect and Brook said none of the stolen items, which included a Playstation 4, games, a tablet and an iPhone, were recovered.
It feels good he has been caught, said Brook.
Castanet has called the RCMP for comment.
Photo: Getty Images
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is supporting Vernon city councillor Bob Spiers' parliamentary e-petition against a federal tax that is levied on top of B.C.'s carbon tax.
I hate tax on tax & was glad to sign Bob Spiers's new HoC petition to have feds stop GST on carbon tax, tweeted Jordan Bateman, Canadian Taxpayers Federation director, who posted a link to the petition.
The so-called 'tax on a tax' petition protests the amount of money being siphoned off to Ottawa for the GST (Goods and Services Tax) being charged on the carbon tax, explained Spiers, adding that an estimated $63 million from B.C. was paid in 2016 fiscal year.
The Alberta government has just imposed a carbon tax which is also being taxed by the federal government to the tune of an estimated $60 million this year, Spiers said.
The councillor hopes Canadians from across the country will sign his petition but points out he needs just 500 signatures for it to make its way onto the floor of the House of Commmons.
The petition has been sponsored by North Okanagan Shuswap MP Mel Arnold. It is open for signature until May 4.
Petition to the Government of Canada
Whereas: The Government of British Columbia instituted a carbon tax in 2008 and the federal government GST (currently at 5%) is still being charged on this carbon tax.
We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to eliminate the GST being charged on this or any other future carbon tax enacted by the provinces or territories.
Optimising a dynamic process
Dr Michael Clark By
Published 04 January 2017
The cement production process is dynamic, with substantial opportunities for optimisation, improving plant productivity as well as profitability. Cemtech Technical Workshops are an important way of disseminating this information among plant staff and have proven highly successful. We take a look at what lies ahead in the 2017 programme of Cemtech Workshops. By Dr Michael Clark, UK.
As you read this months Technical Forum in the first ICR issue of 2017, preparations for the Cemtech conference in Dubai in February will be well underway. The Cemtech conference at the Grand Hyatt in Dubai has become the first major event of the Technical Forum year over the last 10 years and marks a new Technical Workshop to be delivered alongside the Cemtech conference.
Solving a conundrum
The Technical Workshop in 2016 was entitled The progressive levels of optimisation and was delivered in Dubai, Manila and Madrid. The workshop was well received by people from cement companies in Azerbaijan, Bosnia, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Fiji, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, the UK and Yemen. It would be difficult to reach such a diverse audience through any other forum than the Cemtech Technical Workshops held alongside Cemtech conferences in the Middle East, southeast Asia and Europe.
The success of the 2016 workshop presents a conundrum for the moderator who develops and leads these workshops: How to preserve and maintain that success while keeping the workshops fresh and up-to-date? In 2017 this will be solved by retaining the best aspects of the 2016 workshop with the addition of 20-30 per cent new material in a workshop entitled Optimising a dynamic process.
Preparing the kiln feed
In 2016, the first of the progressive levels of optimisation reflected on the steps taken to prepare the kiln feed properly for conversion into clinker in the kiln, both chemically and physically. This includes selecting the appropriate raw materials for cement manufacture and bringing those raw materials together in the right proportions to produce clinker of the required mineralogy by process of raw mix design. The ashes from the fuels burnt on the kiln that will be incorporated in the clinker must also be taken into consideration. The cement producer needs to move beyond planning the optimisation of the kiln feed to the practical steps to be taken in the quarries, crushers, pre-homogenisation, raw grinding and kiln feed blending systems of cement factories.
What will be new in 2017? Increasingly modern cement plants use vertical roller mills (VRMs) for raw grinding. The opportunities for optimisation of VRMs are less obvious than with ball mills. All the processes of grinding, drying, classification and regrinding take place within the body of the mill and there are no opportunities to take samples to assess the performance of the separator or the recirculating load in the mill, or the progress of size reduction along the grinding path.
However, this does not mean there are no opportunities for optimisation. The gas flow and velocities through the different parts of the VRM have a critical impact on the external recirculation of materials, the pressure loss across the mill and the electricity consumed by the mill induced draught fan. The depth of the bed of material on the table and the hydraulic pressure on the rollers impact on the grinding efficiency and production rate of the mill. Any adjustments to affect the gas flow and velocity through the mill, the depth of material on the table or the pressure on the rollers will have multiple impacts on the performance of the mill. The process is dynamic and adjustments lead to multiple changes.
Fuels and their combustion
The second of the progressive levels of optimisation in 2016 was the fuels used to fire the cement kiln and the appropriate combustion of those fuels.
Fuel types
Cement manufacturers continuously look to optimise the fuels used to fire their cement kilns because these are usually the highest variable cost item for manufacturing clinker and cement. That is why ICR and Cemtech conferences are full of articles and presentations about projects to burn alternative fuels in cement kilns or switch from one type of fuel to another. The complexities of burning alternative fuels should not be underestimated, nor should the complexities of switching traditional fuels between fuel oil, natural gas, coal and petcoke.
Optimising the combustion of the fuels in the kiln involves much more than providing sufficient fuel for the thermal energy requirements of the process. The fuel at the main burner must be burnt with sufficient intensity to reach the maximum temperature required in the burning zone of the kiln for clinker combination, but also to have the required temperature profile through the kiln to produce clinker of optimal hydraulic reactivity when the clinker is converted into cement.
Again, what will be new in 2017? The impact of the combustion conditions, the temperature regime through the process, and the incorporation of the ash from the fuels on the ultimate quality of the clinker will receive more coverage. To really monitor and understand the impact of combustion, temperature history and incorporation of trace components into the clinker requires more than simply calculating the Bogue mineralogy of the clinker.
Ideally the real mineralogy of the clinker needs to be monitored by XRD or microscopy. If that is not possible the likely impact on the real mineralogy needs to be at least anticipated.
Impact of combustion conditions
The impact of combustion conditions is where the cement kiln process becomes truly dynamic. The combustion must be sufficiently intense to reach the required temperatures and temperature profile with the minimum amount of fuel and the minimum amount of excess air drawn into the kiln. Sub-optimal combustion quickly leads to excessive sulphur circulation in the kiln, leading to clogging of preheaters, formation of rings and balls in the kiln, and dusty and high free lime clinker. Dust recirculating from the cooler kiln further reduces combustion efficiency, driving ever greater sulphur recirculation and a downward spiral of process stability.
As the moderator writes he is returning from Latin America where a catalogue of preheater clogging, ring and ball formation issues have been solved by kiln main burner adjustments and accepting a higher free lime content of the clinker produced from the kiln.
Trying to achieve less than one per cent free lime in clinker is counter-productive in kilns with high sulphur inputs. Over-burning leads to sulphur circulation, and in turn leads to higher free lime clinker, resulting in more over-burning to try to reduce free lime. This causes even higher sulphur recirculation, and even higher free lime content of clinker in a vicious cycle, all ultimately leading to severely reduced clinker output, higher specific fuel consumption and kiln stoppages due to clogging, rings and balls.
These dynamic impacts of the combustion of the fuel in the kiln are almost always kiln specific and best illustrated by case studies. Those will be incorporated in the 2017 Cemtech Technical Workshop, but a common thread needs to be drawn through these case studies so that participants can relate them to their particular kilns and circumstances. There is almost nothing that happens in a particular cement kiln that has not happened somewhere else in the world.
Gas flow
The third of the progressive levels of optimisation in the 2016 Technical Workshop was the gas flow through the cement kiln process. This includes process air as well as emissions from areas such as the kiln.
Air flow
This subject starts with providing the preheated air required for the combustion of the fuels from the cooler of the kiln. That air combines with the carbon and hydrogen in the fuels to form the combustion product gases that are drawn through the process together with the carbon dioxide derived from the calcium carbonate in the kiln feed.
The dynamic nature of the cement kiln process now starts to become apparent. Air supply from the cooler affects many parts of the process, including:
fuel combustion
combustion product gases and volume
temperature profile in the kiln
clinker quality
recirculation of volatile species
pressure loss across the kiln system
electricity drawn by the preheater induced draught fan
ability of the induced draught fan to draw air into the kiln from the clinker cooler.
In the 2017 workshop these dynamic interactions are illustrated with case studies, but will also try to demonstrate the commonalities between the case studies.
Emissions
When considering the gas flow through the process we must consider the gases that exit the process, ie the emissions. The emissions from a cement kiln are both simple and complex, benign and noxious. This is a topic that could certainly consume an entire Technical Forum and probably an entire Technical Workshop.
Emissions from cement kilns is a topic of relevance to all cement producers, but the priority attached to emissions certainly changes from region to region. In Europe and North America it is a top priority and is becoming increasingly important in parts of Asia and Latin America. However, in other parts of Asia and Africa it is further down the list.
How to cope with these different priorities in the Cemtech Technical Workshops? Well, in truth there are far more potential topics to talk about than can be covered in a three-day workshop. In these Cemtech Technical Workshops we allow the participants to determine the priorities to a certain extent. In the Middle East and Africa the priorities might be primarily productivity and reliability. In Asia energy efficiency along with productivity. In Europe the same but with an increasing emphasis on environmental performance.
The Cemtech Technical Workshops try to cater to these differences by letting participants nominate their own priorities during these sessions.
Optimising profitability as the ultimate goal
Reasons for optimisation of the cement manufacturing process might be to improve plant productivity, resource consumption efficiency, productivity or environmental performance. Ultimately what needs to be optimised is the profitability of the cement factory and company.
The Cemtech Technical Workshops are technical hence the name. However, the impact of optimisation on profitability must be the underlying reason for that optimisation. The workshop will always try to illustrate the potential impacts on profitability as its starting point.
We look forward to your participation in the updated Cemtech Technical Workshops in Dubai, UAE, 20-22 February 2017, or at any of the other Cemtech conference venues in southeast Asia and Europe to be held later in 2017.
Trinidad Cement directors recommend rejection of Cemex bid
ICR Newsroom By 04 January 2017
The board of directors of Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) has written to shareholders advising them to reject Cemex's TTD597m (US$89m) offer for a controlling interest in the company, the Jamaica Observer reports.
The company (TCL) has experienced a turnaround after multiple past efforts to do so. The evidence of the turnaround is supported by the companys return to sustainable profitability in 2015 and continuing to produce positive net income throughout 2016, said the directors in their letter.
The Board has carefully considered the offer and has examined the proposed business strategy therein and has concluded that the consideration to be received by shareholders under the offer is not fair, from a financial point of view, to the shareholders, they added.
Cemex already hold 39.5 per cent of TCLs shares through the formers Sierra subsidiary. Their offer, which prices TCL at TTD4.50 per share, expires on 10 January 2017.
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Vietnam: Vicem sells 25.8Mt of cement and clinker in 2016
ICR Newsroom By 04 January 2017
State-owned Vietnam Cement Industry Corp (Vicem) sold around 25.8Mt of cement and clinker in 2016, representing a YoY rise of 11.2 per cent and surpassing the years target by 11 per cent.
Some 22.73Mt of cement and clinker were sold in the domestic market, a 8.8 per cent rise when compared with 2015. Vicem increased its exports by 45.8 per cent to 3.07Mt.
Output by the countrys leading cement producer advanced by 9.3 per cent YoY to 18.74Mt of clinker and by 13.1Mt to 22.72Mt of cement. For 2017 Vicems clinker and production targets have been set at 18Mt and 22Mt, respectively.
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This is a scanning transmission electron microscope image of a nickel-platinum composite material created at The Ohio State University. At left, the image is overlaid with false-color maps of elements in the material, including platinum (red), nickel (green) and oxygen (blue).
The same researchers who pioneered the use of a quantum mechanical effect to convert heat into electricity have figured out how to make their technique work in a form more suitable to industry.
In Nature Communications, engineers from The Ohio State University describe how they used magnetism on a composite of nickel and platinum to amplify the voltage output 10 times or more--not in a thin film, as they had done previously, but in a thicker piece of material that more closely resembles components for future electronic devices.
Many electrical and mechanical devices, such as car engines, produce heat as a byproduct of their normal operation. It's called "waste heat," and its existence is required by the fundamental laws of thermodynamics, explained study co-author Stephen Boona.
But a growing area of research called solid-state thermoelectrics aims to capture that waste heat inside specially designed materials to generate power and increase overall energy efficiency.
"Over half of the energy we use is wasted and enters the atmosphere as heat," said Boona, a postdoctoral researcher at Ohio State. "Solid-state thermoelectrics can help us recover some of that energy. These devices have no moving parts, don't wear out, are robust and require no maintenance. Unfortunately, to date, they are also too expensive and not quite efficient enough to warrant widespread use. We're working to change that."
In 2012, the same Ohio State research group, led by Joseph Heremans, demonstrated that magnetic fields could boost a quantum mechanical effect called the spin Seebeck effect, and in turn boost the voltage output of thin films made from exotic nano-structured materials from a few microvolts to a few millivolts.
In this latest advance, they've increased the output for a composite of two very common metals, nickel with a sprinkling of platinum, from a few nanovolts to tens or hundreds of nanovolts--a smaller voltage, but in a much simpler device that requires no nanofabrication and can be readily scaled up for industry.
Heremans, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Nanotechnology, said that, to some extent, using the same technique in thicker pieces of material required that he and his team rethink the equations that govern thermodynamics and thermoelectricity, which were developed before scientists knew about quantum mechanics. And while quantum mechanics often concerns photons--waves and particles of light--Heremans' research concerns magnons--waves and particles of magnetism.
"Basically, classical thermodynamics covers steam engines that use steam as a working fluid, or jet engines or car engines that use air as a working fluid. Thermoelectrics use electrons as the working fluid. And in this work, we're using quanta of magnetization, or 'magnons,' as a working fluid," Heremans said.
Research in magnon-based thermodynamics was up to now always done in thin films--perhaps only a few atoms thick--and even the best-performing films produce very small voltages.
In the 2012 paper, his team described hitting electrons with magnons to push them through thermoelectric materials. In the current Nature Communications paper, they've shown that the same technique can be used in bulk pieces of composite materials to further improve waste heat recovery.
Instead of applying a thin film of platinum on top of a magnetic material as they might have done before, the researchers distributed a very small amount of platinum nanoparticles randomly throughout a magnetic material--in this case, nickel. The resulting composite produced enhanced voltage output due to the spin Seebeck effect. This means that for a given amount of heat, the composite material generated more electrical power than either material could on its own. Since the entire piece of composite is electrically conducting, other electrical components can draw the voltage from it with increased efficiency compared to a film.
While the composite is not yet part of a real-world device, Heremans is confident the proof-of-principle established by this study will inspire further research that may lead to applications for common waste heat generators, including car and jet engines. The idea is very general, he added, and can be applied to a variety of material combinations, enabling entirely new approaches that don't require expensive metals like platinum or delicate processing procedures like thin-film growth.
PARK Je-Geun, Associate Director at the Center for Correlated Electron Systems, within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), working in collaboration with CHEONG Hyeonsik at Sogang University and PARK Cheol-Hwan at Seoul National University demonstrated the magnetic behavior of a special class of 2D materials. This is the first experimental proof to a theory proposed more than 70 years ago.
Recently, scientists all over the world are investigating the properties and applications of extremely thin 2D materials, just one-atom-thick, like graphene. Studying the properties of 2D materials in comparison with their 3D counterparts raises many thought-provoking questions; one of them concerns magnetic phase transitions.
Some materials are magnetic because of the behavior of the spins of their electrons. In simple terms, spins (spin quantum numbers, or more precisely their associated magnetic moments), are just like tiny magnets, conventionally shown as arrows. At extremely low temperatures, these spins tend to align, lowering the electrons' total energy. However, above a specific temperature that varies from material to material, spins lose their alignment and become randomly oriented. Similar to how ice loses its internal order and becomes liquid above a certain temperature; 3D magnets also lose their magnetization above a critical temperature. This is called phase transition and is an ever-present process in 3D objects.
However, what happens to 1D and 2D systems at low temperatures? Do they experience a phase transition? In other words, are we going to see a transition from solid to liquid in a chain of water molecules (1D) or in a one-atom thick sheet of water (2D)?
About one century ago, the physicist Wilhelm Lenz asked his student Ernst Ising to solve this problem for 1D systems. Ising explained it in 1925 and concluded that 1D materials do not have phase transitions. Then, Ising tried to grapple with the same question for a particular type of 2D materials. The problem turned out to be much harder. The solution came in 1943 courtesy of Lars Onsager, who received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1968. Indeed, Onsager found that the materials, which follow the Ising spin model, have a phase transition. However, despite the huge importance this theory has in the following development of the whole physics of phase transitions, it has never been tested experimentally using a real magnetic material. "The physics of 2D systems is unique and exciting. The Onsager solution is taught on every advanced statistical mechanics course. That's where I learned this problem. However, when I discovered much later that it has not been tested experimentally with a magnetic material, I thought it was a shame for experimentalists like me, so it was natural for me to look for a real material to test it," explains PARK Je-Geun.
In order to prove the Onsager model, the research team produced crystals of iron trithiohypophosphate (FePS3) with a technique called chemical vapour transport. The crystals are made of layers bound by weak interactions, known as Van der Waals interactions. Layers can be peeled off from the crystal by using scotch tape, in the same way tape can strip paint from a wall. The scientists peeled the layers until they were left with just one layer of FePS3 (2D). "We can call these materials magnetic Van der Waals materials or magnetic graphene: they are magnetic and they have easy-to-cleave Van der Waals bonds between layers. They are very rare, and their physics is still unexplored," says the professor.
While there are several methods to measure the magnetic properties of bulk 3D materials, these techniques have no practical use to measure magnetic signals coming from monolayer materials. Therefore, the team used Raman spectroscopy, a technique normally used to measure vibrations inside the material. They used vibrations as an indirect measure of magnetism, the more vibrations, the less magnetization.
Park's team and colleagues first used Raman spectroscopy on bulk 3D FePS3 material at different temperatures and then tested FePS3 2D monolayer. "The test with the bulk sample showed us that the Raman signals can be used as a kind of the fingerprint of phase transition at temperatures around 118 Kelvin, or minus 155 degrees Celsius. With this confirmation we then measured the monolayer sample and found the same patterns," points out Park. "We conclude that 3D and 2D FePS3 have the same signature of the phase transition visible in the Raman spectrum." Both in the bulk sample and the monolayer, FePS3' spins are ordered (antiferromagnetic) at very low temperatures, and become disordered (paramagnetic) above 118 degrees Kelvin. "Showing magnetic phase transition with this tour-de-force experiment is a beautiful test for the Onsager solution," concludes the physicist.
In the future, the team would like to study other 2D transition metal materials, going beyond the 2D Ising spin model.
Mediafly, a 10-year-old Chicago-based company that makes software for salespeople, has raised $10 million, it announced Wednesday.
The company started in 2006 as a platform for distributing podcasts. A pivot to serve enterprise clients started around early 2010, said CEO and founder Carson Conant.
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He said Mediafly creates tools for companies with large sales staffs, including PepsiCo, Disney and MillerCoors. Unlike industry juggernaut Salesforce which makes customer retention management, sales automation and other tools Mediafly's products are meant to be used in face-to-face interactions.
Conant said he thinks his tools better serve salespeople in meetings.
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"We really believe in the humans on the ground and there's a lot of sales, particularly in the B2B world, that really need a human to get over the last mile," Conant said.
Mediafly's products deliver information to salespeople, and offer tools that they can use in meetings with existing or potential clients, Conant said. The tools are intended to help the people on the "front lines" of sales do their jobs better, he said.
Competitors include Chicago-based SAVO, San Francisco-based Showpad and Waltham, Mass.-based Bigtincan, Conant said.
The Series B round comes after years of taking smaller, more frequent investments from angels. This investment, from Wayne, Pa., private equity firm Boathouse Capital, brings Mediafly's total funding to $22 million.
The company plans to use the funding to hire 20 to 30 sales and marketing employees as soon as possible, Conant said. Mediafly currently has 40 employees, the vast majority of whom are based in its Chicago office. A handful of salespeople work remotely from around the country, he said.
As the company eyes international expansion, Conant said he thinks the company will need more offices in the future.
Mediafly could also use the funding to acquire companies that do content for salespeople, Conant said. Any such moves are at least a year off, he said.
Conant declined to comment on current revenue, but said he expected it to double this year. Mediafly has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies annually since 2014. Inc. reported the company had $5 million in revenue in 2015.
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aelahi@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @aminamania
A Southwest jet aircraft arrives for a landing at Midway Airport, at 63rd St. and Cicero Ave. in Chicago, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
Midway Airport beat out O'Hare International Airport when it came to on-time air travel in 2016, according to analysts at OAG, which tracks timeliness in airlines and airports around the world.
Midway, with an on-time performance rate of 81.33 percent in 2016, ranked 19th on OAG's list of the 20 most punctual large airports. Large airports are defined as those that had 10 to 20 million departing seats each year. O'Hare did not make the most recent list.
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Last year, O'Hare ranked 20th among North American airports, with an on-time performance rate of 78.29 percent, making it the "most improved airport in North America and eighth most improved in the world." O'Hare moved up from a 71.4 percent on-time performance rate in 2014 to 78.3 percent in 2015. Midway was ranked No. 12 in 2015.
The OAG report also focused on the timeliness of international and domestic airline carriers.
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Delta's on-time performance rate was 84.29 percent in 2016, surpassing United's on-time performance rate of 80 percent, the report said.
That on-time performance rate put Delta in the No. 3 spot and United in sixth place on the list of most punctual North American carriers.
The No. 1 spot on the North American list went to Hawaiian Airlines, which also holds the top spot among global carriers with an on-time performance rate of 89.87 percent.
At an investor conference last year, United said it is trying to catch up to Delta when it comes to getting passengers and bags to their destinations on time. Currently, United takes about 6 percent longer than its competitors, officials said at the conference.
crshropshire@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @corilyns
Joe Espanol, left, works the counter at Honey Butter Fried Chicken in December 2015 in Chicago. The Avondale spot is among a number of restaurants across the country to sign onto a new "sanctuary restaurant" movement meant to offer safe workplaces for immigrants, Muslims and other communities they feel are under threat in the current political climate. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)
Chicago's Honey Butter Fried Chicken is among a couple of dozen restaurants across the country to sign onto a new "sanctuary restaurant" movement meant to offer safe workplaces for immigrants, Muslims and other communities they feel are under threat in the current political climate.
The movement is a joint project of ROC United, a national group that advocates for higher wages for restaurant workers, and Presente.org, whose mission is to "advance Latinx power" (Latinx is a gender-neutral alternative to Latino and Latina).
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According to a news release Wednesday, sanctuary restaurants do not allow harassment of individuals based on immigrant or refugee status or race, religion, gender or sexual orientation; participate in peer networks to exchange ideas for protecting targeted workers; and agree to place prominent signs that state "SANCTUARY RESTAURANTS: A Place At the Table for Everyone" at their establishments.
ROC United co-founder and co-director Saru Jayaraman said in the news release that restaurant workers "are on the front lines of discrimination and hate in America."
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"While the restaurant industry suffers from a labor shortage, anti-immigrant and sexist rhetoric is now commonplace. Sanctuary Restaurants seeks to create the world we want establishments free from hate and discrimination, where everyone has a seat at the table," Jayaraman said.
ROC in November had urged signatures for an open letter to President-elect Donald Trump penned by RAISE, its subgroup of supportive employers, asking him to alleviate fear of deportation and harassment of immigrant workers in the restaurant industry.
"We must retain each and every employee and we depend heavily, especially in metropolitan areas, on immigrant workers," the letter said. "Many have lived in this country for decades, paid taxes, and contributed to our industry; some acquire their own restaurants and provide even more jobs. The restaurant industry must maintain a robust pool of workers; we need immigrants and non-immigrants, and people of all races, religions, genders, and sexual orientations."
While it is unknown how immigration policy will take shape under Trump, blocking undocumented immigration was a major talking point of Trump's campaign, and reports of anti-immigrant hostilities in communities following his win have left some people fearful. Trump said after the election that he wants to deport people with criminal records who are in this country illegally , a number he put at 2 to 3 million, and one of his position papers suggests mandating E-Verify, a program for confirming a worker's legal status, for private employers nationwide.
The leisure and hospitality industry, of which restaurants are a part, is one of the largest employers of undocumented workers in the U.S., according to a Pew Research Center analysis of federal data.
Wednesday's release announcing the sanctuary restaurants movement said dozens of restaurants have signed on and listed a sample of 24, which included Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Colors restaurants in Detroit and New York. Honey Butter, a casual spot in the Avondale neighborhood, was the only Chicago restaurant on the list.
"It's a positive response to what at times has been not so productive or positive rhetoric in our national politics," said Honey Butter co-owner Josh Kulp, who offers his workers paid sick and parental leave and advocates for pro-worker policies. Uncertainty about the future has caused a lot of "fear and anxiety" among workers in the industry, he said, and "what we're trying to say to them and to our customers is that we're a safe haven, and we're a restaurant committed to putting our neighborhood and our community and our staff first."
"I hope that good businesses all over the country already do these things," Kulp added. "Sometimes it's important to make it clear, especially in times when you feel that not everyone is on that same page."
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aelejalderuiz@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @alexiaer
Sears Holdings is again tapping the pockets of CEO Edward Lampert.
The Hoffman Estates-based retailer said Wednesday that affiliates of Lampert's hedge fund, ESL Investments, agreed to loan the company up to $500 million, backed by mortgages on Sears' properties, to fund operations while it works to sell real estate to pay back debts.
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Sears will receive $321 million immediately and can draw up to $179 million more in the future.
"This Loan Facility will provide Sears Holdings with additional financial flexibility and support our operations as we meet all of our financial obligations," Jason Hollar, Sears' chief financial officer, said in a news release.
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It's the second time in a week that Lampert, Sears' biggest investor, has stepped in to fund the ailing retailer as it tries to slow shrinking sales and turn around losses.
Affiliates of Lampert's hedge fund gave the retailer a $200 million letter of credit that could be expanded to $500 million, Sears said last week.
Add it all up, and Lampert and his hedge fund have lent Sears more than $1 billion since September 2014.
Sears last month reported a $748 million loss in 2016's third quarter, with sales in Sears and Kmart stores open at least a year down 7.4 percent from the same period the previous year.
Lampert has said he wants to turn the struggling department store chain into a retailer with a smaller real estate footprint and stronger online sales.
Sears has turned to real estate for cash before. In 2015, it sold 235 stores to a real estate investment trust spinoff, Seritage Growth Properties, and raised $2.72 billion, Sears said at the time.
Sears still leases many of those stores, but has shut down some and shrunk its space at others, including an Oakbrook Center Sears.
Seritage disclosed 19 more Sears store closures in a separate regulatory filing Tuesday, with stores expected to close by April, according to Seritage. None are in the Chicago area, Sears said.
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lzumbach@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @laurenzumbach
After suffering from joint pain, Katlin Smith, now 28, took a hard look at her eating habits and opted for more whole, natural foods. She soon discovered a lack of options for prepared food especially baked goods without chemicals or additives.
In 2013, the Charlotte, N.C., native created Simple Mills, a natural baking-mix company that uses ingredients like almond flour and coconut sugar in place of common packaged-food ingredients including wheat and high-fructose corn syrup. All Simple Mills products are free of gluten, grains, soy and genetically modified ingredients.
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When the company was still in its infancy, Smith attended University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, where the concept won funding and cachet through the school's New Venture Challenge. Simple Mills which has grown to include crackers and frosting in addition to those baking mixes is now based in River North.
On Tuesday, Smith was named to Forbes magazine's "30 under 30" list and answered emailed questions for the Tribune about the company's progress. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Q: How have you grown from the early days?
A: Less than four years ago, we were a brand-new company and had no retail distribution at all. I got my first placements by baking my muffin mixes and taking samples to each Whole Foods store in Atlanta, where I was living. Today, our products are sold in over 6,500 stores.
In terms of online business, we started selling on Amazon in 2013 with three products. Since then, we have expanded our Amazon offerings (and) grown sales on that site alone by 375 percent.
Q: You just launched frosting. How long was that in development? What's next for the company?
A: We've had our eye on frosting for a while because consumers can use it in conjunction with our cake and muffin mixes, providing a complete clean-ingredient baking solution. Actual product development took about six months.
As soon as we had perfected our frosting recipes, we started working on two new product lines that we are launching this February. I can't tell you what they are yet.
Q: What ingredient has been the most difficult to source?
A: Pumpkin powder. Initially, all of the sources we found for this product had an ingredient list that included maltodextrin an additive that is typically made from corn. We rejected those options because corn is a digestive irritant for many consumers. We never use it. To solve the problem, we worked closely with one of our suppliers to create a product without maltodextrin. That product is now available in the market for us as well as other companies to use. This is one example of how a rising tide lifts all boats, which is exactly what we hope to do be a positive impact for the way that food is made.
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Q: What's the long-term goal as far as number of products?
A: We don't have a specific goal for number of products we'd like to develop. Instead we aim to fill holes in the market products that consumers need or are asking for, or where there are particular pain points for consumers.
Q: What has surprised you most about your growth and success?
A: The explosive growth of the natural foods category we're in. The food industry was a high-barrier market with powerful gatekeepers for decades. Less than 10 years ago, it was virtually impossible to break into food business and see the success so many young companies have today let alone to do so with natural and alternative ingredients as companies like Simple Mills use. We certainly expected the category to thrive, but the degree that high-growth food startups are changing the food supply and driving a new era in the industry is unprecedented.
sbomkamp@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @SamWillTravel
As president, Donald Trump won't be able to punish General Motors for building cars in Mexico without violating NAFTA. That may not stop him from taking an unprecedented step against an American company.
Trade experts agree that presidents have wide latitude to impose penalties on imports, at least temporarily, even if courts later find them unlawful.
Targeting a single company with a tariff as Trump threatened to do with GM in a tweet Tuesday is unheard of and barred under the North American Free Trade Agreement, according to trade experts. Punishing GM with a tariff on its Mexico-made cars -- or any other U.S. company that has shifted production there -- could prompt a Mexican response that would hurt U.S. exports and raise the price of all goods from the country.
"The notion of using emergency tariff-raising authority to influence the investment location decisions of a single company would be an unprecedented use of that authority and far beyond what Congress ever intended," said Edward Alden, a trade expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. "Turning those powers on a single U.S. company because you don't like its strategy just takes us to a whole new realm."
The Republican rattled automakers on Tuesday when he tweeted that he would make General Motors pay a "big border tax" on Chevy Cruze models manufactured in Mexico and shipped across the border to U.S. dealers. On the same day, GM's competitor, Ford, canceled plans to expand in Mexico and said it would add jobs in Michigan instead.
A GM spokesman said the company has imported to the U.S. only 4,500 of the Cruze hatchbacks it's manufactured in Mexico. Americans have bought about 190,000 Cruze sedans that were all built in Lordstown, Ohio, a second company spokesman said.
The mere threat of a tariff or other punishment may be enough for Trump to get what he wants. The president-elect has repeatedly used the bully pulpit to pressure companies to change their business plans since winning election Nov. 8, as when United Technologies Corp. unit Carrier announced in November it would keep open a furnace plant in Indianapolis instead of moving about 850 jobs to Mexico.
Doug Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office who is president of the right-leaning research group American Action Forum in Washington, said that Trump's GM tweet might be better understood as the "opening bid in the negotiations."
"A lot of this is about setting the agenda and getting people to talk about what he wants to talk about," Holtz-Eakin said. "It's not something that in the end generates great policy."
GM might be able to challenge any Trump tariff in court and win; the 1974 law that Trump would likely cite as the source of his trade authority allows presidents to target countries, not companies, said Gary Hufbauer, a researcher at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former U.S. government tax and trade official.
Trump has vowed to renegotiate the two-decade-old NAFTA, which bars the U.S. from assessing tariffs on goods made in Canada or Mexico. As president, Trump would have the power to withdraw from NAFTA entirely, though no president has abandoned a trade treaty since the 1800s. But even pulling out of the three-nation pact wouldn't necessarily enable Trump to ratchet up tariffs to 35 percent, the level he pledged during his campaign.
Duties on goods produced in Mexico would only rise to the rate for countries with "most favored nation" status in the U.S.: about 4 percent, said Doug Irwin, an economist and trade expert at Dartmouth College.
Trump could impose 15 percent duties for 100 days on GM's cars, claiming a "balance payments emergency," but that would fall short of the punishment he's threatened. Other fines, such as anti-dumping duties, require special and lengthy procedures to enact. For his 35 percent tariff to stick, Trump would likely have to ask Congress to include it in a broader overhaul of the U.S. tax code.
Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio publicly expressed unease with Trump's proposed GM tariff.
"If we do that it will end up hurting our consumers here because everything at Wal-Mart's going to go up dramatically because they'll retaliate against us," said Portman, a former U.S. trade representative and a member of the Senate Finance Committee.
Trump and House Republicans are aligned on much of their tax policy, but they differ starkly on how imports should be treated. Both want to lower the current top corporate income tax rate -- Trump to 15 percent and House Republicans to 20 percent. But the Republicans also propose a system known as "border adjustments" that would levy the 20 percent rate only on U.S. companies' domestic sales. Their exports would be untaxed, and their imported goods would be taxed at 20 percent, much lower than Trump's 35 percent tariff.
The Republicans' border-adjustments plan also "would probably violate NAFTA rules," said Steve Charnovitz, a professor of public international law at The George Washington University Law School.
Trump's tariffs would likely result in additional negative economic effects. If taxes on exports were not simultaneously eased, all U.S. companies that buy or sell things abroad would be harmed, said Alan Cole, an economist at the Tax Foundation in Washington.
"There are right ways and wrong ways of doing this," Cole said in an interview. "A tariff is discriminatory."
And focusing on specific companies could cause damage by creating uncertainty about the rules and how they apply, he said -- though Washington's influence industry may view that as upside.
"It just creates incentives for out-sized lobbying budgets," he said.
Bloomberg contributors: David Welch, Keith Naughton, Justin Sink and Steven T. Dennis.
January 4, Bishop of Rheims, Saint Rigobert, Rheims, Daily Saints, Bishop.
Source: Indcatholicnews.com
Roman martyrology: In the city of Reims, in Neustria (today France), saint Rigoberto, Bishop, having been expelled from its headquarters by Carlos Martel, against the provisions of the canons, led a humble life.
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Etymology: He who is admired by his power or acquisition.
SHORT BIOGRAPHY
This 8th century French Benedictine archbishop, is also known as Saint Robert of Rheims. After serving for a time as abbot of Orbais, he was appointed archbishop of Rheims. He was known for his kindness and ascetic nature. While bishop he lived in a small chamber over the city gates and had a ladder installed so he could easily get into the church to pray.
As a result of a dispute with Charles Martel, the powerful Frankish mayor of the palace, he was banished and the see was bestowed upon the prelate Muon. . While he was away, another was appointed bishop, when the matter was resolved and Rigobert returned to Reims, but to prevent scandal and dissention among the faithful, he did not try to recover his bishopric, and spent the rest of his days as a hermit.
Rigobert was long venerated as a model of patience and was credited with many miracles. One story describes how he was given a live goose to take home for his dinner. Rigobert put the bird in the arms of a servant-boy accompanying him. Along the way, as Rigobert was reciting the Divine Office, the bird broke free and flew away. The boy was very concerned about this mishap, but Rigobert comforted him, urging him to trust in God. When Rigobert resumed his prayers, the goose flew back to them. Thereafter, the archbishop kept the bird as a pet. The goose would walk with him to church and wait patiently for him while he celebrated Mass at an altar dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Rigobert died 743 and was buried in the Church of Saint-Thierry in Rheims.
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Sixty years ago the Chattanooga community created a program to assist children in need of positive role model companions. In 1956, the Chattanooga Pastors Association noticed the rise of juvenile delinquency due to the lack of male guidance. Big Brothers began when 50 male volunteers were matched to 50 boys. With support from the President of Big Brothers, Porter Warner Jr., and the agencys first Director Irvin Jacob Richmond, the organization achieved its charter on Jan. 3, 1957 and became Big Brothers Association of Chattanooga.
Big Sisters International merged with Big Brothers in 1977 to expand the services offered to boys and girls in Chattanooga and Northwest Georgia. During the past 60 years, over 21,000 youth in the Chattanooga and Northwest Georgia areas have been served through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Chattanooga.
"Big Brothers Big Sisters is the largest and oldest mentoring organization in the country. Locally, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Chattanooga serves children ages 6-18 in Bradley, Marion, Hamilton, Catoosa, Walker and Dade counties," officials said. "The mission of BBBS is to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported, one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever.
"By partnering with parents/guardians, volunteers an,d others in the community, BBBS holds itself accountable to its goal that all children in the program achieve higher aspirations, greater confidence, better relationships, avoidance of risky behaviors, and educational success.
"BBBS provides at-risk children with personalized, one-to-one mentoring relationships. Each child is carefully 'matched' with a caring adult mentor and is supported and monitored by a professional case manager. The agency ensures that all mentors go through a layered background check, training, and thorough screening/ interview process. Volunteers spend an average of four hours a month mentoring in one of our programs.
"Research and evidence show specifically that BBBS one-to-one mentoring helps at-risk youth overcome the many challenges they face, especially at a time in their lives when even small choices can change the course of their future."
For further information about Big Brothers Big Sisters, contact Ansley Kellermann at ansley@bbbschatt.org, or call 423-698-8017.
Bob Bovee will be in concert at Charles and Myrtle's Coffeehouse on Friday, Feb. 3, at 8 p.m. The coffeehouse is inside Christ Unity Church at 105 McBrien Road. There is a $10 suggested donation at the door.
Review for Bob Bovee:
A Nebraska native whose family sang and played the old-time songs, Bob Bovee now lives in the rural area of southeastern Minnesota. He plays guitar, harmonica, autoharp and banjo, sings and yodels, and is also a humorist and storyteller.
Performances include a liberal dose of traditional cowboy songs, many learned from his family, southern mountain music, blues and rags, and a varied assortment of songs picked up over his 45 years as a fulltime musician.
He has entertained audiences from the San Diego Folk Festival to Merlefest in North Carolina up to Winnipeg, Canada and across the sea for five tours in Europe.
The concert at Charles and Myrtle's Coffeehouse is is part of a five-week southern tour including performances in St. Louis, Memphis, Birmingham, Atlanta, Galax, Va., etc. For more information visit www.boveeheil.com.
Local writer Jan Hamilton Powell and Chattanooga native Leigh Neely have published their second novel with The Wild Rose Press, Awakening Magic by Neely Powell.
This is the first in a trilogy of paranormal novels about the Connelly witches, a modern-day coven that uses white magic to protect their North Georgia mountain hometown from an ancient curse and demonic forces.
Ms. Powell wrote 24 romance novels as Celeste Hamilton, and romance plays a role in this new collaboration with Ms. Neely. But the struggle between good and evil is at the heart of the story. The cowriters took inspiration from Practical Magic, and they cite authors Patricia Briggs and Charlaine Harris as influences.
Ms. Powell is a marketing/communications professional in Chattanooga, and Ms. Neely is managing editor of a regional publication in Leesburg, Fl. Awakening Magic is their second published novel, following Second Nature.
Both titles are available in digital and print formats from Amazon or thewildrosepress.com. For more information visit NeelyPowellAuthor.com and facebook.com/neelypowellauthor.
China National Petroleum Corp, one of the country's oil giants, has been invited to bid for Iran's crude and natural gas development projects as the Persian Gulf state seeks investments in energy.
CNPC, together with 28 other oil companies including Total SA, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PJSC Gazprom, are among the international companies that have qualified to bid for tenders, according to Iran's oil ministry.
If CNPC wins, the deal would be in the interests of both countries, reviving Iran's energy industry which has been hard hit by international sanctions while satisfying China, the world's second-largest economy, which has strong energy demand.
Iran is trying to fast-track projects to boost oil and gas production amid low prices and wants to sign agreements as soon as possible.
However, Alastair Syme, an oil analyst at Citigroup Inc in London, warned companies to be wary of investing too quickly or too much in Iran.
According to a senior engineer with CNPC, despite years of sanctions leading to a hammered economy and infrastructure, Iran, with the world's biggest natural gas reserves, estimated by BP Plc at 34 trillion cubic meters, still has significant strategic importance, with its substantial reserves of oil and gas.
Strategically located in the Middle East and sharing land borders with 15 nations, Iran also plays a crucial role in the Belt and Road Initiative as an energy hub, he said.
According to CNPC, the company has been present in Iran since 2004 and is engaged in oil and gas operations and oilfield services.
In 2009, the company signed contracts with National Iranian Oil Co to develop the North Azadegan Oilfield and the Phase 11 of the South Pars gas field, which began trial production in 2015.
Iran exported 500,000 to 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day to China in 2015, and the country recently signed a $4.8 billion natural gas development project with CNPC and Total.
Iran aims to attract more than $100 billion in foreign investment to boost the country's energy sector. Iran has doubled its exports as crude prices rallied.
Iran boosted oil output in 2016 by 870,000 barrels per day to 3.67 million bpd by November, and has reached several preliminary agreements with international companies, despite no concrete deals having been signed yet, Bloomberg said.
The country has set a target of daily output of 5.7 million bpd of crude and condensate early in the next decade, according to Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh.
A court in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Tuesday commuted the sentence of a woman, who had originally been sentenced to death, to life in prison for fraudulent fundraising.
The woman, Su Yenyu, was sentenced to death by the Erdos Intermediate People's Court and the higher people's court in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in 2013 for cheating investors out of 1.23 billion yuan (177 million U.S. dollars).
However, the Supreme People's Court remanded the case in March 2015, upon consideration that Su had surrendered herself to the police.
Erdos Intermediate People's Court retried the case publicly in July 2016 and commuted the sentence to life in prison Tuesday. She was also deprived of political rights for life, and all her personal property was confiscated.
Su began illegally raising money in 2006 and cheated investors out of 1.23 billion yuan, luring them with promises of high returns, and personally misappropriated 552 million yuan. She used the funds to invest in restaurants, health clubs, coal mines and farms, as well as to buy property, cars, lottery tickets and jewelry for herself.
She burned all documents related to her business between 2006 and October 2009 out of fear her illegal acts would be exposed. She surrendered to police on Sept. 20, 2011.
Ren Wenxiang, who supported Su's endeavors, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison and fined 500,000 yuan.
China will take countermeasures if an arms buildup by the United States in the South China Sea poses a security risk to Chinese territory, experts said on Tuesday regarding reports of US plans to deploy more weapons in the area.
The website of the US Navy Times newspaper reported on Dec 31 that the Nimitz class supercarrier USS Carl Vinson and its escorts, along with 7,500 sailors, are set to deploy late this week for a Western Pacific cruise.
In another report, the National Interest magazine said on Jan 1 that senior US Army and Pentagon strategists are considering ways to use existing weapons platforms in new waysincluding the possible placement of mobile artillery units in areas of the South China Sea to, if necessary, function as air-defense weapons to down rockets and cruise missiles.
The magazine said officials had made no decisions along those lines, but that it is "one of the things being considered".
"At the same time, Pentagon officials have publicly stated the US will continue 'freedom of navigation' exercises wherein Navy ships sail within 12 miles of territory claimed by the Chinese.
"In addition to these activities, it is entirely possible the US could also find ways to deploy more offensive and defensive weapons to the region," the article said.
"Apparently, the US military wants to find new approaches to the South China Sea to contain China," said Zhao Xiaozhuo, director at the Center on China-US Defense Relations at the People's Liberation Army Academy of Military Science.
"We will see how long the USS Carl Vinson will stay here. Is it just a cruise or a long stay or to hold exercises? And how far is it from the Chinese-occupied islands? We'll keep a close watch," he said.
Zhao said the reason to implement mobile artillery units would be to quickly intervene in any conflict near South China Sea islands.
Zhang Junshe, a senior researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said once US arms implementation in the South China Sea poses a threat to Chinese islands, facilities or personnel, "China will certainly take countermeasures".
On Monday, China's J-15 fighters, flying from the country's sole aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, conducted flight exercises in "complex sea conditions", the Chinese Navy said on its microblog that day.
The Liaoning and its accompanying fleet entered the Pacific through the Miyako Strait for the first time on Dec 25 for a routine exercise in the Western Pacific, the Navy said.
According to Hunan Economic TV Station, a transfer station for pigs fed pigs mud to increase their weight in Xiangtan, Hunan Province.
Pigs are sent to the transfer station at about 3:30 p.m..
The transfer station is located in a remote area in Yangjiaqiao Town, Xiangtan City, Hunan Province. A few hundred of pigs were sent to this transfer station at about 3 p.m. every day, then, after about two hours, screams from the pigs were heard by nearby residents.
The illegal pedlars used a pump to feed the pigs mud. It took only two minutes to fill a pig with mud. The pigs screamed during the entire process and some pigs collapsed afterwards.
Each pig can gain as much as 20 kilograms. According to the current market price of 11 yuan (US$1.6) per kilo, buyers can lose 220 yuan on each mud-filled pig. If a buyer purchases 50 pigs, then more than ten thousand yuan will be wasted. It costs only 10 yuan to fill each pig.
Officials from Xiangtan Animal Husbandry and Fishery Bureau investigated the transfer after receiving reports from the media. Some illegal pedlars have been arrested and the pigs have been seized.
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Two leading officials in the southwestern Chinese city of Panzhihua, Sichuan Province, were injured in a shooting incident on Wednesday morning, local authorities said.
The city's Party chief Zhang Yan and mayor Li Jianqin were injured around 10:50 a.m. when they were having a meeting at a local conference and exhibition center.
They have no life threatening injuries, the publicity department of Panzhihua city confirmed.
The suspect, who was identified as the city's land and resources chief Chen Zhongshu, committed suicide after the shooting.
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Chinese prosecutors have filed cases against four local officials on suspicion of taking bribes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said Wednesday.
Wang Fuqiang, former inspector of Tianjin investment and promotion office, was accused of taking bribes and has been transferred to public prosecution departments, a procuratorate statement said.
Lu Wang, former deputy director of Jizhou District people's congress of Tianjin, is being probed for taking bribes and placed under "coercive measures."
Li Yaoxin, former chairman of the supervisory board of INESA (Group), a state-owned enterprise with a mission to develop information technology and smart city construction, is being investigated for taking bribes and placed under "coercive measures."
Gao Yuqing, former Party chief of Shandong Academy of Governance, has been arrested on bribery charges.
Members of the city Industrial Development Board said they would keep a close eye on city efforts to collect a $13.1 million debt from General Electric, parent company of Alstom.
That came after Helen Burns Sharp, taxpayer advocate, asked for a progress report on the city effort.
City Attorney Wade Hinton said the city continues in negotiations with GE.
Alstom had been given $13.1 million in tax breaks, but closed the plant and did not follow through on job promises.
It was noted that Alstom did pay school taxes while the PILOT was in place.
In the final two weeks of 2016, Chinese diplomacy has scored an impressive hat-trick: normalization of relations with Norway, Mongolia's commitment not to allow Dalai Lama visits, and restoration of diplomatic ties with Sao Tome and Principe after the country cut relations with Taiwan.
This diplomatic treble was no accident. The seemingly unrelated cases share a similarity: recanting perceived challenges to China's core interests. They sent a strong signal to the world that the appeal of good Chinese diplomatic relations is rising and that respecting China's concerns is not empty talk.
The one-China principle, which concerns China's core interests and the feelings of its 1.3 billion people, is the unshakable basis for China to develop relations with other countries.
After Norway reaffirmed its commitment to the one-China principle and respect for China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, China agreed to resume free trade negotiations and to promote investment in the Nordic country.
The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize award to Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese criminal convicted of inciting subversion of state power, was an infamous decision by the Norwegian Nobel committee and resulted in China-Norway ties being frozen for six years.
Mongolia, learning lessons from the Dalai Lama's visit in November, promised never to allow such visits again, just one month later. Mongolia's move rings alarm bells for any countries that have contact with this political exile who attempts to split Tibet from China under the cloak religion and such a move will severely jeopardize ties with China.
The big strides prove that while China advocates mutual respect and win-win relationships when dealing with foreign countries, any country with a keen interest to develop relations with China needs to do the same.
China's international engagement has become increasingly proactive and pioneering. From garnering support of over 90 countries and 230 political parties on the so-called South China Sea arbitration to hosting the Hangzhou G20 Summit that gathered more than 30 world leaders, China is increasingly confident on the world stage and reaped a bumper diplomatic harvest in 2016.
Nonetheless, Westerners who cannot get accustomed to China's rising international status find China's diplomatic triumphs hard to swallow.
The claim that China uses economic leverage to achieve diplomatic successes makes no sense. Take the case of Sao Tome and Principe: Taiwan poached it from China with a considerable financial package in 1997, before that the African country had established diplomatic relations with China in 1975.
However, checkbook diplomacy is not at work in the resumption of China-Sao Tome and Principe ties.
China has made it crystal clear that it will never trade on the one-China principle with money. China knows that lavishing money will not lead to the long-term development of the poor island country.
After establishing a liaison office in Sao Tome and Principe in November 2013 for trade and cultural exchanges, China started to help improve the country's infrastructure. It now aims to help the country develop its economy through cooperation in tourism, agriculture and fishery.
Anyone who dares challenge China's red lines, especially the one-China principle, will pay the price. Countries with an ambiguous position are better off adopting a sober attitude rather than making a rod for their own backs.
The authors are Xinhua writers.
Flash
China firmly opposes any form of terrorism and is ready to work with Turkey and the international community to prevent and respond to the threat of terrorism, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Tuesday.
Geng made the remarks at a daily press briefing when asked to respond to an attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey in the early hours of the new year that killed at least 39 people.
Some media reports said the suspects in the New Year's attack may belong to East Turkistan terrorist forces.
In response, Geng said the result of the investigation is yet to be confirmed by Turkey.
However, he stressed that East Turkistan terrorist forces, led by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), are moving around Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, constituting a grave security menace to many countries and regions, including China.
China is ready to enhance coordination and cooperation with Turkey and the international community to jointly prevent and cope with the threats of terrorism to safeguard regional and world peace and security, said Geng.
After the attack, the Chinese Consulate General in Istanbul began an emergency mechanism and issued safety alerts on its website, warning overseas Chinese nationals about security hazards, he said.
There have been no reports of deaths or injuries of Chinese nationals in Istanbul so far, said Geng.
A gunman stormed into Reina nightclub early Sunday morning and shot at hundreds of people who had gathered there for New Year celebrations, leaving at least 39 dead and over 60 injured. Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin described the shooting spree as an act of terrorism.
A total of 12 suspects have been detained in Istanbul over their suspected links to the nightclub attack, press reports said.
Flash
Paul Ryan raises the gavel after being re-elected as House Speaker during the opening of the 115th U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., the United States, on Jan. 3, 2017. The 115th U.S. Congress convenes on Tuesday with Republican Paul Ryan re-elected as House Speaker as expected while outgoing Vice President Joe Biden presides over the old Senate chamber for the last time. [Photo/Xinhua]
Intense bipartisan fights are expected across the two-year 115th U.S. Congress sworn in Tuesday, which will be dominated by Republicans.
Republican lawmakers are urged to "buckle up" to lay the groundwork for incoming President-elect Donald Trump's action-packed first 100 days, while their Democratic counterparts are determined to defend outgoing President Barack Obama's legacy.
Inherent divide
Once Trump takes oath on Jan. 20 and after new senators are sworn in on Tuesday by Vice President Joe Biden and House members by Speaker Paul Ryan, Republicans will hold the White House and both chambers of Congress for the first time since early 2007.
Republicans will have a 52-48 advantage in the Senate and a hefty 241-194 majority in the House.
Since most legislation needs 60 votes in the Senate, the republicans still have to garner bipartisan support to fulfill their major policy tasks such as reforming the immigration system, passing spending bills, raising the federal borrowing limit as well as repealing and replacing the whole package of Obamacare.
The two mainstream parties now represent very different Americans.
Eighty-seven percent of House Republicans will be white men, who only account for 41 percent of House Democrats, according to the independent Cok Political Report. Blue-collar whites living across the Rust Belt are the key force that sent Trump to the White House.
In sharp comparison, the makeup of Democrats in the two chambers is much more racially diverse and largely metropolitan, including districts in and around cities and along the two coasts of the United States.
"The white working class completely left Democrats," Josh Huder, a senior fellow with the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University, was quoted by a Wall Street Journal report as saying.
Complicated agenda
Capitol Hill's January agenda, at least on the Republican side, is huge.
On the top of the GOP's to-do list will be votes to confirm many of Trump's cabinet picks and put the wheels in motion to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which became law in 2010 and has been seen as Obama's the most important component of his domestic policy legacy.
The Senate is expected to swiftly begin vetting and holding confirmation hearings for Trump's most controversial cabinet nominees, including ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, tapped by Trump to serve as secretary of state, and Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general.
So far Tillerson is the only pick under the spotlight of a handful of Republicans for his close ties with Russia. Lawmakers from the two parties are also eager to know how he will tangle with Russia when dealing with hot foreign policy issues such as Syria, Iran and a recent string of cyberattacks.
As early as this week, the new Congress will hold its first vote on whether to unlock a fast-track budget process, known as "reconciliation," as the first step to dismantle Obamacare, Senator majority leader Mitch McConnell said last month.
Under the rules of "reconciliation," there is no limit on repealing the items in the law that have a direct impact on the federal budget.
Therefore, Republicans could overcome a Democratic filibuster and use the procedure to pass the repeal in the Senate with a simple majority.
However, this is not technically an official repeal and it is unclear how many items of the bill will be swiped away and what the Republicans have planned for a replacement, analysts say.
Also on the Republican agenda is the so-called "midnight rules" bill aimed to axe Obama-era regulations, enact the "REINS Act" to curb executive branch regulatory powers, cut taxes and fill a long-vacant Supreme Court seat.
There will also be debate about how to pursue investigations into alleged Russian hacking during the U.S. presidential election. Trump has dismissed it as a partisan move aimed at diluting his presidency with repeated calls to "move on," but many Republican lawmakers including prominent Senator John McCain view it as a serious threat.
Big partisan fights
Though Democrats don't have the votes to block every bit of Republican legislation, they are lining up to fight nevertheless.
One day after the new Congress takes oath, Obama will visit Capitol Hill to "discuss fighting GOP plans to repeal (Obamacare)" with House and Senate Democrats, local media reported.
Democrats are preparing an aggressive public relations campaign to highlight how Obamacare has helped the 20 million now insured because of the law, and the other benefits such as better preventive care, said the reports.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, incoming Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders announced January 15 as a national "Our First Stand: Save Health Care" day of action for advocacy groups and Democrats to criticize Republicans for working to target the health care law.
"The ball is in their (Republicans') court," Pelosi said of the looming repealing of Obamacare during a Democratic conference call on Monday. "You break it, you own it."
Democrats are also expected to make robust grillings of Trump's cabinet picks at a series of high-profile committee hearings, in an attempt to draw contrasts with Republicans on key issues including the environment and foreign policy. They are expected to fight Trump's choices such as Sessions as attorney general and Tillerson as secretary of State.
"Republicans shouldn't expect their nominees to sail through if those nominees won't provide the disclosure that past nominees provided and that senators, and the American public, deserve," Matt House, a spokesman for Schumer, told CNN.
Though any confirmation delay would just be symbolic, if Democrats use the full amount of debate time allowed under Senate rules, then a vote on each nominee that would normally take place in one or two days could stretch out a week, local analysts say. That could mean it could take months to clear through all Trump's cabinet picks, and other priorities like repealing Obamacare could also be delayed.
In this regard, the Republicans need Democrat votes in the Senate, said McConnell one day after the Nov. 8 Election Day, emphasizing that Republican lawmakers can't read their sweep as a license "to push through a strictly partisan agenda."
"I don't think we should act as if we're going to be in the majority forever," said McConnell.
Flash
At least 13 members of the the Yemen-based al-Qaida branch and 10 soldiers were killed during heavy clashes in Yemen's southern province of Abyan on Tuesday, a military official told Xinhua.
The military official in Abyan said on condition of anonymity that the fighting broke out near al-Qaida hideouts in the Marakisha mountains of Abyan province.
The Yemeni military source said the newly-trained troops launched a surprise attack on al-Qaida hideouts in the area, sparking a gun battle that continued for two hours and 45 minutes.
"The troops supported by the Saudi-led Arab coalition will continue to conduct pursuit operations and intensify the conduct of military operations to kick al-Qaida militants out of Abyan's mountainous areas," he added.
A medical source confirmed that more than 13 al-Qaida gunmen and about 10 soldiers were killed during the armed confrontations between the two sides.
Elsewhere in Abyan province, suspected al-Qaida militants ambushed three vehicles of the government forces in the coastal town of Shoqra, leaving about 8 soldiers injured.
The Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces launched anti-terror offensives and drived out scores of gunmen linked to the al-Qaida and the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State from key neighborhoods and government compounds in Lahj and Abyan provinces during the past few months.
Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East.
The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), also known locally as Ansar al-Sharia, emerged in January 2009. It had claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks on Yemen's army and government institutions.
It took advantage of the current security vacuum and the ongoing civil war to expand its influence and seize more territories in Yemen's southern part.
Security in Yemen has deteriorated since March 2015, when war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by the Saudi-led Arab coalition.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes since then, half of them civilians.
Flash
The death toll of the airstrikes that targeted al-Qaida affiliates in northern Syria on Tuesday rose to 40, according to pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV.
The airstrikes, believed to have been carried out by the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition, targeted a headquarter of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham rebels, formerly known as al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, in the town of Sarmada in the northern province of Idlib near the Turkish borders, said the report.
It added that all those killed were rebels and commanders of the same group.
The airstrike wasn't the first this month, as similar offensive killed eight commanders of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham near Sarmada on Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor group.
Last July, the leaders of al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate Nusra Front said the rebel group had severed ties with the international terrorist organization in a bid to stop Russian and the U.S. airstrikes on opposition-held areas of the country.
Still, the group remained designated as a terrorist group by the international community and was excluded from a currently-underway nationwide ceasefire in Syria.
Flash
Iran denied on Tuesday that Lebanese Hezbollah militants will retreat from Syria, Tehran Times daily reported.
It is propaganda by enemies ill-disposed to the resistance movement in the region, Ali Akbar Velayati, the senior advisor of Iran's Supreme Leader, was quoted as saying.
"The news about the withdrawal of Hezbollah forces in Syria after the ceasefire is not true, but it is part of the enemies' propaganda claims," Velayati said in a joint press conference with the visiting former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday.
The Iranian official made the comments in reaction to the recent media reports that Tehran has backed down from its previous stances in Syria, including the status of Hezbollah militants in the country, after a tripartite meeting with Russia and Turkey in Moscow last month.
According to the report, Hezbollah officials have insisted that the militants of the Lebanese party would remain in Syria after the ceasefire.
Velayati stressed that the Islamic republic of Iran will continue to back the resistance fronts, including Hezbollah, "fully and continuously."
Flash
Responses from several corners to Pyongyang's nuclear forecast at the onset of 2017 may be an early sign of tensions to come on the Korean Peninsula.
Senior officials from the United States, Japan and South Korea will meet Thursday in Washington to discuss a trilateral approach to the Korean Peninsula's nuclear issue, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.
The meeting is scheduled several days after Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), said Sunday during his New Year's address that his country's preparations for launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) have "reached the final stage."
The State Department said the meeting with two of its top allies in the region will focus on "shared regional and global priorities, including our efforts to promote peace and stability."
The response reaffirms a desire for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as a top priority on the regional and global agenda. However, previous rounds of cooperation between those three have resulted in joint military exercises which have only incited Pyongyang. The time has come for a new approach.
The U.S., Japan and South Korea have failed to grasp the underlying causes that swiftly put an end to the six-party denuclearization talks years ago.
It should be remembered that in April 2009, due in part to the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise, Pyongyang tossed aside its promises for denuclearization in talks with Washington, Beijing, Moscow, Seoul and Tokyo.
Pyongyang also blamed U.S. hostility for its withdrawal at the time.
It blasted Washington for pushing for toughened United Nations sanctions in response to Pyongyang's nuclear tests. The DPRK says those tests are necessary to ensure its national security.
Without moves to address Pyongyang's security concerns, denuclearization is merely an elusive dream. How can the DPRK move forward when it has to constantly watch its back?
By now it should be clear: mounting pressure and punitive measures will not force Pyongyang back to the six-party talks.
The six-party talks have proven so far to be the only solution to the peninsula's nuclear issue. The talk's approach of balancing the concerns of all parties through dialogue is the only workable way to resolve this longstanding issue.
In his Monday response to Pyongyang via Twitter, incoming U.S. President Donald Trump added China to the fray by criticizing the country for being unhelpful in resolving the issue. But the president-elect ignores one crucial fact: Beijing proposed the six-party talks and advocates their resumption.
Moreover, Trump's aggressive remark towards Pyongyang indicates a zero-sum mentality that may kill any chance to restore talks.
Pyongyang "stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won't happen!" Trump tweeted.
On Trump's remarks, White House said Tuesday it will "let his team explain exactly what he means."
Trump's unpredictability and differences with the outgoing President Barack Obama on several issues are sure to add variables of uncertainty to a volatile nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.
In what has become an annual event, students in the registered nursing program at Chattanooga State sponsored a wellness health fair at the Chattanooga Community Kitchen prior to the end of the semester. At this years event, students from the dental hygiene and the massage therapy programs joined nursing students to serve more than 150 clients.
Attendees received hats, socks, gloves, blankets, shoulder and foot massages, dental supplies, blood pressure checks, and a variety of food items. In addition to services provided, numerous clothing items also were donated to the thrift store located at the center.
"All of this would not have been possible without the generous donations from businesses in the community, faculty from Chattanooga State, and students," officials said.
A student summarized the event, I believe the greatest gifts given today were those of smiling faces, time, and conversation. We were all touched by how thankful the homeless were for the gifts and services they received.
For more information about Nursing and Allied Health programs at Chattanooga State, call 423-697-4450 or visit https://www.chattanoogastate.edu/nursing-allied-health.
The Gospel Herald
By Leah Marieann Klett
Sep 01, 2016 10:58 am EDT
Zhang Kai, a Chinese Christian lawyer who was released in March after being detained while defending churches that were being forced to remove their crosses, has once again roused the ire of Communist authorities after publicly renouncing statements he was forced to make in an interview.
According to China Aid, Zhangs mother revealed on Wednesday that police surrounded her home and attempted to seize her son, angered that he had renounced statements he made during an interview earlier that month.
The report notes that officials had forced Zhang to attend the trial of lawyer Zhou Shifeng, after which he was pressured into condoning the governments treatment of human rights lawyers in an interview. However, last week, Zhang posted a video on WeChat, a popular social media service, refuting his statements and requesting the forgiveness of the lawyers family members. He explained that he had been under great duress after experiencing a six-month detention that was all black and no daylight.
Human rights lawyer Zhang Kai was originally apprehended
last August for legally representing about 100 churches
affected by an ongoing cross demolition campaign in Zhejiang
province. Reuters
As earlier reported, Zhang was originally apprehended last August for legally representing about 100 churches affected by an ongoing cross demolition campaign in Zhejiang province. At the time of his arrest, Zhang was advising a church in Wenzhou, a region known as Chinas Jerusalem due to its large Christian population, according to the New York Times.
Zhang was charged with gathering a crowd to disturb public order and stealing, spying, buying and illegally providing state secrets and intelligence to entities outside of China, prompting police to issue an order to place him under secret detention for up to six months.
In February, Zhang reappeared on state television, and confessed to his crimes, apparently under coercion. He admitted to encouraging Christians to come together to protect their rights after the authorities removed crosses from churches.
I really regret doing these things, I feel very remorseful, Zhang said. These things violated Chinas law and violated my personal integrity as a lawyer, and they harmed societal structure and national security.
Shortly thereafter, he received a criminal detention sentence, which was cut short when he was released on bail on March 23. Since then, he has been living with his family in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.
Following the televised confession, Bob Fu, China Aids director, denounced what he called the Communist Partys propaganda efforts but applauded Zhangs release: As a close friend of Zhang Kai, I am very pleased to hear this good news, although further details about the conditions of his release are still unknown.
Communist China officially guarantees freedom of religion though authorities are sometimes suspicious of religious groups. Experts believe there are a staggering 60 million Protestants in China, divided between official and unregistered churches.
Over the past year, up to 1,700 churches have been demolished or had their crosses removed in Zhejiang province, and a significant number of pastors and human rights lawyers have been arrested and imprisoned. Authorities in the region have said crosses are removed because they violate regulations against illegal structures, but rights groups say demolishing crosses restricts Christianity and religious freedoms.
ChinaAid Media Team
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Email: [email protected]
For more information, click here
Officials with the Erlanger Health System have been notified that HCA has formally withdrawn its appeal of the Certificate of Need granted to Erlanger last year for a new 88-bed behavioral health hospital in Chattanooga. HCA owns Parkridge Valley Child and Adolescent Services and Parkridge Valley Adult and Senior Services in Chattanooga.
HCA filed notice with the Office of the Tennessee Secretary of State and State of Tennessee, Health Services and Development Agency withdrawing its appeal of the Certificate of Need granted to Erlanger for construction of a new 88 bed behavioral health hospital in Chattanooga.
Community need for the new behavioral health facility was supported by overwhelming evidence, according to Joe Winick, senior vice president at Erlanger. Mr. Winick said he had filed three large boxes last month with thousands of pages of evidence demonstrating need for this project.
The new hospital, which will employ 200 staff members, is located at Holtzclaw and Citigo, and has an estimated project cost of $25 million. This project is a joint venture between Erlanger and Acadia Healthcare, based in Nashville.
Zoning for the project has already been approved. Kevin M. Spiegel, FACHE, Erlanger president and CEO, said he felt confident that a judge would ultimately rule in Erlangers favor given the need and because Erlanger is already the defacto provider of behavioral health services in this community.
This new hospital will greatly improve access to critically-needed mental health services, and enable Erlanger to improve the health of those in need throughout this region, Mr. Spiegel said.
Construction of the new hospital is expected to start in May.
Christian Today
James Macintyre
Published 04 January 2017
A Christian woman in China who was beaten repeatedly by officials and suffered two miscarriages as a result is in need of urgent cancer treatment that she cannot afford, according to a Christian charity.
China Aid reported that Huang Yan, a 47-year-old human rights defender, has been refused a necessary operation for her ovarian cancer, despite previously having undergone one in the autumn of 2013.
Huang Yan, a Chinese Christian human rights defender who
was beaten by the authorities, suffered two miscarriages and
now needs urgent treatment for cancer
China Aid
The non-profit organisation said that public security bureau officials beat Huang in 2010 and 2012 and she lost her unborn children both times. According to China Aid, during the second instance the officials burst into the bathroom, where she had just miscarried her child, and continued to abuse her.
At the time of that second attack, her husband was reportedly taken to the public security bureau and received injuries at the hands of the authorities.
Since then, Huang developed cancer on top of diabetes and other threatening conditions.
According to China Aid, Huang suspects that medical staff were pressured by government officials not to allow her treatment because of her human rights work with other Christians.
Recently, she arrived in a safe environment and is awaiting the approval of a medical visa to Taiwan, the charity said. If the Taiwanese government refuses to grant her a visa, she is in a location where she can receive medical treatment as a backup plan. However, she needs financial assistance in order to be able to have this important procedure.
China Aid is currently taking emergency donations on her behalf.
On 26 November, Huang was arrested on what China Aid called falsified charges of spreading false terrorist information.
Then, when she was transferred to Guangzhou No. 2 Detention Centrelate last year, her charge was changed to obstructing official business.
The charity reported that while Huang was imprisoned, she was treated at a military police hospital, where she was restrained with 23-pound and 15-pound shackles, subjected to 12 ultrasounds in four days, and coerced to take a drug. The 15-pound restraints remained on her ankles for so long that they began to bleed and waste away.
China Aid supports Chinese Christians who are persecuted for their faith like Huang Yan, and assists persecuted Christians in promoting religious freedom, human rights, and rule of law.
ChinaAid Media Team
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Email: [email protected]
For more information, click here
Huang Yan
(Photo: China Aid)
China Aid
(Midland, TexasJan. 3, 2017) A Christian human rights defender is in need of urgent cancer treatment that she cannot afford after a Chinese medical team canceled a critical operation.
Huang Yan, a 47-year-old Christian woman who has assisted many prisoners of conscience, including Gao Zhisheng, was refused a necessary operation for her ovarian cancer, despite previously having one in the fall of 2013.
Public security bureau officials beat Huang in 2010 and 2012, respectively, and she lost her unborn children both times. During the second instance, the officials burst into the bathroom, where she had just miscarried her child, and continued to abuse her. At that time, her husband was taken to the public security bureau and received injuries at the hands of the authorities.
As a result of the miscarriages, she contracted cancer. She also suffers from diabetes and other threatening conditions.
Huang suspects the medical staff were pressured by government officials to refuse her treatment, on account of her involvement with important Christians and other human rights activists.
Recently, she arrived in a safe environment and is awaiting the approval of a medical visa to Taiwan. If the Taiwanese government refuses to grant her a visa, she is in a location where she can receive medical treatment as a backup plan.
However, she needs financial assistance in order to be able to have this important procedure, and China Aid is currently taking emergency donations on her behalf.
Previously, on Nov. 26, 2015, authorities arrested Huang on falsified charges of spreading false terrorist information. When she was transferred to Guangzhou No. 2 Detention Center last year, her charge was changed to obstructing official business. While imprisoned, she was treated at a military police hospital, where she was restrained with 23-pound and 15-pound shackles, subjected to 12 ultrasounds in four days, and coerced to take a drug. The 15-pound restraints remained on her ankles for so long that they began to bleed and waste away.
Additionally, learned that officials beat three other Christian women incarcerated with her for holding a Bible study.
China Aid supports Chinese Christians who are persecuted for their faith like Huang Yan, and assists persecuted Christians in promoting religious freedom, human rights, and rule of law.
ChinaAid Media Team
Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985
Email: [email protected]
For more information, click here
China Aviation Daily | Jan. 04, 2017
The internationally-acclaimed full-service airline Hong Kong Airlines and Kenya Airways, the flag carrier of Kenya, have signed a codeshare agreement to enhance connectivity in Asia. Under the agreement, Kenya Airways will place its "KQ" code on Hong Kong Airlines' flights between Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) and Hong Kong (HKG).
The agreement allows the national carrier, Kenya Airways, to have a daily product between the two key business cities. The codeshare will provide new growth opportunities for both airlines' to work together to improve flight schedules options in the region.
Mr Li Dianchun, Chief Commercial Officer of Hong Kong Airlines said, "We are very glad to welcome Kenya Airways, a respectful international airline from Africa, as our latest codeshare partner. Hong Kong Airlines launched the route to Bangkok since 2010 and now the city has become one of our best connected destinations with 34 weekly flights currently. The codeshare enables passengers of Kenya Airways to choose from our flights between Hong Kong and Bangkok connecting their journey to and from Nairobi with much flexibility. We look forward to serving passengers from Kenya Airways on board with our Skytrax 4-star quality service."
Kenya Airways Group Managing Director and CEO Mr Mbuvi Ngunze said, "This partnership will enable us and Hong Kong Airlines to offer our customers seamless connection, especially for our passengers in the region who mainly travel to these Asian cities for business. Our guests will now be able to enjoy daily flights between Hong Kong and Nairobi up from the current three weekly flights."
Contributed by Hong Kong Airlines
Iranian oil workers at a refinery south of the capital Teheran. The country is wooing foreign investment in the energy sector. [Photo/Agencies]
China National Petroleum Corp, one of the country's oil giants, has been invited to bid for Iran's crude and natural gas development projects as the Persian Gulf state seeks investments in energy.
CNPC, together with 28 other oil companies including Total SA, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and PJSC Gazprom, are among the international companies that have qualified to bid for tenders, according to Iran's oil ministry.
If CNPC wins, the deal would be in the interests of both countries, reviving Iran's energy industry which has been hard hit by international sanctions while satisfying China, the world's second-largest economy, which has strong energy demand.
Iran is trying to fast-track projects to boost oil and gas production amid low prices and wants to sign agreements as soon as possible.
However, Alastair Syme, an oil analyst at Citigroup Inc in London, warned companies to be wary of investing too quickly or too much in Iran.
According to a senior engineer with CNPC, despite years of sanctions leading to a hammered economy and infrastructure, Iran, with the world's biggest natural gas reserves, estimated by BP Plc at 34 trillion cubic meters, still has significant strategic importance, with its substantial reserves of oil and gas.
Strategically located in the Middle East and sharing land borders with 15 nations, Iran also plays a crucial role in the Belt and Road Initiative as an energy hub, he said.
According to CNPC, the company has been present in Iran since 2004 and is engaged in oil and gas operations and oilfield services.
In 2009, the company signed contracts with National Iranian Oil Co to develop the North Azadegan Oilfield and the Phase 11 of the South Pars gas field, which began trial production in 2015.
Iran exported 500,000 to 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day to China in 2015, and the country recently signed a $4.8 billion natural gas development project with CNPC and Total.
Iran aims to attract more than $100 billion in foreign investment to boost the country's energy sector. Iran has doubled its exports as crude prices rallied.
Iran boosted oil output in 2016 by 870,000 barrels per day to 3.67 million bpd by November, and has reached several preliminary agreements with international companies, despite no concrete deals having been signed yet, Bloomberg said.
The country has set a target of daily output of 5.7 million bpd of crude and condensate early in the next decade, according to Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh.
A sales representative of roseonly arranges flower product samples at its outlet in Beijing. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]
Jewelry, perfumes, fashion, accessories... make for luxury brands, sure. But fragrant flowers like roses?
Definitely, said Pu Yi, founder and CEO of roseonly, a Beijing-based startup of 2013 vintage.
"Just like Tiffany in the US, and Mikimoto in Japan, roseonly is gradually becoming a new signature luxury brand embraced by the country's middle class. We want to become a homegrown Chinese luxury brand," said Pu.
That aspiration may sound ambitious but is realistic.
roseonlythat's how it spells its name, with a lower-case 'r'has blazed to unprecedented success in China selling premium roses imported from Ecuador in South America to upwardly mobile, newly wealthy upper middle-class consumers. Its bouquets are among the hottest gift choices among young Chinese.
roseonly's prices range from 999 yuan for an 11-rose bunch to 9,999 yuan for a 99-rose bouquet. The startup expects the sales in 2016 via outlets in multiple cities and online stores to reach around 250 million yuan ($35.86 million), up from 130 million yuan in 2015, 61 million yuan in 2014 and 14.6 million yuan in 2013. It expects sales to exceed 300 million yuan this year.
Clearly, annual sales revenue has been surging, probably due to roseonly's unique packaging and marketing, which emphasize not the imported roses but once-in-a-lifetime expression of love for one special person (who is, usually, the buyer's girlfriend, fiancee or wife).
Stated differently, roseonly stores information of buyers and bouquet recipients on a database at the time of purchase. This information cannot be changed later.
That would mean, a consumer can buy at roseonly only onceno repeat purchases by the same customer for different recipients are allowed.
roseonly's seemingly self-defeating strategy has paid offthe sales figures cited earlier are proof.
If more proof were needed, twice in recent months, roseonly witnessed sales surges. The latest one was during the Christmas-New Year week. "We've seen a 40 percent rise in sales during the Christmas season," Pu said.
The earlier spike was around the Qixi festival or the Chinese Valentine's Day in August.
"If my boyfriend buys me an expensive roseonly bouquet, that would contain more than a bunch of rosesit would signal his confession and a reassuring promise," said Wang Qin, 23, a Beijing resident.
Investors may have had a whiff of the scent of potential money in roses. Angels had chipped in with some funds two months after roseonly launched. Tencent, owner of the WeChat app, poured $10 million into the startup.
In 2014, IDG capital and Acccel Partners invested more than $10 million, followed by 190 million yuan from Genesis Capital, Prosperity Investment and Echo Capital.
All that money over the years has helped roseonly to open 28 outlets in Beijing, Shanghai and other first- and second-tier cities. It is the biggest flower vendor on Tmall, Alibaba's online marketplace.
The florist is now valued at $100 million, according to TechinAsia.
Not surprisingly, roseonly wants to go beyond the Chinese mainland. It plans to open shops in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Singapore in the years to come.
Pu describes the brand's target demographic as men and women between the ages 25 and 45, with stable incomes and an appreciation for high-quality goods or affordable luxuries.
According to a report by McKinsey, generational change and the rising prosperity of inland cities will power consumption for years to come.
By 2022, more than 75 percent of China's urban consumers will earn 60,000 yuan to 229,000 yuan ($9,000 to $34,000) a year, the McKinsey report said.
"There will be not only challenges but also plenty of opportunities for companies whose strategies reflect China's new constellation of rising incomes, shifting urban landscapes, and generational change," said Pu.
To ride the trend, roseonly has launched new offerings like bouquets of exotic flowers, which it bundles with jewelry pieces in exquisite gift packages. "We will expand the business to the high-end gift market," said Pu.
"We've so far come up with many love-related jewelry gifts like bracelets, necklaces and earrings, and will cooperate more with some of the world's renowned designers and celebrities.
"The jewelry market has more potential than the flower market, and the gift market has even more."
Most of roseonly's jewelry gifts are designed to be rose-related, and target young girls. It also sells tailor-made gifts during peak seasons, like a snowman necklace during Christmas and limited-edition designer jewelry associated with celebrities.
A courier en route to deliver packages in Beiing, Oct 11, 2014. [Photo/IC]
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has achieved one-third of its pledged goal of creating 100 million jobs in 20 years, as the e-commerce giant sees 2017 as a crucial year to "redefine the real economy".
The internet conglomerate, incorporating both its e-tail platforms and payment arm Ant Financial Services Group, paid 23.8 billion yuan ($3.42 billion) of tax in 2016 and has created a cumulative total of more than 30 million jobs since 2003, the Hangzhou-based firm said on Tuesday.
The figures echoed what company founder Jack Ma advocated as "blurring the lines" between real and virtual companies.
"A new form of economy has emerged to bring forth an enormous social effect. Alibaba will be a key player in this transformation," said Daniel Zhang, chief executive officer of Alibaba.
With China's employment rate surging, efforts by the likes of Alibaba in bringing employment flexibility into the economy should be well acknowledged, according to a report on job creation issued by Renmin University of China.
Alibaba also invested more than 100 billion yuan in traditional industries, from bricks-and-mortar retail malls like Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd to domestic couriers such as Shanghai YTO Express (Logistics) Co Ltd.
On the financial front, Ant Financial is empowering small and micro enterprises with easier access to loans. Its electronics payment platform Alipay has facilitated more than 600 million users globally to make payments and is quickly expanding into wealth management and credit scoring, based on big data backed by cloud technologies.
The cloud business, which is the latest area that Alibaba is actively venturing into, has maintained a three-digit growth rate over the past six quarters, making AliCloud in the same league as peer services such as Amazon.com Inc's AWS and Microsoft Corp's Azure.
PwC said that the value of IPOs in 2016 fell by 5.2 percent to 150.4 billion yuan ($21.6 billion). [Photo/IC]
The number of initial public offerings on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets is expected to increase rapidly in the current yearand their total value will grow substantiallyafter 227 took place in 2016, a 3.7 percent rise from the year earlier, according to accounting and auditing firm PwC.
The firm said that the value of IPOs in 2016 fell by 5.2 percent to 150.4 billion yuan ($21.6 billion).
Data released by PwC on Tuesday show that 103 IPOs were completed on the main board of Shanghai Stock Exchange with a value of 101.9 billion yuan in 2016and the number of IPOs completed on Shenzhen SME Board was 46 with a value of 22.7 billion yuan.
PwC said there has been a spurt in the number of IPOs since August, as the China Securities Regulatory Commission moved to accelerate the pace of listings.
"Due to global instability and IPO suspension and resumption in 2015, the A-share market was still in recovery mode in the first half of 2016, resulting in a moderate increase in IPOs from a low point," said Frank Lyn, a senior partner and the head of markets at PwC.
"Generally speaking, the second half of 2016 saw a stable market operation and accelerated IPO verification, which are expected to be sustained," he said.
Based on the figures in the second half of last year, Lyn forecast that the number of companies to complete IPOs on both stock markets would reach 320 to 350 in 2017 and the size of deals would hit 220 to 250 billion yuan.
The launch of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect will also attract international investors to the A-share market and increase their knowledge of the Chinese market and companies, said Wilson Chow, assurance partner at PwC China.
The sectors that dominated the number of IPOs on the main Shanghai and Shenzhen boards in 2016 were the retail, consumer goods and services, IT and telecommunications, as well as the financial service sectors.
PwC said also of note is the number of city and rural commercial banks lining up for IPOs, after the A-share market reopened its doors to commercial lenders after a regulatory halt since 2010.
Last year, Bank of Shanghai Co Ltd raised 10.7 billion yuan from its IPO, ranking first among its peers, followed by Bank of Jiangsu Co Ltd with 7.2 billion yuan.
The number of companies listed on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations market, also known as China's "New Third Board", experienced a rapid growth from 356 at the end of 2013 to 10,163 as of 2016, raising 116.5 billion yuan last year, according to PwC.
"By giving strong support to the New Third Board, the government is paving the way for IPO registration system reform," said Jean Sun, assurance partner of PwC China.
China has begun its first freight train service to London from Yiwu, a famed wholesale market town in the eastern province of Zhejiang, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The train will travel for 18 days over more than 12,000 kilometers to reach Britain from China, Xinhua said. It will pass through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France before arriving in London.
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron raised some eyebrows with allies by pitching Britain as the pre-eminent gateway to the West for investment from China and proposing to make London the main international trading center for offshore yuan.
Prime Minister Theresa May has said the relationship with China remains "golden" as she seeks to bring in billions of dollars in Chinese investment as Britain prepares to leave the European Union.
BEIJING - Coal consumption in Beijing has fallen by as much as 57 percent in the past three years, as the city works to curb smog, according to the municipal environmental watchdog.
Statistics released by the municipal environmental protection bureau on Tuesday show Beijing burned less than 10 million tonnes of coal in 2016, down from 23 million metric tons in 2013.
Emissions from coal are cited as a cause of the high concentration of breathable toxic particulate matter, known as PM 2.5, which causes smog.
Beijing's 21 million inhabitants used to rely heavily on coal for electricity and winter heating. Across China, coal remains the primary source of energy.
Li Kunsheng, a municipal environment official, said the city's urban districts have completely removed coal-burning furnaces used for heating. Last year, the city ordered 424,000 old vehicles off the road and closed 335 polluting factories. More than 4,000 companies were ordered to reshuffle their production operations to meet environmental standards.
Beijing has suffered from frequent winter smog in recent years, triggering widespread public concern. Government statistics show steady drops in sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, PM 10, and even PM 2.5, but not enough to end smog for good.
The city has been under thick smog since the beginning of 2017. It is not expected to disappear until Jan 7.
River City Sessions will be held Thursday, Jan. 12, at Granfalloon. It will feature the Bluegrass Band Connection 27, Webb Baringer and Corrie White. Admission is $5. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show begins at 7:30 p.m.
Review for the performers:
Connection 27 was formed in June of 2014. Its founding members are Jimmy Redden, John Shook, Tim Smith, and Jeff Graves. Doug Barron joined the band playing fiddle and adding vocals in December of 2015. Their inspirations are bands that have a drive and a feel that make you want to move in your seat, bands like Lonesome River Band, Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice, and Sideline. They strive to achieve a sound that is mainly a hard driving mix of traditional and progressive bluegrass and bluegrass gospel without going too far away from the roots of bluegrass. Three of the five members have been in professional touring bands in the past and they use that experience to arrange their music a certain way.
Stir up a pot of blues, folk and rock, top it off with homegrown lyrics, season it with a bit of harmonica and you have Webb Baringer. A talent from Chattanooga, he has blasted on the scene.
Poet Corrie White was on the show a few months ago and has been picked up by the Chattahatchie Review. She will do a reading, act as co-host and has a surprise cooked up.
RCS at The Hunter will be held Jan. 26 with Spirits of the Forest featuring Robin Burke, Holli Richey, and Michael Gray.
BUENOS AIRES - China will remain as an engine of global economic growth in 2017 due to its stability in an uncertain international context, said Argentine sociologist Josefina de Rosa.
China's "new normal" of economic growth has allowed its economy to grow steadily, de Rosa said, citing China's average growth of 6.7 percent in the first three quarters of 2016.
"The predicted hard landing did not happen," she said. "China's proposals...which were materialized at the Hangzhou G20 Summit, concerning the Belt and Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), are examples of its importance," de Rosa said.
According to the International Monetary Fund, China is the second largest economy in the world and the main export destination for over 100 economies.
The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, saw the development of infrastructure and railways in areas along its routes in 2016.
The AIIB, launched in late 2015, issued loans totaling $1.73 billion for nine infrastructure projects in seven countries in 2016.
Furthermore, China has actively pushed for the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and participants at the G20 summit held in September in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou reached important consensus on the agenda's implementation.
China has made economic stability its priority in 2017, De Rosa said.
"China will continue being an engine of global growth in 2017. Its stand for globalization and against protectionism are helpful, when other economies are facing uncertainties from a slow recovery," she noted.
BEIJING - China's state-run railway operator has released its major development targets for the year ahead, promising to boost investment, expand the network and increase the number of scheduled trains.
To help achieve its targets, it has been assigned a budget of 800 billion yuan ($115 billion) by the central government, the same as in 2016, according to statement released after China Railway Corp's (CRC) work conference Tuesday.
China aims to spend 3.5 trillion yuan on building railways during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), a vice minister of transport said Thursday.
Railways will generate gross revenue of 911.6 billion yuan, deliver over three billion passengers and 2.75 billion tons of cargo, CRC predicted.
This year, the country will add 2,100 km of track and electrify 4,000 km of railways, CRC added.
By the end of 2016, China had a 124,000 km railway network, featuring the world's largest high-speed rail network of more than 20,000 km. More than half of the 2.7-billion passenger trips were made on bullet trains.
While the vast network has enhanced connectivity in large swathes of the country, construction lags behind in the less developed western regions. The government wants to address this gap.
Much of this year's construction projects will happen in China's central and western regions, to support the wider poverty-relief campaign, CRC said.
CRC said it would also continue to improve its China-Europe freight train service, and overseas railroad projects under the Belt and Road initiative.
The trans-continental cargo link, or "China Railway Express," connects eastern and central Asia with Europe. Last year, 1,702 west-bound trains left China, a 109 percent year-on-year increase, CRC said.
Chinese smartphone vendors are achieving initial success in India, after they ramped up efforts to lure consumers during the largest festival in the world's fastest-growing smartphone market.
In October, Chinese players collectively accounted for a more than 40 percent market share in India's top 30 cities, research firm International Data Corp said in its latest report. India's largest festival, Diwali, fell during the month.
Xiaomi Corp climbed to third place, with a market share of 10.7 percent. That is up from 7.4 percent in the third quarter. Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's largest PC maker, also saw its market share rise to 13.4 percent from 9.6 percent.
"It was almost like a Chinese smartphone Diwali across all city tiers," Upasana Joshi, a senior market analyst at IDC India, said in the report.
"China-based players contributed significantly to the growth at the offline retail counters, while continuing to dominate the online channel."
The progress came after Chinese smartphone vendors doubled their investment in India, which surpassed the United States as the second-largest global smartphone market in terms of users in early 2016.
The country is on track to cross the mark of 500 million smartphone users within the next four years, research firm Counterpoint Technology Market Research estimated.
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd started assembling handsets in India in October.
Zhao Ming, a senior executive at Huawei, said: "India is a market no one can neglect and we have a long-term commitment to it."
Gionee Communications Equipment Co Ltd also said it would invest 495 million yuan ($73.8 million) to build smartphone plants in India.
Nicole Peng, research director at Shanghai-based consultancy Canalys, said Chinese smartphone makers are eyeing India for growth because the domestic market is reaching saturation point and the Indian market is similar to that in China several years ago, as it is filled with opportunities.
"Chinese players' efforts have started to bear fruit. But the Indian market is still dominated by low-end handsets, and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and local vendors have a strong advantage," Peng said.
A mother cuts instant noodles with her teeth, while her child opens her mouth waiting to be fed in a waiting lounge at Beijing West Railway station on Jan 18, 2006. Ting Hsin International Group recently announced that it is terminating its instant noodle brand 'Master Kong Taiwan'. Master Kong is one of the best-known types of instant noodles sold in China. This news triggers Chinese people to look back at their memories involving instant noodles. [Photo/VCG]
Official concedes improvement 'not huge enough' yet
Beijing experienced 12 more blue-sky days last year compared with 2015 and saw a 9.9 percent drop in the average daily concentration of PM2.5, according to data released on Tuesday, when the capital was again shrouded in thick smog.
The city had 198 "good air" days, while the number of "severely polluted" days fell by seven to 39, Zhang Dawei, director of pollution monitoring for the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, said at a news conference.
"Good air" days are those when the daily concentration of PM2.5airborne particles of 2.5 microns in diameter or smaller that are harmful to healthis below 75 micrograms per cubic meter, while "severely polluted" is higher than 150 mcg per cum.
The average level was 73 mcg per cum, down by 9.9 percent year-on-year, although that was still more than double the national standard set by the State Council.
The bureau's report said the reduction could be attributed to the government's strict controls on coal consumption, the phasing out of polluting vehicles and companies, and strengthened pollution monitoring.
Fang Li, the bureau's director, previously said the capital would take tough measures to cut the average level of PM2.5 to 60 in 2017.
The Temple of Heaven in Beijing is seen in this picture on Dec 29, 2016. [Photo/IC]
Meanwhile, Beijing experienced another bout of severe air pollution that started on Friday, prompting authorities to issue an orange alertthe second-highest level in a four-tier emergency response system. The smog was forecast to remain until Sunday.
Despite the data indicating an overall improvement in air quality, many Beijing residents were not convinced.
Li Xinying, 45, a stay-at-home mother, said she has had a severe cough during the New Year holiday, which she blamed on the worsened air quality. "It felt like we had more smoggy days in 2016 than in 2015," she said.
Yu Jianhua, the Beijing environmental bureau's chief engineer, conceded that the improvements made last year were "not huge enough" to change residents' perception of overall air quality.
Xie Shaodong, a professor of environmental sciences at Peking University, said that while the government's data is authentic, he understood why many people might believe little progress has been made. "When the PM2.5 concentration is higher than 35 mcg per cu m, any increase or reduction in concentration will make little difference in terms of visibility," he said.
Even if the PM2.5 reading fell from 100 to 50, visibility would in most cases stay below 15 kilometers, he said. "But if the reading is lower than 35, the reduction of every microgram per cubic meter would improve the visibility largely."
Xie said this is based on theories, widely agreed upon among global environmental experts, linking PM2.5 and visibility.
Beijing's efforts and contributions to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula are widely acknowledged by the international community, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday after US president-elect Donald Trump said China was not helping with the issue.
Analysts said China, which plays a key role in stabilizing the Korean Peninsula, should not be bypassed in resolving the Democratic People's Republic of Korea nuclear issue.
"China's efforts are widely recognized, and we hope all sides will avoid remarks and actions to escalate the situation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news conference.
His comment was in response to a tweet in which Trump criticized China on Monday, saying it was not being helpful in addressing the DPRK nuclear issue.
Trump tweeted, "China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the US in totally one-sided trade, but won't help with North Korea. Nice!"
DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un said in a televised New Year's Day speech that his country was about to test its first intercontinental ballistic missile.
On Monday, John Schindler, a former analyst for the US National Security Agency, said Trump's tweet was a big mistake, since China has sided with the United Nations to oppose the DPRK's nuclear programs.
In May, Trump said he would enter direct talks with Kim as a way to try to deter the country's development of nuclear weapons.
Shi Yinhong, director of the Center of US Studies of Renmin University of China, said it's unlikely that Trump would have direct talks with the DPRK after he takes office on Jan 20.
"What if the United States got nothing after Trump talks with Kim? It would be hard (for Trump) to explain away," he said, adding that Trump's remark on direct talks with Kim was merely an irresponsible political show during the election.
Zhang Jingquan, a professor of Northeast Asian studies at Jilin University, said that China's role is irreplaceable in stabilizing the Korean Peninsula, where there has been no serious conflict or confrontation for years.
"The DPRK nuclear issue cannot be resolved quickly," he said, adding that Trump should not bypass China to address the DPRK nuclear issue.
Males often spend more than girls as they seldom compare prices
Students pick up goods, which they purchased online, at Shanxi University of Finance and Economics on Oct 8.Wu Junjie / China News Service
College students in China prefer paying bills through mobile devices, a survey has found.
The study, conducted by China University Media Union and Ant Financial Services Group, collected consumption data from more than 10 million students from 4,000 universities and colleges.
According to the survey, 92 percent of those born in the 1990s used mobile payments in 2016, with each college student paying an average of 40,839 yuan ($5,900) through Alipay, a 97-percent increase from 2015.
Chen Lin, who studies at a university in Beijing, said she has been using mobile payments for a long time and uses cash on very few occasions, often carrying only 100 or 200 yuan on her.
"Almost all the shopping on and around campus, either buying food in the canteen or purchasing books and snacks at other stores, can be done with a cellphone and a campus card," she said, adding that even some of the most inconspicuous stalls agree to accept payment via mobile devices.
The survey also found that female students use e-payments more often than their male peers, though male students tended to spend more.
Hu Hao, a junior at a university in Shanghai, calculated that he spent about 16,000 yuan online purchases in 2016, accounting for about 70 percent of the total of his expenditures for the whole year.
He said that judging from his own experience, male college students seemed to spend more because they seldom compare prices.
"In addition, some male students may have to buy gifts or pay bills for their girlfriends, which may also be a reason why they spend more," Hu added.
Jin Xiaotong, deputy director of Jilin University Business School, said college students, most of whom are still not economically independent, should be particularly cautious with spending money.
They should plan in advance and learn to tell which things must be bought and which are not necessary, so that irrational consumption or a waste of resources could be avoided, she said.
Vegetable farmers prepare to board a train in Chenzhou, Hunan province, late last month. He Maofeng/For China Daily
China's railways are forecast to handle 3.025 billion passenger trips in 2017, China Railway Corp said on Tuesday during its annual meeting in Beijing.
That would put the railroads over 3 billion trips for the first time.
In 2016, 2.77 billion trips were made on China's railways, including 1.44 billion trips by high-speed trains, which is more than 52 percent of the total, said Lu Dongfu, general manager of China Railway Corp, the nation's railway operator.
The record for a single day was 14.43 million trips, during October's Golden Week holiday travel rush.
In 2016, over 60 percent of tickets were sold online, and more than 40 percent were bought via mobile phones.
This year, China will add 2,100 kilometers of track, 2,500 km of double-track rail lines and 4,000 km of electrified rail lines.
By the end of 2016, the nation's rail system had reached a total length of 124,000 km, including 22,000 km of high-speed railway, which is 65 percent of the world's total of high-speed rails.
Four major high-speed lines were opened in 2016: the Zhengzhou-Xuzhou Railway connecting Central and East China; the Chongqing-Wanzhou Railway, the first high-speed connection to the Three Gorges area; the Kunming-Guiyang Railway, completing the link from Shanghai to Kunming; and the Kunming-Baise Railway, completing Kunming's connection to Guangzhou.
The newly completed Kunming-Shanghai connection, at 2,252 km, is the longest of China's east-west lines.
China also continued to make technological improvements and innovative breakthroughs.
"Last year, China's railway companies developed bullet trains with a speed of 350 kilometers an hour," Lu said, noting that China has the rights to the technology.
The number of trains transporting goods between China and Europe also increased dramatically. In 2016, 1,702 trains transported goods between those markets, an increase of 109 percent from 2015.
On Jan 1, a train with a full load of Chinese goods departed from Yiwu in Zhejiang province headed for London, a new terminus point for trains from China.
The train will travel 18 days and more than 12,000 km to reach London's Barking station.
Goose Island Clybourn Brewpub Getting Major Renovation, Menu Overhaul
By Stephen Gossett in Food on Jan 3, 2017 11:38PM
(From Goose Island Clybourn's Facebook)
One of Chicago's longest-running and most iconic brewpubs is getting a major makeover. The Goose Island Clybourn brewpub is closing its doors for five months to undergo a considerable renovation effort and menu overhaul, according to Tribune beer reporter Josh Noel.
The renovation is the first of its kind for the brewpub since it opened way back in 1988, which in craft-beer years, places it roughly in the Mesozoic Eraalthough we personally never had an issue with its digs. The big, central, space-anchoring bar will be stripped down to provide a more open space; brewing tanks will replace the loft seating area; and a refurbished kitchen will be made open-view from the dining area. Expect a more contempo-industrial vibe all around.
Perhaps most exciting, however, is the news that acclaimed chef Paul Virant (Vie, in Western Springs, and Vistro, in Hinsdale) is assisting with a new menu.
Check out the full story from Noelwho is literally writing the book on Goose Islandhere; and take some time, if you have a moment, with his excellent coverage of Goose's "rare" controversy.
Guideline promotes fair access to the public good that is fundamental to social fairness
China will focus on promoting equal access to education, educational reforms and encouraging private investment to enter the field in the next five years, according to a guideline approved by the central government.
The guideline was approved at a State Council executive meeting, presided over by Premier Li Keqiang last Wednesday, on educational development under the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20).
The nation will continue to attach strategic importance, and give priority, to education as it has done before, a statement released after the meeting said.
The guideline said more resources will go to less-developed central and western regions, as well as poverty-stricken and border areas, while key universities will recruit more students from these regions. It targets ensuring equal access for students with disabilities, from impoverished families and those left behind by migrant-worker parents.
It also called for cooperation among contributors to the country's educational system, especially private investors. Non-profit schools and private schools will be granted differentiated favorable policies while the former will get more support. In addition, the meeting also called for big data and cloud computing to be utilized to promote the sharing of educational resources, the statement said.
The premier has reiterated on a number of occasions that rich human resources are one of China's biggest advantages, and education is a fundamental way to boost such an advantage. "And we should attach great importance and unwaveringly boost educational development to enhance social and economic development as well as economic transformation," he said at the meeting.
Education has been a priority for the central government, while equal access has been regarded as imperative for those in less-developed areas. The guideline may change the fact that an economic disparity between the east and the west has led to an educational discrepancy in these regions, said Xia Xueluan, a visiting professor of sociology at Sanya University in Hainan province.
As the country promotes Western China Development and economic transformation in central China, these areas will benefit more from funds while industrial upgrading demands a large amount of expertise, Xia said.
The guideline received positive feedback from teachers. Yang Shangen, deputy principal of Huangwei Middle School in Anqing city of East China's Anhui province, said students in rural areas will benefit from the guideline.
During recent decades, the government has provided increased funding to rural schools and teachers, including Yang's school that is located in a nationally-recognized impoverished county.
The school now has projectors and computers, both of which were considered luxuries before 2008. On top of this, teachers receive higher salaries of about 5,000 yuan ($724) per month, on average, approximating the average in the provincial capital of Hefei, Yang said.
"About 10 years ago, many young teachers left the school to join better-paid ones. At that time, my salary was only half of what it is this year," Yang said.
For many kids in rural areas, education is one of the few ways to change their destinies, Yang said. In Anhui, recent decades have seen thousands of locals migrate to big cities for better jobs, leaving their kids at home. For these parents, it will be a source of great pride if their children go to universities, Yang said.
His opinion was echoed by the premier, who has often cited a migrant worker he met in Northeast China's Jilin province last year to exemplify the significance of education.
The worker, Li Zhuobing, worked on a construction site with his wife in Changchun, Jilin's capital, and all the money they saved was used to support their son who was pursuing a bachelor's degree.
For many migrant worker families, education is an indispensible way to cultivate hope for the younger generation, Premier Li said on a visit to Shenzhen in October.
"Fair access to education is fundamental to social fairness and kids in every family should be granted better opportunities for higher-quality education," Li said at the meeting last Wednesday.
Documentary is intended to educate the public and warn discipline officers
After learning about the stepping down of numerous corrupt officials, the public is for the first time hearing from some of the disgraced discipline officials themselves in a cautionary tale for public servants.
A three-part anti-corruption documentary, produced by the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the country's top discipline watchdog, and China Central Television, began airing nightly on Tuesday at 8 pm on CCTV-1.
It comes right before an annual key meeting of the commission, which is expected to develop enhanced supervision and stricter rules for Party members.
"The TV series provides a first full look inside the stories of these corrupt discipline officials, including their luxurious lives lived at the public's expense and tearful expressions of regret, with analysis of their illegal behavior and ideological transformation, serving to educate the public and act as a strong warning to public servants," according to a statement by the commission on Tuesday.
It features the cases of 10 former senior anti-graft officials, including Zhu Mingguo, who was once in charge of fighting corruption in the southern Guangdong province, and Jin Daoming, former head of the discipline watchdog in North China's Shanxi province. Zhu received the death penalty with a two-year reprieve and Jin was sentenced to life in jail, both for taking bribes.
On Tuesday's episode, Wei Jian, former director of the CCDI's No 4 disciplinary inspection office, expressed remorse over his graft practices.
It's the second time the top anti-graft watchdog has filmed a TV series focusing on corruption.
In October, the commission aired an eight-part documentary that featured the cases of 10 former provincial or ministerial-level officials and one former State leader - Su Rong, former vice-chairman of China's top political advisory body - in a warning to public servants.
Last week, the top leadership held a meeting at which it was decided that a plenary session of the CCDI will be held in Beijing from Friday to Sunday.
At the meeting, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, the country's top decision-making body, required discipline officials at all levels to receive supervision from both inside the Party and from the public and media so as to build a clean team that the Party can rely upon and the people can trust.
Commission statistics show that since late 2012, 38 officials at the top anti-graft watchdog were punished for corruption. More than 7,200 anti-graft officers across the country were investigated for violating Party rules or corruption.
Broadcasting the TV series before an annual key meeting of the commission is "a good chance to educate people on anti-graft and the supervision system to promote building a clean and honest government," said Hong Daode, a law professor at China University of Political Science and Law.
"The priority is to clean up corruption and make the cases public to act as a warning. Making stricter Party rules will be an important issue during the key meeting," said Zheng Chuankai, a lawyer from the Beijing Lawyers Association, who specializes in handling graft cases.
"After watching the anti-graft stories, anti-graft officers will learn lessons and regulate their own behaviors according to the new rules, then strengthen efforts to investigate more graft cases," Zheng said.
According to the commission, the series' production team visited 15 provinces and regions to collect information on former top officials involved in corruption cases. They also interviewed 30 experts from home and abroad as well as anti-graft officers to further explain the cases and how they were handled.
Since the new leadership was elected in November 2012, anti-corruption has become a top priority in China and President Xi Jinping has conducted a sweeping drive to fight both high and low-ranking officials.
To date, more than 180 high-ranking officials have been investigated for graft issues, including Zhou Yongkang, a former top security chief, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2015.
A former official of China's Food and Drug Administration has been jailed for taking bribes from vaccine manufacturers, reports said on Tuesday.
Yin Hongzhang, former deputy director of the administration's drug testing center, received a 10-year sentence and was fined 500,000 yuan ($71,800) for taking bribes to help vaccine manufacturers gain approval for their drugs, Legal Evening News reported.
Yin's wife and son earlier received prison sentences for participating in the scheme and accepting property and bribes worth 3.56 million yuan, including ivory products worth 180,000 yuan, it said.
Yin was taken into custody in April 2015 and charged with taking payouts in relation to four biotech firms' efforts to obtain government permits for a variety of vaccines, including for SARS and avian flu.
The sentence follows the revelation in March last year of a massive vaccine scandal that enraged the public.
That case involved the improper storage, transport and sale of vaccines - many of them expired.
From 2010, the pair, a mother and daughter from Shandong province in eastern China, sold 25 different kinds of expired or improperly stored vaccines worth more than 570 million yuan ($88 million), Xinhua News Agency reported at the time.
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Chinese students were able to embrace and enjoy Shakespeare's works as the UK's Globe Education brought workshops to many schools in China.
"We were supporting Shakespeare Lives, a project which aims to bring the work of Shakespeare to students across the world," said Georghia Ellinas, head of learning at Globe Education.
"It is special because this year we are commemorating the death of Shakespeare 400 years ago, the same year that the great Chinese poet Tan Xianshu died. It is also special because we're working with students in a way which many of them have not experienced before," she added.
The arts education organization visited a number of Chinese schools in Tianjin, Jinan, Xi'an and Nanjing between Nov 28 and Dec 8, bringing Shakespeare to life for students by using teaching and rehearsal techniques from Shakespeare's Globe.
They run a series of workshops and classes to help Chinese students explore the language, imagery and themes of some of Shakespeare's most famous plays. The ages of Chinese students participating in workshops ranged from 9 to 22.
However, students are not sitting idly behind desks reading the plays as if they were books.
"We ask them to become actors, exploring and thinking about the plays as something to be performed. That makes students think harder about what the words mean, how they should be said, what impact they have on the audience, and how they can say them in different ways to prompt a different reaction," Ellinas explained.
One Chinese student whose English name is Vivian, from Northwestern Polytechnical University, enjoyed the workshop. "Great! First time I have ever had an experience like this, I feel like I understand Shakespeare for the first time," she said.
Dang Zhengsheng, vice principal of Xi'an International Studies University, said, "The Shakespeare Lives activity gave the university a precious opportunity to learn Shakespeare from real experts from the theatres Shakespeare worked in."
BEIJING -- Chinese prosecutors have filed cases against four local officials on suspicion of taking bribes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said Wednesday.
Wang Fuqiang, former inspector of Tianjin investment and promotion office, was accused of taking bribes and has been transferred to public prosecution departments, a procuratorate statement said.
Lu Wang, former deputy director of Jizhou District people's congress of Tianjin, is being probed for taking bribes and placed under "coercive measures."
Li Yaoxin, former chairman of the supervisory board of INESA (Group), a state-owned enterprise with a mission to develop information technology and smart city construction, is being investigated for taking bribes and placed under "coercive measures."
Gao Yuqing, former Party chief of Shandong Academy of Governance, has been arrested on bribery charges.
Police in Guangdong province confirmed on Wednesday that they have detained a woman captured on camera riding a motorized scooter over a child's legs.
The woman, identified only as Chen, 29, was taken into custody on Tuesday and has confessed to assault against a 6-year-old girl, according to a statement from Yangjiang city's public security bureau.
A police officer said that during interviews Chen had said she intended only to frighten the child, as she was "being naughty by laying on the ground and refusing to go home for dinner".
The girl was taken to hospital where doctors found injuries to both legs, the statement said.
Police launched an investigation after a video began to circulate online on Tuesday that showed a woman on a scooter riding over a girl's legs. The child was also seen being dragged along the ground by another child.
The incident took place in Yangjiang's Fuyuannan Road at about 2 pm.
Liang Jinhai, the city's vice-mayor and director of public security, gave the order for a task force to investigate the case, which led to Chens detention a day later.
According to the statement on Wednesday, Chen has phoned the child's father, identified as Ye, to apologize and is actively cooperating with police.
Police said Chen and the injured child's grandfather, 50, have lived together since 2014. They have a son together, age 2. Chen also has a 6-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
The victim was placed in the couple's care in April 2016 when Ye moved away for work in another city. Her mother had left after divorcing her father and has since remarried.
Ye has now returned home to look after his daughter, police said.
A stone lion on a bridge in Tianjin is covered with a mask in the heavy smog that has hit much of the country's northern regions. [Photo by TONG YU For China Daily]
A combination of pollution and heavy fog affected countless road, rail and air passengers across northern China on Wednesday.
By 4:30 pm, 154 flights had been canceled at Tianjin Binhai International Airport, with another 120 delayed. A total of 450 flights were scheduled to arrive and depart during the day.
The city also closed all 20 freeways due to low visibility in the morning, although half were reopened at 2 pm, according to the local transportation commission.
At Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport in Hebei province, 88 flights were canceled and 17 delayed as of noon on Wednesday.
All trans-provincial bus service from Beijing Capital International Airport was suspended.
Zhou Caixiang bought tickets to fly from Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, to her home city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province, weeks ago. However, on Wednesday she abandoned the plan due to heavy smog. The 26-year-old instead bought seats on the bullet train.
"It is better to spend hours on a train than waiting anxiously at an airport," she said, adding that the journey takes two hours by air and seven hours by high-speed rail.
At least 32 cities have issued red alerts for air pollution, the highest emergency response in the four-tiered system, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said.
The lingering smog has made Beijing extend its orange alert, which started on Dec 30, until Saturday.
Chicago Cop Who Killed Unarmed Man While Off-Duty Has Been Stripped Of Police Powers
By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jan 4, 2017 4:07PM
Screenshot / ABC7
The off-duty cop who fatally shot a Hermosa man during an argument Monday morning has been stripped of his police powers.
The 57-year-old officer, whose name has not been released, shot unarmed neighbor Jose Nieves, 38, multiple times, killing him. Nieves' sister, Angelica Nieves, has told reporters that the officer was a problem neighbor who pulled a weapon on Nieves in the past and prompted her to call 911 on him numerous times before. She said the officer was harassing Nieves's girlfriend while he was moving furniture Monday morning, and that he shot Nieves three times, once in the back.
The officer was stripped of his police powers by police chief Eddie Johnson "as part of the ongoing investigation," as police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Sun-Times. The department is investigating the shooting, which has been declared a homicide, in-tandem with the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates incidents of police misconduct.
Court records found by the Sun-Times show Nieves has been arrested at least 20 times on various charges including domestic battery, theft, burglary and assault, but only has one criminal convictiona 2012 conviction for marijuana possession and possession of a fake gunfor which he was sentenced to court supervision.
Nieves's death was the second shooting by Chicago police so far in 2017.
[Photo provided to China Daily]
Since first opened in 10 years ago, sake-themed Japanese restaurant chain Sake Manzo has always been very popular among Beijing diners, with its collection of more than 100 sakes and dependable Japanese cuisine.
Now, founder Taka Yamamoto, who is a renowned sake master, has opened a new branch at Tianshuiyuan area in Beijing.
The new branch is able to serve for more 150 diners at a seat with both public dining area and private rooms, and also has various high-end sake containers imported from Japan.
The menu in the new restaurant also includes sake hotpot, oyster delicacies, and grilled beef roll with sea urchin.
In January, the restaurant, together with other dozens of Japanese restaurants in Beijing, will offer diners special sakes to celebrate the coming of a new spring.
If you go:
6 pm to midnight. 6 Daojiayuan Street, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-8770-8767.
[Photo provided to China Daily]
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UK real estate a magnet for HK, mainland investors Updated: 2017-01-04 07:47 By Oswald Chan in Hong Kong(HK Edition)
Contrary to expectations, institutional investors and private family offices from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland are stepping up their exposure to properties in the United Kingdom, which is seen as a safe haven that offers stable cash-flow returns deemed important in a highly uncertain global investment market.
While Britain's shock decision in June last year to abandon the European Union has not put off global capital flooding the country's homes market, investors are also cashing in on the UK's status as a renowned tourist attraction and mainland retailers' growing presence there.
Real-estate analysts said there was abundant market liquidity last year as institutional investors poured their money into properties.
A bus with an advertisement featuring a design depicting the Union Jack, passes the Bank of England in the City of London. Institutional investors from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland remain confident and have plowed money into the UK real estate despite Britain's vote to exit the European Union in June last year. Luke MacGregor / Bloomberg
According to global real-estate advisory firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), the Chinese mainland overtook the United States to become the largest cross-border real-estate investor in the third quarter of 2016, having invested nearly $18 billion in commercial property assets worldwide in the first three quarters of the year.
"Investing overseas is a strategic move for most mainland investors and we expect few long-term structural changes," said Stuart Crow, JLL's head of Asia Pacific Capital Markets. "The trend of mainland capital being sunk into real estate has not abated, and will further gather momentum due to the mainland's enormous capital base."
Another real-estate advisory firm DTZ/Cushman & Wakefield said close to 74 percent of respondents in a recent survey, in fact, felt that post-Brexit represents a good opportunity to invest in UK properties in the next five years.
The poll on Chinese outbound investors' intentions in 2016 was aimed at gauging mainland investors' perceptions of overseas property investments.
The investors surveyed said that, on average, they currently allocate 10 percent of their total overseas funds to the UK property market.
In dollar terms, the UK's property market accounted for 6 percent of mainland outbound investments by transaction value in the first eight months of last year, according to data from Real Capital Analytics - a global real-estate analysis firm.
Besides mainland investors, those from Hong Kong are also very much attracted to investing in various forms of properties in the UK, especially after the Brexit vote, which caused the sterling exchange rate to plummet, rendering UK property investments cheap.
Among various property sectors, institutional investors and Hong Kong-based family offices are increasingly interested in the UK's retail property segment, taking advantage of the country's popularity as a major international tourist destination.
New West End Company Group (NWECG), which represents more than 600 retail businesses located in over 25 streets in London, including Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street, has so far drawn more than HK$8 million from Hong Kong investors. After having received an upfront investment, the company will deliver management and marketing services, as well as public realm enhancement in the shopping district.
"Some 12 percent of retail properties located in London's West End area are owned by Hong Kong institutional and private investors, underscoring robust demand for UK retail properties, with rental yield from properties in the UK higher than Hong Kong's," David Shaw, property steering group chairman at NWECG, told China Daily.
With the projected opening of the London metro's Elizabeth Line late next year, the West End shopping district is expected to attract 260 million visitors each year by 2020 - up 30 percent, compared with the current annual figure of 200 million visitors.
This retail shopping area is tipped to contribute 11 billion pounds to the UK's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, according to NWECG.
An additional 2.5 million square feet of new and refurbished commercial facilities is also due for completion by the end of 2018. Last year, more than 40 new stores opened in the West End area.
Another key asset in UK retail property investment is the increased desire of mainland retailers to establish their presence in UK retail areas.
"Attracting investments from overseas retailers and property investors in London's West End is an important new focus of our business. We envisage different spectrums of Chinese mainland retailers making their footprint in the West End region," said NWECG Chief Executive Jace Tyrrell.
During last year's Chinese "Golden Week" holidays in September, sales generated in the West End shopping district skyrocketed 300 percent, compared to the same period in 2015. Mainland visitors pump about 337 million pounds in additional revenue into the UK's GDP every year, NWECG data showed.
Hong Kong and mainland property investors, however, have been warned of the business risks associated with the cyclical nature of retail-property investment.
"The UK property market is a cyclical one which is determined by occupation demand, investment appetite for income streams; as well as demand for and supply of retail space," Shaw cautioned. "If there're any political and economic uncertainties, the market could result in a material correction."
DTZ/Cushman &Wakefield said mainland investors it had surveyed are not interested in the UK's retail and leisure properties, while 80 percent of them are interested in office assets as this segment offers stable cash flow due to the typical long-lease period and straightforward asset management in office property investment.
oswald@chinadailyhk.com
(HK Edition 01/04/2017 page9)
China-Russia-Mongolia sci-fi paintings on display
By Zhao Xiao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2017-01-03
An exhibition to showcase sci-fi paintings by teenagers from China, Russia and Mongolia was recently held at Inner Mongolia Science Museum, Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
Officials address the opening ceremony of the China-Russia-Mongolia Teenager Science Fiction Paintings Exhibition held at Inner Mongolia Science Museum, Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/Inner Mongolia Science Museum]
The exhibition aimed to highlight the artwork exchanges of teenagers from China, Russia, and Mongolia in science imagination.
The exhibition contained over 600 sci-fi paintings, which showcased the influence that modern science and technology has had on human beings in the transformation of living environments and peoples lifestyles.
Officials from the Mongolia Artists Association, the Information Office of Inner Mongolia Peoples Government, and the Inner Mongolia Science and Technology Association attended the event.
In line with the Belt and Road Initiative, the event aimed to enhance the cultural exchange among young people from China, Russia and Mongolia, especially in sectors of science education and art creation. Through the event, teenagers themselves from the three countries have played a role in improving cultural communication, according to Sun Junqing, president of the Inner Mongolia Science and Technology Association.
During the event, officials and young representatives visited the painting display at Inner Mongolia Science Museum.
A girl views paintings by teenagers from China, Russia and Mongolia exhibited at Inner Mongolia Science Museum, Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/Inner Mongolia Science Museum]
US President-elect Donald Trump pauses as he talks to members of the media at Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, US, December 21, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
US president-elect Donald Trump has not moderated his anti-trade tone since winning the election. Instead, he has upped the ante and fired a series of early warning shots in what could turn into a full-blown global trade war, with disastrous consequences for the United States and the rest of the world.
Consider Trump's key personnel decisions. Industrialist Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary-designate, has been vocal in his desire to abrogate the US' "dumb" trade deals. Peter Navarro, an economics professor at the University of California-Irvine, will be the director of the National Trade Councila new White House policy shop to be set up on a par with the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. Navarro is one of the US' most extreme China hawks. The titles of his two recent books, Death by China (2011) and Crouching Tiger: What China's Militarism Means for the World (2015)speak volumes about his tabloid-level biases.
Trump has made it clear that he will immediately withdraw the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreementin keeping with Ross' criticism of the US' trade deals. And there seems little doubt that his administration will follow Navarro's prescription and take dead aim at China, the US' largest and most powerful trading partner.
Of course, Trump may simply be talking tough, in order to put China and the world on notice. But while such tough talk played well with voters, it fails a key reality check: the US' large trade deficita visible manifestation of its low savingscalls into question the very notion of economic strength. A significant domestic savings deficit, such as that which afflicts the US, accounts for the US' insatiable appetite for surplus savings from abroad, which in turn spawns its chronic current-account deficit and a massive trade deficit.
Dealmakers who try to address this macroeconomic problem one country at a time cannot possibly succeed: the US had trade deficits with 101 countries in 2015. Unless the source of the problema savings shortfall that is likely to worsen in the face of Trump's inevitable widening of federal budget deficitsis addressed, the US' current account and trade deficits will only widen. Squeezing China would merely shift the trade imbalance to other countries.
But the story doesn't end there. The Trump administration is playing with live ammunition, implying profound, global repercussions. Nowhere is this more evident than in the likely Chinese response to the US' new muscle-flexing. The Trump team is dismissive of China's reaction to its threatsbelieving that the US has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Alas, that may not be the case. Like it or not, the US and China are locked in a codependent economic relationship. Yes, China depends on US demand for its exports, but the US also depends on China: the Chinese own over $1.5 trillion in US Treasury securities and other US dollar-based assets. Moreover, China is the US' third-largest export market and the one that is expanding most rapidlyhardly inconsequential for a growth-starved US economy. It is foolish to think that the US holds all the cards in this bilateral economic relationship.
Codependency is a very reactive connection. If the US goes after China, it must also face the consequences. On the economic front, that spells the possibility of reciprocal tariffs on US exports to China, as well as potential ramifications for Chinese purchases of Treasuries. And other countriestightly linked to China through global supply chainsmay well impose countervailing tariffs of their own.
Global trade wars are rare. But, like military conflicts, they often start with accidental skirmishes or misunderstandings. More than 85 years ago, US Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis Hawley fired the first shot in sponsoring the Tariff Act of 1930. That led to a catastrophic global trade war, which many believe turned a serious recession into the Great Depression.
It is the height of folly to ignore the lessons of history. For today's savings-short, deficit-prone US economy, it will take far more than China-bashing to make the US great again. Turning trade into a weapon of mass economic destruction could be a policy blunder of epic proportions.
The author, a faculty member at Yale University and former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, is the author of Unbalanced: The Codependency of America and China.
Project Syndicate
Construction on a bridge is under way in Nantong, East china's Jiangsu province, on August 1, 2016. [Photo/IC]
This year is significant in China's political calendar as the 19th Communist Party of China National Congress will convene in Beijing in the second half of this year. The whole world will be paying close attention as the 2,300 delegates, chosen by over 88 million Party members, assemble to elect a new Central Committee.
It is expected that by then there will have been further elaboration on how the Party will strictly govern itself and how it will navigate the complex external and internal environments to lead the country toward the realization of the two centenary goals: the doubling of China's GDP and per-capita income 2010 levels by 2020, and the building of a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious by the middle of this century.
To achieve these two goals the economy needs to be rebalanced, and problems regarding reform, development and stability have to be overcome to achieve innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development.
China's decades-long reform drive is now in the deep-water zone as the easier reforms have been accomplished and the remaining reforms are hard nuts to crack. However, the leadership of the CPC Central Committee, with Xi Jinping as the core, has demonstrated it has the will and resolve to push forward the necessary reforms.
Extensive supply-side structural reform, including reducing pollution and phasing out excess capacity, is being advanced, and State Council agencies have already canceled or delegated administrative approval for 618 items, in a bid to invigorate the economy by cutting red tape and streamlining governance.
Breakthroughs have also been made in judicial reform, fiscal and tax reform, reform of State-owned enterprises, and reform of the military, where a tiered command system including the Central Military Commission and five theater commands have been established.
The results are encouraging. Today, China is one of the world's fastest growing major economies and a top trading body. It boasts a strong military of over 2 million people and is the biggest contributor to international peacekeeping personnel among the permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Its rural population living in poverty decreased from 770 million to 55.75 million between 1978 and 2015, and another 10 million were lifted out of poverty last year. The leadership aims to lift all people out of poverty in the country by 2020.
At the same time, the Party's battle against corruption has maintained its momentum, demonstrating as Xi has said that: "All people are equal before the law and regulations, and the enforcement of such rules allow no privilege or exception."
China is also moving closer to the center of the world stage. Xi's vision and efforts toward a fairer global governance system and a new type of international relations featuring win-win cooperation, as well as his busy globetrotting51 countries in 24 trips in about four yearshave helped create an open, inclusive and responsible image for China on the international stage.
The Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road proposed by Xi in 2013 are being participated in by more than 100 countries and international organizations. While China's initiative to provide funding for the needed infrastructure in the region, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, has been launched with 57 members.
Xi has also set a new global agenda for peace, progress, prosperity with his proposal that all countries work together to build a community of shared destiny for all humankind.
This year will see China further build on these achievements and take further steps toward the two centenary goals.
Xinhua News Agency
WANG XIAOYING/CHINA DAILY
Beijing and Shanghai enacted rules on car-hailing services at the end of December, keeping most of the strict requirements of the previous drafts. Drivers hired by car-hailing platforms such as Didi Chuxing are still required to have local household registration and their vehicles must have local license plates.
But some changes have been made in the rules. In Beijing, the standard for engine displacement has been lowered from 2 liters to 1.8 liters, and the wheelbase requirement is down from 270 cm to 265 cm. Drivers in the capital have been given five months to make sure they and their cars meet the requirements.
But just 10.7 percent of the Didi drivers in Beijing are permanent residents of the capital and less than 10 percent of Shanghai's ride-sharing drivers can meet the new standards, according to reports. In Beijing's case, non-local drivers are automatically disqualified from applying for the car-hailing driving tests, which all applicants have to pass to stay in or enter the business.
Shock waves are yet to be felt, but a few things are worth noting. Some ineligible drivers in Shanghai, who do not have the five-month "transition period", were caught offering car-hailing services to passengers four days after the new regulation came into effect. When asked, they said they had not been informed of the new restrictions even by the car-hailing platforms they work for.
Illegal yet legitimate-looking taxis at the Beijing Capital International Airport are another cause for concern. A recent report said that apart from picking up passengers from restricted areas and ripping them off, many unauthorized drivers pay 1,200 yuan ($173) to the taxi coordinators a month in exchange for the "luxury" of cutting the line.
This dirty business driven by power-money exchanges must be thwarted. But the new ride-sharing regulations in many Chinese cities, Beijing and Shanghai included, may force the burgeoning market into the "rule of the jungle" again.
It is estimated that more than 100,000 illegal taxis still ply the roads of Beijing and pick up passengers from train stations and airports despite years of crackdown on them. But there are only about 60,000 authorized taxis in Beijing, and some registered taxi drivers, at times, refuse to go to the airport terminals because they cannot compete with those who have paid coordinators off to receive preferential treatment. Ride-sharing cars are not allowed to even go there according to the new rules.
Given the continually growing demand for car-on-demand services and the past failures to rein in illegal taxis, the legalized car-hailing market is unlikely to shrink, raising a question mark on the implementation of the new rules. With an expected fall in the number of eligible online-hailing cars, public transport authorities and ride-sharing platforms are likely to feel the pain sooner than later.
In particular, cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, where the new rules came into immediate effect, may face more troubles because illegitimate drivers and enthusiastic passengers are likely to continue bypassing the restrictions.
Overcrowded mega-cities do need to keep a tighter rein on the local population. They also have good reasons to demand that car-hailing services are run by local residents for security and management concerns. But a better alternative would be industrial transformation and relocation rather than squeezing non-local drivers and cars out of the competition.
Zhu Wei is deputy director of the Communication Law Center at China University of Political Science and Law. The article is an excerpt from his interview with China Daily's Cui Shoufeng.
Democratic People's Republic of Korea launches a long range rocket launched into the air in this file still image taken from KRT video footage, released by Yonhap on February 7, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
US president-elect Donald Trump has adopted a belligerent tone whenever he talks about Chinahis equivalent of Pinocchio's nose, perhapsand his latest bid to tar China with the brush of responsibility for seemingly any and every issue that catches his attention was no exception.
"China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the US in totally one-sided trade, but won't help with North Korea. Nice!" he tweeted on Monday.
Such accusations are deliberately manipulative, and bode ill for ties between the world's top two economies, each being the other's biggest trading partner.
Trade between China and the United States, nearly $560 billion last year, has thrived on mutual benefits as the two economies are complementary to each other. It is not a favor given by one to the other.
And, contrary to what Trump claimed, China has always played an active and responsible role in trying to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
It has worked with the US and other countries to impose UN mandated sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and send a strong and united response to Pyongyang's provocative moves.
Most recently, China, together with the US, voted in favor of a UN resolution in December to tighten sanctions on the DPRK after its fifth nuclear test in September.
Trump also conveniently neglected to mention that the hostile stance of the US and its Asian allies toward the DPRK has only increased the DPRK's fears about its survival. And their aggressive moves, such as the planned deployment of the US' Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system in the Republic of Korea and large-scale joint military exercises, have only fueled Pyongyang's desire to accelerate its nuclear weapons program.
Rather than accusing China of not doing enough to help the US with its strategic aims on the Korean Peninsula and reinforcing the DPRK's survival fears, Trump would do better to heed his own words and leverage his image as a maverick to engage in talks with Pyongyang.
The DPRK regards a nuclear deterrent as crucial to ensure its survival, the only way to change that belief and secure stability on the peninsula is for the incoming Trump administration to alter the US' approach and help find a peaceful and permanent solution through the Six-Party Talks.
A farmer leans on his shovel as he takes a break from turning soil to plant crops in the town of Tianying, Anhui province, in this file photo dated November 19, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]
Half a year after the State Council, China's Cabinet, issued a national soil pollution prevention action plan, the Guangdong provincial government in South China has published a detailed implementation plan on its website. Southern Metropolis Daily comments:
China has experienced rapid economic growth since the early 1980s, but the harmful side effects of that growth have become increasingly evident. One of those unwanted side effects is soil pollution.
Official data show that 16.1 percent of the soil nationwide is affected, of which 1.1 percent is heavily polluted. And heavy metals are major contaminants that not only harm the ecology, but also pose potential threats to the health of residents.
Especially, in relatively industrialized regions such as the Pearl River Delta, located in Guangdong province, many plants have moved away after having polluted the soil.
The central government has been paying ample attention to the problem of soil pollution. In June, a milestone national soil pollution prevention action plan was passed.
The 2016 national budget for the treatment of soil pollution is 9.1 billion yuan ($1.3 billion), almost 2.5 times that of 2015.
Now Guangdong has become the first province to make its own plan to address soil pollution. It has not only set the short-term objective of curbing all soil pollution in the province by 2018, but also listed specific measures for specific industrialized areas such as the delta.
More importantly, it has set legal conditions for developing on polluted land. If any commercial developer wants to construct a building on polluted land, it must test the soil first, draft a plan for remediation and rehabilitation, and pass an evaluation of the soil after treatment. The whole process should be transparent.
Of course, these measures need strict implementation in order to be effective, and we hope the Guangdong provincial government will be diligent in implementing the plan.
We hope Guangdong province will set a cooling-off period for polluted land before it is made available for commercial use again, which is a common practice in some of the developed countries, so as to better protect people's lives and health.
Wang Xiaohui, editor-in-chief of China.org.cn
The year 2016 was eventful both to China and other countries. In addition to growing regional conflicts and incessant terrorist attacks, the presidential election of the United States, the exit of Great Britain from the EU, disputes over South Chinese Sea islands between China and the Philippines and the deployment of U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea have all added to the uncertainty of international politics and world order and posed great challenges to China's diplomatic work. As Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi put it, the year 2016 could be summed up with two words - "changes" and "chaos."
Review
I. Chinese-U.S. ties remained stable but eventful.
Ties between China and the United States remained stable in 2016 despite various incidents. After President Obama's visit to Beijing and the G20 Hangzhou Summit, the two countries have strengthened strategic communication, built mutual trust and dispersed doubts, thus ensuring a sound development of ties. But strategic doubts still remain, especially where geopolitics, territorial sovereignty and economic interests are concerned. The South China Sea disputes between China and the Philippines, in which Washington had played a behind-the-scenes role, and the deployment of the U.S. THAAD system in South Korea are just two cases in point.
Since Donald Trump was elected to be the next President of the United States, Chinese-U.S. relations have shown worrisome signs. On Dec. 2, Trump talked with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen on the phone. Despite explanations by the President-elect himself and the White House's spokesperson afterwards, the call cast a shadow over bilateral ties, as such a thing hadn't happened in the 37 years since the two countries established diplomatic ties. Moreover, Trump's cabinet picks and their attitudes toward China also indicated that the development of bilateral relations will face great pressure from the White House in the future.
II. Frequent "black swan" events affected the world.
A lot of events happened in 2016 that were unexpected and had a major impact on the world. They made the world even more uncertain and are highly likely to change the progress of international politics.
Trump's surprise win in the U.S. presidential election, the shock of Brexit and the following resignation of British Prime Minister David Cameron, the final resignation of scandal-embattled South Korean president Park Geun-hye, the resignations of the prime ministers of New Zealand and Italy on the same day and the assassination of Russian ambassador in Turkey are just a few of the major "black swan" events from last year.
What will happen to the United States after its businessman-cum-president assumes office with his team of billionaires? Will there be another round of trade wars with China? Besides the jitters in the financial market, what impact will Brexit and Italy's referendum leave on an already struggling E.U.? The changes of state leaders in the United States, Brazil, Britain, South Korea, Italy, Thailand, New Zealand and many other countries will surely affect world politics.
III. Philippines' U-turn towards China after the South China Sea arbitration case.
The arbitration of the South China Sea disputes, which was initiated unilaterally by former Filipino president Benigno S. Aquino III, the United States, Japan and a handful of other third-party countries, had a deep impression on the Chinese people last year, as it started on the first day of the Chinese lunar new year and ended in July with an illegal and void ruling.
During the process, China showed strong political power and responded skillfully.
When Rodrigo Duterte assumed office as the new Filipino president on June 30, the realistic man didn't inherent the negative political baggage left behind by his predecessor, but made the wise choice to choose China as the first country to visit outside the ASEAN region, thus mending ties with China.
The gradual return to stability in the South China Sea and the restoration of Chinese-Filipino relations will lay a foundation for solving the South China Sea issue through talks and joint development. It's also vitally important to promoting a peaceful environment for China's development. This event will go down in history.
Amateur art detective Aravind Venkataraman talks about the India Pride Project.Arun Sankar / Agence Francepresse
By day, Arvind Venkatraman works as a software engineer in India's tech hub Chennai. But in his spare time, he is an international art detective whose efforts have helped bring back some of his country's most valuable antiquities.
Venkatraman is part of a group of art enthusiasts known as the India Pride Project, who are using Facebook and other social media to identify religious artifacts stolen from temples around the country and secure their return.
Art theft is big business in India. But the richest pickings are in Venkatraman's home state of Tamil Nadu, where centuries-old religious artifacts with huge potential sale values in the West lie largely unprotected in out-of-the-way rural temples.
Two years ago, the IPP claimed a significant victory when the National Gallery of Australia returned a $5 million bronze statue of the Hindu god Shiva that had been stolen from a Tamil Nadu temple.
At first Venkatraman says the gallery, which is now suing the Manhattan dealership that sold it the statue, was reluctant to entertain the idea that its purchase was stolen.
So the IPP organized a social media campaign using images comparing the stolen idol with the one on display at the museum.
"Initially typically there is a denial," he said in Chennai.
"Whether it's Australia, Europe, Singapore or the US, initially there will be resistance from the museum curators ... because they've spent a lot of money and they wouldn't want to let go of an object."
The idol is among those allegedly trafficked by Subhash Kapoor, a former Manhattan art dealer who was the subject of a massive US federal investigation known as Operation Hidden Idol.
Kapoor was arrested in Germany in 2012 and is now on trial in India, accused of conspiring in the theft, trafficking and sale of religious idols. He denies all charges.
Many of the antiquities he dealt in dated back to the 11th and 12th centuries, when the Chola dynasty presided over a flourishing of Hindu art in Tamil Nadu.
"This operation went on for many years," said Prateep V Philip, who heads Tamil Nadu's Idol Wing - India's only police team dedicated to tackling art theft.
"He (Kapoor) was himself not on the scene, but he was the mastermind."
Philip said Kapoor won over the international art world by donating millions of dollars' worth of pieces to museums in the United States.
He ran his own freight company in India, allegedly concealing priceless antiques among modern replicas.
"Whenever a theft took place in the past, sometimes people were not even aware," said Philip, describing the thousands of small shrines that dot the state as "easy prey".
"It would be a derelict temple only visited at certain times of the year. So when a theft took place it was discovered long after."
This means much of India's stolen sacred art is never even registered as missing, allowing it to be bought and sold on the international market.
Donna Yates, who lectures in antiquities trafficking at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, said she was "absolutely flabbergasted" when it emerged the Australian gallery's statue was stolen.
"If you'd asked me in 2011 (before Kapoor's arrest) whether this kind of thing was still possible, I'd have said no. I believed the due diligence of museums had vastly improved," she said.
But idols are still disappearing. This year, Philip's team arrested an art dealer in Chennai after recovering hundreds of metal and stone statues of Hindu gods from a warehouse.
The volunteers, who are all passionate about Indian art, go through old catalogs from auction houses, using any blemishes or imperfections to match lots with idols stolen from temples.
Founded by two Singapore-based art enthusiasts, it now includes activists from all over the world.
The work is unpaid, but Venkatraman says it is all worth it when an idol is returned to the temple it belongs in.
"When finally the idol is restituted, the temple comes alive," he said. "It's a kind of cycle ... Once that cycle is complete it's like saying, ok, the puzzle is finally solved."
George Saunders, Misty Copeland, Parents Of Trayvon Martin To Headline Chicago Humanities Festival
By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 4, 2017 6:51PM
Chicago Humanities Festival
The Chicago Humanities Festival just announced its headliners for the upcoming winter program, and true to form, the lineup doesnt disappoint. Scheduled to appear in separate events are Chicago-native short-story great George Saunders, color-barrier-breaking American Ballet Theatre dancer Misty Copeland, and Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, mother and father of the late Trayvon Martin.
Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin on Thursday, Feb. 17 and Friday, Feb. 18
Five years after the tragic, controversial death of their son, Trayvon Martin, his parents come to a city grappling with its own problems of racism, violence and criminal justice to share their experience and perspective. A book by Fulton and Martin, Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin, comes out in hardcover on January 31.
George Saunders on Thursday, March 2
The Chicago native and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient has written some of the most celebrated short fiction of the last two decades, including the National Book Award finalist Tenth of December and (a Chicagoist favorite) CivilWarLand in Bad Decline. Saunders returns to his old stomping grounds to discuss his upcoming debut novel, Lincoln in the Bardo.
Misty Copeland on Thursday, March 23
The first African-American principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, Copeland talks with longtime Chicago broadcaster Robin Robinson about diversity in ballet and overcoming racism and personal injury.
Tickets are available now for CHF members and go on sale to the general public on Thursday, Jan. 12. Tickets, times and location information are available here.
Police grilled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for three hours on Monday on suspicion of receiving gifts from businessmen, as part of a graft probe that has shaken the country's politics.
Investigators quizzed Netanyahu at his residence in central Jerusalem under caution "on suspicion of receiving benefits", a police spokesman said afterward, adding there were no further details to give.
Ahead of the questioning, Netanyahu denied any wrongdoing and told his political opponents to put any "celebrations" on hold.
The Justice Ministry said in a statement that officers from a police anti-corruption unit carried out the questioning, adding that Netanyahu was "suspected of having received gifts from businessmen".
The long-running graft inquiry has looked into whether wealthy Israeli and foreign businessmen have offered gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars as well as another unspecified issue, according to media reports.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has reportedly decided to upgrade the inquiry to a criminal probe, although he has yet to confirm this.
Earlier on Monday, screens were mounted at the entrance to the compound in central Jerusalem in an apparent bid to shield the investigators' arrival.
"We hear all the media reports. We see and hear the festive spirit and atmosphere in television studios and in the corridors of the opposition," Netanyahu told lawmakers from his Likud party on Monday, according to a video posted to his Facebook page.
"I want to tell them to wait for the celebrations. Do not rush. I told you and I repeat: There will be nothing because there is nothing. You will continue to inflate hot air balloons and we will continue to lead Israel."
Monthslong inquiry
Police have carried out the probe in secret over eight months and recently made an important breakthrough, reports said. About 50 witnesses are said to have been questioned.
In July, Mandelblit said he had ordered a preliminary examination into an unspecified affair involving Netanyahu, with no details given.
US billionaire and World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder has been among those questioned in the probe over gifts he allegedly gave Netanyahu and alleged spending on trips for him, Israeli media reported.
Lauder, whose family founded the Estee Lauder cosmetics giant, has long been seen as an ally of Netanyahu, who in the late 1990s put him in charge of negotiating with then Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.
Netanyahu has acknowledged receiving money from French tycoon Arnaud Mimran, who was sentenced to eight years in prison over a scam amounting to $296 million involving the trade of carbon emissions permits and taxes on them.
Netanyahu's office said he had received $40,000 in contributions from Mimran in 2001, when he was not in office, as part of a fund for public activities, including appearances abroad to promote Israel.
He has also come under scrutiny over an alleged conflict of interest in the purchase of submarines from a German firm.
Donald Trump pumps his fist as he arrives to speak at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Nov 8, when he was the Republican Party's presidential candidate. [EVAN VUCCI/AP]
Donald Trump could prompt a sea change in the relationship between China and the United States. By Chen Weihua in New York, Li Xiaokun in Beijing and Fu Jing in Brussels.
In light of US President-Elect Donald Trump's hawkish remarks about China, allied to a number of unexpected moves in the wake of his election victory, experts in Sino-US studies around the world have expressed deep concerns about the key relationship.
Many of the experts have warned that the Sino-US relationship may revert to the deep, mutual distrust that characterized relations between the countries during the 1960s.
Ted Carpenter, senior fellow of defense and foreign policy at the Cato Institute in Washington, said he is "increasingly worried" about Trump's policies regarding China.
"At first, I thought that Trump was engaging in the 'China-bashing' that is fairly typical of US presidential campaigns. Yet once in office, new presidents have pursued policies very similar to those of their predecessors since the early 1970s," he said, adding that Trump's post-election actions suggest that something else may be going on.
"The telephone conversation with Tsai Ing-wen was startling enough, but the Trump transition team's insistence on referring to her as the 'President of Taiwan' indicated sympathy with hard-line Taiwanese separatists," he said, referring to a phone call between Trump and the Taiwan leader on Dec 2, which broke with decades of diplomatic precedent.
Later, Trump said he didn't feel "bound by the one-China policy" unless the US could gain benefits from China in trade and other areas.
Rear Admiral Huang Xinjian (second from left), of the People's Liberation Army Navy, is welcomed at the US port of San Diego where three PLA Navy ships arrived on Dec 6. [YANG LEI/XINHUA]
Emotional stake
"It was clear that he saw Taiwan, the South China Sea, trade issues, currency valuations and North Korea as roughly equal bargaining chips for bilateral negotiations," Carpenter said. "I believe that his attitude greatly underestimates China's emotional stake in those issuesespecially the South China Sea and Taiwan.
"If Trump is serious about discarding the one-China policy, we are in for a very tense and dangerous period. Hasty action could trigger a ruinous economic crisis or much worse, a military conflagration."
Jon R. Taylor, professor and chair of the department of political science at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, said: "Trump is about to create a very difficult period in China-US relations, one that may rival that of the 1950s and 60s. I am deeply concerned that Trump is rapidly moving US foreign policy toward a deep Cold War mindset regarding China.
"My profound fear is that Trump has surrounded himself with anti-China hardliners who have little experience with or expertise on China, have rarely, if ever, visited the country, and have little understanding beyond textbooks and oped pieces of the nuances and subtleties of China's history, culture, and political system."
Yongwook Ryu, a visiting professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, believes that Trump's foreign policy will be more focused and selective, with the overarching purpose of maximizing US economic interests.
"If China and the US attempt to test each other's resolve, then we are highly likely to see tensions rise in the regionin the East China Sea and the South China Sea," he said.
As for the impact of a US power shift on China's relations with its neighbors, Ryu said US policy toward Asia will see more continuity, "although it will be less multilateralist because Trump is likely to strengthen its (the US') alliance with Japan, South Korea, and Australia".
Professor David Fouquet, vice-president of the executive board of the European Center for International Research and Strategy in Brussels, said some people in the US might accept a tougher policy on China.
"But would America's Asian allies, who have repeatedly asked to not have to make a choice in a US-China showdown and are dependent economically on China, and could suffer morein addition to already having been abandoned by the American reversal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement?" he said.
"There is a lengthy list of tradeoffs, compromises or concessions to make in such complex relationships, and I am not convinced that the new American leadership understands this."
Soldiers participate in joint humanitarian relief drills held by Chinese and US armed forces in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, on Nov 18. [NATALIE THOMAS/REUTERS]
Russian influence
Artyom Lukin, deputy director of research at the School of Regional and International Studies at the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostock, Russia, said the exchange of goodwill between Trump and Moscow signals subtle changes in Russia's ties with China.
According to public opinion surveys, Russia was the only country to prefer Trump over Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate. "Since 2012, ties between Moscow and Beijing have been expanding and deepening, especially in the political-military domain," Lukin said.
If Moscow normalizes relations with Washington, "the Sino-Russian partnership will continue, with the emphasis shifting to economics and trade", he added.
Shada Islam, director of Europe and geopolitics at Friends of Europe, a think tank in Brussels, advised Beijing to "stay cool and calm" about any changes made by Trump, "and firm on its core interests, but without falling into the trap of becoming belligerent".
"Trump's presidency will be a chance for China to show its own maturity and its role as a responsible global actor," she said.
Testing the water?
Cui Hongjian, director of the department of European studies at the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, was relatively optimistic about the incoming US administration.
"Even though Trump is not a professional politician, even though he has some ideas which are different from mainstream elites in the past, as long as he is smart, he will understand that disordered China policies will not only affect China, but also himself," he said.
Cui suggested that Trump "might be just testing the water and changing the sequence in which he plays his cards".
Instead of guessing which cards the US will play, China should think deeply about the cards it has and sometimes take the initiative, he said.
"Some people say Trump follows the thinking of businessmen about trade benefits. If so, we need to think about two questions: first, whether China accepts the model; and second, what our model will be if we do not accept his (model) and what we can trade with if we do accept," he added.
Li Guofu, head of the Middle East department at CIIS, said certain basic facts will still apply, no matter who occupies the White House.
"To develop its economy, the US has to cooperate with China. If Trump is rational, given his business background there will be more, not fewer, fields of potential cooperation between the two powers," he said.
Ren Qi and Chu Yi in Beijing contributed to this story.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye delivers a speech during a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the 1919 independence movement against Japanese rule over the Korean peninsula, in Seoul March 1, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
Of the many elections that will be held across the world this year, a possible presidential poll in the Republic of Korea could have the biggest impact on China, according to observers.
The ROK President Park Geun-hye has been impeached after a scandal in which Choi Soon-sil, Park's friend and informal adviser, was accused of influence-peddling and using her connections with Park to pressure businesses into paying millions of dollars to foundations that support her initiatives.
"If the Constitutional Court finds President Park guilty, then there would be an early presidential election, probably between April and June 2017", said Yongwook Ryu, a visiting professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at Yonsei University in Seoul.
If an opposition party wins the election, important changes could be forthcoming in the country's foreign policy, he added.
For instance, Moon Jae-in, a former leader of the opposition Minjoo Party of Korea and a major presidential contender, has publicly declared that if elected he would scrap THAAD (the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system) and Seoul's agreements with Tokyo on 'comfort women'women used as sexual slaves by Japanese troops during World War IIand the GSOMIA (the General Security of Military Information Agreement).Moon has also intimated that he would restart a policy of engagement toward the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
In July, Washington and Seoul announced that the ROK would deploy THAAD in response to the threats posed by Pyongyang's nuclear and conventional weapons. However, China vehemently opposes the system, whose radar would be able to monitor its missiles, and has vowed to take "necessary measures" in response.
In November, Japan and the ROK signed the General Security of Military Information Agreement, under which the two countries will share defense secrets.
The US believes the move will help the three sides to finally build a security triangle, but the ROK's opposition party said it will help Japan to become a major military power.
Another possible major contender is the former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, whose term of office ended on Saturday, who is said to be considering a presidential bid. If Ban were to stand and win, "we would very likely see the continuation of the previous policies on THAAD and cooperation with Tokyo", Ryu said.
According to a former Chinese ambassador to South Korea, who asked not to be named, despite the current political chaos, Seoul is speeding up the implementation of THAAD and is possibly looking to complete the process before May. "If so, it will pose a big challenge to relations between Beijing and Seoul. The situation in Northeast Asia will also be affected. We'll see whether the attempts of the US, South Korea and Japan to forge a military alliance in the region will be strengthened or weakened after the election," the person said.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks at a news conference near the United Nations General Assembly in the Manhattan borough of New York, U.S., September 22, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
Close ties with Iran
Meanwhile, Iran, a country with which China maintains close ties, will hold a presidential election in May.
"Growing trade and diplomatic cooperation between Iran and China should continue if Iranian President Hassan Rouhani wins re-election. Trump's election and hard-line views toward Iran could be beneficial in enhancing China-Iran ties," said Jon R. Taylor, professor and chair of the department of political science at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas.
Li Guofu, director of Middle East studies at the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, believes that Sino-Iranian relations will not see big changes, irrespective of who wins the election.
"So far, both sides have shown a strong will to cooperate on the Belt and Road initiative, while relevant projects are proceeding swiftly," he said.
In Europe, France will have a presidential election in the spring, while Germany will hold a federal election in the fall. Both may prove beneficial to China, according to Taylor.
"There is a good chance that France will elect a more free-market leader in Francois Fillon. While he tends to be friendly toward Russia, this may also bode well for Chinese economic relations and FDI opportunities via the Belt and Road (initiative)," he said, adding that if Angela Merkel is reelected, the close trade and investment relations between China and Germany should continue.
"However, if far-right and/or nationalist candidates win, then all bets are off because we may see Trump-like anti-China policies arise (as well as a clampdown on both trade and immigration) and the potential breakup of the EU," he said.
Cui Hongjian, director of European studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said Europe as a whole is turning to the right in the face of economic and social problems.
"As a result, European countries will be more direct when seeking solutions to economic problems," he said.
Chen Weihua contributed to this story.
The gunman who killed 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Day in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group appears to have been well versed in guerrilla warfare and may have trained in Syria, a newspaper report and a security source said on Tuesday.
The attacker, who remains at large, shot dead a police officer and a civilian at the entrance to the exclusive Reina nightclub on Sunday. He then opened fire with an automatic rifle inside, reloading his weapon half a dozen times and shooting the wounded as they lay on the ground.
In a statement claiming the attack on Monday, IS said the shooting was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria.
"The assailant has experience in combat for sure. ... He could have been fighting in Syria for years," one security source said, saying that he was likely to have been directed in his actions by the group.
The Haberturk newspaper said police investigations had revealed that the gunman had entered Turkey from Syria and went to the central city of Konya in November, traveling with his wife and two children so as not to attract attention.
CNN Turk said he was believed to be of Kyrgyz origin.
Government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday that the authorities were close to fully identifying the gunman, after gathering fingerprints and information on his appearance, and had detained eight other people.
A selfie video of the alleged attacker, apparently walking around Istanbul's central Taksim Square, was broadcast by Turkish news channels on Tuesday as police operations to try to track him down continued.
NATO member Turkey is part of the US-led coalition against IS extremists and since August has been conducting military operations in Syria.
IS extremists have been blamed for at least half a dozen attacks on civilian targets in Turkey over last 18 months. But it was the first time it has directly claimed any of them.
Haberturk cited a barman at the club as saying the gunman had thrown explosive devices several times during the shooting spree, apparently in order to disorientate people and give himself time to reload.
The Russian Navy said on Tuesday it was planning to hold war games with the Philippines, as two of its ships made a rare stop in Manila following President Rodrigo Duterte's pivot from the United States.
Admiral Tributs, an anti-submarine vessel, and a sea tanker Boris Butoma, arrived in Manila late on Tuesday for a four-day goodwill visit, with its crew expected to demonstrate anti-terrorism capability and hold talks, said Rear Admiral Eduard Mikhailov, head of the flotilla of the Russian Navy Pacific Fleet.
"Our governments will maybe discuss in some period of time the possibilities of our maritime exercises," Mikhailov said, adding Russia has been holding drills with the Indonesian Navy.
"The biggest problem now in the world is terrorism and piracy, and all our exercises we have, for example, with you we will have to fight these problems and we will show you what we can do and we will see what you can do and show us," he added as the Russian Navy showcased the warships.
A spokesman for the Philippine Navy told reporters this is the first official interaction with the Russian Navy, an arch rival of its former colonial master and closest ally in the region, the US.
Washington and the Philippines have been holding naval exercises annually but Duterte has instructed the Defense Ministry to "reformat" drills with Washington.
During a trip to Beijing in October, Duterte enthused about his plans to forge closer relations with Russia and China.
Mikhailov said they were willing to help train Philippine counterparts to fight piracy and terrorism and they hope to foster stronger security in the region.
The Philippines has been struggling to prevent Islamist militants from abducting crew of slow-moving tugboat and foreigners sailing on yachts in the southern maritime borders with Indonesia and Malaysia.
The Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent group which has had links to al-Qaida and has pledged allegiance to Islamic State group, is holding a German tourist and more than 10 Malaysian and Indonesian crewmen. A Dutch and a Japanese are also being held captive.
Last month, Duterte sent his foreign and defense ministers to Moscow to explore arms deal after a US senator said he will block the sale of 26,000 assault rifles to the Philippines.
MANILA - Armed men with links to Muslim rebels stormed a prison early on Wednesday in the southern Philippines, killing a guard and freeing more than a 150 inmates, police said.
The Southeast Asian nation has for decades been plagued by insurgencies by Muslim rebels in its southern islands, with President Rodrigo Duterte seeking to promote broad peace in the predominantly Catholic country.
The gunmen opened fire at guards at the North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan city around 1:00 a.m. (1700 GMT), prison warden Peter Bongat told a local radio station.
Of the jail's 1,511 inmates, 158 managed to escape and four were recaptured, he said.
"It's well planned. Escapees used blanket as their getaway...We have a manhunt operation," said Bongat.
The rebel commander belonged to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) based on initial information, Bongat said.
In 2014, the government signed a peace deal with the MILF, the biggest Muslim rebel group but clashes still occur with smaller groups.
He Jiang,the first Chinese orator at Harvard commencement addresses, has joined a roll call of the other young people making the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 List. [Photo/provided to China Daily]
He Jiang, who was the first person from China to deliver a Harvard University commencement address, has made the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 List.
"I received this message (about the list) this morning. I'm a little surprised but very happy about that," He told China Daily on Tuesday.
Forbes' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists issued annually by Forbes magazine.
On Tuesday, the magazine released the sixth annual 30 Under 30, featuring 600 young innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders who challenge conventional wisdom and rewrite the rules for the next generation.
The list recognizes 30 game-changers in each of 20 industries. All under 30 years old, the honorees were vetted by a panel of judges in their respective fields.
Previous winners include Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Snapchat's Evan Spiegel, Saturday Night Live's Kate McKinnon, Chance the Rapper and YouTube phenom Michelle Phan.
"These are the people that will run every field for the next 50 years," said Randall Lane, editor of Forbes.
He, a 29-year-old postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was chosen for the healthcare category.
He was nominated by his professors at Harvard.
"I didn't know I was nominated until December," said He.
At Harvard, He used a new technology called single-virus tracking super-resolution imaging (STORM) to understand more about how influenza infects cells, and discovered human genes with strong anti-viral effects.
He is now applying the same techniques to neurons and white blood cells. He hopes the lab research he did could be put to practical use in healthcare.
He grew up in a small village with limited educational opportunities. By studying hard, He graduated from the University of Science and Technology of China - one of China's top universities - with a bachelor's degree in 2009, and was accepted into Harvard's PhD program on a full scholarship the same year.
In May, the biochemistry PhD delivered a speech representing the university's 13 graduate and professional schools at the commencement.
In the speech, He talked about the uneven distribution of science and technology in the world and expressed his passion to get science and medicine into places they aren't reaching, like his own village, where his mother once treated his spider bite with fire.
Seventeen of the 600 winners in 2017 are from China.
One in six on the list are immigrants from 44 countries.
xiaohong@chinadailyusa.com
A man places flowers at the entrance of Reina nightclub, which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey January 3, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]
ISTANBUL - Turkish police have detained five Islamic State suspects in the western city of Izmir in connection with the gun attack in an Istanbul nightclub which killed 39 people on New Year's Day, the state-run Anadolu agency said on Wednesday.
Anadolu reported on Tuesday that 14 people had been detained over the attack, which Islamic State has claimed, while NTV reported that two foreign nationals had been detained at Istanbul's main Ataturk airport.
The gunman, who fled after the attack, remains at large.
HANOI - Doctors in Vietnam have removed surgical forceps from a man who unknowingly carried them inside his body for 18 years, national television VTV reported.
Ma Van Nhat, 54, said the forceps had probably been left in his abdomen in 1998 when he had emergency surgery after a traffic accident.
Nhat had felt only the occasional pain and a clinic had given him medicine for a suspected stomach ulcer. An X-ray taken late last year showed the forceps were to blame.
The 15 cm (six inch) long instrument had broken apart and become lodged in Nhat's stomach. They were removed in an operation.
The director of Bac Kan Hospital, Trinh Thi Luong, told VTV that officials were trying to find out who might have left the forceps in Nhat.
"Even if they are already retired we will still inform them," she said. "This is a lesson to all doctors".
Medical errors are not uncommon in Vietnam. Over the past year there have been two cases of doctors operating on wrong limbs, and three cases of men being diagnosed as pregnant.
Steve Dolinsky Went On Epic Quest To Find Chicago's Best Pho
By Anthony Todd in Food on Jan 4, 2017 3:20PM
Pho at Tank Noodle, #17 on Dolinsky's list. Photo via Facebook.
Many Chicagoans only know Steve Dolinsky from his short appearances as ABC's Hungry Hound or his pretty face hanging in (seemingly) every restaurant in town. But in reality, he's a pretty darn serious food expert, and he particularly excels in doing massive, city-wide studies of a particular dish. In 2015, he did the most extensive study of pizza we've ever seen. This time, he's turned his attention to pho.
Pho, the amazingly comforting Vietnamese soup, is a seemingly simple dish, but like most simple dishes, the gap in quality between the best and the worst can be enormous. There's a ton of subtle variety, most of which comes from the flavors added to the the broth and the quality of the cooking. It's also tough to compare phos between restaurants without a pretty big sample size.
Dolinksy (and his "Pho-Conspirator" Paul Nguyen) have gotten that big sample size. They tasted every single restaurant in Chicago they could find where pho is a main offeringa total of 31 places. They created an elaborate statistical ranking system. They even discovered an inverse relationship between price and quality, as the more expensive phos fared worse in their rankings. Starting today, they're releasing the full results of all of their soup-tastic work.
Here's the list of phos ranked 12-31, just released. The best on this list is King Pho, number 12, in Edgewater, but the best of the best won't be revealed until this Friday. And unlike Donald Trump, when Dolinsky says he has secret food information to reveal, he really means it. So tune into his website Thursday for phos 6-11 and Friday for 1-5.
A displaced man, who fled the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, carries a woman in the Mithaq district of eastern Mosul, Iraq, January 3, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]
NEAR MOSUL/ERBIL, Iraq - More than 2,000 Iraqis a day are fleeing Mosul, several hundred more each day than before US-led coalition forces began a new phase of their battle to retake the city from Islamic State, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
After quick initial advances, the operation stalled for several weeks but last Thursday Iraqi forces renewed their push from Mosul's east towards the Tigris River on three fronts.
Elite interior ministry troops were clearing the Mithaq district on Wednesday, after entering it on Tuesday when counterterrorism forces also retook an industrial zone.
Federal police advanced in the Wahda district, the military said on Wednesday, in the 12th week of Iraq's largest military campaign since the US-led invasion of 2003.
As they advanced, many more civilian casualties were also being recorded, the UN said.
Vastly outnumbered, the militants have embedded themselves among residents and are using the city terrain to their advantage, concealing car bombs in narrow alleys, posting snipers on tall buildings with civilians on lower floors, and making tunnels and surface-level passageways between buildings.
"We were very afraid," one Mithaq resident said.
Emergency responders work near a train that sits derailed near the community of New Hyde Park on Long Island in New York, US, October 9, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]
NEW YORK - A New York City train derailed after ramming into a bumper at a downtown Brooklyn terminal during Wednesday's morning rush hour, injuring more than 100 commuters in the metropolitan area's second major rail accident since late September.
Emergency crews swarmed Atlantic Terminal after the Long Island Railroad train went off the tracks inside the busy transportation hub at about 8:30 am local time, the New York City Fire Department said.
While none of the injuries were life-threatening, at least 11 people were sent to the hospital, Deputy Assistant Chief Dan Donoghue said at a briefing at the crash site.
The train, arriving from the Queens neighborhood of Far Rockaway, failed to stop on time and struck a bumping block at a fairly low rate of speed, which caused it to derail, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said at the briefing.
About 103 people were injured in the accident, the fire department said in a Twitter message. The front two cars of the six-carriage train were severely damaged.
The engineer was probably responsible for failing to stop the train before it hit the bumper, said Tom Prendergast, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the agency that runs the LIRR.
"At that speed, it's pretty much the locomotive engineer's responsibility to stop the train," Prendergast said as he stood beside Cuomo at the briefing.
China's top leadership has called for more efforts to ensure food safety, noting there are still many problems despite an improving food safety situation.
More efforts should be made to ensure food safety for the public, said President Xi Jinping in his latest instructions on the country's food safety work.
The president called for the most rigorous standards, the most stringent regulation, the most severe punishment and the most serious accountability for improving food safety control.
He stressed administration under the law, enhancement of work at the grassroots level and the professionalism of food safety inspectors, and demanded a comprehensive food safety system from farm to table.
Premier Li Keqiang said in recent instructions that food safety is an important hallmark for building an all-round moderately prosperous society and should be given a more prominent position this year.
Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli presided over a meeting of the State Council's food safety commission on Tuesday, which laid out measures to ensure food safety this year.
The vice premier said deeper problems affecting food safety have not been fundamentally solved and called for stricter management of food safety.
Zhang demanded quick improvement of the food safety standard system, which will be integrated with international standards, and the most stringent regulation to ensure no systemic or regional food safety risks.
Zhang also demanded relevant authorities move quickly to screen for risks and work to ensure food safety during the coming Spring Festival and "two sessions" -- the plenary meetings of national lawmakers and political advisors.
Vice Premier Wang Yang also addressed Tuesday's meeting, which was attended by officials from relevant departments and experts with the State Council's food safety commission.
(Photo : Getty Images) The Caixin Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) in December stood at 51.9, up from 50.9 clocked in November.
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In the latest sign that the Chinese economy is heading towards recovery, a leading independent research on Tuesday claimed that last month the activities in smaller manufacturing units in the country grew at the quickest pace seen over the past three years.
The Caixin Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) in December stood at 51.9, up from 50.9 clocked in November. The reading of 51.9 comfortably surpassed market expectations.
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This was Caixin's highest score for China's manufacturing sector since December 2013. The financial magazine noted that all the economic parameters looked pretty robust last month.
"The Chinese manufacturing economy continued to improve in December, with the majority of sub-indices looking optimistic," Caixin analyst Zhong Zhengsheng said in a statement.
The financial magazine claims that the good showing in December was due to robust demand and increase in new clients for Chinese manufacturers.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government on Sunday released the official purchasing managers' index (PMI), which usually takes into account activities in larger factories and mines. The official PMI for the month of December stood at 51.4, down from 51.7 shown in the last month.
Nonetheless, the reading of 51.4 signified growth for the fifth consecutive month for manufacturing sector on a year-on-year basis.
China's manufacturing sector has been stagnating ever since a recession took over the world's second largest economy. Tepid domestic demand coupled with dull global export market severely affected the sentiments across Chinese factories over the last one year.
Many economists have described the on-going recession as the worst that the Asian giant has seen over the last two decades.
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TagsChina Caxin PMI, China Manufacturing PMI, china, China manufacturing, Chinese Economy
(Photo : PLAN) Shenyang J-15 fighters take-off from the CNS Liaoning.
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China confirmed on late Monday that its aircraft carrier has conducted drills in the South China Sea for the first time with a formation of other warships and fighter jets, a move that could raise concerns among its neighbors, according to the Associated Press.
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The confirmation came days after Taiwan's Defense Minister Feng Shih-Kuan said that China's Liaoning, an aircraft carrier, and five other warships had sailed around the east coast of Taiwan, a move that China called a routine drill.
Several J-15 fighter jets also took off and landed on the flight deck of Liaoning on Monday, according to China's Defense Ministry. The first drill is just a part of a routine open-sea exercise of China, but this could add to tensions between Beijing and Taipei.
Tensions with Other Neighbors
The initiaitve follows after tensions have mounted in the South China Sea. Both the US and China have accused each other of engaging in a dangerous military buildup.
The carrier drills also come at a time when China has a heightened strain with Taiwan, following US President-elect Donald Trump's phone call with the Taiwanese president.
Carrier Liaoning
On the other hand, the aircraft carrier Liaoning was purchased as an incomplete hull from Ukraine more than a decade ago, but it was commissioned only in 2013.
By November, Liaoning was declared ready to engage in combat by the ship's political commissar, but China has not described specifically how it intends to use the aircraft carrier. However, many have seen it as a tool to help reinforce China's increasingly assertive claims in the South China Sea in the face of challenges from the US Navy and others.
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Tagschina, Aircraft Carrier Drill, South China Sea, Liaoning, First Carrier Drills, China-Taiwan relations
Yao Tandong, a geographer with the Chinese Academy of Sciences has won the 2017 Vega Medal for his research accomplishment on plateau glaciers and environment, announced the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography (SSAG).
Yao Tandong. [File Photo: The Paper]
The award, widely considered as one of the most prestigious in the field, has been dubbed by some as the "Nobel Prize in geography."
Yao Tandong has now become the first Asian scientist to win this prize.
As President of the China Society on Tibet Plateau and the Chinese Academy for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Yao Tanfeng is widely regarded by those in the field as one of the leading scientists in the study of the cryosphere.
In the past twenty years, Yao and his team have been cooperating with scientists from dozens of countries, including the United States, France, Germany and Switzerland, to study environmental changes and their influence on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, reported The Paper.
Yao also initiated the Third Pole Environment project with international partners to study the environmental changes in Tibet.
The Vega Medal is awarded to one scholar every three years by the King of Sweden. The prize was started in 1881 and is issued by the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography.
(Photo : Getty Images) China is all set to launch Change-5 in December 2017. The Change-5 would mark China's third phase in the lunar exploration. Its main aim would be collecting samples from moon and bringing back to earth.
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China's space program will hit a new high with the launch of Chang'e-5 by end of this year. The Chang'e-5 marks China's third phase in the lunar probe and its primary function would include bringing back samples from moon to earth for scientific analysis.
The Chang'e-5 will reportedly consist of an orbiter, the return vehicle, the ascender, and the lander. The orbiter and return vehicle will help Chang'e-5 in orbiting the earth, while the lander and ascender will facilitate the landing and aid in collecting the samples from the moon.
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After collecting the samples, the spacecraft would land at Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia. From there, the samples will be taken to a laboratory for analysis.
"Once the samples are back, we can begin our analysis right away," Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of China's Lunar Exploration Project, told reporters in October.
According to Hu Hao, the chief designer of the third phase, Chang'e-5 weighs 8.2 tons and will be launched into space by the rocket Long March 5.
Before Chang'e-5, China successfully completed the first two phases in lunar exploration. The Chang'e-1 and -2 constituted the first phase launched in 2007 and 2010, respectively, while Chang'e-3 in 2013 constituted the third phase.
China's latest lunar exploration would test its space capabilities to hilt, as it would be the first time since nearly five decades that a lunar mission would try to collect samples and retrieve back to earth. In early 1970s, US crewed and Soviet Union robotic missions successfully collected samples from moon and returned back to earth.
The Chang'e-5 mission represents China's unrelenting pursuit to become a self-reliant country in space exploration. Many experts claimed that the Chinese government wants to demonstrate the country's newly found economic status through its space missions.
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TagsChange 5, chinese space program, Chang'e-3, Chinese Lunar Exploration, china
(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) TrackR announced that it will be introducing the new TrackR Wallet 2.0, an updated version of the original TrackR wallet that has an improved form factor that closely resembles that of a credit card, making it easier to be stored inside a wallet.
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TrackR recently announced that it will be unveiling new devices at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. TrackR is a startup that manufactures small devices that help users in tracking lost things through a combination of Bluetooth connection and a technology called "crowd GPS."
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On top of the list is the new TrackR Wallet 2.0, which is an updated version of the original TrackR wallet. The new wallet has an improved form factor that closely resembles that of a credit card, making it easier to be stored inside a wallet. Measuring just 2 mm thick, TrackR claimed that the new Wallet 2.0 is the "thinnest item-finder on the market."
The TrackR Wallet 2.0 has a replaceable battery, which users can easily replace when it runs out. Like all TrackR devices, the Wallet 2.0 can track an item within 100 feet through Bluetooth. Once the item is outside of that range, it will rely on a crowdsourced network created by other TrackR products in order to locate it. The so-called crowd GPS feature is reliant on the number of networked TrackR devices within the user's neighborhood, according to The Verge.
Engadget also reported that all TrackR devices are compatible with Amazon Alexa. This feature makes it easy for users to locate lost items by simply asking Alexa for help like retracing their steps. TrackR said that the Wallet 2.0 will hit the market sometime this spring, with a price tag of $29.99.
Aside from the upgraded Wallet, TrackR is also planning to release a cheaper version of the TrackR bravo called TrackR pixel, which now has a plastic casing instead of aluminum. Due to this change in material, the pixel only costs $24.99.
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TagsTrackR, TrackR trackers, TrackR Wallet, TrackR Wallet 2.0, TrackR pixel, TrackR bravo
(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) Chip maker Qualcomm accidentally leaked the upcoming Asus ZenFone AR ahead of its official debut in the CES 2017.
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With the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show fast approaching, the tech community is busy hustling for tidbits of information from tech companies about their upcoming releases or revelations. Recently, chip manufacturer Qualcomm inadvertently revealed the upcoming Asus ZenFone AR, the newest Android phone to super Google's Tango technology, ahead of its official debut.
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The Asus ZenFone AR will be the second smartphone to have a built-in support for Tango technology. Qualcomm has already removed the blog post, which was unceremoniously shared, but not even before the tech community caught a glimpse of it.
Based on the post, the Asus ZenFone AR will have a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset and will support Daydream, according to Android Police. It was also reported that the ZenFone AR will support both Google's virtual reality and augmented reality platforms.
Some may argue that the Snapdragon 821 is not exactly the most powerful chipset on Qualcomm's lineup, especially with the upcoming release of the Snapdragon 835. However, the chipset is still an impressive piece of hardware, which is certainly capable of powering the next Tango-enabled device, according to Digital Trends.
Notable tech insider Evan Blass confirmed the Asus ZenFone AR through a post on his official Twitter account, where he posted a front and rear snap of the smartphone. Based on Blass's photo, the phone will have a physical Home key on the lower front panel and will sport an impressive dual-camera configuration.
Asus is yet to confirm the official release date and the official specs of the ZenFone AR.
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TagsQualcomm, Qualcomm, Snapdragon, Asus, Asus Zenfone, ZenFone, ZenFone VR, Asus ZenFone VR
(Photo : Facebook) As announced last year, China is starting to shake up its millennial-old salt monopoly system.
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China has started to shake up its millennial-old salt monopoly by releasing new regulations effective this year that allow producers to set prices and sell directly to the market.
China's state media on Monday said that the move would lead to lower prices, with broadcaster CCTV hailing it as a "policy red envelope," which refers to the money-filled packets traditionally given away around Chinese new year, according to Fortune.
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What's in New Regulation?
Under the new regulation, existing wholesalers will now be allowed to operate outside their previously designated areas, run marketing campaigns, and introduce modern ways of salt distribution.
The new regulation is under a plan published by China's State Council last year, wherein government planners will retain supervision over retail pricing to prevent abnormal fluctuations, but prices will otherwise be set by the market.
The National Development and Reform Commission also said last year that starting 2017, producers will be able to sell salt at a price set based on production costs, quality of product, and the supply and demand of the market.
Reform or Improvement
Meanwhile, store managers and market observers are hopeful that salt prices will soon fall and that new salt products will arrive on shelves.
However, Zou Jialai, a Shanghai-based lawyer who has represented private salt producers, cautioned against trumpeting an end to the monopoly. He said he expects state-owned firms to continue to control how salt is sold, but with more competition than before.
"I want to say that it is not reform; it is just an improvement," Zou said.
History of Salt Monopoly
The worldwide production of salt is more than 200 million tons per year, and China is one of the five nations in the world that dominates the salt industry, according to statistics. The other nations are US, Canada, India, and Germany.
The practice of monopolizing salt in China, which began during the rule of Emperor Wu of Han onwards, helped pay the construction of the Great Wall. Every dynasty in China's history has instituted a salt monopoly system for taxation purposes since salt was a necessary commodity used in daily life.
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Tagschina, Millennial-Old Salt Monopoly, Salt Industry, National Development and Reform Commission, Reformation
(Photo : Getty Images) China has expanded its regulations at the Tibet border to reduce separatism and terror attacks while promoting trade in the region following the launch of the Tibet-Nepal rail and road initiative.
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China on Sunday introduced new regulations on its Tibet border, a move aimed at reducing any future terror risks and separatism while promoting trade.
The specified border areas under the new policies will now cover ports, scenic views, and trading zones. The Sunday regulations are a revamp of the earlier law that had been in place since 2000.
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During an interview with the Global Times, Wang Chunhuan, the deputy director of the Theoretical Marxism of the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences, explained that the new regulations were necessary.
"The update of border regulations provides a legal foundation to combat potential terrorist activities brought by the further opening up of Tibet of the Belt and Road initiative," Wang said.
Wang, who also played a key role in the amendments, further explained that even though the border areas are not currently under terrorism threat, Tibet is positioned as a gateway in China's Belt and Road initiative.
Meanwhile, the deputy head of the border police in Tibet, Ba Zhu, was quoted in mid-December last year, saying that despite the economic growth in Tibet, the border region has remained a hub of war and various criminal activities ranging from separatism to terror attacks, according to Reuters.
The new regulations come just after China launched the Tibet and Nepal rail and road link. During the launch, trucks carrying goods departed from the Tibetan border port of Gyoirong going to Kathmandu. China plans to extend the road and railway initiative to India and other South Asian countries in a bid to promote trade links.
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Tagschina, Tibet, New Regulations, Rail and Road Initiative
(Photo : Getty Images) Catalonia President Carles Puigdemont has vowed to hold an independence referendum.
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Spain's Catalonia region is headed for a new face-off with Madrid after Catalan President Carles Puigdemont declared that he will hold an independence referendum this year.
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In his televised New Year's speech, Puigdemont said that he will hold a "legal and binding" vote to allow the Catalans to freely decide for their future through a referendum. The vote is expected to take place in September, and the decision will be based on a resolution passed by the region's parliament where separatists are the majority.
However, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Friday dashed any hopes of such a referendum.
"It is not possible to hold a referendum that will do away with national sovereignty and the equality of Spaniards," the Prime Minister said, adding that the referendum plans are not going anywhere.
Following an inconclusive general election in June last year, Rajoy and his conservative Popular Party recently won opposition support to rule as a minority government. His government has since sanctioned Catalan officials involved in holding the outlawed ballot in 2014.
The Prime Minister, on the other hand, has accused the officials fighting for secession of trying to "liquidate" the nation.
The region held a consultative ballot in 2004 and recorded a huge majority for independence, but the results were ignored by Spain. Separatists' sentiments in the region have morphed into mass movement in the past five years. This has promoted the growth of a distinct Catalan identity that dates to five centuries back.
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(Photo : US Army) M777 firing
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The United States will continue its "freedom of navigation operations" (FONOPS) in the South China Sea and will deploy more offensive and defensive weapons on islets or reefs held by its allies in the disputed sea.
The loss of the Philippines as an ally due to the pro-communist leanings of president Rodrigo Duterte means the U.S. is left with Vietnam and the Republic of China (Taiwan). Of these countries, Vietnam might likely be more receptive while Taiwan will reject it outright.
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Which might leave the U.S. the option of building its own islands in the South China Sea.
As the U.S. ponders its options, the U.S. Army is continuing plans it made in 2016 to deploy its long-range artillery howitzers to friendly islands in the South China Sea. In essence, a new type of ammunition will transform army howitzers and navy cannons into anti-aircraft guns capable of shooting down enemy missiles.
The army and the U.S. Navy are undertaking coordinated programs to allow their existing artillery systems to fire the new hypervelocity projectiles (HVPs) designed originally for electromagnetic railguns as missile-killing ammunition for its conventional naval guns and ground artillery systems.
Studies by the Department of Defense have revealed HVPs fired from 5 inch (127 mm) Mk-45 guns aboard U.S. Navy warships such as the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, and the 155 mm guns aboard the Zumwalt-class destroyers can neutralize anti-ship missile (AShM) salvoes.
AShMs will be the chosen mode of attack by China and Russia against U.S. Navy warships, especially aircraft carriers, in any future conflict.
DoD believes "if we can close the fire support with a controlled solution," HVPs will be able to shoot down most of the missiles in a 100 AShM attack.
When fired from conventional 5 inch guns, HVPs achieve a speed of Mach 3 (3,700 km/h), half the speed it achieves when fired from a railgun, but more than twice the speed of a conventional high-explosive round.
A project of the Office of Naval Research (ONR), HVP is a next-generation, common, low drag, guided projectile for gun systems such as the Navy 5 inch, 155 mm and future railguns.
HVP's low drag aerodynamic design enables high-velocity, maneuverability and decreased time-to-target. The high-velocity compact design relieves the need for a rocket motor to extend gun range.
The U.S. Army plans similar tests of the HVP with its 155 mm M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzers and its M777 155 mm Ultra-Light Towed Howitzers.
Firing smaller more accurate rounds improves danger close/collateral damage requirements and provides potential for deeper magazines and improved shipboard safety. The modular design will allow HVP to be configured for multiple gun systems and to address different missions.
HVP is being designed to provide lethality and performance enhancements to current and future gun systems.
The M777 and the Paladin can be used as a mobile, direct countermeasures to incoming rockets. A key advantage to using a Paladin is that it's a mobile platform that can better adjust to fast-changing, incoming enemy fire.
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TagsUnited States, freedom of navigation operations, hypervelocity projectiles, U.S. Army, South China Sea, M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer, M777 155 mm Ultra-Light Towed Howitzer
(Photo : Getty Images) Xinhua has said that Trump is addicted to the social media platform, Twitter, where he dishes on his foreign policies.
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China's state-run news agency, Xinhua, has chided US President-elect Donald Trump for his latest tweets attacking Beijing anew, and for conducting his foreign policy on the social media platform, Twitter.
In a commentary titled " Addiction to Twitter Diplomacy is Unwise," the state media said on Tuesday night that Trump's use of Twitter to announce his foreign policy had raised widespread concerns among American politicians and academics.
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The article was published a day after Trump fired a fresh round of attacks against China, accusing Beijing of not doing enough to help contain North Korea's nuclear development program.
Child's Play
"China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the US in totally one-sided trade, but won't help with North Korea. Nice!," Trump tweeted on Monday.
Irked by Trump's salvo against Beijing, Xinhua slammed the US president-elect saying that "diplomacy is not child's play and you can't run it like a business."
The article also cited Trump's recent comments on the United Nations which he said was "just a club for people to have a good time."
Diplomatic Protocols
"These tweets have broken decades-old diplomatic protocols held by the US, including some anti-China comments," the article said.
Trump also tweeted on North Korea's recent threats that it was going to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) directed at the US mainland. Trump stated that Pyongyang does not have the capability to make such kind of missile and that "it (missile launch) would not happen."
Trump has repeatedly angered China for sending out tweets critical of Beijing's policies including the recent US drone drama in which Trump called Beijing a thief for seizing an underwater drone that belongs to the US in the waters of the South China Sea.
Drone
China has since returned the drone to US authorities but not after Trump sent out a barrage of tweets saying Beijing could keep the drone because "we don't need it."
"We should tell China that we don't want the drone they stole back. Let them keep it!," he said.
Earlier, Trump also tweeted about his anti-China stance, calling Beijing a currency manipulator and lambasting the Asian giant for building a "military complex" in the disputed South China Sea.
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TagsTwitter, Xinhua News Agency, President-elect Donald Trump, North Korea nuclear program, intercontinental ballistic missile, United Nations, diplomatic protocols, US, china
(Photo : Getty Images) Indias army chief General Bipin Rawat told a local news channel that if the need arises, India is fully prepared to fight two frontal war against China and Pakistan.
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India's newly appointed army chief has issued a stern warning to China and Pakistan about New Delhi's preparedness for a two-front war, if at all such a situation arises.
"As far as the armed forces are concerned, we are tasked to be prepared for a two-front war and I think we are capable of carrying out our task in whatever manner that we may be asked to do by the political hierarchy," General Bipin Rawat told Indian news channel NewsX.
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Rawat, however, stressed that military confrontation with neighboring countries must be used as a last resort and emphasized that all the contagious issues must be resolved through cooperation. Talking about cooperation, he reminded that India is continuously holding meetings with Chinese forces in border areas.
"This is to ensure that while we may be competing with each other for space, economic development and prosperity, there are also areas of cooperation," Rawat said.
Rawat was appointed as the 27th army chief of India in December 2016. Known as a counter insurgency specialist, Rawat's appointment comes at a time when India's relation with its two rival neighbors - Pakistan and China - has become immensely strained in recent times.
India's Relation with China and Pakistan Hitting All Time Low
Meanwhile, although New Delhi has never shared a cordial relation with Islamabad and Beijing, its bilateral relationship with both its neighbors has hit a new low during recent years. The vexed issue of Kashmir propelled tension between India and Pakistan to a new unprecedented level, with the Modi government launching surgical strike across the border in October last year.
On the other hand, India also shared a tense relation with Beijing at a diplomatic level. New Delhi was left frustrated with the Chinese government's inflexible stance on contiguous issues of Nuclear Supplier Group and Masood Azhar.
Beijing has been taking a hardened stance on both issues allegedly at the behest of Pakistan.
China and Pakistan's mutual animosity against India stems largely from unresolved border issues, which continue to haunt their bilateral relation even today.
Both nations have fought full-fledged war against India to resolve the border issues.
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TagsNew Indian Army Chief, India, India and China, General Bipin Rawat, India and Pakistan, china, Pakistan
(Photo : Getty Images) A Chinese consortium has secured a multi-billion dollar contract to to build the world's tallest twin towers in Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
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A consortium led by Chinese construction company, Sino Great Wall International, won a $2.7 billion contract on Thursday to build possibly one of the world's tallest twin towers in the heart of Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
Reuters reported that the contract will become effective once the consortium, which also includes another Chinese company Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry, finalizes the funding process.
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Both Chinese companies said in a statement that the twin tower project will be located in a high-class area in the Phnom Penh city center. It will include host of facilities such as residential areas, commercial areas, exhibition halls, and hotels, as well as an underground parking lot.
The contract will last for five years or 60 months, according to the information revealed by Sino Great Wall's latest filing in the Shenzhen stock exchange.
After completion, the 133-storey skyscrapers are poised to become not only the tallest world trade center in the Southeast Asian region but also the tallest twin towers in the world.
At present, the 39-story Vattanac Capital building is the tallest twin tower in Cambodia. However, it did not achieve the desired commercial success with only 30 percent occupancy rate in the middle of the previous year.
At the global level, the coveted status of the world's tallest twin building goes to the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Other famous twin constructions in the world are JW Marriott Marquis and Emirates Towers in Dubai. China's SPG Global Twin Towers also rank among the world's tallest twin buildings.
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TagsWorld's Tallest Twin Towers, Chinese Engineering Firms, Famous Twin Towers in World, China and Cambodia, Cambodia
A court has ruled that a transgender Chinese man was fired illegally, though it cleared the company of discrimination.
The man, known as Mr C in court, was born a woman but identifies as a man and generally wears men's clothing. He was sacked after seven days working for a health center in southwest China's Guizhou Province.
The court in Guiyang, the provincial capital ordered the company to pay him 843 yuan (US$121) in salary as well as compensation of 1,500 yuan. But last month it decided there was a lack of evidence his dismissal was due to discrimination, according to news website thepaper.cn.
Mr C said he was "quite happy" with the result. "It is the first case in China where a sexual minority wins," he said. "It is also a piece of good news for the community."
He had sued after losing a case at a labor arbitration panel, which ruled he had been fired for lacking adequate skills.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have won wider acceptance in major Chinese cities in recent years but conservative attitudes persist.
Last month, a Chinese court ruled against two men who were seeking permission to get married.
In 2014, a Beijing court ordered a clinic to pay a gay man compensation after it had administered electric shocks in an attempt to make him heterosexual.
(Photo : Getty Images) With tough competition from the Indian manufacturing sector heating up, a popular state-owned Chinese tabloid urged China's manufacturing sector to rise to the occasion and enhance its efficiency.
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A Chinese state-owned tabloid on Wednesday urged Beijing to upgrade its manufacturing industry in a bid to stop big multinational companies from investing in India.
An op-ed published in the popular English tabloid The Global Times especially took a critical note of Apple's decision to set a manufacturing unit in the Indian state of Gujarat.
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"If Apple expands in India, more global tech giants may follow suit and China is likely to see a further transfer of the supply chain given India's abundant supply of working-age labour and low labour costs," it said.
The nationalistic tabloid warned China that it cannot afford to lose manufacturing jobs as it has not made much headway in improving its local industry and also "while (US President-elect) Trump plans to draw manufacturing jobs back home."
It also pointed that India enjoys undue advantage over its neighbor on "low labor costs," claiming that Indian labors charge far less wage than its Chinese counterparts. To counter this advantage, the op-ed advocated Beijing to exploit low labor costs in its central and western regions.
"Certainly China has options. The country's central and western regions, with cheaper labour, could become an investment haven for manufacturers as these regions need capital to boost the local economy," the tabloid said.
The article also called on the Chinese government to carry out a major overhaul in the manufacturing industry by reorganizing technologies, talents, capital, and other resources. This, it argued, would create a conducive environment for investment and job opportunities.
The Indian government over the years has been busying reviving its latent manufacturing sector with its 'Make in India' project, which aims to portray India as an "emerging manufacturing hub" of the world.
Many analysts claimed that the 'Make in India' project is partly inspired by China's path-breaking success in manufacturing sector witnessed over the last few decades.
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Tagschina, Chinas Manufacturing Sector, China and India, India Manufacturing Sector, Chinese Economy, India
(Photo : YouTube) Long March 7 at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center.
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China's space program under the control of and funded by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) plans to launch 30 space missions in 2017. If achieved, this year will be the busiest in the history of China's space program since its start in 1960.
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China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said among the highlights for this year will be the use of the Long March-5 and Long March-7 launch vehicles to carry out most of the missions.
State-owned CASC is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It designs, develops and manufactures a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategic and tactical missile systems and ground equipment for the military-led space program.
Despite the stepped-up pace of launches, China's record still pales compared to that of the United States. The U.S. conducted 60 successful launch missions in 2016 and should exceed that number this year.
China conducted 22 launch missions in 2016 and 19 in 2015.
Wang Yu, general director of the Long March-5 program, said this year is a critical year for China's new generation of launch vehicles. Long March-5 will launch Chang'e-5 lunar probe into space. The probe will land on the Moon, collect samples and return to Earth.
After Chang'e-5, China will launch the Chang'e-4 lunar probe in 2018 to achieve mankind's first soft landing on the far side of the Moon.
Long March-7, the more powerful version of Long March-2, will loft Tianzhou-1, China's first cargo spacecraft, into low Earth orbit in the first half of 2017, said Wang Zhaoyao, director of China Manned Space Engineering Office.
Tianzhou-1 will dock with Tiangong-2 space lab and conduct propellant experiments.
China successfully tested Long March-7 rocket in June 2015 and has shifted to new generation rockets that reduce the use of toxic rocket fuels.
Over the next five years, China will provide space services such as satellite communications to countries involved in the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, a development strategy and framework proposed by President Xi Jinping.
OBOR focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries in Eurasia and China. It consists of consists of two main components: the land-based "Silk Road Economic Belt" (SREB) and oceangoing "Maritime Silk Road" (MSR).
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A man was recently taken into custody for allegedly setting fire to a New Hampshire church and for stabbing two residents at a condominium complex.
SRNNews.com reports that 27-year-old Anthony Boisvert of New Hampshire is in custody with his bail set at $500,000. He is facing charges of arson and of stabbing two people.
He reportedly set fire to the historic First Baptist Church in Lebanon on Dec. 28. Police were not able locate Boisvert at that time. The church was completely destroyed.
The New Hampshire Union Leader also reported that Boisvert set another fire on Mascoma St.
Through investigation, the Lebanon Police Department developed information that both fires were deliberately set and began pursuing a person of interest," according to a statement by the department.
Then, on Jan. 1, he stabbed two people at a Lebanon condominium couple. The victims of the attack sustained serious injuries. They identified Boisvert as the assailant. Police were able to locate him and bring him into custody soon after.
During his arraignment, Boisvert reportedly began yelling. He is seeking an attorney to represent him.
Boisvert admitted to being the perpetrator of both crimes, adding that he set an American flag on fire at the church.
Publication date: January 4, 2017
A retired Anglican bishop in northern Uganda is agitating for restorative justice in a region where the wounds of a brutal war unleashed by the Lords Resistance Army persist.
Bishop Macleord Baker Ochola II, 84, has been responding to community concerns that the modern court system may not deliver justice for the people who suffered in the complex conflict.
In 1980s and 90s, the LRA rebels, led by Joseph Kony, terrorized civilians in northern Uganda, abducting children and forcefully recruiting boys as soldiers and girls as sex slaves.
Kony turned child soldiers into killing machines against their own community.
By 2005, the LRA had abducted over 60,000 children and killed more than 100,000 people, while displacing 2.5 million people.
Ochola buried the dead, walked with returning child soldiers and at one point was forced into exile.
The conflict took a toll on his family. His wife died in 1997 after a land mine blast hit a car she was traveling in. Ten years earlier, his daughter committed suicide after being gang-raped by the rebels.
But Ochola has refused to remain bitter, choosing to promote peace, forgiveness and reconciliation among his people.
If there is no process of reconciliation, there is no healing, and if there is no healing there is no restoration and justice, said Ochola, who served the Diocese of Kitgum. Healing and restoration brings transformation of life for those affected.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague indicted five top leaders of the rebel group in 2005.
Last month, it put on trial Dominic Ongwen, a 41-year-old former rebel commander who was abducted at age 10. He faces 70 charges, including murder, attempted murder, rape, torture, sexual slavery and forced marriage. He is the first former child soldier to appear before court.
In the name of God, I deny all these charges, Ongwen said in court.
Ochola has been urging the court to carefully reconsider the circumstances under which children-turned-commanders were trapped in LRA captivity.
While he does not deny the courts charges, he fears the court may not offer restorative justice but is seeking punishment or retribution. He is also concerned it will divide the community, which is in dire need of unity in the aftermath of LRA atrocities.
Like many other cultural and religious leaders in Uganda, he stresses a traditional justice system known as Mato Oput, which he thinks is more holistic.
Centered on forgiveness, it involves truth telling, compensation and a ritual in which food is shared and the accused drinks bitter herbs.
It brings restoration to broken human relationships, transforms lives and heals the hearts of those involved, said Ochola. The court system, which is retributive, promotes polarization, alienating both sides.
Mato Oput mirrors many of the forgiveness and reconciliation efforts central to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in post-apartheid South Africa and the Gacaca courts used in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide.
Mato Oput is the justice system of the Acholi people of northern Uganda, the community most affected by the LRA conflict.
The LRA left northern Uganda in 2005 and is now believed to operate along the border region of the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The LRA is still at large and they are still fighting so we must continue with the work, said Ochola.
In 1997, Ochola was one of the founders of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative, an interfaith organization led by cultural and religious leaders that sought to peacefully end the LRA insurgency. ARLPI has been facilitating grass-roots and intercommunal reconciliation and peaceful coexistence.
One aspect of that is trying to help the government and LRA go through a process of truth telling.
This would involve accepting full responsibility and making public acknowledgment of what one has done, said Ochola.
One problem, he said, is the governments lack of political will to dismantle the LRA.
In the case of Ongwen, Ochola had hoped the former rebel would be brought to the community for truth telling. Since that did not happen, Ongwen will likely refuse to accept responsibility.
As a victim, he continues to be punished twice, said Ochola.
Sheikh Musa Khalil, a northern Uganda Muslim leader and the ARLPI vice chairman, backs Ochola, saying that with Ongwen, the traditional system could have achieved more.
It mirrors what is in the Quran and Bible, said Khalil. Its based on forgiveness. We feel he should have been brought to us.
The bishop believes a change is needed in the general wordview that when a child is abducted as in the case of northern Uganda he or she must take full responsibility in adulthood for any crimes committed while a captive.
For northern Uganda, he said, this is wrong because the children had their humanity destroyed.
Fredrick Nzwili is a reporter based in Nairobi
Courtesy: Religion News Service
Publication date: January 4, 2017
The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.
Most members of the 115th Congress identify themselves as Christian, according to a new Pew Research Center study released on Tuesday.
The study showed that almost 91 percent (90.7 percent) of the 115th Congress identify themselves as Christians. The percentage is slightly lower than that of the 114th Congress, in which almost 92 percent (91.8 percent) identified themselves as Christian.
Most of the Republicans in Congress identify themselves as Christians. Only two Republicans do not, and instead identify themselves as Jewish. Among the Democratic members of Congress, 80 percent identify as Christian. Others identify themselves as Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim. One member identifies as Unitarian Universalist, and one member identifies as religiously unaffiliated.
One of the aspects of the study results that was noted by the researchers was the significantly high number of those identifying as Christian in Congress despite their recent studies showing that those who identify as Christian in the general American population has been on the decline. In contrast, though Pew had found that 23 percent of Americans identify themselves as religiously unaffiliated in a separate study, that population is represented by only one member of Congress.
What explains the difference? Why have the nones grown in the public, but not among Congress? Greg Smith, associate director for research at Pew, told Religion News Service. One possible explanation is people tell us they would rather vote for an elected representative who is religious than for one who is not religious.
Among those who identify as Christian, the number of Protestants in Congress has seen a decline over the decades, while the population of Catholic members of Congress has grown. About 56 percent of the 115th Congress identifies as Protestant, a decline from 75 percent who did so in the 87th Congress in 1961. Meanwhile, Catholics make up some 31 percent of the new Congress, an increase from 19 percent in 1961.
The rush to sign kids up for summer camps is always intense, but this past summer, few filled up as quickly as the one targeted at girls interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). My family lives in a college town, home to one of the top-ranked science schools in the country, and getting my scientifically curious nine-year-old daughter into that camp felt like shooting for the stars.
We didnt even make the waiting list for the camp last summer. However, this last week I did make the long drive into the city to take my daughter to see an early screening of Hidden Figures, which in some ways offers something better than a STEM camp. Summer camps and chemistry kits under the Christmas tree do much to kindle curiosity in the sciences, but this movie presented an opportunity to fan that curiosity into flame with a potent story of possibility. This, after all, is the power of fictional and nonfictional role models: They give concrete shape to inchoate longings.
The stories of Katherine G. Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) provide compelling inspiration. Adapted from Margot Lee Shetterlys book, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, the film centers on these three African American women who worked at NASA as computers calculating the complex mathematics needed to make space travel possible. Vaughan was an expert in programming and the first female African American promoted to personnel supervisor at what would eventually become NASA, and Jackson was the first female African American aeronautical engineer.
The film gives ...
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home Faith Catholic diocese files complaint against Obama administration's transgender health care regulation
An organization of 60 Catholic archdioceses and dioceses has filed a lawsuit against the new Obamacare ruling that will require religious healthcare providers to offer gender transition procedures and abortion services.
The regulation in question comes from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It implements Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which mandates against discrimination based sex, age, disability, race, color, or national origin while citing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. The HHS ruling requires hospitals and health care providers to provide transgender services such as hormonal treatments, counseling, and surgeries that would remove or transform sexual organs of patients seeking gender reassignment, and for group health plans to cover such procedures and services.
The HHS regulation, which was set to take effect starting Jan. 1, does not include religious exemption, which means that Catholic healthcare institutions and professionals, medical practitioners, and employers will have to provide or cover the abovementioned procedures even if such are against the teachings of the Catholic faith.
The complaint was filed in the United States District Court of North Dakota on Wednesday by the Diocese of Fargo, Catholic Charities of North Dakota, and the Catholic Benefits Association, which represents over 880 Catholic employers, 5,000 parishes, and 90,000 employees, according to The Christian Post.
Catholic Benefits Association chairman Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore said in a statement, as reported by Catholic News Service, "For decades, Congress and the courts have understood the term 'sex' in federal law to mean biological sex a male and female." He added, "By redefining 'sex' to mean both 'gender identity' and 'termination of pregnancy,' the Obama administration is not only trying to sidestep Congress and impose radical new health care mandates on hospitals and employers, it is creating a moral problem for Catholic employers that must be addressed."
According to Bishop John T. Folda of Fargo, they do not discriminate based on a person's orientation, but their hands are tied when it comes to paying for or performing procedures that go against the Catholic faith. In a statement released by the Catholic Benefits Association, he said, "We ask only for the freedom to serve consistent with our conscience and our Catholic faith."
home US Less than half of Americans believe Transgenderism occurs naturally
A new survey from the Williams Institute and Ipsos indicated that less than half of Americans believe that being transgender is a natural occurrence.
The poll revealed that 20 percent agreed that being transgender is natural, Pink News reported. Twenty-four percent said that they somewhat agreed. About 21 percent said they strongly disagreed while 16.6 percent somewhat disagreed. The rest, which makes up 17.9 percent of the respondents, say that they do not know.
As many as 44.6 percent of American respondents said that people should be allowed to switch their legal sex after complying with medical or government criteria. Only 22.7 percent said that people should be allowed to change their recorded sex at will.
At least 23 percent said they are opposed to any sex-related change to identity documents while 17.1 percent did not offer a reply.
According to Buzzfeed News, the survey was conducted online from Oct. 21 to Nov. 4, 2016 in 22 countries. The surveyors also conducted in-person interviews with 610 adult respondents in India from Aug. 5 to 29, 2016.
The results show that 70 percent of respondents from all countries agree that transgenders should be allowed to have surgery and should be protected by the government from discrimination.
In 15 countries, a majority agreed that transgenders should be able to use restrooms according to their gender identity. The respondents from India (71.6 percent), Spain (76.7 percent) and Argentina (72.4 percent) were the most supportive. In the U.S., only 47 percent agreed.
In Russia, 53 percent disagreed that transgenders should be able to use bathrooms associated with their gender identity.
A separate report from BuzzFeed News stated that the people who personally know someone who is transgender are more likely to support transgender rights in most countries. Fifty percent of the respondents in Brazil said that they know a transgender person. In Spain, only 25 percent reported familiarity with a transgender.
Spain received the highest score with 81 points in public support for transgender rights based on the answers of the respondents. Sweden came in second with 77 points, followed by Argentina and Canada, with each receiving 76 points. The U.S. came in at 10th place with 66 points while Russia came in last with 44 points.
home Life Max Lucado reminds Christians who doubt their salvation that 'God does not let go'
Pastor Max Lucado issued a strong reminder to Christians who have doubts about their salvation that Jesus made a promise that He will not let go of them.
In a daily devotional posted on his website, Lucado noted that many Christians are wondering whether they are really saved.
"Our behavior gives us reason to wonder. We're strong one day, weak the next. Devoted one hour, flagging the next. Believing, then unbelieving," said Lucado.
"Conventional wisdom draws a line through the middle of these fluctuations. Perform above this line, and enjoy God's acceptance. But dip below it, and expect a pink slip from Heaven. Salvation then becomes a matter of timing and you just hope you die on an upswing," he continued.
Lucado said that Jesus gave a very strong answer regarding the question of salvation and pointed to John 10:28, which stated: "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never lose it or perish throughout the ages ... and no one is able to snatch them out of My hand."
"God doesn't let go and He won't let go of you!" the pastor remarked.
In his devotional in April 2016, Lucado emphasized that Jesus is the only one who can provide salvation. He noted that many historians have put Christ on the same page as Muhammad, Moses, Confucius and other spiritual leaders, but the Bible states that Jesus is the only path to God.
In another devotional published in February 2015, he pointed out that there are no examples in scripture of people who gained salvation and lost it. Lucado explained that people who have no assurance of salvation cannot experience peace or joy. He encouraged his readers to put their trust in God and reminded them that God's love, faithfulness and performance does not depend on believers.
Christian blogger Matt Moore also made the same observation that many Christians struggle with the question of salvation. He stated that many believers have doubted the legitimacy of their faith as soon as they began following Christ.
Moore cautioned against seeking a mystical experience and said that the only way to dispel doubts is to grow in obedience.
He encouraged Christians to focus on Christ and continue to follow his commandments in order to be certain about their salvation.
home US Planned Parenthood files lawsuit to prevent Texas from cutting off Medicaid funds
Planned Parenthood has filed a lawsuit on Friday asking for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Texas to prevent the state from cutting off the organization's Medicaid funding.
In December, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) announced that Planned Parenthood will no longer receive taxpayer money through the Medicaid program.
HHSC Inspector General Stuart Bowen said that the undercover videos, which allegedly showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sales of aborted baby parts, was the main reason behind the decision.
Around $4.2 million in taxpayer money was received by the abortion provider through Medicaid in 2015. Texas is set to stop sending the funds to Planned Parenthood on Jan. 21 unless the judge grants an injunction.
Federal judges have prevented the efforts of other states such as Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas and Mississippi to prevent the abortion chain from receiving Medicaid funding.
"Courts have unanimously prevented these terminations and agreed that preventing Medicaid enrollees from obtaining care from the qualified provider of their choice violates federal law," the Planned Parenthood lawyers wrote in their lawsuit, according to The Guardian.
Bowen said that the undercover videos showed that Planned Parenthood "violated state and federal law."
"Your actions violate generally accepted medical standards, as reflected in state and federal law, and are Medicaid program violations that justify termination," Bowen wrote in his letter to the abortion provider.
In its petition, Planned Parenthood insisted that it did not commit illegal acts regarding its handling of aborted baby parts. It argued that the state's decision to cut off its Medicaid funding would cause difficulties for low-income women seeking its health services.
"Women and men who are unable to obtain family planning care, or encounter delays in obtaining it, can face devastating consequences, including undetected cancers and diseases," the petition stated.
"Delays in obtaining contraception will result in unintended pregnancies, many of which may end in abortion," it continued.
Last month, a new Department of Health and Human Services regulation was approved by President Barack Obama to prevent states from blocking Title X funding from health care providers that perform abortions.
According to Life News, Planned Parenthood performs around 320,000 abortions in the U.S. and receives $550 million in taxpayer money nationally each year.
home Entertainment Ray Comfort's 'The Atheist Delusion' receives nomination at science film festival
Ray Comfort's documentary "The Atheist Delusion," which purported to "destroy atheism with one scientific question," has been nominated for an award at the Raw Science Film Festival.
"We are so honored to have this film officially recognized by such an important film festival," said Comfort in a statement released on Monday.
"To be recognized for our scientific approach and proofs of what is normally dismissed as simple religion is humbling. In the argument of religion versus science, we hope to show people that it's not either/or, but that science supports the existence of the Creator, and our creator is the very author of science," he added.
The panel of judges at the festival include an Oscar winner, an explorer with the National Geographic, an MIT Board of Governors member and other distinguished jurists.
The film features Comfort challenging several atheists on their beliefs and trying to convince them of God's existence. He points to verses in the Bible that made declarations about the Universe that were scientifically proven thousands of years later.
Comfort has admitted that the film is unlikely to change the mind of hardened atheists, but he believes that those who are open-minded will be convinced of God's existence.
The movie received low ratings on IMDB after it premiered at the Ark Encounter last October. He accused atheists of down-voting the film and said that it was targeted because it "disproves atheism with one scientific question."
Hemant Mehta of The Friendly Atheist blog insisted that there is "nothing scientific" about Comfort's film, and he questioned the credibility of the Raw Science Film Festival. He claimed that past winners have said that they did not receive any prize money or recognition.
"So it's a festival that damn near anyone can be nominated for as long as you fill out the entry form and one where even the winners aren't entirely thrilled," he remarked.
The movie was made available for free on YouTube on the same day of the premiere. It has received endorsements from prominent Christian figures such as Lousiana Sen. Ryan Gatti, Answers in Genesis CEO Ken Ham, Fox News contributor Sandy Rios, American Family Association President Tim Wildmon, TV Host Jason Benham and World Net Daily CEO Joseph Farah.
home US Repealing Obamacare is 'first order of business', says Mike Pence
President-elect Donald Trump has made repealing President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law the "first order of business" and intends a smooth transition to a "market-based" medical insurance system, Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Wednesday.
Democratic leaders met with Obama on Capitol Hill to discuss how they can protect the law and accused Republicans of wanting rip apart the American healthcare system with no plan on how to replace it.
Trump and his fellow Republicans who control the U.S. Congress risk causing chaos in the health insurance market in scuttling the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which is known as Obamacare, as well as political backlash against Republicans.
Pence met with Republican congressional leaders. Afterward neither he nor House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan offered few details on what a Republican-backed replacement for Obamacare would look like. Ryan said lawmakers will take action that does not "pull the rug out from anybody."
Obama met on Wednesday morning with Democratic legislators, including U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, to discuss how they can protect the Democratic-backed law, which was passed nearly seven years ago over unified Republican opposition.
Obama "encouraged us to fight," Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings told reporters.
The law has enabled upward of 20 million Americans who previously had no medical insurance to get coverage and is considered Obama's top legislative achievement. Republicans, who will control both Congress and the White House in 2017, condemn it as a government overreach.
"The first order of business is to keep our promise to repeal Obamacare and replace it with the kind of healthcare reform that will lower the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government," Pence said at a news conference.
Pence said it must be done in a way that does not "work a hardship" on the economy or Americans who gained insurance through Obamacare.
Pence said Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, will work in concert with congressional leaders for a "legislative and executive action agenda for an orderly and smooth transition to a market-based healthcare reform system."
Ryan said Republicans have a plan and "plenty of ideas" to replace Obamacare but offered few specifics.
Trump had said earlier on Twitter that Republicans "must be careful in that the Dems own the failed ObamaCare disaster, with its poor coverage and massive premium increases."
"Don't let the Schumer clowns out of this web," he added, referring to Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer.
Obama walked into a Democratic caucus meeting on Capitol Hill accompanied by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. He ignored a shouted question from a reporter about how to stop repeal of the healthcare law.
"I think the issue here is the impact on people's lives," Democratic Senator Jack Reed said. "Many people don't really understand that they're protected by Obamacare."
Reed said Democrats will "point out that you are taking the protections away and you have nothing in place."
home World Sudanese pastor acquitted of capital crimes but three more Christians remain on trial
Rev. Kuwa Shamaal, a Sudanese pastor who was accused of crimes related to national security, was released on Monday after he was acquitted of all charges against him. However, three of his co-accused are still on trial.
Shamaal was arrested from his home on Dec. 18, 2015. The judge found no sufficient evidence against him and dismissed the charges ranging from spying to inciting hatred against the government, Morning Star News reported.
"Yes, he was released today after the court found that he was not guilty of the charges brought against him," said attorney Muhanad Nur, who is one of the lawyers defending Shamaal and the other three Christians.
The court will continue to hear the case against Rev. Hassan Abduraheem, Petr Jasek and Adbulmonem Abdumawla, who were accused of crimes against the state. The next hearing will be on Jan. 9, 2017.
The case against the men stems from their attempts to help Ali Omer, a young man who was injured in a demonstration in 2013. After learning about Omer's situation, Jasek, a Czech aid worker, went to Khartoum to meet him and donated $5,000 for his treatment. The meeting was set up by Abduraheem. Abdumawla was also collecting money for Omer's treatment.
Jasek was stopped and searched at the Khartoum Airport by National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) agents as he was leaving Sudan. He was arrested, and his personal belongings, including his mobile phone, laptop and camera, were seized by the authorities.
The trial against the four men had been subjected to many delays. The judges were said to be out of the country during the scheduled hearings.
A Khartoum church leader alleged that the government is delaying the trial on purpose in order to avoid releasing the Christians.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide's (CSW's) Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas welcomed the acquittal of Shamaal and called for the release of the other three Christians.
"We urge the Sudanese government to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of these men, who have been detained since December 2015, simply for an act of kindness," Thomas said in a statement.
Beaten During Miscarriages, Imprisoned And Now Suffering With Cancer: The Chinese Christian Activist Urgently In Need Of Help
A Christian woman in China who was beaten repeatedly by officials and suffered two miscarriages as a result is in need of urgent cancer treatment that she cannot afford, according to a Christian charity.
China Aid reported that Huang Yan, a 47-year-old human rights defender, has been refused a necessary operation for her ovarian cancer, despite previously having undergone one in the autumn of 2013.
The non-profit organisation said that "public security bureau officials" beat Huang in 2010 and 2012 and she lost her unborn children both times. According to China Aid, "during the second instance the officials burst into the bathroom, where she had just miscarried her child, and continued to abuse her."
At the time of that second attack, her husband was reportedly taken to the public security bureau "and received injuries at the hands of the authorities."
Since then, Huang developed cancer on top of diabetes and other threatening conditions.
According to China Aid, Huang suspects that medical staff were pressured by government officials not to allow her treatment because of her human rights work with other Christians.
"Recently, she arrived in a safe environment and is awaiting the approval of a medical visa to Taiwan," the charity said. "If the Taiwanese government refuses to grant her a visa, she is in a location where she can receive medical treatment as a backup plan. However, she needs financial assistance in order to be able to have this important procedure".
China Aid is currently taking emergency donations on her behalf.
On 26 November, Huang was arrested on what China Aid called "falsified charges of spreading false terrorist information."
Then, when she was transferred to Guangzhou No. 2 Detention Centrelate last year, her charge was changed to "obstructing official business."
The charity reported that while Huang was imprisoned, she was treated at a military police hospital, where "she was restrained with 23-pound and 15-pound shackles, subjected to 12 ultrasounds in four days, and coerced to take a drug. The 15-pound restraints remained on her ankles for so long that they began to bleed and waste away."
China Aid "supports Chinese Christians who are persecuted for their faith like Huang Yan, and assists persecuted Christians in promoting religious freedom, human rights, and rule of law."
Britain's EU Envoy Slams Government's 'Muddled Thinking' In Resignation Letter
Britain's outgoing ambassador to the European Union has said Prime Minister Theresa May's negotiating objectives for Brexit were unknown to her government's representatives in Brussels.
In a letter to staff announcing his resignation less than three months before London triggers formal exit talks, envoy Ivan Rogers made a scarcely-veiled attack on the government's Brexit strategy, which he implied had not been thoroughly prepared. He referred to "the uncertainty that I know, from our many discussions in the autumn, you are all feeling about the role of UKRep in the coming months and years of negotiations over Brexit".
In a revelation bound to be embarrassing to the government, he said: ""We do not yet know what the government will set as negotiating objectives for the UK's relationship with the EU after exit."
He also warned that EU negotiators would be better resourced than Britain's, saying: "Serious multilateral negotiating experience is in short supply in Whitehall, and that is not the case in the [European] Commission or in the Council."
In an implicit criticism of his political masters, Rogers told his team: "I hope you will continue to challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking and that you will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power."
Evidently attacking an ideologically-based approach to Brexit, he said: "Contrary to the beliefs of some, free trade does not just happen when it is not thwarted by authorities: increasing market access to other markets and consumer choice in our own, depends on the deals, multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral that we strike, and the terms that we agree. I shall advise my successor to continue to make these points."
Rogers has previously said a trade deal with the EU might take 10 years to strike, angering Brexit supporters who believe it will be a straightforward process.
Additional reporting by Reuters.
Christian Arrested Over Blasphemy Claims In Pakistan
A Christian in Pakistan has been arrested by police after allegedly committing blasphemy.
Babu Shahbaz, 41, was arrested on December 30 and is now being detained in Lahore, according to the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), and the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA).
Shahbaz is accused of committing blasphemy after his name was found on Quranic pages scattered in the street. He has been charged with section 295B of the Pakistan Penal Code. However, CLAAS says that Shahbaz is illiterate and does not know how to read.
The complainant against Shahbaz is Haji Nadeem, a rival shopkeeper with an alleged rivalry with Shahbaz's family. In his statement he reported that while on the way to the mosque for prayer, he and others found 100 torn Quranic pages inscribed with Shahbaz's name scattered in the street.
Shahbaz is married with two sons, and has been an evangelist for 15 years, organising healing prayer meetings at his home in Kamahan village. It is alleged that Shahbaz's meetings were drawing numbers from Peer Baba Gujjar's following, triggering animoisty against Shahbaz.
CLAAS reports that Nadeem, Guijar and other local Muslims were unhappy with Shahbaz's growing popularity and have implicated him in a false charge of blasphemy. Shahbaz's family sought the help of CLAAS on the day of the arrest, and have been promised the family food, shelter, and legal aid.
Police have insisted that a fair investigation will take place, however the incident has incited violence from some Muslims towards local Christians, forcing many to flee in fear. Major Nathaniel Sahid, from the Salvation Army Church in Kamahan, told the BCPA: "Local Christians are terrified, we are getting threats from local Muslim men that are community will be attacked. If we leave our homes will be robbed, if we stay we could get beaten, robbed or even killed. It is sad that a petty jealousy can lead to such hatred and the persecution of innocent people."
Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the BPCA, said: "This latest blasphemy case highlights the little progress made by the Government of Pakistan towards improving the rights of minorities under their protection... Britain and the US have both maintained Pakistan as their largest foreign aid recipient for over a decade. The influence this provides them should be used as a lever to bring hope to minorities, instead it seems only to prolong the horror that Christians and other minorities face."
Nasir Saeed, director of CLAAS-UK, said that the misuse of Pakistan's blasphemy law continues to increase against Christians and other minorities, and is considered to be a root cause of persecution.
"I wish the matter is resolved out of court as soon as possible, otherwise Shahbaz's fate will be the same as the Aasia Bibi, Sawan Masih, Zaffar Bhatti and many others who have been languishing in jails for years." Saeed said.
"If the government does not change this law sadly we can expect several reports of false cases of blasphemy against religious minorities stemming from property issues, professional and business jealously and family vendettas in 2017."
He added: "Blasphemy laws clearly violate international human rights treaties ratified by the Pakistani government, therefore it is the duty of the international community to build pressure on the Pakistani government to fulfil their international obligations and bring their law in line with these treaties."
Church In Cairo Suicide Bomb Blast Fully Restored - Right Down To The Icons
An Egyptian church in which a suicide bomber killed 27 people on 11 December has been fully restored, the Coptic news site Watani reports.
The Boutrossiya chapel, which lies next door to the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral of St. Mark in Cairo, was restored following a pledge from President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi that it would be ready for Coptic Christmas celebrations on 7 January.
A week ahead of that the church, which is consecrated to St. Peter and St. Paul, reopened on New Year's Eve.
On New Year's Day, the Coptic leader Pope Tawadros II presided over Mass and then met with the families of the victims of the attack over breakfast in the church hall.
It was initially reported that a woman had left a bag in the church which later exploded. But the Egyptian government later said that Mahmoud Shafik, a 22-year-old radicalised Muslim, had detonated a suicide vest at the scene. Three of his accomplices were arrested.
For the reopening, some of the walls and columns were left pockmarked by shrapnel from the blast, as a "testimony and remembrance" of the victims.
The Armed Forces' construction department carried out the major repairs, to the wooden roof, the doors and the windows.
Damaged chandeliers were replaced by old-style ones that had been kept in storage, and new pews and drapes were brought in.
Meanwhile, a team of Italian specialists in icon restoration are handling the delicate work on the icons which date back to the outset of the 20th century and were painted by the Italian Primo Panciroli, Watani reported.
At the time of the attack, Pope Tawadros II denounced it as "not just a disaster for the church but a disaster for the whole nation".
He added: "Those who commit acts such as this do not belong to Egypt at all, even if they are on its land."
Those killed in the blast were given a state funeral, attended by Sisi.
But there is reportedly a growing feeling among many Copts that Sisi is presiding over a culture of impunity among those who attack Christians in Egypt, especially in towns like that of Minya, 140 miles south of Cairo.
Christians were repeatedly targeted in Minya during 2016.
In May, a 70-year-old woman in the town of Karam was paraded naked through the streets after being accused of having an affair with a Muslim.
A database compiled by the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy lists 54 incidents against religious minorities in Egypt during last year.
Dismayed By Homelessness In Tunbridge Wells: How Ten Churches Are Working Together To Help
A cross-denominational group of ten churches is providing accommodation and three meals a day for homeless people amid the bitterly cold conditions this winter.
The Tunbridge Wells Churches Winter Shelter, which is now in its sixth year, rotates between eleven church halls across the Kent town.
The shelter, which runs this week until 5 March, provides 12 beds, breakfast, a takeaway lunch and a two course dinner.
But with the help of a support worker, the shelter also helps the 15 homeless people known to sleep rough in Tunbridge Wells find permanent accommodation as well as other practical steps such as registering with a GP.
"We do a rough sleeper count annually and at the last count we found 15 people sleeping rough in Tunbridge Wells, that doesn't take into account the hidden homeless," the project's manager, Wendy Hogg told Christian Today.
"We are well supported by people from the churches in Tunbridge Wells and also from the local community," added Hogg, who has the support of 180 volunteers. "We welcome volunteers from anywhere.
"Virtually no day goes by when someone doesn't ring offering something - a pile of towels or food or something."
But the shelter is about much more than physical provisions.
"It's not just about shelter it's about helping people move on and find appropriate accommodation," said Hogg. "We have a support worker who works with the homeless and tries to help as the system can be hard to negotiate knowing how to apply to local hostels, filling in paperwork and so on.
"Our aim is that people are in a better condition than when they came into the shelter. We maybe get them on the housing register, get them registered with a GP those kind of practical things."
The staff and the team leaders are all Christians from various denominations. "We all work together very well whatever our backgrounds," said Hogg.
"Logistically there is a lot of work because we have to pick everything up and move it the next night. We move around a lot."
The Times of Tunbridge Wells reported that the opening of the shelter this year comes in the wake of an incident demonstrating how vulnerable the homeless are in the area.
Last month a man who was sleeping in a car park found his bedding and clothes had been set alight and destroyed.
The fire brigade and police attended the scene.
The local newspaper reported that the 30-year-old man, who is of Polish descent, has since been provided with new clothing and bedding by members of the public after two local teenagers launched campaigns on social media.
Hogg told the Times of Tunbridge Wells: "The aim is twofold: The first thing is to get rough sleepers off the streets at the coldest time of the year because they can die out there. And you know how cold it has been in the last few days.
"Then we provide them with intensive support so that they can move on when the shelter closes in March. Nine weeks is not always long enough to get people into accommodation so I carry on that work after the shelter closes, all year round until we get a good outcome from that situation."
The project is funded by the Churches for Tunbridge Wells group and also receives a contribution from the borough council.
If you would like to help the Tunbridge Wells Churches Winter Shelter please call 07513 377951 or email office.twcws@gmail.com
Fat Cat Wednesday And GK Chesterton: What A Great Christian Apologist Has To Say About Equality
The sums involved are stupefying. Apparently the median pay for a FTSE chief executive in 2015 was 4 million, or 1,000 an hour. The national living wage is 7.20. Hence the accusation: the people who earn this (for a given value of the word "earn") are Fat Cats. The image is of an obese, pampered feline, gazing contemptuously at the unwashed toilers by whose labours it subsists and for whose welfare it has not the slightest regard (dogs, as we all know, have owners; cats have staff).
It's not a pretty picture and the label was too much for one high-flyer. Ian Gorham, chief executive of investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown is leaving the firm and not up taking a similar role, according to the Telegraph. He said: "When you wake up every morning and you're trying to work hard and do a good job like everyone in the country, you don't want to read about how you're a fatcat. It's become quite abusive and I don't think it's a good thing for the country."
Well: perhaps. And of course, everyone knows the 'Fat Cat' label is often unfair. These people are hugely talented, driven and successful. They work extremely hard and get results for their companies. Some of them are probably very nice.
But maybe what isn't a good thing for the country is that there is such a huge wealth gap between rich and poor. Because for every super-rich executive there are thousands who are Just About Managing, and many more who are not managing at all. And if we want to see a society where every human being is free to flourish in body, mind and spirit as God intended, we have to question whether this is right.
There are at least two reasons why it might not be. First, unequal societies don't work as well as more equal ones. In their book The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better which has been robustly criticised and robustly defended Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson show "the pernicious effects that inequality has on societies: eroding trust, increasing anxiety and illness, [and] encouraging excessive consumption". For each of eleven different health and social problems: physical health, mental health, drug abuse, education, imprisonment, obesity, social mobility, trust and community life, violence, teenage pregnancies, and child well-being, outcomes are significantly worse in more unequal rich countries.
But there's a second reason that is more troubling. Money is power, and power cannot be entrusted into the hands of the unaccountable few. Christians shouldn't pretend that the Bible has a blueprint for an economic system; it was written in very different times. But one principle is that the rulers and the rich are to operate under exactly the same moral and legal system as everyone else. The story of Naboth's vineyard is told to drive home just that point: kings and queens can't just do as they please.
One of the greatest Christian apologists of the last century was GK Chesterton. A fierce critic of socialism, he was the last person to argue for a redistribution of wealth in the name of a spurious equality. But as an independent-minded Conservative, he saw the huge damage to the fabric of society caused by the concentration of wealth in the hands of class of wealthy individuals. He argued for a "Peasant Proprietorship" in which everyone would have enough to be able to live a decent family life, and that to achieve this "the strong centres of modern English property must swiftly or slowly be broken up". "Property" at the end of the 19th century generated the same sort of wealth as the commercial and financial sectors today.
Chesterton drew a lesson from a public health measure of the time requiring poor children to have their heads shaved as a precaution against lice. He said: "Now the case for this particular interference was this, that the poor are pressed down from above into such stinking and suffocating underworlds of squalor, that poor people must not be allowed to have hair, because in their case it would mean lice in the hair. Therefore, the doctors propose to abolish the hair. It never seems to have occurred to them to abolish the lice."
And, he continues: "In the same way, if it should ever happen that poor children, screaming with toothache, disturbed any schoolmaster or artistic gentlemen, it would be easy to pull out all the teeth of the poor; if their nails were disgustingly dirty, their nails could be plucked out; if their noses were indecently blown, their noses could be cut off. The appearance of our humbler fellow-citizens could be quite strikingly simplified before we had done with him."
So, he says: "It never seems to strike these people that the lesson of lice in the slums is the wrongness of slums, not the wrongness of hair."
Chesterton was a great thinker and a great writer who saw what was wrong in his society among other things, that a few people had far, far too much, and that a great many people had not nearly enough. When that happens, poverty becomes moralised and the poor are blamed or ignored. Society works for the rich, not the poor and what else drove the massive anti-establishment reactions in the UK and the US last year, and the widespread disgust with how international financial institutions have treated Greece?
When it takes some very wealthy individuals four days to earn what others do in a year and what many don't do at all there is something alarmingly unbalanced in how our society works. You don't have to be a socialist to see that, any more than Chesterton was; you just need to pay attention.
Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
France's Front National Lashes Out At The Catholic Church Over Refugees
Three leaders of the French nationalist party Front National have hit out at French bishops for supporting refugees.
They demanded that Catholic leaders stay out of politics and concentrate instead on "filling their churches".
In one of several post-Christmas radio interviews given by the party figures, the party's vice-president Louis Aliot complained about the attitude of the bishops towards the Front.
"I've never seen a large majority of Catholics voting for us," he said. "I've seen a large majority of bishops spit in our face, one has to say, and systemically denigrate the Front National, its leaders and its policies."
Aliot went on: "Catholics should concern themselves with filling their churches which is not certain they can do, let me tell you and should let the political parties manage public affairs."
Gilbert Collard, one of FN's two MPs in the National Assembly, said the church was "disconnected from reality". He added: "In the name of welcoming others, they reject us."
He claimed that the church was "represented today by political bishops, who are opponents of the faith".
And while party secretary-general Nicolas Bay denied that the interviews were a "declaration of war", he added that the Front National "didn't need to hear any lessons from the clergy about migration".
Bay said that he would prefer to hear bishops "remind people of the social doctrine of the church, which is very far from the ultra-liberalism we see today."
The attacks came as France prepares for presidential and parliamentary elections in the spring. The race for president appears to be between the Front leader Marine Le Pen and conservative Francois Fillon.
Fillon enjoys strong support among Catholics, but The Tablet reported that there is division within the FN over whether to seek to woo members of the church.
On the one hand, Le Pen and Aliot reportedly reject the church while others, including Le Pen's niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen, have been trying to appeal to traditional Catholics.
Polls show rising support for Front National among churchgoers in recent years but it is not clear whether this merely reflects the nationalist party's growing appeal across France.
Many pundits believe Le Pen will perform the latest major upset amid the rise of populism that saw the Brexit vote in the UK and the election of Donald Trump as president in the US.
Muslim Migrant Torches Church Nativity Scene, Says He Wants to Destroy Christian Symbols
At least one Muslim migrant in Italy shares one thing in common with the devil: They both hate Christian symbols and want to destroy them.
The unnamed 25-year-old homeless Muslim migrant originally from Gambia was arrested for setting fire to a Nativity scene in the parish of Madonna del Rosario in Foggia, southern Italy, on Monday, the Daily Express reported.
The church's priest caught the man in the act of torching the Nativity scene showing the infant Jesus in the manger with Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the three wise men, and the animals.
The priest quickly notified the police who rushed to the scene and restrained the man after a brief struggle. He was later charged with damage to private property, arson and resisting arrest.
A local official was quoted as saying that the arrested suspect was suffering from a "visible psycho-physical crisis."
The man told police he was a Muslim and wanted to destroy Christian symbols, local reports said. He said he had already destroyed a statue of Mary before he began burning the Nativity display.
The man, who holds a legal residency permit, has been living in Italy for two years.
The church arson attack took place just days after an asylum seeker stormed a children's Nativity play in Austria, terrifying toddlers and parents watching the show, especially after he shouted that he would kill unbelievers, the Daily Express also reported.
The refugee, who was of Somali descent, suddenly leapt on stage and took out a copy of the Quran from his rucksack and started preaching.
The 24-year-old asylum seeker, who was wearing a white robe, was eventually overpowered by a number of men, including his two brothers, while shouting "Allahu Akbar."
Witnesses said the people watching the play were horrified, thinking it was a prelude to a terrorist attack or a massacre. They thought the man was carrying weapons in his rucksack. But authorities later found out the bag only contained clothes.
Police said the Somali native had been living in the area for two years and that he suffered from manic depression, for which he is receiving treatment.
Muslims And Christians Unite To Win Backing For New Jersey Mosque
Muslims have won a lawsuit granting them the right to build a mosque in a town in New Jersey.
Unusually, they had the backing of influential evangelical Christians including Southern Baptists.
District Judge Michael A Shipp ruled in favour of the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge and against the township of Bernards, The Christian Post reports.
Planners in Bernards rejected the mosque application in 2015.
Judge Shipp ruled this to be a violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act which codifies some "narrow" exceptions such as a nondiscrimination provision.
Shipp said the planning refusal constituted "impermissible discrimination on the basis of religion".
The victory of the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge came with the support of two key evangelical Christian groups, who defended the group on the basis of freedom of religion.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and the National Association of Evangelicals were two several faith-based and civil rights groups that signed an amicus brief in support of the Muslim group last May.
Top Southern Baptist Russell Moore, president of the commission, said that for Baptists, defending this cause was essential.
"What it means to be a Baptist is to support soul freedom for everybody," he said.
Some Southern Baptists criticised this stance, fearing a proliferation of mosques would encourage the rise of a violent, radicalised Islam.
The original rejection of the Muslim group by Bernards planners was unanimous, and met with enthusiastic cheering from locals at the time.
Moore said: "Brothers and sisters, when you have a government that says 'we can decide whether or not a house of worship can be constructed based upon the theological beliefs of that house of worship,' then there are going to be Southern Baptist churches in San Francisco and New York and throughout this country who are not going to be able to build."
The amicus brief wrote in support: "A Muslim mosque cannot be subjected to a different land-use approval process than a Christian church simply because local protesters oppose the mosque," adding that "defendants have improperly applied different legal standards to a mosque simply because it is a mosque."
Peace Beckons In Congo After Catholic Bishops Broker Accord
Catholic leaders in Congo have said they hope for a lasting peace as they seek to help find practical ways of implementing the government-opposition accord signed on New Year's Eve.
The Church's bishops played a key role in bringing about the new accord.
"We're all saluting this great step, the fruit of a dialogue arranged by the church," said Monsignor Leonard Santedi Kinkupu, the rector of Kinshasa's Catholic University and former secretary-general of the bishops' conference.
"Being a Catholic country has given us an advantage over other African states when it comes to seeking peace, and it's good the church and its bishops have been instrumental in bringing this about," he told the Catholic News Service.
He was speaking as talks began on taking forward the accord between opposition leaders and representatives of President Joseph Kabila.
Kinkupu told CNS that the church had played a key role in bringing together Congo's feuding politicians.
"The church has always been involved in the work for peace and could use its moral authority to bring about direct negotiations.
"We now have a real chance of sparing our country from further violence, and this is why everyone has welcomed the church's engagement and offer of hope."
The bishops launched a mediation bid in August, after opposition leaders accused Kabila of seeking to delay autumn elections.
They then withdrew from a national dialogue in October amid worsening violence.
Then, on December 8 days before Kabila's second and final term was due to come to an end on 20 December - both sides agreed to resume talks mediated by church officials.
Under new accord, witnessed by foreign diplomats, Kabila will remain in power, pending elections by the end of 2017.
He will work with a government headed by a prime minister nominated by the opposition.
Kabila agreed to comply with constitutional provisions barring him from seeking a third term.
A National Transition Council, headed by 84-year-old opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, will be established in March to monitor the electoral process.
The bishops' conference president, Archbishop Marcel Utembi Tapa of Kisangani, welcomed the accord osaid he counted on all groups to "apply it in good faith".
He admitted it would be "another thing to put the compromise in place".
Agence France-Presse reported yesterday that agreement still had to be reached on composition of the new government and transitional council, as well as on dates for the 2017 elections. Several opposition groups have yet to sign the accord.
There is also uncertainty over the fate of around 400 political prisoners.
The bishops' conference secretary-general, Monsignor Donatien Nshole Babula, who helped negotiate the accord, told journalists yesterday that the document was binding, pending agreement on "certain practical modalities".
Catholics make up around half of the 67.5 million inhabitants of the Congo, where up to 6 million people died in a series of wars between 1996-2003.
Pope Francis Might Allow Married Catholic Priests, Says Top Theologian
A leading Catholic theologian has revealed that Pope Francis could soon relax the rules on priestly celibacy and allow Catholic priests to marry.
Leonardo Boff, from Brazil, a prominent liberation theologian who himself resigned as a priest after his liberal views put him at odds with the hierarchy, said the Brazilian bishops had explicitly asked Pope Francis to allow men who had left the ministry to marry to serve as priests again.
Currently there are thousands of ordained priests worldwide who left the active ministry to marry. The Catholic Church makes rare exceptions to its celibacy rule. Eastern Rite priests are, like their Orthodox counterparts, allowed to be married if they married before ordination, although they cannot become bishops.
In the UK, the Catholic Church has ordained married Anglican clergy who wished to become Catholic priests after the vote to ordain women.
But in general the celibacy rule stands.
And the Catholic Church is entering a massive crisis over an international shortage of new priests and a rapidly-ageing existing priesthood.
In an interview with the German daily newspaper Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger, Boff says it is possible that married priests could be used again in pastoral care.
"This is an explicit request from the Brazilian bishops to the Pope, especially his friend, the emeritus Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes.
"I heard that the Pope wanted to comply with this request initially for an experimental phase in Brazil."
Brazil has 140 million Catholics and needs at least 100,000 priests, but there are currently just 18,000.
Boff says: "Institutionally, this is a disaster. It is no wonder that the faithful overflow with the evangelicals and Pentecostals who fill the vacuum.
"If the many thousands of married priests were to be able to exercise their office again, this would be a first step towards improving the situation."
As a former Franciscan, he says he does not personally need this change because he still exercises his priestly ministry: "I baptise, I bury, and when I go to a church without a priest, I celebrate the Mass together with the people."
He says he has never been criticised or forbidden from doing this.
"The bishops even rejoice and tell me: 'The people have a right to the Eucharist. So keep quiet!' My theological teacher, Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns, who died a few days ago, for example, was very open. He went so far as to bring married priests, whom he saw sitting in the bench during the Mass, to the front of the altar, and together with them celebrated the Eucharistic celebration. He often did that and said. 'You are still priests, and you will remain priests!"
Boff, who currently serves as Professor Emeritus of Ethics, Philosophy of Religion and Ecology at Rio de Janeiro State University in Brazil, resigned in 1992 after years criticising the church leadership. He has consistently backed the ordination of women and allowing priests to marry.
He made his name as a liberation theologian speaking out for the poor of Latin America.
Boff also defends in the interview Pope Francis against the criticism of senior conservative cardinals in the church including Raymond Burke.
Boff describes Burke as "the Donald Trump of the Catholic Church".
Burke and three other cardinals wrote to the Pope last year challenging his teaching after his statement in September that divorced and remarried Catholics can in "some cases" receive Holy Communion without living as "brother and sister" and without getting an annulment.
But unlike Trump, says Boff, Burke is now "in the cold in the Curia thank God".
He condemns Burke and his fellow conservatives for attempting to correct the Pope.
"These people actually believe they should correct the Pope. As if they were above the Pope. Such a thing is unusual, if not unprecedented in the Church's history. You can criticise the Pope, discuss it. I have done this often enough. But that Cardinals publicly accuse the Pope of spreading theological errors or even heresies, which I think is too much. This is an affront... The Pope can not be condemned, that is Church teaching."
He says Pope Francis is more interested in the survival of mankind and the future of the earth rather than preserving his own Church hierarchy.
"Both are in danger, and one must ask whether Christianity can contribute to overcoming this great crisis that threatens humanity."
Wang Xiaohui, editor-in-chief of China.org.cn
The year 2016 was eventful both to China and other countries. In addition to growing regional conflicts and incessant terrorist attacks, the presidential election of the United States, the exit of Great Britain from the EU, disputes over South Chinese Sea islands between China and the Philippines and the deployment of U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea have all added to the uncertainty of international politics and world order and posed great challenges to China's diplomatic work. As Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi put it, the year 2016 could be summed up with two words - "changes" and "chaos."
Review
I. Chinese-U.S. ties remained stable but eventful.
Ties between China and the United States remained stable in 2016 despite various incidents. After President Obama's visit to Beijing and the G20 Hangzhou Summit, the two countries have strengthened strategic communication, built mutual trust and dispersed doubts, thus ensuring a sound development of ties. But strategic doubts still remain, especially where geopolitics, territorial sovereignty and economic interests are concerned. The South China Sea disputes between China and the Philippines, in which Washington had played a behind-the-scenes role, and the deployment of the U.S. THAAD system in South Korea are just two cases in point.
Since Donald Trump was elected to be the next President of the United States, Chinese-U.S. relations have shown worrisome signs. On Dec. 2, Trump talked with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen on the phone. Despite explanations by the President-elect himself and the White House's spokesperson afterwards, the call cast a shadow over bilateral ties, as such a thing hadn't happened in the 37 years since the two countries established diplomatic ties. Moreover, Trump's cabinet picks and their attitudes toward China also indicated that the development of bilateral relations will face great pressure from the White House in the future.
II. Frequent "black swan" events affected the world.
A lot of events happened in 2016 that were unexpected and had a major impact on the world. They made the world even more uncertain and are highly likely to change the progress of international politics.
Trump's surprise win in the U.S. presidential election, the shock of Brexit and the following resignation of British Prime Minister David Cameron, the final resignation of scandal-embattled South Korean president Park Geun-hye, the resignations of the prime ministers of New Zealand and Italy on the same day and the assassination of Russian ambassador in Turkey are just a few of the major "black swan" events from last year.
What will happen to the United States after its businessman-cum-president assumes office with his team of billionaires? Will there be another round of trade wars with China? Besides the jitters in the financial market, what impact will Brexit and Italy's referendum leave on an already struggling EU? The changes of state leaders in the United States, Brazil, Britain, South Korea, Italy, Thailand, New Zealand and many other countries will surely affect world politics.
III. Philippines' U-turn towards China after the South China Sea arbitration case.
The arbitration of the South China Sea disputes, which was initiated unilaterally by former Filipino president Benigno S. Aquino III, the United States, Japan and a handful of other third-party countries, had a deep impression on the Chinese people last year, as it started on the first day of the Chinese lunar new year and ended in July with an illegal and void ruling.
During the process, China showed strong political power and responded skillfully.
When Rodrigo Duterte assumed office as the new Filipino president on June 30, the realistic man didn't inherent the negative political baggage left behind by his predecessor, but made the wise choice to choose China as the first country to visit outside the ASEAN region, thus mending ties with China.
The gradual return to stability in the South China Sea and the restoration of Chinese-Filipino relations will lay a foundation for solving the South China Sea issue through talks and joint development. It's also vitally important to promoting a peaceful environment for China's development. This event will go down in history.
IV. The Belt and Road Initiative made steady progress; diplomatic activities with neighboring countries achieved positive results.
Last year saw the steady and comprehensive progress of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. With the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Silk Road Fund and various economic cooperative programs, the initiative has gradually come into being.
At the G20 Hangzhou Summit in September last year, China provided the world with a new model of global governance, and the Belt and Road Initiative provided a promotional platform for the model. The five overseas trips to 14 countries President Xi made last year were a boon to the development of the initiative.
Moreover, much progress has been made in China's diplomatic activities with neighboring countries. The G20 Hangzhou Summit offered a platform for China to participate in global governance and enhance its ties with neighbors. President Xi's visit to Cambodia, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's choice of China as the first country to visit outside the ASEAN region and Sri Lanka's resumption of the Colombo Port City project are just a few of the results China achieved last year.
China consistently pursues a foreign policy of building friendship and partnership with its neighbors. It also keeps a consistent and clear position when major issues like regional security, national interests and territorial sovereignty are concerned. Therefore, China has insisted on the promotion of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, on opposition to the deployment of the U.S. THAAD system in South Korea, on the dismissal of the illegal claims on the South China Sea islands by the Philippines and on a firm reaction to all of Japan's trouble-making activities. All the achievements China has made in the diplomatic field should be attributed to its regional policy of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, its firm stance on important issues and its skillful approaches in diplomatic activities.
V. China upheld free trade while anti-globalization gained increasing popularity.
Anti-globalization is nothing new, but a concomitant of globalization. It stems from the economic recession that followed in the wake of the global financial crisis. In recent years, the United States and Japan have witnessed sluggish growth, Europe has been stuck in recession, and the refugee crisis remains unresolved in the Middle East - all these issues have given rise to trade protectionism and a trend of anti-globalization.
In late 2016, Japan announced it would not recognize China's market economy status, the European Union said it would continue with the alternative country approach in trade and American President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods. This was one of the most severe anti-globalization moves in 2016.
Since the 1980s, China has been committed to reform and opening-up, integrating itself into the international community and engaging in global governance. It has changed its role from a major beneficiary to an unwavering promoter of globalization. During the G20 Hangzhou Summit in September 2016, China contributed its plans for building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy, which was one of the greatest contributions made to globalization. Of course, the contribution cannot come without the country's own economic development. In Deng Xiaoping's words, development is key.
Prospects
A major country should have a befitting presence and take on its due responsibilities. Peace and development will still be the main theme in the world in 2017, but chaos and disorder will linger as well. China will be playing the stabilizing role in a complicated and capricious international arena, creating a peaceful environment for its own development as well as contributing to the peace and development of the world.
First, China should properly handle relations with major countries, ensuring the continuation of sound and stable development in China-U.S. and China-Russia ties. The key to China-U.S. relations is to manage disagreements before committing to pragmatic cooperation. The two countries can only have long-term stable cooperation and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results when they respect each other and take into consideration the issues concerning the other's core interests and major concerns, for instance the Taiwan question. The current China-Russian strategic partnership is sound and stable. While enhancing cooperation with Russia, China should closely watch new developments in U.S.-Russia and Japan-Russia ties in 2017.
Second, China should cement the diplomatic achievements made after the South China Sea arbitration in 2016 and strive for the long-time stability of its southern waters. The improvements in China-Philippines relations can and should be used as a demonstration of China's commitment to the principle of "shelving disputes and engaging in joint exploitation," as well as its pledge to playing by the book.
Third, China should keep a close eye on the Korean Peninsula and invest in the relations with its neighbors. The situation on the Korean Peninsula is becoming more intense and unpredictable, as North Korea continues to carry out nuclear tests and South Korea intends to deploy the THAAD system while in the midst of a transition in leadership following the impeachment of its scandal-ridden president. The peninsula is a key for China's foreign relations, and the country must uphold the principle of denuclearization on the peninsula.
Fourth, while promoting bilateral relations with Southeast Asian countries, China should pay attention to its relations with Singapore, which is moving closer to the United States. China should also forge closer economic ties and other forms of cooperation with Central Asian countries through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Belt and Road Initiative.
Fifth, the Belt and Road Initiative should be promoted, and economic cooperation should facilitate diplomacy. The Belt and Road is not only a platform for economic cooperation but also for foreign relations. The year 2017 marks the fourth year of the introduction of the Belt and Road Initiative, and the initial achievements have been made and won the recognition and support of an increasing number of countries. This proves that innovations in deepening international cooperation must go along with major diplomatic moves so as to benefit each other.
Sixth, China should actively participate in global governance and have greater presence in the international community. It should implement the agreements achieved in the G20 Hangzhou Summit, make good use of a number of multilateral cooperation mechanisms - including the World Economic Forum and Shanghai Cooperation Organization - as well as of the opportunity to host the Belt and Road international forum and the 9th BRICS summit, in order to contribute Chinese solutions to global governance while engaging with the international community.
The world will not be a peaceful one in 2017, but Chinese diplomacy will be more than remarkable. Let me quote a line from the great ancient poet Li Bai as a wish for the new year: "A time will come to ride the wind and cleave the waves, I'll set my cloudlike sail to cross the sea which raves."
The author Wang Xiaohui is editor-in-chief of China.org.cn.
The 12 Worst Countries For Christian Persecution Around The World
The staggering levels of persecution against Christians around the world is documented in a new 'Hall of Shame' list released by watchdog International Christian Concern (ICC).
ICC on Wednesday said that North Korea, Iraq, Syria and Nigeria were the worst state persecutors of Christians, while Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China, India and Egypt were "perennial abusers of religious freedom".
The persecution watchdog also listed a third category, 'New and Noteworthy', in which it placed countries where "events... indicate declining religious freedom and are cause for alarm".
Within this list was the US, Russia and Mexico.
In North Korea, former prisoners described horrific torture witnessed in the country's notorious labour camps. One told ICC that prisoners were forced to stone each other to death, while another reported seeing the execution of entire families in gas chambers.
CSW, a UK-based religious freedom charity, said in a report released last September that freedom of religion or belief "is largely non-existent" under dictator Kim Jong-Un's leadership.
"Religious beliefs are seen as a threat to the loyalty demanded by the Supreme Leader, so anyone holding these beliefs is severely persecuted," the report said. "Christians suffer significantly because of the anti-revolutionary and imperialist labels attached to them by the country's leadership."
Among the documented incidents against Christians are "being hung on a cross over a fire, crushed under a steamroller, herded off bridges and trampled underfoot".
Isaac Six, advocacy director at ICC, previously told Christian Today it was "nearly impossible to imagine the horrors that are a daily reality for so many of faith in North Korea".
In Nigeria, ICC said Christians face "brutal daily persecution for their faith from the Islamic extremist groups Boko Haram and the Fulani militias".
The government's attempt to eradicate Boko Haram - whose leader has vowed to eradicate Christianity in Nigeria - has been "a massive failure overall", ICC said, and "has only refocused them [Boko Haram] on attacking Christians".
Meanwhile in Iraq and Syria, "Christianity... is on the verge of extinction," the report warned, and many of the hundreds of thousands of Christians who have fled the region in recent years are unlikely to return.
ICC condemned the "escalation of attacks on Christians" in India, and tactics of "intimidation, arrests, destruction of church property, and church closures" used against Chinese Christians by the Communist government.
"The government is the primary persecutor of Christians in China as it seeks to consolidate power over the people," the report said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in July 2016 signed into law the 'Yarovaya' package, under which house churches are illegal and religious activity or evangelism is prohibited anywhere outside a registered church or religious site, including private homes and online. Only named members of religious organisations are now allowed to share their faith, and even informal witnessing between individuals is forbidden. Critics have branded it a draconian attempt to stifle religious freedom under the guise of clamping down on terrorism.
ICC said the Yarovaya laws "are just the most recent crackdown in a trend of stifling religious expression" in Russia, and named Pastor Donald Ossewaarde as one of a number of Christian missionaries to have been fined under the new legislation.
The inclusion of America in the "New and Noteworthy" category was because "Christians and all religious people are being marginalised through the law," the report said.
There has been "a broad cultural shift towards secularism" and "Anti-Christian entities have been able to leverage the growing secularisation of society and culture to their advantage, utilising the courts as a preferred venue to gradually marginalise and silence Christians."
"While there is no comparison between the life of a Christian in the US with persecuted believers overseas, ICC sees these worrying trends as an alarming indication of a decline in religious liberty in the United States," the report concluded.
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Two Texas businesses aren't going to pot, they're discussing a merger to make one big medical marijuana company.
The discussions between Houston-based Indoor Harvest Corp. and San Antonio-based Alamo CBD would have Indoor Harvest acquire all of Alamo CBD. From there, Indoor Harvest would spin off it's produce business and maintain full control of that.
Stockholders in Indoor Harvest would also get 60 percent of the marijuana business and Alamo stockholders would keep 40 percent.
ALTERNATIVE PUNISHMENT: Texas cop lets teen do 200 pushups instead of arrest for pot bust
The merger precedes the licensing of three pot dispensing organizations by Sept. 1 of this year under the state's Compassionate Use Program. Once in place, Texas will join 28 other states and the District of Columbia in authorizing legal medical marijuana.
The measure, initially passed in 2015, allows licensed businesses to grow, process and dispense low-THC cannabis to prescribed patients who have been diagnosed with intractable epilepsy.
Alamo is currently planning to use 10 acres of land, including water rights, in La Vernia in Wilson County to build a 17,500 square foot pharmaceutical production facility for marijuana and seek a license to operate their facility under the Texas Compassionate Use Act.
LEGISLATION: Texas state senator files medical marijuana bill
The merger comes after Alamo signed a deal with Houston-based biopharmaceuticals company Vyripharm Enterprises. The agreement forms a partnership for pharmaceutical cannabinoids research.
When everything shakes out, Alamo plans to use Indoor Harvests biomanufacturing platform to provide pure medical cannabis oil and products to the undertaking.
The goal is to create specific chemical profiles customized for each patient to treat multiple medical conditions.
The deal to set up the joint venture is expected to close Feb. 15.
Ask the Fool
Insurance for failed brokerage
Q: What happens if I open a brokerage account and the brokerage goes out of business? - T.R., Augusta, Ga.
A: Fear not. Most brokerages carry Securities Investor Protection Corp., or SIPC, insurance, protecting your account for up to $500,000, including up to $250,000 in cash. (Many carry additional insurance, too.)
It protects you in the event of your brokerage failing - but it won't give your money back if your stock crashes, wiping out your investment.
To make sure a brokerage is SIPC-protected, check its website for assurance, or call it up and ask.
Learn more about brokerages and how to choose a good one at fool.com/how-to-invest/broker/ and more about the SIPC at sipc.org.
the take
Medical dollars and devices
If you're seeking a company that offers regular dividend increases and stable cash flow, consider medical device king Medtronic (NYSE: MDT).
The company has increased its dividend for 39 years in a row, averaging annual increases of 12 percent over the past five years. It recently yielded 2.3 percent.
Medtronic has a giant global footprint in the medical device industry, with its product portfolio ranging from pacemakers to insulin pumps and pretty much everything in between.
Its stake in nearly every medical device market gives it economies of scale and pricing power. Although Medtronic's top line hasn't quite performed as expected in recent quarters, new product launches should help boost revenue.
The company is also beginning to see real benefits from its purchase of Covidien.
Being able to move its headquarters to Ireland, a country with a very favorable corporate tax environment, didn't alter its tax rate much, but it will free up billions in capital that was being held overseas.
It also allows Medtronic to better deploy its capital, with a goal outlined in 2014 of reinvesting $10 billion into research and development over the next decade. By next fiscal year, the combined entity could realize $850 million in cost synergies.
Smart income investors would be wise to give Medtronic a closer look. (The Motley Fool owns shares of Medtronic.)
Foolish Trivia
Name that company
I trace my roots back to 1902, when 30 gypsum and plaster makers merged, creating a company with 37 mining and calcining plants producing plaster for agriculture and construction. My early products were fireproof tiles and drywall - which covered walls without warping or burning - and the housing boom after World War II was great for business. Today, based in Chicago and with a market value around $4 billion, I'm a giant in my field, offering products such as Sheetrock, cement board, joint compound, flooring materials, caulking, primers, acoustical ceiling panels and suspended ceiling systems. Who am I?
Last week's trivia answer: Campbell Soup
Universal Uclick
Of course, you've heard of all of the big, new restaurant openings of the year, but several smaller places might have fallen under the radar.
Here are a few notable spots that opened in the last three months:
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A recovery center in McKinney, Texas might soon have a branch-off facility in the form of a residential community formed by tiny homes.
Shannon White, who was once a Collin County Jail inmate, now offers her time to Grace To Change in the effort to help incarcerated women transition to sober lives in this state. White is among the organizers helping to launch Tiny House Big Recovery, a small network of tiny homes where former inmates can have a place to live. A Facebook page for the project describes it as an agency that will help to "provide short and long term housing for those who want to change but shelter is a roadblock."
CONTAINER HOUSING: Houston area builder gets a big break on HGTV's 'Tiny House'
In addition to having a roof over their heads, the makeshift neighborhood could also provide newly released women with a moral support network that could help them resist the urge to relapse. Many times, when a prisoner is released, they return to the same set of circumstances and friendships that landed them in jail.
When 23-year-old Christine Duke is released from jail this month, she explains that she will have no where to go. Duke told KHOU that she was on track to becoming a college student when she became involved with a crowd that led her to experiment with drugs. That led to a string of arrests in a state where she doesn't have family, and where her only friends are "not good influences."
(Story continues below.)
"It leaves hotel rooms or old places and hotel rooms are where all addicts congregate," Duke said.
Released inmates who relapse are statistically more likely to be imprisoned again.
COLLEGE AID: College students in Alabama work to provide desirable homes for the homeless
White explains that this creates a cost strain on McKinney's Collin County, where she says that taxpayers spend roughly $70 per day on each inmate. She says that having the Tiny House Big Recovery community as an alternative to imprisonment would be a better option.
Currently the recovery effort has only extended as far as the center's parking lot, but some McKinney residents are determined to help the organization obtain a 20- to 40-acre tract of land where tiny homes can be erected, KHOU reports.
When asked about the prospect of McKinney residents resisting having this type of place nearby, White says, "You have them in your backyard already, but they are un-treated."
Houston police are investigating after a male body was found on Wednesday morning along the Gulf Freeway.
A passer-by found the victim, who has not been identified yet, at 3700 Gulf Freeway at about 10:50 a.m.
During her run for the White House this year, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta and the Democratic National Committee were subject to numerous email hacks.
Many of the private emails showed up on WikiLeaks, covering topics ranging from aliens to Clinton's team poking fun at Ted Cruz being born in Canada. The hacks spurred an investigation from the FBI while Clinton's team blamed Russia. Turns out, it may have been Podesta's fault.
WIKILEAKS VS. THE U.S.: Donald Trump trusts Assange more than U.S. intelligence
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange told Fox News' Sean Hannity Tuesday night that Podesta used the word "password" for all of his passwords. Assange also said Podesta responded to phishing emails.
This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Peter Macdiarmid/Staff Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Paul Sancya Show More Show Less 3 of 3
"Podesta gave out that his password was the word 'password,'" Assange said to Hannity. "His own staff said this email that you've received, this is totally legitimate. So this is something... a 14-year-old kid could have hacked Podesta that way."
According to Fox News, Hannity interviewed Assange at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. Assange has been at the embassy for the past five years, fighting an extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges.
NOT A FAN: Paul Ryan calls Assange 'a sycophant for Russia'
The WikiLeaks founder also told Hannity that his source for the emails were not from the Russian government or any other government. President Barack Obama's administration has accused Russia of hacking the DNC and has imposed sanctions. Assange denied that Russia had any involvement with the hacks.
Assange's interview with Hannity has brought praise from some of his biggest critics .
Former vice presidential candidate and former Fox News contributor Sarah Palin praised Assange onFacebook Tuesday. Palin once called Assange a creep for publishing her emails during the 2008 presidential election. On Tuesday, Palin apologized to Assange.
To Julian Assange: I apologize. Please watch Sean Hannity's interview with Julian Assange (Wikileaks). Exposing the... Posted by Sarah Palin on Tuesday, January 3, 2017
THE PERFECT WEAPON: How Russia cyber power invaded the U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump acknowledged Assange's interview, tweeting on Wednesday "why was DNC so careless?"
CNN pointed out that in the past, Trump has not been a fan of Assange. Trump said there should "be like death penalty or something" in a 2010 interview of Wikileaks' activity.
Assange told Hannity that he would have "absolutely" released emails about Trump and his campaign had he gotten any.
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The next time you invite your grandparents and other older relatives over, you may be considered a life saver.
Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco found loneliness can lead to functional decline and a premature death.
OLD AGE, YOUNG MIND: What we know about people who have the brain of a 'superager'
The study "Loneliness in Older Persons" followed 1,600 adults who had an average age of 71 years. Approximately 23 percent of participants who said they were lonely died within six years of the study. When it came to participants who said they had adequate companionship, only 14 percent of them died within six years of the study.
When it comes to quality of life in old age, having friends, family and other connections is a must.
"The need we've had our entire lives - people who know us, value us, who bring us joy - that never goes away," Barbara Moscowitz, senior geriatric social worker at Massachusetts General Hospital, told the New York Times.
KIDS JUT DON'T UNDERSTAND: Younger people just won't understand these basic things some of us grew up with
Some elderly people told the New York Times that they created new friends and socialized more once they moved into retirement communities and nursing homes.
Younger family members benefit from spending time with their elders too, learning family history and secret recipes, among other things.
The research, then, is clear: Spend more time with your elders. It's beneficial for everyone.
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Three Clear Creek Independent School District students are challenging the state's academic assessment exam, and they are getting some attention from area educators and policymakers.
The students, Elena Michnovicz, Bailey Buchanan and Elissa Chotas attend Clear Brook High School and are in Cary Johnson's English II Leadership class. The teacher asked the students to select a policy issue they would like to address, research the policy using credible sources, create a research-based solution to the policy issue, create a presentation outlining their findings and to present the results to a panel of professionals. The students decided to challenge the Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, test. The girls argue that there is a better way to measure student progress without infringing on the unique learning opportunities a student can have.
"It places unnecessary stress on students," Buchanan said in a news release announcing the results of their research.
The result of their work is a presentation titled, "The Fault in Our STAAR." Through their research, the trio outlined why they believe the STAAR test does not measure what it was intended to gauge.
The girls didn't simply present evidence why STAAR test doesn't work. The students also propose adopting a test they say is based on actual mastery of skill and not simply a comprehension exam like STAAR.
For example, Buchanan said the reading sections of the STAAR test are supposed to measure comprehension of passages.
Instead, she said, "it is just a game of trying to guess the answers from clues."
The high school students attended the Dec. 5 meeting of the Bay Area School Consortium, which is composed of 10 school districts in Galveston and Harris counties with more than 140,000 students. The districts that make up the consortium are Clear Creek, Dickinson, Friendswood, Galveston, Hitchcock, La Porte, Pasadena, Santa Fe and Texas City. During the meeting, the consortium outlined its top 10 challenges and concerns facing education to state representatives for the upcoming legislative session.
During the presentation, the Clear Creek students provided an example of how the STAAR test doesn't work, often presenting topics below what students should be able to master at their grade levels. On last year's STAAR test, according to the girls, ninth grade students were asked to write about what a true friend is, Buchanan said.
"That's a topic that's way below level," she added.
Their research revealed two assessments that they believe would better serve students and teachers. One is the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the other is the PISA Financial Literacy Test.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas, according to the students' report. Chotas said it has straightforward questions, measures comprehension and is developmentally appropriate. And it is a significantly shorter test compared to the state's test and measures a student's yearlong improvement.
The PISA Financial Literacy Assessment focuses on real world application, according to the girls. It is a test they failed miserably, Buchanan said. According to the trio, the test can be used to gauge how well students master knowledge of important life skills.
"From this, I learned how to read bills and taxes," Michnovicz said. "If STAAR was designed to measure mastery of skill, it failed us."
If one student isn't benefiting from this type of assessment, that's one too many, according to the girls.
"We don't learn or grow from STAAR," Buchanan said. "Why don't we have a test that allows us to learn and grow?"
It is a question the trio of high school students have been asking area professionals, educators and legislators.
Since presenting their project to the Bay Area Schools Consortium, the girls have been asked to meet with State Sen. Larry Taylor (R-District 11), for a second time.
Before Taylor's election to the Texas senate in 2012, he served five terms in the Texas House of Representatives. Accoording to his online legislative bio, he currently is chairman of the Senate Committee on Education and as a member of the Senate Finance, Business and Commerce and Intergovernmental Relations Committees.
His request to meet with the girls for a second time, said Johnson, the English II teacher, shows how "incredibly committed to changing testing in Texas."
"Through this project, they have become very knowledgeable about the state of testing in Texas," she said.
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Somali troops and African Union peacekeeping forces on Tuesday captured a town in southwest Somalia from Al-Shabaab militants, an army official said.
Somali military commander Abdullahi Farah told Xinhua Al-Shabaab militants withdrew from Mooragaabey town in Bakool region as the joint forces were advancing.
Farah said the forces were conducting an operation to push back and catch Al-Shabaab fighters, who are controlling parts of Bakool region.
Somalia-based Al-Shabaab extremist group has been forced out of its major strongholds by the AU and Somali forces but continues to launch bomb and gun attacks in the country.
Dec. 19
At 4:04 a.m., Officer Andrade was dispatched to the 4700 block of Fournace Place in reference to a welfare check on male driver passed out behind the wheel of his vehicle. Officer Andrade located the vehicle and attempted to make contact with the driver. The driver refused to obey Officer Andrade's commands and evaded in his vehicle driving the wrong way on a one-way street. After further investigation, the driver was arrested for driving while intoxicated and felony evading in a vehicle.
At 11:49 a.m., Officer Trujillo was dispatched to 5110 Jessamine Street, Bellaire Police Department, in reference to a credit card abuse call. Upon Officer Trujillo's arrival he spoke to the victim, who stated an unknown person(s) obtained his debit card along with his pin and used it without the victim's permission.
Dec. 21
At 4:02 p.m., Officer Manriquez was dispatched to 5419 Bellaire Blvd. in regards to a theft. The store clerk informed Officer Manriquez that a black male stole a remote control drone from the store.
Dec. 22
At 4:20 a.m., the victim was northbound on the service road and stopped at the light at 6300 ESR at 4600 Bissonnet St. an unknown black male opened the victim's vehicle and attempted to rob him. The suspect had a gun and put it in the face of the victim. The victim fought against the suspect and was able to flee the area in his vehicle.
At 6:46 a.m., Officer Trujillo was dispatched to the 4500 block of Bissonnet Street in reference to a burglary of a building. Upon the Officer's arrival he spoke to the complainant who stated between 12/21/2016 at 5:30 p.m. and 12/22/2016 at 6:30 a.m. an unknown person(s) broke out the side window pane of the front doors of the business. A suspect was caught on the same date from a separate burglary.
At 4:20 a.m., officers were dispatched to the 4500 block of Bissonnet Street in reference to an in-progress burglary of a building call. Upon arrival, officers observed a suspect running away from the building carrying a cash register drawer. Officers chased after the suspect on foot and the suspect was placed into custody a short distance from scene. During the investigation the suspect was charged with burglary of a building and evading arrest.
At 1:47 p.m., Officer Younger initiated a traffic stop in the 8000 block of IH610 West Service Road on a silver 2002 Volvo S60 for expired registration. The traffic stop investigation found the paper registration plates to be fictitious. The driver was placed into custody for fictitious plates and transported to the Bellaire Jail to be processed.
At 3:38 p.m., Officer Younger was dispatched to the 500 block of College Street in regards to an identity theft report. Officer Younger arrived at 3:47 p.m. and made contact with the victim who advised an unknown suspect used his identifying information to open a bank account.
At 5:32 p.m., Officer Delgado conducted a traffic stop on a 2004 Volkswagen Jetta in the 6300 block of North First Street, for expired motor vehicle registration 09/16. Officer Delgado made contact with the driver who presented his name and date of birth and proof of financial responsibility. Officer Delgado conducted a computer inquiry on the name and date of birth and the returned showed a Texas Driver License which was not eligible. Officer Delgado observed a registration sticker affixed to the windshield of the driver's vehicle showing 09/17. The driver was charged with fictitious registration.
Dec. 23
At 12:56 p.m., Officer H. Lopez was dispatched to the Randalls Grocery store at 5130 Bellaire Blvd. in reference to a theft in progress. The reportee stated that a black male had exited the store without paying for the items. The black male, along with the stolen items, were located at the Metro bus stop across the street from Randalls and the suspect was placed under arrest for the theft.
At 1:54 p.m., Officer Younger was dispatched to the Randall's Grocery store at 5130 Bellaire Blvd. in reference to a theft in progress. The reportee stated that a Hispanic male had exited the store without paying for the item. The Hispanic male was located behind Randall's and placed under arrest for the theft.
At 8:41 p.m., Officer Liccketto conducted a traffic stop on a white 2003 Nissan Murano in the 5100 block of Braeburn Drive for failing to stop designated point. Upon the traffic stop investigation, the passenger was found to be in possession of a controlled substance. Officer Liccketto placed the passenger in custody for possession of a controlled substance.
Dec. 24
At 1:09 a.m., Officer Proctor observed a red, Chevrolet Colorado traveling westbound in the 4600 block of Bellaire Boulevard. Officer Proctor ran the vehicle's license plate and received a return showing the vehicle to have expired registration as of 01/2016. Officer Proctor initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle at the 6700 block of Interstate Highway 610 East Service Road and made contact with the driver. After further investigation Officer Proctor found the driver to be driving while license invalid with a previous suspension from Gonzales County Court on 02/11/2016. At approximately 1:26 a.m., Officer Proctor placed the driver into custody for DWLI Enhanced and transported him to Bellaire Jail for booking.
At 3:26 a.m., Officers R. Bellard and R. Guerra were dispatched to 4747 Bellaire Blvd. in reference to alarm call. Upon arrival, Officers noticed that the full length front window was shattered. Upon further investigation it was determined that a burglary of a building had occurred.
At 11 p.m., Officer Ortega was dispatched to the 4900 block of Beech Street in reference to an in progress burglary of habitation. Upon arrival, Officers met with the victim who stated three unknown suspects forced open their front door. When the victims appeared in hallway one of the suspects held the male victim at gunpoint. The female victim observed all suspects to be armed with handguns and retreated to the downstairs bedroom closet and contacted the police. No items were taken from the house.
Dec. 25
At 5:02 a.m., Officer C. Barber was dispatched to the 4600 block of Bellaire Boulevard (Blvd) in response to an attempted aggravated robbery.
Montrose Avenue is a heavily-traveled thoroughfare just west of downtown Houston. It paves the way to trendy restaurants, museums and vintage shops offering all the funkiness of the neighborhood in the form of eclectic furniture and knickknacks.
At the corner of the avenue and West Dallas Street, a 1940s art-deco marquee from the Montrose Management District was recently installed.
The marker at the intersection is the first in a total of 13, said a representative for the district Thursday.
The markers, all of which are to be installed by the time the Super Bowl comes to town in February, will have neon lights and are choreographed with the lighted bridges over the Southwest Freeway.
The district, which exists by way of taxes from area businesses, has operated under the radar of most residents' awareness, but business owners in the neighborhood are long-familiar, and some are not in favor of the district, least of all the $576,000 marquee project.
"What good is a marker?" said John Holzer, an attorney and rental property owner who had to lobby the district to remove him from its tax-roll after he discovered the number of units he owns is lower than the required number to be included in the assessments by the district.
The district refunded 100 percent of the $7,000 he paid over about six years without any complaints, he said.
But he never felt good about where his money was going during the years he was included.
"If I was a management district, I would canvass the area and ask business owners, 'What do you want us to do?' The things that improve an area are low crime rates, and if there's blighted properties, they should work with the landlords to make the place better," he said.
In response to these concerns, the representative for MMD said in an email that the marker project fits into the group's mission to make the area a safer and greener place to live and work.
The timing of the markers comes just weeks after Judge Joseph Halbach ruled in a lawsuit brought by one area business owner, that MMD made unlawful assessments and should repay the $6.5 million it collected illegitimately, and that the petition that originally gave the district the ability to collect the fees is invalid.
"None of the levied assessments were valid and are void as a matter of law," court documents show.
"Bob Rose is the hero of the century to have the courage and pocketbook to do this," said Jim Bartley about the plaintiff who filed the lawsuit.
Bartley is a rental property owner in Montrose who has been taxed by the district since 2007.
"Montrose is small mom and pop businesses, these are little people that get stuck with this tax," he said.
Both landlords say the district doesn't do a good job listening to their constituents.
And after petitions circulated around town that garnered around 80 percent of commercial property owners asserting they thought the district should disband, Holzer says MMD officials should have immediately met with the group to hear their concerns.
Bartley thinks improvements to the landscaping around Montrose, like the ones on Post Oak Boulevard or Kirby Drive, would have been more beneficial than markers that will require electrical upkeep and more money in the future.
Despite Halbach's order stating, "The West Montrose Management District must reimburse its unlawful assessment to those who paid them," MMD posted on its website:
"The Montrose Management District remains in full compliance with all state and local laws...No refunds are currently being planned while the case remains pending."
On Thursday, Halbach and attorneys in the lawsuit talked in a closed-door meeting, said sources close to the case, and said the judge reasserted his position that the taxes are illegal, and it could be as early as next week that new developments in the case are announced.
"We're all for improving Montrose," said Holzer.
"I didn't see any benefit, they don't patrol my streets, they don't provide me with any information on how to be a better landlord. We were not getting any value for the taxes we pay."
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A Florida man is behind bars after troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol said he shot at cows while inside of a car.
According to news station WFTV, Elvis Antonio Artola, 33, is accused of shooting at cows with an AR-15 on the Florida Turnpike.
SORE WINNER: Florida man, 83, hits car salesman in the head with golf club after winning gift card
Trooper Konner Achors was on patrol Sunday when he received a call that someone in a blue Hyundai Sonata was shooting at cows in Kissimmee, the news station reports. Achors said Artola was in the passenger seat and denied firing off a rifle.
Artola told the trooper that he did have a weapon in the vehicle. When Achors asked Artola to put his hands behind his back, WFTV reports he refused to. Achors had to call for back up to get Artola to put his hands behind his back.
According to the news station, the driver told troopers he stopped along the side of the Turnpike so Artola could use the restroom. He said Artola stepped out the vehicle and fired into the woods with the AR-15.
KEEPING THEM SAFE: Florida county takes steps to track animal abusers like sex offenders
The driver said Artola fired shots from the car window as they drove away. WFTV reports the driver wasn't sure if Artola was attempting to hit the cows.
Troopers said a fully-loaded Bushmaster rifle was in the trunk of the car. Artola is being held in the Orange County Jail.
Deputies said three suspects are in custody after they robbed a check cashing store on Monday in northwest Harris County.
They are accused of striking a Cash Store about 2:30 p.m. Monday in the 12200 block of Jones Road.
The City of Deer Park may be small - only 10 square miles in size - but its residents can make a big impact when they lend their support to local businesses.
Leona Roberts, who co-owns custom bakery Somethin' Sweet with her sister Sarah Gray, is a testament to how quickly a business can grow once word gets out around town.
"Word of mouth for us was huge (in growing our business)," Roberts said, adding once people knew about her cupcakes she could count on lots of interest.
"Deer Park people are awesome. They support everything from their local schools to their local businesses."
Roberts' journey from school employee to business owner was a scant nine months. She first began selling cupcakes out of her home them quickly moved on to offering them at a friend's place of business before taking the plunge and opening her own location at 4201 Center St. in 2011. Now, five years later, business is strong and she's thrilled.
"It's a lot of work, but I love coming to work every day," she said.
As the city's first economic development administrator, Debbie Westbeld makes good use of Deer Park's strong sense of community when advocating for companies to look to the city as a smart choice to do business. She said that community spirit contributes to other strong bargaining tactics which make the area attractive to perspective companies.
"Deer Park's a very easy sell because there's a low cost of living and people here make a lot of money," she said. "Also, because we're in between Pasadena and La Porte we tap into those markets, essentially about 100,000 people in a 10-mile radius around us. Essentially we're a small town with the buying power of a bigger town because we're in close proximity to so many other people."
Westbeld said the city also does what it can to make it easy for businesses to set up shop. In fact, she said the time it usually takes to obtain the proper permits in Deer Park is often half the time it might take in other cities. She said the city departments such as permitting, public works and others work well together to ensure there isn't a lot of bureaucracy involved in getting new companies in and ready to go.
"We have an efficient system and rules that were made with developers in mind, and we're a small city so we're easier to work with," Westbeld said. "We make sure we're welcoming."
Communicating with residents and being tuned in to what type of businesses they would like to see in their town is another vital part of Westbeld's job. She stays in touch people through her department's Facebook page, which has approximately 4,500 followers. She also writes articles for the city's newsletter promoting new businesses, serves on the city's Chamber of Commerce board of directors and often fields calls from residents about what type of companies they'd like to see in Deer Park.
"Every day I'm communicating with people and this helps me understand the community and what people want so I can serve as an effective liaison with the retail and commercial developers," Westbeld said.
Eight years ago, the City of Deer Park created Westbeld's position. With limited land in the city, it was important to make sure available space was strategically developed.
"Someday we will run out of raw available land for commercial development and, eight years ago, no one was keeping a close eye on who was coming here," Westbeld said. "(The city) wanted to make sure the last remaining acres were developed in a way that was beneficial to the city."
Since she's come on, Westbeld has seen the business landscape change dramatically. In addition to new retail, shopping and restaurant options, a new 80,000-square-foot H-E-B grocery store at 4700 East Blvd. recently opened and will anchor a large shopping center that's being built out in phases. The new store replaced the previous HEB at the corner of Center Street and Pasadena Boulevard.
What's more, not only are residents now enjoying the larger and updated H-E-B, the old location was never at risk of becoming a vacant building or an dilapidated eyesore.
"The building was bought before they even closed the doors," Westbeld said. "In fact it was an easy sell and they already have two leases (in the rest of the shopping center) for a Dollar King and a Planet Fitness."
These incoming businesses join new eateries such as Deer Park Sushi, which recently opened its doors at 3811 Center St., and KZ Sweet Boutique located at 3428 Center St. Also, Bush's Chicken is set to open at the end of December in the College Park Plaza Shopping Center at 8035 Spencer Highway.
The new year promises even more dining selections including Chipotle Mexican Grill, which will open early this year in the College Park Shopping Center.
With about 60 restaurants now operating within city limits and ongoing efforts to continue attracting a mix of shopping and retail businesses, Westbeld said she and other city officials work with an important goal in mind when it comes to economic growth.
"We don't want empty buildings, we don't want blight, and we don't want people to have to leave Deer Park to shop," she said. "We want to make sure we have every kind of business people need."
The former Teala's Mexican Restaurant at 3210 W. Dallas is about to get a new look and theme courtesy of one of Houston's prominent restaurateurs.
Sam Governale, operating partner of the River Oaks outpost of Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, has announced he is creating his own restaurant group, DOCG Interests, with plans to turn the former Teala's into a "neighborhood-focused" restaurant and bar slated to open spring 2017. The new restaurant will be called Emmaline.
Governale will remain at Fleming's through February to honor his current contract. Meanwhile he and his investors have begun to transform the 4,400-square-foot space between Shepherd and Waugh (Teala's closed in 2015) into a new restaurant that will feature multiple patios and a second-floor terrace.
Ashley Putman, a longtime friend of Governale's, is the creative director for the project. . "Ashley and I share a common vision for the restaurant, developed from our mutual experiences in metropolitan cities where the comfort and grace of neighborhood spots seem so natural, easy and alive," Governale said. "She brings a stylish, yet timeless perspective to the project, creating a genuine setting and dynamic energy to an iconic building that, we think, will fit so well into the lifestyle of Houstonians."
Governale said it was a tough decision to leave Fleming's.
"The last eight years with Fleming's have been filled with amazingly creative and passionate people and too many unforgettable dining experiences and faces to count," he said. "As an operating partner at the River Oaks location, I've had the distinct pleasure to serve a dynamic community during its time of exponential growth. I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished and feel honored to have shared in those milestones and celebrations with both an incredible staff of people and our loyal guests. While the decision to move on was a difficult one to make, the time has come for me to pursue new opportunities and challenges as part of my further growth in the hospitality industry. I feel so fortunate to have found a one-of-a-kind location near the same vibrant neighborhood that has shown me such great affection. It's the perfect place for me to introduce a concept that will be very much an extension of my own home and the way I love to enjoy food and entertain guests."
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When 21-year-old Shifa Abuzaid decided in May to begin wearing a hijab, she said her parents worried it might bring about incidents like the one she says she recently experienced.
A man passing Abuzaid, along with her younger cousins and siblings, called them a "bunch of terrorists" on Saturday in Sugar Land Town Square, Abuzaid recounted in a Facebook post that has since been shared on the medium more than 2,500 times.
Abuzaid was the eldest of her family members present at the time. The youngest was 10.
The group had been walking to their car after lunch when they passed the verbally abusive man and a woman, Abuzaid said in a phone interview Tuesday. Abuzaid was walking in front and was the only one with a hijab, a head covering worn in public by some Muslim women.
Story continues below.
When they passed the couple, she said she tried to appear friendly, as she often does because of the political climate regarding Muslims. She smiled.
But the younger kids stopped in their tracks after the couple passed, she said. They told Abuzaid what they had heard the man say. She felt shocked -- then she decided to try to talk with him about it.
As Abuzaid told it, she followed the man into a store. She said they asked him politely why he had called them terrorists. She found his reaction was confrontational.
Her sister began to cry as the man got close to her face, and when her 15-year-old brother stepped in front of her, Abuzaid alleged the man pushed him.
The man then began to deny their account, Abuzaid said. A manager at the store, Sur La Table, stepped in to help. The store had called security, and the man and woman left. (The company did not immediately return a request for comment.)
A police officer who later arrived told Abuzaid he couldn't do anything because no one was physically harmed, she said. (Sugar Land Police Chief Douglas Brinkley said they have since re-connected with the family to talk with them again.)
So, at 4:29 p.m. Saturday, Abuzaid posted her account of what had happened along with a short video her cousin recorded of part of their exchange with the man. Ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations, she said she wanted people to know this man might be there.
Abuzaid still doesn't know his name -- and points out that he didn't know hers, either. Nor did he likely know she was a student at the University of Houston, born in the United States.
"You don't even know my name," she said. "You don't know my story."
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Black Swan Yoga Studio swooped into Houston from its Austin home-base last year with a grand opening on Jan. 1, 2016.
Since then, the donation-based yoga group - owned by Onnit Academy, a health and fitness gym in Austin that allows loose franchises of the yoga studios - has cultivated a devoted group of yogis not only in the Heights where the studio sits White Oak Drive, but from all over the city.
The one-room studio runs classes seven days a week, sometimes as late as 11 p.m. with 25 yoga teachers rotating in throughout the day.
"It's a really beautiful studio," said Roxane Eslami as she admired the artwork on the white lobby wall and sipped her frozen, green concoction freshly squeezed for her at the Juiceland counter inside the studio.
Eslami, who came to the studio strictly for the Juiceland drink, knows a thing or two about yoga aesthetics, she works at Lululemon in the Galleria, the yoga apparel "it" brand that hit its zenith with the rise of yoga popularity across the country over the last decade.
Beyond the clean white lines of the lobby with the occasional natural-wood accent and pop of color from the artwork, the activity inside the studio walls is what draws the students.
"Every teacher has their own style," said Eslami, who lives outside the Sam Houston Tollway. "You get a little bit of everything."
The owners of the studio bring different professional backgrounds with them, too.
"We're pretty lucky to be able to support each other," said Olivia Keller, co-owner of Black Swan Houston.
She and her brother, Roland Keller and friend Claire Asmann own and manage the business. Olivia and Asmann taught yoga classes at the Austin locations together, while Asmann was tempting Roland with the business opportunity in Houston in hopes of tapping his years of commercial real estate experience for the acquisition of the right space.
After moving to Houston for a corporate job, Asmann said she knew she wanted something different and took a leap of faith.
"I saw the potential here in Houston and wanted to bring something here that was affordable, donation-based and created community," said Asmann. "People have developed relationships here. They come for the class and stay for a long time before and after, I love to be a part of that."
Part of the community building efforts are their classes at White Oak Music Hall and Raven Tower in the Heights, two of the newest music venues in town. The groups hosts yoga classes at Raven Tower on the patio every Sunday morning, and quarterly they do night classes on the outdoor stage at WOMH which allows for about 1,000 people to participate said Asmann.
Her Wednesday night class usually draws about 65 students, the absolute maximum the studio can hold.
Over the holiday break Raquel Harris, who lives in Austin and attends BSY sessions there, brought her boyfriend's 60-year-old mother, Oby Egbuonu, to the BSY Heights for Egbuonu's first-ever yoga class.
"I feel much better, I don't feel my blood pressure," said Egbuonu who suffers from high blood pressure.
The two drove from southwest Houston to attend the class.
The other Austin feature the group brought with them is the Juiceland counter inside the space.
The popular fresh-juice brand is all over in Austin and has locations in Dallas and New York, but BWY in the Heights is the only one in Houston.
With the class sizes and community partnerships growing so rapidly, Asmann feels thankful for that leap of faith she took just one short year ago.
"It's definitely been even beyond my wildest dreams seeing the community that's developed here, it's been a blessing," said Asmann.
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When Brooklyn Miller got off the bus at Memorial High School in Spring Branch ISD on Wednesday, the first thing she saw was a swastika.
The 18-year-old senior looked around and saw someone had spray-painted "f--- school" nearby. Down the hall, Miller could see the n-word and other racist messages. She and other students were upset.
"At one point there was a girl crying. Her mom came up to the school and was really mad," Miller said. "The girl left, and a lot of other people of color were distraught, but some kids were laughing."
Students at Memorial High returned from winter break Wednesday to find racist and other offensive graffiti scrawled across the school's walls, floors and windows, according to social media posts and district officials.
Crudely drawn swastikas, the phrase "white power," sexually explicit phrases and symbols and several pentagrams which are often associated with paganism and Satanism were also found by school administrators as they arrived to school.
Students shared images of the vandalism on Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat. Several said the hateful depictions covered the school, with a different scribble nearly every 10 feet along some hallways.
Steve Brunsman, a district spokesman, said all of the graffiti was cleaned up by the time students were dismissed from classes.
"Spring Branch ISD joins with the Memorial High School community in expressing outrage regarding the defacement of the high school campus earlier today as well as the highly offensive nature of the content," Brunsman said in a statement. "We stand against hate in all its forms and will never tolerate behavior that makes any member of the Spring Branch ISD family feel unsafe or disrespected."
The discovery of the graffiti follows several other racially charged incidents in public schools in the Houston area and nationwide.
After several students at Tomball High School wore black in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, a white student wore a makeshift Ku Klux Klan robe and hood on campus and walked the hallways doing a Nazi salute. The student was punished according to the district's Student Code of Conduct, Tomball ISD officials said at the time.
In April, a Cinco Ranch High School student was disciplined for wearing a mask that resembled a KKK hood during class. The 15-year-old Katy ISD student said he was unfamiliar with the white-supremacist group at the time of the incident and was not a racist.
Students of color at Lamar High School in Houston ISD complained in April after a white classmate wore blackface to an off-campus party. She painted her face and arms black and wore a shirt depicting the late rapper Tupac Shakur. Some classmates defended the student, saying she was trying to dress like a shadow, despite the historical connotations of blackface.
Spring ISD straddles Interstate 10 and covers an area west of Houston's 610 loop. Memorial High is located just east of the Memorial City Mall and two blocks south of I-10.
Security footage from the school showed a lone figure, possibly a juvenile, spray-painting the building at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to Brunsman
Spring Branch ISD and Houston Crime Stoppers are seeking information relating to the vandalism. Crime Stoppers is offering up to $5,000 to anyone who presents information that leads to the vandal's identification.
In a letter to parents and students Wednesday, Memorial High School Principal Lisa Weir said she was shocked and angered by the "mean-spirited" vandalism.
"At MHS, we stand against hate. We are shocked and angered that our school has been targeted, and that our students returned to a new year to find their campus defaced in such a mean-spirited way," Weir wrote.
Weir conveyed her sadness about the incident in a PA address to students and staff.
"I shared how we find strength in and take pride in our diversity, and how important it is for us to be sensitive to each other," Weir wrote.
Nearly two-thirds of Memorial High's students are white, while 17 percent are Hispanic, 16 percent are Asian and only 2 percent are black, according to Texas Education Agency data.
The school has been proactive in combating racist or hateful attitudes. It is one of the Anti-Defamation League's "No Place for Hate" campuses, which means students and staff members already have a system in place to respond to such situations. The program also gives tools to teachers and students to reject hateful language and to create a campus that promotes diversity and inclusion.
The Anti-Defamation League commended Weir and Spring Branch ISD for their quick responses to the graffiti on Wednesday.
"Our conversations with the school and Spring Branch ISD officials reflect that the situation is being addressed from all angles, and we are confident that Memorial High School students understand that respect is of utmost importance on campus and administrators, counselors and faculty are doing everything they can so that students feel they are in a safe learning environment," said Dayan Gross, Southwest regional director for the ADL.
Students said Wednesday that the offensive messages do not reflect racial relations at the school, and that students are typically friendly to one another.
James Wainaina, 18, Andrew Chipman, 14, and Cristo Gayoso, 15, talked about their shock and anger over the incident as they walked to soccer practice.
"There's nothing fun or funny about it," Chipman said. "There's such a friendly environment here, so for something like this to happen is so rare. I'm just glad this district handled it well."
Wainaina, who is black, said he didn't think something like this could happen at Memorial High.
"We all joke about some stuff with close friends," Wainaina said. "But I didn't think someone here could be so racist."
Parents were similarly disgusted.
As Jane Hammond waited for her daughter to be released from school, she said she was glad students and staff members had denounced the hate symbols and rose above the name-calling.
"It's scary and unnerving that there's someone who could do something like that in our kids' school and so close to our home," Hammond said. "And for it to be right on the heels of Christmas and the holidays is just terrible."
Brooklyn Miller said one person's hateful actions do not reflect the attitudes of her classmates. But before she went into class Wednesday morning, the 18-year-old saw white classmates posing with the "white power" graffiti piece.
"That made me feel terrible; I thought Memorial was more respectful," Miller said. "We're a very diverse school, but there are some people who don't really show respect for other races here."
At a news conference Wednesday, leaders of the NAACP's Houston branch condemned the graffiti and called for more cultural sensitivity training at the high school.
"It is unfortunate that children in 2017 have to return to school and find these disturbing images," said Dallas Jones, a chapter vice president.
Jones and Yolanda Smith, the branch's executive director, said educators should consider how that small minority at a majority-white school is affected by white peers posing for pictures in front of racial slurs or the words "white power."
Jones decried a nationwide "onset of racist movements," and Smith lamented the political season's impact.
"We're seeing this more and more, and we're going to call it out every time we see it," Smith said.
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South Sudan's First Vice President Taban Deng Gai said Tuesday that regional leaders support the country's opposition leader Riek Machar's exile in South Africa.
Gai, a former opposition commander under Machar, said that leaders from East African countries didn't want Machar to move around in their countries to plan ways of increasing conflict in South Sudan.
Machar fled South Sudan and was replaced by Gai as first vice president after renewed fighting broke out in July 2016 between his forces and troops of President Salva Kiir. He is now in residence in Pretoria, South Arica.
"He (Machar) is hidden there because he is spreading war," Gai told a crowd in Yei, a town some 150 km southwest of the capital Juba.
Gai alleged regional countries saw Machar as a war monger after he declared renewed rebellion against the government following the July 2016 fighting.
South Sudan descended into civil war in December 2013 after a fallout between President Kiir and his sacked deputy Riek Machar.
A peace deal signed in 2015 under UN pressure between the two led to a short-lived unity government formed in April last year, but was shattered by the renewed fighting.
Gai, who was Machar's chief peace negotiator, currently heads a splinter faction of the opposition party in the unity government.
Violence in the country has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than one million to neighboring countries since late 2013.
Gai asked Machar's followers to denounce rebellion and return to Juba. "Machar will not be seen again. He would be seen again in elections if there is peace," he said.
Under the August 2015 peace agreement, South Sudan is due to hold elections in 2018.
Twitter Moments
Roger Marshall rose to prominence on Tuesday, being sworn into office with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, the Kansas congressman was upstaged by his son's dance moves, which have reportedly confused Ryan.
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Several new schools are under construction as area school districts work to keep up with enrollment growth.
Four new schools are under construction in Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District - Bridgeland High School, Jim and Pam Wells Elementary School, Janet Brenner Hoover Elementary School and Matzke Elementary.
In addition, the district is working on major renovations at Watkins Middle School and Adam and Bane elementary schools. The district will also be completing the final phase of upgrading technology infrastructure.
Two of the new schools - Wells Elementary and Bridgeland High are part of a multi-campus site at 10607 Mason Road that will also include a future middle school.
Hoover Elementary School, serving Pre-K through second grade, is located across from Jowell Elementary School, at 6425 Greenhouse Road.
Three of Cy-Fair's new schools will open in 2017-18 - Wells, Hoover and Matzke elementary schools.
"We will not have enrollment projections until later this spring, but feel confident will be well over 115,000 students," said Stephanie Migl, a spokeswoman for the district.
Klein Independent School District is building a new high school, Klein Cain High School, which will open for the beginning of school in August 2017.
"The district is excited about the opening of Klein Cain High School," said Klein ISD spokeswoman Judy Rimato. "Principal Nicole Patin continues to build her team of educators to welcome the Hurricanes in August of 2017."
In addition, Klein will begin construction in 2017 of a new intermediate school on West Rayford next to Metzler Elementary. The school will open in August of 2018.
"We look forward to watching the progress of that campus as it is a new intermediate school design for Klein ISD," Rimato said.
Current enrollment at Klein ISD is 51,773 students and the district projects an enrollment of just over 52,800 students at peak enrollment.
Enrollment during the first year at Klein Cain High School is expected to be between 1,500 and 1,750 students, Rimato said.
At Magnolia Independent School District, construction is underway for the new Magnolia Intermediate, renovations for the new Bear Branch Intermediate and a renovated cafeteria at Williams Elementary.
Steel is up at Magnolia Intermediate School and the retaining wall has been built at Bear Branch Intermediate, said Denise Meyers, spokeswoman for the district.
The district is also upgrading the cafeteria at Williams Elementary. The structural steel and roof decking are complete for the cafeteria and the electrical work has started.
In addition, Magnolia ISD's new District Conference Center is estimated to be complete by December 2017.
The upgrades are part of Magnolia ISD's 2015 $92 million bond.
The district's current enrollment is 12,771.
"As the Houston economy has slowed, the district will be working with a demographer in the spring to look at projections in relation to current Houston economic trends and the current mobility projects within the county," Meyers said.
Tomball Independent School District does not have any schools currently under construction. The district opened Creekside Park Junior High School in August 2016.
In addition, Tomball ISD opened three other new schools in 2015 - Creekview Elementary, Wildwood Elementary and Oakcrest Intermediate.
The schools were funded with the district's $160 million bond referendum in 2013.
"We appreciate the community's support of Bond 2013," said Staci Stanfield, Tomball ISD's director of communications. "The passage of the bond has enabled the district to build schools to accommodate new growth."
Tomball's current enrollment is 14,980 students, and the district expects to grow to 15,800 students in the 2017-18 school year, Stanfield said.
Waller County 4-H Ambassadors had a very busy December.
The Ambassadors worked their regular first weekend at the House of Help, starting at 9:30 a.m. and working until 3:30 p.m. They served 75 families by packing, delivering and preparing food packages. They additionally moved about 300 pounds of meat from storage to the distribution freezer area. The Ambassadors day ended with the team's total hours for the day at 37 hours collectively.
The second part of the month leading up to the week before Christmas, Waller County saw the Ambassadors back in action.
The Toys for Tots program has a special distribution point in Waller County for the families in need. All of the toys are brought to one common location and sorted and packed per the individual family needs. The Ambassadors sorted toys in categories and packed bags based on the request from the family in need. The bags are then double checked by the director and placed into a collection area.
The week before Christmas, the families that requested help come back and pick up the toys based on their individual needs. The sorting and packing is very organized it just takes some time to get all of it ready for distribution and collection by the family. The Ambassadors sorted, packed, and delivered to each family's car a special Christmas.
The Ambassador Team contributed another 76 hours this month for this program that is a community ministry led by the House of Help.
For the month, the Ambassador team contributed more than 103 hours at the House of Help for these major projects over several days.
For anyone interested in learning more about the Ambassador program, an Ambassador will come to your club and speak about the program and the requirements of the interview process. Contact the Extension office or reach out directly to the Ambassador Adult Leader to arrange a visit to your club by a 4-H Ambassador.
Contact Amanda Shortt at the Extension Office or email Adult Leader Chuck Anderson at Anderson1985@sbcglobal.net to arrange an Ambassador visit to your Club.
Flash
Western High Court of Denmark on Tuesday rejected an appeal made by Chung Yoo-ra, daughter of impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye's longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil, against a local court's decision to remand her in custody for four weeks.
Western High Court decided that the 20-year-old, wanted by the South Korean police for alleged economic crime, should remain in custody for four weeks after her arrest by Danish police on Sunday, a prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Chung was arrested by police in the northern Danish city of Aalborg after a tip from a South Korean journalist said that she was staying at a certain address in the city.
After a hearing on Monday, the Court of Aalborg decided to remand Chung in custody for four weeks. The case has since been forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the authority in Denmark that deals with extradition requests from other countries.
The Office said that it is still awaiting the formal extradition request from the South Korean authorities.
When the Office receives this request, the extradition case proceedings can begin, according to the statement.
"How long it takes us to reach a decision in the extradition case is partly dependent on when we receive the necessary documents from South Korea," said Mohammad Ahsan, deputy director from the Office, noting that a decision will be made within a few weeks after receiving all required documents.
"The case is being treated with the same respect for Danish law as in any other extradition case. There are procedures that we must follow, but of course we are processing the case as efficiently as possible," Ahsan added.
Chung's mother Choi is charged with using her friendship with President Park to extort funds from large businesses and meddling in state affairs though she has no government position and security clearance. Chung is alleged to have received illegal favors when entering a prestigious university.
Houston police said Tuesday that a 16-year-old girl who was found dead over the weekend, was accidentally shot by her father.
Police were called to the home in the 4200 block of Oak Shadows around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, HPD homicide investigator Michael Cass said. The teen was found dead with a single gunshot wound.
Several people were detained after a robbery early Wednesday morning in north Harris County.
The robbery happened about 12:15 a.m. at an IHOP at Cypress Station and FM 1960, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
At least one Dallas mother said she's learned the hard way to be more cautious about talking around voice-activated electronic devices.
Megan Neitzel recently received an Amazon Echo Dot device that uses Amazon's voice-controlled "Alexa" system, according to FoxNews.com.
Alexa and Echo Dot can do a host of things from turning off the lights to placing online orders, judging by the write-up touting the system's talents that are "Always getting smarter and adding new features."
STORE ROBOTS: Here come 'smart stores' with interactive shelves
Neitzel, however, was surprised when she got an email confirmation of her purchase of a $170 dollhouse and a 4-pound tin of cookies, FoxNews.com reported.
Neitzel told the website she was sure such an order would have been placed by her 6-year-old daughter, who denied ordering anything. The girl noted that she had asked Alexa about cookies and a dollhouse, which the smart technology mistook for a shopping list and dutifully placed the order.
The Neitzel family has apparently taken the episode with good humor, opting to use it as a "teachable moment." They're eating the cookies and are planning to donate the dollhouse, FoxNews.com reported.
As soon as investigators and medical personnel examined the severe injuries of a 1-year-old girl who was reportedly attacked by dogs, they knew her injuries didnt match the story her relatives told authorities, said Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar.
The baby, he said, suffered life-threatening injuries consistent with a brutal sexual assault. Police arrested two people in connection with the alleged incident, including the childs relative, Crystal Herrera, and her boyfriend Isaac Andrew Cardenas. Cardenas, 23, was being held on a charge of super aggravated sexual assault. Bail was set at $300,000.
Authorities said Herrera, 22, was providing false information to keep detectives from finding out what occurred. She was booked in the Bexar County Jail on a charge of injury to a child by omission.
I cant even begin to describe to you the level of depravity that went into this crime, Salazar said. Its a horrendous case.
Police said Herrera called 911 at 9 a.m. Saturday, saying the girl had wandered out of their South Bexar County home in the middle of the night and was attacked by dogs.
But as detectives spoke to Herrera and Cardenas, they noticed their stories didnt add up, Salazar said. Later, Bexar County animal control officers told police that the dogs they were sent to pick up showed no aggression.
Medical personnel examining the childs injuries quickly determined she had suffered life-threatening stab wounds. Authorities said the stab wounds on her upper body and private parts were nonaccidental.
Ive got seasoned detectives and emergency room personnel that have all agreed that this is one of the worst cases theyve seen, Salazar said during his first news conference since being sworn in as sheriff.
This is one of those cases, Ill be honest with you, its something that I havent even seen the pictures, I dont want to see the pictures, Salazar said. Its been described to me and just imagining it is enough to chill any of us.
The child was transported to University Hospital, where she was in stable condition Tuesday.
You cant even imagine what would possess somebody to do something like this to anyone, much less an innocent child thats totally defenseless, Salazar said.
Salazar said detectives are looking into any history of abuse of the girl, who is to be put in the custody of Child Protective Services.
A child this small to suffer these types of injuries shes going to carry this with her for the rest of her life, physically, emotionally, and also as a family he said. Its a heartbreaking case.
jbeltran@express-news.net
Twitter: @JBfromSA
An unclassified document from the Drug Enforcement Agency shows the areas of influence generated by Mexico's major criminal organizations.
The "intelligence report," dated July 2015, includes three maps that show the various DEA offices around the country and the cartel-related cases they deal with; potential markets that drug cartels will exploit due to population density; and heroin deaths by state.
Pat Sullivan/STF
AUSTIN Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday after a more-than-yearlong fight over Texas decision to import a drug used in death row executions, which federal officials say is not approved for human injections.
Paxton, a first-term Republican, said the FDA which in 2015 seized 1,000 vials of thiopental sodium at a Houston airport has yet to decide whether to permit the drug into the country, calling it gross incompetence or willful obstruction. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice since has argued to the FDA that the importation is lawful for the purposes of carrying out death sentences, according to the lawsuit.
The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p.
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Canadian Immigration Questions and Answers with Attorney David Cohen CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif
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Every month, Attorney David Cohen will answer a few general Canadian immigration questions submitted by our readers. These questions cover immigration programs, eligibility, processing, language requirements, investing in Canada, landing, admissibility, studying in Canada, working in Canada, and much more. Here are this months questions and answers.
1. If parents or grandparents are in Canada on a Super Visa, can they work for an employer in Canada?
A Super Visa does not grant its bearer the right to work in Canada. It is not a work permit, and parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents in Canada on a Super Visa should not engage in any work in Canada unless authorized to do so.
The Super Visa allows its bearer multiple entries to Canada for a period up to 10 years. The key difference between a Super Visa and a visitor visa is that the Super Visa allows an individual to stay for up to two years on initial entry into Canada, while a 10-year multiple entry visitor visa would only have a status period for each entry of six months only.
2. Is it true that dual citizens of Canada now need to travel on a Canadian passport if travelling to Canada by air?
Until November 10, 2016, individuals who hold Canadian citizenship as well as citizenship of another country could enter Canada with a passport from the country of their non-Canadian citizenship. As of November 10, however, Canadian citizens require a Canadian passport in order to board their flight to travel to Canada. There is an exception for American-Canadian citizens, who may enter Canada with an American passport.
In some cases, special authorization may be given for Canadian citizens to travel to Canada by air on a non-Canadian passport.
Until January 31, 2017, Canadian citizens without a Canadian passport can apply for a special authorization to travel to Canada by air if they:
have a flight to Canada that leaves in less than 10 days, and
have a valid passport from a visa-exempt country.
And one of the following:
have previously received a certificate of Canadian citizenship, or
held a Canadian passport in the past, or
were granted Canadian citizenship after having been a permanent resident of Canada.
The individuals information will be verified to confirm that he or she is indeed a Canadian citizen. This authorization will be valid for only four days from the date of travel selected on the form. If it is not used within this time, the individual will need to apply for a new authorization.
The government of Canada states that, for individuals who are not eligible for the special authorization, there are no quick fixes to help you get on a flight. The government encourages affected persons to Contact the nearest government of Canada office abroad to find out what their options are. Only under strict conditions and on a case-by-case basis will temporary passports or emergency travel documents be issued.
3. Can we expect more Invitations to Apply to be issued under the Express Entry system in 2017 than in previous years?
Although it is not possible to know for certain what the future may bring to Canadian immigration programs and systems, the short answer to your question is yes we can expect more Invitations to Apply (ITAs) to be issued this year, compared with previous years.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) representatives have made numerous mentions of the departments objective to increase the number of ITAs issued. However, the clearest evidence comes with IRCCs 2017 Immigration Levels Plan, which was released just over two months ago.
Of all the targets that were announced in the 2017 plan, arguably the most significant is the increased role that Express Entry is expected to play.
Up to 75,300 new immigrants will land in Canada through one of the federal economic immigration programs in 2017, an increase of around 23 percent on last year, when the target was 59,000. This includes applicants who applied prior to the launch of Express Entry and whose applications remain in the inventory of applications that have not yet been processed to completion. Moreover, the inventory of applications submitted before 2015 was larger at that time. Consequently, the number of people to be invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence through Express Entry in 2017 is expected to go up considerably.
2017 CICNews All Rights Reserved
CRS Requirement Decreases in Largest Ever Express Entry Draw CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif
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The first Express Entry draw for immigration to Canada of 2017 has taken place, with 2,902 candidates in the pool having been issued an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for Canadian permanent residence on January 4. The number of Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points required in order for a candidate to receive an ITA in this draw was 468, the joint-lowest CRS threshold since February of last year.
Invited candidates have 90 days to submit their application, including supporting documents. Once Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has approved an application a process that usually takes less than six months these individuals, as well as accompanying family members, may land in Canada as new permanent residents.
The response to the latest draw, the 51st in total since Express Entry was first launched two years ago, has been positive. Over the latter months of last year, the number of ITAs issued per draw increased, to the point where draw sizes are now around four times what they were during the summer months of 2016.
The beginning of this steady increase in draw sizes came at a time when IRCC was preparing to make significant changes to the CRS. These changes came into force on November 19, 2016, with the aim of placing greater emphasis within the system on human capital, skills and experience. Over recent weeks, many candidates profiles have become more competitive, principally due to the fact that qualifying job offers are now awarded far fewer points than was previously the case.
It should also be noted that candidates who obtain an enhanced nomination certificate through a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) category will continue to be awarded 600 points, even after the recent changes to the CRS. This makes PNPs by far the single most valuable factor under the new system.
CRS requirement coming down
Keen observers of the Express Entry system noted after the recent changes came into force that those changes may have the short-term effect of the CRS threshold actually increasing, before eventually coming down.
This prediction, which turned out to be accurate, came from an observation that the requirements on qualifying job offers have been relaxed to include many candidates holding an employer-specific work permit in Canada (such as a NAFTA work permit, or a work permit issued to an intra-company transferee). As a result, more candidates could claim points for a job offer. However, the number of CRS points awarded for a job offer has decreased substantially in most cases, from 600 points down to 50 points (though some senior managerial level positions are worth 200 points).
Once this increased group of candidates with a qualifying job offer had exited the pool, it was expected that the CRS cut-off score would decrease. Another important factor that bolstered this prediction came from the fact that over recent months IRCC representatives had made numerous statements that the number of ITAs issued per draw would increase. Although 468 is not the lowest ever CRS cut-off threshold, many candidates remaining in the pool have good reason to be hopeful that the requirement will continue to go down.
A positive start to 2017
Over the last three or four months of 2016, positive developments in Express Entry came one after the other, and quickly. There was the announcement of the of the 2017 Immigration Levels Plan, which targets more newcomers through the system than ever before, then there were the welcome changes to the Comprehensive Ranking System. These changes should allow more candidates to realize their goal of settling in Canada as permanent residents, says Attorney David Cohen.
In addition, we are seeing larger draws than ever. Combined with the recent changes, this has had the effect of the point threshold decreasing.
A New CRS Calculator is Available
The new and improved CRS Calculator allows candidates in the Express Entry pool, as well as individuals thinking of creating an Express Entry profile, to find out what their score would be under the new points system.
To find out if you are eligible to immigrate to Canada permanently, fill out a free online assessment form.
2017 CICNews All Rights Reserved
New Electronic Travel Authorization Requirement Continues to Surprise Travellers to Canada CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif
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Certain prospective visitors to Canada are still encountering issues with the Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA), an electronic document that is required for most visa-exempt visitors to Canada.
Over the holiday period, many accounts emerged of travellers facing delays, or missed flights, because they were not aware of the eTA requirement. First introduced in August, 2015, the eTA became mandatory for most visa-exempt visitors to Canada coming by air as of November 10, 2016.
However, this lengthy roll-out period appears to have been insufficient to fully inform potential travellers of the new documentation requirement. The eTA is a pre-screening process that requires most visa-exempt travellers entering Canada by air to complete an online form and pay a fee of $7 CAD. The eTA is linked to the holders passport, and is valid for five years or until the expiry of the passport, whichever is earlier. Travellers from the United States, or from countries whose citizens require a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV) in order to enter Canada, are not required to obtain an eTA before travelling to Canada.
In most cases, the eTA may be issued within minutes. However, in some cases it can take significantly longer than this. In November, a British comedian live-tweeted his wait for an eTA, which caused him to miss his flight to Canada and ultimately, a stand-up show he had booked in Toronto.
Holiday Plans Go Awry
A year and a half after the introduction of the eTA, many travellers are still uninformed about the new requirement. A Nova Scotia resident, Mark Ashworth, had arranged for his father, David Ashworth, who lives in England, to join the family in Canada for the Christmas period. David Ashworth, who has mobility issues and required a wheelchair at the airport, was unaware of the eTA requirement when he arrived at Heathrow Airport in London for his flight to Canada. Without an email address or credit card, he was unable to apply for the eTA at the airport, even though the airline provided him with a tablet at the airport. Consequently, he was unable to board his flight.
Mark Ashworth, waiting in Canada, was unaware of his fathers plight as he watched the travellers from the flight disembark in Halifax. When his father was not among the passengers, he tried to trace him through the airline before resorting to calling the British police. His father finally got in touch after returning to his home.
The Ashworths later found out that Mark would have been able to apply for an eTA on his fathers behalf while his father waited in the airport. The eTA form offers the option to indicate if the applicant is applying on behalf of a friend or family member who is travelling to Canada.
The Take-Home Message
The Ashworths lament that they were not informed of the eTA requirement at any stage of the ticket booking process, by the airline or the travel agency. Similar accounts of a lack of information have emerged repeatedly during the roll-out period. In the case of David Ashworth, the travel service through which he booked his flight stated that we advise [travellers] of any applicable travel authorization [including visas and eTAs], as well as applicable fees.
It is crucial that travellers to Canada inform themselves of the requirements in order to enter Canada, to ensure a smooth trip for themselves and their families, says Attorney David Cohen. The eTA process is ultimately designed to ease travel to Canada, and individuals who prepare in advance are likely to have a smooth journey and an enjoyable time in Canada.
To determine what you need to do to visit Canada, use the Visiting Canada Tool.
If you have any questions or concerns about the process of obtaining an eTA and gaining entry to Canada, please send a detailed email to eta@canadavisa.com.
For a list of frequently asked questions regarding the eTA, visit the comprehensive eTA FAQ page.
2017 CICNews All Rights Reserved
Was 2016 a historical turning point, or merely a year like many others? No one knows yet. The rioters who stormed the Bastille in Paris on July 14, 1789, had no idea that they were launching one of historys great revolutions. Wine and the summer heat, some said, sparked their actions as much as republican ideals.
Stendahl immortalized this inability to grasp the true significance of an event as it occurs in the character of Fabrice in The Charterhouse of Parma. Fabrice fights with all his might against English and Prussian soldiers in the Battle of Waterloo, but he is unaware of the stakes of the struggle. Only afterward does he learn that he was part of a great event, now known as Waterloo, which marked the end of an empire and the birth of a new political order in Europe.
If we look back over 2016, we can observe at least three major phenomena: the resurgence of populism, the return of brute force to international relations, and the weakening of democracy. These trends have sent the media scrambling for meaning, but do they really portend our future? Perhaps were not looking in the right place. After all, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, was anyone looking for him there other than three wise men?
Lets assume for the sake of argument that 2016 was in fact a populist milestone, with Brexit, the unexpected election of Donald Trump in the United States, and the rise of conservative parties in France, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Austria, and Hungary. We should take a closer look at the meaning of the term populist. Populists usually define themselves as patriots who want to take back control of their destinies. They see themselves as alienated by policies concerning immigration, globalization, and, in Europe, Europeanization (as opposed to national identity). They are against cosmopolitan intrusions, and they position themselves as an authentic people through their devotion to culture, language, and origins. They are united more by their passions, though, than by solutions. Will populists push the international order toward a breakdown, and possible violence? Or will the gulf between populist promises and reality extinguish these enflamed passions? We dont know yet.
Likewise, we dont know whether the recourse to brute force will displace the art of diplomatic negotiation in 2017. Without question, the leaders of China, Russia, Turkey, and Syria believe that they have won major victories in 2016 by disregarding international law, human rights, the U.N., and international treaties. But here again, the crucial questiondo these trends represent a new order, or a fleeting moment of weakness on the part of Western democracies?will go unanswered for the time being.
Certainly, 2016 was a bad year for democracies. While Africa had appeared to be on the right path, the continent has moved backward of late, with the commendable exceptions of Nigeria and Ghana. In Zimbabwe, Gambia, and the Congo, dictators are blocking free elections and rejecting the principle of regular changes in administration. The Ibrahim Prize, which rewards heads of state who step down from power in deference to their legal term, was not awarded in 2016.
Around the world, the principles of pluralist democracy, respect for minorities, and the rights of opposition have been weakened. Worse, the West seems indifferent to these regressions. We are accustomed to the fact that the Russians, the Chinese, and the Arabs are subject to tyranny, as if it were their cultural destiny. Against the backdrop of Western silence, Syria is dying under the bombs of Bashar al-Assad. No demonstrations greeted the imprisonment of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia. The West doesnt appear to care that the new Egyptian dictator has crushed dissidents with even more cruelty than his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak. Only Tunisia seems determined to maintain a state of law inherited from the Arab Spring.
The final example of the progress of cynicism in 2016 is Myanmar (Burma). Since the admirable, long-detained Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has taken power, she has allowed her army to crush the Rohingya minority because they are Muslims and not authentic Burmese. All those who fought to free Suu Kyi have received little for their pains, and have chosen the cowardly option of staying silent.
Will 2017 contradict or confirm these trends? Developments in the United States and France will be telling. Will Donald Trump deliver on what he promisedand if he does, what will be the results? If he fails to do so, how will his supporters react? In France, will the rise of populism be contained by the presidential elections next spring? If so, Europe will be saved, but if not, the entire continent could be plunged into brutality reminiscent of the 1930s. But now I am prophesying, which is both erroneous and vain. Stendhals Fabrice knew that he did not know, and that is a sign of wisdom for us to emulate in the year ahead.
Photo by Yana Paskova/Getty Images
Audio Transcript
Steve Malanga: Hello everyone. My name is Steve Malanga, senior editor at City Journal. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was founded in 1921 to quell the squabbling between the two states for control over the New York Harbor. It was conceived as a good government agency that was supposed to be organized to operate efficiently and beyond politics. Today the Authority is responsible for operations and security for some of the largest transit and shipping hubs in the world, and for some of the region's most valuable real estate. But it has been embroiled in controversy for decades. City Journal has written several articles dedicated to problems at the Port Authority, from bloated budgets to unmanageable assets, to political corruption. Our latest piece, The New York Police Force That Doesn't Work, is on controversy surrounding the law enforcement agency responsible for security at Port Authority properties, a force of 1,900 officers operating entirely separate from the NYPD or other state agencies. The piece, written by Judy Miller, includes revelations about a till-now secret report which found that the Port Authority's security practices were profoundly deficient at every level in every key functional area. Judy is a contributing editor to City Journal and a fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Before she was with us, Judy was a reporter with the New York Times, where she was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize. Judy, thanks for joining us.
Judith Miller: Thank you Steve.
Steve Malanga: Now let's begin with a recent high profile case back in August at JFK Airport that some say illustrated the problems at the Port Authority Police Department. There was a false alarm that provoked some fear that there was a terrorist attack in progress at the terminals. How did security teams respond to this and what did it tell us about potential problems?
Judith Miller: Well I think the response fell far short of what anybody would expect from a response at the nation's airports fifteen years after 9/11. I mean the response was completely uncoordinated, people were running in all directions, there was no single broadcast message warning people, one, about a potential threat, and then two, calming them down to assure them that there was no threat. But more than that, it turned out that the Port Authority Police, who are supposed to be responsible for security at these airports, didn't even have access to the camera feed that was collecting information and supposed to be 24/7, right, but the police didn't even have access to that information and so they couldn't even figure out themselves what was going on at the facility they were supposed to protect. So it was a mess and I think several of us were struck by the fact that it was made more of a mess and people were even more concerned after all New York and New Jersey officials said no problem here, everything is fine, move right along, you know. The police responded well. Well the fact of the matter is they didn't. Even the union wrote letters complaining about the problems that they say which impeded the response. So you know, that's just typical of what we get from the Port Authority Police. And as you pointed out, Steve, these facilities are so crucial to New York. We're talking about the bridges, the tunnels, the trains, the airports, the ports of New York and New Jersey, and the airports alone, which carry about you know, a third of all the commercial traffic in the country through these areas. So deficiencies in policing and security should be of concern to everyone, not only those in the metropolitan region but everyone who flies through New York airport.
Steve Malanga: Sure. Now the thing is that obviously the thing about the Port Authority as an agency, its properties overlap the territory of New York State and New Jersey, and so the different police departments actually kind of share responsibility. But what we've had here actually in New York though has been something of a turf war over property, especially in the city, such as at ground zero, the idea you know, the turf war over who has primary responsibility for these valuable properties. Now some critics at the PA Police force say that the NYPD is far more qualified to take the lead at a place like ground zero. Can you talk a little bit about why critics think the current division of labor is a problem?
Judith Miller: Well I think just the numbers tell you something about the story. I mean you now have, after some increases, about 1,900 Port Authority policemen who are supposed to, some of whom are deployed to protect that iconic, high-value terrorist target in our city and now one of the biggest tourist attractions as well. That 1,900, that's the total force versus a total NYPD force of 35,000; 1,000 of whom have been specially trained to handle counterterrorism activities. And it just strikes a lot of people as nuts, to think that you can recreate in a mini version the capabilities of the NYPD and say well, they can you know, they are responsible for the most important target in the United States. No, they shouldn't be. And I think that that was something that Ray Kelly, the former police commissioner, understood and that he was you know kind of banging his head against a wall to try and get resolved. Now, they have a sharing agreement now on who is going to patrol what and what each police force is going to do, but the problem is really that the NYPD is the agency. It is the law enforcement agency which should be involved and should have top responsibility for this facility. But why doesn't it? Well, look at politics. I mean what we learned during the famous Bridgegate trial over the summer and the fall was that the reason the Port Authority got primary jurisdiction over the World Trade Center is that Governor Chris Christie wanted the endorsement of the very powerful Port Authority Police union. And because he wanted their endorsement, Governor Christie said that it would be over his dead body that anybody other than the Port Authority Police would ever have primary responsibility for that facility. Now, we have to acknowledge that many, that proportionately and numerically, more Port Authority Police died at the World Trade Center site in 2001 but that still doesn't answer or address the question of you know, who is best suited to assure security at the facility. And I think that you know, that shouldn't be decided based on a political pledge, or political factors, it should be decided on who has the capability.
Steve Malanga: Well you use the term you know, powerful, with respect to the - politically powerful - with respect to the police union there. And as we're written about it in our previous articles, the Port Authority unions in general, because they do have control over key assets in the region, have accumulated an enormous amount of power. In particular I wonder how do union contracts and union work rules potentially affect the Port Authority's ability to police its own properties? And how does that compare to the kind of work rules that maybe we see elsewhere in the New York/New Jersey region?
Judith Miller: Well I think that this is one of the major factors, that a group called The Chertoff Group - that's named after the former head of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff - he was hired in 2011 to assess the police and the Port Authority security operations and he was the one. It was his report that found them so derelict and so unable to assume their responsibilities as charged. And Chertoff found that the relationship between the union and the management, this very tense and unpleasant acrimonious relationship, and the number of concessions that management had made to the union basically made the Port Authority unable to supervise, and to manage, and to deploy its police effectively, that that role was effectively now being done by the union. And it was one of their major criticisms. And one of the solutions that Mr. Chertoff recommended was that basically the contracts that have been in place that hamstring, that so hamstring this management process, be renegotiated. That they just be - we start again, because The Chertoff Group concluded that there was no way that the Port Authority Police would be able to do a really effective job of protecting these facilities unless some of these rules were revisited. That of course hasn't happened because neither Governor Christie nor Governor Cuomo seems to have the effective management of Port Authority Police at the top of their political agendas.
Steve Malanga: Now, you mentioned the Chertoff report. Now first of all I think it's important to point out that up until this point that report has really never been made public and, thanks to your reporting, you have at least a sense of some of the things that were said in that report and also that in fact a number of the Port Authority commissioners have, let's say, maybe complained -- I don't know if that's too strong a word
Judith Miller: Right.
Steve Malanga: That they really haven't, that the Port Authority hasn't actually implemented many of the recommendations, so where are we now in terms of some of the key deficiencies? I know that, among other things, the Port Authority has hired I guess you would call it a chief investigator...
Judith Miller: A security chief.
Steve Malanga: A security chief, right, over the police department itself, so that's one of the things that I think is a sense of progress, but what has he been able to accomplish? There have been two of them now. What have they been able to accomplish and what are some of the other things that need to be done?
Judith Miller: Right. Well, Joe Dunne and Tom Gelfiore have done - these are both former NYPD policemen, police officers, by the way...
Steve Malanga: Talk about turf wars.
Judith Miller: Right. They have been able to accomplish a great deal and they have done a good job insofar as they have been able to work within the constraints of these onerous contracts and traditions of the Port Authority, but what they haven't been able to do, and that even though they have been able to hire more people, and train them better, and institute more counterterrorism training, what they haven't been able to do is get into the work rules themselves. So even they are stuck with this extraordinary overtime problem. You know, in which, as Ken Lipper, who is one of the commissioners appointed by Andrew Cuomo, as he said to me in an interview, he said look, you know, there's a culture at the Port Authority Police in which people, actually younger officers, defer to older officers. They give up overtime assignments and requests to the older officers so that the older officers can pad their pensions so that they can retire with a higher pension, and that's just the way the Port Authority always works. And what this has done is it has meant that overtime costs and security costs at the Port Authority are out of control. I mean we have you know, $300,000 a day in overtime, roughly. Two million dollars a week, a hundred million dollars a year. This is real money. And every time you pay a toll or go through one of these facilities you are paying the results of that inefficiency. And so yeah they have not been able to address either the work rules or the basic culture that leads to these inefficiencies.
Steve Malanga: Right. And I think it is important to say, as you've pointed out, every time we cross a bridge or a tunnel in New York we are paying for this.
Judith Miller: Absolutely. Everyone who does - a tourist, a resident, it doesn't matter. But you know this is such an important institution. And that both governors, because this is a bi-state agency, have permitted it to be so badly managed and out of control for so long, does not speak well of the management. People love to blame the unions and yes, unions do what unions do. They get the best possible payment, and treatment, and rules for their workers. But it ultimately comes down to the Port Authority management saying this is a public agency and we are supposed to operate for the public good, and we're not going to give in on you know, demand X, Y, and Z. And that just hasn't happened because neither governor has really put the safety and security of the people who use these facilities at the top of their political agendas.
Steve Malanga: Well clearly this is an important story. Don't forget to check out Judy's article, The New York Police Force That Doesn't Work, which was in the Autumn issue of City Journal, and is on our website at City-Journal.org. Lastly, if you like our show and want to hear more, please leave ratings and reviews on iTunes. Thanks for listening and thank you, again, Judy.
Judith Miller: Thank you Steve.
AO Centrul de Drept al Avocatilor anunta concurs pentru procurarea/elaborarea panourilor informative pentru Inspectoratul General al Politiei de Frontiera
A potential solution to a troublesome sand shortage off Southeast Florida is tucked away in a massive water resources funding bill President Barack Obama signed into law last month.
The 2016 Water Resources Development Act authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to study the potential of using foreign sand, such as from the Bahamas, to widen shorelines and protect coasts from hurricanes like the ones that lashed the Big Bend and northeastern Florida last summer.
In its Shrinking Shores investigation last year, the Naples Daily News reported Miami-Dade and Broward counties have exhausted their deposits of available offshore sand, leaving only sand that is too far offshore to retrieve or is nestled among protected reefs or other underwater marine features.
A federal search found enough sand to last 50 years, but beach project managers told the Daily News the sand is too dark and risks triggering sand wars with other coastal counties. Project managers said Bahamian sand is the regions best chance to end expensive and inefficient sand hauls from inland mines.
But a ban, backed by the U.S dredging industry, on spending federal money on beach projects that use foreign sand stands in the way. Coastal communities can ill afford to forgo federal money for their beaches, the Daily News found.
Florida members of Congress tried again last year, unsuccessfully, to lift the ban.
The study provision in WRDA 2016 represents a compromise, said U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Boca Raton, who co-sponsored legislation to end the ban.
I think were moving in a good direction, Frankel said.
She said she would be in touch with the Corps of Engineers about whether the agency has money to conduct the study or money needs to be put in a budget. The WRDA provision put no timeline on the study, but she said she hopes it will be done by the next time Congress reauthorizes WRDA, scheduled for 2018.
The Secretary (of the Army) is authorized to undertake a study of the economic and non-economic costs, benefits and impacts of acquiring by purchase, exchange or otherwise sediment from domestic and non-domestic sources for shoreline protection, the provision states.
Upon completion of the study, the Secretary shall report to Congress on the availability, benefits and impacts of using domestic and non-domestic sources of sediment for shoreline protection, it reads.
An end to the ban on foreign sand is only part of any solution that would allow use of Bahamian sand. U.S. law, also backed by U.S. dredgers, prevents foreign-flagged vessels from bringing sand from the Bahamas to eroded Florida coastlines. To get around the law, sand would have to be transferred to a U.S.-flagged vessel, an expensive extra step.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A Texas woman who fell from a chairlift at a small Colorado ski resort last week died from a rupture of the aorta and other traumatic injuries, an autopsy has concluded.
Kelly Huber, 40, of San Antonio fell 20 feet from the lift on Thursday at Granby Ranch Ski Resort about 90 miles west of Denver.
Two daughters, ages 12 and 9, also fell with Huber. The 12-year-old was treated and released from a local hospital, while the 9-year-old was being treated at Childrens Hospital in suburban Denver. Her condition hasnt been released.
Granby Police Chief James Kraker released the autopsy results this weekend.
Authorities were still investigating how the three fell. The Quick Draw Express lift at Granby will stay closed until state regulators can determine it is safe, said Lee Rasizer, a spokesman for the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board.
The lift has safety bars, but it wasnt known if Huber was using one, according to Chris Linsmayer, a spokesman for Colorado Ski Country USA, a trade group.
Fatal falls from U.S. ski lifts are rare. The National Ski Areas Association says there have been three deaths since 2004 in falls not related to mechanical problems.
The last fatal fall in Colorado, which accounts for more than a fifth of skier visits nationwide, happened in 2002 when the manager of Winter Park Ski Resort fell about 15 feet from a lift after suffering seizure-like symptoms.
In 1976, four people were killed after cable wires became entangled in a gondola at Vail Mountain Resort. In 1985, two people died at Keystone Resort after the welding on the large wheel used to pull the cable failed.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A luxury high rise condominium located in Las Vegas, Nevada, was found to have been barred from recovery of its $5 million window damage claim, according to a ruling by the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals.
The December 2016 appeals court ruling affirms a Nevada judges decision to dismiss the case based on an insurance limitation clause that barred the plaintiff from recovery of a claim unless an action was filed within 12 months of discovery of the loss or damage that gave rise to the claim.
Queensridge Towers LLC, the developer of the luxury high rise condominium, filed a lawsuit against Allianz Global Risks US Insurance Company, the projects builders risk insurer.
According to facts outlined in the appeal, on April 29, 2008, Perini Building Company, the general contractor, gave notice to Queenridge of damage to 62 panes of glass. Nearly three years later, Queensridge submitted a sworn proof of loss that identified 5,364 damaged panes of glass. The developer claimed $5 million in repair and replacement costs as a result of the damaged glass panes.
Allianz denied the claim on January 9, 2012. A year later, Queensridge filed suit in state court against Allianz and alleged breach of the insurance contract. The insurer had the case moved to federal court on diversity grounds, according to the appeal. The federal district court ruled in favor of Allianz based on the insurers limitation clause. According to the appellate courts decision, Nevada law equitably tolls such insurance limitation clauses during the period between the date the insured first gave notice of the loss until the date the insurer formally denies liability.
The court noted that evidence produced by the parties revealed that the developer discovered the glass damage prior to April 27, 2008.
According to the appeals court decision, Because Queensbridge discovered the glass damage more than twelve months before filing this action even taking into account equitable tolling the limitation provision bars its claim for breach of contract.
AKRON, Ohio - For decades, the Akron Battered Women's Shelter served victims of domestic abuse in Summit and Medina counties, working behind the scenes through a fragmented network of deteriorating properties.
Now, in the new Huntington Center for Hope and Healing, the shelter is clean, modern and equipped to serve many more women and children, as well as seniors and men. It also houses the area's rape crisis center.
In addition to safety and privacy, the one-time nursing home now offers dignity.
The address isn't a secret. Women can bring their dogs. Moms and kids can stay in suites, with semi-private bathrooms. And the public has been invited in, to see the space and to donate necessities. The shelter opened a registry at Target.
"At the old shelter, we had to convince people life would get better," said CEO Terri Heckman. "Here, we can start from day one."
Akron Battered Women's Shelter - Huntington Center for Hope & Healing
Akron hotline: 330-374-1111, toll free 888-395-4357
Medina hotline: 330-723-3900, toll free 877-414-1344
General information:330-374-0740
Donations: 330-374-0119
The move to consolidate
Bringing the shelter's operations under one roof was pondered for nearly a decade.
The shelter's two residences, foreclosed houses donated in the '70s, were crumbling, with no funding to repair failing slate roofs and collapsing infrastructures.
A single site often housed a dozen women and twice that many kids under 10, who shared a single bathroom and slept six to a room next to complete strangers.
In all, the shelter offered a combined 68 beds operating mainly as emergency safe houses on streets with no security.
The sites were so bad, families who stayed there often couldn't wait to get out, Heckman said.
The current 160-bed, 50,000-square-foot facility was practically free.
In 2012, the shelter traded a donated property, the U.S. Naval Reserve Center on Dan Street, to the city of Akron for a shuttered nursing home in the Middlebury neighborhood in a move that benefited both entities.
Before consolidating, Heckman asked the shelter's residents for their thoughts.
"They said 'If you can keep us safe then why are we hiding?" she said. During early construction, Heckman also took residents to see the site.
They told her they would have left their abusive situations far sooner had they known they could take their children to a place like that, to show them life could be normal.
In addition to greater space and security, the new shelter offers:
laundry rooms
family-sized suites and bath areas
an outdoor, protected patio
a chapel/meditation room
a beauty salon
a health clinic
a clothing room
computer and conference areas
separate recreational areas for families, teens and toddlers
It takes a community
The shelter begins each year not knowing where operating funding is coming from. It relies mostly on state and federal funds, and foundation support. But it's never ended a year in debt.
"No nonprofit should be in debt," Heckman said.
When the decision was made to move to the new site, Melissa Hamlin, director of advancement, began to give tours to raise donations for the $2.5 million needed to renovate the site.
During almost every tour, visitors revealed they had either known someone who benefited from the shelter's services, or they themselves had, she said.
The shelter also hosted an open house for the community in 2014. With naming rights starting at $10,000, payable over time, it was possible for small businesses, families and individuals to become donors, and many agreed.
Local entities offered services and materials for the facility's design and construction. Nonprofits came forward and community groups organized to raise money for specific areas of the shelter.
"Funders were much more receptive to this building," Hamlin said. "They were not going to keep dumping money into a money pit."
The shelter itself is now named for Huntington Bank, which donated $250,000, which was matched by the community, toward construction of a new $1.1 million kitchen. That's because the original kitchen, built decades ago in the basement, isn't allowed under today's building codes.
The shelter also credits three local philanthropists, Rennick Andreoli, president of RDA Hotel Management Co., Phil Maynard and Roger Read, as integral in bringing in contractors and getting out word to the community about the shelter's needs.
As a result, a walk through the shelter reveals a donor name, sometimes with a message of hope, above almost every door in the three-story facility.
In all, more than 1,000 donors have helped prepare the shelter for a new era.
An open-address shelter
When people ask Heckman why the facility's location is no longer private, she's got several reasons informed by her more than 20 years of running the shelter.
"Violent domestic offenders do it in private," she said. Over the years, she's only seen three abusers attempt to contact survivors, and none of them, at the time, were intending harm.
In fact, domestic abuse survivors are in the greatest danger in the 48 hours after leaving a shelter.
What's more, for those in imminent danger, secure off-site housing will always be available, she said.
And in the new building she's better equipped to keep residents safe than in the old locations. The new site has:
a guard on duty 24/7
a robust surveillance system
shatterproof windows all around
double security doors
an entrance on one street, which the city closed to the public
neighboring businesses running security patrols that check up on the shelter
a next-door fire station staffed around the clock
And this spring, the dog kennel will be operational. Like a protective moat around a fortress, the kennel will circle the building, enabling residents to bring their dogs to safety where they can run the perimeter of the building.
Ways to help
In addition to donations that fulfill ongoing needs, such as clothing, paper products and diapers, the shelter also accepts financial donations and food through the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank.
With the move to the larger site, the shelter also needs new basic furnishings. An online registry will be open through January at Target to allow the community to donate specific items.
To learn about donating, contact Melissa Hamlin at 330-860-5624 or send an email to melissah@scmcbws.org.
CreditScoreGraphic1.gif
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Regulators are finally cracking down a bit on the credit score industry that often confuses consumers more than it helps them.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today said Equifax and TransUnion lied to consumers about the credit scores they paid for in years past. The two bureaus, which are two of the big three, misrepresented that the scores consumers purchased would help them evaluate their own credit standing. In reality, the credit scoring models used by Equifax and TransUnion in these cases aren't even used by banks and other creditors.
Equifax and TransUnion were ordered to pay $17.6 million in restitution to consumers and fines of $5.5 million to the CFPB.
The companies were also criticized by the CFPB for luring people into signing up monthly credit-monitoring or related products that were misrepresented.
"We applaud the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for taking strong and vigorous actions against TransUnion and Equifax to protect the interests of American consumers," said Chi Chi Wu, staff attorney with the National Consumer Law Center in Boston. "This consent order will protect consumers from being ripped off in the future over deceptive credit monitoring products and sales practices."
This is a battle that's been brewing for more than a dozen years, after federal law required credit bureaus to start provide credit reports (but not scores) to consumers once a year at no charge. In what some see as an attempt to confuse consumers, the credit bureaus started coming up with new types of credit scores.
"TransUnion and Equifax deceived consumers about the usefulness of the credit scores they marketed, and lured consumers into expensive recurring payments with false promises," CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement. "Credit scores are central to a consumer's financial life and people deserve honest and accurate information about them."
The CFPB hit on one of the industry's dirty little secrets -- there is no one credit score. Different banks often use different credit scoring models. Meanwhile, the credit bureaus, credit cards and third-party providers like Credit Sesame, Credit Karma and others may provide completely different scores. But they typically don't make it clear that everyone may be singing from different hymnals. The score that one company peddles could be useless or confusing to a consumer if it's not made clear whether the highest possible score for that model is 850 or 900 or 990 or something else.
TransUnion sells scores based on a model from VantageScore, the CFPB said. "Although TransUnion has marketed VantageScores to lenders and other commercial users, VantageScores are not typically used for credit decisions," the agency said.
Meanwhile, Equifax sells scores to consumers based on its own proprietary model, called the Equifax Credit Score. It's meant to be "an educational credit score," but is not not one generally used by lenders.
Under the federal law that took effect in 2003, the bureaus must provide everyone who asks with a copy of his or her credit report at no charge once a year. But the credit score costs about $8 per bureau. In 2014, a bill was introduced into Congress to also give consumers the right to request a free credit score once a year. But it hasn't yet gained traction.
The White House, the CFPB and consumer groups have strongly pushed credit card companies and banks to provide free credit scores to consumers, a trend that began in 2013. It's a start, but there's still much room for confusion if consumers aren't clear whether the scoring model being used is anything close to a real model used by an actual bank.
The CFPB said that TransUnion has violated the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act since July 2011 and Equifax violated it between July 2011 and March 2014 because "they falsely represented that the credit scores they marketed and provided to consumers were the same scores lenders typically use to make credit decisions. In fact, the scores sold by TransUnion and Equifax were not typically used by lenders to make those decisions."
It's not surprising that the credit bureaus have peddled non-FICO scores for more than a decade. The industry in the 1990s fought pressure to disclose scores, even if a consumer paid for the information. Fair Isaac argued that its FICO scores were designed for businesses to use, not for consumers to try to understand.
It wasn't until late 2000, as Congress opened hearings to require bureaus to give people their credit scores, that the industry caved and voluntarily started offering consumers the ability to pay money to find out their score.
One company that's in the middle of this issue, VantageScore Solutions, which developed the scoring model by the same name, defended itself.
"As the CFPB has pointed out, no one credit score model can singularly represent the consumer lending marketplace," said Barrett Burns, president & CEO of VantageScore. "When a score is provided to a consumer, he or she should be clearly informed that a credit score is only one of many factors considered by lenders and that the particular score being provided is unlikely to be the one actually used to make any given credit decision.
"Although VantageScore Solutions does not sell credit scores," Burns added, "we work hard to ensure that consumers who receive a VantageScore credit score will also be able to review educational content about our model and the credit scoring process in general."
Also Wednesday, the CFPB said the two bureaus deceived consumers into enrolling in subscription programs. They'd claim their credit scores and credit-related products were free or only $1. But customers who signed up for the free trial of seven days or 30 days were automatically enrolled in an ongoing program that carried a recurring fee, often $16 or more each month. To avoid the charge, customers had to cancel during the free trial period. "This billing structure, known as a 'negative option,' was not clearly and conspicuously disclosed to consumers," the CFPB said.
Equifax also violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the CFPB said. That requires each bureau to provide a free credit report once a year to those who request it through a central source - AnnualCreditReport.com. But until January 2014, consumers looking for their credit report first had to wade through Equifax advertisements. "This violates the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which prohibits such advertising until after consumers receive their report," the CFPB said.
Equifax spokeswoman Marisa Salcines said Equifax has agreed to modify certain marketing practices. She noted that the company started making changes that addressed the CFPB's concerns soon after its investigation began three years ago.
"While Equifax does not believe it has violated any laws and has not admitted any liability, Equifax determined it was in its best interest to resolve the matter with the CFPB," Salcines said. "Equifax remains committed to providing products and services that educate and alert consumers about their credit and identity and ensuring transparency and clarity about the value of those products and services."
Equifax's portion of the settlement is $3.8 million in consumer restitution and $2.5 million in civil penalties.
A spokesman for TransUnion didn't immediately provide comment.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Children living in University Heights and Willoughby Hills are more likely to attend private schools than students from any other city in Ohio, according to new census estimates.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 48.8 percent of the school-age children in University Heights attend private schools, just ahead of Willoughby Hills, where 46.6 percent of students attend private schools.
The rates for both cities are more than four times the median rate of 11 percent among cities statewide.
(Find public and private school enrollment ratios for each city in the state at the bottom of this story. The statistics are for students in grades kindergarten through high school.)
Among cities in the Cleveland-Akron area, the lowest rate of private school enrollment is 3.7 percent in Aurora.
Twenty-five cities in mostly rural areas of Ohio have even lower rates.
The highest rates in the Cleveland-Akron area, after University Heights and Willoughby Hills, are for Seven Hills (35.2 percent), Pepper Pike (31.3 percent), Beachwood (28.7 percent), Cleveland Heights (28.1 percent), Munroe Falls (28.1 percent), Parma Heights (27.6 percent) and Fairview Park (26.2 percent).
Not included in this listing are villages - places with fewer than 5,000 people. Margins of error from the census surveys are much higher in those places.
Previously: See census bureau estimates on other topics and census-related stories.
Ohio cities
Statistics shown are from surveys that were conducted from 2011 through 2015 and released in December 2016. They are the latest estimates available from U.S. Census Bureau for smaller areas. Separately, the Census Bureau releases annual estimates for large cities and counties, but they do not include smaller places.
City Percent
enrolled
in public
school Percent
enrolled
in private
school Akron 87.9 12.1 Alliance 94.7 5.3 Amherst 90.2 9.8 Ashland 91.9 8.1 Ashtabula 95.6 4.4 Athens 99.1 0.9 Aurora 96.3 3.7 Avon 77.2 22.8 Avon Lake 82.3 17.7 Barberton 94.6 5.4 Bay Village 86.9 13.1 Beachwood 71.3 28.7 Beavercreek 84.9 15.1 Bedford 86.3 13.7 Bedford Heights 91.4 8.6 Bellbrook 87.2 12.8 Bellefontaine 95.6 4.4 Bellevue 87.6 12.4 Belpre 89.5 10.5 Berea 87.9 12.1 Bexley 89.4 10.6 Blue Ash 91.5 8.5 Bowling Green 82.7 17.3 Brecksville 85.2 14.8 Broadview Heights 82.6 17.4 Brooklyn 81.8 18.2 Brook Park 90.6 9.4 Brookville 97.3 2.7 Brunswick 88.3 11.7 Bryan 94.8 5.2 Bucyrus 95.3 4.7 Cambridge 90.5 9.5 Campbell 96.7 3.3 Canal Fulton 98.2 1.8 Canal Winchester 91.4 8.6 Canfield 93.4 6.6 Canton 92.6 7.4 Celina 99.0 1.0 Centerville 90.6 9.4 Chardon 94.7 5.3 Cheviot 60.4 39.6 Chillicothe 95.4 4.6 Cincinnati 79.7 20.3 Circleville 90.9 9.1 Clayton 80.8 19.2 Cleveland 78.8 21.2 Cleveland Heights 71.9 28.1 Clyde 97.6 2.4 Columbiana 100.0 0.0 Columbus 88.7 11.3 Conneaut 88.1 11.9 Cortland 91.2 8.8 Coshocton 95.0 5.0 Cuyahoga Falls 82.8 17.2 Dayton 82.3 17.7 Deer Park 89.0 11.0 Defiance 91.7 8.3 Delaware 93.0 7.0 Delphos 72.1 27.9 Dover 98.0 2.0 Dublin 86.4 13.6 East Cleveland 88.9 11.1 Eastlake 95.3 4.7 East Liverpool 89.8 10.2 Eaton 97.9 2.1 Elyria 90.2 9.8 Englewood 92.5 7.5 Euclid 78.2 21.8 Fairborn 89.7 10.3 Fairfield 84.8 15.2 Fairlawn 81.8 18.2 Fairview Park 73.8 26.2 Findlay 89.5 10.5 Forest Park 87.1 12.9 Fostoria 85.3 14.7 Franklin 90.2 9.8 Fremont 91.0 9.0 Gahanna 88.7 11.3 Galion 93.6 6.4 Garfield Heights 81.6 18.4 Geneva 89.1 10.9 Germantown 95.5 4.5 Girard 95.0 5.0 Grandview Heights 96.6 3.4 Green 88.9 11.1 Greenville 94.4 5.6 Grove City 89.0 11.0 Groveport 83.1 16.9 Hamilton 86.5 13.5 Harrison 96.5 3.5 Heath 88.0 12.0 Highland Heights 80.0 20.0 Hilliard 86.7 13.3 Hillsboro 94.1 5.9 Hubbard 94.4 5.6 Huber Heights 85.5 14.5 Hudson 83.9 16.1 Huron 90.0 10.0 Independence 81.3 18.7 Indian Hill 67.1 32.9 Ironton 91.9 8.1 Jackson 98.2 1.8 Kent 88.3 11.7 Kenton 99.6 0.4 Kettering 86.9 13.1 Kirtland 83.6 16.4 Lakewood 84.3 15.7 Lancaster 90.3 9.7 Lebanon 91.4 8.6 Lima 87.8 12.2 Logan 95.1 4.9 London 90.8 9.2 Lorain 90.0 10.0 Louisville 90.9 9.1 Loveland 85.4 14.6 Lyndhurst 74.2 25.8 Macedonia 86.2 13.8 Madeira 88.7 11.3 Mansfield 68.1 31.9 Maple Heights 86.8 13.2 Marietta 82.7 17.3 Marion 96.3 3.7 Martins Ferry 98.2 1.8 Marysville 93.2 6.8 Mason 86.7 13.3 Massillon 93.0 7.0 Maumee 86.3 13.7 Mayfield Heights 91.6 8.4 Medina 90.1 9.9 Mentor 83.9 16.1 Mentor-on-the-Lake 90.3 9.7 Miamisburg 94.2 5.8 Middleburg Heights 85.1 14.9 Middletown 88.7 11.3 Milford 93.4 6.6 Monroe 88.7 11.3 Montgomery 83.8 16.2 Moraine 98.5 1.5 Mount Healthy 87.9 12.1 Mount Vernon 87.3 12.7 Munroe Falls 71.9 28.1 Napoleon 91.7 8.3 Nelsonville 89.8 10.2 New Albany 82.5 17.5 Newark 88.6 11.4 New Carlisle 99.4 0.6 New Franklin 88.4 11.6 New Philadelphia 91.5 8.5 Niles 89.8 10.2 North Canton 87.5 12.5 North College Hill 84.6 15.4 North Olmsted 82.8 17.2 North Ridgeville 81.5 18.5 North Royalton 78.8 21.2 Northwood 98.7 1.3 Norton 95.6 4.4 Norwalk 84.1 15.9 Norwood 78.7 21.3 Oakwood 91.7 8.3 Oberlin 81.9 18.1 Olmsted Falls 86.7 13.3 Ontario 94.0 6.0 Oregon 92.9 7.1 Orrville 89.1 10.9 Oxford 95.4 4.6 Painesville 92.0 8.0 Parma 76.6 23.4 Parma Heights 72.4 27.6 Pataskala 88.3 11.7 Pepper Pike 68.7 31.3 Perrysburg 83.9 16.1 Pickerington 96.2 3.8 Piqua 93.5 6.5 Port Clinton 95.8 4.2 Portsmouth 92.9 7.1 Powell 89.3 10.7 Ravenna 96.6 3.4 Reading 89.1 10.9 Reynoldsburg 87.0 13.0 Richmond Heights 80.8 19.2 Rittman 95.3 4.7 Riverside 81.6 18.4 Rocky River 82.8 17.2 Rossford 76.2 23.8 St. Clairsville 87.6 12.4 St. Marys 90.3 9.7 Salem 100.0 0.0 Sandusky 89.2 10.8 Seven Hills 64.8 35.2 Shaker Heights 82.1 17.9 Sharonville 74.4 25.6 Sheffield Lake 80.6 19.4 Shelby 95.6 4.4 Sidney 90.7 9.3 Solon 87.6 12.4 South Euclid 87.2 12.8 Springboro 87.7 12.3 Springdale 80.0 20.0 Springfield 84.6 15.4 Steubenville 73.7 26.3 Stow 87.5 12.5 Streetsboro 88.2 11.8 Strongsville 78.3 21.7 Struthers 91.1 8.9 Sylvania 84.6 15.4 Tallmadge 94.3 5.7 Tiffin 86.1 13.9 Tipp City 86.5 13.5 Toledo 82.5 17.5 Toronto 90.5 9.5 Trenton 96.3 3.7 Trotwood 85.9 14.1 Troy 92.2 7.8 Twinsburg 87.6 12.4 Uhrichsville 94.4 5.6 Union 98.2 1.8 University Heights 51.2 48.8 Upper Arlington 88.4 11.6 Upper Sandusky 94.3 5.7 Urbana 96.1 3.9 Vandalia 84.5 15.5 Van Wert 92.3 7.7 Vermilion 81.8 18.2 Wadsworth 93.8 6.2 Wapakoneta 98.4 1.6 Warren 92.1 7.9 Warrensville Heights 85.9 14.1 Washington Court House 96.6 3.4 Waterville 89.5 10.5 Wauseon 96.8 3.2 Wellston 94.8 5.2 West Carrollton 93.4 6.6 Westerville 84.5 15.5 Westlake 79.0 21.0 Whitehall 89.4 10.6 Wickliffe 80.4 19.6 Willard 98.7 1.3 Willoughby 88.5 11.5 Willoughby Hills 53.4 46.6 Willowick 88.3 11.7 Wilmington 99.0 1.0 Wooster 92.2 7.8 Worthington 84.8 15.2 Wyoming 95.8 4.2 Xenia 90.2 9.8 Youngstown 82.4 17.6 Zanesville 96.0 4.0
Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, 2011-2015)
Michael Bont, Paul Hoffman, Mike Devol, David Bruzza, Anders Beck, Greensky Bluegrass, Suwannee Springfest
Ohio native Mike Devol, third from left, grew up as a classical music cellist with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. Today, he makes a living playing bass for Greensky Bluegrass. The band, from left, Michael Bont, Paul Hoffman, Devol, David Bruzza and Anders Beck, returns to Northeast Ohio for a Wednesday, Jan. 11, stop at the House of Blues.
(John Davisson / AP file)
PREVIEW
Greensky Bluegrass
When:
8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11.
Where:
House of Blues, East Fourth Street and Euclid Avenue, Cleveland.
Tickets:
$20 to $30, at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets, online at
and
and by phone at 1-800-745-3000.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Mike Devol carved a somewhat unique path to stardom with Greensky Bluegrass:
First, grow up in Manchester, right outside of Akron.
Second, become a master of the cello, in part by taking lessons at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and hone your skills to the point where your high school years are spent as a cellist with the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. That's a sort of junior varsity version of the storied Cleveland Orchestra, but one musically capable of kicking classical booty all over the country.
Third, head to Western Michigan University and earn a degree in cello performance.
Fourth, get a job at a brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and meet the guys of Greensky Bluegrass, a band that was doing pretty well on the local scene.
Fifth, realize that being good might not be good enough for a career in the classical world.
"I was being realistic with myself about trying to attempt a career in classical performance,'' said Devol in a call from his home in Oakland, California. (He also opted to trade the snow and cold of Midwest winters in Ohio and Michigan for the sunnier climes of California.)
"I originally approached them to help from a business standpoint,'' said Devol, who was calling to talk about Greensky's Wednesday, Jan. 11, date at the House of Blues. "They didn't have a manager or anybody doing promotions. Not that I would have been a good manager; I knew nothing about it.''
Fortunately, the founders of the band - Michael Arlen Bont (banjo), Dave Bruzza (guitar) and Paul Hoffman (mandolin) - took a different tack.
"They had a bass player at the time who was a new father who worked for Apple or something,'' Devol said. "He was a great bass player but didn't want to tour.''
"I thought, I was a good cellist, so maybe I could become a good bass player,'' he said. "I was this classical cellist with this big, clumsy instrument in my hands, and I hit the ground running with it.''
The biggest challenge - aside from singing, which all five members do (dobro player Anders Beck joined in 2007) - wasn't picking up proficiency on the bass itself; it was becoming comfortable with the improvisation that's inherent in the genre.
As a classical cellist, "you're playing a piece of music that was written hundreds of years ago, and your job is to immediately execute it,'' he said.
That being said, there are some similarities.
"One parallel I've always liked to draw is that bluegrass is like chamber music,'' he said. "My favorite thing in classical was playing in a string quartet, where the cellist acts a lot like the bass - texturizes the bottom.
"And there's no unquestioned leader - everybody is breathing and moving together,'' Devol said. "There are a lot of similarities in that and being in a bluegrass band.''
The group's newest album, "Shouted, Written Down & Quoted,'' shows the evolution of a band that's now in its 16th year, and has been averaging nearly 200 shows a year.
Interestingly, Greensky is going a little against the grain for bluegrass bands - taking more and more time to record an album.
"Greensky is very much a live band,'' Devol said, noting that the recording of "Shouted,'' done mostly in an Asheville, North Carolina, studio called Echo Mountain in October 2015, was able to capture the spontaneity of a live performance.
But having the time between then and February 2016, when the final pieces of the album were put together, was "a very cool new thing for us, when we could listen and try to keep in the mindset that nothing is permanent and anything can be changed.''
"Living Over,'' a track on the album that boasts a lengthy jam, perfectly captures where the band is at this stage in its development, Devol said, because it showcases the band's spontaneity.
"In the right circumstances, we're able to open, and 'Living Over' captures that,'' he said. "It's the perfect balance between our abilities as songwriters and arrangers and our ability as improvisers.''
Call it Step 6 on that path to stardom.
beachwoodmall.jpg
Beachwood Place mall will require that minors 17 and younger be accompanied by an adult while visiting the mall on Friday and Saturday evenings. The policy was implemented following a Dec. 26 brawl at the mall involving mostly teenagers. Should your local mall adopt the same regulations? Share your thoughts in the box below. ((Adam Ferrise/cleveland.com))
((Adam Ferrise/cleveland.com))
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Beachwood Place mall, not known for violent outbreaks, was the scene of a post-Christmas brawl. The incident involved mostly teenagers. The mall was evacuated and pepper spray was used. The brawl led to yesterday's announcement of a new adult supervision policy that starts Friday at the mall.
The policy states that "all mall visitors 17 and under must be accompanied by a parent or supervising adult who is at least 21 years old" and effective on Fridays and Saturdays after 5 p.m." Additionally, public safety officers will check the IDs of anyone who appears underage.
Brawls erupted in several malls around the country Dec. 26, the same night of the Beachwood incident.
Where you do you stand on this policy? Would you like to see these regulations put into effect in other malls throughout the Greater Cleveland area? Would you feel safer under the new policy - or is it an overreach?
Share your thoughts in the box below. Select comments will be used in the Sun newspapers.
to load this Caspio
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to load this Caspio
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Lakewood High School academic wing
Lakewood High School students Jan. 3 began attending classes in the new academic wing.
(Lakewood High School webcam)
Jim Reitenbach, executive director of operations and construction, updates the Lakewood school board on the opening of Lakewood High School's new academic wing.
LAKEWOOD, Ohio - Lakewood High School students Tuesday moved into the new academic wing constructed as part of a major remodeling and reconstruction project at the high school scheduled to be completed in the fall.
Construction on the academic wing originally wasn't scheduled for completion for another six months, but school officials credited Turner/Regency/AKA, the construction manager, with substantially completing work on the new academic wing well ahead of schedule. Students on Tuesday moved into the new wing, abandoning modular classrooms that had been in place for 10 years across Franklin Boulevard from the main school building.
This is a look inside one of the classrooms inside the new academic wing at Lakewood High School.
"Jan. 3, 2017 is a historic day for this school district," Jim Reitenbach, executive director of operations and construction for the Lakewood city schools, said during a Tuesday school board meeting. "I know how anxious you have been to move those students out of the modular units into the academic wing of the High School."
Reitenbach also thanked school teachers and staff who worked over the Christmas break to move the classrooms from the modular units into the new academic wing in preparation for the resumption of classes in January.
"The important thing is our students today at the High School are learning in a brand new educational environment that is very conducive to learning, which they haven't had for 10 years," Reitenbach said. "For 10 years, they've been in those modular units."
School district officials said they were glad students wouldn't face another winter of moving between the main building and the modular classrooms.
"It was good not to see 1,200 students crossing Franklin Boulevard every 40 minutes today," Superintendent Jeff Patterson said.
The district has sold the modular classrooms and they should be off the district's property by March.
Reconstruction continues on the eastern half of Lakewood High School, including the cafeteria, media center, music center, gymnasium and fitness center. Most of the remaining work should be completed by the start of the next school year. However, work on the fitness center and gym are not expected to be completed until November, Reitenbach said.
Voters in November 2013 approved a $50 million bond issue to pay for renovations and reconstruction of several school buildings. The district received another $50 million from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission. The money paid for three elementary school buildings to be demolished and rebuilt as well as reconstruction and modernization at the High School. The new elementary school buildings - Lincoln, Roosevelt and Grant - opened this fall.
The Lakewood city school district has a web page devoted to construction updates. An open house for the new academic wing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Jan. 24.
Although John Kerry's Security Council speech was superbly organized and presented with careful and logical thinking, his conclusions were false because he omitted many essential facts.
Kerry started by telling us that he loves Israel, but the main point of his speech was that Israel is responsible for the failure to negotiate peace with the Palestinians, and that this has endangered the whole region.
Somehow he failed to acknowledge that Israel's leader, Netanyahu, had made frequent offers to meet with Abbas and the PA leaders, but had been turned down every time.
Kerry did not state that Palestinians had rejected all prior Israeli peace offers, and had never made counter-proposals. Kerry never mentioned the Palestinian charters' clearly stated goal of destroying the Jewish state, and NOT to be tricked into negotiations.
The Palestinian covenant explicitly stated these goals and never clearly repudiated them. Palestinian kindergarten children are still taught to lunge with wooden guns and to shout "Kill a Jew!" Parks and High Schools are still named after "martyrs who killed Jews" in terror attacks.
Kerry ignored the implications of these facts (even though Israel has had hundreds of terror attacks throughout the past year).
Finally, in proposing the 1967 borders as a good basis for starting a negotiation, he failed to state that in 1967, Israel was attacked by many Arab nations, but heroically defeated them and recaptured Jerusalem and other territories, much returned to Egypt in exchange for a durable peace agreement.
Palestine refused a peace agreement, and should not now be rewarded with the return of these territories under conditions dictated by other countries or the UN.
Herbert S. Caron,
Parma
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A man who pleaded guilty to kidnapping his toddler son from his mother's home in Alabama and raising him in Cleveland under fake names wants released from prison early.
The lawyer representing Bobby Hernandez filed a motion requesting a hearing in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court so the 54-year-old could make his case for early release after serving just more than one year of a four-year sentence.
Prosecutors have not filed a response to the motion and Judge Cassandra Collier-Williams has not decided whether to set a hearing.
Hernandez reported to Lorain Correctional Institution on April 16, after he pleaded guilty to kidnapping, a first-degree felony, two counts of interference with custody and nine counts of tampering with records. He got credit for more than five months he spent in Cuyahoga County Jail as his case moved through the courts.
Hernandez in 2002 took his then-5-year-old son Julian Hernandez from his mother's home, leaving a note that said he had been fishing, according to Alabama police reports. The mother reported the boy missing and authorities launched a search, but turned up empty-handed until 2015 when authorities discovered that Julian was living with Hernandez in a house in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood.
The discovery was made when Julian Hernandez used his Social Security number to apply for college.
Hernandez recognizes that he must be punished for his actions, which includes denying the boy's mother access to her son for more than a decade, attorney Ralph DeFranco wrote in Hernandez's motion for judicial release.
"On the other side, the child was cared for and thrived," the motion says. "His father was hands on and the child accomplished everything he could, getting his education and so forth."
The statements echo those made by Julian Hernandez at his father's sentencing in April.
"He loved me and protected me more than anybody else could during my life," Hernandez told Cuyahoga Common Pleas Judge Cassandra Collier-Williams. "I don't know what else to say other than not to send my father to jail."
The motion also cites issues with the boy's mother, but does not elaborate, and says Hernandez has participated in several programs while behind bars and can find work should he get released.
Any further incarceration would be "valueless" to Hernandez and to the society, the motion says.
To comment on this story, please visit Wednesday's crime and courts comments page.
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Author Margot Lee Shetterly will speak at CWRU's Tinkham Veale University Center on Feb. 3.
(Thomas Ondrey, The Plain Dealer )
Margot Lee Shetterly
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Bestselling author Margot Lee Shetterly, whose book on black women mathematicians working on the space race, will deliver the keynote address at Case Western Reserve University's 2017 Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation.
The event, free and open to the public, is at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, in the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Ballroom at the Tinkham Veale University Center, 11038 Bellflower Road.
A book-signing and reception follows her talk.
To attend, register at case.edu/events/mlk/.
Shetterly is the author of "Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race." The movie based on her book will be released nationwide on Friday.
The book tells the story of a group of black women mathematicians who worked behind the scenes at NASA in the early years of space exploration.
In her speech Shetterly will touch on issues of race, gender, science, innovation and more--detailing the often-unheralded contributions of women and minorities to American innovation.
Referred to as "human computers," Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden - from World War II through the Cold War - were vital in devising aeronautic calculations that propelled the United States as a leader in space exploration.
Teaching math at segregated schools in the South, the women were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II to the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, in Hampton, Virginia.
Shetterly, whose father was among the early generation of black NASA engineers and scientists, was raised in Hampton.
She had direct access to NASA executives and the women featured in the book.
She grew up near the historically black Hampton College, where the women in Hidden Figures studied, and used Langley Memorial/NASA employee newsletters dating back to 1942 as a resource for the book.
Shetterly, the founder of the Human Computer Project, a digital archive of the women's stories, graduated from the University of Virginia and is a 2014 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow.
It was so difficult to get on the 's list of top 10 performers in 2016; Jim Cramer says it will be hard to have a repeat performance in 2017.
"Some of the S&P's biggest winners from last year have run out of fuel," the "Mad Money" host said.
For example, the top performer of the S&P in 2016 was Nvidia , which more than doubled. The trajectory of the stock was steadily climbing higher until it suddenly skyrocketed in November to $117 from $68, before hitting $107 in the last days of the year.
Nvidia reminded Cramer of Intel or Qualcomm in their heyday. Unfortunately, as the markets for PCs and cellphone chips matured, so did the stock.
And while Nvidia could head higher after it settles, Cramer said the numbers would need to come up substantially because of its sky high valuation.
It's that time again! Jim Cramer rang the lightning round bell, which means he gave his take on caller favorite stocks at rapid speed:
Sirius XM Holdings : "I like that call, pull the trigger. I think it is an inexpensive stock. Boy do I wish Apple would buy them, but Apple does what it wants to do."
Medtronic : "Medtronic was downgraded today. I mean, now they downgrade it? The stock is off big from its high. I agree with your idea, I like buying Medtronic. I think it's got a good product profile."
Carlyle Group : "I typically do not like these stocks, because we don't really know what they own. But I am predicting a better 2017 because I think the IPO market is going to be unfrozen. And with that, CG can make some money."
TherapeuticsMD : "We have looked at it and we decided that we would bless it only as a spec. Remember, we have seen these stocks completely blow up. When you only have a couple of products or one product. But as a spec, I'm OK."
Sprouts Farmers Market : "We are so worried about the interesting struggle among all the different companies in the supermarket business. Too many are taking shots, I'm not a buyer."
Buffalo Wild Wings : "I feel like we've got to wait for a bigger dip. I'm worried about the restaurant group because of the minimum wage and some costs, and I feel it's kind of rolling over. Let's hold off on that one."
High operating costs, intense competition and the collapse of Kingfisher Airlines had weakened both business and civil sectors in previous years, but recently the Indian market has turned a corner into the world's fastest growing, largely thanks to supportive government policies.
After a long rough patch, Indian aviation is finally booming, but that burst of growth is now taking a toll on the industry's infrastructure.
India is currently the sole bright spot in Asia's aviation sector, Neil Book, CEO at the largest independent aviation firm JSSI, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday.
Private jet sales are up and the emerging middle/upper classes have witnessed double-digit growth rates in travel, he explained.
The upper middle class made up 8 percent of the population in 2015, and is set to hit 12 percent by 2020, according to Boston Consulting Group. Meanwhile, the ultra-high net worth population--defined as those whose net worth exceeds $50 million--stood at 178,000 in 2016 and will increase 57 percent by 2021, estimates Credit Suisse.
Unlike his predecessors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has loosened industry restrictions that are set to increase new aircraft deliveries as well as in-service and used business jets, Book continued.
Indeed, 2016 was a landmark year for Indian carriers as Modi unveiled a national civil aviation policy aimed at expanding air travel. Under the policy, domestic airlines are no longer required to log five years of domestic routes before getting an overseas permit, known as the 5/20 rule.
The government also said it would limit base fares on regional routes to 2,500 rupees ($37) per hour of travel in an attempt to make flying more viable for commercial passengers.
As strong economic fundamentals boosts air traffic, India may even overtake Japan this year to become the world's third largest domestic market behind the U.S. and China, the Centre of Aviation (CAPA) stated in a new report.
As more legislators mull the idea of free higher education, public colleges may be worth a closer look.
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Tuesday a proposal to make college tuition-free at all state public two- and four-year colleges. His plan, if approved by the legislature, would implement a scholarship program to supplement aid for in-state residents whose families earn $125,000 or less. The program would phase in over three years, and benefit an estimated 940,000 families, according to a briefing.
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"A college education is not a luxury it is an absolute necessity for any chance at economic mobility," Gov. Cuomo said in the announcement. "With these first-in-the-nation Excelsior Scholarships, we're providing the opportunity for New Yorkers to succeed, no matter what zip code they come from and without the anchor of student debt weighing them down." Pitches for free college education shouldn't influence your savings habits, said David Levy, editor of Edvisors.com. Although the number of parents saving for college hit an all-time high last year, the median balance isn't enough to cover even a year of in-state expenses at a public, four-year college. "If I were a family, I wouldn't be banking on this kind of thing," he said. "It's a proposal."
But as you start your college search, public schools are worth a closer look. Even if Cuomo's proposal doesn't go through, New York's average in-state tuition of $7,710 for the 2016-17 academic year makes it the 12th-cheapest nationwide, based on data from the College Board. If you're out-of-state, public colleges are often less of a bargain, Levy said. The premium for non-resident students is steep, he said, and state residency requirements can require a scholar to live locally for more than a year to qualify for the in-state rate. According to College Board data, these 10 states have the least expensive average in-state tuition:
10. Mississippi Average in-state tuition and fees: $7,410 Five-year change: 23 percent Average out-of-state tuition and fees: $20,260 9. North Carolina
Average in-state tuition and fees: $7,200 Five-year change: 19 percent Average out-of-state tuition and fees: $23,750 8. Alaska
Average in-state tuition and fees: $7,130 Five-year change: 23 percent Average out-of-state tuition and fees: $21,800 7. Idaho
Average in-state tuition and fees: $7,010 Five-year change: 16 percent Average out-of-state tuition and fees: $21,250 6. Nevada
Average in-state tuition and fees: $6,910 Five-year change: 7 percent Average out-of-state tuition and fees: $20,720
The original proponents of the 401(k) plan, which has become the dominant source of retirement savings for most Americans, are rueful about the revolution they unintentionally began.
"[Many early backers of the 401(k)] say it wasn't designed to be a primary retirement tool and acknowledge they used forecasts that were too optimistic to sell the plan in its early days," The Wall Street Journal reports. "Others say the proliferation of 401(k) plans has exposed workers to big drops in the stock market and high fees from Wall Street money managers."
Even the "father of the 401(k)," Ted Benna, tells The Journal with some regret that he "helped open the door for Wall Street to make even more money than they were already making."
Other experts agree: On its blog, the Economic Policy Institute recently declared 401(k)s "a poor substitute" for the defined benefit pension plans many workers primarily relied on, which provide a fixed payout for employees at retirement, and which have now become increasingly rare. Nowadays, "just 13% of all private-sector workers have a traditional pension, compared with 38% in 1979," reports The Journal.
That's despite the fact that 401(k)s are far less safe: "Unlike defined-benefit pensions, which provide set payouts for life, 401(k) accounts rise and fall with financial markets."
The accidental retirement revolution began in 1978, when Congress decided to alter the tax code with the Revenue Act.
Amazon has a "monster hit" on its hands with its artificial intelligence personal assistant Alexa, and it's only going to get better, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney told CNBC on Wednesday.
Alexa, which is already built into the Echo speaker, is now going to be built directly into certain TV sets, along with the rest of Amazon's Fire TV software. The e-commerce giant is also working with Whirlpool to develop voice-enabled smart appliances.
While those smart appliances may work for just a small percentage of households today, it is "big deal" that people can do basic things like play music, and order from a store through voice commands instead of leaving the home or logging onto a PC, Mahaney said.
"This will take a while for consumers to change their patterns but this ... we think it's the Trojan horse for Amazon, frankly, into the refrigerator," he told "Power Lunch."
For now, it's also helping drive revenue for the company. Manahey said his firm's survey data shows that about a quarter of people who have the Echo devices end up purchasing more from Amazon.
"That's kind of the long-term win here for Amazon. It's a customer acquisition tool but really it's a customer retention tool and a chance for people to more easily remove the friction, purchase more from Amazon," he said.
Mahaney has a $950 price target on the stock. Amazon closed slightly higher on Wednesday at $757.18.
CNBC's Gino Siniscalchi contributed to this report.
Disclosures: RBC Capital markets is currently providing Amazon.com with nonsecurities services.
is taking the fight to sellers of counterfeit goods and, for the first time, suing two merchants on one of its e-commerce platforms just days after it was blacklisted by the U.S. government for hosting fake items. The Chinese firm filed a lawsuit against two sellers of fake Swarovski watches on its eBay-like Taobao platform with the Shenzhen Longgang District People's Court, claiming 1.4 million yuan ($201,482) in damages. While it may not seem like a large amount for a company like Alibaba but the company is hoping to stop others from hosting dodgy items. "We want to mete out to counterfeiters the punishment they deserve in order to protect brand owners. We will bring the full force of the law to bear on these counterfeiters so as to deter others from engaging in this crime wherever they are," said Zheng Junfang, chief platform governance officer at Alibaba Group, said in a press release on Wednesday.
Is Alibaba's Jack Ma buying AC Milan? Lucy Nicholson | Reuters
Shenzhen Luohu District police raided the seller on August 10, 2016 and confiscated over 125 counterfeit Swarovski watches, valuing nearly 2 million yuan, Alibaba said. Another fake Swarovski seller on Taobao was also found relating to the case during the raid.
Using data to sniff out fakes
It's the first time Alibaba or any e-commerce site in China has taken legal action against its sellers and comes amid increasing criticism of the company's alleged inability to tackle counterfeits. The U.S. Office of the Trade Representative added Taobao to its "notorious markets" list after it was taken off in 2012. "The Taobao.com e-commerce platform is an important concern due to the large volume of allegedly counterfeit and pirated goods available and the challenges right holders experience in removing and preventing illicit sales and offers of such goods," the USTR report in December said. At the time, Alibaba said in a statement that it was "disappointed" by the move, claiming that in 2016 alone it had "proactively removed more than double the number of infringing product listings than in 2015". The company has been taking steps to deal with the fake goods issue. It employs 2,000 permanent staff and 5,000 volunteers to help find counterfeit goods. Alibaba also uses data and artificial intelligence to root out fake items. Its algorithms monitor hundreds of data points such as price and transaction records of sellers to root out illegitimate products. The e-commerce giant said it was able to scan images and logos and find mismatches between the text of a listing and the accompanying photo. For example, a name brand watch might be listed for one price, but the image might show a lower figure. In 2015, Alibaba said it spent 150 million yuan to test-buy suspected counterfeit goods from vendors on its shopping sites, as another way to find fake goods.
Online fakes widespread
That means people purchasing Seiki, Westinghouse and Element Electronics 4K smart TVs will be able to access loads of streaming services, channels, apps and live broadcasts directly from the set.
The U.S. e-commerce giant currently sells the Fire TV stick, which plugs into a TV and allows users to access a variety of streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. But now Amazon has integrated its Fire TV software directly into TV sets made by Chinese electronics giant Tongfang.
And the TVs will come with a voice-control remote that features Alexa Amazon's artificial intelligence personal assistant, similar to Apple's Siri or Google Assistant. Users, for example, will be able to ask Alexa via the TV set to control lights in their home.
For consumers, the Fire TV software will allow them to access all of their streaming services and many apps, including Amazon's own, from their TVs in their living room and bedrooms. Also, Amazon hosts 4K content, which will allow consumers to consume this high-resolution programming on their new TVs.
And for Amazon, this is a further push into consumers' lives and homes. By integrating its Fire TV software on sets, it gives another way for Prime users to access the services that they pay for as part of the $99 per year subscription.
Amazon has also integrated Alexa as part of this as it looks to increase the uptake of its voice assistant and make it a key part of the home. Amazon currently sells the Echo a speaker with Alexa built in and expanded it into the U.K. and Germany last year. The U.S. technology firm has looked to put Alexa on a number of devices, even ones it doesn't make. It wants to make the use of Alexa wide-spread to drive consumers to its services.
The deal with Tongfang could also lay the groundwork for Amazon to seek partnerships with other TV manufacturers. And the move also poses a challenge to rivals such as Apple which has its own box that can plugged into TV sets.
Amazon and Tongfang did not reveal the financial terms of the deal or the price of the TVs, but said they would be available "later this year" on Amazon.com and authorized retailers across the U.S.
In this May 11, 2016 photo, University of Massachusetts Medical School student Dylan Perry, far right, demonstrates a nasal Naloxone for emergency treatment of opioid overdose to actor-patients coping with addiction during a simulation at the medical school in Worcester, Mass. |
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Taylor Kay was driving on Interstate 290, heading east near Chicago, when a car veered across lanes of traffic into the highway median. "I thought, 'Something is wrong,'" the 26-year-old said. "So I get out of my car, and I see he's overdosing, with a needle still in his arm." Kay recognized what was happening to the driver because it could have happened to her. She had used heroin for six years, until she was 24, and she herself has overdosed. She knew what to do. "I go to my car and I get my Narcan, because I always have it with me," Kay said, referring to the brand name of the drug naloxone, which quickly reverses opioid overdoses. "Once I put the Narcan in him, it took about 20 seconds. I was so scared that this kid was going to die." He didn't; he woke up, Kay said. She called 911, and the paramedics who arrived later told her the driver had taken fentanyl a synthetic opioid up to 100 times more potent than morphine. "Any longer," Kay said, "he would have died." It's an epidemic playing out across America as prescription painkillers lead to addiction, and their price on the street often causes people to turn to heroin. In 2015, for the first time, the number of deaths from heroin overdoses in the U.S. surpassed those from gun homicides, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In total, more than 33,000 people in the U.S. died from opioid overdoses. As the number of opioid overdoses has skyrocketed in the U.S., so has the price of the drug that can wake someone up from a situation like Kay described. And in some cases, the rising prices make it hard for first responders and others to carry naloxone, which public health experts say threatens their ability to save lives. "I've seen the price of Narcan as well as epinephrine just skyrocket," said Brandon Heard, a fire department captain in Farmington, New Mexico. While he referred to the brand name Narcan, Farmington Fire uses a generic form of the medicine. "It makes it difficult for us as a municipality to purchase the same medications and provide the same treatment and abilities that we have in years past."
Farmington Fire is switching away from the EpiPen, the lifesaving auto-injector for allergy attacks, in favor of vials of generic epinephrine and syringes, in order to save money. The department already uses a makeshift system for naloxone, with a preloaded syringe and a nasal spray attachment. Public health experts say having naloxone in the hands of first responders from firefighters to police officers is vital; it can provide precious minutes before more medical help can arrive.
The antidote
When someone takes too much of an opioid drug like heroin or prescription painkillers, which bind to opioid receptors in the brain, it can cause the body to stop breathing. Naloxone acts as an opioid antagonist, knocking opioids off those receptors in the brain and restoring breathing. Administration can bring someone back in seconds. Naloxone has been available since 1971, originally under the brand name Narcan, and now in several generic forms, as well as formulations with new delivery systems. Both categories have their own cost stories; a generic form made by Hospira, now owned by Pfizer , rose in price from less than $1 per milliliter vial in 2005 to more than $15 in 2014. The newer delivery systems range in price from $125 for two doses to as much as $3,750. It's a pricing story not unique to naloxone. Prices have risen for certain generic drugs across the pharmaceutical industry, most recently garnering headlines with EpiPen, which is owned by Mylan . In many ways, aspects of the naloxone story are similar: While the prices of some older generic drugs rise, new delivery systems carry higher and higher price tags.
Cost of convenience
Taylor Kay was carrying the Evzio auto-injector that day on the highway. Made by Richmond, Virginia-based drug developer Kaleo Pharma, the device is about the size of a deck of cards, and actually talks to users while they administer it. "I love that it talks to you," Kay said. "With the syringe, it's like: You have to go get the syringe, get the vial, and put the medicine in with the auto-injector, you just take the cap off, and it speaks to you, and then it talks you through how to use it. So it is a lot faster." The Evzio has a list price of $3,750 for two auto-injectors, up more than 550 percent since it was introduced in 2014, according to data from Truven Health Analytics. "We call it the Courvoisier of the overdose injector," said Dan Bigg, director of the Chicago Recovery Alliance, a group that works with the drug-using community to distribute naloxone, among other services. Kay works with CRA, which received a charitable donation of the auto-injectors from Kaleo.
But some question whether the high price is justified by the new delivery system. "We have all kinds of pretty amazing children's toys that talk to us, too, which are pretty inexpensive," said Dr. Eric Ketcham, medical director of the emergency department at San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, New Mexico. Ketcham testified in front of Congress in September about the price of both naloxone and buprenorphine, a medicine to treat opioid addiction. The Evzio is one of two naloxone products approved in recent years focused on use in the community, not in medical settings. The other is a nasal spray made by Adapt Pharma, the only naloxone product that actually still bears the Narcan brand. That medicine has a list price before any discounts of $125 for two doses. Adapt says it hasn't raised the price of Narcan nasal spray since it was approved in 2015, and that it provides steep discounts to $75 for a carton of two devices for first responders, community organizations, law enforcement and other public agencies. And it says for patients picking up the drug at the pharmacy, a majority has insurance coverage and pay a co-pay of $10 or less. But some, like Ketcham, still see the cost as prohibitive, and similarly to the Evzio not justified by the changes in delivery system. "The squirt bottle is pretty simple technology," he told CNBC. And while Ketcham took issue with Adapt's pricing, in his congressional testimony he called the Evzio's price "truly astounding," a sentiment echoed by others. It's "not only the big percentage increase that we've seen in the price, but also the amount of dollars involved," said Michael Rea, founder and CEO of Rx Savings Solutions, which offers a software to help make decisions about prescription drugs, including based on their cost. "That gets your attention."
Spencer Williamson, Kaleo's chief executive, says it's not that simple. "The list price, which gets a lot of media attention, is a price that really nobody pays," Williamson told CNBC in a telephone interview. "What we focus on is what a patient pays." Williamson was referring to what the patient pays at the pharmacy, the co-pay. He said Kaleo has a financial assistance program to cover the co-pay for any patient with commercial insurance who has trouble affording it a program the company put in place after a patient who was prescribed the Evzio died because she didn't fill her prescription, he said. "Unfortunately, in that first year, about 75 percent of the time the physician wrote a prescription, the patient never got the product," Williamson said. In order to increase patient assistance, he said, Kaleo raised the Evzio's list price. The company also will cover the whole cost of the drug if a patient has trouble with insurance coverage. "When you net all that out, it's a business model that works," Williamson said. "But it's primarily focused on ensuring the patient is not paying out of pocket to access this lifesaving therapy." Kaleo has also donated more than 150,000 auto-injectors to first responders, public health departments and not-for-profit community groups across 34 states, Williamson said. He noted more than 2,400 lives have been saved with the Evzio since it was introduced. "We're proud of our access and affordability," he said. The model of raising a product's list price while making it cost less to patients at the pharmacy is an example of the complicated calculus governing how we pay for drugs in this country, said Ronny Gal, a biopharmaceuticals analyst at Bernstein. Because of differences in insurance coverage, some patients are exposed to greater portions of the cost of their medicines, and those patients feel price increases more acutely. The outcry over the EpiPen's rising price, for example, was primarily from a segment of patients without insurance or with high-deductible plans, who saw their own costs going up at the pharmacy counter, he said. "In order to be able to raise your price on an entire population 20 to 30 percent, you want to make sure that the population who cannot pay for this is insulated," Gal told CNBC. The drug industry, he said, "is finding channels to pay for people who cannot afford it so they can raise prices on the people who can."
View of an 'Overdose Rescue Kit,' which includes naloxone, a syringe for nasal atomization, and instructions, as displayed at Howard Center, Burlington, Vermont, May 24, 2016. Robert Nickelsberg | Getty Images
Covering patients' co-pays or giving away medicines for free, he said, are some of those channels. Ultimately though, the rising prices affect everyone. "At the end of the day, somebody's always paying for it," Rea said. "The chances are good it's you and me, either via tax money or via our health insurance premiums."
Competitions false promise
Dr. Leana Wen, health commissioner for Baltimore, declared opioid overdose a public health emergency in 2015. And she says access to naloxone is a key part of making a difference in the epidemic. "I've seen how it saves someone's life within seconds," Wen told CNBC. She has issued a blanket prescription for naloxone to every person in Baltimore. "Everyone should have naloxone in their first-aid kit. Everyone should carry it in their purse, their bag, their worksites. Because if we can save someone's life in a couple seconds, it's our obligation and our duty to do so." But, Wen said, the price of the drug can be a problem. "The price of naloxone has escalated in our city, just like in other cities across the country," she said, "which is limiting our ability to save lives." Wen takes particular issue with the price of generic forms of the medicine, which have risen despite competition. There are now at least four manufacturers of generic naloxone in the U.S., and each product is priced similarly. It's a picture that runs contrary to the argument that competition should bring prices down. The generic naloxone made by Hospira cost $9.20 for 10 1-milliliter vials in 2005, according to data from Truven. By July 2013, that price was $109.90. Six months later, Hospira doubled the price, to $219.90, or about $21.90 per milliliter, before settling at $158.30. Later in 2014, a competitor's price followed a similar pattern: Amphastar's naloxone jumped from $169.50 for 10 2-milliliter vials to $330, or about $16.50 per milliliter a near doubling in price a few months after Hospira's. Two other manufacturers sell generic naloxone at similar prices: Mylan, at just under $19 per milliliter, and West-Ward Pharmaceutical, at $17. "From the perspective of a producer, if you come into the market and you can get a fair share without bringing your price down, you would," said Gal, the Bernstein analyst. "The reason you raise prices is because you can."
The process for the U.K. to leave the European Union (EU) is due to begin in March, but as the deadline approaches it is less clear how the negotiations will unfold.
However, the path towards Brexit became a lot less clear Tuesday with the U.K. ambassador to the EU, Ivan Rogers, resigning, fuelling concerns that the U.K. government is not ready to quit Europe.
In its resignation letter, Rogers warned that the U.K. lacked negotiating expertise when compared to EU officials and asked for a quick appointment of the British negotiating team.
"Serious multilateral negotiating experience is in short supply in Whitehall, and that is not the case in the Commission or in the Council," the former ambassador wrote.
"Senior ministers, who will decide on our positions, issue by issue, also need from you detailed, unvarnished - even where this is uncomfortable - and nuanced understanding of the views, interests and incentives of the other 27," Sir Ivan Rogers added.
Downing Street said in a statement on Tuesday that "Sir Ivan has taken this decision now to enable a successor to be appointed before the UK invokes Article 50 by the end of March." However, the former ambassador considered one of the most experience U.K. officials, has reportedly had conflicting views with the national government.
Last December, Sir Ivan Rogers warned the U.K. government that it could take up to 10 years to conclude a trade deal with the EU, the BBC reported. At the time, he also mentioned that even after a trade deal is finalized, national parliaments across the EU could reject the agreement.
"It seems the U.K. ambassador to EU left over government reluctance to hear what EU really think about Brexit," Robin Bew, managing director at the Economist Intelligence Unit said on Twitter on Wednesday.
Rogers apologized for fuelling Brexit uncertainty and recognized that the ongoing political concerns go beyond the U.K.'s objectives for Brexit.
California's Democratic state leadership Wednesday tapped former Attorney General Eric Holder as a legal advisor to the legislature as the state prepares for conflicts with a new Republican-controlled Congress and President-elect Donald Trump.
California is likely to see challenges to its policies for immigration, health care, climate change, education and civil rights given the new political landscape in Washington.
"It's going to be California versus Donald Trump quite frankly, from the state level on up," said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst and political science professor at the University of Southern California. She called it a "wise decision politically and strategically" for California legislators to retain Holder to be on the ground in Washington "to be onsite opposition to Trump and his policies."
Holder currently serves as a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling. He served from 2009 to 2015 in President Barack Obama's Cabinet and was the first African-American to hold the office of attorney general. Prior to that, Holder held positions requiring Senate confirmation in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
"I am honored that the legislature chose Covington to serve as its legal advisor as it considers how to respond to potential changes in federal law that could impact California's residents and policy priorities," Holder said in a statement. "I am confident that our expertise across a wide array of federal legal and regulatory issues will be a great resource to the legislature."
As U.S. attorney general, Holder defended constitutional challenges to the 2010 Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Covered California, the health insurance marketplace formed to implement Obamacare in the state, currently has 1.3 million enrollees making it the largest of the state-run health exchanges.
Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:
Alphabet Google's parent company is turning its focus to India, where it will help small businesses create an online presence for free in an effort to tap into a new user population.
Amazon.com The online retail giant will sell TVs from Chinese electronics maker Tongfang equipped with Amazon's Fire TV software, giving users a range of streaming services and the ability to talk to artificial intelligence voice-activated assistant Alexa.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals A federal court said it would not throw out a verdict upholding two patents Amgen has on its cholesterol drug, dealing a blow to rivals Sanofi and Regeneron, who produce a similar medication.
Pfizer Gene therapy company Spark Therapeutics received a $15 million payment from Pfizer for continued progress in developing a landmark medication to combat hemophilia.
Johnson & Johnson A U.S. judge nearly halved an award in a December verdict that ordered the health care manufacturer to pay over $1 billion in damages to plaintiffs hurt by the company's DePuy Orthopaedics Pinnacle hip implants.
Hershey The candy maker revealed plans to seek dismissal of a class action lawsuit filed by a customer claiming Hershey's deliberately misrepresented the number of flavors of Hersey Kisses in its 12-ounce bags.
Tesla , Apple Guggenheim initiated a "buy" on Tesla and Apple. The company said that next-generation automotive is a sector to watch as electrification and autonomous driving come into view and hailed the smartphone as "tech's most valuable piece of real estate."
Carnival Corp . The world's largest travel company unveiled an interactive guest experience platform, the Ocean Medallion, a wearable device the company said will enhance and personalize vacations by simulating a personal concierge.
Facebook Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg made a New Year's resolution to visit and meet people in every U.S. state by the end of 2017.
Mastercard U.K. regulators said Mastercard's acquisition of payment systems company VocaLink raises competition concerns and asked the firms to either offer a solution or subject the $920 million deal to investigations.
Want to travel somewhere warm this winter?
Consider the U.S. Virgin Islands. The archipelago is offering $300 in travel credits for travelers who stay for at least three nights in 2017.
According to the director of communications for V.I. Tourism, Alani Henneman-Todman, the credit can be used on things like tours, kayaking, dive shops and anything that offers a historical perspective of the islands.
The territory is celebrating its 100th year as part of the United States. In 1917, the Danish sold the island chain to the U.S. for $25 million in gold coins.
In order to qualify for the promotion, tourists must stay at one of the hotels on the main islands of St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John listed on the Virgin Islands tourism website, book travel by October 1, 2017, and visit before December 31, 2017.
Bon voyage!
Repealing Obamacare will cost the federal government as much as $350 billion, according to a new estimate.
Congressional Republicans are eagerly anticipating their long-awaited chance to repeal the 6-year-old Affordable Care Act, one of the signature achievements of the Obama administration.
That enthusiasm may be dampened when they learn how much the repeal will cost.
The $350 billion cost estimate in an analysis released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Budget would be spread over 10 years unless key provisions of the law are maintained or replaced.
"Repealing the entire ACA would leave no funds available for 'replace' legislation, and in fact would require further deficit reduction to avoid adding to the debt," the report said.
Most of the law's opponents have focused on the added cost of subsidizing health insurance. But the law also includes dozens of provisions that cut health care and raise taxes that more than offset the money spent.
Despite the GOP's steadfast opposition to the law, that net cost of repealing it could give pause to the party's fiscal hawks on Capitol Hill.
The new analysis looks only at the net cost to the federal government and doesn't take into account the far bigger economic impact on insurers, hospitals, doctors, drug companies and other parts of the sprawling American health system. Nor does its estimate include the financial impact on the roughly 23 million Americans who, the group estimates, would lose coverage if the ACA is fully repealed and not replaced.
After more than 60 failed votes to gut the ACA under President Barack Obama, Republicans now about to be in control of the White House and Congress are poised to eliminate the law that extended health insurance to millions of American families. President-elect Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have vowed to move quickly to repeal the law before articulating the complicated details of a potential replacement.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to plot strategy with fellow Republicans.
A senior adviser to Trump said Tuesday that after Obamacare is repealed and replaced with different health-care law, no one who has health insurance would lose their coverage.
"That is correct. We don't want anyone who currently has insurance to not have insurance," the adviser, Kellyanne Conway, said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
Until details are worked out, though, it's impossible to estimate the financial impact of any replacement plan on the government, the health system and those currently covered by Obamacare.
In its analysis of the cost of repeal, the Committee for a Responsible Budget said the $350 billion price tag could be reduced by indirect economic benefits that would cut the long-term impact to $150 billion over 10 years.
Like the health care system itself, the ACA has lots of moving parts that create costs and savings to the government and generate revenues to help pay for the plan. The committee's analysis, which used Congressional Budget Office figures, breaks them down into three main categories.
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Iraq is stuck between a rock and a hard place in its effort to contribute to OPEC's planned production cuts in the first half of 2017. Those cuts which are designed to help the world work through a glut of existing oil supplies and thereby reduce prices were scheduled to take effect this week. But big questions remain about how exactly Iraq will manage to hit its agreed-upon quota and cut out 210,000 barrels a day. That includes how Iraq will handle its contractual commitments to the international oil companies that operate its massive southern oil fields, and whether the northern region of Iraq that's controlled by its Kurdish minority will go along with cuts. Iraq is OPEC's second biggest producer, and it has promised some of the largest cuts among cartel members and other big producers like Russia. The overall goal among parties to the agreement is to remove nearly 1.8 million barrels a day from the market.
"Of the Middle East producers that agreed to the cuts, it's probably the one that has the most [international oil company]-operated production," Jessica Brewer, principal analyst for Middle East and North Africa upstream oil and gas at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. "There are a lot more parties involved, which makes it more complex." Baghdad's contracts with foreign oil drillers include provisions that require the government to compensate them when production is curtailed for reasons beyond the drillers' control, Reuters reported after viewing contract excerpts in November.
Government-imposed production cuts could trigger those provisions, according to Brewer. What type of compensation that could entail can be negotiated, but it's possible the government could have to pay back the oil companies for lost revenue, she said. That would be painful for Iraq. The country is already in financial straits after more than two years of low oil prices. Currently, there are no clear signs Iraq has reached a deal to cut output with international oil companies such as BP , Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell , Brewer said. Meanwhile, OPEC's compliance panel meets to make its first assessment of output reductions on Jan. 21 and 22 in Vienna.
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Iraq could dodge its problems it made the cuts from state-operated fields in the country's north, but that option provides no easy solution either, Brewer added.
That's because the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government took control of the city of Kirkuk after central government forces failed to defend it from Islamic State militants in 2014. The Kurds now control some of the oil production in the region and may not be willing to cut output, because their government is also struggling financially.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi complained the Kurds were exporting more oil than they are allowed, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Under the 2017 budget, Kurds are permitted to export 250,000 barrels a day. The Kurds, who can ship oil to Turkey via a pipeline from Iraqi Kurdistan, oppose the export limits. The central government and Kurdish leaders have long feuded over the Kurds' oil exports, which Baghdad says violate the constitution because only federal officials are authorized to sell the country's crude. That said, a deal between Baghdad and the Kurds to cut northern output is "definitely not out of the question. It's just not something you would expect them to come to an agreement to overnight," she said.
Two department store chains detailed massive closure plans Wednesday, setting the stage for more than 200 of their combined locations to close this spring.
Sears Holdings will shutter 108 Kmart and 42 Sears stores over the next few months, as it looks to stem its operating losses. The company released the list of stores it plans to close after an SEC filing from Seritage Growth Properties was posted Wednesday. The real estate investment trust disclosed that it would terminate the leases on 19 unprofitable stores that had been sold off to it.
Meanwhile, Macy's provided a list of 68 stores it has close or will close by the middle of this year as part of a previously announced plan to close 100 stores. Macy's, which also disclosed plans to restructure its management, has been shifting its strategy to reallocate spending toward new store concepts and its website amid declining sales. Macy's will close another 30 or so locations over the next few years as leases or operating covenants expire, or sale transactions are completed.
The industry has been keeping a close eye on where Sears and Macy's will go dark, as it could be a death knell for a mall to lose both anchor tenants.
In a note to investors on Tuesday, Morgan Stanley analysts said they had identified 578 malls that have Sears as a tenant about 53 percent of those included in its proprietary database. More importantly, the firm noted that there is "high tenant overlap, with 350 of these malls (or 61 percent) having both Sears and Macy's as a tenant."
Appearing on both retailers lists', the Shenango Valley Mall, in Hermitage, Pennsylvania, is one such example. J.C. Penney is also listed as a current tenant at that mall.
For a closer look at the where the looming store closings are, see the map below.
An artists conception of the Lucy spacecraft flying by the Trojan Eurybates one of the six diverse and scientifically important Trojans to be studied.
NASA will launch two space missions to asteroids to gather evidence about the early days of the solar system.
The unmanned Lucy and Psyche missions will launch in 2021, and 2023, respectively. Both will travel to asteroids Lucy to a cluster of asteroids near Jupiter known as the Trojan asteroids, and Psyche to an unexplored, and unusual, large asteroid made of metal in the main asteroid belt.
The Trojan asteroids near Jupiter are thought to be remnants of an earlier period in the history of the solar system.
"This is a unique opportunity," said Harold F. Levison, principal investigator of the Lucy mission from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, in a news release."Because the Trojans are remnants of the primordial material that formed the outer planets, they hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system. Lucy, like the human fossil for which it is named, will revolutionize the understanding of our origins."
The Psyche mission will travel to the asteroid 16 Psyche, which is comprised mostly of iron and nickel, unlike most asteroids, which tend to be rocky or icy, according to the release.
The metals are also found in the Earth's core, leading researchers to think the asteroid may be the remnants of a Mars- or Earth-like planet that long ago lost its rocky outer layers.
"16 Psyche is the only known object of its kind in the solar system, and this is the only way humans will ever visit a core," said Psyche Principal Investigator Lindy Elkins-Tanton, of Arizona State University.
The growing anti-establishment sentiment and surge of populist parties are a concern for many, especially in Europe, where a raft of key elections is happening this year.
However, the current support for populism may could soon come to an end, one analyst believes.
Populist parties "are more powerful when they aren't in power because it's easy to throw stones," David Moss, European equities fund manager at BMO Global Asset Management, told CNBC on Wednesday.
Greece, for example, is currently being governed by Syriza, a populist left-wing party headed by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. He came to power in 2015, when Greek voters were angry at the establishment parties for several years of economic struggles.
Tsipras, who at one time enjoyed approval ratings of above 80 percent, has seen public support plummeting over the last few months as the promised significant economic improvements and end to austerity have failed to appear.
In an attempt to boost his ratings, Prime Minister Tsipras announced Christmas benefits to Greek pensioners. But such step made European creditors angry, leading to the delay of some debt relief measures.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing a plan that would give free tuition to the state's two- and four-year public colleges to students whose parents earn less than $125,000 per year.
In a statement delivered alongside progressive Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Cuomo announced the so-called "Excelsior Scholarship" on Tuesday morning. It aims to alleviate the "crushing burden of student loans" and help put millions of young people on the "path to financial security."
Recent college graduates differ on whether Cuomo's plan is the best solution. But they agree that high student debt is harming young people's careers.
The average graduate leaves school with approximately $29,000 in debt. High monthly payments restrict job choices, graduates say.
"After college, students graduate with tens of thousands of dollars in debt, there is a ticking clock to start paying them off," says Eirik Amun, a 2011 graduate of the State University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz.
"This forces graduates to just take what is available in their immediate job market," he says.
President Obama will huddle with Congressional Democrats Wednesday morning to help plot the political defense of his signature health care law while Vice President-elect Mike Pence meets with GOP members to rally his party around efforts to dispose of it.
But the battle really began in earnest on Tuesday when Republicans made the first move to undo the Affordable Care Act through a Senate budget resolution, beginning their long, complicated journey to repealing and replacing the Democrats' signature achievement.
The Senate Budget Committee's resolution, which starts a two-step process known as reconciliation, directs two committees in the House of Representatives and two committees in the Senate to do the hard work of writing the language that repeals the bill.
More from NBC News:
The fight begins to destroy or save Obamacare
Five things you may not know about Obamacare
Democrats to fight almost any Trump Supreme Court nominee: Schumer
But even just repealing the massive bill is proving onerous as Republicans debate the merits of doing so without a replacement ready.
House Republicans have a lot of practice repealing the law, but have never had to deal with what might come next. They passed a repeal of Obamacare more than 60 times over the last six years, including one proposal that is said to be the framework for the current effort that reached Obama's desk in 2015. He vetoed it.
Now, however, with a Republican president about to assume the Oval Office, any legislation they pass will have real-world consequences. They must consider the 20 million people who have gained insurance through the ACA, business interests of the health care industry and the impact any changes will have on the economy. In addition, Republican leaders have to balance the economic impact with the demands of their members who span the conservative ideological spectrum.
Fractures are already forming around the timeline for replacement, the tax components that have raised billions of dollars and how far-reaching the scope of the repeal should be all elements that must be addressed in the repeal legislation.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus, including its leader, Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, are insistent on the timeline, threatening to vote against any replacement if it is not guaranteed before the midterm elections in 2018.
"It would have to be an unbelievable, compelling case to suggest we need more than two years to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act," Meadows said Tuesday.
Irish researchers say the human body has an additional organ that has been misunderstood for at least a century.
J. Calvin Coffey, a professor at the University of Limerick's Graduate Entry Medical School, says the mesentery, which connects the abdomen to the intestines, is not a fragmented group of tissues as the scientific community has long held, but a single, unified organ.
So now, the human body has 79 organs, as noted by The Independent, which first picked up the story.
Credit Suisse put together a list of heavily shorted stocks that may rally if hedge funds are wrong on their bearish bets. The firm aggregated holdings data from its hedge fund clients and then analyzed the stocks with its proprietary investing framework. "A crowded trade presents risk to those holding short positions and in turn creates a potential opportunity for long investors to outperform in the event of a short squeeze," strategist Richard Curry wrote in a note to clients on Dec. 28. "Crowded shorts with attractive characteristics in the HOLT framework can present an opportunity for long investors." HOLT is a quantitative Credit Suisse valuation model that measures a company's ability to generate cash flow, reinvest earnings at high rates of return and its valuation. When a company with a high level of short interest releases positive fundamental news, there is high potential for a short squeeze rally in its shares, according to the strategist. Here are 10 stocks on Credit Suisse's "most crowded shorts" report and the two companies on the list that rated the best under the HOLT framework. VMware and Diamond Offshore are the only stocks on Credit Suisse's "most crowded shorts" list that have positive HOLT ratings for valuation and cash flow return on investment momentum.
Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images
California investigators found repeated violations of foreclosure laws at OneWest when the bank was being run by President-elect Donald Trump's Treasury secretary pick Steven Mnuchin, according to a memo obtained by The Intercept.
A spokesman for Mnuchin called the report "garbage."
During 2009 to 2015, when Mnuchin headed the bank, investigators "uncovered evidence suggestive of widespread misconduct," according to the 2013 memo from then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris' office. The period includes the aftermath of the Great Recession, which was triggered in part by banks approving risky mortgages.
Among the allegations, according to The Intercept: The bank "rushed delinquent homeowners out of their homes by violating notice and waiting period statutes, illegally backdated key documents, and effectively gamed foreclosure auctions."
President-elect Donald Trump's recent questions about U.S. intelligence agencies were "sincere" and showed a "healthy American skepticism," Vice President-elect Mike Pence told reporters Wednesday.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump tweeted some of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's comments regarding the hacking of Democratic email accounts during the campaign.
@realDonaldTrump: "Julian Assange said "a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta" - why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!"
When asked about the president-elect's use of Assange to cast doubt on the U.S. intelligence reports of Russia's alleged involvement in the 2016 U.S. election, Pence confirmed that he and Trump will receive a briefing from the leadership of U.S. intelligence agencies on Friday.
"I think the president-elect has expressed his very sincere and healthy American skepticism about intelligence conclusions, but we're going to sit down later this week," Pence said.
Assange has criticized U.S. intelligence reports suggesting that Russia hacked the DNC, allowing WikiLeaks to publish emails belonging to several aides to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Tuesday night, Trump suggested the intelligence briefing was delayed to allow for more time to "build a case" against Russia.
@realDonaldTrump: The "Intelligence" briefing on so-called "Russian hacking" was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!
However, two U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News the briefing had always had been scheduled for Friday at Trump Tower in Manhattan. They said it would be conducted by senior leaders, including Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, National Security Agency Chief Mike Rogers, CIA Director John Brennan and FBI chief James Comey.
Another well-placed senior intelligence official, however, told NBC News that the Trump transition team had at one point been notified that the briefing would occur on Wednesday, and this may explain his tweet.
NBC News contributed to this report.
"The difference in the principles at stake explains why Apple was right in refusing to help the FBI save lives from a potential, imminent terrorist attack, while Amazon's refusal to help clear an isolated crime whose victim is already dead is a mistake."
The FBI attempted to seize control of a team of Apple's engineersthe tech-sector's dominant "mode of production." Their motivation was soundpreventing further terror attacks on Americansbut their demand was unreasonable. American capitalism respects and protects private ownership of the modes of production. Commandeering an Apple engineering team is no different from seizing a manufacturing plantnot because the owner did anything wrong, but rather to serve some purpose deemed critical to the national interest.
The schools of economic organization under which such seizures are acceptableeven encouragedare not approaches that we should want to adopt. There have been countries that maintained the illusion of private ownership of productive assets, but in reality only let private parties operate those facilities for the benefit of "the nation." When their governments decided that "the nation" needed to divert their use, the collective good compelled their diversion, and the private "owners" were required to comply.
The technical name for such an organization of a nation's industry is national socialism; it helped Mussolini get the trains to run on time and it allowed Hitler to rescue the basket case of an economy he inherited from the Weimar Republic. History has shown, however, that is also has a terrible dark side. When the government is empowered to commandeer and redirect private resources in the name of the common good, freedom and human rights suffer greatly. As unobjectionableand even laudableas the FBI's request may have been, it is inconsistent with the cause of freedom.
The Bentonville police, on the other hand, are simply asking Amazon to turn over data already in Amazon's possession. Amazon's refusal rests upon its desire to protect its customer's privacyboth as a matter of principle and as a matter of sound business practice. Requests of this sort are hardly unusual. They arise, for example, whenever the police ask a bank to open a safety deposit box.
Obviously, it infringes the holder's privacy rightsbut were the police never allowed to open these boxes, they would soon overflow with physical evidence of significant crimes. American courts have considerable experience balancing these concerns on a case-by-case basis. If the Bentonville courts decide that disclosure is warranted here, Amazon should comply.
The conflict between technology and law is likely to be a defining feature of the twenty-first century. If we are to remain a free society, we must apply the right principles to the resolution of all such conflicts.
Commentary by Bruce Abramson, Ph.D., J.D., a technology lawyer and expert witness in private practice. He is the author of Digital Phoenix (MIT Press) and The Secret Circuit (Rowman & Littlefield), and numerous articles on the interplay among technology, business, law and public policy. He is also a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, and director of policy at the Iron Dome Alliance. Follow him on Twitter @bdabramson.
For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion onTwitter.
Now he's back, having reinvented himself as a critic of the Washington lobbying industry he once dominated and as a speaker and radio show host. He calls much of the lobbying industry "legalized bribery" and gives advice on the temptations of corruption.
Once one of the most prominent Republican lobbyists in the capital, known for flying congressmen to global junkets on a private jet, his spectacular downfall led to a three-and-a-half year stint in federal prison where he wasn't even allowed to hold enough change in his pocket to operate the vending machines.
So you might think Abramoff would have some interesting things to say about the incoming Trump administration, and he does.
For one, despite his new efforts as a reformer, Abramoff doesn't think Trump should be forced to release his tax returns.
"I don't know that it matters," Abramoff said in an interview with CNBC. "I think most Americans basically say, 'On one hand, we get to see Donald Trump's tax returns. On the other hand, we get to try to return the country to what it should be. I'll go with returning the country to what it should be. I don't care what's in his tax returns.'"
Abramoff also said he understands Trump's desire for privacy, given that Abramoff's own scandal involved the release of thousands of private email messages and the damaging fallout from those private conversations.
Abramoff doesn't think Trump will divest himself from the Trump Organization conglomerate that made him a billionaire. "He'll figure out what are the laws, what exactly is legal and not legal, and he'll do that and not care about the optics because, guess what, for the last year and a half he's not cared about optics and he got elected president," Abramoff said.
NEW YORK, N.Y. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday announced a plan to offer free tuition at state colleges for the states middle-class and low-income college students.
Under the governors proposal, more than 940,000 college-aged children from households making up to $125,000 per year would qualify to attend college tuition-free at all public universities in New York, including SUNY (State University of New York) and CUNY (City University of New York) four-year schools, as well as two-year community colleges.
The governors tuition-free college-degree plan is dubbed the Excelsior Scholarship, according to a news release Cuomos office issued.
Cuomo announced the proposal, the first of his 2017 State of the State agenda, during an appearance at LaGuardia Community College in Queens.
Cuomo will deliver his annual State of the State message in a series of regional addresses, including an appearance in Syracuse on Jan. 11.
The scholarship program would require participating students to be enrolled at a SUNY or CUNY two- or four-year college full-time.
Based on enrollment projections, the plan will cost an estimated $163 million per year once fully phased in, Cuomos office said.
The governor didnt detail how the free tuition program would be fully paid for, but the release stated the initiative will leverage New York States Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), which provides nearly $1 billion in grants to college students statewide. Eligible students would still receive TAP and any applicable federal grants. Additional state funds would be needed to be cover the remaining tuition costs for incoming or existing eligible students.
New York would phase the new initiative in over three years, beginning for New Yorkers making up to $100,000 annually in the fall of 2017, increasing to $110,000 in 2018, and reaching $125,000 in 2019.
The initiative will cover middle-class families and individuals making up to $125,000 through a supplemental aid program, per the news release.
Cuomos office contends 80 percent of New York households statewide currently make $125,000 or less with an estimated 940,000 households having college-aged children that would be eligible for the program.
SUNY undergraduate tuition currently costs $6,470 for New York State residents, while community college tuition is $4,350.
Cuomo contends the scholarship program will make college affordable for students and families as student debt continues to soar. That debt has reached $1.2 trillion nationwide, Cuomos office said, surpassing credit-card debt, car debt and home-equity lines of credit as the second largest source of consumer debt.
Cuomos office described the Excelsior scholarship as the first of its kind in the nation that will help alleviate the crushing burden of student debt.
A college education is not a luxury it is an absolute necessity for any chance at economic mobility, and with these first-in-the-nation Excelsior scholarships, were providing the opportunity for New Yorkers to succeed, no matter what zip code they come from and without the anchor of student debt weighing them down, Cuomo said in the release.
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (IVermont) joined Cuomo for the Tuesday announcement. Sanders had proposed his own national free-tuition program when running for the 2016 Democratic Party nomination for president.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
this is a cigar that elevates the Davidoff Nicaragua line to the next level as this is one outstanding offering.
Wrapper: Nicaragua Habana Oscuro
Binder: Nicaragua Habana Jalapa
Filler: Nicaraguan tobaccos from Ometepe, Condega and Esteli
Country or Origin: Dominican Republic (TABADOM)
Box Pressed Toro: 6 x 52
Price: $17.90
Review: Davidoff Nicaragua Box Pressed Toro
Brand Appearances on Countdown: 4 (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)
Coming in at #8 is the Davidoff Nicaragua Box Pressed Toro. Box Pressed offerings are not something commonly found in the Davidoff portfolio. While we have seen box pressed offerings in the Avo brand with the Avo Syncro Nicaragua and the Avo Movement TAA, the Davidoff Nicaragua Box Pressed line is the first box press to carry the Davidoff name.
There have seen companies with three or more cigars on a single years Cigar of the Year Countdown, but this is only the second time a brand has placed three cigars on the Countdown. We have to go back to La Gloria Cubana in 2010 as the last time this happened. Currently, the Davidoff Yamasa Piramides (#15) and Davidoff Scorecard 2016 (#20) are the other two Davidoff branded cigars on the Countdown. The Davidoff Nicaraguan Box Pressed Toro also becomes the fourth box-pressed offering on this years Countdown. Although its made in the Dominican Republic, it is the first Nicaraguan puro to land on this years Countdown.
This is not just a box pressed version of the original Davidoff Nicaragua offering. It has two differences. First up, the Davidoff Nicaragua Box Pressed uses a Nicaraguan Habana Oscuro wrapper as opposed to the Nicaragua Habana Rosado wrapper on the base line. Secondly, the Esteli Visus priming found in the original Davidoff Nicaragua was upgraded to ligero priming. The intent here was to deliver a bolder, more intense smoking experience.
This 6 x 52 box-pressed Toro delivers notes of coffee, cedar, wood, white pepper, citrus, and a slight creamy undertone. The strength and body both start off medium and surprisingly for a Davidoff cigar both attributes increase to full by the end of the cigar. This cigar definitely succeeds at Davidoffs goal of delivering a bolder and spicier experience.
When Davidoff CEO Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard took the reins of Davidoff in 2011, he implemented a program of innovation. A box-pressed and bolder offering is another successful result of this program. While Yamasa got a lot of the attention and was still a Top 15 cigar, the Davidoff Nicaragua Box-Pressed was one of the stellar releases of 2016 and earns this #8 ranking.
For details of the 2016 Cigar of the Year Countdown, see our 2016 criteria.
Photo Credits: Cigar Coop, except where noted.
You won't be able to pick up last-minute sides at Hy-Vee on Thanksgiving
Our Bodies, Our Voices: Columbus Women Reflect on Abortion Rights
The fall of Roe v. Wade has created a fury that is personal. These 10 essays and stories reflect how Central Ohio residents are feeling.
Microsoft wasn't idle during the holiday break. It announced a pair of community sites designed to foster greater communication with end users.
The first is the Windows Insider Community Blog, a change to its #WINsiders4Good initiative designed to explore how Windows enthusiasts could help the company improve Windows 10 and solve bigger problems while using its software.
Now known as #Insiders4Good, Microsoft has also launched a new blog, a home for the Windows Insider community itself. Windows Insider Program chief Dona Sarkar announced a new blog, The Insider's Blog, where people talk about their efforts to solve problems using Microsoft products. The Windows Insider blog will also continue to operate, she said.
"Well work to give you more insight into what the team is doing, how engineering decisions are made, what issues were prioritizing each week, how we can improve our processes/tools and much more 'behind the scenes' things. This will all start next week when everyone is back in the office on the standard Windows channels you know and love. Those are not going anywhere. Nor is the program changing for anything other than deeper engagement. Same bat-time, same bat-place," wrote Sarkar.
The blog already has guest posts from some insiders and fellows around the world, many in Africa. Those who wish to contribute and share their stories on the blog can email Microsoft at NinjaCatTeam@outlook.com.
The second is a program that for now is just in India, but knowing Microsoft, it will go global soon enough. Titled Windows Scoop Fans, Microsoft calls this a program for "the biggest fans of Windows," and invites them to register and get exclusive updates on the operating system, as well as news on the latest apps and services, devices, tips and tricks, and invitations to special fan events.
The Windows Insider team sent a letter to Indian Insiders that read in part:
Interested in joining this exclusive Windows fan programme?
Send us an email (from the same email you use for Facebook*) answering this one question Why Im the biggest fan of Windows. Tell us about a favourite feature, a Windows app youve created or how Windows helps you do great things. Were open to a wide range of responses. And feel free to add photos, videos, etc.
Please note that the deadline for submissions is 5 January, 2017. Well then follow up by email to selected Windows Scoop Fan participants by January 15, 2017.
All users have to do is send an email to scoopfans@microsoft.com with a message that describes their passion for Windows.
I have to admit, trying to get people all rah-rah for an OS is an unusual move, especially for one that is mainstream and dominant. I get the passion around Linux and MacOS. They are the outsiders, the ones resisting Microsoft hegemony. You don't see enthusiasm for the establishment player, which Microsoft is, you see it for the new disruptors.
Of course, it's not about the OS -- it's about what you can do with it. I've been seeing this theme in Microsoft TV commercials as well. Still, you don't associate such cheerleading with a staid old brand. Is this an attempt to change its image? After the overtly pushy Windows 10 upgrade program, Microsoft could use it.
President-elect Donald Trump has been tweeting up a storm, suggesting the delay in the intelligence briefing on Russian hacking was very strange and even seeming to back WikiLeaks founder Julian Assanges version of the hacking over that of what US intelligence agencies said with 100 percent certainty happened.
Trump had previously claimed during a New Years Eve party that he knew things that other people dont know about the Russian hacking, adding that he would reveal new details about the alleged Russian hacking on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Unnamed, top intelligence officials pushed back after Trumps tweet, telling CNN that even President Obama hasnt received the full Russian hacking report since the report isnt completed yet, and the scheduled meeting was to take place on Friday. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was reportedly not scheduled to be in New York City to see Trump yesterday or today, so he was perplexed about the delay Trump claimed was taking place.
But Trump was on a roll after suggesting intelligence agencies were perhaps still trying to build a case and started quoting Julian Assange. This was one of the most high-profile nods to Assange; it seems like most high-ranking US officials consider WikiLeaks to be some sort of Satans spawn.
Apparently, Trump was following the Assange interview on Fox News. During the interview, Assange told Sean Hannity that the Russians were not the source of John Podestas / DNC emails that were published by WikiLeaks. Our source is not the Russian government, Assange again stated. It is not state parties.
Assange hammered on dishonest media coverage and Trump echoed that sentiment.
The president-elect also took the opportunity to bash the Democratic National Committee for failing at cyber security.
Yet a plethora of three-letter US agencies as well as the Obama Administration are confident the Russians are to blame for interfering with the election; Obama came out with sanctions and kicked 35 diplomats and their families out of the US. It remains to be seen what Trump will say after he is briefed on the full Russian hacking report.
As for Trumps previous suggestion to write down very important information and have it delivered by courier, since no computer is safe, perhaps someone can educate him about encryption. Crypto is not the devil, its the solution. If Trump is going to take a stand against US Intelligence, then he should consider championing encryption.
BMW Group, Intel and computer vision maker Mobileye today announced they will collaborate to create a fleet of about 40 autonomous BMW vehicles that will hit U.S. and European roads by the second half of 2017.
The pilot project is aimed at demonstrating advances the three companies have made in technology that enables fully self-driving vehicles.
The BMW 7 Series will be used as the initial platform for Intel processor and Mobileye computer vision technology during the global trials.
Mobileye, an Israeli technology company, is a leader in developing both software and proprietary computer chip technology (EyeQ) to support vision-based advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) that provide warnings for collision prevention and mitigation.
Mobileye has also partnered with other automakers and multi-billion-dollar tier 1 auto parts maker Delphi to supply its technology to the industry.
Mobileye and Delphi plan to demonstrate their "Central Sensing Localization and Planning" (CSLP) platform for self-driving cars in urban and highway driving conditions during the Consumer Electronics Show taking place now in Las Vegas. They plan to start production in 2019.
Mobileye, Delphi Mobileye and Delphi plan to demonstrate their platform for self-driving cars in urban and highway driving conditions during CES 2017 and start production in 2019.
In July, BMW, Intel and Mobileye announced a development partnership that BMW said would result in a completely autonomous car called iNEXT, suited for both city streets and highways, by 2021.
Like Google with its autonomous vehicle technology, the three firms have developed a scalable architecture that can be adopted by other automotive developers and carmakers to create differentiated brands. The offerings scale from individual key integrated modules to a complete end-to-end autonomous system that provides "a wide range of differentiated consumer experiences."
BMW believes self-driving cars will be widely used in ride-hailing services such as Uber, which has already deployed a self-driving test car in Pittsburgh.
In related news, Intel announced Intel GO In-Vehicle Development Platforms for Automated Driving, which is specifically tailored for the self-driving technology market in that it's highly scalable and designed to meet the high compute demands of the fully autonomous driving industry.
Intel GO computer systems will span the car, connectivity and cloud with multiple development kits that scale in performance based on its next-generation Intel Atom processor as well as Intel Xeon processors plus Arria 10 FPGAs. The technology, Intel claims, is also the industry's first 5G-ready development platform for automated driving.
Maggie Hassan reenacts her swearing in ceremony to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday with her husband Tom and Vice President Joe Biden in Washington D.C. Courtesy photo
Maggie Hassan was escorted by fellow Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen as she walked into the United States Senate Chamber on Tuesday to be sworn in as New Hampshire newest U.S. senator by Vice President Joe Biden.
The two senators hold the distinction of being the first and second women in the nation to serve as both governor and U.S. senator. Hassan was sworn in on Tuesday afternoon, using a bible her mother gave her when she was a child.
Hassan defeated Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte in the November election. She was previously New Hampshires 81st governor, serving since 2013.
After taking her oath of office, Hassan chatted with her new colleagues as she waited to sign the Senate registry. Her friends and family watched the proceedings from the Senate gallery, including husband Tom; her two children, Ben and Meg; mother Peggy; and two siblings.
In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Hassan said her first day on Capitol Hill was busy, but a very good day.
Its nice to get started, she said, adding that it was good to continue the tradition of celebrating the start of a new congress and honoring our constitution, which has for all these years called for a peaceful transition of power.
Hassan said she was glad to be joined by her family, friends and other New Hampshire figures who had traveled down for the ceremony.
Its always nice to have family with you when youre taking on a change, taking on challenges and thinking about the purpose you bring to the job, Hassan said.
Hassan and other new senators were welcomed by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and by Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York.
Take a moment to celebrate the rich tradition of this day, McConnell told the new senators. I hope you enjoy these ceremonies with your families and colleagues as you embark on your new Senate careers. We know the coming days are going to require hard work and cooperation from both sides.
Schumer had a similar message for his new colleagues, but took a much sharper tone when he spoke about upcoming policy fights.
The repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act is expected to be one of the first priorities of the Republican-controlled Congress, and one of the biggest showdowns between Republicans and Democrats.
Schumers message was clear: Senate Democrats are still prepared to fight for affordable health care and a fairer economy for middle- and lower-class Americans.
The Democratic minority in the Senate has a very important task ahead of it, Schumer said. Well fight for our principles, well fight for our values, and well fulfill our solemn constitutional duty to hold the other branches of government accountable.
Hassan said that while she will work to find common group and bipartisan compromise with her Republican colleagues, she reiterated Schumers call to hold President-elect Donald Trump true to his promises.
Its certainly our job to keep him accountable and stand up to him when we need to, she said.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, New Hampshires Democratic Congresswomen Annie Kuster and Carol Shea-Porter were also sworn in Tuesday.
The four women represent the nations first all-Democratic, all-female delegation.
Hassan handed over the reins of state government to Republican Senate President Chuck Morse. He is serving as governor until Gov.-elect Chris Sununu, also a Republican, is inaugurated Thursday.
(Ella Nilsen can be reached at 369-3322, enilsen@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @ella_nilsen. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.)
Republicans warn of election if First Minister doesnt stand aside
The News Letter reports that Sinn Fein, one of the two ruling parties in the Northern Ireland Executive, has warned the Province may face new elections if the First Minister doesnt step down.
Last month I set out the background to the current scandal besetting Arlene Foster, the leader of the Democratic Unionists, namely the botching of a renewable energy scheme that will cost the Ulster taxpayer more than 400 million.
Since then fresh revelations and her own conduct have made her position increasingly precarious. But the DUP are standing by her, insisting she wont step aside from her role for a single day.
Conservatives should be keeping a close eye on these developments: Fosters leadership has seen her party, with its very useful clutch of Westminster MPs, working much more closely with the Government. A new leader may take a different stance, making Theresa Mays job that much more difficult.
Scottish Labour reject call for pact with SNP as woes deepen
A proposal that Labour form an electoral pact with the Scottish Nationalists has been roundly rejected by the partys Scottish branch, according to Politics Home.
The Fabian Society floated the idea as perhaps the only way for the Opposition to take power in a report on the dire state of the party. But Scottish Labour point out, entirely rightly, that the SNP doesnt actually govern progressively.
Scottish Labour also, again probably rightly, fear such an alliance would be electoral suicide: their pro-independence supporters are long gone, and a formal pact with the separatists would only see them shed further unionist support to the Conservatives.
As we reported earlier this week, leaked internal polling showed that Labour is down to 15 per cent ahead of this years Scottish local elections against the Tories 25 per cent and have shed around half of their 2015 vote has abandoned the party, with most going to the Tories.
Welsh Conservatives condemn vast fund for NHS negligence claims
Tories have criticised the Welsh Government for paying almost 700 million into a fund intended to reimburse NHS bodies for clinical negligence and personal injury claims, Wales Online reports.
The Labour administration in Cardiff Bay says the sum is to cover several years claims, and potential costs from previous claims, but the Conservatives insist there are more cost-effective ways to mitigate against risk and are demanding an inquiry.
Angela Burns, their health spokesman, said: The Welsh Labour Government should instigate an urgent inquiry into its medical practices to ascertain why were seeing such a rise in claims against the health service, and put measures in place to prevent harm from arising in the first place.
Number of Scottish applicants failing to get a university place doubles under SNP
The advent of much broader devolution over domestic issues is making it harder for the Scottish Government to shift blame to Westminster, and the Nationalists are starting to feel the heat for poor domestic policy. Transport has been the most high-profile case recently, but this week two more cracks appeared.
Both relate to young people: in the first instance the Scotsman reports that a flagship national drive to reduce youth unemployment has suffered a blow after figures showed a rise in jobless youngsters last year. More seriously, according to the Daily Telegraph the number of Scottish applicants missing out on a university place has more than doubled over the past ten years of Nationalist rule at Holyrood.
Keeping higher education free has been a flagship SNP policy: but its only financially sustainable because the number of Scottish (and EU) students eligible for places at Scottish universities is capped.
Thus rising application numbers have simply led to fierce competition, with more and more Scots squeezed out by fee-paying overseas (and English, Welsh, and Northern Irish) students.
Plaid demand right to challenge UK legislation in court
According to Wales Online a Welsh Nationalist AM has called for the Welsh Government to be able to challenge Westminster legislation in court.
Steffan Lewis claims the current asymmetry means that there is a potential Westminster veto, which may be wielded by a dangerous UK establishment emboldened by Brexit.
He insists that the Wales Bill, which allows the Government to challenge Welsh legislation if it thinks it strays into reserved areas, may somehow allow Westminster to start legislating unilaterally over issues that fall wholly or partially within devolved policy areas.
The motivations for this move soon reveal themselves: complicating Brexit and undermining Parliaments sovereignty and authority in reserved areas like foreign policy.
Lewis says as much when he complains that: Westminster has asserted that it alone will make the final decisions on our future relations with the EU and this is a threat to policy areas where Wales has jurisdiction within current EU frameworks.
Rebecca Coulson is a freelance writer, and was Parliamentary Candidate for the City of Durham at the 2015 General Election.
Whats in a letter or two? Durers rhinos would be lonely without his monograms. Gershwins heroines dreamt of enhancing theirs by adding the initials of their crushes. And in the golden age of crime fiction Desdemonas strawberries seeming too subtle few handkerchiefs lacked the letters that could kill the alibis of their owners. That said, on facing an overconfident Cadillac salesman, the uncertainty of Evan S. Connells unlikely hero, Mr Bridge, is only settled when hes told that many of our owners prefer three initials printed on their new cars fenders: the suggestion that he should advertise himself by putting his initials on the door was so offensive that several weeks after the demonstration he bought a Chrysler.
Some girl in a bar, who was also called Rebecca, once told me about her faith in numerology. She even ran a premium-rate phone line, scamming customers into trusting in the fates awaiting them, based on the mystic numerical value of their names. I asked what Rebecca revealed, and she said I had a great future. So great, in fact, that shed changed her name to it from something else the contradiction of which still makes me smile.
But what effects do the names were given have on us? Endless studies confirm the ballot-paper expediency of being early in the alphabet. And, in The Folly of Fools, Robert Trivers, the American evolutionary biologist, discusses name-letter biases at length from a general theory professing a universal preference for the letters contained within ones own name, to suggestions about specific tendencies, such as living in places that share the first four letters of our surnames. He tells us that people with a C or a D at the beginning of either their first or last names show lower academic performance (grade-point average) than do those with As, Bs, or other letters, apparently because lower grades (Cs and Ds) are (unconsciously) less aversive to them.
What about E, however? As any crossword fan knows, that letter (or, ok, more usually her full monogram) represents the Queen. And heres why using four words de jour it seems a topical signifier:
Executive
Times have changed since the Queens ancestors synonymised this. Might it be the word of 2017? What will the coming Supreme Court Brexit judgement mean for executive power here in Britain? Will this judgement and related developments force us to define, justify, and codify its content officially, once and for all? Has this flexible uncertainty been part of our national strength? Or have changes already left that idea impotent? One to watch, for sure.
Establishment
Owen Jones is to this as the Green Party is to environmentalism: the way in which theyre seen to have conquered their topics lets their own biases propagate. The latters green policy is lacking, and what I remember of Joness The Establishment is that, for all he criticises other typical establishment groups, he avoids much mention of Oxbridge, where he went. We hate relying on experts (see below) nowadays, anyway, so I ran a little whats the establishment? vox pop, instead. Answers included the classic suspects, but with the added cynicism youd expect. This ranged from whatever group of people the person using the phrase wants to project blame on for their own perceived injustices and life failings, to anyone who has any incentive in keeping things as they are. The neatest was simply the powers that be.
Elite
This is one of those words that still fares well in the locker room, but, elsewhere, leaves us uncomfortable nowhere more than the political playing field. Reports such as the Sutton Trusts Parliamentary Privilege series claim that parliament is becoming slightly more representative than it was, yet revel in the relatively numerous MPs who went to high-end research-led universities, independent schools, and particularly Eton (10 per cent). Theres no time here to address this properly, but its unhelpful to conflate attendance at famous schools with having the academic aptitude to go to an elite university. It seems right to want to ensure that everyone has equal chances to pursue the opportunities that might take them to the top of their chosen vocation; its counter-productive to be angry that there are such goals to which to aspire.
Experts
I guess its inappropriate to look this up in my twenty-volume OED. Or is it? Surely, those claiming to hate experts dont mean experts in their totality. Of the masses extending their wrath towards dictionary compilers, presumably only a subset feels similarly about brain surgeons. And fewer again might scorn pilots (though Trivers has great reasons why we should).
The real problem is that we dont like being lectured about things we think we already know, usually based (somewhat ironically) on our own perceived depth of experience or knowledge. (Hence why its especially hard to name popular education or health secretaries.) We might be happy for Henry Marsh to clip our aneurisms, but guys like him or Prince Charles had better not weigh in on other stuff (unless they agree with us). The deeper problem, of course, is increased awareness of the disappointment awaiting those wanting easy empirical answers to complex or even empirically-unanswerable questions of politics and economics.
Any conspiracy theory stemming from Es ubiquity can aside from the excuse of a long-winded run-in to a Christmas-holiday column be easily refuted. On top of coincidence, links between thematic words that happen to begin with the same letter can often be explained through commonality of prefixes, more reasons of progeny, and other phrases including words beginning with P. And, while Trivers does seem convinced that if your name is Charles Darwin, you will tend to do slightly less well academically than everyone else around you, he debunks grander suggestions*:
For one brief shining moment, it appeared as if the name-letter effect had widespread important effects on our behaviour of which we were completely unconscious. [] People appeared to be making major life decisions based on trivial egoistic coincidences. [] Fortunately, perhaps, the entire edifice collapsed when a very careful reanalysis [] showed that every single one was due to hidden biases in procedure or logic.
Nonetheless, you havent seen the end of the powerful Es yet. Not least and this is my one prediction for 2017 election.
____
*Including the surname-residence suggestion.
CORNWALL, Ontario One Cornwall business has been selected to take part in the first Common Kindness Day next week.
An anonymous business has made Jan. 10 Common Kindness Day. Its a kind of unofficial holiday.
Independently owned shops from around the Province have been sponsored by this nameless benefactor with the goal of spreading kindness across Ontario nest Tuesday.
There have been 10 locations in total in the Province that have been chosen. The Grind in Cornwall is one of those locations.
I think its really nice, said Susan Lalonde-Martin, of The Grind. It feels great that they chose us.
The benefactor has given The Grind enough money to give out 100 coffees free of charge. The only thing asked in return, is that customers consider passing on the favour for the next person.
When someone is handed one of the free coffees at The Grind, they will have the option of paying a little bit back into the tab so that the free coffees can keep on coming.
The goal is to see how many coffees the tab can be stretched to pay for over that day.
The business behind this day of charity is unknown, but Susan Lalonde-Martin said that she felt that this effort showed real support for small businesses and communities.
I think its the type of business that they are, she said. Theyre very involved and being kind to people helps the community.
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Zebrafish may be key to early detection of childhood leukemia, one of the most common blood cancers. It suppresses the production of normal blood cells and other blood-forming organs which increase the production of immature or abnormal leukocytes.
The new research revealed that zebrafish can identify the genetic and environmental factors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The new research has been funded by Kids Without Cancer organization and a non-profit group of parents of a cancer patient from the Children's Hospital of Michigan. The Wayne State University School of Medicine has been committed to funding $356,000 for researchers.
Researchers used zebrafish as a model for childhood leukemia that can help scientists to understand the leukemia treatment resistance and may improve therapeutic strategies. The zebrafish is a vertebrate organism which has unique strengths for efficient transgenesis, transplantation and precise genome editing which led to exquisite details of leukemic initiation, progression, and the regression.
Zebrafish is the simplest way to determine the hematopoiesis which begins around the endothelial cells that cue to rise to hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). The HSCs subsequently give all hematopoietic lineages throughout the life of the fish which make the vertebrate a good model.
The leukemia modeling generated zebrafish in showing the mechanisms of the T-ALL cells and the discovering of the NOTCH1. Leukemia transplantations are the important methods for the pathophysiology of cancer. It gives scientists the idea on how the human leukemia cells lines to generate and efficacy and toxicity to other cells.
Zebrafishes are useful in contributing the research on how to determine the tumorigenesis and treatment of childhood leukemia. Nevertheless, the evolutionary distance between the zebra fishes and humans valid mammalian models which requires a further validation in the clinical development.
Despite the limitations, zebrafish genome pose has a useful role in the gene inactivation studies and antibody production due to modification of glycosylation proteins.
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A 10-month-old baby in Massachusetts nearly lost her life after being exposed to fentanyl. Doctors revived her twice after she stopped breathing as she was the latest victim of an opioid epidemic that has been blamed for hundreds of deaths in the state.
Police officers arrived at the Methuen residence in the early afternoon of December 31 after receiving a report of a child not breathing. Authorities, who responded to the house, took the baby to the hospital where she was revived twice.
She was airlifted to Tufts Medical Center in Boston, where she's now in a stable condition. Tests show the baby had the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl in her system. The Department of Children and Families has taken the baby into its custody and a probe has been initiated.
"The opioid epidemic knows no boundaries," Stephen Zanni, Methuen Mayor, said in a release as reported by CBS News. "We must continue to be vigilant in ensuring that children do not have access to harmful substances and to do everything we can to fight the disease of addiction," he added.
What Is Fentanyl?
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid analgesic that is similar to morphine. However, fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more powerful and usually used to treat patients with severe pain.
Over the past years, many countries across the globe have struggled with opioid abuse. Now, it has been dubbed as an epidemic since it's affecting many individuals across the globe. In fact, fentanyl has taken over heroin as a primary cause of fatal overdoses in 2016.
Fentanyl Killed Thousands In 2016
Fentanyl is an incredibly potent synthetic opioid usually prescribed for pain management. However, in the recent years, illegal manufacturing of fentanyl soared and as a result, there was a drastic increase in the number of drug overdose deaths, Vox reports.
In 2010, about 17,094 people died from an opioid-induced drug overdose and in 2014, the number nearly doubled to 31,271 deaths.
Fentanyl-related deaths in 2016, however, has spurred panic and worry not only among authorities but also families in the United States. Now, even Canada faces a significant increase of drug overdose deaths this year.
New York's Pix11 reports that popular music icon, Prince, was found death inside an elevator in April, with an autopsy showing he died from accidental overdose of fentanyl. In Long Island alone, at least 220 people died from fentanyl overdoses in 2016.
Moreover, British Columbia in Canada reports about 488 illicit drug overdose deaths between January and August 2016 alone. That compares to an overall 505 reported drug overdose deaths in B.C. in 2015.
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Originally reported as a pair of rusty scissors, doctors removed a surgical clamp from a Vietnamese man's stomach 18 years after his surgery.
Ma Van Nhat, 54 years old, went under the knife on December 31 at Cast-Iron and Steel Hospital in Thai Nguyen Province after specialists from Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi were asked to assist with the procedure.
Nhat complained of stomach ache and on December 27, he underwent ultrasonography (ultrasound) to determine the root cause of the pain. Doctors were surprised to see a pair of a rusty surgical clamp in the man's stomach, where he had a surgery almost two decades ago.
The 6-inch (15-centimeter) clamp, which was first reported as a pair of scissors, was lodged near his colon.
Tuoi Tre News reports that the handles of the surgical tool had become rusty and some of the organs had stuck to it.
An Accident Led To The Discovery
Nhat had not felt anything strange over the past years and said he had not visited a doctor for any problem related to the lodged clamp in his stomach. In fact, it was a blessing in disguise when he got into a road accident in December when he was brought to the hospital for a medical consultation.
It was in 1998 when he underwent an operation at Bac Kan General Hospital. He claimed that he never had any other proceudre ever since. Recently, he also felt pain in his abdominal area but only tried to treat it with medicines.
The Ministry of Health has initiated an investigation on the incident but said hospitals tend to file patient records for only 15 years. Thus, it will be hard to determine who is to blame for the bizarre medical case.
"We are trying to find out who was in the operation crew, and even if they are already retired, we will still inform them about the incident that took place during their career," Trinh Thi Luong, hospital director of Bac Kan General Hospital, said as reported by Global News.
"This is a lesson to all doctors, especially to surgeons who are working with surgical equipment, this is a valuable experience," Luong added.
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Rio Haryanto's plans to return to F1 have been dealt a hefty blow after state-owned energy company Pertamina announced it would be dropping its sponsorship.
Haryanto became the first Indonesian driver in F1 history last year when he joined Manor alongside Pascal Wehrlein but replaced by Esteban Ocon after 12 races when his sponsorship fell through.
The 23-year-old stated he will look to return to the sport in 2017 with possible options at Sauber or a comeback at Manor - who are currently in takeover talks - but his hopes have taken a hit by the loss of Pertamina as backers.
"This year there will not be a continuation of participation by Pertamina in F1," a spokesperson told Reuters. "Of course we regret this very much, but we have already made maximal efforts for Rio and Indonesia."
Haryanto will look for new sponsors to cover the reported ?4.23M funding gap which Pertamina stacked up as part of the Indonesian driver's deal with Manor in 2016.
Sauber is likely to confirm Mercedes-backed Pascal Wehrlein alongside the already-announced Marcus Ericsson having been overlooked in favour of Valtteri Bottas as Nico Rosberg's replacement at Mercedes for 2017.
Felipe Massa is believed to make a U-turn on his decision to retire from F1 and return to the Williams fold with Bottas switching to Mercedes.
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The New Sheriff in Town
Xerox will aggressively grow its business with multivendor channel partners thanks to a more affordable offering of smaller, tabletop A4 printers and an industry-leading managed print services portfolio, according to Jeff Jacobson, the Norwalk, Conn.-based company's new CEO.
Jacobson discussed exclusively with CRN what's prompting partners not working with Xerox today to reconsider, why the company is interested in attracting larger solution providers, and his experience attending a partner recruitment meeting in New York.
Jacobson started as CEO Sunday after the completion of the split of Xerox's $7 billion business process outsourcing division which was renamed Conduent from its $11 billion document technology business. Jacobson had been president of Xerox's technology business since July 2014 and started with the company in February 2012.
Read on to learn what Jacobson sees as Xerox's competitive differentiators, where the company plans to invest, and how he believes his performance should be measured.
Cruise Newfoundland and Labrador and its port members are expecting a blockbuster 2017, with around 100 calls from 29 ships and just under 100,000 passengers expected to the groups 29 ports. This is a major bump up from the previous record of 68,325 passengers in 2012.
More expedition ships are in the cards for 2017.
Other inaugural visits for 2017 include, but are not limited to, Ponants Le Soleal, the Silver Muse and the Viking Sky and Sea, in addition to the Mein Schiff 6 and Vision of the Seas.
Among the highlights is Red Bay at Gros Morne National Park, and this past summer, guests aboard the Silver Explorer had a unique experience learning about the Basques who occupied the region 50 years after Columbus made his voyage to the so-called new world.
Cruise lines can turn the dial back further at LAnse aux Meadows and the nearby port of St. Anthony, where excursions show off the early days of Leif Erickson and the Vikings assault on North America.
There is also Port Aux Basques, which features a railway heritage museum that captures history, trails and excursions in the area, and promotes Newfoundland culture, according to a local representative.
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Star Cruises today announced a three-month homeporting plan for the SuperStar Virgo in Kaohsiung, where the ship will offer a six-day/five-night Golden Triangle program. Calls and interport turnaround opportunities for passengers include not only Kaohsiung, but also Hong Kong and Manila.
This new homeport and itinerary will provide a boost to the travel industry of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Star said in a prepared statement.
The ship had previously homeported in Kaohsiung in both 2013 and 2015, and will return this March.
Meanwhile, also in Taiwan, the SuperStar Aquarius will continue to homeport in Keelung, sailing to Naha, Ishigaki and Miyakojima in Okinawa,
After two years and with the support of Taiwanese passengers, we are pleased to return to Kaohsiung with a brand-new Golden Triangle Journey, a unique experience pioneered by Star Cruises that showcases Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Manila and Laoag in one cruise journey for the first time, said Ang Moo Lim, president of Star Cruises.
Wayne Liu, deputy director of the Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taiwan, added: Collaboration between cruise destinations and cruise lines is crucial to the development of the cruise travel industry. The 2017 triple homeport deployment of Star Cruises in Taiwan, the Philippines and Hong Kong reflects the mutual objective shared between Star Cruises and Asia Cruise Cooperation (ACC) to expand the cruise travel market and create a mutually beneficial business environment. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications stands in full support, ready to welcome new travellers to Taiwan. We also encourage our travel industry partners to expand the horizon with more shore excursions to attract more travellers to enjoy Asia by cruise.
Ken Muskat has been named the new CEO at SkySea Cruise Line, which Royal Caribbean Cruises called a "growing cruise line" focused on the emerging Chinese cruise market, in a prepared statement.
SkySea is a joint venture between Royal Caribbean and Ctrip, China's largest online travel agency.
Muskat is expected to help SkySea accelerate its campaign to become the top choice for Chinese cruise guests seeking new vacation experiences in a familiar East-meets-West style, said Royal Caribbean, in a statement.
"Ken Muskat is known for his ability to generate consumer excitement and revenue generation, which are key elements in building a new cruise line and setting the stage for long-term growth," said Min Fan, vice chairman of Ctrip.com and executive chairman of SkySea.
Muskat will join a leadership team that also includes Hernan Zini, COO.
"There is no challenge I like better than creating a winning business proposition in a competitive market," Muskat said. "I appreciate the confidence shown in me by the owners of SkySea, and I look forward to using my experience to help this exciting new brand grow to be a leader."
Muskat comes to SkySea from MSC Cruises, where he was involved in the commercial efforts in driving MSC's expansion in the competitive US market. He also had a long career at Royal Caribbean Cruises before joining MSC.
"I look forward to bringing to bear everything I've learned in my career and helping SkySea become a standout performer," Muskat said. "There is an important role for a Chinese-centered brand like this in this large and growing market."
Muskat assumes the role beginning mid-January.
Happy New Year to all our readers. Im not a lawyer but I play one on TV. But seriously!
This is an article I have been meaning to write ever since we performed an IT audit for a large law firm a year or so ago. The firm was responding to the HIPAA law that requires all third-party vendors working with healthcare organizations to have a Risk Assessment. This further proves my point that most businesses wont do much in the area of cyber security or compliance, not even an IT risk assessment unless required by law.
Its hard to believe that even at this stage with countless breaches over the past few years Target, Sony, Anthem, OPM, Yahoo and so on. Its no longer a matter of if you will be breached, but rather a matter of when or have you already been breached and you just dont know it. Every person, SMB or large corporation that has an internet connection is vulnerable. So every connected device on the internet must meet minimum compliance standards and thats just the tip of the iceberg.
Its no longer acceptable to just be backward looking legalistic IT compliant, organizations must design in security privacy architectures and have plans in place to proactively detect and respond to incidents.
So all connected enterprises have about the same risk just by being connected to the internet, but more specifically each sector is at one time or another more targeted. Like healthcare is more targeted than retailers now because credit cards dont pay out that much anymore, but stealing ones complete identity and medical insurance is.
Lets look at some specifics about the legal sector: ALM Legal Intelligence has reported the following facts on the legal sector.
Nearly 10% of firms have not performed a formal information security and privacy assessment.
Approximately one-third of firms do not hold cyber liability insurance policies.
More than 55% of firms have either already established a cybersecurity practice or have plans to form one.
A whopping 98% of law firm respondents to the ALM intelligence law firm survey believe that the legal industry is increasingly a target for attacks.
22% of law firms dont have a data breach plan in place
Only 50% of law firms have a cybersecurity team in place
87% state they train users on basic security practices yet only 47% conduct drills
Most view cybersecurity as an IT issue vs the reality, Its a business issue
71% of law firms have performed a formal information, privacy and security assessment
70% of law firms have purchased cyber liability insurance.
Additionally Daniel Solove, professor at George Washington University Law School and organizer of the privacy + Security forum, said On a scale of 1 to 10, the risks law firms are facing are an 11.
Well that is the background evidence based on a trusted survey but whats been happening lately?
First we have the Panama Papers: The New York Times April 4, 2016. The Panama Papers have exposed how some of the worlds most powerful people may have used offshore bank accounts and shell companies to conceal their wealth or avoid taxes. The papers millions of leaked confidential documents from the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama identify international politicians, business leaders and celebrities involved in webs of suspicious financial transactions. The revelations have raised questions about secrecy and corruption in the global financial system.
On a scale of 1 to 10, the risks law firms are facing are an 11.
Daniel Solove, professor at George Washington University Law School
Consider this recent law firm hacking headline! SC Magazine reported the following on Dec. 28, 2016 "Chinese hackers of NY law firm charged": After hacking their way into the networks of seven law firms and siphoning out data that was used in making $4 million profit in trades, three Chinese men were hit with charges and one was arrested.
Somehow law firms have escaped being subject to the same legal compliance mandates that many other businesses must adhere to. The American Bar Association has certainly visited this issue and stated the following in 2013. Many firms are now asking, What do we do to keep our systems and data safe? How can we keep this from happening to us? There is a simple answer to this question: Hire a chief information security officer, give him or her a budget to hire the staff needed to build and maintain an enterprise security program (ESP), and exercise appropriate governance over the firms digital assets.
But do law firms have a security standard like FISMA, PCI DSS, HIPAA or SOX? Not really one specific compliance mandate for law firms. If they handle credit cards it's PCI DSS, if they handle HIPAA, then HIPAA third party kicks in. Its a disconnected disjointed, patchwork of laws written by? Legal professionals. Add privacy laws to the mix. Forty-seven states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands have all enacted statutes requiring companies to provide notification if a breach of personal information occurs.
We live in a world where our national security is threatened by cyberterrorists, and where private enterprise is forced to respond to cyber theft of intellectual property on a daily basis. The ABA Cybersecurity Legal Task Force is examining risks posed by criminals, terrorists and nations that seek to steal personal and financial information, disrupt critical infrastructure and wage cyberwar. When our national security and economy are threatened, lawyers will not stand on the sidelines," said Laurel Bellows, 2012-2013 President of the American Bar Association.
All law firms that dont have a cybersecurity program in place should hire someone to do an IT risk assessment. The assessment should consider the types of data, and consider data security and data privacy as it relates to credit cards, intellectual property, government data, HIPAA and so on. Every type of data has different data security and data privacy laws to adhere to, and it will remain that way until we get better at blanket programs. Add on PCI DSS etc and then we are stuck with a confusing and siloed approach. All businesses could adopt the NIST cyber security framework, it works well with any business as it looks at technology, data and the risk associated with using it.
Once the risk assessment is complete, the consultant will be able to customize a program to fit the needs of the organization. The blue print for the NIST implementation will look something like this:
Identify Develop the organizational understanding to manage cybersecurity risk to systems, assets, data, and capabilities.
Protect Develop and implement the appropriate safeguards to ensure delivery of critical infrastructure services.
Detect Develop and implement the appropriate activities to identify the occurrence of a cybersecurity event.
Respond Develop and implement the appropriate activities to take action regarding a detected cybersecurity event.
Add the appropriate people, policies and technology to the NIST framework and you are on your way. Law firms need to put an information security program in place which includes hiring a CISO, security analyst, security manager and IT security experts or they need to outsource this to a consulting firm. Either way ignoring the problem wont make it go away and only increases risk and the resulting lost reputation and credibility, all of which is priceless to a trusted law firm!
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HARTFORD Gov. Dannel P. Malloy offered a financial-recovery roadmap to the new General Assembly on Wednesday, calling for massive spending reductions, union givebacks and a total revamp of the municipal aid and school-funding formulas.
Republicans, with a deadlock in the Senate and a near tie in the House, embraced the call and said they feel a new sense of inclusion following Malloys cost-cutting pitch. But those changes, which Malloy will detail next month with his budget proposal, could threaten the flow of state cash to affluent towns, while investing more in the poorer towns and cities.
So it simply would not be fair for us to talk about continued state agency reductions, or talk about the need for labor concessions, without talking about new ways to provide town aid, Malloy said in a half-hour state-of-the-state speech.
He said that while the current $5.1-billion in local aid is the largest single expense in the state budget, it has to be redirected to support cities and school districts that need it most.
Stratford Mayor John Harkins, a former House Republican who attended the speech in a jammed House chamber, said the states projected $1.5-billion deficit meant funding was bound to change.
The state has no money, Harkins said after Malloys speech kicked off the 22-week budget-setting session. It hasnt had it for years. Weve been fortunate to get the amount of aid weve had in the past, but the Legislature has some tough decisions that are right for the state.
Education funding reform is crucial for the states large and mid-size cities, as are union concessions for future pension reforms, Senate Majority Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said.
All those things are extremely important for us, Duff said as the House chamber emptied. Its an important signal to the business community to reduce that debt and to continue to deal with the state budget.
Full GOP participation
House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby said that with recent gains in both chambers, comes the responsibility to cooperatively craft a new budget.
There has been a huge disparity in Connecticut between the cities and the suburbs, she told reporters. I certainly dont have a magic wand. I think were all open minded to see where its going to go.
Malloys speech has finally opened the door for full GOP participation after 20 years as a minority, Republican Senate Leader Len Fasano said
This is the first time Gov. Malloy has said all issues are on the table, Fasano said. Were talking about a clean slate, with no sacred cows.
The Senate is tied at 17 Democrats and 17 Republicans, pending two upcoming special elections, while House Democrats cling to a 78-72 edge, pending one special election to fill the seat of Rep. Stephen Dargan, D-West Haven, who on the eve of the session accepted a post on the state Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Feeling their new muscle, following Malloys speech, House Republicans proposed a rule change that would have drastically rewritten the way public-employee contracts are approved. It failed in a partisan 76-72 vote, underscoring the Houses tight margin. Earlier, the Senate approved a rule that contracts could be introduced for votes in that chamber. Currently, contracts merely have to stay on the legislative calendars for 30 days and they automatically go into effect, without a vote.
Across the divide
During an otherwise friendly and ceremonious opening day, a glaring split between Democrats and Republicans occurred toward the end of Malloys speech, when he pointed out the states welcoming reputation.
Regardless of whether your family settled in Connecticut 300 years ago or three days ago, you are welcome here, Malloy said.
Two Democratic lawmakers, Sen. Beth Bye of West Hartford and Sen. Mae Flexer, of Killingly, both stood up in applause, followed by the entire Democratic side of the House chamber in the loudest ovation of the address. Republicans sat on their hands.
kdixon@ctpost.com;
WESTPORT The National Audubon Society places Great Meadows Marsh in eastern Fairfield County among the best birding sites in the country labeling it a globally important bird area. Only 12 miles to the west along the gold coast in Westport there is another great place for birds - and people, at 12 Hedley Farms Road.
This address is located on a parcel of land only about a block from Long Island Sound and walking distance to Southport Beach in neighboring Fairfield. The property itself has an off white-colored stucco contemporary house that sits along Ardel Pond, which attracts incredible birds - particularly in the summer season. The surrounding property is conservation land protected under the auspices of Connecticut Audubon Society, the oldest, continuously operating conservation organization in Connecticut.
Although Long Island Sound is close it is not in view from the 11-room house, although the pond can be seen from almost every room. Tall walls of glass in many of the rooms allow for pond and bird views while visually inviting the outdoors inside. While most birders have to travel to enjoy their bird-watching hobby the residents of this house can do it from the comfort of their living room sofa or the patios or balconies throughout the house. At any given moment they can find blue herons and egrets standing majestically in the sun or on the hunt for fish in the pond.
As one might imagine the number of windows and their size also invite inside a great deal of natural light, which is ideal for artists as the current owner is.
More Information ABOUT THIS HOUSE STYLE: Contemporary ADDRESS: 12 Hedley Farms Road PRICE: $2,495,000 ROOMS: 11 FEATURES: pond, pond views, located at the end of a cul-de-sac, walk to Southport Beach, located on a private road, Gunite heated in-ground swimming pool, 2.01-acre level and partially fenced property, bluestone patio, balconies, decks, proximity to Greens Farms Metro North train stations, only minutes to shopping in Westport and Fairfield, front and rear staircases, skylights, two fireplaces, loft, steam sauna, two-car attached garage, four bedrooms, four full and one half baths SCHOOLS: Greens Farms Elementary, Bedford Middle, Staples High School ASSESSMENT: $1,377,300 MILL RATE: 16.86 mills TAXES: $23,221 See More Collapse
The two-acre property is at the end of a cul-de-sac on a private road in the Greens Farms neighborhood so it feels quite secluded despite its proximity to stores, restaurants and the Greens Farms and Southport train stations in both Westport and Fairfield.
The 4,664-square-foot house boasts a dramatic two and a half story foyer. The floor plan is open for todays lifestyle. Off the foyer are two separate wings of the house. One contains a half bath, a circular staircase to the second floor, laundry room, and access to the two-car attached garage. The other side contains the two-story living room, kitchen, dining room, and sitting room.
Step down into the living room, which has a fireplace, wall-to-wall carpeting, and two walls of tall windows topped with another set of wide square windows on the second floor level. The den or sitting room next to it has a shelf for books, displays of art work or media equipment. It also has sliding doors to a concrete patio. From there step down to another patio where there is a Gunite heated in-ground swimming pool. The upper patio just off the den has a cabana room with a full bath and plenty of room for storage of pool equipment.
The dining room has a bleached hardwood floor and sliding doors to a wood deck. The kitchen features include a white ceramic tile floor, Corian counters, a large center island with a Gaggenau cook top, and double stainless sinks. Floating cabinets separate the prep part of the kitchen from a breakfast room, which has a rounded wall of glass cubes and an L-shaped banquette. A dry bar sits between the den and breakfast room.
There is also a first floor master bedroom suite with wall-to-wall carpeting, floor-to-ceiling windows, tons of closets, and a dressing area. The cavernous master bath has coral-colored marble floors, shower stall, steam sauna, and a rounded alcove of rectangular glass cubes that houses a sunken soaking tub. A skylight above the tub floods this area with natural light.
On the second floor there are two loft areas. The first is a large room that could be a family or media room. It has a vaulted ceiling, fireplace, a wall of built-in bookshelves and a sliding door to a private wood deck/balcony. The second loft area looks down into the living room. It also has a long wall of built-in bookshelves that the family calls their library. This level also has three bedrooms and a large art studio with two skylights, two built-in desk areas, counter space, and shelving. In this area and throughout the house there are lots of nooks and crannies and lots of storage closets and spaces.
Two of the bedrooms share a Jack and Jill-style bath and both have sliding doors to a shared balcony looking over the pond.
For more information or to make an appointment to see the house contact Merrily Eisnitz of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services New England Properties at 203-912-7312 or meisnitz@bhhsne.com.
To start the new year, lets highlight the news from a couple busy chamber committees in this weeks column.
The Legislative Committee of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce will hit the ground running in 2017.
The committee will continue its tradition of hosting receptions for the Platte County Board of Supervisors and the Columbus City Council. These informal events are a thank you for the service of these elected leaders. The committee will visit the city council on Jan. 16 at 5:30 p.m. and the county board on Jan. 24 at 8:30 a.m. All chamber members are welcome to attend both events.
The Legislative Committee also hosts the annual Legislative Kick-off Breakfast with State Sen. Paul Schumacher on Jan. 16 at 7 a.m. at the chamber office. These events give us insight into the hot news from this years legislative session. We will also have the chance to share our legislative priorities with Sen. Schumacher, and that includes the opportunity for members to share their individual concerns.
All chamber members are welcome to attend this event. A breakfast is served for $5. RSVPs to the chamber office are appreciated. You can register at 402-564-2769, chamber@megavision.com or online at www.thecolumbuspage.com/events.
Meanwhile, the BIE Committee continues its work in overseeing the Drive for Five, still the only comprehensive talent initiative in the state.
The most recent project of the Drive for Five was College Week for the Columbus Public Schools.
College is an important part of getting the job and income you want, but no college is a one-size-fits-all institution. That is what fourth- and fifth-grade students at West Park, North Park and Emerson elementary schools learned during their College Week experience. Finding the right fit includes considering price, location, degree or certificate desired, class size, how soon you want to begin working, how much money you hope to earn, and many other important considerations.
Activities during college week included a kickoff pep rally, classroom activities throughout the week to help with developing a college and career plan, a college campus tour, visits with college recruiters, Q&A with current and past college students, and a graduation ceremony declaring the students officially college-bound. Judging by the attendance at graduation, the students had great support from parents and grand-parents during this activity.
Students at Lakeview Community Schools will get their turn to experience College Week in January.
The chamber thanks those who helped make College Week a success. Those partners include the Columbus Public Schools Foundation, Columbus United Federal Credit Union, Easy Screen Printing, Central Community College, Raider Rex, the Columbus business community, Nebraska colleges and universities, Columbus High School drum line and the Nebraska Extension 4-H Youth Development Program.
College Week is one of the projects of the Drive for Fives School-Business Partnership. The partnership brings together Columbus Public Schools and Lakeview Community Schools with the local business community to provide awesome opportunities for our students.
The Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce is proud of the partnerships we enjoy with all local educational institutions, public and private. Im very confident in saying these connections are enhancing learning for local students while at the same time building that future talent pipeline. It doesnt get much better than that.
On the first day of the new Congress, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry turned an eye to the possibilities of tax and health care reform along with an infrastructure program that offers the potential for bipartisan cooperation.
But Fortenberry also has an eye cast on a special concern of his, the dangerous spread of nuclear weapons and increasingly loose talk about nuclear arms that should also be "a grievous concern not just for Americans, but for humanity."
Fortenberry, who is entering his seventh term as Nebraska's 1st District congressman, is co-founder of the Congressional Nuclear Security Caucus.
His deep concern about nuclear weapons has been heightened by evidence that "the danger is going up significantly."
"The consequences of a nuclear weapons explosion are so grave that you can't get your arms around it," he said. "This is a race between collaboration and catastrophe.
"It remains one of my priorities."
Fortenberry said he agreed with the decision by House Republicans on Tuesday to walk back earlier action in the GOP caucus to weaken an ethics office that had been created to serve as an independent congressional watchdog.
While he voted in support of the original action by the caucus on Monday, he said, he had mixed feelings about it and believes any action should be considered in a bipartisan way.
While arguing that "people deserve the highest ethical behavior" by members of Congress, Fortenberry said he has concerns about the manner in which the watchdog body is structured now.
As Congress begins the new year, Republicans control both the House and the Senate and later this month will also have the White House in their hands.
"Movement to change the nature of the current health care law will be the first thing," Fortenberry said, but a vote to repeal Obamacare will only mark "a movement to change the nature of the current health care law" with full replacement lying years ahead.
"We can't leave anybody out and behind," he said.
"We're not going back to excluding people with pre-existing conditions. We're looking at a vision of what could be: access to affordable, quality, major medical insurance for everyone."
A major infrastructure program, heralded by President-elect Donald Trump, "could be a good win for Republicans and Democrats," Fortenberry said, with the potential to achieve "a politically good economic impact" for the nation.
Tax reform can create a more fair and robust economic system, he said, but "whether short-term, bipartisan agreement is possible is a harder question."
Fortenberry said he proposed an amendment during the meeting of the Republican caucus that stated a House-Senate conference committee could not change a legislative provision that already had been agreed to by both the House and Senate, but withdrew it when it encountered leadership opposition.
"This is the last vestige in an inappropriate concentration of power," the congressman said. "It was my shot to change the institution" in a manner that empowers members, he said.
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.
WAVERLY Tractor Supply Co. is planning a big expansion to its distribution center in Waverly.
The Waverly City Council last month approved plans for a large addition to the company's distribution center along U.S. 6 as well as a new retail store directly north of the distribution center.
Tractor Supply declined to provide details on the plans, saying in a statement that it is "continuing to conduct due diligence on the project and is still in the initial planning stages."
Tom Huston, a Lincoln attorney who represented Tractor Supply at the Waverly City Council meeting, said the company is planning to add anywhere from 170,000 to 200,000 square feet to its 420,000-square-foot distribution center, which is one of the company's smallest.
The retail store would be about 30,000 square feet and be similar to the company's store on North 27th Street near the Interstate 80 exit in Lincoln. It would be built along U.S. 6.
The two projects combined would cost about $16 million, and the distribution center expansion will create 70 new jobs. Huston said the center currently employs about 200 people.
He said the company wants to start construction on the warehouse expansion this spring and have it completed before the end of the year. The retail store would be built after that.
Waverly has approved the use of about $1.8 million in tax-increment funding for the project. TIF is a funding incentive that allows the additional property taxes created by the increased value of the property to pay for aspects of the project that benefit the public.
When Tractor Supply opened the center in December 2005, it supplied around 60 stores, with the company projecting it eventually would serve 140 stores.
A company official told the Waverly City Council that the center now supplies 180 stores, and the expansion would allow it to supply about 50 more.
Tractor Supply currently has about 1,600 stores, including two in Lincoln and a dozen overall in Nebraska, and plans to grow to 2,500.
WHITECLAY -- Consider the consequences of this simple math: Seven cans of beer are purchased every minute of every hour of every day in Whiteclay.
Perched on the northern edge of Sheridan County, the unincorporated town of a dozen residents is home to four beer stores that collectively sold the equivalent of 3.5 million cans of beer in 2015 almost all of it to Native Americans from the Pine Ridge Reservation, which hugs the state border on the South Dakota side.
The Whiteclay beer store owners, brewers, beer distributors, bootleggers, the state of Nebraska and the federal government all profit from beer sold in the town.
But each pop of a tab comes with costs that far exceed the money made from the simple sales transaction. They include:
costs to law enforcement handling violence and drunkenness in the town and on the reservation,
costs to health care providers treating alcohol-related injuries and illnesses, including an epidemic of babies born with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders,
costs to county, state and federal governments caring for unemployed alcoholics and their dependents, and
costs to natives of the Pine Ridge Reservation in lost lives and broken families.
No one not the federal government, not the states of Nebraska or South Dakota, not local or national news organizations has tallied up all of the costs. But months of research into data from tribal, county, state and federal sources make it evident the total is in the tens of millions of dollars annually.
While the costs may be murky, one thing is crystal clear: Who picks up the tab.
It all comes from taxpayers, said Matt Walz, a founding member of the South Dakota Alcohol Policy Alliance. No matter which way you slice it.
But those are just the costs in dollars and cents. For the Lakota of the legally dry Pine Ridge Reservation, the bill is paid in pain and suffering.
Its in every single one of our families, said 40-year-old Olowan Martinez, a longtime Whiteclay activist and Pine Ridge resident. No matter how educated, no matter how nice our homes and how good we live. We could be some of the haves, of have-nots, and still be affected by it.
* * *
At the end of a long day in October, Sheridan County Sheriff Terry Robbins points his new white Ford F150 north toward Whiteclay. At just a tick under the speed limit, the 22-mile journey up Nebraska 87 from Rushville takes about 25 minutes. He wears a standard-issue brown shirt and sandy-colored pants accessorized with a big silver belt buckle. His cream-colored cowboy hat rests on the dash.
Robbins says he usually travels to Whiteclay a couple of times each week the town accounts for about 5 percent of his departments calls and he spends no more than a few hours there total. Most of the problems go unattended, Robbins says, because no one is monitoring the town 24/7.
Just before Robbins arrives at Whiteclays short, dusty main street, he turns onto a gravel road. There, in a grassy ditch under the shade of a tree, sit two Lakota men. One hides his beer behind his back; the other pulls down an open can of Camo Black Ice from his mouth.
Is that open? the sheriff asks.
Ill spill it out, the man replies. He tips the can upside down, and watches as 24 ounces of high-octane malt liquor splash onto the gravel road.
Its easy to get drunk on a few bucks in Whiteclay, where beer is cheaper than water. Most of the Lakota drink big cans of high gravity malt liquors, such as Hurricane and Camo Black Ice. For about $1.50, each 24-ounce can delivers the equivalent of a six pack of beer or four shots of whiskey.
Thats about 38 cents a shot.
Of that $1.50, about a quarter is taken out for taxes. The state of Nebraska receives 7 cents in sales tax and 6 cents in excise tax, which is paid on products such as alcohol and gasoline. The federal government receives 11 cents. That leaves $1.26 for the brewers, distributors and the four Whiteclay beer store owners. The breakdown of who gets what isnt publicly available. But $2,142,000 what you get when you collect $1.26 for each of the 1.7 million 24-ounce cans sold in 2015 is a lot of money to divvy up.
Asked to discuss the situation in Whiteclay, three of the beer store owners declined to comment on the record. The fourth owner could not be reached.
As for the taxes, the federal government received $192,221 in 2015 and the state of Nebraska $102,739. All of the states money goes into the general fund.
South Dakota, where nearly all Whiteclay beer is consumed, doesnt see a penny in tax receipts. Instead, every can consumed by South Dakota residents costs their state $1.59, according to a 2015 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Based on a standard-size alcoholic drink, like a shot of whiskey or a 12-ounce beer, the CDC number takes into account all costs attributable to excessive drinking, including those in the health care, law enforcement and criminal justice systems as well as the cost of reduced workplace productivity.
But $1.59 is an average cost to South Dakota for each alcoholic beverage consumed in the state. Whiteclay alcohol is likely to carry an even higher price tag; at 24 ounces, cans of Hurricane and Camo Black Ice are twice the size of a standard beer and four times the alcohol content.
Back in Whiteclay, Robbins pulls up next to a man lying on the ground, just yards away from the highway. The sheriff steps out of the truck, walks over and helps him sit up.
Get up, Robbins says.
I will, the man replies as he sits up and slouches against a fence, his eyelids stuck in a drunken droop.
Are you drunk, or are you just chillin?
The man mumbles something inaudible.
What have you been drinking? Beer? the sheriff asks.
Just Kool-Aid.
The sheriff makes sure the man stays sitting up before driving away. Theres not a lot he can do to help.
Taking a drunk home is rarely an option the reservation is about the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined. Plus, theres not an easily accessible detox. From Whiteclay, the nearest one is 37 miles away in Gordon. The reservation does have an eight-bed detox but theres a year-long wait.
The sheriffs realistic options are to take a Whiteclay drunk to the county jail in Rushville or to the Pine Ridge Hospital just a few miles down the road.
But the hospital has no detox unit or the money to pay for one. Still, it often bears the brunt of the cost of dealing with the problems related to Whiteclay alcohol. Robbins said he takes street people to the hospital at least once each week. In 2015, the hospital handled 152 ambulance calls to the tiny town. With the nearest Nebraska hospital in Gordon, the Pine Ridge ambulance is often the sole responder to a Whiteclay call.
As for the jail, Robbins said he doesnt like to burden the Sheridan County taxpayers with the cost of detaining Whiteclay street people.
County Commissioner James Krotz has said a third of the Sheridan County budget goes to Whiteclay. When asked further to explain that number, he said it was roughly attributed to an 8-year-old study on the county jail, which found a third of the people detained in Rushville had Pine Ridge addresses.
At an Oct. 11 hearing at the Nebraska State Capitol, Sheridan County Commissioner Jack Andersen succinctly summarized the countys Whiteclay problem: We really need help with law enforcement.
But Paul Thibeault, a lawyer at Legal Aid of Nebraska, said his research has found Sheridan County actually has minimal involvement in Whiteclay.
The truth is that they ignore Whiteclay, and they minimize their expenses to Whiteclay, he said. Without any compensation, without any agreement, they transfer the burden to the reservation.
Four hundred yards north of Whiteclay is the reservations law enforcement counterpart to Sheridan County. The Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety is on the frontline of Whiteclay troubles.
Interim Police Chief Mark Mesteth says Whiteclay, a town just barely out of his departments jurisdiction, is responsible for 80 percent of his calls.
That makes Mesteth a busy man.
In October, the only place he could meet to talk about Whiteclay was a reservation jail in the small town of Kyle, South Dakota, where he was meeting federal investigators to discuss a drug-related killing outside a reservation youth complex. He only had 10 minutes for an interview that had been scheduled to take place six hours earlier and 34 miles away.
Appointed interim chief in July, Mesteth inherited an understaffed and overworked department. As of October, he had only 26 officers to police a population of 32,152 spread over 3,469 square miles. By comparison, Rapid City, South Dakota, just north of Pine Ridge, has a force of 125 officers and a population of 70,812. Thats one officer for every 566 people.
On the reservation, its one officer for every 1,237 people.
Mesteth said his department struggles to keep up with the Whiteclay problems. Hed like more officers. In fact, he has the money to hire another 18. Applications are scarce, however, and the department has a high turnover rate because its a burnout job.
He said there needs to be a solution to the deluge of Whiteclay-related calls, such as shutting down the towns beer stores or legalizing alcohol on the reservation.
We could be cops instead of chasing drunks, he said.
* * *
The frontline of Whiteclay first responders stretches along U.S. 18 from the reservations police headquarters to the Pine Ridge Hospital 3 miles away.
Rainey Enjady, CEO of the hospital, echoed Mesteths assessment. Alcohol, she said, is a huge expense one the hospital cant afford. Like Mesteth, Enjady is an interim appointment, arriving from New Mexico at the beginning of September. She directs the reservations only hospital and its $51.8 million annual budget.
In 2015, just $4 million of that budget was supplied by payments from private insurance. The rest came from the government: $502,000 from Veterans Affairs, $22 million from Medicaid, $5.1 million from Medicare and an estimated $20 million from Indian Health Services, also a federally funded organization. That means only about 8 percent of the budget is privately funded.
While its easy to say where the money comes from, its difficult to pin down how the hospital spends it. Enjady was uncertain about alcohol-related expenses. She said the hospital tracks the number of alcohol-related illnesses, but she couldnt find it. Lack of numbers notwithstanding, Enjady said the cost of alcohol is a big one.
Alcohol-related items that we see are very expensive and contribute to a lot of our deficit, she said.
Other high-ups on the reservation also couldnt quantify the impact. According to Cleve Her Many Horses, superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Pine Ridge, no one tracks alcohol consumption or alcoholism on the reservation.
Alcohol plays a role in a variety of diseases. Well known are cirrhosis of the liver and eight types of cancer, including liver and breast cancers. Assigning a specific cost to the role of alcohol in some diseases can be problematic. But theres one disease in which alcohols cost can be clearly assigned: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD).
FASD is not widely known to the general public, but it has occurred at epidemic proportions on the Pine Ridge Reservation. At one point, The New York Times reported, as many as one in four babies on the reservation was born with FASD.
Drinking alcohol while pregnant causes FASD. Its effects vary according to when during the pregnancy the alcohol was consumed and how much was consumed. Mild effects can be as simple as learning disabilities, such as having difficulty focusing. More severe effects include abnormal organ development most lethally of the heart seizures, brain damage and relatively low IQs. In the most severe cases, the fetus doesnt survive.
FASD carries a high price. The disorder costs the federal government about $4 billion annually, according to the CDC, and caring for a child with FASD costs $2 million over a lifetime.
Thats the average, though.
In a double-wide trailer 40 miles west of Rapid City, Nora and Randy Boesem raise and care for nine adopted children. Each has some form of FASD. By age 3, their daughter, Arianna, had required surgeries, medications and hospitalizations costing more than $3 million. To meet the familys needs, Nora said, the local pharmacy had to hire someone specifically to fill their medications. The Boesems couldnt begin to afford these astronomical health care costs. So, the state of South Dakota, through its Medicaid program, picks up the tab.
Frank LaMere, a member of the Winnebago Tribe and long-time campaigner for change in Whiteclay, said alcohol sold there is a tragedy because of what it does to babies and future generations.
We continue to export the misery of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome north to Pine Ridge, he said, while sending revenue and tax dollars south to Nebraska.
The carnage, he said, must be stopped.
* * *
Sitting at a small table in Big Bats, the gas station and convenience store hub of reservation activity in the town of Pine Ridge, Bryan Brewer says, Hi, to all the regulars walking by. The current school board president and former tribal president, Brewer is well-known on the reservation.
Nursing his coffee, he recounts the first time he watched TV. It was in a bar in Whiteclay. He and other kids sat at the bar, watching the Ed Sullivan Show on a tiny screen, while their parents drank.
Brewer knows the cost of alcohol to his people far exceeds dollars-and-cents accounting. Hes heard the news of a teenage girl dying from cirrhosis of the liver and a 6-year-old boy attempting suicide. And hes paid the price himself.
Brewer picked up his parents drinking habit as a teenager. Then he went to Vietnam, and his drinking worsened.
When he returned from the war, he and other vets spent much of their time in Whiteclay.
We were the abusers, he says today. We were in Whiteclay in the bars fighting each other, abusing women, our wives.
But he realized he had to change. So, he started attending Black Hills State University and quit drinking. He taught high schoolers on the reservation for 30 years, became tribal president and now sits as the head of the Oglala Lakota County School Board.
The reservation, he says, needs a lot of healing.
The biggest cost is to our children and the adults that were losing because of alcoholism.
But for Brewer alcoholism is a symptom of the bigger problem on the reservation generational poverty. Brewer remembers an 18-year-old who walked into his office when he was tribal president and asked for a job. The teenager said he didnt know how to get one. His parents never had a job; his grandparents never had a job. But he wanted his life to be different.
Fifty-five percent of Pine Ridge residents are unemployed, according to 2015 census data and the 2013 American Indian Population and Labor Force Report. The reservation has a few thriving businesses, like the Prairie Wind Casino & Hotel and Big Bats. Otherwise, reservation businesses are few and far between.
Theres not even a place to buy a coat.
As board president, Brewer says hes seen too many kids walk into school without winter coats. And too many parents, he says, spend what little money they have on alcohol. So, each year, Brewer budgets money to buy coats for the kids.
On the reservation, coatless children too often end up as tragic victims of suicide and drunk-driving accidents. Adults dont fare much better. Most people on the reservation do not live to retirement age. According to hospital data, the life expectancy for men on the Pine Ridge Reservation is 47 the lowest in the world. For women, it is 55 the seventh lowest in the world.
It is not an exaggeration, Frank LaMere said, to say tens of thousands have died in Pine Ridge because of alcohol attributed to Whiteclay.
Over the years, Brewer has tried to work with the state of Nebraska to resolve the problems the village of 12 has caused his people. He remembers one such attempt in particular.
While tribal president, Brewer had arranged a meeting with then-Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman. He walked into the governors office, hoping to get a minute to talk about Whiteclay. The meeting was short.
The governor told me that, Whiteclay is your problem; its not mine. Meeting ended. It was not good, Brewer recalls. I never went back.
As for the meeting, Brewer and Heineman agreed on one thing it was short. The former governor had a different take. Heineman said he told Brewer, that as tribal president, he should educate his people on alcohol and alcoholism.
I felt like that was a responsibility for him as a leader to help educate Native Americans about that. And he just didnt want to talk about that, said Heineman, who received $47,500 in campaign contributions from 2005 to 2012 from Anheuser-Busch Companies LLC one of the brewers of Whiteclay malt liquor.
So, after all these years and all these efforts, what would Brewer do about Whiteclay? He says closing the beer stores wouldnt resolve all of the problems the town has caused the reservation. And it isnt the only answer to pulling Pine Ridge out of poverty.
But shutting down that evil place, he says, would be a good start.
We dont go sell meth in Nebraska or anything that would hurt your people, Brewer says. Why would you do it to us?
Recovering from a heavy cold the Queen has been trying homeopathic cures, sampling her own blends of potions and lotions. Even an injured corgi has received the Queens personal treatment.
While accepting advice from her conventional doctors HM has been indulging in the fad she has passed on to her son Prince Charles after inheriting it from her late mother and long-time patron of the British Homeopathic Association.
Prince Philip, struck down on the same day, prefers more traditional medicine and has made a much quicker recovery despite being five years older than the Queen.
Recovering from a heavy cold the Queen has reportedly been trying homeopathic cures
When Sir Cliff Richard fulfils his pledge to reunite with original band The Shadows he wont be boasting about his canoodling with Carol Costa, wife of bassist Jet Harris who died in 2011 aged 71.
I pretty much knew something was going on between him and my wife, Jet said in 2008.
But I went on stage every night there and stood behind the man... I just kept schtum. Ooooh Cliff, whod have thought it!
Delightfully dotty Speakers wife Sally Bercow is hoping to reinvent herself as a novelist
Delightfully dotty Speakers wife Sally Bercow is hoping to reinvent herself as a novelist.
Sally, 47 obliged to maintain a low profile after a series of embarrassments including swapping life-styles with an Irish gipsy and an affair with husband John Bercows cousin in 2015 is currently hawking a political thriller about the London publishing houses.
One says: Writing fiction doesnt appear to be among Sallys strengths. Surely the real-life antics of Saucy Sally, pictured on Celebrity Big Brother, put any fictional effort in the shade!
Former Lib Dem MP and ex-Cheeky Girl consort Lembit Opik, 51, was surprisingly chosen to be guest of honour at a UKIP New Years Eve bash in Sunderland. Having seemingly burned bridges with his old party, could 2017 see UKIP boasting a new high-profile recruit? Surely no one could suggest Lembit and the partys new comedic-looking leader Paul Nuttall, 40, are lookalikes.
Presenter Emma Forbes, 51, was photographed in Barbados looking better in a swimsuit than women half her age
Presenter Emma Forbes, 51, photographed in Barbados looking better in a swimsuit than women half her age, should credit her gorgeous mother Nanette Newman, now 82 and wife of her dad, Bryan Forbes.
One of Nanettes admirers was Peter Sellers, who told his pal Forbes he was besotted with his spouse and intended to make a new life with her. When Forbes calmly enquired: What does Nanette think? Sellers innocently replied: She doesnt know. I thought Id tell you first.
Already struggling to stick to those ambitiously worthy New Year resolutions?
Here's six surprising and realistic sex resolutions to take the pressure off and revitalise your sex life - all backed up by research.
And surprisingly, setting a sex schedule and sticking to it instead of waiting until you feel 'in the mood' could be the key to boosting your love life.
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Tracey Cox gives her tips on improving your sex life in the new year and she recommends planning sex sessions with your partner
Have less spontaneous sex
Yes, you read it correctly! Instead of waiting to feel magically turned on enough to rip each other's clothes off (easy at the start, not so realistic a few years in), plan sex sessions.
A UK study found married couples who had at least one date night per month were less likely to break up.
And US sex therapist Ian Kerner is backed by many prominent sexologists who believes planned sex means better sex.
'You have to stop saying "we'll definitely do it tomorrow, but let's just cuddle as a symbol of our undying affection for each other tonight" and start scheduling sex on your calendar. It's the only way you'll ever get back into doing it regularly,' says Kerner.
She also says that there is no need to worry about getting old in your relationship as sex can improve with age
Yes it goes against all you ever thought about sex - that it should happen spontaneously - but how far has that got you, really?
Think of it like this: if you wanted a dinner party to be extra special, would you plan ahead or just see what's in the fridge on the night?
You'd plan it, of course. Beans-on-toast style sex is fine but it's not going to thrill you if that's all you're having day in, day out, week in, week out, year in...
Once a week is enough
A significant 2016 study found couples who had sex more than once a week were no happier than couples who did it weekly.
Once a week appears to be the magic number for long-term sexual happiness with new evidence (from a university in Qatar) suggesting too much sex can actually make you miserable, leading to a decrease in desire and enjoyment.
Five minutes is fine
An Australian study that looked at how long penetrative sex actually lasts with most heterosexual couples came up with this answer: 5.4 minutes.
The results ranged from 33 seconds to 44 minutes but that was the average time for intercourse, across couples of all ages and stages.
Sex sessions don't have to last a long time to qualify as good, satisfying sex.
Don't worry about getting old
A Canadian study found older adults (40 plus) are having more sex and better sex than they had when younger.
Older couples are getting more creative and adventurous with more than half surveyed saying they are more up to trying new things now than they were a decade earlier.
Have an orgasm any way you fancy
We're moving away from research that firmly implied there is only one way for women to orgasm through direct stimulation of the tip of the clitoris (the part you can see).
Tracey says that it is important to remember that sex lives take hard work and effort
Researchers (in Montreal) found orgasm can actually be caused by stimulation of several hot zones in the body: the external clitoral gland (as above), the internal clitoral bulbs (concentrated around the G-spot), the cervix and non-genital areas like the nipples.
The age-old argument of 'clitoral versus vaginal' orgasm appears irrelevant since women seem capable of having orgasms by stimulation of everything from their lips and nipples to ears and neck.
Everyone else ISN'T having fantastic, effortless sex ten years in
A study of 1900 people (in Canada) found those in long-term relationships who were the most satisfied with their sex lives were those that accepted it takes hard work and effort.
The least satisfied?
People who thought if their partner was 'truly right' for them, good sex would automatically happen.
Have to say, I was personally particularly pleased with this result.
When I wrote my first book in 1998 (Hot Sex: How to Do it), I had more than a few people tell me sex books weren't necessary: we were somehow born great lovers and all you needed was the right partner.
Don't me wrong, the right partner helps enormously!
But you need to keep trying new things, honing new skills and continually seeking inspiration to keep it all ticking along nicely long-term.
It's the 1843 Danish fairy tale which is applicable to so many people.
A homely little bird - the ugly duckling - transforms almost overnight into a preternaturally beautiful swan.
Here, FEMAIL takes a look at some of the most incredulous before and after transformations shared on the Internet.
It's hard to even tell that they're the same people.
Resonating: Pictures shared on the Internet show incredible before and after transformations of people from ugly ducklings to swans (pictured)
Viral: Many of the snaps shared online have gone viral on social media and forums like Reddit (pictured left, before, and right, after)
One transformation captures a man at age 17 in university and then again at age 25.
In the first photograph, his hair is longer, he's wearing glasses and appears to be carrying a bit more weight.
In the second photo, however, the man stares nonchalantly at the camera, his evident muscles visible through his T-shirt.
Another before and after captures a woman's movement from goofy to glamorous.
Many of the photos have been widely shared on the Internet.
Same person? One transformation shared online captures a man at age 17 in university and then again at age 25 (pictured)
Not alone: It's not only normal people who have admitted to suffering from Ugly Duckling Syndrome (pictured: Victoria Beckham as a child)
Insecure: The former Spice Girl famously wrote an emotional letter to her 'plump' teenage self last year, telling her not to worry about her looks (pictured now)
It's not just normal people who have struggled with Ugly Duckling Syndrome (UDS), either.
Countless celebrities have admitted they felt as though they had to grow into their looks, too.
Famously, Victoria Beckham wrote an emotional letter to her 'plump' teenage self last year, telling her not to worry about her looks.
These days, the former Spice Girl is now one of the most glamorous, envied women in the world.
Origins: The Ugly Duckling was originally written in Denmark in 1843 as a fairy tale (pictured Kate Hudson as a child and now)
Story: In the original fairy tale, a homely little bird - the ugly duckling - transforms almost overnight into a preternaturally beautiful swan (pictured: one woman's before and after)
Spot the difference: With some of the pictures on Reddit (pictured) people no longer look like the same person
Fellow friends: Others who have suffered from UDS include January Jones (pictured), and Nicole Scherzinger, who described herself as a 'geek in high school'
Others who have suffered from UDS include Nicole Scherzinger, who described herself as a 'geek in high school', January Jones and Kate Hudson.
Meanwhile, there are ongoing Reddit threads and social media groups dedicated to the subject and our endless fascination with it.
Turns out you weren't the only one after all.
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.
One spent 27 years living on a desert island encountering cannibals and pirates along the way, while the other spent three hours on a beach before falling ill and being attended to by a private doctor.
They may have a similar first name but the parallels between Daniel Defoe's 17th century castaway Robinson Crusoe and ITV star Robson Green pretty much end there, it seems.
Robson Crusoe: A Surprising Adventure, aired last night and was billed as an hour-long programme dedicated to seeing how Green, 52, would survive stranded on a faraway isle, inspired by his favourite book.
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Robson Green heads for his Phillipines island idyll in last night's Robson Crusoe: A Surprising Adventure...but viewers weren't entirely convinced the ITV star was roughing it
Taking inspiration from Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe, Green attempted to survive as a castaway, albeit with one that had a tent, cooking equipment and a personal doctor at his disposal
He's having a laugh! Viewers ribbed the star on Twitter for his lavish approach to island life
However, viewers tuning in to the show quickly took to Twitter to mercilessly mock the 'pampered' star for having expert medical attention at his disposal alongside a host of other luxury survival items.
Wearing sun-glasses, a white shirt and chinos, Robson looked for all the world like he could have been heading to a celebrity party.
He was actually bound for a small island in the Philippines and was supposed to be roughing it - but took a guitar, snorkel and even a mirror with him as well as a boat, a saucepan and water purification tablets.
@Crazylegsuk thought the star had lucked in: 'Hat off Robson Green, he's blagged a well equipped camping holiday in the south Pacific from a TV company.'
@CruisingTheCut quipped: 'He's probably got a chainsaw stashed somewhere for that coconut tree. Or he'll find there's an island branch of Waitrose.'
Sick as a parrot: Green vomits on camera just eleven minutes into the show before retreating into the bush to be sick again
It's fine though, because a medic is waiting in the wings to attend to Green's illness
Not a bad gig: the verdant Philippines island where Robson is stranded
What would Defoe's fictional hero do? Green took his favourite boyhood book along with him for inspiration
Ian Moore was miffed at the luxuries: 'He's been given tools, a boat, filtration tablets and a chicken. Hardly an authentic experience #RobsonCrusoe.'
The show saw the actor, who shot to fame in Soldier, Soldier in the 90s, retreat to a luxury hotel to be rehydrated after suffering with a dodgy tummy.
When he returned, he was seen filtering water - with his water filtering tablets, trying to catch a fish and finally sleeping in a tent when attempts to bed down under the stars are scuppered by a faltering mosquito net.
@matt_stanny agreed, saying: 'Robson Green surviving armed only with a boat, knife, water purifying tabs, finishing line and hooks, rope, a chicken and a doctor.'
@danielrmilligan resorted to sarcasm: 'A programme about Robson Green on a desert island...except he gets ill and has to leave after 3 hours. Superb TV.'
@DavidtheFixer quipped: 'He's hardly Bear Grylls #robinsoncrusoe'
Others suggested the show might have been devised purely on the grounds that Green shares a similar name to Defoe's protagonist.
You might have watched it a hundred times, but the moment Captain Mainwaring foolishly utters: 'Don't tell him, Pike' in a 1973 episode of Dad's Army, is still hard to resist.
The nugget of television gold has been voted the best one-liner in a British comedy by 100 comedians, closely followed by rib-ticklers from Fawlty Towers, Hancock's Half Hour and Father Ted.
Comics including Alexei Sayle, Ricky Tomlinson and David Baddiel offered their expertise on television's funniest moments and, perhaps unsurprisingly, most of the winners feature in the telly shows of yesteryear.
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Gold: 'Don't tell him, Pike' Captain Manwairing (Arthur Lowe) famously shot himself in the foot while being grilled by a German U-boat commander in a 1973 episode of Dad's Army - revealing Private Pike's identity all by himself
Captain Mainwaring's (Arthur Lowe) famous line, unleashed when a German U-boat captain demands to know Private Pike's name, topped the list but was closely followed by other well-known gems.
There's the line from Blackadder, when Lord Flashheart (Rik Mayall) conjures up yet another cunning plan. He quips: 'I've got a plan and it's as hot as my pants.'
Elsewhere, time has been kind to Tony Hancock's funny about donating blood. When told he needs to give a pint, he ripostes: 'A pint? Why that's very nearly an armful!'
Radio show Hancock's Half Hour was a huge hit in the fifties...and the jokes still stand up. Hancock's blood donation gag was deemed the second funniest joke by comics today
'I know noth-ing!' A winning horse comes in...but Manuel (Andrew Sachs) hasn't put a bet on for his red-faced boss Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) - and there's hell to pay
A friend, a boss and an entertainer: David Brent's misguided self-belief (Ricky Gervais) in The Office is still a rib-tickler
And who could forget the recently departed Andrew Sachs - aka Spanish waiter Manuel in Fawlty Towers - who played a blinder when under pressure from his cantankerous boss for not placing a bet on a winning horse.
'I know noth-ing', he said, coining a phrase that's since fallen into common language.
Critic Bruce Dessau, who helped compile the list to celebrate television channel Gold's 25th anniversary said: 'Many of these characters, lines and sitcoms are brilliant examples of the very best in British TV comedy.'
'You were expecting a bloke: beard, Bible and bad breath. Instead you've got a babe with a bob cut and a magnificent bosom' The Rev Geraldine Granger makes herself known after arriving in the new parish of Dibley in the hit BBC series The Vicar of Dibley
When it came to picking the funniest show, Fawlty Towers, created by John Cleese, was deemed the pick of the last 100 years, with Im Alan Partridge and Blackadder also celebrated.
When it came to scenes, the moment Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan) came face-to-face with an adoring superfan was voted the best sketch.
The comedians also voted on their favourite characters, with Alan Partridge beating The Office's David Brent (Ricky Gervais) and Only Fools and Horses' Del Boy (David Jason) to the top spot.
Comics were polled to the celebrate the launch of We Have Been Watching on Gold, which starts on Wednesday 4th January at 8pm.
LAUGH TIL YOU CRY: THE TOP TEN BRITISH COMEDY ONE-LINERS
DAD'S ARMY: 'Don't tell him Pike!' Captain Mainwaring to Private Pike, after he's been asked to tell a U-boat commander his name HANCOCK'S HALF HOUR: 'A pint? Why that's very nearly an armful!' Tony Hancock in the hit BBC series, decides a pint might be a little too much FATHER TED: 'These [toy cows] are small. But those [real cows] out there are far away. [Points to toy cow] Small . . . [points to real cow] far away.' A patient Father Ted tackles the idea of perspective with Father Dougal Seventies classic Fawlty Towers was named the best comedy programme by the 100 comedians queried FAWLTY TOWERS: 'I know noth-ing' Manuel (Andrew Sachs) , Basil Fawlty's beleaguered Spanish waiter clams up when asked if he's placed a bet on a winning horse for his boss I'M ALAN PARTRIDGE: 'Monkey Tennis?' Alan Partridge spectacularly runs out of ideas as he pitches to a BBC commissioning editor ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS: 'One more facelift on this one, and she'll have a beard.' Patsy (Joanna Lumley) offers her verdict on the changing looks of celebrities Satire: Patsy's (Joanna Lumley) astute observation about famous faces - 'One more facelift on this one, and she'll have a beard' - was declared a winner THE OFFICE: 'I suppose I've created an atmosphere where I'm a friend first, and a boss second. Probably an entertainer third.' David Brent is the perfect boss, no? I'M ALAN PARTRIDGE: 'They're only the band the Beatles could have been.' Mr Partridge pokes fun at Paul McCartney's less successful group Rowan Atkinson's historical comedy Blackadder won plaudits for a plan that was as hot as Lord Flashherat's pants BLACKADDER: 'I've got a plan, and it's as hot as my pants.' Lord Flashheart comes up with another stellar idea THE VICAR OF DIBLEY: 'You were expecting a bloke: beard, Bible and bad breath. Instead you've got a babe with a bob cut and a magnificent bosom.' The Rev Geraldine Granger makes herself known after arriving in the new parish of Dibley. Advertisement
Aldi has announced that it is trialling seatbelts in its shopping trolleys.
The news comes after a mother set up an online petition, demanding Aldi change the design of their trolley child seats.
Claire O'Callaghan launched the campaign after she claimed her nine month-old son fell out of an Aldi trolley and hit his head on the floor in December.
She was shopping in the Ashby, Leicestershire branch of the store with her son Emmet in the trolley seat when he 'launched' himself out and landed head first on the hard floor.
Claire O'Callaghan, pictured outside the Aldi store in Ashby-de-la-Zouch was left outraged that her young son Emmet, was able to climb out of the supermarket trolley on a recent shopping trip. Aldi has since announced that it is trialling seatbelts in its shopping trolleys
It happened while Claire looked away for a moment and she said it was only thanks to his soft hood - which cushioned his fall - that he was not injured.
Soon after she got a call from the Aldi area manager telling her that the supermarket chain was now trialling trolley seatbelts in certain stores in Essex.
Aldi's trolleys have come under fire after two people claim instances of babies falling from their seats. Jodie Shawcross from Ashton-Under-Lyne, Manchester, created an online petition for Aldi to put straps on their trolleys after her toddler stood up in one.
Claire, 38, who is a hairdresser, said: 'Quite a lot has happened since the story first appeared.
The youngster, pictured, fell to the ground after clambering out of the trolley
'While I was out the area manager came around to my house with lots of toys for Emmet because of what happened. I was never after anything like that so I'm donating them to the Sure Start centre here.
'I called the area manager back and he said he thought what had happened was awful. He rang me back a few days ago and told me they were rolling out belts throughout the Chelmsford area in January.
'He said he would get back to me in February about whether they're going to have them in all their stores. If this leads to positive steps then that's really good. 'I'm not looking for compensation or anything - I just want change. 'I'm not going to let Emmet go in an Aldi trolley until they have the belts.'
An Aldi spokeswoman confirmed yesterday that the belts were being trialled this month in a number of stores to see how well they were received.
Speaking to MailOnline, a spokesperson for Aldi said: 'We are currently trialling child seat straps on our trolleys at a small number of stores.
'The results of this trial will be evaluated and a decision on whether to introduce this feature to all our trolleys will be made in due course.'
Ms O'Callaghan complained Aldi's trolleys do not have a lap strap to restrain the passenger
A mother who is raising Britain's tallest sisters believes they are growing at such a rate that she can see the change from one day to the next.
Donna Lisle, 33, from Stockwell, South London, is mother to 11-year-old Liana who is 5ft 8ins and three-year-old Chyna who is already 3ft 9ins.
Both girls, who are around a foot taller than the average child of the same age, tower over their peers and Liana in particular is constantly being mistaken for a much older teenager.
Her mum worries that she will be taken advantage of because of her looks - as she has even been asked out by men who assume she's older, leaving her feeling confused and upset.
Donna Lisle, 33, from Stockwell, south London, is a mother to 11-year-old Liana (above right) who is 5ft8 and three-year-old Chyna (above left) who is 3ft9.
For that reason, Donna says she started sex education with Liana, who has already started puberty, at nine years old.
Liana, 11, hit headlines in 2011 as she was dubbed Britain's tallest six-year-old and is still growing - even wearing size seven women's shoes.
She was born weighing 7lbs 4 and a regular height, but her mother tells how she quickly shot up in height.
She now has to wear size six women's clothes but even they are not long enough for her legs.
Liana, (above right), 11, hit headlines in 2011 as she was dubbed Britain's tallest six-year-old and is still growing - even wearing size seven women's shoes.
Liana (above right with sister Chyna) was born weighing 7lbs4 and a regular height, but her mother tells how she quickly shot up in height
Liana (above) now has to wear size six women's clothes but even they are not long enough for her legs
Now, Liana has a little sister, Chyna, aged three, who also shares her tall genes - and is nearly a foot taller than the average child her age.
Mother Donna, who is 5ft 10 herself, says she is constantly surprised by her growing brood - and puts it down to her side of the family.
HEIGHT CHART 11-year-old Liana: 5ft 8ins Average 11-year-old: 4ft 7ins Three-year-old Chyna: 3ft 9ins Average three-year-old: 3ft Advertisement
She says: 'My two girls have different fathers, so it has to come from my side of the family.
'My family does have very tall genes - my dad is 6ft 7ins, for example.'
'Both my girls are very beautiful and they've both got modelling careers ahead of them.'
Donna says growing Liana is always hungry according to her mum, who says she has cereal and toast for breakfast, a school dinner at lunch, a sandwich when she gets home and then dinner, often followed by another snack.
Liana has a little sister, Chyna, (above) aged three, who also shares her tall genes - and is nearly a foot taller than the average child her age
Mother Donna, who is 5ft10 herself, says she is constantly surprised by her growing brood - and puts it down to her side of the family
Meanwhile, Chyna, who is nearly a foot taller than her peers, doesn't know her own strength according to Donna.
She says: 'She's a lot bigger than other kids her age. She's also a lot stronger, but she's clumsy. I think she accidentally hurts children sometimes because she doesn't know her own strength.'
Donna says that it's tough for both the girls at school because they look so different to their peers.
She says: 'It's hard for both of the girls at school. They're both outgoing girls but because they are so big they attract a lot of attention.'
Donna says growing Liana (above right) is always hungry according to her mum, who says she has cereal and toast for breakfast, a school dinner at lunch, a sandwich when she gets home and then dinner, often followed by another snack
Strangers mistake the sisters as being much older - Liana has been told she passes for a 16-year-old and Chyna (above) for a six-year-old
Liana was investigated for Marfan Syndrome, a condition which affects the tissue in the body making people abnormally tall, but doctors found no evidence she had the condition.
She is due to start high school next year, and mum says that she hopes that there she will fit in more.
Donna said: 'Liana towers over her peers at school, and in that way she stands out a lot.
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has donned an elegant plum gown to attend Wednesday night's New Year's Reception at Christiansborg Palace.
It is the second time the Australian-born princess has dressed herself in the vibrant plum colour in the past week alone.
Princess Mary, 44, appears to be taking advantage of her enviable wardrobe by re-wearing the very same plum coat she wore to usher in the new year at a royal event on January 1.
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark stuns in a head-to-toe plum gown for New Year's Reception
She was wearing in the same coat at Queen Margarethe II of Denmark's 76 birthday on Sunday.
Alongside her husband Crown Prince Frederik, 48, Mary graced the royal Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on Wednesday evening.
Embracing the theme, Mary is also seen carrying a red-coloured clutch matching perfectly against her floor-sweeping dress and coat ensemble.
Mary, who originally hails from Tasmania, also paired her outfit with a blue sash, which added an additional pop of colour to the outfit.
Embracing the theme, Mary is also seen carrying a plum-coloured clutch matching perfectly against her dress and coat
Mary appears to be taking advantage of her enviable wardrobe and re-wearing the very same plum coat she wore to usher in the new year at a royal event on January 1 (right)
Mary is pictured alongside her husband Crown Prince Frederik, who was also impeccably dressed in his Danish military garb
Despite it only being the first week of 2017, Princess Mary and Prince Frederik have been extremely busy with formal events
Her husband was also pictured impeccably dressed in his Danish military garb.
Despite it only being the first week of 2017, Princess Mary and Prince Frederik have been extremely busy with formal events.
Just the previous night, the pair also attended an event at Christiansborg Palace for the New Year's Diplomatic Reception - an annual event held in honour of the members of the diplomatic corps.
On January 1, they were also tied up with royal duties, attending the annual New Year royal banquet at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen.
On Tuesday night the pair also attended an event at Christiansborg Palace for the New Year's Diplomatic Reception
When my wife Kate touches the side of her jaw, its because it aches. If she stands in a certain way, her sciatica is playing up. These days I notice these tiny inferences that shes feeling under par.
I listen when she talks, making eye contact, whereas once I would have hidden behind my newspaper grunting intermittently, feigning interest.
Today, I can say that our marriage is robust and joyful: full of laughter, occasional healthy bouts of contention, and above all, love. And the reason is that Im in tune with Kate. Ive learned to put her first; to think about her and what she needs. Thats hard to do all the time, but Im getting better at it.
When my wife Kate touches the side of her jaw, its because it aches. If she stands in a certain way, her sciatica is playing up, writes Harry Benson (File photo)
Ive learned from my own bitter experience that a marriage can unravel when a husband ceases to care enough about his wife. In fact, most marriages dont end with rows, adultery or even incompatibility, but with an aimless drift into separation.
Growing apart has now officially overtaken infidelity as the main cause of family breakdown in Britain, and the tragedy is that it is often utterly avoidable.
Relationships that could be salvaged that are just going through normal, unhappy phases are needlessly in jeopardy as couples sleepwalk into divorce. Weve reached crisis point. Nearly half of teenagers sitting their GCSEs this year are not living with both natural parents.
Yet there is hope. It may sound counterintuitive, but the evidence is that staying together in an unhappy marriage and Im not for one second talking about the tiny minority of awful or abusive ones could be the best thing a couple ever do.
This seems an astonishing proposition until we recognise that unhappiness is often a transient state.
Bad situations improve. Children grow up and become easier to manage. People change their attitudes.
Intent is the over-riding factor: if we want to stick together for better, for worse, in sickness and in health then we will.
Ive spent the past 20 years teaching thousands of couples how to have a happy marriage and am now research director for Marriage Foundation.
And my formula for fixing things is a simple one: Happy wife, happy life is a maxim that is backed by research and has saved my own marriage.
First-hand experience and a survey of almost 300 mothers my wife Kate and I carried out for our latest book, What Mums Want (And Dads Need to Know), corroborates this. Half the mothers we questioned who were now happy with their relationship had at some point in the past been unhappy. One-quarter had been very unhappy.
And the mums we surveyed told us that friendship, being interested in me and interested in the children, and being kind are the key qualities they seek in their spouse.
Surprisingly, at the bottom of the list come fixing things, earning a decent wage and being adventurous, strong and sexy.
Whats more, when Mum is happy, the rest of the family tend to be happy. This is much less true for dads. It is a simple truth that I have now acknowledged.
When I take responsibility for our marriage, and put Kate first in my pecking order of priorities, the rest will follow.
I learned this through first-hand experience when our relationship reached a crisis point. It happened eight years into our marriage when Kate told me she was profoundly unhappy.
I learned this through first-hand experience when our relationship reached a crisis point. Pictured, Harry Benson
You know I love you, Harry, she said. But since weve had the children, Ive found it harder and harder to talk to you. We have a comfortable life and youre wonderful with the children when it suits you. But you dont seem at all interested in me. We dont seem to be friends any more. I feel lonely and unimportant. Im not sure how long I can go on like this.
The white flash that shot through my head like a thunderbolt temporarily blinded me with a mixture of panic and terror. Was my marriage over? I never saw it coming.
Looking back, I cant believe I could have been so oblivious to the fact that we were so perilously close to collapsing. Wed rarely rowed. We had two young daughters we both adored and my job as a stockbroker in Hong Kong gave us a comfortable lifestyle. My immediate fear was that Id lose my children. Losing Kate would mean losing them. The thought shocked me to the core.
Everyone accepts that good marriages can go bad. But it was never going to happen to us, was it? Yet insidiously wed grown apart and, without knowing it, were drifting toward a break-up.
Fortunately for us both, Kate didnt leave me. As a result of the decision I made to put her first, to be her friend and take notice of her, we not only stayed together, but after 30 years of marriage Im now 56 and Kate is 52 I can honestly say that today were both happier than weve ever been.
Had I known then what I know now, we would never have got into the mess we did. Kate was a natural mum so it was easy for me to take a back seat at home.
I now know that my prime role is to take responsibility for my marriage, to love Kate, to be her friend, to be kind. When I do that, our marriage stays strong, we parent well as a team, and family life works well.
Thats what mums want. Thats what dads need to know. After Kates ultimatum 22 years ago, we went, reluctantly on my part I admit, on a marriage course.
On every level since, our lives have undergone a sea change. We moved back to Britain in 1997, went on to have four more children our brood of six comprises Rosie, 25, Polly, 23, Gracie, 19, Sizzle (Cicely), 17, Charlie, 15, and 13-year-old Johnnie.
I learned to stop taking Kate for granted. I started to show her affection, to say, I love you; to notice the new dress she was wearing and to ask how she was feeling. I learnt to be kind to her and this meant sometimes not doing the things I wanted to do.
And this week, the first in January after the New Year holidays, when lawyers are inundated with couples seeking divorces, Id advise all of them to pause before they take an irrevocable step.
In conjunction with Professor Stephen McKay of the University of Lincoln, we analysed data from a large national survey of mothers. Most of the mums who were unhappy with their relationship when their babies were born now said they were happy.
More amazingly, half of the mums who had been unhappiest now rated themselves very happy with their partners a decade later.
The biggest worry is the tendency for couples who are reasonably happy to drift into separation.
In a study I did for Marriage Foundation, this time with Professor Spencer James of Brigham Young University, Utah, we found that two out of three couples who separated had reported one year earlier that they were happy.
Like Kate, most women want friendship more than anything from their husbands. Thats it. Its not about being a doormat. I learned to really love Kate and she loved me back. Thats what mums want. And thats what dads need to know. Its a disarmingly simple formula, but it is the key to a happy and enduring marriage.
Sitting in the hospital consultancy room with her husband Ken by her side, Wendy Benton felt vulnerable and anxious. For months she had suffered crippling pains which had left the devoted couple unable to make love.
Yes, it was embarrassing, but Wendy forced herself to put her shyness aside. Her gynaecologist was a professional, after all, she told herself. This was her third visit to Rod Irvine since he had performed surgery a year earlier to separate an ovary from the lining of her stomach. Surely something could be done? As Ken pointed out, Wendy was beginning to feel fobbed off.
But rather than reassure his patient, what happened next shocked the couple. Irvine accused Ken of questioning his integrity, angrily banged his fists against his desk and ordered us both to follow him to his examination room next door, recalls Wendy.
Wendy Benton, 68, first met gynaecologist Rod Irvine at Queen Marys Hospital in Sidcup in October 2010
There Wendy, 68, says she was ordered to take off her underwear, and subjected to what she describes as a humiliating sexual assault. Although no intimate examination is ever comfortable, under no circumstances could what Wendy says Irvine did to her that day be described as the conduct of a professional.
He made a crude reference to Ken about the size of his genitalia, commenting that unless he was over three inches, he wouldnt have a problem, remembers Wendy.
Aside from his inappropriate comments there was no screen to protect my modesty. Irvine wasnt even wearing gloves. I felt violated. Four years on and Wendy still suffers flashbacks. I havent been able to have sex since. Nor will I do so ever again. Every time I think about it I remember what happened. I start shaking and feel sick.
The impact on my marriage has been huge. Ken and I have come close to breaking up and are only still together because we sleep in separate rooms.
Wendy is one of up to 100 former patients of Irvine who worked as a gynaecologist for the NHS across a string of South London hospitals, as well as in private practice taking legal action for medical negligence and inappropriate behaviour.
At least one other allegation involves similarly crass innuendo. Others claim Irvine operated on the wrong part of their body, that he punctured vital organs during surgery and delayed cancer diagnoses through incompetent treatment.
Irvine has been linked to the deaths of at least three former patients, accused of practising without medical insurance and is being investigated by police over allegations of sexual assault, although no charges have been brought.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: Detectives are investigating two sexual assault allegations and one assault allegation. The offences are said to have been committed at Queen Marys Hospital, Sidcup, between 2009 and 2012.
Wendy is one of up to 100 former patients of Irvine taking legal action for medical negligence and inappropriate behaviour
A 58-year-old man was questioned under caution in October 2016 regarding these allegations. No arrests have been made. Enquiries continue.
But although concerns about his behaviour were first raised in November 2012, leading to the NHS suspending him and launching an investigation, it seems the General Medical Council (GMC) has been slow to act on the mounting evidence. Despite being suspended during an NHS review, he was allowed to return to work in March 2015
Last month, however, Irvine was finally held to account. A hearing by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in Manchester instructed by the GMC found Irvine had practised without medical insurance.
He was found to have behaved unacceptably professionally the fact he put a 68-year-old woman with heart disease on HRT and lacked the understanding of how to carry out basic life support were cited as examples.
He advised surgery on a 43-year-old with cerebral palsy without considering other options; performed a hysterectomy without justification that led to the patient suffering an incisional hernia (a type of hernia caused by an incompletely healed surgical wound) and on a number of occasions carried out unnecessary internal examinations.
He was found to have failed to ensure safety and quality; to have relied on junior doctors to contact him by phone despite dealing with high-risk patients, and to have constantly omitted dates and signatures from his surgical notes.
Described as showing persistent and calculated dishonesty he was struck off the medical register; his once illustrious career in tatters.
Some of the more sordid allegations as to Irvines inappropriate sexual remarks he is alleged to have told one patient she would not need Viagra after he treated her, and another that he could make her feel like a teenager again were heard at the tribunal but not proven.
A patients allegations of conduct tantamount to sexual assault were also not proven. More such as Wendys were not heard by the tribunal. Instead they are the subject of ongoing civil claims.
What he did to me amounts to sexual assault. Im glad hes been struck off but he should be imprisoned, says Wendy. Taking action against him has nothing to do with money. Its to make people realise what a horrible man he is.
Margaret Tooke, 81, was referred to Irvine in September 2011 for minor keyhole surgery to remove an ovarian cyst
An articulate, quietly spoken woman, Wendy first met Irvine at Queen Marys Hospital in Sidcup in October 2010. She had been referred by her GP after complaining of stomach aches, and after an MRI scan Irvine told Wendy that her ovary was stuck to her bowel and stomach lining, and would require surgery.
He bragged about how busy he was but I felt reassured something was being done, says Wendy, a retired counsellor from London, who has been with Ken, 69, a retired plumbing contractor, for 26 years and married for 14.
Sadly, the operation in March 2011 seemed to make her stomach aches worse. I saw Irvine twice in the following months but he said his job was finished, and I couldnt expect any more from him. I felt fobbed off.
Painkillers didnt help. The post-operative care was non-existent. I had to quit work and Ken and I couldnt make love because it hurt too much.
Wendy made her third visit to Irvine, at Erith Hospital (the outpatient service of Queen Marys) in Kent, in May 2012. It was then he performed his examination which Wendy believes was nothing but a power trip on the part of the gynaecologist.
I was too shocked to consider refusing to do as he said. Ken asked afterwards if I could believe what just happened. I shook my head, cried and threw up when I got home.
Shortly afterwards, Wendy reported Irvines behaviour to her GP during a consultation, who referred her to a different gynaecologist at Queen Marys Hospital. Yet unknown to her, an NHS investigation into Irvine was already underway, after concerns were raised during an audit of his operations the previous November.
In July 2013, Wendy was one of 2,000 of Irvines former patients who received a letter from South London Healthcare NHS Trust, telling her they were conducting a review of women he treated between August 2010 and 2012.
I was overcome with relief, says Wendy. After reporting what happened to the NHS they asked if she wanted to report him to the police. I said yes but after initially making contact the police said they couldnt do anything because of the ongoing investigation, says Wendy.
He was finally questioned under caution a few months ago but wasnt arrested. The police now say they want to interview Ken. I was incredibly frustrated by their lack of action.
But for Wendy, who has had 20 sessions with a psychiatrist to try to deal with her trauma, the damage has already been done: I cant even let Ken cuddle me. He has been supportive but understandably feels isolated.
In October 2014, in an attempt to avoid lengthy court cases, the NHS Litigation Authority and the handful of legal firms handling the patients claims agreed to jointly instruct an independent gynaecologist to review their medical notes.
Astonishingly, in Wendys case which has still not been settled it was revealed that she hadnt needed surgery in the first place. I feel angry and completely confused, says Wendy, whose stomach aches have since subsided. Ill never get over what happened but the fact he cant hurt others the way he hurt me is at least some relief.
Former patients of Irvine, a bachelor, of Caterham, Surrey, paint a portrait of a flamboyant man with delusions of infallibility who switched effortlessly from charmer to bully in seconds.
He often blamed patients when treatments went wrong, says Dr Bob Gill, who helped set up a support group for them.
Margaret Tooke, 81, was referred to Irvine in September 2011 for minor keyhole surgery to remove an ovarian cyst. She says: He talked incessantly about his secretary and how annoyed he was shed gone on holiday, and that he hoped it rained where she was. It was unprofessional.
I asked if he chattered away like this while operating. He said: You wouldnt know. Youll be asleep. I was nervous at the prospect of him operating on me.
With good reason. When Margaret, a retired mortgage consultant, came round from the operation at Queen Marys that October she discovered a scar stitched up from the left to the right side of her stomach.
Irvine said hed been unable to find my ovaries with keyhole surgery, so had to cut across my stomach to remove them, she says. He said he had pierced my bladder in the process but told me not to worry. He wasnt apologetic.
Margaret, who has been married to John, 85, a retired carpenter, for 60 years, was discharged after three days. But a week later she was re-admitted to hospital with severe diarrhoea and nausea.
Over the following days she drifted in and out of consciousness and her body started to swell alarmingly. My face got so big I couldnt open my eyes. Doctors told my family to prepare to lose me. All I could think was that I couldnt die and leave John behind.
An investigation revealed that Margarets bowel had been punctured as well as her bladder, causing infection and a potentially fatal condition called peritonitis.
It took months for the swelling to completely subside, and she had to wear a colostomy bag for a year until her bowel had healed. Meanwhile, Margaret, too, received a letter from the NHS to tell her Irvine was being investigated.
But, she says: I was told that as my treatment had been successful I had nothing to worry about.
Furious, thats when I decided to take legal action. It wasnt about the money. He just shouldnt be allowed to get away with this.
Margarets case was settled in July. Her solicitor Emma Wray, from Hodge Jones & Allen, who is also handling a second case lodged by a former patient of Irvines, says: The NHS admitted liability for a three-day delay in diagnosis of a perforated bowel and the fact that she developed peritonitis.
The Trust solicitors apologised for the admitted failings. My clients have suffered significant physical and psychological damage as a result of what happened to them.
Certainly, Margaret, previously outgoing with a zest for life, says: Im a different woman now. I dont like going out. I have panic attacks and cry. What Irvine did is terrible.
Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust assumed responsibility as Irvines employer after South London Healthcare NHS Trust was dissolved in 2013 and Irvine was employed at Kings College Hospital as a consultant colposcopist, examining for cervical abnormalities, until he was struck off last month.
Patient safety is our No 1 priority and always will be, a spokesman for the trust told the Mail. They added that after concluding reviews into Irvines practice, we were confident it was safe for Mr Irvine to work at Kings in this limited area of practice.
For Stephen Venn, knowing Irvine was allowed to carry on working for so long is a bitter pill to swallow. His wife of 40 years, Julie, died after being placed in Irvines care in early 2012 with stomach pains. Scans revealed she had growths on her womb.
But that June, instead of investigating to see if they were cancerous, a junior doctor at Erith Hospital in Kent instructed by Irvine told Julie there was nothing to worry about, and gave her antibiotics.
Stephen, 63, a retired steel fixer and father-of-three, says Julies stomach pains grew progressively worse throughout the year until she was too weak to eat.
Yet it wasnt until December that hospital staff finally agreed to do scans that found cancer in her womb, which had spread to the pelvis and lymph nodes.
Doctors said there was nothing they could do, says Stephen. He held Julie as she took her last breath in January 2013, aged just 56. Julie was my best friend and when she died, I died, too, he says.
Dartford and Gravesend NHS Trust, which now runs Erith Hospital after the dissolution of South London Health Care Trust, has admitted financial liability.
A source said the Trust found Irvine was responsible for taking Julie off the cancer pathway (a patients journey from the initial suspicion of cancer through investigations, diagnosis and treatment) that would have led to earlier treatment.
Whether she would have died in any event is still an issue, and the next step is an oncologist report which will determine whether she would have survived had they handled her treatment differently.
For Stephen, there is no doubt Irvine is culpable: He should have taken the time to see Julie, instead of referring her to a junior doctor.
It should have been obvious she had cancer and she should have been given a hysterectomy that I think would have saved her life.
For most young married couples, getting ready for their first child is exciting.
But for Courtney and Josh Hayes the experience is tinged with mourning and fear.
The pair have suffered four miscarriages in just two years - both natural conceptions and IVF.
Now, weeks away from finally welcoming their first son, they have received the devastating news that he has a debilitating heart condition, truncus arteriosus.
It means he will initially suffer from heart failure, which manifest as rapid breathing, poor feeding and failure to gain weight and grow properly.
Without surgery, damage of the blood vessels of the lung could life-threateningly restrict blood flow.
To give him the best chance at survival, Courtney and Josh have to relocate from Arizona to Philadelphia, home to some of the nation's top fetal heart surgeons, to begin care eight weeks ahead of the birth.
And the wait is agonizing.
'It's a big roller coaster,' Courtney, a 33-year-old swimming instructor, told Daily Mail Online.
Long journey: Courtney and Josh Hayes (here in December 2016) are ready to welcome their first child after four miscarriages - but have to face their baby having heart surgery on birth
Their 18-week scan revealed their son has a potentially fatal heart condition
'I have bad days and good. It just depends on what I'm doing or what I hear. So many things trigger me.
'Somebody telling me they're pregnant, that triggers me. It makes me really sad because I feel like I'm missing out on the fun things of pregnancy.
'Obviously all pregnancies have risk but most people don't have to think or worry about their baby dying right after birth.
'I try to stay positive but that's difficult. In the back of my mind it's always there.
'I don't know how you prepare saying goodbye to your child.'
It is a bleak prospect to face on the heels of four losses.
Courtney started dating Josh, a physical therapist seven years ago. They had been married two years when they got pregnant for the first time.
Weeks into their first pregnancy, conceived naturally at the start of 2015, the baby's heart inexplicably stopped beating.
Courtney then became pregnant again soon after, but despite her hormone levels rising the baby could not be found and she miscarried again.
Turning to in-vitro fertilization at the end of 2015, their results and condition looked perfect, and they conceived a healthy embryo.
Courtney started dating Josh, a physical therapist seven years ago. They had been married two years when they got pregnant for the first time. Pictured: November 2016
Their first two babies, conceived naturally, inexplicably stopped breathing early on. Their third and fourth babies conceived through IVF had an extra ninth chromosome that proved fatal. They are pictured here in August, shortly after announcing their latest pregnancy
But nine weeks later the baby's heartbeat stopped.
They discovered - in a development that doctors described as 'incredibly bad luck' - that their baby had Trisomy 9 Mosaicism, a rare chromosomal issue that was unable to be detected due to not all the cells having the extra ninth chromosome.
Devastated, they decided to pursue adoption and stop structuring their lives around being as healthy as possible to conceive.
Courtney went on holiday to Lake Tahoe with her friends - drinking wine, running up and down mountains, eating a lot, and not caring about her fertility at all.
When she returned she felt strange, and recognized the symptoms: she was pregnant again.
I always thought of myself as strong. But after getting all the bad news over and over again, I just feel weak
This time the couple decided to relax as much as possible, not fearing for the worst.
However, during a full anatomy ultrasound at 18 weeks they received the news that their baby boy had a potentially fatal heart condition.
'It was devastating,' Courtney recalled.
'Now I'm just in a weakened state of mind and strength.
'I always thought of myself as strong. But after getting all the bad news and bad news and bad news over and over again, I just feel weak.
'On my good days I feel very excited, we're fixing up the nursery, we have so many baby clothes.
'I do let myself go there and envision what it's going to be like. I've wanted a baby for several years now and I really didn't think it was going to happen. I can't wait to hold him and touch his skin and see his face.'
But the bad days can be excruciating. Courtney follows a number of online support groups to learn more about truncus arteriosis, but it's a Catch-22 situation: among all the good stories, there are posts about babies that didn't make it.
Courtney (pictured in November 2016) decided to forget about pregnancy and went on a holiday with her girlfriends, drinking and eating and hiking. It was then that she realized she was pregnant again
WHAT IS TRUNCUS ARTERIOSIS? Truncus arteriosis is a rare type of heart disease where a single blood vessel comes out of the right and left ventricles of the heart, instead of the normal two. It means that too much blood will get sent to the lungs. Initially, the Hayes' baby will suffer from heart failure, rapid breathing, poor feeding and failure to gain weight and grow properly. Without surgery, damage of the blood vessels of the lung could life-threateningly restrict blood flow. Advertisement
'We had a horrible New Year's Eve,' Courtney admits. 'We just read about a couple of babies that had died and we just sat in silence.
'Josh just seemed broken, I've never seen him like that.'
Truncus arteriosus, though uncommon, is not impossible to treat.
With the right treatment, the survival rate is high.
Fortunately for the Hayes', Josh, a physical therapist, was born and raised just an hour away from the best center for fetal cardiology, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and plenty of his family is still there.
The couple will be able to stay with family, and Josh's company has found him physical therapy clients in the area.
Courtney, however, will be out of work two months longer than they had planned, dealing a blow to their finances.
It is likely they will not meet all these expenses before they have to move in late January. But the main focus for them is making sure they get there to start treatment as early as possible in case Courtney goes into labor early.
'The doctors said to keep living life as normal as possible. The safest he will ever be is in my womb.
'So I've been swimming and doing weight. It's also important for the baby that I keep a healthy mental state,' Courtney explained.
'It is really difficult. We just have to stay as strong as possible.'
An adorable tot has been dubbed the 'Baby Hulk' due to a watermelon-sized tumour that makes her look like a bodybuilder.
Madison Gatlin, from Crestview in Florida, was born with CLOVES, a condition that causes lymphatic fluid to swell beneath her arms and chest.
The ultra-rare illness, caused by a gene mutation, affects only 200 people worldwide.
Brave: Mother Joni Gatlin is determined to manage her 18 month-old daughter's rare condition using humour and awareness-raising
Doctors first spotted unusual fluid during an ultrasound at 15-weeks and believe the little girl is lucky to be alive.
Since her birth, the swelling around her upper torso and arms have continued to grow and is estimated to weigh 5lbs - the same weight as a bag of sugar.
Her parents have nicknamed her 'Baby Hulk' for her muscular appearance.
Eighteen-month-old Madison is considered a medical miracle after defying death and learning to walk despite doctors prediction she wouldn't be able to..
Joni, a full-time mum-of-two, said: 'The upper half of her body looks like she's gained weight and it makes her look like a bodybuilder, she's like a 'baby Hulk'.
'Her nickname started during an instance where twin boys asked me what was wrong with her, I told them her daddy was the Hulk and they thought it was the coolest thing ever.
'After I told them she was the Hulk's daughter they wanted to be her best friend.I don't want people to be scared of my daughter, there's nothing wrong with her, she just has a gene malfunction.
Call to arms: When the youngster was born, the growth on her right arm weighed 3lbs , whereas it now weights 5lbs
Hidden activity: Doctors first spotted unusual fluid during an ultrasound at 15-weeks and believe the little girl is lucky to be alive
She continued: 'I've told younger children she's a baby Hulk because I don't think they would understand the condition and this way they aren't scared of her and don't treat her differently.
'You have to try to have a sense of humour with something like this.'
After months of testing Madison was diagnosed with the rare progressive overgrowth disorder.
Her nickname started during an instance where twin boys asked me what was wrong with her, I told them her daddy was the Hulk and they thought it was the coolest thing ever. Joni Gatlin
Joni added: 'When she was born Madison looked drastically different to what I expected, from her high waist up to her shoulders she looked very muscular.
'The majority of her upper body and arms are filled with lymphatic fluid that her body is unable to drain back into her bloodstream - leading to cystic masses developing in those areas.
'Particularly in her right arm, the mass is currently the size of a small watermelon, it will continue to grow with her body based upon her height and weight.
'When she was born she looked like a cute little blog with legs, we believed the mass weighed 3lb, now I think it's around 5lb.'
Managing the condition: Madison also has to wear compression garments 24-hours a day and has the fluid drained twice a day
Heavy load: Eighteen-month-old Madison is considered to be a medical miracle for surviving
To prevent the growth from expanding, specialists have to perform chemical cauterisation - where a small amount of fluid is withdrawn from her body and reinjected with a mix of medication and saline.
She also has to wear compression garments 24-hours a day and has the fluid drained twice a day.
Over time it's hoped that treatment will reduce the swelling to a size where surgeons will be able to operate, until then her mum has learned to treat her at home.
Intervention: To prevent the growth from expanding, specialists have to perform chemical cauterisation - where a small amount of fluid is withdrawn from her body
CLOVES is an acronym standing for Congential, Lipomatous Overgrowth, Vascular Malformations, Epidermal Nevi & Spinal/Skeletal/Seizures.
Kristen Davis, Executive Director of CLOVES Syndrome Community, said: 'CLOVES is caused by non-hereditary somatic mutation - the affected gene that causes CLOVES is called PIK3ca, a mutation that is often implicated in aggressive cancers.
'Overgrowth related to CLOVES can occur anywhere in the body including brain, trunk, limbs including hands/feet, as well as internal soft tissue tumors and vascular malformations.
'Some people have overgrowth in many parts of the body, some only have a few parts of the body affected. The problems that each person has, depends on where the overgrowth is located.'
The Gatlin family are now fundraising to try to help gather the money to cover Madison's medical bills. To donate, click here.
There have been great strides in the battle against HIV and AIDS.
However, current prevention methods could be revolutionised with news of a potential implant which would offer daily protection from infection risk.
A subdermal implant called the Medici drug delivery system is being developed by scientists in Boston, who believe it could be a game-changer - thanks to fact it would release a regular dose of PrEP.
Game-changer? Current HIV prevention methods could be revolutionised with news of a potential implant which would offer daily PrEP protection from infection risk
The company behind it, Intarcia Therapeutics Inc, revealed on Wednesday that they have been bankrolled by a 114 million grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help make the project a reality.
Assuming success over time, additional grants will be made, they noted in a statement - including some in the first quarter of this year.
It's not yet clear when it could be available for public use, but the device - which still in the creation phase - would theoretically deliver a daily dose of PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, without being prompted.
No bigger than a matchstick, it would operate continuously for 12 months before needing to be replaced.
This would avoid problems of consistent patient usage, which see the medicine's effectiveness reduced when patients forget a dose.
'Theres a vital need for an HIV/AIDS intervention that allows those at risk to incorporate prevention more easily into their daily lives,' said Sue Desmond-Hellmann, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
UK Numbers: 88,769 people, including 315 children aged under 15, received HIV care in 2015
'We feel optimistic about our partnership with Intarcia and the prospect of an implantable prophylactic device that could make a world of difference for people most in need.'
The news comes just weeks after NHS England launched a trial of the controversial HIV treatment after losing a Court of Appeal battle over who should fund it.
The drug, described as a "game changer" in the fight against HIV and Aids, has been shown to reduce the risk of infection in people who are at high risk by more than 90%.
Support: Intarcia Therapeutics Inc. have been granted 114 million from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
In November, the Court of Appeal upheld a High Court ruling which said NHS England did have the power to fund the drug despite its pleas that the responsibility lie with local authorities.
Now, the organisation has announced it will fund "a large scale clinical trial in the early financial year 2017/18" for the drug, which has the brand name Truvada.
NHS England said that although the evidence around the clinical effectiveness of PrEP "is strong", Public Health England (PHE) has highlighted potential issues with its rollout that need answering.
"These questions will be answered by the clinical trial, paving the way for full rollout", NHS England said.
Gonorrhea has been pinpointed as the most likely sexually-transmitted disease to become un-treatable in the near future.
But a new breakthrough could change that, scientists claim.
Researchers at the University of York have developed a new antibiotic specifically targeting Neisseria gonorrheae, the strain which has become highly drug-resistant.
They claim their results, published on Wednesday, prove there is a way to beat the disease.
Breakthrough: Scientists say they have found a way to prevent gonorrhea becoming incurable
'We think our study is an important breakthrough. It isn't the final drug yet but it is pretty close to it,' Professor Ian Fairlamb, of the University's Chemistry Department, said.
'People might perceive gonorrhea as a trivial bacterial infection, but the disease is becoming more dangerous and resistant to antibiotics.'
Around 35,000 cases were reported in England in 2014, mostly among men and women under the age of 25.
America sees roughly 700,000 new cases a year.
The United Nations even held a summit in September to discuss the dangers of gonorrhea's drug-resistance, given that it is the second-most common STD.
According to the York team, the most effective way to target increasingly-strengthening strains is by using carbon monoxide, a colorless and odorless gas.
Though our bodies naturally produce CO, a recent swell of studies have shown that these molecules can help give a boost to antibiotics.
The team of chemists and biologists targeted the 'engine room' of the bacteria using carbon monoxide-releasing molecules (CO-RMs).
They found that Neisseria gonorrheae is more sensitive to CO-based toxicity than most other bacterial pathogens.
It means this strain of gonorrhea could be treated with antimicrobial therapy using CO-RMs.
The CO molecule works by binding to the bacteria, preventing them from producing energy.
Scientists believe the breakthrough, published in the journal MedChemComm, could pave the way for new treatments.
'The carbon monoxide molecule targets the engine room, stopping the bacteria from respiring,' Professor Fairlamb explained.
'Gonorrhea only has one enzyme that needs inhibiting and then it can't respire oxygen and it dies.
'People will be well aware that CO is a toxic molecule but that is at high concentrations. Here we are using very low concentrations which we know the bacteria are sensitive to.
'We are looking at a molecule that can be released in a safe and controlled way to where it is needed.'
The next step is to develop a drug, either in the form of a pill or cream, so that the fundamental research findings can be translated on to future clinical trials.
Co-author Professor James Moir, from the University's Department of Biology, added: 'Antimicrobial resistance is a massive global problem which isn't going away.
'We need to use many different approaches, and the development of new drugs using bioinorganic chemistry is one crucial way we can tackle this problem, to control important bacterial pathogens before the current therapies stop working.'
A group of art enthusiasts are using Facebook and other social media to identify religious artifacts stolen from temples around the country and secure their return.
Art theft is big business all over India, but the richest pickings are in Tamil Nadu, where centuries-old religious artifacts with huge potential sale values in the West lie largely unprotected in out-of-the-way rural temples.
Arvind Venkatraman from Tamil Nadu is one of the activists part of the group calling itself the India Pride Project (IPP) which is using digital media to tackle the issue.
By day, he works as a software engineer in India's tech hub Chennai. But in his spare time, he is an international art detective whose efforts have helped bring back some of his country's most valuable antiquities.
Indian temple priests carry an idol of Hindu god Parthasarathy in Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state, which is home to centuries-old religious artefacts
Two years ago, the IPP claimed a significant victory when the National Gallery of Australia returned a $5 million bronze statue of the Hindu god Shiva that had been stolen from a Tamil Nadu temple.
At first Venkatraman says the gallery, which is now suing the Manhattan dealership that sold it the statue, was reluctant to entertain the idea that its purchase was stolen.
So the IPP organised a social media campaign using images comparing the stolen idol with the one on display at the museum.
'Initially typically there is a denial,' he told AFP in Chennai.
Bystanders gather at the entrance to 'Manikandeshwarar Temple' at Kanchipuram in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu
'Whether it's Australia, Europe, Singapore or the US, initially there will be resistance from the museum curators... because they've spent a lot of money and they wouldn't want to let go of an object.'
The idol is among those allegedly trafficked by Subhash Kapoor, a former Manhattan art dealer who was the subject of a massive US federal investigation known as Operation Hidden Idol.
Kapoor was arrested in Germany in 2012 and is now on trial in India, accused of conspiring in the theft, trafficking and sale of religious idols. He denies all charges.
Many of the antiquities he dealt in dated back to the 11th and 12th centuries, when the Chola dynasty presided over a flourishing of Hindu art in Tamil Nadu.
'This operation went on for many years,' said Prateep V Philip, who heads Tamil Nadu's Idol Wing - India's only police team dedicated to tackling art theft.
'He (Kapoor) was himself not on the scene, but he was the mastermind.'
Prateep V Philip heads Tamil Nadu's Idol Wing - India's only police team dedicated to tackling art theft
Philip said Kapoor won over the international art world by donating millions of dollars' worth of pieces to museums in the United States.
He ran his own freight company in India, allegedly concealing priceless antiques among modern replicas.
'Whenever a theft took place in the past, sometimes people were not even aware,' said Philip, describing the thousands of small shrines that dot the state as 'easy prey'.
'It would be a derelict temple only visited at certain times of the year. So when a theft took place it was only discovered long after.'
This means much of India's stolen sacred art is never even registered as missing, allowing it to be bought and sold on the international market.
Art enthusiast Aravind Venkataraman's efforts have helped bring back some of India's most valuable stolen antiquities
Donna Yates, who lectures in antiquities trafficking at the University of Glasgow, said she was 'absolutely flabbergasted' when it emerged the Australian gallery's statue was stolen.
'If you'd asked me in 2011 (before Kapoor's arrest) whether this kind of thing was still possible, I'd have said no. I believed the due diligence of museums had vastly improved,' she said in a phone interview.
Since the arrest, Washington has returned hundreds of artifacts recovered under Operation Hidden Idol to India.
But idols are still disappearing. This year, Philip's team arrested an art dealer in Chennai after recovering hundreds of metal and stone statues of Hindu gods from a warehouse.
Yates believes the grassroots work of the IPP in documenting cases of theft and bringing them to public attention is crucial - and unmatched anywhere in the world.
'The amount that they've been able to do with zero resources is amazing. It has happened nowhere else,' she said.
The volunteers, who are all passionate about Indian art, go through old catalogues from auction houses, using any blemishes or imperfections to match lots with idols stolen from temples.
Founded by two Singapore-based art enthusiasts, it now includes activists from all over the world.
The work is unpaid, but Venkatraman says it is all worth it when an idol is returned to the temple it belongs in.
'When finally the idol is restituted, the temple comes alive,' he said.
Calls for a crackdown on worker exploitation and abuse have been made after it emerged that six migrant workers who died in a bakery fire had been locked inside the premises.
The workers died on Friday morning after a blaze tore through the bakery in Pune, western Maharashtra, where they had been asleep on the mezzanine floor where they also baked cakes and cookies.
They were unable to escape the inferno - caused by a short circuit - as the bakery owner had locked the shutter door from outside to prevent theft.
Six migrants were killed after being trapped in a bakery fire (Photo for representation only)
When firemen broke into the bakery, they found the workers' bodies on the mezzanine floor.
The workers died of suffocation and burns, officials said.
The deaths have triggered calls for decades-old labour laws to be implemented to crack down on worker exploitation and abuse.
'When such cases occur, the law enforcement agencies look at the more obvious crime and ignore other sections' of the law, said Chandan Kumar, a core group member on bonded labour with the National Human Rights Commission.
The employer was arrested and charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, keeping the workers locked up, constructing an illegal mezzanine where the workers lived and worked, and operating the bakery without government approval.
Activists say the employer should also have been charged with violating labour laws.
More than 90 percent of India's workforce - an estimated 400 million people - are in informal employment. This includes labourers on farms and construction sites, as well as in shops, hotels and restaurants.
Many work in conditions that violate Indian laws enacted decades ago to protect labour rights.
One law that is not enforced requires migrant workers' data to be recorded in their home state and their destination of employment, said Umi Daniel, South Asia regional head of the non-governmental organisation Aide et Action International.
'It is important to record this data as it would not only enumerate migrant workers from each state, but also identify where they are working and help in better regulation of their work conditions,' Daniel told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
In the Pune bakery fire, neither the employer nor the government had home addresses of the six workers who had migrated from northern Uttar Pradesh state.
Police inspector Varsharani Patil said their relatives working in bakeries nearby helped contact their families back home.
Officials said bonded labour laws were not applicable in the case because the workers chose to live in the bakery to save money.
Experts called for improved understanding of bonded labour.
'Any person working on nominal wages is forced labour, and that is bonded labour,' said Nirmal Gorana who heads a national campaign to end bonded labour.
Experts say an Indian law to protect minimum wage and ensure compensation to families in the event of a worker's death on the job also is not implemented.
'We are not remotely close to implementing this law. There is no mechanism to cater to the informal sector,' said Kumar, of the National Human Rights Commission.
A recent survey report has found how with the national Capital has become the most undesirable city for female workers in India. Of the total 6,092 participants, 63 per cent of victims came from Delhi. (file pic)
A recent survey report has found how the national Capital has become the most unpleasant city for female workers in India.
Of the total 6,092 case studies in the survey, 63 per cent of the victims came from Delhi.
Mumbai and Bengaluru followed with all three cities reporting the highest number of victims claiming that male co-workers make demands for sexual favours, touch inappropriately and make lewd comments during office hours.
The findings also indicated that the workplace harassment was the highest in the IT sector, followed by education, media and legal sectors.
'I am not surprised,' Swati Maliwal, head of the Delhi Commission for Women told Mail Today.
'If you look at the rate of crime against women in Delhi, the average is higher than other metropolitan cities.'
Maliwal said the commission has been receiving a lot of complaints of the nature which shows that women workers in Delhi are in distress.
'There are several lacunae in the implementation of the law (against harassment of women at workplace) which is adding to the problem.'
The study conducted by the Indian National Bar Association was carried out over seven months, from April to October 2016, to assess the severity and the current status of sexual harassment at workplace.
The respondents from various fields were interviewed in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Assam, Jalandar, Kolkata, Ahemdabad, Hyderabad and Lucknow.
The survey showed that higher authorities in their companies often turn a blind eye towards such complaints.
In 66.7 per cent cases, where the complaints were filed, the respondents said the internal complaints committee did not deal with the issue fairly.
The victims also felt that the legal protection given the Act is not implemented in an organised manner, making the complainant further vulnerable, with 57. 8 per cent of the respondents saying they did not receive support from their peers while the rest were left disappointed.
In the cases where a complaint was lodged, only 50 per cent decided to continue with the same organisation after the completion of the internal inquiry, while the rest chose to quit.
Zameer Nathani, chairperson, media of the association, told Mail Today that the awareness on how to deal with sexual harassment cases is still very low in the country.
'The most shocking fact was to learn the unawareness about the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013.'
Nathani said, 'The common perception is that sexual harassment at workplace is limited to the interactions between the male boss and the female employees.
'This is not true.
'The harassment can occur between any two co-workers. The offender can be a customer, vendor, supplier, supervisor or manager. It can include peer to peer harassment, same sex harassment, men being harassed by women and vice-versa.'
About the reasons for not reporting such incidents, the survey found that 68.9 percent of victims did so because of fear of retaliation and subsequent repercussions.
The victims decided to take matters in their own hands due to fear, embarrassment and the lack of confidence in the complaint mechanism and unawareness of the functioning of the mechanism.
The survey highlighted that the 65.2 per cent of the respondents felt that the companies were still unaware of the process under sexual harassment of women at workplace Act 2013, even after the complaint was made.
The findings also indicated that the workplace harassment was the highest in IT sector, followed by education, media and legal sectors
They revealed that the companies did not follow the due procedure while investigating the matter.
The 50.7 per cent of victims also revealed that they were targets of harassment through social networking sites.
The survey said that the harassment was done at the hands of immediate colleagues, superiors and others in the organisation and the duration for which went from six months to over a year.
'The victims are maximum harassed physically or inappropriate touching and passing lewd comment.
'This comprise of total 75 per cent while rest includes sexism or asking for sexual favors,' the report said.
Speaking about the steps taken by the Delhi commission to deal with the issue, Maliwal said that it has ensured a local complaints committee in almost all the districts.
'For the districts that are remaining, we have issued summons to their district magistrate and are in the process of implementing them.
A hashtag trending in the wake of the mass molestation of women in Bengaluru on New Year's Eve has caused outrage on social media.
Controversial remarks by Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara, blaming the incident on young women 'copying' Westerners, had already provoked anger among many.
But a number of tweets in response to the incident, with the hashtag 'Not All Men' served to further inflame debate surrounding the incident - with both men and women hitting back.
Thousands of Twitter users have been debating the hashtag 'Not All Men'
A male Twitter user called Garvit said: '#NotAllMen are molesters, but that is a really stupid argument to make. Even if a few are, I am ashamed to be one.'
Tanushree said: 'Why is #NotAllMen even allowed to be a hashtag? Why do you want a trophy for being a decent human being?
Vaishnavi, meanwhile, commented: '#NotAllMen just another opportunity for men to turn something about themselves.'
Adithya Viswanathan simply asserted: 'This #NotAllMen shows exactly what's wrong with this society.'
One woman said the #notallmen hashtag was an attempt among some to 'soothe the male ego'
Arpita Das said: '#NotAllMen hurt women? Well, #notallmen stand up to those who do either. So stop whining.'
Anamika Srivastava commented: 'It's so sad that #NotAllMen is even considered as a valid response.'
Another Twitter user, called Shabana, said: 'All Indian men could think of is a #Notallmen trend?? Seriously??? I would have been happy to see some solidarity for women but then...'
'It actually astounds me that instead of being rightfully outraged by MASS MOLESTATION we're supposed to soothe the male ego with #notallmen,' tweeted a woman calling herself M.
But others said that the hashtag was to demonstrate that innocent, random men were the 'real victims'
Deepika Amin said: 'Delightful to know #notallmen are molesters. Yet each and #everywoman has been harrassed at some point. Obviously, #toomanymen are #guilty.'
Anjana George commented: '#Notallmen that's how you successfully kill dialogue. Unfortunate. Outrageous.'
But Adrian Delgado hit back, saying: 'The #notallmen trending from India is comically opposed by the same SJWs [social justice warriors] who support #notall with regards to Islamist violence.'
And comedian Sorabh Pant commented: '#NotAllMen because in an incident involving the molestation of women, random men were the real victims.'
The authorities were called into action on Monday after several women were molested in Bengaluru on New Year's Eve
The authorities were called into action on Monday after several women were molested in Bengaluru on New Year's Eve.
Officials asked commercial establishments in the area to share their security camera footage while the police scanned videos from 25 CCTV cameras installed in the heart of the city - Brigade Road and M G Road - where the incident took place.
The episode comes as an early test for Bengaluru police commissioner Praveen Sood who took charge on January 1.
Eyewitness accounts suggest women were molested, groped and lewd remarks were also passed by miscreants even as 1,500 police personnel had reportedly been deployed to control the crowds.
In controversial remarks, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said: 'They (women) tried to copy the Westerners, not only in their mindset but even in their dressing. So, some girls were harassed, these kind of things do happen.'
The police have not received any complaints from any of the revellers so far.
However, cops will take up investigation suo motu based on the CCTV footage.
Though plenty of venues organise New Year celebrations in the city, youths still congregate on Brigade Road, one of the oldest commercial joints in Bengaluru.
Vehicular movement on Brigade Road and MG Road is restricted and people can walk on the two roads till midnight.
Men outnumbered the women and the latter became easy targets
However, this time, the situation went out of hand as clubs and restaurants there were permitted to remain open till 2am, sources say.
When New Year's revellers started pouring out of the pubs and lounge bars around 1.30 am, they were targeted by unruly mobs on Brigade Road and M G Road.
The men outnumbered the women and the latter became easy targets.
Many revellers complained that men passed lewd comments and used derogatory words in the presence of cops
A local newspaper photographer captured inebriated men groping women or physically harassing them under the pretext of wishing them a happy new year.
A few girls had to seek police help to leave the area. Many revellers complained that men passed lewd comments and used derogatory words in the presence of cops.
After Bengaluru, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara attributed the New Year's Eve Mass molestation in Bengaluru to Indian women copying western mindset and dress sense, Abu Azmi of the Samajwadi Party also decided to offer his thoughts on the scenes.
'If there's gasoline, there will be fire. If there's spilt sugar, ants will gravitate towards it for sure,' Azmi said.
He added, 'In these modern times, the more skin women show, the more they are considered fashionable.
'If my sister or daughter stays out beyond sunset celebrating December 31 with a man who isn't their husband or brother, that's not right'.
Abu Azmi's comments come after the authorities were called into action on Monday after several women were molested in Bengaluru on New Year's Eve.
Eyewitness accounts suggest women were molested, groped and lewd remarks were also passed by miscreants even as 1,500 police personnel had reportedly been deployed to control the crowds.
Abu Azmi of the Samajwadi Party decided to offer his thoughts on the NYE scenes saying 'If there's gasoline, there will be fire. If there's spilt sugar, ants will gravitate towards it for sure'
When New Year's revellers began pouring out of the pubs and lounge bars around 1.30 am, they were targeted by unruly mobs on Brigade Road and M G Road.
The men outnumbered the women and the latter became easy targets.
Azmi's words on the reports are however not without context.
Two years ago the SP leader was reported by Times of India as having said that women should receive the death penalty for having sex outside of marriage: 'In India, there is death penalty for rape, but when there's consensual sex outside marriage, there's no death penalty against women.
'If a woman is caught (in a rape case), then both she and the boy should be punished'.
When New Year's revellers began pouring out of the pubs and lounge bars around 1.30 am, they were targeted by unruly mobs
However, Azmi took to Twitter to explain that his recent comments had been taken out of context and that he condemns the Bangalore incident, but does feel that Indian women should 'follow our culture'.
Azmi said on Twitter: 'Media is just making a issue out of it. All crime against women is condemnable. Our Culture should be strictly followed is my firm opinion.'
Do you get calls asking for the password of your bank accounts, insurance, credit cards and so forth?
If you do, there's a great chance they may be originating from the jungles of Jamtara, a sleepy district in Jharkhand, where the perpetrators of the country's massive hacking scams live, operate and lead lavish lifestyles.
India Today's Special Investigation Team has busted wide open the suspected underground arsenal of the nation's online robbers.
India Today's Special Investigation Team has busted the suspected underground arsenal of the nation's online robbers
Operating out Jamtara, some 225 km of the state capital of the state capital of Ranchi, these impostors use a variety of traps to access usernames, passwords and OTPs from their targets.
And once their victims share their secret codes with these complete strangers, poof - it's gone! Their bank accounts empty out in the blink of an eye.
If you see their homes, you will find LED TVs, sofas, beds and most modern equipment Inspector Surendra Prasad, Jamtara Narayanpur Police
Spread over 1,800 sqkm, Jamtara is home to around eight lakh people, most of them rural.
But traffic on the cellphone towers and the lifestyle of many of the district's residents belie its thin population and official statistics on poverty.
'If you see their homes, you will find LED TVs, sofas, beds and most modern equipment,' said Surendra Prasad, an inspector at Jamtara's Narayanpur police station.
An independent investigation by India Today revealed how a number of Jamtara's young men were living well from stealing and exploiting the trust of hard working people across India.
The probe found this Jharkhand district has in fact turned into the country's hub of phishing calls - a widespread criminal practice of stealing private and financial information from the vulnerable in order to swindle them out of their money, digitally.
Top sources in the Intelligence Bureau and the NIA are also alarmed.
Most cyber crimes, they say, are now being traced to Jamtara.
The young frauds use various tricks to dupe their victims across the country, the investigation discovered.
'You use an ATM card. Did you get a message two days ago that it had been blocked?' said Asghar, giving a dry run of how his band of crooks would strike a conversation with their potential targets on the phone.
'You didn't have its renewal verified as per the order of the Modi government,' he continued, sitting on his motorbike underneath a cluster of bamboo trees.
Their method involves playing on people's fears and anxieties.
They intimidate their victims about a possible loss or even arrest so much so that many of them would irrationally share their tightly-guarded financial and computer codes, Asghar explains.
Every day, alleged scammers like Asghar make innumerable calls from the forests of Jamtara, impersonating as representatives of reputed companies to insidiously seek out information they require for their digital robbery.
Asghar told India Today's special team that they, at times, would make off with as high Rs 1 lakh in a matter of hours.
They would use basic techniques to obtain even 3D-secure PINs from their targets after preying skilfully on their fears.
Cyber crime has risen alarmingly in the country - more than 20 percent in a year alone.
According to the latest NCRB data, India recorded 11,592 cases in 2015 over 9,622 the year before. A majority of them - almost 66 percent - involved online cheating in 2015.
Jamtara has become a hunting ground for cyber police from all over India investigating online crimes because many cases of digital fraud are traced to this back-of-beyond district.
'You need to generate a new password,' Ashgar said, giving a training session to India Today's undercover team on accessing passcodes in cold calls.
'For that you are being given a secret number, 1025, to add up to your old password.
Local police say nearly 80 per cent of all cyber crimes in the country have their roots in Jamtara
Let us know what you get after adding and we will deactivate your old password with that code,' he continued.
If their victim shared the result, Asghar and his accomplices would quickly subtract 1025 from it to access the original password.
And that's what they wanted to strike their target's account.
Probed how they maintained a data-base of their victims, Asghar revealed his gang would ring up as many people as possible in different states, at random.
As more and more people fell into their traps, driven largely by fears of non-compliance to government rules after the note ban, the e-wallets and bank cards of these digital swindlers puffed up with the booty.
'We got a lot of money these days. We had from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh dropping in two cards alone,' admitted Asghar.
'We bought a (Honda) CR-V in one day by swiping two of our cards.' They, said Asghar, would also rent out their cards to potential customers for hefty commissions. He also offered one to the undercover reporter.
'The percentage is between 70 and 75. Get this card swiped at a store known to you, where they don't demand Aadhar. There you can buy as much as you want,' he said.
By the their own admission, local police say nearly 80 per cent of all cyber crimes in the country have their roots in Jamtara.
As India Today reporters drove deeper into the district, they found that the entire system here had been subverted to enable parallel economy feed voraciously on the bank savings of taxpayers.
The unqualified digital loot in Jamtara was found to be also encouraging unscrupulous elements in neighbouring districts to extract similar sums.
when it comes to the sterilizing of stray dogs
On average 56 people are bitten each day in the Capital, yet all three municipal corporations are delivering a poor performance in sterilizing just 1 per cent of the stray dogs roaming in the streets of Delhi as of 2016.
In a shocking revelation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation has sterilized only 0.01 per cent of 1,89,285 stray dogs in the past one year.
According to sources, more than 1,000 incidents of dog bites have surfaced in the past one month.
On average 56 people are bitten in a day in the Capital, yet all three municipal corporations are delivering a poor performance in sterilizing even 1 per cent of the stray dogs on the streets
Falling prey to the menace, one of the residents told Mail Today that last month, the residents of Greater Kailash woke up to a loud scuffle and barking of dogs late at night for three days consecutively.
On discovering, it was found that an unknown vehicle unloaded 10-15 dogs in a compound nearby.
'We tried getting the number of the vehicle traced but all we came to know that it was a registered vehicle from Najafgarh but it clearly looks like an unscrupulous act of capturing dogs from one locality and releasing the same lot somewhere else,' said Rajiv Kakria, a civil activist residing in the same locality.
He also claimed that things are now getting out of hand with the security guards also getting bitten.
'No one is spared from this mounting problem, from security guards to managing committee members, we see cases of dog bites every month. My guard was bitten twice despite having a cane stick,' said Rajiv.
Residents, who are yet to see even one official from the municipality to step in for a dialogue, are left in the lurch.
'We have never been contacted by any municipal officer for addressing this issue.
'When the problem is difficult to contain, we end up calling an NGO and if the SDMC claims to have deployed other NGOs on the ground to sterilize the dogs, why are they nowhere to be seen?' asks another resident of Greater Kailash.
Raking up the issue in the recent budget speech, Farhad Suri, Leader of Opposition said, at this pace the sterilization rate is grossly inadequate.
'For the dogs' population to remain static, at least 70 per cent need to be sterilized,' said Suri.
One of the reasons why the problem of taming dog population surfaces every year, is the ineffective sterilization drives.
'It is a misconception that sterilization drives stabilise the dog population.
However, one problem that sterilization does solve effectively is, controlling the dog bites and nuisance behaviour aspect of the stray dogs,' said Rahul Sehgal from Humane Society International.
The prime indicator of a successful sterilization drive include a drastic reduction in the number of puppies in the breeding season followed by a significant reduction in the dog bite, Sehgal told.
The corporations will have to carry out sterilization drives consecutively for five to six years to ensure that there is a reduction in the dog bites, confirmed a corporation official.
General Bipin Rawat has taken over the reins of the 1.3-million strong Indian Army, at the weekend, for a three-year stint as its head.
He will get more time than any Army chief, since Gen Ved Malik in 2000.
Advice galore will come his way at this stage because if there is a complex job anyone handles it is his.
New Army Chief General Bipin Rawat after a guard of honour at South Block in New Delhi
Hierarchy
As the single man on the top of a hierarchy, officials line up at all times to take decisions from him.
However, at the outset he must remember that one of the most successful chiefs in recent times was General Nirmal Vij and that success was largely due to his ability to trust and delegate responsibility and decision-making to his vice-chief and the principal staff officers (PSOs).
General Rawat's appointment comes at the head of a controversy about his selection, with the rationale of his greater operational experience swinging the decision.
That should not tie him down to only the operations domain to make a mark and overensure against security glitches which anyway are bound to occur.
His competent DGMO and connected staff of the MO directorate will work overtime as they always do.
His operational experience will come to the fore when he has to advise the government on tricky issues involving response or pre-emptive actions and execute the final decisions. For much of his early days the new chief must get down to restoring self-esteem and functional balance.
Attempting to take on too much is going to be counterproductive. It is not as if he is taking over a defunct organisation.
It will be better to ask the PSOs to identify two or three key areas in their charter which need immediate focus to make a difference and where attention has been lacking in the past.
Many important appointments are lying vacant which must be filled on priority and with a mind to give viable tenures to senior functionaries.
General Bipin Rawat paying homage at Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate, in New Delhi
Operations (including intelligence and training), equipment (including ammunition), logistics and personnel form the quad on which all functioning is based.
On the operations side he must get his advisers and training institutions to war game scenarios realistically, independent of the field armies and formations.
There is a wealth of talent at these institutions under the Army Training Command which must contribute more than just training personnel.
Attention
One of the tasks for immediate attention is the security of the rear areas in J&K and Punjab.
The Army's garrisons are all vulnerable as the focus of security has been at the border where too there are glitches at the bases of the LoC.
There is a need to refocus training and awareness with a revisit to basics which is something all armies do from time to time.
What the training side really needs is a reorientation to hybrid warfare, a subject perfunctorily treated at training institutions.
It's a tall order to train for both conventional and hybrid warfare and conventional being the basic must always take overriding priority.
However, the reality also cannot be ignored that the immediate threat is of the hybrid variety and a percentage of focus needs to shift there.
Ammunition and equipment are already under sufficient focus but acquisition needs to be expedited.
The chief can facilitate better handling at staff levels through pragmatic policies on personnel who man these crucial jobs.
Normal personnel policies must not apply and extended tenures with pragmatic continuity in each such organisation such as the Technical Manager Land Systems, Weapons and Equipment Directorate and some appointments in the Master General of Ordnance Branch need greater experience on the job.
Field storage of ammunition is another area which lags behind as a surge in ammunition acquisition could be expected in the near future.
This must be funded adequately and no compromise in the technical requirements of ammunition storage must be accepted.
Management
It is in the field of personnel management where the Army will really need General Rawat's expertise.
Very few are aware of the nuances of policy handling and implications.
He formerly headed the policy section of the Military Secretary (MS) Branch and is aware of the circumstances under which past decisions were taken; decisions which have led to much turbulence in the promotion system in terms of vacancies and selection for higher ranks.
An early visit to this is the need of the hour. There have been too many studies in the recent past and General Rawat is fully aware of the details of these.
He need not initiate any more such studies and simply order a compilation of recent recommendations.
On the contentious policy which dictates the division of vacancies in the General Cadre (the cadre which assumes the command appointments upwards of unit level), a series of brainstorming sessions with all stakeholders should be conducted.
India is in the process of buying weaponry including new tanks and fighter jets
The unfortunate thing has been the lack of any open brainstorming or seminars on personnel management in the Army.
If these are transparently conducted and acceptable solutions to promotion policies are found early in his tenure, the new chief will have all the time to concentrate on far more important things such as the security of vulnerable rear areas, better artillery and air defence systems, getting a small arms family of weapons for the infantry, and the status of Army personnel with reference to other government servants and the anomalies of both the 6th and 7th Pay Commissions.
CM Akhilesh Yadav on his bike
The feud in the Samajwadi Party remained deadlocked with both factions making accusations and counter-accusations as they battle over the party symbol, the cycle.
The son, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, seems to hold the advantage, as his uncle Ram Gopal Yadav paid a visit to the Election Commission office in the Capital on Tuesday to stake a claim over the symbol.
Yadav told reporters: 'We have told the EC that 90 per cent of the party leaders and workers are supporting akhilesh Yadav ji and hence the party led by him must be considered as the Samajwadi Party.'
Now, with the rival factions staking claim over the party and its symbol, the ball is in the Commission's court.
Since the assembly elections to Uttar Pradesh are set to be announced any day now, the Commission has little time to adjudicate the matter.
The two-decade-old 'bicycle' symbol may go missing from the high-voltage UP assembly elections as the ruling Samajwadi Party stands on the verge of a vertical split
As an interim measure, it is now likely to freeze the cycle symbol and ask the two factions to contest on a new symbol.
It may also give the two sides a new name to contest the polls till the time a final decision is taken on the real 'ownership' of Samajwadi Party and its symbol 'cycle'.
Earlier on Monday, a politically bruised Mulayam Singh reached out to Akhilesh Yadav, even while officially both factions were at war.
After the telephone conversation, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was in Delhi, flew down to Lucknow for a face-to-face with his son - the meeting lasted nearly two hours and neither side were accompanied by their loyalists.
Mulayam Singh Yadav has staked his claim for SP's election symbol 'bicycle' and said that his faction is the actual Samajwadi Party
Though, later Shivpal Yadav, who was sacked as the state president of the party by the Akhilesh Yadav faction, also joined them.
The meeting however failed to make headway.
Meanwhile several conspiracy theories flew thick and wild.
Expelled party leader Kiranmoy Nanda claimed that Mulayam Singh's writing was different in the letter that expelled the CM and Ramgopal, and the one that was sent to him declaring the National Executive as unconstitutional.
The Muslim face of SP, Azam Khan, also made a fresh proposal to broker a peace deal between the father and the son. But the Akhilesh camp seemed unfazed.
'There is no possibility of a patch up,' said Ram Gopal. Khan, however, said a split in the party was detrimental for Muslim votes in UP elections.
Once the elections are over, the EC may adjudicate as to which of the two factions should retain the 'bicycle' symbol.
The year 2016 will be long remembered for the decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to nullify Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, and replace them with newly designed, more secure Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes.
This scheme is perhaps one of the most far-reaching policy decisions taken by any Indian government in recent years.
The nation is still struggling to come to terms with it and it will have significant long-term implications for India's economic growth trajectory.
Modi and the Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
Reformer
In many ways, 2016 was the year when Modi, the economic reformer, got his groove back.
His government managed to pass the landmark GST Bill through Parliament.
By levying one indirect tax for the whole nation, it will make India one unified common market.
Modi, with his centre-right political inclinations, does not share ideological attachment to Jawaharlal Nehru's ideas.
It is the biggest reform in India's indirect tax structure since the economy started opening up 25 years ago and is likely to be implemented in 2017.
India remained one of the few fast growing major economies in the world in 2016, thereby managing to make its presence felt on the international platform.
And Modi remained one of the most dynamic leaders on the foreign policy front, putting his imprimatur on global politics.
In a move of great symbolism, Modi did not attend the 17th non-alignment summit despite host Venezuela's repeated attempts to woo him.
Modi continues to invest in non-Western platforms such as BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
Instead, he dispatched Vice-President Hamid Ansari. Following Charan Singh in 1979, Modi was the second prime minister to miss the summit since the country had co-founded the movement.
Modi, with his centre-right political inclinations, does not share ideological attachment to Jawaharlal Nehru's ideas.
He has gradually but decisively shifted Indian foreign policy in directions which few would have dared try before.
While sections of the Indian intellectual establishment still retain reflexive anti-Americanism, Modi has used his decisive mandate to carve a new partnership with the United States to harness its capital and technology for his domestic development agenda.
He is not ambivalent about positioning India as a challenger to China's growing regional might and assertiveness.
With this in mind, he signed the bilateral Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement with the United States in 2016 for facilitating logistical support, supplies and services between the US and Indian militaries on a reimbursable basis and providing a framework to govern such exchanges.
Modi is also busy pursuing strong partnerships with US allies in the region including Japan, Australia and Vietnam.
He has taken a strong position on the South China Sea dispute in favour of states such as Vietnam and the Philippines as well as expanded the US-India bilateral naval exercises to include Japan.
The PM also recognises the domestic challenges as he pivots India closer to the US.
So he continues to invest in non-Western platforms such as BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Economically the grouping is less attractive, given economic troubles in Russia, Brazil and South Africa.
Still, India hosted the eighth annual BRICS summit in Goa in October with great fanfare, if only to assuage domestic critics that Delhi does not intend to put all its eggs in one US basket.
Summit
The other dramatic change in South Asia came when the Indian Army's Special Forces took out terror camps across the Line of Control in Kashmir in response to an attack on an Indian Army post in Kashmir by Pakistan-based terrorists that killed 20 soldiers on September 18.
The Indian response came almost 11 days after the initial attack and reflected an attempt by the Modi government to pressurise Pakistan on multiple fronts, thereby gaining leverage over an adversary that had long used terrorism and proxies to challenge India.
At the regional level, the Modi government succeeded in ensuring the postponement of the SAARC summit after several member states took India's lead and decided to boycott the Islamabad meeting in November.
This was one of the rare occasions when regional states spoke in one voice against Pakistan's use of terror as an instrument of state policy.
Big Year for India: The year 2016 will be long remembered for the decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to nullify Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes
Military
Even as Pakistan was reeling from these pressures, the Modi government decided to use the instrumentality of military power - a tool which New Delhi had avoided for a long time.
What was new was not that cross-border raids took place, but that India decided to publicise them to the extent it did.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the BJP parliamentary board meeting in New Delhi
Equally significant was the Modi government's decision to call the world's attention to the plight of Balochi people who have resisted the Punjabi-dominated military establishment of Pakistan.
Pakistan, however, continues to be backed by China. The Sino-Pak relationship is blossoming with China poised to deploy its naval ships along with Pakistan navy to safeguard the strategic Gwadar port and trade routes under the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
If this move goes ahead as planned, it will be the logical culmination of a long drawn Chinese involvement in Pakistan, giving the Chinese Navy a foothold in the first overseas location - the Indian Ocean and the Arabia Sea.
Other equations in South Asia are also changing with the US getting more impatient with Pakistan and Russia moving closer to Pakistan, changing its decades-old policy of being consistently pro-India.
The South Asian strategic milieu is in flux and old rules no longer apply. The year 2016 has been about dramatic changes which are only likely to gain further momentum in the coming years.
The BJP appears poised to bag the crucial battleground state of Uttar Pradesh despite the inconvenience faced by citizens after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise announcement on demonetisation in November.
The latest opinion poll by Axis My India for India Today TV shows the ruling party at the Centre is in pole position to end its 14-year wait in UP.
The survey projects that the BJP will secure a majority by bagging between 206 and 216 seats in the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh elections to be held in February-March.
A poll by Axis My India for India Today TV predicts that the BJP will secure a majority in UP by bagging between 206 and 216 seats
This is about 30 seats more than the number thrown up in the first UP opinion poll done by Axis My India in October.
An overwhelming 76 per cent of the respondents supported demonetisation, though people are split on whether the common man has been inconvenienced by the move.
While 58 per cent reported that they have been facing problems because of the note ban, 42 per cent said they have not faced hassles.
The jump in the BJP's vote share in this poll indicates that despite the inconvenience caused, people believe that the PM's move will ultimately benefit the nation.
More than half the respondents (51 per cent) say they believe demonetisation will help eliminate black money and fake notes.
The polls in the state of more than 200 million people will be crucial to Modi's long-term plan for re-election in 2019.
The ruling Samajwadi Party (in its current avatar) is projected to emerge as the second largest party, bagging between 92-97 seats.
Despite the infighting, in the past three months the SP's graph seems to have risen while the BSP has slipped from second to third place.
Modi's method: An overwhelming 76% of the respondents supported demonetisation
Mayawati's party is likely to bag 79-85 seats, down from 115-124 predicted by the previous survey.
The reason behind the decline seems to be its inability to get incremental voters beyond its traditional Dalit vote bank.
In 2007, BSP had won on the back of Brahmins joining the Dalit bandwagon.
A decade later, the party's appeal among non-Dalits appears limited.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's high-voltage campaign and strategist Prashant Kishor's electoral planning seems to have made little to no difference to the party's fortunes.
Its tally is projected to decline to 5-9 seats from 28 in the 2012 elections.
The BJP's projected vote share has gone up to 33 per cent from 31 per cent in the opinion poll done by Axis My India in October.
Though both SP and BSP have 26 per cent votes, the state's ruling party is likely to bag more seats because it's vote share is concentrated, unlike the rival whose votes are spread across the state.
Akhilesh Yadav is the top choice to be the state's next CM, with 33 per cent of the respondents backing him for the job
The BJP's attempts to break into the SP's Yadav vote bank is not making much headway. 72 per cent of the Yadavs polled said they will vote for the undivided SP.
One of the reasons behind the BSP's falling graph is that the Muslims of UP who were earlier divided between the SP and BSP now seem to be gravitating towards the former.
71 per cent of the Muslims polled in December said they will vote for the SP while in October the party's Muslim support stood at 58 per cent.
In the same period, the BSP's support among Muslims has fallen from 21 per cent to 14 per cent.
The SP's support is highest among the youth, thanks to the image Akhilesh has been able to build among the state's youngsters.
The BJP is most popular among the 60+ voters of UP where it has 37 per cent support, four per cent more than its overall vote share.
Young Akhilesh Yadav is the top choice to be the state's next CM, with 33 per cent of the respondents backing him for the job. Mayawati comes in second with 25 per cent support.
Though Home Minister Rajnath Singh has indicated he's not in the race, he's still the BJP's best bet with 20 per cent of respondents backing him.
As has been the case in previous opinion polls, Mayawati has the highest approval ratings when it comes to the question of who's best placed to handle law and order in UP.
48 per cent of the respondents thought that she would do the best job while 28 per cent backed Akhilesh Yadav.
The opinion poll has a sample size of 8,480 and was carried out by a team of 35 surveyors from December 12-24.
The survey does not factor in the impact of any possible split in the Samajwadi Party nor does it look at the impact of an alliance among the SP, Congress and RLD.
In a multi-corner race with small margins, the coming together of 'secular forces' can change all current calculations.
Explaining what could change from here on, Pradeep Gupta, the lead pollster for Axis My India, told India Today TV, 'As of now, Muslim votes are consolidated behind SP. But if it splits, Muslims will have to rethink their support.
'Minorities could once again swing towards BSP or pick the Akhilesh and Congress alliance. A Dalit and Muslim alliance can pose a serious challenge for BJP.'
Battling demonetisation headwinds, the BJP believes it will do even better than the survey suggests.
Party general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh, Om Mathur, told India Today TV, 'For the last two and a half years, BJP workers have been working on every booth in the state.
'Our efforts will deliver even better results than what your poll shows. Our own calculation shows we will get more than 300 seats. You can take this in writing from me.'
BSP leaders refused to comment on the findings, saying polls always tend to underestimate the party's vote share.
Reacting to the poll findings, SP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia told India Today TV, 'The current differences in the party will be resolved by dialogue and the party will fight as one united front.
If your flight has been cancelled or delayed you have the right to compensation under European law.
Under EU Regulation 261/2004, passengers are entitled to up to 600 (534) in compensation when their flight lands at their destination more than three hours late.
While for cancelled flights, you have the right to take an alternative flight with the same airline to your destination, or cancel the flight and receive a full refund.
But airlines don't always have to pay out and can avoid doing so if the delay is caused by an extraordinary circumstance, such as bad weather or crew strikes.
If your flight has been delayed or cancelled you should be able to claim compensation
Previously, airlines routinely refused to pay out for delays caused by technical faults, claiming they counted as extraordinary events. But in 2014 two landmark Supreme Court rulings declared that carriers should pay out when a delay was caused by a technical fault.
We explain below when you're entitled to compensation, how to claim it, what to do if your claim is rejected and we have included template letters for you to use.
While these are the current rules under EU law, your rights will remain the same after Brexit according to the Government, whether we exit with, or without, a deal.
What exactly are my rights?
Airlines must compensate passengers if their flight is cancelled or heavily delayed.
They must also offer you meals, refreshments and hotel accommodation as appropriate whilst you wait for a rearranged flight.
There are no time or monetary limits on the provision of this assistance but if your airline does not provide assistance, then keep your spending to a minimum, and make sure you get receipts and claim reimbursement from your airline when you get home.
Download Regulation (EC) 261/2004
WHAT IF EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES DO OCCUR? Airlines have a duty of care to look after stranded passengers, even if cancellations are due to extraordinary circumstances out of their control. If you have been left stuck and out of pocket by your airline, then you will need to keep a record of what you have spent, including receipts and try to reclaim from airline using the EU rule.
How does compensation work for delayed flights?
Under the rules, airlines must pay compensation for cancelled or heavily delayed flights, but how much youre entitled to depends on the flight you booked and the amount of time youve been delayed by.
At present, the flight must have departed from an EU airport, operating by any airline, or it must be arriving into an EU airport and be operated by an EU airline. The 'EU airport' also includes the following countries; Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
It also needs to have been at least three hours late arriving at your destination to be eligible for compensation.
The amounts available start from 250 (223) for flights of less than 1,500km long which are delayed by at least three hours and go up to 600 (536) for flights of more than 3,500km between an EU and non-EU airport, delayed by at least four hours.
HOW MUCH YOU'RE ENTITLED TO IF YOUR FLIGHT IS DELAYED Delay to your arrival Flight distance Amount of compensation At least three hours Less than 1,500km 250
Between 1,500km and 3,500km 400 More than 1,500km and within the EU 400 Three to four hours More than 3,500km, between an EU and non-EU airport 300 At least four hours More than 3,500km, between an EU and non-EU airport 600
How to claim compensation for a delay
Passengers can claim by telling the airline their flight number, names of passengers and the reason for the delay (we have included template letters at the end of this guide).
If you cant remember how long the delay was, the website Flightstats.com is free to use and will show you how long a flight has been delayed for, although it wont state what the delay was for.
If the claim is rejected, but you believe it's valid you can escalate it to the ombudsman or the relevant regulator (this will depend on the airline). If you still dont get the answer you believe is right it is possible to take the airline to the small claims court.
How to claim compensation for a cancelled flight
If a flight is cancelled you should be offered an alternative flight with the same airline to your destination either on the day or the day after, if there is room, or a full refund for the flight you booked.
But if neither of these are possible you should be given the option of a flight with a different airline to your destination, if theres space. If you end up paying for this separately you should be able to claim any extra money paid back if you can prove no other suitable option was given by the original airline.
If you were given more than 14 days notice about the cancellation, you will only be entitled to a new flight or a refund for your original flight. But if you were given 14 or less days notice, you might be able to claim compensation on top of a refund or alternative flight.
The amount of compensation of offer differs depending on when you were told about the cancellation, the length of the flight, and how long you had to wait for a new flight.
The cancellation also needs to have been something which could have been avoided by the airline so you won't be able to claim for reasons such as a crew strike or extreme weather conditions.
To apply for compensation, which can be from 125 to 600, contact the airline directly and outline what has happened and why you are entitled to it. There are free template letters for you to use at the end of this article.
Rules: You should be able to claim compensation for flight delays dating back six years.
Can my airline turn down my claim?
Airlines don't have to accept every claim and they can turn them down if 'extraordinary circumstances' apply. However if this is the case, the airline still has a duty of care to passengers.
The rules state that airlines must provide passengers with accommodation, meals and refreshments and transport between the airport and accommodation. Airlines are breaking the rules if they shirk this obligation.
If your airline turns down your claim under extraordinary circumstances you can challenge this if you do not believe it to be true. Write back to them explaining why this is not the case and explain that you will take the matter up with the Civil Aviation Authority if it is not settled properly.
The problem is that many airlines are still trying to wriggle out of such claims and a classic example of this is airlines claiming technical faults as extraordinary circumstances. This is because the regulation gives no definition of exactly what extraordinary circumstances are, but does give some examples.
It says: 'As under the Montreal Convention, obligations on operating air carriers should be limited or excluded in cases where an event has been caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.
'Such circumstances may, in particular, occur in cases of political instability, meteorological conditions incompatible with the operation of the flight concerned, security risks, unexpected flight safety shortcomings and strikes that affect the operation of an operating air carrier.'
The crucial part of this is that it says 'which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken'.
This means that you can challenge the technical fault defence on the basis that an airline should have reasonable expectation that things can go wrong on an aircraft and should have contingency plans in place, such as having replacement parts or access to them where it operates.
If your flight is delayed by more than three hours you should be able to claim from your airline
If your airline tries to claim extraordinary circumstances, challenge them to explain exactly what they were and why they could not have been reasonably avoided. The onus is on them to prove this.
How far back can I claim?
Regulation (EC) 261 does not set a time limit on how far back claims can go, instead stating that this should be determined by the laws in respective EU countries.
In the UK, the statute of limitations law is six years, so by this logic an airline should consider claims for delays dating back six years from the time the claim is submitted.
Some airlines have used legal loopholes to avoid paying out here too. In 2014 we reported the case of a Monarch passenger who found the airline was delaying their claim while it waited for a court ruling.
When that ruling arrived in the passengers' favour, the This is Money reader tried to claim only to be told that he was out of the six years.
When he contested this on the basis it was Monarch that delayed things not him, he was told that despite having been in touch regularly over the years, as he had not made a court claim within the past six years he was outside the allotted time period.
Monarch said: 'If a customer presents their claim to an airline within six years but does not issue court proceedings and the six years have now expired, they are unfortunately unable to claim.
You will not be able to claim compensation if you are delayed because of bad weather
'It is our customers' responsibility to seek legal advice from either the Citizen's Advice Bureau, Civil Aviation Authority, or otherwise in order to find out if they need to take any action to stop time running out under the Limitation Act.'
What will happen when I ask for compensation?
If you are not given the assistance that you are due, you will need to make a claim against the airline. You will need receipts and proof of expenses and they must be reasonable.
What about travel insurance? Most travel insurance policies should cover passengers for extra expenses incurred if they are stuck. Depending on the policy, this could cover the knock-on effects of not being able to fly. Cancelled hotels, trips and other expenses already paid out could be reclaimed under your travel insurance. It is important to check your policy carefully to see what is covered, any exclusions and the relevant excesses. Once again keep any extra spending to reasonable level, hold onto receipts and if in doubt, call your insurer before paying for anything. Travel insurance does not override airlines duty of care, but you cannot claim for the same thing twice.
It is always unclear what airlines will do when faced with claims. Some may try and refuse to pay and stave off claims.
If this happens passengers need to use the courts to force payment.
The best way to do this is through the small claims track of the county court.
How to use the small claims court
What can't I claim?
Your expenses should be reasonable such as a hotel similar to the standard of the one you were staying in or a simple meal.
Living it large and then trying to charge it to the airline is unlikely to work.
You are also unlikely to find airlines paying for the expense of you abandoning your flight and navigating your way home yourself.
Although, if you have taken the simplest and best-value route you may be covered and if you had been advised to get yourself home and that you would be reimbursed by the airline, then you should state this and claim.
This is Money has heard a lot of reports of airlines trying to fob off passengers, deny they are issuing reimbursements or claim that this is not the law. That is untrue and while you may need to be persistent, you should get your money.
If your airline does claim extraordinary circumstances, they need not pay the compensation amounts above but still have a duty of care to look after you and get you where you are meant to be going.
You should tell them that under Regulation (EC) 261/2004 Article 5 you are entitled to be reimbursed or re-routed under Article 8 and also offered assistance, including accommodation, meals and transport under Article 9.
Reclaim: The sample letter below can be copied and pasted to help you with your claim.
You should also state that under Article 5, airlines are able to not pay compensation in accordance with article 7 in the case of 'extraordinary circumstances', but crucially that this extraordinary circumstances clause does not apply to the entitlement to assistance under Article 9.
The sample reclaim letters
We have provided a sample paragraph and letter for you to use. Either copy and paste the paragraph into your letter, or use the letter template and add your personal details into it.
Copy and paste the text, as needed, adding in your details. For more advice visit the Civil Aviation Authority website .
Delays or cancellations not classed as extraordinary circumstances
Dear Sir/Madam
I am writing regarding flight [flight number] on [date] from [departure airport] to [arrival airport] with the scheduled departure time of [scheduled departure time].
My booking reference is [booking or reservation reference if available]. This flight arrived [number of hours] hours late at [airport] (or) This flight was cancelled and I arrived late on [time and date of arrival].
The passengers in the party were [names of party].
The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Tui & others v CAA confirmed the applicability of compensation for delay as set out in the Sturgeon case. As such, I am seeking compensation under EC Regulation 261/2004 for this delayed flight.
My scheduled flight length was [number of kilometres see here if you need to check flight length http://gc.kls2.com /], therefore I am seeking [if less than 1500km: 250, if more than 1500km but less than 3500km: 400, if more than 3500km: 600) per delayed passenger in my party. The total compensation sought is ].
I look forward to hearing from you and would welcome a response in 14 days,
Yours faithfully,
[passenger name]
Delays or cancellations classed as extraordinary circumstances
Dear Sir/Madam
I am writing regarding flight [flight number] on [date] from [departure airport] to [arrival airport] with the scheduled departure time of [scheduled departure time].
My booking reference is [booking or reservation reference if available]. This flight arrived [number of hours] hours late at [airport] (or) This flight was cancelled and I arrived late on [time and date of arrival].
Unfortunately, your airline failed to meet its obligations under EU rules and did not provide me with the assistance it should have in the form of rerouting home / accommodation / meals / transport to the airport. [Delete as applicable.]
I am therefore asking you to please compensate me for ----. I enclose receipts.
The EU rules that state that I should have been assisted by yourselves are in Regulation (EC) 261/2004. In this Article 5 states that in the case of cancellation or delay of more than one day I am entitled to be reimbursed or re-routed under Article 8 and also offered assistance, including accommodation, meals and transport under Article 9.
Article 9 states:
1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered free of charge:
(a) meals and refreshments in a reasonable relation to the waiting time;
(b) hotel accommodation in cases
where a stay of one or more nights becomes necessary,
or where a stay additional to that intended by the passenger becomes necessary; (c) transport between the airport and place of accommodation (hotel or other).
2. In addition, passengers shall be offered free of charge two telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or e-mails.
3. In applying this Article, the operating air carrier shall pay particular attention to the needs of persons with reduced mobility and any persons accompanying them, as well as to the needs of unaccompanied children.
Under Article 5 part 3, airlines are able to avoid paying compensation in accordance with Article 7 in the case of 'extraordinary circumstances', but this extraordinary circumstances clause does not apply to the entitlement to assistance under Article 9.
A 2014 ruling ratified by the Supreme Court, in the case of Huzar vs Jet2, says that European airlines can no longer claim technical faults as extraordinary circumstances, so must pay out compensation for flight delays of longer than three hours such cases.
I thank you for your assistance with this and await your response,
17.25: The FTSE 100 closed up 11.85 points at 7189.74 - yet another record closing high for London's top market.
However, the index failed to breach yesterday's mid-session high of 7,205.45 on a mostly lacklustre trading day ahead of publication of the latest Federal Reserve minutes, which are expected to shed light on the US interest rate rise in December.
The Dow Jones was up 45.9 points at 19,927.6. Brent crude was at $56.28 and the pound was at $1.23 against the dollar.
Market watch: Federal Reserve minutes will be scrutinised by traders
'The FTSE 100 spent most of Wednesday trading back and forth around the flat line. The bullish fever that catapulted shares to a new record high on the first day of trading in 2017 was more tempered by day two,' said Jasper Lawler of London Capital Group.
'Disappointing Christmas sales figures by high street and catalogue retailer Next as well as strength in the British pound, a negative for multinational earnings, weighed on UK investor sentiment.
'The scheduled release of the minutes from the December meeting of the Federal Reserve after the European market close meant there was an element of wait and see going on.'
Joshua Mahony of IG said: 'Todays FOMC minutes provide a key insight into the thinking of the committee when they took the hawkish step of raising rates in December.
'Given that the Fed projection of three rate hikes in 2017 only saw "some" of the members factoring in the impact Trump will have, there is a distinct possibility that big any fiscal stimulus measures would drive an increasingly hawkish Fed.'
The London index was relatively buoyant despite major losses from retailers including Next, which emerged as the biggest faller on the FTSE 100, down 685p at 4,085p after warning profits were expected to drop by 3.6 per cent in the year to January 2017.
Next said trading woes are set to deepen over the following 12 months, with profits tumbling as much as 14 per cent in the worst case scenario in the year to January 2018.
The news hit fellow retailers including Marks and Spencer Group which fell 21.1p to 323.4p, and Primark owner Associated British Foods which dropped 101p to 2,610p.
But home builders including Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey dragged the index higher, buoyed by comments from Deutsche Bank which said there was 'appealing value' in the sector.
Barratt Developments, which was the best performer on the FTSE 100, jumped 18.9p at 483.9p, while Taylor Wimpey rose 5.9p at 161.4p, and Persimmon gained 50p to reach 1,180p.
B&M shares rose nearly 9.5 per cent after the discount retailer reported a 7.2 per cent jump in like-for-like sales in the three months to December, with revenue rising over 20 per cent to 789.1million.
The company put the performance down to strong festive sales and 'improved in-store standards' for customers.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Barratt Developments up 18.9p at 483.9p, Taylor Wimpey up 5.9p at 161.4p, Fresnillo up 48p at 1,314p, and Persimmon up 50p at 1,180p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Next down 685p at 4,085p, Marks and Spencer Group down 21.1p at 323.4p, Associated British Foods down 101p at 2,610p, and ITV down 6.6p at 201.4p.
17.01: The FTSE 100 closed up 11.85 points at 7189.74. More to come.
15:20: The Footsie was struggling for momentum by the afternoon as US stocks opened slightly higher with investors awaiting the minutes of the Federal Reserve's December meeting - where the central bank raised interest rates.
With just over an hour to go the FTSE 100 index was off 3 points at 7,174.6, a level it has been hovering around for most of the session.
On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 28.01 points at 19,909.77, the S&P 500 increased 4.6 points at 2,262.43 and the Nasdaq composite gained 11.16 points at 5,440.24.
Change of heart: Today Trump wall full of praise for Ford - sending the firm's shares higher
Tweet bomb: Yesterday Trump slammed General Motors for sending Mexican-made models of its Chevy Cruze to US car dealers without paying border taxes
The Fed raised rates for the first time last year, citing strength in the labor market and a slight uptick in inflation.
Investors will be keen to assess policymakers' view on inflation, especially after a spate of strong economic data.
With just over two weeks left before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, investors are waiting for the finer details of his proposed policies such as tax cuts and higher fiscal spending.
And Trump has again grabbed the headlines with his now infamous market moving tweets.
This time it was in favour of Ford after the company said it is dropping its plan to build a $1.6billion US plant in Mexico, a plan criticized by Donald Trump throughout last year's presidential primary campaign.
Ford also announced it plans to invest about $700million in a Michigan factory that will build high-tech autonomous and electric vehicles.
Shares this session in the car maker have moved 3 per cent higher.
13:00: The Footsie was stuck in the red by lunch, weighed down by retail stocks after Next warned sales and profits would be under pressure in the year ahead.
London's top flight index has been hovering around 7,175 point mark all session, not far off yesterday's all-time closing high of 7,177.89, but still below the mid-session record of 7,205.45.
Retail stocks were by far and away the worst performers on the index.
Losers: Next and Marks & Spencer were languishing at the bottom of the FTSE 100 table
Next shares were down 12 per cent, holding onto the bottom spot on the FTSE 100.
The high street giant said it was bracing for 'tougher times' ahead, with profits expected to drop by 3.6 per cent in the year to January 2017 after sales in the 54 days to December 24 fell 0.4 per cent, and end-of-season clearance sales plunged 7 per cent.
It added that trading woes are set to deepen over the following 12 months, with profits tumbling as much as 14 per cent in the worst case scenario in the year to January 2018.
This also led Marks & Spencer 4 per cent lower, while Burberry lost 2 per cent. Shares in AB Foods, which owns Primark, fell 3.6 per cent.
Neil Wilson, a senior market analyst at ETX Capital said: 'Marks & Spencer and Debenhams have both tumbled 5 per cent this morning as the fallout from Next's Christmas trading statement is chewed over by investors.
'Both of these face similar problems to Next - cost pressures and a failure to stay fresh in the eyes of consumers.
'Investors are clearly wary about high street dinosaurs as we head into an uncertain 2017, with Brexit, inflation and a weak pound all a major concern.'
But housebuilders were enjoying a strong session with Barratt, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey all up over 2 per cent.
Drug stocks were also having some cheer after JP Morgan put out its 2017 drugs preview.
It said: 'Shire remains our top pick. GSK is our second choice, we see the dividend secure, and consensus forecasts well underpinned even with timely generic Advair approval; however, there are limited catalysts, and the valuation look fair rather than compelling.'
Shire was up 16p at 4,776p, while GlaxoSmithKline added 6.5p at 1,568.5p.
In currency markets, the pound was up 0.3 per cent against the US dollar at around $1.227.
Sterling was little affected by the Markit construction PMI which came in at a better-than-expected 54.2 for December, up from 52.8 in November.
Economists had been expecting a reading of 52.6.
It marked the fastest pace of construction output in 10 months, having been driven by improved order books and a rebound in business conditions.
Across Europe, the French Cac 40 was relatively flat and the German Dax was down nearly 0.2 per cent.
In oil markets, Brent crude prices were up 0.3 per cent at around $55.69, as investors cheered reports that Saudi Arabia was set to increase oil prices in February as part of a deal between major producers to tackle the supply glut.
Away from London's top tier index, B&M shares rose 6.7 per cent after the discount retailer reported a 7.2 per cent jump in like-for-like sales in the three months to December, with revenue rising over 20% to 789.1million.
The company put the performance down to strong festive sales and 'improved in-store standards' for customers.
08:30: The Footsie made a slow start to the session, in what looks like the start of a woeful time for British retailers.
In early deals the index was down 4 points at 7,174.4, having finished up 35.06 points at 7177.89 yesterday - a new record closing high for London's top market.
Overnight Asian shares were mostly flat. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged down 0.31 per cent to and China's Shanghai Composite was 0.58 per cent higher.
In London, the index's lacklustre start was being led by Next, Marks & Spencer, Associated British Foods and Tesco - all of which were down over 2 per cent.
The hardest hit was Next after the High Street retailer said full-price sales fell by 0.4 per cent in the 54 days to 24 December, with annual profits now set to be at the low end of expectations.
Trouble: Next reported poor results over Christmas and analysts expect other retailers to follow
It shares are down 12 per cent, or 584p at 4,187.5p.
But elsewhere the commodity, banking and housebuilder sectors helped to prevent the index from falling further.
Barratt Developments was up over 2 per cent, while Taylor Wimpey gained 1.5 per cent.
Still to come this morning is December's construction PMI, with analysts expecting a slight decrease from 52.8 to 52.6 month-on-month.
The market will also be receiving an insight into home sales and building in the UK with an update on mortgage approvals and construction.
Stocks in focus in London include:
NEXT - The British clothing retailer Next cut profit guidance for its current financial year and also warned on the outlook for the following year, saying it is preparing the company for tougher times.
IAG - British Airways cabin crew plan to hold a 48-hour strike starting on January 10, after suspending previous plans to walk out over Christmas.
Data:
UK Construction PMI at 9.30am
UK mortgage approvals at 9.30am
Walking towards the Chanel make-up counter in Debenhams, I take a deep breath and clear my throat.
My stomach turns as I speak to the sales assistant. Whats the best price you can give me if I buy two, please? I say, holding aloft a couple of 96 bottles of Chanel No 5 perfume.
The womans smile turns to barely concealed hostility. Chanel doesnt do discounts, she says. I steel myself and try again.
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Louise Eccles tries to get a bargain by using haggling techniques on the High Street
Would you mind checking with your manager?
But she will not be swayed. Before I can say another word she turns on her heel to serve another customer. This is my first foray into haggling and it has not got off to the best start.
Ive come to Londons Oxford Street to try my hand at bargaining techniques that most Britons attempt only when buying trinkets on holiday or buying a house.
My inspiration is new research which reveals that shoppers who have tried haggling on the High Street have been far more successful than you might think.
Remarkably, three in four who have tried to negotiate cheaper prices have succeeded in John Lewis, TK Maxx and Carphone Warehouse.
More than half have won discounts in Debenhams, B&Q and Homebase, and some have even earned money off in Marks & Spencer and Clarks, according to the research by the MoneySavingExpert website.
While many major department stores offer to match the prices of selected rivals, experts say some will also offer discounts on multiple purchases or big ticket items, and price match even the most obscure shops and online retailers.
Three in four shoppers have scored cheaper prices by haggling in John Lewis, TK Maxx and Carphone Warehouse
The January sales are tipped as the best time of the year to haggle because stores are desperate to shift old stock. Martyn James, of consumer complaints website Resolver, says: Haggling doesnt come naturally to many of us, and it might sound difficult to get a decent discount with a High Street retailer.
But theres a brutal war going on between High Street stores and new online competitors and shops know they have to fight for your custom.
The key is not to give up at the first hurdle. If you are turned down in one store, try again in another. Theres no shame in trying; after all, youll probably never see the sales assistant again.
So with an expert haggler in Martyn by my side, can I bag a bargain on the busiest High Street in Britain?
It is still only 9.05am on Oxford Street as we start early to catch the managers before they are too busy. This is especially important during the hectic sales.
Feeling bruised by my experience with Chanel, I suggest we leave Debenhams and try a different shop. But Martyn says often each brand within a department store can have completely different discount policies. We stay and browse the beauty depart-ment and a friendly sales assistant for the skincare brand Elemis approaches me.
I pick up two 89 Elemis Frangipani gift sets and say that though Id been thinking of buying them for my mother and auntie, theyre a little out of my price range.
Martyn has told me to stick to some rules: be friendly, but dont overdo the small talk no elaborate back story or lengthy preamble. They seem to work. Without hesitation, the assistant tells me that though Elemis staff are banned from giving cash discounts on goods, they are allowed to throw in freebies.
Be friendly, but dont overdo the small talk no elaborate back story or lengthy preamble
She disappears behind the counter and presents me with a gift bag of five miniature creams.
It turns out the same sweetener is handed out to anyone buying two or more items, so I try again: I dont suppose there is anything else you could throw in? Its just that these gift boxes are over my budget.
She pretends to think about my request very hard, as if its unusual but we both know were playing a game of cat and mouse. She disappears and returns with a 25 bottle of skin nourishing shower cream. You can have one of these if you buy both sets today, she says.
It all seems a little too easy. Martyn says if a store gives you a discount too readily, you should try again for a bigger discount or an extra gift.
The January sales are tipped as the best time of the year to haggle because stores are desperate to shift old stock
So after telling the sales assistant Ill think about it, I wander off for a few minutes. On my return I say Ill take the boxes if she throws in a second bottle of skin cream.
My face flushes none of this is coming naturally to me but she doesnt look at all concerned and agrees to my request as a one-off. Thats 50 of free luxuries on my 178 purchase. Suddenly, that awkward conversation doesnt seem such a big deal.
To put off hagglers, shop staff might claim the company bans them from discounting. Martyn says this is often untrue and you should persevere. However, the head offices for some retailers genuinely do lay down a no-discount policy. Thats the time to target a free gift.
Back on Oxford Street, a sales assistant for watch brand Tissot tells us the store doesnt have a discount function on its tills.
Tissot informs shoppers it doesnt have a discount function on its tills.
Yet when Martyn and I spend a few minutes debating aloud whether we can afford the 525 watch, she offers to throw in two Tissot-branded cotton scarves.
We move on to John Lewis. Surely the store that boasts it has never knowingly undersold will be more willing to negotiate?
Under its price match promise, John Lewis reduces prices to the same level as any High Street retailer on like-for-like items. You just have to ask. There are a lot of exceptions: no online retailers, no factory outlets, shopping channels, market stalls, mail order companies, showrooms or duty-free shops.
Crucially, though, it does offer to match the prices in tiny independent High Street shops. We approach a sales assistant to ask for a price match on a set of top-of-the-range Bose speakers.
The John Lewis store in Oxford Street is selling them for 89.95. Weve found a small independent shop called Peter Tyson 285 miles away in Newcastle that sells them for 74.99 almost 15 cheaper.
To my surprise, the John Lewis sales assistant checks the Peter Tyson website on my smartphone and agrees to match the lower price.
Martyn says: You might want to buy expensive items from a well-known retailer such as John Lewis or M&S because they have good returns policies or extended warranties but that doesnt always mean you need to pay more.
At the very least, always check what their rivals charge and ask to match that price.
John Lewis wont match online retailers because it doesnt want a price war with Amazon or Ao.com, which have lower overheads because they have no bricks and mortar stores to run and maintain.
Jewellery shops and electrical stores are among the best for haggling because staff often have targets or are paid commission,' says Martyn James
Securing a discount on own-branded John Lewis goods or getting more than a price match promise is a Herculean feat.
After an hour in John Lewis, we have failed to secure a discount on an 849 leather armchair with a tiny hole in it, a 180 Maxi-Cosi childrens car seat, which is 11 cheaper online, and a 999 oak dining table on display.
When we ask for a small discount on a 1,950 Tag Heuer watch, we are cut down to size by a shop assistant, who says: That is the price because . . . that is the price on the price tag.
Defeated, we head to jeweller Goldsmiths. Before we go in, Martyn offers some tips: Jewellery shops and electrical stores are among the best for haggling because staff often have targets or are paid commission.
Point out youve seen a reduction in a rival shop and if they turn you down, walk away. Swing by 15 minutes later and browse.
Martyn says you should target a middle manager. The store manager is likely to be too busy and a sales assistant will not have the authority to knock down the price.
In a smaller store, look for a supervisor or sales manager. In a department store, ask to speak to the brand manager.
For example, if you want to negotiate the price of an Yves Saint Laurent perfume, ask for the assistant in charge of YSL products. You can also ask them to call the brands sales representative, who works for the designer rather than the store and might have more authority to approve discounts.
At Goldsmiths, Martyn asks to try on a 3,840 Breitling Colt automatic watch with a brown leather strap. The sales manager seems delighted we have picked out such an expensive design and compliments our choice.
But weve done our research. A website is offering the same watch for 3,075 a full 765, or almost 20 per cent, cheaper.
To put off hagglers, shop staff might claim the company bans them from discounting items
The website looks so unprofessional Im not sure Id buy from it. The sales manager is clearly unconvinced and says the websites two-year warranty would not be with Breitling. So if the watch broke, we would have to send it back to the website rather than take it into a Breitling or Goldsmiths store.
The 765 discount is so big I tell him Ill take my chances. He looks at me for a couple of seconds, weighing me up, and then pulls out a calculator. Hes going to make a deal. The manager offers us 15 per cent off a whopping 576 discount. One call to his area manager later and the discount is signed off.
Guy Anker, managing editor of MoneySavingExpert and discount fanatic, says: The January sales are a perfect hunting ground for hagglers.
Go for already discounted and clearance items as the price has been flexed and the retailer has accepted it is not getting the full price.
He also recommends saying you want the stores warranty. Staff are often on targets for how many warranties they sell and may cut the price to seal the deal. If you go ahead, you can change your mind and cancel the warranty within 45 days under consumer legislation.
Mr Anker also recommends staying quiet after inquiring about a discount. Make them fill the awkward silence with a cheaper offer, he says.
Armed with this advice, I leave the bustle of Oxford Street and try Bentalls department store, owned by Fenwick, in Kingston, Surrey.
When the brand manager returns from lunch, I ask outright for a discount on a 69 silver bracelet in the Georgiana Scott collection. The chirpy manager explains she cannot discount new stock, but shows me similar styles in the sale.
I try on a bracelet with a leaf design reduced from 89 to 62.30 and, before I have even opened my mouth, she offers it at half-price 44.50. It would seem that, despite my British bashfulness, I may crack the art of High Street haggling after all.
Discount retailer B&M has reported a revenue rise of more than 20 per cent after hoards of shoppers hit stores to snap up bargains in the run-up to Christmas.
The chain, chaired by former Tesco boss Terry Leahy, said like-for-like sales grew 7.2 per cent in the three months to December 24, adding that it welcomed more than 5.5million customers in a single week.
The company, which saw takings jump to 789.1million, put the performance down to strong festive sales and 'improved in-store standards' for customers.
Discount retailer B&M is celebrating a revenue rise of more than 20 per cent after hoards of shoppers hit stores to snap up bargains in the run up to Christmas
Commenting on the positive trend, CEO Simon Arora said: 'We have once again demonstrated the strength, relative appeal and popularity of our model at a time of uncertainty for consumers generally and continuing structural change in the retailing sector.
'We have delivered our best ever Christmas trading and served over 5.5 million customers in a single week in the UK alone as we continue to gain market share.'
The company, which offers everything from beauty products to DIY tools, warned in November that shoppers would have to stomach rising prices in 2017 as the slump in sterling hits import costs.
The firm shielded customers from a price jump last year after hedging against currency swings, but said it will have to pass on cost rises from the spring.
On the up: This year, B&M opened 14 stores in the quarter and trades from 533 in the UK
B&M embarked on an IPO in 2014, taking Poundland's lead, as it's owners looked to capitalise on a boom in the sector.
The business, founded in 1978, was acquired in 2004 by the three business-savvy brothers Simon, Bobby and Robin Arora.
Simon Arora went to Manchester Grammar School, studied law at Cambridge and headed to the City where he cut his teeth at McKinsey, Barclays and 3i.
In 1995 he and his brothers, created Orient Sourcing Services and sold soft furnishings to Argos and BHS.
They sold this business and in 2004 and bought B&M which had just 21 discount stores with a turnover of 65million.
Expanding the group with cashflow, they grew to 300 stores in just seven years with a 1billion turnover.
This year, B&M opened 14 stores in the quarter and trades from 533 in the UK.
Cabinet Office staff have been getting training in 'conflict resolution' as ministers struggle to forge a strategy for Brexit.
The department spent nearly 3,000 this autumn on bizarre sessions that use 'improvisational theatre' techniques to defuse clashes.
The training comes amid signs of tensions within Theresa May's top team over how to approach the looming divorce negotiations with Brussels.
The training comes amid signs of tensions within Theresa May's top team over how to approach the looming divorce negotiations with Brussels
Chancellor Philip Hammond has been advocating caution and stressing the importance of access to the EU market for the economy.
He has suggested a transitional deal may be needed after we formally leave the bloc.
But other Cabinet ministers are thought to be keen to take a tougher line - including Brexit Secretary David Davis and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox.
There have already been bitter clashes with Scottish First minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is demanding Scotland stays in the EU single market even if the rest of the UK leaves.
Mrs May is also facing difficult questions over whether to pay a 'divorce' settlement demand from the EU that could be as much as 60billion.
Any suggestion that Britain should continue to contribute to Brussels coffers after we formally cut ties is likely to be met with a furious response.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Ian Lavery said: 'The Cabinet Office is responsible for coordinating the Prime Minister's policies and making sure her priorities are well understood and enacted by every Whitehall department.
'It's their job to deal with the daily arguments and conflicts that occur as a result.
Chancellor Philip Hammond has been advocating caution and stressing the importance of access to the EU market for the economy. Scottish First minister Nicola Sturgeon is demanding Scotland stays in the single market even if the rest of the UK leaves
Other Cabinet ministers are thought to be keen to take a tougher line - including the so-called 'Three Brexiteers' of (left to right) Liam Fox, Boris Johnson, and David Davis
'The fact Cabinet Office staff are themselves receiving conflict resolution training suggests there is a serious malfunction at the heart of government.
According to the transparency logs at the department - which provides support for the PM - three payments of 960 each were made to attend Together London conferences in October.
The sessions are likely to have taken place later in the year. It is not clear what staff were involved in the training.
The website for the organisation, which is run by guru Jonathan Kahn, states that it 'helps teams to reframe differences of perspective as gifts that enable learning and collaboration'.
'At our events people learn to create safe spaces using techniques from facilitation, conflict resolution, and improvisational theatre, the website adds.
The Argentine government has been forced to apologise after tweeting a map at New Year that failed to show the Falklands Islands as its own territory.
The Social Development Ministry responded to an uproar by posting a tweet saying sorry for the map which was included in an otherwise unremarkable New Year greeting.
The post had otherwise expressed the hope that 2017 'finds us united and in peace.'
Failure to include the Falklands on the image of Argentina outraged some veterans of the country's failed 1982 attempt to conquer the British-held islands, which Argentines call the Malvinas.
The Argentine government has been forced to apologise after tweeting a map (pictured) at New Year that failed to show the Falklands Islands (pictured) as its own territory
The ministry apologised for the blunder and laid the blame on its design team
The ministry apologised for the blunder and laid the blame on its design team.
Nationalistic critics of the government have also questioned a September agreement with Britain to remove some restrictions on trade and travel.
It comes after Argentina and Britain agreed to identify the bodies of 123 Argentine soldiers buried on the Falkland Islands.
The two countries, which have had strained relations for decades, also agreed to try to increase the number of flights to the remote islands.
Britain has been keen to improve relations with Argentina since pro-business President Mauricio Macri took over from Cristina Fernandez in December, although Argentina continues to claim sovereignty over the islands.
Britain has been keen to improve relations with Argentina since pro-business President Mauricio Macri (pictured) took over from Cristina Fernandez in December
They will then compare the DNA with that of consenting relatives, the statement said.
There are 123 unknown soldiers buried in the Falkland Islands, though not all families of the deceased have given consent for DNA testing.
More than 600 Argentines and 255 British servicemen were killed after Argentina seized the islands and Britain sent a task force to retake them, sparking the conflict.
Under the agreement signed by British Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan and Argentina's Vice Foreign Minister Pedro Delgado, forensic experts from the International Committee of the Red Cross will take DNA samples from the soldiers' bodies.
They will then compare the DNA with that of consenting relatives, the statement said.
More than 600 Argentines and 255 British servicemen were killed after Argentina seized the islands and Britain sent a task force to retake them, sparking the conflict
There are 123 unknown soldiers buried in the Falkland Islands, though not all families of the deceased have given consent for DNA testing.
More than 600 Argentines and 255 British servicemen were killed after Argentina seized the islands and Britain sent a task force to retake them, sparking the conflict.
Both countries also agreed to consult with airport authorities in Brazil and Chile to link more flights to the islands, located about 435 miles off the coast of southern Argentina.
The overwhelming majority of the islands' 3,000 inhabitants say they want the islands to remain a British overseas territory.
Only one monthly flight reaches the Falkland Islands currently, departing from Chile with a stop in the Patagonian city of Rio Gallegos.
A Syrian A-list actor who fled to America to escape the war is now set to star in a film with Nicole Kidman
Jay Abdo was one of the Arab world's biggest stars before the conflict in Syria made him just another anonymous refugee on the mean streets of Los Angeles.
Just a few years ago, the 54-year-old actor could not walk the streets in any Middle Eastern country without being mobbed by fans or dine out without being offered free meals.
But his fortunes changed when war broke out in Syria, and after fleeing to America he became a nobody and ended up working as a Domino's pizza man to survive.
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Actor Jay Abdo, who stared in 43 movies and more than 1,000 TV episodes in Syria, has struggled to gain recognition in Hollywood
Abdo stars in Werner Herzog's biopic of the British archeologist Gertrude Bell, due for release in the spring
A household name and a veteran of 43 movies and more than 1,000 TV episodes, Abdo was admired not just for his acting skills but his willingness to speak his mind in public.
'I had a pretty beautiful life,' he told AFP. 'People loved me, on screen and on talk shows when I spoke to people and expressed my culture and points of view.'
Known in Syria by his real first name, Jihad, Abdo is best known for his role in 'Bab al-Hara' ('The Neighborhood Gate'), one of the biggest soap operas in history, with up to 50 million viewers per episode.
His path to Hollywood started in 2011 as tensions in Syria were escalating in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
His wife, painter and human rights lawyer Fadia Afashe, was a senior official in Syria's department of culture, and found herself having to flee Bashar al-Assad's brutal regime after being caught meeting opposition activists during a trip to France.
She went to study public policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, intending to return to Syria after graduating.
Jay Abdo's Hollywood break came when he landed a part alongside Nicole Kidman in the movie 'Queen of the Desert'
Kidman plays archeologist Gertrude Bell, and all of Abdo's scens were filmed alongside her
But Abdo himself was beginning to become a major annoyance to Assad's crumbling regime after turning down numerous invitations to back the president at rallies and TV talk shows.
Matters came to a head when he gave an interview to the Los Angeles Times during a trip to Beirut in which he accused Syria's secret service of torture and corruption.
Strangers threatened him on his return to Syria, his car windows were smashed and he faced repeated demands to apologize to Assad on television.
Having seen friends arrested or disappear - some are still missing - he uprooted in October 2011, leaving behind almost all his wealth and property, to join his wife in Minneapolis.
The couple applied for asylum and drove for three days to Los Angeles with everything they owned so Abdo could find work.
Abdo appears not only alongside Nicole Kidman but also with other A list movie stars including James Franco and Robert Pattinson
It was only while the cast were filming in Morocco - where Abdo was recognised - that they realised just how famous he was in the Arab world
'I met so many people who were shocked that my name was Jihad,' he says, explaining why he became Jay.
'They didn't know it was Christian and I was named after a Christian lawyer in Damascus - a very good friend to my family.'
Even with a more palatable name, more than 100 failed auditions followed as the couple lived a desperate existence on just $3 a day.
It took more than a year to find work with a florist and delivering pizzas for Domino's, earning up to $300 a week.
Director Werner Herzog says he didn't realise Jay Abdo's reputation until the Syrian star was mobbed while filming in Morocco
The Syrian actor's career is finally back on track after he got his lucky break in the film
Abdo's break finally came when he landed a part alongside Nicole Kidman and James Franco in 'Queen of the Desert,' Werner Herzog's biopic of the British archeologist Gertrude Bell, due for release in spring.
'All my scenes were with Nicole,' Abdo says.
'I can't praise her enough. She's very sweet, extremely professional, a very good hearted woman - very smart and sharp. Above all, she supported me from the first minute.'
Herzog has since described in interviews finally grasping how famous his Syrian hire was when they visited a souk in Marrakesh during filming in Morocco.
'Everyone wanted a photo with him. The merchants in the souk gave us everything for half price,' the filmmaker told The Wall Street Journal.
In a sign that Tinseltown really does like its happy endings, the actor's career is finally back on track.
He has a part in the Amazon television series 'The Patriot' and 'Bon Voyage,' a short film he made with Swiss director Marc Raymond Wilkins, has just been shortlisted for an Oscar.
Last year, he appeared alongside Tom Hanks in 'A Hologram for the King,' a comedy about a failed corporate salesman trying to do business in Saudi Arabia.
Devastated by the worsening plight of the Syrian people in the five years since he escaped the Assad regime, Abdo is unsure whether he'll ever return. But he believes he couldn't be in a better place.
The family of a British backpacker found dead in an Australian 'gentleman's' club had no idea she was working as an exotic dancer and would have been 'horrified', her cousin said today.
As Stacey Tierney's heartbroken parents try come to terms with their daughter's unexplained and sudden death her older cousin Paul said: 'We are devastated and think there was foul play.
'And whoever is responsible is a coward and a low life for leaving her dying or dead and failing to get any help.It is shocking behaviour and very distressing.'
'Since she lost her life rumours have surfaced of her being a stripper but we know absolutely nothing about this,' Mr Tierney said.
Tragic Stacey's uncle Graham Tierney, in Manchester, said: 'I didn't know she was working in that club and I don't think anyone in the family did.
'As far as we knew, she was just travelling around Australia and enjoying it. I saw all her photos on Facebook and it looked like she was having a good time.
'She wasn't the type of girl to get involved with drugs as far as I know but we just do not know what has happened. Maybe her drink was spiked or something like that, who knows?'
Trip of a lifetime: British backpacker Stacey Tierney, 29, pictured at Wyndham on William, Melbourne, last January, was an exotic dancer at the city's Dreams Gentlemen's Club where she died in mysterious circumstances on December 17. She had been entertaining a private party of unnamed men. Her body was discovered on Sunday - 24 hours after she died
Wild moon child: Friends described Ms Tierney, pictured in October 2015, on Australia's Gold Coast, as a free spirit who was living the 'backpacker's dream' during her three years there. But her cousin Paul Tierney she kept her job working as a stripper hidden from her family
High octane: Fitness fanatic Stacey's Facebook page is filled with photos, chronicling her adventures in Australia including an adrenalin-fuelled skydive in March 2014, eight months after she arrived in July 2013. She said she was 'so happy' she had made the jump
'Love these girls': Stacey hid the truth about her exotic dancing from her family, according to friend Briar Rose, pictured centre in a picture from Stacey's Facebook page, above. She funded her travels with strip dances, according to friend Yasmin Donaldson, right
Live for the moment: An extraordinary online diary chronicling her adventures show free-spirited Stacey diving from a plane, sunbathing on a yacht, taking epic road trips and enjoying wild parties are prefaced with the words: 'The happiest time of my life is now'
He went on: 'I know my brother, Stacey's dad, has been trying to get some answers from the Australian authorities but everyone seems to be tight lipped at the moment. We only know what everyone else knows - the reports which have been in the papers.
'All the family seem very upset because she was such a great girl who was enjoying life.'
Stunning fitness fanatic Stacey, 29, swapped the rain of Manchester for the white-sand beaches of Queensland in 2013, and for more than three years lived the backpacker's dream.
On her Facebook page she posted scores of incredible pictures showing her diving from a plane, sunbathing on a yacht, taking epic road trips and enjoying wild parties, prefaced with the words: 'The happiest time of my life is now'.
She described herself proudly as a 'free spirit' and a 'wild moon child'.
But behind the smiles and ocean sunsets that she invited her family and friends to view, the trained dancer hid the truth of how she was paying for glamorous lifestyle.
HGV driver Paul, 32 - whose dad Alan is brother of the victim's dad Steven - said Stacey from Stockport, Greater Manchester, who had been due to celebrate her milestone 30th birthday in just two weeks on January 20, 'absolutely loved' Australia.
Paul, from Mitcham, Surrey, explained: 'She had lots of friends there and I really think she wanted to settle there for good.
'She was always in great spirits and just oozed life. She was very pretty and petite and very energetic and would light up a room.
'We were in contact on social media and knew Stacey was working hard to pay for her lifestyle, doing some pole dancing for cash, but not anything shameful which would cause any embarrassment to her family.
He said he still hoped it was not true 'Her parents would be horrified.
'It was all harmless dancing, her friends in Melbourne have since told us. She was also into fitness and loved doing all that energetic Zumba.'
Paul said he last saw her two years ago during a trip to Australia. He recalled: 'I went on holiday in June 2014 to help settle another cousin who had just moved over there. At the time Stacey was in Brisbane and we met up for the day and went to the beach. She was in great spirits and loving life.'
Fighting back tears, he said: 'That was the last time I ever saw her. I can't believe she has gone and in such mysterious circumstances.
'We will have no closure until we know what happened. The police have been hopeless and haven't told us much at all.'
Dingo Divas: Sun-kissed snaps show her living life to the full with trips down Australia's Gold Coast before her mysterious death. In October 2015, she toured Fraser Island and posted a photo of a human pyramid with the caption: 'It took a few attempts but we did it!
Beach bum: Backpacker Stacey, pictured on Fraser Island, loved her carefree lifestyle with few commitments. She joyfully described her adventure as having 'no actual plan, just winging it'.
'Down Under!' In February, ten months before her mysterious death, Stacey was pictured on a boat of Australia's coast soaking up the sun and seemingly without a care in the world
Close friend and fellow exotic dancer Briar Rose has revealed to MailOnline how Stacey danced 'as much as she could' to fund her travels, a secret the young Briton apparently kept hidden.
Briar Rose said: 'I don't think her family knew she was a [exotic] dancer. I don't think she spoke [to her family] about it. She's been dancing a few years on and off.'
New Zealander Briar worked with Stacey as an exotic dancer in strip clubs in Brisbane and Darwin, hard-partying cities in Australia's north-east.
Ms Rose has revealed how the young Briton had to attend private parties and offer private dances in order to make money.
Asked by MailOnline if Stacey offered private dances, she replied; 'Yes. That's how we all make money. If we didn't do private lap dances we wouldn't get paid so much.'
And the Kiwi revealed the precarious nature of earning potential with club management taking almost half of their earnings. On some nights dancers would walk out of the club with nothing, she said.
'We get paid for tips and privates [dances]. At the end [of the night] the money we make [the management] took 45 per cent.
'So you can have s*** nights and good nights.
'You can easily make hundreds [of Australian dollars] or you can walk out with nothing.'
While working at Brisbane's Showgirls nightclub Stacey befriended another dancer, Yasmin Donaldson, before the Briton left Queensland for Melbourne.
She told MailOnline: 'We were both strippers. Stacey was really nice.
'She was travelling from England and she was staying in Brisbane at a backpackers place and we used to do shifts [at Showgirls nightclub] together.'
Miss Donaldson added she was 'pretty sure' that the Briton had 'funded' her glamorous travelling lifestyle through exotic dancing.
'I went to her backpackers place where she was staying once. We went to the gay pride march with another stripper who worked with us. We had a really good talk and had a few drinks and had a really good time.'
She added: 'Stacey left Brisbane and went to Melbourne I think with some friends or other backpackers.'
As well as working in clubs in Brisbane and Darwin Stacey also performed as an exotic dancer in three venues in Melbourne when she arrived in the Victoria city about six months ago.
The Briton worked at Goldfingers, Men's Gallery and Dreams Gentlemen's Club where her lifeless body was discovered slumped in a corner just days before Christmas. She had allegedly been there for 12 hours.
Halloween queen: Stacey quit her job at the sports nutrition retailer Bodybuilding Warehouse Stacey arrived in Australia in July 2013, where she set up home in Brisbane. Her closest friends said she was a fun-loving party girl who liked to dress up
Stacey's Uncle Graham Tierney said: 'We are finding it difficult to get information, and realise there is an investigation regarding the suspicious circumstances.'
Her father Stephen Tierney said he was heartbroken by the loss of his 'beautiful' daughter, he added, while the mystery surrounding what happened to her was only adding to their grief.
The third of four sisters - Stephanie, Kristie and Kelly-Anne - Stacey grew up in a large and loving family in south Manchester.
Originally from Withington, she studied dance at Oldham College, then started teaching zumba and fitness classes at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.
The year before she left for Australia, she was working at Bodybuilding Warehouse, a company that sells fitness supplements.
She had told her family she planned to become a student in Melbourne, and when she returned home for Christmas last year her cousin believed she was working as a fitness instructor.
Stacey's cousin Colleen told the Manchester Evening News just before Christmas: 'We obviously knew how great she was. We were so proud of her and spoke to her all the time.
'She was so fit and loved dancing. She came back for Christmas last year. She had been working as a fitness instructor but she decided she was going to reapply and she was accepted back on a student visa.'
Full of life: During her time in Australia she toured the Gold Coast's tourist attractions including the stunning Whitsunday Islands and Fraser Island with other backpackers, pictured
Tragedy: In a tribute to Stacey, pictured lying on 'remarkable rocks' in February, Nathan Cartwright wrote: 'Dark day to hear of someone so full of life to come to such a tragic end'
Party loving: Stacey, whose mother Michelle, 52, and sisters live in Stockport in the UK, made friends easily as she stayed in backpackers' hostels and told her friends on Facebook she was 'In love with the Gold Coast' when this photo was taken in July last year
'Happiest time of my life is now': Former Oldham College pupil Stacey was pictured doing yoga on the lookout Torquay Surf Beach on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria, in April - eight months before she died
Sunday climbs: In Melbourne, Stacey reportedly made a close group of friends, with whom she had recently moved in with. Here she is pictured at an indoor climbing centre in the city in May
In fact, Stacey was reliant on the income from three separate lapdancing clubs in Melbourne to fund her dream, according to friends she had made locally.
She is reported to have been entertaining a group of men at a private party at the strip-club when she fell ill.
The unnamed men are then said to have left without raising the alarm or calling for help for ailing Stacey. Murder squad detectives are now part of the investigation into Stacey's death.
Her cousin Paul blasted some reports that his cousin may have died after dabbling in drugs.
He insisted: 'Stacey would never take drugs. She liked a drink but did not do drugs. She was too into her fitness.
'The worst thing is apart from losing her is that we don't know the circumstances of her death. I don't know when we will find out, the police over there are still investigating.
'Something suspicious has happened and someone knows exactly what! The club where she worked was closed but had been opened up by somebody for a private party.
'Her poor parents are devastated and can hardly cope with the lack of information. It's tearing them apart. The body hasn't been repatriated yet and they and we don't know if we should be going to Australia. No one is really telling us anything.'
A desperate Paul fumed: 'How can they [the police] rule out foul play. Why aren't they treating it as suspected manslaughter or murder? Police are not being helpful.'
Paul told of the moment he learned his cousin was dead. He recalled: 'It was the Tuesday before Christmas and my niece phoned to break the news. It was dreadful.'
Stacey, who had joyfully described her trip as having 'no actual plan, [I'm] just winging it', had initially gone backpacking to Australia about three and a half years ago with her boyfriend Matthew Girvan , 29.
Paul said: 'They had been together for a long time but they split up while they were over there. He had a contract as an engineer.'
Stacey retuned to the UK when her first visa ran out. Paul explained: 'She loved it so much and just wanted to go back so she applied for a visa to study. It was her dream to become a nurse.
Setting up home in Brisbane, she took part in a sky-dive - posting heartstopping pictures of herself in a tandem parachute jump with an instructor.
And over the coming months she visited some of Queensland's incredible nature spots including the paradise-like Whitsunday Islands.
Stacey, pictured with a friend, chronicled the first two and a half years of her trip of a lifetime in Australia on her Facebook page, but for the last six months of her life the photos dried up
Party girl: In one of the last pictures she posted, in July, Stacey posed for a selfie at a nightclub with a male friend which she wrote along with the caption: 'I'm in love with the Gold Coast'
Stacey, pictured left with a male friend, had been partying with a group of men at the club where she worked on December 18. It is believed the club was closed and she was with them at a private party. Stacey is believed to have complained that she felt unwell and the men left. He body was discovered on December 19, 24 hours later
A fun-loving party girl, Stacey loved dressing up, particularly for Halloween. One year she dressed in a black and white stripped convicts uniform, the following year as a 'she-devil', in a tight leather all-in-one suit and a horned tiara.
Christmas 2014 was a far cry from the wind and cold of Manchester with horse rides along a soft sand beach followed by a doze in a beach-side hammock. New Year's Eve was a raucous party back in Brisbane.
Making the most of her exotic location Stacey took frequent trips out of town, sleeping under the stars in Nossa Everglades and visiting Fraser Island, famed for its white sand beaches and quiet lagoons. In another cute post she reveals she took the chance to hug a koala bear.
Sleeping in backpackers hostels and taking forest hikes, Stacey marvelled at Australia's tropical north during a trip to Darwin and watched open-air music concerts on the beach.
The party-loving young woman from Manchester also danced the night away the Queensland's Brisbane Pride Festival with friends Briar Rose and Yasmin Donaldson, both exotic dancers who she had met while working as a stripper.
In January last year Stacey took a trip to Victoria, staying at the prestigious Wyndham on William Hotel.
With friends she took in the awe-inspiring twelve apostles sea rock formations during an epic drive with friends along the Great Ocean Road and McKenzie Falls in Victoria. She also visited the Remarkable Rocks national park in South Australia.
Paradise lost: The former fitness trainer, from Greater Manchester, in England's north west, had reportedly been partying at the club with a group of men while the venue was closed
Mystery: Friends of Stacey, pictured at at Halloween party in November 2015, said it was out of character for her to be spending time with men she did not know at a club she worked in after hours. There is no suggestion that the club's management is implicated in her death
Stacey returned to Melbourne about six months ago and started work at the Dreams Gentlemen's Club, where she was finally to lose her life.
It was around this time when public posts stopped appearing on her usually prolific Facebook feed.
The club, which boasts that it is Melbourne's 'finest table top dancing venue' with 'a selection of the most exquisite ladies' offers 'full throttle' nights where lapdances last three songs for 'just $50'.
Shockingly, the sister of the club's owner has questioned whether her death was an overdose after claiming girls who work at strip clubs 'get high on whatever drug'.
Antoinette Aparo, 51 - the sister of Dreams Gentlemen's Club owner Salvatore - told Daily Mail Australia: 'I know strip clubs and I know the type of girls who work there.'
'They go get high on ... whatever drug ... then they go to work, do their dancing and go home - how do we know this girl didn't just overdose?'
'All I can say is it will be interesting to see what the police come up with.'
However, a friend of Stacey pictured in 2014, has raised doubts about her death, saying she had never taken drugs. Briar Rose said: 'As soon as I heard she had died I asked if she had been killed I knew in my heart that something was not right.'
However Stacey's friends and family have vehemently disputed Ms Aparo's allegations, insisting the young Briton was the 'first to say no' if offered drugs.
Friend and fellow stripper Briar told DailyMail Australia: 'Stacey was healthy, didn't touch drugs and was so upbeat about life she wouldn't take her own life.'
She added: 'She would not get high then go to work. When I was working with her she was hardly drunk at all.'
Friends and colleagues at the club have told of their sadness at her tragic death.
Heartbroken exotic dancer Cherly Minxy Grant said: 'You didn't deserve this. No-one does.
'I thought it would make things easier if we knew what happened but with each new detail I think everyone becomes more shocked and heartbroken that in your last hours on this earth you had to endure what you did.
'I really hope you know how much you are loved and that we won't stop until whoever did this to you is put behind bars.'
Her cousin Paul added: 'She was living the dream. What happened was so tragic, she didn't deserve to die.
A couple were stunned when they stumbled across a children's hamster toy in Debenhams which sounded as though it was having sex.
Luke King, 27, was browsing the store's toy section with wife Francesca in Salisbury when he spotted the cuddly rodent on the shelf.
But, when he pressed the 'try me' button, the toy started banging up and down on the shelf and screaming.
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Luke King, 27, and his wife Francesca (together left) were left red-faced when they spotted a cuddly hamster toy in Debenhams which started making noises as though it was having sex
Mr King was so mortified at the apparent sex noises that he and his wife left the store.
He said: 'It started coming out with very unusual sounds for a kids' toy. It was making these screaming sounds and I was like, "Oh my God".
'I was a bit embarrassed because there were quite a few people looking at me.
'My wife told me to shut it off because it was really loud and it didn't sound very appropriate.
'It sounded like a woman engaging in sexual activity. It definitely raised a few eyebrows.'
The Bam Bam soft toy hamster is made by Spanish manufacturer IMC Toys under the Club Petz brand.
It's sold in the UK by retailers including Tesco, Argos, Toys R Us, Amazon and Smyths.
The Bam Bam soft toy hamster, made by Spanish manufacturer IMC Toys, sold in the UK by retailers including Tesco, Argos, Toys R Us, Amazon and Smyths, but is currently on sale
Its makers describe it as a 'cute and cuddly bonkers bouncing hamster' which will start 'shaking and bouncing all over' if you give it a squeeze.
The odd product usually retails for around 20, but Mr King said it was in the reduced section.
Debenhams have since slashed the price to just 10 in the January sales.
Mr King, from Tavistock, Devon, who had been looking for a gift for Francesca's niece, said: 'I don't know the background to the toy.
'But you would think it would get to the marketing or developing stage and someone would think, 'Hold on a sec, this doesn't sound right.
'Maybe that's why it wasn't selling.'
Gretchen Carlson made her way back to the anchor desk on Tuesday morning, hosting the third hour of Today alongside Al Roker and fellow guest host Sheinelle Jones.
It was Carlson's first time back in the studio since she was unceremoniously dumped by Fox News and the network's then-CEO Roger Ailes in June after a successful 11-year career with the cable news giant.
She filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes two weeks later, which was later settled for $20million and a public apology from her former employer.
It also led to the ousting of Ailes after numerous women alleged both publicly and privately that they had been sexually harassed by the 76-year-old executive.
Carlson meanwhile found a new cause to champion as a result of her experience, which she spoke about on Tuesday when asked what she was most looking forward to in the upcoming year.
'One of the things that I really want to do is give back. I'm setting up a fund to empower women and young girls. And I'm going to be contributing to that,' said Carlson.
'And it's really important for all of us, women and men, to build confidence and to stand up for what we believe in. And in some cases to fight back.'
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Back in action: Gretchen Carlson hosted the third hour of Today on Tuesday morning (above)
New friends: Carlson and Roker mugged for photos backstage ahead of her appearance on Tuesday (above)
Roker also acknowledged that Carlson had a 'challenging' year before very clearly stating that she was 'legally' barred from speaking about Fox News, the lawsuit or 21st Century Fox on air.
Carlson seemed to suggest to Roker however that she was ready to move on from the situation, though not forget what she had to endure.
She said was looking forward to new beginning,'s before adding: 'I'm a huge believer in being optimistic and starting over and getting a fresh start.'
Carlson, 50, also used her appearance to reveal that she has landed a new job, he first since Fox News opted not to renew her contract.
'I'm going to be a marquee columnist for Time magazine's Motto [website], which reaches 37 million people online,' announced Carlson.
'I'm going to write articles about empowering women and issues surrounding that.'
Carlson's welcome return to TV was unfortunately a brief one sadly, as her Today hosting duties lasted just one day.
NBC News also announced on Tuesday that another Fox News alum would soon been appearing on the network when Megyn Kelly joins the team later this year.
In a statement, NBC revealed that Kelly will anchor a one hour daytime program running Monday through Friday on the network, along with a Sunday evening news magazine show.
She will also be involved in the network's political and breaking news coverage
Triumph: It was Carlson's first time back in the studio and behind an anchor desk since she was let go by Fox News this past June (above with Al Roker and guest host Sheinelle Jones)
Carlson already got started getting her new message across this past October when she appeared in a cover story for her new employer.
It was Carlson's most extensive interview since she had filed her lawsuit, and she used most of it to talk about issues affecting all women rather than ones that were specific to her own struggles.
'I am saddened by the prevalence of powerful men disrespecting and objectifying womenand getting away with it for years,' said Carlson, who in that instance was referring to Donald Trump and his rhetoric on the campaign trail.
'I am particularly distressed when people in the public eye who influence our culture perpetuate sexism.'
Carlson also revealed in that Time interview that she will be testifying in front of Congress this year about forced arbitration in employee contracts, something that affected her at Fox and made it more difficult for her to file a lawsuit against the network and her alleged harasser, Ailes.
'A lot of people that Ive heard from [about being unfairly dismissed] find themselves in the middle of either legal action or, more likely, forced arbitration,' said Carlson.
'It is a huge problem. Because its secret. And it plays into why we think that weve come so far in society and we probably really haventbecause we dont hear about it.'
She then added: 'The intent of the Supreme Court when they ruled on arbitration was to unclog the courts. It was not to put issues of discrimination and harassment into covert operations.'
Fighting back: Two weeks sfter being let go, Carlson (left) filed a sexual harassment suit against the network's CEO Roger Ailes (right) which was later settled for $20million
In a subsequent op-ed that was published by The New York Times, Carlson used her voice to talk about sexual harassment.
'The most important part of this, in my mind, is men and women working together. This is not only a womens issue. Its a societal issue,' wrote Carlson.
The former Fox News host said that she had been dealing with many sleepless nights since she launched her own battle against sexual harassment in the workplace by filing a lawsuit against her former employer and the network's CEO Roger Ailes.
'I want to do everything I can to end sexual harassment in the workplace. I didnt expect to be cast in this role,' wrote Carlson.
'But as a result of the news reports concerning my departure from Fox News, letters, emails and texts from victims of harassment have poured in to me, and I cant turn away.'
Carlson also detailed the ways that men could help the cause, and what is needed to change things.
'Men need to hire more women and put them in higher positions of power within organizations,' wrote Carlson.
She then later added: 'Men also need to stop enabling harassers by egging them on or covering up or excusing their bad behavior.'
Carlson closed out the piece by stating: ' Women shouldnt be expected to solve this issue alone. We need men to be onboard, too.'
That same month she also appeared on the ABC program 20/20 to detail how she was sexually harassed multiple times very early on in her career, which began shortly after she was crowned Miss America in the 1989 pageant.
Helping hand: 'It's really important for all of us, women and men, to build confidence and to stand up for what we believe in. And in some cases to fight back,' said Carlson (above with husband Casey Close)
Carlson wrote in her July court filing about a conversation she had with Ailes in September of last year in which he allegedly said to her: 'I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you'd be good and better and I'd be good and better.'
That conversation allegedly occurred when Carlson went to speak with Ailes about what she believed were discriminatory practices at the network.
The popular Fox News host alleged that her refusal to have a sexual relationship with her boss was why she was let go by the network.
Ailes and reps at Fox News quickly denied her allegations, stating: 'Gretchen Carlsons allegations are false. This is a retaliatory suit for the networks decision not to renew her contract, which was due to the fact that her disappointingly low ratings were dragging down the afternoon lineup.'
That statement went on to say: 'When Fox News did not commence any negotiations to renew her contract, Ms Carlson became aware that her career with the network was likely over and conveniently began to pursue a lawsuit.
'Ironically, Fox News provided her with more on-air opportunities over her 11-year tenure than any other employer in the industry, for which she thanked me in her recent book.
'This defamatory lawsuit is not only offensive, it is wholly without merit and will be defended vigorously.'
Carlson's lawyers said in their own statement after Ailes resigned from the network: 'We hope that all businesses now understand that women will no longer tolerate sexual harassment and reputable companies will no longer shield those who abuse women.
Prince Harry has met his girlfriend Meghan Markle's father, DailyMail.com can disclose.
The meeting between the royal, 32, and Thomas Markle, a 72-year-old former lighting director, is understood to have taken place during one of the prince's visits to Toronto, Canada.
It was disclosed by her older brother, Thomas Markle Jr, who told DailyMail.com that Markle's father was 'proud' of the relationship and that the prince and the actress, 35, were 'very much in love'.
'My dad knew about [the relationship] from the start,' said 50-year-old Thomas Jr in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.
'He first met Prince Harry about six months ago out in Toronto. He goes once every couple of months [Meghan and Thomas Markle Sr] are very close and they stay in close contact.
'He's pretty happy about Harry and he's extremely proud of her [Markle]. They have an amazing relationship, they're very close and they always have been.'
So happy together: Meghan Markle's brother Thomas tells DailyMail.com that his sister and Prince Harry are 'very much in love'
The meeting between the Prince Harry, 32, and Thomas Sr is understood to have taken place during one of the prince's visits to Toronto. Pictured above, Markle at 11 years old with (from left to right), her nephew Thomas Dooley, her father Thomas Markle Sr, her nephew Tyler Dooley and then-sister-in-law Tracey Dooley, who was married to Meghan's older brother Thomas
Thomas Jr paints a picture of the young Markle as being a happy little girl who took her parents' divorce, when she was just six, in her stride. Pictured above, Markle plays with Rugrats toys with her father, Thomas Markle Sr, and nephew, Tyler Dooley
Thomas Markle Jr, Meghan Markle's half brother, has spoken out about his half-sister's relationship with Prince Harry
Thomas Jr says that his sister and Prince Harry are 'extremely happy together'. She and her brother have been close despite the 15-year age gap between them - with Markle sitting on her brother's lap when she was a baby and he was a teenager
Markle is understood to have met members of the Royal Family, including Prince William and his wife the Duchess of Cambridge, during a visit to London at the start of December.
She is also thought to have been introduced to Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, but Thomas Jr said he does not know if Markle's mother, Doria Ragland, 60, has met Harry.
Now Thomas Jr, whose father had the actress by his second marriage, after divorce from Thomas Jr's mother Roslyn, hopes to become the next member of the Markle clan to meet the prince.
He told DailyMail.com his sister is 'very much in love' with her royal boyfriend.
'They're extremely happy together, they look great together and she's done good,' Thomas Jr told DailyMail.com.
'She's very much in love and she's obviously happy because if she wasn't happy, she wouldn't be there.
'So she is happy and [the relationship is] taking off, which is good, and I wish them all the best. I couldn't be happier for her.'
He added: 'I think it is wonderful. As long as he takes care of and loves Meg, he doesn't have to do anything else although I would like to shake his hand and meet him.'
The couple are thought to have been dating since May, when Prince Harry visited Toronto to launch the 2017 Invictus Games, although the romance did not become public until November.
Since then, the pair have enjoyed numerous weekends together with Markle making two trips to London and Harry tacking a visit to Toronto onto the end of November's Caribbean tour.
Although the couple spent Christmas apart Markle in Toronto with her mother Doria and Harry with the royals at Sandringham the pair are expected to reunite early in the New Year.
Apart from Thomas Sr and Ragland, Thomas Jr is Markle's closest relative and, although 15 years old when she was born, lived with her during her earliest years before moving into a home close by.
Now living in Grants Pass, Oregon, with girlfriend Darlene Blount, 36, he works as a window fitter and moved north to be closer to his sons from an earlier marriage, Tyler, 27, and Thomas Dooley, 25, four months ago.
Prince Harry, who was seen in London on the Friday before the New Year break, is believed to have met Markle during his whirlwind trip to Toronto in May 2016, for the launch of the 2017 Invictus Games which will be held in the city
SO close too: Meghan Markle spent Christmas in Toronto with her mother Doria Radlan but it is unclear if she has met the Prince - while her father did about six months ago
But during Markle's childhood, he and his former wife Tracy Dooley, now 51, lived in Topanga Canyon a suburb of Los Angeles not far from the Suits star's Woodland Hills family home.
Thomas Jr, who was born in Chicago, is the only son of Markle's father Thomas and his first wife Roslyn, now 71. He has a full sister in Samantha Grant, 52, who now lives in Florida with her boyfriend Mark Phillips, 58.
After his parents split up in 1976, as a result of his father's move to Los Angeles, he and Grant remained in Chicago for two years before moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico, with their mother.
But by the time Markle was born, in 1981, Thomas Jr was again living with his father, sister Samantha and step-mother Doria in Los Angeles.
The year Markle was born, Roslyn also had another child, a son named Bobby Lucero, now 35. Both still live in Albuquerque, as does Samantha's divorced second husband, Scott Rasmussen, 57, and their 18-year-old daughter Noelle.
Samantha, who has been married twice, also has two older children Ashleigh and Christopher Hale, 31 and 30 respectively, who now live in Virginia.
Thomas Jr paints a picture of the young Markle as being a happy little girl who took her parents' divorce, when she was just six, in her stride and who was always destined for the spotlight.
But although she loved fairytales such as Cinderella and The Little Mermaid, Thomas Jr says Markle never harbored ambitions to become a princess and never had Prince Harry posters on her bedroom wall unlike Kate Middleton who is said to have had a picture of Prince William beside her bed during her time at Marlborough College, a prestigious private boarding school in Wiltshire, England.
'Meghan is already accomplished in life and now there's this on top of it,' Thomas Jr said. 'I mean it's every girl's dream to become a princess but she never said anything about it.
'She did like Cinderella and The Little Mermaid but she never had a Prince Harry poster or anything like that. But still, I think she fits the bill more than anyone.'
Thomas Jr says that says that his father, Thomas Markle Sr, has already met Harry. Pictured above, Markle at 11 years old with (from left to right), her nephew Thomas Dooley, her father Thomas Markle Sr, her nephew Tyler Dooley and then-sister-in-law Tracey Dooley, who was married to Meghan's half-brother Thomas
After moving out of his parents home, Thomas Jr lived in a nearby neighborhood and watched Meghan grow up as he raised his own two children. Pictured above, Thomas Markle Jr (center) smiles with his father, Thomas Markle Sr (left), and son, Tyler Dooley (right)
Thomas Jr, who was born in Chicago, is the only son of Markle's father Thomas and his first wife Roslyn, now 71. Pictured above, Thomas Markle Jr and Thomas Markle Sr smile with Thomas Jr's sons, Thomas Dooley (left) and Tyler Dooley (right)
Unlike Kate, who grew up in a comfortable home with her parents in Chapel Row, Berkshire, outside London, and is the daughter of a flight dispatcher and an air hostess, Markle spent much of her early life on set in particular that of long-running soap opera General Hospital, where her father worked as a lighting director.
'She used to go and hang out with my dad all the time when he was working,' said Thomas Jr. 'She would run around the studio on the set of General Hospital and I think that's when she decided she wanted to be an actress.
'She actually got on General Hospital a couple of times.'
Her mother Doria, now a yoga teacher and social worker, also worked on General Hospital as a make-up artist and met Thomas Sr during her time there.
'Doria is very nice,' said Thomas Jr of his former step-mother. 'She probably felt a little bit out of place at first, coming into a new household where it had just been me, my sister [Samantha] and my father.
'But her and my dad got along really good when they first got together. They got married and Meg was born really quickly after.
'She was just a happy little baby. You could tell right off the bat from the beginning that she was meant for the camera. She lit up.'
Of his father and step-mother's 1987 divorce, he added: 'Meg has been intelligent since the day she was born so I think she figured out things were wrong for herself.
'But she knew she was completely loved by both sides of the family and she didn't sweat it and she didn't have anything to worry about.
'In the end, she took it very well. She knew things were going to be OK. After they split up, she lived with her mom for a while and then my father, then back and forth for a while.
'But really, she was always with everybody.'
Educated first at the Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse and then at the Catholic, all-girls, Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, the young Markle adored her studies according to her brother.
And it was during her time in high school, where she was unsuccessfully nominated for prom queen in her final year, that she began to hone her acting skills.
According to Thomas Jr, her besotted father would regularly get involved in school plays, including a production of Damn Yankees!, donating his time and lighting skills to the school for nothing.
'She did a lot of plays,' he told DailyMail.com. 'I remember I would go down and meet my dad and he would be at Immaculate Heart setting up lights, countless times.
Thomas Jr says that Meghan as around TV sets and stages from an early age because her father did lights for the soap opera General Hospital. Pictured above, Meghan Markle plays outside with her nephew, Thomas Dooley
Thomas Jr says that despite moving to Toronto, Meghan is still quite close with her family members. Pictured above, Meghan plays on a swing in her family's backyard in an old family photo
'He really put a lot of his time into that school, for her and for her friends. He was like the anchor for everybody down there and for her.
'He gave her confidence he would say, 'The whole world is yours, go get it'. That's what my dad did for her.'
But while Markle was happy to take center stage in school plays, her brother says that unlike the famously mischievous Prince Harry, she never got caught up in pranks.
Instead, he remembers a teenager who was devoted to school and the stage, although she wasn't above the odd comedy moment.
'Her school was the most important thing for her that and the stage,' said Thomas Jr. 'I never saw Meg get in trouble or do anything that might jeopardize her never. She was good.
'There was one very funny moment though, which was when we met at the duck park [in Los Angeles] one day when she was about 13.
Thomas Markle Jr now lives in Grant, California, with his girlfriend Darlene Blount
'There were these little dispensers where you put money in and then you go take a bag of corn to go feed the ducks.
'So she did that and I remember she was throwing the food in the water or trying to feed one of the ducks by hand.
'Then one of the ducks nipped her or something like that and she got scared and ran away. She just ran off screaming.'
The clan would also meet regularly at weekends, when Markle and her father would be joined by Thomas Jr and his two sons Tyler and Thomas III at their home in Woodland Hills.
'Meghan was always a girly girl and she's always been cute - she's had that since day one, ever since she first stood up on stage and was a natural,' said Thomas Jr.
'She was so photogenic back then and she still is now. Actually, she is even more now. She had a lot of fun with the kids, Thomas and Tyler. She loved playing with them.'
Although Markle moved away to study International Studies and Drama at Northwestern University in Illinois after finishing high school, Thomas Jr says she would always come home for birthdays and holidays and remains close to her family today.
The family also remained close during her short-lived marriage to producer Trevor Engleson, 40, although Thomas Jr says he still isn't entirely sure what went wrong.
Markle is now based in Toronto, where she films the show Suits. She plays lawyer Rachel Zane in the drama. Pictured above is a scene from the show
'He was a nice guy,' he recalled to DailyMail.com. 'I'm not sure what happened with them. They were together for a few years but I'm not quite sure what their falling out was.
'I guess they just decided to go their separate ways. It's a Hollywood thing I guess.'
Of Markle's new love, her brother says he hopes things will work out and adds that among the things which impress him about Prince Harry is his decade-long career as a British Army officer, which included service in Afghanistan.
'He looks like a genuinely good man - and he was in the Services as well,' he said. 'He looks happy, he looks like he's stress-free and like he could be a good guy for Meg.
'They get along and that's what matters.'
On Markle herself, he added: 'There's been a lot of things said about Markle but it really doesn't matter what people come up with and what they say.
'She's the right girl for the job [of being a princess]. It's not a job but she's the right girl. You couldn't get a more refined, well-rounded person than her.
'Look at them when they look at each other they love each other. So it'll be great, it'll be royal. I just want her to be happy.
'Last time I saw her it was over some family stuff and it was nice, it was good. We spent a long time together, over a weekend a lot of good quality time and it was nice.
Many people in the Syrian capital, Damascus, have gone without water for 13 days after government forces accidentally damaged the city's main spring during fighting with rebels.
'I have stopped cleaning the house, washing dishes or clothes. We no longer take showers,' said Mona Maqssoud, a 50-year-old resident of Damascus.
She said residents have relied on water tankers that come by occasionally and give 20 litres of water to each house, but she said it was not enough.
'We begged the drivers (to return) to our neighbourhood, but they refused,' said Mrs Maqssoud.
Syrian residents filling up buckets and gallons of spring water from a pipe on the side of the road, in Damascus. Water supplies have been largely cut off for nearly two weeks
Most areas of the city have been without water since December 22.
The Jaish al-Fateh rebel group has long controlled Wadi Barada, the valley northwest of Damascus through which a river flows to the capital.
The Barada River and its source, the Ain al-Fijeh spring, supply 70 percent of the water for Damascus.
The government and the opposition had previously had an understanding to keep water services running.
But last month President Bashar Assad's forces and his allies, the Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, attacked the valley, which is home to around 100,000 people.
The two sides blame each other for the cut-off.
An activist-run media collective in the Barada Valley said government and Russian aircraft had bombed the Ain el-Fijeh water processing facility, puncturing its fuel depots and contaminating a stream.
Images showed the roof of the facility collapsed into the main water basin at the Ain el-Fijeh water processing facility (pictured)
The collective said the plant's electrical control systems had been destroyed.
Images showed the roof of the facility collapsed into its main water basin.
An activist with the group, Abu Mohammed al-Bardawi, said it would take at least two months to get the facilities working again.
But the Assad regime said they were forced to shut off the water after the rebels poured diesel into the river.
The government denied attacking the water processing facility, saying it would not set out to harm its own population.
But it would not be the first time it strikes its own facilities: government strikes hit pumping stations in the northern city of Aleppo in April, September, and November.
The battle for resources has always been an undercurrent to the war.
The government, in particular, has advertised its efforts to keep electricity and water flowing to areas under its control, while it blocks the UN and other relief agencies from supplying opposition zones.
Syrian boys carrying gallons of spring water after they fill them from a pipe on the side of the road, in Damascus
But rarely has that struggle been so starkly felt inside the capital.
Damascus, the seat of Assad's power, has been spared from the widespread destruction in other parts of the country, though rebels on the outskirts occasionally fire mortar rounds into the city.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have flocked to the capital seeking its relative security, doubling its population to four million, according to the UN.
For its residents, the water cuts are a gruelling reminder of the war beyond.
'If this goes on, I will rent a room at a hotel just to take a shower,' said a 60-year-old woman carrying a pair of buckets back to her apartment on the sixth-floor of a walk-up building.
Like many others in the capital, she was filling her basins from distribution points at a parks and mosques. The local press is reporting soaring prices for unregulated private water.
Residents are making adjustments to cope. Some are now flushing their toilets with bottled water. Others are dining on disposable tableware as an alternative to doing the dishes.
Ground wells around Damascus, even at maximum capacity, can only cover about a third of the minimum water demand of around 600,000 cubic meters a day, according to UNICEF spokeswoman Juliette Touma.
The agency has rehabilitated some 200 wells around the capital since 2011, partially insuring the government against the effects of its own Barada Valley campaign. This year, UNICEF funded $50 million in water projects in Syria.
The Barada Valley is surrounded by all sides by the Syrian army and Hezbollah forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict.
Syrian residents filling up buckets and gallons of spring water from a pipe on the side of the road, in Damascus
Pro-government forces have kept up their assault with airstrikes, artillery and infantry pushes, despite a Russia and Turkey-brokered cease-fire that went into effect Friday.
The government and the Observatory say fighters loyal to al-Qaida are present in the valley, and the militant are not included in the cease-fire. Local residents say there are no al-Qaida fighters in the valley.
'Most of the food depots have now been struck and burned,' said al-Bardawi. 'They are striking the schools we are using for shelters.'
Last month pro-government media reported efforts by officials to reach a so-called 'reconciliation agreement' with the towns and villages of Barada Valley, under which thousands of dissidents, military defectors and draft-dodgers would leave in exchange for the valley submitting to government control.
The opposition and the UN have likened these sorts of agreements to forced displacement. Such deals were reached in other areas around the capital under the pressure of years of government bombardment and siege.
Barada opposition fighters and councils have held out against any settlement. Activists say they believe that prompted the renewed government assault.
Opposition forces have retaliated by choking a natural gas pipeline to Damascus to pressure the government to stop its offensive, compounding the woes of the resource starved capital.
A group of rebels calling themselves the Coalition for the Joint Defence of Syria filmed themselves cutting the gas to the capital at an isolated station outside the capital on Thursday.
President Barack Obama will pay congressional Democrats a rare visit tomorrow on Capitol Hill.
The outgoing president will meet with members of his party on Wednesday morning on their turf to personally prep them for the fight with the new administration over his signature law, Obamacare.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence will be on the Hill tomorrow, too, huddling with his party about repeal and replacement efforts.
Senate Republicans have already introduced legislation to scrap the parts of the law they don't like through a process known as reconciliation that only requires a simple majority of lawmakers to process.
President Barack Obama will pay congressional Democrats a rare visit tomorrow on Capitol Hill
The move will keep Democrats from blocking the legislative action that would require 50 votes to overcome a filibuster under the regular rules.
Democrats have no chance of convincing Republicans to ditch the repeal effort they campaigned on for six years.
They could slow it down by playing up Republicans' bickering over a replacement strategy. And they can set the stage for Republican defeat in the midterm elections by emphasizing the disorganization of of the party that took the Affordable Care Act away.
Obama will advise Democrats on how to properly message the benefits of the law so that Republicans will have more difficulty taking some of the provisions away.
'There are stiff headwinds that we have encountered in trying to make the argument in favor of the Affordable Care Act,' White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday.
The Obama spokesman said 'the one thing that has proved to be true is that the more the people understand what's included in the Affordable Care Act and how they benefit from it, the more popular the program is, and the harder it is for Republicans to have political support for tearing it down.'
Earnest's comments came after House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi stated on a Monday call with other party leaders 'that if there is one thing I wouldve done differently about the Affordable Care Act right from the start was to message it in a much stronger way, to recognize the poisoning of the well that the Republicans were doing.'
Vice President-elect Mike Pence will be on the Hill tomorrow, too, huddling with his party about repeal and replacement efforts
'Right now, because of the fear that is being instilled by the Republicans, it is necessary for us to make that fight,' she said, explaining why Democrats are spending so much time talking about the law. 'I would just say to the American people: take a second look, take a second look.'
President-elect Trump took aim the health care law this morning on Twitter.
'People must remember that ObamaCare just doesn't work, and it is not affordable - 116% increases (Arizona). Bill Clinton called it "CRAZY",' he said.
A follow-up message read, 'The Democrat Governor.of Minnesota said "The Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) is no longer affordable!" - And, it is lousy healthcare.'
Trump has not released a detailed plan for replacement legislation. Senior aide Kellanne Conway said Trump wants to replace it with something that is 'more fair'.
The president-elect has said he'd like to keep a provision that allows dependents to stay on their parents' healthcare plans until they turn 26. It's one of the most popular parts of the bill and congressional Republicans have also said they don't want to strike it.
Republicans could get rid of the Obamacare law as early as next week but keep it in effect until the beginning of 2018, or longer, while they sort out a replacement.
Democrats and calling the 'repeal and delay' strategy 'cynical'. Some Republicans are arguing that it would cost the party politically.
The outgoing president will meet with members of his party on Wednesday morning on their turf to personally prep them for the fight with the new administration over his signature law, Obamacare
Steny Hoyer, House Democrats' top vote counter, said on the Monday call 'that its a very cynical, political approach.'
'Its essentially an admission that what theyve been trying to do for the last six years would be very detrimental and would have not only an extraordinarily adverse health effect on the American people, but also a very adverse political effect when the American people see the results of the repeal,' Hoyer stated.
The Democratic lawmaker said Republicans want to delay the effects of Obamacare repeal 'so they do not have to bear the political responsibility of the consequences.'
Pelosi chimed it to say that 'the repeal and delay is an act of cowardice on the part of Republicans.'
The Democratic leader said Republicans 'have shown nothing in their ranting and raving that shows any level of knowledge of where they would go, where they would take this except to say: if you need a subsidy and youre part of the exchanges, youre off.
'And they say that they want to keep preexisting condition provision. Well, if you have that without the rest of the bill, you will have a very big, expensive policy that you probably cant afford,' she said. 'Thats why people didnt have it before because they couldnt afford it before.'
Republican Sen. Rand Paul warned members of his party in an-oped today of the risks of rescinding Obamacare before they're ready to introduce back-up legislation.
'If Congress fails to vote on a replacement at the same time as repeal, the repealers risk assuming the blame for the continued unraveling of Obamacare,' he said on conservative news site Rare. 'For mark my words, Obamacare will continue to unravel and wreak havoc for years to come.'
Republicans could get rid of the Obamacare law as early as next week but keep it in effect until the beginning of 2018, or longer, while they sort out a replacement
The White House mocked Republicans today for dissent within the ranks about how to repeal and replace the health law.
'It's not surprising to me that there are some Republicans who are now a little queasy about the prospect of the impact that repealing Obamacare would have on their own supporters, on people in their congressional districts,' Earnest said. 'And the prospect of taking it away is a question of life or death for some people, and - so it's not surprising to me that that does leave some Republicans queasy.'
Earnest insisted that Obama's motivation for heading to the Hill tomorrow was to help Democrats try to save coverage for 22 million people, not his reputation.
'There's a lot of discussion about the president's legacy, that some people might think that well, the president's very concerned about the political capital that he's invested in this and he doesn't want to see it all go away,' Earnest said. 'That's certainly true.
He said 'the president's priority,' though is helping Obamacare enrollees keep their coverage.
Senate Republicans introduced a resolution to repeal Obamacare as soon as the new legislative session started today.
'This is the first step toward relief for Americans struggling under Obamacare,' House Speaker Paul Ryan said in response. 'This resolution sets the stage for repeal followed by a stable transition to a better health care system.
Ryan said the goal 'is to ensure that patients will be in control of their health care and have greater access to quality, affordable coverage' and today's announcement was the beginning of the fulfillment of that promise.
Vice President-elect Pence told reporters this morning that he'd speak to Republican members tomorrow about Obamacare and 'how we can move forward an agenda to make America great again.'
'Were focused on repealing and replacing Obamacare,' he said. 'We look forward to legislation that will give us the tools to roll back the avalanche of red tape and regulation that have been stifling American jobs.'
Senate Republicans introduced a resolution to repeal Obamacare as soon as the new legislative session started today. 'This is the first step toward relief for Americans struggling under Obamacare,' House Speaker Paul Ryan said in response
Continuing, Pence, a former lawmaker, said, 'The President elect has a very clear message for Capitol Hill, and that is, its time to get to work. And its time to keep our word to the American people and make this country great again, make it prosperous again.'
Democratic messaging efforts will center on the law's extension of healthcare to 20 million Americans, benefits the law offered to women, children and seniors and the price tag associated with repeal.
Tossing out the healthcare law could increase Medicare costs by $802 billion over 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office has said.
Republicans, led by Ryan, have said that Medicare will go belly up in 10 years without reforms, however, and they're deciding now whether to tackle the problem now, as part of Obamacare repeal, or as a separate issue at a later date.
Ryan wants to see a private option introduced to give seniors more healthcare options and create a competitive market that would bring costs down, as well.
GOP proposals to raise the retirement age and introduce means testing to Medicare have been controversial, and some lawmakers want to keep that effort separate from the legislative effort to replace Obamacare.
The House leader has said Medicare reform and changes to Obamacare go hand in hand.
'Medicare has got some serious problems because of Obamacare,' Ryan said after the election. 'Those things are part of our plan to replace Obamacare.'
Democratic Congressman Rich Neal said on the Monday call that he believes the entitlement program, along with Medicaid, is now entangled with Obamacare, too.
President-elect Trump took aim the health care law this morning on Twitter
Bill Clinton was arguing in favor of a public option when he said the current system is 'crazy' in the speech Trump referred to on Twitter - not railing against Obamacare
The solution is not to ax them, though, it's to implement the government-run healthcare program Democrats have wanted for decades.
'I think that Medicare, the ACA and Medicaid are now wed. And you cant alter one without disrupting the others. And I think that this takes us to the path that weve all envisioned and thats universal healthcare,' he stated.
Pelosi came in behind him, saying they are now 'wedded.'
Bill Clinton was arguing in favor of a public option when he said the current system is 'crazy' in the speech Trump referred to on Twitter Tuesday.
'As time goes on, it's obvious that the adversaries of health care, who didn't want there to be a public option, and have voted 57 times to repeal it, are trying to use a problem that the bill has or a class of people that haven't been helped, and they worked hard to make sure those people didn't get helped,' he said in other remarks that week.
Had the law been passed with a public option, like the president wanted, 'we wouldn't be dealing with this,' Bill said.
An American hiker who died last week on the Matterhorn in Switzerland has been identified as a father-of-four facing child pornography charges in Pennsylvania.
Swiss authorities said it appeared Patrick James Harper 'for an undetermined reason' fell to his death along a steep, icy slope at least 500 feet high on December 26. His body was reportedly taken off the mountain by helicopter.
Harper, 52, from Penn Township was charged in November with 52 child pornography counts, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
He faced a preliminary hearing on Wednesday. It's unclear when he was scheduled to return to the states.
Hiker Patrick Harper of Pennsylvania was facing 52 child pornography counts back home in the states when he decided to take a vacation while out on bond
Harper was out on $10,000 bond and reportedly on vacation with his wife, Beth.
Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said that while Harper wasn't technically violating the terms of his bail, it is 'unusual' for someone to leave the country so close to a hearing date, and said 'I question what he was doing there,' according to the Butler Eagle.
The hearing would have determined whether Harper went to trial.
According to the affidavit, it is alleged he told police that he had 400 or 500 still images and about a dozen videos. He said he had erased them off his computer the day he was interviewed.
Harper was reportedly climbing the Matterhorn in Zermatt (above) when he fell to his death
Harper was caught in a child porn sting in 2014. According to police, he was downloading child porn via BitTorrent and admitted to investigators that he had downloaded child porn on to his laptop.
Harper was an avid hiker, skier and climber. Apparently he was on the mountain alone when he went on to a snowy trail closed to tourists.
Harper was in Switzerland with his wife, Beth, according to Harper's mother - but apparently was hiking alone when he fell
His mother, Pat Fickess, said her son wanted to take photos in the same spots in which he'd taken them when he climbed the mountain in 2007, according to USA Today.
'He had made it to the top and was coming down,' she told the outlet. 'They told me it was icy, and the wind came up.'
His wife, Beth was also a fan of the Matterhorn.
to be moving into a $5.5million home located on Tracy Place
Couple plus their three children is
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As the new first family gears up for the big move to Washington, D.C., Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner may have found a new home for their family in the nation's capital.
The 35-year-old businesswoman and her real estate mogul husband have completed a deal for a beautiful home in an elite neighborhood, according to the Washingtonian.
Numerous real estate sources say that Ivanka and her family will be moving to the Kalorama neighborhood of the city, as the 94-year-old recently renovated home the couple is said to be moving into is just blocks away from the Obamas who are said to move into that area once they leave the White House.
Big move ahead: Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, are set to make a big move to Washington, D.C., as her father prepares to take office in the coming weeks. The family of five is pictured above including children, Arabella, Joseph and Theodore
New beginnings: As the new first family gears up for the big move to Washington, D.C., Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner may have found a new home (above) for their family in the nation's capital
Fresh: The 35-year-old businesswoman and her real estate mogul husband are rumored to have completed a deal for a beautiful home in an elite neighborhood. Above is the living area inside the home the couple is rumored to be moving into
Natural: Numerous real estate sources say that Ivanka and her family will be moving to a home on Tracy Place (above) in the Kalorama neighborhood. Above natural light can be seen flooding inside the home she's reportedly moving into
New neighbors?: The home Ivanka is said to be moving into is located just blocks away from the Obamas who are said to move into that area once they leave the White House
Modern: The home Trump and Kushner are said to be moving into soon sold in December for a cool $5.5million. Above a large dining area is pictured inside the couple's potential new abode
Future: The gourmet chef's kitchen inside the home is complete with a stainless steel refrigerator and finishings, as hundreds of meals in the future for the family of five will likely be prepared inside the home
Washington Fine Properties Executive Vice President William F.X. Moody represented both the buyer and the seller in the deal.
'It's so close to downtown, and it's about as tony as a neighborhood gets,' Moody told News4.
He would not confirm the address, but dozens of real-estate sources said the six-bedroom home located within the 2000 block of Tracy Place that was sold in December for a cool $5.5million is where they will be living, according to the Washingtontian.
It's unclear if the couple purchased the home outright or if they will be renting it from the buyers.
The lavish modern mansion is complete with 6.5 bathrooms and has plenty of space for hosting a large number of family and friends.
Spacious: The six-bedroom home located at 2000 block of Tracy Place has plenty of space for the family of five. Above one of the bedrooms is pictured inside the DC abode
Cozy: The gorgeous home was recently renovated with classic details that will surely prove to be perfect for the new First Daughter and her husband
Growing up: The Trump and Kushner children will seemingly spend the next four years growing up inside the new home, as there is plenty of space for the three children
There's also a lovely garden terrace on the second floor of the home that can be accessed via the master bedroom.
In addition, the 6,870 square foot home was recently renovated with classic details that includes a gourmet chef's kitchen with table space.
The pricey home also has a library, sun-room, a garden that also has irrigation for it, as well as a two car garage.
Flawless: The flawless abode where the family is said to be moving to is complete with 6.5 bathrooms, as the one above has both a glass shower and lovely bathtub
Perfection: The home's nice-sized windows offer plenty of natural light to flood in, as the bathroom above appears to be perfectly lit
Study time: The pricey home also has a library, where Ivanka and Jared's children will likely spend a lot of time studying hard if the couple does indeed move in
To stay cozy during the winter months, the new First Family is likely to make use of the five fireplaces inside the large residence that was built in 1923.
The real estate agency who helped the couple reportedly find the home in the tony neighborhood also assisted with others who are apart of the incoming administration.
Commerce Secretary nominee, Wilbur Ross, purchased a home for $12million through Washington Fine Properties, as well as Treasury Secretary pick, Steve Mnuchin whose home is located in the Massachusetts Avenue Heights area.
It's unclear what role the mother-of-three or her husband will play in the new administration.
Sizable: The couple's three young children are sure to have plenty of space inside the residence, as the room above is wide open and could be transformed into a beautiful play room for the children
Relaxing: The palatial D.C. home also includes a sun-room, a garden that also has irrigation for it, as well as two car garage. The room above is sure to be a relaxing space for the new residents of D.C.
It was reported in December that the couple would be planning to move to the nation's capital.
The former fashion model has said that she hopes to influence several policy areas, including child care for working mothers and maternity leave.
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Property prices in Sydney are soaring by a rate of $10,000 a month with home values doubling in just the last eight years.
Sydney has been dubbed the 'New York of Australia' where only white collar professionals or people who have inherited money can afford to buy a home.
With the city's median house price sitting at a daunting $852,000, CoreLogic data shows Sydney's dwelling values have almost doubled, rising by 97.5 per cent since the global financial crisis.
A three-bedroom weatherboard house in Parramatta bought for $535,000 in 2011 sold in December for $1,060,000. The property is currently being rented for $850 a week
Sydney has been dubbed the 'New York of Australia' where only white collar professionals or people who have inherited money can afford to buy a home (Parramatta property pictured)
Sydney's median house price is more than double Brisbane's $486,000 and easily trumps Melbourne's $641,000, according to the data (Parramatta property pictured)
Sydney's median house price is more than double Brisbane's $486,000 and easily trumps Melbourne's $641,000, according to the data.
Australian property mogul John McGrath likened Sydney to the notoriously expensive Manhattan, and said he was surprised by the pace of the market since 2009.
'Sydney is the New York of Australia,' he told realestate.com.au.
'Like in Manhattan, people just accept that if they want the lifestyle, they'll have to rent.'
Recent sales in Sydney's west, where housing prices have ballooned 147 per cent in some areas in just the last five years, show the staggering rate of growth.
A three-bedroom weatherboard house in Parramatta bought for $535,000 in 2011 sold in December for $1,060,000. The property is currently being rented for $850 a week.
A three-bedroom cottage in Pagewood, in Sydney's east (pictured) sold in June for $1.43million. It sold for $510,000 in 2007
Recent sales in Sydney's west, where housing prices have ballooned 147 per cent in some areas in just the last five years, show the staggering rate of growth (Pagewood property pictured)
A three-bedroom cottage in Pagewood, in Sydney's east sold in June for $1.43million. It sold for $510,000 in 2007.
Head of research at CoreLogic, Tim Lawless said the rate of growth does present challenges for first home buyers.
'Sydneysiders saw dwelling values increase by approximately $10,000 per month over the past year, creating a significant boost in wealth for home owners,' he said.
'At the same time we've seen mounting affordability challenges for aspiring home owners.'
It's part of politics, kissing babies, but one particular infant didn't get the memo when outgoing Vice President Joe Biden went in for a smooch.
The 10-month-old, who belonged to the family of Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., went for the head fake as Biden leaned in and cooed.
The vice president recovered from the rejection by carrying on in a whisper with Burr's granddaughter. 'We're having a conversation,' he told the family, as the child squeaked out a cry.
This was one of the handful of memorable moments from today's swearing-in ceremony in the Senate, in which the veep with only 17 days in his term left lived up to his reputation as 'America's uncle.'
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HEY BABY: Vice President Joe Biden tried to make nice with a baby belonging to the family of North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr
Joe Biden locked eyes with the infant during today's swearing-in ceremony for U.S. senators on Capitol Hill
The vice president went in for a smooch, but missed his mark, as the baby bobbed her head forward seeming to care less
Not accepting the rejection, the vice president continued to whisper at the small child, telling the family 'We're having a conversation!'
The Senate Chamber is used for the official swearing-in ceremonies, but Senate rules limit cameras, so the vice president does the whole thing again with the families present and poses for pictures after each senator comes through.
Today Biden found himself striking out with some of the children.
Besides the head-faking baby, two-year-old Abigail, the daughter of incoming Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., didn't look so pleased when the vice president came in for a tickle.
'How you doing Abigail. She's saying "when's this over, Mom?"' Biden said as the little girl rode in on her mom's lap as the military veteran rolled up in her wheelchair.
Relations between the toddler and the veep warmed up later as Duckworth asked her daughter to blow the vice president an air kiss.
She did and the vice president blew an air kiss right back.
Vice President Joe Biden was also rejected by the two-year-old daughter of Sen. Tammy Duckworth. He went in for a tickle. Abigail, Duckworth's daughter, wasn't impressed
Joe Biden took a selfie with the family of Sen. Richard Blumenthal at today's mock swearing-in ceremony of senators on Capitol Hill
All smiles: Biden takes a selfie with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., left, and his children Claire and David
Biden also brought out his famous 'finger guns' and instructed several sons and grandsons of senators to 'keep the boys away from your sister.'
'Who's got the camera? Who's got the selfie camera?' he remarked as he made Sen. Richard Blumenthal's family crouch together for a selfie.
When it was Sen. Marco Rubio's turn, Biden decided to push the Florida Republican and former presidential contender out of the frame momentarily, so he could just pose for a picture with Rubio's four young kids.
He occasionally got political too.
When he saw Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., re-elected for a sixth term, Biden uttered, 'Thank God, you're here John.'
Biden, right, talks to Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., and his kids during swearing-in ceremony in the Capitol's Old Senate Chamber US Senate Oath of Office ceremony, Washington DC
Biden, center, greets Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and his brother-in-law Father Claude Pomerleau, during the swearing-in ceremony
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is administered an oath as his wife Iris Weinshall looks on, by Vice President Joe Biden during the swearing-in ceremony
McCain, along with his Senate buddy Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has already been putting pressure on President-elect Donald Trump over the future White House occupant's cozy relationship with Russia and unwillingness to connect the Kremlin with the election year hacks, which mainly targeted Democrats.
'I'm so glad you ran again, I really am,' Biden told McCain, as a testament to their across-the-aisle friendship.
In another show of bipartisan support, when Biden saw longtime Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and his wife, he smooched Barbara Grassley right on her lips.
And in another, he made up a creative compliment for Sen. Richard Shelby's wife, Annette.
'You're not vertical, you're beautiful,' Biden told the Alabama Republican's spouse.
'I'm the only Irish man you're going to find that doesn't drink,' he told members of Sen. Patty Murray's family.
'I'm kind of boring,' he added.
Just 4% of voters believe the press regulator should be funded by donations from wealthy individuals, such as Max Mosley, who has given 3.8m to Impress
Only 4 per cent of voters think a Press regulator should be funded by donations from wealthy individuals and trusts, such as that set up by the shamed motor racing tycoon Max Mosley.
By contrast, almost half of the public believe that the regulator should be funded by the newspaper industry itself, a survey found.
The YouGov poll also placed Press regulation at the bottom of a list of priorities for the Government over the next few years.
Only 1 per cent said it should be the top issue for ministers, compared with 53 per cent who said they should focus on leaving the EU. Other top priorities were health (48 per cent), immigration and asylum (45 per cent) and the economy (44 per cent).
Culture Secretary Karen Bradley is holding a consultation on Press regulation, which is due to close next Tuesday. At the heart of the issue is whether Mrs Bradley should implement section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act. Under section 40, newspapers that refuse to sign up to a State-backed regulator which would end 300 years of Press freedom would be forced to pay the costs in libel cases, even if they won.
The only State-approved regulator Impress is almost entirely reliant on Mr Mosley, who has given 3.8million towards its running costs.
The multi-millionaire ex-Formula One boss has been a vocal supporter of shackles on the Press since being exposed by the News of the World for taking part in a sado-masochistic orgy with prostitutes.
Most newspapers, including the Daily Mail, are instead members of the independent regulator IPSO, which is free of State control.
Crucially, IPSO is funded by its members which is the model suggested by Lord Justice Leveson's report into Press standards in November 2012. The YouGov poll found that 49 per cent of the public agree that a Press regulator should be funded by the industry, while only 4 per cent believe that a regulator should be funded by a wealthy individual or trust, as is the case with Impress.
Some 25 per cent said the regulator should be funded by the Government, through taxes, while 22 per cent said they did not know. The News Media Association, which represents newspaper publishers, commissioned the poll of 1,632 adults.
Culture Secretary Karen Bradley is holding a consultation on Press regulation and whether to implement section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act
The Government is also consulting on whether part two of the Leveson Inquiry, which would look at the police and Press, should go ahead.
Lynne Anderson, deputy chief executive of the association, said: 'This survey demonstrates conclusively that a regulatory regime led by Impress which is completely reliant upon funding from one wealthy individual, Max Mosley cannot command the confidence of the public.
'It is also abundantly clear from the poll that there is no public appetite for further activity from the Government in this area such as the reopening of the Leveson Inquiry when there are more pressing priorities.'
Mr Mosley claimed it was 'eminently fair for newspapers to have to pay costs in a court case even if they win' as a means of encouraging low cost arbitration for complainants despite local newspapers warning it could drive them out of business.
Seth Johnson died aged 7-years-of-age. His parents are charged with child neglect
A couple have been charged with neglect in the death of their adopted seven-year-old son, who died in 2015 with various ailments after they allegedly refused to take him to a doctor.
Timothy D. Johnson, 39, and Sarah N. Johnson, 38, were charged in Hennepin County, Minnesota last week with gross-misdemeanor child neglect in connection with the death of son Seth Johnson, according to Star Tribune.
Johnson allegedly died in agony on a vomit-stained bed from an inflamed pancreas and various infections while at the family's home in Plymouth on March 30, 2015.
The extremely religious parents had 'issues with going to doctors' said the criminal complaint. They allegedly never sought medical attention for their child's various ailments, including cuts and bruises that seemed to have become infected.
The complaint said the home schooled boy was also severely physically underdeveloped.
The weekend before he died, Seth was left in the care of his 16-year-old brother while his parents were out of town at a wedding, said the outlet.
According to police, authorities were called to the 6100 block of Vicksburg Lane N. about 7:40am and found Timothy Johnson giving CPR to Seth, who lay on the bathroom floor. He was already dead.
Attending police said the boy had bruises all over his body and 'skin breaks' on the majority of his body.
Parents told law enforcement that the boy had behavioral issues and would throw himself down the stairs.
Seth died of acute pancreatitis and possible sepsis after his parents refused to take him to a doctor, said police, and instead prayed for him and gave him vitamins
They said in the weeks leading up to his death, he developed lesions, blisters, would shake, and stopped sleeping.
Despite all of this, the parents never sought medical help, say police. Instead, they gave him vitamins, antibiotic ointment, and 'medicinal honey.' The parents diagnosed him as having PTSD and traumatic brain injury.
His condition worsened. While the parents were out of town, Seth's teenage brother called them to tell them that Seth wasn't speaking and couldn't get out of bed.
The parents thought about leaving the wedding, but once they learned the boy had eaten some Cheerios, decided to stay.
When they returned home the next day, Seth was unresponsive on the floor and instead of calling 911, the parents prayed, according to police.
They then tried to feed him some pizza, bathed him, and put him on a mattress. According to the couple, they thought about getting medical help but decided to wait until morning.
By morning, it was too late.
According to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's report, the boy's cause of death was acute pancreatitis and possible sepsis, reports KSTP.
Hennepin County District Court, Minnesota where the hearing will take place
The blisters on his legs were consistent with bullous impetigo.
On the boy's obituary, he is described as dying 'unexpectedly.' The parents also set up an online fundraising page that described Seth as being a 'very quiet and hurting little boy' who was adopted by the family at age three.
The fundraiser raised $7,680, above the goal. A shared Facebook page that says it belongs to them wrote: 'You. Our dear friends & family. Have carried us through these last 2 weeks... We couldn't walk, we didn't know how to get out of bed... And you came. You stood by us, you took us by the hand, you fed us, watched over our children, loved them, cleaned our home, prayed for us & over us.'
'You came together as the body of Christ and provided for us spiritually, emotionally, physically & financially. In this time of devastation, weakness, heartbrokenness... You came. We are thankful for you...'
At the height of David Camerons botched negotiations with the EU in the run-up to the referendum, the British ambassador in Brussels, Sir Ivan Rogers, had another tantrum.
In increasingly heated exchanges in emails and curt telephone calls with political aides in Downing Street the Foreign Office mandarin threatened to resign. Again.
Oxford-educated Rogers was said to be contemptuous of people, especially politicians, whom he regarded as his intellectual inferiors.
Sir Ivan Rogers (pictured, right) threatened to resign at the height of David Cameron's key negotiations with the EU in the run-up to the referendum
He would send emails that were the stuff of legend, one Downing Street aide was quoted saying in All Out War, a new book on the referendum campaign.
I lost count of the times he threatened to resign, he said.
When he told Downing Street he was quitting yesterday there was no attempt to persuade him to stay. Quite the contrary, Theresa May and David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, will have breathed sighs of relief.
After months of bickering and disagreements, not to mention even more acrimonious emails, they were tiring of Rogers, a staunch and uncompromising supporter of Britains membership of the EU. The only surprise is that it took Rogers so long to agree to go.
He presided over the negotiations before the referendum, which were an utter failure, so it was surprising that he didnt leave with Cameron, says a senior political source.
Neither Mrs May nor her Brexit Secretary expected him to stick around. He never believed in what we were doing, and never tried to hide the fact. The PM is hugely optimistic, he is a gloomy pessimist. Its so draining.
He was like a grieving man who couldnt come to terms with the fact the British people voted for Brexit.
Sir Ivan Rogers (pictured) was said to be contemptuous of people, especially politicians, whom he regarded as his intellectual inferiors
Instead of coming with us he dug in his heels, fought us on everything, telling everyone the PM is too thin-skinned to accept the EU wont deliver what she wants. He was shown the way to the door. It was a matter of time before he walked through it.
So it seems the writing had been on the wall for months for a man some say was a sour and sullen presence at the Brexit discussions. Someone with more emotional intelligence would have cottoned on a bit sooner, says the source.
With his contract up for renewal in November, the diplomat knew there was no prospect of being asked to stay on, so he fell on his sword.
He will move into another comfortable Whitehall sinecure, but will lose his luxurious grace-and-favour home in Brussels.
The resignation is another political scalp for David Davis, a former SAS reservist, who saw off several Labour home secretaries when he was their shadow in the Tories opposition years.
Clever, tough, and a veteran Eurosceptic, his last job in government was Europe minister under Sir John Major. A political bruiser in more ways than one, Daviss distinctive flat nose is the result of breaking it five times three times playing rugby, once in a swimming accident, and once in a fight on Clapham Common.
He was always going to be a match for the scruffy, donnish Rogers who is a classic Sir Humphrey Appleby, the fictional diplomat from Yes Minister.
Rogers, 56, was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. A career civil servant, his appointment in 2013 as Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the European Union, to give him his full moniker, was always provocative to Eurosceptics, since even a cursory glance at his CV speaks volumes about his allegiances.
He was principal private secretary to Ken Clarke, the former Tory Chancellor, whose passion for the EU cost him his chance of becoming Tory leader. Clarke was the only Tory MP to vote last month against giving the PM the authority to trigger Article 50, which begins the formal divorce from the EU.
Rogers also served as chief of staff to the former vice-president of the European Commission, the late Lord Brittan. Clarke and Brittan were champions of Britain joining the euro, and of closer political integration with Brussels.
Rogers, who was knighted last year a standard procedure for senior civil servants also served as principal private secretary to Tony Blair, who is now talking of setting up a pressure group to block Brexit. He makes little secret of his disdain of Tory Eurosceptics.
He hated the idea of dancing to their tune in the Brexit negotiations, says one senior Tory.
While Rogers conceded the Eurosceptics were right to say the EU was in urgent need of reform, he was aghast at the Brexit result because he had become a fully paid-up member of the Brussels Establishment.
Married with two children, he spent five years outside the Civil Service working in the City for Citigroup, heading up their Brussels arm, and with Barclays Capital.
He was made David Camerons EU adviser in 2011, and ambassador two years later on a salary of 175,000.
Thus it fell to Rogers to mastermind Camerons renegotiation with the other 27 EU leaders before the referendum. Even the former prime ministers most ardent supporters concede his efforts were a miserable failure.
He diluted Camerons attempts to win significant reforms by repeatedly warning that they would be rejected by Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor. This world view meant that he appears to have taken a negative stance on Brexit which made Downing Street increasingly restless.
When, last month, it was leaked to the BBC that he had warned ministers it could take ten years to negotiate a free trade deal with Europe, Brexiteers were enraged though there was also a suspicion his comments had been leaked from within Whitehall to undermine him.
There would be an agreed line between us and the team in Brussels, says another Whitehall source. It was felt that he would go off message and give his own views, which made things impossible.
Hundreds of thousands of Southern Rail passengers will be left out of pocket after the company refused to compensate them for problems caused by nearly a year of strike misery on the network.
Severe delays and cancellations have forced passengers to pay for hotels, taxis, rental accommodation, childcare fees and missed medical appointments.
None of this expenditure will be reimbursed by the rail firm.
The blow came as Southern Rail warned its long-suffering customers to not travel at all during a week-long strike starting on Monday and has admitted it is still has no alternative travel arrangements in place.
Hundreds of thousands of Southern Rail passengers will be left out of pocket after the company refused to compensate them
The companys 300,000 passengers can apply online for their daily tickets or season tickets to be reimbursed after delays of 15 minutes or more, but any resulting expenditure will not be.
This means commuters wont be reimbursed for using alternatives such as taxis or hire-cars. And parents who are late home wont have their extra childcare costs covered.
Commuters wont be reimbursed for using alternatives such as taxis or hire-cars during strikes
The same applies to those who are carers for elderly relatives and those who have missed medical appointments.
BA cabin crew announce walkout dates British Airways cabin crew have announced dates for a 48-hour strike. The airline has not ruled out disruption to flights as a result of the walkout, which begins on January 10. However, it said it plans to ensure that all our customers travel to their destinations. The strike has been called by the Unite union, run by Red Len McCluskey, who has played a key role in propping up the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. Unite announced last night that members had opted to strike after it rejected a new pay offer in December. The dispute has arisen because cabin crew who joined BA from 2010 as part of the companys mixed fleet operation were given a different contract to those who had worked there for longer. Unite claims that the mixed fleet contract had been advertised between 21,000 and 25,000, but in reality staff were being paid just over 12,000, plus 3 an hour flying pay. Last night, BA said its pay data for full-time mixed fleet crew between September 1, 2015 and August 31, 2016 showed they all received between 21,151.35 and 27,356.30. Cabin crew had been due to strike on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The action was later suspended. Advertisement
Others have had to fork out thousands of pounds for accommodation when they have been stranded and to ensure they can make it to work on time. This also will not be reimbursed.
Passengers stranded at stations or on crowded trains and forced to buy food or drink will also have to cover these costs.
The Government announced last year that it will compensate all affected Southern Rail season ticket holders with the equivalent of a months travel around 350.
But for many this will be only a fraction of the huge amounts they have had to fork out.
A spokesman for Southern Rail whose parent company is Govia Thameslink Railway, owned in turn by bus company Go-Ahead and Keolis, a venture of French rail operator SNCF said: Compensation can be claimed for delays of 15 minutes or more on strike days. However, we are not liable for consequential expenses.
Southern Rails network will grind to a halt from Monday to Saturday next week as drivers and conductors begin their latest walkout. Although it is majority-owned by bus firm Go-Ahead, Southern said it has not yet made any back-up travel arrangements.
Britain is to increase foreign aid to Pakistan by more than 100million even though it has a space programme and nuclear weapons.
The Asian country is now the biggest recipient of UK handouts despite preparing to splash out billions on arms including a new fleet of submarines.
It comes after the Mail yesterday revealed how 300million of British taxpayers money is being handed out to Pakistanis on pre-loaded cash cards as part of a scheme dogged by claims of corruption.
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Aid: Pakistan will get 100million more from Britain even though it has a space programme (Pictured, people queuing for cash in Peshawar)
The allegations have led to renewed calls for the UK to ditch its foreign aid targets when there is a crisis in social care at home.
Figures from Britains overseas aid department, the Department for International Development, show total spending on Pakistan will soar by more than 30 per cent this year.
Some 441million will be handed to projects in 2016-17, up 105million from 336million in 2015-16.
Yet Islamabad has unveiled a massive military spending plan, pumping 654million into the defence budget this year an 11 per cent boost to 6.7billion.
The figures do not include money spent on its atomic weapons programme. The country is one of a small number of nuclear powers, and has between 110 and 130 warheads.
Pakistan spends around 3.6 per cent of its national income on defence, compared to Britain, which only just fulfils its Nato commitment of at least two per cent.
Last year Pakistan announced it would buy eight new submarines at a cost of around 4billion, with the country expected to lavish more than 10billion on new weapons by 2024.
Standing in line: These Pakistani families wait at a cashpoint used to withdraw money on cards loaded with funds from British taxpayers
Its space programme has successfully launched a satellite and has an annual budget of around 19.5million.
Backbenchers have been calling on Theresa May to ditch the Governments commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas aid when there is a crisis in care for the elderly in Britain.
Tory MP Peter Bone said last night: These sums of money are eye-watering, especially when they are going to a country that spends a lot on its armed forces and has a space programme.
People will ask why their hard-earned money is going in taxes to support something like this when at home they see the problems with social care. It is just plain wrong.
Ukips spokesman on international development, Lisa Duffy, said: Our own UK taxpayers are facing more and more cuts on a daily basis whilst we are providing benefits to the citizens of Pakistan.
The Mail revealed how 1billion had been doled out in cash in the past five years in an income-boosting scheme funded by UK taxpayers. But an investigation found Pakistani families withdrawing money with cashpoint cards they obtained by paying kickbacks to officials.
The Prime Ministers spokesman last night said the system helped focus aid on those who need it, when they need it. The aide said the policy was an investment in our security and claimed there were robust policies in place to protect against fraud and corruption.
A Dfid spokesman added: Our investment in Pakistan is making the world a safer place by tackling poverty, improving governance and disrupting serious crime, which left unchallenged breeds violent extremism and drives mass migration.
NBC hosts Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee Gifford and Chuck Todd shared their excitement on Twitter after the news that Kelly was hired
She reportedly asked Fox last minuted for $25million, but they said no
Kelly decided not to re-up with Fox News despite their offer of a $20m annual contract to keep hosting The Kelly File, which premiered in October 2013
She will have a triple role at NBC with a daytime news program, a Sunday night news show and will also be part of the network's political coverage
'We hope she enjoys tremendous success in her career and wish her and her family all the best,' said Rupert Murdoch
'I remain deeply grateful to Fox News, to Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch, and especially to all of the FNC viewers,' Kelly said in a statement
She will continue to host The Kelly File through the week, with Friday being her last day at Fox News
blow for Fox News, where Kelly, 46, was seen as the future of the network
among a number of networks to sign the Fox News host
Megyn Kelly has taken a job with NBC after a heated
After announcing she's heading to NBC News for a new 'triple role' at the network, Megyn Kelly showed off a wide smile while in the rain as she looked TV-ready to host one of her final shows on Fox News.
The 46-year-old longtime Fox News anchor seemed to be in an upbeat and happy mood, as she was ushered by a doorman to her awaiting chauffeured car.
Kelly reportedly asked Fox last minute for a $25million contract to remain at the network, as they allegedly turned down her demand for more money than the rumored $20million she was initially offered, New York Magazine reported.
Earlier on Tuesday, a publicist for the host of The Kelly File told CNN Money that Kelly's final day at Fox News will be Friday, though she will not be able to move over to NBC until her current contract expires in July.
There has been no word yet from Fox News about which host will replace Kelly next week and if there will be a new program or the show will be renamed The File.
News Corp CEO and Chairman Rupert Murdoch released a statement with some kind words for Kelly after learning the news, saying: 'We hope she enjoys tremendous success in her career and wish her and her family all the best.'
Kelly also released a rare public statement on Tuesday after news of the NBC deal broke in which she spoke about her new position and gave thanks to everyone at Fox News.
'While I will greatly miss my colleagues at Fox, I am delighted to be joining the NBC News family and taking on a new challenge,' wrote Kelly on Facebook.
'I remain deeply grateful to Fox News, to Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch, and especially to all of the FNC viewers, who have taught me so much about what really matters.'
That same statement was also posted on her Twitter account, with Kelly writing: 'An ending, and a new beginning...'
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New start: After announcing she's heading to NBC News for a new 'triple role' at the network, Megyn Kelly showed off a wide smile while in the rain as she looked TV-ready to host one of her final shows on Fox News
Happy: The 46-year-old longtime Fox News anchor seemed to be in an upbeat and happy mood while walking in the rain, as her doorman held an umbrella for her
All smiles: The announcement about Kelly's move over to NBC was made on Tuesday, as it's been reported for months she was in talks with other networks
Game over: Kelly (above in portrait from May) took the NBC job after a heated battle among a number of networks to sign the Fox News host
New friends: Savannah Guthrie shared her excitement about NBC hiring Kelly despite being out on maternity leave, posting a pic from November (above)
Booze cruise: Today host Hoda Kotb invited Kelly to join her and Kathie Lee Gifford for a boozey celebration (above)
DC buds: Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd was also quick to tell Kelly how excited he was to work with her at NBC (above)
In a statement released on Tuesday, NBC revealed that Kelly will anchor a one hour daytime program running Monday through Friday on the network, along with a Sunday evening news magazine show.
She will also be involved in the network's political and breaking news coverage
'Megyn is an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career,' NBC Chairman Andrew Lack said of his high-profile hire.
MEGYN'S FAREWELL TO FOX NEWS ' Over a dozen years ago I started at Fox News in a job that would change my life. 'Now, I have decided to end my time at FNC, incredibly enriched for the experiences I've had. 'I have agreed to join NBC News, where I will be launching a new daytime show Monday through Friday, along with a Sunday evening news magazine program. 'I will also participate in NBC's breaking news coverage and its political and special events coverage. 'While I will greatly miss my colleagues at Fox, I am delighted to be joining the NBC News family and taking on a new challenge. 'I remain deeply grateful to Fox News, to Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch, and especially to all of the FNC viewers, who have taught me so much about what really matters. 'More to come soon. 'Happy New Year, and God bless.' Advertisement
'Shes demonstrated tremendous skill and poise, and were lucky to have her.'
Kelly's decision to not re-up her contract with Fox News, where she has worked for the past 12 years, is a devastating blow for the network.
She was reportedly offered an annual salary of over $20million to stay on at the channel, where her program The Kelly File has been a massive ratings success ever since it debuted back in October 2013.
Kelly's new colleagues also seem excited about the new addition to their team, with Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd writing on Twitter: 'Welcome @MegynKelly! No disrespect to others, but hope you are already realizing, there's no place like NBC. Can't wait to work together.'
Nightly News anchor Lester Holt also welcomed Kelly with open arms to the Peacock network.
'We're delighted to welcome her to the NBC News family,' Holt said.
Savannah Guthrie also shared her excitement despite being out on maternity leave, posting a photo of herself and Kelly on Twitter and saying: Big welcome to @MegynKelly - awesome get for @NBCNews !! May I not be nine months pregnant in the next picture we take side-by-side!'
Today host Hoda Kotb also voiced her joy and offered her signature warm welcome to Kelly, writing: '@MegynKelly !!!! So excited you are heading to NBC! Pls stop by and have a glass of Chardonnay wth me and @KathieLGifford xo #welcome !!'
Kathie Lee Gifford then retweeted her co-host on the fourth hour of the NBC morning show.
There has been no comment from any of Kelly's Fox News colleagues however, including her two closest friends at the network, Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer.
The New York Times, who first broke the news, said that it was the triple role that Lack offered Kelly at the network which persuaded her to sign with NBC.
She will also be working with the NBC News teams to help develop her weekday news program ahead of its premiere.
There is no word on how much money Kelly will be making in her much broader new role at NBC, but it will be less than her Fox News offer.
She is currently making $15million for what is now her final year with Fox News according to the Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, Kelly's move to NBC will not happen until later this summer at the earliest as Kelly's contract with Fox News runs through July of this year.
It will also be a relatively easy office move for Kelly, as Fox News headquarters is just two blocks away from Rockefeller Center, which is the home of NBC.
It was Vanity Fair that first reported Kelly was in talks with NBC in a story published last month about the 'last-minute suitors' looking to hire Kelly.
Uptown girl: Kelly will be moving just two blocks to Rockefeller Center from Fox News Headquarters. She was there in February with husband Doug Brunt for a Fallon appearance
The other networks chasing Kelly included ABC and CNN they claimed, along with the news that money was 'less of an issue' for Kelly.
CNN President Jeff Zucker was said to be 'moving the Himalayan mountains to get [Kelly]' on the network at the time but could not match the $20million Fox News already had on the table.
And while Fox News executives were eager to keep Kelly, others at the network were apparently less fond of the network star.
Her non-stop press appearances to promote her memoir Settle For More in November and December reportedly earned Kelly a new nickname at work - 'Me-again.'
The news of Kelly's departure from Fox News for a post at NBC now puts to an end months of speculation about the future of the popular host.
It also marks a remarkable ascent for Kelly, who got into the field later in life after becoming disillusioned with her career as an attorney.
She began shooting up the ranks at Fox News soon after she landed a role as a contributor for the network back in 2004, at which time she was working in their Washington DC office.
Kelly began appearing on the network's most popular shows, and by 2007 she was already hosting her own program on the network, America's Newsroom.
Three years into that job she got another big promotion, leaving behind Newsroom and her co-host Bill Hemmer for a solo hosting gig on America Live.
And after three years in that role Fox News made the announcement that Kelly would be given her own primetime news program.
Polite farewell: 'I remain deeply grateful to Fox News, to Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch, and especially to all of the FNC viewers,' Kelly said in a statement (l to r: lachlan, Rupert and James Murdoch in March)
Battle of the blondes: Donald Trump spent much of the election going after Kelly, but the two made nice in April (above Trump and Kelly shooting her May primetime special)
Kelly helped to develop The Kelly File before its premiere at Fox News, and has easily won her time slot over the past three years.
Kelly consistently has the number one news program in overall viewers as well as the critical 25 - 54 demo across cable news.
News Corp CEO and Chairman Rupert Murdoch made it clear however in October that he believes it would be easy to fill Kelly's spot if she decided to jump ship.
'[W]e have a deep bench of talent, many of whom would give their right arm for that spot,' Murdoch told the Wall Street Journal.
Kelly largely refused to speak or even comment about her future at Fox News over the past few months.
She did however confirm some reports about what Fox News was offering her last month in an interview with The Washington Post.
Kelly stressed how happy she was to be at Fox News in that interview, and confirmed that her new boss Lachlan Murdoch did provide her with a 'generous offer' to continue hosting The Kelly File.
And while that praise made it appear as if Kelly was likely to say, she also made a point of saying there were 'great options' to consider' later on in the interview.
Kelly said that after Murdoch presented her with what the network was prepared to offer her come July, she told him that she wanted time to think things through and make the best decision for herself and her family.
'Oh, my next deal is all about greater balance. I mean, thats - I had professional success, right? Thankfully,' said Kelly.
'And I feel like Im at a level in my business where Ive established myself as a professional. And the one thing I havent managed to do is find a way to achieve a better balance.'
She then explained that she would like to have a schedule that allowed her to spend more time with her children at the end of the day and not come home from hosting a live program at 9pm to find the three asleep in bed, as is the case most evenings.
Kelly and her second husband, writer Douglas Brunt, have three children - sons Edward Yates, 7, and Thatcher Bray, 3, as well as a 5-year-old daughter, Yardley Evans.
Brunt's third book, Trophy Son: A Novel, will be released this May.
Family outing: Kelly and her second husband, writer Douglas Brunt, have three children - sons Edward Yates, 7, and Thatcher Bray, 3, as well as a 5-year-old daughter, Yardley Evans (above in October)
Thoughts: Kelly posted her statement on Twitter with a bittersweet message about the future (above)
This has been a tumultuous year for Fox News, who are now number one in total viewers across all cable.
The network stole the top spot away from ESPN thanks in no small part to the recent election.
Kelly also became a big past of the election after being attacked multiple times by the Trump campaign, most notably after the first Republican primary debate last August.
The attacks on Kelly began after she grilled him about his controversial comments about women.
'You've called women you don't like 'fat pigs,' 'dogs,' 'slobs' and 'disgusting animals,'' Kelly said.
'Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president?'
Trump replied: 'Honestly, Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry . . . I've been very nice to you, although I could probably not be, based on the way you have treated me.'
He then said of Kelly the following day: 'You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her ... wherever.'
Kelly will have a triple role at NBC when she starts later this year
The attacks by Trump against Kelly continued for months, and he took to Twitter countless times to lash out at the host or retweet criticisms of her and her show, The Kelly File.
He even backed out of a Fox News-sponsored debate in Iowa that she was moderating earlier this year.
The two eventually made amends and in May, and Trump appeared on Kelly's primetime special which aired across Fox platforms that same month.
Trump was back to his old ways however in late October when he voiced his support for Newt Gingrich after the former Speaker of the House went off on Kelly while appearing on her show.
Kelly has continued to not get involved for the most part and usually refuses to engage with Trump.
She also urged the audience at a Women in Hollywood event last month to give Trump a chance.
That comment came despite the fact that she and her children still have to travel with armed guards due to the threats being made against the host and her family by some Trump supporters.
That was not the only big story Kelly found herself a part of either this year, though the other represented a shocking low point for Fox News.
She played a crucial role in the ousting of Ailes' as CEO of the network after speaking with a team sent to investigate possible sexual harassment at Fox News following a lawsuit filed by fired host Gretchen Carlson.
Kelly did not speak about the ongoing turmoil at the time, deciding to instead save it all for her book.
In her memoir Settle For More, Kelly claims that Ailes tried to kiss her against her will, made inappropriate sexual comments in her presence and even told her about some 'very sexy bras' he would like to watch her wear.
Kelly also claims that Ailes offered to advance her career soon after she was hired as a legal correspondent for the network in 2005 in exchange for sexual favors.
Kelly's decision to go back and add a section detailing Ailes' harassment was made after her book had already been completed and sent off to her publisher.
Ailes had already left Fox News by that point as well, with a reported $42million severance package.
Key player: In addition to her own show Kelly was involved in special event coverage for Fox News and moderated debates for the network (above with Chris Wallace and Bret Baier in August 2015)
Reports had been circulating for months as well claiming that there is little chance that both O'Reilly and Kelly would re-up their contracts, though neither of the two said anything to confirm that claim.
The uncertain relationship between the pair made headlines in November after comments O'Reilly made about Kelly during an appearance on CBS This Morning.
O'Reilly was asked during his appearance on the morning news show if Kelly might appear on his Fox News program to promote her book, to which he replied: 'I don't know. We'll see if she's going to be on the show or not. I want to be that candid. I'm not that interested in this.'
That is when anchor Norah O'Donnell, a longtime friend of O'Reilly's, cut in and asked: 'You're not interested in sexual harassment?'
Fox News is the most watched network on cable this year, overtaking ESPN
A clearly annoyed and angry O'Reilly replied to this by saying: 'I'm not interested in basically litigating something that is finished that makes my network look bad. Okay?
'I'm not interested in making my network look bad at all. That doesn't interest me one bit.'
O'Reilly seemed to be referencing the chapter in Kelly's book where she details former Fox news CEO Roger Ailes' sexual harassment of her and her decision to cooperate with the company's investigation into its CEO this past July.
The preternaturally cool and collected Kelly responded to O'Reilly's comments the very next day, during her own appearance on CBS This Morning.
'Well I will say this, I am very proud of the fact that I discussed this with Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch before I wrote this chapter in my book, and we were all on the same page,' she said.
'And it was an important chapter to include and I am proud of them that they feel as I do, that sunlight is the best disinfectant.'
Hospital should not collude with ambulance-chasing lawyers, the head of the NHS has warned.
Simon Stevens said personal injury claims firms were sucking 440million a year out of the Health Service enough to pay for 15,000 nurses.
He was reacting to evidence gathered by the Daily Mail that no win no fee companies are being allowed to target patients inside hospitals.
Addenbrookes in Cambridge and Southampton General are even allowing them to hire office space in public concourses.
Simon Stevens, head of the NHS, said personal injury claims firms were sucking 440million a year out of the Health Service enough to pay for 15,000 nurses
Dozens of other hospitals take money for allowing compensation firms to advertise on NHS-branded information leaflets in casualty units.
Mr Stevens, who is chief executive of NHS England, said the commercial deals were corrosive.
He added: We need a sense that we practise what we preach, that we dont have ambulance-chasing adverts in our A&E those are things we still need to get right.
Latest figures show that lawyers skimmed off for themselves nearly 30 pence out of every pound that the NHS spent on compensating patients who experienced genuine harm.
The 440million a year that law firms are sucking out of NHS could otherwise have funded new patient treatments and 15,000 more nurses. Wherever possible lets keep lawyers out of hospital and doctors out of court.
Dozens of hospitals take money for allowing compensation firms to advertise on NHS-branded information leaflets in casualty units
Pledging action, health minister Lord Prior yesterday described the situation as completely unacceptable.
Litigation cases cost the NHS more than 1.5billion a year and guidance clearly states that organisations should not let these companies advertise in their buildings, he said.
Seven out of 17 NHS hospitals visited by the Mail have contracts to either advertise or host personal injury law firms.
The NHS-branded leaflets, which provide basic advice for problems such as head injuries and nose bleeds, give patients phone numbers for no-win no-fee firms that specialise in medical blunders.
The deals prevent law firms from suing the hospitals they are contracted with.
Andrew Bridgen, Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, has been campaigning against advertising in hospitals for years
One set of NHS-branded leaflets, which a hospital in Dudley is paid 12,000 a year to display, tells patients: There is no shame in making an honest claim.
For years hospitals have been warned in official guidance not to advertise the services of personal injury lawyers. But many trusts, which have the power to make their own decisions on commercial arrangements, have ignored the guidance, which has no legal force.
Hospitals in Birmingham, Dudley, Bristol and Merseyside display marketing materials for personal injury lawyers in their waiting rooms, most often printed on the back of information leaflets branded with NHS logos. Two marketing companies BOE Publishing and Pro Vision Systems have more than 300 contracts between them to supply leaflets to hospital sites, and sell advertising space on the leaflets.
Andrew Bridgen, Tory MP for North West Leicestershire, has been campaigning against the advertising deals for years.
He said: This is completely immoral. These hospitals are feeding the monster that is devouring it. They think they have safeguards in place that the companies cant sue the hospitals they are dealing with but if they believe those claims are not being passed on to another party, they are living in dream land.
Centrelink staff will be given 'aggression training' as vulnerable Australians claim they have been hounded by debt collectors for money they don't owe.
The government welfare agency has sent out 169,000 debt recovery notices over the past six months after introducing a new automated data matching system.
Countless Australians have complained they have been sent the bills in error - and the Commonwealth Ombudsman has now been called in.
Amidst the backlash, the Department of Human Services has been in touch with private contractors to provide staff with 'Advanced Customer Aggression Training Services', ABC reports.
Centrelink staff will be given 'aggression training' as vulnerable Australians claim they have been hounded by debt collectors for money they don't owe. The Commonwealth Ombudsman has been called in (stock image)
Social media has been flooded with complaints the phone lines have not been working, with one welfare recipient claiming to have attempted to reach Centrelink by phone 306 times at 10.30 in the morning
The Department said it was 'seeking providers suitably qualified to deliver high quality Advanced Customer Aggression Training Services to the Department's Customer Facing Staff, Team Leaders and Managers'.
WHAT'S THE CONTROVERSY? Centrelink has sent out 169,000 debt notices over the last six months using an automated system, which matches data from different agencies. Many have claimed their debts are false. The system also divides total annual incomes from a year by 26 fortnights to create an average income - even if a person was not working for the period they were on welfare. This has caused people who were not earning any income for a period to be told they owe money because they earned an average income. Others said the system thought they had been working full-time work instead of one because of slight spelling differences. Advertisement
The training would be provided to Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support staff, according to a contract tender released in December.
But the Department told ABC the concept was not new, and said training was required every four years.
Following the complaints, the Commonwealth Ombudsman has been called into investigate the new system.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has asked the ombudsman to step in after receiving more than 100 complaints to his electoral office about problems with the debt recovery process.
'The government has terrified countless people, ruined the Christmases of many and even driven some people to contemplate taking their own lives,' Mr Wilkie said in a statement.
The ombudsman's office told AAP it was seeking further information from Centrelink but would not comment further.
Centrelink has sent out text messages asking for meetings last month, despite it already being past the date
Andrew Wilkie has received more than 100 complaints to his Tasmanian electoral office from people who had received debt notices. He said four of them presented as suicidal
Mr Wilkie has received more than 100 complaints to his Tasmanian electoral office from people who had received debt notices.
'I've had four people now approach me... who I would describe as presenting as suicidal,' Mr Wilkie told reporters in Hobart.
'This is terrifying people, and we've got a government who is saying there is no problem.'
He cited the case of one woman who received a debt notice of $69,000 - more money than she has ever received from Centrelink.
When she queried it she was told it was an error and she actually owed $3000, but Centrelink could not explain why, Mr Wilkie said.
Independent senator Nick Xenophon said welfare recipients were being 'treated like criminals'.
'They need to apologise and go back to the drawing board,' he told reporters in Adelaide.
The federal government is looking to claw back $4 billion in overpayments.
Social Services Minister Christian Porter insists the system is working 'incredibly well' and the complaint rate was low - only 276 complaints out of 169,000 letters.
But Mr Wilkie insists the minister has his head in the sand.
Most of the issues, though not all, appear to be the result of a lack of nuance in the system by dividing total annual incomes by 26 fortnights to create an average income even if a person was not working for the period they were on welfare (example is pictured)
Social Services Minister Christian Porter (pictured) insists the system is working 'incredibly well' and the complaint rate was low - only 276 complaints out of 169,000 letters
'You don't have to be a genius to tell that taking someone's yearly income and dividing by 26 is not always going to produce accurate results if only because people's circumstances change,' he said.
Labor's spokeswoman on human services Linda Burney called for the system to be suspended immediately until an algorithm is fixed.
'The way in which the debt is being calculated is absolutely wrong,' she told Nine Network.
The social services minister has defended Centrelink's 'polite' debt letters generated by a new automated system amid criticism some welfare recipients have been hounded over false debts.
Christian Porter confirmed so far this financial year 169,000 review letters have been sent out, indicating there might be discrepancies after data from different agencies is matched up.
'The complaint rate is running at 0.16 per cent... only 276 complaints out of 169,000 letters and that process has raised $300 million worth of money back to the taxpayer,' he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.
Nicole Rogerson, CEO of Autism Awareness Australia, said her autistic 21-year-old son was wrongly sent a $3,000 debt
'My son with ASD works full time, doesn't need Centrelink but also doesn't need false targeting over none existent debt,' Mrs Rogerson wrote on Twitter
The federal government is looking to claw back $4 billion in overpayments.
Mr Porter characterised the letters as polite.
He declined to provide the number of people who are challenging the debt letters.
Mr Porter said the letter asks people to provide more information which they can do online.
He dismissed claims there were problems with the Centrelink website.
'If anyone is having difficulties they can seek an extension of time if they wish,' he said.
Mr Porter said the high volume system was 'working incredibly well'.
Welfare recipients are tweeting criticism of the system under the hashtag #notmydebt.
Labor's spokeswoman on human services Linda Burney has called for the system to be suspended.
'Get it right before threatening people - not that hard,' Ms Burney tweeted.
She said no MPs who checked the emails to their electorate office could possibly say the system was working.
Most of the issues, though not all, appear to be the result of a lack of nuance in the system by dividing total annual incomes by 26 fortnights to create an average income even if a person was not working for the period they were on welfare.
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Doom-mongers have already predicted this month will be one of the coldest Januarys on record to hit Britain.
But contrary to a big chill, daytime temperatures are forecast to reach double figures with parts of England as warm as Madrid once the hard overnight frost has thawed.
And for those braced for a cold start to the beginning of 2017, forecasters have predicted that the mild weather could last into next week as well.
While a lack of cloud cover will mean that the nights are freezing, reaching temperatures as low as -6C (21F) in parts of the south of England, sunny spells during the day are predicted to bring plenty of milder weather.
The sun sets behind the old West Pier in Brighton after forecasters said temperatures are to reach double figures with parts of England as warm as Madrid
A woman and her dog walk across a frost-covered Regent's Park in London after forecasters issued a 'yellow' weather alert for ice across parts of southern England
On Friday, temperatures in the south are expected to reach as high as 12C (54F), 2C (4F) higher than the temperature in Madrid.
In the north of England, similarly mild weather is predicted by the weekend despite temperatures in the low single figures expected today and tomorrow.
By Friday, the temperature as far north as Newcastle is set to reach 10C (50F), while the whole of England can look forward to 11C (52F) highs over the weekend, forecasters say.
In Wales, temperatures were expected to be generally mild for January, with Cardiff predicted to tip the mercury at 10C (50F) today, rising to as high as 12C (54F) by Friday.
Birds return to roost on the old West Pier as the sun sets in Brighton, East Sussex as commuters faced a frosty start as they returned to work after the festive break as temperatures dropped below freezing across swathes of the country
Early snowdrops bloom in a graveyard in Cane End, Oxfordshire as temperatures plunged bringing a cold start to the beginning of 2017
And in Scotland, too, the likes of Glasgow and Aberdeen could see temperatures as high as 11C (52F).
Alessio Martini, a forecaster at the MeteoGroup, said: 'The weather is going to be quite mild at the weekend, with highs of up to 11C (52F) in both the north and south of England. Even the low could be as high as 6C (43F).
'It's going to stay quite mild, too, for at least the beginning of next week.
'Looking at the long range forecast, in general it looks quite mild and while there may be some frost at times, it does not look like it will be turning very cold for the first few weeks of January.
A frosted riverbank near Benson, Oxfordshire where temperatures in the area dropped to -6C after forecasters issued a 'yellow' weather warning
The sun sets behind the old West Pier in Brighton, after the Meteorological Office warned that parts of England and Wales could have received overnight snow at the beginning of the week
'A lack of cloud cover will mean that it is quite brisk overnight into Wednesday morning with some frost to be expected.
'But high pressure combined with dry weather in the north and south, as well as light wind, will mean that it gets warmer on Thursday with sunny spells.
'It will turn a bit more cloudy on Friday with patchy rain in the north and north west, moving towards the east. Dry weather can be expected in the south, though, and perhaps a little patchy rain in the afternoon.
'Next week is due to be windy, compared to this week, but it will be quite mild for this time of the year.'
A jogger runs through a frost-covered Regent's Park in London after some predicted this month will be one of the coldest Januarys on record to hit Britain
Birds return to roost on the old West Pier in Brighton. In parts of the south of England, sunny spells during the day are predicted to bring milder weather in the coming days
The forecast comes after the Meteorological Office warned that parts of England and Wales could have received overnight snow at the beginning of the week, prompting some weather watchers to claim this January would be the coldest on record.
Last night Grahame Madge, a spokesman for the Met Office, said: 'There's nothing that we are aware of that will back up that it will be the coldest January on record.
Daytime temperatures are forecast to reach double figures
'It is possible that the lack of cloud cover means that it will be very cold during the night but, like with the mild Christmas conditions, we could still have sunny spells and milder temperatures during the day.'
The temperatures predicted for some parts of the country during the coming weeks is double the normal January daytime average of 6C (43F) for England and Wales.
In the south, the average rises slightly to 7C (45F) but falls to 4C (39F) for the north.
The record high temperature for January in England and Wales was 18.3C (65F), recorded in Aber, Gwynedd, North Wales, on Jan 27, 1958.
Meanwhile, the lowest temperature on record was -26.1C (-15F), in Newport, Shropshire, on Jan 10, 1982.
The record warmest January was 2007, with an average of 8.7C (48F) over the UK as a whole, whereas the coldest was 1963 with an average of 0.9C (34F) across the country, according to Meteorological Office records which go back to 1940.
Irish novelist and playwright Sebastian Barry was made favourite by the bookies
The five writers in the running for the Costa Book of the Year award were named yesterday.
Irish novelist and playwright Sebastian Barry was made favourite by the bookies after his historical piece Days Without End won the category for novels.
Set in 1850s America, it reintroduces the reader to Irish characters who have featured in several of his previous novels.
He will compete against the other four category winners who each won 5,000 for the 30,000 top prize, which will be awarded at a ceremony in London on January 31.
Francis Spufford won the First Novel category for his debut work Golden Hill, set in New York in the winter of 1746, which was called captivating and dazzlingly original.
The Cambridge professor pays homage to the novels of the era as he paints colourful pictures of the Manhattan social elite of the time.
Barry's historical piece Days Without End won the category for novels
Debut non-fiction writer Keggie Carew won the Costa Biography Award for Dadland, her attempt to learn about her fathers past as he slips into dementia.
In July last year Mrs Carew wrote in the Daily Mail about her experiences writing the book, which touched on her mothers decision to marry an impecunious maverick.
Alice Oswald has been named winner of the Costa Poetry Award for Falling Awake, a collection of poems written to be read aloud.
Brian Conaghan has taken the Costa Childrens Book Award for The Bombs That Brought Us Together.
The overall winner will be decided by a panel of judges chaired by historian Professor Kate Williams.
It will be announced at the awards ceremony along with the winner of the Costa Short Story Award, which is voted for by the public.
Jobless people are being paid a guaranteed basic income of nearly 6,000 a year in a radical experiment in Finland.
The Scandinavian country became the first in Europe to trial such a scheme, with 2,000 unemployed receiving 560 Euros (475) a month for two years from January 1.
The recipients are free to spend the money on anything they choose, do not need to prove they are looking for work and will still receive the basic income even if they do get a full- or part-time job.
Finland's Prime Minister Juha Sipila wants to tackle the country's unemployment problem
Finnish government agency Kela, which is responsible for the countrys social benefits, hopes the scheme will encourage the recipients to seek employment, remove disincentives to work and reduce bureaucracy.
But critics fear getting a guaranteed basic income could have the opposite effect by making some unemployed people lazier and less inclined to look for a job.
The scheme is part of the measures by the centre-right government of Prime Minister Juha Sipila to tackle Finlands joblessness problem.
The unemployment rate of Finland, a nation of 5.5 million, stood at 8.1 percent in November 2106 with some 213,000 people without a job, unchanged from the previous year.
Marjukka Turunen, head of Kelas legal affairs unit, said: At present, unemployed persons may not gain any additional income even if they find work because earnings reduce social benefits.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell expressed support for a universal basic income in the UK
For someone receiving a basic income, there are no repercussions if they work a few days or a couple of weeks. Incidental earnings do not reduce the basic income, so working and self-employment are worthwhile no matter what. This is the key idea behind the basic income.
According to her, the basic income, which is paid in advance at the beginning of each month, also helps its recipients plan their finances and provides a sense of security.
More and more people are working part-time or temporarily or are self-employed and coordinating social security systems with non-standard work is often challenging.
Cost of living: This table shows the cost of living in Finland vs the UK
Kela say basic income should help to reduce bureaucracy as the recipients, who were randomly selected and aged between 25 and 58, do not have to report the number of hours they work or to fill in various forms.
The average private sector income in Finland is 3,500 Euros (2,975) per month, according to official data.
Professor Olli Kangas, director of research at Kela, said it will be highly interesting to see how the basic income makes people behave.
He said: Will this lead them to boldly experiment with different kinds of jobs? Or, as some critics claim, make them lazier with the knowledge of getting a basic income without doing anything?
The basic income experiment may be expanded later in Finland to other low-income groups such as freelancers, small-scale entrepreneurs and part-time workers.
In the UK, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell expressed support for a universal basic income the state would pay to every citizen, regardless of whether they worked, at Labours annual conference in September.
There are different variations of a universal basic income but the core principle is the government giving everyone a certain amount of money each month.
Samantha Cameron, pictured with husband David, is to launch a range of underwear
Known for her demure taste and impeccable sense of style, Samantha Cameron has always turned heads with her wardrobe.
From sophisticated pencil dresses to glamorous evening gowns, Mrs Cameron even topped Vanity Fair's Best Dressed Women list in 2015.
Now it seems she's turning her keen eye to what's beneath her glamorous attire after trademark filing documents reveal she is to launch her own range of underwear.
Keen to expand her fashion empire, she has also registered a trademark for perfume, swimwear, candles and sunglasses.
In October, Mrs Cameron registered her company - Samantha Cameron Studio Limited - and designed a range of 40 pieces priced from 100 to 300.
The line is set to go on sale this spring on Net-a-Porter and at Selfridges under the brand name Cefinn.
She unveiled the clothing line in a shoot for Vogue Magazine, where Mrs Cameron was pictured wearing her own designs.
Asked whether she designed the collection with herself in mind, Mrs Cameron said: 'Well obviously you're thinking about yourself, but at the same time it can't be all about yourself because that would be pointless.
'I've spent a lot of time trying stuff on my friends.'
After leaving No.10 Downing Street with husband David Cameron and their three children, pictured, the family have moved back into their Victorian terrace house in west London
After leaving No.10 Downing Street with husband David Cameron and their three children, the family have moved back into their Victorian terrace house in west London.
They are reported to have spent 100,000 refurbishing the four-bedroom home.
The fine art graduate was once the creative director of luxury Bond Street brand Smythson, a role which won her a British Glamour Magazine Award for Best Accessory Designer in 2009.
A newborn baby boy who was dumped in a hospital toilet by his mother survived after he was discovered by a cleaner, a court heard.
The baby was found after the cleaner heard a muffled squeaking noise coming from a bin in the toilets of the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, in Wigan, on July 5 last year.
The newborn was still in the foetal position and had tissues stuffed in his mouth, it was heard.
Yesterday his mother Orsolya-Anamaria Balogh, 27, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting attempted infanticide.
The baby was found after the cleaner heard a muffled squeaking noise coming from a bin in the toilets of the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, in Wigan, pictured, on July 5 last year
A sentencing hearing heard how Balogh had gone to the hospital's A&E department at around 7.40pm on July 5 last year, complaining of abdominal pain.She told a triage nurse there was no possibility she could be pregnant.
Hospital staff said Balogh spent some time in the toilets but left by the time a nurse was ready to see her at around 10.20pm.
Richard Pratt QC, prosecuting, said at around 10.40pm a cleaner went to empty the bin in the toilet area but noticed it felt unusually heavy and heard a muffled squeaking noise.
She called for assistance from a hospital security guard before opening the bin bag and finding the baby. The newborn was given oxygen and made a full recovery.
Mr Pratt said: 'The baby survived his ordeal with remarkable fortitude and, with medical intervention, was effectively unscathed by the circumstances of his birth.'
Enquiries by hospital staff revealed Balogh had left the hospital shortly after 10.10pm and she and her partner had taken a taxi back to their home in Wigan.
Yesterday his mother Orsolya-Anamaria Balogh, 27, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court, pictured, after admitting attempted infanticide
Balogh and her partner initially denied she had given birth. This was disproved by a midwife examination.
Balogh, now of no fixed address, eventually confirmed she had given birth in the toilet but said the baby had not been breathing and she thought he was dead.
She said she had not known she was pregnant. Police later found internet searches relating to pregnancy and home birth on her computer.
The court heard reports by consultant psychiatrists found the balance of Balogh's mind was disturbed after the birth and she experienced dissociation.
Balogh, who had a Romanian interpreter for the court proceedings, has been remanded in custody since July 6, 2016.
Judge Neil Flewitt QC told her he hoped to make an order that would allow her to be released into the community with the appropriate level of support.
Petrol prices have soared to a two-year high in a punishing setback for millions of drivers.
The average price of unleaded is now 117.9p a litre, up from 102.69p a year ago. This is the highest since December 2014, according to the AA.
It costs nearly 8.40 more to fill up a typical family car than it did a year ago and experts believe there could be worse to come. Some fear petrol is heading for 130p a litre in the coming weeks.
Pump prices have jumped up to 117.9p a litre, up from 102.69p and could be heading for 130p
That would push up the cost of a 55-litre tank of fuel to 71.50, from 64.85 today, compared to 56.48 a year ago.
Petrol prices have been pushed up as oil rises on global commodity markets.
Supermarket price war The cost of food fell last month amid a supermarket price war, figures published today show. Groceries were 0.7 per cent lower than a year earlier, a report led by the British Retail Consortium revealed. The figures confound warnings from Remain campaigners that the falling pound would push up food costs following the Brexit vote. However, a weak sterling is starting to feed through to products such as clothing, the cost of which rose 1.1 per cent between November and December the first increase in nearly two years. Advertisement
Yesterday crude oil hit an 18-month high above $58 a barrel a level not seen since July 2015 after the major oil exporting nations agreed to a cut in production.
The weak pound has also pushed up the price of fuel as wholesale petrol is priced in dollars, making it more expensive when sterling falls. Jason Lloyd, managing director of PetrolPrices.com, said: 2017 is going to be another difficult year for fuel prices.
We are unlikely to see the extremes of pricing near the 145p of 2012 with the oil strikes but we do expect prices to reach between 120p and 130p per litre in 2017.
Diesel prices have also risen from 105.99p a litre 12 months ago to 120.35p now the highest since July 2015.
AA spokesman Luke Bosdet said: Drivers have had a bad start to 2017, seeing 1p, 2p and even 3p ticking up on the fuel price boards over the Christmas and New Year holiday period.
Petrol prices hit 130p a litre in 2014 but dropped back in 2015 but have been rising throughout 2016 STOCK PHOTO
Petrol is back to where it was in December 2014 and diesel at a level last seen in July 2015. All in all, with the cold weather, its been a pretty miserable return to work.
Brian Madderson, chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association, added: The prospects for 2017 look disappointing.
The UK is a road transport economy and this disappointing outlook does not look set to aid economic recovery.
Oil was trading at less than $30 a barrel early last year, having been as high as $115 in mid-2014, pushing the cost of petrol down to around 1 a litre.
But it has been steadily rising in recent months after Opec, the global cartel which controls a third of crude supply, agreed with other producers to cut output.
The agreement, effective from January 1, is meant to address a supply glut in a bid to buoy prices. Opec typically cuts production when it wants to prop up prices but a deal had proved elusive until now.
Nicholas Hyett, analyst at financial firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said: Twelve months ago, oil prices were eyeing their lowest prices in more than a decade.
A family of four have been killed after the small plane they were on crashed on its way to a Colorado ski resort.
The bodies of Eric Falbe, 44, his wife Carrie, 34, and his two daughters from a previous marriage - 14-year-old Victoria and 12-year-old Skylar - were found in the plane wreckage in Arizona on Tuesday.
Searchers found the bodies among the debris from the single-engine Cessna 210 after it was spotted north of Payson on the rugged Mogollon Rim.
The bodies of Eric Falbe, 44, wife Carrie, 34, and his two teenager daughters - 14-year-old Victoria and 12-year-old Skylar - were found in the plane wreckage in Arizona on Tuesday
The plane crashed on a flight from Scottsdale, Arizona to the ski resort town of Telluride in Colorado for the family's annual holiday.
The plane had been reported missing Monday night.
Gila County Sheriff Adam Shepherd said the cause of the crash wasn't immediately known.
The sheriff's office verified the plane's tail number matched Federal Aviation Administration records identifying the owner as Mr Falbe.
Mr Falbe was a lawyer who specialized in real estate mediation.
Searchers found the bodies of the family of four among the debris from the single-engine Cessna 210 after it was spotted north of Payson in Arizona
The plane was owned by 44-year-old lawyer Eric Falbe and his 34-year-old wife Carrie
Falbe's law firm confirmed that he was aboard the downed plane along with his wife, and his two daughters
His law partner confirmed that he was aboard the downed plane along with his wife, and his two daughters.
The girls, Victoria and Skylar, attended Cicero Preparatory Academy in Scottsdale.
'Our sincerest condolences go out to the Falbe family for their tragic loss,' school officials said in a statement. 'Grief counselors will be available when school returns Monday.'
The sheriff's office was notified about the missing plane by Scottsdale police.
According to the police report, a man told authorities his 31-year-old daughter, son-in-law and two girls didn't check in after planning to fly to Telluride.
The girls - Victoria, 14, and Skylar, 12 - were from their father Eric's first marriage
Victoria and Skylar (pictured on the plane at an earlier time) attended Cicero Preparatory Academy in Scottsdale, Arizona
The plane crashed on a flight from Scottsdale, Arizona to the ski resort town of Telluride in Colorado for the family's annual holiday
The four were on a yearly trip they always take around the Christmas holidays, according to relatives.
Police started a search for the family's cellphone signal and one was detected near Payson.
A state police helicopter, the Civil Air Patrol and sheriff's searchers on the ground worked together to find the plane.
Rescuers had to hike nearly an hour to the crash site.
'The terrain up there is just really super rugged,' Shepherd said. 'It's pretty rough, steep, straight up and down.'
Joel was first drawn to Shakespeare through Tupac, who praised the playwright
He fled war-torn Uganda to Australia without knowing one word of English
Most native English speakers struggle to grasp the meaning of Shakespeares poetic language.
Joel Loum Okumu - who fled war-torn Uganda to Australia without knowing one word of English went above and beyond by putting his own spin on the classic plays.
The 17-year-old high school graduate from Newcastle, New South Wales, has been chosen from 200 hopefuls to perform the immortal works of Shakespeare alongside some of Australia's finest actors.
Joel will travel to Sydney this month for a masterclass and mentoring from the Bell Shakespeare theatre company, one of the countrys top drama groups.
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Joel Loum Okumu wows the judges of Sydney's Bell Shakespeare theatre with his personal interpretation of Hamlet
I couldnt believe it. I thought it wasnt true, then I thought wait a second, I actually won? Joel told Daily Mail Australia, of the moment his teacher gave him the news.
Despite only acting for two years, Joel wowed the judges with his unique interpretation of Hamlet, the antihero of the Shakespearean tragedy.
I was performing two characters Hamlet and his father at the same time. I incorporated elements of Nigerian witchcraft, which is a big deal in Africa.
'The performance was basically channelling my own experiences and aggression.
While many students are turned off Shakespeare after being force fed his plays at school, Joel was drawn to the writer on a personal level.
I first heard about him through the rapper Tupac. When I was learning English I was listening to rap music, and Tupac always said he was influenced by Shakespeare.
The Ugandan refugee has been awarded a prestigious Bell Shakespeare theatre scholarship in Sydney
The teenager (seen with school friends from Newcastle) fled war-torn Uganda to Australia without knowing one word of English
Joel was drawn to Shakespeare through Tupac, who praised the playwright
I couldnt believe it. I thought it wasnt true, then I thought wait a second, I actually won?
When I looked into it, started reading the language, I was like I was like wow, this is so advanced.
'I love how he follows the extremes of emotion, and I love the language.'
Joels family came to Australia after fleeing their native Uganda, which was in the grip of a bloody tribal war.
We were in a dangerous refugee camp. One night a rebel soldier came to our camp in the middle of the night holding an AK-47. That was our wake-up call.
But tragedy followed the family to Australia.
Joel lost both his parents at seven years old when his father killed his mother, leaving the children to move in with a guardian.
His father was found in 2008 to be not guilty of murder by reason of mental illness.
Joels family came to Australia (puctured in Newcastle) after leaving their native Uganda, which was in the grip of a bloody tribal war
The theatre company said his personal hardships praised his interpretation of the immoartal plays
Joel will travel to Bell Shakespeare's headquarters in Sydney this month to begin the master classes
Its this hardship that caught the eye of Bell Shakespeare head of education Joanna Erskine, who told Daily Mail Australia she had never seen a performance like Joel's.
It was an interpretation of the play we had never seen before, so were very excited to see how things play out.
He gave an amazing and raw performance. For somebody who has only been acting for two years, its clear Joel has a natural gift. It was impossible not to take him on board.
Cressida Dick, 56, is tipped to become the next Scotland Yard commissioner
Theresa May is to oversee appointments to high profile roles in the police, the church and the BBC with women among the leading contenders for each post.
The Prime Minister has a role in each appointment and has long campaigned for women to make more progress in public life.
Applications close today for the role of Metropolitan Police Commissioner, with Cressida Dick, a former assistant commissioner, among the favourites.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd will make the final decision on who is successful but Mrs May is likely to show a keen interest.
Within weeks, Mrs May will also take the final decision on appointing the first chairman to a new unitary management board for the BBC.
Camilla Cavendish, who last month quit the Tory whip just weeks after being made a peer, is rumoured to have been interviewed for the powerful post, The Times said.
A series of women are also in the running to be the next Bishop of London, an appointment Mrs May will be asked to approve.
Baroness Cavendish, a former policy adviser to David Cameron, became an independent peer last month after making just one appearance as a Conservative.
The move is a common one for a peer taking up a politically neutral post and it came a day after interviews for the BBC job ended.
Culture Secretary Karen Bradley is due to recommend a name to Mrs May within weeks.
Leading candidates for the Bishop of London post are thought to include the Right Rev Rachel Treweek, the Bishop of Gloucester; the Right Rev Christine Hardman, the Bishop of Newcastle; the Right Rev Jo Wells, the Bishop of Dorking; and Reverend Vivienne Faull, Dean of York Minster.
The Right Rev Richard Chartres is due to complete his final public appearance as Bishop of London next month.
Camilla Cavendish, a former policy adviser to David Cameron, is rumoured to be a front runner for a powerful new job at the BBC after she controversially quit the Tory whip in the House of Lords just weeks after being made a peer. She is pictured making her maiden speech in December
Ms Dick, 56, retired from the Met in 2015 to take up a job as a senior Foreign Office mandarin.
She leads of a field of at least four candidates vying for the prestigious 280,000 post to succeed Sir Bernard Hogan Howe.
The others are Metropolitan Police counter terrorism chief Mark Rowley, Essex boss Stephen Kavanagh and 'chief of chiefs' Sara Thornton.
But Dick, who has a good relationship with the Prime Minister, is widely considered to be the favourite despite her controversial past.
One source said she received weeks of 'favourable overtures' from Home Office officials urging her to apply and highlighting her strengths.
'There is absolutely no doubt she has the experience, the ability and the record to lead the most high profile police force in the world,' the source said.
'She comes across like a Whitehall permanent secretary and she is hugely respected by the rank-and-file. It is difficult to see how she can be beaten.'
Bishop of Gloucester Rachel Treweek (left) is thought to be among the leading contenders to become Bishop of London after the Right Rev Richard Chartres (right) completes his final public engagement in the post next month
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe will step down at the end of February after six turbulent years leading the Metropolitan Police.
His request for a significant extension to his contract was turned down and his final month comes seven months before his term was originally due to expire.
Despite success reducing crime amid huge budget cuts, his tenure has been marred by a series of ugly skirmishes, most notably the bungled VIP child sex abuse inquiry.
Miss Dick retired from the force in 2014 to take up a low-profile and secretive role as a director general at the Foreign and Commonwealth office.
But she is best known for her role as the senior commander in charge of the botched operation that led to the fatal shooting of de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station in 2005.
Prime Minister Theresa May has a role in each appointment and has long campaigned for women to make more progress in public life
She oversaw the operation that led to officers mistakenly identifying him as an on-the-run suicide bomber, two weeks after the July 7 London bombings.
The Metropolitan Police was successfully prosecuted for health and safety failings, but in an unusual move the jury attacked the Met but said it did not hold Miss Dick responsible.
The child of two academics and educated at Balliol College, Oxford, Miss Dick briefly worked in accounting before signing up the police and rising through the ranks.
If Miss Dick is successful, it would mean all three leading roles in British policing would be held by women.
Former Surrey chief Lynne Owens is the director general of the National Crime Agency and Sara Thornton runs the National Police Chiefs' Council.
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe will step down at the end of February after six turbulent years
Miss Dick will need to be re-sworn as a police officer, a move which is not without precedent after Sir Norman Bettison returned from a civilian role to head West Yorkshire Police.
The Home Office opened the role to non-British candidates for the first time, but it is believed that none have applied, despite interest from a senior Canadian officer.
The power to choose the next commissioner lies with Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who must have 'regard' for the views of Labour London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
But first a series of interviews will take place, led by Home Office permanent secretary Mark Sedwill, who will sit with other senior figures in policing.
Whoever wins the post faces considerable challenges, not least balancing the books once again as hundreds of millions of pounds more are taken from the budget.
Miss Dick was the senior commander in charge of the botched operation that led to the fatal shooting of de Menezes
Beat officers complain morale is low, burglary and violent crimes are rising and a severe terrorist threat hangs over the capital and country as a whole.
Another source close to the process added: 'The Home Office has been very clear that Cressida is the applicant to beat.
'Her record is exemplary and she has achieved many firsts. There have been careful talks with City Hall which has no objection.
'It will also work to her advantage that she has been working outside policing as Minister are desperate for someone at the top to inject some fresh ideas.'
Interviews and a battery of vetting procedures and tests, including psychometric testing, will take place this month with an appointment expected to be made by March.
Shocking footage shows a teenage girl held in a headlock by a mall employee.
The girl was with her family at a J.C. Penney in Mishawaka, Indiana on Thursday.
The man in the video, a store employee, told them they didn't belong there and had to leave.
Indecently exposed: The man in the video can be seen holding the girl in a headlock - which caused her shirt to rise up and exposed her bra
Violent: The man, a store employee, kept the girl in a headlock as people shouted to 'let her go' and family members said she could pay for the damage she had wrought
She knocked over a display on her way out and the man proceeded to put her in a headlock.
People in the video can be heard yelling at him to 'let her go!' as her family said that she could pay for the promotional display she had knocked down.
But the man showed no sign of releasing her - even as her shirt began to ride up her back which exposed her bra.
He said he would release her if family members 'backed away' but did not do so even as the appeared to.
A lengthy detainment: The girl was kept in the headlock until mall security arrived to handcuff her
Mall security later arrived to handcuff her and when her father later arrived at the store she was free to go.
The mall, the store and the man in the video all declined to comment or did not return phone calls, WNDU reported.
The ex-wife of jailed ex-Billabong boss Mathew Perrin has told of the nightmare her family's been through over the past nine years.
Nicole Bricknell wrote a New Year's message on Facebook to say the saga that finished in Perrin's imprisonment in December showed that 'we are survivors'.
Perrin was found guilty of fraud and forgery on December 20 after faking his ex-wife Bricknell's signature to mortgage the family's $15 million house in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, in 2008.
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Nicole Bricknell (pictured) has described the 'nightmare' her family has had to endure
Former Billabong CEO Matthew Perrin (pictured holding hands with his now-partner Belinda Otton) was convicted of nine counts of fraud and forgery on December 20
'Happy New Year. For my beautiful children... my family, extended family, myself and friends... I will stay strong, work hard and provide everything I can for my children,' she wrote.
'I'm so proud of them and their strength and courage throughout this nightmare 9 years.
'It's been horrific and they have generally been amazing. We've had ups and many many downs, but we are survivors.
'I love them so deeply and am beyond proud of my 3 [children].'
'I will stay strong, work hard and provide everything I can for my children,' Ms Bricknell (pictured) wrote on Facebook
Perrin faked his ex-wife Bricknell's signature on bank documents in 2008 (Ms Bricknell is pictured)
A jury found Perrin guilty of three counts of fraud and six counts of forgery.
The jury was unable to reach a verdict on three further charges. He is set to be sentenced on January 27 and has been remanded in custody.
He insisted Ms Bricknell knew exactly what he was doing and gave permission for him to sign the documents in 2008 on her behalf.
Ms Bricknell told the court she 'never, ever' gave her former partner permission to sign on her behalf.
Ms Bricknell took to social media to express how she felt about the whole saga
She also posted this image on her Facebook to show she has moved on
Perrin (pictured) insisted Ms Bricknell knew exactly what he was doing and gave permission for him to sign the documents in 2008 on her behalf
'This man has taken from me and my children without my permission and knowledge, that's worse than having an affair in my opinion,' Ms Bricknell told the Brisbane District Court throughout the trial.
'I always protected my children and I never, ever would have allowed him to sign my name on anything - that was not the right thing to do,' she said.
The mother-of-three told the court she won't be able to find peace until he is in jail.
Perrin told the court he often signed Ms Bricknell's name on documents throughout their marriage.
'If Nicole was available and convenient she would sign them ... if she wasn't I would sign them for her,' he said.
The former surfwear CEO mortgaged the family's $15 million property in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, without permission from his former partner Nicole Bricknell, who owned the house
The jury was shown a document which Perrin said gave him authority to act on Ms Bricknell's behalf in respect of their finances, including debts in her name.
Perrin, who is also a qualified solicitor, was also accused of forging his brother Fraser Perrin's signature on the paperwork.
He denied the 12 total charges, nine of which he was convicted over.
Perrin made a total of around $57 million from his investment in Billabong before he resigned as CEO in 2003.
By 2009 he had lost it all through bad investments and was declared bankrupt, the court was told.
The lawyers who defended Royal Marine Alexander Blackman, who was accused of murdering a wounded Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, made a string of mistakes that made his conviction unsafe, according to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.
The CCRC said Sergeant Blackman's team, including prominent barrister Anthony Berry QC, carried out 'inadequate' preparations for the court martial in 2013.
The Daily Telegraph said they had seen an official report which cited 'deficiencies in the standard of defence'.
Sergeant Alexander Blackman (pictured) has been refused bail pending his appeal against his conviction for murder
Last month the CCRC granted him a new appeal against his murder conviction after a new team, led by Jonathan Goldberg QC, found psychiatric evidence suggesting he was suffering from an undiagnosed mental disorder at the time of the incident.
Irwin Mitchell, a firm of solicitors acting for Sgt Blackman, has written to three members of his original legal team warning them they may face a claim for professional negligence.
The Telegraph has seen extracts from the 70-page CCRC report, which refers to 'arguably flawed decision making', and says their overall performance 'fell below the standard required'.
The document states: 'The CCRC concludes that there is a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would consider Mr Blackman's conviction for murder to be unsafe on the basis that the conduct of his defence prior to trial was deficient to the extent that it led to identifiable errors which rendered the trial process unfair.'
During the trial, Blackman denied murder and said he thought the man was already dead when he fired his pistol into his chest at point blank range.
The CCRC said Mr Berry's team failed to take a detailed 'proof of evidence' statement from Blackman and there was a 'failureto take detailed instructions and give persuasive legal advice'.
Claire Blackman (pictured) has been campaigning for her husband to be freed and has been supported by many serving and former Royal Marines
The CCRC said if Mr Berry, who lists Sgt Blackman's court martials as one of his 'notable recent cases' on his website, had carried out 'fuller preparation' he would have realised 'a psychiatric report should have been obtained to assess Mr Blackman's state of mind at the time of the incident.'
This might have led to the former marine pleading guilty to manslaughter by way of diminished responsibility.
The report said: 'Had psychiatric evidence been obtained prior to trial it would have identified Mr Blackman's medical condition and should have caused both Mr Blackman and his legal representatives to re-assess the incident, his level of culpability and the nature of his defence.
'In the absence of such evidence Mr Blackman was able to explain only partially, and in an unsatisfactory way, his actions and belief.'
John Bennett, a solicitor acting on behalf of Mr Berry and junior barrister Peter Glenser, told the Telegraph they had conducted the case 'on the basis of the clear, unambiguous and emphatic instructions received from Mr Blackman'.
The mother of a 21-year-old autistic man who claims he has been wrongly billed $3,000 for Centrelink debts says the government's new debt collecting system is 'heartless' and a form of 'financial bullying'.
Jack Rogerson is among an emerging number of Australians who claim they are being unfairly hounded by debt collectors because of the new automated system.
His mother, Nicole Rogerson, CEO of Autism Awareness Australia, said the government's approach under the new system is 'harming the most vulnerable'.
Meanwhile, a Brisbane man who also claims to have been wrongly billed warned the stress of being chased for debts that should not exist could lead to suicide and called on the government to put the new system on hold.
Nicole Rogerson, the mother of a 21-year-old autistic man Jack (pictured together) who was wrongly billed for a $3,000 Centrelink debt, said the 'heartless' new system is a form of 'financial bullying'
Brisbane filmmaker Michael Griffin was wrongly billed and said the government must 'pause the system' until the issue is resolved
Mr Rogerson, 21, had learned of his alleged debt about two weeks before Christmas when he was phoned by a private debt collector agency.
Mrs Rogerson looked into it, and said she discovered the apparent debt related to three months he was on a disability benefit before he found work as a chef's apprentice.
She told Daily Mail Australia the debt was incorrect and would be appealed.
But Mrs Rogerson fears others like her son would end up paying the debt because they don't have the resources to challenge it.
'It's okay for families like mine to have this experience, Jack has a working mum and dad and we can get through this,' Mrs Rogerson told Daily Mail Australia.
'What about the truly vulnerable people who rely on Centrelink to live every week?'
She said her family was still 'in a fight with Centrelink' and were still getting all the paperwork together but that it has been overwhelming.
But Mrs Rogerson fears others like her son would end up paying the debt because they don't have the resources to challenge it
'Appalling! Imagine the confusion of my Jack getting called by a debt collector on Christmas week,' Mrs Rogerson wrote on Twitter
Mrs Rogerson said she had been contacted by thousands of families with similar experiences since speaking out on Twitter
'If it's overwhelming for me, what's it like for the people on the fringes of the community?'
Mrs Rogerson said she had been contacted by thousands of families with 'similar, horrifying stories' since she spoke out on Twitter two days ago.
She said the system was 'harming the most vulnerable people', and was 'rigged' to hurt those with disabilities.
Michael Griffin, a Brisbane filmmaker who was also sent a $3,000 bill ahead of Christmas, said he believes the most vulnerable people would be fearing for their livelihoods.
The 34-year-old had received the bill in a letter from Centrelink, and was asked to confirm he earned $26,000 in the financial year to June 2014.
For about three months in that period, Mr Griffin was on Newstart allowance, known as the dole.
He earned no income for most fortnightly reporting periods, and the times he earned a little income he correctly reported it.
He then went into full-time work for the remaining nine months of the financial year and required no welfare support.
Michael Griffin (pictured), 34, was also sent a $3,000 bill ahead of Christmas
The automated system divided his annual income over 26 fortnights to create an average fortnightly income of $1,000 even on the periods when he earned no income
Over the Christmas period, Mr Griffin was told to confirm he earned $26,000 that year but was only given a 'yes' or 'no' option.
Mr Griffin clicked 'yes', and the automated system then divided the income over 26 fortnights to create an average fortnightly income of $1,000 even on the periods when he earned no income.
Centrelink then informed him he owed $3,000, based on the incorrect fortnightly earnings.
He said the process to have an appeal resolved is 'long and complicated'.
'It's extraordinarily difficult.'
Mr Griffin said he understands it may take until March for the appeals to even be looked at, and in the meantime they are referred to debt collectors who force people to begin the repayments.
'The system is flawed, it's a system that's based on an incorrect understanding of the way the Centrelink system has been designed,' Mr Griffin told Daily Mail Australia.
He took issue with the onus of proof being left with the recipient, who may need to find payslips from several years ago to prove the debt is incorrect.
'They've created a monster.
One welfare recipient claimed to have attempted to reach Centrelink by phone 306 times at 10.30 in the morning
'The government needs to pause the system until they've worked out the kinks, and then after that they can restart it. If people have been overpaid, they should pay it back. But they should not be paying false debt back.'
He likened the situation to 'extortion' and said the situation was a 'pressure cooker' that would explode and could lead to suicides.
Mrs Rogerson said the insinuation of the 'cold, hard' debt letters was that the welfare recipients are bludgers.
'The undertone of this is that they are welfare cheats,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
She said it was 'seriously heartless' to send out the debt letters over the Christmas period in what essentially amounts to 'financial bullying'.
'There are people who just don't feel like they can take on Centrelink anymore.
'I'm deeply, deeply upset at the system I just find the government's hardline position on this appalling.
'It's really scaring families.'
She rejected the government's defence there had not been an increase in complaints.
'Look out, mate, because they're complaining. They just can't get through.'
Social Services Minister Christian Porter insists the system is working 'incredibly well' (stock image of Centrelink)
Social media has been flooded with complaints the phone lines have not been working, with one welfare recipient claiming to have attempted to reach Centrelink by phone 306 times at 10.30 in the morning.
WHAT'S THE CONTROVERSY? Centrelink has sent out 169,000 debt notices over the last six months using an automated system, which matches data from different agencies. Many have claimed their debts are false. The system also divides total annual incomes from a year by 26 fortnights to create an average income - even if a person was not working for the period they were on welfare. This has caused people who were not earning any income for a period to be told they owe money because they earned an average income. Others said the system thought they had been working full-time work instead of one because of slight spelling differences. Advertisement
Mrs Rogerson said the government needed to admit the error to solve it.
'The arrogance of their tough, hardline, view is baffling for me at this point.'
Social Services Minister Christian Porter insists the system is working 'incredibly well' and said the complaint rate was low - only 276 complaints out of 169,000 letters.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has called in the Commonwealth Ombudsman to investigate the new automated system.
Most of the issues, though not all, appear to be the result of a lack of nuance in the system by dividing total annual incomes by 26 fortnights to create an average income even if a person was not working for the period they were on welfare.
A bizarre optical illusion makes these hikers seem like they are flying across a beach.
The walkers were filming their stroll on the sand in Schiermonnikoog, The Netherlands, when high winds struck.
The gust picked up grains of sand and blew them across the beach into the direction of the oncoming pair.
A bizarre optical illusion makes these hikers seem like they are flying across a beach
The walkers were filming their stroll on the sand when high winds struck
When the hikers stood still the grains of sand rushed past so fast that they made the couple look as though they were flying across the sand.
The woman, who is standing ahead of the man, put her arms by her sides and bowed her head to make her flying look deliberate.
The wind was so strong that she could barely stand up and at one point lost her balance and had to take a step back.
A host of optical illusions have been sweeping the web in recent weeks, including one picture of a flock of camels.
The gust picked up grains of sand and blew them across the beach into the direction of the oncoming couple
When the pair stood still the grains of sand rushed past so fast that they made the couple look as though they were flying across the sand
At first glance, it looks like a group of black camels making their way across the desert.
If you look closely though, you will be able to notice that the dark outlines are in fact their shadows rather than the camels themselves.
The lighter shapes at their feet are the backs of the camels as they head to grazing pastures near Wadi Mitan, western Oman.
Britain's booming food and drink industry is defying Brexit doom-mongers and challenging national stereotypes around the world by selling cheese to France, chocolate to Switzerland and even wine to Italy, official figures reveal.
Britain's spirits are drank in nearly every corner of the world, with exports of gin to the US worth 158million and sales of whiskey rocketing by up to 40 per cent.
Britain sells 42,000 tonnes of pork to China every year, 400million worth of smoked salmon around the globe and nearly 300million of beef, government trade figures show.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Andrea Leadsom hailed Britain's 'trailblazing' exporters and told MailOnline that the popularity of our food and drink products in every corner of the world was proof Britain can thrive outside the EU.
Britain's booming food and drink industry is defying Brexit doom-mongers and breaking national stereotypes around the world by selling cheese to France, chocolate to Switzerland and even wine to Italy, official figures reveal
She and other Brexit supporters say Britain will enjoy even further export growth when Britain officially cuts ties with Brussels and can strike new bilateral trade deals across with non-European nations.
One of Britain's strongest food exports is cheese worth a staggering 356million in 2016 after a rise of 50 per cent over the last five years.
Surprisingly, one in every seven pounds-worth of British cheese is sold to France the world's cheese capital. Nearly 40million of cheese exports goes to the US.
Britain is also busting national stereotypes in Switzerland, where it sells 5million worth of chocolate a year.
FOOD AND DRINK EXPORTS IN NUMBERS 42,000 Tonnes of British pork sold to China every year 356m The sales of British cheese overseas 50m The value of British cheese exported to France in a year 140 The number of countries buying British chocolate 158m The value of gin exports to the US 27 The number of countries we export English sparkling wine to around the world - a new record 41% The rise in exports of whiskey to India in the first half of last year alone Advertisement
British chocolate is munched in a total of 140 countries and exports rose by two thirds in the last six years.
English sparkling wine is now shipped to a record 27 countries around the world, including major wine producing countries like France, Italy and South Africa.
It is also breaking into new markets in the Caribbean and Japan.
Other types of alcohol exported abroad include English cider sold to Russia, 158million of gin a year to the US, while exports of whiskey to India in the first half of 2016 rose by 41 per cent compared to the previous year.
British langoustine are being enjoyed overseas, with exports to Mediterranean countries like Spain worth 80million a year.
Britain's famous Nairn's biscuits are extremely popular in the US, Canada and South Africa, while Tiptree jam exports have seen a significant boost in demand from China and the Middle East.
China is also a mass market for British pork, worth an estimated 420million last year up an impressive 73 per cent on the previous year.
Other major markets for British pork include the US and Australia.
UK beef exports have been given a boost by demand for premium cuts in Hong Kong and Singapore.
And the value of smoked salmon sales overseas rose by 11 per cent this year and are worth nearly 400million a year.
English sparkling wine is now shipped to a record 27 countries around the world, including major wine producing countries like France, Italy and South Africa
One of Britain's strongest food exports is cheese worth a staggering 356million in 2016 after a rise of 50 per cent over the last five years. Pictured, traditional farmhouse cheddar
Americans are the biggest fans of the luxury food, with the US buying 121million in the first seven months of 2016 but we also exported nearly 40million to China and 6million to Vietnam in the same period.
Praising British food and drink exporters, Environment Secretary Mrs Leadsom said: 'Our food and drink industry is a global success story and it is fantastic to think our high-quality meat, award-winning cheese and traditional smoked salmon are enjoyed around the world.
'It is our reputation for safety, welfare and traceability that attracts international customers and in the year ahead I hope our trailblazing exporters to help our newer businesses reach these markets and generate millions for our growing economy.'
The Government's Great British Food campaign has recently published a new strategy to target nine key emerging markets, including Australia and the United Arab Emirates, which it has pinpointed as having the biggest growth potential.
Southern Rail and Thameslink staff missed a fake bomb planted on a train as part of a covert security drill.
A memo seen by The Times which was sent in November by Tony Holland, the crime and security manager of Govia Thameslink Rail, which is the parent company of Southern and Thameslink, warned staff to be vigilant.
It followed the discovery of a real bomb at North Greenwich underground station in October.
The memo was sent Tony Holland, the crime and security manager of Govia Thameslink Rail, which is the parent company of Southern and Thameslink
The rucksack full of explosives was found dumped on the floor of a Tube carriage, sparking a major security alert
The note from Mr Holland read: Last week Transport Security Inspectors from the Department for Transport carried out a covert test on one of our trains.
A police officer stands guard at North Greenwich underground station, where a real bomb was discovered in October
'The test involved leaving an unattended bag on a train, which contained a suspicious item.
Cambridge has topped a list of property hotspots where asking prices have exploded by 75% in just a decade.
The famous university city leads a league of UK areas outside London where people are desperate to live.
In 2006 the average asking price for a pad in the city famous for its boating and being the former home of film director Richard Attenborough was 264,227.
In just ten years that has shot up by a staggering 75.3% to 463,093.
Cambridge has topped a list of property hotspots where asking prices have exploded by 75% in just a decade
Cantabrigians - the official name for those who studied or worked at Cambridge Uni - include Prince Charles, Stephen Fry, 59, Hugh Laurie, 57, John Cleese, 77, Lord Richard Attenborough, Mel Giedroyc, 48, Jimmy Carr, 44, and actresses Rachel Weisz, 46, Thandie Newton, 44, and Emma Thompson, 57.
And it's not the only place outside London that has seen incredible gains.
Leafy Walton-on-Thames in Surrey has had similar rises, with asking prices there shooting up by 71.8% from 386,427 in 2006 to 663,811 in the last quarter of 2016.
The seaside town of Whitstable in Kent - famous for its oysters - comes third with asking price hikes of 70% in ten years, from 228,786 in 2006 to 388,986 today.
And other places to make the top ten are all areas which have taken population overspill from the capital.
Maidenhead in Berkshire - the county where the Duchess of Cambridge was born - has seen a 65.3% rise in prices in a decade, going from an average of 326,454 in 2006 to 539,653 in the final quarter of 2016.
Residents of Leigh-On-Sea, Essex, have enjoyed seeing their homes shoot up by 65.2% from an average asking price of 238,748 to 394,333, while Slough, Berks - home to BBC sitcom The Office - has risen 64.1% from 221,457 to 363,381.
Another university city making the top ten is Oxford, where homeowners can now expect to pay an average of 63.7% more than 2006, with asking prices leaping from 287,825 to a mammoth 471,087.
Loughton in Essex - mentioned in telly series TOWIE and the place Lydia Bright, 26, has her clothing boutique - has also seen 63.5% rises from an average of 335,011 to 547,795.
The figures show the deepening north south property price divide, with all of those in the top ten in the south.
The last two of the top ten are both Home Counties towns that may have taken people moving into the countryside from London.
Bracknell in Berkshire and Watford, Herts, both have rises of 60.4% in ten years, from average asking prices of 238,758 and 273,902 to 383,022 and 439,400.
The new figures, from property website RightMove, exclude London, where on average asking prices have shot up by 84.7% in the last decade.
They use statistics from the last quarter of 2006 and 2016 meaning they are completely up to date.
The seaside town of Whitstable in Kent - famous for its oysters - comes third with asking price hikes of 70% in ten years, from 228,786 in 2006 to 388,986 today
Property expert Henry Pryor said: 'When looking for a new home it's all about location, location, location and most people have heeded this advice over the years, paying more for property in better places.
'Over the past few years, with prices so high, buyers have often had to settle for secondary locations which in turn has driven up the prices of these areas - which is presumably why Whitstable appears in the list.
'People have been priced out of the more fashionable parts of the country.'
The town with the largest surge in asking prices i the last year was Luton.
The town had the dubious honour of being voted the worst place to live in Britain in a 2004 book.
But in a major turnaround, the Bedfordshire town has become an unlikely property hotspot - with house prices rising 42,000 in a year.
Property values there surged by 19.4 per cent in the last year, more than twice as fast as the UK average and higher than anywhere else in the country.
Britains ambassador to the EU, Sir Ivan Rogers has resigned his position
The resignation of Britains ambassador to the EU, Sir Ivan Rogers, can be summed up in two words: good riddance!
Every inch the Foreign Office mandarin and Brussels insider, Sir Ivan viewed the Brexit vote as a disaster and Brexiteers with barely disguised contempt.
Is it any wonder David Camerons renegotiation finished as a total sham, when Sir Ivan was advising the then prime minister to ask for so little especially on immigration from the EU?
Indeed, given Sir Ivans prominent role in that debacle, it is something of a surprise he hung around as long as he did after June 23. The final nail in his coffin was the revelation he was telling ministers it could take ten years to negotiate a trade deal with the remaining 27 states.
As the Mail said at the time, there is no good reason an agreement with some of our closest allies should take nearly twice as long as it did to defeat the Nazis.
Nor can a man with such defeatist views be the right person to represent this country in the negotiations ahead.
Predictably, the mandarin class closed ranks to defend one of its own, backed by Remoaners such as George Osborne, Peter Mandelson and Nick Clegg. When they are the ones grieving his loss we can be sure it is good news for the country.
Indeed, for Theresa May it represents a great start to a year in which, even though she is facing a critical Supreme Court ruling on Article 50, she will be confident of firing the starting gun on Brexit.
Choosing Sir Ivans replacement will give Mrs May the chance to hire an ambassador with ambition, determination and none of his relentless gloom.
While shes at it, might Mrs May consider a long overdue clearout of the dead wood at the Foreign Office, to be replaced by diplomats who believe as this newspaper wholeheartedly does in the exciting opportunities of Brexit.
Leeching off the NHS
Ambulance-chasing lawyers who drive up compensation bills with their stratospheric fees have long been a terrible drain on precious NHS resources.
Just imagine what a difference the 440million they pocket every year could make if it was instead spent on patient care. Hospital managers should be doing everything they can to force these legal vultures out of the health service.
But instead, in a grotesque act of self-harm, we now learn they are welcoming them in, with several law firms renting office space in prime hospital locations or paying for advertising on NHS-branded leaflets in waiting rooms.
NHS chief executive Simon Stevens has condemned those hospitals which allow no-win-no-fee firms to target their patients
Yes, doctors and nurses make mistakes, sometimes serious ones, and anyone whose health has been affected deserves appropriate financial redress. But nearly 30p in every pound spent on compensation goes to lawyers and in some cases they even end up with more money than the injured patient.
NHS chief executive Simon Stevens deserves praise for his unequivocal condemnation of those hospitals which allow no-win-no-fee firms to target their patients.
Health bosses should now kick the lawyers out of every NHS building and make sure they never come back.
Help end gender injustice in society but only for women
How utterly typical of right-on human rights campaigner turned Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti to launch a 500,000 bursary at the University of Essex to help end gender injustice in society but only for women.
Bosses at Britains biggest companies will have made more money by the end of today than a typical worker will earn all year, according to a think-tank.
The High Pay Centre has branded today Fat Cat Wednesday because of the shocking figures.
It takes the average chief executive of a leading business just two-and-a-half days to earn the average salary of 28,200, said the independent body.
So if bosses had returned to their desks on Monday to work the bank holiday, then they would hit that total today.
It would take just over an hour-and-a-half for the best paid, Sir Martin Sorrell, to earn 28,200
It would take just over an hour-and-a-half for the best paid, Sir Martin Sorrell, said the centre. As boss of advertising giant WPP, a long-term bonus took his total package to 70million last year.
Stefan Stern, HPC director, said: The continuing pay gap creates problems for us all. Fat Cat Wednesday is an important reminder of the continuing problem of the unfair pay gap. We hope the Government will recognise that further reforms to pay practices are needed.
The findings published today will pile pressure on Theresa May to tackle excessive pay after she criticised the irrational and unhealthy divide between bosses and ordinary workers.
Even the Institute of Directors has called for corporate awareness. It has warned that some executives have assumed massive rewards while taking little of the personal risk usually associated with entrepreneurs.
The average pay for a FTSE 100 chief executive is nearly 4million or just over 1,000 an hour, said the High Pay Centre.
It assumes they put in 3,940 hours a year, which requires working 12 hours a day and most weekends while taking fewer than ten days for holidays.
With a typical worker earning 28,200 a year, it would take around 28 hours for a blue-chip boss to pass this average something they would achieve today.
Top bosses will already have made more money by the first Wednesday of 2017 than the typical UK worker will earn all year, said the HPC report. After a year in which elites were criticised for being out of touch and ignorant about the concerns of ordinary people, these figures confirm that there are dramatically different rates of pay at the top compared with everyone else.
The top ten: The findings published today will pile pressure on Theresa May to tackle excessive pay after she criticised the irrational and unhealthy divide between bosses and ordinary workers
The centre warns that excessive pay deals in the private sector set a bad example to the public sector and not-for-profit organisations. This is seen by the huge amounts given to some headteachers and leaders of NHS trusts, councils and charities.
Simon Walker, director general at the Institute of Directors, pointed to the threat of an official clampdown. Unless boards show they are listening and responding, the Governments trigger finger will just get itchier and itchier, he said.
The problem is that over the past few decades managers have assumed massive rewards while taking little of the personal risk.
Frances OGrady, general secretary of the TUC, said: Working people deserve a fair share of the wealth they help create. The Prime Minister must stick to her promise to tackle excessive pay at the top.
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Four people were killed in severe weather across the Southern United States last night have been named.
Michelle Lewis, 53; her niece Amanda Blair, 27; and family friends Terina Brookshire, 51 and Carla Lambart, 53 died when a tornado sent a tree crashing into their mobile home in Rehoboth, Alabama.
Three others including Lawana Henrich, sister to Michelle Lewis and mother to Amanda Blair, were in the home and survived.
The four deaths are among six caused by the storms across the South.
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Friends and family survey the trailer where a tree fell and killed four people after a deadly storm hit Rehobeth, Alabama
Tim McElveen of Rehoboth, Alabama contemplates the damage to his home. A fallen tree in Rehobeth killed four people
Shelley Reynolds cuddles her four-month-old daughter Reagan after the deadly storm in Rehobeth, Alabama
A tattered American flag on the porch of Margie Peters following the storm that devastated Rehobeth, Alabama
The victim in an accidental drowning in Florida was identified as William Corley, 70. An alert by the sheriff's office is pictured above
Henrich saw a weather alert on television and told the group to take shelter, CBS News reported.
Houston County Coroner Robert Byrd said four women who went into one bathroom were killed when a tree collapsed on it while Henrich, her husband and an unidentified man escaped the tornado in another bathroom.
William Corley, 70, drowned near his submerged vehicle in Mossy Head, Florida, the Weather Channel reported.
Police said they believe he was trying to evacuate from a travel trailer on Monday afternoon.
And an unnamed woman died in southwestern Georgia on Monday night.
A man in Vicksburg, Mississippi was struck by lightning while duck hunting in the Mahanna Wildlife Management area but is still alive.
And the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo in Gulf Shores will be closed for at least week following damage to animal enclosures.
Courtesy of Cory Pippin from WPMI
The rain is expected to subside in the next couple days before picking up again on Friday following Winter Storm Helena, the Weather Channel forecasts.
Winter Storm Helena is expected to pummel the Western United States before potentially bringing snow and ice across the South.
The Southeastern seaboard and much of the Florida panhandle is to experience minor rain of less than one inch
But the bad weather may pick up again on Friday as Winter Storm Helena is expected to bring snow and ice across the South. Parts of northern Florida remain on tornado watch while much of South Carolina remains at risk for flash flooding
Much of the Southeastern seaboard may experience snow and ice this weekend due to Winter Storm Helena
At least a dozen tornadoes struck the Southeast which caused several house fires and left more than 80,000 people without power.
The storm system that moved from Texas across the South left a trail of damage reported in at least 28 Mississippi counties, 15 Louisiana parishes and 15 Texas counties. The four dead were in Rehobeth, Alabama near the Florida border.
More than four inches of rain fell from Biloxi, Mississippi to Augusta, Georgia while some parts of southern Mississippi and southwest Alabama received more than eight inches.
But parts of the Southeast are still categorized as experiencing 'exceptional drought,' according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.
Dominck Curran cuts a tree that fell in front of Rehobeth Middle School the day after the devastating storm
Cort Brown works on cutting a tree in Rehobeth, Alabama following the storm that killed four people there
Korey Jackson, with Jackson's Tree Service, surveys damage at a park behind the town hall after a deadly storm in hit Rehobeth, Alabama
In a Marksville, Louisiana Walmart, the severe weather blew out skylights which sent water and glass cascading onto shoppers. It also knocked over 18-wheel truck trailers and punched holes in the store's roof.
State emergency officials reported no injuries or deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi.
And tornadoes continued to threaten southern Alabama, southwest Georgia and the Florida Panhandle after sundown.
Officials in Houston County, Alabama said there was 'major flooding,' ABC reported.
Crewmen work to remove downed trees and debris in Covington County, Mississippi
Violent: A storm ripped across the South today and left a trail of damage in at least 28 Mississippi counties, 15 Louisiana parishes and 15 Texas counties
A damaged home in Mount Olive, Mississippi following the violent storms today. State emergency officials reported no injuries or deaths in Louisiana and Mississippi
The storm also knocked over 18-wheel truck trailers and punched holes in the Walmart's roof in Marksville, Louisiana
Walmart spokeswoman Erica Jones said the Arkansas-based company hopes to reopen the store Tuesday. The destruction at the Marksville store is seen above
More than 50,000 customers in Louisiana and more than 30,000 in Mississippi lost power at the height of the storm.
The squall line hit Louisiana's Avoyelles Parish just before noon.
Bunkie Fire Chief Joey Frank says trees fell on three houses in his town, while Marksville Fire Chief Jerry Bordelon said a fireworks stand in the Walmart parking lot was tossed 30 or 40 yards.
In Louisiana, there was also relatively serious damage in the southwestern parishes of Beauregard and Allen, including the town of Reeves. Pictured: Damage in Mount Olive, Mississippi
The storms damages farm buildings and homes across Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana. Debris in Mississippi is seen above
The fire department ordered shoppers to leave the store, but some didn't want to leave even as managers closed it.
Bordelon said: 'Believe it or not, we had some people in there who were still trying to shop.'
Walmart spokeswoman Erica Jones said the Arkansas-based company hopes to reopen the store Tuesday.
But needed repairs to a natural gas line may cause a delay.
Storms in central Mississippi near Mendenhall and Mount Olive were identified as tornadoes by the National Weather Service, based in part on radar signatures.
Both storms damaged farm buildings and homes.
Freddie Zeigler, a meteorologist in the Weather Service's New Orleans office, said heavy winds were preceding the squall line, possibly contributing to power outages. Pictured: Crews removing debris in Covington County, Mississippi
In Louisiana, there was also relatively serious damage in the southwestern parishes of Beauregard and Allen, including the town of Reeves.
Some wind damage was also reported in Houston and throughout East Texas.
Though Arkansas had also been included in warnings, there was only a stray report of hail in Jackson County in the northeast part of the state.
Freddie Zeigler, a meteorologist in the Weather Service's New Orleans office, said heavy winds were preceding the squall line, possibly contributing to power outages.
A gust of 52 mph was reported at McComb, Mississippi, about 1pm Monday.
It was the second episode of heavy rain within days for some areas.
Rain dance: University of Oklahoma cheerleaders splash in puddles en route to the Sugar Bowl at the Superdome in New Orleans
Waterworld: Attendees at the Sugar Bowl trudged through water to cheer on their teams
An area stretching from Biloxi, Mississippi, through Alabama and across Macon and Augusta, Georgia received more than four inches of rain Monday, according to radar estimates.
Parts of southern Mississippi and southwest Alabama have received more than 8 inches of rain since Saturday.
Though rivers along the Gulf Coast were rising rapidly Monday, only minor flooding was predicted.
And severe weather exited Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi which allowed Auburn University and the University of Oklahoma fans to reach Monday night's Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
A prison guard has been killed during a two-hour firefight after Muslim rebels stormed a Filipino jail in a pre-dawn raid in which 150 inmates escaped.
The attack added to a long history of daring jailbreaks in the country's south, home to a decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency as well as extremist gangs that have recently declared allegiance to ISIS.
A two-hour long firefight broke out when more than 100 armed men believed to have been led by a local rebel commander attacked the jail in Kidapawan city at about 1am.
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A prison guard has been killed during a two-hour firefight after Muslim rebels stormed a Filipino jail (pictured) in a pre-dawn raid in which 150 inmates escaped
'It's to rescue their comrades under our custody. It is a rescue operation,' jail warden Peter John Bonggat told local ABS-CBN television.
Bonggat said the attackers were believed to be a breakaway faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the nation's largest Muslim rebel organisation that is in peace talks with the government.
At least 158 prisoners had escaped, Bonggat told AFP, although it was unclear how many of those were linked to the attackers or were just other inmates who took advantage of the chaos.
'The (inmates) took chances because of the volume of fire... they used their bedding, piled them on top of each other to escape,' Bonggat said.
The attack added to a long history of daring jailbreaks in the country's south, home to a decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency as well as extremist gangs that have recently declared allegiance to ISIS
Authorities said the jail, which housed 1,511 inmates, lacked guards and was a dilapidated former school building located in a forested, secluded area
Bonggat said the jail, which housed 1,511 inmates, lacked guards and was a dilapidated former school building located in a forested, secluded area.
Three inmates facing charges of illegal possession of explosives and drugs escaped from the jail last year.
Kidapawan, 590 miles south of Manila, is home to various Muslim rebel groups, criminal gangs and communist insurgents.
'We have many Muslim personalities (in the jail) that are members of various organised, syndicated groups,' Bonggat told AFP.
Security forces pursued the assailants and the escapees throughout Wednesday morning, with local authorities reporting up to six had been killed in the hunt.
MILF spokesman Von al-Haq told AFP the group did not know who the attackers were and was contacting its members to get more information.
A two-hour long firefight broke out when more than 100 armed men believed to have been led by a local rebel commander attacked the jail in Kidapawan city at about 1am
The MILF has about 10,000 armed followers, but they have been observing a ceasefire with the government as part of the peace efforts.
The southern region of Mindanao is the ancestral homeland of the Muslim minority in the largely Catholic Philippines.
More than 120,000 people have been killed in the rebellion.
While the MILF is aiming for peace, there are various breakaway groups that are determined to continue fighting and have declared allegiance to the IS group.
Police are investigating the poisoning of an entire family after an Amarillo, Texas father used professional-grade, restricted mouse pellets under the family's home, releasing a deadly gas.
The father told police that he had obtained the Weevil-Cide pellets - which are only supposed to be placed by two fully trained professionals at a time - from a friend.
It's believed that those pellets released deadly gas when they reacted to water he had sprayed on them, killing four of his children and hospitalizing six other family members, CBS News reported.
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Yasmeen Balderas, 17, was the oldest of four Amarillo, Texas kids who died when their dad Peter sprayed an industrial pesticide under their home with water, releasing a deadly gas
Felipe Balderas, seven; Johnnie Balderas, nine; Josue Balderas, 11 (all pictured above) also died of phosphide gas poisoning. Their dad told police investigators he got the pellets from a friend
Speaking to police through a Spanish-language interpreter, the father, Peter Balderas admitted to obtaining the powerful pesticide, which is used industrially to kill mice and insects and isn't available to the public.
According to the online guide, the pellets, which are made of aluminum phosphide, are only to be placed by two professionally trained experts at a time.
A police officer told CBS that the father is not believed to be certified to use the product; it's not known if his friend is trained.
After neighbors complained about the smell, Balderas used a hose to wash out the pellets. They reacted with the water, creating phosphine gas that killed Felipe Balderas, seven; Johnnie Balderas, nine; Josue Balderas, 11 and Yasmeen Balderas, 17.
One child died at the scene. The three other siblings died at a hospital.
Balderas's wife, Martha, was left on life support but was responding to questions by squeezing her hand on Monday morning, an update from a GoFundMe page said.
Peter and four other children were in stable condition in hospital.
Phosphine gas can cause respiratory failure and in severe cases can cause a pulmonary edema, which fills the lungs full of fluid.
Police closed off the family's mobile home and began an investigation. Balderas does not have the proper certification to use the pellets; police don't yet know whether his friend does
Once the investigation is closed, the local DA will decide whether to press charges. Peter, his wife and four other kids were hospitalized, also due to inhaling the gas
Once police have concluded their investigation, the results will be given to the local district attorney who will decide whether to press charges.
Other federal and state agencies may also become involved, because of the use of a restricted chemical, Amarillo police spokesman Officer Jeb Hilton said.
Figures from the American Association of Poison Control Centers show that deaths from Weevil-Cide are rare.
Cynthia Aaron, medical director for the Michigan Regional Poison Control Center at Children's Hospital of Michigan, said doctors there more often treated adult patients for exposure because the pesticide is often used in industrial shipping.
'It's not a rare exposure, but deaths like this are rare,' she said. 'We see mostly the overdoses. For example, they used to use this in ship holds when they ship grain.
'So if they are de-mousing the big ship hold and someone doesn't realize the pesticide has been activated or they haven't yet been aired out properly, they might enter and pass out or die.'
Crews responded to the Balderas's home at 1301 Carolyn Street at 5am on Monday.
Four other children in the home and their father are in stable condition while their mother is in serious condition and is being treated at a hospital in Lubbock.
One of the recovering children cannot eat due to 'lingering effects' but two others are 'eating and responding well.'
Police were called out at 5am and initially thought the issue was carbon monoxide poisoning. Balderas's wife is seriously ill, but he and his surviving children are in stable condition
There were also 10 first responders at the scene who were taken to hospital as a precautionary measure but did not show signs of the illness, Amarillo Globe-News reported.
Responders worked throughout the day to clear the area, ABC7 reported.
The house was sealed off by police, who initially thought that carbon monoxide poisoning was to blame.
The toxic gas emerged Sunday and it would have festered in the house overnight, the Amarillo Fire Department said.
The GoFundMe page was set up by a teacher at Eastridge Elementary School, which three of the youngest siblings attended.
The oldest, Yasmeen, was a student at Palo Duro High School where she served as a student life contributor for the student newspaper.
What happened to Stacey? Ms Tierney's lifeless body was found at Melbourne's Dreams nightspot on December 19
The sister of the owner of Melbournes Dreams nightspot where exotic dancer Stacey Tierney was found dead has questioned if the 29-year-olds death was an overdose after claiming girls who work at strip clubs get high on whatever drug.
Antoinette Aparo, 51 - the sister of Dreams Gentlemen's Club owner Salvatore - told Daily Mail Australia people should wait for the investigation to conclude before passing judgement on what happened.
'I know strip clubs and I know the type of girls who work there,' Ms Aparo said in an interview.
'They go get high on ... whatever drug ... then they go to work, do their dancing and go home - how do we know this girl didn't just overdose?'
'All I can say is it will be interesting to see what the police come up with.'
Ms Tierney was working at three separate gentlemen's clubs before her lifeless body was found at Dreams on December 19, slumped in a corner and forgotten for 12 hours.
The British woman, 29, had lived in Melbourne for just six months before she died in mysterious circumstances.
She worked at the clubs Goldfingers and Men's Gallery on Lonsdale Street, as well as the much newer 'Dreams' club on Flinders Street. She had reportedly been working at Dreams for just five weeks before she died.
Dream's owners, staff and management released a statement on Wednesday night extending their 'sincere sympathies and condolences to the family and friends of Stacey Tierney, who recently passed away.'
'We will continue to co-operate with and assist Victoria Police with their ongoing investigation into the circumstances surrounding Stacey's death, however, until such time as all the facts are known and the Police investigation has concluded, we are unable to make any further comment or statements in relation to this matter.'
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Antoinette Aparo, 51 - the sister of Dreams owner Salvatore - told Daily Mail Australia people should wait for the investigation to conclude before passing judgement on what happened
Ms Tierney, a fitness instructor from Manchester, was dead for 12 hours before her body was found
The street entrance of Dreams Gentlemen's Club where Ms Tierney was found dead after 12 hours
Homicide detectives have joined an investigation into the death of the British woman, 29
A friend of Ms Tierney said she was also working for two other Melbourne venues - Goldfingers (pictured) and The Men's Gallery
It comes after the club came under fire on social media for refusing to acknowledge Ms Tierney's tragic death - even posting a provocative video of a scantily-dressed woman swinging on a pole to promote 'Sexy Poker Tuesdays'.
This week, the club has also promoted a number of other function nights including Lingerie Wednesdays, Full Throttle Thursdays, Super Sexy Fridays and Party on Saturdays.
Furious members of the public expressed outrage on the Dreams Facebook page, with user complaining the club had 'made zero public acknowledgement of the fact that this has even happened... beyond shameful and beyond disrespectful'.
'I'm disgusted that you haven't even acknowledged what has happened, shame on you,' said another.
Well-known strip club owner Maxine Fensom has slammed Ms Aparo's comments about drug use in the industry as 'callous and insensitive.'
'She has just branded every stripper with the same brush and said all strippers do drugs.'
'A lot of the girls who work for me and in my industry are fit, healthy women who do it to make money,' she said.
Ms Fensom said Ms Aparo was 'speaking out of turn' because she does not work in the industry.
'It is so insensitive for a woman, and I assume mother, to come out and say something like that - I mean don't be so insensitive, that 29-year-old is someone's kid.'
Ms Tierney's is said to have been 'partying' with some men in the club on the previous Sunday while it was closed but they reportedly fled when she died.
Her friends expressed shock at her death and said the health-conscious young woman 'never touched drugs'.
Homicide detectives have joined the police investigation.
Video of an unnamed dancer was used to promote the Melbourne strip club on Tuesday
Some of the social media backlash against Dreams nightclub is pictured here
Security guards are pictured here ushering women into the Dreams club this week
Well-known strip club owner Maxine Fensom (pictured) has slammed Ms Aparo's comments about drug use in the industry as 'callous and insensitive'
One well-respected business owner, who declined to be named, said she was surprised Ms Tierney had performed at three separate venues.
'None of my managers have ever seen her near my clubs.'
A dancer, who did not want to be named, also told Daily Mail Australia Ms Tierney was also working for Goldfingers and The Men's Gallery.
Both clubs declined to comment.
Ms Tierney's uncle, Graham Tierney, described his niece as a 'hard-working young lady who was full of life'.
'We are finding it difficult to get information, and realise there is an investigation regarding the suspicious circumstances,' he told News Corp Australia .
A fellow dancer who worked with Ms Tierney in Brisbane told Daily Mail Australia she believed she funded her three years of travels across the country through exotic dancing.
The fitness instructor from Manchester had been dead for about 12 hours when she was found in Dreams Gentlemen's Club on Monday, December 19, while it was closed
A second dancer who worked with Stacey in Queensland around May said she thought sure Ms Tierney has been dancing for a couple of years on and off and that she worked as much as she could.
The young woman said she was open about what she did when meeting people in Australia but didn't believe her family knew of her occupation.
The friend, worked with Ms Tierney at a strip club in the Gold Coast, also insisted the 29-year-old would never go to a place she worked out of hours.
'As soon as I heard she had died I asked if she had been killed... [I] knew in my heart that something was not right,' the dancer said.
The dancer said it was out of character for Mr Tierney to be spending time with men she did not know at a club she worked in after hours.
There is no suggestion that the management of the club is implicated in her death.
'She was healthy, didn't touch drugs and was so upbeat about life she wouldn't take her own life,' the friend said.
The New Zealand woman said there was no way Ms Tierney would have been able to gain access to the club alone and insisted she was always the 'first to say no' if offered drugs.
Detectives have now taken over the investigation into the mysterious death of the fitness instructor from Manchester and are awaiting a post-mortem examination
Ms Tierney had been doing well in Melbourne after leaving the Gold Coast six months ago
Ms Rose said it was out of character for Mr Tierney to be spending time with men she did not know at a club she worked in after hours
The club caters to bucks parties and private functions, with secluded rooms available away from the marble-clad podiums where the 'Dream Girls' parade kicks off at 1am on Saturday
Ms Tierney was working at three Melbourne strip clubs at the time of her death
She said: 'Strippers don't go to clubs when they're closed. It just isn't done.'
Earlier, police confirmed Melbourne Crime Investigation Unit investigators had spoken to Ms Tierney's family and the Homicide Squad is included in the investigation of her mysterious death.
Authorities are awaiting a post-mortem examination.
Ms Tierney reportedly told club staff members she was not feeling well when she arrived for her shift on Saturday, December 17, according to 9News.
Friends who danced with Ms Tierney at a strip club in Queensland said they immediately feared she had met foul play.
News of the 'vivacious' young woman's death started circulating around the globe after her body was found, with her family informed she was dead just before Christmas.
Ms Tierney's former boyfriend, Matthew Girvan, expressed his disbelief after learning of her death while he was travelling in Indonesia.
'My ex-girlfriend I was with for 6 years passed away. Words can't describe how devastated I am,' he wrote, also sharing an image of them riding a zip line together.
Ms Tierney's former boyfriend, Matthew Girvan, expressed his disbelief after learning of her death while travelling in Indonesia and shared an image of them together
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New photos show a side of Russia that starkly contrast the grandeur of Moscow with its beautiful colors and well maintained architecture.
A photo series shows the grim reality of the people who live in Russia's abandoned villages in a forested area northeast of Moscow.
Photographers Liza Zhakova and Dima Zharov from St Petersburg chronicled their trip through 'Russia's desert'. They report it is not unusual for an entire village to be inhabited by just one person and published the photos on Zhakovazharov.ru.
Alexey Fedorovich and Zoya Timofeevna Chernovs's hayloft is surrounded by broken pieces of another home
Sasha tries to repair his home which is falling apart in nearly abandoned Elyakovo Village
Lecha is a miner in Spirdovo who fills his day with hunting and drinking in the empty village
Lecha (center) doesn't have electricity in his home in the desolate village of Spirdovo in the Kostroma region
The photographers said they were under the impression that the Russian government had abandoned these villages on purpose to get people to move.
The publication Roads and Kingdoms reports there are only 660,000 residents for its 23,000 throughout Russia's Kostroma region.
This area spans 23,000 square miles which close to the size of West Virginia.
Russia's wealth is primarily centralized in its major cities. This means villagers are subjected to lower wages and social services compared to those who live in urban areas.
Lecha smokes with his hunter friends in their deserted village of Spirdovo
Lecha's hunter friends (pictured above) spend time hunting and drinking to kill the hours in their gloomy town
Lecha's hunter friend holds a cigarette in the dark because the home does not have electricity
Lecha has fathered 10 children with three different women. He does not understand why people leave his village
One of the people left was a man named Lecha who lives in the village of Spirdovo. They spoke to the miner who gets by with a minimum pension payment. He doesn't have the need to pay an electricity bill which cuts down on his expenses.
Lecha said he as 10 children with three different women. He also detailed his relationship with alcohol saying: 'Ive been on a binge for 10 days. Take 6-7 bottles and Im already wasted.'
He continued: 'Whats the difference whether I die today or 10 years later no difference at all.'
Another person the photographers spoke to was Sasha from Elyakovo Village. He also hunts for food and says he noticed a decline in wildlife.
But Sasha is not interested in moving. He said: 'I dont like city at all, I can go for a trip there for 4 days, but I cant stand more than that.'
Sasha lives in Elyakovo Village alone. He is not interested in leaving his town for the city like many of the other villagers
Sasha's home (pictured) is one of the few inhabited residences in Elyakovo Village
Sasha gets ready in the morning in his nearly abandoned town of Elyakovo Village
Alexey Fedorovich and Zoya Timofeevna Chernovs are the only two people who reside in Assorino Village. The husband and wife raised livestock but have stopped working. Like Lecha, they also talked about binge drinking.
He told the photographers: 'There were some binges, come to think of it. The problem is I have a screw loose. If there is some alcohol left, and I need to work the hell Im gonna work.'
'If you drink again, you need more. And how can you work when you are drunk.'
Alcoholism is a problem in rural Russia as well as urban parts. A study by The Lancet revealed 25% of Russian men die before they turn 55 primarily because of alcohol and tobacco consumption.
Zoya Timofeevna Chernovs does laundry in the deserted village of Assorino
The family of Alexey Fedorovich and Zoya Timofeevna Chernovs traveled in to their town to help with their home
Alexey Chernov drinks tea after a long day of farming in Assorino village
Alexey Chernov tends to the livestock in the village of Assorino where he and his wife live alone
Alexey Chernov naps in the only inhabited house in Assorino. He and his wife are the only two residents
recovery one year after the
Her father has spoken of her
The father of a 17-year-old burns victim has spoken of his daughter's miraculous recovery one year after a house fire left her in a coma.
In January last year a devastating house fire ripped through Brianna Creenaune's family home in Ipswich, Queensland.
As the 17-year-old ran to escape, the verandah roof collapsed on top of her, setting her alight and causing severe burns to 60 per cent of her body.
Mr Creenaune said he is proud of her daughter, who still managed to graduate and attend her school formal, despite being in and out of hospital
The brave 17-year-old has come to feel proud of her scars (pictured one year after fire)
As the 17-year-old ran to escape, the verandah roof collapsed on top of her causing severe burns to 60 per cent of her body (Brianna is pictured one year after the fire)
Her father Tony, 53, took to Facebook on Monday in an emotional post marking one year since the fire.
'12 months ago I woke up to the worst phone call any parent wants to receive that your daughter is in hospital after a house fire,' he wrote.
Speaking to Daily Mail Australia about the tragic incident he said nothing prepared him for walking into the ICU room that day.
'Walking into see Brianna like that, nothing prepared me, I almost fell to the ground crying, I was totally overwhelmed,' Mr Creenaune said.
Due to the nature of her injuries doctors placed the Queensland high school student in a medically induced coma.
She had countless operations, including skin grafts, to treat the burns.
The burns to her hands were so severe the tendons were visible and doctors were forced to amputate one of her pinky toes and half of another toe.
Miss Creenaune (pictured before accident) suffered burns to one side of her face, back, legs, arms and hands
Queensland teenager Brianna Creenaune, 17 (pictured with her father Tony), suffered burns to 60 per cent of her body in a horrific house fire
In January last year a devastating house fire ripped through Brianna Creenaune's family home in Ipswich, Queensland
Her long hair was shaved so they could perform a skin graft on her head.
Four months after she was admitted, she was discharged from hospital.
'It was amazing to see her come out of ICU, to see her learning to walk again, using her arms and hands again,' her father said.
'No one would have understood the pain she was in.'
Mr Creenaune said he is proud of her daughter, who still managed to graduate and attend her school formal, despite being in and out of hospital.
'She's an amazing strong woman who astounds me every day,' he said.
A family of five are unaccounted for after a fatal fire burned down their Oregon home.
The body of one person was found by firefighters inside the burning home near Hubbard in Oregon on Tuesday afternoon.
The home belongs to Keith and Erin Kroeker who live at the property with their 10-year-old twin boys and seven-year-old daughter.
Authorities hold grave fears for the Kroeker family whose whereabouts are not yet known.
Keith and Erin Kroeker and their twin boys, 10, and seven-year-old daughter are unaccounted for after a fire tore through their home in Hubbard, Oregon on Tuesday afternoon
Firefighters responded to reports of the house fire at about 3am on Tuesday and found three different structures alight, including the house, a detached garage and shed.
The Marion County Sheriff's Office is calling the blaze suspicious given all three structures, which are not close together, were set on fire.
Firefighters found the dead body inside one of the structures about 30 minutes after they arrived.
The body has not been identified.
The body of one person was found by firefighters inside the burning home near Hubbard in Oregon on Tuesday afternoon
Firefighters responded to reports of the house fire at about 3am on Tuesday and found three different structures alight, including the house
The sheriff's office said firefighters were trying to stabilize the destroyed home so they could get inside.
'With the amount of destruction, the amount of debris there's no clear view of the residence,' the sheriff's office spokesman Chris Baldridge told KATU .
'Until we stabilize the home and it cools down, our investigators can't get inside.
They believe they may be able to enter on Wednesday morning.
A beauty queen has warned parents not to use the Cancer Council's Peppa Pig sunscreen after it left her with painful first and second degree burns.
Mother-of-two Kim Cancellier, 31, from Sydney, purchased a bottle of the kids-branded sunscreen in December and decided to test the product on her own skin before using it on her two young daughters, aged three and five.
The former Mrs Oceania International and current Mrs Universe applied the cream twice before heading into the sun at Dee Why beach for around two hours and was left in 'agony' when her skin turned red and flaky.
Mrs Universe Kim Cancellier (left) was left with chemical burns after using Peppa Pig sunscreen
The mother-of-two applied the cream twice before heading into the sun for around two hours and was left in 'agony' when her skin turned red and flaky
'Instead of acting as a sunscreen and protecting me from the suns rays it had the opposite effect and turned me bright red,' she said.
Ms Cancellier, an anti-domestic violence advocate, said the burns were so severe she could not move and her skin felt as if it were 'on fire'.
'I am burnt to a point my body feels like it's on fire. I can barely move and every small touch causes nothing but agony.'
'I'm 31 and if I'm in this much pain then I can't even begin to imagine the pain a child would be in.'
Ms Cancellier decided to test the product on her own skin before using it on her two young daughters, aged three and five
'Instead of acting as a sunscreen and protecting me from the suns rays it had the opposite effect and turned me bright red,' Ms Cancellier claimed
Doctors told Ms Cancellier the sunscreen had left her with first and second degree chemical burns on her stomach and chest
The Peppa Pig sunscreen is endorsed and sold by the Cancer Council, one of Australia's largest cancer charities.
The skin under her breast was red raw
A spokesperson for the Cancer Council said it takes the safety and effectiveness of its sunscreens 'very seriously' and is investigating Mrs Cancellier's case.
More than 250,000 bottles of the Peppa Pig product had been sold with very few uses resulting in complaints.
'On some occasions, we conclude that there has been an allergic or chemical reaction to particular, but different, ingredients in the product this is why we always recommend doing a small patch test before applying any sunscreen to yourself or other family members,' the spokesperson said.
Ms Cancellier said she was shocked that the product had been targeted at children, with doctors telling her the sunscreen had left her with first and second degree chemical burns on her stomach and chest.
Mrs Universe Kim Cancellier has warned parents of her experience with Peppa Pig sunscreen
Four weeks on from the incident and Ms Cancellier's skin still has not recovered fully
[My doctor] believed it wasn't an allergic reaction but more of a chemical reaction to the product,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
'It was like the sunscreen acted as an accelerant instead of a protectant.
Ms Cancellier took photographs of her skin at intervals during her recovery that show large flakes peeling off, leaving raw fresh skin underneath exposed.
Four weeks on from the incident and Ms Cancellier's skin still has not recovered fully.
She said it has almost finished peeling, but thinks it will be another week before she will be able to safely go in the sun.
The reigning Mrs Universe has been forced to turn down work due to the appearance of her skin
Ms Cancellier did some research and found numerous complaints about the product
The bottle advises the SPF 50+ sunscreen is designed for kids with delicate skin
The model has been forced to turn down work due to the appearance of her skin
She said she has been forced to turn down work due to the appearance of her skin.
'It was hard as one of my jobs is to model so for the past month I've turned down a lot of photo work, haven't done any TV work or made my contracted appearances with my title.'
Ms Cancellier has recently reached out to the mother of a three-month-old boy who spent three days in hospital after having a reaction to the same cream.
'I'm an adult and I can manage the pain... the poor baby who had the same reaction can't. I can't even begin to imagine how he must be feeling,' she said.
The boy's mother, from Queensland, shared a shocking image of her son laying in a hospital cot with a swollen face and blistering rash after applying the kids-branded 50+ SPF sunscreen to his body this week.
'I've turned down a lot of photo work, haven't done any TV work or made my contracted appearances with my title,' Ms Cancellier said
The bottle is designed with the children's cartoon character Peppa Pig on the front
She said her son was not left in the sun for an extended period of time and that doctors told her it appears to be a serious reaction to the chemicals in the cream as the rash is all over his body, not just where his skin was exposed to the sun.
Ms Cancellier said the Cancer Council were quick to respond to her complaint and took the product back for testing.
The charity also offered to cover her medical expenses.
NBC hosts Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee Gifford and Chuck Todd shared their excitement on Twitter after the news that Kelly was hired
She reportedly asked Fox last minute for $25million, but they said no
Kelly decided not to re-up with Fox News despite their offer of a $20m annual contract to keep hosting The Kelly File, which premiered in October 2013
She will have a triple role at NBC with a daytime news program, a Sunday night news show and will also be part of the network's political coverage
Earlier in day, Rupert Murdoch said: 'We hope she enjoys tremendous success in her career and wish her and her family all the best'
Kelly said on Tuesday night: 'This was a tough decision for me because I love this show, our staff, my crew, my colleagues here at Fox, and you, all of you'
Friday will be her last day of hosting her popular show, The Kelly File
blow for Fox News, where Kelly, 46, was seen as the future of the network
During one of her final broadcasts on Fox News, an emotional Megyn Kelly said it was a 'tough decision' for her to leave the network for her new role at NBC News.
The 46-year-old longtime Fox News anchor waited until the end of The Kelly File show to make an on-air announcement about her departure from Fox News that was announced earlier Tuesday.
'Finally, a personal note and a professional note from me to you. After more than a dozen years at Fox News, I have decided to pursue a new challenge,' the mother-of-three said.
'This was a tough decision for me because I love this show, our staff, my crew, my colleagues here at Fox, and you, all of you.
'Those who write me the lovely handwritten notes asking about my kids, and even those who very rarely complain on Twitter about our coverage after our show or a presidential debate.
'Now I don't actually know most of you, so perhaps it's not true love, but it's the kind of feeling that makes one feel connected to another human being.'
The Syracuse, New York native added that is why she 'believes we're here for a human connection.'
'The truth is, I need more of that in my life, in particular when it comes to my children, who are seven, five and three,' she continued as she started to get emotional.
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Tough decision: During one of her final broadcasts on Fox News, an emotional Megyn Kelly (above) said it was a 'tough decision' for her to leave the network for her new role at NBC News
The 46-year-old longtime Fox News anchor waited until the end of The Kelly File show to make an on-air announcement about her departure from Fox News that was announced earlier Tuesday
Kelly said: 'This was a tough decision for me because I love this show, our staff, my crew, my colleagues here at Fox, and you, all of you'
'So I'll be leaving Fox News at the weeks end, and starting a new adventure, joining the journalists at NBC News who I deeply admire. I'll be anchoring a daytime show there, along with a Sunday night news magazine, and you'll see me there on the big nights too, for politics.
'I am very grateful for NBC for his opportunity, and I am deeply thankful to Fox News for the wonderful 12 years I have had here. I have grown up here and been given every chance a young reporter could ever ask for.
'The Murdoch family has been kind and good to me at every turn, and my colleagues are like a second family to me. So I will miss them, this show and you. and i hope our human connection continues albeit over a different line. Thank you for watching, with love.'
Prior to making the on air announcement about her departure, Kelly appeared confident as ever while sitting behind the anchor desk.
While sporting a classic black dress that featured a sheer sleeve, Kelly kept it business as usual during her one-hour airtime slot.
Hours after the announcement, Kelly showed off a wide smile as she looked TV-ready while her doorman held an umbrella for her in the rain Tuesday evening.
Photographs show the mother-of-three seemingly to be in an upbeat and happy mood when prior to getting into her chauffeured car to be taken to Fox News Headquarters in Midtown Manhattan.
Kelly reportedly asked Fox last minute for a $25million contract to remain at the network, as they allegedly turned down her demand for more money than the rumored $20million she was initially offered, New York Magazine reported.
Her final day at Fox News will be Friday, though she will not be able to move over to NBC until her current contract expires in July.
New start: Hours after announcing she's heading to NBC News for a new 'triple role' at the network, Megyn Kelly showed off a wide smile while in the rain as she looked TV-ready to host one of her final shows on Fox News
Happy: The 46-year-old longtime Fox News anchor seemed to be in an upbeat and happy mood while walking in the rain, as her doorman held an umbrella for her
All smiles: The announcement about Kelly's move over to NBC was made on Tuesday, as it's been reported for months she was in talks with other networks
There has been no word yet from Fox News about which host will replace Kelly next week and if there will be a new program or the show will be renamed The File.
News Corp CEO and Chairman Rupert Murdoch released a statement with some kind words for Kelly after learning the news, saying: 'We hope she enjoys tremendous success in her career and wish her and her family all the best.'
Kelly also released a rare public statement on Tuesday after news of the NBC deal broke in which she spoke about her new position and gave thanks to everyone at Fox News.
'While I will greatly miss my colleagues at Fox, I am delighted to be joining the NBC News family and taking on a new challenge,' wrote Kelly on Facebook.
'I remain deeply grateful to Fox News, to Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch, and especially to all of the FNC viewers, who have taught me so much about what really matters.'
That same statement was also posted on her Twitter account, with Kelly writing: 'An ending, and a new beginning...'
In a statement released on Tuesday, NBC revealed that Kelly will anchor a one hour daytime program running Monday through Friday on the network, along with a Sunday evening news magazine show.
She will also be involved in the network's political and breaking news coverage
'Megyn is an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career,' NBC Chairman Andrew Lack said of his high-profile hire.
'Shes demonstrated tremendous skill and poise, and were lucky to have her.'
Kelly's decision to not re-up her contract with Fox News, where she has worked for the past 12 years, is a devastating blow for the network.
Game over: Kelly (above in portrait from May) took the NBC job after a heated battle among a number of networks to sign the Fox News host
New friends: Savannah Guthrie shared her excitement about NBC hiring Kelly despite being out on maternity leave, posting a pic from November (above)
Booze cruise: Today host Hoda Kotb invited Kelly to join her and Kathie Lee Gifford for a boozey celebration (above)
DC buds: Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd was also quick to tell Kelly how excited he was to work with her at NBC (above)
She was reportedly offered an annual salary of over $20million to stay on at the channel, where her program The Kelly File has been a massive ratings success ever since it debuted back in October 2013.
Kelly's new colleagues also seem excited about the new addition to their team, with Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd writing on Twitter: 'Welcome @MegynKelly! No disrespect to others, but hope you are already realizing, there's no place like NBC. Can't wait to work together.'
Nightly News anchor Lester Holt also welcomed Kelly with open arms to the Peacock network.
'We're delighted to welcome her to the NBC News family,' Holt said.
Savannah Guthrie also shared her excitement despite being out on maternity leave, posting a photo of herself and Kelly on Twitter and saying: Big welcome to @MegynKelly - awesome get for @NBCNews !! May I not be nine months pregnant in the next picture we take side-by-side!'
Today host Hoda Kotb also voiced her joy and offered her signature warm welcome to Kelly, writing: '@MegynKelly !!!! So excited you are heading to NBC! Pls stop by and have a glass of Chardonnay wth me and @KathieLGifford xo #welcome !!'
Kathie Lee Gifford then retweeted her co-host on the fourth hour of the NBC morning show.
There has been no comment from any of Kelly's Fox News colleagues however, including her two closest friends at the network, Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer.
THE KELLY FILE FAREWELL During her Tuesday night broadcast of The Kelly File, the 46-year-old anchor took time at the end of the show to announce on camera that she would be leaving Fox News after over 12 years with the network. Below is the full transcript of what Megyn Kelly said: 'Finally, a personal note and a professional note from me to you. After more than a dozen years at fox news, I have decided to pursue a new challenge. 'This was a tough decision for me because I love this show, our staff, my crew, my colleagues here at fox, and you, all of you. 'Those who write me the lovely handwritten notes asking about my kids, and even those who very rarely complain on Twitter about our coverage after our show or a presidential debate. 'Now I don't actually know most of you, so perhaps it's not true love, but it's the kind of feeling that makes one feel connected to another human being. 'And that after all is why i believe we're here human connection. 'The truth is, I need more of that in my life, in particular when it comes to my children, who are seven, five and three. 'So I'll be leaving Fox News at the weeks end, and starting a new adventure, joining the journalists at NBC News who I deeply admire. 'I'll be anchoring a daytime show there, along with a Sunday night news magazine, and you'll see me there on the big nights too, for politics. 'I am very grateful for NBC for his opportunity, and I am deeply thankful to Fox News for the wonderful 12 years I have had here. 'I have grown up here and been given every chance a young reporter could ever ask for. 'The Murdoch family has been kind and good to me at every turn, and my colleagues are like a second family to me. So I will miss them, this show and you. And I hope our human connection continues albeit over a different line. Thank you for watching, with love.' Advertisement
The New York Times, who first broke the news, said that it was the triple role that Lack offered Kelly at the network which persuaded her to sign with NBC.
She will also be working with the NBC News teams to help develop her weekday news program ahead of its premiere.
There is no word on how much money Kelly will be making in her much broader new role at NBC, but it will be less than her Fox News offer.
She is currently making $15million for what is now her final year with Fox News according to the Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, Kelly's move to NBC will not happen until later this summer at the earliest as Kelly's contract with Fox News runs through July of this year.
It will also be a relatively easy office move for Kelly, as Fox News headquarters is just two blocks away from Rockefeller Center, which is the home of NBC.
It was Vanity Fair that first reported Kelly was in talks with NBC in a story published last month about the 'last-minute suitors' looking to hire Kelly.
Uptown girl: Kelly will be moving just two blocks to Rockefeller Center from Fox News Headquarters. She was there in February with husband Doug Brunt for a Fallon appearance
The other networks chasing Kelly included ABC and CNN they claimed, along with the news that money was 'less of an issue' for Kelly.
CNN President Jeff Zucker was said to be 'moving the Himalayan mountains to get [Kelly]' on the network at the time but could not match the $20million Fox News already had on the table.
And while Fox News executives were eager to keep Kelly, others at the network were apparently less fond of the network star.
Her non-stop press appearances to promote her memoir Settle For More in November and December reportedly earned Kelly a new nickname at work - 'Me-again.'
The news of Kelly's departure from Fox News for a post at NBC now puts to an end months of speculation about the future of the popular host.
It also marks a remarkable ascent for Kelly, who got into the field later in life after becoming disillusioned with her career as an attorney.
She began shooting up the ranks at Fox News soon after she landed a role as a contributor for the network back in 2004, at which time she was working in their Washington DC office.
Kelly began appearing on the network's most popular shows, and by 2007 she was already hosting her own program on the network, America's Newsroom.
Three years into that job she got another big promotion, leaving behind Newsroom and her co-host Bill Hemmer for a solo hosting gig on America Live.
And after three years in that role Fox News made the announcement that Kelly would be given her own primetime news program.
Polite farewell: 'I remain deeply grateful to Fox News, to Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch, and especially to all of the FNC viewers,' Kelly said in a statement (l to r: lachlan, Rupert and James Murdoch in March)
Battle of the blondes: Donald Trump spent much of the election going after Kelly, but the two made nice in April (above Trump and Kelly shooting her May primetime special)
Kelly helped to develop The Kelly File before its premiere at Fox News, and has easily won her time slot over the past three years.
Kelly consistently has the number one news program in overall viewers as well as the critical 25 - 54 demo across cable news.
News Corp CEO and Chairman Rupert Murdoch made it clear however in October that he believes it would be easy to fill Kelly's spot if she decided to jump ship.
MEGYN'S FOX NEWS FAREWELL STATEMENT ' Over a dozen years ago I started at Fox News in a job that would change my life. 'Now, I have decided to end my time at FNC, incredibly enriched for the experiences I've had. 'I have agreed to join NBC News, where I will be launching a new daytime show Monday through Friday, along with a Sunday evening news magazine program. 'I will also participate in NBC's breaking news coverage and its political and special events coverage. 'While I will greatly miss my colleagues at Fox, I am delighted to be joining the NBC News family and taking on a new challenge. 'I remain deeply grateful to Fox News, to Rupert, Lachlan and James Murdoch, and especially to all of the FNC viewers, who have taught me so much about what really matters. 'More to come soon. 'Happy New Year, and God bless.' Advertisement
'[W]e have a deep bench of talent, many of whom would give their right arm for that spot,' Murdoch told the Wall Street Journal.
Kelly largely refused to speak or even comment about her future at Fox News over the past few months.
She did however confirm some reports about what Fox News was offering her last month in an interview with The Washington Post.
Kelly stressed how happy she was to be at Fox News in that interview, and confirmed that her new boss Lachlan Murdoch did provide her with a 'generous offer' to continue hosting The Kelly File.
And while that praise made it appear as if Kelly was likely to say, she also made a point of saying there were 'great options' to consider' later on in the interview.
Kelly said that after Murdoch presented her with what the network was prepared to offer her come July, she told him that she wanted time to think things through and make the best decision for herself and her family.
'Oh, my next deal is all about greater balance. I mean, thats - I had professional success, right? Thankfully,' said Kelly.
'And I feel like Im at a level in my business where Ive established myself as a professional. And the one thing I havent managed to do is find a way to achieve a better balance.'
She then explained that she would like to have a schedule that allowed her to spend more time with her children at the end of the day and not come home from hosting a live program at 9pm to find the three asleep in bed, as is the case most evenings.
Kelly and her second husband, writer Douglas Brunt, have three children - sons Edward Yates, 7, and Thatcher Bray, 3, as well as a 5-year-old daughter, Yardley Evans.
Brunt's third book, Trophy Son: A Novel, will be released this May.
Family outing: Kelly and her second husband, writer Douglas Brunt, have three children - sons Edward Yates, 7, and Thatcher Bray, 3, as well as a 5-year-old daughter, Yardley Evans (above in October)
Thoughts: Kelly posted her statement on Twitter with a bittersweet message about the future (above)
This has been a tumultuous year for Fox News, who are now number one in total viewers across all cable.
The network stole the top spot away from ESPN thanks in no small part to the recent election.
Kelly also became a big past of the election after being attacked multiple times by the Trump campaign, most notably after the first Republican primary debate last August.
The attacks on Kelly began after she grilled him about his controversial comments about women.
'You've called women you don't like 'fat pigs,' 'dogs,' 'slobs' and 'disgusting animals,'' Kelly said.
'Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president?'
Trump replied: 'Honestly, Megyn, if you don't like it, I'm sorry . . . I've been very nice to you, although I could probably not be, based on the way you have treated me.'
He then said of Kelly the following day: 'You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her ... wherever.'
Kelly will have a triple role at NBC when she starts later this year
The attacks by Trump against Kelly continued for months, and he took to Twitter countless times to lash out at the host or retweet criticisms of her and her show, The Kelly File.
He even backed out of a Fox News-sponsored debate in Iowa that she was moderating earlier this year.
The two eventually made amends and in May, and Trump appeared on Kelly's primetime special which aired across Fox platforms that same month.
Trump was back to his old ways however in late October when he voiced his support for Newt Gingrich after the former Speaker of the House went off on Kelly while appearing on her show.
Kelly has continued to not get involved for the most part and usually refuses to engage with Trump.
She also urged the audience at a Women in Hollywood event last month to give Trump a chance.
That comment came despite the fact that she and her children still have to travel with armed guards due to the threats being made against the host and her family by some Trump supporters.
That was not the only big story Kelly found herself a part of either this year, though the other represented a shocking low point for Fox News.
She played a crucial role in the ousting of Ailes' as CEO of the network after speaking with a team sent to investigate possible sexual harassment at Fox News following a lawsuit filed by fired host Gretchen Carlson.
Kelly did not speak about the ongoing turmoil at the time, deciding to instead save it all for her book.
In her memoir Settle For More, Kelly claims that Ailes tried to kiss her against her will, made inappropriate sexual comments in her presence and even told her about some 'very sexy bras' he would like to watch her wear.
Kelly also claims that Ailes offered to advance her career soon after she was hired as a legal correspondent for the network in 2005 in exchange for sexual favors.
Kelly's decision to go back and add a section detailing Ailes' harassment was made after her book had already been completed and sent off to her publisher.
Ailes had already left Fox News by that point as well, with a reported $42million severance package.
Key player: In addition to her own show Kelly was involved in special event coverage for Fox News and moderated debates for the network (above with Chris Wallace and Bret Baier in August 2015)
Reports had been circulating for months as well claiming that there is little chance that both O'Reilly and Kelly would re-up their contracts, though neither of the two said anything to confirm that claim.
The uncertain relationship between the pair made headlines in November after comments O'Reilly made about Kelly during an appearance on CBS This Morning.
O'Reilly was asked during his appearance on the morning news show if Kelly might appear on his Fox News program to promote her book, to which he replied: 'I don't know. We'll see if she's going to be on the show or not. I want to be that candid. I'm not that interested in this.'
That is when anchor Norah O'Donnell, a longtime friend of O'Reilly's, cut in and asked: 'You're not interested in sexual harassment?'
Fox News is the most watched network on cable this year, overtaking ESPN
A clearly annoyed and angry O'Reilly replied to this by saying: 'I'm not interested in basically litigating something that is finished that makes my network look bad. Okay?
'I'm not interested in making my network look bad at all. That doesn't interest me one bit.'
O'Reilly seemed to be referencing the chapter in Kelly's book where she details former Fox news CEO Roger Ailes' sexual harassment of her and her decision to cooperate with the company's investigation into its CEO this past July.
The preternaturally cool and collected Kelly responded to O'Reilly's comments the very next day, during her own appearance on CBS This Morning.
'Well I will say this, I am very proud of the fact that I discussed this with Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch before I wrote this chapter in my book, and we were all on the same page,' she said.
'And it was an important chapter to include and I am proud of them that they feel as I do, that sunlight is the best disinfectant.'
Fourteen people including several children have been injured in New South Wales after being smashed against rocks by a freak wave, it has been reported.
The group were swimming in a well-known rock pool at Crescent Head, New South Wales, when a freak wave hit them at around 12.30pm.
In total 10 people have been taken to hospital including one 10-year-old boy who suffered a head injury and a 48-year-old man who had a dislocated shoulder.
Fourteen people including several children have been injured after they were smashed by a freak wave while swimming in a rock pool at Crescent Head, New South Wales
A boy gestures as he is treated by a paramedic after the incident at Crescent Heads on Wednesday
Sophie Shepherd, who was one of the swimmers, told The Macleay Argus: 'One [wave] came and that was all good, but then a second came and that was when it smashed everyone.
'Some people stayed in the water, I went towards the cliff. We ran up to get service on our phones, and called the ambulance.'
A New South Wales Ambulance spokesman told Daily Mail Australia that 11 ambulances have transported patients following the incident.
One suffered a dislocated shoulder, another had a fractured toe, and a third had cuts to their head. The rest suffered cuts and abrasions.
A Westpac helicopter was called to the scene, but was not needed in rescue efforts.
All of those swimming in the rock pool at the time the wave struck have been accounted for.
Ten people have been taken to hospital including one 10-year-old boy who suffered a head injury and a 48-year-old man who suffered a dislocated shoulder
A 48-year-old man suffered a dislocated shoulder during the freak wave on Wednesday
Sophie Shepherd (right) said she was thrown back against the cliff by the wave. She said one 10-year-old was left with head injuries, while a 48-year-old man dislocated his shoulder
Initially rescue workers had tried to reach the remote location by boat, but called in the Westpac helicopter after that proved impractical.
Crescent Head, where the accident took place, is around 20km north of Port Macquire and is accessible via a single road that runs along the coast.
The incident comes amid an 'unprecedented' summer spate of drownings in waterways and backyard pools in New South Wales.
So far 18 people have died since the start of December, with the latest being a fisherman who body was found on Wednesday.
Fourteen people including several children have been injured in New South Wales after being smashed against rocks by a freak wave
Donald Trump has come out swinging at US intelligence agencies after they allegedly delayed a briefing with him on the Russian hacks until Friday.
In a tweet on Tuesday night, Trump questioned whether the 'intelligence' briefing - he put the word in quotation marks - was put back because his advisers didn't actually have a case.
'The "Intelligence" briefing on so-called "Russian hacking" was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case,' he wrote. 'Very strange!'
'Strange': Trump claimed on Tue that intelligence briefings had been pushed back to Friday - something he described as 'strange'. He'd promised to reveal insider info Tue or Wed this week
Delay: Trump implied in a tweet that intelligence agencies lacked a proper case. But earlier Tue it had emerged that more evidence of Russian hacks in the US had been found
The defensive Tweet followed on from Trump's New Year's Eve promise that he would reveal more about what he knows of the hacks this week.
The president-elect made the remark to reporters outside his Mar-a-Lago New Year's Eve party, when asked about CIA claims that Russian hackers deliberately cracked Democratic email addresses to influence the election in favor of Trump.
'I think it's unfair if [the intelligence services] don't know,' he said. 'And I know a lot about hacking. And hacking is a very hard thing to prove. So it could be someone else.
'And I also know things that other people don't know, and so they cannot be sure of the situation.
When asked by the reporter what he knows that others do not, the President-elect said: 'You'll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday.'
No reason for the alleged delay was given by Trump.
Suspect: The CIA said Putin tried to help Trump win - something Trump denies. It's not known if the evidence of new hacks caused the alleged delay to the meeting
But hours earlier, on Tuesday morning, CBS reported that more cases of Russian cyberattacks against the US - some possibly successful - had been identified by intelligence agencies.
Officials connected to Vermont's electrical grid said that signatures of tools believed to be used by Russian hackers had been found on a Burlington Electric Department laptop.
There was no sign the grid had been penetrated by the hackers, however, officials said.
Trump has long been dismissive of claims that the Russian government - to which he expressed a more benign view than Hillary Clinton during the election - attempted to influence American voters in his favor.
Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds will be laid to rest in a private ceremony tomorrow, ahead of a public memorial where Meryl Streep is said to be leading the tributes.
Fisher has already been cremated, and some of her ashes will be placed into Reynolds's coffin as she is buried in a private ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills, TMZ reported.
The Star Wars icon's brother, Todd Fisher, and her daughter, Billie Lourd, have been planning the funeral in the wake of the Hollywood actresses' deaths last month.
A joint funeral service has been planned for Debbie Reynolds (left) and her daughter Carrie Fisher (right) at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills
The simultaneous ceremony was complicated by the two stars' differing wills, with Fisher wanting to be cremated and Reynolds expressly wishing to be buried.
The solution was to place some of the Star Wars actress's ashes with her mom.
Reynolds's son Todd Fisher told ABC's '20/20' on Friday he was planning the joint service at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in California with the help of Billie Lourd, his niece and Carrie Fisher's daughter.
A family source, quoted by The Hollywood Reporter, confirmed there would also be an event at the Beverly Hills compound where Reynolds and Fisher were neighbors.
'I'm not sure what they're calling it - a funeral or a wake - but it will be Thursday at the house,' the source said.
'It will be exactly what they both wanted, to be together.'
Meryl Streep has reportedly been asked to pen a eulogy for the public ceremony
The family is understood to be discussing a public memorial during which Meryl Streep will read they keynote eulogy, although no plans have been announced.
Streep played Carrie Fisher in Postcards from the Edge and was a close friend of Debbie Reynolds, according to TMZ.
It is thought the public ceremony will be more of a celebration of their work, where costumes from Singin' in the Rain and Star Wars will be displayed.
The Star Wars cast and crew are expected to attend.
Other celebrities laid to rest at Forest Lawn include Bette Davis, Reynolds's onscreen mother in A Catered Affair, and Reynolds's close friend Liberace.
Silent film star Buster Keaton, Oscar-winning Rod Steiger and David Carradine, the star of Kung Fu and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films, are also buried there.
Reynolds, who tap-danced her way into American hearts as a star of Singin' in the Rain, died on Wednesday last week, a day after daughter Carrie Fisher's death.
The 84-year-old suffered a stroke at the Beverly Hills compound as she was making funeral arrangements for Fisher, who had suffered a heart attack.
'She didn't die of a broken heart. She just left to be with Carrie,' Todd Fisher told '20/20.'
Billie Lourd (left) with her grandmother Debbie Reynolds (center) and mother Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher and her mom, Debbie Reynolds, are the subjects of a poignant documentary about their personal and professional bond on HBO
Those to have been buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in California include actors Bette Davis (left) and Robert Steiger (right)
Silent film star Buster Keaton (right), and David Carradine, the star of Kung Fu and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films, are also buried at the site in the Hollywood Hills
Debbie Reynolds's son Todd Fisher (left) said he was planning the joint funeral for his mother (center) and sister Carrie Fisher (right)
Fisher, who catapulted to worldwide stardom as rebel warrior Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, died at the age of 60 in Los Angeles four days after suffering a heart attack on a transatlantic flight.
Lourd opened up on Monday about losing her mother and grandmother just a day apart, telling her Instagram followers their prayers and kind words had given her strength 'during a time I thought strength could not exist'.
'There are no words to express how much I will miss my Abadaba and my one and only Momby.
The U.S. administration is '100 percent certain' that the Russian government played a role in hacking emails during the bitter presidential election.
State Department Spokesman John Kirby told CNN on Tuesday that there was 'no question' about Russia's involvement.
'The information is there, and it's rock solid. And we obviously would not have pursued the measures that we pursued without that level of certainty,' he said.
'So, yes, we are a 100% certain.'
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State Department Spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. administration is '100 percent certain' that the Russian government played a role in hacking emails
Kirby said it was not just the assessment of President Obama or Secretary of State John Kerry, but the entire intelligence community.
President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly doubted the suggestion Russian hackers help influence the election.
'If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?' he tweeted last month.
'Unless you catch "hackers" in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn't this brought up before election?' Trump followed up with.
It comes after Trump spokesman Sean Spicer insisted on Monday that there was still 'zero evidence' the election was swayed by hackers.
President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly doubted the suggestion Russian hackers help influence the election
'Whether or not they were hacked, and [Russians] did anything, is a completely different story. The way the mainstream media is playing this up is that they had an influence in the election,' Spicer said on Fox & Frience.
'There is zero evidence that they actually influenced the election.'
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Obama was 'trying to delegitimize the Trump administration' by claiming the Russian government hacked Democrats' emails.
In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Tuesday, Assange reiterated his claims that Russia was not the source of the hacks.
Last week Obama expelled 35 Russians over the hacking allegations during the presidential election
Moscow has denied claims Russia (pictured President Vladimir Putin) were involved in any way in election-related hacking
He told Hannity 'with 1000 per cent' confidence that the Russian government was not responsible for emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman.
Those emails were published online by WikiLeaks in the lead-up to the November 8 vote.
Democrats claimed the hacks were a deliberate attempt to undermine Mrs Clinton's campaign and boost support for Donald Trump.
Last week as the row intensified, Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats from the country. They arrived back in Russia on Monday morning.
Moscow denies any involvement in election-related hacking.
In tonight's interview on Fox News, Assange claims Obama's administration are 'trying to say that President-elect Trump is not a legitimate President'
The bikini-clad teenager who was thrown to the ground, grabbed by the hair, and forcefully arrested by a Texas police officer during a summer pool party in 2015 is suing for $5million.
Dajerria Becton, who was 15 at the time of the arrest, and her legal guardian, Shashona Becton, are suing former cop Eric Casebolt, the city of McKinney, and the police department, according to Dallas News.
They are asking for $5million in damages for 'mental anguish, loss of quality of life as well as attorney fees.' They say the harsh treatment the teen received is consistent with the training practices of the department.
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Dajerria Becton, who was 15 when she was thrown to the ground by former Texas cop Eric Casebolt, is suing him, the police department and the city of McKinney for $5million
Eric Casebolt, above, was shown dragging the teen to the ground by her hair and sitting on her
The city and the police department have denied the claims, saying in a statement: 'McKinney prides itself in cultivating the highest standards of training and professionalism for our officers, and it strongly believes that its standards and training will withstand legal challenge.
Casebolt resigned from the force four days after the June 5 incident and received what he said were thousands of death threats. Last year, a grand jury declined to indict him on criminal charges.
In the suit, Dajerria said she was in the process of leaving the party when Casebolt came after her with his baton raised, threw her down to the ground, grabbed her by her long braids, and slammed her face into the grass. He then pinned her with one knee.
Video shot by a teen at the party shows Casebolt waving his gun at several of the teens.
The complaint says - and the video shows - that the officer then sat on Dajerria's back and handcuffed her.
Dajerria said the overly-forceful arrest caused injuries both physical and psychological; Casebolt resigned four days after the incident and went into hiding
'The entire time D.B. she could do nothing [but] cry out in pain and repeatedly beg for her 'Momma' as she endured the pain inflicted upon her by Defendant Casebolt's physical assault,' the lawsuit reads, according to Dallas News.
Dajerria said the overly-forceful arrest caused injuries both physical and psychological but didn't elaborate.
The lawsuit says the force used by the officer was consistent with the department's officer training.
'There exists a practice of excessive force incidents that result from the training or lack thereof, received by MPD officers. Upon information and belief, MPD officers are trained by individuals with little or no experience working in the field,' said the lawsuit.
Casebolt was shown on video waving his gun at the teens, swearing at them, and then finally arresting Dajerria, who says she was in the process of leaving the party
Last year, Dajerria's attorney approached representatives for the city and offered not to bring a lawsuit if the girl was paid $2.5million, claiming the girl suffered 'social damage' and needs to attend a private school, according to the outlet.
Her family also asked that officers be retrained to learn how to handle teens.
The city declined the offer.
Casebolt said he was forced to go into hiding because of death threats.
He also denied to the Dailymail.com last year that he was racist, with a friend relaying his message: 'I am a victim of all that has been going on right now. I'm just sorry that I have contributed to it. On another time, nobody could have accused me of being racist.
'Things got the better of me and that's all. I am very concerned that folk stop judging me in that way.'
Earlier on the day of the incident, Casebolt had dealt with two suicide calls, including comforting a woman whose husband who shot himself dead in front of children at an apartment complex.
Two teenagers have been charged over a shocking one-punch attack that left a 'gentle' young man fighting for life in hospital.
Thom Dover, 21, was put into a medically-induced coma and rushed to Gold Coast University hospital with traumatic head injuries at around 2am on Wednesday after being attacked in the heart of Surfers Paradise, Queensland.
Police allege a 16-year-old boy struck Mr Dover in the back of the head and knocked him out, leaving him in a pool of blood as his head hit the pavement.
Friends have told of the young man's gentle nature and said they were certain he would have tried to avoid an altercation if approached.
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Thom Dover was the victim of a shocking one-punch attack in Surfers Paradise on Wednesday
He was left laying in a pool of blood on the street after a teenage boy allegedly hit him from behind in a 'one punch attack'
Mr Dover had been walking with his friend Patrick O'Callaghan on Ferney Avenue only metres from two police stations when the incident took place and reportedly tried to avoid his alleged attacker before he delivered the devastating blow.
Damien Wright, from the Gold Coast, was with the men on Tuesday night and said they are lovely people who would never seek out a fight.
'Thom and Patty are some of the most kind-hearted, genuine guys I know,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'They would never seek out violence and I know they would try and walk away from any altercation.'
'It's devastating what has happened,' he added.
Friends of Mr Dover (pictured) said the 'kind hearted' 21-year-old would never seek out a fight
The 16-year-old was with another boy, aged 14, who allegedly punched Mr O'Callaghan (pictured), but he managed to escape with only relatively minor injuries
The 16-year-old was with another boy, aged 14, who allegedly punched Mr O'Callaghan, but he managed to escape with only relatively minor injuries.
Police were on the scene within minutes and took the two boys into custody.
The 16-year-old, from Churchill, was charged with causing grievous bodily harm, common assault and being a public nuisance on Wednesday afternoon.
His 14-year-old accomplice, from Goodna, also faced charges of common assault and being a public nuisance.
Friends of Mr Dover have taken to social media to condemn the attack and wish for his swift recovery.
Police interview a shirtless male in Surfers Paradise following a one-punch attack
'This just breaks my heart how much does it take to realise you are putting lives in jeopardy,' one man wrote.
Confronting images of the scene show a pool of his blood left on the street.
A witness said he was shocked when he stumbled upon the unconscious man as a paramedic desperately tried to stabilise him.
'I came across a guy on the footpath out cold and bleeding heavily... he was attacked by 2 teenagers in another coward punch incident,' the man said.
The local Surfers Paradise man said the area he lives in is full of excitement for families and tourists, but was often marred by drug and alcohol fuelled violence.
'There is a seedy element that does frequent this place and wreak havoc.
'Queensland; beautiful one day, vicious the next,' he added.
The victim, a 21-year-old man, was placed in a medically induced coma and rushed to hospital
Gold Coast High Acuity Response Unit paramedic Darrin Hatchman said the man was struck so hard he had lost consciousness before collapsing on the ground and suffered a 'traumatic brain injury'.
'Apparently he's been struck from behind on his head and gone to the ground unconscious,' Mr Hatchman told AAP.
'It's very sad he's ended up with quite serious injuries,' he added.
The man's friend was also reportedly struck but only sustained minor injuries.
Police were on the scene in minutes and took the two boys into custody for questioning.
A pillow lay strewn on the pavement at the site of a one-punch attack in Surfers Paradise
A spokesperson from Gold Coast University Hospital said the man remained in a critical condition on Wednesday.
Queensland introduced tough new laws in 2014 in a bid to combat alcohol-fuelled violence and deaths from one-punch attacks, including a maximum penalty of life-imprisonment.
A 23-year-old man suffered critical injuries in October when he was struck in a one-punch attack in Surfers Paradise.
A suspected drunk driver accused of causing a collision that killed the mother of a young child was arraigned from her hospital bed Tuesday.
Alexandria Bayne, 34, pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges after she allegedly caused a wrong-way, head-on collision while drunk driving in California.
She was arraigned at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California and will be held on $3m bail for causing the death of Sarita Shakaya, 38.
Alexandria Bayne, 34, was arraigned from her hospital bed for causing a collision that killed the mother of a young child
Bayne drove into the vehicle driven by Sarita Shakaya, left. The collision killed Shakaya instantly
Shakaya is survived by her husband and four-year-old daughter
Video courtesy of CBS 8:
Her blood-alcohol level was .33 percent when she crashed into a Toyota Carolla driven by Shakaya, who died at the scene of the crash on December 17, cbs8 reported.
Shakaya is survived by her husband and four-year-old daughter.
Bayne is charged with murder, gross vehicular manslaughter, felony child abuse and DUI causing injury among other charges.
If convicted, she would receive at least 25 years in prison and could receive a life sentence.
A homeless man accused of killing his older lover confessed to castrating the man and said he would have fried and eaten his penis if police hadn't have caught him first.
Jerry Pagan, 32, confessed to the murder of 68-year-old Richard Reed at his Bronx home in New York last month, according to court documents.
Pagan is accused of showing up to his older lover's home on December 3 and striking him in the head with a hammer and stabbing him with scissors after the pair had a verbal argument.
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Homeless man Jerry Pagan, 32, confessed to the grisly murder and castration of his older lover Richard Reed, 68, at his Bronx home in New York in December
He told police that they had unprotected sex a few days before and Pagan had wanted to get tested but could not get the money from Reed to do so, DNA Info reports.
Pagan said he then went to the victim's house to carry out the grisly killing.
'I stabbed him with a knife and hit him over the head with a hammer and cut off his penis and put it in the sink,' Pagan told police.
'I wanted to cut his head off and throw him in the river, but you got to me too early.
'I was going to fry the penis up and eat it too.'
Pagan is accused of showing up to his older lover's home on December 3 and striking him in the head with a hammer and stabbing him with scissors after the pair had a verbal argument
When police arrived at the home, Pagan told them the victim's penis was still in the sink.
'If you don't believe me, go check for yourself,' Pagan said, according to court documents.
Police said last month that Pagan and the victim had known each other for years.
Pagan, who was charged with second-degree murder, appeared in Bronx Supreme Court on Tuesday dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit.
He pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges.
Pagan is due back in court on March 30 and will be held without bail.
Just days following the deaths of Debbie Reynolds and her daughter, Carrie Fisher, HBO has released the trailer for the highly anticipated documentary about their incredible, yet complex relationship as mother and daughter.
The 94-minute film, Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, bills itself as a 'story of the family's complicated love,' and promises 'an intimate portrait of Hollywood royalty in all its eccentricity'.
The roughly two-minute trailer of the documentary directed by Alexis Bloom and Fisher Stevens displays exactly that, as well as several sweet moments including joking between the two iconic actresses.
The trailer opens up with Fisher walking over to her mother's home right next door, carrying a tray of food for the beloved actress.
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Just days following the deaths of Debbie Reynolds and her daughter, Carrie Fisher, HBO released the trailer for the documentary about their incredible, yet complex relationship as mother and daughter (above)
The trailer opens up with Fisher walking over to her mother's home right next door, carrying a tray of food for the beloved actress (above)
As Fisher walks in, she tells her mother she can't keep this seemingly old school flip-phone, while Reynolds appears to be trying to fix it (above)
Fisher then helps her mother select outfits for an upcoming trip, as they exchange several witty comments back and forth to each other (above)
As Fisher walks in, she tells her mother she can't keep this seemingly old school flip-phone, while Reynolds appears to be trying to fix it.
'Works fine,' the 84-year-old actress tells her daughter, who quickly quips 'it's ridiculous.'
Fisher then helps her mother select outfits for an upcoming trip, as they exchange several witty comments back and forth to each other.
Moving the funny moments along about their relationship, t he trailer then highlights how Fisher and her brother, Todd, are concerned about their elderly mother's health.
'My mother, she'll forget she's not 35,' Fisher says. 'Age is horrible for all of us, but she falls from a greater height.'
Moving the funny moments along about their relationship, t he trailer then highlights how Fisher and her brother, Todd, are concerned about their elderly mother's health (above)
Fisher said: 'My mother, she'll forget she's not 35. Age is horrible for all of us, but she falls from a greater height.' Above is a scene from the documentary showing a vintage video of the two siblings playing near a pool with their mother
Reynolds (above) then discusses how her daughter was diagnosed later on in life as manic depressive and how early on the disorder was mostly unknown
Reynolds then discusses how her daughter was diagnosed later on in life as manic depressive and how early on the disorder was mostly unknown.
Moments later, Fisher says she is her 'mom's best friend', before Reynolds adds, 'I share everything with my daughter, especially the check.'
The HBO documentary seems to have captured the loving bond between the duo, as its March release date has been moved up to January 7 at 8 pm likely in wake of their tragic deaths.
The film seems to be mostly shot in 2014 and 2015, as it chronicles the months leading up to the 84-year-old Reynolds's receiving the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award from SAG.
At that time, Fisher, 60, was in preparations to reprise Princess Leia, her most recognizable and iconic role, in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens.
Moments later, Fisher says she is her 'mom's best friend', before Reynolds adds, 'I share everything with my daughter, especially the check.'
The documentary also shows several archival footage and vintage family films that helps breath a new life into the pair's relationship.
Bloom and Stevens had a rare opportunity to film their relationship, as they lived right next door to each other in the same Beverly Hill compound.
In speaking about the highly anticipated film, Bloom and Stevens said:'At the one end of the family compound in Beverly Hills lived Debbie Reynolds, star of Singin' in the Rain, with Dorothy's red slippers from The Wizard of Oz on the mantelpiece,' the two directors explained to People.
'Adjacent was Princess Leia, in a house where Bette Davis once lived. You don't get more Hollywood royalty than that. Storytelling magic lived around them They had what Carrie called 'rampant empathy' for each other.'
'We started out making a film about Hollywood royalty,' they added. 'And we ended up making a film about love.'
Fisher, who catapulted to worldwide stardom as rebel warrior Princess Leia in the original 'Star Wars' trilogy, died on December 27 in Los Angeles - four days after suffering a heart attack on a transatlantic flight at the age of 60.
Reynolds, who tap-danced her way into American hearts as a star of 'Singin' in the Rain,' died a day after daughter after suffering an apparent stroke.
Timothy D. Blake has been arrested and charged with squirting women with his semen
A man has been charged with serial semen syringe squirting.
The man, Timothy D. Blake, 28, of Sams Creek Road, Mineral Wells, West Virginia, was charged with being the suspect who had terrorized and grossed out a series of women in Marietta, Ohio who said they'd had semen squirted at them.
Blake allegedly admitted to 12 instances over two months of masturbating, then filling a syringe with his semen, and following women around a Walmart in Washington County and spraying their backsides with his bodily fluids, reports News and Sentinel.
He was tracked down when a woman noticed a 'creepy man' lingering around her as she shopped in the makeup aisle and then felt something wet and squishy on her backside and went to the bathroom to clean it off, but it was sticky, according to the criminal complaint.
She said when she came out, she found Blake staring at her.
Blake would target women at the Marietta Walmart (above) and spray them with his semen, according to police
When he tried to leave, she followed him and saw the company truck he was driving, which had a distinctive bumblebee insignia for the oilfield company where he works.
Using this description as well as that from other women and surveillance video, police were able to identify and locate Blake, said the outlet.
He was arrested as he ate dinner at a restaurant with his wife.
'It's not something that we've encountered before and after we arrested Mr. Blake, we asked him about it, and he said it was something that he had discovered on the internet and decided to try it,' Sheriff Mincks of the Washington County Sheriff's Office told WTAP.
According to the criminal complaint, Blake said the material used was egg yolks until an officer advised that they'd had the material tested, at which point he admitted to it being semen, but only some of the time.
According to a court filing, Blake said he would masturbate in his truck or in the Walmart parking lot and then fill a syringe with his bodily fluid.
When pressed as to what he thought he was doing, he replied 'maybe it was his way of having sex with these women and that was what he thought of when committing these acts.'
He also said he was molested as a child, and said his wife was completely unaware of his activities.
Blake allegedly drove three company trucks, all 2014 Fords, one black, one white and the third brown, during his alleged acts.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd dodged senior US officials in an attempt to set up a meeting with then secretary of state Hillary Clinton, newly released emails reportedly show.
The emails surfaced from Mrs Clinton's State Department show her senior adviser Huma Abedin warned her about Mr Rudd's bizarre attempt to secure a bilateral meeting in December 2011.
The email, titled 'Warning', allegedly revealed Mrs Clinton's staff refused Mr Rudd's request and advised her what to do if he 'tried to grab [her],' according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd dodged senior US officials in an attempt to set up a meeting with then secretary of state Hillary Clinton
'If Rudd tries to grab you, want to remind you he emailed me for a bilat,' the email reportedly read.
'I told you I was working on it. Needless to say, Kurt's staff and Jeff Bleich are surprised he went around them to get to you directly without co-ordination on message/policy etc.'
It is not the first time Mr Rudd has found himself in the Democratic presidential candidate's emails, which were released after it was revealed she used a private server at her home while secretary of state.
In October, it was revealed Mr Rudd reached out to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign chairman John Podesta seeking a meeting in the US in 2015.
The timing of the first email, December 14, 2015, came just before Mr Rudd's infamous December 23 meeting with Malcolm Turnbull to discuss support for the UN secretary-general job.
Mr Rudd reached out again to Mr Podesta on February 26 seeking meetings with Mr Podesta on March 1 or March 4, according to emails leaked by WikiLeaks.
A woman who hijacked an Air New Zealand flight and stabbed the aircraft's two pilots will walk free in February - even though she has threatened to do it again when she is released.
Asha Ali Abdille, 42, was sentenced to nine years behind bars after she hijacked the Air New Zealand flight from Blenheim to Christchurch, New Zealand in February 2008.
Abdille, then 33, stabbed both pilots on the aircraft as well as a female passenger who suffered minor wounds when she intercepted Abdille and tried to prevent her hostile attack.
Asha Ali Abdille (pictured) was sentenced to nine years behind bars after she hijacked the flight from Blenheim to Christchurch, New Zealand in February 2008
The Somali-born refugee had taken knives onto the small plane, which was forced to make an emergency landing in Christchurch.
In a statement read to the court in 2010 when she was sentenced, Abdille said she hijacked the 19-seater plane because she wanted to leave New Zealand, go to Australia and make her way back to Somalia.
Since her sentencing, Abdille has warned she would hijack another aircraft upon her release.
Although the Somalian woman is still classified as a high-risk, she is due to be released on February 7.
In a document prepared by the parole board, it was revealed Abdille not only warned she would 'attempt to hijack another plane', but also 'threatened to set herself on fire'.
Abdille reportedly said she hijacked the 19-seater plane because she wanted to leave New Zealand, go to Australia and make her way back to Somalia
The flight is pictured sitting on the tarmac at Christchurch Airport, New Zealand on Friday February 8, 2008 following the hijacking
The report, obtained by Daily Mail Australia, stated hospital staff held 'ongoing concerns about potential risky behaviour in the community on any release'.
Abdille is currently held in a psychiatric unit in the Wellington region and will be released into the care of the mental health system when her sentence ends.
Her transfer into the mental health system has been made compulsory as part of her conditions for release.
Conditions also state she is 'not to travel on any aeroplane, or enter the grounds of any airport ... without the prior written consent of (her) probation officer'.
The Air New Zealand aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing after the hijacking in 2008
After Abdille's transfer into the health system, any decisions about her leave will be the responsibility of her clinician.
A Parole Board spokesman told Daily Mail Australia there was very little likely hood Abdille would be released into the community in February.
He said it was up to the health system what they did with her, but they would have to believe she was not a risk to the community to grant her release.
While the Parole Board spokesman said her immediate release was unlikely, he said it was in the health system's hands, and they were not commenting due to privacy reasons.
A policeman suspected of murdering a Greek ambassador in Brazil was caught on CCTV entering the victim's home and leaving in a car containing his body, it is claimed.
Police believe ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis, 59, was killed in a crime of passion by a law enforcer who was having an affair with the diplomat's wife.
Amiridis has been missing since Monday night, and a burned corpse was discovered on Thursday evening inside his rented car.
Police in Rio de Janeiro say 29-year-old officer Sergio Moreira has confessed to the murder, and Amiridis' wife has been arrested.
The footage allegedly shows police officer Sergio Moreira and his cousin at the ambassador's home
Police believe ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis, 59, was killed in a crime of passion by a law enforcer who was having an affair with the diplomat's wife
Moreira is alleged to have been having a relationship with the diplomat's Brazilian wife, Francoise Souza Oliveira - mother of the ambassador's 10-year-old daughter.
Francoise, 40, reported her husband missing on Wednesday, and has since been arrested, accused of planning the killing.
A cousin of the officer has also been arrested, accused of acting as a lookout. It is alleged that he helped carry the body from the house, having been promised a fee of 80,000 reais - the equivalent of 20,000.
Investigator Evaristo Magalhaes told reporters that Francoise, 40, and Moreira had arranged the murder a few days in advance.
He said after the wife's arrest: 'This was a tragic, cowardly act, but we worked tirelessly to crack this case as soon as possible. It was a crime of passion.'
Kyriakos Amiridis (pictured with his wife), 59, mysteriously vanished on Boxing Day night after leaving his relatives' home in a poor suburb of Rio de Janeiro
Ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis' wife Francoise (pictured) raised the alarm, saying she had been unable to contact him for two days
The Ford Ka car Amiridis had rented to spend Christmas with his wife's family was found underneath an overpass at the entrance to the Nova Iguacu district of Rio
He said blood was found on a couch inside the home and the ambassador was likely stabbed to death as no shots were reported in the area.
But no cause of death has been established because the body was burned in an an attempt to cover up the killing, Magalhaes said.
Brazilian President Michel Temer, in a letter addressed to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, said the ambassador's killing had caused him profound sadness and he extended his condolences to the ambassador's family, friends and the Greek people.
The CCTV footage was taken at the home the ambassador shared with his wife and daughter
Francoise Souza Oliveira (centre), 40, held a shirt over her head while officers escorted her out of the police station to a jail in Belford Roxo
Amiridis (right), is pictured talking to Brazil's President Michel Temer during a government ceremony in Brasilia in March
The Greek embassy in Brasilia declined to comment. In Athens, Greek foreign ministry spokesman Stratos Efthymiou said the government also had no comment.
Amiridis served as Greece's consul general in Rio from 2001 to 2004. He was Greece's ambassador to Libya from 2012 until he took the top Brazil post at the beginning of 2016.
Magalhaes said thatHowever, he said it was not yet possible to determine the exact cause of death because the policeman had burned the ambassador's body in an attempt to cover up the crime.
The Nova Iguacu area of Metropolitan Rio, where Mr Amiridis and his wife were passing the Christmas holidays, is notorious for crime and its high murder rate.
In the run up to Brazil's municipal elections, at least 14 politicians were murdered in the region in nine months, blamed on death squads operating in the region.
Disturbing new details have emerged of a sophisticated, undercover ISIS network that infiltrated the Istanbul New Year's Eve killer into Turkey and used advanced special forces techniques to massacre unarmed revellers.
The killer, reportedly a battle-hardened militant trained in Syria, was spirited into the country by a mysterious ISIS handler codenamed 'Teacher Yusuf', according to leaked information published in Turkish media.
The attacker himself was reportedly codenamed 'Abu Muhammed Horasani', though his true identity either remains unknown or has not been released by investigators.
It comes as fresh footage emerged showing the suspect walking into a bus terminal in the city of Konya last month and as anti-terror police made a series of arrests in the western city of Izmir.
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Disturbing new details have emerged of a sophisticated, undercover ISIS network that infiltrated the Istanbul New Year's Eve killer into Turkey. Video has also emerged showing the suspect at a bus terminal last month (pictured)
Turkish police have detained a number of people in the Istanbul investigation after a raid in the western city of Izmir (pictured)
Both the gunman and his alleged handler remain at large despite the country being in a state of emergency and a massive international manhunt, apparently demonstrating ISIS' advanced operating capability that experts fear may one day bring carnage to the streets of Britain.
The revelations which have not yet been confirmed by police but has appeared widely in the leading Turkish newspaper Hurriyet and elsewhere allege that Teacher Yusuf installed the killer and his family in a safe house in the central town of Konya, in an apartment block where three other families were living, in November.
The other families, thought to be part of the ISIS cell, vanished following the atrocity but were detained by police 300 miles away, in the coastal Turkish town of Izmir, this morning.
The gunman's wife and two children have been detained by police, but have denied having any knowledge of the suspect's ISIS connections.
The attacker himself was reportedly codenamed 'Abu Muhammed Horasani', though his true identity either remains unknown or has not been released by investigators
As many as 27 men and women have been detained by police in the eastern Turkish town of Izmir
An elderly woman was pictured being led to a police cat in the city of Izmir, western Turkey
Reports suggest a total of 27 men and women were detained by police in the western Turkish town of Izmir.
They are reportedly from Syria, the Russian Republic of Dagestan, Xinjiang in northeastern China known by separatists as East Turkestan and Kyrgyzstan, thought to be the gunman's home country.
The suspects had 20 children with them, Turkish media reported.
According to the Milliyet newspaper, sniper equipment, night vision binoculars, backpacks, GPS trackers and other military supplies were seized in the raids.
MILITARY ITEMS SEIZED IN RAID Pictures of military equipment seized in the western Turkish city of Izmir, where 11 men and nine women were arrested by anti-terror squads today, have been released by police. The suspects are thought to be members of an ISIS cell that may be connected to the New Year's Eve attacks, and lived in the same apartment block as the nightclub killer and his family, Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper reported. They are all non-Turkish, from a number of Central Asian and North African countries. Pictures of military equipment seized in the western Turkish city of Izmir, where 11 men and nine women were arrested by anti-terror squads today, have been released by police The suspects are thought to be members of an ISIS cell that may be connected to the New Year's Eve attacks, and lived in the same apartment block as the nightclub killer and his family, it has been reported. Pictures show a broken door and passports found at the scene The detainees were apprehended at three separate addresses in the Bornova and Buca districts of Izmir along with their 20 children, who are thought to have been used as cover so that the suspects could appear less suspicious. Pictures taken inside one of the raided apartments were also released by police. Forty-one passports from multiple countries were also found, most of which were forgeries, as well as 15 fake identity cards, according to police. In addition, 13 mobile phones were seized, along with one tablet, one military jacket, one GPS unit, sniper sights and night vision binoculars. Officers are working to establish possible links between the latest suspects and the New Year's Eve massacre, Turkish media reported. Advertisement
Security has been tightened in Kirklareli, a Turkish town near the border with Bulgaria, amid fears that the Istanbul gunman may try to escape into Europe.
Police officers with high velocity weapons and body armour were deployed at the entrance and exit points of the city, as well as at the Derekoy border gate leading to Bulgaria, Turkish media reported.
In the days leading up to the attack, the terrorist and his shady handler travelled together bus to Istanbul, a journey of more than 400 miles, to make their final preparations.
There they stayed in a second safe house in Zeytinburnu, a working-class district of the capital, carrying out reconnaissance for the massacre, according to reports.
Both addresses have since been raided by police.
The killer was described as highly trained, calm and experienced in urban warfare, but according to Turkish media made one key error: while discarding his jacket after the attack, he left 500 Turkish Lira (114), all the money he had, in the pocket.
This meant he was unable to pay the taxi fare when attempting to flee from the scene.
Funerals of victims have been taking place around the world, including in Beirut, Lebanon (pictured), where Ilyas Vardini was laid to rest
A funeral for four of the victims of the Reina nightclub attack takes place in Istanbul, Turkey
The suspect approached a taxi and told the driver he would get money to pay him when arrived at his destination. The offer was refused, however, forcing him to flag down a second cab. This time, he was successful, it has been reported.
The terrorist made a call from the taxi driver's phone, the Vatan newspaper claimed, but the number had been unavailable for three months. Police believe it may have been used as a decoy.
The suspect was driven back to the safe house in Zeytinburnu, a journey of about 35 minutes, where he allegedly knocked on the door of an Uighur ethnic restaurant and was given the cash to pay the taxi driver.
Seven people of ethnic Uighur background have been detailed by anti-terror police.
It comes as it emerged that the last bullet in each of the gunman's magazines was a tracer round, allowing him to reload as quickly as possible, adding to the list of advanced military techniques used by the terrorist.
Last night, taxi drivers staged an angry protest outside the scene of the atrocity, driving past in a slow procession sounding their horns before laying red carnations outside.
An intense manhunt continues throughout Turkey and beyond for the nightclub killer, his ISIS handler and accomplices this morning, as the investigation enters its fourth day.
Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of Migration Watch UK, said businesses were 'crying wolf' about the impact of curbs on numbers
A major think tank campaigning for lower immigration to Britain has accused businesses of 'crying wolf' over the the risks of curbing numbers.
Migration Watch analysed a cap on skilled migrants arriving in Britain from outside the EU and found it had never been reached.
As Home Secretary, Theresa May ruled in 2010 that a maximum of 20,700 visas would be issued to skilled migrants each year.
The number of applications has been exceeded only once in 2015-16 when 22,037 visas were granted - but almost 2,800 were never used.
Alp Mehmet, vice-chairman of Migration Watch UK, told The Times: 'The business lobby have been crying wolf for years about the impact of the cap on business but it has now become clear that the annual cap has never been breached.
'The very same lobby is now claiming that a reduction in migration from the EU for low-skilled work will be a disaster but, with their record, the public will not be convinced.'
In its latest report, Migration Watch said failure of business to fully use the Restricted Certificates of Sponsorship system showed there was nothing to fear from new curbs on migration after Brexit.
Skilled migrants can get visas via other routes - particularly if they can show exceptional talent or demonstrate they are funded entrepreneurs or investors.
Companies can also bring in migrants via internal transfers.
Under current rules, skilled migrants from EU countries can freely live and work in the UK but this is likely to end after Brexit.
Prime Minister Theresa May has vowed to get greater border control as part of her Brexit deal with the European Union
Institute of Directors employment and skills policy chief Seamus Nevin warned an extension of the current system would hurt business - warning the visa rules were 'not fit for purpose'.
He told The Times: 'Employers must answer over 100 questions about a prospective employee when applying for a visa on their behalf and applications are typically 85 pages in length.
'Home Office officials must then consult 1,300 pages of instructions before deciding if a visa will be issued, so employers are often left waiting for months to hear whether an application has been granted.
'If Migration Watch think this is a good system, clearly they know little about the realities of running a business.'
Total immigration is running at record highs of 650,000 - leaving net migration at more than 330,000 a year
Immigration is at the heart of the debate over Brexit and Mrs May's negotiating goals in Brussels.
The Prime Minister has insisted the referendum result was a clear demand for tighter border control, while maintaining the 'best possible access' for firms to the European single market.
An author claims royal archivists tried to censor a flirtatious exchange which took place between Queen Victoria and her servant John Brown.
According to the Queen's doctor, the former monarch - who began a controversial relationship with Brown after Prince Albert's death - lifted her skirt in front of her favourite gillie.
Sir James Reid described in his diaries how the duo were at the door to Queen Victoria's room in Windsor Castle when Brown lifted his kilt and said: 'Oh, I thought it was here.'
An author claims royal archivists tried to censor a flirtatious exchange which took place between Queen Victoria (left, in a painting) and her servant John Brown (right, in a portrait)
The Queen's doctor said the former monarch - who began a controversial relationship with Brown after death of Prince Albert - lifted her skirt in front of her favourite servant (pictured)
Victoria replied by lifting her own skirt and saying, 'No it is here.'
At the time, the monarch's relationship with the devoted gillie set tongues wagging and one politician even claimed they were secretly married.
But when author Julia Baird included the fresh revelation in her biography about Queen Victoria, a senior archivist apparently asked her to remove the passage.
According to The Times, Baird - an Australian journalist and commentator - was forced to show her manuscript for Victoria: The Queen to Pamela Clark, assistant keeper of archives, in return for being allowed to conduct research.
Australian author Julia Baird (pictured) was asked to remove the fresh revelation from her biography about Queen Victoria
Ms Clark then asked the author to remove the passage, even though she obtained the information from papers the archives do not hold.
But Baird - who says she was denied access to the royal archives for years - refused to remove the excerpt.
She has now published details of the incident in her US and Australian editions of her book, but not the British.
She wrote that she received some 'helpful comments and minor corrections' from the archivist which she happily made.
But she added: 'To my surprise, the reply also asked me to remove large sections of my book based on material I had found not inside but outside the archives.
'The expressed concerns focused on the papers of Victoria's doctor, Sir James Reid, which are held by his family.'
The true nature of the relationship between Queen Victoria and Brown has long been debated.
Lewis Harcourt, a politician and minister in HH Asquith's government, claimed in 2003 that Rev Norman Macleod, the Queen's chaplain, made a death-bed confession that he had secretly married the couple.
The true nature of the relationship between Queen Victoria and Brown (pictured together) has long been debated
Lewis Harcourt, a politician and minister in HH Asquith's government, claimed in 2003 that the Rev Norman Macleod, the Queen's chaplain, made a death-bed confession that he had secretly married the couple (pictured together, in around 1895)
But the monarch's biographer, AN Wilson, has previously said the couple only 'hugged one another and slept together' and the relationship was never consummated.
Mark Bostridge, who reviewed the book for the Times Literary Supplement, said the Royal Archive had a 'continuing desire to bury any attempt at reaching the truth about Victoria's relationship with her Highland servant innocuous or not.'
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the case.
An armed gang has held terrified jewellery shop workers at gunpoint as they smashed open cabinets and got away with diamond rings and bracelets worth $150,000.
Horrifying CCTV footage from H&H Jewellery, in south-east Melbourne, shows a masked thug holding a gun to the owner of the store's head.
Two staff members cowered in fear underneath desks in the store's back office as their boss was forced to open a safe.
The three brazen men, who were armed with a handgun and a machete, charged into the store at 1.40pm on Wednesday and set about smashing open cases and cabinets before making off with the valuable goods.
An armed gang has held terrified jewellery shop workers at gunpoint as they smashed open cabinets and got away with diamond rings and bracelets worth $150,000
Security camera footage obtained by 9 News shows one of the masked men holding a gun to the store owner's neck as he edges towards a safe.
The robbers, who concealed their identities by wrapping shirts around their faces, are then seen jumping on top of jewellery cases and smashing them with hammers.
They stole rings, bracelets and gold chains worth approximately $150,000 before escaping in a getaway car.
Victoria Police believe one of the men switched from the black Holden Commodore to a black Ford Territory a couple of kilometres away.
The Holden did not have registration plates, police said.
The three brazen men, who were armed with a handgun and a machete, charged into the store at 1.40pm on Wednesday
The thugs smashed open cases and cabinets before making off with the valuable goods
Acting Detective Sergeant Nathan Toohey said the men were of Sudanese appearance.
He added that the shop's workers - the owner, who is a father-of-two, and two women - had been left 'pretty shaken and terrified'.
No one was injured during the robbery.
Jordon Woods, pictured, 18, broke into a man's flat, slept in his bed, ate his food and 'trashed' the home while the occupier was in hospital
A 'goldilocks' burglar slept in his victim's bed, ate his food and trashed his home while he was receiving emergency treatment in hospital, a court heard.
Jordon Woods occupied the flat in North Shields while he knew the man was away from home.
A court heard Woods and others 'lived like animals' and caused extensive damage, leaving the victim feeling violated.
But now the 18-year-old has walked free from Newcastle Crown Court after he was handed a suspended prison sentence.
The court heard Woods broke into the man's flat on Horsham Grove, North Shields, between September 18 and 28.
When the victim, who was known to Woods, returned after his spell in hospital, he was left shocked by the state of his home.
The court heard the victim said: 'Whoever had been there had been cooking my food and sleeping in my bed.
'I feel so angry this has happened and I feel vulnerable and completely violated.
'I want these people brought to justice. They have no right to enter my property and trash it.'
Prosecutor Emma Dowling told the court: 'When he [the victim] returned to his address, he discovered his home had been damaged.
'He could see somebody had forced entry to the front door, smashing it. It's an upstairs flat and as he climbed the stairs, he could see the living room door had been ripped from its hinges.
'As he moved through the flat he could see the place was trashed.
'A picture frame was broken, the TV remote was smashed, there were crisps on the floor, glass everywhere, a table was smashed, carpets were ruined with stains. The flat was ruined.'
The court heard the damage caused was estimated to have been to the value of around 1,000.
Woods' blood was found on a towel in the kitchen and he was arrested.
Miss Dowling said: 'It seems other people have been named as also having entered the property.
'It's not clear whether he acted alone or with others.'
Woods, of North Shields, pleaded guilty to burglary with intent to do unlawful damage.
He was given nine months suspended for 18 months with 150 hours unpaid work and a three-month curfew between 9pm and 7am.
Recorder Andrew Dallas told him: 'It rather looks like you and others occupied someone's house and I strongly suspect you or somebody had information you weren't going to be disturbed as the unfortunate occupier of the flat was in hospital requiring emergency treatment.
'It looks like you and others occupied it and you trashed it.
'You didn't steal anything he could see but you lived basically like animals, in a way you would never have dreamt of living in your own house.
He was handed a nine-month suspended sentence at Newcastle Crown Court (pictured)
'The effect on this poor man coming home from hospital to be greeted by that is something I hope you will think about.'
Jamie Adams, defending, said: 'He is not a habitual burglar and this is not a burglary in the usual way we see it.'
Mr Adams added that Woods is living with his mother and is on a bricklaying training course.
The court heard he has been before the courts 'on many occasions' but never for anything as serious.
Recorder Dallas told him: 'You have had chances in the past but have not taken them.
'You have got to break this cycle of offending.
Pictures of TV presenter Eloisa Gonzalez have been widely shared online
A Spanish TV presenter has been forced to counter claims she went commando on New Year's Eve after a series of pictures of her went viral.
Tenerife-born Eloisa Gonzalez has been tasked with leading the countdown to January 1 on Canarian television for nearly a decade.
But the regional state TV channel's decision to transmit live on the windy island of La Gomera - combined with the brunette's decision to don a revealing red dress for the TV gala - turned this weekend's show into the most memorable.
Her high cut dress gave the impression she wasn't wearing underwear.
Now Eloisa, who defines herself on her Instagram page as a presenter, actress, model and lover of animals, has broken days of silence to insist she was appropriately attired underneath her dress.
The 35-year-old, who began her TV career as a reporter covering the famous Canary Islands carnivals, said despite the apparent evidence to the contrary: 'I wasn't aware of what had happened at the time and I didn't even notice the cold.
'I had underwear on as well as stockings.
'I was constantly grabbing hold of the lower part of my dress because I didn't trust its front split.
'But there was a moment when I had to swivel round to speak with a companion and while I was turning round the wind whipped up and it was then that I was informed over my earpiece that they'd seen "something".'
Denying claims from some sectors that it was a deliberate stunt to boost ratings and her personal profile, she added: 'I don't even choose my wardrobe.
'I confide what I wear every year to my stylist Yurena and a few days ago she said to me, "This year you're wearing red".
'I replied, "That's perfect" and I tried the dress on two days before New Year's Eve. That's the importance I give these things.'
Eloisa Gonzalez (second left) has been tasked with leading the countdown to January 1 on Canarian television for nearly a decade
Social media users have been quick to show their appreciation in their replies to a photo Eloisa posted on her Instagram page showing her in her famous red dress during a more dignified moment alongside her co-presenters.
Fan Raquel Perez, responding to comments not fit to publish in a family newspaper, said: 'Eloisa, don't worry about what people say. We're your true fans. Ignore some of the comments you're getting. Thousands of kisses.'
It is not the first time Eloisa, a former presenter of Spanish reality television show Supermodel, has made headlines with her New Year's Eve dresses.
Eloisa Gonzalez has said she was appropriately attired underneath her dress
The TV presenter said: 'I was constantly grabbing hold of the lower part of my dress because I didn't trust its front split'
Her low-cut 2012 number led to male admirers creating a Facebook page called: 'Eloisa's New Year's Eve T**s.'
She ushered in 2016 with a daring electric blue dress which led to comparisons with Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce.
Her choice for this New Year's Eve was similar to the high-cut dresses flaunted by style icons like Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner that are now pushing the boundaries on the red carpet.
The look has been branded the high-cut crotch.
Stylist Naomi Isted warned when celebs first started wearing them: 'It's not a realistic look for the public to wear. It's quite a dangerous look as it could go horribly wrong.
Anis Amri killed 12 when he drove a lorry into a Christmas Market in Berlin
Elite German police commandos stormed a refugee home in Berlin on Tuesday evening to seize a man said to be a supporter of Christmas market truck killer Anis Amri.
Units of the SAS trained GSG9 and the SEK anti-terrorist police swooped on the home in the Spandau district of the capital shortly before 9.00pm.
A Tunisian man, aged 26, suspected of aiding Amri on his Isis-backed murder mission was seized on the grounds that 'he knew of the attack plans and possibly helped Anis Amri,' according to prosecutors.
They said he had known Amri since the end of 2015 and was believed to have remained in contact with him 'shortly before the attack.'
Another individual, possibly a former roomate of Amri's, was arrested at an apartment elsewhere in the city. Again, it is suspected he knew of the attack plans and may have aided Amri in the hours and days before he drove the hijacked lorry into the crowd at the market on December 19.
Twelve people were killed and 48 injured in the attack. Amri, 24, fled to Italy where he was shot dead by police at a routine roadblock on December 23.
A memorial to the victims of the massacre in Berlin, where 12 people were killed by terrorist Anis Amri
Boxes of documents were taken away from the refugee home in the city following the raid. German intelligence and security forces have gone into overdrive to round up the terror cell which underwrote Amri's operation and prevent it from carrying out further carnage.
A Tunisian man arrested by police special forces a week ago in connection with the market attack has since been released.
The frenetic police activity comes as Germany seeks ways to destory terrorist structures put in place by bogus refugees who took advantage of the country's open door policy towards migrants to infiltrate themselves in society.
An entrepreneur who spent her life savings on a 'Prosecco van' has been banned from using the name of the sparkling wine by EU red tape.
Caroline Roberts, 33, has been ordered by eurocrats to call her fizz Frizzante 1754 - even though it is exactly the same as Prosecco - because she is offering it on tap rather than from the bottle.
She launched 'Bella - The Prosecco Van' last month after she and her husband Steven, 33, pooled 20,000 together to afford it.
Mrs Roberts, who runs firm Events by Caroline Louise, aimed to get bookings at parties and weddings to serve up glasses of the popular drink on demand.
Caroline Roberts, 33, pictured, and her husband Steven spent thousands of pounds of their life savings on a 'Prosecco van' but have been told they have to call their wine Frizzante 1754
Mrs Roberts, pictured in the van, has been warned by the EU that the name Prosecco can only be used if the substance is poured out of a bottle
But EU lawmakers told her she can only call it Prosecco if it's poured from a bottle.
Despite sourcing her wine from the correct Conegliano-Valdobbiadene area of north-east Italy, once she serves it from tap it has to be called Frizzante 1754 despite being exactly the same fizz.
She can keep the van name, however, as she also serves customers full bottles at the events and weddings she attends.
Mrs Roberts, of Old Colwyn, North Wales said she had to abide by the rules or face a potential Euro 20,000 fine.
She said: 'At Events by Caroline Louise we understand the Prosecco Consortium are protecting the image and quality of Prosecco, just like the French who protect Champagne.
'Bella, the Prosecco van serves Frizzante 1754 on tap, whilst also having bottles of Prosecco available to purchase too.
'The beverage that goes into the bottles and labelled as Prosecco is exactly the same liquid that goes into the kegs and labelled as Frizzante 1754.
'It can be quite a mouthful when explaining to Bella's customers.
'We sell glasses of fizz and bottles of prosecco, but we'd rather take the time to get it right so we don't offend anyone, and to ensure we're not fined Euro 20,000.'
Prosecco is registered with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status.
The entrepreneur, pictured, said she had to comply or else face a 20,000 Euro fine
It means any product labelled prosecco must meet strict criteria.
These include that it must be produced from the glera grape from the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene area of Italy and sold in glass containers up to a maximum capacity of five litres.
The Prosecco Consortium contacted the UK's Food Standards Agency and Intellectual Property Office to ensure the rules are enforced in the UK.
They say it ensures the quality of the wine served to consumers.
It is not the first time the serving of Prosecco has caused controversy in the UK.
Two years ago, Italian winemakers threatened legal action against British pubs which served the beverage on tap.
The group, backed by the Italian government, warned establishments about the 20,000 euro fine and told them to stop the 'illegal' trade of selling the sparkling drink from kegs.
She runs an events company and planned to use the van, pictured, at weddings and parties
They insist that selling the fizzy wine in the same manner as lager or cider is illegal under EU laws, which state the drink must be sold by the bottle.
The producers also say that drinking Prosecco on tap ruins the taste of the drink and is causing damage to the industry's reputation.
The winemakers said that, under a European law from 2009, it is illegal to sell Prosecco on tap and that it should be 'marketed exclusively in traditional glass bottles'.
In 2014 Britain became the top export market for prosecco, overtaking Germany, with sales often increasing dramatically over Christmas and New Year.
Demand for the popular fizz has rocketed to the point where it is being mass produced on a grand scale in factories in northern Italy.
The devastated mother of an Iraq war hero who died after a freak accident in a New Year's Day pram race has talked of her heartbreak after the loss.
Francis 'Titch' O'Sullivan, 52, died in hospital after suffering severe head injuries after tumbling out of his homemade 'Spitfire' cart in Sutton Valence, Kent.
He was airlifted to a specialist head injuries unit at Kings College Hospital but died in the early hours of this morning.
Tragedy: Fancy dress pilot, named locally as Francis O'Sullivan, 52, has died after being thrown from this makeshift cart pictured at the start of a Kent village's annual New Year's Day charity pram race
Floral tributes left near the scene in Sutton Valence, near Maidstone, Kent, following the death of fundraiser Francis O'Sullivan, known as Titch
This handwritten tribute called 'Titch[ one of the most honest, caring and funny men 'I have ever met
His devastated mother Kathleen O'Sullivan, 77, from Leeds, near Maidstone, Kent, described the death of the father-of-two, who served in Iraq, as a 'tragic waste'.
She said: 'He will be sadly missed by me, his mum, his children, his brothers and sisters and so many friends.
'It is a tragic waste of life. It should not have happened. No one can believe it.
'After being out in the war and coming back to die this way. It's tragic.
'He would come around a few times a week to see me. I will miss that.'
'This should never have happened. The pram race has been going on over 30 years. It's a tragic death'
Writing on Facebook, his sister Jeannette Gribben, 53, said: 'To my beautiful brother who has peacefully past away following a tragic accident. God bless him RIP.'
She added: 'My beautiful brother tragic accident whilst competing in the Sutton Valence pram race.
'Love you always and forever in our thoughts. A great Brother Dad and Uncle. May you sleep tight and smile down on us. Sweet dreams. Love you for ever your family.'
Tragedy: Footage taken shortly before the crash showed the homemade cart - built to look like a Spitfire - flying down a hill in the village of Sutton Valence in Kent (pictured)
Video: Spectators cheered and shouted 'no way' as they saw how fast it was travelling just before it flipped over
Much-missed: The 52-year-old victim, nicknamed Titch, was in a pram designed to look like an Second World War fighter plane
Mr O'Sullivan served as a tank driver with Prince Harry's former regiment the Blues and Royals - part of the Household Cavalry - in the first Gulf War in 1990.
He moved back to Kent six years ago after living in Germany and was taking part in the race with two friends, all dressed as RAF wartime pilots.
Footage taken shortly before the crash showed the 'pram' driven by three men in RAF-style aviator jackets hurtling down a hill.
Spectators cheered and shouted 'no way' as they saw how fast it was travelling just before it flipped over.
The two friends are thought to have been hanging on to the sides of the pram as it hurtled down the road, while Mr O'Sullivan was sitting inside.
'Titch', as he was known to friends, was thrown from its driver's seat in front of more than a hundred people.
An off duty doctor and horrified spectators at the popular event rushed to help and paramedics were called.
The delivery driver was then flown by air ambulance to a specialist head injuries unit at Kings College Hospital where he sadly died the next day.
Mrs O'Sullivan, described as 'popular' by locals, said that he had also competed in the pram race last year.
Lee Bellchambers also said on Facebook: 'Rip titch, you'll be missed at work pal..... cruel world.'
And friend Lee Deeble added on social media: 'My colleague and friend 'titch' passed away yesterday after this crash.
'He was one of the most caring, fun loving gentleman you could have ever met & will be missed so much. He would want the charity race to continue, he was like that & me and his colleagues will be completing the race on his behalf at a later time. RIP my friend, we are going to miss you so much.'
Injuries: An off-duty doctor, paramedics and stewards all tended to the man where he fell in Sutton Valence, Kent
Assistance: The air ambulance was called and the 52-year-old was flown to a London hospital but he has since died
Friend Stacey Beal said: 'I can't believe that I'm actually writing this but today we lost one of our dear friends in the most tragic way, our Titch.
'You will be so incredibly missed by everyone and The George won't be the same without you and that infectious and cheeky grin of yours.
'You made me laugh and smile every time I saw you and 'those stories' we will never forget!
'Have a Guinness for me up there my darling, we will miss you so very very much xxxxxx.'
She added: 'It's awful and just so tragic, he was taking part in the Sutton valence charity pram race and he came out of the pram and sustained severe head injuries which once he got to hospital proved to be fatal.'
The charity fund raising pram race is organised by The Queen's Head Oddfellows Fund and Mr O'Sullivan, described as 'popular' by locals, also took part last year.
There is not thought to have been any serious injuries in the past at the fun event which has grown in popularity over more than 35 years.
Each team had to complete two laps of the loop road in the village, including 'pit stops' at the pubs along the way.
Popular: The annual pram race is extremely popular and raises large amounts for charity
Busy: Crowds of people packed the streets and lanes of the village to watch the array of carts zooming down hills
Witnesses: People said the man was thrown out and fell at the feet of the crowd - an off-duty doctor and paramedic tended to the man
One eye witness said: 'Three men dressed in RAF costumes and a pram designed like an airplane came down the street at speed before the pram flipped over.
'It literally happened a few feet in front of me; they fell at my feet.
'It all happened so quickly and then I saw blood on the floor.'
The witness added that the event's first aid tent was next to where the man fell, so people were with him immediately.
The witness added: 'The three RAF guys were going a lot quicker than the pram in front of them.
'As soon as I saw them coming at that speed I thought there was going to be a crash, but I didn't think it was going to be that bad.'
One spectator from the day has told how she rushed to get blankets following the crash.
The woman, who would only give her name as Nikki, from Sutton Valence said: 'It happened right outside my house. I ran and got blankets and did all we could for him.
'Everyone came to his rescue - people were straight there to him. There was an off duty paramedic who helped too.
'And the air ambulance was here so quickly.'
She added of Mr O'Sullivan: 'I didn't know him well but I knew of him. He was a very nice man. My two boys were watching the race and he said hello to them.
'I've watched the race for the last six years. I hope it doesn't stop. It was a tragic accident.'
Contestants in fancy dress speed around the village of Sutton Valence in Kent in homemade 'prams', stopping off at the village's three pubs for a pint in each
The soapbox hurtled down the track 'a lot quicker' than other competitors before the trio were sent flying.
Witness Melanie Williams said: 'He's a friend of a friend of ours. Suspected broken jaw, fracture skull and neck injury. We saw it, it was awful. They went out if control.'
Floral tributes and candles have been left on the green in the village. One tribute, from a Carl, reads: 'Titch, what a special gentleman you was (sic). Always had time to talk to everybody, was always happy and smiling and of course running. You will be missed by so many. So glad I had the pleasure of knowing you. Rip Bud.'
Another, from a fellow racer, said: 'Rest in peace. Tragic loss.'
Sarah, Janet and Louisa, onlookers from the day, said: 'So sorry for the loss of such a charitable man. Rip. Thoughts are with all for the loss.'
Police are treating his death as a tragic accident.
A Kent Police spokesman said: 'Police was called to High Street, Sutton Valence at 12.33pm on January 1 after a man fell from a pram during an organised event.
'The 52-year-old suffered a serious head injury and was airlifted to a London hospital. He later died at hospital at around 1am on 3 January. Next of kin are aware.
John Mason, who represents the Glasgow Shettleston area, was accused of trivialising sexual consent
An SNP MSP has been slammed on Twitter after he said 'the girl does not always say yes first time' in a social media debate on Scottish independence.
John Mason, who represents the Glasgow Shettleston area, was accused of trivialising sexual consent with his remarks - and some people calling for his resignation or punishment.
He tweeted: 'Marginal view was no to indy. We hope to change that. The girl does not always say yes first time!'
The online post sparked a huge backlash and Mr Mason was forced to apologise for any offence he caused, but he denied that his comment made any reference to sexual consent.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said the SNP must now decide on what disciplinary action should be taken against Mr Mason.
'This is an entirely unacceptable comment from SNP MSP John Mason, which has caused considerable offence and hurt,' Ms Dugdale told The Scotsman.
Scottish Conservative equalities spokeswoman Annie Wells also described the tweet as 'damaging'.
Mr Mason was caught up in a debate on Scottish independence with some of his followers on Twitter.
His remark sparked anger on the social media site, including from SNP and pro-independence supporters.
Maggie McTernan wrote: 'Please do not use an analogy that implies overriding a woman's consent.'
Jack Fossey replied: 'Quite frankly, I am disgusted. Using such language to encourage rape culture as though it's acceptable. Shame on you.'
Maxie said: 'So when girls are saying no they are really saying yes John? Just abuse and rape them eh?'
Jimmy posted: 'That remarks is disgusting john resign your seat now.'
Scott Sorley added: 'I have been pro independence and pro SNP my entire life but this comment disgusts me. You need to apologise.'
Mr Mason appeared to backtrack on his comments, before apologising.
He tweeted: 'My view is that women always have a veto - on relationship or marriage. Scotland has veto on independence.
'Happy to apologise to anyone who innocently misunderstood me. But not apologising to those who twist my words.'
Following the backlash he told The Scotsman: 'This was intended to be an entirely harmless tweet about apparently more innocent days when asking a girl for a dance or a social event might be turned down and it was always worth asking again,' he said.
'I am sorry if it was misinterpreted as something else which of course I would never condone.'
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon laid out proposals last month to get a 'bespoke' Brexit deal - threatening a second independence referendum if Theresa May did not agree.
Setting out a list of demands to Mrs May, the SNP leader published a series of ideas for protecting Scotland's place in Europe.
She outlined two main Brexit options in the paper - titled Scotland's Place in Europe.
The first option is to keep the whole of the UK in Europe's single market and customs union.
The second, more complicated option would see Scotland stay in the single market with the rest of the UK outside, a scenario that raises the prospect of having to introduce a hard border.
The First Minister also called for sweeping new powers over immigration, the environment, justice and agriculture to be handed to the Scottish Government, regardless of what form Brexit takes.
Ms Sturgeon said her proposals represented a 'significant compromise' on her initial post-referendum demand for full independence.
Tony Blair's ex chief of staff Jonathan Powell laughed at Iain Duncan Smith's defence of Brexit today after Britain's EU ambassador explosively resigned.
Mr Duncan Smith was insisting the Government had a 'very simple' strategy for Brexit and rejecting a claim from Sir Ivan Rogers in an incendiary memo that ministers were 'muddled'.
But Mr Powell, who was being interviewed alongside the former Tory leader, burst out laughing during the live Today programme feature.
Brexit backers reacted with fury today amid growing criticism of Sir Ivan for the manner of his early resignation.
Jonathan Powell, former chief of staff to Tony Blair (pictured left), laughed at Iain Duncan Smith's Brexit defence today
Asked if he knew what the government's Brexit objective was, Mr Duncan Smith replied: 'Yes, it's very simple, we are leaving the European Union.'
Mr Powell laughed and interrupted the Vote Leave campaigner, who then continued: 'It's absolutely clear. We are leaving the rule of European law.
'We are taking back control of our borders. And we will then look to make arrangements with European Union over what kind of trading system.'
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen told MailOnline: 'I think he is tainted with Tony Blair's brush.
IN FULL: IAIN DUNCAN SMITH VS JONATHAN POWELL Appearing on the Radio 4 Today programme to discuss Sir Ivan Rogers resignation, Iain Duncan Smith claimed that there was no 'muddled thinking' about Brexit. Asked if he knew what the government's 'objective' was, he replied: 'Yes, it's very simple, we are leaving the European Union.' Mr Duncan Smith was then interrupted by fellow studio guest Jonathan Powell, former chief of staff to Tony Blair, laughing at the simplicity of his answer. Presenter John Humphries was forced to intervene to make clear it was not him laughing. Despite the interruption, Mr Duncan Smith pressed on and said: 'Hang on... It's absolutely clear. 'We are leaving the rule of European law. We are taking back control of our borders. 'And we will then look to make arrangements with European Union over what kind of trading system.' Advertisement
'He is laughing at the will of the British people - that is to leave the European Union.'
Mr Bridgen added: 'IDS is one of the most principled politicians that I have met in my life - something that cannot be said for Tony Blair.'
In his own contribution to the interview, Mr Powell told Today Sir Ivan had performed an important task in briefing ministers on the pitfalls ahead.
Brexit supporters have said Sir Ivan must be replaced by someone who backs Britain's departure from the European Union.
But Mr Powell said: 'But if you are not prepared to have the argument, if you are not prepared to have someone who will tell you what the problems are, you are going to end up in a disaster.
'And that's what's going to happen with these negotiations if they really go for a patsy.'
Attention turned today to who will take on the powerful post with Bank of England deputy governor Sir John Cunliffe - who has done the job before - and Treasury official Tom Scholar in the frame.
The European Commission expressed its regret at Sir Ivan's departure today.
Ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage has said he would be delighted to take the job.
Sir Ivan Rogers, pictured right with Chancellor Philip Hammond, told staff today that he will be stepping down from his post early, despite his role being crucial in Britain's departure from the EU
Mr Duncan Smith told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: 'He knew very well what he was doing.
BRITAIN'S MAN IN BRUSSELS: WHO IS IN THE FRAME? Sir John Cunliffe, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England for Financial Stability: It would be a case of deja vu for Sir John, who was Sir Ivan's predecessor at 'UKRep' until his move to the BoE in 2013. Tom Scholar, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury: David Cameron's chief adviser during his re-negotiation of Britain's membership of the EU. Alex Ellis, former UK ambassador to Brazil: After more than three years in charge of the British mission in Brazil Mr Ellis was appointed director general of the Department for Exiting the European Union in November. Michael Ellam, a managing director at HSBC: The former director of communications for Gordon Brown also worked for David Cameron as a senior civil servant at the Treasury. Nigel Farage, ex-Ukip leader: A veteran of the Brexit battle, Mr Farage is without a job after finally giving up the party leadership in November. He has said he would take the job but has frequently annoyed Mrs May and No 10. Advertisement
'Probably also knew very well what he was doing when that previous email got leaked.
'When a civil servant starts to go public on stuff that you, as ministers, can no longer trust that individual.
'You must have absolute trust and cooperation and you cannot have this stuff coming out publicly.'
Mr Duncan Smith added: ' There's a problem here for the civil service. They have never faced a challenge like this before.
'They are having to tear up the rule book on what they normally do with regard to their relationships in the EU.
'They are now having to accept and understand that we are leaving.'
As well as Sir John and Mr Scholar, other possible candidates were swirling around Westminster.
Among them were Alex Ellis, a former UK ambassador to Brazil who was appointed director general of the Department for Exiting the European Union in November.
He is due to take up the post in January, when he will take on responsibility for the negotiation strategy and for relations with EU member states and institutions.
Also suggested was Michael Ellam, a managing director at HSBC. The former director of communications for Gordon Brown also worked for David Cameron as a senior civil servant at the Treasury.
Iain Duncan Smith led a backlash from Brexit supporters who said Sir Ivan must be replaced by someone who believes in Brexit
Whitehall veterans have rallied to support Sir Ivan after he blasted Mrs May's Government for 'muddled thinking' and warned that with less than three months until talks begin there was no Brexit plan.
Sir Ivan surprised No 10 by announcing his early resignation yesterday and a 1,400-word memo emailed to his colleagues laid bare his concern at Mrs May's Brexit strategy.
Sir Ivan has warned ministers need to hear the 'unvarnished' truth from civil servants who must 'speak truth to those in power'
The Prime Minister plans to invoke Article 50 of the EU treaties to formally trigger talks on Britain's Brexit by the end of March.
Sir Simon Fraser, a former head of the Foreign Office staff, said Sir Ivan was a 'highly intelligent, knowledgeable and experienced official'.
He told the BBC Today programme: ' I do think that his sort of in-depth knowledge and expertise is a loss as we go into what is going to be, as [Brexit secretary] David Davis himself has said, a very complex set of negotiations.'
Jonathan Powell, a former chief of staff to Tony Blair, told Sky News: 'If civil servants are just going to confirm the prejudices of politicians, then we're going to have a big problem.'
Ex Ukip leader Mr Farage - who reacted with delight to news of Sir Ivan's departure - has been tipped as a possible successor.
He told LBC: 'If they offer me (Sir Ivan's) job, I'll definitely take it.'
In his 1,400-word resignation letter, Sir Ivan said ministers needed to hear 'unvarnished' and 'uncomfortable' views from Europe.
He wrote: 'I hope you will continue to challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking and that you will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power.
'I hope that you will support each other in those difficult moments where you have to deliver messages that are disagreeable to those who need to hear them.'
The note was seen as a barely coded attack on Mrs May and her top team, who have been accused of failing to spell out their plan for Brexit.
The Brussels veteran opted to walk after being cut adrift by Mrs May and her top team. His contract was up in November and he did not expect it to be renewed.
The timing of his resignation triggered claims of chaos and 'amateurism' in No 10.
But diplomatic sources said Sir Ivan, who presided over David Cameron's botched negotiations with Brussels, had decided to go only after it was made plain to him that his 'days were numbered'.
Senior figures in No 10 and David Davis's Brexit department were said to have been 'baffled' that Sir Ivan did not resign at the same time as Mr Cameron.
Allies of the former prime minister heaped blame on Sir Ivan for being too 'happy to take no for an answer, happy to believe things weren't possible when they could be possible'.
Aides of Mr Cameron claimed the ambassador had repeatedly threatened to resign during the EU negotiations before June's referendum if his advice was ignored.
Nigel Farage welcomed Sir Ivan's resignation, adding: 'The Foreign Office needs a complete clear out'
But pro-European Sir Nicholas Soames said it was 'really very bad news indeed' and warned that 'we cannot afford to lose people of this calibre and experience'
Former Scottish first minister and Labour peer Jack McConnell said Sir Ivan's departure meant 'a serious loss of talent and experience' for Britain
Ukip's Michael Heaver said Sir Ivan's departure was 'good' and urged Theresa May to appoint a replacement who 'believes in Brexit'.
Leave.EU rejoiced news that Sir Ivan Rogers had stepped down as Britain's EU ambassador
Senior ministers and officials privately insisted Sir Ivan's departure was 'no loss'. They said his resignation provided Mrs May with an opportunity to appoint a replacement who 'believes in Brexit'.
OSBORNE PRAISES 'PATRIOT' DIPLOMAT IN SWIPE AT MAY George Osborne last night waded into the ambassador row by praising Sir Ivan Rogers as a 'patriot'. The former chancellor, in what was seen as a dig at the Prime Minister, described the outgoing diplomat as 'a perceptive, pragmatic and patriotic public servant'. At the same time, Mr Osborne's ex-permanent secretary in the Treasury attacked the 'amateurism' of the May Government. Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court condemned Number 10 for letting Sir Ivan leave. The ex-mandarin given a peerage by David Cameron last year wrote on Twitter: 'Ivan Rogers huge loss. Can't understand wilful & total destruction of EU expertise.' He finished with the hashtag '#amateurism'. Mr Osborne also used Twitter to launch his defence of Sir Ivan and suggest Number 10 had let a top operator slip through its fingers. He said: 'Ivan Rogers helped me on many ECOFIN [Economic and Financial Affairs Council] deals over the years. He is a perceptive, pragmatic & patriotic public servant. Thank you.' Allies of Mr Cameron, however, privately expressed satisfaction at Sir Ivan's downfall. Some members of the PM's inner circle have not forgiven his botched role in the Brexit negotiations, in which he was attacked for being 'too quick to take no for an answer'. Tensions between Mr Osborne and Mrs May have been strained since she fired him in July, only hours after becoming PM. Mr Osborne has used Twitter on a number of occasions to take aim at Mrs May. When Lord Jim O'Neill quit the May Government, he wrote that his ex-colleague 'was one of those rare things in British politics an outside expert who made a big difference on the inside. He will be missed.' Last night Ukip leapt on the resignation of Sir Ivan to make mischief. MEP Gerard Batten said: 'Perhaps Nigel Farage would consider taking up the post? After all, he ably demonstrated in the referendum campaign that he knows more about the EU than any other British politician.' Advertisement
Meanwhile Tory MP Jacob Rees Mogg told MailOnline: ' It is crucial that whoever represents us in Brussels is wholly committed to Brexit.
'Sadly the impartiality of the civil service came into question during the referendum campaign which made the position of the highly intelligent Sir Ivan difficult.'
But EU enthusiasts warned that losing Sir Ivan's experience and knowledge of Brussels dealt a 'body blow' to Britain's hopes of getting a good Brexit deal.
Lord Mandelson, Britain's former EU trade commissioner, yesterday suggested he had quit because of undue interference from ministers.
He said: 'I would not expect him to comment further but everyone knows that civil servants are being increasingly inhibited in offering objective opinion and advice to Ministers.
'Our negotiation as a whole will go nowhere if Ministers are going to delude themselves about the immense difficulty and challenges Britain faces in implementing the referendum decision.'
Arch-Remainer Nick Clegg said Sir Ivan's resignation was a 'body blow' to the Government's Brexit plans and attacked Brexit supporters for forcing him out.
'If the reports are true that he has been hounded out by hostile Brexiteers in Government, it counts as a spectacular own goal,' he said.
'The Government needs all the help it can get from good civil servants to deliver a workable Brexit.'
Mr Cameron appointed him to the Brussels post in 2013 after promising a referendum on the EU and he has been a leading advisor to No 10 over the last four years.
His shock resignation deals a major blow to the Prime Minister's preparations for triggering Article 50 - the formal mechanism for leaving the EU - because of his significant experience and knowledge of Brussels.
MPs have already started speculating over Sir Ivan's replacement.
Mr Rees-Mogg suggested his pro-Brexit colleague Sir Bill Cash should replace Sir Ivan in Brussels, pointing out that Britain appointed a political ambassador - the late Lord Rippon - when we joined the European Community in 1973.
'As a politician was the prime mover on the way in, Geoffrey later Lord Rippon, perhaps someone like Bill Cash should do so on the way out,' he said.
Tory MP Jacob Rees Mogg, pictured, told MailOnline: ' It is crucial that whoever represents us in Brussels is wholly committed to Brexit'
Hilary Benn, Labour MP and chair of the influential Commons Brexit committee, pictured on Sky News today, said Sir Ivan's resignation was 'not a good thing' and said it was vital the Government ensures a smooth hand-over as soon as possible
WE'LL PULL DOWN THE EU BILLBOARDS, SAYS LEADSOM Andrea Leadsom: She wants common sense rules EU diktats forcing farmers to erect huge pro-Brussels billboards on their land are to be scrapped. Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom will pledge to sweep away a raft of EU red tape in the wake of Brexit. She will tell the Oxford Farming Conference that this red tape is 'weighing down farmers in mountains of paperwork' that costs 5million a year and 300,000 man hours. Mrs Leadsom will also vow to ditch the 'three crop rule' which sets out how many different crops farms must plant each year freeing 40,000 farmers to grow what they like. Mrs Leadsom, one of the leaders of the Brexit campaign, will tell the conference: 'For too long, a bureaucratic system which tries to meet the needs of 28 countries has held farmers back. But now, leaving the EU means we can focus on what works best for the UK. 'Our farmers will finally be free to get on with the job of growing fantastic food in a way that meets our aims of a world leading food industry and a better protected environment. My priority will be common sense rules that work for the United Kingdom.' Applicants to the Countryside Stewardship scheme, which rewards landowners for work done to protect wildlife and natural landscapes, are required by EU law to meet publicity guidance, which normally involves putting up large pro-Brussels signs. Measuring as much as 6ft by 4ft for the biggest grants, they must be displayed permanently to avoid a penalty. The rules also require farmers to set aside 5 per cent of their land for 'ecological focus areas' around hedges, ditches and ponds. Whitehall officials say that, outside of the EU, more 'common sense definitions' can be introduced. Advertisement
Brexit supporters rejoiced his resignation, with Arron Banks, the Leave.EU chairman and Ukip's biggest donor, calling for a diplomat who is more energetically pro-Brexit to replace him.
He said: 'This is a man who claimed it could take up to 10 years to agree a Brexit deal.
'He is far too much of a pessimist and yet another of the establishment's pro-EU old guard. He has at least done the honourable thing in resigning.
'It's time now for someone who is optimistic about the future that lies ahead for Brexit Britain. Enough talk, we need to get on with getting out.'
Ukip's Michael Heaver said Sir Ivan's departure was 'good' and urged Theresa May to appoint a replacement who 'believes in Brexit,' adding that a 'further clear-out' was needed.
But Europhiles told Brexiteers rejoicing Sir Ivan's departure to 'put champagne on ice'. Jonathan Lis, deputy director of the Europhile British Influence thinktank, warned Britain was losing a knowledgeable, effective representative who was prepared to speak truth to Govt [sic]'.
Brexit supporters rejoiced his resignation, with Arron Banks, pictured, the Leave.EU chairman and Ukip's biggest donor, calling for a more 'optimistic' diplomat to replace him
Other EU enthusiasts warned that losing Sir Ivan - one of Britain's most experienced negotiators who knows EU institutions and key figures inside out - puts Britain on the back foot ahead of crunch Brexit talks.
Pro-European Sir Nicholas Soames said it was 'really very bad news indeed' and warned that 'we cannot afford to lose people of this calibre and experience'.
Hilary Benn, Labour MP and chair of the influential Commons Brexit committee, said his resignation was 'not a good thing' and said it was vital the Government ensures a smooth hand-over as soon as possible.
He told the BBC: 'I think that it means that the Government will have to get its skates on to make sure there is a replacement in place so he or she can work with Sir Ivan in the transition, the handover,' he said.
'But the hard work is going to start very soon, because if Article 50 is triggered, as the Government says it wishes to, by the end of March, then negotiations will probably begin shortly thereafter.
Jonathan Lis, deputy director of the Europhile British Influence thinktank, told Brexit supporters rejoicing Sir Ivan's departure to 'put champagne on ice' because Britain was losing a knowledgeable, effective representative who was prepared to speak truth to Govt [sic]'.
David Cameron, pictured, appointed Sir Ivan to the Brussels post in 2013 after promising a referendum on the EU and he has been a leading advisor to No 10 over the last four years
Sir Ivan did not give a reason for stepping down early and had a good relationship with Mrs May, pictured, although his strained relations with pro-Brexit figures in the Cabinet could have been a factor in his decision to quit
'And having a handover in the middle of that, depending on when exactly he goes, is not ideal.'
Sir Ivan had come under pressure to resign last month after Eurosceptics claimed Sir Ivan, a former private secretary to ex-Tory chancellor Ken Clarke, was 'scarred' by his time spent negotiating Mr Cameron's failed referendum deal and, as a veteran of Brussels, was 'out of his comfort zone'.
There was also speculation that his warnings of a 10-year trade negotiation with the EU were deliberately leaked to undermine his position.
A ten-year timetable is at odds with the stated position of both Downing Street and Brexit Secretary David Davis.
Mr Davis predicted a deal could be done in 18 months last month, while Number Ten reiterated its commitment to completing the Brexit process in two years.
'I hope you will continue to challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking and that you will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power': Sir Ivan's resignation letter in full
Dear All,
Happy New Year! I hope that you have all had/are still having, a great break, and that you will come back refreshed and ready for an exciting year ahead.
I am writing to you all on the first day back to tell you that I am today resigning as Permanent Representative.
As most of you will know, I started here in November 2013. My four-year tour is therefore due to end in October although in practice if we had been doing the Presidency my time here would have been extended by a few months.
As we look ahead to the likely timetable for the next few years, and with the invocation of Article 50 coming up shortly, it is obvious that it will be best if the top team in situ at the time that Article 50 is invoked remains there till the end of the process and can also see through the negotiations for any new deal between the UK and the EU27.
It would obviously make no sense for my role to change hands later this year.
I have therefore decided to step down now, having done everything that I could in the last 6 months to contribute my experience, expertise and address book to get the new team at political and official level under way. This will permit a new appointee to be in place by the time Article 50 is invoked.
Importantly, it will also enable that person to play a role in the appointment of Shan's replacement as DPR. I know from experience both my own hugely positive experience of working in partnership with Shan, and from seeing past, less happy, examples how imperative it is that the PR and DPR operate as a team, if UKREP is to function as well as I believe it has done over the last few years.
I want to put on record how grateful I am to Shan for the great working relationship we have had. She will be hugely missed in UKREP, and by many others here in Brussels, but she will be a tremendous asset to the Welsh Government.
From my soundings before Christmas, I am optimistic that there will be a very good field of candidates for the DPR role. But it is right these two roles now get considered and filled alongside each other, and for my successor to play the leading role in making the DPR appointment. I shall therefore stand aside from the process at this point.
I know that this news will add, temporarily, to the uncertainty that I know, from our many discussions in the autumn, you are all feeling about the role of UKREP in the coming months and years of negotiations over 'Brexit.' I am sorry about that, but I hope that it will help produce earlier and greater clarity on the role that UKREP should play.
My own view remains as it has always been. We do not yet know what the Government will set as negotiating objectives for the UK's relationship with the EU after exit. There is much we will not know until later this year about the political shape of the EU itself, and who the political protagonists in any negotiation with the UK will be.
But in any negotiation which addresses the new relationship, the technical expertise, the detailed knowledge of positions on the other side of the table and the reasons for them, and the divisions amongst them and the negotiating experience and savvy that the people in this building bring, make it essential for all parts of UKREP to be centrally involved in the negotiations if the UK is to achieve the best possible outcomes.
Serious multilateral negotiating experience is in short supply in Whitehall, and that is not the case in the Commission or in the Council. The Government will only achieve the best for the country if it harnesses the best experience we have a large proportion of which is concentrated in UKREP and negotiates resolutely. Senior Ministers, who will decide on our positions, issue by issue, also need from you detailed, unvarnished even where this is uncomfortable - and nuanced understanding of the views, interests and incentives of the other 27.
The structure of the UK's negotiating team and the allocation of roles and responsibilities to support that team, needs rapid resolution. The working methods which enable the team in London and Brussels to function seamlessly need also to be strengthened.
The great strength of the UK system at least as it has been perceived by all others in the EU has always been its unique combination of policy depth, expertise and coherence, message co-ordination and discipline, and the ability to negotiate with skill and determination. UKREP has always been key to all of that. We shall need it more than ever in the years ahead.
As I have argued consistently at every level since June, many opportunities for the UK in the future will derive from the mere fact of having left and being free to take a different path. But others will depend entirely on the precise shape of deals we can negotiate in the years ahead. Contrary to the beliefs of some, free trade does not just happen when it is not thwarted by authorities: increasing market access to other markets and consumer choice in our own, depends on the deals, multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral that we strike, and the terms that we agree. I shall advise my successor to continue to make these points.
Meanwhile, I would urge you all to stick with it, to keep on working at intensifying your links with opposite numbers in DEXEU and line Ministries and to keep on contributing your expertise to the policy-making process as negotiating objectives get drawn up. The famed UKREP combination of immense creativity with realism ground in negotiating experience, is needed more than ever right now.
On a personal level, leaving UKREP will be a tremendous wrench. I have had the great good fortune, and the immense privilege, in my civil service career, to have held some really interesting and challenging roles: to have served 4 successive UK Prime Ministers very closely; to have been EU, G20 and G8 Sherpa; to have chaired a G8 Presidency and to have taken part in some of the most fraught, and fascinating, EU negotiations of the last 25 years in areas from tax, to the MFF to the renegotiation.
Of all of these posts, I have enjoyed being the Permanent Representative more than any other I have ever held. That is, overwhelmingly, because of all of you and what you all make UKREP: a supremely professional place, with a fantastic co-operative culture, which brings together talented people whether locally employed or UK-based and uniquely brings together people from the home civil service with those from the Foreign Office. UKREP sets itself demanding standards, but people also take the time to support each other which also helps make it an amazingly fun and stimulating place to work. I am grateful for everything you have all done over the last few years to make this such a fantastic operation.
For my part, I hope that in my day-to-day dealings with you I have demonstrated the values which I have always espoused as a public servant. I hope you will continue to challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking and that you will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power. I hope that you will support each other in those difficult moments where you have to deliver messages that are disagreeable to those who need to hear them. I hope that you will continue to be interested in the views of others, even where you disagree with them, and in understanding why others act and think in the way that they do. I hope that you will always provide the best advice and counsel you can to the politicians that our people have elected, and be proud of the essential role we play in the service of a great democracy.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has said a 14-year-old could have hacked into the emails of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman.
John Podesta's emails were made public by the whistleblowing website and proved to be a hammer blow to the Democrat's election campaign as she lost out to Trump.
In an interview, Assange revealed the campaign chairman's password was 'password' and that he had responded to phishing emails.
The Wikileaks founder said he was 1,000 percent confident the Russians did not hack the Clinton campaign, adding Barack Obama was 'trying to delegitimize the Trump administration'.
Julian Assange, whose interview will aired Fox News Tuesday, reiterated his claims that the Russian government was not responsible for the hacks during the 2016 presidential election and that a child could have hacked into the Democrats' emails
'A 14-year-old kid could have hacked Podesta that way,' Assange told Sean Hannity on Fox News.
He added Clinton made 'almost no attempt' to secure her private emails, which featured in more than 50,000 leaked documents published by WIkileaks.
Assange, who was interviewed at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, also said he questioned whether US media outlets would have done the same.
'It's more like, "You rub my back, I'll rub yours. I'll give you information, you'll come to my I'll invite you to my child's christening or my next big party",' he said in the interview, referring to the Clinton party's relationship with reporters.
President-elect Trump reacted to the news by tweeting: 'Julian Assange said "a 14-year-old could have hacked Podesta" - why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!'
In Tuesday's interview on Fox News, Assange claimed Obama's administration were 'trying to say that President-elect Trump is not a legitimate President'
John Podesta, whose emails Julian Assange said could have been hacked by a 14-year-old
Assange, whose interview with Sean Hannity aired on Fox News last night, also reiterated his claims that Russia was not the source of the hacks.
He told Hannity 'with a thousand per cent' confidence that the Russian government was not responsible for emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman.
Those emails were published online by WikiLeaks in the lead-up to the November 8 vote.
Democrats claimed the hacks were a deliberate attempt to undermine Mrs Clinton's campaign and boost support for Donald Trump.
Last week as the row intensified, Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats from the country.
They arrived back in Russia on Monday morning.
Moscow denies any involvement in election-related hacking.
Last week Obama expelled 35 Russians over the hacking allegations during the presidential election
Assange is currently living under political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he sought refuge from a Swedish investigation into rape allegations from his 2010 visit to the country.
The interview marked his first face-to-face TV news appearance.
WIKILEAKS: '2017 WILL BLOW YOU AWAY' A tweet from the WikiLeaks account last night said: ' If you thought 2016 was a big WikiLeaks year 2017 will blow you away.' The post also called for donations to help the site 'prepare for the showdown'. Advertisement
Speaking to Hannity about the WikiLeaks revelations, he said: 'We can say, we have said, repeatedly that over the last two months that our source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party.
'Our publications had wide uptake by the American people, they're all true.
'But that's not the allegation that's being presented by the Obama White House.
'So, why such a dramatic response? Well, the reason is obvious. They're trying to delegitimize the Trump administration as it goes into the White House.
'They are trying to say that President-elect Trump is not a legitimate President.'
Last week Obama expelled 35 Russians over the hacking allegations during the presidential election.
The US government accused the diplomats of 'acting in a manner inconsistent with their diplomatic status' a euphemism for spying and gave them 72 hours to leave the country.
A tweet from the WikiLeaks account last night said: ' If you thought 2016 was a big WikiLeaks year 2017 will blow you away'
Using Cold War rhetoric, he said the hacking 'could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government', suggesting Russian President Vladimir Putin was personally involved.
The Russian government dismissed hacking allegations as absurd but Putin declined to order a tit-for-tat expulsion of American diplomats, claiming he would not 'stoop' to Obama's level.
An alleged ISIS jihadist accused of scoping out potential targets for an attack in Berlin, including the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag building, has gone on trial in Germany.
The defendant, identified only as 19-year-old Syrian national Shaas al-Mohammad, allegedly fought with ISIS in his war-torn homeland for two years before arriving in Germany as a refugee in August 2015.
Dressed in a blue pullover and a black cap, Mohammad hid his face behind a folder as he took his seat in the courtroom. Two police trucks were parked outside the entrance, with officers armed with machine guns guarding the proceedings.
It is the country's first trial of a suspected ISIS militant deployed to Germany from Syria during the chaotic 2015 refugee influx - in contrast to 'lone wolf' attacks or plots by extremists who were radicalised elsewhere.
An alleged ISIS jihadist accused of scoping out potential targets for an attack in Berlin, has gone on trial in Germany. He is pictured covering his face in court
The defendant is alleged to have scoped out the Brandenburg Gate (pictured) and Reichstag building as potential attack sites
Mohammad was standing trial at a special state security court in Berlin on charges of membership of a foreign terrorist organisation, which carries up to 10 years in jail, and military weapons law violations.
The trial comes just over two weeks after an ISIS extremist from Tunisia allegedly ploughed a truck through a Berlin Christmas market in an attack that killed 12 people.
Prosecutors claim the defendant joined the jihadist group as a teenager in mid-2013, taking part in combat operations, handling an AK-47 assault rifle and supplying food to fighters.
He arrived in Germany near the peak of a mass influx of people fleeing Syria, Iraq and other crisis-torn countries that brought almost 900,000 asylum seekers to Europe's biggest economy in 2015.
He allegedly stayed in 'close contact' with ISIS and repeatedly visited the German capital until February 2016 to scout out landmark targets and busy tourist sites for an attack.
The defendant (pictured hiding his face in the dock), identified only as 19-year-old Syrian national Shaas al-Mohammad, allegedly fought with ISIS in his war-torn homeland for two years before arriving in Germany as a refugee in August 2015
Among the suspected targets was the area around the glass-domed Reichstag parliament building, the nearby Brandenburg Gate monument and the busy shopping square Alexanderplatz.
He then allegedly 'passed the information about the potential attack targets onto his contacts at the IS', said the court in a statement.
'In addition, he arranged to send at least one person to Syria as a fighter and offered his services as a contact person for potential attackers in Germany,' it added.
The young Syrian was arrested on March 22 last year and has been in pre-trial detention ever since. The court has set 25 hearings until April.
Germany has been shocked by a spate of ISIS-claimed attacks, and some foiled plots which a growing rightwing populist movement has blamed on the open-door refugee policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Two police trucks were parked outside the entrance, with officers armed with machine guns guarding the proceedings
Dressed in a blue pullover and a black cap, Mohammad hid his face behind a folder as he took his seat in the courtroom
In some cases last year, the jihadists were home-grown, while others were migrants and refugees.
More attacks are feared when some of the 400-odd German jihadists still in Syria and Iraq return home.
In June last year, police arrested three Syrian men over an alleged plan to use guns and suicide vests in an IS attack in Duesseldorf.
In July, a 17-year-old Afghan refugee wounded five people in an axe rampage on a train before police shot him dead.
Days later a 27-year-old Syrian blew himself up outside a music festival, wounding 15 people.
Among the suspected targets was the area around the glass-domed Reichstag parliament building, the nearby Brandenburg Gate monument and the busy shopping square Alexanderplatz
In October, police say they prevented an attack on a Berlin airport by a Syrian refugee, 22-year-old Jaber al-Bakr.
Bakr evaded a police raid but was caught by Syrian compatriots soon after and handed over to police. Two days later, he was found hanged in his cell, sparking a scandal over the security lapse in custody.
December saw the worst IS-claimed attack when Tunisian suspect Anis Amri, 24, allegedly drove a hijacked truck into a packed Berlin Christmas market.
The attack claimed 12 lives, including the lorry's registered Polish driver. Amri was shot dead four days later in Italy after firing first at police there.
Germany's domestic security service estimates that the number of radical Islamists in Germany rose above 9,000 last year, from some 3,800 in 2011.
The father of a toddler who was found dead lying face down in the mud after trying to flee Myanmar has pleaded with the world to take notice of their plight.
Rohingya refugee Mohammed Shohayet, a 16-month-old boy, had been trying to leave his home in Rakhine State with his family and head to Bangladesh.
The Rohingya people have claimed they have been persecuted by the Myanmar military and many fleeing the country have told of rape, murder and arson at the hands of security forces.
Mohammed Shohayet, a 16-month-old boy, who had been trying to leave his home in Rakhine State with his family and head to Bangladesh when he drowned
Mohammed had been with his mother and brother as they tried to cross Naf River and make it Bangladesh when their boat sank.
The boy's body was later found washed up, face down in the mud and a haunting picture of Mohammed has been compared to that of refugee Aylan Kurdi, who drowned off the coast of Turkey while trying to flee Syria.
And now Mohammed's father Zafor Alam, who had earlier made it safely to Bangladesh, is pleading with the world to take notice of the plight of the Rohingya people.
He told CNN: 'In our village, helicopters fired guns at us, and the Myanmar soldiers also opened fire on us. My grandfather and grandmother were burnt to death. Our whole village was burnt by the military. Nothing left.
The haunting picture of Mohammed has been compared to that of refugee Aylan Kurdi, pictured, who drowned off the coast of Turkey while trying to flee Syria
'When I see the picture, I feel like I would rather die. There is no point in me living in this world.'
'I want to let the whole world know. The Myanmar government should not be given any more time. If you take time to take action, they will kill all Rohingyas.'
The fleeing of Rohingya people from Myanmar, also known as Burma, comes as tens of thousands have crossed the border into Bangladesh as they are loathed by the country's Buddhist majority.
More than 120,000 have been trapped in squalid displacement camps since violence erupted in 2012 in Rakhine, where they are denied citizenship, access to healthcare and education.
The Rohingya people have claimed they have been persecuted by the Myanmar military and many fleeing the country have told of rape, murder and arson at the hands of security forces
In the past week a video has emerged showing Myanmar police beating civilians from the Muslim minority.
But the country's led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has said the allegations are made up and has resisted mounting international pressure to act to protect the minority.
Last week, a commission set up to investigate the violence released its interim report dismissing claims security forces had carried out abuses or has embarked on a campaign to force the Rohingya out.
Many of those fleeing Myanmar have ended up in Bangladesh but are forced to live in refugee camps
Myanmar refuses to recognise the Rohingya as one of the country's ethnic minorities, instead describing them as Bengalis. Pictured are Rohingyas in their refugee camp
The size of the 'Bengali' population, mosques and religious buildings in the unrest-hit area 'are proof that there were no cases of genocide and religious persecution,' it said in a statement carried in state media.
Myanmar refuses to recognise the Rohingya as one of the country's ethnic minorities, instead describing them as Bengalis - or illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.
A businessman's spokeswoman has hit back at a Maori woman who accused him of racism saying: 'She's barely coffee-coloured.'
Earlier this week, New Zealand woman Lara Bridger, 23, posted a video to social media detailing a conversation she had with businessman Sir Peter Leitch on Waiheke Island near Auckland.
She claims Sir Peter said she was not a local of the island because it was a 'white man's island'.
Ms Bridger's video was viewed almost 100,000 times but has since been deleted.
Scroll down for video
Waiheke Island-born woman Lara Bridger, 23, claims she was told by a prominent white New Zealand businessman she didn't belong on the island
Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key with the 'Mad Butcher' Sir Peter Leitch - whom Ms Bridger says upset her with his comments
Sir Peter's spokeswoman, Michelle Boag, said his comments couldn't have been racist as Ms Bridger was 'barely coffee-coloured'
Waiheke Island (pictured) is located in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, New Zealand
Responding to the video, Sir Peter's spokeswoman Michelle Boag told Maori Television his comments could not have been racist as Ms Bridger was 'barely coffee-coloured' - a reference to her being a light-skinned Maori woman.
She also claimed Ms Bridger only made the video because she 'wanted to be famous'.
In the video, Ms Bridger says Sir Peter - who is nicknamed 'The Mad Butcher' for his chain of butcheries - told them not to drink and drive.
She reassured him she would not be and her mother would be the one driving home as she was not drinking.
Ms Bridger then claims Sir Peter made the suggestion they were not local but Ms Bridger said she was in fact born on the island.
To this, he said it was a 'white man's island' and she needed to acknowledge that.
Ms Bridger made the now-deleted video after meeting Sir Peter at a Waiheke Island vineyard
Ms Bridger said in the video that Sir Peter's comments had upset her
'Ok, I'm f**king upset you know... I was f**king born here and people like him think that wow, because they have millions of dollars they can come here and f**king this is their island,' Ms Bridger said in her video.
After she uploaded the video, Sir Peter defended himself, saying he was 'extremely disappointed that a young woman on Waiheke Island had misinterpreted some light-hearted banter he had with her', the New Zealand Herald reported.
He also said he 'apologised unreservedly'.
Ms Bridger deleted the video from social media, stating: 'Deleted the vid as my point was made. I was just upset that someone whom I once looked up to had that mentality.
'People were going a bit overboard with threats and racist comments... Waiheke is a beautiful place everyone should be able to enjoy.'
Ms Bridger said she intended to contact him and hoped he would understand why she was upset.
A 2010 photograph shows former NRL Warriors team captain Benji Marshall and Sir Peter together
The incident is claimed to have occurred at a vineyard on Waiheke Island
Hundreds of teenage girls were turned away from the first day back at school for wearing skirts that are too short.
Ebbsfleet Academy in Dartford, Kent, has a strict policy which states that girls can wear a navy A-line skirt 'of a suitable length for school, that is, no more than 5cm (2ins) above the knee'.
Around 200 pupils were said to have been turned away on the first day after the festive period on Tuesday.
The school has now been labelled 'irresponsible', with one parent claiming the school is 'letting kids down'.
Principal Alison Colwell has been criticised before after she sent home five per cent of its pupils in one day for breaching uniform rules in 2013.
Girls from the Ebbsfleet Academy, wearing the short skirts that are at the centre of the controversy
Local mother Kim O'Brien posted on Facebook to claim her 15-year-old daughter was turned away alongside 'about 200' other girls.
She said: 'The school sent letters home before Christmas asking us to check that our daughters' skirts weren't more than five centimetres above the knee.
'My daughter turned up to school today in her old school skirt, which she's never had a problem with before, and they told her to stand to one side and wouldn't let her in.
'There's nothing wrong with her skirt, it's sensible and the right length - she came in a minute ago and it isn't that short.
'When I contacted the school, they said they'd sent her away with a letter about how she could come in and change her skirt but they just left them outside.
'They should have let them in rather than just leaving them on the street.
'I've looked at some of the girls outside and there are some girls in very short skirts but she isn't one of them.
'According to some of the kids they sent away about 200 pupils.'
Brooke O'Hara showing what lenth her skirt should be according to Ebbsfleet Academy, where hundreds of girls where sent home due to their skirts being above the knee
Brooke O'Hara showing what lenth her skirt was at when she was sent home from Ebbsfleet Academy
Mother-of-five Charlene O'Hara, 36 has criticised the school for excluding daughter Brooke, 16, just months before her GCSEs.
She says she does not understand how, to the school, uniform appears to be more important than education.
Ms O'Hara said: 'A lot of the girls are in year 11 and they're being kept away from their work - they've got exams coming up and every lesson is vital.
'The teachers were so rude, and we've bought this from their supplier but now they're saying it's not good enough.
'I told them my daughter was missing out on valuable learning time but she was sent home again today.
'I can't go back into town and buy her a new skirt until the end of next week now but they won't let her in until she's got a replacement.
Principal Alison Colwell has been criticised before after she sent home five per cent of its pupils in one day for breaching uniform rules in 2013
'I don't understand how a skirt is more important than their education, it doesn't make sense.
'I've got five kids, we've just had Christmas, and now you're expecting me to buy another new skirt.
'If they were okay in December, why aren't they now?
'They sent 200 girls away yesterday and another 60 today, it's ridiculous.'
Community mental health nurse Ms O'Brien says the school is letting down less well-off pupils, and believes it is unsafe to leave children wandering the streets.
She says the academy has failed in its duty of care to vulnerable children, particularly those who may have nowhere else to go.
The mother-of-three added: 'They're letting their pupils down by turning them away, they're shutting the gates in their faces for silly reasons.
'I'm very angry - school is a place where these kids should be able to feel safe, they just want to go to school.
'There are a lot of children in the community who will have had a c**p Christmas, they're very vulnerable and don't have things like heating and now the school are turning them away.
'What if they get run over, raped or attacked? It's bitterly cold and kids who can't get home will be left on the streets..'
Hundreds of teenage girls were turned away from the first day back at school for wearing skirts that are too short.
Ms O'Brien has now complained to the school, but says that because they are an academy, she has struggled to get any answers.
The mother claims her requests for a meeting with the governors was refused, and that there is no-one accountable to parents when things do go wrong.
She said: 'I've sent a lot of emails complaining, but because they're an academy, they're a business.
'They're not governed by the county council, so who is really in charge?
'When this happened before, I sent an email to school saying I wanted a meeting with governor and was refused.
'I pay my tax for my child to go to school and I just don't know who is responsible for things.'
The school previously came under fire for sending home five per cent of pupils at the beginning of September for rule infringements such as drawing on eyebrows and coloured shoe tags.
The mother claims her requests for a meeting with the governors was refused, and that there is no-one accountable to parents when things do go wrong
The mother-of-three says her daughter was also turned away last year because her bag was too small - despite it fitting all her books and stationery.
She added: 'A similar thing happened last summer as well when they issued a uniform change during the holidays regarding bags.
'I had checked on the Sunday night, before she went back to school, what the rules were, and it said any plain navy bag as long as it could hold everything.
'I bought her one which fitted that description and she was sent home.
'I'm sure my complaints will fall on deaf ears again.'
Parents were warned by Alison Colwell that the uniform policy will be enforced 'consistently and constantly'
Katie Lake, 32, says her daughter was turned away again yesterday morning for the second day in a row.
She was not told by the school that her 13-year-old daughter Daisy had been sent home and says no parents were informed of the decision.
Ms Lake said: 'Daisy turned up to school at 10:30 yesterday and there were teachers stood outside the gates.
'They wouldn't let her in because her skirt was slightly shorter tham 5cm above the knee, and they told her she won't be allowed in until her skirt is 'appropriate'.
'She was sent home and luckily I was in but I wasn't notified.
'I tried ringing them to find out what had happened but I couldn't get through to them, and I left voicemails but have had no response.
'This morning I received a text saying she isn't in school even though they were the ones who sent her home.
'It's disgusting, we expect our kids to be safe and in school, not walking the streets.
Ebbsfleet Academy in Dartford, Kent, has a strict policy which states that girls can wear a navy A-line skirt ''of a suitable length for school, that is, no more than 5cm (2ins) above the knee'
'They're expecting me to just buy Daisy a new skirt but they're not cheap and there's a waiting list to buy them from the school outfitter's website.
'I've said to them 'why do it straight after Christmas?', they should at least give parents six weeks to rectify the problem.
'A lot of people don't get paid until the end of month and don't have the money to just buy a skirt.'
Jane Peck, 54, says daughter Nicola was forced to make the 45 minute bus journey home to Dartford alone after being locked out of the gates.
The 15-year-old was sent home straight away, and says members of staff 'looked them up and down and locked them out'.
Jane said: 'I didn't know she'd been sent home until she got back here.
'She has a ten to 11 year old size waist, so I had to buy her the smallest skirt available for it to fit.
'It's not that far off her knees, and I bought it from the school website, so it's not as if it's from New Look or somewhere.
'The school have now told me to buy the next size up and get them altered, but why should I pay a fortune for that?
'You have to buy uniform from their website and you can't try them on first, so I can't win.
'She went in today, and sent her with a letter explaining the situation.
'She could well be in internal exclusion, but it's not fair for her to be refused entry wearing the school's own skirt.
'I had two daughters and son who had been there and had no trouble at all, which is the whole reason I sent her out of the area where we live to school - my other kids did well there.
'Obviously at the time, I didn't realise there'd be all this trouble.'
Holly Beaumont (left) and Maddie Rasoda with the bag that's too small and breached uniform rules
In 2013, the school hit the headlines when it was dubbed 'Colditz Academy' after Ms Colwell sent home five per cent of its pupils in one day for breaching new uniform rules.
One girl was turned away from the gates of Ebbsfleet Academy in Swanscombe, Kent, because her bag was too small while another female pupil, who has no eyebrows, was sent straight home because she broke make-up rules by using an eyebrow pencil.
Other pupils were told to leave because the coloured tags on popular footwear brand Kickers breached an 'all black' rule.
In total 30 out of the 600-odd pupils at Ebbsfleet Academy were sent home on the first day of term.
Furious students took to Facebook to complain - branding the former Swan Valley Community School 'Colditz Academy' because they could not bend the rules.
Instead of parents supporting the rules to make the students appear neater and adhere to the policy, they were angry at headteacher Alison Colwell for being insensitive to self-conscious teenagers.
A herd of 60 wild elephants caused pandemonium in a village after they stormed through the centre and ruined 25 houses.
Hair-raising footage, captured on a smartphone, shows the gigantic animals and their little ones struggle to find a way out of the village.
It shows the bizarre moment the animals had wandered into the human habitat in Numaligarh in the hilly state of Assam, India, after they lost their way.
The herd of 60 elephants (pictured) started to run through the tiny village in Assam, India
Angry villagers came out of their homes to try and scare the elephants away armed with sticks
The village is just two miles from the forest and instead of hiding in their homes, stunned villagers ran out of their homes armed with sticks to chase the elephants.
Mahesh Kumar, who suffered a great loss to his shop in the chaos, said: 'The elephants started running impulsively when men from forest department reached the spot for our rescue.
'The chaos resulted in a huge loss as many shops and houses were damaged.'
Forest officials were called in who took the charge of the situation.
Jayanta Goswami, beat forest officer of Numaligarh, said: 'Incidents like these have happened in the past.
'This is the paddy season in the state and elephants come out of the forests in search of food and end up in villages where paddy is grown.
'In the recent incident, the number of the elephants were huge but luckily, none of them attacked any villager.
'We have learnt of some damages to the houses but that would be compensated. It becomes really difficult to control an elephant if it loses its cool. We are glad there was no injury this time.'
The elephants had caused mayhem after they got lost in the village in Numaligarh, Assam, India
The villagers eventually managed to make the elephants after they chased them off in India
Assam, the densely forested state, is known as the natural habitat for the wild elephants in the country with a recorded population of 5,620.
But with an increasing population and fast developed townships, incidents of wild animals entering the villages in search of food have become very common of late.
Emiratis have been banned from keeping wild animal as pets as authorities crackdown on people owning big cats as status symbols
Emiratis have been banned from keeping wild animal as pets as authorities crackdown on people owning big cats as status symbols.
The pets, including endangered cheetahs are known to have been domesticated in the UAE and neighbouring Gulf countries with some even spotted being taken for walks in the middle of big cities.
In October footage was captured showing five tigers paddling in the water on the beach near to Dubai's iconic Burj Al-Arab hotel.
Meanwhile other Emiratis have been picked posing with lions on top of their luxury cars and even driving around in them.
The trade in big cats in the Gulf reflects how status among the wealthy is all important, where a rare white lion will sell for around 40,000.
But now, according to Gulf News, a new law has come into force banning the dealing and ownership of 'all types of wild and domesticated dangerous animals.'
The newspaper added that such creatures can only be kept in zoos, wildlife parks, circuses, and breading and research centres.
And if anybody takes a leopard, cheetah or any other exotic animal out in public, they could face jail and a fine of up to 500,000 dirhams (111,000).
In October footage was captured showing five tigers paddling in the water on the beach near to Dubai's iconic Burj Al-Arab hotel
Meanwhile those who use their wild pets to terrorise others would see the fine increase to 700,000 dirhams (155,000).
However, the new legislation doesn't just apply to wild animals as it also imposes new restrictions on traditional pets.
Dog owners are required to get permits and keep the animals on leashes in public, the reports said.
A teacher who resigned after a student spread nude pictures of her has dropped a lawsuit against her former employer.
Leigh Anne Arthur, who taught at a vocational school in Union, South Carolina, was patrolling the halls when a student stole her phone and circulated nude photos she took for her husband on Valentine's Day.
She resigned from her position and sued both the Union County School District and former interim Superintendent David Eubanks - but dropped the case in December.
Leigh Anne Arthur (pictured) taught at the Union County Career and Technology Center when a student stole her phone and circulated nude images she took for her husband
She resigned from her position and sued both the Union County School District and former interim Superintendent David Eubanks (pictured) - but dropped the case in December 2016
Arthur taught mechatronics (a blend of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer control and information technology) at the Union County Career and Technology Center.
In February 2016, she claims a 16-year-old student who was failing her class took her phone - which was not passcode protected - and accessed partially nude photos she took for her husband.
The student, who had also warned her that something bad was coming, sent the images to other students through text messages and social media, according to WSPA.
The student told her that 'your day of reckoning is coming', according to Arthur.
When school officials got wind of the situation, they took action against Arthur, giving her the choice to either resign or be fired, according to Eubanks.
The superintendent said Arthur had failed to supervise her students, and that she was in the wrong because the nude photos were available to her students, WYFF reported.
Arthur eventually stepped down, but tried to retract her resignation the next day.
The superintendent said Arthur had failed to supervise her students, and that she was in the wrong because the nude photos were available to her students
An online petition to reinstate her as a teacher at the school also attracted more than 17,000 signatures, but Arthur remained out of a job
Arthur had said she has been struggling emotionally and wanted her dignity back after being forced to quit
Courtesy WSPA
An online petition to reinstate her as a teacher at the school also attracted more than 17,000 signatures, but Arthur remained out of a job.
Weeks later, she confirmed that her attorneys filed a lawsuit against the school district as well as Eubanks.
She told WYFF in March: 'I can also confirm the lawsuit is based on the false accusations made by Dr. David Eubanks against me along with policies and due process not appropriately followed by Union County School District.'
Arthur, who said she has been struggling emotionally and wanted her dignity back after being forced to quit, dropped the case on December 2, according to online court records.
The student was charged with a computer crime and voyeurism.
A 17-year-old fisherman who was filmed reeling in a huge shark has defended himself after being criticised online.
Jack Alexander and a group of friends caught the bronze whaler shark at Pauanui beach on New Zealand's North Island before tagging it and hauling it back into the sea.
The young men were criticised for taking a selfie with the two-and-a-half metre animal as it lay stranded on the sand, but Jack insisted they were 'helping the species'.
Teenage fisherman Jack Alexander, who was filmed reeling in a huge shark, has defended himself after being criticised online
'This was nothing out of the usual. The shark was only out of the water for two minutes and had water going through its gills the whole time,' the teenager told the New Zealand Herald.
'We bring them up onto the beach, tag them and write down all their details.
'Tagging the sharks means if they are caught you can track how much weight it has put on, its length, its movements and where its been breeding.'
In the video, the teenager is seen dragging the shark ashore and appearing to pull a hook out of its mouth before posing for a picture with the creature.
One witness wrote on social media that the boys had not taken proper care of the stricken animal.
'They dragged the shark up the beach... and had to take a few goes to cut the hook out of the lip,' they wrote, adding: 'Then to require a selfie.'
The young men were criticised for taking a selfie with the two-and-a-half metre animal as it lay stranded on the sand, but Jack insisted they were 'helping the species'
Jack and a group of friends caught the bronze whaler shark at Pauanui beach on New Zealand's North Island before tagging it and hauling it back into the sea
Jack said it was normal to take a picture with each catch and said he had caught and tagged 25 sharks this year.
He added sharks as big as the one in the video would barely feel the hook and tag.
Witness Simon List, who filmed the incident, said he was impressed by how 'cool' and calm the boys were as they tagged the shark.
The historic Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805 was won by the Royal Navy but cost Lord Nelson (pictured) his life after he was shot on HMS Victory by a French sniper
An extraordinary 200-year-old letter sent by the cuckolded husband of Admiral Lord Nelson's mistress revealed he had the utmost respect for him - despite being in a long-term affair with his wife.
Sir William Hamilton took taking the moral high ground to another level with the British naval hero, who was sleeping with his wife Lady Emma Hamilton.
Instead of getting angry, Sir William wrote a letter to Lord Nelson, describing him as his 'noble and brave friend'.
His letter, addressed to George Unwin, Nelson's secretary, and was written on December 10, 1800 - a month after the trio had returned to London from Italy.
At the time Lady Hamilton was seven-and-a-half months pregnant with Horatia, the secret lovechild she and Nelson had together.
The letter belonged to passionate collector Jon Evans, who died last year. He amassed more than 1,000 signatures and letters of famous historical figures including The Duke of Wellington and Sir Winston Churchill.
It is now being sold at auction for a pre-sale estimate of 300.
The letter reads in full: 'This morning I communicated your letter and statement to our noble and brave friend Lord Nelson.
'His lordship seemed greatly pleased and much gratified with the idea of his having in some measure contributed to the increase of this branch of the commerce of our country.
'In short I saw plainly that Lord Nelson was really pleased with this mark of attachment to him, but who can know this extraordinary hero and good man, without a sincere attachment to him.'
Nelson's six year affair with Lady Hamilton was the biggest scandal of the age.
He first met her in 1793, when he was a post captain and she was the wife of Sir William Hamilton, the British Envoy to Naples.
The second meeting between the couple was in Naples in 1797. A year later, after fleeing Naples, Nelson, Lady Hamilton and Sir William Hamilton rented a house in Palermo together.
Nelson's wife Fanny demanded he give up his mistress but he decided instead to separate from her and remain with Lady Hamilton.
He eventually returned to sea, leaving Emma eight months pregnant. Nelson wrote to her pretending his letters were on behalf of a seaman under his command called Thompson, whose pregnant wife was under Lady Hamilton's protection.
Sir William died in 1803.
Sir William Hamilton (left) took taking the moral high ground to another level with the British naval hero, who was sleeping with his wife Lady Emma Hamilton (right)
His letter, addressed to George Unwin, Nelson's secretary, and was written on December 10, 1800 - a month after the trio had returned to London from Italy
Nelson finally returned to England and Horatia in August 1805 but could only stay for a month before he was called back to sea to engage Napoleon's French navy at Cape Trafalgar near Cadiz.
The historic Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805 was won by the Royal Navy but cost Lord Nelson his life after he was shot on HMS Victory by a French sniper.
As he died, he made a plea to the government to care for Mrs Hamilton and Horatia.
Paul Campbell, specialist at Campbells Auctioneers of Worthing, West Sussex, which is selling the letter, said: 'It is amusing that Sir William Hamilton writes about his obvious respect for Lord Nelson and his achievements even though he was aware he was having a long term affair with his wife.
'Had he been anyone else having an open relationship with the wife of someone who was also highly regarded, the admiralty would have come down very hard on such a person.
'But, because it was Lord Nelson, they turned a blind eye to the whole affair and handled it very discreetly.'
There have been seven arrests of 'terrorists' in Tunisia
and sending 12 youths to go and fight
The group was said to be
Tunisian security forces have dismantled a 13-member 'terrorist cell' that was funnelling young recruits to jihadist groups as part of a growing crackdown on extremists.
The suspects, aged between 22 and 43, were arrested on Tuesday in Hergla, a town north of the coastal resort city of Sousse, the interior ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Members of the cell held 'secret meetings in a mosque' and admitted to recruiting and sending 12 youths to fight with jihadist groups abroad, it said, linking it to the Okba Ibn Nafaa Battalion, a group connected to Al-Qaeda.
Tunisian special forces attend an official ceremony inside the barracks of the presidential security service in Gammarth, a suburb of Tunis late last year
It was the seventh announcement in less than a week of arrests of alleged 'terrorists' in Tunisia, which has detained more than 70 people in a widening crackdown on jihadists since December 25.
Authorities stepped up their efforts after Tunisian Anis Amri was identified as the primary suspect in last month's attack on a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people.
Amri was shot dead by police in the Italian city of Milan four days after the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group.
Since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has been battling a jihadist movement that has killed dozens of soldiers and police officers as well as civilians including 59 foreign tourists.
Some 3,000 Tunisians have joined the ranks of jihadist groups fighting in neighbouring Libya, as well as in Syria and Iraq, according to officials. The United Nations puts the figure at 5,000.
Tunisia's government said last week that it had jailed or closely monitored 800 jihadists who had returned from foreign battlefields.
Commuter's rail strike misery will be dragged out until the end of the month in a cynical ploy by unions to ease the impact on drivers pay.
Members of the Aslef union were due to walk out for six days from Monday in a dispute over the role of conductors on Southern rail.
The union announced yesterday that it will now strike for only three days on January 10, 11 and 13. But it will then stage further industrial action on January 24, 25 and 27, prolonging the frustration for passengers.
Striking train drivers have already completely closed routes run by Southern Rail for several days during a dispute over driver-only trains
It is thought that dragging out the strike will ease the financial burden on drivers, as the cut in wages for failing to turn up for work will come out of two months pay packets rather than one.
But staging it on non-continuous days will make disruption even worse for commuters.
It takes 24 hours after a strike for the network to get back to normal because of trains left in the wrong places, meaning services will also be affected between the walkouts.
Aslef has also banned its members from doing overtime, which has caused chaos on Southern rail for months, even on non-strike days.
The operator said services including the Gatwick Express would be disrupted or cancelled every day because of the ban.
This week the majority of Southerns routes, which operate across the Home Counties, have been badly disrupted.
Yesterday there were no trains at all on nine services, including between Milton Keynes Central and East Croydon, and to and from Wimbledon. Many have been hit since late November, forcing commuters to find alternative transport to get to work.
There was a severely reduced service on six other lines yesterday, including the peak service between Brighton and London.
Many passengers had no idea their service was cancelled before they arrived at the station to find no trains. They said the only announcement Southern made about the disruption was a service update towards the bottom of its website.
Some commuters are so fed up with the months of continuing uncertainty they are threatening to sue the rail firm for compensation. At present, they are only entitled to refunds on their fares or season tickets, and cannot claim for additional costs
Some commuters are so fed up with the months of continuing uncertainty they are threatening to sue the rail firm for compensation. At present, they are only entitled to refunds on their fares or season tickets, and cannot claim for additional costs.
But passengers in both Surrey and Sussex are now considering joint-funded class actions.
One group has threatened a legal challenge against the Department for Transports handling of the crisis.
Of Aslefs decision to extend its strikes, a Southern rail spokesman said last night: This is a cynical ploy to minimise the impact on Aslef drivers pay packets and maximises misery, disruption and hardship for passengers.
Aslefs move shows pure contempt for the travelling public and it still causes massive disruption over next week.
Aslef chief Mick Whelan has announced a fresh wave of train strikes on Southern Rail for the end of January but cut next week's walk out from six days to three
These strikes are pointless and they should call the whole thing off and let common sense prevail.
Meanwhile Aslefs general secretary, Mick Whelan, warned yesterday of yet more strikes to come in the dispute, which centres on drivers operating train doors rather than guards.
He said: We are taking a longer-term view of this trade dispute.
The company has not been prepared to move it is simply going through the motions, turning up at [conciliation service] Acas and telling us that it intends to impose driver-only operation. We remain committed to a negotiated settlement, as was reached with [Scottish operator] ScotRail, but it is difficult to negotiate with people who are not prepared to be flexible.
He added: We still believe a deal can be done but we are, at the moment, a long way from that position. In November, 87 per cent of Aslefs members voted to join train conductors, represented by the RMT union, in strike action over the Christmas period and this month.
Rail minister Paul Maynard, pictured in the Commons last year, said the 'wholly unnecessary strikes' would cause 'massive disruption'
Unions say there are safety risks with driver-only operated trains, a claim denied by Southern and rail industry bodies.
Southern has failed to offer any alternative transport for the 300,000 passengers affected by the industrial action.
But yesterday, dozens of bus companies announced they would send more than 200 coaches to areas affected by next weeks strike to get commuters to work, in a blow to the unions.
Family-run firms from as far away as Northumberland have offered to send drivers to run rail replacement services. They said they would prioritise getting key workers, such as nurses, to where they need to be.
The bus fleet was organised by the Confederation of Passenger Transport, the trade body for the bus and coach industry, whose 1,000-plus members include the Go-Ahead group, which owns Southern Rail through its Govia Thameslink company.
Rex Tillerson, the nominee of President-elect Donald Trump for secretary of state, is severing ties with Exxon Mobil through a $182 million retirement package ahead of his Senate confirmation hearing.
Tillerson was expected to step down as CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp. in March when he turned 65, the company's mandatory retirement age.
Exxon said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that Tillerson has agreed to give up approximately 2 million unvested shares.
ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, the nominee of President-elect Donald Trump for secretary of state, is severing ties with Exxon Mobil through a $180 million retirement package
If his appointment is confirmed, the value of those shares worth about $182 million at Tuesday's closing price that Tillerson would have received over the next 10 years will be transferred to an independently managed trust, the company said in a statement.
The share awards will be canceled and Tillerson will also surrender entitlement to more than $4.1 million in cash bonuses, scheduled to pay out over the next three years, and other benefits, Exxon Mobil said.
Separately, Tillerson also committed to the State Department that, if confirmed, he would sell the more than 600,000 Exxon shares he currently owns, the company said.
Tillerson, who worked for Exxon for more than 40 years, is giving up about $7 million in compensation and benefits that he would have received if he had he stayed until March.
Exxon said last month its president, Darren Woods, will become chief executive and chairman in January following the retirement of Tillerson.
Tillerson could face a rocky confirmation process, given concerns among both Democrats and Republicans about his ties to Russia.
Katie Langan, 33, with daughter Layla, has claimed security staff at Heathrow airport handled her breast milk 'like it was dog food' when she had a five days' worth supply confiscated
A mother has claimed security staff at Heathrow airport handled her breast milk 'like it was dog food' when she had a five days' supply confiscated.
Katie Langan, 33, an HR manager who now lives in the Netherlands, had expressed the milk over the course of a five-day break with friends in London.
But when flying home on New Year's Day she was forced to ditch the supply at Heathrow's Terminal 5.
She was banned with travelling with the ten 150ml bags as she was told they were over the general limit for liquids.
She offered to check the milk in and suggested other possible solutions such as decanting it into approved containers and paying 60 for extra baggage - but was refused.
She said: 'I felt embarrassed and unsupported. It was a terrible experience.'
Ms Langan, originally from Swansea, who has a one-year-old daughter, Layla, said she was treated with 'contempt' and a 'lack of respect' and was left in tears in front of queues of people.
'I was humiliated...I had to explain my breastfeeding to a man', she said.
'I was totally heartbroken that I had to dump this breast milk that I had put love and time into pumping. It is a chore but it's a labour of love.
'This means that the next time I go away, my baby can't have breast milk.'
She was banned with travelling with the ten 150ml bags as she was told they were over the general limit for liquids
Speaking after the incident on January 1, she added: 'I just don't want other women to experience what I experienced.
'I was absolutely horrified by the guy's reaction. I was quite creative in thinking up solutions and thought of a few different ways that I could get around it.
'But he was not willing to help me. It was extremely frustrating.
'It was either stand there and argue with him or miss my flight, which I didn't want to do because I had been away from my baby.'
She said she had travelled with above the allowed limit of 100ml bottles of breast milk with no problem at Cardiff, Bristol, Edinburgh, Stockholm, Oslo, Portland and Boston
While she was away, she pumped two to three times a day, giving her 10 bags of milk, each of which took around 20 minutes.
If mothers do not continue to express milk while away from their babies, their supply reduces meaning they cannot produce as much when they return.
She said she had travelled with above the allowed limit of 100ml bottles of breast milk with no problem at Cardiff, Bristol, Edinburgh, Stockholm, Oslo, Portland and Boston.
Ms Langan, who lives in Holland with her partner Winus Van Asselt, 34, said: added: 'The security staff ask kindly if they can swab the bottles or put it into their testing machines and the whole process takes five minutes max and they are usually very considerate and respectful.
'This time as usual I went through the X-ray machine and when I got to the end this man opened up my bag.
'He said, 'It is above the limit for general liquids.' I said, 'Breast milk is exempt, I have done this before and never had a problem.'
'He said he couldn't understand why I was travelling with breast milk without my baby.'
She said the man handled her breast milk 'like it was dog food' and added: 'They just don't care.'
'I received a response from Heathrow but it was just copy and paste c*** from the policy.'
She added: 'Why is Heathrow so much stricter than other airports I have travelled through in Europe and not had a problem?'
Parents travelling through UK airports can take breast milk on a plane as long as they are travelling with a baby or infant, according to the Department for Transport.
Heathrow airport said that when travelling without a child, the restriction limits apply without exception.
It said it had a legal obligation to enforce the regulations.
A spokesman told MailOnline: 'We do appreciate that this has been a frustrating experience for Ms Langan and we always regret causing inconvenience. However, the aviation security regulations on liquids mandated by the Department for Transport are clear and publicly available on our website. They are there to protect the travelling public and Heathrow has a legal obligation to enforce them.
A prankster convinced someone selling a rare 5 note to burn a hole in it by putting it into the microwave to 'smooth it out' after he was abusive to a woman online.
Shaun Munro saw that the seller had called a woman a 'fat cow' when she inquired about the note, with a rare AB01 serial number, on a public buy and sell group.
Mr Munro, 31, decided to get his revenge and offered to pay up to 1,500 for the note, as long as it was in mint condition.
Prankster Shaun Munro (left) convinced someone selling a rare 5 note to burn a hole in it (right) by putting it into the microwave to 'smooth it out' after he was abusive to a woman
He asked the seller to flatten the plastic note using an iron before eventually convincing him to wrap the money in tissue and microwave it.
The note's furious owner then sent Shaun a picture of the note with a hole in it, and ranted: 'The note is ruined.'
Mr Munro, from Llanarmon-yn-Ial, north Wales, said: 'I thought he was out of order so I gave him a taste of his own medicine. I never thought he'd actually go along with it.
'He put it up for sale in one of the buy-and-sell groups I'm in claiming that it was worth a lot because of its serial number.
'But every time a certain woman came on and enquired about it, he would give her all sorts of abuse. He even called her a fat cow.
'The worst thing you can do is say something horrible to a woman about her appearance. I thought he was a bit of an idiot.
Mr Munro posed as someone wanting to buy the note, offering the seller 1,000 for it but saying he was 'concerned about the folds'
IS YOUR FIVER WORTH THOUSANDS? The new plastic 5 notes have been selling for hundreds or even thousands since they were introduced in September. Those with the early AA01 serial numbers, meaning they were in the first million produced, have been selling on online auction site eBay for up to 800. Notes with the AK47 number have also become valuable, with one selling for 80,000 but the seller, Gareth Wright, was left empty-handed when the buyer refused to pay because he was waiting for 'a shipment of cocaine', he claimed. There are also four 5 notes in the country believed to be worth 50,000, engraved with an image of Jane Austen and a quote. The images on the notes were created by specialist micro-engraver Graham Short, who travelled to different locations in the UK to spend them. Another person, Gail Meikle, also managed to sell a note with a slight misprint for 1,699. Coins can make money too, with a special-edition WWF design released in 2011 with the famous panda logo and 50 other animals, regularly selling for more than 200. Advertisement
'I expected him to realise I was joking when I asked him to get the iron out but he was going along with it.
'Then he said he didn't have an iron - what sort of person doesn't have an iron? So I told him the microwave would do the same job getting the creases out and he did that instead.
'I was sitting on my sofa p*****g myself basically. I didn't really feel bad about it at all because he was being abusive to this woman.'
Mr Munro made his initial enquiry about the note - which the seller claimed was worth more because of its AB01 serial number - on New Year's Day.
He then claimed he had contacts in Mayfair who were willing to send a courier to collect the note within 24 hours.
But, he continued, they had some concerns about the flatness of the note, and so he proposed a series of methods to smooth it out.
After initial reservations, the seller agrees to 'heat press' the note, but cannot locate an iron and proceeds with putting it in a microwave for 10 seconds.
Mr Munro, who owns a masonry business, said: 'I could believe it when he sent me the picture back. There were three holes in the note and part of it had melted.
After a long exchange asking the seller to flatten the note, Mr Munro convinced him to put it in the microwave. After ten seconds, there was a black hole in it (right)
Mr Munro (pictured), who owns a masonry business, said: 'I could believe it when he sent me the picture back. There were three holes in the note and part of it had melted
'I actually did some research to make sure the note wasn't worth a fortune - that way I knew I wouldn't owe him more than a fiver if he did burn it.
'New Year's Day was one of my only days off so I was just fixing some bits in the garage and lying about on the sofa having a laugh to pass the time.
'I was messaging him for about four hours. My initial plan was to pretend to pay him with Monopoly money but I realised I could have a bit of fun with him.
Rebecca Deferia, pictured, 30, is on trial accused of conspiring to murder her former boyfriend Jonathan Catchpole
The daughter of a millionaire businessman is accused of conspiring with him to hire hitmen to murder her ex-boyfriend after he broke up with her, a court heard.
Rebecca Deferia's former partner Jonathan Catchpole was blasted in the chest with a sawn-off shotgun at point blank range after three men burst into his flat in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk in August 2015.
The 39-year-old was left for dead but made a miracle recovery despite having 42 shotgun pellets removed from his chest by surgeons.
Rebecca Deferia, 30, allegedly arranged with her father to hire the hitmen to shoot Mr Catchpole and Ipswich Crown Court heard one of the gang shouted, 'Rebecca wants you dead' as they attacked him.
Prosecutor Andrew Jackson said it was 'the final act of an elaborate conspiracy or plan to murder Mr Catchpole' which was hatched by Deferia, her father and the hitmen.
He said that her father Colin Deferia was a wealthy and successful businessman with his own construction firm and his daughter was an only child who 'appeared to want for nothing'.
The court was told how she had been in a long-running dispute with her former partner and was tied to the murder plot by evidence of phone calls on pay as you go mobile phones.
Mr Jackson said there was also evidence that Deferia, who worked in the accounts department at her father's firm, had organised an earlier attack on Mr Catchpole's car when its brake lines were severed.
He also alleged that she had targeted Mr Catchpole's relatives in a campaign of threats and intimidation after hiring a private detective with her father to spy on them.
Deferia, of Suffolk, denies a charge of conspiracy to murder Mr Catchpole between August 2014 and the day he was shot.
Mr Jackson said the prosecution alleged that Deferia and her father had arranged for a relative's partner, Paul Baker, 35, to have Mr Catchpole killed in a 'careful and meticulous plan for assassination.'
Baker in turn arranged for Andrew Seaton, 40, Simon Webber, 32, and Frank Warren, 52, to carry out the 'execution' to distance himself from the plot.
The four men who were due to be paid 'several thousand pounds in cash' were all earlier convicted of murder alongside Colin Deferia.
Mr Jackson said that Seaton, Webber and Warren had travelled from their homes in Dorset to attack Mr Catchpole at his flat.
Deferia's (left) father Colin (right), 60, was previously jailed last September
He said: 'Mr Catchpole was on his own and no match for these three would be killers. Before the trigger was pulled, one of the three men shouted, 'Rebecca wants you dead'.
'Mr Catchpole was then shot and having shot him, the three men left him for dead.
'Mercifully, although he sustained a terrible shotgun wound, Mr Catchpole survived that assassination attempt.'
The court was told that Deferia had ended her five-year relationship with Catchpole on June 2013.
She then changed the locks on the home they shared in Bury St Edmunds, preventing him from picking up his clothing and possessions, said Mr Jackson.
Shortly after the couple split, Deferia and her father went to the Neptune Kitchens showroom in Bury St Edmunds where Mr Catchpole worked.
Deferia then went inside to speak to her former partner before she and her father emptied bin bags in the car park containing Mr Catchpole's clothes and shoes which had been cut with scissors or a knife, said Mr Jackson.
Paul Baker, left, was jailed for his role as 'middle man' between Colin Deferia and the 'would-be assassins', including Simon Webber, right
Her father allegedly shouted: 'I am going to have you Catchpole, you better watch your back. I am going to rip your head off and cut your d*** off.'
Deferia and her father hired a private detective called Barry Parker to carry out surveillance on Mr Catchpole and gather information about him and his relatives, said Mr Jackson.
He described Mr Parker's investigation as 'thorough and highly intrusive' and involved putting a tracking device on his car to monitor his movements.
Mr Jackson added: 'It tells you that this defendant was absolutely determined to find any information to further her aims and ambitions in having him killed.'
But he said that Mr Parker had failed to unearth 'anything remotely untoward' about Mr Catchpole and his lifestyle.
Mr Jackson said that Deferia or her father had sent a briefing pack to Baker in August 2014, setting out how he should target Mr Catchpole and giving information about him.
The letter was found in Baker's car in an envelope which had been sent from a franking machine at Mr Deferia's business Precon Products in Rougham near Bury St Edmunds.
Mr Jackson said: 'It was say the prosecution no less than a briefing pack for the targeting of Mr Catchpole and his family and ultimately his execution.
Andrew Seaton, left, and Frank Warren, right, were also jailed after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder after they and Webber attacked Mr Catchpole at his home
He claimed that Deferia had used a fake Twitter account set up by her father to follow Mr Catchpole's sister Sarah Spinks account on social media.
The fake account was used to post a message to Mrs Spinks in July 2014, remarking about the death of her first husband 13 years previously.
Mr Jackson said the tweet left Mrs Spinks distressed and was an attempt to intimidate her.
Mrs Spinks, who sympathised with her brother after his split from Deferia, received an anonymous note posted through her door in Colchester, Essex, saying: 'This is your last chance. You know what you have done. Shut your mouth or see what happens.'
Mr Jackson said that a pay as you go phone, registered by Deferia as belonging to her on her iPhone, had been used to make calls to police falsely alleging that Mr Catchpole was a drug dealer being targeted by men with firearms.
He described it as 'a false trail' to try and convince police that Mr Catchpole's murder was due to a drugs vendetta.
The attack on Mr Catchpole was carried out with a sawn-off shotgun, similar to this file picture
Mr Jackson said texts sent by one of the hitmen revealed that they expected to be paid 12,500.
Mr Catchpole was airlifted to hospital and had 42 shotgun pellets and cartridge wadding removed from his chest.
The 54-year-old woman charged after allegedly ramming her husband's van because she thought he was cheating on her with a younger woman has been named.
Sonya Ruprecht will face court next week charged with driving recklessly, furiously, at speed or in a dangerous manner.
Her arrest on Wednesday came after dashcam footage emerged allegedly showing a jilted wife ramming a car owned by her husband, Danny Ruprecht, after she supposedly caught him cheating with a younger woman.
Mrs Ruprecht is claimed to have shouted 'stay away from my husband' as she drove into another car - a Kia owned by the woman her husband is alleged to have been having an affair with.
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The 54-year-old woman arrested after allegedly ramming her husband's van because she thought he was cheating on her with a younger woman has been named as Sonya Ruprecht
Mrs Ruprecht, from Manning Great Lakes, was arrested on Wednesday morning, five days after she was released without charge because of a lack of evidence following the incident.
Dashcam footage shows a dark blue Ford Ranger driving into a Ford Transit van and forcing it off a road near Crowdy Head, New South Wales.
Witnesses claim they saw a 'disgruntled wife' drive the same vehicle into a car owned by a younger woman who had parked up at a nearby surf club moments earlier.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the couple drove off in separate cars before Mrs Ruprecht allegedly rammed her husband.
The husband of the supposed 40-year-old mistress reportedly said Mrs Ruprecht was wrong to believe her husband was having an affair with his wife.
'My wife had nothing to do with it. She wasn't even in the car. Some crazy wife thinks she is having an affair and my wife happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,' he said.
'She drove up to (my wife) and said something along the lines of "stay away from my husband".'
He added that his wife was simply 'in the wrong place at the wrong time'.
Police have charged a 54-year-old woman after footage emerged online showing a truck ramming a camper van during an alleged domestic incident
The arrest comes after dashcam footage emerged allegedly showing a jilted wife ramming her husband's car when she caught him cheating with a younger woman
Footage shows a dark blue Ford Ranger driving into a Ford Transit van and forcing it off a road near Crowdy Head, New South Wales
Police were called to Crowdy Head Surf Club at about 1pm on December 30 and a 54-year-old woman was arrested.
At the time she was taken to Taree Police Station and was released without charge pending further investigation.
A 57-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman - believed to be the owner of the Kia - spoke to police at the scene but were not arrested.
A police source told Daily Mail Australia that the incident was 'domestic'.
'The wife found her hubby down the road with another girlfriend and she's rammed him in his car,' the source told Daily Mail Australia.
A witness, who wished to remain anonymous, said the woman drove her 4x4 'head-on' into the husband's girlfriend's car.
Jake Shepherd (pictured), 26, and his friends had been drinking heavily on the 14-hour Thomas Cook flight from Manchester
A groom who launched a foul-mouthed rant when his 26-strong stag party were refused drinks on a flight to Las Vegas has been fined.
Jake Shepherd, 26, and his friends had been drinking heavily on the 14-hour Thomas Cook flight from Manchester and cabin crew imposed an in-flight ban on serving them anymore alcohol when they became too raucous.
The incident took place on June 15 last year after the A330 Airbus took off from the UK at 9.30am for its 8,000-mile journey to the American party city.
As the plane cruised at 30,000ft, oil piper engineer Shepherd became angry when he was refused vodka.
He told stewardess Joanne Pugh: 'This airline is a f*****g joke. You treat me like a f*****g idiot and I'll speak to you like a f*****g idiot.'
Other members of the group were heard swearing 'loudly and aggressively' with one saying: 'This service is s**t,' Manchester Magistrates Court heard.
Shepherd, from Sale was held on his return to the UK following his stag weekend.
Today, on the day his bride was due to give birth to their first child, Shepherd - who flies to Australia 12 times a year due to his work - was fined 1,400 after he pleaded guilty to a charge of using threatening and abusive or insulting words towards a member of a flight crew under the Air Navigation Order 2009.
Prosecuting, Robin Lynch said: 'Twenty-six males boarded the flight for a stag party.
'There were no concerns with the group at first but they soon became very loud and were asked to calm down.
'They bought numerous drinks and were buying drinks for others in the party.. The group had been spoken to about the volume. They then stopped serving them alcohol and the party were not happy.
'One of the group said: "This service is s**t." Another member swore loudly and aggressively. Eight hours into the flight Mr Shepherd went to buy some vodka and was refused.
The court heard Shepherd had one undisclosed previous conviction from 2008.
In mitigation defence lawyer Stephen Munton said: 'This case was dealt with upon Mr Shepherd's return to the UK and he made full admissions.
'It is a very regrettable incident for Mr Shepherd as this was his own stag party.
'Drinks were served and ran for two hours and in the course of that service the group became loud and the group were spoken to.
The incident took place on June 15 last year after the A330 Airbus took off from the UK at 9.30am for its 8,000-mile journey to the American party city (file photo)
'They were not interfering with other passengers. Five hours later Mr Shepherd went to the toilet and asked for a drink on his return to his seat. He was not aware of the ban on drinks for the group at the time.
'He had actually been the one to try and calm the group down throughout the beginning of the flight. The member of cabin crew expressed that this behaviour was unsatisfactory and he regrets it.
'He is fully employed as a pipe welder and is recently married. He and his wife are expecting their first baby who is in fact due today.
'His employment takes him around the world on a regular basis. He has flown to Australia 12 times this year and has had no problems before.
A groom who launched a foul-mouthed rant when his 26-strong stag party were refused drinks on a flight to Las Vegas has avoided jail
Passing sentence District Judge Nicholas Sanders said: 'I give you full credit for your guilty plea but the trouble is there are hundreds of people trapped in a small metal tube thousands of feet above the air and behaviour like this is unacceptable for anybody.
'The behaviour your group displayed caused disruption to the crew and passengers and the problem is with your behaviour to the member of cabin crew. Please make sure this does not happen again.'
Indonesia has suspended military cooperation with Australia after the word 'crazy' featured on teaching materials at a Special Forces base in Perth.
A language trainer was apparently upset at material featuring the Bahasa word 'pancagila', meaning crazy, which was used to mock Indonesia's post-1945 Independence principles known as 'Pancasila'.
Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne has confirmed joint activities between the two nations would be postponed as the Australian Army investigated the 'serious concerns' raised by an Indonesian National Armed Forces officer late last year.
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Elite Indonesian army special forces command known Kopassus stand in formation
'Indonesia has informed Australia that defence cooperation would be suspended,' Senator Payne said on Wednesday afternoon.
'As a result, some interaction between the two Defence organisations has been postponed until the matter is resolved.
'Cooperation in other areas is continuing.'
Indonesian military spokesman Major General Wuryanto said a broad range of joint activities between Australia and Indonesia would be affected as a result of 'technical matters'.
Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne (pictured right) met her Indonesian counterpart Ryamizard Ryacudu in Jakarta last year
'All forms of cooperation have been suspended,' he said.
Wuryanto said it was 'highly likely' cooperation would resume once those issues were resolved.
The material at the Perth base was insulting to the Indonesian state ideology of Pancasila, a set of five principles which cover belief in one God, just and civilised humanity, Indonesian unity, democracy and social justice.
Indonesian Army's Kopassus special forces patrol outside the venues of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
An Indonesian instructor in Perth was upset his nation's Javanese hawk-eagle symbol had been mocked, online news website Abadikini said.
The bird of prey also features on the nation's Garuda Pancasila coat of arms and symbolises strength and power in Muslim-majority Indonesia, which also has Hindu and Buddhist heritage.
The Pancasila ideology was mocked as 'five crazy principles'.
Indonesia's Kompas newspaper said the suspension began in early December after a complaint from a trainer with the Indonesian Army's special forces known as Kopassus.
The Australian Defence Association said it was hypocritical for Indonesians to be offended as Jakarta's ethnic Chinese Christian Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama faced blasphemy charges for insulting Islam.
An Indonesian military officer was upset his nation's Pancasila symbol of independence had been mocked. (Pictured is a Javan hawk-eagle symbol outside an official building)
'Jakarta governor's politically-motivated "blasphemy" trial genuinely contravenes Pancasila, so odd cause cited for Australian-Indonesian military cooperation problem,' the Canberra-based think tank said.
The Australian Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshall Mark Binskin wrote to his Indonesian counterpart General Gatot Nurmantyo promising to address the issue seriously, Senator Payne said.
Indonesian Special Forces group Kopassus trains with the Special Air Service at Perth's Campbell Barracks.
This is controversial considering that Kopassus was linked to atrocities in East Timor in the decades before it achieved independence from Indonesia in 1999.
The Australian Defence Association says Indonesian outrage is misplaced in light of a Christian governor facing blasphemy charges for insulting Islam
The offending material in Perth may have been critical of this.
The defence minister said Australia wanted to restore full training cooperation with Indonesia 'as soon as possible'.
'Australia is committed to building a strong Defence relationship with Indonesia, including through cooperation in training,' she said.
A 14-year-old boy was shot dead by two men hiding in the bushes while he was returning home to his family member's home in North Carolina.
Anthony Frazier, the teenage son of a Kannapolis police officer Daniel Frazier, was shot in the head while he was visiting family in Charlotte about 25 miles away.
Frazier died at the Carolinas Medical Center on Tuesday and police are searching for the two men who were reportedly hiding in the bushes outside his aunt's house, WSOC reported.
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Anthony Frazier, 14, was shot in the head while he was in the car with his aunt in Charlotte, North Carolina
He was the teenage son of a Kannapolis police officer Daniel Frazier (left). It is unclear whether the 14-year-old was specifically targeted in the shooting
Courtesy WSOC TV
Frazier and his aunt were pulling into a home in the 2200 block of Finchley Drive around 10.20pm on Monday when the two young men ran from the bushes, WSOC reported.
One man turned around and opened fire, hitting Frazier while he was still in the backseat of the car, sources told WSOC.
His aunt drove to a gas station less than a mile away on the 900 block of Eastway Drive to get help, according to Charlotte Mecklenburg Police.
Photos of the car, with doors on both sides left open, show the rear windshield shattered.
The teen died in the hospital, and it is unclear whether Frazier was specifically targeted in the shooting.
Police are now searching for the two suspects, thought to be in their teens or early 20s.
They are both are described by police as black men with thin builds. They were last seen wearing hoodies and a $5,000 reward is being offered through Crime Stoppers.
Frazier and his aunt were pulling into a home in the 2200 block of Finchley Drive (pictured) when the two young men ran from the bushes, WSOC reported
His aunt drove to a gas station less than a mile away on the 900 block of Eastway Drive to get help. Photos of the car, with doors on both sides left open, show the rear windshield shattered
A $5,000 reward is being offered through Crime Stoppers for the two suspects thought to be in their teens or early 20s
His father Daniel Frazier, has worked for the Kannapolis police force for less than two years, and police chief Woody Chavis said they were 'heartbroken over the loss of one of our family members...'
He added: 'Our families are the backbone of our department and without them we could not survive.
'We are stunned that once again a senseless tragedy has impacted the lives of our children and our officers.'
Frazier, who was an eighth-grader at Kannapolis Middle School, will hold a candlelight vigil for him at 6pm on Thursday.
Jeniffer Suhocky wrote on Facebook: 'I am sitting here thinking about Anthony Frazier and his family, friends and aquaintainces...
'He was such a sweet little boy with such a bright future. He had a great personality and was funny too. The Lord has taken this angel home way to soon..my condolences to all that are affected by this tragic loss...'
A GoFundMe page set up in his memory has raised more than $1,300.
A Michigan father is punishing his daughter with credit card fraud charges after she purchased a $1,200 plane ticket to Germany to see her boyfriend.
The 18-year-old was minutes away from jetting overseas on Sunday morning.
However, she was soon pulled off the plane by TSA officials at Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City.
A Michigan father is looking to press charges for credit card fraud after his 18-year-old daughter purchased a $1,200 plane ticket to Germany to see her boyfriend
The incident happened at 9.15am after h er father found about his daughter's plans when he received a call from his bank about suspicious charges to a travel agency,WBPN reported.
Traverse City Police said the girl's parents are looking to press charges on credit card fraud after the incident.
A man serving a prison sentence in Ohio for abducting his then-5-year-old son from the boy's mother in Alabama in 2002 and settling in Cleveland under fake names for more than a decade is seeking early release.
Bobby Hernandez's defense attorney, Ralph DeFranco, argued in a recently filed motion that his 54-year-old client took responsibility for his actions, has served about a year behind bars and should be freed, possibly under some other form of court supervision.
On Wednesday, the prosecutor's office responded to DeFranco's filing, saying it plans to oppose the dad's early release.
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Plea: A lawyer for Bobby Hernandez, pictured in court in this December 2015 file photo, has filed a motion seeking early release from a four-year prison sentence he received for kidnapping his then-5-year-old son from the child's mother in Alabama
Hernandez (left), a US Navy veteran, was arrested in 2015 after his son, pictured right, aged five, found a discrepancy in his Social Security number while applying for colleges
Hernandez was sentenced in April to four years in prison after pleading guilty to kidnapping and other charges. His now-19-year-old son, Julian, said then that Hernandez had given him everything he needed and he forgives his dad.
Hernandez acknowledges taking the boy from the Birmingham suburb of Vestavia Hills and keeping the child from his mother for 13 years but provided a stable life in which his son thrived as an honors student in school and in other activities, DeFranco wrote in the filing last month, which was first reported by WJW-TV.
Hernandez, a US Navy veteran with no significant criminal history, wants to return to his family and is willing to remain under whatever alternative supervision the court might deem appropriate, DeFranco said.
Hernandez's deceptions came to light in 2015, when Julian discovered a discrepancy with his Social Security number while starting the college application process.
Julian said he had been told his mother and father had broken up and he knew she lived somewhere else.
Hiding in plain sight: Bobby and Julian Hernandez had lived in this home in Cleveland, Ohio, for 13 years under false identities
Hernandez changed his name to Jonathan Mangina after moving with his son to Cleveland, where he forged driver's licenses, car titles and school records to evade detection. He raised Julian under the name 'Jay' or 'JJ.'
His disappearance triggered a national missing-person alert and police investigated hundreds of possible sightings but Julian's real identity was only discovered when he applied for college.
A school counselor learned the teen was actually Julian Hernandez and that he was listed as missing by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The teen received an almost perfect score on the ACT test, and friends said he was hoping to attend the Ohio State University.
In a statement read at Hernandez's sentencing by an attorney, Julian's mother said not knowing where Julian was or whether he was safe had a physical and emotional toll.
Julian and his father around the time of their disappearance and Julian as he might look now in an age-progressed picture made by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as part of a campaign to find him
DeFranco indicated those effects aren't lost on Hernandez.
'Clearly the defendant understands and appreciates the gravity of this case and understands that he denied the child's mother access to him for many years,' DeFranco said in the document.
The Cuyahoga County prosecutor who handled the case, Tim McGinty, had cited that loss of relationship in pushing for a lengthy sentence for Hernandez.
SNP MP Eilidh Whiteford is currently in the Number One spot on SexyMP.co.uk - the most popular banned website at Parliament
A website that ranks 'sexy' MPs has been criticised for being 'threatening and sinister' to women.
Set up by Made in Chelsea's Francis Boulle, the website asks visitors to click on the photo of the MP they would prefer to have sex with and the results are recorded in a leader board.
Caron Lindsay, the editor of Liberal Democrats Voice, said: 'Treating our MPs in this way is dehumanising and degrading.
'It comes across as threatening and sinister to some women...men are less likely to be objectified in the same way.'
SNP MP Eilidh Whiteford is currently in the Number One spot on SexyMP.co.uk - the most popular banned website at Parliament.
The site is prohibited from being accessed on parliamentary computers and blocked by parliament's internet filters.
Dr Whiteford, 47, who represents Banff and Buchan, currently has the highest score on the website in the mixed and female section.
However the leaderboard constantly changes every few minutes.
Angela Eagle, who unsuccessfully challenged Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership last year, was also temporarily in number one spot today.
Social media users have now questioned the accuracy of the page.
Some also claim Tory MPs have been buried 'near the bottom.'
One Reddit user wrote: 'Someone has manipulated the rankings so that Conservative female MPs are all at the bottom of the rankings.
'You will note that all the Conservative MPs have been buried near the bottom of the page.
SNP MP Eilidh Whiteford is currently number one on the site, with Bridget Phillipson second
Labour's Debbie Abrahams (left) is third on the website, while Rachel Reeves is fourth
Alison McGovern, of Labour, (left) and Caroline Flint (also of Labour) are ranked fifth and sixth
Jess Phillips and Anna Turley are seventh and eighth on the list that features few Tories
Luciana Berger, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, and Thangam Debbonaire, a former professional cellist, are also in the top ten - although the site constantly changes
Dr Whiteford, 47, who represents Banff and Buchan, currently has the highest score on the website in the mixed and female section - however it changes ever few minutes
'This is not normal. The site wasn't in this state a few months ago. Historical Rankings shows no significant favouritism for one party over any other. This effect is also not seen among male MPs.'
He added: 'My best guess is that someone wrote a script to play SexyMP and have it automatically select the non-Conservative option when a Conservative came up. I estimate that 200,000 votes in total performed by this script.'
Regarding her number one spot, a spokesman for Dr Whiteford said: 'There is no comment.'
The administrators of the website have been approached for comment.
You may never actually see snakes on a plane, but one could end up in your toilet.
That's what one Virginia resident realized when they went to the bathroom in their apartment and found a 5ft anaconda waiting inside.
The Arlington County Animal Control had to be called on to the scene to safely remove the snake, which they discovered was a juvenile yellow anaconda.
Officers weren't surprised to hear a snake was in the toilet, but they were shocked when they saw just how big it was.
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This 5ft juvenile yellow anaconda was removed from the toilet at a Virginia apartment by Arlington County Animal Control last week
'Usually those calls are nothing we are too concerned about,' Chelsea Lindsey, the agency's communication specialist, told WTOP.
'Normally we deal with smaller snakes [in toilets] like wild snake or ball pythons, but we discovered it wasn't a python - it was a yellow anaconda.'
The anaconda, which the officers named 'Sir Hiss', was safely removed from the toilet and no one was injured.
Lindsey said the snake was not aggressive, but actually scared of the situation.
'He is a more unusual, larger type of snake,' she said. 'But he wasn't going around trying to eat people.'
The Animal Welfare League of Arlington (AWLA) is investigating how the snake ended up in the toilet.
Lindsey believes the anaconda was likely abandoned by its owner and then went into the toilet seeking rats or mice to eat.
'We don't want people thinking there was an anaconda outside that came inside,' she said.
Although they are non-venomous, yellow anacondas can be dangerous when they reach their full size. They can grow up to 13ft and weigh more than 100lb (file photo of adult anaconda)
'There wasn't an anaconda crawling around Arlington.'
A specialist familiar with the anaconda's species has since taken custody of Sir His and will give him 'the care that he needs', AWLA wrote on their Facebook.
Yellow anacondas need specialized care as they can grow up to 13ft long and weigh more than 100lb.
Although they are non-venomous, yellow anacondas can be dangerous when they reach their full size if they are not well-socialized.
'We are glad that in this circumstance we were able to rescue this snake,' AWLA wrote.
'And that he did not make it out of the apartment complex and into the wild.'
She sought his help to lose more than 20kg,
A Melbourne couple have shed more than 100kg together after overcoming years of weight issues, anxiety and low self-esteem which left them extremely unhappy and unwilling to go out in public.
Matt Wolfs was in his mid-20s and weighed 180kg when his doctor told him he would not live the past the age of 30 if he continued his lifestyle.
His wife, Courtney Ley, was a size 18 and weighed 100kg by the time she was 24.
When Ms Ley was single she often stayed at home and didn't want to go out on dates or meet new people because she was uncomfortable with the way she looked.
Melbourne husband and wife, Matt Wolfs (pictured) and Courtney Ley, have lost more than 100kg combined after both struggled with their weight, anxiety and low self-esteem for years
Ms Ley lost about 25kg in the two years after she met Mr Wolfs in 2012 and asked him to be her personal trainer, during which they fell in love
Just five years after they met, the couple - who married in December 2015 in New York - have maintained a combined weight loss of 105kg and are running their own gym, personal training business and podcast.
Ms Ley, 28, and Mr Wolfs, 39, told Daily Mail Australia they feel like they have lived two very different lives.
Mr Wolfs, who is 198cms tall, said he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when he was in his early 20s but didn't take it very seriously despite having issues with his vision and feeling unwell.
By the time he reached 180kg, he said he decided to join a gym after heeding a doctor's warning.
'They told me if I didn't do anything I could expect to be dead by the time I was 30 because I was 180kg and very sick and unhealthy,' he said.
Ms Ley weighed 100kg when she began exercising at the age of 24 (left). Mr Wolfs weighed 180kg by the time he reached his mid-20s (right)
Not long after their relationship began, Mr Wolfs decided to open a gym and personal training business that they now run together. They are launching a podcast this month
Before losing the weight, Ms Ley was single but avoided going out out on dates or meeting new people
Mr Wolfs, who is 198cms tall, said he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when he was in his early 20s but didn't take it very seriously
Mr Wolfs said he began exercising every week or two but ramped up his workout plan to six days a week, three hours a day when he noticed nothing was changing.
'But then I would go home and binge out on junk food,' he said.
'So I spent four years doing this, banging my head against the wall and nothing was changing and the frustration mounted up and started effecting my mental health there was a risk of self-harm I was cutting myself and being very, very hard to be around.'
The 39-year-old told Daily Mail Australia he was 'very close to committing suicide' when something switched in his head and pushed him to make a change.
'I didn't work, I was at home collecting government pensions and stayed at home eating junk food and laying computer games,' he said.
'I made a promise to myself and my family, whatever it took, I was going to find out the best version of me it had to be better than what I was used to.'
'I was approaching my mid 20s and I was single and I just came to the realisation that I didn't even want to go on dates or go out and meet anyone because I was so unhappy,' Ms Ley said
Ms Ley said her body is still changing as she continues to work out and eat a more balanced diet
'Our main focus is talking about the cause of where we make mistakes and how to overcome those,' Ms Ley said regarding the couple's podcast
Mr Wolfs and Ms Ley were married in December 2015 in New York
Matt and Courtney's weight loss tips
1. Find a support network - it's nearly impossible on your own, find a group of like-minded people who you can share the journey with. Make sure your partner supports you! 2. Don't try to change everything at once - keep it simple and work on one thing at a time, it will do your confidence the world of good. 3. Embrace your mistakes, you WILL make them - mistakes are what makes you better as you learn from them. You WILL make mistakes and you WILL get a few things wrong along the way...and it's okay! 4. Block out the noise - there are a lot of fads and gimmicks in our industry. Use your common sense. 5. It will take longer than you think/want/would like it to - if diets worked you'd never need to them more than once. A sustainable approach will take time and effort. More than you think. 6. Think long-term - your wallet will lose more weight than you if you're looking at short-term fixes. Commit to yourself in the long haul and your life will change in ways you can never imagine. 7. Commitment beats motivation - even for PTs motivation comes and goes. Commitment is what has you doing what you know you have to do even when you don't feel like doing it. 8. Find your "why" - anchor yourself to a powerful, personal and emotional goal that means the world to you. It'll keep you going when you are struggling. 9. Strive for balance, not perfection - anyone who says they're 100% all the time is lying to do. Enjoy the occasional treat and bonus food or drink with friends and family, but stay consistent as it pays off! 10. The weights room is your friend! - contrary to popular belief, weights make you more firm and lean ladies! Advertisement
Mr Wolfs said he began approaching his workout routine and what he was eating with common sense.
'I put my head down and bum up and stuck with it and everything changed from there.'
'It was two-and-a-half years from the point where I was going to kill myself, to the point where people couldn't recognize who I was because,' he said.
He became a personal trainer in 2010 and two years later, Ms Ley walked into his gym on a mission to begin her own weight loss journey.
Ms Ley said she also reached a 'snap point' before she began training with her future husband.
'I was approaching my mid 20s and I was single and I just came to the realisation that I didn't even want to go on dates or go out and meet anyone because I was so unhappy and uncomfortable with the way I looked. I knew then it was time to make a change,' she said.
The 28-year-old said Mr Wolfs taught her about common sense nutrition and showed her how to lose fat with weight training.
It took her about two-and-a-half years to lose 20kg and she is continuing to lose weight now, sitting around 75kg.
Not long after they began dating Mr Wolfs decided to open a gym, which they run together.
Their success has paved the way for a podcast, which the couple says will tackle the root of problems for a lot of people, such as emotional eating and self-sabotage, Mr Wolfs said.
'Our main focus is talking about the cause of where we make mistakes and how to overcome those,' Ms Ley said.
'I lost less than Matt did but it took me the same amount of time because I made multiple mistakes along, which is how you learn.'
Their hard work has paid off and after seven years of being on medication for type 2 diabetes, Mr Wolfs has reversed his diagnosis and the couple are feeling more confident for their future than ever before.
The couple have maintained a combined weight loss of 105kg
Gary Lee Sampson (pictured), 57, was convicted of killing three men and is having a sentencing retrial in Boston
Jurors in Massachusetts must decide whether to sentence to death a triple murderer who stabbed two men before slitting their throats in 2001 and later strangling a third man.
Gary Lee Sampson, 57, was convicted of carjacking and killing Jonathan Rizzo, 19, and Philip McCloskey, 69, in 2001. He also received a separate life sentence for the death of 58-year-old Robert 'Eli' Whitney in New Hampshire.
Sampson received a death sentence in 2003 for Rizzo's and McCloskey's slayings, but a judge overturned that decision and granted him a new sentencing trial in 2011. The judge found that one of the jurors at his first trial had lied about her background as a victim of domestic violence.
Jurors were shown gruesome photos of Sampson's victims Wednesday in Boston, while a prosecutor described how the murderer stabbed them over and over while they begged for their lives.
Sampson tricked the carjack victims into thinking he would spare their lives but then stabbed them more than a dozen times, slit their throats and left them to die in the woods, prosecutors said.
Sampson, 57, was convicted of carjacking and killing Philip McCloskey (left), 69, and Jonathan Rizzo (right), 19, in 2001. He pleaded guilty to killing them after hailing them as a hitchhiker
The admitted triple murderer could be the second person sentenced to death by a federal jury in Massachusetts in two years, a rarity in a state whose laws do not allow the death penalty.
Sampson pleaded guilty to killing McCloskey and Rizzo in Massachusetts after hailing them as a hitchhiker and taking them to secluded wooded areas where he tied them up before stabbing them to death.
In a police tape played to the jury, Sampson told his interrogator that he changed his murder method for his last victim, the caretaker of a home on Lake Winnipesaukee, because 'I didn't want no more blood on me'.
Assistant US Attorney Zachary Hafer showed the jury the pocketknife Sampson used in the killings, as well as photos of his victims before and after their slayings.
Robert 'Eli' Whitney (pictured), 58, was strangled by Sampson in New Hampshire
'Three kind, caring souls, seemingly unconnected to each other in any way but brought together in the most unimaginably tragic way, brought together by the pure heinousness and cruelty of that man,' Hafer said, pointing to Sampson.
But Michael Burt, a lawyer for Sampson, asked jurors to spare his client's life, saying he took responsibility by confessing and pleading guilty.
Sampson is not offering excuses or justification for his crimes, Burt said, but is asking only to live a 'very narrow and restricted life' in prison without the possibility of release.
'If we could take away all that harm by executing Mr Sampson, I would be the first to do that by injecting that poison into his veins,' Burt said. A sentence of life in prison without possibility of release, the sole alternative, he said, would 'punish him in a very severe way.'
Sampson's lawyers are asking the jury to consider 115 mitigating factors they say support a life sentence rather than the death penalty, including brain damage they say he suffered during a troubled childhood.
Burt said each juror should consult his or her own conscience to decide whether Sampson should receive a life sentence or the death penalty.
'It's about as stark and gray a moral question as anybody could ask any human being to decide,' Burt said.
The jury did not immediately rule.
Sampson (pictured in 2004) tricked the carjack victims into thinking he would spare their lives but then stabbed them more than a dozen times and slit their throats, prosecutors said
GMS says it builds the sedans it sells in the the US in Ohio; the Chevy Cruze model that is manufactured in Mexico is
President-elect Donald Trump promised this morning that Ford's about-face on a new plant in Mexico is a sign of things to come.
'Thank you to Ford for scrapping a new plant in Mexico and creating 700 new jobs in the U.S. This is just the beginning - much more to follow,' Trump said in a tweet this morning.
Ford announced a $700 million investment in Michigan, in addition to the jobs that were referenced by Trump, on Tuesday.
It cancelled its plans to build a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico for production of the Ford Focus and said it would build the next generation of the vehicle at an existing factory in the foreign country.
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President-elect Donald Trump promised this morning that Ford's about-face on a new plant in Mexico is a sign of things to come
Ford announced a $700 million investment in Michigan, in addition to the jobs that were referenced by Trump, on Tuesday
Ford CEO Mark Fields said at a news conference that the 'pro-growth' polices of President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are encouraging.
Trump had threatened General Motors with a 'big border tax' earlier that day if it continued to make a version of its Chevy Cruze in Mexico.
Fields told CNN his company did not make a deal with Trump. The decision was a 'vote of confidence' in the U.S. economy, he asserted.
'We didn't cut a deal with Trump. We did it for our business,' Fields told the news network.
At a news conference Fields credited Trump's economic policies with the shift and said that tax and regulatory reforms 'are critically important to boost U.S. competitiveness.'
'We look at all the factors, and our view is we see a more positive U.S. manufacturing business environment under President-elect Trump and the pro-growth policies and proposals that he is talking about, so this is a vote of confidence for President-elect Trump and some of the policies that they may be pursuing,' Fields said.
At the White House daily press briefing Tuesday afternoon President Barack Obama's press secretary, Josh Earnest, claimed that Ford's decision wasn't tied to any 'political considerations.'
It cancelled its plans to build a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico on Tuesday. Ford CEO Mark Fields is seen speaking at a press conference announcing the change
After DailyMail.com brought up Fields' comments about the 'pro-growth' policies of Trump and congressional Republicans, Earnest said he doubted that the Ford executive would want his comments interpreted as a calculation that it would be better to build cars in the U.S. under Trump.
My guess is that you should ask that question to the Ford CEO but I dont think that he would want his comments to be interpreted that way,' Earnest said.
The White House later said the president's spokesman was referring to Fields' statement to CNN about the lack of a deal with Trump.
Ford did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump celebrated the Ford announcement on Tuesday by sharing a graphic to Instagram that said: 'Instead of driving jobs and wealth away, AMERICA will become the world's great magnet for INNOVATION and JOB CREATION.'
The Republican had slapped Ford around on the campaign trail for its plans to build more cars in Mexico. He said he'd hit the company with a 35 percent tariff on vehicles it makes over the border and sells in the U.S.
The automotive company said in a statement it builds the cars it sells in the United States in an Ohio factory. The Chevy Cruze model that is manufactured in Mexico is sold in foreign markets
After Ford announced its decision, President-elect Donald Trump shared a graphic on Instagram suggesting the country would be a 'great magnet' for jobs under his watch
Ford said Michigan-based employees would be charged with building future Lincoln Continentals. The 2017 version of the car is on the left. The company also pledged to make new Ford Mustangs, right, in the factory located in Fort Wayne, Michigan
Trump had threatened General Motors with a 'big border tax' if it continued to make a version of its Chevy Cruze in Mexico
The car company said in a statement Tuesday morning that it would invest $700 million over four years into its Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Fort Wayne, Michigan.
Employees will build an 'all-new small utility vehicle with extended battery range,' Ford said, 'as well as the fully autonomous vehicle for ride-hailing or ride-sharing' and the Mustang and Lincoln Continental.
Ford further announced a cancellation of the San Luis Potosi, Mexico plant.
It said the change of plans would safeguard 3,500 U.S. jobs at the Michigan plant where the Focus is produced at present. Ford will still move production of the Focus to Mexico, but it will be built at the pre-existing Hermosillo factory.
Trump is already using the bully pulpit of the presidency to get businesses to abandon their plans to invest in manufacturing south of the U.S. border.
His administration convinced Carrier, an air conditioning company, to keep 730 jobs in Indiana last year. The state, led by Vice President-elect Mike Pence, had offered $7 million in incentives.
Sprint said it would 'create or bring back to America' 5,000 jobs and OneWeb said it would hire 3,000 workers after Masayoshi 'Masa' Son, CEO of SoftBank, a Japanese company with a controlling interest in both, met with Trump.
Son committed to 50,000 new jobs in the United States.
Trump has repeatedly said he'd hit companies that produce products overseas and sell them in America with a 35 percent tariff.
'The U.S. is going to substantialy reduce taxes and regulations on businesses, but 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!
'There will be a tax on our soon to be strong border of 35% for these companies,' Trump said in a series of Dec. 4 tweets.
Trump singled out GM for its over-the-border production of the Chevy Cruze on Tuesday.
'General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border. Make in U.S.A.or pay big border tax!' he tweeted.
The automotive company said in a statement it builds the sedans it sells in the United States in an Ohio factory. The Chevy Cruze model that is manufactured in Ramos, Mexico is primarily sold in foreign markets.
A 'small number' of the Mexican-made model does end up in the United States, GM said.
'General Motors manufactures the Chevrolet Cruze sedan in Lordstown, Ohio. All Chevrolet Cruze sedans sold in the U.S. are built in GM's assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio. GM builds the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback for global markets in Mexico, with a small number sold in the U.S,' it said in a statement.
Ford said Tuesday that it would build the next generation of the Ford Focus at an existing factory in Mexico. A Focus is seen on the assembly line at the Wayne, Michigan, factory two years ago
GM told CNBC that it sold some 190,000 Cruzes in the United States last year. It said the Mexican-made model accounted for roughly 4,500 of those sales, 2.4 percent.
The company said in November that it was laying off 2,000 employees in the U.S. at two plants, one of which was the Lordstown facility, and the cuts would be implemented in early 2017.
In his briefing today Earnest said Trump's tariff threat is 'contrary to the approach that President Obama has taken when it comes to trying to manage our trade relationships around the world.'
Earnest said economists have assessed that taxes like the one Trump suggested would 'have a starkly negative impact on the economy because it would not just result in higher prices being paid by American customers, it means that American goods that are shipped overseas face a similar, retaliatory tariff.'
'Many economists have made the argument that imposing a tariff like that is actually the worst of both worlds,' he said. 'That's why the president has tried a much different approach.'
The president's spokesman said Obama 'has a very strong track record when you consider the performance of the U.S. economy under his leadership.'
'But the incoming president was elected on a promise... to try different things and to do things differently,' he said. 'And we'll have an opportunity to evaluate how well it works.'
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday that Republican lawmakers would not approve the tariffs Trump's threatening, though.
Donald Trump used his Twitter megaphone on Wednesday to ratchet up the debat over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's claim that Russia's government was not involved in hacking Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's Gmail account.
In a tweet, the president-elect repeated Assange's claim that a teenage hacker could have done the job just as easily.
And he contended that the Democratic National Committee's own lax IT security, not a foreign cyber attack, was the root cause of the party's embarrassment after a separate hack struck its computer network.
'Julian Assange said "a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta" - why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!' he wrote on Twitter after misspelling Assange's name as 'Assuage,' deleting it and then posting a second draft.
House Speaker Paul Ryan later fired back, saying on the Hugh Hewitt radio show that Assange 'is a sycophant for Russia. He leaks, he steals data and compromises national security.'
Donald Trump backed Julian Assange's insistence that Russia was not behind election-year hacks of Democrats' computers and e mails
The president-elect repeated the WikiLeaks founder's claim that 'a 14 year old' could have breached Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's Gmail account
Assange reiterated in a Fox news interview Tuesday that Russian actors did not give him the leaked Podesta emails
The whistle-blowing WikiLeaks website published Podesta's emails, delivering a daily dose of embarrassment to Clinton in the campaign's final days.
In an interview, Assange revealed Podesta's password was 'password' and that he had responded to phishing emails.
The Wikileaks founder said he was 1,000 percent confident the Russians did not hack the Clinton campaign, adding Barack Obama was 'trying to delegitimize the Trump administration.'
'A 14-year-old kid could have hacked Podesta that way,' Assange told Sean Hannity on the Fox News Channel.
But a State Department spokesman said Tuesday on CNN that we are a hundred per cent certain' that Russia was behind it all.
John Kirby insisted there was 'no question' about Moscow's involvement.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence (left) said on Capitol Hill that recent intelligence failures haven't inspired Trump's confidence in the American government's dirt-diggers
Trump tweeted a jab at the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday morning, blaming the party's lax IT security not Russia for its own cyber attack
Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt said Wednesday morning that he couldn't support Assange's contentions, and Trump shouldn't either.
'The guy is a creep. He's wanted on a rape in Sweden. I don't trust a word he says. He is a Russian front,' Hewitt said.
'Anyone who believes anything Julian Assange says, you just have to ask yourself: When are you going to wake up to the fact he's a very bad guy?
He said that Trump 'does not need to elevate and in any way rely upon a creep like Assange.'
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan agreed.
'Hopefully he'll get up to speed on what has been happening and what Russia has or has not done, and he'll get better informed on that,' he said of Trump.
Ryan added his belief that Assange 'is a sycophant for Russia. He leaks, he steals data and compromises national security.'
But the president-elect continues to doubt the assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community, made up of portions of 17 different agencies.
Vice president-elect Mike Pence said Wednesday that Trump formed his view based on 'intelligence failures of recent years.'
'I think that the president-elect has expressed his very sincere and healthy American skepticism about intelligence conclusions,' Pence told reporters during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol.
Separately, Trump launched a more direct attack on Twitter in the Democratic National Committee's direction.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (center) said in a radio interview that Julia Assange 'is a sycophant for Russia. He leaks, he steals data and compromises national security'
'Somebody hacked the DNC but why did they not have "hacking defense" like the RNC has and why have they not responded to the terrible things they did and said (like giving the questions to the debate to H),' he wrote in a pair of tweets.
'A total double standard! Media, as usual, gave them a pass.'
Trump has never let go of one series of Podesta emails in which CNN commentator Donna Brazile who was also a party official appeared to give the DNC an advance copy of a question that would be asked in a town hall broadcast.
The party is believed to have given the information to the Clinton camp in order to give the former secretary of state an advantage over her primary rival Bernie Sanders.
Trump's reference to lax IT security at the DNC refers to a memo circulated last week by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security a how-to manual telling the party headquarters how to defend itself against phishing emails and malware attacks.
Assange, whose interview with Sean Hannity aired on Fox News Tuesday, reiterated his claims Tuesday night that Russia was not the source of the hacks whose product he published .
He told Hannity 'with a thousand per cent' confidence that the Russian government was not responsible.
Democrats have claimed the hacks were a deliberate attempt to undermine Clinton's campaign and ensure Trump's election on Nov. 8.
Last week President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russians over election-year hacking allegations
Last week President Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats from the U.S. in retaliation. Moscow denies any involvement in election-year hacking.
The Russian personnel were accused of 'acting in a manner inconsistent with their diplomatic status' a euphemism for spying.
Speaking to Hannity about the WikiLeaks revelations, he said: 'We can say, we have said, repeatedly that over the last two months that our source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party.
'Our publications had wide uptake by the American people, they're all true. But that's not the allegation that's being presented by the Obama White House.
A solicitor accused of assaulting a woman at a busy tube station has appeared in court.
Dr Geoffrey Critchlow, 58, is charged with assaulting Charlotte Stevenson by beating at St Paul's underground station in central London last November.
Critchlow, who lives in a 2 million house off Goldhawk Road in west London, denied assault when he appeared on bail at Westminster Magistrates Court.
Dr Geoffrey Critchlow, left, who lives in a 2million home in west London, right, denies assaulting a woman at St Paul's tube station last November
Ijaz Malik, prosecuting, said: 'This defendant was allegedly seen barging into persons including the witness Zoe Roberts.
'She said it was unprovoked, just pushing witnesses around.
Wearing a suit and glasses, the grey-haired solicitor spoke only to confirm his name and address and to plead not guilty to the single charge.
District Judge Margot Coleman said: 'You pleaded not guilty to this charge and there will be a trial at Magistrates Court in City of London.'
Critchlow was released on unconditional bail until the trial in March.
Anis Amri was able to smuggle his gun out of Germany, through the Netherlands and France before arriving in Italy
Terrorist Anis Amri, who killed 12 people when he drove a lorry into the heart of a Christmas market in Berlin, managed to smuggle his weapon across borders to Italy.
Italian police have confirmed the weapon Amri used in a shootout with police, during which he was shot dead, was the same as that used to kill Polish driver Lukasz Urban.
Mr Urban was killed when the 24-year-old, who had pledged allegiance to ISIS, hijacked his vehicle.
Amri steered the lorry into the middle of a crowd, killing 12 and injuring 40.
A statement from forensic police in Italy said: 'The weapon that killed the driver of the Berlin massacre truck is the same as the one Anis Amri used to wound a policeman in Milan.'
Officers are now investigating whether the gun was used in 'other criminal episodes, in Italy or elsewhere'.
Forensic police technician Daphne De Simone examines the gun used by Anis Amri under a microscope. Ballistic experts are now checking whether it was used in other crimes
The gun was used to shoot dead Polish lorry driver Lukasz Urban, whose truck was used to carry out the massacre at the Christmas Market in Berlin
Italian police have released this image of a bullet taken from Anis Amri's pistol
Italian forensic experts say that the weapon that Anis Amri used in Milan was the same as the one which killed Polish truck driver Lukasz Urban in Berlin
Amri died on October 23 after he opened fire on two police officers who approached him outside a train station.
One officer, Christian Movio, was hit in the shoulder and was hospitalised.
Movio's colleague, Luca Scata, shot Amri dead.
Police in Texas have issued a warrant for the arrest of a suspect charged with murder in the ambush attack of a father-of-two who was smashed in the head with a bike helmet inside a Walmart.
The incident took place at around 1am on Monday at the Walmart on State Highway 249 in Tomball where the victim, 37-yer-old Justin 'JJ' Jones, was shopping with a friend.
According to investigators, at some point Jones and the suspect, identified as 29-year-old Michael Jemison, had some words and the younger man struck the victim with his motorcycle helmet, knocking him unconscious and causing him to collapse to the floor.
Warrant: Michael Jemison, 29 (left), has been charged with murder in the ambush killing of his old nemesis, father-of-two Justin Jones, 37 (right)
'Murder' weapon: This CCTV screenshot depicts the suspect holding a white bike helmet, which he allegedly used to bash Jones in the head
Shopping trip gone wrong: Jones was shopping at this Tomball Walmart early Monday when police say Jemison got into a dispute with him
Jones was rushed to Memorial Herman Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from severe head trauma just before 4pm.
Police said they have determined that Jones and Jemison knew each other and that there had been an ongoing feud between the two men for some time.
Jemison fled the store immediately after the attack, but a surveillance camera captured him on his way out. The screenshot from the CCTV video, released by police, showed the wanted man holding the white bike helmet allegedly used in the killing.
On Tuesday, a warrant was issued charging Jemison with murder in Jones' death.
Bad blood: Investigators say Jones, pictured left with his dog, and Jemison, right, knew each other and had been in a feaud for a long time
Online records indicate that the 29-year-old has a past criminal record that included an arrest in 2013 on a theft charge.
Jones' girlfriend, Lindsey Stover, told the station KPRC she does not know Michael Jemison but called on him to come forward and take responsibility for his actions.
Criminal past: Online records indicate that the 29-year-old has a criminal record that includes an arrest in 2013
'I don't think it was spur of the moment,' Stover said of the attack. 'This guy saw an old enemy.'
Jones, who according to his Facebook page worked for an air conditioning company, leaves behind two young sons, his mother and sister.
'He was great with kids. My kids, my sister's kids, his own kids especially,' Stover said. 'He was a big kid himself. Happy, full of life.'
A relative has launched a GoFundMe page to help Jones family with his funeral expenses. As of Wednesday morning, the campaign has drawn just over $700 in donations.
A university has been slammed for 'living in cuckoo land' after advertising a 63,000-a-year position for a professor in storytelling.
The position, with a salary of more than 1,000-a-week, is being advertised as an 'academic role' in teaching and research at the University of South Wales in Cardiff.
The university, whose alumni include leader of Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood and Mark Labett, The Beast from ITV's The Chase, claims storytelling is a serious matter.
The University of South Wales in Cardiff (pictured) has advertised a 63,000-a-year post for a professor in story telling
But MP David Davies called on the campus to scrap the post, which he said was another example of universities wasting money on 'dead end' courses that don't lead to jobs.
He said: 'Universities are forever bleating about the fact they've got no money. How can they afford to fund a 60k plus job to sit around reading Janet and John books?
'Storytelling is for primary school children not university students. And what students ought to realise is that there fees are going towards paying for this nonsense.
The advertisement states: 'We welcome applications from individuals with international standing and expertise in any area of storytelling.'
MP David Davies (pictured) called on the university to scrap the post and leave storytelling to Britain's world-renowned authors like Dickens and J K Rowling
The pay scale is between 57,674 and 63,009 and is up for grabs at the University of South Wales' Cardiff campus.
The professor chosen for the role will also head up the UK's only academic research centre devoted to the study of storytelling - The George Ewart Evans Centre.
But Mr Davies urged the university to leave storytelling to Britain's world-renowned authors like Dickens and J K Rowling.
The MP for Monmouthshire said: 'We need scientists, doctors and engineers - you don't get those qualifications by sitting around reading Ladybird books.
'A professor of storytelling is ludicrous - the university is living in cloud cuckoo-land.
'I hope the Government takes notice - we don't have the money to blow on this sort of airy-fairy appointment.
'The one thing that is for certain is that there is no happy ending for the taxpayer.'
But Ruth McElroy, from the centre,has defended the post, using the example of a patient/doctor exchange to explain its importance.
The position, with a salary of more than 1,000-a-week, is being advertised as an 'academic role' at the University of South Wales in Cardiff (pictured)
She said: 'Storytelling is a key way in which we engage. It's empowering people to tell their stories about different experiences and in their own terms.
'When you walk into a GP surgery, both the clinician and patient have a story to tell. It's not only how patients can tell their stories but how they can make sense of their own experience.
'It's hugely traumatic dealing for patients but we can work to better understand and help improve storytelling on both sides to have a positive outcome'.
Storytelling training and research has been conducted with people include patients groups and cancer patients.
A spokesperson from the University of South Wales said: 'Storytelling has been a subject of academic research and practice for many years and is becoming an increasingly important way of understanding our lives, work and future.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has revealed he has cousins who have joined the terror group and vows to take them on if they ever 'meet in a corner'.
The hardline leader, who has launched a deadly crackdown on drugs in his country, issued the warning as he conceded 'ISIS seems to be everywhere'.
Duterte pledged to take action if he was to 'meet in a corner' with relatives who had joined ISIS-linked groups.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte (pictured, centre) has revealed he has cousins who have joined the terror group and vows to take them on if they ever 'meet in a corner'
He told Rappler: 'To be frank, I have cousins on the other side, with MI and MN. Some, I heard, are with ISIS.'
The 71-year-old was referring to extremist groups Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Moro National Liberation Front - linked to ISIS.
Duterte has drawn global criticism including from the United States and the United Nations for a war on drugs that has killed over 5,000 people.
He won last year's elections in a landslide on a promise to eradicate narcotics by killing tens of thousands of criminals.
He also vowed to roll out Davao -style law and order measures nationwide, including banning smoking in restaurants and hotels and curbing drinking in public places.
His latest outburst comes after suspected Muslim rebels staged the Philippines' biggest jailbreak when they stormed a dilapidated jail in the violence-plagued south of the country, freeing 158 inmates and killing a guard.
The attack added to a long history of daring jailbreaks in the southern Philippines, home to a decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency as well as extremist gangs that have recently declared allegiance to ISIS.
The hardline leader, who has launched a deadly crackdown on drugs in his country, issued the warning as he conceded 'ISIS seems to be everywhere'
More than 100 armed men believed to have been led by a local Muslim guerrilla commander attacked the jail in Kidapawan city about 1am in what appeared to be a well-planned raid to free fellow rebels, jail authorities said.
The assailants were heavily armed and overwhelmed the 24 guards at the jail.
At least 158 prisoners escaped although it was unclear how many of those were linked to the attackers or were just other inmates who took advantage of the chaos.
Kidapawan, 590 miles south of Manila, is home to various Muslim rebel groups, criminal gangs and communist insurgents.
The attackers were believed to be militants who had broken away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the nation's largest Muslim rebel organisation which is in peace talks with the government.
Acting provincial governor Shirlyn Macasarte said there were intelligence reports that one of the breakaway groups, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, had been planning the jailbreak.
Six of the escapees were killed and eight captured as security forces hunted them in nearby farmlands throughout Wednesday.
India is set to launch a rocket carrying 103 satellites next month in a record single mission.
The country's famously frugal space agency is seeking to zoom ahead in the commercial space race, according to reports.
The rocket will blast off from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota carrying three Indian satellites and 100 from countries including from the US, France and Germany, the Press Trust of India said.
If it succeeds, India will set a world record as the first country to launch the most satellites in one go and leave behind Russia, which launched 39 satellites in a single mission in June 2014.
Last June, India set a national record after it successfully launched a rocket carrying 20 satellites
'We are making a century by launching over 100 satellites at one go,' S. Somnath, a director at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was quoted as saying at a science convention in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Another official told AFP that most of the 100 foreign satellites were meant for commercial purposes, while the Indian satellites were intended to observe and measure the Earth's atmosphere.
The business of putting commercial satellites into space for a fee is growing as phone, internet and other companies as well as countries seek greater and more high-tech communications.
India is competing with other international players for a greater share of that launch market, and is known for its low-cost space programme.
Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) Spacecraft, blasting off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, in November 2013
Last June, India set a national record after it successfully launched a rocket carrying 20 satellites, including 13 from the US.
In May, it successfully launched its first mini space shuttle as it joined the global race to make reusable rockets.
It sent an unmanned rocket to orbit Mars in 2013 at a cost of just $73 million, compared with NASA's Maven Mars mission which had a $671 million price tag.
ISRO is also mulling the idea of missions to Jupiter and Venus, according to PTI.
'We are looking at other planets that we can explore... two of them are Jupiter and Venus,' M. Nageswara Rao, an associate director at ISRO, said Wednesday, adding 'it may take few years from now'.
The small boy was left bleeding after the glass door collapsed
A six-year-old boy was left with blood streaming from his head after a glass door smashed on his head at a busy Russian shopping centre.
The child had to be rushed to hospital after being injured at the mall in the city of Sterlitamak in south-western Russia's Republic of Bashkortostan.
He was reportedly left unattended while his mother went outside the city's Arbat shopping centre.
Left to his own devices, he began impatiently pulling on the chrome handle of the glass door, which suddenly toppled over.
The shocked little boy, whose name has not been released, was left standing in a pile of shattered glass with blood pouring from wounds on his head.
At first, an eyewitness said, nobody went to his aide, until he started crying and his mother came running.
She said: 'No one offered any help. The boy's head was bleeding. His shocked mom had to call an ambulance on her own with her hands and voice shaking.'
The young boy was left covered in blood after the glass shattered in the shopping centre
The mother then sat with her son on a bench in the shopping centre, tending to his wounds as best she could, until paramedics arrived at the scene.
The boy was then rushed by ambulance to hospital where medics stitched up the wounds in his head.
A spokeswoman for the shopping centre said that security camera footage confirmed that the glass door had collapsed while the boy was shaking the handle.
She said that the mother should not have left her young son unattended.
However, police are concerned that the glass door collapsed under the weight of a six-year-old boy and are reportedly investigating safety standards at the shopping centre.
A Chinese woman desperate to guard her property waved her soiled sanitary pad at the demolition team to stop them from bulldozing her home by force.
Her self-defence tactic apparently worked as the uniformed construction workers retreated from her house, as a social media video shows.
The dialect used in the footage suggests that the incident took place in Putian city, south-east China's Fujian province.
An angry homeowner waggled a soiled pad to fend off the demolition team in China
The 53-second-long clip was posted yesterday on Miaopai, a Chinese video-sharing platform, by a user called First Hand Video.
The beginning of the video shows the woman, thought to be a local resident, surrounded by almost a dozen workers in camouflage uniforms.
She was not holding any weapon, instead she was waving a used sanitary pad.
The group of men can be heard discussing how to avoid being attacked by the woman as they said: 'Where are the shields? The shields?'
Some men held transparent shields at the time.
The furious homeowner, standing in front of a bulldozer on a construction site, was trying to prevent others from operating the machine.
She kept flapping the pad while spinning her body around.
Some workers held transparent shields to stop the woman from attacking them with the pad
The furious homeowner, standing in front of a bulldozer on a construction site, was trying to prevent others from operating the machine
The video uploader did not disclose the time and location of the incident.
However, the woman and others can be heard conversing in a local dialect of Fujian Province.
An official working at the publicity bureau of Putian city told a reporter from the First Hand Video: 'Their quarrel was noisy.'
'There are no obvious landmarks to suggest the incident was in Putian. Yet they were conversing in our local dialect.'
The official had reported the incident to the local public security bureau, which apparently also had no clue about the attack.
The time and location of the incident is not stated. However, the woman and others can be heard conversing in a local dialect of Fujian province
The footage, posted yesterday has attracted 4.75 million views. Thousands of online users left comments on Weibo to discuss the incident.
One user said: 'Nobody would want to act like that if there had been better ways to confront a demolition team.'
Another web user sympathised with the woman: 'Can you imagine how much stress she must have endured? That would make a person lose their sanity.'
President-elect Donald Trump urged Republicans to blame Democrats for the 'mess' of Obamacare, while President Obama counseled Democrats not to 'rescue' Republicans by signing on to replacement efforts once Republicans go through with their plan to repeal Obama's signature proposal.
The countercharges in the rekindled Obamacare wars came as Republicans are planning an immediate attack on the law thorough executive actions and an early legislative push.
Obama went to the Capitol to meet with Congressional Democrats to plot strategy in an effort to prevent his achievement from getting dismantled a victory Democrats won only at great cost, including with the loss of their congressional majorities.
The president told Democrats not to 'rescue' Republicans by joining their effort to passing replacement measures, amid GOP efforts to court some conservative Democrats.
He pointed to the post-Obamacare Tea Party revolution, and even urged his party to try to brand Republican-backed changes as 'Trumpcare' as a rhetorical way to saddle the opposition party with responsibility for what ensues, CNN reported.
Asked by reporters what he said on his way out of the closed door meeting, Obama said only, 'Look out for the American people.' White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama said he felt 'envy' for those who have the opportunity to 'keep up the fight' as he prepares to decamp the White House for a rented home in Northwest Washington.
Republicans, who caucused withe Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Wednesday, are forging ahead with their plan to repeal the law with Trump planning swift executive actions on the day he takes office.
President Barack Obama arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday to meet with members of Congress to discuss his signature healthcare law, From left are, Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., Obama, Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif.
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The new Senate Demoratic leader, Charles Schumer, warned that the GOP's new plan would lead to 'chaos' and mocked Trump's campaign slogan with a sarcastic response, saying Republicans would 'Make America Sick Again.'
Trump kicked off the dustup when he provided political advice to Republicans via Twitter Wednesday morning.
'Massive increases of ObamaCare will take place this year and Dems are to blame for the mess. It will fall of its own weight - be careful!' Trump warned Republicans in one of a series of Tweets Wednesday.
He began his missives with an admonition that: 'Republicans must be careful in that the Dems own the failed ObamaCare disaster, with its poor coverage and massive premium increases......'
Sixteen minutes later, he finished his thought, adding: 'like the 116% hike in Arizona. Also, deductibles are so high that it is practically useless. Don't let the Schumer clowns out of this web...'
It wasn't entirely clear if Trump was stressing that Democrats passed Obamacare without Republican support all 60 of the Senate votes during its creation came from Democrats and independents who caucus with Democrats.
Pence called for an 'orderly transition' that 'doesn't work a hardship on our economy' in the repeal, but provided no details on which parts of the health law would remain in place or what alternatives Republicans would offer.
He told reporters on Capitol Hill that repeal efforts would 'literally begin on day one' through executive actions.
'Before the end of the day we do anticipate that the president-elect will be in the Oval Office taking action to both repeal executive orders and also set into motion through executive action policies to implement promises that were made on the campaign trail,' he said, without going into much detail.
He later added: 'We're working right now, the White House staff is, on a series of executive orders that will enable that orderly transition to take place even as the Congress appropriately debates alternatives to and replacement of Obamacare.'
'The first order of business is to repeal and replace Obamacare. And that was our message today and it'll be our message on Capitol Hill,' he added.
'Our president-elect took his place to the American people to repeal and replace Obamacare, and the American people voted decisively for a better future for health care in this country and we are determined to give them that,' Pence said.
Pence at a press conference in the Capitol referenced Trump's tweets . 'You read his Tweet this morning that he has admonished the Congress to be careful. And I reiterated that before the Republican conference today. Look, we're talking about people's lives,' he said.
'The president in his first day in office is going to do some level of executive orders related to ObamaCare,' said Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), an early Trump supporter,' The Hill reported. 'No details whatsoever,' he added.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence (L) said Trump would take executive actions on healthcare on 'Day One.'
Democrats warned that Republicans would 'Make America Sick Again' and dismantle Medicare and Medicaid as well as the Affordable Care Act
Vice President elect Mike Pence and Speaker Paul Ryan talk about repealing Obamacare on Capital Hill Wednesday
NO BOZO: Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer hit back at Trump for his shot at Democratic 'clowns,' saying Republicans 'should stop clowning around with the peoples Medicare, Medicaid and health care'
LIKE OLD TIMES: Vice President-elect Mike Pence, a former House member, left, is welcomed before a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017, by, from second from left, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of La.
'We don't' want to pull the rug out from under people while we're replacing this law,' said House Speaker Paul Ryan after the GOP meeting.
Trump's shot at 'Schumer clowns' was in reference to new Demoratic Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, who in a speech Tuesday warned against a 'Twitter presidency' and tried to rally Democrats to take on Trump when they disagree with him.
Schumer hit back at the tweet in his own remarks Wednesday. 'Well, I think Republicans should stop clowning around with the peoples Medicare, Medicaid and health care,' he said.
Trump pledged during the presidential campaign to erase Obama's law, though he's said he wants to retain popular provisions like ensuring coverage for people with pre-existing medical problems.
Obama's and Pence's strategy sessions were coming on the second day of the new, GOP-led Congress. In 16 days, Trump replaces Obama at the White House, putting the party's longtime goal of annulling much of the 2010 health care overhaul within reach.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence (L), along with Donald Trump's incoming Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (R), walks to a meeting with Republican to discuss their attempts to repeal Obamacare in the Capitol
Trump tweeted about Obamacare Wednesday morning as President Obama prepared to meet with congressional Democrats to salvage the plan
He blasted 'Schumer clowns' and high deductibles, although one Republican alternative is to allow more plans with catastrophic coverage, which include high deductibles
Trump warned that Obamacare would 'fall of its own weight,' although Vice President-elect Mike Pence said repeal plans would go forward
'This law has failed. Americans are struggling,' said Speaker Paul Ryan after the GOP meeting with Pence. 'We need to reverse the damage that has been done,' he said.
'Once we repeal this law,' he added, Republicans would provide a 'stable transition to a truly patient-centered system.'
Schumer said Republicans don't quite know what to do now that they have gotten elected vowing to repeal Obamacare.
'Theyre like the dog who caught the bus. They can repeal, but they have nothing to put in its place, and that means so many good things go away,' he said.
He accused the GOP of plotting a 'full scale assault' on the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid.
'The Republican plan to cut health care wouldnt make America great again, it would make America sick again and lead to chaos instead of affordable care,' he said.
Plenty of questions remain, including the repeal bill's details, costs and when it would take effect. Republicans also face divisions over the next step replacement legislation that will likely take months or years to resolve.
While they can hardly prevent the GOP repeal effort from proceeding, the president and House and Senate Democrats were meeting Wednesday to discuss how to best defend a law that's extended health insurance coverage to 20 million Americans and which Obama considers one of the proudest pillars of his legacy.
'The more the people understand what's included in the Affordable Care Act and how they benefit from it, the more popular the program is, and the harder it is for Republicans to have political support for tearing it down,' White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday, using the law's formal name.
Republicans eager to show quick action against Obama's health care law took an initial procedural step Tuesday, introducing a budget bill that would have to be considered under a parliamentary procedure that would prevent Democrats from using a Senate filibuster to protect the health care law.
Republicans control the Senate by a 52-48 margin, but it takes 60 votes to end a filibuster, a procedural roadblock that can kill legislation.
The Senate was expected to complete the budget by next week. House approval would follow.
'This is the first step toward relief for Americans struggling under Obamacare,' said Ryan.
The budget legislation gives congressional committees until Jan. 27 a blink of an eye for lawmakers to write legislation repealing major parts of the health care law. Likely targets include the law's tax penalties for people who don't obtain insurance, its requirement that many companies cover workers and tax increases on higher-earning individuals and many health care firms.
Aware they have no chance of quickly agreeing on replacement legislation, Republicans plan to delay when their repeal would actually take effect. A range of 18 months to three years perhaps longer has been under discussion.
Trump has provided few specifics about how he would revamp the nation's $3 trillion-a-year health care system. Steps he and congressional Republicans have mentioned include greater reliance on tax credits to help people afford coverage.
Republicans don't want to abruptly end health care coverage for millions of voters who live in GOP-represented districts and states, or cause chaos in health care markets and prompt insurance companies to stop selling policies. So they are considering including provisions in their repeal bill to protect consumers and insurers during the transition period.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., a member of the GOP Senate leadership, said that could include money to temporarily continue helping people afford to buy coverage and language letting the Department of Health and Human Services help stabilize insurance markets.
An Indiana speeder who killed a recently engaged nurse in a car crash was branded a 'punk' by a judge who laced into him at his sentencing hearing.
Iqpal Kandhola, 20, was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison and one on probation in the death of 26-year-old Lisa Strueh.
The nurse died in April while on her way back from a shift at an Indianapolis hospital after Kandhola struck her at an intersection. He had run a red light while coming from the opposite direction, investigators have said.
'What do you think you are, a gangsta?' Judge Stephanie LeMay-Luken asked Kandhola at sentencing. 'You're not What I found is, sir, you're a punk.'
Kandhola was going from 61 mph to 71 mph in an area restricted to 45 mph and went around at least one stopped car at the intersection, according to testimony and court documents. Data retrieved from his Honda showed he kept the accelerator to the floor up to just half a second before the crash, the Indy Star reported.
Iqpal Kandhola (left), 20, was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison and one on probation in the car crash death of 26-year-old nurse Lisa Strueh (right) in Avon, Indiana
Judge LeMay-Luken lashed out at Kandhola after seeing an Instagram video in which he appeared to be holding a marijuana joint while at the wheel, five months after the crash that killed Strueh.
The 20-year-old was also branded a 'ticking time bomb' by Hendricks County deputy prosecutor Loren Delp.
'He was basically death on wheels. It was just a matter of when,' Delp said.
Kandhola, who had pleaded guilty to reckless homicide, was sentenced to five years in total - one less than the maximum in Indiana. He will spend four behind bars and one on probation.
LeMay-Luken also forbade him to use social media while on probation.
The 26-year-old nurse was also an avid runner. She had just gotten engaged
The speeder had marijuana in his system, according to toxicology reports. Kandhola, however, told the court he hadn't smoked pot on the day of the crash but said he had a few shots of alcohol in the previous hours.
Police said they had found marijuana in his 2014 Honda Accord.
Kandhola tried to argue that Strueh was also to blame for the crash, saying she should not have tried to make a left turn until he'd cleared the intersection of Ronald Reagan Parkway and Hendricks County Road.
But Deputy Prosecutor Delp painted him as a serial offender whose driving record foreshadowed the fatal crash.
Indiana State Police trooper Jeremy Mason recalled chasing Kandhola after catching him going at 105 mph on Interstate 69 in March last year.
Strueh, a dedicated runner, died in the hospital the night of the crash. She had gotten engaged to be married just two weeks prior, on a cruise with her fiance.
'I refuse to say it was an accident,' her father Tim Strueh told the court Tuesday. 'When he had run a red light, it was like he pointed a gun. When he accelerated to 71 mph, it was like the driver pulled the trigger.'
Jerry Oppenheimer is the New York Times best-selling author of books about the Clintons, the Kennedys and the Hiltons. His thirteenth book, 'The Kardashians: The True, Untold Story,' will be published in 2017.
President Obama has made more than a tidy $15 million from his books since he published his first - Dreams from My Father - in 1995, and now he's set to earn another $15 to $20 million - or even more - from his forthcoming presidential memoir, top publishing insiders tell DailyMail.com.
And high-ranking publishing insiders are talking at least another '$20 million' in an advance paycheck for First Lady Michelle Obama's long-awaited - and highly anticipated - memoir about her eight White House years.
A source claims she's been quietly working on her book already.
President Obama is set to earn $20 million or more from his forthcoming presidential memoir after leaving the White House, top publishing insiders say
'Michelle's more popular and likable than Barack - and definitely more salable,' one top acquisition editor tells DailyMail.com, 'so she's likely to garner an even bigger advance than the president.
'If I jump into the bidding, I'd definitely offer more for her story than his.
'He's a known quantity, she's the golden goose with the best dishy stories about her White House life. And I think she can be very catty.'
As The Wall Street Journal points out, 'Michelle Obama's talents as a memoirist are so far untested, but with a 59 percent approval ratingshe is one of the most well-liked figures in American public life.
'As publishers prepare to compete for a slew of political memoirs, all eyes are on the president and first lady.'
And there is some chatter in the highly competitive New York publishing world that the Obamas might collaborate and pen a dual memoir with a pay day of many millions of dollars more.
Since becoming the first couple eight years ago, book sales have made the Obamas - from middle-class Chicago roots - multimillionaires, with more big bucks on the way.
'Not a bad nest egg for their golden years,' observes former senior White House aide Tevi Troy, who wrote a book about White House pop culture.
Michelle Obama could receive an 'advance paycheck' of $20 million for her own memoirs, if she dishes on White House gossip, her daughters and the 'ups and downs' of her marriage
For the biggest advance, sources interviewed for this story agree, the president is going to have to reveal long-held Oval Office secrets to make readers want to spend $30 or more per copy.
As one top editor from a major publishing house, who requested anonymity because he will be involved in the bidding, told DailyMail.com, 'We want to know the Obamas true feelings about the Clintons.
'We know there is no love lost, but we need to hear that in the president's words, or directly from the first lady, and in her own candid words.
'We want to hear what the president's true reaction was when Benghazi happened, when he first learned about Mrs. Clinton's secret email server, and how he felt about Mrs. Clinton's failed candidacy, and his true feeling about Donald Trump all of that needs to be told in no uncertain terms, because that's what the public the book buyers are interested in hearing.
'And all of that if honestly told will garner a publicity tsunami. We'll sell hundreds of thousands of books, and make the Obamas even richer with the royalties.'
A high-ranking female publishing executive who also asked for anonymity reveals she'd 'kill and offer millions to get the first lady's book.'
Publishers would 'kill' and 'offer millions' for the Obamas' books if they reveal their 'true feelings' about the Clintons. One top publisher said: 'We know there is no love lost, but we need to hear that in the president's words, or directly from the first lady, and in her own words'
But she asserts that Mrs. Obama needs to give gossipy White House dish 'the ups and downs of her marriage, horror stories about raising her two daughters in the public spotlight.'
For their $30, readers will expect to have Michelle's take on some of the shenanigans of her oldest daughter Malia Obama, 18, who was pictured smoking a 'marijuana cigarette' at Lollapalooza - a music festival in Chicago in July 2016.
They will also want insights such as what went through Michelle's mind when she first met and sat with Melania Trump, and her feelings about Ivanka Trump... and Hillary.
'That and more and we'd have to do ten huge printings. But Michelle has to open up about all of that. The days of staid presidential and first lady memoirs are long over. We're in a tabloid world,' adds the publishing executive.
The one key component of President Obama's presidential memoir to make it a critical success, the sources stress, is honesty.
And Obama has had issues in that area in one of his previous best-selling books, Dreams From My Father, written years before he became president. Questions were raised about his truthfulness when he ran for his second term in 2012.
Obama biographer David Maraniss, a reporter for The Washington Post, interviewed many people in Obama's life and discovered a number of contradictions in his narrative.
As The New York Times headlined in reviewing Maraniss's account, 'New Book Raises Questions About Obama's Memoir,' and noted that some of Obama's questionable claims were 'very small, a few largeNow, Republicans are poised to try and portray Mr. Obama as having been less than truthful in his recollections about his life.'
If fans of the first lady were hoping for her to reveal in her memoir that she plans to carve out her own political career, she shot down that dream in her White House interview with Oprah
Editors want to hear from 'catty' Michelle about raising her two daughters in the public spotlight, and what went through her mind when she first sat down with Melania Trump
According to The Times story, Maraniss's book 'suggests that the real story of Mr. Obama's life was less dramatic - and more routine - than the president made it out to be in the memoir.'
Appearing for an interview on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' program to promote his book, Maraniss maintained that Obama did not write a factual life history, but was 'trying to see everything through a racial lens.'
Maraniss claimed, for instance, that Obama wrote a 'concocted myth' about how his adopted step-grandfather had died.
Obama wrote that he was killed while fighting Dutch troops in Indonesia. In Maraniss's book, he actually died while unsuccessfully trying to hang draperies.
For a $30 book price, readers will expect to have Michelle's take on some of the shennanigans of her oldest daughter Malia Obama, 18, pictured smoking a 'marijuana cigarette' at Lollapalooza - a music festival in Chicago in July 2016
As The Times pointed out, 'Maraniss documents several of the efforts by Mr. Obama to invent or alter characters to help his narrative.'
Other reporters looking into Obama's past and attempting to confirm anecdotes in his book found more contradictions.
Now, in his forthcoming important and historical presidential memoir, 'We want him to be truthful and candid and honest. We don't want typical White House memoir bullshit,' a publishing executive told DailyMail.com.
'If he's evasive, it'll seriously hurt the bottom line. Everyone's a fact-checker these days.'
Some in publishing are predicting that Obama will beat Bill Clinton's record-setting $10 million advance for his memoir - a 950-page doorstop entitled, 'My Life,' in which he dealt with such issues as the Monica Lewinsky scandal, but blamed others.
It sold a reported two million copies, and was described as 'self-indulgent'
George Bush got a $7 million advance for his presidential memoir, Decision Points.
The publisher of PublicAffairs, an imprint that specializes in non-fiction and political books, suspects that the huge advance that will be offered to Obama 'will be more than the initial sales will support,' he told the New York Observer owned by President-elect Donald J. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
'Obama has been a very cautious president, has not made more friends in office than he had before he got there, and seems to swing unpredictably between rather wooden and emotionless affect and has much more personal delivery.'
Obama has already written three books (pictured at a signing for 'The Audacity of Hope') and has made over $15 million in book sales since his first memoir was published in 1995
So, publisher Clive Priddle wonders, 'Which voice will show up in the memoir?'
In former senior White House aide Tevi Troy's 2014 opinion page piece in The Washington Post, he noted that Obama faced hurdles in writing his memoir.
'Expectations will be ludicrously high, not just because of the probably enormous advance but because his first memoir, Dreams From My Father, received so much praise.
'He also faces such a polarized electorate that it is unlikely anything he writes will sway anyone on, for instance, the merits of the Affordable Care Act or his handling of the economy.'
If fans of first lady Michelle Obama were hoping to hear her reveal in her memoir that she plans to carve out her own political career, she shot down that dream in her final White House interview with Oprah.
'If I were interested in it, I'd say it,' she said.
But even before her sit-down with Oprah, the man of the White House told Rolling Stone: 'Michelle will never run for office. She is as talented a person as I know. You can see the incredible resonance she has with the American people.
'But I joke that she's too sensible to want to be in politicsMichelle does not have the patience or the inclination to actually be a candidate herself. That's one thing y'all can take to the bank.'
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday that Congress would not be raising taxes on companies that ship jobs over the border and sell their products in the United States.
Ryan said congressional Republicans would not rubber stamp the president-elect's trade agenda and raise tariffs, as he's repeatedly promised.
'No, we're not going to be raising tariffs,' Ryan told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
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House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday that Congress would not be raising taxes on companies that ship jobs over the border and sell their products in the United States
The GOP leader, who's clashed with Donald Trump on Russia, taxes, immigration and entitlement reform, said Wednesday that his caucus does not believe higher tariffs are the solution to economic disparities.
'We think tax reform is the better way of addressing imbalances, leveling the playing field without starting trade wars...without having the adverse effects that you get with protectionism or trade wars,' Ryan asserted.
The newly reelected House Speaker told Hewitt, 'We think leveling the playing field on taxes, reducing the costs on American businesses by reducing regulatory costs, healthcare costs, that's the secret to making a businesses more competitive.
'Not raising prices or raising tariffs but lowering the costs and leveling the playing field,' he added.
Trump has been threatening 'big' border taxes on companies that defy his orders to keep jobs in the U.S.
The president-elect has said on numerous occasions that companies ignoring his demands will pay a steep price - a 35 percent tariff.
'The U.S. is going to substantialy reduce taxes and regulations on businesses, but 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!
'There will be a tax on our soon to be strong border of 35% for these companies,' Trump said in a series of Dec. 4 tweets.
Trump has been threatening 'big' border taxes on companies that defy his orders to keep jobs in the U.S.
The president-elect has said on numerous occasions that companies ignoring his demands will pay a steep price - a 35 percent tariff
Ford has been a favorite target. Trump told Fox News in September that after he slapped the car company with a 35 percent tariff, 'you know what's gonna happen? They're never going to leave.'
Trump singled out General Motors on Tuesday for its over-the-border production of the Chevy Cruze it sells in foreign markets.
'General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border. Make in U.S.A.or pay big border tax!' he tweeted.
The automotive company said in a statement it builds the sedans it sells in the United States in its Lordstown, Ohio factory.
Only a 'small number' of the Chevy Cruzes that are manufactured in Ramos, Mexico make their way back to the United States, GM says.
Economists say the tariffs Trump's proposing would hurt the U.S. economy. Costs would be passed down to consumers, and Americans would end up paying more for goods.
Ford announced a $700 million investment in Michigan, in addition to the jobs that were referenced by Trump, on Tuesday, and the cancellation of a plant it planned to build in Mexico after Trump tweeted about tariffs again
A 35 tariff on Ford would have amounted to $2.8 billion in taxes in 2016, CNN Money reported. That's more than Ford reported in income in the third quarter of last year, according to its most recent FEC filing.
Ford announced a $700 million investment in Michigan and 700 new jobs on Tuesday, cancelling its plans to build a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico for production of the Ford Focus.
It said it would build the next generation of the vehicle at an existing factory in the foreign country.
Employees of its Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Fort Wayne, Michigan, will build an 'all-new small utility vehicle with extended battery range,' Ford said, 'as well as the fully autonomous vehicle for ride-hailing or ride-sharing,' the Mustang and the Lincoln Continental.
A pro-pot legalization group plans to hand out free joints to people heading to Donald Trump's inauguration asking recipients to spark those doobies during the president-elect's speech.
The event is being billed as a protest of sorts, to get weed legalized at the federal level.
The group sponsoring the giveaway, the DC Cannabis Coalition, was responsible for the 2014 ballot initiative that made marijuana legal in the nation's capital.
'The main message is it's time to legalize cannabis at a federal level,' Adam Eidinger told local CBS affiliate WUSA9. 'We don't want any money exchanged, whatsoever. This is really a gift for people who come to Washington, D.C.'
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A CAREER HIGH? President-elect Donald Trump's speech could be interrupted by the smell of weed, as activists plan to hand out free joints on inauguration morning
In Washington, D.C., you're allowed to possess up to two ounces of pot, though it can't be smoked outside or on federal lands. It also can't be sold or bought
Marijuana legalization activists are hoping smokers will engage in civil disobedience on inauguration day in an effort to get weed legal on a federal level
The joints being handed out also have to be given out for free, because of the current D.C. law.
In November 2014, 64.87 percent of the District's residents voted for weed legalization, but it came with a catch.
The law, which went into effect in February 2015, allowed for possession of up to two ounces. It also permitted residents to grow pot and give it away, but not sell it or buy it.
Pro-pot protesters will gather at 8 a.m. at the west side of Dupont Circle on January 20, before marching toward the National Mall.
Even with marijuana being legal in D.C., smoking outside is prohibited.
Smoking weed and being in possession of the substance is also illegal on federal land.
That includes the National Mall, where Trump's swearing-in will take place.
The plan is for smokers to light up their joints four minutes and 20 seconds into Donald Trump's speech, as '420' has become a symbolic reference for weed
Donald Trump garnered a C+ on pot when compared to his general election counterparts, though activists fear that his selection of Jeff Sessions for attorney general will be damaging to legalization efforts
The group is asking people to light up their joints four minutes and 20 seconds into Trump's speech, as '420' has become a national code for the smoking of marijuana.
'We are going to tell them that is they smoke on federal property, they are risking arrest. But, that's a form of civil disobedience,' Eidinger told the TV station. 'I think it's a good protest. If someone wants to do it, they are risking arrest, but it's a protest and you know what, the National Mall is a place for protest.
Eidinger made it clear that the pro-pot protest is not supposed to be anti-Trump.
'If there are people from Texas, some Cowboys fan, who is walking down the street in a cowboy hat and a big fur coat and he walks up to our demonstrators, I want him to feel welcome in D.C.,' the activist said.
The group plans to hand out 4,200 joints.
Eidinger also told WUSA9 that he hoped the new administration hinder pot legalization efforts around the country, though feared for the worst.
The Marijuana Policy Project gave Trump a C+ grade on his stances on pot legalization, lower than all of the other general election candidates.
In the 1990s Trump stood for drug legalization, but as he moved more politically to the right, he changed his tune, saying he opposes legalizing and regulating marijuana.
In February 2016, he pushed back when Fox News Network's Bill O'Reilly suggested that medical marijuana is nothing but a 'ruse.'
'But I know people that have serious problems and they did that they really it really does help them,' Trump interjected at the time.
The president-elect's pick of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general is more worrisome of those hoping to legalize the drug.
French firebrand socialist Arnaud Montebourg has proposed a supertax on banks
French firebrand socialist Arnaud Montebourg has proposed a supertax on banks to raise 5 billion euros (4.25 billion) and has said that he would be prepared to nationalise a bank if elected president in May.
The 54-year-old, an outsider in the race for his party's nomination, was economy minister early in the current Socialist government.
Montebourg made the policy promise ahead of a late-January primary contest for the ruling party's presidential ticket.
'The five biggest French banks made a profit of 25 billion euros last year, so I propose a supertax of five billion euros,' said Montebourg.
The stance is evocative of President Francois Hollande who called the financial sector his 'enemy' before his election in 2012.
Hollande slapped a supertax on the rich in 2012 but waved a discreet goodbye to the levy two years later when he switched course and adopted more business-friendly reforms, a shift that set him on a collision course with Montebourg and ended the minister's time in office.
In the wake of the global financial crisis that erupted in 2008, Britain also targeted bankers, first with a tax on bonuses under Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown and then a levy on banks' balance sheets under a Conservative government.
Hollande is not seeking a second term and will leave behind a Socialist Party divided between hardline leftists like Montebourg, who want a return to its more traditional Socialist roots, and moderates like former prime minister Manuel Valls.
Pollsters tip Valls to win the party's January 22 and 29 primary contest, but the presidential race is expected to come down to a runoff between conservative Francois Fillon and National Front leader Marine Le Pen, a duel Fillon is tipped to win.
Arnaud Montebourg, pictured centre, at a nomination ceremony, in Paris in 2012 with Francois Hollande, right, with French actress Julie Gayet
Mindful of the faultlines running through the party, Valls on Tuesday courted traditional leftwingers with promises to avoid draconian spending cuts and push through welfare reforms.
Montebourg, who surprised by scoring a sizeable 17 percent of votes in a previous Socialist primary in 2011, said banks were to blame for a financial crisis that inflated France's national debt by 20 percent.
He said that, if elected, he would also oblige banks to separate retail business from financial market activities, cap traders' pay and ensure that retail banking became a bigger portion of their overall business.
'If this measure does not help to replenish financing of the economy I am ready to nationalise a bank to show the way by example,' he said.
Christopher Epperson, 20, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly holding a female Lyft driver against her will
A 20-year-old Florida man was arrested after he allegedly held his female Lyft driver against her will and threatened that she may never see her children again.
Christopher Tyree Epperson was taken into custody on Tuesday after state troopers found a loaded 9mm pistol, duct tape and a glove in his pocket.
The driver, only identified as Emilia, said Epperson told her she had to drive her SUV to several dark locations if she 'ever wanted to see her children again'.
Emilia, who picked up Epperson around 7am, said she knew something was wrong when her passenger changed the address twice within five minutes of the ride.
She said Epperson then began asking her personal questions.
'He asked about my family,' Emilia told WKMG. 'He asked me if you have children. I said, "Yes, I have children.'"
'He said, "Maybe you'll see your children no more.'"
Emilia said she was 'scared' and 'nervous', and kept her phone by her side in case she needed to call 911.
But at one point Epperson even tried to take her cell phone, according to troopers.
Emilia stayed calm and kept driving around as she tried to figure out what to do, and soon spotted a Florida State Trooper.
Epperson was taken into custody on Tuesday after state troopers found a loaded 9mm pistol, duct tape and a glove (pictured) in his pocket
The Lyft driver, named Emilia, possibly saved her own life when she spotted a Florida State Trooper and pulled her black SUV into the Florida Highway Patrol Station
The quick-thinking driver followed the trooper right to the Florida Highway Patrol station and immediately jumped out of the car, according to WOFL.
Emilia flagged down a trooper and told him she feared for her life. Epperson was asked to get out of the SUV for questioning.
Emilia said she knew something was wrong when Epperson changed the address twice within five minutes of the ride (file photo)
Two more troopers then arrived and one of them immediately noticed a bulge in Epperson's pocket.
When they asked him what was inside, Epperson tried to run away.
The troopers quickly caught him and found the gun, tape and glove inside his pockets.
Epperson, who claimed the gun did not belong to him, has been charged with false imprisonment and possession of a concealed weapon.
He is being held at Orange County Jail on $6,300 bond. He has no criminal record.
Lyft said Epperson's access to the ride-sharing app has since been blocked.
'The safety of our community members is always our top priority and we've been in close touch with Emilia,' the company said in a released statement.
'We are so glad she is doing okay after this terrible ordeal and commend her bravery.'
It was only Emilia's third week on the job. She said it is likely she will not drive for Lyft ever again.
A Texas man has been charged with sexually assaulting and repeatedly stabbing a 21-month-old girl in her genitals on New Years Eve, in what investigators have described as one of the worst, child abuse cases they have ever encountered.
According to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, at around 9am on Saturday deputies and EMS workers responded to a call about an injured child who had been mauled by a dog.
They were told by a man at the scene, later identified as 23-year-old Isaac Cardenas, that the 21-month-old girl had wandered outside in the middle of the night and was attacked by dogs living at the residence in South Bexar County.
Shocking crime: Isaac Cardenas, 23 (left), has been charged in a brutal sexual assault and stabbing of a young girl. His girlfriend, Crystal Herrera, 22 (right), was arrested on one count of serious bodily injury to a child by omission
As investigators questioned Cardenas and his girlfriend, the victims relative Crystal Herrera, they determined that their versions of events were inconsistent with the crime scene and the evidence, according to Sheriff Salazar.
The young victim sustained life-threatening injuries consistent with a brutal sexual assault and non-accidental stab wounds.
Video courtesy of KSAT 12
The toddler was rushed to University Hospital, where her condition was listed as stable on Tuesday.
Doctors at the hospital confirmed that the child had not been mauled by dogs, but that she had been sexually assaulted and repeatedly stabbed in her upper body and her private parts.
Additionally, investigators said when officers with Animal Care Services went to Cardenas and Herreras home to pick up the dogs, the animals showed no signs of aggression whatsoever.
Chilling crime: Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said the details of the case were chilling and described the attack on the defenseless child as 'egregious' and 'heartbreaking'
Cover-up: Investigators say Cardenas (left) initially said the victim wandered outside overnight and was mauled by dogs. His girlfriend said she noticed blood on the toddler while bathing her
Cardenas was arrested and charged with super aggravated sexual assault of a child, which is a capital felony punishable by a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison. His bond was set at $300,000.
Crystal Herrera, 22, was charged with serious bodily injury to a child by omission.
According to an affidavit filed in this case and cited by the station KSAT, Crystal Herrera called 911 on Saturday morning, three hours after she noticed blood while bathing the victim.
The 22-year-old woman claimed that she tried to take the girl to a hospital, but her car got stuck in sand
The 22-year-old woman claimed that she tried to take the girl to a hospital, but her car got stuck in sand.
The document also revealed that the 21-month-old girl suffered 'acute respiratory failure' and will have to undergo reconstructive surgery to repair her injuries.
Speaking of the case to reporters, Sheriff Salazar described the abuse sustained by the child as egregious and heart-breaking.
'I can't even begin to describe to you the level of depravity that went into this crime,' the sheriff told the San Antonio Express-News. 'It's a horrendous case.'
The sheriff said the details of the crime were chilling and that the young victim is going to 'carry this for the rest of her life.'
An activist in Iran has ended a 70-day hunger strike after authorities agreed to temporarily release his wife from prison.
Arash Sadeghi, who is serving 15 years in prison on charges of conspiracy, publishing false information and propaganda against the regime, launched the hunger strike in protest at his wife's prison conditions.
His wife, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, is serving six years for 'insulting Islamic sanctities' and 'spreading propaganda against the regime'.
Arash Sadeghi has ended a 70-day hunger strike in protest at the treatment of his wife, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee. The couple, pictured together, were both arrested in 2014
She was jailed in October after Iran's Revolutionary Guard discovered an unpublished story she had written, about a woman being stoned to death.
Her story describes a woman who watches the film 'The Stoning of Soraya M' - which tells the true story of a young woman stoned to death for adultery - and becomes so enraged that she burns a copy of the Qur'an.
She was arrested in September 2014, and feared she would be executed during long interrogations.
Her husband was arrested at the same time, and the couple are being held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison.
The couple's lawyer Amir Raeisian today said Sadeghi has given up the hunger strike after authorities agreed to grant Iraee temporary leave from prison.
Arash Sadeghi has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars, while Iraee has been jailed for six because of an unpublished story
'Normally it will be five to six days and extendable,' he told news agency ISNA. 'Arash Sadeghi will also be transferred to hospital for treatment.'
The ILNA news agency reported that Iraee's family secured a deposit of five billion rials ($128,000) for her leave.
Speaking to the judiciary-linked Mizan website, Tehran's chief prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi confirmed the temporary release and the end to Sadeghi's hunger strike.
He said Iraee could appeal her sentence and noted that under Iranian law, Sadeghi was eligible for release after serving seven and half years.
Hundreds of people marched outside the prison on Monday in protest over their treatment.
The couple's lawyer Amir Raeisian today said Sadeghi has given up the hunger strike after authorities agreed to grant Iraee temporary leave from prison
The hashtag #SaveArash was among the top trends for a few hours on Twitter this week, even though the site is blocked in Iran.
The head of the reformist camp Mohammad Reza Aref and outspoken lawmakers Ali Motahari and Mahmoud Sadeghi were among those who voiced concern for Sadeghi's health, according to the reformist Vaghaye daily.
Motahari in a social media post thanked officials for granting Iraee leave and raised the case of another hunger-striking activist, Ali Shariati, whose case was also trending on Twitter on Wednesday.
Shariati is serving a five-year sentence for protesting outside parliament against acid attacks on women and has been on hunger strike for 65 days, Motahari wrote.
'I hope judicial officials resolve this issue wisely to prevent human rights excuses for the enemies of the Islamic revolution,' he wrote, posting a photo of a frail-looking Shariati in hospital receiving an injection.
say both have a history of drug use
The Florida state trooper who found a couple dead outside their SUV after suffering an apparent overdose has revealed their three sons were strapped in the back seat watching a movie.
The officer who found Heather and Daniel Kelsey, 30 and 32 respectively, stated that the boys were unharmed while their parents lay dying outside.
The three boys, Aiden, two, Nicholas, one, and infant Joseph, are currently being cared for by relatives.
Heather Kelsey, 30, and Daniel Kelsey, 32, were discovered by police on the I-4 near DeLand, Florida on New Year's Eve
Police arrived at the scene at 2.08am at mile marker 122 on the eastbound side of I-4 near DeLand
John Harrell, spokesman for the Florida Department of Children and Families, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal the agency is working with local authorities.
'We're very sensitive to what these children have been through,' Harrell said. 'That's the main priority.'
Daytona Beach, Florida Police Chief Mike Chitwood said Tuesday that they are still waiting on the autopsy reports to make a final conclusion on the couple's deaths.
Their sons aged eight months to four years were found unharmed in the back of their SUV
The husband and wife of six years were found dead not far from their SUV on Saturday, which was found stopped on the side of I-4 with the hazards blinking.
The two were pronounced dead not long after emergency crews arrived on the scene, and found their three young boys alive and unharmed in the back of the vehicle.
'At first glance, investigators feel [Daniel's death] was an overdose. There was some concern with the female that an autopsy will clear up,' Chitwood said.
He added that Daniel Kelsey tested 'presumptive positive' for drugs and had a 'presence of weed' in his urine.
Police discovered the couple outside their vehicle around 2am on Saturday
Chitwood said there are no signs of foul play in the couple's death, and no outward signs of trauma.
Police arrived at the scene at 2.08am at mile marker 122 on the eastbound side of I-4 near DeLand, a report states.
They found Mr and Mrs Kelsey unconscious at the scene and they were pronounced dead a short time later. Her husband was pronounced dead just a few minutes later.
The boys aged from eight months to four years in age, were taken to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach as a precaution.
The couple were found on the I-4 near DeLand, about thirty minutes from Daytona Beach
Daniel's long-time friend Jerrell Jackson described the pain of coping with his death, which happened on Jackson's 32nd birthday.
Jackson told the News Journal that the couple's youngest son had recently started walking, and that the two were 'doing great' in their new city.
He said in a Facebook post: 'I can tell you Dan was a loving, devoted father (who) did anything for his kids,'
Article 552 has been in place since the late 1940s and has drawn protests
After a number of protests a parliamentary committee in Lebanon has recommended repealing a law that allows rapists' sentences to be squashed if they marry their victim.
Although men convicted of rape in the Middle Eastern nation can face five years in jail the law currently says if he marries the woman he raped he can escape persecution.
The recommendation to repeal Article 522 of the country's penal code, which has been in place since the 1940s, could see the maximum jail term risen to seven years and rape classified as a crime against women.
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A dozen Lebanese women, dressed as brides in white wedding dresses stained with fake blood and bandaging their eyes, knees and hands stand in front of the government building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon in December
However the committee recommendation must now go through parliament and could take months to get approved.
Most women affected by the law are raped by members of the family, such as a cousin, or a neighbor and are then pressured to marry the perpetrator, said Roula Masri, a senior programme manager with the local gender-rights NGO, ABAAD.
'There's the psychological trauma,' Masri told Al Jazeera. 'Victims usually have to undergo therapy. They may feel that sex is disgusting Usually, the victims, the girls, are obliged [to marry their rapist] by family members. They would blame you, and they would push the marriage forward, to save the family's honour.'
'Currently, the law does not think or indicate that the rapist is a criminal,' said Masri who added that four women a week get raped in Lebanon although many cases go unreported.
In early December a dozen Lebanese women, dressed as brides in white wedding dresses stained with fake blood and bandages, gathered outside government buildings capital Beirut to protest the law.
The activists were protesting a Lebanese law that allows a rapist or kidnapper to get away with his crime if he marries the survivor
'We reject this violation of women regardless of their age, background, environment, whether they have special needs or the circumstances of the rape,' said Ghida Anani, head of Abaad, a local NGO campaigning against the law.
Some supporters of the law argue that the marriage will salvage the honor of the woman and her family. During parliament discussions, some lawmakers proposed amending it and leaving the marriage option as a choice for families, Anani said.
Police in Austria are investigating an unprecedented number of sex assaults carried out by a group of men on New Year's Eve.
It happened in the western city of Innsbruck, where 18 women reported having been groped by up to 10 men in the main square.
Around 25,000 people gathered in the square in ring in 2017, senior police official Ernst Kranebitter said.
Police say 18 women were assaulted during the New Year's celebrations in the city's main square
'We've not had anything like this happen here before,' Kranebitter told AFP.
'They were dancing around the victims and then suddenly grabbed their breast or stuck their hands between their legs.
'That's what made it hard for others to notice what was going on - it all happened amid festivities.'
Amateur video footage of the incidents has so far failed to help investigators identify the suspects because the image quality was too poor
The suspects have been described as being in their late teens, said Kranebitter.
Amateur video footage of the incidents has so far failed to help investigators identify the suspects because the image quality was too poor.
The assault came a year after hundreds of women were mugged and groped in a crowd of men of mainly Arab and north African appearance in the German city of Cologne on December 31.
To avoid a similar incident, police in Vienna distributed 6,000 pocket alarms on New Year's Eve last week to help prevent attacks.
Jorge Luis Chavez, 25, was found dead in a murder suicide in South Carolina on Sunday
The woman who was killed along with her two children called 911 to report her ex-boyfriend was breaking into her home and was that he was armed with a gun just moments before she died.
Marissa Hope Reynoso, 26, was found dead in a home in West Columbia, South Carolina, along with two of her children - Elijah Chavez, four, and Ezra Chavez, one - on Sunday evening.
Police initially launched a search for Jorge Luis Chavez, 25, believed to be the father of the two children, but later recovered his body inside the home.
It has now been revealed Reynoso desperately called 911 as Chavez was trying to get inside her home.
On the 911 call, her voice is calm for 40 seconds before someone screams 'He's got a gun!'
The majority of the seven-minute call was spent by the operator trying to get Reynoso back on the line.
Police reports show the 26-year-old mother had also called police about her ex-boyfriend in November and December. Chavez once told her he would 'see you in heaven.'
It comes after Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said all four people were found dead with gunshot wounds inside a property in the 1100 block of Old Barnwell Road about 8pm on Sunday.
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Marissa Hope Reynoso (pictured), 26, desperately called 911 as Chavez was trying to get inside her home
Marissa Hope Reynoso, 26, was found dead in a home in West Columbia, along with two of her children - Elijah Chavez (left), four, and Ezra Chavez (right), one - on Sunday evening
The Lexington County Sheriff's Office initially released a picture of Chavez on social media and said they were 'actively searching' for him.
Hours later, the sheriff's office announced Chavez was found dead inside the home.
An investigation is ongoing and authorities have not revealed details regarding their deaths.
Reynoso had an older child who was not home at the time of the murder-suicide, according to Fisher.
Marissa Hope Reynoso, 26, (center) was found dead in a home in West Columbia, along with two of her children Elijah Chavez, four, (bottom right) and Ezra Chavez, one (top right)
Reynoso (pictured) had an older child who was not home at the time of the murder-suicide, according to Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher
A police misconduct hearing into a married female detective accused of having an illicit relationship with a criminal was held behind closed doors today.
DC Nina Bartlett, 40, of Cambridgeshire Police, allegedly failed to declare a relationship with a criminally convicted person as soon as possible.
She is also accused of concealing the relationship and failing to submit a 'notifiable association' report to the force's Professional Standards Departments.
The officer, believed to be a mother-of-two, is also alleged to have used a police computer to carry searches on her new partner.
DC Nina Bartlett, pictured left and right concealing her face with an umbrella, is accused of having an 'illicit affair' with a criminal and failing to declare it. She appeared at a misconduct hearing today that was due to be heard in public but is now being held in private
The two-day hearing got under way at Peterborough City College, Cambridgeshire, today.
Despite the public being invited to the hearing by Cambridgeshire Police, its panel chairman Peter Nicholls ruled that it would be held in private.
After hearing submissions from the press which argued that it was public interest for the proceedings to be help in the open, he decided it should be behind closed doors.
Mr Nicholls said when deciding whether to hold the hearing in private they had to 'balance' the officer's welfare with the public interest.
The panel heard claims that the officer's health would be damaged if the hearing was held in public.
Mr Nicholls added that he was not going to 'set out details of the medical evidence that the panel has considered'.
After reaching his decision to exclude the press and public he said: 'The major concern here has been the delivery of medical evidence, medical report and admission of those medical notes in respect of the health of the officer.
'In considering these notes the panel was mindful that the position that this misconduct hearing should be in public and there should be a strong and cogent reasons if a hearing or part of a hearing is not to be held in public.
He added: 'We categorise this case as one where we will be unable to elicit the full information to do justice not only in the public interest but in fairness and justice to the officer and therefore balancing those two different factors we have reached the conclusion, with some reluctance, that these proceedings will proceed in private.
'In due course the outcome of this case will be put in the public domain but the hearing will proceed in private session for all these reasons.'
The hearing was eventually held in private at Peterborough City College, pictured
During submissions the panel heard that the officer had previously tried to have the hearing held in private.
But she missed the deadline for applications on December 6, at 4.30pm
She in fact submitted an application on December 22, and unsuccessfully applied for an extension.
Chairman Peter Nicholls said there was some 'confusion' over whether the application had been granted but it had not.
The panel received another email on January 1 which applied to have the notice of the hearing not published.
got him to dry land he was rushed to the
By the time Vidal was reached he was not
A Minnesota man was killed after he swam out to sea in a desperate bid to try and save his son as the teenage boy was being carried out by a strong current.
Vidal Guzman, 60, of Minneapolis was on vacation with his entire family in Puerto Rico for the holidays when the group went swimming on Monday at Balneario Poza Las Mujeres in Manati, about an hour west of San Jose.
Towards the end of the day his son, Vidal Guzman III, began to struggle in the water, and when he tried to get to the boy to help him he too was swept away and drowned, while his son was able to get to safety.
In addition to his son, Vidal is survived by his wife, Lidibette, and three daughters.
Tragedy: Vidal Guzman, 60, drowned off a beach in Manti, Puerto Rico on Monday (above with son Vidal III)
Scene: He was swept out to see when he tried to rescue his son, who was being pulled out by the strong current (beach where Vidal drowned above)
It was shortly before 4:30pm, Vidal's son signaled that he was in danger to his father, who rushed in to try and save him according to Telemundo Tu Canal.
The strong current and waves soon proved to difficult to navigate for Vidal, while at the same time his son was pushed toward a rock where he was able to cling on and save himself.
Vidal's son signaled to others that his father was in danger and they were able to get into the ocean and get to the man, but by then it was too late.
He was rushed to Manati Medical Center Hospital, but arrived with no vital signs.
Soon after news of his death made its way back home, friends of Vidal's children began leaving condolence messages on there Facebook pages.
Vidal works as a senior manager at Public Radio International according to his Linked In.
His responsibilities there included 'sales, marketing, maintenance, audience research, fundraising and performance of PRI programs on PRI affiliate stations.'
Family: Vidal Guzman III, 19, was eventually able to grab a rock and cling on, at which point he signaled to people on the beach that his father needed help (Vidal with his son and two of his daughters)
Peter Martinson, a friend of Vidal remembered the father in an interview with the Star Tribune.
'It was impossible to be in a bad mood around Val, he said, adding that he had been posting photos of the beach the same day that he drowned.
Krista Smith, another friend, also had nothing but praise for the man.
'You want people like him in your life,' said Smith.
Parcels addressed to Prime Minister Theresa May from Next have been found dumped on a doorstep.
A surprised Facebook user noticed a number of errant packages on the doorstep of her home in Berkshire before asking if anybody knew who a 'Mrs T May' was, in the hope of reuniting the parcel with its rightful owner.
Lauren Carne-Powell took to social media and had a number of people respond to her within minutes.
Parcels addressed to Prime Minister Theresa May from Next have been found dumped on a doorstep
Parcels addressed to Prime Minister Theresa May (pictured is her home) from Next have been found dumped on a doorstep
Within just 30 minutes the Facebook post racked up 14 comments and 10 reactions with one person offering to deliver the package to the Prime Minister who lives in Sonning-on-Thames
She posted: 'Does anyone know a Mrs T May, Sonning? Her Next home parcel has been delivered here (Caversham, Berks.,) for some reason. Will let know (sic) tomorrow if no luck on here. Thanks!'
Within just 30 minutes the Facebook post racked up 14 comments and 10 reactions with one person offering to deliver the package to the Prime Minister who lives in SOnning-on-Thames.
One group member replied to Mrs Carne-Powell's post confirming the package was destined for the PM's home before it was dumped.
Another member commented and said: 'Theresa May PM?! I wonder if it's a pair of leather trousers.'
Somebody else added: 'Wouldn't have had her down as a Next girl!'
Mrs Carne-Powell posted again just minutes later following a number of comments to give an update on the delivery dilemma.
She said: 'So it seems that Next decided to dump quite a few parcels on my door including the Prime Minister's.
'If you know any of these people please let me know. I have reached out to Next but they aren't responding.'
Mrs Carne-Powell later told those who had commented on her post that a Next delivery driver will soon turn up to pick up the package and deliver it to the Prime Minister.
Next cut its profit forecast for the current financial year after a poor Christmas and warned of a further decline in 2017-18, sending shockwaves through Britain's clothing sector as the most successful performer of the last decade faltered.
is now being investigated after endangering the safety of others
A reckless daredevil risked his life and endangered others when he scaled a high-rise crane - and used a selfie stick to film himself.
The man carried out the stunt in the city of Ipoh in the Perak State of north-western Malaysia.
Terrifying footage which he later posted online shows the vertiginous heights he scales as he hangs off the crane, with no safety harness or equipment.
Terrifying footage later posted online shows the vertiginous heights he scales as he hangs off the crane, with no safety harness or equipment
The young man has not yet been identified, but police say they are investigating the incident, as he faces charges for endangering his own life and the lives of others.
The heart-stopping clip of the feat has since gone viral after being uploaded to video-sharing platforms.
It shows the man's feet as he scales the red crane, with a horrifying view below showing just how high up he is.
He can be heard exhaling as he undertakes what appears to be a tiring climb.
The climber then holds a selfie stick in the air and smiles to the camera as he sits looking relaxed at the top of the crane, looking out at the view.
Police are now searching for the climber and may press charges after he 'endangered lives'
The video shows the man's feet as he scales the red crane, with a horrifying view below showing just how high up he is
The incident was uploaded under the username 'VisitMalaysia' on social media and the video is believed to have been shot at the Ipoh Convention Centre construction site.
Another video on social media last week showed a group of youngsters climbing the nearby Ipoh signboard on top of Gunung Lang, Jalan Kuala Kangsar, with the caption thanking the local council for giving them permission.
But Ipoh mayor Datuk Zamri Man denied that city authorities had given any approval for the 'dangerous stunt.'
Chief of Police, Sum Chang Keong said both matters were being investigated under Section 336 of the Penal Code for endangering the safety of others.
It is believed the eight people involved in the Ipoh signboard stunt have gone to police while the crane climber has still not been found.
Edward Tron allegedly bragged about making 100,000 from drug smuggling as he plotted to sneak cocaine off his ship hidden in a hi-vis vest, a court has heard
A P&O ship steward allegedly bragged about making 100,000 from drug smuggling as he plotted to take cocaine off his ship hidden in a hi-vis vest, a court has heard.
Edward Tron, 51, was secretly filmed explaining to an undercover police officer how he planned to sew drugs into jackets so he could sneak cocaine on and off the Pride of Hull from Rotterdam.
At the time, Tron - who earnt 20,000 a year as P&O night steward - was found to have banked 138,000 over a four-year period, which the prosecution say was from drug smuggling.
He later told the undercover officer that he had frittered it away and was instead trying to bring in money through a smaller operation.
Today, the jury at Hull Crown Court was shown a 30-minute video recording of Tron allegedly confessing his entire drug operation to an undercover National Crime Squad officer.
The conversation took place in the officer's car outside a bookmakers in Hull on April 15 2015.
During the record, Tron told the officer he had smuggled 'charlie' with former crewmate John Heald, who had been jailed for two and a half years for money laundering.
He said the operation had gone bust because Heald had got greedy and was taking more than 10kg a time.
'He pushed it too far. He had done two trips,' he told the officer.
'We should have had 20,000 in the bank each - but the third he got collared. I didn't get nowt - I think he got away with my f****** money.
'Honestly it was a f****** dream. He f***** it up. He f***** it up by being greedy. The thing is he was 'clever c***.
He then bragged that he had been 'sitting on 100,000 in cash'.
'To me he has just f***** my life up,' he was recorded as saying. 'I had a sound life. Our lass gave her job up.
'How I f****** blew it I don't know. I was the kind bloke, buying every f***** drinks. This time I will save it.'
He added that he had promised his wife he would not waste his money again.
Tron was filmed saying: 'Even if I am making 4,000 - not making 10,000 - at least I can get my debts sorted.'
Mark Quilliam (left), Tron's colleague on the Pride of York, denies two charges of conspiracy to import cocaine. Susan Tron (right), 54, of Gateshead, has denied money laundering
Tron told the officer he did not want to get too many people involved and would introduce him to the method of moving drugs.
He said he previously used rucksacks but was planning instead to sew drugs in to the lining of their work jackets.
Tron was found with three jackets at his home on his arrest.
Tron said Heald had been rumbled when he took an 80 euro taxi in Amsterdam, leaving colleagues on board to wonder how he could afford it.
Tron said: 'I think that way he brought the heat on himself.'
Crown barrister Paul Jury said Tron earned 20,000 a year and his wife up to 9,000.
But, between 2008 and 2014, he made 138,000 in unexplained cash deposits.
'The Crown says the deposits are so regular and so large they are clear evidence of criminal activity,' said Mr Mitchell.
'The splitting of these to small amounts was to disguise from the banks what was happening.'
Mr Mitchell said Tron fell for the police sting after a recording device was placed in his cabin on board the Pride of Hull.
In police interview Tron told officers he had made up a fantasy and everything he had told the undercover officer was not true.
When arrested he told police : 'I used to know a bloke who was arrested for money laundering. Was it owt to do with that?'
Edward Tron, 51, of Gateshead and fellow P&O employee Mark Quilliam, a chef, on the Pride of York, of Liverpool, deny two charges of conspiracy to import cocaine.
Susan Tron, 54, of Gateshead, has denied a charge of money laundering.
Triple Crown winner American Pharoah has welcomed his first foal, conceived in exchange for a $200,000 stud fee.
The thoroughbred's first offspring was born Tuesday at Brookdale Farm in Versailles, Kentucky to maiden mare Kakadu, who comes from a lineage of award-winning horses.
American Pharoah retired after becoming the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years in 2015. He later mated with more than 200 mares in 115 days, meaning his offspring could generate $40 million.
The stud's owner, Ahmed Zayat, sold American Pharoah's breeding rights to Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Versailles for an undisclosed amount in May 2015.
American Pharoah's first foal (pictured) was born early on Tuesday in Brookdale Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, to maiden mare Kakadu
The thoroughbred became the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years in 2015. He is pictured crossing the finish line of the Belmont Stakes, the last of the Crown's three competitions
Brookdale Farm shared a photo of American Pharoah's first foal on Facebook. The racetrack royalty baby was born at 12.30am on Tuesday.
'He seems to be a big, strong, attractive boy,' Brookdale Farm general manager Fred Seitz Jr told the Lexington Herald-Leader.
No name has been announced yet for the new baby.
American Pharoah, who is almost five years old, won the Triple Crown in 2015, meaning he came first during the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes.
It was the first time since 1978 that a single horse had won all three events.
He went on to accomplish a Grand Slam after winning the Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Classic.
American Pharoah then retired and bred with more than 200 mares in 115 days for a $200,000 stud fee, ESPN reported in June. Zayat still owns an undisclosed share of the horse's stallion rights according to the network.
Gestation for mares last for 11 months on average, meaning there could be more American Pharoah offspring in the future. About 15 per cent of pregnancies do not see the birth of a live foal.
American Pharoah (pictured winning the Belmont Stakes and thus the Triple Crown) later retired and bred with more than 200 mares in 115 days for a $200,000 stud fee
President Barack Obama called for a smooth handover of control of the U.S. military to incoming commander in chief Donald Trump as he met Wednesday with military leaders for the last time.
'We've got to make sure that during this transition period that there is a seamless passing of the baton, that there's continuity,' the outgoing president said.
Obama said it was critical to ensure that 'we are doing everything we can to make sure that the next president will benefit from the same kinds of outstanding advice and service that these people around the table have provided me.'
President Barack Obama called for a smooth handover of control of the U.S. military to incoming commander in chief Donald Trump on Wednesday
The president was also honored at a farewell ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, a short drive from the White House
Prior to his remarks, Defense Secretary Ash Carter presented Obama with the Medal of Distinguished Public Service as a token of appreciation for his service as commander in chief
In praising the military Wednesday Obama appeared to call attention to traditions that Democrats are most concerned that Trump may not uphold
Obama said he was optimistic about the country's future because the military upholds 'the values of rule of law and professionalism and integrity, and recognizes our constitutional structure'
The president was also honored at a farewell ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, a short drive from the White House.
Addressing a room of men and women from the various branches of the military, Obama praised their service and sacrifice. He said there is 'no greater privilege and no greater honor' than serving as commander in chief.
'As I reflect on the challenges we have faced together and on those to come, I believe that one of the greatest tasks before our armed forces is to retain the high confidence that the American people rightly place in you,' Obama said.
'We must never hesitate to act when necessary to defend our nation, but we must also never rush into war because sending you into harm's way should be a last and not first resort.'
Prior to his remarks, Defense Secretary Ash Carter presented Obama with the Medal of Distinguished Public Service as a token of appreciation for his service as commander in chief.
In praising the military Wednesday Obama appeared to call attention to traditions that Democrats are most concerned that Trump may not uphold.
Obama's comments as he sat down with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the military's combatant commanders came amid concerns in military and diplomatic circles about how Trump may handle national security challenges.
Over the last few days, Trump has disputed the U.S. intelligence community's assessments about Russian hacking, insisted without explanation that North Korea won't develop a nuclear weapon that could hit the U.S. and questioned the worth of the United Nations.
Addressing a room of men and women from the various branches of the military, Obama praised their service and sacrifice
Obama said there is 'no greater privilege and no greater honor' than serving as commander in chief.
President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Ash Carter watch the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps perform a 'Troops In Review,' during an Armed Forces Full Honor Farewell Review for the president
Obama pointed to a handful of conflicts that Trump will inherit when he takes office on Jan. 20, including the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and in the Iraqi city of Mosul, the biggest ISIS stronghold in Iraq and last major Iraqi city where the extremist group still has control.
He also noted that the conflict in Afghanistan 'is still active.'
Trump has nominated retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis for defense secretary despite the prohibition on recently departed military members running the civilian-led Pentagon.
At one point in the campaign, Trump called for reinstating waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques.
Obama said he was optimistic about the country's future because the military upholds 'the values of rule of law and professionalism and integrity, and recognizes our constitutional structure.
Furthermore, it 'maintains strict adherence and respect for civilian authority and democratic practices in determining how we use the awesome force of the American military,' he stated.
We must never hesitate to act when necessary to defend our nation, but we must also never rush into war because sending you into harm's way should be a last and not first resort,' Obama said today
'As I reflect on the challenges we have faced together and on those to come, I believe that one of the greatest tasks before our armed forces is to retain the high confidence that the American people rightly place in you,' Obama said
A murder investigation has been launched after a man's body was found in a forest where he was reported missing with a woman who survived.
The pair, who have not been named, drove to Savage River State Forest in Grantsville, Maryland, separately on Tuesday night at around 5pm.
They were both reported missing by the same person at 2.15am.
At around 9am, the woman 'walked out' of the forest and sought help at the nearby home of a stranger.
She was taken to hospital with hypothermia.
A man has died and a woman been left with hypothermia in Savage River State Forest in Maryland overnight on Tuesday
The man's body was found after police helicopters scanned the woodland. It was lying next to a swamp found on private property.
Maryland State Police is investigating the incident but so far no arrests have been made.
'We have a lot of questions as this point,' said police spokesman Greg Shipley. While the cause of death has not yet been given, Shipley said there was evidence of trauma on the man's body.
Maryland Natural Resources Police, which looks after the state's forests and parks, was initially tasked with investigating it.
'Missing female located. Walked out of woods. Being treated by EMS. Search continuing by foot & helicopter for male in Savage River SF,' it said in a Twitter post at around 9am.
Maryland Natural Resources Police initially looked in to the incident but turned it over to State Police after learning the man's body was discovered on private property
Later, the department confirmed the man's body had been found.
'Body of male located by State Police helicopter. Officers in recovery effort now.'
They removed it from private property around an hour later. The relationship between the man and woman is not known.
State Police were unable to disclose what kind of property the man's body was found on.
There are camping grounds and a luxury retreat within the forest. An employee at the latter knew nothing of the incident when contacted by DailyMail.com.
It is not yet clear how the man died.
Labib Chammas, the husband of former deputy chief of mission Judith Chammas (above), pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of an employee at the couple's State Department-owned home in Morocco
A former US embassy official's husband has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a household staff member while they lived in State Department-owned housing in Morocco.
Sixty-five-year-old Labib Chammas of McLean, Virginia, also must register as a sex offender for 15 years and pay a $15,000 fine as part of his sentence, which the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia announced on Wednesday.
Chammas admitted as part of a plea agreement that he sexually abused the staff member from 2010 to 2013, while his wife, Judith Chammas, served as deputy chief of mission in Morocco.
He pleaded guilty to a single count of abusive sexual conduct.
Labib's attorney didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
In pleading guilty, Labib admitted that he sexually abused a woman who had worked at the Rabat residence for 16 years.
In pleading guilty, Labib Chammas admitted that he sexually abused a woman who had worked at the Rabat residence for 16 years. The US embassy in Rabat is seen above
According to the plea agreement, Labib supervised the staff at the residence and repeatedly threatened to fire staff members.
Out of fear that she would lose her job, the victim complied with Labib's requests that she massage his legs, hip and back, and then with his subsequent demands that she 'massage' his genitalia, the Justice Department said.
The United States has deployed dozens of special forces troops to the Baltic region in recent months in a bid to lift the morale of anxious European allies who are suspicious of Russia, it was learned on Wednesday.
The Americans are eager to help the small armies of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia repel any possible threat from their neighbor to the east.
The Baltic countries have grown increasingly nervous over President-elect Donald Trump's stated intentions to improve relations with Russia, The New York Times reported.
That is why the US and NATO allies plan to deploy battalions that number between 800 and 1,200 to each of the three Baltic countries and Poland by the spring.
During the election campaign, Trump said he would pursue a different policy that has been in place since the end of World War Two with respect to NATO.
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Members of the US 173rd Airborne Brigade clear an enemy trench during the Iron Sword multinational military exercises on November 24, 2016 near Pabrade, Lithuania. The US has sent dozens of special forces soldiers to the Baltic states in recent months
Trump said the US should only grant protection to European allies and NATO members who pay a greater share for their defense.
That remark in addition to Trump's public embrace of Putin sent alarm bells ringing in the capitals of Eastern European countries that have long felt menaced by the Russian Bear.
'They're scared to death of Russia,' General Raymond Thomas, the head of the Pentagon's Special Operations Command, said of the Baltic countries.
'They are very open about that. They're desperate for our leadership.'
The Americans are eager to help the small armies of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia repel any possible threat from their neighbor to the east. US troops are seen above preparing a simulated attack during the Iron Sword exercises in Lithuania
The Americans want to boost training of troops in the region as well as gain a greater ability to anticipate future Russian moves.
The US can help its Baltic friends with sophisticated intelligence and surveillance technology.
In turn, the Baltic militaries have a deep knowledge of Russian military capabilities as well as Russia's non-military means to undermine its adversaries, like hacking and spreading disinformation.
The Baltic governments have watched with apprehension as Russia has become increasingly aggressive in Ukraine and Crimea.
The Russians have also increased its military presence off the Baltic coast.
The US and its NATO allies have done some muscle-flexing of their own.
Donald Trump's (left) comments about wanting better relations with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin (right), have sowed doubts about the future of the US commitment to NATO
Since Russia's intervention in Ukraine three years ago, all three Baltic countries have boosted spending on defense equipment, according to the Times.
Since 2014, Latvia and Lithuania have had the two fastest-growing defense budgets in the world, IHS Jane's reported.
The alliance recently wrapped up its 'Iron Sword' exercise a large-scale military drill involving 4,000 soldiers from 11 different countries.
The exercise, which was held in Lithuania last month, was aimed at 'testing the combat readiness' of alliance members, NATO said.
The alliance wants to send the message that it is up to the task of defending itself if necessary.
Still, even with Trump set to take charge, it still anticipates the US will fulfil its historic role.
Lithuania's president, Dalia Grybauskaite told the Associated Press recently that as 'the guarantor of peace after the Second World War in Europe,' the United States long has shared responsibility for the continent's safety.
'We expect that this mission, and this understanding, will stay,' she said.
The American special forces troops who have been stationed in the region are also sending a message to Russia.
This adorable baby orangutan has certainly put the zoo in Zoolander - by making a 'Blue Steel' pout just like Ben Stiller's character in the film.
The unnamed infant was born on December 20 at the Brookfield Zoo near Chicago, IL, and seemed content and unbothered as she clings to her mother's chest during her first public appearance on Tuesday.
Her mother, Sophia, can be seen chomping on lettuce and nursing the baby girl while excited zoo-goers and camera crews watch in awe.
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A baby orangutan made her first public debut to the public on Tuesday morning, January 3 at Brookfield Zoo, near Chicago
The adorable newborn orangutan put the zoo in Zoolander by making a 'Blue Steel' face just like Ben Stiller's character in the film
Sophia seems to take to motherhood easily as this is her fourth birth at Brookfield and sixth overall.
At ease, she swings from trees, has a snack, and chases after one of her other offspring, all with an infant latched onto her chest.
Nava Greenblatt, the lead keeper of primates at the Brookfield Zoo told the Tribune that the birth was completely natural and that they do not interfere in any way.
The unnamed infant was born on December 20 and seemed content and unbothered as she clings to her mothers chest during her first public appearance
The pair only make public appearances sporadically for the time being, and are normally kept off exhibit and watched by zoo staff for signs of good health and bonding.
Greenblatt said Sophia bounced back quickly from the birth and 8.5 month gestation period.
Nava Greenblatt, the lead keeper of primates at the Brookfield Zoo told the Tribune that the birth was completely natural and that they do not interfere in any way
The orangutan population is a critically endangered one, as its habitat in Southeast Asia is rapidly shrinking.
Zoo staff were excited that the 35-year-old female was encouraged to breed again with the infant's father Ben, and were also excited to learn that the baby's gender due to an imbalance of males to females in the domestic population.
Orangutans are very similar to humans in their upbringing, with long childhoods and being nursed to the age of five.
President Barack Obama will bow out of the fight over his signature law once he exits the Oval Office.
Obama's leaving congressional Democrats to pick up the pieces after Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers take a sledgehammer to the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
'Its going to be time for somebody else to pick up the mantle,' his spokesman, Josh Earnest, said today.
President Barack Obama will bow out of the fight over his signature law once he exits the Oval Office, the White House said today
Obama's leaving congressional Democrats to pick up the pieces after Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers take a sledgehammer to the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare
Obama made a final visit to Capitol Hill today before Trump's Jan. 20 swearing in to show his 'gratitude' to Democrats for their loyalty during his eight years in office and to encourage them in their battle over healthcare with Republicans
The White House cast the announcement as an 'opportunity' for the next generation of Democratic leaders to prove their mettle.
The president 'is enormously proud' of his record - he took on a challenge that presidents of both parties had tried and failed to address and 'succeeded in getting it done' - but 'it's time for fresh blood,' Obama's spokesman said.
'The president thinks that's important for the country,' Earnest stated. 'It also ends up being important for the Democratic Party in terms of making sure that the next generation of Democrats is ready to take up the mantle.'
Republicans are making quick work of a campaign promise to disassemble the law Obama drained his political capital forcing through the federal legislature his first year in office.
Senate Republicans have already passed a resolution giving lawmakers the means to to strip away the parts of the law they oppose while he retains office. Republicans in the House will do the same. Obamacare could be no more before President-elect Donald Trump even takes office.
Obama made a final visit to Capitol Hill today before Trump's Jan. 20 swearing in to show his 'gratitude' to Democrats for their loyalty during his eight years in office and to encourage them in their battle over healthcare with Republicans.
'Even though Democrats will not have that kind of cooperative partner that they've enjoyed for the last eight years in the White House, they still have a set of values and priorities worth fighting for,' Earnest said Obama told his fellow Democrats.
The president expressed his 'envy for the opportunity that they have to keep up that fight,' Earnest said, 'his confidence in their ability to not only wage those fights with passion' and 'confidence in their ability to succeed.'
The president advised them on what he believes are 'effective tactics' for winning the messaging war but he did not give them legislative marching orders, the White House says.
He did not join Democratic leaders at a press conference after the meeting, where they recast Trump's 'Make America Great Again' slogan as 'Make America Sick Again'
Obama did not join Democratic leaders at a press conference after the meeting, where they recast Trump's 'Make America Great Again' slogan as 'Make America Sick Again.'
The Democratic president told members of his party during a question and answer session beforehand that he's leaving the national stage' and it's their job now to defend the healthcare law they he begged them to pass.
That is what the Constitution requires. That's certainly consistent with his wife's preferences, and its going to be time for somebody else to pick up the mantle,' Earnest stated.
'Does that mean that the president is any less committed to these issues than he was before? Of course not?
Earnest left the door open to future engagement on the topic if Obama feels that basic fundamental American values are being undermined by a specific policy proposal.
'But it is his hope, and I would say even his expectation that that is not something that he will have to do,' he added.
He doesn't intend to involve himself in 'routine public engagement' on the issue - 'that's the responsibility of Congress. That's the responsibility of the next generation of Democrats,' Earnest stated.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest left the door open to future engagement on the topic if Obama feels that basic fundamental American values are being undermined by a specific policy proposal'
'And look it's a remarkable opportunity. They're on the playing field, fighting for the issues and priorities and values that this party and this country had long stood for, and there's nobility in that,' the president's press secretary said.
The White House says another reason Obama will stay out of the public spat over healthcare is to give his successor the breathing room he was afforded when he took office by George W. Bush.
'The president has been clear about post White House plans. He's gonna take a vacation and he expects to be in a position that he can observe and follow the traditions that previous presidents have shown.'
Obama believes that Trump should have the 'opportunity to go and lead the country in the direction that he believes is right,' Earnest indicated.
He also thinks 'it's time for the next generation of Democrats and even some Republicans who share his values to speak up and speak out.'
'It's time for them to get the spotlight. It's time for them to have an opportunity to make that argument.'
Obama thinks 'it's time for the next generation of Democrats and even some Republicans who share his values to speak up and speak out,' his spokesman said
That doesn't mean that Obama, whose leased a house in Washington not too far from his current stomping grounds, will be idle.
The 55-year-old former president will return to his roots as a community organizer, training future public servants and promoting entrepreneurship, the White House says.
'He still has a lot of ambition, and a lot more that he would like to do. Most of it he hopes that he will be able to do behind the scenes,' Earnest told reporters today.
Facing inquiries about Obama's future, Earnest said, 'I don't want to leave you with the impression that... there's still not a lot of important work for former President Obama to be engaged in.
The leader of Italy's populist Five Star movement has caused a stir by accusing the country's journalists of 'manufacturing false news'.
Comic Beppe Grillo, founder of the anti-euro movement, lashed out at print and TV journalists, accusing them of fabricating news to keep his party, the Five Stars, down.
'Newspapers and television news programmes are the biggest manufacturers of false news in the country, with the aim of ensuring those who have power keep it,' he said on his blog on Tuesday.
He called for 'a popular jury to determine the veracity of the news published,' and said in cases of fake news 'the editor must, head bowed, make a public apology and publish the correct version at the start of the programme or on the paper's front page'.
Comic Beppe Grillo, founder of the anti-euro movement, lashed out at print and TV journalists
Grillo said members of the general public 'picked at random' would be shown newspaper articles and programmes and asked 'to determine their accuracy.'
The blog was accompanied by a montage of the banners and logos of Italy's main newspapers and television news programmes.
The media world was enraged by comments, as were politicians from Italy's traditional parties.
The news director of the private TG La7 channel, Enrico Mentana, said he would sue the comedian, while journalists' union FNSI slammed the 'lynching of all journalists'.
Grillo is campaigning hard for the next general election, which could be held in coming months
The opposition Five Stars was running neck-and-neck with the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD) before Matteo Renzi's downfall last month and Grillo is campaigning hard for the next general election, which could be held in coming months.
What Grillo is proposing 'is called Fascism, and those who play it down are accomplices,' PD senator Stefano Esposito said.
The centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, founded by ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, said Grillo wanted a 'minculpop 2.0', a reference to the propaganda and censorship ministry under dictator Benito Mussolini.
Grillo has had a difficult relationship with the media since launching the Five Stars (M5S) in 2009, banning members from appearing on talk shows and giving international media priority over their Italian counterparts at his rallies.
His claim that journalists were to blame for the country's poor standing on the World Press Freedom Index - where it ranks 77th - was dismissed by the editor in chief of the Repubblica daily.
'It's not because of an enslavement to power, but the opposite: there are too many journalists threatened by the mafia and organised crime groups over their investigations into shady dealings and corruption,' Mario Calabresi said.
Grillo said members of the general public 'picked at random' would be shown newspaper articles and programmes and asked 'to determine their accuracy'
'And if that wasn't enough, we hold the record for the number of lawsuits against journalists brought by politicians who cannot bear the idea that someone would look into their business or criticise them,' he added.
Marco Travaglio, editor of the far-left Il Fatto Quotidiano daily, agreed with Grillo but said the popular jury idea would never work.
'The biggest lies are those spread by the television and newspapers, but the solution he is proposing is naive,' he said.
Grillo's comments follow widespread debate in the United States and Britain over whether fake news may have played a part in persuading people to vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump and for Brexit.
to leave the EU in less than three months time
to engage with Merkel is causing some 'concern' in Whitehall
Prime Minister Theresa May has an 'almost non-existent' with German chancellor Angela Merkel causing concern among senior British officials about imminent Brexit negotiations.
Britain is set to trigger Article 50 and begin negotiations to leave the EU in less than three months time.
However, despite six months as PM, officials are dismayed that May has been unable to strike up a relationship with Merkel, reports the Telegraph.
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Prime Minister Theresa has an 'almost non-existent' with German chancellor Angela Merkel, according to senior officials
The news comes as Sir Ivan Rogers, the UK's top diplomat in Brussels, resigned over the 'muddled thinking' surrounding Brexit.
In his 1,400-word resignation letter Sir Ivan added that ministers needed to hear 'unvarnished' and 'uncomfortable' views from Europe.
The concern reflects the growing difference in viewpoints between Downing Street and Whitehall.
'The relationship is basically non-existent which is a big worry. Mrs Merkel can't fix everything but she is still the only game in town when it comes to making things happen in Europe. We need that relationship in working order,' a senior UK government source told the Telegraph.
In December the feelings surrounding the Brexit challenge were laid bare as European leaders gave May the cold shoulder at a key EU summit in Brussels
As the other 27 heads of state hugged and kissed ahead of the meeting, the Prime Minister was left fiddling with her cuffs with no one to talk to
They added that, while Merkel had often talked about David Cameron, May 'hardly gets a mention'.
In December the feelings surrounding the Brexit challenge were laid bare as European leaders gave May the cold shoulder at a key EU summit in Brussels.
As the other 27 heads of state hugged and kissed ahead of the meeting, the Prime Minister was left with no one to talk to.
It is believed that Merkel is taking a hard line on Brexit as Berlin closes ranks with Paris against the UK.
Merkel reportedly had a good relationship with former Prime Minister David Cameron but May 'hardly gets a mention'
Sir Ivan Rogers, pictured, unexpectedly quit as Britain's ambassador to the EU yesterday
However, Merkel has hinted she might be prepared to do a deal on free movement rules with Britain.
She said the EU must 'discuss further' the principle of free movement amid growing concern across the continent about its impact.
But the Chancellor's remarks stand in stark contrast to other EU politicians who have insisted there can be no watering down of the bloc's principles just to suit the UK.
Merkel has also been warned that Britain and Germany must have a comprehensive trade deal after Brexit.
Bavarian Economy Minister Ilse Aigner said the UK quitting the EU was a 'high risk' to the German economy.
Group home resident Lindale Cunningham, 32, has been charged with murder in the death of a 66-year-old employee
A group home resident is behind bars after he allegedly stabbed an employee to death with a steak knife.
Lindale Cunningham, 32, has been charged with murder in the death of 66-year-old Sally Berry.
Berry was found in a pool of blood by another employee at the Community Alternatives of Elizabethtown, which is part of the ResCare organization.
Authorities arrived at the scene around 3.45am on Wednesday and said Cunningham admitted to the murder.
Hardin County Sheriff John Ward said it remains unknown what led to the stabbing.
'We didn't receive a call of a fight or anything like that,' he told WDRB.
'We just received a call from the worker coming in to relieve the victim and that's when she found the victim laying on the floor.'
Cunningham was one of three patients in the home at the time of the murder.
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Sally Berry was found in a pool of blood by another employee at the Community Alternatives of Elizabethtown (pictured), which is part of the ResCare organization
Courtesy WDRB
ResCare claims to be the largest private provider of services to people with disabilities in the country.
The company said Berry had given 'years of dedicated service as a caregiver'.
'Our number one priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of each and every one of our clients and staff members at all times,' it said in a statement.
'We are cooperating fully with the police investigation.'
A French olive farmer, who has become a folk hero for helping African migrants slip across the border from Italy and giving them shelter, went on trial today for aiding illegal immigrants.
Cedric Herrou, 37, is one of three people to appear before the courts in southern France for assisting migrants fleeing war, poverty and persecution to Europe.
He is accused of 'helping undocumented foreigners enter, move about and reside in' France and risks up to five years in prison and a 30,000 euro (25,500) fine if convicted.
Cedric Herrou (pictured) told around 300 supporters outside the court: 'If we have to break the law to help people, let's do it'
As his trial began in Nice today, he struck an unrepentant tone, telling the judge: 'I'm doing it because there are people in need. I'm doing it because it has to be done... Families are suffering.'
Herrou's olive farm sits in a valley on the border of France and Italy, near a popular route for migrants trying to slip past French border controls, which were reimposed in 2015 after the Paris attacks and strengthened after last year's Nice massacre.
He has been unapologetic about helping migrants and told around 300 supporters outside the courthouse: 'If we have to break the law to help people, let's do it.'
African migrants cry as Italian police attempt to remove them at the Franco-Italian border between Menton and Ventimiglia, Italy. Herrou has been unapologetic about helping migrants STOCK PHOTO
'Our role is to help people overcome danger, and the danger is this border,' he said, accusing French police of detaining 'thousands' of children and dumping them back across the border.
In October, Herrou led a group of activists who occupied a disused holiday village belonging to state railway company SNCF and opened it up to a group of migrants.
Police intervened after three days to evacuate the makeshift camp, arresting Herrou.
Cutting a bohemian figure with his black beard, round glasses and flat cap, he claimed he was picking up the slack for 'a state that put borders in place and is absolutely not managing the consequences.'
Herrou (pictured) cut a bohemian figure as he appeared in court and he refused to apologise for his actions when he addressed the judge
Two months earlier, he had been arrested for trying to smuggle eight Eritrean migrants by car from Italy into France.
That case was later dropped, with prosecutors acknowledging that he acted on humanitarian grounds.
But their patience has worn thin with Herrou and others, like a 73-year-old academic who was convicted and fined 1,500 euros last month for a similar offence.
A university researcher was also prosecuted in October after being caught giving a lift to three Eritrean women near Nice, shortly after their arrival from Italy.
Septuagenarian suspect: Ali Zafar, 73, has been arrested for allegedly opening fire on his relatives, three of whom were killed
A long-simmering family feud over money boiled over early Wednesday when police in Southern California a 73-year-old man killed three relatives and critically wounded a fourth.
Ali Zafar, of Escondido, was arrested on suspicion of homicide shortly after the shootings inside an apartment in Fontana, police Sergeant Kevin Goltara said.
When officers entered the apartment, they found two women and one man dead from gunshot wounds. Another male victim was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
NBC Los Angeles reported, citing police sources, that the victims were Zafars nieces and nephews and the killings stemmed from a long-standing financial dispute.
Six gunshots were reported shortly before 3am and responding officers confronted a male suspect with a gun walking inside the Village Drive Apartments at 14520 Village Drive in Fontana, Goltara said.
Six shots were reported inside the Village Drive Apartments in Fontana, California, overnight
The man, later identified as Ali Zafar, complied with orders to drop the gun and was taken into custody without further incident, according to police.
Police Sgt. Keith Zagorin told the Sun newspaper that the shootings took place inside a second-floor apartment, and it appears at least one person was shot while asleep in bed.
Another woman in the home managed to flee the apartment unharmed, police said.
Officials said the two-bedroom apartment had a modified living room where people slept.
Neighbor Eddie Frias told The Press-Enterprise that the man who was critically wounded in the shooting sought refuge inside an apartment occupied by Frias' sister.
Blood money: Police say Zafar, pictured left and right, shot two of his nieces and two nephews, three of them fatally. Another woman managed to escape unharmed. The killings stemmed from a long-standing financial dispute
According to Frias, the injured man said his uncle shot him in the mouth and his sister proceeded to try and stop the victim's bleeding using towels.
'It took three large bath towels and they were just soaked in blood,' Frias recounted.
they had no idea who the perpetrators of the unusual crime were
A man in Germany returned home from a night shift to find he could not get into his house - because a brick wall had been built across the front door.
The unfortunate homeowner came back to his house in Mainhausen, near Frankfurt, on Monday morning to find that a wall had been built during the night.
The man had to take an axe and smash down the wall to let himself into his house, police said.
Police in the town, in the state of Hesse, told local media that they had no idea who the perpetrators of the unusual crime were.
A man in Germany came home from working a night shift to find a brick wall had been built across the door
Police spokesman Ingbery Zacharias said the man 'must have felt like a Berliner in August 1961,' referring to East Germany's unannounced sealing of its border with the Berlin Wall.
'That went up pretty quickly, too,' he joked to German website hessenschau.de.
Mr Zacharias told news agency dpa that officers did not know whether the wall had been constructed as a prank, a dare or an act of revenge.
The incident happened in the town of Mainhausen, near Frankfurt, in the state of Hesse
'We don't know if it was a prank. It could also be revenge or a dare,' Zacharias said.
'It's a crime and no joke,' he added.
An estimated 500 (425) worth of damage was done to the property, police added.
A former British soldier who was stopped by police as he boarded a plane to fight ISIS in Syria received 'extremely nasty' threats from Islamic extremists after his arrest, a court heard.
Robert Clarke was stopped by anti-terror police as he prepared to board a flight from Heathrow to Jordan in September last year. He had allegedly planned to meet up with Kurdish fighters who would take him to the front line in Syria.
The 23-year-old, who served in the Army for four years, was arrested after he refused to give detectives his smartphone passcode so they could examine the device.
Robert Clarke, pictured, was stopped by police as he prepared to board a flight from Heathrow to Jordan in September last year. He later received threats from Islamic extremists
Clarke was remanded in custody last month after pleading guilty to obstructing or frustrating a Schedule Seven search under the Terrorism 2000 Act.
Westminster Magistrates' Court heard today that Clarke had received 'extremely nasty threats' from Islamic extremists while in prison and had spent time in solitary confinement.
Mitigating, Karina Claire said Clarke, who is unemployed, had moved from his home in Wales to an address in London following the threats.
She said: 'As a result of press coverage he was sent extremely nasty threats from Islamic extremists or people purporting to support Islamic extremism.
'When he went into custody on the last occasion I received a phone call from a member of staff at the prison he went to and they had concerns about his safety in prison given he had openly said he wanted to fight ISIS.
'There are a number of people there on remand for cases of terrorism or supporting that offence of terrorism who would not take kindly to the presence of someone like Mr Clarke. He had to spend time in solitary confinement.'
Westminster Magistrates' Court heard today that Clarke had received 'extremely nasty threats' from Islamic extremists while in prison and had spent time in solitary confinement
Louise Gray, prosecuting, said Clarke had first come to the attention of police in July last year because information on his social media accounts suggested he wanted to fight ISIS on behalf of the Kurds.
Police contacted him four times to advise him of the dangers of travelling to Syria and had also given him leaflets on the issues.
However on September 8 Clarke informed police officers he was booked on a flight to Jordan. He was subsequently stopped at Heathrow and later refused to hand over his smartphone passcode.
He then told detectives during the interview: 'I ain't telling you s**t, charge me with perverting the court of justice, f**k your interview and f**k you.'
Ms Claire told the court Clarke had wanted to protect 'women and children' and that his cause was 'humanitarian'. She said he had packed 'medical supplies' but admitted he had also packed 'military paraphenalia' and items 'to defend himself in armed combat'.
District Jude John Zani told Clarke: 'I am afraid Mr Clarke we live in difficult and potentially dangerous times when frustration has to be relaxed when you're asked to supply important information by police officers, who are merely doing their job trying got keep everyone, including yourself safe.
'Nobody knows what was on your phone because you never handed over your pin. Had you not served the time you have you would almost certainly be going to prison.'
Joseph Talbot (pictured), 43, of Newark, was arrested last week in Wayne County and charged with driving while intoxicated
A bank executive who was charged with drunk driving in Upstate New York bought hundreds of copies of his local newspaper in a failed bid to hide his arrest, the newspaper's editor has said.
Bank vice-president Joseph Talbot, 43, of Newark, was arrested last week in Wayne County and charged with driving while intoxicated. Police said they had seen his car swerving on Route 31 around 10pm Thursday, after which Talbot failed sobriety tests.
Talbot is also accused of refusing to be fingerprinted and photographed, telling officers he didn't want his mugshot to appear in the paper. But officials took his photo regardless and the Times Of Wayne County ran it on Saturday along with a story - and also published it on its website.
Several newsstands called the paper Saturday morning saying a man identified as Talbot had bought all of the copies, according to an update posted by the Times Of Wayne County. The paper's editor and owner Ron Holdraker said Talbot had bought almost 1,000 copies.
Talbot's refusal to have his photo and fingerprints taken earned him an additional obstruction charge. Police said he also declined to provide a breath sample.
The Newark man bought all the copies of the Times Of Wayne County at several newsstands in the Newark area in an apparent effort to keep his mugshot from circulating, the Times Of Wayne County reported after receiving phone calls from the sellers.
Talbot bought almost 1,000 copies costing $1.25 each, NBC New York reported citing Holdraker. The Times Of Wayne County has a circulation of about 12,000.
A store clerk told WHAM he had bought 70 copies from her.
'He told me he went to about four, five other stores before he got here,' Amber Streeter said. 'Also that he wasn't going to stop until he bought every paper out.'
The newspaper had obtained the mugshot from the county jail and had published it both in its pages and online.
The newsstands were later restocked and Talbot's story ended up making national headlines.
Afghan-born Jamshid Piruz (pictured) was allowed to enter the UK unchallenged despite being a convicted murderer
A convicted murderer from Holland was able to walk through Britains porous borders without any checks and went on to attack two police officers with a claw-hammer.
Afghan-born Jamshid Piruz was allowed to enter the UK unchallenged despite being sentenced to 12 years in jail for slaughtering his female tenant in cold-blood after watching a Taliban beheading video.
Fury erupted after it emerged that the jobless 34-year-old was the latest in a string of foreign criminals to commit horrific offences in Britain after exploiting EU free movement rules.
MPs condemned the shocking lack of checks on offenders from the EU which left gaping holes in UK border controls.
European countries have no obligation to alert the UK about convictions of murderers or sex offenders, meaning many are able to travel to the UK unhindered.
Outraged critics blasted the embattled Home Office for allowing the scandal, by failing to ensure the authorities were notified about EU convicts before they set foot on our shores.
Politicians have called for Home Secretary Amber Rudd to introduce a tougher US-style warning system to flag up whether any traveller has a conviction as they attempt to enter Britain.
Failure to control the countrys borders and the number of serious criminals arriving here was a major reason why millions of people voted for Britain to leave the Brussels bloc last June.
Piruz, who was a permanent Dutch resident, will be sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty to an appalling hammer attack on PC Jessica Chick and PC Stewart Young, of Sussex Police, on January 7 last year.
PC Young was taken to hospital with head injuries but later recovered.
The officers were later praised in Parliament by ministers for their bravery.
Piruz had been in the UK a matter of days when he launched a frenzied assault on two police officers as they investigated a burglary in Crawley, West Sussex
Piruz had been in the UK a matter of days when he launched the frenzied assault on the officers as they investigated a burglary in Crawley, West Sussex.
Days earlier he had assaulted a member of staff at Gatwick Airport but was released onto the streets by local magistrates.
Piruz got into Britain despite being a convicted murderer in Holland. In June 2006, he murdered his Chinese female tenant by cutting off her head at a house in Almere, a city close to Amsterdam.
Court documents in Holland said he was inspired by Taliban movies in which beheadings were seen.
It is staggering that someone could assault staff at Gatwick and then a couple of days later attack two police officers.
The files said he locked his victim in her room, snatched her mobile phone, then cut her throat.
They said he acted intentionally and with premeditation.
Rejecting his plea of insanity, Dutch judges concluded: The killing of the victim was not the result of an instantaneous violent emotion, but a decision to do so.
Piruz was convicted of murder in August 2007 and sentenced to 12 years behind bars.
He was released in 2014, after serving seven years. As a permanent Dutch resident, the killer was allowed to travel freely across the EU.
Last night WED Tory MP Henry Smith, who represents Crawley, said: The country has got to have tougher border controls. Clearly, being a member of the EU did not protect us on this occasion.
A very dangerous individual was allowed to travel here without us having prior knowledge that hed committed murder in the Netherlands.
It is staggering that someone could assault staff at Gatwick and then a couple of days later attack two police officers.
Why was the information that he was a violent offender not available to us from our EU partners?
Why was the information that he was a violent offender not available to us from our EU partners?
This is an appalling example of the kind of people who are getting into the country undetected.
Piruz pleaded guilty at Hove to two counts of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, burglary and affray.
Two counts of attempted burglary and one of threatening with an offensive weapon will lie on file.
Simon Blackford, defending, said there was a long gap between the murder and the latest offences.
He said: This offence was committed at a time of stress for my client. He was in a foreign country. He seems to have been vulnerable. He seems to have been hallucinating.
He was very confused by the vehicles driving on a different side of the road than he was used to.
Politicians have called for Home Secretary Amber Rudd to introduce a tougher US-style warning system to flag up whether any traveller has a conviction
When EU nationals arrive at the border, their passport details are checked against a watchlist of suspected terrorists and foreign criminals compiled by the border agency.
But unless an offender is high profile, is known to have committed crimes in several countries, or is on the Interpol wanted list, the system is unlikely to be aware of their previous convictions leaving a gaping hole in our border controls.
Except in the most extreme circumstances, Brussels does not force member states to share information on known criminals who might be planning to travel.
France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland flag up potential dangermen to the UK so they can be put on a watchlist and turned away at the port or airport.
But if countries do not warn the UK that a dangerous offender is on the way and some do not even keep information of convictions for their own internal use there is little we can do to stop them slipping through the net.
Even if a new arrival does have a known conviction, they cannot automatically be picked up and refused entry.
Normally, a person can be excluded from the UK only if they pose a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to society and the public.
This is an appalling example of the kind of people who are getting into the country undetected.
This means that it is not enough for an EU citizen to have a serious criminal conviction if it is some time in the past, the UK may fall foul of Brussels directives if they refuse to allow that person into the country.
In a bid to tighten up Britains borders, the Government has finally negotiated access to the Second Generation Schengen Information System, known as SIS II, which has details of 250,000 wanted or missing people.
But the system, used by 28 countries, will only issue alerts about the most dangerous on-the-run criminals as well as suspected jihadists returning from Syria and Iraq, missing people and stolen goods.
President Obama has made an emotional pitch to President-elect Donald Trump not to reverse his executive actions that have shielded immigrants brought here illegally as children from deportation.
He told Democrats in a closed door meeting he felt strongly about the issue in personal terms, and apparently has made a similar appeal to his successor.
The issue is politically fraught and was central to Democratic appeals to Hispanic voters in their opposition to Trump's election.
'He said ... he felt very strongly about this and he understood former presidents are supposed to step back from the field, but he said this one means so much to him personally that he would not step away from the responsibility of saying something if necessary,' Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois told NBC.
Durbin said he asked Obama about the issue during a caucus meeting where Democrats strategized about how to protect Obamacare from Republican repeal.
President Obama has urged President-elect Donald Trump not to deport DREAMers children brought here illegally by their parents, according to lawmakers
'His message was, those are good kids who didn't do anything wrong,' a lawmaker told Politico. 'That was heartfelt. He brought that up,' the lawmaker added. Obama 'spoke to Trump very directly' about the issue, according to the publication.
The two men met in person at the White House and have had multiple phone conversations since.
Obama's personal plea stands in contrast to how the White House said he would proceed when it comes to his namesake legacy of Obamacare.
'It's time for somebody else to pick up the mantle,' White House press secretary Josh Earnest said, when discussing whether Obama planned to defend the law after he leaves the White House.
Obama signed the executive actions, called DACA, to protect the DREAMers after the collapse of bipartisan immigration reform legislation in 2012. Democrats including Hillary Clinton featured the move in their campaigns, while Trump vowed to reverse Obama's actions.
Trump called for reversing Obama's immigration actions during the elections, but has soften his rhetoric in more recent comments
US President Barack Obama signs two Presidential Memoranda associated with his Executive Actions on immigration in his office on board Air Force One in Las Vegas, Nevada, November 21, 2014
Immigration reform supporters rally outside of the Supreme Court as oral arguments are heard on President Obama's executive actions which would help defer deportation for undocumented people in April
Illinois senator Richard Durbin said Obama told Democrats he 'felt very strongly' about the immigration issue
Obama took additional actions to protect the parents of immigrant children who are U.S. citizens, but none of the moves have the force of permanent law.
Trump sounded open to the appeal during an interview with Time magazine last month, despite his vows to reverse Obama on the issue.
'We're going to work something out that's going to make people happy and proud,' Trump said.
Tony Blair yesterday announced he is ploughing almost 10million into his new crusade against 'populists'.
The former Prime Minister has vowed to use his riches and influence to fight Brexit and stop Britain quitting the European Union.
He is winding up his secretive money-making empire and setting up the Tony Blair Institute, a not-for-profit organisation entirely owned by him.
Yesterday, as his firms' annual accounts were published, he revealed he is giving 9.3million from his companies to the new institute, whose purpose will be to tackle 'the new populism' which he said was driving the world apart on Brexit and other issues.
Tony Blair has vowed to use his riches and influence to fight Brexit and stop Britain quitting the European Union
But as usual, Mr Blair's accounts do not reveal how much money he has taken for himself on his 'final payday' before he starts working for free.
The complex web of companies named Windrush and Firerush - was set up ten years ago in such a way that it is impossible to see what he earned.
However the accounts do offer a clue that profits may have risen significantly in the past year.
Tony and his wife Cherie own 38 properties worth more than 32million
From the limited information available, a firm named Windrush Ventures No. 3 appears to be the real money-maker for Mr Blair.
Because it is a 'limited partnership', it is not obliged to make public its profits.
Yet the accounts show that this firm was able to pay out a share of profits worth 3.2million to other Windrush companies a 42 per cent increase on a similar profit share paid last year.
It was also able to pay out nearly 15million to other Windrush companies for admin services.
Mr Blair has pledged to work for nothing at his new institute. His office said yesterday: 'On his instruction, the articles of association stipulate that he will not receive any salary or remuneration for this role.'
The millionaire ex-Labour leader has previously suggested he is not worth more than 20million, even though he and his wife Cherie own 38 properties worth more than 32million.
When he announced last September that he was winding down his Windrush and Firerush companies, after years of raking in millions of pounds from foreign despots, Mr Blair claimed he wanted to concentrate on charity work.
The dramatic move was interpreted as a desperate bid to salvage his reputation, shortly after it was trashed by the Chilcot report into the Iraq war. But critics suggested that he had simply made so much money, he did not need any more.
Blair has been holding clandestine meetings with like-minded 'progressives' such as former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg
Now Mr Blair says he is returning to the Westminster stage to 'play at least a small part' in shaping the UK's future.
He says his new institute will 'inform and support' political leaders, but insists he is not looking for office himself.
He has said: 'This is not about my returning to the front line of politics. I have made it abundantly clear that this is not possible.
Tony Blair is winding up his secretive money-making empire and setting up the Tony Blair Institute, a not-for-profit organisation entirely owned by him
'However, I care about my country and the world my children and grandchildren will grow up in; and want to play at least a small part in contributing to the debate about the future of both.' His first grandchild was born in October.
In recent weeks, Mr Blair, 63, has been holding clandestine meetings with like-minded 'progressives' such as former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg to draw up plans aimed at keeping Britain in the EU.
In November, he declared that Brexit 'can be stopped' because he said many Leave supporters would change their minds once they realised the economic case 'doesn't stack up'.
Explaining his new not-for-profit institute, Mr Blair said it was 'not a think tank', but 'a platform for engagement to inform and support the practising politician'.
It would 'build a new policy agenda for the centre ground' with networks to link people together.
Hopes nations restore co-operation after an investigation into training material
Defence Minister Marise Payne has denied Australia recruited Indonesian military officers as spies while defending the government's handling of a military suspension between the countries.
Senator Payne is hopeful Indonesia will restore military co-operation with Australia after an investigation into offensive material seen at Perth military base caused military co-operation between the two nations to be put on ice.
It's believed the offensive material involved a reference to West Papua and the ridiculing of Indonesia's national ideology, Pancasila.
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Elite Indonesian army special forces command known Kopassus stand in formation
Defence Minister Marise Payne has denied Australia recruited Indonesian military officers as spies
The Indonesia's military chief General Gatot Nurmantyo has been quoted by the ABC saying he stopped sending his best soldiers for training in Australia out of fears they would be 'recruited'.
Senator Payne told ABC Radio she vehemently denied the claim, voicing her confidence an inquiry would resume relations between the two nations.
'It is something we would not countenance..I would hope at the conclusion of the inquiry, when we're able to indicate to Indonesia the steps that have been taken in Australia to address any of these concerns, we'll be able to discuss resuming the relationship across the board then,' she said.
'The investigation requires an examination of materials, interviews with the Australians involved and an opportunity for the Indonesian officer to comment, these things need to done appropriately and fairly which takes time,' the minister said.
She knew about the issue back in November, however only wrote to her Indonesian counterpart this week.
The issue had been handled between Australia's chief of defence force and chief of army, Senator Payne said.
Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne (pictured right) met her Indonesian counterpart Ryamizard Ryacudu in Jakarta last year
A group of Indonesian military staff college students was due to visit Australia but that arrangement was cancelled.
Senator Payne said Indonesia's participation in an upcoming muli-national naval exercise is up in the air.
Indonesia's Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu has said the Australian lieutenant involved in the incident had been punished, but Senator Payne refused to confirm any action.
Retired Major General Jim Molan predicts the issue will blow over soon.
'We can be insensitive at the bottom level, not at the top level,' he told Sky News.
'We can be irreverent at the bottom level and the Indonesians can be overly sensitive all the way up and down their chain.'
Indonesian Army's Kopassus special forces patrol outside the venues of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Indonesian Special Forces group Kopassus trains with the Special Air Service at Perth's Campbell Barracks.
A Kopassus instructor was offended by material on display at the training facility, Indonesian newspaper Kompas reported.
The material was insulting to the Indonesian state ideology of Pancasila, which is symbolised by a Javan hawk-eagle.
The Indonesian trainer in Perth was upset this symbol had been mocked, online news website Abadikini said.
An Indonesian military officer was upset his nation's Pancasila symbol of independence had been mocked. (Pictured is a Javan hawk-eagle symbol outside an official building)
The Australian Defence Association said it was hypocritical for Indonesians to be offended by the ridicule of Pancasila democracy as Jakarta's Christian Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama faced blasphemy charges for insulting Islam.
'Jakarta governor's politically-motivated 'blasphemy' trial genuinely contravenes Pancasila, so odd cause cited for Australian-Indonesian military cooperation problem,' the Canberra-based think tank said.
Indonesia executed Australian drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran in 2015 despite believing in the Pancasila principle of 'just and civilised humanity'.
Leslie Van Houten - Murderer - In prison
She met Charles Manson and the Family in 1968 as a 19-year-old and moved onto his ranch.
Van Houten quickly became infatuated with the monster, and she committed murder less than a year later.
She walked into the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and stabbed the latter 16 times.
Shortly after she was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1971, California banned executions, so her tariff was changed to life.
In April last year, having had 19 of her previous parole hearings thrown out, a panel recommended her for release.
But Governor Jerry Brown overturned the decision and the 67-year-old remains in prison.
Bobby Beausoleil - Murderer - In prison
Beausoleil was an aspiring musician and actor before he joined the Manson family.
He was originally was sentenced to death for the 1969 slaying of musician Gary Hinman, but it was commuted to life in prison when the California Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972.
He was transferred in 1994 to the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem at his request, after he married a woman from Oregon while in prison and fathered four children.
If parole officials recommend his release, the decision will be reviewed by the entire parole board and California Governor Jerry Brown could also block his parole.
He has spent 45 years in prison and has been denied supervised release 18 times.
Paul Watkins - Family member - Dead
Watkins became entranced by Charles Manson and became close to him during his time sporadically living at the ranch.
After the leader's shift towards violence, Watkins left the Family and hid out while they carried out the murders.
He testified against Manson, revealing his 'Helter Skelter' prophecy, and went on to lecture on the effects of drugs and cults.
Watkins died of Leukemia in 1990 at the age of 40.
Catherine Share - Convict - Born-again Christian
Share was a World War Two survivor who was sent to the US after her parents committed suicide in an act of defiance against the Nazis.
She found solace at Manson's ranch where she met Bobby Beausoleil on the shoot of a soft-porn movie.
Share became a recruiter for the Family, bringing in Van Houten, and was although she wasn't convicted of the murders, she was sent to prison for witness tampering and hijacking.
It is claimed she gave birth to Manson's son in prison, but when she walked out a free woman in 1975 having served five years, she turned her back on the cult and became a devout Christian.
Mary Brunner - Convict - Released with new identity
The college graduate was the first follower of Charles Manson's cult and was present during the 1969 murder of musician Gary Allen Hinman.
A year earlier she had given birth to Manson's third son - Valentine Michael Manson - after she and the boy's father had become lovers.
She was sentenced to 20 years to life but was paroled in 1977 and has managed to keep a low profile with a new name.
Susan Atkins - Murderer - Dead
Atkins met Manson in 1967 and gave birth to a son on the ranch which the cult leader named Zezozose Zadfrack Glutz.
She was convicted of the 1969 murder of Gary Hinman, who was beaten to death, as well as the later murders of actress Sharon Tate and four others.
Shortly after she was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1971, California banned executions, so her tariff was changed to life.
Atkins died in prison in 2009, and at the time of her death was the longest-serving female inmate in the state of California.
Linda Kasabian - Family member - Living as a traveller
Having joined the family as a 20-year-old hippie, she moved onto the ranch in 1969.
Kasabian witness the Manson murders and claimed to have fled in horror.
She became the key witness in the murder trials and was granted immunity for her testimony.
Kasabian moved in with her mother in New Hampshire but was hounded regularly, so changed her name and tried to vanish.
A film crew caught up with her in 2009 when she was living as a traveller.
Steve Grogan - Murderer - Free man having served 15 years
Grogan moved onto the ranch in the late 1960s and was with Manson when the LaBiancas were murdered.
Although he played no part in killing them, two weeks later he killed Hollywood stuntman Donald 'Shorty' Shea.
Grogan served less than 15 years for the murder, orchestrated by Manson, and is now living as a free man at the age of 64.
He was initially sentenced to death, but it was reduced to life due to diminished responsibility because of his sobriety and intelligence.
Patricia Krenwinkel - Murderer - Awaiting parole
Krenwinkel helped kill pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six other people at the urging of Manson 47 years ago.
Shortly after she was found guilty and sentenced to death in 1971, California banned executions, so her tariff was changed to life.
A two-member parole panel has delayed making a decision on whether to release the longest-serving female inmate in California.
The 69-year-old has previously been denied parole 13 times, most recently in 2011.
Charles Watson - Murderer - In prison
Watson, 71, is serving a life sentence for the murders of Tate and four others at her Beverly Hills, California, home on August 9, 1969.
California parole officials recommended in October that Charles 'Tex' Watson, the self-described right-hand man of murderous cult leader Charles Manson, should remain in prison 47 years after he helped plan and carry out the slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six other people.
The next night, he helped kill grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary.
Watson's 17th parole hearing was held at Mule Creek State Prison, near Sacramento.
He can seek parole again in five years.
Squeaky Fromme - Attempted assassin - Released on parole
Fromme was one of Manson's most trusted member of the Family.
She was never actively involved in any of the murders, but was a permanent fixture at the trials where she voiced her support of Manson.
In 1975, she pulled a pistol on the then President Gerald Ford in Sacramento's Capitol Park.
The gun did not go off and Fromme was wrestled to the ground by a Secret Service agent.
She was sentenced to life but now walks free at the age of 68 having been released in 2009, despite escaping to see Manson who she heard had developed cancer.
Source: Biography.com
But what about his ACTUAL family?
A number of people have come forward claiming to be illegitimate children of Charles Manson either by way of rape or relationship.
The definitive family tree of one of the world's most disturbing men may never be fully proved.
But here are the children and their mothers that we know for sure to be his.
Rosalie Jean Willis - Former spouse - Dead
Charles Manson married his first wife Rosalie Jean Willis in 1955 in West Virginia.
Shortly after, they decided to move to Los Angeles to be with his mother, and he stole a car to make the trip for which he was arrested and jailed.
While in prison, Willis gave birth to Charles Milles Manson Jr in 1956.
They divorced a year later and she died in 2009 of lung cancer at the age of 72.
Candy Stevens - Former spouse - Dead
The prostitute pleaded with a judge in court after Manson had been convicted of attempting to forge a cheque.
With tears streaming down her face, she begged the bench to free him so that they could get married.
They tied the knot in 1959, had a child together - Charles Luther Manson - and divorced in 1963.
Charles Manson Jr - Son - Dead
He was born in 1956 with his father in prison.
His mother Rosalie Jean Willis and Manson Sr divorced in 1957 when he was barely a year old.
In 1993, he was found on the side of the road in his car having reportedly shot himself in the head.
Charles Luther Manson - Son - Unknown
The murderer's second son was born shortly after his father and prostitute Candy Stevens married in 1959.
Unsurprisingly, he disassociated himself with the family name and his whereabouts are unknown.
It is not clear if he is alive or not.
Mary Brunner - Partner - On parole
The college graduate was the first follower of Charles Manson's cult and was present during the 1969 murder of musician Gary Allen Hinman.
A year earlier she had given birth to Manson's third son - Valentine Michael Manson - after she and the boy's father had become lovers.
She was sentenced to 20 years to life but was paroled in 1977 and has managed to keep a low profile.
Valentine Michael Manson - Son - Alive
Manson's third son was adopted by his grandparents as a child, and he quickly abandoned the family name.
Four young children, including three from the same family, are battling meningococcal in the latest outbreak.
The two siblings and their cousin, all aged under five, from Brisbane's north came down with the deadly infection on New Year's Day.
It followed an extended family gathering over the holiday period and they all celebrated New Year's Eve in South Bank alongside 90,000 others.
The fourth unrelated child from South Brisbane was diagnosed on December 31.
Four young children, including three from the same family, are battling meningococcal in the latest outbreak (stock image)
All four are recovering at Lady Cilento Childrens Hospital, one of the related trio in a serious but stable condition and the others in stable conditions. All were expected to recover.
Sarah Smith, whose son Finn contracted meningococcal in 2013, warned parents to look out for 'tremors' in their children.
She told the Courier Mail that the disease was difficult to spot because its symptoms were similar to the flu during its incubation period, and parents should seek help if their child was 'more miserable than normal'.
Finn lost both his legs below the knee, his right hand and most of the fingers on his left from blood poisoning caused by the dangerous type B meningococcal septicaemia strain.
The two siblings and their cousin, all aged under five, from Brisbane's north came down with the deadly infection on New Year's Day
Ms Smith said the toddler, who was 13-months-old at the time, just had a runny nose but was still happy the day before he was admitted to hospital.
In a matter of hours that night his condition rapidly worsened and he became miserable and with cold shivers.
She rushed him to hospital when he developed the tell-tale red or purple rash but the infection had already entered his blood.
The rash is one of the last symptoms to show, starting as a single spot or blister before spreading like a bruise across the body.
There are vaccines for types and A and B, the two most common, but only type A is on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme with stocks of type B run out for at least another month
Finn, now four years old, was fitted with prosthetic legs and was recently able to walk a few steps on his own, Ms Smith said.
Public health physician Megan Young said there was no increased danger following the four new cases, after panic spread across social media.
'People should, as always, just be aware of signs and symptoms and if they are concerned that they may be coming down with meningococcal disease, they should see their medical practitioner,' she said.
She said all those close to the children were identified and treated with anitbiotics as a precaution.
All four are recovering at Lady Cilento Childrens Hospital, one of the related trio in a serious but stable condition and the others in stable conditions. All were expected to recover
Common symptoms include vomiting, fever, headache, stiff neck, light sensitivity and a red or purple rash.
Meningococcal is particularly deadly to children, killing about 10 per cent of those diagnosed.
There are vaccines for types and A and B, the two most common, but only type A is on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme with stocks of type B run out for at least another month.
A Chinese woman was caught on film running over a six-year-old girl's legs after the child refused to come home for lunch.
The incident occurred on January 2 in Yangjiang City, southern China's Guangdong Province, reported the People's Daily Online.
The girl was later found to have suffered internal bleeding, and the woman is the girlfriend of her grandfather.
The six-year-old victim, surnamed Ye, was being dragged by another girl in Yangjiang, China
The 41-second-long clip, posted to Miaopai was widely shared by outraged internet users across Chinese social media on January 2.
At the beginning of the footage, the girl, surnamed Ye, was being dragged by another girl of the same age along the floor outside a house on South Fuyuan Road in Yangjiang.
The female motorcyclist, surnamed Chen, slowly rode her vehicle over Ye's legs.
Ye was dragged further by the girl while Chen rode the bike towards her.
Chen can then be seen riding over the victim's legs.
The horrifying clip has caught attention from web users and local police.
Shocking: The female motorcyclist, surnamed Chen, slowly rode the vehicle over Ye's legs
The injured girl was taken to the hospital where she was found to have internal bleeding
Yangjiang police said in a statement on Weibo that Chen, 29, had been the live-in partner of the girl's grandfather, 50, since 2014.
The child who was pulling Ye is Chen's daughter.
Chen was responsible for taking care of Ye while her grandfather and father were away working in other cities.
Chen said Ye was playing outside and refused to return home for lunch.
Chen's own daughter tried to drag Ye back home, while Chen rode the bike towards Ye to threaten her.
The woman told the police that she accidentally ran over Ye's legs and she didn't intend to hurt her.
Ye was taken to the hospital where she was found to have internal bleeding. She is now in the care of her father, who returned to Yangjiang after watching the video.
Chen was arrested by police on January 3.
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China issued its first national red alert for air pollution on Wednesday as the country continues to battle poor air quality.
The red alert affects over 20 Chinese cities and means that visibility could be down to 50 metres (160 feet) in just two hours, reports the People's Daily Online.
China's National Observatory have also warned drivers in the affected cities to drive with caution while airports and ports are bracing themselves for cancellations.
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Barely visible: Airplanes are seen parked at Beijing Capital International Airport as haze covers parts of Beijing
Hard work: A traffic officer directs vehicles in Qingzhou, China's Shandong province as haze affects northern China
Dangerous driving: Motorcycle riders try to continue on with daily life as fog blankets the city of Qingzhou
Delays and cancellations are expected at airports across northern China following the red alert.
Red is the highest level in China's four tier system for air pollution warnings. There are 21 cities in China also on an orange alert, the second highest.
Largely affected regions include Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei provinces. Beijing has since banned heavy polluting petrol vehicles and trucks loaded with construction garbage from driving on roads.
Northern China has been battling poor air quality for the past few days with air quality ratings already reaching beyond the World Health Organisation's unhealthy index.
According to Ma Xuejie from China's Meteorological Observatory, the red alert for fog has only been introduced since 2014.
Ma told reporters: 'Recently the haze has gradually increased reaching the relevant standards so the Central Meteorological Observatory issued the first red fog warning.'
When speaking about PM2.5, the harmful particles found in smog, Ma said: 'The greater the particle diameter, the poorer the visibility.'
Delays expected: Airplanes are parked at Beijing Caiptal International Airport as haze continues to shroud the city
Chinese paramilitary policemen prepare to change shifts at Beijing's Tiananmen Square amid heavy pollution
Where's the city? High-rise buildings in Beijing are barely seen as smog blanketed the Chinese capital on January 4
Riding through the smog: A cyclist wears a face mask while riding on a road in Fuyang City, east China's Anhui province
On January 3, a time lapse video emerged showing smog smothering the Chinese capital, completely changing the skyline in just 20 minutes.
Thousands of primary schools have suspended classes across the region.
China's Ministry of Environmental Protection announced on January 2 that it had punished 500 enterprises and construction sites for continuing to operate despite demands to close.
Photos taken on January 4 show the full extent of the air pollution.
Many people have taken to social media site Weibo to complain about the pollution.
One user wrote: 'I would rather have a slowdown in economy than heavy pollution.'
While another commented: 'the smog is so horrible...maybe we should have Chinese new year holidays earlier.'
And one user said: 'I haven't seen the nearby buildings for days now.'
Air pollution in China increases during the winter months with last November proving to be a particularly troublesome time for northern regions. Red alerts were issued in Jiangxi and Shanxi provinces during that time.
Dancing in the dark: Local residents wear face masks while dancing in heavy fog in Fuyang City, China's Anhui province
Invisible skyline: High-rise buildings are barely seen after heavy fog hit China's Anhui province on January 4
Queues of traffic: Jinan City was left wrapped in fog and haze in east China's Shandong province on January 4
Poor quality: An aerial photo from a passenger plane shows heavy haze covering northern outskirts of Beijing
A recently emerged video has shown just how money could ruin a marriage in China.
The footage, widely shared on Chinese social media, shows that a bride changed her mind on the day of her wedding after she deemed the cash gift given by her future in-laws had not met her expectation.
The woman, in her wedding gown, yelled 'I won't marry' to her groom and his parents during a traditional tea-serving ceremony.
The bride, in wedding dress, served a cup of tea to the future father-in-law sitting in the video
The video was posted to Miaopai, a video-sharing website in China, on January 3.
The Chinese bride is said to accuse her future father-in-law for tricking her into marrying his son.
The father had promised to offer the bride 10,001 yuan (1,173) as a wedding gift, according to the video.
However, during the tea-serving ceremony which is usually held before the wedding banquet, the woman became furious after she found out she was given 1,001 yuan (117) instead.
The footage adds to the long list of recent incidents which reflect the financial burden on China's bridegrooms and their families in order to pay expensive betrothal gifts.
In return, the man handed a red envelope containing cash to the bride as a wedding gift
The beginning of video shows the bride, identified as Xiaoli, kneeling in front of her father-in-law together with her fiance.
The woman presented a cup of tea to her future father-in-law who sat on the sofa.
In the Chinese wedding customs, a couple would offer tea to their elders to show their respect and gratitude before they hold the wedding ceremony.
After Xiaoli served tea to her groom's father, the man handed a red envelope containing cash to Xiaoli as her wedding gift.
The amount of cash in the envelope carries specific meanings.
The amount of 10,001 yuan (1,173) is usually given by the parents to the couple, according to People's Daily. It means that their child's other half is chosen out of the 10,000 people.
Xiaoli opened the envelope and was disappointed to see that she had only got 1,001 yuan (1,173).
The bride was disappointed to see only 1,001 yuan. She was about to throw the cash to the table
Feeling angry, the bride yelled towards her future in-laws: 'You said earlier you would give 10,001 yuan to me. Now it's only 1,001 yuan!'
She threw the banknotes on the table and shouted: 'I won't marry!'
The father looked distressed seeing the bride's reactions while the bridegroom was trying to calm her down.
The video is believed to be shot in a Chinese city. However, the video uploader didn't not state the location and time of the wedding ceremony.
The angry woman yelled 'I won't marry' as the father looked distressed to see her reactions
The clip only features one of the many Chinese families who are troubled by the high wedding expenses.
As a cultural tradition in China, the groom's family would give a large sum of money to the bride's family for the marriage.
But in recent years, the betrothal gift has caused a great burden for many families, particularly in rural areas of China, reports People's Daily.
A groom-to-be from Henan province of central China said in the report that he had to spend half of his parents' savings on the upcoming wedding as the bride's family had asked for a 160,000-yuan-car (18,762) as the wedding gift.
Some families in the region spend over 400,000 yuan (46,889) on wedding ceremonies. Together with the gifts, the wedding could have depleted the families' assets.
To stop more families from getting into debts due to their childrens' weddings, Henan's Taiqian county has recently released a guideline on wedding gifts.
Two Chinese city leaders were shot and wounded today after a gunman burst into a meeting they were in and opened fire.
The gunman is suspected to be another senior official of the city who was found dead after committing suicide, reported People'a Daily Online.
The incident occurred at 10:50am local time in Panzhihua city, south-west China's Sichuan Province.
Zhang Yan (left) and Li Jianqin (right), leaders of Panzhihua, were shot and wounded today. Mr Zhang is the secretary of the Communist Party for Panzhihua and Mr Li is the city's mayor
The shooting occurred at 10:50am at the Panzhihua Conference and Exhibition Centre. Pictures from Chinese media show the exhibition centre was sealed off by the police today
The two wounded officials are reported to be Zhang Yan, the secretary of the Communist Party for Panzhihua city, and Li Jianqin, the mayor of Panzhihua city.
They were attending a meeting at the Panzhihua Conference and Exhibition Centre when they were attacked.
According to the government website of Panzhihua, Zhang Yan, 54, the city's former mayor, was appointed the party secretary of Panzhihua in June, 2015.
Li Jianqin, 52, the city's former deputy party secretary, was appointed the mayor of Panzhihua in August, 2016.
Both officials were taken to the hospital immediately. They sustain non-life-threatening injuries, the People's Daily report said.
Chen Zhongshu (right), the chief of the city's Land and Resources Bureau, was suspected to be the gunman. He was later found dead in the exhibition centre (left) after committing suicide
Located in south-west China, Panzhihua is a multi-ethnic city with around 1.2 million residents
Chen Zhongshu, who was the chief of the city's Land and Resources Bureau, was suspected to have carried out the shooting rampage.
The 52-year-old was later found dead on the first floor of the same exhibition centre. He had committed suicide, said the report.
Chen was said to be working as usual prior to the shooting.
The police is yet to release a statement regarding the incident. No details have been reported about the suspect's possible motive.
A man armed with a knife went on the rampage on Wednesday at a Chinese kindergarten stabbing 11 young children.
According to reports, the man climbed over the wall of the kindergarten in Pingxiang, southern China's Guangxi autonomous region, reports Huanqiu, an affiliation with the People's Daily Online.
Their conditions are not thought to be life threatening.
Sickening: 11 children were injured in the attack on the kindergarten in southern China
The children were not said to be in a life threatening condition after the attack
The suspect entered the building at 3.30pm local time.
All of the wounded children have been sent to hospital. However their conditions are not thought to be life threatening.
China Central Television said that the suspect had been detained by police and the incident was being investigated.
Horrifying: The man entered the building at 3.30pm local time armed with a knife
Traumatic event: All of the wounded children have been taken to hospital
Pingxiang Police Department later revealed that the suspect was 41-year-old Jia Pengan from Nanshan village.
A statement from the police department said: 'On January 4, 15.30, we received a report that the suspect climbed over the wall of Xiaocongzi kindergarten to stab students.
'Police immediately arrived at the scene to investigate the incident and interrogate the suspect. The suspect has been detained and police are still investigating his motive.
'Suspect Jia Pengan was born in 1975. He also resides in Pingxiang City.'
According to a witness, the suspect is thought to have children at the kindergarten with his wife also working at the school as a teacher.
There has been a series of knife and axe attacks in recent years including attacks on schools and kindergartens.
In 2010 a man stabbed 29 school children and three teachers at a kindergarten in Taixing City. The 47-year-old was handed the death sentence for the attack.
People have spoken about the incident on social media site Weibo.
One user wrote: 'The children are too young, how could they bear such a psychological wound?'
While another commented: 'What's the point of attacking innocent children?'
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After 15 years of development and more than 200 flights, an Israel firm is confident its autonomous flying ambulance will be ready to hit the market by 2020 and will come with a $14 million price tag.
The Cormorant, formally known as the 'AirMule', can transport about a half a ton (500kg) of weight at 115 miles (185 km) per hour.
Designed by Urban Aeronautics, its developers say the military drone will be able to reach areas unfit for helicopters to deliver supplies and carry wounded soldiers to safety.
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After 15 years of development and more than 200 flights, an Israel firm is confident its autonomous flying ambulance will be ready to hit the market by 2020 and will cost about $14 million. The Cormorant, formally known as the 'AirMule', can transport about a half a ton (500kg) of weight at 115 miles (185 km) per hour
CORMORANT FIGURES Capacity: 2 patients Length: 20 ft 4 in (6.2 m) Width: 11 ft 6 in (3.5 m) , 2.15 m without thrusters Height: 7 ft 7 in (2.3 m) , 1.8 m without thrusters Advertisement
'Just imagine a dirty bomb in a city and chemical substance of something else and this vehicle can come in robotically, remotely piloted, come into a street and decontaminate an area,' Urban Aeronautics founder and CEO Rafi Yoeli told Reuters.
Although the firm has set 2020 for its release date, they say there is still plenty of work required before the autonomous vehicle hits the market.
The Cormorant made its first solo flight over terrain in November, but during test, the team found small issues with conflicting data sent by on board sensors.
Regardless, industry experts say this technology could say lives.
'It could revolutionize several aspects of warfare, including medical evacuation of soldiers on the battlefield,' said Tal Inbar, head of the UAV research center at Israel's Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies.
The Cormorant's sole purpose is to transport troops, civilian passengers or supplies within tight quarters where helicopters are unable to travel.
The test flight, which was carried out on November 3, was the first time the Cormorant took to the skies over uneven terrain while piloting itself.
Its developers say the military drone will be able to reach areas unfit for helicopters to deliver supplies to war zones and carry wounded soldiers to safety. Although the firm has set 2020 for its release, they say there is still plenty of work required before the autonomous vehicle hits the market. Pictures is Rafi Yoeli, founder and CEO of Urban Aeronautics
This vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft has rotors (pictured) instead of propellers and is capable of carrying 1,000 pounds over 31 miles, allowing it to deliver supplies to war zones and carry wounded soldiers to safety
'This flight paves the way forward for the immediate evolution of Cormorant from prototype to near-term production and ultimately commercialization of this groundbreaking technology - for broad applications and markets, said Urban Aeronautics founder Rafi Yoeli.
'This is the most exciting time in the Company's history and we look forward to accelerating our progress now that the technology is fully proven.'
Engineers designed the craft with a Flight Management System (FMS), which lets it to make 'split second decisions' if any of its sensors detect a problem during a mission.
The craft will then make the judgment call on its own - it decides between continuing the journey, retreating home or making an immediate landing to wait for further instructions from a human operator.
The Cormorant was developed the Israeli firm Tactical Robotics, a subsidiary of the 'Fancraft' technology pioneer Urban Aeronautics, who has conducted more than 200 flights with this military machine. The test flight (pictured), which was carried out on November 3, was the first time the Cormorant took to the skies over uneven terrain while piloting itself
'The challenge in designing and testing an FMS for a configuration that is has never been addressed by standard flight control algorithms, is analogous to a novice pilot attempting to fly for the first time with an understanding of basic aerodynamic principles but no instructor,' explained Urban Aeronautics.
During the test flight, Cormorant's FMS corrected itself in response to unexpected events.
Two instances were related to height above ground over the field (resulting from inaccuracies in laser beam return over uneven terrain and ground conditions).
WHAT ARE THE FEATURES OF THE CORMORANT? Has completed about 200 flights with the prototype. Can carry just a little over 1,000 pounds of cargo. It can reach speeds of 100 knots (115 mph) and operate at altitudes of up to 18,000 feet. Features lift rotors that are safely enclosed inside its body and uses duct fans to operate. Powered by remote control or autonomous control system and it's equipped with rear propellers that enable it to take-off horizontally. The vehicles are powered by a 730 shp Turbomeca Arriel 1D1 turboshaft and the final versions will use the more powerful ARRIEL 2 variant, capable of providing 985 shp at takeoff. Tactical Robotics Ltd hopes the Cormorant will be in the field over the next few years. Cormorant will be able to deliver supplies day after day and can also be a maritime force multiplier on vessels that are too small for a traditional helicopter, as noted by Defense Update. Advertisement
The Cormorant is set to replace medivac choppers, like the one from the television show MASH (pictured), in order to reach tight quarters helicopters cannot go
The third event occurred over the tarmac, which was caused by 'poor judgment' on the part of the Flight Control System (FCS), causing the aircraft to descend too early in its landing approach.
Instead of using traditional propellers, the Cormorant is designed with duct fans that keep the rotors enclosed in a protective shield in case the vehicle hits a wall or any other object in its path, reports LiveScience.
These duct fans enable it to to take-off and land horizontally, and it also has vertical movement that is controlled by internal rotors, which can only be seen from directly above or below.
However, Urban Aeronautics reveals that the team is working on obstacle avoidance sensors that will keep the vehicle away from oncoming objects, which they hope to add to the vehicle in the near future.
The Cormorant has enough strength to carry 1,000 pounds per 30 miles, which means it can hull about 13,000 pounds in a full day.
Engineers designed the craft with a Flight Management System (FMS), which lets it to make 'split second decisions' if any of its sensors detect a problem during a mission. The craft will then make the judgment call on its own - it decides between continuing the journey, retreating home or making an immediate landing to wait for further instructions
The craft flies itself using an array of laser altimeters, radars and sensors, and it is capable of reaching speeds of 100 knots (115 mph) and operate at altitudes of up to 18,000 feet.
It weighs about one-ton and can be operated with a specially made remote control or by using its own autonomous control system.
Earlier this year, the Cormorant, which was known as the 'AirMule' at the time, hit a milestone that allowed it to successfully complete its autonomous flight.
In January, the craft performed its first ever untethered flight, which it demonstrated a vertical takeoff and landing, followed by stability checks and forward flights at low speeds, reports Defense Update.
Two instances were related to height above ground over the field (resulting from inaccuracies in laser beam return over uneven terrain and ground conditions). The third event occurred over the tarmac, which was caused by 'poor judgment' on the part of the Flight Control System (FCS), causing the aircraft to descend too early in its landing approach
'Looking back at a decade of internal rotor VTOL aircraft development at Urban Aeronautics Ltd', said Yoeli regarding the earlier this year.
'It gives me great satisfaction to see that we are able to transform a dream into a safe and reliable aircraft that is designed to meet manned helicopters safety criteria and absolutely stands up to existing airworthiness standards.'
With the strength of the Cormorant, it will be able to deliver supplies day after day and can also be a maritime force multiplier on vessels that are too small for a traditional helicopter, as noted by Defense Update.
The craft flies itself using an array of laser altimeters, radars and sensors, and it is capable of reaching speeds of 100 knots (115 mph) and operate at altitudes of up to 18,000 feet. It weighs about one-ton and can be operated with a specially made remote control or by using its own autonomous control system
The craft's test flight took place on December 30th at the Megiddo airfield in the northern part of Israel. Urban Aeronautics is also working on compact, car-sized VTOL aircraft for civilians, called Metro Skyways.
'Metro Skyways is at an early stage of exploring business opportunities that will develop Urban's 'Fancraft' technologies into a family of safe, FAA certifiable personal and commercial, manned VTOL aircraft for the civil market', according to the company.
This model may be the flying cars we have all so desperately hoped for.
, so adults can order products via the speaker
Forget human babysitters, Mattel has designed a virtual assistant that will keep an eye on your children.
Deemed the 'worlds first smart baby monitor, Aristotle orders diapers, reads children bedtime stories, sings lullabies and teaches them a second language.
The speaker is also equipped with a HD camera that streams live video through an encrypted cloud connection - which Mattel claims makes it safe for parents to watch their children from anywhere.
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Aristotle will help parents order diapers, read bedtimes, sing lullabies and teach children a second language. The speaker is also equip with an HD camera that streams live video through an encrypted cloud connection
WHAT IT CAN DO Automatically recognize when a baby wakes up, and sooth them to sleep with a lullaby, white noise, a favorite song, or a night light Log dirty diapers and feedings Automatically order more diapers and/or formula Recognize and answer young kids' questions after a voice recognition training session Answer questions until your child falls asleep Play guessing games with kids based on animal noises (say the name of the animal) or shapes held up to the camera (say the name of the shape), and light up with the correct answer Read aloud from a selection of thousands of children's books, via partnerships Recognize specially designed kids' toys with embedded NFC chips, or with its camera Advertisement
Although Aristotle is aimed at watching over little ones, it is being compared to Amazons Echo and Google's Home because it is also a Wi-Fi speaker and boasts similar functions - and in fact has Amazon's shopping software built in.
However, Mattel has teamed up with a range of tech giants to create this device, including Qualcomm and Microsoft, that helps it standout from the other home assistants, reports Fast Company.
It is also much more expensive than Amazons virtual assistant Mattels device runs $399.
Aristotle is equip with an accompanied app that lets parents program the device and where they can see live videos of their children.
Users can instruct the assistant to soothe a crying baby by playing music or turn on a glow to set it up as a nightlight.
The app also allows parents to program behaviors for when the baby is sleeping in order to assist in sleep training.
But what many parents may deem a lifesaver is that the technology keeps track of things they do, such as changing dirty diapers and feeding schedules.
Parents simply log in different activities using voice commands and Aristotle will keep a digital log.
And it lets you know when things need to be replenished.
For example, the device will say, It looks like you need more diapers, would you like to order more, reports Mark Wilson with Fast Company.
After it hits stores in June 2017, it will already have partnered with a range of retailers including Pampers making it easier to get your favorite brands delivered right to your door.
Parents can log in activities using voice commands and Aristotle will keep a digital log - such as diaper changes and feeding. And it lets you know when things need to be purchased. Mattel also says Aristotle is able to understand almost every young child when they talk
Even though it is being compared to Amazons Alexa, the technology isnt competitive - Mattel designed it to be compatible.
Parents can access Alexa in parent mode by simply saying 'Alexa', rather than starting off with Aristotle, which is child mode - this AI believes she is a descended from the Greek philosopher himself.
The reason Mattel designed the device with two AIs is because you dont want your child ordering a bunch of diapers or anything else theyre asking for, Robb Fujioka, senior vice president, chief products officer at Mattel, told Fast Company.
Children can use Aristotle as they would a kindergarten teacher.
ALEXA'S BIG MISUNDERSTANDING Mattel prides themselves on Aristotle being able to understand almost every young child when they talk - something Alexa and Google Home have failed to do. When a child is first given their smart baby monitor, they will be asked to read a paragraph out loud so the technology can learn to recognize their voice. Recently a little boy asked got more than he bargained for when he asked his family's new Amazon Echo Dot to play him some of his favorite kid's songs. A hilarious YouTube video sees a boy named William holding the smart speaker while asking the Alexa voice service to 'play digger, digger'. However, things take a very X-rated turn when Alexa suggests some very vulgar categories of pornography instead. The clip begins with William hunched over a table while trying out the new Echo Dot, which his family presumably got for Christmas. While Alexa ponders what William was asking for when he said what sounds like 'play digger, digger' his mom suggests that he ask to hear Wheels on the Bus. However, Alexa interrupts to announce 'porn detected' before she starts saying 'c**t, s**t, sex, c**k, p***y, anal, dildo'. Advertisement
They can ask questions like who made the first American flag or ask it to play a game with them.
Mattel prides itself on Aristotle being able to understand almost every young child when they talk - something Alexa and Google Home have failed to do.
When a child is first given their smart baby monitor, they will be asked to read a paragraph out loud so the technology can learn to recognize their voice.
Parents can access Alexa, the assistant in Amazon Echo (pictured) in parent mode, rather than starting off with Aristotle, which is a child mode and believes she is a descended from the Greek philosopher himself
The cameras fitted in the speaker are designed with object recognition, which can identify flashcards and toys a child shows it.
Mattel says that they were very serious when creating a secure speaker and put 256bit encryption on all transmissions to Aristotle's servers.
However, the toy companys technology may keep faceless hackers at bay, but they themselves have been accused on use their toys to spy on children.
After a two-year probe Mattel, along with Viacom, Hasbro and JumpStart, was ordered to pay $835,000 in fines for tracking and collecting personal data of children online in September.
All four companies allowed tracking technology on their websites, which violates the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act that limits marketing to children under 13. And this included Mattels popular Wi-Fi enabled Barbie.
IS BARBIE SPYING ON YOUR KIDS? Last year, an expert claimed Mattel's Wi-Fi enabled Barbie can be hacked and the toy could even act like a surveillance device by listening into a family's conversations. Hello Barbie (pictured) launched last year that has parents wonder if the toy maker is eavesdropping on their children This follows on from the news that a hacker obtained photos of children and chat logs from toymaker VTech, which makes electronic learning devices. The doll connects to the internet via Wi-Fi so it can search responses to questions via software company ToyTalk. It also has a microphone to record a child's speech and respond to them. Because the doll remembers conversations and learns from the data to provide tailored responses, it almost seems like 'she's alive', explained the firm. Matt Jakubowski told NBC that he has discovered the toy is vulnerable to hacking. He hacked the doll's operating system to get access to network names and IDs. Once inside a network, he said it is easy to access account information and stored audio files as well as gain access to the microphone. Mattel released Hello Barbie last year, which uses voice recognition software and Wi-Fi connection to have a two-way conversation with children as they play and has come under fire for privacy issues. Speech recognition software is implanted into the doll, which converts audio into text and artificial intelligence software pulls keywords from human responses, reported Newsweek. They really shouldn't call it Hello Barbie; they should call it Surveillance Barbie,' Susan Linn, founding director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), told Newsweek in March. The nonprofit launched a 'Hell No Barbie' campaign that month with the hope of shutting down the product. 'Kids talking to Hello Barbie aren't just talking to a doll; they're talking to Mattel...a multinational corporation whose only interest in them is financial.' But Michelle Chidoni, head of Mattel's communications, says, 'It's not a surveillance device. There's not a camera in the doll.' Advertisement
All of the companies are now required to do regular audits of their websites to make sure no new tracking tools have magically appeared.
The settlements also state that the companies conduct due diligence with all the third-party services prior to working with them.
Astronomers may have witnessed the birth of new solar systems after discovering hundreds of newborn stars - some of which may eventually support life.
The new type of stars, called MNors, were discovered while a team of international researchers surveyed around 300 million stars in our galaxy.
A total of 816 stars, at least half of which are new, were uncovered while experts were attempting to solve a long-standing mystery surrounding star formation.
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Astronomers witnessed the birth of new solar systems after discovering hundreds of newborn stars - some of which may eventually support life. These infrared telescopic images show the before and after shots of a brightening outburst captured by the team as a new star formed
HOW DO PLANETS AND STARS FORM? According to our current understanding, a star and its planets form out of a collapsing cloud of dust and gas within a larger cloud called a nebula. As gravity pulls material in the collapsing cloud closer together, the center of the cloud gets more and more compressed and, in turn, gets hotter. This dense, hot core becomes the kernel of a new star. Meanwhile, inherent motions within the collapsing cloud cause it to churn. As the cloud gets exceedingly compressed, much of the cloud begins rotating in the same direction. The rotating cloud eventually flattens into a disk that gets thinner as it spins, kind of like a spinning clump of dough flattening into the shape of a pizza. These 'circumstellar' or 'protoplanetary' disks, as astronomers call them, are the birthplaces of planets. Advertisement
The team of scientists, led by Dr Carlos Contreras and Dr Philip Lucas from the University of Hertfordshire, say their findings have led to more questions about the new star population.
'Stars and planets are known to form in a spinning disc of gas and dust that gradually feeds matter on to the newborn star, or "protostar", at the centre,' said lead author Dr Contreras.
'This process is hidden from view in visible light for about half a million years.
'Once this has happened, then the obscuring cloak of matter around a newborn solar system is gathered in or dispersed.'
The team from Hertfordshire University worked in collaboration with researchers from the University of Valparaiso and Andres Bello University in Chile.
Over a period of five years, from 2010 to 2015, astronomers surveyed the stars and found that over 100 of the new MNor stars have major eruptions that see them brighten up for several years.
For more than 30 years experts have seen sudden eruptions of light in stars which become 100 times brighter in visible light because of a large amount of matter suddenly dumped on to the surface of the protostar by the surrounding disc.
To understand why this change happens, the team used a VISTA infrared telescope based in Chile to see through obscuring dust and discovered that newborn protostars cannot usually be seen in visible light.
Eruptions are far more common in the MNor stars than in older systems and around 4 per cent of the monitored protostars had an eruption over a period of 4 years.
The structure of these newborn solar systems is not yet clear, but some of them may contain planets.
The new type of stars, called MNors, were discovered while a team of international researchers surveyed around 300 million stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Pictured here is the Paranal observatory in Chile that the team used in their research
The team used a VISTA infrared telescope based in Chile (pictured here) to see through obscuring dust and discovered that newborn protostars cannot usually be seen in visible light
Dr Phil Lucas from Hertfordshire University's Centre for Astrophysics Research (CAR) said: 'It still remains to be seen whether most stars are assembled in fits and starts like this, or by a gentle steady accumulation of matter.
'These discoveries have led to more questions about the nature of this new population of extreme variable stars.'
Dr Kurtev said: 'The duration of the outbursts in regular stars is also different when compared to MNors.
'Previously seen outbursts in visible light either lasted many decades or only about a year, compared to a few years in the new optically hidden MNors.
'In some MNors the rise and fall seems to be periodic, suggesting that an interaction with a companion star or planet may be responsible.
'This timescale of typically a few years is different but it seems clear that many new solar systems have a bumpy start.'
Dr Lucas added: 'This is an exciting discovery that could change the way we think about star formation. It throws up a lot of questions in relation to how stars are born, but this is something we will continue to research.'
And he suggests that there could be reason to explore the new systems further in future.
'It is possible that these newborn stars host newborn Earth-sized planets,' he told MailOnline.
'Given the right conditions, they could develop life at some future date, though at present these new solar systems are chaotic places, almost certainly too young and too chaotic for life to have begun.'
The research was published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Engravings of a cross and menorah carved side by side have been found in an ancient Israeli cave.
The 2,000-year-old symbols, though positioned close together, were likely carved hundreds of years apart, according to Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).
Hikers stumbled upon the timeworn symbols while exploring subterranean passages in southern Israel.
Engravings of a cross and menorah carved side by side (pictured) have been found in an ancient Israeli cave. The 2,000-year-old symbols, though positioned close together, were likely carved hundreds of years apart, according to Israel Antiquities Authority
HISTORY OF THE CAVES Some of the underground caves at the lowland site, found in South-Central Israel and known as the 'Judean Shephelah', had been used as hideouts by Jews 2,000 years ago. Jewish rebels of the then-Roman province of Judea hid and lived in the caves during the famous uprising against the Roman Empire led by Simon bar Kokhba around 130 AD. The rebellion erupted as a result of rising religious and political tensions after a failed initial Judean revolt just 60 years prior. The revolt was eventually quashed in 136 AD, and the Roman Empire swiftly begun to systematically destroy all remaining Jewish villages in the region. Advertisement
Archaeologists have dated the cross symbol to the fourth century AD, while the menorah carving is older, carved around 200 years earlier.
Alongside the engravings was a key carved into the bedrock, and several more symbols that are yet to be identified.
Dozens of niches, used to raise doves, also pepper the walls of the ancient cave.
The IAA notes that during the Second Temple period of Jewish history (530BC-70AD) doves were used as part of sacrificial rites in religious temples.
Some of the underground caves at the lowland site, found in South-Central Israel and known as the 'Judean Shephelah', had been used as hideouts by renegade Jews 2,000 years ago.
'The menorah was probably etched in the cistern after the cave's nearby water installation was hewn in the bedrock, maybe by inhabitants of the Jewish settlement that was situated there during the Second Temple period and the time of Bar Kokhba,' Mr Ganor said in the statement.
'The cross was etched later on, during the Byzantine period,' he added.
Two millennia ago, Jewish rebels of the then-Roman province of Judea hid and lived in the caves during the famous uprising against the Roman Empire led by Simon bar Kokhba around 130 AD.
The rebellion erupted as a result of rising religious and political tensions after a failed initial Judean revolt just 60 years prior.
Some of the underground caves at the lowland site, found in South-Central Israel and known as the 'Judean Shephelah' (pictured), were used as hideouts by Jewish rebels 2,000 years ago
Alongside the engravings was a key carved into the bedrock (pictured), and several more symbols that are yet to be identified. Hikers stumbled upon the timeworn symbols while exploring subterranean passages in southern Israel
The revolt was eventually quashed in 136 AD, and the Roman Empire swiftly begun to systematically destroy all remaining Jewish villages in the region.
And now carvings from this important part of Jewish history have been uncovered by three lucky explorers.
The ancient cross and menorah engravings were found by three members of an Israeli Caving Club, who said they had decided to go off-piste around the subterranean caves.
The three explorers - Mickey Barkal, Sefi Givoni and Ido Meroz - say they had heard the little-explored caves were particularly beautiful off the beaten path.
'We heard there are interesting caves in the region,' Mr Meroz said.
'We began to peer into them, and that's how we came to this cave, which is extremely impressive with rock-carved niches and engravings on the wall.'
And Mr Meroz say they came across the engravings just as they were about to leave the caves.
'When we realized this is an ancient depiction of a menorah, we became very excited,' Meroz added.
'Its appearance was quite distinct.'
The menorah, a candelabrum with seven arms and three legs, symbolises the traditional piece that stood in the second temple of Jerusalem.
The seven-branches menorah is a symbolic piece, as opposed to the nine-branched menorah used during Hanukkah.
It is described in the bible as a seven-lamped ancient Hebrew lamp stand made of pure gold.
The menorah has been a symbol of Judaism since ancient times and is the emblem on the flag of the modern state of Israel.
'It's rare to find a wall engraving of a menorah,' said Mr Ganor.
'The menorah is a distinctly Jewish symbol of the Second Temple period,' the archeologist continued.
Archaeologists have dated the cross symbol to the fourth century AD, while the menorah symbol is older, carved around 200 years earlier. This image shows hiker Ido Meroz standing next to a wall engraving, which appears to depict a key
'To date, only two engravings of menorahs are known in the region of the Judean Shephelah: One on oil press at Bet Loya, where the same style menorah is depicted, and the other in a burial complex in the vicinity of Bet Guvrin.
'Other menorahs are portrayed on clay lamps from Beit Natif.'
Mr Ganor says that the amateur finding adds another important tier to the archaeological information and knowledge of the region.
Further exploration of the site will continue throughout the year.
The world's wildlife is being wiped out by trade hotspots that are fuelling loss of habitat, over fishing, over hunting and climate change, according to new research.
A global map has been unveiled that shows for the first time how a cup of cappuccino sipped in a cafe thousands of miles away is endangering the spider monkey in central America, for example.
Researchers hope that the map will enable conservationists to target the routes having the most impact on biodiversity.
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The unique chart was drawn up by scientists after a 2012 study revealed a third of species around the world are being threatened by international trade. The dark purple shows areas where terrestrial animals are affected by consumption in the US
WHAT DOES THE MAP SHOW? - Goods imported by Germany threaten more than 600 species in countries including Russia, Sudan and Madagascar. - About two percent of the stud footed toad's threat score in Brazil can be directly attributed to logging, driven by the consumption of goods in the United States. - Japan has a significant impact on marine life around Papua New Guinea. - Mining for gold affects the mangroves, home to critically endangered plants, and the vulnerable sea cow. - In Spain a hydro electric dam project aimed at controlling irrigation for agriculture, including olive oil which is exported to the US, is affecting the habitat of the critically endangered Iberian lynx. Advertisement
One of the major causes of man made biodiversity loss is the exploitation of natural resources by big business, like the logging and fisheries industries.
Pinpointing which areas pose the greatest danger is crucial for effective conservation management.
But previous analyses have generally not considered the role of supply chains in connecting demand for resources with final consumption of goods.
The unique chart was drawn up by scientists after a 2012 study revealed a third of species around the world are being threatened by international trade.
It found goods imported by Germany threaten more than 600 species in countries including Russia, Sudan and Madagascar.
The researchers looked at 6,803 vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered marine and terrestrial species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, mapping each animal's range.
After mapping each animal's range, they calculated how much consumption of goods in other countries contributed to each animal's threat level.
For instance, about two percent of the stud footed toad's threat score in Brazil can be directly attributed to logging, driven by the consumption of goods in the United States.
Consumption in China causes problems for wildlife in France, Spain, Russia and Mongolia, all shown in dark purple on the map
The rest is probably down to consumption in other countries, and by disease.
When all species in Brazil are combined, this total threat score can be meaningfully compared with those from other countries that also do business with the United States.
This reveals geographic hotspots of threat in the southern Brazilian rainforests, while at the same time uncovering less expected threats in countries like Spain and Portugal where a number of threatened fish and birds are at risk.
The map shows for the first time how a cup of capuccino sipped in a cafe thousands of miles away is endangering the spider monkey in central America, for example (stock image)
Meanwhile, Japan has a significant impact on marine life around Papua New Guinea.
Mining for gold affects the mangroves, home to critically endangered plants, and the vulnerable sea cow.
In Spain a hydro electric dam project aimed at controlling irrigation for agriculture, including olive oil which is exported to the US, is affecting the habitat of the critically endangered Iberian lynx.
Areas threatened by consumption in the EU include Russia, Sudan and Madagascar, all shown in dark purple on the map
The combined scores from all species illustrates the total consumer driven 'threat footprint' a focal country exerts on the rest of the world.
The researchers hope the map, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, will enable conservationists to target the routes having the most impact on biodiversity, leading to more sustainable trade and protecting the world's wildlife.
They said human induced biodiversity threats which also include overfishing, over hunting and climate change, often arise from incursion into natural ecosystems in search of food and resources, mainly through the production of goods for export.
In Spain a hydro electric dam project aimed at controlling irrigation for agriculture, including olive oil which is exported to the US, is affecting the habitat of the critically endangered Iberian lynx (pictured)
Dr Keiichiro Kanemoto, of Shinshu University, Matsumoto, Japan, said: 'Identifying hotspots of species threat has been a successful approach for setting conservation priorities.
'One important challenge in conservation is that, in many hotspots, export industries continue to drive over exploitation.
'Conservation measures must consider not just the point of impact, but also the consumer demand that ultimately drives resource use.
Consumption in Japan has a significant impact on marine life around Papua New Guinea (shown in lime green on the map), as well as terrestrial animals in Ethiopia (shown in dark purple)
'To understand which species threat hotspots are driven by which consumers, we have developed a new approach to link a set of biodiversity footprint accounts to the hotspots of threatened species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
'The result is a map connecting consumption to spatially explicit hotspots driven by production on a global scale.
'Locating biodiversity threat hotspots driven by consumption of goods and services can help to connect conservationists, consumers, companies and governments in order to better target conservation actions.'
It is now complete and going through a series of tests to simulate its launch
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), expected to launch in 2018, has failed its latest test.
Computer sensors forced the shut-down of a machine during vibration testing to see whether the telescope could withstand the vibration expected during launch.
The telescope, the largest space telescope ever built, was not damaged and vibration tests are expected to resume later in January, Nasa has said.
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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), expected to launch in 2018, has failed its latest test. Computer sensors forced the shut-down of a machine during vibration testing at the Goddard Space Flight Center (pictured)
WHAT WENT WRONG? Since the start of November the telescope has been put through a series of tests, designed to equip the structure for its take-off in October next year. During the vibration testing on 3 December, accelerometers attached to the telescope detected unexpected responses and the test shut itself down to protect the hardware. The shut-down came a fraction of a second after a higher-than-expected response was detected at a particular frequency of vibration, about one note lower than the lowest note on a piano. The telescope will resume testing later this month, and those tests 'may or may not reveal additional unexpected responses, but that is the purpose of these tests' says Nasa. Advertisement
When it is launched into space it will be able to peer back in time 3.5 billion years, teaching us more than ever before about the start of the universe.
The huge machine stands, completed and almost ready to go to space, in an enormous clean room at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
Since the start of November the telescope has been put through a series of tests, designed to equip the structure for its take-off in October next year.
The telescope must pass multiple tests before it can be sent into space.
But, according to a Nasa release today, it failed its latest one.
'During routine testing of Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope, an unexpected response occurred from several of the more than 100 devices designed to detect small changes in the motion of the structure,' the space agency said.
When it is launched into space it will be able to peer back in time 3.5 billion years, teaching us more than ever before about the start of the universe.
THE JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE The James Webb telescope has been described as a 'time machine' that could help unravel the secrets of our universe. The telescope will be used to look back to the first galaxies born in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago, and observe the sources of stars, exoplanets, and even the moons and planets of our solar system. When it is launched in 2018, it will be the world's biggest and most powerful telescope, capable of peering back 200 million years after the Big Bang. Advertisement
'This prompted the engineers put the vibration tests on hold to determine the cause.'
During the vibration testing on 3 December at Nasa Goddard, accelerometers attached to the telescope detected unexpected responses and the test shut itself down to protect the hardware.
The shut-down came a fraction of a second after a higher-than-expected response was detected at a particular frequency of vibration, about one note lower than the lowest note on a piano.
'Currently, the team is continuing their analyses with the goal of having a review of their findings, conclusions and plans for resuming vibration testing in January,' said Eric Smith, program director for Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope, in Washington.
'This is why we test -- to know how things really are, as opposed to how we think they are,' said Paul Geithner, deputy project manager technical for the Webb telescope at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The James Webb telescope has been described as a 'time machine' that could help unravel the secrets of our universe. The telescope will be used to look back to the first galaxies born in the early universe. Artist's impression of the telescope in space, pictured
WHAT WEBB WILL DO Webb's primary mirror will collect light for the observatory in the scientific quest to better understand our solar system and beyond. Using these mirrors and Webb's infrared vision scientists will peer back over 13.5 billion years to see the first stars and galaxies forming out of the darkness of the early universe. Unprecedented infrared sensitivity will help astronomers to compare the faintest, earliest galaxies to today's grand spirals and ellipticals, helping us to understand how galaxies assemble over billions of years. Webb will see behind cosmic dust clouds to see where stars and planetary systems are being born. It will also help reveal information about atmospheres of planets outside our solar system, and perhaps even find signs of the building blocks of life elsewhere in the universe. Advertisement
'The Webb telescope is the most dynamically complex test article ever tested at Goddard, so the responses were a bit different than expected,' Geithner said.
The telescope will resume testing later this month, and those tests 'may or may not reveal additional unexpected responses, but that is the purpose of these tests' says Nasa.
The James Webb telescope has been described as a 'time machine' that could help unravel the secrets of our universe.
The telescope will be used to look back to the first galaxies born in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago, and observe the sources of stars, exoplanets, and even the moons and planets of our solar system.
When it is launched in 2018, it will be the world's biggest and most powerful telescope, capable of peering back 200 million years after the Big Bang.
The main component of the telescope is the primary mirror, which consists of 18 hexagonal mirrors and looks like a giant puzzle piece.
The massive golden mirror is made up of 18 components which will work together as one structure.
The massive golden mirror is made up of 18 components which will work together as one structure. Each coffee table-sized mirror segment is made from beryllium and weighs roughly 46 pounds (20.8kg)
Webb's primary mirror will collect light for the observatory in the scientific quest to better understand our solar system and beyond.
Each coffee table-sized mirror segment is made from beryllium and weighs roughly 46 pounds (20.8kg).
The parts are each coated with a fine film of vaporized gold to optimise the reflection of infrared light.
Webb's primary mirror will collect light for the observatory in the scientific quest to better understand our solar system and beyond.
Using these mirrors and Webb's infrared vision scientists will peer back over 13.5 billion years to see the first stars and galaxies forming out of the darkness of the early universe.
Unprecedented infrared sensitivity will help astronomers to compare the faintest, earliest galaxies to today's grand spirals and ellipticals, helping us to understand how galaxies assemble over billions of years.
Webb will see behind cosmic dust clouds to see where stars and planetary systems are being born.
Rare and brief bursts of cosmic radio waves have puzzled astronomers since they were first detected nearly 10 years ago.
Some suggested these mysterious bursts of energy could be a sign of alien life trying to contact us.
Now the signals have finally been tied to a source - a dwarf galaxy more than 3 billion light years from Earth.
Rare and brief bursts of cosmic radio waves have puzzled astronomers since they were first detected nearly 10 years ago. Now the signals have finally been tied to a source - a dwarf galaxy more than 3 billion light years from Earth. Artist's impression pictured
TRACKING DOWN THE ALIEN SIGNALS Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, were first 'heard' by radio telescopes back in 2007. A repeating burst discovered in 2012, however, provided the opportunity for a team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and Cornell University to repeatedly monitor its area of the sky. The team used the Karl Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico and the Arecibo radio dish in Puerto Rico, in hopes of pinpointing its location. Using new software, the VLA last year detected a total of nine bursts over a period of a month, which was enough to pinpoint its location in the sky. 'We now know that this particular burst comes from a dwarf galaxy more than three billion light-years from Earth,' said Shami Chatterjee, of Cornell University. The discovery that the bursts come from such a long distance away rules out any source in our own galaxy. Advertisement
Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, were first 'heard' by radio telescopes back in 2007.
The signal was so temporary and seemingly random that it took years for astronomers to agree it was not a glitch in one of the telescope's instruments, and none of those first observed were ever seen again.
A repeating burst discovered in 2012, however, provided the opportunity for a team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and Cornell University to repeatedly monitor its area of the sky.
'We now know that this particular burst comes from a dwarf galaxy more than three billion light-years from Earth,' said Shami Chatterjee, of Cornell University.
'That simple fact is a huge advance in our understanding of these events,' he added.
The team used the Karl Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico and the Arecibo radio dish in Puerto Rico, in hopes of pinpointing its location.
'For a long time, we came up empty, then got a string of bursts that gave us exactly what we needed,' said Casey Law, from the University of California at Berkeley.
Using new software, the VLA last year detected a total of nine bursts over a period of a month, which was enough to pinpoint its location in the sky.
Further analysis by other telescopes allowed its location to be narrowed down.
'The VLA data allowed us to narrow down the position very accurately,' said Sarah Burke-Spolaor, of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and West Virginia University.
Berkeley's Casey Law says his favourite hypothesis about the origin of fast radio bursts is a magnetar surrounded by either material ejected by a supernova explosion. Artist's impression of a supernova shown
The discovery that the bursts come from such a long distance away rules out any source in our own galaxy.
WHAT ARE FAST RADIO BURSTS? Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are radio emissions that appear temporarily and randomly, making them not only hard to find, but also hard to study. The mystery stems from the fact it is not known what could produce such a short and sharp burst. This has led some to speculate they could be anything from stars colliding to artificially created messages. The first FRB was spotted, or rather 'heard' by radio telescopes, back in 2007. But it was so temporary and seemingly random that it took years for astronomers to agree it was not a glitch in one of the telescope's instruments. Advertisement
'Before we knew the distance to any FRBs, several proposed explanations for their origins said they could be coming from within or near our own Milky Way Galaxy,' said Shriharsh Tendulkar, of McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
'We now have ruled out those explanations, at least for this FRB.'
But exactly what is causing the bursts in the dwarf galaxy is still not known.
Extremely bright exploding stars, called superluminous supernovae, and long gamma ray bursts also occur in the type of galaxy discovered in the new paper.
Both are hypothesized to be associated with massive, highly magnetic and rapidly rotating neutron stars called magnetars.
'All these threads point to the idea that in this environment, something generates these magnetars,' Law said.
'It could be created by a superluminous supernova or a long gamma ray burst, and then later on, as it evolves and its rotation slows down a bit, it produces these fast radio bursts as well as continuous radio emission powered by that spindown.
One alternative possibility is the galaxy's active nucleus, with radio emission coming from jets of material emitted from the region surrounding a supermassive black hole. Artist's concept pictured
'Later on in life, it looks like the magnetars we see in our galaxy, which have extremely strong magnetic fields but rotate more like ordinary pulsars.'
WHAT CAUSES THE SIGNALS? Berkeley's Casey Law says his favourite hypothesis about the origin of fast radio bursts is a magnetar surrounded by either material ejected by a supernova explosion or material ejected by a resulting pulsar. But there are other possibilities. One alternative is the galaxy's active nucleus, with radio emission coming from jets of material emitted from the region surrounding a supermassive black hole. The source of the fast radio burst is within 100 light years of the continuous radio emissions from the core of the galaxy, which means they are the same or physically associated with one another. Advertisement
In that interpretation, he said, fast radio bursts are like the tantrums of a toddler.
'We are the first to show that this is a cosmological phenomenon. It's not something in our backyard. And we are the first to see where this thing is happening, in this little galaxy, which I think is a surprise,' Law said.
'Now our objective is to figure out why that happens.'
Law says his favourite hypothesis about the origin of fast radio bursts is a magnetar surrounded by either material ejected by a supernova explosion or material ejected by a resulting pulsar.
But there are other possibilities.
One alternative is the galaxy's active nucleus, with radio emission coming from jets of material emitted from the region surrounding a supermassive black hole.
The source of the fast radio burst is within 100 light years of the continuous radio emissions from the core of the galaxy, which means they are the same or physically associated with one another.
'Finding the host galaxy of this FRB, and its distance, is a big step forward, but we still have much more to do before we fully understand what these things are,' Chatterjee said.
New anti-surveillance clothing has the ability to hide its wearer from security cameras.
The clothing uses ghostly coloured patterns of digitalised faces to trick facial recognition software.
The patterns confuse facial recognition systems by overwhelming them with too many false 'faces' to read at once.
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New anti-surveillance clothing hides its wearer from security cameras. The clothing uses ghostly coloured patterns of digitalised faces (prototype pictured) to trick facial recognition software
HOW IT WORKS The 'Hyperface' project prints ghostly patterns of eyes, noses and mouths onto clothing and textiles. The patterns modify: 'The things that appear next to you, around you, and that can also modify the computer vision confidence score,' creator Adam Harvey claims. The patterns oversaturate facial-recognition software with faces to divert the gaze of the computer vision algorithm. This confuses the software and leaves it unable to tell which of the faces is real. Advertisement
The clothing was produced as part of the 'Hyperface' project, which prints patterns of eyes, noses and mouths onto clothing and textiles.
Computer algorithms recognise these patterns as a face.
The software is bombarded with so many fake hits that it doesn't know which face is the real one.
The Hyperface project is the brainchild of Berlin artist and technologist Adam Harvey.
And this is not the first anti-surveillance trend he has started.
In a previous project, labelled 'CV Dazzle', the artist tried to invent a style that would also block facial recognition software.
He developed dazzling florescent makeup and hairstyling that hung in front of the face to disrupt surveillance software.
'As I've looked at in an earlier project, you can change the way you appear, but, in camouflage you can think of the figure and the ground relationship,' Mr Harvey said at the recent Chaos Communications Congress hacking conference in Hamburg.
'There's also an opportunity to modify the 'ground', the things that appear next to you, around you, and that can also modify the computer vision confidence score.'
And Hyperface aims to dirupt security software doing just that, Mr Harvey says, by: 'Overloading an algorithm with what it wants, over-saturating an area with faces to divert the gaze of the computer vision algorithm.'
Facial recognition software is on the rise, with a range of commercial face-reading CCTV cameras now available for home use. In previous project 'CV Dazzle' (pictured) the artist behind Hyperface tried to invent a style that would also block facial recognition software
Artist Adam Harvey developed dazzling florescent makeup (pictured) and hairstyles that hang in front of the face to disrupt surveillance software
The eerie patterns that this creates can be worn directly or used to blanket an area from the watchful eye of ever-present security tech.
'It can be used to modify the environment around you, whether it's someone next to you, whether you're wearing it, maybe around your head or in a new way,' Mr Harvey said.
During his talk, Mr Harvey presented the audience with a street scene from 1910, in which every passerby wore a hat that covered their face.
'In 100 years from now, we're going to have a similar transformation of fashion and the way that we appear.
'What will that look like? Hopefully it will look like something that appears to optimise our personal privacy.'
Facial recognition technology can now tell more about us than ever before.
Recent research from Shanghai Jiao Tong University claims to be able to predict criminality from subtle facial details such as the nose-mouth angle and lip curvature.
'A lot of other researchers are looking at how to take that very small data and turn it into insights that can be used for marketing,' Harvey said.
'What all this reminds me of is Francis Galton and eugenics.
'The real criminal, in these cases, are people who are perpetrating this idea, not the people who are being looked at.'
If you want to get something done, you might want to put your mobile phone back in your pocket.
Researchers have found that the mere presence of a handset is distracting even if it is not your own.
And the devices are likely to sidetrack you, even if they are not ringing or pinging with text messages.
If you want to get something done, you might want to put your mobile phone back in your pocket. Researchers have found that the mere presence of a handset is distracting even if it is not your own (stock image)
People asked to carry out electronic tests of their attention spans were found to perform worse when a mobile phone was present than other people performing in the presence of a paper notepad.
Scientists from Hokkaido University in Japan said that their findings show that it is harder to concentrate when one of the electronic gadgets is present.
The effect was most marked on people who are not regular users of phones.
In tests on 40 undergraduates, Associate Professor Jun-ichiro Kawahara and a colleague split the subjects inot two groups one asked to carry out tests in the presence of an Apple iPhone next to a computer monitor, and the others in the presence of a notebook.
The test involved asking the participant to search for a particular character amid a jumble of other characters on the screen.
Researchers measured the time it took to find the target.
People asked to carry out electronic tests of their attention spans were found to perform worse when a mobile phone was present than other people performing in the presence of a paper notepad
The results of the experiment found that those with the mobile phone took longer to find the character indicating that participants were automatically distracted by the presence of the phone, the authors said.
The researchers suggest that people are drawn to the presence of a mobile phone although there are individual differences in how one attempts to ignore it.
In conclusion, Professor Kawahara said The mere presence of a mobile phone was a distraction among infrequent internet users.
The evidence that mobile phones is distracting has been piling up in recent years.
Many studies have shown that talking on mobile phones impairs driving performance.
Another finding is that the unpredictability of listening to one half of a mobile phone conversation also distracts people, and other studies have found that placing a mobile phone in view has a negative impact on the quality of face-to-face communications.
Holding a mobile phone makes you less likely to get a fair hearing from others.
One study found that holding a phone in your hand when you are talking has been found to reduce the amount of empathy shown to you by listeners.
Whether youre travelling by plane, car or even bicycle, crossing an international border can be a harrowing experience.
Border agents may deliberately level bizarre and inane questions at you, just to ensure that you are passing through legitimately.
As such, thousands of travellers have taken to an online forum to reveal the strangest questions they have been asked at a countrys border, including whether theyre a secret agent, can play a song and or have any human body parts hidden in their luggage. Read on for some of the highlights.
It is apparently common for holidaymakers to the Soloman Islands to steal skulls and human body parts from traditional burial sites, reported one Quora user after he was questioned at the border over the contents of his case
Are you carrying a bomb or human body parts?
Answering the Quora post, entrepreneur and amateur historian Bryan Cockel shared that he was leaving the Soloman Islands when he was confronted with a question of whether he had stashed any explosives as souvenirs.
He explained: Live ordnance is still all over the place in the Solomons and more than one yahoo has picked up unexploded mortar rounds, cannon shells, even land mines as "souvenirs", trying to stash these now highly unstable explosives in their luggage in an apparent attempt to self-remove themselves from the gene pool.
He added that it is apparently also common for holidaymakers to steal skulls and human body parts from traditional burial sites on the island and so it is a question you may be asked when departing the destination.
Are you a spy?
An Anglican priest who said he works with victims of child trafficking in eastern Europe explained how his religious outfit and extensive travels baffled a Kiev airport immigration agent who didnt seem to believe his vocation.
Bill Haymaker claimed that firstly an immigration official held up his British passport and asked him if he was American before looking through every single page of the document.
He shared: She now demanded Show me guns! And I responded quickly this time. No guns! I retorted. And I added Priest, pointing to my collar.
The woman half laughed, half sneered at me. Again, she thumbed through my passport. She looked up at me and with pointed eyes, half whispering, half demanding with emphasis asked CIA?'
She then proceeded to ask whether he was an MI6 agent or from the Security Service of Moldova.
After much frustration he told her he was 'OAF - Old and Fat' which he reported seemed to do the trick and she eventually let him in.
What are you hiding with those air fresheners?
While travelling across the US-Canadian border with her roommate, Thang Tran encountered a border control officer who was concerned by how many car fresheners hung under the cars rear view mirror.
She said: The officer was suspecting that we were hiding marijuana in the car. I'm not sure about other countries but in the US, a lot of car fresheners have a tree-like shape. My roommate has never removed any one of them over the past three years and the result is that he has a forest of tree fresheners there.
They had to wait for almost four hours in -34 C before being agents confirmed they were not carrying anything illegal in the car and let them in.
Can you play us a song?
A border patrol agent told one traveller she'd have to serenade them with a song for them to believe she was a real musician
A professional violist was travelling on an orchestra tour through Europe by bus.
While crossing into Serbia, Smilyana Lozanova revealed she had to wait for half an hour while officials investigated their bus.
The orchestra were told to 'get up and open their instruments.'
She explained: 'The border patrols said they'd let us go only after they get a serenade. That way they'll know for sure we are real musicians.
The musician said they had to improvise a Serbian tune but the border patrol team let them through.
Do you want to be my friend?
Luke Nathaniel Sims claimed that when he was travelling through Bangladesh with his wife a border official asked for his number.
He then repeatedly called him for weeks inviting him out in the hopes that they could become friends.
Are you really sure you want to go to Russia?
A cyclist in Finland was discouraged by the border agent from going to 'dangerous Russia'
Phil Dundas who has travelled through 70 countries by bicycle shared an amusing incident at a Finnish border as he tried to depart the country for Russia.
The official said: Are you sure you really wish to do this? Finland is a very nice place why don't you stay here and ride your bicycle around here instead?
After explaining he wanted to cycle around Russia and Albania, the agent reportedly called Mr Dundas crazy claiming that Russia is a very bad place with lots of dangerous people.
The agent pleaded with him that he may not survive his planned trip.
After asking him several times if he really wanted to go, the agent eventually capitulated, shaking his head.
Curiosity may not have killed this cat, but it did manage to ground an entire aircraft.
An El Al Airlines flight from Israel to New York's JFK airport was due to depart from Ben-Gurion Airport on Tuesday when a passenger's cat managed to wriggle free from its crate and get lost in the cargo hold.
All passengers were asked to disembark the plane and a frantic search ensued, delaying the flight for four hours, it has been reported, but the flight later took off despite the cat not being located.
EL AL Airlines Flight LY7 from Israel to New York's JFK was due to depart from Ben-Gurion Airport, pictured, when a passenger's cat escaped and got lost (stock image)
Airlive News reported on the afternoon of 3 January: 'The search has stopped and the flight is to depart imminently despite the cat not found'.
The furry houdini was being carried in a cage by its owner in the cabin when it made a bid for freedom on Flight LY7.
It reportedly ended up somewhere in the cargo hold - cats are notoriously good at hiding - where it presumably remained following the unfruitful search.
In accordance with the Israeli airline's online policy, pets weighing up to 17lbs 'are accepted for carriage in the cabin with an accompanying passenger', provided they are in cage.
All passengers were asked to disembark the plane and a frantic search ensued but the flight later took off despite the cat remaining AWOL (stock image)
The airline also stipulated that 'animals must remain in the cage throughout the flight'.
According to tracking website Flight Aware, the plane landed at JFK following an 11-hour flight at 11.30pm.
The whereabouts of the wandering cat remains unknown.
They've spent a blissful 13 years together.
And Paul McCartney, 74, looked as loved up as ever with wife Nancy Shevell, 57, on their family trip to the French Caribbean island of Saint-Barthelemy on Tuesday.
The couple - who wed in 2011 - put on a cosy display as they soaked up some winter sunshine, with the Beatles legend wrapping his arm around Nancy in a warm embrace.
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Cute couple: Paul McCartney, 74, looked as loved up as ever with wife Nancy Shevell, 57, on their family trip to the French Caribbean island of Saint-Barthelemy on Tuesday
It was no wonder Paul couldn't keep his hands off his gorgeous wife as she looked incredible in a leopard print one-piece.
Clinging to her slender figure, the garment highlighted her perky bust and enviably lean legs, whilst the neon straps gave the costume a quirky edge.
She wore her raven tresses in loose beach waves before fully immersing herself in the ocean and letting the long locks soak up the salt water.
Wild thing! It was no wonder Paul couldn't keep his hands off his gorgeous wife as she looked incredible in a leopard print one-piece
Perfect pair: The couple - who wed in 2011 - put on a cosy display as they soaked up some winter sunshine, with the Beatles legend wrapping his arm around Nancy in a warm embrace
Loving life: The pair seemed in good spirits as they chatted away in the sunshine
Masking her make-up free face was a pair of over-sized sunglasses which only added to the superstar feel of her beach babe look.
Wrapping up after her dip in the sea, the brunette beauty concealed her lithe figure beneath a thick white towel.
Meanwhile, Paul teamed his navy swimming trunks with a black T-shirt for her beach break.
Brunette bombshell: Clinging to her slender figure, Nancy's swimsuit highlighted her perky bust and enviably lean legs, whilst the neon straps gave the costume a quirky edge
Glamorous: She wore her raven tresses in loose beach waves before fully immersing herself in the ocean and letting the long locks soak up the salt water
All about the accessories: Masking her make-up free face was a pair of over-sized sunglasses which only added to the superstar feel of her beach babe look
Leggy lady! Nancy's high-cut swimsuit offered a generous look at her enviably lean legs and pert posterior as she strolled along the beach
That's a wrap: Wrapping up after her dip in the sea, the brunette beauty concealed her lithe figure beneath a thick white towel
That's a wrap: Wrapping up after her dip in the sea, the brunette beauty concealed her lithe figure beneath a thick white towel
Beach buff: Paul teamed his navy swimming trunks with a black T-shirt for her beach break
The pair were joined on the trip by Paul's daughter Stella, along with her husband Alasdhair with their sons Miller, 11, and Beckett, eight and elder daughter Bailey, and youngest daughter Reiley, six.
Nancy and Paul celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in October.
The Hey Jude hitmaker was previously married to Heather Mills and the late Linda McCartney.
They found love on The Bachelor series last year.
And mother-of-one Alex Nation, 25, and her beau Richie Strahan, 31, welcomed the new year with a special experience in Western Australia's Ningaloo Reef.
The hot couple took to Instagram on Tuesday to announce they had completed a three-day scuba diving course.
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Deep sea, baby! The Bachelor's Alex Nation and beau Richie Strahan complete three-day scuba diving course in beautiful Nigaloo Reef, after heading to Coral Bay for the Christmas gift experience
Richie introduced Melbourne-based Alex to scuba diving after gifting a diving experience for Christmas.
The blonde stunner admits she was hesitant about the experience before travelling to Coral Bay, but the encounter changed her.
Alex said the experience reduced her fear of open water and sharks, and she now has a newfound appreciation for the creatures.
The model posted a proud picture in her scuba gear displaying two shaka hand signals, with the caption: 'So.. I am now a certified diver. #scubanation'
Scuba Nation!: The reality starlet posted a proud picture in her scuba gear displaying two shaka hand signals, with the caption: 'So.. I am now a certified diver'
Fear, no more! Alex said the experience reduced her fear of open water and sharks, and she now has a newfound appreciation for the creatures
The reality starlet also uploaded a black and white image mid-swim, in which she simply described: 'Just livin'.'
Richie also couldn't contain his excitement at completing the diving course, sharing an underwater photograph of the couple with their instructor.
He spoke of the surreal experience in his post: 'I can't thank @ningalooreefdive enough for making our trip up to coral bay an experience both Alex and I will never forget!'
'Alex and I will never forget!' Richie reflected on their special three days in Western Australia by claiming they will never forgot it
'Days like these': Richie - who is also a budding model - stands in front of black a Land Rover Defender, flexes his muscles as he looks off camera, towards the sand
Richie - who is also a budding model - stood in front of a black Land Rover Defender on Monday, flexing his muscles as he looked off camera, towards the sand.
Flaunting his buff body going shirtless, the former Bachelor star captioned his shot: 'Days like these.'
Meanwhile, stripping down to a G-string bikini, Alex showed off her shapely derriere and washboard abs as she swam in the ocean on the same day.
'Sun and salt': On New Year's Day, mother-of-one Alex Nation, 25, and her beau Richie Strahan, 31, showed off their flawless physiques at Coral Bay, Western Australia
In one snap shared to Instagram, Alex has her back to the camera and gazes out at the pristine water.
Her costume is tan in colour and she has her short locks out and straightened over her shoulders, blowing in the breeze.
The model captioned the image: 'sun and salt.'
In another image, she can be seen smiling and laughing as she walks, wearing a pair of aviator shades.
If you've got it! In another image, she can be seen smiling and laughing as she walks, wearing a pair of aviator shades
'Challenging and rewarding': At the weekend, Alex shared a shot of herself diving in the water and making a love heart with her hands, writing alongside it a lengthy post reflecting on 2016
Reunited: Alex and Richie are in the ropes access technician's home state, after they spent Christmas apart
At the weekend, Alex shared a shot of herself diving in the water and making a love heart with her hands, writing alongside it a lengthy post reflecting on 2016.
'It has been both challenging and rewarding, but ultimately it has been so fulfilling. I am filled abundantly with gratitude for this year and what it has brought me,' part of Alex's post read.
Alex and Richie are in the ropes access technician's home state, after they spent Christmas apart.
Alex's son Elijah, six, spent New Year's with his father and his father's partner.
Angelina Jolie has returned to Los Angeles with her children, after spending the holidays in the snowy ski town of Crested Butte, Colorado.
The actress, 41, was spotted on Monday descending from her private jet alongside daughters Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 11, and twins Vivienne and Knox, ages eight.
Angelina, who has suffered from a painful split from husband Brad Pitt in September, appeared to be in good spirits once she stepped onto the ground, smiling and chatting with friends.
Back home: Angelina Jolie has returned home to Los Angeles with her children on Tuesday, after spending the holidays in the snowy ski town of Crested Butte, Colorado
The Lara Croft: Tomb Raider actress wore a pair of sunglasses and had her jet black hair styled down for her flight home.
She also kept things casual in a black sweater, and had tote bag on her arm.
Her youngest daughter Vivienne had her arms full with plush belongings, and she also wore a green-blue backpack and cosy white footwear.
Vivienne's big sister Zahara followed close behind, wearing a grey sweatshirt, black top, and had her hair slicked up into a ponytail.
Follow the leader: Her youngest daughter Vivienne had her arms full with plush belongings, and she also wore a green-blue backpack and cosy white footwear
Angelina has been enjoying these last few days with her children in the ski town of Crested Butte in Colorado, and on Sunday was spotted exploring the winter resort with Knox, Shiloh, and Vivienne.
The family also enjoyed a day out together on the slopes that same day.
Angelina's estranged husband Brad did not accompany them on the trip, after he and Angelina split in September.
Down they go: Zahara wore a sweatshirt and had her hair scraped up into a ponytail as she walked downstairs ahead of brother Knox
Travelling in style: The actress wore a pair of sunglasses and had her jet black hair styled down for her flight home
The actress filed for divorce from Brad on September 19.
Brad is reported to have recently told one of his closest friends: 'This has been the worst holiday season of my life.'
The actor is still coming to terms with having only supervised visits with his children.
Rest and relax: Jolie has been enjoying these last few days with her children in the ski town of Crested Butte in Colorado
Here she comes! Vivienne continued walking downstairs as her mother began speaking with friends
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday the source explained: 'Brad's anguish is palpable right now. He desperately misses having his kids with him at Christmas and New Year. These supervised visits are sheer hell on him. He's broken down in tears so many times hes not ashamed to cry any more.'
He reportedly met five of his children in Los Angeles on Christmas Day but Maddox didn't want to see him.
Yet four months on and things appear to have gone from bad to worse for the estranged couple - with sources recently telling DailyMail.com that Angelina had been surprised by Brad's recent legal move, believing it 'made no sense.'
Late last month, Brad's legal team requested an LA Superior Court judge to seal the records of their six children, claiming it violates their privacy, noting that information on the children's 'therapists and other mental health professionals' has already wound up in publication.
Here they come: Angelina had her tote bag on her arm as she followed behind Shiloh
Home is where the heart is: Angelina, who has suffered from a painful split from husband Brad Pitt this last year, appeared to be in good spirits once she arrived onto the tarmac, smiling and chatting with friends
It was stated that Angelina 'appears to be determined to ignore even agreed upon standards relating to the children's best interest.'
However, the actress had already signed a deal agreeing to have the documents sealed, a source tells DailyMail.com - with the inside adding that because this was already cleared up, the Oscar winner believed it to be a 'press move.'
The family had allegedly got into an argument aboard a private plane in September - which caused an anonymous source to call the DCFS.
Brad was later cleared of all charges of abuse however, and the pair are now locked in a tense custody battle - with her asking for sole guardianship of their children, while he has requested joint.
Arriving in style: The family were spotted beside their jet
Sundae funday: The actress spotted exploring the winter resort Crested Butte with Knox, Shiloh, and Vivienne on Sunday
Married At First Sight's Zoe Hendrix and Alex Garner brought their daughter Harper-Rose home in November.
And now the plumber has learned first hand how to keep a new mama happy.
Zoe, 27, shared a photo to Instagram on Tuesday that showed a rather disgruntled Alex, 30, changing their baby daughter's dirty nappy.
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Daddy day care: Zoe shared a photo to Instagram on Tuesday that showed a rather grossed out Alex, 30, changing their baby daughter's dirty nappy
But the mum suggested that her reality TV hubby would get a sweet reward if he went through with the messy task.
'HOT TIP to all new dads out there, if you want to get lucky in the bedroom, get busy on your nappy change game,' she captioned the picture.
Zoe then listed several other chores Alex could do around the house before she'd be ready for some 'couples time'.
Prizes galore: Zoe suggested that her reality TV hubby would get a pretty sweet reward if he went through with the messy task
'Bath the baby, do a load of laundry, empty the dishwasher, to a tired mama that shit is so SEXY! And appreciated, (sic),' she added.
The happy moments follow Harper's dramatic delivery. Zoe was induced on November 14 after she suffered with pelvic problems.
The couple have settled into family life since meeting on Married At First Sight in 2015.
Happy together: The couple have settled into family life since meeting on Married At First Sight in 2015
The pair tied the knot on TV without having ever met but the ceremony wasn't legal, and the couple are yet to officially wed.
Zoe told OK! Magazine that a wedding is certainly on the cards and will be as unusual as they are.
'We hope to get married - I'd love a non-traditional, fun wedding that shows our personalities,' Zoe said.
They've been inseparable since Georgia Love chose Lee Elliott on the grand finale episode of The Bachelorette Australia.
And the popular couple looked very much in love, as they captured a date night at Sydney's est. restaurant, to their Instagram stories on Tuesday.
'Foie gras, French wine and my love, bliss,' the 28-year-old brunette captioned a clip shared to the social media site, that saw 35-year-old Lee enjoying the fine dining experience.
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'Foie gras, French wine and my love, bliss': The Bachelorette's Georgia Love, 28, shared an Instagram story on Tuesday, that saw her and Lee Elliott, 35, enjoying a date night at Sydney's est. restaurant
Georgia pulled out all the stops for the occasion.
A silk black off-the-shoulder frock skimmed over her slimline curves and flashed just a glimpse of flesh.
Elongating her toned legs with a pair of nude strappy heels, Georgia accessorised further with a tan leather handbag.
Glam couple: A silk black off-the-shoulder frock skimmed over Georgia's slimline curves and flashed just a glimpse of flesh, while Lee cut a suave figure in a Ralph Lauren button-up shirt and white trousers
Fine dining: The couple enjoyed red wine and an array of gourmet delights
A delicate gold bracelet added a touch of sparkle to her elegant ensemble.
Sweeping her brunette locks into a sleek style at the nape of her neck, the journalist and reality star, allowed a few strands to frame her face.
Keeping to an elegant makeup palette, Georgia highlighted a flawless complexion, defined brows, lashings of mascara and a coat of glossy nude lipstick.
Lee cut a suave look for the date night at one of Sydney's trendiest restaurants.
Thirsty work! The pair were also seen indulging in cocktails, which Lee captured to his Instagram story
Pulling out all the stops: The popular personalities looked to enjoy a bit of relaxation at the top notch venue
A pale blue Ralph Lauren button-up shirt clung to his muscular upper frame, and was tucked into a pair of form-fitting white trousers.
A thin tan leather belt, coordinating loafers and a silver statement watch worked as accessories.
The mechanical plumber was sure to document the occasion to his Instagram story, sharing a snap to his followers of the pair inside a lift, taking a mirror selfie.
Other moments captured to his account saw the high profile couple enjoying cocktails and red wine.
Delight: Georgia and Lee managed to squeeze in two delicious desserts
'Dont stop': Georgia appeared to be having a ball on date night
Playful: The brunette beauty showed off her humorous side, posting a clip of a directory board
Georgia and Lee recently became ambassadors to the Pancare charity, which works to fund research and provide assistance to people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, after Georgia lost her mother Belinda to the disease.
Georgia enjoyed a close relationship with her mother, who worked as a nurse, and was devastated by her death.
She and Lee hosted an event which allowed 12 people to go on a 'date' with some of the failed Bachelorette contestants.
The endeavour allowed the couple to donate $10,000 to the charity.
She's one of Australia's most in-demand actresses, having just wrapped up a lead role in Zoe Foster Blake's television drama, The Wrong Girl.
And Jessica Marais showed off her star appeal mid-December, enjoying a frolic in the surf at Bondi Beach.
The 31-year-old blonde beauty had all eyes on her, revealing her impressively taut torso in a skimpy patterned two-piece.
Sizzling hot! The Wrong Girl actress Jessica Marais, 31, showed off her toned bikini body in a patterned two-piece, as she frolicked in the surf at Bondi Beach, mid-December
The triangle-style top showed off her delicate decolletage, with stitching just under the bust drawing attention to her enviably taut torso.
A pair of high-cut briefs with ties at the side, added a girly dimension and elongated her lean legs.
Jessica appeared to go makeup-free, showing off her natural beauty.
That's a bit cheeky! The mother-of-one drew attention to her pert derriere as she cooled off in the water
Svelte: There was not an inch to pinch on Jessica's flawless bikini body as she waded in and out of the surf
Her signature blonde locks were slicked back off her face, drawing even more attention to her striking facial features.
Enjoying quality time with gal pal Shannon Dooley, the mother-of-one looked a picture of content, beaming from ear-to-ear.
Shannon, who runs a 1980s inspired workout school Retrosweat, was seen embracing Jessica, while showing off her toned frame in a skimpy bikini top and high-waisted briefs.
Close pals: Jessica was seen embracing her friend Shannon Dooley, who runs a 1980s inspired workout school, Retrosweat
Girl time: Shannon sported a skimpy bikini top and high-waisted briefs, and looked very pleased to be enjoying time at the beach with her friend
The pair later headed back to the sand, enjoying a casual chat with a brunette friend.
Jessica swept her tresses back into an effortless bun and shielded her eyes behind a pair of dark sunglasses.
Once her locks were dry, she added a stylish wide-brimmed hat to her beach ensemble.
Jessica sparked rumours she was dating the fitness instructor after the pictures emerged of the two at the beach, but a source close to the pair reported to the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, that they are not a couple.
The source said: 'They were just being silly, having fun at the beach, that is what friends do. They are 100 per cent not dating.'
Relaxed: The pair later headed back to the sand to dry off and were joined by a brunette companion
Low-key: Jessica swept her wet tresses into an effortless bun and shielded her eyes behind a pair of dark sunglasses
On Monday, Woman's Day published claims that Jessica had ended her self-imposed 'mantox' following a very public break-up in 2015.
They quoted a close friend as saying: 'Men have been public enemy number one for Jess since her split with James Stewart, and she's just enjoying having a bit of fun at the moment.'
'Jess and Shannon have been mates for years and have been a great support to one another. They've both been having a tough time of late and it's nice they can lean on each other.'
The actress split from fiance James, 41, after a five-year engagement, during which time they welcomed a daughter, Scout, into the world.
Casual: The trio enjoyed conversation as they worked on their tans
Trim and terrific: Jessica drew attention to her enviably svelte frame as she stood on the sand to dry off
Jessica's close friend Shannon, has also been sharing snaps of the duo to social media over the past few weeks, including a photo of the South African-born actress sunbathing in a G-string bikini.
'Stop. It. #therightgirl,' gasped Shannon in the caption.
In September, Jessica spoke to Women's Health about embarking upon a self-enforced 'mantox' rather than rushing to find a new man.
'There have been times in my life when I've felt the need to work on my own personal growth without depending on affirmation from a man or from an external source, where you say, "You know, I need to sort myself out on my own,"' she said.
Effortless: The blonde beauty appeared to go makeup-free for the outing
They have been enjoying an island vacation in Bora Bora since last week.
And on Tuesday, Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello returned to LAX from their luxurious, French Polynesian getaway.
The attractive couple jetted off to the romantic destination to celebrate Joe's 40th birthday and ring in the New Year.
Back home! On Tuesday, Sofia Vergara, 44, and Joe Manganiello, 40, returned to LAX from their luxurious, French Polynesian getaway
Sofia, 44, was stylishly cosy in a black top layered underneath a grey, wrap sweater.
The mum-of-one added a pair of distressed boyfriend jeans to her look, along with a pair of Nike high-top sneakers.
The Latina beauty accessorized with her wedding ring, bracelets, shades and an oversize purse.
Joe was casual in a fitted, V-neck T-shirt, jeans and trainers combo.
Comfortable: Sofia was stylishly cosy in a black top layered underneath a grey, wrap sweater
Finishing touches: The mum-of-one added a pair of distressed boyfriend jeans to her look, along with a pair of Nike high-top sneakers
Handsome: Joe was casual in a fitted, V-neck T-shirt, jeans and trainers combo
The husband and wife of over a year surely enjoyed a vacation from their daytime acting duties.
Joe and Sofia first travelled to Mexico to spend Christmas with her family, before heading to the island of Bora Bora.
The duo celebrated Joe's milestone 40th birthday on December 28 beforing ringing in the new year a few days later.
Happy to be home: Sofia flashed her signature smile as she headed out of the airport in a nearby vehicle
Couples' time: Joe and Sofia surely enjoyed a vacation from their daytime acting duties
Their return to LA meant back to reality - and back to work- for the couple.
Sofia currently stars on Modern Family as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett. The role helped her earn the title of the highest paid TV actress ($43 million), according to Forbes.
Later this year, the actress will appear in the comedic flick, The Female Brain.
Hubby Joe also has a busy 2017 ahead of him, as he is set to star in five films, including The Batman, alongside Ben Affleck.
Latina beauty! Sofia showed off her slim waist in a printed, off-the-shoulder one piece during her Christmas and New Year's vacation
She recently confirmed she was '100 per cent' not in a relationship with close gal pal, Shannon Dooley.
But the pictures that sparked rumours Jessica Marais, 31, was dating her friend show the pair putting on a friendly display as she they frolicked on Bondi Beach, last month.
Wearing a floral string bikini, The Wrong Girl actress showcased her svelte limbs as she was seen hugging and nestling into Shannon's chest.
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Close: Jessica Marais put on an friendly display with gal pal Shannon Dooley last month at Bondi Beach, sparking rumours that the pair were more than just friends
Shannon also opted to wear a tiny string bikini and flaunted her enviable curves as she leaned in to embrace Jessica.
Laughing and joking, the pair looked to be in high spirits as they cuddled in the water.
At one point they appeared to lean in for a possible embrace.
Embrace: Wearing a floral string bikini, The Wrong Girl actress showcased her svelte llimbs as she was seen hugging and nestling into Shannon's chest
Amorous: Jessica held her arms tightly round Shannon's back as she leaned in close
Jessica held her arms tightly round Shannon's back as she drew in closer to her friend's chest.
Despite their obvious closeness, The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday that a source close to the pair has denied that they are dating.
The source said: 'They were just being silly, having fun at the beach, that is what friends do. They are 100 per cent not dating.'
Denial: Despite their obvious closeness, The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday that a source close to the pair has denied that they are dating
Just having fun: The source said: 'They were just being silly, having fun at the beach, that is what friends do. They are 100 per cent not dating'
Close: Jessica leaned on her gal pal Shannon for a close embrace
Friendly: In other pictures she is seen placing her hand around her friend's waist
Mantoxing: On Monday, Women's Day published the original claims that the 31-year-old had ended her self-imposed 'mantox' following a very public break-up in 2015
On Monday, Women's Day published the original claims that Jessica had ended her self-imposed 'mantox' following a very public break-up in 2015.
They quoted a close friend as saying: 'Men have been public enemy number one for Jess since her split with James, and she's just enjoying having a bit of fun at the moment.'
No men for Jess? They quoted a close friend as saying: 'Men have been public enemy number one for Jess since her split with James, and she's just enjoying having a bit of fun at the moment.'
Supportive: According to a the magazine's source, Jess and Shannon have been mates for years and have been a great support to one another
Ready to date again? Rumours have been flying that she was finally ready to date again with Shannon, who she attended the prestigious Australian drama school NIDA with
Sharing is caring: Jessica's close friend, who runs 1980's inspired workout school Retrosweat, has also been sharing intimate snaps of the duo on her social media over the past few weeks, including a photo of the South African-born actress sunbathing in a G-string bikini
'Jess and Shannon have been mates for years and have been a great support to one another. They've both been having a tough time of late and it's nice they can lean on each other.'
The actress split from fiance James Stewart after a five-year engagement, during which time they welcomed a daughter, Scout, into the world.
But rumours have been flying that she was finally ready to date again with Shannon, who she attended the prestigious Australian drama school NIDA with.
Not rushing in: In September, mother-of-one Jessica spoke to Women's Health about embarking upon a self-enforced 'mantox' rather than rushing to find a new man
Jessica's close friend, who runs 1980's inspired workout school Retrosweat, has also been sharing intimate snaps of the duo on her social media over the past few weeks, including a photo of the South African-born actress sunbathing in a G-string bikini.
'Stop. It. #therightgirl,' gasped Shannon in the caption.
In September, mother-of-one Jessica spoke to Women's Health about embarking upon a self-enforced 'mantox' rather than rushing to find a new man.
'There have been times in my life when I've felt the need to work on my own personal growth without depending on affirmation from a man or from an external source, where you say, "You know, I need to sort myself out on my own,"' she said.
Tim Blackwell sparked fan outrage in November after an image showed him clearly touching radio co-host Kate Ritchie's backside.
This time, the the duo kept their hands to themselves.
The hosts took to Instagram on Wednesday to share images of a star-studded boat party on Sydney harbour, while Kate's husband was notably absent.
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Boat Party! Kate Ritchie (Centre Right) and radio co-host Tim Blackwell (Back Right) were snapped on a wild boat party on Wednesday. The star-studded snap also featured Rob Mills (Front Left), Kirk Pengily (Back Right), Layne Beachley (Centre) and Tim's wife Monique (on Kate's Right)
In the snap, Tim and Kate are joined by surfing royalty Layne Beachley, former Australian Idol dreamboat Rob Mills, INXS legend Kirk Pengilly, and Tim's wife Monique.
Perhaps in a nod to the recent derriere controversy, Tim kept his arms outstretched and visible in an exaggerated pose.
Interestingly, Kate's husband Stuart Webb was not present in the post.
'I'm blaming all of these people #andothersnotpictured for me not feeling #brighteyedandbushytailed this morning (sic).' Kate wrote in the caption.
Over on Tim's Instagram, the long-haired host was pictured in a hazy-eyed state with a less-than-impressed looking Richard Wilkins.
Unimpressed! Over on Tim's Instagram, the long-haired host was pictured in a hazy-eyed state with a less-than-impressed looking Richard Wilkins
Titanic! He was also snapped attempting to re-enact the Infamous 'I'm Flying' Titanic scene with Rob Mills
He was also snapped attempting to re-enact the Infamous 'I'm Flying' Titanic scene with Rob Mills.
In a later image, Kate posed with the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.
She let her luscious brown locks fall onto her bust, which was covered with a long Polka Dot dress.
'This is ME. On the Harbour. In polka dots. Being cheeky.' The former Home And Away star captioned the image.
She added the hashtag 'My best impersonation of someone young and carefree.'
Carefree: In a later image, Kate posed with the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background. She added the hashtag 'My best impersonation of someone young and carefree,'
Young and carefree is probably the kind of label the 38-year-old is hoping to avoid, after sparking fan outrage in November in an image that showed Tim firmly clutching her backside.
'Friends don't touch a married woman's a**,' one person commented on the image captured during Melbourne Cup celebrations.
The pair are a regular feature looking friendly on each-other's Instagram accounts.
Too Carefree? Carefree is probably the kind of label the 38-year-old is hoping to avoid, after sparking fan outrage in November in an image that showed Tim firmly clutching her backside
In December, Woman's Day claimed that the pair have become 'incredibly close' since they began working together on Nova.
'They're best mates and are literally inseparable,' the magazine's radio insider claimed, adding that the former Home And Away actress 'lights up when Tim is around'.
'It would only be natural if Tim's wife Monique or Kate's husband Stuart weren't entirely comfortable about their friendship,' the source concluded.
'Inseparable': A source claimed to Woman's Day that the duo are 'best mates and are literally inseparable'
Stuart's absence from Wednesdays post - despite the presence of Monique - only helps to fuel split rumours that have been plaguing the couple for months.
In August, it was claimed the pair had been living separately, with Stuart residing in their newly-purchased Southern Highlands home while Kate and their daughter Mae stayed in Sydney.
They further fueled speculation of 'trouble in paradise' after stepping out without their wedding rings.
Kate seemingly put the rumours to rest in September by wishing her husband a happy anniversary on social media.
Split rumours: Meanwhile, Kate and her husband Stuart Webb (pictured) have been plagued with split rumours for months. Stuart's absence on Wednesday only helps to fuel speculation
Sparks were flying between The Bachelor's Megan Marx and Tiffany Scanlon on New Year's Day at Perth's Cuban Club party.
But Tiffany claims they don't have a picture of their first New Year's kiss together, and cheekily blames the photographer for missing the special moment.
Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, the 30-year-old blonde posted a loved-up snap of the pair in each other's arms lingering their lips for the smooch.
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Better luck next year! Bachelor's Tiffany Scanlon cheekily blames photographer for missing special New Year's kiss with girlfriend Megan Marx in Perth within an Instagram post on Wednesday
The reality starlet captioned the post, in part: ' The closest we have to a new years kiss photo, blame the photographer lol!'
However, seemingly not phased by the slip, she laughed it off with a 'lol' and claimed it was her 'happy place'.
'My biggest accomplishment in my arms': Bachelor's Megan gushes over girlfriend Tiffany after spending New Year's Day together at Perth's Cuban Club party
Her girlfriend Megan, 27, also shared a sweet image from the bash on Monday, where the pair appeared smitten with each other.
She held Tiffany in her arms as they partied among other festival revellers.
Megan captioned the doting romantic shot: 'My biggest accomplishment in my arms on the first day of 2017.'
New Year's Day: Bachelor's favourite couple, Megan Marx and her girlfriend Tiffany Scanlon are joined by Bachelorette's Cameron Cranley to start the new year
Earlier in the day, Australia's favourite The Bachelor couple were joined by The Bachelorette's Cameron Cranley to kick off 2017.
The loved up couple posted shots of them getting excited for their New Year's Day party, before being joined by the hunky fireman.
Taking to Instagram, Tiffany posted a video of the trio admitting that Cameron is their 'famous third wheel'.
'Megan and I have been joined by a very special VIP. Who other than Cam - our famous third wheel,' said Tiffany in the short clip.
Pictures posted on social media by the trio saw them beaming as they enjoyed the exclusive music event held at Perth's Flying Squadron Yacht Club.
Cam posted a picture of the trio with the one-word caption 'LOL' followed by the hash tag '2017'.
Tiffany was also posting pictures of herself with Megan, taking to Instagram to share her pic of the pair with Cam, in which she is adorably poking out her tongue, captioned: 'Sorry mum, suns out tongues out.
Three is a crowd: Pictures posted on social media saw the trio beaming as they enjoyed the exclusive music event at Perth's Flying Squadron Yacht Club
'@cubanclub with our regular third wheel @camcranley,' she finished with the hash tags, 'newyearsday', 'happynewyear2016', 'cubanclub17', 'thirdwheel' and 'love them'.
Megan also posted a picture of the trio and wrote: '@camcranley the third wheel. @cubanclub @tiffany_janes WE ARE NOT DRUBK (sic)'.
Tiffany cut a casual figure in loose fitting floral pants and an olive green tank top which she paired with a wide brimmed white hat.
Looking good: Megan and Tiffany cut casual figures as they stepped out on New Year's Day and both appeared mostly make up free for the occasion apart from a hint of mascara
Megan wore a simple plunging white tie-up blouse and white skirt with geometric details and a pair of dark shades.
Both wore their hair out and straight for the occasion and appeared mostly makeup free with a hint of mascara.
Cameron cut a similarly crisp casual figure in shorts and a button down shirt, which he paired with black loafers and dark shades.
Polo in the city: In December last year, Cameron was seen wearing a smart casual outfit as he attended Perth's Polo In The City, where he was spotted with Megan and Tiffany
This isn't the first time the trio have been spotted together, often seen hanging out on the Bachelor and Bachelorette social circuit at exclusive events.
In December last year, Cameron was seen wearing a smart casual outfit as he attended Perth's Polo In The City, where he was spotted with Megan and Tiffany.
The trio took the opportunity to take yet another photo together as they enjoyed their day in the sun.
Race day: In October the trio were seen posed together with Cameron's brother at Melbourne's Spring Races
In October the trio were seen posed together with Cameron's brother at Melbourne's Spring Races.
Megan and Tiffany fell in love last year during a trip to Bali, after starring in The Bachelor with Richie Strahan.
Cameron found fame after starring on The Bachelorette with Georgia Love, but was brutally dumped on national television during the show.
George Kosana, who played the beefy Sheriff McClelland in the 1968 cult zombie film, Night of the Living Dead, has died.
He was 81.
He was found deceased in his home in his home in Clairton, Pennsylvania, on Friday, according to his longtime friend John Russo, who co-wrote the 1968 cult horror classic.
He said Kosana's body was discovered after friends became concerned he was not returning telephone calls.
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R.I.P.: George Kosana, who played the sheriff in the 1968 zombie classic The Night Of The Living Dead, has died. He was 81. He's pictured at a fan convention in 2009
It was Russo who had suggested to Kosana that he should take on the role of the sheriff in the horror flick, describing him as a 'natural' for the part,
'It seemed to fit his personality,' Russo recalled, adding that his friend was 'cantankerous, amusing, blustery and sincere.'
It was during the audition that Kosana ad-libbed what became his most memorable line in the film: 'They're dead. They're all messed up.'
Kosana also received a credit in the film as production manager.
Role of a lifetime: Kosana found fame in the gorefest directed by George A. Romero and while he continued to work at the steel mill in his hometown of Clairton, Pennsylvania, he enjoyed attending fan conventions where he signed autographs and sold collectibles
On the movie's shoestring budget, he pitched in in various roles and even hung some of his stuffed animal heads from hunting trips as props in the house where the movie was shot.
The film a 90-minute gorefest about a handful of western Pennsylvania townsfolk running from man-eating ghouls left viewers aghast when it debuted nearly five decades ago.
It was placed in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 1999.
In the following decades, Kosana was a regular at horror film conventions, where he sold T-shirts with the famous quote, posed for photos, signed autographs and sold collectibles.
'He just kind of gloried in the adulation he got,' Russo recalled.
Kosana continued to work in the steel mill in Clariton while still working on movies with Russo.
The job led to numerous health issues, his friend said.
Russo, who still makes horror movies, cast Kosana in his latest film, a 2016 horror comedy My Uncle John Is A Zombie. In it, he reprised his role and lampoons McClelland.
Bella Thorne and her older sister Dani Thorne have been on holiday in the Bahamas with a group of friends.
And on Tuesday, the 19-year-old actress took to Snapchat as she and her look-a-like sibling, 23, continued to enjoy their Caribbean vacation with a visit to Big Major Cay, also known as Pig Beach.
Bella inundated her social media story with shots of the pair showing off their perfect physiques in itty-bitty bikinis while frolicking in the sand with the cute pigs which inhabit the tiny island.
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Tourist hotspot: On Tuesday, Bella Thorne continued her holiday in the Bahamas with a visit to Pig Island, or Big Major Cay as it is officially known
Pig pals: Bella documented her older sister, Dani Thorne, soaking up the sun while playing with some swine that inhabit the tiny Caribbean island
Bella put her enviable figure on display in a navy and white polka dot bikini with red straps as she went barefoot in the sand.
The former Disney star's lean legs and taut tummy were impossible to miss as she picked up a piglet and posed for all of her followers to see.
The beauty left her blue-dyed locks down to blow in the breeze and shielded her face from the sun with a pair of white round shades.
Bella's Snapchat feed also showed her sister playing on the beach with another pig.
Sharks! Later Bella showcased her bravery as she swapped the swine for sharks
Swimming with sharks: Dani looked like a mermaid as she submerged herself completely into the crystal clear water infested with sharks
Dani showed off her svelte body in a tan bikini as she smiled while enjoying her new pink and black spotted furry friend.
Later, the girls showcased their bravery as they swapped the swine for sharks.
Both of the beauties submerged themselves into the crystal clear water infested with friendly looking sharks.
No fear! Dani couldn't stop petting the sharks
Water babe: Bella put her enviable figure on display in a navy and white polka dot bikini with red straps
She's not leaving: Multiple Snapchat pictures showed the sisters, especially Dani, enjoying their time at the Bahamas tourist attraction
Multiple Snapchat pictures showed the sisters, especially Dani, enjoying their time at the Bahamas tourist attraction.
Other Snapchat photos included shots of Bella just showing off her bikini body, which clearly wasn't affected by any holiday weight gain.
Bella struck a sexy pose while aboard a boat back to the mainland competing with the picturesque view of the ocean behind her.
Soaking up the sun: Bella struck a sexy pose while aboard a boat back to the mainland competing with the picturesque view of the ocean behind her
Artsy: Bella got artsy with her Snapchat feed as she took a picture of her white sunnies which showed her reflection in the rounded lenses
On a boat: Dani didn't let Bella have all the attention as she flaunted her cleavage in an itty-bitty nude bikini
While on the boat, Bella was also sure to capture plenty of swimsuit shots of her sister too.
Dani didn't let her famous sibling have all the attention as she flaunted her cleavage in an itty-bitty nude bikini.
The close sisters enjoyed each other's company and even took a selfie with their tongues out showing off their matching nose rings and tousled locks.
These are the latest in a string of social media posts that the sisters have shared during their Bahama getaway.
Close sisters: They enjoyed each other's company and even took a selfie with their tongues out showing off their matching nose rings and tousled locks
She shines! Bella sported glitter on her nose and chest
Selfie time! Bella took more photos of herself showing off her holiday beach look
And another! The former Disney star is proud of her body
He recently confirmed his relationship with My Kitchen Rules alum and aspiring chef Nelly Riggio while taking a romantic holiday in the Maldives.
And Adriano Zumbo seems to be taking the plunge head first as he posted a video of himself jumping into a pool to his Instagram account on Tuesday.
Wearing nothing more than a pair of tight white undies, the TV star captioned the post: 'Jump at things that mean the most! And make a splash while doing it.'
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Taking the plunge! Adriano Zumbo seems to be taking the plunge head first as he posted a video of himself jumping into a pool to his Instagram account on Tuesday
In the video, the bronzed Zumbo star is seen dive bombing into the crystal clear pool at the Dusit Thani Hotel.
As he takes the leap and pushes himself into a ball, the 'sweet assassin' pulls a number of faces and leaves little to the imagination in his bizzarre choice of swimwear.
The video ends in him making a huge splash in the pool.
One, two, three! Wearning nothing more than a pair of tight white undies, the TV star captioned the post: 'Jump at things that mean the most! And make a splash while doing it.
Splash! The video ends in him making a huge splash in the pool
The post comes days after Adriano went public with his relationship with Nelly.
The the slender brunette uploaded a loved up snap to Instagram with her new beau.
'Positive vibes,' she captioned a photo, that saw her 35-year-old partner holding her up in the air in front of a picturesque backdrop.
'Positive vibes': My Kitchen Rules alum and aspiring chef Nelly Riggio, took to Instagram on Tuesday, sharing a loved-up snap with beau Adriano Zumbo, 35, just days after the pair confirmed their relationship
The post which also included the hash-tags #love, #allsmiles and #dinnerdate, saw Nelly and Riggio appearing a picture of content as they stood at a stunning location in the Maldives.
Adriano, dressed casually in a white T-shirt, dark shorts and thongs, was seen holding Nelly up in the air, with her arms resting on her beau's shoulders.
The couple looked to be coordinating in their attire, with Nelly donning a slim-fitting white top, shorts that exposed her lean legs, and a pair of thongs.
Making it official: On Sunday, Adriano confirmed he was dating Nelly, cuddling up to the pretty brunette during a trip to the Maldives
On Sunday, Adriano confirmed he was dating Nelly, cuddling up to the pretty brunette during the trip.
'Happy New Year 2017 from the Maldives!!!! Looking forward to many more years with this hottie,' adding in two emojis with love heart eyes.
While Nelly took to her own Instagram account after, posting a snap that saw her embracing her famous boyfriend.
'Too distracted to write anything,' Nelly captioned the photo, adding in the hashtags #spadate and #massages.
Time away from home: Nelly took to her own Instagram account after, posting a snap that saw her embracing her famous beau, while enjoying a spa date in the Maldives
Relocation: The Daily Telegraph's Confidential reported on Tuesday that Nelly took up an offer of a role in resources and development at Zumbo's dessert chain in Sydney, seeing her relocate from Brisbane
Instagram fans soon questioned the timing of the relationship, referencing past boyfriend JP Huillet.
The couple were referred to as the 'lovebirds' in promo campaigns for the last season of My Kitchen Rules.
'But what happened to jp,' wrote one social media user, alongside a sad face emoji.
While another commented: 'Are you guys together? Awe what happened to jp and nelly,' adding in a love heart emoji.
Online chatter: Instagram fans soon questioned the timing of the relationship, referencing past boyfriend JP Huillet
Fan favourites: The couple referred to as the 'lovebirds' in promo campaigns for the last season of My Kitchen Rules
'Hope it wasn't too hard on them': Another social media user offered their well wishes, hoping the break up was amicable
Another Instagram follower offered their well wishes: 'Clear that they split, hope it wasn't too hard on them, break ups [are] never easy.'
The Daily Telegraph's Confidential reported on Tuesday, that Nelly, who starred on the last season of My Kitchen Rules with then-boyfriend JP Huillet, landed a job in Sydney for Zumbo's dessert chain.
Nelly moved from Brisbane to Sydney last September, to take on a role in research and development.
It is a disease that has brought them together after years of acrimony.
And Paris Jackson hailed her 'badass mom' Debbie Rowe when she shared an image of her mother following a cancer treatment on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old was proud as punch of her parent, who grinned as she stared at the camera while holding a sign saying, 'chemo done.'
Fighter: Paris Jackson hailed her 'badass mom' Debbie Rowe when she shared an image of her mother following a cancer treatment on Tuesday
Proud Paris said: 'My badass mom, kickin butt n takin names. ain't she f***in fabulous????'
The 58-year-old ex-wife of the late Michael Jackson - who reconciled her daughter after being estranged for more than a year - recently described the teen as her 'rock' as she undergoes her treatment for breast cancer.
The former nurse, who was diagnosed in the summer, told ET: 'She's my rock, she's amazing. She's been with me the whole time.
'She was there. First phone call, [it] took her 30 seconds [to reach out] when she found out.'
'My rock': The former nurse has hailed her daughter for looking after her
Before before the fallout: Debbie and Paris before their feud back in 2013
The Washington native - who was married to the Prince Of Pop from from 1996 to 1999 - explained that Paris has been her 'reason' to get out of bed each day.
She admitted: 'You have to work very hard to get up every morning and do this.'
At the beginning of October, Paris shared a sweet Instagram snapshot of the pair as she placed a loving kiss upon her mom following a chemotherapy session.
'I'm a fighter because she's a fighter. love you mom,' the platinum blonde beauty captioned the image
Debbie, who is also the mother of the Smooth Criminal star's 19-year-old son Prince said: 'For her to kiss my bald head [her love] is pretty unconditional.'
It seems her cancer diagnosis pushed the two women to mend fences, years after Paris shut Debbie out of her life and refused to answer her phone calls.
Husband: She was married to Prince Of Pop Michael Jackson from from 1996 to 1999
Chip off the old block: She is also mother to Michael's eldest son Prince
She's the Australian actress who regularly talks all things motherhood while raising a family in Los Angeles.
And Tammin Sursok was every bit the doting mother on Wednesday when she shared an adorable tribute to her three-year-old daughter Phoenix on Instagram.
The actress, 33, was seen squeezing the cheeks of the blonde toddler's face as the pair shared humorous grins while rugged up in coats.
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'Enjoy every wild, wacky and magical moment': Tammin Sursok shares touching tribute to three-year-old daughter Phoenix ... after doting over her family as she welcomed 2017
She captioned the playful snap: 'This picture truly encapsulates my daughter @whatphoenixtoldgreyson and my relationship.'
The former Home And Away star went on to say: 'She makes me present and enjoy every wild, wacky and magical moment.'
Her daughter appeared to attempt to blow raspberries with her lips as Tammin gently held her face while staring lovingly at her.
Doting Mum! Only a few days ago, the star bid farewell to 2016 with a series of moving posts in dedication to her family and husband, producer Sean McEwen
Only a few days ago, the star bid farewell to 2016 with a series of moving posts in dedication to her family and husband, producer Sean McEwen.
She posted a loved-up photo of the pair to Instagram, wishing her husband of five years a happy birthday, while rining in the new year.
The caption read: 'Love I have for you can't be measured. It is infinite. We are infinite together. Our souls are connected now and through eternity.'
Loved up: Wishing her husband of five years a happy birthday, Tammin captioned an emotional Instagram photo of the pair: 'Love I have for you can't be measured. It is infinite'
She continued: 'You are my beginning, my end and everything between. I'm so f*******g excited for 2017. I now realize that life's possibilities are endless.'
The Pretty Little Liar's actress also added: 'And I'm the luckiest woman alive that I get to share them with you. I love you boo.'
The pair were married in 2011, in an epic ceremony and reception that lasted over three days and was held in the Italian city of Florence.
Promoting her children's clothing line on an episode of The Morning Show in October, the beauty told host Larry Emdur she and her husband kept things spicy and have sex on 'Tuesdays and Fridays.'
Carefree: The Pretty Little Liar's actress called herself 'the luckiest woman alive' in a heartfelt Instagram post dedicated to her partner
The South African born star then added that her toddler daughter already 'knows how she was conceived.'
On New Year's Eve, the former soap starlet posted a sun-drenched bikini selfie to Instagram, in which she is seen skipping along a dock by the water.
In the carefree image, the brunette beauty shows off her trim figure in a black and white polka dot bikini as her hair flows behind her in the breeze.
New start: 'Goodbye 2016. You were good to our family,' the 33-year-old, posing here with daughter Phoenix, three, said in a post to her Instagram fans
'Goodbye 2016. You were good to our family. Can't wait to see what 2017 brings,' the 33-year-old captioned the image, adding a heart emoji.
Tammin has much to look forward to.
Other than her role in Pretty Little Liars and her own children's clothing line, she recently starred in the film Girlfriends of Christmas Past.
Nicole Kidman was newly single when she last attended the Palm Springs Film Festival with her father twelve years ago.
The 49-year-old was back again this year, but sadly, Antony Kidman was not.
The Australian actress was moved to tears as she paid tribute to her late 'papa' while accepting the International Star award for her role in the film Lion.
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Emotional! Nicole Kidman was moved to tears as she paid tribute to her late 'papa' while accepting an award for her role in the film Lion
Dressed in a playful cream gown featuring several illustrations and embroidery, the Oscar winner referenced her former husband Tom Cruise in the heart-wrenching speech.
'I was here twelve years ago and I was here with my papa, who was alive then,' she began.
'I was newly single... and he held my hand and we walked up the red carpet. And I still have photos of that so...'
Nicole paused before she added: 'So this is a really emotional evening for me.'
Playful! Dressed in a playful cream gown, the Oscar winner referenced her former husband Tom Cruise in the heart-wrenching speech
Memories! 'I was newly single ... and he held my hand and we walked up the red carpet. And I still have photos of that.' The 49-year-old said, before she began to cry
Seemingly lost in the roaring applause her sentiment sparked, she began to cry.
Nicole went on to imply that her fathers sudden passing made her realise she needed to re-evaluate her priorities in life.
Antony was a clinical psychologist at Royal North Shore Hospital and a director of health psychology at the University of Technology Sydney.
Sudden: Antony Kidman (R) suffered a heart attack inside a Singapore hotel restaurant in 2014 and died shortly after in hospital.
He suffered a heart attack inside a Singapore hotel restaurant in 2014 and died shortly after in hospital.
Nicole attended the ceremony with her Lion co-star Dev Patel, 26.
The film, which hit US theaters last month, tells the story of an Indian boy who, at 30, searches for his birth-family after being adopted by an Australian one 25 years earlier.
They're the power couple who aren't shy in showing affection for one another.
And Monday was no different for actress Lindsay Price, 40, sharing a loved-up snap to Instagram, with her husband Curtis Stone, 41.
The stunning brunette was captured gazing into the famous chef's eyes, while seated on board a flight.
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Only eyes for each other! Lindsay Price, 40, shared a snap to Instagram on Monday, that saw her gazing affectionately at husband Curtis Stone, 41, while on board a flight
Lindsay, best known for her role as Janet Sosna on Beverly Hills 90210, added a playful caption to the photo.
'Starting 2017 like [waving hand emoji], alongside several plane emojis and the hash-tag #notexcitedatall.
The image saw the mother-of-two dressed in a black sweater and looking directly at her famous beau, while beaming from ear-to-ear.
Curtis cut a casual figure in a simple white T-shirt, and was seen grinning just as enthusiastically.
Explorers! The post comes after the couple enjoyed quality family time while returning to Curtis' hometown of Melbourne. Lindsay is pictured with sons Hudson (L) five, and Emerson, two
The post comes after the couple enjoyed quality family time while returning to Curtis' hometown of Melbourne.
Lindsay shared an adorable family photo to Instagram of herself with their two children Hudson, five, and Emerson, two, in the city's well-known Hozier Lane.
The beauty beamed for the snap as she posed with her offspring in front of colourful street art.
She highlighted her lean figure in a white summer dress and styled her long locks in loose waves.
Home for the holidays! Curtis and his family reside in Los Angeles, but recently travelled to Australia for Christmas
While they usually reside in Los Angeles, the family travelled to Australia for the holidays.
Lindsay shared an Instagram photo of herself hanging up her family's clothes at Curtis' mothers house.
'Can't quite describe the pleasure I get from pegging out the washing at my mother in laws,' she wrote in the caption.
The couple began dating in 2009 after meeting on a blind date.
They became engaged three years later in 2012 and married in Spain in 2013.
Simple pleasures: Lindsay, 31, recently posted an Instagram photo of herself hanging up her family's clothes at Curtis' mothers house
She is widely tipped to earn her fourth Oscar nomination for her performance in the movie Manchester By The Sea.
But on Tuesday night it was the New York Film Critics Circle who feted Michelle Williams at their annual awards show in Manhattan.
The platinum blonde actress, 36, dazzled in a black dress with gold trim as she posed for photos on the red carpet ahead of the ceremony where she took Best Supporting actress.
Golden girl: Michelle Williams was feted for her performance in Manchester By The Sea at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards in Manhattan on Tuesday night
The win was in recognition of two tour de force performances this year, Certain Women and Manchester By The Sea, which saw her costar Casey Affleck win Best Actor.
Michelle's dress was sleeveless and fell to just above her knee.
It had burnished trim at the shoulders and down the front of the bodice.
The finishing touch was a pair of gold sandals and an embellished box clutch.
Dazzled: The platinum blonde actress, 36, shone in a black dress with gold trim at the shoulders and down the bodice as she posed for photos on the red carpet
Coordinated look: Michelle's sleeveless dress fell to just above her knee. The finishing touch was a pair of gold sandals and an embellished box clutch
The Brokeback Mountain star wore her cropped hair parted on one side and slicked across her forehead.
She penciled in her brows in a shade matching her brown eyes and added black mascara to her lashes.
A dusting of rosy blush adorned her cheeks and her lips were colored with a matte red shade.
Flawless: The Brokeback Mountain star wore her cropped hair parted on one side and slicked across her forehead. She added brown brow pencil, black mascara and a touch of rosy blush
Acclaimed performance: Also being honored Tuesday night was Manchester By The Sea leading man Casey Affleck, 41
Starring role: The younger brother of Ben Affleck looked dapper in a two-piece black suit and white shirt with dotted tie
Manchester By The Sea is also tipped to bring a second Academy Award nod for Casey Affleck following his Broadcast Film Critics win for Best Actor in December.
He showed up for the NY awards show looking dapper in a two-piece black suit and white shirt with dotted tie.
Also on hand were Silence and Star wars: Episode VIII star Adam Driver and actress Amy Ryan, who starred with Casey Affleck in 2007's Gone Baby Gone.
Co-stars: Affleck and Williams are staples of the awards show circuit this season
On the guest list: Actress Amy Ryan and actor Adam Driver were among the celebrities who showed up to support the event
Reunion: Affleck and Ryan who starred together in 2007's Gone Baby Gone greeted each other warmly inside the awards show
Supporting film: New York-based actor and filmmaker John Turturro and French actress Isabelle Huppert also attended the event
Kyle Sandilands' girlfriend is known for speaking her mind.
Now, Imogen Anthony has claimed that there is 'no such thing as freedom of speech anymore' in a series of Instagram videos posted on Wednesday.
The controversial fashion designer, 25, also called for a 'social media revolution' in an expletive-ridden speech.
The videos mark her latest response to a journalist who put her on the 'The Ugly List' for her unique outfit at last year's ARIA awards.
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Hitting back: Imogen Anthony has claimed there is 'no such thing as freedom of speech anymore' on Instagram after being featured in an end-of-year 'worst dressed' list
In the first clip from a series she titled 'Losing Faith in new age humanity' Imogen lambasted those who 'attack people for no reason'.
She claimed the videos were just a 'call-out to the f****tards on social media who don't know how to handle themselves.'
The glamour model claimed she was a 'fan of the worst dressed list' but will not condone a 'biased' reporter who continues to attack her.
Persistent: The videos mark her latest response to a journalist who put her on the 'The Ugly List' for her unique outfit at last year's ARIA awards. Pictured: Imogen and Kyle Sandilands
The start of the trouble: Earlier this week, Imogen shared a photo of the article which criticised her ARIAs outfit as well as her choice in partner
Imogen also addressed criticisms that she 'chose' to be famous and should therefore learn to deal with the limelight.
'Get f*****d, he found me!' she replied, implying that she did not pursue fame through her relationship with Kyle.
She also wrote in the video's caption: 'There is no such thing as freedom of speech anymore, especially on social media, if it is harmful or detrimental to another person.'
'Get f*****, he found me!' Imogen also addressed criticisms that she 'chose' to be famous and should therefore learn to deal with the limelight
Take that! The tirade comes after Imogen treated her fans to a naked photo, adding the caption 'Give ya something to talk about'
The tirade comes after the socialite treated her fans to a naked snap of herself taking a shower, writing in the caption: 'Give ya something to talk about.'
Hours after her Wednesday rant, Imogen also posted a cryptic image that showed a pair of red knickers stabbed into a wall with a knife.
She captioned the image 'I was here.'
The Australian beauty has spent the past few weeks in her native country for the festive season.
But Megan Blake Irwin was spotted leaving Adelaide Airport on Wednesday morning, possibly en route to her base in New York.
The model, 22, cut a casual figure in blue skin-tight leggings and a band T-shirt as she strutted through the terminal.
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Holidays are over! Model Megan Blake Irwin cuts a casual figure as she jets out of Adelaide Airport on Wednesday en route to her base in New York City
Ditching heels for designer boots, she tied a cardigan loosely around her waist while carrying three carry-on bags through the airport.
The stunner, who is known for her glamorous lingerie shoots, chose to opt for minimal makeup and aviator sunglasses while leaving her long blonde locks loose.
In an effort to perk herself up for the early flight she was also seen purchasing a caffeinated beverage before boarding commenced.
Feeling tired? Megan sought out a caffeinated beverage before boarding her early flight, with the coffee shop clerk appearing pleased with the star as she took her order with a cheery smile
Fresh faced! The stunner, who is known for her glamorous lingerie shoots, chose to opt for minimal makeup and aviator sunglasses while leaving her long blonde freely flowing
The coffee shop clerk appeared to be pleased with the star's presence as she took her order with a cheery smile.
Megan has been in Adelaide for the last few days spending time with family.
'Quick family trip to Radelaide with my sister from the same mister @bykirstyirwin,' she captioned an image on Tuesday.
Sister act! Megan spent the past few days in Adelaide with family, including her 'sister from the same mister'., as they posed with each other for a cute image on Tuesday
The Guess model also spent some time with friends in Sydney, having claimed to have a 'ladies night' on one of her first night's back in the country.
Sporting a pit, she shared an image to her more than 100k followers with two pals at Bondi's Icebergs in glitzy attire.
Among her entourage was TV host Carissa Walford and model Zoe Cross.
Ladies night! The Guess model also spent some time with friends in Sydney, promoting a night out at Bondi's Icebergs with TV host Carissa Walford and model Zoe Cross
She announced her arrival in the country four weeks ago with two Sydney Harbour images, captioned: 'I've lived all over the world and nowhere does summer like Sydney' and 'Natural habitat.'
Megan was previously linked to reality TV star Scott Disick following his split with Kourtney Kardashian.
She has since modelled for Guess and been featured in Harper's Bazaar.
'Natural habitat': She announced her arrival in the country four weeks ago with two images of herself aboard a yacht in the Sydney Harbour
She's the flashy Australian comedian with an estimated net worth of $2.5m
So it's no wonder Rebel Wilson's wardrobe reflects her earnings, with the Pitch Perfect 2 starlet toting her latest designer accessories in Sydney on Tuesday.
The sassy blonde was spotted arriving at Sydney Airport sporting a Louis Vuitton x Marc Newson fleece backpack, worth over $8,000.
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Expensive cargo! Rebel Wilson was spotted arriving at Sydney Airport sporting a Louis Vuitton x Marc Newson fleece backpack, worth over $8,000
Clad in a casual pair of skinny jeans and a long-sleeve black top, Rebel completed her look with a pair of designer sunglasses and a chunky gold bangle.
She was later seen strolling through the departures terminal flanked by her entourage as she made her way to the flight.
It comes just days after Rebel rang in the New Year with pals during a lavish island getaway.
Staying shady: Clad in a casual pair of skinny jeans and a long-sleeve black top, Rebel completed her look with a pair of designer sunglasses
The actress shared a slew snaps from the lavish holiday, one of which depicts her and three friends enjoying lunch and champagne at a picnic table semi-submerged in the ocean.
Rebel and her pals, hair stylist Nicole Leal, photographer Josh Separzadeh and London-based Aussie Nicholas Hills, were seen raising a toast with their wine glasses, while surrounded by crystal-clear blue water.
She captioned the post: 'Starting off 2017 right! Great friends + great floating picnic x'.
Keeping a low profile: She was later seen strolling through the departures terminal flanked by her entourage as she made her way to the flight
Rebel is gearing up to reprise her role as Fat Amy in the upcoming film Pitch Perfect 3 later this year.
Joining the cast is fellow Australian Ruby Rose, who has already made a name for herself in Hollywood by starring in the likes of John Wick: Chapter 2 and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.
Anna Kendrick, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow and Hailee Steinfeld are also expected to make a return to the franchise.
Sea-ing in the new year: Rebel Wilson heralded the New Year on an island, posting this image of herself and three pals enjoying a buoyant picnic last week
She's the wife of a Gold Logie winning social media abstainer.
But Dr Susan Carland, 37, has nailed the ultimate Instagram classic food post by uploading a picture of her breakfast seemingly from her accommodation in Sri Lanka, the 5-star Galle Face Hotel.
The prominent Australian Muslim, who is married to The Project host Waleed Aly, 38, was quick to add that the meat shown in the shot was 'chicken bacon' and thus Halal - allowed to be eaten under Islamic doctrine.
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Insta-classic: Dr Susan Carland, 37, has nailed the ultimate Instagram classic post by uploading a picture of her breakfast of tea and chicken bacon
The image has been meticulously framed, with the fibres of the place mat underneath the crockery perfectly vertical within the shot.
In the middle of the frame sits a simple white tea cup and saucer, filled with what appears to be milky tea. Resting on the saucer is a single slice of chicken bacon.
The caption simply reads 'Breakfast!' In a comment, the self-described 'hijabulous' academic added 'this is chicken bacon' with the hashtag '#KeepinItHalal'.
Hashtag Halal: The prominent Australian Muslim was quick to add that the meat shown in the shot was 'chicken bacon' and thus Halal - allowed to be eaten under Islamic doctrine
Dr Carland has been very active in the last few days, sharing several images of the water near her holiday hotel.
On Wednesday, she posted another new shot, taken from distance, of her resting at the side of a pool, gazing out at the sunset over the ocean.
The caption read: 'That's me in there! Another city, another pool, same sun.'
On Wednesday she posted a new shot, taken from distance, of her resting at the side of a pool, gazing out at the sunset over the ocean
While she has not confirmed the location of her holiday - nor whether Waleed has joined her on her vacation - sharp-eyed observers have identified the location as Sri Lanka's 5-star Galle Face Hotel.
One stunning Instagram image of a vibrant beach side location captioned: 'Guess where?' on Monday appeared to be taken at the luxury hot spot in Colombo.
Even The Today Show's Lisa Wilkinson had a guess, commenting: 'Heaven? xxx.'
Mystery man: Despite multiple social media posts over the last few days, Susan has not confirmed the location of her holiday - nor whether Waleed has joined her on her vacation
Guess Where? Susan Carland, the wife of Gold Logie winning host Waleed Aly, has shared a set of cryptic holiday images that have been identified as coming from Sri Lanka's Galle Face Hotel
A second image, showcasing the iconic set of beach chairs beneath a luscious multicoloured sunset allowed fans to correctly identify the hotel.
Susan snapped the image from behind a bed of crystalline blue water.
'As you can see, I'm really struggling here guys,' she joked in the caption.
Her face wasn't on display in the shots, and there was no sign of Waleed, although a break in airing for Channel Ten's The Project would indicate the host was likely in attendance.
Got it! An image showcasing the iconic set of beach chairs beneath a luscious multi-coloured sunset allowed fans to correctly identify the hotel
She's the Home And Away star known for her killer curves.
And Pia Miller looked simply flawless in snaps captured and posted to Instagram on Wednesday from her Bali holiday.
The 33-year-old flaunted her cleavage and slender frame in a skimpy bikini, as she posed in front of a stunning backdrop in Lembongan Island with beau Tyson Mullane.
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No filter needed! Pia Miller, 33, showed off her cleavage and slender frame in a skimpy bikini, as she posed for snaps shared to Instagram on Wednesday, while enjoying a Bali vacation with beau Tyson Mullane
Pia simply sizzled in an itsy-bitsy marble bikini.
The triangle-style top showed off her cleavage, while the white hue contrasted against her complexion.
While reclining on a sun chair, the Channel Seven actress offered a glimpse of her taut torso and lean legs.
Sweeping her long tresses into an effortless top knot and appearing to go makeup-free, Pia concealed her eyes behind a pair of stylish Ray-Ban sunglasses.
Sweet embrace: Another snap captured to beau Tyson's Instagram account saw the couple putting on an affectionate display
Cozy: A later image shared to Pia's account saw the two lovebirds packing on the PDA, enjoying a steamy kiss next to a stunning lap pool
Another snap posted on beau Tyson's Instagram account saw the genetically-blessed couple putting on an affectionate display.
This time, Pia had her tresses styled into a half-up, half-down do, with several strands falling over one shoulder.
The mother-of-two beamed for the camera, as she sat on her partner's lap and wrapped her right arm around his shoulders.
Tyson, a model-turned-film producer, embraced his stunning girlfriend, drawing attention to several tattoos on his chest and arms.
Living the life! The Chilean-born beauty has been making the most of her picturesque vacation, sharing stunning snaps to Instagram
A later image shared to Pia's account saw the two lovebirds packing on the PDA, enjoying a steamy kiss next to a stunning lap pool.
The couple appear to go from strength to strength in their relationship.
Pia separated from her husband of 10 years, former AFL player Brad Miller, in October 2015.
The Chilean-born beauty started dating film producer Tyson shortly after.
Pia is also a mother to two sons, Isaiah Loyola and Lennox Miller.
My Kitchen Rules star JP Huillet has broken his silence after his ex-girlfriend Nelly Riggio revealed her new romance with dessert chef, Adriano Zumbo.
The 30-year-old said he wished 'nothing but the best for everyone involved' after the Just Desserts star whisked his former love away to the Maldives for a romantic getaway.
He did however admit that it has been a 'tough time' as Nelly and Adriano continue to post a slew of loved-up snaps of their vacation all over the internet.
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'Nothing will hold me down!' MKR star JP Huillet breaks his silence via a lengthy Instagram post on Wednesday after Adriano Zumbo whisked away his ex-girlfriend Nelly Riggio for a romantic holiday to the Maldives
'Just wanted to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who supported me yesterday,' the 30-year-old amateur chef began his lengthy Instagram post on Wednesday.
Labeling a bright yellow 'THANK YOU' over his selfie, JP chose to conceal his eyes with dark lensed sunglasses as he candidly spoke from the heart.
'Your kind words and messages have helped through a tough time... So just to show my endless appreciation to EVERYONE thank you and I love you all!' he detailed his gratitude to friends, family and fans.
Lovebirds, no more! It's unsure when the couple, who were previously labeled the 'QLD Lovebirds', parted ways or the time between Nelly breaking up with JP and dating Zumbo
While fans had reached out with words of support and concern, he was quick to reassure them: 'I'm super positive I love life and nothing will hold me down!'
'Just so everyone knows I'm happy and healthy and wish nothing but the best for everyone involved,' he wrote for the intention of pointing out ex Nelly and her new flame Zumbo.
The Queensland local had joined the My Kitchen Rules series early last year as the 'QLD Lovebirds' team.
'No hate': JP took the opportunity to say thanks to his supporters online, while claiming there was no bad blood between 'everyone involved'
In happier times: While JP heals over the break-up, he has said he's super positive, love's life and added: 'nothing will hold me down!'
'Keep up that positivity': After fans saw JP break his silence over the shock couple announcement, they commented words of encouragement to the reality star online
The pair often seen smitten with each other on screen.
The post from JP comes days after Adriano confirmed he was dating Nelly, cuddling up to the pretty brunette during a romantic trip to the Maldives.
'Happy New Year 2017 from the Maldives!!!! Looking forward to many more years with this hottie,' he captioned the post with two love heart eye emojis.
He's got his mates! Close friends of the former reality star also added encouraging messages to his thread
Meanwhile, while fans saw JP break his silence over the shock couple announcement, they commented words of encouragement to the reality star.
'Glad to hear your doing well mate your a legend everybody knows that keep up that positivity,' wrote one fan.
While close friends also added to the thread, with: 'You just keep being your awesome self buddy and everything will fall into place! Your positivity is infectious and always makes everyone around you happy! It is a privilege to call you a mate! Keep smiling and lifting brother' and ' Of course. Always here. We love you JP!! See you the (sic) weekend.'
Making it official: On Sunday, Adriano Zumbo confirmed he was dating Nelly, cuddling up to the pretty brunette during a romantic trip to the Maldives
Nelly, 26, is yet to address the split, but has been open about parading her new beau on social media.
The aspiring chef uploaded a loved up snap to Instagram with the dessert master on Tuesday.
'Positive vibes,' she captioned a photo, that saw her 35-year-old partner holding her up in the air in front of a picturesque backdrop.
'Positive vibes': My Kitchen Rules alum and aspiring chef, Nelly, took to Instagram on Tuesday, sharing a loved-up snap with beau Zumbo, 35, just days after the pair confirmed their relationship
The slender brunette also took to her own Instagram account earlier that day, posting a snap that saw her embracing her famous boyfriend.
'Too distracted to write anything,' Nelly captioned the photo, adding in the hashtags #spadate and #massages.
Instagram fans soon questioned the timing of the relationship, referencing past boyfriend JP.
'But what happened to jp,' wrote one social media user, alongside a sad face emoji.
While another commented: 'Are you guys together? Awe what happened to jp and nelly,' adding in a love heart emoji.
Time away from home: Nelly took to her own Instagram account after, posting a snap that saw her embracing her famous beau, while enjoying a spa date in the Maldives
Fan favourites: The couple referred to as the 'lovebirds' in promo campaigns for the last season of My Kitchen Rules
'Hope it wasn't too hard on them': Another social media user offered their well wishes, hoping the break up was amicable
Another Instagram follower offered their well wishes: 'Clear that they split, hope it wasn't too hard on them, break ups [are] never easy.'
The Daily Telegraph's Confidential reported on Tuesday, that Nelly, who starred on the last season of My Kitchen Rules with then-boyfriend JP Huillet, landed a job in Sydney for Zumbo's dessert chain.
Nelly moved from Brisbane to Sydney last September, to take on a role in research and development.
He's garnered a legion of female admirers due to his muscular frame and insanely good looks.
And Hollywood superstar Scott Eastwood, son of veteran actor Clint, reminded fans of his appeal on Wednesday, capturing an impressive headstand to his Instagram story.
'Some lunchtime yoga,' the 30-year-old captioned the clip, which saw him flaunting his chiselled torso and buff arms, while on a break from filming Pacific Rim: Maelstrom in Australia.
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'Some lunchtime yoga': Scott Eastwood, 30, shared an Instagram story on Wednesday, that saw him showing off his chiselled torso and buff arms while performing a headstand, during a break in filming of Pacific Rim: Maelstrom in Australia
Going shirtless, Scott drew the eye to his gym-honed frame in a pair of black workout shorts.
Positioning a black towel on the grass outside his trailer, the Suicide Squad star rested his forearms on the ground, performing an impressive headstand.
As the camera scanned around Scott, the actor took things up a notch, stretching his legs out.
Buff: Going shirtless, the hunk drew the eye to his gym-honed frame in a pair of black workout shorts
Bend it like Eastwood: Positioning a black towel on the grass outside his trailer, the Suicide Squad star rested his forearms on the ground, performing an impressive headstand
Scott has been making the most of his time while in Sydney, as he films Pacific Rim: Maelstrom.
In previous videos shared to Instagram, the popular personality spent the last day of 2016 soaking up the sun on a yacht in Sydney Harbour.
And after dark, Scott secured prime position to watch the fireworks over the Harbour Bridge.
'Oh Jesus this is the best fireworks show ever!' Scott couldn't hide his excitement while watching New Year's Eve fireworks in Sydney
In a short clip shared to his Instagram story, The Fate of the Furious star, filmed the fireworks and couldn't hide his delight as he narrated the spectacular display.
'Oh my god! This is the best fireworks show ever! Oh my god what!' Scott said excitedly.
He added: 'Oh Jesus this is the best fireworks show ever!'
Pretty sight: Scott has been making the most of his time while in Sydney, as he films Pacific Rim: Maelstrom
Scott was also amazed when the Harbour Bridge became a part of the pyrotechnic display.
'It's like on fire, it's melting,' Scott exclaimed.
He began filming the sequel to Pacific Rim in mid-November, with shooting reportedly taking place at Sydney's Fox Studios and in Queensland.
The film also starts Star Wars: The Force Awaken's actor John Boyega.
He recently lost his wife Zsa Zsa Gabor, who died on December 18 from a heart attack at age 99.
On Tuesday Frederic Prinz von Anhalt was spotted dining out for lunch at Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills just four days after his late spouse's memorial service which was held on December 30.
The 73-year-old - who was Gabor's ninth husband - appeared to have enjoyed his meal al fresco with a friend at the celebrity favorite Italian eatery.
Spotted: Frederic Prinz von Anhalt was seen out for lunch at Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills just four days after his wife Zsa Zsa Gabor's memorial service which was held on December 30
Coping: The 73-year-old - who was Gabor's ninth husband - appeared to have enjoyed his meal al fresco with a friend at the celebrity favorite Italian eatery
Von Anhalt was extremely dressed down in a cap, bomber jacket, blue jeans and hiking boots.
At one point he donned spectacles and cracked a smile as he appeared to be looking at a photo on a cell phone.
Later in the meal, he appeared to be thumbing through some paperwork with a pen in hand.
This outing comes soon after he gave the eulogy at the memorial mass for his late wife at the Good Shepard Catholic Church in Beverly Hills last Friday.
Casual: Von Anhalt was extremely dressed down in a cap, bomber jacket, blue jeans and hiking boots
Still fresh: This outing comes soon after he gave the eulogy at the memorial mass for his late wife at the Good Shepard Catholic Church in Beverly Hills last Friday
The Hollywood star was remembered for her love of glamour and red carpets at the service where Von Anhalt paid tribute to his wife - whom he married in 1986 - and said his life was 'empty' without her.
Concluding his lengthy speech, Von Anhalt gave some last touching words about his loss.
'I was my wife's partner. I was her best friend,' he added. 'It was my duty, and it's the duty of any husband or any wife, to care for your partner.
'My wife was my life': Von Anhalt said during his touching tribute to his wife - whom he married in 1986. Gabor died on December 18 from a heart attack at age 99
Tragic: Von Anhalt is also coping with the loss of his and Gabor's adopted son, Oliver Prinz von Anhalt, who passed away one week after Gabor from his injuries in a motorcycle accident
'My wife was my life. Right now my life is empty. I was glued to my partner.'
Von Anhalt is also coping with the loss of his and Gabor's adopted son, Oliver Prinz von Anhalt.
The 45-year-old was critically injured in a motorcycle accident in Los Angeles the very same day that Zsa Zsa died.
Oliver was hospitalized, but later passed away from his injuries one week after Gabor on Christmas Day.
Ruth Negga looked stunning in a silver and blue ensemble as she presented Jeff Nichols, 38, with Variety's Creative Impact in Directing Award at the 20th anniversary of the magazine's 10 Directors to Watch luncheon.
The event was held in conjunction with the Palm Springs Film Festival at the Parker Palm Springs on Tuesday.
It was fitting for Negga, 34, to present the award to Nichols, as he received it for directing the romantic drama and biopic Loving, of which Negga is the star.
Silver stunner: Ruth Negga looked stunning in a silver and blue ensemble as she presented Jeff Nichols, 38, with Variety's Creative Impact in Directing Award at the 20th anniversary of the magazine's 10 Directors to Watch luncheon
Award winner: It was fitting for Negga, 34, to present the award to Nichols, as he received it for directing the romantic drama and biopic Loving, of which Negga is the star
Loving is the story of Mildred, played by Negga, and Richard Loving, played by Joel Edgerton whose arrest in Virginia under anti-miscegenation laws after their inter-racial marriage leads to an historic legal battle that goes all the up to the US Supreme Court.
Negga is up for Best Actress for her role in the film at the Golden Globes, as well as Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards, held in January and February, respectively.
Also up for Best Actress at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards held in December for the same role, the World War Z star lost out to Natalie Portman for her portrayal of the title character in Jackie.
Bold beauty: The Preacher star paired a long and flared-sleeve top with floral print in hues of blue with a sleek, long silver skirt with a hint of metallic sheen, both from Erdem
Warming it up: The actor topped the look off with a leopard print jacket, worn while seated, and a shiny, silver pointed-toe heel
The Preacher star didn't shy away from a bold look at the Variety celebration, pairing a long and flared-sleeve Erdem top with floral print in hues of blue with a sleek, long silver Sacha skirt with a hint of metallic sheen from Erdem.
The skirt echoed the tones in the top with bird embellishments, accented with a pastel pink band at the waist.
The actor topped the look off with a leopard print jacket, worn while seated, and a shiny, silver pointed-toe heel.
What an honor: Viggo Mortensen, 58, received Variety's Creative Impact in Acting Award for his role in Captain Fantastic
The others honored at the function were Viggo Mortensen, 58, who received Variety's Creative Impact in Acting Award for his role in Captain Fantastic, and Pharrell Williams, 43, who was bestowed with the Creative Impact in Producing Award for his role in bringing the film Hidden Figures to fruition with producing partner Mimi Valdez.
Hidden Figures' Janelle Monae and The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons were on hand to introduce Pharrell.
Finally, Variety's 10 Directors to Watch for 2017 were named as Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann), Ritesh Batra (The Sense of an Ending), Otto Bell (The Eagle Huntress), Julia Ducournau (Raw), Geremy Jasper (Patti Cake$), Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), brothers Emmett and Brendan Malloy (Tribes of Palos Verdes), Kleber Mendonca Filho (Aquarius), William Oldroyd (Lady Macbeth), and David Sandberg (Lights Out).
Visionaries: Hidden Figures' Janelle Monae and The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons were on hand to introduce Pharrell, who won the Creative Impact in Producing Award
Halle Berry reportedly rushed to finalise her divorce from third husband Olivier Martinez before the new year for financial reasons.
According to TMZ, the Oscar winner - who boasts a $70M fortune - didn't want the Frenchman to get a piece of her 'pending contracts and deals.'
In legal documents, the Kevin Hart: What Now? star indicated that lucrative offers were in the works long before their October 2015 separation.
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Securing her empire: Halle Berry reportedly rushed to finalise her divorce from third husband Olivier Martinez before the new year for financial reasons
The 50-year-old actors - who had a prenup - will share joint legal and physical custody of their three-year-old son Maceo.
But Berry and Martinez - who met on the 2010 South African set of Dark Tide - have not resolved their property settlement.
It's been said that the former boxer's violent temper was partly to blame for the split, having shoved an LAX employee with a baby seat in 2015.
Breadwinner: According to TMZ, the Oscar winner - who boasts a $70M fortune - didn't want the Frenchman to get a piece of her 'pending contracts and deals' (pictured in 2014)
'Proud mama moment!' The 50-year-old actors - who had a prenup - will share joint legal and physical custody of their three-year-old son Maceo
It's still not over: But Berry and Martinez - who met on the 2010 South African set of Dark Tide - have not resolved their property settlement
Anger management: It's been said that the former boxer's violent temper was partly to blame for the split, having shoved an LAX employee with a baby seat in 2015 (pictured November 28)
On Monday, Halle - born Maria - shared a balloon-filled snap of her eight-year-old daughter Nahla with her French-Canadian ex Gabriel Aubry.
According to Variety, the former Bond girl began filming the 1992-set indie drama Kings with Daniel Craig last week in South Central Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, Martinez was last seen as Mars Missions Corporation CEO Ed Grann in National Geographic's six-part docudrama Mars.
'2017 .. up we go!' On Monday, Halle - born Maria - shared a balloon-filled snap of her eight-year-old daughter Nahla with her French-Canadian ex Gabriel Aubry
Hard at work: According to Variety, the former Bond girl began filming the 1992-set indie drama Kings with Daniel Craig last week in South Central Los Angeles
In the year 2033: Meanwhile, Martinez was last seen as Mars Missions Corporation CEO Ed Grann in National Geographic's six-part docudrama Mars
At this point, it's unclear if audiences will ever get to see Berry in the thriller Kidnap, which she also executive-produced.
The original 2015 release date for the flick has been postponed three times, and it's currently slated to hit US theaters on March 10.
'You took the wrong kid!' At this point, it's unclear if audiences will ever get to see Berry in the thriller Kidnap, which she also executive-produced
She's the glamourous lawyer who found love on the first season of The Bachelor.
And Anna Heinrich, 30, is starting 2017 off with a fitness bang, hitting the pavement for a run.
It comes after speculation that her beau Tim Robards, 33, may have proposed to her on New Year's Eve.
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'Sweating up a storm': Anna Heinrich works out amid rumours beau Tim Robards proposed on New Year's Eve
The blonde beauty shared her fitness regime to her Instagram story on Wednesday.
She first posted a picture of her runner clad feet and a water bottle, as she perched on the edge of a street curb.
'Back on track 2017,' Anna captioned the photo.
Getting ready to run! She first posted a picture of her runner clad feet and a water bottle, as she perched on the edge of a street curb
A later selfie showed a flushed Anna looking sweaty as she clearly recovers from an intense workout.
She looks stunning in little to no makeup, with her long blonde locks pulled back from her face in a ponytail.
The reality TV star is dressed to workout in the summer heat, wearing a purple singlet.
'It's time': Tim Robards sent fans into overdrive questioning if he has proposed to long-time girlfriend Anna Heinrich, after posting a photo to Instagram last Saturday of a prized piece of bling her fingers
'Sweating up a storm,' Anna captions the selfie.
The 'back to normal' photos come after speculation went into overdrive that Anna had received a proposal while holidaying with her beau.
On Saturday Tim took to Instagram to share a close-up snap of his girlfriend with a piece of prized bling on her fingers.
Same ring? Anna appeared to be wearing that very same ring in a photo from earlier in the week
Fans soon went into overdrive, with one simply commenting: 'it's time.'
'Peekaboo!' Tim captioned the snap shared with his 137,000 Instagram followers.
The image saw the criminal lawyer concealing the majority of her face with her hands, which sported a delicate gold ring on one of her fingers.
Speculation: Tim and Anna have been at the centre of engagement rumours
Anna's blonde locks framed her face, while she was seen beaming for the camera.
Tim previously hinted at an engagement during an appearance on KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O show in November.
'It's three years on, so probably getting around that time,' he said.
'I know where I'd probably go to get [the ring]...I know what she likes. I need to steal one of her other ones to find out the size.'
On-screen love: Anna and Tim have been together for just over three years, finding love on dating reality series, The Bachelor Australia
She has always shown her magnanimous side throughout their confrontations.
And Denise Richards proved she also has a talent for understatement after she toasted a 'colourful year' as she shared a photo from a family meal she enjoyed with ex Charlie Sheen on social media on Tuesday.
In the Twitter image she sits at a table with the Two And A Half Men star and their daughters Sam, 12, and 11-year-old Lola Rose, as well as her younger daughter Eloise who she adopted on her own.
Denise Richards proved she also has a talent for understatement after she toasted a 'colourful year' as she shared a photo from a family meal she enjoyed with ex Charlie Sheen on social media on Tuesday
The 45-year-old Starship Troopers star said: 'We've had a colourful year, at the end of the day... we're still a family.'
No doubt they are hoping 2017 will be better than 2016, which saw Charlie, 51, battling his former wife through the courts to have his child support payments reduced, a matter which was finally settled last August.
Meanwhile Charlie is getting ready for his big comeback since announcing he is HIV Positive.
Mad Families follows three families, one Hispanic, another black and the other white, who end up feuding when it turns out they have all booked the same camping space over the Fourth of July weekend.
In a trailer for the film Charlie, who plays the white patriarch even though he is actually Hispanic, tells a racist joke about a 'black man in a suit' in the promotional trailer for film.
Mother's pride: Charlie Sheen poses with on-screen stepmother Leah Remini in a still he posted on Instagram
His big comeback will be debuting on January 12 on Crackle.
The star looked full of beans as he poses with his on-screen stepmother Leah Remini in a still from his forthcoming film Mad Families he posted on social media.
The controversial actor looks as trendy as ever in a lumberjack shirt, T-shirt and khaki shorts.
King of Queens favourite Leah, 46, looked good for her age in a white T-shirt and blue jeans.
Blundering buffoon Charlie originally wrote Lisa was his 'Missus,' before amending his Instagram caption to: 'Me and the Stepmom. #MadFamilies.'
He sticks to what he is good at in the show, which he executive produces, as he is playing a good natured, if rather grumpy, man-child in the film.
Smokin': Charlie seemed to be enjoying having a puff on set in Los Angeles back in October
Last month the Notorious ladies man was spotted puffing away on set while surrounded by a bevy of beauties as filming took place.
In a creative piece of casting, which he no doubt approves of, it seems his on-screen lover may be glamour model Charlotte McKinney, while while Victoria's Secret favourite Chanel Iman was also spotted on set.
It was written by comedian David Spade and Fred Wolf, with the latter directing. The film will be released on Sony's Crackle streaming service.
Hard-living Charlie has been working to turn his life around in recent months, and even celebrated his birthday with ex wife Denise Richards and their children back in September.
Well he is the executive producer: Glamour model Charlotte McKinney plays Charlie's wife
It came after the father-of-five agreed to reduced child support payments with Denise and his other ex Brooke Mueller.
Both women reportedly agreed to around $25,000 a month, nearly half of the $55,000 a month they had been previously been receiving to cover child-care costs.
The Hot Shots star was the highest paid actor on television in 2010 when he commanded $1.8 million per episode of Two And A Half Men, before his contract was terminated amid drug and alcohol abuse and a public meltdown.
After he announced his diagnosis in November 2015, he said that opening up about his health issue was 'liberating'.
Playing to his strengths: His man-child character sounds much like who he played in Two And A Half Men
He told Graham Norton: 'It was good to talk about it and what I had been dealing with. It was an opportunity to stop the self-loathing and the "why me" and be part of something genuinely important.'
The Platoon favourite admitted to paying millions of dollars in hush money to blackmailers in an effort to keep his HIV status a secret.
It was later reported he had been filmed smoking crack cocaine and performing oral sex on another man, and that he had attempted to cover up the existence of 'at least' five sex tapes of him that were recorded around the time of his public breakdown five years ago.
She regularly shares loved-up images of herself with Swedish boyfriend, Johannes Jarl.
And this week, Swedish-Australian model Kelly Gale shared a sweet image of herself giving her man a smooch on New Year's Eve, to mark their anniversary.
The 21-year-old gushed on Instagram, captioning the shot: 'Can't wait for a third year with you.'
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'Can't wait for a third year with you': Victoria's Secret model Kelly Gale celebrates her anniversary with boyfriend Johannes Jarl
'Happy anniversary to us. And Happy New Year to all of you guys,' Kelly added.
The Victoria's Secret model - who has an Indian mother and Australian father and was born in Sweden - stuns in a blue and green sequinned dress.
Appearing to be dressed up for the occasion, Johannes also dons a black tuxedo and bow tie.
Turning heads: Last month, Kelly stunned as she walked in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
A week ago, the couple enjoyed breakfast together at a cafe, with Kelly writing online that they slept for ten hours and then went for a bite to eat
Smitten: The pair regularly post loved-up images of one another online
A week ago, the couple enjoyed breakfast together at a cafe, with Kelly writing online that they slept for ten hours and then went for a bite to eat.
Last month, Kelly stunned as she walked in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
She first walked for the brand in 2013 and again in 2014.
Strutting her stuff: She first walked for the brand in 2013 and again in 2014 (seen last year in Paris)
'Oh yeah she sparkles': Johannes gushed at the Victoria's Secret after party (pictured) about Kelly, saying how proud he was of her
Johannes joined his love at the show and watched from afar, gushing over her at the time, writing: 'Kelly completely owned the show. You'll never understand how incredibly, crazy proud I am of you.'
He also shared a shot of her in a sequinned mini dress at the after party, writing: 'Oh yeah she sparkles.'
Kelly has modelled for the likes of Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren and has posed for Playboy.
The Shannara Chronicles star has a slew of new projects in the works for the upcoming year.
And Daniel MacPherson is set to kick off 2017 on stage hosting the AACTA International Awards in Los Angeles on Friday.
The 36-year-old announced the big news to his Instagram followers on Wednesday in an enthusiastic post addressed to his mother Annie.
Round two: Daniel MacPherson will host the AACTA International Awards for the second time in a row, but this time he's taking the stage solo
He shared a picture of himself on a promotional flyer alongside Nicole Kidman, Mel Gibson and Isla Fisher.
'Look mum, I made it,' he began excitedly before joking: 'either that or the picture editor thought I was Joel Edgerton.'
'Either way, very much looking forward to being a part of the AACTA International Awards on Friday in LA.'
Joel from Neighbours or Joel Edgerton? Daniel was excited to see himself on the AACTA advertisement, but joked the organisation may have gotten him mixed up with Joel Edgerton
He finished the post with the hashtag: 'Really need to find a suit.'
Daniel took the stage as host last year as well, but while he appeared alongside Rachel Griffiths then, it appears he will be undertaking the hosting duties solo this time.
When the former Neighbours star does find a suit, he's sure to look extra dashing this year, as he recently began the gruelling training regime for his role on the reboot of Strike Back.
The show follows a recently re-banded military task force as they try to track down a terrorist, and former versions of the show have seen cast members undergo training with SAS and SBS servicemen.
Mum and me: The Australian actor tagged his mother Annie (pictured left) in his excited Instagram post, eager to share his success with her
Last week he shared an image of himself on a shooting range, training with a former Navy SEAL among other instructors.
He told followers 'prep has begun' for the action packed television series, which had the cast 'working our butts off' in a range of new skills.
'This week was on the range with transition drills,' he added.
The show, just one of Daniel's upcoming projects, will begin filming this year.
Learning: Daniel has begun the gruelling training for his upcoming starring role on Strike Back, which last week saw him on a shooting range with a former Navy SEAL
Fans were left heartbroken when it was announced last year that Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry were calling time on their TV partnership.
But the Great British Bake Off duo could be back on screen together, according to a new report from The Sun - but on the other side of the Atlantic.
It's thought US TV executives are keen to recreate the onscreen chemistry of Hollywood and Berry for the US version of the smash hit baking series.
Back together: Great British Bake Off stars Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry could be reunited for the US version of the hit show
Mary, 81, has just finished her first series at the helm of the Great American Baking Show, and has reportedly impressed TV executives.
In a bid to boost ratings for a new series, The Sun claim that Paul could be enticed back to the show to recreate the onscreen magic of GBBO.
A source said: 'The Great American Baking Show did really well in the ratings and execs love the British accent.
She's a hit: Mary, 81, has just finished her first series at the helm of the Great American Baking Show, and has reportedly impressed TV executives
'They may want to get the pair back together again for their on-screen chemistry.
'There would also be a lot of interest here and a UK channel would probably show it for the first time.'
Paul previously appeared on a version of the show in 2013, aired by ABC, but it was a ratings flop.
Hollywood, but not with Paul: Mary teamed up with New York pastry chef Johnny Luzzini for the show, but a new report claims Paul Hollywood could be lured back to the States for the next series
The last series saw Mary teaming up with celebrated New York pastry chef Johnny Luzzini to judge the contestants who, just like in the UK version, try and cook up a storm in a tent.
The Great American Baking Show is made by Love Productions, who signed a new deal with Channel 4 last year to show the next series of the Great British Bake Off.
Channel 4 paid 75million for the global hit back in September, but while the move from the BBC led to Paul signing a new contract, Mary decided to quit the series alongside show hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc.
Quit: Mary, along with GBBO hosts Mel and Sue, quit the British version of the show last year when it moved to Channel 4, but Paul has remained
Filming for the new series of Bake Off is due to kick off in May.
While GBBO attracted 15 million viewers at its peak, The Great American Baking Show managed only a fraction of those viewing figures - with 4.6million tuning in for Mary's premiere episode last year.
However many tuned in for Berry's plummy British accent and her wise baking advice - calling her the 'only upside' of the American version.
A representative for Paul has been contacted by MailOnline for comment.
Recipe for success: In a bid to boost ratings for a new series, The Sun claim that Paul could be enticed back to the show to recreate the onscreen magic of GBBO
The Footy Show funnyman has spent his New Year's break on a road trip up to Coolangatta with his family.
But Beau Ryan discovered there is a downside to travelling long distances by car - the traffic.
In a hilarious post to Instagram this week, the former Cronulla Sharks player detailed his nightmare trip back to Sydney.
Stay calm! The Footy Show's Beau Ryan looked on edge as he road tripped back from a holiday in Queensland with his wife Kara and daughter Remi
The picture, shared with his 341,000 Instagram followers, shows Beau looking aggravated while his wife Kara and daughter Remi appeared quite content with the situation.
'I have "Do you want to build a snowman?" on repeat, in the worst traffic I have ever seen, and I haven't had a coffee for 4 hours,' he wrote in the caption, before using the hashtag: 'Namaste.'
The 31-year-old was quick to add a disclaimer to the 'Insta Cops' that his car was stopped and parked at the time.
Heading north! Beau, Kara and Remi stopped off at The Big Banana as they journeyed north towards Brisbane in the car before New Year's Eve
The family have been spotted travelling north up the east coast of Australia towards Brisbane over the holiday break.
Kara Ryan, a makeup artist, shared a photograph of the trio posing outside The Big Banana in Coffs Harbour just before New Year's Eve.
The Ryan's appeared to celebrate the New Year in Coolangatta, Queensland, with a picture showing them on a balcony holding sparklers.
The big bash: The Ryan's appeared to keep things low key for the holiday, and celebrated on a balcony in Coolangatta with sparklers during the night, before spending the first day of 2017 on a boat
On New Year's Day, Beau and Kara appeared to be celebrating on a boat with family and friends, before they began the long journey back home.
While the trip took place as the family celebrated the start of 2017, they also appeared to be celebrating the birth of their daughter Remi, who turned four.
On December 30, the former NRL player shared an adorable picture of his daughter looking up at the camera and wished her a happy fourth birthday.
They've managed to keep their legion of fans and many a critic happy with their adrenaline-fueled motoring japes so far.
And it seems that Amazon Prime subscribers are certainly getting more bang for their buck with The Grand Tour, as episode nine has yet more explosive scenes in it.
In the brand new teaser for the hit show, Jeremy Clarkson and James May take their rivalry with Richard Hammond to new levels as they blow his van up with a rocket.
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More bang for your buck? It seems that Amazon Prime subscribers are certainly getting more bang for their buck with The Grand Tour, as episode nine has yet more explosive scenes in it
Heading to Stuttgart, Germany, for the latest tent location, the trio look to have upped the motoring mayhem following their Namibia beach buggy special.
In the trailer for the episode, which is titled Berks To The Future, the trio head to Germany for the prospect of no speeding tickets whilst driving super cars on the motorway.
But it's not the cars stealing the spotlight in the trailer for the ninth installment of series one, as it seems Jeremy and James have turned on Richard.
Bit extreme? In the brand new teaser for the hit show, Jeremy Clarkson and James May take their rivalry with Richard Hammond to new levels as they blow his van up with a rocket
Heading to a 'top secret' location, Richard is seen driving around in a heavily modified van which he claims is armour plated.
Describing how 'safe' he feels, the shot then cuts to the van exploding as a rocket propelled grenade hits it.
Stood gloating over the 'good shot' Clarkson and May look to have made it their mission to try and destroy Richard's creation in what could be the trio's most dangerous challenge yet.
All on his own: it's not the cars stealing the spotlight in the trailer for the ninth installment of series one, as it seems Jeremy and James have turned on Richard
Back on the road: Heading to Stuttgart, Germany, for the latest tent location, the trio look to have upped the motoring mayhem following their Namibia beach buggy special
Speed demons? Another highlight from the show sees the former Top Gear stars driving a convoy of supercars and rapid speed around the roads of Germany
Another highlight from the show, which will go live on Friday at midnight, sees the former Top Gear stars driving a convoy of supercars and rapid speed around the roads of Germany.
The episode will also featured a new creation of Jeremy's, which appears to be a convertible MG MGB modified to be a convertible 4X4.
Following in the steps of previous episodes, it seems that trio have set up camp with their new studio tent in Southern Germany, whilst their free-reign to 'out Top Gear' Top Gear seems to be working.
Episode Nine of The Grand Tour will go live on the Amazon Prime streaming service in the UK at 0:00 on Friday January 6.
She's the Aussie model known for her chic wardrobe both on and off the red carpet.
But Lara Bingle (married name Worthington) has temporarily swapped her trademark designer apparel for a simple dressing gown.
In a photo shared to the 29-year-old's Instagram story on Wednesday, the blonde beauty wears no makeup in a selfie shared to the social media site.
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She even makes dressing gowns look chic! Lara Bingle goes makeup free in mirror selfie while wearing only a robe
The mother of two poses in front of a mirror wearing a crisp white robe which fell to just above her ankles.
Lara looks tanned, wearing no makeup with her trademark blonde locks slicked back from her face.
The picture has been taken in the doorway of a lush tropical hut, prompting speculation that Lara is on a beach holiday with their two small children.
Best face forward: The model is known for turning heads in fashionable makeup and apparel on and off the red carpet
Doting: On New Year's Eve, Australian-born model Lara rang in 2017 with her family and even shared a rare snap of eldest child, Rocket Zot, 2 (Pictured)
Lara, who is married to notoriously private Aussie actor Sam Worthington, previously shared pictures of a deserted-looking beach to her Instagram story last Sunday.
Lara's stunning selfie comes after she shared an adorable image of two-year-old son Rocket Zot celebrating New Year's Eve.
Rocket Zot can be seen posing in front on an art fixture featuring grass letters, saying: 'Happy New Year, welcome 2017.'
Quality time: In another short Story, Lara can be seen walking along a beach with Rocket, but keeping the camera on their feet
Lara's little man is wearing a black long-sleeved top and has his back to the camera, with long mousy brown locks on display.
Lara - who is based in New York with her sons and actor husband Sam - also shared an Instagram story to her more than 480,000 followers.
In the short story, Lara can be seen walking along a beach with Rocket, but keeping the camera on their feet.
On vacation: Lara, who is married to notoriously private Aussie actor Sam Worthington, previously shared pictures of a deserted-looking beach to her Instagram story last Sunday
She also shared a shot of Rocket reaching for a small plant as she looked on.
Lara celebrated Christmas in New York with her clan, as well as her mother Sharon and brother Joshua, who both jetted in from Australia to New York to join them.
Lara recently shared online with her fans some of the Christmas presents she bought for her sons, including a Land Rover toy for Rocket.
He and his family have had a tough couple of months.
And Kanye West remained in a somber mood as he headed out for dinner on Tuesday night after arriving home in Los Angeles.
The rapper was without his wife Kim Kardashian for the dinner date, but seemed to be joined by a group of pals as he left the restaurant.
No hint of a smile: Kanye West remained in a somber mood as he headed out for dinner on Tuesday night after arriving home in Los Angeles
Kanye failed to raise a smile despite his night out, keeping a straight face as he strolled outside.
The star was dressed down in camo trousers teamed with a baggy white hoodie, and sported the blonde buzz cut he's had for a couple of weeks.
There was no sign of Kanye's wife Kim on the outing, but the couple did spend time together over the holidays.
Dinner outing: The rapper was without his wife Kim Kardashian for the dinner date, but seemed to be joined by a group of pals as he left the restaurant
Moody: Kanye failed to raise a smile despite his night out, keeping a straight face as he strolled outside
The night before Kanye's dinner, the family was seen arriving back in their home city of LA after a trip to Oklahoma City.
Kanye and Kim took their children North, three, and Saint, one, to visit the grave of the rapper's beloved mother Donda in an emotional New Years trip.
It was the first time Kanye had taken 36-year-old wife Kim along with North and Saint to visit the site according to a Tuesday report from TMZ.
Casual outing: The star was dressed down for the dinner with friends
Signature style: in camo trousers teamed with a baggy white hoodie, and sported the blonde buzz cut he's had for a couple of weeks
They are also said to have spent time meeting up with other members of the West Family.
On Tuesday, Kim made her return to social media, posting for the first time in three months.
The 36-year-old reality star took to both her Twitter and Instagram to share an adorable family photo.
Solo: There was no sign of Kanye's wife Kim on the outing, but the couple did spend time together over the holidays
In the snap she is joined by rapper husband Kanye as well their two children, with the star simply captioning the sweet shot: 'family.'
The foursome could be seen all wearing white as they posed together on a wooden deck.
Perhaps the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star was thinking of returning with a completely new social media persona as she temporarily changed her Twitter name to simply 'Kim' before reverting it back to Kim Kardashian West.
Under cover: Kanye didn't attract much attention as he waited for his car outside
Troubled time: In November, Kanye was rushed to hospital in Los Angeles after a psychotic breakdown, thought to be brought on by exhaustion
Recovering: The star has been keeping away from the limelight
The star also shared intimate home movie footage on her website this week.
The sweet clip, released on her website on Tuesday, paints a picture of domestic bliss and features the couple enjoying kisses and cuddles and cooing over their children.
The home movie includes footage recorded at Christmas time that shows Saint learning to walk while Kim cheers him on.
Back home: The night before Kanye's dinner, the family was seen arriving back in their home city of LA after a trip to Oklahoma City to visit his beloved mother's grave
She's back: On Tuesday, Kim made her return to social media, posting for the first time in three months as she shared a sweet family snap
The brunette beauty accompanied the footage, which showed the happy couple - who got married in 2014 - cuddling their children in various clips, with the caption:
'Kanye made me two versions for my Christmas present,' followed by a tree, present and heart emoji.
The video's release follows months of rumours of marital strife between the couple and claims Kim is considering divorcing her troubled husband.
What divorce rumours? The star also shared intimate home movie footage on her website this week
Saint's walking! The clip features Christmas footage that shows their son taking a few wobbly steps while his mother cheers him on
Last year was particularly difficult for the couple.
Kim was left traumatised after she was she was tied up, gagged and had jewellery worth $8.5 million snatched from her hotel room in Paris, France, in October.
She has remained largely out of the spotlight but is gearing up to make a return to work this month with a scheduled trip to Dubai.
Then in November, Kanye was rushed to hospital in Los Angeles after a psychotic breakdown, thought to be brought on by exhaustion.
For the cameras: The reality star seemed delighted with her son's progress
Tuesday evening saw a fresh batch of celebrities enter the Big Brother compound for the winter 2017 season of CBB.
And as each celebrity was unveiled one-by-one by host Emma Willis, Twitter gradually began to erupt with remarks about the British to American ratio in attendance.
This year's series sees ex-housemates take part as well as a new selection of famous faces, and both the old and the new list of stars feature celebs from across the pond.
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'What is this? CBB USA?': British public slam Channel 5 for featuring mostly Americans on new series of Celebrity Big Brother as the likes of Ray J, Jasmine Waltz and Speidi enter house
Of the 15 contestants inside the new CBB house, seven of them are from the States (including Calum Best who has lived in LA for much of his life).
Others featuring this year include Austin Armacost, Ray J, Jasmine Waltz and married couple Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt.
Although this indeed makes up nearly half of the cast, it's no different to 2015's UK vs USA series, which pitted the two nations against one another with an equal amount of British and American personalities taking part.
However, the Great British public were not happy, taking to Twitter to rant about how many non-UK-based stars were involved in the current season.
The Americans have landed: Others featuring this year include Austin Armacost, Ray J, Jasmine Waltz and married couple Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt
'Slightly annoying that #CBBUK is full of Americans. I refuse to believe that James Jordan and Coleen Nolan are the best us Brits have #cbb,' one fan of the show seethed.
Another sarcastic viewer typed: 'Good to see #CBB have delivered once again...absolute shocker line up! Higher percentage = American!! Thought it was UK BB? #CBB #BBUK!'
'With the number of American housemates so far it's feeling more like U.K. vs USA again rather than All Stars and New Stars #CBB,' observed someone elsewhere.
'Watching #CBB on +1 and apart from the strictly bloke I ain't got a Scooby who these American celebrities are!! #morenoncelebrities,' screeched another distressed watcher.
From across the pond: Of the 15 contestants inside the new CBB house, seven of them are from the States
Another equally irate viewer remarked: 'Am I missing something with #cbb?? Am I still living in England? Just checking because why are all the z listers American? #sodisappointed!'
Others were clearly distressed that Calum Best has adopted an American accent since living abroad for years: 'Calum Best is not interesting. Calum Best is not good looking. Calum Best is not an All Star. And Calum Best is not American. #cbb.'
'Does American Celebrity Big Brother fill up with pointless British 'celebrities'? Is Kerry Katona on Celebrity Big Brother USA?' questioned someone else.
Some, however, defended the line-up, insisting that some of the best housemates from past seasons have indeed been from abroad.
'Thank god for the American housemates on this years #cbb. Would be boring without. Love Austin Armacost!' came one happier tweet.
USrAy-J: Celebrity Big Brother has notoriously made sure to include at least a couple of Hollywood personalities in their line-ups over the years
'Love how there's more Americans this series,' rejoiced someone else.
Another typed: 'Just when I thought I was watching American big brother they throw #brandonblock in.... thank you!! #ledge #CBBUK #cbb!'
Celebrity Big Brother has notoriously made sure to include at least a couple of Hollywood personalities in their line-ups over the years.
Some of the most infamous and most explosive episodes of the show have featured blazing arguments featuring the likes of Perez Hilton, Farrah Abraham and Janice Dickinson (none of whom are taking part in the present season).
Love him! 'Thank god for the American housemates on this years #cbb. Would be boring without. Love Austin Armacost!' came one happier tweet
And there are more to come, as it has been revealed that two further housemates are making their way inside the compound at the end of the week.
It appears that one of the new addition is yet another visitor from the US - Kim Kardashian's best friend Jonathan Cheban, who featured in last year's edition but quit after six days.
He is allegedly heading inside to have it out with current New Star housemate, Ray J, who already has a checkered history with fellow New Star contestant Stacy Francis.
She joked around with her social media followers recently that she was posing naked underneath a menu while holidaying in Bali.
But on Thursday, Neighbours star Olympia Valance showed off a chic outfit and incredibly fit figure on Instagram.
The 23-year-old actress showed off her washboard abs and put on a very busty display in a white crop top and pants, at the Da Maria Bali restaurant.
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A babe in Bali: On Thursday, Neighbours star Olympia Valance showed off her chic outfit - and incredibly fit figure - on Instagram while holidaying in Bali
Showing off her holiday tan, the brunette beauty smouldered in front of the camera, with her pants being high-waisted and featuring thigh-high splits.
The younger sister of Holly Candy (nee Valance) wore her white and blue bustier with nude heels and a clutch.
Her hair was tied back off her face into a tight bun and she wore a full face of makeup, including dewy foundation and a nude lip.
Stunning: Her hair was tied back off her face into a tight bun and she wore a full face of makeup, including dewy foundation and a nude lip
It comes after she posted a cheeky snap to Instagram, at a Greek restaurant, with a menu covering her so much she looked naked.
However, dark shorts could be seen peeping at the bottom of the menu.
Part of her post mentioned her boyfriend Greg Cannell who took the snap, reading: 'And I guess that's the last time I take creative direction from Greg for photos. #swearimnotnaked.'
'Swear I'm not naked': It comes after she posted a cheeky snap to Instagram, at a Greek restaurant, with a menu covering her so much she looked naked
The pair enjoyed time together in Byron Bay before heading to Bali for New Years.
Olympia and her man, who reconciled last August after splitting six months earlier, were joined by friends as they counted down to 2017.
Olympia is known for playing Paige Smith on the long-running Australian soap, Neighbours.
New beginnings: Olympia and her man Greg Cannell (seen), who reconciled last August after splitting six months earlier, were joined by friends as they counted down to 2017
Melissa Gorga documented the launch of her Envy boutique throughout the past season of her hit reality show.
But the 37-year-old Real Housewives of New Jersey star has been forced to close shop temporarily due to a 'difference of opinion' with business partner Jackie Beard Robinson.
The Bravo star's rep released a statement to UsWeekly that stated: 'Melissa and Jackie have had a difference of opinion on how the store should be run and at this point. Jackie is no longer involved in managing the boutique.'
Parting ways: Melissa Gorga was forced to close her Envy boutique due to a 'difference of opinion' with her business partner Jackie Beard Robinson
They continued: 'But Melissa intends to maintain the success of the boutique by managing it on her own, and she is excited to open with a new inventory of spring fashions.'
Back in August the sister-in-law to Teresa Giudice said during an episode: 'I made it very clear to Jackie when she came into this that she is there for the business end. Everything that's going to go in the store is going to be by Melissa Gorga.'
A source told the publication that Melissa and Jackie haven't agreed on several issues including the budget and how to run their endeavor.
'Excited to open with a new inventory': The 37-year-old Real Housewives of New Jersey star's reps insist the closure is only temporary
The insider claimed that the wife of Joe Gorga 'was unhappy, and she was like, "You arent operating this store to make a profit. This isnt working."'
'She wanted to dissolve their agreement but Jackie wanted Melissa to just give up her stake and be a paid spokesperson,' the source added.
It was also revealed that Jackie has linked up with RHONJ regular Kim DePaola, who owns her own Posche boutique, and moved all the store's inventory to her store.
Entrepreneur: Melissa Gorga spent much time launching The Envy boutique throughout the past season of her hit reality show
Meanwhile, Kim gave her own version of what played out between the ladies.
'Envy is closed. Jackie was the real owner all along. Im going to help her liquidate everything that was in the store. The store is empty,' she explained.
'They stripped the chandeliers, the furniture, the computer, the cameras, all the clothes, its all gone. Jackie stripped it all because she owns it.'
Kim also took the opportunity to promote a new location of her boutique, which has been featured several times before on RHONJ.
'Were going to have an Envy liquidation sale at Posche, the new Posche in Allendale.'
'It's all gone': It was revealed that Jackie has linked up with RHONJ regular Kim DePaola, who owns her own Posche boutique, and moved all the store's inventory to her store
She added: 'Melissa made a deal with Jackie that she would promote, she would put pictures of herself on Instagram and she would get a percentage of what was sold.'
The Love Italian Style: The Secrets of My Hot and Happy Marriage author and Jackie first met at Jackie's boutique in Delray Beach, Florida, Ginjer, with her husband Joe.
The two became friends and Melissa eventually approached Jackie with the idea for Envy.
'Stripped it all': Kim DePaola gave her own version of what played out between the ladies and said that 'Jackie was the real owner all along'
Jackie - who has a background in marketing and sales in the fitness industry - agreed and told The Daily Dish in August, '[Melissa] is a very good friend of mine. She's a dear person to me. And I love Joe. He's very funny, so it was a good combination. It was a good thing. I think we've done well together.'
'She's a hard worker,' Jackie continued. 'I'm really impressed with the way she listens to what we have to advise her, the advice that we give her from a business standpoint.'
'I respect her a lot because she does put in the effort. She's in the store. She actually works in the store. She works a lot outside of the store. So she's pretty amazing to me. I've only grown to like her even more after working with her, I've got to say,' Jackie gushed of Melissa at the time.
Kim Kardashian's posted her second Twitter and Instagram update since she broke her three-month social media silence on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, she uploaded an adorable photo in which she crouched behind her one-year-old son Saint West and wrapped her arms about him.
The reality star gazed pensively off to the side as her younger child, who wore a red onesie, played with his mother's hair.
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Mother and child: On Wednesday, Kim Kardashian uploaded an adorable photo in which she crouched behind her one-year-old son Saint West and wrapped her arms about him
Their stylised photo was taken in an empty room with white walls and a white floor, flooded with blue lighting at the back. She captioned: 'my son' with a heart emoji.
Within 90 minutes of appearing online, the Instagram post had accumulated more than 1.3 million likes, the tweet over 64 thousand.
Before Tuesday, she'd not posted on social media since the armed robbery in Paris back in October.
She's back: On Tuesday, she'd posted on social media for the first time since October
For her highly-anticipated return to social media, the 36-year-old reality star took to both her Twitter and Instagram to share an adorable family photo.
In the snap she's joined by her husband Kanye West and their two children: Saint and his three-year-old sister North. The caption read simply: 'family.'
The foursome could be seen all wearin white tops as they posed together on a wooden deck.
New identity?: The 36-year-old star temporarily changed her Twitter name to just 'Kim' before reverting it back to 'Kim Kardashian West'
Persona: The change also happened temporarily on her Instagram
'Family': In the cute snap she is joined by rapper husband Kanye West as well their two children: three-year-old daughter North and one-year-old son Saint
Perhaps the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star was thinking of returning with a completely new social media persona as she temporarily changed her Twitter name to simply 'Kim' before reverting it back to Kim Kardashian West.
Kim has not posted since she was accosted inside her room at the No Address Hotel in Paris back in early October.
Her ordeal saw her robbed of over $8.5 million worth of jewellery; she was gagged, handcuffed and held at gunpoint.
Break: Her last post on Twitter before the hiatus was on October 2 as it featured a video message to promote her game app
Hiatus: On Instagram she shared a few photos from Paris Fashion Week just days before the robbery as she strutted her stuff wearing Balenciaga
Her last post on Twitter before the hiatus was on October 2 and featured a video message to promote her game app.
On Instagram, she'd shared a few photos from Paris Fashion Week just days before the robbery as she strutted her stuff wearing Balenciaga.
She's remained largely out of the spotlight but is gearing up to make a return to work this month with a scheduled trip to Dubai.
What divorce rumours? Savvy Kim and Kanye looked a picture of domestic bliss in a new home video released on her website earlier that day
Saint's walking! The clip features Christmas footage that shows their son taking a few wobbly steps while his mother cheers him on
North's cuddles with mom: Kim has been away from the spotlight, but cameras have still been rolling inside the Kardashian house
Then in November, Kanye was rushed to hospital in Los Angeles after a temporary psychosis thought to be brought on by exhaustion.
As if that weren't tumultuous enough there have been months of rumours of marital strife between she and Kanye, and even divorce speculation.
Earlier on the same day the two released an intimate home video footage of their life together with North and Saint.
The sweet clip, released on her website painted a picture of domestic bliss and features the couple enjoying kisses and cuddles and cooing over their kids.
Kanye the doting dad: The troubled rapper is seen cooing over his children
Jonathan Rhys Meyer, 39, has reportedly welcomed his first child with fiancee Mara Lane.
The couple - who have been together for three years - welcomed a son on December 15 named Wolf Rhys Meyers, E! News reports.
It's believed the birth was at home and their son was delivered by a midwife.
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Proud parents: Jonathan Rhys Meyer has reportedly welcomed his first child with fiancee Mara Lane. The pair are said to have welcomed a son on December 15 named Wolf Rhys Meyers
MailOnline have contacted representatives for Jonathan for comment.
The news comes just weeks after the Irish actor's fiancee confirmed the happy news to followers on Instagram.
Posing in a festive themed shoot, she sweetly compared her blossoming bump to Santa Claus' belly.
She wrote in December: '#IncomingPackage best present. #ThankYouLord #SantaBelly.'
Time to share: Mara revealed their pregnancy news on Instagram last month, sharing a series of snaps showing off her baby bump
She also updated another snap of her showing off her pregnancy figure in a floaty maternity dress.
Posing next to a decorated Christmas tree, she wrote: 'Our other official prego wego dress.'
Mara also revealed that she hasn't been able to eat meat the entire pregnancy, and thanked her baby for being 'connected & aware'.
She added: 'Baby ... is super conscious, connected & aware. Has not let me eat much meat entire pregnancy either ... has me thinking about things I'd rather live in ignorance to. #thankful for my soon to be best teacher and friend.'
What a gift! Posing in a festive themed shoot, she sweetly compared her blossoming bump to Santa Claus' belly
Just the four of us: She looked relaxed as she laid back on a hammock alongside the couple's dog, Toca
Posting a sweet snap of her man, she then wrote: 'Thank you for the opportunity to be a Mummy, Sweetheart! #ILoveYou #ManCrushMonday #MCM everyday for me .#firsttimemom #firsttimepregnant #everydayanadventure when you're #largeandincharge'
Jonathan, 39, and Mara reportedly became engaged back in late 2014, but they have never confirmed publicly. They began dating in early 2013.
It was rumoured in September that the pair had secretly tied the knot after The Tudors hunk was spotted wearing a gold band on a photoshoot.
He was also seen wearing the jewellery in another snap featured on Mara's Instagram.
Two become one: Jonathan, 39, and Mara reportedly became engaged back in late 2014, but they have never confirmed publicly. They began dating in early 2013
She hinted at marriage again when she changed her account to read 'Mara & Toca Lane Rhys Meyers', in reference to the couple's dog.
It's some happy news for the actor, who finally appears to be on the straight and narrow after years of battling alcohol addiction.
In May 2015 he shocked fans after he was snapped staggering down a London street looking dishevelled while swigging vodka straight from the bottle.
Something to tell us? It was rumoured in September that the pair had secretly tied the knot after The Tudors hunk was spotted wearing a gold band on a photoshoot
Mara - an actress and successful producer who is from a well-off family - is believed to have had a positive influence on the actor's life.
His own mother's deathnine years ago is believed to exacerbated his condition, with him entering rehab three times between 2005 and 2010.
Talking about his demons, he has said: 'I was wild, I was as wild as you can get. When you are on the front of newspapers for stupidity, getting drunk at airports, fighting with cops and stuff like that, you wake up the next day and you can hardly... remember it. Responsibility gets diminished.
'As you get older you see the stupid things you have done. It is not the consequences for yourself but your family gets hurt, your friends get hurt.'
He's the outspoken Australian musician who made headlines last year for slamming Canberra's 3am alcohol ban in bars and nightclubs.
Now, Peking Duk's Adam Hyde has hit out at government authorities for turning their backs on DIY drug testing kits at music festivals.
'A lot of kids out there are going to take drugs no matter what, which means young people are taking pulls when they have no idea what is in them,' The Australian musician told The Daily Telegraph this week.
'A lot of kids pout there are going to take drugs no matter what': Peking Duk's Adam Hyde has hit out at government authorities for turning their backs on DIY drug testing kits at music festivals
'Pill testing makes sense, it makes for a better environment and better control over the situation,' he later added.
Adam dismissed the argument that allowing for DIY drug test implies that the drugs are safe to take in the first place.
'[The view] is very outdated and doesn't relate to the lifestyle we live,' he said.
'Outdated': Adam dismissed the argument that allowing for DIY drug test implies that the drugs are safe to take in the first place
Last month, New South Wales Police claimed they had seized seven ecstasy testing kits from a Newtown store, despite the fact that they are not prohibited by law.
Will Tregonig, of safe drug use campaigning organisation Unharm, critiqued the police raid, telling News.com.au: 'Its ludicrous for police to be boasting about confiscating these kits. This is dangerous, and police should reconsider.'
'They are promoting harm in order to deter drug use,' he added later.
New gig: Meanwhile, Peking Duk is set to play at Sydney's FOMO festival this weekend
Meanwhile, Peking Duk is set to play at Sydney's FOMO festival this weekend.
The pair also recently celebrated going platinum at the Sony Records offices in Sydney with their single Stranger.
Taking to Instagram to celebrate their victory, the pair posed with a pair of framed records alongside the caption: 'HOLY F*** stranger just went platinum thank you for the support and love.'
It's rumored she will score an Oscar nomination for her latest role.
And Nicole Kidman looked confident as she strolled into a screening for her new film Lion in New York City on Wednesday.
The 49-year-old actress showed off her trim figure in a fitted black pencil skirt with buttoned detailing along the pockets.
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Picture of sophistication: Nicole Kidman looked confident as she strolled into a screening for her new film Lion in New York City on Wednesday
Figure-hugging: The 49-year-old actress showed off her trim frame in a fitted black pencil skirt with buttoned detailing along the pockets
She paired the figure-hugging skirt with a gorgeous long-sleeved studded collared top. The sweater was striped with silver studs from top to bottom and she had it tucked in to show off her famous figure.
The 5' 11" star smiled brightly to the cameras as she made her way into the Park Avenue screening room in Manhattan with her long blonde hair pulled back into a glamorous updo.
The mother of four paired the sophisticated outfit with black strappy stilettos and carried her black handbag into the building as she emerged from the SUV.
Once inside, Nicole took time to pose on the red carpet before going in to see the screening of her critically-acclaimed film.
Star-studded: The mother of four paired the skirt with a studded striped blouse that she tucked into the skirt
Graceful: The sophisticated actress wore her blonde tresses in a loose updo that fell around her face
Her flattering makeup showed off her dewy complexion and was just the right amount to highlight her gorgeous features.
The star also posed with Denise Albert and Melissa Musen Gerstein, two celebrity mom bloggers who's company The MOMS hosted the screening.
The MOMS regularly partner with film distributors, book publishers and celebrity publicists to present engaging and informative conversations around topics important to parents year round.
The Australia beauty posed with Denise Albert and Melissa Musen Gerstein, two celebrity mom bloggers who's company The MOMS hosted the screening
Just last week, the film siren attended the premiere of her film in her home country of Australia where it was rumored she got into a big fight with husband Keith Urban on the red carpet.
The cause of the alleged spat is claimed to be Keith's purported displeasure at his wife's career getting in the way of their reunited family time in Australia.
An insider allegedly revealed hectic work schedules - Keith's six months of touring and Nicole's back-to-back films - caused the pair to spend most of 2016 apart.
Trouble at home? Just last week, the film siren attended the premiere of her film in her home country of Australia where she apparently got into a big fight with husband Keith Urban
The actress plays Sue Brierley, an Australian woman who adopts two young boys from India.'
Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel plays Nicole's adopted son in the film.
The film, which hit theaters last month, tells the story of an Indian boy who, at 30, searches for his birth-family after being adopted by an Australian one 25 years earlier.
Iraqi journalist freed week after kidnapping: sister
Iraqi journalist Afrah Shawqi was released Tuesday, a week after being abducted from her Baghdad home by gunmen, her sister and security officials said.
"It's true," her sister Nibras Shawqi told AFP in a text message when asked about reports of her sibling's release.
Iraq's Joint Operations Command in Baghdad also confirmed she was free.
Protesters hold protraits of Iraqi female journalist Afrah Shawqi during a demonstration calling for her release on December 30, 2016, in Baghdad SABAH ARAR (AFP/File)
Afrah Shawqi, 43, is employed by Asharq al-Awsat, a London-based pan-Arab newspaper, as well as a number of news websites including Aklaam.
Last week, she published a stinging article on the website in which she hit out at the armed groups which "act with impunity" in Iraq.
During a press conference before news of her release on Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had said that the motives of the kidnapping were both political and criminal.
Iraq is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, along with Syria, Afghanistan and Mexico.
Coalition jets back Turkey in Syria op
Jets with the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group backed a Turkish army operation near Al-Bab in Syria last week but did not use weapons, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
The coalition's military support mission suggests warming ties between the two partners.
"Last week, there was a request... when some Turkish forces came under fire for air support and there were flights conducted by the coalition at that time," said Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook.
Turkish forces have been engaged for several weeks in deadly fighting against the Islamic State group to retake the city of Al-Bab Nazeer al-Khatib (AFP/File)
"My understanding of that was there was not a strike specifically, but there were aircraft involved in that effort, a visible show of force if you will, by coalition aircraft."
Turkish forces have been engaged for several weeks in deadly fighting against the Islamic State group to retake the city.
But despite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's requests, coalition planes had previously refused to directly help the Turks.
The coalition criticizes Turkey for launching the offensive unilaterally without first reaching an agreement with its partners.
"We continue to talk with the government of Turkey about the appropriate level of support for the efforts there in Al-Bab and that's an ongoing conversations, even happening today," Cook stressed.
The Americans supported the first part of the Turkish offensive in Syria in mid-2016. But they are concerned that the Turks, after the conquest of Al-Bab, might attack the Kurdish-led Arab-Kurdish coalition of the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The United States sees the SDF as their most effective ally in the fight against IS in Syria. The FDS is currently leading the first part of the offensive against Raqa, the self-proclaimed IS capital in Syria.
US mass murderer Manson 'seriously ill' in hospital: media
US mass murderer Charles Manson is "seriously ill" in hospital after being transferred from prison for undisclosed medical condition, according to media reports on Tuesday.
The 82-year-old was moved from Corcoran State Prison in Kings County, California, to a hospital 60 miles (100 kilometers) to the south in Bakersfield, according to celebrity news portal TMZ.
A state corrections official refused to comment on the reports and would confirm only that Manson had not died, but the Los Angeles Times cited an unnamed source who said Manson was "seriously ill," without elaborating.
Charles Manson waiting to hear his death sentence in 1971 -- the 82-year-old mass murderer is now in a California hospital
Manson headed an apocalyptic cult that committed murders in upscale, mostly white neighborhoods of Los Angeles in order to blame the crimes on African Americans, in the hope of sparking what he termed a "Helter Skelter" race war.
He has been in prison for more than four decades after the 1969 killings, which included the brutal murder of director Roman Polanski's actress wife, Sharon Tate, who was heavily pregnant.
He was sentenced to death in 1969 along with four of his "Manson Family" disciples for having led the killing of seven people, but their sentences were later commuted to life in prison.
Manson, who was not actually present but ordered the killings, applied for parole in 2012 but was denied release and is not eligible to apply again until 2027.
He was granted permission in 2014 to wed then 26-year-old Afton Elaine Burton, described in US media as a slender brunette, who had been visiting him in prison.
But the 90-day license expired without the ceremony going ahead.
More than 150 inmates escape in Philippine jail raid
Suspected Muslim rebels staged the Philippines' biggest jailbreak Wednesday when they stormed a dilapidated jail in the violence-plagued south of the country, freeing 158 inmates and killing a guard, authorities said.
The attack added to a long history of daring jailbreaks in the southern Philippines, home to a decades-old Muslim separatist insurgency as well as extremist gangs that have recently declared allegiance to the Islamic State group.
More than 100 armed men believed to have been led by a local Muslim guerrilla commander attacked the jail in Kidapawan city about 1:00am in what appeared to be a well-planned raid to free fellow rebels, jail authorities said.
A raid by suspected Muslim rebels on a jail in Mindanao results in 158 inmates escaping, the biggest jailbreak in Philippines history FERDINANDH CABRERA (AFP)
"There are high-value targets in our custody who were the subject of a rescue operation," jail warden Peter John Bonggat told AFP.
The assailants were heavily armed and overwhelmed the 24 guards at the jail, according to Bonggat, who was involved in the effort to repel the gunmen and said one of his officers had been killed.
At least 158 prisoners escaped, Bonggat told AFP, although it was unclear how many of those were linked to the attackers or were just other inmates who took advantage of the chaos.
Bonggat said the jail, which housed 1,511 inmates, was a run-down former school building located in a forested, secluded area.
Kidapawan, 950 kilometres (590 miles) south of Manila, is home to various Muslim rebel groups, criminal gangs and communist insurgents.
"We have many Muslim personalities (in the jail) that are members of various organised, syndicated groups," Bonggat said.
He said the attackers were believed to be militants who had broken away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the nation's largest Muslim rebel organisation which is in peace talks with the government.
Six of the escapees were killed and eight captured as security forces hunted them in nearby farmlands throughout Wednesday, according to Bonggat.
- Overpowered, undermanned -
Acting provincial governor Shirlyn Macasarte said authorities had been tipped off that one of the breakaway groups, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, had been planning the jailbreak.
"We had reports that a group of BIFF members wanted to rescue brothers who were involved in killings and had experience of making bombs," Macasarte told ABS-CBN television.
Islamic militants have staged a series of raids on poorly funded and secured jails in the south over the past 15 years that have led to mass escapes, but authorities said Wednesday's was the largest.
"It is the biggest ever jailbreak in our history," Bureau of Jail Management and Penology spokesman Xavier Solda told AFP.
"We were really underpowered and undermanned."
Militants have attacked the Kidapawan jail repeatedly.
In 2007, gunmen freed 49 inmates there. Among those who escaped was Khair Mundos, one of the main leaders of the Abu Sayyaf, which is blamed for the Philippines' worst terrorist attacks. He was recaptured in 2014.
The southern region of Mindanao is the ancestral homeland of the Muslim minority in the largely Catholic Philippines.
The MILF, which has about 10,000 armed followers, is the largest of the rebel groups that have been fighting since the 1970s for independence or autonomy.
More than 120,000 people have been killed in the rebellion.
The MILF has in recent years been observing a ceasefire as part of peace efforts with the government.
MILF spokesman Von al-Haq told AFP the group did not know who the attackers in Wednesday's raid were.
The BIFF is one of several breakaway groups that are determined to continue fighting and have declared allegiance to IS.
The BIFF split from the MILF in 2008 after the previous peace process collapsed, then carried out attacks on Christian communities that left more than 400 people dead and 600,000 displaced.
The Maute group, regarded as one of the most dangerous extremist organisations, freed 23 inmates in a jailbreak last year near Kidapawan.
Philippines AFP (AFP)
Turkey warns Syria talks at risk over truce violations
Turkey warned Wednesday that a new round of Syria peace talks was at risk, accusing President Bashar al-Assad's government of violating a fragile truce it brokered with Russia last week.
The nationwide ceasefire has brought quiet to large parts of Syria, but has been threatened by ongoing fighting in the Wadi Barada region near Damascus.
Government forces backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah group are fighting to recapture the area, the main source of water to the capital.
The nationwide ceasefire has brought quiet to large parts of Syria, but has been threatened by ongoing fighting in the Wadi Barada region near the capital Damascus Abd DOUMANY (AFP/File)
Supply has been cut since December 22, with the regime and rebels trading accusations over responsibility.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday urged the regime and its backers to end their "violations" of the truce, warning they were jeopardising the planned talks in Kazakh capital Astana this month.
"If we do not stop the increasing violations, the Astana process could fail. After the ceasefire, we see violations," Cavusoglu told the state-run Anadolu news agency.
"When we look at who commits these violations, it is Hezbollah, in particular Shiite groups and the regime," he added.
He urged Russia and Iran, which both back Assad and are also helping prepare the Astana talks, to pressure Damascus and Hezbollah to stop the fighting.
Despite the call, fighting continued on the ground in Wadi Barada on Wednesday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.
It reported ongoing clashes as well as government air strikes and artillery fire in the area, but had no immediate details on casualties.
- Talks to halt fighting -
Wadi Barada has been under government siege since 2015, but government forces upped pressure on the region several weeks ago as they tried to secure a "reconciliation deal" with rebels there.
The regime has reached a series of such deals with opposition forces around Damascus in recent months, offering rebels safe passage to other parts of the country in return for their surrender.
The government accuses rebels in the area of deliberately targeting water infrastructure, causing leaking fuel to poison the supply to the capital, and then cutting the flow altogether.
Rebels say the infrastructure was damaged in government strikes, and deny responsibility for the damage that has left four million people without water since December 22.
On Tuesday, the government brought reinforcements to the area, the Observatory said.
But opposition officials and Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman also reported ongoing talks on a deal to end the fighting and repair the water infrastructure.
"Local officials want... Russian teams to enter to fix the infrastructure" in exchange for a halt to the fighting, Abdel Rahman told AFP.
"But the regime wants control of the spring and the pumps to prevent any blackmail or threats in the future," he added.
"This is their condition for halting military operations."
- Iranian official in Damascus -
The opposition accused Hezbollah of preventing Russian officials from entering Wadi Barada to assess the work needed and continue negotiations.
"A checkpoint belonging to the Hezbollah militia prevented the Russian officers from entering," Ahmed Ramadan of the National Coalition opposition body said in a message to journalists.
The ceasefire and Astana talks are the latest bid to resolve nearly six years of conflict in Syria, which has been ravaged by violence since an uprising began in March 2011.
More than 310,000 people have been killed and over half the country displaced in the violence, which has drawn in regional and international players.
Regime ally Moscow began a military campaign in support of Assad's government in September 2015, and Turkey launched its own fight against the Islamic State group and Kurdish fighters in northern Syria in August last year.
The US-led anti-IS coalition said Wednesday it was prepared to support Turkish forces battling the jihadists.
"I can confirm for you that those discussions have been happening and the Turks are aware of some of the things that might be in store," Colonel John Dorrian said, speaking via video conference from Baghdad but declining to elaborate.
Despite backing opposite sides in the conflict, Ankara and Moscow have worked closely to broker the ceasefire and plan the Astana talks, which Cavusoglu said could take place on January 23.
Regime ally Iran is also involved in organising the talks, and top official Alaeddin Boroujerdi was in Damascus on Wednesday for talks with Assad.
He praised the government's recapture of Aleppo city last month, and pledged that Iran would continue to back the government, Syrian state media reported.
Number of displaced in Mosul op passes 125,000: UN
More than 125,000 Iraqis have been displaced since the start in October of an offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, the United Nations said Wednesday.
"Following the intensification of military operations in Mosul city on 29 December, the rate of displacement from Mosul has increased markedly, with over 9,000 people having fled the city in the space of four days," said the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
OCHA also said about 14,000 of the 125,568 people confirmed to have been displaced in 11 weeks have already returned to their homes in recaptured areas.
More than 3.3 million people are currently displaced in Iraq, where a total of 10 million need humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Ahmad al-Rubaye (AFP/File)
After a lull in the offensive launched on October 17 to retake what is now the Islamic State group's last major stronghold in the country, Iraqi forces started a fresh push last week, engaging in heavy fighting in eastern Mosul.
A senior commander from the elite Counter-Terrorism Service that has done most of the front-line fighting inside the city told AFP on Sunday that Iraqi forces now controlled more than 60 percent of Mosul's eastern half.
AFP reporters saw streams of civilians fleeing the fighting on foot in recent days, carrying what belongings they could bring along in bags.
More than 3.3 million people are currently displaced in Iraq, where a total of 10 million need humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.
Officials say it could be months before Iraqi forces are able to completely retake Mosul, Iraq's second city, where hundreds of thousands of civilians still live.
'Thousands' of pilgrims return to China before Dalai Lama event
Thousands of mostly Tibetan pilgrims who travelled to India for a rare Buddhist ceremony held by the Dalai Lama have returned to China under pressure from Beijing, organisers said Wednesday.
The 81-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader will this month preside over the Kalachakra teachings at Bodhgaya in eastern India, where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment more than 2,000 years ago.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world are expected to attend the event, which is held only once every few years.
Tibetan Spiritual Leader The Dalai Lama gestures as he attends a special religious prayer during the Kalachakra event at Bodhgaya on January 4, 2017 Dibyangshu Sarkar (AFP)
But as preparations got under way on Wednesday, the chairman of the organising committee Karma Gelek Yuthok said almost 7,000 pilgrims had returned to China, citing pressure from authorities there.
"It is unfortunate, they have returned after Chinese pressure. They are nearly 7,000," he told journalists in Bodhgaya.
"They planned to end their pilgrimage in Bodhgaya (but) just because of this they have gone back."
Yuthok, who is a member of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in the north Indian town of Dharamsala, said some pilgrims had reported receiving threats to relatives in China if they did not return.
In 2012 China detained hundreds of Tibetans after they returned from the Kalachakra in Bodhgaya.
Last month Radio Free Asia reported that many Tibetan pilgrims who travelled to Dharamsala ahead of the Kalachakra had been ordered to return home before the end of the year, preventing them from heading on to Bodhgaya.
It said the Dalai Lama had held a special audience for them in Dharamsala last month.
The Chinese embassy in Delhi declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
The Dalai Lama fled to India after a failed uprising in 1959 but is still deeply revered by many Tibetans.
Beijing says its troops "peacefully liberated" Tibet in 1951 and accuses the Nobel Peace laureate of seeking Tibetan independence through "spiritual terrorism".
He says he merely wants greater autonomy for his homeland, where many accuse the central government of religious repression and eroding the Tibetan culture.
The Kalachakra opened in Bodhgaya on Tuesday, although the main teaching section will only begin next week.
A spokesman for the Indian government said it was unaware of the issue.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world are expected to attend the Kalachakra event, which is held only once every few years Dibyangshu Sarkar (AFP)
Israel says China to send thousands of construction workers
China has agreed for thousands of migrant construction labourers to work in Israel in a bid to alleviate a housing crisis in the Jewish state, the Israeli government said Wednesday.
The agreement would see 6,000 Chinese workers arrive in Israel in the six months after the formal signature of the deal expected at the end of February, a joint statement from the interior and finance ministries said.
An Israeli delegation and China's commerce ministry have signed a draft agreement in China, it said.
Housing costs in Israel have been rising steeply since 2008, significantly impacting the cost of living Ahmad Gharabli (AFP/File)
The statement quoted Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon as saying the arrival of the Chinese workers would "energise efforts to solve the housing crisis".
Housing costs in Israel have been rising steeply since 2008, according to Bank of Israel data, significantly impacting the cost of living and triggering a wave of street protests in 2011.
Kahlon, whose Kulanu party ran in the 2015 general election on a platform of lowering living costs, came under fire after an August government report showed apartment prices had risen by eight percent in a year.
Nearly 9,000 foreign construction labourers work in Israel, all of them from east European countries and half of them under bilateral agreements, according to the interior ministry.
Gambia army chief backs president as region watches
The Gambia's army chief on Wednesday reaffirmed his loyalty to President Yahya Jammeh, despite the threat of a regional military intervention if the strongman refuses to step down.
Lieutenant General Ousman Badjie used a New Year message published in the pro-government Daily Observer newspaper to "renew to Your Excellency (Jammeh) the assurance of the unflinching loyalty and support of The Gambia Armed Forces".
Regional leaders warned last month that the 15-member Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) would "take all necessary action" to enforce the results of a disputed December 1 poll that Jammeh lost to Adama Barrow.
Lieutenant General Ousman Badjie used a New Year message published in the pro-government Daily Observer newspaper to reaffirm his loyalty to President Yahya Jammeh Seyllou (AFP/File)
Top ECOWAS official Marcel Alain de Souza described force as a "possible solution" if Jammeh clings to power, while Senegalese President Macky Sall, whose nation almost entirely surrounds The Gambia, said a military intervention could be the final course of action.
- Poll U-turn -
Jammeh, who has been in power for 22 years, stunned observers by initially accepting his defeat, but then made a U-turn a week later, rejecting the results and then filing a court challenge against the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
Diplomats in the region have voiced private concern that Barrow's safety is not being guaranteed by the state, as he relies on unarmed volunteers to act as bodyguards.
Barrow initially claimed the army chief had personally assured him of his support, but Badjie subsequently appeared at high-level mediation talks in Banjul in mid-December saying the incumbent was still his boss.
A crackdown in recent days by security agents has also shut two radio stations, while a group of traders selling t-shirts featuring Barrow's image were briefly detained.
Hannah Forster, executive director of the Gambia-based African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, described the media repression as "a blow to democracy" on Wednesday.
"These radio stations have been sharing information in the local languages...I would like the government to reconsider their decision," she told AFP.
On Tuesday evening Jammeh and his party filed two more legal complaints with the Supreme Court, claiming two regions had their results doctored and alleging Jammeh was denied a "well-earned victory".
"If the result was properly collated, the outcome would have shown that the Petitioner (Jammeh) won the election," said a court filing lodged by Jammeh himself and seen by AFP Wednesday.
Meanwhile 20,000 Jammeh supporters in these regions were "dissuaded by IEC officials from voting," the filing said, calling for a re-run in the areas affected.
- Safety fears -
The head of Gambia's electoral commission has fled to neighbouring Senegal fearing for his safety, meaning he is unlikely to appear in any of the three court cases now lodged against him.
Alieu Momar Njie suspected a plot against him after his commission's headquarters were locked down by the security forces for several days while Jammeh challenges the election result in the Supreme Court.
The second complaint lodged by Jammeh's campaign chief Yankuba Colley on Tuesday said it represented 5,300 voters denied the right to cast their ballots.
If they had been permitted to vote it "would have altered the result of the election," according to the document.
The election was hailed internationally as free and fair, but Jammeh has cited a recount issued in the days after the election as evidence of manipulation by the IEC.
UN worker accused of aiding Hamas sentenced to 7 months
A Palestinian UN worker accused by Israel of aiding the Islamist group Hamas was sentenced to seven months' jail Wednesday in a plea deal which will see him released soon.
Waheed Borsh was convicted of "rendering services to an illegal organisation without intention", his lawyer Lea Tsemel told AFP.
The Israeli justice ministry confirmed the plea deal, saying that it also included eight months' probation.
Palestinian Waheed Borsh, a UN Development Programme employee accused of aiding the Islamist movement Hamas, pictured during his indictment at a district court in the southern Israeli city of Beersheva on August 28, 2016 AHMAD GHARABLI (AFP/File)
Borsh's employer, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said the deal showed there had been no wrongdoing by the organisation.
He was arrested in July and with time already served and good behaviour, is expected to be released on January 12.
The case centred on accusations that rubble in Gaza under the responsibility of the UNDP was misused by Hamas which controls the enclave.
Coming shortly after accusations against a senior employee of the World Vision NGO, the case caused a major stir in Israel, with officials accusing the UN of naivete and alleging systematic misuse of aid by Hamas.
Israel originally alleged that Borsh had been recruited by Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organisation by the European Union, the United States and Israel, and had deliberately diverted rubble to a port -- which was then used to build a military jetty.
But Tsemel stressed that her client had been convicted only of unintentionally aiding the Islamists by "moving some rubble".
"The prosecution claimed that he should have checked better as this could have helped Hamas."
The UNDP said it had "zero tolerance for wrongdoing", but that the case did not prove deliberate intent.
"This outcome confirms that there was no wrongdoing by UNDP," the body said in a statement.
- Aid wars -
Since 2008, Israel has fought three wars with Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Israel has long alleged that Hamas has sought to infiltrate humanitarian organisations and divert aid, accusations the Islamist movement denies.
Aid workers privately admit to pressure from Hamas.
But they also say materials taken into Gaza are subject to some of the strictest monitoring in the world and that the blockade is preventing needed goods from entering the impoverished enclave.
More than two thirds of the population of the Gaza Strip, which Israel has blockaded for a decade, are reliant on some form of aid, according to the UN.
The allegations against the UNDP, which were first announced in August, as well as the more serious ones against World Vision's Gaza head Mohammed al-Halabi, were trumpeted by Israeli officials.
Halabi is accused of siphoning millions of dollars to Hamas in a case still in the Israeli courts.
Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the UN, said at the time the cases were evidence of a "troubling trend of the systematic exploitation by Hamas".
AFP visited the site of the alleged UNDP misuse last summer and found a new-looking jetty extending around 50 metres (yards) into the sea.
Perhaps 10 feet (three yards) wide, it had wooden slats erected on one side to obscure the view.
Armed Hamas fighters were in nearby fields.
UNDP officials privately accepted that rubble from one of its projects may have been used in the construction of the jetty.
But they stressed the disposal occurred in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Works, which is run by Hamas's rivals Fatah.
Israeli soldier dies of wounds from 2014 Gaza war: army
An Israeli army officer wounded in the 2014 Gaza Strip war against Hamas has died of his injuries, the military said on Wednesday.
The death of Major Hagai Ben-Ari brings the number of soldiers killed in the offensive, codenamed Operation Protective Edge, to 68.
Six civilians also died on the Israeli side.
An Israeli soldier walks close to a mobil artillery canon stationed along the southern Israeli border with the Gaza Strip on July 11, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge JACK GUEZ (AFP/File)
"Major Hagai Ben-Ari, who was severely injured by sniper fire in Operation Protective Edge, passed away late Tuesday evening," an army statement said.
US-led coalition boosts Mosul military advisors to 450: official
The US-led coalition said Wednesday it has doubled to about 450 the number of military advisors assisting Iraqi troops engaged in the fight to retake Mosul from Islamic State fighters.
"We have increased the number of advise and assist forces that are there with the ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) command elements to help advise them as they move forward and to synchronize operations," coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian said in a video conference from Baghdad.
Dorrian said the reinforcements were part of a series of measures taken to "accelerate the advance of the Iraqi security forces."
Iraqi forces run for cover as they advance in Mosul's eastern Al-Intisar neighbourhood on December 30, 2016, during an ongoing military operation against Islamic State group jihadists AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (AFP/File)
While military advisors are behind the frontlines, they have already entered the city several times, he added.
American military forces are carrying out air and artillery strikes in Iraq as part of a US-led coalition against the Islamic State group, and have provided training, advice and other assistance to Baghdad's forces.
There are about 5,000 American military personnel in Iraq, according to the coalition, and US special forces personnel have also fought IS on the ground.
More than 125,000 Iraqis have been displaced since the Mosul offensive began in mid-October, according to the United Nations. More than 3.3 million people are currently displaced in all of Iraq.
A senior commander from the elite Counter-Terrorism Service that has done most of the front-line fighting inside the city told AFP on Sunday that Iraqi forces now controlled more than 60 percent of Mosul's eastern half.
"There are more than 200,000 buildings in Mosul and ... you end up having to clear each one," Dorrian said.
"And that goes from rooftop level, often in four-story or higher buildings, through every single room, and every single closet, and into tunnels that have been dug between these buildings, and sometimes beneath them," he added.
"It's going to take time. It's going to be extraordinarily dangerous."
Iraqi forces have yet to enter west Mosul, which is still completely held by IS fighters.
"There's been a lot of discussion about the losses that Iraqis are taking -- the enemy is taking an order of magnitude greater," Dorrian said.
Officials say it could be months before Iraqi forces are able to completely retake Iraq's second city, where hundreds of thousands of civilians still live.
US ready to help Turkish forces in Syria
The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group is prepared to support Turkish forces battling the fighters in northern Syria, a US military official said Wednesday.
Turkey has asked for such assistance from the coalition but none has been forthcoming so far.
Colonel John Dorrian, speaking via video conference from Baghdad, said support will be offered.
Colonel John Corrian confirmed on January 4, 2017, that the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group will aid Turkish forces, pictured, in northern Syria Bulent Kilic (AFP/File)
"I can confirm for you that those discussions have been happening and the Turks are aware of some of the things that might be in store," Dorrian said, declining to provide further details.
Turkish forces have been engaged for several weeks in deadly fighting against the Islamic State group to retake the Syrian city of Al-Bab.
But despite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's requests, coalition planes have not been deployed to directly help the Turks.
Coalition aircraft did make a show of force last week near Al-Bab at the request of Turkish forces but did not fire any weapons.
The coalition criticizes Turkey for launching the offensive unilaterally without first reaching an agreement with its partners.
The Americans supported the first part of the Turkish offensive in Syria in mid-2016.
Neither the coalition nor Turkey have said why the coalition stopped supporting Turkish forces in Syria as they did at the start of the Turkish offensive in August.
But US officials have suggested they are concerned that the Turks, after the conquest of Al-Bab, might attack the Kurdish-led Arab-Kurdish coalition of the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The United States sees the SDF as their most effective ally in the fight against Islamic State in Syria. The SDF is currently leading the first part of the offensive against Raqa, the self-proclaimed IS capital in Syria.
Egypt-Saudi deal protesters ordered to be detained
Egyptian prosecutors ordered Wednesday that 12 people held during a protest against the controversial transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia be detained for four days, officials said.
They were arrested during a rare demonstration in central Cairo on Monday, renewing protests from earlier this year against the transfer of Tiran and Sanafir islands.
The 12 are accused of staging a protest without informing the interior ministry beforehand, said judiciary and security officials and lawyer Ahmed Othman, who is defending one of those held.
A man reacts on December 19, 2016 at the high administrative court as a judge announces a court ruling in the case of two Red Sea islands in Cairo MOHAMED EL-SHAHED (AFP/File)
Under a 2013 law, demonstrators are required to tell the ministry they are planning a protest, and the ministry is then able to grant or refuse permission.
The 12, who are also accused of attacking policemen and destroying public property, are being held pending further investigation and possible charges.
The transfer of the islands was part of a maritime borders accord signed during an April visit to Cairo by Saudi Arabia's King Salman.
This is being disputed in Egyptian courts, with the government pressing to approve the transfer, saying the islands were Saudi to begin with but leased to Egypt in the 1950s.
Pakistan police arrest 160 supporters of governor's assassin
Pakistan police arrested 160 people Wednesday at a rally to celebrate the assassination of a liberal provincial governor who called for the country's tough blasphemy laws to be reformed.
Salman Taseer was gunned down in Islamabad by his own security guard Mumtaz Qadri on January 4, 2011 after he spoke out for Asia Bibi -- a Christian mother on death row over blasphemy.
Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, and anyone even accused of insulting Islam risks a violent and bloody death at the hands of vigilantes.
Salman Taseer was gunned down by his own security guard on January 4, 2011 after he spoke out for Asia Bibi, a Christian mother on death row over blasphemy Farooq Naeem (AFP/File)
Qadri was hanged last year in a step liberals hailed as progressive, but which brought hardliners onto the streets supporting Qadri and demanding Bibi be killed.
Police said around 300 clerics attended two separate rallies in Lahore on Wednesday blocking main roads, under the banner of "Save Islam Movement" and "Lubaik Ya Rasool Allah movement" -- referring to the collective name of some hardline Islamist groups.
"We have arrested some 160 people who clashed with police," senior police official Haider Ashraf told AFP.
Another police official said clashes erupted when barricades were placed on roads to prevent the rally from reaching Liberty Market, where Taseer's supporters were to hold a candlelight vigil to mark the anniversary of his assassination.
Last week hardliners also filed blasphemy charges against Taseer's son, Shaan Taseer, and issued a fatwa calling for his death after he posted a Christmas video on his Facebook page calling for a review of the blasphemy law and supporting Bibi.
Mohammad Zulfiqar, an organiser of Lubaik Ya Rasool Allah movement, criticised Wednesday's arrests.
"The purpose was to defend Islam and express solidarity with Muslims in Kashmir and Burma (Myanmar)," he said of the rallies.
"We also held them to stop the burning of candles for a blasphemer and celebrate the assassination (of Taseer) because on this day Mumtaz Qadri sent a blasphemer to hell."
Obama, Team Trump in health care showdown
US President Barack Obama called on congressional Democrats Wednesday to "fight" to preserve his signature health care reform, with its future in doubt as Donald Trump's incoming administration vowed a swift repeal of the controversial law.
Obamacare, the fruit of an eight-year drive to extend medical coverage to tens of millions of Americans, will come under sustained assault when Trump takes office on January 20 with Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress.
But the debate over US health care began in earnest Wednesday at the highest levels, with Obama and Vice President-elect Mike Pence making duelling visits to Capitol Hill to urge their legislative foot soldiers to gird for battle.
US President Barack Obama greets Senate pages as he leaves a meeting with the House and Senate Democratic Caucuses to discuss the Affordable Care Act at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, January 4, 2017 SAUL LOEB (AFP)
"I envy you for the opportunity you are going to have to engage in this fight to protect health care for the American people," the outgoing president told Senate and House Democrats, according to Senator Ed Markey, who attended the 100-minute meeting.
After a crushing election loss, Democrats may have limited options for stalling a repeal of Obamacare without significant Republican defections.
They also face criticism that Obama's reforms have led to rising insurance premiums and a string of technical problems.
But certain elements of Obamacare remain popular, notably the provisions barring companies from refusing coverage due to pre-existing conditions and allowing children to retain coverage on family plans through age 26.
- Repeal and then what? -
Republican opposition in general to Obamacare is clear -- "They broke the health care system," House Speaker Paul Ryan said of Obama's administration -- but his party's prescription to fix it is not.
Ryan has proposed a tax credit system as a possible replacement, but the costs to government and individuals remain vague.
The White House is betting that American voters will revolt if Trump moves to strip millions of their coverage with no viable alternative -- forcing the incoming president to confront the most radical reformers within his own party.
While Pence addressed the issue gingerly in Congress, he stressed that Trump would make the process of repealing the Affordable Care Act one of the administration's top priorities.
"The first order of business is to repeal and replace Obamacare," Pence told reporters in the US Capitol shortly after meeting with House Republicans.
But Trump himself cautioned against over-hasty action.
"Republicans must be careful in that the Dems own the failed ObamaCare disaster," the president-elect said on Twitter, warning Republicans to allow it to "fall of its own weight."
While urging a full repeal of the law, Ryan also said Republicans should avoid putting millions of families in further financial jeopardy by gutting Obamacare without a viable alternative in place.
"We've got to fix this by replacing it with something better. In that transition, we want to make sure we don't pull the rug out from anybody," he said.
One Republican lawmaker, Chris Collins, said the party was looking at a six-month timeline for crafting an Obamacare alternative. Other Republicans said that was far too ambitious.
Senator John McCain expressed confidence that fellow Republicans would be able to forge a replacement plan to go along with legislative repeal action.
"We'll be doing both," McCain said. "We'll know what the replacement is."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has already launched the legislative process for repeal, welcomed Pence to lunch with all Senate Republicans after his House huddle.
Pence, addressing reporters afterward, provided no details on the replacement plan being crafted by his party.
But "the architecture of the replacement of Obamacare will come together, as it should, through the legislative process in the weeks and months ahead," he said.
- 'A little queasy' -
Republican legislators are eager to take charge after eight years spent fighting against Obama's policies.
But some are wary that white working-class Americans, who helped send them to office, may bear the brunt of any reforms.
Dismantling Obamacare could also have knock-on effects for funding health care for retirees, a group essential to the Republican Party's survival.
In these two issues, Democrats see pressure points they hope to exploit in defense of Obama's plan.
"It's not surprising to me that there are some Republicans who are now a little queasy about the prospect of the impact that repealing Obamacare would have on their own supporters," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
"We know there are people all across the country who benefit from this law, who are protected by this law, whose lives have been saved by this law."
Democratic leaders voiced support for a stiff defense of the Affordable Care Act in the face of Republican attacks.
"Instead of working to further ensure affordable care for all Americans, they seek to rip health care away from millions of Americans, creating chaos in our entire economy," charged Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.
US Vice President-elect Mike Pence speaks with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (L), R-Wisconsin, during a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, January 4, 2017 JIM WATSON (AFP)
Kabila backs bishops' role in DR Congo crisis
DR Congo President Joseph Kabila gave the green light Wednesday for the Catholic Church to pursue mediation to end the crisis sparked by his refusal to step down, sources said.
The country's influential bishops brokered a New Year's Eve deal to sketch a timetable under which Kabila will stay in office before new elections are held in late 2017, in a bid to prevent more bloodshed in a crisis that has already claimed dozens of lives.
"Things are clear after the exchange between the bishops and the president, who asked them to do everything to implement the deal," a clerical source told AFP.
Congolese President Joseph Kabila was due to step down on December 20 at the end of his second and final mandate, but has shown no signs of wanting to leave office LIONEL HEALING (AFP/File)
A close aide to the president confirmed that Kabila had met with the bishops but declined to give details of their discussions.
The president, who has been in power since 2001, was due to step down on December 20 at the end of his second and final mandate, but has shown no signs of wanting to leave office.
Scores of people have been killed in clashes before and since the deadline, with the Church leading efforts to reach a deal between the government and opposition on a way out of the crisis.
On Tuesday the ruling coalition said Kabila should have the right to approve Catholic mediation to haul the vast country out of a dangerous impasse, warning it might otherwise not join negotiations.
The bishops had asked both the government and opposition to submit written proposals Wednesday on arrangements for issues including the naming of a new prime minister and the size of the government.
Until the elections now due at the end of next year, a transitional body will be set up, headed by 84-year-old opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, and a prime minister will be named from opposition ranks.
Christophe Lutundula, who signed the agreement for the opposition, said the next talks would be about "specific arrangements" for the transitional body, named the National Council for Overseeing the Electoral Agreement and Process (CNSAP).
Issues include methods for appointing CNSAP's 28 members and "the composition of the (transitional) government," Lutundula told AFP.
Kabila took office after his father Laurent was assassinated in 2001 at the height of the Second Congo War.
He was confirmed as leader in 2006 during the first free elections since independence, and re-elected for a second term in 2011 in a vote marred by accusations of fraud.
Endowed with natural resources but chronically poor, sapped by corruption and politically unstable, the Democratic Republic of Congo has never witnessed a peaceful transfer of power since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960.
Murders, shootings at 25-year low in New York
The number of murders and shootings in New York continued to fall last year to hit their lowest levels since the early 1990s, new figures showed Wednesday.
The good news for New York, the largest US metropolis with a population of 8.5 million, comes as other American cities like Chicago struggle with an explosion in murder and other violent crimes.
New York notched 335 murders in 2016, a 4.8 percent decrease from 2015, according to the latest police statistics.
New York City recorded a 12 percent drop in shootings, the lowest level ever on record for a category created in the early 1990s KENA BETANCUR (GETTY/AFP/File)
The city recorded 998 shootings last year, 140 fewer than 2015 or a 12 percent drop. It was the lowest level ever on record for a category created in the early 1990s.
Police chief James O'Neill, promoted in September following the retirement of the highly respected William Bratton, welcomed the continuation of a trend that began in the mid-1990s under then-mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican.
"We have been working hard at reducing crime to historic lows, when many said it could not be done," he said, attributing the fall to community-based policing and "laser-like" police work against gangs.
The number of gang-related shootings dropped to 412 in 2016, down from 560 in 2015, a decrease of 25 percent.
By comparison, more than 760 murders were committed in Chicago in 2016, the highest number in 20 years, mainly due to an uptick in gang violence.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat preparing for his re-election campaign next November, said the city was reaping the benefits of strategies aiming at curtailing the unpopular "stop and frisk" practice, which allows police to spontaneously question and search people on the street.
The latest strategies "have built trust between police and communities and enabled New Yorkers to take an active role in ensuring the safety of their neighborhoods," he said.
Crime was not evenly spread across New York, the statistics showed. Wealthy Manhattan was largely spared, while the boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx contain some dangerous pockets.
Crimes often took place at night, with a third of killings and shootings happening between 10 pm and 2 am, the New York Times reported.
Egypt extends custody of Jazeera reporter for 15 days
Egyptian prosecutors extended the detention of an Al-Jazeera journalist accused of incitement and fabricating news for another 15 days on Wednesday, officials said.
Mahmoud Hussein, 51, an Egyptian national, flew to Cairo two weeks ago for a family holiday but was stopped and interrogated at the airport for several hours before being released.
Police raided his Cairo home on December 23 and arrested him. After being questioned again, he was ordered to be detained.
An Egyptian riot policeman stands guard during a protest of journalists on May 4, 2016 outside the Journalists' Syndicate headquarters in Cairo MOHAMED EL-SHAHED (AFP)
It was the latest move against the Qatar-based broadcaster which Egypt accuses of supporting the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
The interior ministry said after Hussein's arrest that he was implicated in an Al-Jazeera "plot" aimed at "fomenting discord and inciting against state institutions... and broadcasting false news as well as fabricated news reports and documentaries".
In November, Al-Jazeera broadcast a documentary called "The Soldiers" in which former conscripts spoke about compulsory military service in Egypt, drawing criticism from the media.
Al-Jazeera Managing Director Yasser Abu Hilalah denounced Hussein's arrest, saying the broadcaster "will continue to cover Egypt and we don't succumb to pressure".
Egypt provoked international condemnation in 2013 when it arrested three Al-Jazeera journalists, including a Canadian and an Australian, and sentenced them to jail on similar accusations.
They were later released.
Man pleads guilty to killing Kansas police detective
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) A man pleaded guilty Tuesday to capital murder in the shooting death last year of a Kansas police detective, avoiding a possible death sentence while agreeing to spend the rest of his life in prison.
A prosecutor said after Curtis Ayers' court hearing that his taking the death penalty off the table came with the blessing of slain Kansas City, Kansas, Detective Brad Lancaster's family, given the lack of executions in the state under its 1994 capital punishment law. Kansas, with 10 inmates on death row, hasn't executed anyone in more than half a century.
When sentenced March 14, Ayers faces additional possible prison terms for nine related felonies to which he also pleaded guilty, including burglary, robbery, battery, kidnapping, assault and weapons counts.
FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Kansas Department of Corrections shows Curtis Ayers. Ayers, who is accused of killing Kansas City, Kan., police Detective Brad Lancaster on May 9, 2016, pleaded guilty to capital murder Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. He also pleaded guilty to nine other charges related to Lancaster's death. Ayers agreed to serve life without parole on the murder count. (Kansas Department of Corrections via AP, File)
Ayers, 28, acknowledged in court outgoing Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome Gorman's account of Lancaster's death, which occurred after the detective drove up to Ayers in his unmarked police car on May 9 while responding to a report of a suspicious person near a casino.
While Lancaster was still in his car, Ayers pulled a gun from his waistband and opened fire, wounding the detective seven times. Lancaster died later at a hospital.
Ayers sped away in Lancaster's car, shot at another officer and carjacked a Kansas woman's vehicle with her two young children still inside, later leaving them unharmed. The mother suffered a broken arm after Ayers pulled her from her vehicle.
Ayers eventually stole a third vehicle before being shot by Kansas City, Missouri, police and arrested, authorities have said.
Charges related to the third carjacking and other crimes he's accused of committing that day remain unresolved.
Lancaster's widow, Jamie Lancaster, attended Tuesday's hearing. She wiped away tears as the prosecutor recounted how her husband a 39-year-old father of two young daughters was killed. She did not speak to reporters afterward.
Gorman, who lost in last August's primary and soon will leave office, told reporters that Lancaster's family signed off on Ayers' pleas, partly to "put this to bed" knowing that Ayers no longer would pose a public threat under a life sentence.
But Gorman added that the state's failure to execute anyone since reinstating capital punishment 23 years ago also factored into his discussions with the family.
NYC police fatally shoot man armed with knife in Brooklyn
NEW YORK (AP) Authorities say a 63-year-old man has been shot and killed after he came at police officers with a large knife in Brooklyn.
The shooting happened at a house in the city's Canarsie neighborhood just before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday while officers were responding to a report of an emotionally disturbed person.
Police say James Owens came from a back room, grabbed a 13-inch knife and began moving toward the officers. They say he was shot with a stun gun, but it had no effect. An officer then fired his weapon, striking Owens in the chest.
Owens was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. No police officers were injured
A knife has been recovered at the scene.
Police question Iraqi journalist freed by her abductors
BAGHDAD (AP) Police on Wednesday questioned an Iraqi journalist who was abducted last week from her Baghdad home, after she was released by her captors the previous night.
Details remain sketchy about the abduction of Afrah Shawqi al-Qaisi, a veteran journalist and a vocal critic of Iraq's endemic corruption who is also an employee of the culture ministry. No group has claimed responsibility for snatching her.
Elsewhere, an Iraqi military helicopter crashed north of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing the four-member crew, while Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State group in Mosul said they have taken two more neighborhoods of the city from the militants.
Iraqi security forces arrest a suspected fighter with the Islamic State group during a military operation to regain control of the eastern side of Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
The case of al-Qaisi has shaken Baghdad residents. The gunmen who abducted her on Dec. 26 had claimed they were members of the security forces and asked to search her home before snatching her. They also took gold, money, phones, laptops and her car.
"Thank God, I'm fine," al-Qaisi told the local NRT satellite TV station shortly after her release. "They treated me well."
Her sister, Nibras al-Qaisi, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Iraqi security forces had sealed off the area around the journalist's home and were questioning her.
Iraq is considered one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, who have been frequently targeted by militant groups since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Dozens of journalists have been killed while covering military operations.
In one of Afrah Shawqi al-Qaisi's recent articles published in local media, she criticized an Interior Ministry officer who badly beat a school principal inside the school grounds, before the eyes of the teachers and students, for refusing to punish a student who had quarreled with the official's daughter.
An Iraqi military officer said the deadly helicopter crash north of Baghdad was due to technical failure. An investigation is underway to determine what had caused the Russian-made Mi-35 helicopter to crash near the town of Beiji, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from Baghdad, the officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
In Mosul, government forces captured two neighborhoods known as Wahda and Industrial in the eastern part of the city. The troops resumed fighting militants last week, following a two-week lull forced by stiff IS resistance and bad weather.
Backed by the U.S.-led international coalition, Iraqi government troops and paramilitary forces launched the campaign in mid-October to dislodge IS from Mosul Iraq's second-largest city and the last major IS urban bastion in the country.
Displaced Iraqis, who fled fighting between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State militants, return to their homes in neighborhoods retaken by Iraqi government forces in the eastern side of Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
Chinese official shoots 2 cadres, then kills himself
BEIJING (AP) An official allegedly shot and injured two leaders of a city in southwestern China on Wednesday as the pair held a meeting in a conference center, and later killed himself, local authorities said.
The suspect entered the venue where the Communist Party chief and mayor of Panzhihua city in Sichuan province were meeting and shot continuously before running off, according to a statement from the city's information office.
The statement said that the suspect, identified as the city's land and resources chief, Chen Zhongshu, was found dead on a basement floor in the conference center. It said he had committed suicide. The statement gave no possible motive for the attack.
The injuries of the city's party chief, Zhang Yan, and mayor, Li Jianqin, were not life-threatening, the statement said.
Pope appeals for humane prisons after Brazil prison riot
VATICAN CITY (AP) Pope Francis has prayed for those who were killed in this week's Brazil prison riots, saying penitentiary conditions must be 'worthy of human persons."
Francis invited faithful at his weekly Wednesday audience at the Vatican to pray for the 60 who died in gang fights in the Brazil Amazon region prisons and their families, as well as inmates and prison workers worldwide.
He said he was "pained and concerned" about what happened in Brazil. He renewed his appeal so that prisons would be "places of re-education" and "not overcrowded but places for re-insertion" in society after sentences are served.
Pope Francis caresses a child during his weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Throughout his papacy, Francis has pressed for better prison conditions and the need for rehabilitation of inmates. He has also denounced life imprisonment as a virtual death sentence.
Pope Francis waves to faithful as he arrives for his weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Francis stops to greet some children as he leaves at the end of his weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
France's Le Pen lauds Ford decision as win for protectionism
PARIS (AP) French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen cheered Ford Motor Co.'s decision to shift investment from Mexico to the U.S., saying on Wednesday that it is victory for the protectionist policies she champions.
In a New Year's address to journalists, Le Pen said Ford's decision is proof that "protectionism works, when it is led by determination, and when a country can exercise its economic independence."
The National Front party leader, a top candidate in France's presidential election next spring, has already suggested that President-elect Donald Trump's victory could have a favorable impact on her own campaign, along with Britain's Brexit vote to leave the European Union.
Far-right leader and candidate for next spring presidential elections Marine le Pen, delivers her New Year's address to the media in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. French far right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is cheering Ford Motor Co.'s decision to shift investment from Mexico to the U.S., calling it a victory for the protectionist policies she champions. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Le Pen dubs herself a "patriot" and campaigns against immigration, the EU and a system of politicians, banks and other deciders she claims is bringing France down and which she vows to break.
"Political will pays," she said. "The proof is what Donald Trump obtained."
Ford is canceling plans to build a $1.6 billion factory in Mexico and will instead invest some of that money in a U.S. factory.
Le Pen wasn't the only French presidential candidate to lavish kudos on Trump for Ford's decision.
Arnaud Montebourg, a former economics minister seeking the Socialist Party candidacy, also proposes protectionist measures to help French industry.
"I see that Donald Trump used the Montebourg method!," he joked at a Wednesday news conference. "A strong and protecting state is a state which pays attention to the country's industrial and economic interests ... because it's a power struggle between politics and economy."
Montebourg advocates state intervention to protect national interests and keep jobs and companies in the country. As economy minister from 2012 to 2014, he was responsible for a decree broadening the government's right to intervene when foreign companies want to buy firms the state considers vital, for instance in the energy, transport, health and communications sectors.
Montebourg is among seven running for the Socialist candidacy in a two-round primary this month. Socialist President Francois Hollande, bowing to his personal unpopularity, isn't seeking a second term, and is leaving his party in disarray.
In contrast, the far-right candidate, now in her second presidential race, said she and her team are "ready, resolute, organized," and she is already preparing her first five years in office. "I know where I'm going and how I'm going to get there."
Speaking privately, she refused to name any French companies that might be squeezed to bend to what she calls "economic patriotism."
"It's nearly an excess of numbers," she laughed.
The National Front's No. 2, Florian Philippot, said that no one company comes to mind but the French auto industry, in particular, outsources to third countries and the "same arguments, the same will, the same tools" used by Trump would be employed in a France run by the National Front.
"We can imagine an equivalent solution. We must imagine ... we have a duty."
Echoing Le Pen's vision of a France freed from the syndrome of politics as usual, Philippot said the April 23 and May 7 presidential election is "practically a referendum ... on a free France or a France under (EU) guardianship."
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Sylvie Corbet and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
Far-right leader and candidate for next spring presidential elections Marine le Pen, gestures as she delivers her New Year's address to the media in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. French far right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is cheering Ford Motor Co.'s decision to shift investment from Mexico to the U.S., calling it a victory for the protectionist policies she champions. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Far-right leader and candidate for next spring presidential elections Marine le Pen, arrives for her New Year's address to the media in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. French far right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen is cheering Ford Motor Co.'s decision to shift investment from Mexico to the U.S., calling it a victory for the protectionist policies she champions. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Leftist contender for the Socialist primary election, Arnaud Montebourg, talks during a press conference, in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. Montebourg is among seven candidates in the leftist primary Jan. 22 and 29, seeking a nomination that looks like a poisoned chalice. Polls suggest the mainstream left's candidate in France's April-May election may not even make it past the first round of voting amid mass disappointment with Socialist Francois Hollande's presidency. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Leaflets with the image of leftist contender for the Socialist primary election, Arnaud Montebourg in a box, during a press conference, in Paris, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. Montebourg is among seven candidates in the leftist primary Jan. 22 and 29, seeking a nomination that looks like a poisoned chalice. Polls suggest the mainstream left's candidate in France's April-May election may not even make it past the first round of voting amid mass disappointment with Socialist Francois Hollande's presidency. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Israeli president opposes contacts with Europe's far-right
VIENNA (AP) Indirectly rejecting overtures by Austria's right-wing party toward Israel, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has told Jewish officials that he strongly opposes contacts between European parties with a history of anti-Semitism and his country's officials.
Rivlin, in a letter emailed to The Associated Press Wednesday by Vienna's Jewish Community, says he will "never condone" meetings between representatives of Israel and "European parties of the far right that are tainted with a history of anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial ... or the promotion of racial hatred or intolerance."
Dated Dec. 20, the letter is in response to one sent in November by World Jewish Congress Vice President Ariel Muzicant and Vienna Jewish Community head Oskar Deutsch that the community also emailed to the AP.
The two complain that "certain politicians in Israel are willing to meet populist parties of the European extreme right," including Austria's Freedom Party and ask Israeli leaders "to draw a very clear red line between us (the Jews/Israel) and those who represent hate, Neonazism and anti-Semitism.
Founded by former Nazi officials after the war, the Freedom Party has ditched anti-Jewish outbursts in the last two decades to concentrate on wooing a broader voter base.
It has become Austria's strongest political force, due in great part to disenchantment with established parties. Although Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer lost presidential elections last month, he garnered more than 46 percent of the vote.
The party describes itself as right-wing but not far right. But its supporters also include the neo-Nazi fringe, and its surge in popularity is largely linked to the embrace of many Austrians of an anti-immigration message tinged with anti-Muslim overtones.
Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache last year blamed "uncontrolled immigration" for the "import of Islamic anti-Semitism" to Europe, at a party event entitled "The New Anti-Semitism in Europe" that the party says was attended by several former Israeli Knesset members.
Rivlin told Muzicant and Deutsch that his comments applied to all "political parties you mention." But The Freedom Party rejected any link to itself.
A party statement Wednesday said that in past visits to Israel, Strache had met officially with government ministers and Knesset members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party. And it quoted Freedom Party legislator David Lasar, himself a member of the Vienna Jewish Community, as saying the party is "neither extreme right, nor racist and definitely not anti-Semitic."
"We ...condemn the Holocaust as the most horrible crime in human history," he said.
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Food stocks low in southern Haiti in wake of storm
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) Hundreds of thousands of people in southern Haiti are facing food shortages three months after Hurricane Matthew destroyed crops and livestock in the region, an international aid organization said Wednesday.
A "very poor" harvest is expected over the next two months in the South and Grand Anse departments of the southern Haitian peninsula, an area where most people depend on subsistence farming to survive, Oxfam said in a report calling for more support for a U.N. assistance fund.
The U.N. announced it would provide $139 million in assistance to the region, but that program is underfunded by 38 percent, the aid group said.
FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2016 file photo, banana and coconut trees are bent and broken along a southern coast road near the town of Roche-a-Bateau, Haiti, left behind by Hurricane Matthew. Hundreds of thousands of people in southern Haiti are facing food shortages three months after the storm destroyed crops and livestock in the region, international aid organization Oxfam said Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
Hurricane Matthew made landfall near Les Anglais on Oct. 4 as a Category 4 storm, causing widespread damage. The storm destroyed 80 percent of crops and much of the livestock in some of the hardest-hit parts of a region considered the breadbasket of the impoverished Caribbean country. The Haitian government put the death toll at 546.
"Hurricane Matthew swept through Haiti in a matter of hours but has created a long-term catastrophe that will take the country years to recover from," Damien Berrendorf, country director of Oxfam in Haiti, said in the report.
Merkel migrant critic sticks to demand for cap on newcomers
BERLIN (AP) German Chancellor Angela Merkel's most prominent domestic critic on migrant policy is sticking to his demand for a cap on newcomers at the beginning of an election year in which Merkel will seek a fourth term.
Horst Seehofer, who leads the Christian Social Union the Bavarian sister party to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union has been demanding for a year an annual limit of 200,000 on new migrants to Germany. Merkel opposes the idea.
Seehofer suggested recently that his party wouldn't join the next government without a cap. He said Wednesday that "we mean this demand very seriously."
Bavarian governor and head of the Christian Social Union party, Horst Seehofer, speaks during a party meeting in Seeon, Germany, Wednesday Jan. 4, 2017. Seehofer is sticking to his demand for a cap on newcomers at the beginning of an election year in which Chancellor Angela Merkel will seek fourth term. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)
Attacker sneaks into school, stabs 12 children in China
BEIJING (AP) A vengeful man stabbed 12 children with a kitchen knife at a kindergarten in southern China on Wednesday, seriously injuring five of them, local authorities said.
The attacker "sneaked into" the school in the afternoon and stabbed children in his child's class while the students were eating, according to a statement from the Pingxiang city government's information office, citing police. Two teachers fought back with plastic chairs, and police called to the school in the largely rural region of Guangxi managed to detain him.
None of the children has life-threatening injuries, the statement said.
The government said the suspect was Qin Peng'an, a man from Nanshan village that is under the jurisdiction of Pingxiang city. It said Qin told staff at Xiaocongzai Kindergarten that he was picking up his child as an excuse to get into the school.
It said an initial police investigation found that Qin felt bullied in the village so he stabbed the children out of anger and revenge.
The Latest: Democrats tag 'most troublesome' Trump picks
WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on Congress (all times EST):
5:30 p.m.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats have identified eight of President-elect Donald Trump's "most troublesome" Cabinet picks and are hoping for fair hearings on those nominees.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of N.Y. listens to a question during a news conference on President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Those potential nominees are Rex Tillerson for secretary of state, Tom Price for secretary of Health and Human Services, Steven Mnuchin for Treasury secretary, Scott Pruitt for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Mick Mulvaney for director of the Office of Management and Budget, Jeff Sessions for attorney general, Betsy DeVos for education secretary and Andrew Puzder for labor secretary.
Missing from the list are Trump choices who are expected to have an easy time winning Senate confirmation, such as James Mattis for defense secretary and John Kelly for Homeland Security.
Schumer says a "fair hearing" means at least two days, and says all of the paperwork on the nominee's background, tax returns and other disclosures must be in.
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5 p.m.
House Republicans have passed legislation that would allow Congress to overturn, with a single vote, executive branch regulations finalized near the end of an outgoing president's term.
The bill was approved Wednesday by a 238-184 vote. It is part of the GOP's efforts to block or undo scores of regulations and executive orders issued by President Barack Obama.
Republicans say the bill would stem what they call a growing trend by presidents of both parties to impose costly "midnight rules" during their last few months in office.
The bill's chief sponsor, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, says it would strengthen executive-branch oversight and "ensure that unaccountable, last-minute regulations don't continue crippling our economy, crushing small businesses and raising costs on middle-class families."
The bill now goes to the Senate.
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4:40 p.m.
The Obama administration says at least 8.8 million people signed up through Dec. 31 for 2017 coverage under the president's health care law. That's about 200,000 more than at the same point in the last open enrollment season.
Wednesday's numbers are partial, for 39 states using the federal HealthCare.gov website. Others including major states like California and New York were not included because they run their own insurance markets.
Independent expert Caroline Pearson says it will be a stretch for the administration to meet its nationwide target of 13.8 million sign-ups. Pearson is with the Avalere Health consultancy.
The administration says demand is strong and growing, heading toward the end of open enrollment Jan. 31.
The report comes as the Republican-led Congress is moving to repeal the health care law.
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4:35 p.m.
A Republican-run House panel created to investigate Planned Parenthood and fetal tissue research wants to halt federal payments to the organization.
The recommendation was included in the special committee's final report and was no surprise. Many Republicans hope that with Donald Trump becoming president, Congress will cut off money to the women's health organization.
Most GOP lawmakers have long opposed the organization because many of its clinics provide abortions. Their antagonism intensified after anti-abortion activists released secretly recorded videos in 2015 showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing how they sometimes provide fetal tissue to researchers.
Democrats say Planned Parenthood payments should continue and say House GOP investigators have unearthed no evidence of wrongdoing.
Planned Parenthood has denied breaking laws and says the videos were doctored.
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4 p.m.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul is blasting his party for a budget blueprint that would increase the national debt by almost $10 trillion over the coming decade.
The Kentucky lawmaker gave a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday in which explained why he opposed taking the first step toward repealing President Barack Obama's health care law. He says the vote would have been an endorsement of an unbalanced budget.
Paul, who hails from the GOP's small-government, libertarian wing, is lambasting his party for ignoring the nation's debt problems in the very first piece of legislation brought up in the era of Donald Trump.
Paul asks, "Is that really what the Republican Party represents?"
The Senate is debating the budget measure, a precursor to a bill to repealing the health care law.
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1:49 p.m.
Add another confirmation hearing to the growing list of Senate hearings next Wednesday.
The Senate Intelligence committee will hold its hearing on President-elect Donald Trump's pick for CIA Director, Rep. Mike Pompeo. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will holds its hearing on Betsy DeVos, Trump's choice for education secretary, the same day.
Separately, Senate panels plan confirmation hearings that same day for Sen. Jeff Sessions, the choice for attorney general, and Rex Tillerson, the pick for secretary of State.
Even though Trump won't be sworn in until Jan. 20, Senate Republicans are intent on moving swiftly to get his Cabinet and other agency leaders in place.
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1:35 p.m.
The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says Rex Tillerson told him he supports the Paris climate agreement to reduce carbon emissions.
Ben Cardin of Maryland spoke with reporters Wednesday outside his Senate office after a one-hour meeting with Tillerson, the Exxon Mobil CEO whom President-elect Donald Trump has tapped for secretary of state.
Cardin says Tillerson's backing of the international pact to combat climate change "was encouraging to hear." He says Tillerson stressed his background in science and told Cardin "that he is a believer in science."
During the presidential campaign, Trump said he would pull the U.S. out of the Paris accord. But since being elected, he's shifted that stance and now says he is "studying" the agreement.
Tillerson's Senate confirmation hearing is tentatively scheduled for next week.
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1:20 p.m.
The Senate has taken its first vote on the way to repealing so-called Obamacare.
The 51-48 procedural tally broke mostly along party lines and officially begins debate on a special budget measure that is a precursor to a follow-up bill to repeal Obama's health care law. Kentucky Republican Rand Paul opposed the measure since it endorses large budget deficits.
Once Wednesday's legislation passes both House and Senate, Republicans controlling Congress could pass the follow-up measure without the threat of a filibuster by Senate Democrats.
The vote came after both Vice President-elect Mike Pence and President Barack Obama trekked to Capitol Hill to rally their respective sides for the looming fight. The preliminary measure is on track to pass both House and Senate next week, but details on the binding repeal bill are still being worked out.
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1:10 p.m.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is sending a warning to President-elect Donald Trump: Democrats will oppose a Supreme Court pick "with everything we have" if a nominee isn't what they consider mainstream.
Schumer in an interview explains his concern. He says "with the hard right running the show," the likelihood of the nominee "being mainstream is decreasing every day."
The New Yorker made the comments one day after saying on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" that Democrats will "absolutely" do their best to keep the vacant Supreme Court open if Trump doesn't nominate someone Democrats support.
The seat has already been open for 11 months since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked consideration of President Obama's nominee, Judge Merrick Garland.
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12:30 p.m.
House Republicans say they will begin introducing legislation on Jan. 30 to repeal a series of Obama administration regulations, with the early focus on environmental rules.
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy says GOP leaders haven't yet picked which agency regulation Congress will seek to overturn first. He said he expects swift action on invalidating a rule designed to reduce methane emissions and another designed to reduce the environmental impact of coal mining on the nation's streams.
McCarthy says the two rules "limit our energy production."
Republicans will also seek to repeal regulations implementing an education reform bill that some state officials have complained erodes local decision-making.
Before the House goes after specific agency rules, McCarthy says it will tackle the regulatory process itself to give Congress more control.
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11:13 a.m.
"Look out for the American people."
Those were President Barack Obama's parting words after a lengthy closed-door meeting with House and Senate Democrats about preserving his health care law.
Republicans are pushing ahead on repealing the law while they work on a replacement.
Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly says Obama's message was to "make sure that every American who loses his or her health care knows that the Republican repeal vote did that."
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warns that repeal would throw the insurance marketplace into chaos.
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10:30 a.m.
Democrats say President Barack Obama is making the case for keeping his health care law.
Obama made a rare trip to the Capitol on Wednesday to meet with House and Senate Democrats.
New York Rep. Louise Slaughter says Obama focused on how well the law is working, and on how many letters he's gotten in support of it.
She calls it "a very nostalgic speech."
Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin says Obama's message is that the individual parts of the law are popular, and that repealing it would affect all Americans.
"We need to personalize this," Cardin says echoing the president.
Republicans promise to move quickly to repeal the law, but they've failed to coalesce around a replacement.
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10 a.m.
Once he's sworn in, President-elect Donald Trump will move swiftly to undo Democratic President Barack Obama's policies.
That's the message from Vice President-elect Mike Pence to House Republicans at a Capitol Hill strategy session Wednesday.
On Jan. 20, Trump will use his power through executive orders to target the health care law and other policies.
New York Rep. Chris Collins and Missouri Rep. Ann Wagner specifically mentioned health care, though it's unclear what changes could be made through executive order on the nearly 7-year-old law.
Texas Rep. Blake Farenthold says Pence told the GOP: "What can be done with a pen and a phone can be undone with a pen and a phone."
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9:40 a.m.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a closed-door briefing Thursday for members to learn more about the Obama administration's response to suspected Russian interference in the 2016 election and harassment of U.S. diplomats.
Also, U.S. intelligence officials, including national intelligence director James Clapper, are set to testify Thursday in an open session by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
President Barack Obama struck back at Moscow last week with a set of punishments targeting Russia's leading spy agencies that the U.S. has accused of meddling in the presidential campaign. The U.S. also kicked out 35 Russian diplomats in response to what the White House says has been Russia's harassment of American envoys.
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9:30 a.m.
President Barack Obama is at the Capitol to give congressional Democrats advice on how to combat the Republican drive to dismantle his health care overhaul.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence is meeting with GOP lawmakers to discuss the best way to send Obama's cherished law to its graveyard and replace it with well, something.
The separate strategy sessions come on the second day of the new GOP-led Congress.
In 16 days, Republican Donald Trump replaces Obama at the White House, putting the party's longtime goal of annulling much of the 2010 health care overhaul within reach.
President Barack Obama arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017, to meet with members of Congress to discuss his signature healthcare law. From left are, the president, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of N.Y. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Germany arrests Tunisian who dined with market attacker
BERLIN (AP) An acquaintance of suspected Berlin Christmas market attacker Anis Amri who dined with him the night before the rampage is under investigation for possible participation in planning the attack, German prosecutors said Wednesday. He was arrested, but in a separate case.
The 26-year-old Tunisian had known Amri since the end of 2015 and the pair ate together at a Berlin restaurant the night before the Dec. 19 attack, said Frauke Koehler, a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors. His quarters at a refugee home were searched on Tuesday.
The pair's meeting led prosecutors to believe that the man may have been involved in the attack or at least knew that Amri planned to commit one, Koehler said. She said that "communications devices" seized in Tuesday's search are being evaluated, but federal prosecutors do not currently have enough evidence to seek an arrest warrant against him.
Security members stand in front of an asylum seekers' shelter in Berlin Wednesday Jan. 4, 2017. On Tuesday police searched the shelter. German police have searched two locations in Berlin linked to the man suspected of carrying out a deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in the capital last month. Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that police conducted one of the searches at the refugee shelter where a 26-year-old Tunisian man lived. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)
The man was, however, detained Tuesday in a separate case run by Berlin local prosecutors, Koehler said. Berlin prosecutors said the arrest was for allegedly falsely claiming benefits.
A further search was conducted Tuesday at the home of a one-time roommate of Amri who is being treated as a witness in the case, Koehler said.
Amri, a 24-year-old Tunisian, tried to reach that person on the morning and afternoon of Dec. 19, but it isn't clear whether they actually spoke, she added.
Investigators say Amri drove the truck that plowed into a Christmas market in central Berlin. Twelve people were killed including the truck's regular driver, whose body was found in the cab after the attack.
Koehler said that the Polish driver apparently was fatally shot before the truck set off for the market from its parking place north of central Berlin. She said investigations have shown "no indications that there was a third person in the cab at the time of the attack."
Germany on Dec. 21 released a Europe-wide wanted notice for Amri, who used a string of different names and nationalities. He was killed in a shootout Dec. 23 with Italian police in a Milan suburb after they stopped him for a routine identity check.
Surveillance footage from the Zoologischer Garten station, a few minutes' walk from the Christmas market, appears to show Amri shortly after the attack, Koehler said.
The pictures "suggest that Amri was aware that he was being recorded by this video camera," she said. She added that he turned to the camera and showed a "tawhid finger", or a raised index finger an Islamic gesture sometimes used by jihadis.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack days afterward.
On Dec. 21, footage from cameras in the Netherlands suggests that he was at the railway station in Nijmegen, Koehler said.
Amri traveled by train from Nijmegen to Amsterdam the same day, then caught a train to Brussels, Dutch prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday.
Belgian authorities said that he spent two hours at the Brussels North station coming from Amsterdam. He then traveled to Italy via France.
Ballistics tests "confirmed 100 percent" that the .22-caliber, German-manufactured handgun, used by Amri to shoot one of the Italian policemen who had stopped him for a security check "was the same one that was fired in Germany at the Christmas market attack," said Gianpaolo Zambonini, of the Rome forensic police.
Zambonini said investigations are ongoing to determine whether the gun might have been used in other crimes in Italy or elsewhere.
The bullet that lodged in the wounded policeman's shoulder was too damaged to be used for comparison, so Italian police ballistics experts used a simulator at a laboratory in Rome to fire another bullet from the gun. Then they compared scratches on the bullet with those found on bullet cartridges recovered in Berlin, police said.
Koehler said investigators are still trying to figure out how Amri got hold of the gun, but that's difficult because manufacturer Erma went bankrupt at the end of the 1990s, she added.
Amri, who had previously spent time in prison in Italy, arrived in Germany in July 2015. German authorities tried last year to deport him to Tunisia after his asylum application was rejected.
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Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, and Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed to this report.
'No saints' among 60 killed in Brazil prisons, governor says
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) The governor of a northern Brazilian state is under fire for prison riots in which 60 inmates died.
Brazil's bar association is suing the Amazonas state government, accusing it of negligence and a judge has given Gov. Jose Melo 72 hours to respond to the accusation.
Brazil's national justice minister says Melo's government knew there was a rising risk of prison riots.
Relatives of prisoners hide their identities as they wait to know the names of inmates who died in a prison riot, outside Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex in Manaus, Brazil, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017. Authorities said that the inmates responsible for the killings of 56 rivals at this prison will be transferred to high security federal institutions and be prosecuted. Many of those slain were beheaded or dismembered. (AP Photo/Michael Dantas)
Melo insists his administration is doing what's needed to avoid more mass killings.
In an interview with CBN radio on Wednesday, Melo says those who died "were no saints. They were rapists, killers."
The Latest: Comcast wants to tackle bad home internet
LAS VEGAS (AP) Comcast is hoping to make Wi-Fi in the home faster through an updated router the machine that serves as data traffic cops for Wi-Fi networks.
Although home internet speeds have gotten faster, laptops and phones on Wi-Fi might still feel sluggish because older routers can't transmit data as fast.
Comcast's updated router costs $10 a month and comes with a modem. It's the same price as before. Customers can still buy their own equipment and save money over time. Comcast is also offering extenders to help Wi-Fi work all over a house, though the company wouldn't say what it might charge.
Eero, Starry, Google and Luma are among the companies that have fancy new router systems, but they start at more than $100 and run as much as $500.
Fewer than 5 million Comcast customers, mostly those on the most expensive internet packages, will get the new high-powered router this year. The company says it could take years to reach the bulk of its more than 24 million customers.
Group home resident charged with killing employee
ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (AP) A sheriff says a man who lived at a group home in central Kentucky has been charged with murder in the slaying of a female employee.
Hardin County Sheriff John Ward says 32-year-old Lindale Cunningham was arrested early Wednesday morning in the slaying of 66-year-old Sally Berry, who worked at the facility in Elizabethtown. News media are quoting Ward as saying that another employee arrived to work at the ResCare facility Tuesday night and found the victim lying "in a pool of blood." He said she died from multiple stab wounds.
Ward says Cunningham told deputies he stabbed Berry, but he said authorities have not determined a motive for the slaying.
UK police arrest man on suspected terrorism link at Heathrow
LONDON (AP) A 50-year-old man has been arrested at London Heathrow airport on suspicion of a terrorism offense.
British police say the man was taken into custody by counter-terrorism officers after arriving in Britain on a flight from Cairo on Wednesday.
He was arrested on suspicion of possessing articles which contained information likely to be useful to a person planning an act of terrorism.
A property in north London was being searched as part of the investigation.
Police have said that the arrest was pre-planned and not related to the Islamic State group or the conflict in Syria.
Mechanicsburg Area School District representatives presented Tuesday information from a recently completed feasibility study to Mechanicsburg Borough Council.
The school board authorized the feasibility study in June 2015 in response to the districts growing enrollment. Superintendent Mark Leidy said on Tuesday that the districts enrollment has grown by 260 students in the past decade and by 170 students in the past school year.
Weve added modular units (to our buildings). These are not a plan, theyre a reaction. We have to do something, Leidy said, adding that Cumberland County has been rated as the fastest growing county is Pennsylvania. A couple of years ago, Forbes magazine rated our area as a top place for raising families. People want to live here.
After the study was completed by architects Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associate, a 12-member committee of district and building administrators and PTO representatives began meeting on a monthly basis in May 2016 to discuss results and forward a final recommendation to the school board.
Borough officials asked district officials to provide information about the committees recommendation to them before the school board votes on the matter. The school board is scheduled to review the committees final recommendation on Jan. 24, with a possible vote taking place in February, Leidy said.
Numbers
MASD Assistant Superintendent Alan Vandrew said that two elementary schools currently are operating over capacity. The Kindergarten Academy at Filbert Street is operating at 106 percent capacity and Upper Allen Elementary School sits at 102 percent capacity.
The remaining elementary schools, high school and middle school are operating beneath full capacity the middle school is the lowest at 66 percent, but these schools still need renovations because theyre not fully adapted to the needs of 21st-century education.
Leidy told borough council that the districts committee has recommended that the Kindergarten Academys configuration remain the same under the proposed reconfiguration. District students in grades 1-3 would be spread between Broad Street Elementary School, Northside Elementary School and Upper Allen Elementary School.
All district students in grades 4-5 would attend Elmwood Elementary School and district offices would be relocated from the Elmwood building to the Shepardstown Elementary School building.
No new buildings are being proposed, but some buildings would be expanded. All existing buildings would be renovated.
Vandrew said that once the district hires an architect a schedule for construction and reconfiguration will be developed. We do not expect any changes for next school year, he said. A reconfiguration schedule is yet to be determined.
Questions
Borough Council member Kyle Miller said he works in the real estate field and has noticed that people like neighborhood schools and that its also reportedly a district standard. How do you believe this holds up with fourth- and fifth-graders all being transported to one school? Miller asked district representatives.
Leidy responded that committee members mulled over that point for a long time, along with several other factors, before arriving at their final consensus. We dont necessarily have neighborhood schools now. Its more accurately portrayed as a concept of regional schools, Leidy said.
Borough Council member John Anthony said hes heard concerns from borough residents about extra traffic a district reconfiguration might cause. Leidy said a transportation study determining the best and most efficient bus routes would be part of the district reconfiguration.
Florida panther deaths still at record-high for 2016
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) A record number of endangered Florida panthers died again last year 42 of the remaining big cats were killed, matching the 2015 record. Thirty-four were hit by vehicles in southwest Florida, where development is shrinking what's left of their habitat.
The tally kept by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission includes six new litters, with a total of 14 cubs born in 2016. But the state estimates that only 100 to 180 of the big cats remain in the wild.
UN welcomes Congo agreement, calls for swift implementation
UNITED NATIONS (AP) The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday welcomed a political agreement in Congo calling for President Joseph Kabila to leave power after an election by the end of the year and urged "swift implementation."
The council said in a presidential statement that it was encouraged "by the spirit of flexibility and compromise demonstrated by Congolese political leaders" in reaching the agreement.
Council members stressed the importance of the government and its partners taking "all necessary steps to accelerate preparations for the elections without further delays, within the timeframe."
Kabila, who became president in 2001 after his father's assassination, was constitutionally barred from seeking a new term after his term expired Dec. 19. But November elections were never held and a court ruled he could stay in power until a vote is held. His party said voting wasn't possible before mid-2018 for logistical reasons.
The agreement to move up the election date was reached on New Year's Eve with mediation by Roman Catholic Church officials, following months of unrest sparked by Kabila's apparent attempt to stay in power. Dozens of people have died and the clashes threatened to further destabilize the vast Central African nation with a history of dictatorship and civil war.
France's U.N. ambassador, Francois Delattre, who sponsored the Security Council resolution, said after the vote that "it's a very important and positive move."
Responding to reporters' questions before the vote over how the agreement can be implemented if Kabila reportedly has not yet signed it, Delattre said: "If the Security Council is fully behind the text, we believe it will be a strong encouragement for every player to implement it."
The council reiterated "its commitment to support implementation of the agreement in close cooperation with the African Union."
Council members also called on Congo's friends and economic development partners to support efforts "to ensure establishment of sustainable peace and security in the country."
Girl, 8, killed when tree crashes into Oregon home
OTIS, Ore. (AP) High winds toppled a towering evergreen tree onto a house near the Oregon coast, killing an 8-year-old girl who was inside, authorities said Wednesday.
Zaylee Schlect was taken to a hospital, but she could not be saved. The girl's father, a volunteer firefighter, was working Tuesday and responded with other crews to the 11:15 p.m. call in the town of Otis that a girl was trapped.
About 18 firefighters cut limbs with chain saws and pulled them away to free Zaylee. She had been sleeping in her bedroom that she shares with her younger sister, who was not injured, when the tree smashed into the one-story home. Zaylee's two younger brothers and her mother were also in the home and were not injured, Capt. Jim Kusz of North Lincoln Fire & Rescue said in a statement. Red Cross volunteers assisted the family with temporary housing.
Kusz said he estimated the tree to be around 70 feet high and 42 inches across. He said it was downed by high winds that also brought down power lines and other smaller trees in the area.
"We had very high winds here last night, and snow on the coast, which is a very rare event," Kusz said over the phone.
Pam Farrar told KGW-TV said she heard the crash and then people screaming to call 911. She tearfully told the station she feels bad because she told a little girl her sister was going to be OK.
Hiding, feigning death: Surviving Turkish nightclub massacre
ISTANBUL (AP) The survivors huddled atop a giant industrial freezer in terrified silence as the Islamic State gunman entered the nightclub kitchen. Wiping his automatic rifle free of fingerprints, he didn't see them as he changed clothes and put on a Santa hat.
Then, smearing himself with the blood of New Year's revelers killed in the carnage minutes earlier, he left the kitchen and blended into the crowd of survivors being evacuated.
Inside one of Istanbul's most glamorous nightclubs, the attacker had just fired as many as 180 rounds in seven minutes, killing 39 people.
FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017 file photo, medics carry a wounded person at the scene after an attack at a popular nightclub in Istanbul. Survivors of the massacre at a Turkish nightclub describe an hour of pure terror and how they escaped, by feigning death, rappelling to the sea, or hiding anywhere they could find. The Islamic State gunman fired 180 rounds for seven minutes, killing 39 people on New Years Eve. He escaped after he wiped his Kalashnikov free of fingerprints, changed clothes, put on a Santa hat and blended into the crowd evacuating the bloody Reina nightclub. (IHA via AP, File)
A traffic jam had nearly thwarted his arrival an hour earlier and he jumped out to walk the last few hundred yards (meters) to the Reina club. His Kalashnikov concealed beneath his coat, he pulled the weapon out only when he was within easy range of the club's unarmed guards.
Ali Unal, the Reina co-owner, was having a smoke outside and talking on his cellphone. It was 1:20 a.m. and Unal thought the gunfire was just New Year's fireworks. Then bullets bounced off a heater in the entryway.
After killing a guard and a bystander, the attacker tossed a stun grenade and entered the club unopposed.
An hour of pure terror followed, according to the accounts of survivors interviewed by The Associated Press, as well as a review of surveillance video and reports in government-linked media.
Sprawling along the narrow strait that links Europe and Asia, the three-story Reina had five restaurants and curtained terraces cascading down to the edge of the Bosporus Sea. When the assailant entered, it was packed with some 600 people.
Starting from the upper terraces, he opened fire as he crossed blue-lighted dance floors pulsating with rave music.
Some revelers fled to the seaside terraces and grabbed the long gray curtains to drop into the water below; others desperately sought hiding places. Many simply dropped to the ground as bodies fell over them, praying they wouldn't be seen.
"I caught a curtain," said Karim Noureddine, a 27-year-old Lebanese who was at the club with his girlfriend.
"I rappelled down and she followed me and I was able to escape," he said, speaking at the Beirut funeral of his friend, Elias Wardini, who was among those killed in the bloodbath. "I did not know what was going on inside, because I was out in the first 50 seconds and running toward the sea."
For Sabri Ozturk, one of the club's restaurant managers, time stretched agonizingly.
"The gunfire wouldn't cease," said Ozturk, whose wife and 19-year-old son had come to keep him company during the holiday shift. "They say seven minutes, but it felt like seven hours."
Ozturk dropped to the floor and shouted to his family to do the same.
"But it wasn't just them. It was everyone around them. Our feet and heads were on top of each other. My wife was beneath my arm. My hand was on my son's head because he is protesting. I'm closing his mouth, telling him to be silent."
They stayed that way for about an hour, Ozturk said. "Then the noise stopped, but is the terrorist inside? Is he going to detonate a bomb? You start thinking: He should just blow it up so it can be over. That's the state you are in."
Yunus Turk, a 25-year-old Frenchman at the Reina with his cousin, was hiding on the terrace as the gunman moved through the club. He grabbed a table and held it in front of him as a shield, hearing bullets ping off the metal.
"I was just trying to calm the people around me, so the shooters wouldn't notice us. Because I thought at the time that there had to more than one. I would never have imagined that one person could do so much," 23-year-old Yussuf Kodat told France Television.
Tuvana Tugsavul hid with eight or nine people inside a toilet stall. Others she has no idea how many were in the adjacent stall.
"When I was in the toilet stall cabin, there was a moment when the electricity went out. I thought, 'This psychopath is going to kill us.' I even thought that he would detonate himself after they let the police in, with all the wounded and people trying to escape," she said.
Security experts said the methodical attack was carried out by an experienced killer who emptied four machine gun cartridges in rapid succession, with magazines tied to each other for quicker action.
"I'm not just talking about a training camp, I'm talking he fought," said Michael Horowitz, a security analyst.
Most bullets hit upper torsos with deadly precision, and some people were shot point blank on the floor, according to witnesses and photos taken inside the club.
"I was shot when I was already on the ground. He was shooting people that he had already shot," William Raak, an American who was wounded, told NBC News.
Alaa Abd El Hai, a 30-year-old Arab Israeli dentist who had come to the club with three friends, was on the dance floor when the gunman opened fire. She thought the music stopped, but wasn't sure what happened to the DJs.
Sensing the shooter nearby, El Hai crawled 15 yards (meters) to the kitchen with one of her friends and other club-goers, desperately searching for a hiding place. They tried a storage room but it was locked. Then they saw the freezer. Big enough for all of them, but too high for everyone to reach.
The men climbed up first, then reached down for the women. El Hai wasn't sure exactly how many were crammed into the small space: Two Germans, two Iranians, two Turks, an Egyptian woman, she recalled.
Four rounds later, the gunman ran out of ammunition and went to the kitchen.
"The Egyptian woman saw the attacker through small openings in a curtain coming to the kitchen with the weapon pointed at the head of another woman. Thank God he did not see us," El Hai said.
He spent 30 agonizing minutes wiping the Kalashnikov free of fingerprints then leaving it there along with his coat. He changed clothes, put on a Santa hat and blended into the panicked crowd smearing himself with blood on his chest, and limping.
El Hai later learned that one of her friends, 18-year-old Layan Nasser, who became separated during the night's chaos, was among the dead.
When police stormed the building 40 minutes after the massacre began, they demanded that everyone put their hands up. The survivors, not sure they were really policemen and terrified of a second wave of shooting, did not immediately comply.
When the hundreds of people slowly evacuated into the street around 2:30 a.m., the shooter was among them. He hopped into a taxi unnoticed and remains at large.
The cab driver told investigators the man spoke on his cellphone in Turkish and had no money to pay for the ride, according to government-linked media.
Investigators later found 500 Turkish Lira ($140) in the pocket of his coat back in the kitchen.
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Hinnant reported from Paris. Associated Press writers Neyran Elden and Cinar Kiper in Istanbul, Suzan Fraser in Ankara and Areej Hazboun in Jerusalem contributed.
FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017 file photo, Turkish police officers block the road leading to the scene of an attack in Istanbul. Survivors of the massacre at a Turkish nightclub describe an hour of pure terror and how they escaped, by feigning death, rappelling to the sea, or hiding anywhere they could find. The Islamic State gunman fired 180 rounds for seven minutes, killing 39 people on New Years Eve. He escaped after he wiped his Kalashnikov free of fingerprints, changed clothes, put on a Santa hat and blended into the crowd evacuating the bloody Reina nightclub. (Depo Photos via AP, File)
FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017 file photo, people leave as medics and security officials work at the scene after an attack at a popular nightclub in Istanbul. Survivors of the massacre at a Turkish nightclub describe an hour of pure terror and how they escaped, by feigning death, rappelling to the sea, or hiding anywhere they could find. The Islamic State gunman fired 180 rounds for seven minutes, killing 39 people on New Years Eve. He escaped after he wiped his Kalashnikov free of fingerprints, changed clothes, put on a Santa hat and blended into the crowd evacuating the bloody Reina nightclub. (IHA via AP, File)
FILE - In this file photo obtained Tuesday Jan. 3, 2017, a man believed to be the gunman who killed dozens at an Istanbul nightclub, films himself as he wanders nearby to Istanbul's Taksim square. Survivors of the massacre at a Turkish nightclub describe an hour of pure terror and how they escaped, by feigning death, rappelling to the sea, or hiding anywhere they could find. The Islamic State gunman fired 180 rounds for seven minutes, killing 39 people on New Years Eve. He escaped after he wiped his Kalashnikov free of fingerprints, changed clothes, put on a Santa hat and blended into the crowd evacuating the bloody Reina nightclub. (DHA-Depo Photos via AP, File)
FILE - In this Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017 file photo, a police armoured vehicle blocks the road leading to the scene of an attack in Istanbul. Survivors of the massacre at a Turkish nightclub describe an hour of pure terror and how they escaped, by feigning death, rappelling to the sea, or hiding anywhere they could find. The Islamic State gunman fired 180 rounds for seven minutes, killing 39 people on New Years Eve. He escaped after he wiped his Kalashnikov free of fingerprints, changed clothes, put on a Santa hat and blended into the crowd evacuating the bloody Reina nightclub. (AP Photo/File)
Biden plans University of Delaware partnership
WASHINGTON (AP) Vice President Joe Biden is developing a partnership with the University of Delaware that will focus on economic and domestic policy, a Biden aide said Wednesday, rounding out the vice president's plans for after he leaves the White House.
In addition to working with the Delaware school, Biden's alma mater, he also plans an affiliation with the University of Pennsylvania. The Ivy League school in the state of his birth will house Biden's activities on foreign policy and global engagement initiatives, said the aide, who requested anonymity because the partnership hasn't yet been publicly announced.
The two partnerships shed new light on how Biden will spend his time as a private citizen after more than four decades in public office. First elected to the Senate in 1972, Biden served there until becoming the vice president in 2009.
Vice President Joe Biden, left, watches President Barack Obama, center, sitting with Defense Secretary Ash Carter, right, as they listen to Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford talk about Obama during an Armed Forces Full Honor Farewell Review, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017, at Conmy Hall, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Va. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Over the years, Biden has focused intensely on foreign policy, becoming the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, and on domestic issues including violence against women and middle-class economic issues. All are expected to remain part of Biden's work after the Obama administration.
He also plans to continue with his more recent "cancer moonshot" effort to accelerate developments toward a cure. The initiative was launched after his son, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, died from brain cancer in 2015. With backing from President Barack Obama, it has focused on trying to streamline efforts of the many cancer research institutions and increase sharing of data about specific tumors that can be used to develop targeted treatments.
Biden was driven to establish a relationship with the University of Delaware because of his fondness for his alma mater and desire to stay connected to the state he represented in the Senate, the aide said. The former Delaware senator and his wife, Jill Biden, have visited campus frequently, and Biden last month attended the swearing-in for the university's new president.
The vice president graduated in 1965 from the University of Delaware, which has its main campus in Newark and campuses in other Delaware communities. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a two-hour drive from Philadelphia, where the University of Pennsylvania is located.
Representatives for the University of Delaware and the University of Pennsylvania didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
The vice president appeared to reference the project at Penn on Tuesday when he was heard on a hot mic discussing his plans while swearing in new senators at the Capitol. He's expected to release more details about the work he'll perform at both universities after his term as vice president ends on Jan. 20.
Biden, who considered running for president in 2016, has said recently he could consider running again in 2020. He opted not to run last year despite a significant effort to draft him into the Democratic primary, citing his ongoing grief over his son's death.
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Review: Loach film is a searing call for humanity, decency
Just like a Michael Moore documentary, there's nothing subtle about a Ken Loach drama.
The 80-year-old British director and social critic has long been an ardent, insistent, eloquent champion of the more vulnerable members of society particularly working-class folks who are trying to do the right thing but just can't catch a break. Whether he's exploring homelessness, poverty or other social ills, Loach's arguments, and emotions, are always crystal clear.
Loach has been making movies for a half-century some more effective than others but he's in beautiful form with "I, Daniel Blake," a searing look at one man's seemingly futile fight against the British welfare system, against the encroachment of technology into our lives, and most of all, against the forces that can conspire to make people feel small and insignificant and, well, not human.
This image released by Sundance Selects shows Hayley Squires, left, and Dave Johns in a scene from, "I, Daniel Blake." (Joss Barratt/Sundance Selects via AP)
There are moments when "I, Daniel Blake" which won the Palme D'Or at Cannes feels like a documentary, and that's largely due to the pitch-perfect cast Loach has assembled, from star Dave Johns a comedian who is occasionally funny here but also proud, anguished and increasingly angry down to those with the smallest parts: a security guard, a food bank employee, a kind-hearted worker at an employment office.
Johns plays Daniel, a 59-year old, widowed carpenter in northeastern England, who's sidelined after a heart attack. Daniel aches to return to work, but doctors say his heart isn't ready. He's been receiving subsidies, but suddenly he's forced to undergo an assessment to determine whether he deserves them.
Loach cleverly begins the film with merely the audio of this disheartening assessment interview, during which a clueless questioner asks absurd pre-ordained questions about, for example, the condition of his bowels. More disheartening is the result: Daniel gets 12 points, and needs 15 to keep getting assistance.
Thus begins an obstacle course that feels increasingly Monty Python-esque though not funny. While Daniel waits for the mere chance to appeal, he must apply for unemployment benefits, or else he'll starve. To get them, he must prove he's spending 35 hours a week looking for work. Even though he can't work.
And so Daniel pursues the farce. At a CV-writing workshop, Daniel's told he should make video CVs and send them from his smartphone he doesn't have one, and can't even operate a computer mouse.
"You give me a plot of land and I can build a house on it, but I can't get near a computer," he says ruefully.
At the welfare office one day, Daniel meets a single mother, in more dire straits than he is. Katie (Hayley Squires, natural and moving) has been squeezed out of London and offered dismal lodging up north instead. She's being "sanctioned" for being late, after getting on the wrong bus.
Daniel befriends Katie, who's struggling so much, she needs to choose between heating her apartment and buying school clothes. She cooks for her children but doesn't have enough for herself. In one devastating scene at a food bank, she breaks open a can of beans and drinks the juice because she's so hungry.
Her shame is agonizing to watch. So is her embarrassment when she's caught shoplifting sanitary products. Daniel tries to keep her from despair, but his own situation is worsening, too.
There's little comic relief here how can there be? Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty do give Daniel one quasi-humorous scene in which he makes a dramatic public call for recognition. The scene flirts with showiness, but does give us a break, however brief, from the bleakness.
In the end, the title, seemingly unremarkable, reveals itself as especially poignant. Daniel is crying out for recognition as an "I'' even if he can't contribute, even if he needs help for a while. This prolific director will no doubt be making the same argument for years to come.
"I, Daniel Blake," an IFC Films release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America "for language." Running time: 100 minutes. Three stars out of four.
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MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
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Follow Jocelyn Noveck on Twitter at http://www.Twitter.com/JocelynNoveckAP
This image released by Sundance Selects shows Hayley Squires, center, Briana Shann, foreground right, and Dylan McKiernan in a scene from, "I, Daniel Blake." (Joss Barratt/Sundance Selects via AP)
This image released by Sundance Selects shows, from left, Briana Shann, Hayley Squires, Dave Johns and Dylan McKiernan, foreground right, in a scene from, "I, Daniel Blake." (Joss Barratt/Sundance Selects via AP)
Natural History Museum visitors have just hours left to enjoy Dippy the Diplodocus before work to dismantle the exhibit begins.
The 70ft (21.3m) plaster-cast sauropod replica made up of 292 bones has stood in Hintze Hall since 1979, but he will bid farewell to the public from Wednesday evening when the hall closes.
A team of six will start the three-and-a-half week task of taking apart Dippy, piece by piece, beginning with the tail from January 5.
Who knew you could flat pack a dinosaur? #dippyontour https://t.co/sQ9TwNihoZ Great North Museum: Hancock (@GNM_Hancock) January 2, 2017
Once he has been cleaned and repaired where necessary, Dippy is expected to fit into 12 crates and in anticipation of his two-year UK tour, the museum said he will be flat packed allowing him to be put together in around four days at each new destination.
The tour will start in early 2018 and venues will include the Dorset County Museum, which has a gallery dedicated to Britains fossil-rich Jurassic Coast.
He will also travel to Birmingham Museum, Ulster Museum, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Great North Museum in Newcastle, the National Assembly of Wales in Cardiff, Number One Riverside in Rochdale, and Norwich Cathedral.
Dippys coveted spot at the entrance to the museum is being taken by the real skeleton of an 83ft (25.2m) female blue whale, weighing 4.5 tonnes.
The whale first went on display at the museum in 1938 when the mammals hall opened and has been suspended over a 94ft (28.6m) life size model since.
She ended up as part of the collection after beaching herself in March 1891 at the mouth of Wexford Harbour, Ireland, and had already been injured by a whaler.
When they said #dippyontour I imagined it travelling like this. Disappointed that they're taking it apart+reassembling. #childhoodmemories pic.twitter.com/mFk7cBiRtZ Caroline Cole (@accountantccole) January 4, 2017
The sea mammal will take up position in a diving pose as she is suspended from the ceiling of the newly renovated hall on 0.6in (15mm) wire strands.
More than 10 new exhibits and more than 650 specimens will be placed alongside the whale with a big reveal expected in the summer.
A shop owner has been branded the bookseller from hell after a parish council received more than 20 complaints about his rudeness.
Steve Bloom, who runs second-hand bookshop Bloomingdales in the North Yorkshire village of Hawes, charges a 50p entry fee.
According to a complaint made to Hawes Parish Council, one customer who declined to pay was branded a pain in the arse.
Books in a window of the Market House in Hawes, North Yorkshire. The building houses the second-hand bookshop Bloomingdales, run by Steve Bloom (Tom Wilkinson/PA)
John Blackie, chairman of Hawes & High Abbotside Parish Council, said the organisation has discussed the dreadfully rude and offensive bookseller five times since 2013, and in the past four years it has received more than 20 complaints.
The decision to charge people an entry fee is often the flashpoint for upset, Mr Blackie said.
Im afraid we have the bookseller from hell, he added.
The parish council chairman said the shop is a discredit to Hawes.
He seems to have a strategy unlike anybody elses, Mr Blackie, 68, said.
He charges 50p, people object, and he is very rude to them. Yet he feels that improves his business.
Alas no answer at the bookshop in Hawes at the centre of the rudeness claims. I had even got my 50p out ready to pay. pic.twitter.com/XCxfGEflkA Tom Wilkinson (@tommywilkinson) January 4, 2017
He added: The trouble is, he is doing a disservice to the other traders, to the reputation of the town which is very much a friendly town. We welcome people to come and visit us.
Mr Blackie said Mr Bloom seems to enjoy the notoriety, and does not seem bothered by criticism online.
One comment on the Yell website said other shoppers recoiled in embarrassment when the reviewer was asked to leave while browsing postcards, having refused to pay the 50p entry fee.
Another gave only one star out of five, and said he and his wife received a very rude reception and were asked to pay the entry fee, returnable on purchase of a book.
The bookshop is based in Hawes Market House, a charity, and although complaints have been passed on to the buildings trustees there has been no change, Mr Blackie said.
The parish council chairman said he will visit Mr Bloom again and urge him to be polite.
He can see the great difficulties, the upset that he causes in the local community, Mr Blackie said. He might be better off trying a charm offensive.
If you charm them more and offend them less, you might have a business even better than it is now, and we can all live happily ever after.
Mr Blackie said he will also urge the Market House Trustees to put pressure on Mr Bloom to mend his ways, or warn him he could be thrown out.
President-elect Donald Trump has used WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to cast doubt on the US intelligence communitys case that Russia was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) ahead of the 2016 election.
He suggested that the DNC is to blame for the hacking of its computers and emails, including those of top Hillary Clinton adviser John Podesta.
Mr Trump continued his tweetstorm on Wednesday by arguing the DNC did not have a hacking defence and questioning why the Democratic Party had not responded to the terrible things they did and said.
Donald Trump ( Andrew Milligan/PA)
He appeared to be referring to information in the DNC emails that was made public and led to the resignation of the DNC chairwoman and other officials.
Julian Assange said a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info! Mr Trump tweeted early on Wednesday.
It was a striking spectacle for the incoming president to give credibility to Mr Assange, whose organisation has been under criminal investigation for its role in classified information leaks.
Mr Assange has said his source for the hacked emails WikiLeaks published during the campaign was not a government, but his assertion has left open the possibility they came from a third party.
The American intelligence community and Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill insist that Russia was behind the hacks, but Mr Trump has repeatedly dismissed that allegation, challenging the intelligence experts who will help him make the weightiest possible decisions once he becomes president on January 20.
Mr Trump has insisted that the government does not really know who is behind the attacks.
He has said he will release more information this week.
In a series of tweets on Tuesday and early on Wednesday, Mr Trump wrote without evidence that the timing of an upcoming intelligence briefing on suspected Russian interference in the 2016 election had been delayed.
Perhaps more time needed to build a case.
Very strange! he wrote, using quote marks around the word intelligence.
Mr Trumps tweets, in line with repeated criticism of his nations intelligence leaders, caused confusion among intelligence officials, who said there was no delay in the briefing schedule.
The fresh clash came as Mr Trump took further steps to fill his cabinet and key White House positions, with his attention shifting towards the challenges of governing.
Mr Trumps plans for repealing President Barack Obamas signature healthcare law are expected to be the focus as Vice President-elect Mike Pence and secretary of state choice Rex Tillerson meet top Republicans on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Mr Pence issued a direct challenge to Washington Republicans on Tuesday, saying: The president-elect has a very clear message to Capitol Hill. And that is, its time to get to work.
Mr Trump signalled he would not bless all of the partys priorities on Capitol Hill, openly questioning the timing of the House Republican push to gut an independent ethics board just as the new Congress gathered. The House Republican party later dropped the effort.
Anthony Crolla has the opportunity to regain the WBA lightweight title he lost to Jorge Linares last year after a rematch between the pair was scheduled for March 25 at Manchester Arena.
Crolla lost by a unanimous decision to the Japan-based Venezuelan last September at the same venue, surrendering the world title he won by defeating Darleys Perez in November 2015.
The 30-year-old Mancunian, who has won 31 of his 39 professional contests, with five defeats and three draws, said: There had been lots of talk on the rematch since the first fight with Jorge so Im delighted to finally get this announced.
Anthony Crolla and Jorge Linares during the WBA, WBC Diamond and Ring Magazine Lightweight World Titles fight (Richard Sellers/PA)
I will have to show improvements in the rematch if I am to win. I came up short on the night against the better man - with those improvements I believe I can change the result this time around.
I see Jorge as the best lightweight in the world and I want to be the best lightweight in the world. These are the fights that I want to be involved in.
The last four fights have been the biggest fights of my career, all tough opponents. Im up for these big nights and people start expecting them. The motivation is always there for me, walking out at that arena with that crowd - its the level I feel Im at now.
The better the opponent, the better I will perform.
Crolla stopped Perez in the fifth round of their rematch, after a controversial draw in the first encounter, before successfully defending his strap with a seventh-round knockout of Ismael Barroso.
But Crolla was soundly defeated by three-weight world champion Linares, who improved his record to 41 wins from 44 bouts.
Linares said: I am really excited to be going back to Manchester.
Asked/Answered is a weekly feature for reader-submitted questions. Follow the blog online at www.cumberlink.com:
What is the status of the case against John Wayne Strawser Jr.?
Three years ago Wednesday, Timothy Davison, 28, of Poland, Maine, was shot and killed on Interstate 81 near Greencastle in Franklin County.
Davison was traveling from Florida, where he had visited family for the holidays, back to his home in Maine, when he was run off the road by a dark blue Ford Ranger, shot multiple times and killed in the early morning hours of Jan. 4, 2014.
His death sparked a multi-state manhunt that came to an end in September 2015, but not until after Davisons accused killer John Wayne Strawser Jr., 39, of Terra Alta, West Virginia, murdered his ex-girlfriend Amy Lou Buckingham, 38, outside her Tunnelton, West Virginia home five months earlier in April.
Buckingham, a mother of three, would have turned 40 years old Wednesday.
Strawser has since been tried and convicted of murdering Buckingham. He was sentenced to serve life in prison without parole in October in that case in West Virginia.
Strawser is charged with first degree murder for the shooting death of Davison and is currently awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania for proceedings in that case, according to court records.
Representatives from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblins offices have been working out an executive agreement to remove typical time constraints imposed on extraditions to allow time for Strawsers proceedings, according to Franklin County District Attorney Matthew Fogal.
Fogal said that agreement was still being worked out.
Dates for Strawsers preliminary arraignment and preliminary hearing have not been set, according to court records.
Strawser is listed as residing in a state prison in Belington, West Virginia.
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Prince Harry has met his girlfriend Meghan Markles father, who is said to be proud of the relationship, according to reports.
The actresss older brother revealed the meeting between the 32-year-old royal and Thomas Markle, a 72-year-old former lighting director, took place during one of Harrys visits to Toronto, Canada.
Thomas Markle Jr told DailyMail.com: My dad knew about (the relationship) from the start.
Prince Harry
He first met Prince Harry about six months ago out in Toronto. He goes once every couple of months - (Meghan and Thomas Markle Sr) are very close and they stay in close contact.
Hes pretty happy about Harry and hes extremely proud of her. They have an amazing relationship, theyre very close and they always have been.
However Mr Markle said he was not sure whether Harry had met her mother yet.
Meghan Markle
It is thought the Suits star stayed with Harry at his home in the grounds of Kensington Palace when she visited in November.
The princes relationship with the 35-year-old, which began in the summer, was confirmed when his communications secretary, Jason Knauf, issued a strongly-worded statement attacking the media over the wave of abuse and harassment the actress had experienced.
Mr Knauf revealed the depth of Harrys feelings for his girlfriend when he said the Prince was worried about Ms Markles safety and deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her.
Grim vigil for families after Brazil prison massacre
By Ueslei Marcelino
MANAUS, Brazil, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Brazil's justice minister on Tuesday proposed an overhaul of the penal system a day after 56 inmates were massacred in the deadliest riot in two decades.
Meanwhile, hundreds of anguished relatives waited to learn if their loved ones were alive.
The minister, Alexandre de Moraes, said Brazil needed to improve conditions in its jails, which are home to an estimated 600,000 inmates, after visiting the prison in the jungle city of Manaus where violence erupted between rival drug gangs on Monday.
Meanwhile, hundreds of anguished relatives, hugging each other and sobbing uncontrollably, gathered outside the morgue in Manaus, waiting to discover if their loved ones were alive.
A morgue employee emerged from time to time to read from a list of those confirmed dead.
"Please help me bury my son," cried Diana after learning that her son Ronei Pinheiro had been killed. "I never imagined something like this could happen."
Officials were forced to rent a refrigerated truck to store bodies because there were so many dead, while medical examiners tried to identify the remains.
A war for control of the lucrative drug trade fueled the latest gang violence in Brazil's understaffed prisons, raising concerns that Monday's massacre could unleash a wave of reprisals.
Some 223 inmates from other prisons in Amazonas state were relocated to an abandoned jail in Manaus to protect them from rival gangs following the riot.
Moraes said the solution to Brazil's chronic prison violence was not just to keep opening new prisons.
"We need to make sure those who deserve to be in jail stay there and those who committed minor crimes get out," Moraes told reporters after visiting the Anisio Jobim penitentiary. "If not, we are only providing organized crime groups with new soldiers."
The minister said that 42 percent of inmates in Brazil's prisons are awaiting trial, versus a global average of just 20 percent. The prison system is among the worst in the world, according to human rights groups.
Overcrowding and violence are common, and rights groups describe medieval conditions with food scarce and cells so packed that prisoners have no space to lie down.
Brazil's federal government will provide 1.2 billion reais ($367.82 million) to states by June to beef up security and buy more X-ray machines to prevent weapons from entering prisons, Moraes said.
The prison system in Amazonas state is run by two private companies that won a 27-year public contract.
The massacre in Manaus occurred when members of a local criminal gang known as North Family, which controls the Anisio Jobim prison complex, attacked inmates from the rival First Capital Command (PCC), security officials said.
Machete-wielding gangs decapitated inmates and threw their bodies over a wall of the prison, which houses more than three times the prison's capacity.
A video seen by Reuters, whose authenticity could not be verified, showed prisoners tapping the decapitated heads of four men with knifes and yelling: "These are all PCC."
SELFIE AFTER THEY ESCAPE
Amnesty International called on Brazil to launch an independent investigation to bring those responsible to justice.
Police erected roadblocks and increased patrols around Manaus to hunt down more than 100 inmates who escaped from the prison during the riot, which lasted about 17 hours.
According to state officials, 54 inmates had been recaptured by Tuesday afternoon.
One inmate had posted a selfie of him and other prisoners on his Facebook account shortly after they escaped by tearing down a wall.
Fearing protectionism, Canada's Trudeau reaches out to U.S. Congress
OTTAWA, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reached out in a video address to the new U.S. Congress on Tuesday to stress how tightly linked the economies of Canada and the United States are, amid fears of a protectionist Trump administration.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to either renegotiate or scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), has said overhauling trade policy will be a top priority after he takes office on Jan. 20.
Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States and could suffer from changes to NAFTA, which also includes Mexico. Ford Motor Co on Tuesday scrapped a planned Mexican car factory and added 700 jobs in Michigan following criticism by Trump, who turned his attention toward General Motors Co with the threat of a "big border tax" over compact cars made in Mexico.
In the video address, Trudeau and David MacNaughton, the Canadian ambassador to Washington, stressed the closeness of ties between the neighbors.
"We've built an economic relationship that supports jobs in every Congressional district. We are the largest international customer for goods and services made in the USA," said Trudeau, who was filmed in his office in front of the U.S. and Canadian flags.
MacNaughton said Canada was ready to work with Congress to make the lives of citizens in both nations better and more prosperous.
Christine Constantin, a spokeswoman for the Canadian embassy in Washington, said ambassadors had sent video greetings to the two previous opening sessions of Congress.
Trudeau, who has made ties with the United States a priority, was asked by the embassy to appear in the video, she said. Trudeau spokesman Cameron Ahmad declined to elaborate on the video, saying the prime minister's message spoke for itself.
Azhar, Younus stall Australia in Sydney
By Nick Mulvenney
SYDNEY, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Pakistan's Azhar Ali and Younus Khan forged a 120-run partnership to stall a rampant Australia on day two of the third and final test on Wednesday after a Peter Handscomb century had helped drive the hosts to 538-8 declared.
Opener Azhar, who hit a double century in the second test defeat in Melbourne that lost Pakistan the series, had contributed 58 to his side's 126 for two at close of play, while veteran Younus had forged ahead of his partner with 64 not out.
Handscomb had earlier completed the third century of Australia's innings, matching openers David Warner and Matt Renshaw, as Steve Smith's men poured on the runs before the declaration, which came seven overs before tea.
Paceman Josh Hazlewood immediately drove home the advantage by removing debutant Sharjeel Khan and Babar Azam cheaply inside five balls to leave the hapless tourists reeling at 16-2 at the second break.
Half centuries from Azhar and Younus may have raised Pakistan's flagging spirits but the Australians will still be confident of victory and a series sweep going into day three at the Sydney Cricket Ground with a lead of 412 runs.
Handscomb had resumed on 40 with Australia 365-3 and never looked like missing out on his second test hundred, becoming only the second Australian to score 50 or more in his first four tests along the way.
Brought into the side with Renshaw in the wake of the Hobart humiliation at the hands of South Africa in November, the 25-year-old has proved a rock in what had become a fragile Australian middle order.
He brought up the milestone with a single off the 194th ball he faced and had nine fours on the board when he was out for 110 in bizarre circumstances.
A TV review showed he had got too deep into his crease when facing a Wahab Riaz delivery and his bat had dislodged a bail, resulting in a rare 'hit wicket' dismissal.
Australia's fielders had the opposite problem as they tried to break up Pakistan's third wicket partnership in the final session and Handscomb rued two missed run-out chances.
"It would have been nice to take one of those run out opportunities and you never know what could have come from there if we had them maybe four or five down," he said.
"We just need to come out tomorrow and keep that pressure on."
Renshaw earlier fell short of dislodging Don Bradman as Australia's youngest double centurian, the 20-year-old chopping on for 184 in the first hour of the day, and debutant Hilton Cartwright (37), Matt Wade (29) and Mitch Starc, who hit two huge sixes in his 16, also departed before the declaration.
Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur admitted bowlers Mohammad Amir and Yasir Shah were "not in good shape" - the latter carrying a left hamstring injury - but thought the third-wicket stand had given his side a glimmer of hope.
"The resilience and character and intent that has been shown by Younus and Azhar has been a real example to the rest of the dressing room of how we need to play," the South African said.
Indonesian military says cooperation with Australian military suspended
JAKARTA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Indonesia suspended cooperation with the Australian military in December for "technical reasons", a spokesman for the Indonesian defence forces said on Wednesday, after offensive material was seen at an Australian training base.
"All forms of cooperation have been suspended," Indonesian military spokesman Major General Wuryanto said. He said a broad range of activities would be affected.
Indonesia says military acted alone to suspend cooperation with Australia
By Fergus Jensen and Jonathan Barrett
JAKARTA/SYDNEY, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Indonesia's military acted alone when it suspended cooperation with Australia's armed forces last week, Indonesian officials said on Wednesday, after what media described as insulting teaching materials were found at a base in Western Australia.
A spokesman for Indonesian President Joko Widodo said there had been no discussion of the suspension with the president and the issue had been exaggerated.
"This was not a decision of the president," spokesman Johan Budi told Reuters.
Ties with Australia were "just fine", said Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, adding that he only learned about the matter on Wednesday.
"We need to look at this properly first, not just from one side," he added.
Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne said only some activities had been "postponed".
Military cooperation between the two countries, which ranges from counterterrorism cooperation to border protection, was suspended for "technical reasons", a spokesman for the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) told Reuters.
"All forms of cooperation have been suspended," Major General Wuryanto said.
"There are technical matters that need to be discussed," Wuryanto said, referring to the training material seen at an Australian military base, but he declined to elaborate.
It was "highly likely" cooperation would resume once those issues were resolved, Wuryanto said.
Concerns were raised by an Indonesian military officer late last year about some teaching materials and remarks at an army language training facility in Australia, said Payne.
"As a result, some interaction between the two defence organisations has been postponed until the matter is resolved. Cooperation in other areas is continuing," she said.
A spokesman for Indonesia's Foreign Ministry did not answer telephone calls or respond to a written request for comment.
"FOUNDING PRINCIPLES INSULTED"
Indonesia last suspended military ties with Australia in 2013 over revelations that Australian spies had tapped the mobile telephone of then President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Australia stopped joint training exercises with Indonesia's Kopassus special forces after accusations of abuses by the unit in East Timor in 1999, as the territory prepared for independence three years later.
Jakarta and Canberra resumed military ties, saying cooperation on counterterrorism became imperative after the 2002 bombing of two nightclubs on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
With ties gradually warming, the first joint training exercise on Australian soil since 1995 was staged in the northern city of Darwin in September last year.
But relations again became strained after an Indonesian special forces trainer saw training material that insulted the country's founding principles of "Pancasila", which include belief in god, the unity of Indonesia, social justice and democracy, Indonesian newspaper Kompas said.
The suspension of cooperation took effect in a Dec. 29 telegram sent by Indonesian military chief Gatot Nurmantyo, it added.
Australian media said the offensive material was found at Campbell Barracks in Perth, but officials at the army base declined to answer questions when contacted by Reuters.
The offices of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop declined to comment.
The suspension of military ties was met with skepticism by many analysts, who expect the relationship to be quickly mended.
A suspension could threaten Australia's controversial policy of turning back asylum seekers, said Greg Barton, a professor of global Islamic politics at Deakin University, but he doubted intelligence sharing would stop.
"Everyone acknowledges that the threat of an attack is the highest it has ever been," he added.
Visiting Jakarta in October, Bishop said it was "utterly essential" for Australia and Indonesia to share information and work closely to guard citizens against terrorism.
Turkey extends emergency rule to maintain purge of Gulen supporters - deputy PM
ANKARA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Turkey's parliament voted overnight to extend emergency rule by three months in a move which the government said was needed to sustain a purge of supporters of the U.S.-based Muslim cleric accused of orchestrating July's failed coup, state media said.
Emergency rule, first imposed in Turkey after an attempted putsch on July 15 and then extended in October, enables the government to bypass parliament in enacting new laws and to limit or suspend rights and freedoms when deemed necessary.
The extension, effective from Jan. 19, comes as Turkey reels from a series of attacks by Islamist or Kurdish militants, most recently on Sunday when a lone gunman shot dead 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub during New Year celebrations.
Ankara accuses Pennsylvania-based preacher Fethullah Gulen and his supporters, whom it terms the Gulenist Terror Organisation (FETO), of being behind the July coup attempt. Gulen denies the allegations.
"The purge of FETO from the state has not been completed. We need the implementation of emergency rule until FETO and all terror groups have been purged from the state," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in parliament ahead of the vote.
More than 41,000 people have been jailed pending trial in connection with the attempted coup out of 100,000 who have faced investigation.
Erratic Serena stunned by Brengle in Auckland
Jan 4 (Reuters) - Serena Williams' Australian Open preparation suffered a jolt with fellow American Madison Brengle stunning the world number two 6-4 6-7(3) 6-4 in the second round of the Auckland Classic on Wednesday.
Playing her first tournament since her semi-final loss at the U.S. Open last September, Serena was left to rue the 88 unforced errors she made in the contest against an opponent 70 rungs lower in the WTA rankings.
"I really think I played - I'm trying to think of a word that's not obscene - but that's how I played," she said after the loss less than two weeks before the year's first grand slam at Melbourne Park.
"Eighty eight unforced errors is too much, just way too many. It's a lot. I can't expect to win hitting that many errors," said the 35-year-old who had constant trouble with her ball toss in the swirling wind.
Brengle was trailing 1-4 before she staged a brilliant comeback to run away with the first set against the 22-times grand slam singles champion who had triumphed 6-0 6-1 in their only previous meeting in 2015.
Serena was a set and 4-3 down when she made a comeback of her own to clinch the tie-breaker and force the decider.
The third set went on serve until the 10th game when Brengle held two match points, only for Serena to fight off both and slump in relief when she hit a crosscourt forehand to get back to deuce.
Brengle strode confidently across court, secured her third match point and stared in disbelief as Serena double-faulted to hand her the biggest victory of her career.
"I've never returned like that in my life. It's a little frustrating, especially since I worked so hard in the off-season, but at least the conditions won't be like this in Melbourne," Serena said.
"She obviously did a much better job than I did. I really abhorred the conditions. I don't think I've ever hit 88 errors in my career. I could google that and that's probably accurate. So there's no need to look back on such a crappy game."
Brengle meets seventh seed Jelena Ostapenko in the quarter-finals.
"Honestly I don't know (how I won)," the 26-year-old American said. "It's so cool. It's what you dream about, playing the best in the world."
Earlier, Serena's sister Venus downed local favourite Jade Lewis 7-6(2) 6-2 before withdrawing with a right arm injury.
PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - Jan 4
SOFIA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
-- Former Finance Minister Simeon Diankov will be charged for deliberate mismanagement for the sale of a state minority stake in energy distributor, controlled by Austria's EVN, prosecutors said after charging former energy minister Traicho Traikov on the same grounds. Both have denied any wrongdoing. (Trud, Standart, 24 Chasa, Sega, Monitor, Capital Daily, Duma)
-- Bulgarian vet authorities will cull another 120,000 ducks in the southern region of Plovdiv to prevent bird flu outbreak from spreading. Some 15,000 birds have been culled so far after the highly pathogenic virus was found in 22 farms. (Trud, Telegraph, Standart)
-- A Bulgarian court ruled to extradite Lykke Helena Petronella Soontjens to the Netherlands, where the 33-year-old Dutch female is sought on terrorism charges. She was detained by the Bulgarian authorities when she tried to enter the country from Turkey. (Trud, Monitor)
Italy service sector growth slows in December - PMI
ROME, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Growth in Italy's service sector slowed in December, a survey showed on Wednesday, signalling a moderately positive end to the year for the euro zone's third-largest economy.
The Markit/ADACI Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell to 52.3 in December from 53.3 the month earlier, its seventh straight month above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction.
New work at businesses from bars to banks supported the overall index, with a 53.5 reading of the sub-index in December indicating a slight slowdown from 53.8 the month before.
A corresponding survey for both manufacturing and services also showed a small deceleration, to 52.9 in December compared with 53.4 the month before.
Continued, albeit more limited, growth will make welcome reading for Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who took office last month, but the chronically sluggish economy is not out of the woods.
"Italy looks to be in for a bumpy ride during 2017," Markit economist Phil Smith warned, adding he expected economic growth to slip back to 0.4 percent this year from a projected 0.9 percent in 2016.
Markit's manufacturing survey, released on Monday, showed growth in that sector at its fastest since June.
- Detailed PMI data are only available under licence from Markit and customers need to apply to Markit for a licence.
To subscribe to the full data, click on the link below: http://www.markit.com/Contact-Us
In his recent speech excoriating Israel for refusing to commit suicide by allowing a sworn enemy to have a state adjoining the Jewish state, Secretary of State John Kerry claimed the U.S. government did not draft or originate the UN resolution critical of Israeli settlements.
Kerry said there were no American fingerprints on the resolution and that it was totally the idea of the Egyptians and Palestinians. Except that it wasnt, if one can believe Egyptian intelligence.
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports on a story published in an Egyptian newspaper with close ties to Egyptian Intelligence.
According to the report, a secret meeting took place in Washington in mid-December attended by John Kerry, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and a rather large Palestinian delegation that included PLO Executive Committee secretary and negotiating team leader Saeb Erekat. If the report is true, the Palestinian delegation also supposedly met with representatives of Homeland Security and the CIA. Political discussions were also said to be part of the agenda.
According to the transcribed minutes obtained by the Egyptian daily, Al-Youm Al-Sabi, the secret gathering reveals U.S. coordination leading up to the UN Security Council vote on Resolution 2334 regarding Israels settlements. ... It states that the sides agreed to cooperate in drafting a resolution on the settlements and that the U.S. representative in the Security Council was empowered to coordinate with the Palestinian UN representative on the resolution.
The Egyptian newspaper further reported that the secret meeting in Washington was aimed at coordinating Kerrys attendance at the upcoming international Paris Conference set for Jan. 15, 2017, in order to propose his ideas for a permanent arrangement provided they are supported by the Palestinian side.
Susan Rice is said to have warned the Palestinians about the danger of the incoming Trump administrations policies, adding that both she and Kerry had advised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to make any preliminary moves that might provoke the new administration.
The report also said Kerry and Rice had fulsomely praised Abbas policies and how he handled matters, and harshly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that he aims to destroy the two-state solution.
This is remarkably cynical even in our cynical age. If the Egyptian newspaper report is true and the Obama administration has so far not denied it the administration is guilty of a two-faced solution to the conflict, which is no solution at all from the standpoint of Israel and the Jewish people who have been the targets of unprovoked attacks and wars since Israels rebirth in 1948.
Not only has Abbas said he would expel all Jews from a Palestinian State, but neither he, nor any other regional player technically still at war with Israel has said they will ever recognize a Jewish state in their midst. Furthermore, since the Palestinian side now includes Hamas and Fatah in a unity coalition two entities that have vowed not only to never make peace with Israel, but to seek its destruction and the expulsion of all Jews from the land only a fool would believe that peace is possible under such circumstances.
Peace, like success, is a byproduct, not a goal that can be reached without certain precursors. Success is achieved by hard work, a good education and right relationships. Peace is achieved when one side is victorious or two sides decide they dont want to fight anymore.
Jordan and Egypt gave up on war, leading to peace with Israel. The Palestinian side fights on. They have an ally in the Obama administration, but only for a few more days.
President-elect Trump has promised things will be different when it comes to U.S. policy toward Israel starting Jan. 20. One can only hope.
Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com.
Taiwan objects to Vietnam deporting telecom fraud suspects to China
TAIPEI, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Taiwan on Tuesday strongly objected to the deportation from Vietnam to China of four Taiwanese nationals suspected of telecommunications fraud, saying the move was carried out under pressure from Beijing.
The latest deportation followed a series of similar cases this year where Taiwanese nationals in Kenya, Malaysia, Armenia and Cambodia have been arrested for alleged involvement in cross-border telecom scam groups and sent to China.
The deportations arose from the "one-China" policy of most countries under which they maintain formal relations only with the People's Republic of China rather than Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing regards as a renegade province.
The four suspects, along with one Chinese national, were arrested in the northern Vietnamese city of Haiphong in December. Despite repeated requests from Taiwan envoys in Vietnam to have the four deported to Taiwan, they were "forcibly" sent to China, Taiwan's foreign ministry said.
"China said that in this case the victims were mostly in China and demanded Vietnam to repatriate all of the suspects to China (based on a bilateral legal treaty), obstructing our efforts to understand the case and visit the Taiwanese suspects," it said in a statement.
Taiwan's China policymaker, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), urged Beijing on Tuesday to open dialogue as soon as possible, saying its actions were unhelpful in tracing the source of the cross-border fraud groups and affected mutual trust in joint Chinese-Taiwanese crime-fighting efforts.
China has suspended dialogue with Taipei since June, a month after pro-independence Tsai Ing-wen took office as Taiwan's president, because Tsai has refused to accept Beijing's "one China" principle that deems Taiwan a part of China.
"China and Vietnam maintain close cooperation in combating cross-border telecoms and internet fraud crime," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular press briefing on Wednesday.
Geng did not comment on Taiwan's objection, saying it was not a foreign affairs matter.
According to MAC officials, there are over 200 Taiwanese suspected of telecom fraud who have been deported from third countries to China this year.
Chinese authorities have sought to contain an explosion of telecom crime it says has led to huge financial losses, with callers often impersonating officials or authority figures and preying on the elderly, students or the unemployed.
French trial of Equatorial Guinea leader's son postponed until June
PARIS, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A French court on Wednesday postponed the corruption trial of the son of Equatorial Guinea's president until June 19, bringing proceedings to a halt two days after they had begun.
The lawyer for Teodorin Obiang had asked for the hearing to be suspended on the grounds that his client, who was summoned to trial three weeks ago, had not been given enough time to prepare his defence in a complex case.
Obiang, eldest son of President Teodoro Obiang and a vice-president of Equatorial Guinea, is accused of buying palatial Parisian properties and exotic cars with money plundered from his country, a small oil-rich state on Africa's west coast.
Obiang has not appeared in France to answer the charges of laundering embezzled public funds, which expose him to a sentence of 10 years in jail and big fines if convicted.
The case is the first of several to reach court in a broader judicial investigation into allegations of illicit acquisitions in France by long-time leaders and family relatives in several African countries including Gabon and Congo Republic.
China's icy Harbin gets ready for annual snow festival
By Xihao Jiang
HARBIN, China, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Artists put the final touches on a dazzling display of ice sculptures in China's northern city of Harbin on Wednesday, home to one of the world's biggest ice and snow festivals.
The 2017 Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival kicks off on Thursday and runs to the end of February.
The event, in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, draws visitors from all over China as well as foreign tourists to one of the country's coldest places, where winter temperatures can fall to minus 35 Celsius.
Qing Wenyu, a tourist from the southern Guangxi region, was among the travellers getting a sneak peak at the sculptures mostly carved out of ice blocks cut from the frozen surface of a nearby river.
"When I was in primary school, I read about how it snows in the northern part of our country in a textbook. So this has really attracted me to this place for some 10 years or so," said Qing after taking a ride down an ice slide.
Nearby, artists laboured over their icy creations, some of which resembled famous historical figures and landmarks such as Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Work on the ice carvings begins in mid-December, with some projects rising as high as a two- or three-storey building, the festival's official website said.
In addition to the sculptures, Harbin offers visitors a slew of activities, ranging from winter swimming and ice sailing to a mass wedding ceremony on ice that attracts couples from around the globe.
Zhang Yanyan, a 31-year-old tourist from southern Fujian province, said she was drawn to the colourful lights that illuminate the ice sculptures at night.
Elgar scores fifty as South Africa stretch lead past 400
CAPE TOWN, Jan 4 (Reuters) - South Africa opener Dean Elgar continued his strong form with another half-century as the hosts extended their lead against Sri Lanka to 418 runs at lunch on the third day of the second test at Newlands on Wednesday.
Seamer Suranga Lakmal took three wickets before the break in a much improved showing for the touring side after being pounded for the first two days.
After resuming on 35-0, South Africa were 136-4 in their second innings, firmly in command having effectively batted Sri Lanka out of the contest to put themselves in a strong position to go 2-0 up in the three-test series.
Elgar, who scored 129 in the first innings, made 55 in the second before edging veteran spinner Rangana Herath to Angelo Mathews at first slip to be the third wicket to fall on Wednesday.
Lakmal made the first two breakthroughs in the same over.
First to go was Stephen Cook, who was squared up and edged the ball to Dimuth Karunaratne in the slips, on 30.
Five balls later Lakmal tempted Hashim Amla forward and a tentative push saw him get caught behind without scoring as his wretched run of form continued.
JP Duminy was given out leg before wicket when on 18 but overturned the decision with a successful review, which showed Nuwan Pradeep's delivery was going over the wicket.
Duminy (30) was adjudged lbw again when Lakmal wrapped him on the pads in the last over before lunch.
The batsman considered another review but took too much time while discussing with batting partner Faf du Plessis and lost his chance to appeal.
Lakmal went to lunch with figures of 3-34 while Du Plessis was 20 not out.
Philander makes early inroads against Sri Lanka
CAPE TOWN, Jan 4 (Reuters) - South African pace man Vernon Philander made early inroads on Wednesday as he took the first wicket of Sri Lanka's second innings and began the bid to bring an early end to the second test at Newlands.
Sri Lanka were 17-1 at tea on the third day, facing the inevitably of defeat after being set a nominal target of 507 run to keep alive the series.
South Africa declared their second innings midway through Wednesday's second session, giving themselves more than two days to claim the 10 wickets they need for a second successive test win and the series victory.
Dimuth Karunaratne was clean bowled by a ball from Philander that swung back in and toppled the wickets in the sixth over of the innings. He had made just six.
Kaushal Silva (7) and Kusal Mendis (4) were not out at tea but face a long haul as the home side seek to wrap up the result early.
Sri Lanka were put into bat midway through the second session after the South Africans' lead went past 500 runs. They declared on 224 for seven, having resumed at 35-0 overnight.
Seamer Suranga Lakmal took four wickets in a rare highlight for Sri Lanka while Dean Elgar top scored for the home side with 55, to add to his first-innings century, after being 19 not out overnight. He edged veteran spinner Rangana Herath to Angelo Mathews at first slip to be the third wicket to fall on Wednesday.
First to go was Stephen Cook, who was squared up by Lakmal and edged the ball to Karunaratne in the slips, to be dismissed for 30.
Five balls later Lakmal tempted Hashim Amla forward and a tentative push saw him get caught behind without scoring as his wretched run of form continued.
JP Duminy (30) was adjudged lbw when Lakmal rapped him on the pads in the last over before lunch.
After the break, Temba Bavuma was run out without scoring before Lakmal delivered another ball with a hint of away swing to have Faf du Plessis caught behind for 41.
Quinton de Kock, another first-innings centurion, was then out for 29 leaving Keshav Maharaj (20) and Philander (15) not out at the crease when the declaration came.
U.S. seeks death for 'heinous' admitted triple murderer
By Scott Malone
BOSTON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A Massachusetts drifter who killed three men in a series of attacks in two states in 2001, refining his murder methods as he went, should be sentenced to death for the crimes he has admitted to, a federal prosecutor told a jury on Wednesday.
The admitted triple murderer, Gary Lee Sampson, 57, could be the second person sentenced to death by a federal jury in Massachusetts in two years, a rarity in a state whose laws do not allow the death penalty.
Sampson pleaded guilty to killing two men, aged 69 and 19, in Massachusetts after hailing them as a hitchhiker and taking them to secluded wooded areas where he tied them up before stabbing them to death, and later strangling a third man, 58, in New Hampshire.
In a police tape played to the jury, Sampson told his interrogator that he changed his murder method for his last victim, the caretaker of a home on Lake Winnipesaukee, because "I didn't want no more blood on me."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Hafer showed the jury the pocketknife Sampson used in the killings, as well as photos of his victims before and after their slayings.
"Three kind, caring souls, seemingly unconnected to each other in any way but brought together in the most unimaginably tragic way, brought together by the pure heinousness and cruelty of that man," Hafer said, pointing to Sampson.
At least one of the jurors could be seen sobbing and dabbing at her eyes with a tissue during the prosecution's closing statement.
This is the second trial to determine if Sampson will be executed. He was sentenced to death in 2004, but a judge in 2011 overturned that sentence after learning that one of the jurors had lied about her history as a victim of domestic violence.
Lawyers for Sampson, who will make their closing statement later on Wednesday, argued that the jury should spare his life due to his history as a victim of abuse as a child, mental illness and traumatic brain injuries.
If the jury decides not to sentence Sampson to death, he will spend the rest of his life in federal prison.
Sampson's victims were Philip McCloskey, 69, Jonathan Rizzo, 19, slain in Massachusetts, and Robert Whitney, 58, killed in New Hampshire.
After that last slaying, Sampson recounted on the police interrogation tape, "I cooked some breakfast while he was dead in the bathroom."
Two Moroccan UN peacekeepers killed in Central African Republic
RABAT, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Two Moroccan U.N. peacekeepers in Central African Republic were killed and two others wounded by unknown attackers in the southeast of the country, the U.N. mission there said on Wednesday.
The peacekeepers were escorting fuel trucks on Tuesday afternoon about 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of the town of Obo when they were attacked, the mission said in a statement, adding that the assailants fled into the bush.
"No claim can justify individuals directing their grievances against peacekeepers whose presence on CAR soil is only aimed at helping the country emerge from the cycle of violence," mission head Parfait Onanga-Anyanga said in the statement.
Central African Republic descended into chaos in 2013 when mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority Christian nation, ousting then-President Francois Bozize and sparking a backlash from Christian militias.
The U.N. mission has 13,000 peacekeepers on the ground, but some civilians complain that it does not do enough to protect them against dozens of armed groups.
Last month, U.N. sanctions monitors said that violence was spreading despite successful polls that elected a new government last February. Human Rights Watch said a new armed group had killed at least 50 civilians in a growing campaign to control parts of the northwest.
Romania's new government wins vote of confidence
By Radu-Sorin Marinas and Luiza Ilie
BUCHAREST, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Romania's Social Democrat-led coalition government won a vote of confidence in parliament on Wednesday, as expected, returning to power after a one-year break.
Led by Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu, the new cabinet won by a vote of 295 to 133, parliament's ballot count data showed. The leftist coalition has an outright majority in the legislature.
The Social Democrats (PSD) were ousted in November 2015, after a deadly fire in a Bucharest nightclub led to nationwide protests over graft and slipshod public administration. In various alliances, it had governed for a total of about 17 years since the fall of communism in 1989.
"You will find in the governing programme all the measures presented during the campaign by the PSD leader," Grindeanu said.
"In a normal country, the government seeks higher wages for citizens, not smaller wages in the hopes that more foreign investors will come," he said. "We want foreign investment, but one that offers well paid jobs for Romanians."
Led by an official convicted in an election-rigging case, the PSD appears to have won the support of many Romanians with promises of increased social spending and economic security.
However, its four-year term with junior coalition partner ALDE will be closely watched by Romania's partners in the European Union, because of concerns over government spending and a weakening of an anti-graft drive.
Some economists warn the new government is likely to breach the EU's ceiling on the public deficit of three percent of GDP this year. A previously approved reduction in value-added tax of one percentage point went into effect this month. Two other levies were scrapped.
The PSD has also promised a 16 percent increase in the minimum wage. Increases in pensions and wages in the public health and education sectors are already approved.
The cabinet also wants to raise minimum pensions by 30 percent to 520 lei ($125) a month, increase welfare spending and scholarships and scrap several other taxes.
During committee hearings on Wednesday, Finance Minister Viorel Stefan reaffirmed plans to boost spending. Estimated annual growth of 5.5 percent, better tax collection and EU development funds should allow for more social spending and keep the budget deficit below the EU's 3 percent ceiling, he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Justice Minister Florin Iordache told lawmakers he would propose to Grindeanu legal revisions, including changes in the criminal code. It was unclear what the revision would entail
Together with other deputies, Iordache has backed several legislative initiatives to weaken a drive against graft.
Massachusetts triple murderer's lawyer asks jury to spare him
By Scott Malone
BOSTON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Jurors should spare the life of a Massachusetts drifter who killed three men in separate 2001 attacks because a series of brain injuries suffered as young as age 5 hurt his ability to control his emotions or impulses, his attorney said on Wednesday.
Prosecutors challenged that claim, citing the detailed planning that Gary Lee Sampson went through before and during his killing spree, including buying rope to more securely tie his victims and switching from stabbing them to strangling them when he tired of getting victims' blood on himself.
Sampson, 57, could be the second person sentenced to death by a federal jury in Massachusetts in two years, a rarity in a state whose laws do not allow the death penalty.
He pleaded guilty to killing two men in Massachusetts after hailing them as a hitchhiker and taking them to secluded wooded areas where he tied them up before stabbing them to death. He later strangled a third man in New Hampshire.
Sampson suffered a series of injuries, including from a fall of 10 feet (3 meters) when he was about 5 years old, that injured his brain and prevents him from fully controlling his actions or emotions, defense attorney Michael Burt said.
"It's helpful to look at those injuries and ask not whether it excuses, not whether it justifies, his crimes but does it help explain how he had been doing all these horrific crimes and running amok?" said Burt, as he presented the jury with some 115 mitigating factors that he said justify sparing Sampson's life.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Hafer dismissed the significance of the injuries.
"This is a convenient brain injury, this is a strategic brain injury, this is an imaginary brain injury," Hafer said.
He showed the jury the pocketknife Sampson used in the killings, as well as photos of his victims before and after their slayings.
Sampson was sentenced to death in 2004, but a judge in 2011 overturned that sentence after learning that one of the jurors had lied about having been a victim of domestic violence.
Sampson's victims were Philip McCloskey, 69, Jonathan Rizzo, 19, and Robert Whitney, 58.
Russia's Rosneftegaz closes Rosneft privatisation deal
MOSCOW, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Russian state holding company Rosneftegaz on Wednesday closed a deal with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and commodities trader Glencore to sell a 19.5 percent stake in state-owned oil major Rosneft, 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 in December.
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.
"The technical procedures for closing (the deal) required the preparation and signing of more than 50 documents and agreements," Rosneft said in a statement. "All this reflects the unprecedented complexity of the deal."
Government approves new projects under Namami Gange for Haridwar and Varanasi
Published: January 4, 2017
The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has approved new projects under Namami Gange programme in Haridwar (Uttarakhand) and Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh).
In Haridwar, 68 MLD sewage treatment plants (STP) and 14 MLD STP in Sarai was with Central government funding and also under Hybrid Annuity based PPP mode. Besides, 50 MLD sewage treatment plant at Ramana in Varana under Hybrid Annuity-based PPP mode was also approved.
About Namami Gange Programme
The programme was launched to achieve the target of cleaning Ganga River in an effective manner with the unceasing involvement of all stakeholders, especially five major Ganga basin States Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. It envisages Sewerage Treatment Infrastructure, River Surface Cleaning, River Front Development, Public Awareness and Bio-Diversity, Afforestation. It will be implemented by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), and its state counterpart State Program Management Groups (SPMGs). It seeks to improve coordination mechanisms between various Ministries/Agencies of the Union and State governments.
Month: Current Affairs - January, 2017
Topics: Environment Ganga river Government Schemes Namami Gange National Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand
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After disparaging United Nations, Trump and new U.N. chief talk
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 4 (Reuters) - New United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday, and the two had "a very positive discussion on U.S./U.N. relations," said a U.N. spokesman, a week after Trump slammed the world body on Twitter.
Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister and U.N. refugee chief who began his five-year term on Sunday, spoke by phone with Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20, said U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq.
"This was an introductory phone call during which they had a very positive discussion on U.S./U.N. relations. The secretary-general said that he looked forward to engaging with the president after his inauguration," Haq told reporters.
Trump took to Twitter to disparage the 193-member world body after the United States abstained in a Dec. 23 U.N. Security Council vote, allowing the adoption of a resolution demanding an end to settlement building by U.S. ally Israel.
Trump, who had called on the outgoing Obama administration to veto the resolution, warned that "things will be different" at the United Nations after he takes office, without offering any details.
He followed up with another tweet on Dec. 26: "The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!"
Guterres responded in an interview with Snapchat on Tuesday: "President(-elect) Trump also said the U.N. has an enormous potential. That's exactly what I feel. My job is to make sure that potential becomes a reality."
In an address to U.N. staff in New York on Tuesday, Guterres acknowledged that in some parts of the world there was a resistance and skepticism about the role of the United Nations.
Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said on Wednesday that the president-elect would work with Rex Tillerson, his secretary of state nominee, and Nikki Haley, his choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to "demand some reform and change." Both Tillerson and Haley must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before taking office.
The United States is the largest contributor to the United Nations, paying 22 percent of the $5.4 billion core U.N. budget and 28 percent of the $7.9 billion U.N. peacekeeping budget. Following passage of the U.N. resolution on Israeli settlements, a top U.S. senator threatened to work to cut U.S. funding.
A former Kosovan prime minister has been arrested over allegations of war crimes.
Ramush Haradinaj, a guerrilla commander during the 1998-99 Kosovo war, was detained in France on a Serbian arrest warrant.
Serbia considers Haradinaj a war criminal for his role in leading a guerrilla insurgency in its former southern province of Kosovo, which declared independence with Western backing in 2008.
Haradinaj served briefly as prime minister of Kosovo in 2004 and 2005, while it was a ward of the United Nations, before being tried and acquitted twice of war crimes at a UN court in The Hague.
Ramush Hardinaj (pictured in 2010) was arrested by French police on a Serbian arrest warrant
'He was stopped by French authorities based on an arrest warrant issued by Serbia in 2004 which for us is unacceptable,' Kosovo's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It said it was doing everything possible to secure his release, which it expected to happen.
French border police arrested him upon his arrival at Basel-Mulhouse airport in eastern France on a flight from Pristina, according to sources.
A French judiciary source said that investigators would begin looking into whether there were reasons not to execute the extradition request - especially in the case that it had been issued for political reasons.
They will also look at whether he had already been tried before the UN court on the same charges as those the arrest warrant had been issued on, the source added.
Haradinaj, the leader of the opposition party Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), was travelling on a diplomatic passport when he was stopped by French authorities.
In June 2015 Haradinaj was arrested by Slovenian police but was released after two days following diplomatic pressure.
Leading Constitutional Lawyer Manohara de Silva has authored a new book titled The strategy of separatists and Constitutional Amendments that deals with the 13, 16, 17 and 19 Amendments to the Constitution and the 2000 Draft Constitution. In an interview with , he speaks about the constitutional proposals and their implications on the country and the majority religion. Excerpts of the interview:
QWhat prompted you to author this book?
The primary reason is that people are misled by politicians. They say there is nothing to worry. They say there is just an innocent move of drafting a new Constitution. It is far from the truth. For instance, they say Buddhism will be accorded the foremost place and Buddha Sasana will be protected. Despite saying it, they are bringing in provisions that provide for conversions. If you read the recommendations by the committee that worked out proposals on fundamental rights to be incorporated in the proposed new Constitution, they have inserted a new word propagation. If the new proposals are implemented, the religious propagation will be a fundamental right.
QWhen that right is guaranteed, it will also apply for the propagation of Buddhism. What is your response?
You can propagate all the religions. But, if you assign foremost place to Buddhism, then, at the same time, you cannot propagate something else. If you have a secular state, the question does not arise. People of this country have always been for the protection of Buddha Sasana and giving it the principal place. That cannot be done by promoting other religions over it, instead. That is not even permitted in India. The other important thing is the limitation of cultural and religious practices to citizens in that country.
There is a difference between the teaching of religions and the exercise of religious practices as opposed to propagation of religions. If you allow that kind of cultural and religious propagation alien to Sri Lanka, what will happen is all the fundamentalist churches of the United States of America and all the fundamentalist religious organizations of the Arab world will come here. The proposal is to open it up to non-citizens. Today, the citizens can enjoy cultural rights and exercise religious practices. But, non-citizens cannot. For example, if a fundamentalist religious organization from the US or Saudi Arabia wants to come here and propagate fundamentalism, it will get the chance as it is a right open for non-citizens under the proposed new constitution. That is the reason for the countries to restrict cultural propagation alien to them. Otherwise, their own cultures will vanish. Sri Lanka is a small country. We have a very rich culture. The 2500 -year civilization will be destroyed instantly if you allow other cultures to overwhelm it. Persons on visiting visas can come and do propagation. If the new proposal is implemented, the restriction on such persons will amount to the violation of their fundamental rights.
QThere is a school of thought that giving foremost place to Buddhism will undermine the rights of minority religions. What are your views?
If you want to maintain the identity of the country, it will be needed. As for Vatican and Italy, their established religion recognized by the Constitution is Catholicism. If you take Norway, for instance, the Head of State has to be someone from the Christian Lutheran church. That is a country talking very much about fundamental rights. It is same with the Orthodox Church in Greece. In England, it is the Church of England. There is no written constitution in this regard there. But, it is an established fact in England by conventions and practices. On dollar notes in the US, it is mentioned In God, we trust. There, every state has a separate constitution. In most of these constitutions, anyone not believing in God is barred from becoming the head of that particular state. They try to preach to us, with the sinister aim of suppressing Buddhism. Religion and culture are protected in the US, Europe and the Arab world. Then, why are they trying to destroy our culture? They do it purely to destroy Buddhism.
We give Buddhism the foremost place, but Buddhists are not given the foremost place. There is a difference here. Giving Buddhism the foremost place does not mean giving the same for its followers. The present constitution does not say it. Article 9 says Buddhism should be given the foremost place, Buddha Sasana will be protected. At the same time, all the other religions are given their rights. The particular section says, The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place, and accordingly, it has been the duty of state to protect and foster Buddha Sasana while assuring to all religions including Buddhism the rights guaranteed by Article 10 and 14 (1) (e).
Buddhism is given foremost place. But, Buddhists and followers of other religions are equal. The preservation of our culture and civilization should be done. Otherwise, it is not to discriminate any other religious group. It is also to prevent other cultures coming in and overwhelming the prevailing majority culture.
QYou advocate a unitary constitution. What do you mean by unitary character?
A unitary status was interpreted by Justice Sarvananda quoting several authorities. Simply it is a situation where there is only one government. Federal state is where you find several governments. If you go a little bit further to explain this, in a unitary structure, Parliament is supreme. All other law making bodies are subordinate. That is the fundamental character. There cannot be independent bodies in a unitary state. In the present constitution, what has happened is that Parliament is not supreme. Though we say so much about supremacy of Parliament, it needs a two-thirds majority to repeal a statute of a provincial council. It can repeal its own laws by a simple majority. How can Sri Lanka Parliament be supreme when legislation by a subordinate body is held in such higher esteem than that passed by it?
QDoes it mean that the constitution lacks unitary features?
Yes. After the 13th Amendment was enacted, the unitary character was destroyed. We did not feel it because it was not implemented in full. If the police and land powers are given in keeping with the Constitution, in no time, it will lead to partition of the country. Fortunately, no government, including the government of former President the late J.R. Jayewardene who introduced it, implemented it in full. None of the Presidents, even former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, did so. Why? They know it will lead to disaster if the 13th Amendment is implemented in full. We despise the 13th Amendment as it affects the unitary character of our constitution. We must appreciate that the J.R. Jayewardene government placed certain safeguards for it. The appointment of provincial governors and the fact that the national policies should be formulated by the central government are two of them. Also, there is the concurrent list that categorizes subjects to be handled both by the central government and the provincial councils. Then, there are residuary powers. All these factors kept Sri Lanka together.
What is now attempted through these proposals is to remove these safeguards. The moment you remove these safeguards to be replaced with these dangerous provisions, it will be detrimental.
QThere is an argument that the rights of minorities cannot be guaranteed under a unitary character. In this manner, there is a demand for a Federal state so that the minorities can be looked after by their elected representatives. What are your views?
If that is so, England has to be a country where minority rights are not guaranteed. In the world, there are only about 25 Federal countries out of the total 190 odd countries in the world. Majority are unitary states. Does it mean minority rights are not guaranteed in all these countries in the world?
These elements are trying here to get a Federal state as a stepping stone to Federalism. Their argument has no validity. Many countries in the world including England are unitary states. Protection of fundamental rights has nothing to do with the structure of governance. People are treated equally. People have recourse in judiciary. You can certainly improve the constitution. I will cite one example. Under the 19th Amendment, there is a clause included to establish the national procurement commission. Where is it now? Even the opposition is not talking about it. All the politicians, be they in the government or the opposition, do not want such a commission. That is the way for them to rob people and nation. If there is such a commission, traders, be the Tamils or Sinhalese, can get their tenders approved depending on the prices quoted. If the rule of law is upheld, the rights of minorities will get protected automatically.
They are not interested in the protection of rule of law. All these are brought to satisfy separatists.
QBut, the advocates of Federalism say the countries such as the US, Canada and Switzerland remain united and prosper due to Federalism. How do you respond?
If the country remains united, it should have a unitary constitution. What does a Federal state mean? It is a collective of states. What are the ingredients considered for the recognition of a separate country? You need a defined landmass. That is why, they asked for the merger of the north and the east. Then, they want a government of its own for that territory. They want subjects listed in the concurrent list to be transferred to the provincial councils.
Sri Lanka is together today because of the unitary state. If you create a Federal state tomorrow, then the territory and powers will be there. The international recognition is there because the western powers will be glad to do so. They will have a hold here. It will be a puppet state of the West. The reason for them to ask for a Federal state here is that it will be pro-western. We know what they do to us in Geneva. If it is a Federal state, it will be a difference between the cup and the lip. Sri Lanka will be partitioned.
QWhat is your view on the provincial council system as the unit of devolution?
The 13th Amendment was introduced with Indian warships docked just outside our territorial waters. Their planes were roaring around. Curfew was imposed under emergency. Indian premier the late Rajiv Gandhi came and signed the agreement. What legitimacy is there for such an agreement? Consequent to that, you see how the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was passed. The MPs were brought to five star hotels in Colombo and hosted for fabulous meals. Then, they were taken in vehicles to Parliament. Under threat and duress only, it was passed.
Power decentralization is always alright. I am not for a moment saying that all the powers must be exercised by the President and the Cabinet. You can have subsidiary bodies at provincial levels exercising power. That power must, however, be subjected to the centre without any restriction. If people across the country want to manage their local affairs like building access roads and all, that can happen but according to the national policies. If the centre cannot intervene when something is done against national interests, how can you expect the country to be together?
We should go back to the First Past the Post System. We can have a mixture with proportional representation system, to ensure proper minority representation. Then, one can elect his own representative. People in villages can look after their affairs.
QHow do you see improvements to the present constitution?
If you want to repeal the statute passed by a provincial council, you need two-thirds in Parliament under Article 154 G (2), (3), (4). You cannot get it without the support of the minorities. The primary objective of the minority parties such as the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is separation. Their action shows it. They are against Sinhala people coming and residing there. They are opposed to the places of Buddhist religious worship there. They do not want toddy from the north to be sold there. It means their divisive mindset. If people cannot understand it, it will be foolish. We need to amend the 13th Amendment and remove Article 154 G (2),
(3), (4).
Leo Burnett Sri Lanka, the local office of the global advertising network Leo Burnett Worldwide, is gearing up to host the eighth edition of Leo Art at the Galle Literary Festival, which brings the creative community, writers and artists from across the island and around the world together annually at the historic Dutch Fort in Galle. Powered by its Platinum Sponsor Master Card,the Leo Art exhibition will officially be launched on the 12th of January at 6.00p.mat the Fort Printers Hotel. The exhibition will continue until Sunday 15th January. To celebrate the launch of the 8th edition of Leo Art, renowned Sri Lankan author Nayomi Munaweera who is residing in the USwill read an extract from her latest book titled What lies between usat the preview.
This is the eighth successful season of Leo Art which has been titled Art at the Fest.This edition of Leo Art will feature the work of 10 renowned local artists who will each present a new series of their work. This exhibition will feature 50 canvases crafted in a variety of mediausing varying styles and techniques. These 50 canvaseshave been created especially for this exhibition and will be showcased to art enthusiasts, buyers and festival attendees alike. The artists who have been selected to feature their work at this edition of Leo Art are,Sanjeewa Kumara, J.C.Ratnayake, Vajira Gunawardena, Dileepa Jeewantha, Susil Senanayake, Thushara Dep,Prageeth Ratnayake, Chamila Gamage, Chiranthi Gunasekara and Sanjaya Bandara Senevirathna.
Leo Art is an artists-in-residence programme which was initiated by Leo Burnett to foster creativity in art. It provides young Sri Lankan artists with spaces to express their creative ideas. These artists also have the opportunity to collaborate with agency teams on commercial projects. Through Leo Art the artists and their work can be seen and appreciated by a larger audience. Leo Art has progressively grown over the years since it was launched in 2008. Last year, Leo Art Strokes at the Mewswas hosted at Park Street Mews as part of Leo Burnetts 81st global anniversary celebrations featuring the work of 19 artists. The success of Leo Art at the Mews resulted in the Galle Literary Festival inviting Leo Burnett to showcase Leo Art at the festival.
Commenting on the upcoming exhibition Ranil de Silva Managing Director, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka, said: The Leo Art programme is an important part of Leo Burnett Sri Lankas commitment to giving back to Sri Lankas creative community.It started as a small-scale exhibition that we hosted in our quadrangle,since its inception Leo Art has rapidly evolved into a fully-fledged annual showcase of contemporary Sri Lankan art. It has flourished each year andhas received significant local and international recognition. We are proud to host the eighth edition of Leo Art at the Galle Literary Festival, which is one of the countrys most prestigiousliterary events. We are also delighted to have Master Card step forward to support Leo Art as a partner of the exhibition this year. Leo Burnett has had a long-standing history of spearheading and inspiring creative excellence, whilst nurturing the next generation of creative talent. Our efforts to build a strong creative platform for local artists helps them gain valuable exposure to help develop these artists in particular and creatively in general. This programme helps to fuel collaboration between our teams and the artistic community, which ultimately supports our ongoing efforts to create inspiring ideas.
This year Leo Burnett Sri Lanka celebrates its 18th anniversary. Over the years, the agency has built many powerful brands and meaningful partnerships with its clients, whilst delivering gratifying results and gaining industry recognition in Sri Lanka, the region and globally. The company handles a diverse portfolio of clients; it is one of the worlds largest agency networks and is a member of the PublicisGroupe, the worlds fourth largest communications company.
A baggage handler was locked inside the cargo area of a United Express flight from North Carolina to Northern Virginia on Sunday. (David J. Phillip/AP)
By Shawn Boburg, Aaron C. Davis (c) 2017, The Washington Post
A baggage handler was locked inside an airplanes cargo area during a 1.5-hour flight from North Carolina to Northern Virginia on Sunday.
A United Airlines spokeswoman said Monday that the airline was looking into how it had happened. The baggage handler, Reginald Gaskin, 45, was unharmed.
Reached by The Washington Post on Monday night, Gaskin declined to discuss how he wound up inside the plane. He said he had been advised by an attorney not to discuss the matter.
I thank God, Gaskin said. He was with me.
United Express Flight 6060, operated by Mesa Airlines, took off from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport just before 3 p.m. Sunday and landed at Washington Dulles International Airport on schedule about 90 minutes later. The plane, a 50-seat Embraer 170, rose to 27,000 feet, according to flight records. A United spokeswoman could not say Monday whether the planes cargo hold was temperature controlled or pressurized.
At some point, workers in Charlotte, North Carolina, realized there was a possibility that Gaskin was locked in the belly of the airplane and contacted the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTF) in its final report submitted on Tuesday recommended to have a majority of national judges and at least one international judge on every bench to try war crimes and serious violation of Human Rights allegedly taken place in Sri Lanka.
The Court shall ensure that there will be a majority of national judges and at least one international judge on every bench, it recommended.
It also stated that: International crimes such as war crimes and crimes against humanity must be criminalised and incorporated into Sri Lankan law immediately through legislation, without temporal prescriptions and in a manner that allows for the prosecution of these crimes committed in the past, in line with Article 13(6) of the Constitution and Article 13(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The report said that consultations in the North and East in particular, as well as in some in the rest of the country, revealed the overwhelming lack of trust in the State, its institutions and mechanisms. The belief was strongly expressed that exclusively domestic mechanisms would not be credible. At the same time, consultations outside of the North and East and with the armed forces, revealed strong opposition to international participation on the mechanisms. Many however, did recognise that given the limitations of existing national capacity in specific areas, international expertise should be engaged. The CTF also notes the commitments made by the Government of Sri Lanka on international participation in the mechanisms, in the resolution that it co-sponsored at the UN Human Rights Council in October 2015.
Therefore, the CTF recommends the participation of both international and national personnel on the four mechanisms ranging from the provision of advice and expertise to active membership of the mechanisms including as judges and prosecutors, as spelt out in the UN Human Rights Council Resolution of October 2015, co-sponsored by the Government of Sri Lanka. It said.
Further, the report recommend that the Special Court should be mandated to try international crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity and pay particular attention to crimes of sexual violence and crimes against children. Bearing in mind the mandate of the court in terms of transitional justice and addressing impunity, the CTF recommends that there be no temporal limitations to the jurisdiction of the Special Court.
The CTF presented its final report to former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, the Chairperson of the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) on Tuesday at the Presidential Secretariat.
The CTF was appointed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the January 26, 2016 to ascertain public views, particularly those of affected communities across the country, on the reconciliation mechanisms proposed by the Government and incorporated in the Resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council.
The CTF comprises 11 prominent civil society members with Manouri Muttetuwegama serving as Chairperson and Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu as Secretary.
Issuing a statement the CTF said it was assisted in its work by two advisory panelsone of Experts and the other of Representatives. Consultations throughout the country were carried out by 15 CTF-appointed Zonal Task Forces (ZTFs).
The ZTFs conducted public meetings in all districts as well as focus group discussions with affected individuals and communities.
CTF recommends at least one intl judge to try war crimes by dmonlinelk on Scribd
Currently, the most crucial discussions centre around the topic of the report of the Delimitation Committee. In this interview, the Chairman of the Committee Ashoka Peiris expresses his views.
QCould you explain to us the present status of the delimitation committee report?
The Committee had taken a decision to hand over the Delimitation Committee report on December 27, 2016. Though it was not a constitutional requirement, we felt that it was getting dragged on. I with my experience in a government department, we know that the date for an election is decided early, and we strive together to hold that election. Following in this same procedure we decided to hand over this report on the above date. There are three sections to this report. One about the changes to the electorates and our comments, second the gazette notification showing the composition of the electorates, and the third, the relevant map which refers to the gazette. We finalized all these, including the criteria of delimitation. But in accordance with the State language policy this had to be translated into the Tamil and English languages. It was apparent that certain individuals were keen in delaying this.
QWho is keen in delaying this?
The Ministry or better to say the government. Both the main parties in the government are keen to delay this.
Q What do you think is the main reason for these groups to delay it?
There is a political need. It is very clear but it does not apply to us. Due to an administrative issue, the Tamil translations were not available in five districts up to December 27. This has happened in the most essential districts such as Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullaitheevu and Vavuniya. Without the Tamil translation, introducing the report was very unjustifiable. We had only two translators and that was was inadequate. These facilities were to be provided by the Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils. I am not levelling allegations, but the Ministry failed to provide these facilities well in time. I made a request about two months ago for additional translators as two were insufficient. As we failed to get the two translators whom I knew personally were attached to the Ministry of Lands were taken by us for this job. Even after acting in this manner, and if someone is trying to delay it, it is an act against the people of this country. Despite all these drawbacks we are continuing our efforts to hand over the report as early as possible. The failure to hand over the report on December 27 became a topic of discussion. This was not a deliberate action to delay in releasing the report, but it was due to certain administrative hiccups of the time.
Q How would you relate the delay in releasing this report to Minister Faizer Mustaphas journey overseas?
I cannot say anything positive on that now. The Minister knew that this report was to be handed over on December 27. I cannot express any opinion on the Ministers travel abroad.
Q In the absence of the Minister, what prevented you from handing it over to the Ministry Secretary?
According to the Act, this report has to be handed over only to the subject Minister and not to the Ministrys Secretary. As there is now an acting Minister, there wont be any such issue.
Q You had a discussion with the Acting Minister Piyankara Jayarathne. What was the outcome?
We met him on December 27, and after that we issued a media release stating that due to administrative shortcomings there had been a delay.
Q The general public is clueless on this delimitation issue. Could you elaborate on the role that you all are playing on this?
Good question. As you say people do not have a good knowledge about this subject, following a Census, delimitation of the electorates takes place. Accordingly in our country, several delimitations had been effected. There had been changes in the population levels in the electorates. Earlier it was 75,000 persons for every 1,000 square miles. Later it was increased to 90,000. Presently the action is based on Act No. 22 of 2012. There was a Parliamentary Select Committee headed by Dinesh Gunawardene. They proposed - instead of the proportional system - a combination of the proportional representation and first past the post system was suggested. Basing on this, the Act No. 22 of 2012 originated. This Act introduces four ways of delimitation. Diversity of population, density of population, level of economic development, and the geographical and physical factors were the matters that were based in the delimitation proposals. A committee was established, and after two-and-a-half years of deliberations, it released a report. But this was held back and shelved in the Ministry during the time of the Mahinda Rajapaksa government. At that time, Athaullah was the subject Minister. With the establishment of this government, President Maithripala Sirisena made a Gazette notification and with its release, there was much dialogue among the political parties and the public urging that there should be room for expression of views by both the public and all political parties on the delimitation. There was criticism that the former government acted unilaterally on this issue. Resulting from this, the subject Minister appointed a review committee, which was assigned with the task of finding out whether the earlier delimitation was done accurately and also to obtain the views of the people. This committee was established under my chairmanship. As from 1947 in all delimitation committees, the Commissioner of Elections functioned as the secretary. During the previous regime there was no representation by the Elections Department. The Secretary to the Local Government Ministry became the secretary of this committee. Something special in our committee is that, except for myself, all the other members are representatives nominated by political parties.
Q Who are the other members of this committee?
Senior Attorney S. Misbah was nominated by the UNP, former governor of Sabaragamuwa Saliya Mathew from the SLFP, the JVP recommended Attorney Upul Kumarapperuma and Balasundaram Pillai from the TNA. In sincerity of these members, I could say that none of these representatives had shown any political bias. They always acted in a non-political manner and their main concern was the public opinion.
Q How were you able to receive the publics views?
We created an awareness programme over the Media. Those who expressed their views were summoned to Colombo and their proposals were obtained. In addition to this, we visited all the 25 districts and held district meetings and received views and suggestions from all who showed a keenness on this matter. There was an appreciable public participation at these meetings. People from various strata of society were present. In the past, the publics views were never honoured.
Q Were there any hiccups when the committee was preparing this report?
There were no intimidations by anyone, not even from the President or the Prime Minister. The PM once requested me to come to Parliament and discuss this matter with representatives of all parties. A few days back, the President summoned me for a discussion. At any of these meetings there were no intimidations from anyone. Both of them were keen to have this report early.
Q What about Minister Faizer Mustapha? Was he attempting to back track?
We were given three months. It was actually insufficient. Therefore we planned it for July. But the Ministry wanted it to be delayed. The Minister, while asking us to drag it for some more time, informed the Media that we were pressing for time. This was the beginning of the conflict. The Minister is expressing a different view to the media. We did not resort to having a dispute with the Minister as it was unethical and with the Supreme Court case it ignited. Their lawyer argued that we were delaying, and the dispute emerged from this point.
Q However, the message was that things were happening as per the agenda of a leader above the Minister....
That could be possible. Because the two main parties wanted it to be procrastinated.
Q The people are waiting to see what would be the ultimate outcome of this report. Any comments on this...
After we hand over this report, the Minister has to Gazette it with the number of councillors. This has not been done as yet. There should be an end to this issue without dragging it further.
Q In your exhaustive exercise involving your time and concern, dont you feel that you are in a precarious situation?
The way things are happening around, it is doubtful whether this would bring in the results that eventually bring benefits to the country. Actually we are living in uncertainty.
Courtesy
Sunday Lankadeepa
According to the dictionary meaning Ethic is the study of what is right and what is wrong in human behaviour. In this context I would like to regard the meaning of the term work ethic in relation to public servants, in the simplest term to mean attitude to work.
As human beings we do certain things in the proper way in keeping with the law of the country, rules and regulations, precedence social practices and cultural norms cherished and valued by the people with a view of satisfying the needs and wants of the General Public. Very often we fail to do things in the correct and proper way. My attempt in this piece of writing is to identify the instances when we go wrong in our efforts to do things as public servants in the proper way in keeping with the accepted procedures, rules and regulations in a manner to satisfy the needs and wants of the masses who are our masters. Direct and indirect taxes paid by them are used to pay ours salaries.
Attitude to work
Attitude to work on the part of an individual, organization or a society or even a country or a region is the result of the impact and influences of a number of variations, environmental and socio-cultural influences, ethnic prejudices and such other. This means that work ethics differ from country to country and even in respect of much smaller units of organizations and the society. Hence, work ethics in our country cannot be identified in Toto with those in other countries except in instances in which we experience similar economies and environments in general.
Cultural influence and value systems
Work ethics in any country or society is largely influenced by its culture. Culture has been defined a collective programming of the mind which distinguishes members of one group of a society from another. Culture is reflected in the meaning people attach to various aspects of life. Work ethics in any given society has a direct relationship to its value systems. Values are sets of inter-related ideas, concepts and principles which individuals, groups and societies attach strong sentiments. Every society has a set of values and it is this which differentiates people from one another. Values exist in regard to all realms of life and in any given society are in a sense a reflection of shared values. While integrated value systems provide a sense of meaning and purpose of existence and also a sense of stability and identity. It also results in strong attitudes and prejudices and thus what is a norm in one society becomes the aberration in another.
Social prejudices, economic imperatives and structural forces
Ethics in any society is also influenced by Social prejudices economic imperatives and structural forces of a particular organization. If one does not comprehend or does not care to comprehend the nature in a particular society he/she would fail to understand problems of that society.
Sri Lankan experience in work ethics
Sri Lankans have been subjected to two pervasive influences, viz. the Indian civilization and the Western colonization. The Indian cultural ethos as expressed n the Indian philosophies and religions have had deep impressions on the way of thinking of the people in Sri Lanka. This explains the similarities in behavioural pattern among the people in the sub continent including Sri Lanka Although we hail for a glorious past we have been weakened by centuries of colonial rule. Although we feel proud of our ancient times of cultural and social advancement we must admit the fact that we frankly acknowledged the superiority of the Western civilization and look to it for guidance.
It is pertinent to salient traits in Si Lankan national character to understand the Sri Lankan attitude to everything including work ethic
Absence of commitment and absence of total involvement
There is a marked commitment and absence of total involvement that enables one to carry a task from the start to the end through trials and tribulations. It expresses itself at many levels. At the individual level promises are made but not kept or partly kept. A great amount of initial enthusiasm amounts to not more than the fizz of the soda bottle, At the collective level despite the loud proclamations of faith in objectives there are no sustained efforts
In spite of various plans and programmes launched to fulfil the needs and wants of the people many of them suffer by not being able to achieve their ends.. Plans and projects are often not completed. In some areas farmers do not receive water in time for cultivation and they find it difficult to sell the yields at reasonable prices as arrangements for purchasing the crops and storing them are not made allowing the profiteers to have their own way. Ceremonies are held to open construction works, building roads and at later stages they remain undone . Sometimes bridges constructed halfway are washed away during the floods, Highway rules and regulations regarding hotels and eating houses garbage disposal, sanitation,, environment protection, gambling illicit distilling and a host of other measures are implemented off and on and sometimes limited to the opening ceremony like the fizz of a soda bottle and the culprits are free to have their own way leaving the masses to suffer.
Sometimes projects inaugurated by one party remain undone not being followed up due to differences of opinion. This happens due to substantial effort not having been made at the individual level and the group level.
Constraints in the growth of personal autonomy
Colonial rule established an attitude of dependence which was reinforced by family environment is a constraint in the growth of personal autonomy. There is a pervasive dependence on the government for everything which has eroded self reliance. Along with dependence there is also deep distrust of authority hardly by a healthy and conducive climate for peoples participation. Diddling government funds and robbing or vandalizing government equipment is considered the done thing.
Failure in expressing intense feeling
South Asians including Sri Lankans have difficulties in expressing, especially in aggression and anxiety. Democratic principle of toleration and compromise is very often rejected. There is no pattering and shaping of aggression as in the West. When aggression is aroused in our part of the world it may burst out in a chaotic way as in 1971, 1983 and 1988.
Workers are compelled to win their rights through threats, strikes, protest campaigns etc. because their masters or employers often cannot be convinced of the grievances through negotiations.
Efficacy and power of words
We exhibited a remarkable faith in the efficacy and power of words. Every day we read in our newspapers of men with high sounding words proclaiming to the world of anything and everything and in the final analysis nothing.
They do not often bother about the implementation of what is proclaimed in words for much what is said is just not implementable.Words but not deeds. Ours is a nation of slogan shouters and bearers of banners with slogans
Failure to believe in the value of time
In our institutes of public service training and private sector training institutions seminars are conducted on the value of time management and the need to work without wasting time a single hour. However, all such seminars, lectures etc. fall on deaf ears of most of us. Often we wait for Good hours avoiding Bad Hoursbased on the horoscope readings. Time flies and we cannot catch and preserve time. Such attitudes deprive us of the benefit that can be achieved through time management.
Attitudes of a public servant - to be a good Samaritan
Everyone must feel and know that if he/she works hard he/she can go ahead. In any event he/she should maintain his/he self respect. Self respect can be earned by being virtuous by making the beneficiaries or the General Public the rate payers contended by providing the services to the best of his/her ability. He/she should be a Good Samaritan. One cannot be a Good Samaritan by showing his/her power and authority-by virtue of holding a high position occupying spacious and well equipped office rooms and using luxury cars.
It is a pity that such high rank officers enjoy all that they wish while their counter parts in lower ranks are compelled to share tables in the corridors. In public service training institutions like SLIDA trainees are made to live with ordinary families during a certain period and gain experience (village immersion programme) They are thus provided with opportunities to change their attitudes towards the General Public.
Trainees come to know the needs and wants of the people when once they occupy substantial positions they get inclined to serve the masses well. Thus if you want a healthy work ethic we have to create the conditions which would contribute to it respect for values and value systems enshrinement of the merit principle in recruitment and promotion, prospects of material achievement and above all self respect.
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The joint opposition today lodged a complaint against International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama and Prime Minister's Advisor R. Paskaralingam with the Bribery Commission today for allegedly selling the Hambantota Harbour to a Chinese company incurring a loss of Rs. 330 billion to the State.
Addressing a media briefing, Joint opposition member MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage said the government had decided to sell the Hambantota Harbour in order to pay the debt amounting to Rs. 1.1 billion which had been taken for the initial constructions of the Hambantota port by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA).
Accordingly, the Cabinet has approved the cabinet paper which was brought out regarding this issue, since this agreement is to pay the debts obtained to construct the Hambantota Harbour. Meanwhile, the officials of the Prime Ministers office have arrived to an agreement with an associate Chinese company without the approval of the Ports and Shipping Ministry, he said.
He said later that the government had stated that not a single cent would be paid as the repayment of debt and those funds would be used for some other purpose.
He said that it was reported that Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga had not been informed or intervened in any of these decisions.
Minister Samarawickrama and Mr. Paskaralingam have intentionally ignored Minister Ranatunga and instructed the SLPA to go ahead with this agreement, he said.
He said Minister Ranatunga had informed the Cabinet that selling the harbour to China Merchant Port Holding Company Limited would cause a staggering Rs. 330 billion to the country.
A group comprising Minister Samarawickrama, Mr. Paskaralingam and P. B. Mangala Yapa of the International Trade Ministry had justified this move and the committee of secretaries is intending to sign this agreement in the coming days, he said. (Kalathma Jayawardhane and Thilanka Kanakaratne)
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Stressing the need to ensure transparency when entering into agreements, the Mahanayake of the Malwatte Chapter, the Most Venerable Thibbotuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera said yesterday that he could not approve or disapprove of the agreement to hand over Hambantota Port without first perusing it.
He expressed these views when Joint Opposition (JO) members, led by former speaker, UPFA MP Chamal Rajapaksa, met him at the Malwatte Maha Viharaya.
The JO members had talks with the chief incumbents of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters in Kandy yesterday (Jan 3) regarding the agreement to lease the Hambantota Port for 99-years.
We should study the agreement before we proceed. We should not forget that this will provide many job opportunities for the residents of the area," he said.
Mr. Chamal Rajapaksa said that the harbour had been built for the industrial development of the area.I was the minister when the harbour was built. People of the area are agitating as they do not know what this agreement is about. We request the government not to lease the harbour or the lands in the area on secret agreements. They should reveal the contents of the agreement to the country first, he said.
He said that the residents of Hambantota were worried about the agreement and angry about their lands being given to the Chinese.(J.A.L. Jayasinghe)
R. Sampanthan is the Leader of the Opposition. He is also the Senior-Most Citizen of Tamil Nationalism. Some might demand that the Nationalism descriptive is incorrect, but lets leave it at that. Its a new year, after all. Lets also leave aside track records. Mr. Sampanthan has made a statement, a gracious one in fact, and as such is richly deserving in reciprocated grace.
In his New Year message as the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Sampanthan has made an appeal to all citizens to put aside differences and build a prosperous and peaceful country. He has also predicted that 2017 would be a crucial year in the history of the country if a permanent and lasting solution to the national question is found. He believes that a new Constitution will deliver this.
It is an important and hopeful message. If we dont read too much into it and delve into the subtext, as contextualized by Mr. Sampanthans past and the past of all the Tamil political organizations he has been in or supported, directly or indirectly, it can be read as a wholesome message that rises above tired ethnocentric narratives typical of Tamil nationalists.
Mr. Sampanthan, while acknowledging diversity in (our) communities has appealed to all the people in the country to strive hard to not to let such diversity become a barrier to building a prosperous and peaceful country for (our) future generations.
Laudable. Utterly.
The issue is that he has pinned all this to what he calls the national question.
So what IS this national question? Which description of this much used and even over-used term are we to take in our deliberations? Are we to take one of the many versions articulated by various strains of Tamil Nationalism, then invariably we get to the autonomy theme, which in its proposed concretization, is about devolution. That however, goes against the all-embracing, rising-above-communalism tone of Mr. Sampanthans statement. He cannot, for example, ask people to ensure that diversity is not a barrier to forging a better nation and then restrict relevant discussions to one that calls for all non-Tamil communities to accept the Tamil nationalist (we are being generous with the terminology here) frame of reference. We must hope that this is not what he is proposing.
So, if we were to take the generous interpretation, we have to first and foremost contend with definitions and of course the underlying assumptions, claims and relevant extrapolations towards the multiplicity of preferred outcomes.
Mr Sampanthan has issued a statement. He has made an appeal. He has, at least in statement, asked people not to be fixated about their identities and relevant politics. Instead of fixing a solution and politicking towards its realization, Mr. Sampanthans statement implicitly calls for a reconsideration of the terms and conditions. Terms as in terminology and conditions as in context, history, demography, economy rationalization and of course pragmatism which takes into account the kind of violence and destruction that mindless and racist-myth-modelling produced over the past few decades.
What is the reality that supports calls for a devolution-based solution to this national question as described by Tamil nationalists? Not much. You cant have autonomy when almost half the community lives outside the historical homelands, so-called. You cant, in the first instance, even talk of history when all you have is a version that is thin on fact and heavily laden with chauvinistic historiography. The reality that needs to be acknowledged, discussed, debated and, where anomalies are established, resolved, comes under the subject-heading grievances. What are these grievances? They should be spelled out. They should be shed of myth and supported by fact. Once this is done, then and then alone must devolution even be considered. And, if indeed devolution makes sense, then the question of boundaries needs to be discussed, considering that the relevant lines are colonial constructs which ought to have been un-made almost 60 years ago.
Mr. Sampanthan is calling for nothing less, nothing more, I like to believe. In the spirit of the new year, let me add. Let us all support him.
Malinda Seneviratne is a freelance writer.
Email: malindasenevi@gmail.com
Blog: malindawords.blogspot.com
Twitter: malindasene
President Maithripala Sirisena has cancelled his Wednesdays visit to Jaffna due to unscheduled meetings in Colombo.
A spokesman of the President has told the Indian Express that unscheduled meetings in Colombo led to the cancellation
But he will be visiting Jaffna on January 25 or any other suitable date before that," the spokesman added.
In Jaffna he was to inaugurate an island-wide mobile app facility to get in touch with the President and track the progress of requests through ministries and departments in the Center. He was also to release about 600 acres of private land occupied by the military.
Indian Express said the President may have been held back by the developing political situation in South with a resurgent former President Mahinda Rajapaksa vowing to overthrow the government in 2017.
The Joint Opposition group and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) are gearing up for frenetic political activity to bring about a regime change this year.
With a Sirisena group member Priyankara Jayaratne resigning from his post of State Minister, and another State Minister Palitha Range Bandara wondering if there is any point in being a minister without work, the media has been speculating about more resignations from the United National Party (UNP)-Sri Lanka Freedom Party Sirisena (SLFP-Sirisena) coalition and crossovers to the Joint Opposition led by Rajapaksa.
With President Sirisena overturning many decisions of UNP ministers, UNP backbenchers in parliament got worried about the Presidents own commitment to the sustenance of the coalition government and the prospects of the government parties in the local bodies and Provincial Council elections in 2017.
Thirty UNPers met the President last Friday in regard to this and the President assured them that he is committed to the coalition. Later he publicly stated that he would not tolerate any party member or coalition partner having links with Rajapaksa.
However, several issues in the coalition remain unresolved. The latest is the disagreement over the deal the UNP-led government had entered into with a Chinese state owned company to manage the Hambantota port.
Disapproving the deal to give the Chinese company 80 percent of the stake in the port for 99 years, the President recently appointed his own representative in the negotiating committee. Given this, there is speculation that he will not attend the January 7 signing ceremony, if it is held at all.
Meanwhile, dissatisfaction and unrest are brewing in North Sri Lanka over the slow pace of post-war reconciliation mechanisms.
Briefing Indian Express on the emerging situation, Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member M.K. Shivajilingam said that the President has not kept his promise to return private lands taken by the military during the war and after. He has released only bits here and there. According to Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, only 5.2 percent of the land has been returned.
Government has rejected the demand for an international judicial mechanism to go into war crimes charges by the military. But it has not set up even a domestic judicial mechanism. The Office of Missing Persons exists only on paper. All major parties of the majority Sinhalese community have rejected the Tamils call for a federal constitution and the merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
Meanwhile, further centralization is taking place with the Governor of the Northern Province Reginold Cooray setting up an office in his official premises to channel peoples complaints to the President.
He could have set up this facility in the Jaffna Secretariat or the Northern Provincial Council. When there is an elected government, why not allow it to be the channel of communication with the President? The Governors action comes in the wake of Tamils demands that the Governor be figure made a figurehead under the elected Chief Minister, Shivajilingam said.
The discussed the oft said allegation that todays public service was inefficient, lethargic and under-productive with the former top public official Lionel Fernando, who has served as a Government Agent, Ministry Secretary, the Governor of the North, and Ambassador of Sri Lanka in France
and UNESO.Excerpts from the interview:
Q As a senior, veteran former public servant, how do you view what is stated by some that Sri Lankas public service was inefficient and underproductive?
A:You mean to say that the public service is inefficient and underproductive. But has anyone made a statistical assessment of the public service as having been inefficient or underproductive in the recent past? Probably I am right in using term in the recent past because you imagine that this happened either after Independence in 1948 or due to constant regime change.
Q I have heard many people talk about good old days of the public service. They used to say that under the British in the colonial Ceylon, the public service was one of the best in Asia in terms of discipline, efficiency and prestige. Your comments?
I would like to make this initial statement in the backdrop of a thinking pattern amongst a lot of citizens of the country that public service had been better during the British period. But then we have also to understand that the needs have got to be considered in relation to the service delivery of the Sri Lankan public service.
Q Since when has the so called deterioration set in, in the public Service?
When you say the rot has set in the public service and also there is decay, then the question of responsibility for administration and accountability regarding State finances comes up. Let me recall the period after nationalization and establishment of State corporations, Boards and such. It was taken for granted these State nationlised organizations were for packing politicians vote bank. This happened way back in the early 1960s. Then the following regimes started doing better in bringing in their flock from the respective constituencies.
Let me cite a couple of examples. The Ceylon Transport Board after Anil Moonasinghe began to be a mess. There were workers far bigger in numbers than the number of buses. Simply put the former was in mathematical progression to arithmetic progression of the latter. So, the others, the Port and even in Gunny Bag Corporation (Goni Sansthawa).
By this time the famous or infamous employment exchange of the government housed at Lotus Road was done away with. By 1970 I do recollect that employment into the public service was done with the help of computerization. And that was also a job bank. All these were having their own deficiencies until 1977, when that was abandoned and the new Government set up what you call their own job bank. What is the moral of this?
Q It is a known fact that politicians and body politic in Sri Lanka are heavily responsible for this decay in the public service. Do you agree?
The politicians directly started recruiting large numbers of their loyalists from their constituencies into the service. And letters were issued by the political representatives of the Government where the government had its own elected members. Where there were Opposition members of Parliament, the electorate organizer of the governing party in power was directed to issue such letters for recruitment.
When I was in the Ceylon Shipping Corporation, a Minister after the late Lalith Athulathmudali sent a circular to the Shipping Corporation stating that all those seeking jobs in the CSC must bring a letter of recommendation. Did the Minister not know that more than two thirds of the total staff was sea-going and must be technically proven? I sent the circular where it deserved to go.
I do remember a very senior SLAS official bringing a letter to my Minister with signatures of the members of Parliament of the new Government recommending him for the Government Agency of Matale. I put an adverse stand. Now does not all this go for non-efficiency and lowering of the prestige of the organization? And the basic quality of discipline at the very outset has set in.
Life was simple, education had no insoluble demands and the unemployed at the time were contented in joining the government after their higher education or taking to business with hardly any imported goods for sale. In the background of this how could you assess comparatively that it was the good old days and the public service had efficiency and prestige?
Let me take your perception of efficiency and prestige. Civil servants prior to 1963 May, were brought into the public service less than ten in number annually. That was the policy of the government and the advisers on administration to the Government believed that was just enough to run the public service and the requirements of the government in the delivery to the public.
QDoes making Sinhala the Official Language have any bearing on the so called unsatisfactory situation in the public service in Sri Lanka?
After the Sinhala language was made the official language, let me go back to 1967, Dudley Senanayake-Chelvanayakam Pact agreeing to adopt the Tamil language in the Northern regions to discharge judicial matters.
I would like to ask myself, have we got enough Sinhala-Tamil interpreters, translators and enough public servants who can discharge their public duties in the language of Tamil citizens of the country?
To that extent have we not failed in our duty in either accentuate the language policy or failing to implement bureaucratically the tacit and correct implementation of governmental policy. To that extent with what you say I do agree. It is a minimum percentage of the public services amongst the Sinhalese who can work in Tamil it is still a lesser percentage who can work in English in both the communities.
So, therefore could we be satisfied. I remember when I was in the Salaries and Cardres Commission, a Tamil medical officer and the wife of a former Tamil diplomat, received two letters on the same day to their personal addresses regarding their pension matters in the Sinhala language.
We say we hold with dignity the rights of the others. Does not the public service come under that expectation of the non-Sinhalese community?
Tamil and English came into the statutes forty years far too late. Let me answer your question with a reference to our closest neighbour India with a 1.3 billion population. On the threshold of independence to India the leaders at the time, coming from various communities, nationalities, religions, social classes, varied hue and colour, immediately addressed with singleness of purpose handling the language problem in order to avoid divisionism and found with magnanimity and in unanimity the most binding factor. That was in 1947 when English language against which many sacrifices were made in the British India. That was naturally forgotten for the sake of national unity in Maha Bharath.
Q Another charge is that a majority of our public servants are backward, IT inept and do not stay in line with the fast changing world. Your comments?
When you refer the public service and its negative interpretations do you anyway imagine that the private sector is far superior or efficient with all other superlatives you have attached to it?
Basically the private sector runs on the basis of more income, more profits. Thereby it has intense training for its new recruits. And therefore an individual personality buildup, as well as all persons are competing with each other, to bring in more income to the organization.
This conclusion too may be one of comparisons in your mind. Let me explain. Since 1948 our population has been appreciably expanding in quality of life, better education services, health, infrastructure, and in many other spheres. And with the beginning of the central schools and free education parents had a dream come true by admitting their children to such selected schools. Right now we have over 25 universities, locally built and there is freedom to study in international schools as well as foreign campuses in Sri Lanka.
Now, I am not going to bisect or dissect the class system of those students who attend these schools.
I believe in a level education system in whatever the school the 4.5 million students who are coming out into society.
Now, the plantation industry economy, which the Dutch and British setup and maintained in our country cannot be compared to the type of expansion in the economy and all the services I have mentioned including the public services. A large number of students takes their degrees in arts science, economics, mathematics.
Have we got the facilities to give a finishing school touch to such young scholars, who are newly recruited to the public service? So, naturally with no peers to emulate and follow they are in a world of their own. They read less shy away from indulging in the best of the arts circles, seeing good films and associating with somewhat academically elite company.
Honestly, I have observed even in the high class banks and other commercial institutions, how the public and the staff members interact. There is hardly any courtesy, politeness amongst those who serve the public.
Backwardness arises out of an individual inclination to emulate those peers, who don their uniform to enhance their own personality and the lack of communication in the national languages.
Q Do you think the Establishment Code, Administrative and Financial Regulations are sufficient to prevent corruption, financial irregularities and mismanagement in the public sector?
Please let me say this. Any service is a collection of individuals. What is our education for? Is it to sell our souls for a mere pottage as Sir Thomas More said as far back as 1500 in Great Britain? It is an individualistic choice. Without a change of heart corrupt practices can never be eradicated.
All that could be done is to take preventive measures. Sandun you mentioned several Codes of the Govt. for punitive action. Most of these codes have their beginnings in 1832 from ColebrookCameron Administrative Reforms. However, quite a number of advisory notes have been issued by heads of department, the General Treasury beseeching the public sector employees regarding fiscal discipline and financial propriety.
One such authority issued, if I remember right, in the year 1967 by Mr. Jinadasa Samarakkody, the Secretary to the General Treasury-a very astute and highly competent senior public officer is a case in point.
Let me recount the gist of his thoughts on financial priority of Ministry Secretaries and senior heads of the service.
In the area of procurement, calling of tenders and such other more responsible decision making it is always good to carry out the rules and regulations as given the Financial Regulations. However, one could always go for the greater good of the many and in good faith one could deviate, of course giving reasons for such deviation.
QWhat are the remedial measures you suggest?
Ships are secure when in anchor, but are ships made for that? So, then with prevarication of immediate solutions for the development of the public service since 1948 the negative aspects are being continued.
Even now its not too late to put the act together by embodying such edifying resolutions into the new Constitution being be drafted.
There are several retired senior public service personnel with maturity and still with basic intelligence intact, who are ready to serve the government if a brain storming team could be appointed with a view to administrative reforms that could be formulated to help resolve these issues.
S-lon Lanka, the premier water management solutions provider and market leader of PVC pipes in Sri Lanka, has partnered the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Yarlpanam (CCIY) to co-sponsor the 2017 edition of the Jaffna International Trade Fair (JITF) to be held in January 2017.
This was announced at a press briefing held at Hotel Ramada recently.
Speaking on the occasion, Manager Business Development and Trade Marketing Shalinie Navaratne said that S-lon had been a regular participant during the last four years as it considers Jaffna a lucrative business destination with vast potential for those in the construction industry.
She further noted that the trade fair had continued to grow in leaps and bounds every year and had been renowned as the best and most potent platform for the meeting of investors and masses in the region.
Navaratne also reiterated the fact that the huge turnout of exhibitors year-on-year shows that the business community value the opportunity of exhibiting their products and the JITF provides the business community an opportunity to explore and forge partnership options between the North and South and help industries to make inroads into the Jaffna peninsula and international market.
S-lon Lanka will showcase the entire range of water management solutions and other allied products that form an integral part of the construction industry.
The eighth edition of the JIFT exhibition scheduled for January 2017 will be held at the Municipal Grounds, Jaffna as in the previous years.
The event is organised by Lanka Exhibition and Conference Services (Pvt.) Ltd (LECS) together with the Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Yarlpanam (CCIY) with the support of the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau (SLCB).
The Sri LankaPakistan Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce will be partnering with the High Commission of Pakistan in Sri Lanka, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and Sri Lanka Export Development Board to organise the Business Matchmaking Session at the Single Country Exhibition of Pakistan from January 13 to 15, 2017, at the BMICH, Colombo.
Following the successful conclusion of the Single Country Exhibition of Pakistan held in 2016, the Sri LankaPakistan Business Council has already initiated promoting the Business Matchmaking Session amongst the members of the council with a view to assist the members to establish potential business partnerships with business conglomerates attending the exhibition from Pakistan.
More than 150 Pakistani companies are looking at local partners to expand their business in Sri Lanka. Hence, preregistration is required to attend the business-to-business (B2B) meetings.
The exhibition will display an array of products such as engineering products, auto parts, agro foods, textile and clothing, designer wear, handicrafts, traditional textiles, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery, including promotion of various services where strong partnerships could be established to further strengthen trade between Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The Sri LankaPakistan Business Council will help the organiser of the exhibition to promote the event among its membership and to organise B2B meetings between Sri Lankan and Pakistani businessmen.
It will also organise a Pakistani Food Festival and a cultural exhibition alongside the
main event.
Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka in 2016 crossed little over 2.05 million, growing at a rate of 14 year-on-year (YoY), yet below the revised government target of 2.2 million tourists, the data released by the countrys tourism office showed.
This was resulted by a slower tourist arrival growth of 9.1 percent year-on-year (YoY) to 224, 791 touriststhe third lower YoY arrival growth in 2016.
Arrivals from Western Europe in December grew 9.3 percent YoY to 68, 355 tourists, with arrivals from the UK and Germany increasing 9 percent to 20, 446 and 5.9 percent to 11, 904, respectively.
South Asian arrivals grew 5.7 percent yoy to 59, 573 with Indian arrivals growing 7.1 percent yoy to 37, 945. But arrivals from Maldives fell 2.2 percent yoy to 15, 912.
Tourists from Eastern Europe grew 17 percent yoy to 22, 502 in December with higher arrivals from Russia and Ukraine. China accounted for more than half of the East Asian arrivals in December total arrivals from the region grew 11 percent yoy to 36, 345 and Chinese arrivals growing 21.9 percent yoy to 19, 318.
Arrivals from Middle East fell 6.3 percent yoy to 6721 with fewer tourists from Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates visiting the island nations. However, tourist arrivals from Israel rose almost 30 percent yoy to 1, 068.
Tourist arrivals from Australasia rose 14.3 percent yoy to 15, 601, with higher number of tourists coming from Australia and New Zealand compared to the previous year.
On a cumulative basis, Western Europe, in 2016, was able to retain its position as Sri Lankas largest source market with 643, 333 arrivals, up 16.5 percent yoy.
South Asia was second with cumulative arrivals of 513, 536, up 11.8 percent. Arrivals from India topped 350, 000the highest number of tourists from any countrygrowing at over 12 percent yoy.
East Asia became the third largest source market for Sri Lanka in 2016 with cumulative arrivals of 425, 161, up 17.2 percent yoy. Chinese arrivals throughout the year grew at the faster rate of 26.4 percent. yoy to 271, 577.
Lottery ticket agents and salesmen who flocked in front of the Colombo Fort Railway Station on Tuesday were of the opinion that the price hike was unfair, and that it would eventually discourage customers from buying lotteries. On the contrary, many others believed that the price hike was fair as long as the commission they received from the sales also increases.
However, trusted sources revealed that there were approximately 300,000 street lottery sellers in Sri Lanka. According to what we gathered from the protestors at Fort, this figure included a number of disabled persons whose sole income was from the sale of lottery tickets. Undoubtedly, their courage and will to survive have to be feted and felicitated. But we questioned the perfectly-able individuals who also included a significant number of young able bodied men, as to why they chose the sale of lottery as their means of living.
Lottery sales, a daunting task
- Priyantha Obadarachchi, lottery salesman from Hambantota
The minister has spoken as if a lottery ticket agent could be recruited overnight. This is not a job that could be done with a training of few days. The tickets we sell may be only Rs. 20, but the commitment we take is worth much more. We spend days in a small cubicle space, sun or rain, taking great care of our cash, maintaining our accounts and then convincing people to try their luck. We are only demanding a fair recognition for our toil.
History of the Lottery
Initially, the lottery was set up in Sri Lanka by the government to finance the impoverished health services sector. Accordingly, the Hospital Lotteries Board was established in 1955 according to a proposal by the then Local Government Minister. In 1960s, the government felt the need to widen the scope of activities of organised lottery as the country was in a dire need of funds for development. Hence, the Hospital Lotteries Board was abolished and the NLB set up in 1963. A Benz car was on offer in its first draw the Jathika Lottery in 1965.
Many years lapsed, lotteries were renamed and televised and daily draws were introduced, signalling the beginning of an obsessive practice for the most hopeful of hopefuls. It has been 46 years since the introduction of the NLBs Mahajana Sampatha, the countrys most popular lottery ticket. NLB boasts that 16.5% of the turnover is contributed to the Consolidated Fund through this ticket. What does this mean for an island nation obsessed about the idea of winning the jackpot?
Sale of dreams, set alight by aspirations
Prof. Daya Amarasekara, Peradeniya University Sociology Dept.
Impoverished people are in a constant chase of dreams and aspirations. When they feel defeated, a lottery offers them renewed hope. They are in a constant chase of finances, this pursuit comes to a point where individuals are compelled to earn more and more through whatever means they see possible. A lottery offers you that, Prof. Amarasekara explained.
People think respect and reputation come through money. They are misguided with beliefs that this form of gambling brings a person status and character, so much so that it has now become the norm. The Technology Development helps them in their ideologies to establish these ideas further. To add to this burden, the relationship between generations are weak. So, even for the elderly, a lottery ticket is much more than just a ticket. It offers them a reason and will to momentarily escape alienation and isolation. That is why we come across individuals who have been buying lotteries for over 20 to 30 years. Age is not a barrier for this gamble, the professor said.
The math of distraction
Sri Lanka has a plethora of lottery tickets on sale under the banners of the NLB and DLB. In the most popular lottery under the NLB, the Mahajana Sampatha is drawn four times a week. It involves the selection of an alpha-numeric number from a machine comprising seven compartments. Each compartment contains 25 letters or numbers. When the draw takes place, one character of the alphabet except letter I and a six-digit number are drawn as the winning combination. But what does this mean for those who buy the lottery ticket with dreams of winning big?
We approached Mathematician Mithrarathna Kanaththage to do the math for us. According to him, the chances of hitting the jackpot with the Mahajana Sampatha lottery are 1 in 25 million. Mr. Kanaththage broke down the formula in simple terms as following. Given the numerical combinations of 001 to 999, the probable winning numbers amount to 25 million combinations. What is even more mind-boggling is the super prize of Rs. 10 million is only awarded for a winning combination drawn every 7 or 8 draws, meaning that more prize money is allocated every time there is no winner for a draw. According to data available for this calculation, the NLB earns a revenue of around Rs. 50 million each week. Even though the jackpot is not awarded, consolation prizes amounting to Rs. 20-30 million are awarded to respective alpha-numeric combinations. Still, the NLB earns several millions in profits, weekly through this venture.
As the unity government is keen on cutting down waste and unnecessary expenditure in government departments and statutory bodies, it certainly is not prudent to consolidate the various Lottery organisations in the country. However if the price hikes are introduced to uplift the lives of lottery dealers as the Finance Minister claims, we are forced to ask, at what cost will these measures pay off?
The lottery optimises its game to draw the most money out of people, and the lottery dealer -- a seller of dreams-- thriving on hope himself. The money is supposed to go to various developments and social services. We doubt if the ordinary buyer of dreams were aware of his or her chances of winning in exactly 25 million possible outcomes, the development and social service oriented lotteries would seem far less dignified and the gamblers increasingly disheartened.
A crash on northbound US 67 just after noon Tuesday claimed the life of one and left two seriously injured.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol report, James Luksza, 32, of Farmington, was driving his 2002 Honda Accord northbound on U.S. 67 south of Cash Lane when the vehicle went off the right side of the road and struck a tree.
James Luksza was seriously injured and was taken to St. Anthonys Medical Center by St. Francois County Ambulance. James Luksza Jr., 5, was seriously injured and taken to Mercy Jefferson by Joachim Plattin Ambulance and later airlifted to Cardinal Glennon. Chasen Luksza, 3, was taken to Parkland Health Center in Bonne Terre by St. Francois County Ambulance and was pronounced dead a short time later.
The patrol is seeking charges against Luksza for possession of methamphetamine, driving while intoxicated (drugs), involuntary manslaughter, possession of marijuana under 35 grams, assault in the second degree and endangering the welfare of a child. All charges are pending warrant application.
They are presenting preliminary reports to the PA to consider charges, stated Missouri State Highway Patrol Spokesperson Corporal Juston Wheetley. The kids, neither one of them were buckled. Charges will be reviewed by the prosecutor and they may pick him up tonight depending on how injured he was.
Wheetley added the troopers went down to the prosecuting attorney to work on a probable cause statement to get a warrant.
He was traveling northbound on U.S. 67, lost control of the car and went off the right side of the road, up an embankment and struck a tree, said Wheetley.
Wheetley added both children were seated in a booster seat, but were not seat belted into the car. The 3-year-old was seated on the drivers side of the car behind the driver in the backseat.
When they impacted he struck the back of the drivers seat because he was not restrained, explained Wheetley. He hit hard. The 5-year-old was behind the passenger seat.
St. Francois County Ambulance District Administrator David Tetrault said De Soto Rural and Big River fire departments, along with two ambulances, were dispatched to the accident.
Then we asked for a third one from (Joachin-Plattin Ambulance District) and fourth one to move up into our county from Valle, said Tetrault. We had three critical patients and the most critical went to (Parkland North) and the 5-year-old went to Mercy Jefferson in very critical condition.
Tetrault said the man was taken to the trauma center at St. Anthonys Hospital in St. Louis.
The 3 year-old boy, who was in very serious condition, was taken there because air services were unavailable due to the weather conditions, said Tetrault. (The child) was taken to the closest hospital, (Parkland) North, where efforts were made to stabilize the child without success and he was pronounced at the hospital.
Tetrault added the father was alert and combative with multiple injuries of the upper and lower areas of his body. He was treated with splinting, IV, monitor, dressings and oxygen therapy. He was still in serious condition when he arrived at St. Anthonys trauma center.
The third (ambulance) had the 5-year-old boy, who was also in serious condition and couldnt be airlifted due to the weather conditions, said Tetrault. He was taken to the next closest hospital, Mercy Jefferson, where efforts were made to stabilize the child for possible fractures of the lower legs and or pelvic area. He was airlifted to Cardinal Glennon and as of now his injuries were confirmed to be only a pelvic fracture at this time, but is still in serious condition.
Tetrault wants to encourage those who need a car seat for their child or just need it checked to make sure they are in the correct sized child seat to come see them.
Its free and this will save your childs life, said Tetrault. We have car seats and technicians to install them at our House #4 at 2600 Anchor Drive off 67 (at Parkway) in Park Hills. The child seat that the children were in were not the correct size or seat. I want to make sure that this doesnt ever happen again.
The Daily Journal will provide more details as they become available and charges are filed.
In an unrelated crash, two Potosi residents were injured on Jan. 2 at 1:04 p.m. on Highway 21 north of Tin Can Road in Washington County.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Katherine Watters, 39, was driving her 2011 Chevrolet Aveo north on Highway 21 when she failed to negotiate curve to the left. Her vehicle went off the left side of the road and struck an embankment.
Watters was taken to Washington County Memorial Hospital by Washington County Ambulance with minor injuries and her passenger Peyton Gray, 54, was also taken to the same hospital with moderate injuries. Both were wearing seat belts.
Citigroup Inc. is one of the worlds largest financial institutions. It is the 13th largest bank globally by assets and 8th by market cap with operations in consumer and institutional banking. In the US, Citigroup is the 3rd largest bank by assets and one of the Big Four deemed systemically important and too big to fail.
Citigroup Inc. was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York. The bank was run by Samuel Osgood who led the company with success for many years, even throughout the War of 1812. The bank was later renamed the National City Bank of New York in 1865 and by 1895 is the largest bank in the US. In 1913 it was the first contributor to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a few years later it began to expand into overseas territories.
The bank became the First National City Bank of New York after another merger in 1955 and then later, the New York part was dropped off as part of the 150th-anniversary celebration. By 1974 the company is known as Citicorp which is still the operational branch of the business and a global banking powerhouse. A merger with Travelers insurance group in 1998 resulted in the name Citigroup but the joint venture did not last. By 2002 Travelers was publicly traded once again but Citigroup retained the new name.
Today, the company is headquartered in New York, New York but boasts more than 200 million customer accounts in 160 countries worldwide. As of mid-2022, it operated 2,649 branches in the United States, Mexico, and Asia. The company reports nearly 725 branches in the US and 1499 in Mexico with the rest scattered throughout its territory. Total annual revenue topped $75 billion in 2022.
Citigroup is a diversified financial services holding company that owns Citicorp among other assets. The companys mission is to serve as a trusted partner providing responsible financial solutions to its clients. Citigroup provides financial products and services to consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions. The company operates in two segments, Global Consumer Banking (GCB) and Institutional Clients Group (ICG).
The GCB segment offers traditional banking services including deposit and saving accounts, credit cards, personal loans, home loans, and investment services. This segment operates through local branches and digital means. The ICG segment offers wholesale banking products and services to corporate, institutional, public sector, and high-net-worth clients.
Parkland residents are waking up to mostly sunny skies but cold and blustery conditions this morning as the region's weather takes a more seasonal turn.
A bitter cold weather pattern moving into the area today and continuing through Friday means it's going to feel like a typically cold January in Missouri with highs not expected to climb out of the mid-20s until Saturday when daytime temperatures hovering around the freezing mark.
Don't be fooled this morning if the thermometer reads 30 degrees because it's going to feel much colder. In fact, the National Weather Service is forecasting wind chills in the mid- to high-teens. That means the kids need to be bundled up well for school and a winter jacket will serve as a practical fashion accessory whenever venturing outdoors.
Clouds will be increasing throughout the day as a low pressure clipper system moves into the region, bringing light snow showers across southeast Missouri tonight through Thursday afternoon. NWS is predicting snow accumulations ranging from a light dusting to an inch or so of snow. As of press time Monday night, it appeared that a heavier band of snow could travel through St. Francois County.
In any case, travel during the morning rush hour could see some slick spots and low visibility so it would be good for motorists to allow themselves extra time on the way to work.
After Thursday's winter precipitation, the temperatures will still be cold, but there doesn't appear to be any more on the horizon until at least the middle of next week.
For the latest on winter weather in the Parkland, check out the Daily Journal website at www.dailyjournalonline.com.
A New Years Day pursuit ended with law enforcement recovering a car that was reported stolen out of Springfield, Missouri.
Farmington Police Chief Rick Baker said at about 1:45 to 2 a.m. an officer on patrol saw a silver Buick car at the intersection of Maple Street and Maple Valley Drive.
His attention was drawn to the vehicle because it did not display a license plate on the front, said Baker. He was able to get the license plate number off the rear of the vehicle and it returned to a 2013 Buick passenger vehicle registered out of Springfield Missouri.
Baker said since it didnt have a front plate, he activated his lights and siren signaling the vehicle to stop. They didnt stop, so a pursuit ensued and continued northbound.
They failed to slow and disobeyed the posted stop sign at the intersection of Maple Valley Drive and Market Street, explained Baker. The vehicle then continued northbound on Maple Valley Drive disobeying the red lights and crossing Karsch Boulevard.
Baker said they then turned left onto Weber Road and accelerated to speeds of approximately 60 mph in a 30 mph zone. The pursuit continued on Weber Road, passed Wallace Road and approached Clover Lane.
At that time the office decided due to safety issues he terminated the pursuit, said Baker. A short time later a trooper located the vehicle in the 600 block of Clover Lane at a dead end. The vehicle was unoccupied and still running. The trooper contacted our department and had the officer respond to his location where they located some ID information leading to a person of possible interest in this case.
Baker added they ran the VIN on the car and discovered it had been stolen back in October from Springfield, Missouri. Due to it being stolen they did search the car and they found drug paraphernalia.
The vehicle was impounded by Buckleys Towing and we are at this point still investigating this incident, said Baker. We do have a person of interest we are attempting to locate.
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The city of Charlottesville is seeking a new company to manage the Market Street Parking Garage, signaling to the Charlottesville Parking Center that it could soon sever one of the ties between the embattled entities.
The city issued a formal a request for proposals from companies interested in managing the day-to-day operations and maintenance of the garage, which currently is managed by the CPC.
Additionally, the request says a potential contract also would require the new company to manage the surface parking lots at 411 E. High St. and 701 E. Market St.
Chris Engel, director of economic development for the city, said Tuesday that the current contract with the CPC can be renewed by April 1 for one year. Although the CPC will be able to submit a proposal, he said the city is more likely [to] negotiate a new contract with one of the respondents to the RFP.
According to the request for proposal form, any contract awarded will last one year starting April 1. The managing agent and the city would then have an option in each of the subsequent nine years to extend the contract by an additional year.
City Manager Maurice Jones said the RFP is not unusual.
We have periodically put the management of the garage out to bid. The last occurred in 2013, he said.
However, in an email Tuesday evening, Mark Brown, who acquired the CPC in 2014, said the citys decision to seek a new managing agent is another escalation.
Last year, Brown sued the city, alleging that city officials have prevented him from rightfully raising rates at another downtown parking garage the city and his company run in a public-private partnership.
Among Browns complaints are that rates at the Water Street Parking Garage are well below assessed market rates, and that they are lower than what the city charges at its garage on Market Street.
The city counter-sued, alleging that Brown acquired a greater stake in the garage from former stakeholders without giving the city its right to first refusal. While the case is seemingly over a rate dispute, city officials contend Brown has been orchestrating a private takeover of a garage that was originally built with the public good in mind.
The dispute has led to threats of an eminent domain case against the company, which at one point last year threatened to close the garage over the dispute.
After operating the Water Street garage through all of calendar year 2016 without a budget, the city and CPC have failed to pass a budget and rates for 2017. City officials maintain that the CPC is prohibited from ceasing operations at the garage regardless of whether theres budget in place.
A meeting of the Water Street Parking Garage Condominium Association directors was held in November, but both sides remained deadlocked on the matter of rates.
Us old folks are going to move on," said Throneburg to students, "and youre the ones who are going to inhabit and run this world."
Last in a 12-part series.
The areas abundant amount of charities aid countless people, but they also inspire others to do more for their community.
For Ashton Ryan, 16, that vibrant strain of community caring has been a constant in his life. But it wasnt until his 12th birthday that he became a fixture in the community for his efforts.
I said I want to have a giant party, and I want to invite the entire town. But everyone has to bring a coat, Ashton said.
His mother, Kim Ryan, said she thought a coat drive was a lovely idea, but that itd be hard to get it organized just a few weeks before his Nov. 10 birthday.
Kim told her son they could do a birthday dinner anywhere he wanted. Ashton asked if they could have it at Cicis Pizza at Seminole Square. Calling ahead to arrange a birthday dinner at the restaurant, she explained that her son originally had wanted to hold a coat drive, as well.
Serendipitously, she said, the area manager answered her call.
He said he wanted to hear more about it and invited us to speak, Ashton said. The whole marketing group for the shopping center was there. I told them about the idea, and it all happened there.
The annual coat drive Ashtons Birthday Wish was born.
In just the first year, more than 600 coats were collected.
From that moment, he wanted to do it bigger. He said he wants to reach all the kids in the state, Kim said.
Since then, the annual party has brought out tons of people from the community friends, classmates, relatives, other charities, firefighters and police officers who have donated more than 6,500 over the five-year period. Each year, those coats are donated to local schools, churches, the Salvation Army and other charities.
This past fall, two parties were held at the Pantops Shopping Center. And a third party was held in the Richmond area.
Kim said Ashton has always been interested in the welfare of others, and suspects that he might have inherited that concern from those around him while he was growing up.
I think he has great role models who are people who care about the community. And Im thankful that hes grown up seeing that and wants to be that same way, she said.
His first time volunteering was as a baby, Kim said, explaining that she would carry Ashton on her hip while organizing her own charity events, such as Easter from the Heart.
As Ashton got older, Kim would bring him to the Hope Community Center in Charlottesvilles 10th and Page neighborhood. It was there that Ashton continued to see how those in the community would rally to help those in need.
Ashton was always around, said Josh Bare, former director of the Hope center. Hes a great kid with a great family, always going above and beyond, willing to help other people. Its a lot of self-sacrifice you dont see every day.
What seems to amaze some people is Ashtons consistency in the face of his own challenges.
Ashton suffers from a medical complication that causes back and leg problems. He is currently a homebound student. But those issues have not dampened his enthusiasm to reach out to others.
Last year, the citys Human Rights Commission passed a special resolution recognizing him for all of the other work he has done, including serving on the citys Youth Council, speaking to students at elementary schools and bringing gifts to homeless children in shelters during the Christmas season.
Beth Cheuk, city schools spokeswoman, said Ashton has been instrumental in helping to shape an experimental program with a robot that has a video camera, which essentially allows him to telecommute and participate in his math class at Charlottesville High School.
Ashtons been a very helpful and enthusiastic proponent of the project, not only for his own sake but because he recognizes that the robot system also has the potential to help students who are away from school stay connected socially, Cheuk said.
Ashton said hes thinking about studying game design or animation after high school. But aside from that, he said he wants to continue helping people. I want to make the town safer and more connected and community oriented, he said.
Community activist Charles Alexander, also known as Alex-Zan, said Ashton is a blessing to the community.
Its all been put on by a young man who is concerned for his community, Alexander said about Ashtons annual coat drive. He has no self-serving agenda. I thought it was honorable of him with his health issues to be looking beyond himself to help others Hes creative and imaginative. I dont see him slowing down. This is a part of him.
RICHMOND Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Tuesday that hell push legislation this year to end Virginias practice of suspending the drivers licenses of people who fail to pay court costs and fines after a criminal conviction.
The governor included the proposal in a broader package of criminal justice reform measures announced Tuesday morning at a news conference in Richmond. The General Assembly session convenes Jan. 11.
McAuliffe also called for raising the states monetary threshold for grand larceny from $200 to $500 and said hell push to allow convicts to petition courts to prove their innocence if new DNA evidence emerges, even if they pleaded guilty to the crime.
McAuliffe, a Democrat, called his proposals common sense reforms, but he demurred when asked how much support he expects to have in the Republican-controlled General Assembly.
McAuliffes proposal on the drivers license issue, already the subject of a class-action lawsuit and scrutiny from the U.S. Justice Department, would also end suspensions for offenses unrelated to driving.
The Charlottesville-based Legal Aid Justice Center, a nonprofit, is challenging the suspension policy in federal court, arguing it punishes the poor by stripping them of the ability to drive to work and earn money to pay off their fees. More than 900,000 Virginians had their licenses suspended last year because of unpaid costs or fines, according to the group. In roughly 40 percent of those cases, the group says, the underlying offense had nothing to do with driving.
The state is contesting the lawsuit, saying it makes an argument that should be settled by state policymakers, not the courts.
On Tuesday, McAuliffe echoed the lawsuits main argument that the suspensions impede Virginians ability to work.
That means that that factory worker from Floyd County whose job is 30 miles away in Christiansburg cannot lawfully drive to work and earn money to pay off those fines, McAuliffe said. It makes no sense.
The legislature has already rejected numerous attempts to raise the states grand larceny threshold, which has been unchanged since 1980. Making the case for an increase, McAuliffe said a pair of Nike shoes that cost $65 in 1985 goes for $250 today, a price that means stealing them could mean a felony instead of a misdemeanor.
Im not here to excuse theft, McAuliffe said. But I am here to say that there has to be some proportionality in the punishment our courts hand out.
Though some Democrats want to raise the threshold to $1,000 or more, the $500 amount has drawn bipartisan support in the past. The GOP-held Senate passed an increase to $500 last year, but the bill died in a House of Delegates subcommittee chaired by Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle. Bell could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
McAuliffe declined to outline what efforts he has made to build Republican support.
Until I get into the session, I dont talk about who were meeting with, McAuliffe said.
Charlottesville police are investigating a sexual assault that reportedly occurred on New Years Eve near the University of Virginia.
On Jan. 1, a woman told UVa police she was raped the night before sometime between 7 p.m. Dec. 31 and 6 a.m. Jan. 1. at a home on Chancellor Street. Police said she told officers she met a college-age man at a local restaurant and was later physically and sexually assaulted.
Police describe the suspect as a white male with a thin build and brown hair, standing 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Charlottesville police Detective Kirby at (434) 970-3604.
BLACKSBURG Gov. Terry McAuliffe vowed Wednesday to veto any legislation he receives from Virginia lawmakers similar to North Carolinas controversial bathroom bill.
His statement comes one day after Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William, prefiled the Physical Privacy Act. The bill stipulates people must use the restroom, locker room or changing room that corresponds to the gender assigned at birth as opposed to the gender with which they identify. The measure would apply to restrooms located in public schools, universities and government buildings.
Asked about the proposal after an unrelated event Wednesday at Virginia Tech, McAuliffe said he would strike down all legislation that inhibits anyones individual rights.
Stay away from the socially divisive issues, he said to legislators. We are not going to put a wall up around Virginia.
Marshall said he doesn't introduce legislation based what McAuliffe likes and doesn't like. Virginia would be lucky to be as business-friendly and collect as much tax revenue as its neighbor to the south, Marshall said.
The staunchly conservative delegate cited Forbes' annual Best States for Business list, which for the second year in a row, ranked North Carolina second, despite House Bill 2. The state's tax revenue also far exceeded expectations last year
"Too bad we're not like North Carolina," he said. "North Carolina is doing very well."
McAuliffe also noted a series of recent job wins for the commonwealth, arguing that businesses choose to come here because the state is open and welcoming, among other reasons.
He pointed to CoStar, which last year announced plans to bring 732 jobs to Richmond. McAuliffe said the company was headed toward North Carolina, but changed plans because of that states bathroom law.
Forbes magazine estimates North Carolinas House Bill 2 has led to $630 million in lost business for the state from the NBA pulling its all-star game from Charlotte to companies such as PayPal halting expansion plans and musicians such as Bruce Springsteen and Ringo Starr canceling North Carolina show dates.
Last year, Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, introduced a bill requiring people in state-owned buildings to use the bathroom corresponding to their biological sex. The bill died in committee.
We will not tolerate that, McAuliffe said Wednesday. Look at what happened in North Carolina.
Marshalls proposed HB 1612 goes a step further than North Carolinas bill by requiring public school principals to notify the parents of a child who requests to be recognized or treated as a member of the opposite sex, which could lead to school officials outing transgender students. Transgender people often do not subscribe to traditional gender roles and do not self-identity with the gender assigned to them at birth. Outing or publicly identifying someone as transgender without their consent can be an intense emotional experience for the person involved.
The bill protects students' health and affirms the status quo, Marshall said. Boys and girls have been sent to bathrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms rooms corresponding to their gender for decades.
More importantly, girls should not have to change in front of a boy simply because a male student says, "hey, I feel female today," he said.
"If you have a 14-year-old daughter, do you want her changing in front of a 17-year-old guy?" Marshall said. "I think I know the answer."
Virginias bill would also allow a person who encounters a member of the opposite sex in the restroom or changing facility of a state-owned building to sue the government entity that controls the building. The person suing may be awarded damages for physical and emotional pain, according to the bill. The bill stipulates the government buildings may install single-occupancy restrooms, changing rooms or locker rooms to avoid any confusion.
They have yet to override one of my vetoes, McAuliffe said of lawmakers. If they send more to me, I will veto it and they wont be able to override it. And all theyre doing is giving Virginia a black eye.
Last week, Marshall also proposed a resolution asking the state legislature to declare pornography a public health hazard.
The challenge of finding space for high-tech companies, which in turn can fuel the best kind of local growth, may have moved toward a solution with news that a downtown building has been leased in order to provide affordable space to early-stage businesses.
Whats more, nearby buildings including the large-footprint Main Street Arena are being eyed by the same company, generating speculation that the entire area might be converted into an innovation district.
Taliaferro Junction has leased Citizens Commonwealth Building at the foot of Vinegar Hill, intending to offer affordable space to new businesses.
Downtown Charlottesville has become a magnet for start-up companies and tech businesses. Both employees and entrepreneurs enjoy the vibe of the Downtown Mall and appreciate the nearby restaurants and night spots.
It doesnt hurt, either, that the University of Virginia is just up the hill and down the street. UVa is a business generator both through companies spun off from university research and also from graduates who leave the university with their own ideas for new businesses.
Our area also attracts businesses from elsewhere, such as those developed by entrepreneurs who now want to escape the big-city rat race but dont want to sacrifice every benefit of city living.
Both Charlottesville and Albemarle want to lure high-tech businesses because they provide good-paying jobs without the environmental damage typically associated with industrial development.
But there has been much consternation over where to put them.
University research parks meet some of the need, as do many private business locations. The university also has its i.Lab, and the city has its Charlottesville Technology Incubator. Other efforts are underway to provide business space, or employee technical training, or development support and advice.
Still, according to many entrepreneurs, a need continues to exist for the right kind of space, at the right location, in the right quantity, at the right price.
Thats why the development community is intrigued by the recent announcement that Taliaferro Junction had leased the Commonwealth Building to provide affordable space for young businesses.
Further news that Taliaferro Junction is considering buying the Main Street Arena and the Escafe restaurant fueled speculation that it might sponsor an innovation district. The company says it wants to erect a 21st-century office building.
A centralized location offering high-tech space at reasonable prices is one of the things entrepreneurs say they want. They also want to be situated in close proximity to each other, so that they can share ideas and generate the mutually beneficial excitement of discovery. Success then fuels success and the community as a whole benefits.
To employ a decidedly pre-tech metaphor, we shouldnt count our chickens before theyre hatched. Nonetheless, the prospect of a downtown innovation district of this size and quality is a hope worth encouraging.
The first day of the year marked the second consecutive week that flu levels in Virginia have been widespread, according to the states Department of Health.
But those levels are not necessarily worrisome yet, said Sarah Fenno, the states influenza surveillance coordinator. Widespread flucharacterized by cases of influenza in at least half of the regions in the stateis pretty typical for this time of year.
Around December through March we see a lot of increases in flu cases, and especially around the holiday, Fenno said.
Still, the spike in influenza cases makes prevention all the more important, she said, and the flu vaccination is the best way to ward off the illness.
This years flu vaccine, Fenno said, is a good match to the strain circulating this season.
Thats very good news, she said.
And because the flu season usually lasts until May, she said it is still vital that people receive their vaccines now. She said the peak flu season typically happens between January and March, and the flu vaccine usually takes two weeks to become fully effective in the body.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Virginia is one of eight states in which the flu has been reported as widespread.
Dr. Gonzalo Bearman, the medical director of infection prevention at VCU Health, said the flu level in Virginia has by no means reached epidemic or pandemic status.
But VCU Healths (emergency department) does have heightened awareness about it, he said. Our hospital has now vaccinated all health care workers to minimize the risk for infection within the hospital.
While the flu vaccine may not be 100 percent effective in preventing the flu, Bearman said it still provides a very good level of protection and can also prevent the flu from becoming too severe if an individual does contract it.
There are other prevention tactics people can employ to avoid the flu in addition to the vaccine, though. He said ending habits that heighten risks for infection, such as smoking and heavy drinking, is the first step, as well as getting enough sleep.
Getting appropriate sleep is critically important for our immune systems, as well as having good hand hygiene and washing hands frequently, especially before eating, he said.
Bearman also recommended practicing respiratory etiquette, such as covering the mouth when coughing or sneezing and staying away from private environments when youre sick.
If I were invited to a cocktail party tonight, I wouldnt be going if I werent feeling well, not only for myself but for the people who would also be there, he said.
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New Delhi: Realty firm Godrej Properties today said over 300 apartments of Godrej Greens housing project in Pune have been sold within two months of its launch despite a slowdown in the market.
This represents more than 75 per cent of the 400 apartments that were opened for sale, making it one of the most successful recent residential launches, the Mumbai-based developer said in a statement.
However, the company did not disclose the sales booking value of 300 flats.
Godrej Greens, a part of a larger 31 acre residential development at Undri, is spread across 10 acres. Godrej Properties MD and CEO Pirojsha Godrej said, "We are thrilled with the customer response to Godrej Greens. We consider Pune a critical growth opportunity for our company and hope to have many more successful launches in the city."
Godrej Properties is currently developing residential, commercial and township projects spread across approximately 11.98 million square meters (129.56 million square feet) in 12 cities.
New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh today opposed the definition of 'State' in the draft Integrated Goods and Services Tax law, saying it would force states to forgo revenue that is due to them.
"The definition excluded the jurisdiction of territorial waters abutting the coastal states. The state has been levying VAT (Value Added Tax) on the transactions taking place in the territorial waters extending up to 12 nautical miles from the coast since independence," Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said in a statement.
The minister said the state is realising around Rs 600 crore per annum on the sales of bunker fuels to long-distance vessels and also from gas explored in territorial waters.
"If the jurisdiction of territorial waters is taken away from the states it would result in loss of revenue to all the coastal states," added Ramakrishnudu. In fresh roadblocks to GST rollout, states today demanded taxation rights for sales in high seas under the proposed the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) law.
At the eighth meeting of the all-powerful GST Council, states, including TMC-ruled West Bengal, CPM-led Kerala and Congress-ruled Karnataka, pressed for including area up to 12 nautical miles in the definition of states within IGST, holding up finalising of the draft law for levy of IGST on inter-state trade.
Some states earn as much as Rs 600 crore and Gujarat gets Rs 1,200 crore revenue from taxing sales in high seas.
As per the Board's data, the shipment of robusta variety coffee increased by 21 per cent to 2,01,979 tonnes from 1,67,466 tonnes
New Delhi: India's coffee exports rose by 18 per cent to 3,60,949 tonnes during the 2016 calendar year on strong demand and higher international prices, according to the Coffee Board.
In value terms also, the outbound shipments of coffee increased by 8.13 per cent to Rs 5,568.13 crore even as the export realisation was lower at Rs 1,54,263.42 a tonne. As per the Coffee Board's latest data, the overall coffee exports increased to Rs 3,60,949 tonnes in 2016 from 3,05,680 tonnes previous year.
"Our export volumes have gone up because we had record 2015-16 crop and international prices improved in the second half of 2016," a senior Board official told PTI. Re-export of value-added coffee rose substantially during 2016.
Much of the coffee was exported to Italy, Germany and Russia, he said. The official said that average export realisation for the year was lower because global coffee prices improved only in the second half of the year.
As per the Board's data, the shipment of robusta variety coffee increased by 21 per cent to 2,01,979 tonnes from 1,67,466 tonnes, while that of arabica coffee jumped by 18 per cent to 51,648 tonnes from 43,785 tonnes in the said period.
However, the export of instant coffee remained lower by 10 per cent at 25,546 tonnes in 2016 when compared with 28,366 tonnes in the last year. Though the total shipment volumes were higher but the export realisation remained lower at Rs 1,54,263.42 per tonne in 2016 as against Rs 1,68,460.14 per tonne previous year.
During last year, coffee grown during the 2015-16 crop year (November-October) was exported. Normally, shipments peak during the March-June period. Presently, the new coffee is being harvested and traders of the view that the arrivals have slowed down due to demonetisation.
Coffee output in the 2016-17 crop year is estimated to decline to 3,16,700 tonnes from the record level of 3,48,000 tonnes achieved last year, due to severe drought in some key growing states, especially Karnataka.
Mumbai: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday cleared the air on speculations around presentation of Union Budget 2017 in Parliament in first week of February.
He said that there is no such plan as yet to postpone the annual budgetary exercise. The government has announced that it will hold the Budget on February 1.
Jaitleys clarification on holding Budget presentation comes in the backdrop of chief election commissioner Nasim Zaidi announcing dates for elections to five sate assemblies on Wednesday.
Jaitley added that due to announcement of assembly election dates and subsequently model code of conduct coming into force, several political parties approached government with an appeal to postponed Budget date.
Earlier in the day, CEC Nasim Zaid had also said that countrys apex election body was considering an appeal by political parties to postpone the budget which does not seem to be happening as of now.
New Delhi: Terming Google "as much an Indian company as American", IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said it needs to play a larger role in the domestic market by tailoring its products and working more on cyber security.
"Google is as much an Indian as American. The sheer extension which I would say... the manner in which people of India have accepted you... therefore, Google has as much obligation for India as you have for the US and the world," Prasad said at a Google event here.
He stressed that Google India needs to tailor its operation more to the country's psyche.
"Google India needs to tailor its operation more to India's psyche, local languages, local aspirations, local products... India's digital economy is going to be USD 1 trillion plus in the coming 3-4 years," he said.
Stressing that Google should be more involved, the minister highlighted areas including cyber security where the technology giant could play a bigger role. A growth of digital payments will lead to stronger challenge of cyber security, which "our Prime Minister has termed as a bloodless war", he said. "I would appeal to Google to work more to ensure digital security... There has to be greater technological strengthening of the IT walls," he added.
There has been a spike in digital transactions across platforms like mobile wallets, UPI and USSD after the liquid cash crunch following the government's move to scrap old Rs 500 and 1,000 notes.This has put digital payment companies under severe scrutiny as users and experts question their preparedness to deal with cyber attacks.
New Delhi: Controversy plagues the presentation of the Union budget as the ruling NDA seemed to be in no mood to defer it even after the Election Commission (EC) announced the poll schedule on Wednesday. Moving away from the tradition of presenting the Budget on February 28, the Centre had on Tuesday officially advanced the day to February 1.
While there were apprehensions that the Budget could influence voters if presented before the conclusion of the elections in March, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley claimed on Wednesday evening that there is no requirement for a delay.
Bracing for a showdown with the Centre on the issue, the Opposition parties on Wednesday asked the EC to prevent the government from presenting the Budget before the conclusion of the elections.
Claiming that the Budget could influence voters, BSP chief Mayawati requested the EC to instruct the Centre to present the Budget only after completion of polling in all the five states in March.
The EC should instruct the central government not to present the Budget on February 1, and just as 2012, it be presented only after the completion of polling on March 8, she said.
In 2012 , the UPA government had deferred the Union Budget to March 16 when the same five states Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur went to polls. Chief election commissioner (CEC) Naseem Zaidi said that the EC would examine the representations made by the political parties.
That the government is not willing to budge became somewhat evident as Mr Jaitley pointed out that even in 2014 the Budget was presented before the polls.
Reacting to the Opposition charges, Mr Jaitley said that these are the same parties which say there has been no positive effect of demonetisation so why are they worried about date of the Budget.
Former Chief Election Commissioner T.S. Krishnamurthy and N. Goapalswamy told the media that the Union budget would have to be cut to a vote-on-account only if this was a Lok Sabha election.
T.S. Krishnamurthy pointed out that any sops announced for the country without being specific to the poll-bound states will not violate the model code of conduct code which came into effect on Wednesday.
Opposing the Centres move to present the Budget on February 1, the Congress maintained that since Independence, the Budget was traditionally presented on February 28.
Fearing defeat and leaving aside the good traditions of Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to present the Budget before the elections, Congress spokesman Ajoy Kumar said. He pointed out that in 2012, the BJP had raised objections on the same grounds, and the then UPA government had only presented a vote-on-account.
Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad also wrote a letter to the CEC in which he said, It is a collective and serious concern of the Opposition parties that advancing the presentation of the Budget will provide an opportunity to the government to make populist announcements to influence voters.
Sara will soon be making her big-screen debut in a film by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions.
Mumbai: Sara Ali Khan, Saif Ali Khan's gorgeous daughter is yet to make her B-town debut, but she's already become a regular at the gossip circles.
Karan Johar's prized Dharma import has been associated with most big upcoming projects, including Zoya Akhtar's Ranveer Singh starrer 'Gully Boy' and Hrithik Roshan's upcoming dramedy by Karan Malhotra.
Though Sara has been rumoured to be in a steady relationship with former Maharashtra CM Sushil Kumar Shinde's grandson Veer Pahariya, latest rumours suggest that she's actually dating another much sought after star-kid.
And the lad is none other than Shahid Kapoor's half-brother and her fellow Dharma upcoming protege, Ishaan Khattar.
This comes as no shock as the two were also rumoured to be debuting opposite each other in Karan Johar's official remake of Nagraj Manjule's Marathi blockbuster, 'Sairat'.
However, since nothing has been confirmed as yet, apart from the fact that the two would be making their respective debuts soon, it remains to be seen if they'd be seen together.
However, seems like the two have taken a liking for each other, way before a film together could materialise.
Madhavan, who made a strong comeback with Sudha Kongaras Irudhi Suttru, is planning to do at least four films this year. It was announced that the actor would star in the Tamil remake of the Malayalam film Charlie, to be directed by AL Vijay but the film is said to be put on the backburner for now. Currently, Madhavan is busy wrapping up his portions in Pushkar-Gayathris Vikram Vedha.
Now, the actor is in talks for another bilingual, which will be made in Tamil and Hindi. This movie will be directed by Malayalam director Sangeeth Sivan, brother of famed cinematographer Santhosh Sivan. Sangeeth Sivan says, We have initiated talks with Madhavan to play the lead role in the film. But, he is yet to sign on the dotted line. We will come up with a formal announcement by the end of January. This untitled venture is said to be a family drama involving a father and his young daughter.
After wrapping up Vikram Vedha, the actor will shoot for Sarkunams next in which he is rumoured to play the role of a hunter. It is unclear when he would begin shooting for Sangeeths project.
he crisis had begun when talks between representatives of theatre owners and producers and distributors over the percentage of box-office collection failed to reach a consensus last month.
Mumbai: With the rift between Malayalam film exhibitors and producers over revenue sharing continuing and new releases being stopped from screening, eminent director Priyadarshan today requested Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to intervene in the matter to resolve the crisis. He said the Exhibitor's Federation used to create issues in the industry every year citing different subjects from revenue sharing to wide releases, pushing Malayalam cinema into a crisis.
"The Film Exhibitors Federation has always tried to destroy Malayalam cinema. At a time when Malayalam cinema enters the Rs 100 crore club, a permanent solution should be found to end this," he told reporters here when his reaction was sought on the matter.
"We now have a strong Chief Minister who can take strong decisions. The personal intervention by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will surely help break the deadlock," he said.
The 'Kilukkam' director also added that strong and long-lasting decisions are needed to end the crisis and protect the interest of Malayalam cinema.
The dispute between exhibitors, producers and distributors has pushed the state film industry to a standstill for the last 20 days with no new releases even during the Christmas season.
The crisis had begun when talks between representatives of theatre owners and producers and distributors over the percentage of box-office collection failed to reach a consensus last month.
According to industry sources, producers and distributors did not accept theatre owners' demand for 50 per cent share of theatre revenue.
The crisis has affected release of a number of movies, including Mohanlal-starrer Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol and Dulquer Salmaan's Sathyan Anthikkad-directed movie 'Jomonte Suvisheshangal'.
With the rift continuing, the producers and distributors recently withdrew all Malayalam movies from 'A' class theatres in the state.
The concept of the New Year 'detox' with all-natural products is appealing to those less concerned with evidence-based medicine and more with complementary medicine. (Photo: Pixabay)
London: New Year 'detox' may do more harm than good, warn doctors after a woman in the UK who was drinking lots of fluids and taking various herbal remedies developed a potentially life-threatening complication.
Doctors from Milton Keynes Hospital in the UK said that patients should be advised of the potential harm of undertaking a New Year 'detox', especially if it involves consuming excessive amounts of fluid or alternative remedies. The previously fit and well 47-year-old woman had been consuming more fluids and herbal medicines than usual, including valerian root, over the New Year period.
She was admitted to hospital following a brief period of confusion and repetitive behaviour, such as teeth grinding, which lasted for an hour. She then collapsed and suffered a seizure. Her family said that she had increased thirst over the past few days and had been drinking more water and tea as a result, but they did not note this to be excessive.
She had also been taking herbal remedies for various minor symptoms and was regularly consuming milk thistle, molkosan, l-theanine, glutamine, vitamin B compound, vervain, sage tea, green tea and valerian root. The patient reported that she had more recently been under increased stress and suffering with low mood and had been increasingly taking them all together.
The doctors say her initial confusion and seizures were caused by hyponatraemia - a condition where there is an abnormally low level of sodium in the blood. However, they were uncertain what the cause of the condition was. After researching the herbal remedies used by the patient, the doctors discovered one case of a man with a history of anxiety who had seizures due to severe hyponatraemia.
His symptoms developed after consuming a large amount of herbal remedy that contained valerian root, along with lemon balm, passion flower, hops and chamomile. The doctors said that in both patients, the fluid intake did not seem to be excessive enough to cause such a low sodium level, which requires consumption of more than 10 litres per day for someone with healthy kidneys.
They explain it may well be that the valerian root altered this threshold, and enabled hyponatraemia to develop at an earlier stage. "Valerian root has been suspected in two cases associated with severe, life-threatening hyponatraemia and healthcare professionals should be vigilant to this," they said. "The concept of the New Year 'detox' with all-natural products is appealing to those less concerned with evidence-based medicine and more with complementary medicine," the doctors said.
"Excessive water intake as a way of 'purifying and cleansing' the body is also a popular regime with the belief that harmful waste products can thus be washed from the body." However, they warn that "despite marketing suggesting otherwise, all-natural products are not without side effects." The findings were published in the journal BMJ Case Reports.
Gifting up to one ounce of Marijuana is legal though (Photo: AP)
Boston: Sound business sense and salesmanship is all about being able to deliver what your clients want despite all kinds of obstacles. This might require a lot of effort and imagination when it comes to selling a product which isnt supposed to be marketed.
Growing and possessing marijuana was legalised in Massachusetts in November after a ballot, but the governor signed a bill barring individuals from selling weed till mid 2018.
Sandwich bags have been a great way to carry around a quick bite at work or on a short trip, but an entrepreneur in Boston has come up with a novel idea to sell marijuana using these bags. He is selling these for $20 to $325, as they come with free marijuana inside.
While the strategy is clever since up to one ounce of marijuana can be legally gifted to someone, the seller went wrong since he advertised the gift on Craigslist.
After the North-western District Attorney David Sullivan described the ply as ridiculous and fraudulent on New England Public Radio and clarified how its illegal, the entrepreneur changed the description of his listing to,
Im not advertising free marijuana gifts. Oh no. Im just saying that Im awesome. E-mail me and we can go out for dinner. And talk more about the subject. smoke a fatty. And chill. Im not advertising free marijuana gifts.
Today is Princess Niloufers 101st birthday. When she was in Hyderabad, married to Prince Moazzam Jah, she dressed immaculately but wearing very few jewels. Her favourites were her pearl earrings, and the seven-strand pearl necklace. Only very rarely did she sport a brooch.
If jewels could speak, this brooch would tell a long tale because it has an interesting and unique provenance.
In 1869, the Emperor of France, Napoleon III and his wife, Empress Eugenie visited Istanbul in Turkey. At that time, Sultan Abdul Aziz, ruled the Ottoman Empire. On social occasions during the visit, Empress Eugenie sported a diamond belt buckle on her dress. The jewel sparkled and glittered in the dazzling light of the chandeliers in the palace. Many of the Turkish ladies, watching the Empress from behind latticed screens, were impressed by the sparkle in the buckle. When word went back to the Sultan about the buckle, he resolved to get it copied.
The piece that belonged to Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III of France.
But how do you get an Empress to show her belt buckle? In the end, it was very simple. A jeweller was invited to an event where the Empress was to be present. Assuming that the Empress would be standing for some time, the jeweler dressed as a woman and stood behind the latticed screens.
Unfortunately for him, the Empress was carried away by the music from the Turkish band and danced the entire evening. The jeweller did the best he could to observe and copy the pattern of the buckle. You can see the Empresss buckle and what the jeweller created.
Although not exactly the same, the result was still quite an astounding masterpiece. Having designed it, the jeweller then set about fixing the diamonds. To maximise the reflection, he cut each diamond in the shape of a rose. It took 40 diamonds to complete the brooch. When he showed it to the ladies at the palace, they were suitably impressed.
The piece made for Sultan Abdul Aziz, which was finally handed over to Princess Niloufer
This buckle passed from Sultan Abdul Aziz to Sultan Murad V. In turn, Murad V gave it to his granddaughter, Princess Adile Sultana. When Adiles daughter Niloufer married Moazzam Jah in 1931, this buckle was part of her wedding trousseau. As soon as she reached Hyderabad, Princess Niloufer realised it would be of no use in a land of sarees. She had a pin installed on the back of the buckle, and used it as a brooch. After her divorce in 1952, Princess Niloufer went to Paris. Much later, when she married Edward Pope, she had changed to wearing clothes in the European style. The brooch was not used much, and it lay consigned to a box. After her death, Edward Pope moved back to USA. When he married Evelyn Maddox, he gave her the brooch.
Upon Edwards death, Evelyn distributed many of the Niloufer papers and paraphernalia to institutions. Due to my interest in Hyderabads history, Evelyn gave me the papers and photos of Princess Niloufer, along with the rights to their use.
However, Evelyn Pope did not give me the brooch. It is only after her death in 2014, that her son got in touch with me. He had known that I was his mothers friend and offered me the brooch for a price, but I turned it down.
However, a few weeks later, when the brooch was listed for auction, I feared it might disappear, and felt the extreme urge to own it. It now sits in a safe box in a bank in the United States.
Arvind Acharya is a management consultant in New York. He can be reached at arvindach@gmail.com
All the 11, including Jamalu, died on the spot, while two others were admitted to a hospital where their condition was stated to be critical. (Photo: Representational Image)
Amethi: A man allegedly hacked to death 10 of his family members and then committed suicide in Mahnoa locality in Amethi, police said on Wednesday.
45-year-old Jamalu first fed pesticide to 12 family members and later hacked to death 10 of them. He then hanged himself, Superintendent of Police, Santosh Kumar Singh said.
All the 11, including Jamalu, died on the spot, while two others were admitted to a hospital where their condition was stated to be critical. Police is probing the matter.
The victim said that the youth entered the toilet and raped her. They then threatened her and told her not to inform anyone about the incident. (Photo: Representational Image)
New Delhi: The Delhi Police on Wednesday apprehended two juveniles for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl inside a public toilet at a transit camp in Anand Parbat on December 31 last year.
A case has been registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act.
The incident took place when the girl was going to a nearby shop to buy groceries and had stopped at the public toilet.
She said that the youth entered the toilet and raped her. They then threatened her and told her not to inform anyone about the incident.
The girl, whose family relocated here from Kathputli Colony after the recent demolition, went back to her tent and stayed quiet. However, her mother came to know of it when she complained of pain in the abdomen.
She was taken for a medical examination where doctors confirmed that she was sexually assaulted.
India attracted 8.91 lakh foreign tourists in November, registering a growth of 9.3 per cent over 8.16 lakh in November 2015. (Photo: Representational Image)
New Delhi: Sustaining growth momentum in foreign tourists arrivals despite demonetisation and push for adventure tourism were some of the highlights of Tourism Ministry in the year gone by which also saw a controversy over Aamir Khan's exit as mascot of Incredible India campaign. During the year, the Ministry also failed to roll out the much-awaited Tourism Policy despite several assurances.
The year began with the controversy over Aamir's exit from Incredible India campaign over his perceived intolerance remark though the government maintained its contract with the creative agency which had hired the actor for the campaign had expired.
There was speculation that the new mascot may be either Amitabh Bachchan or Priyanka Chopra but the year ended with no official announcement in this regard.
It was otherwise a good year for the ministry with 78.53 lakh overseas travellers arriving in India during the January-November period, registering a growth of whopping 10.4 per cent as compared to 2015's corresponding period figure of 71.14 lakh.
India attracted 8.91 lakh foreign tourists in November, registering a growth of 9.3 per cent over 8.16 lakh in November 2015, negating fears of adverse impact on the sector due to withdrawal of high currency notes, a decision which caught people in the industry by surprise.
Foreign exchange earnings (FEEs) from tourism sector rose by 14.7 per cent at Rs 1,38,845 crore during January-November as compared to Rs 1,21,041 crore in the corresponding period in 2015.
To give push to adventure tourism, the Ministry also set up a task force for resolving issues related to development and promotion of adventure tourism in the country.
One of the major initiatives of the ministry in 2016 was the launch of round-the-clock Incredible India helpline in 12 languages, including Hindi and English.
The Ministry also launched 'Swachh Paryatan App' for 25 'Adarsh Smarak Monuments' protected by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) wherein travellers can lodge their complaints about uncleanliness in and around the identified monuments by uploading photos with remarks.
During the year, the ministry approved 29 projects worth Rs 2,497.29 crore for Swadesh Darshan scheme under which 13 circuits, including Northeast India Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Tribal Circuit, Ramayana Circuit and Heritage Circuit, which have been identified for development.
The year also saw a three-day investors' meet in which over 1,800 delegates participated and over 85 MoUs were signed, aggregating close to Rs 15,000 crore investment in tourism sector.
The Ministry also organised the fifth edition of the International Buddhist Conclave in which over 250 delegates from around 39 countries participated.
India signed MoUs with Maldives, Qatar, South Africa and Kyrgyz for strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism.
Mumbai: Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Abu Azmi on Wednesday came forward with another sexist comment, putting the onus on women again for their own safety and security, saying the women should take precautions in order to save themselves from incidents of molestation and sexual exploitation.
"If my money gets robbed, I won't keep it at the same place again. I won't leave it on the police to sort it. Similarly, our daughters will have to take precautions of giving no chance to a person to be molested. This is not an insult, but words of respect," Abu Azmi told ANI.
Justifying his earlier comment regarding the Bengaluru molestation incident stating that "short dresses" were the reason behind it and that "it had to happen," Azmi said he respects women and treats every girl like his own mother and daughter.
Read: Today naked women called modern: SP leader Abu Azmi on B'luru molestation
"I am being misquoted. Nothing is above mother and mother is a woman. I can even sacrifice my life for daughters. So how can I insult women? Law is not being followed properly in the country. If a girl goes out at 12 in night, she gets kidnapped. Delhi witnessed such a big case of rape (Nirbhaya) which led to national outrage. The provision of hanging the rapist, what Islam talked about 1500 years ago, also came to being but still there seems to be no decrease in the number of crimes related to rape and molestation," he said.
"I am addressing all the women of India as my own mothers and daughters then how can I insult them? The guilty in the Bengaluru molestation incident should be caught and strictly punished," he added.
Holding once again western culture responsible for heinous crimes such as rape and molestation, Azmi said the movies produced these days show obscenity, nudity and vulgarity.
"The movies which show the kind of fashion and scenes, it would not allow any father to watch it with her daughter. The people following the Indian tradition would not be able to watch such naked movies. I have witnessed it myself. When such movies come on television, either my daughters move out of the room or somebody changes the channel," he said.
Expressing his concern for all the girls of the country Azmi said, "I just want my daughters to be safe and not be available to any molester."
Abu Azmi received wide flak over his sexist comment regarding the mass molestation incident.
"In these modern times, the more skin women show, the more they are considered fashionable. If my sister or daughter stays out beyond sunset celebrating December 31 with a man who isn't their husband or brother, that's not right," he said.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) issued summons against the minister on Tuesday, the reply of which has to be given within his five days of receiving it.
Arrested sand mining contractor J. Sekhar Reddy and his associates coming out of the XI Additional Special Court for CBI Cases, in Chennai on Tuesday. (Photo: DC)
Chennai: CBI has registered two more cases against former Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam board member Sekhar Reddy, his associates K.Srinvasulu and K.Prem Kumar in connection with two instances of cash seizures by the income-tax department in which new Rs 2,000 notes worth Rs 8 crore and Rs 1.63 crore were seized.
The three were already arrested by CBI for the seizure of Rs 24 crore worth of new notes and are lodged in Puzhal prison. In the latest two cases also the CBI had listed unknown bank officials and public servants as suspects and cases were registered under criminal conspiracy, cheating as well as prevention of corruption act.
Income-tax sleuths had seized Rs 131 crore cash and 177 kg gold during raids at the premises of Tamil Nadu PWD sand contractor Sekhar Reddy and his associates in the second week of December. The seizure had later led the income tax sleuths to the doorsteps of the then chief secretary P.Rama Mohana Rao and his son Vivek Papisetty.
Income tax department has seized Rs 8 crore of new Rs 2,000 notes from the residence of Sekhar Reddy in Sudhama Building on Vijayaraghava Road, T Nagar on December 9. Sekhar Reddy is a government contractor who operates majority of government run sand quarries in Vellore and neighbouring districts. The other seizure of Rs 1.63 crore of new Rs 2,000 notes was made at his residence at Yogambal Street in T Nagar.
The three suspects, with help of unknown public servants converted unauthorised cash held by them in old currency notes in to new Rs 2,000 notes, thus depriving the public in enforcing their rights. The bank officials had helped the suspects to change the old notes in large scale for their own benefits," a CBI official said.
Sekhars case goes to new CBI court
In a sudden twist, the Principal Special court for CBI cases, Chennai on Tuesday transferred the new currency exchange case registered against sand mining baron J. Sekhar Reddy and his business associates from the court to the XI Additional Special Court for CBI Cases. As the Principal Special Judge for CBI cases, G. Vijaylakshmi on Friday dismissed the police custody petition of CBI, the judicial custody of all the five accused is expected to end on Tuesday.
When the matter came up for hearing before the principal special judge, G. Vijaylakshmi, the CBI sought to transfer the case to the XI Additional Special Court for CBI Cases, which conducts trial relating to bank fraud cases.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate also registered a similar case against J. Sekhar Reddy and others.
The ED alleged that the officials seized new currency notes in the house of Sekhar Reddy at Venkat Narayanan Road, Chennai. The ED also filed a petition before the CBI Judge seeking Prisoners Transit (PT) warrant to inquire Parasmal Lodha, who allegedly assisted Sekhar Reddy in the conversion of the new currency notes. Lodha, a native of Kolkata, was arrested by ED in Mumbai last week and now detained in Delhi prison.
The XI Additional Special Judge K. Venkatasamy directed the personnel to produce Parasmal Lodha to assist the prosecution in the present case against Sekhar Reddy. The Judge issued the prisoner's transit warrant enabling Lodha to escort to Chennai and produce before the court.
New Delhi: Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday welcomed the Election Commission's decision to conduct single-phase polling in Punjab and expressed confidence that the grand old party would emerge victorious in the electoral battle.
The former Punjab chief minister told ANI that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) stand on chances, adding both parties will be rejected by the people.
"We will definitely give a strong competition to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party and we will show where we stand in Punjab," he told ANI.
Captain Amarinder further said former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will release the Congress Party's manifesto in the coming days.
"Our manifesto is very comprehensive and former PM Manmohan Singh ji will release this manifesto. We had requested the Election Commission to conduct polls in a single-phase in Punjab," he said.
The Congress, which is leaving no stone unturned to win the Punjab Assembly polls, has invited Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to Punjab to campaign for the grand old party.
"I requested Nitish for support in the Punjab assembly polls and was hopeful of getting the same," Captain Amarinder said earlier, adding that the Congress and Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) were working well together as an alliance in Bihar and had a lot to learn from each other.
Punjab will go for polls in a single-phase on February 4. The date of notification is January 11, the last date of nomination is January 18, the scrutiny of nomination will take place on January 19 and the withdrawal of candidature will take place on January 21.
Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi, who today announced the dates for assembly polls in Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur, said the counting of votes in all five states will take place on March 11.
Chennai: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Wednesday passes a resolution urging the Centre to lift THE ban on bull taming sport Jallikattu.
The resolution was passed in the DMK's general council meeting in Chennai.
Earlier in May 2014, the Supreme Court banned the practice of Jallikattu, citing animal welfare issues.
The Government of India later on January 8, 2016, passed an order exempting Jallikattu from all performances where bulls cannot be used, effectively reversing the ban.
The Supreme Court, however, on January 15, 2016, upheld its ban on the event, leading to protests across Tamil Nadu.
Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday asserted that leaders should not give false hope to students about government jobs as there are very few in the state.
"We have to guide students properly. Leaders shouldn't give false hope about government jobs. In our state, there are only three lakh government employees, eight lakh IT employees. We can't give government jobs to everyone," Rao said.
He further said that government can easily afford two and a half thousand crore rupee reimbursement and urged them not to make an issue out of it.
"Our government has already paid Rs. 4688.82 crore since we came into government. We won't create problem to students at any cost," he said.
He said that the state has the highest residential schools for Schedule Caste and minority students.
"20 lakh we are giving to each student for them to study abroad which has never been done by any government," he said.
"I spoke to engineering college students. They expressed their problems on lab issues and staff inadequate problems. I suggested them to merge two or three colleges and run together. That is the reason the number of colleges have reduced," he added.
New Delhi: The Election Commission is examining the representation of various political parties for not allowing the presentation of the Union Budget during the poll process of five states and will take a call on it soon.
Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said various political parties have represented to the Election Commission regarding the issue of presentation of Union Budget which is likely to be presented on February 1 by the central government as it falls during the election campaign to five states.
"The Commission has received one representation sent by some political parties. This representation is with regards to presentation of the budget. The Commission is examining this representation and in due course of time will take a call on this," he told reporters when asked about the issue.
Read: Advancement of budget is govt's attempt to win polls, alleges Oppn
Various political parties, including Congress, Left, Samajwadi Party and some others, have represented to the EC for not allowing the central government to present the budget during poll process as the sops that could be announced in it may influence voters in upcoming Assembly polls.
Replying to a query on EC's preparations on the Supreme Court judgement disallowing seeking of votes on religious grounds, the CEC said separate instructions are being prepared to help implement the apex court order during the Assembly polls to states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur which start on February 4.
"The law department of the election commission is preparing instructions based on the Supreme Court order. The order will further strengthen the hands of the commission and it wants all political parties to follow the order of the SC on their own as well," he said.
In a landmark verdict seeking to separate religion, caste and other issues from politics, the Supreme Court, by a majority verdict, had held as "corrupt" the practice of candidates appealing for votes on the basis of these identities included not only him but his agents and voters.
The court held that the provisions of the R P Act, which say that seeking vote by a candidate in the name of "his" religion, caste, race, religion and language in the election law, included candidates, his agents and voters also.
"An appeal in the name of religion, race, caste, community or language is impermissible under the R P Act, 1951 and would constitute a corrupt practice sufficient to annul the election in which such an appeal was made regardless whether the appeal was in the name of the candidate's religion or the religion of the election agent or that of the opponent or that of the voter's," the CJI, who concurred with majority verdict written by Justice M B Lokur, said.
Zaidi also said the use of black money in these elections is expected to reduce post demonetisation, but use of other "illegal inducements" in different forms may see an increase.
"In this upcoming election, the EC machinery will see what measures need to be taken to curb the use of black money post demonetisation. But, as per information received the availability of black money for use in the forthcoming election is expected to be less. As the poll process picks up, we will monitor it," he said.
Mangaluru: Police have registered an FIR against Dakshina Kannada BJP MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, after a jurisdictional magistrate court directed them to investigate an alleged hate speech by him.
In his speech on January 2, Kateel had allegedly said Dakshina Kannada district would be set on fire if murderers of Karthik Raj of his party were not caught within 10 days.
Raj, the son of former Mangaluru taluk panchayat president Umesh Ganiga, had died on October 23 last year after he was attacked by unknown assailants.
Kateel's reported remarks has evoked sharp criticism from all quarters.
The case has been registered under section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, police said.
Meanwhile, Kateel has clarified that he did not intend to disturb communal harmony.
The Court has sought more information on the incident while the police are awaiting further directions to take up the next course of action.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) M Shantharaju said Konaje police, where Congress leaders had filed complaint in this connection, would investigate the case.
Chikkamagaluru: Minister for Cooperation and Sugar, H S Mahadev Prasad (59) was found dead in a room at a resort in Chikkamagaluru Tuesday morning. The minister is believed to have suffered a heart attack while he was asleep.
In Chikkamagaluru, to attend the silver jubilee celebrations of the Transport Cooperative Society at Koppa, he had arrived Monday at around 8.30 pm and had dinner at former MLA I. B. Shankars home before returning to the resort.
His party leaders were asked to join him there the next morning so they could leave together for Koppa. But when Chikkamagaluru district unit Congress president, Vijaykumar and other leaders arrived at the resort at around 8. 30 am Tuesday, there was no sign of the minister and repeated calls on his phone went unanswered.
Growing suspicious, one of the minister's assistants and Mr Vijaykumar knocked on his door, but when there was no response, the room was opened with the help of the resort staff at around 9.45 am. The minister was found dead in his bed.
Mahadev Prasad passes away
Chikkamagaluru district surgeon, Kumar Naik, who examined him, said he had suffered a severe heart attack. In the past, Mr Prasad had undergone a bypass surgery and was on pacemaker.
"By the time I reached the room at around 10.25 am, he had been dead for at least six hours," the doctor said, adding that heart attacks were common during cold weather and Chikkamagaluru was one of the coldest places in the state. A collective decision was taken by the officials concerned not to conduct a post-mortem on the body.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was informed on the phone by Mr Vijaykumar about Mr Prasad's death, was expectedly, shocked at his sudden passing away. Several leaders paid their last respects to the minister before his body was taken to Chamarajanagar via Hassan and Mysuru for the last rites.
The victim, whose body was found in a naked state, was reportedly murdered on January 1. (Photo: Representational Image)
Idukki: The police on Wednesday arrested two labourers in Kerala's Idukki District on charges of raping and killing a 30-year-old woman.
The victim, whose body was found in a naked state, was reportedly murdered on January 1. She herself was a migrant labourer from Odisha and had been living with her husband in Kerala for the last one year.
The accused, identified as Viswanatham (54) and Prahladh Badra (20), were migrant labourers, who hailed from Tamil Nadu and Odisha respectively.
The duo allegedly hit the victim on her head with a sharp object, and raped her before abandoning her in a bush.
As per the postmortem report, the victim succumbed to her head injuries.
Kozhikode: The seizure of Rs 2,000-currency, amounting to Rs 1.34 crore and Rs 25 lakh, at Chennai and Mumbai airports within a week, has led to suspicion that new high-value denomination notes are being spirited out of the country to buy gold and repatriate it or facilitate terror funding.
Ever since the demonetisation announcement, Customs officials have been alert to clandestine operations by smuggling rackets, but they have been hamstrung by the acute staff shortage at airports and the focus on immigration to prevent dubious entries. This has by default lowered the vigil on currency smuggling. Customs commissioner K.N. Raghavan confirmed that there was alert on money being smuggled outside. However, there is a limit in security checks as priority is always given to the passengers and goods entering the airport.
Many are unaware that Indian currency cannot be bought and sold and it is a crime. Mostly, the new currencies are used for hawala transactions. We cannot rule out the possibility of it being used for anti-national activities since once they are converted into unaccounted money, the same can be used for any purpose, he said.
On December 22, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence seized Rs 1.34 crore of new Rs 2,000-rupee currency near Chennai airport and Mumbai Customs seized Rs 69 L, with Rs 25 lakh in Rs 2,000 notes. In the latter case, the passenger was travelling to Dubai.
Intelligence officials confirm that exchanging currencies is easy in GCC countries buy gold or other valuables. If other airports are smuggling new currencies to the Gulf, there are high chances that it is taking place in Kerala, which has the highest number of transactions with Gulf compared to any other state, an official said.
However, some officials suspect a nexus with bank officials, facilitating dispensing of bulk amounts to be sold to NRIs or tourists, visiting India, who find it difficult to queue up for withdrawals. The limit on withdrawals attracts people to buy money on the sly, though for a premium, the official added.
New Delhi: Karnataka has been directed to continue releasing 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu daily till the Supreme Court decides on tribunal order.
The top court said that it will conduct day-to-day hearing on the appeals filed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala against the 2007 award of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal (CWDT) on sharing of water.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra, Amitava Roy and A M Khanwilkar reiterated its October 18, 2016 order and said that it will remain effective till further orders and fixed the pleas on the vexatious dispute for final hearing on February 7.
On October 18, the apex court had directed Karnataka to keep releasing 2000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu till further orders.
The apex court had on December 9 upheld the maintainability of appeals filed by the riparian states, saying it has the "jurisdiction to decide the parameters, scope, authority and jurisdiction of the tribunal".
The court had earlier said that it would first go into the issue of maintainability of appeals filed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala against the award of tribunal and then hear arguments on the report filed by Supervisory Committee formed to assess the ground realities in the Cauvery basin region.
The Centre had raised a preliminary objection claiming that the CWDT award amounted to a final decree in the dispute and the apex court had no jurisdiction to hear appeals against the award of the tribunal.
But the states had contended that their appeals were maintainable saying the Supreme Court had the jurisdiction to adjudicate the appeals filed by the states against the award of tribunal and that no statute can take away the appellate powers of the apex court under Article 136 of the Constitution.
The defence in the court claimed that 2008 Malegaon bomb blasts case was fully fabricated and politically motivated by previous state and Central governments. (Photo: Representational Image)
Mumbai: Kin of Ramjee Kalsangra, one of the absconding accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case who according to a suspended ATS officer was falsely shown as "alive" though "dead" by high ranking officials, on Wednesday demanded a high level inquiry into the "revelation".
In a sensational claim, Mehboob Mujawar, suspended in connection with the Arms Act and criminal intimidation, had told a Solapur court in August that Kalsangra and co-accused Sandeep Dange are in fact "dead" but falsely shown as "alive" by high ranking police officers.
The application was filed by Mujawar before a magistrate court in Solapur in August.
"Government should thoroughly investigate Mujawar's revelation and find out who were the guilty officers. Photographs of two dead bodies are being circulated with this regard. But, I cannot 100 per cent say that one of them is of my missing brother. I don't have any evidence to prove that he has been eliminated," said Ramjee's brother Shivnarayan Kalsangra.
His remarks came amid reports attributed to Mujawar that the duo were killed in custody.
Incidentally, Shivanarayan was earlier arrested for three years in the blats case before given a clean chit by National Investigation Agency.
Ramjee's wife Lakshmibai, son Devavrat and Shivnarayan came to Mumbai from Madhya Pradesh and addressed reporters on Wednesday.
Lakshmibai said, "Whoever is guilty in this case must be punished" while Devavrat demanded that "guilty police officials must be hanged till death."
They said a high-level inquiry should be ordered into Mujawar's claims and guilty be punished.
Ramswaroop, brother of another suspect in the blasts case Dilip Patidar who has been missing since last eight years, and Dilip Nahar who was taken into custody for 20 days before given clean chit by NIA, were also present at the presser.
Their lawyer Prashant Maggu demanded that Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis should order an investigation into Mujawar's claims and "deliver justice to these families."
"Suspended ATS officer Mujawar had revealed in his affidavit that ATS eliminated Kalsangra and Dange in custody by ATS officers and their bodies were disposed of by falsely calling them as unrecognised victims of 26/11 terror attack," he alleged.
"After this revelation it is proved that the agencies like ATS were used for political gains," he said.
Maggu further said that 2008 Malegaon bomb blasts case was "fully fabricated and politically motivated by previous state and Central governments."
He claimed that Mujawar had written a letter to state DGP office, but the then government didn't take any action.
Kolkata: In a veiled warning to TMC to "mend its ways" or face consequences, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Wednesday wondered whether TMC MPs and party supreme Mamata Banerjee would be able to go around the country and enter New Delhi if his party starts protesting against them.
Furious over the attack on state BJP headquarters by TMC activists on Tuesday following the arrest of TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, Vijayvargiya lashed out at City Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar for tuning a "blind eye" to the attack on BJP office.
He urged the CBI to investigate the alleged role of Kumar in wiping out evidences against TMC leaders in the chit fund scam, during his tenure as the head of the state government-formed SIT.
Refuting allegations that CBI arrests in chit fund scams were a "political vendetta" against TMC as it has been opposing demonetisation, Vijyavargiya warned TMC to mend its ways and stop attacking BJP offices and workers or else the party would also not sit silently.
"We may not be as strong as TMC in Bengal. But in the entire country we are the strongest political force. I wonder if BJP workers in Delhi decide that TMC MPs would not be allowed to enter Delhi, would they be able to enter Delhi? The answer is no. If BJP workers decide to protest across the country, would Mamata Banerjee be able to roam the country freely? If TMC doesn't mend its ways, we will also not sit silently," he said.
"Is this is a democracy? Is this is a sign of law and order? For five hours, hundreds of TMC activists surrounded the BJP office and pelted stones, injured the workers, and police remained a mute spectator. Why is BJP being targeted?
BJP has no role in the CBI investigation, it is taking place under the orders of Supreme Court," he said.
Several BJP workers were injured and party office was vandalised when activists of the students wing of Trinamool Congress attacked the state party headquarters here with stones to protest the arrest of Bandyopadhyay in Rose Valley chit fund scam case.
"I'm being told that present Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar is a TMC man. He is the same person who allegedly covered up the Saradha chit scam and wiped out evidence against TMC leaders. We would urge the CBI to also look into the role of Kumar," he said.
Vijayvargiya warned police officials to work impartially or else they will face the music if BJP comes to power in next Assembly elections.
"The CBI is investigating the case under the instructions of Supreme Court following Abdul Manan's appeal to the apex court. Then how come BJP is accused of vendetta politics. You can oppose demonetisation as long as you want, you have this democratic right. But why are BJP workers being beaten up and our party offices are being attacked?" he asked.
When asked whether BJP would appeal for President's Rule in the state, he said, "Its too early to comment on it. But if things keep going on like this we will ponder over it."
New Delhi: Welcoming the announcement of a two-phase Assembly election in the state by the Election Commission, Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Wednesday slammed the Union Home Ministry for its report to the poll watchdog that painted a grim picture of the law-and-order situation in the state.
Heading a delegation of ministers and MLAs from Manipur, the Congress leader reached the national capital on Tuesday to raise the issue with President Pranab Mukherjee, the EC and the party high-command.
Though the meetings were held as per schedule, the EC's announcement that Assembly polls in Manipur will be held in two phases (on March 4 and 8), unlike the last time, came as a relief for Singh who is eyeing a fourth consecutive term.
"We had suggested to the EC that the polls should be held in two phases. We are extremely happy and grateful to it for announcing a two-phase election in the state and hope that our party will win again," the chief minister said.
The announcement came when Singh was on his may to meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Later, he met the President and Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi.
Speaking to reporters after his meeting with the President, Singh rubbished the MHA report, submitted on January 2, saying it had "wrongly" concluded that the prevailing situation in the state was "grave" and "not conducive" to conduct a free-and-fair election.
"I am told that there is a negative report sent by the MHA to the EC that the law-and-order situation in Manipur is not conducive to conduct free-and-fair polls. It is totally wrong and baseless," he said.
The MHA had stated in its report that the ground situation in Manipur in the aftermath of the blockade of two national highways by the United Naga Council (UNC) and the state government's "failure" to restore normal traffic even after 60 days was "grave".
The chief minister said issues such as insurgency, blockades, strikes were not unique to Manipur but the entire north-east was affected by them and that even in 2012, the state Assembly polls were boycotted by hill and valley-based underground organisations, including the PLA and the UNLF.
"The Congress in particular is not allowed to hold public meetings. But, ultimately the people support the party. They gave it a thumping majority in the last polls and even this time, there will not be any problem," Singh said.
It is learnt that the chief minister has told the CEC that that the situation was not as alarming as reported by the MHA.
Congress' Manipur election in-charge Ramesh Chennithala, who accompanied Singh during the meetings, accused the BJP of "attempting to impose President's Rule in the state in the garb of the economic blockade and insurgency".
Meanwhile, rival Manipuri and Naga groups staged separate protests here over the tense law-and-order situation in Manipur due to the imposition of the blockade by the UNC, following the creation of seven new districts by bifurcating the existing ones.
Mumbai: With Anna Hazare moving the Bombay High Court seeking a CBI inquiry into the alleged "Rs 25,000 crore sugar cooperative factories scam", the NCP on Wednesday dubbed the social activist as an "agent of the RSS".
NCP spokesman Nawab Malik alleged that Hazare was playing a role in the "RSS conspiracy" to defame senior NCP leaders like Sharad Pawar.
"Why is Hazare not protesting over any issue in the BJP-ruled Maharashtra," Malik asked.
Hazare recently moved the Bombay High Court seeking a CBI inquiry into what he termed a "Rs 25,000 crore sugar cooperative factories scam".
He filed two civil PILs and a criminal PIL seeking a CBI probe into the issue. The criminal PIL is listed for hearing on January 6 before a bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka.
The petitions alleged that fraud had been committed in governance by first burdening sugar cooperative factories with debts and thereafter selling these sick units at a throwaway price, causing loss of Rs 25,000 crore to the government, cooperative sector and members of public.
The petitions also demanded an inquiry by a Special Investigating Team (SIT) into alleged role of "politicians into the sugar cooperative scam, including NCP president and former Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and his nephew and former irrigation minister Ajit Pawar".
Tirupati: Difficulties that arose in wake of the note ban are slowly easing with the availability of new 500 rupee notes, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said, days after he stated the solution to the problems arising out of demonetisation remained elusive.
Chandrababu, who also heads the panel of chief ministers formed to give recommendations on how to promote digital payment systems, transparency, financial inclusion post note-ban, said the committee will soon give its interim report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Situation is easing slowly. People are using digital transactions. I am confident, we will move forward. 25 per cent transactions in Andhra Pradesh are digital. Very soon, we will give our report to the PM. It will be an interim report. We will study further and try to incorporate best practises from all over the world," he said.
Chandrababu, who initially had supported demonetisation, later said solutions to problems arising out of the note ban were still elusive. He had subsequently clarified his statement was misinterpreted.
Speaking at the Indian Science Congress, Chandrababu, in the presence of Modi, said, demonetisation was a bold decision and it, along with GST, is one of the biggest economic reforms since Independence.
"We can simplify business, eradicate tax evasion, and put an end to the parallel economy, which helps anti-social elements," he said.
The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister also said he wants to replicate another Silicon Valley success story in his state. He said, the state government is establishing an Innovation Society in each University and College, with incubation centres to promote start-ups.
"Andhra Pradesh has been in the forefront in promoting science and technology. Our government has launched the Andhra Pradesh Knowledge Mission as a first step in transforming our state into an Education hub and Knowledge State and to strengthen its research and academic base," he said.
The sanctioning of 11 prestigious central institutions to our state by the Union Government would also go a long way in buttressing our efforts in this regard. They will help develop core technologies with our own research and thus truly transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub," he said.
Karaikal: Police on Wednesday said a preliminary investigation into the murder of former Puducherry Agriculture Minister VMC Sivakumar in Karaikal suggested that previous enmity was the reason behind the killing.
Sivakumar was hacked to death at his native town Neravy-TR Pattinam in Karaikal district on Tuesday by an unidentified gang.
The gang had first hurled a country bomb on Sivakumar when he was inspecting a building construction work. However, as it failed to explode, they attacked him with sickles killing him on the spot.
District Senior Superintendent of Police V J Chandran said a preliminary investigation suggested that previous enmity between the gang members and Sivakumar was the reason behind the murder.
Chandran said a few months back Sivakumar had lodged a complaint fearing threat to his life following which police security was provided to him.
"The gang suddenly entered the construction site and threatened the police constable on security duty at knife point. They had snatched the away the gun possessed by the constable and hacked Sivakumar to death and fled the scene," Chandran said.
Three special teams had been formed to nab the culprits and trace the gun, he said.
Sivakumar belonged to the powerful political family in the district known as 'VMC family'.
In nine elections to the Puducherry assembly from 1977 to 2011, only the members from the VMC family have been elected from the Neravy-TR Pattinam constituency.
Apart from VMC Sivakumar, who was elected five times, other MLAs from his family include his elder brother VMC Varadhapillai and his son VMCV Ganapathy.
Only in the 2016, a person outside from the VMC family was elected in the assembly polls.
Between 1996-2000, he served as the speaker of Puducherry assembly and between 2000-01, he served as the agriculture minister. Until 2011, Sivakumar had been with the DMK. In 2011, he was denied DMK ticket and contested as an independent and won.
In 2015, he joined the AIADMK. Meanwhile, as tension prevailed in Neravy-TR Pattinam area, District Collector P Parthiban has issued prohibitory orders under section 144 of criminal procedure code till tonight.
All shops in the area remain closed. Vehicles from Nagapattinam towards Karaikal are plying via Nagore byepass road instead of entering TR Pattinam.
Kolkata: General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Wednesday asked Congress President Sonia Gandhi to clear her stand on the West Bengal ponzi scam. He wondered why her party was rallying behind TMC on the issue as the Supreme Court has ordered a CBI inquiry into it based on an appeal by Congress leader Abdul Manan.
"Sonia Gandhi should clear her party's stand on the ponzi scams in Bengal, because we are confused by the statements of the Congress leadership. Yesterday, the Congress had said that the CBI arrests are nothing but vendetta politics of BJP. But the CBI is investigating the case under the instructions of Supreme Court following Congress leader and now leader of opposition Abdul Manan's appeal to Supreme court demanding the same," Vijayvargiya said.
The Congress had on Tuesday alleged that TMC Parliamentary Party leader in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhyay's arrest by the CBI was "vendetta unleashed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his detractors" and wondered if it was in reaction to the "opposition unity".
"Even Rahul Gandhi during his election rallies in Bengal during last Assembly polls spoke against Saradha and Narada scams. He had also demanded that the culprits should be punished. So now what went wrong? Why are they making those self contradictory statements," he questioned.
Vijayvargiya said Congress leadership should clearly say whether they support ponzi scams and whether they want a CBI inquiry into it.
New Delhi: New Indian Army chief Bipin Rawat has said that India has the right to conduct more surgical strikes across the border if necessary.
In an interview to NDTV, Rawat said that the surgical strikes were meant to send out a message.
"If there are terrorist bases across and if they continue to disrupt the situation on our side of the LoC, then we have a right to take action against the terrorists, who are being supported from across by the adversary," he added.
As the Vice-Chief of Army Staff during the surgical strikes, Rawat had personally overseen the operation. He said they had been conducted in a well planned manner.
Extensive preparation was carried out and then it was executed, he said. The plans were kept on a need to know basis to ensure safety of the troops and the strike was being monitored "real time", he added.
Rawat, who was picked for the top job superseding two senior officers, credited his predecessor Dalbir Singh Suhag for the well-planned attack.
Perhaps commenting upon the outrage in the Opposition due to supercession of officers, Rawat said a government decision cannot be "influenced by individuals".
"We have broken bread a number of times, we have grown up together so I think we understand each other, he said of the two officers - Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi, who headed the Eastern Command and Southern Command Chief PM Hariz whom he had superseded.
Chennai: The ruling AIADMK's populist free bicycle scheme was on Wednesday formally rolled out by Chief Minister O Panneerselvam in Chennai for the academic year 2016-17 to students of class eleven, costing Rs 243.96 crore to the exchequer.
Late AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa had introduced the scheme during the 2001-02 academic year, benefiting students of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It was later expanded to students of those schools receiving financial assistance from the government.
At a function at the Secretariat on Wednesday, Panneerselvam handed over the bicycles to seven students as part of kick-starting the scheme, an official release said.
Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Minister V M Rajalakshmi, Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Minister S Valarmathi and senior government officials were present, it said. Earlier, Panneerselvam chaired a cabinet meeting at the Secretariat, sources said.
Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday told the State Legislative Assembly that two state-owned power discoms have signed a MoU with the Centre to join Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme.
Making a statement in the House, Rao said the two discoms in the state are having a long term debt of Rs 11897 crore (TSSPDCL- Rs 7392 crores and TSNPDCL - Rs 4505 crores) as on September 30, 2015 and under the Uday Scheme, the state government is taking over 75 per cent of the Discoms debt amounting to Rs 8923 crore.
"The balance loan amount of Rs 2974 crore will be restructured by the discoms by issuing bonds with Government Guarantee. As a result of taking over the loan by the state government, there is a relief of interest burden of Rs 890 crore per annum to the two Discoms and consumers at large.
Discoms will be able to raise funds with competitive rates from the financial institutions towards capital expenditures. The Government of Telangana is already providing a subsidy of Rs 4584 crore to the Discoms/Consumers, he said.
Taking a dig at the previous government for the state of affairs in power sector, KCR said the installed capacity of the state was 5863 MW as on June 2014 and his government initiated short, medium and long term measures to overcome the power problem.
He hoped that with the completion of pending power projects, the total installed capacity of the state will be about 27187 MW by 2019.
By 2019, 27187 mw power capacity will be there in our state. Then the state will become self sufficient in power sector. Additional power generation will be there even after meeting all the necessities (domestic requirement), he stated.
According to him, backed by better performance of Discoms, power finance companies such as Rural Electrification Corporation and Power Finance Corporation have reduced their lending rates to 9.95 per cent from 12 per cent benefiting Rs 200 crores interest per annum and overall Rs 2000 crores in a loan period of ten years.
Jammu: The terrorists, who attacked Uri and Nagrota army formations and Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir have not been identified as yet, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti told the state Assembly on Tuesday.
Replying to a question, Mehbooba said in written reply, as per reports, the ultras have not been identified so far.
The Chief Minister said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken up the investigation of two attacks.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is investigating Uri and Nagrota terror attack incidents. Cases FIR No 71/2016 and Fir No 221/2016 stand registered at police station Uri and Police station Nagrota respectively.
"Further case FIR No 149/2016 in respect of Poonch terror attack stands registered in Police Station Poonch and the matter is under investigation, she said.
On September 18 last year, four terrorists attacked an army camp in Uri town of Baramulla district, killing 17 soldiers.
On November 29, seven army men including two Majors lost their lives when three militants attacked an army installation in the Nagorta town on the outskirts of Jammu city.
On September 12 last, three militants were gunned down and a policeman lost his life when militants attacked two different places in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
To a question regarding the measures taken to check the recurrence of such incidents in the state, Mehbooba said several steps have been taken in this regard.
"In view of the continued threat of insurgency sponsored from across the border, a number of measures have already been put in place in the state to combat terrorist violence and improve the security situation, she said.
She said the measures include, maintaining greater synergy amongst various security and intelligence agencies, strengthening of counter insurgency grid, inceased alertness by second and third tier deployment along the Line of Control and the International Border.
Sharing of intelligence between Intelligence Agencies on real time basis, holding review meetings at various levels, maintaining sustained pressure on terrorists, carrying out a regular patrolling, area domination and searches by the district police with the assistance of security forces, keeping a close watch on the activities of anti social elements, strengthening of security of vital installations etc, she said.
Mehbooba said that in addition, the security forces, police have been briefed to enhance the level of alertness and maintain close vigil to check the recurrence of such incidents. The counter infiltration Grid has been strengthened further.
Asked for the steps taken to revoke AFSPA in J&K as per the promises made in the Common Minimum Programme, the Chief Minister said, The need and desirabilty of revocation of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in various areas of the state requires critical review of the security situation and other relevant factors."
Trinamool Congress activists shouting slogans in front of BJP State party office in Kolkata on Tuesday over the arrest of Sudip Bandyopadhyay. (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi: Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders on Wednesday marched to Prime Minister Narendra Modis residence to protest against the arrest of party MPs Sudip Bandyopadhay and Tapas Pal in the Rose Valley chit fund scam.
Earlier, coming close on the heels of the TMC attack on the state party headquarters of the BJP in Kolkata on Tuesday, West Bengal BJP general secretary Krishna Bhattacharya's house was attacked with bombs in Hooghly district on Tuesday night.
Three men, with their faces covered, came in a motorcycle to her house in Konnanagar Jorapukur Ghat at 9 pm on Tuesday and started hurling bombs.
They barged into the house, smashed a windowpane, damaged furniture, and abused and assaulted her, Bhattacharya said in her police complaint.
The BJP leader said in her complaint that it was the handiwork of "anti-socials harboured by the TMC".
She has been admitted to Uttarpara State General Hospital where her condition has been described as stable, hospital sources said.
The police said they rushed to her house after getting the information, adding that investigation was on.
District TMC leader Tapan Dasgupta said no party supporter was involved in the incident.
Several BJP workers were injured on Tuesday when activists of the students wing of Trinamool Congress had attacked the state party headquarters here with stones to protest the arrest of the TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay in the Rose Valley chit fund scam case.
Bhubaneswar: With the CBI bringing arrested TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhya to Bhubaneswar, a group of party activists on Wednesday staged a demonstration outside the agency's state headquarters in Bhubaneswar to protest against the action.
The TMC's Parliamentary Party leader was arrested by CBI in Kolkata on Tuesday for his alleged involvement in the Rose Valley Group's ponzi scam and brought in Bhubaneswar late last night.
Earlier, CBI had arrested another TMC MP Tapas Pal on the same charge and kept him in remand for three days.
A four-time Lok Sabha member and a minister of state in the Manmohan Singh government, Bandyopadhyay was arrested after he allegedly failed to give satisfactory answers to many questions and was found to be uncooperative.
Protesting against the arrest of TMC leaders, party supporters led by Ramnagar MLA Akhil Giri staged a demonstration before the CBI office in Bhubaneswar. Many members of the TMC's Odisha unit and its state president Arya Kumar Gyanendra
also joined the demonstration outside the CBI office in Bhubaneswar.
"The CBI has arrested Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Tapas Pal on political consideration. We'll certainly oppose the action.
The state unit of the TMC is planning a massive protest rally in Bhubaneswar on January 10," Gyanendra told PTI. Some prominent TMC leaders are being invited to the proposed protest rally.
A two-member delegation of the TMC also met the senior officials of CBI here and lodged protest against the arrest of Bandyopadhyay and Pal.
Sources in CBI here said Bandyopadhyay would be first sent to the Capital Hospital for medical examination before being produced in the CBI designated court. The investigating agency would seek remand of Bandyopadhyay as the TMC leader was not allegedly cooperating with the investigation, they said.
However, Bandyopadhyays lawyer Rajiv Majumdar said he would move a bail petition in the court as his client is unwell. "He is ill. We'll move a bail application in the court," Majumdar told reporters outside the CBI office here.
He also challenged the CBI to prove Bandyopadhyays involvement in the scam.
Sources also said CBI was planning to interrogate both Bandyopadhyay and Pal together as both have been arrested on the charge of their involvement with Rs, 17000 crore scam.
The Rose Valley Group has been accused of duping about Rs 17,000 investors in different states. While Pal was one of the directors of the Group, Bondyopadhyay is accused of being a promoter of the Ponzi firm.
Hyderabad: Alleging that tolerance level of the TRS government has come down, MIM Floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi on Wednesday accused Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao of running away from the fee reimbursement issue and denying fees to eligible students.
In a strain to the friendly TRS-MIM ties, Mr Owaisi announced that the MIM will fight for the rights of students, SCs, STs, BCs along with minorities and sought their support in the state and legislature.
In the Legislative Council, Leader of the Opposition Mohd. Ali Shabbir threatened to move contempt of House proceedings against the CM for failure to keep reimbursement promise.
Mr Owaisi said, Time has come for SCs, STs to rise and come together in Legislature to raise their voices against government.
He alleged that whenever government was on the back-foot, it denied the Opposition the opportunity of seeking clarification as the mike would be mysteriously switched off, as it happened on Wednesday, after the CMs reply.
CM saab has much time to discuss monkeys coming from forests into the city, ample time to discuss fish and fisheries, but no time for fee reimbursement, Mr Owaisi said.
He added, There is four-page note on fisheries ... two-page note on monkeys ... four-page note on trees but not even one page on fee reimbursement.
Disputing the CMs statement, Mr Owaisi quoted the governments official website which said that only Rs 984 crore was released towards fee reimbursement and not `1,400 crore.
He said a student admitted in 2014-15 in a course got scholarship and has to reapply again in 2015-16, 2016-17. Why? In SC department, 1,69,381 students are eligible for scholarship but only 1,40,761 were registered, in minority welfare department 80,000 are eligible but only 64,510 are registered. When they are eligible, all students must be registered, he said.
Hyderabad: On June 7 last year, a 70 year old man, who came to give application for a water connection, was electrocuted at a Mee Seva centre at Rajendranagar. The customer J. Ramulu, mistakenly touched an exposed electric cable on the window of the building. Police had found that the exposed cable was an extra fitting done by Meeseva employees to put an extra light bulb near the window. The cable was torn and the insulation was gone. The cable was hanging near the window near the Staircase to the Mee Seva centre. This death had created flutter in the area leading to a police investigation and arrest of three Mee Seva employees.
Similar to this there were also incidents of electrocutions in public places in city and in Telangana that attracted public outcry. Incidents of pedestrians getting electrocuted at Nampally in Old city, and other parts of city especially in rainy season had exposed the dangerous electric cables hanging on the streets.
National Crime Records Bureau data shows that electrocutions at public and private places in Telangana are dangerously frequent. Over 500 people were killed in electrocution in Telangana in just a year, NCRB data revealed. The number is highest among the southern states. 12 of the victims were electricity board employees while the rest were general public .
One of the shocking incident was when eight people belong to a marriage party were electrocuted and 10 others received critical injuries while they moving in a truck at Devula Naik tanda in Kangti mandal of Medak district late in the month of May last year. The low hanging cable had touched the truck killing those unfortunate people, said a senior police official.
Human rights activists claim that the TSSPDCL and the local municipal authorities, who are responsible for maintenance of the infrastructure, have not done much to ensure safety of public so far.
Leaders of a few trade unions and political parties extended support to the drivers and visited the camp. (Representational Image)
Hyderabad: The indefinite hunger strike held at Dharna Chowk on Wednesday by the Telangana Cab Drivers and Operators Association was foiled by the Gandhinagar police who took the leaders into preventive custody. Association president V. Shiva along with nine others were taken from the hunger strike camp and to the Gandhinagar police station.
Earlier, the leaders demanded that the Ola and Uber managements hold talks with the cab drivers and redress their demands. Leaders of a few trade unions and political parties extended support to the drivers and visited the camp.
By 5.30 pm, Chikkad-pally ACP J. Narsaiah and police personnel visited the camp and asked the organisers to vacate the place as permission was given from 10 am to 5 pm. The drivers refused, and asked the police to allow them to continue with the hunger strike.
Mr Narasaiah asked them to follow the rules and the police would give permission for the next day. The police gave them time to pack up. At about 6.30 pm, they arrested the leaders and took them to the Gandhinagar police station, where they were released.
Mr Shiva said he would continue his hunger strike till the managements redressed their problems. Drivers continued their protests across the city and tried to block cabs, A few cab service providers reportedly changed the number plates to avoid inconvenience to the commuters.
The Telangana government had expressed serious reservations on some of the amendments proposed in the Bill (Representational Image)
Hyderabad: After strong objections from the state, the Centre has reportedly set aside the proposed road transport and safety Bill, which had tough provisions for erring motorists.
The Union ministry of road transport informed the Telangana state government that the Bill was not being considered in its entirety, and only some amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act were being pursued.
The main objection to the proposed Bill was that it would take away the powers of state governments. The TS government had expressed serious reservations on some of the amendments proposed in the Bill, at the recent Southern Zonal Council Standing Committee meeting recently.
TS said the amendments would reduce the power of state governments to give licences, fitness certificate and others. Reacting to this, a representative of the Union ministry of road transport and highways said the Bill was not being considered at the moment.
The Centre had published the draft Road Transport and Safety Bill, 2014 to repeal the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. A senior TS official said that if the amendment Bill went through, the state government would not be able to formulate schemes or programmes which were state-specific.
The control of road transport, road safety and planning would be with the Centre, the officer told this newspaper. The officer said vehicle tax was a major source of revenue for the governments; taking over this power from the states would be against the spirit of the Constitution.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu till final orders are passed on the batch of appeals challenging the award of the Cauvery River Water Tribunal.
A three-judge Bench gave this direction while posting the appeals for final hearing from February 7, after brief submissions from senior counsel Fali Nariman for Karnataka, Shekar Naphade for Tamil Nadu, Nambiar for Puducherry and Jaideep Gupta for Kerala.
Rejecting TN's plea to first take up the issue of setting up of the Cauvery Management Board to implement the directions of the Cauvery Water disputes Tribunal given in February 2007, the Bench said it will dispose of the appeals as it did not want to deal with the issue piecemeal.
Mr. Nariman and counsel Mohan Katarki said that from October last water was being released to TN and the deficit would only be around 11,000 cusecs of water. The Bench directed Karnataka to continue the release till the matter was decided.
The Bench made it clear that even if it were to come to a conclusion that the allocation of water has not been made on equitable basis by the Tribunal, it will not remand the matter back to the Tribunal. The Bench said it will endeavour to determine the allocation based on facts to be furnished by the respective States.
The EC had written to the governments of both TS and AP about a month ago to depute IAS officers for the forthcoming Assembly elections in five states. (Representational image)
Hyderabad: Both the Telugu states have informed the Election Commission that they are not in a position to depute senior IAS officers for election duty. The EC had on Wednesday announced the schedule for Assembly elections in five states.
The EC had written to the governments of both TS and AP about a month ago to depute IAS officers for the forthcoming Assembly elections in five states.
As per sources, the EC said that if it was not possible to depute IAS officers for poll duty, they can depute IFS officers.
AP government has allotted 26 All India Service officers for election duty four IAS, five IPS and 18 IFS officers. The TS government also deputed about 20 AIS officers, a majority of whom are IFS officers.
The EC has directed officers deputed for election duty to attend the meeting to be held on January 10 in New Delhi.
Experts say this could be very hard for some of these institutions as they will likely fall short on infrastructure, faculty requirements and other norms. (Representational image)
Visakhapatnam: In a big blow to lakhs of Indian students, the US department of education has revoked its recognition to the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). There are about 250 SEVP (student and exchange visitor programme) certified colleges and schools in the US that were accredited by the ACICS.
Now, following the revocation of recognition of the US largest accreditor of for profit colleges, Indian students (graduates) of these institutions are left in the lurch. They are denied an extension of the optional practical training (OPT) from December 12.
These students may also have to migrate to other colleges as their institutions have lost their accreditation and they will not be eligible for OPT extension in future.
Optional practical training (OPT) stretches for a period during which undergraduate and graduate (international) students with F-1 status, who have completed or have been pursuing their degrees for more than nine months, are permitted to work by way of getting practical training. This is to complement their field of studies, and would be for a period of 12 months, working for a US employer.
OPT extensions take big hit
Those who have graduated from a US college or university with a specific degree in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) can apply for an extension of their OPT (Optional Practical Training) for an additional 24 months. This brings their total post-graduation OPT time to up to 36 months.
But, following the American Education Departments decision, officials have already started denying OPT extension for graduates of nearly 250 colleges.
U. Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, CEO of Gurukul Overseas, a US-based consultancy, gave detailed insights into the accreditation procedure in the USA. Many for-profit institutions go for national accreditation to avoid the regional accreditation which lays down stringent norms. The students in these institutions, the students applying for OPT, and graduates from these institutions applying for OPT extensions, are all affected. US immigration and customs officials have started rejecting applications of the F-1 visa-holders, who were from these institutions and who had applied for OPT extensions. Indian students are now forced to study for another degree from an accredited college in the US if they want an OPT extension, added Vishnu Vardhan Reddy.
Although ACICS is no longer a federally recognised accrediting agency, the US department of education will continue to provisionally certify ACICS-accredited institutions for continued participation in the federal student aid programmes for up to 18 months. This 18-month provisional certification period allows institutions to seek accreditation from another federally recognised accrediting agency. But experts say this could be very hard for some of these institutions as they will likely fall short on infrastructure, faculty requirements and other norms.
Aaganti Chandra Sekhar, a representative from an education consultancy of Visakhapatnam, said: The ASICS has already started a legal battle. As there are 18 months time for the colleges, we are hoping these colleges will take care of matters and get accreditation. This is a wakeup call for Indian students in these 250 institutions to make alternative arrangements.
Bengaluru: While the mass molestation of women in Bengalurus MG Road and Brigade Road on New Year kicked up a hornets nest on Tuesday, Chetali Wasnick, a working woman on her way back home, was forced to endure a similar humiliation in Indiranagar.
Speaking to NDTV, Wasnick recounted that she was walking back to her home after work when she saw two suspicious looking men walk towards her. Wary, she moved aside and let them pass, but what happened next left her struggling to get her bearings together. He just groped me out of nowhere. I did not have any idea that he'll do that. I went totally blank, she said.
But what outraged her the most was when bystanders, instead of coming to her aide, brushed off the incident and told her it happens.
When I finally realised what really happened, I just went back to him and started hitting him and punching him and whatever I could do to take my anger out. After some time, something like 15 to 20 men came and they tried to stop me from hitting that molester. So I was very pissed off that why this person is stopping me from that molester. And they were like 'this is New Year, this happens so just let it be' " she said.
Similar incidents were reported from Bengalurus iconic MG Road and Brigade Road, where women were harassed, groped, pawed and molested in large scale by drunk men roaming in groups under the guise of revellers.
The state home minister had further triggered a controversy by claiming that the incident was to be blamed on the western culture of partying and revealing clothes. Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi had also shocked many by commenting that there is an increasing confusion among the younger generation between nudity and fashion.
The state police came under flack for the incident, as majority of those present in the spot claimed that they were of no help at all. This, despite 1,500 police perosnnels and paramilitary forces being deployed in the area alone.
"I was looking everywhere but there were no cops available at all. There were like five to 10 cops standing at the same spot but they did not come and ask me what happened or what is your problem or something," Chetali Wasnick said.
The city police, after three days of denying that there was monumental mismanagement of crowd in MG Road, on Tuesday, acknowledged that it had credible evidence, and also invited any one with any information to come forward and share it with them.
Farmers sell all the Kuruvai paddy while they keep some quantity of samba for their personal use and sell rest of the quantity.
Thanjavur: Predominantly agriculture oriented, life in Thanjavur district revolves around farmers and farm workers. Everything will be fine for them if they take a bumper kuruvai (short-term paddy) and samba (long-term paddy) crops in a year. But during 2016, all was not well for them as they lost both kuruvai and samba in canal-irrigated areas.
Starting of a good agriculture year hinges on the water storage at the time of closure of Mettur dam on January 28 every year. If the dam is closed with good storage, a successful kuruvai is ensured. If not, then opening of the dam on June 12, traditional date for opening of the dam for kuruvai cultivation in the Cauvery delta areas, will be postponed.
This year, storage was not comfortable at the time of closure of the dam and it has not improved even after that. Hence, the dam was not opened on June 12. Farmers in canal- irrigated areas could not take up 'Kuruvai' in Thanjavur district.
Loss of Kuruvai means loss of money to farmers, as it is a money-spinner.
Farmers sell all the Kuruvai paddy while they keep some quantity of samba for their personal use and sell rest of the quantity. Loss of Kuruvai reflected in the subdued celebration of Deepavali also in Thanjavur district this year, as farmers did not have money that will come to them by selling the harvested Kuruvai paddy.
Mettur dam was opened on September 20, rather late for even samba cultivation this year. But flow of water could not be maintained due to poor storage and truant monsoon. Water was given, that too in turn system, (giving water continuously in a river system, namely, either in Cauvery or Vennar for six days) for 40 days and water release was stopped on October 30.
Cauvery, the lifeline of the delta districts in Tamil Nadu, could not come to the rescue of the farmers, as Karnataka was reluctant to release water. With Northeast monsoon also bringing scanty rainfall, samba raised in canal irrigated areas ran into rough weather. Farmers allowed cattle to graze the samba seedlings.
The drought brought with it death and suicide of farmers which were attributed by their relatives to crop failure. With nearly ten farmers, (Thanjavur district alone-more in the delta and in Tamil Nadu), who either died naturally or committed suicide, a pall of gloom has descended in various villages.
All the farmers who died were small farmers, many of whom have taken land on lease and cultivated borrowing loans.
Cauvery issue dominated throughout the year and cast its shadow when finally Central Government refused to form the Cauvery Management Board (CMB).
For the farmers, most of the months went in agitations this year than doing cultivation due to water scarcity. Even as the farmers end the year with agitations before collectorates demanding drought relief, they hope that at least 2017 may not be the same.
This year is not a good year for farmers. This is only a difficult year and no farmer can feel happy. I expected to save at least direct sown samba crop as I felt that farmers can get at least two or three wettings in November or December, but it is not so. Meteorological predictions have gone wrong this year. Only crop insurance can help, said Mannargudi S. Ranganathan, secretary, Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association.
We have to have a water level of 65-ft to 70-ft, when Mettur dam is closed on January 28 to have a good Kuruvai crop. This year water level stood at only 45-ft. It has not reached 80-ft throughout the year. Hence dam could not be opened on June 12 and for samba it was opened on September 20, which was very late. I have not seen such a drought situation in the past 50 years, Ranganathan added.
Sami Nadarajan, district secretary of Tamil Nadu Vivsayigal Sangam, affiliated to CPI (M), Sundara Vimalanathan, secretary, Thanjai District Cauvery Farmers Protection Association also echoed the same sentiments.
Thiruvanananthapuram: The state government has stopped the printing of this year's diaries following a complaint raised by CPI ministers that the list of ministers was not printed in alphabetical order.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan intervened in the issue and stopped the production after almost 40,000 diaries were printed. The printing and stationery department handled by the chief minister is in charge of printing the diaries.
The officials had the other day given the copies of the diaries to the chief minister in his chamber and also to CPI Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar who was present there. Mr Sunil Kumar protested to the chief minister after going through the diary about the faux pas.
The names of CPM ministers were printed after that of the chief minister not according to the alphabetical order. The names of CPI ministers were printed only after the name of Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran of the NCP. Usually, the number two comes after the chief minister and the others in alphabetical order. The order was violated this time.
LDF ration protest:
LDF convener Vaikom Viswan announced after the LDF meeting on Tuesday a series of protest programmes against the central government policies allegedly aimed at derailing the ration distribution in the state. The LDF would organise a Raj Bhavan march on February 18 demanding urgent intervention of the centre to end the crisis in the distribution of ration items. It would also organise evening dharnas in various centres on January 12.
Central meeting
The three day CPM central committee meeting would begin on Thursday. The meeting will discuss the issues in the party. The politburo will meet on Thursday followed by the central committee.
Chennai: Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam will chair a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday during which the convening of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, farmer suicides and other issues concerning the state are expected to be discussed.
The meeting will take place at 9 am at the State Secretariat on Wednesday, sources said. "The meeting is likely to discuss convening of the Assembly session to condole the death of late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. The Assembly is usually convened in January and the dates are fixed by the Cabinet," a source said.
Besides, the Cabinet is also expected to discuss the drought situation in the state and alleged suicide or deaths of farmers due to the distress situation. This is the second cabinet meeting after Mr Panneerselvam took oath as Chief Minister on December 6 hours after the death of CM J. Jayalalithaa.
The heinous Saturday night bloodbath at a swanky nightclub on the banks of the Bosphorus in Istanbul brought what had already been a terrible year for Turkey to an exceptionally brutal conclusion.
It was a year peppered with terrorist attacks, but its centrepiece was arguably a coup attempt in July that apparently came close to succeeding, followed by a sweeping wave of state repression that has deepened fractures in Turkish society amid shifting allegiances on the Syrian front that have resulted in a Nato stalwart effectively allying itself with Russia.
If the idea behind the assassination a fortnight ago of the Russian ambassador to Turkey was to precipitate a stand-off between Moscow and Ankara, it has predictably failed. The assassin, an off-duty policeman, was killed immediately afterwards, so his precise motivations may never be known, but his Remember Aleppo! slogan while performing his dastardly act offers obvious pointers.
Syrias largest city was recently wrested from rebel control by forces allied to the government of Bashar al-Assad, with the Russians and Iranians instrumental in producing this result. It has been claimed that Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan helped out by persuading his Islamist allies among the Syrian rebels to facilitate the evacuation of eastern Aleppo.
The Erdogan government was involved in the Syrian conflict long before its troops directly stepped in, and its assistance to Islamist factions included turning a blind eye to international recruits many of them attracted by the militant Islamic State group entering the war-torn country through the Turkish border. ISIS turned against Turkey once this route became a lot more restricted, and after Ankara had second thoughts about its initial refusal to permit American and other Nato forces to use Turkish bases as a launching pad for airstrikes against ISIS on Syrian territory.
Turkeys relations with the US have frayed markedly since the abortive coup in July, partly over Washingtons refusal to extradite Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of having masterminded the attempt to overthrow his former ally Erdogan. Whether the advent of the Trump administration will improve relations remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Turkey had visibly bristled at Russias intervention in Syria on behalf of Assad, and things came to a head after its forces shot down a Russian warplane that had allegedly strayed into Turkish airspace. Vladimir Putin resisted any temptation he may have had to ramp up the confrontation, instead using the incident as a lever to forge an unlikely informal alliance that had the twin advantage of facilitating his aims in Syria while driving a wedge between leading Nato members.
It was thus Russia and Turkey, alongside Iran, that jointly announced a truce in Syria shortly before the Istanbul atrocity, and successfully sought the imprimatur of the UN. The cessation of hostilities does not include ISIS, and is anyhow not expected to last very long, but it apparently does cover Al Nusra, an organisation once formally allied with Al Qaeda that has played a key role in the rebellion against Assad and enjoyed Turkish favours in the bargain, but is also likely to have borne the brunt of Russian bombing campaigns.
By some accounts, the primary purpose of Erdogans Syrian adventure has always been to forestall the likelihood of a de facto Kurdish state on Turkeys border, and he strove hard to prevent Turkish Kurds from aiding their Syrian comrades. A ceasefire between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) broke down in 2015, and the latter claimed responsibility for some of last years terrorist attacks, directed chiefly against security forces the PKK claims not to target civilians and roundly condemned the Reina nightclub massacre.
The Americans have heeded some of Erdogans concerns while broadly backing the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) in their fight against ISIS (and potentially Assad). But then the US strategy in Syria has anyhow been all over the place, and last months truce announcement conspicuously excluded Washington, demonstrating the extent to which it has been sidelined.
Turkey under Erdogan, meanwhile, finds itself besieged on three fronts by the Gulenists, Kurds and ISIS, which belatedly claimed responsibility for the 39 deaths and dozens of injuries at the Reina nightclub.
The Presidents reaction to Turkeys multiple woes has largely revolved around clamping down on all dissent and extending the breadth and depth of his autocracy, blaming everyone but his own often contradictory policies for all that is going horribly wrong in a nation that not long ago seriously aspired to become a fully fledged European state but has lately been sucked right back into the Middle Eastern cauldron, with its present blighted and its future increasingly uncertain.
By arrangement with Dawn
There is the general myth that Uttar Pradesh is the cockpit of Indian politics, and whoever wins the state will rule India. Through the 1990s and until the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it did not matter who won or lost the elections in UP. The state ceased to be the big player it fancied itself to be. Even when Atal Behari Vajpayee won from Lucknow and led a BJP-NDA government at the Centre, UP remained one of the many players in the power game, and it was not a key one. It was only when the BJP won 73 of 80 Lok Sabha seats, when two outsiders, BJP president Amit Shah and prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, wrought a miracle of sorts and made a clean sweep of the states largest Lok Sabha contingent, that the old adage of the winner in UP ruling India revived, though not fully.
The BJP hopes to ride on the crest of its 2014 Lok Sabha victory to win the coming seven-phase Assembly election, from February 11 to March 8. The Opposition seems to be in a disarray. The ruling Samajwadi Party is in a disintegrative mode. The other major local party, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, is hoping to seize the reins of power as it had done in 2007. The 2007 and 2012 Assembly elections showed that the people of the state voted decisively for one or other of two major local players. The ostensible national parties, BJP and Congress, have been relegated to the margins. The Congress was last in power in the 1980s.
The BJPs tenure in power has been patchy through the 1990s, except in 1991 when the Babri Masjid was demolished and the Kalyan Singh government resigned and was subsequently dismissed. The BJP lost the election that followed. UP then lost its political sheen because no one party seemed to represent the state in the state and at the Centre. The decline of the state in national politics was complete. What is left of the big stakes in state politics is who would win in the Assembly elections. It is as good or as interesting as to who would win the Assembly elections in West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu or Rajasthan.
The unending baroque family drama of the Mulayam Singh Yadav clan in the SP signifies the roil and turmoil that marks the politics of the most populous state in the country. The battle between Mulayam Singh Yadav, the SPs progenitor, and his chosen successor and incumbent chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, has undertones and overtones that mark the intrigues of any Asian family. The rivalries, factions, clashes are much too intertwined for anyone to unravel them and make sense of them.
Mulayam Singh Yadav chose his son Akhilesh as chief minister much against opposition from party elders, including his brother Shivpal Yadav, and even party veteran Azam Khan. For five years, Akhilesh was hemmed in on all sides from functioning properly as chief minister. There have been times when Mulayam Singh would chide his CM son. It would have been an interesting political satire but for the fact that it is for real. Akhilesh wants to fend off not just his uncle, Shivpal, his fathers confidant Amar Singh, but also his step-sister-in-law Aparna Yadav. It cannot get more complicated.
In the last few months, the internal feuding has intensified with Akhilesh removing Shivpal from the Cabinet and then reinstalling him, Mulayam Singh throwing out Akhileshs men from the party and then relenting, Mulayam Singh appointing Shivpal as party in-charge in the state, Akhilesh holding his own party conference and declaring himself the president of the party in the state, and then going back to the father to negotiate a settlement. To call this a political soap-opera would be unjust because the fight is for real, and each one of them is fighting a life-and-death political battle.
However riveting the palace intrigues of the SP, the silent march of the BSP, and the vainglorious attempts by the BJP to ride to power in Lucknow and the pathetic bid by the Congress to retain its toehold in the state, there is not much doubt that UP is still far from retaining its prominence in national politics. If the BJP wins, and it has to do so convincingly and with substantial numbers as it did in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the political fortunes of who reigns supreme in Lucknow would remain a matter of provincial importance. It will indeed be different if the BJP wins because it could then tilt the balance in favour of its own presidential nominee; the presidential election is due in July. But if no single party gets an overwhelming majority, then UP legislators vote the electoral college which chooses the President comprises the legislators from all states and members of the two Houses of Parliament will be as crucial as that of any other state.
The BJP wants to win UP to flex its muscle at the national level. The SP and BSP would be fighting for their survival on home turf. They have no national ambition. Thus, the two regional parties have an advantage over the BJP. People voting in an Assembly election are focused on the local agenda. The UP voter is only too aware that he/she needs a government that works well for him or her, and he or she is not deluded by national glory as such. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who represents Varanasi, might be an adopted UP-ite but it may not work any wonders for the BJP in the Assembly poll. UP has no option but to look after its own interests. That will be the deciding factor, and not the performance of the BJPs government at the Centre. It is a provincial election, pure and simple. It is not a referendum on the Modi government or on demonetisation.
The banks got a bonanza of an estimated Rs 13 lakh crores after the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes on November 8. This gave them a cushion after their balance sheets were battered by rising non-performing assets. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged banks to offer more schemes to small and marginalised people as they now have such huge funds. The banks were already funding these sections under RBI guidelines, but funding for small and medium enterprises must be looked at more sympathetically, while keeping commercial interests in mind. Most banks had already cut lending rates by hefty amounts, by their standards. Their rate cuts till now were mostly quarter per cent and on some rare occasions by half per cent.
The nations top public sector lender, State Bank of India, set the pace by dropping rates by 90 basis points, and other banks followed with similar or lower amounts. It is likely that those buying homes or other property could benefit the most. Perhaps banks could go a step further, and be more generous with monthly instalment payments of home loans and personal loans. Credit growth to corporates arent expected to get a boost as most of them are still not in a position to borrow. They have significant idle capacity, with just 73-75 per cent capacity utilisation. But if retail loans increase, there will be more money in the hands of people, and this could boost consumer demand, which could kickstarting production. Consumer demand, which fuels the economy, took a hit with demonetisation and needs to return.
TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay being taken by CBI officers to Bhubaneswar for further inquiry who was arrested in connection with Rose Valley chit fund scam. in Kolkata. (Photo: PTI)
The CBIs arrest of Trinamul Congress Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandopadhyay on Tuesday, and of the partys actor-MP Tapas Pal earlier, on charges of being involved in a chit fund scam due to their association with Rose Valley, an infrastructure and finance company with varied business interests, threatens to snowball into a major political confrontation at the national level. This is mainly because the CBI has unfortunately acquired the reputation of being a police outfit that is unleashed by the party in power at the Centre to hound political opponents in order to advance its political aims by weakening adversaries. This impression was strengthened when the Supreme Court called it a caged parrot a few years ago.
This is why, no less than the allegations of corruption involving influential elements of the TMC, the row that has arisen is apt to become an examination of the nature of the institution of the CBI itself in its present form.
Questions have already begun to be asked why Babul Supriyo, a Union minister from West Bengal who does not hide his association with Rose Valley, has not been questioned or arrested for questioning by the CBI.
Rose Valley is active in West Bengal, Odisha and some neighbouring states. Business enterprises usually maintain good relations with ruling parties at the state and the Centre. In order to be fair, before others point this out, it will be in the fitness of things if the CBI takes a look at political personalities of all parties, including the BJP, to see if they have favoured irregular dealings of Rose Valley or other firms for a consideration the charge that is levelled at a clutch of high-ranking TMC figures.
Since the Narendra Modi government came to power, the impression has gained ground that the BJP has been behaving in an holier-than-thou fashion, accusing its opponents of corruption with the purpose of harassing them and to prevent them from mounting a challenge to the government at the Centre, and disregarding allegations of corruption against its own leaders and state governments.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who led an unrestrained attack on top BJP leaders, including the PM and BJP president Amit Shah, said this openly Tuesday. With BSP supremo Mayawati, this has been a refrain for some time in the context of the CBIs activities, specially as in UP the BJP tended to view the BSP, rather than the incumbency-laden SP, as its main opponent. It has also been felt in political circles that the ruling party has been trying to constrain the Congress Party through the so-called National Herald case. In contrast, government investigators have thought the better of probing allegations arising from the Birla-Sahara diary jottings.
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission will fly three space telescopes with cameras capable of measuring the polarization of these cosmic X-rays.
NASA has selected a science mission that will allow astronomers to explore, for the first time, the hidden details of some of the most extreme and exotic astronomical objects, such as stellar and supermassive black holes, neutron stars and pulsars.
Objects such as black holes can heat surrounding gases to more than a million degrees. The high-energy X-ray radiation from this gas can be polarized vibrating in a particular direction. The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission will fly three space telescopes with cameras capable of measuring the polarization of these cosmic X-rays, allowing scientists to answer fundamental questions about these turbulent and extreme environments where gravitational, electric and magnetic fields are at their limits.
We cannot directly image whats going on near objects like black holes and neutron stars, but studying the polarization of X-rays emitted from their surrounding environments reveals the physics of these enigmatic objects, said Paul Hertz, astrophysics division director for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA has a great history of launching observatories in the Astrophysics Explorers Program with new and unique observational capabilities. IXPE will open a new window on the universe for astronomers to peer through. Today, we can only guess what we will find.
NASA's Astrophysics Explorers Program requested proposals for new missions in September 2014. Fourteen proposals were submitted, and three mission concepts were selected for additional review by a panel of agency and external scientists. NASA determined the IXPE proposal provided the best science potential and most feasible development plan.
The mission, slated for launch in 2020, will cost $188 million. This figure includes the cost of the launch vehicle and post-launch operations and data analysis. Principal Investigator Martin Weisskopf of NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will lead the mission. Ball Aerospace in Broomfield, Colorado, will provide the spacecraft and mission integration. The Italian Space Agency will contribute the polarization sensitive X-ray detectors, which were developed in Italy.
NASA's Explorers Program provides frequent, low-cost access to space using principal investigator-led space science investigations relevant to the agencys astrophysics and heliophysics programs. The program has launched more than 90 missions, including Explorer 1 in 1958, which discovered the Van Allen radiation belts around the Earth, and the Cosmic Background Explorer mission, which led to a Nobel Prize. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the Explorers Program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.
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Google India today reaffirmed its commitment to digitally empower India s 51 million strong small and medium business communities. Making the announcements at an event held in the city today, Sundar Pichai, CEO-Google, spoke to representatives from hundreds of small and medium business from across the country on the benefits of the web and digital technology.
At an event in Delhi, Sundar Pichai, CEO Google announces initiatives to digitally empower small and Medium Businesses in India. From left to right: Sundar Pichai, CEO Google; Honorable IT Minister, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad; Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & IT; Rajan Anandan, Vice President, South East Asia and India, Google
During his address, Sundar Pichai said, The Internet is a powerful equalizer and we are motivated to bring the benefits of information and technology to as many people as possible. Building for everyone and making it available in the hands of as many people is at the heart and core of what we do. And we do this by investing in open ecosystems.
Referring specifically to small and medium businesses, Pichai added, the Internet and digital technology will be an engine of growth for the Indian economy. Today, anyone can become an entrepreneur, a developer, or a creator, but it is important that they have the right tools and skills to digitize. We believe it is important for us to invest in training and equipping these individuals and small businesses to accelerate their journey of growth.
Setting the context for the initiative Google unveiled a joint research study with KPMG titled "Impact of internet and digitization on SMBs in India ". The study reiterates that 68 per cent of the 51m Indian SMBs are offline.
Highlighting the macro-economic impact of the internet, the research found that rising penetration and greater uptake for digital by SMBs could help increase their contribution to India s GDP by 10 percentage points, taking it up to 46-48 per cent by 2020. Ascertaining the benefits of going digital for small businesses, it determined that profits of digitally engaged SMBs grow twice as fast compared to offline SMBs.
Likewise digitally engaged businesses are able to grow their customer base significantly with 52 per cent catering to customers beyond their home city versus only 29 per cent offline SMBs. The report cites the lack of understanding of the benefits of digital technologies and technical skills as the essential reasons for being offline.
To address the gap, Google announced the launch of Digital Unlocked, a training program to empower thousands of Indian SMBs with essential digital skills that will enable them to get online and start using the power of the internet to grow their business. Google also previewed My Business Websites, an easy-to-use offering to help businesses to have a rich, mobile optimised digital presence that will be launched later this year.
With Digital Unlocked, Google is committed to ensuring that every single small business in India that wants to go digital has access to quality training. In keeping with the varied learning needs of the millions of businesses in India , weve built this program across online, offline and mobile.
The offline training is being conducted in partnership with FICCI and over the next three years, 5,000 workshops will be held across 40 Indian cities. The online training comprises a set of 90 self-paced video tutorials, curated specifically for India and is available free of charge at g.co/digitalunlocked. The tutorials cover a comprehensive set of topics ranging from building a web presence and driving online growth to reaching customers over mobile and video. The trainings are certified by Google, Indian School of Business and FICCI.
Further, for India s mobile-first audience, Google also launched Primer, a free mobile app uniquely designed to teach digital marketing skills in a quick, easy and interactive way. It is available for download through the Google Play and iOS app store. Primer also works offline and is currently available in English and Hindi with Tamil, Telugu and Marathi versions coming shortly.
At the event, Google also previewed My Business Websites, aimed at equipping the vast majority of small businesses with a simple way to start their digital journey by creating a free, mobile optimised website, easily and instantly. Available for Google My Business users later in the year, this new feature will provide simple, templated, editable websites for small businesses created from their data and photos on Google Maps. My Business Websites will be available in English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, and Malayalam.
Google CEO, Sundar Pichai in a chat session with some of the successful SMBs at the Digital Unlocked event in Delhi. The SMBs shared with him inspiring stories of their journey on the internet so far.
Several small businesses that have leveraged Googles products and technologies were also present at the event. Three of them - Walnut, Go Co-op and Maganlal Dresswalla - were in conversation with Sundar Pichai and shared their journey to digital using Google offerings including Google My Business, Google AdWords as well as the Google Cloud Platform.
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The San Diego-based technology company now says that it has granted Meizu a worldwide royalty-bearing patent license to develop, manufacture and sell 3G and 4G devices.
Qualcomm had sued Chinese smartphone maker Meizu in several countries for violating a few patents last year, thus forcing the smartphone vendor to license its patents ahead. The company now confirms that it has reached a world-wide patent licensing agreement with Meizu. The new agreement has reportedly settled all disputes between the two companies.
The Alibaba Group-backed Meizu is one of Chinas prominent smartphone makers competing with Xiaomi and others, and claiming over 20 million product sales in 2015. Qualcomm had filed a patent infringement suit against Meizu in June, 2016, alleging that it had spent more than a year negotiating with the company regarding its use of certain 3G and 4G standards. The San Diego-based technology company now says that it has granted Meizu a worldwide royalty-bearing patent license to develop, manufacture and sell 3G and 4G devices.
"Qualcomm is pleased to sign the license agreement with Meizu and to help enhance Meizu's product line and generate a strong growth for the company, both in China and globally," said Alex Rogers, executive vice president and president, Qualcomm Technology Licensing. "Qualcomm's standardised technologies are enabling companies to build new products and services across the wireless ecosystem and are transforming people's lives."
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CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai is currently addressing the technology industry at an event in New Delhi . He is set to address key initiatives for small and medium enterprises of India . Information and Technology Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad is also present at the event.
At Google, we are excited about partnering the businesses to help them unlock exponential growth through the power of digital, Google had issued a statement. The announcements in the event are expected to represent Googles effort to connect more businesses online.
This isnt the first time Pichai has visited India . His first visit was back in 2015 when he visited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss possibilities of investment. His second visit started out as a private family holiday but soon ended with him announcing the Google for India initiative.
He is expected to announce a new online learning tool for SBMs in India called Digital Unlocked at the event today. Stay tuned for more updates.
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Samsung Electronics is planning to launch Galaxy Note 8 in the second-half of the year after the release of its next flagship Galaxy S8 in April, according to a report by Business Korea.
In a statement, the South Korean giant Samsung confirmed to stick to its Galaxy Note series despite the Note 7 disaster it experienced last year.
The Galaxy Note 7 was very popular before user reports began circulating about devices that exploded or caught on fire while charging. As the phablet market, which was developed by Samsung Electronics, has been growing, the company will release the Note series this year again, an official from the electronics industry stated, reported Business Korea.
Samsung is also expected to announce the results of Note 7 probe this month, explaining the root cause of Note 7 battery explosions.
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Among the Galaxy X smartphones to be launched this year, there will be phones with foldable panels, while others will feature displays that support 4K resolution.
Samsungs next high-end series of smartphones will be dubbed as Galaxy X. The devices will include the latest innovations from the company.
Whats unclear is if these smartphones will be launched as concept devices or will go on sale straight away globally. It is clear that the device will be limited knowing that Samsung isnt ready yet to mass produce the components required for these foldable smartphones.
If the online reports are to be believed, the first Galaxy X smartphone will be unveiled in Q3-Q4 of 2017. There are also reports about Samsung launching the Galaxy Note 8 in the second half of 2017, just ahead of the Galaxy X announcement.
According to SamMobile, the Korean giant will be launching five Galaxy flagships in 2017. Its still uncertain that the line-up will include the Galaxy S8 and Note 8, which are already in the pipeline.
Among the Galaxy X smartphones to be launched this year, there will be phones with foldable panels, while others will feature displays that support 4K resolution. All the Galaxy X series smartphones will make use of advanced biometric features for added security. The foldable panels included in one or more of the Galaxy X phones will feature scrolling functionality and a touch area on the edge of the device.
If the latest Samsung patents are an indication of what the company has in store for us, then the upcoming Galaxy X smartphones will surely play a key role in Samsungs revival after the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco.
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Washington: Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will attend the January 20 inauguration ceremony of President-elect Donald Trump, her bitter rival from the 2016 campaign.
Hillary will attend the inauguration with her husband and former US President Bill Clinton.
The Clintons announced their decision to attend the January 20 inauguration shortly after former President George W Bush's office said he would attend along with former first lady Laura Bush, CBS reported.
Bush has had a difficult relationship with Trump after his brother Jeb Bush contested in Republican primaries against Trump.
In December, former President Jimmy Carter, 92, announced that he would attend the inauguration.
The report said that the Clintons decided to attend out of a sense of duty and respect for the democratic process.
Trump won the Electoral College 306-232 while Clinton, the former first lady, Senator and Secretary of State, beat Trump in the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes.
Since the election, Clinton has been lying low except for events for the Children's Defence Fund and a tribute to retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, near the end of 2016.
Meanwhile, Trump said he would address a news conference in New York next week on January 11.
This would be his first news conference after his electoral victory in the November 8 general elections.
"I will be having a general news conference on JANUARY ELEVENTH in NYC Thank you," Trump said in a tweet.
He was originally scheduled to have a press conference in mid-December, but postponed it.
The January 11 news conference would be a little more than a week before his January 20 inauguration when he would be sworn in as the 45th President of the US.
Mexico City: Mexican environmental authorities seized a Bengal tiger after a man took it for a walk on a leash in a neighborhood of the border city of Tijuana.
The attorney general's office for environmental protection said on Tuesday the 4-month-old tiger had been living in a private home with children.
The man had papers showing he recently bought the tiger, which was found to be in good health but lacking its claws.
But officials say the animal was seized and placed temporarily at a local zoo because the owner did not take appropriate security and animal-welfare measures.
A resident called police to complain there was a man walking a tiger on a dog leash.
Authorities caught the man outside the home, which is on Lion Street in a low-income neighborhood of Tijuana.
New York: President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he will hold a press conference on January 11, during which he has previously indicated he would unveil plans to avoid any conflict of interest between the White House and his business dealings.
Trump has not held a press conference since July, and his announcement gave just the latest date set for the much-delayed event previously due to take place December 15. He was elected in November.
In a tweet, Trump said: "I will be having a general news conference on JANUARY ELEVENTH in NYC. Thank you."
Precedent has seen American Presidents-elect field numerous press conferences during the transition to power to discuss matters such as their choices to fill their cabinet and policy plans for the incoming administration.
Instead, Trump has relied largely on rallies, photo ops, select interviews and - in unprecedented fashion - on tweets.
He has largely snubbed thus far the tradition that the presidential news conference has become.
His methods of communicating news about the transition have been unorthodox for an incoming head of state.
In December, he unexpectedly announced to reporters camped in the lobby of his Manhattan Trump Tower skyscraper that Masayoshi Son - the flamboyant head of Japanese telecoms giant SoftBank and a self-made billionaire - had announced a $50 billion investment in the US that would create 50,000 jobs.
Economic announcements of this magnitude are rare and generally take place through a news release or a carefully planned press conference, requiring the efforts of many public relations experts who carefully consider every word and gesture.
Steven Mnuchin, tapped to become Secretary of Treasury, and Wilbur Ross, the commerce pick, announced on CNBC television that they had been appointed to their Cabinet positions by Trump.
The official announcement was published several hours later.
As for the nomination of his future Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, the president-elect announced the pick during a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, the first stop of his "thank you tour" in the industrial states that gave him the presidency.
Russia hack 'intelligence'
Trump later doubled down on his doubts about US intelligence findings that Russia meddled in the US election through computer hacking, a conclusion that triggered US sanctions against Moscow.
He also claimed that an intelligence briefing he had been due to receive about the hack would now take place Friday.
"The 'Intelligence' briefing on so-called 'Russian hacking' was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!" Trump tweeted.
Trump, who is seeking warmer ties with Washington's former Cold War foe, has long treated accusations of Russian meddling as a thinly veiled effort by a Democratic president to delegitimize a Republican victory.
But that defiant stance is running up against increasing opposition in his own party.
Over the weekend, Trump also made the claim that he knows "things that other people don't know" on the issue.
New York: New York's governor unveiled a proposal on Tuesday to make tuition at public colleges free for low and middle-income students, an idea championed by US Senator Bernie Sanders during his White House run.
"Today, college is a mandatory step if you really want to be a success," Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo said, noting that the average American student carries $30,000 in debt.
"This year, New York state is going to start the Excelsior scholarship: if you come from any family earning $125,000 or less, you are going to get free tuition," he said during a news conference at a university in Queens.
"It's the first program of its kind in the US... and it should be a wake up call to this nation," Cuomo said.
The governor, who is rumoured to have his eye on an eventual White House run, was joined at the news conference by Sanders, who offered his wishes.
Sanders had garnered passionate support from young voters during the Democratic primary contest against Hillary Clinton, in part because of his impassioned calls for tuition-free college.
Although he ultimately lost to Clinton, his free-college proposal was so popular that she added it to her White House platform.
New York's most prestigious universities -- including Cornell, Columbia and New York University -- are private and presumably would not be involved in the free tuition plan.
Tuition in the well-regarded State University of New York and City University of New York systems can be up to $6,500 a year
Cuomo did not give details on the financing for the proposal, which has yet to be approved by lawmakers in this state of 20 million people.
It is estimated to cost $163 million per year, and could benefit as many as one million households.
Cuomo said he aims to have the program launched at the beginning of 2017, covering families with an annual income of less than $100,000, before expanding to cover students from families with an annual income of up to $125,000 at the beginning of 2018.
Washington: WikiLeaks has appealed for leaked White House documents before President Barack Obama leaves office, as its founder Julian Assange again denied Russia was the source of hacked Democratic Party e-mails that hurt Hillary Clinton's bid for the US presidency.
"System admins: Don't let the White House destroy US history again! Copy now, then send to WikiLeaks at your leisure," the secret-spilling website announced on Twitter, shortly before Assange gave an in-depth interview to US network Fox.
"We are issuing a US 20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest or exposure of any Obama admin agent destroying significant records," the tweet said.
Assange gave Fox an extended interview at the Ecuadoran embassy in London where he sought refuge in June 2012 to escape extradition to Sweden for questioning about an alleged rape.
However, Assange shed no light on the source of thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and from Clinton campaign chief John Podesta.
WikiLeaks released the documents during the US election campaign, in what US intelligence reportedly concluded was an attempt by Russia to tip the election in favour of Clinton's Republican rival, Donald Trump, who went on to win the White House.
Assange insisted, however, that no Russian government-linked party was the source of the hacked material. "The source is not the Russian government. It is not state parties," the 45-year-old Australian said.
Pressed as to whether he thought the leaks of the Podesta and DNC emails led to Trump's election in November, he said,"Who knows, it's impossible to tell."
He said his organisation was not political in nature but aimed to provide facts governments do not.
"We have a perfect record for authenticating the information we publish," Assange said. "We try to preserve that reputation. What else do we have a record for?," he asked.
Assange is wanted for questioning in Sweden into allegations by a woman who accused him of rape during a 2010 visit to Stockholm.He has denied the allegation, insisting they had consensual sex.
He refused to travel to Sweden for questioning, fearing he would be extradited to the United States over WikiLeaks' release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2010.
In the last couple of days around 2,200 families have returned to the Hanano housing district. (Photo: AFP/Representational Image)
Aleppo: Thousands of people are starting to return to the formerly rebel-held east Aleppo, despite freezing weather and destruction "beyond imagination", said a top U.N. official from the Syrian city.
In the last couple of days around 2,200 families have returned to the Hanano housing district, said Sajjad Malik, country representative in Syria for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
"People are coming out to east Aleppo to see their shops, their houses, to see if the building is standing... to see, should they come back," he said in an interview.
But given the current appalling conditions, the U.N. is not encouraging people to return.
"It is extremely, bitterly cold here," said Malik. "The houses people are going back to have no windows or doors, no cooking facilities," he said.
Aid is vital to prevent more deaths. The U.N. is helping people to restart their lives in one room of their apartments to begin with by giving the people mats, sleeping bags and plastic sheets to cover blown-out windows, he added.
Bread and water
Hanano was one of the first Aleppo neighbourhoods to fall to rebels in 2012, and the first to be retaken by the Syrian government on its way to seizing back full control of the northern city last month - the biggest victory for President Bashar al-Assad in nearly six years of war.
As government forces rapidly advanced, some residents stayed put; tens of thousands fled of their own accord; and around 35,000 fighters and civilians were evacuated in late December in convoys organised by the Syrian government.
After months of fierce Syrian and Russian air strikes, reconstruction will take a long time, Malik said, but the immediate priority is to keep people warm and fed. U.N.-supported partners provide hot meals twice a day to 21,000 people, and 40,000 people get baked bread every day.
Over 1.1 million people once again have access to clean water in bottles or through tankers and wells.
Mobile clinics are up and running, and more than 10,000 children have received polio vaccinations. Thousands of children who have not been able to attend school need reintegration into the education system through remedial classes to rebuild their confidence, Malik said.
There was no register of births, deaths and marriages in the rebel-held sector, so the U.N. is working with the government to issue people with papers. "I met a woman with five children and she was excited that she now has her kids registered as Syrians. She has ID cards and a family book," he said.
Bombing has destroyed hospitals, schools, roads and houses, and damaged the two main water pumping stations. The experienced U.N. official said the level of destruction surpassed anything he had seen in conflict zones like Afghanistan and Somalia.
"Nothing would have prepared us to see the scale of destruction there, it's beyond imagination," he claimed.
Beijing: A man wounded 11 children with a blade at their kindergarten school on Wednesday in China's southern region of Guangxi, said media, in the country's latest mass knifing incident.
Compared to many other countries, violence crime is rare in China. But there has been a series of knife and axe attacks in recent years, many targeting children.
China Central Television said in a post on its official micro-blog that a man climbed the wall of the kindergarten school in the city of Pingxiang and attacked the students.
All of the wounded children had been sent to the hospital but their injuries were not life-threatening, CCTV said.
It said the suspect had been detained by police and the incident was being investigated, but did not give his full name.
Beijing: China plans to conduct a "record "number of 30 space launch missions this year as part of its efforts to expand its ambitious space programme, authorities said on Wednesday.
The record-breaking space launches will be launched by Long March-5 and Long March-7 rockets, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said.
Long March-5 is China's largest carrier rocket. The successful test launch of the vehicle in November in South China's Hainan Province will pave the way for space station construction, state-run China News Service reported.
China recently released an official white paper on its space missions stating that it will launch a lunar probe in 2018 to achieve world's first soft landing on the far side of the moon and a mission to Mars in the same year.
Wang Yu, General Director of the Long March-5 programme, said 2017 is a critical year for China's new generation of carrier rockets and the Long March-5 rockets will carry Chang'e-5 probe to space.
The probe will land on the moon, collect samples and return to Earth, it said.
On the other hand, Long March-7, the more powerful version of Long March-2, will send China's first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 into space in the first half of 2017, according to Wang Zhaoyao, director of China Manned Space Engineering Office.
Tianzhou-1 is expected to dock with Tiangong-2 space lab and conduct experiments on propellant supplement.
China conducted 22 launch missions in 2016 and 19 in 2015.
The country successfully tested its Long March-7 rocket in June 2016 and has gradually shifted to new generation rockets that reduce the use of toxic rocket fuels.
In the next five years, China plans to provide space and aviation-related services to countries involved in the One Belt and One Road initiative, such as satellite communications, navigation and weather forecasting analysis.
Protesters chanted slogans demanding the release of kidnapped journalist Afrah Shawqi al-Qaisi, seen in posters, during a demonstration earlier, in Baghdad. (Photo: AP)
Baghdad: Iraqi journalist, Afrah Shawqi al-Qaisi, who was abducted from her Baghdad home last week has been released.
"Thank God, I'm fine," Afrah Shawqi al-Qaisi told the local NRT satellite TV station on Tuesday, shortly after her release. "They treated me well. They just interrogated me and thank God they found me not guilty," she added, without providing further details.
Gunmen who said they were members of the security forces asked to search her home last Monday before abducting her.
They also took gold, money, phones, laptops and her car. Her sister, Nibras, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Iraqi security forces had sealed off the area around the journalist's home and were questioning her. The sister declined to elaborate on who was behind the kidnapping.
Iraq is considered one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, who have been frequently targeted by militant groups since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam
Hussein. Dozens of journalists have been killed while covering military operations.
Al-Qaisi, a veteran journalist who is also an employee of the Culture Ministry, is a prominent critic of Iraq's endemic corruption and government mismanagement.
In one of her articles, published in a local media outlet nearly a week before her kidnapping, she criticised an Interior Ministry officer who badly beat a school principal in front of students and teachers for refusing to punish a pupil who quarrelled with the official's daughter.
Manila: President Rodrigo Duterte of Philippines, widely known for his strict drug laws and scathing tongue, said some of his family members might have joined the terrorist organisation Islamic State
Speaking to the news site Rappler, President Duterte said, "ISIS seems to be everywhere."
His cousins were earlier members of local Islamist groups Moro Islamic Liberation Front [MI] and the Moro National Liberation Front [MN], he said, adding that they could have possibly joined the Islamic State.
To be frank, I have cousins on the other side, with MI and MN. Some, I heard, are with ISIS.
Drawing attention to the two recent attacks that shook Philppines - one at the night market at Davao killing 14, wounding 70 and a blast outside a church in the Cotabato region on Christmas Eve that wounded around 13 - he said, could have been the doing of the IS.
He told Rappler, even though he had discussed the issue with other heads of states, he was "not ready" to make the information public.
Abu Sayyaf, a group with ISIS affiliation had earlier claimed responsibility for the Davao attack, even though at the time, Duterte had expected the involvement of drug cartels. Abu Sayyaf is based out of the southwest region of Philippines where Moro Islamist groups have led insugencies for decades.
President Duterte was elected in June 2016, following which he led a violent war on drugs which has left approximately 6000 people dead across the country pending proper trial. The execution were mostly conducted by the police or vigilantes.
When asked what would happen if he met his cousins who were allegedly with the Islamic State, he said, "Let's be understanding to each other. You are you and I am I, and I said, if we meet in one corner, so be it."
Beirut: Turkey warned on Wednesday that repeated cease-fire violations by Syria's government were threatening peace talks scheduled for later this month.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the talks in Kazakhstan were scheduled for January 23, preceded by preparatory meetings between Turkish and Russian "experts" in Turkey.
The Syrian government and allied militias have pressed on with an offensive to take the Barada Valley outside Damascus from rebels despite a cease-fire agreement signed shortly before the New Year. The government says the region was never included in the agreement.
Rebels have retaliated with shelling and raids on government-held areas in other parts of the country.
The rebels also accuse the government of carrying out air raids in the rebel-held province of Idlib, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have sought refuge.
Cavusoglu called on Iran, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and one of the guarantors of the agreement, to address the violations by pro-government forces. Turkey supports the Syrian opposition.
The cease-fire was supposed to prepare the way for the talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana, in what would be the first substantial diplomatic movement toward ending the conflict in nearly a year. Russia, Turkey, and Iran had agreed to broker those talks. Russia is also a key ally of Assad.
Cavusoglu warned the Astana process "might fail if we cannot stop the escalating violations," in remarks made to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.
The foreign minister also said he had received assurances from Russia that the Kurdish Syrian PYD party would not be invited to Astana. Turkey considers the party and its armed wing an extension of its own, outlawed Kurdish insurgency and classifies it as a terror organization.
The PYD controls most of the Syrian-Turkish frontier. Its armed wing enjoys the backing of the U.S. military, and is the most effective ground force battling the Islamic State group in Syria.
Berlin: German trauma surgeons advised the public on Wednesday to walk like penguins to avoid slipping on pavements with freezing temperatures forecast nationwide over the next few days.
An advisory published on the website of the German Society of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery said that walking like the aquatic birds involves leaning the torso forward so that the centre of gravity is on the front leg.
A drawing attached to the advisory explains that when humans walk normally, body weight is split almost evenly over both legs, which the surgeons say increases the risk of losing one's balance and falling on slippery surfaces.
Municipal authorities in Berlin were criticised over their failure to sprinkle the capital's pavements with rock salt earlier, despite warnings of a freeze from meteorologists.
As a result, rescue services received more than 750 emergency calls and emergency rooms were overstretched with patients with bone fractures.
Temperatures in Berlin are expected to plunge to -10 degrees Centigrade (14 Fahrenheit) on Saturday.
Wigan: A cleaner rescued a newborn baby boy, allegedly abandoned by his mother, from a hospital toilet bin after he heard 'mumbled squeak' from a bag.
Fortunately, the baby escaped unscathed, in spite of being dumped in a bin with paper tissue stuffed in its mouth.
Mirror reported, the baby's mother Orsolya-Anamaria Balogh, 27, gave birth to the baby in the toilet cubicle at the Wigan Infirmary in Greater Manchester and she was not even aware of her condition until she gave birth.
However, when her computer was checked, it was found that she had been studying about pregnancy and home births, the Manchester Evening News reported.
After admitting attempted infanticide, Balogh spent the equivalent of 12 months in Styal prison, before the judge informed her he was considering her release on sympathetic grounds.
She was due at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday but the case was adjourned until Monday, January 16, pending information from the probation services and a psychiatrist.
Judge Neil Flewitt QC said, "I have in mind a suspended sentence with a community order."
Previously a resident of Wigan, Balogh has no fixed address now. The judge ruled for accommodation for her to be arranged before her release, following which she was remanded in custody.
Balogh arrived at the A&E department of the infirmary because of abdominal pains, on July 5, 2016, but refused to take painkillers, the prosecutor Richard Pratt QC reported.
Even though she was stressing that there was no way that she could be pregnant, it was found that, neither Balogh nor her boyfriend used contraception.
The court was also informed that she did not appear pregnant and did not show a 'bump'.
After her blood pressure was measured, she was told to wait, since the department was busy.
After a cleaner found the toilet occupied just before 9pm, he notified the nurse. When she knocked on the door a female voice replied, "Yes, I'm fine."
She did not meet the doctor when her turn came.
Around 11-40pm another cleaner, while cleaning the dust bin realized it was extra heavy. After taking the bag out of it, he heard noises following which he found the baby, with tissues stuffed in his mouth.
The health of the baby recovered after the tissues were removed and he was given oxygen.
When investigators arrived at the couple's house, the defendant refused giving birth, but an examination by a midwife confirmed otherwise.
Pratt also informed the court that psychiatric evaluation of Balogh clarified that she was mentally unstable after birth and were showing symptoms of de-personalisation syndrome. It causes them to assume that the world around them is not real.
London: Resuming her duties, Britain's Queen Elizabeth gave an honour to a member of her staff in a private ceremony, as she continued to recover from a heavy cold that forced her to skip Christmas and New Year church services, a spokeswoman said.
The 90-year-old monarch who fell ill before Christmas, delayed her trip from London to her country estate at Sandringham in eastern England by a day. She also took the very rare decision not to attend the festive season church services.
She has not been seen in public since before she became unwell and Buckingham Palace has said she was recuperating from a heavy cold.
On Tuesday, the queen gave a member of her staff, Raymond Wheaton, the insignia of a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order, an honour that usually rewards personal service to her or the monarchy.
A spokeswoman said the private ceremony took place at Sandringham and no pictures were available.
The queen also sent a personal message of condolence on Tuesday to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan following the New Year's Eve attack on a nightclub in Istanbul that killed 39 people.
Scene from the Berlin Christmas market after the attack. (Photo: File)
Berlin: An alleged Islamic State jihadist accused of scoping out potential targets for an attack in Berlin, including the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag building, goes on trial in Germany on Wednesday.
It will be the country's first trial of a suspected IS militant deployed to Germany from Syria during the chaotic 2015 refugee influx - in contrast to "lone wolf" attacks or plots by extremists who were radicalized elsewhere.
The defendant, identified only as 19-year-old Syrian national Shaas Al-M, allegedly fought with the Islamist militia in his war-torn homeland for two years before arriving in Germany as a refugee in August 2015.
He will stand trial in a special state security court in Berlin on charges of membership of a foreign terrorist organization, which carries up to 10 years in jail, and military weapons law violations.
The trial will be held under tight security, coming just over two weeks after an IS extremist from Tunisia ploughed a truck through a Berlin Christmas market in an attack that killed 12 people.
'Attack targets'
Prosecutors claim the defendant joined the jihadist group as a teenager in mid-2013, taking part in combat operations, handling an AK-47 assault rifle and supplying food to fighters.
He arrived in Germany near the peak of a mass influx of people fleeing Syria, Iraq and other crisis-torn countries that brought almost 900,000 asylum seekers to Europe's biggest economy in 2015.
He allegedly stayed in "close contact" with IS and repeatedly visited the German capital until February 2016 to scout out landmark targets and busy tourist sites for an attack.
Among the suspected targets were the area around the glass-domed Reichstag building that houses the lower house of parliament, the nearby Brandenburg Gate monument and the busy shopping square Alexanderplatz.
He then allegedly "passed the information about the potential attack targets onto his contacts at the IS", said the court in a statement.
"In addition, he arranged to send at least one person to Syria as a fighter and offered his services as a contact person for potential attackers in Germany," it added.
The young Syrian was arrested on March 22 last year and has been in pre-trial detention since. The court has set 25 hearings until April.
Truck rampage
Germany has been shocked by a spate of IS-claimed attacks, and some foiled plots, that a growing right-wing populist movement has blamed on the open-door refugee policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In some cases in 2016, the jihadists were homegrown, while others were migrants and refugees.
More attacks are feared when some of the 400-odd German jihadists still in Syria and Iraq return home.
In June 2016, police arrested three Syrian men over an alleged plan to use guns and suicide vests in an IS attack in Duesseldorf.
In July, a 17-year-old Afghan refugee wounded five people in an axe rampage on a train before police shot him dead.
Days later a 27-year-old Syrian blew himself up outside a music festival, wounding 15 people.
In October, police say they prevented an attack on a Berlin airport by a Syrian refugee, 22-year-old Jaber al-Bakr.
Al-Bakr evaded a police raid but was caught by Syrian compatriots soon after and handed over to police. Two days later, he was found hanged in his cell, sparking a scandal over the security lapse in custody.
December saw the worst IS-claimed attack when Tunisian Anis Amri, 24, drove a hijacked truck into a packed Berlin Christmas market.
He killed 12 people, including the lorry's registered Polish driver, and was shot dead four days later in Italy after firing first at police there.
Germany's domestic security service estimates that the number of radical Islamists in Germany rose above 9,000 in 2016, from some 3,800 in 2011.
About 550 of them are considered dangerous and capable of a violent attack.
Israeli solider Sgt. Elor Azaria waits with his parents for the verdict inside the military court in Tel Aviv, Israel on Wednesday. (Photo: AP)
Tel Aviv: An Israeli soldier who has been in the news for shooting a wounded Palestinian assailant when he posed no apparent threat was convicted of manslaughter on Wednesday.
The soldier, Elor Azaria, had been on trial for manslaughter in a military court since May. Right-wing politicians had defended the soldier despite top army brass harshly condemning the killing.
The quantum of the sentence is expected to be revealed at a later date. The soldier can get up to 20 years in prison.
Judge Colonel Maya Heller spent more than two-and-a-half hours reading out the decision, sharply criticising the arguments of Azaria's lawyers.
On behalf of the three-judge panel, Heller said there was no reason for Azaria to open fire, since the Palestinian was not posing any threat. The Palestinian soldier was wounded and on the ground. She called Azaria's testimony "evolving and evasive."
Azaria's demeanour drastically changed as the judge read the verdict.
Dressed in a green army uniform, he had entered the courtroom smiling, with family members and supporters applauding him while one man embraced him.
But he and his family later looked shaken as the judge spoke, with his mother and father huddling together.
Azaria was 19 at the time of the killing in March 2016.
On Wednesday morning, dozens of protesters scuffled with police as they gathered outside Israel's military headquarters in Tel Aviv, where the verdict was announced.
They held a sign that read: "People of Israel do not abandon a soldier in the battlefield".
Medics carry a wounded person at the scene after an attack at a popular nightclub in Istanbul on Sunday. (Photo: AP)
Ankara: The Islamic State attack on an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people was aimed to polarise the Turkish society, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday.
"The aim was clear -- to create a fissure and polarise society," he said in a speech at his presidential palace, in his first remarks on Sunday's pre-dawn attack, adding that the country will stand tall and keep its sangfroid."
The president also said, "No one's lifestyle in Turkey is under a systematic threat. We would never let this happen. In 14 years in power, we have never given this a chance."
Hitting a nightclub on New Year's night, the attack struck at the heart of secular Turkey, with analysts saying IS clearly sought to widen splits in Turkish society.
"These attacks seek to make us put our emotions before our reason," said Erdogan reiterating that the attacks are not reasons to give in.
Erdogan, who first came to power in 2003 as prime minister, has been accused of presiding over a creeping Islamisation in Turkey and accentuating splits in society.
However, authorities firmly insist that Turkey remains to be a secular country and changes have only increased the right to freedom of worship for devout Muslims.
Yangon: A commission probing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state on Wednesday denied security forces have carried out a campaign against the Rohingya, days after a video emerged showing police beating civilians from the Muslim minority.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya -- a group loathed by many among Myanmar's Buddhist majority -- have fled a military operation in the north-western state, launched after deadly attacks on police posts in October.
Dozens have died in the crackdown, while escapees now in neighbouring Bangladesh have claimed they suffered rape, arson, murder and torture at the hands of police or soldiers.
Myanmar's government, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has said the allegations are invented and has resisted mounting international pressure to protect the minority.
A state-appointed commission set up to investigate the violence released its interim report on Wednesday, dismissing claims troops and police have embarked on a campaign to force the Rohingya out of the country.
Its interim findings come days after the government detained multiple police officers over a video showing policemen beating and kicking Rohingya villagers.
The footage, shot by one of officers, has sparked outrage and undermined the government's blanket denials that soldiers and police have carried out rights abuses.
The size of the "Bengali" population, mosques and religious buildings in the unrest-hit area "are proof that there were no cases of genocide and religious persecution", it said in a statement carried in state media.
Myanmar has refused to recognise the Rohingya as one of the country's ethnic minorities, instead describing them as Bengalis -- or illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh -- even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.
The commission also found "insufficient evidence" of rape but added it was still looking into claims security forces committed arson, illegal arrests and torture of the Rohingya.
It blamed the unrest on foreign-backed extremists, whom it said had attacked security forces in October to harm "the sovereignty of the state... with the intention of igniting riots and conflicts".
Legal action has been taken against 485 people arrested during the army's subsequent clearance operation, it added, without giving further details.
Totally unprofessional
Chris Lewa, from the Arakan project, said the commission had failed to properly investigate the widespread allegations of rape and rights abuses.
"The methodology is not credible, it's totally unprofessional," she said.
"There is no corroboration from the villagers they are meant to have talked to. Their job was to verify the allegations and the report has not verified them," she alleged.
The commission has faced opposition from across the spectrum since it was announced last month -- the second body created by Suu Kyi to try to heal the simmering religious divide in Rakhine state.
Rights activists dismissed the 13-member commission as toothless, pointing out it is headed by the vice-president, a former army general.
Rakhine nationalists and many of the state's MPs have denounced it as a tool for government propaganda.
Malaysia's prime minister has accused Suu Kyi of allowing genocide on her watch, while more than a dozen Nobel Laureates wrote to the UN Security Council urging action to stop the "human tragedy amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity" in northern Rakhine.
State media ran a statement from the Home Affairs Ministry on Wednesday saying eight officers have now been arrested over the incident depicted in the video.
"Police committed abuses as they tried to arrest some villagers who fled the village and some who were hiding in their homes," the statement said.
Myanmar has long discriminated against the stateless Rohingya.
More than one million of them live in Rakhine, including 120,000 in displacement camps. Their movements are severely restricted as well as their access to basic services like health and education.
Coming close on the heels of the TMC attack on the state party headquarters of the BJP in Kolkata yesterday, West Bengal BJP general secretary Krishna Bhattacharya's house was attacked with bombs in Hooghly district last night.
Three men, with their faces covered, came in a motorcycle to her house in Konnanagar Jorapukur Ghat at 9 PM yesterday and started hurling bombs.
They barged into the house, smashed a windowpane, damaged furniture, and abused and assaulted her, Bhattacharya said in her police complaint.
The BJP leader said in her complaint that it was the handiwork of "anti-socials harboured by the TMC".
She has been admitted to Uttarpara State General Hospital where her condition has been described as stable, hospital sources said.
The police said they rushed to her house after getting the information, adding that investigation was on.
District TMC leader Tapan Dasgupta said no party supporter was involved in the incident.
Several BJP workers were injured yesterday when activists of the students wing of Trinamool Congress had attacked the state party headquarters here with stones to protest the arrest of the TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay in the Rose Valley chit fund scam case.
"Baywatch" star Pamela Anderson has requested President Barack Obama to consider "pardoning" Julian Assange after his website WikiLeaks leaked hacked Democratic emails in the run up to US Presidential election last year.
The 49-year-old actress has penned a letter to Obama, who will step down as the American leader later this week, in a bid to stop the investigation into the hacking scandal.
"...I request that you consider Pardoning Julian Assange in your last days in office. It would be a bold and exciting move for the time we live in- the information age generation. Please stop the grand jury investigation, and the bullying that is turning the world off America.
"We must stop making Julian (or Russia) the scapegoat - Kids are smarter than this, and it is very divisive and tearing generations apart. It simply must end - and is doable by the stroke of your pen. (sic)" Anderson wrote.
The actress, who posted the letter on her official website, went on to state that she knows if President Obama made the decision to call off the investigation it would cause uproar but thinks it's vital for the world going forward.
"It may not be popular at first - but nothing worth anything is. There will be a dawning and utter gratitude - as people wake up. I understand Julian has been painted a bad guy - but he is not. He is a genius worth protection. The contents of the what he has published through Wikileaks are pure and uncensored.
"They are just the truth - the distraction tactics are see through - it creates mistrust ... Julian and Wikileaks are essential - especially in this political climate. We need truth tellers more than ever (sic)," she continued.
Anderson concluded by asking Obama to think about Julian and his children, who live in his native Australia as he is only trying to "protect" people from corruption.
"And for Julian to be able to travel freely. See his children and his mother. He is protecting and informing us all. He has no agenda but to help end corruption of governments and empower people."
A Samajwadi Party MLA's gunner was left flabbergasted when he found that his account has been mysteriously credited by nearly Rs 100 crore.
Kanpur District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said that SP MLA Irfan Solanki's bodyguard Ghulam Jilani has an account with SBI's Mall Road branch.
He had gone to withdraw money from an ATM last night where he found that his account was credited with a total of Rs 99,99,02,724.
Jilani then approached Solanki who reported the matter to the DM.
"I have spoken to the Deputy General Manager of SBI branch and they have asked Jilani to submit an application," said Kaushal.
His bank account has been seized, said the DM, adding that he will not be able to withdraw money from it for the time being.
Jilani, who hails from Padrauna area of Kushinagar district, lives in a rented room in Jajmau area of the city
A special court today granted bail to Sanjeev Tyagi, cousin of ex-IAF chief S P Tyagi, and lawyer Gautam Khaitan in VVIP chopper scam case, saying that whether they took the "kickbacks", as alleged by CBI, can only be looked into during the course of the trial.
Both Tyagi and Khaitan, who were interrogated by CBI in its custody for seven days, have been asked by special CBI judge Arvind Kumar to furnish a personal bond of Rs two lakh and one surety of like amount as pre-requisites for release on bail, after the court noted that co-accused S P Tyagi has already been relased on bail.
The court asked both the accused not to leave the National Capital Region without its permission and ordered them not to tamper with the evidence or try to influence the witnesses.
"The present case is based on documents. The accused have joined the probe as and when called by CBI and have also been interrogated in custody. Documents have alredy been seized by CBI after conducting searches at the house of the accused.
"The correctness or otherwise of the allegation as to whether the accused have taken the kickbacks and in what manner they were connected with same, can only be looked into during the course of the trial... No purpose will be served by keeping the accused behind bars. Co-accused S P Tyagi has already been relased on bail," the court said.
The court had on December 26 last year granted bail to 72-year-old former IAF chief Tyagi, saying that CBI had failed to state the alleged bribe amount and when it was paid.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI, had earlier opposed the bail pleas of the accused, saying if set free, they might influence witnesses and hamper the "multi-layered probe by various agencies in more than one jurisdiction involving several countries".
Advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey, counsel for Khaitan, had countered CBI's argument, claiming that the agency was trying to sensationalise the matter and there was no allegation that his client had not joined the probe or tried to influence it.
Sanjeev Tyagi's counsel Manav Gupta had also opposed CBI's contention saying there was no reason to claim that if granted the relief, his client would hamper the probe.
S P Tyagi, who retired in 2007, Sanjeev Tyagi and Gautam Khaitan were arrested on December 9 last year by CBI in connection with the case which related to procurement of 12 VVIP choppers from UK-based firm AgustaWestland during the UPA-2 government. The deal was later cancelled.
Over 100 clerics were among 150 people arrested today in Pakistan's Punjab province for trying to hold a rally to 'celebrate' the killing of liberal governor Salmaan Taseer in 2011 over the controversial blasphemy issue.
Defying prohibitory orders, clerics gathered here to hold a rally on Main Boulevard in Gulberg area to 'celebrate' Taseer's sixth death anniversary, local media reported.
Protesters belonging to religious parties like Sunni Tehreek, Tehreek-i-Khatme Nabuwat and Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasool (SAW) were among those who had planned to march from Kalma Chowk to Liberty Chowk in Lahore to eulogise Taseer's killer and express support for blasphemy laws.
Taseer was killed on January 4, 2011 in Islamabad by his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri for allegedly criticising the blasphemy laws in the country - a hugely sensitive issue in the country.
A police official said that the clerics had planned two separate rallies in Gulberg and the Mall Road areas of the city. The government banned the Gulberg protest while allowing the clerics to hold a rally on the Mall Road.
Defying government decision, hundreds of supporters of the three religious groups gathered in Gulberg for a rally but police went into action, disrupting the protest and arresting around 150 of them, over 100 of whom were clerics, local media reported.
Protesters also put up dozens of banners in Lahore and other cities declaring Qadri as a hero.
Senior police officials said no one had permission to hold a rally in Lahore. They added that the Punjab government had not allowed the demonstrators to hold any rally in Lahore and police would block routes and make arrests if necessary.
Main area and arterial roads were blocked and police personnel were heavily deployed across the city. Due to the diversions, capital of Pakistan's most populous province also witnessed severe traffic jams along certain routes.
Qadri was apparently infuriated when the governor visited a Christian woman called Aasia Bibi, who was given death sentence for alleged blasphemy, and on the occasion he termed blasphemy regulations as 'black law'.
Qadri, who was arrested and convicted of murder, was hanged in Rawalpindi's Adiala jail in 2016 and buried in Bhara Kau area of Islamabad where his supporters are constructing a shrine to honour him.
Blasphemy laws were enacted by former military ruler Ziaul Haq in 1980s and clerics have refused to allow any reforms in the laws despite concerns about their misuse.
Opposition today remained unrelenting in its attack on the Narendra Modi government over its plans to present the Union Budget on February 1, three days prior to the start of voting in assembly elections in five states.
The principal Opposition party said the budget is traditionally presented on February 28 since independence but the Modi government wants to present it during the time of elections.
Party spokesperson Ajoy Kumar said it is a convention that when an assembly election is scheduled, the Centre presents a vote-on-account and presents a full-fledged budget later.
He recalled that the BJP had raised objections in 2012 on the same count and the then UPA government had only presented a vote-on-account.
"Fearing defeat and leaving aside the good traditions of Parliament, Prime Minister Modi wants to present the budget in the poll atmosphere. The public knows it all and Prime Minister will not be successful in his plans," he said.
The Congress leader accused Modi of presenting a "mini-budget" two days ahead of the poll schedule announcement and making some lofty announcements in a bid to lure voters.
"There is something called budgetary secrecy. Issues with financial implications are usually presented by the Finance Minister," he said.
Another spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said the Congress and 15 other parties have also written to the President on the "ill-timed decision" of the Modi government to advance the date for budget presentation.
"The poor decisions and mis-governance have left the Prime Minister shaken and clueless. Like the drowning man in the ocean, Prime Minister Modi made announcements three days before the election dates came out. As a result of his mis-governance, Modi will not receive the support of the people in these elections," he said.
Gohil added that the announcements made by the Prime Minister were "too hollow" as he was trying to "mislead" the people of the country with announcements that are already in place since long.
He said the reality is that the Rabi Season's crop finance, by and large has not been given or received yet and the Prime Minister's 60 days interest for the Rabi crop will be waived for farmers does not mean much.
The Election Commission is already examining the representation of various political parties for not allowing the presentation of the Union Budget during the poll process of five states and will take a call on it soon.
Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad also wrote a letter to the CEC in which he said, "It is a collective and serious concern of the Opposition parties that advancing the presentation of budget to February 1 will provide an opportunity to the government to make populist announcements to influence voters.
"This will not only give unfair advantage to the ruling party but will also undermine the process of free and fair elections. It is therefore demanded that in view of the forthcoming elections and the precedent of 2012, the advancement of the presentation of the budget should not be allowed," he said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose AAP is fancying chances of clinching power in Punjab and Goa, claimed the situation in the two states, where the BJP is in power or sharing it, is "bad" and people want to bring in an "honest" government led by his party in the upcoming polls.
"Both in Punjab and Goa, the situation is bad. In Punjab, people want to throw the BJP coalition government and bring in an honest AAP government so that they get freed from drugs and corruption," he said.
Sanjay Raut, an MP from NDA constituent Shiv Sena, said poll preparations of the saffron party are "complete", particularly in northern states and BJP-ruled Goa.
"Shiv Sena is holding an important meeting chaired by party president Uddhav Thackeray where such issues will be discussed. Our preparations are complete for the polls," he said.
Naresh Agrawal, who was recently expelled by Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh in the midst of feud within the ruling party of Uttar Pradesh, insisted the EC to see the budget session announced by the central government be postponed to ensure that the voters do not get influenced.
"The manner in which the budget session has been convened in between the polls, we will urge the Election Commission to get it postponed, the way 2012 budget session was postponed, to ensure free and fair poll," Agarwal said.
Targeting the BJP and Samajwadi Party, BSP leader Sudhindra Bhadoria said both the parties have caused "harassment" to people through goonda raj and demonetisation respectively and that the Mayawati-led party was "eagerly" waiting for announcement of dates to take on them.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh hailed the EC's decision to hold elections in the state in one go, a move, which he said, was in line with a request his party had made to the EC to ensure proper law and order situation during polls period there.
"This is good, we will beat both the Akali-BJP coalition and the AAP and they will know where Punjab is standing," he added. Congress' Chief Ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh, Sheila Dikshit, too said the party will go for a time-bound programme in the politically crucial state and "will contest to win".
BJP leader from Uttarakhand, Vijay Bahuguna, said people from the hill state were "awaiting" to throw the "corrupt and anti-people" Congress government, led by Harish Rawat. He said the party will bank on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's canvassing to gain power.
American multinational mobile brand iPhone has been ranked as Indias Most Reputed Mobile Phone brand in a study by BlueBytes in association with TRA Research (both part of the Comniscient Group).
In terms of sheer volume, Apple iPhone had the highest positive media appearances. The second most reputed brand in the list, despite the controversies surrounding the exploding Note 7, was South Koreas Samsung Mobiles, which had a Brand Rep Score 67% lower than the iPhone.
The first Indian consumer electronics company to feature in the list and third in All-India featured Micromax with a Brand Rep Score of 94% lower than Samsung. The fourth and fifth position was secured by Chinas Xiaomi and Finlands Nokia, which recently promised a comeback in India with two Android phones.
About 72 mobile phone brands were listed from 12 different countries featured in the Indias Most Reputed Mobile Phone Brands 2017 Report. Of these, Indian origin phones held the maximum positions 29 brands.
As far as other brands in top 10 are concerned, Chinese multinationals Lenovo, Huawei, and Motorola (now owned by Lenovo) rank 6th, 7th, and 8th respectively. LG (South Korea) and Intex (India) completed the top 10 in this list.
India's Most Reputed Mobile Phone Brands 2017 was a study conducted within the mobile phone industry with BlueBytes, analysing news of 72 mobile phone brands in all the major English and Hindi print media (newspapers and magazines) across nine cities as a representative of the news across all media. A total of more than 60,000 articles related to different mobile phone brands were captured in the period between November 1, 2015, and October 31, 2016.
The Assembly polls of 2017 that were announced by the Election Commission on Wednesday will be seen as a mini referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modis demonetisation drive that shook the country.
These elections also come after his government has completed half of its five-year term.
Therefore, it is a big opportunity for the Opposition, which has felt resurgent after the note ban, to regroup and find a common plank to upset the BJP in these states.
A win for the BJP will boost image and morale to prepare for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. As BJP leaders say, the elections, particularly in a big state like Uttar Pradesh, can help Modi shore up his governments image. They can show that the BJP can win a major poll even after a controversial measure like demonetisation, which was described by former PM Manmohan Singh as a "monumental disaster." Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi too called it as loot of the poor to rebuff the BJPs campaign that it was against black money and corruption.
In 2015, the BJP had lost the Bihar elections, which came as big blow for Modi after the 2014 parliamentary polls. This was after the AAP had swept the Delhi Assembly election in the same year.
Therefore, a victory in UP and other states would be shot in the arm for PM. It will also enable the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls when they are held to fill vacancies that will arise next year. The BJP can hope to gain majority in the upper house.
On the other hand, a defeat for the BJP particularly in UP after Bihar and Delhi will be seen as a personal setback for the PM, admit party leaders. Modis vote catching power will appear to be on the decline despite the internal tussle of Mulayam Singh Yadavs family in UP and Mayawati facing a lot of problems.
A defeat could fuel internal fissures in the BJP that are likely to get accentuated though an open revolt against the prime minister or party chief Amit Shah would take time to gather pace. The Congress and other opposition parties will quickly see the BJPs defeat as a proof that people have rejected demonetisation and Modis cashless initiatives.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 71 seats by winning 328 (81%) of 403 Assembly segments in UP. This was unprecedented in the recent history of Uttar Pradesh elections. In terms of Assembly segments, the BJP won 253 out of the 403 constituencies with more than 40% vote share.
Since then, the Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party have tried to regain the lost ground. However, the outbreak of internal tussle in Mulayam Singh Yadavs family has dented the SPs prospects.
The Congress, which is not in the pink of health in UP, is not a big player. But it hopes to form an alliance with Akhilesh Yadav if he proceeds to form his own party. For Rahul Gandhi, a defeat for Modi is more important target than any tangible benefit for the Congress.
Among the five states, it is Punjab alone where the BJP does not expect a big win. It is bracing up for a heavy anti-incumbency mood among the voters as it has been in power in a coalition with the Akali Dal for the last 10 years. Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Admi Party (AAP) and the Congress under Capt Amarinder Singh are giving a tough time.
However, in Uttarakhand, the BJP is confident of vanquishing the Congress government.
In Manipur, the BJP finds the Congress on a defensive wicket.
The political entry of activist Irom Sharmila and athlete Mary Kom have come as a big boost for the BJP.
In Goa, the AAP is challenging the BJP as well as the Congress, which have taken turns to run the coastal state. Kejriwal hopes to break that cycle so that the AAP can be a kingmaker if not the real player.
The Election Commission is preparing to implement the recent Supreme Court order barring invocation of religion, race, caste, community or language to seek votes in the polls.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim Zaidi told journalists that the commission would immediately implement the order of the apex court and take necessary steps so that it is strictly adhered to even during the forthcoming polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur.
The law department of the Election Commission is preparing instructions based on the Supreme Court order. The order will further strengthen the hands of the commission and it wants all political parties to follow the it on their own as well, Zaidi said after announcing the schedule of the polls in the five states.
The Supreme Court on January 2 ruled that election of a candidate would be annulled if he or she had sought votes invoking religion, race, caste, community or language.
The CEC was asked what would happen to the political parties with names having invocations of castes, religions or linguistic identities. He replied that the commission had in 2005 decided not to allow registration of parties by such names.
The Assembly polls in the five states are going to be the first major elections after the Union government demonetised the high-value currency notes.
Less black money
The EC is expecting that the use of black money in the forthcoming elections would be lesser than the previous polls as a result of demonetisation.
In this upcoming elections, the EC machinery will see what measures need to be taken to curb the use of black money post demonetisation. But, as per information received, the availability of black money for use in the forthcoming election is expected to be less. As the poll process picks up, we will monitor it, said Zaidi.
He, however, said that the use of other illegal inducements might see a rise in the coming elections.
The brazen molestation of a woman in Kammanahalli in the early hours of New Years Day, as captured by a CCTV camera, has shaken and rattled Bengaluru.
The footage shows a woman, walking home after alighting from an autorickshaw, being molested by two bike-borne men at 5th main, 7th cross, Kammanahalli in eastern Bengaluru. The men also took away her purse.
The incident would have remained under wraps, but for the gritty family living in the two-storeyed house where the camera was installed.
The house owner learnt about the incident on the afternoon of January 1 when four girls came up to him and narrated what had happened on the night before. They requested him to check if his CCTV camera had captured the incident.
The owner checked the footage and was horrified to see the incident unfold. We didnt know these girls. They told us they live a few metres ahead. They are not from Bengaluru. When we saw the video, we didnt ask the girls anything, as we were just dumbstruck. They thanked us and left. We realised they were too frightened and didnt want to talk about it, the owner told DH, requesting anonymity.
But the family decided not to keep quiet. Another member of the family, who also didnt give his name, said, We decided that something should be done about it. We didnt want to just sit down and try to lie to ourselves when such a heinous crime took place right outside our house.
Incidentally, the house owners son-in-law knows Srinivas T, the inspector of Hennur police station. On January 3, he called him up and told him about the footage. The inspector came over, saw the video and alerted his counterpart at the jurisdictional Banaswadi police station. The family gave the footage to police for investigation.
Police and local residents lauded the family for installing the CCTV camera. A resident, Samuel, said, The building owner is a close friend of mine and he had asked me to instal a CCTV camera for my own safety. He had installed the camera just a few weeks ago. Now, we know how important a CCTV camera is. Without the CCTV camera, the incident would not have come to light.
Local residents are yet to come to terms with the incident. Sheela Mary, who lives in the street where the incident took place, said, We didnt hear anything that night, though we come to check even if there is a minor disturbance outside. The street is just 10 feet wide and houses adjoin. The main road is just a few metres away. Numerous women pass through the lane daily. Now, we have to think twice before venturing out at night.
A complaint has been filed with the Cubbon Park police against former Union minister and senior Congress leader C M Ibrahim, accusing him of forcibly aborting his daughter Ifas foetus.
The complaint was filed on Wednesday evening by Ibrahims brother C M Khader. Ifa is married to Khaders son Faisal. The Cubbon Park police said they have started an inquiry in this regard.
Khader has also accused Ibrahims son Fayiz of assaulting Faisal on December 22. My brother (Ibrahim) and his wife were in Dubai. Fayiz called my son and daughter-in-law and locked up his sister (Ifa). When my son protested, he was beaten up. There is still some swelling in his leg, Khader stated.
Police sources said the assault has happened several days ago and they need to get further details in this regard.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka State Commission for Women chairperson Nagalakshmi Bai on Wednesday said she has sought details from the police on the abortion suffered by Ifa.
Nagalakshmi was speaking to journalists earlier in the day at Vikram Hospital here, where she came to meet Ifa after controversy erupted over allegations that her parents had forced the abortion.
Nagalakshmi said Ifa was not in a condition to speak. I have written to the DCP, seeking information about the case registered against her husband, Faisal, she said.
The doctors treating Ifa told me that the patient was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition as miscarriage had already happened. They did not waste time checking the
patients background. They opted to save her life, she explained.
Asked whether the commission would take any action, Nagalakshmi said she would wait for a response from the DCP. We want to know whether it was a forced abortion. Ifa has told the police on Wednesday morning that she would not like to give an oral statement and would give a written statement tomorrow (Thursday), she said.
The Bengaluru urban district authorities on Wednesday exhumed the body of a man who died in November 2016 in Belur and was buried in Arehalli, southwest Bengaluru.
According to district officials, R Manjunath (42) worked as lab technician in a government hospital where his wife Lakshmi too works as a nurse. The two fell in love and got married.
On November 27, 2016, he died in Belur where his postmortem was conducted. His body was brought to Bengaluru and buried at the foot of Hanumagiri Hill in Arehalli. His brother R Shivakumar suspected foul play and lodged a complaint with the Arsikere police station demanding a thorough probe into the death. Considering the suspicious nature of the case, the matter was handed over to the Hassan Crime Branch.
Meanwhile, Shivakumar brought in a court order seeking a fresh postmortem, suspecting foul play. Based on the court order, the body was exhumed on Wednesday in the presence of Bengaluru South tahsildar B M Shivakumar. The second autopsy on the body was conducted at KIMS Hospital. Details of the postmortem are yet to be known.
JD(S) national president H D Deve Gowda said on Wednesday that the Centres failure to implement demonetisation scheme properly has caused a lot of inconvenience to people. The Reserve Bank of India has issued more than 60 circulars modifying rules related to the scheme repeatedly. People are struggling to withdraw their own money from banks even 50 days after the scheme was announced. This shows that the government has failed to implement the scheme, he told reporters.
Gowda said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a good orator. But he cannot solve misery of people by his oratory skills. I had initially welcomed the scheme. But it has now been proved that there was no planning on the part of the government for implementation...I am disappointed with his (Modi) December 31 address to the nation, he said.
Gowda charged the Centre with misusing the CBI and suggested TMC leader Mamata Banerjee to take legal recourse over the arrest of her party MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay by the federal investigative agency.
Uttara Kannada MP Ananth Kumar Hegdes assault on doctors in Sirsi has brought the focus back on the vulnerability of medical personnel.
On Tuesday, Hegde thrashed two doctors and a hospital staffer, angry that his mother had been made to wait for the treatment of a fracture.
Doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and even security guards fear assaults by relatives of patients in case of an unfavourable treatment outcome.
Tall, muscular men walking around hospital corridors is not an uncommon sight in Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai.
Fed up of the constant attacks they come under, hospitals there are hiring bouncers. They are not meant to intimidate patients but to protect doctors from physical harm. It is a costly affair, so in Maharashtra five to seven hospitals form a group and hire bouncers. When there is an alert from a hospitals, they rush there, a city doctor said. The practice is not followed in Bengaluru yet.
At heart institute
People barge into ICUs and when the guard tries to stop them, they attack him, said Dr C N Manjunath, director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research. Patients have unrealistic expectations from doctors, he reckons. Doctors are easily accessible, unlike government officials. So when something goes wrong, people immediately vent their anger on them, said Dr Veeranna, general secretary of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Karnataka chapter. If the family believes doctors have been negligent, they should take legal recourse and complain to the authorities. Why beat them up, he wondered.
Most hospitals have security guards but they stand at the entrance. If people attack the doctor in his consultation room, he has no protection, said Dr Rajashekar S Bellary, president of IMA, Karnataka. At Jayadeva Hospital, attacks were so frequent that female doctors refused to work on the night shift.
To tackle this, the hospital appointed a gunman and stationed him in the Outpatient Department (OPD) during the day and the casualty ward at night.
But not all hospitals can afford to hire gunmen and extra security guards, Dr Bellary said.
Rural service
Frequent attacks on doctors is one reason why many are reluctant to work in taluk and district hospitals, said Dr Manjunath.
Such incidents are demoralising. If this goes on, common people will suffer because doctors will be scared to take up emergency cases, fearing harm, he said.
The government passed the Karnataka Prohibition of Violence Against Medicare Service Personnel Act in 2009. However, doctors say it is hardly ever implemented.
There is pressure on doctors and hospitals not to lodge complaints in such cases. Police try to broker a compromise because they are outnumbered by the mob, a doctor said.
Hospitals display notices to inform people about the Act, and the agencies to contact in case of grievances, but this does little to deter attackers.
If the police take strict action and immediately arrest the offender, people will have fear, said Dr Bellary of the Indian Medical Association.
aa
The Indian Medical Association is pushing for a similar Central law to protect those involved in providing medical care. The Act passed in 2009 protects doctors, nurses, trainees and other hospital staff from assaults.
A visit to the BBMPs two maternity homes left Mayor G Padmavathi flabbergasted on Wednesday.
The mayor carried out a sudden inspection of the Palike-run maternity homes only to come across the lack of hygiene in the hospitals and the missing doctors. She gave an earful to the medical health officers for the poor maintenance of these hospitals.
The most annoying sight for the mayor was garbage littered all over the premises at Halasuru Maternity Home. Taking the garbage contractor to task, she ordered the officials to impose a penalty of Rs 50,000 on him. The mayor blasted Dr Latha who is in charge of the hospital for the untidy interiors. On noticing that the rusted operation table and racks, she directed the officials to immediately replace them.
Infuriated with the pathetic condition of the hospital, Padmavathi questioned the officials, Why would anyone visit this hospital if it is so badly maintained? Is this how you keep your house?
There were more shockers in store for the mayor at Murphy Town Hospital, where doctors were not present. The duty nurse too had gone to complete her personal chores. The pharmacist was playing the role of doctor by giving medicines to the patients. There was no medical or paramedical staff to look after the hospital.
She directed the chief of medical officer to issue show-cause notices to the doctors why they were not present in the hospital. The mayor warned that henceforth she would not tolerate such indiscipline.
A CBI special court on Wednesday posted for orders on the regular bail petition filed by S C Jayachandra, suspended chief project officer of State Highway Development Project, in the money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The special court heard the arguments from counsel appearing for Jayachandra and the ED and posted the matter for orders to January 7.
Senior counsel C V Nagesh, appearing for the accused official, argued that the ED had kept Jayachandra in illegal detention. He contended that possession of demonetised notes as well as new currency would not amount to an offence. He cited various judgments of high courts and the Supreme Court on the issue of granting bail to those arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Jayachandras counsel also said that the bank officials concerned should be held responsible for dispensing new currency in violation of the notification issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The prosecutor, appearing for the ED, in the objection stated that the officer possessed 26 apartments besides other assets and, that they were proceeds of the crime. The ED stated that the cash, both demonetised and the new currency were part of the probe.
However, Nagesh contended that though documents pertaining to the flats were recovered, the ED has so far not established that they are registered in the names of either Jayachandra or members of his family. The advocate also stated that Jayachandra has given a statement to the ED saying that the cash found in the house was part of advance money paid by three persons for a construction project.
The CBI court judge Pradeep S Balekai posted the matter for orders. Jayachandra's judicial custody was extended till January 7. The CBI court had granted interim bail to Jayachandra on December 15, 2016. The ED had moved the high court seeking cancellation of the bail. The high court had directed the ED to file its objections before the CBI court in the regular bail application.
Four years in the making, the Goraguntepalya Road Overbridge (RoB) along the Outer Ring Road is all set for a formal launch on January 6. Designed to decongest the ORR, the project will also ease traffic on Tumakuru Road, just in time for the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas event kicking off on Saturday.
Built jointly by Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) and South Western Railway, the RoB passes over two rail routes rendering the railway gates redundant. Frequent closures of the gates triggers massive traffic pile-ups on the busy Ring Road. The traffic police have often been at loggerheads with Railways, insisting that closure frequency cannot be increased.
Perennially stuck at the gates in kilometre-long queues, ORR commuters are bound to heave a huge sigh of relief. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is expected to inaugurate the partially completed RoB on January 6, R Hithendra, Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic, said.
Two-way traffic will be allowed on the RoB, only one ramp of which is complete. SWR is expected to ready the second ramp soon.
During gate closures - at least 20 times a day - the traffic pile-up extends all the way up to Tumakuru Road, a small stretch of which is part of the Ring Road.
The commute from BEL Circle on ORR to Goraguntepalya now takes about an hour. The RoB is expected to make travelling on this stretch a breeze and reduce congestion at Goraguntepalya by over 50%.
This, as traffic police officials point out, will benefit delegates heading to the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, where the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas event is scheduled to be held from January 7 to 9.
Once the railway gates underneath the bridge are permanently closed, train halts at Yeshwantpur railway station are likely to be reduced to three minutes. Currently, Tumakuru-bound trains are not allowed to proceed from the first three platforms till the gates are closed. Incoming trains are stuck at Chikkabanavara station.
People advocating the suburban rail project say trains from the Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna city railway station can now chug into Yeshwantpur station at smaller intervals, decongesting tracks at the crowded city station.
India on Wednesday asked China to hear the voice of the world and drop its policy of shielding the terror leaders based in Pakistan from United Nations sanctions.
New Delhi also made it clear that it would not restart bilateral dialogue with Islamabad unless the export of anti-India terror from Pakistan and territories under control of Pakistan was stopped.
We really do expect China to hear the voice of the world, not just the voice of India, on the issue of terrorism, Minister of State for External Affairs, M J Akbar, said, when a journalist asked him for New Delhis reaction to Beijings latest move to block New Delhi's bid at the United Nations to impose sanctions on Pakistan-based leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) Masood Azhar.
The voice of the world is heard over and over again at many fora, he added.
With External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj recuperating after undergoing a kidney transplant surgery, Akbar and the other Minister of State, V K Singh, on Wednesday briefed reporters about the MEAs achievement in the two-and-a-half years tenure of the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
We hope China, as a matured and responsible nation will understand that double standards are simple self-defeating, even suicidal, said Akbar.
New Delhi earlier this year made a fresh attempt to get the JeM chief designated as an international terrorist by a UN panel.
All individuals and entities listed by the 1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Daesh) and Al Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UN are subjected to international sanctions, including travel restrictions and measures curbing financial transactions.
Beijing, however, blocked the move by New Delhi in early April. It was only due to Chinas opposition that the UN panel had to put Indias plea on a technical hold for six months. China one of the five permanent members of the Security Council later managed to get the technical hold extended for three more months, beginning on October 1. It got the technical hold extended further on December 31.
China has its own terrorist problems. China recognises them, addresses them in bilateral agreements. We hope and we are sure that China can be persuaded to see the depth and evil of this menace, Akbar said on Tuesday.
Singh said that India had demonstrated its own good faith through repeated initiatives to normalise the relationship with Pakistan.
However, as we have often stated, talks and terror cannot go together, added the Minister of state for external affairs.
The aim of the surgical strikes that we conducted (after September 18 terror attack on Indian Army camp at Uri in Kashmir) was to convey to Pakistan that we will not countenance continued terrorism as the new normal in our relationship, he added.
Those who have not heard the musical pillars of the famous Vijaya Vittala temple in Hampi, can see them at the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas from January 7 to 9, at the Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre. There will six fibre glass models outside Hall Nos. 1 and 2 and at the helipad, where one can hear drum sounds by lightly tapping on the 12-foot pillars.
Hariprasad G Shetty and his team of 100 creative designers, architects and artists have worked on creating these pillars. We are trying to showcase as much of Karnatakas history as possible in just three days. We have divided the whole exhibition centre into sections where we will showcase different styles of architecture of different historic locations of Karnataka, Shetty, creative director, Events and Exhibitions, Prathiroopi, told DH.
Pre-cast pillars
Nothing much could be seen on ground on Wednesday except for a few pillars. Shetty said that there was nothing to worry as pre-cast pillars are ready and they need to be placed at the right angles, after which final touches will be given. They are waiting for construction work to be over, since dust can mar the art works.
The entrance to the exhibition centre on Tumakuru Road will showcase the Mysuru royal architecture which is the Indo-Saracenic style. The registration entrance will showcase the Hoysala architectural pillars with floral decorations on them, accompanied by a Nandi statue.
Hall No. 3, which is the main hall where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee will address the diaspora, will have two entrances - one for the Prime Minister and President and the other for delegates. There will also be a crafts bazaar at the entrance and the exhibition halls. There will be two Yakshagana mock-ups and floral decorations.
Where can one get the best piping hot idli-vada combo in Bengaluru? Which is the best place to savour masala dosa? Where can one get the best silk sarees and which is the best outlet to buy sandalwood sculptures ? Where can I chill out with some cold beer?
These are some of the queries being posed by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) who have registered for the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas being held in Bengaluru from January 7. The delegates are also seeking information from the organisers on the best way to explore Bengaluru and also tourist attractions around the state capital.
According to official sources, the state government has been sending e-mails to the registered delegates about the rich heritage, culture and delicacies of the state besides places where they can explore the sights and sounds of Karnataka.
The sources said several delegates have replied to the e-mails stating that they will utilise the opportunity of their stay in the city to savour Bengalurus special delicacies including idli-vada and masala dosa. Minister of State for Tourism Priyank Kharge said his department will offer Bengaluru-circuit tours to delegates taking them to tourist attractions such as Lalbagh, Cubbon Park, Bannerghatta Biological Park among others. Special tours to the Nandi Hills, Savanadurga and longer duration tours to Kodagu, Bandipur, Nagarahole besides heritage packages will also offered, Kharge said. We have roped in Karnataka State Development Tourism Corporation and the Jungle Lodges and Resorts to make the necessary arrangements, the minister said.
Confusion over common counselling for allocation of seats in medical and dental colleges prevails as the government and private colleges failed to reach a consensus over the issue. Dr Sharan Prakash Patil, Minister for Medical Education, held a discussion with representatives of private medical colleges to discuss the issue of counselling.
The governments proposal to have the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) conduct common counselling was not accepted by private colleges. For entrance to medical and dental colleges, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducts a common National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). Recently, the Medical Council of India (MCI) sent a circular to the government, recommending that the state government should conduct common counselling after the rank list is announced, if possible.
Patil tried to convince the board members of private colleges who attended the meeting that common counselling would be beneficial for students and this was the practice in many others states. The private college representatives, however, did not accept the proposal.
Common counselling
Last year, the government tried to conduct common counselling for seats in the all-India quota based on NEET ranks, but private colleges opposed the move. As a result, KEA, Comed-K, religious and linguistic minority colleges and six deemed universities conducted individual counselling. Students had to apply for each counselling separately.
Representatives of the colleges said that they wanted to have control over the counselling at least. They said they would have discussions among themselves before deciding on the issue. Another meeting will be held soon with the college representatives and the government before taking a call, they said.
The outbreak of Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), commonly known as moneky fever, in Thirthahalli taluk has triggered anxiety among people of Malnad region. A source in the Health Department said that eight KFD cases have been reported in the taluk so far. The laboratory based in Manipal, Udupi district, has confirmed that all the eight persons are affected by KFD after examining their blood samples.
The department has started mobile health care units comprising doctors, which will visit villages where a large number of people are suffering from fever and administer vaccine to them. Blood samples of such persons are being sent to laboratories based in Manipal and Pune for medical examination.
Taluk health officer Kiran told DH that KFD cases are reported in Chiduva, Kodige and Nellisara under Kudumallige gram panchayat. People who visit forest frequently have been directed to apply oil on their body given by the department. KFD cases are reported when the temperature is high. People should get vaccinated against KFD, he said.
Seven people have been displaced after a Monday afternoon fire in a two-story home in Harrisburg.
Firefighters from Harrisburg and Junction City responded at around 3:06 p.m. Monday to heavy smoke and fire coming from an add-on room to the main structure of the house in the 500 block of Seventh Street in Harrisburg, according to a press release from Harrisburg Fire & Rescue. Crews were able to extinguish the fire, but the blaze caused fire and smoke damage to the add-on room.
Firefighter Mike Christensen said Tuesday that the fire also caused smoke damage to the entire home.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, and there were no reported injuries.
Representatives with the American Red Cross responded Tuesday to provide temporary housing, food, clothing and comfort kits to the six adults and one child displaced by the fire, according to a release from the Red Cross.
The Red Cross in Oregon and Southwest Washington serving the Cascades Region helps an average of three families affected by disasters such as house fires every day, according to the release.
Google announced its Digital Unlocked programme and My Business Websites for SMBs in India to come online.
Google has announced its Digital Unlocked skills programme in India today. In an SMB-focused event in Delhi, the company announced two new initiatives, including My Business Websites and Digital Unlocked. Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, revealed a joint study with KPMG, which says 68 percent of Indias 51 million SMBs are not online right now. According to the study, this is because of lack of technical skills, and understanding of the benefits of technology
The Google Digital Unlocked training programme is aimed at bringing these SMBs online, teaching them essential skills for the same. The programme has been built online, offline and mobile platforms, says Google. While offline training will be provided over the next three years in partnership with FICCI, online training is through 90 video tutorials that Google has released. You can find these on g.co/digitalunlocked.
FICCIs offline training program will include 5000 workshops, spread over 40 Indian cities. The training programs are certified by Google, FICCI and the Indian School of Business (ISB). To access Googles Digital Unlocked training programmes, users will have to download a mobile app called Primer, which is on iOS and Android right now. It provides access to the videos, is available in English and Hindi, and works offline. Google says support for Tamil, Marathi and Telugu is to be added soon. Those interested can also visit the digital Unlocked website to get details of the location of workshops. The announcement evet also saw Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad reiterate the governments digital initiatives, including the recently launched BHIM payments app. The minister also encouraged Google to help improve the country's cyber security situation, saying that Google is as much an Indian company as it is American.
Further, Googles My Business Websites will be launched later this year. This service will allow businesses to create websites optimised for mobile viewing, for free. Businesses will also be able to use photos from Google Maps, and the service will be available in English, Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati, Urdu, Kannada and Malayalam. You can watch the entire event in our live video below.
It's a new year and Samsung can finally leave last year's nightmare behind. But CES has never really been about phones for this company. Over the past couple of years, Samsung has unveiled its newest TV technology in this event. Sure enough, the new QLED TVs lead the product line this year, while there is a generous helping of smartphones, smart home products, and even some tablets.
Samsung QLED TVs
The company claims its new Q7, Q8 and Q9 TVs can reproduce 100% colour volume, meaning they can represent all colours at different brightness levels, between 1500 to 2000 nits. The TVs still use Samsungs Quantum Dot technology, along with its new Smart TV Hub. The Hub will tailor content based on your viewing habits.
Samsung FlexWash and FlexDry Laundry System
This is Samsungs newest take on the washing machine. The FlexWash unit can wash two loads at the same time, meaning you can wash your white clothes and coloured clothes at the same time, without having to fear spoilage. Similarly, the FlexDry system allows drying two loads at the same time. Together, they make for a 4-in-1 system and can be controlled using Samsungs Smart Home app on an Android or iOS powered device.
Samsung Galaxy A3, A5 and A7
All these devices run on octa-core SoCs, along with the design language Samsung followed on its flagship series in 2016. The Galaxy A5 and A7 have 16MP cameras on the front and back, while the Galaxy A3 has a 13MP rear and 8MP front camera. Needless to say, the A3 will be the budget offering, if and when these come to India.
Samsung Galaxy Note Pro and Tab Pro tablets
This ones interesting. Samsungs new Galaxy Note Pro tablet runs on the Snapdragon 800 SoC, clocked at 2.26GHz, and a 12.2 inch QHD screen. For some reason, Samsung decided to run its Magazine UX on Android 4.4 Kitkat on this one.
The Galaxy Tab Pro on the other hand, is available in 8.4, 10.1 and 12.2 inch screen sizes. Of these, the 10.1 and 8.4 inch models have 2GB of RAM, while the 12.2 inch variant runs on 3GB of RAM. The basic difference between this and the Note Pro, though, is that the S-Pen isnt included on the Tab Pro.
Samsung H7 Wireless Speaker, Soundbar, UHD Blu-ray Player
All of these devices support Samsungs Ultra High Quality audio feature. This, apparently, produces 32 bit audio from any source that is available in 8-24 bit quality. This is of course done algorithmically, but is supposed to be even closer to the source than regular 32-bit audio. The Samsung H7 Wireless Speaker has even won the CES 2017 Innovation Award this year, with its bass response down to 35 Hz.
Samsung Family HUB 2.0
This is the second iteration of Samsungs Family HUB 2.0 smart refrigerator. Samsung claims it has added new app partners, increased the number of models from four to 10, and added enhanced usability along with better app integration. What does all this mean? Well let you know when we actually get to see it!
Samsung Powerbot VR7000 Robot
Fridges, washing machines and now robots, the Samsung Powerbot VR7000 is a home cleaning robot thats less than 4 inches tall. Samsung claims its 28% slimmer than the earlier models as well.
Samsung Quantum Dot Curved Monitor
Samsung had announced its new CH711 Quantum Dot Curved monitor will be showcased at CES 2017. When the showfloor opens, this should be one of the big attraction for gamers.
A1000 English > + Compare + Compare 13-May-2016
Market Status : DISCONTINUED Expected Date : 14 Feb, 2013 Official Website : Xolo Key Specifications Screen Size 5" (720 x 1280)
Camera 8 | 1.2 MP
Memory 4 GB/1 GB
Battery 2100 mAh Variant/(s) Color A1000 Price in India: 13,499 set price drop alert See All Prices A1000 Alternatives
Overview
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A1000 Full Specifications Basic Information Manufacturer : Lava Model : Xolo A1000 Launch date (global) : 15-02-2013 Operating system : Android OS version : 4.1 Type : Smartphone Status : Available Colors : default Product Name : Xolo A1000 Display Screen size (in inches) : 5 Display technology : IPS LCD Capacitive touchscreen Screen resolution (in pixels) : 720 x 1280 Pixel Density (PPI) : 294 Scratch Resistant Glass : No Camera Rear Camera Megapixel : 8 Maximum Video Resolution (in pixels) : N/A Front Camera Megapixel : 1.2 Front Facing Camera : Yes LED Flash : Yes Video Recording : Yes Geo-tagging : No Digital Zoom : No Autofocus : Yes Touch Focus : No Face Detection : No HDR : No Panorama Mode : No Battery Battery capacity (mAh) : 2100 Talk time (in hours) : 14 Removal Battery (Yes/No) : N/A Sensors And Features Multi touch : No Light Sensor : No Proximity Sensor : Yes G (Gravity) Sensor : No Finger print sensor : No Orientation Sensor : No Accelerometer : Yes Compass : Yes Barometer : No Magnetometer : No Gyroscope : No Dust proof and water resistant : No Connectivity SIM : Dual 3G Capability : Yes 4G Capability : N/A Wifi Capability : Yes Wifi HotSpot : Yes Bluetooth : N/A NFC : N/A GPS : Yes DLNA : N/A HDMI : N/A Technical Specifications CPU : Mediatek MT6577 CPU speed : 1 Ghz Processor cores : Dual RAM : 1 GB GPU : N/A Dimensions (lxbxh- in mm) : 143.5 x 70.8 x 8.8 Weight (in grams) : N/A Storage : 4 GB removable storage (yes or no) : Yes removable storage (included) : N/A removable storage (maximum) : 32 GB
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A1000 Brief Description A1000 Smartphone 5 IPS LCD Capacitive touchscreen 720 x 1280 294 . 1 Ghz Dual 1 GB . A1000 Android 4.1 . : A1000 Smartphone February 2013
Dual Smartphone
Mediatek MT6577 .
1 GB .
4 GB .
A1000 Smartphone 5 IPS LCD Capacitive touchscreen 720 x 1280 294 . 1 Ghz Dual 1 GB . A1000 Android 4.1 . : A1000 Smartphone February 2013 Dual Smartphone Mediatek MT6577 . 1 GB . 4 GB . 32 GB . 2100 . A1000 : ,GPS,Wifi,HotSpot, 8 .. . A1000 s :Auto Focus,,Video Recording 1.2
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A1000 FAQs What is the starting price of A1000 ? The starting price of A1000 is 13,499 for the base variant with 1 GB 4 GB. What is the screen size of A1000 ? The A1000 features a 5 inches IPS LCD Capacitive touchscreen with 720 x 1280 resolution. What is the Battery capacity of A1000 ? The A1000 has a 2100 mAh battery. What is RAM size of A1000 ? The A1000 is available with 1 GB sizes to choose from. What is Storage capacity of A1000 ? The A1000 is available with 4 GB sizes to choose from.
Disclaimer: Digit, like all other media houses, gives you links to online stores which contain embedded affiliate information, which allows us to get a tiny percentage of your purchase back from the online store. We urge all our readers to use our Buy button links to make their purchases as a way of supporting our work. If you are a user who already does this, thank you for supporting and keeping unbiased technology journalism alive in India.
Specialist agricultural and distribution business NWF Group has announced the appointment of Christopher James Belsham as its new group finance director with effect from June.
As group FD, Belsham will work closely with the experienced divisional and central finance teams and support the board in delivering the group's strategic goals.
Belsham qualified as a chartered accountant in 1999 with PwC before joining KPMG Corporate Finance where he spent 15 years working on a broad range of transactions for both public and private companies across the UK.
In 2014, he joined Irwin Mitchell as an Equity Partner and Head of Corporate Finance, responsible for leading on strategic acquisitions for the business.
Chief executive Richard Whiting said: I am delighted that Chris will be joining us. He is someone I have worked with previously in his advisory capacity and I look forward to his excellent knowledge and expertise benefitting the group going forward."
At 0823 GMT, the shares were down 0.6% to 175p.
United States oil corporation ExxonMobil has agreed to cut all ties with former CEO Rex Tillerson as he prepares to step into Donald Trump's administration as Secretary of State, subject to Senate approval.
The agreement was made in order to avoid a potential conflict of interest, with Tillerson's two million deferred shares in Exxon being transferred to an independent trust to manage.
The shares have a value of $182m at the company's current market value. Tillerson also agreed to sell the 600,000 Exxon shares he currently owns, the company confirmed.
In a statement released by ExxonMobil on Wednesday, it said that the total value of compensation of Tillerson's that will be reduced is $7m.
Tillerson retired from Exxon after working for the company for more than four decades, but is expected to receive stern scrutiny from the Senate before he is confirmed for the top job of Secretary of State.
Many commentators have criticised Trump's choice of Tillerson, among others, as it appears to contradict his campaign promise of "draining the swamp" of Wall Street interest from Washington.
The former oil boss has also been in the spotlight for his warm relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin through business connections.
Trump himself has also been accused of cosying up to Putin during his election campaign, as well as after US intelligence officials concluded that Russia had attempted to influence the result of the presidential election.
US carmaker Tesla Motors fell 3,000 cars short of reaching its 2016 target of 80,000 to 90,000 total cars delivered after production glitches with its new Model X SUV.
Elon Musk's company delivered 22,200 vehicles during the final quarter of the year, but it was not enough to meet the firm's year-end goal.
Last autumn Tesla blamed "short-term challenges starting at the end of October and lasting through early December" relating to its self-driving technology Autopilot.
Tesla's share price finished 1.5% higher on Tuesday, and shot up 2.53% to $222.49 when markets opened on Wednesday.
When the company's actual production numbers are considered, Tesla did hit its target by producing 83,922 vehicles in the year, an increase of 64$ from 2015, but almost 3,000 did not make it to customers due to transportation issues.
Chief executive officer Musk has said that the innovative car company's goal is to make electric vehicles more affordable to a mass market, with its current models generally pricing at least six figures.
The company's new Model 3 Sedan is his hope to bridge that gap, with starting prices for the vehicle beginning at $35,000.
Last year was a busy year for Tesla, with an advance in its Autopilot technology attracting both praise and criticism from those in the industry. A driver was killed in Florida last year while using the partly-autonomous technology, although Tesla denied that Autopilot was the cause of the driver's death.
Former conservative minister Iain Duncan Smith has accused the resigning British ambassador to the European Union Sir Ivan Rogers of being untrustworthy, after the envoy's controversial exit.
Sir Ivan Rogers penned a 1,400-word resignation letter which was leaked on Tuesday, with the ambassador launching a thinly-veiled attack on Theresa May's government.
Duncan Smith told Sky News that it was the right decision for Rogers to resign, and suggested that he had problems working under the authority of government ministers.
"This is now the second time it may actually prove that ministers may well be right to say that they weren't prepared perhaps to trust him quite the way they would have done with others," he said.
It is a critical time in the realm of British diplomacy, with the government preparing to invoke Article 50 and begin the formal negotiations for an exit from the EU, following last June's referendum.
The Conservative poltician pointed out his belief that civil servants in general would have to become accustomed to the fact that the British people have spoken.
"They are now having to accept and understand that we are leaving and that means therefore sometimes the views and the opinions of what you keep feeding back from various member states isn't actually sometimes quite relevant," Duncan Smith added.
Meanwhile, a former head of the Foreign Office has lamented the departure of Rogers, who had been described as one of the "greatest experts" that Britain had in the lead up to the Brexit negotiations.
Sir Simon Fraser served as permanent secretary of the Foreign Office from 2010 to 2015, and described Rogers' exit as a significant loss.
"I do think that his sort of in-depth knowledge and expertise is a loss as we go into what is going to be, as David Davis himself has said, a very complex set of negotiations," Fraser told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Stocks in London were little changed at the open after hitting fresh record highs in the previous session, with clothing retailer Next under pressure as it cut its profit guidance.
At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,174.28. Meanwhile, oil prices advanced, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.8% to $52.76 a barrel and Brent crude 0.9% firmer at $55.96.
On Tuesday, the index kicked off the new year with a fresh record high, buoyed by encouraging manufacturing data out of China. The FTSE broke through 7,200 for the first time intraday, reaching a record high of 7,205.21 and ending the day at 7,177.89.
Rebecca OKeeffe, head of investment at stockbroker Interactive Investor, said: European equities are attempting to follow Asian gains overnight, although contagion from Next's results on both its share price and the overall retail sector is slowing the FTSE 100 down. Seen as a bellwether for the sector and following on from a poor 2016, Next is struggling against a backdrop of anaemic demand and rising import prices.
Across the UK market, investors need to start to face up to the additional challenges associated with the long and tortuous Brexit process. So far, this has mainly involved winners and losers from a weak pound. As 2017 unfolds, however, the effects are likely to be felt more widely across the UK economy. Sectoral volatility across the UK markets is therefore likely to remain high in the weeks and months ahead.
Next tumbled to its lowest level for more than three and a half years after downgrading its profit guidance for the full year and warning of another challenging year ahead as sales over the key Christmas period slipped 0.4% on last year.
Management's central profit guidance for the full year has been cut to 792m from the previous 785-825m range where the central point was 805m.
Fellow retailers Marks & Spencer and Primark owner Associated British Foods were also weaker.
Carillion nudged a touch lower after announcing that one of its joint ventures, Al Futtaim Carillion, had been awarded a 160m contract for phase 1A6 of the One Central development by the Dubai World Trade Centre.
Medical products company ConvaTec was also just a smidge weaker as it said it has bought Dutch ostomy appliances manufacturer, EuroTec Beheer for 25m in order to strengthen its position in the France and Benelux markets.
Ultra Electronics slipped despite winning a 9.7m contract extension with the Royal Navy.
On the upside, Royal Dutch Shell ticked up after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to outperform from sector perform.
Ryanair flew a little higher after the budget carrier said traffic surged 20% in December from the same month last year to 9m customers.
Eastern and Central Europe-focused budget airline Wizz Air was also in the black after it said passenger numbers grew by 23% in December.
B&M European Value Retail rallied as it said revenue in the third quarter rose to 789.1m from 647.8m the year before.
Aggreko edged up after saying it has been awarded a contract to the official temporary electricity generation provider for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
On the data front, UK construction PMI and mortgage approvals are at 0930 GMT. In the US, the ADP employment report is at 1315 GMT, while the FOMC minutes are at 1900 GMT.
Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,174.28 -0.05%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 18,139.22 -0.01%
techMARK (TASX) 3,373.25 -0.10%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 474.10p 1.96%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 234.60p 1.56%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 157.50p 1.29%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 685.90p 1.20%
Provident Financial (PFG) 2,892.00p 1.12%
Barclays (BARC) 234.35p 1.06%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 696.50p 0.94%
Royal Mail (RMG) 465.70p 0.78%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,773.00p 0.74%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,794.50p 0.72%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Next (NXT) 4,181.00p -12.35%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 327.90p -4.82%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,599.00p -4.13%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,843.00p -2.44%
Tesco (TSCO) 202.50p -1.77%
Kingfisher (KGF) 337.70p -1.26%
National Grid (NG.) 931.50p -1.18%
Severn Trent (SVT) 2,196.00p -1.17%
ITV (ITV) 205.70p -1.11%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 889.00p -1.06%
FTSE 250 - Risers
B&M European Value Retail S.A. (DI) (BME) 289.20p 4.40%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 163.10p 2.58%
Redefine International (RDI) 39.07p 2.55%
esure Group (ESUR) 205.90p 1.93%
Sophos Group (SOPH) 264.00p 1.93%
Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 276.40p 1.84%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 307.80p 1.75%
OneSavings Bank (OSB) 343.80p 1.69%
Man Group (EMG) 123.00p 1.65%
Redrow (RDW) 431.90p 1.60%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 783.00p -4.57%
Debenhams (DEB) 52.90p -3.91%
Elementis (ELM) 273.90p -1.97%
Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 208.30p -1.75%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,790.00p -1.59%
Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 298.00p -1.59%
Atkins (WS) (ATK) 1,448.00p -1.43%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 886.00p -1.34%
Cranswick (CWK) 2,305.00p -1.28%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 337.70p -1.26%
Women starting out their careers in their 20s are benefitting from a lower gender pay gap of just 5%, but will face wage setbacks later on in their adult lives when they have children, according to the Resolution Foundation.
The effect of women earning less in their 30s is that they will still earn significantly less than their male counterparts over their careers.
The think tanks analysis tracks the typical hourly pay of different generations of women over the course of their careers compared to men.
The research shows that the gender pay gap has closed for every subsequent generation of women due to the rise in the number of women in higher education, giving them the ability to break into high-paying industries and occupations.
Further challenges, however, remain with the pay penalty associated with having children.
In their 20s, baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1965) experienced a pay gap of 16%, which fell to 9% for generation X (born between 1966 and 1980) and then to 5% for millennials (born between 1981 and 2000).
In their 30s, this gap rose to 21% for the baby boomers, 10% for generation X and 9% for millennials.
Laura Gardiner, Senior Policy Analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said: Young women today face relatively little disadvantage in terms of their pay packets compared to what their parents and grandparents generation faced.
But while many millennial women havent experienced much of a pay gap yet, most probably will once they reach their 30s, when they start having children. Whats more this pay penalty is big and long-lasting, and remains for younger generations despite the progress in early careers.
Companies with over 250 employees will have to disclose how much they are paying their male and female staff starting next year.
To say that 2016 was a memorable year for Linn County commissioners Roger Nyquist, John Lindsey and Will Tucker would be an understatement.
The trio of elected officials initiated a $1.4 billion breach-of-contract lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Forestry and also sued the state of Oregon over its new mandatory paid sick leave law.
And Nyquist, who was elected to his fifth term in November, said those suits represent the crux of the countys key issue in 2017: Balancing a budget that grows by about 3 percent per year with salary and benefit costs that increase 5 to 7 percent annually.
We need to change the trend of our budget, he said. Were fortunate that the Budget Committee has worked very hard, and I would like to think that all of our employees are taking a fiscally responsible approach to how we do things, but we can only continue so long with this type of overhang that began in the 1990s.
Nyquist who retained his chairmanship on the board Tuesday with the support of Tucker and Lindsey said the welcome mid-valley upturn in housing construction is reflected in increased workflow for the Planning and Building Department, which had reduced staffing during the recession.
[Department director] Robert Wheeldon has approval to hire a couple people, and I believe hes in the process of interviewing applicants, he said.
The county is bracing for a 3-percent increase in its PERS contribution, which would amount to more than $1.3 million, Nyquist said, and payments from the Oregon Department of Forestry continue to fall.
Ultimately, Nyquist said, the biggest question that will affect the county is what the state Legislature and the U.S. Congress do in terms of budgeting.
The county could benefit greatly from state and federal transportation packages, Nyquist said. A key project would make improvements to Interstate 5 from Highway 20 to the Jefferson exit.
It would cost hundreds of millions, he said. We need to make sure we are in a position to act if money becomes available.
The county will continue to move forward with the development of a Justice Center in the former Albany Police Department building, once the city has completed the latter's new home, Nyquist said. This proposed center would house the Linn County Circuit Court and perhaps the District Attorneys office.
The action is being considered in part due to discussions about the need for increased security at the courthouse, especially the third floor's Circuit Court. Many other county courthouses require visitors to pass through metal detectors. The commissioners have been hesitant to create such a process locally, believing citizens have the right to conduct business with little interference. A Justice Center also would eliminate the issue of courthouse wedding ceremony attendees being within proximity of inmates going to or from courtrooms.
In October 2015, the commissioners announced plans to purchase the 5-acre National Guard armory near the Linn County Fairgrounds along with the Albany Police Department building for $1.75 million and completed the transaction in 2016. The properties had a combined total estimated value of $2.73 million. The Police Department was assessed at $1.18 million and the armory at $1.55 million.
The commissioners will also continue to explore the potential development of a regional National Guard compound on county-owned property at Seven Mile Lane south of Albany. The thinking is that this could become a complex at which units from Albany, Corvallis, Springfield and elsewhere could drill on a regional basis.
On another matter, Nyquist continues to believe programs that provide young people with job skills that fit local needs are vital and beneficial.
Janet Steele and the folks at the Albany Chamber of Commerce are doing a great job working with (Linn-Benton Community College) and area high schools, he said. Its important that our young people train for the right skills that mesh with the type of jobs local industries will have available.
Nyquist believes that for a few years, workforce education and job resources were not in sync.
One of the bright spots were seeing in the county is that employers are ramping up, he said. They are putting Linn County citizens to work, many of whom have been unemployed or underemployed for some time.
The Competition and Markets Authority has expressed concerns about Mastercards takeover of VocaLink Holdings, which runs Bacs, Faster Payments and Link cashpoint services.
In particular, the watchdog said the deal could lead to competition issues with the LINK ATM network, which is run by VocaLink.
It said the merger would reduce the number of bidders and limit the ability of the LINK scheme to obtain good value when tendering for an infrastructure provider. The companies now have until 11 January to offer a remedy to address the competition concerns identified and avoid the merger being referred for an in-depth investigation.
Andrea Coscelli, acting chief executive of the CMA and decision maker in this case, said: The LINK ATM network provides an essential service for millions of customers. Its important that LINK has a good choice of providers when it comes to supplying the necessary infrastructure so it can take advantage of the opening up of payment systems to competition. These concerns warrant a closer investigation in the event that Mastercard cannot address them at this stage.
The CMA said it does not have any concerns in the provision of payment infrastructure services to Bacs or FPS since there are many credible alternatives to VocaLink and Mastercard.
Mastercard said on Wednesday that it welcomed the CMAs decision.
The thoroughness of the CMAs review reflects the significance of this deal and its potential for the industry. In its announcement, the CMA noted that it has no concerns related to providing payment infrastructure services to Bacs or the Faster Payments Service.
Were pleased to have the opportunity to address their one concern, regarding the LINK ATM scheme, in the timeframe provided. This acquisition promises to bring greater choice and innovation to the payment ecosystem, enabling people, governments and businesses to pay the way they want to pay.
Three changes were made this month to the broker's top picks. In the smaller company portfolio, esure replaced Lancashire, Rathbones replaced IPF and Hilton foods was added to the list. In the larger company portfolio Britvic replaced Greencore and Johnson Matthey and Petrofac were added.
In building and construction, its larger company pick was Bellway, rated at buy with a price target of 3,091p. Our analysis shows that Bellway's land buying, production and regional expansion will support substantial volume growth from here against what we see as a supportive market backdrop. Furthermore, we think that forecasts are set at a conservative level and upgrade momentum will continue to be towards the top-end of the sector.
Polypipe was its smaller company pick, which was downgraded to add from buy with a price target of 330p. The broker felt the company has a broad-based exposure to UK construction activity with a track record of outperforming its markets. This and its strong operational gearing and relatively clean balance sheet will lead to earnings outperformance, according to Numis.
For capital goods, FTSE 100 company GKN was chosen for the top tier index category with a buy rating and a price target of 390p. Restructuring, lack of start-up costs and currencies give the group an inherently higher starting point for 2017. For its small company category it has gone with Renishaw, with an add rating and a price target of 3,000p. The companys full year results for 2016 showed a strong core Metrology business, partly offset by a weaker performance in Healthcare.
For chemicals, Johnson Matthey has replaced Victrex as its top pick, with an add rating and a price target of 3,754p. According to the broker, the company now offers the best upside scope on the basis of its price targets for the stocks researched.
In the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, Britvic got the larger company spot, rated at buy with a price target of 574p. Tough markets, higher input costs and a looming UK sugar levy are some of the major factors overhanging the share price. Hilton food got the small company spot, rated at buy with a price target of 766p. The HFG track record has been an exemplary one and growth has been entirely organic based. Hallmarks of this stock have been consistent strong cash generation and successful business wins with both new and existing customers.
In healthcare, BTG was its large company pick, rated at buy with a target price of 900p. We have noted an explosion of scientific and clinical progress in the field using innovative procedures that leverage significant investment in imaging, are less invasive than surgery, safer than drugs and more profitable for hospitals. Clinigen was its small company pick, with a buy rating and a 933p price target. The analysts believe the company can exploit ongoing market trends and its current strong competitive advantages to grow to a multiple of its current size.
For Life Insurance, it has gone with FTSE 250 company JRP group, with a buy rating and target price of 150p. The companys management has delivered a merger, generated higher than expected cost savings, increased overall sales and answered questions on capital adequacy, growth prospects and new business pricing.
In the media industry, DMGT gets the large company spot with a buy rating and price target 970p, after it reported a good set of 2016 results ahead of Numis estimates. Huntsworth gets the small company pick with buy rating and 53p price target, with its interim results encouraging in most areas and profit before tax in line with expectations.
In mining, FTSE 100 listed Randgold Resources was picked along with AIM listed Pan African Resources. The broker retained its buy rating for Randgold Resources but bumped up its price target to 9,000p from 8,500p. Pan African Resources was rated buy with a price target of 32p. The broker feels the South African miner is well established with its three mines and three re-treatment operations. It also added that it has achieved a solid set of first half results after facing a number of operational challenges in 2015.
Other sector top picks were non-life insurance- Admiral and esure, oil & gas- Petrofac, packaging- RPC Group, real estate-Derwent and UNITE, retail-B&M European Retail and Lookers, speciality Finance- Schroders Non-voting and Rathbones. Support services- Atkins and Northgate, Technology- accesso, Travel & Leisure- SSP group and the gym group.
Overall since Numis started its top picks portfolio in the beginning of 2013, the larger company portfolio has performed better than the smaller companies. The large company portfolio return for 2016 was 35% ahead of the FTSE 350 compared to the small company return, which was at -7.7% compared to the benchmark of 12%.
Defence and security firm Ultra Electronics has won a contract extension from the Royal Navy for the supply of sonobuoys that it said is worth 9.7m.
The FTSE 250 companys command and sonar systems sonobuoy facility in Greenford, Middlesex was awarded a contract extension to supply sonobuoys for the Royal Navy's Merlin Mk2 maritime patrol helicopter fleet.
The contract extension builds on its initial contract won in 2015 and enables the company to support technology capability insertion and international collaboration in the future.
It also ensures that the Royal Navy can maintain anti-submarine warfare surveillance capability against hostile submarines.
Ultra's chief executive, Rakesh Sharma, said: "Our long-standing partnership with the Merlin project team has allowed us to sustain and further develop the nation's airborne anti-submarine warfare capability, preserving a key battle-winning advantage for UK armed forces."
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Police charge suspect who fired at police, was shot in exchange
Barry G. Brandt, 74, died Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016, at his Monroe home. DeMoss-Durdan Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Dorothy F. Buckingham, 91, formerly of Corvallis, died Monday, Dec. 26, 2016, in Monroe. DeMoss-Durdan Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Wallace "Wally" Christianson, 96, of Corvallis died Saturday, Dec 31, at Corvallis Caring Place. McHenry Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Jessie I. Clayton, 95, of Scio died Jan. 1 at the Samaritan Albany General Hospital. Huston-Jost Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Lois Ann Coonrod, 78, died Monday, Dec. 26, 2016, at her Corvallis home. DeMoss-Durdan Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Janette I. Coughran, 52, of Albany died Sunday at her home. AAsum-Dufour Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Isabella M. Elliot, 90, died Monday, Jan. 2, 2017, at her Corvallis home. DeMoss-Durdan Funeral Home & Crematory is handling arrangements.
Lois Fenner, 82, of Corvallis died Monday, Jan 2. McHenry Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Ron N. Guffnett, 77, of Albany died Dec. 31, 2016. AAsum-Dufour Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Eilleen L. Hansen, 89, died Sunday, Jan. 1 in Monroe. McHenry Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Christopher Hayward, 70, of Albany died at his home on Sunday. Services are pending. Fisher Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Harold E. Jenson, 86, of Lebanon died Jan. 2 at Providence St. Vincent Hospital in Portland. Huston-Jost Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Michael David Tolley, 72 of Albany, passed away on Friday, Dec. 30, 2016. AAsum-Dufour Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Gloria June Wallach, 93, of Philomath died in Corvallis on Saturday, Dec 31. McHenry Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.
A right delayed is a right denied.Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.
Martin Luther King Jr.
No one is born hating another person People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
Nelson Mandela
We can disagree and still love each other, unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist
James Baldwin
There is a fine line between free speech and hate speech. Free speech encourages debate whereas hate speech incites violence.
Newton Lee
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.
Albert Einstein
India the world's largest importer of military hardware is now turning its eye to exports. Indian defence exports will touch $2 billion (about Rs13,500 crore) six times the current level - by 2019, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said at a Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) function in New Delhi on Tuesday. India exported Rs1,100 crore worth of defence equipment in 2013-14, and Rs1,582 crore in 2014-15. In 2016, Indian defence equipment exports stood at Rs2,060 crore. India is looking at countries like Vietnam, Mauritius, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Afghanistan and Oman to export defence equipment. The items that India is looking to export include bridging equipment, missiles, warships, off-Shore patrol vessels (OPVs), and self-propelled artillery guns (SP Guns), the defence minister said, adding that Oman is keen to import border fencing equipment from India. Indian-made OPVs are already guarding Mauritian waters and it is in the process of finalising sale of warships to Vietnam. Asked whether India will export the Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles to Vietnam, the defence minister said, "Vietnam is a friend, I will not confirm the nature of the missiles to be exported. We are, however, helping build capabilities." Earlier, Vietnam had shown keen interest in buying the Brahmos from India. Exporting defence equipment will have diplomatic ramifications. For instance, Pakistan is unlikely to be happy with India exporting defence platforms to Afghanistan. Similarly, Indian-made warships and missiles in the Vietnamese armoury are likely to unsettle Beijing. "India has developed a lot of equipment and technologies but no one really applied their mind to export them," the defence minister said. "The private sector has developed artillery guns and once needs of the Indian Army is met, these can be exported." The rise in export of defence equipments is despite the list of items included in the "defence equipment list" being cropped. It is "only one third of the original list", Parrikar said. The push in defence exports is accompanied by increased production of the Ordnance Factory Boards (OFB) and the defence Public Sector Units (DPSUs). In the last two years, production in the OFBs and DPSUs has shot up by over 25 per cent.
Russia has said it would look into holding naval exercises in the South China Sea with the Philippines, China and Malaysia to counter terrorism and piracy, as a Russian warship arrived in Manila on a "goodwill visit". "We really hope that in a few years, military exercises in your region and the South China Sea will take a very big part for the participants, not only Russia and the Philippines, but also China and Malaysia," said rear-admiral Eduard Mikhailov, deputy commander of Russia's Pacific Fleet. Mikhailov was speaking at a news briefing in Manila yesterday after the anti-submarine destroyer Admiral Tributs docked in Manila. The vessel was escorted by Russian oil tanker Boris Butoma. The two ships would leave on Saturday. Choosing not to broach the issue of territorial disputes in the region, Rear-Admiral Mikhailov said: "The main task is safety The biggest problems now are terrorism and piracy. Our exercises with you will help fight these problems. "We will show what we can do, and we will see what you can do and show us." Since assuming office in June lat, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been reviewing decades-long security arrangements with the US, that are bound by a mutual defence pact. Meanwhile, according to commentators, compared with those of China, the US and Japan, Russia's strategic and maritime security interests in the South China Sea were relatively limited. They point out that the needs of the Russian navy in the region had largely been met through security cooperation with Vietnam, which had deepened as Hanoi sought to offset China's rising military might and maritime presence. Against this backdrop, Russia would likely not go to great lengths to boost cooperation with the Philippines. At the same time, from Moscow's perspective, tighter relations with Manila served as an additional hedge against China's regional influence and a way to potentially divide Washington and the government of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, undermining US interests in the region.
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Skoda has increased its warranty coverage period in an attempt to improve its long-term ownership credentials.
The Czech-based sister brand to Volkswagen has announced it has extended its warranty period for all new cars sold from January 2017 to five years/unlimited kilometres on private, fleet and government vehicle sales and five years or 150,000km (whichever occurs first) on vehicles purchased for commercial use.
Although Skoda sold more vehicles last year than ever before, it has generally struggled to gain popularity in the Australian market against rival European brands despite critical acclaim, including its flagship Superb wagon winning Drive's Best Family Car category in the 2016 Car of the Year awards.
The extended warranty is another step in repairing its poor resale values while offering greater peace of mind for owners, along with other schemes such as capped price servicing and guaranteed future value financing.
Skoda has previously offered a standard three-year warranty with an extended two-year period available as a cost option, which it admits was popular among new customers and was a catalyst for the move to a five-year period.
"Given that some 50 per cent of our customers were going for the optional extended warranty, it was logical that we add it to all models," said Skoda Australia's Managing Director, Michael Irmer.
Skoda is setting itself up for a busy year of product roll outs, including a fully refreshed lineup of Octavia models and the arrival of its first genuine SUV, the seven-seat Kodiaq.
Home Four wheelers Ford Cancels $1.6 Billion Worth Factory Deal In Mexico oi-Rajkamal
American carmaker Ford has said that the company will cancel a $1.6 billion factory deal in Mexico, and instead invest $700 million for a factory at Michigan, after undergoing criticism from Donald Trump.
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Many historical accounts have been written on the military aspects of the 1916 Rising in County Louth and on the participation of members of the Louth Volunteers in that event. However, there has been a paucity of information available on Constable Charles (Charlie) Mc Gee who was fatally wounded in the village of Castlebellingham, County Louth, on Easter Monday evening 1916 at approximately 7.30 p.m. He was the first member of the Royal Irish Constabulary to die in the Rising.
The narrative of his life and death is going to be published by his grand-niece, Dr Madge OBoyle, on 22 December 2016 as part of the 1916-2016 County Louth Commemorative Programme. Madge is well known to people in Dundalk as she spent many years teaching in St Malachys School and was involved in organisations such as the Gaelic League. Books will be for sale on Thursday 22 December 2016 in the County Museum, Dundalk, in Carrolls Newsagents on Clanbrassil Street, or from Madge OBoyle Facebook page. The author taught in St Malachys School for twenty-five years and is currently employed by Colaiste Mhuire, Marino Institute of Education, Dublin. She holds a PhD in Irish History from Queens University, Belfast. The publication will be an heirloom account of the 1916 Rising in County Louth for future generations of Dundalk people. The publication will be officially launched in the County Museum at 7 p.m. on Thursday 19 January 2017. The account reveals the complexities of Irish history and the network of relationships that linked counties Donegal, Louth and Antrim in 1916. It is fortunate that Constable Mc Gees story and the 100 years of societys refusal to acknowledge the memory of members of the R.I.C., is finally being recognised in the inclusive 2016 Centenary Commemorative Programme. However, Madge wishes to stress that this book is not just about Constable Mc Gee, as it delineates the development of Nationalism in Dundalk from the late 1890s and records the whole history of the County Louth Volunteers, as well as the 1916 Rising in County Louth. It is a serious academic work that seeks to give a balanced view of what happened in the county during Easter Week 1916 and includes the activities of various local Volunteers who participated in the insurrection.
A native Irish speaker from Inishbofin Island on the north-west coast of County Donegal, Charles Mc Gee was encouraged by his teacher, Master Sweeney, to join the police force in December 1912, and was appointed to Gilbertstown Barracks in County Louth on 10 May, 1913. At that time, the only other option of employment was either fishing or emigration. He was later described by Louth Volunteer, James Mc Guill, as a popular man and was involved in sporting activities in the area.
He knew the clouds of trouble were gathering over the country by 1916. Before the Rising, he had been approached by the Volunteers to procure arms for them, which he refused to do. He had, also, expressed the desire to resign from the R.I.C. and to become a detective policeman in Scotland as he knew that trouble was brewing in Ireland, but that was not to be. Local accounts record that kind people in the Gilbertstown district had warned him not to go to Castlebellingham on that fateful evening, but he proceeded to do his duty by delivering despatches to the R.I.C. barracks in the village, where he cycled into the chaos that was created by the Volunteers who decided to commandeer food provisions and cars before proceeding on their way to Tara Hill.
By this they were tired, cold and hungry after spending the previous night sleeping out in the village of Slane. Confusion reigned due to Eoin MacNeills Countermanding Order. They held two members of the Irish Constabulary and made them stand along the village park. It was then that Constable Mc Gee arrived in the village on his bicycle to post mail in the local Post Office and he was made stand alongside the two other policemen. Then, a Lieutenant Robert Dunville of the Grenadier Guards and of the famous Dunville Whisky Company in Belfast, arrived in his car and was ordered to stand alongside the other prisoners.
Due to his anxiety in catching the boast at Dun Laoghaire (then Kingston), he created much tension in the Volunteers. As the cavalcade of Volunteer cars were leaving the village, one of the Volunteers claimed that he thought he saw Dunville making an attempt to draw a gun. He fired a shot which injured Lieutenant Dunville and proved to be fatal in the case of Constable Mc Gee. He died of his injuries at 9.30 p.m. in the Louth County Infirmary. He was given a military funeral and is buried in the graveyard in his native Gortahork, County Donegal. Sean MacEntee from Belfast, who later became a minister in the Fianna Fail Government, and three other Louth Volunteers were courtmartialled and accused of his murder, even though they did not fire the fatal shot shot. MacEntees family once owned the Crown Bar in Belfast and his father was a Home Rule politician on the Belfast Council. Sean MacEntee narrowly escaped execution as he was second in command of the Louth Volunteers on that evening. It was the character reference of a Belfast Protestant that saved him from execution. The men were given penal servitude sentences. They were released as a result of the general Amnesty in 1917. The man who admitted to firing one of two shots on that Monday evening went on the run, and despite many notices in the Hue and Cry police publication, he was never tried for the murder of Constable Mc Gee. Constable Mc Gee was given a military funeral and is buried in the graveyard in Gortahork, County Donegal.
Louth Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick has said that 2016 was a record year for Irish tourism, benefitting communities and businesses in Louth.
He also encouraged people to consider a staycation in 2017, as thoughts turn to summer holiday bookings.
2016 was a record year for Irish tourism, an industry that is absolutely crucial to communities and businesses here in Louth. The latest official data on overseas travel from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), showed an increase of 277,000 overseas visits to Ireland for the first eleven months of 2016 compared to the same period of 2015. This represents an increase of 11%.
The largest increase was in visits from North America, up 18.3%. Visits from Mainland Europe grew by 8.8%; and visits from Great Britain were up by 11.1%. We must continue to prioritise our marketing of Irish tourism in Britain this coming year, particularly in the context of Brexit.
Communities across Louth are so dependent on tourism and we know how it can benefit local businesses here. The CSO figures released in December show that spending in Ireland by overseas visitors (excluding fares) for the first nine months of the year rose by 9.4% compared with the corresponding period of 2015.
My Fine Gael colleague, Minister for Tourism Patrick ODonovan, has noted that in addition to the strong performance in overseas tourism, our home holiday market is also growing. Domestic holiday trips and related expenditure were each up by over 3% in the first nine months of 2016 compared to the same period last year.
The New Year period is a busy time of year for the holiday market, as people turn their thoughts to booking a summer trip. I strongly encourage Irish people to consider a staycation in 2017. Louth is well placed to cater for domestic visitors as well as those from overseas, with the many sites and attractions we have to offer here, including the medieval village of Carlingford and the surrounding area of the Cooley peninsula and the wonderful Boyne Valley to name but two."
The 42nd MMFF (Metro Manila Film Festival) I think is one of the best MMFF we had since I dont know. Most of the movie are well done, well thought of and writen , plus you can see the effort when it comes to improving the Filipino industry.
Last December 29, 2016, the awards night was held and the best of the 2016 MMFF was awarded, the event was co-presented by HOOQ.
Jane Cruz-Walker, HOOQ Philippine Country Manager expressed enthusiasm over the partnership with MMFF and HOOQ saying how proud she was to be a part of the festival as it takes brave new steps in focusing on quality films, fresh casting choices and new approaches to filmmaking.
Meanwhile, Metro Manila Development Authority Thomas Orbos was optimistic to say that the 42nd MMFF is the start of the change we Filipinos are looking for when it come to the Filipino movie industry. We are gathered here together not only to seek change but also to look back to the original theme of the MMFF which is to be a festival that celebrates Filipino artistic excellence. Change is never easy, it is a difficult path, but thanks to the MMFF Executive Committee we are here today amidst change. We believe that what we did with the MMFF this year may not be recognized now, but it will be appreciated by future generations. It is not about the money, it is about what we can give to our children later on by promoting quality films in the Philippines.
With that said, here is the complete list of the 42nd MMFF awards night:
Best Picture Sunday Beauty Queen
Best Director Erik Matti (Seklusyon)
Best Actress Irma Adlawan (Oro)
Best Actor Paolo Ballesteros (Die Beautiful)
Best Supporting Actress Phoebe Walker (Seklusyon)
Best Supporting Actor Christian Balbes (Die Beautiful)
Childrens Choice Saving Sally, Sunday Beauty Queen and Vince & Kath & James
Peoples Choice (voted online) Die Beautiful
Best Cast Ensemble Oro
Special Jury Prize Rhed Bustamante (Seklusyon)
Best Screenplay Seklusyon
Best Sound Seklusyon
Best Musical Score Saving Sally
Best Theme Song Dominus Miserere (Francis De Veyra) Seklusyon
Best Production Design Seklusyon
Best Editing Sunday Beauty Queen
Best Cinematography Seklusyon
FPJ Memorial Award for Excellence Oro (AWARD deflected)
Gatpuno Antonio J Villegas Cultural Award Sunday Beauty Queen
Best Float Die Beautiful
tor Paolo Ballesteros for Die Beautiful wasnt able to attend Gabi ng Parangal>
Whinners
While ORO was given one of the best award given during the MMFF , after a few days , the award was retracted because of the outrage about the dog killed in the movie for arts sake. The MMFF committee also banned showing of the movie unless the producer cuts off that scene.
Good news guys, some cinemas in the country decided to extend the showing of some 42nd MMFF movies until January 7, 2017 (except the movie ORO) Here is the list of the cinemas:
But if for any reason you still cant watch the movies by January 7, 2017, dont fret, all of the MMFF movies will be available on HOOQ .
MMFF and HOOQ are also working together to encourage the next generation of movie makers through the HOOQ Short Films category. HOOQ awarded a host of Short Film prizes including the Special Jury Prize and the Best Short Film.
Each HOOQ Short Film was partnered with a long-form finalist and were screened during the MMFF regular theater run from December 25 to January 3. Each film runs under 5 minutes and most will be available on HOOQ shortly after conclusion of the Metro Manila Film Festival.
Stay gorgeous everyone!
Over the past month and a half since the election, LOLGOP and I have been exhorting folks listening to our podcast to activate and be present in the lives of their state legislators, members of Congress, and their U.S. Senators. In fact, the cold open to our last podcast is a recording of us calling Senator Debbie Stabenows office to thank her for her ongoing support of the Affordable Care Act.
Why? Because it works. And right now, more than ever, our lawmakers need to feel the power of their constituents to save Obamacare and to push back against the heinous things they are trying to do to our state and federal government. Heres what the New York Times had to say about the power of constituents when it comes to reconciliation bills like the one that will be used to repeal Obamacare:
Yesterday, Congressional Republicans were forced to reverse themselves on a secret move they took just the day before to gut the power of the Office of Congressional Ethics. It was their first action of 2017 and can only be described as a complete faceplant.
And who did the media give the credit to? Donald J. Trump who tweeted (of course) a couple of tweets criticizing THE TIMING of the move, not the move itself.
What actually caused the abrupt reversal? People making calls:
[GOP] resolve crumbled Tuesday morning, as thousands of phone calls flooded lawmakers offices and both conservative and liberal ethics groups issued statements condemning the vote. Some Republicans joined in, saying the measure sent the wrong message to the public. (Internet searches for the words Who is my representative surged after news of the plan broke Monday night and peaked Tuesday morning, according to Google.)
Heres what that Google spike looked like:
Heres Robert Costa:
Most members tell me blizzard of angry constituent calls were most impt factor in getting the House to sideline the amdt Robert Costa (@costareports) January 3, 2017
Despite this, James Hohmann at the Washington Post doubled down on the idea that this is all Trumps doing in a piece titled Even when Trump shows backbone, his haters refuse to give him any credit. It took grit and gumption for Donald Trump to call out House Republicans yesterday, wrote Hohmann. So many on the left are so determined to deny Trump any victory, or even legitimacy, that they wont give him any credit for challenging his own party even when they agree with his aim and wanted the outcome. I think I sprained my eyes, I rolled them so hard at these patently absurd comments. And its a disgusting diss of all of the Americans who exercised their civic duty and made their feelings known by contacting their members of Congress.
The truth is that the election of Turncoat Trump has galvanized Americans who are not going to let the Liar-in-Chief take this country in the wrong direction without a fight at every single juncture. And the same should go for our state legislatures, too, particularly in Democratic strongholds like Michigan and Wisconsin where gerrymandering has turned our governments over to tea party zealots who are taking us down the drain. Get yourself a pad of paper and write down the names and phone numbers of your state House representative, your state senator, your U.S. Senators, and your member of Congress. Then, anytime something significant comes up, take a few minutes to make your voice heard. It doesnt take much time and it WORKS!
And, while youre at it, make sure you tweet and email any news outlet that suggests Donald Trump should get credit for YOUR activism. That is, perhaps, the biggest insult of them all.
[Peace Monument photo credit: Anne Savage, special to Eclectablog]
Racism hurts everyone and until we start pointing that out, we cant fix the economy
Donald Trump isnt going to give up identity politics but some on the left think Democrats should about a post-identity liberalism in order to focus on winning over those 70,000 mostly white voters who gave Trump his narrow wins in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, while presumably ignoring the many more non-white voters who sat home.
What drives me crazy is that we have the answer for how to address the rights use of coded racial appears to turn white voters against their own interests and no one is using it.
(Whereas we dont have a great answer for how much the Koch networks investments in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania may have given Trump the presidency.)
In January of last year, Ian Haney-Lopez author of the essential Dog Whistle Politics and Demos Heather McGhee laid out a simple strategy for exposing how Trumps on barely coded attacks on minorities were part of familiar right-wing strategy to generate broad popular support for politicians and policies that transfer our nations wealth to the new robber barons.
Heres what the strategy sounded like:
The reactionary economic agenda made possible by dog-whistle politics is responsible not just for the devaluing of black lives but for the declining fortunes of the majority of white families. College costs have soared because anti-government dog whistling has mainstreamed extreme cuts to state budgets. Union busting, which drives down wages and benefits for all workers, has become popular because the image of the union worker has been tarred: now not a white man in a hardhat but a black woman behind a bureaucrats counter. When conservatives vilify every modest public benefit, from healthcare subsidies to unemployment insurance, as handouts to the undeserving, the social contract is shredded for everyone. By exposing how the political manipulation of racial anxiety has hollowed out of the middle class, Sanders can elevate a simple message: When racism wins, everyone loses.
What Ive wondered is why no leading Democrat has sought to expose the scam behind Trumps racial appeals in a way that doesnt paint Trump voters as redeemable but victimized by policies that are encouraging class suicide.
I asked Professor Haney-Lopez why he thinks this hasnt happened yet.
Heres his answer:
As to why progressive politicians shy away from race, I think the shortest answer is that politicians follow rather than lead, and progressives havent yet prepared the soil for a new conversation about race that focuses on how everyone, including whites themselves, lose when racial fear wins. To be reductive, there are two dominant progressive lines in contest over race: racism is pervasive and hurts people of color, versus talking about racism does little to change things even as it alienates whites. Neither line responds effectively to the conservative attack that says progressives care more about minorities than about whites: the former plays into it; the latter effectively repeats it. Progressive thought leadersfrom journalists to unionsneed to promote a new way of talking about race as a tool of economic elites that hurts everyone. Once that idea is out there, progressive politicians can pick it up and amplify it.
As always it comes down FDRs legendary explanation of how politics works:
I agree with you. I want to do it. Now make me do it.
[Image by Evan Guest| Flickr]
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With a rough 2016 officially behind us, and a foreboding 2017 ahead, maybe we all need a good dose of 1990s nostalgia. This Spring, Bill Nye will make his long-awaited return to our screens with his new Netflix show, Bill Nye Saves the World.
The Science Guy and his band of correspondentsmodel Karlie Kloss, Xploration Outer Space host Emily Calandrelli, comedians Joanna Hausmannm and Nazeem Hussain, and Veritasium host Derek Mullerwill explore some of the most complex scientific topics of the day, from climate change, vaccines and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
While Netflix first announced the show in late August, Nyes comeback seems all the more fitting with Donald Trumps presidential inauguration this Jan. 20.
Each episode will tackle a topic from a scientific point of view, dispelling myths, and refuting anti-scientific claims that may be espoused by politicians, religious leaders or titans of industry, Netflix stated in a press release.
Trump, as any EcoWatch reader knows, is just about as anti-science as it gets. The president-elect has plans to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, undo President Obamas signature Clean Power Plan and other environmental initiatives, and has nominated an entire cabinet of fossil fuel puppets and executives.
largely because of the success of modern farming.
However, Nye cautioned that introducing new organisms into the ecosystem can have unintended consequences.
My take on it now is genetically modified food is actually, in generalgenetically modified plants, in generalare not only not harmful, theyre actually a great benefit. However, you cant just go planting enormous monocultures and killing everything and expect the ecosystems to take it, he said.
By Lauren McCauley
Not willing to sit idle as Donald Trump and his cabinet take office and roll out an avowedly pro-fossil fuel, anti-regulation agenda, campaigners are preparing for a multi-faceted affront to the new administration.
Tuesday marked the beginning of the 115th Congress and thus also marked Day 1 of the official pushback against Trumps climate agenda, according to 350.orgs Duncan Meisel.
Their first job is to review Donald Trumps nominees for cabinet, Meisel wrote in an email Tuesday and ours is to make sure they reject the slate of climate deniers he has picked for every major climate and energy related position in his administration.
Pointing specifically to Trumps selection of ExxonMobils CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry for Department of Energy and Rep. Ryan Zinke for Department of Interior, campaigners are asking constituents to flood their elected officials with calls and in-person visits to make clear they do not support a climate-denier cabinet.
As part of the near-term resistance mode, as 350.org co-founder Jamie Henn put, campaigners are also organizing a Day Against Denial on Jan. 9 that will include rallies, phone-ins and direct conversations with legislative staff to pass along the message that we, as constituents and voters, do not accept Trumps dangerous nominations, according to the website.
Beyond the confirmations, 350.org and other environmental groups are preparing for a far greater show of resistance.
In an email to supporters on Monday, Henn announced the Peoples Climate Mobilization, on April 29 in Washington, DC.
We believe that in this moment of division, turmoil and fear, its important to put forward an alternative vision that inspires and connects, Henn wrote. If we dont put forward our own visionof an economy built on justice and powered by clean, renewable energythen we let fossil-fuel-soaked nationalism, xenophobia and hatred win. We need to show that more people still believe in our shared vision for the future than in Donald Trumps.
The event is expected to be a major march and a renewal of the vision set forth in the 400,000-strong Peoples Climate March on Sept. 21, 2014.
That march made a huge impact, helping drive forward the Paris climate agreement and push President Obama to make climate action (including rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline) a priority during his last two years in office, Henn continued.
To change everything, we need everyone, was the motto of the original march. This spring, Henn wrote, were renewing that visionto show that our movement is just as ready to fight Trumps racism and hatred as we are the fossil fuel industry thats poisoning our future.
As bleak as the planets future may seem under a Trump administration, there is space to fight back.
In an interview with Fusion published Tuesday, Henn observed that while the incoming administration will have the ability to approve new drilling leases and fossil fuel infrastructure projects, like pipelines, many of those decisions will still depend on local permits and cooperation, as Fusion put it, placing a great deal of power into the hands of local officials and on voters who hope to sway them.
I think people realize that this sort of organizing can make a real impact, Henn told the outlet. Trump is going to help make protesting great again.
Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.
Donald Trump has not yet been sworn in, but the Republican Congress has convened. Shortly it will begin hearings on Trumps appointmentsas a block more like a cabinet suited for a corporatist President Ted Cruz than a populist like candidate Trump.
Trump and the Republicans control the White House and Congress. What they dont controlwhere they are weakis the public conversation. Tweets turn out to be a good mechanism for getting headlines but not for creating a story lineand thats our opportunity. The confirmation hearings should be used by concerned Democratic and Republican Senators to hold Trump accountable for delivering on his incoherent smorgasbord of promises. The two key environmental nominees are Rex Tillerson and Scott Pruitt. The media has focused around their opposition to action on climate, Tillerson saying suck it up and endure climate chaos, Pruitt being a denialist. But it has not yet told the story of their full threat to our environment, our health, our economy and our national security. Below, to start this broader and more troubling dialogue, are ten questions the Senate must ask Tillerson and Pruitt before it votes on whether to confirm them.
Questions for Rex Tillerson, Nominee for Secretary of State
1. Mr. Tillerson, Lee Raymond, your predecessor, made clear that he didnt view ExxonMobil as a U.S. company and didnt make decisions based on what is good for the U.S. Your have stated that you signed oil leases that undercut U.S. foreign policy in Iraq because I had to do what was best for my shareholders.
Q: Can you explain where, specifically, the interests of the oil industry might diverge from those of the average American? What advice you would give the president to ensure that the interests of the U.S. prevailed over those of oil companies?
2. Following Russias invasion of the Ukraine and the seizure of the Crimea, you and ExxonMobil visibly continued to support Russias development of its off-shore Arctic oil fields. You pursued partnerships with Russian oil interests faced with western sanctions. You clearly aligned with Russia.
Q: Did you believe these actions served the interests of the U.S.? Or were you putting your shareholders first?
Putin and Tillerson Talk Drilling the Arctic on Saturday Night Live https://t.co/XmF2XL3N9U @savethearctic @EnvAm EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) December 18, 2016
3. Russias has refused to collaborate with international efforts to prevent human rights repression in Syria. This has resulted in the victory of the Assad regime and the butchery of Aleppo. The FBI and the CIA have concluded that Russia actively hacked American political parties in an effort to destabilize our democratic system and perhaps tilt the outcome.
Q: Do you believe it is still in the interests of the U.S. for our oil companies, including ExxonMobil, to provide technical and financial support to assist Russia in becoming a more powerful oil producer? Do you still oppose sanctions against Russia for violating international norms in Syria, the Ukraine and around the U.S. elections?
4. Russia has recently joined with OPEC to artificially rig the oil market. Prices have risen 20 percent as a result. U.S. consumers are again paying more than a fair market price for gasoline and diesel.
Q: What steps would you recommend the U.S. take to discourage Russia from conspiring with OPEC to price-gouge? How would you recommend to the president that he ensure that the price of oil never again soars to $70, $80, $90 even $100 level? In your view, how important to the U.S. are moderatebelow $60oil ?
5. You have repeatedly said that while you believe in climate change, it is not yet possible for the world to move beyond fossil fuels, because alternatives are not ready.
Q: If we continue to rely on petroleum for 90 percent or more of our transportation energy, can you assure Americans that the price of getting around will never again spike to the levels we saw over the last decade? Is getting off oil just a climate issue or is it also an economic necessity? If alternatives are not yet ready, would you urge the U.S. to actively join with other oil importing countries for a Manhattan style project to bring low carbon transportation technologies to full competitiveness within the next four years?
Questions for Scott Pruitt, Nominate as Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1. Pruitt, 10 percent of American women have dangerous levels of mercury in their bodies. But recent data shows that since the U.S. started cleaning up emissions from coal power plants, not only has mercury pollution in the North Atlantic fallen dramatically, so has the concentration of mercury in Atlantic fisheries. Mercury in Atlantic blue-fin tuna is down 19 percent in only eight years.
Q: Given this resounding confirmation that regulation works, how firmly can you assure us that if you are confirmed, EPAs recent successful crackdown on all sources of mercury emissions, including coal power plants will accelerate, rather than pulling back?
2. The president election has pledged that the kind of poisoning that devastated Flint would have never happened if I were president. More than 1,000 American communities have lead poisoning levels at least four times higher than Flints. More than 18 million American live in communities that dont properly test or violate, lead and copper contamination rules.
Q: How many years will it take the Trump Administration to achieve pure, safe, drinking water for all Americans? Have you discussed with the president elect the resources you will need to deliver on his promise that a Flint-like crisis will never happen again? In addition to federal financial commitments, what other changes in laws or regulations will you need to guarantee every American family that their kids can drink the water without fear?
3. You have attacked the Obama Administrations Waters of the United States regulation, objecting to the significant negative impact such a rule would inflict on states and the landowners within their borders. Oklahomas major streams and rivers lie within two river basins, the Red and the Arkansas, both of which flow into other states. And Oklahoma receives most of its waters from upstream neighbors, particularly Texas.
Q: Without national regulation, how would you suggest that that Oklahomas downstream neighborsArkansas and Louisianaguarantee the quality of the water that flows across their boundaries? And how would you suggest that Oklahoma protects the quality of the water that it receives from upstream neighbors like Texas? You appear to believe that the only parties with an interest in water are those within a state, not downstream neighbors. Why?
4. You campaigned in 2010 against a one-size-fits-all strategy towards environmental protection. That phrase is sometimes used to imply that whether American children should be adequatelyor inadequatelyprotected against poisonous air, water and food should be based on the political jurisdiction in which they happen to live.
Q: Is that what you meantthat air and water health standards should vary from state to state? Do childrens hearts or seniors lungs vary in their vulnerability to pollution between Okahomans and Californians? Do you accept the premise at the heart of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts that every American, wherever they live, should have a science based, legally guaranteed right to clean air, pure water and healthy food? Or do you think these decisions should be made by local politicians based on interest group lobbying?
5. In recent years spills, leaks and collapses of coal ash impoundments have become a greater and greater hazard to clean water. In fact, more than half of the total toxic water pollution found in Americas rivers, lakes and streams comes from such impoundments.
Q: Do you believe that coal ash from power plants and other coal burning facilities should be regulated as a hazardous pollutant, given that its chemical composition includes lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic? What would you do as Administrator to ensure that the kinds of ash spills recently devastating Kingston, Tennessee, and Dan River, North Carolina, never again occur, anywhere?
These 10 questions are as much as a blog can handlebut a robust Senate confirmation hearing should probe a far wider range of topics and more deeply. Please, think up your own key questions for Tillerson and Pruittand for other Trump cabinet nominees like Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke. Send them to your SenatorsRepublican and Democraticand urge them to ask them and insist on real answers, not politically correct evasions. And then turn your questions into a letter to the editor of your local paper. Lets take control of the conversationas Abraham Lincoln said, what really matters in the long run in public sentiment. With it, everything, even surviving Donald Trump, is possible.
(Photo: The Herald)Robert and Grace Mugabe
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has ruled his country with an iron fist since 1980 and next month he will turn 93 with ambitions to run the nation until he is nearing his 100th birthday.
He believes he is the only person to lead his country, and Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party on Dec. 17 chose him as its candidate for the 2018 presidential elections.
His political opponents accuse the Mugabe family and a military clique of running the southern African nation that neighbors South Africa as a personal fiefdom.
The role of his wife Grace Mugabe was highlighted over a spat after she had purchased a diamond ring for more than one million U.S. dollars.
A Roman Catholic priest caused a stir when he castigated Grace Mugabe, linking her to corruption for acquiring a $1.3 million diamond ring at a time when many Zimbabweans are going hungry.
Father Rungano Muchineripi of St. Johns Parish in Budiriro, Harare, was speaking at a funeral service for a woman who collapsed on her way to Zimbabwe from South Africa recently, NewZimbabwe reported.
Without naming her, he used Grace Mugabe as an example that there is an evident lack of love among Zimbabweans.
He said, "There is a lot of corruption in this country and if people had love for each other we would not be seeing someone buying a ring worth millions whilst the nation is hungry."
"Bond notes also show that the level of corruption in this country has become unbearable. We are now confused and do not know what to do about it," the priest said referring to a cash shortage in the beleaguered southern African nation.
MUGABE HOLIDAYING IN ASIA
President Mugabe and his wife were spending a month holidaying in Asia over the Christmas period when the priest made his sermon, NewZimbawbe reported.
"How can someone afford to be on holiday in the Far East in times like this?" Mugabe's former vice president and now rival, Joice Teurai Ropa Mujuru, said Jan. 1.
"Mugabe and Zanu-PF have neither the competence nor commitment to address the self-inflicted problems that we face," said Mujuru who now leads Zimbabwe People First in a New Year's message.
Analysts and opposition leaders say the president had rigged three previous elections, and this claim has been reiterated by Mujuru, who was a fierce ally of Robert Mugabe's until 2014.
Mugabe became president of Zimbabwe when the country gained independence and he stirred international controversy with his policy of land seizures in 2000.
The government said it would give the land back to the people, but critics of the process said local people living on the land were displaced in many cases and the land apportioned to ruling party elites.
Before that Zimbabwe was considered one of Africa's food baskets. Now it is one of the poorest nations in the region and it struggles to feed its people.
Mugabe has says the country's economic decline is due to sabotage of his economic policies by Western critics.
MARRIED BY CATHOLIC CLERIC
The Mugabes were married by a Catholic cleric in 1986, and the president was brought up in the Catholic Church.
During his presidency, however, he has periodically been at loggerheads with Catholic leaders.
A Harare judge has ordered Grace Mugabe to return three properties that she seized from a Lebanese businessman in the botched $1.35m diamond ring deal.
Reports in November Grace Zimbabwe's First Lady bought the ring from a company owned by Jamal Ahmed, but later rejected it opting to have a refund.
Ahmed approached went to as his properties were confiscated by the Grace Mugabe over the issue. In December the Zimbabwe High Court ordered her of Ahmed's properties which are in exclusive Harare suburbs.
High Court judge Clement Phiri ordered the president's wife to remove her representatives from the properties that she seized after Lebanese national Ahmed failed to repay the money paid by her for the diamond ring.
The ring had been meant to be Mugabe's wedding anniversary to Grace as 2016 marked the 20th anniversary of their wedding.
Grace Mugabe has stated ambitions to take over her husband's decades-long presidency.
Another Zimbabwean newspaper report in November said Grace Mugabe had told the ruling Zanu-PF party women's league that she is already the president, as she "plans and does everything with President Robert Mugabe."
Mashonaland West Zanu-PF women's league chairperson Angeline Muchemeyi said, "Grace told an executive meeting that she is 'already the President' and would not want to be appointed VP, as it was a lower post, NewsDay reported.
"The First Lady said I'm the wife of the President, I'm the president already ... I plan and do everything with the President, what more do I want, for now the position of the women boss is enough."
Grace Mugabe is currently the Zanu-PF women's league secretary, a position she has held since 2014.
It is understandable that school administrators and teachers focus their attention on the students who face the greatest academic struggles in the classroom. I did this myself when I was the chancellor of the New York City schools more than a decade ago, with an emphasis on reducing the dropout rate and enabling more students to graduate. But in doing so, educators fail to pay enough attention to the needs of some of the brightest students.
Millions of K-12 students are capable of more challenging coursework than they are currently assigned. A recent study by Johns Hopkins University and Duke University used student-assessment data from multiple states to estimate that 20 percent to 40 percent of elementary and middle school students in the United States are performing at least one level above their current grade on standardized reading tests and between 11 percent and 30 percent above on standardized math tests, but are nonetheless taught their grade-level curricula.
This suggests that many of the nations estimated 40.1 million pre-K-8 students in public and private schools are denied access to accelerated, challenging learning. While its encouraging to know that so many students are capable of doing so well in school, its disturbing that they are not all being given the opportunities they deserve to excel at the proper level.
Whats even more troubling? Students are often selected for gifted programs in a discriminatory manner. Low-income and minority students are underrepresented in gifted education programs, according to a 2015 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research. After studying the screening process for gifted abilities in Floridas Broward County school district, researchers found that black and Latino students; students who got free or reduced-price lunches; English-language learners; and female students were underreferred to the gifted program.
While the U.S. Department of Education reports that black and Hispanic students account for more than 40 percent of public school enrollment in the United States, they made up just 26 percent of the 3.2 million public school students enrolled nationwide in gifted education programs in 2011-12. This is not, of course, because these students are any less capable than their white and Asian-American classmates.
One cause for the gaps is a lack of student referrals from educators. Black students are 66 percent less likely to be referred to gifted programs in math and reading than their white classmates, according to a 2016 study by researchers from Vanderbilt University. Recommendations for Hispanic students are 47 percent less common. But when black students are taught by a black teacher, they are three times more likely to be assigned to gifted programs.
When black students are taught by a black teacher, they are three times more likely to be assigned to gifted programs."
In fact, when every student is tested for entrance to gifted programs, the number of low-income and minority students greatly increases. In Broward County, the school system saw a 130 percent increase in the gifted rate among Latinos and an 80 percent increase among black students after implementing a universal-screening process. And when Orange Countys public schoolsa high-poverty district based in Orlando, Fla.also shifted to universal screening, the number of students who were identified as gifted increased by 7 percent in the first year.
The extent of gifted educations current discrimination has the potential to affect students futures after high school. Between 2000 and 2010, five states adopted mandates requiring all high school juniors to take a nationally standardized college-entrance exam. In two of the states, nearly half of all students took tests, and 40 percent to 45 percent of them earned scores to qualify for selective colleges. The enrollment of students in those states at selective institutions rose by 20 percent. This shows that students may grow to underestimate what they are capable of when not given the chance to prove themselves.
The path forward for our schools should be clear: Test every single child and then make appropriate placements. When we leave it up to teachers, parents, or even students themselves to determine who should be tested for high-ability classes, programs, and opportunities, many outstanding studentsespecially those who are black, Hispanic, or low-incomeget left out. We must stop underestimating students abilities and denying them the advanced instruction they deserve.
I recently visited the Davidson Academy of Nevada, in Reno, a public school designed to meet the needs of middle and high school students who score in the 99.9 percentile on their IQ or college-entrance tests, such as the SAT or the ACT. Class assignments are made exclusively on the basis of ability, regardless of a students age. It is a route more schools should take.
Our goal should be to find the most appropriate academic placement for each child to help him or her succeed. This also means accepting that a childs age doesnt always define his or her capabilities in every subject. For example, an 8-year-old in 3rd grade may be reading at the 5th grade level but doing 2nd grade math. Education should be tailored to meet the needs of every child.
The best way to break the cycle of poverty from one generation to the next is to open the doors to equal educational opportunities for all students, regardless of race, ethnicity, or income. To do so, we must make gifted programs more accessible and affordable to all students and use professional development for educators to help them recognize and abandon stereotypes.
Far too many bright young students are left to fend for themselves in an education system that too often venerates mediocrity. Our nation fails these boys and girls by not giving them the challenging education they need to reach their full potential. And we as a society fall short by not allowing our country to fully benefit from students brainpower and talents. Lets start enabling all of the nations students to live up to their potential.
As a new political and policy era dawns in Washington, the status of the nations schools remains stable, though still earning a grade of C from Quality Counts 2017, the 21st annual report card issued by the Education Week Research Center.
The C corresponds to a score of 74.2, which is nearly identical to the 74.4 the nation posted in 2016, when it also received a C. The steadiness of national results, notwithstanding, a handful of states saw their scores increase or decline by a full point or more.
Quality Counts grades the states and the nation on educational performance across a range of key indicators, issuing overall A-F grades based on a traditional 100-point scale.
The overall grade is based on three custom indices developed by the Research Center:
The Chance-for-Success Index uses a cradle-to-career perspective to examine the role of education in promoting positive outcomes throughout an individuals lifetime.
The school finance analysis evaluates spending on education and equity in funding across districts within a state.
The K-12 Achievement Index, last updated in 2016, scores states on current academic performance, change over time, and poverty-based gaps.
Massachusetts takes first place among the states for the third year in a row, with a B and a score of 86.5. Its followed by five states earning grades of B: New Jersey (85.6), Vermont (83.8), New Hampshire (83.4), Maryland (82.8), and Connecticut (82.7).
At the other end of the spectrum, Nevada is at the bottom of the list as it was in 2016, receiving a D and a score of 65.0. Mississippi (65.8) and New Mexico (66.3) also receive grades of D. Grades and scores for those three states remain relatively unchanged from last years outcomes.
Overall, the majority of states (34) land grades between C-minus and C-plus.
Montana saw the biggest improvement between 2016 and 2017, with a gain of 1.3 points. New Hampshire and South Carolina also post increases of about one point. The uptick for New Hampshire places its overall score in the top five for the second time since Quality Counts revamped grading framework was introduced in 2015. By contrast, Alaska (-1.2) and Kansas (-1.0) are the only states to see their summative scores drop by a point or more. Alaskas decline can be attributed to a substantial drop in its results on the Chance-for-Success Index, while Kansas experienced a marked fall-off in school finance.
Chance for Success
For the 10th year in a row, the nation earns a C-plus grade on the Chance-for-Success Index. Performance is strongest for indicators related to educational foundations in early childhood where the nation earns a B-minus. By comparison, the U.S. receives a C and a C-plus for the school years and adult outcomes, respectively.
State Grading Data Download
Grading Summary (2017) PDF Chance for Success (2017) PDF School Finance (2017) PDF K-12 Achievement (2016) PDF
The 13 indicators that make up the Chance-for-Success Index capture opportunities for children to get off to a good start, move smoothly through K-12 education, and ultimately achieve positive educational and workforce outcomes as adults.
For a decade now, Massachusetts has stood at the top in this category and continues to lead the nation with a grade of A-minus (91.0). New Hampshire is the only other state to earn an A-minus (90.3) and is followed by three states at B-plusNew Jersey (87.8), Connecticut (87.4), and Vermont (86.8). New Mexico scores lowest, the sole state to receive a D (66.4). In all, 28 states have grades of C-plus or lower. Montana saw the largest increase (1.9 points) while Alaska experienced the most substantial decline (-3.4 points).
The nations grade of C for school finance has remained the same for the past seven years, although its numeric score has dropped by half-a-point since last year.
School Spending
The school finance analysis examines two critical aspects of school spending. Of the eight indicators in this category, four assess school spending patterns, while the remaining metrics gauge equity in the distribution of funding across the districts within each state.
The finance indicators in Quality Counts 2017 are based on the most recent data available from the federal government, which are from 2014. Quality Counts does not report raw spending data. All expenditures are adjusted by factors such as regional cost differences, in order to facilitate apples-to-apples comparisons.
Wyoming regains its spot at the top of the rankings after slipping to second place in the 2016 report. It posts an A-minus (89.5) followed by four states with grades of B-plus: New York (88.7), New Jersey (88.1), Connecticut (87.4), and Maryland (86.6). Idaho is the only state to get an F (58.9).
Montana and New Hampshire each improved by two points while Kansas and Virginia each saw their scores tumble by two or more points.
The analysis finds that states generally did better on measures of equity than on overall spending. In fact, nearly half of the states (24) receive an F for spending. The U.S. average for per-pupil spending stands at $12,156 after adjusting for regional cost differences. Vermont spends the most at $19,654 per student, while Utah ranks last at $7,038.
Nationally, the Research Centers equity analysis continues to find wide disparities in funding patterns across districts in many states. The Wealth Neutrality score indicates that just one state, Alaska, provides higher funding for property-poor districts than for their wealthier peers.
The District of Columbia and Hawaii do not receive finance grades because they are single-district jurisdictions.
K-12 Achievement
The nation earned a C-minus for K-12 Achievement. Its letter grade has held steady over time. Numeric scores have inched up from 69.7 in 2012 and 70.2 in 2014 to 71.0 out of 100 in 2016.
The achievement index, which counts for one-third of this years overall grade, gauges states performance on 18 indicators. Results for this category were published in Quality Counts 2016, and remain unchanged because they rely heavily on National Assessment of Educational Progress results, which are released every other year. Other elements of this index include high school graduation rates and Advanced Placement exam scores. To score well on this index, a state must demonstrate strong academic performance, combined with improvements over time and progress toward narrowing poverty-based achievement gaps.
Massachusetts (85.2) ranked first for K-12 Achievement, posting the only B. It has been the leader in the rankings for nearly a decade. New Jersey (81.0), the only other state with a grade higher than a C-plus, earned a B-minus. Mississippi (60.0) and New Mexico (61.8) received the nations lowest grades at D-minus.
Across the three indices in the Quality Counts report card, the nation receives its lowest mark in K-12 Achievement as scores in this area are dragged down by current academic performance. On the other hand, it fares best in the Chance-for-Success category, buoyed by solid results on indicators related to educational foundations in early childhood.
The Every Student Succeeds Act opened the door to two types of assessment flexibility for all states that could seriously reshape the national testing landscape. But a year after the law was signed, few states or districts appear inclined to take advantage of them.
The new federal education law allows states to permit school districts to substitute a nationally recognized high school test, such as the ACT or the SAT, for their states own high school exam. The law also lets states divide annual assessments into chunks, and roll those interim results into one summative score for accountability purposes.
Both options are separate from a more-limited pilot program that will let a handful of states develop a new breed of assessments on their own.
The limited pilot program has yet to get off the ground.
Separately no state has yet decided to go with the aggregated-interims option, though at least one is exploring the idea. Arizona is the only state so far that plans to try the option of a locally chosen high school test.
A law signed by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey in March 2016 requires that states board of education to come up with a menu of tests that districts can use instead of the states own AzMerit. Districts are supposed to be able to choose from that list for grades 9-12 in the 2017-18 school year, and for grades 3-8 in 2018-19.
Board member Calvin Baker said that the panel is starting to hear presentations from vendors, who will have to prove that their products are valid for use in the states accountability system. Baker, the superintendent of the Vail school district, near Tucson, said he is reserving judgment about the approach until the board completes its work. He likes its flexibility, but he wants to be sure that tests other than AzMerit yield the information the state needs.
Ill want to know, do these other tests truly test our state standards? Is it possible to compare the results of one of those tests to our state test? he said. The bigger quest is to protect accountability. We want to be flexible, but we also need to be sure weve got a system that identifies schools accomplishments, and where they need help.
But Arizona could run into legal problems with the menu approach in grades 3-8. ESSA requires states to administer the same test to all students in grades 3-8. Its only at the high school level that it allows states to substitute another assessment. State education department spokesman Charles Tack acknowledged that the new law would appear to be in conflict with ESSA. U.S. Department of Education spokeswoman Jessica Allen said federal officials are concerned about the menu approach to testing in grades 3-8.
We understand that this portion of the law does not take effect until the 2018-19 school year, and we hope that the state will use this time to ensure that its schools administer high-quality assessments in accordance with the law, Allen said in an email.
Florida lawmakers in their 2016 session considered a bill that would have allowed districts to use other tests, such as the PSAT, SAT, or ACT Aspire, instead of the states exam in high school, but the bill died without a vote by either chamber. A Colorado law requires the department of education to investigate and review assessment options, including one that would let local districts choose their own tests. The Colorado law also requires the education department to apply for another kind of ESSA testing flexibility, the innovative assessment pilot.
Our juniors are test-fatigued. ... Its hard to get them motivated, and its hard not to empathize with their test fatigue."
Testing was a hot topic in state legislatures in 2016. Key themes emerged from the hundreds of bills that passed through those chambers, according to Michelle Exstrom, the education program director at the National Conference of State Legislatures, which tracks state laws. Many of the bills dealt with switching assessments, clarifying parents rights to opt students out of tests, or giving districts more testing flexibility. But few moved states toward the kinds of testing flexibility ESSA offers, she said.
In meetings last year about testing issues, most states expressed reluctance to let districts choose their own high school tests, said Marianne Perie, who oversees an assessment working group for the Council of Chief State School Officers.
Complex Oversight
One reason for that could be the complexity of overseeing different tests, said Scott Norton, the CCSSOs director of strategic initiatives in standards, accountability and assessment.
Districts want to use a test that matters, and students care more about their SAT or ACT score than about their state test score, he said. If districts could use one of those, and get rid of their state test, theyd reduce their burden and get more [student] engagement. But states might not be that enthusiastic about managing different tests. Its simpler for them if everyone is on the same page.
Though they may get pushback from their states, many school districts find the local high school option appealing. Vermont surveyed its stakeholders and found that 83 percent of administrators and 88 percent of teachers favored a switch from Smarter Balanced, a test designed by one of two federally funded consortia, to the SAT or ACT at the high school level.
Our juniors are test-fatigued, said Mike McGraith, the principal of Montpelier High School in Montpelier, Vt. Many take AP tests in May, and theyre already taking the SAT multiple times, the PSAT in the fall, and the science [state test]. Then we have to turn to this group of 17-year-olds and say, Would you please try your hardest on this fairly involved long test that doesnt count for you, but it counts for us? Its hard to get them motivated, and its hard not to empathize with their test fatigue.
In considering the option of rolling interim tests into a summative result, states and districts could enjoy some benefits, Norton said. As part of a coherent system, interim tests could help reduce testing overall by serving both as periodic, instructionally useful feedback, and also, combined, as a summative result for accountability, he said. But it would also be a heavy lift for states, since theyd have to ensure that the interims have met rigorous specifications, and give high-security tests several times a year, instead of just once, he said.
North Carolina is in the second year of a pilot that uses the aggregated results of three interim tests each year to measure student achievement. But Tammy Howard, who is overseeing the so-called NC Check-In project as the states director of accountability services, said it isnt intended as a possible substitute for North Carolinas own end-of-grade and end-of-course tests. The state is simply interested in seeing how well segmented tests capture students mastery.
Instructional Feedback
Teachers love the interim tests so much, Howard said, that theyre asking the state not to use them as part of a summative system for accountability. Because the tests are for instructional feedback, theyre not held in high-security conditions, so teachers can get better access to the test questions, and detailed results, than if they were high-stakes accountability assessments, Howard said. Teachers find the feedback so useful, they want to keep it that way, she said.
An assessment task force in Pennsylvania recommended that the state explore the possibility of using interim tests to get a summative score for accountability. Beth Olanoff, a special assistant to the state secretary of education on ESSA, said she and her colleagues are discussing the possibility and plan to conduct a feasibility study on the approach.
Its appealing, on the one hand, because it would chunk summative tests into several sittings across the year, minimizing the impact of one big end-of-year test, especially on the youngest students, Olanoff said. And it could offer teachers more frequent, instructionally useful feedback. But testing is disruptive, and Pennsylvania officials still need to have a fuller conversation about whether [the approach is] worth that kind of disruption more frequently, Olanoff said.
Venessa A. Keesler, Michigans deputy superintendent for educator, student, and school supports, said Michigan is mulling the use of interim tests in some grades, but psychometricians have raised caution flags about whether aggregated interim results would be valid for summative purposes. Teachers want tests with more of a formative feel, to help them better meet students needs, Keesler said. But whether thats possible in the context of a state accountability system isnt entirely clear, she said.
No state is really doing that, Keesler said. This is emerging science.
When Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act, state and district leaders were eager for the chance to try out a new breed of assessments, through a pilot program included in the law and open to a limited number of states.
But, as state policymakers took a closer look at the language in ESSA outlining the so-called Innovative Assessment pilotincluding a set of what federal officials call stringent guardrails aimed partly at ensuring the new testing systems consider historically disadvantaged groups of studentsthey began to reconsider whether they wanted to participate.
Now, more than a year after ESSAs passage, the pilot process has yet to officially get off the ground. There dont seem to be many potential takers among state officials, and there are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to how the pilot will play out.
For one thing, the U.S. Department of Education under the Obama administration as of mid-December hadnt yet outlined what the application process for states would look like, or when it would get started, or which states would be allowed to participate initially.
That leaves key details up to the incoming Trump administration. And its not even a sure thing that the Trump team will open the pilot at all; the law leaves it up to the education secretary to decide whether or not to let states take advantage of the flexibility.
As of mid-December, neither Trump nor his choice of education secretary, Betsy DeVos, a school choice advocate and GOP donor, had said much about the pilot or testing in general.
State Readiness
The pilot was inspired by New Hampshire, which spent years experimenting with competency-based education, a model that considers whether students have mastered certain skills. In March of 2015, months before ESSA passed, the state received permission from the Education Department to try out new performance assessments in a handful of districts before eventually taking that system statewide. The pilot drew interestand visitorsfrom across the country, and ESSA ultimately included language that could eventually open similar opportunities up to every state.
ESSA starts the pilot off small; no more than seven states can join in the initial phase. After three years, the law directs the Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the Education Department, to take stock of the programs progress. The secretary of education then can choose to open the flexibility up to all states.
But, at least right now, few states are as prepared as New Hampshire was to take immediate advantage of the leeway in the law, said Lillian Pace, the senior director of national policy at KnowledgeWorks, a nonprofit that works to better personalize learning for students.
She is hoping that a new administration would consider giving states some timeand some new fundingto really think through how they can take advantage of the flexibility.
I would love to see the next administration actually provide start-up resources, said Pace, in an interview before the 2016 election. That would help bring the right expertise to the table.
The pilot, she said, was meant to provide a bridge to a new generation of tests. The interest is there, but the barriers seem so overwhelming right now, Pace said. I dont know if were going to see this opportunity amount to as much as we had hoped.
Guardrails in Place
Even with more time and some additional funding, states that want to participate will still have to jump over some serious hurdles.
For instance, ESSA requires states seeking to join the pilot to eventually take their new testing systems statewide. They also will have to make sure the tests are valid and reliable and that the results can be compared among different districts, including those that are taking the traditional statewide assessment.
Participating states also must make sure that they are testing a representative sample of students by the end of the so-called demonstration period, which is supposed to last for five years, according to the law, with the possibility of a two-year extension. That means that a state with a big population of English-language learners, such as California, would have to make sure that it tests its new approach on districts with a hefty number of ELLs.
Some states that had initially expressed interest in the pilot are now leaning against participating.
We really looked at that. I almost feel like we can be more innovative without the innovative pilot, said Jillian Balow, Wyomings state superintendent of public instruction. The state is in the market for a new testing system. The innovative pilot says, This is how you have to be innovative. Being innovative on our own, without going into that pilot-state mode just gives us a little bit more flexibility.
But Paul Leather, New Hampshires deputy commissioner, said that while the process has been challenging, its beginning to pay dividends.
The Granite States pilot has been embraced by many in the local business community who want to hire employees that can collaborate and tackle problems in an innovative way. Almost every week, a new district asks to join the effort, Leather said.
Best of all, the pilot is making a difference in the classroom, and, he thinks, boosting student learning.
We have essentially placed assessment and accountability in the hands of local educators, Leather said. It has been very effective. Were already starting to see some significant improvements in performance in the second year of the flexibility.
One year ago, President Barack Obama and longtime education leaders in Congress burst through years of deadlock to pass the Every Student Succeeds Act, the first update to the nations main K-12 law in over a decade.
Now the law remains a work in progress, as states, districts, and a shifting cast of federal officials work furiously to prepare for its full rollout this fall.
ESSAs architects said the law struck a careful compromise. On the one side, it moved away from what they saw as the worst aspects of the No Child Left Behind Actthe previous version of the landmark Elementary and Secondary Education Actincluding what many deemed an overemphasis on standardized tests and a too-heavy federal footprint. At the same time, it kept key safeguards for historically overlooked groups of students.
But as the new law passes its first birthday, its an open question whether ESSA will be able to maintain that balance once it hits state education agencies, district central offices, and classrooms in full force in the 2017-18 school year.
ESSA gives states and districts greater flexibility, but it also asks a lot of them.
Instead of relying primarily on test results to gauge school performance, as policy officials did under No Child Left Behind, states must use a jumble of measures, including test scores, graduation rates, and at least one factor that gets at school quality or student success, such as school climate or achievement in advanced coursework.
And states can move away from teacher evaluations based on student test scores and come up with their own definitions for what makes a teacher effective. States and districts also get to decide how to intervene in their lowest-performing schools and those where long-overlooked groupssuch as students of color, English-language learners, and children with disabilitiesarent performing up to snuff.
Perspectives on ESSA's Impact As part of a nationwide survey, Education Week asked district leaders to indicate the extent to which they agree with six statements related to ESSA. Roughly one-third of survey respondents said they completely agree that their districts will be using students test scores to help evaluate teachers two years from now. Only 9 percent agreed that leaders in their districts have had sufficient impact on their states ESSA implementation plans. Source: Education Week Research Center, 2017
Given the range of state capacity, and states different K-12 priorities, ESSA implementation could look radically different on the ground from one state to the next, said Maria Voles Ferguson, the executive director of the Center on Education Policy, a public education advocacy group at the George Washington Universitys Graduate School of Education and Human Development.
I think theres going to be a lot of different stories told throughout the country, said Ferguson, who served in the U.S. Department of Education working on K-12 policy and communications under President Bill Clinton. There are bright-shining-star [states] that are going to run and do really interesting things, and then therell be some sad, not-great stories. Its a little bit of survival of the fittest.
For their part, state education chiefs recognize the challenges ahead, but say they welcome the opportunity to move toward what they hope will be more-nuanced accountability systems that present a clearer picture of student progress. And they know that the greater leeway may not be around forever.
If we just use the flexibility to get out of things and not serve kids better, were going to be right back here soon with more federal prescription, said Chris Minnich, the executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trumps upset victory in November has muddied the waters at the federal level.
For one thing, the Obama administration has spent the past year crafting regulations that flesh out ESSAs accountability, testing, and spending provisions.
But its unclear how much of that work will end up influencing the laws direction in the long run. The incoming Trump administration will get to decide whether to delay, tweak, or toss those regulations.
For now, state chiefs say they are not waiting for Trump and his pick for education secretary, school choice advocate Betsy DeVos, to put their stamp on the law.
Instead, states are pressing forward with their own ESSA blueprints, honed in many cases after months of outreach, multiple listening tours, and hours of meetings.
Setting Priorities for ESSA's Transition Education Week asked district leaders how much of a priority the ESSA transition will be for their districts during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years. One-third of district leaders responding to a September 2016 survey reported that it would be a high priority in the 2016-17 school year. A larger share (45%) said it will be a high priority in 2017-18. Source: Education Week Research Center, 2017
For instance, Virginia is leaning toward a plan that incorporates chronic absenteeism alongside test scores in gauging school performance, said Steven Staples, the state superintendent of public instruction. And hed like to see the new system take stock of whether schools are closing the achievement gaps that have often left minority students, those with disabilities, and other groups lagging behind.
But some sticky issues still must be worked through, Staples said. For instance, the state will need to decide how to figure out whether a school is truly helping struggling students improve, or if the top students are simply slipping.
And more generally, the Every Student Succeeds Act requires a shift in mindset for states, districts, and schools, said Jillian Balow, Wyomings superintendent of public instruction.
Under No Child Left Behind, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2002, our accountability systems really were designed to give us information about how well schools and school districts were playing the accountability game, and gave us very little information about how our students were really doing, Balow said. Were trying as a state to really close that gap between accountability for compliance and accountability for responsibility for student learning, she said.
Equity Focus
And the question that loomed over the celebrations hailing ESSAs passage in December 2015 remains: What will more state control mean for historically overlooked groups of students?
Tony Evers, Wisconsins superintendent of public instruction, recalled that when ESSA became law, an influential civil rights leader in his state tweeted that hed lived through states rights and it hadnt worked out very well, a reference to segregation.
I took that to heart, I took it as a personal obligation to make equity for all groups a central tenet of Wisconsins plan, Evers said.
Civil rights advocates are heartened by such sentiments, but caution that states have a lot of decisions left to make.
Were still kind of in the thick of it, said Daria Hall, the interim vice president for government affairs and communications at the Education Trust, which advocates in support of poor and minority students. Theres a lot of conversation going on right now, but I dont think were at a point where we can definitively say heres where that conversation is leading us, for good, bad, or other.
Hall said civil rights advocates should keep an eye on where ESSA implementation stands in their states.
We have to be really cautious because we know that states have a long track record of not making tough decisions when it comes to the interest of low-income students, students of color, English-language learners, she said. If states are going to walk away from those students, we are going to lose whatever progress weve made with those students, who now make up the majority of our public school population.
Teachers unions are also working to make sure their members are at the table helping to craft state accountability plans.
We are hopeful that states have not dug in on ESSA, said Donna Harris-Aikens, the National Education Associations director of policy and practice. The union and its affiliates, she said, have been telling state education officials: Dont go off into a room somewhere in the back and build a plan. Dont wait until you have a final draft of a plan before you reach out to your stakeholders. Make sure youve really gotten buy-in by the time youre done building your plan.
School Choice Twist
Even though the Trump administration will eventually be consumed with approving states ESSA plans, the president-elect has suggested that expanding school choice could be his initial focus in education policy.
Some of Trumps campaign proposalslike redirecting $20 billion in federal funding to help students attend the private, public, or home school of their choicewould likely require renegotiating the portion of ESSA that deals with the formula for distributing Title I dollars to states and districts.
But plenty of opportunities for expanding school choice are already written into the law, said Lindsay Fryer, who worked as an education aide to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate education committee, when Congress was writing ESSA.
For instance, states can reserve up to 3 percent of their Title I dollars and channel it to such purposes as public school choice, distance learning, personalized learning, tutoring, and Advanced Placement coursetaking.
Already under ESSA, choice can be utilized in a broader sense than where we hear the rhetoric now, said Fryer, who is now a vice-president at the Penn Hill Group, a government relations firm in Washington.
And overall, she said, ESSA offers states a chance to shift their thinking.
States have so long been in compliance mode, the bureaucratic back-and-forth of, Can I do science tests this way? Fryer said. Now is the opportunity for states to figure out what they want to do, she said. States will learn a lot from each other as these plans move forward.
The 21st annual edition of Quality CountsUnder Construction: Building on ESSAs K-12 Foundationcontinues Education Weeks long-standing tradition of grading the states on their performance. A states overall grade is the average of its scores on the three separate indices tracked by the report.
State Overview
This year, Arizona finishes 44th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with an overall score of 68.6 out of 100 points and a grade of D-plus. The nation as a whole posts a grade of C.
Diving into the findings for the three graded indices, Arizona earns a C in the Chance-for-Success category and ranks 44th. The average state earns a C-plus. In School Finance, Arizona receives a D-minus and ranks 46th. For the K-12 Achievement Index, last updated in the 2016 report, it finishes 26th with a grade of C-minus. The average state earns grades of C and C-minus in School Finance and K-12 Achievement, respectively. More details on results in these categories are reported below.
Chance for Success
The Education Week Research Center developed the Chance-for-Success Index to better understand the role that education plays in promoting positive outcomes across an individuals lifetime. Based on an original state-by-state analysis, this index combines information from 13 indicators that span a persons life from cradle to career. Those indicators fall into three sub-sections: early foundations, school years, and adult outcomes.
For early foundations, which examines factors that help children get off to a good start, Arizona earns a grade of C-plus and ranks 44th. The average state posts a B-minus.
Arizona receives a C-minus for the school years, a sub-category focusing on metrics related to pre-k enrollment through postsecondary participation. It finishes 42nd in the nation in this area. By comparison, the nation as a whole earns a C.
In the area of adult outcomes, based on postsecondary educational attainment and workforce indicators, Arizonas grade is a C. It ranks 38th in the nation. The national average is a C-plus.
School Finance
The school finance analysis examines two critical aspects of school spending. Of the eight indicators in this category, four assess school spending patterns, while the remaining metrics gauge equity in the distribution of funding across the districts within each state.
Across the spending indicators, Arizona finishes with a letter grade of F compared with a national average of D. Arizona ranks 50th in the nation in this area.
On the equity measures, Arizonas grade is a B, which places it 35th in the national rankings. The nation as a whole earns a B.
K-12 Achievement
The K-12 Achievement Index examines 18 distinct achievement measures related to reading and math performance, high school graduation rates, and the results of Advanced Placement exams. The index assigns equal weight to current levels of performance and changes over time. It also places an emphasis on equity, by examining both poverty-based achievement gaps and progress in closing those gaps. The results of the K-12 Achievement Index reported here are from the Quality Counts 2016 report and have not been updated.
Indicators in the index can be broken down into three sub-categories: status, change, and equity.
Measures in the status sub-category evaluate a states current performance. Arizona receives a D-minus in this area and ranks 37th in the nation. The average state earns a D.
The change sub-category examines a states improvement over time. In this area, Arizona posts a C and ranks seventh. The national average is a D-plus.
In the equity sub-section, states are graded based on achievement gaps between low-income students and their more affluent peers. Arizonas grade on those poverty-gap measures stands at a B. Nationally, it ranks 28th in this area. The nation as a whole receives a B.
Arizonas 2017 Highlights Report includes summarized results based on each of the nearly-40 indicators that make up Quality Counts overall grading rubric. Tables with the full results are available in PDF form below:
- Grading Summary
- Chance for Success
- School Finance
- K-12 Achievement
The 21st annual edition of Quality CountsUnder Construction: Building on ESSAs K-12 Foundationcontinues Education Weeks long-standing tradition of grading the states on their performance. A states overall grade is the average of its scores on the three separate indices tracked by the report.
State Overview
This year, Arkansas finishes 43rd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with an overall score of 69.8 out of 100 points and a grade of C-minus. The nation as a whole posts a grade of C.
Diving into the findings for the three graded indices, Arkansas earns a C-minus in the Chance-for-Success category and ranks 46th. The average state earns a C-plus. In School Finance, Arkansas receives a C-minus and ranks 29th. For the K-12 Achievement Index, last updated in the 2016 report, it finishes 41st with a grade of D. The average state earns grades of C and C-minus in School Finance and K-12 Achievement, respectively. More details on results in these categories are reported below.
Chance for Success
The Education Week Research Center developed the Chance-for-Success Index to better understand the role that education plays in promoting positive outcomes across an individuals lifetime. Based on an original state-by-state analysis, this index combines information from 13 indicators that span a persons life from cradle to career. Those indicators fall into three sub-sections: early foundations, school years, and adult outcomes.
For early foundations, which examines factors that help children get off to a good start, Arkansas earns a grade of C and ranks 46th. The average state posts a B-minus.
Arkansas receives a C-minus for the school years, a sub-category focusing on metrics related to pre-k enrollment through postsecondary participation. It finishes 40th in the nation in this area. By comparison, the nation as a whole earns a C.
In the area of adult outcomes, based on postsecondary educational attainment and workforce indicators, Arkansass grade is a D-plus. It ranks 48th in the nation. The national average is a C-plus.
School Finance
The school finance analysis examines two critical aspects of school spending. Of the eight indicators in this category, four assess school spending patterns, while the remaining metrics gauge equity in the distribution of funding across the districts within each state.
Across the spending indicators, Arkansas finishes with a letter grade of F compared with a national average of D. Arkansas ranks 30th in the nation in this area.
On the equity measures, Arkansass grade is a B, which places it 24th in the national rankings. The nation as a whole earns a B.
K-12 Achievement
The K-12 Achievement Index examines 18 distinct achievement measures related to reading and math performance, high school graduation rates, and the results of Advanced Placement exams. The index assigns equal weight to current levels of performance and changes over time. It also places an emphasis on equity, by examining both poverty-based achievement gaps and progress in closing those gaps. The results of the K-12 Achievement Index reported here are from the Quality Counts 2016 report and have not been updated.
Indicators in the index can be broken down into three sub-categories: status, change, and equity.
Measures in the status sub-category evaluate a states current performance. Arkansas receives an F in this area and ranks 43rd in the nation. The average state earns a D.
The change sub-category examines a states improvement over time. In this area, Arkansas posts a D-plus and ranks 26th. The national average is a D-plus.
In the equity sub-section, states are graded based on achievement gaps between low-income students and their more affluent peers. Arkansass grade on those poverty-gap measures stands at a B. Nationally, it ranks 21st in this area. The nation as a whole receives a B.
Arkansass 2017 Highlights Report includes summarized results based on each of the nearly-40 indicators that make up Quality Counts overall grading rubric. Tables with the full results are available in PDF form below:
- Grading Summary
- Chance for Success
- School Finance
- K-12 Achievement
The 21st annual edition of Quality CountsUnder Construction: Building on ESSAs K-12 Foundationcontinues Education Weeks long-standing tradition of grading the states on their performance. A states overall grade is the average of its scores on the three separate indices tracked by the report.
State Overview
This year, North Carolina finishes 39th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with an overall score of 70.5 out of 100 points and a grade of C-minus. The nation as a whole posts a grade of C.
Diving into the findings for the three graded indices, North Carolina earns a C-plus in the Chance-for-Success category and ranks 31st. The average state earns a C-plus. In School Finance, North Carolina receives a D and ranks 45th. For the K-12 Achievement Index, last updated in the 2016 report, it finishes 33rd with a grade of D-plus. The average state earns grades of C and C-minus in School Finance and K-12 Achievement, respectively. More details on results in these categories are reported below.
Chance for Success
The Education Week Research Center developed the Chance-for-Success Index to better understand the role that education plays in promoting positive outcomes across an individuals lifetime. Based on an original state-by-state analysis, this index combines information from 13 indicators that span a persons life from cradle to career. Those indicators fall into three sub-sections: early foundations, school years, and adult outcomes.
For early foundations, which examines factors that help children get off to a good start, North Carolina earns a grade of B-minus and ranks 35th. The average state posts a B-minus.
North Carolina receives a C for the school years, a sub-category focusing on metrics related to pre-k enrollment through postsecondary participation. It finishes 24th in the nation in this area. By comparison, the nation as a whole earns a C.
In the area of adult outcomes, based on postsecondary educational attainment and workforce indicators, North Carolinas grade is a C. It ranks 32nd in the nation. The national average is a C-plus.
School Finance
The school finance analysis examines two critical aspects of school spending. Of the eight indicators in this category, four assess school spending patterns, while the remaining metrics gauge equity in the distribution of funding across the districts within each state.
Across the spending indicators, North Carolina finishes with a letter grade of F compared with a national average of D. North Carolina ranks 47th in the nation in this area.
On the equity measures, North Carolinas grade is a B-plus, which places it 16th in the national rankings. The nation as a whole earns a B.
K-12 Achievement
The K-12 Achievement Index examines 18 distinct achievement measures related to reading and math performance, high school graduation rates, and the results of Advanced Placement exams. The index assigns equal weight to current levels of performance and changes over time. It also places an emphasis on equity, by examining both poverty-based achievement gaps and progress in closing those gaps. The results of the K-12 Achievement Index reported here are from the Quality Counts 2016 report and have not been updated.
Indicators in the index can be broken down into three sub-categories: status, change, and equity.
Measures in the status sub-category evaluate a states current performance. North Carolina receives a D-plus in this area and ranks 19th in the nation. The average state earns a D.
The change sub-category examines a states improvement over time. In this area, North Carolina posts a D and ranks 41st. The national average is a D-plus.
In the equity sub-section, states are graded based on achievement gaps between low-income students and their more affluent peers. North Carolinas grade on those poverty-gap measures stands at a B-minus. Nationally, it ranks 39th in this area. The nation as a whole receives a B.
North Carolinas 2017 Highlights Report includes summarized results based on each of the nearly-40 indicators that make up Quality Counts overall grading rubric. Tables with the full results are available in PDF form below:
- Grading Summary
- Chance for Success
- School Finance
- K-12 Achievement
The 21st annual edition of Quality CountsUnder Construction: Building on ESSAs K-12 Foundationcontinues Education Weeks long-standing tradition of grading the states on their performance. A states overall grade is the average of its scores on the three separate indices tracked by the report.
State Overview
This year, South Dakota finishes 38th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with an overall score of 70.5 out of 100 points and a grade of C-minus. The nation as a whole posts a grade of C.
Diving into the findings for the three graded indices, South Dakota earns a C-plus in the Chance-for-Success category and ranks 24th. The average state earns a C-plus. In School Finance, South Dakota receives a D-plus and ranks 41st. For the K-12 Achievement Index, last updated in the 2016 report, it finishes 44th with a grade of D. The average state earns grades of C and C-minus in School Finance and K-12 Achievement, respectively. More details on results in these categories are reported below.
Chance for Success
The Education Week Research Center developed the Chance-for-Success Index to better understand the role that education plays in promoting positive outcomes across an individuals lifetime. Based on an original state-by-state analysis, this index combines information from 13 indicators that span a persons life from cradle to career. Those indicators fall into three sub-sections: early foundations, school years, and adult outcomes.
For early foundations, which examines factors that help children get off to a good start, South Dakota earns a grade of A-minus and ranks eighth. The average state posts a B-minus.
South Dakota receives a C-minus for the school years, a sub-category focusing on metrics related to pre-k enrollment through postsecondary participation. It finishes 35th in the nation in this area. By comparison, the nation as a whole earns a C.
In the area of adult outcomes, based on postsecondary educational attainment and workforce indicators, South Dakotas grade is a C-plus. It ranks 24th in the nation. The national average is a C-plus.
School Finance
The school finance analysis examines two critical aspects of school spending. Of the eight indicators in this category, four assess school spending patterns, while the remaining metrics gauge equity in the distribution of funding across the districts within each state.
Across the spending indicators, South Dakota finishes with a letter grade of F compared with a national average of D. South Dakota ranks 39th in the nation in this area.
On the equity measures, South Dakotas grade is a B, which places it 28th in the national rankings. The nation as a whole earns a B.
K-12 Achievement
The K-12 Achievement Index examines 18 distinct achievement measures related to reading and math performance, high school graduation rates, and the results of Advanced Placement exams. The index assigns equal weight to current levels of performance and changes over time. It also places an emphasis on equity, by examining both poverty-based achievement gaps and progress in closing those gaps. The results of the K-12 Achievement Index reported here are from the Quality Counts 2016 report and have not been updated.
Indicators in the index can be broken down into three sub-categories: status, change, and equity.
Measures in the status sub-category evaluate a states current performance. South Dakota receives a D-minus in this area and ranks 32nd in the nation. The average state earns a D.
The change sub-category examines a states improvement over time. In this area, South Dakota posts an F and ranks 51st. The national average is a D-plus.
In the equity sub-section, states are graded based on achievement gaps between low-income students and their more affluent peers. South Dakotas grade on those poverty-gap measures stands at a B. Nationally, it ranks 30th in this area. The nation as a whole receives a B.
South Dakotas 2017 Highlights Report includes summarized results based on each of the nearly-40 indicators that make up Quality Counts overall grading rubric. Tables with the full results are available in PDF form below:
- Grading Summary
- Chance for Success
- School Finance
- K-12 Achievement
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British-American drama series, Outlander, is one of those television shows that are highly anticipated by viewers this year. It has been roughly five months since the series has last been seen, so it is expected that its return will be gracefully welcomed by fans.
Following the announcement of renewal for its third and fourth seasons, which will adapt the Outlander novels, Voyager and Drums of Autumn, several speculations and spoilers have since been appearing online.
The previous season of the series showed a scene in 1948 where Claire, portrayed by Caitriona Balfe, was leaving Jamie Fraser, played by actor Sam Heughan. She decided to go back to her first husband, Tobias Menzies' character, Frank Randall. Claire then finds out that Jamie had survived from the Battle of Culloden twenty years later.
According to a report from Movie Pilot, fans of Outlander are going to expect a lot more dramatic scenes between Jamie and Claire in the upcoming season. The show's executive producer, Matthew Roberts, revealed that the episodes, especially the finale, will be 'spine-tingling', which excite the fans more.
He added that the third season will offer more emotional scenes that would definitely intensify the viewers' feelings. Fans are worried that this might mean a sign of bad things to happen among the characters. However, he said that the dramatic scenarios would mostly include tears of joy. Although he did not put in details the possible occurrences, his statement had put high hopes for the fans.
Meanwhile, according to International Business Times, author of the Outlander novels, Diana Gabaldon, has reportedly confirmed that the newest character on the upcoming season, Mr. Willoughby, will be seen on season 7 despite the previous reports saying the show is going to skip the character's storyline.
Mr. Willoughby will be the newest addition to the cast of the drama series. He is a scholar who worked for the Chinese government and will be met by Jamie Fraser during their encounter in Edinburgh.
There has been no official casting announcement yet for Outlander but Gabaldon assures that this will be happening soon this year.
Kate Middleton has been the "most popular and photographed member of the royal family" for a long time. But now her popularity seems to be threatened.
According to Celeb Dirty Laundry, ever since Prince Harry's girlfriend Meghan Markle topped the list of Internet's most-Googled actress of 2016. Kate Middleton wonders whether she is going to be upstaged.
Prince Harry is getting ready to propose to Meghan, even as the royal Palace is gearing up to welcome her into the palace, as per Washington Post. But does Kate Middleton feel "welcoming" towards her?
Media speculations think not!
Poor Kate may or may not be feeling threatened but either way, she suffers. Even if she doesn't feel envious of Meghan, just the rumors are enough to make her feel insecure.
What makes Meghan Markle so popular is having been picked up by Prince Harry as a girlfriend. She was popular for the USA drama Suits but became a household name due to her romance with the prince. That is why everyone wanted to get to know all about her life and her background.
Kate understands Meghan's social ambitions and figures out how she can get into the public eye. Being a Hollywood actress, beautiful and well-spoken makes Meghan a "celebrity humanitarian" who loves interacting with others. Hence, Meghan seems to be more worthy of attention than the Duchess of Cambridge.
Once Prince Harry's wedding with her gets finalized, the public spotlight is bound to be fixed on the outsider, who is a new entrant. Being sparkling and evanescent, she is a hit in the royal palace and rules the spotlight.
It has been reported that Kate Middleton shies away from publicity and attendance to royal engagements and she does not fulfil all her duties as a queen. However, the media feels that she just loves attention. She will most probably miss it when the "most searched for" celebrity, Meghan Markle, marries her brother-in-law.
The fans have been waiting to see Elijah (Daniel Gillies) and Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) in the coming The Originals Season 4. It has been a big brain teaser whom the werewolf-turned-hybrid will end up with as she also has a love-hate relationship with Klaus (Joseph Morgan). But, it has been said that her romance with the original vampire will be heavily dramatized.
The show's executive producer Michael Narducci told TVLine that Elijah and Hayley have the most dynamic journeys that would be sensationalized as the chapter opens. Even though the two are on different planes, he assured that Hayley would do everything to get Elijah and his siblings back.
As the couple is facing a lot of obstacles in their relationship, the showrunner revealed that real stand of their romance in The Originals Season 4. Narducci explained that Elijah and Hayley are two different beings that really love each other, although they are in a very complicated situation.
Elijah has been known for being a thousand-year-old vampire that could do anything beyond what he is capable with while Hayley, in spite of being a hybrid, still carries life and value of a human being. "When their family is put in jeopardy, these two people are going to do whatever they have to do to protect each other," he said.
Meanwhile, Enstarz recently reported that the production of The Originals Season 4 has now wrapped up before the holidays. In fact, Tonkin revealed the good news on her Twitter page, an indication that the show will soon be revealed.
The 27-year-old Australian actress sent her gratitude to the people behind their show for working really hard to make the series complete. She even mentioned that their staff and crew have put their hearts and strengths to make The Originals Season 4 a success.
The Originals Season 4 is set to return on March 17 only on The CW.
Samsung Electronics has been reported to be working on with a new smartphone. Named as Samsung Galaxy X, the said device is anticipated to feature foldable screen and is slated to be unveiled on third quarter of 2017.
WCCFTech has learned that the codename of Galaxy X is reportedly Project Valley. Some talks suggest that Samsung Electronics is anticipated to release a total of two foldable display handsets, with one appearing in 2017.
At first, it was rumored that the Samsung Galaxy X might be unveiled during the MWC 2017 trade show or possibly shortly after that. But then it seems that these months will be secured for the Galaxy S8.
Nevertheless, the Q3-Q4, 2017 announcement date might actually crash with the Galaxy Note 8. With this, it seems that there isn't much room left for Samsung since the publication of the device might take away some the spotlight from the rest of the smartphones.
When it comes with the specs and features, Samsung Galaxy X is supposed to feature a book-like form as it might be equipped with foldable display that is flexible enough to turn into an actual book.
Furthermore, Android Headlines reported that the foldable screen of Samsung Galaxy X will be equipped by OLED display having 4K pixel resolution. This smartphone is also expected to be powered by the Snapdragon 835 chip, which is anticipated to be seen under the chassis of quite a few premium smartphones this year.
It can be remembered that a patent filling by Samsung last year showed that a smartphone was being developed by the company and it will arrive sporting fully foldable body. As a matter of fact, based on patent filing with the USPTO, the users will be capable of folding the smartphone at various different angles. The South Korean tech company has showcased its first-ever flexible display several years back.
Samsung is rumored to release two foldable smartphones this year and the first one which is dubbed as Samsung Galaxy X might be unveiled around third quarter of 2017. Nonetheless, the tech giant hasn't uttered any word yet but it is anticipated to spill all the information soon.
Transcription
1 Sudan: Terrorism and Money Laundering By: Ibrahim Musa & Mohamed Osman Adam Sudan has recently approved a new legislation banning money laundering and terrorism. It is the first comprehensive legislation for fighting money laundering and financing terrorism. The Parliament passed in late last June an interim decree law on fighting money laundering and financing terrorism for The law was meant as a substitute to the law combating money laundering for 2003 so as to cope with the international legislative developments of fighting the money laundering phenomenon. This was imperative after practical experience and the remarks made by the experts of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Sudanese experts indicated the existence of shortcomings in
2 the 2003 law; a matter that necessitated the issuance of a new law for The new law consists of 37 articles over seven chapters containing the title and the control and supervision authorities on the financial institutions and commitments thereof. It provides for the establishment of a unit for financial investigation, its seat and formation, demanding information and notifying the control and supervision authorities. It also provides for temporary suspension of suspected transactions, freezing money, publishing reports and exchanging information with similar units in other countries. Article 21 of the law outlined the jurisdictions and powers of the administrative committee for combating money laundering and financing terrorism, issuing rules that guide the administrative investigation, examination and prosecution in coordination with the relevant authorities. The outstanding motives of promulgation of this law include implementation by the Sudan of its international commitments and response to recommendations of the money laundering working committee that was set up by the summit of the industrialized group of seven in 1989 on fighting money laundering which oblige all countries to take measures and enact legislation they deem necessary for incriminating money laundering in compliance with the Vienna Convention.
3 Article 33 of the law defines the crimes of money laundering and terrorism financing, regarding a perpetrator of money laundering terrorism financing crime is a person who conducts a behavior of acquiring, possessing, disposing of, utilizing, transferring, administering, keeping, exchanging, investing or depositing proceeds by manipulating their value or movement or concealing or disguising their origin or their real nature or the manner in which they are handled or possessed or the relevant rights, whether the crime that resulted from these proceeds occurs in the Sudan or abroad and is punishable under the Sudanese law or that of the country where it is committed. The new law classifies a perpetrator of the crime of financing terrorism as the person who collects or offers funds directly or indirectly for committing a terrorist act or to be used a terrorist organization or individual. The law defines a terrorist act as one prohibited by the anti-terrorism law of 2001 or any other substitute law, or any act of a terrorist nature prohibited by an international treaty to which the Sudan is party.
4 The law regards a perpetrator of a crime of money laundering financing terrorism as a person who is about to commit, participates, instigates or helps in perpetrating this crime. He is liable to the same punishment set for the original perpetrator. The law provided in Article 3 for formation of a financial investigation unit that is tasked with analyzing information on funds suspected of having been obtained from a crime or for financing terrorism. The committee transmits the information to the concerned prosecution office to take action whenever it reaches evidence of a crime under the Criminal Code of 1991 or any other substitute law. The new law makes reference to so-called non-financial institutions which may be used for money laundering such as the real-estate agencies, gold merchants, goldsmiths and lawyers who register the companies, provided that the lawyers retain the right for confidentiality of the information. The law names the supervision and control authorities as the Central Bank, the Khartoum Stock Market and the General Board for the Insurance Control. The law stipulates that a person who commits a crime of money laundering and financing terrorism is sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and a fine that will be equal to double the amount that is mentioned in the case. The law state that the confiscated money be deposited aside from the public funds and spent for the treatment of patients suffering from diseases which are difficult to cure. A number of jurists and economists were in consensus on the timeliness of the law, noting that it conforms to the international economic development and would contribute to combating the phenomenon of money laundering and financing terrorism which they says has spread of late and
5 has led to the collapse of numerous international financial institutions. Dr. Babikir Mohamed al-tom, the Alternate Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee, has described the new law as one of the most important legislations, indicating that it has provided for the formation of a supervisory committee and has empowered it to issue guiding rules for investigation and prosecution in addition to exchanging information, internally and externally, on the practice. This committee, Tom noted, is also empowered to monitor financial and non-financial activities. He also commended the provision of putting aside the confiscated money for the medical treatment of difficult cases and for fighting money laundering and other economic crimes. The law was issued on the right time, says Advocate Abboud Jabir Saeed who suggests the organization of a media campaign to enlighten the public on the danger of money laundering. He stresses that the legislative and executive bodies must continuously keep abreast of the developments in the methods of money laundering and terrorist crime for which he says Sudan has enacted legislation to counter its hazards to the safety and security of the society. Banking Violations Prosecution Under-Secretary Amir Mohamed Ibrahim says the timing of the law was wellchosen as this headed next November towards an assessment by an international team of the country's commitment to recommendations on money laundering. "By issuing this law, the Sudan has shown that it is committed to those recommendations and has made positive steps for fighting money laundering and financing terrorism," Ibrahim says.
6 It is one of the most advanced laws made by the international financial community for combating the money laundering practice as it has observed all of the 40 recommendations on money laundering and nine recommendations on financing terrorism, says the prosecution under-secretary. He added that the new law has included in chapter one term which were not mentioned in the anti-terrorism act of 2001 and anti-money laundering act of 2003 such as the transit agent and the real beneficiary of the money or the person who actually controls this money. The law has responded to the most prominent international requirement of establishing a financial investigation unit, or financial intelligence unit, tasked with verifying financial information to determine whether it conforms to the financial recommendations on money laundering and financing terrorism and submits this information to the concerned authorities for legal action, Ibrahim says. He described the creation of this unit as an advanced step made by the Sudan. The prosecution under-secretary also made reference to the provision in the new law on non-financial institutions which could play as channels for money laundering like real estate business, gold merchants and goldsmiths not included in the previous law. The law stipulates that the banks should feed the unit with the required information, says the jurist, making reference to the foreign currency declaration that should be made by an arriving person with the customs authorities. He says removing criminal, administrative and civil responsibility from a person who makes notification or gives
7 information offers a lawful immunity to that person. The prosecutor under-secretary points out the powers granted by the law, in Article 16, to the prosecutor general for withholding suspected any money. He also point to a provision by the new law on formation of an administrative committee to be chaired by the Justice Under-Secretary and to include the Central Bank of Sudan Deputy Governor, the Finance, External Trade and Investment Under-Secretaries and representatives of the customs, investigation, Interpol, banking control department and the national information center. The Head of the Banking System Prosecution says that, following the issuance of the new law, they filed two lawsuits under Article 33 of the money laundering law and that investigation is still going on in cooperation between the prosecution and the financial investigation unit. He explains that the financial investigation unit is in charge of coordination between the Sudan and the other countries in connection with the investigation, indicating the existence of cooperation between the Sudan and the concerned international institutions.
8 The banking system prosecution official believes that the new law is effective enough for fighting money laundering and financing terrorism because it meets all requirements set by the money laundering recommendations. He predicts that it will back the Sudan position during next November assessment of whether the country is coping with combating money laundering and financing terrorism. He says that the new law would not have an adverse impact on economic investment in the Sudan because the law deals with "dirty" money which the Sudan does not deal with, whether in the field of investment or otherwise. The prosecution official says the charitable tasks would not be affected as the anti-terrorism recommendations target organizations while the charity activities in the Sudan center on such transparent and public projects as mosques and water wells. Ends-Ibrahim Musa- Mohamed Osman Adam
European countries could end up being cold this winter as Ukraine is pumping gas from the underground storage facilities to ensure the smooth supply flow, according to an interview with Vladimir Chizhov, Russias ambassador to the EU, published yesterday (3 January). Mr. Chizkov was interviewed by Russias news agency Interfax and made this remark when he was asked how he saw the current state of the EU-Russia affairs. Yet, he spoke favorably about the trilateral energy talks headed by EU Commissions Vice President Maros Sefcovic. The major outcome of the Russia-EU-Ukraine talks is the so-called Winter Package under which the EU helps Ukraine to buy gas from Russia during winter.
Mr. Sefcovic has been mediating between Ukraine and Russia for the third consecutive year. Mr. Chizhov warned that for the package to work, Ukraine was supposed to buy gas from Russia. Instead, he said, the country was pumping gas from the underground storage facilities built during the Soviet times, the main goal of which is to guarantee supply during cold winters. The Russian diplomat said that the optimal level of gas held in the underground depots was 19 billion cubic meters (bcm), while the minimal level to ensure security of supply for Europe was 17 bcm.
However, during the December trilateral talks, the level was 14 bcm, and in his opinion, it is very likely that it is even lower today. Mr. Chizkov summed up this situation saying that Ukraine had used gas for its own needs. Ukraines underground gas storage facilities were constructed in a way that allowed either refilling them or siphoning them. However, these processes cannot take place simultaneously, Mr. Chizhov explained and added that if all of a sudden, Ukraine decided to fill the gas storages, it would need to cut the supply for its own territory.
Transcription
1 ERA Conference: Darfur and its Impact on Sudan and the Region Dr. Mudawi El-Turabi Story Summary of Panel 2 Is Darfur a Proxy War? [Chairman of Sudan s Parliamentary Defense and Security Subcommittee, and Deputy Secretary General of the Democratic Unionist Party. El-Turabi has a PhD in political science and his masters in military science from Hartford University in the US.] Opening his presentation by way of a definition El-Turabi ventured that: When we talk about war by proxy, we mean by nature directed and driven by the interests of the country or other political entity that does not wish to be seen as destabilizing the so-called target country. He said it was time consuming and often expensive to create proxies from scratch; the cheaper and quicker route is to infiltrate existing political organizations and to transform them into proxies, even though full control over the created entity might be impossible in the end: Unless proxy wars are brought under control, proxy forces could develop their own momentum and political status, like we are having in Darfur and this would make it very difficult to end the resulting conflict. El-Turabi said countries against which proxy wars had been unleashed, usually responded by creating proxy forces of their own in order to combat the threat. The crisis in Darfur is. a regional problem, and it also involves the use of multiple proxies. A number of Sudan s neighbors are involved, including Chad and the Central African Republic. The conflict is characterized by cross-border activities by the combatants (who have) fluid loyalties. He added that armed combatants who may easily shift allegiances across borders to further their political-military careers was characteristic of the current conflict, and had major implications both on the local and transnational level. El-Turabi stated that the contention that the Darfur conflict was being exported to eastern Chad via janjaweed militia was a dangerous oversimplification of the ethnic and political dynamics of the region. It most especially neglects the importance of the political crisis in Chad. He also dismissed the claim that the Khartoum government was behind the violence in Darfur, through its alleged ordering of Arab militia to attack other Arabs in the region. 1
2 He maintained that it would be impossible to end the conflict in Darfur without involving the whole region, particularly Chad and the Central African Republic, and other neighbors of the Sudan. El-Turabi acknowledged that conflicts in both Darfur and Chad influenced each other, and were also complicated by the ethnic links between groups in Sudan and Chad. Sudan and Chad have been (wracked with) conflict via rebel groups and proxy militias intensively since the end of the 2005 attempts by both states (to end the fighting). (Efforts) to set up a rebel coalition. have failed, leaving the field open to a multitude of armed factions which are increasingly local and increasingly divided along ethnic lines and are degrading the security situation even further. He blamed the Darfur situation largely on Chad. The chronic conflict, reactivated in 2005, between the Chadian government and political groups there who felt that they had no other alternative than to take up arms against the government, meant that the Darfur crisis was rooted in the failure of democratization in Chad. El-Turabi said it was clear that Chad and Sudan were engaged in a proxy war by means of the various rebel groups and militias each was sponsoring. The situation, he maintained, was exacerbated by ethnic conflict in Chad and Darfur between long-settled land-owning groups and newcomers with no traditional rights (to) the land. As a consequence, the conflict in Darfur was more than a mere proxy war, and the failure to recognize this was undermining the effectiveness of current peace initiatives and could see the proxy war phenomena spreading further out of control. Throughout his address, he attributed responsibility for the Darfur situation to Chad: The problem of Darfur was caused. due to the Chadian wars in Darfur which had resulted in a flood of small arms being available to Darfurians: That will (allow) conflicting groups in Darfur, whether they have got their conflict with the government of Sudan or (other ethnic groups), to resort to arms to solve their conflicts. El-Turabi added that the Sudan government had on a number of occasions tried to initiate peace with Chad, but that these efforts had failed due to Chadian resistance, and to Chad s willingness to resort to violence. As one who is in charge of the (Sudan parliament) subcommittee on security and defense, we have got thousands of evidence (sic) that the last attack of the JEM on Omdurman was supported, financed and logistically done by the Chadian government. 2
3 He acknowledged that neither Sudan nor Chad were democratic havens, but added that unlike Khartoum, which was in a process of democratization, Chad was inflaming its population by constantly suggesting that Sudan was invading Chad. El-Turabi also suggested that it would be foolish for the Khartoum rulers to cause conflict in Darfur, as in so doing the government would risk reversing the economic growth that Sudan had achieved in recent years. He, however, added that retaliation by Sudan Armed Forces was sometimes necessary in order to stem border conflicts, and his essential point was that Sudan was only defending itself against aggressors. This did not detract from his view that there is a kind of a proxy war in this region involving CAR, Sudan and Chad. He again accused Chad of constantly undermining peace efforts, suggesting that every time an agreement between the Sudan government and rebel groups in Darfur was about to reached, the Chadians would give the rebels a wrong signal for the rebels to raise up the ceiling of their demands or simply to walk out of the talks. El-Turabi repeatedly emphasized that Khartoum wanted peace, whereas all other players were bent on a course of war. He further suggested that peace efforts in Darfur were complicated because there were so many disparate rebel groups in the region. Today in Darfur we have got 26 armed groups. They don t have coherency, and they don t have (a) unified political agenda, and they don t have unified leadership. So sometimes it s rather difficult to (know) with whom are you talking. He was also dismissive of calls on the government to allow international forces into Darfur to maintain peace. He said the presence of two of the mightiest armies in the world, those of the US and Britain, in Iraq and Afghanistan, had failed to quell insurgencies there, and that this offered evidence that sending foreign troops into Darfur was not the answer. Instead it required a political will to end the violence by those who carried the arms and the people behind them. He stressed that Sudan was ready to coexist with Chad, subject to democratic transformation taking place in Chad and in Sudan. Nurane Bashir [A spokesman for the Chad government, being Charge de Affaires at the Embassy of Chad in Washington D.C.] 3
4 Bashir denied that Darfur was a proxy war, branding it completely and absolutely an internal issue of Sudan. Chad has no relation to this issue, in any way. The Sudanese government tried to link Chad to the problem, in order to solve the problem. Chad has not any interest to be part of this conflict. He maintained that it was the government in Khartoum, and not the Chadian authorities, who was to blame for the ongoing violence in the region. Throughout history, there are problems coming from Sudan to Chad, not vice versa. He claimed that Khartoum had sponsored several coups and attempted coups to overthrow democratically elected Chadian leaders ever since Chad had received independence in For example, Bashir said Hissene Habre, who came to power in a coup in 1982 and allegedly killed thousands of people perceived to be his opponents, was Sudan s person. The Chadian government spokesman said before staging his coup, Habre and his forces were based in Darfur. Bashir suggested that Sudan had allowed a number of anti-chad government rebels proxy forces of Sudan - through the years to be based in Darfur, from which they launched their attacks against N Djamena. He added that current Chadian President, Idriss Deby, had been forced to enter Sudan in order to fight Habre s forces: All the fighting between the former dictator and the current president took place inside Darfur, not inside Chad. Bashir claimed that because Deby was refusing to agree with everything the Sudanese said, Khartoum was now using proxy forces against Deby in an attempt to overthrow him. He said the recent political history of Chad was directly linked to Sudan, and that the Sudanese administration often boasted about this. Bashir alleged that the current Sudanese authorities are very proud to talk loudly that any (leadership) change in Chad will take place in Khartoum. On nine occasions, Sudanese government supported artificially-created mercenaries from Chad to attack Chad. It was in Khartoum s interests, said Bashir, to attempt to convince the world that they were not training and funding the Janjaweed militia to attack Darfurians, but that the violence was rather as a result of a local tribal conflict, a dispute of land and grass, and. water resources. He denied that Chad was in any way supporting Sudanese rebels, and fomenting the war in Darfur. He said this didn t make any sense, as Chad has suffered from the conflict of Darfur more than the Sudanese as a result of all the refugees spilling over into it, and the fact that Chad had been occupied and attacked by Sudanese supported mercenaries nine times in two years. 4
5 In addition, Bashir maintained that Chadians and Sudanese were really wellrelated and it was therefore against Chad s principles to foment war in Sudan: We have kilometers of border with Darfur. We have 36 tribal groups interexisted (related) between the two countries. You can t differentiate (between) the eastern part of Chad and western part of Darfur. We have not any interest to destabilize Darfur or Sudan. He added: Some people they think there is a problem between Sudan and Chad. Actually there is not any problem between Sudan and Chad! Sudan and Chad are historically linked to each other, tribally linked to each other, culturally everything is similar; you can t differentiate yourself if you are in Khartoum or N Djamena. The ladies wear the same dresses, have same traditions, same food; everything is (the same) there. However, he said Khartoum wanted to destabilize Chad, as N Djamena opposed the Sudanese government s concept of Arabization and Islamization of the region. He agreed that the Darfur problem was extremely complex, and that what had been a local issue had grown into a regional issue and then into an international issue. He felt that whatever the international community (does), whatever the region (does), if there is no will, there will be no solution. Bashir said the onus was on the Sudan government to end the violence: If there is no true will from the Sudanese government to solve this problem, there will be no solution. He stated that the biggest problem at the moment was the Sudanese government s mindset. They believe that they have to lead the region, they have to dictate the policies to the surrounding areas, they want to post (into power) whom they want to post. That culture, unless it changes, you can t solve such a problem (of Darfur). Bashir laid out a few steps that the Sudan government should embark upon if it was serious about gaining peace in Darfur and the region: Declare to the international community and your people that you have done a mistake. It s a mistake to kill your people. Stop killing your people, by stopping supporting and training the Janjaweed. Number two: Stop. the idea of influencing your other neighbors. Let them alone. Don t interfere in their internal sovereignty and stop funding rebels to overthrow the Chadian government. Dr. Alex de Waal 5
6 [The Programme Director at the Social Science Research Council, de Waal has been a respected commentator and analyst on Sudanese affairs since the 1980s. He is the co-director of Justice Africa in London, a distinguished Harvard University academic, and a former member of the African Union mediation team for Darfur.] De Waal said successive Sudanese political administrations had specialized in prevaricating and never making decisions: This is a skill that I ve seen practiced not only by Darfurians but by certain other Sudanese politicians in more recent years. He said the Sudanese did this in order to preserve power, and to also extract the best possible price from a whole range of far away patrons. They use strategic delays, prevarication, stalling. De Waal maintained that it was cash that was keeping the conflict in Darfur going, and that vast amounts of money were being spent by the various parties involved on subsidizing proxy militias and rebel groups. The main instrument that is actually used by security officers on the different sides is cash. They do provide weapons but cash is the number one (instrument). De Waal said the Darfur situation could definitely be viewed as a proxy war, but also as a direct war that was taking place in a marketplace of loyalties in which there are different bidders. And the preferred solution for the Sudan government is that it is the. only purchaser of loyalty. He added the successive governments in Chad were installed with the assistance financial and military and diplomatic of the Sudan government. For successive Sudanese governments, as with their forebears in the 19 th century, the frontiers don t really mean much; the security and mercantile peripheries of Sudan reach well beyond the frontiers of the country, into Chad, Central African Republic, Congo all neighboring countries. The way in which those in power - security and mercantile elites who have run the Sudanese state - deal with the heads of state in CAR, Chad, and local potentates in all neighboring countries, is not dissimilar to the way in which they deal with the groups in Darfur: They try and buy their loyalty. And very often the elites of these groups are very willing sellers in this game. They want to push up the price as high as they can. One way of doing it is by violence; another way is by bringing other competitors into the market - be they Libya, the international community, France, etc. It then is more expensive to buy loyalty. More guns move into the area from all sides, and the level of violence tends to increase. But De Waal said that Sudan s strategy in Chad had run into problems in recent years for a number of reasons: Number one: Chad acquired oil, and that made Idriss Deby not so much a seller of loyalty but he had the potential with that cash 6
7 to buy loyalty. So he became a much more powerful, independent player because of that cash some of it controlled by him, some of it controlled by his close relatives. The analyst maintained that one of the factors resulting in instability in the region, and therefore fomenting the Darfur conflict, was the political instability in Chad itself, where President Deby did not currently have the power to enforce his writ on his close relatives. The lack of trust that he could do that is one of the reasons why the government of Sudan has been keen to remove him. De Waal said Khartoum had largely provoked Chad into entering the arena of conflict in the region. We do have a very complex arena in which the international borders really don t matter that much in terms of flows of weapons, flows of money and indeed flows of individuals. A single individual can have loyalties that bring him into armed formations in Sudan, Chad (and) CAR, depending on circumstances, depending on what rewards are on offer at that particular moment. All of this, said De Waal, had ensured that the Darfur situation would be complicated to resolve, not least because: The international involvement, the international engagement, putting in troops, putting in (peace) efforts - plays into the hands of those who are the local armed elites, whether they call themselves militia, whether they call themselves tribal leaders, rebels, armed movements, who want to prevaricate and delay and get a better price in order to suspend or halt their activities. He added: Meanwhile, this skill of. prevarication, outlasting your adversaries, has also been a strategy perfected by those in power in Khartoum who I strongly suspect are intending simply to sit and outlast the energy and attention of the international community in this area, such that in their view hopefully the government of Idriss Deby will be replaced, the price of loyalty will go down and it ll be easier to buy more Darfurians and more Chadians. De Waal was convinced that the international attention on Darfur was set to wane, and therefore the increase in price of loyalties an outcome of international engagement will be reversed and the (government of Sudan s) security officers and their mercantile allies in Khartoum will be the last ones left standing. Instead of all the emphasis on placing thousands of peacekeepers in Darfur, forces of which had so far proved entirely ineffective, De Waal advocated a much more hard-headed regional political solution which doesn t try and transform the politics of this area in a utopian way. I don t think that can be done in short order, I think it has to be done over a long period of time and it has be a local and locally-driven solution in both Chad and Sudan. And it has to work with the grain of that political system to try and find mechanisms across the entire 7
8 region of coming to agreement and dampening down the violence and laying the foundations for good neighborliness, civility, people returning to their homes and so on. De Waal said that Libya s role in the Sudanese conflict had so far largely been ignored, even though Tripoli had historically played a dreadful role in the region. It ignited Arab supremacism in Chad and Darfur. He commented that Libya s current role in the Darfur crisis was more mysterious. If you look at this area as a political marketplace, it seems that (Libyan leader) Muammar Gaddafi is a sort of binge shopper. Every now and again he goes out and spends to the limit of his credit card. on whatever takes his fancy, and it seems as though his strategy is simply to remain relevant in the region. De Waal speculated that perhaps Libya had other reasons for becoming involved in regional conflict: (Gaddafi) doesn t want a solution to the problems in Chad and Darfur that brings the Americans and NATO and the European Union to his doorstep. He would rather have continuing problems than have that solution. He suggested that the international community s response so far to the Darfur crisis, in trying to foist a set of very high principled ideals about civilian protection, about justice, about achieving a complete equitable solution on Sudan was not realistic. Pressuring all the actors involved, especially the Sudan government, De Waal suggested, would require a quantum leap in the commitment of money, of diplomatic resources, of pressure, of troops - and we re already spending over four billion dollars on three peacekeeping missions, two in Sudan, one in Chad. This said of unrealistic expectations, he said, may have resulted in the international community becoming embroiled in a terrible trap, because we have raised the expectations among Darfurians and particularly amongst the rebels that this sort of thing will be delivered, that genuine civilian protection will be delivered, that complete justice will be delivered, etc, etc. And we have raised the fears of those who will lose out, those who are in power in Khartoum in the National Congress Party and in the (Sudanese) security agencies. So we end up with the worst of both worlds. De Waal said a much smarter approach would be to work for a regional, and not an international, solution to the crisis. All peace efforts, he maintained, should go with the grain of national politics because the solutions to these problems do not come from (the international community), they come from Sudan and Chad and Central African Republic. He said he had not seen any real strategic game coming from Khartoum for achieving stability in Darfur and Chad, beyond various slogans which he did not 8
9 think holds very much water. He felt that it was a responsibility of Khartoum to come up with a better game plan. Comments and Questions after the panel During the question and answer session, the question of genocide was broached and panelists were asked to respond on the issue. Due to the unprecedented level of world attention on the Darfur issue, El-Turabi said a number of international events had resulted in great focus on the situation in Sudan. This included the 2005 commemoration of the Rwandan genocide, and the fact that three of the top leaders in the world at the time when conflict in Darfur escalated were of African origin, namely, Colin Powell, who was then US Secretary of State, present US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was then a member of the US National Security Council, as well as Kofi Annan, who was UN secretary general at the time Darfur became an international issue. These individuals, said El-Turabi, had been under a very heavy and deep pressure from the black caucuses (in the US and other parts of the world to do something about Darfur). This also caused the escalation of the conflict, and it went beyond control in the regional arena, and now it got this kind of international dimension. He suggested that various factors had conspired to create an atmosphere that was ripe for human rights groups and Washington to unfairly label the Darfur conflict a genocide that was being perpetrated by the Arab Sudan government. Twice the UN had sent in fact-finding missions to the country and not one of them had managed to determine that what is going on in Sudan is indeed ethnic cleansing or a genocide. Despite the presence of refugees and humanitarian workers and almost 130 NGOs in Darfur, he added, not a single mass grave (has) been found. to determine this is a genocide, or an ethnic cleansing. It is a conflict; there s people dying; yes of course.and the government of Sudan is doing its best to negotiate and we will continue negotiating with any armed groups. Regarding the characterization of Darfur as a genocide, De Waal commented: The findings of an international commission of inquiry. (used) these words: crimes no less heinous than genocide. And I don t think that any government should seek to hide behind that as exoneration. I don t think that really stands up. On the question of proxy support Sudan government representatives at the conference claimed that Bashir himself was a relative of a prominent leader of the JEM rebels, Tajjidine Bashir, who participated in the attack on Omdurman in May. 9
10 The Chadian Charge d Affaires responded: Of course, he s my brother. Most Sudanese and Chadians had relatives on both sides of the border. Sudanese government representatives at the conference said while this was indeed true, most Sudanese and Chadians with relatives in both countries were not blood relatives of rebel commanders. Address by Congressman Ed Royce [Royce is a senior member of the US Congress House committee on Foreign Affairs, and a ranking member of the Subcommittee on Terrorism. He has maintained an interest in Sudan for a long time, and has made a number of trips to the region, including Darfur, to investigate the situation there.] Congressman Royce said he was pessimistic about the prospects of peace in Darfur. We ve lost hundreds of thousands of lives in this theatre and the situation especially with regard to the difficult conditions now for the humanitarian workers there means that thousands more are going to die simply because we can t guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers on the ground. Royce said American political leaders remained focused on Darfur. I don t think there s any lessening of congressional interest in this, despite the enormous frustration over the years of trying to find a way to produce results. The legislation that s been passed has been helpful, but it s not been sufficient, obviously. Royce added that despite Washington spending about four billion dollars so far trying to end the violence, clearly, we re not in a position where we re gaining ground. He said the international community had for years been focused on increasing numbers of peacekeepers in Darfur, and he suggested that this focus had been misguided. To everyone I think except the Sudanese government, the African Union and the United Nations effort has been disappointing. Too few troops, too little equipment, too timid a presence. I visited the AU force there on the ground in Darfur who shared with me just how they were so outmatched, and just how their mandate was so tied up that they couldn t take the actions that they felt were necessary in order to their job. So this effort remains very, very feeble. 10
11 According to Royce, the constant struggle to beef up the peacekeeping force, unfortunately, has taken attention away from the political situation in the region: The ordeal of trying to get peacekeepers into Darfur has become the story, when what we need as the critical story right now is the political crisis (in Sudan) that has led to the brutality in Darfur. He suggested that increasing numbers of peacekeepers in Darfur was only a short-term solution: More hardware is not going to end this calamity. A political solution is what is essential. Royce stated that peace in Darfur would not be sustained unless there was an overall political agreement and settlement among the players in the conflict. The Congressman acknowledged that this would be very difficult to achieve: It looks intractable on the surface. He said he d met previously with the leadership of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement and the SLA (Sudan Liberation Army), but that all he d heard then was bickering between the rebels: My fear then was that this would go in the direction that rebel groups usually take, and sure enough: now there are reports that there are up to 50 independent rebel groups operating in that theater. Overlying this is the Chad-Sudan rivalry. This makes Darfur look like a kaleidoscope. There s no one to negotiate with, there s too many to negotiate with and there appears to be no John Garang (deceased leader of the Sudan People s Liberation Movement) who you can sit down and cut a deal with. It doesn t help that the rebel groups offer very little to the people of Darfur. Royce, though, added that he wanted it to be clear that he was not suggesting Khartoum did not bear the ultimate responsibility for the killing and dying; it does. In fact, it s divide-and-rule ploys have worsened the situation. He suggested that the international community, including the US, had very limited knowledge of what was motivating the rebel groups and the government of Sudan as regards Darfur. 11
12 Royce agreed that the problems in Sudan had to be addressed comprehensively. The north-south situation affects Darfur, and Darfur affects the north-south situation, and unfortunately, the north-south agreement needs a lot of help if it s to last. Ultimately, enough Sudanese need to want to make peace, to make a difference. He acknowledged that a small, powerful minority of Sudanese, who were profiting from war in Darfur, and some of who were motivated by radical Islam, still had the upper hand in the whole situation: I don t know if we re near tipping that balance. He stated that the issue of the sharing of oil revenues had helped to end the war in southern Sudan, but that he didn t see a similar windfall-type incentive in Darfur and it was hard to envision a win-win scenario being created to appease all those involved in the conflict. Ultimately, Royce said, it was up to the Sudanese to make the peace, although the US did possess some tools to alter the balance to have them do that. He pointed to US sanctions on the Khartoum government and said they d been frustrating but necessary. However, said Royce, the international community had largely failed to cooperate with Washington regarding sanctions, and more cooperation in this regard was required. The (Bush) administration has said that no options should be off the table (to pressure Khartoum), and I think that s right. He suggested that the international community should no longer be prepared to sit and watch innocent civilians being bombed by government aircraft and said this may be reason enough to take forceful action and to take out these bombers, or to install no-fly zones (over Darfur). These Antonovs (bombers) should be taken out. Royce said solutions to the Darfur problem would not be easy to achieve: I know how difficult it will be to produce the focus and sustained engagement, but we cannot give up, because those of us who have been there on the ground and have seen the cost to humanity know that we ve got to persevere in this. ENDS 12
Special ceremonies have been held in Canada to mark the 70th anniversary of the countrys citizenship act and events will be held throughout 2017.Canada was the first Commonwealth country to create its own citizenship separate from Great Britain when the act was introduced on 03 January 1947 and now all residents can apply for the status. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) hosted a special citizenship ceremony at the Supreme Court of Canada with 26 individuals invited to kick off celebrations and commemorations.The event resembled the first Canadian citizenship ceremony held 70 years ago when Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King received the first Canadian citizenship certificate, numbered 0001.In the past decade Canada has welcomed more than 1.5 million new citizens with residents, regardless of where they were born, able to apply for citizenship status.Throughout history, Canadas identity has been largely shaped by the significant cultural and economic contributions of immigrants, said John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.The 70th anniversary of Canadian citizenship is an opportunity to reflect on what it means to be Canadian, the rights we enjoy, the responsibilities we share, and the diversity that makes us strong. During Canada 150 celebrations and beyond, I encourage all Canadians to celebrate their citizenship, he added.Citizenship applicants need to be 18 years old, have a permanent resident card and been physically present in Canada as a permanent resident for at least 1,460 days during the six years immediately before the date of an application.Applicants must have met their personal income tax filing obligations in four taxation years that are fully or partially within the six years immediately before the date of application.They must also declare their intent to reside during the citizenship application process but once they become a Canadian citizen they will have the right to enter, remain in, or leave Canada which is regarded as one of the basic rights of citizenship.There is also a language requirement in either English or French and applicants need to show an understanding of Canadian history, values, institutions, and responsibilities in the form of a citizenship test.
Do what you want... I don't work for Citizenship and Immigration Canada and I'm not an immigration advisor and don't claim to be. I'm also not telling you what to do or not do.
All I am saying is that the UK refusal will not help your case, especially as your ban was put in place fairly recently. Again, the choice to apply to come to Canada or not is solely up to you and you alone.
If you have a "valid case" to defend, then why haven't you defended yourself to the UK Home Office to have your refusal and 10 year ban overturned? You've had plenty of time in which to file an appeal.
Also keep in mind that if you do decide to apply to come to Canada (or Australia or New Zealand) and are refused a visa, you will have to disclose this refusal (these refusals) on future applications, whenever you are asked, regardless of what country's immigration application asks you.
Transcription
1 2016; 4(5): E-ISSN: P-ISSN: JEZS 2016; 4(5): JEZS Received: Accepted: Zongo Salifou Ilboudo Zakaria Doumma Ali Faculty of Science and Technology, University Abdou Moumouni, P Box 10662, Niamey, Niger Sembene Mbacke Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University Cheik Anta Diop, P. Sanon Antoine Correspondence Sanon Antoine Variations in body size and some life history traits among Callosobruchus maculatus (Fab.) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Bruchinae) strains from different areas in three countries of West Africa Zongo Salifou, Ilboudo Zakaria, Doumma Ali, Sembene Mbacke and Sanon Antoine Abstract In West Africa, Callosobruchus maculatus is the main pest of stored cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata Walp.). An effective control of this pest depends on a good knowledge of its population growth ability and the diversity of strains in cowpea crop areas. In this study strains from Dakar (Senegal), Niamey (Niger) and five localities of Burkina Faso were collected and compared in similar laboratory conditions. We found that body size and life history traits slightly varied among the strains studied. In general, females from the Dakar strain were smaller and had lower intrinsic rate of natural increase. Specifically the small size of Dakar females seems to have caused a decrease in lifespan and fecundity coupled with an increase of development duration. Such variations may also occurred to a lesser extent among populations from the same country as it was noticed for Burkina strains. These results show that despite the apparent homogeneity of C. maculatus populations in West Africa, morphological and biological diversity exists and should be better understood and integrated for optimal pest control methods. Keywords: Callosobruchus maculatus strains, body size, life-history traits, biotic potential, environment variations, West Africa 1. Introduction Cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp (Fabaceae) is the main food legume grown in West Africa a major production area of this crop [1]. Cowpea plays an important socio-economic role in the developing countries, because in addition to filling the nutritional deficiencies in protein, it is also a source of income for farmers [2, 3, 4]. However this important legume is subject to attack by the bruchid beetle Callosobruchus maculatus Fab. during the post-harvest storage of cowpeas and causing substantial losses each year. Proper storage of cowpeas ensures the availability of food resources as the crop production is most of the time seasonal. Similarly a good and longtime protection of stored cowpeas allow producers to improve their incomes as prices gradually increase from the harvest period [5]. Therefore cowpea is regarded as a promising sector to alleviate poverty among small scale farmers. During the last decade many studies have intensively focused on the assessment and development of cowpea storage methods in West Africa including several alternative control measures [6-8] as a response to so many hazards linked to insecticide applications [9]. Today triple bagging of cowpeas known as PICS bags developed by the Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage project ( is a very effective hermetic storage method for cowpeas and several other crops [7, 10, 11]. Therefore it is being actively extended in several areas of the world. However insects do not react the same way and the efficiency of a method may be related to the insect strain considered. A good pest control strategy should be based on an understanding of the diversity of these insects and their biotic potential in their habitats [12]. It is in the same direction as an author [13] proposed that the four basic hierarchical ecological scales, i. e. individual, populations, communities and ecosystems, should serve as the template for IPM integration. Moreover ccombining morphology with life history traits could give critical indications for successful comparison of an insect species populations living in different agroecological areas [14-16]. ~ 659 ~
2 In this study we focused on C. maculatus populations evolving in different areas of cowpea production in West Africa to investigate whether this insect individuals from different ecological areas were morphologically and biologically similar or not. Therefore strains from different climatic areas, in Dakar (Senegal), Niamey (Niger) and in five localities of Burkina Faso were collected and compared in similar laboratory conditions based on their morphometry and some life history traits. 2. Material and methods 2.1 Origin of C. maculatus strains At the beginning of the study in October 2012 C. maculatus strains were collected from seven (07) sites in West Africa (Fig. 1), including five (05) in Burkina Faso (Hounde, Bobo- Dioulasso, Tenkodogo, Kombissiri and Dori), one (01) in Niger (Niamey) and one (01) in Senegal (Dakar). Fig 1: Origin of C. maculatus strains studied. Red points represent sampling localities in several areas of cowpea production in West Africa. These localities belong to four (04) different climatic zones including the Sahel (Niamey and Dori), the Sahelo-sudanian (Dakar), the South-sudanian (Bobo-Dioulasso and Hounde) and the North-Sudanian (Tenkodogo and Kombissiri) zones. The average temperatures vary among the localities between 24 and 30.5 C, the relative humidity was % and the mean annual rainfall ranged mm (Table 1). Table 1: Climatic parameters of the different areas of C. maculatus origin in three countries of West Africa Localities Countries Average temperature Relative Humidity ( C) (%) Rainfall (mm) Climate Zone Niamey Niger Sahelian Dakar Senegal Sahelo-Sudanian Dori Sahelian Bobo-Dioulasso South-Sudanian Hounde Burkina Faso South-Sudanian Tenkodogo North-Sudanian Kombissiri North-Sudanian 2.2 Collection of C. maculatus strains To set up various C. maculatus strains, cowpea was sampled using the same methodology in each of the above mentioned localities. Samples of either 1kg of cowpea pods or 500 g of seeds were taken with five farmers in each locality at the beginning of post-harvest storage period in October Each sample was labeled and packaged in cloth bags (40 x 20cm) and forwarded to the Applied Entomology. The pods/seeds from each sampling zone were separately monitor until insect emergence. Then, ~ 660 ~ newly emerging insects were used for continuous rearing and laboratory experiments from January to May Study environments All experiments and rearing were conducted in the Laboratory of Fundamental and Applied Entomology located at the University Ouaga I in Burkina Faso under controlled conditions in an incubator at the average temperature of 320.1 C and an average relative humidity of 36 1%.
3 2.4 Source of the cowpea seeds and insect rearing in laboratory Cowpea seeds of the landrace variety Moussa previously described [7] were used to maintain each C. maculatus strain into laboratory. Prior to their use cowpea seeds were examined and sorted to eliminate those carrying bruchid eggs or immature instars, and those that were perforated. Sorted seeds were then placed during 2 weeks in a freezer at a temperature of -18 C in order to destroy any initial infestation. For insect rearing, fifty (50) pairs of each strain were introduced with 200g of cleaned seeds in Plexiglas boxes (L = 17 cm; l = 11 cm and h = 4 cm) for 24 hours. At the end of the contact time, insects were removed and infested seeds left in the incubator until the emergence of a new insect generation used either for various experiments or up keeping the strains from the same procedure. 2.5 Determining body size variations among C. maculatus strains Two (2) batches of 50 males and females of each strain were individually placed in Petri dishes and asleep in the freezer (- 18 C) for 30 minutes. Then individual insect were directly measured with a caliper to determine the overall body size ranging from head to pygidium. The comparison was then made between same-sex insects from different strains. 2.6 Determining life history parameters for C maculatus strains Twenty (20) pairs of newly emerged C. maculatus were separately introduced in Petri dishes containing each 20 healthy seeds, for each strain and for 24h. After this time period, insects were removed and the infested seeds were placed in rearing conditions and monitored. The cowpea seeds were then renewed each day with the same pair of insects until the female died which ends the experiment. Each infested seed batch was carefully examined 7 days after infestation using a microscope, to count the eggs laid on the seeds and the hatched eggs. Infested seeds allowed the emergence of a new generation of insect followed from the first emergence date and ending 2 weeks later. Data recorded during the experiment were used to determine the following parameters: Female lifespan (L) The mean number of eggs laid per female (N) Larval survival rate (S) is the percentage of insects emerged relative to the total number of hatched eggs; The development duration (T): mean time between egg laying and the emergence of adults The intrinsic rate of natural increase (r) is a more synthetic parameter that incorporates the above cited ones. It is estimated using the following formula (Giga and Smith,1983): ; With ln= neperian logarithm 2.7 Statistical analysis Data were submitted to ANOVA and when the probabilities indicated significant differences, means were separated by the Student Newman-keuls multiple comparison test using SAS software 9.1 version. In all the cases means were considered as different when the test provided discrimination at the 5% level. 3. Results 3.1 Body size variations among C. maculatus strains Three body size levels were observed whatever the sex (Figures 2 and 3). Males and females of the Dakar (Senegal) strain were smaller than the others, while insects from the Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) strain exhibited intermediate size. The strains from the other localities of Burkina Faso and from Niger (Niamey) seemed to have a similar body size both for males and females. Females of all the strains compared were significantly larger than males (P<0.05). Fig 2: Variation of mean size ( SD mm) in C. maculatus males from different strains (localities) in West Africa. BF = Burkina Faso. ~ 661 ~
4 Fig 3: Variation of mean size ( SD mm) in C. maculatus females from different strains (localities) in West Africa. BF = Burkina Faso. 3.2 Comparison of life history traits for C. maculatus strains All the results are shown in Table 2. Table 2: Comparative life history traits among various C. maculatus strains from West Africa. Origin of C. maculatus strains Female lifespan (days) Number of eggs laid per female Larval survival (%) Development duration (days) Intrinsic rate of natural increase (r) (per day) Bobo-Dioulasso (BF) 3.3 0.79 b* 3.05 ab 79.6 0.09 ab 21.8 1.61 a 0.02 ab Dori (BF) 3.9 0.69 ab 1.98 a 76.6 0.12 b 19.9 1.21 b 0.03 ab Hounde (BF) 4.05 0.76 a 3.89 ab 88.1 0.09 a 1.38 b 0.02 ab Kombissiri (BF) 3.95 0.89 ab 3.11 ab 83.6 0.10 ab 1.05 b 0.02 a Niamey (Niger) 3.95 0.69 ab 1.09 ab 77.7 0.10 b 1.28 b 0.02 a Dakar (Senegal) 3.25 0.44 b 2.13 c 75.4 0.08 b 1.15 a 0.01b Tenkodogo (BF) 3.80 0.61 ab 4.92 a 82 0.11 ab 0.93 b 0.02 ab * Means (SD) within column followed by different letters are significantly different according to the Newman-Keuls multiple comparison test. P<0.05. BF = Burkina Faso Female lifespan Female lifespan significantly varied among the strains compared. Females from Hounde strain lived longer than females of the other strains whereas Dakar and Bobo- Dioulasso strains exhibited the shorter lifespan The mean number of eggs laid by females Females from Dakar (Senegal) strain laid fewer eggs than those of other areas. On the other hand there was no significant difference between the number of eggs laid by females of Niamey (Niger) and Burkina Faso strains whatever the locality of insect origin Larval survival Most of the Burkina Faso strains specifically that from Hounde, had better survival than those from Dakar (Senegal), Niamey (Niger) and Dori (Burkina Faso). In all cases survival rates were higher than 75% Development duration The C. maculatus development duration was higher in Dakar and Bobo-Dioulasso strains and significantly differed from the durations obtained in all the other strains. In the experiment conditions the development duration varied from (Tenkodogo strain) to (Dakar strain) days Intrinsic rate of natural increase Regarding the biotic potential three groups were distinguished including (1) the higher potential group for Kombissiri (Burkina Faso) and Niamey (Niger) strains, (2) the medium potential group with all the other Burkina Faso strains and (3) the lower biotic potential in the Dakar (Senegal) strain. 4. Discussion In this study several strains originating from various cowpea growing ecological areas of West Africa were compared in the same laboratory conditions. Thus, we can assume that any differences observed in these strains come from their origin and their intrinsic factors. The results showed that despite an apparent homogeneity of C. maculatus populations in all areas of cowpea production in West Africa [17-19] there may be differences among individuals in relation with their origin. Morphological comparison by body size measurement revealed a significant reduction in the size of C. maculatus individuals belonging to the Dakar strain in comparison to strains from Burkina Faso and Niger except insects from Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso that exhibited intermediate size. Thus it seems that within the same country a relative morphological variation can be observed in relation with the zone of insect origin. This unexpected result should be confirmed by extending the study to several strains from different agro-ecological zones of both Senegal and Niger. ~ 662 ~
5 Nevertheless the observed results are probably related to the variations in climatic conditions of the areas of insect origin. It appears that the climatic conditions of Dakar are quite different from those of the localities of Burkina Faso and Niger where the strains came from. While Dakar is ranked in Sahelo-Sudanian climatic zone, the localities of Burkina Faso and Niger belong to the Sahelian, south- and north- Sudanian zones. Then main climatic factors that significantly vary are temperature and air relative humidity in correlation with rainfall. Several studies demonstrated the role of climatic conditions and host plant on insect morphology and specifically body size [20-24]. However some authors [25] studying geographic variation in body size of the weevil Stator limbatus concluded that clinal variation in three factors likely explains the cline in size: host plant seed size, moisture (humidity), and seasonality (within-year variation in humidity, precipitation, and temperature). In this study these complex factors co-varied among the zones of insect origin and may explain the variation in C. maculatus body size. Furthermore C. maculatus populations from Niger and Burkina Faso are geographically closer compared to Senegal strain which can explain why a relative homogeneity was noticed between Niger and Burkina strains. Finally morphological and physiological plasticity in insects is often thought to represent an adaptive response to variable environments [26]. However such morphological adaptations are to be correlated with genetic features [27]. Our results also indicated that life history traits varied in accordance with body size variations. Therefore the Dakar strain had lower biotic potential (intrinsic rate of natural increase) compared to strains from Burkina Faso and Niger. These results are consistent with those of previous studies that showed that body size of an insect influences its life history traits [28]. It is generally assumed that larger size, particularly in females, provides a reproductive advantage [29-32]. The life history traits that are particularly influenced by the size of females include longevity, fecundity and egg size. Interestingly female lifespan and fecundity were significantly reduced in the Dakar strain composed of smaller individuals. This study highlights some morphological and biological diversity of C. maculatus populations from three countries in West Africa. If such diversity can be seen as a result of adaptation of each population in its area of origin it remains to understand why the strain from Dakar in Senegal selects smaller individuals resulting in a lower biotic potential. In all cases this information is useful to establish the destructive capacity of each population in order to optimize pest control methods. 5. Acknowledgement Authors are grateful to all laboratory technicians who helped to collect Callosobruchus maculatus strains in Senegal, Niger and Burkina Faso. Dr. A Waongo is thanked for his assistance in Data analysis. This study received support from IRD as part of the young team fellowship grant JEAI/BRAS awarded to UCAD, University Ouaga I and University Abdou Moumouni. 6. References 1. Alghali AM. Studies on cowpea farming practices in Nigeria with emphasis on insect pest control. Tropical pest Management. 1991; 37: Aitchedji CC, Coulibaly O, Quenum BY. Rentabilite financiere et economique des technologies ameliorees de production du niebe. Bulletin de la recherche Agronomique. 2002; 37: Nouhoheflin T, Coulibaly O, Adegbidi A. Impact des nouvelles technologies de cultures du niebe sur la production, les revenus et la distribution au Benin. Jean- Yves Jamin, L. Seiny Boukar, Christian Floret (eds). Cirad-Prasac. 2003; Tchiagam JBN, Bell JM, Nassourou AM, Njintang NY, Youmbi E. Genetic analysis of seed proteins contents in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.). African Journal of Biotechnology. 2011; 10(16): Langyintuo AS, Lowenberg-DeBoer J, Faye M, Lambert D, Ibro G, Moussa B. Cowpea supply and demand in west and central Africa. Field Crops Research. 2003; 82: Amevoin K, Sanon A, Apossaba M, Glitho IA. Biological control of bruchids infesting cowpea by the introduction of Dinarmus basalis (Rondani) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) adults into farmers stores in West Africa. Journal of Stored Products Research. 2007; 43: Sanon A, Dabire-Binso LC, Ba NM. Triple-bagging of cowpeas within high density polyethylene bags to control the cowpea beetle Callosobruchus maculatus F. (Coleoptera: Bruchidae). J Stored Product Research. 2011; 47: Ilboudo Z, Dabire-Binso LC, Sankara F, Nebie RCH, Sanon A. Optimizing the use of essential oils to protect stored cowpeas from Callosobruchus maculatus (Coleoptera: Bruchinae) damage. African Entomology. 2015; 23(1): Williamson CE, Dodds W, Ratz TKK, Palmer MA. Lakes and streams as sentinels of environmental change in terrestrial and atmospheric processes. Front. Ecol. Environ. 2008; 6: Baoua IB, Amadou L, Ousmane B, Baributsa D, Murdock LL. PICS bags for post-harvest storage of maize grain in West Africa. Journal of Stored Products Research. 2014; 58: Amadou L, Baoua IB, Baributsa D, Williams SB, Murdock LL. Triple bag hermetic technology for controlling a bruchid (Spermophagus sp.) (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) in stored Hibiscus sabdariffa grain. J Stored Prod. Res. 2016; 69: Cerritos R, Wegier A, Alavez V. Toward the Development of Novel Long-Term Pest Control Strategies Based on Insect Ecological and Evolutionary Dynamics. Integrated Pest Management and Pest Control - Current and Future Tactics. Dr. Sonia Soloneski (Ed.), ISBN: , Kogan M. Integrated pest management: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Developments. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 1998; 43: Dick KM, Credland PF. Egg production and development of three strains of Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae). J Stored Prod. Res. 1984; 20: Boeke S J, van Loon JJA, van Huis A, Dicke M. Host preference of Callosobruchus maculatus: a comparison of life history characteristics for three strains of beetles on two varieties of cowpea. Journal of Applied Entomology. 2004; 128(6): Silva FRJ, Battirola LD, Lhano MG, Sousa WO, Marques MI. Morphometry of Cornops aquaticum (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Leptysminae) in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Braz. J Biol. 2014; 74(3): ~ 663 ~
6 17. Alzouma I, Huignard J. Donnees preliminaires sur la biologie et le comportement de pontes de Bruchidius atrolineatus Pic. dans une zone sud sahelienne au Niger. Acta Oecologia. 1981; 2: Glitho IA. Les Bruchidae ravageurs de Vigna unguiculata (WaIp) en zone guineenne. Analyse de la diapause reproductrice chez les males de Bruchidius atrolineatus Pic. These de Doctorat, Tours. 1990; Sanon A, Dabire LCB, Ouedraogo AP, Huignard J. Field occurrence of bruchids pest of cowpea and associated parasitoids in a sub humid zone of Burkina Faso: importance on the infestation of two cowpea varieties at harvest. Plant Pathology Journal. 2005; 4(1): Bernays EA. Evolution of insect morphology in relation to plants. Phil Trans Roy Soc Lond B. 1991; 333: Sembene M, Delobel A. Identification morphometrique de populations soudano-saheliennes de bruche de l arachide, Caryedon serratus (Olivier) (Coleoptera Bruchidae). African Journal of Entomology. 1996; 110(5): Savalli UM, Czesak ME, Fox CW. Paternal investment in the seed beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus (Coleoptera: Bruchidae): variation among populations. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 2000; 93: Moumouni DA, Doumma A, Ouali-N goran SWM, Sembene M, Sanon A. Morphometric identification of cowpea weevil populations, Bruchidius atrolineatus (Coleoptera-Bruchinae) from three varieties of cowpea, using a discriminant analysis (FDA). Sch. Acad. J Biosci. 2015; 3(7): Perez-V alencia LI, Moya-Raygoza G. Body Size Variation of Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) through an Elevation Gradient. Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 2015; 108(5): Stillwell RC, Geoffrey EM, Fox CW. Geographic Variation in Body Size and Sexual Size Dimorphism of a Seed-Feeding Beetle. The American Entomologist. 2007; 170(3): Kingsolver JG, Huey RB. Evolutionary analyses of morphological and physiological plasticity in thermally variable environments. American zoologist. 1998; 38(23):545 (16). 27. Tine EM, Diome T, Khadim K, Ndong A, Doumma A, Ketoh G, et al. Genetic diversity of Callosobruchus maculatus Fabricus (Cowpea weevil) populations in various agro ecological areas of five countries in West African sub region. South Asian Journal of Experimental Biology. 2013; 3(2): Brown, JH, Gillooly JF, Allen AP, Savage VM, West GB. Toward a metabolic theory of ecology. Ecology. 2004; 85: Del Castillo RC, Nunez-Farfan J, Cano-Santana Z. The role of body size in mating success of Sphenarium purpurascens in Central Mexico. Ecological Entomology. 1999; 24(2): Berger D, Walters R, Gotthard K. What limits insect fecundity? Body size- and temperature-dependent egg maturation and oviposition in a butterfly. Functional Ecology. 2008; 22: Trager MD, Daniels JC. Size Effects on Mating and Egg Production in the Miami Blue Butterfly. Journal of Insect Behavior. 2011; 24(1): Rhainds M. Size-Dependent Realized Fecundity in Two Lepidopteran Capital Breeders. Environmental Entomology. 2015; 44(4): ~ 664 ~
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Welcome to 2017! Perhaps you made some goals or resolutions for the New Year. Whats the difference between goals and resolutions?
You may resolve to lose weight, make or save more money, or simply enjoy your life more. But how do you measure your progress?
My fellow Toastmaster TK OGeary just did a speech in our Albuquerque Challenge Toastmasters Club on how setting goals is more effective than making resolutions. Goals are:
Specific. It clearly states what must happen.
It clearly states what must happen. Measurable. Results can be easily validated.
Results can be easily validated. Action-oriented. It begins with the word to, followed by a verb.
It begins with the word to, followed by a verb. Realistic. It is challenging, yet practical and achievable not too high or low.
It is challenging, yet practical and achievable not too high or low. Time-bounded. It contains a timetable for achievement.
So, how about dropping old end-of-life issues youre dragging around from last year? You can make specific, measurable, action-oriented, time-bounded goals to:
Clear your clutter in a specific area of your home spending 15 minutes a day.
Update or make a will or trust, naming executor(s) and beneficiaries.
Name a financial Power of Attorney who can handle transactions for you if you cant.
Write out your advance medical directives and name a medical Power of Attorney.
Make your funeral plans and gather the needed information to keep on file.
Trust me, it wont kill you. Really. And talk your family. Everyone will benefit from your preparation and communication. Wishing you all the best for a great 2017!
Links to recent posts at The Family Plot Blog, upcoming events and a funny quote follow. Please call 505.265.7215 if I can be of assistance!
Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death
The Family Plot Blog Highlights
Click on the titles to read the blog post and see the associated videos. Review all posts on The Family Plot Blog or view just the Death Cartoons posted on the blog!
[Video] How to Create an Iconic Jaguar Hearse In this video interview, illustrated with selected clips from the film Harold and Maude, Ken Roberts reveals how he recreated an automotive icon.
What to Know About Four Remarkable Religions Funeral Traditions Listen to these four separate podcasts on A Good Goodbye Radio for in-depth insights on Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Greek Orthodox funeral traditions.
Five Ways to Save Money on Death Care Costs I wrote this blog post for the popular womens website Sixty and Me.
How to Make Pet Loss Easier to Bear These three A Good Goodbye Radio podcasts on pet loss issues provide answers.
Seven Funeral Trends to Watch in 2017 Tips from my article which first appeared in Mortuary Management magazine.
Upcoming Events and a Funny Quote
See the Calendar page for a full listing of events.
Tuesday, January 10, 2017 Gail speaks to the Coronado Thunderbirds, retirees from Sandia Laboratories, on Downsizing and Organizing Before You Die. This event is only open to members of the group.
Friday, January 20, 2017, 2:00 p.m. KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die talk at Alegria Community, 901 Cottonwood Circle, Bernalillo, NM.
Saturday, January 21, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Albuquerque Death Cafe at Gail Rubins home. RSVP for address or join the Meetup Group.
Thursday, February 2, noon to 1:15 p.m. Gail speaks at Dr. Kris Roushs Death and Dying class at Central New Mexico Community College, Main Campus, Albuquerque, NM.
Friday, February 10, 2017, 1:00 p.m. Laughing and Learning: An End-of-Life Workshop at the University of New Mexico, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Albuquerque, NM. Fee: $20. Register online for class 79681.
March 10-12, 2017 Frozen Dead Guy Days in Nederland, Colorado, featuring The Newly-Dead Game and continuous showings of the documentary, Grandpas in the TUFF Shed.
Saturday, March 18 Gail Rubin keynotes the Cancer Support Now conference in Albuquerque, NM. Her talk is titled, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Dont Plan to Die.
If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down. Mary Pickford
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Over the objections of senior Roman Catholic leaders and some area residents, a McDonalds opened last week just outside Vatican City, within eyeshot of St. Peters Square.
The fast-food chains plan to open a restaurant in a Vatican-owned building was met with derision when it was announced in October.
The restaurant, at the corner of Borgo Pio and Via del Mascherino, is in the Roman district of Borgo, which leads to Vatican City. According to the Guardian, the Committee for the Protection of Borgo, a group of residents, called it a decisive blow on an already wounded animal, referring to the trinket-hawking vendors already proliferating in the area.
In an interview with La Repubblica in October, Cardinal Elio Sgreccia called the restaurants arrival a disgrace, and said the space should have been used to help the needy.
He said the addition of the restaurant clashed with the aesthetics of the area, and was not at all respectful of the architectural and urban traditions of one of the most characteristic squares overlooking the colonnade of St. Peter.
And then there is the matter of the food itself, which does not offer guarantees for the health of the consumers, foods I would never eat, added the cardinal, who retired as the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Its a business decision that ignores the culinary tradition of Roman cuisine, he said.
Despite the complaints, the Vatican agency that oversees its real estate holdings approved a lease, and the restaurant quietly opened last week without public protests.
The Vatican will get about $31,375.50 per month in rent, La Repubblica reported.
Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Vatican officials also approved the addition of a Hard Rock Cafe on Via della Conciliazione, the main boulevard leading to St. Peters Square. It would replace a religious bookstore.
It is not the first time McDonalds has had difficulty moving into a venerable area. The restaurant chain sued the City of Florence, Italy, for $20 million in November after leaders there blocked efforts to open a location in Piazza del Duomo, a popular tourist destination.
The citys mayor, Dario Nardella, said he wanted to support traditional business in the area, according to Agence France-Presse.
McDonalds has the right to submit an application because this is permitted under the law, but we also have the right to say no, he said.
ALBANY, N.Y. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced a plan Tuesday to offer free tuition at state colleges to hundreds of thousands of middle- and low-income New Yorkers, seizing on a popular liberal talking point on the eve of national Republican ascension.
Under the governors plan, any college student who has been accepted to a state or city university in New York including two-year community colleges will be eligible provided they or their family earn $125,000 or less annually.
Cuomo, a Democrat, unveiled his proposal at an event at LaGuardia Community College in Queens alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who had sought their partys presidential nomination with a similar stance last year, arguing that student debt was crippling the prospects of generations of young Americans.
Called the Excelsior Scholarship, the funds are envisioned as a way to complete tuition payments by supplementing existing state and federal loan and grant programs.
Cuomo hopes for a quick start for his idea, with a three-year rollout beginning in the fall, though it will require legislative approval, a potential snag when the governor and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been at odds over a pay raise and other issues.
It was not immediately clear how the program would be paid for, though the administration said the state already provided nearly $1 billion in support through its tuition assistance program; those awards are capped at $5,165, and many of the grants are smaller.
If the plan is approved, the Cuomo administration estimates the program would allow nearly a million New York families with college-age children, or independent adults, to qualify. The estimated costs of the program, when fully put in place in 2019, would be $163 million, though the administration acknowledges that estimate could be too low or too high depending on participation.
Current tuition at four-year State University of New York schools for state residents is $6,470; at two-year community colleges the cost is $4,350. Costs for City University of New York schools are approximately the same.
Cuomo, a centrist with rumored presidential ambition, has tracked left on a series of issues during his second term, championing a higher minimum wage and paid family leave, though he continues to face criticism from some progressive groups over sometimes working closely with Republicans who rule the state Senate.
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WASHINGTON The independent ethics agency targeted by House Republicans on the opening day of the new Congress was instrumental in bringing to light a lavish 2013 trip paid for by Azerbaijans state oil company involving 10 members of Congress, including four from Texas.
GOP lawmakers, facing a withering public backlash abruptly changed course Tuesday and jettisoned plans to limit the Office of Congressional Ethics, which was created in 2008 in the wake of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.
The dust-up laid down a marker: It showed that 119 GOP lawmakers meeting behind closed doors Monday voted to rein in the watchdog agency by placing it under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee, which is evenly divided between Republican and Democratic members of Congress.
Several of the proposed changes stemmed directly from the agencys public clash with the ethics panel two years ago over an all-expenses-paid trip to an energy conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, which included rugs and other expensive gifts to House members and their staffs.
Among the Texans on the trip were Democrats Sheila Jackson Lee and Ruben Hinojosa, as well as Republicans Ted Poe and Steve Stockman. Hinojosa and Stockman no longer are in Congress.
After the Houston Chronicle began investigating reports that the trip had been funded by Azerbaijans state oil company in apparent violation of U.S. House rules the ethics committee got involved and tried to shut down a probe already underway by the independent ethics office.
The House panel exonerated all 10 lawmakers, saying they had been misled about the true sponsors of the 2013 trip and that they didnt knowingly break any law or House rules. The House also refused to publicly release the ethics offices report, though a leaked version showed it to be much more critical.
In the ongoing turf battles between lawmakers and the office that investigates ethics complaints against them, This was Exhibit A, said congressional scholar Norman Ornstein. It was by any objective standard an outrageous thing, the idea that members didnt have any idea that this was being paid for by the country. It just didnt pass the smell test.
In clearing the lawmakers, the House panel also took the unusual step of criticizing the Office of Congressional Ethics for not standing down after being informed that the House would conduct its own investigation.
What this dispute showed is, the degree to which a process without the Office of Congressional Ethics is flawed and itself corrupt, said Ornstein, a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. We never would have heard about the controversy. It would have been completely quashed, and there would have been no ability for the office to even discuss anything publicly.
Neither Jackson Lee nor Poe responded to multiple requests for comment Tuesday.
While House investigators closed the Azerbaijan investigation in 2015, they said they would refer the allegations to the Justice Department to determine whether third parties involved in arranging the lawmakers travel engaged in a criminal conspiracy to lie to Congress.
One of the key figures in the probe was Kemal Oksuz, who is closely associated with two Houston nonprofits that organized the trip, the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians and the Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan. Oksuz invoked his Fifth Amendment right to refuse to testify in the House probe. No criminal action has been taken against him.
The rules passed Monday by a 119-74 vote of the GOP conference would have allowed the House panel to stop the watchdog groups ongoing investigations, as well as prevented it from releasing any information about them to the public. Moreover, they would have required the independent investigators to defer to the House ethics panel on any matters involving potential criminal violations that could be referred to law enforcement agencies.
Critics of the proposed House rules said the changes would severely weaken the offices transparency and independence. The measures sponsor, Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, said in a statement that it builds upon and strengthens the ethics offices work by instituting greater procedural safeguards for House members accused of wrongdoing.
In the end, the controversy flickered out in a gale of criticism from both left and right.
Ethics watchdogs like OCE (the Office of Congressional Ethics) need to be strengthened and expanded not taken out back and shot in the middle of the night, said Danielle Brian, executive director of the watchdog group Project of Government Oversight. If their barking keeps you up at night, it should. Thats their job.
Ethics reformers on the right also put on the pressure.
This drive-by effort to eliminate the Office of Congressional Ethics, which provides appropriate independence and transparency to the House ethics process, is a poor way for the Republican majority to begin draining the swamp, said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, whose group was involved in lawsuits to expose former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons private email account throughout the bruising 2016 presidential campaign.
Likely more decisive in derailing the ethics rules was the opposition of House Speaker Paul Ryan. There also was a piece of high-profile Internet shaming Tuesday by Trump, who tweeted, With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it.
Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the President-elect was not taking sides in the debate, but merely questioning the timing, which would have made the effort the first substantive act of the new 2017 edition of Congress.
Its pretty simple, Spicer said. Its not a question of strengthening or weakening. I think its a question of priorities and the presidents belief that with all that this country wants and needs to have happen, this really shouldnt be the priority.
Amid the blowback, GOP leaders managed to get the ethics office measure stripped from a larger package of House rules adopted Tuesday. Pennsylvania Rep. Charlie Dent, chairman of the House Ethics Committee during the Azerbaijan probe, told reporters calmer heads prevailed this morning.
Some government reform groups noted that Trump had referred to the office as unfair, and warned that it is too early to pronounce the agency safe from political meddling. Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause, argued that the office, run by a six-member board, should be given subpoena power and codified into law, instead of depending on rules periodically passed by lawmakers who fund the agency.
This latest effort by House members to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics was not the first and it certainly wont be the last, she said.
kevin.diaz@chron.com
twitter.com/DiazChron
AUSTIN Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday after a more-than-yearlong fight over Texas decision to import a drug for death row executions that federal officials say is not approved for human injections.
Paxton, a first-term Republican, said the FDA which in 2015 seized 1,000 vials of thiopental sodium at a Houston airport has yet to decide whether to permit the drug into the country, calling it gross incompetence or willful obstruction. The vials were headed to Huntsville, where Texas carries out executions. Federal officials also seized a separate shipment of the drug destined for Arizona.
In 2011, Kentucky and Tennessee were forced to hand over supplies of the imported drug to the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the agency later seized Georgias supply.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice since has argued to the FDA that the importation is lawful for the purposes of carrying out death sentences, according to the lawsuit.
The FDA has an obligation to fulfill its responsibilities faithfully and in a timely manner, Paxton said in a statement. My office will not allow the FDA to sit on its hands and thereby impair Texas responsibility to carry out its law enforcement duties.
An FDA spokeswoman, Lyndsay Meyer, said the agency does not comment on possible, pending or ongoing litigation.
Thiopental sodium is an older anesthetic generally no longer available in the United States but widely used in developing countries.
Several U.S. companies have stopped making the sedative and European suppliers who oppose the death penalty largely have banned their export, prompting recent shortages of thiopental sodium and other drugs used in executions.
Texas has used it as part of a three-drug cocktail in executions since the early 1980s. In recent years, TDCJ officials have turned to another drug, pentobarbital, to replace thiopental sodium. More than a dozen states followed Texas lead in trying to find alternatives, at times using a single-drug method and obtaining drugs from compounding pharmacies not regulated by the federal government.
TDCJ has previously purchased and used thiopental sodium in numerous executions, before it became commercially unavailable to Texas correctional facilities for that purpose, the lawsuit said. Through the import at issue in this case, TDCJ is attempting once again to utilize thiopental sodium for purposes of imposing lawful capital sentences.
In a statement Tuesday, TDCJ spokesman Jason Clark said the lawsuit is the states only option now to obtain the drug.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice lawfully ordered and obtained the necessary license to import drugs used in the lethal injection process, yet the Food and Drug Administration stopped the shipment and continues to hold it without justification, Clark said. This has left the agency with no other recourse than to challenge the unjustified seizure in court.
roberto.cervantes@chron.com
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RELATED: Explore a state-by-state database of all executions conducted in the U.S. since 1976 below.
Accepting an invitation to perform in Donald Trumps presidential inauguration parade has brought sharp criticism to Texas State Universitys acclaimed female dance team, after racial threats and post-election protests divided campus last semester.
Following the ugly reaction on the San Marcos campus after Trumps surprising November election victory, some students and alumni deem it poor taste for the Strutters to perform at his inauguration in Washington D.C. on Jan. 20.
Emboldened by the election results, somebody placed fliers around campus advocating the arrest and torture of university leaders spouting off all this diversity garbage. A few students walked campus with signs supporting Trumps proposed Mexico border wall and ban of Muslims from entering the U.S.
These events in November were chilling at a university that is roughly 33 percent Hispanic and 10 percent black, many students said. Hundreds of people assembled on the campus quad in a demonstration spanning hours.
Verbal jousting broke out among crowds of students, similar to scenes that played out across the state and nation. In late November, Texas State President Denise Trauth responded in a letter saying she heard many people on campus felt anxious, marginalized, unwelcome, disrespected (and) targeted.
She committed to adding foot and bike patrols for campus officers and holding meetings on democracy, protest and freedom of expression. More are planned for spring semester.
Now, the Texas State Strutters are preparing to follow Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence down Pennsylvania Avenue, after the men are sworn in as holders of the top two elected positions in our country. The dance team has performed at two previous presidential inaugurations, including the one for alum Lyndon B. Johnson.
Students had scattered for the holiday break by the time the Strutters announced they were among the groups chosen to perform during inauguration activities. But the news rippled through social media and group text messages. Many said they were disappointed and embarrassed for their school. Others, including former Strutters, said they were proud of the group.
Jo Hogan, a 22-year-old senior studying musical theater, was sitting at her familys San Antonio dining room table after lunch when she saw the Strutters announcement on social media.
Its odd that the campus itself would say that this is a time where we should be supporting our president and we should be performing for him, given whats been going down, she said in an interview, adding that the all-female team would be celebrating a man who thinks he can do whatever he wants, including to women.
The Strutters applied to participate in the inaugural events in early 2016, well before Trump was even the Republican presidential nominee. Students on the dance team are paying their own way to the nations capital, university spokesman Matt Flores said Tuesday.
University administrators were absolutely not worried about the performance bringing further unease on Texas States campus, Flores said.
Other universities nationwide with groups performing in Trumps inaugural events also are facing criticism.
More than 2,000 people signed a petition asking Olivet Nazarene University administrators in Illinois to pull the schools marching band from the parade. They argue that President-elect Trump has consistently articulated and advocated policies that undermine the Christian commitments of Olivet. The university did not respond to a request from the Houston Chronicle for comment Tuesday, but Olivets president told Inside Higher Education that he views the event as a chance to observe the presidential transition process.
Alumni of Talladega College in Alabama also have criticized the historically black colleges bands decision to march in the inauguration parade, the Associated Press reported. The college didnt respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, Strutters team members and some Texas State alumni have called the trip to the presidential inauguration a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Flores said no dancers have backed out of performing because of Trumps victory.
Christmas came early for the (Strutters), Alexis Bonilla, the groups Pom Leader, said last month on Twitter.
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A South Texas businessman who pleaded guilty Tuesday to a money laundering conspiracy charge used the U.S. banking system to help former governors from three Mexican states launder tens of millions of dollars, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Texas.
Luis Carlos Castillo Cervantes, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Mexico who lives in Mission, entered his plea before a federal magistrate judge in Corpus Christi. He faces up to 20 years in prison when hes sentenced at a later date. The money laundering charge also lets the federal government seize Castillos assets.
His attorneys did not respond to phone calls and texts Wednesday seeking comment.
Castillo had the exclusive rights to sell a type of paving machine and paid bribes to state officials in Mexico in exchange for contracts to do road work, according to prosecutors.
The basic scheme is that Mr. Castillo received inflated payments for road contract work for his Mexican asphalt company in Mexico from the various Mexican state governments, then moved those funds to the United States to Mr. Castillo's account for his U.S. company, Rodmax. Mr. Castillo would then pay bribes in the U.S. to the government of Mexico officials, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hampton said during Castillos plea hearing, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.
Along with the money laundering conspiracy charge, Castillo had been accused in an indictment of defrauding J.P. Morgan Chase Bank and Inter National Bank in McAllen. That charge will apparently be dropped as part of his plea agreement.
Castillo was also a shareholder of INB bank and has been reported to numerous occasions called the Inter National Bank his bank, Hampton said, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. Castillo brought numerous Politically Exposed Individual's onto the INB platform. Through manipulation of the banking system individuals were allowed to launder tens of millions of dollars of money laundering proceeds into and out of INB.
Among those bribed, prosecutors said, were Jorge Juan Torres Lopez, the former interim governor of the Mexican state of Coahuila; Luis Aramando Reynoso Femat, the former governor of Aguascalientes; Eugenio Hernandez Flores, the former governor of the border state of Tamaulipas; and Humberto Moreira, the former Coahuila governor whose term Lopez filled out.
Torres and Hernandez are both under indictment in Corpus Christi. Prosecutors have accused Torres of stealing money from state coffers and laundering it through the U.S. banking system before shipping the funds to a bank in Bermuda. According to federal prosecutors, Castillo was involved in moving money to offshore bank accounts in Bermuda. Hernandez, prosecutors alleged in a 2013 hearing, took bribes from the Zetas drug cartel. Both men are fugitives, but have maintained their innocence.
Reynoso Femat has not been charged in the U.S. Federal prosecutors in San Antonio have filed an asset forfeiture lawsuit against several properties here owned by his son, Luis Armando Reynoso Lopez, or companies tied to his son, but both the former governor and Reynoso Lopez have maintained their innocence. The allegations in that case are under seal and havent been disclosed.
Moreira, who left the Coahuila governorship in 2011 to serve as the head of Mexicos ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, hasnt been charged in the U.S. either. He is the target of an investigation by U.S. officials into allegations that tens of millions of dollars stolen from the state, which is billions of dollars in debt, were laundered in South Texas real estate transactions.
Casillo has now admitted that he defrauded the Mexican government; but in order to get a deal from the American government, he had to implicate others, said Kent Schaffer, Moreiras lawyer in Houston. So he did so in order to get an amazing plea bargain. But that has nothing to do with Governor Moreira. He did not accept bribes from Mr. Castillo at any time or in any manner.
His mother-in-law last year agreed to give up her home on the North Side, and a Zetas financial adviser and paid government informant testified in a trial here this summer that the gang paid millions of dollars in bribes to Moreira in exchange for government contracts and permission to operate freely in the state.
Federal prosecutors in court filings said they want to seize a 2008 Learjet 45XR, which both sides of the case agreed to sell last month, and a personal money judgment of $36 million as part of their case against Castillo.
Along with his paving company in Mexico, Castillo developed property in South Texas, where he also donated to political campaigns. In 2002, one of Castillos Texas companies purchased nearly 100 acres in Hidalgo County, property records show.
Over the next five years his companies bought and sold dozens of lots in what are now well-heeled neighborhoods in the McAllen and Mission area, including Los Jardinez de Cimarron and The Estates at Sharyland subdivisions, county property records show.
In a court document filed when Castillo was indicted in September, prosecutors alerted the judge and parties in the case that charges against the businessman were connected to their investigation of Tamaulipas and Coahuila officials.
In the notice of related cases, prosecutors said they charged Castillo as part of investigations that resulted in charges against Hector Javier Villarreal, the former Treasurer of Coahuila under Moreira, and Antonio Pena Arguelles, a San Antonio businessman who U.S. investigators alleged in court documents was an intermediary between the Zetas and Tomas Yarrington Ruvalcaba, another former Tamaulipas governor.
Yarrington faces racketeering, drug trafficking and money laundering charges in Brownsville. Hes also a fugitive and has denied wrongdoing. Both Villarreal, who prosecutors alleged laundered money through the purchase of commercial properties in San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley, and Pena Arguelles have admitted to financial crimes in San Antonio federal court.
This story has been updated with the correct day Castillo pleaded guilty.
jbuch@express-news.net
Twitter: @jlbuch
The cost of renting an apartment in San Antonio rose in December at the fastest rate in at least a year and a half as the growing local population pushed up demand.
The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $890 last month, up 11.3 percent from $800 in December of last year, according to a report by Zumper, a website that tracks the national multifamily housing market. The median for a two-bedroom rose 13.9 percent, to $1,150 from $1,010.
It is a larger increase than I would have expected; but if you look at demand, construction costs and growth, Im not really surprised, said Ernest Brown, an investment broker with Rohde, Ottmers & Siegel Realty Services.
San Antonio is still a relatively cheap city to rent in, according to the report. In December, it ranked 49th out of the 100 largest metro areas in the U.S. for the cost of renting a one-bedroom. It is the cheapest of the top four major metros in Texas, by far: The median rent for a one-bedroom in Dallas was $1,280 in December; in Austin, $1,170; and in Houston, $1,140. In El Paso, the median rent was $640 a month.
The local rent increase in December was the biggest since Zumper began keeping data in July 2014. The rate of increase for one-bedroom rents has been in the single digits every month except December and November, when it was at 10.1 percent.
Local rents are also increasing because developers are building large amounts of class A apartments, catering to market demand for upscale amenities such as fitness centers and resort-style pools, Brown said.
You dont see a lot of workforce housing or low-income housing being built, he said. The numbers have been skewed because theyre building higher-end items.
Numerous upscale complexes have been built in San Antonio over the past few years, and several more are in the works, especially in the areas around the Pearl, Southtown and the Interstate 10 corridor. In addition, investors have increasingly been snatching up aging apartment complexes and renovating them into more upscale properties.
Many developers expect the national market for luxury apartments to slow down this year due to a glut of complexes, causing rents to decline, according to an article published on Sunday in the Wall Street Journal.
Many metro areas with expensive rents had increases that were near zero last month, and rents declined in many cities, according to Zumpers data. In Austin, the median rent dropped 1.7 percent for a one-bedroom and 2.7 percent for a two-bedroom. Rents for one-bedroom apartments also declined in New York City; San Jose, California; Los Angeles; and Seattle, Washington.
Brown said he was doubtful that such a downturn would occur in San Antonio soon, due to the areas population surge. There continues to be high demand for luxury apartments around the Dominion and the Pearl, he said.
Its possible, but I would be somewhat surprised to catch it this year, particularly on the heels of a 10-plus percentage increase in rental rates, Brown said.
The cost of a home in San Antonio has also been rising sharply lately due to high demand and tight supply. The local areas median home price was $199,400 in November, an 8.8 percent increase from November 2015, according to data from the San Antonio Board of Realtors. Experts say rising costs are forcing many to wait longer before buying a home, adding to demand for rental housing.
In December, the highest median rents in the U.S. were found in San Francisco, where a one-bedroom went for $3,350 and a two-bedroom for $4,510. The lowest were in Toledo, Ohio, where a one-bedroom cost $430 and a two-bedroom $550.
rwebner@express-news.net
@rwebner
Transcription
1 New Mexico is an energyproducing state, which means that we produce more energy than we consume, and we export a significant amount of energy (in the form of oil, gas, and electricity) to surrounding states. This is a result primarily of New Mexico s rich natural resources, particularly oil and gas. Natural gas is likely to play an important role in our statewide energy mix down the line, thanks both to new discoveries in frontier gas provinces as well as expanding technologies for the development of existing resources. Furthermore, power companies are now investing in gas-generated power plants, which are seen as cleaner than the traditional coal-burning plants. Finally, for companies looking to invest in wind and solar, natural gas offers the promise of backup, allowing those industries to provide continuous power to the grid. Natural gas production in New Mexico dates from 1921 with the discovery of the Aztec field of the San Juan Basin in the northwestern corner of the state. Natural gas was discovered while drilling for oil in the Upper Cretaceous Farmington Sandstone at a depth of 890 feet. In the 1920s there was little demand for natural gas in northwestern New Mexico or anywhere in the American Southwest, so the gas was piped to the nearby community of Aztec where it was used for home heating and cooking. Oil was discovered in the San Juan Basin in 1922 and in the Permian Basin in Massive exploration, drilling, and New Mexico s Natural Gas Resources Basins and uplifts in New Mexico. development programs followed, and soon many large oil reservoirs were discovered, mostly in the Permian Basin and to a much lesser extent in the San Juan Basin. Crude oil was refined principally into motor fuel and other products such as heating oil and lubricants. Most of the oil fields in New Mexico produced substantial volumes of natural gas along with the oil. As no widespread markets existed for natural gas in those early days, much of the gas was flared (burned) at the wellhead. Exploration for and development of natural gas resources remained limited until years later, when the San Juan Basin was revealed to be a major natural gas province. winter 2012 Conventional Gas After World War II the demand for natural gas as an energy source soared. Exploratory vertical drilling in the 1950s and 1960s in the San Juan Basin resulted in new discoveries of major natural gas reservoirs. Some of these were conventional reservoirs, as the gas was produced from discrete accumulations in permeable rock. However, many were widespread, less permeable ( tight gas ), blankettype accumulations in Upper Cretaceous sandstones. This new gas not only filled the needs of New Mexicans, it was exported through interstate pipelines to California. Production boomed. Reservoirs filled with natural gas were now sought after rather than avoided. Additional drilling provided data that helped to define the extent and nature of natural gas reservoirs both in the San Juan and Permian Basins. Even as conventional gas has declined, discovery of substantial new and previously unrecognized gas reservoirs continues to this day. Coalbed Methane Underground coal miners have long known that coal beds are associated with natural gas that, if not properly vented, will result in large and often tragic explosions within the coal mines. In the 1980s it was found that coalbed methane (the term used for natural gas in coals) could be produced economically from the Upper Cretaceous Fruitland Formation of the San Juan Basin. The Fruitland coals were quickly Published by the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources A Division of New Mexico Tech
2 and systematically developed through the drilling of exploration and production wells. The volume of natural gas produced from the Fruitland coals quickly equaled the production of natural gas from all other conventional/tight gas reservoirs in the San Juan Basin as well as all of those in the Permian Basin. Peak coalbed methane production was reached in 1999 when 612 billion cubic feet (BCF) was produced; production has subsequently fallen by 33 percent to 407 BCF as developed reservoirs have started to deplete. Peak natural gas production in New Mexico was reached in 2001 when 1.68 trillion cubic feet (TCF) was produced; production has since fallen by 22 percent to 1.3 TCF during 2010, largely as a result of depletion of coal reservoirs in the San Juan Basin but also with depletion of known, conventional gas reservoirs in both the San Juan and Permian Basins. In 1999 coalbed methane production began from the Upper Cretaceous and lower Tertiary Raton and Vermejo Formations in the Raton Basin of north-central New Mexico, after more than a decade of exploration and evaluation. The coals are thinner, more lenticular, and in general less thermally mature than those in the San Juan Basin, and they cover only a fraction of the area that the Fruitland coals cover. Nevertheless, 26 BCF of coalbed methane was produced annually from 2006 through 2010 from Annual production, BCF 2,000 1,500 1, the Raton Basin, supplying 2 percent of New Mexico s total gas production and bringing substantial economic activity to the Raton area Hydraulic Fracturing The growth of natural gas production in New Mexico has been possible by routine use of artificial fracturing ( fracking ) of oil and gas reservoirs. The tight gas sandstone reservoirs in the San Juan Basin have too little permeability to give up gas to the 1959 borehole without fracking. By increasing reservoir permeability, the process increases flow rates and the total volume of gas that will eventually be produced by the well. Since 1950 the reservoirs in most of the oil and gas wells drilled in New Mexico have been fracked with a technique that involves pumping water and sand down the borehole under pressure until the strength of the reservoir rock is exceeded. Fractures start to form, slowly radiating out from the well bore at depths where the well s steel casing has been selectively perforated. Because almost the entire well bore is protected by heavy steel casing that has been cemented in place, fractures can develop only along reservoir intervals where the steel casing has been perforated or in selected intervals where the well remains uncased. Before 1950 wells were fracked by lowering a cylinder of nitroglycerin into the well bore and setting off an explosion at the depth of the reservoir. This was not only less controllable and less effective than the hydraulic method, it was very dangerous. Development of the tight gas sandstone reservoirs of the San Juan Basin, once considered unconventional, is now routine, and these reservoirs currently yield about one-third of the state s gas through 30,000 wells. Hydraulic fracturing is not without its controversies. The potential for the Annual historical gas production in New Mexico from 1924 to 2010, in billion cubic feet (BCF). The increase in production in the 1990s was due to the discovery and production of coalbed methane in the San Juan Basin. Compiled with data obtained from U.S. Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of Energy, and New Mexico Oil Conservation Division contamination of ground water from fracking is a major concern in parts of the country, particularly the eastern and southeastern U.S. At the end of 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a preliminary report that linked hydraulic fracturing in Wyoming with ground water contamination. Most of the natural gas reservoirs in New Mexico are thousands of feet below the shallow aquifers. Nonetheless, it is an issue that will be of ongoing concern to New Mexicans. The Oil Conservation Division (OCD) of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department regulates drilling and production of natural gas throughout New Mexico. In November 2011 the Oil Conservation Commission held a rulemaking hearing pertaining to hydraulic fracturing fluids. The rule was not officially adopted by the commission. However, during the commission s deliberation it was determined that an operator would need to file a disclosure form with OCD within 45 days of the completion of the well. Texas and Colorado have since passed more stringent requirements regarding disclosure of the composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids. On federal lands, drilling and production are regulated by the Bureau of Land Management. Shale Gas U.S. gas production has increased in recent years through the identification and development of shale gas reservoirs. A decade ago, shale gas accounted for only about 2 percent of all U.S. gas production. In 2011 shale reservoirs contributed 14 percent of U.S. gas production, and they are expected to contribute 46 percent of all gas production in 25 years. The first commercial gas production in the world was shale gas obtained in 1821 from wells penetrating shales near Fredonia, New York. Production was at low volumes because of the very low permeability of shale reservoirs. Although production soon spread throughout many parts of the Appalachian and Michigan Basins, these early shale gas wells provided only low volumes of production. With the advent of deeper drilling techniques in the late 1800s, shale gas was eclipsed by the higher volumes of production obtained from conventional reservoirs in sandstone and carbonate rocks. About 10 years ago, two advances in well drilling and completion technology rendered shale gas competitive: the development of economically viable methods to drill wells horizontally through reservoirs, and the development of techniques for multistage fracking of shale reservoirs penetrated by these horizontal wells. Horizontal drilling permits the well to come in contact with a much larger volume of the reservoir than is possible with traditional vertical wells. Multistage hydraulic fracking increases the permeability of the shale in proximity to the well. Together, these two advances increase flow rates and ultimate recovery of shale gas. new mexico earth matters 2 winter 2012
3 These new technologies are now so well understood and so often used that shale gas reservoirs are now generally considered conventional reservoirs rather than exotic and unconventional. Today, approximately one-half of the wells drilled in New Mexico are horizontal wells, and almost all of the wells are hydraulically fractured. Thus far there has been minimal shale gas exploration and production in New Mexico. Most development of shale gas has been confined to selected wells in the Upper Cretaceous Lewis Shale in the San Juan Basin. Existing vertical wells that produce conventional gas from deeper sandstone reservoirs in the Cretaceous section have been recompleted in the Lewis Shale in order to supplement declining production from the deeper reservoirs. However, the Lewis Shale has not become a major gas producer, and operators in the area have mostly pursued more conventional targets instead. Other, largely unevaluated, opportunities for shale gas abound in New Mexico. In the San Juan Basin, the Upper Cretaceous Mancos and Niobrara shales, as much as 1,400 feet thick, have definite shale gas possibilities in the deeper, more mature parts of the basin. In the Raton Basin, the Pierre and Niobrara shales have characteristics favorable for shale gas Economic Benefits of Natural Gas Production in New Mexico Natural gas production is a perennial mainstay of New Mexico s economy through the jobs it provides and the revenues it generates for state government and education. The oil and natural gas industry provides more than 13,000 direct jobs with average annual salaries of more than $64,000. Natural gas contributed $480 million in tax revenues during 2010 in the form of the School Tax, Severance Taxes, Conservation Tax, and ad valorem production taxes. Natural gas royalties to the state include $107 million received from production on state trust lands, and 48 percent (or $167 million) of the Annual gas production in New Mexico from 1970 to 2010, subdivided by gas type. Compiled from data obtained from New Mexico Oil Conservation Division. production and have been tested recently by three vertical exploratory wells that are part of a long-term evaluation effort. In the Permian Basin of southeastern New Mexico, several shales have possibilities: the Devonian-age Woodford Shale, the Mississippian-age Barnett Shale, the Pennsylvanian-age Morrow and Atoka shales, and the Permian-age Wolfcamp shales. Although these shales have not federal royalty received from natural gas production on federal lands in New Mexico. Another $48 million in royalties was received from hydrocarbon liquids (for example propane) that were extracted from produced natural gas at gas processing plants. In all, income obtained from both oil and natural gas production contributes approximately 30 percent of the state s general fund revenues and has contributed 95 percent of the Land Grant Permanent Fund, which distributed $566 million to public schools and universities in the state during fiscal year been adequately evaluated, all have general geologic properties that suggest the presence of shale gas. In southwestern New Mexico, the Devonian Percha Shale has some intriguing possibilities. Although it is unlikely that all of these shales will yield major gas production, it is almost certain that one or more of them will eventually contribute to natural gas production in New Mexico. The Future of Natural Gas Production in New Mexico Approximately one-half of natural gas production is obtained from wells drilled within the last five years. In the U.S. as a whole, production has increased over the last several years and is expected to continue to increase over the next three decades. The future of natural gas production is likely to include major new reserves of conventional gas as well as shale gas. New sources of conventional gas will continue to be discovered in the Permian and San Juan Basins. However, the hitherto unproductive and largely untested frontier basins in the state offer some of the most exciting possibilities for future production that will Recent and projected U.S. gas production by gas type. From DOE/EIA Annual Energy Outlook (2011). new mexico earth matters 3 winter 2012
4 be necessary to replace declining production from currently active gas reservoirs. Among these is the Tucumcari Basin of east-central New Mexico. Recent exploratory drilling that followed publication of a series of reports by the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources has led to the discovery of natural gas. Full exploration and development of natural gas and associated liquids such as propane will take several decades. There has been much interest lately in the possibility of natural gas providing backup for developing sources of alternative and renewable energy, such as wind and solar, which by themselves can provide only an intermittent source of power. The increased construction of wind farms on the plains of eastern New Mexico will require an additional source of energy to maintain a steady source of power to the grid. The growth of natural gas production in the Tucumcari Basin could provide that backup, enabling the successful development of these alternative sources of energy. With construction of new natural gasfired plants over the next 25 years, natural gas is projected to account for 60 percent of the growth in U.S. electrical generation. Natural gas is favored over other forms of generation because of low cost of construction, safety, reliability, and clean output with relatively low CO 2 emissions. There is also a growing interest in the use of natural gas as a motor transport fuel. New resources of shale gas and gas produced from new areas will help fulfill the growing Total primary energy consumption in New Mexico in 2008 in trillion BTU. Wind energy provided more than half of the total renewable energy due to the significant growth of wind farms in the state since The percentage of energy from natural gas is likely to increase in the coming years. These figures include energy used for exported electricity. From New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department Annual Report, demand for natural gas and will help offset declining production from older fields. Ron Broadhead and L. Greer Price Ron Broadhead is a principal senior petroleum geologist with the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources in Socorro, where he has worked for more than 30 years. Most recently he has been involved in oil and gas resource assessments of the Tucumcari Basin, the Permian Basin, and Colfax and Mora Counties. L. Greer Price is currently interim director of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, where he has worked for 11 years. He has been Chief Editor since 2001 and Deputy Director since Much of his time has been devoted to the publishing program and other outreach efforts. Helium: An Increasingly Important Byproduct Helium occurs in minute quantities in almost all natural gases, but only rarely in concentrations high enough (> 0.3 percent) to be of interest as a commodity that can be economically extracted. In New Mexico, helium has been produced since 1943 from several small accumulations in the Shiprock area of northwestern New Mexico. Originally the helium was used as a lifting gas for blimps during World War II. The known accumulations near Shiprock are now largely depleted. The extremely low density of helium, which renders it useful as a lifting gas in balloons and blimps, is not its only useful property. It is chemically inert so it won t react with other substances, catch fire, or explode. Helium also has the lowest boiling point of any substance (-269 o C = -452 o F = 4 degrees above absolute zero!) so that when it is compressed under extreme pressure to a liquid it becomes colder than any other substance. These properties give helium several unique uses. It is used to cool the powerful magnets in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instruments that are so integral to modern medicine. It is also essential to the mass production of computer chips and fiber optic cables. Without adequate supplies of helium, much of today s advanced technology would not be widely available. Our country s supply of helium is principally obtained from natural gas accumulations in the strata of southwestern Kansas and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. Currently domestic production only meets 62 percent of U.S helium sales. Natural gas production from our main helium sources has fallen as the known and developed reservoirs have become increasingly depleted. In the meantime our demand for helium has increased as new technologies that require helium have become widely available in our society. Although large helium accumulations have been discovered in Algeria and Russia, these supplies seem destined for overseas markets only. Helium needed for U.S. industries will have to be produced from the U.S., and New Mexico may play a significant role in future production. Exploration for additional helium accumulations has been underway in the Shiprock area in recent years. In addition, some of the newly discovered natural gas accumulations in the Tucumcari Basin contain enhanced concentrations of helium and may end up being produced for their helium contents as well as for fuel. new mexico earth matters 4 winter 2012
5 Earth Science Achievement Awards The 2012 New Mexico Earth Science Achievement Awards will be presented on February 13 in Santa Fe. This year s winners are William C. Olson, for outstanding contributions advancing the role of earth science in areas of public service and public policy in New Mexico, and G. Emlen Hall, for outstanding contributions advancing the role of earth science in areas of applied science and education in New Mexico. These awards, co-sponsored by the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources and the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) in Santa Fe, were initiated in 2003 to honor those often unrecognized champions of earth science issues vital to New Mexico. Selections were made following a statewide nomination process. The presentation will occur at noon in the rotunda of the state capitol building on Monday, February 13, during the legislative session, in conjunction with Earth Science Day. The public is invited to attend the ceremony. The John P. Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award The John P. Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded this fall to Dr. Paul Bauer, Associate Director at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. The award honors the memory of John P. Taylor, a wildlife refuge biologist whose energy, perseverance, and foresight regarding land and water management activities earned him national recognition and respect. The award is given by the New Mexico Riparian Council, an organization dedicated to the continued survival, maintenance, and enhancement of riparian systems in New Mexico for further benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations. The award was made to Paul in recognition of his contribution of significant time and energy to the restoration and protection of riparian ecosystems, as well as his contribution toward research and environmental education. Paul managed the STATEMAP Program from 1993 to 2004 and served as program coordinator for the bureau s decision-makers field conferences. He has been involved in legislative outreach efforts on water and rivers of New Mexico and has worked cooperatively with agencies throughout the state, in addition to his own research. Bureau News USGS Grant The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources was recently awarded a grant to research rare earth element potential in the Caballo and Burro Mountains of southern New Mexico. Specifically the project will examine occurrences associated with Cambrian-Ordovician magmatism. The proposal was submitted by Virginia McLemore and Nelia Dunbar and will include student support as well as funds for field and lab work. The grant for $60,000 was funded through the USGS Mineral Resources External Research Program. National Outdoor Book Award One of the bureau s newest publications, The Rio Grande: A River Guide to the Geology and Landscapes of Northern New Mexico, was recently honored with an award from the National Outdoor Book Association. Written by Paul Bauer and published in August 2011, the book won top honors in the Outdoor Adventure Guidebook category. The National Outdoor Book Awards is the outdoor world s largest and most prestigious book award program. It is a non-profit, educational program sponsored by the National Outdoor Book Awards Foundation, Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education, and Idaho State University. The purpose of the awards is to recognize and encourage outstanding writing and publishing. The book has been a popular seller since its appearance and is available through our publication sales office. Rockin Around New Mexico 2012 This summer our annual teacher s workshop, Rockin Around New Mexico, will return to the Jemez Mountains, to visit some of the places that were inaccessible last summer due to the fires burning at the time. Topics will include the geology of local seismic, volcanic, and geothermal features relating to the Valles caldera, and seismic hazards in New Mexico. This year s 3-day workshop is scheduled for July Classroom teachers in grades 1 12 are encouraged to attend. Teachers who are interested in attending should contact Susie Welch at (575) or via at Volume 12, Number 1 Published twice annually by the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources L. Greer Price Interim Director a division of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Daniel H. Lopez President 801 Leroy Place Socorro, New Mexico (575) Albuquerque Office 2808 Central SE Albuquerque, New Mexico (505) Visit our main Web site geoinfo.nmt.edu Board of Regents Ex Officio Susana Martinez Governor of New Mexico Jose Z. Garcia Secretary of Higher Education Appointed Richard N. Carpenter President , Santa Fe Jerry A. Armijo Secretary/Treasurer , Socorro Deborah Peacock , Albuquerque Abe Silver, Jr , Santa Fe Omar Soliman , Socorro Editors L. Greer Price Jane C. Love Layout and Graphics Gina D Ambrosio Leo Gabaldon Earth Matters is a free publication. For subscription information please call (575) , or us at Cover photo of Ship Rock, New Mexico Gary Rasmussen new mexico earth matters 5 winter 2012
6 New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources 801 Leroy Place Socorro, New Mexico Return service requested NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. Postage PAID permit no Albuquerque, NM Publications Atlas of Major Rocky Mountain Gas Reservoirs, a co-publication of the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, the Gas Research Institute, and the U.S. Department of Energy, 1993, Over 200 pp, 17" x 22", ten large (24" x 36") colored map sheets, and CD ROM. $99.50 including domestic shipping (gross receipts tax applies for New Mexico transactions). ISBN# This oversized atlas (and accompanying database) synthesizes information on sixty-six major gas plays in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Each is described and illustrated with maps, logs, and cross sections. The atlas includes descriptions and geologic engineering data for 861 reservoirs that, as of December 1990, each had produced more than 5 billion cubic feet of gas. Prepared in cooperation with the geological surveys of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Minerals of New Mexico poster, recently reprinted, 24" x 36", $5.00 plus $4.50 shipping and handling including tax. The nineteen spectacular mineral specimens featured on this poster offer a glimpse of some of the most beautiful minerals in New Mexico. Photographed by renowned photographer Jeff Scovil, specimens are from the collection of the Mineral Museum on the campus of New Mexico Tech in Socorro. This poster was produced by the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources in cooperation with the Mining and Minerals Division of New Mexico s Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. For more information about these and other bureau publications: Visit our Web site at Write or visit our Publications Office on the campus of New Mexico Tech, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, New Mexico Call (575) or us at Publication prices do not include shipping and handling or taxes where applicable. new mexico earth matters winter 2012
Happy New Year!
With the holidays behind us, many of our thoughts are turning toward 2017. The beginning of the year is a great time to reflect on where we have been, where we are, and where we are headed.
Reflection is something I have learned many people consider a luxury. We are too busy with the doing and often neglect the being. As we reflect, many of us make a list of resolutions, which will help make us better people.
Lose weight. Spend less. Take better care of yourself. Get more exercise. Lower the cholesterol level. Be more patient. Eat and spend less. Smile more. Get to know your neighbors better.
Attend church more regularly. Read the Bible. Spend less time at work. Lose the grouchy attitude. Slow down and smell the roses. Connect with those long lost friends and relatives.
Reviewing our lives
Resolutions allow us to stop and critically assess our lives. Instead of making resolutions, my best friend always picks a word to concentrate on each year. Simple enough, right?
Just one word! So if you had to choose one word on which to focus for 2017 what would it be? My word for 2016 was organize. I made a lot of progress on that word and will continue to keep that word in my focus for this year as well.
However, after a near-life ending experience Dec. 13, I have decided that my word for 2017 needs to be transition!
So why, transition?
Life-changing event
On Dec. 13, I was flying from Columbus to teach two days of farm transition workshops for North Carolina State University. As Delta Flight 1695 began its ascent to head south, the plane started shaking and I heard terrible back firing noises from the right engine.
When I looked out my window on the wing, I was surprised to see the right engine on fire. The next 15 minutes were quite nerve wracking and soul searching for everyone on board.
My quick disaster calculations had us only having a 50 percent chance of surviving at best. Over those 15 minutes, I had time to think of all the things I had not completed and what the ramifications of my impending peril would be.
Some of the things that flashed through my mind included: Why didnt I finish the new version of my will? Does anyone know the combination to the safe? Does anyone know where to find all my passwords to all the accounts? Does anyone know where I hid the bars of gold and silver (thats, right, I dont have any).
Thankfully, we were able to land on a runway cleared for just us, complete with emergency vehicles.
Keeping calm
I credit the entire Delta crew for handling this situation with a great deal of calm and professionalism. They were literally life savers.
So this year, it is my goal/resolution/word to make sure my loved ones and office team are prepared for a future without me.
While I am not planning to die, wouldnt it be easier for everyone involved if a good transition plan was in the works for both home and work?
In fact, a good transition plan may take over a decade to execute with your farm successors. So isnt now a great time to start?
To help farm families plan for the future of their business, we will be hosting a farm succession and estate planning workshop, Planning for the Future of Your Farm on Jan. 18, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Ashtabula County Extension office.
If you are thinking of how and when to transfer your farm business to the next generation, this workshop is one which you will not want to miss. This workshop is designed to help farm families develop a succession plan for their farm business.
Attend and learn ways to successfully transfer management skills and the farms business assets from one generation to the next. Learn how to have the crucial conversations about the future of your farm.
Plan for future
This workshop will challenge farm families to actively plan for the future of the farm business. Farm families are encouraged to bring members from each generation to the workshop.
The featured speakers for this event will include Robert Moore, attorney at Law, Wright & Moore Law Company; and me.
The fee is $20 per person with a registration deadline of Jan. 11. The class will be limited to the first 40 registrants. The fee includes lunch and program materials. More information can be obtained by calling the Ashtabula County Extension office at 440-576-9008 and a program flier can be found at http://go.osu.edu/ne-events.
So, in 2017 I urge you to consider what word you will focus on. One word can make a huge difference.
To close, I would like to share a quote from Elisabeth Kubler-Ross who stated, Its only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, we will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.
Have a good, and safe 2017.
Related Content
British farming faces significant risks after Brexit - including a loss of subsidies, tariffs and increased competition, according to a new report.
The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) report has highlighted concerns for the farming sector ahead of Brexit negotiations.
The report acknowledges UK farmers face a triple jeopardy from changes in the UKs trading relationships negotiated after Brexit.
The EAC says leaving the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will 'threaten' the viability of some farms. Trade agreements which impose tariff or non-tariff barriers to UK farm exports will similarly threaten farm and food business incomes, and new trading relationships with states outside the European Union 'could lead to increased competition' from countries with lower food standards, animal welfare standards and environmental protection.
The Committee has said new subsidies should have 'clearly defined objectives' linked to the delivery of public goods, like the promotion of biodiversity, preventing flooding and storing carbon, rather than simply providing income support to farmers.
The report also urges Government, as part of its initial work to leave the EU, to assess the resources necessary to replace existing EU environmental funding to ensure that farm businesses remain viable.
'Disappointing'
The National Farmers Union (NFU) has said that food security and food production should be regarded as strategically important for the country and good for the public.
NFU Vice President Guy Smith has said it is disappointing that the EAC failed to mention this.
Mr Smith gave evidence to the EAC last October. He said: British farmers work to a very high standard for animal welfare, food safety and environmental protection. We believe strongly that any standards are not watered down if we are forced to compete against agricultures in other parts of the world that clearly do not have such high standards as ours. Clearly we must not be put at a competitive disadvantage.
It is essential for the food and farming sector to maintain full, unfettered access to the single market while having continued access to a flexible, competent and reliable workforce. Retaining tariff-free access is vital for UK farmers - its where 75% of our food exports go.
The EAC recommended that support payments should be linked to public goods. It is our view that food security and food production should be regarded as strategically important for the country and good for the public. It is disappointing that the EAC failed to mention this.
The NFU urges Government to commit to working with farmers to establish a domestic farming policy designed to ensure a resilient farming sector alongside work to protect and enhance the environment. The domestic agricultural policy should seek to deliver competitive, profitable and progressive farm businesses through a number of measures which also address price and market volatility and improvements in sectoral economic performance.
Mr Smith added: Farmers across the country understand the importance of protecting the environment and ensuring we have a thriving countryside. For example, planting or restoring 30km of hedgerows and increasing the number of nectar and pollen rich areas by 134% in the past two years. Farmers continue to fulfil their role of providing high quality food, produced to exacting welfare and environmental standards. We want to maintain those standards once we leave Europe.
'Not necessary to create new legislation'
The CLA which represents landowners, farmers and rural businesses has backed calls by MPs for certainty on the status of environmental laws currently set and enforced by the EU post-Brexit.
However, the organisation has stopped short of backing the concept of a new Environment Protection Act to be in place before the Government triggers the Article 50 Brexit process.
CLA Director of Policy and Advice Christopher Price said: Improving and enhancing our environment, from soil and water quality to managing wildlife habitats and nurturing biodiversity, has to remain a priority for us all through Brexit and beyond. We welcome this report that shines a light on the risks and complexities that have to be managed through the process of extricating the UK from EU agricultural and environmental law.
We agree with the sentiment behind the Committees call for a new Environmental Protection Act. They are right to call for post-Brexit certainty on environmental laws, but we are not convinced it is necessary to create new legislation, other than the Great Repeal Bill, or for it to be rushed through in the timeframes the Committee sets out.
The Government should transpose existing EU commitments into UK law then decide what needs to change rather than creating more confusion. It is important we take the time necessary to get post-Brexit environmental policy right.
Mr Price added: Brexit creates an opportunity for governments in England and Wales to adopt a new Food, Farming and Environment Policy that delivers innovative approaches to promoting and protecting our environment, and doing so while supporting a resilient and productive farming sector.
A Green MEP has accused the Environment Secretary, Andrea Leadsom of 'environmental irresponsibility' following her call to abandon a greening measure post Brexit.
Ms Leadsom told the Oxford Farming Conference that the three crop rule, agreed unanimously by Agricultural ministers in 2013 as part of reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy, should be scrapped.
The rule applies to farms of over 30 hectares where farmers must grow at least 3 crops and was agreed in order to help conserve the environment and contribute to addressing greenhouse emissions.
Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP for the South West and a member of the European Parliaments Agricultural Committee, said her 'worst fears' about a post-Brexit farming landscape 'are being realised.'
She said: "Rather than using the opportunities offered by Brexit to encourage a move towards a diverse and ecologically sustainable farming system, this government seem determined to dive headlong into encouraging damaging monocultures.
"Leadsom has revealed she is set on shredding measures aimed at safeguarding our soils, protecting habitats and utilizing farmland for capturing and storing carbon. There is also a strong whiff of hypocrisy here since the greening measures that Leadsom is now vowing to rip up were agreed unanimously by all EU Agricultural ministers, including her own government's".
'Leaving farmers in the dark'
Dr Scott Cato has also accused the government of leaving farmers in the dark over future plans post-Brexit.
She said: "Farmers want to know, whats the plan? For instance, what are farmers supposed to be planting in the spring when they don't know what will happen with relative price and exchange rates?
"Also, with uncertainty over whether the government will focus on staying within the single market, farmers dont know if they will face tariffs on their exports. The government is creating an impossible environment in which to make decisions about future investments.
The Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee has warned that British farming faces significant risks after Brexit. Farmers could face tariffs of up to 50% on exports to the EU if Britain leaves the single market, the Commission has warned.
British agrochemical regulation post-Brexit 'can benefit' food production, trade and the environment, the BCPC has said.
Dr Colin Ruscoe, President of the British Crop Production Council (BCPC), addressed an Oxford Farming Conference audience on Crop protection regulation: threats and opportunities post-Brexit.
He said the objective of the post-Brexit crop protection product regulation must be to provide 'safe, effective products', whilst enabling export of agricultural products to EU and elsewhere.
It should maintain or improve human safety and environmental standards, and facilitate both Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and resistance management. We can get real benefits from Brexit for UK food production by maximising science-based, proportionate decision-making, whilst achieving harmonisation with global authorities to facilitate trade within and outside the EU.
Dr Ruscoe argued that the UK should adopt a fully risk-based approach to product registration, involving US EPA-style practices, and simplified procedures for minor uses, bio-pesticides and other low risk products.
He said: We should remove the EUs unscientific hazard-based assessments and the associated Candidates for Substitution and Comparative Assessment processes and, particularly, political interference in the regulatory process.
Instead, the importance of the UK Chemicals Regulation Divisions (CRD) current approach open communication, stakeholder consultation and training, should be emphasised.
Risk assessment-based registration can support a sustainable range of safe crop protection products, essential if farmers are to both grow more food and improve environmental protection without taking more land for cultivation.
Dr Ruscoe concluded: It can underpin future UK regulation without prejudice to EU and global trade. It therefore deserves full support from Defra, CRD and from environmental organisations, said Dr Ruscoe.
A couple of days ago New Yorks corrupt governor, Andrew Cuomo, was being derided for vetoing a bill to make sure indigent suspects had legal representation. But yesterday his praises were being sung by both Hillary Clinton and, especially, Bernie Sanders for his free tuition proposal . Under it, the state of New York will pay tuition for hundreds of thousands of middle- and low-income New Yorkers (kids whose families are making less than $125,000/year) at state colleges and at community colleges. This would be a pilot program for the whole country.
I have some first hand experience with this system. My first choice after high school was Cornell University, a very expensive private university upstate. I was accepted and offered a scholarship but it wasnt enough and my parents didnt have the money to cover the difference. I opted for a state university instead, SUNY, Stony Brook. Recently I wrote a program of theirs into my will and wrote about it here . The program gives students from households making less than $15,000/year free tuition and housing. If Cuomos bill passes, I guess Ill have to come up with something else to do with my gift to my alma mater.
Under the proposal, the state would complete students tuition payments by supplementing existing state and federal grant programs essentially covering the balance, though administration officials said some students could have their entire four-year education covered.
In his remarks, the governor who had endorsed and campaigned for Hillary Clinton, Mr. Sanderss opponent in the primary picked up the senators mantle, arguing that student debt was crippling the prospects of generations of young Americans.
Its like starting a race with an anchor tied to your leg, Mr. Cuomo said, adding that many students in New York and elsewhere left school $30,000 or more in debt.
This society should say, Were going to pay for college because you need college to be successful, he added. And New York State New York State is going to do something about it.
Mr. Cuomo hopes for a quick start for his idea, with a three-year rollout beginning in the fall, with a $100,000 income limit, rising to $125,000 by 2019, a timetable the administration billed as more speedy than the one embraced by Mrs. Clinton during her presidential campaign. (On Twitter, Mrs. Clinton said she was delighted by the governors proposal, calling it a plan that she and Mr. Sanders had worked hard on.)
Still, Mr. Cuomos plan would affect a far smaller pool of students than federal proposals. Initial estimates from the administration said the program would allow nearly a million New York families with college-age children, or independent adults, to qualify. The actual number of students receiving tuition-free education would probably be about 200,000 by the time it was fully enacted in 2019, according to Jim Malatras, the director of state operations.
It was likewise unclear how much the program would cost. The administration estimated that the states annual outlay would be $163 million by 2019, though it acknowledged that estimate could be affected by participation and level of need.
There are some kids that arent getting anything right now that would be made whole, Mr. Malatras said. And some kids that are in the program, we would just fill in the gap.
New York already offers in-state students one of the lowest tuition rates in the nation. Current full-time tuition at four-year State University of New York schools for residents is $6,470; at two-year community colleges, the cost is $4,350. Full-time costs for City University of New York schools are about the same. The state also provides nearly $1 billion in support through its tuition assistance program, which has an adjusted gross income limit of just under $100,000. Those awards top out at $5,165; many grants are smaller.
Costs for the state could also rise as enrollment rises. Some 400,000 students currently attend state or city universities full time, but the administration projects that the lure of a tuition-free system could increase the student population by 10 percent by 2019.
Estimates for other free-tuition proposals have said that costs would be even higher. A 2015 report by the citys Independent Budget Office put the cost for the citys community colleges alone at $138 million to $232 million. But Mr. Malatras expressed confidence in the administrations estimate, saying it had calculated costs considering a variety of factors, including the number of students already receiving money through federal Pell grants, the state tuition assistance program and tuition credits.
But even some supporters expressed some doubt about how much Mr. Cuomos plan could cost the state. The cost estimate of $163 million begs the question: If it costs so little, why havent we done it before? said Assemblywoman Deborah J. Glick, chairwoman of the Assemblys Higher Education Committee.
The tuition plan will require legislative approval, a potential challenge when the governor and lawmakers have been at odds over a raise and other issues. On Tuesday, both Democrats and Republicans offered qualified support for the plan, saying they wanted more details on the proposal and adding that each party also had worked to lower tuition.
Bruce Gyory, an Albany-based political consultant, said the governors announcement would appeal to the same voters who flocked to Mr. Sanders during the Democratic presidential primaries last year and to voters with some college education but no degree, who swung to Donald J. Trumps column in the general election. Such voters made up nearly a third of the electorate, according to exit polls, Mr. Gyory said.
When youre able to take an innovative policy and have it affect a broad cross section of the state and the electorate, and you know it also resonates nationally, thats not a bad play, Mr. Gyory said. In fact, its a very astute move.
Students and faculty also seemed intrigued by the proposal. Katie Montwill, a junior studying health science at Stony Brook University, called the idea pretty awesome, on the outside, though she added she was not sure how it would be funded. Ms. Montwill, 20, also suggested that the idea of tuition-free education might not sit well with some parents including her own who did not want their tax dollars to help put other peoples children through school.
I feel like my parents wouldnt be for it, she said.
United University Professions, which represents 35,000 faculty members at New York State campuses, offered support for the plan but also argued for more full-time faculty, a sentiment echoed by other groups.
For his part, Mr. Sanders who was greeted by shouts of I love you, Bernie and loud cheers by the crowd in Long Island City was effusive in his praise of Mr. Cuomos idea, calling it a revolutionary idea for higher education that he envisioned would be emulated elsewhere.
Heres my prediction, the senator said. If New York State does it this year, mark my words, state after state will follow.
Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom has outlined today how red tape will be scrapped to help farmers get on and grow British food.
Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference to leaders from the food and farming industry, the Environment Secretary highlighted EU regulations that are weighing down farmers in paperwork and stopping them getting on with the job of growing food.
Billboards publicising EU funding and rules on how many crops farmers should grow are examples of red tape that should be scrapped when we leave the European Union, Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom said today.
Dealing with red tape and farm inspections is estimated to cost the industry 5million per year and the loss of 300,000 hours. The Government will be consulting industry later this year on areas they would like to see reformed, and how a more 'common sense approach' could be applied.
'Bureaucratic system'
In a keynote speech Andrea Leadsom said: For too long, a bureaucratic system which tries to meet the needs of 28 countries has held farmers back.
But now, leaving the EU means we can focus on what works best for the United Kingdom. By cutting the red tape that comes out of Brussels, we will free our farmers to grow more, sell more and export more great British food whilst upholding our high standards for plant and animal health and welfare.
My priority will be common sense rules that work for the United Kingdom.
Ditch 'three crop rule'
Following the UKs departure from the EU, the UK will be free to scrap rules requiring farmers and rural businesses to pay for and display billboards or posters to publicise the EU contribution for grants to grow their businesses.
These signs - measuring as much as 6ft x 4ft for the biggest grants - must be displayed permanently to avoid a penalty.
The UK will be able to ditch the three crop rule which sets out how many different crops farms must plant each year and free 40,000 farmers to grow the foods people want - adding millions of pounds to the economy.
The Government wants to relax rules requiring complicated definitions applied across Europe to identify features in farmers fields for subsidy payments such as what makes a hedge a hedge or when a puddle becomes a pond and instead adopt a simpler approach.
The Government is also looking at reducing the amount of paperwork flood-hit farmers need to provide to support claims for repairs for recovery of their land, allowing them to get on with urgent building work more quickly.
The UK will also be able to reduce the number of government inspections on farms, by streamlining them or replacing them by better use of aerial photography. The Government has already cut 4,000 inspections this year and aims to remove 20,000 by 2020.
A poll by the RSPCA has revealed eight out of ten people want animal welfare laws improved or at least kept the same after we leave the EU.
The poll found that 81% of the public believe that post Brexit animal welfare laws in the UK should be improved or at least kept at the same level and only 5% disagreed.
RSPCA's David Bowles said: This poll sends a really strong message to the Government as they negotiate our way out of the EU that the public care deeply about animal welfare.
Theres no doubt that Brexit is going to be a complex issue, a lot of legislation covering farm animals in particular will need to be reviewed, but this is a golden opportunity for the Government to improve welfare and also consider rewarding farmers who rear to higher welfare standards.
The Government has already said that leaving the European Union gives opportunities to update and improve animal welfare in some key areas.
RSPCA's wants
Requiring compulsory CCTV in abattoirs
Mandatory labelling of food according to how animals were reared
Reforming the slaughter legislation to end non stun slaughter and at least ensure that the meat from those animals that have not been stunned only goes to those communities exempt under the law
Changing the way subsidies are paid to farmers to encourage those that improve animal welfare
Putting in place measures to end live exports and reducing journey times for animals being transported
Introducing legislation for other farm animals, including ducks, sheep, dairy and beef cattle
Reforming the legislation on non commercial imports of puppies to stop it being used to evade controls by raising the age for puppies being transported from 15 weeks
Banning the transit of whale meat through the UK
Mr Bowles added: Although most of the opportunities to improve welfare focus on farm animals the Government can also use Brexit to reform the way we import puppies and prevent the thousands of sickly puppies that flood into the UK at present under EU rules.
The Scottish Government has guaranteed funding for practical farm research in 2017 and unveiled a package of new money for its land reform agenda.
Overall funding for land reform will be increased by 3.4 million, while the existing Scottish Land Fund budget, which supports communities in their bid to purchase land, will be maintained at 10 million.
The additional funding will support the introduction of new measures which offer greater transparency around land ownership in Scotland for communities, tenants and land owners.
Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Roseanna Cunningham, said: Scotlands land is one of our most prized and valuable resources and has the potential to be a real driver for social justice. The further powers contained in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 will help to ensure that we use our land to its full potential.
Today we are reaffirming our commitment to provide 10 million for the Scottish Land Fund, which supports a diverse range of urban and rural community groups to purchase and take control of their own land, making their communities stronger, resilient and more sustainable.
Funding for agricultural research projects
Meanwhile Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing guaranteed the continuation of funding for research projects.
The money is part of a 50million programme of research into the environment and agriculture which aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Scottish farming.
A new test for tickborne fever in sheep, the effect of cow health on milk nutrients and identification of potato varieties with resistance to late blight are among the research projects benefiting Scottish farming.
The projects include the development of a new molecular test for tickborne fever which is a sizeable hidden cost to the livestock industry, a study into levels of selenium in milk to ensure the selection of cows with optimal mineral status leading to healthier cows and healthier milk and the identification of potato varieties with resistance to the late potato blight genes to help improve resistance to a potato disease that causes the loss of entire crops.
Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said: Identifying ways to help farmers and crofters improve efficiency on the farm is a key way for us to invest in the future of the industry.
We fund a significant amount of research which can make a difference at a practical level. New tests for tickborne fever in sheep, improving potato resistance to late blight and helping farmers to select the best cows for milk production can all help make our crops and livestock healthier. That in turn can boost sustainability, productivity and profitability of farm businesses.
We will continue to harness Scotlands first class research abilities to support our farming industry and maximise the contribution it makes to our economy.
NFU Cymru Conference: Farmers need more help to 'weather current storms'
Warrenton, VA (20186)
Today
Cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. Expect mist and reduced visibilities at times. High 73F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..
Tonight
Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 57F. Winds light and variable.
UPDATED: As of about 10 p.m. Monday, Dominion Energy had restored power to about 3,000 homes and businesses that lost electricity at about 8 p.m. due to an equipment issue, according to the Do
Where to eat and drink in the Fayetteville area this weekend
TPP: How Obama Traded Away His Legacy
Donald Trump is preparing to wipe President Barack Obama's legacy from existence. The Affordable Care Act, Dodd-Frank and protections for the environment and immigrants all are set to disappear in no part small part thanks to President Obama himself and his relentless advocacy for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) right through Election Day.
And President Obama still won't face the sorry truth, this week declaring that he would have beaten Trump if he had been the candidate. After years of siding with corporate America to pass various job-killing trade deals over the opposition of congressional Democrats, he announced that it was "nonsense" that anyone should have the view that "Democrats have somehow abandoned the white working class."
Yet in fact, post-election polling and exit polls confirm that Trump flipped decisive states because he connected with voters' fury about job-killing trade deals.
Trump's omnipresent attacks on "rigged" trade deals resonated with communities devastated by mass job offshoring. Polling shows that Americans viewed President Obama's TPP as a corporate power grab that would cost more jobs, lower wages and raise medicine prices.
Trump won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by 23,000, 11,000 and 68,000 votes, respectively. The number of people in those states certified as having lost jobs to trade since the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, is 78,331, 159,252 and 182,017 under just one government program that captures a fraction of trade-related job loss.
Meanwhile, President Obama's closing argument for Clinton at a Michigan rally the day before the election was to "continue this journey of progress," effectively promising a third term of an Obama presidency that had spent the past two years prioritizing the implementation of a trade deal despised not only by working class Midwesterners, but the entire Democratic Party base.
With High-Profile Help, Obama Plots Life After Presidency
...The dinner in the private upstairs dining room of the White House went so late that Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn billionaire, finally suggested around midnight that President Obama might like to go to bed.
Feel free to kick us out, Mr. Hoffman recalled telling the president.
But Mr. Obama was just getting started. Ill kick you out when its time, he replied. He then lingered with his wife, Michelle, and their 13 guests among them the novelist Toni Morrison, the hedge fund manager Marc Lasry and the Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr well past 2 a.m.
Mr. Obama seemed incredibly relaxed, said another guest, the writer Malcolm Gladwell. He recalled how the group, which also included the actress Eva Longoria and Vinod Khosla, a founder of Sun Microsystems, tossed out ideas about what Mr. Obama should do after he leaves the White House.
Publicly, Mr. Obama betrays little urgency about his future. Privately, he is preparing for his postpresidency with the same fierce discipline and fund-raising ambition that characterized the 2008 campaign that got him to the White House.
The long-running dinner this past February is part of a methodical effort taking place inside and outside the White House as the president, first lady and a cadre of top aides map out a postpresidential infrastructure and endowment they estimate could cost as much as $1 billion. The presidents aides did not ask any of the guests for library contributions after the dinner, but a number of those at the table could be donors in the future.
The $1 billion double what George W. Bush raised for his library and its various programs would be used for what one adviser called a digital-first presidential library loaded with modern technologies, and to establish a foundation with a worldwide reach. ...
...Including construction costs, Mr. Obamas associates set a goal of raising at least $800 million enough money, they say, to avoid never-ending fund-raising. One top adviser said that $800 million was a floor rather than a ceiling.
So far, Mr. Obama has raised just over $5.4 million from 12 donors, with gifts ranging from $100,000 to $1 million. Michael J. Sacks, a Chicago businessman, gave $666,666. Fred Eychaner, the founder of Chicago-based Newsweb Corp., which owns community newspapers and radio stations, donated $1 million. Mark T. Gallogly, a private equity executive, and James H. Simons, a technology entrepreneur, each contributed $340,000 to a foundation set up to oversee development of the library.
I'm about to say the obvious, but with so many dots getting connected in this post-election, pre-Trump interregnum, I want to connect just these two and let the obvious sink in.Barack Obama has a number of what his supporters call "legacy achievements" meant positively (I would add a number of inverse-legacy achievements as well) but chief among them, first in the list, is always the ACA, "Obamacare." Whatever its demerits, and they are many , it did accomplish a narrow task providing medical insurance, in some form, to millions of Americans who didn't have it before.That legacy achievement is about to be stripped away, all because Donald Trump, with a fully Republican Congress behind him, has been elected president.And what caused that Republican takeover of the White House? Again, many factors, but chief among them, in my estimation and in the estimation of a number of writers, is Obama's relentless push to pass TPP even as Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was running to inhabit, in effect, Obama's third term and even as both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders achieved or nearly achieved unpredicted upsets running"free" trade economics.Let that sink in, because it's not going to be said in too many public Democratic places.Again, you won't hear many Democrats say this, because the "free" trade wing of the Democratic Party is still in charge (of the Party, not the country). And that wing, which includes almost all Clinton supporters in the Party including Tim Kaine , her choice for vice-president, and including Tom Perez , Obama's "not Keith Ellison" choice for DNC chair is still in favor of job-killing trade deals. This intra-party dynamic, I predict, will keep them out of power for a generation, unless the Obama-Clinton wing is ousted from party leadership in something like the next six months. That's possible, of course, but it doesn't seem likely to happen.(And before you say, or hear, that Perez was forced to support TPP because, as Secretary of Labor, his boss supported it, consider that Perez didn't feel as compelled to support his boss's position on the recent UN condemnation of Israeli settlements .)Supporting my contention is this , written by Lori Wallach, head of Global Trade Watch at Public Citizen, and Murshed Zaheed, political director of CREDO Action. The whole piece is worth a read; they nail it.Notice the mention of NAFTA above. People have long memories when it comes to NAFTA, especially people out of work. NAFTA is almost iconic for "Democrat-sponsored job-killing trade deal."About my comment that Clinton was running for "Obama's third term":That clearly didn't sit well with Rust Belt voters.about the election, one of them anyway, is this: Voters didn't just vote for "change" in some vague dissatisfied way. Many voters specifically repudiated "Clintonism" Democratic Party-sponsored neoliberalism when they voted last November. Evidence for that is this Clinton's very high unpopularity, which cannot simply be chalked up to 90s-era right-wing smears. Too many younger voters, for whom the 90s occurred in the time of Alexander the Great (or at least Ronald Reagan), repudiated her candidacy as well, especially during the primary.To answer that, one must connect different dots. Here's two of them , via theThere are many more high-dollar names in the article, including these:Those two dots, of course, are Obama's post-electoral plans and its price. So, did Barack Obama push so hard for TPP in order to feather Hillary Clinton's electoral nest, the Democratic Party's electoral nest ... or his own post-electoral future?As a one-time mayor of Chicago, Hizzoner himself , used to say, "Youth wants to know." And so do the rest of us, though the answer seems fairly (as I said in this essay's first sentence) obvious. Hillary Clinton is off to a post-electoral retirement in semi-disgrace; the Democratic Party seems doomed to wander the wilderness for a good long time; and Obama ... he sails into a well-financed, almost golden, future sunset.GP
Labels: Barack Obama, Culture of Corruption, Gaius Publius, Hillary Clinton, Obama legacy, Obamacare, TPP, Trump
the Islamic State claimed that one of its soldiers had done the job. In its typical deranged language, the group said that it had happily struck the revellers, turning their joy into sorrows. The attack, the group said, was in retaliation for air strikes and other military operations carried out by the Turkish apostate government against isis in Syria.
Last week brought word that Ahmet Sik, one of the countrys most fearless investigative reporters, had been arrested and detained; apparently, Turkish officials charged him with spreading terrorist propaganda through a series of tweets. In 2010 and 2011, he served a year in prison, in a blatant (and futile) attempt by Turkish authorities to halt publication of his investigation into the secretive activities of Gulen -- who, at the time, was Erdogans most important ally -- and his followers. I saw Sik this past August, after the purges had begun, and he told me he had little doubt that Erdogan aimed to remove all impediments to his rule. Very soon, I think, they will arrest me, too, he said.
Following the New Years Eve attack, Erdogan asked his countrymen to remain calm. We will retain our coolheadedness as a nation, standing more closely together, and will never give ground to such dirty games, he said.
If only Erdogan would follow his own advice.
#
The New YorkerAlthough I refrained from fobbing off my amateur speculations in taking note of the bloody New Year's Eve assault on that Istanbul nightclub -- at least 39 killed, scores injured -- you didn't have to be either clairvoyant or an expert on Turkish domestic affairs to call this one: that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would use what seemed clearly another act of violence against the Turkish state to clamp down even further on the remaining opposition, as he did in the wake of the strange coup attempt against him perpetrated by elements in the Turkish military in July.To be sure, as's Dexter Filkins writes in a newyorker.com post today , although "the shooter has not yet been identified,"Filkins's post, it should be noted, is called "The End of Democracy in Turkey.""Since July," Filkins notes, "thousands of civilians have been arrested and jailed -- many, if not most, with no apparent connection to [Pennsylvania-resident Muslim cleric Fethullah] Gulen [whose followers may have been behind the coup attempt] or ISIS or Kurdish militants," and "hundreds of thousands of others have been either fired or suspended from their jobs," among them "university professors, career bureaucrats, leaders of the democratic opposition, and journalists."Filkins also notes the awkard role the Erdogan government has played in the fight against ISIS, which it eventually joined -- but only after having offered various kinds of support to the opposition, in hopes of seeing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad overthrown. "Turkeys leaders," Filkins notes, "bear a heavy responsibility for the rise of extremists across the borderand inside Turkey, too. ISIS, allowed to operate inside Turkey for years, is now well established there."Filkins concludes his piece:I don't think Filkins or anyone else is holding his breath for any such development.
Labels: 12 Days of Christmas Scorn, Erdogan, New Yorker (The), Turkey
Last month Forest Labs paid $38 million to settle allegations it paid doctors speaker fees for sometimes phony events so they would prescribe its drugs. It was the latest in a string of speaker fee cases.
Between 2008 and 2011, the pharma allegedly paid doctors fees that ranged from $500 to $2,500 per event. Some doctors were paid when the speaking events didnt happen or no licensed health professionals attended, the DOJ said.
Forest Labs settled the False Claims Act case without admitting liability.
Here are some other cases with allegations of illegal speaker fees:
In September this year, GSK paid the SEC $20 million to settle China FCPA violations. The SEC said GSK China spent about $17 million on speaker fees in 2012. At least $2 million of that amount was paid to people whose healthcare qualifications couldnt be verified.
Earlier this year, AstraZeneca paid the SEC $5.5 million to resolve FCPA offenses in Russia and China. The China staff paid speaker fees to doctors reflected in documentation containing no meeting date, venue, subject or fees associated with the particular speaker event, the SEC said.
In August last year, medical device maker NuVasive Inc. agreed to pay the United States $13.5 million to resolve allegations that it paid kickbacks to induce doctors to use the companys spinal fusion system. The alleged illegal payments included promotional speaker fees.
In January 2015, global pharma Daiichi Sankyo Inc. paid the United States and state Medicaid programs $39 million to resolve allegations that it paid kickbacks to doctors so they would prescribe the companys drugs. The DOJ alleged that Daiichi paid doctors kickbacks in the form of speaker fees from 2005 through 2011. Payments went to doctors even when they spoke only to their own staffs at expensive Daiichi-paid dinners, the DOJ alleged.
In 2013, Johnson & Johnson paid $2.2 billion to resolve criminal and civil claims arising from allegations of kickbacks to U.S. doctors and improper marketing claims about three of its prescription drugs. The DOJ alleged that a J&J subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, paid speaker fees to doctors to influence them to write prescriptions for Risperdal.
In 2010, Novartis paid $237.5 million to resolve civil allegations over kickbacks paid to doctors to prescribe six of the companys drugs. Novartis allegedly paid doctors honoraria of between $1,500 and $2,000 to speak at physician events about the benefits of Novartis drugs. Some doctors earned as much as $150,000 a year in honoraria. In 2007 alone, Novartis paid $9.5 million to doctors through its speakers bureau. Many of the doctors selected as speakers had no publications or teaching positions.
Several speakers, the civil complaint against Novartis alleged, had difficulty with English. Other speakers were simply very poor communicators. Physician attendance at the events was sparse often just one or two other doctors. The venues were sometimes tables at restaurants, during the dinner hour, although the DOJ alleged that Novartis never really checked who attended or where the events were held.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
Job Title: Compliance Counsel
Employer: Panasonic Avionics Corporation
Location: Singapore
JOB SUMMARY: Panasonic Avionics Corporation is looking to hire a Compliance Counsel in its regional Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore. Although the position will have a particular focus on anti-corruption compliance in the Asia Pacific region, it will also support the companys global international legal and ethical compliance program. The position reports to the Chief Compliance Officer in in the companys global headquarters in Lake Forest, California. . . . Continue Reading
By Annabel Fielding, author of historical novel The Pearl and the Carnelian
The Pearl and the Carnelian
The interwar years of the 1930s was marked by tumultuous political and social upheavals that more than warrant its description as the Devils decade.
It was a time when Hitler and the Nazis were on the ascendency in Germany, while fascism was taking root in Europe.
The relationships between the UK and the fascist regimes of the continent during this period are often imagined in terms of inherent adversity: a reassuring tale of the sensible, egalitarian Brits inevitably triumphing over the violent and reactionary societies abroad.
However, over the course of research for my historical novel, The Pearl and the Carnelian, I had to delve into far murkier waters and discover some unsavoury truths.
One figure who can give us a glimpse of this darker side of the British history is Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe a noblewoman, an adventuress, a diplomat and a notorious Nazi sympathizer.
One of her most fruitful partnerships was with Lord Rothermere, an esteemed British peer and then owner of national newspaper the Daily Mail.
Rothermere had always been notoriously conservative. However, in the 1930s his sympathies and activities acquired a dangerous radical edge as he began a well-publicised overture to the new totalitarian regimes of Italy and Germany.
Many people have heard of his infamous Hurrah for the Blackshirts! headline, referring to supporters of the British Union of Fascists led by Oswald Mosley, himself an aristocrat.
Few, however, know that his connections to the far-Right movements, both overseas and at home, went much further than this. In 1933, Rothermere started his clandestine correspondence with Hitler and Stephanie became his exceptionally high-ranking courier.
One of the first gifts Rothermere entrusted her to carry was his own portrait photograph mounted in a solid gold frame. The frame was made by Cartier of Paris and was worth more than 50,000 at todays prices. On the reverse of the frame was a reprint of the Daily Mail editorial hailing the New Germany.
Such sentiments, of course, look shocking and bizarre to us however, they were far more common in the interwar British society than we would often care to admit.
The list of Nazi sympathizers included plenty of surnames that we are more used to seeing in society columns: the Duke of Westminster, the richest landowner in Britain, joined The Link, a radical pro-Nazi organization, as late as 1939. A joke at the time was that one of his motives must have been to prevent Hitler from dropping bombs on London, because he owned so much of it!
Even the Prince of Wales himself, the future Edward the 8th, frequently spoke in favour of the Anglo-German understanding.
Often this support stemmed from fear. The rich and powerful feared the bogeyman of Communism and the fascist regimes on the continent, as well as Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts at home, seemed to promise a shield against the much-discussed Red threat.
At the same time, more prosaic home-grown problems were cause for alarm. Scarcely a year passed without another desperate hunger march setting out from the destitute, jobless towns of the North. Fascism offered simple solutions; and simple solutions often sound extraordinarily seductive.
Over the years of the Great War, the seemingly everlasting ancient monarchies of Europe proved to be about as stable as cardboard props, concealing long-rotten structures. Even in Britain the signs of a painful decline were only too apparent. The writing was on the wall: the old ways worked no longer.
The disillusionment with the traditional structures of power reached such a point that it was easy to believe that anyone who does things differently would necessarily do things better. Scarily, similar thinking is once again emerging in the UK, as shown by the Brexit outcome.
It was even easier to believe in the might and talent of the bold new regimes. To believe that they could solve the problems the old establishment stumbled around for decades, that they could lead Europe and Britain with it into the new age of peace and prosperity.
Stephanie herself ended up appearing in my novel only as a cameo. However, the momentous processes that she was caught up in can be seen writ large in its landscape.
It comes down to the difficulty of recognizing the signs of tragedy when you are only in the first act, and the conundrum of choosing your side when all the options seem equally unsavoury.
The pain of seeing the war clouds looming on the horizon and knowing that the only question is when. And, of course, whom.
The Pearl and the Carnelian by Annabel Fielding is out now, priced 12.30 in paperback and 4.61 as an eBook. Visit www.historygeekintown.com/the-pearl-and-the-carnelian/
The Duke of Cambridge is the new patron for the Metropolitan and City Police Orphans fund.
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
The 34-year-old royal has been announced as the new benefactor of the charity, which was originally set up in 1870 and is the longest standing police charity, according to The Times newspaper.
Prince William's role with the organisation will see him support the children of those who work for the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police who have tragically passed away, and can no longer support their brood.
And William's appointment comes 80 years after the orphanage was closed in 1937 and it was developed into the charity it is now.
The Chief executive officer at the Metropolitan Police, Peter Smyth, has admitted he is "delighted" to have the backing of William - who has three-year-old son Prince George and 20-month-old daughter Princess Charlotte with his wife the Duchess of Cambridge - and the royal has accepted the role as their new patron.
He said: "We are absolutely delighted that His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge has agreed to be our new patron."
And Peter believes young children and officers will be "extremely pleased" at the news.
He continued: "I am sure the children we support and serving police officers will also be extremely pleased."
Meanwhile, William's wife Catherine has also been granted a patron and has received a lifetime honorary membership for the Royal Photographic Society, which promotes and supports those interested in the art form.
Prince Harry feels "complete relaxation and normality" in Africa.
Prince Harry
The 32-year-old royal - who is the son of the late Princess Diana and Prince Charles - has revealed he feels most like himself than he does "anywhere else in the world" when he visits the continent.
Speaking in the February issue of Town and Country magazine, the flame-haired hunk said: "This is where I feel more like myself than anywhere else in the world.
"I have this intense sense of complete relaxation and normality here."
And Harry - who is currently dating American actress Meghan Markle - has revealed ever since his first trip to Africa with his family in 1997 he has held a fondness in his heart.
He said: "I first came in 1997, straight after my mum died. My dad told my brother and me to pack our bags -- we were going to Africa to get away from it all."
And Harry has revealed he wishes he could visit Africa - where he has been working to help endangered elephants - more often.
He said: "I wish I could spend more time in Africa."
And Harry, who set up the charity Sentebale in memory of his late mother, has admitted he is proud of his achievements with the organisation and has teased he plans to work on more projects in the future.
Speaking previously, he said: "Now, I can see exactly where I want to take it. The fact that I've managed to keep Sentebale going ... for the last 10/11 years has been fantastic because now everything else I'm involved with makes sense to me and I'm just getting started.
"What started as an idea of me turning round and saying, right, I've got a year off, I want to do something really constructive with my life, want to do something that makes my mother proud.
"Someone said, right, go to Lesotho, it's like where the hell is that? Now I can see exactly where I want to take it. I have huge amounts of passion for the causes and interests and charities I'm involved with."
Princess Anne is set to visit Shrewsbury carers service next week.
Princess Anne
The 66-year-old royal - who is the daughter of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip - is set to visit Carers Trust 4all at Sutton Farm on Tuesday (10.01.17) as part of her duty as the president of Carers Trust.
According to the Shropshire Star website, Anne is due to meet with the chair of the organisation, Michael James, as well as the chief executive Andrea Kinsey, whilst she is accompanied by the Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire Sir Algernon Heber-Percy.
Anne is also set to meet with other trustees, commissioners and people who support the service by funding it, as well as the staff members who help to deliver the service, unpaid carers and those who rely on the organisation for career support and guidance.
And it has been reported to mark Anne's visit she will receive a gift, which is yet to be known, from a carer, she will sign the visitors' book and leave a message at her discretion, and most importantly, she will unveil a plaque at the site to mark her stopover.
Carers Trust 4all are "delighted" the brunette-haired royal will be spending some time with them and have admitted her trip will no doubt make its mark on all staff and volunteers associated to the organisation by giving them the "tremendous boost".
Andrea said: "We are delighted that Her Royal Highness is visiting us. It is a tremendous boost for unpaid carers, staff and volunteers. During her visit, the Princess will be able to meet many of the adults and young carers we work with and hear about their experiences and views on how unpaid carers should be supported in the future."
Anne is also set to meet with the Mayor of Shrewsbury, the Mayoress of Shrewsbury, Chief Executives of the Carers Trust as well as Councillor Ioan Jones.
Now that I have some time on my hands-setting up an organic vegetable patch thanks to a company delightfully called DIRT #GoGreen
A photo posted by Twinkle Khanna (@twinklerkhanna) on Dec 7, 2016 at 1:23am PST
Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina said that it is important to explore additional international markets instead of depending on a few markets of selected countries. She is also of the opinion that no country in the world can deliver products as fast as Bangladesh and that citizens of the country need adequate training and the right path.
She also urged businesspersons of the country to find markets that need Bangladeshi products, while addressing the audience at the inauguration of the 22nd Dhaka Internatinal Trade Fair (DITF).
PM Hasina said that the Bangladeshi exports should not depend on a few traditional items. They need to diversify products and maintain international standards to ensure high quality, according to a Bangladeshi news agency.
Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina said that it is important to explore additional international markets instead of depending on a few markets of selected countries. She is also of the opinion that no country in the world can deliver products as fast as Bangladesh and that citizens of the country need adequate training and the right path.#
Private sector is the driving force of the countrys economy and it should carry out some welfare activities for the people of the country. They should also help develop the local market by improving the purchasing capacity of the citizens, she said.
The prime minister also handed trophies to the leading exporters of the fiscal year 2013-14 during the inauguration ceremony.
Over 580 stalls have been set up at DITF and more than 48 stalls have been occupied by international companies. Countries like India, China, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand, Iran, the US, Singapore, Turkey, South Korea, Nepal, Japan, Bhutan, Vietnam, Hong Kong and more are participating in the fair.
Multiple products including fabrics, carpets, jute items, sanitary products and leather items are on display at the fair. (KD)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) through its Standard Alliance, had organised standards-related events in Washington for the members of the Ghanaian textiles and apparel industry who recently visited the US. The events helped Ghanian delegates to understand the market opportunities and requirements for textiles and apparel in the US.
The events were organised through ANSIs public-private partnership with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) known as the Standards Alliance with the help of strategic international trade advisor Sandler Trade LLC. The Ghana delegations visit was part of the US State Departments International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).
The 10-day IVLP visit, from December 5-13, provided nine Ghanaian participants a detailed introduction to the US textiles and apparel market as well as the US regulatory environment. During the first day, Ghanaian participants travelled to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), where they discussed international trade agreements, US trade preference programs, and technical regulations required to gain access to the US market.
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) through its Standard Alliance, had organised standards-related events in Washington for the members of the Ghanaian textiles and apparel industry who recently visited the US. The events helped Ghanian delegates to understand the market opportunities and requirements for textiles and apparel in the US.#
Following their meeting with the USTR, delegates travelled to Sandler Trade LLC to learn about the development of the voluntary standards and testing systems that form the foundation of US testing and regulatory requirements.
Presentations by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) detailed specific regulatory requirements, while ASTM International and Bureau Veritas provided context to the regulations by explaining voluntary standards and testing systems in the US.
Discussions between Sandler and the delegates about the Us textiles market helped the Ghanaian participants brainstorm how their products might fit in the US market and helped to further solidify the importance of technical regulations to gain access to the market.
The delegation also met with the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), Fair Trade America (FTA), and the Fair Trade Federation (FTF). Presentations by these organisations provided additional information on fair trade market requirements and related certifications.
The standards-related events built a foundation for the remainder of the trip. Following their Washington visit, the IVLP delegates travelled to North Carolina to view US on-the-ground design, production, and retail operations. The delegates visited US companies operating in North Carolina and learned about US marketing approaches, US import practices and state government promotion of trade. They also visited universities, trade associations and US government agencies involved in importing goods. (KD)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
critic's rating: 4.0/5
Director: Gareth Edwards
Cast: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Wen Jiang, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, Riz Ahmed, Mads Mikkelsen, Jimmy Smits, Alistair Petrie, Genevieve O'Reilly, Beau Gadsdon, Dolly Gadsdon
Quick take: The definite Star Wars story that fans were waiting for
Filmfare rating : 4/5
One of the biggest debates among fans of the Star Wars franchise is about how the rebel faction got hold of the plans to Death Star. Well, this off-shoot story tells you how. Chronologically, this is a direct prequel to the 1977 film. And keeping that in mind, director Gareth Edwards has managed to give a retro feel to the CGI. Another clever thing he has done is to keep the film free of Jedis and lightsabers. Yes, Darth Vader does comes towards the end and wreaks havoc and thereby provides much needed relief to parched fans but the film doesnt centre around the Force as such. Its more about believing in the Force, in the goodness of things than in the actual usage of Force by central characters.
Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) is a retired scientist who has taken to farming into some sort of an inhabitable planet. Hes also one of the chief architects of Death Star. His wife is killed and hes forced back into doing Vader and the Emperors bidding. His daughter Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is brought by rogue rebel Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker) and he manages to send her the message which tells her about the fatal flaw in Death Star. The rest of the film revolves around how she goes about her impossible mission
The central characters in the film dont find a mention in the original franchise and thats Rogue Ones greatest strength. So instead of catering to prototypes, director Edwards can make them more flesh and blood, earthy, flawed characters that manage to overcome their inner hurdles and rise to the occasion. The battle scenes, though grand in scope, feel more like footage from the trenches than from some space opera. And the central point, that struggle against tyranny needs sacrifices and martyrs, is made poignantly. All this doesnt mean that the CGI or the production values have been compromised. They have even recreated Peter Cushing digitally and used him chillingly well and the final battle scenes would give any Sci-fi fan worth their moneys worth.
Felicity Jones emerges as one of the feistiest and well-rounded heroines of the Star Wars universe and Diego Luna (Cassian Andor) as rebel spy and assassin is a darker version of Han Solo. The actor who gets the most claps though is Donnie Yen, who plays Chirrut Imwe, a blind warrior priest who isnt is a Jedi quite yet but unflinchingly believes in the Force. The ensemble cast, as a whole, relievers the goods and more.
Beware that this is no childrens film. This is Star Wars for adults. Well-loved characters die, the violence is gory by and large and the atmosphere is more on the lines of the French Resistance during World War II than the light-hearted thrillers that George Lucas films were. Its full of Easter Eggs for fans to explore over many viewings and that perhaps is its sole weakness. Dont go to the movie with a friend who hasnt seen any of the films as youd only be explaining things to him/her
Saif Ali Khan's daughter Sara Ali Khan is one of the most beautiful star kids of Bollywood and the media loves to write about her. She always remains in the news for her fashionable appearances, Bollywood debut and love life.
It was being said that Sara Ali Khan is dating former Union minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's grandson Veer Pahariya but according to Filmfare, Sara Ali Khan is now in a relationship with Shahid Kapoor's younger brother Ishaan Khattar. Read more about it below.
Sara In A Relationship With Ishaan Sara Ali Khan and Ishaan Khattar are apparently an item. While the media is busy speculating about Sara's relationship with Veer Pahariya, looks like Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh's gorgeous daughter is busy spending time with Ishaan, Shahid Kapoor's younger brother. Sara & Ishaan Were Said To Debut Together The two were rumoured to be making their debut with Karan Johar's Student Of The Year 2. Later, it was being reported that Sara and Ishaan will come together for the remake of The Fault In Our Stars. But none of the reports were true. Sara Ali Khan & Ex-Boyfriend Veer Pahariya Reportedly, before Ishaan, Sara was dating the grandson of a famous politician, Veer Pahariya. They had been classmates at school and have been in a long-distance relationship since Veer went to Dubai for further studies. Sara Ali Khan Was Also Linked To Orhan Awatramani A few days ago, it was reported that Sara Ali Khan is seeing her good friend Orhan Awatramani. Their affair rumours started when some of their pictures went viral on the Internet.
On a related note, Sara Ali Khan is all geared up for her big Bollywood debut. Sara Ali Khan's father Saif Ali Khan confirmed in a recent interview to a leading daily that Sara has decided to make her career in films and he supports her decision.
Also Read: Interesting! Katrina Kaif Taking Tips From Ex-Boyfriend Salman Khan About Ranbir Kapoor; Here's Why
He had said, ''It's a very creative and a wonderful job. I bless Sara for what she has learned. She has wanted to do this since she was two years old, but I asked her to finish college first. In fact, she has done theater in the US as well. She wants to enjoy the acting and not treat it as a superficial, glamorous profession."
"I have a wonderful relationship with her, wherein I am like a guide, a friend and a philosopher. But we discuss lots of things. We went on a holiday to Italy and spoke about art, life, and recently, about films as well. I've given her so much advice. I said, "Write them down and treat them like the Ten Commandments. It's everything I have learnt. And your mother (Amrita Singh) also taught me so much when I first came to Mumbai,'' the doting father had said.
After ringing in the new year in various parts of the world, Bollywood celebs are finally coming back home. B-town celebs including Akshay Kumar, Twinkle Khanna, Kajol, Jacqueline Fernandez and Ileana D'Cruz were spotted at the Mumbai airport in their uber cool avatars. But the only cutie, who grabbed everyone's attention was Akshay-Twinkle's daughter Nitara!
We all know both Akshay & Twinkle are quite protective of Nitara and often covers her face so that she doesn't get clicked by the paparazzi! However, this time, the scenario at the airport was not the same and we got to see the quirky avatar of Nitara!
Check Out Hers & Other Celebs' Pictures Below..
Nitara Gets Goofy How sweet! Akshay Kumar's daughter playfully pose for the camera and her antics at the airport were too cute to be missed. Nitara & Twinkle Seen here is mommy Twinkle Khanna in her stylish avatar, accompanying her daughter Nitara, while strolling through the airport. Akshay Kumar Daddy Akshay Kumar is all smiles as he candidly gets captured by the paparazzi at the Mumbai airport. Kajol With Yug Apart from the Kumars, actress Kajol was also spotted at the Mumbai airport, returning from a vacation along with her son Yug and daughter Nysa. Ajay Devgn Actor Ajay Devgn, who was last seen in Shivaay, gets clicked by the shutterbugs at the Mumbai airport. Jacqueline Fernandez Jacqueline Fernandez pouts like a pro as she poses for the shutterbugs, gathered outside the airport! Ileana DCruz Actress Ileana D'Cruz, who will be next seen in Arjun Kapoor starrer Mubarakan, also returned to India post holidaying abroad.
Coming back to Akshay Kumar's daughter Nitara, recently, the actor had revealed his plans for Nitara and here's what he had said:
"She will be starting her training when she turns four, which is not too far. It is important for girls to feel that they have the confidence, and the strength to defend themselves - anytime, anywhere and against anyone."
"A man can't imagine the insecurities, and the fear some women have to face on a daily basis. I can only protect my daughter if she learns to protect herself. I wish I could hold her hand for the rest of her life, but I know that that's just a father's dream."
"Whether she likes it or not, she will have to learn these self-defence techniques. I already have a feeling that Nitara's going to be a little Ninja. There is power in her big brown eyes, and I can't wait to put that to some good use."
It looks like the year 2017 started on a bad note for actor Arjun Kapoor as the civic authorities have demolished the unauthorized structure on his terrace that functioned as a terrace gym. Apart from demolishing the illegal structure, the BMC has also slapped a fine of 10,000 rupees on the actor.
Bengaluru Molestation Case! Salim Khan Asks PM Narendra Modi To Address The Issue Immediately
The authorities revealed that Arjun Kapoor had encroached the terrace of Raheja Orchid building by constructing a 30x16 sq ft glass-and-brick room without permission. Arjun lives on the seventh floor of the same building and had no valid papers to build the terrace gym.
An activist had complained to the municipal corporation about the illegal structure constructed by Arjun Kapoor and the authorities were quick to act based on the complaint. The activist is believed to not be a resident of the building.
Bengaluru Molestation Case! Farhan Akhtar Lashes Out At Politicians
The BMC staff visited the building on December 30, 2016 and sent workers to demolish the structure on January 1, 2017. Since there was shortage of workers on new year's day, the demolition was completed on January 2. Arjun Kapoor has not been available for comments on the matter.
Katrina Kaif Becomes A Mentor To Bollywood Newbie Elena Fernandes!
Every new year brings in more promises, expectations and resolutions of being a better person and while some achieve it by being dedicated in what they want, the others fizzle out by just letting it go! Evelyn Sharma's new year success mantra is quite exciting as she has listed a lot of good stuff to achieve this year.
Arvind Kejriwal's Name Should Be Changed To Mr. Complaint Box! Says Roshi Kapoor
She took to Instagram and posted a superhot picture of herself with gold pants and heels and captioned it as, "Starting 2017 in full power! Fashion, fitness, films and philanthropy! What's your mantra this year?"
Well, there you go! Evelyn Sharma's success mantra for 2017 is fashion, fitness, films and philanthropy. We are getting a feeling that she'll surely achieve all of it and be successful by the end of the year.
Bengaluru Molestation Case! Salim Khan Asks PM Narendra Modi To Address The Issue Immediately
On the work front, Evelyn Sharma is currently shooting for Imtiaz Ali's upcoming film 'The Ring' and it also stars Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Sayani Gupta. The first leg of the film was shot in Budapest, Prague and Amsterdam. The film will also be shot in Punjab and Gujarat.
Bengaluru Molestation Case! Farhan Akhtar Lashes Out At Politicians
Mallika Sherawat has been invited by the prestigious Oxford University to give a speech at the Oxford Union and it looks like the actress might turn down the offer. The last time an Indian spoke at the Oxford Union was Shashi Tharoor and his speech went viral in no time. The same golden opportunity has come knocking on Mallika's doors and she's giving more preference to her movie shoot instead. She was quoted as saying, "I am thrilled and it's a great honour for me to be invited to speak at the historic Oxford Union."
Bengaluru Molestation Case! Salim Khan Asks PM Narendra Modi To Address The Issue Immediately
Then Mallika went on to say that her film shoot is more important than the Oxford Union speech, "I would love to be there and address the students but right now I want to concentrate on shooting for my new film which will start its first schedule in Mauritius".
Well, all we can hope is that the film has to be exceptionally good if she's planning to skip the Oxford Union speech. Also, notable figures such as Jon Bon Jovi, Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking had delivered a speech to the students on the same stage.
Arvind Kejriwal's Name Should Be Changed To Mr. Complaint Box! Says Roshi Kapoor
Mallika Sherawat has been in the international circuit for a long time now and will soon be seen in a Chinese film named 'Time Raiders'. The film has been released in China already and will soon be out in the Indian market as well.
Bengaluru Molestation Case! Farhan Akhtar Lashes Out At Politicians
Celebrated Hollywood actor Ben Affleck who had quite a busy last year, opens up regarding Donald Trump's election as the US President. The actor says despite what happened with the election in US, he still believes in the basic goodness of people.
Affleck finds similarity of agenda between Brexit in England and Trump in US, both considered immigrants as threats to their nations above all.
"I spent five months in London and I have to say the Brexit vote smacked of the same kinds of things I heard here. People whose overarching political agenda is that immigrants are ruining things for us or immigrants are getting one over on us somehow, taking advantage." Said Affleck.
"In London, it's Polish people and here it's Mexican Americans. I still believe in the basic goodness of people, but that doesn't mean we aren't going through a spell where we're in thrall to some ugly ideas and ugly notions." The actor added.
"I met Trump once at a Fashion Week event in Milan. You knew you were at a cheesy party if Donald Trump was there. He would kind of trawl around them. He was famous for only granting permission for films to shoot on his real estate locations if they put him in as a cameo." He stated.
"The ego was there a long time ago." Concluded Ben.
Dulquer Salmaan is on a high. The actor had a memorable 2016 with his films hitting the bulls-eye and some big and exciting projects in his kitty, he is sure to make his fans happy in 2017, as well.
The actor is gearing up for the release of his next film Jomonte Suvisheshangal, which would be his first release in 2017. Dulquer Salmaan also has Amal Neerad's upcoming film and Bejoy Nambiar's Solo in his kitty.
Now, the big news is that the actor is all set to do his next film in Tamil. According to a latest report by Behindwoods, the actor has given the nod for a Tamil film, which would be directed by R A Karthick.
Reportedly, the film will be a romantic entertainer and the movie would feature three female lead actresses in it. If reports are to be believed, the film will be in the lines of Bollywood movies like Jab We Met and Highway.
Nothing much has been revealed about the rest of the cast and crew of the film. The makers are expected to make an official announcement regarding the project once Dulquer Salmaan's dates for the project have been blocked.
The actor's previous Tamil release was Mani Ratnam's OK Kanmani, which had Nitya Menen paired opposite him. The film was a runaway success and the movie earned him a huge fan base in Tamil Nadu. In fact, his debut Tamil venture was Balaji Mohan's Vaayai Moodi Pesavum, which also featured Nazriya Nazim in the lead role.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/03/17 -- RYU Apparel Inc. (TSX VENTURE: RYU)(FRANKFURT: RYA), creator of "tailored innovation for the urban athlete", is pleased to announce the launch of its Up Down Program as part of their overall Athlete Members Program.
The Up Down Program is designed to encourage athletes to achieve their fitness goals by providing an added incentive to facilitate their journey. If your size changes within one year of purchasing an item, either by adding muscle or losing weight, simply return it and you will be able to get the same or similar item in your new size at 50% the regular price. This program not only motivates athletes to start their goals early but equips them with a fantastic new RYU work-out wardrobe.
Always striving to support their communities, RYU will be donating all items that are returned through this program to local organizations to help facilitate others to achieve their own fitness goals.
For the month of January, RYU will run a contest at its retail locations to have athletes write down their goals for 2017 and enter in a draw to win a top from the RYU Vapor Program. The contest is now open and will be running until Jan 27th. Winners will be drawn on Jan 28th.
"We see local athletes working hard to achieve their fitness goals everyday. As we are immersed in the fitness community, we are thrilled to do our part in supporting these athletes any way we can," said Marcello Leone, CEO, President and Chairman of the Board for RYU.
The Up Down Program officially launches on January 3rd 2017 and is available to athletes in RYU's flagship store at 1745 West 4th Avenue and its newest location at 805 Thurlow Street and online at ryu.com.
About RYURespect Your Universe is tailored innovation for the urban athlete. Designed without compromise, RYU engineers apparel and accessories for the fitness and training of the multi-discipline athlete. Created for athletes by athletes, RYU exists to facilitate human performance. For more information, visit: http://ryu.com
On Behalf of the Board
RYU APPAREL INC.
Marcello Leone, CEO, President and Chairman of the Board
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
RYU Apparel Inc.
Investor Relations
Contact: Anna Brazier
+1 844 535 2880
investors@ryu.com
www.ryu.com
Media Relations
Contact: Kelsi Carleton
604-738-2220
kelsi@talkshopmedia.com
(2) Reflects the number of positions in issuers in which the Company has previously publicly disclosed an investment, which occurs after the Company has completed its accumulation. Cash, cash equivalents, direct or indirect currency or other hedges and income/expense items are excluded. Multiple financial instruments (for example, common stock and derivatives on common stock) associated with one (1) issuer count as one (1) position. A position that is included in the number of positions will be removed from the table only if the investment or if the investment becomes 0.0% of the portfolio.
(3) For the purpose of determining the equity and debt exposures, investments are valued as follows: (a) equity or debt is valued at market value, (b) options referencing equity or debt are valued at market value, (c) long call options and short put options (or vice-versa, short call options and long put options) held on the same underlying issuer and with the same strike and same expiry are grouped together and treated as synthetic equity positions, and are valued at the market value of the equivalent long equity position (or vice-versa, the equivalent short equity position), and (d) swaps or forwards referencing equity or debt are valued at the market value of the notional equity or debt underlying the swaps or forwards. Whether a position is deemed to be long or short is determined by whether an investment has positive or negative exposure to price increases or decreases. For example, long puts are deemed to be short exposure.
(4) Includes all issuer equity, debt, and derivatives related to issuer equity and debt, and associated currency hedges. Cash, cash equivalents, direct or indirect currency or other hedges and income/expense items are excluded. The market values of associated currency hedges are included as part of the associated investment. In the event that there is a change in market cap category with respect to any non-publicly disclosed position, this information is not updated until such position is publicly disclosed.
(5) Portfolio composition is reflective of the publicly disclosed portfolio positions as of the date of this report. A position in an issuer is only assigned to a sector once it has been publicly disclosed.
(6) "Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. AUM" equals the assets under management of Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd.. Any performance fees crystallized as of the end of the year will be reflected in the following period's AUM.
(7) "Total Strategy AUM" equals the aggregate assets under management of Pershing Square, L.P., Pershing Square International, Ltd., Pershing Square II, L.P. and Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd.. Redemptions effective as of the end of any period (including redemptions attributable to crystallized performance fees/allocations, if any) will be reflected in the following period's AUM
Lebanon's parliament has overwhelmingly approved a national unity Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri with a vote of confidence. A new 30-member national unity Cabinet comprised of most of the country's political groups was announced in December, nearly two months after a president was elected.
Hariri vowed that his top priority would be to protect the country from the effects of the civil war in neighboring Syria.
In a statement, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard welcomed the formation of a new government in Lebanon.
I want to personally congratulate Prime Minister Hariri and commend him on forming a government, Ambassador Richard said. We look forward to working with him and his government. The Lebanese people are facing many challenges, and they now have a government that can get to work to address these issues. The United States reiterates its commitment to the Lebanese people and institutions, as well as its support for building a secure, stable, and prosperous future. Lebanon will not be alone in dealing with the challenges ahead."
The United States also pays tribute to the steadfast leadership of Prime Minister Tammam Salam throughout this difficult period of political impasse, said Ambassador Richard. We appreciated his commitment to strong American-Lebanese relations and look forward to his continued counsel in the years to come.
The United States is proud to work with its partner Lebanon for the peace and security of the people of Lebanon and the Middle East region.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (JCP) announced that it has completed the sale of its Home Office building and surrounding 45 acres of land in Plano, Texas to Dreien Opportunity Partners, LLC, general partner of Silos Opportunity Partners, LP, for a gross sale price of $353 million before closing and transaction costs. The Company previously announced that upon the transfer of ownership, JCPenney would lease back approximately 65 percent of the building, leaving the remaining square footage available for new tenants. The company noted that the building lease expense would be offset by a reduction in maintenance costs, property taxes and interest expense as a result of paying down debt with proceeds from the transaction. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
DEARBORN (dpa-AFX) - Ford Motor Co (F) said it is canceling plans for a new $1.6 billion plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and investing $700 million in the Flat Rock, Michigan, plant's expansion. Ford will build its next-generation Focus at an existing plant in Hermosillo, Mexico, to improve company profitability.
Ford today detailed seven of the 13 new global electrified vehicles it plans to introduce in the next five years, including hybrid versions of the iconic F-150 pickup and Mustang in the U.S., a plug-in hybrid Transit Custom van in Europe and a fully electric SUV with an expected range of at least 300 miles for customers globally.
Ford is adding 700 direct new U.S. jobs and investing $700 million during the next four years, creating the new Manufacturing Innovation Center at its Flat Rock Assembly Plant. Employees there will build the all-new small utility vehicle with extended battery range as well as the fully autonomous vehicle for ride-hailing or ride-sharing - along with the iconic Mustang and Lincoln Continental.
This incremental investment in Flat Rock Assembly Plant comes from $1.6 billion the company previously had planned to invest in a new plant in Mexico.
Ford announced it is cancelling plans for the new plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. It also announced that, to improve company profitability and ensure the financial as well as commercial success of this vehicle, the next-generation Focus will be built at an existing plant in Hermosillo, Mexico. This will make way for two new iconic products at Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, where Focus is manufactured today - safeguarding approximately 3,500 U.S. jobs.
The moves are part of a $4.5 billion investment in electrified vehicles by 2020, offering customers greater fuel efficiency, capability and power across Ford's global vehicle lineup. The plans are part of the company's expansion to be an auto and a mobility company, including leading in electrified and autonomous vehicles and providing new mobility solutions.
In addition, in New York and several major U.S. cities, Ford is testing a fleet of 20 Transit Connect hybrid taxi and van prototypes in some of the world's most demanding traffic conditions.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - With more U.S. states legalizing the use of cannabis, the number of jobs in the marijuana industry could double or triple in the coming years, Motley Fool has reported, citing analysts.
Currently, twenty-eight states in the U.S. have legalized marijuana for medicinal use, while eight states have legalized marijuana for recreational purpose. More states are planning to take the marijuana legalization directly to voters through ballots, given the pressure mounted by citizen initiatives.
Public opinion towards marijuana has changed significantly, with support for its legalization at a new all-time high of 60 percent in 2016, according to national pollster Gallup.
States that have legalized marijuana are already reaping the benefits. Colorado, the first U.S. state to legalize cannabis for adult-use, has already recorded legal marijuana sales of more than $1 billion in the first ten months of 2016.
The cannabis industry is now seen as an engine of growth for the economy and a job creator. The legal marijuana market in the U.S. is estimated to grow to $7.1 billion in 2016, which represents 26 percent growth over 2015, according to a report by New Frontier and ArcView Market Research.
Citing analysts, Motley Fool reported that the marijuana job market could double or triple in the coming years, implying that up to 150,000 to 300,000 additional cannabis-related jobs could be added.
As the pot industry expands beyond just growing the herb, more job opportunities are being created in the security, delivery, regulation and marketing fields, among others.
Nevertheless, there are major challenges for the fledgling industry. Marijuana continues to be an illegal substance at the federal level.
Marijuana-related business often have trouble access to banking services, even in states where it is legalized, as banks fear punishment by the federal government for doing business with the pot industry.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
HARRISON (dpa-AFX) - The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority or CMA said it has found that Mastercard Inc.'s (MA) acquisition of VocaLink gives rise to competition concerns. In relation to LINK ATM, the CMA found that VocaLink and Mastercard are 2 of the 3 most credible providers of infrastructure services to the LINK ATM network operating across the UK. As such, the merger would reduce the number of bidders and limit the ability of the LINK scheme to obtain good value when tendering for an infrastructure provider. Mastercard UK Holdco Ltd, a subsidiary of Mastercard International Incorporated, is buying VocaLink Holdings Ltd It already owns and operates credit and debit card schemes Mastercard, Maestro and Cirrus, and has also bid to supply infrastructure services to UK interbank payment systems. VocaLink is a supplier of payment infrastructure services to 3 major UK interbank payment systems: Bacs, the automated clearing system allowing credit and debit payments between bank accounts; the Faster Payments Service (FPS), which enables near 'real-time' payments between bank accounts within the UK; and the LINK ATM network. The CMA said it has not found concerns in the provision of payment infrastructure services to Bacs or FPS since there are many credible alternatives to VocaLink and Mastercard. The CMA noted that the companies can avoid the merger being referred for an in-depth investigation if they can offer a remedy to address the competition concerns identified. They have until 11 January 2017 to do so. In July 2016, MasterCard announced a definitive agreement to acquire 92.4 percent of VocaLink Holdings Limited for approximately $920 million, after adjusting for cash and certain other estimated liabilities. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
YOQNEAM, Israel, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Neuronix Ltd. announced positive results from its pivotal double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center clinical study for the assessment of the safety and efficacy of the neuroAD Therapy System in the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (the "Study"). The results of the Study (the "Results") were presented on December 9, 2016, by Dr. Marwan Noel Sabbagh, M.D., FAAN (Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ), during the late-breaking session of the Clinical Trials in Alzheimer's Disease (CTAD) International Conference.
Photo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/452639/Neuronix_neuroAD.jpg
The Study enrolled 131 patients at nine medical centers in the United States and one in Israel. The Study evaluated the safety and efficacy of the neuroAD Therapy System in comparison to placebo, following six weeks of treatment and additional six weeks of follow-up, using the cognitive and behavioral standard scales for the evaluation of patients with Alzheimer's disease - ADAS-Cog and CGI-C, respectively.
Statistical analysis was designed prospectively to evaluate the change in ADAS-Cog and CGI-C measures post treatment compared to baseline. Furthermore, the statistical plan also included an evaluation of the interaction between patients' disease stage and the response to the treatment, as well as broad covariate analysis. The Study recruited patients with mild-moderate Alzheimer's disease, either medicated (on stable dose) or non-medicated. The Study Results confirm and extend the results of former studies conducted across the world with the neuroAD Therapy System.
Positive efficacy results were reported for patients with milder disease as determined by the Baseline ADAS-Cog. In that group of patients, which represented 85% of the enrolled population, a positive and statistically significant difference of -1.8 points in ADAS-Cog was noted between treatment group and placebo group, at the 12 week follow-up. In the entire Study cohort, including those with more severe disease at baseline based on the ADAS-Cog, results did not reach statistical significance.
The CGI-C results in the overall population at week 12 showed a trend toward improvement, with a difference between treatment and placebo groups of -0.4 points. When analyzing the group of milder patients, as defined above, the difference between treatment and placebo groups reached -0.45. Furthermore, when measured on the CGI-C scale, only 16% of treated patients deteriorated, compared with 42% of patients in the sham group.
In addition, results showed a favorable safety profile, with no patients experiencing seizures or other persistent, serious adverse events. Patients also showed a high degree of adherence to the treatment, with few discontinuations and a high rate of treatment completion.
The Results, together with previous studies' similar outcomes, were used to support a United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) de-novo application filed by Neuronix in November 2016, seeking regulatory clearance to market the neuroAD Therapy System for treatment of Alzheimer's disease. This submission follows earlier communications with the FDA, as a result of which the neuroAD Therapy System was accepted for review under the Expedited Access Pathway (EAP) program, which is reserved exclusively for medical devices that present novel and breakthrough technologies, and target an unmet medical need which is life threatening or irreversibly debilitating.
Alzheimer's disease is considered to be one of the greatest unmet medical needs in the world today, with only a few available drugs offering partial clinical benefit, frequently limited by side effects. The neuroAD Therapy System is a patent-protected, non-invasive medical device, uniquely combining transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with cognitive training, to concurrently target brain regions affected by Alzheimer's disease. The neuroAD Therapy System can be used in conjunction with other treatments, such as drug therapies.
"We are proud to present the data coming from our successful pivotal, multi-center Study, which was carried out in some of the most experienced Alzheimer's research centers in the United States," said Eyal Baror, CEO of Neuronix. "I wish to acknowledge all the people who took part in the Study, and in particular - to personally thank the patients and families who volunteered to participate in the Study. It is to them that we dedicate these great results, and for their fellow patients and families, in the U.S. and around the world, that we are doing our utmost to have the neuroAD System approved."
"Alzheimer's disease is one of the greatest challenges in the world of medicine today, and as disease modifying agents are still evading us, we must bringsymptomatic therapies for our patients, which can alleviate some of the disease symptoms," said Dr. Marwan Sabbagh. "The Study shows that treatment with the neuroAD Therapy System shows very mild and transient side effects, and can be administered without interruption to on-going pharmacological interventions. It was clearly demonstrated that neuroAD has the potential to improve the patients' cognitive capabilities, as well as increase their day-to-day level of activities, especially for a clinically well-defined sub-group at the milder stages. Once it is hopefully cleared by the FDA, neuroAD will become a powerful tool in the battle against Alzheimer's disease - a battle currently fought with too few resources."
About Neuronix Ltd. and the neuroAD' Therapy System:
Neuronix Ltd. Is a privately-held company, with headquarters in Yoqneam, Israel, and with subsidiaries in USA and UK. Neuronix develops, manufactures and markets novel breakthrough medical-device technologies for treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease is considered one of the greatest unmet medical needs in the world today, with only a few available drugs offering partial clinical benefit, frequently limited by side effects. It affects more than 5M people in the United States, and estimated over 30M across the world.
The neuroAD Therapy System is a patent-protected, non-invasive medical device, uniquely combining transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with cognitive training, to concurrently target brain regions affected by Alzheimer's disease. This dual-stimulation is designed to improve cognitive performance of patients, following an intervention protocol, which lasts for six weeks, five days per week, with one hour-long session per day.
The neuroAD' Therapy System is approved for use in Europe (CE Marked 0482), as well as in other territories. It is commercially available in leading Alzheimer's centers in Europe and Asia.
In the United States, the neuroAD' Therapy System is an experimental device and is not available for sale.
BSD Crown Ltd. (LSE: BSD)
(the "Company")
Company Update
Ramat Gan, Israel, 4 January 2017
Parent Company Announcement - Share Pledge
The Company has received information to suggest that Israel 18 BV ("Israel 18") has granted security over certain Company shares it beneficially owns (5.54% of the total issued and outstanding share capital of the Company (excluding dormant shares)) (the "Pledge") in favour of Meinl Bank in Austria (the "Bank"), as security for the provision of certain loans provided to Israel 18 (the "Loan"). The Loan and the Pledge were made previous to the date on which Mr. Gregory Gurtovoy became the controlling shareholder in Israel 18.
On 3 January 2017 the Company received information to suggest that the Bank wished to exercise the Pledge and register itself as the owner of the shares over which the Pledge was taken. The Bank has claimed that the Loan is in default however no supporting documents have been presented to the Company. Subsequently to receipt of the above information, the Bank has clarified its position that it is not currently acting to enforce its security interest over such shares but rather considering the process for doing so.
Based on the information provided to the Company, Israel 18 beneficially owns Company shares representing approximately 19.01% of the total issued and outstanding share capital of the Company (excluding dormant shares). BGI Investments (1961) Ltd. ("BGI") beneficially owns Company shares representing approximately 24.65% of the total issued and outstanding share capital of the Company (excluding dormant shares) and controls in aggregate, directly and through proxies from Israel 18, approximately 43.65% of the voting rights in the Company (excluding dormant shares).
The Company is seeking clarifications from Israel 18 BV and from the Bank and will provide further updates in due course.
Enquiries:
Gregory Gurtovoy, Chairman of the Board: office@bsd-c.com
4 January 2017
Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement that contains inside information according to REGULATION (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR)
WALCOM GROUP LIMITED
("Walcom" or "the Company")
Resignation of Director
Walcom announces that Professor Hong Xun Yang, Chief Technical Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the Company in the Peoples Republic of China (the "PRC") and a director of the Company, has today tendered his resignation from the Board, effective 6 February 2017, when he will be 60 years of age and reaches the official retirement age in the PRC.
The Company will be appointing MrPaitoon Buddhinunta-opas, currently general manager of Walcom Thailand, to assme Professor Yang's duties within Walcom. However, Mr Paitoon will not be joining the board of Walcom and it is not intended to appoint an additional director to the board of the Company at the current time.
The board of the Company thanks Professor Yang for his service to the Company since he joined in 2007 and wishes him well for his retirement.
Further enquiries:
VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - U.K. shares were marginally lower on Wednesday as retailers Next and B&M European Value Retail came out with their festive trading updates. While clothing retailer Next posted weaker-than-expected sales and cautioned about the outlook, discount retailer B&M European Value Retail delivered its 'best-ever' Christmas trading, logging 7.2 percent growth in U.K. like-for-like sales in its third quarter. The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 4 points or 0.06 percent at 7,173 in late opening deals after rising half a percent in the previous session. The pound was little changed against its major rivals after the release of U.K. mortgage approvals data for November and CIPS/Markit construction PMI figures for December. Next shares slumped more than 8 percent. The retailer cut its profit guidance for the current financial year after reporting a drop in sales over the key Christmas period. Shares of Associated British Foods tumbled 3.5 percent and Marks and Spencer Group fell over 4 percent while B&M European Value Retail soared 7 percent. Scottish Investment Trust rose about 1 percent after hiking special dividend. Carnival shares edged up marginally after the cruise company unveiled the Ocean Medallion, a first-of-its-kind wearable device. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
OSLO, Norway, Jan 04, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Kvantel AS, a 100% owned subsidiary of NextGenTel Holding ASA, and Nordic Choice Hotels (NCH) have signed a letter of intent to enter a partnership agreement for the delivery of a solution for unified communication that includes a new voice platform, mobile and fixed voice for deliveries to NCH headquarters and hotels in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. The final agreement will have a 3 year term with an option for NCH to extend the agreement with additional 1+1 year.
The parties aim to finalize the agreement within 31 January 2017. Under this agreement, Kvantel will use Telia in the Nordic region as a partner for the delivery of mobile services. "As the largest mobile operator in the Nordics, this agreement is important for Telia to further grow with partners like Kvantel to be able to digitalize the future," says Vice President Kristian Renaas, Telia Norge AS.
"Kvantel is very proud and pleased with the trust that NCH has given Kvantel to deliver these solutions for unified communication in the Nordic countries," says Ole Jacob Moldestad, CEO in Kvantel. According to Eirik Lunde, CEO in NextGenTel Group; "This agreement strengthens the NextGenTel strategy to further grow within the partner business market."
CONTACT:
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http://news.cision.com/nextgentel-holding-asa/r/kvantel-signed-letter-of-intent-with-nordic-choice-hotels,c2160301
SAN JOSE, California, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
CloudByte Names Evan Powell, Former CEO of StackStorm, Nexenta and Clarus Systems, as its Chairman
CloudByte Inc., a leading software-defined storage company, today announced the appointment of Evan Powell as its new Chairman. Evan is a well known serial entrepreneur and builder of open source communities with successes at Clarus Systems, Nexenta and recently StackStorm.
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Since its inception in 2011, CloudByte has successfully delivered storage solutions to service providers and enterprises deploying private clouds. CloudByte's flagship product ElastiStor's unique capabilities include per volume QoS management, enabling it to eliminate the noisy neighbor problem. A free 25TB edition of the ElastiStor virtual storage appliance is available at http://www.cloudbyte.com; all flash hardware solutions are also available as are other solutions from partners including Q5 and Wipro.
CloudByte recently released an early version of OpenEBS, an Apache Licensed 100% open source storage project addressing the needs of today's DevOps environments with native container integration and other capabilities. The OpenEBS project leverages some of the technology developed by CloudByte including the ability to control QoS from and for containerized storage controllers.
Evan said, "The next wave of storage disruption is upon us and over the months and years to come you'll see CloudByte and the OpenEBS project delivering a new combination of technology, business model, and community to improve the lives of DevOps architects and operators. I'm already enjoying working with the CloudByte team and the growing OpenEBS community."
"We are excited to have Evan join us as Chairman," said Uma Mukkara, Co-founder and CEO of CloudByte. "Storage requirements have changed with containers reaching mainstream. I am looking forward to working with Evan in building CloudByte and specifically in growing the OpenEBS community."
About OpenEBS (http://www.openebs.io)
OpenEBS (@openebs) is a new containerized storage platform for container-based environments. It addresses the challenge of large scale storage management faced by many container users and provides ease of use in part through its close integration with Kubernetes, Docker and other orchestration projects.
About CloudByte (http://www.cloudbyte.com)
CloudByte is the provider of Software-defined storage software and appliances. CloudByte's patented technology has been helping large storage deployments to realize significant cost savings. Established in 2011, CloudByte has development offices in India and Switzerland and customers world-wide.
About Evan Powell
Evan has been the founding CEO of three enterprise infrastructure software companies, Clarus Systems (RVBD), Nexenta Systems, and most recently StackStorm (BRCD).
As founding CEO of Nexenta Systems, he helped to reimagine the storage industry as one in which the value of software and freedom from vendor lock-in would predominate. Under his leadership, Nexenta became the leader of the OpenStorage movement and the software-defined storage sector, with thousands of customers and hundreds of millions of dollars of annual partner sales.
As founding CEO of StackStorm, Evan helped to create the event driven automation category, building a vibrant open source community leveraging and improving upon approaches used by the largest operators such as Facebook. Prominent StackStorm users include Netflix, Cisco, and Dimension Data. Brocade purchased StackStorm in early 2016.
Currently Evan serves as an advisor and investor in a number of start-ups, including the emerging leader of intelligent object storage, Cloudian (http://www.cloudian.com), as well as Keewi, TextIQ, Journey Software and others.
CloudByte Media Contact:
Niti Suryawanshi
niti.suryawanshi@cloudbyte.com
4300 Stevens Creek Boulevard
Suite 270
San Jose, CA 95129
The United States of America and the Republic of Korea recently held the inaugural meeting of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group in Washington. Officials from both sides held comprehensive and in-depth discussions on strategic and policy issues regarding extended deterrence against North Korea, including how to better leverage the full breadth of national power, using diplomacy, information, military, and economic elements.
The United States reiterated its ironclad and unwavering commitment to draw on the full range of its military capabilities, including the nuclear umbrella, conventional strike, and missile defense, to provide extended deterrence for South Korea, and reaffirmed the longstanding U.S. policy that any attack on the United States or its allies will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons will be met with an effective and overwhelming response.
In particular, the United States emphasized that it remains steadfast in meeting these enduring commitments and providing immediate support to South Korea.
In response to North Koreas nuclear and missile threats, the officials reaffirmed the commitment of the United States to regularly deploy U.S. strategic assets for the defense of South Korea, as well as to enhance such measures and identify new or additional steps to strengthen deterrence. The officials also highlighted that the United States in 2016 demonstrated its commitment and resolve to South Korea by exercising extended deterrence through measures to enhance missile defense capabilities and through clear demonstrations of the U.S. nuclear triad.
Emphasizing the importance of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group as a high-level consultative mechanism, the two sides expressed their intent to continue Alliance discussions through the group on how to best tailor our response to this evolving threat of North Korea.
PUNE, India, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
According to a new market research report"Hadoop Big Data Analytics Marketby Component (Solution, Service), Application (Risk & Fraud Analytics, IoT, Merchandizing & SCM, Customer Analytics, Offloading Mainframe, Security Intelligence), Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market projected to grow from USD 6.71 Billion in 2016 to USD 40.69 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 43.4% between 2016 and 2021.
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The market is primarily driven by increasing demand for deployment of Hadoop big data analytics solutions for analyzing exponentially growing structured and unstructured data to obtain actionable insights from it. Moreover, the increased need for conversion of information gathered by big data and Internet of Things (IoT) for decision-making by organizations has fueled the demand for Hadoop big data analytics solutions, thereby leading towards the growth of the Hadoop Big Data Analytics Market during the forecast period.
Among components, the solution segment is projected to lead theHadoop Big Data Analytics Marketduring the forecast period.
Based on component, the Hadoop Big Data Analytics Market has been segmented into solution and service. The solution segment is projected to lead the Hadoop Big Data Analytics Market between 2016 and 2021. Increasing demand for cost-effective and highly scalable solutions provided by Hadoop to handle extremely large data sets on distributed computing environment is fueling the growth of the solution segment of the Hadoop Big Data Analytics Market. The performance monitoring software solution sub segment of the component segment of the Hadoop Big Data Analytics Market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to increasing demand for data management on distributed computing platforms.
The security intelligence application segment of the Hadoop Big Data Analytics Market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, 2016 to 2021.
The security intelligence application segment of the Hadoop Big Data Analytics Market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period due to growing need for enhanced visibility and protection of data through advanced analytics.
Based on vertical, the BFSI segment is projected to lead theHadoop Big Data Analytics Marketduring the forecast period.
Based on vertical, the BFSI segment is projected to lead the Hadoop Big Data Analytics Market during the forecast period due to early adoption of Hadoop big data analytics solutions and services by varied organizations to acquire improved understanding of the requirements of their customers and update their services and solutions accordingly to cater these requirements.
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The North American region is projected to lead the Hadoop Big Data Analytics Market during the forecast period.
The Hadoop Big Data Analytics Market has been studied for North America, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Europe, the Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Latin America. The North American region is projected to lead the Hadoop Big Data Analytics Market between 2016 and 2021. In the North American region, amount of data generated by various organizations is increasing tremendously on daily basis. This growth of data has led to increased adoption of Hadoop big data analytics solutions in the BFSI and retail & consumer goods verticals of the North American region, thereby fueling the growth of the Hadoop Big Data Analytics Market in the region.
Microsoft Corporation (U.S.), Amazon Web Services (U.S.), IBM Corporation (U.S.), Teradata Corporation (U.S.), Tableau Software, Inc. (U.S.), Cloudera Inc. (U.S.), Pentaho Corporation (USA), Marklogic Corporation (U.S.), SAP SE (Germany), and Pivotal Software, Inc. (U.S.) among others are the key players operating in the Hadoop Big Data Analytics Market.
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Big Data Market by Component (Software and Services), Type (Structured, Semi-Structured and Unstructured), Deployment Model, Vertical, and Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America & Middle East and Africa) - Global Forecast to 2021
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Big Data-As-A-Service Market by Type of Solutions (Hadoop-As-A-Service, Data-As-A-Service, Data Analytics-As-A-Service), by Deployment Model, by Organization Size, by Vertical, and by Region - Global Forecast to 2020
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/big-data-as-a-service-market-4129107.html
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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - NASA plans to launch a $188 million science mission in 2020 to study black holes and cosmic X-ray mysteries.
In a statement, the space agency said the mission would allow astronomers to explore, for the first time, the hidden details of some of the most extreme and exotic astronomical objects, such as stellar and supermassive black holes, neutron stars and pulsars.
The expected cost of the mission includes the cost of the launch vehicle and post-launch operations and data analysis. Principal Investigator Martin Weisskopf of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will lead the mission. Ball Aerospace in Broomfield, Colorado, will provide the spacecraft and mission integration.
Further, the Italian Space Agency will contribute the polarization sensitive X-ray detectors, which were developed in Italy.
According to NASA, objects such as black holes can heat surrounding gases to more than a million degrees. The high-energy X-ray radiation from this gas can be polarized, vibrating in a particular direction.
The agency plans Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer or IXPE mission that will fly three space telescopes with cameras capable of measuring the polarization of these cosmic X-rays.
This will allow scientists to answer fundamental questions about these turbulent and extreme environments where gravitational, electric and magnetic fields are at their limits.
Paul Hertz, astrophysics division director for the Science Mission Directorate, said, 'We cannot directly image what's going on near objects like black holes and neutron stars, but studying the polarization of X-rays emitted from their surrounding environments reveals the physics of these enigmatic objects.'
It was in 2014 that NASA's Astrophysics Explorers Program requested proposals for new missions. Three mission concepts, in the total fourteen submitted proposals, were selected for additional review by a panel of agency and external scientists. NASA noted that the IXPE proposal provided the best science potential and most feasible development plan.
NASA's Explorers Program has launched more than 90 missions, including Explorer 1 in 1958, which discovered the Van Allen radiation belts around the Earth. The Cosmic Background Explorer mission led to a Nobel Prize.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the Explorers Program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.
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SUGAR LAND, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/17 -- Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) -- Last year proved to be a busy one, with expansion efforts and planned maintenance, which jumpstarted the onslaught of new capacity expected to come online in 2017. Currently, there are five new ethylene unit projects, as well as a plant restart and a unit expansion, that are expected to complete construction and start up by the end of 2017.
For details, view the entire article by subscribing to Industrial Info's Premium Industry News, or browse other breaking industrial news stories at www.industrialinfo.com.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, five offices in North America and 10 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. To contact an office in your area, visit the www.industrialinfo.com "Contact Us" page.
Contact:
Brian Ford
(713) 980-9393
LONDON, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
LSBF students in Singapore to receive UK Bachelor's degree thanks to a partnership with The London Institute of Banking & Finance
London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) in Singapore is proud to announce the launch of a new Bachelor's degree in Banking Practice and Management, which will provide students with globally-recognised British degree. The 3-year programme will be awarded by The London Institute of Banking & Finance, and will cover the essential elements of the financial services industry and the external environment in which it operates.
London to Singapore and back
The Bachelor of Science (Honours) Banking Practice and Management will be delivered by LSBF in its Singapore campus, starting from January 2017. The partnership between LSBF and The London Institute of Banking & Finance gives students in Asia the opportunity to study close to home, while enriching their curriculum with a global qualification awarded by a British higher education institution.
"As a global institution with years of international experience, we want to help students make the most out of their academic choice. While studying abroad gives many people the possibility to enhance their career opportunities, at times they might be discouraged if the qualification they achieve doesn't hold any relevance in another country," said Rathakrishnan Govind, Managing Director of LSBF in Singapore. "By partnering with The London Institute of Banking & Finance we will be able to deliver in Singapore a bachelor's programme that ticks all the boxes when it comes to preparing to enter the global financial services industry."
Alex Fraser, CEO, The London Institute of Banking & Finance said: "it is our goal to support the career development of banking and finance professionals both at home and abroad and as such we are delighted to be working with LSBF to promote our degree in Singapore. By combining our joint expertise, we can develop the skills and knowledge of the city's professionals, to ultimately support growth in one of the world's leading financial centres."
A partnership for the students
"We are delighted to have two of the best institutions from the UK bringing The London Institute of Banking & Finance degree programme into Singapore, thereby adding further interest in supporting the educational hub. This partnership is a great starting point to explore future regional expansion together," commented Michael Chow, President of The London Institute of Banking & Finance (Alumni Singapore) and Board Director of UK Council of Association of International Accountants.
Alongside their undergraduate degrees, graduates will also earn the Chartered Associate status with The London Institute of Banking & Finance, an internationally-recognised professional qualification in the banking and finance industries. The collaboration will allow LSBF Singapore to further expand its portfolio of programme. "We have been waiting to start an undergraduate programme for the past three years," said Rathakrishnan Govind. "This will be our first, and we believe that it will be very successful with our students."
Flexible studying and specialised knowledge
The BSc Banking Practice and Management degree is designed to cater for a variety of different requirements including those starting out in a management career in financial services, particularly in retail and commercial banking. Providing essential core knowledge of the industry, the programme enables students to apply specialised, up-to-date knowledge within specific areas of the banking sector, utilising a work based learning approach where relevant.
The undergraduate programme will be delivered through a wide range of activities and teaching methods, which will be accessible to both part-time and full-time students over four intakes every year.
- ends -
About London School of Business and Finance Singapore
With two campuses in the heart of the city, LSBF in Singapore welcomes students from all over the world offering many programmes targeted for the Asian market. Having taught students from more than 20 countries since its establishment in 2011, LSBF in Singapore prides itself on its relatively short but already very successful history.
The school is a Singapore QP Accredited Learning Organisation, and holds the Platinum Approved Learning Partner Status by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). Over the past five years, LSBF in Singapore has helped a total of 138 students to become ACCA Prize Winners, an award only given to the best performing ACCA candidates.
In 2016, LSBF was awarded the Asia Enterprise Award, the School Green Lotus Award and the Spirit of Enterprise Award respectively, and received three prizes at this year's Training & Education Development Awards, establishing itself as one of Singapore's best providers of private sector education.
About The London Institute of Banking & Finance
Formerly known as ifs University College, The London Institute of Banking & Finance advances banking and finance by providing outstanding education and thinking, tailored to the needs of business, individuals, and society.
Its focus is on lifelong learning; equipping individuals with the knowledge, skills and qualifications to achieve what they want throughout their career and life.
It provides a balance of experience, insight and thought leadership into today's financial world, delivered by industry leaders, thinkers and members of our community.
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/17 -- Khan Resources Inc. (CSE: KRI)(CSE: KRI.CN) ("Khan" or "the Company") announced today that it has filed its financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016 on SEDAR and has posted these documents to its website www.khanresources.com.
Highlights for the year include:
Return of Capital - On November 10, 2016, the shareholders approved a distribution of $0.85 per share by way of a return of capital that was paid on November 29, 2016 to shareholders of record at November 22, 2016.
Liquidation of the Company - In conjunction with the approval of the $0.85 per share return of capital, the shareholders also approved a special resolution for the voluntary liquidation and dissolution of Khan. Pursuant to such liquidation, the winding up of Khan's remaining subsidiary, and the satisfaction of all liabilities including expenses of the winding up, a further distribution of cash will be made in one or more installments. Khan anticipates that any further distributions of cash as part of the winding up would aggregate between $0.01 and $0.08 per share
Notwithstanding shareholder approval of the special resolution, at any time until appointment of the liquidator, the board of directors will retain the discretion to discontinue the winding up if it determines that continuing with the winding up is no longer in the best interests of the Company or its shareholders.
Sale of Subsidiaries - On August 17, 2016, Khan Resources Bermuda Ltd. was sold to an independent third party. The sale included three other Khan subsidiaries, namely CAUC Holding Company Ltd. CAUC LLC and Khan Resources LLC. Prior to the sale, the Company's corporate structure had been simplified and fiscal year-ends for the Khan group of companies had been better aligned.
Having consulted with its various professional advisors, the Company had concluded that the above reorganization and the sale of Khan Bermuda and its subsidiaries would accelerate and maximize the shareholder cash distribution by simplifying the corporate structure and avoiding the need to wind-up and repatriate cash from these foreign subsidiaries in multiple jurisdictions and reducing or eliminating any risks to Khan associated with such subsidiaries.
International Arbitration Settlement - On May 18, 2016, the Company announced that it had received $70 million (U.S.) from the Government of Mongolia in settlement of all outstanding matters pursuant to the international arbitration award received by the Company on March 2, 2015.
The following table summarizes financial results of the Company for the years ended September 30, 2016 and 2015.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sep. 30 2016 (Liquidation Sep. 30 basis) 2015 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cash and cash equivalents 84,814 1,571 Other current assets 156 121 Investment in Plateau Uranium 264 317 Current Income Tax Asset 570 - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total assets 85,804 2,009 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Liquidation provision 1,450 - Accounts payable and accrued liabilities 142 267 Current income tax liability 1,125 - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total liabilities 2,717 267 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net assets 83,087 1,742 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Net assets per share (in Canadian cents) - basic 0.98 0.02 - diluted 0.97 0.02 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weighted average number of shares outstanding - Basic 84,938,440 79,550,770 Weighted average number of shares outstanding - Diluted 85,400,610 79,550,770 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Khan has no operations other than managing its net assets in liquidation and related activities.
At January 3, 2017, all share options have been exercised and 90,166,482 common shares were outstanding.
The following table provides selected annual information for Khan for the years 2016, 2015 and 2014.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sep. 30 2016 (Liquidation Sep. 30 Sep. 30 basis) 2015 2014 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenue 90,669 4 7 Net income (loss) 79,623 (2,666) (2,429) Total assets 85,804 2,009 1,406 Total non-current liabilities - - - Earning (loss) per share - basic 0.94 (0.03) (0.03) - diluted 0.93 (0.03) (0.03) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forward-Looking Statements and Information
This press release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information, which are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Forward-looking statements and information are characterized by words such as "will", "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "forecast", "schedule", "estimate" and similar expressions, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements and information are not historical facts and are based upon a number of estimates and assumptions and are inherently subject to significant business, social, economic, political, regulatory, competitive and other risks and uncertainties, contingencies and other factors, including the impact of international and Canadian laws, trade agreements and regulatory requirements on Khan's business, operations and capital structure, regulatory uncertainty and obtaining governmental and regulatory approvals, legislative, political, social, regulatory and economic developments or changes in jurisdictions in which Khan carries on business, changes in market conditions, changes or disruptions in the securities markets and market fluctuations in prices for Khan securities, the existence of third parties interested in purchasing some or all of the common shares or Khan's assets, the method of funding and availability of any potential alternative strategic transactions involving Khan or its assets, including those transactions that may produce strategic value to shareholders. In addition, a number of other factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in such statements and information, and there is no assurance that actual results will be consistent with them. For further details, reference is made to the risk factors discussed or referred to in Khan's annual and interim management's discussion and analyses and Annual Information Form on file with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Such forward-looking statements and information are made or given as at the date of this news release, and Khan assumes no obligation to update or revise them, either publicly or otherwise, to reflect new events, information or circumstances, except as may be required under applicable securities law.
Contacts:
Investor Relations Contacts: Khan Resources Inc.
Grant Edey
President & CEO
Office: 416.360.3405
gedey@rogers.com
Khan Resources Inc.
Bruce Gooding
Chief Financial Officer
Office: 416.360.3405
bgooding@khanresources.com
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/17 -- Detour Gold Corporation (TSX: DGC) ("Detour Gold" or the "Company") has been notified of an unsolicited mini-tender offer made by TRC Capital Corporation ("TRC Capital") to purchase up to 5,000,000 Detour Gold common shares, or approximately 2.86 percent of the Company's outstanding common shares, at a price of Cdn$15.25 per share. Detour Gold does not endorse this unsolicited mini-tender offer and recommends that shareholders do not tender their shares in response to the offer.
Shareholders are cautioned that the mini-tender offer has been made at a price below market, representing a discount of 4.69 percent to the closing price of Detour Gold's common shares on December 23, 2016, the last trading day before the mini-tender offer was commenced.
The Company does not endorse TRC Capital's unsolicited mini-tender offer and is not associated with TRC Capital, the mini-tender offer, or the mini-tender offer documentation.
TRC Capital has made similar unsolicited mini-tender offers for shares of other public companies. Mini-tender offers are designed to seek less than five percent of a company's outstanding shares, thereby avoiding many disclosure and procedural requirements applicable to most bids under Canadian securities legislation. The Canadian Securities Administrators ("CSA") have expressed serious concerns about mini-tender offers such as the possibility that investors might tender to a mini-tender offer based upon a misunderstanding of the terms of the offer, including the per securities price available under the offer relative to the market price of such securities. Comments from the CSA on mini-tenders can be found on the Ontario Securities Commission website at: http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/en/SecuritiesLaw_csa_19991210_61-301.jsp.
According to TRC Capital's offer documents, Detour Gold shareholders who have already tendered their shares may withdraw their shares at any time before 12:01 am (Toronto time) on January 27, 2017 by following the procedures described in the offer documents.
About Detour Gold
Detour Gold is an intermediate gold producer in Canada that holds a 100% interest in the Detour Lake mine, a long life large-scale open pit operation. Detour Gold's shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol DGC.
Contacts:
Paul Martin
President and CEO
(416) 304.0800
Laurie Gaborit
Director Investor Relations
(416) 304.0581
OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/17 -- Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. ("Cornerstone" or "the Company") (TSX VENTURE: CGP)(FRANKFURT: GWN)(BERLIN: GWN)(OTCBB: CTNXF) announces the following project update for the Cascabel copper-gold porphyry joint venture exploration project in northern Ecuador, in which the Company has a 15% interest financed through to completion of a feasibility study. SolGold Plc is funding 100% of the exploration at Cascabel and is the operator of the project.
Figures, table and photographs referred to in this news release can be seen in PDF format by accessing the version of this release on the Company's website (www.cornerstoneresources.com) or by clicking on the link below:
http://www.cornerstoneresources.com/i/pdf/NR17-01Figures.pdf.
HIGHLIGHTS:
-- Drill Hole CSD-16-019 ("Hole 19") intersects 835m of copper mineralization (estimated true width(1) of 560m) from 325.6m to current depth 1161.50m, including a more intensely mineralized section from 545.9m. -- Bornite (a copper rich sulphide mineral containing 63% copper) and molybdenite are present in the mineralized section of Hole 19. -- Bornite mineralization mapped at surface, and in Hole 19 to date, support the existence of Hematite Hill, Alpala Southeast, and Cristal as high priority targets over 750m of strike extension southeast of Alpala Central. -- Preparations for drill rigs 4 and 5 continue ahead of drill testing the zone southeast of Alpala. -- Hole 18 encountered intense veining and mineralization over 665m from 903.9m to 1568.9m, and continues at 2144.8m depth, testing the lower levels and southwestern side of the Alpala system. -- Hole 20R entered brecciated (fragmented) porphyry style copper mineralization at 905.4m, approximately 200m higher than predicted, supporting the existence of widening and shallowing of the mineralized zone on the east and northeast sides of Alpala Central. Mineralization continues to current depth of 1050.0m. (1) Estimates have been made in defining true widths due to insufficient drilling in the outer limits of the currently known extension of the Alpala deposit and drill results not having yet been assayed and interpreted. These estimates may change as more drilling is completed and results continue to be processed.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
The Cascabel Project is located within the gold-rich northern section of the prolific Andean Copper belt renowned as the production base for nearly half of the world's copper (Figure 1). The project area hosts mineralization of Eocene age, the same age as numerous Tier 1 deposits along the Andean Copper Belt in Chile and Peru to the south. The project base is located at Rocafuerte, in northwestern Ecuador just west of the City of Ibarra, approximately 3 hours drive north of Quito and close to water, power supply and Pacific Ports (Figure 2). SolGold holds an 85% interest in ENSA (Exploraciones Novomining S.A.) which holds the Cascabel concession.
Fourteen different targets have been defined at Cascabel and only one of these, the Alpala Deposit has been drilled to date. The deposit at Alpala continues to grow with each new drill hole. Drilling has focussed on defining the geometry of the Alpala deposit, which is open in all directions. Over 27,000m of drilling has been completed to date (Figure 3).
Planned drilling for the coming quarter focuses on expansion of the Alpala deposit as well as testing of the south easterly extensions of the greater Alpala system, at Hematite Hill and Alpala Southeast. (Figure 4).
Examples of selected mineralization in drill core intersected recently in Holes 18, 19 and 20R show copper mineralization being encountered (Figures 5, 6, 7).
Planned Drill Rig Deployment
Solgold is continuing to deploy multiple drilling rigs at Cascabel. Currently there are three operational rigs at the project and upgraded infrastructure and services will enable the deployment of two additional rigs in the next two months.
-- Rig 1 (current) will continue testing the upward extensions of the Alpala Central deposit. -- Rig 2 (current) will relocate southeast of Alpala Central to the Hematite Hill area. -- Rig 3 (current) will continue testing the deepest portion of the Alpala Central deposit, below known mineralization. -- Rig 4 (proposed) is scheduled to commence in February 2017 an extensive multi-hole directional drilling program on the Alpala Deposit in February 2017. -- Rig 5 (proposed) is scheduled to commence in March 2017 testing of the Alpala South area, approximately 1km southeast of the current drilling area at Alpala.
Solgold plans to have 7 drilling rigs active on the project by the end of October 2017.
Planned drilling over the coming quarter is shown in Figure 8, and priority target areas along the Alpala southwesterly trend are shown in long-section view in Figure 9.
Independent Technical report on the Cascabel Project under National Instrument 43-101 and accompanying documents by SRK Exploration Pty Ltd are in preparation.
About Cascabel:
SolGold Plc owns 85% of the equity of Exploraciones Novomining S.A. ("ENSA"), an Ecuadorean company that holds 100% of the Cascabel concession in northern Ecuador. Cornerstone owns the remaining 15% of ENSA. SolGold is funding 100% of the exploration at Cascabel and is the operator of the project. Cornerstone's 15% interest is financed through completion of a feasibility study.
Cascabel is located in northwestern Ecuador in an under-explored northern section of the Andean Copper Belt, 60 km northeast of the undeveloped inferred resource of 982 million tons at 0.89% Cu Llurimaga (formerly Junin) copper project (0.4% Cu cut-off grade; Micon International Co. Ltd. Technical Report for Ascendant Exploration SA, August 20, 2004, pages 28 & 29). Mineralization identified at the Llurimaga copper project is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Cascabel Property.
Plans:
To date SolGold has completed geological mapping and soil sampling over 25 km2, along with and an additional 9km2 of Induced Polarisation and 14km2 Magnetotelluric "Orion" surveys over the Alpala cluster and Aguinaga targets. SolGold has completed over 27,000m of drilling and expended over USD 35M on the program, corporate costs and investments into Cornerstone. Intense diamond drilling is planned for the next 12 months with multiple drill rigs.
The Alpala deposit is open at depth and in the upper extensions, as well as to the north, north-east, south-east and south-west. The mineralized zone at Alpala and Moran is closely modelled by magnetic signatures and currently encompasses over 10Bt of magnetic rock expected to be mineralized with copper and gold.
SolGold is focussing on extending the dimensions of Alpala before completing a resource statement and drill testing the other key targets within the Cascabel concession at Alpala Southeast, Aguinaga, Trivino, Moran, Alpala Northwest, Hematite Hill, Cristal, Parambas, Carmen, Tandayama-America and Chinambicito. SolGold is planning further metallurgical testing and completion of a conceptual early stage mine and plant design and a scoping study (which may not be the equivalent of a National Instrument 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment) for an economic development at Cascabel. SolGold is investigating both high tonnage / low-medium grade open cut and underground block caving operations, and a high grade / low tonnage underground development.
Qualified Person:
Yvan Crepeau, MBA, P.Geo., Cornerstone's Vice President, Exploration and a qualified person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for supervising the exploration program at the Cascabel project for Cornerstone and has reviewed and approved the information contained in this news release.
Logging, sampling and assaying
Holes referred to in this release were or are being drilled using HTW, NTW, NQ and BQ core sizes (respectively 7.1, 5.6, 4.8 and 3.7 cm diameter). Geotechnical measurements such as core recovery, fracturing, rock quality designations (RQD's), specific density and photographic logging are performed systematically prior to assaying. The core is logged, magnetic susceptibility measured and key alteration minerals identified using an on-site portable spectrometer. Core is then sawed in half at the ENSA core logging facility, and half of the core is delivered by ENSA employees for preparation at LAC y Asociados ISO 9001-2008 certified sample preparation facility in Cuenca. Core samples are prepared crushing to 70% passing 2 mm (10 mesh), splitting 250 g and pulverizing to 85% passing 75 microns (200 mesh) (MSA code PRP-910). Prepared samples are then shipped to MS Analytical Services (MSA), an ISO 9001-2008 laboratory in Langley, BC, Canada where samples are assayed for a multi-element suite (MSA code IMS-230, 0.2g split, 4-acid digestion, ICP-AES/MS finish). Over limit results for Cu (greater than 1%) are systematically re-assayed (MSA code ICF-6Cu, 0.2 g, 4-acid digestion, ICP-AES finish). Gold is assayed using a 30 g split, Fire Assay (FA) and AAS finish (MSA code FAS 111). Over limit results for Au (greater than 10 g/t) are systematically re-assayed (MSA code FAS-415, FA, 30g., gravimetric finish).
Drill hole intercepts from the Cascabel Property are calculated using a data aggregation method, defined by copper equivalent cut-off grades and reported with up to 10m internal dilution, excluding bridging to a single sample. Copper equivalent grades are calculated using a gold conversion factor of 0.89, determined using copper price of US$2.20/pound and gold price of US$1350/ounce. Copper equivalent calculation assumes 100% recoveries of copper and gold.
All reported drill core intervals from the Cascabel Property are core lengths, unless otherwise indicated. At present the true thicknesses of all of the holes has not been calculated by SolGold. Low-grade intersections, where applicable, are expressed as average true widths (utilizing the "B-vein greater than 0.5%" shell orientations). High-grade intersections are better constrained for holes 1, 5, 8 and 9, and these intersections are also expressed as average true widths (utilizing the "B-veins greater than 20%" shell orientations).
Quality assurance / Quality control (QA/QC)
The MSA Analytical Laboratory is a qualified assayer that performs and makes available internal assaying controls. Duplicates, certified blanks and standards are systematically used (1 control sample every 15-20 samples) as part of Cornerstone's QA/QC program. Rejects, a 100 g pulp for each core sample and the remaining half-core are stored for future use and controls.
About Cornerstone:
Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. is a well funded mineral exploration company with a diversified portfolio of projects in Ecuador and Chile, and a proven ability to identify, acquire and advance properties of merit. The company's business model is based on generating exploration projects whose subsequent development is funded primarily through partnerships.
Further information is available on Cornerstone's website: www.cornerstoneresources.com and on Twitter.
Cautionary Notice:
This news release may contain 'Forward-Looking Statements' that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of Cornerstone's plans, objectives, strategies, intentions and expectations. The words "potential," "anticipate," "forecast," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "may," "project," "plan," and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify 'Forward-Looking Statements.' Although Cornerstone believes that its expectations reflected in these 'Forward-Looking Statements' are reasonable, such statements may involve unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed in our regulatory filings, viewed on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets, predicting natural geological phenomena and from numerous other matters of national, regional, and global scale, including those of an environmental, climatic, natural, political, economic, business, competitive, or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our Forward-Looking Statements. Although Cornerstone believes the facts and information contained in this news release to be as correct and current as possible, Cornerstone does not warrant or make any representation as to the accuracy, validity or completeness of any facts or information contained herein and these statements should not be relied upon as representing its views subsequent to the date of this news release. While Cornerstone anticipates that subsequent events may cause its views to change, it expressly disclaims any obligation to update the Forward-Looking Statements contained herein except where outcomes have varied materially from the original statements.
On Behalf of the Board,
Brooke Macdonald, President and CEO
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
For investor, corporate or media inquiries, please contact:
Investor Relations
(613) 421-6923
ir@cornerstoneresources.ca
STOCKHOLM, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
The electronic music festival "Into the Valley" has for two years attracted visitors from all around the world up to Dalhalla in Sweden. In 2017, the festival will be held in the new amazing place: an underwater prison of Rummu in Estonia, outside Tallinn.
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/453695/Rummu_quarry.jpg )
Moreover, new festivals "Into the Factory" (Stockholm Couty, Sweden) and "Into the Castle" (Cape Town, South Africa) are revealed. All together, six new festivals will be established by 2019. These new experiences are arranged by "Music Goes Further" promo group and are based on seven key principles: unique locations, advanced electronic music, pioneering technology, innovative art, food and bar architecture, holistic awareness and social equality.
Rummu, there Into the Valley takes place, has unique history. Since the late 1930s, it functioned as a limestone quarry, founded alongside with the Soviet prison Murru, in purpose of mining of limestone and marble. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the mine has been closed and the quarry soon enough became a quarry lake. Some parts of the prison, mining machinery and equipment were covered by crystal clear water.
Since few years back the prison was also closed and the quarry was abandoned, becoming an attractive place for hikers, scuba divers, bikers, photographers, and film-makers because of its unique landscape. There are rumours that the former prison used to be the one of the worst of its time, promoters however believe that it is now time for music and joy to seize the place and update the history.
Into the Valley Festival will take place between June 29- July 1, 2017.
The confirmed artists so far: Andrey Zots Kim Ann Foxman Anna Hanna Kink feat. Answer Code Request Rachel Row (live) Anthea Marcel Dettmann Bella Sarris Midland Cassy Nastia Cobblestone Jazz (live) Olga Korol Dixon Praslesh Hunee Recondite (live) Janina Regis Jeff Mills Renaat R & S Kask The Black Madonna
The festival is about 45 km away from Tallinn, and two accomodation packages are available: hotel package for those who want to stay in Tallinn, and the camp package for visitors with private cars and caravans for staying at the festival area. Shuttle bus tickets for travelling between Tallinn and the festival are also available. The age limit for the festival is 23 years, but limited amount of "Under 23" tickets is available.
WESTBROOK, ME -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/17 -- Synergy CHC Corp ("Synergy") (OTCQB: SNYR) and Knight Therapeutics Inc. (TSX: GUD) announced as of December 23rd that, ("Knight"), through one of its wholly-owned subsidiaries has committed to invest up to US $2 million as a lead order toward the purchase of common shares of Synergy CHC Corp ("Synergy") (OTCQB: SNYR) conditional on Synergy meeting certain fundraising targets in 2017.
In addition, Knight entered into an agreement with Synergy to swap its share purchase warrants and stock options of Synergy, which entitled Knight to purchase up to 9.1 million shares of Synergy at exercise prices ranging from US $0.25 to US $0.49 per share, in exchange for 7.5 million common shares of Synergy valued at US $2.9 million based on Synergy's December 23, 2016 closing price of US $0.39 per share. Knight originally received the share purchase warrants and stock options in connection with its secured loans to Synergy issued in 2015. Following the exchange, Knight owns 17.6 million or 19.9% of Synergy's common shares outstanding.
Separately, with respect to FOCUSfactor and Hand MD, Knight appointed Synergy as its exclusive third party direct channel distributor in Canada, Israel, Romania, Russia and sub-Saharan Africa; and as its exclusive third party retail channel distributor in Canada. Additionally, Knight amended its direct channel distribution agreement with Synergy for Flat Tummy Tea in Canada. The initial term of these agreements ends on February 15, 2021.
"While we missed the Christmukkah rush, we are confident that our continued partnership with Synergy will bring joy to both our company's respective shareholders," said Jonathan Ross Goodman, CEO of Knight.
"We are very pleased to have licensed the right's of our brands back in the knight territories and also further deepen our incredible partnership with Knight. We are very blessed to have Knight as our partner" said Jack Ross, CEO of Synergy CHC.
About Knight Therapeutics Inc.
Knight Therapeutics Inc., headquartered in Montreal, Canada, is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on acquiring or in-licensing innovative pharmaceutical products for the Canadian and select international markets. Knight Therapeutics Inc.'s shares trade on TSX under the symbol GUD. For more information about Knight Therapeutics Inc., please visit the company's web site at www.gud-knight.com or www.sedar.com.
About Synergy CHC Corp.
Synergy CHC Corp. is a consumer health care company that is in the process of building a portfolio of best-in-class consumer product brands. Synergy's strategy is to grow its portfolio both organically and by further acquisition. Synergy's diversified portfolio now includes FOCUSFactor, Flat Tummy Tea, Neuragen, and Hand MD . For more information, please visit www.synergychc.com.
About FOCUSfactor "Another Synergy Brand"
FOCUSfactor is sold at America's leading retailers such as Costco, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart, BJ's Walgreens, CVS and The Vitamin Shoppe. FOCUSfactor, America's leading brain health supplement, is a nutritional supplement that includes a proprietary blend of brain supporting vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other nutrients. In December 2012, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued US Patent 8,329,227 covering FOCUSfactor's proprietary formulation "for enhanced mental function." The issuance of the patent marked one of the few times a patent has been issued for a nationally branded nutritional supplement. FOCUSfactor is clinically tested with results demonstrating improvements in focus, concentration and memory in healthy adults. www.focusfactor.com
About Flat Tummy Tea "Another Synergy Brand"
Flat Tummy Tea's uniquely formulated two-step herbal detox tea works to naturally help speed metabolism, boost energy and reduce bloating to flatten your tummy. It's currently sold exclusively online to a global, 20-30 year old female, predominantly American market.
Since being founded in 2013, Flat Tummy Tea has grown rapidly, largely attributed to the strength of their branding and their innovative and effective use of social media. Their secret is a very specific process and ROI based algorithm used on various online platforms. To date, Flat Tummy Tea has built a targeted social media following of over 1,100,000, many of whom are now customers.
Flat Tummy Tea now has over 13,000 positive written reviews on their website, flattummytea.com or visit their Instagram page.
About Neuragen "Another Synergy Brand"
Neuragen is a topical product that works directly at the site of the pain as opposed to oral products. Neuragen reduces the spontaneous firing of damaged peripheral nerves. By calming these firings at the source, Neuragen is clinically shown to reduce shooting and burning pains quickly and without the side effects of orally taken medications. This is in part due to the small lipophilic molecules found in Neuragen which rapidly carry the active ingredients through the rough outer layer of the skin to the site of the pain. Neuragen is available over the counter in most local pharmacies either in the diabetic section or the analgesic (pain) section. For more information, please visit www.neuragen.com.
About Hand MD "Another Synergy Brand"
Hand MD is the world's first anti-aging skincare line formulated specifically for the hands. Hands reveal a woman's true age and the rejuvenation of the hand has become women's #1 aging concern. Developed by Kara Harshbarger and renowned celebrity dermatologist Dr. Alex Khadavi, Hand MD's extensive clinical trials show significant improvement in the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, skin hydration, hyper-pigmentation and radiance. HAND MD launched on QVC and sold out in an astonishing 5 minutes. www.hand-md.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, regarding management's expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or Synergy's prospects should be considered forward-looking. Readers are cautioned that actual results may differ materially from projections or estimates due to a variety of important factors, including: Synergy's ability to integrate any new products into its current operations; the risks and uncertainties associated with Synergy's ability to manage its cash resources; obtaining additional financing to support Synergy's operations; Synergy's dependence on third parties for its research and development, manufacturing and distribution functions; Synergy's dependence on its license relationships; protecting the intellectual property developed by or licensed to Synergy; and Synergy's ability to build its operations to support its business strategy and promote its products. These and other risks are described in greater detail in Synergy's filings with the SEC, copies of which are available free of charge at the SEC's website (www.sec.gov) or upon request from Synergy. Synergy may not actually achieve the goals or plans described in its forward-looking statements, and investors should not place undue reliance on these statements. Synergy assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
Contact Information:
Jack Ross
Chairman / CEO
Synergy CHC Corp
Jack@synergychc.com
615-939-9004
SEATTLE, WA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/17 -- CFN Media Group ("CannabisFN"), the leading creative agency and media network dedicated to legal cannabis, announces publication of an article discussing Lexaria Bioscience Corp.'s (OTCQB: LXRP) innovative technology that makes cannabinoid-infused products more palatable and bioavailable for patients.
The cannabis industry is expected to reach $50 billion by 2026, according to Cowen & Co., but there are still many hurdles to overcome. Aside from the legality of the drug, culinary experts like Greg Mowery have called cannabinoid-infused products 'bitter, acrid and unpalatable' and medical research has highlighted the struggle with metabolism and absorption. These challenges must be overcome for medical cannabis to become truly mainstream.
Lexaria researchers processed a mixture of hemp oil, black tea, and select lipids to create a cannabinoid-infused tea that resulted in as much as a 499% increase in intestinal tissue permeability for cannabidiol (CBD) over a concentration matched mixture of just CBD and water. The key is 'shuttling' the cannabinoid molecules within lipid molecules to protect them as they pass through the stomach while still enabling them to be absorbed into the intestine. In addition, Lexaria and its partners have shown that Lexaria's technology results in onset of cannabinoid effectiveness in edible dosage forms in as little as 15-20 minutes, which compares favorably to conventional edibles often requiring 60-120 minutes to act.
Encapsulating cannabinoid molecules has the added benefit of eliminating any undesirable tastes. After all, the actual molecules do not encounter the blood stream until the intestinal tract rather than on the tongue. This addresses issues stemming from the bitter taste and unpalatability of cannabinoids in edibles and beverages by removing the herbal flavor and enabling manufacturers to leverage any other flavoring elements.
Please follow the link to read the full article: http://www.cannabisfn.com/lexaria-lxrp-technology-is-a-cannabinoid-breakthrough/
Learn how to become a CFN Media client company, brand or entrepreneur: http://www.cannabisfn.com/become-featured-company/
Download the CFN Media iOS mobile app to access the world of cannabis from the palm of your hand: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cannabisfn/id988009247?ls=1&mt=8
Or visit our homepage and enter your mobile number under the Apple App Store logo to receive a download link text on your iPhone: http://www.cannabisfn.com
About CFN Media
CFN Media (CannabisFN), the leading creative agency and media network dedicated to legal cannabis, helps marijuana businesses attract investors, customers (B2B, B2C), capital, and media visibility. Private and public marijuana companies and brands in the US and Canada rely on CFN Media to grow and succeed.
CFN launched in June of 2013 to initially serve the growing universe of publicly traded marijuana companies across North America. Today, CFN Media is also the digital media choice for the emerging brands in the space.
Disclaimer:
Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this release contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Emerging Growth LLC, which owns CFN Media and CannabisFN.com, is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. Emerging Growth LLC may from time to time have a position in the securities mentioned herein and may increase or decrease such positions without notice. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice. Emerging Growth LLC may be compensated for its services in the form of cash-based compensation or equity securities in the companies it writes about, or a combination of the two. For full disclosure please visit: http://www.cannabisfn.com/legal-disclaimer/.
CFN Media
Frank Lane
2063697050
flane@cannabisfn.com
ELKO The Community for Accredited Online Schools has recognized the Electrical Systems Technology program at Great Basin College for offering one of the top electrician programs in the nation.
The website www.accreditedschoolsonline.org released its annual ranking for the 2016-2017 school year, ranking GBC second among other four-year colleges and universities.
We wanted to highlight schools like Great Basin College, who are striving for excellence in education, said Doug Jones, CEO and Founder of the Community for Accredited Online Schools. These colleges offer an exceptional educational experience, upholding rigorous accreditation standards and showing an overall commitment to maximizing student success.
In order for colleges to qualify for the ranking, they must hold public or private not-for-profit status and carry institutional accreditation. Top schools are determined by using a value-based methodology that analyzes more than a dozen qualitative and quantitative data points.
According to the website, the electrical program at GBC received acclamation for its student to teacher ratio, graduation rate, tuition and fees, job placement services, credit for experience and counseling services.
GBC currently offers a certificate of achievement and associate degree in Electrical Systems Technology. Electrical students often intern in the community while completing their education. Depending on their path of study, students can complete the certificate and degree program in one to two years.
GBC Dean of Business and Technology Bret Murphy also explained that employed electricians also have the opportunity to receive college credit for their work experience while completing hybrid courses online, eventually receiving a degree or certificate.
GBC hasnt always offered hybrid, online training. It wasnt until 2007 when Round Mountain Gold approached the electrical department that this program was conceived. Round Mountain Gold, like other mining companies located in northern Nevada, have a demand for qualified electricians to keep their operations running, said Murphy.
GBC instructors work closely with site supervisors to assure students are getting the hands-on experience needed to complete the program. Students must attend several mandatory training days at GBC to complete the four-year program.
Murphy said the program has become so successful that other mining companies, like Barrick Gold Corp., are taking advantage of the opportunity for their employees.
For more information about the electrical systems technology program, visit www.gbcnv.edu.
Round Mountain Gold, like other mining companies located in northern Nevada, have a demand for qualified electricians to keep their operations running. Brett Murphy, GBC
MURRIETA, CALIFORNIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/17 -- IGEN Networks Corporation (OTCQB: IGEN)(CSE: IGN)(CSE: IGN.CN), a Company that offers a range of proprietary, self-provisioning applications that manage and recover stolen assets, provide access to roadside assistance programs, and improve productivity of commercial fleets, announces a number of milestones and important achievements that were met in 2016. Additionally, CEO Neil Chan will hold a conference call to discuss these achievements, the condition of the Company, the current market environment for the industry, and goals for 2017 at 1:15 pm PST tomorrow, Thursday, January 5. See call instructions at the bottom of this release.
IGEN had a record breaking year in 2016. Some of the Company's accomplishments include:
-- Partnership status with Verizon and IGEN's wholly-owned subsidiary Nimbo Tracking enabled the sharing of sales leads across the country, leading to record orders with thousands of new vehicle service activations and product shipments; -- First pre-load implementation of Nimbo services with automotive franchise dealers, supporting multiple automotive OEM brands, and requiring all vehicles to be service activated; -- Record breaking installation rate of more than 100 vehicle activations per day or 3000 vehicles over 30 days; -- Record revenues and gross profits with first ever positive funds flow from operations reported in Q3 of 2016 (including deferred revenues, and therefore on a non-GAAP basis); -- Launch of fleet analytics platform for consumer fleet applications -- Streamlining of distribution channels to leverage key market partner strengths including the expansion of IGEN's nationwide installation network of more than 900 installers across the United States; -- Continued expansion of the Company's pre-load and conventional automotive dealer channels; -- Continued investment in IGEN's IT infrastructure and product platform to support growth and provide scalability, improved functionality, stability, and performance
CEO Neil Chan stated, "IGEN is now positioned for success better than any time in its history, and as we grow we continue to focus on our goals of increasing our positive fund flow and achieving net profitability."
Mr. Chan added, "The massive market opportunity we are facing is underlined by the recent advertising program launched by Verizon for its aftermarket retail HUM device, a complementary program to our new car channels. Verizon continues to be a valuable strategic partner and contributes to our ability to land B2B contracts with dealerships. The addition of new car dealerships along with our new analytics platform for commercial fleets is increasing our ability to profitably leverage this massive market opportunity."
IGEN Networks wishes to invite all shareholders and interested parties to listen to a conference call led by CEO Neil Chan that will take place tomorrow, Thursday, January 5 just after the close of trading at 1:15 pm PST / 4:30 pm EST. If calling from the United States, please call (310)372-7549 and from Canada call (514)312-2743. The conference code is 150727. The call will be recorded and posted on the Company's website. Please email matt@greenchipir.com if you would like the recorded call sent after conclusion, or if you wish to ask questions.
About IGEN Networks Corporation:
IGEN Networks Corporation invests in and manages companies that deliver cloud-based services through Machine-to-Machine (M2M) device technologies for the protection and management of mobile assets and commercial fleets. The Company offers a range of self-provisioning applications which are used to manage and recover stolen assets, provide access to roadside assistance programs, and improve productivity of commercial fleets.
IGEN is a fully reporting company in both Canada and the United States. It is publicly traded on the OTCQB under the symbol IGEN, and listed on the CSE under the symbol IGN. For more information, please visit www.igen-networks.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements or forward looking information within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Canadian securities law. The terms and phrases "goal", "commitment", "guidance", "expects", "would", "will", "continuing", "drive", "believes", "indicate", "look forward", "grow", "outlook", "forecasts", "intend", and similar terms and phrases are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by IGEN in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that IGEN believes are appropriate in the circumstances, including but not limited to statements regarding investment liquidity, financing options and long term goals of the Company, general economic conditions, IGEN's expectations regarding its business, customer base, strategy and prospects, and IGEN's confidence in the cash flow generation of its business. Many factors could cause IGEN's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to competition; IGEN's reliance on key personnel; IGEN's ability to maintain and enhance its brand; and difficulties in forecasting IGEN's financial results, particularly over longer periods given the rapid technological changes, competition and short product life cycles that characterize the mobile application industry. These risk factors and others relating to IGEN that may cause actual results to differ are set forth in the under the heading "Risk Factors" in IGEN's periodic filings with the British Columbia Securities Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (copies of which filings may be obtained at www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on IGEN's forward-looking statements. IGEN has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Contacts:
Corporate Inquiries:
IGEN Networks Corporation
Richard Freeman
1(888)244-3650
rfreeman@igen-networks.com
www.igen-networks.com
Brunswick strengthens public affairs expertise with addition of former U.S. House Ways and Means member
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Brunswick Group, a leading corporate advisory firm, announced today that Tim Griffin has joined the firm as senior counselor. During his more than two decades of experience at the intersection of business, law, government, and politics, Tim worked on some of the most complex and critical policy issues of our time. His insights and expertise will further enhance the firm's capabilities and benefit clients. Tim will focus his time on public affairs, corporate reputation, and crisis matters as well as digital campaign strategies.
The current lieutenant governor of Arkansas, Tim was previously elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he served on the Ways and Means Committee, was Deputy Majority Whip for the Republican caucus, and was Vice Chair for Strategy and Communications at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). Earlier in his career, he was Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Office of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush. An attorney by training, Tim was also U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas and is currently serving as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army JAG Corps.
"We are delighted to welcome Tim Griffin to Brunswick. Helping our clients navigate the regulatory and policy landscape has never been more complex or important. Tim's experience and knowledge at the highest levels of politics will be a great asset to our U.S. and global clients," said Group Chief Executive Officer Susan Gilchrist.
On joining the firm, Tim said: "I'm honored and excited to work with a world-class network of global advisors from a variety of disciplines."
Tim Griffin
Tim Griffin is currently serving as lieutenant governor of Arkansas.
Tim was elected lieutenant governor of Arkansas on November 4, 2014, and took office on January 13, 2015. The Office of Lieutenant Governor for the State of Arkansas has historically been a part-time position, with many of its former occupants holding simultaneous public and private employment.
From 2011-2015, Tim served as the 24th representative of Arkansas's Second Congressional District. For the 113th Congress, he was a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority. He also served as Vice Chair for Strategy and Communications at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). In the 112th Congress, he served as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the House Committee on Ethics, and the House Committee on the Judiciary. He also served as an Assistant Whip for the Majority.
Tim has served in the U.S. Army Reserve for 20 years, was deployed to Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and holds the rank of lieutenant colonel. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pa. He also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas and Special Assistant to the President, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush.
Tim grew up in Magnolia, Ark., and is a fifth generation Arkansan and the youngest son of a minister and teacher. He graduated from Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., and Tulane Law School in New Orleans and attended graduate school at Pembroke College of Oxford University in England. His wife Elizabeth is from Camden, Ark., and they currently live in Little Rock, Ark. with their two children, Mary Katherine, 9, and John, 6. They are members of Immanuel Baptist Church of Little Rock.
About Brunswick Group
Brunswick Group LLP is an advisory firm specializing in critical issues and corporate relations. Founded in 1987, Brunswick is an organically grown, private partnership with 23 offices around the world. For more information, visit: www.brunswickgroup.com.
Contact
Cecilia Arradaza
Tel: +1 202 393 7337
Email: carradaza@brunswickgroup.com
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/17 -- IT research and consulting firm, Osterman Research, has published a new report entitled, "Best Practices for Protecting Your Data When Employees Leave Your Company" (December 2016). The report details that based on its research, Osterman found incontrovertible evidence that employee turnover and attrition can lead to egregious data loss. In fact, it was rated as the number one data protection problem -- with 69% of the business organizations surveyed indicating that they had suffered significant data/knowledge loss resulting from employees who had left.
The report explains that while there are generalized problems associated with the loss of corporate knowledge/expertise when employees leave, many of these problems are related to employees actually taking data with them when they depart, or leaving it in locations that are unknown or inaccessible to corporate data managers.
"Whether its premeditated or simply in error, many employees leave their employers with a wide variety of data types that can include confidential or sensitive financial data, customer information, and/or product, sales and marketing roadmaps, as well as other business critical intellectual property," said Michael Osterman, CEO and Founder, Osterman Research. "This can leave a business organization vulnerable to regulations noncompliance, litigation, a loss in competitive edge and even embarrassing bad press with long-term ramifications -- the kind that can curb an otherwise promising IT career. And of course, it could also simply mean the information you need to get your job done just isn't there."
Osterman continued, "There are however policies, procedures and technology solutions that can be proactively put into place that minimize, even eliminate, the potential for data exfiltration."
The paper goes on to describe in detail the top policies, procedures and technologies that can be employed to protect sensitive and confidential data assets from departing employees.
Please read "Best Practices for Protecting Your Data When Employees Leave Your Company" found here: http://info.archive360.com/wp-best-practices-for-protecting-data-when-employees-leave, to learn more about...:
The top problems related to data protection
Why employees leave with corporate data
Signs of unusual behavior - potential "tells" that an employee is planning to steal corporate data
The consequences of data exfiltration
The top policies, procedures and technologies to protect against data exfiltration
A checklist for managing a successful employee departure process
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About Archive360, primary sponsor of "Best Practices for Protecting Your Data When Employees Leave Your Company"
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NEW YORK, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Continuously growing automobile sales and expanding vehicle fleet to drive Asia-Pacific tire market through 2021
According to recently released TechSci Research report, "Asia-Pacific Tire Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2021", the tire market in Asia-Pacific region is forecast to grow at a CAGR of over 8% during 2016 - 2021, on account of increasing automobile production and expanding vehicle fleet, especially in China and India. In 2011, two-wheeler tire segment dominated the Asia-Pacific tire market in volume terms. However, the scenario changed in 2015, and passenger car tire segment accounted for the largest share in the region's tire market, owing to increasing sales of passenger cars due to rising disposable income and expanding middle class consumers. The region's tire market is dominated by the replacement tire segment on account of continuing expansion of automotive fleet.
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Browse 91 market data Tables and 135 Figures spread through355 Pages and an in-depth TOC on
"Asia-Pacific Tire Market"
https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/apac-tire-market-forecast-opportunities/855.html
China and India are the major demand generating countries for tires in the Asia-Pacific region, due to growing population base, expanding middle class population and rising disposable income. In 2015, the population of China and India stood at 1.37 billion and 1.31 billion, respectively. Launch of "Automotive Mission Plan, 2016-2026" is anticipated to augment the automobile production in India in the coming years, which is expected to drive demand for tires through 2021. Presence of major automotive OEMs such as Ford, Hyundai, Honda, Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, TATA, BMW, etc., is propelling OEM tire demand in Asia-Pacific. Nevertheless, replacement segment continues to dominate demand for tires in the region due to continuing expansion of automobile fleet in Asia-Pacific.
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"Asia-Pacific is undergoing a major infrastructure transformation. A large number of huge construction projects are underway or in pipeline, owing to growing developmental activities being undertaken in energy, communication, transport, water, health and housing sectors across the region. Consequently, demand for tires in Asia-Pacific is expected to continue growing over the next five years, on account of increasing vehicle sales as well as expanding vehicle fleet, both in commercial as well as non-commercial vehicle segments. Furthermore, rising number of automobile exports coupled with growing customer inclination towards purchasing passenger cars is expected to drive Asia-Pacific tire market during the forecast period.", said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.
"Asia-Pacific Tire Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2021" has evaluated the future growth potential of Asia-Pacific tire market and provides statistics and information on market size, structure and future market growth. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes the emerging trends along with essential drivers, challenges and opportunities in Asia-Pacific tire market.
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TechSci Research is a leading global market research firm publishing premium market research reports. Serving 700 global clients with more than 600 premium market research studies, TechSci Research is serving clients across 11 different industrial verticals. TechSci Research specializes in research based consulting assignments in high growth and emerging markets, leading technologies and niche applications. Our workforce of more than 100 fulltime Analysts and Consultants employing innovative research solutions and tracking global and country specific high growth markets helps TechSci clients to lead rather than follow market trends.
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SAINT-LAURENT, CANADA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/17 -- IntelGenx Corp., (TSX VENTURE: IGX) (OTCQX: IGXT), today announced the signing of a definitive agreement with Chemo Group ("Chemo") for the co-development and commercialization of a generic tablet in the area of CNS (central nervous system) on a worldwide basis. According to Global Data, worldwide sales in 2015 of the CNS related product exceeded $4 billion. This definitive agreement signed December 30, 2016 follows the binding term sheet announced on December 1, 2016.
Under the agreement, IntelGenx is entitled to an upfront payment, development costs of the product and future milestone payments. Chemo and IntelGenx will also share the profits of commercialization.
"We are very pleased by the relentless execution of strategy in 2016 to successfully conclude seven transactions of our innovative products towards future commercialization," said Dr. Horst Zerbe, President and CEO of IntelGenx. "Four of those innovative products have been concluded with our strategic partner, Chemo, which clearly validates IntelGenx' advanced oral delivery platforms. We look forward to growing our relationship with Chemo in 2017 in further expanding the global reach of our innovative pipeline."
About Chemo Group:
CHEMO operates across the entire pharmaceutical value chain, delivering specialized expertise and experience in scientific research, development, manufacturing, sales and marketing of a wide range of value-adding active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), finished dosage forms (FDFs) and branded pharmaceuticals, for human and animal health.
While the main offices are located in Spain, Switzerland and Argentina, CHEMO is acting worldwide, creating a broad and balanced manufacturing and commercial network across Europe, America, Asia and Africa, to address global opportunities and customers' needs in all major pharmaceutical markets.
CHEMO's activity is organized in three synergistic business areas: Industrial, Branded and Biotech, with over 5,000 professionals in more than 40 countries, 20 state-of-the-art facilities, 9 specialized R&D centers, 12 commercial offices and more than 50 pharmaceutical affiliates, serving 1,150 customers in 96 countries around the world.
About IntelGenx:
IntelGenx is a leading oral drug delivery company primarily focused on the development and manufacturing of innovative pharmaceutical oral films based on its proprietary VersaFilm technology platform. Established in 2003, the Montreal-based company is listed on the TSX-V and OTC-QX.
IntelGenx highly skilled team provides comprehensive pharmaceuticals services to pharmaceutical partners, including R&D, analytical method development, clinical monitoring, IP and regulatory services. IntelGenx state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, established for the VersaFilm technology platform, supports lab-scale to pilot and commercial-scale production, offering full service capabilities to our clients. More information is available about the company at: www.intelgenx.com.
Forward Looking Statements:
This document may contain forward-looking information about IntelGenx' operating results and business prospects that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Statements that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about IntelGenx' plans, objectives, expectations, strategies, intentions or other characterizations of future events or circumstances and are generally identified by the words "may," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "could," "would," and similar expressions. All forward looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Because these forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, IntelGenx' actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in IntelGenx' annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov, and also filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and www.sedar.com. IntelGenx assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange), nor the OTCQX accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Source: IntelGenx Technologies Corp.
Contacts:
Edward Miller
Director, IR and Corporate Communications
IntelGenx Corp.
+1 514-331-7440 (ext. 217)
edward@intelgenx.com
FOOTHILL RANCH, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/17 -- With its long history of serving the government and education sectors, Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST) is pleased to announce it has been awarded a multi-state contract by PEPPM, the national technology cooperative purchasing program. This PEPPM 2017 California contract is in addition to AVST's existing PEPPM Pennsylvania contract. Together, these contracts enable school districts, colleges, cities, counties, state governments, libraries, other public agencies and nonprofits to streamline the purchasing of AVST Unified Communications (UC) applications.
PEPPM has been operated and administered by the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit for the past 35 years. The program reduces the time, effort and cost of purchasing technology products by eliminating the need for public agencies to bid. It ensures the most favorable pricing and complete bid protection.
Under the PEPPM program, all 50 U.S. states can utilize these contracts to ease the purchasing of AVST's CX-E UC applications including voice messaging, unified messaging, mobile client, speech-enabled personal assistant, automated attendant, IVR, call center, and notification.
"AVST has proven itself to be an excellent UC application provider to education and government agencies since 2013," said David Manney, Program Manager of the National PEPPM Technology Bidding and Purchasing Cooperative. "AVST has been a model for other suppliers to follow, providing reliable solutions at great discounted pricing, excellent service, and training throughout its previous contract terms."
"With many of the largest government agencies, cities and universities relying on AVST's applications, we are pleased to be awarded this new contract to help streamline their procurement process," said Denny Michael, AVST Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. PEPPM is one of several notable purchasing contracts AVST has in place. AVST has negotiated numerous cooperative purchasing contracts including GSA Schedule 70, NY OGS, Ohio State Schedule, and Texas DIR.
For more information about AVST's applications for government and education, visit the company's website at www.avst.com.
About AVST
With more than 30 years of continuous innovation, Applied Voice & Speech Technologies, Inc. (AVST) is a trusted developer of software-based enterprise-class Unified Communications (UC) solutions.
Our mission is to design, deliver and support communications solutions that transform the productivity of individual workers, teams and enterprises while leveraging the value of their existing and evolving IT infrastructure.
Thousands of businesses worldwide rely on AVST to meet their mission-critical communications requirements, align their business with key trends and, with the world-class interoperability and flexibility of AVST's UC solutions, provide a bridge to their digital future.
Headquartered in Orange County, California, AVST maintains facilities in Seattle, Washington, Victoria B.C., Canada and the United Kingdom and has remote sales offices throughout the United States. AVST's UC solutions are sold and supported worldwide by an extensive network of resellers and OEM partners. To learn more about AVST, our products and partners, please visit www.avst.com or you can follow us at Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.
Media Contact:
Stephanie Olsen
Lages & Associates
(949) 453-8080
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BRASILIA (dpa-AFX) - Finland embarked on a two-year long experiment this week to make regular payments to the unemployed in a bid to modernize the social security system and to explore if a basic income would help to boost employment.
The first stage of the Finnish basic income experiment, launched on January 1, involves 2,000 persons aged between 25 and 58, the country's Parliament-supervised social security institution, Kela said.
Participants were selected from a random sample of existing jobless benefit recipients. They are set to receive a monthly income of EUR 560 for two years, in addition to existing welfare benefits. The first payment will be made on January 9.
The basic income encourages recipients to seek employment, removes disincentives to work, and reduces bureaucracy, Marjukka Turunen, head of Kela's Legal Affairs Unit, said in a statement.
Unemployed persons may not gain any additional income even if they find work because earnings reduce social benefits, Kela said. In the present social security system, Finns can reject a low-paying job or temporary work if that will reduce their welfare benefits drastically.
The new income scheme allows the beneficiary to receive both the salary and the basic income even if they get a job. Thus, temporary or part-time work and self-employment will not affect basic income payments.
Kela said the basic income also helps to reduce bureaucracy as the recipients do not have to report the number of hours they work or to fill in various forms.
Further, the benefit also helps recipients to plan their finances and provides a sense of security, Turunen said.
The tax-free payment will be made in advance at the beginning of each month and hence, the recipients can count on having at least that amount of money at their disposal. Currently, recipients of the labor market subsidy have to claim it afterwards.
The latest experiment is the first step in a series of experiments testing various basic income solutions, Kela said. The institution will recommend an increase in the sample size in 2018 to include other persons with small incomes.
Finland's unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in 2015 and 8.7 percent in 2014. In November, the figure was 8.1 percent.
Universal basic income was often dismissed as an 'utopian' idea, for it found first mention in Thomas More's Utopia, a work of fiction and political philosophy published in 1516.
Later, American political activist Thomas Paine suggested the idea of a 'citizen's dividend' or basic income for everyone in his 1795 essay Agrarian Justice.
A darling for the Left to reduce poverty and inequality, the idea is being embraced by libertarians and some conservatives as they worry over rising unemployment in the era of robotic automation.
The Belgium-based Basic Income Earth Network is an international network that serves as a link between individuals and groups committed to or interested in basic income. The think tank defines basic income as 'a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement.'
Last June, Switzerland held a nationwide referendum on a basic monthly income for every resident, which was rejected overwhelmingly.
Elsewhere in Europe, Scotland is set to trial universal basic income schemes in Fife and Glasgow later this year.
The Netherlands also will carry out a two-year basic income scheme experiment in Utrecht and surrounding cities this year.
The Italian coastal city of Livorno launched a scheme to provide a guaranteed basic income to the city's 100 poorest families in June last year.
In Canada, Ontario's provincial government also announced plans to run a basic income pilot scheme.
Meanwhile, Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend is described as a working example of guaranteed basic income for all.
Countries such as Brazil, India and Namibia have also tried similar localized basic income schemes.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Voters want President-elect Donald Trump to focus on jobs and healing the country in his upcoming inaugural address, according to the results of a new Morning Consult/Politico poll.
The poll found that 75 percent of voters think it is important for Trump to talk about bringing manufacturing jobs back from other countries and keeping manufacturing jobs in the U.S.
Seventy-four percent of voters also said it is important for the president-elect to talk about healing the divisions in the country following a contentious election.
A majority of voters also want to Trump to discuss appointing a new Supreme Court Justice, his efforts to structure his businesses to prevent potential conflicts of interest, and repealing Obamacare.
Meanwhile, voters felt it was less important for Trump to talk about two of his more controversial proposals, banning Muslims from entering the country and building a border wall with Mexico.
Forty-three percent of voters said they want Trump to talk about banning Muslims, while forty-one percent said it was important that he talk about building the border wall.
Americans who identified as Trump voters were considerably more likely to say it is important that the president-elect discuss those issues.
In light of Trump's frequent use of social media, the Morning Consult/Politico poll also examined voters' views on the most effective ways for the administration to communicate with people and the press.
Eighty-four percent of voters said presidential speeches are an effective form of communication, while 83 percent said the same about press releases and statements.
Morning Consult noted those traditional methods easily beat out newer methods, such as social media platforms Twitter and Facebook.
Forty-six percent of voters said Facebook is an effective way for the president to communicate, and 44 percent said the same about Twitter.
The Morning Consult/Politico survey of 2,000 registered voters was conducted December 28th and 29th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A Miami college student has been sentenced to jail for cyberstalking a California woman she was obsessed with. 'An unwanted relationship was being pushed on a victim who ultimately felt terrorized by an obsessed individual she didn't even know,' said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jodi Anton, who supported the FBI during the investigation. Kassandra Cruz was completing her criminal justice degree at Florida International University. In June 2015, she became fixated on a woman she found on a pornography website and tracked down the actress through her social media accounts. FBI intervened and uncovered a trail of threats and extortion that led to her arrest in May 2016. In August 2016, Cruz was sentenced to 22 months in prison after having been found guilty of cyberstalking. 'Even while Cruz was being driven to jail, she still wanted to talk to the victim,' said Special Agent George Nau, who investigated the case out of the FBI's Miami Field Office. 'She was blinded by her obsession and oblivious to the impact of her crime.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - President-elect Donald Trump has supported Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in casting doubt on intelligence allegation that the Russian Government carried out cyber attacks targeting US general elections.
Several US agencies including the FBI and the CIA believe Russia directed hacks against Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.
The Director of National Intelligence confirmed that senior-level Russian officials were involved in the hacks of the emails of the Democratic Party and the campaign of its presidential candidate.
Top Democratic Senators demanded a probe by a bipartisan commission on Russian role in the US election. Moscow, however, denied it.
Trump had said last week that in the wake of the lingering controversy over alleged Russian interference in US politics, he would meet with leaders of the intelligence community in order to be updated on the facts of the allegation.
But on Tuesday evening, the incoming President said the intelligence briefing on the so-called 'Russian hacking' was delayed until Friday. 'Perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!,' he said on Twitter.
On Wednesday, Assange told Fox News that a 14-year-old kid could have hacked Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's computer, and denied Russia was the source for the site's mass leak of emails from the Democratic Party.
Trump followed up on the issue with a series of tweets.
'Julian Assange said a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta - why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!'
And adding to Assange's criticism of the mainstream U.S. media for coverage of the Podesta emails, Trump said 'It's very dishonest....More dishonest than anyone knows.'
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
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ELKO A midnight security check at a downtown bar led to the arrest of two alleged pot smokers.
According to Police Lt. Ty Trouten, officers were doing a routine security check around midnight when they were overwhelmed by the smell of marijuana at Cowboys.
Police confronted the two, who were lingering near the door just after midnight while others inside complained of the smell, said Trouten.
Officers arrested Marcus Conner, 24, of Carlin and Stephany Dennis, 21, of Elko for smoking marijuana in public.
When asked if he knew why they were charging him Connor reportedly said, I thought it was illegal but its the New Year.
Trouten advised marijuana users to learn the laws of Nevada if they wish to partake of the substance.
It is not legal to smoke marijuana in public, he said.
He especially wanted to remind residents that smoking marijuana in your vehicle or driving while under the influence could result in arrest and penalty.
Bail for Connor and Dennis is $740 each.
-------
This story has been corrected to indicate the suspects were arrested shortly after midnight.
OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/17 -- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced today the appointment of Ms. Jennifer Hayes as Commissioner of the Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC). The appointment is for a three-year term effective January 3, 2017. Biographical notes are attached.
Quick facts
-- The CDC is a Crown Corporation established in 1966 to coordinate federal and provincial dairy policies and create a control mechanism for milk production aimed to avoid shortages and surpluses, and stabilize revenues. -- The CDC Board of Directors is appointed by the Government of Canada upon the recommendation of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.
Quote
"I am pleased to announce the appointment of Jennifer Hayes to the Canadian Dairy Commission. Jennifer's energy, talent and commitment to the Canadian dairy industry will be an asset to the Commission and her leadership and experience can serve as a model to young women considering a career in agriculture."
-- Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
Additional link
Canadian Dairy Commission
Biographical Note
Jennifer Hayes
Jennifer Hayes is a dairy and beef farmer on Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula. She is the third generation to farm at PineCrest Farms in Shigawake, which she co-owns with her father and uncle. Her farm is the most eastern dairy farm on the mainland in Quebec. Ms. Hayes has extensive governance experience as an active member of the UPA (L'Union des Producteurs Agricoles) and its specialized dairy, beef and local syndicates.
Ms. Hayes holds an MBA from Concordia University and is actively engaged in rural development initiatives in her region. She has a particular interest in policies that strengthen the symbiotic relationship between rural communities and sustainable agriculture. Since 2012 she has acted as a Revitalization Agent at the MRC of Bonaventure, where she has accompanied rural municipalities in formalizing social and economic development plans, and elaborating essential community development projects. She is a skilled partnership broker incorporating partners from the private sector and multiple government agencies at the federal, provincial, regional and local levels.
Ms. Hayes has two young daughters, aged 8 and 5 who she hopes will one day take their place beside her on the family farm.
Follow us on Twitter: @AAFC_Canada
Like us on Facebook: CanadianAgriculture
Contacts:
Guy Gallant
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay
613-773-1059
Media Relations
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
613-773-7972
1-866-345-7972
During JP Morgan Healthcare Conference
San Francisco, January 9-11, 2017
Regulatory News:
OSE Immunotherapeutics SA (Paris:OSE) (ISIN: FR0012127173; Mnemo: OSE), today announced that Dominique Costantini, CEO, will present an overview of the Company's business and will be available to participate in one-on-one meetings with investors at the Biotech Showcase 2017 to be held January 9-11, 2017, in San Francisco, CA.
The details of OSE Immunotherapeutics' presentation are as follows:
Event: Biotech Showcase 2017 Conference
Date: Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Time: 10:00am (PT) 1:00pm (ET)
Location: Room 3 (Ballroom level), Hilton San Francisco Union Square 333 O'Farrell Street
The presentation will be webcast live and remain available for 3 months thereafter on https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1130361.
ABOUT BIOTECH SHOWCASE
Biotech Showcase is an investor and partnering conference devoted to providing private and public biotechnology and life sciences companies with an opportunity to present to, and meet with, investors and pharmaceutical executives in one place during the course of one of the industry's largest annual healthcare investor conferences. Investors and biopharmaceutical executives from around the world gather in San Francisco during this critical week which is widely viewed as setting the tone for the coming year.
ABOUT OSE IMMUNOTHERAPEUTICS
Our ambition is to become a world leader in activation and regulation immunotherapies
OSE Immunotherapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on the development of innovative immunotherapies for immune activation and regulation in the fields of immuno-oncology, auto-immune diseases and transplantation.
The company has a balanced portfolio of first-in-class products with a diversified risk profile ranging from clinical phase 3 registration trials to R&D:
In immuno-oncology
Tedopi, a combination of 10 optimized neo-epitopes to induce specific T activation in immuno-oncology - Currently in registration Phase 3 trial advanced NSCLC HLA A2+ patients EU /US Orphan Status in the US - Registration expected in 2020 a Phase 2 with Tedopi in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor in NSCLC is considered in 2017
to induce specific T activation in immuno-oncology - Orphan Status in the US in NSCLC is considered in 2017 Effi-DEM, new generation checkpoint inhibitor targeting the SIRP-a receptor In preclinical development for several cancer models.
In auto-immune diseases and transplantation
FR104, CD28-antagonist in immunotherapy Phase 1 trial completed - For the treatment of autoimmune diseases and for use with transplantation Licensed to Janssen Biotech Inc. to pursue clinical development.
CD28-antagonist in immunotherapy - For the treatment of autoimmune diseases and for use with transplantation to pursue clinical development. Effi-7, interleukin receptor-7 antagonist In preclinical development for inflammatory bowel diseasesand other autoimmune diseases.License option agreement with Servierfor the development and commercialization.
The portfolio's blockbuster potential gives OSE Immunotherapeutics the ability to enter global agreements at different stages of development with major pharmaceutical players.
Immunotherapy is a highly promising and growing market. By 2023 Immunotherapy of cancer could represent nearly 60% of treatments against less than 3% at present and the projected market is estimated at $67 billion in 2018 **.
There are more than 80 autoimmune diseases that represent a significant market including major players in the pharmaceutical industry with sales towards $10 billion for the main products. The medical need is largely unmet and requires the provision of new innovative products involved in the regulation of the immune system.
*Citi Research Equity
**BCC Research
More information: http://ose-immuno.com
Click and follow us on Twitter and Linkedln
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains express or implied information and statements that might be deemed forward-looking information and statements in respect of OSE Immunotherapeutics. They do not constitute historical facts. These information and statements include financial projections that are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by OSE Immunotherapeutics' management in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current economic and industry conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate.
These forward-looking statements include statements typically using conditional and containing verbs such as "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "target", "plan", or "estimate", their declensions and conjugations and words of similar import.
Although the OSE Immunotherapeutics management believes that the forward-looking statements and information are reasonable, the OSE Immunotherapeutics' shareholders and other investors are cautioned that the completion of such expectations is by nature subject to various risks, known or not, and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of OSE Immunotherapeutics. These risks could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in or implied or projected by the forward-looking statements. These risks include those discussed or identified in the public filings made by OSE Immunotherapeutics with the AMF. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance.
This press release includes only summary information and should be read with the OSE Immunotherapeutics Reference Document filed with the AMF on 8 June 2016 under the number R.16-052, the consolidated financial statements and the management report for the fiscal year 2015, as well as the Merger Document registered with the AMF on 26 April 2016 under number E.16-026, all available on the OSE Immunotherapeutics' website.
Other than as required by applicable law, OSE Immunotherapeutics issues this press release at the date hereof and does not undertake any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information or statements.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170104005697/en/
Contacts:
OSE Immunotherapeutics
Sylvie Detry, +33 143 297 857
sylvie.detry@ose-immuno.com
or
Contacts media: Alize RP
Florence Portejoie Caroline Carmagnol, +33 647 389 004
oseimmuno@alizerp.com
Regulatory News:
Euronext (Paris:ENX) (Amsterdam:ENX) (Brussels:ENX) today announced that its Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) will take place on Wednesday 15 February 2017 at 11am CET, at Beursplein 5, 1012 JW Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
The agenda for the meeting is as follows:
1. Opening
2. Proposal to approve the acquisition by Euronext N.V. of 100% of the issued share capital of Banque Centrale de Compensation S.A., trading as LCH.Clearnet S.A. (voting item)
3. Close
The EGM will be conducted in English.
Registration date
Pursuant to Dutch law and Euronext N.V.'s Articles of Association, the persons who will be considered as entitled to attend and vote at the EGM are those persons who are registered as such in the administrations held by their financial intermediaries (the "Shareholders") on Wednesday 18 January 2017, after processing of all settlements on that date (the "Registration Date").
Registration
Shareholders holding their shares through Euroclear France S.A. (i.e. the public) who wish to attend the EGM, provide instructions or grant a power of attorney to vote on their behalf, must complete the form (voting form attendance card request) provided for this purpose by their financial intermediary or by Euronext Securities Department BNP PARIBAS Securities Services. The Shareholders should be aware that these documents must be received, no later than Wednesday 8 February 2017 by their financial intermediary for receipt no later than Thursday 9 February 2017 by BNP Paribas Securities Service CTS Assemblees Generales, 9 rue du Debarcadere 93761 Pantin Cedex, France. The financial intermediary should deliver to the Shareholder a certificate of holding containing: name and city of residence of the Shareholder; number of shares; name and city of residence of the attendee (if different from the Shareholder) and declaration that the shares were in custody with the Euroclear France admitted institution on the Registration Date. This certificate will serve as the admission certificate for the EGM for the Shareholder.
Shareholders holding their shares through Interbolsa in Portugal who wish to attend the EGM, provide instructions or grant a power of attorney to vote on their behalf, must complete the form (voting form attendance card request) provided for this purpose by Euronext Securities Department BNP PARIBAS Securities Services. The Shareholders should be aware that these documents must be received, no later than Wednesday 8 February 2017 by their financial intermediary for receipt no later than Thursday 9 February 2017 by BNP Paribas Securities Services, PT Local Team, Edificio ART'S Av. D. Joao II Lote 1.18.01, Bloco B, 1998-028 Lisboa, Portugal. The financial intermediary should deliver to the Shareholder a certificate of holding containing: name and city of residence of the Shareholder; number of shares on the Registration Date; name and city of residence of the attendee (if different from the Shareholder). This certificate will serve as admission certificate for the EGM for the Shareholder.
We advise Shareholders to make contact with their financial intermediary for any questions.
Persons without a valid admission certificate will not be given access to the meeting. Attendants may be asked for identification prior to being admitted.
At the time of the publication of this convening notice, Euronext's total issued share capital in number of issued shares and in voting rights is published on Euronext's website:
https://www.euronext.com/investors/share/capital-shareholding
EGM Documentation
The EGM Documentation (i.e. this convening notice, the agenda and the explanatory notes thereto and the Shareholder Presentation in relation to agenda item 2) is available:
at the registered office of Euronext N.V.: Beursplein 5, 1012 JW Amsterdam, The Netherlands
at the following addresses
in Belgium: Euronext, Rue du Marquis, 1, bte 1 Markiesstraat 1, b1, 1000 Bruxelles 1000 Brussel, Belgium
in France: Euronext, 14, place des Reflets, 92054 Paris La Defense Cedex, France
in Portugal: Euronext, Av. da Liberdade, n. 196 7, 1250-147 Lisboa, Portugal
in the United Kingdom: Euronext, Juxon House, 100 St Paul's Churchyard, London EC4M 8BU, United Kingdom
on Euronext's website https://www.euronext.com/investors/general-meetings
at BNP PARIBAS Securities Services CTS Assemblees Generales 9 rue du Debarcadere
93761 Pantin Cedex, France + 33 1 57 43 02 30
Managing Board and Supervisory Board of Euronext N.V.
Beursplein 5, 1012 JW Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Registered at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, under number 60234520
About Euronext
Euronext is the leading pan-European exchange in the Eurozone with more than 1 300 listed issuers worth close to 3.1 trillion in market capitalization as of end October 2016, an unmatched blue chip franchise consisting of 25 issuers in the EURO STOXX 50 benchmark and a strong diverse domestic and international client base.
Euronext operates regulated and transparent equity and derivatives markets. Its total product offering includes Equities, Exchange Traded Funds, Warrants Certificates, Bonds, Derivatives, Commodities and Indices. Euronext also leverages its expertise in running markets by providing technology and managed services to third parties. Euronext operates regulated markets, Alternext and the Free Market; in addition it offers EnterNext, which facilitates SMEs' access to capital markets.
For the latest news, find us on Twitter (twitter.com/euronext) and LinkedIn (linkedin.com/euronext).
Disclaimer
This press release is for information purposes only and is not a recommendation to engage in investment activities. This press release is provided "as is" without representation or warranty of any kind. While all reasonable care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the content, Euronext does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness. Euronext will not be held liable for any loss or damages of any nature ensuing from using, trusting or acting on information provided. No information set out or referred to in this publication may be regarded as creating any right or obligation. The creation of rights and obligations in respect of financial products that are traded on the exchanges operated by Euronext's subsidiaries shall depend solely on the applicable rules of the market operator. All proprietary rights and interest in or connected with this publication shall vest in Euronext.
This press release speaks only as of this date. Euronext refers to Euronext N.V. and its affiliates. Information regarding trademarks and intellectual property rights of Euronext is located at www.euronext.com/terms-use.
2017, Euronext N.V. All rights reserved.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170104006039/en/
Contacts:
Euronext
Analysts investors:
Stephanie Bia, +33 1 70 48 24 17
sbia@euronext.com
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/17 -- Emmy Award-winning tech expert, Katie Linendoll, is launching her tech gadget reviews on Facebook Live at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week on "Katie Show LIVE."
Linendoll is known for producing first-look technology stories and showcasing the latest tech gear in exclusive gadget roundups for nationally syndicated shows like, "Today," "The View," "FOX & Friends," "FOX Tech Take," "The Weather Channel's AMHQ," and "HLN Weekend Express," to name just a few. What viewers don't usually see is the rigorous review and testing process that Linendoll puts the tech gadgets through before they make the cut on to one of her segments.
"The number of requests that I receive daily from companies and entrepreneurs to have me review their products, is exciting but overwhelming at times," admits Linendoll. "I don't think people realize how much work goes on behind the scenes to review these gadgets. At the same time, I'd love to be more accessible to both tech enthusiasts and entrepreneurs alike, so I'm taking my review sessions online to Facebook Live so consumers can participate in the review process and give me their feedback in real time."
Linendoll's tech podcast "Katie (dot) Show" (www.katie.show) successfully launched last spring on Apple's iTunes and quickly became one of the highest ranking technology shows in the world earning several featured status spots. Her podcast is a more in-depth look at some of her recent projects, such as when she recently moderated an event for Apple and interviewed Nintendo legend, Shigeru Miyamoto, who created and developed "Super Mario," traveled to Iceland to interview Hordur Arnarson, CEO of Landsvirkjun, the company pioneering Iceland's electricity via geothermal energy and the insider interview she had with Matt Lauer from NBC's "Today" show that was ultimately featured on Apple iTunes.
"The podcast has been a great opportunity for me to dive deeper into the technology stories that I usually have only 3-5 minutes to review or discuss on a television segment," said Linendoll. "Katie Show LIVE on Facebook Live will give audiences a front row seat into the daily life of my business, which is testing all the tech that I'm pitched on daily basis. Facebook has a powerful platform with its live feature and it's the perfect place to showcase a side of my business that the public rarely gets to see."
Linendoll is constantly advising audiences to leverage technology in a way that can make their daily lives easier, and says this new endeavor with "Katie Show LIVE" on Facebook Live is her way of taking her own advice.
"I've consulted with so many businesses and recommended that they strike on this platform while it's hot, and then I realized that I should be doing the same," said Linendoll. "Using Facebook Live, I'll be going live with review sessions, anytime, anywhere and allowing my audience the opportunity to share their input and ask questions instantly. This kind of instant feedback for companies and entrepreneurs is extremely valuable, and using this live technology is right up my alley."
Companies and entrepreneurs can submit their tech gadgets for review at www.facebook.com/katie.linendoll by direct messaging Linendoll on her page. Linendoll will launch her "Katie Show LIVE" tech review at CES in Las Vegas, Jan. 5-8. Audiences who have liked Linendoll's Facebook page will receive her Facebook LIVE alerts and can then watch and give instant feedback, asking Linendoll questions as she reviews gadgets in real time.
ABOUT KATIE LINENDOLL
Katie Linendoll is an Emmy Award-winning TV personality, writer, tech expert and global tech consultant. Known for her first-look technology stories and gadget roundups, Linendoll is one of the most in-demand tech personalities in the country. Linendoll is the former host of "All Access Weekly" on Spike TV and A&E's "We Mean Business." She has also written for ESPN the Magazine, ESPN.com, PopSugar Tech, Shape Magazine, Today.com, CBS.com, Huffington Post, Popular Science and other national publications. As a techie since childhood she earned her networking certificates before graduating high school. Linendoll then went on to earn her Bachelor of Science degree in information technology new media from Rochester Institute of Technology before launching her professional career with ESPN. At age 22, she won her first Emmy Award for her work on "SportsCenter." Like Katie Linendoll at www.facebook.com/katie.linendoll, subscribe to "Katie (dot) Show" at www.katie.show and follow on Twitter at @KatieLinendoll.
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Media Contact:
Amy Summers
Pitch Publicity
212-757-3419
Email Contact
Regulatory News:
Adocia (Paris:ADOC) (Euronext Paris: FR0011184241 ADOC), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on diabetes treatment with innovative formulations of approved proteins, announces today its financial calendar for 2017.
February 14, 2017: Publication of revenue for Q4 2016 and 2016 full year. March 7, 2017: Publication of 2016 financial statements (Reference Document will be released during Q2 2017). April 18, 2017: Publication of revenue for Q1 2017. June 27, 2017: Annual shareholders' meeting. July 19, 2017: Publication of mid-year financial statements as of June 30, 2017. October 13, 2017: Publication of revenue for Q3 2017.
In addition to regular meetings with the financial community, investors are recommended to consult the regularly updated information available on the company's website (www.adocia.com). All corporate information on the company such as its financial statements, corporate presentation and its articles of association is available on the company's website, in the section Financials-Investors Sections , Regulated Information .
About ADOCIA:
Adocia is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that specializes in the development of innovative formulations of already-approved therapeutic proteins. Adocia's insulin formulation portfolio, featuring four clinical-stage products and one preclinical product, is among the largest and most differentiated in the industry.
The proprietary BioChaperone technological platform is designed to enhance the effectiveness and/or safety of therapeutic proteins while making them easier for patients to use. Adocia customizes BioChaperone to each protein for a given application in order to address specific patient needs.
Adocia's clinical pipeline includes four novel insulin formulations for the treatment of diabetes: two ultra-rapid formulations of insulin analogs (BioChaperone Lispro U100 and U200), a rapid-acting formulation of human insulin (HinsBet U100) and a combination of basal insulin glargine and rapid-acting insulin lispro (BioChaperone Combo). Adocia is also developing an aqueous formulation of human glucagon (BioChaperone Human Glucagon), two combinations of insulin glargine with GLP-1s (BioChaperone Glargine Dulaglutide and BioChaperone Glargine Liraglutide) and a concentrated, rapid-acting formulation of human insulin (HinsBet U500), all of which are in preclinical development.
In December 2014, Adocia signed a partnership with Eli Lilly for the development and commercialization of the BioChaperone Lispro projects.
Adocia aims to deliver "Innovative medicine for everyone, everywhere."
To learn more about Adocia, please visit us at www.adocia.com
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170104006060/en/
Contacts:
Adocia
Gerard Soula
Chairman and CEO
contactinvestisseurs@adocia.com
Ph. +33 4 72 610 610
or
Adocia Press Relations
Europe
MC Services AG
Raimund Gabriel
adocia@mc-services.eu
Ph. +49 89 210 228 0
or
Adocia Investor Relations
USA
The Ruth Group
Tram Bui
tbui@theruthgroup.com
Ph.: +1 646 536 7035
Regulatory News:
ABIVAX (Paris:ABVX) (Euronext Paris: FR0012333284 ABVX), an innovative biotechnology company targeting the immune system to eliminate viral disease, today announced that Prof. Hartmut Ehrlich, M.D., CEO of ABIVAX, will present at the Biotech Showcase Annual Conference to be held in San Francisco (CA, United States) on January 9 11, 2017 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel.
Biotech Showcase is an investor and partnering conference devoted to providing private and public biotechnology and life sciences companies with an opportunity to present to, and meet with, investors and pharmaceutical executives in one place during the course of one of the industry's largest annual healthcare investor conferences, J.P. Morgan Annual Healthcare Conference.
Prof. Hartmut Ehrlich will present at the Biotech Showcase as follows:
Date: Tuesday, January 10, 2017 Time: 10:00 am (PST) Track: Room 7 (Ball room) Venue: Hilton San Francisco Union Square Hotel 333 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco, CA (United States)
About ABIVAX (www.abivax.com)
ABIVAX is an innovative biotechnology company focused on targeting the immune system to eliminate viral disease. ABIVAX leverages three technology platforms for drug discovery: an anti-viral, an immune enhancement, and a polyclonal antibody platform. ABX464, its most advanced compound, is currently in Phase II clinical trials for providing a functional cure for patients with HIV/AIDS. It is a first-in-class oral small anti-viral molecule which blocks HIV replication through a unique mechanism of action and also has a strong anti-inflammatory effect. In addition, ABIVAX is advancing a clinical stage immune enhancer as well as multiple preclinical candidates against additional viral targets (i.e. Chikungunya, Ebola, Dengue), and several of these compounds are planned to enter clinical development within the next 18 months. ABIVAX is listed on Euronext compartment B (ISIN: FR0012333284 Mnemo: ABVX).
More information on the company is available at www.abivax.com.
Follow us on Twitter @ABIVAX_
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170104006119/en/
Contacts:
ABIVAX
Finance
Didier Blondel
didier.blondel@abivax.com
+33 1 53 83 08 41
or
Communication Agency
ALIZE RP
Caroline Carmagnol/Margaux Pronost
abivax@alizerp.com
+33 6 64 18 99 59 +33 1 44 54 36 65
or
Investors
LifeSci Advisors
Chris Maggos
chris@lifesciadvisors.com
+41 79 367 6254
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
DETROIT, MI--(Marketwired - January 04, 2017) - Say good riddance to your old career goals, start the New Year with a mission to renew, refocus and rewrite your career destiny.
Renew, your outlook about the job search process by thinking positive to receive amazing results. The mindset of job seekers can sometimes hinder their ability to get hired. Try to manifest a winning attitude in 2017.
Refocus, your career path direction by discovering transferable skills that can be applied to another career field. If you have spent 2016 knocking on doors for a same position with no luck, it is time to explore your skills and talents and apply them to a new career field. To identify yours skills, take a FREE Skills Assessment on the Career One Stop website at https://www.careeronestop.org
Rewrite, your resume and cover letter upgrade the content and format of your resume. Instead of the standard chronological format try a functional format; also referred to as a skills profile, this style allows you to focus more on your skill sets. It allows you to choose which skill categories you want to emphasize and showcase. If your resume was written previously by a friend or family member it is time to seek the advice of a qualified professional that specializes in resume writing or career coaching.
In 2017, make your presence known to recruiters and employers; hundreds of people use social media to broadcast who they are and what they can do. Use Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to connect with the world. If you are currently a customer service representative, in 2017 become an expert in customer service. Post a weekly Facebook Live video provide the Top 5 Customer Service Tip. Build your professional brand and notify the world you are available for employment opportunities. Do something noteworthy in your community that will garner special recognition and build your positive reputation in your career field.
Take advantage of free and low-cost programs to enhance your credentials. Participate in workshops that provide a certificate in your career field, Oakland Community College and Macomb Community College offer short-term certificate degree programs. Walden University has 75 Online Degree Programs, you can apply what you learn to your career. Review their website for more details at https://www.waldenu.edu/jobfairgiant. Global Information Technology offers several Information Technology (IT) Certification courses for candidates interested in lucrative careers in the growing IT industry. Review their website for more details at http://www.global-itech.com/contact.php. These programs are added credentials for professionals seeking to boost their career or retrain for a new career field.
Volunteer your talent to the right company and discover new opportunities. Ever heard of pro bono work? Take-on a consulting contract, internships are not just for high schools or college kids. If you have the education for the job but lack the work experience volunteer for the position to build your work history. Only volunteer for the position you have interest in gaining experience in. Example: Bachelor's Degree in Accounting volunteer as an Accounting Assistant. You can add this title to your resume with a description of task performed.
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Media Contact:
By: CJ Eason
The Job Doctor with JobFairGiant.com
Telephone 734-956-4550
cj@jobfairgiant.com
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/17 -- Minsud Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE: MSR) ("Minsud" or the "Company") completed 59 HQ diamond drill holes totaling 9,114 metres ("m") in 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016 in the southern Chita Porphyry sector of the Chita Valley Project (see earlier press releases dated September 6, 2011, January 26, 2012, June 30, 2014, November 4. 2014, December 10, 2015 and November 1, 2016). Four historical holes completed in 1969, three holes from 1976 and one RC hole from 1996, most of which have been re-sampled and re-analyzed by Minsud, are added to the drilling database. The total database utilized for the updated Mineral Resource Estimate includes 66 core holes and 1 reverse circulation hole totaling 10,158 m and 150 m, respectively for a combined total of 10,308 m (see table below). The drill holes tested a substantial zone of Cu-Au-Ag-Mo mineralized multi-stage vein systems and hydrothermal breccias.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- DRILL HOLE DATABASE SUMMARY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drilling Type # Drill Metres of # Cu # Au # Ag # Mo Holes Drilling Assays Assays Assays Assays ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Historical Drill Holes 8 1,198 775 75 75 699 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2011 Minsud Drill Holes 3 880 877 877 877 877 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014 Minsud Drill Holes 24 3,111 1,530 1,530 1,530 1,530 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 Minsud Drill Holes 20 3,419 1,669 1,669 1,669 1,669 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 Minsud Drill Holes 12 1,700 962 962 962 962 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 67 10,308 5,813 5,113 5,113 5,737 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In March 2015, Minsud retained P&E Mining Consultants Inc. ("P&E") of Brampton, Ontario to review project data and prepare a Technical Report that complied with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 standards. The report included an initial Mineral Resource Estimate at a 0.3% Cu cut-off of 18.3 million tonnes averaging 0.44% Cu, 0.07 g/t Au, 2.4 g/t Ag and 0.019% Mo estimated under the CIM definition standards. In October 2015, Minsud again retained P&E to review more recently obtained project data and prepare an updated Technical Report and updated Mineral Resource Estimate. The second report included Mineral Resource Estimate at a 0.3% Cu cut-off of 31.5 million tonnes averaging 0.45% Cu, 0.07 g/t Au, 2.2 g/t Ag and 0.017% Mo estimated under the CIM definition standards(3). All mineral resources were classified as Inferred category. The Technical Reports dated June 19, 2015 and February 1, 2016 are publically filed under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.
In December 2016, Minsud again retained P&E Mining Consultants Inc. to prepare an updated Mineral Resource Estimate. In P&E's opinion, the drilling, assaying and exploration work of the Chita Porphyry supporting this Mineral Resource Estimate are sufficient to indicate a reasonable potential for economic extraction. All Mineral Resources at a 0.3% Cu cut-off were classified as Inferred category based on the geological interpretation, semi-variogram performance and drill hole spacing. The Mineral Resource Estimate is tabulated below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHITA IN PIT MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE STATEMENT(1-4) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- All Inferred Mineral Resource at 0.3% Cu Cut-off ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contained Tonnes Cu % Cu M lb Au g/t Ag g/t Mo % ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 37.0 0.44 362.7 0.07 2.2 0.018 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. It is noted that no specific issues have been identified as yet. (2) The quantity and grade of reported Inferred resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred resources as an Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured mineral resource category. (3) The mineral resources in this report were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council. (4) The 0.30% Cu resource cut-off grade was derived from the Nov 30/16 three year trailing average Cu price of US$2.63/lb, 80% process recovery, 95% smelter payable, US$0.08/lb refining charge, US$10/t process cost, and US$3/t G&A cost. An optimized pit shell was utilized for resource reporting that utilized a US$2/t mining cost and 45 degree pit slopes.
Mineral resources are sensitive to the selection of a reporting Cu cut-off grade. The Chita pit constrained mineral resource sensitivity of the Cu cut-off is demonstrated in the following table and illustrated in Figure 1 below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHITA PIT CONSTRAINED MINERAL RESOURCE ESTIMATE SENSITIVITY ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contained Cu Cut-off Tonnes Cu % Cu M lb Au g/t Ag g/t Mo % ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.80% 0.9 0.99 20.5 0.21 11.8 0.012 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.70% 1.8 0.87 34.8 0.20 9.3 0.014 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.60% 3.8 0.75 63.0 0.15 6.5 0.016 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.50% 8.5 0.64 118.8 0.11 4.4 0.017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.45% 13.0 0.58 166.6 0.10 3.6 0.017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.40% 19.6 0.53 227.5 0.09 3.0 0.018 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.35% 28.8 0.48 303.5 0.08 2.5 0.018 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.30% 37.0 0.44 362.7 0.07 2.2 0.018 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.25% 40.9 0.43 386.5 0.07 2.1 0.018 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To view Figure 1, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/msr0104fig1.pdf.
The mineralized sections include disseminated sulphides as well as A, B and D-type veins hosted by multiple stages of epizonal intrusions and hydrothermal breccias. The complex mineralization styles are not conducive to the classical concepts of true thickness measurement, therefore vertical thickness determinations that would conform to conceptual pit design parameters are used instead. Lithological units (Map 1), alteration patterns (Map 2) and a typical cross section (Map 3) are shown in the following diagrams. All pertinent lithological, alteration and magnetic features extend beyond the current drilling pattern.
All Company core samples and check samples of historical drilling were submitted to either the Alex Stewart Argentina S.A. or the ALS Minerals Laboratories in Mendoza, Argentina for preparation and analysis. Both are certified to ISO-9001 international standards. All samples were analyzed for Au by fire assay/ AA finish, 50 or 30 g, plus a 33-element ICP scan. Minsud followed industry standard procedures for the work with a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program. Field duplicates, standards and blanks were included with all sample shipments to the principal laboratory. A representative selection of pulps have also been submitted to ISO-9001 certified referee laboratory, Alex Stewart (Assayers) Argentina SA in Mendoza for analysis. Minsud's company QP, Mr. Howard Coates, P. Geo., conducted site visits and detected no significant QA/QC issues during review of the data. In addition P&E geologist and Independent QP, Mr. David Burga, P. Geo., conducted site visits and collected suites of field duplicate core samples for verification purposes in March and November, 2015. Again there were no significant issues.
To view Map 1, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/msr0104map1.pdf.
To view Map 2, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/msr0104map2.pdf.
To view Map 3, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/msr0104map3.pdf.
A third international laboratory Bondar Clegg Co. Ltd. merged with ALS Chemex the predecessor of ALS Minerals in December, 2001. The 1996 Bondar Clegg analytical data (for the single historical RC drill hole) is believed to be of the highest standards of the time, which predates the implementation of ISO/IEC 17025 standards. A fourth lab, historically operated by DGFM a department of the Government of Argentina, also predates ISO/IEC 17025 standards. This laboratory analyzed the DGFM core drilling from seven holes from 1969 and 1976. A total of 305 pulp samples were acquired by the Company in 2007 and submitted to the Alex Stewart Argentina S.A. This work predates the involvement of the in-house QP in the project. However, the QP has examined the remaining core and the 2007 analytical certificates without noting significant issues. The data is therefore considered to be adequate for current purposes of supporting an Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate.
Minsud is encouraged by the generally consistent elevated concentrations of Cu, Ag and Mo as well as the more localized anomalous Au values. With maximum elevation in the sector below 3,100 m ASL (meters above mean sea level) field conditions are benign on a year round basis and no active alpine glaciers are possible below approximately 4,100 m ASL.
Minsud plans to continue investigating the commercial possibilities for processing and recovering the key metals while at the same time conducting additional outline and definition drilling to further delimit the deposit and evaluate the grade distribution of the mineralization.
Mr. Howard Coates, P.Geo., Director of the Company and a geological consultant, is a Qualified Person as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Eugene Puritch, P.Eng, President of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. and an Independent Qualified Person along with Mr. Coates have both reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.
Carlos Massa, Minsud's President & CEO, states: "We are very pleased with the results of the modest but effective 2016 exploration program, highlighted by an approximate 17% increase of in-pit Inferred Mineral Resource over the 2015 Resource Estimate."
About the Chita Valley Project, San Juan Province:
The Chita Valley Project (the "Project") is a large exploration stage porphyry situation with classic alteration features, widespread porphyry style Cu-Mo-Ag-Au mineralization, and associated gold and silver-bearing polymetallic veins. San Juan Province has a robust mining sector and recognizes the important economic benefits of responsible development of its substantial mineral resource endowment.
About Minsud Resources Corp.:
Minsud is a mineral exploration company focused on exploring its flagship Chita Valley Cu-Mo-Au-Ag Project, in the Province of San Juan, Argentina. The Company also holds a 100% owned portfolio of selected early stage prospects, including 18,000 has in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:
This news release includes certain information that may constitute forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements about strategic plans, spending commitments, future operations, results of exploration, anticipated financial results, future work programs, capital expenditures and objectives. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information including, but not limited to: fluctuations in the currency markets (such as the Canadian dollar, Argentina peso, and the U.S. dollar); changes in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and Argentina or other countries in which the Corporation may carry on business in the future; operating or technical difficulties in connection with exploration and development activities; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration and development (including environmental hazards or industrial accidents); risks relating to the credit worthiness or financial condition of suppliers and other parties with whom the Company does business; presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining, including those currently enacted in Argentina; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities; availability and increasing costs associated with operational inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities; business opportunities that may be presented to, or pursued by, the Company; challenges to, or difficulty in maintaining, the Company's title to properties; risks relating to the Company's ability to raise funds; and the factors identified under "Risk Factors" in the Company's Filing Statement dated April 27, 2011. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. All forward-looking-information contained in this news release is given as of the date hereof and is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management as at the date hereof. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Minsud Resources Corp.
Carlos Massa
President and Chief Executive Officer
+54-11-4328-4067
info@minsud.com
Minsud Resources Corp.
Mike Johnston
416-479-4466
mike@minsud.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Looking to follow through on a key campaign promise, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said Wednesday repealing the Affordable Care Act will be President-elect Donald Trump's first order of business after taking office later this month. Pence said Trump would keep his promise to the American people to repeal the law known as Obamacare and replace it with a system that will lower the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government. The comments from Pence came after he met with Republicans on Capitol Hill to discuss plans to repeal and replace the controversial healthcare reform law. Republicans have offered few details on their Obamacare replacement, but Pence pledged an 'orderly and smooth transition' to a 'market-based' health insurance system. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., spoke along with Pence and promised Republicans would not 'pull the rug out' from anyone. 'Once we repeal this law, we need to make sure that there is a stable transition to a truly patient-centered system,' Ryan said. 'We want every American to have access to quality, affordable health coverage.' He added, 'All of the things Obamacare has kept from the American people-more choices, more control, more freedom-we want to put them back in their hands.' Meanwhile, Democrats argued the GOP plan to repeal Obamacare would create chaos instead of affordable care for millions of Americans. Democrats claimed the Republican plan would kick 30 million Americans off their insurance and result in huge increases in the costs of insurance and prescription drugs. 'The republican plan to cut healthcare wouldn't make America great again, it would make America sick again,' said new Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., 'It would lead to chaos instead of affordable care.' He added, 'Republicans would create calamity in the healthcare system because they are stuck between a rock and a hard place, and have no idea what to put in place of the affordable care act.' The remarks by Schumer came after President Barack Obama met with Congressional Democrats to discuss ways to preserve his signature legislative achievement. (Photo: Gage Skidmore) Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
ABBOTT PARK, Illinois, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Abbott (NYSE: ABT)announced today it has completed the acquisition of St. Jude Medical, Inc., establishing the company as a leader in the medical device arena. The transaction provides Abbott with expanded opportunities for future growth and is an important part of the company's ongoing effort to develop a strong, diverse portfolio of devices, diagnostics, nutritionals and branded generic pharmaceuticals.
"Abbott has a strong track record of successfully integrating dozens of businesses on a global scale and accelerating growth," said Miles D. White, chairman and chief executive officer, Abbott. "The addition of St. Jude Medical strengthens our global medical device leadership while offering innovative products to address more areas of care, in more physicians' offices and hospitals around the world."
Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, upon completion of the acquisition, St. Jude Medical became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Abbott. As a result of the completion of the acquisition, Jan. 4, 2017, was the last day of trading of St. Jude Medical shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
Strategic Fit
St. Jude Medical's strong positions in fast-growing areas such as atrial fibrillation, heart failure, structural heart and chronic pain complement Abbott's leading positions in coronary interventions and mitral valve disease. Together, the company will compete in nearly every area of the $30 billion cardiovascular market and hold the No. 1 or 2 positions across large and high-growth cardiovascular device markets. This leading combined portfolio will have the depth, breadth, scale and innovation to help patients restore their health, improve outcomes and deliver greater value to customers and payors. Furthermore, the acquisition balances and strengthens the Abbott portfolio, which includes leading positions across all of its four core businesses.
Breakthrough Invention
Abbott will have a powerful pipeline across cardiovascular and neuromodulation patient care ready to deliver next-generation medical technologies and offer improved efficiencies for health care systems around the world. In fact, Abbott will continue to bring numerous new products to key markets during the coming years, including:
EnSite Precision ' (which received U.S. FDA approval last month) next-generation cardiac mapping system to visualize and navigate catheters in the heart during ablation procedures
(which received U.S. FDA approval last month) next-generation cardiac mapping system to visualize and navigate catheters in the heart during ablation procedures ConfirmRx ' Implantable Cardiac Monitor to help physicians remotely diagnose and treat the most difficult to detect cardiac arrhythmias
Implantable Cardiac Monitor to help physicians remotely diagnose and treat the most difficult to detect cardiac arrhythmias HeartMate 3 , which offers physicians more options for patients with advanced stage heart failure
, which offers physicians more options for patients with advanced stage heart failure Portico ' Transcatheter Aortic Heart Valves for patients with severe aortic stenosis - the narrowing of the aortic valve that obstructs blood flow from the heart
Transcatheter Aortic Heart Valves for patients with severe aortic stenosis - the narrowing of the aortic valve that obstructs blood flow from the heart Proclaim ' DRG system and other stimulation waveform technologies to provide more options for patients with chronic pain
DRG system and other stimulation waveform technologies to provide more options for patients with chronic pain Absorb', the world's first bioresorbable coronary stent and MitraClip, the world's first transcatheter mitral-valve repair device in additional countries
"We continue to deliberately shape our business for long-term success by securing leadership positions in attractive markets and focusing on customer needs," said Mr. White. "This philosophy has served as the foundation for significant and sustainable value creation for our shareholders. The addition of St. Jude Medical creates one of the broadest medical device portfolios in the world and provides a steady stream of new technologies and therapies for many years to come."
About Abbott
Abbott is a global healthcare company devoted to improving life through the development of products and technologies that span the breadth of healthcare. With a portfolio of leading, science-based offerings in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic pharmaceuticals, Abbott serves people in more than 150 countries and employs approximately 74,000 people.
Visit Abbott at www.abbott.com and connect with us on Twitter at @AbbottNews.
- Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 -
A Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Some statements in this news release may be forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Abbott cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the ability of Abbott to successfully integrate St. Jude Medical's operations, and the ability of Abbott to implement its plans, forecasts and other expectations with respect to St. Jude Medical's business and realize expected synergies. Economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors that may affect Abbott's and St. Jude Medical's operations are discussed in Item 1A, "Risk Factors,' in each of Abbott's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015, and St. Jude Medical's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Jan. 2, 2016, respectively, and under the heading "Risk Factors" in Abbott's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2016, and St. Jude Medical's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended April 2, 2016, which are incorporated by reference. Abbott undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking statements as a result of subsequent events or developments, except as required by law.
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LONDON, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Further to therelease of 24 October 2016, in whichVTTI BV, VTTI Energy Partners LP, (NYSE: VTTI) (together "VTTI") and Vitol stated that Buckeye Partners, L.P. ("Buckeye") had signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 50 percent equity interest in the holding company of VTTI, we today announce that the transaction has been completed. The joint shareholding of Buckeye and Vitol will add greater strategic value to VTTI and will further strengthen VTTI's position as a leading independent provider of energy storage solutions.
About VTTI BV
VTTI BV is a fee-based, growth-oriented business formed to own, operate, develop and acquire refined petroleum product and crude oil terminalling and related energy infrastructure assets on global scale. VTTI BV's assets include interests in a broad-based portfolio of terminals that are strategically located throughout the world with a combined total storage capacity of 54 million barrels including assets under construction. On 1 August 2014, VTTI Energy Partners LP began trading on the New York Stock Exchange as a master limited partnership (MLP).
For more information:
http://www.vtti.com/
http://www.vttienergypartners.com
About Vitol
Vitol is an energy and commodities company; its primary business is the trading and distribution of energy products globally - it trades over 6mbpd of crude oil and products and, at any time, has 200 ships transporting its cargoes. Vitol's clients include national oil companies, multinationals, leading industrial and chemical companies and the world's largest airlines. Founded in Rotterdam in 1966, today Vitol serves clients from some 40 offices worldwide and is invested in energy assets globally including; circa 15.5mm3 of storage across six continents, 390kbpd of refining capacity and Shell-branded downstream businesses in 16 African countries, as well as Australia. Revenues in 2015 were $168 billion.
For more information:
www.vitol.com.
For more information:
Vitol:
Andrea Schlaepfer
T: +44 (0)207 973 4230
M: +44 (0)7525 403796
acs@vitol.com
VTTI:
Lisanne Kosters
M: +31(0)652526405
lis@vtti.com
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In the Malayalam film industry actors Vijay Babu and Sandra Thomas were known to be close friends.
The duo were partners in a production company, Friday Film House, and when Sandra tied the knot with Wilson John Thomas (the owner of an event management company) in July 2016, Vijay was one of the guests. "Today is my best friend's wedding," Vijay proclaimed in a Facebook post, that had a picture of him hugging Sandra. "(Here's wishing) the best to Sandra and Wilson! God bless (you both)."
A mere six months after that exuberant post, Vijay stands accused of assaulting Sandra.
As per reports carried by several leading news outlets, the police registered a case against Vijay Babu after Sandra alleged that he physically assaulted her on the premises of their office in Elamakkara. Police sources were quoted as saying that Sandra was recuperating in a private hospital from her injuries. The police did not state what motives Sandra ascribed to Vijay for attacking her.
A Facebook post that was put by Vijay after news of the case broke indicated that a business dispute had come between the two former friends.
"A fake case has been filed against me by my most trusted partner and her husband for the sake for taking over (our) business property, which I disputed," Vijay wrote.
The turn of events marks a turnaround from the time Vijay and Sandra first set up their company.
At the time, Vijay had said in an interview, "I found the spark in Sandra. At that point, I was...on the lookout for the ideal business partner. For me, partnership is all about complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses. I found that Sandra and I have the same wavelengths and we complement each other too. I'm good with the profit side while Sandra is good at negotiating with people."
How the dispute will be resolved is anyone's guess at present; what seems certain is that the Sandra-Vijay partnership will have ended for good.
Gauri Shinde laughs a lot. Even while discussing issues as grave as the stigma surrounding therapy and the mandatory deification of parents in Indian society, she punctuates her comments including the most ruminative ones with hearty chuckles and bursts of unbridled laughter. Come to think of it, this is perhaps the best way to deal with a season in which your film is a box-office success but has irritated conservatives.
Shindes Dear Zindagi her second film, the first being English Vinglish has become a hit despite its unconventional theme and the way it breaks Bollywood tradition by having a male megastar play second fiddle to a female star. Here is the writer-director-producer in a conversation about Alia Bhatt, Shah Rukh Khan, therapy and offended parents. Excerpts:
Do you believe in genres? If yes, what genre does Dear Zindagi belong to?
I never know how to slot a film, especially this. When people say slice of life and coming of age it limits the film, its objective or purpose. So I dont know. Because we know a few genres I think maybe it can come under human drama. If only we had a new genre called life stories
How about the life as it happens genre?
Life as it happens. Ya, thats a nicer one.
So what is Dear Zindagis objective and purpose?
The main one is to connect or reconnect with yourself in a meaningful way. Somewhere we forget why we are and what we are. So its to go back in time and find the source of whatever is blocking you from living to your fullest potential, through a friend, a close connection with someone, through therapy, ya.
I wanted to communicate this and many other things without being preachy, and Ive left it fluid for anyone to take what they want.
How would you assess Alia as an artist?
Shes free, fearless, raw, instinctive. Shes such a natural. Theres no strategy, no theory, no intellectualisation. Another amazing thing is, she is attractive and pretty but that never hampers her performance. When she performs, she doesnt even look in the mirror, she just trusts you.
How did you convince Shah Rukh to do a film in which he appears 40-plus minutes into the film?
Fifty, actually.
The great thing is, I dont think he was concerned about the number of minutes. He just liked the subject and was on board. I dont think he even cared that he is not the lead. I was happily surprised. Actually not so surprised because of the way he has been, it didnt seem like he ever was concerned about his stardom. Nobodys really strategised about what they want to achieve from this film, they just did it for the love of it and Im grateful for someone like him to actually do this. This happens only in Hollywood, where a Ralph Fiennes does a Reader or a George Clooney does a Gravity, so ya, (laughs) Shah Rukh Khan has done Dear Zindagi.
Were you making a conscious effort to de-stigmatise mental illness through Dear Zindagi?
Yes, in a light-hearted way.
Many people I know have suffered on different levels, including deep depression, so I have always been concerned about it. My aunt is a therapist. And without having any tragedy in my life I have been to many therapists.
Shah Rukhs character Dr Jahangir Khan is a therapist Id aspire to meet in my head. I deeply feel about this. Especially in India, people do not talk about these things. We should be able to say, I go to therapy or I need help. You dont take an off from work ever saying I feel mentally disturbed. You always say shit like you have a headache or youre puking. Its time we put it out in the open. I knew I was taking a big risk talking about this because many people may be averse to it but I was, like, what the hell, its important.
I read this reaction on Facebook: Dear Zindagi gives a wrong impression of depression. If this is what depression is, then whats the big deal? How do you react?
(Laughing) Kaira is not depressed. You dont have to be clinically depressed or an extreme case to seek help. Even the smallest thing needs to be addressed. It could lead to depression in the future, maybe when she turns 30 or 40, who knows, but right now this is it.
How authentic is your portrayal of the patient-therapist sessions in the film?
Well Ive already put a disclaimer in the beginning. It may not be entirely authentic or maybe someone like that exists. I have come close to someone whos 60-75 per cent like Dr Khan. Also keep in mind that when youre introducing such a subject in such a country, you need to introduce it in a manner that can endear you to accept the idea. At the end of the day its cinema. If Id been authentic, since most people dont know how sessions are, that would have been preachy. To converge cinema, aspiration and reality was the effort.
Also, how conventional you are differs with each therapist. I made Dr Khan a maverick, an unconventional therapist right in his introduction. Which is why young people or someone like Kaira would think of going to him. I would like therapists who are far more approachable, endearing and not straitjacketed. Thats why I said Dr Khan is an aspiration. If there was someone as friendly who changed their therapy as per the individual patient, it would be nice.
(Spoilers ahead)
Why did Dr Khan so abruptly cancel that one session with Kaira and why did he end their series of sessions without laying the groundwork for it? Was that not harmful, considering that she was already struggling with abandonment issues?
(Laughs) Youve become seriously interested in therapy. There are 2-3 reasons. First of all, you can take a break when you think it is wise to. Thats what hes done. She is on her path and he also says, Genius is about knowing when to stop. Also, he being a therapist and knowing more than the patient, probably realised she is developing feelings for him and it could be far more harmful to continue in a space like that. Also he has led her on to a path where she is and with that wisdom of knowing that he is leaving her at a point in which we see her, that it has not harmed her but it has done well for her. Thats why the conclusion of the film, otherwise it would be that shes feeling abandoned again.
I get why he might have thought it best to stop having sessions. Im asking about the abruptness with which he cancelled, and the next time he meets her he says the next is their last session.
Next week is the last session. So obviously Im not showing all the sessions because its a film. Its not exactly consecutive to the boat session.
But she seems to think its abrupt.
No, thats not what the reaction is. Its like, oh shit Im not going to see this guy, because shes developed feelings for him.
So youre saying he might have laid the groundwork for ending their sessions in the space of time we dont see on screen?
Absolutely. She also would be aware that at some point there could be this, but the shock is because shes in this space with these feelings or whatever.
When Kaira finds Dr Khan on the ferry, his manner seemed to suggest that a personal problem was weighing on his mind. What was going on there?
Uh, it could probably be with his own thing which he is trying to mask. He had just met his son, which is why he cancelled the session. But theres not much weighing on his mind. Its just about how to gently bring this girl to towards the finale.
He mentions his wife, his divorce and the son to Kaira. Did I miss a mention on the ferry that he had just met the boy?
No no, thats a part that got edited and where he explains to Kaira that thats where he had gone. We edited it because some other scene also got edited.
Why did you feel the need to hint that Dr Khan was attracted to Kaira? It went against everything we had seen of him until then in the film.
First of all I dont agree with attracted, thats not the emotion. Even a therapist is a bloody human being. Yes you are sticking to your ethics and professionalism, but you feel a connection with people, and this was a special person. Its somebody who he also liked but has not necessarily fallen in love with. I wouldnt use vulgar terms like attraction, thats why there were no words, there was just a little creak in the chair he had explained it to her, It only creaks when you really like someone but cant do anything about it.
And why not? Why do we feel that its a Hindi film ending or whatever, where someone has to like someone? No, these are human qualities. Thats what is interesting for me in life and in cinema, when theres a human quality to the characters. Hes not just playing a postcard where he doesnt feel anything. He cannot do much about it and those are his issues to resolve. Were all just people with feelings at the end of the day. It is not in the zone of, oh my god I got attracted and its a love story. Its not even in the typical sense of a man falling for a woman, a woman falling for a man. Its just that he felt a deep connection and will also miss her.
Except that up to that point, his vibe towards her was avuncular. Was he camouflaging his true feelings until then?
No, it was when he finally gave in to what he really felt, and when he could be free to do it in his space, when she left. He was not camouflaging, he was just being a professional. Hes doing this job but he has a right to his own feelings in his own private space.
Why do you describe the word attraction as vulgar?
Its not the word attraction, its the insinuation that its the same typical thing, theyve fallen in love, a hero and heroine. For me the categorisation of the emotion is vulgar.
Kaira being drawn to him fits perfectly. But when there is a suggestion that he reciprocates her feelings, it felt like Dear Zindagi is following the general Hindi film pattern that if you cast a major male star and major female star as your leads, then unless they are playing relatives they absolutely will at some point be attracted to each other if not fall in love.
Thats our own biases of what weve seen, our conditioning. But this is fresh, this is a new relationship, a new space. Theyre human beings. And hes not even said what he feels.
It just struck him that, oh my god I will probably also miss her, and I like her. Its as innocent as this. And whoever has to get it gets it, but this is what I truly wanted. And not for the sake that theres a male star, not because its Shah Rukh Khan. I could have done far more. This could have actually been a love story and gone in a really weird-ass way but no, its not about falling in love. You feel friendship, connections. Why is it misconstrued? You want to derive things from your own experience, your own bias of Hindi cinema and all that.
Its not my bias. Ive heard viewers saying, Yes, Shah Rukh gets the girl.
I cant control what people feel. I can only share my intention with you. What you understand from it is your prerogative. (Laughs)
What you call bias or conditioning is perspective that comes from knowing Hindi film conventions. Your story seemed to defy convention and then seemed to succumb with the creak of the chair.
Ya. But thats not what I had in mind, so what can I say about peoples interpretations being different from my intention?
By introducing Aditya Roy Kapur, you seem to be letting us know there are more fulfilling romantic relationships in store for Kaira. Nothing wrong with that, but would it not have been even more uplifting if the point we take away in the end is that a relationship is not an essential part of a womans existence and that a woman may feel complete in herself?
But thats exactly what I tried. She met this man, nobody is saying she started a relationship or what happened. Which is why she walks alone at the end. I wanted to say, Im free, Im open to new, healthy relationships, but this is me, Im now saying hi to life. She is with her camera on the beach. If Id ended with Aditya Roy Kapur and her, it would have been different.
Was it necessary to have Aditya at all?
It was like, now youre open. I didnt want her to be the extreme, I dont care about other men, Im in love with Jahangir. That needed to be resolved, that I got what I needed from Jahangir and I am good now. If Id not introduced Aditya and if she walked straight on the beach, it would still be, like, Jahangir is who she is moving on with in her head. So I needed to break that.
Again, while I enjoyed the films humour, that scene in which Kairas uncle asks if she is Lebanese (when he meant to say lesbian) felt forced. Looking back, do you think it works?
To be honest, at one point I did wonder if it seemed contrived, but my editors used to laugh every time we did that scene and actually this has happened to one of my ADs, so Im like, no, Im not removing it. Sometimes when things happen in real life and you put them on cinema they dont seem true, but they have happened. But ya, this is one thing Im accepting of yours because it went through my head too.
Karan Johar re-edited Ae Dil Hai Mushkil to remove all references to Pakistan, after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena attacked his film for featuring a cameo by a Pakistani star. Did you consider removing Ali Zafars role in Dear Zindagi because he is Pakistani?
It would be unfair for me to comment on Karans film. I dont even want to talk about my film in this context because this is not something that needs to be raked up. Nobody has done anything wrong to suffer this, nobody wanted to be in this situation. We never know what happens when, so I feel its best to let bygones be bygones as far as they can be.
Of course any creative person would want our original vision to be in place. To have to change anything would break my heart. It would have broken my heart to change Ali Zafar, and Im thankful to the time, the stars and whatever, that did not happen.
In a society that almost deifies parents, did it occur to you that it was risky to have your heroine critiquing her parents especially over an issue that unlike, say, child abuse many people would not even consider a big deal?
Uh, I didnt think it was risky because I strongly believe children need to be respected a lot more. Were already so brainwashed about respecting elders. There needs to be a reason to respect people and they need to present that reason. Nobody questioned why English Vinglish was from a parents point of view but now, oh my god, they mind. I wanted to make Dear Zindagi from a childs point of view, that there are so many things happening and someone needs to pay attention, even if its a small thing. We dont have to go through abuse. It is the small things that affect a majority of us, sometimes even for no fault of the parents. Thats what I tried to say, that once we start looking at parents as regular people with flaws, we can understand them better. But as a child you dont get it, as a child theyre god, the be all and end all. I also personally believe there should be a test before you decide to have a child. If you have entrance tests for MBA, imagine parenting! Its a huge responsibility, and there is no entrance exam. (Laughs)
I recall someone saying on FB that Kaira is nothing but a spoilt brat
(Laughs) To judge someone like that is just unfortunate. I would say this viewer is a sad parent whos not understood.
She is not a parent.
I dont want to judge her myself, I dont want to be her, but she has probably not played out the child in her fully. (Laughs) I knew the film will make some people uncomfortable. When you react like this, sometimes it is a lot to do with yourself. (Still laughing) I understand if you dont agree with something or find the film boring, but if you feel disturbed and angry then theres something you are not addressing in yourself or you want to be in denial.
I came across some people discussing their fears as parents of teenagers, that a film like Dear Zindagi normalises casual sex and makes it a fashion.
(She laughs right through this answer) Yessssss. And Id like to say proudly, yes of course were normalising it. Sex happens. It can be casual. Deal with it. Earlier people didnt have the space and the wherewithal, but thats how it is. Refer to biology, to teenagers hormones.
The film just states facts. This is how things are at least in urban India. To not want to deal with it is from our conservative prism of how we want our children to be.
For many parents its a morality issue, but are there not also legitimate concerns about educating children on birth control, STDs, unwanted pregnancies?
Ya, but Im not here to address social concerns. Im not an activist or making an educational film on birth control and sex. (Laughs) When I do that Ill address those, but for now this was the film I wanted to make. I dont want to sound derogatory, but a lot of people who saw beyond this and are more evolved have not been offended by casual sex or whatever the film is saying.
(Still laughing) I dont understand this, Anna. Whenever somebody makes a film, people want them to make something else. They say, but this or that was not there. You can have a problem with the existing content, but they expect the film to have been made according to their wishes.
And haan, you mentioned those worried parents, so let me clarify, Kaira is not a teenager. She is a 25-year-old, living alone, very much with the knowledge of her parents who have supported her career choice. The film is not about teenagers. I wouldnt have recklessly shown a teenager doing this.
Someone wrote to me: Isnt this reverse stereotyping? Just because shes a liberal woman, do they have to show her permanently drunk and sleeping around? I asked him where she is permanently drunk, and how he concluded that she is sleeping around, but
Exactly, thats what I too would like to know. And its a him. Perfect. Had to be a man. (She laughs through this answer) I dont know what to say. One reaction I heard about English Vinglish was, How come Sridevi in that character is drinking wine on the flight? That poor middle-class Indian woman enjoying a glass of wine with a strange man on a flight was a problem, so what is a poor 25-year-old to do? What to say now?
Its fascinating that Kairas surname is not revealed in the film. How come?
I didnt want to get into that zone. Just see the reactions that have come already, so imagine if she belonged to a particular community. That could have become, Arrey, hamare community mein sotey nahin, yeh nahin karte. (This doesnt happen in our community.)
Im saying this because we just spoke about peoples reactions to alcohol and sleeping. (Laughs) Actually I didnt even think of what reactions would be. Personally I have wished we had the freedom to never have last names. But the real explanation is I didnt want to get into the nuances of a certain kind of people. I wanted to be free of baggage and focus on the individual. Its a subconscious learning from English Vinglish where she was Shashi Godbole. It was just convenient for me this time to not have a surname and get into accents, language and so on.
Id like to end on a serious note... (Pause) What do you think of Italian opera?
(Pauses, then laughs) What do I think of Italian opera? A serious note? Really? (We both laugh)
Im sorry, Italians who read this. I love Italians, Italian food, Italian men, Italy, but I dont get Italian opera.
Youve chosen a safe art form to say you dont get it. Because in India, well, Mohammad Rafi fans are upset with Karan Johar, Manoj Kumar was upset with Om Shanti Om.
Ya man, you cant say anything nowadays. (Laughs) No but I never thought of this. When Im writing, I never think who will be upset. This is my own thing, I have never understood Italian opera. Ive been to La Scala, this great opera thing in Milan, and not got it. When Dr Khan doesnt get opera in Dear Zindagi, I was just being honest to something I dont get myself. So. (Laughs)
RELATED LINKS:
Anna MM Vetticads review of Dear Zindagi.
http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/dear-zindagi-movie-review-incredibly-cute-alia-shah-rukh-khan-need-a-more-consistent-script-3123586.html
Karan Johars Directors Cut
http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/karan-johar-directors-cut-on-ageism-sexism-aishwarya-rai-bachchan-and-pakistan-3133692.html
Also read:
Crying beef over Ae Dil Hai Mushkil: Lets expose the fake patriotism, please
http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/crying-beef-over-ae-dil-hai-mushkil-lets-expose-the-fake-patriotism-please-3082404.html
Dear Zindagi and the call to end mandatory maata-pitaa worship: Bravo, Kaira and Gauri Shinde
http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/dear-zindagi-and-the-call-to-end-mandatory-maata-pitaa-worship-bravo-kaira-and-gauri-shinde-3142216.html
The post demonetisation days have made the job of union finance minister Arun Jaitleys task on goods and services tax (GST) roll-out a lot more difficult. The man, who spearheaded the consensus-making initiative from the very beginning--both with the states and political parties--will now have to face a fire test to rebuild the consensus in order to make the landmark indirect tax reform a reality at the earliest. GST appeared to be on schedule (for the roll out on 1 April) till Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on 8 November, effectively scrapping 86.4 percent of the total currency in circulation overnight.
Post this day, Jaitleys GST task got difficult and 1 April deadline almost looked impossible on account of the following reasons: One, the hard-won political consensus turned weak as majority opposition parties found little merit in the Modi governments reasoning for invalidating high value notes to check black money, fake currency corruption and terror funding, the originally stated objectives of the demonetisation. Also, the lack of preparedness of government in managing the currency swap resulting in a severe cash crunch irked all political parties. Two, the initial compensation estimate worked out for states lost relevance since most states have reported additional revenue losses on account of demonetisation-induced cash crunch.
In Tuesdays GST council meeting, states highlighted this fact. According to West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra, losses to states on account of note ban could go up to Rs 80,000-90,000 crore from Rs 55,000 crore estimated earlier. The GST council took a decision to create a fund of Rs 55,000 crore for compensating states with cess on demerit and luxury. This was the model before the tsunami of demonetisation. Now, everybodys compensation would go up. We had at that time estimated that at most five states would need compensation as others will manage to achieve 14 percent growth. But now many more states would need compensation, Mitra said.
How will the government find the money required for additional compensation is a question given that there is not much room to expand the scope of demerit goods. Thus, whether Centre will be able to honor its promise of 100 percent compensation to states, reworking the compensation draft, factoring in the demonetisation loss, needs to be seen.
Besides, there are also issues concerning dual control between the Centre and the states on the tax assessment rights for companies with annual turnover of Rs 1.5 crore and below. In Tuesdays meeting, few states also reportedly opposed Centres proposal to take away the rights of states under GST pertaining to their right to tax sales of fuel explored and sold from territorial waters. States want rights to collect tax upto 122 nautical miles away from the cost.
To be sure, these arent unsolvable issues in the way of GST roll-out, but will need several rounds of discussions and consensus making. The deadline of 1 April is anyways ruled out for now. But to avoid a last-minute rush before September, when the time given by the constitutional amendment expires, FM Jaitley will have to work hard.
Missing the 1 April deadline is actually a relief since the economy is still experiencing the pain of cash-crunch, as this writer pointed out in an earlier column. A GST roll out few months later, as said by some of the state finance ministers, since most of the pain that accompanied demonetisation will thin out by then. As of now, the Indian economy is passing through a self-imposed slowdown phase with visible problems in manufacturing, services sector and even on discretionary consumer spending.
The PMI, bank credit and auto sales numbers offer enough evidence. The Reserve Bank of Indias (RBI) fiscal year 2017 growth downward revision (from 7.6 percent to 7.1 percent) , which doesnt even take into effect the demonetisation impact fully, adds to the worries.
In this backdrop, the immediate disruptions GST roll out by April will have a double whammy effect on the economy, according to economists, and hence July-September period sounds more realistic. A delayed GST means no big surprise to investors given that we already missed one deadline last year and there were widespread concerns about the lack of preparedness of the country to migrate to a new regime at this stage.
The note ban has already impacted most segments of the economy including the small traders and service sector. If the cash crunch prolongs, things will only worsen going ahead. Jaitley's task is double fold--repairing the demonetisation damage in the economy (plans of which should be laid out in the 2017 Budget) and rebuilding the GST consensus among states and political parties.
New Delhi: In fresh roadblocks to GST rollout, states on Tuesday demanded taxation rights for sales in high seas and also increasing the number of items on which cess is to be levied to compensate the states to deal with revenue loss estimated at Rs 90,000 crore post demonetisation.
Initially a Rs 55,000 crore GST compensation fund was proposed to be created by levying cess on demerit or sin goods and luxury items, but post demonetisation the compensation amount is expected to go up to Rs 90,000 crore as most states have seen revenue decline of up to 40 per cent, non-BJP ruled states claimed.
Also, coastal states pressed for rights to levy GST on trade of goods within 12 nautical miles offshore, holding up finalising of the draft law for levy of Integrated-GST (IGST) on inter-state trade.
At the eighth meeting of the all-powerful GST Council, TMC-ruled West Bengal, CPM-led Kerala and Congress-ruled Karnataka pressed for including area up to 12 nautical miles in the definition of states within IGST law, a standoff that led to chairman and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley agreeing to seek legal opinion on its Constitutional validity.
"We couldn't reach a consensus on a very important issue that relates to defining of a state. This is 12 nautical miles from the state. Can states charge GST from them or not? Right now states like Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Odisha are charging VAT or sales tax within 12 nautical miles. For eg when a ship is loaded with oil or products, the tax on that is charged by the states.
"All the coastal states, irrespective of parties, combined in saying that we must have 12 nautical miles within the state jurisdiction. Whereas the draft IGST law was looking at having taxation rights with the Centre," West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra told reporters.
The Day 1 of the panel meeting did not take up the contentious issue of control of assesses which had been till now holding up roll out of Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. The issue would be discussed tomorrow.
While representatives of opposition-ruled states were unanimous in saying 1 April target date for rollout of the new regime is not possible, even BJP-ruled Gujarat said GST could become a reality from September. .
The IIT Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 is holding its 11th edition this year.
The E-Cell, IIT Bombay s The Ten Minute Million, will be held on 28 29 January at the E-Summit of IIT Bombay. The theme for this year is A Tryst with Tomorrow. Speakers and participants from numerous countries and genres will be attending the event.
A first of its kind event in India, which premiered at E-Summit 2015, it involves 10 shortlisted startups pitch for 10 minutes in front of the investor panel and get an on-spot funding commitment for Rs 1.5 million or Rs 15 lakhs.
"Our idea was that, you take 10 months, we believe it can be done in 10 minutes. I would have been happy even if I had got a fraction of the response. Right from the entrepreneurs, to the investors to the audience, this is an absolutely outstanding response", said Ajit Khurana, one of the investor panelists.
One of the successful startups, Strike which got the promised amount then scaled up more than 10 times within a year, according to E-Summit. The past Investor panel consisted of angel investors like Ajeet Khurana, Anupam Mittal, Samir Shah, Sanjay Mehta and Aniruddh Malpani.
An initiative by the Entrepreneurship Cell of IIT Bombay, E-Summit is a confluence of visionary students, professionals or anyone who wishes to be one of those crazy rebels who will change the world, start his own business or fund a business and become a trend-setter.
Startups can register to pitch in The 10-Minute Million by visiting http://ecell.in/esummit/the10minutemillion/register
The registration deadline is today January 4. The finalists will be declared shortly after.
New Delhi: Paytm said it has received final approval of the Reserve Bank to formally launch its payments bank and it expects to start operations next month.
Payments banks can accept deposits from individuals and small businesses up to Rs 1 lakh per account.
"Today, Reserve Bank of India gave permission to formally launch Paytm Payments Bank. We cant wait to bring it in front of you," Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of One97 Communications, said in a blogpost on Tuesday. "No other role or responsibility means as much to me as the privilege of building Paytm Payments Bank, and I intend to take a full-time executive role in the Bank," Sharma said further. He added that at Paytm Payments Bank, the aim is to build a new business model in banking industry, focussed on bringing financial services to hundreds of millions of unserved or underserved Indians. When contacted, a Paytm spokesperson said the company hopes to launch operations in February with the first branch coming up in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
Paytm was earlier slated to begin operations around Diwali last year. In 2015, RBI had awarded in-principle approval to Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of One97 Communications, to set up a Payments Bank along with 10 others.
With the objective of deepening financial inclusion, RBI kicked off an era of differentiated banking by allowing SFBs (small finance banks) and PBs (payments banks) to start services. A total of 21 entities were given in-principle nod last year, including 11 for payments banks.
Later, three entities -- Tech Mahindra, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company and a consortium of Dilip Shanghvi, IDFC Bank and Telenor Financial Services -- backed out of the payments bank licensing.
Currently, Airtel is the only player that has commenced Payments Bank operations. Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank is expected to launch services in the first half of 2017.
Sharma will hold the majority share in Paytm Payments Bank, with the rest being held by One97 Communications.
Last month, One97 Communications had restructured its business ahead of the launch of the Payments Bank, merging the wallet business with payments bank operation.
Alibaba Group and its affiliate Ant Financial pumped in $680 million into Paytm's parent One97 Communications last year, taking its total shareholding to over 40 percent in the countrys largest mobile wallet operator, Paytm.
However, the Chinese entity will not have a direct shareholding in the payments bank
By Trevor Hunnicutt
| NEW YORK
NEW YORK Investors funnelled $375 billion into exchange-traded funds in 2016, investment manager BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) said on Tuesday, a global record that came as investors looked to cut costs.The total, which is preliminary, compares with $348 billion in 2015 and includes a record $286 billion haul in the United States, home to the funds' biggest market.ETFs are a basket of stocks or other assets traded by individual investors and institutions. Fund managers from BlackRock to Vanguard and Schwab (SCHW.N) offer index ETFs that try to track, not beat, the market. They have sliced management fees on some funds to as little as $3 annually for every $10,000 managed. All three companies announced price cuts last year.Those low fees along with other cost savings and conveniences have helped the more than $3 trillion ETF business take assets from rival financial products, including actively managed funds that attempt to beat the market but may fall short of that goal.
U.S.-based active stock funds recorded $288 billion in withdrawals in 2016, the largest on record, according to preliminary Thomson Reuters Lipper data through November.ETF issuers were also able to draw investors into "smart beta" products that often attempt to beat the markets but do so based on a set of rules governing how they invest, rather than a portfolio manager making those calls. The products can be pricier for investors than traditional index funds while still undercutting active managers."The fact that we're at new-record inflows with such a slow start is a pretty strong reversal," said David Perlman, an ETF researcher at UBS (UBSG.S).
Markets started 2016 in bad shape, after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised rates and as oil prices cratered. Stocks managed to rebound from a February low, but events including the U.S. presidential race and the British vote to exit the European Union kept investors skittish.Money moved to the perceived safety of the fixed-income market, and BlackRock's early data showed bond ETFs taking in a record $115 billion in 2016.
BlackRock, with $1.3 trillion in global ETF assets, is the largest provider of such funds. Its iShares ETF brand attracted $140 billion globally during the year, BlackRock said, describing that figure as a record.In the U.S., BlackRock attracted $105 billion into ETFs during the year, followed by Vanguard's $94 billion, State Street's (STT.N) $52 billion and Schwab's $16 billion, according to separate estimates by FactSet Research Systems Inc. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Tom Brown and Alan Crosby)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
As 2016 turned into 2017, Bengaluru witnessed freedom at midnight. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world slept, Bengaluru awakened to freedom for molesters and hooligans. With apologies to Jawaharlal Nehru, a moment of depravity comes, which comes but frequently in India's present, when we step out from the human to the beast, when reasoning ends, and when the soul of a molester, long suppressed, finds utterance.
"We the underbelly of Bengaluru, having solemnly resolved to constitute Bengaluru into an unsafe, depraved, rowdy, city and to un-secure to all its citizens."
India owes gratitude to that citizen in Kammanahalli in east Bengaluru who had a CCTV installed for the lane leading to his home. If not for him, the horrific footage of a young girl being groped and molested by two beasts on a scooter on the intervening night of 31 December and 1 January would not have shown a mirror to India. The ugly face of cockroaches on the prowl, desperate to get their hands on female form to quench the lust of their manhood.
This incident captured on CCTV happened within a couple of hours after mayhem had broken out on Brigade Road and MG Road, the heart of Bengaluru. 'Mass molestation' screamed a newspaper, reporting that despite the cop strength of 1500, the city police could not control the molesters who had descended on the area, in the garb of new year 'revellers.'
Eyewitnesses at Brigade Road have reported that several women were groped and pawed at by unknown men, who derived confidence from being mere hands in the anonymity of a swollen crowd. Some of the women, crying, stilettos in hand, rushed to the cops for help. A lathicharge that followed, did not quite help control the situation adequately.
Talk to any old-time Bengalurean and he or she will tell you that Brigade Road does turn into Grope Street at Cinderella hour on New Year's eve. Lewd comments, catcalls, inappropriate touching are known to be a routine occurrence, as if Bacchus provides the leers with a no-objection certificate.
Only a government blind and deaf to this would transfer the commissioner of police out and make 31 December his last working day at the commissionerate. The new top cop, Praveen Sood, who took over on 1 January insisted that unless a complaint was filed, he won't file a FIR. The Bengaluru police needs a classroom session to tell them that police stations staffed largely with cops insensitive to gender crimes are the last resort of a complainant.
India's criminal justice system makes a criminal out of a victim because the woman more often than not, is slut-shamed.
What were you wearing? Do your parents approve of your attire? Did you make any suggestion to the accused that may have given him an idea that you were willing? Couldn't it have been an accidental brushing past in a crowd? Do you have a boyfriend? Why do you live-in with a guy? Do your parents approve of your relationships? Why did you go to party till 230am? Shouldn't you be careful about your own safety?''
The rotten icing on the spoilt cake are some of India's politicians, with the "boys will be boys'' mindset. Karnataka's Home minister who blamed it on western influence, almost suggesting that the girls invited it upon themselves, did not cover himself with glory either.
But the politicians are incidental to the issue. The problem is within us. It is to do with inability of families to keep a watch on our sons. It is to do with the inability of parents to teach their sons that if a girl is hugging her partner, it does not mean she is 'available'. It is to do with the inability of parents to ask probing questions about why they are out of home, zipping around on Bengaluru roads at 2. 40 am, most likely inebriated. It is to do with the inability to pick up warning signs that the son and his friends are plotting to shame their families and the city they live in. A look at the Kammanahalli footage will show you the three accomplices who are keeping watch while the two bikers molest the girl in the deserted lane. It is proof that it was a planned crime.
It is to do with the lathi-wielding approach we have to policing. An intelligent approach would have entailed infiltrating the crowd with a large number of women police in plainclothes and a significant posse of mobile police videographers. In-the-face policing is what Bengaluru needed that night. When the Bengaluru police knew Brigade Road had a reputation for trouble every year the calendar changed, it should have moved away from a typical sarkari approach. What they are doing now is to deny any mass molestation happened, even when some of those who were violated have come forward with their versions.
Admittedly, the cops cannot police every lane but if you are present on every main road, doing drunken driving checks, stopping bikers who are creating a nuisance, stalking women travelling back home in an auto (like the two girls in east Bengaluru locality of Kammanahalli were), ugly situations could have been avoided.
The unfortunate incident in Kammanahalli showed a Bengalurean woman is not safe even at her doorstep. Because the wolves have taken over. And the gloves are off.
And bear in mind that we know only about the Brigade Road and Kammanahalli incidents. How many more women were violated that night, away from CCTV cameras, is anyone's guess.
It is not about the Congress or the BJP. The opposition BJP politicians can derive cheap thrills, taking potshots at the Congress but they need to be reminded how the likes of Pramod Muthalik and his goons ran riot, assaulting girls in Mangaluru in 2009 when a BJP government was in power in Karnataka. But there is no denying that the buck stops with Siddaramaiah now since he is power. The CM cannot afford to display the typical disdain that he reserves for most uncomfortable questions.
But it is not as if Bengaluru alone is unable to zip up. This is the story of just about any part of India. A CCTV-equipped Bengaluru is able to spot the disease, in other non-monitored cities and towns, the culprits know Big Brother does not even exist.
It is imperative that the Bengaluru police crack these cases of molestation very soon. If it does not, India will have to declare a curfew for men after 8 pm. Or Prime Minister Narendra Modi could consider De-Menetisation.
Dogs and wolves are known to hunt in packs. Every time you wish to see men emulate this behaviour, do just three things: Allow them the high of alcohol, the company of friends, the anonymity of a mob and then put them in the midst of women.
Samajwadi Party politician Abu Aazmi is wrong and, obviously, a specimen of the regressive and patriarchal politician that is dime a dozen in India. How molesters behave with women has nothing to do with what they wear shorts, skirts, salwars or sarees or which civilisational ethos they follow. The false bravado of alcohol, the feeling of security that comes in the company of men and their inner inadequacies and frustrations would make them pounce even on a mannequin in the Gobi Desert.
If the Nirbhaya case did not convince us then, the Bengaluru episode should now: Men will not be men, boys, unfortunately, would not be boys. In groups, they would be dogs and wolves in packs.
The incident in Bengaluru, where women were molested by revellers in the presence of cops, is just another example of the herd mentality of men, how they act and behave when individuals are stripped of their inhibitions and fears and their latent bestiality is exposed in the cover of darkness.
Let us put this into perspective again. Imagine a world without cops which Bengaluru was on that night and fear of the law. Imagine hundreds of drunk, drooling men on a road. And then imagine a few women between them. This, essentially, is what we have now come to.
It is a shame. In a country that has 65 percent of its population below 35. In an era where we claim rapid advances in education, civilisational values and cultural revolution, a next generation city like Bengaluru turns into a hunting ground for herds, a veritable jungle where wolves and dogs stalk their quarry without fear, shame, self-restraint or iota of self-respect. If this is the plight of Bengaluru--the cradle of Indian modernity, hub of technology--fear the fate of women in rest of India.
What's the way out? Just as a mad elephant fears the ankush of his mahout, a deranged dog fears the stick of its master, fear of the law, of course, is the key for taming molesters. Unfortunately, cops are in so low numbers at such events and are outnumbered by a huge majority in Bengaluru there were just around 1500 cops for thousands of revellers preventive policing is simply not possible.
So, that leaves us with the option of reactive policing catching the culprits and giving them exemplary punishment. But, as events in Bengaluru and before that in the Jyoti Singh case cops are simply not interested in acting swiftly and with adequate force. The standard response of the cops is same across India: First deny, then, if forced to act under public pressure, go slow on investigation.
In Bengaluru, the police failed to register a single FIR in spite of the fact that its staff were present on the site and, as reports indicate, approached with complaints and entreaties for help by women who were pawed. Did not a single cop report the incident? Was the entire police force blind to the lawlessness and anarchy that night? Such denial and lethargy is the single-biggest motivation for criminals and louts. When they know that the statistical possibility of getting caught, punished and shamed is negligible, not only does it leads to repeat offenses but new converts to the culture of perversity.
And then there are the politicians who simply don't get it. By blaming women, what they wear, their preferences and choices, Indian politicians just don't understand that it is the typical male psyche that needs to be diagnosed, addressed and cured. Their focus has to be on the malaise that grips molesters and perverts, not their victims.
Soon after the Bengaluru incident, Karnataka's home minister, no lesson, told a TV channel "such incidents do happen on New Year's eve and on Christmas." This, of course, is a screaming indictment of his own inefficiency, incompetence and mindset. If he was aware that such behaviour is routine, why did he not ensure adequate preventive measures? And if all that he can do his wring his hands helplessly, resort to chalta-hai attitude, G Parameshwara should hang his head in shame and go.
It is apparent politicians won't change their mindset even when they are shamed, in spite of a massive outcry. Just a few months ago, the BJP was shamed by its Uttar Pradesh vice-president Daya Shankar Singh, who compared former chief minister Mayawati with a sex worker. After putting up the pretence of propriety, apologising for his comments, the BJP sacked him. Guess what happened next? At prime minister Narendra Modi's rally in Lucknow, Singh was not only on the dais but also a subject of veneration and salutations. Clearly, politicians too would be politicians.
What then is the way out? Fear of law doesn't work. Cops do not act with urgency and a sense of purpose. And politicians just don't get the root cause of the problem. Does that mean the roads be left for beasts to pack in hunts with impunity?
Perhaps, as many in social media, have pointed out, it is time to tame the real beasts instead of reading out hypocritical moral and cultural sermons to the victims.
How about imposing a code of conduct for men? Asking them to stay indoors after dark? Making it compulsory for them to remain sober in public places? And, asking them to wear chastity belts if they have to venture out among women?
Outrageous? Men have owned the streets and roads for long. Putting on a leash those devoid of self-restraint, conscience, lack of respect for civilisational ethos and with a criminal bent of mind, is the best option to ensure now women on them.
Stop with this Bengaluru stuff about women being molested as if there was an element of surprise in it. The most horrifying part of this incident is that we have to protest it and denounce it and label those idiot politicians who explain it in the most ludicrous terms. Every time we condemn the attitude or the act or the drivel of a defence in the aftermath, we trivialise it and it diminishes us. We only perpetuate the myth that it is just a couple of hoodlums, these things happen. And we let it go.
So what if 20 odd girls are scarred for life. Hotha hai.
Time to get into a reality check. Indian men are crude. They are louts and loafers who see girls as prey. Just read the messages from trolls on websites from behind their cloak of anonymity and the profanity flows as smoothly as the Ganga, most of it explicitly sexual.
It is because of this mens club that politicians and TV panelists can be allowed to give their side of it as if rape and molestation and saying no had a flip side to it. It does not. The sickness is so deep that however outraged we are it only amounts to a fleeting dismay and disgust. After all, it is only girls in short dresses.
The sexually frustrated male is not an exception, he is the rule. Having a massive lack of courtesy or grace or confidence in establishing a healthy relationship with women, Indian men learn early that crudeness, crassness and epithets set to the raucous music of wolf whistles and catcalls and roadside Romeo remarks are the best and most macho alternative to the stunting of their social skills.
Porn from thousands of channels and feeding each others shabby egos with triumphs that never happened, these men in their legions resort to touching girls in buses and trains, nudging them in shopping centres and malls and bumping into them in elevators and classrooms.
After a while this behaviour balloons into a birthright and is encouraged by the value system at home where mothers and sisters are hypocritically venerated but other girls are fair game. Add to this the fallout from fertile imaginations and these creepy crawlies begin to fantasise that the woman actually likes it, is asking for it and they are, in some way, doing her a favour by being it. The brainwash is very easy to do and flawed courage from numbers allows them to misbehave in rabid packs.
This lack of respect is inbuilt and predicated to the belief that men are superior and women are objectified. The sexual frustration of the Indian male is not only criminal it is animalistic.
After every such gross occurrence the equation is distilled and by some curious chemistry becomes the girls fault.
When my daughters were young I taught them one lesson. There are no flipping uncles, no chachas and mamoos and no men are allowed to hug you or make you uncomfortable because they call you beta. Now, they have children of their own, I want the lesson repeated.
Then I taught them another lesson. Where it hurts the most, kick him there and if you cannot manage that then spike his kneecap, hell never walk again.
Unless we are as a society prepared to accept that our men have a problem with the opposite sex, are repressed, oppressed sexually and inclined towards being dirty-minded these sort of assaults will never stop. And if political party leaders and men of good faith permit their rank and file to mock the victims with a sly wink and a smile of conspiracy, what chance do we have.
Last week, on New Years Eve, a friend of ours was watching a concert when she was assaulted by four louts. Here is what she wrote on her page:
Need to share this
Amidst all the amazing fun we had... I punched a guy. Yes, it's violent not typical for me not the politically correct thing to do.
But a man pinched my bottom (and no, this is not ha-ha funny which is exactly what his mates thought).
I thought I'd let it slide I did punch him but I looked around to see there were young girls standing right next to me 9, 19, 26 who may never do anything about incidents like that. Found the police and the CID and got him taken away.
Man was it worth it to see his sorry self being carted out of the concert. It is never ever okay to violate someone's personal space.
Never ever okay to touch a girl or kids!
True.
It has nothing to do with clothes or with the time on the clock or their asking for it. It is just flat out a psychological mindset that is grotesque in its shape and given the tick mark by the elders. Unless the punishment is severe and instant we will keep going down the slippery slope.
If these predators werent everywhere why would we have to protect our women? From whom? The first step is to be honest. Mumsie, your son is a freaking ill conceived lout.
In yet another horrifying incident of gender-based violence, scores of women were molested by drunken revellers on New Year's Eve in Bengaluru.
In response, politicians and law enforcement officials, yet again, exposed their callous indifference in such matters. Reactions from Karnataka's ministers and custodians of law and order exemplify reasons why such violent events recur time and again, all over the country. The unabashed misogyny at the highest political and administrative levels in the aftermath of every such incident shows why legal buffers if not the many laws and amendments will always prove ineffective in yielding results against gender-based violence.
The all-round "blame the women" attitude by politicians and police serves to embolden perpetrators of violence. Depressingly, the discourse catapulted to the centre stage of national agenda following the gang-rape of a medical student in New Delhi five years ago but was hardly successful in resetting the terms of the national conversation on gendered violence. Things proceed as if it's business as usual.
As has been the case in the past, politicians still offer lame, misogynistic excuses, pointing the finger at victims of assault, blaming them for succumbing to Western influences and deviating from the traditional norms of decency.
Not surprisingly, this mindset was on full display after the recent Bengaluru incident as well. According to a report in The Guardian, an inspector at the Cubbon Park police station said in his response, "We had deployed 1,600 police personnel in the area for New Year's celebrations and around 60,000 people had come there that night." The inspector even went on to claim that they had the situation "under control".
G Parmeshwara, Karnataka's home minister, blamed women partying at night in the streets for behaving "almost like foreigners". "They tried to copy the Westerners, not only in their mindset but even in their dressing," he said, adding, "(On) events like new year's, there are women who are harassed or treated badly." He shrugged off the violence, claiming that "these kinds of things do happen".
It may be relevant in this context, to remember that five years ago, this was the very state where lawmakers were caught watching pornography in the state Assembly. Three ministers Lakshman Savdi, CC Patil (minister for women and child development) and Krishna B Palemar were caught watching porn clips on a cell phone. "Close up shots of the ministers watching blue films were beamed on television channels in the evening and sparked off a furore. The television visuals showed both ministers sitting next to each other, gazing into Savdi's handset and having a banter," a report in The Times of India said at the time.
What makes matters worse is that the usual markers of political affiliation and ideological variation blur into insignificance when it comes to misogyny a behavioural trait all politicians seem to share in common. Markers of identity like caste and religion drive politicians into taking aggressive postures, trying to keep such issues alive in the discourse to facilitate political mobilisation. That, tragically, has never been the case with violence against women, though. The lack of women's representation in assemblies and Parliament further helps male politicians sidestep the issue.
For decades, lawmakers have, in one form or another, combined their strengths to repeatedly stall the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in the Parliament. Parties like the Congress and those from the Left, who publicly backed the 33 percent women's quota in the state assemblies and in the Lok Sabha, have also refused to take proactive steps to pass the legislation. The legislation has been hanging for over 20 years.
This state of affairs, breeding indifference and inaction, is strengthened by the reality that women are still not a distinctly identifiable electoral constituency. Even though things are beginning to change in this direction, with women beginning to emerge as a separate "vote bank" in recent elections (consider Nitish Kumar's prohibitionist policies), the crystallisation of such a gender-based vote bank is yet to take place. But the question remains: For how long can governments and political parties remain impervious to womens concerns?
Some form of punitive action must be initiated against officials and leaders who indulge in misogynist speeches and action especially in their responses to events like the one in question. That might be a starting point in changing our political and administrative culture. The responsibility for initiating this change squarely lies with the state and central governments and the political parties. Little wonder then, that there seems to be no real hope of such a transformation taking place in the near future.
The Indian government looks set to finalise a $660 million deal with engineering firm Larsen and Tubro (L&T) to purchase heavy artillery for the Indian Army, which would provide a major fillip to the country's defence modernisation plans, said a report in the Economic Times.
The deal is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious $250 billion plan to revitalise the aging firepower the armed forces currently use.
The report quoted a senior army official as saying that the proposal to buy 100 heavy artillery guns from L&T is in its final phase before it would be cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security, the topmost authority on security matters.
The daily also quoted a senior strategic affairs analyst, SK Chatterji, as saying, "Artillery is the weapon of choice when armies want to deploy a great amount of firepower. It also gives the advantage to our forces over the enemy."
India has been on a defence spending spree of late. In November, the government cleared a deal to buy 145 Howitzer 155mm ultra-light guns from the United States for approximately $750 million. This came closely on the heels of the Indian Army acquiring three indigenously-built Dhanush Howitzers in July 2016.
L&T, like many other Indian private sector companies in the defence sector, like Tata and Mahindra, is now a key player in the Modi government's 'Make in India' project. The ambitious plan also intends to indigenise defence technology in order to reduce dependence on arms imports.
A February 2016 report in Business Standard stated that L&T saw "huge potential" in the 'Make in India' project, and had also listed defence indigenisation as a potential investment opportunity.
Along with the push for indigenisation, the government in June 2016 also liberalised investment-related rules for the defence sector. After having earlier raised the FDI limit to 49 percent, the government later allowed 100 percent foreign investment subject to government approval in the sector, but dropped the "state of the art technology" clause.
However, a report in The Wire noted that the government's push for foreign investment in the sector seemed to have flopped, as less than one million dollars worth of FDI entered the sector since 2013. "Till September 2016, no FDI inflow has been received," Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was quoted as saying.
The report added that bureaucratic red-tapism and opaque acquisition process, which has not yet been addressed by the government are also reasons for the lack of growth in foreign investment.
New Delhi: India will give a hard calibrated response to terror activities and will compel Pakistan to completely rethink its strategy on supporting insurgency and terrorism, new Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said.
Rawat, who as vice-chief, was actively involved in the surgical strikes on terror camps across the LoC, said it has to be ensured that "pain is felt" by terrorists and their supporters, but the response need not be in the same manner.
He brushed aside Pakistan's threat of tactically using nuclear weapons, saying such statements will not deter India when it comes to defending borders. "While we do agree that we have to retaliate and ensure that the pain is felt by the terrorists and their supporters, the response need not be the same every time," he told PTI.
Rawat, who took over as the 27th army chief on 31 December, said, "We will calibrate the response in a manner that it hits them hard and compels them to think about the long run, whether they need to completely rethink their strategy on supporting insurgency and terrorism in our state."
He was asked about Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's statement that enemy needs to feel the pain too. Rawat also said that not every incident needs to be seen from the same perspective, as there are a large number of terrorists operating in the Valley, who are always attempting to carry out some sort of violence against the security forces and citizens.
Asked about Pakistan's threat of using tactical nukes, the army chief said nuclear weapons are weapons of deterrence. "And if Pakistan is reviewing their strategy on using nuclear weapons, it is something that they have decided to strategise," he said, adding that Pakistan's statements doesn't find favour either with India or with the international community.
Last week the top security brass thronged the 15 corps headquarters at Badamibagh in Srinagar for the Core Group Kashmir meeting, co-chaired by General Officer Commanding (GOC) Chinar Corps, Lieutenant-General JS Sandhu and former Director General of Police (DGP) K Rajendra Kumar. The meeting was called to discuss a new distinct challenge that the security forces are confronting on the ground, while carrying out counter-insurgency operations.
The participants noted that the over the last year, the local residents were obstructing any counter-insurgency operation launched by the security forces in the Valley. The hostile residents were coming in the line of fire, distract security forces and pelt stones on them. There had been a number of such cases, wherein the locals had shielded the militants and helped them to break the security forces cordon and flee. There was a perceptible concern among the meeting participants about the possibilities of collateral damage in such operations, which could add fuel to fire.
The core group meeting took place in the backdrop of a five-month long unrest, triggered by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander and a charismatic local militant, Burhan Wani on 8 July. The sweeping cold waves of chilai kalan, the 40-day harsh period of Kashmiri winter and the growing fatigue finally put an end to the summer of unrest. But the onset of winter also means that the militants hiding in the forests move towards the hinterland, increasing the chances of confrontations and gun battles with the security forces.
A week before the core group meeting, 50 kilometers north of Srinagar, Special Operations Group of JK Police and Armys 13 RR unit cordoned off Parray Mohalla of Hajin town in Bandipora, after receiving specific inputs about the presence of two militants. As forces and militants began exchanging fire, locals swarmed the encounter site and began protesting. The baffled security forces, despite several warnings to the people, could not force the locals to withdraw. The protesters pelted stones on security forces, ultimately enabling the militants to break the cordon and flee.
The militants who were hiding in the village were later identified as Musaib, Maviya and Khitab, all Pakistani nationals, who had infiltrated in Kashmir few months. Security forces had been tracking them for many days in the area, but the locals protests during the encounter forced them to let the militants go.
It was the third time that locals of Hajin had risked their lives and helped militants escape. Even at the time of writing this story, the locals had once again helped militants to break the cordon, by staging protests.
Thirty-year-old Ayoub was one of those protesters, who has regularly participated in the protests, disturbing the momentum of the security forces during the encounters, and helping militants flee from the cordon. Every time, the security forces enter their neighbourhood to catch militants, he has tried his best to help them flee unharmed. He feels if one cannot pick a gun, one should help others who have picked up the weapon for their sake.
Sometimes protesters win, sometimes the security forces.
Ayoub believes that excessive policing and human rights violations have removed fear from the hearts of people about the security forces. This is echoed by Abdul Basit, a lawyer and a student of international relations and conflict studies, who described this trend as a dangerous shift in the peoples mentality. The same corners that have witnessed the bloodshed have erupted in rage. There was a time when if security forces fired on the street, people wouldnt come out for days. Today, people are attacking security installations. Fear, as a weapon of war has been overused. If they dont have fear to die, to have pain, to lose future, then how would you be able to control these people, Basit said. Luring them with better future prospects and incentives is unlikely to help. The Government needs to come up with a new engagement policy. Fear is an old currency in Kashmir, he remarked.
For the police and army troopers, trained to fight a conventional war, the hostile populations activities during an encounter, is a completely new situation. They find themselves in a situation which was, perhaps, not taught in their military schools or even the veterans had not witnessed such unprecedented outburst of emotions.
For the past one year, police have been making announcements and appeals, using loudspeakers, asking people to avoid getting closer to the encounter site, but it has had little effect on the people.
On 31 December, nearly eight people were injured at South Kashmirs Samboora Hamlet in clashes between security forces and protesters who were trying to help militants flee the area and were successful. In another such instance, in south Kashmirs Arwani village on 8 December an emotional protester rushed towards the house where militants were believed to be holed up and was hit, as per police, by a stray bullet. He died instantly, leaving behind his fiance who had got engaged with him after convincing their families for several months.
A top police officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the challenge for the security apparatus is not to eliminate a militant, but what follows after the gunfights. Encounter sites have emerged as a new battleground between youth and security forces. During 1990s, youth crossed the border out of curiosity and believed that they will come back with the gun and defeat the army. But that did not happen and everybody knows that those groups disintegrated for various reasons. Today, they are not crossing borders and are fighting with bare hands. They are driven by sentiments only, he said. We are seeing a different ball game now. Todays militant is more passionate about death, he added.
While describing the intensity of the clashes during encounters he said, Everyone wants to be a martyr in Kashmir. Death is their incentive. You cannot defeat such mindset. Compared to earlier unrests, the marked difference is that the protesters this time are fearless. They have no fear of getting killed, caught, blinded or maimed. Look at these new militants. They are defying fear by removing the masks from their faces, unlike their predecessors of 1990s. Their brazen display has really appealed youth. Everybody wants to have Burhan like funeral (reportedly attended by two lakh people). So martyrdom is the new normal in Kashmir.
To tackle the problem, security forces are adopting new techniques. Few days ago in north Kashmirs Bomai area of Sopore on December 14, the police suspended mobile phone services, in an attempt to prevent the word of encounter getting spread and thereby avoid the locals from gathering. The security forces were successful to kill top Lashker-e Taiba Commander Abu Bakar who was active in the area for nearly eight years. They were partially successful as after the operation, the security forces had to face ire of the irate locals.
Senior Superintend of Police Baramulla, who has conducted several such operations, Imtiyaz Ali who feels that the phenomenon might be new but they have been conducting successful operations under hostile conditions for some time. All we need is to have the right approach. We have done a number of operations and at times we have finished operations with a few bullet shots. But, yes, these days we have to be extra careful as people can mess things up. So we travel with some additional force, which would be able to deal with the law and order situation. Protests were always there, but these days their intensity is high. So we also have to gear up. But nothing can bother us from eliminating these militants.
Meanwhile, the Core Security Group Kashmir has asked the security forces to push militants to the forests, so that they can be eliminated without any law and order issue.
One Sunday morning in early October 2016, Reyaz Ahmad woke up and started mopping and dusting the house, like any other day. After the health of his diabetic mother had worsened in recent years, he would often get up early, prepare Kashmiri salt tea (noon chai) and get bread from the baker before waking up his mother. Then he would start reading, remaining confined to his house for most of the day.
But then on the fateful day, he finished his daily chores and turned up at the door of his mother's room. "Mauji bi hai nearai (Mother, I am leaving)," he said.
This was an overused phrase in the early 1990s for hundreds of young Kashmiri men before leaving their houses to secretively take treacherous paths to reach Pakistan-administered Kashmir for arms training. Ahmad's mother had no idea about all that, so she responded: "Ga's khudayas hawal'e (May God be with you)."
Frail, shocked and fatigued in her search, Parveena sat crosslegged inside her kitchen when I visited her house in Kulgam district in early December. The floor looked unclean and wrinkled clothes were hanging on a tarpaulin wire. "He used to cook food, wash utensils and make bed for both of us. Then he would study throughout the day but he would never go out like other boys. I though he was missing and might have been in police custody, like other boys. But then a letter arrived," she said.
One day early in the morning, when Ahmads father was going to buy bread, he found a note lying on the verandah of his house. The son who held a postgraduate degree in economics had told his mother in that letter not to search for him as he had "chosen a path to stand up against oppression".
For the family, the search ended that day
According to the Jammu and Kashmir government, Ahmad is among 59 youths who have taken to militancy after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani on 8 July in south Kashmirs Bumdoora village. In off-the-record conversations, senior police officers in south Kashmir would say that the number of young boys who have joined militancy after the unrest began in the Valley was less than 36 mostly from south Kashmir, and that there was the presence of at least 250 to 300 militants in the state.
But Chief Minister Mehbooba Muftis written reply to the legislative Assembly on Tuesday that at least 59 youths have joined militancy since unrest began in the Valley last summer has surprised many here.
"As reported by CID headquarters, 59 youths have joined militant ranks after 8 July, 2016," Mehbooba said in a written reply to the question by MLA Mubarak Gul in the state Assembly.
This is the first time the state government has acknowledged that in last six months, many local youth have chosen the path of militancy, something that was already public knowledge in the streets of the Valley, although the number has surprised many. Unlike the ones before the death of Wani, the average life of a militant is likely to be three to four months as security agencies have multiplied efforts of counter-intelligence on the ground, particularly in south Kashmir where the writ of the state was missing for months during the unrest, and counterinsurgency operations were the last priority.
The efforts to trace the fresh recruits have been multiplying for some time now, Shridhar Patil, SSP Kulgam, told Firstpost, recently, because we have moved from countering street unrest to concentrating on counter insurgency operations.
However, despite this surge, the presence of foreign militants in the Valley has also shot up in the past few months. Sources in police department say the number of foreign militants in valley has almost doubled since the death of Wani. Before the unrest in the Valley, the police said the number of foreign militants was less than 70, which has gone up to the more than 170 in recent months.
Police say the reason behind the surge is the six months of unrest in valley coupled with rising infiltration, despite a strong counter infiltration grid in place. Few among these foreign militants were able to carry out attacks like the one in Uri, which left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead in the premises of 12 brigade in the border town of Uri.
This summer, police in north Kashmirs Sopore town said say the footfall of foreign militants have also increased in recent months.
The number of encounters between police and militants have also seen a dramatic spike since last few weeks in the Valley.
On Tuesday the police said they killed a militant belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba in an encounter in Haritar Tarzoo area of Sopore. He took active part in the 2016 unrest and remained part of protests during which he resorted firing at many occasions, a statement issued by police, said.
The state government says the militancy related incidents across the state have increased. Against 151 incidents in 2014, there were 143 incidents in 2015 which jumped to 243 in 2016. The number of militants operating in region, according to police, is estimated to be 235 to 250, Among them, 107 are linked to the LeT, 89 to Hizbul Mujahideen, 19 to Jaish-e-Mohammed and two to Al-Badr.
With the winter chill imposing an uneasy calm in the Valley, the insurgency indicators point out that the coming summers are going to be hotter in the Valley.
Are the agencies prepared to handle the challenges?
It's the start of a new year, but we still have to deal with the same old sexism.
India really hasn't maintained a good track record when it comes to ensuring women's safety. Take the aftermath of the Bengaluru molestation incident for example. The reactions of Karnataka's ministers, especially of Samajwadi Party's MLA Abu Azmi, pretty much highlighted the mentality of the officials of 'India's silicon valley'.
This justifiably enraged social media users across India. But it wasn't just the horrfying mass molestations during the New Year's Eve celebrations that sparked the outrage amidst socia media users. What made matters worse was that right after the discussion on these reports began gaining momentum, the infamous hashtag #NotAllMen also started doing the rounds. It was, in fact, the trending hashtag on Twitter till the time Bengaluru's Commissioner of Police Praveen Sood declared that the police had found "credible evidence" of wrongful confinement, molestation and attempt to rob.
He then went on to say that Bengaluru City Police was 'silently' working on solving the cases.
We have taken action by registering a FIR. Investigation is in progress. Police is working.... though silently. Praveen Sood IPS (@CPBlr) January 3, 2017
But hordes of men on Twitter couldn't keep their silence, and their opinions away from the Bengaluru incident and had to 'defend their gender' through this hashtag. Naturally, social media also broke their silence about this 'trend'. Indians didn't hesitate to call out this #NotAllMen army on their absurd logic.
Of course #NotAllMen. Not all men live with the fear of rape, molestation, sexual assault & physical violence. But #YesAllWomen do. Amena (@Fashionopolis) January 3, 2017
It is absolutely shameful that instead of concentrating on the issue of women's safety, here we are reassuring men of their image. Kapoor Neha (@PWNeha) January 2, 2017
Not just women, but even men joined in on the debate to point out why #NotAllMen was not just irrelevant, but also a toxic development that shouldn't unearth every time there is a case of women's safety being compromised in India.
Men who are tweeting for #NotAllMen need to stop being pissy brats and realise that no-one is targeting them. Go on with your life. Akhil (@akhilrex) January 3, 2017
#NotAllMen because in an incident involving the molestation of women, random men were the real victims. Sorabh Pant (@hankypanty) January 3, 2017
AIB's Rohan Joshi decided to go on a pun tirade to channelize his indignation about the hashtag.
Amidst all the quibbing, this video of a molestation incident in Bengaluru showas the gravity of this situation. The outrage over the Bengaluru mass molestation incident doesn't imply that all men are rapists and molesters, but about the fact all women, yes all of them, still feel unsafe in India.
Outgoing Chief Justice of India TS Thakur said it was incumbent on the legal fraternity to uphold the independence of judiciary, as he pointed to pendency of three crore cases, poor judge-to-population ratio and problems of infrastructure.
Thakur, who had a long battle with the Modi government on the appointment of judges, said, "This country can't progress unless the judiciary prepares itself to handle challenges it would face in cases regarding cyber laws and medico legal cases."
Supreme Court Bar Association vice-president Ajit Sinha assured Thakur: "We will not allow any unjustified entry into judiciary. We as a bar will take a first blow."
Addressing an overwhelming gathering of lawyers, and sitting and retired judges, the CJI, who had his last working day in the top court on Tuesday, said, "I will continue to work for upholding the prestige of the sanctum santorum of the Supreme Court."
Thakur, who appeared emotional on his final day, said that he would be a "spectator, observer and contributor to pay back what the institution has given to him" post-retirement.
Thanking God, his parents, teachers, colleagues and everybody for what he became in life, Thakur urged lawyers to desist from being in the race to be a judge or to be designated as senior lawyer.
Telling the legal eagles to let these recognitions becoming a judge or designated as senior counsel "come uninvited", he said every case was a new challenge for the lawyers and they had to live up to the expectations of their clients.
"Why should a lawyer want to be a judge when he is saturated with work?" he asked. "You have to raise yourself to a level where destiny itself beacons you."
He told young lawyers that by taking every case as a challenge and preparing it well would earn them the respect of the bench (judges) and even their opponents.
The farewell organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association saw everyone Chief Justice Thakur, Chief Justice designate Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, SCBA president RS Suri, its vice-president Ajit Sinha and secretary Gaurav Bhati reciting couplets from Urdu poets. However, it were legendry Urdu poets Allama Iqbal and Mirza Ghalib that dominated proceedings, with everyone reciting a couplet in praise of the outgoing chief justice.
On the eve of New Year celebrations and his weekend Delhi visit, the intelligence agencies of Andhra Pradesh and Delhi Police warned Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu of a fresh threat to his life from Maoists.
Intelligence agencies stated that underground Maoist activists in Delhi had conducted a "recce" (reconnoitre) of the AP Bhavan six times in the past two months and some of them had "masqueraded as journalists" while doing so.
Naidu, a media-savvy politician, often hosted get-togethers for journalists and even held casual chit-chats with them in the corridors there. But since the police warning, scribes, mostly of the electronic media, have been kept away from the chief minister whenever he was in Vijayawada.
The routine practice of sending Naidus itinerary to scribes on WhatsApp or SMS has also been suspended.
"You should come to AP Bhavan only when you are invited and need not hang around," they are told by security personnel at the gates.
For three decades now, Naidu has been in the crosshairs of the erstwhile Peoples War Group and now the CPI (Maoists). Since the 1996 plenary of the outlaws held in the deep jungles of the Nallamala forests, Naidu has been identified by them as an "enemy of the people". This was after Naidu revoked the amnesty to Maoists granted by his predecessor NTR and re-issued the ban on PWG and six of its allied organisations imposed in 1992.
On 24 October 2016, Naidus son Lokesh was added to the list after the encounter killing of 30 Maoist activists including Munna, the son of Maoist top gun Ramakrishna alias Akkiraju Hargopal earlier in 2016.
Last weeks information about the "Maoists recce" is the third signal from the rebel group since the bifurcation of united AP. Maoist spokesperson Shyam had said in his letter dated of 27 October that the nexus of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chandrababu Naidu was suicidal to democracy and beneficial to big businesses and class enemies.
"Both Naidu and Modi promoted mutually benefiting global capitalistic philosophies in the garb of the welfare of the common man," wrote Shyam in when Naidu had championed the idea of a cashless economy and note ban.
In another open letter in November, after demonetisation, Maoists charged Naidu and Modi of global designs to curb the democratic protests of tribals in Visakhapatnam forests (Manyam forests) and also the construction of Polavaram project. "Naidu had managed to escape an attempt on his life in 2003 and he might not be so lucky the next time," the letter said and warned of a possible suicide attack sending ripples in both the NDA and the AP state administration.
The recent Maoist letter had named five to six other top Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Congress leaders of coastal Andhra region along with Lokesh and Chandrababu Naidu. "The Congress leaders are now shedding crocodile tears over Polavaram and bauxite mining issues though they were instrumental in unleashing untold hardships on tribals and weaker sections when in power," the letter in Telugu said.
Letter of Maoists by Firstpost on Scribd
Naidu puts on a brave face
"I did harm to no one and I always wish for everybody to be happy," said Naidu last Saturday reacting to the latest intelligence alerts.
During the 2003 attack on him, nine claymore mines exploded as he was travelling by car between Alipiri to Tirupati, wrecking his bullet-proof Ambassador and injuring his collar bone gravely. B Gopalakrishna Reddy, Minister for Information Technology, party MLAs from Tirupati and Puttur, Chadalavada Krishnamurthy (now Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam chairman) and R Rajasekhara Reddy were also seriously wounded.
Similarly, Naidu had escaped another attempt on his life in 1998. The Peoples War Group had planted claymore mines in a bullock cart full of pots on a village road during an assembly byelection campaign in Karimnagar district. Maoists triggered the mines but Naidus caravan had changed the route minutes before, based on an intelligence tip-off. A constable present on the spot was killed.
Naidu currently enjoys "Z plus" category protection. His security includes the elite NSG apart from state police's Intelligence Security Wing. At present, the chief minister has a security cover with 196 police personnel. He will get an additional 486 now, with the addition of 290 more posts.
A separate Chief Ministers Security Group (CMSG) is being created in the Andhra Pradesh Police which will monitor movements through CCTV cameras at his residences, camp offices and party offices in Hyderabad and Vijayawada. The CMSG has been equipped with state of art firepower, latest gadgets imported from the US and Israel including surveillance drones. The finance ministry has cleared spending of nearly Rs 250 crores on CMSG in 2017-18. "We are developing infrastructure to ensure that Naidu is the most secure chief minister in India, almost on par with the prime minister, said N Sambashiv Rao, DGP of AP.
Demonetisation Adds Anger Against Naidu
Sources claim that the Maoists paid a heavy price due to demonetisation. Their funds, worth about few hundred crores, have almost become "waste paper". They could, with great difficulty, exchange 5-10 percent of the "banned currency" in their dumps through the support of local traders and politicians across the country.
Most of their resources have been wiped out and they dont have funds to meet regular medical and life supporting expenses of cadres, their families and also the top guns," claimed a senior official of the Intelligence wing called Octopus in Hyderabad.
Maoists are also sore about Naidus stand on Polavaram and bauxite mining in Visakhapatnam which they say will hurt the tribals. Visakhapatnam will become another mining hub like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand where tribals' livelihood sources have been trampled," said Sagar, an official spokesperson of CPI (Maoists) of the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) unit in an open letter in October 2016.
During YSRs period, the government took up canal work for Polavaram to circumvent the tribal and environment issues and benefit the contractors. What is the guarantee that Naidu will fulfil commitments after the project is completed, as most of the victims are in Telangana and Odisha? asked Ganesh a Maoist spokesman from AOB.
Sources say that Naidu is milking the situation to his benefit. His security level, say sources, has been enhanced by the Centre and the Union Home Ministry has recommended upping the NSG quota to him from 75 to 200.
"I am not scared of death but only that I want to finish the tasks taken up after bifurcation so that the transition of AP will be smooth," Naidu told his party men at Saturdays extended general body meeting in Vijayawada on New Years Eve.
There is a word for what President Obama did this past week in declaring Gold Butte a national monument: dictatorial.
In just more than a year Obama has unilaterally declared off-limits to productive economic uses 1 million acres of Nevada land first the 700,000-acre Basin and Range National Monument straddling the border between Lincoln and Nye counties and now the 300,000-acre Gold Butte National Monument in rural northeast Clark County.
This brings Obamas total protected acreage to 550 million more than any predecessor and twice that set aside by Teddy Roosevelt under the Antiquities Act of 1906 though much of Obamas designations are underwater.
Obamas designation of both Nevada national monuments completely ignored local elected officials and nearby residents, even though the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (flippantly know by the acronym Flip Ma) and the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) require environmental reviews and public comments.
Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt called Obamas action a unilateral land grab. Although I am not surprised by the presidents actions, I am deeply disappointed at his last minute attempt to cement his environmental legacy by undermining local control of Nevadas communities, and damaging our jobs and economy, Laxalt stated in a press release.
Sen. Dean Heller said he was terribly disappointed by Obamas action, saying such action should be conducted in an open public process with congressional input.
Retiring Sen. Harry Reid urged Obama to declare Gold Butte a monument before leaving office no matter what the local residents thought, and his hand-picked successor, Catherine Cortez Masto, sent out a tweet about Obamas action saying, We have an obligation to protect places like Gold Butte. Im grateful for President Obamas dedication to preserving our public lands.
The areas newly elected Democratic Rep. Ruben Kihuen was all for the designation. As a Nevadan I couldnt be more thrilled that President Obama decided recently to give Gold Butte, Nevadas piece of the Grand Canyon, the full protection it deserves, Kihuen said in a statement. This newest national monument designation in Nevada means that we now have the tools to properly safeguard Gold Buttes thousands of awe-inspiring rock formations, ancient petroglyphs, and rare wildlife for all Nevadans to enjoy.
Though resigned to the probability of the Gold Butte designation, Gov. Brian Sandoval said he worked to assure the local communities would continue to have access to water resources. He said he met with the White House and his staff held follow-up meetings.
We also worked with the White House and Department of Interior to ensure Nevada water law is adhered to and that the Virgin Valley Water District would have access to its water infrastructure for continued development and maintenance, the governor related.
In the official presidential declaration there is language referring to existing water rights, meaning that it is unlikely any new water resources could be developed for future needs since no new rights-of-way shall be authorized within the monument.
Additionally, the proclamation says no grazing rights have been permitted on the land since 1998 and no grazing permits will be allowed within the monument.
Sandoval tried to be hopeful, My priority was to mitigate any disruption a potential designation may cause the surrounding private land owners, communities and recreationists. We all share a common goal of enacting smart conservation measures which help preserve our lands for the use and enjoyment of all Nevadans. My strong preference is for a more collaborative process when making such an important designation. I firmly believe our ranchers, environmentalists, and community stakeholders are the best experts in ensuring Nevadas lands are preserved, protected and accessible. I also believe that with this designation comes duties, responsibilities and an expectation that the BLM will properly manage the area and commit the funds necessary to do so.
Though the White House blatantly declared that President-elect Donald Trump cannot undo the creation of this and other monuments, the Congressional Review Act allows a simple majority of each house of Congress to revoke such decisions. It has rarely been successfully used since the president who issued the decision can veto an act of Congress and that takes two-thirds to override. The difference this time is that Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Also Trump could simply rescind the monument designation, but he has been waffling on whether locals should have more say on federal land issues.
Also, the Nevada Washington delegation is now two-thirds Democrats, who are beholding only to urban Las Vegas.
While announcing the dates for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi on Wednesday said that the EC is committed to abide by the Supreme Court's order on Hindutva case.
EC is committed to abide by SC's order; it will be implemented effectively: Nasim Zaidi, ECI on SC's decision on Hindutva case pic.twitter.com/9aYFEFMRhs ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
While polling in Goa and Punjab will take place on 4 February, Uttarakhand will vote on 15 February and Manipur in two phases on 4 and 8 March. Uttar Pradesh will go to the polls in seven phases: 11, 15, 19, 23 and 27 February and 4 and 8 March. The results will be announced on 11 March, said Zaidi. He also said that the EC is in favour reducing limit of anonymous donations to Rs 2,000, also mulling on switching to digital payments.
In a landmark verdict seeking to separate religion, caste and other issues from politics, the Supreme Court, by a majority verdict, had held as "corrupt" the practice of candidates appealing for votes on the basis of these identities included not only him but his agents and voters.
In a marked departure from the view held in the 1995 "Hindutva" judgement that the term 'his' used in section 123 (3)of the Representation of the People Act meant the religion, caste, etc of candidates only, a seven-judge bench headed by the then Chief Justice TS Thakur, by a majority of 4:3, held that any appeal for votes on these grounds would amount to "corrupt practice".
The court held that the provisions of the RP Act, which say that seeking vote by a candidate in the name of "his" religion, caste, race, religion and language in the election law, included candidates, his agents and voters also.
"An appeal in the name of religion, race, caste, community or language is impermissible under the RP Act, 1951 and would constitute a corrupt practice sufficient to annul the election in which such an appeal was made regardless whether the appeal was in the name of the candidate's religion or the religion of the election agent or that of the opponent or that of the voter's," the CJI, who concurred with majority verdict written by Justice MB Lokur, said.
"So read together, and for maintaining the purity of the electoral process and not vitiating it, sub-section (3) of Section 123 of the RP Act must be given a broad and purposive interpretation thereby bringing within the sweep of a corrupt practice any appeal made to an elector by a candidate or his agent or by any other person with the consent of a candidate or his election agent to vote or refrain from voting for the furtherance of the prospects of the election of that candidate or for prejudicially affecting the election of any candidate on the ground of the religion, race, caste, community or language of (i) any candidate or (ii) his agent or (iii) any other person making the appeal with the consent of the candidate or (iv) the elector," said the majority view, also shared by Justices S A Bobde and L Nageswara Rao, said, Justice Chandrachud, writing the minority verdict.
With inputs from agencies
The Election Commission is likely to announce the polling dates for five states Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Goa on Wednesday. According to a newsflash on NDTV, this could be as early as 12 pm.
Ahead of the announcement, the Election Commission on Tuesday held a meeting with Chief Electoral Officers of the poll-bound states to finetune the arrangements. The law and order situation in Manipur due to road blockade by some Naga groups was the focus of attention of the Commission in the meeting, sources said.
At the meeting, the assessment of the law and order situation, deployment of polling personnel, safety and electronic voting machines and strict implementation of the model code of conduct also came up for discussion. In its report to the EC, the Union Home Ministry has conveyed that ground situation in Manipur following the blockade of National Highway 2 by United Naga Council and the state government's alleged "failure" to resume normal traffic even after 60 days.
"In the report, the Home Ministry told the EC about the ongoing tension and grave situation prevailing in Manipur. The EC may independently make an assessment of the situation so that election can be conducted properly," a top Home Ministry official had told PTI.
Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry will provide around 85,000 security personnel for deployment in the upcoming Assembly elections in the five states.
At a high-level meeting with the Election Commission on Monday, top officials of the Ministry led by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi conveyed that it would provide around 750 companies of paramilitary forces for smooth conduct of the election process in the five states. In addition, around 100 companies, most of which belong to State Armed Police Forces and India Reserve Battalions, will also be drawn from different states for deployment of election duties.
A company of paramilitary force comprises of around 100 personnel.
As of now, the Commission plans to hold seven-phased Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and single-phased in the other states. But with situation in Manipur assuming alarming proportions, the poll body may go for multiple phases in the north-eastern state. But there is no official word on it yet.
With inputs from PTI
A frown replaces his trademark smile as soon as Indias defence minister Manohar Parrikar lands at Dabolim Airport in his home state of Goa. The frown represents the tension building up inside him for some time. The defence minister finds himself pushed onto the back-foot in Goa, considering he is fully aware of the onerous task of guiding his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to victory in the fast-approaching state legislative Assembly elections. (Goa will vote on 4 February, the Election Commission has just announced.)
Unlike the four other poll-bound states Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur, the situation in Goa is different as the BJP is under pressure to retain power in a state it has been ruling for the past five years (Note: It shares power as a junior partner of the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab). Emerging victorious in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur would only add feathers to Prime Minister Narendra Modis cap, especially since the next round of state polls comes around almost mid-way through his five-year tenure and the first since his contentious demonetisation policy. But losing power in Goa may tantamount to rejection of Modi by voters.
Modi had granted Parrikars wish to let him name his successor as Goa chief minister when Modi requisitioned his services at the Centre as his new defence minister in November 2014. Parrikar was reluctant to leave Goa but Modi wanted someone like Parrikar with an impeccable record as a doer and untainted past. Following the existing political trend that you dont handpick someone who can become a rival to you on a subsequent date, Parrikar settled for an unassuming Laxmikant Parsekar, who was serving as the health minister under him, to replace him at the helm in Goa.
In a way, Parrikar followed Modi who had earlier that year handpicked Anandiben Patel as his successes in Gujarat as the chief minister, though not necessarily on her merit.
Parsekar was candid enough to admit after his unexpected promotion that it was a sort of on-the-job training for him. With Parsekar around, Parrikar was assured that he had anointed someone who could not match his aura and stature, and would make room for him should be is forced to return to the state politics. This was to ultimately make Parrikar function as 'Super Chief Minister of Goa', a role he has taken to rather seriously in the run-up to Assembly polls.
The safety cushion that Parrikar wished for, however, is proving thorny. Given the lacklustre performance of Parsekar and pollsters predicting that the BJP can, at the most, hope to emerge as the single largest party in a hung Assembly, the party has decided not to seek votes in the name of Modi, lest his image gets dented. It cant afford to seek votes in the name of an uninspiring Parsekar either.
No incumbent BJP chief minister has ever faced this kind of ignominy in the past. Modi, while serving as Gujarat chief minister, knew all along that he would be the chief minister if he led BJP to power in polls, which he did repeatedly.
Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh, chief ministers of other BJP-ruled states Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh respectively, also never faced the uncertainty that Parsekar is facing now. The BJP has merely announced that it will go to polls under his leadership without saying that he will remain the Goa chief minister in the event of the party retaining power. The idea is to leave the Goa voters confused that the possibility of Parrikar returning as the Goa chief minister cannot be completely ruled out, even though its highly unlikely.
Parrikar thus has been left with no choice by the BJP but to do whatever he can to ensure BJP victory in Goa Indias tiniest state with unbridled political potential to embarrass Modi and the BJP. As the clock ticks, Parrikars desperation is becoming visible. Of late he is spending more time in Goa than in Delhi, even though cross-border firing has not stopped on Indias northern borders. He is probably left with no choice but to take centre-stage in Goa and act as its 'Super Chief Minister', irrespective of the fact that his party had, in the not-so-distant past, mocked the Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi as the 'Super Prime Minister' of the country during the regime of Modis predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh.
Parrikar has served Goa as its chief minister for close to seven years since he was first sworn-in on 24 October 2000. His contributions in BJPs growth in Goa cannot be undermined as he along with Rajendra Arlekar, Speaker of the outgoing state Assembly, his fellow ministerial colleague Sripad Naik and Parsekar worked together as a team to make BJP a power to reckon with in the coastal south-western state.
Parrikar emerged as a successful strategist when despite the BJP emerging as the single largest party in a hung Assembly elected in 2007, he made no effort to stich-up a post-poll coalition. He opted to wait in the wings patiently and let the rival Congress party face pains and pressures of running a coalition government. He was wiser from his 2002 experience when as leader of the single largest party and sitting chief minister, he formed a coalition government. It did not function properly with his partners in power demanding pound of flesh, even if unethical. His government lasted lesser than three years then.
The strategy of sitting out of power in 2007 paid rich political dividends as BJP won a clear majority on its own five years down the line. The BJP won 21 seats despite contesting in only 27 constituencies in the 40-member Assembly as the senior partner in alliance with its now estranged ally, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).
Parrikar, of late, can be seen losing his temper and shouting at probing journalists and locals demanding answers, appearing somewhat jittery as the polls approach.
He is considered to be the man who gave the final sanction to Parsekar to sack the two MGP ministers the Dhavalikar brothers Ramakrishna (Sudin) and Pandurang (Deepak) on 12 December from his council of ministers. Parrikar was out justifying the sacking publicly the next day, making none in doubt who had taken the final decision to snap ties with the MGP.
Speaking in his unofficial capacity as the 'Super Chief Minister of Goa', Parrikar was seen telling media that BJP had nothing to promise to Goa voters, as all promises made in 2012 stand fulfilled, although the state unit of the party and Parsekar did not go that far while seeking suggestions from the masses about issues to mention in the BJP manifesto.
The latest was his reaction that half of Goa would be wiped out if the Supreme Court ruling to close down all liquor shops located within 500 metres of National and State Highways from the first day of April was implemented. Since the closure of liquor shops and bars restricting restaurants and hotels from serving alcohol if they happen to be located in the restricted zone anywhere in India has become a major issue considering it will directly impact Goas money-spinning tourism industry, Parrikar lost no time in siding with the affected even as Parsekar was struggling with how to react to the apex court ruling.
"It is right that a person who drinks can cause accidents, but an alcoholic can even carry the bottle and drive on the highway," Parrikar said, virtually criticising the apex court and giving ideas to people, even though the Ministry of Defence that he heads would not be impacted by it.
Parrikars frown is getting deeper and more noticeable with each passing day. He knows that he has to pay the price for naming Parsekar as his successor, because he will not get credit in the unlikely event of the BJP getting a simple majority on its own yet again (and the credit would go to Modi), but he would get blamed for BJPs defeat that, in turn, may have a bearing on his national ambitions in case he has developed any since shifting to Delhi 26 months ago.
The state of Punjab will go to poll on 4 February, the Election Commission said on Wednesday.
Goa will hold elections on Feb 4; Punjab will vote on Feb 4: CEC Nasim Zaidi pic.twitter.com/qIMnfAyr7X ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said that election in Punjab will take place in a single phase with the last date for withdrawing nomination being 18 January, scrutiny of candidates on 19 January and withdrawal of candidate set on 21 January.
The EC also said that it will enforce the recent Supreme Court ruling on religion in all poll going states including Punjab.
Currently, under the rule of the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance, the state has been witnessing a lot of reshuffling from politicians over the last few months as political parties readied to gain control of the western state of India.
However, the ruling alliance is likely to face stiff competition with demonetisation emerging as one of the main topics in the upcoming polls and the poll contest emerging into a trilateral contest with SAD-BJP placed against Congress and debutant Aam Aadmi party.
Interestingly, the pre-poll surveys have given a sharp edge to the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP. The opinion polls too, have revealed that AAP is enjoying an unprecedented novelty value in the state.
That's not all, though. With issues like water scarcity for farmers, drugs and a law and order situation heating up the debate, the ruling SAD-BJP may also face a tough competition.
Earlier, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh on Tuesday had urged the Election Commission to check "proliferation" of firearms in the state.
Alleging Punjab police had "failed" to ensure surrender of all firearms as per the EC directives, Amarinder had termed it a "deliberate ploy", instigated by the Badal government, to allow armed goons to "terrorise" the people in the run-up to the polls to "pressurise them to vote for the Akali Dal."
He had alleged total lack of law and order in the state under the Badal regime, which had given a "free run" to armed gangs, criminals and mafias to unleash their terror on the people of Punjab.
History gives us enough evidence that any challenger eyeing India had to first conquer and pass through Punjab. For those who consider an election modern-day equivalent of warfare, Punjab still holds the same importance. The importance of this year's election in Punjab can be stated in just one line: It will separate the contenders for 2019 elections from the pretenders.
Its result will decide the destiny of two men eyeing for an opportunity to rise up and challenge the BJP in the next general election Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi.
Punjab is important because it is the only state out of the five going to polls between January and March where both Congress and AAP have a real chance of winning. Ten years of incumbency and the simmering anger against corruption, drug mafia and dynastic rule have put the BJP-SAD government in a tight corner. On current evidence, only a miracle arising out of a triangular contest would be able to rescue the Parkash Singh Badal and his heir apparent, the man ruling Punjab from behind the veil his son Sukhbir Singh Badal.
For the Congress, a victory in Punjab would be the first sign of hope since it went into coma after the advent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the scene. In 2013, since it lost Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Chhattisgarh, the Congress has managed to win only in Karnataka. A string of losses has put it on the verge of extinction.
But, in Punjab, the party is a strong contender, primarily because of a combination of favourable factors. That the Congress is still an acceptable option in Punjab was apparent even in 2014, when, in spite of getting wiped out across India, it managed to won three seats and nearly 34 per cent votes, almost double of its national average.
Though it has been a roller-coaster ride for the party, the Congress has managed to remain in the hunt in Punjab for two reasons: Rahul Gandhi's decision to give Captain Amarinder Singh free hand in Punjab. And, two, infighting, drama and self-goals by Kejriwal and his team. Reports from the ground indicate that the election now in Punjab is more about the Captain, than about the Congress. It is more about the question: Is Singh acceptable as Punjab Da Captain? And less about the voter's fascination, or the lack of it, with the Congress.
Yet, a victory for the Congress would reverse the trend that started with in 2012, give Gandhi the first taste of success in almost five years and give the party some momentum before the next round of polls, first in Gujarat and then the cow belt in 2018.
The biggest gain, of course, for the Congress would be Kejriwal's defeat, effectively ending the Delhi chief minister's plan to venture out of Delhi and acquire a national image for himself. For the past few months, Kejriwal has been trying to emerge as the second party in states where the Congress has had a strong presence. More than the BJP, the Congress has been under existential threat because of AAP's efforts to occupy the anti-BJP space in central and north India. A loss in Punjab, would effectively cut Kejriwal mid-flight and give Congress the opportunity to challenge the BJP in Gujarat, Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh.
In all likelihood, the Congress will enter the poll fray in Uttar Pradesh riding pillion on Akhilesh Yadav's motorcycle the likely symbol if cycle is frozen. For it, the best outcome of the election would be a victory in Punjab and an alliance government in UP. That would give it respite and time to regroup.
For Kejriwal, who appeared the front-runner in Punjab till recently, the election is the defining moment of the short but tumultuous life. When he contested elections in Delhi, he was seen as an outsider who wanted to disrupt the existing system. Even if he would have failed to win in Delhi, he would have got more chances to prove his acceptability.
But, in Punjab, where his party bagged four seats in the 2014 polls and nearly 30 percent vote share, he has always been seen as the top contender. Last year, when the three political parties organised rallies at the Maghi Mela, his tent held the biggest gathering, pointing at the popular mood.
Since then Kejriwal has been through a bumpy ride. The rise of Amarinder Singh, the fracas with Sucha Singh Chhotepur, the inept handling of the Navjot Singh Sidhu episode who was left out in the cold after quitting the BJP and the growing perception of AAP being a party without a Sikh face have set its campaign back. Though Kejriwal claims his party would win 100 out of the 117 seats in the Assembly, his claim appears more talk than substance.
Punjab will decide Kejriwal's future. Apart from the opportunity to follow his pan-India dreams, a victory would also give AAP the chance to rule a full-fledged state, where his powers would not be curtailed by some other constitutional authority, like the L-G in Delhi. But a loss would most likely confine him to Delhi, like a caged parrot.
Perhaps the only party that may not be too worried about the outcome in Punjab is the BJP. With UP going to polls simultaneously, it would distance itself from Punjab and leave it to the Badals, a strategy that suits it by projecting the battle between SAD and its regional rivals. For the SAD, battling a decade of anti-incumbency and Supreme Court's recent ban on using religion as a poll pitch--it affects the Akali panthic agenda would be a huge challenge. In 2012, it had managed to win primarily because Badal's nephew Manpreet divided the anti-incumbency vote. Only an encore this year because of a poll triangle can save it.
Modi would lose sleep only if he loses UP and the SAD-BJP gets alliance wiped out in Punjab. But, he would still be around in 2019 as the giant to beat. But, for Gandhi and Kejriwal, a loss could be mean the end of road to Delhi.
Ahead of the Bharatiya Janata Partys national executive meeting to be held in New Delhi on 6 and 7 January and the upcoming Assembly elections in seven states, the last three days of the ongoing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghs (RSS) meeting of the top brass in Ahmedabad seems to be of immense importance in terms of planning and strategy.
According to an RSS source, the low profile meeting between the Sanghs senior functionaries including Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and senior BJP leaders will delve into the "current economic and political issues impacting the countrys political domain", on 4 and 5 January.
"Its expected that during the meet, two resolutions will be adopted: An economic one related to demonetisation and a political one on the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Besides, the deteriorating governance, and law and order situation in West Bengal especially after the attack on BJP office by TMC workers will be a talking point," the source said. The impact of demonetisation will be a major point of discussion both at the RSS meet and at the BJP national executive. Facing heat from the Opposition, the BJP will bring out a resolution supporting demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes at its two-day national executive meeting beginning Friday.
Moreover, its the pressure from the Sangh-affiliated bodies like Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Swadeshi Jagran Manch etc, who had been vocal on the ill-preparedness of demonetisation plan and its cascading effect on the poor, the labourers, daily wagers and small farmers, that ensured the RSS to discuss it with the BJP.
The ongoing meeting has a special relevance as the deliberations during the brainstorming sessions will chart the course of action both for the BJPs top meet in Delhi and ground-level poll strategy for Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and the other other poll-bound states, besides deciding the organisations role in the upcoming elections.
For the past four days, the meeting venue Chharodi Gurukul on SG Road in Ahmedabad has been abuzz with the presence of top RSS functionaries Mohan Bhagawat, Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi, Dattatreya Hosabale, Suresh Soni, Krishna Gopal, etc and BJP leaders Ram Lal and Ram Madhav. The meeting began on 3 January. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the valedictory session.
"Its a routine affair in the RSS. Before an election, the Sanghs senior functionaries discuss issues and plans with those leaders in BJP who have been a part of RSS and are on deputation in the party. This time Ahmedabad has been selected as the meeting venue because Mohan Bhagwat is on an eight-day Gujarat tour to review the annual working of the Sangh and its affiliates in this zone," an RSS functionary said.
The Sangh has divided the country into 11 zones and under each zone there are three to four 'prants' (units) and the RSS chief tours throughout the year to review functioning and activities of the Sangh in each zone.
The meeting between Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and Bhagwat on Tuesday is seen as an important development in terms of planning ahead of the Gujarat Assembly polls this year.
"Rupani had a meeting with Bhagwat and various issues were discussed from impact of demonetisation in Gujarat to the states preparedness for the upcoming election and strengthening of RSS-BJP coordination in the state," said a source privy to the meeting.
The Supreme Court verdict prohibiting any use of religion, caste, race, community or language to seek votes has raised several questions including if or not the apex court will force parties like the Shiv Sena, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Akali Dal and Indian Union Muslim League among others, whose names symbolise or represent a particular community and religion, to change their names.
Section 3 of the Peoples Representation Act, on which the apex court based its judgement terms, "the appeal by a candidate or his agent or by any other person with the consent of a candidate or his election agent to vote or refrain from voting for any person on the ground of his religion, race, caste, community or language or the use of, or appeal to religious symbols or the use of, or appeal to, national symbols, such as the national flag or the national emblem, for the furtherance of the prospects of the election of that candidate or for prejudicially affecting the election of any candidate" as a corrupt practice.
While the above section of the People's Representation Act is subject to interpretation and doesn't necessarily mention whether the name of party based on religious lines could also be termed as a "corrupt practice", two former chief election commissioners N Gopalaswami and SY Quraishi recently said that parties whose names are based on religious lines may be forced to change their names, following the SC verdict.
Speaking with News18, Gopalaswami said, There are parties like Akali Dal, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Shiv Sena, and Indian Union Muslim League who may have to change their names after the SC verdict.
According to News18, Quraishi echoed Gopalaswami's view and said that changing names is high after the SC verdict. BJP is already questioning the names of a few political parties. I think parties with religious names should change their names after the apex court verdict, but courts will take the last call, Quraishi said.
But then again a decision like that is very unlikely, especially since the SC verdict has not been notified, and a future hearing if a citizen files a petition in the SC about the names of these political parties may or may not result in a similar ruling. Especially, since three of the seven judges headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur, who formed the bench that gave the ruling on Monday dissented from the majority view.
Three judges justices Adarsh Kumar Goel, UU Lalit and DY Chandrachud dissented with the majority opinion and said that the matter must be left to Parliament to decide, a report in Livemint said.
And as Firstpost argued earlier, even the current ruling won't have much effect on the status quo unless the high courts of India follow. More so, when the Delhi High Court has already dismissed a petition seeking de-registration of political parties with religious connotation in 2016.
For watchers of West Bengal politics, Mamata Banerjee's pyrotechnics is nothing new. But her firebrand ways have certainly taken the larger national audience by surprise, many of whom are only now beginning to take her as a serious player on the bigger stage.
Make no mistake, the Bengal chief minister's 'spontaneous' outpouring of anger over close aide Sudip Bandyopadhyay's arrest is an attempt to send multiple messages on many fronts. The wily veteran sees the CBI move as an opportunity to pitchfork herself as the prime minister's fiercest competitor and through a series of calibrated steps, is preparing the ground for a sustained campaign against Narendra Modi.
It would seem a little contradictory to propose that the arrest of two top TMC leaders in the space of a week on charges of graft presents a political opportunity for Mamata, more so at a time when the prime minister has declared an all-out war on corruption. Be it connection with multi-crore ponzi schemes, the menace of 'syndicate raj' or Narada scandal, Trinamool Congress has never been too adrift of corruption charges. If Bandyopadhyay and Tapal Pal are now in CBI custody for their alleged links with Rose Valley, party MP Kunal Ghosh and Bengal's ex-minister Madan Mitra have already served jail time in connection with Saradha scam. Not to speak of Srinjoy Bose, another party MP who was arrested earlier and is now out on bail.
Logically, the tightening of CBI noose around key TMC figureheads should worry the Bengal chief minister who says the PMO is orchestrating the arrests. Talking to the media on Tuesday after Bandyopadhyay's arrest, Mamata hinted at possessing credible information that more of her party's senior leaders would now be targeted. If this sounds like "fear" to an untrained ear, it isn't.
Behind this overt political posturing lies Mamata's cold calculation that CBI has become a discredited agency and no one seriously believes in its independence. Therefore, playing the victim card at this juncture would not only gain her public sympathy, it may also bring support from other political parties, many of whom have similar fat to burn against the BJP.
As if on cue, the Congress came calling. Putting behind the Assembly poll frostbites, Sonia Gandhi's close aide Ahmed Patel, according to media reports, made the crucial call and after a quick internal meeting Congress party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala came out all guns blazing, accusing Modi of targeting Mamata because "she made the mistake of holding a joint news conference with Rahul Gandhi" against demonetisation.
A mass leader herself with tremendous ground connect, Mamata well understands that Modi's popularity hasn't taken a major beating despite a hugely risky and largely botched up demonetisation drive and his grip over BJP's power structure hasn't loosened. To take on such a formidable adversary on a turf she isn't too familiar with, she'd be needing all the help she can muster.
This calculation was at work when she dialed the number of several Opposition leaders on Tuesday seeking a larger coalition around CBI arrests, a logical continuation of the fragile unity she had forged out of the demonetisation fire.
According to The Telegraph, the Bengal chief minister spoke to several leaders hoping to strike a chord of victimisation. "They are threatening people all the time. Sometimes it's Arvind (Kejriwal), sometimes it's Soniaji, sometimes Mayawatiji, sometimes Laluji. Everyone. Some are scared and therefore quiet. But everyone is unhappy I will request everyone to hit the streets to stop Modi," the newspaper quoted her, as saying.
Her call of "hitting the streets" against Modi was answered so enthusiastically by party activists that by Wednesday afternoon, reports had poured in of widespread and sustained attacks on BJP's Bengal units. Tuesday's attack on BJP's Kolkata office and workers and vandalising of vehicles was followed by the bombing of BJP district President Krishna Bhattacharya's residence, who according to a report by Financial Express suffered injuries during the 9.30 pm attack.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Hindustan Times reported incidents of TMC leaders and supporters blocking arterial roads at different points across Bengal while reports also emerged of BJP party offices being demolished in two areas Canning in South 24 Parganas and Durgapur in Burdwan district.
In between, BJP's Union minister Babul Supriyo took to Twitter to allege on Wednesday that "TMC goons (were) trying to 2 break open the gate of my apartment in Kailash Bose Street where my MumDad are staying" (sic).
My KailashBose Street Apt where my MumDad stays, gheraoed by TMCSloganBaazi happening Won't b surprised if police allows them 2 vandalise Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) January 4, 2017
TMC goons trying 2 break open the gate of my apartment in Kailash Bose Street where my MumDad are stayingWhat a shame pic.twitter.com/i2WRMLgebI Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) January 4, 2017
This escalation of violence and confrontation tactics aren't just an internal assurance to beleaguered colleagues that the party will stand by their side despite CBI cosh, but also a message to the Opposition at large that she remains the "immovable object" to Modi's "unstoppable force". This serves two purposes. Apart from the hopes of rekindling the 'Third Front' fire, this also pitches her in direct confrontation with Modi a scenario that the prime minister's political rivals dream of and assiduously work towards.
Mamata is getting ready for the long haul.
U.S. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), along with senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), have introduced the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act, legislation they say would fulfill Americas commitment to Israel to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
My support for Israel is unwavering. From my very first days as a United States Senator, I have prioritized the strengthening of the important relationship shared between Israel and the United States, said Heller. Thats why Im proud to reintroduce the Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act. For years, Ive advocated for Americas need to reaffirm its support for one of our nations strongest allies by recognizing Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. It honors an important promise America made more than two decades ago but has yet to fulfill. While Administrations come and go, the lasting strength of our partnership with one of our strongest allies in the Middle East continues to endure. My legislation is a testament to that. Id like to thank Senators Rubio and Cruz for their support for this legislation and look forward to working with the new Administration to turn this bill into law.
Jerusalem is the eternal and undivided capital of Israel, Cruz said. Unfortunately, the Obama administrations vendetta against the Jewish state has been so vicious that to even utter this simple truthlet alone the reality that Jerusalem is the appropriate venue for the American embassy in Israelis shocking in some circles. But it is finally time to cut through the double-speak and broken promises and do what Congress said we should do in 1995: formally move our embassy to the capital of our great ally Israel. I am pleased to co-sponsor this legislation with Senator Heller and Senator Rubio, and I look forward to working with the Trump administration to make this happen.
Rubio continued, Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the Jewish state of Israel, and thats where Americas embassy belongs. Its time for Congress and the President-Elect to eliminate the loophole that has allowed presidents in both parties to ignore U.S. law and delay our embassys rightful relocation to Jerusalem for over two decades.
New Delhi: Accusing the BJP government of indulging in "vindictive politics", Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs on Wednesday took out a protest march towards the prime minister's residence in New Delhi raising slogans Modi hatao desh bachao (remove Modi, save country).
TMC MPs were detained for about three hours by the police while they were marching to the prime minister's residence to protest the arrest of Trinamool Congress Leader in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandyopadhyay by CBI in Rose valley chit fund case.
"It is nothing but vindictive politics. But we will continue to fight this," TMC leader Derek O'brien said after
coming out of the Tughlaq Police station along with other party MPs.
"There were 34 TMC MPs who held a peaceful protest outside 7 RCR. We protested the political vendetta. Our aim
was Modi hatao Desh bachao," Obrien said.
There are total 46 TMC MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha out of which 34 has participated in the protest march
and subsequently detained at the police station.
"It is not the financial emergency anymore. It is now emergency as you have seen by now", TMC MP Kakoli Dastidar,
who was also detained along with other MPs said.
She alleged that police manhandled the MPs while taking them into custody.
"There was no lady police to arrest women MPs. Many of our MPs were roughed up while being taken into police
custody," she alleged.
O'brien claimed, "Three MPs Kalyan Banerjee, Prasoon Banerjee and Saugata Ray were attacked by police when they were staging peaceful dharna. But we will carry on our protest. Because it is a political vendetta."
He further said "Nothing is going to scare us. We will carry out the movement not only in Bengal but in six-seven
other states as well."
Asked whether this was a protest against arrest of Sudeep Bandyopadhyay, O'brien said, "Protest is against
demonetisation and it is all linked. The movement was started on 9 November and it will continue. Other likeminded political parties are also supporting us. Congress is also supporting us on this fight against Modi government. AAP is also supporting us. Opposition is very united on this."
Accusing "misuse of CBI" by Modi government, Kalyan Banerjee said "They are misusing CBI against the Opposition to harass us. I was roughed up by the police. But despite that we will continue our fight against Modi government."
Asked about the tomorrow's programme, Obrien said "We are now released. We will again meet tomorrow."
High drama unfolded on the streets of Kolkata on Tuesday after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay in connection with the alleged Rose Valley chit fund scam. Members of the TMC also attacked the BJP headquarters in Kolkata and injured several BJP workers.
"More than 10-15 workers of our party received severe injuries. Stones were hurled at cars parked outside. Is this democracy? A person who has looted public money has been arrested. So why are they protesting against our party office?" said BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha told PTI on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cried political vendetta and in a Facebook post she wrote, "It is all because of our fight against #NoteBandi. We are and will be with the people. Nothing can stop us from being with the people and we will continue with our protest against #NoteBandi."
A CBI statement said Bandyopadhyay has been charged under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 408 (criminal breach of trust), 120b (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) and various sections of Prize, Chits and Money Circulation (Banning) Act of 1978. Earlier, CBI had arrested another TMC MP Tapas Pal in connection with the same case and kept him in remand for three days.
Bandyopadhyay was brought to Bhubaneswar and sources in the CBI told PTI that the TMC MP would be first sent to the Capital Hospital for medical examination before being produced in the CBI-designated court. The investigating agency would seek remand of Bandyopadhyay as the TMC leader was not allegedly cooperating with the investigation. Sources also said that the CBI was planning to interrogate both Bandyopadhyay and Pal together as both have been arrested on charges of their alleged involvement in the Rs 17,000-crore scam.
Rose Valley chit fund scam
The Rose Valley Group has been accused of duping investors of about Rs 17,000 crores in different states. The case is being investigated both by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). While Pal was one of the directors of the group, Bandyopadhyay is accused of being a promoter of the ponzi firm.
According to News 18, Rose Valley group owns nearly 23 properties across India and was the business empire was started by Kajal Kundu. After Kajal and his family were killed in a car accident, Gautam Kundu took over the reins of the company. Gautam was arrested by ED in March 2015. The report added that it was only in 2012 that the company ran into trouble after the IRDAI raised objections. As per The Hindu, the company had "violated RBI guidelines other related financial fraud control acts."
The Indian Express reported that Rose Valley had floated a holiday membership plan and apart from Bandyopadhyay, Pal, Chief Ministers of Odisha and Tripura, Naveen Patnaik and Manik Sarkar respectively and BJP MP Babul Supriyo have been linked to the case. The investors were given the choice of opting for a holiday package or "a return on the investment with annualised interest". The report further stated Sebi found out that the company collected over Rs 10,000 crore without following due procedures. Moreover, a case was registered against the company by Assam police, for alleged earning Rs 1,006 crore through the scheme until February 2012.
TMC protests
TMC workers on Wednesday took to the streets in various parts of West Bengal to protest arrest of Bandyopadhyay and staged demonstration in front of Union minister Babul Supriyo's house demanding his arrest.
The BJP, meanwhile, urged state governor K N Tripathi to send a report to the Centre demanding imposition of President's Rule in view of "growing lawlessness" in the state. TMC activists staged protest in front of the housing society where Supriyo's house is located, demanded his arrest and resorted to rail blockade at some places. Supriyo said the TMC activists burnt BJP flag in front of the society and questioned the role of the police.
"My parents and other residents are scared. Let Didi (Mamata Banerjee) give proof of my involvement in the Rose Valley scam, I will be arrested", he said.
The TMC also took out processions at various places and organised rail blockade at Kankurgachi here and staged protest in front of the CBI office here.
A TMC delegation led by party secretary general Partha Chatterjee also met the governor and complained of "political vendetta" by the Centre against TMC which is opposing demonetisation. He also demanded that CBI arrest Supriyo in connection with Rose Valley chit fund scam.
"They (BJP)cannot stop TMC by conspiring and arresting our leaders" he said.
With inputs from agencies
Bhubaneswar: A court on Wednesday sent Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay to six-day CBI remand for further questioning in the Rose Valley chit fund scam.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had asked for a 12-day remand from the Special CJM court.
Bandyopadhyay's lawyer has moved a bail plea but the court is yet to pronounce order on it, said informed sources.
"The CBI has to prove the allegation that Sudip has taken some money from the ponzi firm. He is a mere accused and all allegations against him are baseless. Sudip has been arrested due to political vendetta," his lawyer Rajiv Majumdar said.
Bandyopadhyay was arrested on Tuesday by the CBI in Kolkata on the charge of involvement in the scam. Another TMC MP Tapas Pal is in CBI remand in the case.
Earlier on Wednesday, TMC supporters staged a demonstration in front of the CBI office here to protest the arrest of the two MPs. Led by TMC MLA from Ramnagar Akhil Giri, the protesters held the demonstration and announced a mega rally on 10 January in Bhubaneswar.
They dubbed the arrests politically motivated and said it is a conspiracy of the BJP-led central government to wipe out the TMC in West Bengal.
"The BJP has hatched a conspiracy to eliminate our party after Mamata Banerjee protested against the 8 November demonetisation. We are going to organise a mega rally in Bhubaneswar on 10 January to protest against the CBI action. The allegations against our MPs are completely baseless," Giri said.
By Praveen Chakravarty
Electorally, 2017 is billed as the year of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) legislative assembly elections, with commentators arguing that this is a crucial election for Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Indias most populous state. True to its billing, as elections were announced on 4 January, 2017, the theatrics continue in the Samajwadi Party (SP), which rules UP, over a father-son duel triggering a vertical split in the party.
The overwhelming narrative is that the 2017 UP state elections will be a harbinger for the general elections of 2019. The drama aside, the only result of the 2017 UP elections that should be surprising is a BJP loss.
Lets understand why.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 71 parliament seats by winning 328 (81 percent) of 403 assembly segments. This was unprecedented in the recent history of UP elections. To put that in context, the last time a political party won more than 80 percent of all constituencies in UP was in 1977, when the Janata party won 80 percent of the seats in a post-emergency landslide
Not only did the BJP win 81 percent of seats in 2014, but it did so by a massive margin. There are four major political parties in the fray in UPthe ruling SP, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Congress (INC) and the BJP. These parties have historically contested the UP elections independently.
In a four-cornered, first-past-the-post system, the winning party needs only a 25-30 percent vote share in each constituency. The BJP won 253 out of the 403 constituencies with greater than 40 percent vote share in the 2014 elections. This suggests that even if there had been opposition unity, the BJP may have still won well more than half of all seats.
Further, it won an outright majority (more than 50 percent of votes) in 94 constituencies. There has been no political party that has won so many seats in UP with such huge margins in recent history.
Depth of 2014 BJP victory = one predictable outcome: BJP victory in 2017
It was this victory in UP that enabled the BJP to be the first to win an outright majority in Parliament since 1984. The enormity of the BJP victory in UP just three years ago should ideally mean only one very predictable outcome of the 2017 state elections in UP a BJP majority.
Yet, there is palpable excitement over other possible outcomes.
For the BJP to get less than 200 seats and lose UP in 2017, it would have to lose nearly 40 percent of its seats from 2014. For that to happen, it would take nearly 15 percent of BJP voters in the 2014 election to switch loyalties en-masse to another political party.
To put that in context, the BJP lost the Bihar elections of 2015 after winning it in 2014, by having no more than 4 percent of its voters switch loyalties. The BJP would need a performance nearly four times worse than Bihar to lose UP, given its magnitude of victory in 2014.
If any two of the opposition parties get together, the BJP would still have to lose more than 10 percent of its voters to lose the UP election. Whichever way one looks at the data, it would take a massive shift of loyalties of 2014 BJP voters for the party to lose the 2017 election.
Myth without evidence: Voters choose differently in state, national elections
The standard counter to this analysis will be that the 2017 UP election is a state election while the 2014 election was a national election and hence voting patterns will be very different. That voters choose differently for state and national elections is one of the long-held myths about Indian elections for which there is little evidence.
The typical evidence dished out in favour of this argument is a comparison of national and state elections across different time periods when many other changes have occurred to be able to attribute outcomes solely to voters choosing differently for the state and national elections.
The 2015 loss of the BJP in Delhi to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) coming on the heels of a BJP sweep of Delhi in the 2014 elections is another popularly cited example. This again misses the fact that it was primarily the collapse of the Congress vote share that helped propel AAP to victory as opposed to any conclusive evidence of voters choosing BJP in the national elections and AAP in the state elections. To the contrary, my research has shown that when elections are held simultaneously to state and Centre, 77 percent of the voters choose the same party and do not differentiate between a state and a national election.
Further, in five of the last six state and national elections in UP since 2002, the two regional parties have won a greater majority of the votes combined than the two national parties BJP & INC except in 2014. The SP won the 2002 state election and the subsequent 2004 national election in UP. The BSP won the 2007 state election and was the leading party in the 2009 national election in UP.
If the BJP loses, it would make electoral history
Despite all this, even if one were to accept that voters may vote slightly differently for state elections vis-a-vis national, this difference alone cannot explain a BJP loss in UP, if it were to occur.
The BJPs performance in UP in 2014 is so far ahead of the other parties that an outright majority in the 2017 UP elections should have ideally been par for the course. This is also the reason why the speculation about the prime ministers demonetisation initiative being motivated by the upcoming UP elections is, perhaps, misplaced.
Should the BJP secure less than 200 seats in the 2017 UP election, it would only mean that a large number of UP-ites changed the decision they made in 2014 and would also, perhaps, go down as among the most significant vote-share swings in Indias electoral history. Only under this scenario, can the 2017 UP electoral outcome be a true harbinger for the 2019 national elections, not otherwise.
Indiaspend.com is a data-driven, public-interest journalism non-profit
The high-stakes Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases between 11 February and 8 March, while Punjab and Goa will go to the polls together on 4 February, Uttarakhand on 15 February and Manipur in two phases on 4 and 8 March. Addressing the media on Wednesday, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said counting of votes in all five states will take place on 11 March. Zaidi added that the Model Code of Conduct becomes effective immediately.
Announcing the poll schedule for five states, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim Zaidi said the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls for 403 constituencies will be held on 11, 15, 19, 23, 27 February and 4 and 8 March. The main players in the five states include the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Manipur People's Party.
Over 16 crore voters will exercise their democratic rights for a total of 690 constituencies in five states, for which the Commission has set up 1.85 lakh polling stations, which are 15 per cent more than those set up in 2012 polls, Zaidi told the press. The CEC flanked by the two election commissioners AK Joti and OP Rawat announced that the poll process will commence with the issue of notification on 11 January for Punjab and Goa polls where candidates can start filing their nominations.
"The Model Code of Conduct will come into immediate effect and will apply on political parties and state governments concerned, besides the central government in terms of announcements in these states," Zaidi told reporters. The CEC said candidates will have to open a fresh bank account for all election expenses and all expenses above Rs 20,000 will be made through cheques from their respective accounts. He added that all donations will also be accepted through cheques.
The maximum limit for expenses for each candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand is Rs 28 lakh, while that in Goa and Manipur is Rs 20 lakh, he said.
Height of voting compartments has been raised to 30 inch for secrecy: Nasim Zaidi, ECI pic.twitter.com/yVIji4URx5 ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
Nearly 100% voters have Electoral photo ID Card: CEC Nasim Zaidi pic.twitter.com/PwKyvJ5BiD ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
Every polling station will have 4 posters for voting procedure and dos and don'ts: Nasim Zaidi, ECI pic.twitter.com/GvWwkXVGa1 ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
Every polling station will have 4 posters for voting procedure and dos and don'ts: Nasim Zaidi, ECI pic.twitter.com/GvWwkXVGa1 ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
ECI to distribute Voters' Guide to facilitate voters; there will be voters Assistance booth manned by officials: CEC Nasim Zaidi ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
In addition to all of this, the Election Commission will also distribute photo voters slip to all voters. "These have been improved," Zaidi said. "A (multi-coloured) voter guide will be distributed to all families. This will have details of polling stations, date and time of polling, ID documents that can be used, etc. At least 1.85 Lakh polling stations will be covered under these polls. This has increased by 15 percent. For secrecy, height of the voting compartment has been raised to 30 inches," Zaidi said.
Zaidi added that electronic voter machines will be used in all states. "As you know there is a symbol provided at bottom of EVM for 'None Of The Above' or NOTA. In certain constituencies there will be Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail or VVPAT. The number of constituencies with VVPAT will be increased."
The Election Commission is joining the rank of global leaders in the area of electronic transmission of votes. "This is a historic (first) step. Electronic transmission of votes done keeping in mind defence personnel. Postal votes will be transmitted one-way in certain constituencies.
The CEC added that candidates will be required to file a no demand certificate. The rules have also been changed. "Candidates will have to fix a photograph on nomination paper. They will have to declare that they are citizens of India, not sought foreign citizenship."
Zaidi said the use of black money in these elections is expected to reduce post demonetisation, but use of other illegal inducements in different forms may see an increase. He said for the first time the EC will issue Standard Operating Procedures for the first 72 hours of poll process after announcement of polls and for the last 72 hours before polling to ensure that the poll machinery is set rolling and activated.
The EC has also for the first time made it mandatory for every candidate contesting these polls to file another affidavit in the form of a "No demand certificate" declaring any pending electricity, water, telephone bills and rent for government accommodation in their possession in last ten years. The CEC said candidates will also make a declaration while filing their nominations on their being a citizen of India and having not held citizenship of any other country.
Polling station-wise mapping of Persons with Disabilities being done; Assembly Elections to be Persons with Disabilities-friendly: CEC ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
The limit for expenses for candidates is Rs 28 lakh for UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand & Rs 20 lakh for Manipur and Goa: ECI pic.twitter.com/Ck8C4m4zbk ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
ECI discourages use of environmentally hazardous material in Assembly Elections campaigns: CEC Nasim Zaidi pic.twitter.com/zhlqWhW1cx ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
Kiosks/bastas set up by candidates will be deemed to be set up by candidates, to be included in election exp. by candidates: CEC pic.twitter.com/2BemHUEleF ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
Here are the dates/details for all the states
The affidavit is in compliance with a Delhi High Court ruling in this regard and failure to file it will lead to defects of substantial nature during scrutiny of nomination papers, Zaidi said. As part of another first of its kind initiative, the EC will accept online the service votes of defence, para-military personnel and those posted in missions abroad. This comes after the success of an experiment in Puducherry.
Zaidi said VVPAT machines will be used in increasing number in select areas during these assembly polls and Goa will be saturated with VVPAT. While Electronic Voting Machines will be used in all polling stations, the ballot paper on EVM machines will for the first time carry photographs of candidates along with their names and poll symbols.
The Commission will issue photo voter slips to voters ahead of polls and will for the first time also distribute a multi-coloured booklet that will guide the voters on date and time of polls and location of polling stations, besides Dos and Don'ts for them.
To encourage more participation of women in election management, the EC will also have some all-woman polling stations this time around, besides making all polling stations disabilities-friendly. The tenure of Punjab, Goa and Manipur assemblies are ending on 18 March, while that of Uttarakhand will end on 26 March and Uttar Pradesh Assembly on 27 May.
Of the total 690 constituencies going to polls in these five states, 133 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 23 for Scheduled Tribes.
Uttar Pradesh has 403 constituencies and elections will take place in seven phases
Phase One: 73 Constituencies includes 15 districts
Notification - 17 January, 2017
Last date of nominations - 24 January, 2017
Scrutiny of nominations - 25 January, 2017
Last date for withdrawal of nominations - 27 January, 2017
Elections will be held on 11 February, 2017
Phase Two: 67 Constituencies, includes 11 districts
Notification - 20 January, 2017
Last date of nominations - 27 January, 2017
Scrutiny of nominations - 28 January, 2017
Last date for withdrawal of nominations - 30 January, 2017
Elections will be held on 15 February, 2017
Phase Three: 69 Constituencies, includes 12 districts
Notification - 24 January, 2017
Last date of nominations - 31 January, 2017
Scrutiny of nominations - 2 February, 2017
Last date for withdrawal of nominations - 4 February, 2017
Elections will be held on 19 February, 2017
Phase Four: 53 Constituencies, includes 12 districts
Notification - 30 January, 2017
Last date of nominations - 6 February, 2017
Scrutiny of nominations - 7 February, 2017
Last date for withdrawal of nominations - 9 February, 2017
Elections will be held on 23 February, 2017
Phase Five: 52 Constituencies, includes 11 Districts
Notification - 2 February, 2017
Last date of nominations - 9 February, 2017
Scrutiny of nominations - 11 February, 2017
Last date for withdrawal of nominations - 13 February, 2017
Elections will be held on 27 February, 2017
Phase Six: 49 Constituencies, includes 7 Districts
Notification - 8 February, 2017
Last date of nominations - 15 February, 2017
Scrutiny of nominations - 16 February, 2017
Last date for withdrawal of nominations - 18 February, 2017
Elections will be held on 4 March, 2017
Phase Seven: 40 Constituencies, includes 7 Districts
Notification - 11 February, 2017
Last date of nominations - 18 February, 2017
Scrutiny of nominations - 20 February, 2017
Last date for withdrawal of nominations - 22 February, 2017
Elections will be held on 8 March, 2017
--
Goa has 40 Assembly seats and the election will be held in single phase
Notification - 11 January, 2017
Last date of nominations - 18 January, 2017
Scrutiny of nominations - 19 January, 2017
Last date for withdrawal of nominations - 21 January, 2017.
Elections will be held on 4 February, 2017
--
Manipur has 60 Assembly seats and the election will be held in two phases
First Phase
Notification - 8 February, 2017
Last date of nominations - 15 February, 2017
Scrutiny of nominations - 16 February, 2017
Last date for withdrawal of nominations - 18 February, 2017
First Phase election to be held on 4 March, 2017
Second Phase
Notification: 11 February, 2017
Last date of nominations - 18 February, 2017
Scrutiny of nominations - 28 February, 2017
Last date for withdrawal of nominations - 2 March, 2017
Second phase elections will be held on 8 March, 2017
--
Punjab has 117 Assembly seats and elections will be held in single phase
Notification - 11 January, 2017
Last date of nominations - 18 January, 2017
Scrutiny of nominations - 19 January, 2017
Last date for withdrawal of nominations - 21 January, 2017.
Elections to be held on 4 February, 2017
--
Uttarakhand has 70 Assembly seats and elections will be held in single phase
Notification - 20 January, 2017
Last date of nominations - 27 January, 2017
Scrutiny of nominations - 28 January, 2017
Last date for withdrawal of nominations - 30 January, 2017.
Elections will be held on 15 February, 2017
Uttar Pradesh will vote in a seven-phase election for its 403 seats on 11, 15, 19, 23 and 27 February, and 4 and 8 March.
This is probably 2017's biggest litmust test for political parties in fray for the upcoming Assembly elections. The fight is in five crucial states Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Punjab. However, in the past few months Uttar Pradesh politics has garnered the most interest, thanks to the chacha-bhatija drama playing out in the ruling party of the state.
The largest and the most crucial of all states - political parties in Uttar Pradesh will fight for 403 seats. The major parties in fray are Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress. BJP's campaign, spearheaded by none other than the prime minister himself, has boasted of attracting the most crowd in the state. The spirits are buoyed in the party, especially with the ruling SP mired in family skirmishes and ongoing drama between chief minister and now party chief Akhilesh Yadav, his father and party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mulayam's brother Shivpal Yadav.
Interestingly, in the 2014 general elections, the BJP had won more votes in Uttar Pradesh than the BSP and the SP put together. The BJP won 34.3 million votes, compared to the SPs 18 million and the BSPs 15.9 million. However, it will be mighty difficult to predict the election results in the state. Considering the poll fight will be a three or a four-way fight, it is too premature to foretell parties' future in the state. For the two national parties - BJP and Congress - who have been pushed to the margins by regional parties, the elections will set the tone for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
UP was crucial for BJP's 2014 election sweep. Of the 80 Lok Sabha seats the highest for any state the BJP won 71. So a win in the state is extremely high on their agenda, however a defeat would definitely worry the BJP leadership.
The Election Commission is likely to hold a seven-phase poll in Uttar Pradesh and single-phased polling in the four other states. Deputy Election Commissioner Vijay Kumar Dev has directed the authorities in the western Uttar Pradesh districts to keep strict vigil and surveillance in order to thwart any untoward incident in the upcoming state Assembly polls.
While addressing a meeting of senior police and administration officials of the region in Meerut on Monday, Dev asked the authorities in Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Noida and Hapur to share the list with the Election Commission of proclaimed offenders and history-sheeters.
The directions were given keeping in view the security and to prevent criminals indulge in any malpractices during the polls. Special barriers would be put up at the state borders to check vehicles entering from neighbouring Delhi, Haryana and Uttarakhand. This will include barricading on the Delhi-Dehradun and the Panipat-Khatima highways.
Dev also asked the jail authorities in the concerned to provide a list of gangsters lodged in their respective jails. In Muzzaffarnagar district jails, a total of 478 criminals are lodged under the Gangster Act.
By Michelle Nichols
| UNITED NATIONS
UNITED NATIONS New United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday, and the two had "a very positive discussion on U.S./U.N. relations," said a U.N. spokesman, a week after Trump slammed the world body on Twitter.Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister and U.N. refugee chief who began his five-year term on Sunday, spoke by phone with Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20, said U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq. "This was an introductory phone call during which they had a very positive discussion on U.S./U.N. relations. The secretary-general said that he looked forward to engaging with the president after his inauguration," Haq told reporters.Trump took to Twitter to disparage the 193-member world body after the United States abstained in a Dec. 23 U.N. Security Council vote, allowing the adoption of a resolution demanding an end to settlement building by U.S. ally Israel.
Trump, who had called on the outgoing Obama administration to veto the resolution, warned that "things will be different" at the United Nations after he takes office, without offering any details. He followed up with another tweet on Dec. 26: "The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!"Guterres responded in an interview with Snapchat on Tuesday: "President(-elect) Trump also said the U.N. has an enormous potential. That's exactly what I feel. My job is to make sure that potential becomes a reality."
In an address to U.N. staff in New York on Tuesday, Guterres acknowledged that in some parts of the world there was a resistance and scepticism about the role of the United Nations.Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said on Wednesday that the president-elect would work with Rex Tillerson, his secretary of state nominee, and Nikki Haley, his choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to "demand some reform and change." Both Tillerson and Haley must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before taking office.
The United States is the largest contributor to the United Nations, paying 22 percent of the $5.4 billion core U.N. budget and 28 percent of the $7.9 billion U.N. peacekeeping budget. Following passage of the U.N. resolution on Israeli settlements, a top U.S. senator threatened to work to cut U.S. funding."This gives Guterres a reason for going big on reform quickly," said a senior U.N. diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He needs to make sure he is reforming the U.N. fast enough and radically enough in order to engage the incoming U.S. administration." (Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Brad Brooks
| SAO PAULO
SAO PAULO The killing of 56 inmates by fellow prisoners in Brazil's deadliest jail uprising in decades was a "butchery foretold" by escalating turf wars between drug gangs that threatens to plunge a chaotic penitentiary system deeper into violence. Prior to this week's massacre of members of the First Capital Command (PCC) in the Anisio Jobim penitentiary in the jungle city of Manaus, security experts warned for months about intensifying clashes in prisons between Brazil's two most powerful drug gangs - the Sao Paulo-based PCC and the Red Command, based in Rio de Janeiro.Now they fear the feud will escalate in prisons and on the streets of the South American nation of 207 million people. Rio, Brazil's most popular tourist destination, is particularly vulnerable, along with major cities in the north and northeast, the experts say. "This situation is tense, very ripe for new tragedies," said Camila Dias, a sociologist at the Federal University of ABC in Sao Paulo, who is an expert on Brazil's prison system and author of a book on the PCC. "This was a butchery foretold." For more than two decades, the PCC and Red Command maintained an uneasy working relationship to ensure a steady flow of marijuana, cocaine and guns over Brazil's porous borders and into its cities. But in June the partnership ended with the killing of Jorge Rafaat Toumani, a powerful Brazilian drug lord based in Paraguay who controlled trafficking routes along Brazil's southeastern border. While Toumani was not publicly affiliated to one group or another, and details of his death remain murky, Paraguayan officials believe he was killed at the PCC's behest so it could seize his lucrative trafficking routes. What is clear, security experts say, is that the PCC has taken control of Toumani's former domain. As a result, relations between the PCC and Red Command fell apart. Communications between the factions' leaders obtained by police and leaked in October, revealed a race to become Brazil's dominant gang. That same month, clashes between gang members in three prisons elsewhere in Brazil's Amazon left 22 dead.
Control of the drug gangs' turf has been increasingly balkanized in recent months. That has left the Red Command weaker and allowed the PCC - powered by proceeds from their base in Sao Paulo, Brazil's richest city - to encroach on their turf in Rio. Brazilian intelligence services say that in response, the Red Command is strengthening ties with smaller groups elsewhere, like the North Family gang that carried out the slaughter of PCC members in the Manaus prison this week. Few now expect the PCC to turn the other cheek after dozens of its members were killed, including many who were decapitated. Videos of the slaughter have spread widely on social media. "Within the criminal code of conduct, an act like what we saw in the Manaus prison will never go unanswered," said Rafael Alcadipani, a public security expert at the Getulio Vargas Foundation think tank in Sao Paulo. He predicts gang battles in prisons across Brazil and on the streets of northern cities and Rio.
"The civilian population will be at the mercy of this coming war," he said. Brazil's justice minister, Alexandre Moraes, and other government security officials have played down such fears, saying they are transferring imprisoned drug gang leaders to maximum security jails, where they will remain in isolation. In theory this will stop them from handing down orders to underlings, but in the past isolated gang leaders have still managed to retain control over their networks.
DEADLY PRISONS
Whether run by the state, or privately operated facilities like the one in Manaus, most Brazilian prisons lack resources which allows prisoners to easily take control of them and carry out massacres like the one seen this week. Horrific conditions and abuses are well documented. There are 622,000 inmates in Brazil's prison population, ranking only behind the United States, China and Russia, according to the University of London's Institute for Criminal Policy Research. Poor financing and administration mean that even in Sao Paulo, Brazil's wealthiest state, a single guard oversees 300 to 400 prisoners in some prisons, said Dias, the sociologist. "When the prisoners want to have an uprising, they have an uprising," she added. The Justice Ministry did not respond to requests for comment, but just last week the federal government announced it was immediately freeing 1.2 billion reais ($372.50 million) in funding for states to improve or build jails. Sergio Fontes, the top security official in Amazonas state, where Manaus is located, insists the state government has not lost control of the penitentiary system. Many public security experts disagree. They argue that the prisons mirror an overall lack of security in a country where authorities have long tolerated high homicide rates. (Reporting by Brad Brooks, editing by Daniel Flynn and Ross Colvin)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
LOS ANGELES Convicted mass murderer Charles Manson was taken from a California prison, where he is serving a life term, to a hospital for an undisclosed medical issue on Tuesday, news media reported.Manson, 82, was seriously ill, a source told the Los Angeles Times, but could not provide further information. TMZ reported that Manson was transported to a hospital in Bakersfield, California, about an hour from California State Prison in Corcoran, where he was being held. A California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman declined to comment to Reuters, citing inmate medical privacy issues.In the 1960s, Manson, a charismatic ex-convict, assembled a group of runaways and outcasts known as the "Manson Family." In the summer of 1969, he directed his mostly young, female followers to murder seven people in what prosecutors said was part of a plan to incite a race war.
Members of the cult stabbed heavily pregnant Hollywood actress Sharon Tate 16 times in the early-morning hours of Aug. 9, 1969. Manson's followers stabbed or shot to death four other people at Tate's home.
The following night, Manson's group entered the nearby home of grocery store chain owner Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, stabbed the couple to death and used their blood to write "Rise," "Death to Pigs," and "Healter Skelter," a misplaced reference to the Beatles song "Helter Skelter," on the walls and refrigerator door.Manson was originally sentenced to death but was spared execution and his sentence converted to life in prison after the California Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional in that state.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb and Ben Klayman; Editing by Chris Reese and Jonathan Oatis)
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BERLIN German police have detained a 26-year-old Tunisian man over links with the perpetrator of an Islamist truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people, a federal prosecutors' spokeswoman said on Wednesday.Police on Tuesday evening searched the living quarters of the man identified as Bilel A. after he was found to have had dinner with Anis Amri a day before Amri steered a truck through the market on Dec. 19, spokeswoman Frauke Koehler said."This contact person is a 26-year-old Tunisian. We are investigating him for possible participation in the attack," she told reporters.Amri, 24, also a Tunisian and failed asylum seeker, was killed in a shootout with Italian police on Dec. 23 after fleeing Germany and travelling through the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the Berlin attack. Koehler said the investigation had shown Amri met the second Tunisian man in a restaurant in central Berlin on the eve of the attack and that the two engaged in "very intense discussions"."That triggered the suspicion for us that the suspect, this 26-year-old Tunisian, was possibly involved in the act, or at the very least knew of the attack plans of Anis Amri," she said.
Koehler said there was insufficient evidence at this point to charge the man with any role in the Christmas market carnage, though had been previously investigated on suspicion of planning a violent attack.Officials were evaluating communications devices seized during the raid of the man's accommodations in a Berlin refugee centre, and in the course of a second raid the same evening at the flat of another man who had contact with Amri.In a separate statement, the Berlin state prosecutor's office said it had detained the 26-year-old Tunisian on Tuesday for suspected social benefit fraud in three German cities.
A spokesman for the Berlin prosecutor's office said Bilel A. had used at least two aliases, Ahmad H. and Abu M., and also claimed to be Egyptian. He was believed to have arrived in Germany in 2014 or perhaps earlier.Berlin prosecutors in 2015 investigated whether the man had acquired explosives for an attack but dropped the inquiry in June last year for lack of evidence.Koehler said Amri stared into a surveillance camera at a subway station near the Berlin zoo shortly after the Christmas market attack, and raised his index finger in a gesture sometimes seen in Islamic State propaganda videos.
She said forensic evidence showed that the Polish driver from whom Amri hijacked the truck was fatally shot while sitting in the passenger seat of the vehicle. The gun Amri used was the one found next to his body by police in Milan, Italy, she added.Belgian prosecutors said on Wednesday Amri made a two-hour stopover at the Brussels North station on Dec. 21 after entering Belgium on a train from Amsterdam, before heading onwards to France. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Michael Nienaber in Berlin, Alissa de Carbonnel in Brussels; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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Teresa Romero , a Spanish nursing assistant, is one of 17,323 Ebola survivors in the world. The latest outbreak killed 11,323 people, or 40% of all cases. The vast majority were infected in West Africa, and suffered from all the dreaded symptoms associated with the disease: fever, unbearable headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, and hemorrhaging from the mouth, rectum and even the eyes.
Teresa Romero after being discharged from hospital. Luis Sevillano
Romero, a nursing assistant at Madrids La Paz-Carlos III University Hospital who had worked directly with Ebola patients, became a patient herself in October 2014. She was the first person to acquire Ebola outside West Africa.
I felt Death hounding me, like an entity leaning on my shoulder, waiting patiently for me. It is something that cannot be explained with words. Even now, I still dont know how I made it out of there, she recalls in a scientific article published in the Spanish-language medical journal Enfermeria Clinica.
Far from feeling joy at the news of my recovery, I started crying over my dog, who was executed by health authorities
The article, signed by three specialists of the highly infectious disease isolation unit at La Paz-Carlos III, details the care that Romero received during her 25 days of strict isolation there in Room 6008.
Romeros ordeal began on October 7, 2014 when she was transferred to the unit within an airtight capsule.
Two months earlier, she had provided medical care for Miguel Pajares, a 75-year-old missionary repatriated from Liberia who had become the first Spaniard to contract Ebola. On September 23, Romero was assigned to a second Ebola patient: Manuel Garcia Viejo, a 69-year-old priest who was infected in Sierra Leone. After he died, Romero cleaned his room.
It was during one of these occasions that she contracted the disease herself, although the exact moment is unknown.
On October 7, the 44-year-old Romero arrived in hospital in a white suit that included gloves and a hood.
Teresa Romero being transferred inside an airtight unit. ATLAS
I could barely breathe inside that small space. I was drenched in my own fluids. It was a moment of great anguish, she recalls.
Three colleagues wearing hazmat suits were waiting for her in the north wing. Come on Teresa, chin up, we need to have our New Years Eve dinner together, one of them told her.
It was inevitable to think about the two patients who were repatriated from Africa and whom I had treated, and about their sad end. I saw myself suffering the same fate, I felt panic, I didnt want to sleep, I felt that if I did, I would not wake up again, recounts Romero in the article.
On October 8, her health took a turn for the worse. My lungs began to fail me, I felt like I was choking and could hardly breathe, it was agony. Two colleagues came in to increase the oxygen flow. I begged them to help me die.
That was when she went into a critical state. She says her memory fades from this moment on.
A month of fear Until Romero was declared free of the disease and for several weeks after that Spain was on alert over fears that the Ebola virus may have spread. Before being admitted into hospital, Romero had been to see her primary care physician, had made an appointment at the hairdresser's, and walked into the emergency services of another hospital. Around 20 people who were in direct contact with Romero in the days prior to her admission were quarantined to reduce the risk of an outbreak.
Up to 108 people 87 women and 21 men walked into Teresa Romeros room a total of 352 times during those days, risking their own lives by doing so. Including the two previous patients, the article concludes that 165 hospital workers were exposed to the Ebola virus on 762 occasions.
Despite the small army of professionals watching over her 24/7, and half the country following her ordeal in the news, Romero says she felt alone.
The rest of the world did not exist; it was just me fighting for survival. I found comfort in the fact that I was connected to an infusion pump with the word morphine written on it, she recalls.
Another drip was delivering blood serum from a nun who had contracted the disease and survived. At the same time, Romero was also being administered an experimental drug called favipiravir. That was one of the highlights of her day. I liked it a lot because it tasted good, and since it was dissolved in water and I was really thirsty, I longed for the moment when it was time to take it, she recalls.
Despite all the medical and scientific effort that went into her treatment, Romero reveals other aspects that she feels helped with her recovery.
Conditioning factors to overcome the disease: conveying hope, warmth and positive feelings; being able to communicate; not feeling pain; not feeling negative emotions; being able to breathe; being able to sleep; having access to antiviral treatment and blood serum from survivors, although whether this is really effective in treating the disease is under question, she writes.
Romero was declared disease-free on October 19. But far from feeling joy at the news, I started crying over my dog, who was executed by health authorities on October 8, 2014, she writes. Exkalibur was put down by a team from the Complutense Universitys Veterinary Health Surveillance Center to prevent the risk of contagion.
Perhaps I have left out many details; nobody can imagine what I went through in October 2014, except other Ebola survivors, concludes Romero.
English version by Susana Urra.
By Laila Kearney
| NEW YORK
NEW YORK At least 37 people have suffered non-life-threatening injuries in a New York City commuter train derailment on Wednesday during peak morning commuting hours, city officials said.Dozens of emergency crews swarmed Atlantic Terminal in the borough of Brooklyn after the Long Island Railroad train went off the tracks at about 8:30 a.m. local time inside the busy transportation hub, the New York City Fire Department said.The nature of the injuries was not immediately known, and the incident was under investigation, police Detective Ahmed Nasser said.
Police and firefighters, some holding stretchers, could be seen entering the terminal as emergency vehicles blocked traffic.Commuters, meanwhile, described a frightening and chaotic scene on social media.
"People flying everywhere," Serena Janae, who said she was a passenger on the derailed train, wrote on Facebook. The U.S. Federal Railroad Administration said it was sending investigators to the scene.
Atlantic Terminal, which also connects commuters to nine city subway lines, is one of New York's busiest stations. (Additional reporting by Gina Cherelus, David Shepardson and Jonathan Oatis; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Lisa Von Ahn)
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WASHINGTON North Korea continues to pursue nuclear and ballistic missile technologies but the United States does not believe it is in a position to "tip" one of them with a nuclear warhead, State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday.North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, said on Sunday his nuclear-capable country was close to test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), raising the prospect of putting parts of the United States within range."We do not believe that at this point in time he has the capability to tip one of these with a nuclear warhead ... but we do know that he continues to want to have those capabilities and the programs continue to march in that direction," Kirby told reporters.Asked whether he would agree with President-elect Donald Trump's assessment that China was not helping to contain North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Kirby said: "We would not agree with that assessment."Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20, tweeted on Monday that North Korea would not be allowed to complete a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States, although he did not say how he would stop it. "It won't happen!" he said on Twitter.
Trump's transition spokesman, Sean Spicer, said the tweet spoke for itself but added that it meant, "Under his watch he's going to make sure that that doesnt happen."Pyongyang's action will be discussed at a meeting in Washington on Thursday between the United States, Japan and South Korea, led by Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Kirby said.
"No question that tensions on the Korean peninsula will be a topic of discussion (but) where that is going to take us, especially in light of Kim Jong Un's speech, I don't know," Kirby said.Asked about the possibility of more sanctions against Pyongyang, he added: "We haven't ruled out the possibility of additional sanctions."
(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by James Dalgleish and Alan Crosby)
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LAHORE, Pakistan Pakistani police said they arrested 150 hardline Muslim activists on Wednesday as they tried to rally in support of the country's tough blasphemy law on the anniversary of a provincial governor's assassination over his call to reform the statute.Security was tight in the eastern city of Lahore throughout the day. Police barricaded many parts of Lahore to prevent demonstrators from gathering, causing massive traffic jams. Lahore Deputy Inspector General of Police Haider Ashraf said the arrested activists belonged to Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah, a coalition of Islamist groups who were planning to attack people staging a vigil to commemorate the anniversary of the governor's killing.Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah could not be reached for comment. Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was gunned down by his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri six years ago for championing the case of a Christian woman who was sentenced to death under the blasphemy law, which he said needed to be reformed.Last February, Pakistan executed Taseer's killer, but tens of thousands of supporters turned up at his funeral and hailed him as a hero of Islam.
"When police received reports that the Labaik Ya Rasool Allah Movement planned to attack the gathering, we reacted preemptively and cordoned off the area," Ashraf told Reuters. "The activists threw stones at police, who retaliated with baton charge and arrested 150 members."Ashraf said those arrested were booked for disrupting law and order and assaulting police. The head of the Labaik group, Maulana Khadim Hussain Rizvi, was also among those detained.
Earlier this week, the hardline Islamist group Sunni Tehreek said it was demanding police in Lahore charge Shaan Taseer, the son of the slain governor, with blasphemy over a Christmas message calling for prayers for those charged under the law.Taseer told Reuters on Monday that he had received "very credible death threats" from supporters of the hardline Muslim philosophy that inspired his father's killer, bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri.
Controversy over the blasphemy law has exposed the growing gap between hard-line religious conservatives and liberals in the South Asian country.More than 100 people are charged with blasphemy and jailed each year in predominantly Muslim Pakistan, many of them Christians and other minorities. Critics say the law is often invoked in cases of personal disputes.No one has yet been executed, but at least 65 people have been murdered in connection with blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to the Centre for Research and Security Studies and a Reuters tally. (Reporting Mubasher Bukhari; Writing by Mehreen Zahra-Malik; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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London: Britain's Prince Harry said he believes saving animals is like God's test for humanity, as the royal called for an international body to regulate anyone who owns or manages wildlife to ensure the protection of endangered species.
"I do worry. I think everyone should worry. We need to look after them (animals), because otherwise our children will not have a chance to see what we have seen," Harry said. "This is God's test: If we can't save some animals in a wilderness area, what else can't we do."
The 32-year-old prince, Britain's fifth in line to the throne, told US magazine Town & Country that it was while he was working on a conservation project in Malawi last year that he felt the lack of a regulatory body. "I do believe we need a regulatory body so that everyone who owns or manages wildlife is subject to inspection and rated on how well they look after the animals and how the communities benefit. We have to come together," he said.
On a personal note, he recalled how he had first visited Africa after his mother, Princess Diana, died in 1997. "I first came in 1997, straight after my mum died. My dad told my brother and me to pack our bags we were going to Africa to get away from it all. This is where I feel more like myself than anywhere else in the world. I wish I could spend more time in Africa. I have this intense sense of complete relaxation and normality here," he said.
"To not get recognised, to lose myself in the bush with what I would call the most down-to-earth people on the planet, people (dedicated to conservation) with no ulterior motives, no agendas, who would sacrifice everything for the betterment of nature," he said.
The magazine has him on the cover posing in a dark green shirt under the headline "Bachelors of the Year". During his time in Africa last year, the royal had helped catch anaesthetised elephants and load them on trucks which moved them 200 miles from Liwonde National Park and Majete Wildlife Reserve to the Nkhotakota reserve, where the elephants can thrive.
By Harriet McLeod
| CHARLESTON, S.C.
CHARLESTON, S.C. The widow of the pastor who was among the nine people killed by white supremacist Dylann Roof at a historic black church in South Carolina told a federal jury on Wednesday she heard the gunman say during the hate-fuelled rampage that he was not crazy.Jennifer Pinckney said she hid with her 6-year-old daughter under a desk as Roof opened fire in an adjoining room at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, where her husband, the Reverend Clementa Pinckney, and parishioners had gathered for a Bible study meeting on June 17, 2015. "I heard Mr. Roof say, 'I'm not crazy. I have to do this,'" said Pinckney, the first witness to testify for prosecutors who are seeking the death penalty for a crime that shocked the United States.The sentencing phase of Roof's federal trial opened earlier in the day with the defendant telling jurors that he was representing himself because he did not want them to hear any mental health evidence - but insisting he is not mentally ill.The same jury last month found Roof guilty of 33 federal counts of hate crimes resulting in death, obstruction of religion and firearms charges.
"There's nothing wrong with me psychologically," said Roof, making no mention of the crime or the racist ideology prosecutors have said spurred the massacre.Roof also did not say during his short opening statement whether he wants to live, nor did he ask any questions of Pinckney when she took the witness stand.He described for jurors in a calm voice how he had been forced to undergo two mental health evaluations after his attorneys questioned his competency.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled on Monday that Roof was mentally fit to stand trial and act as his own lawyer.Roof acknowledged that his comments would seem "out of place" following the opening statement by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams, who said Roof deserved to be executed.Williams highlighted Roof's months of planning, his lack of remorse and his motivation for carrying out the crime.
"He killed them because of the colour of their skin, because he thought they were less than people," said Williams, who showed jurors photos of each victim. Six weeks after Roof's arrest, jailers found a handwritten note in his cell expressing white supremacist views, Williams said."I am not sorry," Roof wrote. "I have not shed a tear for the innocent people I killed." (Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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By Nick Tattersall and Daren Butler
| ISTANBUL
ISTANBUL Turkey has established the identity of the gunman who killed 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Day, its foreign minister said on Wednesday, as police detained suspected Islamic State members of Central Asian and North African origin.In an interview with the state-run Anadolu news agency, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu gave no further details about the gunman, whom Turkish officials have not named.The attacker shot his way into the exclusive Reina nightclub on Sunday, then opened fire with an automatic rifle, reloading his weapon half a dozen times and shooting the wounded as they lay on the ground. Turks as well as visitors from several Arab nations, India and Canada were among the dead.Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria. Turkish media reports have said the attacker is believed to be an ethnic Uighur, possibly from Kyrgyzstan. He appeared to have been well-versed in guerrilla warfare and may have trained in Syria, according to one security source.Police in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir said they had detained 20 suspected Islamic State militants thought to be of Central Asian and North African origin in raids on three addresses. Fake passports, cell phones, and equipment including night vision goggles and a GPS device were seized.Police did not say whether the detentions were directly linked to the Istanbul nightclub attack. But local media reports have said the gunman is thought to have entered Turkey from Syria and spent time in Konya, travelling with his wife and two children so as not to attract attention.
At least 36 people have been detained since the attack, according to Turkish media reports. Anadolu said on Tuesday that 14 people had been detained in Istanbul, while NTV reported that two foreign nationals had been held at Istanbul's main airport. Among those held in Istanbul were seven Uighurs detained at a restaurant in the working-class neighbourhood of Zeytinburnu, where the gunman was thought to have gone by taxi after the attack and asked to borrow money to pay the driver, according to the Haberturk newspaper.It said raids had been carried out on 50 addresses in the district, where many Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and Uighurs live.
"NOBODY'S LIFESTYLE UNDER THREAT"
The shooting in Istanbul's Ortakoy neighbourhood, an upscale district on the Bosphorus shore, came after a year in which NATO member Turkey was shaken by a series of attacks by radical Islamist and Kurdish militants and by a failed coup. Parliament voted overnight to extend emergency rule, first imposed after the attempted putsch, by another three months, enabling the government to enact new laws and limit or suspend rights and freedoms when deemed necessary.
President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack, which targeted a club popular with local celebrities and moneyed foreigners, was being exploited to try to divide the largely Sunni Muslim nation and that the state never meddled in how people lived."There is no point trying to blame the Ortakoy attack on differences in lifestyles," he said in a speech to local administrators at the presidential palace in Ankara. "Nobody's lifestyle is under systematic threat in Turkey. We will never allow this," he said in comments broadcast live. It was his first public speech since the shooting.Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate, which condemned the attack in its immediate aftermath, had issued a statement in December saying celebrating the New Year did not fit with Muslim values, triggering criticism from some parts of Turkish society.Such calls have made many secular Turks suspicious of the Islamist background of Erdogan and the ruling AK Party, seeing them as bent on eroding the secular principles of the modern republic founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk after the fall of the Ottoman empire. Erdogan rejects such suggestions. (Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Istanbul; Orhan Coskun, Tulay Karadeniz and Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Larry King)
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The Spanish labor market maintained its pace of recovery in 2016, with 540,655 jobs created in twelve months as measured by Social Security affiliations. This is a 3.12% rise from 2015, and slightly below the 3.18% growth posted the previous year.
Workers at the Volkswagen factory in Pamplona. Luis Sevillano
Registered unemployment figures were also very good in 2016, with a fall of 390,534 in the number of people officially registered as out of work at the country's job offices, which represents the biggest drop in recorded history according to the Labor Ministry.
The good news about job creation is dampened by the fact that many are short-term positions
Nearly 20 million job contracts were signed from January to December, although many of these were short-term and linked to seasonal campaigns. The year ended with 17.8 million workers contributing to the Social Security system, while the number of jobless claims at national unemployment offices dropped to 3.7 million.
The job market also reflects the good pace of domestic consumption as an engine of economic activity in Spain this past year. Retail (80,189 new jobs) and hospitality (77,737) hired the largest number of new workers, although most sectors increased their workforce.
Only three sectors shed jobs in 2016, with the finance sector, which is undergoing a restructuring process, losing 2,679 workers.
The pace of job creation slowed down slightly in the second quarter to below 3%, but it picked up again to end 2016 at 3.12%.
New hirings in early 2017 EP The upcoming winter sales campaign is expected to create over 93,000 new jobs, representing a 6% rise from the previous year, according to a forecast made by recruiting firm Adecco. Most of the new hirings will take place in retail and hospitality.
English version by Susana Urra.
The 69 billion public debt strangling Puerto Rico has given a boost to backers of the idea of becoming a US state a movement led by the islands new governor. Ricardo Rossello, who took office on Monday, has pledged to do everything he can over the next four years to make Puerto Rico the 51st member of the union.
A woman shields herself from the sun using Rossello campaign material. REUTERS
More information Puerto Rico: unirse a Estados Unidos para huir de la bancarrota
The crisis is directly tied to the collapse of the colony, said Rossello, who feels that the current status of Puerto Rico as a Free Associated State is keeping the island in a state of subordination that could be corrected through full incorporation into the worlds top power.
Rossello, 37, is the son of another former governor, Pedro Rossello, who held office between 1993 and 2001. Known popularly as Ricky Rossello, he studied at MIT and his career includes stem cell research.
As the new governor of Puerto Rico, he now faces the challenge of tackling a massive debt crisis, one that led to the first debt default by a public corporation in 2015 and pushed more than 200,000 citizens to emigrate, out of a population of three and a half million.
The US cannot pretend to be a model of democracy when it is discriminating against its Puerto Rican citizens
Ricardo Rossello, governor
Unemployment on the island is in excess of 12%, whereas on the mainland it is under 5%. And per capita GDP is $28,000, compared with $53,000 in the US.
Last summer, US Congress passed legislation provisionally protecting Puerto Rico from its creditors, but also setting up a fiscal oversight board made up of Washington congress members.
Rossello speaking in San Juan. REUTERS
The protection ends in February, and Rossello has said he will try to extend the deadline.
On Tuesday, a day after being sworn into office, the new governor traveled to Washington to start drumming up support for his campaign to have the island become a US state. In his speech, the leader of the New Progressive Party blamed his predecessor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, for the imposition of the oversight body.
He also criticized the US, which cannot pretend to be a model of democracy when it is discriminating against its Puerto Rican citizens, denying them the right to political, economic and social equality under the US flag.
Puerto Rico is in an emergency situation. Rossello has admitted that the pension fund is running dry, the money to pay government workers will run out in February, and the public health system is on the brink of collapse.
English version by Susana Urra.
It looks like HMD Global has big plans for 2017 with Nokia phones. We have already seen reports about Nokia D1C and E1 Android smartphones. Now, presentation slide from one of the Malaysian distributor, named Avaxx, suggests HMD Global is expected to release a total of six to seven Nokia Android smartphones before the end of 2017.
As per the slide, these Android phones will be priced in all segments ranging fro, entry-level, affordable to premium flagships. It is also mentioned in the slide that series of attractive Nokia feature phones will also be launched to maintain the market share.
Last month, HMD Global officially announced its entry into the phone market and said it will launch first smartphone products in the first half of 2017, alongside the existing Nokia branded feature phone business. The company will make its debut at the MWC between February 27th and March 2nd in Barcelona.
Source
Wall Street seems to be picking up good vibrations as of late, because stock valuations have been growing quite a bit. As a result, the list of quality companies with stocks trading at bargain-basement prices is getting smaller and smaller. For those price-conscious investors, though, there are still some small pockets of value left in the market.
Two companies that look to have that rare combination of a quality business model and a cheap stock price today are aluminum manufacturer Alcoa Corporation (AA), and offshore rig company Transocean (RIG 15.23%). Here's a quick look at why these companies are both worthwhile investments, and why their stocks look cheap.
A fresh face on an old company
Quite often, when a company splits in two, one aspect of the business is built to soar, while the other is left in this purgatory with less-than-attractive assets and a balance sheet that isn't in great shape. When Alcoa's traditional aluminum business and the new value add manufacturing business Arconic (HWM -0.20%) split, though, it was done in a way that allowed both companies succeed. Arconic is the higher-margin business with lots of opportunities for growth, so it took a larger portion of the combined companies' debt with it.
As a result, the legacy Alcoa business got a fresh start with a much better-looking balance sheet. Today, net debt to EBITDA is a very manageable 1.1 times, and its debt to capital ratio is also a very reasonable 13.9%. For a cyclical business like mining and metals, having a respectable balance sheet like that can really help it weather the ups and downs of the industry.
At the same time, Alcoa remains the world's largest bauxite miner and refiner of alumina, while remaining on the lower end of the cost curve for the two commodities since it has sold off several higher-cost assets in recent years.
It may not be as envious of a place to be if the aluminum market were in structural decline, but aluminum demand is set to grow as the automotive and aerospace industries look to use the lightweight metal to improve fuel efficiency.
Even though the company has improved its competitive position in the bauxite, alumina, and aluminum markets and has a much better-looking balance sheet thanks to the Alcoa-Arconic split, shares of Alcoa trade today at 0.8 times tangible book value. That's an industry leader selling for less than its liquidation value. Like investing in other cyclical mining and metal companies, investing in Alcoa is going to have its ups and downs with the industry cycle. That being said, its current stock price suggests it's a great time to buy.
Not the same company that we saw at the beginning of the oil slump
There was a lot of fear from investors that many offshore rig companies were going to go belly-up after oil prices started to fall. As a result, shares of Transocean have been absolutely hammered over the past few years, so much so that today, the stock trades at a price to tangible book value of just 0.36 times. Usually, that denotes a company in serious distress, with almost no chance of making out of this oil downturn alive.
If we were to look at this company three years ago, I would agree. It had one of the oldest fleets out there, and many of its rigs didn't meet the specifications needed to meet today's more complex drilling jobs in deeper waters and at deeper depths below the ocean floor. On top of that, it had a pretty large debt pile and several billion dollars' worth of obligations for new rigs currently under construction.
Fast-forward to today, though, and you see a very different company. Sure, it still has about $8.3 billion in long-term debt outstanding, but about only $2.5 billion of that is due between now and 2018. When you combine that with the company's current cash on hand, as well as the operational cash flows from its contracts in place, it looks as though the company is going to have plenty of cash to get through the next couple of years in pretty decent financial shape.
As far as its fleet is concerned, it too is much different than just a few years ago. Under CEO Jeremy Thigpen, who took the reigns in April of 2015, the company has retired 30 of its older, less capable rigs. While there are still a few still on the books, the company expects that by 2020, 80% of its floating fleet will be either ultra deepwater or harsh environment -- think North Sea around Norway or the Arctic Ocean -- capable. This fleet mix will commend much better day rates as offshore drilling activity picks back up again.
The payoff for an investment in Transocean may be a ways off. The introduction of shale as a viable, economical source of oil could mean that offshore development gets pushed down the road. That being said, offshore oil will very likely remain a critical part of the production mix, and rig demand will come back. When it does, Transocean's fleet will be in much higher demand, and investors may be kicking themselves in the future for not looking at shares of Transocean at these prices.
Over the last half-century, Warren Buffett has delivered a 21% compound annual return to Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A -2.26%) (BRK.B -1.94%) shareholders, in part by following the simple approach of investing in great companies when they are on sale. Mirroring that strategy might not turn you into a billionaire, but it will help you grow your nest egg, and sleep well at night.
After the market's recent slide, it's an opportune time to go shopping, and Berkshire's stock portfolio is a great place to look for ideas. Buffett makes a habit of buying into strong companies during turbulent times in the market; lately, he's been nibbling at shares of Apple (AAPL -4.24%) and Bank of America (BAC -0.55%), and Berkshire has long held a stake in American Express (AXP -2.92%).
A leading consumer (tech) brand
Check out the latest Apple earnings call transcript.
Apple faces a few significant challenges right now, with slowing iPhone unit sales, and slow growth in China, a market that supplied about a fifth of its total revenue over the last year.
Despite those issues, Berkshire owns 252 million shares of Apple, worth $37 billion at current market prices. As of the end of the third quarter, Apple was Berkshire Hathaway's largest stock holding.
Some of Buffett's greatest investments, such as Coca-Cola, have been consumer goods companies. And even though it's a tech company, Apple seems to fit that mold, given the strong pull its brand has on consumers. Consider that more than 500 million people visit an Apple Store every year, and there are currently more Apple devices active around the world than ever before.
The iPhone maker is going through a transition as it maneuvers through a stagnant global smartphone market, but its large installed base of active devices is fueling double-digit percentage growth in non-iPhone revenue, especially from its services and wearables segments. Of course, the last reason Buffett would see Apple as a buy right now is that the stock is downright cheap, trading at a forward P/E ratio of just 10.
A well-managed, diversified bank
Check out the latest Bank of America earnings call transcript.
Looking over Berkshire's stock holdings, it's obvious that Buffett believes bank stocks are good investments. Berkshire owns large stakes in six different major banks. As of the end of Q3, Berkshire owned 877 million shares of Bank of America, worth $23 billion, making it the second-largest holding in its portfolio.
Moreover, the latest 13-F filing with the SEC shows that Berkshire increased its stake in the bank by almost 30% in the quarter, which indicates that Buffett still likes it at current market prices. He has been a big fan of CEO Brian Moynihan. Since Moynihan took over in 2009, Bank of America has emerged as one of the best-managed banks in the industry. Non-interest expense has come down from over $80 billion in 2011 to $54 billion over the last year. The implementation of tight cost controls has fueled a surge in profitability that put Bank of America's return on assets much closer to that of other industry leaders like Wells Fargo and JP Morgan.
Bank of America serves about half of all U.S. households, and has been making concerted efforts to deepen its relationships with corporate and institutional clients as well. In Q3, the return on average assets reached 1.23%, which is better than the year-ago quarter's 0.95% and shows that management is not done improving profitability.
The stock is trading at a forward P/E ratio of 9, and sports a dividend yield of 2.46%.
A top credit card brand
Check out the latest American Express earnings call transcript.
Berkshire has been a stakeholder in American Express for many years: At the end of the last quarter, Berkshire owned 151 million shares worth about $2.3 billion.
Amex has a difficult-to-duplicate business model that's rooted in deep customer relationships. It builds customer loyalty by offering premium perks, such as free airport lounge access and special deals at select merchants. Cardholders must pay an annual fee in return for these benefits, but many feel it's worth it. The company provided unrivaled customer service in its industry, and those who travel frequently can recoup the yearly outlay through reimbursements for baggage fees, airline fee credits, and Uber credits, among other benefits.
American Express also charges fees to merchants that accept its cards. In return, Amex helps those merchants connect with customers and grow their businesses. Merchants are willing to pay the fees because Amex card members spend more on average than other cardholders, which is a big plus.
Right now, you can buy one of the top credit card brands at a forward P/E ratio of just 12. That's very attractive considering Amex has delivered double-digit percentage growth on both the top and bottom lines through the first three quarters of 2018, and analysts expect the company to grow earnings at an annualized rate of 12.5% over the next five years.
Apple, Bank of America, and American Express all have enduring qualities that should keep them generating returns for their shareholders for decades. They're also cheap at current prices, and pass Buffett's test as great companies worth owning for a long time.
Somebody else a couple of days back was saying the same thing about the BDS drop bracket being off. I was just about to order up one of these setups in the 4 or 6in variety but might wait on that. I believe the other person said he ordered an adjustable track bar for his. When I talked with the shop that will be doing mine about the bracket, they said they have not seen that problem yet and they have done a ton of them. Hope they weren't just feeding me a line of ****.
Founded in the 1940s, the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht prospered in Latin America through large infrastructure projects. With a presence in 27 countries, the company has built subway lines in Peru, power dams in Panama and roads in Argentina. But there was a trick to the success story.
The Odebrecht headquarters in Lima (Peru). REUTERS
More information Odebrecht revela la corrupcion sistemica en Latinoamerica
The company has now agreed to pay a record $3.5 billion penalty after being accused of paying $439 million to politicians, political parties and government workers in at least 12 countries in exchange for public works contracts.
Some of the countries where Odebrecht bribed officials include Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.
The company, which has 128,000 employees and gross annual revenue of $40 billion, plays a pivotal role in the corruption scheme uncovered by Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato in Portuguese). Since 2014, investigators have been picking apart a complex and longstanding web of kickbacks at the state-owned oil company Petrobras.
Brazil, Odebrechts homeland, is not even the most corrupt nation in Latin America
Peter Hakim, Inter-American Dialogue chairman
Odebrecht had been signing contracts with Petrobras since the 1950s. It took investigators over a year to find the first pieces of evidence, and these led to Marcelo Odebrecht, CEO and grandson of the company founder, who was sentenced to prison in June 2015.
As the probe proceeds, the company has become a very real threat to representatives of political power across Latin America: presidents, former presidents and congress-members in various countries have already been named by company officials anxious to cooperate with the justice system in order to become eligible for sentence reductions.
Settlement
Odebrechts CEO and a team of 77 top executives have negotiated deals in exchange for information. Marcelo Odebrecht was sentenced to 19 years for crimes ranging from money laundering to criminal association. The company agreed on a settlement deal to end proceedings in the US, Brazil and Switzerland.
The US State Department has yet to divulge the names of any authority outside Brazil involved in the scandal, but prominent figures are widely expected to be on the list.
Panama's Minister of the Presidency Alvaro Aleman (L) talks to the media about the Odebrecht corruption case next to Vice Minister of Public Works Marietta Jaen. STRINGER (REUTERS)
Odebrecht has admitted to paying $29 million in bribes to Peruvian government workers between 2005 and 2014. This covers the period under three presidents: Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), Alan Garcia (2006-2011) and Ollanta Humala (2011-2016). In February of last year, Humala was named as a recipient of $3 million in bribes from Odebrecht. The former leader has denied the charges.
In Panama, there is speculation that one of the beneficiaries of the kickbacks is Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares, one of the sons of former president Ricardo Martinelli (2009-2014). Both men have also denied the charges.
In Argentina, officials in the Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner administrations are thought to have accepted over $35 million in connection with three infrastructure projects between 2007 and 2014.
And in Venezuela, whistleblowers have mentioned a $3 million contribution to the campaigns of the late Hugo Chavez and the current president, Nicolas Maduro.
Offshore network
In every country, the operating system was the same: Odebrecht used a sophisticated network of offshore firms to pay the bribes. On the Caribbean island of Antigua, it even purchased a local bank to make the transactions easier.
Authorities say that Odebrecht used different layers of money laundering to hide its tracks. The payments to government officials were made from the companys Structured Operations Sector, which came to be known as the bribes department. It had a parallel accounting system, backed the funds and authorized the transfers with oversight from the CEO himself.
The US State Department has yet to divulge the names of any authority outside Brazil involved in the scandal
News about the settlement deal saw authorities in the nations involved react swiftly. Prosecutors in Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador have announced their own bribery investigations. In Mexico, the government and the oil company Pemex said they will also investigate the matter.
But the documentation released by the US justice system could well be just the tip of the iceberg of this international corruption scheme.
English version by Susana Urra.
What do Elizabeth Holmes, John Stumpf, D.J. Koh and Hillary Clinton all have in common? A really bad year theyd just as soon forget. Theyre not alone in that respect; wed like to forget it too.
Holmes and Theranos are being sued by investors, customers and Walgreens who say they were defrauded by the charismatic entrepreneur and her flawed blood testing technology. And Stumpf lost his cushy CEO job and gave up at least $41 million in stock because he pushed Wells Fargo employees too hard to meet overzealous sales goals.
Meanwhile, Koh may have cut some corners on quality and reliability testing in an effort to rush Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 out the door. Now he has a botched recall of 2.5 million phones that may spontaneously catch fire at any time on his hands. Lucky for him, 2.8 million recalled Samsung washing machines are not his department.
And had Clinton chosen not to use a private email server for U.S. State Department business and spend months hemming and hawing about it, she might very well be heading to the White House in a few weeks.
Besides a bad year, all four leaders have something else in common. Underlying their troubles is a growing cultural phenomenon that makes it more and more acceptable for leaders to play by their own rules, integrity be damned. What that amounts to is ethics and quality taking a backseat to wealth and power.
It was bad enough when leaders used the ends justify the means excuse, employing questionable means to achieve noble ends. Never mind that. Now its the ends we have to worry about. Of course, theyre still shrouded in noble-sounding rhetoric, but the goals of a growing swath of todays leaders are anything but virtuous.
Tech startups used to be about creating great products, achieving sustainable growth and profitability, maybe an IPO and a company built to last. Everyone wins. Today, its all about growth for growths sake. Popular memes like fake it til you make it and move fast and break things have become euphemistic licenses for entrepreneurs to break the rules.
We now have dozens of wildly overvalued unicorns, many of which are addicted to a cycle of making over-the-top investor pitches with overstated claims and fudged revenue projections to raise more capital at higher valuations. The result is the corruption of a once virtuous process and a private equity bubble that benefits no one.
How else can we explain the way Holmes became one of the most celebrated entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, raising more than $750 million at a most recent valuation of $9 billion, based on claims of a technology breakthrough that had never actually been vetted by anyone?
Sure, she had a vision of bringing real-time diagnostics to the masses at affordable prices from a few drops of blood. But anyone can dream up and sell a far-fetched idea. Without the talent and ability to bring it to fruition, the means can become a slippery slope of deception to justify ends that are little more than fantasy.
Parker Conrad, the hard-charging founder and CEO of HR benefits startup Zenefits, was forced to step down in February when it was discovered that he was helping unlicensed salespeople circumvent state regulations and illegally sell health insurance to businesses to accelerate growth. The company ended up taking a $2.5 billion hit to its valuation.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek has accused Hampton Creek founder and CEO Josh Tetrick of sending out hundreds of overzealous Creekers to buy up millions of dollars of inventory of the companys flagship product, Just Mayo, in an effort to overinflate revenues and raise capital at a higher valuation.
And Jessica Albas Honest Company got nailed by the Wall Street Journal for making products with a chemical it deemed toxic when its labels expressly said they were made without it. That led to lawsuits, layoffs and talks of a sale to Unilever at far less than its once lofty $1.7 billion valuation. Never mind the irony of the companys name.
The phenomenon is hardly limited to the startup world.
Despite discovering that thousands of employees were creating millions of fake accounts to meet his eight is great sales goal (eight Wells Fargo products per customer), Stumpf foolishly stuck by his mission. Why? Thats what hed pitched investors. That was apparently more important than defrauding customers.
In the movie Grosse Pointe Blank, John Cusacks character sites moral flexibility as the attribute that landed him a job as an assassin with the CIA. Not exactly the kind of characteristic you want to have in someone running a big bank, diagnosing diseases, making incendiary products you take everywhere, or commanding the most powerful nation on Earth. And yet, here we are.
Lets hope morals get a little backbone in 2017.
Imagine if buying a car was as simple as buying a can of Coke from a vending machine.
Thats exactly what one dealership is trying to do.
Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia wants to make the car buying experience an easy one. By cutting out aggressive sales agents and a maze of dealerships auto buyers are forced to navigate, Garcia is trying to simplify the car buying process with a vending machine.
We wanted to create an experience that was fun and easy for customers because we thought the experience was what was lacking. So, this vending machine was a way to tell our story, Garcia told the FOX Business Networks Dagen McDowell.
According to Garcia, the process starts with customers choosing and purchasing their car online. The automobile is then delivered to a vending machine in Atlanta, Georgia or Nashville, Tennessee.
We load it in, just like youre loading a can of soda, we give you a big oversized coin which is just kind of fun and then you put it into a huge coin receptacle, he said.
Customers even get a chance to take the car for a test drive.
Every car we sell gets a seven-day, no-questions-asked return policy, he said. It comes with a 100-day warranty, so we like to think the customers get seven days to test the car in their neighborhood.
Federico Trillo will be relieved as Spanish ambassador to the UK, sources at the Foreign Ministry have confirmed. But the same sources denied any link between this move and a recent report by the Council of State , the governments top advisory body, laying responsibility for a 2003 military air crash at the door of the Defense Ministry. Trillo was the defense minister at the time of the tragedy, which claimed 62 lives .
PM Mariano Rajoy (l) and Federico Trillo.
In response to the report, the contents of which were revealed by EL PAIS on Tuesday, Spains two largest opposition parties, the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Podemos, called for Trillo to be removed as ambassador over his responsibility for the crash of the Yakovlev-42 against a mountainside in Turkey.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has come out in defense of Trillo, who is reportedly being relieved along with 70 other diplomats who have served out their terms.
If Rajoy does not offer him a new position in foreign service, Trillo will probably return to Spain
Diplomatic career regulations set out a period of between three and five years for an ambassador. Trillo was sent to London in March 2012, which puts him within this timeframe.
However, this rule only applies to career diplomats and not to politicians like Trillo or Jose Ignacio Wert, a former education minister who is now the Spanish ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
That is to say, the government could have kept Trillo in the post indefinitely.
Trillo could still be assigned to another embassy. As a matter of fact, diplomatic sources said that he was aiming to head the Washington embassy after London, but was beaten to it by another former defense minister, Pedro Morenes.
If Rajoy does not offer him a new position in foreign service, Trillo will probably return to Spain, where he runs a law firm that is currently being managed by his son.
Trillo also happens to be a member in a legal capacity of the Council of State, the very same body that has drafted the report making the Defense Ministry responsible for the Yak-42 crash.
English version by Susana Urra.
Two years ago, department store giant Macy's (NYSE: M) decided to explore the possibility of creating a Macy's off-price business. After years of market share losses to off-price retailers like TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) it clearly made sense for Macy's to try moving into this growing segment of the retail market.
The first six Macy's Backstage pilot stores opened in the New York metro area during fall 2015. During 2016, Macy's further developed its off-price business by opening a handful of Backstage off-price stores within existing Macy's locations. The company has been particularly pleased with the economics of the store-within-a-store concept.
Macy's has started adding Backstage off-price stores to some of its full-line locations. Image source: Author.
I visited one of the stores-within-a-store -- at the Galleria in White Plains, New York -- on New Year's Eve. What I saw suggested that adding Backstage off-price sections to Macy's full-line stores could be a profitable strategy in many cases.
What's in the store?
There was plenty of apparel to be found at the Macy's Backstage store. Image source: Author.
One of the biggest risks of putting an off-price store within a full-line location is that it could cannibalize sales from the rest of the store. Why would customers pay full price when they can find the same items for less in a different part of the store? (TJX has had great success marketing T.J. Maxx and Marshalls as offering department store-type merchandise for 20%-60% less.)
There were plenty of racks of clothing in the Macy's Backstage store. As a result, the full-price and off-price sections of this Macy's store are competing with one another to some extent.
On the other hand, Macy's management has emphasized that the Backstage stores also carry a lot of merchandise that wouldn't be found in a typical Macy's. Toys and home decor have been two particularly successful non-traditional merchandise categories.
Macy's Backstage stores sell toys and other items that regular Macy's stores don't offer. Image source: Author.
Based on the overall merchandise selection and store configuration, the Macy's Backstage store looked eerily similar to a Marshalls store I visited later the same day.
Some deals are better than others
There was a wide range in the amount that items were marked down at the Macy's Backstage location I visited. Two pairs of pants on the same clothing rack illustrate the range of discounts.
The first pair of pants was priced at $19.99 compared to a $36 MSRP: a modest 44% discount. The other pair was marked down to $9.98 from a $59.50 MSRP and had a yellow "buy one get one free" tag. This meant it was effectively selling for more than 90% off.
Some Macy's Backstage merchandise is deeply discounted. Image source: Author.
Even moderately discounted merchandise could make Macy's Backstage an attractive option for many shoppers. For customers, part of the appeal of TJX's business model is that there are good deals available no matter when you shop. By contrast, Macy's full-line stores tend to rely on coupons, a steady stream of "one-day sales," and other promotions to drive customer traffic.
If there aren't good deals available in the Macy's full-line store on a given day, the availability of 40%-50% discounts in the Macy's Backstage could keep customers from walking out and going to T.J. Maxx or Marshalls instead.
Better sales productivity
The furniture section of the full-line store looked like a ghost town when I visited. Image source: Author
The main level of the White Plains Macy's store was fairly busy when I visited. That part of the store features the jewelry and beauty sections and most of the men's and women's apparel. By contrast, the home section on the lower level was nearly deserted.
The Macy's Backstage store occupies perhaps a quarter to a third of the lower level. Given the lack of traffic in the surrounding home department, the Backstage store doesn't have to meet a very high bar to be a better use of space. Macy's management has indicated that, on average, adding a Backstage store to a full-line Macy's increases the sales for that location.
Sure enough, the White Plains Macy's Backstage was quite busy. It was a fairly dramatic contrast with the rest of the lower level. The first floor location has the secondary benefit of providing an exterior entrance from Main St. directly to the Macy's Backstage store, which is prominently advertised on the street outside.
There were plenty of shoppers at Macy's Backstage on New Year's Eve. Image source: Author.
Macy's Backstage seems promising
At this point, the Macy's Backstage store-within-a-store concept is less than a year old. Clearly, Macy's is still within the test-and-learn stage. However, based on my visit to the new Backstage store in White Plains, New York, this concept looks very promising.
Macy's full-line stores already rely on coupons and discounts to drive customer traffic. Very little merchandise is sold at full price. Thus, investors may be exaggerating the downside risk of Macy's Backstage cannibalizing full-price sales.
Meanwhile, with mall traffic on the decline, most Macy's stores have more space than they really need. Installing a Macy's Backstage store could significantly improve the sales productivity of these locations, leading to higher overall profitability.
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Canadian Parliament member and Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Kellie Leitch is calling for the screening of immigrants to Canada, despite much criticism.
All Im advocating for is that when you go back to what we used to do in this country, that we meet every immigrant coming to the country, have a face to face interview, and ask them about Canadian values. I dont think thats asking too much and two-thirds of Canadians, average Canadians, agree with me, Leitch, who has been compared by some Canadian media outlets to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, told the FOX Business Network.
Leitch said the current government still has no plan regarding face-to-face interviews with immigrants, despite a report put forth by the countrys Senate 18 months ago.
Additionally, Leitchwho is also a medical doctorsaid there are issues with access to quality care in the country.
The average Canadian seniors, individuals, that are working hard every day dont have access to the care that they need, she explained. I think that there are some changes we can look to in the future and make sure Canadians get better health care quality.
Female brewers in Denver, Colo. are taking a stand against oppression, sexism and anti-LGBT sentiments by collaborating to produce a series of craft brews that will be released leading up to president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration later this month.
The first batch of Makin Noise: A Pussy Riot Beer was produced on Dec. 28 at Goldspot Brewing. Kelissa Hieber, Goldspot's head brewer and one of the group's key organizers, told FoxNews.com that the goal of the project isn't about promoting anti-Trumpism (though she admitted to Westword that many felt "defeated" and "helpless" after the election) but rather to foster unity among likeminded individuals and beer lovers.
"Despite a kneejerk reaction to assume that an inauguration day release insinuates a protest to Trump, however our only desire for this beer to to insight a larger sense of community and to stand up against injustice," Hieber said.
"Bess [Dougherty, another organizer] and I wanted to use our art form of brewing beer to support some great local charities that are working to protect vulnerable communities in Colorado."
ARE BEER SALES DECLINING IN MARKETS WITH LEGAL MARIJUANA?
All of the "Making Noise" brews are imperial saison's that, according to Heiber, will pack a real punch with an ABV between 8.5 and 9.5 percent. And each of the five brewery's beers has a unique element. Goldspot's was brewed with strawberries; 3 Freaks Brewing's version features lavender; Black Sky's brew has peppercorns; Brewability has the Brazilian superfruit acai and Lady Justice Brewing will have Warrior hops, which are frequently used in stronger IPAs.
A portion of the proceeds will then be donated to local charities like One Colorado-- the Colorado branch of the ACLU-- Planned Parenthood of the Rockies, and Conservation Colorado.
The beverage's name derives from Pussy Riot, the Russian punk band known for their human rights activism.
"For me, this isnt about supporting or not supporting a candidate," Betsy Lay of Lady Justice told FoxNews.com. "Its about showing people that the brewing industry cares about its community."
Lay, who has been crafting beer since 2009, admits that while the beer industry is dominated by men, plenty of female brewers in Denver have been supportive and welcoming. When she first heard about "Making Noise" through Heiber's first call-to-action post on Facebook, Lay says knew she wanted to be apart of the effort.
BREWERY APOLOGIZES FOR 'DATE GRAPE' BEER, ADMITS RAPE CULTURE ISN'T FUNNY
The group's mission statement, first posted on Dec. 6 by Heiber, read:
We felt it necessary to take action and decided to use our art to make our voices heard. We are coming out in support of those most at risk in our community and doing what we can to stand together as a united voice against hate and intolerance. This beer works to combat the hate and oppression while also lending support and solidarity to the fight for equality. We believe in this beautiful community, and we feel it is necessary to work together to protect it. We believe in an America that celebrates its diversity, an America that protects and supports anyone regardless of sexual orientation, gender, identity, race, religious views or immigration status. We condemn the hate that has always existed against marginalized groups, and we will not stand for the new strong wave hitting our country.
In addition to the five main breweries involved, about 40 women, many of whom work as brewers or in other jobs in the craft brewing industry, have since joined the Facebook group and expressed interest in volunteering to bring each beer to fruition.
FOR THE LATEST FOOD & DRINK FEATURES FOLLOW FOX LIFESTYLE ON FACEBOOK
For now, the beers will only be available in the Denver area. Heiber says Goldspot and most of the breweries plan to release their brews to the public on inauguration day with special tap room tastings. They are also trying to get local bars and restaurants to join the cause. Colorado Plus, a brew pub and taphouse in Wheat Ridge, Colo., will be buying one keg from every brewery to do a tap takeover on Jan. 28, with proceeds going directly to the charity ProgressNow Colorado.
Says Lay, "Beer is an artform and to be able to collaborate with such an amazing group of women for a great cause has been really, really amazing."
Chicken eggs are one of the most commonly eaten foods on the planet, and also one of the most versatile. They can be fried, poached, hard boiled, deviled, coddled, shirred, or scrambled, and are incorporated, both cooked and raw, into thousands of recipes. Theyre the glue that holds much of the food we eat together, from brownies to meatloaf, and on top of all that, theyre delicious and nutritious.
But we bet that there are some things that you didnt know about the incredibly versatile egg.
Egg consumption statistics are mind-boggling. Every year, more than 6.6 billion dozen eggs (more than 79 billion in total) are produced in the United States, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that each American eats about 255 eggs per year which is actually down from the 1950s, when annual egg consumption was around 400 per person. There are about 280 million egg-laying chickens in the U.S., and egg farms even have their own advocacy groups, among them the Iowa Egg Council, the Virginia Egg Council, and the New England Brown Egg Council.
Bird eggs have been a valuable food source since prehistoric times, and since then eggs have been an indispensable part of global cuisine, appearing in everything from Middle Eastern shakshuka to Taiwanese oyster omelettes, from Mexican huevos rancheros to Iranian baghali ghatogh, from Italian frittatas to British kedgeree, and from Jewish matzo brei to Japanese okonomiyaki. Their uses really are infinite.
Read on to learn a whole bunch of things you most likely didnt know about chicken eggs. Eggs are one of those foods that you either love or hate some people gag at the smell of them, and others eat one for breakfast every day, like Abraham Lincoln did (fun fact) but you have to admit, eggs are one of the most indispensable foods in existence.
1. The most common breed of egg-laying chicken is the white leghorn.
The breed was first imported to America in 1828 from the Italian port city of Livorno-- leghorn is an anglicization of the city's name. (Fans of the old Loony Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons may remember the strutting, stentorian rooster Foghorn J. Leghorn.)
2. Iowa is America's top egg-producing state.
Nearly 15 billion eggs are produced in Iowa every year, with the egg industry employing about 8,000 workers. Other top egg-producing states include Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania.
3. 219 million male chicks are killed by the egg industry each year.
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If only female chickens lay eggs, then what happens to all the male ones? Since leghorns arent considered viable meat producers (as opposed to broiler chickens, which are raised exclusively for meat production), unfortunately the most obvious answer is the correct one.
4. One leghorn produces about 280 eggs per year.
Leghorns are lightweight and mature quickly, and also dont brood (sit on top of the eggs and behave threateningly toward all who approach), so theyre perfectly suited to egg production. Some produce up to 320 eggs per year. Hens start laying eggs at 19 weeks, and as they get older, the eggs grow in size; thelargest eggs are called Jumbo (30 ounces per dozen), while the smallest are called pee-wee (15 ounces per dozen).
5. You'll exceed the recommended daily cholesterol limit if you eat two eggs per day.
Each large egg contains about 186 milligrams of cholesterol, and the USDA recommends that we limit our cholesterol intake to 300 milligrams per day.
6. Fresh eggs have cloudy whites.
The whites of fresh eggs are cloudy, those of old eggs are clear. Fresher eggs are also more difficult to peel than older eggs, because the air cell surrounding the inside of the shell increases in size over time. While eggs can still be used within three weeks of the sell-by date on the carton, we suggest you use fresher eggs for poached and fried eggs and older eggs for scrambled eggs and omelettes, because the older an egg is, the more it spreads out.
7. Only 1.8 percent of eggs are laid in organic conditions.
We all want to eat more organic foods, presumably, but in fact a very small percentage of eggs are produced in accordance with the USDA National Organic Program standards, and these eggs cost about twice as much as standard eggs. In order to be certified organic, the hens cant be treated with any hormones or antibiotics, and their feed cant contain any genetically modified ingredients or any ingredients treated with pesticides or herbicides, and cant be grown with fertilizers that contain chemical or synthetic additives.
8. Theyre loaded with vitamins and minerals.
While they may be high in cholesterol, eggs are a lot more than just that and protein. They also contain antioxidants that help with eye health (lutein and zeaxanthin), vitamins A, B12, D, riboflavin, folate, and phosphorous, and an essential nutrient called choline, which helps with brain function.
Read on for more surprising facts about eggs.
It looks like many of those old Coca-Cola ads with long-haired, do-gooder hipsters teaching the world to sing or sharing a Coke and a smile.
But the "Open Your Heart" holiday campaign by Coca-Cola Mexico is coming under fire as "faux philanthropy" and an insult to indigenous groups for its portrayal of a truckload of festive, fashion model-looking white people driving into the remote hills of Oaxaca hauling Coke and a Christmas tree as a service project.
The Alliance for Food Health, a coalition of consumer rights and health groups, wants the Mexican government to block the ad, saying it is an attack on the dignity of indigenous people. It also says the ad contributes to the deteriorating health of Mexico's indigenous communities. Mexico is a major consumer of soda and other sugared drinks and has skyrocketing rates of obesity and diabetes.
The alliance said it would formally ask the National Council to Prevent Discrimination to block the ad campaign immediately.
"It's outrageous for the indigenous," said Diana Turner, a public relations person for Consumer Power, one of the groups in the alliance.
Calls by the Associated Press to Coca-Cola Mexico all went to voice mail.
In the commercial, the company says the campaign is meant to "break down prejudice and share."
"This Christmas a group of young people decided to give something very special to the indigenous community of Totontepec (Villa) de Morelos in Oaxaca. You, too, open your heart," Coca-Cola says in the ad.
The commercial says that 81.6 percent of Mexico's indigenous people feel rejected for speaking a language other than Spanish, though it doesn't cite the source.
The ad shows long-haired blond women and bespectacled young men joyously sawing wood, welding and painting before they playfully head off in an El Camino pickup to the eastern mountains of Oaxaca where Totontepec is located. They build a red tree with Coca-Cola lights to the smiles, hugs and appreciation of the locals, who belong to the Mixe community. Across the lighted tree are the words "We will stay united" in the Mixe language.
The commercial on YouTube and its hashtag #AbreTuCorazon (#OpenYourHeart in Spanish) have drawn a slew of critical comments.
"Coca-Cola is working on some genius colonial branding in Mexico with its out-of-touch, racist #AbreTuCorazon campaign," one critic wrote. Another asked: "Why don't you have the people of Oaxaca taking their culture to other countries?"
Coca-Cola responded: "We appreciated you sharing your concerns. We will be sure to pass along your comments."
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A Dominican court has blocked a new law that would have decriminalized abortions for the first time if a pregnant woman's life was at risk, backing a complaint filed by several religious groups.
The ruling issued late Wednesday by the Constitutional Tribunal cannot be appealed and upholds a law from 1884. The new law was scheduled to go into effect Dec. 27.
Critics of the ruling said it will put the health of women at risk.
"This decision takes women's and girls' human rights back to the 19th century," said Erika Guevara, an Amnesty International director. "Its impact will be catastrophic for women and girls in the Dominican Republic who will continue to be criminalized, stigmatized and forced to seek out unsafe abortions because they are denied access to safe and legal medical treatment."
Human rights groups estimate nearly 85,000 clandestine abortions are performed every year in the Dominican Republic, with some 15,000 women being hospitalized in serious condition as a result.
The Constitutional Tribunal expects to issue an explanation for its ruling in the coming days.
Happy Marriage, one of the groups that filed the complaint, said the law violated the constitution, which states that the right to life begins when a couple conceives.
Abortions in cases of rape, incest or fetus malformation remain illegal in the Dominican Republic despite an earlier request from President Danilo Medina that legislators reverse that law as well.
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New HIV cases have been falling in the United States in most racial and ethnic groups, except among gay Hispanic men, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
CDC officials reported Sunday that HIV diagnoses have been declining in many groups, including gay and bisexual white men, heterosexuals and people who inject drugs.
But that is no reason to celebrate just yet. The CDC shows a disturbing uptick of HIV cases among gay Hispanic males. The CDC says the number of Latinos diagnosed with HIV climbed 24 percent between 2005 and 2014.
In 2013, according to the CDC, Latino accounted for one-third of all new diagnoses while only representing 17 percent of the U.S. population.
Eugene McCray, director of the CDCs Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, said the increase is a problem that the CDC has not been able to explain.
"Is it because the prevention interventions are just not getting to that group in a way that's effective?" he told the Verge. "We're going to be looking at that very carefully."
In gay black men, new infections is finally leveling off. The new figures show that the number of newly diagnosed cases in gay and bisexual black men hasn't moved up much since 2010 less than 1 percent. For younger men in that group who have had alarming infection rates new diagnoses dropped 2 percent.
The group accounts for about 10,000 of the 40,000 new HIV cases diagnosed last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which presented the new figures at a conference in Atlanta.
The federal agency's Dr. Jonathan Mermin said the new numbers are a cause for hope, while another HIV expert said they are hardly good news.
"Stabilizing at 10,000 is not a reason to celebrate," said Dr. Carlos del Rio of Emory University, head of a national group for doctors who treat AIDS and HIV.
Government and private agencies have been working for decades to increase HIV testing and promote safe sex and prevention. But del Rio said a lot of credit should go to improvements in medical care. More and better treatment means more HIV infected people have lowered amounts of the virus in their blood, making them significantly less infectious, he said.
The tally of new diagnoses comes from state health departments; doctors and hospitals are required to report new HIV infections.
Last year, HIV was diagnosed in about 27,000 gay and bisexual men, 10,000 heterosexuals and 2,000 injection drug users.
Based on reporting by the Associated Press.
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Mexican health authorities approved the first vaccine to gain official acceptance for use against the dengue virus, which sickens about 100 million people every year, mostly in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The federal medical safety agency said Wednesday the vaccine has undergone testing on over 29,000 patients worldwide. It said the vaccine's manufacturer had proved its safety and effectiveness, but did not name the drug.
In a separate statement, the Lyon, France-based Sanofi Pasteur identified the vaccine as Dengvaxia.
Mexico said the vaccine is aimed at people ages 9 to 45 and will be used in areas where the disease is endemic.
According to a World Health Organization report published in late 2014, the vaccine had an average rate of effectiveness of about 60.8 percent in protecting against the four strains of dengue currently circulating. Sanofi said its vaccine was shown to" reduce dengue due to all four serotypes (strains) in two-thirds of the participants," a figure similar to the 65.6 percent rate reported in a study published in September by the New England Journal of Medicine.
That is relatively low for a vaccine. Common vaccines like those for measles and polio are more than 95 percent effective.
But Dengvaxia appeared to be particularly effective in protecting people from the most extreme, potentially life-threatening form of the disease, known as dengue hemorrhagic fever, which can cause internal bleeding, shock, organ failure and death. That form of the disease seems to hit people who have already had one strain of dengue, and then suffer a subsequent infection by a different strain.
Because of that, Mexico said it planned to apply the vaccine in areas were exposure rates to at least one strain were 60 percent or more.
Dr. In-Kyu Yoon, director of the international Dengue Vaccine Initiative, said the drug "may potentially have a significant public health impact," but noted "we still don't know how much Sanofi will charge."
"It probably will work best in those regions and countries that have the highest rate" of dengue exposure, Yoon said.
Sanofi said in its statement that the drug "prevented 9 out of 10 cases of severe dengue and 8 out 10 hospitalizations due to dengue."
Dr. Cuauhtemoc Ruiz, chief of Pan American Health Organizations' immunization program, said that whether the vaccine will be widely used will depend on a cost-benefit analysis. Countries will have to weigh whether another treatment or simply spraying to reduce mosquitoes would prevent more illnesses and deaths for the same money.
Ruiz added that at least five other dengue vaccines are in clinical development.
Mexico's federal medical safety agency, known by its initials as Cofepris, said the vaccine could help prevent 104 deaths and 8,000 hospital admissions and save about $65 million in health expenditures annually. Mexico's Health Department declined to comment on whether the government would supply the vaccine to those who need it most in the country's largely poor, low-lying southern states.
WHO's report said it was unclear how long the vaccine would protect those who receive it.
Mosquitoes transmit the dengue virus. Symptoms include high fevers and severe muscle and joint pain. There's no specific treatment for dengue.
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The number of Hispanic children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has risen sharply since 2003 83 percent according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Between 2003 and 2011 the number of Hispanic children ages 5 to 17 with ADHD went up from 4.2 percent to 7.7 percent the largest increase of any racial or ethnic group. Despite that, the disorder is still more prevalent among white and black children at 14 and 12.8 percent respectively.
Researchers speculate that the dramatic rise in diagnosed ADHD cases in the Hispanic community can be attributed to two things: awareness and language.
"There could be greater knowledge of the signs of ADHD in the school system and among parents, leading to more parents having their children assessed," Sean Cleary, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the School of Public Health at George Washington University, told Fox News Latino.
This is the first time the National Survey of Children's Health has ever been offered in the Spanish language, which means a whole new population of parents were surveyed who didn't take part of previous studies.
The survey of more than 190,000 children found that reported ADHD cases have gone up overall by 43 percent and that the number of girls with ADHD rose by 55 percent, which is higher than the increase among boys (40%).
According to Cleary, this suggests that teachers, counselors and parents are doing a better job at noticing the symptoms of ADHD in girls. This disorder has largely been stereotyped as something that only boys get.
"The signs and symptoms that are in girls are different. They are internalizing, more than externalizing ... more withdrawn, less [the] verbal aggression seen in a boy, which may be loud, shouting and physical," Clearly explained.
For years, critics have said the increasing rate of ADHD cases is just a symptom of a society that tends to over-prescribe and over-diagnose its children. Professor Cleary believes the alternative of not diagnosing kids in school or when they are younger could have effects that are more dire.
"A lack of treatment can lead to difficulties into adulthood," he told FNL, "specifically related to employment, getting a job and maintaining a job."
Cardinal Norberto Rivera, the Catholic Church's top authority in Mexico, said he has no problem with the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
The cardinal said Sunday that the church has never had a problem recommending the use of "all elements from nature that can be used to help improve health."
He recalled that when he was a child the plant was commonly used for health reasons such as relieving pain, said Cardinal Rivera, who also serves as the archbishop of Mexico City.
Rivera was asked about his views on the medicinal use of marijuana at a news conference.
Back in November, the Supreme Court ruled that growing, possessing and smoking marijuana for recreation is legal under the right to freedom.
The ruling did not approve the sale or commercial production of marijuana nor does it imply a general legalization. But if the court rules the same way on five similar petitions, it would then establish the precedent to change the law and allow general recreational use.
A few days after the ruling, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said he opposes any legalization of marijuana.
"For me, it would not be desirable, I am not in favor of an eventual legalization of marijuana," he said in a speech. But he did say he was willing to listen to other opinions.
An October opinion survey by the Parametria polling firm said that 77 percent of Mexicans opposed legalizing marijuana, while 20 percent supported the idea. The poll had a margin of error of four percentage points.
In the United States, the states of Washington, Colorado, Alaska and Oregon have legalized marijuana use. The South American nation of Uruguay adopted a plan to create a legal pot market in 2013.
Based on reporting by the Associated Press.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday it is investigating a more recent batch of E. coli cases linked to Chipotle, and that it does not know yet if they are linked to a larger outbreak that began in October.
So far, the agency said five people have been reported sick in the new outbreak, with illnesses starting between Nov. 18 and Nov. 26. They include one person in Kansas, one in North Dakota and three in Oklahoma. All five said they ate at a Chipotle the week before they got sick. The North Dakotan had traveled to Kansas and ate at the same Chipotle location as the Kansas resident who fell ill.
The development is the latest bad news for Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., which saw its sales plummet after the emergence of the larger E. coli outbreak that has sickened 53 people in nine states. The most recent illness linked to Chipotle among those cases started Nov. 10.
Each year, about 48 million people get sick from foodborne illnesses, according to the CDC.
Following the outbreak, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. assured customers that it would tighten its food safety standards. Spokesman Chris Arnold said in an email Monday that the chain is in the process of implementing its new programs, which include increased testing of ingredients and training for workers. He noted that even the most recent exposures reported by the CDC are now a month old.
"We have indicated before that we expected that we may see additional cases stemming from this, and CDC is now reporting some additional cases," Arnold wrote.
Chipotle co-CEO Steve Ells has told The Associated Press he doesn't think the company will ever know for sure the exact ingredient that sickened customers in the larger outbreak, but that he believes it was bacteria in fresh food like tomatoes or cilantro.
In its annual report, Chipotle has said it may be at a higher risk for outbreaks of foodborne illnesses because of its "fresh produce and meats rather than frozen, and our reliance on employees cooking with traditional methods rather than automation." Those points of differentiation have long been marketing strengths for Chipotle, which has sought to distinguish itself as being of higher quality than traditional fast-food chains.
To begin its image rehabilitation, Chipotle last week took out full-page ads in 61 newspapers around the country apologizing for the illnesses. But it's not clear how long it will take for the chain to regain its footing, and the company rescinded its sales outlook for 2016.
Bill Marler, a food poisoning attorney who is representing customers who were sickened after eating at Chipotle, noted the chain had also been linked to other outbreaks of foodborne illnesses in California and Minnesota this summer.
And this month, Chipotle closed a restaurant in Boston after dozens of students at Boston College reported gastrointestinal symptoms. Those cases were linked to norovirus, and Chipotle has said they were unrelated to the E. coli outbreak.
Still, Marler noted the Chipotle cases pale in comparison to an E. coli outbreak in 1993 tied to Jack in the Box that sickened hundreds and led to four deaths.
Shares of Chipotle dropped 3.5 percent, or $19.07, to close at $522.01. Earlier in trading, the stock hit a 52-week low of $508.10.
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A Chinese naval hospital ship is making a first-ever call at a South American port in a sign of the Asian economic giant's growing influence in the resource-rich region.
The Peace Ark, with 500 beds and 118 medical professionals, docked Monday at a port outside Peru's capital of Lima for a seven-day service visit. It's the last destination on a three-month mission that also included stops in Australia, Mexico, Barbados, Grenada and the U.S. The 756-foot ship is expected to perform 2,000 free medical procedures during its stay in Peru.
"We're very thankful because during this holiday season they're going to give the gift of health care," Peruvian Health Minister Anibal Velasquez said at a ceremony alongside China's ambassador to Peru.
Such goodwill visits have been a mainstay of U.S. diplomacy in Latin America for decades, the latest being the hospital ship USS Comfort's visit to 11 nations during a regional tour earlier this year. But the Chinese outreach is more recent, having gained momentum as the country's demand for Latin America's natural resources has soared over the past decade.
"It's definitely an approach that was partially inspired or learned from U.S. actions," said Evan Ellis, an expert on China-Latin America relations at the U.S. Army War College in Carlyle, Pennsylvania. "It's like the Boy Scouts. You show up and see who you can help."
While Ellis says the humanitarian mission in what has traditionally been Washington's backyard shouldn't set off alarm bells, the timing of the visit, with the U.S. distracted by unrest elsewhere, is propitious for Chinese aims of gradually expanding its military influence around the world.
"It's not necessarily nefarious, but one does notice what is happening," Ellis said. "It impacts the U.S. position as the partner of choice" for several Latin American countries.
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In the early weeks of Angelica Pereira's pregnancy, a mosquito bite began bothering her. At first it seemed a small thing. But the next day she awoke with a rash, a headache, a fever and a burning in her eyes. The symptoms disappeared within four days, but she fears the virus has left lasting consequences.
Pereira's daughter Luiza was born in October with a head more than an inch below the range defined as healthy by doctors, a rare condition known as microcephaly that often results in mental retardation. A neurologist soon gave Pereira and her husband more bad news: The brain damage had caused cerebral palsy.
"My heart stopped. All I kept thinking about was all the struggles and discrimination my baby will suffer," said Pereira, a 20-year-old seamstress who lives in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, a small, garment-manufacturing city in northeast Brazil.
More than 2,700 babies have been born in Brazil with microcephaly this year, up from fewer than 150 in 2014. Brazil's health officials say they're convinced the jump is linked to a sudden outbreak of the Zika virus that infected Pereira, though international experts caution it's far too early to be sure and note the condition can have many other causes.
Brazil alone estimates it's already had between 440,000 and 1.3 million cases of Zika since the first local transmission of the virus was detected in May. The mosquito-borne disease was first identified in the Americas less than two years ago and has spread rapidly across South and Central America.
"We are looking at the beginning of an epidemic in a country that has in between 200,000 and 300,000 births per year, which shows how worried we are. It's a virus we don't know that much about," said Rodrigo Stabeli, vice president of the Rio de Janeiro-based Fiocruz research institute. "We are preparing for the unknown."
Brazilians are so concerned that some obstetricians, such as Helga Monaco at Sao Paulo's Samaritano Hospital, recommend women avoid becoming pregnant during the rainy season when mosquitoes are most prevalent.
"All the women I see at the hospital or in my office who are pregnant or wanting to get pregnant are very alarmed, almost panicky," she said.
The Zika virus, first detected in humans about 40 years ago in Uganda, has long seen as a less-painful cousin to dengue and chikunguya, which are spread by the same Aedes mosquito. Until a few months ago, investigators had no reported evidence it might be related to microcephaly.
Suspicion arose after officials recorded 17 cases of central nervous system malformations among fetuses and newborns after a Zika outbreak began last year in French Polynesia, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
And in November, Brazilian researchers reported the Zika virus genome had been found in amniotic fluid samples from two women whose fetuses were been diagnosed with microcephaly by ultrasound exams. Brazil announced on Nov. 28 that researchers had found the Zika virus present in brain tissue of a newborn with microcephaly who died.
As more evidence arose from further Brazilian tests, PAHO and the World Health Organization recently urged officials in the Americas to watch for possible neurological problems or congenital malformations elsewhere related to cases of Zika.
While there's never before been a detected link between the virus and microcephaly, "there has never been an epidemic of Zika in the proportions that we are looking at now in Brazil," said Pedro Fernando Vasconcelos, a researcher at Evandro Chagas Institute who found the virus in the newborn child.
International health officials say the link isn't yet proven. A recent message from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said "the association of Zika virus infection and microcephaly and is still under investigation" and added, "It will take time to determine the cause of the microcephaly for the cases being reported in Brazil." It noted there are numerous causes of microcephaly, including genetic abnormalities, infections or exposure to toxic substances during pregnancy.
"One shouldn't just jump to the conclusion that just because it's associated, it is causing it," said Sanjaya Senanayake, an associate professor of infectious diseases at the Australian National University who has studied the virus for decades.
"At the end of the day, it certainly could cause it," he said. "But they need to run more epidemiology studies looking at various groups of pregnant women."
Brazilian officials aren't waiting. Claudio Maierovitch, the director of Brazil's equivalent of the CDC, told a news conference on Tuesday "there is no doubt that the majority of the microcephaly cases (in Brazil) are related to the Zika virus." The Health Ministry announced it would send an army of 266,000 people to inspect every house, farm and business in the country and warn about the risks of Zika.
There are no known cases of infection by the Zika virus in the United States, though it has been seen in returning travelers. Chile, Colombia, Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Suriname and Venezuela have reported cases of Zika, but have found no indication of corresponding birth defects, according to the Pan American Health Organization.
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A couple in Ecuador is making history with a unique pregnancy: The father-to-be is carrying the baby of his transgender partner.
Fernando Machado and Diane Rodriguez announced their pregnancy, believed to be the first of its kind in South America, on social media earlier this month and it's received widespread attention in a continent that has seen a sudden explosion in the rights and visibility of trans people.
Rodriguez, who was born Luis, is one of Ecuador's most-prominent LGBT activists and says she and her Venezuelan-born partner, whose birth name was Maria, decided to publicize the pregnancy to help change attitudes in the staunchly Roman Catholic society. Although both take hormones, neither has undergone gender-reassignment surgery, so the child-to-be was conceived the old-fashioned way with no known medical complications to date.
"We're trying to break the myths about transsexuality," Rodriguez told the Associated Press.
So far, church leaders have remained silent, something that Rodriguez says both surprises and pleases here.
"The church is always criticizing gays and homosexuals for adopting children, so it would be a contradiction to criticize us for giving birth naturally," she said from her home in Guayaquil.
The trans community has made major advances across South America. About six months ago, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos issued a decree allowing individuals to change their gender on the national ID cards with little more than a trip to a public notary. To date, at least 340 people have made the switch.
Argentina has gone even further with legislation guaranteeing free hormone treatment and gender reassignment surgery.
However, trans people still face widespread discrimination in the region. Between 2008 and 2011, 79 percent of the murders of transgender people reported throughout the world took place in Latin America, with a total of 664 cases, according to a study by the International AIDS Alliance.
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The runner-up to one of Brazils largest beauty pageants has reportedly died after getting cosmetic surgery to remove wrinkles on her face.
According to the Daily Mail, model Raquel Santos of Rio de Janeiro suffered a heart attack after having fillers injected into her face on Monday.
The 28-year-old, who was a finalist in the popular Musa do Brasil competition in December, reportedly used an illegal horse medicine which she injected daily before workouts as a performance enhancer. Police are investigating if it might have contributed to her death.
Police reportedly interrupted Santos funeral and removed the body for further examination after claims the models death certificate had been wrongly completed, the Daily Mail reported.
The Potenay drug, which contains a cardio-respiratory stimulant, is being increasingly used in Brazil by bodybuilders for muscle gain.
According to friends, the mother of two was allegedly terrified of dying during plastic surgery but was a slave of vanity so she did every procedure imaginable.
She was very concerned about her looks, her friend Debora Azevedo told Brazils G1 website, according to the Daily Mail. She would go off and have procedures without telling her friends so we wouldnt fight with her.
She continued: She was terrified of dying during surgery. But she did it anyway, that was how much she was obsessed with looking good. And she did every aesthetic procedure imaginable, from artificial tans to lymphatic drainage.
Azevedo said her friend was so vain and worked out religiously.
She was as addicted to working out as she was to plastic surgery, she added.
Wagner Moraes, the plastic surgeon who did Santos surgery, insisted that the procedure was not the cause of her death.
'It was a simple procedure which lasted two minutes, he said. The big problem is that she was already suffering health complications, applying Potenay to her body every day, including on the day of the surgery.'
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A pill routinely prescribed for morning sickness may not be an effective nausea remedy, researchers say - although not all doctors agree.
The warning comes from researchers who conducted a new analysis of a previously unpublished trial that was used to win marketing approval for the drug in the U.S. and Canada.
The drug, pyridoxine-doxylamine, is sold as Diclegis in the U.S. and Diclectin in Canada. It has been taken by millions of pregnant women since it was developed in the 1970s, researchers note in PLOS One. An older version of the medicine with an additional ingredient has been used as far back as the 1950s.
For the current study, researchers reviewed data from a decades-old trial and found little evidence that the medicine is effective, said study co-author Dr. Navindra Persaud, a researcher at St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto in Canada.
"This medication is recommended as the first-line treatment for nausea and vomiting during pregnancy," Persaud said by email. "We now have more information about this 1970s study that should make us question whether this medication should have been approved and whether it was ever proven to be effective."
The original trial in the 1970s was designed to determine if the drug could alleviate morning sickness in the first trimester of pregnancy.
To see if those results proved the drug effective, Persaud and co-author Dr. Rujun Zhang of the University of Toronto examined 36,000 pages of documents from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, including the original study report, the protocol and summary results, and other documents from Health Canada.
About 2,300 pregnant women participated in the original trial at 14 clinics in the U.S., the researchers found. All of the women were experiencing nausea and vomiting in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Women were randomly assigned to eight treatment groups, including one that received a placebo or dummy pill and seven that received a variety of drugs including the combination currently sold as Diclectin.
Each participant was asked to take two tablets a day at bedtime and one additional pill in the afternoon as needed for one week.
Based on data from 1,599 women who completed the study, participants were 14 percent more likely to report treatment was moderate or excellent with Diclectin than with placebo, the new analysis found.
But this finding may not be reliable because the final study results aren't available and 37 percent of participants in the placebo group dropped out before the study ended, researchers note in the current analysis.
In the new analysis, researchers also couldn't see how physicians scored symptoms. And, data for 30 patients recruited in the original trial were excluded from analysis by regulators because there were data recorded without a record of patient visits, the new study notes.
Persaud wasn't able to contact any of the original researchers, and many of them may have died.
Still, Persaud said women prescribed this drug should stop taking it and speak to their doctors about other options to treat morning sickness.
But not all doctors agree with this assessment.
"Studies that have been done since this trial was completed in the 1970s show that doxylamine and pyridoxine are an effective treatment for nausea and vomiting in pregnancy," said Dr. Siripanth Nippita, a researcher at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston who wasn't involved in the current analysis.
"Based on research involving over 200,000 women, we can say that doxylamine and pyridoxine are safe to take during pregnancy," Nippita added by email. "They can be an important part of treatment for nausea and vomiting."
A new law in France bans spanking of children, making it the 52nd country to prohibit the practice.
The law, known as the "equality and citizenship bill," was passed in France on Dec. 22, according to Marta Santos Pais, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Violence against Children. It forbids "all cruel degrading or humiliating treatment, including corporal punishment," by parents, according to the SRSG.
The ban falls under the country's civil law, which means that people who break the law will not face criminal charges.
"This law is a very strong symbolic act to make parents understand just how all violence can be harmful for the child," Dr. Gilles Lazimi, who led an anti-spanking campaign for the Foundation for Childhood in France, was quoted as saying by the Telegraph. "Above all, it removes the notion of a threshold: There is no small or big violence. There is violence, full stop."
A growing body of research suggests that spanking poses risks to children. A 2016 analysis of more than 50 years of research found that children who are spanked are more likely to defy their parents, develop mental health problems and show antisocial behavior and aggression.
Most countries in Europe now ban spanking, with the exception of the United Kingdom, Italy, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, the Telegraph said. The United States allows spanking.
Original article on Live Science.
An Ohio toddler whose three-year fight against an abnormally large birth mark that caused her heart to slow and her blood pressure to drop is improving after surgeons successfully operated on the mass, called a hemangioma, in December.
Brianna Brewers recovery is in large part thanks to her mother, Holliana Lockhart, who haphazardly posted about her daughters condition on Facebook, and Dr. Linda Rozell-Shannon, president and founder of the Vascular Birthmarks Foundation (VBF), who took notice. Briannas struggle began when she was only 2 weeks old, at which point Lockhart noticed a birthmark developing inside her daughters mouth.
Two weeks later, doctors at Nationwide Childrens Hospital in Columbus diagnosed Brianna with an Infantile Hemangioma and placed her on propranolol to halt the marks growth. Lockhart and her husband, Robert, had been petitioning for their daughter to undergo surgery to remove the hemangioma, but doctors resisted due to Briannas age and the delicate nature of hemangiomas.
According to VBF, about 30 percent of hemangiomas are visible at birth, while the remaining 70 percent present one to four weeks afterward. About 83 percent of these birthmarks appear on the head and neck area, with the average growth period of up to 18 months. According to VBF, regression of hemangiomas, a process known as involution, can take between three to 10 years.
Even at two weeks, it was twice the size it shouldve been, but at her age, it had complications, Lockhart told FoxNews.com. Her heart could slow down; her blood pressure would drop so low, she would pass out.
An early hospitalization resulted in a dose of propranolol every six hours and follow-up instructions to monitor Brianna for blue lips, slowing heart rate or any other symptoms that could be related to the birthmark, as well as strict instructions not to administer the medicine in case of an illness.
In the beginning, we saw a lot of improvements, it looked like it had shrunk from the time she was in the hospital, but the problem was she was sick, Lockhart said. In southern Ohio, it gets cold during winter, and I have two other children we passed the plague around all the time.
Without the medicine, Briannas hemangioma grew at a rapid pace, undoing all the progress propranolol had made, Lockhart said. Meanwhile, Brianna was missing growth milestones due to the hemangiomas size. Her mouth was so swollen that her top teeth couldnt come in, and she formed an under-bite. She also struggled with speech because her lips couldnt properly close, and she struggled to fit a spoon in her mouth during feedings.
Lockhart said doctors left Briannas surgical fate in the opinion of a pathologist, who determined development delays not the hemangioma were the source of Briannas struggles. Lockhart sought to enroll Brianna in an early education program believing that if she had developmental delays, early intervention would help. During a tour of the school, Lockhart said an incident with another child who reacted negatively to Briannas appearance left her in tears and she sought support from a Facebook group.
I made a post [on Facebook]. I said if this boy said that, then what would others at head-start say, and I cant be there to pick her up, Lockhart said.
Rozell-Shannon, who grappled with doctors for years over treatment for her daughters hemangioma, saw Lockharts post and intervened. Through her foundation, Rozell-Shannon arranged an appointment between Brianna and Dr. Chad Perlyn, a pediatric plastic surgeon at Nicklaus Childrens Hospital in Miami, Florida. On Dec. 7, 2016, Brianna became the foundations 100,000th patient, with the familys medical and travel expenses covered by VBF and the Frank Catalanotto Foundation. Catalanotto and his family are honorary chairs of VBF, and became involved with the foundations work after their daughter Morgan was diagnosed with a hemangioma in 1999.
We are an orphan disease, even though we are the most common birth defect in infants, Rozell-Shannon told FoxNews.com. Because 90 percent [of hemangiomas] go away, the 10 percent I deal with are insignificant, she said, quoting some doctors.
Rozell-Shannon has assembled a team of surgeons affiliated with VBF who perform the 90-minute outpatient procedure on hemangioma patients after an initial consultation. The VBF website also provides information for parents and doctors of patients with hemangioma, as well as outlets for support.
Less than a month after the surgery, Briannas speech has improved, and the swelling continues to subside. Lockhart said Perlyn predicts she will not need another surgery and her lip should return to normal size.
Briannas story is one of the many that provide hope to young patients with vascular formations, Perlyn said. I am confident that this surgery will not only improve her physical development, it will also offer Brianna and her family a better social and emotional quality of life.
As a Latina I grew up at a time when signs read, No dogs, Negros or Mexicans Allowed. I was not permitted to eat my lunch in the first grade because I spoke Spanish in the cafeteria.
Thankfully, signs barring people of color are no longer acceptable and, despite these beginnings, I earned a doctorate, a career in higher education and I work helping to prepare people to serve in top administration, including college presidents.
Unless we commit to developing new leaders of color, we become complicit in maintaining the status quo. Instead of tearing down young change agents, let's nurture their talent and prepare them for leadership in nonprofits, business, government and education. Sofia Martinez Ramos
Yet the barriers that people of color experience in higher education and other places are just as damaging. The lack of representation at the top policy-making positions leads institutions to develop budgets, policies, and strategic plans for us, about us, but without us.
Emerging student leaders are providing an important but missing voice about many important issues on college campuses. Hailed by some and criticized by others, students of color are stirring a debate on leadership tactics, but we must also consider what leaders should look like.
In Missouri, Jonathan Butler's seven-day hunger strike led to the resignation of his university president. In Arizona, amidst a contentious divide regarding an impending ban of Ethnic Studies, students organized, protested and filed a lawsuit in 2011.
Among these student protesters are the types of leaders that should become college presidents.
The available data provides clear evidence of the distinct lack of voice and representation of people of color at the top ranks of colleges and universities. Their numbers and proportion in policy-making positions continue to trail behind their white counterparts and result in a lack of cultural sensitivity and competency where it matters most.
Court challenges continue to gut affirmative action and key programs, effective at producing faculty and administrators of color. After providing the majority opinion in Grutter v. Bollinger Sandra Day OConnor said, The Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.
She believed population diversity increases would bring equity, but 12 years have passed and in many ways we have moved backwards.
In U.S. colleges and universities, the numbers tell a compelling story. Comparison data from the two most recent ACE reports on college presidents found racial diversity declined from 14 percent in 2006 to 13 percent in 2011. This number is inflated because it includes Minority Serving Institutions, which, when removed, presidents of color representation drops to 9 percent. The ACE survey also showed Hispanics, at 3.8 percent of all presidents, had declined almost 1 percent (0.7) between 2006-2011.
In positions believed to be part of the pipeline to the presidency, people of color also declined. In Chief Academic Officer (CAO) positions, African-Americans went from 3.7 to 2.3 percent, Asian-Americans from 3.7 to 2.4 percent, and Hispanics from 1.5 to 0.8 percent in 2013.
Women are making strides. In 1986 just 10 percent of college presidents were women, while today 26 percent of institutional leaders are female. Women in senior leadership positions increased from 40 to 43 percent overall, with 41 percent of female CAOs, 72 percent of chiefs of staff, 28 percent of academic deans and 36 percent of executive vice presidents.
Colleges and universities proclaim commitment to diversity, setting up committees and offices meant to diversify the institution. Yet, formidable hurdles continue to thwart success, including a lack of advanced degree and faculty pipelines, lack of comprehensive institutional support, unconscious bias and the need for specialized knowledge and experience.
Efforts to diversify higher education have had considerable success. For example, over the past 50 years, the Ford Foundation nurtured the growth of at least 14 fellows who became university presidents or provosts, and at least 23 vice presidents or vice provosts. More than 5,000 students got fellowships to pursue graduate degrees.
Juliet Garcia, a Ford Fellow, was the first Latina to serve as a university president in the nation at UT- Brownsville. This trailblazer explained, There is nothing wrong with the human capital in a minority population. The difference is having the opportunity to fulfill it.
Strides have been made but the numbers are a clear call to action. Unless we commit to developing new leaders of color, we become complicit in maintaining the status quo. Instead of tearing down young change agents, let's nurture their talent and prepare them for leadership in nonprofits, business, government and education.
Coloradans know all too well the importance of the environment for our states tourism industry and the jobs it supports. But our families health is also deeply intertwined with the state of our environment. Hispanics suffer disproportionately from the carbon pollution that fuels the problem. For us, climate change is not a distant future event its affecting us now.
As the worlds leaders gather in Paris to discuss a coordinated global agreement to roll back climate change, we need to keep in mind the immediacy of this issue for our community.
[The Clean Power Plan] is a solid, commonsense plan that will benefit our community and will translate into healthier children and families in Colorado. It provides states with the flexibility to implement a plan that makes sense for their own energy needs, as well as their particular geographic and economic realities. Chaz Tedesco
The American Lung Associations most recent State of the Air report listed Denver as the 13th most smog-polluted city in the nation. Adams County, where I serve as county commissioner, has a power plant, located in Globeville, one of our poorest neighborhoods and a heavily Latino area. For a long time, when this plant relied on coal, the air in that neighborhood was heavily polluted. When researchers compare where Hispanics live and the incidence of respiratory illnesses, the correlation is clear.
That is why I testified last month at an Environmental Protection Agency hearing on the Clean Power Plan, which seeks to cut carbon emissions 32 percent by the year 2030 and to reverse the dangerous effects of climate change, including exacerbated smog and other air quality issues.
It is an understatement to say this plan is vital for the Latino community. For my constituents in Globeville, and more than half of all Hispanics in this country, addressing and limiting climate change is critical to our health and well-being. From a geopolitical standpoint, this plan gives President Obama the moral high ground to ask other nations to also make significant reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions.
But its also the right thing to do for our population. Half of all Latinos in America live in the areas with the nations worst air quality. The effects of coal-fired plants close to an urban population are real. Latinos are 60 percent more likely to visit the hospital for asthma and Hispanic children are 40 percent more likely to die from asthma attacks compared to non-Hispanic whites, according to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health.
This statistic mirrors the reality of Globeville compared to other metro Denver residents, people living in Globeville are more likely to suffer from chronic health conditions, such as asthma. And among those, the most affected are children. Thankfully, the Globeville plant recently converted to natural gas, which is less polluting. Sadly, that is not case in many other Latino communities around the nation.
Coal plants are the nations top source of carbon pollution. Coal is a leading cause of smog, acid rain and toxic air pollution. Some pollution can be significantly reduced with safeguards, but most coal plants have not installed these technologies. The Clean Power Plan would make the air Latinos breathe significantly cleaner.
That is why I expressed my full support for the Clean Power Plan at the hearings last month. It is a solid, commonsense plan that will benefit our community and will translate into healthier children and families in Colorado. It provides states with the flexibility to implement a plan that makes sense for their own energy needs, as well as their particular geographic and economic realities.
If not for this plan, our communities and children will continue breathing dirty air. However, climate deniers are already working to stop this plan. Sadly, our own Attorney General in Colorado is trying to gum up its implementation by filing a lawsuit, even though our governor says the state will, and should, implement the Clean Power Plan because it will help the state economy and improve the health of our residents.
Not taking action only helps the big polluters, who make millions of dollars at the expense of our communitys health.
Aside from very tangible health costs of inaction, there are real economic costs. Colorados Latino community will drive a significant portion of the states projected population growth, according to 2015 Colorado Climate Change Vulnerability Study. This also means economic growth. But health care costs could dampen it.
The study also said that Colorados tourism industry which is a major state employer, bringing in between $8.5 and $15 billion annually is likely to suffer as climate change fuels extreme weather, temperature extremes and lower.
These are all reasons why Latinos need climate change policies now. In Paris, it is our economys health, and most important of all, the health of our children, that are at stake.
It was on this day in 1989 that the U.S. and the Soviet Union came to terms on ending the Cold War. It happened off the coast of Malta, where President George Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev were meeting and it culminated with statements by both leaders signaling the end alas.
President Bush was picking up where Ronald Reagan had left off when he came to terms on the issue of arms control, to which both nations were willing to agree.
For his part, Gorbachev wanted desperately to move on from the hostilities so he could spend more time and resources pursuing his domestic reform agenda.
The U.S. media coverage of the vicious and undeniably newsworthy Paris attack has dwarfed the coverage of the Russian plane shot down by ISIS, the attacks by Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the daily carnage in places like San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Rick Sanchez
But what made the end of the Cold War possible wasnt so much about arms controls or domestic agendas as much as it was about honesty and acceptance, because the Cold War was more than anything else about fear, a mutual fear that was at times neither rational nor honest. And it wasnt until the U.S. media and the people of both the United States and Soviet Union were willing to courageously and honestly put aside that fear that both countries were able to move forward.
Essentially, the Cold War ended because we wanted it to end.
Compare that to today in our battle with ISIS, and what we see and hear is an entirely different scenario. While Americans in 1989 were willing to begin to put away their fears, Americans today seem to approach all matters relating to our dealings in the Middle East with an immovable foundation of dread.
Its a fear that is unfortunately being stoked both in our media and in our politics. It is why two weeks into the tragedy in Paris, TV news presenters are still there live reporting breathlessly about the next attack. Viewers are not allowed to move on, nor are they provided perspective.
Perspective is about facts. Its also about contrast and comparison. The U.S. media coverage of the vicious and undeniably newsworthy Paris attack has dwarfed the coverage of the Russian plane shot down by ISIS, the attacks by Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the daily carnage in places like San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
American media consumers are denied perspective and facts like these: almost 100 more people were killed in the plane shot down over Egypt than were murdered in Paris; Boko Haram has killed more people than ISIS; and San Pedro Sula is the most dangerous city in the world, a place where women and children are slain daily by the cartels who produce the drugs that are generally consumed in the U.S.
We seem to be told that those news stories shouldnt scare us as much as ISIS, but they should. Each should provide us with the perspective to help us understand that dealing with a dangerous world involves more than fear, because all lives matter.
On this day in 1989, rationality and honesty won out over irrationality and fear. Can the media and our politicians allow us to look beyond the bogeyman under our bed? Can we muster that same level of comparative, sober rationality again? I pray we can, because we must.
My maternal grandfather was born in 1901 to the Ovalle family and raised in the Mexican border town of Piedras Negras, just across the Texas border. He had his first job at age 10. After school and in the summer, my grandfather and his three brothers sold homemade candies, known as "leche quemada," on the town's downtown streets.
That early work experience, no doubt, played an important role throughout his life. In the mid-1920s, my grandfather moved to Texas with his new bride, learned the construction trade, and eventually started his own construction business in San Antonio.
If America is to remain competitive, innovative, and vibrant over the next century, we must recognize the growing importance of Hispanics in the nations labor market and must be willing to remove the tax and regulatory barriers that undermine small business formation and expansion. Would-be Hispanic entrepreneurs stand ready to succeed or fail on their own merits. Naomi Lopez Bauman
That entrepreneurial tradition has been, for many, the pathway to the American dream. But recent research suggests that occupational licensing, particularly in areas such as the construction industry, could be disproportionately affecting prospects for would-be Hispanic entrepreneurs.
The reach and impact of these state-level regulations cannot be over-stated. Take the Green sisters, ages 7 and 8, of Overton, Texas. These children recently ran afoul of Texas health code laws when they sold lemonade without the proper permit. The police chief ordered the girls to shut down the stand. While these types of laws might protect the public from "cooties," customers are probably not overly-concerned with the health risks associated with unlicensed lemonade vendors.
In the construction industry, 28 states license who can paint according to 2012 study from the Institute for Justice. In New Mexico, for example, painting is building specialty requiring two years of work experience and costing about $250 in application, testing and licensing fees. Florida and Texas do not require occupational licenses for commercial/general painters.
Indeed, it is difficult to imagine that my grandfather would have the same success if he were starting his businesses today. While there has been a growing interest in the role that Hispanics play in small business formation, little work has been done on entrepreneurial activity on the state level. Using data from the Kaufman Foundation and the Institute for Justice, as well as previous research from the Goldwater Institute, a recent analysis examines state-level occupational licensing in the construction industry.
The study focused on three states Florida, New Mexico, and Texas which all have significant Hispanic populations and relatively large concentrations of Hispanic-owned businesses. In 1997, these three states all had Hispanic populations that were 20 percent or more of their total populations. Hispanic-owned firms also accounted for 20 percent or more of the total firms. But these states had disparate rates of Hispanic entrepreneurial activity.
While many factors affect entrepreneurship, this new research suggests that state-level occupational licensing in the construction industry, where Hispanic workers and Hispanic-owned firms are concentrated, creates barriers to entry for Hispanics through educational requirements and/or increases the capital requirements to start a construction business and may be dampening entrepreneurial activity for would-be Hispanic entrepreneurs.
According to one recent estimate, there are now 3.2 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S., comprised primarily of small businesses. In the coming decades, Americas economic growth will likely increasingly rely on Hispanics' continued contributions to the entrepreneurial economy. This is a promising trend that can continue to positively impact the nation's job growth and economic well-being.
That is why policymakers should carefully examine the utility of the government-created obstacles that increase the barriers to entry to entrepreneurship; especially those that disproportionately tend to discourage Hispanic entrepreneurship. In particular, occupational licensing should be evaluated and removed in those instances where there is no compelling public safety interest.
If America is to remain competitive, innovative, and vibrant over the next century, we must recognize the growing importance of Hispanics in the nations labor market and must be willing to remove the tax and regulatory barriers that undermine small business formation and expansion. Would-be Hispanic entrepreneurs stand ready to succeed or fail on their own merits. They are more than up to the task.
The spirit that motivated my grandfather to sell leche quemada in Piedras Negras and search for "La Tierra Prometida" (the Promised Land) is still alive today. The only question is whether policymakers will seek to unleash this entrepreneurial potential or continue to dampen it.
Millions of Venezuelans defied government intimidation and fearmongering on Sunday, voting for candidates from the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) in legislative elections. Voter participation reached 74 percent. The result: after 16 years of Chavismo dominance in the National Assembly, the opposition has at least won a majority of seats in the 167-member legislative body.
Caracas swarmed with anxiety in waiting for the first official results to be released. Just after midnight, the National Electoral Council declared that MUD candidates received at least 99 seats while the governments United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) secured 46 seats. Who wins the remaining 22 seats will determine the degree of actual power for the opposition.
Momentum is with the opposition. It must now show that it can effectively govern for the presidency to one day be in its reach. Jason Marczak
Expectations of a government defeat were high going into the vote. Pre-election polls predicted the opposition would walk away with a 20 percentage point victory. What is impressive about this opposition win is it was done despite all the levers of the state apparatus working overtime to try to eke out a PSUV victory.
The elections may have been relatively fair on voting day, but the weeks and months leading up to it were rife with manipulation of the democratic process. Public resources were doled out to essentially buy votes, favorable press coverage was only given to PSUV candidates, voting cards were designed to confuse opposition voters, and prominent candidates barred from the ballot.
Still, the end result is that ten years after mistakenly boycotting these elections, opposition candidates now technically hold a number of powers once they take office on January 5, 2016. For one, holding at least the simple majority, they can choose new leadership in the National Assembly. The constitution also gives the majority the right to approve an amnesty law, which would free Leopoldo Lopez and other prominent politicians in jail or under house arrest. Budget approval would also technically fall to the opposition.
In the likely scenario the MUD secures two more seats, it wins a qualified majority by holding three-fifths of the National Assembly. Thats significant as it would allow for the opposition coalition to revoke presidential decrees and to censure and remove certain government officials. With 112 seatsa scenario the MUD says is within reachthe oppositions powers increase substantially including giving it the ability to modify organic laws, amend the constitution, and even call for a constituent assembly.
But this list of new powers assumes two things. First, that the opposition will stay united when in the National Assembly. One of the top roadblocks to the opposition wresting any control from chavismo has historically been the opposition itself. It is a coalition that unifies a variety of interests and strategies, coming together at key moments but then splintering when times get tough. Now in control, the pressure is even greater to keep the coalition together.
Second, and even more significant, it is uncertain whether the state apparatus will truly share powers with a chamber that can no longer be counted on to simply rubber stamp policies. The PSUV has near total control of the state and wants to keep it that way.
On election night, President Nicolas Maduro was conciliatory, giving the illusion of true democracy to try to silence international critics. How long will that last?
He is increasingly isolated in the region. With the inauguration of President-elect Mauricio Macri in Argentina on December 10who has called for Venezuela to be kicked out of the Mercosur bloc if it doesnt respect democracyMaduro has lost a steadfast ally. Brazil is also rumored to be privately putting significant pressure on the Venezuelan government to get their house in order. Even the Organization of American Statesa body allergic to confrontationis stepping in, with its secretary general, Luis Almagro, criticizing the lack of fair electoral observation and openly condemning the government for the assassination of an opposition leader just over one week before the election.
The world was watching what happened on December 6. But international attention cannot let up now. The next test for Venezuela is in the weeks and months ahead. Maduro, like Chavez, manufactures crises when times are tough. He did this again in August in declaring a state of emergency along the Colombian border after police were killed. Will he create another crisis as an excuse to reassert authority? That is possible as is PSUV inspired violence in the streets.
Sundays election marked the biggest defeat for chavismo (after Chavez passing) since it came to power. Momentum is with the opposition. It must now show that it can effectively govern for the presidency to one day be in its reach.
The political earthquake in Argentina had a replica in Venezuela on Sunday.
The opposition coalition, Mesa de Unidad Democratica (MUD-Unidad), won both the raw popular vote and a supermajority of two-thirds in the National Assembly.
The excuses of "economic war" and conspiracies did not work. The people held the government of Nicolas Maduro and his party accountable for the deep economic crisis in which Venezuelans see themselves immerse after decades of oil bonanza a fact that renders the suffering unexplainable.
The challenge and responsibility on the shoulders of the emerging leaders on both sides of the political spectrum, after the parliamentary elections in Venezuela, is to start a new chapter in the country's history. Leopoldo Martinez Nucete
Neither the intimidation to government employees and social programs beneficiaries, nor the persecution of key leaders held as political prisoners or the menace of political violence at its worse with the brutal assassination of Luis Manuel Diaz, a regional opposition leader a week before the elections could stop the people from turning out to vote and demand change.
The doubts hovering over a pacific, electoral and constitutional path to resolve the crisis and rebuild democracy in Venezuela, after years of neo-authoritarian populist rule, have been dissipated.
Leaders as Henrique Capriles and other in MUD-Unidad had insisted without hesitation, despite of the critics and cynicism, that it was possible. They were right, and this is probably the most important political impact of Sunday's electoral result.
Chavismo without Chavez is no longer wrapped in an aura of invincibility. Fears and doubts are now defeated by facts, and this empowers citizens and the political alternative to the regime in a way that will show more results as the country walks into governor races in 2016, municipal elections in 2017, and presidential elections in 2018.
And here come the bigger questions: Will the government embrace changes and get the message, or will it continue this self-destructive strategy of radicalization? Can the country wait if electoral results don't translate into actual changes in peoples day-to-day economic nightmares? And will the opposition escalate from this result to a referendum that would call for a new presidential election altogether?
The new parliamentary majority held by MUD-Unidad cannot be used as a political bat. It would be a grave error to not embrace tolerance, especially since one of the big challenges for the new Assembly will be to enact an Amnesty Law that puts an end to persecution for the polarizing events of the past 15 years, and therefore release political prisoners such as Leopoldo Lopez.
Amnesty does not imply impunity, but the reestablishment of an independent judiciary that can provide fair trials, under due process, to the many corruption cases that surround the current government elite. In the political and social front though, a social dialogue must promote amnesty and reconciliation.
The ruling Chavista elite did not realize that while the economic crisis accelerated discontent, it also took their credibility to provide excuses or place blame on others, such as the private sector. The people of Venezuela held them accountable for their neglect to address credible and efficient economic reforms, but also for lying recklessly about why this was crisis was actually taking place. The narrative of the economic war or conspiracy became offensive.
Now a national agreement continues to be necessary and the new majority in the National Assembly must engage in providing the people who elected them, in good measure as a punishment vote to the incumbents, with a path to economic recovery and reform.
The democratic leadership must prevent the Assembly to be reduced to a sterile field for political conflict, unable to influence in the management of a crisis that will worsen in 2016, both in economic terms and in social terms.
The objectives of political amnesty, reconciliation without impunity, as well as a national agreement to re-launch the economy through investment and production are priorities to address the crisis wisely.
There is the potential for a conflict of powers between the executive branch and the packed Constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court, and soon to be former Assembly Speaker Diosdado Cabello has been clear that such a conflict is coming. Thus, the only way to challenge that contention is by unfolding a comprehensive proposal to cure the nation with a narrative and actions aimed at the people who expect much more from their institutions.
In such efforts, one strategic question is how to persuade some sectors of the Chavista ruling elite, not necessarily visible but those whose voices are silenced by the leadership, that their time has come.
In fact, Nicolas Maduros negative ratings are beginning to have an impact over the positive image of Chavez." A set of recent polling data by Keller and Associates, which predicted the outcome of Sundays election, confirms that fact.
At first, amid the decline in popular support for Maduro, Chavez's image remained intact over 65 percent on average, with a peak in 2014 at 68 percent. It is no longer the case. Only in 2015 Maduro went from 33 percent to almost 18 percent, and now he dragged his "political father" positive memory to 49 percent.
Venezuelas 6D parliamentary elections outcome should be interpreted by all as an opportunity to take a turn towards democracy ... or else enter a worse, much worse stage than that experienced in recent years.
The challenge and responsibility on the shoulders of the emerging leaders on both sides of the political spectrum, after the parliamentary elections in Venezuela, is to start a new chapter in the country's history.
Hopefully, if common sense prevails, it will be a better one.
Mike Fernandez is a billionaire. We need more Mike Fernandezs. We dont need more like him because hes a billionaire far from it. We need more Fernandezs because hes a thought leader in our business sector, who is willing to take on the menace of hate and demagoguery that is afflicting our politics.
We cant rely on our media. Its too conflicted to challenge the goose providing them with ratings gold. Neither can we rely on professional politicians. They are too scared to burden themselves with principles not if it means having to engage the schoolyard bully and possibly lose. Frightening stuff!
Fernandezs full-page ad is apparently bothering Trump, because hes firing back. The candidate who has insulted blacks, Hispanics, women, veterans and now suggests that Muslims should be barred from entering the U.S. is threatening to sue Fernandez for I guess daring to not like him. Rick Sanchez
Mike Fernandez is among the most admired and respected business leaders in America. The health care magnate has achieved much more than Donald Trump, because hes built his fortune not with his daddys money, rather from nothing. He is a conservative Republican and hes outraged. So much so that hes purchased a full-page ad in the Miami Herald calling Trump a narcissistic bully-ionaire with a hunger to be adored.
He compares him to historys bloodiest demagogues.
Fernandez, who arrived in the United States penniless at the age of 12, served in the U.S. army, got a job selling insurance, went on to create some of the largest health insurance companies in America and has since founded MBF Healthcare Partners, a private equity firm in Coral Gables, is genuinely angry. Hes as angry as many of Americas business thought leaders when it comes to the damage that Donald Trumps rhetoric and ideas can cause for America. But unlike many of his peers, hes willing to go after Trump.
You have no idea how furious I am with my friends in the Republican Party who have embraced this guy, Fernandez said.
Why is it so important for Mike Fernandez to step up right now against Trump? Cliche for emphasis; because the business of America is business. And while most Americans have been schooled to believe that the only opinion makers that matter are talking heads on TV, Op Ed writers, politicians and entertainers, more often its business leaders who succeed by earnestly following the rules of the free market who direct the course of our democracy.
They understand that the viability of our economy depends not on fear, but on confidence. It depends not on throwing people out, but rather allowing for and attracting new blood to bolster their workforce. It depends not on knee-jerk decisions, exaggerations or short-term solutions, but rather on metrics-based analyses that lead to market growth.
Even more importantly, they are more adept at spotting a fake, a phony and carnival act like Donald Trump, because theyve seen many a Donald Trumps come and go in their respective fields.
Fernandezs full-page ad is apparently bothering Trump, because hes firing back. The candidate who has insulted blacks, Hispanics, women, veterans and now suggests that Muslims should be barred from entering the U.S. is threatening to sue Fernandez for I guess daring to not like him.
In Fernandez, Trump may have met his match, because soon after receiving the letter, Fernandez Trumpishly posted it on Facebook for the entire world to see.
A Cuban exile who struggled his whole life and who unlike Trump, has never had to resort to bankruptcy court to get ahead, Fernandez is still not backing down. Here is part of the statement he provided me today: I fully stand behind my comments regarding Donald Trump.
The problem with Donald Trump is that so much about him is unstable his positions, his rhetoric and I am afraid this country and our world cannot bounce back if someone like him becomes president. The potential damage to our nation and our future could be catastrophic, Fernandez added.
Fernandez is convinced the last thing America needs is another Donald Trump. I would suggest that what America needs is more Mike Fernandezs.
The rhetoric on the campaign trail is white hot, and amid the mud flinging and fact twisting, the American voter is sometimes left wondering exactly what the GOP candidates are proposing. This election cycle has been dominated by discussion of border security and immigration reform, both critical, pressing issues for the nation. Leaving the talking points aside, just what do the GOP candidates have in mind?
Listen to the man and read up on what he is proposing. Youll see as I do that when the rhetoric is silent and the chips are down, theres really only one serious candidate on the GOP stage. Nelson Balido
Trump: The Trump Campaigns written immigration platform describes a 2,000-mile-long wall along the U.S. southern border, paid for by Mexico. From the stump, Mr. Trump has also expounded on his idea for a federal police force that would be charged primarily with executing his plan to kick 11 million illegal immigrants out of the United States. Its worth noting that in 2011, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) revealed it costs the United States $12,500 to arrest, detain and deport an illegal resident. Multiply that by 11 million, and were looking at a $200 billion price tag on Mr. Trumps plan. Thats about four times as much as Congress allocates to the entire Department of Homeland Security each year.
Lets call it what it isor rather, what its not. It is not a conservative plan. Adding $200 billion in new spending when the national bank account is so deeply in the red sounds a lot like something that would come out of the spend-happy Democratic Party. Its also not a workable plan. All logic tells us that another country will not be amenable to forking over billions of dollars for a piece of infrastructure in a neighboring land that frankly is not their priority (i.e., Mexico paying for the wall).
Likewise, the fight in Congress to create a Federal police force would be never-ending; standing up the force would take years; finding every illegal immigrant in the United States would demand an Orwellian invasion of neighborhoods; and there would be a century of legal battles resulting from all the deportations, those legitimate and in error. And most importantly, this plan will not address illegal immigration, nor will it lead to greater border security. The issues that have led to Americas current immigration woes are complex and crosscutting, and they cannot be resolved with a mountain of concrete and a goose-stepping federal police force demanding to see your passport.
Carson: Dr. Carson, to his credit, has indicated skepticism over Mr. Trumps plan. Unlike Trump, however, Dr. Carson doesnt really have a platform so much as he has what are best described as sentiments. He said on CBS Face the Nation that the southern border would be sealed within the first year of his administration. That is as unrealistic as many of the other wild ideas pitched this political season. What Dr. Carson seems to ignore is that there have been legions of people striving for a sealed border for years. All of the previous attempts have fallen short in some way and for a variety of reasons, but that should tell Dr. Carson something. Locking down the southern border is an enormous challenge, and even as political will has sometimes been lacking (notably over the last 7 years), there have been ongoing real efforts to secure the border and were not even close. The details about how a Carson Administration would achieve this enormous feat within one year have not been released (because they probably dont exist).
Meanwhile, Dr. Carson has also floated the idea of a guest-worker program to address the illegal residents already here. While a more pragmatic approach than mass deportation, this also has its problems. For example, the H-1B visa program is a guest-worker program that has helped U.S. businesses compete for the worlds best and brightest in specialized fields (like technology or manufacturing). In some cases, it has also likely granted a temporary job to a foreign worker over an American worker. The cost-benefit analysis on H-1B is a worthwhile investigation, but the Carson campaign (and the GOP writ large) should be cautious in proposing guest-worker programs as a solution to the illegal resident issue: a hardline electorate might not respond favorably to such programs if they come at the expense of American jobs.
Rubio: Sen. Rubio is a more serious candidate with more serious ideas about border security and immigration. The Florida Senator was part of the much-debated Gang of Eight, the bipartisan group that wrote a comprehensive immigration reform bill that included a provision that looked a lot like amnesty for the 11 million illegal residents in the United Statesone reason the House didnt touch it and it died on the Senate floor. Sen. Rubio apparently learned a lesson from this worthwhile attempt at comprehensive immigration reform, as the plan hes pitching on the campaign trail takes the issue of 11 million illegal residents and punts it down the field an administration or two. Theres a perfect example of why Sen. Rubio is accurately pegged as the establishment candidate who will perpetuate the failures of the past. At some point, weve got to stop kicking this can.
Sen. Rubio has offered a glimpse of his immigration proposal, though it falls short of a full, professional, executive-level platform. Nevertheless, in a three-step effort, Sen. Rubio says the first is to prove to the American people that illegal immigration is under control by completing fence building and adding more border security officers and technology. As a part of this, the Senator adds we need to implement an electronic verification system to prevent U.S. businesses from hiring illegal residents (weve been trying to implement e-verify for years) and create a biometric entry/exit system to pump data into the e-verify system (something else weve been trying to implement for years). These are not new ideas, but the reason the Florida Senators platform is immature is that he proposes to do just what everyone before him has tried to do, but he doesnt give us any new ideas that explain how he will succeed where others have not. Its not that these ideas lack merit; its that restating them without adding the all-important details is not a real platform. Its pandering rhetoric, at best.
Cruz: Which brings us to Senator Ted Cruz. To be sure, the general solutions to Americas border security and immigration challenges are well known, and they are issues Ive written about previously. These same issues border security, intelligence sharing, technology infrastructure, biometric entry/exit tracking these and more are present in the Texas Senators plans, but where he sets himself apart is that his plan provides real details and new ideas. Its the difference between a high school book report and a PhD dissertation; one regurgitates someone elses ideas while the other advances knowledge with creative thinking and deep research.
Sen. Cruzs immigration plan is offered in expansive detail on his website, and I encourage you to read it in full. What becomes immediately apparent is that unlike anyone else on the primary stage, the reasons behind Sen. Cruzs plan are as important as the plan itself. That is, his ideas and methodology are rigidly oriented around the rule of law.
Its telling that in our current political environment, being a Constitutional Conservative is considered non-establishment. As a nation, weve drifted farther and farther from a pure adherence to the document that has faithfully guided this country for more than two centuries. Today, we have a president unilaterally dictating immigration law with executive order overreach; we have Senators from both parties proposing an immigration plan that quite simply ignores the Constitution and grants amnesty; we have legions of unelected bureaucrats meting out regulations at a breakneck pace; and we have a furious electorate that just wants to see something anything get done in Washington that doesnt smack of a politburo shooting from the hip.
We already have clear-cut, tested laws that can guide our decisions in what is a contentious, challenging issue. What we need is an elected leader who is more impassioned about the brilliance of the Constitution than the glory of their own ego and interests. As Sen. Cruz said during the primary debate in Milwaukee:
For those of us who believe people ought to come to this country legally, and we should enforce the law, were tired of being told its anti-immigrant. Its offensive. I am the son of an immigrant who came legally from Cuba to seek the American dream. And, we can embrace legal immigration while believing in the rule of law.
Well said. And primary voters agree. In the latest polls from Iowa, Sen. Cruz has rocketed ahead of Sen. Rubio, past the languishing Dr. Carson and within reach of the ever-entertaining Mr. Trump. Sen. Cruz is advancing in other primary states as well, and it is because the Republican electorate is digging in on the issues and finding that the only candidate that brings details and a proven, real conservative record is Sen. Cruz.
And here is an even more exciting detail when it comes to the Cruz campaign. There is a meager 1.3 points between Sec. Clinton and Sen. Cruz in a general election, according to Real Clear Politics, which is closer than that predicted for Sen. Rubio.
For his thoughtful, Constitution-driven plans for border security and immigration reform, his allegiance to the rule of law, the American people, and his very real chance to out-compete the likely Democratic nominee, the best choice for the GOP and the nation is electing Sen. Cruz to be the 45th President of the United States.
But dont take my word for it. Listen to the man and read up on what he is proposing. Youll see as I do that when the rhetoric is silent and the chips are down, theres really only one serious candidate on the GOP stage.
The Latino community is facing hard times. The economy remains sluggish and schools are not improving, putting us at a disadvantage, while priority issues like immigration reform remain stalled. When presidential candidates do choose to appeal to our concerns over such issues, it is important to evaluate both their rhetoric and their record.
We should not let ourselves be deceived about her dedication to the interests of Latinos. What counts are the results, and she has delivered few for our communityeven pulling us further away from the finish line in some cases. Daniel Garza
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently spoke here in Texas, staking her claim to the backing of the nations Latinos. She portrayed herself as a life-long defender of the immigrant community, recalling working as a babysitter for migrant farmworkers near her home in Chicago. She said her passion for supporting the immigrant community comes from watching those families and realizing theyre just like we are. In her telling, that experience made her into a life-long supporter of the immigrant community, one who has always stood with Latinos and always will.
Her actions throughout her career and many missed opportunities to make a real difference say otherwise.
Clintons record shows that she hasnt been a consistent defender of the immigrant community in general, nor of Latinos in particular. The facts paint her as willing to sidestep issues important to our community when theyre politically dangerous. Just last month we learned from former New York Governor Spitzer that her campaign had pressured him in 2007 to drop potential legislation allowing drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants. It presented a problem for her during the primaries, and her staff told Spitzer they want this issue gone.
This wasnt the first time Secretary Clinton was missing in action when it came to defending Americas immigrant community. In 2003 when it was beneficial to take a harder line on immigration she said she was adamantly against illegal immigrants and called for new easures preventing undocumented immigrants from finding work in America.
Thats an odd position for someone who claims to have always been dedicated to helping migrant workers.
We saw her counterproductive actions again in 2007, when the Senate debated an immigration reform package pushed by President George W. Bush. The legislation under debate was a carefully-crafted compromise that had to satisfy many competing interests before becoming law. One such provision was a program allowing foreign workers to come to the United States for two years at a time. But Clinton voted for a poison pill amendment that ended the program after five years, defying the compromise. The amendment passed by just one vote meaning her vote was decisive. Without this program, the bill could not pass the Senate and immigration reform was defeated.
Despite her claims to the contrary, Clinton appears uninterested in long lasting, bipartisan reform, instead focusing her comments on unilateral action.This is doubling down on a losing strategy. One reason immigration reform is not happening is because Republicans are reluctant to compromise with a president who unilaterally suspended legal provisions of the Affordable Care Act, ignored the requirements of welfare reform, and circumvented Congress with executive orders such as DACA and DAPA when he didnt get his way.
Its time for a president who can bring people together to pass needed reforms not someone who regards their political opposition as enemies to be deceived and evaded.
When a candidate vows to go beyond Barack Obama in the controversial use of unilateral executive orders, it moves our community backwards. Unilateral actions have left uncertainty for those affected by them. For permanent reform to become law, both sides will need to compromise. That means working with Republicans who favor work permits and stronger border security. If a president refuses to compromise to get something done, all the promises in the world wont make a difference.
I recall another senator who made promises on immigration reform and who was rewarded with an overwhelming majority in the House and Senate, but frittered away the opportunity and put other interest groups first. Promises were made, promises were broken, and Latinos were left disillusioned. Giving lip service to peoples hopes has been a political staple since the beginning of democracy, but making promises you know you cannot deliver on is just cruel.
Hillary Clinton isnt the first politician to switch sides when it is politically convenient, and she certainly wont be the last. We should not let ourselves be deceived about her dedication to the interests of Latinos. What counts are the results, and she has delivered few for our community even pulling us further away from the finish line in some cases.
To successfully overcome the hard times Latinos are enduring, well need leaders who are with us even when its not politically expedient. Hillary Clintons words may say one thing, but her actions show that shell be with us only when its in her interests. We deserve better.
Last night, I attended the commencement ceremonies at Florida International University. There I was with thousands of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, sisters and brothers all watching a loved one celebrate a milestone.
No exchange made me more uncomfortable than that between former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Donald Trump, which began with Trump getting booed after whining about not getting enough good questions. Bush seized the opportunity and lit into him. Then it got weird. Rick Sanchez
FIU happens to be one of the most diverse universities in the United States. It is a place where more than half of the enrollment speaks a second language. And its also a place where immigration is not an angry campaign speech, but rather a way of life more than half of the students are immigrants themselves or children of immigrants.
Its also a place that has named one of its most important buildings after President Ronald Reagan. In fact, the Reagan legacy and some would say, Reagan spirit is found all over campus.
Was I filled with pride watching my son Robert Francisco Sanchez accept his diploma? Of course I was. But I was also proud and moved by the sense of hope in the air. It was a celebration of light. It was about faith in the future. It was about Americans of many faiths and races and nationalities coming together to share in the promise of America.
Because it was uplifting, positive and inspiring, it actually made me feel good after a long work day. And that feeling stayed with me right up until the time I got home, turned on CNN and began watching my recorded version of the Republican Primary debate.
It was as if someone had switched off the lights and there I was surrounded now by darkness, not because of the late hour, but rather because of the tone of the debate. Can you say ANGRY? If the GOP hopes to win back the presidency, it must find a way to avoid spectacles like what America witnessed last night.
I mean, come on. A couple of polls come out showing Americans are concerned about their security in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting and the candidates go full tilt, sky is falling Chicken Little. Unless you want to be frightened and angry, this gathering of negative Nelsons and Nancys will surely hurt your party in the long run.
If there is such a thing as sounding Reaganesque, this wasnt it. Move along folks, no shining city on a hill here. No call to uphold the principals of morality, self discipline and liberty. In fact, it was mostly about this:
Isis is coming to kill us all
Fear, fear and more fear!
Were no good any more.
Were nothing but losers.
We shouldnt trust anyone.
We shouldnt accept anyone.
When the candidates werent sounding angry at the world, they started up on each other with catfights between Senator Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, which at times made me uncomfortable.
But no exchange made me more uncomfortable than that between former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Donald Trump, which began with Trump getting booed after whining about not getting enough good questions. Bush seized the opportunity and lit into him. Then it got weird.
If you think this is tough, imagine what its going to be like dealing with Putin, Bush said almost chuckling.
I know, oh yeah, youre a tough guy, Jeb, Trump shot back with rage in his face almost to the point of salivating.
It was an ugly scene, highlighting what seemed to me a debate which stoked way too much irrational fear and hate and very little confidence in the future. Pollsters, talking heads and others who are part of the chattering class say thats the mood America is in. Dont tell that to the tens of thousands last night at FIU who missed the debate to attend a commencement, which highlighted confidence and hope in the future. They were in the right place. And as for the debate, they didnt miss much.
The December 15 GOP primary debate was certainly an interesting evening. Donald Trump learned what the U.S. nuclear triad means; Ben Carson talked about Putin when he was asked about North Korea; and Jeb Bush had a hard time making it through a sentence without stumbling over his memorized lines.
In the aftermath of these and other low-lights, the pundits have piled on to express who they think won the night. Some publications have said Sen. Marco Rubio won. Were we watching the same debate? To my mind, the metric for winning should be accurate statements, and Sen. Rubio said a lot in Las Vegas that is just plain false. Two points are so glaring they need to be called out and clarified.
1: Sen. Cruzs vote for the USA Freedom Act made America less secure.
Nonsense. A little background: the Patriot Act, which authorized the federal governments bulk collection of millions of Americans phone metadata, expired on June 1, 2015. It had to be replaced, and it needed an upgrade. On June 2, we passed the USA Freedom Act, which reinstated many of the provisions of the Patriot Act but with two very important improvements. Sen. Cruz explained during the debate:
Number one, it ended the federal governments bulk collection of phone metadata of millions of law-abiding citizens. But number two, and the second half of it is critical, it strengthened the tools of national security and law enforcement to go after terrorists.
Yet, Sen. Rubio just kept hammering away at his talking pointsuntil Sen. Cruz laid out real facts and figures, at which point the Florida Senator intimated that classified information had been revealed. It hadnt. Rubios knack for spin is a perfect example of how he, and quite a few other establishment candidates on the stage, are content with politics as usual.
2: Sen. Cruz will not rule out a path to legalization for the 11 million illegal residents in the United States.
Yes, he does. He said so in the debate, and then the campaigns chair Chad Sweet reiterated it after the debate. Sen. Cruzs 11-page immigration plan describes a thoughtful, strategic, constitutional approach to address Americas significant and crosscutting immigration challengesand nowhere in that plan is there any whisper of amnesty.
Unlike Sen. Cruzs direct responses, Sen. Rubio danced around the issue, eventually admitting (in a quiet tone of humility) that he does in fact support legalization for the 11 million people living in the United States illegally. Its the same view that informed his work with the Gang of Eight and New York Democrat Chuck Schumer on crafting the 2013 comprehensive immigration reform bill, which included a version of amnesty. The bill died on the Senate floor because the House, representing the will of the people, wouldnt touch it. Yet, all of a sudden Sen. Rubios external polling numbers are telling him that his position is out-of-touch with conservative voters, and he is now trying to change his story. Too late!
A Time for Choosing
Every primary and nationwide poll has shown that this is an anti-establishment race. What the nation saw at the December debate was a finer delineation between Sens. Cruz and Rubio, and their remarks exemplify the larger discussion happening across the country.
Folks like President Obama, his heir apparent Hillary Clinton, and Sen. Rubio would like to dictate to Congress which laws the federal legislature will make. They also support overreaching domestic surveillance in the name of national security. Some voters seem to like this.
Meanwhile, leaders like Sen. Cruz are fighting for a balance between security and civil liberties. Amending the law to reflect the will of the people is a good thing (particularly when the amended law improves security and data gathering, as the USA Freedom Act does). The legal process that has served our nation well for centuries is as much the answer to the security-privacy debate as it is to immigration.
Indeed, for Sen. Cruz, granting or not granting amnesty is not the presidents business. Laws are made and changed in Congress. To that point, Sen. Cruzs plan for immigration and border security has one orienting principle (as, indeed, do all his platforms): Follow the law.
Section 4, Article 4 of the U.S. Constitution says that the federal government has an obligation to protect any state that requests it. The states along the southern border have been screaming for support for years, and the next president needs to follow the law and give the states the support and resources to which they are entitled in our republic.
At the same time, U.S. immigration law is perfectly clear on the standard for legal or illegal residency in the United States. If one is not born in the United States or to American parents, if one does not become naturalized, or if ones visa expires and they remain, the law says they must be deported. It is deeply troubling to hear any politician pander to voters with sentiments that fly in the face of standing U.S. law. Troubling in part because it sends a confusing message to the border and law enforcement officers who swore an oath to uphold all U.S. laws.
There is a way to change federal law. The will of the people is represented in Congress, and it is through these representatives that we create the rules that govern our country. Perhaps at some point Congress will change the law but in the meantime, the law is the law.
Sen. Cruz is offering real leadership, not because he is telling the people what they want to hear, no matter what the Constitution says, but because he is holding fast to what the Founding Fathers set down, even when it might be unpopular with the voting public. We are sure to see further differences of opinion and policy between Sens. Cruz and Rubio in the months ahead.
This is an important time for us as a nation. The decisions we make and votes we cast will impact the nature of our country for generations to come. Will we send another quasi-autocrat to the Oval Office? Or will we follow the Constitution and the law?
As President Reagan said, there is a time for choosing. And that time is now.
A year after the Obama Administration began its "negotiations" to restore diplomatic and economic relations with Cuba, it is clear Cuba is getting the better of the bargain.
Just yesterday, U.S. officials announced an agreement that would allow dozens of direct flights between U.S. cities and Cuba, potentially funneling millions of American tourist dollars into the repressive Marxist state. These are millions of dollars that would otherwise stay in the U.S. or go to other Caribbean nations, many of whom have been loyal American allies.
Instead, we plan to inject Cuba with an abundant supply of hard currency, effectively giving a transfusion into the dying economy of a country that has been our enemy for more than half a century.
This government fights no war on terrorism. It falls all over itself to release or trade Islamic terrorist detainees from our Guantanamo Bay, Cuba facility, and allows convicted terrorists like Morales and Chesimard to remain in Cuba. Joe Connor
In addition to its well documented history of antagonism against the U.S., for decades the murderous Castro regime has provided safe harbor to convicted terrorist bomber William Morales and BLA cop killer Joanne Chesimard and others among the 70 U.S. fugitives currently in Cuba.
Morales was the chief bomb-maker and one of the leaders of the clandestine Puerto Rican terrorist group, Armed Forces for National Liberation (FALN), one of the most prolific terrorist organizations ever to wage war against the United States.
Between 1974 and 1983, the FALN claimed responsibility for over 130 bombings that killed 6 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, including the premeditated bombing of New Yorks historic Fraunces Tavern. My 33-year-old father Frank Connor was murdered in cold blood in that calculated, savage attack.
Morales most certainly built the sinister device that killed our father the very day our family was set to celebrate my 9th and my brothers 11th birthday.
Ironically, on what would have been my dads 37th birthday, July 12, 1978, Morales blew the fingers off of both his hands and part of his face when a bomb he was crafting exploded in his bomb factory in Queens.
Morales was captured, tried and convicted in federal and state courts and sentenced in 1979 to up to 99 years in prison but escaped from Bellevue prison hospital with the assistance of white radicals who called themselves the Revolutionary Armed Task Force.
During the state trial Morales had boasted, No jail is going to hold me forever. They can put 1,000 of us in jail. They are not going to hold us forever. Thats what I have to say.
Through a FALN investigation run by the Chicago Terrorist Task Force, Morales was eventually located in Puebla, Mexico, in 1983. When the Mexican police closed in, he and an accomplice killed a Mexican police officer. Morales was arrested and charged with being an accessory to murder. Despite the Reagan administrations request for extradition, the sympathetic Mexican government sent him to Cuba in 1988.
Between 1981 and 1983, 16 core members of the FALN and Los Macheteros, a related group, were arrested, convicted and sentenced to long and well-deserved sentences. Despite my regular communications with the Clinton departments of State and Justice beginning in the early 1990s, demanding the return of Morales, in 1999 President Clinton with the cover of then-Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, infamously granted clemency to 16 unrepentant FALN and Machetero comrades.
Now President Obama and U.S. government officials blather about fighting a war on terror yet they ignore bringing justice to convicted terrorists like Morales and Chesimard.
This government fights no war on terrorism. It falls all over itself to release or trade Islamic terrorist detainees from our Guantanamo Bay, Cuba facility, and allows convicted terrorists like Morales and Chesimard to remain in Cuba. Our family is directly affected by both failures as our fathers godson, my cousin, Steve Schlag was murdered on 9/11 as I witnessed the attacks from my nearby office window having just commuted through the World Trade Center.
Americans must be aware of what is at stake here. We cannot allow Obama to needlessly give away our safety and prestige, receiving nothing in return. If they are serious about winning a war on terror, I ask President Obama, Cuban-American presidential candidates Cruz and Rubio and the other Democrat and Republican candidates, including Hillary Clinton, to join with me in publicly demanding and securing these fugitives return and imprisonment.
Clemency to these fugitives, as was provided to Morales comrades by the Clintons and has been rumored as a possibility, is no option.
My fathers life and untimely death in the name of an illegitimate political cause has haunted my family for over 40 years. Now we have the chance to bring justice to one of the conspirators while furthering our war on terrorists.
My mother Mary told me last Christmas she always hoped she would live long enough to see Morales brought to justice.
This is our chance to grant her that wish.
Over the past eight years we have seen Americas standing in the world deteriorate. The Obama administration has refused to name our enemies and backed away from our allies all while threats across the globe multiply. There is no one better equipped to understand the dangers we face, how to repair our world image, and set us on a path to rebuild our military than President-elect Trumps nominee for Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis.
General Mattis is respected by Republicans and Democrats alike for his leadership and integrity. In fact, it was a Democratic lawmaker from Massachusetts who recently called him a truly moral leader, and noted that on the eve of the Iraq invasion he reminded troops to engage our brains before our weapons, and treat all noncombatants with decency, chivalry, and compassion.
After serving 44 years in the United States Marine Corps and coming up through the ranks, General Mattis knows better than anyone the cost of sending our troops into battle. If you dont believe it, look no further than the heartfelt, hand-written notes he sent to the parents of every soldier, sailor, and Marine who was killed under his command.
This is a leader America can trust to ask the tough questions and to make Americas presence felt by both friends and foes.
General Mattis is the true warrior monk, a student of history with a personal library of some 7,000 volumes.
In partnership with General David Petraeus, General Mattis wrote the book on U.S. counterinsurgency tactics. His formidable talents will bring something to the Pentagon that has been woefully lacking during the last eight years: strategic vision.
General Mattis also understands that the military alone cannot keep our nation safe. His longstanding history of championing investments in development and diplomacy earned him the endorsement of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC). The organization noted that General Mattis values the State Department and USAID as essential to promoting Americas interests abroad along with preventing conflict and countering extremism.
As the world becomes increasingly unstable, the American people will be fortunate to have Jim Mattis leading the Defense Department. He has the vision and he has the strength. We urge our colleagues to send General Mattis to the Pentagon.
Republican Brian Mast represents Florida's 19th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republican Mike Gallagher represents Wisconsin's Eighth District in the U.S. House of Representatives; Republican Jim Banks represents Indiana's Third District in the U.S. House of Representatives and Republican Don Bacon represents Nebraska's Second District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Two more weeks until the new administration begins!
I wonder if President Donald Trump will stick to his campaign promises -- like reducing immigration and slamming consumers by imposing a 35 percent tariff.
Hope not.
But it could have been much worse.
Bernie Sanders wanted to make college free, even though professors say classes are filled with privileged students who party and just kill time.
Both Sanders and Hillary Clinton promised a higher minimum wage and a thousand other new commandments that would do more harm than good.
Every Republican candidate vowed to increase defense spending, even though the U.S. is going broke and already spends more than the next seven biggest nations combined, while half the democratic world freeloads off America's armed forces.
I'm relieved that many of Trump's promises were vague or contradictory. That allows me to hope that he'll only do things that I like.
At this point, I'm in somewhat of an infatuation period, like that afflicting a teenager excited about a new boyfriend or girlfriend.
No, I'm not infatuated with Trump. His magical thinking scares me. What gives me optimism are many of Trump's appointments. He's surrounded himself with people who "get it," who understand the harm done by overregulation and the benefits created by economic growth.
Larry Kudlow as economic advisor?! Paul Atkins, Andy Puzder and Betsy DeVos in important positions?! Who would have thought that?! Not me.
I bet Mitt Romney wouldn't have appointed them.
I also celebrate waking up and realizing that our new president-elect is not Hillary Clinton. We don't have to suffer through more years of progressive sanctimony.
So what will Donald Trump's presidency bring? Will America be "great again"? Will we "have win after win" until we "get sick and tired of winning"? I doubt it.
It would be easier to judge progress had the Libertarian Party candidate won. We could measure whether the party kept its promise to shrink government, cut spending, lower taxes, decrease overseas military commitments, deregulate and butt out of people's private lives.
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, sounding like the Founders of our nation, often answered reporters' grandiose questions by saying, "I'm not running for king." Unlike Donald Trump, a narcissistic bully who often tells us he's "in charge," Johnson understood that decision-making power is best left in the hands of individual citizens.
Libertarians also respect Friedrich Hayek's insight: "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they know about what they imagine they can design."
Will such modesty carry weight in Trump's administration? I'm still hopeful. So are stock market investors. But none of us knows enough to be sure.
I assume 2017 will be about the same as the years before, even with someone as unusual as Trump in the White House.
He talks about "draining the swamp," but we've seen how quickly he can pivot back to business as usual.
Many Iowa voters love the federal government's ethanol subsidies (even though they're cruel and expensive to most of America), so during Iowa's Republican primary, Trump joined the ethanol-praising club. In fact, he said regulators should force gas stations to increase the ethanol they use.
It was a pander to try to take votes from Trump's main Iowa rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who courageously said the ethanol mandate should be phased out.
Trump is a businessman, so I assume he knew that the ethanol mandate is a special interest scam. But in Iowa, Trump just said, "Ethanol is terrific."
I fear that 2017 will bring us more of the same: politicians doing what they think will make the loudest voters happy.
They want us to think we can have it both ways -- that we can reduce deficits while boosting spending on infrastructure and defense and not touching entitlements, etc. That's what Donald Trump has promised.
I hope he breaks many of his promises soon.
Hear us again for the first time! Effective Conservatism and the Republican Study Committee.
The Republican Study Committee (RSC) has been the foundation of conservative policy in Congress for more than four decades. The RSCs dedication to enacting conservative principles in policy should be unwavering and I am honored to follow strong leaders including Vice President-elect Mike Pence, Dr. Tom Price and other previous chairmen.
There is overwhelming evidence to support a hopeful and optimistic outlook for the 115th Congress.
Through a rare opportunity enabled by unified government we can pursue impactful and effective conservative policy. Congress will repeal ObamaCare, deliver on authentic tax reform, secure our borders, and protect religious liberty. Moreover, conservatives will hold the line against proposals that expand government, limit individual freedom and threaten our national security. The stakes are high and the decisions we make, the policy we create, and the votes we take should lead to better law that positively impacts all communities.
Yet, we must also ask the question -- is knowing the right policy alone enough? I believe the day has arrived when preaching to the choir is no longer adequate -- thats the easy road. The worn-out language and rhetoric may be attractive language to our base, but the oft-repeated talking points of individual liberty and personal prosperity falls short in reaching many of our communities. We can do better.
For too long some conservatives have stubbornly refused to modify the approach and voice in promoting and advocating a conservative message and agenda. We have invested poorly in community relationships with a blind eye to the suffering thinking that a better program or a pandering policy would be the solution, even as we know that no government program, however well intentioned, can provide for the authentic needs of our neighbors.
I am growing more convinced that policy alone is insufficient without the right approach and the right voice. The American people are demanding effective conservatism and I am certain that all three the right policy, the right approach, and the right voice can be accomplished.
Hear us again for the first time! Conservatives need to reintroduce our voice, vision, policies, rationale, and principles to all people and communities. Doing this does not require the Republican Party to be a Big Tent party with a purpose only to include more ideas that trample the principles and standards that conservatives adhere to, but this mission is about having an opportunity to better explain why we believe in the things we believe. Through the power of persuasion and winning the debate, conservatives will put points on the board that result in clear wins for the American People.
As RSC chairman, my hope is to lay out clear and measurable objectives with contemporary messaging that communicates our principles of opportunity, liberty, and security. I dont assume that were the first to share such a vision but the American People have afforded us this momentum and we must act with urgency not out of political gain or posturing but rather out of the belief that good policy with the right approach can change America for the better.
Why is the RSC the key to Effective Conservatism? The RSC consists of conservative members in the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives represents the People, and accountability of Representatives to the American People must be strictly enforced by voters, or the will of the people will be ignored.
I believe members of the RSC were elected to represent conservatism. Together, conservatives can make a difference and change the misguided policies and laws that have broken the family, stifled entrepreneurship, and veered away from the Constitution. Liberty. Opportunity. Security.
I understand there are huge challenges ahead. Some would question whether it is even possible to be conservative and effective in Congress. But I have confidence and faith in the Republican Study Committee and the men and women who make up the largest caucus in all of Congress.
We will work to rediscover the path to Effective Conservatism and the vision of our Founding Fathers. We will listen to the American People and implement their ideas into our solutions.
It is not too late to save what has been broken by big government.
It is not too late to reestablish a constitutionally limited government that is efficient and productive.
It is not too late to be heard again for the first time.
The State Department on Tuesday ordered most embassy personnel out of Yemen and urged all U.S. citizens currently in that country to leave over the Al Qaeda threat that triggered the shutdown of 19 American diplomatic posts this week.
The U.S. Air Force already has flown State Department personnel out of the capital of Sanaa as part of the broad evacuation effort. According to a senior U.S. official, fewer than 90 embassy personnel were flown out on a military aircraft.
"The U.S. Department of Defense continues to have personnel on the ground in Yemen to support the U.S. State Department and monitor the security situation," Pentagon spokesman George Little said.
The rapid-fire developments on Tuesday came as two drone strikes killed four suspected Al Qaeda militants in the Yemeni province of Mareb, an Al Qaeda stronghold. The sources said that one strike hit a car with four militants inside, while the other hit a militant hideout. There have been six drone strikes in Yemen in the past six days, Fox News has learned.
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The Obama administration has offered few specifics on the nature of the threat, but repeatedly has said it appears to originate in -- and possibly be directed toward -- the Arabian Peninsula, which is where Yemen is located and which houses Al Qaeda's most notorious affiliate.
The department said in a travel warning that it had ordered the staff departures "due to the continued potential for terrorist attacks" and added that all Americans in Yemen should leave immediately because of an "extremely high" security threat level.
"As staff levels at the Embassy are restricted, our ability to assist U.S. citizens in an emergency and provide routine consular services remains limited and may be further constrained by the fluid security situation," the State Department travel warning said in part.
Less than two hours after the State Department issued their warning, the British government said it had "temporarily withdrawn" all staff from its embassy in Yemen due to the terror threat.
Sources tell Fox News that Al Qaeda could be planning attacks on other foreign offices, infrastructure, and organizations in Yemen in addition to the American embassy. A Yemeni government official had said Monday that the embassy itself was "heavily fortified," adding: "You would need a small army to penetrate the post." In an official statement, the Yemeni government said it was taking "all necessary precautions to secure diplomatic facilities, vital installations and strategic assets."
The Associated Press reported that Yemeni officials were also focusing on the strategic Bab al-Mandeb straits at the entrance to the Red Sea as a possible target of an attack. Officials cited intelligence that Al Qaeda could be targeting foreign or Yemeni interests at the vital Red Sea corridor, which is a main thoroughfare for international shipping but also a crossing point of for smuggled weapons and illegal immigrants between east Africa and Yemen.
The government of Yemen has released a list of 25 terrorists it deems most likely to carry out "operations" in Saana. At the top of the list is Ibrahim al-Rubaish, a Saudi who is described as a spiritual and strategic leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Rubaish was at one point held at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, but was released in 2006.
The number-two person on the official list is Ibrahim al-Asiri, described as the group's master bomb maker. He has been described as the explosives expert behind the botched Christmas Day 2009 bombing of an airliner bound for Detroit and the explosives-laden parcels intercepted aboard cargo flights a year later.
The Yemeni statement said security forces will pay $23,000 to anyone who comes forward with information that leads to the arrests of any of the wanted men.
Fox News has also confirmed that a Yemeni intelligence official was fatally shot just south of Saana on Sunday. The official's death is believed to be related to the latest terror scare.
On Monday, a U.S. intelligence source told Fox News that the terror threat that led to the closure of nearly two dozen U.S. embassies and consulates resulted from intercepted communications between the head of Al Qaeda and the leader of its Arabian Peninsula affiliate.
The confirmation shows just how high the alleged threat goes in the terror network and is the most specific detail to emerge over the nature and origin of the threat. The source said the communications were intercepted between Ayman al-Zawahiri -- who is Usama bin Laden's successor -- and Nasir al-Wuhayshi, head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Asked about the claim, officials with the CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence would not confirm the details of any such intercepted communications.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been widely considered Al Qaeda's most dangerous affiliate for several years.
Earlier Monday, officials with the White House and State Department declined to provide further specifics about the nature of the threat. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney would say only that the threat potentially goes "beyond" the Arabian Peninsula.
Some analysts pointed to the lack of specificity in questioning whether the threat was being blown out of proportion.
Anthony Shaffer, a former military intelligence officer who now works with the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, said this might just be "Al Qaeda pushing our buttons" to see how the U.S. responds.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf pushed back when asked at Monday's press briefing about the possibility that the intelligence was a ruse.
"Without speaking to the specific stream of reporting, without getting into the intelligence on this threat, our folks that look at these things and analyze them always take a very hard look at them to make sure that they're credible ... to look at them to see if they're ... possibly something to throw us off," Harf said.
Fox News' Greg Palkot and Jennifer Griffin and FoxNews.com's Judson Berger and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz and fellow Tea Party favorite Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions have sent a sharply worded letter to the Obama administration demanding the release of the immigration history of the husband and wife responsible for the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.
In a joint letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Jay Johnson, Secretary of State John Kerry and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the two Republican lawmakers said they want "basic information" about San Bernardino shooters Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik along with 72 other individuals in the United States who have been identified as having a connection to terrorism.
"A response is not only long overdue, but urgent in light of a series of assaults, including: the heinous attacks in San Bernardino, California, the earlier attacks on the military recruiting center in Chattanooga, the Boston Bombing, and Congress imminent consideration of government funding legislation that would include funding for myriad immigration programs that have allowed for these events to occur," the letter from the senators stated.
Farook was born in Chicago on June 14, 1987 to parents born in Pakistan and was raised in Southern California. He met his wife, Malik, in Pakistan and the two moved back to the U.S., with Malik using a K-1 visa to enter the U.S.
The K-1 visa is issued to the fiance or fiancee of a United States citizen to enter the United States. CBS News reported that Malik passed a DHS counterterrorism screening as part of her vetting for K-1 visa.
The two were married on Aug. 16, 2014, in Riverside County, according to their marriage license. Both listed their religion as Muslim. The couple had a 6-month-old daughter who they dropped with relatives Wednesday morning before the shooting.
"In our struggle against terrorism, we are dealing with an enemy that has shown it is not only capable of bypassing U.S. screening, but of recruiting and radicalizing Muslim migrants after their entry to the United States," Cruz and Sessions wrote in the letter. "The recruitment of terrorists in the U.S. is not limited to adult migrants, but to their young children and to their U.S.-born children which is why family immigration history is necessary to understand the nature of the threat."
The FBI was investigating the shootings as a potential act of terrorism but reached no firm conclusions Thursday, said a U.S. official briefed on the probe. Separately, a U.S. intelligence official said Farook had been in contact with known Islamic extremists on social media. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
At the same time, law enforcement officials from local police to Attorney General Lynch cautioned it could have been work-related rage, or possibly even a twisted hybrid of religion and personal vendetta.
Farook had no criminal record and was not under scrutiny by local or federal law enforcement before the attacks.
The letter by Cruz and Sessions came on the heels of comments the Texas senator made during a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, in which Cruz said he's worried that the mass shooting in California may be an act of what he's calling "Islamic terrorism."
Cruz told the crowd of Jewish activists gathered in Washington D.C. that "all of us are deeply concerned that this is yet another manifestation of terrorism, radical Islamic terrorism here at home."
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Governors from 19 Western states called Friday for expansion of a program that screens international travelers at airports abroad, in a bid to encourage tourism and stop terrorists before they arrive in the U.S.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock told the Western Governors' Association in Las Vegas that expanding a U.S. government pre-clearance program would serve two purposes.
"First, it enhances national security by keeping potential terrorists from even arriving on U.S.," he said. "Second, it encourages tourists to travel to the U.S. by reducing the hassle and wait times at customs checkpoints" when they arrive.
Security was a key issue for Bullock, a Democrat, and the Republican governors of Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada during the conference at the Four Seasons resort.
But Bullock said the resolution endorsed by governors of 15 of the 19 states, with some ballots still pending, was in the works long before a mass shooting Wednesday in nearby Southern California killed 14 people and wounded 21 at a holiday event at a government office in San Bernardino. The husband-and-wife assailants, who had ties to Pakistan, were killed in a shootout with police.
The governors' resolution asks U.S. customs and immigration authorities to put screeners at airports in Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and England. It notes that screeners are currently stationed at 15 airports in Ireland, Canada, Aruba, the Bahamas, Bermuda and the United Arab Emirates
The governors also approved resolutions calling for federal funding for sustainable forest management in the West, implementation of the 2014 Farm Bill and safe transportation of defense-related radioactive waste.
Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, association chairman, called security the No. 1 priority for governors of every state, not just the 19 members of the association, also including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington.
"You can't think of security of any individual state without thinking of the security of the country as a whole," Mead said, adding that he expected the larger and separate National Governors Association might address the issue.
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval offered prayers and condolences to people affected by the shooting and pointed to preparations being made for New Year's Eve events including fireworks expected to draw up to 350,000 people to the Las Vegas Strip. Sandoval said 1,500 law enforcement officials and the National Guard will be involved.
"We have to be extremely vigilant how we protect our visitors (and) how we protect our residents," he said.
U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell focused during a keynote speech on issues including drought, wildfires, species protection and abandoned mines. She urged states to continue working with federal officials to address them.
Jewell said adopting rules this year to protect habitat for the greater sage grouse in 11 Western states, rather than declare the chicken-sized bird an endangered species, was one example of cooperation.
The nation's top land manager acknowledged the breadth of the regulations created lots of work for lawyers.
"But I will say that it's way better than a listing," she said. "It provides certainty to developers ... states ... and the conservation community as well."
Jewell and Sandoval met separately and reached agreement to use new maps of sage grouse habitat in Nevada to correct inaccuracies that showed the birds living near urban areas in Reno and Sparks stopping plans for a badly needed school and a veterans' cemetery.
The budget-busting cost of fighting wildfires was another burning issue during the twice-yearly governors' meeting.
Robert Bonnie, a U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary, said the cost of fighting wildfires has exploded from about 16 percent of the U.S. Forest Service budget in the mid-1990s to more than half the agency budget in recent drought-stricken years.
Fires this year in Washington state and California were among the worst on record, and Idaho Gov. Butch Otter noted that the so-called Soda Fire in the southwest of his state burned nearly 450 square miles.
States are calling for the federal government to classify severe wildfires as natural disasters for funding purposes.
Bonnie said the problem is that the Forest Service spent $3 billion of its $5 billion budget fighting fires that charred nearly 10 million acres in 2015, leaving few resources for needed forest management, research and recreation programs.
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Univision struck back Friday at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's $500 million lawsuit claiming that it unjustly broke a contract to broadcast beauty pageants, citing his "disgraceful allegations" about Mexican immigrants.
Univision lawyers filed papers in Manhattan federal court asking a judge to toss out the lawsuit Trump filed in July.
The lawyers said Trump destroyed the value of Univision's rights to broadcast the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants when he announced June 16 that he was running for president.
"Trump offended millions during that announcement when he made disgraceful allegations about Mexican immigrants, whom, he claims, 'Mexico sends' across the border to America," the lawyers wrote.
They said his remarks "outraged Mexican Americans, Mexican immigrants, Hispanics, and other Americans of all backgrounds," prompting at least 20 companies and the city of New York to terminate business relationships with Trump and his brand in the weeks after the announcement.
Trump's lawsuit claimed breach of contract, defamation and First Amendment violations.
Matthew Maron, an attorney for Trump, said Univision's attempt to dismiss the suit is "laughable."
"Univision can try to distract the court and the public from the real issues in dispute all it wants. The fact remains that Univision willfully breached their contract, acted in bad faith and caused my clients to suffer significant damages," Maron said. "For this, Univision will pay in the end."
Univision lawyers noted that the network was the leading media company serving Hispanic America when Trump delivered "extreme and controversial opinions on race and national origin."
"Through his diatribe, Trump destroyed the value of those broadcast rights, and neither Trump nor Miss Universe did anything to repair the damage in the aftermath of his speech," Univision's lawyers said in a document signed by attorney Randy M. Mastro.
In January, Univision signed a five-year license agreement for the exclusive right to air the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants in Spanish in the United States.
Univision's lawyers said Trump worsened the damage caused by his initial remarks about Hispanics by saying in the days afterward that his statements were "totally accurate."
Univision announced on June 25 that it was ending its business relationship with the pageants.
"By the end of June, it was clear that Trump's anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant views would be a focal point of his campaign and that the damage done to Univision's programming deal was irrevocable," the lawyers wrote. "Trump shocked the nation's conscience by accusing almost every Mexican immigrant (and many Univision viewers) of being criminals and rapists then promising to become president of the United States on the strength of that indictment."
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On Capitol Hill, it's the establishment's turn.
After months where tea party lawmakers provoked crisis and unrest in Congress, even driving out a speaker, GOP leaders have turned to the business of governing, pushing forward a series of bills destined to get the president's signature.
Major highway legislation and a sweeping federal education rewrite passed the House this past week despite conservatives' objections and are expected to become law. A massive spending bill for every federal agency is in the works, as is legislation to extend dozens of tax breaks worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Negotiations on the spending bill could melt down before Friday's deadline as conservatives push for language barring Syrian refugees and cutting money for Planned Parenthood. Yet after months of turmoil in the Capitol, where conservatives began the spring by provoking a near-shutdown of the Homeland Security Department and ended September by ousting Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, lawmakers are marveling that they suddenly seem to be getting things done.
"It has been pleasant to serve here for the last few weeks, which was not always the case earlier in this Congress," said Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, an establishment-aligned Republican. "Don't want to get too optimistic yet, but it's certainly been a positive change."
The change comes about partly because of timing. The trauma of September and October gave way to the traditional end-of-year legislative rush, when partisan battling turns to compromise as deadlines for must-pass spending bills and other legislation come due.
In the House, Boehner's sudden departure was followed by a month of chaos as lawmakers searched for a successor. New Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was sworn in at the end of October, and has gotten high marks for making good on his promises of opening up decision-making in the House and keeping the conservatives who battled Boehner in the fold.
Other Republicans were simply tired of agreeing to the demands of a small group of tea party lawmakers who derived their power from their ability to sink legislation on the floor.
The best example is the federal Export-Import Bank, which advanced through the House in October despite opposition from GOP leaders pressured by the tea party. Business-friendly Republicans banded together on an obscure parliamentary maneuver that forced a floor vote. Despite personally opposing the measure, Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., acceded to including it in the final version of the highway bill, which President Barack Obama signed on Friday.
Even as conservatives find themselves on the losing end of legislative fights, their thirst for rebellion seems to have slaked and they do not seem inclined to turn on Ryan, at least not yet.
"We all realized from the outset that we weren't going to win every fight, we conservatives, but that we'd get a shot," said Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., a leading member of the hard-line Freedom Caucus. Describing Ryan, Salmon added: "True to his word he's been doing exactly what he said he'd do and that's kind of refreshing."
Some of the bills Ryan is now shepherding were developed under Boehner. The now-retired Boehner had pledged to "clean out the barn" and he signed off on a major two-year budget and debt deal. That forestalled the possibility of a default and set top-line spending levels, easing work on the current spending bill.
Other legislation, including the highway and education bills, was largely the work of the Senate.
For Ryan and the House, the true test may not come until next year, when conservatives say the new speaker no longer will get a pass. Ryan has said he intends to set a bold election-year agenda designed to show a clear contrast with Democrats. His own lawmakers will be watching to make sure he holds true to his pledges of empowering committee chairmen and individual lawmakers and hewing to "regular order" whereby legislation advances through committees, rather than getting dropped onto the floor by leadership with little debate.
For now, many GOP lawmakers are feeling cautiously optimistic. At the same time, burned by long experience with the House GOP's ability to self-destruct, most are far from declaring victory until they can see the results of upcoming negotiations on the "omnibus" spending bill that must pass by Friday or risk a partial government shutdown.
"Ask me after the omnibus how things are going," said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa.
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Donald Trump may be able to joke about himself, but that doesnt mean he takes things lightly. Especially not when they involve full-page ads in the Miami Herald and newspapers in early battleground states comparing him to some of the greatest despots of the 20th century.
Mike B. Fernandez, a South Florida billionaire who is the chairman of a Coral Gables private-equity firm, ran a full-page ad in the Herald on Sunday denouncing the forked-tongue hatefulness of the narcissistic bully-ionaire.
History reminds us that when governments promise enticing favors and fail to deliver, the people lose confidence. They become scared and seek out strong and frequently despotic leaders Look at Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy and [Juan] Peron in Argentina. When people lose hope, they are susceptible to those who offer to think for them.
Topped by pictures drawing a (negative) comparison between Trump and Abraham Lincoln, Fernandez describes himself in the ad as a Republican, a reasonable conservative and an immigrant his family moved to the U.S. from Cuba in 1964.
When the Trump campaign first got wind of the ad, the real estate tycoons attorney Alan Garten sent a letter to Fernandez's firm, MBF Healthcare Partners, on Friday.
It read, It has come to my attention that you plan on producing and disseminating certain radio, television and newspaper advertisements directly and personally attacking my client. Though we believe your decision is fool hearted [sic], please be advised that in the event your ads contain any false or defamatory statements against Trump, we will not hesitate to seek immediate legal action to prevent such distribution and hold you jointly and severally liable to the fullest extent of the law.
It concludes, And will look forward to doing it. Please be guided accordingly.
Fernandez is a longtime supporter of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, one of Trumps rivals for the GOP nomination, and he is the biggest donor to the Right to Rise PAC, but neither the candidate nor the PAC supporting his candidacy were involved in the newspaper ad.
Fernandez said he plans to run the ad again next Sunday in newspapers in Des Moines, Iowa, and Las Vegas, Nevada, both early-battleground states. The next Republican debate takes place in Vegas on Dec. 16.
The reality TV star and magnate hasn't been shy about threatening lawsuits. In June, his immigration comments sparked a number of companies to cut business ties with him and properties of his such as the Miss Universe pageant (which has since been sold). He threatened breach-of-contract suits with Univision and others.
On the political arena, he has warned the conservative Club for Growth and the PAC backing Ohio Gov. John Kasich about possible legal action over ads attacking him.
In a previous article in the Miami Herald, Fernandez explained that he is unhappy about the candidates anti-immigration rhetoric.
You have no idea how furious I am with my friends in the Republican Party who have embraced this guy, Fernandez told the Herald.
If I have a choice and you can put it in bold if I have a choice between Trump and Hillary Clinton, Im choosing Hillary Shes the lesser of two evils.
In a 2014 interview, Fernandez spoke to Fox News Latino with pride about his family history and their success in the United States. We came from very humble beginnings. My father was a sandwich maker.
But his ambitions and perseverance seem anything but humble.
He has spent more than a year trying to build the tallest flagpole in North America in downtown Miami. And he has a propensity for full-page newspaper ads. In 2014, he bought another ad in the Miami Herald to celebrate Americas relationship to Israel.
The person who first gave me a job was Jewish, he told FNL at the time. My father, my motherwe all got a lot of opportunities here from Jews. I am very grateful for that.
Fernandez was a finance co-chairman for Gov. Rick Scotts re-election campaign, but he resigned that position after an associate told him he overheard Scott staffers making disparaging comments about Mexicans.
According to the Miami Herald, Trump's lawyer also sent the letter to James P. Robinson, the treasurer for the Right to Rise leadership PAC, a separate but affiliated group from Right to Rise USA, the super PAC that has raised more than $100 million to bolster Bushs candidacy.
As the Herald pointed out, its unclear why Robinson or anyone from Right to Rise was addressed, given that Fernandez purchased the ads on his own.
This lawsuit appears to validate Mr. Fernandezs accurate claims that Donald Trump lacks the temperament to be president of the United States, Paul Lindsay, spokesman for Right to Rise USA told the newspaper. It follows the pattern throughout Donalds career of using bullying tactics and the legal system to make up for his deep-seated insecurities and repeated business failures.
On ABC News This Week, George Stephanopoulos asked Bush about the ad.
While the candidate conceded that the comparison between Trump and Hitler, Mussolini and Peron was inappropriate, he didnt entirely denounce Fernandezs effort.
I think that people are going to see that Donald Trump is not a serious candidate, that his message of division is not what we need, Bush said.
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In a rare Oval Office address, President Barack Obama vowed Sunday night the U.S. will overcome a new phase of the terror threat that seeks to "poison the minds" of people here and around the world, as he sought to reassure Americans shaken by recent attacks in Paris and California.
"I know that after so much war, many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure," he said, speaking from a lectern in his West Wing office. "The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it," he declared.
But two Republican presidential candidates who want to replace President Barack Obama in the White House were not impressed with his Oval Office speech on the terrorist threat. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in fact, dismissed Obama's remarks as "silliness."
The president's speech followed Wednesday's shooting in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people and wounded 21. Authorities say a couple carried out the attack and the wife pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and its leader in a Facebook post.
Obama said that while there was no evidence the shooters were directed by a terror network overseas or part of a broader plot, "the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization."
"This was an act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people," he said in the 13-minute address.
In speaking from the Oval Office, Obama turned to a tool of the presidency that he has used infrequently. His decision to speak in prime time reflected the White House's concern that his message on the recent attacks hasn't broken through, particularly in the midst of a heated presidential campaign.
Yet Obama's speech was likely to leave his critics unsatisfied. He announced no significant shift in U.S. strategy and offered no new policy prescriptions for defeating IS, underscoring both his confidence in his current approach and the lack of easy options for countering the extremist group.
"Nothing that happened in the speech tonight is going to assuage people's fears," Rubio, a Republican presidential candidate, said on Fox News.
Rubio said people are growing scared because "we have a president who is completely overwhelmed" by the terrorist threat. He said on Fox News that he heard nothing new in the president's speech except a call for gun control, which would make no difference. And he said the president may have made things worse, rather than making things better. He said the Islamic State group is rapidly expanding its influence around the world.
"I think not only did the president not make things better tonight, I fear he may have made things worse in the minds of many Americans," Rubio said. "This is not a time for ideological silliness, this is a time for serious action because the future security of our country is at stake."
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a rival for the GOP nomination, said, "Obama has finally been forced to abandon the political fantasy he has perpetuated for years that the threat of terrorism was receding."
Bush said it's time to remove the constraints from the military and intelligence operations and "put in place an aggressive strategy to defeat ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism as I have proposed."
Obama did call for cooperation between private companies and law enforcement to ensure potential attackers can't use technology to evade detection. He also urged Congress to pass new force authorization for military actions underway against IS in Iraq and Syria, and also to approve legislation to bar guns from being sold to people on a no-fly list.
And he implored Americans to not turn against Muslims at home, saying the Islamic State is driven by a desire to spark a war between the West and Islam. Still, he called on Muslims in the U.S. and around the world to take up the cause of fighting extremism.
The spread of radical Islam into American communities, he said, is "a real problem that Muslims must confront without excuse."
The president's most specific policy announcement was to order the departments of State and Homeland Security to review the fiance visa program that the female shooter in California used to enter the U.S. In his remarks, Obama referred to a visa waiver program that Congress is also reviewing, but the White House later clarified he meant the fiance program
He also reiterated his call for broader gun control legislation, saying no matter how effective law enforcement and intelligence agencies are, they can't identify every would-be shooter. He called it a matter of national security to prevent potential killers from getting guns.
"What we can do, and must do, is make it harder for them to kill," he said.
Obama stands little chance of getting the Republican-led Congress to agree to any gun control measures. On Thursday, the Senate rejected legislation barring people the government suspects of acts of terror from purchasing firearms. Gun rights advocates say such a ban would violate the rights of people who haven't been convicted of crimes.
Congress also has been unable to coalesce behind any plan to authorize more force against IS, and the administration's proposal has languished since February.
Obama repeated his long-standing opposition to an American-led ground war in the Middle East and made no mention of the more aggressive action others have suggested, including a enforcing a no-fly zone and safe corridors in Syria.
"Our success won't depend on tough talk, or abandoning our values or giving in to fear," he said. "Instead, we will prevail by being strong and smart, resilient and relentless."
After the speech, the president appeared as previously scheduled at the Kennedy Center Honors tribute in Washington.
The president's critics and increasingly, some members of his own party have questioned his strategy. Hours before he spoke, Hillary Clinton his former secretary of state and the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination said the U.S. is "not winning" the fight against IS.
Obama has insisted that the Islamic State is contained in Iraq and Syria. However, the group has set its sights elsewhere in the world, launching attacks in Lebanon and Turkey and downing a Russia airliner over Egypt.
The Nov. 13 attacks in Paris marked the group's most aggressive actions in Europe, a coordinated effort that left 130 people dead and wounded hundreds more.
Last week, the terror threat drew even closer for Americans when a couple a 29-year-old woman originally from Pakistan and her 28-year-old American-born husband launched an attack on a holiday luncheon in San Bernardino.
The FBI is investigating the massacre as an act of terror that, if proved, would be the deadliest by Islamic extremists on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001.
The woman pledged allegiance to IS and its leader in a Facebook post, according to U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. A Facebook official said the post came about the time the couple stormed the San Bernardino social service center.
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Elected officials from both sides of the political aisle welcomed the outcome of Sundays legislative election in Venezuela and congratulated the people of the country for making their voices heard in a peaceful manner.
Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said she kept a close eye on Sundays developments. Throughout the day, the Cuban-American lawmaker monitored the reports of voting irregularities, such as pressuring and intimidating voters, but at the end of the day her concerns were wiped out by the unprecedented outcome.
In spite of many challenges, the Venezuelan opposition has been able to gain control of the National Assembly," Ros-Lehtinen said Monday in a statement.
In stunning fashion, Venezuelas ruling party lost its hold of the National Assembly for the first time in over a decade -- the opposition coalition secured at least 99 seats in the 167-seat legislature, while the ruling socialist party won 46 seats.
Presidential candidate Marco Rubio trumpeted the results and said the Venezuelan people rejected the Maduro regime and all the misery it has brought to Venezuela.He said Venezuela should act quickly and release all of its political prisoners who have been punished with jail time for speaking their mind.
"Acknowledging the will of the Venezuelan people by releasing all political prisoners, including Leopoldo Lopez, Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma and San Cristobal Mayor Daniel Ceballos, would be a positive start and should happen immediately," Rubio said.
Sen. Bob Menendez, also of Cuban descent, said in a statement to Fox News Latino that the Venezuelan people displayed a forceful showing of unity.
"No one should be surprised that 17 years of Chavismo have led to democratic deterioration, economic ruin, rampant criminality and to an increasingly dangerous political polarization," he said. "But Venezuelans took a momentous first step this weekend in correcting course and bringing their country back from the brink of being a failed state by exercising their most fundamental democratic right."
Menendez added: "(President Nicolas) Maduros term may not be up yet, but this election was a resounding demonstration of his complete failure."
Secretary of State John Kerry also issued a statement lauding the democratic process.
Venezuelan voters expressed their overwhelming desire for a change in the direction of their country, it read. Dialogue among all parties in Venezuela is necessary to address the social and economic challenges facing the country, and the United States stands ready to support such a dialogue together with others in the international community.
While celebrating the historic win, Ros-Lehtinen cautioned that the Obama administration should not see the results as an excuse to further delay any pressure on Maduros presidency. She called for the U.S. to denounce the abuses and tensions leading up to the elections and to impose sanctions against those responsible for the voting irregularities that took place.
The continued assaults on democracy by the Maduro regime, such as the sentencing of Leopoldo (Lopez) and the assassination of Luis Manuel Diaz during the campaign, must be a catalyst to impose further sanctions on the regime officials who perpetrate these human rights abuses, she said in her statement.
Menendez echoed Ros-Lehtinen's call, saying that it is now time for the "international community to maintain pressure on Maduro."
"(It is the time) to speak in unison about consequences to any deviation from an orderly transition of power, and to stand ready to assist as new leadership plots a new course forward for the Venezuelan people," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Driven by the Paris terror attacks, the House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to tighten controls on travel to the U.S. and require visas for anyone who's been in Iraq or Syria in the previous five years.
The legislation takes aim at the "visa waiver" program that allows citizens of 38 countries to travel to the U.S. for stays of 90 days and less without first obtaining a visa from an embassy or consulate. Belgium and France, home to most of the perpetrators of last month's Paris attacks, are among the participating countries.
The bill, which passed 407-19, would institute a series of changes, including the new visa requirement for citizens of Iraq, Syria and any other country deemed a terrorist hotspot, along with anyone who's traveled to those countries in the previous five years. Exceptions are made for official government visits and military service.
Countries in the visa waiver program would also be required to share counterterror information with the U.S. or face expulsion from the program. All travelers would be checked against Interpol databases, and visa waiver countries would be required to issue "e-passports" with biometric information.
"You have more than 5,000 individuals that have Western passports in this program that have gone to Iraq or Syria in the last five years," said Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. "Those are gaps that we need to fix."
Some 20 million visitors come to the U.S. annually under the visa waiver program. They already are screened through an online system maintained by the Department of Homeland Security, and the White House has recently announced a series of improvements to that and other aspects of the program.
But in past years, the program has been used by would-be terrorists, including "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, who boarded a flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001 without a visa and attempted to set off a bomb. Zacarias Moussaoui, the "20th hijacker" from 9/11, also flew from London to Chicago with a French passport and no visa in February 2001, according to a Homeland Security Inspector General report from 2004.
Lawmakers of both parties spoke in favor of the legislation, which is also backed by the White House. It's a rare area of bipartisan agreement after the Obama administration's fury when the House passed legislation last month cracking down on the Syrian refugee program in the immediate aftermath of the Paris attacks.
The Syrian refugee bill, which the administration said was unnecessary because the small number of Syrian refugees are already extensively screened, has not gone anywhere in the Senate and looks unlikely to advance. The visa waivers bill, on the other hand, may be added to a must-pass year-end spending bill now being finalized on Capitol Hill. There is a different version in the Senate by Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California and Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona. The travel industry, which backs the House bill as a balanced approach, says the Senate bill goes too far in adding new biometric requirements for all visa waiver travelers that might be difficult to enact.
Separately, some lawmakers are also talking about looking at the fiance visa program that allowed Tashfeen Malik, the shooter in the recent attacks in San Bernardino, California, into the country. The Homeland Security Department has already announced a review of that program.
A handful of Democratic lawmakers spoke against the visa waiver legislation before its passage. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., said the bill is overbroad in stripping visa waiver privileges from all Syrian and Iraqi nationals and said it should include more exceptions for more people, such as journalists and researchers. "Our focus should be on terrorism, not just country or origin," Ellison said.
But most Democrats joined Republicans in enthusiastically embracing the bill. "This is a good bill, it's one that's time has come," said Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, top Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security.
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New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez says President Barack Obama's call for stricter gun control only "politicizes tragedy" after the San Bernardino, California, shooting.
The Republican and nation's only Latina governor said Monday in Albuquerque that Obama's call to ban those on the federal "no-fly" list from purchasing firearms would have done nothing to stop the shooting. She says such gun control measures would only take firearms from Americans.
Martinez says some Americans also appear in the federal "no-fly" list by mistake.
Martinez, a rising star in the GOP and a gun owner, says Obama's address to the nation on Sunday night gave "no solutions, nothing new whatsoever" to fighting terrorism.
The president's speech followed Wednesday's shooting in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people and wounded 21.
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The response from his fellow 2016 presidential hopefuls to Donald Trumps call for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" was swift and condemning assailing the real estate moguls rhetoric as everything from divisive to unhinged.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whose recent surge in the polls has made him a frequent target of Trumps attacks, said he disagreed with Trumps comments.
His habit of making offensive and outlandish statements will not bring Americans together, Rubio tweeted on Monday night.
Trumps proposed ban would apply to immigrants and visitors alike, a sweeping prohibition affecting all adherents of Islam who want to come to the U.S. The idea faced an immediate challenge to its legality and feasibility from experts who could point to no formal exclusion of immigrants based on religion in America's history.
Trump's campaign said in a statement such a ban should stand "until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." It said the proposal comes in response to a level of hatred among "large segments of the Muslim population" toward Americans.
"Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life," Trump said in the statement.
At an evening rally in South Carolina, Trump supporters cheered and shouted in support as he read his statement. Trump warned during his speech that without drastic action, the threat of attacks is "going to get worse and worse."
"As he says, we have to find out who they are and why they are here," Rod Weader, a 68-year-old real estate agent from North Charleston who attended the rally and said he agreed with Trump's plan "150 percent." ''Like he said, they are going to kill us and we've got to stop it."
While many of Trumps supporters voiced their support of the moguls call for a shutdown, even some of the most hardline conservative presidential candidates tried to distance themselves from the comments.
"Well, that is not my policy, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said. I've introduced legislation in the Senate that would put in place a three-year moratorium on refugees coming from countries where ISIS or al-Qaida control a substantial amount of territory. And the reason is that's where the threat is coming from."
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christies comments were more forceful and direct.
There are folks in this race who don't care about what the law says because they're used to being able to just fire people indiscriminately on television. So, they don't have to worry about what laws say or not say."
Trumps campaign did not immediately respond to questions about whether it would also include Muslims who are U.S. citizens and travel outside of the country, including members of the military, or how a determination of someone's religion might be made by customs and border officials.
Instead, Trump said via a campaign spokeswoman: "Because I am so politically correct, I would never be the one to say. You figure it out!"
There are more than 5,800 servicemen and women on active U.S. military duty and in the reserves who self-identify as Muslim and could be assigned to serve overseas. Trump said in an interview Monday night on Fox News, "They'll come home." He added, "This does not apply to people living in the country, except that we have to vigilant."
It was also unclear whether Trump's ban would apply to Muslim allies in the fight against Islamic State militants. Ari Fleischer, a former aide to Republican President George W. Bush, tweeted, "Under Trump, the King Abdullah of Jordan, who is fighting ISIS, won't be allowed in the US to talk about how to fight ISIS."
Bushs vice president, Dick Cheney, who has shied away from the spotlight since leaving office, even weighed on Trumpss comments.
I think this whole notion that we can just say no more Muslims, and just ban a whole religion goes against everything we stand for and believe in, Cheney said. Religious freedom has been a very important part of our history and where we came from. ... It's a mistaken notion.
Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton also weighed in on Trumps comments, calling them reprehensible, prejudiced and divisive, while Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said [w]e are a weak nation when we allow racism and xenophobia to divide us."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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One person, one vote.
What exactly does that mean?
That is the question before the U.S. Supreme Court as it ponders whether states must count all residents, or only eligible voters, in drawing electoral districts.
The justices on Tuesday displayed little of the aggressiveness that often marks Supreme Court arguments as they heard a case about the meaning of the principle of "one person, one vote." The court established 50 years ago that districts must be roughly equal in population.
Two Texas voters are asking the court to prohibit states from basing electoral maps on total population, instead of the number of eligible voters. They argue that including children and people who are not citizens inflates the voting power of urban residents and dilutes the votes of rural residents.
Civil rights groups say such a change would damage Latino political influence. Texas picked up four congressional seats after the 2010 census, mainly because of the growth in its Hispanic population.
If the challengers prevail, many of those new Texans would not be counted in drawing legislative district lines because they are too young to vote, not citizens or otherwise prohibited from voting.
Justice Anthony Kennedy at one point wondered whether states could produce districts that were roughly equal in terms of overall population and eligible voters.
"Why is one option exclusive of the other? Why can't they have both?" Kennedy asked.
Texas Solicitor General Scott Keller said such an outcome could only be achieved at the expense of other traditional requirements about redistricting, including relatively compact districts that don't split counties.
Kennedy sounded persuaded. "That sounds highly probable," he said.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito appeared most open to the challengers' argument, but another usually reliable conservative voice was silent. Justice Antonin Scalia did not comment at all during the hour-long session.
"It is called ... one person, one vote. That seems to be designed to protect voters," Roberts said.
The court's liberal justices seemed more clearly disposed to upholding the districting plan for the Texas Senate that is being reviewed.
Questioning William Consovoy, the Texas voters' lawyer, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted that a decision in his favor would mean that women in America should have been excluded from redistricting decisions before they won the right to vote.
Ginsburg also pointed to a half-century tradition of states using total population. "Now you're saying they can't do it anymore," Ginsburg said.
Consovoy responded that if "tradition were the rule," the court's landmark "one person, one vote" cases would have come out the other way.
His clients, Texas residents Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger, live in mainly rural districts outside Houston. Their districts have at least 170,000 more eligible voters than a downtown Houston district with equal population.
If the court upholds the Texas districts as drawn, it could say that the use of total population does not violate the Constitution. Or it could rule that states may choose which method to use.
Justice Department official Ian Gerhsengorn argued Tuesday that the once-a-decade census that produces the total population count is the only reliable population data.
Keller, representing Texas, urged the justices to allow states to choose.
A decision in Evenwel v. Abbott, 14-940, is expected by late June.
Based on reporting by the Associated Press.
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Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas tea party firebrand whose status in polls, particularly in Iowa, has been rising as national security becomes a greater concern for U.S. voters, seized the top slot in a new poll of likely GOP caucusgoers in the Hawkeye State.
In the poll, by Monmouth University, Cruz was the favorite of 24 percent of respondents, a 14-point jump over the last poll the college released, in October, that had the senator at 10 percent. That had him in third place, tied with Sen. Marco Rubio, of Florida, and behind retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who was in first place, and real estate mogul Donald Trump, who was in the second spot.
Rubio himself saw an impressive gain. He got 17 percent in the new poll, placing him in second place, a statistical tie with Trump, who got 19 percent. Carsons support plunged to 13 percent from the 32 percent he had in October.
But several presidential candidates are showing concern about Cruzs growing momentum, and are focusing attack ads on him. It is the first time Cruz has seized the top spot in a critical poll.
Rubio began directly criticizing Cruz in the last few weeks, and Hillary Clintons campaign began zeroing in on the senator in earnest this week, picking apart Cruzs use of a congressional hearing to tear down climate change theories.
The Clinton campaign is now operating on the idea that her biggest threats in the election at this point are Cruz, Rubio and Trump.
The Cruz scenario depicted by the Clinton campaign, Politico reported, is that he would excite the conservative Christian base and add to that group of supporters people who now are behind Trump but for one reason or another would not remain loyal to him.
Political experts have attributed the shift in poll results on GOP candidates in large part to the terrorist attacks in Paris, and how they have made tough talk on foreign policy and fighting the Islamic State highly appealing to would-be voters.
Trump has remained strong in polls even as he has made controversial calls for keeping Muslims from entering the United States, as well as uttered other comments that have been condemned by his own party, including those running against him for the GOP presidential nomination.
Cruz has not gone as far as Trump in his comments on how to respond to the growing boldness and savagery of ISIS, but he has taken a tough stance on how to address terrorism.
What we need is a commander in chief who stands up and, number one, doesnt engage in politically correct doublespeak and doesnt refuse to say the words radical Islamic terrorism as Obama and Hillary and all the Democrats do, Cruz said in an interview with conservative radio show host Mike Gallagher on Monday.
Number two, [we need someone] who says we will defeat ISIS, were going to carpet bomb them in oblivion, were going to arm the Kurds, were going to go and find them and hunt them down and kill them.
Cruz also got a boost among Iowans from their congressman, Steve King, a deeply conservative Republican who often makes headlines with his strict views on undocumented immigrants and support for tightened border enforcement.
This marks the first time Ted Cruz has held a lead in any of the crucial early states. As Ben Carsons stock has fallen, Cruz has been able to corral most of those voters, said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, NJ. Congressman Kings endorsement may not be the primary reason for this swing, but it certainly put a stamp on the Cruz surge in Iowa.
In an interview with Fox News Latino last week, King said that many Iowans have told him that they decided to support Cruz after learning of his endorsement of the senator.
King said some voters told him they had even switched their choice to Cruz because of his support for the Texan.
If some are scratching their heads over Cruzs success in the new Iowa poll, Clinton friend and operative James Carville is not. He has placed a bet on Cruz on the website PredictIt.com, according to Politico.
Ive been on Cruz since Day One, Politico quoted Carville as saying, adding that the diehard Democrats wife, Republican strategist Mary Matalin, hosted a fundraiser for Cruz about a year ago at their home. I saw the people that were there, people Id never seen before ... I was fascinated. I saw that these were not typical political people. Hes smart, he has a message and hes positioned himself just right in this race.
For his part, King says he hopes that his favorite presidential candidate in this election cycle can sustain his momentum.
King said to Fox News Latino that polls can be roller coasters, and that many people dont even begin to tune in to the details of a presidential race until after the beginning of the year.
Statistically, in Iowa, hes moved to the front of this race, King said of Cruz. His biggest challenge is to maintain the momentum for the next two months. Its a hard place to be at the top. Strategically, I would have advised Lets not get there right away, so soon, lets wait until Christmas.
But he believes that Cruz can energize the conservative and evangelical base, and get those voters to turn out at the Iowa caucus as well as the general election.
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The female in a terrorist duo that killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif. on Dec. 2 came to the United States in a seemingly unconventional way, at least for those seeking to do harm to Americans.
Tashfeen Malik, who with her husband Syek Farook slaughtered people gathered for a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center, arrived in the United States last year on a K-1 visa, also known as a fiance visa.
Farook was an employee of the Department of Public Health, the division that was having the holiday gathering. After being at the gathering and leaving abruptly, he returned with Malik, both of them heavily armed, and opened fire being killed hours later near their home by police.
While news that Malik, a Pakistani national, gained entry to the United States after being petitioned for a K-1 visa by Farook, who was a naturalized citizen, experts say that it is not a visa rife with exploitable loopholes.
Still, many are starting the question the program and whether it needs to be reevaluated.
Experts say that it is one of the more difficult visas to obtain, as U.S. authorities screen the couple for authenticity of their relationship, proof that they will be getting married, and for any information such as past criminal activity and ties to terrorism that would make them ineligible.
"It's a very detailed petition," said California immigration attorney Roman P. Mosqueda to the Los Angeles Times. "If you're getting married in a church, you have to show proof of getting a church date for the wedding, a date for the restaurant for the reception.... It's very strict."
House lawmakers passed legislation Tuesday tightening controls on visa-free travel and requiring visas for anyone who has been in Iraq or Syria in the previous five years. Some lawmakers said they also planned to re-examine the visa used by Malik. Immigration officials take roughly five months to review an application for a K-1 visa, which then is taken up by the U.S. State Department, whose part of the processing of the petition includes police checks, an interview with the fiancee, and a medical exam.
The couple must marry within 90 days of the fiancee arriving in the United States, then the visa holder may apply for a permanent resident card, more commonly known as the green card.
Police checks are rigorous, experts say, and includes fingerprint checks and facial recognition software.
"It's not an easy procedure," the Times quoted immigration attorney Paul Herzog as saying. "Beginning to end, you're looking at at least six to nine months" from the date of application to the date of receiving a visa.
Some 25,000 people enter the United States each year on K-1 visas. The largest sending nation is the Philippines, which sends about 5,000 people, according to the Times.
Other countries that account for the largest groups of K-1 visa holders are China and Mexico, with more than 1,000 each, the Times reported, citing U.S. immigration data.
"The Philippines is one of the most difficult countries" from which to get a U.S. visa, said J Craig Fong, an immigration attorney, to the Times. "There are people in the Philippines with money, but the U.S. is wary that they'll come over and jump off the boat and disappear and go work in a restaurant. We won't give them a visa because we don't trust them."
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For the second time, the Supreme Court is hearing a white Texan's challenge to the use of race in college admissions.
Abigail Fisher has been out of college since 2012, but the justices' renewed interest in her case is a sign that the court's conservative majority is poised to cut back, or even end, affirmative action in higher education.
The arguments Wednesday are expected to focus on whether the University of Texas' flagship campus in Austin has compelling reasons to consider race among other factors when it evaluates applicants for about a quarter of its freshman class. Most students are admitted to the university through a plan that guarantees slots to Texans who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.
Fisher says the "top 10" program works well to bring in Hispanic and African-American students, without considering race. Texas says the program alone is not enough and it needs the freedom to fill out incoming classes as it sees fit.
Twelve years ago, the justices reaffirmed the consideration of race in the quest for diversity on campus. A more conservative court first heard Fisher's case in 2012, but the case ended inconclusively with a tepid decision that ordered a lower court review.
The federal appeals court in New Orleans has twice upheld the Texas admissions program and rejected Fisher's appeal.
Fisher's case was conceived by Edward Blum, an opponent of racial preferences. Blum also is behind lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina that aim to eliminate any consideration of race in college admissions.
Texas is unique in marrying the top 10 plan to a separate admissions review in which race is one of many factors considered. The university's current freshman class is 22 percent Hispanic and 4.5 percent African-American. White students make up less than half the school's freshmen.
Eight states prohibit the use of race in public college admissions: Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.
The Obama administration, dozens of colleges and many of the nation's largest businesses are supporting Texas in defending its program.
There also are competing arguments over whether racial preference programs actually limit the number of students from Asian backgrounds, who are disproportionately represented in student bodies relative to their share of the population.
The case is Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, 14-981.
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As the year draws to a close, a slew of President Barack Obamas nominees for ambassador and judicial posts are still waiting for confirmation votes in the Senate.
The Senate now has the lowest number of confirmations in three decades, Politico reports.
One of the most high-profile nominees awaiting a vote is Roberta Jacobson, a candidate for U.S. ambassador to Mexico, a post that has been vacant since the end of July, when Earl Anthony Wayne stepped down before his retirement.
Jacobson, who is the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in November with a vote of 12-7.
Jacobson must be approved by the full 100 member Senate before she can become ambassador.
Much of the blame for the inaction is falling on Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who is accused by some of thwarting a quick vote on the floor because of Jacobsons pivotal role in the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba.
Rubio, like his Democratic colleague and fellow Cuban-American Robert Menendez, has been a vocal opponent of having diplomatic relations with the Communist government of Raul Castro, especially while the Cuban president refuses to take steps toward democratic reforms and stop oppression on the island.
On Friday, 17 Latino members of Congress sent a letter to Rubio demanding that he stop holding up Jacobsons confirmation.
The United States has been without an Ambassador to Mexico since July, following the retirement of Tony Wayne, said a press release from Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat. This lapse in leadership at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City comes at a time when the importance of the security and economic partnership between our two countries has never been greater.
Sen. Rubio has made it clear that his reasons for blocking Ms. Jacobsons confirmation are purely political, Gallego said in a statement included in the press release. At a time when our nation faces security threats abroad, it is more important than ever to make sure our security partnership with our neighboring countries remains strong. Rubio is putting our nations security and our economic ties with Mexico at risk, and its time he put his grudges aside and did what was best for this country.
Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the committee, told Politico that the delays in her approval have everything to do with the Cuban policy. Thats not Roberta Jacobson. Thats the Obama policy.
Both Rubio and Menendez voted no on Jacobson in the November committee vote. Menendez, the only Democrat to reject her nomination, read a statement before the vote expressing concerns about human rights in Cuba.
Rubio raised his own concerns, including whether the State Department had been tough enough in seeking the extradition of Sinaloa Cartel leader, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, who escaped in July from a Mexican prison.
In an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times, Michael Camunez, who was U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce, blasted the inaction on the nomination.
It's been six months since President Obama nominated Roberta Jacobson, the current assistant secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, to serve in Mexico, he wrote. A career civil servant not a political appointee with deep expertise in the region and fluency in Spanish, Jacobson is among the most highly qualified people ever tapped to represent the U.S. in Mexico.
Camunez lays the blame squarely at the feet of two senators Rubio and Texan Ted Cruz, who is also of Cuban-American descent saying they "have placed 'holds' on her nomination."
Although Americans may assume that ambassadors are just figureheads, that's certainly not the case for our chief of mission in Mexico City, Camunez wrote. The U.S. ambassador and her team coordinate the entire national security and commercial apparatus of our government at post in Mexico.
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Ever since Donald Trump entered the race for the White House back in June, his Republican presidential rival Ted Cruz has kept any criticism of the boisterous businessman off the table.
But the amity between the firebrand Texas senator and the real estate mogul seems to be eroding, at least behind closed doors.
During a private fundraiser in New York City on Wednesday, Cruz questioned Trump's "judgment" to be president and deliberated on the mogul's "strength," two sources who attended the event told the New York Times.
For months Cruz and Trump have played nice with each other or at least as nice as the two hard-hitting candidates know how to with Cruz praising Trump for making immigration a focal point of his candidacy, while the magnate has hinted that if he gets the GOP nomination he would choose Cruz to be his running mate.
Publically at least with the exception of Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering the country the two candidates are still very much in accord on the issues and continue to heap praise on each other. Both have centered their campaigns as counters to the so-called "Establishment" in Washington and preached hardline stances on matters like immigration and national security.
On the same day of the New York City fundraiser, Cruz made an appearance on Fox News saying he liked and respected Mr. Trump and "I don't anticipate that changing at all."
"The reason why I won't get engaged in personal insults and attacks, I don't think the American people care about a bunch of politicians bickering like schoolchildren," Cruz said. "I'm grateful Donald Trump is running."
The comments at the private event, however, appear to paint a different picture from a candidate who stands to be the biggest beneficiary of any loss of supporters for Trump. Cruz has been making gains on the front-runner Trump, pulling ahead of him in the latest Monmouth University in Iowa by five points and coming in second in Thursday's CBS/New York Times poll.
Yet another poll from Iowa released on Monday by CNN has Trump comfortably ahead in the Hawkeye state and most polls still have him with a double-digit lead nationally.
During the fundraiser, Cruz also lumped Trump in with fellow candidate, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
"I don't believe either one of them is going to be our president," he said, adding that both Trump and Carson campaigns have a "natural arch" with gravity "pulling them down" now. Cruz did mention that Carson's descent has been much faster than Trump's.
"You look at Paris, you look at San Bernardino, it's given a seriousness to this race, that people are looking for: Who is prepared to be a commander in chief? Who understands the threats we face?" Cruz asked. "Who am I comfortable having their finger on the button? Now that's a question of strength, but it's also a question of judgment. And I think that is a question that is a challenging question for both of them."
Cruz's campaign on Thursday attempted to downplay the New York Times story, calling the newspaper's report of the Texas lawmaker criticizing Trump "misleading."
"In the course of a presidential election, the voters are going to make a decision about every candidate," Cruz said in a press release. "And ultimately the decision is, who has the right judgment and the right experience to serve as Commander in Chief? Every one of us who is running is being assessed by the voters under that metric, and that is exactly why we have a democratic election to make that determination."
Trump's communications director Hope Hicks told Fox News Latino that the campaign was not making a comment about Cruz's statement.
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Democratic congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, a candidate running for California's open Senate seat, said on Wednesday that "between 5 and 20 percent" of Muslims "have a desire for a caliphate and to institute that in any way possible," including through the use of terrorism.
She made the comments during an interview with Larry King on his political show "PoliticKING."
"Certainly we know that there is a small group and we dont know how big that is, it can be anywhere between 5 and 20 percent from the people that I speak to that Islam is their religion and who have a desire for a caliphate and to institute that in any way possible, and in particular go after what they consider Western norms, our way of life, Sanchez said.
Her comments came under fire, with critics calling for everything from an apology to demanding that Sanchez drop out of the Senate race.
Late Friday night, Sanchez issued a response saying that she did not intend to slight the entire Muslim community, and that she respects Muslims in general.
I want to reiterate that my reference to those numbers does not reflect my views of the Muslim community in my district, in America or the vast majority of Muslims around the world," Sanchez said in a statement to Fox News Latino. "I believe that Muslim Americans are fully committed to the security and prosperity of our country."
A caliphate is an Islamic state, a unified Muslim community operating under Sharia law, led by a caliph a political and religious leader seen as the successor to the Islamic prophet Mohammad. The terror group ISIS has declared itself a caliphate.
They are not content enough to have their way of looking at the world, they want to put their way on everybody in the world, said Sanchez, who is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Barbara Boxer. And again, I dont know how big [a percentage] that is, depending on who you talk to, but they are ... willing to go to extremes. They are willing to use, and they do use, terrorism, and it is in the name of a very wrong way of looking at Islam."
The liberal activist group Courage Campaign has called on Sanchez to drop out of the Senate race, according to the Los Angeles Times and an immigrant rights group is calling for an apology.
At a time when bigoted, Islamophobic rhetoric is spurring troubling incidents of hate across the country including in Orange County Representative Loretta Sanchez' wildly off-the-mark claims are irresponsible and dangerous, Reshma Shamasunder, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center in Oakland, said in statement to the LA Times. We expect California's representatives to uphold our values of inclusion and diversity, not trample them. We call upon Rep. Sanchez to immediately apologize.
A spokesperson for Sanchez, who is a senior member of the Congressional Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, reemphasized in a statement to Politico that there are varying estimates as to how many Muslims support a caliphate.
I strongly support the Muslim community in America and believe that the overwhelming majority of Muslims do not support terrorism or ISIS. We must enlist the voices of the Muslim community in our fight against ISIS instead of alienating them through fear-mongering and discrimination," Sanchez said in the statement.
Sanchez made the comments in response to King asking why President Barack Obama refuses to refer to terrorist acts by ISIS and others as "radical Islamic terrorism."
The representative answered, "I dont fault the president on his verbiage, I want him to understand and go after this ISIL, ISIS DAESH state that people are trying to form, because its going after us."
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While the White House has condemned Donald Trump's call for a ban on Muslim immigrants as "disqualifying" and "toxic," President Barack Obama may have only himself to blame if a President Trump ever succeeds in putting his plan, or some version of it, into action.
In his efforts to work around Congress, Obama has made the aggressive use of executive power, particularly on immigration, an increasingly effective and politically accepted presidential tool. While legal scholars are divided on whether Obama has accelerated or merely continued a drift of power toward the executive branch, there's little debate that he's paved a path for his successor.
Depending on who that is, many Obama backers could rue the day they cheered his "pen-and-phone" campaign to get past Republican opposition in Congress. The unilateral steps he took to raise environmental standards, tighten gun control measures and ease the threat of deportation for millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, may serve as precedent for moves they won't cheer.
"Unfortunately I think the bill will come due for many Democrats," said Jonathon Turley, a George Washington University law professor. "In a future administration, they will hear the same arguments played back to them as they watch a different president go after a different set of priorities."
Candidates from both parties have shown they see the political advantage to promising fast, executive action. Hillary Clinton has vowed to go further than Obama without a vote in Congress on making changes to gun control, immigration and corporate tax regulations. Trump has promised to "unsign" many of Obama's moves.
"You know the great thing about executive orders __ I don't have to go back to Congress," Trump said recently at rally in Manassas, Va.
"We're going to be unsigning a lot of executive orders, especially his order that basically lets anybody they want just pour into our country," Trump said. "That's going to end."
To be sure, the verdict is still out on how much Obama's presidency may have tipped the scales in the balance of powers between the courts, the executive and Congress. Some court challenges are undecided, most notably one contesting his second major immigration action granting temporary reprieve to millions ofimmigrants living in the U.S. illegally. Meanwhile, the White House has yet to decide whether to go ahead on two significant executive actions prompted by opposition in Congress one that would expand background checks on gun sales and another that would close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and move detainees to U.S. soil.
How such actions, particularly the latter, would play out in the courts and court of public opinion would be important factors in how Obama's record is judged by history and his successor.
Experts view Obama's influence as considerable when it comes to war powers, particularly his case for killing American suspects of terrorism on foreign soil. But a paradox is evident on immigration issues where he has very publicly seized the broad authority given to the executive and where the gap between his policies and his potential Republican successors is wide.
In 2012 and 2014, after long maintaining he did not have such authority, Obama ordered federal immigrationauthorities not to deport certain groups of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. The administration askedimmigrants to apply for a temporary new legal status. The White House said it was using its prosecutorial discretion the power to determine how limited resources should be used to enforce the law.
That power has been used by all presidents on a broad range of issues, but rarely has a president called a news conference to announce it or created a formal system to use it, said Hiroshi Motomura, a University of California at Los Angeles professor and expert in immigration law.
"Every president has different priorities, but Obama has actually changed things by being more systematized and transparent and that's what led to critics and the legal challenge," Motomura said.
A future president might take the same principle into another arena, Turley argued, choosing not to enforce pollution regulation against some businesses or temporarily granting some taxpayers a reprieve.
If not a full ban on Muslim visitors, as Trump proposed, prosecutorial discretion might be used to argue for prioritizing deportation of Muslim immigrants. A president might place visitors from Muslim countries under special screening or ask them to register, moves that would have some recent precedent.
Whether such executive moves would survive a lawsuit is far from clear. In the wake of Trump's proposed ban, many legal scholars lambasted the idea but didn't label it impossible.
Congress already has granted broad authority for the president to bar "any class of aliens" entry into the United States if he determines it would be "detrimental to the interests of the United States." While some argue barring entry based on religion would be discriminatory, precisely how constitutional and legal protections against discrimination apply to a foreign national is unclear.
These murky legal questions don't always rule the day in presidential politics, noted Eric Posner, a University of Chicago law professor.
"The Supreme Court very rarely issues rulings on presidential power. It tends to try to duck cases where somebody tries to say the president doesn't have the power to do something," said Posner, who has written on the rise of executive power in "The Executive Unbound."
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Jeb Bush stared across the Londonderry Senior Center in disbelief.
A voter at his town hall had just told him she'd read the candidate's 3,000-word tax plan. "The fact that you read it makes me feel so pleased even if you didn't like it," Bush said, unsuccessfully holding back a grin.
It was the sort of moment Bush surely dreamed about when he announced his 2016 bid six months ago. Soon, the two were deep in the weeds of his proposals for capital gains taxes on estates, when Bush paused. "We're having a real wonk-a-thon right now," he said gleefully.
It was also a moment all too rare for Bush, a former front-runner stubbornly sticking to a sober-minded approach to his campaign despite months of evidence that Republican voters aren't much interested in what he's selling.
These days, Bush is back to focusing on his policy ideas on the campaign trail.
He has largely abandoned his tentative and poorly reviewed attacks on Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Gone, too, are his campaign's early tussles with Donald Trump on social media.
The portion of Republican registered voters who think Bush could win the general election, should he win his party's nomination, has dropped to 40 percent in a new Associated Press-GfK poll, down from 60 percent in October.
Republicans are now no more likely than Democrats to see Bush as a potential general election winner, and 39 percent say they view Bush unfavorably almost the same percentage as billionaire front-runner and frequent Bush foilTrump.
Perhaps even more troubling for Bush, given his insistence on talking about policy and his ability to govern, the poll found that GOP voters view Trump, the real estate mogul and reality TV star, as more competent than the two-term governor of Florida.
After setbacks in October, including deep campaign spending cuts and a widely criticized debate performance, Bush sought to reassure donors who have contributed more than $100 million to his campaign and a separate pro-Bush organization by resetting his effort with the auspicious slogan: "Jeb Can Fix It."
Part of the shift in strategy was redoubling Bush's emphasis on New Hampshire, where aides said the candidate's serious style and affinity for one-on-one policy engagement was a close fit with New Englanders, who also typically hold themselves as independent of the national story line.
Since then, Bush has held nearly 20 town hall-style meetings in the state, each with about 100 voters attending, including in places most other candidates have not visited.
But the content of Bush's town halls remains the same, with the brother and son of former presidents passing on Trump's flash and penchant for bombast to remain centered on telling the story of his time as governor and his detailed plans for the nation's economy and military.
He has faith and some good-natured bullheadedness that voters will eventually come around.
In answering immigration lawyer Marisa DiFranco's question about what to do with the millions of immigrants in the United States illegally at an event this week, Bush mentioned the immigration policy book he co-authored, explained the economic criteria he would use to increase legal immigration, and then paused.
"Being able to complete that sentence about what I'm for, in the political environment I'm now in, is an extraordinary opportunity," Bush said dryly, "and I thank you for it."
On Thursday in Milford, Bush said after being asked about the federal debt, Social Security, Medicare and taxes: "I'm the only person running for president that has details on any of this stuff, just to remind you."
He went on, needling in a friendly way the voters he was trying to win over. "I'm not running for entertainer or anything like this. I hope you want a candidate who has actually thought it through, who actually has plans."
"It is refreshing isn't it? To have a conversation rather than have 140 characters drive a campaign," Bush told reporters this week.
Even when given the chance to connect with voters on a personal level, the self-proclaimed introvert who says he's more comfortable reading a book than planning a party struggles to campaign in a way that, in his words, gives "people a full measure of a person."
Take this week's "The Life of the Party" events at Manchester's St. Anselm College. Forceful Trump critic and fellow policy wonk John Kasich, the governor of Ohio, made the most of the not-so-serious questions posed by the gathering of students and young professionals.
In a lengthy answer about his favorite music, Kasich listed Pearl Jam, Linkin Park and Foo Fighters. "The problem with traditional radio, if you listen to it, you hear a lot of things that you like, but they never tell you who the band is," Kasich said.
Asked what music he would play and what food he would serve at a hypothetical White House party, Bush said, "I don't know," and suggested he didn't like the line of questioning. "It might have to be something more serious, I apologize."
The students were undeterred, and pressed on by asking Bush what celebrity he'd like to meet.
"I don't know," Bush said, again. "I really don't believe in celebritydom. I find it superficial. I'd rather be with people who have done things."
Based on reporting by The Associated Press.
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has finally unleashed a verbal assault on the one rival he has so far spared.
Trump went after Ted Cruz at a town hall event in Iowa Friday evening, accusing the Texas senator of being beholden to big oil companies because he opposes ethanol subsidies, which are deeply popular in this agricultural state.
"He's a nice guy. I mean, everything I say he agrees with me, no matter what I say," Trump began. "But with the ethanol, really, he's got to come a long way."
He added: "If Ted Cruz is against ethanol, how does he win in Iowa? Because that's very anti-Iowa."
I do like Ted Cruz, but not a lot of evangelicals come out of Cuba. Donald Trump, at Iowa campaign rally
Trump also appeared to take a veiled shot at Cruz's family background, suggesting Cruz might have trouble appealing to the state's evangelical voters. "I do like Ted Cruz, but not a lot of evangelicals come out of Cuba," he said of the country where Cruz's father, an evangelical preacher, was born.
The attacks came after The New York Times reported that Cruz had questioned Trump's judgment at a closed-door fundraiser, straining the rare detente between two of the race's most outspoken candidates. Trump has gone after his other opponents gleefully and viciously, panning Jeb Bush as low-energy, Ben Carson as "pathological" and Marco Rubio as a lightweight who drinks too much water.
But the billionaire businessman had refrained from attacked Cruz, even as the Texas senator has surged in opinion polls, becoming Trump's most serious challenger in early-voting Iowa.
Trump previewed his attack lines on Twitter Friday morning.
Cruz "should not make statements behind closed doors to his bosses, he should bring them out into the open - more fun that way!" he wrote. Trump predicted Cruz would "fall like all others. Will be easy!"
In the audio leaked to the Times, Cruz said his approach has been to "bear hug" Trump. But he appeared less than eager to engage on Friday.
"The Establishment's only hope: Trump & me in a cage match," he tweeted. "Sorry to disappoint -- @realDonaldTrump is terrific. #DealWithIt"
Cruz's campaign spokeswoman, Catherine Frazier, declined to comment on Trump's attacks.
Several attendees at Trump's town hall event said in interviews before he spoke that they were torn between supporting Trump and Cruz, underscoring the risks each man faces going after the other too strongly.
Indeed, Trump was relatively reserved in his criticism, repeatedly telling the crowd he liked Cruz.
Asked at one point whether he would consider selecting Cruz as his running mate or nominating him to the Supreme Court, Trump was receptive.
"I would say that we would certainly have things in mind for Ted," he said.
Trump took a new approach at the event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, standing on a riser in the center of supporters, and speaking without a lectern.
During his remarks, Trump stressed the importance of winning the state.
"If we win Iowa," he said, "I think we're going to win everything after that."
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The Republican establishment has flexed its muscle in New Hampshire's presidential primaries for years. But in the unpredictable 2016 election, the state's standard political playbook faces challenges on two fronts.
Donald Trump's brash brand of populism is resonating with voters, and he's sustained a commanding lead in statewide preference polls for months. While several experienced politicians are well-liked, some party elites fear none will emerge as a consensus choice in time for the Feb. 9 primary, allowing Trump to win a plurality.
"If the center-right doesn't coalesce here, it runs the risk of allowing a far-right, ideological candidate to go unchecked," said Tom Rath, a New Hampshire-based Republican strategist backing Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Kasich is competing most directly for support with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Some centrist voters are fond of former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina, but she is lagging behind the others.
A decisive victory in New Hampshire could reset a race dominated by Trump's unexpected durability. A weak showing would leave the establishment generally understood to mean party leaders and insiders, mainstream donors and other influential figures who avoid the ideological extreme with few options for a quick rebound.
The primary is sandwiched between contests in Iowa and South Carolina that favor conservatives. Centrist candidates will have to survive the Southern states that vote in the delegate-rich contests March 1 Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia before the race turns to more hospitable territory.
With less than two months until voting begins, some in New Hampshire's establishment see Christie as best-positioned to carry their presidential hopes out of New England. Christie has been a constant presence in New Hampshire for months, despite being largely ignored in national political circles, and has begun to pull in big endorsements.
"The excitement is with Governor Christie," said Jeb Bradley, the state Senate majority leader. Bradley endorsed Christie this month and said that among the experienced politicians running, "he represents the best chance to win."
Still, Bradley added, "Mr. Trump is pretty strong."
Trump, a billionaire real estate mogul and reality television star, has shown little sympathy for the establishment's woes.
"I'm sorry I did this to you, but you got to get used to it," Trump said on "Fox News Sunday."
Republican leaders are worried about more than Trump. Some are equally wary of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, an uncompromising conservative deemed unelectable as president by some GOP leaders, ultimately siphoning off Trump's support.
Even if Christie's standing strengthens, it's unlikely he can clear the field before the primary. Kasich and Bush are largely staking their bids on New Hampshire, where they are spending significant time and money. Rubio has endeared himself to more mainstream Republicans despite being ushered into office as part of the 2010 tea party wave. His advisers believe he can pull support from a broader pool of voters than can the three governors.
"People who have traditionally been active in the party are spread across a whole series of major candidates," said Judd Gregg, a Bush supporter and former U.S. senator from New Hampshire. It's not like 2012, Gregg said, when most officeholders past and present backed Mitt Romney, the eventual nominee.
To Fergus Cullen, a former New Hampshire GOP chairman, the establishment candidates are "all so clustered that anyone can win that bracket."
So far, Republican operatives some insisting on anonymity to discuss private conversations say there is no organized effort to persuade one of those candidates to leave the race before the primary in order to narrow voters' choices. But there have been preliminary discussions about what to do if four or five of those candidates finish within a few percentage points of each other in New Hampshire and all want to stay in the race.
Republicans have discussed asking a party leader such as Romney or U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to step in at that point and help broker exits for some candidates. These strategists said Romney and Ryan have not been approached about doing that and probably wouldn't be until after the primary.
Cullen said he hopes the whittling down happens "organically." He suggested that even if the experienced politicians finished bunched together, those at the bottom may have no choice but to step aside.
"A pretty good candidate is going to finish sixth or seventh in New Hampshire," he said.
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When Donald Trump has unleashed his attacks on presidential race rivals during the presidential election, hes more often than not succeeded in getting an angry, defensive response even from those who have strived to remain cool and collected.
But his latest target, the one-time Trump ally, Sen. Ted Cruz, is a master of using popular culture to tear into people and policies without publicly breaking a sweat.
Trump managed to raise eyebrows when he, in a roundabout, thinly-veiled way, referred to Cruz as a maniac.
In an interview on Fox News Sunday with host Chris Wallace, Trump described Cruz as unfit for the presidency because of his well-known habit of alienating his GOP colleagues, which, among other things, led to the infamous government shutdown in 2013 over the Affordable Care Act and, more recently, an unsuccessful threat to cause another shutdown over Planned Parenthood funding.
Look at the way hes dealt with the Senate, where he goes in there like a you know, frankly like a little bit of a maniac. Youre never going to get things done that way," Trump said.
"You can't walk into the Senate and scream and call people liars and not be able to cajole and get along with people," the real estate tycoon and reality TV personality told Wallace. "He'll never be able to get anything done, and that's the problem with Ted."
Cruz, who in his quirkier moments has taken to reading Dr. Seusss Green Eggs and Ham on the Senate floor during his 21-hour Obamacare filibuster and recording an "audition" to become a voice actor on "The Simpsons," responded to Trumps attack with a Twitter link to the hit song, Maniac," from the 1983 blockbuster Flashdance, a movie the senator is said to love.
In honor of my friend @realDonaldTrump and good-hearted #Maniacs everywhere: https://t.co/KOPIi4XTVt
Cruz also retweeted a tweet by a fan suggesting the hashtag #cruzmaniacs.
Before the recent exchanges, Cruz and Trump had claimed the most amicable relationship among the GOP presidential rivals until Cruz crossed the billionaires electoral red line when he outperformed him in recent voter polls, and to boot criticized Trump at a private fundraiser in Manhattan.
Speaking about Trump and the other political outsider near the top of the GOP polls, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Cruz said, "I dont believe either one of them is going to be our president.
According to an audio recording of the event that was made available to the New York Times, Cruz went on, You look at Paris, you look at San Bernardino, its given a seriousness to this race that people are looking for: Who is prepared to be a commander in chief? Who understands the threats we face? he asked.
He went on, Who am I comfortable having their finger on the button? Now thats a question of strength, but its also a question of judgment. And I think that is a question that is a challenging question for both of them.
A recent poll of Iowa likely Republican caucus-goers by the Des Moines Register showed Cruz leading Trump by 10 percentage points.
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On the heels of reassurances by Texas officials to residents that the federal government will provide the funds and support for the hundreds of unaccompanied minors from Central America who are being sheltered there, Sylvia Burwell, the secretary of Health and Human Services, is warning Congress that her agency faces a budget shortfall and could be overwhelmed by the new influx of children.
In a letter obtain by the Associated Press, Burwell told members of the U.S. House of Representatives' Appropriations Committee that even with increased contingency funding requested by the president, the agency still faces a shortage that could lead to "the situation we faced in (2014) when children were left at the border for unacceptable periods of time."
Agency spokesman Mark Weber said the secretary is communicating with members of Congress to take all the necessary steps to "make sure that we're prepared," and that the letter doesn't demand funds beyond the president's budget request.
Last week, Local officials in Texas said they were prepared to receive hundreds of Central American children who are described by U.S. federal authorities as having fled violence in their home countries.
At a press conference Thursday, Ellis County officials said some 500 undocumented children were be transported to a camp area in the next few days. They were expected to be at the Lakeview Camp and Retreat Center for the next three weeks as plans are developed on where they will go from there, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Rick DuBose, superintendent of the Assemblies of God, said that some 50 percent of the unaccompanied children will be returned to their countries. Others are expected to be resettled with relatives here, DuBose said.
DuBose said Lakeviews agreement with a non-profit organization was to house 500 children and more than 200 support staffers. The children are mainly between 12 and 17 years old, according to published reports.
We didnt feel like there was any way we could turn them away and not care for them and feed them when we have the beds that are empty and food that can be served and a process here, DuBose said, according to KeraNews.org. Its our slowest time of year. So we were very available. Weve jumped on it. Were honored to give these kids a place to live for the next three weeks.
Ellis County Sheriff Johnny Brown said there would be enough police security to keep the facility safe for everyone. Every two children would have one adult worker assigned to them, Brown said.
I want to make sure the citizens of Ellis County know that this is under control and we have everything secure and they have no fears at this point. We do have a plan in place for any kind of emergencies, Brown said, according to KeraNews.org. This will become a miniature city for the next 21 days. They have fire control, EMS, everything under control.
A total of 10,588 unaccompanied children crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in October and November, more than double the 5,129 who crossed during the same two months last year, according to the U.S. Border Patrol. The number of family members crossing together has nearly tripled, to 12,505.
The administration is hoping to avoid a repeat of the crisis it saw in the summer of 2014, when tens of thousands of children and families poured over the southwest border. Border Patrol holding areas became overcrowded, with children sleeping on concrete floors covered by aluminum foil-like blankets. The surge in children arriving without parents overwhelmed the U.S. government and the White House labelled it "a humanitarian crisis."
A total of 10,588 unaccompanied children crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in October and November, compared with 5,129 who crossed during the same two months last year, according to the U.S. Border Patrol. The uptick has already prompted the agency to open two shelters in Texas and one in California.
Burwell says in her letter that "it's impossible to know whether these trends will continue."
Border crossings have not reached the levels of summer last year, when more than 10,000 children arrived in the United States that June alone.
By law, unaccompanied child migrants from countries that don't border the United States must be handed over to the Department of Health and Human Services within 72 hours of being detained. The government is responsible for caring for the children until they are united with a relative or sponsor in the U.S. and immigration courts can rule on their cases.
Not only has the number of unaccompanied minors doubled, but the number of family members crossing together has nearly tripled from the same time last year, to 12,505 during the past two months. Adult male immigrants are usually sent to detention centers, and families, the majority women with children, are usually sent to detention centers, though detention times have become shorter since a federal judge's ruling that children can only be detained in these facilities for a matter of weeks at most.
Experts say increasing gang violence in Central America is pushing people to flee. The tiny country of El Salvador has seen its homicide rate skyrocket to levels not seen since the country's civil war, and violence continues to plague Honduras and Guatemala. The increase in migration is worrisome, they say, because it comes at a time of year when the cold usually keeps people away.
Though Mexico has cracked down on migrants within its borders and returned a large number to their home countries, experts say smugglers are finding new ways around checkpoints and have established new networks of bribes that allow them to get migrants to the U.S. border.
The AP contributed to this report.
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President Barack Obama hopes to visit Cuba in 2016, but only if the conditions exist for meeting with dissidents on the island, he said in an exclusive interview with Yahoo News released on Monday.
"If I go on a visit, then part of the deal is that I get to talk to everybody," Obama said in the interview, granted in the run-up to the first anniversary of the historic announcement of the normalizing of relations between the United States and the communist island.
"I've made very clear in my conversations directly with President (Raul) Castro that we would continue to reach out to those who want to broaden the scope for, you know, free expression inside of Cuba," the U.S. president said.
Obama said that he is "very much interested" in visiting Cuba in 2016 and strongly suggested that he would make a decision on the matter within "the next several months."
The president said that if he believes that progress is occurring in freedom and the possibilities for the average Cuban, he would like to use an official visit as a way to emphasize that progress.
But, if backsliding is detected, there is no reason for him to go, he said, adding that he is not interested in validating the status quo on the island.
On Dec. 17, 2014, Obama and Raul Castro announced the start of a process to normalize relations that resulted, last July, in the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington after a rupture of more than 50 years.
Last week, the two countries took another step toward full normalization with the announcement of an agreement to reestablish direct postal service via a pilot transportation plan for mail and packages.
The two nations are also negotiating accords to establish regular commercial flights between the United States and Cuba and, in late November, representatives of the two governments met in Washington to discuss immigration and the fight against drug trafficking.
Amid the crisis of thousands of Cuban refugees who are currently stranded in Central America, Cuba is urging the United States to end the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act and the accompanying "wet foot, dry foot" policy that favors Cubans who manage to make it to U.S. territory, albeit illegally.
However, Washington to date has denied that there will be any changes in that policy.
Another issue that continues to impede the full normalization of relations is the U.S. economic embargo that has been in place against Cuba and the lifting of which may only be done by the U.S. Congress, although Obama has taken executive action to ease travel restrictions and some commercial transactions with the island.
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The governor of Puerto Rico announced Monday that he will not seek a second four-year term leading this debt-swamped U.S. territory.
In a brief televised message, Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said running for the November election as the candidate for the Popular Democratic Party would be a distraction even though he wants to campaign "with all my heart."
"Over the coming months, it would be inconsistent with putting all my efforts to bring Puerto Rico out this crisis and prevent those who created the crisis to return to power," Garcia said.
Struggling Puerto Rico faces more than $900 million in bond payments in January, including a $357 million general obligation bond payment due Jan. 1. It would be the island's first major default if the payment is not made. Puerto Rico's Public Finance Corporation already missed a $58 million bond payment in August.
Last week, Garcia said it was probable that the U.S. island will be unable to make more upcoming debt payments because it has no more money amid a worsening economic crisis. He made the comments during a trip to Washington to meet with Republican legislators and others before a vote by Congress that might include a provision giving Puerto Rico public agencies access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy provisions.
Like all U.S. states and territories, Puerto Rico currently cannot declare bankruptcy under federal law, though mainland municipalities and their public utilities can.
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Arizona's contentious SB 1070 immigration law has resulted in a lot of immigration checks, but very few deportations from the Tucson area.
An analysis of records by the Arizona Daily Star shows Tucson police ran 26,000 immigration checks for the 16-month period ending Oct. 2.
Of all of those checks, 83 people were taken into custody by the U.S. Border Patrol.
The law requires officers enforcing other laws to question the immigration status of those suspected of being in the country illegally. It also requires checks on the status of arrested people before they can be released.
The overwhelming majority of the checks documented were based on the latter requirement, while only 51 were done because an officer suspected the person was undocumented.
Ninety-nine-plus percent of the time our efforts were really not finding people that the Border Patrol was interested in coming to take custody of or to deport, Tucson Police Department chief, Roberto Villasenor, told the Daily Star.
Within the 16-month period, most of the arrests 55 out of 83 took place before December 2014. That's when the agency narrowed its policies to focus on deporting those with felonies or significant misdemeanors, and suspected terrorists who pose a threat to national security.
As of February of this year, Tucson police have stopped questioning witnesses, crime victims or passengers about their immigration status.
Maybe grandma got robbed the other night, and we caught the guy who was doing it," Tucson police officer Robert Cormier told the Daily Star. "She may be here on an expired visa from years ago ... If we were to keep running these people and deporting them, we may not get that information from anyone.
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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz enters Tuesday's Republican presidential debate with a burst of momentum, a robust campaign infrastructure and a target on his back.
It's a shift for Cruz, whose campaign got off to a low-key start. Now, he's challenging Donald Trump for the lead in the kickoff Iowa caucus and casting himself as a more electable alternative who still shares the bombastic billionaire's anti-Washington appeal.
Trump and Cruz have been friendly on the campaign trail for months. But signs of a split have emerged in recent days, with Cruz appearing to question Trump's judgment at a private fundraiser, according to audio obtained by the New York Times, and Trump calling Cruz "a little bit of a maniac."
"Looks like @tedcruz is getting ready to attack," Trump wrote on Twitter last week. "I am leading by so much he must. I hope so, he will fall like all others. Will be easy!"
Trump didn't go after Cruz by name during a Las Vegas rally on the eve of the debate, but said the primetime faceoff could turn messy.
"I am giving them a chance for them to making total fools of themselves in front of millions of people," Trump said, adding that he's expecting to be attacked. "This will not be like an evening in paradise for me. Do we agree?" he asked.
Another intriguing dynamic in Tuesday's prime-time debate in Las Vegas involves Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, another first-term senator and Cuban-American.
Cruz and Rubio have been sparring from afar for weeks, particularly over national security, which is now a top campaign issue following the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California. Rubio has tried to brand Cruz as an isolationist and has criticized his support for ending the bulk collection of Americans' phone records, saying it weakens the government's ability to identify potential terrorists.
"There are some differences in policy," Rubio said of Cruz in an interview Monday with the Associated Press. "I think we need to be the national security party, the party of strong national security, committed to ensuring we have the strongest military force in the world."
More broadly, Rubio's campaign is eager to cast Cruz, who prides himself on being a conservative "truth-teller," as a politically expedient flip-flopper who is willing to say whatever is necessary to win an election. Rubio's campaign has raised questions about the consistency of Cruz's positions on sending troops to the Middle East, as well as what they consider ambiguous answers he gives on whether he would allow immigrants living in the U.S. illegally to stay here.
Cruz's campaign has dismissed Rubio's criticism, with spokesman Rick Tyler saying, "Nobody believes Senator Cruz is weak on national defense and security."
Tuesday's debate will be the first for Republicans in more than a month, and also the first since the attacks in France and California. The four previous GOP debates had record viewership, giving the candidates an unparalleled platform to reach voters.
With just six weeks until voting begins, the broad contours of the race remain consistent. Trump still sits atop the GOP field, displaying a talent for connecting with voters frustrated with Washington and on edge about the threat of terrorism. He continues to make controversial comments that might disqualify more traditional candidates, including his recent call for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S.
More experienced politicians are still struggling to break through in the crowded field. Some party leaders fear that unless the GOP establishment wing quickly rallies around one candidate, the nomination could go to Trump or Cruz candidates they see as all but unelectable in a contest with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
Still, there have been some signs of movement in early voting states since Republicans last took the debate stage.
Cruz's rise in Iowa has been accompanied by a precipitous decline for Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who has struggled with inexperience on national security matters. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is enjoying increasing support in New Hampshire, which helped him regain his spot on the main debate stage after being downgraded in November.
"I've been making executive decisions for 13 years and been held accountable for them," Christie said in an interview with The Associated Press. "There's no other way to get ready for the presidency than that; you have to have executive experience to be successful."
Also on the main stage Tuesday night will be Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former business executive Carly Fiorina, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. Four lower-polling candidates will appear at an earlier event: former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former New York Gov. George Pataki and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
For struggling candidates, the debates will be one of their last opportunities to change the trajectory of their campaigns before voting begins in Iowa Feb. 1. The stakes are particularly high for Bush, who was once seen as a front-runner for the Republican nomination and has raised more money than any other candidate.
Bush has scoffed at suggestions that he should drop out of the race before voting begins. But that idea is likely to build if he delivers another lackluster debate performance.
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Carefully worded state laws in Texas could and might already aid the state in cracking down on undocumented immigrants without running into problems with the U.S. constitution, a state attorney recently claimed.
Texas Deputy Attorney General Brantley Starr told lawmakers in Austin during a House State Affairs committee hearing on border security and immigration that they may have some more wiggle room when it comes to enforcing immigration laws.
"You do have the ability to create state-level offenses that have an immigration element to them as long as they are sufficiently unique," Starr said, according to the Texas Tribune.
To prove his point, Starr cited House Bill 11, the Legislature's 2015 omnibus border security bill, which was signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in June and made it a state felony to smuggle someone into the country for pay. While the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that "foreign policy and related matters, such as immigration, are one of the few enumerated powers the federal government has," the Texas attorney believes that the bill could stand up to a court challenge on constitutional grounds if one were brought up.
"There were new state-level elements to that offense [in] that you're taking money in exchange for bringing someone across the border illegally," Starr said. "And the addition of the new state-level elements to that offense made it sufficiently unique."
Starr's comments come as immigration has become a major talking point both on the presidential campaign trail and in the Lone Star state, with GOP lawmakers across the country accusing he Obama administration of failing to secure the U.S. border.
Earlier this week, Texas' Abbott ordered the state's National Guard troops to remain at the Mexico border, extending again a mission that began in 2014 when unaccompanied children started pouring into the country.
Neither Abbott nor the Texas National Guard would say when troops would now go home. Lt. Col. Travis Walters also would not disclose how many troops would remain, but said no new troops would be deployed.
"Texas will not sit idle in the face of this challenge," Abbott said. "We will not be victimized as a state by a federal government's apathetic response to border security."
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw told the committee last week that laws like House Bill 11 were already helping law enforcement in Texas to arrest human smugglers.
"With Border Patrol and the U.S. Attorney's office, it was too low under their threshold," he said. "[The state] can go to the district attorney's office and say, Wait a minute,' and the district attorney took that offense."
Another law that Starr believes Texas could pass without problems from the federal government is one outlawing so-called "sanctuary cities." An important part of the state's sanctuary cities bill would be to make an exception for school districts, as the Supreme Court has already ruled that students cannot be questioned about their immigration status.
Some observers warned the committee that Starr's argument was not as simple or clear-cut as he made it seem.
"This opinion does not foreclose other pre-emption and constitutional challenges to the law," said Jacqueline Watson, the president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association's Texas chapter.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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There will be no investigation into whether or not Texas Sen. Ted Cruz disclosed classified information during Tuesday night's GOP presidential debate, the leaders of the Senate Intelligence committee said late Wednesday.
The panel released a statement a few hours after the committee's chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., had said they were checking Cruz's comments.
Burr released a joint statement with Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the committee, simply stating: "The committee is not investigating anything said during last night's Republican presidential debate."
Cruz made a claim during an exchange with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio about the new USA Freedom Act, which Cruz supported and Rubio opposed. Cruz said that "nearly 100 percent" of phone numbers can be checked for terror ties under the new program, compared with "20 percent to 30 percent" under earlier Patriot Act provisions.
Rubio responded that national television is not the place to discuss classified information, before going on to dispute Cruz's suggestions.
Burr said that any time specific numbers are discussed a question emerges as to whether it's classified or open source.
"The question had been raised. Therefore I asked them to look at it and see if there was any validity to it," Burr told reporters.
Burr added: "It's not as clear as just reading what he said. We've got to search all sorts of media outlets to see if anyone had reported that number independently."
Catherine Frazier, a spokesperson for Ted Cruz told Fox News Latino that the Texas lawmaker did not say anything in the debate that had not been previously reported, citing articles in both the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal that mention the 30 percent and 20 percent figures respectively.
There is also congressional testimony from an NSA official suggesting the USA Freedom Act could expand the universe of calls available to the agency to search. The material, Frazier noted, is "all publicly available."
Cruz himself told reporters at Los Angeles International airport on Wednesday: "What I said last night has been widely reported. It's been saturated in the public sphere. And what has been said over and over again, what the intelligence community told Congress, was that the USA Freedom Act expanded their ability to target terrorists. And listen, this is another example of the Rubio campaign trying to spread misinformation."
Burr noted that he had not actually seen the GOP debate exchange in question. "The Voice was on. It was the final episode," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz had a moment Wednesday when questioned by Fox News' Bret Baier about comments he made in 2013 as the Senate considered an immigration reform bill.
Questioning the Texas lawmaker about a statement he made during this week's GOP presidential debate "I've never supported legalization, I do not intend to support it" Baier brought up purportedly contradictory statements Cruz made in 2013.
Baier played a clip of Cruz calling "people of good faith on both sides of the aisle" to pass a bill "that allows those that are here illegally to come in out of the shadows."
Cruz responded by saying his amendment would "remove citizenship."
"The fact that I introduced an amendment to remove part of the Gang of Eight bill doesn't mean I support the rest of the Gang of Eight bill," he said.
Baier, however, tripped the usually self-assured senator up by quoting the lawmaker saying that the legislation was "the compromise that can pass." "If my amendment were adopted, this bill would pass," Cruz also said.
Cruz told Baier that although he wanted his amendment to pass, it didn't mean he "supported other aspects of the bill" and went on to defend his strict stance on immigration by referencing the support he has from Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.
The candidate said his amendment to the bill "illustrated hypocrisy of the Democrats" and "succeeded in defeating the bill."
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One day after a debate clash with Jeb Bush, Donald Trump said he's been "a little bit divisive" and wants to see Republicans come together.
In an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show Wednesday, the GOP presidential candidate looked relaxed as Kimmel queried him about campaign issues.
Trump, who has argued for temporarily banning Muslims from entering the United States, said he's gotten calls of thanks from friends who are Muslim.
"Those may have been crank calls," Kimmel replied, smiling.
The ABC host then turned to immigration, using the example of his on-air sidekick, Guillermo Rodriguez, to question Trump's call for mass deportation.
Kimmel said Rodriguez came to the United States illegally from Mexico but went through the legalization process. He suggested to Trump that people who are willing to risk everything to get to the United States are good for the country.
Trump was unfazed, calling Hispanics "unbelievable people" but not backtracking on his position. He called for a Mexico-U.S. border wall with "a big beautiful door" for legal entry.
Kimmel said it appeared Trump had made an effort to be nicer to his fellow candidates in the debate, including lauding Sen. Ted Cruz's temperament after previously calling him a something of a "maniac."
"I would like to see the Republican party come together, and I've been a little bit divisive in the sense of hitting people hard," Trump replied.
That didn't stop him from repeating his characterization of Jeb Bush as low-energy, although he added he was a "nice person."
Bush, well behind front-runner Trump in national polls, said during the debate that the billionaire couldn't insult his way to the presidency and called him a "chaos candidate."
Kimmel ended the interview by sharing a mock children's book, in the style of Dr. Seuss, which he said he'd ghost-written for Trump.
"Here are some frogs I do not like at all. We must kick these frogs out and then build a wall," Kimmel read from one page.
Trump had canceled a previously scheduled appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," but Kimmel didn't make an issue of being stood up.
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One year since Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced plans to restore diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States, many who are playing key roles in trying to bring the two sides together on several fronts say that in many ways much more has been accomplished than they expected, but that many roadblocks remain.
You can really feel the difference in Cuba from month to month from this time last year, said James Williams, president of Engage Cuba, a bipartisan public policy group that focuses on the normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations.
Williams, or members of his group, travel to Cuba about twice a month to continue nurturing ties between the two nations.
Some [changes] were moving, a lot of trends were already in place, Williams said to Fox News Latino. But theyve accelerated at a pace beyond what anybody could have expected.
Williams, like others who have been traveling to Cuba for some time, say the number of new entrepreneurial ventures is perceptibly higher, and there is an optimism and hope for a better future among everyday Cubans that didnt exist before.
The expectation and hope that things will improve are broadly shared, Williams said, people are expecting that their lives are going to get better. Its touched some people more directly than others, such as people who interact with tourists.
On Thursday, U.S. officials said they had reached an agreement with Cuba allowing dozens of direct daily flights, likely starting in 2016. Many believe this will drive down the often high cost of traveling to Cuba from the United States, and increase contact between Cubans and Americans, leading to more changes in Cuban society.
Many people in the tourist industry, both in Cuba and the United States, say that hotels and other accommodations, for instance, are filled to capacity months in advance.
If youre an engineer, life may not have changed as dramatically for you, but thats not the result of U.S. policy.
Many experts, and people who have supported and pushed the restoration of relations, concede that Cuba has been slow, or reluctant in some cases, to let go of old ways of handling things such technology and control over its population.
In a statement marking the anniversary of the agreement to restore diplomatic ties, Obama said in a statement: We continue to have differences with the Cuban government, but we raise those issues directly, and we will always stand for human rights and the universal values that we support around the globe.
Change does not happen overnight, and normalization will be a long journey. The last 12 months, however, are a reminder of the progress we can make when we set the course toward a better future.
Critics of the restoration of ties say the Obama administration made a deal in which the United States has gained little and Cuban leaders have made no concessions in important areas, such as human rights and freedom of speech.
They say Cuba agreed to restore ties only after seeing its economy further suffer because of the financial crisis of its ally, Venezuela, its main oil supplier. The critics say that Cuba entered the deal only to benefit itself economically, and has no intentions of implementing democratic reforms a goal the Obama administration has highlighted as an impetus for the change in policy toward Cuba.
President Obama granted diplomatic recognition to the Castro dictatorship, said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida Republican, in a statement, removed it from the state sponsors of terrorism list, released convicted spies including one serving a life sentence for conspiracy to murder, and eased sanctions on financial transactions and trade with a dictatorship that holds the worst human rights record in our hemisphere.
What have the U.S., and the Cuban people, gained from President Obama's policy? continued Diaz-Balart. Just take a look at the facts. Political arrests totaled 1,447 in November, the highest monthly tally this year, and there have been 7,686 political arrests this year to date.
Supporters of the renewed ties say that after a trade and travel embargo against Cuba that spanned more than 50 years, a different approach to advance U.S. interests and human rights goals was necessary.
"After 54 years of a failed, punitive policy that had achieved none of its objectives, President Obama and President Raul Castro wisely decided it was time to chart a new path," Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who played a central role in talks that led up to the restored relations, said on the Senate floor Thursday.
He took issue with "the small handful of members of Congress who continue to defend a discredited policy of isolation that has been repudiated by large majorities of their own constituents, denounced by every other government in this hemisphere, and that even they acknowledge has not succeeded."
"Yet their answer is to keep it in place," Leahy said, adding that he never believed that announcing a change in U.S.-Cuba policy would abruptly eliminate oppression on the island.
"Cubas leaders are steadfast believers in a repressive political system that has enabled them to hold onto power unchallenged for more than half a century," Leahy said. "Their economic policies have been a disaster, resulting in daily hardships for the Cuban people ...Why not support the private sector in Cuba as we do everywhere else in the world? Why not open the United States to an emerging Cuban market?"
Part of the $1.14 trillion budget deal that Congress sent Friday to President Barack Obama includes a provision to spend more than $1.6 billion over the coming two years to resettle undocumented minors who have come to the United States from Latin America in recent months.
The provision, which was reported by the Washington Free Beacon, comes as U.S. Border Patrol reported that more than 10,000 unaccompanied children crossed into the U.S. in October and November, double the number of crossings in the same two months of last year. The increase prompted federal officials to open two shelters in Texas and one in California.
Some 1,000 children are expected to be sent to two sites in Texas and to be reunited with family members who are living in the United States.
The bill would give $1,645,201,000 through fiscal year 2018 "for necessary expenses for refugee and entrant assistance activities" under the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Refugee Education Assistance Act, according to the text released Tuesday.
A 65-33 Senate vote on the total budget deal on Friday sent the measure, which combines $1.14 trillion in new spending in 2016 and $680 billion in tax cuts over the coming decade, to Obama for his signature. It had swept through the House on a pair of decisive votes on Thursday and Friday, marking a peaceful end to a yearlong struggle over the budget, taxes and Republican efforts to derail the president's regulatory agenda.
Obama is expected sign the measure, which includes many of the spending increases he fought for all year and is largely cleansed of GOP attempts to block efforts on the environment, financial regulation and consumer protection. Republicans won a spending increase for the military and an end to a ban on exporting U.S. oil, as well as permanent tax cuts for business investment.
Senate Republicans were evenly split on the bill, with 27 of them voting in favor and 26 against. Presidential contender Marco Rubio missed the vote. Only six Democrats along with Independent Bernie Sanders, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, voted against the measure.
With the votes, lawmakers wrapped up a surprisingly productive, bipartisan burst of late-session legislation.
The budget pact was the last major item in a late-session flurry of bipartisanship in Washington, including easy passage of long-stalled legislation funding highway programs and a rewrite of education programs.
It was an impressive first few weeks for new House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), who got the benefit of the doubt from most Republicans. House GOP members had opposed by a wide margin earlier legislation that established the framework for the budget package.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, a key negotiator, swung forcefully behind the measure after showing initial frustration over its lifting of an oil export ban and lack of action on helping Puerto Rico address its fiscal troubles.
"They wanted big oil so much that they gave away the store," Pelosi said, citing increased spending on domestic programs, as well as tax breaks for working families and renewable energy.
"This bipartisan compromise secures meaningful wins for Republicans and the American people, such as the repeal of the outdated, anti-growth ban on oil exports," Ryan said, also declaring victory on the large budget increase for the Pentagon and curbs on the Environmental Protection Agency and the Internal Revenue Service.
The House voted on the spending portion of the measure on Friday, when it won support from House Republicans by a 150-95 margin. Democrats followed Pelosi's lead and backed the bill by a 166-18 margin. In a procedural quirk, the House passed most of the tax cuts virtually all of them financed with deficit dollars on Thursday.
The bill extends more than 50 expiring tax cuts, with more than 20 becoming permanent, including credits for companies' expenditures for research and equipment purchases and reductions for lower-earning families and households with children and college students.
The spending measure would fund the operations of every Cabinet agency. It awards increases of about 6 percent, on average, above tight spending caps that were a relic from a 2011 budget deal and were opposed by both GOP defense hawks and Democrats seeking more domestic spending.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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They appear to be the two presidential candidates who are the most alike: They are young, Cuban-American, eloquent and can fire up their base.
But when it comes to the issue that Hispanics care the most about, immigration, they are a picture of contrasts.
In fact, immigration has become such a wedge issue between Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz that they are engaging in nasty back-and-forth over who has the right position on the divisive issue. The exchanges are spilling over from the Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas earlier this week, where the two traded barbs, to the campaign trail.
Cruz, the firebrand senator who favors plaid shirts and bacon cooked on gun muzzles over guayaberas and Cuban sandwiches, has lashed out at his rival for supporting a more forgiving immigration policy. Cruz says Rubios position is his greatest weakness among conservatives, who overwhelmingly oppose a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally.
Rubio, who plays up his family's working-class, immigrant roots, has hit back by saying that Cruz's shifting rhetoric on immigration is a prime example of a larger pattern of political pandering.
Rubio supporters say his attacks are showing his political prowess while revealing Cruzs Achille's heel.
"Cruz's response [to Rubio] highlights his greatest weakness: He's just too slick and self-aggrandizing," Stuart Stevens, a GOP strategist who guided Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign, told Politico. "Cruz is that guy in high school who really, really wanted to be homeroom president. Marco Rubio is the guy who knew it was a joke. I'd bet on the latter."
While there certainly are other issues the senators disagree on, there are few that offer a clearer contrast in tone, if not policy, between the two.
"He's going to have a hard time because he's not told the truth about his position in the past on legalization," Rubio said of Cruz while campaigning in Iowa. "It's not an attack. It's a fact."
Cruz shot back angrily.
"That is utter nonsense," Cruz told reporters. As he did during the debate, the Texas senator declined to say what he would do with the estimated 11 million immigrants currently in the country illegally, but he accused Rubio of joining with Democrats to support "amnesty."
Cruz was referring to Rubio's leading role in the Gang of Eight a bipartisan group of senators who crafted an immigration reform package in 2013 that aimed to strengthen border security, overhaul legal immigration and allow a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the country illegally. The Senate approved the bill, but it was blocked by House Republicans and widely attacked by conservatives.
Once the bill's leading salesman, Rubio distanced himself from his own plan as the presidential contest neared, suggesting it was a mistake to push for comprehensive legislation. He's now calling for a piecemeal approach that begins with border security and offers a pathway to legalization only after the influx of illegal immigration is stopped.
Observers, however, point to the harsher stance that both Rubio and Cruz are taking on immigration and border security as something that could hurt them in the primary race, and definitely if either one becomes the Republican nominee.
Often playing defense on immigration, the Florida senator shifted to offense this week by going after Cruz. Rubio said his rival's repeated attacks on immigration left him little choice but to examine the Texan's record on the issue.
"I was attacked by Ted Cruz on the debate stage, and I responded by saying I'm puzzled by his attacks on this," Rubio said, accusing Cruz of using "crafty language." ''He's the one that, for example, supports doubling the number of green cards. He's the one that supports a 500 percent increase in guest workers into the United States, and he's the one that supported legalization and legalizing people that are in the country illegally."
Cruz insisted that's not the case during Tuesday's debate and did so again Thursday night during a campaign stop in Minnesota.
"I oppose amnesty. I oppose citizenship. I oppose legalization for those here illegally. I have always opposed amnesty, citizenship or legalization," Cruz said. "And I will always oppose amnesty, citizenship or legalization, and I encourage Sen. Rubio or any other candidate running to make that same statement, to be clear where they stand."
Cruz has previously supported broadening legal immigration in some cases. And as part of the immigration reform debate in 2013, Cruz introduced an amendment that proposed eventual legal status for millions.
But Cruzs rhetoric has some Latino conservatives concerned. And they say that even with two Latino candidates running for president, the tone could turn off Hispanic voters.
"If you don't have a positive, constructive tone, you will have a hard time getting support from Latinos," Alfonso Aguilar, the executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, told the New York Times. "Hispanics won't vote for someone just because they're Hispanic."
But its not just Hispanics who care about immigration. A surprising amount of conservative voters actually support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, according to a recent AP-GfK poll.
The poll found that 4 in 10 conservative Republicans and 3 in 10 tea party Republicans favor a path to citizenship. That's compared to 54 percent of all Americans who support a way for immigrants who are already in the country illegally to become citizens, while 44 percent are opposed. More than 7 in 10 Democrats are in favor.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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More Americans favor than oppose a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who are living in the United States illegally, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows.
While most Republicans oppose such a path to citizenship, it doesn't seem to be a deal-breaker issue for them.
Here are some things to know about Americans' opinions on immigration policy from the new AP-GfK poll:
MOST SUPPORT CITIZENSHIP
A majority of Americans 54 percent support a way for immigrants who are already in the country illegally to become citizens, while 44 percent are opposed. More than 7 in 10 Democrats are in favor, while about 6 in 10 Republicans are opposed.
Still, a significant minority of Republicans 4 in 10 do support a path to citizenship. Four in 10 conservative Republicans and 3 in 10 tea party Republicans favor a path to citizenship for immigrants already in the country illegally.
Six in 10 Americans, including three-quarters of Democrats and nearly half of Republicans, favor providing immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children with a way to stay in the country legally.
NOT A DEALBREAKER FOR GOP
The new poll shows that while tough rhetoric on immigration appeals to a majority of Republicans, most still don't consider it a deal breaker issue.
The poll shows that immigration action taken last year by President Barack Obama allowing some immigrants to apply for temporary legal status is a particular sticking point for Republicans, with 73 percent of them saying they prefer to support someone who would undo those immigration steps taken by a president deeply unpopular within their party.
But 25 percent of Republicans say they would prefer to vote for a candidate who would keep Obama's immigration actions in place. And another 34 percent say they could vote for such a candidate even though they disagree on that issue, so long as they see eye to eye on other matters.
Even among conservative Republicans, more than half say they either prefer a candidate who would keep the immigration action in place (16 percent) or that they could imagine voting for a presidential candidate who would (40 percent).
DIVISION ON OBAMA'S ACTIONS
The poll shows that overall, Americans are split on what they want a 2016 presidential candidate to do about the executive action Obama took last year. Just over half (51 percent) say they're more likely to support someone who wants to keep that action in place, while 46 percent are more likely to support someone who wants to undo it.
Still, 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling immigration, while just 38 percent approve.
BIG ISSUE FOR HISPANICS
Among Hispanics, a large majority about three quarters support a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally.
Hispanics are far more likely to say they prefer a presidential candidate who would keep the president's immigration action in place than one who would prefer to undo it, by a 74 percent to 20 percent margin. More than half 56 percent say they could not imagine voting for a candidate who wanted to reverse it, even if they agreed on other issues.
IMPORTANCE GOES UP
Americans are slightly more likely than they were two months ago to see immigration as a very or extremely important issue, with 61 percent saying so now after 57 percent said so in October. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to consider it an important issue, 76 percent to 51 percent.
Neither party emerges as the clear winner on who Americans trust more to handle the issue. Twenty-nine percent say they trust the Democratic Party to do a better job and 27 percent trust the Republican Party more, while 31 percent say they trust neither party on handling immigration.
The AP-GfK Poll of 1,007 adults was conducted online Dec. 3-7, using a sample drawn from GfK's probability-based KnowledgePanel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Respondents were first selected randomly using telephone or mail survey methods, and later interviewed online. People selected for KnowledgePanel who didn't otherwise have access to the Internet were provided access at no cost to them.
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One relative of a man killed in the San Bernardino attack believes President Barack Obama's plan to meet with victim families Friday will bring comfort. Another woman wonders what solace Obama can bring when her 26-year-old sister-in-law can never be brought back.
When Obama lands in Southern California before heading to Hawaii for his annual Christmas vacation he will encounter a group of families still burying their dead. Some are just beginning to grapple with what happened while others describe being in a state of continued shock.
Ahead of the meeting, two victim relatives described conflicting emotions: One hopeful, the other with doubt.
"It won't bring any closure to us," said Evelyn Godoy, whose sister-in-law, Aurora Godoy, the mother of a toddler, was killed in the attack. "But it's nice he's going to stop."
Fourteen people were killed when Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, opened fire on his colleagues at a holiday meeting Dec. 2. Twenty-one others were injured in the attack. Both Farook and Malik were later killed in a gunfight with police.
In the aftermath of the massacre, families of those killed have grieved while also slowly learning the unsettling details about the couple who killed their loved ones. Federal investigators say they pledged allegiance to the leader of Islamic State terror organization before executing the attack.
"Of course we have questions and we would like to know how and what happened," said Robel Tekleab, whose brother-in-law, Isaac Amanios, 60, was killed. "But that is for another time. Tomorrow is all about grieving together and comforting each other."
Amanios greatly admired Obama, raising money for his 2008 campaign even through the immigrant from Eritrea was still not eligible to vote, said Tekleab, who worked as a field staffer on the president's 2012 re-election campaign. Amanios even traveled to D.C. to attend Obama's 2009 inauguration.
Tekleab said he wants Obama to know who his brother-in-law was.
"His presence itself is comforting," he said.
Evelyn Godoy said she didn't know what her family was hoping to hear. On the one hand, his visit felt like a nice gesture. On the other, when she read in the news that he was stopping on his way to Hawaii for his vacation she couldn't help but feel "like we were a throw in."
"At the end of the day my sister-in-law isn't coming back," she said. "It doesn't bring her back."
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With just a year left in the term-limited post of House Democratic Caucus chairmanship, Rep. Xavier Becerra, known for being ambitious, already seems to be eyeing his next leadership move, Politico reports.
Becerra, of California, has been inviting Democrats from Congress to dinner and making other kinds of overtures that some find intriguing, saying that theyve never been chummy with the lawmaker.
Some familiar with Becerras moves speculate he may be hoping to be the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, which is a powerful panel, or that he may be entertaining challenging Minority Whip Steny Hoyer.
You get to this point, and its your only play. You have to have a lightning strike or be resigned to the back benches, Politico quoted a senior Democratic lawmaker it did not name. It almost doesnt matter what title he is putting into peoples head it gets people to start thinking about the consolation prize.
Many Democrats and Republicans who hold leadership positions dont move out of them easily if there are no term limits. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, of California, for instance, has been the House Democratic leader since 2003. Becerra actually has mentioned going for Pelosis post if the opportunity presented itself.
Some think Becerra would be ideal for the Budget Committee, an important panel in the House, because he is known as a numbers geek, Politico said. Then again, Becerra, who mulled a run for retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer's seat, also is considered a possible candidate to succeed Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 2018 if she retires, Politico said.
Becerra has not been coy about campaigning, directly or indirectly, for support from his Democratic brethren for a potential run for a leadership post in Congress someday.
Hes enlisted some colleagues, such as Rep. Filemon Vela, Jr. of Texas, to put together dinners with lawmakers Becerra does not have close ties with, Politico reported.
I am helping Congressman Becerra raise for other members, Vela said. I have folks back home who help me raise money for members all across the country. Its coordinating some of that for Congressman Becerra.
Becerra has more than established his leadership chops.
He was chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and has had senior positions on important House committees.
Becerra, 57, has been in the House since 1992.
To be sure, there are other Democrats waiting in the wings for leadership posts to become available they include fellow Latinos Rep. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, and Rep. Linda Sanchez, the CHC chair.
Hes never naturally come up through the ranks, said a Hispanic lawmaker of Becerra. Having a job created for him, I would think, that would be his best bet. Hes not going to get Ways and Means and running against Steny Hoyer that would be suicidal. But the problem is, if there is a Latino running, do you need to create a job?
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New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez is apologizing for her staff's conduct at her annual holiday party at a downtown Santa Fe hotel.
A noise complaint resulted in police responding to one of her staffer's rooms.
In a statement Friday night, Martinez said someone threw snowballs from a hotel balcony and says that behavior is unacceptable.
Martinez also said she made a mistake by speaking to the hotel receptionist and asking about the noise complaint.
The governor said she shouldn't have gotten involved in trying to resolve the situation and she should have handled it differently.
Martinez said she was holding her annual staff holiday party at a downtown Santa Fe hotel when a noise complaint resulted in police responding to one of her staffer's rooms.
The governor's office said Friday that Martinez and staff helped clean up the hotel ballroom following last weekend's party and retired to the room to eat pizza with several other guests.
Spokesman Chris Sanchez said unbeknownst to the governor, there had been complaints about noise and someone throwing what turned out to be snowballs from the balcony of that room earlier in the night.
In police dispatch tapes, the governor can be heard saying there was no need to send officers to the hotel. She also demanded to know who lodged the complaint.
Sanchez said the governor regrets the way she and her staff handled the situation.
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The girlfriend of one of the 14 people killed in the Dec. 2 shooting in San Bernardino said President Barack Obama immediately asked her for a hug when he came to talk with her.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, met with members of each of the 14 families in the library of Indian Springs High School on Friday night before heading to Hawaii for their annual holiday getaway. A separate table was set up for each family, and the Obamas moved from one to the next, spending about 10 minutes with each victim's relatives.
When Obama approached the table where Mandy Pifer was sitting, he said, "Words aren't enough. How about a hug?"
Pifer's boyfriend Shannon Johnson, 45, was killed in the attack.
"I've been watching you give hugs," Pifer recalled telling him. "I need a hug."
"It just felt like they were really present in their conversation with me," she said. "They are sick and tired of doing these things, meeting our families."
Obama said meeting with the families was a reminder "of what's good in this country."
"As difficult as this time is for them and for the entire community, they're also representative of the strength and the unity and the love that exists in this community and in this country," Obama said late Friday after the meetings with family members.
Pifer had told the Obamas about Johnson, how he loved life, his virtues and their future plans. She also shared with them what she knows about his last moments: His colleague Denise Peraza, who survived the attack, said he huddled with her under a table as bullets flew across the room. He held her close and told her, "I got you."
Peraza credits Johnson with her survival, and since then the phrase "I got you" has spread across social media.
When she mentioned the phrase to the Obamas, they nodded, indicating it was a story they already knew, she said. She brought a sign stating "#IGotYou" that they all posed for a photo with it. Johnson and Peraza are in the initial stages of planning a foundation in Johnson's memory.
"I feel like they're on my side," she said. "They're on our side. And that he's going to keep working to make this better even after he's left office. It's personal for them."
The Obamas encouraged her to reach out and promised to provide whatever support they could.
"Mrs. Obama she did say that she would rap or perform at our fundraising concert," Pifer said. "I will try to make her keep her word on that."
Pifer said the Obamas' visit was helpful.
"It's helping the grieving process," Pifer said. "It was very comforting."
Obama said the family members were "inspiring" as they spoke with pride about their loved ones.
"As we go into the holiday season, even as we are vigilant about preventing terrorist attacks from happening, even as we insist we can't accept the notion of mass shootings in public places, in places of work and worship, we have to remind ourselves of the overwhelming good that exists out there," he said.
Ahead of the visit, two victim relatives described conflicting emotions: One hopeful, the other with doubt.
"It won't bring any closure to us," said Evelyn Godoy, whose sister-in-law, Aurora Godoy, the mother of a toddler, was killed in the attack. "But it's nice he's going to stop."
In the aftermath of the massacre, families of those killed have grieved while also slowly learning the unsettling details about the couple, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, who killed their loved ones. Federal investigators say they pledged allegiance to the leader of Islamic State terror organization before executing the attack at a holiday meeting Dec. 2. Twenty-one others were injured in the attack. Both Farook and Malik were later killed in a gunfight with police.
"Of course we have questions and we would like to know how and what happened," said Robel Tekleab, whose brother-in-law, Isaac Amanios, 60, was killed. "But that is for another time. Tomorrow is all about grieving together and comforting each other."
Amanios greatly admired Obama, raising money for his 2008 campaign even through the immigrant from Eritrea was still not eligible to vote, said Tekleab, who worked as a field staffer on the president's 2012 re-election campaign. Amanios even traveled to D.C. to attend Obama's 2009 inauguration.
Tekleab said he wants Obama to know who his brother-in-law was. "His presence itself is comforting," he said.
Evelyn Godoy said she didn't know what her family was hoping to hear. On the one hand, his visit felt like a nice gesture. On the other, when she read in the news that he was stopping on his way to Hawaii for his vacation she couldn't help but feel "like we were a throw in."
"At the end of the day my sister-in-law isn't coming back," she said. "It doesn't bring her back."
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Spain's opposition Socialist party Monday said it would vote against having acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy form a new government, thus killing one of Rajoy's options to stay in power after voters elected a fragmented Parliament.
Rajoy's ruling conservative Popular Party came first in Sunday's general election, winning 123 seats but falling far short of the 176 seats it needs for a majority and losing a chunk of the 186 seats it won in 2011. Rajoy, seeking a second term, said he will "try to form a stable government'" but has no immediately obvious partner to do that.
The Socialists came second with 90 seats and could seek a coalition with other leftist groups.
Two newcomer parties burst onto the scene, capitalizing on many voters' disenchantment with high unemployment, constant corruption cases and the country's political status quo. The far-left Podemos party gained 69 seats for third place, making it a possible kingmaker, while the centrist, business-friendly Ciudadanos party got an influential 40.
"Spain is not going to be the same anymore," said jubilant Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias.
Socialist party official Cesar Luena said Rajoy's Popular Party, which won the most votes, should have the first crack at forming a government but ruled out supporting Rajoy, eliminating the possibility of an unprecedented coalition between the two parties which have dominated Spanish politics for decades.
Sunday's inconclusive result paves the way to weeks or possibly months of negotiations. Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA in London, said Spain may now face an era of "political paralysis and instability."
Spain's benchmark Ibex 35 index was down 2 percent in trading Monday, suggesting investor jitters following the result.
If forced out of office, Rajoy's Popular Party would become the third European victim this year of a voter backlash against austerity measures following elections in Greece and Portugal seen as rebellions against unpopular tax hikes and spending cuts.
Rajoy's best chance would seem to be with Ciudadanos because of their shared center-right, business-friendly politics but the party has ruled out supporting Rajoy as prime minister, chiefly because of corruption cases in his party.
Ciudadanos' leader, Albert Rivera, said Monday that his party and the Socialists should abstain in the Parliament vote and give the Popular Party a possibility of forming a minority government.
Under the constitution, King Felipe VI will invite a party leader normally from the party with the most votes to form a government. The nominee must garner a majority of deputies' votes in Parliament in a first round to take office, or the most votes in the second round.
Deputies take their seats by Jan. 13 but there is no time limit on staging the first vote. If the candidate is not immediately successful, Parliament has two months to elect a prime minister or call a new election.
The German government, a strong supporter of Rajoy, said Monday it had not been in touch with the Spanish government. Spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said the Spanish people can be congratulated on the 73 percent turnout, "but otherwise I don't yet see so clearly who one can congratulate in this situation."
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The Obama administration formally disclosed Tuesday that it deported the fewest immigrants since 2006.
In the last fiscal year, between October 2014 and September 2015, the Homeland Security Department oversaw the deportation of about 235,413 people that's almost 81,000 people less than the year before.
Of the 235,413 removed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), nearly 70,000 were arrested inside the United States and most of them had been convicted of serious crimes, according to the annual statistical report for the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30.
Almost 166,000 were arrested as they crossed or shortly after trying to cross the border illegally, the report said.
DHS has previously said the drop in deportations overseen by ICE is largely due to the decline in arrests at the border. Border arrests dropped about 30 percent from 2014 to 2015.
The 2015 border arrests included roughly 79,800 people traveling as families and children traveling alone, mostly from Central America.
The overall total of deportations generally does not include Mexicans caught at the border and quickly returned home by the Border Patrol.
"Last year's removal numbers reflect this department's increased focus on prioritizing convicted criminals and threats to public safety, border security and national security," DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement.
Roughly 136,700 convicted criminals were deported in the 2015 budget year. The share of criminal immigrant deported rose slightly from about 56 percent to roughly 59 percent from 2014 to 2015.
Obama's immigration policies have been alternately criticized as too harsh and too weak.
Immigrant advocates derisively dubbed the president the "Deporter-In-Chief" after ICE removed a record of more than 409,000 immigrants in 2012.
Meanwhile Republicans have decried his policies as "back-door amnesty."
The question of what to do with the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally and how to enforce immigration laws has been a top topic in the 2016 presidential race. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has pledged to be "less harsh and aggressive" than Obama while Republican Donald Trump has pledged to deport millions of people in the country illegally and build a wall along the Mexican border to stop future illegal immigration.
Based on reporting by the Associated Press.
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Nearly 100 Mexicans have sought to return to the U.S. by Wednesday's deadline under the settlement of a class-action lawsuit that accused federal immigration officials in Southern California of failing to advise people of their rights.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Department of Homeland Security in 2013 over the use of a procedure to expel people from the country known as a voluntary return.
Under the procedure, people surrender rights to appear before an immigration judge and can't legally return to the U.S. for up to 10 years. The lawsuit claimed authorities threatened people into accepting the terms.
The government didn't acknowledge wrongdoing but agreed to changes in California that include a revised form that spells out the consequences and options of a voluntary return, new training and procedures and an information hotline for detainees seeking legal aid.
The government also agreed to let some Mexicans return to the U.S. to resume efforts to stay legally.
The ACLU, which had estimated thousands might be eligible for that chance, identified nearly 100 who might qualify to return to the U.S., said staff attorney Gabriela Rivera. Of those, the government has so far approved more than 20 to return and was reviewing other cases.
The number reflects the high bar to qualify, Rivera said. The requirements include being married to a U.S. citizen after entering the country legally, being in the country for at least 10 years and having a spouse, child or parent who relies on them, or being eligible to be shielded from deportation under President Barack Obama's 2012 executive order.
Applicants also must have accepted a voluntary return in Southern California between 2009 and 2014.
Lucy Sanchez, who came to California in 1996, was on a fishing boat in San Diego's Mission Bay in October 2009 when authorities asked her legal status. She said they told her she might be jailed for months if she fought to stay and would be released immediately to Mexico if she agreed to a voluntary return.
"They didn't even let me read it, they just said sign here," said Sanchez, 35, a wife and mother of U.S. citizens.
Sanchez lived in Tijuana, Mexico, for six years with her daughter, now 7, and was among a small group of Mexicans allowed to return to the U.S. in August to plead her case before an immigration judge. She has a court date in April.
The ACLU spearheaded an extensive campaign on both sides of the border that included workshops, billboards and television advertising to reach the estimated 200,000 people who accepted voluntary returns in Southern California during the period covered by the settlement.
The settlement applies only to the Border Patrol's San Diego sector and Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Los Angeles and San Diego field offices, and the requirements on the agencies to change its procedures expire in August 2017, said ACLU staff attorney Mitra Ebadolahi.
It was unclear if the agencies have changed practices in other parts of the country or if they planned to keep the procedures in place in Southern California after 2017.
Officials at the Homeland Security and Justice departments, Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement either declined comment or didn't respond to questions.
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Hundreds, possibly thousands, of families in the United States illegally arent likely to have a good start to 2016.
Reports in the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal claim that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is planning a series of raids targeting hundreds of families who entered the country illegally since the start of last year and have already been ordered removed from the country by an immigration judge.
The nationwide campaign could begin as soon as the first week of January, according to the Post, which cited multiple unnamed sources who spoke to the paper on the condition of anonymity because the operation hasnt been approved by DHS.
An official told the Journal that the decision to pursue family units which include minors who entered the U.S. with one parent is intended to convey a message to would-be border-crossers that they will not be allowed to remain in the U.S.
While not commenting on any possible ICE operation, spokesperson Marsha Catron told the Post that DHS chief Jeh Johnson has consistently said our border is not open to illegal immigration and if individuals come here illegally, do not qualify for asylum or other relief, and have final orders of removal, they will be sent back, consistent with our laws and our values.
Margaret Stock, an immigration attorney in Anchorage, Alaska, told the WSJ, Jeh Johnson wants to send a message to Central Americans: dont come north. But Washington hasnt solved the underlying problem of massive violence in their home countries that is causing them to come north in the first place.
Although the overall number of undocumented migrants entering the country has fallen in recent years, the flow of family units and minors traveling alone fleeing Central American violence has risen dramatically.
According to the Journal, more than 12,000 people in family units were caught crossing the border without documentation in October and November of this year, almost three times as much as the 4,500 who entered during the same months last year.
At the peak of the so-called border surge in the summer of 2014, more than 10,000 Central American minors entered the U.S. illegally every month.
The current administrations detention and deportation policy has had something of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde quality to it over the years. While more undocumented migrants have been deported during President Barack Obamas time in office than under any other chief executive, he is characterized as soft on immigration by conservatives, chiefly for the executive actions on immigration that he announced at the end of last year that extended deportation protections to millions of undocumented people currently in the country.
Immigrant advocates are alarmed at the possibility of mass raids and deportations of families.
It would be an outrage if the administration subjected Central American families to even more aggressive enforcement tactics, Gregory Chen, director of advocacy for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told the Post. This administration has never acknowledged the truth: that these families are refugees seeking asylum who should be given humanitarian protection rather than being detained or rounded up. When other countries are welcoming far more refugees, the U.S. should be ashamed for using jails and even contemplating large-scale deportation tactics.
Ill believe it when I see it, Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told the paper. What share is this going to be?... Its a drop in the bucket compared to the number theyve admitted into the country. If you have photogenic raids on a few dozen illegal families and thats the end of it, its just for show. Its just a [public relations] thing: enforcement theater.
The emergence of the report coincides with a recent court ruling that families cannot be maintained for long in government detention centers.
This is the last thing we expected from the administration at this point, given the court decision, Marilena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles, told the Journal. It is time that administration acknowledge once and for all that these mothers and children are refugees.
Earlier this week, the administration reported that 235,413 people were deported during Fiscal Year 2015, which ended Sept. 30 25 percent less than the 315,953 deported in 2014 and the lowest annual figure during Obamas White House tenure.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture is embarking on a partnership with universities across the country in hopes of infusing its ranks with more diversity as it faces civil rights complaints from Latino farmers and ranchers.
But some members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are voicing frustration, saying the agency has been dragging its feet and has yet to adequately address their concerns.
The caucus had asked for a meeting with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in October, saying members received reports from constituents indicating significant civil rights violations and discrimination by the agency.
Caucus members also pointed to a 2013 review that found noncompliance with civil rights requirements and regulations by U.S. Forest Service offices in New Mexico and Colorado.
"I am not convinced that the USDA is being as forthcoming as I would expect," said U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a New Mexico Democrat. "I look forward to pressing the secretary to provide more details that adequately address our concerns."
The USDA said this week that it's willing to meet with caucus members, but it can't address the civil rights review or other discrimination issues because of pending litigation.
The agency cited one case being heard by a federal judge in Albuquerque involving grazing permits in northern New Mexico and other cases that stem from claims of discrimination regarding the issuance and management of farm loans over a period of two decades.
Attorneys representing the New Mexico ranchers argued that the civil rights review wasn't part of the grazing case and should be addressed. The agency's general counsel said the case involves civil rights matters in general, putting it off limits for discussion.
In a letter to the caucus that was obtained by The Associated Press, the agency also defended a $1.3 billion settlement that was reached with Hispanic and women farmers over the farm loans.
The USDA argued that it had no role in adjudicating any of the claims, a task that fell to an independent contractor to ensure impartiality. That process was then reviewed by the USDA's Office of Inspector General.
Critics have said claims filed by Latinos and women have been denied at much higher rates than those of other minority groups, including black and Native American farmers who settled following separate class-action lawsuits.
U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said farmers and ranchers who have been discriminated against deserve to be made whole and that he looks forward to meeting with the secretary.
"This issue impacts the livelihood of so many in my district and the USDA must be held accountable," the New Mexico Democrat said.
Despite an indefinite delay in addressing civil rights with the caucus, the agency noted in its letter that progress is being made on other fronts and pointed to the new partnership with the nation's Hispanic-serving colleges and universities.
The USDA's Office of Advocacy and Outreach in early December signed a cooperative agreement with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities to fund 180 paid internships at the agency. The association represents more than 470 schools.
Officials said the program will increase awareness about career opportunities as well as foster the secretary's goals of a diverse, inclusive workforce.
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A man from Guatemala being held in the California's biggest immigrant detention center has died after a heart attack.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement that 54-year-old Jose Manuel Azurida-Hernandez died Wednesday after suffering a heart attack and being hospitalized Saturday.
Azurida-Hernandez had served 16-month sentence on an attempted robbery conviction at Wasco State Prison and in June was transferred to Adelanto Detention Facility because he was in the United States illegally.
His deportation case was pending at the time of his death.
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The seven children had just crossed the river, shoes still caked with mud, when U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped them.
The youngest was 6, Jon Smith Figueroa Acosta, he said, and he'd made the 2,000-mile journey from Honduras. He did not know to what city or state he was headed, but he had a phone number for his father in the United States.
"Estoy solo," he said, meaning, "I'm alone."
It was unclear how long the group had been traveling together, or who had brought them across the Rio Grande. There were two teenage siblings whose mother had sent for them after their elderly grandmother in Honduras could no longer care for them, and two teenage Nicaraguans.
Luis Arias Dubon, 15, said the trip required that he walk through much of Mexico for nearly a month. He left San Pedro Sula, Honduras, when he was threatened by members of the deadly 18th Street gang.
"They tried to force me into the gang," he said, adding that he was afraid they'd kill him.
The recent spike in the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border brought U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske to the Rio Grande Valley sector this month.
"Historically the numbers would not be at the levels we see right now," Kerlikowske said, while standing in a warehouse where about 20 migrant children rested on large green mattresses, wrapped in reflective plastic blankets. "The concerning part is, are we seeing the new normal?"
A total of 10,588 unaccompanied children crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in October and November, more than double the 5,129 who crossed during the same two months in 2014, federal statistics show. The number of family members crossing together, meanwhile, has nearly tripled, to 12,505. And though the influx began in July, the numbers were slightly higher this fall, a time when colder weather usually drives down the number of migrants crossing.
Kerlikowske said his agency was better prepared to handle the influx than in summer 2014, when tens of thousands of unaccompanied children and families poured over the border, taxing agents and holding areas.
Recently, two camps in North Texas have opened as shelters, housing 900 unaccompanied child migrants from countries that don't border the U.S., who under federal law must be handed over to the Department of Health and Human Services within three days of being detained. A third facility is on the way, which will hold another 200. The children are being sent north to prevent a backlog at the border, health officials said.
The child migrants must be cared for until they can be united with a relative or sponsor, where they remain until immigration courts can decide on their cases.
In McAllen, a respite center run by Catholic Charities looks after families who have been released by Border Patrol and given notices to appear at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices and immigration courts. Recently, mothers with children described various reasons for leaving: fleeing gang or domestic violence, providing opportunities to study for their children, reuniting with family who had long lived in the United States.
Ester Franco, 38, of El Salvador, said she left with her two teenage daughters, Yesica and Isela, out of fear for them because they are of the age when local gang members start to accost young girls. She had already pulled them out of school and still didn't feel safe, so she decided to bring them to Maryland, where her husband lives.
"What I want is security for my girls," she said. "I want them to be able to study."
On the other side of the border in Reynosa, Mexico, migrant shelters where people await their opportunity to cross were mostly empty. Maria Nidelvia Avila, the director of the Casa del Migrante, said children who travel without a parent don't stay in shelters. Instead, they go to bus terminals, then to stash houses around the outskirts of the city.
The journey through Mexico can be dangerous, as Marleny Gonzalez, who was staying at a nearby shelter in Mexico with her daughter, could attest.
The 24-year-old Guatemalan was in the bed of a pickup truck with other Central American migrants when it overturned near San Fernando, two hours south of Reynosa. Gonzalez wasn't hurt, but her 4-year-old's legs were broken. The child was in a cast covering her entire bottom half of her body, unable to sit up.
"Almost all my family is in the United States," Gonzalez, said, including her daughter's father. "I felt alone. My girl didn't have a father, so I wanted to travel."
Given her daughter's precarious state, she wasn't sure now whether she would make the rest of the trip.
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Only two states say their National Guard operations could provide facilities to house unaccompanied immigrant children following a request for options from the government.
California and Virginia told the National Guard Bureau they have facilities that could be used but they would require additional funding if asked to meet federal requirements.
Other states responding to the National Guard Bureau's request late last month say they aren't set up to handle that kind of housing or they lack the proper facilities.
Ohio also voiced concern about the government's oversight of the program, pointing to a case of labor trafficking at a large egg farm in the state earlier this year.
The "government has attempted to increase capacity and push people through the system too quickly causing unintended consequences," Ohio Adj. Gen. Mark Bartman said in the state response obtained by The Associated Press.
Bartman said he and Gov. John Kasich have concerns about the government's ability to safely handle the increased number of children in refugee resettlement programs.
Kasich, a Republican candidate for president, raised similar issues in an August letter to President Barack Obama. Among his concerns was a lack of information shared with the state about children settled in Ohio.
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican running for re-election, has pushed for an investigation into the way the government screens sponsors getting custody of unaccompanied children.
The government says about 1,100 children have been released to sponsors in Ohio's Franklin, Hamilton and Tuscarawas counties.
A total of 10,588 unaccompanied children crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in October and November, compared with 5,129 who crossed during the same two months last year, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
U.S. immigration policy dictates that unaccompanied minors trying to escape dangerous situations can't be turned away. In the Ohio case, federal prosecutors say several teens were fraudulently plucked from U.S. custody by conspirators posing as friends or family who forced them to work as virtual slaves on egg farms near Marion.
The case occurred at a time when the country's immigration system was being overwhelmed by unaccompanied children fleeing unrest in Central America.
The Guard request to states was part of a bigger request by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the military looking for possible sites. The request sought facilities large enough to hold 300 beds for two months.
Although Virginia told the National Guard Bureau it would consider the request if funding became available, questions remain about the viability of such an operation, said Virginia Guard spokesman Cotton Puryear.
"While we are very sensitive to the needs of these unaccompanied children to find adequate housing, our primary concern is the possible negative impact on the readiness of units," Puryear said.
In California, all facilities would require work for fencing or other items to meet the requirements, said California Guard spokesman Brandon Honig.
Earlier this month, HHS Director Sylvia Burwell formally asked the Defense Department to provide up to 5,000 temporary beds within 30 days for the minors.
The government has recently assessed Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico; Fort Hood, Texas; Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington; Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; and Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois, for potential use as temporary shelters, according to HHS.
The government's expansion of its temporary ability to house children "is a prudent step to ensure that the Border Patrol can continue its vital national security mission to prevent illegal migration, trafficking, and protect the borders of the United States," said HHS spokesman Mark Weber.
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With a deeper-than-ever split between Republicans and Democrats over abortion, activists on both sides of the debate foresee a 2016 presidential campaign in which the nominees tackle the volatile topic more aggressively than in past elections.
Friction over the issue also is likely to surface in key Senate races. And the opposing camps will be further energized by Republican-led congressional investigations of Planned Parenthood and by Supreme Court consideration of tough anti-abortion laws in Texas.
"It's an amazing convergence of events," said Charmaine Yoest, CEO of the anti-abortion group Americans United for Life. "We haven't seen a moment like this for 40 years."
In the presidential race, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is a longtime defender of abortion rights and has voiced strong support for Planned Parenthood a major provider of abortions, health screenings and contraceptives as it is assailed by anti-abortion activists and Republican officeholders.
In contrast, nearly all of the GOP candidates favor overturning the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Some of the top contenders including Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio disapprove of abortions even in cases of rape and incest.
"We may very well have the most extreme Republican presidential nominee since Roe a nominee who's not in favor of abortion in any possible way," said Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY's List. The organization, which supports female candidates who back abortion rights, says it is en route to breaking its fundraising records. A similar claim is made by some anti-abortion political action groups.
What's changed for this election? One factor is the increased polarization of the two major parties. Only a handful of anti-abortion Democrats and abortion-rights Republicans remain in Congress, and recent votes attempting to ban late-term abortions and halt federal funding to Planned Parenthood closely followed party lines.
Another difference: Republicans in the presidential field and in Congress seem more willing than in past campaigns to take the offensive on abortion-related issues. Past nominees George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney opposed abortion but were not as outspoken as some of the current GOP candidates.
"Abortion will bubble over into the general election," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, which supports female candidates opposed to abortion. "If you don't know how to handle this issue, you will be eviscerated."
As the campaign unfolds, other factors will help keep the abortion debate in the spotlight.
The Supreme Court will be hearing arguments, probably in March, regarding a Texas law enacted in 2013 that would force numerous abortion clinics to close. One contested provision requires abortion facilities to be constructed like surgical centers; another says doctors performing abortions at clinics must have admitting privileges at a local hospital.
The Texas dispute will have echoes in other states as social conservatives lobby for more laws restricting abortion. Americans United for Life plans a multistate push for a package of bills called the Infants' Protection Project; one measure would ban abortions performed because of fetal abnormalities such as Down syndrome while another would ban abortions after five months of pregnancy.
Also unfolding during the campaign will be a new investigation launched by House Republicans to examine the practices of Planned Parenthood and other major abortion providers. The panel's chair, Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, says its work will likely continue past Election Day.
The investigation denounced by Democrats as a partisan witch hunt is among several congressional and state probes resulting from the release of undercover videos made by anti-abortion activists. They claim the videos show Planned Parenthood officials negotiating the sale of fetal tissue in violation of federal law; Planned Parenthood denies any wrongdoing and says the programs in question at a handful of its clinics entailed legal donations of fetal tissue.
Cruz is among many Republicans who have already passed judgment on Planned Parenthood, calling it "an ongoing criminal enterprise." He welcomed the endorsement of anti-abortion activist Troy Newman, who helped orchestrate the undercover video operation.
Donald Trump, who leads the GOP presidential polls, has been harder to pin down on the issue. He describes himself as "pro-life" and open to defunding Planned Parenthood, while acknowledging that he held different views in the past.
Planned Parenthood's leaders say a majority of U.S. voters oppose efforts to cut off its federal funding, most of which subsidizes non-abortion health services for patients on Medicaid. Planned Parenthood's political action fund hopes to spend a record amount more than $15 million on election-related advocacy.
The fund's executive vice president, Dawn Laguens, contends that some GOP presidential hopefuls, including Cruz and Rubio, may have hurt their general election prospects by making strong bids for anti-abortion votes in the primaries.
"They've gone so far out on the limb that they won't be able to crawl back," she said.
National polls over the years show the American public deeply divided on abortion. An Associated Press-GfK poll released Dec. 22 found 58 percent of U.S. adults saying abortion should be legal in most or all cases, and 39 percent saying it should be illegal in most or all cases. Forty-five percent viewed Planned Parenthood favorably; 30 percent unfavorably.
Abortion and Planned Parenthood are likely to surface as divisive issues in several of the races that will decide control of the Senate.
New Hampshire features an intriguing race between two women. Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, a supporter of abortion rights, hopes to unseat GOP incumbent Kelly Ayotte, who is endorsed by anti-abortion groups and favors halting Planned Parenthood's federal funding.
Other key Senate races likely to feature sharp divisions over abortion include those in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin and the crucial presidential battleground of Ohio, where GOP incumbent Rob Portman is expected to be challenged by former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland.
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Dozens of churches say they will open their parishes and offer sanctuary to undocumented immigrants who could be the target of a series of raids early next year.
The announcement by the Sanctuary movement, a religious and political campaign started in 1980s to provide safe-haven for Central American refugees fleeing the region's civil conflicts, comes as the Obama administration plans a series of nationwide raids on undocumented immigrants early in 2016.
The faith-based Sanctuary group said it was offering its houses of worship to any migrant seeking safe haven from the crackdown.
The Washington Post reported last week that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was planning a series of raids that would begin as soon as next month and would likely affect hundreds of immigrants who fled violence in Central America since the start of 2014.
In a statement last week, ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen would not comment on the Post story but said that as part of civil enforcement priorities announced by DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson in November 2014, the agency will focus on individuals "who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security." That group includes people who have been caught trying to enter the U.S. illegally and those who have been ordered removed from the country since January 2014.
"As Secretary Johnson has consistently said, our border is not open to illegal immigration, and if individuals come here illegally, do not qualify for asylum or other relief, and have final orders of removal, they will be sent back consistent with our laws and our values," she said.
Leaders from the Sanctuary Movement, which has granted safe haven from deportation to at least 10 immigrants in the last year and a half, joined Democratic presidential candidates and human rights groups in criticizing the Obama administration's crackdown. Referencing the Christmas holiday, the movement made mention of the Nativity story of Mary and Joseph being turned away from the village inn before giving birth to Jesus in a stable.
The organization encompasses about 50 congregations in a dozen U.S. cities, Rev. Alison Harrington, pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson told the Washington Post.
The Obama administration disclosed this week that in the 2015 budget year, the U.S. deported the fewest immigrants since 2006. ICE said that of the 235,413 people removed or returned during that time period, 98 percent met one or more of ICE's enforcement priorities.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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With a nationally focused campaign that leans on strong debate performances and television advertising, Marco Rubio isn't going all out in any one of the early voting states.
That's raised eyebrows among Republicans in states such as Iowa, where people are used to being lavished with attention in a presidential campaign.
As 2015 wanes, the Florida senator is back in Iowa on Tuesday for a multi-day swing, hoping to shore up support and finish in the top tier of candidates in the Feb. 1 caucuses.
But he is continuing to spread his time and money across the early states, showing no indication he will choose just one to make his mark.
That's unlike Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has set his sights on Iowa, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is pushing hard in New Hampshire.
While supporters say Rubio just needs to stay in the top cluster in the first few states, some see the approach as risky.
"The caucuses are about organize, organize, organize and get hot at the end," said Iowa Republican strategist Doug Gross, who has not endorsed a candidate. But as for Rubio and his people, "I think they've intentionally tried to run a different campaign."
In another early voting state, South Carolina, former Republican Party chair Karen Floyd described Rubio's approach as "curious," saying his organization there has not been as visible as several of his rivals.
Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said the campaign has no plans to "give up on states we can win."
But it is risky to be seen as having to win a particular state a month before the voting, he said. "We see four states where Marco can succeed," Conant said, referring to the four earliest ones Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
In Iowa, recent polls have found Cruz and Donald Trump battling for first, with Rubio usually a distant third. He's seen as competing most directly with others considered part of the GOP establishment Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Most agree he doesn't actually need to win the caucuses, but must emerge as the leader of that group.
"As 2016 starts, Iowa feels it's Cruz's to lose," said Matt Strawn, a former Iowa Republican Party chairman. "A lot of Senator Rubio's success will be determined by whether he can blunt the momentum or not allow any of his New Hampshire competitors to build momentum."
A good organization is important in Iowa because caucuses take more effort than a primary, requiring voters to show up at a fixed time on a winter night. The Republican caucuses drew about 120,000 voters in 2008 and 2012 roughly 20 percent of registered Republicans.
Cruz has perhaps the strongest traditional organization in Iowa, with backing from churches, an active volunteer network and some key endorsements.
Rival Ben Carson has been wooing churches and Bush and Rand Paul have had staff in the state for months. The biggest wild card remains Trump, who has been drawing massive crowds, but must translate that into caucus voters.
Rubio has less paid staff than some competitors and his state director hails from Arkansas.
He draws large, enthusiastic crowds and has done at least 49 public events in the state this year more than Bush or Christie, but significantly fewer than Cruz, who has done at least 80. Iowa Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, who is backing Rubio, said the pace will pick up in the next month with "a more traditional Iowa campaign."
Iowans have been exposed to more commercials promoting Rubio than they have almost any other candidate.
Rubio's campaign and two outside groups helping him, including one that keeps its donors secret, together aired about 4,000 ads on broadcast TV in 2015, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media's CMAG. That's second only to Right to Rise, a super political action committee backing Bush, which had about 5,600 ads up this year. Bush's own campaign didn't do any Iowa broadcast advertising, CMAG shows.
Cruz broadcast only about 800 commercials in the state, and groups helping him have put just a few more on Iowa TV. Trump hasn't had any local commercials.
There's much more to come.
Information from CMAG shows some $18 million in commercials already on deck for January. Rubio's campaign, so far, plans to spend the most in the state, with the Bush super PAC close behind. But because the ad rates are so much higher for outside groups than for the candidates themselves, Rubio will probably get much more airtime for his money.
Questions about Rubio's organization efforts are being echoed in other early voting states, including New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Christie, Bush and Kasich have spent far more time in New Hampshire than Rubio.
Rubio has taken one major step in South Carolina, picking up the endorsement from Rep. Trey Gowdy, nationally known among conservative activists and the lead congressional figure on the murders of four Americans at the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya in September 2012. Gowdy is scheduled to appear with Rubio in Iowa this week.
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The U.S. government plans to open three new shelters in three states to house unaccompanied migrant children as officials brace for another influx of young Central American immigrants crossing the border.
The temporary shelters in Colorado, Florida and New Mexico, all located on federal property, are in addition to shelters that opened outside Dallas earlier this month to deal with the growing number of immigrants expected in the spring and summer of 2016.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services plans to house up to 1,000 children in a renovated warehouse in the sprawling Federal Center complex in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. Another 800 will be housed at a Job Corps site in Homestead, Florida, and 400 more at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, Mark Weber, a spokesman for HHS, which is responsible for overseeing the children's care, said Thursday.
The new planned shelters, combined with the camps opened in Rockwall and Ellis counties in Texas this month, represent a 42 percent increase over the 8,400 permanent shelter beds the agency previously relied on in 12 states mainly along the Mexican border.
Children in the shelters, most of them between ages 14 and 17, stay an average of 32 days. They receive schooling and medical care on site until they can be placed with sponsors as they wait to hear whether they will be allowed to stay in the U.S. or will be deported.
Officials in Colorado and Florida were quietly informed Wednesday about the decision to open the shelter there. Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter directed Holloman Air Force Base officials to get ready to house immigrant children in a vacant building once used by the 4th Space Surveillance Squadron starting in January.
Children could arrive at the Florida facility as soon as February. The Colorado warehouse still needs to be renovated and isn't expected to open until April.
The federal government is trying to avoid a repeat of the summer of 2014, when so many children crossed the border into the U.S. from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador that they were forced to stay in Border Patrol facilities, which aren't designed to house children. That also diverted officers from securing the border, even though the law requires children under 17 who enter the country alone to be turned over to HHS.
"This is out of an abundance of caution," Weber said of the new temporary shelters.
It's not yet known how much renovating and operating the new shelters will cost, Weber said. The permanent shelters cost $223 per bed per day to operate, and the temporary locations cost more, he said.
Border crossings haven't returned to 2014 levels, but the numbers began to pick up again in June and have remained high even though migration usually slows down in the fall and winter.
According to the U.S. Border Patrol, 10,588 unaccompanied children crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in October and November, more than double the 5,129 who crossed during the same two months last year. The number of family members crossing together has nearly tripled, to 12,505.
In an interview on "Bill Bennett's Morning in America" before Christmas, House Speaker Paul Ryan said officials want to be prepared for another influx and place children in the "least restrictive environment possible."
"We're worried that there may be another episode on the border this coming summer and we want to be prepared for that," Ryan said.
Such an episode would come in the midst of a presidential election that has already been dominated by concerns over immigration and border security.
U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Democrat who represents the swing district where the Colorado shelter will be located, downplayed the potential impact on the surrounding community since the children won't be allowed to leave the site. While candidates may debate immigration policy, he said officials still have to deal with the fact that these children have managed to end up in the U.S. and have been apprehended.
"It's a sad situation, but you have to step up and acknowledge the reality of the situation and provide these services," he said.
Lakewood Mayor Adam Paul said he wished the government had waited until after the holidays to announce the shelter, giving him and other leaders more time to learn about it and be ready to answer questions from the community.
"We're just going to demand that they communicate with us," he said.
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Several candidates for the presidency in 2016 have proposed building more border wall along the nearly 2,000 mile frontier with Mexico to keep people from crossing into the U.S. illegally.
Here is what they have to say about a border wall.
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DONALD TRUMP
Trump has been the most outspoken about building a wall, and insists he'll make Mexico pay for it.
"We're going to do a wall. We're going to create a border," he said during the third Republican debate in October. Trump also made reference to the Great Wall of China, and claimed that "Mexico is going to pay for the wall."
On his website, Trump reiterates his assertion that "there must be a wall across our southern border." In November, after eight Syrian Christians sought asylum and turned themselves in to officials in Laredo, Texas, Trump tweeted, "WE NEED A BIG & BEAUTIFUL WALL".
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TED CRUZ
The Texas senator pledges on his website to "build a wall that works," and to "complete the wall," though he offers no specifics as to how he would do so.
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MARCO RUBIO
The Florida senator says the most vulnerable sectors of the southwest border must be secured, according to his website. During the Republican debate in September, in response to a question, he said that "we must secure our border, the physical border, with a wall, absolutely."
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JEB BUSH
In contrast to his rivals, Bush has said he considers a massive border fence to be unnecessary. "We don't need to build a wall," he told a group of Latino business owners in September.
A month before in McAllen, Texas, across the river from Reynosa, Mexico, the former governor of Florida told supporters that Trump's wall strategy "not based in reality."
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HILLARY CLINTON
At a November town hall campaign event in New Hampshire, where she was asked about securing the U.S.-Mexico border, the former New York senator and secretary of state stressed that she'd voted for the 2006 legislation that authorized the building of some 650 miles of wall.
"I voted numerous times when I was a senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in," Clinton said, "and I do think that you have to control your borders." She later apologized for using the term "illegal immigrants." She has not said whether she would extend the wall.
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BERNIE SANDERS
The independent senator from Vermont sees the importance of securing the border, but is opposed to building a fence to do so, according to his website.
"I also opposed tying immigration reform to the building of a border fence," he said during a speech in June to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
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Ted Cruz's reputation as an arrogant, grating, in-your-face ideologue has dogged him throughout the Republican presidential race. But it hasn't stopped the Texas senator's rise.
Cruz is increasingly embracing his irascible persona, trying to turn what could be a liability into an asset.
"If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy," Cruz said at a Republican debate this fall when asked to describe his biggest weakness. "But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home."
Cruz and his supporters relish his outsider status, highlighting his conflicts with fellow Republican senators. Not one has endorsed him for president.
A group backing Cruz's candidacy sent out a fundraising email plea in December with the subject line "Washington hates Ted Cruz." Cruz frequently rails against the "Washington cartel," which he argues is scared that conservatives are uniting behind him, and says he's glad that "Washington elites" despise him.
Cruz supporters, including some who turned up for a large rally at an evangelical church near Richmond, Virginia, in December, are embracing the abrasiveness that's caused Cruz to clash with other Republicans.
"They view him as a renegade in the GOP," said Carter Cobb, 56 and retired from the Navy, from Mechanicsville, Virginia. "He doesn't toe the party line. That's what we're trying to get away from."
To Cobb and others, Cruz is the only candidate willing to make anyone angry and stand up for what he believes in.
"It makes me like him all the more. I've always liked people who were on the outside," said Daniel Daehlin, 51, from Richfield, Minnesota. "Ronald Reagan never got along with the establishment. They hated him in 1976 and '80. I like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington someone who goes there, speaks his mind and doesn't try to cater to the inside-the-Beltway crowd."
Myra Simons, a Cruz backer from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, agrees.
"Are we going to elect someone just because you can't sit across the table and have dinner with them?" Simons said. "Or are you going to stand with someone who stands with the Constitution and is serious about the trouble our country is in?"
Cruz made his reputation in the Senate by refusing to compromise.
He filibustered for 21 hours against President Barack Obama's health care law. The confrontational strategy he championed resulted in a 16-day partial government shutdown and alienated GOP leaders.
But his reading of "Green Eggs and Ham" during that filibuster became a seminal moment for Cruz. He frequently refers to it, including in a recent television ad he ran in Iowa where he reads to his two daughters from reimagined holiday stories with a conservative bent such as "The Grinch Who Lost Her Emails."
While the ad was designed to be funny, Cruz is not known for his sense of humor.
Foreign Policy magazine once described him as "the human equivalent of one of those flower-squirters that clowns wear on their lapels."
The national collegiate debating champion has shown his brusque side in the presidential debates, including the most recent one in Las Vegas when he refused to stop talking even as moderator Wolf Blitzer of CNN tried to shut him down.
Craig Mazin, who was Cruz's freshman roommate at Princeton, went so far as to tell the Daily Beast in a 2013 interview that he would be happier with anyone other than Cruz as president. "I would rather pick somebody from the phone book," Mazin said.
But Cruz has shown a lighter side that his campaign says demonstrates he's not as unlikable as his reputation suggests.
Cruz acted out scenes from "The Princess Bride" during a November interview at WMUR in New Hampshire, and that clip has been watched more than 250,000 times on YouTube. After rival Donald Trump referred to Cruz as "a little bit of a maniac," the Cruz campaign tried to laugh it off by posting a video on Twitter of the song "Maniac" from the film "Flashdance."
Research shows that the importance of a candidates' likability may be overrated anyway, said David Redlawsk, a Rutgers University expert in Iowa electoral politics who is spending the fall at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
"Voters are looking for a whole range of things," Redlawsk said, "and likability is just one small part of that."
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Immigration agents have begun rounding up Central American immigrants who have not complied with deportation orders, according to multiple published reports.
The raids have taken place in Texas and Georgia, and mark the first of what reportedly will be a national effort by the Obama administration to crack down on Central Americans who showed up at the U.S.-Mexico border by the tens of thousands in 2014 often in family units and usually seeking political asylum.
We are expecting these raids to occur on a national level since these families are all over the country, Michelle Mendez, a lawyer with Catholic Legal Immigration Network, a national immigrant-rights organization, told the Wall Street Journal.
Reports began circulating in the last week of December that the administration was planning to conduct mass raids to track down and deport Central Americans who had ignored deportation orders.
The reports came as the number of Central Americans seeking to enter the United States through the border rose again after having remained low for the better part of a year.
Many of the immigrants, who included thousands of unaccompanied minors, told of fleeing because of rampant gang violence and poverty in Central America. Many youths said they had fled after being pressured to, as they put it, join or die gangs. Most of the families have fled from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson defended the raids on Monday, saying they are necessary to deter migrants from illegally crossing the border.
"I know there are many who loudly condemn our enforcement efforts as far too harsh, while there will be others who say these actions dont go far enough," Johnson said. "I also recognize the reality of the pain that deportations do in fact cause. But, we must enforce the law consistent with our priorities."
He said his agency was simply making sure people follow federal laws.
"As I have said repeatedly, our borders are not open to illegal migration," he said. "If you come here illegally, we will send you back consistent with our laws and values."
Critics of the administrations handling of the border surge, which reached a peak in the summer of 2014, pointed out that migrants who were surveyed last year said they believed that anyone who managed to get into the United States would be allowed to stay.
Immigration advocacy groups are assailing the administration for choosing to expel families that ended up with deportation orders, they say, only because they lacked legal counsel to make their case for political asylum.
Instead of ensuring access to legal counsel and due process so eligibility for asylum can be properly determined, the federal government is sending these families back to the terror and violence they fled. America is better than this, Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, told the Journal.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Georgia and Texas declined to comment to the newspaper about on the raids.
The WSJ quoted an unnamed Department of Homeland Security official as saying, Attempting to unlawfully enter the United States as a family unit does not protect individuals from being subject to the immigration laws of this country.
The repatriation of individuals with final orders of removal including families and unaccompanied minors to their home countries is part of our broader ongoing effort to address the rising surge of families and individuals arriving at our southern border, the official said.
Immigration attorneys in Georgia and Texas depict the raids as overzealous, and say they do not know where many of the families were taken after being picked up by ICE agents.
Charles Kuck, an attorney in Atlanta, was quoted in the Journal as saying that one mother and her three children were taken into custody when ICE agents pretending to be looking for a criminal, ... asked to enter the house to check whether he was there.
Kuck added, We do not yet know where they were taken.
In anticipation of the raids, scores of rights groups sent a letter to President Barack Obama last week protesting the plan to conduct mass arrests of Central Americans.
In October and November, about 12,000 people, usually coming in family units, were arrested at the border. That is about three times as many as were arrested during those months in the surge year of 2014.
At one point in 2014, about 10,000 Central American minors were arriving each month presenting a dilemma that the administration is eager not to relive.
As with almost any aspect of immigration, the issue of the unaccompanied Central American minors became a political point of contention, with those who prefer a hard line pushing for them to be returned, and those who want more leniency saying they should be allowed to remain here.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton drew the ire of immigration advocacy groups when she said in 2014 that the children should be returned to their homelands.
Meanwhile, GOP candidate Donald Trump says that the Obama administration is taking a page from his campaign promise of mass deportations to address illegal immigrants already here and to deter others from coming without permission.
Democrats and President Obama are now," the GOP front-runner has said, "because of me, starting to deport people who are here illegally.
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Marco Rubio is lashing out at Republican rivals in a New Hampshire speech focused on national security.
The Florida Republican declined to call them out by name in the Monday morning address, but said some Republican presidential candidates would weaken the nation's military and intelligence programs designed to prevent terrorism.
"They talk tough," Rubio said in prepared remarks, "yet they would strip us of the ability to keep our people safe."
The shot, and others like it, was a clear reference to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.
Cruz in particular has emerged as a top competitor to Rubio with Iowa's leadoff caucuses less than a month away. Cruz has called for limits on U.S. intervention abroad, while Rubio has aligned himself with his party's national security hawks.
The Florida senator is looking to strengthen the U.S. government's intelligence gathering programs at home. He also said in the Monday address he has "no qualms" about treating Americans as enemy combatants if they betray their country by refusing to disclose "actionable information" about terrorist threats.
Rubio and Cruz, both Cuban-American, have engaged in a bitter back-and-forth as both senators rise in the polls.
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Ted Cruz's presidential campaign on Tuesday released a new television spot that features men and women in business clothes traversing rivers and sprinting through scrubland in a fictionalized version of the trip thousands of migrants take from Latin America to the U.S.
Entitled "Invasion" and running in the early primary battleground state of New Hampshire, the Cruz camp says the ad hopes to make the case that the immigration in the U.S. debate "would take on a different tone if those illegally entering the country were taking the jobs of lawyers, bankers, or journalists."
"I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn't often see it as an economic issue. But I can tell you, it is a very personal economic issue," Cruz says in the ad. "And I will say, the politics of it would be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were coming across the Rio Grande."
Cruz, a firebrand first-term senator from Texas who has recently seen his stock in the polls rise, is known as an immigration hardliner whose campaign recently outlined its approach to immigration if he won the presidency. The Texas lawmaker has vowed to complete 700 miles of fencing along the border, triple the Border Patrol staff, and bolster aerial surveillance, among other things.
The senator's recent immigration announcement, however, was met with scorn by Cruz's rival, billionaire businessman Donald Trump, who has argued that Cruz is copying his own proposal.
"Well, first of all, his plan just happened, OK?" Trump said during a Sunday morning interview on CBS' "Face the Nation." "In fact, I was watching the other day. And I was watching Ted talk. And he said, 'We will build a wall.' The first time I've ever heard him say it."
"And my wife, who was sitting next to me, said, 'Oh, look. He's copying what you've been saying for a long period of time.'"
Trump continued: "Ted Cruz is trying to step up his whole game on amnesty and on illegal immigration, because it was actually quite weak."
Cruz, who has so far refrained from attacking Trump during this campaign season, has instead focused his attention on fellow senator, Marco Rubio of Florida comparing his fellow Cuban-American's immigration stance to that of President Barack Obama.
"Some choose to stand with Barack Obama and (New York senator) Chuck Schumer and support amnesty," Cruz said during the final GOP debate of 2015 in December. "And some stand by (Alabama Senator) Jeff Sessions and (Iowa congressman) Steve King and the American people."
Both Sessions and King are known for their strict stance toward illegal immigration.
"I have never supported legalization and I do not intend to support legalization." Cruz added.
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Just a few weeks out from Iowas first-in-the-nation presidential contest, Hillary Clinton mindful of the bruising she got there when running for the Democratic nomination in 2008 is leaving nothing to chance.
She has spent far more time in Iowa, shaking hands, holding town hall meetings, and going to gatherings in private homes, than she did when she ran against then-Sen. Barack Obama, at the time preferring to hold impersonal, less frequent event-style functions that turned off many in the Hawkeye State.
"I need you," she said during a recent appearance in Iowa as she shook hands with residents and posed for selfies.
And, indeed, she does need Iowa quite badly this time around.
Her lead over her rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, among Iowans has narrowed, from one of double-digits months ago to roughly 9 points most recently.
In 2008, Clinton campaigned like an inevitability, and Iowans resented it, flocking to caucuses for the first time for many of them and choosing Obama as their choice. Clinton, in fact, came in third, behind Obama and Sen. John Edwards, of North Carolina.
Obama got nearly 38 percent of the vote, Edwards got 27.7 percent and Clinton got 29.4.
Now, having learned from Obamas well-organized ground infrastructure and presence in Iowa in 2008, Clinton has a solid campaign organization there, and at virtually any time, either she or a surrogate of her campaign is visible in the state.
"We can't take anything for granted," Clinton said Monday night at Des Moines' State Historical Museum, a replica of a massive wooly mammoth looming off to the side as she spoke. "It doesn't happen just because we wish it. It doesn't happen because it's inevitable."
I know if I get off to a good start in Iowa, were halfway home, Clinton said, according to Politico.
Former President Bill Clinton was appearing in Cedar Rapids and Dubuque on Thursday on behalf of his wife, and is certain to return. Her team is also dispatching backers like Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a top adviser during her 2008 campaign, and actress Lena Dunham of HBO's "Girls" in the coming days.
"Nobody's complacent because of the 2007 and 2008 experience. This is not a done deal," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa governor who introduced Clinton at events on Monday. "I like what she's doing she's reminding people what's at stake here. That's a motivating factor."
Sanders lacks the kind of statewide presence in Iowa that Clinton has, though he is a favorite among younger caucus-goers.
A Fox survey showed the senator leading Clinton among caucus-goers under the age of 45 by more than 30 points 56 percent to 34 percent. Clinton leads among caucus-goers older than 45 years old, who are more likely to go to the caucuses.
With Sanders being led by Clinton in New Hampshire by just a few points, experts say it is particularly crucial that Clinton nail Iowa.
She has been pushing her experience, and herself as having the best shot at being elected.
I think Im the only candidate with the experience to fill that job description, she said at a town hall in Osage.
Much of Clinton's message revolves around defending Obama's legacy. She warns that a Republican president would repeal Obama's health care law, slash taxes on the wealthy and undercut executive actions on gun violence and pollution.
Part of her goal is to make a personal connection with voters over issues, as she puts it, "that keep families up at night." In Sioux City on Tuesday, she rolled out a new initiative to provide more federal resources for 3.5 million Americans with autism.
Last month, she announced a $2 billion plan to address Alzheimer's during a stop in Fairfield, Iowa, and she frequently talks about substance abuse and mental health problems at events.
Democrats say Sanders appears to have made a more emotional connection with his supporters.
"He seems more genuine," said Dan McCarthy of Bettendorf, a defense worker who spoke about Sanders as he sat with his mother before a Clinton event in Davenport. "I don't like the idea of having the same people over and over again. You're not going to change anything."
McCarthy said he was supporting the Vermont senator while his mother, Joan, said she was still assessing the Democratic field.
But Clinton's argument brought at least one fence-sitter onto her side in Des Moines.
"To me, it's who is more electable," said Al Hart, a retired social studies teacher from Ankeny who said he decided to support Clinton after listening to her speech at the museum. "I think she's got the fire in belly to get elected. She's been through this before."
Grant Woodard, a Des Moines lawyer and veteran of several Democratic campaigns, said the size of the caucus would play a major role given Sanders' attempt to attract college students and first-time caucus-goers. Most expect it to fall somewhere between 2008's record of about 240,000 and the 125,000 who participated in 2004.
"Sanders people are more motivated but I am not sure there's enough of them," Woodard said.
As for Clinton, he said the challenge was simple: "How do you keep them motivated when folks think this is in the bag?"
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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At least 20 people swept up in last weeks immigration raids have been granted a temporary reprieve from deportation because they had not exhausted their legal options and four more families are also waiting a stay that would allow their appeals to be heard, their lawyers told Fox News Latino.
Among those whose deportations were halted were three mothers and five children targeted in the raid who were pulled out of a plane Thursday morning as they were in the process of being deported to El Salvador. Those three families, who had boarded a plane in Texas, narrowly escaped deportation.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had raided their homes last weekend during an operation that targeted adults and their children in Georgia, North Carolina and Texas, many escaping gang-related violence in their Central American homes. They had been sent to a family detention center in Dilley, Texas. But to at least eight families, including the ones pulled off the plane, the Board of Immigration Appeals halted their deportation because there were still legal avenues they had not pursued in their immigration case.
Advocates say these episodes call into question how thorough the agency is to make sure they do not expel immigrants who still have a right to pursue their cases. They also say the immigrants are the victims of a legal system that has failed them.
Getting a stay from the Board of Immigration Appeals is actually pretty difficult, said Laura Lichter, general counsel for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. The fact that theyve been granted and 100 percent granted is pretty significant. The sad part is there are another 100 that havent seen an attorney, that dont know they can appeal and that are most likely going to be removed that are going to face serious harm.
But ICE insists that the immigrants had ample opportunities to appeal their cases before the raid and had not. So it was well within its legal justification to remove them.
As of Tuesday night, 12 people (four mothers with two children each) had received temporary relief from deportation while their case was appealed. By Thursday afternoon, eight more people (two mothers with two children and one with one child) received stays. Lawyers said four more families had pending appeals as of Thursday evening.
We are talking about real people who have real relief but the system has failed them, said Lichter.
By January 4, ICE had detained 121 people. A total of 77 of these detainees were deported to Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico, ICE told Fox News Latino. These people had deportation orders from a judge, did not have pending appeals before the Board of Immigration Appeals and the time to file their appeals had expired,according to an ICE statement reasserting the validity of their raids.
But lawyers in Dilley found that almost all the women they spoke to hadnt filed the appeals they were entitled to because, in some cases, they were poorly represented and, in others, they werent informed of subsequent steps.
In these cases, deportation orders were late (generally such an action is allowed within 30 days of a judges ruling), which means that stays were granted on a case-by-case basis.
Lawyers expressed dismay at the fact that ICE had placed people on a plane knowing they had filed for an appeal and a stay.
We dont think any vulnerable kids and moms should be returned to the northern triangle now, said Lindsay Harris, a legal fellow with the American Immigration Council. Certainly, legally, ICE is supposed to allow all pending legal processes to play out prior to deportation.
ICE would not comment on matters pending litigation but reinforced their raids.
While ICE will respect any lawfully issued stays of removal, the ICE statement said, we also reserve the right to pursue any legal avenues available to us to further litigate these matters.
A Kansas legislator said Thursday that he regrets sharing a post on Facebook that mocked Hispanics who speak accented English to make a derogatory comment about President Barack Obama.
Rep. John Bradford, a Lansing Republican, said in a statement that sharing the post this week was "in bad taste."
The posting on the Conservative Country community Facebook page featured a photo of a man wearing a sombrero and a headline, "Mexican words of the day." It then jokingly fashioned unrelated words into a mock sentence in heavily accented English that celebrated Obama's leaving office in January 2017. It also included an altered picture of the Democratic president.
The posting received additional attention because Bradford was among nine GOP conservatives who last year filed a formal complaint against Democratic Rep. Valdenia Winn of Kansas City over remarks she made during a House Education Committee meeting. Winn described supporters of a bill denying in-state tuition to people who are in the U.S. illegally as "racist bigots."
Several Democrats and Pedro Irigonegaray, a prominent Topeka attorney and Cuban immigrant, described Bradford's posting as racist. Irigonegaray and Kansas Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, said the GOP-dominated House should investigate and consider disciplinary action.
"Kansans should not have to tolerate this type of bigoted mentality from anyone, especially an elected official," said former state Rep. Melody McCray-Miller, the Kansas Democratic Party's vice chairwoman.
The original posting was Sunday, and the Wichita Eagle reported that Bradford shared it Tuesday. Bradford removed it from his Facebook page by Thursday afternoon, but Hensley's statement included an image of Bradford's post.
"I did not create the image, but I did share it, which was in bad taste. I regret that decision," Bradford said in his statement, declining to say more in a later telephone call with The Associated Press.
Bradford released his statement through House Speaker Ray Merrick's office. Merrick, a Stilwell Republican, didn't issue a separate statement or respond publicly to calls for an investigation of the posting.
When Bradford and other GOP conservatives filed their complaint against Winn last year, Merrick was required under the House rules to appoint a bipartisan investigating committee. Winn is black; Bradford is white, but two of the nine lawmakers filing the complaint also are black.
Bradford and the other Republicans saw Winn's comments as an unfair and inappropriate criticism of committee members. In response to objections during the meeting, Winn said she was referring to "supporters" of the immigration legislation but added, "If the shoe fits, it fits."
The investigating committee dismissed the complaint in June on free speech grounds.
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One year ago, the Cuban government began releasing 53 political prisoners that President Barack Obama wanted freed as part of a historic deal to re-establish diplomatic relations between the former Cold War foes.
Obama says he could make the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to post-revolutionary Cuba as early as this spring if he thinks human rights on the island are improving and a presidential trip will help. The fates of the released dissidents show just how hard it will be for the U.S. to push human rights in Cuba in the direction the Obama administration desires.
U.S. government information and an Associated Press assessment of the dissidents' lives 12 months after their release shows that at least 35 have asked for refugee status allowing them to move permanently to the U.S., reducing the ranks of an already weak and divided opposition movement. Many applications have been delayed by vetting of the dissidents' criminal records, some of which have little to do with political activity. Seven have either left Cuba for or are preparing to leave this month.
Among those who remain, at least six men are back in Cuban prison on what their allies say are politically related charges. Others have abandoned activism altogether.
A number of Cuban activists say the new U.S. policy of engagement focuses on diplomatic and economic ties instead of improving human rights. Others say easing tensions between the U.S. and Cuba will inevitably lead to better conditions on the island. International advocacy groups such as Amnesty International say that no matter what the United States does, it's up to Cuba to improve the island's human rights situation.
"The reforms that have to be made in terms of restrictions of liberty must come from the Cuban government, not from the government of the United States," said Marselha Goncalves Margerin, Amnesty International's advocacy director for the Americas.
Cuba's dissidents are viewed with skepticism by many ordinary Cubans who question their backing and motivation. The government historically has characterized them as U.S.-backed mercenaries and for decades has quashed any attempts to organize independent resistance to the single-party state founded by Fidel Castro and run by his brother, Raul.
Cuban officials did not respond to requests for comment on how the freed dissidents are faring.
In a statement Thursday night, the State Department said: "?We have publicly called for the release of political prisoners and others jailed for exercising their internationally recognized freedoms in Cuba, and will continue to do so." It added that the U.S. Embassy has been in contact with many of those freed last year.
Among those back behind bars is Wilberto Parada, who was arrested for public disorder in October when he protested in front of a prosecutor's office in Havana. Vladimir Morera, from the central province of Villa Clara, has been jailed since May on charges of assault. Fellow dissidents said he held a weekslong hunger strike that ended last month.
Another freed government opponent, Carlos Manuel Figueroa Alvarez, was charged with jumping the fence protecting the U.S. Embassy to claim refugee status after he said he was denied a refugee visa in September. Figueroa is now held on Cuban charges of violating a diplomatic site.
Angel Yunier Remon, a rapper from the eastern province of Granma, said he also was denied refugee status despite being named by the State Department several times as a victim of political repression before he was freed in January 2015.
"I'd never opted for refugee status, but government aggression made me feel like an enemy in my own land," Remon said by telephone.
Remon said the U.S. Embassy gave him a document that recognized him as worthy of refugee status, but said he was "non-admissible" to the United States. He said an embassy employee told him that was because of a robbery conviction he had before becoming a political activist.
U.S. officials says that most of the 53 political prisoners who have applied for refugee status are likely to receive it and that those who complain about delays may be misinterpreting normal processing times as problems with their applications. They remain eligible for refugee status, the officials said.
Several of the freed dissidents nonetheless complain they have waited for months to hear from U.S. consular officials, saying they are at risk of harassment while still in Cuba.
"I was very grateful for Obama's effort to free me in January, but now I'm upset about the wait," said Sandalio Mejias, who said he recently was notified of his second appointment, next month, to present documents supporting an a request for refugee status filed nearly a year ago.
About 20 of the freed dissidents have decided not to leave, some because they've abandoned political activism. But others want to stay and work to change the government.
"Our commitment is here," said Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, a group based in the country's east. "We do a lot to make our members aware of that, so that they don't leave."
Along with the freeing the dissidents last year, the U.S. has said it's trying to improve conditions for Cubans by increasing American trade and travel to the island and encouraging Havana to improve telecommunications and the flow of information to one of the world's least-connected countries.
American officials say Cuba's opening of at least 58 public Wi-Fi hotspots nationwide shows its new policy is working, even though Cuban officials don't describe the new Internet facilities as a result of detente.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials privately express concerns about a reverse in Cuba's policy of granting greater freedoms for its people in recent years. The government decided late last year to prevent thousands of medical specialists from leaving the country even for brief vacations without the Health Ministry's permission.
The move came after a flood of doctors began leaving Cuba last year as part of a broader exodus sparked by fears that better relations with the U.S. could end special Cold War migration privileges for Cubans.
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Sen. Marco Rubio is not taking New Jersey Gov. Chris Christies putdowns of him lightly.
The Florida Republican, whom Christie said this week will not be able to slime his way to the White House, said on Thursday that the governor is weak on guns, has contributed to Planned Parenthood, and is not all that different than President Barack Obama when it comes to a whole host of issues.
Chris Christie has supported Common Core, and in fact has badmouthed Republicans that oppose it, Rubio said in an interview on Fox Business Network. Chris Christie has supported gun control. Chris Christie supported an assault weapons ban. Its the reason why he got into politics to begin with.
I just dont think this country can afford to elect a president that will not stand up and undo the damage Barack Obama has done to this country, Rubio continued. This is an issue-based disagreement, its not personal. But its significant, its important in this election. We cant get this election wrong."
Its the latest in a war of words between Rubio and Christie, who are gearing up for the first presidential contests that are fast approaching. Iowa will have its caucuses on Feb. 1, and New Hampshire will have its primary two weeks after that.
Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas, and billionaire Donald Trump, lead the pack in polls of Iowa Republican caucus-goers. In New Hampshire, surveys of Republicans likely to participate in the primary show Rubio, Cruz and Christie hovering around third and fourth place.
Coming in second or third in New Hampshire would help boost Christies image in the race as a serious player. He has not fared well in polls of GOP voters nationwide.
A spokesman for the super PAC backing Rubio, Conservative Solutions, was quoted in the National Review as saying that Christie has the ability to alter or to affect who becomes the Republican nominee.
The super PAC is airing ads in New Hampshire taking aim at Christie.
Christie has hit Rubio hard, particularly this week. He said that a general election that would include Rubio facing Hillary Clinton would almost certainly mean a loss for Republicans.
Hes never been in a tough race in his life, Christie said.
Christie spokeswoman Samantha Smith told FOXBusiness.com that Rubios criticism highlighted his lack of political experience.
"This is the difference between a senator and an executive, she said. While Senator Rubio has no doubt given some nice speeches on these issues, Governor Christie has vetoed on Planned Parenthood funding, ended Common Core in New Jersey, and protected the rights of gun owners."
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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday that fellow Sen. John McCain is calling for an exploration of his right to run for president because he intends to endorse Marco Rubio in the race.
McCain on Wednesday said questions about Cruz's eligibility due to his being born in Canada should be explored, keeping the issue alive after Donald Trump raised concerns about it earlier in the week. Cruz has dismissed the issue, saying it's part of the political "silly season" as Iowa's Feb. 1 caucuses near.
"Everybody knows that John McCain is going to endorse Marco Rubio," Cruz said before a town hall meeting in an airplane hangar in Webster City, Iowa. "Their foreign policies are almost identical. Their immigration policies are identical. And so it's no surprise people supporting other candidates in this race are going to jump on with the silly attacks that occur as we get closer and closer to election day."
Speaking on the Chris Merrill Show in Phoenix late Wednesday, McCain said concerns raised by Republican front-runner Donald Trump over whether Cruz can be president are legitimate.
"I think there is a question," McCain said. "I am not a constitutional scholar on that. But I think it's worth looking into. I don't think it's illegitimate to look into it."
Cruz was born in Alberta, Canada to an American mother and Cuban father. He renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2014.
McCain himself was born on a military base in the Panama Canal, an issue raised during his 2008 presidential run against Barack Obama, whose American birth was doubted by some, leading to failed legal challenges.
"That's different from being born on foreign soil," McCain said of his own situation, noting that the Panama Canal was an unorganized territory of the United States for much of the 20th century.
At a campaign stop in Iowa on Wednesday, Cruz said it is "quite straightforward and settled law that the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural born citizen."
"John McCain was born in Panama, but he was a natural born citizen because his parents were U.S. citizens," Cruz added.
Both men used the example of Barry Goldwater, the Republican party's nominee for president in 1964, as an example to defend their claims. Goldwater was born in Arizona before it became a state, but both of his parents held U.S. citizenship, allowing him to run.
Cruz on Thursday also said he would not seek a declaratory judgment from a judge to clear up any question about his eligibility given his Canadian birth. Trump has suggested Cruz seek such a judgment.
"It's not anything that's going to happen and I'm not going to be taking legal advice any time soon from Donald Trump," Cruz said.
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Self-described as a policy nerd and tagged as "low energy" by Donald Trump, Jeb Bush is reaching deeper to show voters the man inside as he fights for his political survival ahead of New Hampshire's Republican presidential primary.
Bush is speaking more passionately at campaign stops, and not just in outrage toward Trump, the bombastic billionaire leading the GOP in national polls. He's offering a closer look inside his heart chiefly as the father of a former drug addict than he has over the past year in his unexpectedly difficult campaign for the presidency.
"What I learned was that the pain that you feel when you have a loved one who has addiction challenges and kind of spirals out of control is something that is shared with a whole lot of people," Bush told about 300 addiction recovery advocates Tuesday at a conference near Manchester. New Hampshire has become a center of the nation's renewed battle with heroin.
Bush's elaboration about the ordeal that he says put his family "through hell" came as the one-time front-runner showed renewed confidence campaigning in New Hampshire.
He was talking about his daughter, Noelle, who was arrested in 2002, accused of trying to fill a fraudulent prescription for Xanax, a powerful anti-anxiety medication. The arrest was a public spectacle for Bush, then a first-term governor of Florida planning to seek re-election.
He has mentioned the episode briefly during the current campaign, among the precious few personal struggles he divulges about his very public family. In May, he mentioned the difficulty of having a loved one suffering dementia, a reference to his wife's elderly mother.
With his daughter's ordeal long past, Bush said he called Noelle this week to seek her permission to discuss its impact on him. Though the wonkish Bush made certain to point out the drug treatment policy enacted during his tenure as governor, he also said the public exposure enlightened him about the plight of others.
"I could be at a chamber of commerce event, and someone would look at me," Bush said. "I could look them in the eyes and know that, as a mom or a dad or a spouse, that they were going through the same things."
Far from unrestrained, it was simply a glimpse at Bush's inner reflection, seldom seen as his highly anticipated campaign steered into uncertainty.
Beth Myers, 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney's campaign manager, said it's a sign that Bush has "found his footing."
"He's confident and comfortable talking about the serious issues that interest New Hampshire voters, even when those issues touch him personally," said Myers, who is not affiliated with any 2016 campaigns.
Bush said often last year that people knew him as the son of former President George H.W. Bush and brother of former President George W. Bush, "but I'm going to have to show who I am, show my heart."
And yet he seldom went further than offering the story of meeting his wife-to-be while traveling in her native Mexico as an exchange student in high school.
Asked about discussing his daughter's ordeal, Bush told reporters, "It's not easy, no."
"We went through hell."
Other candidates have compelling personal stories they tell with passion. Former tech company CEO Carly Fiorina, who also attended the addiction forum, has talked about losing her stepdaughter Lori to a drug overdose in 2009. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio talks with pride of his upbringing by Cuban-born parents.
And while Bush shares little about his life in a dynastic Republican family, he has become more passionate with the anecdotes he shares about his time as governor.
Speaking in Dover, he shook his head in frustration discussing the plight of single mothers in Florida when he became governor. "It's not a pretty one," he said grimly.
In Peterborough, he held a clenched fist to his chest as he described a high school senior's struggle with basic math on a graduation test prior to education policy changes he enacted. "I cannot tell you how that angered me," he said.
Voters have noticed. "I think he's very sincere," said John Polychronis, who asked Bush during a campaign stop about young people's declining faith in government. "It's clear he focuses on what you're saying."
Bush's contempt for Trump bubbled over Wednesday when he was asked by New Hampshire voter Tom Emanuel to explain why he called his GOP rival "a jerk" last month.
Bush, who often discusses action he took improving care for Florida's disabled, lashed out at Trump for mocking a New York Times reporter who is disabled during a campaign event last year.
"When anybody anybody disparages people with disabilities, it sets me off," Bush said. "At what point do we say, enough of this!"
Bush's remarks were punctuated by a spontaneous and rare, if more common this week, burst of applause.
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Facing rising outrage among its allies, the White House on Friday defended its deportation policies and suggested it had no plans to shift course after a series of holiday-season raids seeking Central American immigrants angered activists and Democratic lawmakers.
President Barack Obama was aware of the outrage over the raids, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Friday, but "the enforcement strategy and priorities that the administration has articulated are not going to change."
Earnest said the raids reflected the administration's top priorities for deportation people with criminal convictions and people caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Homeland Security officials have said the raids targeted 121 people with final order of removal.
The raids riled some Democratic lawmakers and activists, groups long critical of the administration's deportation policies. Lawmakers said the searches were ill-timed and disruptive, spreading fear across immigrant communities and breaking apart families.
White House officials met Thursday with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to try to quell the criticism, with no apparent success.
On Friday, No. 2 House Democrat Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who earlier in the week struck a cautious tone when questioned on the raids, appeared at a press conference with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to denounce them.
"We need to respect our values, and those are not the actions that ought to be followed," Hoyer said. He said the raids "were presumably designed to send a message to those in Central America, but ... sent a terrifying message to those here in America."
The deportations come amid concerns that growing immigration from Central America may be signaling a repeat of the crisis of 2014, when a surge of women, children and families stole headlines and consumed Congress' attention.
Leaders of the Hispanic Caucus called on the administration to halt the raids and said they had requested a meeting with Obama to discuss getting temporary protected status for those targeted. Lawmakers insisted the people in question should be viewed not as immigrants but as refugees, fleeing horrific violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
"This must stop and it must stop today," said Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York. "Immigrants and their families are terrorized. ... These are some of the most vulnerable members of society and we are treating them like criminals."
Earnest said the administration's policies follow due process, allowing immigrants to make asylum claims and to exhaust their legal options.
But the lawmakers argued that not all the immigrants had been properly represented.
"Instead of deporting these people we should be fixing our broken asylum system," said Rep. Linda Sanchez of California, the Hispanic Caucus chairwoman. "It has caused this wave of terror."
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Ted Cruz relishes his role as Washington insurgent and tea party agitator, but today's political outsider built much of his career around being a GOP insider thriving in powerful circles he now says he'd like to dismantle.
A Princeton graduate and Harvard-trained attorney, Cruz clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist at the Supreme Court the very court he now accuses of "judicial tyranny." While working as a Washington lawyer in 1998, Cruz represented one of his future Capitol Hill nemeses, John Boehner.
He helped get George W. Bush elected president in 2000 before the Bush White House enraged conservative activists by running up federal deficits.
His first political appointment back home came in 2003. Texas' then-Attorney General Greg Abbott saw in Cruz a hungry young attorney who would enforce his own vision for conservative legal governance, luring him back from Washington to be state solicitor general.
"The first time I ever heard his name was from a longtime party establishment person," says Dale Huls, a suburban Houston tea party activist, referring to an area Republican precinct chair.
Now Huls is preparing to campaign for Cruz in Iowa. Like many supporters, he says he doesn't hold Cruz's non-outsider past against him because "he has not disappointed us one single time" since being elected. '
"You take your experience from the times you were living," Huls says. "At that time, Bush was the guy. I voted for Bush twice."
Cruz's unforeseen 2012 Senate victory got a $5.5 million bump from the Club for Growth, a small-government activist group based not in his home state, but Washington. Despite his insider resume, he got the backing of conservative grass-roots activists who helped him tap into the emerging tea party wave.
The experience helped show him the power of being an uncompromising conservative and a political insurgent was born.
As senator, Cruz has lived up to that billing, helping shut down the government and accusing his own party's Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, of lying.
Bob Larson, who recently heard Cruz speak in the Iowa town of Humboldt, said the senator's past work in elite circles helped him be more effective battling the system today.
"I think he has learned from those and learned to do the right thing for what the people need," said Larson, a 66-year-old farmer.
While campaigning, Cruz emphasizes his battles with what he calls the "Washington cartel."
"When you've been walking the walk, it is evident from every step of the way," Cruz said this week in Sibley, when asked how voters could be sure he wouldn't go to Washington and be "corrupted."
"Every candidate in this race talks about how they're going to stand up to Washington," he said. "The natural follow-up is OK, when have you stood up to Washington?"
Before he even got to Washington, Cruz's Senate campaign victory shook the Texas' GOP establishment when he bested 9-year Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who'd been endorsed by nearly every statewide officeholder. Because of Cruz's support from the Club for Growth and other Washington-based conservative groups, the Dewhurst campaign tried unsuccessfully to suggest Cruz would be co-opted by "D.C. insiders."
"He had a bunch of Washington jobs and worked for a while for the state government, we tried all that," said Dave Carney, a GOP strategist who helped run Dewhurst's campaign. "Your resume has something to do with it, but it's more your attitude, your vision."
Pressure from Cruz allies and some of the U.S. House's most-conservative wing helped push Boehner to resign as House Speaker, and Boehner called the Texas senator a "false prophet." But Cruz had served as Boehner's attorney in 1998, when the Ohio Republican sued a Democratic colleague over the release of a recorded phone conversation.
Mike Carvin, who was then one of Cruz's bosses at the Cooper, Carvin & Rosenthal law firm, praised Cruz's early work in the case, which Boehner eventually won in 2008.
"We knew some folks in the Bush campaign and Ted did as well," said Carvin, who said Cruz went to work there "with our blessing and support."
Cruz was a domestic policy adviser to Bush's 2000 presidential run, then was an associate deputy U.S. attorney general and worked with the Federal Trade Commission. Abbott, then Texas' attorney general and now governor, tapped Cruz as solicitor general in 2003 and he argued before the Supreme Court eight times.
Cruz has spent much of his life revering the high court, but after its rulings on the health care law and same-sex marriage last summer, he suggested its justices had "crossed from the realm of activism into the arena of oligarchy."
While that may look like a political about-face to some, others aren't worried that his background could undermine his insurgent credibility.
"The reason they say he's an outsider is because he doesn't agree with the way things are done," said Curtis Stover, 55, of Fort Dodge.
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Donald Trump taunted fellow Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz over his eligibility to be president on Saturday, offering the following response to Cruz's instance that he's a natural born citizen: "You're not."
"You can't have a person running for office, even though Ted is very glib and he goes out and he says, 'Oh, well, I'm a natural born citizen.' The point is, you're not," Trump said during a rally in Clear Lake, Iowa.
"I mean, you've got to get a declaratory judgement, you have to have the courts come up with a ruling or you have a candidate who just cannot run because the other side will immediately bring suit and you've got that cloud on your head."
Cruz, who has long maintained there is no issue with his Canadian birth since his mother was a U.S. citizen, repeated Saturday that "the laws and facts are quite straightforward." The Constitution says only a "natural born citizen" may be president. Legal scholars generally agree the description covers foreign-born children of U.S. parents.
"I understand that a lot of candidates in the field are dismayed. They're dismayed because they're seeing conservatives uniting behind our campaign," Cruz told reporters Saturday night before the 28th and final campaign stop of a six-day swing through Iowa. "As that happens you're seeing candidates trying to throw whatever rocks they can. That's fine, that's their prerogative. I like Donald Trump, I respect Donald Trump, he's welcome to toss whatever attacks he wants."
The comments were the latest sign that the delicate detente between the Texas senator and the billionaire businessman on display last year has been shattered as Cruz has jumped ahead of Trump in polls in Iowa, which holds its leadoff caucuses Feb. 1.
Trump late last year began efforts to undermine Cruz, questioning the senator's religion and accusing him at recent events of stealing his idea to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The intensity escalated this past week when Trump questioned whether the Canadian-born Cruz was eligible to be president.
On Saturday, Trump lashed out at Cruz on multiple fronts at a rally in Ottumwa, expressing bafflement that he's not beating Cruz in Iowa polls to a packed, 665-person capacity auditorium, with many more voters crowded into an overflow room.
"The polls are essentially tied. I don't get it," Trump said in the first of several references to Cruz.
The billionaire also attacked Cruz's apparent shift on ethanol subsidies, the influence of wealthy campaign donors and renewed questions about the Texas senator's Canadian birth.
"He's got to straighten out his problem," Trump said just two minutes into his address. "You can't have that problem and go and be the nominee."
The rhetoric intensified later in the day, when a Trump delivered a second, saltier speech at a rally in Clear Lake.
"You cannot put someone there, folks, that's going to go in and he's going to be immediately sued by the Democrats because they're saying he was born in Canada, he's not allowed to run for president," Trump said of Cruz, who renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2014.
Trump again called on Cruz to get a court judgment about his ballot status advice Cruz has rejected before suggesting the issue would cost Cruz the nomination.
"I don't want to win this way," he said. "I want to win fair and square."
Up until now, Cruz has been careful not to take on Trump directly. But he appeared to offer a counterpunch on Friday, when he suggested that Trump wasn't devoting the time and energy to wooing Iowa voters that history shows is needed to win.
"There is an Iowa way of campaigning and deciding caucuses," Cruz told supporters packed into a basement of a pizza restaurant in Decorah. "I believe the only way to compete and win in the state of Iowa is to come and spend the time asking the voters for their support. Looking them in the eye."
"You come here, you have the humility to stand before the men and women of this state and answer your questions," he said in a Charles City coffee shop Friday when the question came up again.
With Trump in Iowa for the first time in the new year, Iowans were also seeing a sharp contrast between the grinding Iowa campaign of Cruz and the splashy mega-rallies that have become as much Trump's brand as his gilded hotels. Both have attracted overflow crowds: Trump at large halls and stadiums; Cruz in countless coffee shops, convenience stores, churches and diners.
While Trump's style marks a break from tradition, his campaign says he's able to reach far more potential voters than candidates at smaller events can do.
Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said earlier in the week that Trump has a series of stops planned for the next three weeks leading to the caucuses, including multiple overnight stays.
"Next couple of weeks, I'm going to be seeing you so much that you're going to be so sick of me," Trump said in Clear Lake.
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A formerly homeless veteran from Las Vegas will sit in first lady Michelle Obama's visitor box during the State of the Union address Tuesday night.
Cynthia Dias, 64, served during the Vietnam War on a hospital ship as a registered nurse and attributed her years of homelessness to post-traumatic stress disorder.
About a year ago, Dias says, she was able to move from a homeless shelter for women and children into a former motel in downtown Las Vegas that was renovated through private donations to provide 122 units of housing for veterans. While staying in Veterans Village, residents like Dias get access to health care, job training and counseling.
The Obama administration is highlighting a challenge that the first lady and Jill Biden, the vice president's wife, issued for local leaders to do more to end veteran homelessness in 2015.
Las Vegas responded to the call, and city leaders say they have enough services and programs in place to house every homeless veteran.
Dias said she's in shock from Mrs. Obama's invitation and hopes people will think about her survival when they see her.
"I survived and I'm thriving here at Veterans Village," Dias said.
"For me, it's been a heaven-sent gift to be among other veterans who are suffering from PTSD," she said. "The camaraderie that veterans have for one another, it's better medication than the anti-depressants."
The founder of Veterans Village, Arnold Stalk, said it's important to get veterans off the street first and into a stable environment. Once that happens, it's easier to provide the health care and other support they'll need to live in a home permanently.
Dias will join two other Obama guests, early supporters who the president says provided early inspiration to his campaign.
Edith Childs, of Greenwood, South Carolina, met Obama at a rally in her state in June 2007. Obama credits her with coining the "Fired up! Ready to go!" call-and-response that became a rallying cry for both of his White House bids.
Another guest, Earl Smith, was head of security at an Austin hotel when he met Obama in February 2008. He gave Obama a military patch he had carried with him for 40 years; Obama carried it with him for the rest of the campaign.
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Democratic presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley used a liberal forum in Iowa on Saturday to rail against holiday-season raids seeking Central American immigrants for deportation.
Before about 1,000 people packed into a Des Moines church, Sanders said that while he works closely with President Barack Obama, "I do not agree with him on his policy toward deportation." And O'Malley bemoaned the timing of the raids, stating that "Jesus himself was a refugee child."
Both candidates had previously criticized the raids, which first became public when The Washington Post published a story about the plans just before Christmas.
The White House defended the policies Friday. Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said the raids reflected the administration's top priorities for deportation people with criminal convictions and people caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. But critics said the searches were ill-timed and disruptive for families.
Offering support for comprehensive immigration reform at the Putting Families First Presidential Forum, Sanders and O'Malley also slammed Republican front-runner Donald Trump over his statements about Muslims. O'Malley, a former governor of Maryland, called Trump an "immigrant-bashing carnival barker."
Sanders, a U.S. senator for Vermont, said he would "do everything I can to stand up to the Donald Trumps of the world and their bigotry and their xenophobia."
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leads the polls in the leadoff caucus state, with Sanders coming in second and O'Malley lagging far behind. Clinton did not attend the forum.
In a statement released after the plan became public, Clinton spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said Clinton "believes the United States should give refuge to people fleeing persecution. ... She believes we should not be conducting large-scale raids and roundups that sow fear and division in our communities."
Clinton has campaigned heavily in Iowa, but some in the crowd of liberal activists were not pleased that she did not join them. At one point some people began to chant "Where is Clinton?"
Sanders and O'Malley both offered a variety of proposals to support the middle class. O'Malley pledged to increase federal investment in transportation and affordable housing. Sanders said he'd like to see basic banking services offered at post offices to help people avoid predatory lending.
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From the political left to political right. Front-runner to last place. Every pundit, party head and politician in this hectic and harried presidential campaign has espoused the importance of Latino voters to winning the nomination and ultimately the White House.
While there are Latino voters in every state on the union, political observers argue that Texas, Florida, Nevada and Colorado states where the white vote is expected to be split between a number of candidates during the primaries is where Hispanics will help decide who is on the ballot this year.
"Latino voters are virtually insignificant in the primary races unless there is a split among white voters," Luis Fraga, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, told Fox News Latino.
In Texas, polling currently indicates a showdown in the Republican primary between Sen. Ted Cruz and real estate mogul Donald Trump when Lone Star state voters cast their ballots on Super Tuesday. The latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll has Cruz and Trump in a dead heat with each holding 27 percent of the vote, while former neurosurgeon Ben Carson sits in a distant third at 19 percent.
Cruz, who represents Texas in the U.S. Senate and draws strong support from the state's conservative base, looks to split the vote with Trump thanks to the magnate's growing backing of the Tea Party in Texas making the 30 percent or so of Republican Latinos who vote in the primary a big factor come March 1.
While in many places with the right demographic a Latino last name is enough to edge someone to victory, experts say that Cruz's strict stance on immigration and other issues important to Hispanics cancels out his Cuban heritage at the polls.
"Cruz's background does not have the appeal to voters in Texas like Marco Rubio does in Florida," Fraga said.
Florida is another state where Latinos are deemed crucial in the Republican primary race, given the changing demographics of its Cuban-American population and the recent influx of Puerto Ricans fleeing the territory's economic woes.
Recent poll data from Florida Atlantic University has Trump holding a commanding lead of 31.5 percent among prospective voters in the Sunshine state, but analysts say that Rubio who is currently in second with 19.2 percent of the vote could pull of a win in his home state with the help of Latino voters.
With 471,000 registered Republican Latino voters out the total 4.2 million Republicans in Florida, Rubio stands to benefit from the disdain many Hispanics feel for Trump following his notorious immigration comments and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's failure to make a strong comeback.
"A lot of people are divided over who they'll vote for," said Evelyn Perez-Verdia, a political analyst and founder of Political Pasion. "This is not going to be an easy race for Rubio, but if it comes down to him being one of the final candidates in a close race, he will win."
Three time zones away in Nevada, there is broad agreement that the burgeoning Hispanic population paired with its newly vested importance as an early voting state has many analysts and insiders warning candidates that, if they hope to lock down the Silver state, they have to listen to the concerns of Hispanic voters namely on topics such as immigration reform, jobs and education.
"Nevada is a microcosm of what is happening in the U.S.," David Damore, a political science professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and a researcher for Latino Decisions, told FNL. "That means increased diversification and increased urbanization."
While the most visible candidate in Nevada has been Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton setting up her ground game early and racking up big time endorsements from powerful unions the GOP candidates are starting to ramp it up in a state that is nearly 28 percent Latino. Analysts note that they are making a more concerted effort than they did in the past, hosting town hall and neighborhood meetings, and making multiple visits to the state.
But they say the grassroots efforts evident in the Clinton camp, and to a lesser extent other Democratic candidates, is not there yet among Republicans.
"Jeb Bush is making a good effort here and so is Marco Rubio," Fernando Romero, the founder of Hispanics in Politics told FNL. "But even Bush and Rubio the two best candidates for Latinos are not doing enough outreach right now to win over the Latino vote."
Marco Rubio is increasingly portraying immigration as a national security issue rather than a question of what to do with millions of people in the country illegally, a sign of his evolving stance on a topic that remains one of his liabilities with conservative voters.
"The issue is not the same one we had a few years ago," Rubio told voters recently in New Hampshire. "This issue's different now; we have radical jihadist groups that are using our immigration system against us."
As he seeks to emerge as a top contender in the GOP's crowded presidential field, Rubio still finds himself explaining his past support for an immigration overhaul bill that included a path to citizenship.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, one of his chief rivals, tries to use the bill to brand Rubio as too soft on the issue. And on the campaign trail, Rubio is often asked about immigration, either by skeptical voters or those simply seeking an explanation of where he stands.
"He still hasn't made up with me yet regarding the Gang of Eight," said David Merritt, a Massachusetts voter who came to see Rubio in Atkinson, New Hampshire. Merritt's comments refer to the immigration bill Rubio co-authored. "I'm not 100 percent sure that I trust him," Merritt said.
The overhaul bill passed the Senate, with Rubio's help, but he later backed off the proposal as it began to draw fire from the conservative right. Asked to explain, he says he now favors a one-piece-at-a-time approach.
He says the federal government needs to boost border security and modernize the legal immigration system before it deals with the 11 million people here illegally. He says the government must do better at tracking the millions who overstay visas and must make mandatory the e-verify system, an Internet-based program that allows employers to check the eligibility of prospective employees through federal databases.
But in recent weeks, Rubio also has shifted the conversation, starting the immigration segment of his stump speech by painting gaps in the U.S.-Mexico border and the existing legal immigration system as a national security threat. And he's taken to telling voters that the Islamic State group is actively recruiting fighters to send to the United States posing as doctors, students and investors.
"Radical jihadist groups, the same people who carried out the attacks in Paris, who inspired the attacks in California, are trying to use our immigration system against us," Rubio said Thursday to a crowd packed into a Bedford home.
"They've already gotten someone into this country as a fiancee," he said, referring to Tashfeen Malif, the wife accused in the California shootings. A Pakistani citizen, she was allowed into the country in 2014 to marry a U.S. citizen. The FBI said after the shooting that Malif and her husband had been radicalized for some time, but the FBI also said recently there's no evidence of outside actors in coordinating the shooting.
Rubio says if the government doesn't know "100 percent" who someone is or why they are coming into the United States, they won't be allowed in under his administration.
"This has become a national security issue, and when an issue changes, so must your policies," he said.
But Rubio's stance on immigration was fluid long before the Islamic State was a concern.
As Florida's House speaker in 2008, Rubio came under fire from GOP colleagues for not bringing several bills aimed at discouraging illegal immigration to the House floor for a vote, including bills to increase employer verification requirements and require police to report those suspected of being in the country illegally.
He began to shift rightward when he ran for the Senate in 2010 as a tea party favorite, pledging to oppose any legislation that would grant amnesty to the millions here illegally.
Pressed about what to do with millions already here illegally, Rubio said then that they would return to their homelands and re-enter once the federal government enforced a legal immigration system "that works." He also opposed a 2007 comprehensive immigration reform bill authored by Sen. John McCain because it included "amnesty" for millions. Yet the bill he helped craft in 2013 included a path to citizenship.
Rubio's shifting stance isn't a problem for some voters. Cindy Coutu of Bedford considers immigration a top concern, and she appreciates his focus on the issue from a national security perspective.
"Who's coming in? Who are you? Where are you from? Let's get a better idea, and then start dealing with who is already here," she said. "That makes sense."
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Last but not least, a federal judge has become Barack Obama's final remaining nominee to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to the federal appeals court bench.
Luis Felipe Restrepo was nominated by the president to the U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 12, 2014.
On Monday, 400 days later, the Senate confirmed him by an 82-6 vote, which makes him the first Hispanic appeals court judge in the 3rd Circuit in Pennsylvania. The delay also highlights the lengthy wait many of Obama's nominees have faced, and the slow pace of confirmations since Republicans retook control of the Senate last year.
Restrepo, 55, was born in Medellin, Colombia, and was brought to the U.S. at the age of 2. He has served as a district court judge since 2013, but his elevation to the appeals court was delayed after Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, withheld his approval, and GOP leaders subsequently delayed a floor vote.
"Judge Restrepo exemplifies the kind of consensus nominee that should have been easily confirmed," said Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, who reminded his colleagues that he moved 40 of former President George W. Bush's nominees when chairing the Judiciary Committee in 2007-2008. "This highly qualified Hispanic judge was told to go to the back of the line, wait 14 months. It's wrong. It's absolutely wrong."
Nine appeals court vacancies remain, but Obama has yet to nominate people for those posts. Dozens of district court judgeships are open as well. Thirty of Obama's nominees for those posts are awaiting confirmation.
The vacancy rate for the federal judiciary remains above levels experienced under George W. Bush, but it's dropped below the number during Obama's first term.
Many of those, however, went through before Republicans took control of the Senate. In 2014, then-majority Democrats rewrote the chamber's filibuster rules and rammed through 89 nomination, almost double the amount approved the previous year, and the most since President Bill Clinton's second year in office. When 2015 opened, there were just 40 vacancies out of 852 authorized federal appeals and trial judges.
Last year, the GOP-led chamber confirmed 11 federal judges, the least in recent memory. Democrats have cried foul, suggesting the pace is dictated by electoral politics.
"It's glacial," says New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, one of the Democrats' point men on judges. "It's for the partisan purpose of hoping for a Republican president."
It is true that the number of vacancies has risen, but it is still below the situation confronting Obama in his first year in office in 2009. Vacancies spiked that year as more judges stepped down after Democrats retook the White House and as the Obama White House moved slowly on nominating replacements.
Confirmations such federal courts are lifetime appointments, an issue that has long been a flash-point in an increasingly polarized Washington. Almost a decade before the 2014 struggle over new rules that divided the Senate, a spate of Democratic filibusters of President George W. Bush's judicial nominees led GOP leaders to explore the same "nuclear option" to get its nominees confirmed, but a bipartisan compromise diffused the fight.
Democrats note that they confirmed many more judges 40 in the seventh year of Bush's presidency than Republicans confirmed last year.
"The analogy is the last two years of the Bush administration," Schumer said. "And we confirmed many more."
There's little doubt that the hardball tactics employed by Democrats in 2014 are part of the reason confirmations dropped last year. The process typically requires the Senate to agree unanimously to schedule a vote if a confirmation is to occur, and the chamber is stocked with Republicans opposed to Obama.
Senate leaders have agreed that four more judges will be confirmed over the next few weeks. Since more than two-thirds of the vacancies are in states with at least one GOP senator, it's likely that at least a few more nominees will get a vote before the process virtually shuts down for an election year.
Based on reporting by the Associated Press.
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Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz had harsh words for two protestors and the media after being interrupted on Monday during a Second Amendment rally in New Hampshire.
Each protestor, who walked on stage at different times, addressed the crowd. One asked the crowd at the gun rights rally, "What made everyone so weird and sad that they had to come out?" Both were quickly escorted off stage.
Cruz took an opportunity after the interruptions to mock liberal stances on gun control and to go after Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. The latest polls have the senator from neighboring Vermont currently in the lead against Hillary Clinton in the Granite State and catching up with her nationally.
"Its almost like did he not get the memo, "'Live free or die.' Am I right?" Cruz said, referencing the New Hampshire state motto, according to The Hill.
"Its not 'Live coddled by a bunch of nanny-state liberals who want to control every aspect of your life or die,'" he added.
"Its almost like the Bernie Sanders's guys are scared. The Bern-istas are out in force."
After noticing that one of the protestors was speaking to reporters gathered at the event, Cruz went on to harangue the media for what he sees as its liberal bias.
"The little protestor, notice our friends in the media. Our friends in the media gather around the lefties that want to strip our rights, apparently because those are their values," Cruz said. "Look, it is not news that there are liberals who want to take away our guns. It is, in fact, the case that reporters agree with them."
Cruzs Second Amendment rally came only hours before Pres. Barack Obama took the stage for his final State of the Union address, where many thought the president would make gun control a hallmark of his address.
Obama, however, did not dwell on his gun control initiative in his address.
His only reference to the issue was a six-word call for progress on "protecting our kids from gun violence." He sandwiched it in between calls for fixing immigration and ensuring equal pay for women.
Obama's address to a joint session of Congress comes just one week after he unveiled a series of unilateral actions to reduce gun violence, including an attempt to expand background checks. That plan has drawn consternation from Republicans in Congress and gun rights groups.
The president has also renewed his call for Congress to pass new gun laws a long shot in an election year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The race for who will succeed retiring Sen. Harry Reid is one of the most intense in the nation, with Republicans and Democrats both confident that their preferred candidate can snatch a victory.
Democrats are hoping that their candidate, former Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, will motivate Latinos to go to the polls in large numbers out of an eagerness to see the nations first Latina senator.
She has, of course, received the support of Reid, who holds considerable sway in the state, particularly among Latinos.
Nevada is one of a handful of states where Republicans and Democrats are locked in a fight for control of the Senate. Republicans need to defend 24 of 34 seats in this election cycle.
Nevada and Colorado are cited by experts as two states where the GOP has a shot at picking up Democratic seats.
In the Nevada race, Republicans are optimistic that they can appeal to Latinos, who are 27 percent of the state population, through their candidate, Rep. Joe Heck, who has won three Las Vegas-area congressional elections thanks in large part to his moderate tone toward immigration reform, according to Politico.
Heck has expressed support, for instance, to allowing undocumented immigrants brought here as minors to be able to legalize their status.
He also condemned presidential candidate Donald Trumps comments on Mexico and Mexicans crossing the border last year.
"That's Donald Trump's opinion, and certainly he said it only in a way that only he can, which is to promote himself and generate controversy," Heck said to reporters after the billionaire, who is leading in most national GOP voter polls, made his controversial remarks. "You can't stereotype an entire ethnicity, and that's what he attempted to do."
Jennifer Duffy, a Washington-based newsletter editor and Senate expert, said to FoxNews.com: It really is an even race right now. But Nevada is a good possibility for Republicans.
But Democrats are saying: Not so fast.
They note, to anyone wholl listen, that Heck has not been completely in line with advocates for immigration. They say, for example, that he has spoken in favor of ending birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants.
Republicans, for their part, are highlighting Cortez Mastos travel expenses as attorney general, characterizing them as lavish.
On another level, Nevada holds symbolic importance because of election results that could be taken as Reids legacy, noted the Las Vegas Review Journal.
This is his legacy, said Fred Lokken, professor of political science at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, was quoted as saying in the Las Vegas Review Journal last year.
He does not want to see it go Republican. Harry Reid is not running for re-election, but he will be a huge factor in the race.
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The ad calls Sen. Marco Rubio a flip-flopper, an amnesty fanatic, and someone who lacks the stature literally to be president of the United States.
The shots at the presidential candidate are coming from the super PAC supporting the campaign of his one-time friend and mentor, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is barely registering in many polls across the country after having entered the presidential race as the presumptive GOP nominee.
And some Republicans don't like it one bit.
Many GOP insiders fear that the jabs by the super PAC Right to Rise which they view as cheap shots that are also misleading and will do more than harm than good, according to Politico.
They see Bush, who has been languishing at about 5-6 percent in opinion polls, as having little chance of becoming the establishment GOP alternative to conservative firebrands Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz. Rubio, by contrast, has maintained a formidable position in many national, regional and state polls, and has delivered strong performances in debates.
Establishment GOP insiders see Rubio as their most potent antidote to Cruz and Trump, and fear that the Bush super PACs growing efforts to undermine the Florida lawmaker will end up helping Cruz and Trump.
This is something Jeb Bush has to decide. Does he want his legacy to be that he elected Donald Trump or Ted Cruz? Politico quoted Stuart Stevens, the GOP strategist who ran Mitt Romneys 2012 campaign, as saying. He cant control that super PAC, but he ought to call on the super PAC to stop and stop attacking people with whom he mostly agrees.
Bush himself backed off hitting hard at Rubio, including in GOP debates, after it seemed only to bolster Rubio and cast Bush in a negative light. Republicans say that having the super PAC continue the approach to criticizing Rubio probably won't produce better results for Bush.
This thing has been mismanaged and screwed up since the beginning, Politico quoted an unidentified Jeb Bush backer who also worked in both previous Bush administrations. Its gotten to the point where the old-timers are saying its really sad. How as presumptive leader with $100 million in the bank did you get yourself in a box where you have to attack Rubio and [New Jersey Gov. Chris] Christie to win your lane?
In its recently-released third anti-Rubio advertisement, Right to Rise cast the Florida senator as a chameleon on the issue of immigration.
It shows Rubio as a weather vane on a roof, pointing one way then the other, to depict what it characterizes as his changing positions on immigration.
Marco Rubio ran for Senate saying he opposed amnesty, a narrator says. Then he flipped, and worked with liberal Chuck Schumer to co-author the path to citizenship.
He threatened to vote against it, and then voted for it. He supported his own Dream Act, and then he abandoned it.
Some experts say that, if anything, immigration is not the issue to use to hammer away at Rubio, since Bush himself has expressed support in the past for giving undocumented immigrants a path to legal status.
Bush defenders say hes still a player in the race and that it would make no sense for him to go after Trump and Cruz, two candidates whose supporters he has little chance of getting to convert to his side.
Christie, they say, has hurled direct, insulting comments at Rubios camp, and isnt getting the kind of frowns in response from establishment Republicans.
Ive not heard Jeb say Rubio is trying to slime his way to the White House, said Ron Kaufman, a Bush backer and long-time GOP operative in Massachusetts, to Politico. Why should Jeb Bush, the only candidate in the Republican race with a legitimate national network, why is it not okay for him to draw contrasts when all of these guys are battling to be the finalist in the centrist conservative lane?
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A super PAC that supported Jeb Bush and called itself Vamos for Jeb, which translates into Were going for Jeb, has gone really gone.
Expressing exasperation about setbacks with Bushs campaign, the PAC informed the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday that it is ceasing its operation, according to Politico.
One of the heads of the PAC, political website Elephant News founder Claire Hardwick, told Politico she started it with Nicaraguan-American Andrea Wong to highlight Latino support for Bush, who initially was expected to be the front-runner for the GOP nomination in the presidential race.
"When Jeb Bush first announced he was going to run we thought he was really going to be the president to go for it and unite Hispanics with Americans, but then obviously Donald Trump came in the picture and completely changed everything," Hardwick was quoted as saying in Politico. "We got a lot of followers. I still do think he will be the candidate to appeal to the Hispanics."
Hardwick said to Politico that her efforts now would focus more generally on the presidential election.
"I think they are still really excited about him, but they just don't have as much attention," Hardwick said, according to Politico. "That's something Vamos for Jeb did, it kind of showed how excited Hispanic Americans were for Jeb Bush."
Bush, who was popular in Florida as governor and was seen as moderate on many issues, appeared to launch his campaign with the front-runner halo, given his experience, family political legacy and hefty coffers.
But Trump upended things in this election cycle from the start, with his headline-grabbing jaw-dropping comments when he announced his candidacy, and later, when he defied the many predictions that hed quickly crash and burn.
Trump succeeded in putting Bush on the defensive too, relentlessly mocking his low energy an image that Bush had trouble shaking, particularly with ho-hum performances in the GOP debates.
With the first presidential contests in the nation fast approaching, in Iowa and New Hampshire, Bush is trailing many other GOP contenders, according to an MSNBC report.
He is not in the top four slots in either Iowa, where Sen. Ted Cruz and Trump are battling it out at about the 25 percent spot among likely caucus-goers, followed by Marco Rubio with 13 percent, Ben Carson, who has 11 percent, then Bush with 9 percent.
It doesnt get much better in New Hampshire, where Bush got 9 percent again, trailing Trump, who got 30 percent, Rubio, with 14 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, with 12 percent, and Cruz, who got 10 percent.
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The Republican Party's response to President Barack Obama's last State of the Union address on Tuesday night differed very slightly, but in telling ways, depending on whether you heard it in English or Spanish.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the U.S.-born daughter of Indian immigrants, offered the GOP response in English, urging Americans to resist "the siren call of the angriest voices" in how the nation treats immigrants. Her discussion about immigration focused on protecting the border.
Meantime, longtime Miami Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a U.S. born son of Cuban immigrants, delivered essentially the same speech in Spanish, offering an identical warning to "resist the temptation" of listening to those angry voices, but Diaz-Balart focused on passing immigration reform as the main solution to the problem.
Without mentioning names, both speeches nearly word for word versions of each other offered an alternative to the hard-line immigration messages resonating from the Republican presidential campaign. Front-runner Donald Trump has called for deporting millions of immigrants and Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are attacking one another over who is tougher on the issue.
The subtle differences in how the GOP chose to present the message on immigration between Haley and Diaz-Balart underscores the partys need to attract Spanish-speaking Hispanic voters, a majority of whom favor comprehensive immigration overhaul one of Obama's 2008 election.
Below is an excerpt from Haley's speech:
No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country. At the same time, that does not mean we just flat out open our borders. We can't do that. We cannot continue to allow immigrants to come here illegally, and in this age of terrorism, we must not let in refugees whose intentions cannot be determined.
We must fix our broken immigration system. That means stopping illegal immigration and it means welcoming properly vetted legal immigrants, regardless of their race or religion, just like we have for centuries.
I have no doubt that if we act with proper focus, we can protect our borders, our sovereignty and our citizens, all while remaining true to America's noblest legacies.
Below is a translated excerpt from Diaz-Balart's speech:
No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country. It is not who we are. At the same, it is obvious that our immigration system needs to be reformed.
The current system puts our national security at risk and is an obstacle for our economy. It's essential that we find a legislative solution to protect our nation, defend our borders, offer a permanent and human solution to those who live in the shadows, respect the rule of law, modernize the visa system and push the economy forward.
I have no doubt that if we work together, we can achieve this and continue to be faithful to the noblest legacies of the United States.
The speeches included another difference, while Governor Haley spoke of the June attack in her state at a Charleston church that left 12 people dead, Diaz-Balart instead spoke about Cuba and Venezuela.
"In our own hemisphere, the Cuban people have not had a free election in more than 57 years, and political detentions and oppression keep increasing," he said. "And the Venezuelan people suffer the existence of political prisoners and corruption in the most important democratic institutions."
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In an attempt to stem the tide of Central American migrants crossing the United States' southern border with Mexico, the White House has asked the United Nations to set up processing centers throughout the region to screen people fleeing violence-torn nations.
The New York Times is reporting that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to announce on Wednesday the new refugee resettlement program concerning migrants from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala the three countries in Central America most plagued by violence. The program calls for the U.S. and the U.N. to set-up processing centers where U.N. officials would help determine if the migrants are eligible for refugee status.
While administration officials said that as many as 9,000 migrants from the three Central American nations could end up settling in the U.S., some refugees would also be resettled in nearby countries.
The new program will allow any adult claiming to be fleeing persecution to apply to the United Nations for refugee status, but U.S. laws determining eligibility will not change. The plan is instead supposed to offer an alternative to migrants who pay smugglers to ferry them on a dangerous trip to the U.S. through Mexico and also to stem the flow of illegal entries into the U.S.
"We want to do our utmost to honor humanitarian claims but also to protect the border," one senior administration official told the Times.
Officials have not named the countries where temporary centers would be set up as processing way station citing that negotiations are still underway but people briefed on the plans said Belize, Costa Rica and Mexico are all under consideration.
The resettlement program comes only a few weeks after major backlash by Democratic lawmakers and immigration activists over a series of deportation raids across the country.
The number of Central American families and unaccompanied minors arriving at the border this fall more than doubled from the year before, according to the most recent figures. The numbers could go even higher beginning in February and early spring, when arrivals traditionally increase, potentially eclipsing the levels that produced the 2014 crisis.
Such concerns helped prompt the Department of Homeland Security, with the close involvement of the White House, to initiate crackdowns on migrants in several states over the holidays, picking up 121 people for deportation. In some instances, people were detained during surprise early-morning home raids that have spread fear across immigrant communities and infuriated the president's Democratic allies.
"Having people afraid to open their doors to strangers, not going to work, etc., is not a healthy development," said Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California.
The raids also turned the Democratic presidential candidates against the Obama administration, with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley all decrying the actions.
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Chris Christie is pressing people in New Hampshire to avoid voting for a first-time senator in the coming presidential primary, and holding out Barack Obama as an example of what can happen when they do.
"The U.S. Senate is like school," he told a packed firehouse Wednesday. "They tell you where to go, what time to show up, what kind of questions you're going to get." The New Jersey governor said, "That's not the way it works when you're a governor, I can tell you. The issues come at you from every direction at all hours of the day and the night."
Christie's remarks were a swipe Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, two rising contenders for the GOP nomination. He's competing in particular with Rubio in New Hampshire, the state where Christie has pinned his presidential hopes. Christie's pitch centers on his executive experience as governor and a former U.S. attorney.
He said voters should have learned a lesson from electing Obama, who was in his first term in the Senate when he ran in 2008 and won the presidency.
"When the American people elected (Obama), they knew he had never run anything bigger than a 30-person Senate staff," Christie said. "We as a country put him in charge of the largest, most complex government the world has ever known, and we wonder why things aren't working the right way."
Christie has seen his stock rise in New Hampshire as people search for an alternative to Donald Trump, who continues to dominate preference polls in the first primary state, which votes Feb. 9.
Christie casts himself as a tested governor who can take on threats from the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations and often questions whether the rest of the candidates possess the experience to make tough decisions.
He'll join six other candidates, Rubio and Cruz among them, on stage Thursday night for the next Republican primary debate. But he told voters to be thinking farther ahead, to when the Republican nominee is on stage debating Hillary Clinton, who he presumes will win the Democratic nomination. If an untested candidate makes it to that stage, Christie said, Clinton will "eat you alive."
"She will pat some people on the head and cut their hearts out," he said. "Let me guarantee you one thing: She won't do that to a guy from New Jersey."
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Marco Rubio is launching an ad blitz in Iowa, the first state to hold a presidential contest through its caucus process.
The senators campaign is airing roughly 7,000 ads in the Hawkeye State until the Feb. 1 caucuses, according to published reports.
That amounts to about one third of all the presidential election ads airing during that period, reports The Des Moines Register, which added that the effort carries a price tag of some $5 million for Rubios campaign and his super PAC.
Back in the middle of 2015, we were, because of strong fundraising in the early part of the year, able to reserve significant portions of airtime in Iowa in December and January leading into the caucus, said Jeff Sadosky, a spokesman for the pro-Rubio Conservative Solutions PAC, in an interview with the Register. That was done both to ensure were operating as cost effectively as possible but also to ensure access to prime television time.
Iowans are accustomed to being bombarded with television presidential campaign ads. By the time the caucuses are held on Feb. 1, more than 60,000 will have aired, the Register said.
Rubios supporters have said that, on some level, they feel he can establish a connection with more Iowans through television than face-to-face interactions, which hes also conducting.
The Register noted that Rubios national campaign manager, Terry Sullivan, said last year to the New York Times More people in Iowa see Marco on Fox and Friends than see Marco when he is in Iowa.
Rubio also plans to have his face across television screens in New Hampshire and South Carolina before those states have primaries, according to The New York Times.
A new Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register poll in Iowa shows Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Donald Trump basically tied for first place among likely Republican caucus participants. Cruz has 25 percent, Trump has 22 percent.
Rubio is essentially tied with retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, with 12 percent for the Florida lawmaker and 11 percent for Carson.
The rest of the GOP field got less than 5 percent.
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Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz failed to disclose on federal fundraising reports that he relied on $1 million in loans to help finance his 2012 Senate campaign.
The borrowed money included a sum from Goldman Sachs, where his wife, Heidi Cruz, is an employee.
The Texas senator's 2016 campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier called the failure to report those loans on fundraising documents, as required, a "mistake." She said Wednesday that the campaign is seeking guidance from federal regulators on how to update the old reports.
Cruz learned he should have disclosed the loans as part of his fundraising from a New York Times reporter, who published a story on the matter late Wednesday. The Times described the loans as totaling as much as $1 million from Goldman and Citibank and said they were paid down in late 2012. Frazier did not dispute those details.
Frazier said Cruz has made no secret of the loans, pointing to their disclosure later in separate personal financial reports required of all federal elected officials.
Yet Cruz has never mentioned the loans on the 2016 campaign trail. Instead, he has said that he and his wife liquidated "our entire net worth" to finance his underdog Senate bid.
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. There is a disturbing trend in Prince Georges County schools that has officials there concerned. At issue is dropping attendance among Latino students that is fueled by fears over possible deportation raids by the federal government.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched a new effort in 2016 to step up deportation efforts against people who have broken the law and entered the country illegally. News of these deportation raids are spreading.
According to a letter from Prince Georges County Public Schools CEO Dr. Kevin Maxwell, principals are reporting a drop off in attendance by Latino students.
School administrators believe unfounded rumors are leading students with questionable legal status of being in the United States fearing they could be detained or deported just by attending school.
We have seen a decrease in attendance at some of our schools, said Prince Georges County Public Schools spokesperson Sherrie Johnson. It's not widespread, but we have seen somewhat of a decrease at some of our schools. It's important to note that we want all students to come to school and we understand it's a very difficult time. This is a scary time.
In Montgomery County, Executive Isiah Leggett and the county council issued a letter saying the county and its law enforcement won't take part in helping the federal government deport undocumented immigrants.
The letter was somewhat surprising to county police as they told us they never were involved in deportation efforts and their long-established policy is to interview crime victims and witnesses without inquiring about immigration status.
Leggett said the political leaders in Montgomery County wanted to send a message to undocumented immigrants to not live in fear of the county government.
Montgomery County does not support the policy of the federal government that this is a real concern nationally, said Leggett. But locally, we're not going to enforce ICE's mandates and we would hope that people understand that.
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Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio is taking his avid defense of the Second Amendment to the campaign trail this weekend not only did he bring up the issue repeatedly while stumping in New Hampshire and Iowa, he also revealed he recently bought a gun to protect his family against ISIS.
I have a right to protect my family if someone were to come after us, he said on CBSs "Face the Nation" on Sunday.
If ISIS were to visit us or our communities at any moment, the last line of defense between ISIS and my family is the ability that I have to protect my family from them or from a criminal or anyone else who seeks to do us harm, he said.
Millions of Americans feel that way, he added.
In New Hampshire on Friday, the Cuban-American lawmaker made a campaign stop at a gun store and then held a rally at Sturm, Ruger & Co., a firearms manufacturing company, ABC News reported.
Rubio, who said he and his wife are proud gun owners, was given a rifle as a present during the rally.
This our first rifle in our home. It will be a nice addition, he told the companys employees.
Rubio was once again critical of Pres. Barack Obamas recent executive order calling for extended background checks on gun buyers.
I am convinced if this president could confiscate every gun, he would, Rubio said. The Second Amendment is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a right.
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Ted Cruz on Monday accused his Republican rival Donald Trump of not being a trustworthy conservative and said the billionaire investor is becoming "rattled" and "dismayed" by his gains.
Both Cruz and Trump were campaigning Monday in New Hampshire, which holds the second contest in the country's critical primary season.
The war of words between Cruz and Trump has intensified in recent days, with Trump going on the offensive over Cruz's eligibility to be on the ballot given his Canadian birth and for Cruz's failure to disclose loans received from Citibank and Goldman Sachs for his 2012 Senate race.
Trump on Sunday called Cruz a "nasty guy" whom no one likes. Cruz tried to turn the insult into a joke Monday, posting a message on Twitter saying Americans feel "nasty" toward the "Washington Cartel." He also posted a link to the video of Janet Jackson's hit song "Nasty."
"Donald seems to be a little rattled," Cruz told reporters before a town hall in Washington, New Hampshire. "For whatever reason he is very, very dismayed. I guess as conservatives continue to unite behind our campaign, as his poll numbers continue to go down, he's a little testier."
Polls show Cruz and Trump locked in a tight race in Iowa, but Trump is polling considerably better in New Hampshire. Cruz embarked on a five-day swing through the Granite State this week as his numbers began to show new strength.
Cruz questioned whether Trump is a true conservative, noting donations he's made to Democrats over the years, including $50,000 in 2010 to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the former chief of staff to President Barack Obama. And Cruz rejected Trump's self-comparison to Ronald Reagan, saying he was "pretty sure" Reagan never supported or made large donations to Democrats.
Trump, campaigning in New Hampshire late Monday, did not bring up his rival's accusations. Trump has taken to Twitter to blast Cruz in the past, a move Cruz suggested will turn off voters.
"The American people want a steady hand at the helm," Cruz told The Associated Press in an interview on his campaign bus Monday. "They don't want, I believe, a commander in chief who wakes up obsessed with the latest polls and driven to issue a frenzy of tweets. Instead, they want a principled, steady, conservative leader who will do everything necessary to protect this nation and keep America safe."
At a town hall meeting Monday night in Whitefield, New Hampshire, Cruz said voters need to question Trump's credibility, saying he was "nowhere to be found" during the debate in Congress over whether to grant amnesty to immigrants living in the country illegally.
"If you didn't stand up and fight amnesty, when the stakes were live or die, do we lose this permanently or do we win, I would suggest as voters you have reasons to doubt the credibility of the promises of a political candidate who discovers the issue after he announces for president," Cruz said.
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The Supreme Court has agreed to review President Barack Obamas executive actions that could allow up to 5 million immigrants to come out of the shadows, in his words, and work legally in the United States.
The justices, who have twice rejected challenges to Obamas health care law, said Tuesday that they will consider undoing lower court rulings that have blocked the plan from taking effect. Whatever their decision, it is likely to dominate a presidential campaign already roiled by immigration issue.
The case probably will be argued in April and decided by late June, about a month before both parties' presidential nominating conventions.
Fourteen months ago, Obama ordered the creation of a program called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA intended to allow undocumented immigrants who are the parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents to be shielded from deportation and providing them with work permits.
Texas is leading 26 states in challenging the immigration executive actions.
So far, the federal courts have sided with the states to keep the administration from issuing work permits and allowing the immigrants to begin receiving some federal benefits.
If the justices eventually side with the administration, that would leave roughly seven months in Obama's presidency to implement his plans.
At issue is DAPA, which Obama said in late 2014 would allow people who have been in the United States more than five years and who have children who are in the country legally to "come out of the shadows and get right with the law."
Texas quickly led a legal challenge to the program and has won every round in court so far. Most recently, in November, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the states, prompting the appeal to the Supreme Court.
Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. said in his court filing that allowing those rulings to stand would force millions of people "to continue to work off the books, without the option of lawful employment to provide for their families."
The administration said Texas and the other states don't even have the right to challenge the plan in federal court. The lower courts decided that Texas does have the right, or standing, to sue because at least 500,000 people living in Texas would qualify for work permits and thus become eligible for driver licenses, the cost of which are subsidized by the state. "Texas would incur millions of dollars in costs," the state said in its brief to the Supreme Court.
The future of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally has been much discussed by Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton has pledged to go further than Obama to protect large groups of immigrants from deportation.
Republican candidate Donald Trump has proposed deporting all people who are living in the U.S. illegally, an idea embraced by some GOP candidates and dismissed by others.
Obama said he was spurred to act on his own by Congress' failure to pass comprehensive immigration legislation. An earlier program that is not being challenged, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, shields immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. More than 720,000 young immigrants have been granted permission under that program to live and work legally in the United States.
The White House also has shifted its enforcement actions to focus on criminals, those who pose a threat to national security or public safety, and recent border-crossers.
The change means that people who are here illegally but who are not otherwise violating the law are less likely to face deportation.
About 235,000 people were deported in the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
That was the smallest number since 2006 and a 42 percent drop since a record high of more than 409,000 in 2012.
Still, the administration drew criticism from Democrats and immigration advocates for raids this month that resulted in the arrest of more than 120 immigrants from Central America who came to the country illegally since 2014. Those recent arrivals are not among immigrants who would benefit from Obama's plan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Despite pleas from two Latino rights groups, a Georgia county has rejected a request to provide Spanish-language ballots for the upcoming November elections.
Officials in Gwinnett County voted 4-1 against the motion and defended the move by saying they do not have enough information to determine whether the county should provide bilingual ballots and voting materials.
The two groups who filed the request the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) and the New York-based LatinoJustice cited a provision of the federal Voting Rights Act that requires local governments to make Spanish-language ballots available to people from Puerto Rico who have difficulty reading English. This law was designed to help Puerto Ricans who are American citizens who move to mainland of the U.S.
"Unfortunately Gwinnett County chose to continue to be out of compliance with the Voting Rights Act and decided that the Puerto Rican community's voting rights should not be protected," GALEO executive director Jerry Gonzalez told Fox News Latino in an email. "We tried to work with the county to come up with an implementation plan to avoid litigation, but the county has refused to move forward in an amicable manner."
Gwinnett Board of Registrations and Elections chair Alice O'Lenick told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the board would wait to hear from the state or federal government or a court before taking up the issue again.
This could happen sooner rather than later, thanks in large part to the sizable Latino population in the county.
U.S. Census Bureau data shows that there are an estimated 171,000 Latinos in Gwinnett County about one out of every five residents.
Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act requires jurisdictions to provide bilingual ballots if they include more than five percent of the population or 10,000 citizens of a single language minority who are eligible to vote and have difficulty speaking English.
A spokesperson for the county told Fox News Latino that while the language of the Voting Rights Act is "subject to some interpretation," Gwinnett County will follow through with providing Spanish-language ballots if ordered to.
"I think GALEO will pursue litigation," said Joe Sorenson, the Gwinnett County communications director. "If the court decides that GALEO was right and our decision was wrong, we will certainly change it."
Already enmeshed in controversy over nationwide raids of undocumented families at the beginning of the month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security as well as eight other federal agencies are being sued in federal court to obtain documents information about a new community co-operation program.
The groups, which include the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and the Immigration Justice Clinic at Cardozo Law School, filed the suit after ICE failed to provide them any documents relating to the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP), despite a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Altogether, of the 10 agencies with which the groups have filed FOIA requests, only five documents have been provided.
"There is a major lack of clarity and scope with the new program," Salvador Sarmiento, a spokesperson for NDLON told Fox News Latino. "We want to bring some clarity to what ICE is up to."
PEP was established by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson as a replacement for the controversial Secure Communities program.
The new program uses biometric data to prioritize the deportation of detained immigrants who have been "convicted of an offense listed under the DHS civil immigration enforcement priorities, has intentionally participated in an organized criminal gang to further the illegal activity of the gang or poses a danger to national security," per ICE's website.
While PEP has been praised by Johnson, activists on both sides of the immigration debate have had qualms about it. Immigration advocates say it will foster distrust between migrant communities and law enforcement, and those who favor stricter immigration enforcement have called it ineffective and a threat to community safety.
"The implementation of ICE's new Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) is a major setback to rule of law in our country," Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies, Center for Immigration Studies, said last summer. "It further scales back immigration enforcement by ICE, and it explicitly facilitates sanctuary jurisdictions in obstructing ICE efforts to take custody of criminal aliens."
NDLON's Sarmiento argued that the information that ICE has kept under wraps is especially important now with the presidential election less than 11 months away and with incendiary remarks about immigrants frequently being made by candidates like Donald Trump.
"We represent migrant workers and day laborers people that are the first to be deported and who have very little rights," he said. "The fact that this is a political year makes it all the more pressing that we have some transparency."
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Jasiel Correia is 24 years old, the maker of a smartphone app and a former Nordstrom shoe salesman and this hard-luck former manufacturing hub's third mayor in 13 months.
Two weeks into his term, Correia is tackling the economic malaise that has depressed this waterfront city for decades. Also on his agenda is dumping the city's meek motto: "We'll try."
"It's on our seal somewhere," said Correia, a Democrat. "We've got to change that."
New York state welcomed its youngest mayor this month in 25-year-old Republican Billy Barlow in Oswego. Kurt Cobain's hometown of Aberdeen, Washington, elected 23-year-old Democrat Erik Larson. Other young mayors have matured into incumbency, such as Republican Erin Stewart, elected at 26 in New Britain, Connecticut, and now in her second term.
But no one as young as Correia (whose name is pronounced JAY'-zil koh-RAY'-uh) has been elected to run a city as big as Fall River, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Correia will be in the company of hundreds of other urban mayors, along with President Barack Obama, when the conference holds its winter gathering this week in Washington.
The population of Fall River, a longtime immigrant destination, dropped from a high of more than 120,000 to fewer than 89,000 over the past century along with the decline of the textile industry. It's better known as the site of the 1892 ax killings of which Lizzie Borden later immortalized in a macabre nursery rhyme was acquitted.
Correia embodies the story many residents would rather tell about the enterprising spirit of a place where celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse was born and learned how to cook.
The son of immigrants from Cape Verde and Portugal's Azores islands, Correia grew up in a tenement near a street lined with Portuguese bakeries that slopes down to Mount Hope Bay.
It used to be that "if you made it in Fall River, you went out to Somerset," Correia said, pointing from his new office in city hall to the suburbs on the other side of the bay.
His parents contemplated such a move when he was in middle school, said his mother, Maria Correia. But her son a compelling public speaker already steeped in an anti-drug coalition and other community activism resisted.
"He told us, 'Mom and Dad, you can't move out of Fall River, because I want to be mayor,'" she said.
Voters elected Correia to the city council when he was 21. He attended meetings between studying political science and marketing at Providence College and founding a business promotions app called SnoOwl, which employs about five people in an old mill.
Then came a period of tumultuous politics. He told the police chief that Mayor Will Flanagan, a former ally, intimidated him with a gun during a late-night meeting over Correia's support of a mayoral recall petition. A special prosecutor's investigation did not lead to charges, but Flanagan's plummeting popularity helped a former district attorney, Sam Sutter, oust him in a 2014 recall election.
Sutter and Correia, both Democrats, duked it out in the November 2015 general election, which Correia won over the better-funded incumbent with 52 percent of the vote. Correia has touted an optimistic platform centered on urban reinvestment, capitalizing on cheap rents and proposed business incentives to draw back millennials and empty-nesters who share his love of walkable city living.
Sutter, 63, said it was the $10 monthly trash fee he imposed to fill a budget hole that cost him the election. Correia has promised to repeal the unpopular fee, but Sutter is skeptical.
"This particular 24-year-old has not run an organization," Sutter said. "That's going to be the issue. The lack of experience, not necessarily the age."
Dave Lavoie, city hall's chief custodian, said he has high hopes for his new boss, who is half his age.
"I think the kid'll be all right if he gets the right people behind him," said Lavoie, who has now worked for nine mayors.
Voters have been giving a chance to youngsters they see as "energetic, innovative, trying to do new things," often in cities seeking a jolt of change, said John Celock, author of "The Next Generation," a book about young elected officials.
"People in the first year were referencing me as the kid, citing my inexperience," said James Diossa, elected mayor of nearby Central Falls, Rhode Island, at age 26 while his city was emerging from bankruptcy and his predecessor was battling corruption charges. "I knew I had to work twice as hard to get the job done."
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Republican Gov. Susana Martinez called on state lawmakers to crack down on violent crime and put public safety at the top of state priorities as New Mexico's Legislature convened Tuesday for a 30-day budgetary session.
Legislators are tasked with crafting a budget aimed at keeping pace with soaring health care costs for low-income residents, stimulating a sluggish state economy and possibly increasing pay to teachers and police.
With little time to spare, lawmakers already are clamoring to push through major policy initiatives designed to address concerns about public safety and political corruption.
Addressing the Legislature, Martinez described a state under siege from violent criminals, habitual drunken drivers, marauding teens and "turnstile thugs" set loose by the courts. She placed public safety at the top of her agenda, followed by education and jobs programs.
House Republicans are calling for indelible changes to the criminal justice system in response to a string of high-profile cases over the last year, including the shooting deaths of two police officers and a 4-year-old girl killed during a road-rage incident in Albuquerque. Martinez, who has wide discretion over which bills are heard, threw her support behind proposals to expand crimes subject to three-strikes sentencing rules and to allow judges to deny bail to dangerous defendants.
A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers and state court administrators are backing a constitutional amendment to overhaul New Mexico's bail system not only to give judges more authority to deny bail but also to allow low-risk defendants to be released pending trial if they don't have the means to make bond. Martinez made no mention of the proposal for broadening pre-trial release for nonviolent offenders.
Democratic Senate floor leader Michael Sanchez of Belen characterized the governor's public safety agenda as pro-incarceration and lacking in rehabilitation funding.
"That's contrary to what's going on in the rest of the country, where people don't want to lock people up," Sanchez said.
He said violent crime problems are centered in Albuquerque, where dissatisfaction with the police force runs high.
Martinez welcomed to the House Chambers the widows of slain police officers Nigel Benner and Dan Webster and invoked their pain and sadness in her call for criminal justice reforms.
"We have vicious, heinous criminals among us who are willing to take the lives of our greatest heroes," Martinez said. "Our laws are too lax, our justice system too weak particularly when it comes to violent, dangerous offenders."
The governor and lawmakers also are under pressure from the federal government to resolve a stalemate over immigrant driver's licenses and the state's failure to comply with the REAL ID Act.
Democrat Senate leaders remain at odds with the governor's proposal to replace driver's licenses for immigrants with a driving privilege card. Some immigrant-rights advocates complain new requirements for immigrants would be onerous and could make them targets for persecution by authorities.
Political stakes will be high during the session, with every legislative seat coming up for election in November. Republicans hope to extend their control of the lower House to the Senate, where Democrats hold 24 out of 42 seats.
Legislative leaders have largely agreed with the governor on priorities for a nearly $6.5 billion budget proposal that increases spending 3.7 percent. A third of new spending would go toward new state Medicaid expenses.
At the same time, political fractures are appearing as revenue estimates tighten unexpectedly because of low crude oil prices linked to state royalties and severance taxes. An influential legislative committee wants to put on hold $77 million in state pay raises primarily for school teachers over the objections of the executive branch.
The bulk of those pay raises would go to entry-level teachers under the governor's budget recommendations, while leading Democrats favor pay raises for all teachers and support staff. Martinez also wants to expand the ranks of law enforcement and raise pay for State Police, prison guards and child abuse case workers.
House Democrats have urged the governor to call up a raft of proposals for reforming the campaign finance reporting system and creating a statewide ethics commission.
Calls for reform were sparked last year by a scandal that brought down former Republican Secretary of State Dianna Duran, who pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds to fuel a gambling spree. She completed a 30-day jail sentence on Sunday.
Martinez touched on campaign finance issues briefly, endorsing a cooling off period for former public officials who go to work as lobbyists and greater disclosures about ties to private clients and infrastructure projects.
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Under pressure to emerge as the Republican mainstream's presidential contender, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is increasingly relying on a national strategy as he lowers expectations for February's primary contests.
He's betting big that Republican voters across the political spectrum will ultimately coalesce behind his candidacy in the state-by-state slog for delegates his team envisions for the months ahead.
It's a strategy fraught with risk for Rubio, who's still fighting to break out among the pack of candidates looking up at New York billionaire Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. The outsider favorites are dominating in Iowa less than two weeks before the state's leadoff caucuses.
For now at least, Rubio, a first-term senator, is embracing a patient approach that goes well beyond the four states with contests in February: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
Rubio in recent days has cast himself as a passionate evangelical conservative, a national security hawk, an empathizer of immigrants in the country illegally, and someone who can bring new voters to the Republican Party. This, as he jabs at Trump, Cruz and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, yet works to capture the anger and frustration that fuel their candidacies.
"I won't be able to appeal to everybody on everything," Rubio told The Associated Press on Monday. "I want to get enough delegates to be the nominee."
But that's exactly the theme he projected as he campaigned through Iowa this week before a trip to New Hampshire, where he hopes to rise from a cluster of so-called establishment alternatives to Trump and Cruz.
"Too often, I think, as Republicans we have a bad choice," said Iowa state Sen. Jack Whitver, Rubio's state campaign chairman, introducing him at one of his many Iowa stops this week. The choice, he said, is often between "the establishment, moderate person that everyone says can win the election, or we have a true consistent conservative that everyone says can't win the election."
"This year we don't have to make that choice," he said. "This year, we can have it all."
Given Jeb Bush's continued struggles, some major Republican donors and elected officials see Rubio as their party's best candidate to defeat the leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, in this fall's general election. But in a year when voters appear to be rejecting insiders, Rubio has struggled to tap the anti-establishment anger, putting him behind Cruz and Trump with time running out before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses.
Facing that reality, Rubio's team has conceded he's unlikely to win any of the first three contests: Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
No Republican in the modern political era has won the presidential nomination without winning one of the first three states. Rubio's team sees a path around that history: finishing in the top three in those states and surviving until March. That's when party insiders expect the race to become a long haul because of new rules that award delegates proportionally.
The strategy also assumes some of Rubio's mainstream challengers will drop out out, leaving Rubio's mix of messages his tea party rise, national security background and abiding conservative social positions to allow him to unify the GOP.
"Any preconceived notions you have from previous cycles are out the window," said California-based donor John Jordan, who is running a pro-Rubio super PAC. "Given that, I don't think it's necessary to win one of the early states." He calls this "a rolling national election."
Rubio's team describes his message not as scattered, but as based on Ronald Reagan's "three-legged stool" with conservative approaches to economic, social and national security policy.
Rubio emphasized his religious faith in Iowa, where he's running an ad highlighting his opposition to abortion rights and where he told voters in the more socially conservative northern part of the state that his Christianity is "the single greatest influence in my life."
In more moderate eastern Iowa, Rubio asserted his credentials on military and foreign policy as unmatched in the field. "It's not even close," he said.
And the 44-year-old son of Cuban immigrants pressed the point in Ottumwa that he can bring people into the party who normally don't vote for it.
"We have some differences," Rubio said of the candidates in the field. "But it's a big tent."
Yet when asked why he was more electable than Trump, he nodded to the raucous throngs that have flocked to Trump's rallies.
"What he's tapped into is a real frustration that needs to be addressed," Rubio said.
Ottumwa physician Michael Shaeffer, who asked Rubio what set him apart, wanted more, but still plans to support him.
"We're not going to vote necessarily for the best person," Shaeffer said. "We're going to vote for the one with the best chance of winning."
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With a set of new measures to increase voter registration rolls this year in California, expectations are high for the impact Latino voters will have on the 2016 elections in the Golden State.
Along with automatic voter registration and a new statewide voter database, new projections that forecast a surge in the number of eligible Latino voters is seen by political experts as evidence that Latinos will change the outcome of many of the states election contests.
California Secretary of State Alex Padilla told Fox News Latino that voters from the Hispanic community will have an impact in the upcoming electoral processes.
Latinos represent such a big percentage of the eligible but unregistered voters in California, he said. Over time, as the Latino population continues to grow, automatic registration will help ensure that the potential political flex for the Latino community grows even quicker.
Due to a new law signed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2015, California will begin to automatically register eligible citizens to vote this year.
The measure allows the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to send voter registration information directly to the secretary of states office when people receive a drivers license or state ID card.
California is the second state in the nation to implement automatic voter registration. Under a new law passed in Oregon in March 2015, any eligible resident with a driver's license will be automatically registered to vote and will receive a ballot by mail weeks before Election Day.
Overall, legislators in 18 states plus the District of Columbia have introduced bills that would automatically register citizens who interact with motor vehicle offices and ensure that voter information is electronically and securely sent to the voter rolls.
Most of these new registrants, experts predict, would come from underrepresented communities, including people of color, the young and people with low income. More than 60 percent would be Latino or Asian American, according to a study from the California Civic Engagement Project at the University of California Davis Center for Regional Change.
The percentage of Latino voters is expected to rise to 21.2 percent of the state's voters by the time of the 2016 presidential election, an increase from the 19.3 percent in 2012, adds the report.
Even with low turnout rate, there will be a bigger portion of the vote that is going to be Latino, said says Mindy Romero, director of the California Civic Engagement Project.
She added that with the Latino population growing, that means that they will have larger percent of the vote even if their turnout rates remain the same.
But, according to a provision of the law, the automatic registration system cannot be put in place until the secretary of state certifies the new statewide voter registration database, called Votecal.
Padilla promised that it will be up and running by June.
Its been delayed in years past prior to my term starting here in this office but we are on track he said.
The secretary of state added that more than two thirds of Californias counties have already migrated from the old systems to Votecal, including Los Angeles, the state's most populous.
But experts caution that automatic registration and a Latino voter population on the rise do not mean Latinos will actually show up to vote if they are not properly motivated.
Theres a lot of outreach that will be needed, said Romero. It is a positive step because you cant vote if youre not registered, but it doesnt mean that they will vote.
She added that there has to be an education component as well.
You dont want people to think were all registered, because it wont be everybody at the same time, she said.
Nevertheless, how Latinos are mobilized, particularly millennials who are a growing share of Latino voters, could help determine the outcome of a number of the states races in 2016 and beyond, added Romero.
Latinos, who recently surpassed whites as the largest ethnic group in California, make up 39 percent of the states population. Yet in 2014 they represented only 15 percent of the electorate, and only 17 percent of all Latinos who were eligible to vote did so.
By the 2016 general election, non-Latino whites will fall to 49 percent of Californias eligible voters. Thus, for the first time, a majority of eligible voters in California will be minority voters.
Meanwhile, if Latinos maintain their 2012 California eligible turnout rate of 39.4 percent, their percent of the states vote in 2016 is projected to rise to 21.2, up from 19.3 percent four years before.
Secretary of State Padilla said his office is trying to work with the DMV to see what kind of outreach can be done before the November election to encourage people who are eligible but not registered to do so and go to the polls.
There are about 6.7 eligible unregistered people in California, Padilla said. Even a small percentage are big numbers in our state.
Following months of uncertainty and heated partisan exchanges, New Mexico lawmakers will make their first attempt to discuss a bill that would bring the state in line with the REAL ID Act amid pressure from federal agencies and promises from immigrant advocates to fight any proposal they deem unacceptable.
A House committee is scheduled Thursday to take up a GOP proposal that would create a REAL ID-compliant driver's license and allow immigrants who are in the country illegally to obtain driver's permits. It is one of at least two REAL ID-related proposals lawmakers are expected to tackle this session.
REAL ID Act requirements mandate proof of legal U.S. residency for holders who want to use state IDs for federal purposes.
New Mexico has no such requirement, and allows immigrants who are in the country illegally to obtain state's driver's licenses.
Previous attempts to repeal the state's immigrant driver's license law have been met with charges of racism, angry committee meetings and one lawmaker comparing the REAL ID Act to the Holocaust.
"I hope this time we can all listen to each other with respect and agree to disagree," said Rep. Paul Pacheco, R-Albuquerque, a co-sponsor of the House proposal.
Pacheco will discuss his legislation before the House Regulatory and Public Affairs Committee. Immigrant advocates are vowing to crowd the meeting with people who they say would be affected by any changes to driver's license law.
"Anything that doesn't allow immigrants to keep their driver's licenses is unacceptable to us," said Marcela Diaz, executive director of the Santa Fe-based immigrant advocacy group Somos Un Pueblo Unido.
Diaz said her group opposes anything that puts "scarlet letters" on driver's cards and opens immigrants to discrimination and deportation.
She favors other proposals like one sponsored by Senate Democrats that would create a "two tier" system -- granting REAL ID-compliant licenses to residents and noncompliant ones to any resident who wants them. The Senate has not scheduled a committee hearing on that bill yet.
At the start of the legislative session Tuesday, immigrant advocates held signs outside the Capitol comparing Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican, to GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump, a candidate who has come under criticism for his comments about Mexican immigrants.
Diaz said Martinez is "pushing an anti-immigrant agenda" because she previously supported repeal and now backs the House bill.
But Martinez, the nation's only Latina governor, remains one of the few elected Republicans who have publicly denounced Trump for his remarks.
The REAL ID issue took even more immediacy in the state this week after the U.S. Defense Department announced military installations would no longer accept New Mexico driver's licenses as proof of identification for entrance. The U.S. Homeland Security Department also said beginning in 2018, noncompliant IDs won't be accepted to board commercial flights.
Martinez said she hoped lawmakers could come to a compromise and finally put the issue to rest.
"We have a good compromise bill that solves the problem and stops giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, and I hope the Senate Democrats will support it," Martinez said.
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Republican senators are confronting an unsettling possibility: Sen. Ted Cruz, their least favorite colleague, stands within reach of becoming the party's presidential nominee and standard-bearer.
Worse than that, many GOP lawmakers and aides fear the Texas senator could ruin Republicans' chances of hanging onto control of the Senate in November's elections, alienating voters in a half-dozen key swing states with his hardline stances on issues from immigration to abortion.
And yet, these fellow Republicans say they're essentially powerless to stop him. Any attempt to weaken Cruz in his primary campaign against Donald Trump and other GOP candidates risks bolstering his argument that he's running against the "Washington cartel." So there's little Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans can do beyond watch in dismay as Cruz, isolated and boxed out in the clubby Senate after repeatedly angering colleagues, rises in the polls in first-voting Iowa and elsewhere.
With Cruz as the nominee, "state and local races that take place in ideologically moderate electorates could be a bloodbath," says Josh Holmes, McConnell's former chief of staff and a GOP strategist. Vulnerable Republican senators are partly insulated by strong campaign organizations, "but there is no question their job could get tougher," Holmes says.
In the presidential primaries, Cruz has attempted to make a virtue of his rejection by the Washington establishment, and his allies say he will actually help fellow Republicans by energizing the base and turning out evangelicals and others.
One of his favorite lines on the stump is quoting a newspaper article that, according to him, said, "Cruz can't win because the Washington elites despise him."
"I kinda thought that was the whole point of the campaign," Cruz says, almost always generating applause.
Back in the Senate, Cruz has alienated fellow Republican senators on so many occasions they are hard to count. And now, with Democrats optimistic they might win the five seats needed to retake control of the Senate four if they keep the White House Republicans are desperate to protect vulnerable incumbents in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Hampshire, where a Cruz candidacy could turn off independents.
"He's a very rock-ribbed conservative and very intelligent young man, very knowledgeable, put it that way," says Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. "And I haven't seen any great desire on his part to really bring the party along with him so that's something that worries me. ... I think it would help him a lot if he would learn how other people feel and work with other people a little bit better, and I think that naturally will occur."
Some GOP lawmakers and pollsters view Cruz as more problematic than businessman Trump, since Trump might have more cross-over appeal to independents. Polling shown to House Republicans recently identified Cruz as the most difficult presidential nominee for any of them to share a ballot with.
""He would definitely be a negative," said GOP Rep. Pete King of New York, who represents an evenly divided Long Island district. King dismissed Cruz as a "fraud" and said, "I don't know of anyone else in Washington, certainly, who gets this opposition from his own people. ... I'm talking about people as conservative as he is who just can't stand him."
In one clear barometer, four GOP senators have endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's bid for president, while none has backed Cruz.
On the other hand, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents this year, says, "If you run a good campaign and let people know what you stand for, you don't have to worry as much about the top of the ticket."
Still, Cruz has become such a pariah that one of his colleagues, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, told supporters at a campaign fundraiser for his own re-election that he would vote for liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders for president before Cruz, according to one person who attended the event. Burr did not appear to be joking, said the person, who demanded anonymity to discuss the private gathering.
The negative reactions started shortly after Cruz arrived in the Senate in 2013. During a confirmation hearing for former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, Cruz implied, without offering evidence, that Hagel had received compensation from North Korea. That drew rebukes from fellow GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona.
Later that year, Cruz pushed for confrontation with President Barack Obama over the new health care law, coordinating with tea party conservatives in the House. Their strategy resulted in a 16-day partial government shutdown that caused the GOP's poll numbers to temporarily plummet.
In December 2014, Cruz again infuriated fellow Republicans when he kept the Senate in session in a failed bid to oppose Obama's immigration policies. This had the result of allowing Democrats to confirm a raft of Obama nominees, mostly lifetime judicial choices, who might otherwise have languished.
Last year, in a dramatic breach of decorum, Cruz delivered a floor speech in which he accused McConnell of lying about scheduling a vote on the federal Export-Import Bank. Senate leaders were livid and went so far as to block Cruz's routine request for a roll-call vote, something all but unheard-of.
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Rep. Steve King thinks of his friend Sarah Palins endorsement of billionaire Donald Trump and laments what he depicts as a missed opportunity to have her back his choice for president, Sen. Ted Cruz.
It was early this year, the congressman said Wednesday during an interview at an Iowa hotel with Fox News Latino, when King, Iowas conservative kingmaker, and the group Citizens United hosted the Freedom Summit, dubbed on its website as an effort to bring grassroots activists from across Iowa to hear directly from conservative leaders on how we can get America back on track by focusing on our core principles of pro-growth economics, social conservatism, and a strong national defense.
I had Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz together at dinner then, King said. We were planning a pheasant hunt for the next day, and I just didnt press hard enough to hold Sarah for the next day (hunt).
If we had gone out to the field together with a shotgun, I think she would have endorsed Ted Cruz, King said, smiling. So Im taking the blame.
Palin and Cruz and King are avid hunters, a chance, the congressman suggested partly in jest and partly seriously, for the firebrand former Alaska governor and the firebrand Texas senator to bond especially in a way that city slicker Trump cant with the former governor who boasts about liking the rough and tumble outdoors.
Palin has defended hunting, saying: I especially love moose and caribou. I always remind people from outside our state that theres plenty of room for all Alaskas animals right next to the mashed potatoes.
Last November, amid the cornstalks of the Hawkeye State, Cruz and King, who every year hosts pheasant hunts, participated in one, posing at the end with photos of their dead prey.
Palin, a Tea Party conservative who was Sen. John McCains running mate in 2008, and became known for her irreverent one-liners and bashing of establishment Washington politics, announced her endorsement of Trump on Tuesday.
The endorsement came as Trump is locked in a dead heat with Cruz in Iowa, the first state to vote for the selection of the nominee of each party for the presidential race.
King, one the Houses most conservative members and an influential figure in Iowa whose endorsement is pursued by Republicans running for president, says that in all seriousness, Palin shares more fundamental qualities and views with Cruz than with Trump.
I dont think it will move Trump forward very much, King said, referring to poll numbers or his standing in Iowa, where Cruz has for the most part enjoyed a lead over the other GOP candidates. Sarah Palins endorsement does move the focus of the press on her and [Trump] while shes in town. I wish her well, Im glad shes back in public life.
With tens of thousands of Central American immigrants arriving on the U.S.-Mexico border in the last two years, federal authorities are launching a program Thursday to encourage more of them to show up for their hearings in immigration court.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement hired a contractor to help some immigrant families find transportation, housing and low-cost lawyers, hoping that getting them on stable footing will make them more likely to attend court hearings that determine whether they should be allowed to stay in the country or deported.
When immigrants show up for court, federal authorities can keep track of asylum cases to ensure those who lose return home. Advocates want immigrants to attend the hearings because they believe many of those arriving from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have a strong shot of winning asylum but must be in court to do so. Judges routinely issue deportation orders for those who don't show.
As many as 800 families who pass an initial asylum screening can join the program in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, Chicago and Miami starting Thursday. Caseworkers will help newly arriving immigrants with tasks such as finding transportation to immigration court and enrolling their children in school. Later, they will help those who lose their bids to stay in the country head home.
The program will cost $11 million a year and reach a tiny sliver of the 54,000 Central American immigrants with children who have arrived on the southwestern border since October 2014. It comes as the Obama administration faces court-imposed limits on the detention of immigrant families and as authorities began arresting those who lost their asylum cases in raids earlier this month.
Those eligible for the program include pregnant women, nursing mothers and immigrants with mental illness, ICE said.
"We are looking at Central American mothers, predominantly heads of households, because that is what we're seeing now as the biggest population to be served," said Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, a deputy assistant director for enforcement and removal at ICE.
Since 2014, immigrant families have been sent to family detention centers or released and told to appear in immigration court.
Nearly 790 deportation orders have been issued for immigrants with children who have arrived since July 2014 and were detained. More than two-thirds were for those who didn't show up for hearings, court statistics show.
Advocates welcomed the new program, hoping immigrants can prove they are fleeing persecution and win the right to stay in the U.S. It faces opposition from those who want the government to quickly screen immigrants on the border and turn away those who don't qualify for asylum.
"Instead, the administration continues to take actions that encourage more illegal immigration, such as providing taxpayer benefits to those who have come here illegally," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
Immigrant advocates said newcomers are often overwhelmed when they start life here and may miss key hearings if they get bogged down with enrolling their children in school or forget to update their address with the courts.
They applauded the aid to immigrants but questioned ICE's selection of a contractor to run the program that is a unit of GEO Group, which also oversees immigration detention centers. The company declined to comment.
The surge in border arrivals has stoked raucous debate on the presidential campaign trail and in Washington. The Obama administration arrested 121 people with deportation orders several weeks ago in raids targeting Central Americans who came here in recent years.
Since last year, federal authorities have released immigrant families more quickly from detention centers after a federal judge ruled that mothers with children could not be held for lengthy periods of time. Some were outfitted with ankle bracelets after being freed.
Before launching the new plan, ICE ran a pilot program with two nonprofits in which participants almost always attended their immigration hearings and appointments, agency officials said.
"A lot of these people are not going to be deported," said Annie Wilson, chief strategy officer for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. "The more important question is: How should we be treating people who are going to be here, and who are going to win asylum?"
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Ted Cruz once proudly wore a belt buckle borrowed from George H.W. Bush that said: "President of the United States."
He campaigned and worked for that former president's son, Dubya, former President George W. Bush. And Cruz helped write a book lavishing praise on him.
Also, the endorsement of George P. Bush, the family's latest rising political star and son of Jeb Bush, lent credibility to Cruz's then little-known 2012 Senate campaign.
Now, though, things aren't so simpatico between the Bushes and Cruz and not only because one of the Texas senator's GOP presidential primary competitors is Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida.
Rising tensions reflect Cruz potentially helping to dent the Bushes' position as one of the nation's pre-eminent political families, personifying a deeper internal Republican Party struggle between insurgent conservative outsiders and the old guard establishment.
"There is this question of, 'When are the adults going to come in and change the race?' I think the adults are at the table. I certainly consider myself one," said Mica Mosbacher, a prominent Cruz fundraiser whose late husband, Robert, was secretary of commerce under George H.W. Bush. "Some people are still in denial."
Cruz supporters point to October, when George W. Bush said of Cruz to a roomful of donors: "I just don't like that guy."
"I think it hurt him," Mosbacher said of the former president. "He failed to have his finger on the pulse."
Ray Sullivan, who was national spokesman for George W. Bush's 2000 campaign, said the comment "underscores a highly competitive, multicandidate race and different segments of the Republican Party."
But he also conceded that it was somewhat unusual for George W. Bush to openly criticize a fellow Republican.
"The Bushes are a competitive lot," said Sullivan, who ran a PAC backing Rick Perry's short-lived 2016 presidential bid before jumping to Jeb Bush's campaign in September. "I viewed that as almost a game-day, rally-the-troops commentary."
Cruz hasn't retaliated, but being criticized by George W. Bush delighted his tea party base. Since then, Cruz's candidacy has risen in the polls, while Jeb Bush's bid has struggled.
Clay Johnson III, a friend of George W. Bush since high school and former top budget official in his administration, said he recently spent time with the former president and they discussed how many of the crowded field of GOP White House hopefuls "have no idea at all about what's involved in being president."
Still, that public display of bad blood in Bush's comment to donors was a far cry from Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, when Cruz was a domestic policy adviser.
Cruz later held jobs in the Bush administration in the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission and, on the verge of the 2004 Republican National Convention, wrote a chapter in "Thank You, President Bush," a book meant to answer "Bush-haters." In it, Cruz likened George W. Bush to Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan and wrote that some fiscal conservatives decried Bush for increased government spending, but "those concerns are often overstated."
In his own autobiography published last year, however, Cruz made it clear his views had changed, criticizing Bush for excessive federal spending.
Also in his book, Cruz recalled borrowing jeans, a shirt and that belt buckle from George H.W. Bush for a 2009 sailing outing, writing that "it was surreal to be wearing his clothes."
Before his 2012 Senate bid, Cruz explored running for Texas attorney general. In the autobiography, he detailed how, after the sailing trip, George H.W. Bush agreed to endorse that campaign. But Cruz wrote that Karl Rove, a top strategist for George W. Bush, pressured him not to publicize that.
Rove disputed the book's assertion last summer, prompting the Cruz campaign to release 2009 emails from Rove that it said backed up Cruz's account.
Cruz wrote that George H.W. Bush had wanted to call him "the future of the Republican Party." Three years later, Bush's grandson, George P., used those same words to praise Cruz during his Senate run.
In a 2012 statement backing Cruz, who was then an underdog in Texas' Republican primary, George P. Bush saluted him and another now presidential hopeful, Marco Rubio, saying both "will inspire a new generation of leaders to stand up and defend American Exceptionalism."
George P. Bush, Jeb's eldest son, was elected Texas land commissioner in 2014. Through his office, George P. Bush declined to comment for this story, but he has said he still considers Cruz a friend even if he's now campaigning for his dad.
Brendan Steinhauser, a GOP strategist who is uncommitted in the presidential race, called the falling out between Cruz and the Bushes "a good example of the battle for the heart and soul" of the Republican Party.
"There may be frustration on the Bush side that this isn't the party from 2000 to 2008, and certainly not before that under Bush senior," Steinhauser said. "The tea party, the rise of the grassroots ... that started during the younger Bush's presidency."
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People in New Hampshire live nearly 2,400 miles from El Paso, Texas, one of the busiest crossings on America's Southern border. And it's only home to about 10,000 people living illegally in the U.S. a far cry from states like California, Texas or Florida.
Yet, illegal immigration is a paramount concern to New Hampshire voters, and Republican presidential candidates are being faced with tough questions from voters in this small, mostly white, state on how they will handle the issue if elected.
While GOP front-runner Donald Trump has called for a wall across the Southern border, many voters in this early voting state are searching for more in-depth solutions to the country's immigration shortfalls. They characterize their concerns with illegal immigration as a case of fundamental fairness combined with national security or economic concerns.
Of the 1.3 million people living in New Hampshire, roughly 94 percent of them are white, according to 2014 census data. Just 3.3 percent of the state's population is Hispanic or Latino, compared to 17 percent nationwide, while about 5 percent is foreign-born, compared to 13 percent nationally. New Hampshire voters will head to the polls Feb. 9 for the country's second primary season contest.
But Bob Belanger, a voter from Brookline who recently challenged Marco Rubio on the subject during a campaign stop, said immigration concerns among New Hampshire residents do not equate to xenophobia.
"People tend to think that we are anti-immigrant, but we're not," he said. "We are all immigrants, for crying out loud. We just want to know who's coming in the front door of our country. That's all."
Belanger, 57, said he's proud of his immigrant family's heritage. He carries around his grandfather's green card. His grandfather was Canadian; his grandmother was originally from Ireland. He works for a New Hampshire-based manufacturing firm that builds piping for companies all over the region and the world, and says immigration personally affects him from an economic perspective.
He believes those working here illegally drive down wages and benefits.
"Whether it's roofers or whether it's welders, it affects me even when they are in Texas or California," he said. "We are in a global economy."
Belanger, like many voters here, said he's looking for a more substantial solution than building a wall and deporting everyone who lives here illegally, as Trump proposes.
Speaking with Rubio last week, Belanger said he's concerned about any immigration reform that looks similar to a plan passed in 1986 under Ronald Reagan. Back then, nearly 3 million people were granted legal status, but the federal government failed, as promised in the law, to crack down on employers who hired illegals or to secure the border.
"We were sold a bill of goods where we allowed amnesty for millions of people and then we secured the border," he told Rubio. "The Congress never secured the borders."
Rubio, Florida's junior senator, agreed and emphasized his opposition to granting legal status to people already in the U.S. before securing the border. "Until you prove to people that illegal immigration is under control, not just pass a law, until they actually see it's working, they are not going to support doing anything for the people here illegally," he said.
Rubio has made immigration a central part of his stump speech, but other candidates including Jeb Bush and Chris Christie are frequently asked about border security and immigration reform in town hall meetings. John Kasich was recently asked by a voter in Concord what he would do to "deport" everyone living here illegally. His answer: "I wouldn't."
Cindy Coutu, a Bedford voter, said immigration is one of her top three concerns, partly for security reasons, partly due to fairness.
"We have people that are leaching off of our system," she said. "People that are here illegally are receiving benefits without having worked for it, that's bothersome to me."
Regardless of voters' reasons for seeing immigration as a top concern, former state Republican Party chairman Fergus Cullen said the state's low level of diversity makes it an "abstract" issue for many voters here.
Because voters here don't confront immigration on a daily basis, Cullen said their views on the issue may run along ideological or theoretical lines. Cullen now leads a non-profit that promotes immigration reform, called Americans by Choice.
"The fact is, in New Hampshire you don't see large Spanish-speaking populations," he said. "And I think that matters."
But that doesn't prevent some New Hampshire voters from expressing concerns.
Kathy and Brian Hybsch, of Auburn, said immigration has become their "number 1" issue, primarily for national security reasons.
After terrorist attacks last year in Paris and San Bernardino, California, many of the Republican candidates began framing immigration as, first and foremost, an issue of security. Most of the Republican candidates support a temporary halt on refugees coming into the country from Syria, and Trump took the calls further, saying the country should stop letting in Muslims.
Kathy, who said she is a Trump supporter, said she doesn't consider herself anti-immigrant but agrees with the proposals.
"It might not have made sense 20 years ago," she said, "but it's not 20 years ago."
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With less than two weeks before voters in New Hampshire head to the polls for the first primary contest of the presidential campaign season, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro made a whirlwind tour through the Granite state on Monday in an effort to rally support for Hillary Clinton.
The rising star in the Democratic Party made a number of stops throughout New Hampshire alongside his brother, Congressman Joaquin Castro, before ending the day stumping for Clinton at a Mexican restaurant in Manchester.
We need a president who will invest in this nation and that president will be Hillary Clinton, Castro told a crowd gathered inside the Puerto Vallarta restaurant. Hillary Clinton believes in a United States that includes all of us.
While national polls still have Clinton holding a double-digit lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, she is lagging far behind her opponent in New Hampshire. A Fox News poll released on Monday has Sanders up 22 points on Clinton in the countdown to primary day.
The swing through New Hampshire by the Castro brothers comes as Clinton attempts to hold on to her narrow lead in the first presidential contest state, Iowa, and also rally her base support a sizeable portion of which comes from the Latino community to head to polls on February 9.
Speaking to a mainly Latino crowd inside the restaurant, Castro highlighted his familys immigrants roots and the struggles they had growing up in San Antonio, Texas, while touching on Clinton talking points, such as affordable colleges and healthcare.
Our nation has been the greatest when we invest in our people, Castro said.
Speaking to Fox News Latino after the event, Castro addressed the failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform under the presidency of Barack Obama, saying after the last presidential election 2012 there was strong bipartisan support in the Senate for comprehensive immigration, but the Republican-led House wouldnt let it go to a vote on the floor.
But, he said, those who are strongly against immigration will have to reconsider their position after the November election. Latinos, he said, will rally against those with harsh views on to immigration and theyre going to have no choice but to reconsider their reluctance to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
Castro also bashed the presidential contenders like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, whose tough stances on immigration, saying that most American voters immigrant or not would not want to elect a president with the hardline views.
There is no way that with a President Trump or a President Cruz or a President [Marco] Rubio that this is going to be a welcoming America, he told FNL.
Castros appearance on the stump for Clinton comes only two days after the HUD secretary received the endorsement for vice president from the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Castro has so far played down the speculation saying he is focused on getting Clinton elected and that he does not believe he would be selected.
"I'm focused completely on being supportive of Hillary. There's a Democratic primary," Castro said during an event in Iowa on Sunday, according to the Texas Tribune. "I don't believe that that's going to happen, and I've said that."
He added: I fully expect to be back in Texas a year from now.
The HUD secretary made national headlines in 2012 when it was announced that the then mayor of San Antonio would be the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. It was a move that made history; Castro was the first Hispanic ever to deliver the keynote speech at a Democratic convention.
Only 14 percent of state legislators are minorities, according to a report released on Monday.
The New American Leaders Project surveyed state lawmakers in 2015 and found that black politicians held around 9 percent of the seats, Latino and Latina politicians held about 4 percent of the seats and Asian American politicians held about 2 percent of the seats. Native American officeholders numbered less than 1 percent. This number is far below the racial and ethnic makeup of this country, with minorities making up 40 percent of the population.
Sayu Bhojwani, president and founder of the New American Leaders Project, said the major political parties could do more to help usher more minority candidates to state-level offices. She also wants more support for minority candidates once they decide to seek office and foundations to invest in preparing future lawmakers.
"Part of the reason for the representation gap because the existing and traditional parties are not reaching out and encouraging Asians and Latinos and Latinas to run," she said.
Having more minority officeholders at the state level would mean minority communities would have someone who not only understands their issues but also likely has experienced what they are going through, she said. "If we could reduce the barriers, we could have a much more representative government," she said.
The survey also found a gender gap in state Legislatures, with women holding 24 percent of the lawmaking jobs and men holding 76 percent. Republicans also held a decisive advantage, holding 56 percent of state-level legislator positions while Democrats hold 43 percent. One percent is held by third-party candidates or independents.
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Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton both called for lowering the temperature in the presidential primary race Monday, even as their campaigns and supporters kept up their attacks with a week to go until the Iowa caucuses.
Campaigning at a pizza place, Cruz passed up an opportunity to take a swipe at Donald Trump, who has been hitting Cruz as the Texas senator has climbed in the polls. Until recently, Trump and Cruz had avoided direct confrontation on the campaign trail, but Trump's description of his opponent as a "nasty guy" seemed to invite a response.
"I will not engage in insults," Cruz said in Manchester, Iowa. "I will not engage in personal attacks. Donald has changed how he has approached me. He is now insulting me every day. He can do that. That is his prerogative. I do not intend to respond in kind."
But behind the scenes, Cruz's campaign was on the air with an ad assailing Trump over his business practices, while a super PAC supporting Cruz unleashed its own ads criticizing Trump. Cruz said he would "continue to sing Donald's praises personally" while pointing out policy differences with the real estate mogul.
Trump wasn't holding back. He took to Twitter to call Cruz a "nervous wreck" who was "dropping like a rock" in the GOP race.
Cruz's reluctance to bash his opponent too directly reflects the delicate balance both he and Trump are trying to strike. Even as they work to take each other down, neither wants to alienate the other's supporters.
Clinton, campaigning before a Jewish organization in Des Moines, said she hoped for a "cooling off" of some of the heated rhetoric in the presidential campaign. Without singling out any candidate or party, she said politicians should be "under some level of scrutiny for what they say."
Clinton and Bernie Sanders, locked in an unexpectedly tight race, planned to deliver their final-stretch pitches Monday evening in a televised town hall forum. Clinton's campaign spent the day working to revive a debate about gun control, building on her previous criticism of Sanders for backing legislation granting gun manufacturers legal immunity.
Adding a new flavor of uncertainty was word over the weekend that former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considering an independent bid, eyeing an opportunity if Trump and Sanders should end up as the Republican and Democratic nominees. Trump told CNN he would "love to" face Bloomberg, insisting he would win.
"We used to be friends. I guess we're not friends anymore," Trump said of his fellow New Yorker.
Cruz picked up an endorsement Monday from Rick Perry, the former governor of his home state, who dropped out of the presidential race last year. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio also won, if not an official endorsement, a glowing introduction from the freshman Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, a popular figure in the Iowa GOP who called him "near and dear" to her heart.
With most of the Republicans circling each other in Iowa, Chris Christie and John Kasich were searching for votes in New Hampshire, where the GOP base is friendlier to more mainstream, socially moderate candidates. Speaking to reporters in Newmarket, Kasich seemed to capture the mood of all of the candidates many months into a grueling campaign.
"I think there's so many undecided people, and I wish they were all committed to me," Kasich said. "What am I not doing right?"
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Immigrant rights attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging part of a Texas border security bill they say could allow state authorities to target shelters and landlords for harboring immigrants who are in the country illegally.
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund is asking a judge to find unconstitutional part of the far-reaching security bill the state passed in 2015.
The group suing includes two landlords who say they could be hurt by the law because they don't ask the immigration status of their tenants. Also suing is Jonathan Ryan, director of a San Antonio-based immigration legal services center that also runs a shelter for migrants whose staff and volunteers, he says, could be subject to prosecution.
Republican state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, who authored the bill in question, called the lawsuit "frivolous" and said the legislation was never intended to target shelters, aid workers or landlords and could not be used to do so.
But Nina Perales, the lead lawyer with MALDEF, said the law is intended to target people who do business with immigrants, such as landlords, or people carrying out humanitarian work in shelters.
"There can be no explanation for this harboring statute than to intimidate people," she said. "There is no public safety function."
Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill, known as HB 11, into law by last year as part of an $800 million border security effort undertaken by the Legislature. Under one provision of HB 11, people who profit from, encourage or induce a person to enter or stay in the country illegally "by concealing, harboring, or shielding that person from detection" can be charged with various felony degrees. The charges depend on the age of the immigrant and whether he or she becomes victim of sexual assault or other crimes.
The bill also creates the new crime of "continuous harboring" of immigrants for 10 days or more.
David Cruz, a San Antonio landlord who is one of the plaintiffs, called the law "pretty broad and vague."
The law "could affect me if I have to be determining the residency status of my tenants," he said. "I feel it's not my role."
Bonnen called the suit "a political stunt," saying the bill had been "carefully crafted to go after the drug cartel leaders who are smuggling individuals into our state," and forcing them into prostitution, or making them victims of "violence, forced labor, sexual assault and other heinous crimes."
Abbott's spokesman John Wittman said the law is intended to fight human smuggling and that the governor was proud to have signed it.
The harboring provision was called into question at last year's hearings as potentially vulnerable to a constitutional challenge, because the federal government has authority over immigration. Moreover, Perales said, existing federal and state laws already prohibit most of the activities described in HB 11.
In recent years, federal courts have struck down immigrant harboring laws in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina as pre-empted by federal law.
In Texas, the suburban Dallas community of Farmers Branch made national headlines after passing an ordinance a decade ago that would have fined or revoked renter's licenses for landlords who lease property to immigrants in the country illegally.
The 5th U.S. Court of Appeals later ruled the ordinance unconstitutional, and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014 declined to hear the city's appeal. The high court has held since 2012 that immigration issues are largely a matter for federal agencies, not local governments, to regulate.
Ryan, the director of RAICES in San Antonio, said he was confident that the harboring provisions of HB 11 will be struck down, "and in doing so send a deterring message to those who would seek to pass unjust unconstitutional laws." As the direct of a nonprofit professional legal services group, he said, "I must have an assurance that my operations are legal."
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Even as he is embroiled in a dispute that may leave him out of the Republican debate Thursday night, Donald Trump is breaking from his reputation as a flame-throwing outsider with just days to go before Iowa's leadoff caucuses, highlighting his willingness to work with Democrats in Congress as part of a closing argument with a distinctly bipartisan tone.
The billionaire businessman's promise to get things done in Washington is a direct contrast to leading GOP rival Ted Cruz, the Texas senator whose brief Washington career has been defined in part by his inability to get along with his own party. Trump's can-do message comes as adversaries begin pouring money into tough ads questioning his commitment to conservative values attacks that some in the GOP's establishment wing have long awaited.
It's unclear whether it's too little and too late to stop Trump as he tries to become the first Republican in modern political history to win opening primary contests in both Iowa and New Hampshire.
Trump is doing plenty of his own attacking.
"I don't think he'll get anything through Congress because everybody hates him," Trump said of Cruz Tuesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
Trump claimed to have good relationships with such top congressional Democrats as Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, predicting he could get things done in a way Cruz could not.
"Ted Cruz lies. He is a liar. That's why nobody likes him," Trump said. "That's why he stands on the middle of the Senate floor and can't make a deal with anybody. ... And you know, there's something to say about having a little bit of ability to get other people to do things.
The change in message is playing out against the drama of Thursday night's debate, which is being hosted by Fox News and is to be moderated by Megyn Kelly, an anchor that Trump locked horns with earlier in the campaign. The candidate has indicated that he may stay home rather than participate unless the network replaces her.
In some ways, Trump's message plays into the hands of his Republican critics, who have long questioned his willingness to stick to conservative principles. Such questions are the focus of a burst of concentrated ads coming from an unusual coalition of Cruz boosters and mainstream GOP figures.
Cruz allies have circulated no fewer than six anti-Trump ads in recent days, the bulk of the advertising coming from super political action committees in a billionaire-funded network called Keep the Promise.
"Donald Trump is not a conservative," one of the ads charges before looping footage of him in 1999 declaring, "I am pro-choice in every respect." Trump says he has since changed his position and opposes abortion rights. That commercial is part of a $2.5 million TV ad buy in Iowa and South Carolina.
Another Keep the Promise ad released on Tuesday proclaims, "Donald Trump will make very bad deals with Democrats." It shows him saying, "Let's get to be a little establishment. We've got to get things done, folks, OK?"
Cruz's own campaign has a new Iowa ad out that hits Trump for having "New York values." That commercial also has a clip of the businessman saying, "How stupid are the people of Iowa?" an insult he hurled after his poll numbers dipped in an earlier survey.
Some mainstream Republicans have joined the Trump pile-on.
Katie Packer, a senior aide to Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign, launched a super PAC in recent days that's spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for an Iowa-focused anti-Trump campaign that includes television and radio ads in addition to mailers.
"I'm not a big Ted Cruz fan, but I believe that Donald Trump represents a long-term threat to our party beyond just losing the general election," Packer said. "If we nominate a guy without any anchor on our core issues, we've essentially nominated a Democrat."
Backers of other Republican candidates are spending big on negative ads, too, as they fight for support as the establishment alternative to the two front-runners.
Outside groups aiding former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have spent more than $36 million on ads that largely focus on tearing each other down, data from ad tracker Kantar Media's CMAG show. Those groups are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars more on direct mail and digital ads along the same lines, according to filings with federal election regulators.
Those four candidates are vying to be a surprise winner in New Hampshire, the second-to-vote state. Trump is polling at the top of the field there, too.
And all the while, some high-profile conservatives are rallying behind Trump, who has thrilled many in the Republican base with aggressive plans to crack down on illegal immigration and ban Muslims from entering the country, at least temporarily, to safeguard against terrorist threats.
After winning former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's endorsement last week, Trump on Tuesday announced the backing of Christian conservative leader Jerry Falwell, Jr., the son of the late televangelist. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose fame has spread beyond Arizona thanks to his hard-line stance against immigrants in the country illegally, joined Trump at a rally Tuesday in Iowa.
Cruz, too, has unveiled big-name conservative support in recent days, commentator Glenn Beck and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry among them. Yet Falwell's support for Trump may particularly sting.
Falwell is the president of Liberty University, where Cruz formally launched his presidential campaign. Backing from such well-known conservatives could give Trump political cover to promote his relationships with Democrats.
"I've always had a good relationship with Nancy Pelosi. I've never had a problem," Trump said of the House's top Democrat. He said he's "always had a decent relationship" with top Senate Democrat Harry Reid and was "close to" third-ranking Chuck Schumer.
"It's important that you get along," Trump said.
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Just moments after Donald Trump declared he would boycott the last Republican debate before the Iowa caucuses, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz sensing an opening began attacking Trump for abandoning Iowan voters and being 'so afraid' of Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly.
"I think any candidate for president owes it to the voters to go and stand in front of them, to answer the hard questions," Cruz said in an interview with Fox News anchor Sean Hannity on Tuesday night. "I mean, it's a matter of basic respect to the men and women of Iowa."
Trump declared he is boycotting the Fox News debate because of moderator anchor Megyn Kelly who he called a "third rate reporter" who had been toying with him.
Trump has been upset about Kelly since she asked him about his disparaging remarks about women in a debate she co-hosted last year.
Cruz, who is running in a deadlocked race with Trump in Iowa, called out the front-runner Republican candidate for being afraid of Kelly.
"I think it's really remarkable that Donald Trump thinks so little of the men and women of Iowa that he is willing to skip the debate altogether," Cruz said. "He doesn't think he should have any questions on his record. And it's really quite astonishing that Donald is apparently so afraid of Megyn Kelly."
On Tuesday night's 'Megyn Kelly Tonight,' Kelly shot back at Trump on her nightly show, arguing that Trump is used to getting his way but can't control the media. She said her network and CEO Roger Ailes had made it clear to Trump for months that they wouldn't change their moderator line-up.
"I'll be there," Kelly said. "The debate will go on with or without Mr. Trump."
Cruz, meanwhile, went on to challenge Trump to a one-on-one debate before the Iowa caucus on Monday accusing Trump of hiding from Iowa voters. He said he would debate Trump in an Iowa town hall one on one format answering questions from Iowans who are set to vote in the caucus.
"If he doesn't accept, he's telling the men and women of Iowa he's not willing to defend his record," Cruz said about Trump. "He can't defend the record. He's admitting that he cannot stand the scrutiny, and that means he's not up to the job of being commander-in-chief. Anyone scared of Megyn Kelly is not going to be able to stand up to Hillary Clinton or Vladimir Putin. And we need a strong, principled, conservative president."
Contains some reporting by the Associated Press.
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The National Hispanic Chamber of Commerces push for Obama administration official Julian Castro to be picked as a vice presidential candidate is generating a mixed reaction among Latino leaders.
The reaction generally is falling along party lines.
Supporters of Castro, who is U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and former mayor of San Antonio, say the Democratic rising star deserves to be considered for a top slot in the presidential election, and praise the chamber president, Javier Palomarez, for endorsing him over the weekend.
What theyre voicing is what we know: Julian is a proven leader, said Cristobal Alex, the president of the Latino Victory Project, a group founded by actress Eva Longoria and Henry Munoz, the Democratic Partys finance chair, to raise the number of Latino political candidates. He was the executive of one of our nations greatest cities for three terms. He put his own political career in jeopardy to pass a tax increase to fund pre-K education.
He can win the Latino vote, especially millennial Latinos.
Alfonso Aguilar, president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, an advocacy group, said he objects to the chambers endorsement of any political candidate.
The Hispanic chamber is a non-partisan organization, said Aguilar, who is supporting the campaign of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Thats a reason not to get involved in endorsements.
Youre saying youre an organization that represents Hispanic businesses across the country, many owned by Republicans and Independents and people without any political agenda, Aguilar said. Its putting at risk the reputation of the organization. Would they endorse somebody like [New Mexico] Gov. Susana Martinez as a vice presidential candidate?
Martinez is a Republican and was often mentioned as a potential vice presidential candidate in 2012 when former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was the GOP presidential nominee.
Aguilar said that beyond his objection of endorsements by the chamber, he holds Castro in a less lofty light than the business organization.
He has no experience to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, Aguilar said. His performance at HUD has been irrelevant.
Palomarez balked at the criticism, characterizing it as predictable whining by people who did not have one of their favorites endorsed.
Palomarez, who also is from Texas, said that it is precisely fitting for a business group to get behind Castro, who has been a supporter of small businesses.
We look at track records, at a history of having supported small businesses, Palomarez said. Julian has that track record. If Julian was a Republican, and had the same track record, Id support him as well. He has a long, proven track record of a) supporting small business, b) Hispanic small business and c) the Hispanic community in general.
Julian Castro has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, and is campaigning for her. Clinton indicated last year that Castro is impressive and she would consider him for a position of some kind if she were elected president.
Palomarez said his backing of Castro did not mean he also is endorsing Clinton.
The chamber head told Politico. Ive had conversations with other candidates running for the presidency and theyre [interested in adding Castro to their ticket]. We should wait and see how things land.
He said to Fox News Latino that there are qualities he likes in GOP presidential candidates, as well. He said that while he disagrees with some of Sen. Ted Cruzs views on immigration, for instance, he likes his support for business.
Cruz for quite a while backed quintupling the number of visas in the H1-B program, which aims to bring in highly skilled workers.
Palomarez said: For us as a business organization, that makes perfect sense.
(Cruz has recently amended his public call for an expansion of H1-B visas, calling for a hold on the program so that abuses of it by employers can be examined. He also is advocating that several other safeguards be put in place in the H1-B visa system to make sure it is being used as originally intended.)
Castro, a graduate of Harvard Law School, rose to national prominence when he was chosen to deliver the keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
The chamber has been holding a series of question and answer forums with presidential candidates from both parties.
Donald Trump's absence from the 7th Republican debate brightened the spotlight Thursday on his main GOP rivals, Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, as the Iowa caucus looms near.
Rubio and Cruz engaged in a lengthy debate on immigration, one of the most contentious issues among Republicans. Both have been accused of shifting their stances on legalizing some of those in the United States illegally, a position opposed by many GOP voters.
Cruz accused Rubio of making a "politically advantageous" decision to support a 2013 Senate bill that included a pathway to citizenship, while the Florida senator said his rival was "willing to say or do anything to get votes."
Trump decided to boycott the debate which comes at a crucial time because of Feb. 1 caucus saying that he felt the Fox News Channel was not fair to him. Fox defended its tough questioning of him, as well as others, during the debates, saying it was the role of journalists to challenge presidential candidates.
In a rare standout debate moment for Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor sharply sided with Cruz in accusing Rubio of having "cut and run" on the Senate immigration bill.
Video clips shown by moderators of past statements Ted Cruz has made about immigration led to a heated exchange.
The clips showed Cruz claiming he would support immigration reform legislation if some of his amendments had been approved. But at the debate, Cruz said his intention was to ensure people in the country illegally couldn't gain legal status.
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky responded that Cruz claims that only he is "perfect" on immigration issues.
Rubio jumped into the exchange, calling Cruz's comment about his superiority on immigration "the lie that Ted's campaign is built upon."
Given the importance of immigration to Republicans, Rubio said Cruz is trying to "out-Trump Trump" on immigration. Trump has called for the removal of all people in the country illegally.
Cruz said Rubio is charming and smooth but that when both men ran for the U.S. Senate, they each promised to fight amnesty. Cruz said only he was true to his word.
Absent Trump, the Republican presidential candidates strained to take advantage of a rare opportunity to step out of the front-runner's shadow in Thursday night's debate a policy-heavy contest that offered a glimpse of what the GOP contest might have been without the unpredictable businessman.
Still, the candidates couldn't resist mocking Trump for boycotting the final debate before Iowa kicks off voting in the 2016 campaign on Monday.
Cruz, who is locked in a tight contest with Trump in Iowa, opened the debate with a sarcastic impression of the real estate mogul's frequent insults of his opponents.
"I'm a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly," Cruz said. Then he thanked his fellow candidates for showing Iowa voters respect by showing up.
Bush, a frequent target of Trump, said with a wry smile, "I kind of miss Donald Trump; he was a teddy bear to me."
Never one to go quietly, Trump was holding a competing rally elsewhere in Des Moines, an event his campaign said was raising money for military veterans.
"When you're treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights," Trump said in explaining he was skipping the debate because he felt Fox News had dealt with him unfairly. Broadening his point, he said, "We have to stick up for ourselves as people and we have to stick up for our country if we're being mistreated."
With their White House hopes on the line, the candidates worked hard to cast themselves as best prepared to be commander in chief and take on terror threats emanating both from abroad and within the United States.
Rubio struck an aggressive posture, pledging that as president he would go after terrorists "wherever they are. And if we capture them alive, we're sending them to Guantanamo." Rubio also stood by his previous calls for shutting down mosques in the U.S if there were indications that the Muslim religious centers were being used to radicalize terrorists.
Paul back on the main debate stage after being downgraded to an undercard event because of low poll numbers earlier this month warned against closing down mosques. A proponent of a more isolationist foreign policy, Paul also raised concerns about the U.S. getting involved militarily in Syria, where the Islamic State group has a stronghold.
The candidates largely sidestepped direct confrontations with each other, focusing some of their most pointed attacks on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
"She is not qualified to be president of the United States," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said. "What we need is someone on that stage who has been tested who has been through it."
Christie is part of a crowded field of more mainstream candidates who have struggled to break through in an election year where Trump, and increasingly Cruz, have tapped into voter anger with the political system. Party leaders have grown increasingly antsy for some of the more traditional candidates to step aside after the first contests to allow one to rise up and challenge for the nomination.
Asked whether the crowded establishment lane was putting Trump in position to be the nominee, Bush said, "We're just starting out. The first vote hasn't been counted. Why don't we let the process work?"
Bush also defended the flurry of critical advertisements his well-funded super PAC has launched against Rubio and other rivals.
"It's called politics," Bush said. "That's the way it is. I'm running hard."
It's unclear whether Trump's unusual move will hurt his standing with Iowa voters. But his absence did give his rivals more time to make their case to voters.
.Based on reporting by The Associated Press.
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Two super PACs supporting Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign are offering to donate $1.5 million to charities that help military veterans if Donald Trump will debate Cruz head-to-head before the Iowa caucuses.
The political action committees, Keep the Promise I and II, are proposing a one-hour debate to be held in Iowa on or before Jan. 31, the day before the caucuses, with a moderator chosen by the candidates.
Cruz himself sent a letter to Trump Wednesday inviting him to debate in Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday night. The Cruz campaign suggested conservative radio hosts Mark Levin, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh as possible moderators.
Trump dismissed Cruz's proposal earlier Wednesday. He is skipping Thursday's night's GOP debate amid a feud with debate host Fox News Channel.
"Even though I beat him in the first six debates, especially the last one, Ted Cruz wants to debate me again. Can we do it in Canada?" Trump tweeted, referencing Cruz's birthplace.
"It's not really that Donald is afraid of me," Cruz said at a rally Wednesday night outside of Des Moines. "He's afraid of you. He doesn't want to answer questions from the men and women of Iowa about how his record doesn't match what he's selling."
Some foes saw the shakeup as an opening to rise above the ruckus.
"These kinds of theatrics by Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are an entertaining sideshow, but they have nothing to do with defeating Hillary Clinton," Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said. "We don't have time for these kinds of distractions."
Despite the attention, there was little sense that Trump's move would significantly change the trajectory of the Republican contest in Iowa. While the former reality television star holds a big lead in most national polls, he and Cruz are locked in a tight race here.
"My sense is those Iowa Republicans who weren't fans of Donald Trump before yesterday, this has only validated their opinion of him, and those Iowans who have been drawn to his passionate attack on the media and political elites in our country are even more emboldened by their guy today," said former Iowa GOP chairman Matt Strawn.
Trump has substituted mass rallies for normal meet-and-greet events, made inflammatory statements that would have sunk other candidates, and spent much of his time giving his views on television news shows and Twitter.
Instead of debating Thursday night, Trump will host what his campaign is calling a "special event to benefit veterans' organizations." The campaign on Wednesday evening formally announced details for the event, scheduled to begin at the same time as the debate and just two miles away.
Campaigning Wednesday evening in South Carolina, Trump drew cheers when he noted his plans to return to Iowa for the fundraiser. But he made no direct reference to the debate, off-handedly saying, "I've not been treated fairly."
In Iowa, Plymouth County GOP Chairman Don Kass called it "typical Trump" and said the candidate could benefit by "making a bigger splash" with his own event.
"Frankly, you know, in the past, anytime somebody thought he did something that cost him, it didn't cost him," Kass said.
In December, Trump threatened to skip a CNN debate unless the network paid him $5 million, which he said he'd donate to charity. The network did not pay up, and he showed up nonetheless. And in October, he and rival Ben Carson's campaign threatened not to show unless their demands for a shorter run time and other conditions were met. The network adjusted and they appeared.
Trump's Fox feud dates back to the first primary debate, when Kelly took him to task over derogatory statements he'd made about women.
Some conservative leaders suggested Trump was taking a risk.
The debate is "going to be the Donald Trump hatefest," said Mark Meckler, one of the tea party movement's original leaders.
And one voter said he was deeply disappointed by Trump's decision.
"You don't like something, you don't whine," said Tom Moore, a 55-year-old casket maker from Asbury, Iowa. "Be a man, take it and answer the questions 'cause you're going to get that from everybody."
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With the absence of Donald Trump from the Republican debate stage on Thursday night, much of the attention and criticism was focused squarely on the no-show's closest rival in Iowa: Ted Cruz.
The Texas senator, who trails Trump in Iowa somewhere between seven and eight points in the latest polls, was hoping to use the absence to pick up support among undecided voters. Analysts and pundits, however, say that the often-contentious Texas senator came off as defensive on issues like immigration and ethanol subsidies and that his squabbles with Fox News hosts Chris Wallace, Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly, worked to his disadvantage.
"His entanglement with the moderators was one of the worst moments for a candidate in any of the debates," a New Hampshire Republican told Politico. "His opposition to ethanol was also highlighted on the eve of the Iowa caucuses."
Another voter said, "He did not explain his switch on immigration policy very well."
Cruz also faced sharp questions on national security and, perhaps most importantly, whether he was trustworthy. "TrusTed" is the theme of the fiery conservative's campaign, and several candidates questioned his authenticity.
"Ted, throughout this campaign, you've been willing to say or do anything in order to get votes," Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said.
Cruz fought back by accusing Rubio of bending to the will of donors on immigration, but it was hardly a decisive victory.
While observers say that Cruz didn't do irreparable damage to his chances of winning the Hawkeye State on Monday, he will need to ramp up his ground game if he hopes to overtake Trump in the election season's first contest.
While Cruz was struggling in the center podium, analysts say another Cuban-American senator made big strides.
Separate surveys taken by Politico and political consultant Frank Luntz said that Rubio had the strongest debate performance, with one New Hampshire Republican voter calling him "the most articulate of the candidates on a variety of issues, and the most aspirational of the Republicans onstage."
One surprise was the performance of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Bush was once considered a shoo-in for the GOP nomination, but his prospects fell as those of Trump rose, and his debate performances sharing the stage with Trump have been fair to lousy.
But Thursday, Bush had arguably his best debate performance of the presidential season. He appeared more comfortable onstage without the presence of Trump, analysts said, and that while his debate performance may not help him in Iowa, it may be beneficial farther down the primary road.
"Given his previous performances, few would believe that Jeb Bush would [come] out of one of these debates as the winner," a New Hampshire Republican told Politico. "Yet he stood and delivered in a strong way. It may not help him in Iowa, but it comes at an opportune time for him as he sees a surge in New Hampshire."
Bush currently sits middle of the pack in polls nationally and in Iowa and New Hampshire at around 4 percent.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The mayor of Miami-Dade County, Carlos Gimenez, was angry enough at Chris Matthews that he did something very old-fashioned: He sat down to write him a letter.
As has been widely reported, the irascible MSNBC host on Tuesday, while reporting on the possibility that GOP frontrunner Donald J. Trump would skip the Republican debate Thursday night, leaving Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida as the main draws of the debate, said Who is going to watch a debate between the two Cuban guys?
According to Gimenezs letter, which was dated Thursday, Every single American who has a vested interest in the future of our great nation.
The mayor opened his letter, As a proud Cuban-American and the mayor of a county with the largest population of Cuban-Americans in the United States, I was deeply offended by your distasteful remarks about tonights Republican debate.
He added, Your comments displayed bigotry and ignorance about nationality and what it means to be an American in the 21st century. Politics aside, Senators Cruz and Rubio are both highly qualified Presidential candidates. They are Americans. Period.
Gimenez who is known as a political ally of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush continued, Perhaps our definition of American differs, but let me assure you that despite being born in Cuba to Cuban parents, I am every bit as American as you. And so are Senators Rubio and Cruz.
In his original comments, Matthews was talking to a reporter and an analyst, and he posed the question to them: Who is going to watch a debate between the two Cuban guys? Who is going to watch a debate between Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. Who cares? You know theyve been fighting in this interleague fight over who is the hawkish guy, or whatever. Who is going to watch that Thursday night?
Gimenez wrapped up his note to Matthews saying, I dont expect you to retract your commentary or apologize, but I hope that my words have at least made you reconsider your antiquated and appalling remarks.
According to CBSMiami.com, the mayor hasnt heard back from either the anchor or the news network.
But Matthews did apologize on the air on Thursday evening. He said his comments had been misconstrued and "had nothing to do with the point I was making. It came off as condescending, even derogatory. It sounded like I was putting them down because of their background," he said. "Im sorry I said it. Thats it. I mean it.
This isnt the first time Matthews has courted controversy over the ethnicity of Cruz and Rubio. While analyzing the two presidential hopefuls performance in a November debate, he wondered on the air whether or not Cruz and Rubio should be considered Hispanic.
Im not sure the right word for them is Hispanic because they are Cuban nationals, or they come from Cuba, he said.
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The Mexican national charged with fatally shooting a young San Francisco woman walking on a city pier is seeking dismissal of his criminal case, which added to the national debate over illegal immigration.
Juan Francisco Sanchez-Lopez and his lawyer Matt Gonzalez are expected to ask a judge Friday to drop a second-degree murder charge and related counts, arguing that Sanchez-Lopez that the judge presiding over a preliminary hearing late last year made procedural mistakes.
He has pleaded not guilty. Gonzalez didn't return a phone call and email inquiry.
A San Francisco judge on Sept. 4 ordered Sanchez-Lopez to stand trial on murder charges after a five-day preliminary hearing.
Kate Steinle, 32, of San Francisco was walking with her father along the city's popular and crowded waterfront on July 1 when she was shot in the back. She died in her father's arms.
Sanchez-Lopez was arrested several hours later a few blocks from the incident. Sanchez-Lopez told police he found a gun on the pier and that it fired accidentally when he picked it up. The gun was the service weapon of a Bureau of Land Management ranger, who reported it stolen from his car in late June.
Lopez-Sanchez was in the country illegally when he was released from the San Francisco jail despite federal immigration authorities requesting he remain in custody for possible deportation. Lopez-Sanchez was previously deported five times to his native Mexico.
Former Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said jailers released Sanchez-Lopez after local prosecutors dropped a marijuana-related charge. Mirkarimi said he was following city policy of non-cooperation with federal immigration officials by releasing Lopez-Sanchez.
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has repeatedly mentioned the killing of Steinle as he calls for a border wall and mass deportations to curb illegal immigration.
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The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Friday endorsed New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez as the Republican candidate for vice president of the United States just a couple of days before the nation's first presidential contest in the Iowa caucus.
The announcement Friday comes a week after the nonpartisan chamber endorsed Julian Castro, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, as vice president on the Democratic side.
"Our endorsement of both Governor Martinez and Secretary Julian Castro is not an endorsement of a particular presidential candidate or party, but rather a firm recommendation to the future presidential nominee of each party," Javier Palomarez, CEO and president of the USHCC, said in a statement. "On the heels of yesterdays Republican debate, we urge all participating candidates to seriously consider Governor Martinez as their running mate."
Martinez is New Mexico's first female governor and the first Hispanic female elected governor in the United States.
"Shes tirelessly advocated for job creation in New Mexico by supporting critical industries in her state," the statement read. "A principled and pragmatic leader, Governor Martinez easily won re-election in 2014, with 48 percent of the Hispanic vote in a state that leans Democrat."
The endorsement by the chamber is just the latest political move made by the traditionally non-partisan organization. Under the leadership of Palomarez,the chamber has found its way into the political discussion during this election cycle much more than ever before.
The chamber has hosted 90-minute question-and-answer sessions with presidential candidates from both major parties, and Palomarez was involved in a much-publicized dispute with the leading GOP candidate, Donald Trump after the real estate magnate abruptly backed out of a commitment to appear at a chamber an event in October.
At the time, Palomarez said Trump's about-face "really spelled the end of his campaign."
Under his leadership, the chamber is becoming a political force representing not only 4.1 million Hispanic businesses, but for the Latino voter base as a whole. Palomarezhas said he feels that Latinos get little chance to hear at length from candidates during campaigns, especially early in election cycles.
The unusual endorsement last Saturdayof Castro as a vice president when no presidential nominee has been determined drew criticism from some conservative leaders and groups, among them Alfonso Aguilar, president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles.
Youre saying youre an organization that represents Hispanic businesses across the country, many owned by Republicans and Independents and people without any political agenda, Aguilar told Fox News Latino at the time. Its putting at risk the reputation of the organization. Would they endorse somebody like [New Mexico] Gov. Susana Martinez as a vice presidential candidate?
Contacted again after the Martinez endorsement, Aguilar echoed that sentiment while explaining that he is supportive of Gov. Martinez.
"You have people [at the chamber] who are non-political, many are Republicans, and he took advantage of his position in a nonpartisan organization to advance his own political agenda," Aguilar told FNL on Friday.
He believes the endorsements send the wrong message.
"Endorsing candidates just because they are Hispanic, its insulting to Latino voters," Aguilar said. "Just being Hispanic is not a reason to support someone. It seems to me that is the standard for Palomarez."
First there was the promise of political change in Barack Obama's historic 2008 election. Then the pledge to upend Washington's ways after the 2010 conservative tea party wave.
But for some Americans, the change and disruption have come too slowly, or failed altogether. On the eve of the first voting contest in the 2016 presidential election, these voters are pushing for bolder, more uncompromising action, with an intensity that has shaken both the Republican and Democratic establishments.
Candidates with deep ties to party leadership have been unexpectedly challenged by a billionaire businessman-turned-reality television star, a young senator loathed by Republican leaders, and an unabashed democratic socialist.
"A lot of people feel like the status quo is a machine that's grinding them down," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri. "They are gravitating toward candidates that are disruptive and promising massive change."
Indeed, the campaigns of Republicans Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, as well as Bernie Sanders in the Democratic race, have been fueled for months by anger, frustration and anxiety over an economic and national security landscape that is undeniably in flux.
Wages have barely budged and the costs for housing, education and health care are soaring. The country is more racially and ethnically diverse than at any point in its history, with census data projecting white Americans will make up less than half the population by mid-century. New terror threats feel both confusing and very close to home.
Monday's Iowa caucuses will offer the first hard evidence of whether the outsider candidates can turn the energy around their campaigns into votes. Trump and Cruz have been battling for supremacy in Iowa, while Sanders has been cutting into Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton's lead.
Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats in the Senate, has spent years railing against the influence of wealthy and corporate interests on American politics. Yet even he says he's surprised by what's happening.
"My gut told me that this message would resonate with the American people but to be honest with you it has resonated stronger and faster than I thought it would," Sanders told The Associated Press.
For years, surveys have shown a large majority of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction. But that sentiment now appears to be disproportionately driven by frustration with politics and the political system.
A recent AP-GfK poll showed that among the 74 percent of Americans with a negative view of the country's direction, 51 percent of Republicans and 38 percent of Democrats listed at least one political reason for their negative outlook far more than listed an economic or foreign policy-related reason.
No candidate has tapped into the public's disillusionment with politics better than Trump, whose controversial comments about Mexicans, Muslims and women are seen by his supporters as a welcome change from most candidates' careful political correctness.
Cruz has tapped into a similar anti-establishment sentiment. Despite being in the Senate, Cruz aligned himself with Republicans who believe party elites made lofty promises to win the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014, then ignored the will of the voters who drove those victories.
"Republicans get to Washington and become part of Washington," said Brendan O'Brien, 51, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
It's not just Republicans grappling with a disillusioned electorate.
Clinton entered the Democratic race with all of the institutional advantages. Most Democrats who were seen as potentially tough challengers decided against a run, including Vice President Joe Biden.
At the heart of the fight between Clinton and Sanders is how much the government should do to ease economic burdens for the middle class.
Sanders wants to make tuition at public colleges and universities free. Clinton wants to lessen the burden of the student loan repayment system and create incentives for institutions to lower costs.
With prescription drug costs soaring, Clinton wants to cap out-of-pocket drug costs at $250 a month. Sanders wants to change to a single-payer health care system that he says would lower overall health care costs, even including the tax hike to help pay for the program.
McCaskill, a Clinton supporter, says Sanders is running on "promises that in his gut he's got to know can't be kept." The Republican establishment makes the same argument about Trump's proposals.
But all that matters is whether voters believe the candidates' plans can fly or whether that factors into their vote at all.
Soon, they'll have their say.
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A delegation from Cuba has taken part for the first time in a Caribbean regional security conference co-hosted by the United States. But officials sought to downplay their participation as the four-day event came to a close Friday in the Jamaican capital.
Maj. Gen. Antony Bertram Anderson of the Jamaica Defense Force, which co-hosted the event with U.S. Southern Command, started a closing news conference by thanking the U.S. for agreeing to invite Cuba for the first time to the annual event and the Cubans for sending a delegation. He noted, however, that their presence was not a focus of attention.
"They were at the table like everybody else," Anderson said. "It was quite a normal thing. It is the first time but it is what it is. They are a regional country."
U.S. Navy Adm. Kurt Tidd, the new commander of Miami-based Southern Command, said Cuba was one of the 18 countries from across the region taking part in discussions of humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and other challenges.
"We share challenges, all of the countries across this region," Tidd said. "Cuba is one of those countries in this region. And so I believe in the future we'll have opportunities to find ways to work together."
Later, Army Col. Lisa Garcia, a Southern Command spokeswoman, said that Jamaica had technically issued the invitation since it was the host country and that Tidd did not mention the Cuban participation in his official closing remarks because "the conference was about more than Cuba; it was about all the Caribbean nations."
The admiral said the subject of the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, did not come up. The base is the oldest U.S. overseas military outpost and the Cubans have long demanded its return. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro restored relations in December 2014 and relations have been improving but the U.S. has said returning Guantanamo is not on the table.
The Cuban delegation was led by Gustavo Machin Gomez, deputy director general of the U.S. department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It also included an official with the Cuban coast guard and the country's ambassador to Jamaica.
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Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio said Friday that if he is elected president, he will not look to deport 12 million people in the U.S. illegally, and will instead propose solutions to accommodate those who have no criminal record.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Rubio, campaigning in Iowa ahead of the state's leadoff presidential caucuses, said that the realistic approach to America's problems with illegal immigration is to round up only criminals, while finding ways to accommodate the rest.
"We're not going to round up and deport 12 million people," Rubio said, speaking on his campaign bus from eastern Iowa. "Criminals can't stay. Felons, people who are dangerous they are not staying."
"But we're going to deal with the people that are here," he added.
Addressing reporters later Friday, Rubio noted that the approach he sees as feasible is to administer a background check for individuals who have lived in the U.S. "for a defined period of time." If passed, provide authorization for anyone in the U.S. illegally to get a 10-year work permit.
"We're not going to force it down their throat," he said in the interview, later remarking to journalists: "You have to learn English. You have to pay a huge fine. You have to start paying taxes. You get a work permit. And that's what you'll have for at least 10 years. That's my idea."
Immigration has become a critical issue for Florida's freshman senator, who co-wrote a lengthy 2013 immigration bill that detailed a path to citizenship for many of the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. The legislation passed in the Senate on a bipartisan vote but ended up dying in the House. Rubio has since distanced himself from the sweeping bill, saying he wants to secure the border before dealing with the millions of people living in the U.S. illegally.
At the Fox News GOP debate Thursday, Rubio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush squared off over immigration policy. Rubio said he never supported a pathway to citizenship for people in the country illegally. Former Gov. Jeb Bush asserted that Rubio did. Rubio was challenged to defend his past statements as a candidate for Senate where he opposed "blanket amnesty," but then went on to lead a bipartisan Senate group that would have allowed people to seek citizenship after a series of other requirements.
Speaking to reporters Friday, Rubio explained that "blanket amnesty" means "anyone here would be granted legalization or citizenship" and that the American people should decide what criteria should determine who can and cannot stay.
Accusations of flip-flopping ensued throughout Thursday's debate and into Friday.
In his closing argument to Iowa voters, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz cast himself as the only true conservative who can be trusted to keep his word, especially on immigration.
At a restaurant in Ringsted, Iowa, Cruz drew sharp contrasts between Rubio and national front-runner Donald Trump.
Cruz, fighting to retake his December lead in Iowa, took a swipe at Rubio, saying he campaigned for the U.S. Senate in 2010 by opposing amnesty for immigrants living in the country illegally, but then flipped his position after being elected.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose presidential campaign rests largely on how well he does in the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary, charged both Rubio and Cruz with both changing their positions on immigration.
"Neither of them will admit it," Christie said during an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"America needs a Washington-to-English dictionary so they can understand what these people are talking about," Christie said. "Sen. Rubio did not tell the truth on that stage."
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For Ted Cruz, the path to victory in Iowa doesn't run through Des Moines or Davenport or other voter-rich parts of this sprawling, largely rural state.
Instead, it goes through out-of-the-way dots on the map like Ringsted population 422 situated closer to the Minnesota border than to Des Moines, a three-hour drive to the south.
Cruz began his final 14-stop, four-day blitz toward Monday's caucuses with a stop Friday at the 3 Generations Bar & Grill in Ringsted. From there he ventures on to Fenton population 279 followed by the relatively booming metropolises of Emmetsburg, Wilton and Wapello, each with populations somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000.
Why is Cruz spending so much time so far away from where most people live?
It's called the "full Grassley," in Iowa caucus-speak.
It refers to longtime Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley's annual trek to all 99 of the state's counties, something he's been doing religiously since 1981. It's no small feat in a state with 56,000 square miles to cover roughly six times as much as New Hampshire, where the country's second contest is scheduled for Feb. 9.
But completing the "full Grassley" has become the ultimate challenge for many presidential candidates.
The effort can be hit or miss. Covering all of Iowa's 99 counties demands a lot of time and energy, with candidates having to travel hundreds of miles, often to remote areas with small crowds and sparse media coverage.
"I think it's great," said Joy Anderson, 47, who came from nearby Estherville, Iowa, to see Cruz in Ringsted. "He's reaching out to small town America and out here in Iowa. That's what we want."
Some have questioned Cruz's delay in tackling the Iowa challenge, which has ultimately drawn him away from population centers in the final hours leading up to the Feb. 1 contest.
"It's an unneeded distraction for his staff," said longtime Iowa strategist Eric Woolson, who mapped out Michele Bachmann's 99-county tour in 2012 and worked for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's campaign this cycle.
"I would suspect if they could go back and do this again, they would have been more aggressive in getting those counties marked off the list in October, November or even early December."
But Woolson said he didn't think Cruz would be hurt too much by having to wrap it up so late because, as one of the front-runners, he will get coverage no matter where he is.
The Texas senator is embracing an old-school campaigning style in Iowa. Unlike rival Donald Trump, who flies in and out and holds massive rallies drawing thousands, Cruz is content to meet with anywhere from a few dozen people to several hundred. He's visited Pizza Ranches a trademark Iowa campaign stop and stopped by small-town diners, coffee shops and church basements that form the fabric of the vast Iowa landscape.
Cruz contrasts his dedication to visiting every corner of the state with Trump's approach.
"What we're doing is what we've been doing from the very beginning," Cruz told reporters before a campaign stop Tuesday at Bogie's Steakhouse in Albia, Iowa population 3,800. "Doing town halls, doing retail meetings, just looking in the eyes of the men and women across Iowa asking for their support, asking for them to stand with us on caucus night. I believe the only way to win the state of Iowa is to go and ask, one on one, for the support of the grass roots."
Many have tried the "full Grassley" approach and failed.
Walker only got about a third of the way through before his campaign imploded in September. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry the latter is now campaigning with Cruz both ended their campaigns before completing it.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum hit up all 99 Iowa counties by September, revisiting the 2012 strategy that earned him a win in Iowa. This time around, being a road warrior hasn't proven as successful for Santorum. He is mired at the bottom of the polls and was relegated to the undercard debate in Des Moines on Thursday night.
But Cruz sees it as a winning strategy.
"I don't believe Iowa can be won from a Manhattan TV studio or a D.C. TV studio," Cruz said Tuesday in a dig at Trump. "It has to be won on the ground."
Cruz is slated to complete his 99th county when he visits Jefferson on Monday afternoon, just hours before the caucuses, when he will see if the strategy paid off.
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In a high-stakes test of enthusiasm versus organization, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders hope to ride voter energy into victories in Monday's Iowa caucuses, as Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton bank on sophisticated get-out-the vote operations months in the making.
The caucuses kick off the 2016 presidential nominating contests, marking a new phase in a tumultuous election that has exposed Americans' deep frustration with Washington and given rise to candidates few expected to challenge for their party's nomination when they first entered the race.
After months of campaigning and more than $200 million spent on advertising, the race for supremacy in Iowa is close in both parties. Among Republicans, Trump appears to hold a slim edge over Cruz, a fiery senator from Texas. Clinton and Sanders entered Monday in a surprisingly tight Democratic race, reviving memories of the former secretary of state's disappointing showing in Iowa eight years ago.
"Stick with me," Clinton said as she rallied supporters Sunday in Council Bluffs. "Stick with a plan. Stick with experience."
Sanders, the Vermont senator who has been generating big, youthful crowds across the state, urged voters to help him "make history" with a win in Iowa.
In a show of financial strength, Sanders' campaign announced Sunday it had raised $20 million in January alone. While Sanders has a large team in Iowa, his operation got off to a later start, particularly compared with Clinton, who has had staff on the ground in the state for nearly a year.
Monday's contest will also offer the first hard evidence of whether Trump can turn the legion of fans drawn to his plainspoken populism into voters. The scope of the billionaire's organization in Iowa is a mystery, though Trump himself has intensified his campaign schedule during the final sprint, including a pair of rallies Monday.
Cruz has modeled his campaign after past Iowa winners, visiting all of the state's 99 counties and courting influential evangelical and conservative leaders. With the state seemingly tailor-made for his brand of uncompromising conservatism, a loss to Trump will likely be viewed as a failure to meet expectations.
Seeking to tamp down expectations, Cruz said Sunday that he's just pleased to be in the mix for first place.
"If you had told me a year ago that two days out from the Iowa caucuses we would be neck and neck, effectively tied for first place in the state of Iowa, I would have been thrilled," Cruz said.
Cruz has spent the closing days of the Iowa campaign focused intensely on Marco Rubio, trying to ensure the Florida senator doesn't inch into second place. Rubio is viewed by many Republicans as a more mainstream alternative to Trump and Cruz, though he'll need to stay competitive in Iowa in order to maintain his viability.
The campaigns were anxiously keeping an eye on the weather. A snowfall forecast to start Monday night appeared more likely to hinder the hopefuls in their rush out of Iowa than the voters. Republican John Kasich already had decamped to New Hampshire, with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush following behind Monday afternoon, hours before the caucuses start.
The trio of governors has had a light footprint in Iowa, banking instead on strong showings in New Hampshire's Feb. 9 primary to jumpstart their White House bids. Yet some Republican leaders worry that if Trump or Cruz pull off a big victory in Iowa, it would be difficult to slow their momentum.
Bush, for example, started the year as a fundraising juggernaut. But according to records released Sunday, both his super PAC and campaign fundraising declined significantly in the later months of 2015 as he struggled to keep up with Trump.
Unlike in primaries, where voters can cast their ballots throughout the day, the caucuses begin across Iowa at 7 p.m. CST. Democrats will gather at 1,100 locations and Republicans at nearly 900 spots.
Turnout was expected to be high. The Iowa Republican Party expected GOP turnout to top the previous record of 120,000 people in 2012. Democrats also expect a strong turnout, though not nearly as large as the record-setting 240,000 people who caucused in the 2008 contest between Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards.
Iowa has decidedly mixed results in picking the parties' eventual nominees. The past two Republican caucus winners former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum faded as the race stretched on. But Obama's unexpected 2008 victory was instrumental in his path to the nomination, easing the anxieties of those who worried the young black senator would struggle to win white voters.
While both parties caucus on the same night, they do so with different rules.
Republicans vote by private ballot. The state's 30 Republican delegates are awarded proportionally based on the stateside vote.
Democrats take a more interactive approach, with voters forming groups and publicly declaring their support for a candidate. If the number of people in any group is fewer than 15 percent of the total, they can either choose not to participate or can join another viable candidate's group.
Those numbers are awarded proportionately, based on statewide and congressional district voting, as Iowa Democrats determine their 44 delegates to the national convention.
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When Michelle Obama helps recognize the school counselor of the year later this week, aides say it will also mark her final public event as first lady.
Mrs. Obama joked last year that Friday's ceremony might be one of the last White House events "before they kick us out in January of 2017" and she could be right.
President Barack Obama's term ends two weeks later, at noon on Jan. 20.
School counselors from across the country are expected in the White House East Room on Friday to help honor the 2017 school counselor of the year.
The American School Counselor Association says that person is Terri Tchorzynski from the Calhoun Area Career Center in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Republicans delivered Tuesday on their Day One promise to start repealing ObamaCare at the start of the 115th Congress, introducing a resolution to dismantle the 2010 health care law.
Today, we take the first steps to repair the nations broken health care system, removing Washington from the equation and putting control back where it belongs: with patients, their families and their doctors, said Wyoming GOP Sen. Mike Enzi, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.
Enzi and other leaders of the Republican-controlled Congress are relying on a parliamentary maneuver known as budget reconciliation to dismantle the law because it avoids a Senate Democrat filibuster and requires only a 51-vote majority for passage in the chamber, not the 60-vote majority.
Republicans have a 52-to-48 member majority in the Senate and a 241-to-194 majority in the House, which requires only a simple majority for passage.
The GOP can use the reconciliation tactic because federally-subsidized ObamaCare directly impacts the federal budget. (And congressional Democrats used the same tactic in 2009 to complete passage of the law, officially known as the Affordable Care Act.)
Incoming GOP President Donald Trump won the 2016 White House race in part on a vow to repeal ObamaCare on day one of his administration and to replace it with something terrific. But the dismantling process will be decidedly longer and more complicated.
Top congressional Republicans in the weeks after Trumps Nov. 8 win started saying that replacing ObamaCare could take two to four years.
A top Senate aide declined Tuesday to give a timeline on when the resolution -- which must pass in two House and two Senate committees -- will be passed and ObamaCare will officially be repealed.
The aide said the focus is on getting through the process as quickly as possible.
However, Enzis office said that Senate debate on the issue will begin next week and that the committees should hold preliminary repeal legislation votes by Jan. 27.
The House is expected to begin debate on the issue next week.
To be sure, Republicans are now the party under pressure with ObamaCare -- after years of crticizing the law and now that they finally have a president who will sign repeal-and-replace legislation.
In addition, some of the most conservative House Republicans are already raising concerns about their leaders wanting multiple years to implement a replacement plan, fearing backlash from voters at home.
And Trumps victory over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has spotlighted her partys argument that Republicans have no viable ObamaCare replacement, despite years of criticism and promises.
Meanwhile, President Obama will be on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to talk with fellow Democrats about how to save his signature health care law.
And Democratic congressional leaders are urging rank-and-file members to hold rallies to tell voters about the importance of preserving ObamaCare. They have planned a national Day of Action on the matter for January 15.
Dismantling the government-mandated insurance without an alternative for the roughly 20 million Americans now enrolled could indeed be a political disaster, particularly before the 2018 midterms.
ObamaCare was created to drive down overall insurance costs by reducing emergency-care visits and other uninsured medical expenses.
However, lower-than-projected enrollment among younger, healthy Americans and insurance companies dropping out of the program have contributed to significantly increasing premium costs.
And while 2016 voters disaffected with big government will likely want Trump to fulfill his repeal-replace promise, the president-elect and others have hinted at keeping some parts of ObamaCare, including young adults being allowed to stay on their parents plan.
Late Tuesday, the House passed the set of rules that will govern the body through the 115th Congress -- minus a controversial provision quietly inserted late Monday by Republican members to gut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics and put it under lawmakers' control.
The provision was removed under pressure from Trump, as well as furious Democrats.
The approved rules package, however, now includes provisions that allow Republican leaders to fine members who use electronic devices to take pictures or video from the House floor.
The change comes six months after Democrats live-streamed a sit-in on the House floor for 26 hours to call attention to their demand for votes on gun control.
Under the new rules, first-offenders get a warning. The next offense comes with a $500 fine, and ensuing ones could cost members $2,500 apiece.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In a surprising move, the Ford Motor Company has decided to completely scrap plans for a $1.6 billion automobile plant in Mexico.
The Trump effect strikes again.
"We believe these tax and regulatory reforms are necessary to boost U.S. competitiveness."
The company will instead invest $700 million in a Michigan assembly plant. Ford officials directly cited Donald Trump's policies as the reason. Ford CEO Mark Fields said he believes Trump's new pro-business policies, soon to be passed by the GOP Congress, will make building at a Michigan plant more attractive.
Trump, who will be sworn in on Jan. 20, has used his campaign as a "bully pulpit" to pound U.S. companies that move their jobs across the border, or overseas, to build items they later import into the United States for sale.
Shortly after Trump was elected president on Nov. 8, Ford announced it would keep making Lincoln utility vehicles at the Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky.
And after being elected, Trump did not tone down his condemnations of U.S. companies that fail to make their products in the United States. On Tuesday, he repeated an oft-made claim that he will impose tariffs on U.S. companies.
But this time, he targeted GM.
"General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers -- tax free across border. Make in U.S.A. or pay big border tax!" Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning.
Shortly after the tweet, as if on cue, Ford said it would cancel the Mexico plant, the one plant that had caught Trump's earlier ire. Fields praised GOP policies coming soon.
"We believe these tax and regulatory reforms are necessary to boost U.S. competitiveness," said Fields.
Trump is relishing his role as the nation's chief economic development officer -- and behaving very much like a governor who lists each job creation in his or her state.
He was able to score a major victory in early December when Carrier Corp. agreed to stay in Indiana and keep 700 jobs in the Indianapolis region. The company, which makes air conditioners and furnaces, had planned to move to Mexico.
Its move to Mexico was announced in early 2016, and went viral as an issue because video leaked of Hoosier employees wailing at the news. Then, just before New Year's Eve, Sprint announced it would be bringing back to the United States about 5,000 jobs. Trump made the announcement from his Florida home at Mar-A-Lago.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Tuesday proposed a series of criminal justice reforms he hopes to get passed in the new legislative session, including language that would end the state's practice of suspending the drivers' licenses of people who fail to pay court fees.
"That means that that factory worker from Floyd County whose job is 30 miles away in Christiansburg cannot lawfully drive to work and earn money to pay off those fines," McAuliffe said in announcing the reforms. "It makes no sense."
Virginia's General Assembly which is Republican controlled convenes next week, which will make it hard for McAuliffe to pass his proposals. But according to McAuliffe's office, nearly 650,000 Virginians have a suspended driver license because they cannot afford to pay their legal fees and court costs.
"The governor's agenda makes commonsense changes to our system that will maintain public safety while ensuring that individuals who make mistakes have every opportunity to turn their lives around," Virginia's Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran said in a statement.
Read more on WashingtonExaminer.com
Four Gitmo detainees are slated to be transferred to Saudi Arabia in the next 24 hours, the first of the final wave of up to 20 transfers expected before Inauguration Day, two U.S. officials tell Fox News.
The identities of the four detainees are not immediately known.
The transfers are proceeding despite renewed opposition from President-elect Donald Trump, who tweeted on Tuesday: There should be no further releases from Gitmo. These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield.
The Pentagon said Gitmo transfers would continue over Trumps objection.
There is one commander in chief at a time and the secretary of Defense will continue to carry out his responsibilities as he sees appropriate, said Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook in response to Trumps tweet.
There are 59 Gitmo detainees remaining. Roughly 20 are expected to be transferred before Trump is sworn in later this month.
Saudi Arabia received detainees most recently in April, when the Obama administration transferred nine to the country, including an alleged bodyguard of Usama Bin Laden. All nine detainees were linked to Al Qaeda.
U.S. officials say 30 percent of released detainees are suspected of returning to the battlefield.
Trumps nominee to run the Department of Homeland Security, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, told Pentagon reporters in January that all remaining Gitmo detainees were bad boys.
Some of them were more effective in being bad boys than others, he said.
EXCLUSIVE: Romanian hacker Marcel Lehel Lazar, weighing in from a prison 3,700 miles away on the latest diplomatic dust-up between the U.S. and Russia, told Fox News in an exclusive interview that he doubts the Obama administration's allegations about Moscow directing cyberattacks against Democratic groups in the 2016 election.
Lazar, 44, also known as "Guccifer," spoke to Fox News Senior Executive Producer Pamela Browne in a series of recorded phone calls from his Romanian jail cell in late December. He described the administration's allegation of Russia cyber-attacks during the 2016 elections as part of "a fake cyber war."
"Americans are crazy about the Russian thing and that Russians are invading the United States, Lazar said, suggesting the allegations are overblown because of Cold War sensitivities. Its crazy ... its this hysteria you know?" he said.
Lazar has been convicted and sentenced to prison in two separate countries, the U.S. and Romania, for his hacking and taunting of major celebrity and political figures. Lazar is expected to finish his Romanian sentence in 2019 and then will be returned to the U.S. to face 52 months in an American prison after pleading guilty to two counts of a nine-count indictment.
Largely regarded as a nuisance hacker motivated through his disillusionment and frustration -- and some say obsession -- with political figures both in the U.S. and Romania, Lazar was the first to expose Hillary Clintons use of the private Clintonemail.com address.
This revelation ultimately led to the identification of Clintons personal account used for all government business while she served as secretary of State. FBI Director James Comey described the handling of classified material as extremely careless.
The FBI and administration have since turned their attention to responding to alleged Russian hacking of Democratic accounts, which some Clinton allies have blamed for her election loss.
In interviews conducted two weeks before the Obama administrations expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats in retaliation for alleged interference in the U.S. elections, Lazar predicted there "will be probes and indictments against some Russian people."
Lazar told Fox News that he remains frustrated the FBI still has 70, perhaps 100 gigabytes of his files that were handed over as part of an agreement with the Justice Department. In multiple conversations from his prison near Arad, Romania, Lazar stressed that he gave the passwords which were confirmed by government agents as authentic.
Outside cyber experts tell Fox that 70 gigabytes of data is about 1.75 million pages.
In the summary of its interview with Lazar as part of the Clinton probe, the FBI said Lazar began by stating that he had never claimed to hack the Clinton server," despite having made such claims in an earlier interview with Fox News. Asked about that interview, according to the summary, Lazar then stated that he recalled the interview with Fox News, and that he had lied to them about hacking the CLINTON server.
Pressed by Fox News last month, Lazar had a different version of events. The agents said, Okay. Can you prove without doubt that you hacked the Hillary Clinton server. Can you prove this without any shadow of doubt? And I said, I cannot. I have these gigabyes of data which is hundreds of thousands of documents,' and the FBI could verify for themselves."
Guccifer, who is married and has a child, was extradited to Romania last year and says he has been back in prison there since Oct. 11, but he follows some news on television in a room he shares with four other inmates.
President Obama issued sanctions on Dec. 29 against Russian agencies and companies and took the unusual step of expelling 35 people -- many believed to be Russian intelligence operatives living in the U.S.
As tensions between Russia and the U.S. escalated in December, defeated presidential candidate Clinton also proclaimed at a Democratic fundraiser that Vladimir Putin had a personal beef with me.
Amel Smith, who has 30 years of government service and worked as counter-espionage investigator at the State Department during Clintons tenure, found the former presidential candidates statement odd.
Too funny, I am sure they had a few steak meals together, Smith said. My guess is that the trace of the IP addresses led them to Russia. But this is not conclusive evidence that the hack came from Russia. I dont think they [Russia] really care who won the election, just meddling in the process.
The media have a message for Donald Trump and the Republicans as they prepare to take over the federal machinery:
Its put-up or shut-up time.
That is literally the lead of a New York Times news story on the GOP controlling the White House and both houses of Congress for the first time since 2006.
But that blunt line does capture a harsh reality of Beltway life, which is that its hard for even the majority party to get things done. The Democrats discovered this in 2009, and the Republicans face similar obstacles in 2017.
The House GOP got off to an awful start by secretly agreeing to weaken the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, which investigates complaints against lawmakers of both parties.
Talk about terrible optics. The caucus took this move over the objections of its top leaders, Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy, and quickly took flak from Donald Trump.
With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority, the president-elect tweeted. In the face of a media outcry, the House Republicans quickly rescinded their vote.
This was a reminder that Trump ran against the Republican establishment, with little Hill support, and may be at odds with its members on some very fundamental issues.
Congressional Republicans want to immediately repeal ObamaCare. Trumps position is that the entire program shouldnt be junked without an alternative system that would prevent millions from losing their insurance. So we could wind up with a repeal that doesnt take effect for a long time, maybe years.
Ryan wants to revamp and partially privatize Medicare, but Trump has said repeatedlyincluding to methat there should be no changes to the programs benefits.
Whats more, party unity aint what it used to be. As one GOP lawmaker told me, they are all independent contractors.
From tax cuts to a big infrastructure program to dealing with Russia, the Republicans will have to resolve their internal divisions while also dealing with the Democrats.
Chuck Schumers party may slow-walk some nominations as payback for the GOP not acting on Merrick Garland, and in reality it takes 60 Senate votes to pass much of anything.
The truth is, its easier being the opposition party. As the Times piece points out, Republicans have had the luxury of being able to argue for positions that appealed to their conservative base but that they knew would not become law because Senate Democrats would block them or because the president would veto them. Now, if they can assemble the votes, their ideas will become law with all the attendant consequences.
For all the potential roadblocks, Trump just won an extremely contentious election. Even with his lower-than-usual approval numbers, he will dominate the national discourse. So Republicans will be under tremendous pressure to deliver what the new president wantsand acutely aware that they will be blamed for any failures.
Footnote: The big news in our business is Megyn Kelly's decision to leave Fox News for NBC. You can read my story here.
President-Elect Donald Trumps nominee for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, is severing ties with Exxon Mobil through a $180 million retirement package ahead of his Senate confirmation hearing.
Tillerson was expected to step down at CEO of Exxon Mobil in March when he turned 65, the companys mandatory retirement age, but instead is leaving his post early to comply with federal conflict-of-interest rules.
Exxon said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that Tillerson has agreed to give up approximately 2 million unvested shares, and in exchange, the company has agreed to make a cash payment equal to the value of those shares into a trust.
Tillerson, who worked for Exxon for more than 40 years, is giving up about $7 million in compensation and benefits that he would have received if he had stayed until March.
Tillerson has also committed to the State Department that, if confirmed, he would sell the more than 600,000 shares in ExxonMobil he currently owns, read a statement from ExxonMobil.
A source from the Trump Transition Team told FoxNews.com that Tillersons resignation from the oil giant shows his commitment to public service. Tillerson developed an ethics plan that removed Exxon stock from his personal portfolio, though some of the financial details are contingent on his Senate confirmation, according to the source.
GOP lawmakers, including Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., praised Tillerson's conduct ahead of what could be a gruelling confirmation process.
Sen. Corker enjoyed a wide-ranging discussion with Rex Tillerson yesterday and is impressed with the way in which he has conducted himself thus far, a spokesperson for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told FoxNews.com. It appears that Mr. Tillerson and Exxon reached a responsible agreement after consultation with federal ethics officials to ensure there are absolutely no conflicts of interest.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Sen. Ben Cardin, D- Md., said he spoke with Tillerson, but added that he would not make up his mind until after the confirmation hearing. Cardin said the meeting focused on Russia, but the two also discussed climate change. Cardin came away reassured that Tillerson believes in science.
Trumps own business ties, as well as those of his adult children working in the administration, have raised questions about potential conflicts-of-interest. Tillerson isnt the only cabinet-pick facing similar questions.
Goldman Sachs Chief Operating Officer and President Gary Cohn, named assistant to the president for economic policy and director of the National Economic Council, sold $210 million in company stock to avoid potential conflicts of interest, according to Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs had no comment regarding Cohns nomination.
And just yesterday, the Senate Commerce Committee released a questionnaire for Wilbur Ross, Trump's pick for Secretary of Commerce, who reportedly is in contact with the Office of Government Ethics to ensure no conflict-of-interest violations when it comes to his personal financial ties.
The Senate Commerce Committee chose not to comment on the status of Ross, but Committee Chairman Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said on Tuesday that the committee hopes to hold a confirmation hearing for Trumps picks for Commerce and Transportation secretaries as early as next week.
The Office of Government Ethics reviews financial incomes and assets of everyone that requires Senate confirmation, along with certain senior White House employees once theyre in place, which could take place soon after Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told Fox News' Sean Hannity in an exclusive interview that a teenager could have hacked into Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's computer and retrieved damaging email messages that the website published during last year's election campaign.
"We published several ... emails which show Podesta responding to a phishing email," Assange said during the first part of the interview, which aired on "Hannity" Tuesday night. "Podesta gave out that his password was the word password. His own staff said this email that youve received, this is totally legitimate. So, this is something ... a 14-year-old kid could have hacked Podesta that way."
Assange also claimed that Clinton herself made "almost no attempt" to keep her private emails safe from potentially hostile states during her tenure as secretary of state.
TRUMP RESPONDS TO SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA, SAYS IT'S TIME TO 'MOVE ON'
"Now, was she trying to keep them secure from Republicans? Probably," Assange said. "But in terms of [nation-] states, almost no attempt."
Hannity interviewed Assange at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. The Australia native has been holed up there for five years battling extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges, which Assange denies.
WikiLeaks published more than 50,000 emails detailing dubious practices at the Clinton Foundation, top journalists working closely with the Clinton campaign, key Clinton aides speaking derisively of Catholics and a top Democratic National Committee (DNC) official providing debate questions to Clinton in advance.
Assange has repeatedly denied claims by the Obama administration that Russia was behind the cyberattacks that exposed the DNC and Podesta emails. Assange also has repeatedly insisted that WikiLeaks' source for the emails was not the Russian government or any "state party," and said the outgoing administration was attempting to "delegitimize" President-Elect Donald Trump by making those claims.
In the first part of the interview, Assange criticized a Dec. 29 joint analysis of the cyberattacks by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. After the report was released, President Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats and closed two Russian compounds.
US GIVES DETAILED LOOK AT RUSSIA'S ALLEGED ELECTION HACKING
"On the top [of the report], there is a disclaimer, saying there is no guarantee that any of this information is accurate," Assange told Hannity. "Theres nothing in that report that says that any information was given to us. Nothing."
Assange also criticized the mainstream media for what he called the "ethical corruption" displayed in the Podesta emails.
"The editor of the New York Times ... has come out and said that he would do the same thing as WikiLeaks, [that] if they had obtained that information, they would have published it," Assange said. "Now, unfortunately, I dont believe that is true."
Assange added that he doubted that partisan sympathy explained the cozy relationship between Podesta and reporters covering the Clinton campaign.
"Its more like, You rub my back, Ill rub yours. Ill give you information, youll come to my Ill invite you to my childs christening or my next big party."
Assange said that the website would not have hesitated to publish embarrassing information about Trump if they had received it.
"Theres no sources coming out through other journalists and saying, 'We gave WikiLeaks all this information about Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin and you know what? They didnt publish it.' No one has come out and said that," Assange said. "If they did, that would hurt our reputation for trust for our sources."
The WikiLeaks founder also warned Democrats that criticizing the website for publishing the emails was a "stupid maneuver."
"Its the same reason why they lost the election, which is instead of focusing on substance, they focused on other things [like] this attempt to say how outrageous it is that the American public received true information before an election," Assange said. "The public doesnt buy that. They want as much true information as possible."
WikiLeaks didnt waste any time getting to work in the New Year.
The anti-secrecy website on Tuesday issued a call for any information about those connected to the outgoing Obama administration destroying records and offered a huge cash payment as incentive.
We are issuing a US$20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest or exposure of any Obama admin agent destroying significant records, the organization tweeted above an image of a Wanted sign.
We are issuing a US$20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest or exposure of any Obama admin agent destroying significant records. pic.twitter.com/kRRP246uGo WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 4, 2017
The appeal for any evidence mirrored a previous plea from the website in August for information leading to the conviction of whoever killed Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich in July. The website promised $20,000 for the information. Rich, the victim of an apparent robbery, is thought by some to have been a whistle-blower. WikiLeaks head Julian Assange, though not admitting Rich leaked any material to the website, hasnt disputed the notion, either.
ASSANGE: A KID COULD HAVE HACKED PODESTA EMAILS
In a Monday tweet, WikiLeaks also promised to pump up its output in 2017 after rocking the 2016 presidential race by posting 50,000+ emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. The messages, published in batches throughout October, showed a cozy relationship with some journalists, pointed to discord and possible impropriety within the Clinton organization and indicated she had received several primary debate questions in advance.
If you thought 2016 was a big WikiLeaks year 2017 will blow you away. Help @WikiLeaks prepare for the showdown: https://t.co/MsNZhrTzTL pic.twitter.com/wzhFiKjNGI WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 2, 2017
If you thought 2016 was a big WikiLeaks year 2017 will blow you away. Help @WikilLeaks prepare for the showdown: shop.wikileaks.org/donate, the site tweeted above a .gif from Clint Eastwood western The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
Though not their doing, WikiLeaks on Wednesday also tweeted a link to a State Department release of 371 new Clinton emails that were posted as the result of litigation.
Many of the new emails deal with the drudgery of the early days of Clintons tenure as secretary of State.
She often emails her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, who uses an alias that was exposed in the Podesta leak.
I am in the most deadly dull dinner everthe G-8 dinner and hoping it ends at desert, Clinton wrote on Sept. 24, 2009. So many bizarre events converge at the UN but the Khadaffi speech heads the list.
In another email to Chelsea, Clinton bemoans having to deal with North Koreas missile ambitions.
Im off to Yale after spending the morning dealing w N Koreas missile and explosive tests, Clinton wrote on May 25, 2009. Wish I werent but sigh
The end of that email was redacted by the State Department.
Fragments of a carpet that had been buried at the bottom of the sea for nearly 400 years are now on display in the Netherlands.
The carpet, which is made from silk and wool, is decorated with flowers and animals, including lions. Based on the patterns, colors and weaving techniques, art historians concluded that the fabric was likely manufactured in Lahore, in present-day Pakistan, during the second quarter of the 17th century, according to the Kaap Skil museum on Texel Island, which started exhibiting the rare textile this week.
During the Dutch Golden Age, ships traveling to and from Amsterdam would stop around Texel Island in the Wadden Sea. Because it was such a heavily trafficked area, the waters around the island are now littered with ships that sank during rough storms.
That's where a group of local divers recently found the Lahore carpet among other textiles in a shipwreck . Delicate fabrics typically don't survive for very long at the bottom of the sea, but the so-called Palmwood Wreck was covered in sand, resulting in unusually good preservation, the researchers said.
"It'salmost like having the fragments of an original Rembrandt in front of you," textile researchers Ebeltje Hartkamp-Jonxis and Hillie Smit, who examined the carpet, said in an emailed statement from the museum.
Earlier this year, the Kaap Skil museum started displaying a complete silk gown that was also recovered from the wreck . The dress had been preserved in a clothing box that was packed with many other items, including a cloak, stockings and bodices adorned with gold and silver thread.
The sunken ship has also yielded crates that likely once contained incense or myrrh . Also within that shipwreck, divers have found a lice comb, Italian pottery, a beaded handbag and an intricately decorated "scent ball," which would have been worn around a person's neck to diffuse the smell of herbs or flowers.
Leather covers of books (the pages had disintegrated) were salvaged from the wreck, too. They bear the coat of arms of the English King Charles I , suggesting that perhaps the cargo onboard the ship belonged to the royal Stuart family. The lavish wardrobe, which seems to have belonged to a "fairly hefty" woman, has been linked to Scottish lady-in-waiting Jean Kerr, Countess of Roxburghe, the confidante of the Queen Consort of England, Henrietta Maria, according to researchers working with the museum.
The carpet fragments will be on display in an exhibition called "Diving into Details" until mid-February. Then, the textile pieces will be sent to the Archaeological Center of the Province Noord-Holland (North Holland) for further research, according to a statement from the museum.
Original article on Live Science.
How would you feel about a smart, Wi-Fi-connected speaker named after a Greek philosopher helping raise your child?
Toymaker Mattel is planning Aristotle by Nabi, a smart baby monitor device that can also interact with your toddler or kid, or tween. Aristotle is designed to be something like an Amazon Alexa or a Google Home, but programmed for children. Put another way, the hub is an AI to help raise your child, as Fast Company described it.
Mattel said that Aristotle could play a crying child a lullaby, and parents, meanwhile, could use the same speaker to order things through Amazons Alexa voice assistant. More diapers, perhaps?
The device will also include LEDs and a camera, and is designed to evolve as a child grows up. So we spent a lot of time investing in how it would age, Robb Fujioka, Mattels chief products officer, told Fast Company.
6-YEAR-OLD ACCIDENTALLY ORDERS HIGH-END TREATS WITH AMAZON'S ALEXA
Mattel said in a statement that the device will have different phases. For example, Aristotle kid mode would be a homework helper, and Aristotle tween could even feature foreign language tutorial. Toddlers could find that a green or red light lets them know if theyve answered a question correctly, Mattel said.
Aristotle will make use of 256-bit encryption to keep information (such as the video stream from the baby monitor) private, and was built with COPPA [Children's Online Privacy Protection Act] compliance in mind, Mattel said. For its artificial intelligence, it will use Microsoft Cognitive Services, and Cortana Intelligence is on the way.
AMAZON ECHO VS. GOOGLE HOME IN A VIRTUAL STANDOFF
Our goal with the launch of Aristotle is to provide parents with a platform that simplifies parenting, while helping them nurture, teach, and protect their young ones, Jim Mitchell, vice president at Nabi, which is part of Mattel, said in the statement.
More Internet-connected devices in homes a realm of tech known generally as the Internet of Things create new, sometimes humorous, issues at the intersection of humans and technology. Recently, a 6-year-old girl in Texas accidentally ordered cookies and a pricey dollhouse through an Amazon Echo Dot device.
I tell my kids Alexa is a very good listener, Megan Neitzel, the childs mom, told FoxNews.com.
As for Aristotle, the device will have a child mode, according to Mattel and when its in that setting, parents could restrict purchasing or could even require that their kid says please.
Aristotle is scheduled to be released in June and will cost $299.
Follow Rob Verger on Twitter: @robverger
On Tuesday, German-based commercial aviation safety firm Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre, (JACDEC) released its annual list of the worlds safest airline carriers. Sixty international airlines were rated and for the second year in a row, no legacy U.S. carriers cracked the top 10.
Hong Kongs Cathay Pacific Airways, which often received top marks for service, bested the competition as JACDECs safest airline followed by Air New Zealand and Chinas Hainan Airlines rounding out the top three.
BAGGAGE HANDLER TRAPPED IN PLANE'S CARGO HOLD ON DC-BOUND UNITED FLIGHT
The annual report provides insight for travelers on the current safety level for the worlds biggest commercial airlines. In 2016, JACDEC recorded a total of 321 fatalities, 376 incidents, 219 serious incidents, and 37 hull losses among the carriers surveyed.
The full rankings will not be released until Jan. 18 but the firm did provide a preview of the bottom three: Indonesias Garuda Airlines, Colombias Avianca and China Airlines in the last spot.
Though airline tragedies make headlines, overall, JACDECs Global Safety Review reports that from a statistical perspective, 2016 continued a long term trend of fewer fatalities as well as fewer incidents of hull loss accidentswhen an aircraft is either destroyed or damaged beyond repair-- than previous decades.
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Last year, Jetblue Airways was ranked eleventh while Delta Air Lines came in at seventeen making them the only two U.S. carriers to crack the top 20.
Worlds Safest Airlines 2017, according to JACDEC (based on airlines' 2016 record)
1. Cathay Pacific Airways
2. Air New Zealand
3. Hainan Airlines
4. Qatar Airways
5. K L M
6. EVA Air
7. Emirates
8. Etihad Airways
9. QANTAS
10. Japan Airlines
11. All Nippon Airways
12. Lufthansa
A tourist who tried to have her picture taken with a crocodile in Thailand was injured when the reptile snapped at her when she got too close.
On Sunday, Benetulier Lesuffleur, a 47-year-old French tourist, was visiting Thailands famous Khao Yai National Park in the western part of the Sankamphaeng Mountain Range.
MOST DANGEROUS PLACES TO TAKE SELFIES
According to Thanya Netithammakul, head of the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Lesuffleur approached the pond where the crocodile was located and attempted to take the photo but she tripped. The large reptile then snapped at her when she got too close and bit her leg.
Photos of the scene showed camouflaged park rangers carrying the victim on a stretcher with her knee bandaged. Another photo showed a ranger pointing to a pool of blood while standing next to a sign warning visitors in both Thai and English of a Danger Crocodile No Swimming.
Woman rushed to hospital after trying to take a selfie with a crocodile https://t.co/2PSEMqu0c5 The Independent (@Independent) January 2, 2017
She wanted to take selfie with the crocodile who was lying down near a stream, park official Kanchit Srinoppawan told Thai newspaper Matichon, according to The Independent. I guess that she wanted to see it for real.
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Lesuffleur was bitten by a Siamese crocodile, according to Conde Nast Traveler. The animal lives in Southeast Asia and usually resides in fresh water. Despite being an endangered species, theyre not known for being dangerous toward humans although theres no documentation of their interactions with humans seeking selfies.
According to the Bangkok Post, multiple signs warned visitors about the crocodiles and tourists were told to keep to the nature trail.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Charles Manson, the 1960s cult leader who orchestrated a series of high profile murders, was taken to the hospital Tuesday for an undisclosed medical issue, the Los Angeles Times reported.
One of the sources familiar with the situation told the newspaper Manson, 82, was seriously ill, but could not provide specific information.
Vicky Waters, Press Secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) told Fox News, "Federal and state medical privacy laws preclude CDCR from commenting on protected health information for any inmate in our custody."
A separate spokeswoman from the agency, Terry Thornton, told the Los Angeles Times that Manson "is alive."
TMZ reported that Manson was transported to a hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., about an hour from California State Prison in Corcoran, where he was being held.
Sporting a carved swastika on his forehead, Manson was the long-haired, wild-eyed head of a California desert commune in the late 1960s. The Manson Family was largely made up of runaways and societal dropouts whom Manson controlled with a mix of his charismatic yet calculating personality and hallucinogenic drugs.
Obsessed with Armageddon and what he saw as a coming race war, Manson masterminded a series of murders that he hoped would spur black vs. white violence. A failed musician, Manson believed several songs on The Beatles White Album notably Helter Skelter also predicted a racial clash.
He ordered a small, devoted group of followers to carry out the murders, although he never took part in the actual acts.
Theres no need to feel guilty, Manson said during an interview in the 1980s. I havent done anything Im ashamed of.
While Manson may have ordered dozens of slayings, he was eventually convicted for two high-profile massacres. The first occurred at the Beverley Hills house of director Roman Polanski and claimed the lives of his wife, actress Sharon Tate, her unborn child and five others. Polanski was away at the time. One of the enduring images of the brutal slaying is the word pig scrawled in blood on a door of the house.
The next night, another group of Manson devotees killed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
Manson was convicted of first-degree murder in 1971 for the Tate/LaBianca killings and sentenced to death. But the California Supreme Courts 1972 decision to outlaw capital punishment automatically commuted Mansons sentence to life behind bars at Californias Corcoran State Prison.
In interviews, hed frequently challenge the notion that he was guilty of the murders and never showed remorse.
Remorse for what? Manson said. You people have done everything in the world to me. Doesnt that give me equal right? I can do anything I want to you people anytime I want because thats what youve done to me.
Despite his infamous reputation as one of the 20th centurys most twisted mass murderers, Manson still managed to attract fans behind bars and nearly married a woman in her 20s in 2014. The woman, who called herself Star, applied for a marriage license with Manson, then 80, but a ceremony never took place.
Tate's sister Debra Tate told The Associated Press on Tuesday night that, as a Catholic, she makes "no ill wishes" for the people who killed her sister, and will reserve her feelings until hearing Manson has died.
"I would probably say a prayer for them and shed a tear and ask God to have mercy on their souls, but so far I haven't allowed myself to feel anything because it's unsubstantiated," Tate said. "I'm not allowing myself to feel anything until I know that it's true."
Manson was rejected for parole 12 times and would not have been eligible to apply again until 2027.
Click for more from The Los Angeles Times.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jurors who found a Maui man guilty of murder in the death of his pregnant ex-girlfriend began deliberating Tuesday on whether the killing was especially heinous.
They found Steven Capobianco guilty last week of murder and arson in the death of Carly "Charli" Scott, who was five months pregnant with Capobianco's child when she disappeared in 2014.
The second phase of deliberations is for an allegation that Capobianco killed Scott in an "especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner." Capobianco faces life in prison for second-degree murder. The jury's second verdict will determine whether he can receive an enhanced sentence of life in prison without the possibility for parole.
"Killing Charli Scott was not enough for this man," Deputy Maui Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rivera told jurors Tuesday, calling him a man without a conscience. Rivera held up Scott's black skirt showing multiple stab wounds in the abdomen area, saying that the stabs show that Capobianco made her suffer.
Capobianco not only murdered Scott, but he made her suffer "unnecessary torture," Rivera said.
All murders are arguably heinous, atrocious and cruel, said defense attorney Jon Apo, who suggested that Scott's death was quick with less suffering. Unnecessary torture, Apo said, would have been one stab wound to make her suffer a long death.
The prosecution has a sympathetic jury, Apo said, noting one of the jurors is pregnant. The judge sustained Rivera's objection to mentioning the pregnant juror.
The jury sat through about six months of testimony before beginning deliberations in the verdict phase on Dec. 1.
Capobianco didn't testify during the first phase. He told the judge last week he also wouldn't testify during the second phase, The Maui News reported.
Authorities say a man armed with a knife has been shot and wounded by police in Brooklyn.
It happened in the city's Canarsie neighborhood just before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday while officers were responding to a report of an emotionally disturbed person.
Police say the man was shot in the chest and has been hospitalized. His condition is unknown.
A knife has been recovered at the scene. Additional details were not immediately available.
No police officers were injured.
President-elect Donald Trump's transition team asked the Department of Homeland Security about an aerial surveillance program along the southern border that was scaled back by the Obama administration, Reuters is reporting.
The program, Operation Phalanx, deployed as many as 6,000 National Guard airmen to monitor for drug trafficking and illegal immigration during President George W. Bushs administration.
The Trump team's inquiry was part of a wide-ranging request for documents and analysis looking into the viability of a border wall and barrier construction.
According to Reuters, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection identified more than 400 miles along the U.S.-Mexico border where new fencing could be erected.
About the same distance can be fenced off along the U.S.-Canada border, according to a document accessed exclusively by Reuters.
During his presidential campaign, Trump emphasized repeatedly that securing the border would be his first immigration priority.
Nearly 700 miles of fencing was put in place during President George W. Bushs second term and the beginning of President Barack Obamas first term -- but is not the type of solid wall that Trump has pledged to construct at Mexicos expense.
The fence has miles-long gaps and gates built in to allow landowners access to their property on the south side of the fencing. Immigrants have been known to go over and around the fence.
The AP contributed to this report.
In his opening statement during the penalty phase of his trial Wednesday, Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof explained his reasons for acting as his own attorney. He said he wanted to prevent his lawyers from introducing mitigating evidence about his mental health and urged jurors to ignore anything the defense team may have said about this topic.
There is nothing wrong with me psychologically, Roof said.
NC MAN ACCUSED OF FIRING SHOTS AT DEPUTY
Acting as his own attorney, the white supremacist spoke directly to the same jurors who, last month, convicted him in the 2015 massacre at Emanuel AME Church. That jury must now decide whether Roof should spend the rest of his life in prison for his crimes, or face execution.
In the prosecutions opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams argued for the latter, reminding jurors of the racist motive for the crimes and Roofs apparent lack of remorse. He argued that any of the murders alone would warrant the death penalty.
Taken together, they justify the most significant penalty available to you, Williams said.
KNIFE-WIELDING MAN SHOT TO DEATH BY NEW YORK POLICE
Prosecutors have begun calling on victims relatives to testify about the human impact of Roofs crimes. Roof, on the other hand, plans to call no witnesses and present no evidence. However, he told the court he would offer a closing argument.
Roofs decision to represent himself went against the advice of his own lawyers. But Philip Holloway, an Atlanta-based criminal defense attorney not associated with the Roof trial, said this trial may be a rare instance in which self-representation could benefit the defendant.
Dylann Roof has little, if anything, to argue in his favor, Holloway told FoxNews.com. About the only thing he can do, and its sort of a Hail Mary, is to stand in front of the jury himself and make his opening statement and make the closing argument because they get to hear from him personally. And if he has any hope of swaying the jurors, its doing it that way without being subject to cross-examination.
Judge Richard Gergel has imposed restrictions on the convicts physical movement within the courtroom.
While speaking, Roof will not be allowed to approach witnesses or the jury. And while seated at the defendants table, Roof will remain in the chair furthest from the jury and relatives of the nine church shooting victims.
One of those relatives, Malcolm Graham, said the hardest part of sitting in on the trial was watching video of his now-deceased sister, Cynthia Hurd, walking into the church the night of the shooting with a smile on her face, preparing for what she thought would be a routine bible study in a safe and sacred space.
It was difficult watching that and knowing that she would not walk out the same way she walked in, Graham told FoxNews.com.
Graham, who served for a decade in the North Carolina State Senate, said some crimes are so heinous that execution is the only proper penalty.
My sister and eight others died simply because they were there and they were black, Graham said. That cannot stand in a civilized society and that has to be punished.
Speaking about Roof, Graham added, Theres no room for him in a civilized society. I believe theres no room for him in Americas smallest jail.
Fox News Chip Bell and Multimedia Reporter Terace Garnier contributed to this report.
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The Latest on the federal sentencing of Dylann Roof in the deaths of nine people at a South Carolina church (all times local):
2:30 p.m.
The widow of a pastor and state senator slain by Dylann Roof is describing for jurors the night the white man killed her husband and eight other black church members.
Jennifer Pinckney testified Wednesday that she was in her husband's office with their daughter when she heard gunshots. She says she locked the door and shoved her daughter under a desk. She put her hand over her daughter's mouth and told her to be quiet.
Pinckney was the first witness called to testify during the sentencing phase of Roof's trial. Jurors are deciding whether to send him to prison for life or to death.
Roof is representing himself during the sentencing phase. He told jurors earlier that there is nothing wrong with psychologically. He didn't offer any remorse for the killings or explain his motivations.
___
11:40 a.m.
The widow of a pastor and state senator slain by Dylann Roof says her husband was a selfless student of faith and history who was drawn to serving both his congregation and the public.
Jennifer Pinckney was the first witness prosecutors called Wednesday in Roof's sentencing trial. She also shed light on her husband's goofy personal side, saying he loved to sing, dance and watch children's shows with his two young daughters.
Clementa Pinckney pastored Emanuel AME Church and was among the nine people killed there in June 2015. His widow says Pinckney was "a voice for the voiceless" and never stopped working to find solutions for his flock and constituents.
Prosecutors have said they'll call several dozen witnesses to testify during Roof's sentencing. Jurors are considering if he'll be sentenced to death or life in prison. Roof, who is representing himself, has said he plans to put up no case.
___
10:50 a.m.
Convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof did not ask jurors to spare his life or for the death penalty during his brief opening statement at his sentencing trial.
The soft-spoken Roof told jurors Wednesday that there is nothing wrong with him psychologically and that his lawyers forced him to go through two competency hearings.
He stood at a podium and slowly and calmly spoke to the jurors, glancing occasionally at notes in front of him. He told jurors there wasn't anything he was trying to keep secret from them and said he was better at embarrassing himself than anyone else.
Roof's lawyers indicated he wanted to represent himself because he was worried they might present embarrassing evidence about him or his family.
Prosecutors asked jurors to sentence Roof to death, saying the "horrific acts" of killing nine black church members in June 2015 deserved capital punishment. The prosecutors say Roof didn't show any remorse, and they read a portion from a journal found in Roof's jail cell six weeks after his arrest. In the journal, Roof said he had not wept for any of the victims and did not regret what he did.
___
10:20 a.m.
Federal prosecutors say convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof should be sentenced to death because he killed nine black parishioners because of the color of their skin.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams gave the government's opening statement Wednesday during Roof's sentencing, calling the killings "horrific acts." The same jurors who convicted Roof last month are now being asked to decide whether he should face life in prison or the death penalty.
Williams said Roof has felt no remorse for the June 2015 killings at Emanuel AME Church and he intentionally picked vulnerable, trusting people to slaughter.
Roof, who is white, is acting as his own attorney during this phase of the trial and he will give an opening statement later Wednesday. He says he doesn't plan to call any witnesses or present any evidence.
___
10 a.m.
Jurors have returned to court for the federal sentencing of convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof.
The same 12-member jury that last month found Roof guilty of 33 federal charges returned to court Wednesday to begin mulling if he should get the death penalty or life in prison. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel began the hearing by reading instructions to the jury on what they'll need to consider in determining Roof's sentence.
The 22-year-old Roof is representing himself but has said he plans to call no witnesses or introduce any evidence. His former legal team has said Roof fears embarrassing himself or his family.
Prosecutors plan to call up to 38 people related to the nine people killed and three who survived the June 2015 slaughter during Bible study at Emanuel AME Church.
___
9:30 a.m.
Attorneys are discussing an order that governs how convicted Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof can move around the courtroom while he represents himself at his federal sentencing.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel says it's important prosecutors and Roof "are on the same playing field" in terms of how the jury views their roles in the courtroom.
The same 12-member jury that last month found Roof guilty of 33 federal charges returns to court Wednesday to begin mulling if he should get the death penalty or be sentenced to life in prison.
The 22-year-old Roof is representing himself but has said he plans to call no witnesses or introduce any evidence. His former legal team has said Roof fears embarrassing himself or his family.
Prosecutors plan to call up to 38 people related to the nine people killed and three who survived the June 2015 slaughter during Bible study at Emanuel AME Church.
___
5:50 a.m.
The same jury that last month unanimously found Dylann Roof guilty in the slayings of nine black parishioners at a South Carolina church is returning to court to begin contemplating his punishment.
The sentencing phase of Roof's federal trial begins Wednesday in Charleston. He could face the death penalty or life in prison.
The 22-year-old Roof is representing himself but has said he plans to call no witnesses or introduce any evidence. His former legal team has said Roof fears embarrassing himself or his family.
Prosecutors plan to call up to 38 people related to the nine people killed and three who survived the June 2015 slaughter during Bible study at Emanuel AME Church.
After a daylong hearing Monday, a judge again found Roof competent to represent himself and stand trial for sentencing.
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Six Mexican veterinarians who say they were recruited to work as animal scientists at an Idaho dairy farm have filed a federal human trafficking lawsuit against the dairy's owners and the lawyer who arranged work visas.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boise claims the veterinarians were forced to work as general laborers for about a year.
It says the veterinarians were promised they would oversee animal health and reproduction programs at Funk Dairy Inc. in Murtaugh, Idaho.
They came to the U.S. on visas granted to professionals from Mexico and Canada.
The defendants are Funk owner David Funk, manager Curtis Giles and attorney Jeremy Pittard.
Pittard says he helped arranged the visas but declined comment on the working conditions.
The dairy's phone went unanswered.
The study looks at the negative effects on corporate efficiency before and after the 2011 revolution. New obstacles have emerged that have made the business climate less attractive to investors, including regulatory and political uncertainty, corruption and crime. As the report underlines, "The aim of the revolution was to generate economic and social opportunities that would open the way to economic growth and jobs. However, the country has become unstable from the political point of view. This transition period has a direct impact on efficiency in the private sector."Prior to the events of the Arab Spring, interventionist policies were the norm in Egypt, as they were in most Middle-Eastern and North African states. In the report, the FEMISE economists also analyse other countries in the region: Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.Here again, regulatory and political uncertainty, corruption and criminality have worsened. The report concludes, "These results have important political implications. Measures aimed specifically at businesses should enable a reduction in the number of obstacles and, consequently, encourage Egyptian manufacturing companies to become more competitive."For more on this subject, please download the report available here
At least 103 people were injured -- three seriously -- when a commuter train slammed into a safeguard at a Brooklyn station Wednesday morning, forcing part of its first car off the tracks, officials said.
FOUR BODIES FOUND AFTER PLANE CRASH IN ARIZONA
My #LIRR train crashed at #AtlanticTerminal in #Brooklyn. Crazy. Seems only a few people are lightly injured. pic.twitter.com/oXHvy2yxDL Aaron D. Neufeld (@Aaron_D_Neufeld) January 4, 2017
Most of the injuries were considered minor, FOX5 reported.The most serious was a possible broken leg, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a news conference.
The Long Island Rail Road train derailed on Track 6 at the Atlantic Terminal around 8:15 a.m. The MTA said the six-car train carrying 430 passengers -- hit a bumping block at the end of the platform and the lead wheel assembly of the first car went off the tracks after impact.
Pictures on social media showed a door at the station with smashed glass and fire and police rescue workers evacuating commuters from the train.
BODIES OF 5-YEAR-OLD BOY AND HIS FATHER FOUND IN LAKE AFTER APPARENT BOAT ACCIDENT
Well, this is one way to start the morning. My train crashed through Atlantic Terminal. Hope everyone else is ok @LIRR pic.twitter.com/q7IV6mJTEm Ry Karl (@ItsRyanKarl) January 4, 2017
MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergrast said when LIRR trains make their final approach into a station, it is up to the operator to slow them down.
There's a signal system that controls it coming in at limited speeds, he said. But when you're getting to the end it's the locomotive engineer's responsibility. And the train's brakes have to work. All those things have to be looked at in the investigation.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the train came into the station at a fairly low rate of speed before it hit the block.
Passengers told TV news crews on the scene that there was a loud bang and a jolt that sent some people flying. The first car of the train left the track, but no others were affected, FOX5 reported.
Some people were carried away on stretchers. Others were sitting outside the train holding ice packs to their heads.
Reports from the scene said some people were bleeding from cuts.
The National Transportation Safety Board was sending a "go-team" to New York to investigate alongside the Federal Railroad Administration.
Fox News' Kathleen Foster, Laura Ingle and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A fast-growing theologically conservative Presbyterian denomination will be holding its latest National Gathering later this month in South Carolina.
The Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians, a denomination formed in 2012 in response to the increasingly liberal positions of the Presbyterian Church (USA), will be holding its 2017 National Gathering Jan. 24-26.
FRANKLIN GRAHAM, SAEED ABEDINI PUSH FOR RELEASE OF PASTOR IMPRISONED IN TURKEY
First Presbyterian Church of Greenville, a congregation of about 3,500 members that joined ECO back in 2012, is the scheduled location for the major gathering.
The Rev. Richard Gibbons, senior pastor of FPC Greenville, told The Christian Post that his church was chosen as the site for the gathering for multiple reasons. "A large central meeting area was required for the plenary sessions, as was multiple breakout rooms for smaller seminars and workshops," said Gibbons.
"The other very practical question was the weather and South Carolina should be pleasant at the end of January. In addition to the above, First Presbyterian is located downtown with several major hotels within walking distance on Main Street."
Gibbons also told CP that his congregation will be occupied with preparing the church for the National Gathering, as they expect approximately 1,100 pastors and elders to come.
Click Here to Read the Full Story at ChristianPost.com
A 14-year-old boy found shot in the head in a vehicle Monday night has died of his injuries, Fox 46 Charlotte reported.
The death of Anthony Frazier, the son of a North Carolina police officer who succumbed to his injuries Tuesday afternoon at Carolinas Medical Center, is being investigated by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Frazier's father is Kannapolis Police Officer Daniel Frazier, according to the Kannapolis Police Chief.
The call for service came in around 10:18 p.m. January 2 in the 2200 block of Finchley.
Child's body found in Colorado pond during hunt for missing 6-year-old boy
Officers responded to an assault with a deadly weapon call in the 900 block of Eastway Drive. When officers arrived, they found Frazier with an apparent gunshot wound.
After investigating officers determined Frazier was shot while in a vehicle in the 2200 block of Finchley Drive and drove to the 900 block of Eastway Drive for help.
One neighbor who didn't want his name or face shown told FOX 46 Charlotte that police said they believe the shooting started as a robbery.
3 Florida school buses involved in crashes, no students injured
"They just said, they thought it might have been a robbery when the people came home and then I guess they shot at him and they told me this morning that the little boy got shot in the head," Finchley Drive Neighbor said.
Police describe the suspects as two black males in their early 20s to early 30's. One of the suspects was wearing a gray hoodie and had a thin build. The second suspect was wearing a dark colored hoodie and also had a thin build. One of them may have worn his hair in short twists. The suspects may also frequent the Shamrock Drive and Eastway Drive corridors.
For more on this story, visit Fox46Charlotte.com.
Michigan police said Wednesday they are aggressively pursuing leads in the case of a young woman who disappeared one month ago after leaving her job at an insurance company, noting they believe the 28-year-old is a victim of foul play.
Danielle Stislicki was last seen around 5 p.m. on December 2, walking out of the Metlife insurance company building where she worked in Southfield, a northern suburb of Detroit.
Investigators told FoxNews.com that Staslicki had planned to return to her apartment in Farmington -- some 10 miles away -- before meeting her best friend for dinner but never made it.
Stislicki's 2015 Jeep Renegade was found by police the next day, parked in front of her apartment building in the Independence Green Apartment Complex with the doors locked and her purse and wallet inside.
Police are searching for two pieces of evidence they said were missing from the vehicle: Stislicki's cellphone -- a Samsung Galaxy Core Prime in a rose-colored case -- and her keys, which were attached to a distinctive yellow and green key charm.
It's not known whether Stislicki ever made it from her car into her home, or if another person parked her vehicle at the apartment complex, which investigators said has many units and is "well populated."
Authorities described the young woman's disappearance as "out of character," and Stislicki's family has launched a social media campaign -- including a Facebook page -- to bring awareness to the case. Staslicki's mother, Ann, reportedly also works for MetLife but was not in the building on the day her daughter disappeared.
A Go Fund Me page has also been created to raise reward money for Stislicki's return. As of Wednesday, the site has raised $29,700. Stislicki's employer, MetLife, and Independence Green Apartments also contributed $50,000 to the case.
"Danielle is a wonderful human being who has many family and friends who love her dearly," a statement on the site reads. "We want Dani home and need everyone's help."
A source close to the investigation confirmed Wednesday that a home in a neighboring town had been searched in connection with Stislicki but declined to say what, if anything, authorities uncovered.
Stislicki was last seen wearing a sky blue Eddie Bauer jacket, jeans, a black zip-up shirt and burgundy boots. Anyone with information on Stislicki's disappearance is urged to contact the Farmington Hills Police Department at 248-871-2610.
A 16-year-old suspected of stealing a vehicle has been injured after being shot by officers in Atlanta.
Local news outlets report that Atlanta police say the shooting happened Tuesday night near Clayton County.
Police spokesman Officer Lukasz Sajdak says the teen was one of two carjacking suspects whom police were chasing in southwest Atlanta before the shooting.
Sajdak says the suspects crashed into a pole near Interstate 285. Authorities say officers chased the suspects as they ran from the scene before shooting the 16-year-old in the leg.
Police have not yet said why officers shot the teen.
WSB-TV reports that both suspects are in custody and charges are pending.
Authorities say a 63-year-old man has been shot and killed after he came at police officers with a large knife in Brooklyn.
The shooting happened at a house in the city's Canarsie neighborhood just before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday while officers were responding to a report of an emotionally disturbed person.
Police say James Owens came from a back room, grabbed a 13-inch knife and began moving toward the officers. They say he was shot with a stun gun, but it had no effect. An officer then fired his weapon, striking Owens in the chest.
Owens was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. No police officers were injured
A knife has been recovered at the scene.
An investigation is continuing.
A federal judge agreed with prosecutors on Wednesday to drop charges against a man accused of threatening on Facebook to "exterminate" gay people.
District Judge William Zloch dismissed the case against Craig Jungwirth, who had been indicted by a grand jury with interstate transmission of a threatening communication. He had faced a potential sentence of 10 to 16 months in prison.
Prosecutors had requested on Tuesday that the charges be dropped, six weeks after announcing in court that the evidence against Jungwirth was "weak," according to a report in The Sun-Sentinel.
An FBI affidavit said Jungwirth, 50, of Orlando, posted several threats on Facebook against LGBT people in Wilton Manors, Florida, which has a large gay population. In August 2016, the affidavit said, Jungwirth threatened to launch a Labor Day attack bigger than the Pulse gay nightclub shooting in Orlando that killed 49 people and wounded dozens last June.
The case was based in part on a tipster's screenshot of the Facebook post. But at a Nov. 15 federal court hearing, prosecutor Marc Anton told a judge that the evidence against Jungwirth was "weak" and circumstantial because investigators had been unable to definitively link the threat to him, even though the affidavit said the FBI was able to show that multiple threats were posted from his mother's computer.
U.S. Attorney spokeswoman Sarah Schall declined comment.
Authorities recovered a body and a vehicle off a steep embankment along California's Central Coast in their search Tuesday for a missing Los Angeles couple.
Authorities in San Luis Obispo County discovered one person's body and the remains of a dog about 15 feet from the vehicle off the side of Highway 1, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Investigators were working Wednesday to determine whether the apparent wreck involves Olivia Hannah Gonzalez, 20, and Brian Fernandez, 21, who were reported missing when they failed to return Christmas Day from a holiday road trip to Big Sur in a tan sedan.
The California Highway Patrol told the newspaper that dispatchers received a report about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday that a tan vehicle was found about 325 feet below the steep embankment of the highway near Ragged Point.
Gonzalez and Fernandez told family members they were leaving Dec. 23 for a weekend camping trip to the Big Sur and would return home on Christmas Day, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. No one has seen or heard from them since, and family members are concerned for their well-being, police said.
The two reportedly were seen with camping gear and Fernandez's two dogs, Scooby and Luno, before they left their North Hollywood home. It's not known whether the two ever made it to the Big Sur -- roughly 70 miles of coast and cliff line -- or traveled elsewhere. Poor weather in recent days hindered aerial searches for the couple.
Gonzalez is 5-foot-6, weighs 120 pounds, and has blonde hair and brown eyes. Fernandez is described as 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes. Authorities said Fernandez was driving a 2002 four-door tan Honda Civic with California license plate number 5VUD295.
Gonzalezs sister, Vanessa Guzman, told the Los Angeles Daily News that her husband got a text from Gonzalez at about 11:40 a.m. Dec. 23, saying the couple were about two hours away from the Big Sur on the states Central Coast. That was reportedly the last message the family received from Gonzalez.
"Im terrified that my sisters not going to come back home," Guzman told the paper.
Anyone with information regarding the couples whereabouts is asked to contact detectives at 213-996-1800. Anonymous tips can be made by calling the LA Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or go directly to www.lacrimestoppers.org.
FoxNews.com's Cristina Corbin contributed to this report.
Walk inside Infinitely Fit, a new gym in San Diego, and you'll find L.J. Eastmead in her element. The retired Marine, who has a proclivity to write Winston Churchill quotes on the wall, bounces around during a recent class. She's fun but firm, pushing students to strive for their best with a disarming smile.
"Fitness is a passion, but really teaching people to be healthy and living a healthy lifestyle is what really resonated with me and I wanted to pass that along to other people," Eastmead says.
But creating her own business wasn't as easy as leading a workout for Eastmead.
"I was on my own for a little while before I was introduced to the Rosie Network, and I will be forever grateful to my friend for introducing me to them," Eastmead says.
VIDEO: TEENS SERVE AS PALLBEARERS FOR VETERAN WITH NO FAMILY
The Rosie Network, based in San Diego, is a non-profit that gives veterans the tools they need to successfully start and grow a small business. The veterans receive free training in everything from accounting to human resources while being promoted by the program.
"So we're teaching them to fish, and not just providing the fish. This is a life-long commitment that we're making to our transitioning veterans and our military spouses," Stephanie Brown, the founder and CEO of the Rosie Network, says.
PURPLE HEART SPOTTED ON AIRPORT BAGGAGE CLAIM BELT FINDS ITS FAMILY
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, veterans are 45 percent more likely to start their own businesses than non-military citizens. California leads the nation with more than 250,000 veteran-owned businesses, many of which can be found in or near San Diego, home to the largest concentration of military personnel in the United States.
"There is a real push in San Diego to support the military. They're one of the three legs of our economy," Phil Blair, who co-chairs the San Diego Economic Development Committee, says.
That's why San Diego has become a hub for veteran start-ups.
Fuse Integration, an incubator run by Sumner Lee, a former Navy pilot, sets veterans up with an office space and a chance to work with the defense industry.
"I think that veterans provide a background in leadership, in dealing with adverse conditions and being creative under pressure that provides and excellent team capability and an excellent ability to get the job done," Lee says.
Around the corner, Fab Lab, a nonprofit community space, connects veterans with engineers and scientists.
"Everybody learns and benefits from each other and I think that's the most important aspect of this space," Allen McAfee, a veteran who served in Iraq and the Operation Manager at Fab Lab, says. "Something like this allows us to celebrate that military past but also really enforce that you're a apart of our community too and I think that's the biggest thing that cities can look at."
For Eastmead, the transitional training she received not only helped her launch her business but her confidence in its future as well.
"The Rosie Network is, not like having a staff so much as having a support system that just says "oh, you can't pick yourself up today? Well we've got you," Eastmead says.
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) A Bolivian court has upheld a government decision to seize a ranch from a U.S. cattleman and his family on the grounds they treated workers as virtual slaves, an official announced Monday
The National Agrarian Tribunal rejected a challenge by Ronald Larsen, a 65-year-old from Montana who has owned the 58-square-mile (15,000-hectare) ranch nearly four decades, deputy land minister Juan Manuel Pinto said at a news conference.
Pinto said the Caraparicito ranch would revert to Guarani Indians, traditional inhabitants of Bolivia's southeastern region, known as the Chaco.
He said the ranch and an adjacent 15-square-mile (3,790-hectare) spread owned by an unrelated family, the Chavezes, would be cleared by authorities and divided among 2,000 Guarani families.
Pinto did not say when the court issued its decision, which is not subject to appeal.
The Larsens could not immediately be reached for comment. They have vehemently denied treating their ranch hands all of them Guarani natives as indentured servants.
Larsen moved to the region in 1969, began acquiring land and married a Bolivian. He told The Associated Press last year that he deeded Caraparicito in 2005 to his three sons, all Bolivian citizens.
After leftist President Evo Morales took office in 2006, Larsen became a key target of a government land reform campaign law that deemed servitude grounds for confiscation.
Human rights groups said last year that several thousand Guarani lived in conditions of "forced labor and servitude" in the region, earning as little as $40 a year.
Leaders of the Guarani, Bolivia's third-largest indigenous group after the Aymara and Quecha, claimed in 2008 that 12 families on Larsen's ranch lived in servitude.
Larsen denies that, insisting in interviews with the AP since the government first moved to seize his land in February 2009 that he has treated his workers well.
For four decades, he said, he has fed and clothed workers who would otherwise live in squalor, educated their children and provided them with free health care.
He claims he was singled out as a relatively wealthy white American in a racially divided nation by an Aymara Indian president who grew up dirt poor.
Morales, the Larsens claim, was more interested in getting access to natural gas and petroleum deposits that likely underlie Caraparicito exploratory drilling began there last year than in restoring indigenous lands.
Bolivia's government has also confiscated ranches totaling more than 60 square miles (15,500 hectares) from two powerful white opposition leaders in Bolivia's eastern lowlands, the stronghold of Morales' most bitter foes.
The government said the seized land had been fraudulently obtained and met another main criterion for confiscation that it served no "social or economic purpose."
___
Associated Press Writer Frank Bajak in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.
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
For a dozen years, Romain Renelus has made his life in the Dominican Republic as a migrant laborer, working 12 hours a day to earn $235 monthly as caretaker at a condominium complex. A night job as a guard at another residential building provides $210 more each month to support his wife and two daughters back home.
Haitian workers such as Renelus have long been a mainstay of Dominican agriculture, construction and other low-wage industries. Hundreds of thousands of migrants have crossed the border in search of jobs in a country that is still poor, but better off than their homeland.
But new Dominican requirements for work permits worry the employers, the workers and their advocates, who say it will become harder and more expensive to hire Haitian laborers. An estimated 1 million Haitians live in the Dominican Republic, which has a population of about 10 million.
As an independent worker, the 40-year-old Renelus said he would seek to renew his visa and passport, both currently expired, because of an expected increase in the scrutiny of migrants. But he doesn't think it will be easy: a new passport will cost $129 and a visa $200. Currently, no work permits exist, but migrant workers have to present an entry visa and proof of residency to legally work in the country.
"It is very hard for us to settle such expenses," he said. "It's a lot of money."
Some migrant workers worry that their Dominican employers will deduct the costs of all the new paperwork, estimated to reach $800, from their paychecks. The new law does not stipulate whether the employer or employee would pay for the documents needed to obtain a work permit, including a visa, passport, birth certificate, a medical certificate and criminal background check. Any Haitian seeking a birth certificate is forced to return to Haiti to obtain it.
"This is going to be traumatic," said the Rev. Mario Serrano, a Roman Catholic priest who provides assistance to migrants and refugees and studies labor issues as the director of the nonprofit Bono Center. "No one is going to be able to comply with these rules."
The requirements took effect June 1, but the government says the rules won't be enforced until month's end. Employers will then have to have a work permit for each non-Dominican employee.
Human rights groups have long complained about Dominican immigration policies toward Haitians, calling on the country to revise deportation rules to ensure due process and avoid race-based discrimination. An extensive report on the issue by Human Rights Watch a decade ago described the historic tensions between the neighboring countries and the Dominican Republic's deportations of suspected "Haitian-looking" people with darker skin.
Haitian Ambassador Fritz Cienas called on Dominican authorities last month to ensure the human rights of Haitian workers affected by the new work permit rules.
Creole-speaking Haiti and the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic share the island of Hispaniola and a troubled history. Haiti invaded and occupied the Dominican Republic for more than 20 years in the 19th century and Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo ordered the massacre of an estimated 20,000 Haitians in 1937 as he sought to remove them en masse from the country.
After Haiti's 2010 earthquake, which the Haitian government says killed more than 300,000 people, the Dominican Republic halted deportations and the country became a staging ground for relief efforts. It was a rare break in tensions between the neighboring countries.
The new labor law adds to indications that the humanitarian lull has ended and the Dominican Republic has resumed its pre-quake policies. Advocates for migrants say authorities are cracking down on suspicious documents and have refused to accept work visas issued in previous decades. The children of Haitian migrants in many cases have been unable to obtain residency papers, preventing them from holding jobs or attending school, leaving them essentially stateless. As part of the new regulations, schools have been directed not to accept foreign children without residency permits.
Haitian workers, nevertheless, play an important role in the Dominican economy, with the migrants accounting for about 80 percent of all workers in Dominican rice fields and 60 percent of those in banana fields, according to the private Agrobusiness Board. Haitians also make up more than half of the country's construction workforce, with nearly 60 percent of them lacking documents, according to a Labor Department study released in February.
Agrobusiness Board Vice President Osmar Benitez said two of the country's largest growers have applied to legalize hundreds of employees in the past six months but obtained documents so far for only 42.
Migration Director Jose Ricardo Taveras said business owners will have one month to meet the new requirements, and he pledged that officials will not raid businesses to deport illegal migrants during that period. Taveras said the new rules are aimed at eliminating the "chaos generated by the current illegal status of the labor market that encourages foreign labor."
Employers who do not comply will face between $1,500 and $7,900 in penalties, and they also will be required to ensure that all migrants return home once their contract expires.
The government has not said how it plans to enforce the new rules, but officials have already denied requests from business groups to delay enforcement.
Edwin Paraison, Haiti's former minister of Haitians living abroad, said the Dominican government is rushing to enforce new regulations without first establishing an agreement with Haiti to possibly expedite the process of issuing documents such as passports and birth certificates. He also criticized Dominican officials for not advertising the new regulations.
"It's inconceivable that they are launching a migration law without a media campaign in Creole," he said. "This prevents many Haitian migrants who only speak that language from learning about the new migration regulations."
Renelus said he was scrambling to get the necessary paperwork together, but it had been difficult. He said if he cannot meet the requirements, he'll just go home.
The communist regime in North Korea has been expanding space for women in its notorious prison labor camps to accommodate the number of Koreans forcibly returned from China, where they had sought the economic means to survive.
The atrocities that await inmates in the North Korean gulag include forced labor, savage beatings, starvation, episodic executions and other crimes against humanity, according to a new report by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (CHRNK), a Washington-based non-profit group.
The most recent changes in North Koreas remote and extensive secret prison network is documented in The Hidden Gulag IV, an update of the Committees decade-long examination of the North Korean system, published on Friday. The report is buttressed by a separate analysis of satellite photographs and based on interviews with inmates who endured stays in the horrific system and subsequently escaped to South Korea after their release.
The Kim regime steadfastly denies the existence of any and all of the camps.
The Committee report is an attempt to document changes in North Koreas gruesome prison landscape since early last year, when a U.N. appointed commission issued its own report on North Korean widespread and savage repression of its own citizenry, and the U.N. Security Council for the first time debated whether to refer the Kim regimes human rights atrocities to the International Criminal Court as crimes against humanity. (The Security Council discussion is ongoing.)
What we are trying to do is track changes in the prison camp system since then, David Hawk, author of the CHRNK report, told Fox News. The effort, however, is slow, difficult and almost always lagging behind events, as it can take two, three or four years for camp survivors to successfully escape to South Korea after enduring their horrifying experiences.
The CHRNK report focuses specifically on changes at a labor camp in a mountainous region of North Koreas coastal North Hamgyong province, and at a notorious political prison in neighboring South Hamgyong that is often used for political purge victims from the capital of Pyongyang, and where one section, known as a re-revolutionizing zone, was recently demolisheda sign that its inmates have been relocated or otherwise disappeared.
Among other things, the 1,000-women expansion of space at a formerly all-male labor camp likely means that other prisons for women are overflowing with the arrival of larger numbers of North Korean women forcibly repatriated from China, Hawk said.
The women are imprisoned for the crime of leaving North Korea in the first place, Hawk said, and their return by Chinese authorities is itself considered by the Committee to be a contravention of international humanitarian law, as the women face certain punishment for something normally considered a human right in leaving North Korea in the first place.
The prison expansion is also a sign of the ugly choices facing North Korean women in general. In the past they fled to China largely to escape outright starvation at home, Hawk said. Now some also leave for the less desperate reason of pursuing marginal economic opportunities. Once in China, they are often picked up randomly by police, and detained until a bus-load can be driven back to North Korea.
Once back, they are interrogated, often brutally, Hawk said. If police decide they have committed no political offensewhich can include any contact with South Koreans, or with any Christian churchesthey are sentenced to anywhere between six months and three years of hard labor and placed in the labor camp system.
That fact alone can be a life-saver, as the families of inmates in the normal labor camp system are actually informed of the existence and location of their loved ones, meaning that they can receive additional food supplies when possiblethough often it is not.
More importantly, they can eventually be released to their families. In fact, the Committees report grimly notes, many prisoners are released before their sentences are complete, often because of severe malnutrition, so that the prison authorities do not have to dispose of so many dead bodies.
Others might be released to celebrate such festivities as a Kim family member's birthday or the founding of the Korean Workers Partybut more likely, the report notes, to relieve rampant prison overcrowding.
Among the rest, one survivor interviewed for the report relates, many died of malnutrition and related diseases.
At the North Hamgyong camp, female prisoners ate starvation-level rations while cutting trees, hauling logs, tending farm animals and, bizarrely, filling orders from Pyongyang for wigs and false eyelashes, using hair that one prisoner thought came from China.
When they had a production order, the wig-sewers would work non-stop day and night until the order was completed, the report notes. Only the most productive workers were allowed to rest between production orders. The rest were sent back, unrested, to heavier tasks.
One former prisoner interviewed for the Committee report helped raise corn by creating fertilizer from human waste mixed with dirt. She ate soup made from corn stocks and beans, and left prison, near death, weighing about 60 lbs.less than half her arrival weight.
On the other hand, the fact that the Kim regime has been reducing the size of its even more draconian political prisons is not necessarily better news, but possibly worseand in any case completely unknown.
Detainees in North Korean political prisons are literally non-persons. Their arrest and detention is almost never discussed, and most never leave the prisons once they enterand even if they do, the fact is marked by silence.
In the case of the South Hamyong prison, however, the section that was demolished in late 2014 was identified by survivors as a re-revolutionizing zone, meaning that inmates could eventually return-- if judged to have endured their beatings and hard labor stoically enough-- to North Korean society.
Along with ordinary North Koreans who had run afoul of the regime, it was the most common catch-pool for bureaucrats, army officials and other regime loyalists who had been caught in the regimes murky internecine squabbles, rivalries and vendettas, and thus stood some chance of being recycled in the next twist of any factional power struggles.
The Committees report offers a rare but highly limited insight into the prison sections population through the recollections of Jung Gwang-il, a North Korean who was sent to the camp in 2002-2003 on suspicion of spying for South Korea while exporting high-quality mushrooms. He was tortured, starved and beaten until he confessed, then released after 10 months.
As it happened, Jung had a photographic memory, and the Committee report includes a list of 181 political prisoners who Jung itemized after his release. In a handful of cases, they are known to have returned to regime jobs. Some died of malnutrition. The majority are simply marked as unknown.
As the Committees satellite analysis notes, however, the razing of buildings, or even of an entire section of the camp, does not necessarily mean that the camp has ceased to function as a detention facility.
Overall, the analysis notes, up to 120,000 political prisoners detained in North Koreas hidden gulag continue to be subjected to induced malnutrition, forced labor, torture and extra-judicial killings.
As a result, it adds, scores of thousands have died in the camps over the years.
If anything, the analysis notes, the North Korean regime appears to be stepping up its efforts to conceal the heart of darkness of its oppressive system, its political prison camps, from international scrutiny made possible by satellite imagery analysis.
CLICK HERE FOR THE REPORT AND ANALYSIS
That sensitivity may be heightened by the fact that, as report author Hawk told Fox News, dictator Kim Jong-un, who took power in late 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, has been purging the ranks of the Workers Party, government bureaucracy and armed forces at a greatly increased rate.
His fathers top loyalists have been among the main victimsincluding Kims uncle by marriage, Jang Sung Taek.
Despite small measures of economic reform, Hawk says, the regimes behavior is as bad as ever. Its still the same old system except more purges.
A notorious senator in the Dominican Republic is leading the pack in an international campaign that seeks to highlight the most egregious corruption cases around the world.
Senator Felix Bautista has received more than 3,640 votes as part of Transparency Internationals Unmask the Corrupt campaign beating out the bribery and kickback Petrobras controversy in Brazil and even the extensive investigation of FIFA.
Money laundering, abuse of power, prevarication and illicit enrichment amounting to millions of dollars -- Bautista of the Dominican Republic has been accused of them all, the campaigns website says.
Bautista began his political career in the 1990s in various government positions, ultimately rising to the head of the Office of Supervision Engineers of Public Works, a position he held until 2010.
In a case that was referred to the countrys Supreme Court in October, Bautista allegedly established a network of more than 35 companies under his control that he used to gain access to public contracts awarded by the public works office he headed at the time.
While the Dominican Republics Public Prosecutors investigation had extensive evidence including tax declarations, bank statements and more against Bautista and his associates, the case was dismissed in March due to lack of sufficient evidence.
The judge on the Supreme Court who dismissed it was a member of the same political party as Bautista.
An appeal in October was also dismissed and Bautista remains free.
Unmask the Corrupt had more than 380 submissions from the public about corruption cases from around the world that have massively abused and severely harmed society. Fifteen where chosen.
For far too long the corrupt have gotten away with their systematic abuses of power, terrible human rights violations and the general destruction of the daily lives of people, said Transparency International chair Joe Ugaz in a statement. This ability to act with impunity must stop. Once we have identified the worlds greatest symbols of grand corruption, we will pursue social and legal sanctions for their deeds against the people, especially the poorest.
Along with Bautista, Petrobras and FIFA, other cases that stood out among the entries included the state of Delaware, the former president of Egypt Hosni Mubarak, and Ukraines ex-president Viktor Yanukovych.
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When Jacqueline Montero takes her seat in Congress next month, she will bring not only an unusual past but an unconventional agenda for change in this socially conservative Caribbean country.
Montero was sexually abused as a child. She married at 16 to a man who beat her. And she worked as a prostitute for years to feed her children. Now, after a decade of activism for women's rights in the Dominican Republic, she hopes to put her life experience to work following her election to the Chamber of Deputies as part of an opposition coalition.
"I know the hardship that forces someone to go out on the street because your family doesn't have food," Montero told The Associated Press in the Santo Domingo office of the non-governmental organization she runs to promote the rights of sex workers.
The 46-year-old wants to focus on improving opportunities for women, a significant challenge in a country where about 35 percent of households are led by single mothers in poverty.
"When someone doesn't even have anything to eat, they end up going with the first man that appears," she said.
She plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit discrimination against specific groups considered vulnerable, including LGBT, sex workers, people with AIDS and the elderly. The walls of her office are adorned with diplomas and posters from international conferences dealing with sex work.
Montero will represent part of the port city of Haina in the 190-seat lower house of Congress, where the ruling party of President Danilo Medina retained its control in May's voting.
Activists say the significance of her election transcends her relatively minor legislative position because she will be a powerful voice for largely unrepresented people. "It's a victory for civil society," said Dario Garcia, executive director of a private organization that coordinates efforts against HIV and AIDS in the country.
Others see her elevation as a sign of social progress. "She represents an idea, the idea of non-discrimination, of equal participation of men and women," said Santo Rosario, a coordinator with a group, known by its Spanish acronym COIN, which advocates for the rights of marginalized groups, including sex workers.
Prostitution is not banned in the Dominican Republic although it isn't specifically legal either. By some estimates, there are 200,000 Dominicans selling sex in the country of 10 million or abroad. It is illegal to operate a brothel or sell the services of someone else, but enforcement is sporadic.
Montero, repeating her oft-told life story, grew up poor in a foster family where she was sexually abused by a male relative. She says she began working as a prostitute in Santo Domingo while still a teen after her abusive husband left her alone with a young child she could not support.
She hopes her biography, which is told in a collection of stories by Dominican sex workers, will help convince fellow members of Congress of the "terrible life" faced by many who work in prostitution.
"If I had not been raped when I was young and if the adults had believed me I would not have been a sex worker," she said.
She began to study nursing in 1998 after a client beat her severely when she didn't want to work without a condom and she got into a motorcycle crash that left her bedridden for eight months. She had worked as a prostitute for a decade before then.
Montero became politically active through her visits to a clinic that specialized in providing services to sex workers and or people with HIV. That experience continues to feed her belief that prostitutes should receive the same benefits as anyone else in the Dominican Republic.
"I want the workers to have social security, medical insurance and to be able to benefit from all government subsidy programs," she said.
Today, Montero still lives in a poor district of Haina. She has three of her own children and has adopted 12 children of prostitutes who she says might otherwise have been aborted. She is a deeply religious person who refers to God frequently in her speech and earned a degree in theology from Universidad Cristiana in 2014. She was raised as a Seventh Day Adventist, later became a Mormon and now identifies simply as Christian.
Her entry into politics started in 2010, when she became a member of Haina's city council. She had already become well known as an activist, sparring in the media with religious and political leaders.
Montero knows she will encounter opposition when she gets to Congress, where lawmakers have been divided over social issues such as LGBT and women's rights and abortion, reflecting the influence of the Roman Catholic church.
She says she's ready for it.
"When it comes to discrimination, I've been battled-tested and I'm going into this prepared," she said with a smile.
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Ethiopia's state broadcaster says 10,000 prisoners have been pardoned in the restive Oromia region. It is not clear whether they were detained under the country's state of emergency.
Broadcaster EBC reported Wednesday that those pardoned include people who are old, have chronic illnesses or have families and children. It says people sentenced for rape, human trafficking and corruption were not included.
Oromia has seen violent anti-government protests that spread to other parts of Ethiopia and led to the state of emergency that was declared in October.
Mualtu Gemechu with the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress says the pardons are welcome but estimates that 60,000 to 70,000 people have been detained in Oromia in recent months. He says prisons are full and some people are now being held at private residences.
A breakdown in Afghanistans relationship with Pakistan has driven a flood of Afghans living there to return, severely straining their war-ravaged homelands resources just as it is experiencing an escalation of violence.
Many of last years more than 600,000 returnees had lived in Pakistan for decades as refugees, both documented and undocumented, and have few local connections to assist in their resettlement.
The pressure on aid organizationsalso dealing with more than half a million Afghans displaced internally by fighting in 2016has left many returnees facing the harsh winter without any financial assistance.
This government hasnt even given me a glass of cold water, said Maghfourullah Khadem, part of a community of about 350 families trying to make a fresh start in tents on a barren plot in Barekab, a village on the northern edge of Kabul province.
The influx of people to informal settlements outside major cities is causing living costs to soar while depressing the labor market. And the United Nations and other agencies are expecting similar numbers this year.
The refugees are a humanitarian issue and should not be linked to politics, said Hafiz Ahmad Miakhel, an adviser at the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations. But unfortunately sometimes our countrymen become the victims of political issues.
Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
Local authorities in southern China say an attacker has stabbed 11 children at a kindergarten, and five of them are seriously injured.
A statement from the Pingxiang city government's information office said the suspect "sneaked into" their school and stabbed 11 children. Five have serious injuries. The statement cited the Pingxiang public security bureau.
The city government said police rushed to the scene and detained the suspect and rushed the children to the hospital. It said no child had life-threatening injuries.
The statement didn't say what weapon was used.
In recent years China has had several incidents of attackers entering schools and stabbing children, mostly carried out by people with vendettas against society.
Evangelical preacher the Rev. Franklin Graham and Pastor Saeed Abedini, a former American hostage in Iran, are two of the prominent names who are rallying behind Pastor Andrew Brunson, a U.S. citizen held in a Turkish prison who was recently denied his appeal for freedom.
TURKEY IDENTIFIES NIGHTCLUB ATTACK GUNMAN; 5 ISIS SUSPECTS DETAINED
As the American Center for Law and Justice reported, Brunson has been held for over two months in Turkey, where he is facing the serious charge of being a member "of an armed terrorist organization."
The law group has argued that the charge is "completely unfounded," however, and that Turkish authorities have not presented any evidence against him.
CHRISTIAN STUDENT SUES GEORGIA COLLEGE FOR RESTRICTING RIGHT TO PREACH ON CAMPUS
The ACLJ added that Brunson, whose appeal against his imprisonment was recently denied, and who has been denied attorney-client privileges, is being held for his Christian faith.
Graham, who often speaks out against the persecution of Christians on his Facebook page, wrote on Saturday that he spoke with the pastor's wife, Norine, and promised to help raise awareness for his plight.
"I ask that you join me in praying specifically for Pastor Andrew's protection and release," Graham said, in part.
"The Bible says, 'Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering' (Hebrews 13:3)," he added.
Abedini, who spent over three and a half years in Iranian prisons for his Christian faith before being freed in January 2016, made a similar plea for Brunson on his Facebook page.
Click Here to Read the Full Story at ChristianPost.com
Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has revealed that his cousins may have joined terrorist groups linked to ISIS and has vowed to take action if he ever met them face-to-face.
The president, famous for his blunt remarks and tough stance on drugs, made the comments in an interview on Wednesday with Philippine based citizen journalism website Rappler.
SUSPECTED MUSLIM REBELS STORM PHILIPPINES JAIL, 158 INMATES ESCAPE
Duterte said: To be frank, I have cousins on the other side, with MI and MN. Some, I heard, are with ISIS.
He was making reference to local groups affiliated to the extremist organisation, such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Moro National Liberation Front.
RUSSIA AIMS TO BEEF UP MILITARY TIES WITH PHILIPPINES AS 2 SHIPS VISIT
The president vowed to take action should he cross paths with those cousins, but fell short of specifying what their fate would be.
While Duterte has not specified what action he would take, he has previously confessed to shooting suspected drug dealers, as well as throwing a murder and rape suspect out of a helicopter while he was mayor of Davao.
If you are corrupt, I will fetch you using a helicopter to Manila and I will throw you out, he said in a televised speech in December.
In a separate incident, more than 150 prisoners escaped Tuesday late night from a southern prison there, after gunmen suspected of having Islamist ties launched a gun attack.
The prison break occurred at the North Cotabato District Jail near Kidapawan, off the island of Mindanao.
The country has seen a spate of terrorist attacks in recent months.
In December, at least 33 people were injured in two separate bomb attacks in Mindanao and Leyte, within less than an hour of each other.
In September, a bomb attack in a night market in Davao claimed the lives of fourteen shoppers, injuring many more.
Furthermore, several were injured recently in a bomb attack on Christmas Eve.
Click for more from The Sun.
Germany is taking on Facebook, threatening criminal action against the worlds biggest social media company if it doesnt stem the swelling tide of racist postings.
Entries such as gas the Jews are examples of the repugnant postings that have appeared online, said Piotr Malachowski, spokesman for the German Ministry of Justice.
Facebook doesnt take postings down unless they get complaints, or they dont remove it fast enough, Malachowski told FoxNews.com. What you are seeing on Facebook is not just racist comment, it is a violation of Germanys criminal code, he said. Facebook can be held criminally liable for users illegal hate speech.
German law prohibits speech that denies the Holocaust, disparages minorities, or insults public figures. Malachowski said the government asked Facebook two years ago to do a better job of filtering hate postings. Germany is now demanding a meaningful response by early this year, or it will take legal action against the social media giant that has 1.8 billion users worldwide.
Germany also is asking Google and Twitter to rein in objectionable posts.
Facebook denies claims that it is not taking down expressions of hate quickly enough. It has hired a German technology company to monitor and delete content that is illegal in Germany and other European countries. Six hundred people, fluent in several languages, scan the site daily.
Facebook claims inappropriate posts represent a small fraction of the millions of daily entries. A German government report issued in September finds that social media companies are struggling to take down illegal postings. According to this report, Facebook is taking down 46 percent of illegal content. YouTube takes down 10 percent, and Twitter just 1 percent.
Social media postings that call for incitement and violence rose 353 percent in 2015, according to Deidre Berger, director of the American Jewish Committees office in Berlin.
Much of the hate stems from anti-foreigner and anti-refugee sentiments, triggered by the influx of close to a million Muslims from the war-torn Middle East and Afghanistan, said Berger.
Social media is also a vehicle for the dissemination of conspiracy theories that blame Jews for everything that is wrong in the world, said Berger, noting that the number of anti-Semitic hate crimes in Germany rose 201 percent in 2015. She said the government links the rise in anti-Semitic acts to anti-Semitic postings in social media.
Journalist Ute Schaeffer observes that tweets and online posts can lead to violence, or impact election results. She said police now protect members of the Bundestag, or German parliament, who have condemned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogans authoritarian rule. Erdogan has supporters among the large Turkish community in Germany, some of whom post threatening comments.
Malte Lehming, editorial page editor at Der Tagesspiegel, Berlins largest newspaper, has a different perspective on Germanys proposed crackdown on social media hate speech. During a phone interview, he said there are already too many restrictions on free speech in Germany and that pressuring Facebook wont work.
He questioned, for example, how Germany could stop a Canadian citizen who tweets something that violates German law, but not Canadian law.
Do you judge the tweet by Canadian or German law? he asked, noting that there is no international law with standards that have universal application.
Experts pointed out that the hate postings on social media do not represent the views of most Germans. Many Germans who oppose such bigotry do not bother to post their views.
In all fairness, Facebook is not responsible for the hateful attitudes of some members of German society, said Anetta Kahane, chairperson of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, a German NGO that fights racism.
Facebook should not assume all the blame, Kahane says. At the same time, she feels Facebook could do a better job by following its own standards for acceptable content. They get rid of pornography, and they should get rid of racist content.
The Fulani herdsmen terrorists reportedly killed over 800 Christians and moderate Muslims, as well as destroyed at least 16 churches, in the last few months of 2016 in Nigeria, representing a rising Islamic threat.
Although Christians in Nigeria have been heavily targeted by the Boko Haram terror group since 2009, the nomadic Fulani herdsmen have also been growing more violent in their attacks, with the last three months of 2016 resulting in the deaths of hundreds of believers, according to a local bishop.
TURNING IRAQ HISTORY TO RUBBLE, LEAVING THE MESS TO LOOTERS
"Fifty-three villages burned down, 808 people murdered and 57 wounded, 1,422 houses and 16 churches destroyed," Bishop Joseph Bagobiri of the Diocese of Kafanchan told international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, recounting the violence Christians have faced since September.
The bishop pointed out that the Fulani radicals target both Christians and moderate Muslims, and although the conflicts have partially been based on farming land disputes, the terrorists are now using "sophisticated weapons they didn't have before, such as AK-47s of unknown provenance."
"In addition to the social and economic issues that have fueled conflict since ancient times, such as the distribution of the land and shortage of grazing, the dimension of the problem has changed," Bagobiri continued.
"The Fulani are Muslim and the land they are attacking belongs mainly to ethnic groups that are Christian; now there is religious hatred driving the violence."
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Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has told Jewish representatives that he strongly opposes contacts between his country's officials and European parties with a history of anti-Semitism.
Rivlin says he will "never condone" meetings between representatives of Israel and "European parties of the far right that are tainted with a history of anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial ... or the promotion of racial hatred or intolerance."
Vienna's Jewish community emailed a copy to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Dated Dec. 20, the letter is in response to one sent in November by World Jewish Congress Vice President Ariel Muzicant and Oskar Deutsch, the head of Vienna's Jewish community, complaining about contacts between Austria's Freedom Party and Israeli political figures.
The party said Wednesday that it doesn't consider Rivlin's comments as applying to it.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called for a pardon of the Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter for shooting a knife-wielding Palestinian attacker in the head, in a case that has deeply divided the country.
Sgt. Elor Azaria, an Israeli army medic who had been deployed to the West Bank at the age of 19, shot and killed the Palestinian attacker who lay wounded and motionless on the ground -- nearly 15 minutes after he tried to stab a soldier in Hebron. Azaria's supporters claimed the military made him into a scapegoat.
The country's president, Reuven Rivlin, has authority to issue pardons but has said he would wait for the legal process to run its course before making a decision.
ISRAEL DISPATCHES SPY CHIEF FOR SECRET MEETING WITH TRUMP
"I urge the people of Israel to support The Israeli Defense Forces. The soldiers are our daughters and sons," Netanyahu wrote on Facebook.
The three-judge panel ruled earlier Wednesday, "He opened fire in violation of orders, the terrorist did not pose any threat."
In delivering her ruling, Col. Maya Heller systematically rejected all of Azaria's defense arguments. There is no question that the defendant shot from close range after aiming his gun at the terrorists head and there is no dispute that by doing so he endangered the lives of those around him, she wrote.
ISRAELI MOSSAD LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD WOMEN
The judges added that Azaria was "aware" his actions would result in the loss of life, and it was his bullet that killed the wounded Palestinian. Despite Azaria's supporters claiming senior Israel Defense Forces leaders, politicians, the media or public opinion could influence the ruling, Heller emphasized that "the verdict is based solely on the evidence brought forth (in the trial)."
Azarias parents, Charlie and Oshra, left their home in Ramla in the early morning and arrived at the court for the verdict, greeted by hundreds of people who had turned up to stand in solidarity with the IDF sergeant.
As Azaria entered the courtroom, people nearby clapped their hands while calling out expressions of support: We love you and God loves you, they shouted.
Azaria's defense team vowed to take the case to the military court of appeals. This could drag the trial out for at least four more months and even longer if another appeal is filed to the Supreme Court.
Many Israeli lawmakers, both from the left and the right, called to pardon Azaria. Some claimed the legal process against him was "contaminated from the onset." According to Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett, "today a soldier was convicted like a criminal for killing a terrorist who tried to slaughter soldiers."
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman responded, "This is a severe verdict. I ask we all respect the court's ruling and show restraint. What is important despite the harsh verdict is that the defense establishments help the family and this soldier. I call on the public not to lambaste the IDF and the defense establishment. We must respect the ruling."
During the verdict reading, which lasted two and a half hours, violent fights started outside of the court, and hundreds of right-wing demonstrators who supported Azaria blocked one of the main roads in Tel Aviv. Police arrested two people.
The shooting, which took place in the morning hours of March 24, 2016, and the tense moments leading up to it, were captured on video by a Palestinian human rights activist. The video footage, distributed to news organizations, ensured that the incident, which came amid a wave of Palestinian stabbings, drew international attention. Azaria was indicted on April 18 by the military court.
In the face of strong condemnation of Azarias actions by top military brass including IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot and then-defense minister Moshe Yaalon, far-right supporters and some politicians have accused the defense establishment of abandoning one of its own.
Right-wing politicians and some celebrities rallied behind Azaria. His actions, they claimed, were justified by the barrage of Palestinian violence and the general atmosphere of alarm in Hebron, a city where hundreds of Israeli settlers, under heavy army protection, live among some 200,000 Palestinians.
On the other side stood serving members of the military establishment. Many of them said Azaria, who made far-right, anti-Palestinian postings on Facebook before joining the military, acted in cold blood and outside protocol.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The family of an Iraqi female journalist kidnapped in Baghdad last week says she has been released.
Nibras Shawqi al-Qaisi told The Associated Press on Wednesday that her sister, Afrah, was released the night before, without providing further details.
Gunmen who said they were members of the security forces asked to search Afrah's house last Monday before abducting her. They also took gold, money, phones, laptops and her car.
The veteran journalist, who is also an employee of the Culture Ministry, is a prominent critic of Iraq's endemic corruption.
War-torn Iraq is considered one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, who have been frequently targeted by militant groups since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
A Pakistani police official says a roadside bomb has struck a vehicle carrying police in the country's northwest, wounding four officers and 15 passers-by.
Local police official Mohammad Nawaz says Wednesday's attack took place in the city of Dera Ismail Khan, a gateway to Pakistan's troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing. Pakistan's army has carried out several operations against local and foreign militants in the country's tribal regions in recent years.
The army says it has cleared over 90 percent of the region from insurgents, who once had a strong presence there.
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Pope Francis has prayed for those who were killed in this week's Brazil prison riots, saying penitentiary conditions must be 'worthy of human persons."
Francis invited faithful at his weekly Wednesday audience at the Vatican to pray for the 60 who died in gang fights in the Brazil Amazon region prisons and their families, as well as inmates and prison workers worldwide.
He said he was "pained and concerned" about what happened in Brazil. He renewed his appeal so that prisons would be "places of re-education" and "not overcrowded but places for re-insertion" in society after sentences are served.
Throughout his papacy, Francis has pressed for better prison conditions and the need for rehabilitation of inmates. He has also denounced life imprisonment as a virtual death sentence.
On New Years Day, priests across Venezuela reportedly were instructed by Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, the archbishop of Caracas, to read a read a text during the homily encouraging parishioners to take a stand for democracy and not be intimidated by the socialist rule of Nicolas Maduro.
Spanish newspaper ABC reported that the Vatican itself is encouraging the Catholic Churchs involvement in Venezuelas acute financial and humanitarian crisis.
The text of the homily was sent by the Vatican, according to the paper.
The Church took a more active role in Venezuelas politics in October, after the government blocked the oppositions call for a referendum to recall Maduro.
In last Sundays homily, priests across the country referred to a "real dictatorship situation and urged Venezuelans "to put all their efforts into stopping the advance of the dictatorship and to eradicate it in a democratic way.
The extreme shortage of food and medicines, the text read, is caused by an erroneous economic system, a socialist totalitarianism that gives government a total control of the economy."
In Venezuela there are still 126 political prisoners, including Leopoldo Lopez, founder of Voluntad Popular, and the mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma. According to the Venezuelan Penal Forum, the Maduro regime imprisoned 56 dissidents in 2016 and released only 40.
Vatican-sponsored talks between the two sides stalled last month after the opposition said they would not attend any further meetings unless more concessions were made by the government.
The shooting of two government officials during a meeting Wednesday comes amid a rise in gun-related crimes in China, which has maintained a stringent, decadeslong ban on owning firearms.
A gunman burst into a government meeting in the inland city of Panzhihua and opened fire, state media reported. The shooting injured the citys mayor and Communist Party secretary. The assailant, identified as the head of the local land and resources bureau, fled and then killed himself, according to a city government statement.
State media and the governments statement didnt explain the motives of the gunman, identified as Chen Zhongshu. Panzhihua officials couldnt be reached to comment.
The shooting grabbed attention on state and social media. Many expressed surprise, noting that in China, one would have to be a privileged government official to get access to a firearm.
Gun violence and the use of firearms to commit crimes are unusual in China, where rules effectively ban all private ownership and police exercise wide authority to question and detain suspects. Violent crimes tend to be committed with knives or explosives available for mining and road construction.
Government statistics show the number of violations of controls on firearms and ammunition rising by more than 50% in one year, to 81,668 cases in 2015. The national police ministry said in August that overall gun-related crimes are continuing to rise, especially internet sales of guns, seriously affecting public safety and stability and the peoples sense of security.
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Turkey says repeated cease-fire violations by the Syrian government are threatening to derail scheduled peace talks in Kazakhstan.
Speaking to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Iran needed to address the cease-fire violations in Syria by the government and its allies.
Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and a guarantor of a tenuous cease-fire agreement that came into force shortly before the new year. Turkey is a sponsor of the Syrian opposition.
The cease-fire is supposed to prepare the way for talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, in late January between the government and the opposition. Those talks will be brokered by Russia, Iran, and Turkey.
Cavusoglu says the Astana process "might fail if we cannot stop the escalating violations."
A 50-year-old man has been arrested at London Heathrow airport on suspicion of a terrorism offense.
British police say the man was taken into custody by counter-terrorism officers after arriving in Britain on a flight from Cairo on Wednesday.
He was arrested on suspicion of possessing articles which contained information likely to be useful to a person planning an act of terrorism.
A property in north London was being searched as part of the investigation.
Police have said that the arrest was pre-planned and not related to the Islamic State group or the conflict in Syria.
Mounting concern over the possibility of an extremist attack in Britain has led to increased airport security and increased checks of passengers on incoming flights from the Middle East.
What are pitcher plants and why do plants that grow in bogs and eat bugs matter?
It is a simple question, one that comes quickly to mind, but upon the answer hangs the very survival of this beautiful, if carnivorous, species.
The front line in the battle to save the pitcher plant from extinction is not, as you might expect, in the remote rain forests of the Amazon or the far-off jungles of Africa, but rather down a highway in Caroline County. Here, on the side of the Fredericksburg Turnpike, is the Meadowview Biological Research Station.
As official as that sounds, it is not the government at all that leads this fight, but a private, nonprofit organization.
No one is doing this, said C. Michael Hammond, a member of Meadowviews board of directors, No university, no government agency.
What Meadowview is doing is trying to save and restore pitcher plants to their historic range in both Virginia and Maryland. To accomplish this, the small but dedicated staff does everything from educating the public about Meadowviews work to collecting the seeds of pitcher plants threatened by development.
A VERY IMPORTANT PLANT
Why all the fuss for a plant many people have never seen, much less heard of?
Its a keystone species in a bog ecosystem, Hammond said. That means its very important. Its a species that holds habitat together.
Bogs where pitcher plants grow help to keep water clean. Hammond likened bogs to natures kidneys and said they can produce cleaner water than many cities.
Healthy pitcher plants equal healthy water, added Richard J. Curzon, a resident horticulturist at Meadowview. They only grow in high pristine areas where water quality is good.
Not only a research center as its names implies, Meadowview also grows pitcher plants at its nursery. Besides the two species that are native to Virginia, the center raises carnivorous plants from every continent except Antarctica. Among the rarest of these are an endangered tropical species from the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia, as well as the ever-popular Venus fly trap from North Carolina.
FACING EXTINCTION
Most of the worlds more than 100 kinds of pitcher plants are either threatened or face extinction, including all 11 species in the U.S. Not only is this due to habitat loss, but to pitcher plants extreme sensitivity to changes in its own environment.
For pitcher plants to thrive, they need fire every few years to burn the underbrush that blocks sunlight and to clear the leaf litter that prevents their seeds from growing. In this one regard, Smokey Bear may have done his job a little too well by discouraging forest fires.
Because it raises every kind of pitcher plant in the world, Meadowviews nursery attracts pitcher plant hobbyists and receives inquiries from as far away as Finland and Australia, according to Hammond. Plant sales alone account for a big part of its annual budget, bringing in $28,000 in 2015. While that money pays for much of Meadowviews work, it is not enough for the organization to meet all its goals.
If Meadowview is to achieve its mission, it all starts with land, Hammond said. You cant restore something you dont have access to.
In addition to a 273-acre preserve in Sussex County, Meadowview owns 18 acres at its research station. It wants to expand in Caroline, but with adjacent land running into several hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Curzon, that remains an elusive goal.
To ensure that as much money as possible goes to its mission, Meadowviews overhead expenses are kept low. You wont find a gleaming headquarters building here with marble floors and mahogany desks.
Instead, its office occupies a cramped 100-year-old farmhouse equipped with both an old-fashioned wood-burning furnace, as well as modern solar panels for heat and hot water. The greenhouse and another structure, the highland growing chamber, are kept warm this way, too.
SATISFYING WORK
In addition, much of the work is done by volunteers. Even Meadowviews founder and president, Phil Sheridan, has never received a paycheck for his work in more than 20 years. New volunteers are always welcomed, to be sure. But fair warning: It is hard, dirty work (exciting, but not sexy, as Hammond calls it). Yet, the work seems to inspire passionate loyalty among those who do it.
Sheridans interest in pitcher plants began 40 years ago when he was 15 and Curzons started at the age of 10. Hammond has volunteered at Meadowview since 2000, driving an hour and a half one way from his home in Manassas just to help.
I love this work, and work for free, because of the satisfaction from doing this work is my reward, Hammond said. Sheridan and his staff keep a frenetic pace between the nursery, field work and conferences. Just this fall and next spring, plans call for planting 12,000 longleaf pine seedlings at the Sussex preserve. The longleaf pine, which once grew on more than 93 million acres from Virginia to Texas, has been reducedlike pitcher plantsto less than 5 percent of its historic range. Meadowview is trying to change that, too.
Yet, with all the worlds problems, the question remains: Why should anyone care about pitcher plants? That question was put to Curzon recently at the end of another busy day as the late afternoon sun shone through a window of Meadowviews office.
Its a drop in the bucket of a bigger problem, the worldwide conserving of nature, Curzon admitted. But its a symptom of a mind-set that everything has to explain itself.
Pausing for a moment, he added, Theyre beautiful. People love beautiful plants.
Visitors are welcomed to Meadowview by appointment. Call 804/633-4336 or e-mail at meadowview@pitcherplant.org to schedule a tour.
The University of Mary Washington is poised to launch a search for another of its top administration positions.
Leah Cox, special assistant to the president for diversity and inclusion, has accepted a position as vice president of inclusion and institutional equity at Towson University in Maryland. Her last day at UMW will be Jan. 19.
Towson selected Cox after a nationwide search.
UMW president Troy Paino called Coxs tenure at UMW invaluable to the institution in an email.
While we congratulate Dr. Cox on this new opportunity, we regret the loss of an individual who has for 15 years provided leadership on many key programs and initiatives at Mary Washington, he continued.
Cox also serves as the Title IX coordinator and ombudsman for the campus, and oversees the Student Transition Program, the Rappahannock Scholars Program and the James Farmer Scholars Program.
Paino said the school will launch a search for Coxs successor as soon as possible, and is committed to keeping momentum going on diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Charles J. Colgan, Virginias longest-serving state senator with 40 years in the maroon-and-buff chamber from which he urged expanded investments in education and transportation, died Tuesday after a brief illness. He was 90.
The elfin Mr. Colgan, known for his patience and good cheer, was a Democrat who nonetheless worked closely with Republicans. Because of his social conservatism Mr. Colgan was a devout Catholic he broke with his party on abortion rights, voting to restrict the procedure.
When Mr. Colgan arrived at the Virginia Senate for the first time in 1976, the county he represented, Prince William, was still heavily rural a far cry from the bustling, politically competitive outer suburb of Washington thats become a magnet for newcomers, among them non-English-speaking foreign immigrants whose numbers have roiled local politics. He retired a year ago this month.
As the senior member of the Senate, Mr. Colgan was designated its president pro tempore, requiring he preside over the 40-member body in the absence of its usual presiding officer, the lieutenant governor.
That ceremonial assignment was paired with one considerably more influential: the chairmanship of the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee and, later, the co-chairmanship with Republican Walter A. Stosch of Henrico. That arrangement initially reflected a 20-20 split in the Senate, but continued after Republicans won the majority.
Mr. Colgan, who also served on the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, giving him a big say in business issues, rarely hesitated to advocate new taxes, particularly to meet the transportation and education needs of fast-growing Northern Virginia.
And well before Gov. Jim Gilmore would run for the states highest office in 1997 on a pledge to eliminate the hated car tax, Mr. Colgan urged the locally collected levy be junked, with cities and counties making up the revenue through higher sales taxes.
Chuck was a champion in the Virginia Senate for the people of Prince William County and the entire commonwealth, said Gov. Terry McAuliffe, in announcing Mr. Colgans death in a written statement.
His passionate and bipartisan approach to getting things done should serve as an example for all of us as we continue the work he and so many undertook and passed forward to us.
On Sept. 25 Mr. Colgans 90th birthday a life-size bronze statue of him was unveiled at the Prince William Science and Technology Campus of George Mason University, the fast-growing school for which he was an enthusiastic advocate.
Tributes to Mr. Colgan poured in from colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
Chuck was a devoted public servant who spent his life dedicated to making the commonwealth a better place, said House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford. He truly was a statesman who was always concerned about what was best for Virginia. He was a friend to many in the House. It is the end of an era.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., a former governor, said in a statement: Chuck Colgan may have been my closest friend in Virginia politics. When I met him, he already was a legend in Prince William.
Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, said, Senator Colgan counted legislators from both sides of aisle and in both chambers as his friends. His experience proved invaluable to enacting fiscally responsible budgets, negotiating effectively for his constituents and the commonwealth.
Last week, Mr. Colgan entered hospice care in Aldie, in Loudoun County.
An Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, the Frostburg, Md.,-born Mr. Colgan arrived in Prince William County in the post-war years, building a regional air service that became Colgan Airways and would sell in 1986. He and his son restarted the service in 1986 after its new parent had closed. In 2007, the company was sold to Pinnacle Airlines Corp. for $20 million.
Mr. Colgan, a Prince William supervisor before his election to the Senate, came to the county with several other war veterans who would become personal friends and as he did politically prominent, though as Republicans.
They included a future congressman, Stan Parris, and Mr. Colgans closest friend in the General Assembly, Del. Harry Parrish, who was chairman of the tax-writing House Finance Committee. Mr. Colgan and Parrish occasionally staged fundraising events together, allowing lobbyists and others to simultaneously donate to a Democrat and a Republican.
Mr. Colgan survived by his wife of eight years, Carmen Alicia Bernal, and eight children from his first marriage of 52 years to Agnes Footen who died in 2001 showed little interest in the trappings of office and often addressed fellow senators, staff members, lobbyists, and reporters as buddy.
In 2007, when he was 81, Mr. Colgan easily dispatched his opponent, in part, with a television commercial in which he led school-age children on a jog around Capitol Square and then Rocky-like triumphantly mounted the steps of the South Portico.
In 2012, when the Senate was evenly divided, Mr. Colgan ended a bitter standoff over the state budget, siding with the 20 Republicans to assure passage of the spending plan. I didnt feel very good about not having a budget, he said after casting the deciding vote.
He was just a genuinely good person to work with, Stosch recalled on Tuesday.
Once the elections were over, we actually settled down and did the work of the people of the commonwealth.
A federal judge on Tuesday said he will decide within a week whether to delay Ricky Javon Grays scheduled Jan. 18 execution over concerns about drugs the state intends to use if Gray dies by injection.
Midazolam, a sedative, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart, are the first and third drugs used in Virginias three-drug procedure. The drugs were made by a compounding pharmacy and not by pharmaceutical manufacturers, which no longer provide drugs to states for executions.
The state strongly disputes that the compounded drugstested by a state laboratory and made by a licensed Virginia pharmacy and pharmacistare anything less than effective and suitable for use in an execution. The alleged problems are wholly speculative, said Margaret Hoel OShea, with the Virginia attorney generals office.
Under state law, Gray must choose execution by injection or electrocution by 15 days prior to the execution date. If he refuses to select a method, state law makes lethal injection the default method.
The Virginia Department of Corrections did not immediately respond Tuesday when asked if Gray had made a choice.
Grays lawyers also contend death in the states electric chair is cruel and unusual punishment. And they claim the use of compounded drugs have contributed to botched executions elsewhere and unnecessarily increase the risk of chemical torture.
They are asking U.S. District Judge Henry Hudsonwho heard more than four hours of testimony and argument Tuesdayto delay the execution so they can better make their case.
An expert testified for Gray Tuesday that execution by firing squad presents less risk of cruel and unusual punishment than Virginias proposed injection procedure.
One argument appeared to leave Hudson perplexed Tuesday: a psychologist testified that Gray, who was sexually abused as a child, has nightmares about being paralyzed and raped. He would suffer severe psychological distress fearing or experiencing an execution in which he was paralyzed, but remained conscious and in extreme pain.
You are aware he bound the two young children before he killed them, are you not? Hudson asked David Lisak, of New Mexico, who testified via video link. Lisak said he was. His binding of the children in this case before he killed themthat is not inconsistent? with that theory, asked the judge. No, responded Lisak.
Hudson dd not appear persuaded.
Gray was sentenced to die for the New Years Day 2006 slayings of sisters Ruby Harvey, 4, and Stella Harvey, 9. He also killed their parents, Bryan Harvey, 49, and Kathryn Harvey, 39, in their South Richmond home, which was set on fire. The murder weapons included a knife and hammer.
Less than a week later, Gray and accomplice Ray Dandridge, 39, killed Ashley Baskerville, 21, who had been a lookout when Gray killed the Harveys; Baskervilles mother, Mary Tucker, 47; and stepfather Percyell Tucker, 55, in their Richmond home.
Referring to the possibility of the nightmare/psychological terror argument, OShea told Hudson, If the court gives credence to that, then Gray should not be executed at all.
OShea, in her closing argument, told the judge that what Gray did was a nightmare for the community, the Harvey family and the two little girls.
She noted that when Gray was arrested he gave a full confession and told the police, I just want to die. Ten years later, the time is now, said OShea.
Lisa Fried, one of Grays lawyers asked the judge not to call off the execution indefinitely, but to delay it so Grays concerns can be fully aired.
In response to a question from Hudson, Fried conceded the constitution does not require a pain-free execution. But she said that while the public has an interest in seeing that sentences are carried out, everyone in the state has an interest in making sure executions are carried out constitutionally.
An expert, pharmacist Larry D. Sasich, testified that the testing on the drugs performed by the state on the compounded drugsto identify them and ascertain their potencywas inadequate. They should also been tested for sterility, acidity and if to see if there are any particulates in the solutions which are injected into the inmate via and IV line.
Asked by Fried how likely the use of a compounded drug would lead to pain and suffering, Sasich said, It is more likely compared to the use of an FDA-approved product.
However, a state expert pharmacist, Daniel E. Buffington, said the compounding of such drugs by pharmacies is common in the industry. Its done routinely, he said. Buffington said he was not aware of any botched execution caused by midlazolam. The problems, he said he was aware of, were caused by the drugs administration.
Dr. Jonathan I. Groner testified there was less risk of pain in an execution by firing squad, which would be almost instantaneous if done properly, than in one using midlazolam. Virginia has not used the firing squad, although Utah has twice since the death penalty was allowed to resume in 1976.
A Department of Corrections official testified that no employees were trained to conduct a firing squad, there was no facility in which to do so and that the General Assembly would have to change the law to permit that form of execution.
He conceded under cross examination, however, that prison employees are trained in the use of firearms.
Hudson said he expected to have an opinion written by next Monday or Tuesday at the latest.
In Rocky IV, Ivan Drago only has nine lines. But one of them stuck: "If he dies, he dies," which he delivers after beating Apollo Creed. (Spoiler alert: Creed dies.) Read moreFight the Power: Dont get numb to COVID-19 and dont let me get numb either
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President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping congratulated Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Ukrainian people on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Kyiv.
"In 25 years after establishing diplomatic relations Chinese-Ukrainian relations stably develop. Cooperation between the two countries in trade, economic, investment, agricultural, scientific, cultural and other spheres have achieved substantial results. The contents of Chinese-Ukrainian strategic partnership are permanently expanding, which brings real benefits to the two countries and their people," Xi Jinping said in a greeting published by the press service of the Ukrainian president on Wednesday.
"China pays large attention to the development of Chinese-Ukrainian relations. China is ready to use the best opportunity of the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries based on mutual respect and mutual benefits to come to the further strengthening of the foundation for friendly cooperation between the two countries, promotion of bilateral relations and cooperation in all spheres to have even more achievements," he said.
Ukrtransnafta to pump Urals oil from Odesa-Kremenchuk oil pipeline, transport it by rail to fill in second line of Druzhba pipeline
Public joint-stock company Ukrtransnafta has made arrangements with public joint-stock company Ukrtatnafta (Kremenchuk oil refinery) on the transshipment of Urals crude oil pumped from the Odesa-Kremenchuk oil pipeline to railway tankers to transport it and pump it to the second line of the Druzhba oil pipeline, First Deputy Director General of Ukrtransnafta Andriy Pasichnyk has told Interfax-Ukraine.
"On January 3 we signed a contract on transshipment of Urals oil from the Odesa-Kremenchuk section with Ukrtatnafta. Crude oil will be transported by rail to Brody and then oil will fill in the second line of the Druzhba oil pipeline [now it is filled with preservative agents]. We seek to remove Urals oil in January and start pumping Azeri Light crude oil to Kremenchuk oil refinery from February. Urals crude oil is replaced to Azeri Light in pursuant to the contracts signed with Ukrtatnafta to transport at least 1.3 million tonnes of Azeri Light crude oil to Kremenchuk oil refinery starting from 2017," he said.
Pasichnyk said that the contract has guarantees: if transportation volumes fall, Kremenchuk oil refinery would compensate all expenses on the replacement of Urals oil to Azeri Light to Ukrtransnafta.
The contract to transport at least 1.3 million tonnes of Azeri Light oil to Kremenchuk oil refinery was approved by Naftogaz Ukrainy in December.
The Odesa-Kremenchuk oil pipeline was idle for around five years.
Coal stocks in the warehouses of thermal power plants (TPP) of Ukraine from December 25, 2016 until January 2, 2017 increased by 3%, from 1.7 million tonnes to 1.751 million tonnes, Ukrenergo has reported.
In particular, anthracite coal stocks grew by 1.6%, to 891,000 tonnes (including 128,000 tonnes at Luhansk TPP), while gas coal and long-flame coal stocks were up by 4.5%, to 860,000 tonnes (including 113,000 tonnes at Burshtyn TPP).
Ukrenergo said energy consumption in the morning of January 3 was 20.002 GW, while 31 coal power units at the TPPs generated 5.487 GW. Nuclear power plants (NPPs) showed a capacity of 10.749 GW, hydroelectric power plants 1.293 GW, combined heat and power plants 2.265 MW and alternative energy units 208 MW.
Exports from the Burshtyn TPP energy island on January 2 stood at 468 MW, to Poland at 111 MW. No exports to Belarus, Moldova and Russia were reported.
The agreement comes about two months after Project Roomkey, which provided motel rooms for the homeless, ended.
11:15 a.m. Update: All lanes of traffic are now open on Highway 20
SANTIAM PASS Travel over Highway 20 over the Santiam Pass was limited to one lane Wednesday morning due to avalanches at Mile Post 79.8, about one mile west of the summit, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation.
ODOT officials said the first avalanche occurred about 3:30 a.m. and the roadway was cleared about two hours later.
But about 7:15 a.m., a second avalanche again covered Highway 20 in the same area.
No injuries were reported.
Several feet of new snow was reported in the area and snowfall was continuing.
According to ODOTs Trip Check video cameras, there is a severe weather alert in place, including blowing snow and white out conditions in some places.
The temperature is about 8 degrees.
Other areas of the mid-valley area experiencing extremely icy driving conditions including on Interstate 5.
Traffic was moving about 30 miles per hour about 8 a.m. and a few vehicles were noted in the ditches along the interstate in a stretch between the Halsey exit and Albany.
The forecast calls for a high of 35 with a chilly overnight low of about 18 to 20 degrees.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for the mid-valley including Corvallis, Lebanon, Albany, Eugene and Springfield.
The advisory calls for another two inches of snow accumulation.
Dec. 19, 1947 Dec. 30, 2016
Arlin LeRoy Webb passed away suddenly at his home in Albany on Friday afternoon, Dec. 30, 2016.
He was born in York, Nebraska, on Dec 19, 1947, to parents Charles Everett Webb and Jewell Ileen Peterson Webb.
He lived in Corvallis and attended and graduated from Corvallis High School in 1966.
He moved to the Yamhill area around 1971, where he worked with longtime friends Juddi and Paul Everts at their newly formed company, Chehalem Fruit & Vegetable Co., serving the Yamhill County.
Arlin moved to Illinois around 1979, where he worked for Illinois Bell Telephone and was able to return to the Northwest via a phone company transfer a year later. He was transferred to the Seattle area where he lived until 1993.
Arlin worked for the phone company in Seattle and was able to transfer his job to Corvallis. After the offices he worked at closed, he enrolled in a truck driving course to renew his CDL. He found a job with Gordon Trucking in 2003 and continued with them until his retirement at the end of August 2016.
He is survived by his wife of 34 years, Cathy; son Tyler Charles; and daughter Nicole Marie. He also leaves his sister, Shirley May Dixon; son Steven Charles; and other family and friends.
A celebration of life is planned for March. For more info, please email cwebb10545@gmail.com, with Life Celebration in the title.
Condolences may be posted online at www.fisherfuneralhome.com.
Lifting sanctions may become possible only after Moscow complies with Minsk agreements Klimkin
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin has said that it may become possible to talk about lifting of sanctions against Russia after its fulfillment of the Minsk agreements. In case Moscow fails to fulfill them, we should toughen them.
"We need the sanctions to force Russia to fulfill the 'Minsk'. If it complies with 'Minsk', then we can start talking about sanctions lifting and about other things on the part of the European Union," Klimkin said at joint briefing with Kurz [OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Austrian Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs Sebastian Kurz] briefing in Mariupol on Wednesday.
Ukrainian foreign minister noted that the idea of lifting the sanctions after fulfillment of the Minsk agreements is not a new one.
"When 'Minsk' is fulfilled, then the sanctions are removed, when it is not fulfilled, then we must find the means, perhaps, of strengthening of sanctions, or other means of pressure to make Russia fulfill its obligations," Klimkin said.
He added that those sanctions, which were imposed on Russia in connection with the occupation of Crimea, should not be removed.
Former head of the Party of Regions faction in the Verkhovna Rada of the 7th convocation Oleksandr Yefremov and his lawyers have been presented an indictment in the case in which he is charged with encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine and a number of other crimes.
Yefremov's defense lawyers Oleksandr Melnykov told Interfax-Ukraine the indictment was handed to the suspect and his two lawyers on Tuesday.
Now, Yefremov's case can be transferred to court.
As reported, Yefremov was arrested on suspicion of diminishing the territorial integrity of Ukraine on July 30 at the airport in Kyiv. He is suspected of assisting the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, as well as embezzling from Luhanskvuhillia coal mining enterprise.
Yefremov is suspected of state treason, activities deliberately undertaken by a citizen of Ukraine to diminish the nation's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. He is accused of supporting a foreign organization to conduct disruptive activities against Ukraine (Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Kyiv's Pechersky district court on November 24 approved a request from Ukrainian prosecutors to extend the length of his pretrial confinement until January 22.
Haus der Geschichte in Bonn : Lorry used in Berlin terror attack could come to museum
Bonn The lorry used in the Berlin terror attack is a murder weapon but also a part of German contemporary history. So will it become part of the collection at Haus der Geschichte? Heres what the President of the foundation had to say.
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Is the lorry used in the attack on a Berlin Christmas market a museum piece or would that be tasteless and an accolade for the perpetrator? Hans Walter Hutter, President of the Haus der Geschichte Foundation in Bonn, gives his view in a DPA (German Press Agency) interview.
Will the Haus der Geschichte try to obtain the lorry used in the Berlin terror attack?
Hutter: It is still too early to be able to give a final answer on that. Investigation proceedings are still ongoing. And one also needs time to be able to make the right decision. The entire lorry is also too big. One would need to think more of a particular piece. In Bonn, for example, we have exhibited the door of a German armed forces vehicle that was shot at in Afghanistan.
Many people will doubtless be unable to understand that one can even think of putting such a murder weapon in the museum. Doesnt it glorify the perpetrator?
Hutter: This is a question we of course always ask ourselves: does this mean the perpetrators achieve exactly what they want, namely enduring public attention? It is therefore very important for us to not under any circumstances depict events only from the perpetrators viewpoint; that would be wrong. But when an issue is relevant to society, and that is the case here, then it is part of our history, whether we want it to be or not. And when we are tasked with preserving the pasts material heritage, this includes such issues, but specifically only in this context. And you always need a period of time to be able to evaluate the deed itself and its consequences.
What terrorism related objects do you currently have in your collection?
Hutter: In the permanent exhibition in Bonn we exhibit various objects of RAF terrorism. The Cologne nail bomb used by the neo-Nazi cell NSU represents current right-wing radicalism. And we have now also acquired parts of the Twin Towers in New York: some of the metal girders severely bent by the terror attack on September 11 and parts of the facade, which represent the sheer violence. But we also have a small ID card from one of the Deutsche Bank employees killed. It represents the human sorrow of this terrorist crime. We still have to discuss in what form the IS terrorism now present in Germany will be included in the collection.
What sort of things could this include?
Hutter: Several aspects need to thought about: the deed itself, the perpetrators and the instruments used, the victims, their relatives and the consequences for society. You need a whole bundle of meaningful objects, documents, photos, sound and film reports.
Is there an exhibit in this context that left a lasting impression on you?
Hutter: I recently saw the weapon used to shoot the heir to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo in 1914 in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna. Having the original in front of my eyes made an impression, when you think this weapon contributed to the start of World War One. However, an exhibition establishes the context; otherwise it is just a weapon.
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Protecting the worlds oceans an important goal of Germanys climate diplomacy
The worlds oceans are vital to our survival. They regulate the global climate and are a source of food and income for billions of people. Only a very small part of the seas enjoys legal protection, however. Our diplomats are working in New York right now to change this state of affairs.
OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs of Austria Sebastian Kurz has said a full ceasefire should be the foundation for free and fair elections in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The basis for the efficient work of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission must be a real ceasefire, which should also become the foundation for holding free and fair elections in Donbas, Kurz said at a joint briefing with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin in Mariupol on Wednesday.
Kingston Announced a Mind-Boggling USB Flash Drive with 2TB of Storage at CES News oi -Chakri Kudikala Notably, Kingston was the first brand to launch flash drive with 1TB storage, back in 2013.
Ahead of Ces 2017, Kingston, the American multinational company unveiled a new flash drive that offers you a storage of mammoth 2TB. Kingston is the first brand to launch a USB drive with an insane amount of storage.
The Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate Generation Terabyte (GT) is the world's first highest capacity USB Flash drive, states the company in their press release. Also, the company released the complete specifications of the flash drive.
SEE ALSO: Idea Expands its 4G Service to 1,579 Towns and Villages of Karnataka, Offers 10GB Data at Rs. 249
The new 2TB flash drive comes with a USB 3.1 Generation 1 technology, which, on paper offers data transfer speeds up to 5Gbps. With this insane storage space, you can store up to 70 hours of 4K video, 5 lakh MP3 files, 96 PC games (average-sized), and 256,000 24MP photos.
Also, the company released a press release comparing on what and how much can you store on this new 2TB drive.
To recall, back in 2013, Kingston released the world's first USB flash drive with an insane 1TB of storage and today, the company also announced the upgrade to the 1TB storage drive. So, the new Data Traveler Ultimate GT ships in two storage options- 1TB and 2TB. Both of them will go on sale from February.
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Kuri
Kuri is a mobile security camera that is packed with some smart-home control capabilities. It can be called a nanny robot as it can roam all through your home to check on your kids and pets when you are not at home. Kuri can become the perfect home robot as it can be your assistant, companion, eyes and ears, photographer, etc. In simple words, it could be the cutest addition to your family.
PowerRay FishFinder Robot
The PowerRay is a actually a robot fishing buddy designed for saltwater, freshwater and ice fishing. The robot can dive up tp 30 meters underwater and stay there for up to four hours and let you find and lure fish. It will give you the view with the help of the integrated 4K UHD camera via an app for Android and iOS mobile devices through Wi-Fi. You can control the robot and its camera via this app.
Also Read: Qualcomm CES 2017 Launches Roundup: Snapdragon 835 Gets the Attraction
Eywa E1
Avatar Controls based in China, a maker of smart home products, has come up with the Eywa E1 Smart Home Security Robot at the ongoing CES 2017. This robot is similar to Jibo. Eywa features an inbuilt Wi-Fi speaker and has a multifunction player to educate and entertain kids. However, the main goal of this robot is to secure your house. The robot also has temperature, light and humidity sensors and is packed with the connectivity features as well.
UBTECH's Alpha 2 and Jimu
These robots from UBTECH are named as the CES 2017 Innovation Awards Honorees. The Alpha 2 is the first such humanoid robot designed for practical household usage. The Jimu Robot is an interactive and STEM-friendly robotic building block that lets kids aged between 8 and 14 build their programs and share their creations.
Olly
Olly is a desktop robot created by a UK-based start-up. It develops a different personality for each user in a specific household. The robot can play music as well as control the internet-connected devices. Moreover, Olly can also offer advice.
Also Read: CES 2017: Asus Announces ROG GT51CH Gaming PC With Windows 10 OS
Hub Robot
LG is said to launch a number of robots at the CES 2017. One that has everyone excited is the Hub Robot. It is likely to be a smart home gateway hub as well as personal assistant. The robots from the South Korean tech giant are said to have artificial intelligence, but the capabilities of the same are yet to be revealed. It is said to be an Amazon Echo competitor
Snapdragon 835 Processor
The Snapdragon 835 processor is the company's latest premium mobile platform with X16 LTE. This is the first mobile platform to be manufactured using the 10nm FinFET process node, paving way for breakthrough performance and power efficiency. The Snapdragon 835 processor has support for X16 LTE modem for Gigabit Class LTE connectivity, Bluetooth 5.0, 2x2 802.11 ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi and 802.11ad for multi-gigabit connectivity. The Kryo 280 CPU and Hexagon 682 DSP include support for Halide for image processing and TensorFlow for machine learning.
The Snapdragon 835 consumes 25% lesser power than the previous iteration processors, providing longer battery life and slimmer designs. It supports Daydream, the Google platform for mobile VR and 25% increased 3D graphics rendering performance as well as support. It supports Haven security platform supporting eye, face and fingerprint biometrics.
Collaboration on 5G New Radio Trials
Qualcomm, Ericsson and AT&T announced their plans to conduct interoperability testing and trials based on the 5G New Radio specifications that are in the development by 3GPP and this will form the basis of the global standards. This is intended to help move the mobile ecosystem to faster deployment of 5G based on the standards compliant 5G NR infrastructure. The interoperability and testing are likely to be launched in the United States in the second half of this year.
Also Read: 5G to Get the Spotlight at the Show
UnitedHealthcare Motion Wellness Program
Qualcomm along with UnitedHealthcare announced the expansion of the UnitedHealthcare Motion wellness program offering employees activity trackers sans any additional charge. Also, they can earn up to $1,460 per year on meeting their goals in terms of the number of steps they walk daily. Qualcomm Life will leverage the connected health ecosystem to provide secure data transfer between the devices and the Motion app and UnitedHealthcare. It will also enable BYOD model to let the integration of approved activity trackers, providing the users with a wide range of choices. Notably, Fitbit Charge 2 will be the latest activity tracker to be integrated with the BYOD model.
TrueWireless Stereo Headset Reference Design
The Qualcomm TrueWireless technology will meet the growing demand in the market for headsets with smaller form factor. This technology will eliminate the need for wires not only between the media source and the headset but also between the earbuds on either side. With this solution, Bluetooth hearables and headsets can be connected wirelessly to the audio source and is aimed at making low-cost wire-free headsets possible.
ThingSpace-ready Modules
Qualcomm is aiming to accelerate innovation in the field of Internet of Things with the ThingSpace-ready modules from Telit and Quectel. To facilitate the creation of the IoT solutions with the help of Verizon's ThingSpace platform on MDM9206 LTE modem, Verizon is coming up with a development kit. We can expect the modules and development kit to be made available early this year.
Also Read: Lenovo's Launches at CES 2017: ThinkPad X1, Miix 720, and More
Next Generation Infotainment for Volkswagen Vehicles
Qualcomm has announced the integration of its chipsets in the next generation Volkswagen AG vehicles. The chipsets used include Snapdragon 820A processor for infotainment systems, Snapdragon X12 for connected car and X5 LTE modem for telematics systems. Qualcomm is aimed at delivering superior user experience and enhanced safety features for the automobiles. Volkswagen AG vehicles with the Snapdragon 820A processor will be made available in 2019 and the others will come earlier in 2018 itself.
New IoT Connectivity and Expanded Wi-Fi SON
Qualcomm announced the new IoT connectivity platform and expanded the Wi-Fi SON feature to deliver consistent, simple and seamless connected experiences to users. The new IoT connectivity platform is designed to ensure the simultaneous usage of CSRmesh connectivity, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 802.15.4-based technologies across a network. It minimizes complexity and eases the fragmentation challenges for developers, manufacturers and consumers.
The Wi-Fi SON suite of features bring support for both wireline-based and wired networks. It allows network installations dependent on PLC to leverage innovative features irrespective of the network medium, which defines the Wi-Fi implementations of SON. Also, it offers expanded support for multi-hop network topologies and supported architectures to include the MIPS-based systems.
Active Noise Canceling Technology
Qualcomm has announced the world's first Bluetooth Audio SoC with integrated active noise canceling technology to meet the demand for superior quality wireless sound. This new feature minimizes both complexity and cost of adding active noise canceling to the headphones by eradicating the necessity for the unique ANC chip and this helps the manufacturers deliver premium audio experiences in smaller form factor designs.
AR Smartglass
Qualcomm along with ODG, a leader and maker of mobile headworn computing and AR technologies and products, came up with the R-8 and R-9 smartglasses. These will be the first devices to use the Snapdragon 835 processor. The R-8 is the first consumer mobile AR/VR smartglasses aimed at the early adopters and R-9 is meant for a range of wide field of view experiences.
Also Read: Announcements Made by Acer at the Mega Tech Show
Snapdragon X16 LTE Modem for Connected Vehicles
The chip maker announced a new variant of its connected vehicle reference platform, which makes use of the flagship Gigabit Class Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE modem. It helps car makers deliver high-quality, high-speed and reliable connectivity needed for advanced telematics as well as connected vehicle services. It also includes a module reference design for the Snapdragon X16 LTE modem that will help automotive suppliers accelerate the development and enhance the time to commercialization.
Galaxy S8 should make up for the losses caused by Note 7 recall
With the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung did meet the expectations of users, but it faced the unexpected crisis that led to the withdrawal of the device from the market. Eventually, the reputation of the brand was impacted badly and the South Korean firm lost several billions due to the recalls. Apart from this loss, the company is forced to rebuild the trust with its upcoming launch.
The Galaxy S8 need not be revolutionary, but it has to standout from the existing competition and render flawless performance in all the aspects for Samsung to make up for the losses it faced with the Note 7.
But the Note 7 fiasco is not the only reason that forces Galaxy S8 to be a success. 2017 marks the the tenth anniversary of iPhone and Apple is expected to come up with a smartphone with major changes. Eventually, Samsung has to fight hard to come up with a better phone in the form of Galaxy S8 to give a tough competition to Apple.
How can Samsung make Galaxy S8 a hit?
As of now, we don't have any official confirmation on the features that the Galaxy S8 might come packed with except for a few rumors and speculations that are making rounds on the internet. Needless to say, we know that the Galaxy S8 will be a better device in comparison to the yesteryear flagship, Galaxy S7.
Below, we have come up with our opinion on how Samsung could make the Galaxy S8 a hit. Take a look!
Also Read: Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus Rumored to Feature S Pen
Samsung shouldn't rush with the Galaxy S8
Initially, Samsung was rumored to introduce the Galaxy S8 at the MWC 2017 in late February or early March, a launch pattern that the company usually follows. But, Samsung delayed the launch by pushing it to April, as per the existing allegations. In a way, this delay is good for the company as Samsung shouldn't be rushing to launch the 2017 flagship. Of course, Samsung has a strong reputation among the consumers even after the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, but it cannot face another failed device for now.
Imagine Samsung rushing the Galaxy S8 as it did with the Note 7 and something goes wrong with the device. For instance, a function isn't working as it is intended to or the phone catches fire just as its bigger sibling that was recalled.
Samsung has to spend time in making sure the Galaxy S8 is flawless, forget innovation. Samsung needs to prove that it is still a leader in the smartphone space and that it can be trusted with the Galaxy S8. The Galaxy Note 7 was a great device and it did impress everyone, but it failed due to the battery explosion incidents. If the latter didn't happen, the Galaxy Note 7 had the potential to be awarded the best phone of the year. This shouldn't be the case with the upcoming Galaxy S8.
Also Read: Samsung Galaxy S8 to Come With Massive 8GB of RAM and UFS 2.1 Storage
Samsung has to make sure it checks the components used, the hardware implemented on the Galaxy S8, and everything else that the partners and suppliers provide.
Watch the Asus Zennovation Event at CES 2017 Live Tonight News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Watch the live streaming of Asus Zennovation event.
Asus, the Taiwanese manufacturer is no stranger to announce an array of devices at a single event. The company usually unveils smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc. at the tech shows.
Not to mention that the company is hosting its Zennovation event tonight at 11:30 PST (1:00 AM IST) at CES 2017 happening in Las Vegas. At the event, it is expected that Asus will launch the ZenFone 3 Zoom smartphone, which was leaked lately revealing its specifications. The highlight of the smartphone is the dual-camera set-up at its back as in the iPhone 7 Plus.
Also, it is confirmed that Asus ZenFone AR will be unveiled at the Zennovation event. The ZenFone AR is the first device, which is Google Daydream and Tango-ready.
Interested in catching up the launches of Asus live? If so, you can watch the Zennovation event live from here.
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Industrys First Tango and Daydream Ready Smartphone, Asus Zenfone AR Goes Official at the CES 2017 News oi -Chakri Kudikala The Asus Zenfone AR looks a lot like the Nokia 808 PureView smartphone from the rear.
Asus is unstoppable at the moment. The company after unveiling the Zenfone 3 Zoom has announced the recently rumored smartphone, the Asus Zenfone AR and it is worth noticing that it is the industry's first smartphone to come with support for Google's Tango and Daydream platforms.
Unlike other Asus phones released till date, the Asus Zenfone AR comes with a front-facing fingerprint sensor with two capacitive buttons flanked beside it. In terms of specifications, the Asus Zenfone AR features a massive 5.7-inch display with a resolution of 2560*1440 pixels. At the heart of the phone is the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset.
Notably, the Zenfone AR is the world's first smartphone to come with 8GB of RAM. And, there will be a 6GB RAM variant as well. Well, this is not the first Asus smartphone to run Snapdragon 821 chipset as the Zenfone 3 Deluxe was the world's first phone to feature the flagship chip, which later on became norm in other phones.
In terms of camera, the Zenfone AR comes with a 23MP Sony IMX318 sensor that has support for unique augmented reality features. A five magnet thermal speaker system can be seen on the phone for better audio output. Details regarding the battery and operating system are still under wraps.
The Asus Zenfone AR will start shipping in Q2 2017 and that being said, there are no details regarding the pricing as well.
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Up to Seven Nokia Smartphones Will Be Released by the End of 2017 Suggests Leaked Presentation Slide News oi -Chakri Kudikala Nokia might release smartphones under every segment including the sub Rs. 5000 price bracket.
Rumors are floating around the internet about the upcoming Nokia smartphones scheduled to release in 2017. Last week, it was reported that Nokia, under HMD Global will launch five smartphones by the end of this year.
Today, a presentation slide leaked by a Malaysian distributor shows that Nokia will release six to seven smartphones by the end of this year. And, the smartphones will boot Android, which was confirmed earlier as well.
SEE ALSO: Honor 6X First Impressions: Capable Camera and Good Overall Performance
Also, the slide indicates that HMD Global will continue to launch attractive feature phone in 2017 as well to maintain the market share. And, there will be Android smartphones releasing now and then. Now, it clearly indicates that Nokia will launch a phone in every category including entry-level segment, mid-range, and flagship segment.
Going by the leaks, a Nokia D1C will be the entry-level smartphone powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset, coupled with 2GB/3GB of RAM. Recently, another Nokia smartphone popped online with much more premium design and that was named as Nokia P1, and it might be the flagship phone we are looking after.
Having said that, HMD Global most probably will announce the Nokia phones at the MWC 2017, which is just eight weeks away from now. In the meantime, we are expecting that more leaks will surface online.
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The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has sent a letter to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to coordinate a likely ban on French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen from the entry to the country due to her statements about Ukraine's territorial integrity.
"We assess such a statement [by Marine Le Pen] as the one impairing Ukraine's interests and contradicting the international principles, which govern the territorial integrity of the countries. The SBU has sent a letter to the Foreign Ministry to coordinate its initiative to forbid Le Pen the entry [to the country]," head of the SBU chief's administration Oleksandr Tkachuk told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.
He said that such a coordinating procedure has been stipulated by the inter-agency documents. "We coordinate our initiative, if we see some grounds for banning the entry. The Foreign Ministry may support or not support this initiative. They voice their stance on this issue," Tkachuk said.
As reported, French presidential candidate, French National Front leader Marine Le Pen said on Tuesday that the reunification of Crimea and Russia has been legal. "I absolutely do not think that the illegal annexation has taken place: a referendum was held, Crimean residents wished to reunite with Russia. I see no reasons to put into doubt this referendum," she said, on air of the BFMTV television channel on January 3.
In this regard, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed indignation with her statement in the evening on January 3. "Having made the statements, which completely repeat the Kremlin propaganda, the French politician demonstrates disrespect to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and fully ignores the fundamental principles of international law. In this connection, we recall that such statements, as well as the actions in violation of the Ukrainian legislation, will certainly have some consequences, as this has already taken place in the case of individual French politicians, who were forbidden from the entry to Ukraine," the Foreign Ministry said in a commentary.
The ministry expressed hope that the French public will give the principled assessment "to such an irresponsible rhetoric by a candidate for the top post in France."
Trump Questions U.S. Intelligence Over Russia Hacking
January 04, 2017
With his inauguration less than three weeks away, President-elect Donald Trump has made a fresh assault on the U.S. intelligence community.
Trump said on Twitter that an intelligence briefing he was due to receive on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election had been delayed until January 6, using quote marks around the word "intelligence."
"Perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!" he wrote on January 3.
However, U.S. intelligence officials were quoted as saying there was no delay in the briefing schedule.
U.S. intelligence agencies believe Russia directed hacks against the Democratic Party and the campaign of its presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, releasing information through WikiLeaks and other outlets to help Trump win the election.
In an interview aired on January 3, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange denied that he obtained thousands of leaked Democratic e-mails from the Russian government.
"The source is not the Russian government. It is not state parties," he told U.S. network Fox News.
Asked if he thought the leaks of Democratic Party e-mails led to Trump's victory in November, he said: "Who knows, it's impossible to tell."
Based on reporting by AP and the BBC
Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/trump-questions- u-s-intelligence-russian- hacking/28212915.html
Copyright (c) 2017. 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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WikiLeaks Again Denies Getting U.S. Democratic E-Mail Leaks From Russia
January 04, 2017
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has once again denied that he obtained thousands of leaked U.S. Democratic emails from Russian sources in an interview with U.S. network Fox News aired on January 3.
Assange, in an interview at the Ecuadoran embassy in London where he sought refuge in June 2012, shed no light on who provided WikiLeaks with the hacked documents from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and from Clinton campaign chief John Podesta.
WikiLeaks released the documents during the U.S. election campaign in what U.S. intelligence established was an effort by Moscow to tip the election in favor of Clinton's Republican rival, Donald Trump, who went on to win the vote.
Assange insisted, however, that Russia was not the source of the hacked material.
"The source is not the Russian government. It is not state parties," he said.
Asked if he thought the leaks of the Podesta and DNC emails led to Trump's victory in November, he said: "Who knows, it's impossible to tell."
Based on reporting by AFP and AP
Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/wikileaks- assange-denise-democratic- e-mails-russia/28212644.html
Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Coalition Targets ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq
From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release
SOUTHWEST ASIA, Jan. 3, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
Strikes in Syria
Attack, bomber, fighter, remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery conducted 14 strikes in Syria:
-- Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed three oil wellheads.
-- Near Shadaddi, four strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL-held building, a fighting position, a weapons cache, a vehicle bomb and a vehicle bomb storage facility.
-- Near Raqqah, five strikes engaged four ISIL tactical units and destroyed two fighting positions, a weapons cache and an ISIL-held building.
-- Near Ayn Isa, a strike destroyed a vehicle bomb.
-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed four oil refinement tanks and an oil tanker truck.
-- Near Manbij, two strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and destroyed two fighting positions.
Strikes in Iraq
Attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery conducted 10 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:
-- Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed three tactical vehicles, an ISIL-held building and an armored front-end loader.
-- Near Haditha, a strike destroyed an ISIL-held building, a heavy machine gun and a mortar system.
-- Near Huwayjah, three strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a weapons cache, a piece of engineering equipment and an improvised weapons factory.
-- Near Qaim, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a checkpoint.
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 they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.
Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
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U.S. Department of Defense
Press Operations
News Transcript
Presenter: Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook January 03, 2017
Department of Defense Press Briefing by Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook and Acting Under Secretary of Defense Peter Levine in the Pentagon Briefing Room
PETER COOK: Good morning, everyone. Happy new year as well. Good to see everyone back as we begin this new year. And I hope you had a festive holiday chance to relax with your families.
I will be prepared to answer your questions on a range of topics in just a moment. But I want to begin first of all with an important update on the situation regarding the California National Guard bonus issue.
As you recall, Secretary Carter directed back in October to suspend all efforts to recoup money from members of the California National Guard, based on eligibility issues to receive bonus payments for their service several years ago. He also asked the department to come up with a streamlined centralized process to ensure the fair and equitable treatment of our service members and the rapid resolution of cases by January 1st.
That task fell to Peter Levine, who is performing the duties of acting undersecretary for personnel and readiness, and his team. And they have met in fact the secretary's deadline and have developed a process to move forward. And I've asked Peter to come here to spell it out for everyone. And again, he will walk through it, be able to take your questions on that topic, and then I'll step back in and take your questions on other topics.
So without any further ado, Peter Levine, welcome.
ACTING UNDERSECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETER LEVINE: Thank you.
So, I don't know whether anybody here is interested in good news stories, but the secretary did in his October 26th announcement direct the suspension of all efforts to collect erroneous bonuses from California National Guard soldiers.
And he directed that by January 1st, we would establish a streamlined centralized process to ensure the fair and equitable treatment of our service members in the rapid resolution of cases. It being now after January 1st, Peter thought it would be good to provide you with an update, and the basic bottom line of the update is that we are on track to meet all of these objectives.
The process is in place. We believe that we can complete all these cases well before the July 1st deadline established by the secretary. The bottom line is that we have about 17,500 California National Guard soldiers who are facing potential recoupment. We expect to initiate a detailed review by the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records for only -- for several hundred cases, less -- probably less than a thousand cases.
The majority of those -- the vast majority of those 17,000 cases we will be able to screen out and forgive debts or forego debt collection without the need for more detailed review by the BCMR.
So, in the course of the next month, we will be -- we will begin -- we'll be notifying people on a rolling basis, but we will begin notifying soldiers over the next -- over the next month that they -- that they are -- their cases have been dismissed, that they will not be -- there will not be any recoupment in their cases.
I'd like to just frame the issue briefly because recoupment is a fact of life in the military. Recoupment sounds bad in this context because the specific cases that have been publicized are bad, but recoupment is a fact of life. The Army is recouping -- has -- has about 100,000 recoupment actions ongoing at any given time. Sometimes, the member makes a mistake, sometimes the -- the service does.
The classic case of recoupment is somebody gets a military education that has a -- or military training or something that carries a service commitment with it, they don't fulfill the service commitment and we expect them to pay the money back. We don't give somebody a free education; we give them a free education in exchange for a service commitment and that's -- that's part of the bargain.
The cases in California are different for several reasons. One is that the -- many of these service members fulfilled their obligation. The error was an error on the part of the government as to whether they were eligible. They may have been misled as to whether they were eligible. And then the final -- the final touch is that because California National Guard went back and looked at these cases several years removed from when the error was made, they were in many cases recouping from members who had fulfilled their service -- service commitment.
So, they'd gotten a bonus in exchange for a service commitment then they fulfilled the service commitment, they served, they may even have been deployed, and then we came back and said, "By the way, you were ineligible, we're taking your money back." That's what makes those cases unfair, not the fact that it's recoupment. There's nothing wrong with recoupment in general. But in these cases, we had a number of cases that were really very problematic.
But all recoupment cases are not alike and that's why we felt we had the obligation to go through and look at these cases individually so we could determine whether recoupment was in fact justified.
So, since the secretary's October announcement, I've been working closely with the National Guard Bureau, the Army -- Army Audit Agency, the -- the Army Review Boards Agency and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service to set up a process so we can go through these cases.
Basically what we're working is a two-step process; one where we screen the cases to determine whether we can essentially say we don't need further information, this -- we don't need to seek a -- we don't need to collect a debt in this case, and then the hard cases which will then be put before the Army Board for Correction of Military Records for individualized review where the individuals will have an opportunity to make their case.
We begin with, as I said, about 17,500 cases. We put those cases into two categories. There are about 1,400 where the California National Guard already established a debt and referred them to DFAS for recoupment. The remaining 16,000 the California National Guard flagged for review and notified soldiers, in many cases, of the potential that they would be facing in debt collection, but didn't take further action. So those 16,000 essentially the Sword of Damocles is hanging over the soldiers, but debt collection hadn't been started.
We have different legal processes we have to follow if debt collection has actually been started, if the debt has been established. So we review the 1,400 a little bit differently from the -- from the 16,000. The 1,400, the Army Audit Agency and the Army Review Board Agency have already gone through and reviewed those cases, and I would say we all owe them a thanks, because while we were all home over the holidays enjoying ourselves, they were here reviewing California National Guard cases. They've worked extremely hard on this.
Out of the 1,400, the basic criteria we've been applying in looking at those is: Did this -- if the service member fulfilled their service commitment and there's no obvious reason to believe that they knew or should have known that there was an erroneous payment, then we don't need further review and we'll get rid of that case.
We think we can get rid of about half of the cases on that basis. So half of the 1,400 we would expect to be notifying soldiers that they're being relieved of any debt. And if they've already paid back, then -- if they've already been subject to recoupment, that we'll reimburse their funds.
The 16,000 cases, because debt hasn't been established, we have broader discretion. And so we're looking at a broader category of factors. So older debts, smaller debts, cases with people who are junior in rank who wouldn't necessarily be expected to know of eligibility, things like that, we're just -- we're not pursuing those cases at all.
So of the 16,000 -- of the 16,000, we go through -- we're going through a screening process that will eliminate about 15,000 of the cases off the top. We'll then put those cases -- the remaining cases -- the remaining 1,000 or so cases, 1,500, 1,000 cases, through the same kind of screening process that we put the -- the cases in which a debt has been established, and to determine -- so that only those cases in which the soldier -- soldier didn't fulfill their commitment or there's reason to believe that -- that there was fraud or knowledge on the part of the soldier will go before a -- a BCMR.
So, we expect to get rid of at least 15,000 of those 16,0000 cases, probably more than that, and to be notifying soldiers, again beginning in the next month, that they will not be subject to any debt collection.
The bottom line is, as I said, we expect a few hundred cases, several hundred cases, but in all likelihood fewer than 1,000, to go before the Boards for Correction of Military Records. And in each of those cases, then, the soldier will have an opportunity to present their case and argue that even though there's enough to put it before a BCMR, there isn't enough to justify debt collection and the debt should be forgiven.
So, we are well along in that process. We have established the process as the secretary directed. We think that we have -- we have the BCMR staffed up. They're prepared to hear the cases. They have sufficient staffing to hear all the cases that we'll be presenting to them and to do that by the July deadline established by the secretary.
We think that the number of cases in which we'll be recouping will be a few hundred, as opposed to the many thousands of cases that are under -- under the Sword of Damocles, as I said, right now. And that most of the cases in which we'll be recouping will actually be cases in which the soldiers did not fulfill their commitment. There will be some cases in which we have fraud or evidence of fraud or knowledge or should've -- should've known. But most of the cases in which we'll be recouping, we will be recouping because the soldier didn't fulfill their commitment.
There's been some interest in other states and whether other states are in the same position as California. We've reviewed audits that were done contemporaneously. We've reviewed -- there was a review conducted by the National Guard Bureau back in 2011.
We've looked at all those, we've looked at the follow-up from those. And we've determined that -- that there was no other state in which there was the kind of -- of massive problem that there was in California, where there are as I said, 17,500 cases that were identified by the California National Guard for potential debt collection.
We don't see more than a few dozen cases in any other state, where we've had recruitment from -- from this kind of thing. We believe that the National Guard Bureau and the Army have corrected the lack of internal controls that led to this problem in the first place.
And we are very hopeful that we will not have any kind of similar problem going forward. So the bottom line is, we think we've met the secretary's goal of rapid, equitable treatment for our soldiers and that we have in place a process that will protect the taxpayers, but will also be fair to our soldiers in terms of collecting debts.
So with that, if there are any questions?
MR. COOK: We'll go to Bob Burns.
Q: Did I understand you correctly that the number of cases that then will be heard by the Board for Correction of Military Records total would be --
MR. LEVINE: Several hundred.
Q: Several hundred. And they would be finished by July, is that the plan?
MR. LEVINE: That's the plan, yes, we have the BCMR staff so that they can finish that -- those 700 cases by July.
MR. COOK: Other questions for Peter?
Tony
Q: I haven't followed this issue at all, but you think, you've made the point here that the lack of internal controls in California led to all this. What was -- and you -- you have a background in management, that -- what was some of the major issues with the internal control --
(CROSSTALK)
MR. LEVINE: There was a lack of -- there was a lack of internal controls in the -- in the bonus system nationwide. There was an ability for a single person to sign off on the bonus and be the -- be the approval authority and the review authority.
And there was -- there was not -- there were not automated checks built into this system -- into the system. So we've since automated it, we've required separate -- separate review cycles so that -- so that you don't have a one-person sign-off, but you have a separate review.
So we think we've addressed the -- the obviously -- the obvious internal control problems that -- that led to this. Those internal control problems weren't unique to California, what was unique to California was that we had somebody who was convicted of fraud and we had -- we had -- there are two things that internal -- internal control leads to a vulnerability.
Then, the question is did somebody exploit their vulnerability? What we had in California was the vulnerability was systematically exploited, that's why we had the problem there that we didn't have elsewhere.
Q: By corrupt individuals?
MR. LEVINE: Well, we had -- we had individuals who've been -- who have been convicted of fraud and have been disciplined, yes.
Q: (inaudible) -- definition of corrupt individuals?
MR. COOK: Okay, any other questions?
Yes, Louie
Q: Sir, how do you -- the NDAA language I think contains language that I think gave it across the board, forgiving --
MR. LEVINE: The NDAA language required us to -- to conduct a case-by-case review of all these cases. So we're already conducting that review, we believe that our review is consistent with the requirements of that language.
But -- it does not say it's across the board forgiveness, it requires us to look at -- at individual cases. It does establish a standard which is -- which is very favorable to the soldiers. But we were planning to lean in favor of those soldiers when in doubt, in any case.
Q: I think the NDAA also had language that for fixing the credit reports of individuals --
(CROSSTALK)
MR. LEVINE: Yeah, so when we forgive a debt, one of the things that we do -- this is -- DFAS is our central debt collection agency and when they forgive a debt, they -- they are -- they would notify the credit agencies automatically. That's part of their process.
So, that is something that -- that the bill requires us to do that we will do. I believe the bill also asks us to do -- to do -- to take steps, if we can, to adjust secondary effects, you know, somebody who lost their mortgage or something.
There's very little -- there may be little that we can do in those cases. But we'll look at those and see if there's some -- if somebody comes to us and says that they -- that there was some secondary effect that -- that -- to their detriment. We'll look at it and see if there's something we could do.
Q: And do you have any initial estimate on the cost of the reimbursements right now?
MR. LEVINE: The -- the cost to taxpayer's going to be minimal. It'll be -- I think the total amount of recoupment in these cases was -- was -- was a few million dollars. I think on the -- maybe -- may be as much as $10 million.
But -- but very little of that had been collected. So the -- the exposure to the -- to the taxpayer is pretty minimal out of a military personnel budget of tens of billions of dollars.
All right, thank you very much. Have a great day.
MR. COOK: Peter, thank you. Appreciate it.
Now, before I take your questions on other topics, I did want to update a few things with regard to the counter-ISIL fight. And first of all, I wanted to extend and offer condolences on behalf of Secretary Carter and all of us here at the Department of Defense to the people of Turkey, and especially those affected by the cowardly attack in Istanbul on New Years Eve, as well as to the people of Baghdad effected by Monday's bomb attack there and the recent terror attacks we've seen in that city.
We have known for time that as ISIL loses ground in Iraq and Syria that it will continue to try and carry out high-profile attacks on innocent civilians. Those attacks will not deflect us from our efforts. And those efforts continue to bear fruit.
Iraqi officials report that two-thirds of east Mosul is now in government hands. And the resumption of offensive operations since December 29th has resulted in steady progress against ISIL in Mosul.
The various access of advance into the city have begun to link their fronts which improves the ability of Iraqi forces to support one another and reduces ISIL's ability to cope with continuous pressure. The coalition continues to provide critical support to the efforts, especially from the air.
Meanwhile in Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces are also seeing significant results against ISIL in the drive towards Raqqah. Key ISIL-held terrain near Topka is now under increasing pressure. In all, they have captured more than 2,000 square kilometers of territory since their isolation operations began.
And that pressure will continue to build as we accelerate efforts on all these fronts, preventing ISIL from terrorizing those suffering under its so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria, and reducing its ability to spread terror outside of its so-called borders.
And with that, happy to take your questions. Back to Bob.
QUESTIONS: Peter, Kim Jong-un says that they're getting close to having a ballistics missile of intercontinental range. And my question is, what is this Defense Department's policy at the moment if North Korea were to test launch a missile of intercontinental range?
Would the federal government attempt to shoot it down?
MR. COOK: Well, first of all, Bob as you know, multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions explicitly prohibit North Korea's launches using ballistic missile technology or further development of a ballistic missile program. And we call on all states to use every channel -- available channel and means of influence to make clear to the -- to North Korea and its enablers that launches using ballistic missile technology or efforts to advance North Korea's ballistic missile capabilities are unacceptable.
We further call on all states to take steps to show that there are consequences to the DPRK's unlawful conduct. And we call on the DPRK to refrain from provocative actions and to make the strategic choice to fulfill its international obligations and commitments and return to serious talks. And we reaffirm our iron clad commitments to defend our allies to utilizing the full spectrum of U.S. extended deterrence capabilities.
Bob, these resolutions explicitly prohibit North Korea from engaging in ballistic missile tests and from developing this technology. And we would once again call on the North Koreans to refrain from provocative actions. And I'm not going to hypothesize on what could happen in the future, but we remain confident in our ballistic missile defense and in our defense of our allies and our defense of the homeland.
Q: So you're saying there is no stated, explicit policy of contesting a test launch by shooting it down?
MR. COOK: We remain confident in our ability to protect the homeland and I'm not going to get into hypotheticals.
Q: Just to follow up on what Bob was asking. Have you seen any evidence that North Korea is preparing for an ICBM launch?
MR. COOK: I'm not going to get into intelligence matters at this point. Once again, there are ample reasons why North Korea should not carry out something of a provocative nature. We've said that explicitly before and we'll say it again. There are U.N. resolutions. The international community has called on North Korea not to do these kinds of things, and I'm not going to get into intelligence matters. But obviously, they've talked about developing this capability and it's something we're watching very carefully.
Q: Has the U.S. delivered this message to North Korea in the last 24 hours?
MR. COOK: We have delivered that message consistently for weeks, months and years. And I'm doing so again today.
Q: One of the sort of things the U.S. is doing is placing the missile system in South Korea. Does this latest announcement make it more sort of -- does the timeline need to be closer? Because I believe it's eight to 10 months right now. So is there an effort to re-look at moving THAAD -- (inaudible)?
MR. COOK: We are working closely -- (inaudible) -- as you know, with the South Koreans to install and deploy that system as quickly and efficiently as possible. And we'll do everything we can working with the South Koreans to do that. We think it's an important part of our broader missile defense efforts in support of our ally and in support of the region as well.
Q: Has the secretary spoken with his counterparts in Japan and South Korea after Kim Jong-un's latest -- (inaudible)?
MR. COOK: I don't have any calls to read out for you.
Jamie?
Q: What is the state of U.S. ballistic missile defenses right now? Is the United States in a position to shoot down an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile if it's perceived as a threat to the U.S. homeland? Do we have interceptors and systems that are up and capable of carrying out that mission? What's the state of our missile defense system?
MR. COOK: Well, you know, Jamie, that this is a system -- this is an effort that we've been very active on. Secretary Carter's been very active on for some time. And there are layers in terms of our ballistic missile defense. There are various aspects to it. And that comprehensive defensive system we feel very confident in.
And there are aspects to it, again. We mentioned the THAAD system. Obviously, you're aware of our Aegis systems. You're aware of the TPY-2 radars we have in the region, and also our -- our ground-based system. And this is a system that we continue to work on; continue to develop, but we're confident in our ability to protect the homeland.
Q: But does that ground-based system, the interceptors that are based in Alaska, does it have -- does it have the capability at this point of shooting down an incoming missile?
MR. COOK: I'm not going to discuss our capabilities, but we're confident in our ability to protect the homeland.
Tony?
Q: I've asked you this before, but the last successful intercept test was in June of 2014. What is the schedule for the next ground-based intercept test? Those are the missiles that would knock down an ICBM, not THAAD or Aegis. You know that. What's -- what's the schedule going forward?
MR. COOK: Tony, I'm not sure of the exact test schedule right in front of me. We can take that question, if you want. But again, this is part of our overall system and we feel confident in our ability to protect the homeland. I'll state that again. This is a system that we continue to work on; continue to develop. And this has been an area of significant focus for the department, certainly for Secretary Carter and his career here at the -- at the department and one we'll continue to work on.
But this is a system that is in place right now and given all the aspects of our broader missile defense system -- our layered system, we feel confident in our ability to deter this threat and protect American citizens.
Q: Even if you haven't had a test since June of 2014? Why are you so confident if you haven't had a test since then that it would work? I mean, it did -- it did work then. There was two failures prior to that, but what's the basis of the confidence? You know, in general?
MR. COOK: Because we are not relying on any one thing to protect the United States.
Q: (inaudible) -- protect the United States from Korea.
MR. COOK: We have -- Tony, I'm just -- I'm not gonna get into details here about -- about our broader system, other than to say, that we have a layered defense and we are confident in our ability to protect American citizens.
Barbara?
Q: So, none of this is actually hypothetical on the part of North Korea because they're already publicly shown they're working on all of these components.
Big picture, how seriously does the U.S. military take Kim Jong-un's statement that he will deploy an ICBM? How seriously do you take this? It's not hypothetical.
MR. COOK: Well, again, Barbara, this is something they've been talking about for some time. We've talked at length about our willingness, our ability to deter this threat and, more significantly than we have to take it seriously, the fact that they're trying to develop this. And so that's what we're doing. And you've heard multiple testimony on that front for -- for senior leaders -- from senior leaders from this building for -- for years.
Q: And you have talked a lot about deterrence, but also not hypothetical because it's well known, what is the capability of the United States military to engage in preemptive action? This has been contemplated before.
The weapons that you have to do this are public knowledge weapons, but you're only talking deterrence. Would the United States take out a North Korean capability in a preemptive fashion or is the -- is the military strategy only deterrence?
MR. COOK: Barbara, I'm not gonna talk about hypothetical situations, I'm not gonna talk about potential military action, I'm gonna talk about what we have in place, our commitment to our South Korean allies and our, again, vigilance on this issue against a provocative country that has shown disregard to the international community for its international obligations. And we're watching this very, very carefully.
Q: And I'd like to come back to Tony's question very quickly. With a 50 percent success rate in your ground-based interceptors at Fort Greely in California at best, that's the last line of defense before something would hit the United States, so that is the most important.
Why are you so confident with something like a 50 percent success rate and no test in the last two years?
MR. COOK: I will repeat what I just said to -- to Tony. We have a ballistic missile defense, a missile defense umbrella that we're confident in for the region and to protect the United States homeland and we'll continue to be confident in it, given where we are today and the technology and the skill with which our forces are using the -- that technology.
Lucas
Q: Peter, these U.N. resolutions did not -- did not stop North Korea from testing two nuclear devices last year, nor did they stop North Korea from conducting dozens of short- and intermediate-range ballistic missile tests. Why should anything change now?
MR. COOK: Lucas, this is -- once again, the international community is uniformly challenging North Korea to once again not carry out provocative actions. This is -- this is a country that has demonstrated an unwillingness to be part of the international community, and we're once again calling on all players, all countries to use what influence they have to get North Korea not to -- not to engage in these kind of provocative actions.
And so again, this is -- this is something that the United States has spoken out forcefully on and other countries have as well.
Q: Does Secretary Carter believe that strategic patience was successful when dealing with North Korea?
MR. COOK: Listen, North Korea continues to be a threat to this country. You've heard Secretary Carter talk about that at length. It's one of the five challenges that we're dealing with on a daily basis and it's the reason we have more than 28,000 troops in South Korea right now ready to fight tonight. This is a country that's clearly shown a willingness to threaten the United States, threaten our allies in the region, and we're going to continue to do everything we need to to protect ourselves from that threat.
Laurent
Q: I would like to know how you qualify the -- the policy of the U.S. DOD, since it has become clear that North Korea is getting clearer and clearer to having a ballistic missile? Would you say, for instance, that you have increased planning or that there are more and more people working on scenarios on North Korea?
MR. COOK: We are, Laurent, dealing with North Korea. This has been a recurring challenge for us and one we don't lose sight of every single day. And we're constantly adjusting to the threat North Korea poses, and whether it's, again, their development of an ICBM capability which is something they've talked about, that's obviously something -- they're trying to do it. They say they're trying to do it. So accordingly, we are adjusting accordingly to that threat.
Q: So it's business as usual?
MR. COOK: It's business as usual every day for the Department of Defense to be ready to respond to the challenges and threats facing the United States and North Korea is one of them.
Yes, Ali.
Q: Thank you. Do you agree with president-elect's view that China is not doing nothing on North Korea issue?
MR. COOK: Listen, I'm not gonna comment on the president-elect's views on this. I can speak to what I said previously, that the United States feels that there are a number of countries -- calls on all countries to use the influence they have to encourage North Korea not to engage in provocative actions and to use whatever influence they have to get them to try and join the international community and -- and not threaten their neighbors in the region and beyond.
And so, again, we encourage every country that has an ability to influence North Korea to do that.
Q: (inaudible) -- in December six ask secretary of defense -- (inaudible) -- to take steps to declare India the major defense partner. This was (only announced by the White House when prime minister -- (inaudible).
But what steps secretary intends to take now or -- or advise his successor to take steps to -- for this?
MR. COOK: Well, you know the secretary was in India not long ago where the the next steps in that process took place with Minister Parrikar. And so the secretary's commitment to this is clear. We think the defense relationship with India is on an excellent path and will continue to be so in the next administration and beyond.
Q: There are critiques of this legislative process -- (inaudible). They say this means nothing unless there are changing the export control laws of the U.S., which would help India acquire better defense and technology -- defensive inaudible-- technologies from the U.S., which is not happening, there's no such move.
MR. COOK: Listen, our relationship with India, you've seen the commitment made by this department and this secretary of Defense and -- and this administration to improving our defense relationship with -- with India.
And that's, obviously, there's several aspects to it. There are limits on what we can do in terms of technology -- the export of technology to India or any other country.
And we'll continue to abide by -- by the law and to work with India in -- in places where we can, where it's appropriate for that kind of -- for specific technology to be exported. Again, not just to India but to -- to any country, but we're gonna follow the law.
Yes, Jen
Q: Hi, Peter.
At the end of last year, a senior U.S. military official said that 50,000 ISIS fighters had been killed in the last few years by the U.S. military in Iraq and Syria.
I'm trying to understand those numbers, since the -- the Pentagon and other intelligence agencies have always estimated that there were only 20,000 to 30,000 ISIS fighters when the fight started and even, in subsequent months.
So where do you get this 50,000 figure and can you walk us through that number?
MR. COOK: Yeah we've had that question a couple times and first of all, again, a senior Defense Department official provided you that number which was their prerogative to do.
It's not a number that we talk about publicly because it's a -- it's not a good metric of success and it's not an easy number to -- to determine for all the reasons you would think about. This is a warzone, this is a conflict.
Much of our efforts are being conducted from the air, we don't necessarily have the ability to assess everything on the ground in the way we might like. And so there have been a variety of estimates, I know the Iraqis have had some estimates, as well.
And so I -- there isn't a good number for us to -- to share with you because we don't have great confidence in that number.
Q: Okay, so you would dispute that number, perhaps?
MR. COOK: I don't know if it's right or wrong.
Yes?
Q: (Off-mic.) has the U.S. coalition or U.S. aircraft supported Turkish operations in al-Bab?
MR. COOK: My understanding that last week, there was a request. When some Turkish forces came under fire for -- for air support and there was -- there were flights conducted by the coalition at that time.
But we continue to talk, constantly as you know, on a daily basis with our Turkish colleges about their operations in al-Bab and the serious fight. And the serious effort that the Turkish force is there and the -- and the Syrian forces that are being supported by the government of Turkey are engaged in and the important fight that they have against ISIL in that area.
Q: You mentioned as a -- as -- you mentioned as a flight, rather than a some kind of strike. And we haven't seen any kind of strikes around al-Bab from the coalition data releases. So is it just some kind of a sortie that you conducted down there or does the -- does the aircraft conduct in airstrikes?
MR. COOK: My understanding of that was there was not a strike specifically, but there were aircraft involved in that effort, a visible show of force if you will, by coalition aircraft. And we continue to talk with the government of Turkey about the appropriate level of support for the efforts there in al-Bab and that's an ongoing conversations, even happening today.
Q: What's the point of talking when Turkey and the U.S. in depth --
MR. COOK: Because we are coordinating carefully our effort against ISIL. Our comprehensive effort against ISIL, we want to continue to apply pressure on ISIL on as many fronts as possible and we're trying to do that in the most efficient and effective way possible. We're trying to de-conflict issues in the area as well, as you know. And so we'll continue to have that conversation. And we see the very significant efforts that the Turkish military is engaging in in Syria, the sacrifice of Turkish forces in Syria; the significant sacrifices.
And obviously, supportive of everything they're doing to try and take on ISIL. And the coalition is as well.
Q: Yes, but the -- (inaudible) -- I'm not understanding is -- (inaudible). I don't understand -- (inaudible). When it was Jarabulus, it was others -- and other parts of Syria -- (inaudible). The coalition support was -- (inaudible). And the talks didn't really last any kind of months. But when it comes to al-Bab, there is a certain reservation by the United States down -- (inaudible) -- for this town, I believe. Or is it correct?
Because we know talks have been continuing for -- for more weeks, and then Turkey -- Turks in the end just started to cooperate with Russians in the city against ISIS.
So do you -- don't you think that it's a failure of the United States just to keep partners together down in the fight against ISIS in Syria?
MR. COOK: No, I don't. We continue to talk every day with our Turkish ally about these issues. And we continue to coordinate very carefully with Turkey on these issues. And I'm not going to get into every private discussion that's happening there. But one of the reasons we're able to feel confident about what's going -- what's happening and what's going on -- (inaudible) -- is because of that level of coordination at all levels with the Turkish government, including military to military on the ground. And we'll continue to have those conversations.
Q: What's the reaction to the Turkish and Russian cooperation in al-Bab?
MR. COOK: I'm not aware of specific Turkish-Russian cooperation in al-Bab and I'll leave that to Turkey and Russia to speak to.
Q: (inaudible) -- the coalition -- (inaudible) -- in support of Turkey in al-Bab -- (inaudible) -- al-Bab?
MR. COOK: I don't know if it's the first time. I've just pointed the most -- this happened last week, as I understand it.
Q: Is there a request -- or just over-flight? Or is there a request that you drop ordnance?
MR. COOK: I don't know the exact details of it, but I know there was a request for support because of forces under fire. And we responded to that.
Q: Are you now supporting Turkey in the al-Bab operation? Because I know previously you weren't.
MR. COOK: As I said, we are working every day, including today, with all of our partners in Iraq and Syria with regard to the counter-ISIL effort. And that includes Turkey in Syria and their efforts -- their substantial efforts against ISIL. And we're going to do that in the most productive and efficient way possible. And we are going to expend every effort we can to make sure that we're doing this in the most effective way possible.
Yes, Tony?
Q: A transition question. Under the rules of the road, nominees to head the department have to work with the general counsel's offices of the respective departments, file their financial disclosure statements. Those statements once they're completed go to the White House and then to the Office of Government Ethics.
What is the status of General Mattis's discussions with the Pentagon Standards of Conduct Office in crafting his standard form 71 -- his disclosure form?
MR. COOK: Tony, I'm going to refer you to General Mattis and to the transition team for the Trump folks. That's a question for them to answer.
Q: No, it's not. It's a question that -- he has to work with the Pentagon -- the general counsel's office. So it's a question for your operation.
MR. COOK: Well, the submission comes from General Mattis and from the Trump folks. I think it most appropriate for them to respond to whether or not he's provided any information. I don't know if he has or not.
Q: Can you check that? I mean, he comes here, the action is with the Pentagon.
MR. COOK: Have you checked with them?
Q: They get the form completed here and then it does to the Office of Government Ethics and on to the Senate. It's not the transition team that does it.
MR. COOK: Okay. I'll -- we'll take the question, but again, I would just refer -- defer to General Mattis and I would encourage you to reach out to them to see if they might be willing to answer your question more easily than I can.
Q: We tried. They said go to the Pentagon and try to ask them.
MR. COOK: Okay. So we'll take your question. Okay.
Q: Thank you.
MR. COOK: Okay.
Yes, over here?
Q: Peter, I'm Andy (inaudible)with Military Times.
MR. COOK: Andy, how are you?
Q: Doing well, thank you.
Over the weekend, we reported that a United States Marine was wounded in Iraq and I'm wondering if can provide any additional details about the incident surrounding that?
MR. COOK: I can't, I'm sorry.
Q: Is that because you don't have them or --
MR. COOK: I don't have the information. We, as you know, normally don't comment on -- on wounded service members and I wasn't aware even of your story. So it's -- obviously concerned about any service member who's -- who's injured, but I don't have specific details to read out to you, here.
Q: Can you talk about what the Marines -- specifically Marine Raiders are doing in Iraq at this point?
MR. COOK: I know that we have a number of forces in Iraq, as you know, range of forces, including special operations forces. And they're performing a range of things as part of the train, advise and assist mission and I'm not gonna get into the specific disposition of our -- particularly our special operations forces, but they're all doing significant work on behalf of the counter-ISIL coalition.
And -- and thank them first of all for their service and their sacrifice for what they're doing.
Carlo?
Q: Peter, I just wanted to follow up on Kasim's question about al-Bab. So if this is in fact the first time coalition air support has been provided for the Turks in that area, what's changed? Because the operation's been going on for a while now and I know Colonel Dorrian and others from OIR have made the explicit point that we are -- that the coalition is not involved at all with the al-Bab operation.
So I'm just kind of curious, where was the --
MR. COOK: I think it reflects -- reflects part of our ongoing conversation with -- with Turkey. And again, the coalition's focus on ISIL and trying to make sure that we're keeping as much pressure on ISIL as we can. And certainly, the Syrian forces that are there, the -- the opposition forces that are there and with the support of the Turkish military are -- are carrying out a significant effort against ISIL and we think that's a good thing.
And -- but we're trying to coordinate support in the best way possible, and that's part of the give-and-take that' going on with Turkey right now.
Q: Just to follow up, you said the discussions were even going on today about, you know, further cooperation --
MR. COOK: They're happening every day. We have people on the ground working these issues.
Q: Understood. Are these conversations designed to just sort of maintain the status quo as far as the relationship between Turkish forces and OIR? Or is the -- or is this al-Bab sort of development kind of, you know, driving towards a more -- like an evolution of these talks leading to possibly joint -- joint operations --
MR. COOK: We've worked jointly, as you know, with Turkey in Syria. They're a member of the coalition, a critical member of the coalition, and we will continue to work closely with -- with Turkey. We're trying to deal with this situation in the most efficient way possible to keep multiple pressure on -- on ISIL and to do this in an efficient fashion.
And again, I'm not gonna get into every single discussion we're having with our -- with our Turkish ally, but these are extensive conversations at the highest levels and also obviously even on the ground, military-to-military.
Q: So is the goal, then, to get Turkey involved in the coalition --
MR. COOK: The goal is to defeat ISIL and it is a goal that we and Turkey share. In the -- in light of ISIL's claim to be responsible for the terror attack on New Year's Eve in Turkey, you can see all the more reason why Turkey has a significant interest in this, why we would like to do everything we can to help Turkey in that effort and the coalition would as well.
This is about not only ejecting ISIL from Syria and Iraq, it's about protecting our homelands, and that includes Turkey and that includes the United States.
Barbara?
Q: I would like to follow up on the gentleman's question from the Military Times on wounded. You have consistently said from the podium that you do not discuss those wounded in action. But of course, that -- with all due respect, that's not exactly true for the administration.
The White House, point number one, has publicly acknowledged when the president goes to the hospitals to visit recently wounded members. You have a website that posts wounded in action, that your own staff says is not regularly updated.
So in the last couple of weeks before this secretary leaves office, I want to ask again if you wouldn't provide -- find a way to provide an accurate number of U.S. service members wounded in action in Syria and Iraq in the fight against ISIS.
MR. COOK: We provide that update now.
Q: Your own staff says that is not --
MR. COOK: We provide that update now. There are privacy issues, Barbara, and I'm going to -- our policy has been set and we're going to stick with our policy. We provide that number -- we update that number on a regular basis.
Q: Well, I think that's probably not a very regular basis. So I am asking -- that's fine. I'm asking now for an updated number of the number of American service members wounded in Iraq and Syria. I would like an updated number reflecting the case that this gentleman is talking about; the most up-to-date information you have because you --
MR. COOK: I will check with our team, with OIR and CENTCOM and we will provide you the updated number.
Q: (inaudible) -- you say you don't acknowledge the wounded, but then of course there's all these ways in which you do.
MR. COOK: I'm not talking about a specific instance. There are privacy issues here.
Q: I'm not violating anyone's privacy issue. I am asking you, you say you don't acknowledge the wounded.
MR. COOK: We do acknowledge it, Barbara. We acknowledge it with an updated number that we provide and we will provide you that number.
Q: (inaudible) -- have an absolutely up-to-date number if you wouldn't mind.
The other thing I wanted to ask you, can you take the question about this Turkish -- the mission to protect the Turkish forces. You said that U.S. forces did respond. Can you please take the question: Did they in fact drop ordnance?
MR. COOK: My understanding is -- from what I understand that they did not drop ordnance in this instance. It was a show of force in response to forces coming under fire.
Q: And my last question is: Is it correct -- can you clarify -- is it correct, have U.S. forces now in -- at various points entered the city limits of Mosul?
MR. COOK: I know this is a question you've had previously; other have as well. We're not going to talk about the disposition of U.S. forces in and around Mosul specifically for understandable reasons, Barbara, because we don't want to give the enemy any more ability to understand where our people might be.
Q: You've said in the past that it's up to General Townsend to actually make that decision.
MR. COOK: It is. As the forward line of troops moves, U.S. forces and coalition forces will adjust as well. But I'm not going to tell you where they are at this particular moment in time.
Q: I'm not asking where they are at this particular time. I am asking whether or not there has been reason for them at any point to enter the city limits.
MR. COOK: I'm not going to answer that question because I don't want to give our enemy any idea where those forces might be at any particular moment in time, whether it's today, yesterday or in the future.
Q: And you said on North Korea that you were -- that the U.S. is adjusting -- that was your word -- to the ballistic missile threat. So I just want to close that loop. Is there anything you're willing to say about how you are adjusting to the recent ballistic missile threat by North Korea?
MR. COOK: We continue to engage on a daily basis with our allies in the region. We are taking steps to bolster our defensive systems in the region. We discussed, for example, the deployment of the THAAD system to South Korea. We've taken steps to bolster our Aegis presence in the region. We have -- we mentioned before -- the radar systems that are now in place, and our efforts as well with the ground based system to update and advance those in addition.
We have 28,500 troops in South Korea right now on -- prepared to respond to the North Korea threat. And we are constantly looking at the threat North Korea poses to the United States and to our allies in the region and are always prepared to respond accordingly.
This is an assessment that happens, as you know, on a -- practically a daily basis. We have to be ready to respond to North Korea given its history, given its provocative actions in the past. And we are prepared to do so.
Ryan
Q: Given this provocative action by North Korea, as you put it, are you -- would you call on China to drop its opposition to the THAAD system?
MR. COOK: There's -- we have said from here, and I -- I believe our South Korean allies have as well, that there's no reason for China to oppose that system. This is a defensive system. And there's no reason for anyone in the region to have concern about that. Other than, perhaps, North Korea because this is a system that is part of our broader umbrella -- our defensive umbrella.
And we think an important step in bolstering the defense of our ally and, in fact, enhancing security in the -- the region overall. And so, again, we don't see any reason for any country to have a problem with that deployment, except perhaps North Korea.
Q: And just on -- on the al-Bab thing, just generally, our there any U.S. forces embedded with Turkish units right now in Syria?
MR. COOK: I'm not going to talk about our -- our forces right now in Syria.
So -- yes? You've been patiently waiting in the middle. Sorry.
Q: On South China Sea issues, do you have readouts on the USS Cowpens deploying to the South China Sea later this week?
MR. COOK: I don't have anything for you on that. I can take that question. I'm not sure if the Navy had something to say on that specifically.
Q: (Off-mic.) any other information that you can share with us?
MR. COOK: I -- I don't have any up here, but I'll take that question if you like.
Q: So, do you have any comments on the ongoing --
MR. COOK: And I would just say broadly, that we have a presence in the South China Sea and the Asia Pacific, significant presence at all times. And it would not be unusual for us to have an aircraft carrier or any other kind of ship in that part of the world. As you know we have -- have them deployed in many places in the -- in the Asia Pacific, including in the South China see and we will continue to do so. We've done so for decades.
Yes?
Q: Do you have any concern about the countermeasures from China about the deployment of THAAD in the few months later?
MR. COOK: As I just mentioned, we -- the THAAD system is a defensive system that we've worked closely with the South Koreans to find a suitable location for it. We believe this is important to the defense of South Korea and to promote security in the region. It -- as we've explained publicly, that China's concerns with it, we feel, are misplaced given that this is a defensive system.
So, we would, again, encourage China to -- to look at this system carefully and to see what we've been making clear for sometime that this is a defensive system and that there's no need for them to have concerns about this system.
Q: So, you don't have any concern about the countermeasures from China, right?
MR. COOK: We -- again, this is something that we'll -- we think this deployment is important for the safety and security of South Korea and for our alliance relationship. And we will continue to work closely with the South Koreans to address any issues with regard to THAAD.
Q: Is there any discussion between U.S. and China during your transitional period -- I mean the cooperation in with the -- (inaudible)?
MR. COOK: I will leave it to the transition folks to discuss any conversations they may be having with the Chinese.
So -- yes, Joe
Q: I wonder if you have more information, you could share it with us in regards to a coalition airstrike that took place today in Idlib Province. Local reports are saying that more than 25 leaders from Nusra Front were killed in the airstrike.
MR. COOK: Joe, I don't have any more information for you on that -- on that airstrike. I'm not -- I'm hearing from you about this airstrike, so --
Q: Thank you.
MR. COOK: Lucas, you left and came back. Hot off the teletype there?
Q: That's right. I'm just going to read this. There's a second solo tweet from President-elect Donald Trump saying, quote, "There should be no further releases from Gitmo. These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield."
I was wondering what your reaction is to that.
MR. COOK: As we discussed previously here, we're going to carry out the appropriate policies as set forth by the commander in chief with regard to Guantanamo Bay and the secretary of defense and his -- carry on his responsibilities as secretary of defense, his unique responsibilities with regard to the review of people who have been previously determined to be eligible for release and he's going to continue to carry out his responsibilities as appropriate until he's finished as secretary of Defense.
Q: Knowing the future commander in chief does not want some of these folks released --
MR. COOK: There is one commander in chief at a time and the secretary of Defense will continue to carry out his responsibilities as he sees appropriate.
All right, Luis, and I'll come back to the front, then we'll be done.
Q: So, based on the discussion we had earlier about North Korea and ICBM capability, North Korea's already conducted two long range satellite attempts that show their missile capability. What would show their ICBM capability? Can you explain to us what is the concern there?
MR. COOK: I'm not going to get into discussing their potential capabilities in the future. We will -- they shouldn't be conducting ballistic missile testing of any kind given the resolutions in the United Nations.
The international community has called on them not to do this and we are doing so again. We think their development of ballistic missile technology is destabilizing. It does not promote security and -- on the Korean peninsula and in the region and we think it's harmful.
And we will make that point again and again and we will, in the meantime, be prepared to respond to North Korea and be prepared to bolster our allies in the region in their own desire to make sure that it is as safe and stable as possible in that part of the world.
Q: Technologically speaking, just as a matter of definition, is there something different with regards to a, quote, "ICBM test" versus a long range satellite test? What is -- what is different about it? What makes it an ICBM test just as a matter of definition?
MR. COOK: I'm not going to parse technical definitions here, Louie, for you. Again, this is -- whether it's those previous launches or any new tests that they conduct, it's in violation of U.N. resolutions and it would be provocative and counterproductive. And we, once again, call on them not to engage in that kind of activity. And we're not the only ones. There are plenty of other countries in the world telling them exactly the same thing.
Q: This last week, you were up here -- President-elect Trump has tweeted twice about the F-35, the Pentagon's largest program. First he said costs were out of control and then he asked Boeing to come up with a competitor version of the F-18.
General Bogdan, the -- the joint program office director a couple of weeks ago said the costs are not out of control. But what is the -- what is the DOD's current view of the program? We expect Bogdan to say costs aren't out of control, but what's the DOD's view?
MR. COOK: This is a -- Tony, as you know, a critical program to the defense of the United States. This is a program that multiple services are counting on for the future. This is the first -- (inaudible) -- generation of fighter and we think it's a critically important program that has had its problems in the past. Secretary Carter has spoken to that in the past and has been one of those most responsible for getting it back and working -- running in the right direction.
And so we're confident in the capabilities of the F-35, and again, as others have spoken to, this is an aircraft that -- that the services are counting on, not just the United States is counting on but other countries as well.
Final question here unless -- (inaudible).
Q: You mentioned in a statement previously that there will be an investigation on the USS underwater drone -- (inaudible). Do you have any update on that?
MR. COOK: I don't have an update for you. My understanding is the analysis and assessment is ongoing, and so I don't have anything more beyond that.
(CROSSTALK)
MR. COOK: Yes?
Q: Is there any further talking with the --
MR. COOK: You must have been on vacation.
(Laughter.)
(CROSSTALK)
Q: Is there any further talking between the U.S. and Chinese navy on the issue?
MR. COOK: I don't have anything to read out to you specifically on that topic. So --
Q: Just one final one on Gitmo. How many transfers can the American public expect before January 20th?
MR. COOK: You can expect, Lucas, that -- again, the department will carry out its obligations under law, all the legal requirements involved, and we'll carry out those as the secretary of Defense deems appropriate between now and the end of his term.
Q: Is it --
MR. COOK: I don't have a number for you.
Q: -- sixteen, 18, 20?
MR. COOK: I don't have any number for you. Those will happen. There's a protocol and procedure for each and every one of those that we will follow to the letter and -- and that is no different than how we've been operating since Secretary Carter first took this job.
Okay. One more over here.
Q: The NDAA authorizes a military pay raise of 2.1 percent, which is about a half a percentage point above what the Pentagon had asked for and it's -- I think it's bringing military pay increases in line with private sector for the first time in about five years. Would you say that this signals an end to the era of austerity as it relates to military compensation that we've seen?
MR. COOK: Well, I've -- I'm not sure I'd characterize austerity as the word I'd use. But obviously, this is -- it's important for our service members to -- to be treated in an appropriate fashion and to be paid for their significant service to the country. This is a piece of legislation that the president signed and -- and we feel it's important for compensation -- for all service members to be compensated appropriately within the restraints of the budget situation that -- that we face as a country and as a government and we continue to face constraints going forward.
But it's appropriate for our service members to get a pay raise, given their significant service to the country and their sacrifice for the country, and this is a pay raise that we're comfortable with.
Q: Do you imagine that future raises --
MR. COOK: I'm not --
Q: -- will keep pace with the private sector?
MR. COOK: I'm not gonna be able to -- I'm not gonna predict future pay raises. I'll leave that to the next administration to speak to.
All right. Thanks, everybody.
http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1040947/
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Kyiv Pechersky District Court has granted the request of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine to choose arrest as a pre-trial preventive measure for fugitive Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Kurchenko, the PGO's press service reported.
"On January 3, 2017, the investigating judge of Pechersky District Court of Kyiv issued a ruling to grant a repeated request by the Prosecutor General's Office to choose a preventive measures in the form of detention," the press service reported.
The Prosecutor General's Office reiterates that they are holding a pre-trial investigation into Kurchenko on suspicion of establishing and managing a criminal organization and misappropriating property using state-run and private banking institutions, state-owned enterprises of the fuel and energy sector in a large scale. The activities of the criminal organization have inflicted losses to the state amounting to more than UAH 7 billion.
As reported, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine suspects Kurchenko of committing grievous crimes as the head of a criminal group in 2010 and early 2014 in the area of business operations with liquefied gas. In particular, during this period Kurchenko headed an organized criminal group through which he arranged the illegal seizure of state-owned liquefied gas produced by PJSC Ukrgazvydobuvannia and PJSC Ukrnafta and worth UAH 2.2 mln. The liquefied gas was bought at specialized auctions at understated price, allegedly to provide for the needs of the public. Then, this liquefied gas was sold to Kurchenko-controlled business entities at market prices.
As a result of these actions, the state suffered damage totaling more than UAH 2 billion.
Kurchenko has been on the international wanted list since March 2014.
His property and other assets totaling over UAH 2.8 billion have been arrested. The pretrial investigation is underway.
VMA-542 heads home
US Marine Corps News
By Lance Cpl. Joseph Abrego | January 3, 2017
U.S. Marines with Marine Attack Squadron 542 completed their Aviation Training Relocation Program at Chitose Air Base and headed back to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Dec. 22, 2016.
The ATR is an effort between the U.S. and Japan governments to increase operational readiness between the U.S. Marine Corps and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
It also improves interoperability and reduces noise concerns of aviation training on local communities by disseminating training locations throughout Japan.
"It was a great experience," said U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Austin K. Weber, operations chief for VMA-542. "We really felt like we were working toward something with being in a different environment and getting the aircraft in and out constantly. There was a lot of cross training for the Marines and a lot of knowledge to be gained from the JASDF."
While learning from the JASDF, the Marines were also able to show their capabilities and share their familiarity with the AV-8B Harriers and unit operations.
"The Marines have a different structure than we do," said JASDF Staff Sgt. Tomonori Miura, maintenance controller with the 2nd Air Wing Maintenance Supply Group. "They have a different specialty, and they are very efficient with what they do. They have a different jet so I learned a lot about the Harrier and how the maintenance operations work."
Miura said it was really easy to make conversation with the Marines. Everyone took time to get to know one another, which helped a lot with the cooperation throughout the ATR and ensured that nothing was overlooked.
The bonds built during the ATR continued after operations were completed, allowing Marines to explore the culture with the JASDF personnel.
"We established really good working relations, and it didn't just stop there," said Weber. "A lot of the JASDF personnel were inviting us out, showing us their city and even taking us to Sapporo. It was nice to be able to carry those relations we had past the work day and really get to know and build on our cohesion."
Weber said they were able to interact with the Japanese and were able to see that even through the language barrier there were ways to communicate and build bonds.
Working through everything with their Japanese allies, VMA-542 worked toward achieving the goals of the ATR and made life-long friends along the way.
"This was a good opportunity to meet Marines," said Miura. "It was a great experience, and I've made memories that I'll remember for the rest of my life. I'm looking forward to the next chance I get to meet more Marines."
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MCAS-4 Marines train to employ expeditionary runway
US Marine Corps News
By Cpl. Aaron Henson | January 3, 2017
U.S. Marines with Marine Air Control Squadron 4 Detachment Bravo, Marine Air Traffic Control Mobile Team, conducted aircraft landing zone training at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Dec. 21, 2016.
The training allows the Marine Air Traffic Control Mobile Team, or MMT, to gain experience, practice constructing an expeditionary airfield, and complete training and readiness requirements.
"MMT usually consists of six to eight Marines set to operate in a 72-hour environment by themselves . . . without support," said U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Chris Swogger, an air traffic control Marine with MACS-4 Detachment Bravo. "If we were in combat we would be able to establish an expeditionary runway. We go out and set up these runways, land and refuel aircraft, which allows us to further push into the country without having to take over airfields or build permanent structures."
An MMT comprises of a base, pace, chase, reference, navigation aid and communication technician who establish a 60-foot wide and 3,000-foot long runway in remote locations during combat scenarios, medical evacuations or for humanitarian aid.
"The base Marine establishes the front end of the runway and is the ones in control talking to the aircraft," said Swogger. "The pace Marine runs down the 3,000-foot landing zone and every 500 feet drops off a panel marking. The chase Marine follows the pace and sets up the left side of the runway. And the reference point Marine runs all the way down to the 3,000-foot marker and acts as the in-between for the base and pace, and allows the base to line up the runways with the reference point at the far end."
The MMT Marines conduct this training every three to six months to refine the Marines' skills, keeping them ready for expeditionary operations while in a garrison environment.
Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 assisted MACS-4 Detachment Bravo while also completing their training and readiness requirements.
"MMT Marines are extremely important to our aircraft landing zone operations," said U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Jeffrey Simonson, a KC-130J pilot with VMGR-152. "They are able to set up the strip to resemble what would be seen in a real-world scenario. The runway we use in Okinawa does not provide realistic training. The landing strip here in Iwakuni is much smaller, providing challenging and realistic training for the squadron. Each pilot has to conduct this training a minimum of once a year."
U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. George Price, an MMT instructor with MACS-4 Detachment Bravo, assisted directing aircraft to the runway from the ground.
MMT instructors are trained by Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, over a six-week period.
"To be an instructor we have to go through MAWTS-1 and participate in a lot of the live-flying training with every type of aircraft the Marine Corps has," said 1st Lt. Jeremy Graves, air traffic control officer with MACS-4 Detachment Bravo. "We learn our pace counts, how to set up an airfield, controlling aircraft in an expeditionary environment, and we work with all of Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course. It is a big event and a lot of training goes into it."
Graves said the Marines will be conducting aircraft landing zone training quarterly and did well for their first time conducting this training on the air station.
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USS Porter Departs Venice, Italy
Navy News Service
Story Number: NNS170103-10
Release Date: 1/3/2017 10:23:00 AM
By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Ford Williams, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs
VENICE, Italy (NNS) -- Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) departed Venice, Italy, after a scheduled port visit Jan. 3, enhancing U.S.-Italy relations as the two nations work together for a stable, secure and prosperous Europe.
The ship's presence in the Mediterranean is a demonstration of the U.S. Navy's continued commitment to NATO and the collective security of the European region.
Quotes:
"It was a tremendous visit to Venice, and I'd like to thank the local government, law enforcement, and merchants for their fantastic hospitality. Port visits such as this allow us to continue to strengthen our bonds with Italy as we work toward mutual goals throughout the region." - Cmdr. Andria Slough, Commanding Officer, USS Porter (DDG 78)
"I enjoyed the food, sights, and hospitality during our port visit. I can't wait to come back and see some of my new favorite spots. It was a great opportunity to be here during the New Year celebration." - Fire Controlman 2nd Class Jess Rivera Hernandez
Quick Facts:
Porter's port visit strengthened the enduring partnership with Italy by providing Sailors an opportunity to experience the hospitality and culture of Venice.
Strengthening alliances during the port visit to Venice demonstrates the shared commitment the U.S. has to promote safety and stability within the region, while seeking opportunities to enhance interoperability with NATO allies and partners.
Porter is currently operating in the Mediterranean Sea, working with allies and regional partners to help develop and improve maritime forces, maintain regional security, and work towards mutual goals in order to advance security and stability in Europe.
Porter, forward-deployed to Rota, Spain, is conducting naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. The ship deployed from Naval Station Rota Nov. 30.
U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, 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.
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USS Monterey Conducts Port Call in Palma de Mallorca
Navy News Service
Story Number: NNS170103-07
Release Date: 1/3/2017 8:27:00 AM
By USS Monterey (CG 61) Public Affairs
MEDITERRANEAN SEA (NNS) -- Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61) arrived in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Dec. 31 for a scheduled port visit to enhance U.S.-Spain relationships as the two nations work together for a stable, secure, and prosperous Europe.
Capt. Chris DeGregory, commanding officer of Monterey was very thankful for the opportunity for the crew to experience Palma de Mallorca.
"This port visit provides the crew with an opportunity to meet with the people of Palma, and this is a great chance for the Sailors to experience the rich history and culture of Spain," said DeGregory.
Monterey, deployed as part of the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, is supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations.
U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with joint, allied, and interagency partners in order to advance U.S. national interests and security and stability in Europe and Africa.
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USS Porter Arrives in Venice, Italy
Navy News Service
Story Number: NNS170103-06
Release Date: 1/3/2017 8:25:00 AM
By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Ford Williams, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs
VENICE, Italy (NNS) -- Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) arrived in Venice, Italy, for a scheduled port visit Dec. 30 to enhance U.S.-Italy relations as the two nations work together for a stable, secure and prosperous Europe.
The ship's presence in the Mediterranean is a demonstration of the U.S. Navy's continued commitment to NATO and the collective security of the European region.
Quote:
"Visiting a city with a historic seafaring tradition such as Venice allows us to celebrate our enduring friendship as we share customs and traditions. Many Americans trace their heritage here, and this port provides a unique opportunity for the entire crew to experience the rich culture of Italy." - Cmdr. Andria Slough, Commanding Officer, USS Porter (DDG 78)
"This is my first time in Venice. I'm excited to experience another world-renowned destination. I love Italy, so it should be a great experience." - Logistics Specialist 3rd Class Raru Steadmon
Quick Facts:
Porter is conducting a routine port visit to strengthen the enduring partnership with Italy by providing Sailors an opportunity to experience the hospitality and culture of Venice.
Strengthening alliances during the port visit to Venice demonstrates the shared commitment we have to promote safety and stability within the region, while seeking opportunities to enhance interoperability with NATO allies and partners.
Porter is currently operating in the Mediterranean Sea, working with allies and regional partners to help develop and improve our maritime forces, maintain regional security, and work towards mutual goals in order to advance security and stability in Europe.
Porter, forward-deployed to Rota, Spain, is conducting naval operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of U.S. national security interests in Europe. The ship deployed from Naval Station Rota Nov. 30.
U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, 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.
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USS Cole Arrives in Split, Croatia
Navy News Service
Story Number: NNS170103-05
Release Date: 1/3/2017 8:17:00 AM
By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brianna K. Green
SPLIT, Croatia (NNS) -- Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Cole (DDG 67) arrived in Split, Croatia, for a scheduled port visit to enhance U.S.-Croatian relations as the two nations work together for a stable, secure, and prosperous Europe.
During their stay, Cole Commanding Officer Cmdr. David Wroe is scheduled to meet with Split's Mayor, Ivo Baldasar, while Sailors will have an opportunity to participate in several Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) tours.
Quotes:
"This port visit provides the opportunity for our Sailors to learn and explore a region rich with history and tradition. We look forward to strengthening our relationship with our European partners and continuing our commitment to promote regional, economic, energy and food security," Commanding Officer, USS Cole (DDG 67), Cmdr. David Wroe
Quick Facts:
Sailors will have a chance to visit local attractions in Split, Dubrovnik, hike the mountain Mosor, and tour parts of the "Game of Thrones" filming set in Split.
Strengthening relationships during this port visit to Croatia demonstrates the shared commitment to an increase in peace and prosperity throughout the region.
Cole, assigned to Commander, Task Force 65, is conducting a regularly-scheduled deployment in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operation.
U.S. 6th Fleet, headquartered in Naples, Italy, 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 and security and stability in Europe and Africa.
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Mayport Welcomes Milwaukee, Detroit
Navy News Service
Story Number: NNS170103-04
Release Date: 1/3/2017 7:51:00 AM
From Commander, Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 2 Public Affairs
MAYPORT, Fla. (NNS) -- U.S. government and senior U.S. Navy officials, along with several local distinguished visitors, held a ceremony Dec. 30 to officially welcome USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) and USS Detroit (LCS 7) to Naval Station Mayport.
Local U.S. Congressmen Ander Crenshaw; Rear Adm. Sean Buck, commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command; and Capt. Paul Young, commander, Littoral Combat Ship Squadron (LCSRON) 2 participated in the ceremony officially welcoming the ships to Mayport.
The littoral combat ships' (LCS) homeport officially shifted from San Diego Dec. 22. NS Mayport will eventually become the home for all of the Navy's Freedom-variant LCSs with Milwaukee and Detroit leading the way for LCSRON 2, which was stood up just over two years ago.
"The entire waterfront is excited to add Milwaukee and Detroit to the Mayport Basin, but none more so than Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 2," said Young, who leads the squadron. "This team is ready to commence LCS operations in earnest from the east coast."
Milwaukee was commissioned Nov. 21, 2015, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Since arriving in Mayport Feb. 19, the ship's crew has successfully completed full-ship shock trials and is currently undergoing a planned maintenance availability at BAE Shipyard. Detroit was commissioned Oct. 22 in Detroit, Michigan. On Nov. 23, she arrived at Naval Station Mayport, where she has been conducting her combat systems ship qualification testing (CSSQT).
Slated to following them over the course of the next year are USS Little Rock (LCS 9), USS Sioux City (LCS 11), and USS Wichita, LCS 13) -- all of which are yet to be commissioned.
The design for these ships is a semi-planning steel monohull with an aluminum superstructure built in Marinette, Wisconsin, by Lockheed Martin. Milwaukee is the third and Detroit is the fourth LCS of the Freedom class. They follow USS Freedom (LCS 1), the class lead, and USS Fort Worth (LCS 3). The Navy has proposed Freedom and Fort Worth be reassigned to Mayport, as well, where they will take on most of the crew training.
LCS vessels were designed to be high-speed, shallow draft multi-mission ships capable of operating independently or with a strike group. They are designed to defeat growing littoral threats and provide access and dominance in coastal waters. A fast, maneuverable, and networked surface-combatant, LCSs provide the required warfighting capabilities and operational flexibility to execute focused missions such as surface warfare, mine warfare, and anti-submarine warfare.
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Carl Vinson Strike Group Set for Deployment to Western Pacific
Navy News Service
Story Number: NNS170103-17
Release Date: 1/3/2017 3:13:00 PM
From U.S. 3rd Fleet Public Affairs
SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Ships and units from the Carl Vinson Strike Group (CVNSG) will depart San Diego for a regularly-scheduled deployment to the Western Pacific, Jan. 5 and Jan. 6.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2, and embarked Destroyer Squadron (CDS) 1 will deploy with Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) and USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108).
Homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Michael Murphy will join CVNSG later this month as the strike group makes its way to the Western Pacific.
CVNSG will deploy with approximately 7,500 Sailors and will focus on maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts. The strike group assets will conduct bilateral exercises in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region to include anti-submarine warfare, maneuvering drills, gunnery exercises and visit, board, search and seizure subject matter expert exchanges.
Carl Vinson will also embark the aviation squadrons of CVW-2 which include the "Black Knights" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 4, the "Blue Hawks" of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM 78), the "Bounty Hunters" of Strike Fighter Squadrons (VFA) 2, the "Blue Blasters" of VFA-34, the "Krestrels" of VFA-137, the "Golden Dragons" of VFA-192, the "Black Eagles" of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 113, the "Gauntlets" of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 136 and the "Providers" of Fleet Logistic Support Squadron (VRC) 30.
U.S. 3rd Fleet leads naval forces in the Pacific and provides the realistic, relevant training necessary for an effective global Navy. Third Fleet constantly coordinates with U.S. 7th Fleet to plan and execute missions based on their complementary strengths to promote ongoing peace, security, and stability throughout the entire Pacific theater of operations.
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Mozambique rebel leader extends ceasefire
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 6:32PM
Mozambique's Renamo opposition party has extended a ceasefire by two months to allow talks with President Filipe Nyusi's government, raising the prospects for future peace in the African country.
Mozambican rebel leader Afonso Dhlakama, who lives in hiding in the Gorongosa mountains in central Mozambique, announced in a telephone press conference on Tuesday that Renamo forces would not attack government troops or positions.
"There have been some minor incidents, but the seven-day truce went well, so I announce the extension of the truce for 60 days, until March 4," Dhlakama said, adding, "The truce is intended to build an atmosphere conducive to advancing talks in Maputo in peace and tranquility for both sides."
Dhlakama announced a week-long truce after a telephone conversation with President Nyusi.
The unexpected truce announcement came after tentative moves toward a peace process were suspended indefinitely last year.
Reacting to developments, President Nyusi said on Monday that the ceasefire was "productive."
Trust "is being created," the president said, adding that government forces did not launch attacks on Renamo, the armed insurgent group and also an elected opposition party.
The renewal of the truce raised hopes for a nascent peace process.
Dhlakama and Nyusi have not met face-to-face since February 2015. Distrust between the two has led to several ceasefires collapsing since Nyusi won the disputed 2014 election.
Both sides have clashed sporadically since Renamo challenged the results of the 2014 election.
The political situation in Mozambique has been tense for months with Dhlakama refusing to recognize the results of the vote, where the Frelimo party was declared the winner. The party has been in power since the country's independence from Portugal in 1975.
Renamo and the Frelimo-led government had been engaged in a civil war for 16 years that was brought to an end in 1992. Almost one million people are estimated to have been killed in the confrontation.
Renamo's armed wing has conducted a string of fatal assaults in central Mozambique in recent years as it seeks to increase its share of power.
On October 19, 2016, the warring sides resumed a new round of peace talks despite the killing of an opposition negotiator on October 9.
Future peace talks could be held between rivals under international mediation coordinated by the European Union.
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US military considers expanded use of cyber, space weapons against ISIL
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 4:24PM
US military chiefs are prepared to give incoming President Donald Trump the option to intensify the fight against the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group, including the possibility of using secret cyber-warfare and space weapons, according to the US Air Force chief of staff.
"We've heard him [Trump] loud and clear that he's going to be looking for options," General David Goldfein told USA TODAY on Tuesday.
Goldfein said the recommendations may focus on allowing commanders more flexibility to deploy an array of weapons against the terrorists, who are waging a terror campaign beyond their bases in Syria and Iraq.
"If we want to be more agile then the reality is we are going to have to push decision authority down to some lower levels in certain areas," Goldfein said during a trip to the Grand Forks Air Force Base in December. "The big question that we've got to wrestle with is the authorities to operate in cyber and space."
Cyber and space capabilities are among the Pentagon's most closely held secrets, and their use now generally requires approval at the highest levels of the US Defense Department.
In February, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the military was using cyber tools to disrupt Daesh's ability to operate and communicate over the virtual battlefield.
During his campaign, Trump said if he was elected, he would give military commanders one month to come up with a plan for completely defeating Daesh.
US President Barack Obama's strategy has centered on avoiding ground forces and using airstrikes in Iraq and Syria to combat Daesh. But the US-led coalition has been accused of targeting Syrian forces at times while its airstrikes have done little to stop Daesh.
Daesh terrorists, who were among the militants initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control parts of Iraq and Syria.
Analysts say it is unlikely Trump would approve the deployment of large numbers of US conventional ground forces in the Middle East or expand the bombings, despite his get-tough rhetoric during the presidential campaign.
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It may be possible to hold elections in Donbas two or three years after the liberation of the occupied territories, Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Displaced Persons Heorhiy Tuka said has said in an interview aired by Espreso.TV.
"I support the official position. At least two or three years should pass before any elections can be conducted [in the occupied territories of Donbas]," Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Displaced Persons Heorhiy Tuka said.
According to him, it will not be a tragedy if a military and civilian administration operates in the liberated territories of Donbas during these two or three years.
Afghans protest against Daesh brutality against Shias
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 3:15PM
People in western Afghanistan have staged a massive protest against growing sectarian attacks on Shia Muslims by the Takfiri Daesh terrorists.
About 2,000 demonstrators, holding pictures of Shia Muslims killed in recent terrorist attacks, marched on the governor's office in the city of Herat on Tuesday.
The protesters chanted slogans such as "Death to the enemies of Afghanistan!" and "Death to Daesh!"
Herat recently witnessed a surge in attacks on mosques belonging to Shia Muslims. A prayer leader was killed and five others wounded in one such attack on Sunday.
Qurban Ali, a 40-year-old demonstrator, said Daesh terrorists were desperately attempting to fuel sectarian strife by mounting attacks on Shia religious sites.
"Daesh attacks on our mosques are increasing every day. They want to create a rift between Shias and Sunnis," Ali said, adding, "This is a dangerous trend and we want the government to protect us."
Jawad, another protester who was identified by one name, said, "We will not allow Daesh to make Afghanistan another Syria. The government must come up with a plan to protect Shias."
Until a few months ago, Daesh was largely confined to the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. The group has earned notoriety for brutality including beheadings across the volatile region.
Afghan government officials recently warned that the group had expanded its foothold into some other provinces as well.
Najeebullah Mani, the head of counter-terrorism at the Afghan Interior Ministry, told reporters in Herat this week that the group was steadily expanding into other provinces.
"Our initial information shows Daesh is behind the recent attacks in Herat. They are expanding and are always looking for new geographical areas," Mani said, adding, "They are present in at least 11 (of Afghanistan's 34 provinces). Their main goal is to create sectarian divisions between Shias and Sunnis."
Over the past months, Afghanistan has witnessed a surge in terror activities by Daesh.
In October 2016, at least 14 Shia Muslims lost their lives in a powerful blast at a mosque in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. The attack was carried out hours after gunmen targeted worshippers at a shrine in the capital, Kabul, and killed 18 people.
In August, Daesh claimed responsibility for a bombing during a demonstration held by the Shia Hazara community in Kabul, where at least 85 people were killed.
The rise of Daesh in Afghanistan has triggered concerns in a country that has already been torn apart by decades of Taliban-led militancy and the 2001 invasion of the United States and its allies.
Daesh, mainly active in Syria and Iraq, has reportedly managed to take recruits from Taliban defectors in Afghanistan.
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Israeli troops abduct 30 Palestinians, demolish homes in West Bank
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 2:27PM
Israeli forces have abducted at least 30 Palestinians, including several children, and demolished many homes during massive overnight raids in different parts of the occupied West Bank.
In the early hours of Tuesday, dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded Balatah refugee camp, east of Nablus; Nablus city; Beit Fajjar town, south of Bethlehem; Aida refugee camp, north of Bethlehem; Silwad town, east of Ramallah; Qalqiliah and Ya'bad town near the West Bank and city of Jenin, the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) reported.
The Israeli army announced in a statement that it had arrested 34 Palestinians in different parts of the West Bank.
In recent months, Israeli forces have frequently raided the houses of Palestinians in the West Bank, detaining dozens of people, who are then transferred to Israeli prisons, where they are kept without any charges.
According to the Palestinian prisoners' rights group Addameer, there are currently 7,000 Palestinians held at Israeli jails and detention facilities, seven lawmakers among them. Three Palestinian Legislative Council members are in "administrative detention."
The so-called administrative detention is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians for periods of up to six months, which can be renewed an infinite number of times.
Some prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to eleven years.
Home demolition
Meanwhile, several Israeli army vehicles and bulldozers invaded the village of Khirbit Tana, east of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and demolished several residential unites after forcing their residents out.
The soldiers surrounded the entire community before invading it, said Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official in charge of Israeli settlements' file in the northern part of the West Bank.
The village has been subject to frequent invasions and destruction, including the demolition of its only school, many residential units and barns.
The occupied West Bank has seen an unprecedented rise in the demolition of Palestinian homes this year, with the number of buildings destroyed in the first half of 2016 already standing well beyond the total number of demolitions carried out in all of 2015.
According to a United Nations report, Israel has made over 1,383 Palestinians homeless since January as a result of demolitions in the occupied territories, compared to 688 Palestinians internally displaced during the entire 2015.
Israeli authorities rarely issue home-building permits for Palestinians, forcing many to build homes without granting the so-called permits.
On the other hand, according to Americans for Peace Now, the number of Israeli settlements has grown dramatically over the past 20 years, with the construction of 11,000 new settler units authorized under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Over half a million Israelis live in more than 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem al-Quds.
All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. Tel Aviv has defied calls to stop the expansion of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
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Scores of Saudi soldiers killed in Yemeni missile attack
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 10:59AM
A large number of Saudi soldiers have been killed in a Yemeni missile attack against a military base in Saudi Arabia's southwestern border region of Asir.
An unnamed Yemeni military source said military forces and their allies launched a ballistic missile at the al-Montazah base in Asir on Tuesday, leaving scores of Saudi troopers and their mercenaries dead and injured, Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.
The source added that two Saudi armored vehicles were also destroyed in the attack.
Shortly afterward, Yemeni soldiers and fighters from the Popular Committees fired several artillery rounds at the Mosallas al-Rakbah base in the Saudi Jizan region, located 967 kilometers southwest of the capital, Riyadh.
A blaze swept through the military site as the projectiles struck.
Separately, Yemeni soldiers and allied fighters launched a domestically-manufactured Zelzal-2 (Earthquake-2) missile at a gathering of Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to the former government in the al-Maslub district of Yemen's northern province of Jawf.
Several pro-Saudi gunmen also lost their lives and sustained injuries when their military camp was targeted by Yemeni forces in the al-Hariqiyah area of the southwestern province of Ta'izz.
Also on Tuesday, Saudi fighter jets bombarded a school in the As Safra district of Yemen's northwestern mountainous province of Sa'ada. There were no immediate reports of possible casualties and damage, though.
A civilian was also killed and another two sustained injuries when Saudi warplanes struck residential buildings in the Majz district of the same Yemeni province.
Earlier, Saudi jets had pounded an area in the Saqayn district of Sa'ada Province, leaving six people dead and another injured.
Yemeni forces and fighters from allied Popular Committees have been staging recurrent retaliatory attacks against Saudi Arabia, which has been waging a war on the impoverished country since March 2015.
The Saudi war on Yemen, which has killed at least 11,400 Yemenis, was launched in an unsuccessful attempt to reinstate a former government.
The Saudi war has also taken a heavy toll on the country's facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.
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Hundreds Of Afghan Shi'a Protest Killings
RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan January 03, 2017
Hundreds of Shi'ite Muslims have demonstrated in western Afghanistan against increasing attacks by radical Islamic groups.
Chanting "Death to the enemies of Afghanistan!" and yelling slogans against Islamic State (IS) group militants, protesters marched to the governor's office in the city of Herat on January 3 carrying photos of Shi'ite friends and relatives killed in recent attacks.
Herat, which borders predominantly Shi'ite Iran, recently witnessed a surge in attacks on Shi'ite mosques.
A Muslim prayer leader was killed and five others were wounded in an attack on January 1.
"This is a dangerous trend and we want the government to protect us," said one protester.
IS militants were largely confined to the eastern province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan, one year ago, but the government said they have greatly expanded their presence since then.
Najibullah Mani, head of the Interior Ministry's Counterterrorism Department, said in Herat on January 3 that IS militants are now active in "at least 11 [of Afghanistan's 34 provinces]."
In July, IS militants targeted Kabul's Shi'ite community in a suicide bombing that killed more than 80 people and wounded 130.
With reporting by AFP
Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-shia-protest- killings/28211528.html
Copyright (c) 2017. 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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New Moldova, Transdniester Leaders To Meet
RFE/RL's Moldovan Service January 03, 2017
Moldovan President Igor Dodon has said he will meet with the de facto head of the breakaway Transdniester region on January 4.
Dodon wrote on Facebook that he will hold a working meeting with Vadim Krasnoselsky, the leader of the self-styled Transdniester Republic, in the separatist-controlled city of Bendery.
Dodon said the meeting was "necessary for intensifying talks on a Transdniester settlement," adding that the issue of the breakaway territory would be a main topic during January 17 talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Krasnoselsky has said he favors independence for Transdniester and closer relations with Russia based on the results of an unrecognized poll taken in the region in 2006.
Dodon, who was elected president on December 23, has pledged to resolve the Transdniester issue while in office.
"We have a lot of issues that need to be addressed, and the situation where the talks have stalled for several years now is unacceptable," Dodon said.
The breakaway territory has been self-ruling since 1992, when a brief war was fought between Moldova and Transdniester separatists.
Bendery is technically in a buffer zone along the administrative line dividing Moldova proper from the Transdniester region but it is controlled by separatists.
Krasnoselsky was voted Transdniester's leader in an election not recognized by Moldova or the international community.
With reporting by TASS
Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/moldova-transdniester -leaders-talks/28211389.html
Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Coalition Strikes Continue Against ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq
From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release
SOUTHWEST ASIA, Jan. 4, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.
Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.
Strikes in Syria
Attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 21 strikes in Syria:
-- Near Shadaddi, three strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units; destroyed a vehicle bomb, a vehicle bomb storage facility and a fighting position; and damaged a repeater box and communications tower.
-- Near Ayn Isa, three strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units, destroyed a fighting position and disabled an ISIL armored vehicle.
-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, seven strikes destroyed two excavators, one bulldozer, two oil wellheads, 13 oil construction vehicles, four cranes, a piece of engineering equipment and seven front-end loaders.
-- Near Raqqah, seven strikes engaged five ISIL tactical units; destroyed a vehicle bomb, a vehicle bomb storage facility, a weapons cache and 11 fighting positions; and suppressed an ISIL tactical unit.
-- Near Tanf, a strike destroyed an ISIL repeater box, two repeater antennas and two solar panels.
Strikes in Iraq
Attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery conducted six strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:
-- Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit.
-- Near Huwayjah, two strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit, destroyed a pickup truck and a vehicle bomb storage facility.
-- Near Mosul, three strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units; destroyed two mortars, a tactical vehicle and two command and control nodes; damaged two supply routes, and suppressed nine mortar teams and an ISIL tactical unit.
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 they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.
Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
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Gunmen kill two Moroccan peacekeepers in Central African Republic
Iran Press TV
Wed Jan 4, 2017 4:59PM
Gunmen have killed two Moroccan peacekeepers with a UN mission in the southeast of the Central African Republic (CAR).
MINUSCA, or the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, said in a statement on Wednesday that the peacekeepers were attacked while they were escorting fuel trucks on Tuesday afternoon about 60 kilometers west of the town of Obo.
MINUSCA said two other peacekeepers were injured in the attack. The attackers "fled into the bush."
Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, the head of MINUSCA, denounced the attack, saying, "No claim can justify individuals directing their grievances against peacekeepers whose presence on CAR soil is only aimed at helping the country emerge from the cycle of violence."
In March 2013, the Central African Republic toppled into chaos when then President Francois Bozize was ousted by the mainly Seleka rebel alliance and was replaced by Michel Am-Nondokro Djotodia, the first Muslim to hold the presidency in the generally-Christian nation.
The coup, however, caused a series of deadly retaliatory attacks between the Seleka rebels and the Christian militia known as anti-balaka, who reacted by engaging in large-scale attacks against the minority Muslims.
Some 13,000 peacekeepers have been deployed to the country by the UN as part of MINUSCA. Civilians, however, say it does not do enough to protect them against scores of armed groups.
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Russia to Sell 'Sophisticated' Arms To Manila After Foreign Policy U-Turn
Sputnik News
22:31 04.01.2017(updated 23:49 04.01.2017)
One day following the Russian Navy's arrival in the Philippines to run regional threat-assessment drills, Russian Ambassador Igor Khovaev expressed Moscow's enthusiasm to equip the island nation with high-tech military hardware.
While Russia will operate "in full compliance with international law," Khovaev said that Russia is "ready to supply small arms and light weapons, some aeroplanes, helicopters, submarines, and many, many other weapons. Sophisticated weapons. Not the second-hand ones."
Duterte has made good on his promise to weaken ties with Washington after welcoming Russian warships for unprecedented navy-to-navy maritime exercises between Moscow and Manila. Russian Rear Admiral Eduard Mikhailov indicated that the war games would focus on two scenarios most likely to destabilize the region's waters, maritime piracy and terrorism.
Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte's pivot from ties with the US launched into overdrive in October 2016, when he said in a speech that US President Barack Obama to "go to hell" for treating the country "like a doormat."
From the deck of the anti-submarine cruiser Admiral Tributs, Khovaev emphasized a stronger Moscow-Manila bond did not have to be at the expense of souring ties with Washington, suggesting that economic cooperation can bring mutual benefits to the parties involved, and diversifying one's foreign partners is simply smart economics. "It's not a choice between these partners and those ones. Diversification means preserving and keeping old traditional partners and getting new ones. So Russia is ready to become a new reliable partner and close friend of the Philippines," he said.
The Ambassador also expressed that Russia does not intend to "interfere" with Manila's relations to its "traditional partners," a clear nod to Washington, which once held the Philippines as a territory before allowing Manila to engage in self-rule.
But Washington has its own share of problems with the outspoken Filipino leader. US Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), ranking member of the powerful Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, denied the sale of 26,000 automatic M4 assault rifles to the Philippines, as a punitive measure for the state-sanctioned killings of thousands of Filipinos, after they were accused of using illegal drugs.
Duterte shot back: "look at these monkeys. The 26,000 firearms we wanted to buy, they don't want to sell," before saying he would look to Beijing and Moscow to expand Manila's arsenal.
Since Duterte rose to power on June 30, 2016, conservative estimates suggest that over 2,300 people have been killed at the hands of Filipino police officers or vigilantes, in connection with Duterte's bid to eliminate narcotics use by simply killing all of those thought to be involved, whether proven or not.
Sputnik
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Indonesia Suspends Military Cooperation With Australia
Sputnik News
09:49 04.01.2017(updated 09:57 04.01.2017)
Indonesia has suspended all military cooperation with Australia over unresolved technical matters, according to an Indonesian military spokesman.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) The suspension is effective immediately as there are "ups and downs in every cooperation between two national forces," Maj. Gen. Wuryanto told Australia's ABC News channel.
The specific reasons for the suspension were not given, while Indonesia's Kompas newspaper reported that the decision followed an incident at an Australian Special Air Service Regiment base in Perth. An instructor from the Indonesian Kopassus special forces group, engaged in joint training with Australian special forces, reportedly felt insulted by materials allegedly ridiculing the Indonesian military found at the base.
The material was found to be of demeaning nature against the principles of Pancasila, the Indonesian state's founding philosophy. During an earlier incident, Indonesian special forces members were allegedly taught lessons during which the Indonesian military was also demeaned.
The length of the suspension has not been specified. The move comes just a month before joint Indonesian-Australian joint navy drills. Australian military officials reportedly said it was uncertain whether the exercises will proceed in February.
The Kopassus unit has been training at the base in Perth for several years. Bilateral military cooperation has been improving since the 2006 Lombok Treaty, after which both sides committed to defense and counterterrorism cooperation. Relations somewhat soured in 2013, when documents revealed by Edward Snowden indicated that Australia was tapping Indonesia's then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's phone conversations.
Sputnik
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Kenya's Biometric Technology Could Delay Election Preps
By Mohammed Yusuf January 04, 2017
Kenya's Electoral Commission says political wrangles and tension related to biometric voter technology may delay preparations for the country's upcoming elections. The opposition is threatening protests over a proposed amendment to Kenya's electoral law.
Kenya's Senate legal committee is reviewing public comments about a controversial amendment to the electoral law the lower House passed late last month.
The bill would allow manual voting and also allow the commission to manually submit election results in case biometric voter technology fails during the August election.
Electoral commissioners said they requested the amendment because they do not want to lock out some voters who might not be identified by the biometric registration kits.
Former Council of Governors chairman, Bomet County Governor Isaac Rutto told the Senate legal committee the manual system could be manipulated.
"Out there Kenyans want just fairness. They are not interested in the tyranny of your numbers inside the houses. The real issue is the voters who do not turn up and ended up voting for them manually, identifying them manually," said Rutto.
This is not the only Electoral Commission request that has been challenged.
Voter registry
A Kenyan court stopped the electoral body from awarding a bid to auditing firm KPMG to clean the voter register. The court also suspended $25 million tender for printing ballot papers given to a Dubai- based company, saying the bid was marred with irregularities.
Electoral Commission deputy head Betty Nyabuto said political players are making preparations for the election difficult.
"I think we are largely prepared for this election I really do not see any huge challenge. The huge challenge will basically be out there with the external players they need to give us that operational space for us as a commission to do our work," said Nyabuto.
Political commentator Martin Andati warns any quick fixes to the electoral process may result in post-election violence.
"If you are doing amendments haphazardly the way [we] are doing we are bound to have problems during the voting time ... so that will cause a problem and if we do not have [a] credible and accepted election then we are bound to have chaos," he said.
Registration process
The electoral body plans a mass voter registration from January 16 to February 14.
The registration activities may be affected by opposition plans to start street protests if the Senate passes the electoral law amendments.
The Senate is to meet Thursday to debate the amendments and vote on the recommendations from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
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Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff Chief Viktor Muzhenko has called a multi-faceted reform effort to modernize and professionalize the military troops by means of staffing officer positions is a priority of personnel police of the Armed Forces of Ukraine this year.
"The main priority of the personnel policy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine should be the continuation of the professionalization process of the army at the expense of high-quality staffing of full-time officer positions," Muzhenko said during a meeting with the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Defense Ministry website reported on Wednesday.
He also pointed at the need to systematize the data on reserve officers who are able to perform military service. In particular, this applies to people who did not serve, but have a higher education and received a military rank of reserve officers. From 9,000 to 10,000 people receive these ranks every year. "This is a powerful resource that should be used effectively," the chief of the Armed Forces said.
In addition, Muzhenko said that many Ukrainian officers are trained abroad.
"Our task is to assign them to positions where they will yield the most benefit. The Armed Forces of Ukraine needs their experience. We have enough good performers, but this is not enough, because we lack true leaders. All personnel work should be focused on finding leaders and forming leadership skills," he said.
Germany to overhaul security after Christmas attack
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 11:44AM
Germany's interior minister has outlined plans for reforms in the country's security apparatus following Christmas market attack.
Thomas de Maiziere on Tuesday urged wider federal powers for domestic intelligence and the enforcement of refugee expulsions.
"We don't have federal jurisdiction to deal with national catastrophes. The jurisdiction for the fight against international terrorism is fragmented," he wrote in a guest column for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
He also urged wider oversight for federal police as well as for the formation of a crisis management center.
"The federal police's scope of action is restricted to railway stations, airports and border controls," he said, adding it was time to re-examine Germany's security set-up.
Twelve people were killed and 48 others wounded in a terror attack at a Christmas market in Berlin on December 19, which saw a 40-ton truck running into a crowd. The Takfiri Daesh terrorist group, which is mainly active in militancy in Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Reports that Tunisian suspect Anis Amri in the deadly attack was an asylum seeker who had slipped through the net of security services has laid the blame for the attack at the door of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Amri had been under surveillance by German authorities since March, but German police stopped watching him in September, thinking that he was a small-time drug dealer.
De Maiziere called for the establishment of federal departure centers to hold asylum seekers in the weeks or days leading up to their deportation. He also urged wider powers to be given to federal police in order to boost security.
"The current remit of the federal police is too limited," De Maiziere said. "We need a set of common rules and better coordination, for instance in checking dangerous individuals," he added.
The minister also stressed that the federal government should take charge of domestic intelligence services.
De Maiziere is a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is running for a fourth term in a crucial national election in September.
Last month, Merkel declared plans to hasten the expulsion of rejected asylum seekers as her government came under fire in the wake of the truck attack.
Germany and other Western countries are blamed for supporting militants in the Middle East when their political agendas were served by such campaigns.
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Rebuffing Trump, Obama Likely to Transfer More Guantanamo Prisoners
By Ken Bredemeier January 03, 2017
The White House says U.S. President Barack Obama plans to transfer abroad more suspected terrorists held at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before he leaves office January 20, rebuffing President-elect Donald Trump's call to end such releases.
"There should be no further releases from Gitmo," Trump said Tuesday, using a nickname for Guantanamo in one of several comments on Twitter he made on a variety of issues. "These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield."
Just hours later, however, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, "I would expect, at this point, additional [prisoner] transfers" before Obama ends eight years as the U.S. chief executive and Trump is sworn in as the country's 45th president.
When Obama took office in January 2009, he vowed to close the prison in southeastern Cuba, saying the detention facility did not reflect American values to the world because many of the prisoners there have been held for years without trial, and some had been tortured.
Detainee population greatly reduced
Guantanamo, a large area in Cuba that has been on long-term lease to the United States since before Fidel Castro's communist revolution, was designated a detention center by former President George W. Bush after the 2001 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York and Washington. The camp was intended to house prisoners captured by the U.S. and its allies in the fight against al-Qaida and other terror groups in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
At its peak operation, 779 prisoners were held at Guantanamo; when Bush handed over control of the government to Obama the number had been reduced to about 500 detainees. Obama has subsequently sharply whittled down the number to 59 returning some detainees to their home countries for prosecution, sending others to third countries for resettlement and releasing others without trial.
However, Obama's stated goal of closing the detention center outright has been been thwarted by a variety of political and legal obstacles. Transferring some or all of the remaining prisoners to secure facilities inside the United States to await trial was considered a possible way to facilitate the camp's closure, but many members of Congress have strongly opposed such tactics.
Evidence flawed by torture
Military prosecutors who would prosecute suspected terrorists detained on faraway battlefields have been stymied because evidence against them was obtained through the use of torture, including waterboarding to simulate drowning practices that Obama subsequently banned.
About 20 of the remaining prisoners have been cleared for release, but finding other countries willing to accept them has proved difficult. About 30 percent of the onetime Guantanamo detainees have, as Trump suggested, either returned to Middle East battlefields to fight against the U.S. and its allies or are suspected of resuming terrorist activities.
During his lengthy campaign for the U.S. presidency, Trump vowed to keep Guantanamo open, saying at one point that when he became the country's commander in chief, he would "load it up with some bad dudes, believe me. We're gonna load it up."
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Trump: No more detainee releases from Guantanamo Bay prison
Iran Press TV
Wed Jan 4, 2017 1:26AM
US President-elect Donald Trump has called for an end to the transfer of detainees from the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison.
In a statement on Tuesday, Trump spoke against closing the Cuban-based military prison and said the US government should avoid releasing any more prisoners from the detention center in order to stop them from committing more crimes.
"There should be no further releases from Gitmo," the president-elect said via Twitter, using the abbreviated name for the prison. "These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield."
The warning comes as the administration of outgoing US President Barack Obama prepares to release another 19 detainees from the facility before the president leaves office.
In December 2016, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he expected additional transfers to be announced before Obama's farewell on January 20.
The detainees will reportedly be bound for Italy, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
In his last security speech in the US state of Florida early last month, the outgoing president expressed disappointment over failure to close the notorious prison during his tenure, saying it was a disgrace and a waste of money.
"We are wasting hundreds of millions of dollars to keep fewer than 60 people in a detention facility in Cuba," Obama said. "That's not strength And I will continue to do all that I can to remove this blot on our national honor."
Obama had pledged during his 2008 presidential campaign to close the military prison, which is located on Cuba's southeastern coast, before he leaves office. However, he has been unable to fulfill his promise in the face of stiff opposition from the US Congress.
The Obama administration has transferred most of the detainees to other countries, but there is a small number of detainees who the administration says it would like to keep at a US facility for national security reasons.
A Senate report in December 2014 revealed that the CIA had used a wide array of sexual abuse and other forms of torture as part of its interrogation methods against the prisoners at Guantanamo.
The so-called interrogation methods included placing detainees in stress positions, stripping them, holding them isolated for extended periods of time and exposing them to extreme heat and cold.
About 780 men have passed through the facility since it was opened following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks to hold terrorism suspects.
Washington says the prisoners are terror suspects, but has not pressed charges against most of them in any court.
The US military has been criticized for force-feeding Guantanamo prisoners who have been engaged in hunger strikes for years to protest their confinement.
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China's lunar probe sets 'small goal': to retrieve moon dust samples in 2017
People's Daily Online
(People's Daily Online) 16:49, January 03, 2017
In 2017, China's space industry will continue to move forward with a number of important projects, from lunar probes and the Beidou navigation system to experimental satellites.
Cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 to deliver propellant to Tiangong-2
China's first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 will be sent into the space in the first half of 2017, blasting off from Hainan province. It will dock with the Tiangong-2 space station to carry out experiments.
According to Li Jian, vice director of Beijing Aerospace Control Center, Tianzhou-1 has two independently designed propellant tanks. It will deliver one tank of propellant to the space station; the propellant for its own use can also be transferred to the space station.
The design of its orbit is different from those of previous spacecraft.
"The Shenzhou spacecraft completes 31 laps to finish docking," Li explained. "The cargo spacecraft can fly more laps to save fuel, which is used to adjust its position. The more [fuel] it saves, the more it can supply to the space station." Li said a fast docking experiment would also be conducted. After docking with Tiangong-2, Tianzhou-1 will operate for about six months.
Chang'e-5 lunar probe to retrieve moon dust samples
China will launch the Chang'e-5 lunar probe around December 2017. The probe will land on the moon's surface and retrieve moon dust samples.
According to Ye Peijian, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chang'e-5 is composed of four modules: a service module, a return vehicle, a lander and an ascent vehicle. After entering moon orbit, the lander and ascent vehicle will land on the moon. The sample-collecting device on the lander will take samples and place them aboard the ascent vehicle, which will take off from the moon's surface and dock with the service module and return vehicle. After transferring the samples to the service module, the ascent vehicle will separate from the service module and return vehicle. The service module and return vehicle will fly toward Earth and finally separate just thousands of kilometers away from the ground. The samples will be carried to Earth by the return vehicle.
According to Hu Hao, chief designer of the third phase of China's lunar probe project, the Chang'e-5 weighs 8.2 tons. It will be launched by the Long March-5 rocket.
The Beidou navigation system will begin to build a global network in the new year. At present, there are 22 Beidou navigation satellites in orbit. Of them, seven are new-generation satellites.
"If we can launch 18 new Beidou satellites before 2018, a global constellation will be formed," said Ran Chengqi.
China will also launch the Gaofen-5 remote sensing satellite and Chinasat-16 broadcasting and communication satellite among others in the new year.
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Beijing Urges Washington to Realize 'Sensitivity' of Taiwan Issue
Sputnik News
12:42 03.01.2017(updated 12:44 03.01.2017)
Beijing called on Washington to uphold the "One China" policy and have no official contacts with Taiwan.
BEIJING (Sputnik) China calls on the United States to understand the sensitivity of the Taiwan issue in the Washington-Beijing relations and stick to the "One China" policy, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Tuesday.
"As we have already said, the Taiwan issue is very important and sensitive in the US-China relations. We call on the US side to realize the sensitivity of the Taiwan issue, stick to the 'One China' position, as well as to the three communiques, solve the Taiwan issue in a proper way and have no official contacts with Taiwan," Geng said at a briefing.
Last week, US President-elect Donald Trump said that he did not exclude the possibility of a meeting with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, who will pay a working visit to the Latin American countries in January with a stop in the United States.
On December 2, 2016, Trump became the first US president or president-elect to speak with a Taiwanese leader in an official capacity since 1979. On December 11, 2016, Trump said he would not be bound by the "One China" policy regarding relations with Taiwan.
After Chinese Nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong's Communists, the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan in 1949. Since then, Beijing has viewed the self-ruled, democratic island as a breakaway province. The United States, along with many other countries, does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation and sticks officially to the "One China" position, but has kept informal relations with the island after severing diplomatic ties with it in 1979.
The three joint communiques issued between 1972 and 1982 outline the framework for the diplomatic relations between China and the United States and reaffirm the latter's commitment to the united China.
Sputnik
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China's missile deployment in South China Sea completely reasonable: expert
People's Daily Online
By Sun Wenyu (People's Daily Online) 13:23, January 04, 2017
Chinese military expert Yin Zhuo told CCTV that China's military deployment in the South China Sea is completely reasonable, in light of the powerful naval force of the U.S. in the region.
He made his remarks after American media outlet Fox News quoted the U.S. intelligence community, saying that China has sent hundreds of surface-to-air missiles from the mainland to the South China Sea. Fox News reported that China has deployed more than 500 missiles on South China Sea islands, including CSA-6B and HQ-9 missiles, as well as the anti-ballistic missile interceptor HQ-26.
A U.S. official said these locations are "only temporary" and anticipated that the missiles would soon be deployed to the Nansha Islands and Yongxing Island. Some people believe China will form a comprehensive air defense system once it deploys CSA-6B, HQ-9 and HQ-26 in the South China Sea, increasing its power to cope with U.S. forces in the region.
Yin noted that the speculation by Western media makes no sense at all, since the U.S. has maintained powerful forces in the region, including bombers and aircraft carriers. He said neither the U.S. nor surrounding countries are the targets of the missile, adding that they won't be launched unless China's sovereignty over these islands and reefs are violated.
Yin said the U.S. is the one who truly threatens regional stability, though Western media has been spreading the theory of the so-called China threat. The situation in the South China Sea has been stable since the U.S. presidential election. However, some countries are still pushing issues, hoping the U.S. will maintain its Asia-Pacific Rebalance strategy.
China will never give up its core interest in the South China Sea, stressed Yin.
"We will never start a fight as long as others remain peaceful, but we'll fight back when violated," he added.
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Trump: North Korea can never hit US with nuclear missile
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 2:13AM
US President-elect Donald Trump says North Korea will not be able to build a nuclear missile that can reach the United States.
"North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the US," Trump tweeted on Monday evening. "It won't happen!"
The business mogul's comments came a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un announced that Pyongyang is close to finalizing the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Kim called on Washington to make a "resolute decision to withdraw its anachronistic hostile North Korea policy."
He said that Pyongyang had "soared as a nuclear power," and that it is a "military power of the east that cannot be touched by even the strongest enemy."
The United States has never accepted the country as a nuclear state andTrump has not clearly stated his policy on the country yet.
This is not the first time Trump made such a promise. During his campaign, he took to Twitter to criticize US foreign policy and issue statements mostly about the most serious national security issues.
Recently, he tweeted that the US should "greatly strengthen and expand" its nuclear capabilities.
Trump has also accused China of military expansionism and currency manipulation through his tweeted messages.
However, analysts believe that he will need Beijing to be able to deal with North Korea's mounting confrontation.
On Monday, he also said that "China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the US in totally one-sided trade, but won't help with North Korea."
There is still the question of how close Pyongyang is to realizing its full nuclear ambitions, as it has never successfully test-fired an ICBM. In 2016, the Asian recluse country carried out two nuclear tests and numerous missile launches.
North Korea has faced international pressure to quit its arms development and nuclear program but has nevertheless reported steady growth in those areas in the past years.
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White House: Trump Should Collaborate With Russia, China on North Korea Issue
Sputnik News
23:22 03.01.2017(updated 23:23 03.01.2017)
The White House advised the incoming Trump administration to seek cooperation with countries like China and Russia in order to resolve the North Korea nuclear program issue.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The administration of incoming US President-elect Donald Trump should seek openings to cooperate with Russia and China on effecting North Korea to renounce its nuclear ambitions, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said in a briefing on Tuesday.
"Our advice to next administration to look for opportunities to work effectively with countries like China and Russia, and our allies, South Korea and Japan, to apply pressure to North Korea," Earnest told reporters.
Earnest suggested that Trump should also listen to the advice of US military commanders with regards to deployment of American troops in the Asia-Pacific region.
On Sunday, North Korean leader Kim Jon Un claimed that Pyongyang was finalizing preparations for testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.
On September 5, North Korea launched three ballistic missiles in the direction of the Sea of Japan. Several days later, Pyongyang conducted a successful test of a nuclear warhead, which is believed to be the fifth and largest blast since North Korea began pursuing nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Sputnik
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US May Impose More Sanctions on North Korea for Missile Program - State Dept.
Sputnik News
22:38 03.01.2017(updated 23:40 03.01.2017)
Talking about North Korea's intention to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), State Department spokesman John Kirby said that the United States may impose more sanctions on Pyongyang for its nuclear program.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The United States has not ruled out imposing new punitive measures on North Korea for continuing its missile development program, John Kirby said in a briefing on Tuesday.
"We haven't ruled out the possibility of additional sanctions," Kirby stated when asked about North Korea's vow to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
Earlier on Tuesday, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said the Obama administration advised the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump to work with Russia, China, South Korea and Japan to apply pressure on North Korea to stop its nuclear development activities.
US Deputy Secretary Antony Blinken and South Korean Deputy National Security Advisor Cho Tae-yong will meet on Friday to discuss a response to North Korea's nuclear provocations, the US Department of State said in a press release on Tuesday.
"[Blinken and Cho] will discuss the international community's response to North Korea's destabilizing violations of UN Security Council resolutions and review progress in holding North Korea accountable for its unlawful actions," the release stated.
Earlier on Tuesday, the State Department said Blinken would host Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama and South Korea First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam in Washington, DC this week for trilateral consultations.
On Sunday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un claimed that Pyongyang was finalizing preparations to test an intercontinental ballistic missile.
On September 5, North Korea launched three ballistic missiles in the direction of the Sea of Japan. Several days later, Pyongyang conducted a successful test of a nuclear warhead, which is believed to be the fifth and largest blast since North Korea began pursuing nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Sputnik
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US Stays Confident in Missile Defense Shield Against North Korea Nuclear Threat
Sputnik News
22:26 03.01.2017
The United States remains confident its anti-ballistic missile system can shoot down any North Korean missile even though its Ground-based Interceptors (GBIs) have not had a successful test since June 2014, US Department of Defense spokesman Peter Cook said in a briefing on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Cook said to the daily Defense Department press briefing that Washington "remains confident in our missile defense."
"We feel confident in our ability to protect the homeland We feel confident in our ability to deter this threat and protect American citizens."
Cook acknowledged that the GBIs mainly deployed at Fort Greely in the US state of Alaska had not successfully intercepted any target intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in any tests in more than two and a half years.
However, Cook noted the US missile defense system was a multi-layered one.
"There are layers in terms of our ballistic missile defense (BMD) That comprehensive defensive system we feel very confident in We are not relying on any one thing to protect the United States," he said.
Cook noted that in addition to the GBIs deployed mainly in Alaska with a smaller number in California, the United States also had Aegis systems that use Standard Missile-3 interceptors on naval warships as well as the Theater High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) missiles launched from aircraft.
The GBI program has been plagued with problems over the past 12 years. Around 30 GBIs are currently deployed and the Obama administration has made plans to increase that force to 44 by the end of 2017.
Sputnik
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Two Ukrainian serviceman have been injured in the Anti-Terrorist operation (ATO) zone in the east of the country over the past day, Spokesman for the Defense Ministry of Ukraine on ATO Issues Oleksandr Motuzianyk has said.
"Over the past day as a result of the fighting, none of the Ukrainian military was killed, but two soldiers were wounded," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Motuzianyk said that the enemy carried out seven provocations in the Luhansk sector of Popasna area using rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. Each episode lasted about 15 minutes.
In the Donetsk sector militants continue using heavy weapons in violation of the Minsk agreements, in particular, mortars are actively used on the Svitlodarsk bulge. Militants fired 35 mortar shells during the shelling of Anti-Terrorist operation (ATO) forces position near the village of Luhanske. The rest of the attacks occurred in the industrial zone of Avdiyivka and the vicinity of Horlivka. There were recorded 14 armed provocations, three of them - with the use of heavy weapons in the Donetsk sector just over a day.
In the Mariupol sector the situation remains largely unchanged: two thirds of attacks falls on the coastal borders, in particular, on Shyrokyne and Vodiane. Fighters used armored vehicles. Enemy snipers worked there. Ukrainian ATO positions were fired by three mortar shells in Shyrokyne. In addition, the ceasefire regime was violated in Maryinka-Krasnohorivka, Pavlopil and Talakivka. A total of 18 cases of ceasefire violation were recorded in the Mariupol sector over the day, one of them - with the use of heavy weapons.
Beijing Reiterates Its Commitment to Denuclearization of Korean Peninsula
Sputnik News
13:48 03.01.2017(updated 15:46 03.01.2017)
Beijing's policy on the North Korean nuclear threat was aimed at denuclearization and ensuring peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
BEIJING (Sputnik) Beijing's efforts on the denuclearization policy of North Korea are clear and recognized by the international community, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Tuesday.
"The efforts China takes for denuclearization on the Korean peninsula are clear for everybody," Geng said in response to US President-elect Donald Trump's statements on China's policy on North Korea.
Earlier in the day, Trump slammed China, saying the country benefited from the economic cooperation with the United States but not willing to "help with North Korea." Trump added that he would not allow North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles to reach the United States, following Sunday's statement of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that his country was finalizing preparations for testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Geng stressed that China's policy on the North Korean nuclear threat was aimed at denuclearization and ensuring peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and in the region. Beijing urged all the parties to refrain from actions that could lead to further escalation of the situation and focus on reaching a dialogue, Geng added.
On September 5, Pyongyang launched three ballistic missiles in the direction of the Sea of Japan. Several days later it conducted a successful test of a nuclear warhead, which is believed to be the fifth and largest blast since Pyongyang began pursuing nuclear and ballistic missile programs. On October 14, North Korea carried out a failed test of the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile near the northwestern city of Kusong. The tests came in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
Sputnik
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Trump Warns North Korea on ICBM Test
By Brian Padden January 03, 2017
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump refuted Kim Jong Un's implied message that his military may soon test an intercontinental ballistic Missile (ICBM) capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, that the North Korean leader made during his New Year's Day address.
On Monday Trump sent out a Tweet saying, "It won't happen!"
The president-elect also repeated on Twitter criticisms he made in the past against China for failing to stop its economically dependent ally in Pyongyang from developing its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs.
South Korea praised Trump's tweets for exhibiting a "clear understanding about the graveness and urgency of North Korea's nuclear threat."
"It can be read as a clear warning against Kim Jong Un's ICBM comments in his New Year's address hinting about the possibility of provocation," said South Korean Foreign Ministry Spokesman Cho June-hyuck.
Mobile missiles
However preventing North Korea from testing an ICBM is easier said than done.
"If future President Trump (or) when he's president then President Trump blows up the space launch center at Sohae, unless all the missiles happen to be there, that really doesn't solve your problem," said Jeffrey Lewis, the director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California.
Until recently American defense analysts maintained that North Korea was only capable of reaching the U.S. mainland with a Taepodong-2 missile that has in the past been fired from a fixed site at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station.
In 2016 and 2012 North Korea launched Taepodongs as rockets that Pyongyang claims were part of a peaceful space program to deliver Earth observation satellites into orbit. However, the North's space program has been widely denounced as a pretense to advance nuclear and ballistic missiles technologies that are banned by United Nations resolutions.
But in the last year, in addition to conducting two increasingly powerful nuclear tests and numerous missile tests from road mobile and submarine launch platforms, North Korea tested a new more powerful engine for two mobile ICBMs, the KN08 and the KN14, that could increase their range enough to reach anywhere in the U.S.
"When we looked at the nozzles on the back of the missiles, they look like a much more sophisticated engine," said Lewis.
North Korea's long-range mobile missile launchers can be kept hidden underground or in shelters at different locations throughout the country, making them difficult for the U.S. military to target in advance of a test launch.
Negotiation gambit
It should be noted that the North Korean leader did not overtly threaten to test fire an ICBM during his address to the nation on the first day of the New Year. Instead Kim was recapping his country's nuclear advancements in the last year that included the testing of the ICBM engine.
The next logical phase, analysts say, would be a test launch of this new capability.
Kim also said his country will continue to build up its nuclear capabilities as long as the United States and its allies threaten the North's security and specifically objected to the American/South Korean joint military exercises conducted every year.
Analyst Yang Moo-jin, with the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul says Kim New Year's message was an attempt to project strength in advance of possible negotiations with the Trump administration.
"We can see North Korea's attitude to approach carefully, and it's strategic intention to control the response level according to the policy towards North Korea, which will be established by Trump administration," said Yang.
However, North Korean defector and analyst Ahn Chan-il, with the World Institute for North Korean Studies, says if Kim wanted to pressure Trump to negotiate with the threat of an ICBM launch, his gambit may have failed.
"It is worrisome that Kim Jong Un mentioned the ICBM that may accelerate or stimulate his opponents in the U.S.," said Ahn.
During the presidential campaign Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a "maniac" but gave the young leader credit for ruthlessly seizing power. At the same time he emphasized that the U.S. must be tough in dealing with any provocations, saying, "This guy doesn't play games. And we can't play games with him."
Youmi Kim and Kim Hwan-yong in Seoul contributed to this report.
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Trump misguided, ignorant over NK nuke issue: experts
People's Daily Online
(Global Times) 09:11, January 04, 2017
US president-elect Donald Trump is misguided in lashing out at China in his latest Twitter tirade over the North Korean nuclear issue, which only shows up his ignorance about this issue, Chinese experts said.
Trump on Tuesday posted two tweets in succession, which said "North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the US. It won't happen!" and "China has been taking out massive amounts of money &wealth from the US in totally one-sided trade, but won't help with North Korea. Nice!"
Trump was referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's New Year address which said the country would continue to strengthen its national defense, including nuclear capabilities, as long as the nuclear threat from the US exists.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said China is firm on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and that China and the US should seek solutions to trade frictions on the basis of mutual respect. "Trade between China and the US is essentially mutually beneficial and a win-win for both, which has been proved by facts," Geng told a press conference on Tuesday.
China has already done almost everything it can to promote a peaceful solution of the North Korean nuclear issue, Lu Chao, a research fellow from the Institute of China's Borderland History and Geography Studies at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
"We set up the platform for the Six-Party Talks, and recently, with China's assistance, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2321, the harshest sanctions ever to target North Korea's nuclear program," Lu said. China started to act upon the resolution as soon as it passed, even though China will also suffer economic losses. "What else does Trump expect us to do?" he asked.
Trump's tweets show he does not understand that China is also strongly against North Korea acquiring nuclear weapons, said Song Zhongping, a Hong Kong-based military expert who used to serve in the People's Liberation Army Second Artillery Corps (now called the Rocket Force).
"If we recognize North Korea's status as a nuclear armed state, South Korea and Japan will also ask for nuclear capability. China absolutely opposes nuclear proliferation in Asia," Song said. "We do this [oppose North Korean nuclear tests] not only for the US but also for ourselves."
In addition, Trump has mixed up China-US trade with the nuclear issue, Lu added. Mimicking Trump's tone, a Web user with the name laoyoutiao commented on news portal guancha.cn, "The US also borrowed massive amounts of money from us, but didn't help us with Taiwan."
US responsibility
It is the US, not China, that holds the key to solving North Korea's nuclear problem, Lu said.
China agrees on using tough measures to warn North Korea; but the US should stop its massive joint military drills with South Korea that provoke the North, Lu said. The deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system not only provokes Pyongyang, but also undermines China and Russia's nuclear deterrence and further complicates the situation, he said.
Despite Kim's announcement that North Korea has "entered the final stage of preparation for the test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile," it doesn't mean North Korea has gained the needed technology to launch nuclear missiles as far as the US mainland, Song said.
In order to reach US territory, North Korea would need to develop multistage rockets and technologies to allow warheads to re-enter the atmosphere, and miniaturize those warheads. Song said it has not acquired such technologies.
"It is unwise for North Korea to launch provocative action first, as it will make it difficult for Trump to change from Obama's policy and start pragmatic negotiations with him," Lu added.
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India Announces New Fighter Jets to Be Produced Domestically
Sputnik News
23:46 03.01.2017(updated 02:19 04.01.2017)
Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar said at a news conference Tuesday that New Delhi is inviting global bids for a foreign-designed single-engine fighter that would be assembled in India. According to Parrikar, a western partner for the fighter will be chosen based on pricing and terms for the transfer of the technology.
He added that the Indian Air Force will receive another line of fighters to be produced under the Strategic Partnership model. Even though the Ministry of Defence's Aatre Committee mooted the SP model in April 2016, an MoD official said that a private company in India will be chosen to manufacture the fighters in India by the end of 2017.
Global bids are set to be solicited in 2018, at which point a private company will be chosen as a production agency for the SP, kicking off an evaluation period to conduct trials and assess technical and financial bids. Officials say this process could take two years or longer, with the final deal slated to be signed in 2021.
Sweden's Saab Group is expected to pitch its Gripen multirole fighter aircraft while multinational aerospace company Lockheed Martin is expected to offer the its Block 70 version of the venerable F-16 fighter jet. The Strategic Partnership concept called for selecting a few private sector companies to be designated as SPs.
A senior IAF official told Defense News, "We will submit a new acceptance of necessity proposal for new single engine fighters to Ministry of Defense in the next four months, and will request to fast-pace this new program," adding that the "IAF will put up a demand for 200 new single engine fighters to be made in India, which will easily cost around $45 million apiece without weaponry."
The strength of IAF's fleet is depleted, as they have about 34 operational fighter squadrons, making them short of the 45 that are expected to be required in the event of a fight against Pakistan and China. The force is also seeking to replace it's aging squadrons of 11 Russian MiG-21 and MiG-27 aircraft.
Parrikar announced that there is a proposal to buy the Rafale fighter, after a deal with France was signed in September for 36 fighters worth nearly $9 billion. Parrikar, who signed the agreement with French counterpart Jean Yves Le Drian, said at the time that, "Rafale is a potent aircraft and will add to the capability of the IAF," according to the Hindu.
The BBC quoted French President Francois Hollande commenting that the deal was "a mark of the recognition by a major military power of the operational performance, the technical quality and the competitiveness of the French aviation industry."
Sputnik
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37 top US scientists urge Trump to abide by Iran nuclear deal
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Tehran, Jan 3, IRNA -- Dozens of the US top scientists wrote to President-elect Donald Trump on Monday to urge him not to dismantle the Iran deal.
"We urge you to preserve this critical US strategic asset," the US newspaper the New York Times quoted the letter as reading.
The 37 signatories included Nobel laureates, veteran makers of nuclear arms, former White House science advisers and the chief executive of the world's largest general society of scientists.
According to the American newspaper, the letter was organized by Richard L. Garwin, a physicist who helped design the world's first hydrogen bomb and has long advised Washington on nuclear weapons and arms control.
During the presidential election campaign, Trump called the Iran accord "the worst deal ever negotiated."
In a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, he declared that his "No. 1 priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal" and argued that Tehran had outmaneuvered Washington in winning concessions.
The letter to Trump says its objective is to "provide our assessment" of the Iran deal since it was put in effect nearly a year ago.
On Jan. 16, 2016, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the technical body in Vienna that oversees the accord with teams of inspectors it has sent to Iran, gave its approval, saying Tehran had curbed its nuclear program enough to begin receiving relief from longstanding sanctions.
In Monday's letter, the scientists and nuclear experts noted that the accord takes no options off the table for Mr. Trump or any future president.
Many of the 37 signatories were among the 29 who praised the accord in a letter to President Obama in August 2015, a month after the deal was signed.
Less than three weeks before President-elect Donald Trump moves into the White House, Americans are skeptical he can handle some major presidential duties, a new Gallup poll reveals.
Trump lags far behind Americans' confidence in Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton right before their presidential inaugurations.
'Trump prepares to take office with a majority of Americans viewing him unfavorably,' Gallup notes.
'Trump is also much less well-liked than any recent president-elect.'
44 percent believe Trump will be able to prevent major scandals in his administration, compared to an average of 76 percent who felt the same way about Obama, Bush and Clinton.
46 percent expressed confidence Trump could see the US through an international crisis, while 71 percent felt strongly that three other presidents could.
47 percent believe Trump would use military force wisely, compared to an average 76 percent who felt the same about Obama, Bush and Clinton.
53 percent expressed confidence that Trump could manage the executive branch effectively, while 81 percent felt the same about the three other presidents.
55 percent were confident Trump could effectively defend US interests abroad, compared to an average 70 percent for Obama, Bush and Clinton.
60 percent believe Trump would work effectively with Congress to get things done, while an average of 82 percent felt the same about the other three presidents.
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Top 37 US scientists ask Trump to abide by Iran nuclear deal
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 7:35AM
Thirty-seven top US scientists, including some of the world's leading experts in the fields of nuclear science and arms control, have written to President-elect Donald Trump, calling on him to abide by the nuclear agreement with Iran when he takes office on January 20.
"We urge you to preserve this critical US strategic asset," reads the letter, which was sent to Trump on Monday, according to The New York Times.
The signatories included Nobel laureates, original designers of nuclear weapons, former White House science advisers, and the chief executive of the world's largest general society of scientists.
The body of the letter praises the technical features of the Iran accord, and asks Trump to abide by it.
The scientists said in the letter that their objective was to "provide our assessment of the current status" of the deal which they argued provided a safeguard against Iran's possible future attempts to build a nuclear bomb.
Iran and the P5+1 group the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany reached the agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in July 2015.
The scientists underscored that Iran has remained fully committed to its obligations under the JCPOA, including the cessation of enrichment activities and the export of enriched uranium, and concluded that the country would now need "many months" instead of "just a few weeks" to enrich uranium to produce weapons.
The letter stipulated that the JCPOA also "lowered the pressure felt by Iran's neighbors to develop their own nuclear weapons options."
Iran has all along highlighted the peaceful nature of its nuclear program, saying it has never had any intention to use it for military purposes. Also, Iran says it is forbidden to use weapons of mass destruction from a religious standpoint, as highlighted on many occasions by the country's spiritual leaders.
Under the deal, Tehran agreed to limit some aspects of its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of all nuclear-related sanctions.
But during his campaign prior to the November 8 presidential election, Trump promised to annul the deal.
He called the pact a "disaster" and "the worst deal ever negotiated." He also said that the agreement could lead to a "nuclear holocaust."
In a speech to the main Israeli lobbying group in the US, AIPAC, Trump declared that his "No. 1 priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal" and argued that Iran had outmaneuvered the US in winning concessions.
The three-page letter was organized by Richard L. Garwin, a physicist who helped design the world's first hydrogen bomb and has long advised US governments on arms control.
Most of the 37 scientists who signed the letter are physicists, including Richard L. Garwin, IBM Fellow Emeritus; Robert J. Goldston, Princeton University; Siegfried S. Hecker, Stanford University; Martin Hellman, Stanford University; Rush D. Holt, American Association for the Advancement of Science; R. Scott Kemp, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Frank von Hippel, Princeton University.
The United States, Israel, and some of their allies accuse Iran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program.
Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
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Nouri al-Maliki: Iraq ready to stop post-Daesh seditions
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Tehran, Jan 3, IRNA -- Iraqi Vice President Nouri al-Maliki referred to developing ties with Iran and enforcing a strong front for foiling post-Daesh seditions as the aims of his trip to Tehran.
Addressing a Tuesday meeting with the Head of the Strategic Research Center of Iran's Expediency Council Ali Akbar Velayati, al-Maliki said despite the gains so far, Iraq is not sure about seditions to come to an end in the future.
'We were invited to Iran by our Iranian brothers to meet with the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and other senior officials in the present sensitive and crucial condition of the region and the world,' he added.
'Despite existing challenges and problems, the resistance front has always overcome the enemy front in political, military and other sectors,' he said.
He referred to victories in Aleppo, saying that Iraq is ready to promote a strong front in post-Daesh era to stop imminent future seditions.
The economic capital of Syria, has been cleansed and liberated on December 23 after four years of occupation by terrorists.
The victory is an emphasis on power of the Syrian army and the allied forces to end battle with the terrorist groups, which serving as a prelude to a new phase to defeat terrorism in entire part of Syria.
Al-Maliki who also the Secretary General of Iraq al-Dawa Party arrived in Tehran on Saturday to consult with Iranian senior officials.
He was prime minister of Iraq 2006-2014.
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Iraqi PM urges global support to eliminate Daesh
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 5:16PM
The Iraqi prime minister has called for worldwide intelligence assistance to eliminate the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group that is wreaking havoc in the Middle Eastern country as well as elsewhere across the globe.
"We need global intelligence cooperation to accelerate eliminating Daesh," Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday.
Many cities are facing insecurity and terror threats, Abadi warned, urging the international community to make efforts to restore security and bring an end to organized crimes, extremism and terrorism.
Despite financial woes and austerity measure, Iraq has scored major victories against Daesh on the battlefield in the northern city of Mosul, he added.
Iraqi army troops and allied fighters have been conducting a major offensive since last October to liberate Mosul that fell to Daesh in 2014.
Abadi further noted that his country is not supporting terrorist outfits in Turkey and stressed that Baghdad would not allow militants to use Iraqi soil to wage terror attacks on neighboring states such as Turkey.
He also announced that Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim will travel to Iraq this week in a bid to reinforce bilateral relations.
Baghdad- Ankara ties damaged in December 2015, when Turkey deployed some 150 armed soldiers to the Bashiqa military camp on the outskirts of Mosul.
The Iraqi government has repeatedly called for the Turkish troops' withdrawal, but Ankara has claimed that the deployment was part of a mission to fight Daesh.
Elsewhere in his comments, the Iraqi head of state accused the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of exceeding the permitted level in its export of oil to Turkey.
He also called on the KRG to be transparent regarding its oil sales.
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Violence killed nearly 7,000 Iraqi civilians in 2016: UN
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 1:26PM
The United Nations says at least 6,878 Iraqi civilians lost their lives last year due to violence perpetrated by Takfiri terrorists in the Arab country.
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said in a statement that 12,388 other civilians were injured in 2016.
UNAMI noted that the numbers "have to be considered as the absolute minimum," citing its inability to verify civilian casualties in conflict areas as well as those who "died from secondary effects of violence after having fled their homes due to exposure to the elements, lack of water, food, medicines and health care."
Furthermore, the data did not include casualties among civilians in Iraq's western Anbar Province for the months of May, July, August and December, it added.
The figures further showed that only in December 2016, a total of 386 civilians were killed and 1,066 more wounded in Iraq, with the worst affected areas being Nineveh Province and the capital city of Baghdad in descending order.
Violence had claimed the lives of at least 7,515 civilians in Iraq in 2015, according UNAMI figures.
Over the past months, Iraq has been rocked by a wave of bomb attacks, mostly claimed by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.
The militants have recently increased their acts of violence across the country in revenge for the blows they have been suffering at the hands of Iraqi forces, particularly in the northern city of Mosul.
"This is, no doubt, an attempt by Daesh to divert attention from their losses in Mosul and, unfortunately, it is the innocent civilians who are paying the price," said Jan Kubis, the special representative of UN Secretary General in Iraq and UNAMI head.
Daesh began its campaign of terror in northern and western Iraq in 2014.
Iraqi army soldiers and allied fighters are leading operations to win back militant-held regions.
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Israeli police question Netanyahu in graft probe
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 7:2AM
Israeli investigators have questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his official residence in East Jerusalem al-Quds over allegations of corruption.
A police vehicle with three officers was seen arriving at Netanyahu's residence on Monday evening. The investigators spent more than three hours quizzing him before leaving the residence at around 23:00 local time.
The investigators later issued a statement, saying Netanyahu was "questioned under caution on suspicion that he accepted (improper) benefits," terminology that indicated Netanyahu was a criminal suspect in the case.
Earlier in the day, screens had been mounted at the entrance to the property in central Jerusalem al-Quds to block view.
Following the completion of the questioning, attorney general Avichai Mandelblit said that Netanyahu had been accused of ethics breaches. Mandelblit had said earlier that he authorized a full-fledged criminal investigation after his office gathered sufficient evidence.
A string of probes and corruption allegations
Reports emerged over the weekend that the World Jewish Congress' president and Netanyahu's long-time ally, Ronald Lauder, had given the Israeli prime minister and his son expensive gifts.
Netanyahu is already under another investigation over suspicions that he accepted one million euros (about 1.1 million dollars) from accused French fraudster Arnaud Mimran for campaign funds during the 2009 Israeli elections.
There are also calls for Netanyahu to be investigated for his role in a billion-dollar deal to purchase three submarines from German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems GmbH.
Netanyahu's personal lawyer and one of his closest confidants, David Shimron, reportedly represented the German company behind the submarine contract.
The Israeli prime minister is separately also subjected to accusations that he and his wife, Sara, misappropriated public funds to pay for private expenses, ranging from laundry to ice cream.
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One Ukrainian serviceman has been injured as a result of attacks by illegal armed groups in Anti-Terrorist operation (ATO) zone in the Donetsk sector on Wednesday, the press centre of the ATO headquarters has said.
Since the beginning of the day, as of 18:00 p.m. on January 4, militants have fired ATO positions 32 times, the ATO staff press centre said on its page. In particular, Troyitske of the Yasynuvatsky district and Zaitceve of the Bakhmut region in the Donetsk sector were fired by 120 mm and 82-mm mortars, while the village of Luhanske of the Bakhmut district, the village of Kruta Balka of Yasynuvatsky district and the town of Avdiyivka were shelled by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms.
"In the Mariupol sector militants repeatedly fired Vodiane and Shyrokyne using mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms were used to shell Hnutove, Shyrokyne, Talakivka and Pavlopil. The village of Shyrokyne was shelled by weapons of infantry combat vehicles. In the Luhansk sector the enemy fired 120-mm mortar shells at Novozvanivka, whereas Stanytsia of Luhanska was fired from rocket-propelled grenades," the statement says.
South Korea's Park refuses to testify in impeachment hearing
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 9:58AM
South Korea's Constitutional Court has delayed the first hearing on the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye after she refused to appear and testify in the trial over a corruption scandal.
The nine-justice court asked Park and her current and former aides to testify on January 5 after she refused to appear in court and delayed the start of oral arguments on Tuesday.
In a hastily arranged press conference at Seoul's presidential Blue House, President Park rejected accusations of corruption.
Her failure to appear in court sparked criticism from lawmakers, who serve as prosecutors in the trial. Lawmaker Kweon Seong Dong, the chief prosecutor in the trial, hit out at Park.
"It's not good etiquette to the justices and also inappropriate for the president, as the defendant of the impeachment trial, to say this and that to the media outside of court," Kweon told reporters.
Park's lawyer Lee Jung-hwan, however, said she will probably not testify in the case.
The Constitutional Court noted that it cannot compel Park to appear in the trial. The tribunal can proceed without her if she declines for a second time to appear.
South Korean lawmakers had voted by a large margin on December 9, 2016 to impeach Park over a major corruption scandal.
The first female president of the East Asian country has been accused of involvement in an influence-peddling case.
She allegedly colluded with long-time confidante Choi Soon-sil to pressure major corporations to contribute money to non-profit foundations that supported presidential initiatives. Park and Choi have denied any wrongdoing.
If impeachment is confirmed, presidential elections will be held in 60 days.
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Russian plans military drills with Philippines
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 11:37AM
The Russian Navy says it is planning to hold maritime drills with the Philippines to help the Southeast Asian country fight terrorism and piracy.
The announcement on Tuesday came as two Russian ships - anti-submarine vessel Admiral Tributs and a sea tanker Boris Butoma - docked in Manila on a four-day goodwill visit.
According to Rear Admiral Eduard Mikhailov, the deputy commander of the Russian Navy's Pacific fleet, an anti-submarine vessel, named Admiral Tributs and a sea tanker Boris Butoma arrived in the Philippine capital late on Tuesday for a four-day official navy-to-navy contact.
"Our governments will maybe discuss in some period of time the possibilities of our maritime exercises," deputy commander of the Russian Navy's Pacific fleet Rear Admiral Eduard Mikhailov said on board Admiral Tributs.
"We're very sure that in the future we'll get such exercises" with the Philippine side, perhaps "just the maneuvering or maybe use some combat systems and so on," he told a news conference.
Mikhailov said that a wide range of equipment had been brought on both vessels to show Russia's anti-terror capabilities to the Philippine military.
"The biggest problem now in the world is terrorism and piracy... we will show you what we can do and we will see what you can do and show us," he said.
The joint drills come at a time of strained relations between the Philippines and the US. President Rodrigo Duterte was quoted as saying last month that Manila could live without US aid after Washington said it was halting assistance.
"You can choose to cooperate with United State of America or to cooperate with Russia, but from our side we can help you in every way that you need," Mikhailov said on Tuesday.
The visit is the third by the Russian Navy visit to the Southeastern Asian country but it is the first made under Duterte's administration.
Manila is currently shifting its foreign policy from the US, its longtime ally, to China but Philippines' new ambassador to China Jose Sta. Romana said the shift did not mean severing ties with Washington.
"We were one-sidedly imbalanced in favor of the US," he said, adding his country was not abandoning alliance with the US but was "basically trying to normalize our relations with China."
The US, as the colonial ruler until 1946, currently serves as the South Asian country's main military ally but has also been highly critical of Duterte's severe crackdown on crime, specially drug trade, which has killed some 3,000 people over the past months.
Philippines suffers from attacks from a number of terror groups on its territory, the most prominent of which is the ultra-violent Abu Sayyaf, which pledged alliance to the Daesh terrorist group in the summer of 2014.
Those groups have been involved in many criminal activities, including rape and drug trafficking, in what they describe as their battle for an independent province in the Philippines.
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Russian Warships Visit Philippines, Announce Surprise Joint Drills
Sputnik News
22:14 03.01.2017(updated 01:39 04.01.2017)
In a move few could have predicted to start off 2017, the Russian destroyer Admiral Tributs and sea tanker Boris Butomato have arrived in the Philippines to conduct military training exercises in an unprecedented navy-to-navy contact between the two nations.
The warships arrived in the region on Tuesday as Russian Navy Rear Admiral Eduard Mikhailov proclaimed a joint mission between Manila and Moscow to target the region's two most pressing security concerns, maritime piracy and terrorism.
"We're very sure," the commander of the Russian pacific fleet said, "in the future" Russia and the Philippines will "get such exercises, maybe just the maneuvering." Alternatively, "maybe just use some combat systems and so on," he noted, so as not to tip Russia's hand concerning its regional naval strategy.
"We will show you what we can do, and we will see what you can do, and show us," he said, adding that the Russian Navy has carried out exercises with the Indonesian navy.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signaled a drastic shift from long-standing ties with the US as Manila seeks to bolster relations with traditional US rivals China and Russia. Duterte instructed the nation's defense ministry to "reformat" drills with Washington, even though the Philippines was once a US territory and the two countries formally agreed to a Mutual Defense Treaty in 1951.
Mikhailov indicated, however, that East Asian players, including China and "maybe" Malaysia could also coordinate with Russian-Philippine training exercises "in a few years." Maintaining the involvement of these regional partners is crucial for ensuring the stability of the South China Sea, where competing territorial claims continue to fuel geopolitical tensions.
In a recent year-end interview, Duterte openly confessed that his cousins have pledged allegiance to Daesh in Mindanao, the southern-most island of the Philippines. "Let's be frank: I have cousins on the other side," he said. Later in the interview he claimed his loyalty to the Philippines outweighs that of his own blood. "I'm sorry but, you know, I am serving [the] Republic; I am not serving a relationship."
Sputnik
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Russia warships dock in Philippines, signal new era
Iran Press TV
Wed Jan 4, 2017 7:22AM
Two Russian warships have docked at a port in the Philippines, potentially foreshadowing an era of enhanced military ties between Manila and Moscow as a gap widens between the Philippines and the United States.
Russia's anti-submarine destroyer Admiral Tributs and sea tanker Boris Butoma docked at Manila's South Harbor on Tuesday for a week-long visit.
During the stay, the military authorities of the two countries intend to discuss joint measures to combat terrorism and piracy in the region, RT reported on Wednesday.
Moscow has also expressed willingness to conduct joint military drills in the region with Philippine forces in the future.
"In the future, maybe we can have military exercises so we can help you and share with you our knowledge to deal or solve the problem with piracy and terrorism," said Rear Admiral Eduard Mikhailov, the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet deputy commander, at a Tuesday press briefing.
Mikhailov, who is leading the Russian naval delegation to Manila, said Russia can be instrumental in developing the Philippines' naval capabilities in the future.
"The Russian Navy can help with different equipment, which we can demonstrate to you right here, or in the future in the sea during the military exercises, and also at exhibitions," he said. "From our side, we can help you in every way which you need."
Shifting winds
The Russian official hoped for regional military collaboration also involving China and Malaysia.
"We really hope that in a few years, the military exercises, for example in your region, in the South China Sea, will [involve] for example, not only Russia and Philippines, but Russia, Philippines, China, and maybe Malaysia together."
Ties between the Philippines and its long-term military partner and ally the US have deteriorated considerably in recent months. Under President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines has downgraded military ties with the US over American criticism of the president's trademark war on drugs. For its part, the US has been withholding aid to the Philippines financial and otherwise further angering a fiery Duterte.
The Tuesday docking of the Russian warships was the third time overall that a naval group was visiting from Russia. It was the first time, however, that such a contingent was paying a visit during Duterte's term.
In a state visit to China last October, the Philippine president said he planned to forge closer ties with Russia and China.
New alliances in Asia, once full-blown, are most likely to mean less room for American maneuvering in the region, a staple of US foreign policy over the past decades. The US has been seeking to keep a foothold in the region by, among other things, inserting itself into regional disputes including a row in the South China Sea that involves the Philippines and China and conducting patrols away from American mainland.
That prospect would be particularly significant for a US that attempted a "pivot" to Asia, where it stressed American strategic interests lay.
In November last year, the Philippines' Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana paid a state visit to Russia in a bid to explore prospects for bilateral military-technical cooperation. During that visit, both countries expressed willingness to finalize a joint agreement on defense cooperation.
On Monday, the Philippines's incoming ambassador to China said his country planned to move away from its long-time ally, Washington, toward Beijing.
Reacting to the news of the Russian navy's arrival in Manila, meanwhile, US State Department spokesman John Kirby claimed the "defense relationship between the United States and the Philippines remains very, very strong."
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Russian Foreign Policy Experts Mull the Future of US Relations
By Victor Vladimirov January 04, 2017
President-elect Donald Trump has expressed doubts about whether Moscow was involved in hacking computer systems connected to the U.S. Democratic Party. He also has called for improved relations with Russia, and even praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for choosing not to respond in kind to last week's expulsion of Russian diplomats from the U.S.
At the same time, a leading member of Trump's own party is promising "new sanctions" against Russia, beyond those just imposed by the outgoing Obama administration in response to Russian hacking. Among those targeted by the latest sanctions are top officials of the GRU, the Russian military's intelligence agency, which has been blamed for the Democratic Party hacks.
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that he and his colleagues will introduce sanctions targeting not only Russia's energy sector, banking sector, and intelligence agencies including the GRU and Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia's principal intelligence agency but also "Putin and his inner circle."
Bilateral relationship
Given the seemingly contradictory plans of the incoming American president and senior legislators from his own party, how do Russian foreign policy experts expect the bilateral relationship with the United States to develop with the departure of President Barack Obama and the arrival of Donald Trump?
Political scientist Lilia Shevtsova told VOA's Russian service that while "mainstream" foreign policy experts in Russia are calling for expanding the channels of communication between the Russian and American establishments, there is no guarantee that will happen.
She noted that Obama tried something similar in 2008 with then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, but the effort ultimately failed.
"It's a good idea, but hardly a recipe for normalization," she said. "Indeed, during the Obama-Medvedev 'reset,' a multi-level system of communication between the two sides was created. However, did it help the relationship avoid a crisis?"
'Multipolar world'
Russian foreign policy experts, Shevtsova added, continue to adhere to the idea. It is inherited from Yevgeny Primakov, the veteran Soviet and Russian foreign minister who died in 2015, of a "multipolar world" that is supposed to emerge after the United States steps away from its position as global leader.
"Well, America is crawling into its shell, and we are approaching a multipolar world," she said. "But there is every reason to believe it will be a Hobbesian world a struggle of all against all. And how comfortable will Russia be in this world, given its far from immense economic and military resources?"
Valery Garbuzov, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies, told VOA that many Russians are hopeful Donald Trump's presidency will lead to an improvement in bilateral relations.
"I believe that the main task consists primarily in the promotion of economic and trade cooperation, which may lead to the necessity of lifting sanctions, and after that, everything else, including scientific and cultural contacts," he said. "If you think in terms of the four-year [U.S.] presidential term, then, of course, it would be nice if a broad agenda between the two countries were built during that time."
Still, Garbuzov said he is not sure Trump will be able to overcome the deterioration in bilateral relations that took place over the last several years, or likely opposition to his initiatives, including a possible new U.S.-Russia "reset," from both Democrats and members of his own party.
"After all, there is Congress; though it is dominated by Republicans, they love Trump 'through clenched teeth,'" he said. "To say nothing of the Democrats; it is clear that they are extremely unhappy, and many are even shocked by what happened" in the 2016 presidential election.
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Syrian Rebels Freeze Peace Effort, Citing Regime's Truce Violations
RFE/RL January 03, 2017
Syrian rebel groups have announced they are freezing discussions about joining peace talks sponsored by Russia because of "breaches" in a four-day-old cease-fire by the Syrian government.
Government forces intensified attacks around Damascus and Aleppo on January 2 as they sought to secure the cities' water supplies.
In a statement, the rebel groups said that any territorial advances by the army and Iran-backed militias would end the effort to restart peace talks as well as a fragile cease-fire brokered by Russia and Turkey that went into effect on December 30.
"The regime and its allies have continued firing and committed many and large violations...threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of people," said the statement signed by about a dozen mainly moderate rebel groups operating under the umbrella of the Free Syrian Army.
Russia and Turkey, which back opposing sides in the war, have been working to organize peace talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana later this month in efforts endorsed over the weekend by the United Nations Security Council.
But the cease-fire they brokered in an effort to pave the way for the peace talks, like previous Syrian cease-fires, has been shaky from the start, with repeated outbreaks of violence in some areas, even as it has largely held in others.
The rebel groups questioned Russia's ability to force the Syrian government and its Iranian allies to abide by the terms of the cease-fire deal.
The rebel statement said the main violations were in an area northwest of Damascus in the rebel-held Wadi Barada valley, which government forces and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hizballah group have been trying to recapture in part because a major spring there provides most of Damascus's water supplies.
The Syrian government says rebels have targeted key water infrastructure, causing leaking fuel to poison water supplies and then cutting it off altogether.
The United Nations says at least 4 million people in Damascus have been without water since December 22.
With reporting by Reuters, dpa, and AFP
Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/syrian-rebels- freeze-peace-effort-astana-citing-regime-truce- violations-damascus-aleppo/28210667.html
Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Syrian Rebel Groups: No Talks Until Regime Stops Violating Cease-fire
By Jamie Dettmer January 03, 2017
Syria's main rebel groups say they are suspending participation in preliminary Russia-brokered peace talks later this month in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, in protest of frequent violations by the regime of a days-old truce.
Along with a government-led assault on Wadi Barada, a rebel-held area near the Syrian capital, insurgents also are complaining about major airstrikes in the provinces of Hama and Idlib, and a regime push on the Eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus.
"As these violations are continuing, the rebel factions announce... the freezing of all discussion linked to the Astana negotiations," wrote 10 factions in a joint statement.
The suspension amounts to a significant setback to a Moscow-led negotiation process that has sidelined the West as it includes two of the largest armed factions - the Free Syrian Army and the powerful Islamist alliance Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest).
"The regime and its allies have not stopped shooting and have launched major and frequent violations, notably in the regions of Wadi Barada and Eastern Ghouta. Any [advance] on the ground goes against the [cease-fire] agreement and if things don't return to how they were before, the accord will be considered null and void," the factions warned.
Ongoing offensive
Monitoring groups confirmed there has been no let-up in a two-week-long regime offensive on villages in the Barada valley, 15 kilometers from Damascus, where Syrian and Russian warplanes have mounted daily bombing raids, including the dropping of barrel bombs.
Wadi Barada, which has been besieged by the regime since mid-2015, is the main source of drinking water for Damascus' 4 million inhabitants and supplies have been seriously disrupted in recent weeks with both sides blaming the other for the interruption.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group that relies on a network of activists in Syria for its information, reported that about 1,000 civilians, mostly women and children, fled Wadi Barada in recent days. Much as with other besieged rebel-held areas, the regime has pursued a starve-or-surrender strategy, say analysts, hoping to pressure rebels into withdrawing.
According to the Syrian Observatory, two civilians were killed Monday by snipers in a village in Wadi Barada. Fierce ground clashes have continued for days between regime forces with militiamen from the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah in the vanguard and rebel fighters, including al-Qaida-linked rebels. The nationwide cease-fire organized by Russia and Turkey excludes the Islamic State terror group and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, an al-Qaida faction formerly known as al-Nusra Front.
A dozen civilian casualties have been documented elsewhere in Syria. Monitors say two civilians were killed on the third day of the cease-fire, which began on Friday, during a regime bombardment in Homs province and a sniper killed a civilian on the outskirts of Douma city. Two children from one family were killed in artillery shelling in the western countryside of Aleppo.
Numerous breaches
The Russian-Turkish-brokered truce is the third cease-fire in Syria in the past year. On Saturday, the United Nations Security Council approved the cease-fire deal. The Syrian Network for Human Rights recorded no fewer than 77 regime breaches in the first 72 hours.
In a report, the group stated, "72 breaches were by the Syrian regime forces," mostly in Homs and the Damascus suburbs. "Five breaches were by Russian forces including four in Aleppo whereas the fifth breach was recorded in Hama," the group said in its report.
The Syrian Network urged Moscow, as a primary sponsor of the agreement, to apply pressure on the Assad regime to "commit to the agreement's provisions, otherwise, the cease-fire will ultimately fail." It added, "Russian forces have to adhere to the agreement, and cease bombing civilians because any other breaches by the Russian forces, who should supposedly oversee the implementation of the agreement, will demolish the credibility of any future Russian sponsorship."
Syrian military officials say they have not been violating the truce as they have been targeting jihadist groups excluded from the cease-fire agreement from the outset.
Members of the High Negotiations Committee, a political opposition body that has been representing the rebels and anti-Assad activists at the now stalled U.N.-brokered Geneva peace process, say they have so far not received invitations to attend the Astana talks.
Rebel leaders say they suspect Moscow wants to try to exclude the HNC and to talk only with the armed factions and "approved" opposition groups that are based in Damascus.
Meanwhile, it emerged Tuesday that a 20-year-old Briton, a one-time chef from southern England, was killed on December 21 while fighting the Islamic State group just north of Raqqa. Ryan Lock, who had no previous military experience, joined the Kurdish militia, the People's Protection Units (YPG), last August, telling his family that he was going on vacation to Turkey. The YPG told his family he was killed along with four other YPG militiamen.
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Obama Welcomes Turkish, Russian Effort To Revive Syrian Cease-Fire
January 04, 2017
U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed Turkey's effort with Russia to revive a Syrian cease-fire and peace talks in a conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The White House said on January 3 that Obama expressed condolences to Erdogan over a "horrific" terrorist attack on December 31 in an Istanbul nightclub claimed by the Islamic State (IS) extremist group as well as a December 17 attack on Turkish police in Kayseri that was blamed on an outlawed Kurdish group.
The two leaders noted progress in their campaign against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and agreed that "Turkey and the United States must continue to stand united in order to defeat terrorism," the White House said.
The conversation came after recent accusations from Erdogan and his deputies that the United States has been arming "terrorists" in Syria in an apparent reference to U.S. aid given to Syrian Kurdish militias who have been battling IS.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on January 3 urged U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to put an end to "this shame" and questioned whether the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces were doing anything to defeat IS.
"They are pretending to fight IS. Turkey is the only country that is leading a fight. The United States isn't doing anything," Yildirim said.
Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/obama-erdogan-welcomes-turkey-russia-syria-cease-fire/28212635.html
Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Taiwan has comprehensive anti-missile capability: official
ROC Central News Agency
2017/01/03 20:47:46
Taipei, Jan. 3 (CNA) Taiwan's military has comprehensive anti-missile capability, the presidential office spokesman said on Tuesday, after an anti-government group publicly invited China to fire missiles at the Presidential Office.
The group, which calls itself the "2017 Recall Tsai Ing-wen Alliance," has posted a Google map that marks the precise position of the Presidential Office on its Facebook page, urging China to target its missiles accordingly.
Asked to comment on the matter, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang () said the military is more than capable of protecting the nation from missile threats.
He also said that although the position of the Presidential Office is a matter of public record, it was unbelievable that anyone would stoop so low.
(By Sophia Yeh and Y.F. Low)
ENDITEM/AW
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Vietnam's deportation of Taiwanese suspects to China regrettable: MOFA
ROC Central News Agency
2017/01/03 21:09:46
Taipei, Jan. 3 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday it was regrettable that Vietnam had decided to send four Taiwanese fraud suspects to China instead of back to Taiwan.
The four Taiwanese were arrested by Vietnamese police in the northeastern port city of Hai Phong in late December on suspicion of telecommunications fraud, according to the MOFA.
When Taiwan's representative office in Vietnam was informed of the situation, it began negotiations with Vietnamese authorities to have the four suspects sent back to Taiwan for investigation, the ministry said.
Beijing, however, demanded that the suspects be handed over to China on the grounds that all the alleged fraud victims were Chinese nationals, and it also sought to prevent Taiwanese officials from visiting the suspects, according to the MOFA.
Yielding to strong pressure from Beijing, the Vietnamese authorities deported the four Taiwanese suspects to China on Jan. 1, which was a regrettable decision, the ministry said.
(By Tang Pei-chun and Y.F. Low)
ENDITEM/pc
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(Global Times) 08:24, January 04, 2017
Consumers shop at an IKEA store in Shanghai on December 14, 2015. Photo: IC
Experts said China will benefit from the timely revision of its foreign investment guidance catalogue, as the period for soliciting public opinions comes to a close on Friday.
The Ministry of Commerce(MOFCOM) and the National Development and Reform Commission(NDRC) issued a draft seeking public input for the 7th revision to the foreign investment industry catalogue on December 7. The last revision to the catalogue was made in 2015.
The industries restricted to foreign investors will be reduced from 93 to 62, according to a statement posted on the NDRC website.
Major areas that will be opened up to foreign companies in the services sector include road transportation, credit surveys and ratings. In the manufacturing sector the expansion will include rolling stocks, automotive electronics, motorcycles and corn processing.
China's continued efforts to open up to foreign investment are linked with the country's economic transformation, hurdles faced by the nation's manufacturing sector and the "Made in China 2025" strategy, according to a report by news portal cnr.cn on Friday.
Zhang Jianping, an expert with the MOFCOM, was quoted as saying that foreign capital played an important role in China's economic transformation with more foreign companies venturing into the service sector and high-end manufacturing.
Benefits to domestic firms
Zhang Ning, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the opening up in high-end manufacturing and services will directly benefit those industries.
"What we will see is, at first, domestic firms might be overshadowed, but then in a few years they will improve to compete with their foreign counterparts due to a spillover effect in which expertise is passed on from foreign companies to domestic companies via a talent flow," Zhang said, noting that attracting more foreign firms doesn't contradict the national "Made in China 2025" strategy, which calls for core technologies to be mastered by domestic industrial champions.
On Tuesday, the Delegations of German Industry and Commerce in China said it generally welcomed the new structure of the draft, which distinguishes between encouraged sectors and the new "negative list."
"However, we get the impression that there is no substantial opening up for foreign investors in the draft as expected. Most sectors are just rearranged under adjusted terms," the organization said in a statement on its website.
Country tops FDI destinations
Actual utilized foreign direct investment (FDI) from the US and the EU recorded year-on-year growth rates of 55.4 percent and 43.9 percent in the first 11 months of 2016, respectively, MOFCOM spokesman Shen Danyang told a press briefing on December 29.
The services industry saw an actual utilized FDI year-on-year growth of 3.8 percent, Shen said.
More technology-driven companies including German automaker BMW, global oil giant BP and Swedish furniture giant IKEA increased their investment in China in 2016, he said.
China has attracted roughly $110 billion of FDI each year since 2010, and China has ranked No.1 in terms of actual utilizing FDI among developing countries for 24 consecutive years, Shen noted.
Despite some issues, such as rising labor costs and a depreciating yuan, China is still perhaps the best investment destination among the world's developing nations due to its vast market, solid infrastructure and a comprehensive industrial value chain, Zhang noted.
"India is comparable to China in terms of market size, but its infrastructure and industrial chain is no match to China. Similarly, while Southeast Asia and Latin America offer lower labor costs, they also lack infrastructure and an industrial chain," Zhang told the Global Times on Tuesday.
Bai Ming, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said foreign investment into China is also transforming and moving toward high-end, higher-quality sectors.
"A higher-quality foreign investment is what China looks for, given that its volume of FDI is basically stable. And services and high-end manufacturing are major traits of high-quality foreign investment," Bai told the Global Times Tuesday.
The revision of the foreign investment catalogue is in line with China's industrial guidance policy, Bai said.
Turkey says mulls extending post-coup emergency rule
Iran Press TV
Tue Jan 3, 2017 6:46PM
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim says the country's parliament is set to vote on extending the state of emergency declared following the failed July 15 military coup.
Addressing parliamentarians from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Tuesday, Yildirim said the lawmakers will debate the three-month extension of the emergency rule this week.
The upcoming vote would be the third extension of Turkey's state of emergency, which enables the government to bypass parliament in enacting new legislation and limiting human rights and freedoms.
The state of emergency was imposed in Turkey a few days after the abortive putsch that began when a faction of the Turkish army declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was no more in charge.
Tanks, helicopters and soldiers clashed with police and people on the streets of the cities of Ankara and Istanbul. Over 240 people were killed on all sides in the attempted coup d'etat that was blamed on the movement led by US-based opposition cleric, Fethullah Gulen.
The Erdogan administration has launched a crackdown on those believed to have played a role in the failed coup, in a move that has sparked criticisms from human rights groups.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Turkish premier said that he expected the new US government to stop supplying arms to militants of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).
The outgoing US administration of President Barack Obama was responsible for providing the militants with weapons, Yildirim said, urging Washington "not allow this strategic partnership [with Turkey] to be overshadowed by a terrorist organization."
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Ominous Start To The New Year In Turkey
David Patrikarakos January 03, 2017
2017 has begun in much the same way 2016 ended: with the world in an uproar over yet another act of bloodshed claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.
In the early hours of January 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on crowds ringing in the New Year at a trendy Istanbul nightclub, killing 39 and injuring 69 more.
Like the IS-claimed Christmas market attack in Berlin that left 12 dead and scores injured in December, the massacre has reaffirmed the extremist group's international reach. For Turkey, which has vowed to carry on with its military campaign against IS in Syria, it is an ominous sign of a long year to come.
The target, popular with celebrities and foreign tourists, appeared to be carefully chosen. A high-profile nightspot where people gather to drink alcohol and dance, it is a symbol of the country's secular culture, which has come under threat from the increasingly autocratic and Islamist rule of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan was quick to blame terror groups that were "trying to create chaos" and "demoralize our people and destabilize our country."
Even before Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, all evidence pointed to it being their work. It is unclear why IS waited more than 24 hours before taking credit, but as New York Times correspondent Rukmini Callimachi, an expert on jihadist groups, explained via a series of tweets, IS has been traditionally more reluctant to claim responsibility for mass atrocities than for targeted killings in Sunni-majority countries (likely for fear of alienating its supporters). Set against this, she continued, has been an upsurge in anti-Turkish IS rhetoric that has included calls for attacks against the country, including from the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Both the timing and nature of the attack bore the hallmarks of a classic IS attack. Since Turkish forces crossed the border into Syria in August, Ankara has made itself a target for a variety of forces engaged in the country's vicious civil war. Turkish troops are now battling not only IS but also Kurdish factions allied with U.S.-backed rebels fighting the Syrian government.
By entering the war directly, Turkey de facto aligned itself with Russia, with which it recently worked to broker a fragile cease-fire, even though the two countries back different sides. Following the failed coup in July, Erdogan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin before bringing his troops across Syria's border. The relationship between the two has been unusually pleasant since. Even after Moscow's ambassador to Ankara was assassinated in late December, Putin and Erdogan appeared to move closer together, not further apart, arguing that the violence was intended to undermine their efforts to work together to fight terrorism. Russia is also -- ostensibly -- fighting IS. In reality, however, Moscow is more concerned with fighting other Syrian opposition groups to keep President Bashar al-Assad in power and has come to be loathed by the rebels.
Moreover, like Russia, self-interest lies behind Turkey's intervention: Its stated objective of overthrowing Assad is not the priority. Rather, Ankara is more concerned with defeating Kurdish groups allied to the rebels, which, with their separatist designs, it considers an existential threat to Turkish sovereignty. All of this has some analysts believing that Erdogan and Putin may have made some sort of bargain for Syria, likely resulting in the partitioning of the country, with some areas under Turkish influence or control and the rest in the hands of Assad.
"With [Turkey's] recent alliance with Russia, it has effectively placed itself at odds with the Syrian opposition, as well as more extreme elements," explains Rashad Ali, a senior fellow at the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an organization dedicated to combating extremism. "The level of infiltration of [Al-Qaeda] and IS in Turkey, as well as its indigenous problems, already make managing the various security threats more and more complicated and difficult."
This can only be tackled "with local intelligence and municipal-level cooperation with the state and global apparatus," Ali adds. "Whilst Turkey is generally commended for how it has dealt with the fallout of the [Assad government's] war against the Syrian people, its political stance of prioritizing the Kurdish question over its former stance of diplomatic and strategic support for the Syrian rebel factions means it has inadvertently placed itself on the opposite side of the Syrian people, not just the extremist factions."
Ali also points out that -- as a moderate Islamist and increasingly authoritarian regime that is allying tactically with the West -- Turkey is seen by IS as being almost worse than the extremist group's sectarian enemy, the Shi'a.
"IS may describe the Shi'a as rawafidh (those who reject) and majus (magicians), but the secularized sellout Islamists and the sellout Wahhabis are more culpable in their hypocrisy," Ali says.
As ever, the apostate is despised more than the infidel.
Shift To More Traditional Terrorism
Critically, Turkey's entrance into the Syrian civil war also comes at a time when IS is suffering repeated losses on the ground. The so-called caliphate it once controlled -- and that was, at its peak in 2014, an area the size of Great Britain -- has shrunk drastically. The "victory" narrative that was once the foundation of IS propaganda has long receded. Turkish forces are now playing an integral role in the drive to push IS from Iraq's second city of Mosul. It was the city's capture in June 2014 that gave Baghdadi the confidence to declare the establishment of the caliphate that same month.
As IS has suffered on the ground, it has been forced to switch its focus. Military defeats damage the group's "brand" and must be supplemented with successes elsewhere. These have consistently taken the form of terror attacks abroad, which allow the group to project power internationally and ensure it remains in global headlines.
IS's November 2015 attack on the Bataclan theater in Paris and its surrounding areas, in which a combination of coordinated suicide bombings and shootings killed 130 people and injured almost 400 others, echoes the January 1 attack in Istanbul: A high-profile venue in which revelers drank and danced, activities considered haram (forbidden or proscribed by Islamic law), was targeted by gunmen who fired into the crowd.
Outrage -- and its attendant publicity -- has brought IS directly into people's living rooms once more.
"IS has decided to project its war elsewhere, away from the focus point from its loss of territory," Ali explains. "But also like all terrorism, it serves multiple purposes, including projecting power as well as diverting resources away and eyes and attention away from its losses. It has been preparing to return to its primary focus as a guerrilla-type and terrorist outfit, which we will see more of regionally and more attempts globally. A diffused IS means a diffused strategy of terrorism."
In short, the bloodshed and killing is likely to continue for a long time to come -- with disastrous consequences for innocent civilians from the Middle East to the heart of Europe.
The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL.
Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/islamic-state -turkey-ominous-start-to-2017- putin-erdogan/28211404.html
Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Kyrgyzstan Says Passport Holder No Longer Suspect In Istanbul Nightclub Attack
RFE/RL January 03, 2017
Kyrgyz officials say the man whose name and passport have been circulated in Turkish and Italian media, as well as widely on social media, as the possible perpetrator of the New Year's Day massacre at an Istanbul nightclub is not a suspect in the case.
A spokesman for Kyrgyzstan's National Security Service told RFE/RL on January 3 that Iakhe Mashrapov is now in Kyrgyzstan and had been questioned by both the Kyrgyz and Turkish authorities.
The spokesman, Rakhat Suleymanov, said that Mashrapov, a Kyrgyz businessman who lives in the town of Kara-Suu in Kyrgyzstan's southern Osh Province, flew to Bishkek from Istanbul on January 3 using his passport, which is genuine.
Suleymanov said Mashrapov's flight from Istanbul was delayed one hour as Turkish police questioned him before clearing him to depart.
Mashrapov told Kyrgyz Internet news agency Turmush later on January 3 that he had no idea how a picture of his passport was placed on social media.
Turkish authorities are still searching for the gunman who burst into Istanbul's waterfront Reina nightclub with an automatic weapon and began shooting people celebrating New Year's early on January 1, killing at least 39 people and wounded 69 others.
Turkish state news agency Anadolu said on January 3 that 14 people had so far been detained in connection with the investigation.
The dead include the nationals of more than a dozen countries. Funerals were being held around the Middle East on January 3 for victims from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Turkey. Victims also included citizens of Belgium, Canada, Germany, India, and Russia.
The militant group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the massacre, calling the gunman a "hero soldier of the caliphate" and calling it an attack on an "apostate holiday" and revenge for Turkey's military involvement in Syria.
Reuters quoted an unnamed security source as saying that "the assailant has experience in combat for sure... He could have been fighting in Syria for years." The same source reportedly said the perpetrator was likely to have been following instructions from Islamic State.
The Kyrgyz passport photo posted on social media generated wide interest in part because it appeared to bear a resemblance to a selfie video of a man on Istanbul's central Taksim Square that was also posted on the Internet on January 3.
Closed-captioned cameras also caught images of the gunman as he shot his way into the nightclub on the Bosphorus.
IS and other militant groups frequently traffic in stolen passports, which they use for recruitment efforts and to allow their fighters to travel undetected.
It was initially unclear how the conclusions about the Kyrgyz man shown in the passport might affect the investigation.
Turkish government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus said on January 2 that officials were close to identifying the gunman and had fingerprints they believed belong to the attacker.
Turkish media has widely reported that the nightclub attacker is thought to be from Central Asia.
However, the news reports are based on information from unidentified Turkish officials, or members of Turkish security bodies, and have not been publicly confirmed.
Turkish media outlet Hurriyet columnist Abdulkadir Selvi has reported that the attacker had been identified, with investigators focusing on the idea he was from Central Asia.
CNN Turk has said the suspect was believed by Turkish investigators to be of Kyrgyz origin.
And the Dogan news agency reported on January 3 that a woman suspected of being the suspect's wife had been detained in overnight police raids in the Anatolian city of Konya but gave no further details.
The attacker shot dead a police officer and a civilian at the entrance to the exclusive nightclub, then opened fire with an automatic rifle inside, reloading his weapon half a dozen times and reportedly shooting the wounded as they lay on the ground.
The Turkish news outlet Haberturk quoted a barman at the club as saying the gunman had thrown explosive devices several times during the shooting spree, apparently in order to disorientate people and give himself time to reload.
Several witnesses who spoke to Reuters also said there had been small explosions during the attack.
Turkey has suffered dozens of deadly terror attacks in the past 12 months, including on its international airport in Istanbul, with some blamed on IS and others said to be the work of Kurdish militants.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, Reuters, AFP, AP, and dpa
Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/turkey-kyrgyzstan- checking-identity-istanbul-nightclub- attack-suspect/28211165.html
Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Turkey Identifies Istanbul Attacker, Erdogan Vows Not To Give In To 'Terrorists'
RFE/RL January 04, 2017
Turkish authorities say they have identified the perpetrator of the New Year's Day massacre at an Istanbul nightclub, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that the country will not surrender to "terrorists."
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, speaking to the state-run Anadolu news agency on January 4, said the identity of the gunman had been established, without providing further details.
The gunman burst into Istanbul's waterfront Reina nightclub with an automatic weapon and began shooting people celebrating New Year's early on January 1, killing at least 39 people and wounding 69 others.
The dead included 27 foreigners, many from the Middle East.
The extremist Islamic State (IS) group said a "soldier of the caliphate" had carried out the massacre, calling it an attack on an "apostate holiday" and revenge for Turkey's military involvement in Syria.
The gunman, who fled after the attack, remains at large.
"Efforts to capture him continue," Cavusoglu said, adding that the house the suspect lived in "has been searched" and that the attack had been "professionally" planned.
Turkish media reported that the attacker rented a flat in the central city of Konya before moving to Istanbul to carry out the assault.
Despite not revealing the name of the suspect, police released the images of the attacker earlier this week, including one taken by security cameras on the night of the massacre.
A 28-year-old citizen of Kyrgyzstan whose name and passport have been circulated in Turkish and Italian media, as well as widely on social media, as the possible perpetrator was questioned by Turkish and Kyrgyz authorities in Bishkek but later released.
Several Arrests
Meanwhile, state news agency Anadolu reported that 20 suspected members of the IS group were detained in the western province of Izmir as part of the ongoing investigation.
Reuters news agency quoted police as saying the suspects were thought to be of Central Asian and North African origin. They were also believed to have travelled to Izmir from Konya.
Sixteen people had been detained earlier in the week in connection with the massacre, according to Anadolu.
In his first public address to the nation since the attack, Erdogan claimed it was aimed at dividing Turkey, but said the country would not fall for the ploy.
"The aim was clear: to create a fissure and polarize society," he said in Ankara.
"Nobody's lifestyle is under systematic threat in Turkey," Erdogan also said. "We will never allow this."
The president added that "to say Turkey has surrendered to terrorism is to take sides with the terrorists and terror organizations."
Turkey has suffered dozens of deadly terror attacks in the past 12 months, including on its international airport in Istanbul, with some blamed on the IS group and others said to be the work of Kurdish militants.
Late on January 3, Turkish lawmakers voted to extend by a further three months a state of emergency that was declared following a July 15 coup attempt.
The state of emergency was declared to crack down on a network linked to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of orchestrating the failed coup. Gulen denies any involvement.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP
Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/turkey- says-istanbul-nightclub-attacker- identified/28212721.html
Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Ukrainian Envoy to US Hopes Trump Will Allow Lethal Arms Supplies to Kiev
Sputnik News
23:35 03.01.2017
Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Valeriy Chaly on Tuesday expressed hope that the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump would revise the US policy banning lethal arms supplies to Kiev.
KIEV (Sputnik) At present, US military assistance to Kiev is limited to supplying uniforms and equipment, including counter-battery radars, drones and means of secure communication.
"Defensive equipment is delivered to Ukraine and gives an opportunity to save lives of our troops as well as to record violations of the ceasefire regime [in Donbass region]," Chaly told the Ukrinform news outlet.
He added that the policy of outgoing US President Barack Obama creates obstacles for Ukraine to receive lethal weapons from the United States.
"Therefore, the changes in the White House give an opportunity to take a fresh look at the matter," the ambassador added.
The Ukrainian government has been conducting a military operation in the country's eastern regions since April 2014. In February 2015, Kiev and the southeastern militia signed a peace deal in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. The agreement includes a ceasefire and means to monitor and verify it, and the withdrawal of weapons from the line of contact. However, despite the Minsk deal, the sides to the conflict have repeatedly blamed each other for ceasefire violations.
Sputnik
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French Far-Right Presidential Contender Says Crimean Annexation Legitimate
January 04, 2017
France's far-right leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said on January 3 that Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014 was "not illegal."
In an interview with French television channel BFM TV, the leader of the National Front party sided with the Kremlin in a dispute that has contributed to the worst East-West ties since the Cold War.
"I absolutely disagree that it was an illegal annexation: a referendum was held and residents of Crimea chose to rejoin Russia," said Le Pen, who is running in the April 17 presidential election on a platform of forging stronger ties with Russia.
Russian forces swept into the Black Sea peninsula in February 2014 and a month later organized a referendum in which more than 95 percent of Crimean voters backed joining Russia.
"I see no grounds whatsoever to question this referendum," Le Pen said, adding that she views Crimea as a part of Russia.
The United States and European Union branded the referendum as "farcical" and have insisted that Crimea's annexation from Ukraine was illegal.
They cited the takeover as the principle reason for hitting Russia with tough sanctions that remain in place today.
Based on reporting by The Independent and TASS
Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/french-far-right- presidential-contender-le-pen-says-crimean- annexation-legitimate/28212401.html
Copyright (c) 2017. 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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Alan Burkitt-Gray speaks to Don MacNeil, chief operating officer of GTT, about its company restructuring after coming out of Chapter 11 and its strategic roadmap for the next 12 months.
(Global Times) 09:35, January 04, 2017
Photo taken on Oct. 19, 2016 shows the screen at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center showing a simulated picture of an automated docking between the Shenzhou-11manned spacecraft and the orbiting space lab Tiangong-2. The Shenzhou-11 manned spacecraft successfully completed its automated docking with the orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab Wednesday morning, according to Beijing Aerospace Control Center. (Xinhua/Ju Zhenhua)
China plans to conduct some 30 space launch missions in 2017, a record-breaking number in the country's space history, said China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
Long March-5and Long March-7 rockets will be used to carry out most of the space missions this year, the China News Service reported.
Long March-5 is China's largest carrier rocket. The successful test launch of the vehicle in November in South China's Hainan Province will pave the way for space station construction, analysts said.
Wang Yu, general director of the Long March-5 program, said 2017 is a critical year for China's new generation of carrier rockets and the Long March-5 rockets will carry Chang'e-5 probe to the space. The probe will land on the moon, collect samples and return to Earth.
On the other hand, Long March-7, the more powerful version of Long March-2, will send China's first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 into the space in the first half of 2017, according to Wang Zhaoyao, director of China Manned Space Engineering Office. Tianzhou-1 is expected to dock with Tiangong-2 space lab and conduct experiments on propellant supplement.
China conducted 22 launch missions in 2016 and 19 in 2015. The country successfully tested its Long March-7 rocket in June last year and has gradually shifted to new generation rockets that reduce the use of toxic rocket fuels.
Last Month, China released a white paper on space activities, announcing plans to soft land Chang'e-5 on the moon by the end of 2017 and launch its first Mars probe by 2020.
After Chang'e-5, China will launch the Chang'e-4 lunar probe around 2018 to achieve mankind's first soft landing on the far side of the moon and conduct in situ and roving detection and relay communications at Earth-moon L2 point.
The white paper also says that in the next five years, China will provide space and aviation-related services to countries involved in the One Belt and One Road initiative, such as satellite communications, navigation and weather forecasting analysis.
A Virginia lawmaker has filed a bill to force transgender people to use the bathroom corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate and require school principals to notify a student's parents if the student makes any attempt to be "treated as the opposite sex."
Del. Robert G. Marshall, a Prince William County Republican and one of the General Assembly's most socially conservative members, filed a bill he's titled the "Physical Privacy Act" for the legislative session that begins next week.
The bill mirrors North Carolina's controversial HB2 measure, which prompted business boycotts and outcry from LGBT groups. However, the Virginia version faces long odds and Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who has tried to lure business prospects away from North Carolina over the HB2 fallout, said he will veto "any bill that restricts the rights of Virginians based on sexual orientation or gender identity."
Marshall's bill, HB1612, would block transgender people from accessing restrooms corresponding to their gender identity in all government buildings, including schools and universities. The bill also would enable people who encounter a transgender person in the wrong bathroom to sue the government entity for failing to take "reasonable steps" to strictly separate bathrooms by birth sex.
In an interview Wednesday, Marshall said the bill was meant to protect women from men pretending to be transgender in order to gain access to women's bathrooms for nefarious purposes. His goal, he said, was to preserve "safe space" for women throughout Virginia.
"To let boys or guys without anything else just claim they're transgendered is to really put women in harm's way," said Marshall, who has drawn headlines in the past for his staunch opposition to gay marriage and abortion.
LGBT rights advocates have vigorously opposed transgender bathroom bills as discriminatory and unnecessary. Gavin Grimm, a transgender teenager from Gloucester County who was barred from using the boys' bathroom, has filed a civil rights lawsuit against his school district that could lead to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling with nationwide impact.
Danica Roem, a 32-year-old transgender woman from Manassas who announced this week that she's running for Marshall's seat as a Democrat, called Marshall's bill another example of his tendency to file hot-button legislation that goes nowhere. In her work as a journalist, Roem said she never heard Prince William residents talk about transgender bathroom issues as a top priority.
"Why? Because we're not a threat," Roem said. "This is ridiculous."
Marshall pointed to cases of "scurrilous activity" in bathrooms in other states, including a lawsuit against a school district in Minnesota sparked by a transgender girl "twerking and grinding" in a girls' locker room, but said he knew of no examples in Virginia.
Marshall said he was spurred to act by the Prince William School Board's consideration of expanding its nondiscrimination to add protection for transgender students and staff. That decision was put off until later this year, but Marshall said the policy has drawn vocal opposition in his home county, not all of it of the "Bible-banging" variety.
Marshall, who has also introduced a resolution for 2017 to declare pornography a threat to public health, said he'll introduce a separate gender-related billl to clearly define the terms male and female. He played down the controversy in North Carolina, saying the state retained its number ranking on Forbes Magazine's list of best states for business despite the furor.
"I guess common sense is not so common anymore," Marshall said.
Virginia Republicans have shown little appetite for transgender bathroom bills in the past, and pressing the issue could be particularly risky as the GOP tries to fight the state's blue trend and retake the governor's office this fall. A similar bill died last year in a Republican-controlled House of Delegates committee by a 8-13 vote, with some lawmakers pointing to the pending lawsuit as a reason to avoid setting a statewide policy.
Marshall acknowledged that he'll likely face resistance from his own party.
"That's because [House Speaker] Bill Howell doesn't want to deal with any of these issues. And that's the problem," Marshall said. "If the Republicans aren't willing to stand up, the voters may just take a walk in November."
Howell spokesman Chris West declined to comment on the substance of Marshall's legislation, but dismissed Marshall's assertion about Howell as "Bob being Bob."
"We have the committee process for a reason," West said. "This bill will be heard just like all of the other nearly 2,000 pieces of legislation that we deal with."
In a call with reporters Wednesday afternoon, LGBT advocates said the bill would harm the economy as well as transgender people.
"What we would like to see the leadership on both sides step up on day one and say this bill is dead on arrival," said James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia.
In a statement, McAuliffe's office reiterated the governor's longstanding veto threat against bills he sees as discriminatory.
"The governor is hopeful that Republicans in the General Assembly will drop these counterproductive bills and turn their focus toward building a stronger and more equal Virginia economy," said McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy.
Cathryn Oakley, who works on state and local LGBT issues for the Human Rights Campaign, said Marshall's parental notification requirement appears to be a national outlier. With many LGBT youth facing ostracization from their families for coming out, they may have good reason to be more open at school than at home.
Marshall's bill stresses parents' rights to raise children as they see fit. In addition to bathroom issues arising, the bill would require principals to notify a student's parents within 24 hours if the child asks to be referred to by "a name or pronouns inconsistent with the child's sex."
"I have no idea what the letters 'ze' mean," Marshall said. "Although I'm told this is what some transgender people want to be referred to."
New U.K. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt has reversed most of an economic package announced by the government just weeks ago, including a planned cut in income taxes. Hunt said Monday he was scrapping almost all the tax cuts announced last month by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Liz Truss, and also signaled that public spending cuts are on the way. It was a bid to soothe turbulent financial markets spooked by fears of excessive government borrowing. The move raises questions about how long the beleaguered prime minister can stay in office, though Truss insisted she has no plans to quit. She vowed to lead the Conservatives into the next general election, but many in the party want her gone.
Hard as it is to believe that a prison guard could identify an inmate by just looking at the back of his or her head, that's exactly the prison guards in Guangdong's Sihui Prison are capable of. For this accomplishment, the guards have been hailed as the "most powerful brains" in the province's prison system.
Jie Haiye is one of the prison guards at Sihui Prison. He can use this method to identify up to 430 inmates. He said remembering each inmate's name and basic information is of fundamental importance to the prison's safety. It not only facilitates daily work but also helps the inmates feel respected so that they more willingly accept reform, according to Jie.
Zhu Hainian, a doctor in charge of over 100 inmates with mental disorders, has taught himself to discern who is a real patient and who is only pretending to be. Zhu said almost half of prisoners were jailed for murder.
Due to the coexistence of prisoners responsible for a wide variety of crimes, prison administration in Guangdong is becoming increasingly complicated, with penalties harder and harder to carry out. Medical parole cases are also on the rise.
Guangdong has been working toward a more transparent prison system since the end of 2014. In 2016, there were no incidents involving escaped convicts, nor were there any major safety accidents.
Guangdong prisons hold the largest number of criminals across the country.
Stock Exchange Release
Talvivaara Mining Company Plc
4 January 2017
NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, HONG KONG, SOUTH AFRICA OR JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.
Amendment to the final results of the directed share issue of Talvivaara Mining Company Plc
On 3 January 2017, Talvivaara Mining Company Plc ("Talvivaara" or the "Company") announced that the creditors of the Company subscribed for 2,069,228,917 new shares in the Company in the directed share issue (the "Share Issue") and that the Board of Directors of Talvivaara had approved such subscriptions. However, following the passing of such resolution by the Board of Directors of Talvivaara, Talvivaara was informed that valid subscriptions for 12,424,093 additional new shares were made during the subscription period of the Share Issue that expired on 28 December 2016 at 4:00 p.m. (Finnish time) by holders of the bonds issued by the Company maturing in 2017.
The Board of Directors has approved the subscriptions for these 12,424,093 additional new shares. The subscription price per new share is EUR 0.1144, which was paid in its entirety by setting off the restructuring debt receivable of the creditor from the Company against the subscription price of the new shares. The subscription price will be recorded in its entirety in the invested unrestricted equity fund of the Company. As a result of these additional subscriptions, the Company's debt is reduced further by a total of EUR 1,421,316.44.
Taking into account the additional 12,424,093 new shares, the creditors of the Company subscribed for a total of 2,081,653,010 new shares in the Company in the Share Issue, the Company's debt is reduced by a total of EUR 238,141,136.72 and the total number of shares in the Company will increase to 4,189,807,162 shares.
The additional 12,424,093 new shares issued in the Share Issue are expected to be (i) registered in the trade register maintained by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office on or about 5 January 2017; (ii) issued as book-entry securities in the book-entry system maintained by Euroclear Finland on or about 5 January 2017; and (iii) listed on the official list of the Helsinki Stock Exchange on or about 9 January 2017. The new shares carry the shareholders' rights after the registration in the trade register and the subscriber's book-entry account.
Enquiries
Talvivaara Mining Company Plc Tel +358 20 7129 800
Pekka Pera, Chief Executive Officer
Pekka Erkinheimo, Deputy CEO
DISCLAIMER
This announcement is an advertisement and not a prospectus and creditors should not subscribe for any shares referred to in this announcement except on the basis of information in the applicable prospectus published by Talvivaara in connection with the Share Issue.
The information contained herein is not for publication or distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa or Japan. These written materials do not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States, nor may the securities be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration as provided in the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the rules and regulations thereunder. There is no intention to register any portion of the offering in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States.
The information contained herein shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the securities referred to herein in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration, exemption from registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. Investors must neither accept any offer for, nor acquire, any securities to which this announcement refers, unless they do so on the basis of the information contained in the applicable prospectus published or distributed by Talvivaara.
Talvivaara has not authorised any offer to the public of securities in any Member State of the European Economic Area other than Finland. With respect to each Member State of the European Economic Area other than Finland and which has implemented the Prospectus Directive (each, a "Relevant Member State"), no action has been undertaken or will be undertaken to make an offer to the public of securities requiring publication of a prospectus in any Relevant Member State. As a result, the securities may only be offered in Relevant Member States (a) to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined in the Prospectus Directive; or (b) in any other circumstances falling within Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Directive. For the purposes of this paragraph, the expression an "offer of securities to the public" means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the securities to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to exercise, purchase or subscribe the securities, as the same may be varied in that Member State by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that Member State and the expression "Prospectus Directive" means Directive 2003/71/EC (and amendments thereto, including the 2010 PD Amending Directive, to the extent implemented in the Relevant Member State), and includes any relevant implementing measure in the Relevant Member State and the expression "2010 PD Amending Directive" means Directive 2010/73/EU.
This communication is directed only at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order") and (iii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). Any investment activity to which this communication relates will only be available to and will only be engaged with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this announcement or any of its contents.
Amendment to final results of directed share issue of Talvivaara
This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Talvivaaran Kaivososakeyhtio Oyj via Globenewswire
Surrey, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 4, 2017) - Desert Gold Ventures Inc. (TSXV: DAU) (FSE: QXR2) (OTC Pink: DAUGF) ("Desert Gold" and or "the Company") today announced a major step forward in the development of the Company's Byumba Gold project in Northern Rwanda. In Q1 of 2016, the Company applied for a commercial mining license at its Byumba gold deposit. Along with the mining license application, the Company submitted a Plan of Operation ("PLO") to the Rwandan Ministry of Natural Resources ("MINIRENA"). The Company is pleased to announce that MINIRENA, in co-operation with the State Department of Geology and Mines ("DNGM"), has accepted the Company's proposal and on December 13, 2016 issued Desert Gold a commercial gold mining license.
Details of Mining License Application
The new title under the exploitation license will be named Rutare
The mining license is valid for a period of 10 years with an option to renew
The Rutare permit covers a 375 hectare block (as shown in map below) and encompasses the entire gold prospect
The Rutare permit is located a two hour drive from the capital Kigali accessible by paved highway
Rutare Exploitation License Boundary Map
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Table 1 sets out the Company's mineral resource estimate prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") which shows ore tonnage of approximately 5.5 million tons at an average grade of 1.48 g/t of gold for a total resource of 265,000 oz Au using a cut off grade of 0.5 g/t Au.
Summary of Mineral Resource Estimates Prepared in Accordance with NI 43-101
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Notes to Mineral Resource Estimate:
The effective date of the Byumba mineral resource estimate is January 11, 2010.
Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Due to the uncertainty of measured, indicated or inferred mineral resources, these mineral resources may never be upgraded to proven and probable mineral reserves.
The Company plans to release a Supplemental Plan of Operation ("SPLO") later this quarter that will outline the details of the development at Rutare. The decision to proceed into production is currently not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability. Rather, the decision was based on the existing data from the 2010 inferred resource, the 2012 drilling campaign and a series of internal studies conducted by the Company's engineering and technical team. Over time the Company aims to demonstrate economic viability as defined under Companion Policy 43-101CP, 4.2(6) Production Decision.
Desert Gold CEO Sonny Janda commented, "Our goal is to develop the first commercial gold mine in the country and to become a leading producer in the region. As such, we are working closely with the Rwandan government and local partners to finalize the development plan at Rutare. This plan will not only focus on the exploitation of the existing Byumba resource at Rutare but will also incorporate more drilling for expansion and growth of the area over time. Moreover, the Company is evaluating other mineral prospects in the region. We are working closely with our partners in Rwanda to identify the most prospective opportunities and incorporate them into our larger vision. The issuance of the gold mining license is a significant milestone for the company. I would like to thank the Rwandan government and its supporting departments for their active participation helping Desert Gold throughout the licensing process."
Shaun Dyke, M.Sc. (Eng); P.Geo (#20044), a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this release.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
"Jared Scharf"
___________________________
Jared Scharf
Director
+1 (858) 247 8195
About Desert Gold
Desert Gold Ventures Inc. is an advanced exploration and development company which holds mining assets in Mali and Rwanda.
For further information please visit our website www.desertgold.ca or information available on www.SEDAR.com under the company's profile.
This news release contains forward-looking statements respecting the Company's ability to successfully obtain an exploitation license for its Byumba permit. These forward-looking statements entail various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations, are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks, and actual results may differ materially from those contained in such statements, including the inability of the Company to successfully complete and obtain the necessary permits to develop its operations. These uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, the strength of the capital markets, permitting risk, the price of gold; operational, funding, and liquidity risks; the degree to which mineral resource estimates are reflective of actual mineral resources; and the degree to which factors which would make a mineral deposit commercially viable are present; the risks and hazards associated with mining operations. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the company's disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and available at www.sedar.com and readers are urged to read these materials. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such statements unless required by law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities described herein in the United States. The securities described herein have not been and will not be registered under the united states securities act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the united states or to the account or benefit of a U.S person absent an exemption from the registration requirements of such act.
Chinese military expert Yin Zhuo told CCTV that China's military deployment in the South China Sea is completely reasonable, in light of the powerful naval force of the U.S. in the region.
He made his remarks after American media outlet Fox News quoted the U.S. intelligence community, saying that China has sent hundreds of surface-to-air missiles from the mainland to the South China Sea. Fox News reported that China has deployed more than 500 missiles on South China Sea islands, including CSA-6B and HQ-9 missiles, as well as the anti-ballistic missile interceptor HQ-26.
A U.S. official said these locations are only temporary and anticipated that the missiles would soon be deployed to the Nansha Islands and Yongxing Island. Some people believe China will form a comprehensive air defense system once it deploys CSA-6B, HQ-9 and HQ-26 in the South China Sea, increasing its power to cope with U.S. forces in the region.
Yin noted that the speculation by Western media makes no sense at all, since the U.S. has maintained powerful forces in the region, including bombers and aircraft carriers. He said neither the U.S. nor surrounding countries are the targets of the missile, adding that they won't be launched unless China's sovereignty over these islands and reefs are violated.
Yin said the U.S. is the one who truly threatens regional stability, though Western media has been spreading the theory of the so-called China threat. The situation in the South China Sea has been stable since the U.S. presidential election. However, some countries are still pushing issues, hoping the U.S. will maintain its Asia-Pacific Rebalance strategy.
China will never give up its core interest in the South China Sea, stressed Yin.
"We will never start a fight as long as others remain peaceful, but we'll fight back when violated," he added.
Given November's election results, there is a lot of uncertainty about the future of education policy. Yet at least one thing remains clear: Under the new K-12 federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states are required to put in place new systems to identify low-performing schools for improvement by the 2017-18 school year.The U.S. Department of Education's accountability regulations extend this deadline by a year, but whether the regulations will pass muster under a new presidential administration remains to be seen. In the face of the unknown, state policymakers are drafting plans to meet the new law's requirements. Much of their attention is focused on which indicators of school quality or student success they will use to provide a more holistic measure of school performance than the test-based measures of the past. Under ESSA, these new indicators may measure factors such as student engagement, postsecondary readiness, and school climate and safety.To help states design more innovative systems, the Center for American Progress (CAP) explored newer, less commonly used indicators that have recently caught the attention of state policymakers. These include measures of social and emotional learning, school climate and culture, and resource equity, such as access to highly effective teachers, early learning opportunities and adequate school funding.The measures that CAP examined have strong relationships with positive student outcomes. However, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), ESSA's predecessor, provided a disincentive for states to innovate in how school success is measured. For example, as a result of NCLB's more punitive sanctions, state policymakers largely limited non-academic measures to graduation and attendance rates.With waivers from NCLB under the Obama administration, states began to expand their systems to provide a more comprehensive picture of school quality and student performance. Yet few states currently use any of the measures that CAP identifies. Only four states -- Illinois, Georgia, Nebraska and New Mexico -- use a measure of school climate and culture. Only five -- Connecticut, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Wisconsin -- use a measure of chronic absence, which can be a good proxy for how students feel about their school's climate. A handful of states use some measure of resource equity, such as student participation in the arts. No state uses a measure of social and emotional learning to classify schools.As states consider which indicators to include in their new school classification systems, CAP's report recommends that states prioritize use of valid, reliable indicators such as chronic absenteeism and measures of college and career readiness. At the same time, states should be cautious about using new indicators to classify schools. For example, policymakers need more research to determine if survey measures of social and emotional learning are valid, reliable and cannot be gamed to make a school look better. School climate and culture surveys have been validated by research, although the long-term effects of survey results in school classifications are not known. States should exert caution when considering these data to classify schools because surveys may be vulnerable to manipulation in high-stakes settings.Still, identifying which indicators to use to classify schools is only one part of states' challenge. Under ESSA, states have the opportunity to collect a broader array of information to support continuous improvement of all schools, not just those identified for support and intervention. CAP's new report argues that comprehensive accountability is a full system encompassing data collection and reporting; classification of school performance; tracking of how supports are directed and interventions are implemented; and assessment of resource allocation.As a result, states should identify indicators that may help to spot students at risk for dropping out of high school, such as school climate indicators, and measures of social and emotional learning to improve classroom teaching and learning. States should also pay attention to indicators that are under a district's control, since much of the data used to classify schools are not immediately actionable by individual schools. Measures of resource equity, for example, have a significant effect on student achievement, but decisions about resource allocation are often made at the district level.As states work under a deadline, they should keep a broader vision in mind. Accountability is not just school ratings, but rather an entire system designed to support school quality and student success.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday proposed free state college tuition assistance to ease the burden of paying for higher education for hundreds of thousands of low- and middle-income students.Cuomo announced the Excelsior Scholarship college degree program, which would help cover the cost of SUNY and CUNY tuition, including at two-year community colleges, for students whose families earn up to $125,000 annually. Individuals also would qualify.The governor made the announcement before a cheering audience of high school students, labor leaders and elected officials at LaGuardia Community College.Cuomo said of college debt, "That is not fair, that is not right."He said it hobbles the futures of young people. "The debt is so high, it's like starting a race with an anchor tied to your leg."The Democratic governor was joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at the announcement. The former presidential candidate made free public education a chief mission of his campaign.The scholarship would be a supplement to the Tuition Assistant Program, a state program, and federal aid.It requires state legislative approval."If New York State does it this year, mark my words, state after state will follow," said Sanders, who was received with a standing ovation.In the audience, several students who attend a nearby high school said free or affordable tuition would alleviate stress on their families. Many come from immigrant families."It's going to save us a lot of money," said Aruna Parkash, 17, of Jackson Heights, who hopes to attend Queens College to study education.She predicted the money she saved on undergraduate school could ease her path to graduate school.Cindy Meyo, 17, of Elmhurst, said the program could help her fulfill ambitions to live a better life than her parents had."Coming from the background I do, my parents aren't rich," she said. "It would mean a lot."Cuomo's proposal would have to be paid for in the state budget, which will require approval by the Legislature by April 1. But on Tuesday there was early support for the proposal that has existed in various forms in Albany for a couple of years."For so many New Yorkers, the snowballing cost of a higher education has meant drowning in student debt for over a decade; for countless more, it serves as an outright roadblock," said Assemb. James Skoufis (D-Hudson Valley). He notes he introduced a tuition free bill in 2014 and it was supported by 80 of 150 Assembly members."Our students and families cannot wait any longer," he said. "Now's the time for the governor and Legislature to come together and heed the call from our families to live up to SUNY's and CUNY's original promise: a truly affordable and high-quality experience."Senate Democratic leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said a tuition-free bill would already be law in New York if it weren't for past opposition by the Senate's Republican majority."This is perfect example of why the Democrats that comprise a majority of the Senate should unite," said Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers), who leads the mainline minority Democratic conference which is at odds with the Independent Democratic Conference. "It is clear that initiatives like this would pass in a Democratic majority."The Senate's Republican majority had no immediate comment.State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher and SUNY board Chairman H. Carl McCall, each of whom are Cuomo allies, immediately supported the idea."This plan positions New York State as the first in the nation to not only provide free tuition for students from low- and- middle-income families pursuing two- and- four-year degrees, but to also go a step further, incentivizing full-time enrollment and college completion -- both of which are proven game changers in students success," McCall and Zimpher said a joint statement. "This is what college affordability is all about."The proposal follows more than five years of automatic tuition increases of $300 annually endorsed by Cuomo, Zimpher and McCall that they called a "rational tuition" plan that avoids long stretches of no tuition increases followed by a spike.Since 2010, tuition has risen about 30 percent to $6,470 per year for New York State residents attending four-year schools on average.The labor-backed CUNY Rising Alliance said the free-tuition program should be available to undocumented immigrants and should be accompanied by more state aid to the public university systems."CUNY and SUNY students need free tuition, but they also need smaller classes, improved course offerings, modern facilities, increased advisement and tutoring and the best faculty and staff," the group said in a statement. "Since 1975 CUNY's full time faculty has been diminished by 33 percent while its student body has increased by about 15 percent. This trend must be reversed, if students are to get the education they deserve."
Montana State Senator Ed Buttrey is a no-nonsense businessman from Great Falls. Like a lot of Republicans, hes not a fan of the Affordable Care Act, nor its expansion of Medicaid, the health insurance for the poor and disabled.We didnt want to implement a plan that was another entitlement that just had a bunch of people signing up to get free or cheap or subsidized health care, Buttrey said. We wanted a plan that said, Were going to get you on. Were going to get you healthy. Were going to identify your barriers to employment or better employment, and then were going to move you off the plan.So Buttrey wrote a Medicaid expansion bill for Montana that linked the health coverage to a job training program. He wanted everyone getting benefits to have to meet with a labor specialist who would help them figure out how to get a job or to get a better paying job.The goal is to make them healthier, get them off social programs, get them off dependence on government, get them into higher wage jobs that have a future that possibly pay benefits. Thats a great benefit for the state, he said.But so far, federal officials said states cant make participation in a work program mandatory for Medicaid recipients. Montana, instead, had to make its job training component voluntary.Republican leaders across the country have long angled for more state control over Medicaid. The programs funding comes from both states and the federal government, with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services scrutinizing states use of the money. In Montana and many other states, the bulk of Medicaid funding comes from the federal government. HHS in a Trump administration may let states have more leeway in fact, Seema Verma, Trumps pick to run that division of HHS, advocated for more state control when she helped Indiana expand Medicaid. So the door could open to more Medicaid experiments like the one Buttrey has been pushing for.The feds rejection of mandatory job training meant Buttrey was barely able to win enough votes in Montanas Republican majority legislature to pass Medicaid expansion in 2015 last April. Hows it working?I think its a success story. I love this. Im the poster child, says Ruth McCafferty. She is a 53-year-old single mom from Kalispell, with three kids at home. She lost her job with a lending company last spring, and she had no idea there was a new job training program available when she signed up for Medicaid. She was just focused on finding a way to afford the drugs she needs to control her diabetes and asthma.One inhaler that I do is $647, she says, bringing her medication costs to about $1,000 a month. My plan was not to get them, only, like, a couple of them that were affordable, like $60, and the rest of them I was like, I guess Ill just be called Wheezy from now on!McCafferty instead got Medicaid, filled her prescriptions, and she got free online training to become a mortgage broker. The state even paid for her 400-mile roundtrip to Helena to take the certification exam. And now theyre paying part of her salary at a local business as part of an apprenticeship to make her easier to hire.Its awesome! she said.Of the 53,000 Montanans whove signed up for expanded Medicaid, only about 3,000 have signed up for help getting a job. Thats in part because the federal government wont allow states to use Medicaid money for it. To set it up here, Buttrey had to cobble together funding from other jobs programs and squeeze $1 million out of a reluctant state legislature.Giving states the flexibility to tie their Medicaid programs to work requirements is an idea thats likely to be popular with the new Congress and Trump administration. But health policy researcher Joan Alker, who runs the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University, warns that it could backfire.I think its great and well worth doing to link people who might not be aware of existing job training programs or other kinds of work supports that can help them work. What I think is problematic is when this becomes a stick and not a support, she said.Alker said many people on Medicaid already have jobs, often low-paying ones that dont offer health insurance, and they have little time for new training. In Montana, about two-thirds of those on Medicaid are already working. She said if people fail to meet a work requirement and then lose health benefits as a result, theyll likely just get sicker and become less able to work.
Girding for four years of potential battles with President-elect Donald J. Trump, Democratic leaders of the California Legislature announced Wednesday that they had hired Eric H. Holder Jr., who was attorney general under President Obama, to represent them in any legal fights against the new Republican White House.The decision by the Legislature to retain Mr. Holder, who is now a prominent Washington lawyer, is the latest sign of the ideological battle that may play out over the next four years between this predominantly Democratic state and Washington. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for president, defeated Mr. Trump by more than four million votes here.Having the former attorney general of the United States brings us a lot of firepower in order to prepare to safeguard the values of the people of California, Kevin de Leon, the Democratic leader of the Senate, said in an interview. This means we are very, very serious.Mr. de Leon said he expected California to challenge Washington and defend itself from policies instituted in Washington on issues including the environment, immigration and criminal justice. He said California Democrats decided to turn to Mr. Holder as they watched Mr. Trump assemble his cabinet and begin to set the tone for his presidency.It was very clear that it wasnt just campaign rhetoric, Mr. de Leon said of Mr. Trumps proposals over the past year. He was surrounding himself with people who are a very clear and present danger to the economic prosperity of California.The move by Mr. de Leon and his Democratic counterpart in the Assembly, Anthony Rendon, follows Gov. Jerry Browns appointment of Representative Xavier Becerra as attorney general last month, to succeed Kamala D. Harris, who was elected to the United States Senate.That appointment made Mr. Becerra one of the highest-ranking Latino officials in this state, and he is expected to be instrumental in battling with the Trump White House over any attempt to enforce stringent measures aimed at immigrants. Mr. Brown has made clear that he intends to challenge the administration on global warming and that his attorney general will be a key to that battle.
A Delaware Superior Court judge upheld a ban on carrying firearms in state parks and forests for purposes other than hunting.The challenge to the rule was brought by multiple plaintiffs, including the Bridgeville Rifle and Pistol Club a 1,200 member organization in southern Delaware. In a civil complaint, they argued the administrative codes are "inconsistent with and pre-empted by" both state law and the state constitution.The rifle club noted its members often like to camp at Trap Pond State Park or rent a cottage at Seashore State Park during nearby shooting competitions yet they are unable to do so because of the ban. Plaintiffs also argued a need exists to carry firearms for protection.A deprivation of constitutional rights can constitute irreparable harm, the civil complaint stated.Superior Court Judge T. Henley Graves said in his Dec. 23 ruling the regulations do not run afoul of the Delaware Constitution, nor did they contradict state law passed by the General Assembly.As for plaintiffs concerns for self-defense, the Court observes the need to respond to a threat with a firearm is diminished when firearms are prohibited in the area, Graves said in the ruling.
Description
GIS 04 January, 2017: The National Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Incubator Scheme will become operational this month. The elaboration of this Scheme was announced by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, in the 2016/2017 Budget Speech.
The objective of the Scheme is to assist young Mauritians to transform their innovative ideas into concrete business ventures and to become successful entrepreneurs.
It will operate on a public-private partnership principle through accredited private business incubators. According to the Scheme, the private sector groups will initially invest in the infrastructure and facilities, manage the centre and provide mentoring, marketing and other support services to incubatees.
Such support will be provided over a two-year cycle in three stages namely, Pre-incubation, Incubation and Acceleration.
Government will provide financial support by co-sharing with the business incubators part of the cost of operation and of support services.
A Steering Committee has been set up under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to work out the guidelines, to accredit business incubators under the Scheme and to approve the disbursement of Government contribution.
Project applications from potential incubatees will be evaluated by a panel of independent experts.
Offering a simple Web signal that could be customized to show individual transportation routes.
Personalized alerting based on self-declared priorities, via a Web space that would let residents manage their communications from the city.
An online "Find It, Fix It" area for snow removal, letting residents suggest on-the-fly snow clearing for areas that otherwise would not be plowed like residential streets. Attendees suggested this could be integrated into Nextdoor or other Internet groups.
"Snowattle," a variation on the city's name: a crowd-sourced resource and volunteer board for temporal events like a snowfall. It would offer people a way to give and receive help such as snow removal. "Say someone has a medical condition or is disabled and unable to shovel their drive but needs to get out; the idea is that youd be able to connect them with volunteers, Faber said.
Offering a single city app where residents can find all snow-related information.
Working with local hardware stores or Amazon to create a wish list of items people might need during a snow emergency from water and batteries to flashlights and candles.
Creating an online list of community centers, businesses and libraries that would double as weather help stations.
Creating an app for snow events that would provide connections to community resources everything from open shelters to a listing of spontaneous snowball fights.
It's just frozen rain, but when combined with surprise and geography, snow can be a big, white, wet blanket on Seattle.Thats why, to lighten their municipal load, officials hosted the Let It Snow Hackathon on Dec. 15 to brainstorm with Web designers, developers and residents on how to better use technology to communicate before, during and after winter weather events. The years first snow was expected the next day but an ongoing problem for the hilly city is that major snowfall doesnt happen often enough for residents to adapt.Jim Loter, Seattles director of digital engagement, is from Michigan, where heavy snow is a regular occurrence and residents are accustomed to living and working in a winter wonderland. Its a different story in Seattle, he said.If we get snowfall and it falls for the day and it warms up, everybodys OK and people arent too mad. But every few years it is a matter of a heavier than usual snowfall for a few days to use the cliche, the perfect storm, Loter said. I think the broader statement of the problem were trying to solve is, its a rare event but when it happens, it paralyzes the city.With winter on the way, Seattle Mayor Edward Murray suggested hosting the event and officials began planning shortly before Thanksgiving, according to Candace Faber , city civic technology advocate.Seattle already tracks snowplows and de-icers , like its peers in Cincinnati and elsewhere. But before the event officials made 22 different data streams available to creative types at techtalk.seattle.gov/2016/12/15/let-it-snow-new-open-datasets/ . These included the locations of traffic cameras and road temperature stations; a listing of streets that have been closed due to winter storm events; and links to listings of blocked streets, lanes, sidewalks and intersections that gets updated when snow sticks.Presented in a three-way partnership with Open Seattle , which runs events focused on building the civic technology community and addressing civic issues, and product design company Substantial, the hackathon wound up being less 24-hour coding session and more of an evening workshop, Faber said.Of the 46 people who RSVP'd, around 20 attended ,including the mayor and city department heads. They described their concerns with snowfall, created storyboards and shared an array of ideas.The result of having that all in the room, as well as people from the technology community and the community at large, was that we were able to get a more holistic picture of what people are concerned about in the event of an emergency, said Faber, who joined one of several teams discussing ideas.A report on the event is expected as soon as next week.Arguably the most surprising proposal: using drones to deliver road salt and resources by crowdsourcing locally owned drones to cut infrastructure costs.I will say that that is one of the more creative ideas, said Seattle Chief Technology Officer Michael Mattmiller Working in groups, attendees talked about how snow forces them to adjust responsibilities and transportation plans, and sometimes hurry to find resources to weather the storm. They may want to stop what they're doing to have fun in the snow, attendees said but it also forces them to shift work hours; find ice- and snow-free routes; and use TVs, cellphones and computers to identify dangerous spots and learn whether its safe to go to the store.Attendees' questions included how to find transportation information, learn whether routes had been plowed, and decide whether a trip could be made with reasonable delays.Ideas for dealing with the snow included:Other suggestions included:Loter said Seattle will review all ideas closely, then move forward."The city is committed to taking [on] the ones that sound the best, sound the most feasible," he said recently. "That could include issuing small contracts to informal groups of developers or small business people, small entrepreneurs."
(TNS) - An analysis of hazardous materials shipped by train and truck through a three-county area, including Sangamon County, will begin through an expanded tracking program this spring.The study will include major railroads, as well as commercial-truck counts for hazardous materials at 20 locations in Sangamon, Menard and Christian counties, David Butt, director of the Office of Emergency Management for Sangamon County, said Tuesday.Nine federally designated hazardous materials -- ranging from explosives to radioactive materials -- will be tracked."We get some of everything," said Butt.Previously, only Sangamon County was tracked. Butt said the addition of Menard and Christian counties was made possible through a $40,000 grant for local emergency service programs from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.Butt said the goal is to present a study contract at the February meeting of the Sangamon County Board and to begin tracking shipments in March. Proposals are due by Jan. 17.Reports will be filed every three months, with a final report on rail traffic due in March 2018 and on truck traffic in May 2018, according to the procurement guidelines.Truck counts will be conducted at 10 locations in Sangamon County, including Interstates 55 and 72, six in Taylorville and Pana in Christian County, and four in Athens and Petersburg in Menard County. Reports on hazardous materials carried by rail are provided by the railroads.The data, said Butt, is shared with local emergency service agencies."It's for planning purposes," said Butt. "It helps the fire departments be aware of what might be coming through their area, and it gives transportation planners a better idea of what is coming through."Illinois Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Patti Thompson said in an email a little more than $2 million in three-year grants was awarded statewide. The grants, which are funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, had been for one year. Thompson said the program also focused on multi-county programs.According to rail-safety reports at the Illinois Commerce Commission, there were 100 rail incidents involving hazardous materials in 2015, including 73 that involved a spill or release of hazardous materials to the air. Most involved petroleum spills. The nearest to Springfield involved derailment of a Union Pacific locomotive near Girard in January 2015, though no fuel was spilled.2017 The State Journal-Register, Springfield, Ill.Visit The State Journal-Register, Springfield, Ill. at www.sj-r.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(TNS) - In early October residents of Lenoir County experienced one of the worst floods in the states history Hurricane Matthew.The Neuse River reached flood levels just days after Hurricane Matthew hit Eastern North Carolina and peaked Oct. 14 at 28.31 feet, passing the previous 27.71-foot record set by Hurricane Floyd on Sept. 23, 1999.Lenoir County Emergency Services Director Roger Dail said even though it has been two months, there are still a lot of people recovering from the damage Hurricane Matthew inflicted.Some disaster homes have been brought in from FEMA and they are still taking applications, Dail said.The City of Kinston and Lenoir County officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for residents and businesses along the Neuse River in the days leading up to the flood.Officials asked residents who live in flood zones to begin preparing their property and family members for flooding and evacuation.Although some residents were not affected by Floyd in 1999 officials ask all residents to be prepared.Lenoir County opened two shelters and had many donation centers around the county for displaced residents.During the flood many residents were land locked and could not get into town because floodwaters caused major highways in and out of town to close.You probably cant get to the other side of town without a boat or an airplane, Lenoir County Emergency Services Director Roger Dail said at he time of the flood.Residents on the south side of the Neuse River experienced, power outages, evacuations and road closures that have caused many to stay in their homes now that they cannot cross U.S. 70, N.C. 258 and N.C. 11.While it was a difficult time for many the flood brought people together.Volunteers at the First Baptist prepared meals for people who evacuated their homes. The Red Cross donated meals. Donation centers popped-up all over town to provide for those who lost everything and the Lenoir and Greene United Way is still helping those in need with their Unmet Needs Committee.While volunteers from churches, the Red Cross and the Baptist Men gathered to help those in need. The town itself was literally split in half because of damages and road closures.A field hospital opened up on the south side of town because residents had no way to get to UNC Lenoir Health Care hospital.People could have died, if they didnt have this facility, James Hood, Lenoir County community paramedic said.The hospital had a series of tents and trailers to help administer care to patients if needed. An ambulance bus, rescue teams, law enforcement and multiple ambulances were on standby in the church parking lot. At nearby Southwood Elementary School, a helicopter was available to transport critical patients as needed.Although the hospital was available four people did die in Lenoir County during the flooding.Once roads began to open back up, FEMA opened a disaster relief center at the old Nova building to provide those who needed assistance for damages, disaster unemployment and disaster food stamp.We still have a long road to go, Dail said. I can tell you that the recovery side is usually the hardest side. We want to get people back to some normalcy just as quickly as we can thats what we are committed to do but its going to take some time.Businesses are now starting to reopen after months of remodeling and renovation.The Bojangles on U.S. 70 is currently being rebuilt after the restaurant was torn down due to damage from the flood waters.While the flood waters have left Lenoir County, residents are still waiting for roads to be repaired and still working with FEMA for housingDuring flooding more than 30 roads were damaged with some still closed like N.C. 55 South.Lenoir County Commissioner J. Mac Daughety said three areas of the roadway were completely washed away leaving 80-foot holes in the ground where the road once passed through.For those who were affected Dail said if you have not already to contact FEMA as the deadline deadline for applications for disaster assistance is Monday, January 9. Those still in need of assistance can apply for FEMA aid by contacting 1-800-621-3362 or disasterassistance.gov.Michelle Taylor may be reached at 252-559-1073 and Michelle.Taylor@Kinston.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @MTaylorKFP.2017 The Free Press (Kinston, N.C.)Visit The Free Press (Kinston, N.C.) at www.kinston.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(Xinhua) 13:27, January 04, 2017
South Korea's unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs vowed Wednesday to maintain a policy of pressure and sanctions toward the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 2017.
The ministry said in its annual plan report to Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who serves as acting president, its hard-line policy will be maintained to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and cause a right change in the DPRK.
It indicated the government's adherence to the stance on the DPRK's nuclear issue, marked by intensive nuclear tests by Pyongyang in the past decade under conservative South Korean presidents Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye.
The two leaders stuck to the so-called strategic patience, offering a conditional dialogue with Pyongyang.
During the decade-long deadlock, Pyongyang's nuclear and missile capabilities advanced at a faster speed.
The DPRK detonated its second and third atomic devices in May 2009 and February 2013 respectively under the Lee Myung-bak administration. The fourth and fifth nuclear tests were carried out in January and September 2016 each under the impeached president.
Pyongyang, the report forecast, will continue to pursue its ambition for a nuclear state position, while seeking to alter the current phase of anti-DPRK sanctions.
Top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un said in his new year address that his country entered a final stage in preparations for the test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic rocket, boosting concerns about another provocation in the near future.
In many parts of the United States, legislatures will be starting to hold committee meetings and the legislature will be coming into session. One of the challenges all emergency managers have is trying to get attention to their mission and the topic of emergency management. I think every discipline and advocacy group has this same challenge.Take look at this article, Legislating Cybersecurity: Breaches Grab Lawmakers Attention, which comes from Government Technology magazine With cybersecurity you have something that is in the news almost daily, yet there is still reluctance on the part of many legislators to engage on the topic from their position as elected officials. Some think of these cyberbreaches like people think about disasters: They always happen somewhere else. Isn't it terrible!Perhaps the article will provide you with some insights about how to communicate with legislators in the upcoming session in your state.Last, in the article there is a Pell Center report on the State of the States on the topic of cybersecurity referenced. It doesn't look at every state, but a selected few. Maybe your state is mentioned and what is being done about cybersecurity where you live and work.
McLaren's former long-time team manager Jo Ramirez thinks "passion" is lacking in the Woking team of today.
Ever present throughout the glorious Senna and Hakkinen eras, the 75-year-old Mexican told Spanish radio Cadena Cope that he remains well connected with McLaren figures now.
"Unfortunately, McLaren is in a very delicate situation because there are a lot of politics," he said.
Indeed, team supremo Ron Dennis lost a recent power struggle, and new executive Jost Capito has reportedly left the team despite having only joined some months ago.
Ramirez claims: "Everyone is still working, but there's not the passion there was before because new people have come but most of them were Ron's people."
But the Mexican said not all is lost for the famous British marque.
"In January or February, we will see if the new management has been able to revive this great name, because for those who were there before it is a pity to see them destroying themselves," said Ramirez.
He tips Honda to keep improving the engine, but also said the McLaren chassis needs to get better because it was "not perfect" in 2016.
"They lack great people in design, but have understood what they need to do. 2017 should be the year in which they are good, and if Fernando (Alonso) will have left, he would have regretted it.
"He has taken a few decisions at the wrong time and suffered, so let's see if he's now right this time. Hopefully," Ramirez added.
(GMM)
Two Chinese companies have signed a joint-venture agreement to build twin towers in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Upon completion, the Cambodian project will be 108 meters taller than the current tallest twin towers, Petronas Twin Tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The consortium, established by Sino Great Wall International and Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group Co., Ltd., won the construction project with a bid of $2.7 billion. Construction was scheduled to begin at the end of 2016, and is expected to take five years.
The project was backed by Cambodian-owned Thai Boon Roong Group and Macau-owned Sun Kian Ip Group. The high-end commercial complex will consist of a luxury hotel, apartments, high-end office space and a retail area. There will also be an exhibition hall, theater, restaurants and a basement parking garage.
Changjiang Weekly noted that the tower is a landmark made in China project along the Belt and Road route. It is currently China's largest construction project in Cambodia.
China's railways are forecast to handle 3.025 billion passenger trips in 2017, China Railway Corp said on Tuesday during its annual meeting in Beijing.
That would put the railroads over 3 billion trips for the first time.
In 2016, 2.77 billion trips were made on China's railways, including 1.44 billion trips by high-speed trains, which is more than 52 percent of the total, said Lu Dongfu, general manager of China Railway Corp, the nation's railway operator.
The record for a single day was 14.43 million trips, during October's Golden Week holiday travel rush.
In 2016, over 60 percent of tickets were sold online, and more than 40 percent were bought via mobile phones.
This year, China will add 2,100 kilometers of track, 2,500 km of double-track rail lines and 4,000 km of electrified rail lines.
By the end of 2016, the nation's rail system had reached a total length of 124,000 km, including 22,000 km of high-speed railway, which is 65 percent of the world's total of high-speed rails.
Four major high-speed lines were opened in 2016: the Zhengzhou-Xuzhou Railway connecting Central and East China; the Chongqing-Wanzhou Railway, the first high-speed connection to the Three Gorges area; the Kunming-Guiyang Railway, completing the link from Shanghai to Kunming; and the Kunming-Baise Railway, completing Kunming's connection to Guangzhou.
The newly completed Kunming-Shanghai connection, at 2,252 km, is the longest of China's east-west lines.
China also continued to make technological improvements and innovative breakthroughs.
"Last year, China's railway companies developed bullet trains with a speed of 350 kilometers an hour," Lu said, noting that China has the rights to the technology.
The number of trains transporting goods between China and Europe also increased dramatically. In 2016, 1,702 trains transported goods between those markets, an increase of 109 percent from 2015.
On Jan 1, a train with a full load of Chinese goods departed from Yiwu in Zhejiang province headed for London, a new terminus point for trains from China.
The train will travel 18 days and more than 12,000 km to reach London's Barking station.
It has been almost a year since the Iran nuclear deal was implemented, allowing international investors more access to the country. However, a number of Chinese companies already invested in Iran are warning would-be investors in Iran to maintain realistic expectations.
On January 16 of last year, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced that Iran had done enough to curb its nuclear development for international sanctions to be lifted.
The terms of the deal were originally agreed to in July of 2015 between Iran and six major world powers, including China.
Since the sanctions have been lifted, a number of Chinese companies have moved to invest in Iran.
However, Tang Yuezhen, head of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Iran, is warning Chinese investors to keep their expectations in check.
"The Iranian market is not as promising as it may have been advertised. Its business environment, national governance and financial regulations are all based on a local set of rules. Even though many projects are open for bidding, the process is usually carried out by their own ways of doing things here. If a newcomer is not familiar with the rules, it can suffer quite a bit."
The China Gezhouba Group, an international engineering company, is among the most successful Chinese firms operating in Iran, having already constructed two major hydropower stations there.
Even given the company's notable achievements, Li Hongbo, a manager with Gezhouba Group, says Chinese investment in Iran is still subject to tremendous uncertainties.
"New comers to the Iranian market must be aware of a very special nature of this environment, and that is it's subject to constant change. The government here does not have a comprehensive blueprint for development. Secondly, the rules governing foreign investment always seem to be changing. Finally, the local people, their ways of doing things and their moods are also ever changing. One can never say he's got a winning formula to conducting business here."
Chinese auto manufacturer JAC Motors has also developed a visible presence in Iran.
However, Xie Fang, a sales manager with the company, says they have begun to notice a growing level of protectionism in Iran, which he says is posing challenges to his company's operations.
"There have been many changes since the nuclear deal was announced, as there is an increasing protectionist trend. When Chinese companies come to Iran, the first question they are asked is always whether their investment can form a joint venture with local firms. Additionally, there are growing barriers in technical specification and tariffs when it comes to the auto industry."
The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Iran is suggesting that an increasing number of investors from other countries are also going to create growing competition for Chinese firms.
Mayor, Party head of Sichuan city shot by local official
(Global Times) 15:32, January 04, 2017
The mayor and Party head of Panzhihua, Southwest China's Sichuan Province were allegedly shot and injured by a local official Wednesday morning, local media reported.
Panzhihua Party head Zhang Yan and Mayor Li Jianqin were reportedly shot by Chen Zhongshu, the director of the city's land and resources bureau, at the Panzhihua Convention Center, Chuanbao Guancha, a news portal affiliated with the State-owned Sichuan Daily, reported.
[File photo: Chen Zhongshu]
The suspect reportedly killed himself after the attack.
The victims' injuries were believed to be not life-threatening.
The reason for the attack remains unknown.
Zhang and Li were reportedly in the middle of a meeting when Chen broke into the room and started shooting.
A series of commemorative coins for the Year of the Rooster were officially issued by the People's Bank of China on Jan. 4, 2017. Beijing residents eagerly lined up to exchange the coins, the Global Times reported.
The Peoples Bank of China issued 500 million commemorative coins for the Year of the Rooster in 2017. Each coin has a diameter of 27 millimeters and features two shades of copper alloy. The front side of the coin, decorated with a circular flower pattern, reads: "The People's Bank of China," "ten yuan," and "2017." The other side features a rooster in the style of traditional Chinese paper-cutting, along with a decorative Chinese painting of a palace lantern and peonies.
SkinnyPizza is nearing the opening of its first New England location in Greenwich, with the New York City-based franchisor promising flavor-packed, thin-crust pies that are lower in calories than many competitors.
The restaurant will be located at 30 Greenwich Ave., listed on the National Register of Historic Places and having a long prior history as the home of HealthMart, whose founders in 1969 opened a store that would evolve into a lunch cafe focused on organic, vegan and gluten-free offerings. In 2015 after more than 45 years in business, HealthMarts owners elected to retire at the expiration of the stores lease.
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GREENWICH Mickey Sherman scrolled, absorbed, through his Facebook page. The attorneys news feed was swamped with outpourings of support, with hundreds of commenters extolling their congratulations.
Strangers have been stopping him on the street, he said, clients and friends calling him.
On Friday, the state Supreme Court ruled that Michael Skakel received a fair trial when he was convicted of murder in 2002. The ruling affirmed that Shermans defense of Skakel was constitutionally adequate, the opposite of what a lower court judge decided in 2013.
I would be lying if I said I didnt feel vindicated, Sherman said. The court went point by point over the main areas of criticism and affirmed my judgment and my actions in each case.
Sherman heard the news Friday by phone.
I was shocked, he said. I thought they would respect the habeas courts decision and not want to tamper with it.
Sherman said the new ruling is a game changer for him.
The Greenwich High graduate had built a high-profile life before the Skakel case, appearing as one of the first talking head legal analysts on cable television. In his legal career, he is noted among other things for the successful use of post-traumatic-stress disorder as a defense in a homicide case.
The judges 2013 ruling that he hadnt provided Skakel with a competent defense, which overturned Skakels murder conviction and allowed him to go free on bail, had been like a knife to his career, he said, costing him clients and damaging his professional reputation.
Moreover, Sherman faced sharp criticism from the Skakel camp since the 2002 verdict, in particular from Skakels cousin Robert Kennedy Jr. In July, Kennedy published Framed: Why Michael Skakel Spent Over a Decade in Prison for a Murder He Didnt Commit, and devoted an entire chapter titled The Clown to lambasting Shermans defense.
Kennedy called Shermans behavior during the Skakel case galling and said he careened through the trial like a drunk driver late for a guilty charge. He outlined 10 mistakes that he thought Sherman made in the trial, ranging from not preparing his witnesses to blowing his summation.
The Supreme Courts 69-page split decision upheld Shermans representation, however. The ruling described his three-fold strategy of establishing an alibi, discrediting witnesses who claimed Skakel said he was involved with the murder and casting suspicion on another suspect.
It need not have been the best decision, or even a good one; it need only fall within the wide range of reasonable decisions that a defense attorney ... might make, the judges wrote.
Skakel had the burden to present evidence demonstrating that Shermans investigation was constitutionally inadequate. In the absence of this evidence, we must presume that Sherman performed competently.
Sherman is hopeful that this defense of his defense will bring him new clients and restore his stained name.
It may prompt other people who have doubts about my ability to come forward, he said
Sherman was quick to say, however, that the ruling is not all good news. The reaffirmation of Shermans defense means that Skakel, his former client, could be heading back to jail.
I dont want people to interpret this as a Mickey Sherman wins, Michael Skakel loses situation, said Sherman. The fact that the dark cloud has moved from over my head, doesnt mean that Michael Skakel should pay a greater penalty than he already has.
Skakel has already spent 11 years behind bars for the 1975 killing of Martha Moxley. Both were 15 years old and neighbors in Belle Haven at the time of her death.
Sherman said he still believes in Skakels innocence.
I have every hope and prayer that at some point, somehow, Michael will get cut loose of this situation, he said.
Meanwhile, the Moxley family has expressed support for the Supreme Court decision, which reinstates Skakels murder conviction.
This is the way it should be, Dorothy Moxley, Marthas mother, whos in her mid-80s, said last week. I am very, very happy. It is sinking in, and I could not be more excited, more pleased.
Sherman plans on continuing to work on cases of domestic violence, drunk driving, homicide and embezzlement in Greenwich, Stamford and the surrounding area.
But with these clients his refound reputation might produce a mixed result, he suggested.
Many people will feel that Im an excellent attorney and they will want to hire me, yet because of the high-profile nature of this, there will be many others who while believing that I am a good attorney, wont want to hire me because Im too high-profile now that my ability has been vouched for by the Connecticut Supreme Court, he said.
Sherman is also in the process of writing his second book, which he has tentatively titled Guilty with an Explanation. It details his experience with the other side of the criminal justice system after pleading guilty in 2010 to two misdemeanors of willfully failing to pay $420,710 in federal income taxes.
He is the author of How Can You Defend Those People? a memoir describing his career as a criminal defense lawyer published in 2008.
Both books have been optioned for a television series in the coming years, according to Sherman.
emunson@hearstmediact.com; @emiliemunson
Zhao Chunhua, a 51-year-old woman who was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for possession of illegal firearms, signed a petition for appeal on Jan. 3. Xu Xin, Zhaos lawyer, said he would submit the petition to the No. 1 Intermediate Peoples Court of Tianjin that afternoon.
Zhao was arrested on Oct. 12, when police came to patrol Zhao's recreational shooting booth in Tianjin. Police discovered nine gun-shaped items, along with accessories and plastic bullets. They judged six of the items to be real guns powered by compressed gas. On Dec. 27, 2016, the Hebei district court of Tianjin Municipality sentenced Zhao to three years and six months in prison.
Xu holds that Zhao is innocent because the "guns" in her possession were intended as toys, and their power is 100 times less than that of a real gun.
According to a 2010 document on firearms identification issued by the Ministry of Public Security, guns able to fire bullets with a kinetic force of over 1.8 joules per square centimeter are considered illegal firearms. But according to Xu, bullets with a kinetic force of 1.8 joules per square centimeter would cause no harm to a human being, even when shot at close range. The lawyer argued that this force is less powerful than even a slingshot.
The criterion has also been questioned by some scholars, who argue that it is too low and unreasonable a standard.
"Zhao Chunhua had no intention of committing a crime," Xu explained, adding that she was unaware the toy guns would be considered real under the law. In addition, Zhao simply operates the booth to make a living; the shooting game does not inflict actual harm on people or property.
(Xinhua) 19:56, January 04, 2017
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang (Source: Fmprc.gov.cn)
A special envoy of the Chinese government on the Syrian issue will travel to Geneva, the European Union, Turkey and Russia in efforts to work on a political solution to the Syrian crisis.
"The visit of Xie Xiaoyan is aimed at enhancing communication with the parties concerned, supporting global efforts in promoting peace and pushing forward a political solution at an early date," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a press briefing Wednesday in Beijing.
"China, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has been playing a positive and constructive role in resolving the Syrian crisis," Geng added.
Recently, the Syrian government and major opposition groups reached a nationwide ceasefire deal and agreed to start peace talks, which brought new opportunity for a political solution to the Syrian issue, Geng said.
The UN Security Council last Saturday unanimously adopted a resolution supporting the Syria cease-fire arrangement brokered by Russia and Turkey, as well as new peace talks among conflicting parties set to be held in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan.
Xie, China's former ambassador to Iran and Ethiopia as well as representative to the African Union, was appointed the special envoy on the Syrian issue in March 2016, with the aim of better promoting dialogue, contributing Chinese wisdom and communicating with other parties to facilitate a solution.
Dont expect a Trump cameo on Chopped. Photo: Richard Ellis/Getty Images; Donald Bowers/Getty Images
As the latest reminder that Americas next president will almost certainly enter the Oval Office openly suing citizens he represents, a Trump Organization lawyer yesterday told a judge that settlement talks have reached an impasse with chef Geoffrey Zakarian, who incurred the president-elects wrath last August after scrapping plans to open an outpost of the National in Trumps new D.C. hotel following the moguls rapists comment about Mexicans. Zakarian and fellow exTrump International partner Jose Andres both argued the comment in question jeopardized their restaurants, and after months of negotiations, Zakarians lawyer told D.C. Superior Court judge Brian Holeman she also agrees theyve hit a wall. Trumps plans are therefore to carry on with the lawsuit, which will now kick off with a pretrial hearing in May.
Trump originally demanded $10 million from both Zakarian and Jose Andres for their alleged breaches of contract, but the Washington Post notes the amount of damages has also grown, at least for Zakarian: In recent court filings, however, Trumps representatives raised the estimated loss to about $14 million.
Last month, the judge in Andress case rejected Trumps claim that answering Andress lawyers questions somehow amounted to harassment. The president-elect is therefore set to be deposed for hours in New York next week, mere days before his own increasingly depressing-sounding inauguration.
Ugly Baby is New Yorks No. 1 Thai restaurant and its not even in Queens. Photo: Liz Clayman
In the beginning, there was Sripraphai, a Woodside mecca for those craving the aromatic, pungent, frequently torrid flavors of real Thai food. But over the years, the field has grown crowded; nowadays even Manhattanites trip over first-rate larb in their own backyards. Queens remains a vibrant hub, of course especially Elmhurst, where the diversity of regional styles and restaurant types provides a continuing culinary education. Here, the absolute best Thai restaurants in New York.
The Absolute Best 1. Ugly Baby
407 Smith St., nr. 4th St.; Carroll Gardens; 347-689-3075 Photo: Liz Clayman At first you think that the entire dining room has a cold. But then you notice that the dazed expressions, pervasive eye-tearing, and rampant nose-blowing are accompanied by the telltale flush and trickle of perspiration that can only signify serious, wanton capsaicin consumption. Yes, heat freaks, Ugly Baby is Thai-spicy. Its also the domain of chef Sirichai Sreparplarn, who first won a following at Red Hooks short-lived Kao Soy and Chiang Mai. His single-page menu is a streamlined selection of dishes drawn from all over Thailand, some of which you probably havent encountered before: a first sweet, then hot mushroom-pineapple curry with fragrant lime leaves and thin planks of tofu; sea bream with a turmeric-and-garlic rub thats scraped off before the fish is deep-fried, fried separately, then reapplied like frosting on a cake; mini-muffin-like coconut-milk cakes embedded with black beans and taro, slicked with tamarind-chile sauce, and scattered with crushed peanuts. What makes Ugly Baby truly great is the extent to which everything feels like a pure manifestation of its chef-owners taste and personality, from the thoughtful wine list, comprising grapes and blends attuned to the cuisines complex flavor palette, to the steadfast refusal to compromise dishes by adjusting spice levels. If you cant stand the heat, this isnt the kitchen for you. Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite
2. Lamoon
81-40 Broadway, Elmhurst; 917-745-1168
Photo: Christian Rodriguez
Lamoon specializes in the cuisine of Lanna, the kingdom of a million rice fields which once encompassed Thailands northern provinces, including chef Arada Moonrojs native Chiang Mai. And though rice certainly plays a big part here, the real star of the show is the noble pig. Kang hung ley, a rich curry with pork belly stewed for hours, is traditionally served at weddings and funerals. Dont be surprised if the first spoonful calls to mind Indian food; it contains masala, which Moonroj imports from Thailands Mae Hong Son province on the Burmese border. The words nose to tail dont appear anywhere on the menu, but they certainly inform the cooking philosophy: Sai aua sausage hums with chile and lime leaf, and sports crunchy white flecks of pigs ear. Creamy, smoky, spicy abb ong oor is pork brain seasoned with turmeric, chile, and lemongrass, then grilled in a banana leaf. As for the tail, you can find it in leng zabb, which features hunks of slow-cooked pork spine looming above a bright broth that balances the acidity of fresh lime juice with the funkiness of fish sauce and the herby spiciness of green birds eye chiles, minced garlic, and cilantro. Joe DiStefano
3. Sripraphai
64-13 39th Ave., Woodside; 718-899-9599
Photo: Melissa Hom
Sripraphai has come a long way since its early days as the no-frills holy grail of New York Thai food. Expansions and renovations have brought a beautiful patio out back, replete with burbling fountain and leafy apple tree, and actual (if not Wallpaper*-worthy) decor. The takeout menu gives a phonetic spelling (see-pra-pie), and servers ask, unprompted, if youd like Thai spicy. Happily, these new and somewhat self-conscious developments have had no deleterious effects on the food, which is, indeed, Thai spicy, but also multilayered and nearly impossible to stop eating. Crispy fried catfish, fiery beef panang, and minced pork with chiles, peanuts, and lemon juice are as good as ever. The pad might be fancier, but not the pad Thai. R.R. & R.P.
4. Ayada
77-08 Woodside Ave., Elmhurst; 718-424-0844
Photo: Liz Clayman/Liz Clayman
Like Sripraphai, Ayada has grown from humble origins first expanding into the space next door, and then spawning a Chelsea Market outpost slated to open this summer. The reasons for this success are clearly visible in the form of the raw-shrimp salad, redolent of lime and garlic; the panang duck curry, with its pinpoint calibration of sweet, sour, and spicy; the crisp, lacy catfish salad; and the mango sticky rice, a dissertation in ripeness. Factor in the super-friendly service, the cheerful decor, and maybe a tableside visit from chef Duangjai Kitty Thammasat, and you have one of the citys best Thai restaurants. R.R. & R.P.
5. Thailands Center Point
63-19 39th Ave., Woodside; 718-651-6888
Photo: Melissa Hom
This cozy spot in Woodside is charmingly down-to-earth and homey, thanks to the chef and owner Annie Phinphattakul, who presides over both the dining room and the kitchen. The food, then, is even more impressive for its sharp perfection she may be smiling warmly but she is also cooking fiercely: a mix of traditional, mostly northern dishes and her own witty, playful concoctions. Sections of the menu are labeled Food to Die For and Something So Special and the dishes within them tend to earn these distinctions. The egg sandwich which turns out to be richly sauced, sticky chunks of stir-fried pork, scattered across one shatteringly crispy fried egg and topped with another, plus basil is the sort of thing you might think about wistfully until you get to eat it again. Hannah Goldfield
6. Kitchen 79
37-70 79th St., at Roosevelt Ave., Jackson Heights; 718-803-6227
If the food of Isan, Thailands largest and most northeastern region, has become well-represented in New York, we could use more from the south, where it tends to be very, very spicy, thrillingly and complexly so. Kitchen 79, on the border of Jackson Heights and Elmhurst and decorated a bit like a tidy, high-end nightclub (lots of black-and-white leather and glitzy light fixtures), is an excellent place to retrain your palate by familiarizing yourself with classics like gaeng tai pla a deeply fishy, insanely fiery (not for everyone, but catnip for some) mackerel-based curry bobbing with curls of shrimp, tender cubes of pumpkin, and half-globes of barely crunchy Thai eggplant. Pad ped moo pah, which features wild boar sauteed in spicy curry paste with bamboo, basil, and sprigs of young peppercorn, is an antidote to pork-belly fatigue its nearly as rich, but significantly meatier and bears a subtle gamy tang. H.G.
7. Khao Khang
76-20 Woodside Ave., Elmhurst; 718-806-1807
If only the word cafeteria more often described places like this one, where food is ordered by pointing to unlabeled sections of a steam table, a la rice-curry stalls and shops in Thailand. Combos feature two or three dishes plus rice. You never know what youre going to get but you can be sure it will be delicious, from super-spicy curries to stewed pork belly with tofu. H.G.
8. Uncle Boons
7 Spring St., nr. Elizabeth St.; 646-370-6650
Photo: Jenny Westerhoff
Ann Redding and Matt Danzer, the married chefs behind Uncle Boons, want to transform the way the average American (or at least New York) diner thinks about Thai food, as not just an interesting, exotic ethnic option but in fact one of the great cuisines of the world, on par with French or Italian. Their restaurant is as buzzy and stylish as any other in Nolita, and though they hew carefully to tradition when it comes to each dish, they follow their whims in terms of the wide array of them, inspired by their travels all across the country, and place a premium on using the highest quality ingredients. When betel leaves are available, itd be nothing short of a mistake to skip them, wrapped around a heady mixture of fresh ginger, coconut, dried shrimp, and shrimp paste, plus peanuts and chiles. And youd be hard-pressed to find a better khao soy, the northern-style, coconut-based, whole-chicken-leg curry, made golden with fresh turmeric and featuring homemade egg noodles. H.G.
9. Khao Nom
42-06 77th St., Elmhurst; 929-208-0108
For an immersion course in the pandan-floral, coconut-creamy, tapioca-chewy, occasionally salty, and often translucent pleasures of the Thai-dessert pantheon, you could do no better than the display case of this quaint Elmhurst cafe. It used to be that the plan of action was to dine on incendiary steam-table curries around the corner at sister shop Khao Kang, then repair here for something sweet(ish). But the savory-snack menu has expanded to such a degree that thats no longer necessary especially if youre in the mood for a credible khao soy, or one of the over-rice dishes, including what passes for American fried rice in Thailand (it involves fried chicken, hot dogs, ketchup, and a sunnyside egg). For dessert: a coconut-ice-cream sundae, showered with peanuts, palm seeds, sweet-potato cubes, and a healthy splash of condensed milk. R.R. & R.P.
10. Chao Thai
85-03 Whitney Ave., Elmhurst; 718-424-4999
Another Queens pioneer, Chao Thai is toward the literal end of hole-in-the-wall when it comes to atmosphere, but the food has seriously held its own for years now, and the chef-owner, Ratchanee Sumpatboon, has made her mark by expanding all over the city (see Lan Larb Soho), scattering spicy specialties from her native Isan in her wake. H.G.
11. Pure Thai Cookhouse
766 Ninth Ave., nr. 51st St.; 212-581-0999
Among the many Thai restaurants in Hells Kitchen, Pure Thai stands out for its appealingly narrow, snaky dining room (you feel youve happened upon a secret cave) and pared-down menu, featuring one of the citys best som tum salads, each strand of pert green papaya glistening in a perfect sheath of lime juice and fish sauce. H.G.
12. Fish Cheeks
55 Bond St., nr. Bowery; 212-677-2223
The Thai chef-owners of this Noho restaurant, brothers Chat and Ohm Suansilphong, have carved out a very specific niche for themselves: a seafood restaurant with a Thai flavor profile, a lively bar scene, and the kind of loud, buzzy vibe that doesnt often coexist in Thai restaurants with serious kitchens. But the food is fresh and flavorful, and certain dishes the complexly spiced coconut-crab curry, the mouth-puckering zabb chicken wings have gained a cult following. And if youre hankering for a whole fish, you can order one grilled, fried, or best of all, steamed and served in a cilantro-lime broth in a fish-shaped pan under a blizzard of fresh herbs and red chiles. R.R. & R.P.
13. Som Tum Der
85 Ave. A, nr. 5th St.; 212-260-8570
Somtum Ders raison detre is the invigorating green-papaya salads known as som tum. There are eight made-to-order variations on the theme, the way there are, say, nine signature salads at Sweetgreen. Our favorite is the tum pla too + kao mun (with mackerel). But dont neglect the equally hot larbs, or the deep-fried chicken thighs marinated in a garlic, pepper, lemongrass, and red-curry paste that will knock your socks off. R.R. & R.P.
14. Wayla
100 Forsyth St., nr. Grand St.; 212-206-2500
Wayla, which opened about a minute ago, is too new to shove onto an assiduously researched list like this. But what the hell were going to do it anyway. Chef Tom Naumsuwans street-food-inspired cooking so far is that good: three fat pork sausages on sticks, a green-papaya salad as perky and invigorating as they come, tiny meatballs wrapped in noodles like rubber-band balls then deep-fried, and a Thai fried chicken worthy of the former tenant of this subterranean space, Birds & Bubbles. The restaurant is run by Erika Chou, who you may or may not remember from the late, great Yunnan Kitchen. Bonus points for Anthony Bakers cocktails, close quarters that manage to feel spacious and comfortable, and the fairly transporting backyard, where you can linger over your housemade coconut-ice-cream dessert beneath some palm fronds and, on a clear night, maybe even a star or two. R.R. & R.P.
15. Eim Khao Mun Kai
81-32 Broadway, nr. Britton Ave., Elmhurst; 718-424-7156
Khao mun kai, which means oiled-rice chicken (eim means full), is the popular Thai adaptation of a common Hainanese street food and the specialty of this Elmhurst storefront shop, by which we mean thats all theyve got. Its enough; in fact, its plenty. Whole chickens are boiled, jasmine rice is cooked in the stock, a zingy garlic-chile-ginger condiment is Vitamixed. That the plastic-plated result, along with a cup of broth and some slices of cucumbers, looks a bit like convalescent food belies how satisfying this oiled-rice chicken is. Its a bit removed from the Jewish pick-me-up chicken in the pot, but the remarkable soul-soothing effect is the same. R.R. & R.P.
16. Lan Larb Soho
227 Centre St., nr. Grand St.; 646-895-9264
Here is another unassuming nook overseen by the prolific Ratchanee Sumpatboon (See Chao Thai). Sumpatboon apparently wants to do for larb, the fiery minced-meat salad of northeastern Thailands Isan region, what David Chang has done for pork buns. (She also consulted on a Lan Larb in Murray Hill and ran the now-defunct Larb Ubol in Hells Kitchen.) The namesake dish comes in several guises (get the duck or the pork), and it does not disappoint. And though larb is most definitely the thing, Lan Larb is no one-hit wonder. The papaya salad is at once spicy hot and refreshingly cool. The grilled Isan-style sausage served with roasted peanuts and slivers of ginger is snappy, smoky, and mottled with fat. And the pla krapong rard prik, a deep-fried whole red snapper bathed in a sweet-tart chile sauce, is good to the last shred of crispy-skinned meat. R.R. & R.P.
17. Pata Cafe
56-14 Van Horn St., Elmhurst; 347-469-7142
Respect others please be quiet, reads a red sign, a nod to the fact that this sweet little spot is often packed with schoolchildren. Most order hot dogs and French fries, but some of the Filipino kids get pad Thai, says Suchasinee Nitmai, who handles the front of the house while her mother, Sunisa, whips up homestyle favorites including papaya salad with preserved crab and pickled fish and num tok beef dressed with red onion, mint, lime juice, and chiles. Roasted rice powder lends a pleasant nuttiness to the beefy salad. Specials include khanom jeen ya poo, rice noodles served with a sidecar of crab in a yellow curry that gets its color from hand-ground turmeric and its flavor from galangal, chile, and lemongrass. It comes with a platter of fresh herbs. Mix the whole lot together and dig into a real Thai after-school special. Joe DiStefano
18. LOOK by Plant Love House
622 Washington Ave., nr. Pacific St., Prospect Heights; 718-622-0026
The name of this Elmhurst transplant the Anglicization of the Thai word for children, because the food is meant to be the sort that Thai mothers prepare for their kids doubles as a serious mandate, urging residents of Prospect Heights to wake up and reconsider what they thought of as Thai food. Try finding pork-blood noodle soup or hor mok pla, a steamed-fish-curry custard, elsewhere in the neighborhood, let alone the borough. H.G.
19. Paet Rio
81-10 Broadway, Elmhurst; 917-832-6672
The chef-owner behind the popular, unusually tasty if unthrilling Wondee Siam restaurants in Hells Kitchen and the Upper West Side is freer in Queens, focusing on the kinds of dishes likely to appear only on her secret menu in Manhattan, like fermented rice noodles in tomato-and-pork sauce and shredded-catfish salad. H.G.
*This post has been updated.
Huawei unveiled plans to bring its Honor 6X smartphone to Europe and North America yesterday, as you may know. The handset was initially announced back in October. And now it's already up for pre-order in the US, with its release happening on January 10. You can pre-order it from Honor's own online store, or go with Best Buy or Amazon if you want. The price is $249.99 unlocked.
Across the pond in Europe things are even better, with the Honor 6X actually being in stock at vMall, Huawei's official online store for the continent. You can choose between silver or gold color versions for now, as the gray one isn't yet available.
The Honor 6X's normal price is 224 in the UK and 249 in the Eurozone (in both cases SIM-free and unlocked, of course), but today only you can grab one for 176.49 or 224.10, respectively. All you have to do (aside from ordering before midnight) is add one to your cart, then in your cart click the big blue button that says you can get an "xtraordinary price". This will automatically apply a discount code and you'll pay less than the recommended price at checkout. That's it.
If the Honor 6X intrigues you and you want to learn more about it, don't miss our hands-on report with the device.
Samsung to bring the Light performance mode to Galaxy S23 phones for better battery life
Haiti - NOTICE : Delivery of certificates to elected, by the CEP
Uder Antoine, the Executive Director of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), informs the elected of the complementary legislative elections (Deputies and Senators), one third of the Senate and of municipal, that it proceeds this Wednesday at the delivery of certificates.
This activity will take place at the institution's headquarters, located in Petion-ville, Stephen Archer Street #72, Wednesday, January 4 according to the following schedule:
- 9h00 a.m.- to 1h00 p.m. : Artibonite, Centre, West, Nippes, South and South East
- 2h00 p.m. to 4h00 p.m.: Grand'Anse, North, North East and Nord West.
Elected may be represented by a representative.
Note : To avoid any delays in the delivery of the said certificates, the elected concerned must bring their National Identification Card (CIN) and their tax number. They must respect this programming according to their respective departments and constituencies.
HL/ HaitiLibre
Haiti - Elections : Congratulations from the U.S. Department of State
Following the final results proclaiming Jovenel Moise, winner and newly elected President of the Republic of Haiti https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19698-haiti-presidential-2016-final-results-jovenel-moise-58th-president.html , John Kirby, Assistant Secretary and U.S. Department of State Spokesperson, Bureau of Public Affairs Washington DC, made the following statement :
"Todays publication in Haiti of the final presidential results represents a positive step for the full restoration of that nations democratic institutions.
We congratulate President-elect Jovenel Moise on his first-round victory and look forward to working closely with him as we strengthen our longstanding partnership with Haiti. We urge all actors to accept the final results, refrain from violence, and work together to build a stable and prosperous Haiti.
The United States reiterates its support for timely completion of the remaining elections in Haiti in a fair, transparent, and peaceful manner."
See also :
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19699-haiti-flash-address-to-the-nation-of-president-elect-jovenel-moise.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19698-haiti-presidential-2016-final-results-jovenel-moise-58th-president.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19690-haiti-flash-bcen-rendered-its-final-decision.html
HL/ HaitiLibre
Haiti - Politics : Portrait of Jovenel Moise, 58th President of Haiti
Jovenel Moise, the 58th President of the Republic of Haiti which will be invested to the Supreme Magistrature of the Nation on February 7, 2017, was born on June 26, 1968 in Trou du Nord (Northeast Department) in a modest family (father farmer and mechanic, mother seamstress).
In July 1974, he settled with his family in Port-au-Prince where he continued his primary education at the National School Don Durelin, then his secondary education at Lycee Toussaint Louverture first and then at theCultural Center of the College Canado Haitien. Later, he attended the Faculty of Educational Sciences of the University Quisqueya. Despite his future already mapped as educator, he changes direction to engage in entrepreneurship.
In 1996, he left the capital and moved to Port-de-Paix, with the dream of developing the hinterland.
With very little investment capital, he created his first business at Port-de-Paix, "JOMAR Auto Parts", still in operation today.
The same year, his love of the land directs its efforts towards the establishment of an agricultural project. Jovenel sets up a plantation of 10 hectares of bananas in the Northwest Department.
Shortly after then father, he became aware that access to clean water is a major issue in the hinterland and embarked on a new project. In 2001, strengthened by his experiences, he decided to find a solution to this problem. He starts in partnership with the company Culligan of Port-au-Prince and combine loans from financial institutions and individuals, with difficulty, he started a water plant for distribution of drinking water in the North-West and North-East.
From his success in the business world and his desire to support community development, Jovenel became in 2004 a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Northwest Industry (CCINO). In no time, he was elected president of the CCINO. His ability to build a group synergy allows him to become Secretary General of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Haiti (CHIC) where he played a significant role in integrating the regional Chambers of Commerce, to ensure their full and fair representation within the CCIH.
Interested in regional electrification, he formed in 2008 with more partners, the Haitian Energy Company SA (COMPHENER SA), which aims to bring solar and wind energy to 10 communes of the Northwest department. In 2012, in Trou du Nord, he founded AGRITRANS SA, bringing the agricultural project NOURRIBIO to become the first Haitian Agricultural Zone Franche. With this project, Jovenel Moise has transformed a site dedicated to the abandonment of an integrated sustainable development project, a model for the development of agriculture in Haiti. Recall that the project NOURRIBIO has already enabled the emergence of more than a dozen agricultural projects that have created almost 3,000 direct jobs and 10,000 indirect jobs. This project is the most innovative in Haiti and the largest that the Caribbean has seen so far.
In 2015, the President Michel Martelly, designates Jovenel Moise as presidential candidate of the political party he founded, the Haitian Tet Kale Party (PHTK).
Wherever he goes, Jovenel Moise sold his vision of a bio-ecological agriculture as the engine of the Haitian economy, creates jobs and generates wealth for a population whose over 50% is rural. He proposes agriculture as the basis for economic recovery. His policy also includes elements that have been the workhorse of Martelly: education for all, access to health, energy reform, the rule of law, the creation of sustainable jobs, environmental protection, and development of Haiti come a tourist destination by adding eco-tourism and agro-tourism.
See also :
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19699-haiti-flash-address-to-the-nation-of-president-elect-jovenel-moise.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19698-haiti-presidential-2016-final-results-jovenel-moise-58th-president.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19690-haiti-flash-bcen-rendered-its-final-decision.html
HL/ HaitiLibre
Haiti - Elections : PHTK lawyers protest at CEP
Following the publication on Thursday 29 December of the first set of final results https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19655-haiti-flash-final-results-of-legislatives-elections-partial.html in which the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) had specified for candidates in the Senate for the Department of Centre "The Council also informs that the candidate for the complementary Legislative (Senate) for the Department of Centre, Wilfrid Gelin, is the subject of an administrative investigation" the law firm Patrick Laurent et Associes, proceeding for the party PHTK and the candidate Wilfrid Gelin wrote to the CEP :
Excerpts from the letter sent to the CEP :
"[...] he was surprised to find that the name of candidate Wilfrid Gelin is not on the list of definitive results published by the CEP for the Senate of the department of Centre this, for CEP's investigation https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19704-haiti-flash-final-results-of-the-senate-election-for-the-south.html
A Citizen still less a Candidate elected by the sovereign (people) can not be the object of a secret investigation, anonymous, an investigation for which he is unaware of the ins and outs;
The PHTK as well as the Candidate intend to protest and, as a matter of fact, protest in the most formal and categorical way that a protest can be made to the non-publication of the results of the department of Centre concerning the elected Senator Wilfrid Gelin;
The PHTK wishes to draw to the attention of Honorable Members of the CEP that the Electoral Decree does not authorize the CEP to defer the publication of the result of the election of a candidate for investigation.
The law firm requests you, Honorable Members of the CEP, to publish the result concerning the elected Senator of the department of Centre , Wilfrid Gelin.
[...]"
Recall that at the beginning of December 2016, the CEP at the publication of the preliminary results (subject to change due to possible challenges), had declared elected the candidate Wilfrid Gelin (PHTK) with 23.77% of votes https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19427-haiti-flash-results-of-elections-1-3-senate-complementary-legislative.html
HL/ SL/ HaitiLibre
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 4
Trend:
Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev has congratulated Htin Kyaw, president of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, on the occasion of Independence Day.
On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my most sincere congratulations to you and the people of your country on the occasion of the national holiday of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Independence Day, said President Aliyev in his congratulatory letter.
I wish you robust health, success in your activities and the friendly people of Myanmar peace and prosperity, added the president.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 4
By Elena Kosolapova Trend:
The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has announced a list of over two dozen international energy companies which are qualified to bid for the countrys new oil and gas projects, said the companys message.
The list includes European giant companies such as Total, Shell, Eni and Gazprom as well as Asian companies like CNPC, Inpex, KOGAS and Petronas.
Most of the companies were involved in Irans oil industry projects before the US-tailored sanctions were imposed against the Islamic Republic in 2011.
The list also includes some newcomers, such as Wintershall from Germany, Maersk from Finland, DNO from Norway and CEPSA from Spain.
Iran plans to award new projects to the companies it has qualified through a new format of oil contracts.
The new format is replacing buyback deals. Under a buyback deal, the host government agreed to pay the contractor an agreed price for all volumes of hydrocarbons the contractor produces.
But from now on, the NIOC will set up joint ventures for crude oil and gas production with international companies which will be paid with a share of the output.
Also, different stages of exploration, development and production will be offered to contractors as an integrated package, with the emphasis laid on enhanced and improved recovery.
Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Harbors wharfage rates to rise 34.5% in 2017
by Michael Hansen, Hawaii Shippers Council, January 3, 2017
The Pacific Business News (PBN) published on January 3, 2017, a news article, State increasing wharfage fees at Honolulu Harbor by 17% in February, reporting that Governor Ige approved the proposed increase by signing off on the administrative measure on December 13, 2016, and the schedule for implementation of the three incremental increases.
The first two wharfage increases of 17% and 15% on February 1st and October 1st respectively will result in a 34.5% increase in 2017 on a compound basis.
Also newsworthy is that Pasha Hawaii Transport Line LLC confirmed to the PBN reporter Anna Hrushka that they would be relocating to the new Kapalama Container Terminal (KCT) when it is projected to be completed in 2021.
Key excerpts:
The Hawaii State Department of Transportation, Harbors Division is increasing wharfage tariff rates at Honolulu Harbor by 17 percent beginning on Feb. 1. The DOT said an additional 15 percent increase will take effect Oct. 1, with a third 15 percent increase to be implemented on July 1, 2018. Gov. David Ige approved the new wharfage rates on Dec. 12, which the DOT says will be used to finance the Harbors Modernization Plan. In addition to the three increases, the Hawaii DOT Harbors Division said incremental rate increases of 3 percent or the consumer price index rate, whichever is higher, will be implemented annually starting on July 1, 2019. The $850 million Harbors Modernization Plan, which was adopted by the Hawaii State Legislature nine years ago, includes plans for a $450 million Kapalama Container Terminal, which the Harbors Division says it will finance through the wharfage increases. Once completed, Pasha Hawaii and Hawaii Stevedores confirmed to PBN they will move their current operations at Sand Island to the new berthing and container handling facility at the former Kapalama Military Reservation. Michael Hansen, president of the Hawaii Shippers Council, told Pacific Business News that while the upgrades to Honolulu Harbors infrastructure are necessary, the rate increases will have an impact on consumers. The cost per unit item is not going to be great in terms of the wharfage increase, Hansen said. In aggregate, it will of course have an impact on the economy, taking a certain amount of money out of the economy. The charge is against the cargo born by who brings merchandise into Hawaii. Hansen said its ultimately the consumer who pays the price for the tariff increase, as companies could raise prices on the goods shipped into Hawaii. A representative of a local shipping company also told PBN that the additional costs will be passed on to the carriers customers, impacting consumers. Construction for the new Kapalama terminal is set to begin this spring and should be completed over four years.
---30---
Related: Harbors Division Fee Hike designed to boost $77M OHA Slush Fund?
- Duty of care
- WHS obligations
- Workers' compensation/accident insurance
- Anti-harassment/discrimination/bullying laws
- Is the destination known to contain risks to health and safety?
- Have you checked current travel warnings and advisories?
- Have you taken steps to identify any safety risks at the location(s) the employee will be visiting?
- Have you arranged an induction for the employee with the controller of the premises (eg local office management or the client)?
- Have you provided the employee with information on local risks/dangers?
- If risks do exist, have you considered alternatives (eg security measures, postponing travel or video-conferencing)?
- Has your company appointed someone to monitor these issues?
- Was the incident in the course of their employment (or, for example, did it occur 'after hours' or on a personal side trip unrelated to their work assignment)?
- Does the company have a history of work-related incidents/accidents?
- Was the risk foreseeable?
- Did the employer take all reasonable steps to keep the employee safe?
- Did the relevant managers and directors of the company exercise due diligence to prevent the risk?
[1] Li Hoi Shuen vMan Ming Engineering Trading Co Ltd [2006] 1 HKC 349
Lifelong Learners Movie: Frida on Jan. 9
Audience: Adults (18+)
Location: Watauga County Public Library Meeting Room
High Country Lifelong Learners in association with the Watauga County
Public Library invite you to join us for a movie viewing of Frida on
January 9th from 2:00 pm 5:30 pm.
Director Julie Taymors 2002 film, Frida, chronicles the life Frida Kahlo
shared with Diego Rivera, as the couple took the art world by storm. From
her complex relationship with her mentor and husband to her affair with
Leon Trotsky, to her provocative entanglements with women, Frida Kahlo
lived a bold and uncompromising life as a political, artistic, and sexual
revolutionary.
Stars: Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Geoffrey Rush
This film has an MPAA rating of R and an approximate run-time of 123
minutes.
For more information please email: [email protected] com ,
Attention: Deb Gooch.
Meet Your Representatives at Lost Province Brewing Co. Jan. 10
Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild to Meet Jan. 5
The Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild will hold its monthly
meeting on Thursday, January 5th, at 1:00 PM. We meet in the
conference room on the second floor of the Senior Center on
Poplar Grove Connector in Boone. Bring your favorite quilt
gadget to demonstrate to the group. We are all looking for new
and better ways to enjoy quilting. Dont forget your quilts for
show-and-tell. Call Dolores at 295-6148 if you have any questions.
Spring Registration Continues Through Jan. 5 at CCC&TI
Upcoming Courses, Events
Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute will continue registering new students for the Spring 2017 semester on both the Caldwell and Watauga Campuses through Dec. 22 and Jan. 3 through Jan. 4 after the holiday break. During the time the institution is closed for Christmas, students will be able to register online, but are urged to meet with an advisor before the college closes on Dec. 22 at 12 p.m. CCC&TIs Final Registration session will be offered from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Jan. 5. Spring classes begin on Monday, Jan. 9. A variety of financial aid options are available for students who qualify. For more information on how to apply or register for classes at CCC&TI, contact Student Services at 828-726-2200 on the Caldwell Campus and 297-3811 on the Watauga Campus.
Mixology Class
The Corporate and Continuing Education division at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute will offer Mixology: The Study of Mixing Beverages from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays from Jan. 30 to March 13 in Room H-308 on the Caldwell Campus in Hudson. The class will cover making and mixing todays popular drinks, bar management, Alcohol Law Enforcement laws/procedures, customer service skills and increasing tips. The cost of the class is $126 and includes a certificate upon completing. Students must be at least 21 to register. For more information, or to sign up, call 726-2242.
Conversational Spanish II
The Corporate and Continuing Education division at Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute will offer Conversational Spanish II from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays from Jan. 23 to April 10 on the Caldwell Campus in Hudson. Some prior knowledge of Spanish is required to enroll. The cost of the class is $71. For more information, or to register, call 726-2242.
Industrial Maintenance Technology Starts Jan. 9
Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute will offer an Industrial Maintenance Technology class from Jan. 9 to April 6, with classes meeting Monday through Thursday. Students will receive training in basic welding, HVAC, basic DC/AC circuitry, industrial blueprint reading, hydraulics and pneumatics, mechanical operating systems, PLCs and safety training. The classes will be offered on the Caldwell Campus in Hudson. Tuition is $187, and grants are available to applicants who are unemployed or underemployed. For more information, call 726-2242.
Massage Therapy Watauga
Caldwell Community College and Technical Institutes Corporate and Continuing Education division will offer an evening Massage Therapy course for the Watauga Campus in Boone that will prepare students for the certification examination required for North Carolina licensure. The course, which includes a Human Resource Development component, will take place from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from Feb. 6 to Oct. 17. The cost of the course is $306. For more information, or to register, call 726-2242.
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Panasonic has unveiled the worlds first 4K HDR OLED TV with professional-grade video processing at the CES 2017 consumer electronics trade show in Las Vegas this week. The Viera EZ1000 (or EZ1002 in the UK) will be the companys second OLED television after its inaugural CZ950/ CZ952 which was released in late 2015.
Unlike its curved predecessor, the Panasonic TX-65EZ1000 will use a flat WRGB OLED panel supplied by LG Display, though both displays will share the one singular screen size of 65 inches. Taking a leaf out of Sonys ZD9 launch playbook, Panasonic refused to disclose the exact peak luminance and colour gamut coverage on the EZ1000, merely stating that it will deliver around double the peak brightness of a conventional OLED and almost the full DCI colour space. If we were a betting person (hey were in Vegas after all), wed put money on a peak brightness between 800 and 1000 nits, and 98-99% DCI-P3 coverage.
Update: According to a presentation slide at the launch event, the EZ1000s peak brightness will be around 800 nits (likely the peak luminance of all OLEDs using LG Displays 2017 WRGB OLED panel), with almost 100% DCI-P3 coverage.
The new Master HDR OLED panel will be joined by an Absolute Black Filter that not only soaks up ambient light and reflections to reduce glare, but also eradicates the reddish blacks which can affect some OLED TVs in bright rooms. Weve been very impressed with the anti-reflective filter on the now-defunct Panasonic ZT plasma, and so cant wait to see how the version implemented on the TX65EZ1000 will perform.
Another aspect which has consistently blown us away on Panasonic Vieras in recent years is their excellent colour accuracy, and the Japanese manufacturer is looking to step things up a notch on the EZ1000 via several avenues. First is a Studio Colour HCX2 video processor the most powerful from Panasonic on a consumer television yet which provides unrivalled Delta Zero accuracy through 3D LUT (look-up tables) similar to those used by Panasonics professional filmmaking and broadcast monitor arm.
Furthermore, professional users can even upload their own 3D LUTs by SD card/ USB stick. And when you consider Panasonics continued finetuning collaboration with Hollywood colourist Mike Sowa, the companys own Hollywood Lab experience, and integrated DDC (direct display controls) for ISF calibration, its unlikely well see another OLED TV that can present the directors creative intent with more accuracy. THX and Ultra HD Premium certifications are being applied for.
OLEDs self-emissive display characteristics lend itself to true blacks, but LG OLEDs to date have had a tendency to either render the shades just above black with more noise and blockiness, or crush shadow detail however slight. Panasonic aims to tackle this through its HCX2 processor, drawing upon its know-how and experience with plasma to compensate for the relatively large jump between OLEDs off (zero black) and on (above black) states for the clearest and cleanest reproduction of detail in dark scenes.
The Panasonic EZ1002/ EZ1000 will support HDR10 PQ (perceptual quantisation) standard for Ultra HD Blu-ray playback, HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) for HDR broadcast, 4K HDR streaming from Netflix, Amazon and YouTube, but not Dolby Vision format since the company believes it knows its own panel and processing better than any other organisation. Like all other OLED TVs to be released in 2017, the TX-65EZ1002/ TX-65EZ1000 wont have 3D capability.
To complement the class-leading picture quality, Panasonic has roped in sound engineers from acclaimed audio brand Technics to help develop a new Dynamic Blade Speaker for the EZ1000. Taking the form of a soundbar stand spanning the entire width of the screen (again), the Dynamic Blade Speaker is a deceptively slim audio system that houses 14 speaker units including 8 woofers, 4 squawkers and 2 tweeters, plus a quad passive radiator to enhance bass.
Other features include a floating design, dark metallic finish, a newly developed My Home Screen 2.0 Smart TV system, a revamped Media Player app supporting 4K HDR10 and HLG content, Freeview Play for the British TX-65EZ1002B model, as well as IP>TV tech (to convert broadcasts into data streamable to other devices) on continental models. Control4 and Crestron certifications are pending.
The 65in Panasonic EZ1000 will be available in Europe from end of May 2017, although theres currently no plan to release the 4K OLED TV in North America. The company hasnt decided on a launch price yet.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Jan. 4
By Demir Azizov Trend:
Excise rates on alcoholic beverages, alcohol and beer produced in Uzbekistan have increased since January 1, 2017.
New excise rates were approved by the Uzbek presidents decree on "Forecast of the main macroeconomic indices and parameters of the state budget of Uzbekistan for 2017".
The excise rates on ethyl alcohol increased by 25 percent from 5,020 sums up to 6,275 sums, cognac - by 27 percent up to 58,265 sums, vodka and other alcoholic beverages - by 25 percent up to 54,057 sums in 2017 compared to 2016.
The excise rates on cigarettes with filter, without filter and cigars, produced in Uzbekistan have been set in the amount of 37,432 sums per 1,000 cigarettes in 2017 compared to 28,794 sums (30 percent growth) in 2016.
Excise rates on imported alcoholic beverages, except beer, and tobacco will remain unchanged in 2017. Excise rates on imported wine will reach $6, vodka - $7, cognac - $14.5 and tobacco - $18.2 per 1,000 cigarettes.
Excise rates on imported beer will reach $3 in 2017 compared to $1.43 in 2016.
The official exchange rate on January 4 is 3239.62 UZS/USD.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Jan. 4
By Demir Azizov Trend:
Abdusalom Azizov has been appointed to the post of interior minister upon Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyevs decree, a representative of the countrys presidential administration told Trend January 4.
Before the appointment, Azizov worked as the head of the interior department in the countrys Jizzakh region since 2010.
Adham Ahmadbayev, who has served as the countrys interior minister since December 2013, was appointed state adviser to the president on work with law-enforcement agencies.
A courier who veered across two lanes of traffic on a busy motorway in the middle of the afternoon narrowly missed hitting a fuel tanker.
Gerard Keating (39), who has four previous convictions for motoring offences, was yesterday banned from driving for two years by Dublin District Court. He was also fined 250.
Keating, of Bettystown Caravan Park, Bettystown, Co Meath, admitted dangerous driving on the M50 in Finglas on October 21, 2013.
Gda Deirdre McInerney told the court that Keating was seen driving recklessly on the motorway, and narr- owly missed the tanker as he veered across two lanes of traffic to get to the outer lane. Two cars had to drive on to the hard shoulder to avoid hitting him.
Defence solicitor Michael French asked Judge Bryan Smyth to consider reducing the charge to a less serious count of careless driving.
The prosecution had consented, subject to the judge's decision.
Lapse
However, Judge Smyth refused after hearing the evidence, saying "that is dangerous driving as far as I am concerned."
Mr French accepted that the account of what happened "doesn't make pleasant reading in any way, shape or form".
Keating had 10 previous convictions, including four for motoring offences.
The facts of the case were accepted, Mr French said, adding that "it was a temporary lapse in concentration on his part".
He accepted the driving could have had serious consequences for the accused and other road users.
Keating had worked as a courier and would be "seriously hamstrung" by a driving ban.
He was currently out of work and in receipt of social welfare.
Mr French asked the judge to bear this in mind when fining the accused.
The conviction was endorsed on his driving licence.
Judge Smyth said Keating could pay the fine by instalments if he wished and set recognisances in the event of an appeal.
Keating did not address the court during the hearing.
Two friends were accused of impersonating gardai after a video of them holding a man in a car for a bogus drugs search popped up on a serving officer's Facebook news feed, a court has heard.
The garda sergeant investigated the video after he was alerted to it on his own page on the social media site.
It is alleged that Dean Parkes (23) filmed the video from the passenger seat of the car while Corrie Grimes (20) was driving.
Interrogated
According to the prosecution, the pair had picked up a man in the north inner city, told him he was under arrest and "interrogated" him before dropping him off on a nearby street.
Mr Parkes allegedly then uploaded the video to his Facebook public profile.
The accused are both charged with falsely imprisoning Darren Osborne and making a statement or committing an act to suggest they were gardai.
The offences are alleged to have happened at Sheriff Street on December 20, 2015.
Mr Grimes, of Ferryman's Crossing, Dublin, and Mr Parkes, of Montpelier Park, Dublin, both deny the charges.
Judge Bryan Smyth adjourned the case for continued hearing on a later date.
Sgt John Egan told Dublin District Court that the video appeared on his own Facebook news feed. When he clicked on it, it came up on the account of a Dean Parkes.
The video purported to show two men impersonating gardai, telling a man that he was being subjected to a drugs search and was being taken to Store Street Garda Station, Sgt Egan said.
He downloaded it and gave a DVD to another garda to identify the people in the video.
Recognised
The homes of the accused were searched and Mr Parkes was arrested. Mr Grimes later presented himself at a garda station.
In cross-examination, Sgt Egan accepted there could be another Dean Parkes.
Mr Parkes' face was not visible in the video, but Sgt Egan said he recognised the voice.
Mr Parkes' barrister said the video was not dated and there was no data to say who had created it.
Gda Adrian Buckley said Mr Grimes was identified to him from the video by Gda Shona Moran.
The court heard the men in the video had no uniforms on and there was no garda "paraphernalia" in the car.
They told Mr Osborne they were taking him to Store Street Garda Station, Gda Buckley said.
Mr Parkes had told gardai in an interview that he recorded the video and uploaded it.
He said it was "between the three of them as a joke" and that he pretended to the man he was a garda "to f**k with him or something".
He agreed in the interview that the aim was to "see how easy it was for gardai to get information" out of someone.
"The fella knows we were messing," he said in the interview.
Barristers for both accused objected to the video being admitted to the court in evidence.
The judge said he would allow the video evidence in Mr Parkes' case as he was accepting that his memo of interview authenticated the video.
However, he has not yet decided if the video can be used in the case against Mr Grimes.
Only an hour into 2017, terror struck again. Islamic State's (IS) first target of the new year was Reina nightclub in Istanbul.
A lone gunman opened fire on the 600 or so revellers, killing 39 men and women.
The latest outrage followed the mass murder at a Berlin Christmas market by a truck driver aligned to the terror group.
Despite its loss of territory in the Middle East, the attacks have sent out a chilling message that IS is still in business.
These extremists have shown they can strike at will at any target they choose, using a network of suicide bombers and gunmen.
It is almost impossible for law enforcement or state security agencies to defend against these attacks by so-called lone wolf operatives.
Despite massive security operations, IS has demonstrated its ability to strike terror into the hearts of people in major cities across Europe.
Terror
Our Government has reassured us that this country has little to fear. I am not so sure.
I have pointed out in this column on a number of occasions the reasons for my anxiety.
I believe that our policy of allowing more than two million US military personnel to transfer through Shannon Airport to conduct warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan places this country in danger from IS.
The recent disturbing case of Khalid Kelly, an Irishman from Crumlin killed while fighting for IS in Iraq, should be a wake-up call to the government.
Two years ago, Assistant Garda Commissioner John O'Mahony said more than 40 individuals had gone from Ireland to fight in the Middle East since 2010, including some who joined IS.
Any of these fanatics could become a lone assassin on their return. In light of the recent attacks, no western nation can be complacent.
Eileen McCabe pictured in the stairwell of a car park in Dublin where she sleeps at night
Eileen McCann pictured in the stairwell of a car park in Dublin where she sleeps at night
A young mum sleeping inside a multi-storey car park near the Dail says she has not had anything to eat in more than two days, as she desperately tries to find a place to call home.
Eileen McCann (28), from Dundrum, was in tears as she described the difficulties she faces on a daily basis.
"I'm walking the streets alone and haven't eaten a thing in two days," she said.
"I'm frozen all the time and spend my nights crying my eyes out inside a car park opposite Leinster House."
Help
"I don't drink or do drugs at all and I'm finding it so hard to get help. All I want is to find a home, anywhere, so I can take care of my four-year-old son.
"He has been put into foster care and I'm only allowed to see him several times a week, which breaks my heart."
Eileen became homeless, it also led to her losing her job at a South Dublin dry-cleaners.
"I was having such a hard time that it greatly affected my work and I lost my job and everything else as a result.
"I'm a qualified hairdresser, dry cleaner and telemarketer, but I just can't hold down a job without a home.
"Every time I climb a ladder I just fall back down."
The young mother added that she has gone down various avenues in search of a safe place to sleep.
However, she claims that the homeless hostels offered to her were just too dangerous.
She also says she faces abuse as many homeless people simply do not believe she is a victim of poverty.
"I get a lot of abuse from people in the same situation as me," she said.
"They say because of my southside accent I'm not really badly off and don't deserve help, which is just ridiculous."
She has sought out help from politicians and Dublin City Council, she said, but found no suitable solutions.
"I contacted a politician several months ago who said he will try and find me a place to live, but I haven't heard anything back," she told the Herald.
She said Dublin City Council informed her it could be several years before they located suitable accommodation.
Dangerous
Dublin City Council had not responded to a request for comment last night.
"They advised me to call the Central Placement Service's hotline, but I find wherever they try to set me up too dangerous to stay.
"I've been also told that Apollo House is full up."
Eileen says she feels she has no other option but to beg - which causes her much embarrassment and shame.
"I'm now forced to beg on the streets. I find it so shameful and if any of my friends saw me with a cup in my hand I think I would just die of embarrassment."
Bleak
Once while she begging, Eileen was asked by a garda to move on.
She said her circumstances are so bleak she wondered if she would be "better off in a cell" than sleeping on the streets.
She worries about the impact her situation is having on her child.
"It's just so hard knowing that I can't wake up with my son, put him to bed or feed him."
Eileen added that she believes the Government is highlighting the homeless crisis, but is doing little to tackle it.
"I know that the homeless crisis is a huge talking point in the Government now," she said.
"But I feel like they're not really doing anything to help people like me."
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has hit out at the HSE, saying a record number of 612 people waiting on trolleys in hospitals yesterday was "totally predictable".
Across hospitals in Dublin yesterday, a total of 78 people were on trolleys awaiting treatment.
St Vincent's Hospital was the worst hit with 19, followed by the Mater with 17 patients, and Tallaght Hospital with 16.
Beaumount Hospital had a total of 13, Connolly Hospital seven and St James' Hospital six.
Questions
INMO general secretary Liam Doran told the Herald that questions must be asked as to what measures were taken over the past eight weeks to alleviate the situation.
"The fact that 612 patients had no beds this week is truly shocking," he said.
The HSE said: "An additional 55 acute beds are being provided in hospitals.
"Beds have opened in Beaumont Hospital and in the Midlands Regional Hospital, Mullingar. In addition, 18 step-down beds are open in the Mercy University Hospital Cork."
Tehran, Iran, January 4
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) has said it will sue Turkmenistan regarding the gas deal between the two countries.
Turkmenistan has halted supplying gas to Iran since Jan. 1.
The company also said that the Turkmen Foreign Ministrys intervention in a legal case between the Iranian and Turkmen sides over the gas deal is a violation of agreements the two countries made 20 years ago when they signed the deal, NIGC public relations reported January 4.
Turkmenistan's foreign ministry recently said that its ability to maintain its gas transportation infrastructure has been compromised by Iran's failure to continue paying off old debts since 2013.
Over the past several years, the NIGC has paid for the incoming gas from Turkmenistan and has paid off a part of past debt, which has amounted to $4.5 billion, the company said.
It added that the debts come from the years when Iran could not pay in cash due to imposed sanctions.
Iran, nevertheless, tried to compensate by guaranteeing hundreds of millions of dollars in goods and services to Turkmenistan, the statement further said.
Turkmenistan says it tried to resolve the debt issue with Iran the past year, but has not received any response.
On December 31 Iranian sources said after much negotiations, the two sides had reached a deal to continue the 20-year deal for another five years. However, the following day Turkmenistan halted the gas flow, which keeps houses warm in a few northern Iranian provinces.
A gas pipeline was built between Turkmenistan and Iran in 1997. Another route was completed in 2010, bringing Turkmenistan's annual gas export potential to Iran to 12 billion cubic meters.
Turkmenistan has been exporting gas to Iran under a 1997 agreement.
Deputy Managing Director of National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) Mehran Makvandi says drilling of Kish gas field has shown 76 percent progress, IRNA reported.
Makvandi said drilling of 40 wells in South Azadegan has shown 91 percent progress and that of wells in Kish gas field 76 percent progress.
He said drilling and development of joint oil and gas fields is among priorities of Iranian oil industry.
Development of South Azadegan joint oil field, which is the biggest Iranian oil field, was entrusted to Chinese CNPC in the former government but was followed with sluggish pace.
After long delay of the Chinese party, Ministry of Petroleum set a three-month deadline but development of the oil field was not changed. Hence, National Iranian Oil Company dismissed the Chinese contractor and entrusted the job with development of the field to Iranians.
After dismissal of the Chinese, development of the joint oil fields was expedited and Iranian drilling rigs started drilling in various sections of the field.
According to the NIOC, Makvandi provided details of such joint oil fields as Azadegan field and said 82 oil and gas wells are to be drilled and completed in the fields.
Makvandi noted that 40 of the developmental and detailed wells are in South Azadegan oil field, 13 in South Yaran field, seven in Azar oil field, and 22 in phase 14 of South Pars gas field.
The drilling project in Azadegan and South Yaran fields go on per a contract signed between the NIOC and the Petroleum Development and Engineering Company.
He said drilling 30 wells are complete and 10 remaining ones will be completed by end of this year.
Iranian Railway Company signed contract with Siemens of Germany and will provide some 3,000 wagons by the end of the current Iranian year, Babak Ahmadi Naqedi, senior official with Islamic Republic of Iran Railways said on Wednesday, IRNA reported.
Ahmadi Naqedi said that the company decided to put out of service all the wagons built more than 55 years ago.
He said that according to a new approval, the Islamic Republic of Iran railways has plans to put out of service the wagons with the age of 45 years this year.
Noting that Tehran-Mashad trains will be electricity-powered and the plan is passing its final stages, he said that some 70 electricity-powered locomotives have been allocated to the project.
He said that modernization of the railway is one of the four main priorities of the country.
Tehran, Iran, January 4
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
The Iranian government has sent a bill to the Parliament which asks for $1.5 billion from the National Development Fund to go as low-interest facilities into business development in rural areas, particularly near borders around the country.
The announcement was made by First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri as he visited an exhibition on economic capabilities of rural areas held in the capital city of Tehran, Trend correspondent reported from the event January 4.
The exhibition is organized by the rural development department of the presidential office and has brought together hundreds of groups and businesses from rural areas around Iran. It kicked off on January 4 and will end January 7.
The rural and nomad representatives are showcasing a variety of features, ranging from agricultural products and handicraft to music, costume, and cuisine.
Development in rural and remote areas has found new significance in Iran as some neighboring countries are witnessing a growing number of young people in economically underdeveloped areas join drug gangs and terrorist groups.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also recently ordered $500 million from the National Development Fund to go into developmental projects in the south-eastern border province of Sistan-Baluchestan.
Drug bands and terrorist groups frequently venture into the Iranian territory from Pakistan which has borders with Iran alongside Sistan-Baluchestan Province.
An A321 jet of Russia's major airline Aeroflot veered off the runway while landing late on Tuesday night at Khrabrovo airport in the Baltic exclave region of Kaliningrad, airport officials said, TASS reported.
None of the 167 passengers and crew aboard received injuries and all of them were evacuated safely but the jet's nose landing gear broke down.
Aeroflot's press service confirmed the information.
"The airliner that was performing flight SU 1008 from Moscow to Kaliningrad veered off the runway after landing and its nose landing gear broke down in the process," it said. "All the customers were evacuated from the jet. There were no injuries."
As the possible causes of the accident, the press service named poor adhesion of the wheels to the runway and a strong crosswind.
After evacuation, airport medics did the customers checkup to establish if any of them had received injuries.
Airport services removed the jet from the stop of accident. Preparations for the reopening of the airport in the morning were in full swing at the time this report went on wire.
The airport schedule suggests the first flight is to take off from Khrabrovo at 05:00 hours EEST, or 03:00 hours UTC.
20:03 (GMT +4) More than a hundred people were reported injured after a Long Island Rail Road train derailed on Wednesday morning at the Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, New York, CNBC reported.
The New York City Fire Department said the 103 injuries reported are non-life threatening, and victims are being transported to Brooklyn, Methodist and Kings County hospitals.
19:03 (GMT +4) The number of injured people in the train derailment in Brooklyn, New York has now been set to 76, the New York City Fire Department said in a Twitter message on Wednesday, Sputnik reported.
"76 non-life-threatening injuries reported at scene of LIRR train derailment, Atlantic Terminal Brooklyn," the message stated.
18:44 (GMT +4) At least 37 people have suffered non-life-threatening injuries in a New York City commuter train derailment on Wednesday during peak morning commuting hours, city officials said, Reuters reported.
18:27 (GMT +4) A New York City commuter train derailed on Wednesday during peak morning commuting hours, injuring multiple people, officials said, Reuters reported.
The Long Island Railroad train derailed at about 8:30 a.m. local time at Atlantic Terminal in the borough of Brooklyn, city officials said in an email notification.
Multiple people have been injured in the incident, but the severity and number of injuries were not immediately known, New York police Detective Ahmed Nasser said.
Fox 5 News reported at least 18 people were injured.
Counter-terrorism officers have arrested a 50-year-old man at Heathrow airport as he got off a plane from the Egyptian capital, Cairo, The Guardian reported.
The man was arrested under section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of possession of articles containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
As part of the investigation, officers are searching a residential address in north London, Scotland Yard said.
The force added: The arrest was pre-planned and not in response to any immediate danger but as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of terrorist activities overseas. This arrest is not related to Isis or Syria.
By almost every measure for the incoming Trump administration, Ryan Zinke, the president-elect's pick to run the U.S. Department of Interior, has the perfect resume.
He's a former commander in the Navy's Seal Team Six special-forces branch, which among other things took out Osama bin Laden. He's the lone congressman from Montana, where the Interior Department figures large because it owns significant swaths of land used for grazing and mining. And Zinke is all for developing and exploiting resources on public lands, earning him a lifetime score of just 3 out of 100 from the League of Conservation Voters.
But for those who still embrace the goals of the Sagebrush Rebellion, a loose coalition of ranchers, miners, drillers, hunters, off-road enthusiasts, libertarians and anti-government die-hards, Zinke is a heretic. The reason is that he is an unshakable foe of selling federal lands or transferring them to the states.
Repeatedly, Zinke has joined Democrats in opposing legislation that would require the department he has been named to head to shed its vast real-estate holdings. In July 2015, he voted for an amendment to block funding of "extra legal ways to transfer federal lands to private owners." Earlier in the year he voted against a Republican-sponsored budget resolution that would have set up a fund to do the same thing.
As Zinke, 55, explained it at the time, he grew up hunting and fishing in Montana and sees the value in making sure that what's public stays public. This year he voted to block the sale of a couple of million acres of federal forest land for logging.
Zinke has been so at odds with his party on this point that he resigned from the committee that drafted the Republican Party convention platform because, as usual, it included a passage about selling some of the 640 million acres owned by the federal government.
As was reported when Trump nominated him, Zinke was personally vetted for the Interior post by Donald Trump Jr., an avid hunter and angler. And though you can't imagine the president-elect himself in a deer stand, on the campaign trail he said he would work to preserve access for hunters to public land.
The confounding thing about the argument for transferring federal land to the states or selling it to private owners is that those who make it might have the most to lose.
States such as Utah, Idaho and Nevada, where the federal government owns a majority of the land, often say they can do a better job of managing the real estate within their borders.
In Utah, for example, legislation adopted in 2012 -- and ignored by the federal government -- demanding a massive land transfer said the state would benefit because "cumbersome federal rules, regulations, processes, and management policies often prevent development of these resources resulting in diminished revenue to the State and its citizens."
Leaving aside the question of whether state employees are any more productive than federal employees, one implication is that the state would get a higher return for use of the land.
That actually wouldn't be hard to do, although ranchers, miners, loggers and others might not like it very much. As a rule, the federal government charges users much less than market rates. The same is true for other uses of federal land: The prices the U.S. government charges are way below market rates. As such, this represents a considerable subsidy to the private sector, particularly in Western states.
Just how big is hard to quantify, partly because federal land ownership is spread among several different agencies. One study estimated that letting cattle graze on federal land cost the U.S. government $261 million a year, while others have placed it as high as $1 billion. The timber industry and hard-rock mining have similar advantages. Miners pay a maximum of $5 an acre for extraction rights under a law adopted in 1872.
Other studies have concluded that the states might rue the day they assumed ownership of federal lands because expenses would outweigh potential sources of revenue. Someone would have to pay for maintaining roads, dams and other infrastructure -- not to mention the hefty cost of fighting forest fires or remediating the environmental harm and pollution caused by mining, deforestation and erosion.
If states wind up owning large chunks of what is now federal land, it isn't hard to imagine a time when legislatures see real-estate holdings as an easy asset to sell for closing a budget gap. Once the land is out of the public domain, it's gone for good.
There is a lot that conservationists don't like about Zinke, who supports more extraction and exploitation of the natural resources on federal property. But at least he isn't on board with getting rid of the land that all Americans should consider part of their national birthright.
US President Barack Obama extended his condolences to Turkey over recent terror attacks in the country, while reaffirming that the US will continue to cooperate with the country in the fight against terror, Daily Sabah reported.
In a phone call with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Obama condemned the IS terror attack on a popular nightclub in Istanbul on New Year's Eve as well as the PKK terror attack in Kayseri on Dec 17.
Conveying his condolences to the families of the victims killed in the attacks, the U.S. president wished a speedy recovery those injured and said that the U.S. will continue working alongside its NATO ally in the fight against terror.
The two leaders also discussed latest advances made in Iraq and Syria in the fight against IS, and agreed that Turkey and the US should maintain close cooperation on the issue.
One of the enduring mysteries of the fake-news epidemic is why it's happening now, when it's easier than ever for readers to fact-check stories with a few quick keystrokes. A Google search and a little common sense should be enough to cast doubt on stories that the Clintons are running a child sex ring from a pizza parlor, that Sharia law has been instituted in Florida or that CNN accidentally aired 30 minutes of pornography.
And yet, fake news was rampant in 2016. No, busloads of paid protesters didn't descend on Texas in November, but more than 350,000 people shared 'news' that they did. Made-up stories outperformed the real stuff on Facebook, with dozens of dubious websites springing up to meet the demand. Pakistan's defense minister fell for fake news. So did America's next national security adviser. No wonder PolitiFact named fake news its "Lie of the Year."
It's not that people are getting dumber, psychologists say. Humans have always had blind spots. But one in particular is causing trouble now: People are ignorant of their own ignorance. In order to realize you should look something up, you have to recognize that you don't already know the answer.
Brown University psychology professor Steven Sloman has been investigating this tendency. In one 2013 study, he asked subjects how much they know about complex policies such as unilateral sanctions on Iran. Most people reported knowing a lot -- but when asked to explain how the policies worked, they couldn't. Shattering what Sloman calls "the knowledge illusion" leads people to downgrade their self-assessment -- but then their overconfidence returns. More recently, Sloman has been researching the way people overestimate their understanding of everything from glue to coffee-makers to toilets for his forthcoming book "The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone."
Not everyone is equally self-deluded, of course. As a test, Sloman asks a simple math question: A bat costs $1 more than a ball, and together they cost $1.10. What does the ball cost? About 20 percent of people get this right, he said, and they are not as vulnerable to the knowledge illusion. (The ball 5 costs cents. If you were sure it cost 10 cents, you are among the majority of people, and you could stand to improve your reflective thinking skills.)
But what about content knowledge -- knowing facts about the world? You might think that would arm people against fake news, but experiments show that's not necessarily the case. Education professor Joseph Kahne of the University of California Riverside gave young subjects, age 15 to 27, a short test for political literacy and then showed them a mix of fake and real news stories presented as Facebook posts. He found high scorers were no better than the rest at separating fake stories from evidence-based ones.
What did matter was whether a news story bolstered the subjects' existing beliefs. "The judgments people make are heavily influenced by whether or not information aligns with a policy position they already hold," Kahne said. People who identify as liberals have no trouble pooh-poohing the rumor that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, for example, while those on the conservative end were more likely to believe it. Likewise, liberals were more likely than conservatives to swallow a false claim that 90 percent of rich Americans pay no taxes. The results are slated to be published in American Educational Research Journal.
Kahne says the powerful influence of pre-existing political beliefs may explain why a little knowledge doesn't shield people from being fooled. The people who know more about politics, he said, are better equipped to understand the political implications of a story, and therefore quicker to know whether it reinforces or challenges their beliefs. You have to know a little about politics to know if a given story makes liberals or conservative look bad.
And false stories are easier than ever to generate and spread. In decades past, Kahne said, people trusted established newspapers, magazines and TV news programs. But trust in the mainstream media has declined massively over the past 20 years, while a majority of Americans now get news from Facebook.
Many younger people simply read what Facebook feeds them, Kahne said. They may not pay attention to whether a story came from a legitimate news site. What's more, they may not care if it's true. People are no longer just consumers of news but producers and circulators, he said. Few young people in 20th century went around photocopying newspaper stories and distributing them, but millions do this on Facebook today. Spreading accurate stories isn't necessarily rewarded with likes and shares.
Kahne, like a number of other experts, doesn't think the answer lies in making Facebook's executives the arbiters of truth. Better, he says, to help readers and social media users think more critically. The question is: How? One factor that makes a difference is education. In the study, Kahne asked his subjects whether they had any sort of media literacy instruction in high school. Those who were least vulnerable to fake news were most likely to have remembered teachers explaining how to evaluate news stories for credibility. Some teachers also discussed what many of us take for granted: that the difference between truth and falsehood actually matters.
As Kahne and his co-authors say in their paper: "The belief that accurate information will bolster democratic decision-making and enable societal improvement is deeply embedded in the enlightenment paradigm, pragmatist beliefs, deliberative ideals and other prominent conceptions of a strong, just, and productive democracy." But people aren't born knowing this. In fact, most may not know it -- though they probably think they do.
Did you ever feel so let down after an election?
Many North Carolina Democrats have been asking each other this question every day since they learned the results of the latest presidential election.
Some old timers remember other times when they felt like they had been hit in the stomach by disappointing election results. There are still people around who remember the way they felt after the primary election in 1950 when the legendary progressive, former university and incumbent U.S. Senator Frank Graham lost his bid to keep his office. Others will tell you the empty feeling they felt when Jim Hunt lost the 1984 U.S. senate election to Jesse Helms.
Then, there are folks who will say that the very worst they ever felt was in 1972 when Democrats lost the presidency, the governors mansion, and a U.S. Senate seat to the Republicans. They remember that Helms, who won that Senate Seat and kept it for 30 years, transformed North Carolina politics, and converted many Democrats to the other party.
Many, however, may not remember that Helmss victory also interrupted the upward trajectory of one of North Carolinas most promising and most interesting political figures, someone whose intelligence and political skills, combined with his love of life and a compelling family background, might have made him a candidate for the presidency and made his hard-to-spell family name as familiar as Obama.
Ironically that name has been made famous, not by the 1972 losing Senate candidate, but by his nephew, popular actor Zach Galifianakis.
The nephew may be better known today, but his uncle Nick Galifianakiss life and political career is an important one for those who want to understand our states history and political background. A new book, Pick Nick: The Political Odyssey of Nick Galifianakis from Immigrant Son to Congressman, tells that story. Author John E. Semonche is a retired professor of constitutional history at UNC-Chapel Hill and a longtime friend of the books subject.
Semonche says Galifianakiss importance in North Carolina politics goes far beyond his contest against Helms. The book follows Galifianakiss growing up years and early political successes. It shows how he overcame the disadvantages of his immigrant background and his strange sounding name. It was a time when North Carolinians were even more suspicious of those other people than they are today.
Nevertheless Galifianakis was often able to turn such disadvantages into positives. For instance, instead of a single campaign button featuring his name, he used two, one with GALIFI and the other with ANAKIS. Today, those buttons are treasures for collectors of campaign memorabilia.
Nick Galifianakis was born in Durham in 1928 to Greek immigrant parents. His father ran Durhams Lincoln Cafe. The family spoke Greek at home so that Nick had trouble adjusting to school. But, not for long. Successful at Durham High in academics, he was student body president. After undergraduate and law school at Duke and service as a Marine Corps officer, he began practicing law in Durham. In 1960, he won election to the North Carolina House of Representatives and served three terms.
In the summer of 1965, when I was a state government intern, I watched from the balcony as a smiling Rep. Galifianakis distributed to fellow members his mothers Greek sugar pastries. On that day, especially, he was very popular with his colleagues.
Galifianakis leveraged his popularity to win three elections to the U.S. House and to defeat incumbent and more conservative Sen. Everett Jordan in the 1972 Democratic primary.
But for all his charm and political skills he could not withstand the 1972 Republican sweep and Helmss Hes One of Us campaign that cast Galifianakis as an outsider.
If things had gone the other way, Zachs tagline might be nephew of former U.S. President Nick Galifianakis.
D.G. Martin hosts North Carolina Bookwatch, which airs Sundays at noon and Thursdays at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV.
Despite ongoing national scrutiny of police tactics, the number of fatal shootings by officers in 2016 remained virtually unchanged from last year when nearly 1,000 people were killed by police.
Through Thursday, law enforcement officers fatally shot 957 people in 2016 - close to three each day - down slightly from 2015 when 991 people were shot to death by officers, according to an ongoing project by The Washington Post to track the number of fatal shootings by police.
The Post, for two years in a row, has documented more than twice the number of fatal shootings recorded by the FBI annually on average.
As was the case in 2015, a disproportionate number of those killed this year were black, and about a quarter involved someone who had a mental illness. In a notable shift from 2015, more of the fatal shootings this year were captured on video.
Dozens of departments have vowed reforms since the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in August 2014 launched a national debate over police use of force. Many agencies have equipped officers withbody-worn cameras, with prominent police chiefs vowing to further curb fatal encounters. But experts say an impact on fatal shootings may take years.
"Making these kinds of changes is very difficult on such a widespread scale," said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington-based think tank pushing for national police reform. "But quite frankly, we're still on the front-end of the training that we're pushing out. It may be at least six months to a year until we start to really see those numbers come down."
The Post began tracking fatal shootings by officers after the deaths of Brown and others during police encounters. The federal government does not comprehensively record how many people are killed by police annually and depends on voluntary reporting from police departments. The Post's database - which will continue in 2017 - largely relies on local news coverage, public records and social-media reports.
In the second year of tracking, The Washington Post found:
White males continued to be those most often killed, accounting for 46 percent of this year's deaths - about the same as in 2015. But when adjusted by population, black males were three times as likely to die as their white counterparts.
The percentage of fatal shootings of unarmed people declined in 2016, from 9 percent in 2015 to 5 percent. Black males, however, continued to represent a disproportionate share of those: 34 percent of the unarmed people killed this year were black males, although they are 6 percent of the population.
Of all those who were shot and killed, 84 percent were armed, most with a gun or knife. Four percent wielded imitation firearms. In 7 percent of the fatalities, it was unclear whether the person was armed.
Mental illness remained a factor in many of the fatal shootings. As was the case last year, about 1 in 4 people fatally shot by police in 2016 were grappling with a mental health issue, according to The Post's analysis.
The consistency from 2015 to 2016 is telling, experts said.
"It shows that one year wasn't an anomaly," said Geoff Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina. "It's a very robust number that is something we can trust in the future and a good measure to see when things do change."
This year, The Post gathered additional information about officers involved in fatal shootings from media reports or news releases and filed more than 1,000 public-records requests from each police department involved in a fatal shooting. One-fourth of the departments queried by The Post have not responded to the requests.
Many gave only partial information. Of those who responded, only a third of the departments provided the race of the officers involved in fatal shootings. The racial breakdown roughly matched the composition of local and state police departments nationwide, according to federal data.
For the 811 officers about whom work information was disclosed or gathered, their average time on the job was nine years, and three-quarters of them were assigned to patrol. At least 60 officers who fatally shot someone this year had done so previously.
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In 2016, deadly shootings by police erupted out of a broad range of circumstances. In a suspected terrorist attack, 18-year-old college student Abdul Razak Ali Artan, believed to have been radicalized online and inspired by the Islamic State, drove a car into a crowd of teachers and students at Ohio State University in November and then wounded several people with a knife. A campus police officer was on the scene within minutes and fatally shot Artan.
In January, an eviction in Penn Township, Pa., led to the death of 12-year-old Ciara Meyer, the youngest person killed by police gunfire this year. Police said her father, Donald Meyer, pointed a rifle at a constable who was serving him an eviction notice. When the officer fired at the father, the bullet passed through his arm and struck his daughter, according to a police affidavit.
"Meyer's reckless conduct, knowing his daughter was standing behind him, triggered a chain of events that tragically led to the death of Ciara Meyer," Perry County District Attorney Andrew Bender said in announcing criminal homicide and other charges against Meyer in his daughter's death. Jerry Philpott, an attorney for Meyer, said his client has entered a not guilty plea. He declined further comment.
While there was national controversy in 2015 over killings of unarmed individuals by police, fatal shootings of several armed individuals this year led to similar outrage.
The cases included the shootings in the summer of three black men who each were in possession of a gun: Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Philando Castile in a suburb of St. Paul, Minn., and Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte. At least a portion of each of those fatal encounters was captured on video.
In the shootings of Sterling and Scott, the videos raised questions about whether either man was raising or pointing his gun at officers. Federal investigators continue to probe the Sterling shooting, while local prosecutors have declined to charge Officer Brentley Vinson, who is black, in Scott's death. "He acted lawfully. I am fully satisfied and entirely convinced that Mr. Vinson's use of deadly force was lawful," Mecklenburg County District Attorney Andrew Murray said in announcing his decision.
The Castile case drew notoriety after his girlfriend live-streamed the fatal shooting's aftermath on Facebook. Castile, a 32-year-old school cafeteria employee, was legally carrying a gunwhen police approached him in a traffic stop, and he informed the officer of that during an exchange recorded by the patrol car's dashboard camera. The officer, Jeronimo Yanez, said he opened fire because he believed that Castile was reaching for the gun. But prosecutors have said the shooting was not justified and charged Yanez with manslaughter.
Thomas Kelly, an attorney for Yanez, said that his client has not yet entered a plea and is awaiting trial. He declined further comment.
That case is part of an overall increase in prosecutions of officers in fatal shootings in the two years since Ferguson. A review by The Post and Bowling Green State University professor Phil Stinson of officer prosecutions from 2005 to 2014 found that about five officers were charged annually in fatal shootings. There were 18 in 2015 and 13 this year, Stinson said.
Experts attribute the increase to greater availability of video evidence and political pressure. Still, the prosecution of officers for the use of deadly force remains rare - charges are filed in about 1 percent of all fatal police-involved shootings.
Stinson noted that almost 60 percent of the shootings for which officers have been charged in the past two years have included video evidence vital to the prosecution.
"In the past, the police have always owned the narrative in police shooting cases because a dead man can't talk," Stinson said. "Now, the videos are providing an alternative narrative to the police version of events."
The year was also a particularly deadly one for police: 62 officers were fatally shot by civilians, up from 39 in 2015, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. In 2014, 48 officers were shot and killed; in 2013, the toll was 31.
In July, five officers were fatally shot in Dallas by a sniper angered over recent police-involved shootings.
"There seems to be a growing number of people in the United States who are willing to take aggressive action against police officers," said Jim Pasco, executive director of the national Fraternal Order of Police. "If you couple that with the number of guns in criminal hands, you've got a recipe for disaster."
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One of the biggest shifts from 2015 to 2016 was the number of deadly police encounters recorded on video.
In 2015, 142 of the fatal shootings were recorded - by cellphone cameras, police dash cams, cameras worn by officers or other devices. That number rose this year to 231.
Nationwide, police departments began equipping their officers with body-worn cameras in 2009, but their use escalated after the Ferguson protests of 2014.
"The body-camera train was starting to move but then just absolutely took off after the summer of 2014," said Michael D. White, an Arizona State University professor who has researched the police implementation of body cameras.
Up to half of the nation's 18,000 police departments have officers who wear cameras, he said. While an increasing number of fatal shootings have been recorded, in some cases the cameras capture nothing.
In at least a dozen fatal shootings this year, cameras worn by the officers failed to record the fatal encounter, according to The Post's survey of police departments.
In Baton Rouge, police said body cameras "fell off" the officers involved in the death of Alton Sterling as they responded to a call about a man with a gun outside of a convenience store. Bystander video captured the July 5 shooting, but police officials have said the body-cam video, which continued to record after the camera dismounted, did not capture images of the shooting.
"If these incidents are not properly recorded, they are gone forever, and then there will forever be questions that cannot be answered that could have been," said Justin Bamberg, an attorney who is on the legal team that represents the families of Sterling and Keith Lamont Scott, who was fatally shot Sept. 20 by Charlotte police.
Chicago police released body-camera videos from the July 28 shooting of Paul O'Neal, an 18-year-old black man who allegedly fled police in a stolen Jaguar. The moment of the shooting was not captured by the body camera of the officer who fired the fatal shot because it was not activated, police said. The department is investigating the shooting.
Michael Oppenheimer, a Chicago attorney who is representing O'Neal's family, questioned why the shooting wasn't recorded. "And, what is the good of having a body camera if they're not going to be turned on to capture what they're supposed to capture?" he said.
Policing experts said that in the rush to equip officers with cameras, departments have failed to implement the proper training, and best practices and policies to ensure that the cameras work as intended.
In many cases, officers have little experience with body-worn cameras and forget to activate them, and departments lack clear policies about when they should be activated, said Kevin Angell, a former Florida police officer who consults police departments on developing body-camera polices.
In the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Dalvin Hollins in Tempe, Ariz., police said that the body camera being worn by one officer was not activated until several minutes after the shooting.
Police responded to a call about 9 a.m. July 27 that a young black man wearing sweatpants and carrying a book bag had robbed a Walgreens pharmacy. Security footage later released by police showed Hollins jumping the counter and demanding liquid narcotics while keeping one hand inside the bag. Police have said Hollins told the pharmacy workers that he had a gun.
Hollins ran after being confronted by a Tempe police officer. A second officer joined the pursuit, first in his vehicle and then on foot, according to police.
Police said the second officer fired when he saw Hollins reach for his waistband.A gun was not recovered from the scene, police said.
Hollins's family disputed police accounts of what happened. "This officer ran up on my scared son, who is running for his life and scared to death," Frederick Franklin, Hollins's stepfather, told The Post in an interview. "He committed a crime, but he hadn't done anything that he should have died for."
Franklin said Hollins had been struggling with mental illness, which the family believed to be bipolar disorder.
"In every jurisdiction, their body-camera policies are so different," said the Rev. Jarrett Maupin, an Arizona activist who organized protests after Hollins's death. "And there are no real consequences I've yet to see for when these cameras aren't turned on or when they are arbitrarily turned off."
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Over the two years analyzed by The Post, one of the occurrences that most frequently led to a fatal shooting by police was a domestic disturbance call.
Since January 2015, about 1 in 6 people were killed in cases that began like that.
Police say that investigating a domestic disturbance is one of the most dangerous calls an officer can respond to.
"It's one of the most volatile situations because it's emotional and can lead to injury and shootings," said Alpert, the South Carolina professor. "Sometimes you have no choice - you're taking a life to save a life."
In Valdosta, Ga., 28-year-old Johnathan Lozano-Murillo was killed Sept. 28 after police were called to his home over a child custody dispute. When an officer arrived, Lozano-Murillo allegedly attacked his daughter's mother and then brandished a knife at the officer, who used a Taser on him and then fatally shot him, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
"One police officer killed my son without any opportunity to try and listen to him,"Servando Lozano said.
In Lake Havasu City, Ariz., police were called in June by the father of Devin Christopher Scott after the 20-year-old broke into his father's home and retreated to a bedroom. Four officers responded. When police entered the room, Scott allegedly approached them with a knife before he was Tasered and then shot twice by an officer, according to news reports.
"They were supposed to come and help me, not kill my son," said Gary Christian, Scott's father.
A similar scene unfolded in Harrisburg, Pa., in August when officers were called to a residence where Earl Pinckney was arguing with his mother about diapers for his newborn daughter, according to police and the local prosecutor's office.
Three hours before the call, Pinckney, 20, had posted a picture of himself and the 2-week-old on Facebook: "Being a dad is the only thing that makes me happy," he wrote.
The call to police about Pinckney was not the family's first. In 2008, when Pinckney was 11, police were called by his mother, Kim Thomas, after he allegedly threatened to stab his siblings, according to the Dauphin County prosecutor's office. Since then, police had been contacted about Pinckney's behavior at least 12 times by his family, prosecutors said.
Many times, Pinckney, who struggled with bipolar disorder and was on antidepressants, could be calmed down without incident, his mother said.
But on Aug. 7, Pinckney's 9-year-old niece called 911: "My uncle is trying to hurt my grandma. Can you please come quick," according to the recording, released by the prosecutor's office. When a dispatcher called back, Pinckney's sister said he had a knife.
By the time police arrived, things had calmed down, Thomas said, and the pair were standing in Pinckney's bedroom talking. That's when she said she saw a red beam from what appeared to be an officer's gun pointed at her son's chest.
"I said, 'Please, don't shoot my son!' " Thomas said. One officer fired once. Pinckney fell to the ground, killed with a bullet through his heart, according to the autopsy.
Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said the four responding officers reported that Pinckney had a knife or was holding his mother at knifepoint. Marsico declined to press charges.
The officer's actions were "reasonable" and "necessary," Harrisburg Police Chief Thomas C. Carter said in an interview with The Post.
Thomas disputes the officers' accounts. "He never had no knife up to me," she said.
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In 2016, advocates for police reform continued efforts to push for the nation's police departments to adopt practices to curb the number of fatal shootings by police.
Earlier this month, 425 officers from 160 police agencies convened in New Orleans for the debut of training developed by the Police Executive Research Forum. The training is aimed at reducing the number of fatal shootings of people not armed with a gun - about 40 percent of this year's fatal police-involved shootings, according to The Post's analysis.
"Those are situations that we think that we can impact," said Wexler, the group's executive director, who believes that with changes in training, police can reduce the shootings of unarmed people as well as those armed with knives or blunt objects. That could potentially save 300 to 400 lives a year, Wexler said. "It's difficult to expect a different outcome when an officer is faced with a firearm," he said.
The training, which promotes de-escalation and encourages police to slow down encounters, has been tested in Baltimore, Houston and Prince William County, Va., Wexler said.
Meanwhile, the FBI said it is moving forward with plans to better track fatal force after mounting public pressure prompted the bureau last year to announce that it would launch a database in 2017.
President-elect Donald Trump has said previously that he does not think local departments should be forced to provide use-of-force data to the federal government.
"The federal government should not be in the habit of demanding data from local or state law enforcement organizations," Trump said in a questionnaire he submitted in August to the International Association of Chiefs of Police. "Crime reporting should take place, but the management of local and state law enforcement should be left to those jurisdictions."
Several officials who have worked with the Justice Department said the FBI will probably continue to collect data voluntarily but will not mandate reporting by local agencies.
The FBI said it remains committed to working with local law enforcement to create a new use-of-force data-collection system, said Holly Morris, an FBI spokeswoman.
"If we receive further guidance from the new administration, we will address it at that time," she said.
HICKORY Hickory Public Schools Superintendent Robbie Adell got a chance to share his proposed consolidation plan between Southwest and Longview Elementary schools with the public during a special town hall meeting Tuesday.
The reason for the change is to help improve reading scores. For Southwest, the states reading accountability grade for the previous school year was a D while Longviews was a C.
These young people are not going to make itif they dont know how to read, Adell told the crowd at Longview on Tuesday. We cannot afford to keep moving kids from one grade level to the next without the proper reading skills. Were setting them up for failure.
HPS is considering converting Southwest Elementary to a primary school serving only students in kindergarten through second grade from the two schools. Southwest would be changed to Southwest Primary with a literacy focus.
Longview Elementary School would then serve only students in third through fifth grade, with a concentrated focus on leadership and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) program learning, according to the release.
Adell sees this change as a way to improve the chances of success for students at both schools.
I truly believe if we focus totally on literacy in every aspect, provide the teachers with the knowledge through professional development, we can make a difference in these kids lives, Adell said.
Less than half of the kids coming out of third grade in these schools are reading on grade level.
Third grade students receive extra attention in North Carolina because of the states Read to Achieve legislative initiative, a part of the Excellent Public Schools Act, according to ncpublicschools.org.
Under this state law, third grade students who are not reading at grade level by the end of third grade will receive special help, including summer reading camp and other interventions to make sure that they can read well enough to be able to do fourth grade work.
According to Hickory Public Schools Read to Achieve end-of-year (2015-16) results for first grade, the percentage of students in the school system overall demonstrating reading comprehension at grade level was 48.4 percent.
The percentage of first grade students not demonstrating reading comprehension at grade level was 51.6 percent.
In second grade, the number demonstrating reading comprehension at grade level was 59.8 percent while the percentage of those not demonstrating comprehension at grade level was 40.2 percent.
Nathaniel Holmes, a parent of a Longview kindergartener and fifth-grader appreciated the boards and the district leaderships decision to try something different, but he wasnt sure about sending his daughter to Southwest.
Obviously what theyve been doing is not getting the desired results, but I dont think this is the answer. I dont think the answer is splitting the kids up and putting all of them there, Holmes said after the meeting.
Nothing they talked about here gave me confidence that location will be improved. They have not shown they can so I dont feel good about taking my daughter and putting her in first grade in a situation that is low performing.
He liked some of the other changes that would come with the consolidation like a dual-language class at Southwest, but he just didnt see it being a good enough trade-off.
Hickory Public Schools board member Sallie Johnson said she saw the change as a big concept.
What we want is the students knowing how to read by third grade, she said. Its going to cause people to have to change a little bit. Nobody likes changebut we have a goal and that is we get these children reading in second grade so when they get to (Longview) its better and at middle school its better and at high school its better.
Fellow board member Bryan Graham also appreciated the chance to hear from parents at the town hall meeting.
I thought it was an excellent give and take with the crowdI thought the questions were probing. I thought they were well thought out, obviously with their kids in mind, Graham said.
He likes the idea himself of turning Southwest Elementary into a literacy lab with the entire focus of the school is improving literacy.
The idea of doing that is going to bring all the kids upso many studies show if youre not at grade level by third grade, youre never going to be, he said. Youre constantly going to be trying to catch up.
Graham added the idea of switching schools was a key issue for many of the parents who attended the meeting, even pointing out one parent who brought up the issue of trying to get two kids to two different schools in the morning.
I also talked to a parent who has an autistic child, who has gone through a number of teachers and would be moving the child from Southwest to Longview and was concerned about it, Graham said.
There will be a second town hall meeting for parents to hear the plan and voice their concerns at Southwest on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
STATESVILLE The man accused of killing a Cool Springs woman over Christmas weekend faces a slew of new sexual assault charges.
Gary Steven Love, 47, of Ohio, faces 10 felony counts of statutory sex offense with a child 15 or younger, as well as felony charges of indecent liberties with a child and sexual servitude of a child.
He also was charged with felony first-degree kidnapping and misdemeanor assault on a female. The new charges were added Wednesday.
Love is believed to be responsible for the death of Robin Denman, 46, who was found dead in her home on Cool Springs Road on Monday. Authorities have determined that blunt force trauma was the cause of Denmans death, Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said.
A teenage family member of Denmans said she was tied up in the home over the weekend and sexually assaulted multiple times. On Monday, she managed to text a friend for help, and Iredell County deputies were sent to the home.
After arriving at the home, deputies apprehended Love and discovered the body. Love was charged with murder.
Love and Denman were old acquaintances and she allowed him to stay on her couch for the last three months after he moved to North Carolina from Ohio, Campbell said.
Love was given a $3 million secured bond on the new charges. He is being held without bond on the murder charge. His next scheduled court date is Jan. 24, court officials said.
A 1990 Caldwell County double homicide case finally arrived in Superior Court in February, nearly seven years after investigators charged the defendant. Judge Nathaniel J. Poovey of Catawba County presided over the trial.
William Bill Eugene Murphy was charged with the first-degree murders of Mark Randall and Jeanie Barlow Secreast. According to testimony, Murphy was good friends with the Secreasts.
The first trial ended with a hung jury, and Poovey ruled it a mistrial. The case again went before Superior Court a few months later in October before Judge Hugh B. Lewis of Mecklenburg.
During the second trial, the jury found Murphy not guilty. He was released from the Caldwell County Jail later that day.
I love it the trees, the air, Murphy said after his release. There is someone out there who did what I was accused of.
Hewitt sentenced to life in prison in triple homicide case
In May, a Claremont man was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole after a jury found him guilty in a March 2011 triple homicide. Judge Nathaniel J. Poovey of Catawba County presided over the trial.
Everette Porshau Hewitt, 37, was found guilty of the first-degree murders of Connie Miller, Wade Sigmon and Susan Blevins, the attempted murder of Joseph Burke, first-degree burglary and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. The jury found Hewitt not guilty of robbery with a firearm.
The trial lasted six weeks and began after Hewitt had been in jail for five years.
The possibility of a mistrial emerged when information about one of the jurors emerged. However, Poovey found the new information did not meet the threshold of a mistrial.
Suspect in Newton teacher slaying offered plea deal
In November, the District Attorneys Office offered a plea deal to a man accused of the June 2014 murder of Newton teacher Maggie Daniels.
Sharman Odom, 34, of Newton, faces one felony count of murder, one felony count of first-degree sexual assault and one felony count of first-degree kidnapping.
The deal would drop the possibility of the death penalty, but sentence Odom to life in prison. Odom will make a decision about the deal Jan. 3.
One of Odoms attorneys, Scott Gsell, said he believes Odom understands the offer presented.
Trial delayed for man charged with child abuses
A trial for a 2013 child death case scheduled for Oct. 31 was delayed to 2017 after defense attorney Victoria Jayne said she had a capital murder trial conflicting with the case.
William Howard Lail III, 25, of Hickory, faces one felony count of murder, six felony counts of intentional child abuse resulting in serious physical injury, one misdemeanor count of failure to appear and one misdemeanor count of probation violation.
Presiding Judge Hugh B. Lewis granted a continuance to October 2017, but added the trial could happen sooner if possible.
Lail is held at the Catawba County Detention Center on a $652,000 secured bond. His case is non-capital.
Man indicted on hundreds of felonies in bomb threats
The Burke County magistrate charged a man Dec. 19 in a series of bomb threats made between May and July.
Cody Matthew Startt, 27, is charged with 253 felony counts of false bomb reports and 253 felony counts of terrorism.
The Hickory Police Department arrested Startt in West Virginia with assistance from the FBI and WV State Police. Startt had been on parole for a prior bomb threat conviction, and admitted to violating the terms of his parole.
His trial is set for Feb. 13 in Burke County Superior Court. He is held at the Catawba County Detention Center under a $350,000 secured bond.
Claremont man pleads guilty to deaths in car wreck
A Claremont man pled guilty in December to the involuntary manslaughter of two 15-year-old Bunker Hill High students Oct. 3, 2014. The plea came before a trial was scheduled to begin in Catawba County Superior Court before Judge Mark Klass of Davidson County.
Jacob Dalton Turner, 20, pled guilty to two felony counts of involuntary manslaughter and two misdemeanor counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
Alec Calvin Sigmon, Justin Michael Turner (unrelated to Jacob Turner) were killed in the accident. Jessica Joy Sigmon and Chloe Allison Cordell were hospitalized with serious injuries.
Jacob Turner will serve 36 months supervised probation, including 90 days in jail, and cannot drive for the next two years. Klass also required Jacob Turner to speak at a number of high school events on the dangers of reckless driving.
Connelly Springs woman convicted of child abuse
A Connelly Springs woman pled guilty to felony child abuse in November before a Burke County judge and was sentenced to prison.
Brittany Nichole Hefner, 25, will serve a six to eight year sentence in the custody of the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections.
Investigators discovered injuries on a three-month-old infant while they were investigating the death of the childs twin brother. The twin brother died in Winston-Salem after being hospitalized with injuries allegedly inflicted by the childs father, Nicholas Brandon Clark.
Injuries to the surviving infant were consistent with being shaken and Hefner admitted to shaking the child days prior. Clark faces charges of one felony count of murder and one felony count of intentional child abuse inflicting serious injury. His next court date is Jan. 9.
Hickory man pleads guilty of sex offense with 11-year-old
In May, a Hickory man pleaded guilty during Catawba County Superior Court to one felony count of first-degree sex offense with a child.
John Wayne Travis, 49, was sentenced to 13 years in prison, followed by 30 years on the sex offender registry and 10 years of satellite monitoring.
The incident occurred Sept. 27, 2011, when the victim was 11-years-old.
Hickory Police and the Catawba County Childrens Advocacy and Protection Center investigated the case. Judge Daniel A. Kuehnert of Burke County presided.
Hudson woman pleads guilty to murdering husband
During a hearing in Caldwell County Superior Court in March, a Hudson woman pled guilty to the murder of her husband in April 2014.
The victim, William Daniel Harris III, told investigators his wife had stabbed him in the chest several times in their apartment. He later died from his wounds.
Donna Thomas Harris, 56, of Hudson, previously served six years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in August 2004. She was released from prison in June 2010.
She is now serving a sentence of 16 to 21 years in prison.
Lenoir man pleads guilty to stabbing, sentenced to prison
In March, a Lenoir man pleaded guilty before Judge William T. Pomeroy of Lincoln County to stabbing another man in June 2014.
Pomeroy sentenced Bobby Dean Sparks, 63, to seven to nine years in prison.
Lenoir Police officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at a residence on Bradford Street. They found Sammy William Sturgill, dead in front of the residence, with stab wounds to his chest, abdomen, face and neck.
Sparks told police he killed the other man in self-defense, fearing for his life.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 4
By Orkhan Quluzade Trend:
Talks in Astana aimed at Syria settlement will be held Jan. 23, Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, Anadolu Agency reported.
Cavusoglu has earlier said that experts from Russia will visit Turkey on Jan. 9-10 to discuss the preparations for talks on Syria.
Meanwhile, the FM noted that if Syrian President Bashar al-Assads supporters do not stop violating the armistice agreement in Syria, the talks in Astana may not be held.
He said that Hezbollah militants, religious groups and government forces of Syria are behind these violations.
Earlier, Russias President Vladimir Putin had said that he agreed with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to offer the conflicting parties in Syria to continue peace talks in Astana.
During phone talks with Putin and Erdogan, Kazakhstans President Nursultan Nazarbayev supported this initiative and expressed readiness to provide a platform for such negotiations in Astana.
Governments and people in authority often have an odd way of functioning. Instead of serving and guiding the people, they choose the easy and retrograde way of imposing their ideas on them. Some do it in the name of morality, while some do it in the name of religion or culture and tradition. The latest to join this band is the district administration of Kargil.
The administration of Kargil wants all district officials to attend office in traditional attire (goncha/sulchak) on Mondays and Saturdays.
Read | Twice a week, wear traditional dress to work: Kargil district administration
Since when has it become the prerogative of the State to decide and in some cases dictate the sartorial choices of the people? This move smacks of the nanny State asserting itself.
In Kargil, this has been done in the name of culture and tradition. The deputy commissioner of Kargil in a circular has said that the decision was taken considering the importance of the Ladakhi culture and tradition. It would suggest that the state is the custodian of these issues and not the people who should be free to dress the way they want to.
There is a caveat though: For non-local officials it is not mandatory but it will be highly appreciable if they go traditional. The pressure such orders place on non-locals which lead to clear divides in workplaces and biases against the perceived other will be counterproductive.
Read | Dress code in college: Girls in Bhopal say no end to school life
That the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) along with the district administration is taking several measures to revive the culture and traditional identity of Kargil is commendable. The problem, however, is that in its effort to promote culture, the administration is armtwisting both the local and non-local officers who do not see any merit in this circular.
Hypothetically, even if this order is received positively by many people, why should it be made compulsory? What ones wears, and how he/she wears it, within permissible limits, is still the individuals right. Maybe its a sign of our times when there seems to be a general tilt towards enforcing a law rather than educating people and arriving at a consensus on the matter.
Read | Uniform dress code in MP govt schools from next session
It would be unfair to single out the Kargil administration on this. Such diktats are issued in many places in India and around the world. Many colleges across India, both private and government-run, have put in place dress codes on what students are allowed to wear. College authorities cite discipline as the reason behind such orders.
From the next academic session, school teachers in Madhya Pradesh will have to wear aprons with name tags while on duty. In October, the Knesset, Israels parliament, had issued a diktat banning skirts that were too short. Last month, after protests by staffers, the order was suspended. Then there are the many dress codes that religious institutions prescribe for its followers.
Read | Mumbai: St Xaviers College bans ripped jeans on campus, says it mocks the poor
That the thoughts of our authorities are in sync with their global counterparts is nothing to be proud of.
It is a pointer to societal conditioning and outlook that often many of these codes are directed more at women whose sartorial choices are often seen as against culture and a distraction for men. Probably the late American jurist Louis D Brandeis had a point when he said: If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
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Various political parties welcomed on Wednesday the announcement of assembly elections in five states, with the BJP exuding confidence of victory due to the positive undercurrent post demonetisation and the Congress urging the Election Commission to ensure free and fair polls.
State elections are fought largely on the state-level issues...(but) there is a positive undercurrent for BJP across the country which is what we have seen post-demonetisation.
There is a strong undercurrent. Therefore, we expect to win all the states...our stakes are the lowest, but our gains are going to be highest, BJP national spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao said.
Read: Assembly polls 2017 will be a mini referendum on Modis demonetisation
To drive his point, Rao cited the examples of the partys impressive show in the recently held by-elections and civic polls, particularly in Gujarat and Maharashtra. He said BJP is now going to be an important player in the poll-bound states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur.
Stating that BJP did not enjoy a big strength in Manipur earlier, he said, his party has done really well in the by-elections there.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala described the polls to the five states including Uttarakhand and Manipur, where his party will seek another term in row, as a yagna of democracy and urged the EC to ensure free, fair and independent polls.
Read: Election panel to set up guidelines to implement SC order on religion, caste
We also hope that the use of muscle power, abuse of government power and misuse of money power will be checked once and for all and it will be good for democracy, he said, while welcoming the poll schedule.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party is fancying chances of clinching power in Punjab and Goa, claimed the situation in the two states, where the BJP is in power or sharing it, is bad and people want to bring in an honest government led by his party in the upcoming polls.
Both in Punjab and Goa, the situation is bad. In Punjab, people want to throw the BJP coalition government and bring in an honest AAP government so that they get freed from drugs and corruption, he said.
Sanjay Raut, an MP from NDA constituent Shiv Sena, said poll preparations of the saffron party are complete, particularly in northern states and BJP-ruled Goa.
Read: Candidates have to account for all: Social media accounts to expenses
Shiv Sena is holding an important meeting chaired by party president Uddhav Thackeray where such issues will be discussed. Our preparations are complete for the polls, he said.
Naresh Agrawal, who was recently expelled by Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh in the midst of feud within the ruling party of Uttar Pradesh, insisted the EC to see the budget session announced by the central government be postponed to ensure that the voters do not get influenced.
The Election Commission announced the schedule of the assembly elections to be held in five states on Wednesday.
Five states, including the countrys most populous and political crucial Uttar Pradesh, will face the poll test. The other four states are Punjab, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand.
The assembly elections are crucial for the ruling BJP as it will be the first time it will go to the polls after demonetisation.
Below are the highlights:
Commission is in favour reducing limit of anonymous donations to Rs 2000 only, also mulling on whether we can switch to digital payments: CEC
EC examining representation of some political parties on presentation of Union Budget during poll process; will take a view soon: CEC
The most important thing is that asking for votes in name of religion will be deemed to be a corrupt practice: CEC
Any query on freezing of SP poll symbol is hypothetical right now. Let us first examine the documents: Nasim Zaidi, ECI
Election Commission says it will decide on the Samajwadi Partys election symbol based on rules and precedent
Counting of votes will be held on March 11
In Uttar Pradesh, polling will be held in seven phases- 11 Feb, 15 Feb, 19 Feb, 23 Feb, 27 Feb, 4 March and 8 March
In Manipur, polling will be held in two phases - 4 March and 8 March
In Uttarakhand, polling will be held on 15 Feb
Punjab will go to polls on 4 February
Goa will go to polls on 4 February
Uttar Pradesh (Total Seats: 403) Phase Date of Polling Constituencies Phase I 11 February 2017 73 (15 districts) Phase II 15 February 2017 67 (11 districts) Phase III 19 February 2017 69 (12 districts) Phase IV 23 February 2017 53 (12 districts) Phase V 27 February 2017 52 (11 districts) Phase VI 4 March 2017 49 (7 districts) Phase VII 8 March 2017 40 (7 districts)
Punjab (Total seats: 117) Phase Date of Polling Constituencies Single Phase 4 February 2017 117
Uttarakhand (Total seats: 70) Phase Date of Polling Constituencies Single Phase 15 February 2017 70
Manipur (Total seats: 60) Phase Date of Polling Constituencies Phase I 4 March 2017 38 Phase II 8 March 2017 22
Goa (Total seats: 40) Phase Date of Polling Constituencies Single Phase 4 February 40
All 5 states will go to polls at one go
Commission will ensure level playing field for free and fair elections
Commission has launched a large number of IT applications to facilitate voters, candidates, political parties
Candidates have to register their social media accounts with the Election Commission
Political parties will be required to file statements on candidates expenses within 30 dates of announcement of results
There will be strict expenditure monitor mechanism to curb black money
The limit of electoral expenses for individual candidates is Rs 28 Lakh for UP, Punjab and Uttarakhand; Rs 20 Lakh for Manipur and Goa
EC has already started monitoring preventive action
Adequate central police forces will, be deployed along with local police for CBMs
Model Code of Conduct comes into effect in 5 states immediately
Candidates will be required to affix photo on nomination papers
In addition to filing of the affidavit, there is an additional affidavit where candidates will be required to file a no-demand certificate this certificate will come from agencies dealing with electricity, water.
Postal ballots to be transferred electronically in some constituencies
Ballot paper on EVMs will have photo of candidates
Goa will be saturated with VVPAT. The no. of VVPAT constituencies will further increase
EVMs will be used in all states
Separate voting stations for women in places where they dont mingle with men: : Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi
Height of voting compartment has been raised to 30 inch for secrecy
Outside every polling station location, there will be a voter assistance booth
Total of 1,85,000 polling stations will be covered under operations
Colourful voter guide will be distributed along with photo voter slip to each family
Over 16 crores voters are going to participate: Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi
Electoral rolls to be published on following dates- Goa- 5 Jan, Manipur- 12 Jan, Punjab- 5 Jan, Uttarakhand- 10 Jan, UP- 12 Jan
There are 690 legislative assemblies which will go to polls
Term of legislative assemblies for 5 states expires on -Goa: 18 March, 2017; Manipur: 18 March, 2017; Punjab: 18 March, 2017; Uttarakhand: 26 March, 2017; UP: 27 May, 2017;
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghs (RSS) ambitious samajik samarasta (social harmony) campaign aimed at obliterating casteism is poised to be rolled out in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, the two states with a sizeable Dalit population that go to polls soon along with three others.
Having kept the anti-caste juggernaut rolling-- giving it a harder push just ahead of elections--the Sangh is now banking on icons from within its folds who advocated the virtues of equality within the Hindu communities as it readies its cadres for assembly elections in five states.
While Uttar Pradesh has over 20% Dalit population according to the Census 2011, the percentage in Punjab is over 31%.
Read | RSS adds theologian Ramanuja to list of anti-casteism heroes
To woo these crucial votes, the Sangh is banking on the legacy of Dattopant Thengadi, the founder of Sangh arms Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and a BR Ambedkar associate and its third Sarsangachalak Balasaheb Deoras.
It was after Deoras campaign against untouchability in 1973 that the Sangh took up programmes under Seva Bharati for addressing concerns of the so-called lower castes.
Speeches and writings of both the ideologues centered round the theme of social harmony and eradicating caste biases will be released at the upcoming New Delhi World Book Fair, which kicks off Saturday. Unlike the previous editions of the fair, where publications by the Sangh and its affiliates were limited to a stall, this year it will have a larger presence.
The book fair is organised by the National Book Trust, an autonomous organisation under the ministry of human resource development, and headed by Baldeo Sharma, a former editor of the Sangh mouthpiece the Panchajanya.
Read | RSS asks BJP to address its core agendas including the Ram Mandir in UP poll campaign
Both Deoras and Thengadi campaigned against caste biases and their contribution towards unifying Hindus is indisputable. The exercise to publicize their work and thoughts is in line with the Sanghs samajik samarasta, not linked to the elections, said a Sangh functionary.
However, sources in UP indicated that the cadre has been asked to strike a balance between wooing the Dalits and the OBCs, taking care to ensure that the upper caste is not alienated. With the mood within the middle and upper middle class supporters of the Sangh not too upbeat post demonetisation, the BJPs ideological mentor has its task cut out.
Similarly, in Punjab where the BJP in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) faces anti incumbency, the cadre has been asked to redouble efforts to reach out to the voters.
Caste equations play out differently in Punjab, but the larger issue is the same. As followers of Deoras and Thengadi, who was the election agent of Ambedkar, the cadres brief is to push for equality, another functionary said.
The RSS was partly blamed for upsetting the Dalits in Bihar, after Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat suggested ahead of the assembly elections last year that there was a need to revise catse-based reservation.
To eliminate any faux pas in UP and Punjab, RSS cadres will instead distribute literature based on Thengadis speech equality impossible without harmony and his other works with similarity to the ideology of Dr. Ambedkar.
Read | RSS to use surgical strikes to swing votes in UP assembly polls
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Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 4
Trend:
There is some progress in the political settlement in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
The president made remarks at the 33rd meeting of the heads of local administrations in Turkey, Anadolu agency reported Jan. 4.
The president drew attention to the joint efforts of Turkey and Russia to ensure sustainable ceasefire and political settlement in Syria.
The Turkish president also drew attention to the negative trends in Syrias economy.
"The country is going through a difficult period, the president said. The attacks on Turkeys economic sphere will not last forever either."
The political potboiler in Uttar Pradesh is always full of action, emotional drama and dialogues comparable to any top Bollywood thriller. During election time, its much more intense.
The answer about UPs importance lies in the electoral strength of the state that has 403 legislators and 80 parliamentarians and the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJPs) one-fourth of Lok Sabha strength comes from UP.
Uttar Pradesh will vote in seven phases starting February 11 with the final round of polling on March 8.
The upcoming elections will decide who will rule UP but it will also be a precursor to the 2019 general elections. The thriller could well be titled CM Se PM Tak (From CM To PM). With the presidential polls also due in 2017, UPs strength will be at play again.
Obviously, the stakes of the national parties are higher.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be aspiring for a second run, it will be a start of innings for his young opponent Rahul Gandhi. Other aspirants like Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee and Mulayam Singh Yadav can aspire for the top post but they will need either the BJP or the Congress to fulfil their dreams.
However, the political scene in the state has been dominated by the other two players since early 1990s the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. If at all the BJP came to power in the state, it was courtesy the BSP or by breaking small parties to cobble up a majority in the state assembly.
Voters threw hung houses in the state for 14 years and that trend changed from 2007 when people decided to deliver a clear mandate. Experts believe that the communication network played an important role in this as voters are connected across the length and breadth of the state.
After three clear verdicts of the 2007, 2012 and 2014 general elections, the spectre of a hung house looms large over the state once again.
Here are the five reasons behind it:
1. There is no one issue binding the state. Demonetisation can play both ways for the BJP
2. Caste blocks are breaking, the loyalties are weakening
3. Muslims will do tactical voting in a constituency, not the state
4. Peoples aspirations are high and youth will play a vital role
5. Confusion over CM face both in SP and BJP
Read| Assembly polls 2017: It will be a fight for every vote in battlefield UP
THE STAKES
Samajwadi Party
The ruling party could have romped back to power had the family feud not played a spoiler. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is popular in the state but ironically unpopular amongst seniors in the party. The party has been battered by the power struggle between Akhilesh and his uncle Shivpal, who is supported by his father and party patriarch Mulayam, and the feud between the warring factions has refused to die down.
The chief minister took control of the party on January 1 after ousting Mulayam at an emergency national convention and also sacked his uncle as the partys state unit chief. He also didnt want parliamentarian Amar Singh in the party.
Both the factions, said sources, had submitted letters to the poll panel, staking claim to the party name and the election symbol a bicycle, the clearest indication yet that a reconciliation was unlikely in the Uttar Pradeshs ruling party.
Earlier, Mulayams refusal to name Akhilesh as the partys chief ministerial face created overwhelming sympathy for Akhilesh but will it convert into votes. Mulayams politics is hard to understand.
How will it affect its prospects?
Muslims, an important vote bank of the SP, are closely watching the family power tussle. They would never sail a sinking ship. Though the SP remains their first choice, they have an option in the BSP. The Muslim community wants an alliance between the SP and Congress.
Bahujan Samaj Party
The BSP led by firebrand Mayawati was considered a strong claimant for the chief ministers post till it was hit by an exodus of senior leaders from the party. The BSP is not new to splits and can still sail through provided Mayawati is able to convince Muslims that the exodus has not impacted her partys health. Secondly, she is not the only claimant for anti-incumbency votes. The BJP is actively making inroads.
How will it affect its prospects?
The BSPs core vote of 21.5% Dalits is not intact. The rainbow coalition of Dalits, Muslims and Brahmins that had brought her to power in 2007 has also split up. Though the partys Brahmin face, SC Mishra, is extensively touring the state, her partys fate is in the hands of the Muslims.
Bharatiya Janata Party
The saffron party has been eyeing UP ever since its spectacular victory in 2014. Partys national president Amit Shah has launched a spate of public mobilisation programmes including the Parivartan Yatra. However, their trump card is Narendra Modi who remains a popular figure in the state. He has also been working on stitching alliances with various castes as well as smaller parties. The states tallest leader Rajnath Singh has appealed to the masses to end their 14-year-long vanvaas (exile). The partys latest gamble is demonetisation.
How will it affect its prospects?
Demonetisation is seen as a national movement against corruption and black money. However, at the same time, it has raised the hopes of the people of getting a share in the recovered black money. BJP leaders are also talking about it. In case the BJP delivered on its poll promise of sharing black money with the masses, they will sweep the polls. Otherwise, demonetisation can boomerang. The other hitch is that they too have no CM face.
Congress Party
The Congress has been making desperate and sincere efforts to revive the party in the state it ruled for about 40 years. Since 1990 it has been living with a tag of an also ran party in the elections. The party high command hired Prashant Kishore to do a miracle, a la Bihar in UP. But Bihar was a different story - the two major regional parties Janata Dal(United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) came together to form a grand alliance, whereas, in Uttar Pradesh, the SP and BSP are sworn enemies. Some efforts are on to forge an alliance between the Congress, SP, RLD, RJD and JD(U) that can actually reach the winning margin if not 300 seats as claimed by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. However, the Congress will have to accept the smaller players role in the state.
How will it affect its prospects?
Congress will retain its fourth position till it finds a viable poll partner. Priyanka Gandhis campaign may add more spice to the polls but seats may still remain elusive as they dont have the cadre to convert her appeal into votes. Finding candidates may also be a gigantic task for the Congress.
There are other smaller players who will be take away votes in the hundreds playing spoilers on seats heading for a close finish.
Read|
If Mulayam can leave son, why cant we leave him?: Akhilesh rises amid SP feud
For full coverage on 2017 assembly elections, click here
A 38-year-old man was arrested at Maihar town in Satna district for allegedly forcing his 22-year-old wife into prostitution for last two years.
The womans ordeal came to light on Monday when her sister-in-law accompanied her to the Maihar police station for reporting the misdeeds of Dipak alias Happy Saini, police said. A case of assault, rape, criminal intimidation and detaining a woman with criminal intent was lodged against Saini. Police also slapped relevant sections of the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act against him.
We arrested the accused on Tuesday and are now analysing the call details of mobile Sainis and his wifes mobile phones, Maihar police station in-charge Manish Tripathi.
Prima facie, the police found that the woman was forced into prostitution barely a few months after their marriage in 2014. Saini was using the PWD quarters in Maihar to serve clients whenever his mother and sister were away, police said. The accused had threatened to kill his wife, if she dared to narrate her ordeal to her in-laws or outsiders, Tripathi said.
The victim told the police that her husband took her to places outside Madhya Pradesh, including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Gaya (Bihar), for prostitution.
On the night of January 1, Saini had brought a client to the house. He thrashed his wife badly when she refused to succumb to his diktat, police said. Unable to bear the sustained cruelty of her husband, the woman narrated the entire saga to her sister-in-law on Monday morning.
Investigations have revealed that the woman was Sainis second wife, police said, adding that his first wife had left him in 2013 for similar atrocities.
Bajrang Dal tries to stop marriage
Marriage of two Hindus in the court of Bhopal additional district magistrate (ADM) turned chaotic on Tuesday when Bajrang Dal activists barged in with an allegation that the groom, a Christian, have submitted a fake affidavit.
Bajrang Dal leader Devendra Rawat told HT that the brides mother had alleged that the groom hails from a Christian family and his mothers name is Mary. Rawat added that the complainant had accused the groom of luring her daughter into marriage.
We came to help her (the bride) mother and urge authorities to probe the matter properly before giving marriage certificate. But the groom showed his mark sheets and documents of his father before the ADM, stating that he is a Hindu. Following this, the ADM gave them the marriage certificate. He also asked the woman about her decision, to which she replied that she would have married him even if he was a Christian, said Rawat.
Lawyer Milind Wankhede, who represented the couple, said both the bride and the groom are Hindu and that there is no provision in the Hindu Marriage Act that bars a Hindu from marrying a person from other religions. The grooms mothers name is Mili and not Mary. His father was a district forest officer and the family is Hindu kayastha. After we showed documents, the ADM gave the marriage certificate to the couple, he said.
Wankhede said the couple also pleaded for protection in the court of ADM and accordingly instructions were given to the police to ensure their security.
The MP cabinet on Tuesday approved the appointment of former jail warder Ramashankar Yadavs daughter Sonia Yadav as an assistant (Grade III) in the general administration department.
Yadav was allegedly killed by eight suspected SIMI members in Bhopal Central Jail on October 30, when they were escaping the prison. The eight were later killed in a police encounter on the outskirts of Bhopal.
The encounter had assumed political overtones, with the Opposition and leaders of the Muslim community demanding a CBI or judicial probe into the incident, while chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan justified the killings and termed Yadavs death an act of martyrdom. The chief minister had also extended financial help to the family for Sonias marriage.
Meanwhile, Sonia had refused to accept any job in the jail department. Her refusal, and the political issue associated with the entire episode, resulted in the government treating her case as a special one and gave her the appointment letter on the day of her marriage for her appointment in general administration department.
The demonetisation of the old 500 and 1000 banknotes also cropped up, with some members of the Yadav family claiming that they were unable to make proper arrangements for the marriage due to a cash crunch.
The chief minister assured the family that he will look into their problems and that they would not have any difficulties due to the lack of cash.
Madhya Pradesh ranks highest in terms of deaths due to industrial accidents and inhalation of toxic fumes, a recent report by the National Crime Records Bureau on accidental casualties and suicides in India has revealed.
The report said 213 people died in industrial accidents through 2015, of which 55 the highest count occurred in Madhya Pradesh. It was followed by Gujarat with 31 deaths, Rajasthan with 28, Uttar Pradesh with 23, and Chhattisgarh with 17.
Surprisingly, Madhya Pradesh had occupied the sixth position with just 12 cases in 2014.
The state also topped the list of deaths due to inhalation of toxic gases, with at least 116 such cases being registered in 2015. It was followed by Tamil Nadu with 99 deaths, Gujarat with 51, Andhra Pradesh with 37, and Rajasthan with 23. The total number of such casualties across the country stood at 394.
Madhya Pradesh had registered just 14 such cases in 2014, occupying the eighth position.
This comes as a blow to the reputation of the state, which had witnessed the infamous Union Carbide gas leak in 1984. While the official death count of that disaster stood at 5,000, rights activists pegged it between 20,000 and 25,000 victims.
Directorate of Industrial health and Safety (Madhya Pradesh) director PD Narya told HT that the department was doing its best to curtail industrial accidents in the state. We have just 20 officers to handle 51 districts of the state. Despite the staff shortage, we regularly visit industrial units to spread awareness on safety measures. Apart from this, we work in tandem with the Disaster Management Institute in Bhopal to find ways to curb industrial accidents, he said.
Narya said a possible reason for the rise in industrial casualties might be the inclusion of cases under the Building Construction Enforcement (BCE) Act. The BCE Act is being implemented more stringently in the state now. Cases that occur under it are also considered industrial accidents, he added.
DEATHS DUE TO INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS IN 2015
1. Madhya Pradesh - 55
2. Gujarat- 31
3. Rajasthan -28
4. Uttar Pradesh - 23
5. Chhattisgarh - 17
Total deaths in India - 213
DEATHS DUE TO INHALATION OF TOXIC GASES IN 2015
1. Madhya Pradesh - 116
2. Tamil Nadu - 99
3. Gujarat - 51
4. Andhra Pradesh - 37
5. Rajasthan - 23
Total deaths in India - 394
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The demonetisation of the old 500 and 1000 banknotes have had an interesting side effect the prices of pulses have dropped by almost half in Bhopal over the past month, reaching a two-year low.
Traders say the continuous increase in price of pulses resulted in farmers growing pulses in large quantities this year. After demonetisation, the demand dropped.
The minimum support price for some pulses has been increased by the government, which give a boost to farmers. Farmers focused on growing the crop to make a good profit, while government also imported more pulses to boost the domestic supply, thus levelling the demand and supply, said Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) spokesperson Vivek Sahu.
However, after taking actions to curb the soaring price of pulses, the Centre announced the demonetisation, and people have stopped purchasing non-essential items due to the prevailing cash crunch.
Now, markets are selling food grains and pulses at a much lower rate but customers are not willing to purchase them, Sahu said.
Due to the cash crunch and decrease in demand of pulses, hoarders and middlemen have not made any attempt to hoard pulses, which has resulted in the pulses being supplied to the market in an ample amount, said Akhil Bhartiya Vyapari Mandal general secretary Anupam Agrawal.
However, the drop in the price will not affect the condition of farmers in the state, say agriculture experts.
FALLING PRICES
Moong Dal Rs 60-80 (Rs 130-150)
Urad Dal Rs 55-70 (Rs 125)
Chana Dal Rs 110-115 (Rs 130)
(prices in brackets show old prices)
Prime Minister Narendra Modis words of appreciation for bank employees in his televised speech on Saturday has brought little cheer to bank staff. State-owned lenders have called for concrete rewards for their staff, while bank unions have demanded immediate and appropriate compensation and payment of overtime dues to all employees.
The National Organization of Bank Workers (NOBW), an affiliate of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, has also written to the Prime Minister asking him to look into the issue. According to the letter, many banks are yet to pay their staff the overtime dues.
Most public and private sector bank officials have worked not worked extra hours but also on weekends and holidays to meet the surge in customer demand, after the government announced the demonetization exercise on November 8.
While the Prime Minister praised the bank officials for their work, there was no concrete announcement made for their welfare..we have written to the PM urging him to look into the matter, Ashwani Rana, vice president, NOBW, told Hindustan Times. The public sector banks have about 8 lakh employees at present.
The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) too has demanded that the bank managements ensure safety and protection of bank staff by maintaining law and order in all bank branches to prevent harassment of bank staff.
The government and the Reserve Bank of India must take steps to normalize the situation at the earliest, the bank employees are under tremendous pressure with shortage of cash and withdrawal limits still continuing, CH Venkatachalam, general secretary, AIBEA said.
Modi, in his speech, complimented the bank employees including the banking correspondents who primarily work in the rural areas but also said that the few officials who have indulged in misconduct in the last one month will not be spared.
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As the internecine strife in the Samajwadi Party played out last weekend, the BJPs Venkaiah Naidu quipped that the socialist parties unite in the morning, divide in the afternoon, operate in the evening, and separate at night. A veteran of the movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan in the mid-1970s, Naidu presumably knows whereof he speaks. But a closer look at the history of socialist parties shows that the ongoing convulsion is qualitatively different from those of the past. And these differences underscore the fundamental challenge confronting the Samajwadi Party.
The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) formed in 1934 reflected the dissatisfaction of the younger Congress workers JP and Rammanohar Lohia among others with their partys conservatism on social and economic questions. The CSP sought to act as a pressure group within the Congress. But its decision to take in the Communists proved disastrous. As the latter tried to push the CSP in a more radical direction, the first schisms appeared in the party.
Read | History repeating itself? Mulayam followed Lohia, Akhilesh his father
After Independence, the socialists were forced to rethink their relationship with the Congress. And it remained a thorny issue over the following decades. In 1948, JP and others left the Congress and started the Socialist Party (SP). Three years later, another group of Congressmen led by JB Kripalani formed the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP). Both the SP and the KMPP were unhappy with the Congress conservative leadership, notwithstanding Jawaharlal Nehrus progressive outlook. But their poor showing in the first general elections led them to combine in 1952 to form the Praja Socialist Party (PSP).
Within three years, Lohia left to form his own Socialist Party. The move was prompted by his substantive differences with the PSP leadership. Lohia found the PSP insufficiently militant in its opposition to the Congress. This came to the fore during partys lukewarm support for his efforts in 1954 to mobilise farmers in Uttar Pradesh against the hike in the price of canal water. Further, there were ideological disagreements over the relative importance of caste (emphasised by Lohia) and class in Indian politics. Despite periodic calls for socialist unity, these differences widened over the following decade.
Read | Badal to Mulayam, Sidhu to Mayawati: People who matter in 2017 state elections
Personalities aside, there were important issues in contention. The PSP opposed Lohias decision to work with the Jana Sangh in the by-elections of 1963 and his call for extending such an alliance to include the Swatantra Party and the Communists. Then there was Lohias insistence on doing away with English in both the central and state governments. Finally there was Lohias demand for reservations for the backward classes as well as the SCs and STs. Although the two parties merged in May 1964 to form the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP), a section of old PSP leaders peeled away to retain their identity.
Both the SSP and PSP managed to perform better in the 1967 election and joined the anti-Congress coalition Samyukta Vidhayak Dal governments. By this time another strand of socialist politics was crystallising. Charan Singhs decision to leave the Congress and form his own party marked the rise to prominence of a new form politics that underscored the gulf between the peasant and town-dwellers, rural and urban India. Although Charan Singh was a Jat, he sought to project a broad peasant identity that subsumed several lower and upper castes.
Read | Uttar Pradesh elections: All you need to know about Indias political heartland
The coming together of the Lohiaite and kisan politics could be seen in the career of the young, first-time MLA from Charan Singhs party who had come to political consciousness during Lohias canal rate agitation: Mulayam Singh Yadav. It was also evident in the merger in 1974 of a section of the SSP with Charan Singhs party to form the Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD). More importantly, the BLD now embraced the Lohiaite demand for reservation for backward classes.
The JP movement against Indira Gandhi once again brought together socialists of various hues and the Hindu nationalists. After the Emergency, they combined to form the Janata Party that dislodged Gandhi from power. This short-lived government awaits its historian, but popular accounts tend to harp on the socialists habitual squabbling without taking into account the serious issues that rent the party: The appointment of the second Backward Classes Commission led by BP Mandal; Charan Singhs push for reorienting economic policy towards rural India; and the links between Janata members from the Jana Sangh and RSS.
Read | If Mulayam can leave son, why cant we leave him?: Akhilesh rises amid SP feud
The Janata Dal of the 1980s also fissured on similar issues, especially the implementation of the Mandal Commission report and the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. The shadow of family politics also began to lengthen over the socialists especially with Charan Singh and his protege Devi Lal.
The parties that came out of the wreckage of the Janata Dal in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar benefited enormously from the implementation of the Mandal Commissions report and the upper castes opposition to it. The consolidation of an OBC political identity was a remarkable achievement. But 25 years on, the Samajwadi Party is left with little more than caste politics dominated by the Yadavs and buttressed by money and muscle.
Read | Party belongs to me, people by my side: SP chief Mulayam
It is tempting to think that Akhilesh Yadavs platform of development is an attempt to pull back from this cul-de-sac. But the record of the past five years is not encouraging to put it mildly. The ongoing power struggle is a far cry from the substantive political and ideological tussles of the past. Their absence signals the challenges looming ahead of the Samajwadi Party, irrespective of who wins this round.
Srinath Raghavan is senior fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi
The views expressed are personal
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Dehradun: Uttarakhand Board of School Education preponed practical examinations of class 10 and class 12 by a month to avoid clash with the upcoming assembly election, an official said on Wednesday.
Now, the practical examinations will be held from January 16-February 15 and nearly 1,000 teachers will be engaged for the same. Usually, the practical examinations are scheduled for mid-February.
Over 40,000 teachers in primary, junior and high schools are employed with the school education department and nearly 60% of them will released for election duty. The hill state will hold election to the 70-member state assembly on February 15.
We will be completing practical examinations before February 15 so that teachers could be free for election duty. We generally conduct practical in mid-February. But owing to election, we will wrap-up the procedure at the earliest, board secretary RD Sharma told HT.
Students belonging to science and art streams will undergo practical examinations for subjects like chemistry, botany, zoology, physics, fashion designing, arts, Indian music and others.
Written examinations of class 10 and class 12 students, however, should be completed by March 31 to comply with a Supreme Court order that results should be declared by June 5.
Schedule for the written exams is not out yet as the election commission has asked the board to finalise dates in consultation with it.
The official said the board wants to finish written exams of class 12 by the end of March as Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) is scheduled on April 2 (written) and April 8 and 9 (online).
The official said 2.77 lakh class 10 and class 12 students would be appearing for board examinations in the state this year.
Council for Indian School Certificate Examination and Central Board for Secondary Education will be holding written examinations from February-end to April first week.
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The Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared a proposal to transfer 37 hectare land in Dwarka, from DDA to the Union urban development (UD) ministry, for the second diplomatic enclave in the Capital.
Delhi currently has one diplomatic enclave in Chanakyapuri but with hardly any land available in the area, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had requested the UD ministry for more land allotment to diplomatic missions/ international organizations for building their chanceries/ embassies in Delhi. Embassies of over 65 countries are located in Chanakyapuri.
DDA, which comes under the UD ministry, had zeroed in on this particular stretch of land located in Dwarkas Sector 24.
A senior government official said that plots will be allotted to countries who have requested MEA for land. Preference will be given to countries that are running their embassies from rented building, the official added.
Currently diplomatic enclave of some 39 countries runs from rented properties in the Capital.
DDA had earmarked 34.87 hectare land in Sector 24, Dwarka for the project that was first conceived in 2007. This land will now be transferred to UD ministrys Land and Development Office. DDA has already developed the trunk infrastructure including road, electricity, water and sewerage network in the area, said a UD ministry official.
Turkey's Minister for EU Affairs Omer Celik said Wednesday there was no possibility of changing the country's anti-terrorism laws as requested by the EU as it would "endanger both Turkeys and Europes security", Anadolu reported.
Changing counter-terrorism legislation is a key condition of a visa-free travel agreement between the European Union and Turkey.
"We reiterated [during the last Brussels visit] that we cannot meet EUs demand for an amendment to the anti-terror laws. However, there is not any problem in fulfilling the other criteria", he told a joint news conference with U.K. Minister for Europe Alan Duncan in Ankara.
"To ask a country, which has been faced with many terrorist attacks to change its anti-terror law, is to put both the security of Turkey and Europe in jeopardy," Celik said, recalling last Sundays deadly attack on a night club in Istanbul which claimed the lives of 39 people on New Years Eve.
The minister said that due to Turkeys geopolitical position, it was also a provider of Europes security.
"If the parties desire an agreement, the solution could be found. But if it [solution] is not desired, the process will be blocked."
Celik said that a meeting was planned soon in Turkey with EU officials including European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans.
He also said the EU accepted Turkeys previous proposal to hold a bilateral summit and the EU officials were working on setting a date.
"A summit between the TR-EU is needed. Let's not talk about behind each other back, lets talk to each other," he said.
Celik also criticized the mixed response given across the EU over the terrorist attacks in Turkey.
"Why is it that when Turkey is attacked by Daesh, the Turkish flag is put up on public buildings, but the same solidarity is not displayed when it is an attack by the PKK?," he asked.
Turkey and the EU signed a deal in March 2016 aiming to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving conditions for nearly 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
The deal also allows for the acceleration of Turkeys EU membership bid and visa-free travel for Turkish nationals within the Schengen area, on the condition that Ankara meets 72 requirements set by the EU.
While Turkey has fulfilled most of the criteria, differences between Brussels and Ankara on anti-terror legislation have forestalled the visa liberalization deal.
The Delhi Development Authority is ready with its next housing plan under which it will build more than 16,000 homes, 33% of which will be for high-income groups.
The project to build 16,584 flats in areas such as Vasant Kunj, Dwarka, Rohini, Preet Vihar, Phazulpur, Mandawali and Khichdipur had got all the clearances, sources said. The work will begin as soon as the plan is passed by senior DDA officials.
On offer will be one -bedroom flats for economically weaker sections and the low-income group (LIG), two-bedroom houses for the middle-income group (MIG) and three-bedroom units for the higher income group (HIG). The cost of these houses is yet to be decided, a senior DDA official said.
The new project comes close on the heels of the citys land developers getting the nod for 13,000 flats that are expected to go on the market in the coming months.
While 90% of these flats are in the LIG category, the new scheme will have around 33% HIG flats, most of which will come up in Vasant Kunj in south Delhi, Dwarka in Southwest and Rohini in Northwest.
Bulk of the 5,000 EWS houses and 5,000 LIG houses will come up in the east and Rohini zone while some are also planned for Dwarkas sectors 14 and 19.
The DDA has not set any deadline for the project as it is in the planning stages but sources expect it to be completed in two to three years.
Officials have been asked to prepare a detailed project report and initial estimates, sources said.
DDAs new housing project
EWS LIG MIG HIG Total in every zone East zone 2709 2040 4749 Vasant Kunj 250 613 164 1027 Narela 1310 3495 4805 Dwarka zone 399 425 563 1387 Rohini zone 1258 2013 1345 4616 Total 5926 4478 613 5567 16584
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Upset over not being able to exchange old notes, a woman allegedly stripped in front of a crowd outside Reserve Bank of India (RBI) building in New Delhi on Wednesday afternoon.
Police officials said the woman, a domestic help, came to the bank with a four-year-old child. She had been coming to the bank for the last two days, hoping to exchange R 4,000 old notes. But she allegedly stripped after the bank officials told her that the last date for exchanging old notes at bank counters was November 24, and so they cannot exchange her old notes now.
Police said that the woman had no identity card. The old notes that she was carrying were damaged and chopped by rats.
The incident was recorded by someone on mobile phone.
Police said after the woman was told that they the bank was no longer accepting R 1,000 and R 500 old notes, she started shouting. The local police was called in to calm her down.
In the video, two women constables are seen trying to take the woman inside a PCR van. But she is resisting, shouting and crying till the constables let her go. Later, before the public or police could stop her, she strips as a mark of protest. Bystanders were shocked as she stripped off her kurta. Her child was standing beside her.
The woman stripped and demanded to meet RBI officials. She wanted to persuade them to exchange her old notes. She was covered up and taken to the bank officials. They informed her that her old notes cannot be exchanged anymore. Also, she had no identity card. The old notes she was carrying were soiled. It looked like rats had eaten them, said a senior police officer.
The woman was let off. No case was registered, police said.
Opposing the bail plea of controversial lawyer Rohit Tandon, the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday told a Delhi court that he was one of the main conspirators in the illegal conversion of nearly Rs 60 crore demonetised currency.
Tandon is in jail for alleged seizure of Rs 13.6 crore cash from his law firm as part of crackdown on black money.
Tandons counsel sought bail for him submitting before the additional sessions judge R K Tripathi that his clients arrest was illegal and prima facie no offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was made out.
The court, however, listed the case for further conclusion arguments on January 7 while asking both the parties to give written submissions by then.
Opposing the bail plea of Tandon, EDs counsel Vikas Garg submitted that the application was not maintainable as it was moved under section 439 (special powers of high court or sessions court regarding bail) of CrPC and not under the relevant section of PMLA.
He also argued that several bank accounts were used for depositing demonetised currency on the instruction of Tandon who connived with arrested accused and Kotak Mahindra bank manager Ashish Kumar and others for the alleged conversion at a commission of 35%.
Stacks of currency notes that was found at Rohit Tandon's Greater Kailash residence during a raid by Delhi Police crime branch. Cash worth Rs 13.65 cr, including at least Rs 2.61 cr in new Rs 2,000 currency notes were recovered. (PTI file photo)
However, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Tandon, submitted that the accused has not cheated people as the governments November 8 notification on demonetisation, had allowed depositing of any amount of money in bank accounts.
As per the notification on behalf of the ministry of finance no penal provision has been mentioned in case a person has large denomination of currency in old notes. The said notification does not attract any criminal charges for holding old notes in huge denominations, the counsel said.
He further said that there was no allegation against the accused in the FIR and he has fully cooperated in the probe even before he was arrested.
The ED counsel, however, referred to the recorded statement of Kumar and Tandons employee Dinesh Bhola in which they mentioned about having a meeting with Tandon and his firms CEO Kamal Jain after demonetisation to discuss how to convert demonetised currency into new ones.
The court had on January 2 sent Tandon to 14 days judicial custody along with Kumar and businessman Paras Lodha.
Seconds before allegedly committing suicide at west Delhis City Square Mall, 21-year-old Shubhangi had put a one-page alleged suicide note in the dustbin outside the washroom on the third floor from where she jumped off on Tuesday afternoon.
Vijay Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (west), confirmed that the note was recovered later in the evening after they scanned CCTV camera footage of the mall and found that one of the cameras had captured her throwing a paper in the dustbin. We took out the paper from the dustbin. It was a suicide note which the woman had addressed to her family members, said the DCP.
Through the note, a police officer said, the woman has expressed resentment towards her parents. The contents of the note hint that her parents were unhappy and upset because of her relationship with a man who was with her at the mall when she committed suicide. In the note, the woman has admitted that she made some mistakes but goes on to say that her parents should have forgiven her, the officer said.
Read: 21-year-old jumps to death from west Delhi mall
The police questioned Shubhangis friend who was with her at the mall. He told them that they were at the mall since 1 pm. In the video footage, the couple is initially seen talking to each other for almost two hours in the lawn outside the mall. Around 3.45 pm, the woman went inside the mall after telling him that she had to use the washroom.
Her friend is seen waiting for her for almost twenty minutes. He then went inside and saw a crowd gathered in the courtyard of the mall. As the man went further, he was shocked to see Shubhangi lying in a pool of blood, the officer said. Eyewitnesses told Shubhangis friend that she had jumped off the third floor.
A few people in the mall rushed her to a nearby private hospital, where she underwent treatment for an hour before she passed away. Police said Shubhangi received severe injuries in the head.
Some shoppers told police the girl was spotted talking on phone and walking towards the washroom of the floor. Police said within minutes she jumped off.
A resident of Tilak Nagars Harijan Basti, Shubhangi was pursuing graduation through distance education. Her father is a sanitation worker in Delhis civic department.
An unruly passenger flew all the way from Dubai to New Delhi tied to his seat as the crew aboard an Indigo flight, 6E-024, had to take the drastic step for his fellow passengers safety soon after take-off on Tuesday evening.
Sources said the man turned violent started shouting, pushed passengers and ran along the aisle when the plane took off from Dubai.
After the flight landed at 10:40 pm in New Delhi on Tuesday, he was escorted out with the help of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, who guard the airport. He was handed over to police later.
He was not following safety instructions, said a Delhi Police officer.
The reason behind his behaviour was not clear, whether he was mentally disturbed, or was under the influence of narcotics or alcohol.
A medical examination has been conducted, the police officer said. Action will be taken after we receive the medical report. We will contact his family to know his medical history.
Sources said he had to be overpowered and tethered to his seat after all efforts to pacify him failed.
A passenger can be restrained and isolated as part of the crews standard operating procedure if his behaviour poses a risk to fellow passengers and the aircraft.
At IndiGo such unruly behaviour is not acceptable, said a spokesperson of Indigo, a private airline.
In-flight bad conduct is happening more often these days and situations sometimes fly out of hand, despite the crews training to tackle such mid-air nuisance.
A day before the IndiGo incident, an Air India airhostess filed a complaint against a flier from Muscat.
Passengers are rude and sometimes turn violent over minor things. We ask our staff to keep calm but there are guidelines to tie down a passenger if the situation goes out of hand, an airline official said.
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Teachers and employees of Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV) will have to sign a letter stating they will not apply political pressure for seeking transfers to postings of their choice. According to sources, a circular was issued last month to all the principals of KVs that strict disciplinary action will be taken against teachers found doing so.
It is learnt that a number of teachers and employees had sent a representation to the Union human resources development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar and others to get their choice of posting. This bad practice is not only hampering the working of other offices of the MHRD but also bringing a bad name for the whole KVS family, states a letter by Santosh Kumar Mall, commissioner of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS).
The content of this letter must be brought to the notice of every teacher and employee of your vidyalaya by handing over a copy of this letter and obtaining his/her signature as an acknowledgment, the letter added.
KVS has said it will take strict action against endorsed requests.
Officials said out of the 7,108 transfers last year, 6,000 were carried out according to the choice of teachers and employees. 549 teachers however, were sent to hard and very hard stations on administrative grounds.
There are 1,128 KVs in the country with more than 55,000 teachers.
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The forest department issued a notice against a Faridabad forest range officer for his alleged involvement in clearing four acres of land in the Aravallis in the last few days.
The move comes on the back of a complaint by green activists about non-forest activities in the Aravallis.
In an alleged attempt to grab land in the Aravalli areas, more than 100 trees were cleared from four acres of forest close to the Manav Rachna University along the Gurgaon-Faridabad road.
Police have lodged an FIR in the matter. Commissioner of police, Faridabad, Hanif Qureshi said, An FIR had been registered against unknown persons and we are probing the matter. The area comes under sections 4&5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA),1900, where felling of trees is prohibited.
Green activists said violators are trying to set up a liquor vend in the area, which come within 500 metres of the national highway, making it illegal.
Jitender Bhadana of Save Aravalli, an NGO, said a makeshift structure has been set up to start a liquor vend. Even though the police, district administration and forest department are informed about the development, no action has been taken yet. The land belongs to a former minister and that is why the case is not being taken seriously by the forest department. The forest range officer is also involved in the incident, Bhadana said.
The forest department said it will take action against the officer involved. We are aware of the development and have issued a notice to the vigilance department and to the district forest officer to take action against the officer, MD Sihna, conservator of forest, south Haryana, said.
Land grab cases have become common in Gurgaon-Faridabad Aravallis region. The forest department has issued notices against 18 liquor vends operating along the Gurgaon-Faridabad road, last month.
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In a major crack down on alleged black money post demonetisation, CBI has so far registered 32 cases related to irregularities in currency conversion by Banks and postal department officials with total amount involved at over Rs 200 crore.
Out of 32, three to four case are against Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials, five against Post Office employees and the remaining cases are against those employed with different banks, said a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official.
They have been charged with illegally exchanging old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes into new currency after Prime Minister Narendra Modis demonetisation announcement on November 8.
We have so far registered 32 cases of violation of demonetisation and detected about Rs 200 crore illegal transaction. During raids at the office and residential premises of the arrested accused persons, we have recovered Rs 15 crore, said the official.
CBI said so far agency has been able to seize Rs 15 crore during its country wide searches in connection with alleged irregularities in the distribution and holding of new currency introduced post note ban move.
Read| Note ban effect on vote bank: Why demonetisation is a key issue in 2017 assembly polls
The historical Gandhi Maidan has turned into a mini Punjab with thousands of guests paying obeisance at the replica of Takht Harmandir Sahib daily.
Pilgrims who have come from different parts of India and abroad, including the United States of America, Europe and China, are also utilising the rare opportunity to go on shopping spree, as local businessmen put their best foot forward to attract the Sikh community to Bihari culture and food fare.
Stalls of khadi kurtis and dupattas, terracotta items, jute bags, jewelleries and khadi cotton bedsheets are attracting Punjabi visitors who are also appreciative of the products of Bihar.
Stalls of Bihari cuisines are attracting both Bihari and Punjabi visitors alike. Food stalls of tilkut from Gaya , khaaja, kesar peda, launglata, chandrakala, lakhto, balushahi, anarsa and thekua are attracting good business too.
The stall on jute jewellery from Arya Jute of Patna has already seen good footfall of customers from Punjab.
The pieces are very creative. They are made of jute which is rarely seen in Punjab. I will buy four sets for my daughters, said Balwinder Kaur, who has come from Amritsar to attend the 350th Prakash Parv.
Middle aged Manpreet Singh from Bhatinda was busy selecting khadi jackets in various colours. I have seen politicians wearing such bundi (sleeveless jackets). I always wanted to buy one for myself. Here the price is quite reasonable. I will buy one today, he said. The jackets cost Rs 1,200 each.
Khadi suit pieces embellished with Madhubani paintings cost Rs 1,000 and Bhagalpuri silk dupattas priced at Rs 600 are also attracting women in large numbers.
People love some of these products and most stalls have seen good business. Punjabis are loving the suit pieces we have and they are also cheaper than in other parts of the country, said stall owner, Smita.
We are trying to impress the guests with our dishes and build a brand of our culture so that they keep visiting our state, said Roushan Singh, a stall owner.
Praising the arrangements made by the Bihar government, Amanpreet Bhalla of Amritsar said, The city is very clean and the management of the whole event is very good. Contrary to bad publicity of the state, we are finding the scene here quite different.
The Trinamool Congress is expected to launch pan-India protests on Wednesday against the arrest of its MP, Sudip Bandyopadhyay in the Rose Valley scam.
Bandyopadhyay, who was arrested on Tuesday, said it was because of his partys good performance against the governments demonetisation.
It is the reflection of a good performance in the Parliament (by TMC in opposing demonetisation), Bandyopadhyay told reporters while being taken to the airport in Kolkata.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, on Wednesday, also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modis government of attacking those who opposed the note ban.
This is vendetta politics of Modi ji. His msg is - Agar kisi ne notbandi ke khilaaf bola to chhodenge nahi. Really deplorable. https://t.co/yPhkzZXm1w Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 4, 2017
Bandyopadhyay was taken to Bhubaneshwar by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to produce him in court on Wednesday.
Following his arrest, TMC workers went on a rampage in Kolkata, attacking the BJP office with stones and vandalising cars parked outside. Late on Tuesday, BJP leader Krishna Bhattacharyas house in Uttarpara was allegedly attacked by TMC workers. A case was registered.
WB: BJP leader Krishna Bhattacharya's house in Uttarpara allegedly attacked by TMC workers, last night. Case registered (Last night visuals) pic.twitter.com/R3PQlzO23a ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
A CBI statement said the TMC leader was charged for cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy among others under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, and various sections of Prize, Chits and Money Circulation (Banning) Act of 1978.
Bandyopadhyay arrived at the CBI office in Kolkata after being summoned by the investigation agency. He was arrested after being interrogated for four hours.
He will be questioned again in Bhubaneswar in the case which was lodged in the Odisha capital.
Reacting to the news, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee threatened to arrest BJP leaders in Bengal. I just cant believe Sudip Bandyopadhyay has been arrested. He is a senior leader of our party in the Parliament! she said on Tuesday.
A member of Banerjees core team, 64-year-old Bandyopadhyay is the chief whip of the Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha. Elected to the house from Kolkata North constituency, he participates in debates on every issue of importance from GST to demonetisation both in Parliament and outside it.
Another TMC MP Tapas Pal, arrested in the same case on December 30, is under CBI custody in Bhubaneswar.
Attendees visit the stand of ZTE during the second day of the Mobile World Congress 2016. (Photo : Getty Images)
ZTE, one of the top optical network product and solution provider worldwide, was chosen by CK Hutchison Holdings Limited and VimplelCom Limited to merge and manage their Italian mobile networks. This is a big loss to Ericsson as the company has business with both carriers before.
Xiao Ming, the head of ZTE in Europe, said, "We want Italy to become ZTE's Europe Hub. ZTE also plans to create thousands of new jobs in Italy, increasing the skills of its technicians and expanding the number of staff involved in related industries."
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ZTE won the $1 billion contract against Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia Oyj. This deal will give ZTE a boost on scaling-up in its European operations. 3 Italia and Wind Telecommunicazioni SpA, both owned by CK Hutchison and VimpleCom, respectively, received European Union approval in September for their merger, which will create the largest mobile-phone network in Italy. It is said that the second-largest market for Hutchison is Italy, led by billionaire Chairman Li Ka-Shing, behind UK.
As Ericsson is not chosen, it is currently in a dire situation and could lay-off a quarter of its workforce in Italy. In October, Ericsson announced that it will slash 3,000 jobs after months of speculations regarding its poor financial results. This is to reduce manufacturing and operating costs.
It is predicted that about 1,600 of these employees are expected to take the company's voluntary redundancy packages. In addition, it also announced that about 900 of their consultants are set to depart the company. All of these problems contributed to the departure of CEO Hans Vestberg.
The contract loss puts further pressure to Borje Ekholm, the incoming CEO of the company. He will be stepping up from being one of the board-of-directors of the company for a decade. He is said to take over the CEO position in January with a task of reviving Ericsson's fortunes after one year.
Congress appears to have kept its doors open for a pre-poll alliance in Uttar Pradesh, given the inclination of SPs newly elected president Akhilesh Yadav for such a tie-up to garner over 300 assembly seats.
As of now, we are working on the recommendations of the screening committee for all the 403 seats in the state... what can happen in future will be known only later... but there is a lot of pressure on secular parties (for an alliance), AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad told media on the sidelines of the partys executive committee meeting in Lucknow.
The 36-member central election committee will meet here from tomorrow (Thursday) for three days in which names of the candidates will be finalised, he said.
The Congress leader, however, did not openly advocate alliance with any party for the coming polls.
Talks of a possible alliance with Congress had hit the roadblock with SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav ruling out tie up with any party and favouring only merger of parties with SP.
Leaders including UPCC president Raj Babbar, chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit among others took part in the executive committee meeting which condemned demonetisation and attacked the central government for imposing hardships on the common people.
Political dynasties, veterans and young leaders, uncles, sons and fathers: everyones future is at stake in the upcoming five-state assembly elections, dates of which were announced by the Election Commission today. Here is a look at all the contenders fighting it out for power:
The Narendra Modi Factor
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP have a lot at stake in UP, and not merely because he represents the Varanasi seat in Lok Sabha. His partys performance could depend on, among other factors, the tricky play out of the twin surgical strikes, one across the LoC and the other on black money. While the strike on terror camps across the border could yield patriotic dividends, the demonetisation drive could be a boon or boomerang badly. Not just that, the outcome of UP 2017 could also indicate which way the wind is blowing for the Modi government
Uttar Pradesh
Mulayam Singh Yadav: After the bitter feud that ripped Samajwadi Party and pitched father against son, the UP polls could prove to be Mulayam Singhs toughest bout -- and final -- bout in the political arena. The veteran Netaji goes into battle not only for Uttar Pradesh, but to win back his Samajwadi Party.
Mulayam Singh Yadav
Akhilesh Yadav: Challengers within the Yadav clan ensured that Akhileshwas ousted from his own party, but the Yadav scion staged an asseritve comeback, ousting his father as the chief of Samajawadi Party. Akhilesh Yadav may have broken out of his fathers shadow, but he has inherited a divided party, with rivals BSP and BJP snapping at his heels.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. (Gurinder Osan/HT PHOTO)
Shivpal Yadav: Mulayams brother and the partys muscleman is blamed for the rift in the Yadav clan. Shivpal has now been sidelined, but feels he has not been given his due.
Shivpal Yadav
Mayawati: The BSP supremo has been hit by high-profile desertions, allegations from party rebels that tickets were being sold and an Enforcement Directorate statement questioning Rs 104 crores deposited into the partys account.Trying hard to keep allegations at bay and keeping her votebank together, Behenji is eyeing a return to power.
Sheila Dikshit: The Congress chief ministerial face is virtually an outsider in UP. She had to abandon the inaugural campaign yatra in August midway due to ill-health. While Congress is eyeing an alliance with the Samajwadi Party, these elections could mark a turning point in the Delhis former chief minister.
Shiela Dikshit
Punjab
Sukhbir Badal: Badal is the de facto CM calling the shots on candidate lists and the Akali Dals larger campaign, as the party president. Arvind Kejriwal has announced that he will pit his crowd-puller comedian and MP Bhagwant Mann against Sukhbir and the clash will be one to watch out for.
Sukhbir Singh Badal
Capt Amarinder Singh: Amarinder has often said it on record that it is his last election and he wants a win after two back-to-back defeats under his command. But will the Congress name him as the CM candidate before elections is the key question.
Amarinder Singh
Arvind Kejriwal: AAP is the underdog in Punjab polls and can play spoiler for the SAD-BJP and the Congress or even go down as the winner. Kejriwal is holding rallies and releasing manifestos for each section of voters.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal
Navjot Singh Sidhu: He is expected to be a wild card entry into the Congress close to the polls. His wife Dr Navjot Kaur has joined hands with the Congress, but Sidhu may play hardball a little longer.
Navjot Singh Sidhu
Sucha Singh Chottepur: The Aapna Punjab Party (APP) chief too is a man to watch out for. His anger is totally personal and directed towards Kejriwal for his unceremonious ouster as state chief. He may throw his weight behind old friend Amarinder or just play a spoiler for AAP.
Sucha Singh Chotepur
Uttarakhand
Harish Rawat: Survived a political coup engineered by rebel Congress MLAs, as well as a sting video purportedly showing him offering money to legislators to save his government. Amid the churn, the state saw Presidents rule for a while.
Harish Rawat
Vijay Bahuguna: The former Congress CM is now in the BJP. He would be smarting from losing the top seat to Rawat in early 2014.
Vijay Bahuguna
Goa
Manohar Parrikar: The BJP win in 2012 is credited more to Parrikar than the party. The defence minister and former chief minister of Goa will be a star campaigner and is expected to handhold the state BJP.
Manohar Parrikar
Sudin Dhavalikar and Dipak Dhavalikar: Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar dropped the two MGP ministers from his cabinet on December 12. He justified this, saying it was done to prevent BJP cadre from getting demoralised by their outbursts in the poll-bound state. The ouster of the Dhavalikar brothers raises prospects of new equations in the state.
Manipur
Okram Ibobi Singh: Manipaurs current Chief Minister, who has been holding on to the position since 2002 and is seeking to return to power yet another time.
Okram Ibobi Singh
Irom Sharmila: The rights activist, who ended her 16-year hunger strike this year, has joined active politics by launching her own party. Sharmila will be taking Ibobi head on, contesting against him.
Irom Sharmila
In a veiled warning to TMC to mend its ways or face consequences, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Wednesday wondered whether TMC MPs and party supremo Mamata Banerjee would be able to go around the country and enter New Delhi if his party starts protesting against them.
Furious over the attack on state BJP headquarters by TMC activists on Tuesday, following the arrest of TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay, Vijayvargiya lashed out at city police commissioner Rajeev Kumar for tuning a blind eye to the attack on BJP office.
He urged the CBI to investigate the alleged role of Kumar in wiping out evidences against TMC leaders in the chit fund scam, during his tenure as the head of the state government-formed SIT.
Refuting allegations that CBI arrests in chit fund scams were a political vendetta against TMC as it has been opposing demonetisation, Vijyavargiya warned TMC to mend its ways and stop attacking BJP offices and workers or else the party would also not sit silently.
Read: TMC workers block roads across Bengal, showdown with BJP escalates
We may not be as strong as TMC in Bengal. But in the entire country we are the strongest political force. I wonder if BJP workers in Delhi decide that TMC MPs would not be allowed to enter Delhi, would they be able to enter Delhi?
The answer is no. If BJP workers decide to protest across the country, would Mamata Banerjee be able to roam the country freely? If TMC doesnt mend its ways, we will also not sit silently, Vijyavargiya, who is also BJP observer in-charge of West Bengal, told reprters.
The BJPs thumping victory in the Chandigarh municipal election on December 20 led party chief Amit Shah to describe it as a stamp of approval for Narendra Modis demonetisation decision. He had reasons to make that claim. BJP won almost every poll countrywide, post the note ban.
But Shah has taken a huge risk in describing election victories as endorsement of demonetisation. Any adverse outcome in the ensuing assembly elections in five states Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur will deny him the liberty to delink the election result and demonetisation.
Is Shahs bravado driven by ground reports about an overwhelming support for demonetisation, or a misplaced confidence that had earlier seen him claim that the BJP would get two-thirds majority in Delhi and Bihar?
Demonetisation has dominated the national discourse for past two months, but can it really overshadow the feud in Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh? Or will it negate the anti-incumbency of 10 years faced by the Akali Dal-BJP government in Punjab? Will demonetisation upset the calculation of Harish Rawat in Uttarakhand who is counting on factionalism in BJP in Uttarakhand to pull off a victory? Can it prevent entry of a third player the AAP in Goa or help the BJP end the three term rule of the Congress in Manipur?
State elections have their own flavour, mostly decided by local issues. But demonetisation which has touched every countryman will be common to all five elections. Local issues will dominate and demonetisation will be like background music, says Pramod Kumar, the Director of Chandigarh-based Institute for Development and Communication. The note recall has a moral dimension. Arvind Kejriwals opposition to the decision hurts his image.
BJP leaders claim Modi has created a pro-poor image for himself by taking an anti-rich position. It should benefit us in election as we pass new milestones, winning over new social groups. This is a well thought move by Modi, a BJP general secretary told HT.
The BJP and the Congress will be in a direct contest in Uttarakhand and Manipur. Goa and Punjab will have triangular contest between NDA, Congress and AAP, and Uttar Pradesh a four-cornered fight.
Among parties who have stakes in these polls, the Congress, BSP and AAP have strongly opposed the note ban. They are counting on peoples anger against demonetisation. But both the BJP and its rivals may be overestimating the impact of demonetization.
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A day after CBI arrested TMCs Sudip Bandyopadhyay, his party colleague and West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra on Wednesday walked out angrily from a pre-budget meeting saying there was financial emergency and political environment of fear in the country.
Mitra, who was in full attendance at the two-day meeting of the GST council chaired by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley that ended on Wednesday, said the Union budget had become a meaningless exercise after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation on New Years eve, made announcements similar to a budget presentation.
He said that before walking out, he made the Union finance minister, who had called the meeting, hear the expectations of states on his fourth budget to be presented on February 1 and also make him aware of the financial emergency imposed by demonetisation and the job losses it has led to.
I wanted the finance minister to hear the reality on the ground, the financial emergency in the country, the political environment of fear all around, he told reporters after emerging from the meeting.
Bandyopadhyay was arrested by the CBI in Kolkata on Tuesday in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam -- a move that promoted West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to allege that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was using central agencies like the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and income tax department against his political rivals who were raising their voice against demonetisation.
The Trinamool Congress, he said, is today demonstrating against the political emergency that seems to have happened at every nook and corner on every matter.
Mitra also said currency demonetisation has led to closure of small industries and left hundreds jobless across the country, including the BJP-ruled States.
While the leather industry in West Bengal has completely collapsed, closure of 12 lakh powerlooms in Maharashtra had led to workers returning to their native places in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana.
In case of Maharashtra, the red chilly industry has collapsed, falling by 30-40%; while in Nagpur, oranges industry has collapsed, he said.
There is a financial emergency that is not being talked about. Even the data that honourable finance minister gave on his receiving taxes, none of the media got the facts as he gave it from April to end of November, not after November 8, he said.
Mitra said he wanted Jaitley to hear the truth.
I would like to say to you today with a very heavy heart that I have walked out of the meeting after making my presentation..., he said.
The budget, he said, has become meaningless for the first time in the history of India. Budget has already been announced by the honourable prime minister. It doesnt happen anywhere else. Given this perspective, I had to protest it and I had to walk out in protest.
Mitra asked who was responsible for the financial crisis caused by demonetisation and derailing of the economy? What goes into Budget has already been announced by the Prime Minister. What is the finance minister there for now?, he asked.
The West Bengal finance minister said his submission at the pre-budget meeting primarily focused on demonetisation and what it is doing to the economy as a perspective of the budget.
Budget needs a perspective. 1.26 lakh crore has been sacrificed according to CMIE, he said, adding diamond workers have returned home from Gujarat.
In Maharashtra, there are 24 lakh powerlooms, 12 lakh of those powerlooms are closed and workers from there have gone back to their States. But nobody is bothered in the central government, he said.
Leather industry in West Bengal has completely collapsed.
Stating that 70% of Indias exports of gloves and handbags are from the state, he said small and medium enterprises and unorganised sectors are starving.
You make a budget on the (basis of) reality on the ground. There is a financial emergency that is not being talked about, he said.
He said Jaitley had talked of buoyancy in tax revenue for April-November period while defending demonetisation but he did not give numbers after November 8.
I also told them that the tax collections in December in West Bengal last year (2015) was 11% higher..., it is a negative growth of 2% (December, 2016) since Bengal has lost 13% of potential taxes, he said, adding states were faced with 30-40% decline in their Budget revenues.
He asked how could the States fund their social programmes, health, water, physical infrastructure, schools, colleges, roads.
So financial crisis of derailing the economy. Who is responsible for that?, he asked.
The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, approved the signing of an MoU between India and Kenya on agriculture and associated areas, said an official release.
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Kenya on bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture and allied sectors, said a Cabinet release.
A Joint Working Group would be constituted, with representatives from both countries, to develop programmes for execution of the MoU and will also monitor their implementation, the release said.
The MoU would cover various activities in the field of agricultural research, animal husbandry and dairy, livestock and fisheries horticulture, natural resource management, soil and conservation, water management, irrigation farming systems development and associated fields.
The MoU shall enter into force on the day of signing and shall remain valid for a period of five years and shall automatically be renewed for a subsequent period of five years unless either Party notifies the other in writing, six months before the expiry of the validity period of the intention to terminate it, the release added.
In his farewell speech yesterday, retiring Chief Justice of India T.S Thakur reiterated the need for Indias courts to reduce their massive backlog of pending cases.
Thakur, who assumed office in 2015 and made pending cases a top priority, leaves behind a greater number of pending cases for his successor, Jagdish Singh Khehar. The number of pending cases at the Supreme Court increased by 1,000 last year, according to the latest annual report of the Supreme Court.
At lower courts, the situation is even worse. High courts saw their pending caseload jump by 60,000, while subordinate courts backlog soared by almost ten lakh cases.
During his term last year, Thakur had stressed the need for courts to fill vacancies in order to reduce their backlog, claiming Indian courts need to add more than 70,000 judges to clear all pending cases.
As of March 31, 2016, 20 percent of the judgeships were vacant at both the Supreme Court and district courts, according to the Supreme Courts quarterly newsletter. At the high courts, 40 percent of the bench was unfilled.
Yet hiring judges may not by itself be enough to reduce the backlog. Instead, experts say, all of Indias courts from the Supreme Court down to the district court must become more efficient with their management of cases, even as they work to hire judges to fill vacancies on the bench.
At the current level of efficiency, if you increase the number of judges significantly, you can make a dent in the problem within the next three-four years, said Alok Prasanna Kumar, Senior Resident Fellow at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy in Delhi.
Shortage of judges is not the source of the problem, Kumar added. This is about process management.
One way to reduce the backlog is to change how judges spend their time, said Surya Prakash, program director at Daksh, a Bengaluru-based legal think tank.
In Bengaluru, for example, judges spent 44 percent of their time dealing with administrative issues, while in Delhi, that figure was 52 percent, according to a study conducted by Daksh and Centre for Civil Society in Delhi. These figures have not been disputed by the judiciary, according to Prakash.
A judge, Prakash said, should only look after the courts substantive responsibilities, which include hearing arguments and reading out judgements. Instead, at the moment, a judge is also required to perform clerical duties or attend to administrative matters outside the courtroom.
The administrative tasks would be better left to people trained to accomplish them. They need to have experts embedded in the system, Kumar said. He said this expert can be an MBA or someone who understands how to manage processes.
Khehar, the incoming CJI, can take stock of the situation under the National Court Management System (NCMS), which would be under his control. Established in 2012 by then-CJI S.H Kapadia, NCMS has laid down various guidelines for all courts in order to improve management of cases. For example, an NCMS report on case management recommends that a capital punishment or rape case should not take more than nine months in court.
Yet no matter how he uses the NCMS, the CJIs power to reduce the national case backlog is limited because lower courts are not beholden to his orders.
The chief justices of high court do not report to the Chief Justice of India, Prakash said. That is why this [case pendency] is a problem across the nation.
India on Wednesday urged China to renew its decision to block designating Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Mazood Azhar as a terrorist by the United Nations and said Beijing should understand the double standards of this self-defeating purpose.
China, an all-weather ally of Pakistan, has been hamperping Indian efforts to bring Azhar, who heads the JeM India blamed for terrorist attacks on Pathankot airbase January last year in the UN sanctions list.
The individuals and entities in the list face an asset freeze, travel bans and other measures that would cripple their efforts to carry out terrorist activities.
We hope as a responsible and mature nation, China will understand double standards of this self-defeating purpose, minister of state for external affairs M J Akbar said.
We expect China to hear the voice of the world, not just voice of India on terrorism, he said, recalling barring veto-wielding China, 14 out of 15 countries in the UN Sanctions Committee favoured action against Azhar.
He also hoped China can be persuaded to see the evil of the menace.
Akbar and his ministerial colleague V K Singh, flanked by foreign secretary S Jaishankar were addressing the mid-term press conference of the external affairs ministry.
Replying to a volley of questions on talks with Pakistan, the ministers said terror and talks cannot go together, in reference to the reported cross-border terrorism sponsored by the neighbour. When asked why India is not closing down Pakistans diplomatic mission even after some ministers declared it a terror state, Akbar quoted former prime minister AB Vajpayee, we cannot choose our neighbour.
We need to deal with them. We deal with them with our eyes open and not with our mind closed, Akbar said.
He refused to comment on reports that the UAE government seized assets worth `15,000 crore belonging to gangster Dawood Ibrahim who lives in Pakistan. Answering another question, VK Singh dismissed Russia, China and Pakistan meeting to discuss Afghanistan.
Mere meeting of countries without any result on the ground will not make any difference to the situation in Afghanistan, he said.
Singh said the greater flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) to India is a sign of success of the countrys foreign policy.
The RBI will remove restrictions on cash withdrawals after assessing market situation, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today even as he ruled out interfering with the conditions barring anyone other than NRIs and Indians returning from abroad from depositing the junked notes in select central bank branches.
RBI will decide by assessing market situation. Many a time, actions are taken in phases, so relaxations are also done in phases, he said when asked by when restrictions on cash withdrawals are expected to be removed.
Currently, an account holder is allowed to withdraw Rs 24,000 per week from the counters and Rs 4,500 per day from ATM.
The 50-day demonetisation exercise of depositing and exchanging of defunct Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes closed on December 30.
To a question on people not being able to avail the facility due to some genuine reasons, the Finance Minister said this facility was available for everyone and he would not like to interfere with the criteria set by the RBI.
Without committing to any easing of the restrictions for those who failed to avail the window, he said: People in large number have already exchanged. Only a few are left...we dont go by... Whatever reason, the RBI has fixed their own criteria. At least, I will respect that criteria.
When told that the Prime Minister in his November 8 address to the nation had also said that people will have opportunity till March 31 to deposit old notes in select RBI branches, Jaitley said the Prime Minister had specifically said that RBI will fix terms and conditions.
The word terms and conditions was part of Prime Ministers address, he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the nation, on November 8 had said, There may be some who for some reason, are not able to deposit their old 500 or 1,000 rupee notes by December 30, 2016.
They can go to specified offices of the Reserve Bank of India up to March 31, 2017 and deposit the notes after submitting a declaration form.
As per the terms and conditions of RBI, NRIs and Indians returning from abroad will have to physically show the junked 500 and 1,000 rupee notes to Customs officials at the airport and get a declaration form stamped before they can deposit the demonetised currency in RBI during the grace period.
Indians who were abroad during November 9 to December 30 have been given a 3-month grace period till March 31 to deposit the junked notes, while for the NRIs, it is six months till June 30.
While there is no limit on deposit of defunct notes by an Indian national who was abroad when the 50-day window was in operation, NRIs can deposit only Rs 25,000 as per FEMA law restrictions.
DMKs treasurer MK Stalin was elevated as the partys working president on Wednesday, days after the ruling AIADMK party elected Sasikala Natarajan as the new chief after J Jayalalithaas death.
Party supremo M Karunanidhi, who was recently hospitalised twice, will remain president, but his son Stalin will enjoy similar powers and be in complete charge. Stalin will also retain the post of the treasurer till further orders.
The 93-year-old party patriarch was unable to attend the meeting having been advised rest but sent a message to the meeting that was read out.
The move, which has been expected among the partys circles, was announced at a crucial general body meeting chaired by senior leader K Anbazhagan. Stalins name was proposed by Anbazhagan and seconded by an emotional S Duraimurugan.
Thalapathy (Commander) MK Stalin DMK patriarch M Karunanidhis 63-year-old son is perhaps the longest serving political apprentice to his father Had to fight a major battle within the family to edge out his brother Alagiri for the number one position Began his political career when he was just 14, campaigning for DMK in 1967 elections Was a student leader and took part in youth wing activities and emerged as a leader in his own right. Served as the high-profile mayor of Chennai from 1996 to 2002 and the deputy chief minister in the DMK government headed by Karunanidhi from 2009 to 2011 Is DMKs treasurer and president of its youth wing Was arrested under MISA during Emergency and came into limelight Lost just two elections and won six times, the last five consecutively from different constituencies
Stalin bowed and touched the feet of Anbazhagan as soon as the announcement was made at a crowded auditorium located at the DMK headquarters in Chennai. His sister Kanimozhi was among the audience.
In a brief acceptance speech, Stalin said that the circumstances in which he was assuming charge as the working president in the absence of his father had decreased his satisfaction.
Read | Stalins accession in DMK: Not a matter of if, but when
It is a big responsibility and I accept the post at this juncture, Stalin said, adding that it reminded him of his fathers words that position is not about just getting a post but it is responsibility towards your position.
In a message to the critics of DMK, who often take potshots for its dynastic politics, Stalin said that he has been active in electoral politics ever since he was a child and contested each and every position to rise up in the ranks.
I did not get any post because of the family. I fought elections and won, Stalin said.
The DMK constitution was amended to create the post of a working president, with same powers as that of the president.
After the general council meeting, Stalin and other senior party leaders called on Karunanidhi at his residence.
There was a growing clamour within the party for Stalins ascension, especially since Karunanidhis bouts of ill-health. As it stands, Stalin has already been taking the reins, placing trusted aides across districts.
The DMK patriarch also declared his son as his political heir in a recent interview to a Tamil magazine as he had proven himself as a leader of the party.
The change in guard also comes at a time AIADMK leaders have appealed to the interim general secretary Sasikala to take over as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, a move Stalin had said was sycophancy.
Political analyst Ramu Manivannam said Stalin has a big challenge cut out for him as there are important issues like drought, farmers suicides and the issue of governance.
But Stalin would have it easier as he has already proven and established himself in the party as a leader of substance, he added.
Read | Why Sasikala as Tamil Nadu CM could backfire on many fronts
Venture Capitalists Invests More on the HR Sector Compared to Other Enterprise Service Fields
Xing Liu, partner at Sequoia Capital, right, speaks as Anna Fang, partner and chief executive officer of ZhenFund, left, and David Chao, co-founder and general partner of DCM Ventures, listen during the Rise conference in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, May (Photo : Getty Images)
According to the 2016 Enterprise Service Venture Captial report, Venture Capital investors favor to target the human resources sector in the field of enterprise service in 2016. Venture capitalists invested to a total of 436 investments on enterprise services, 72 of which are from the human resources sector.
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The report was released by ITjuzi, a company that provides data on tech investments through its website. The company released it at a summit on Venture Capital investment in the enterprise service on Dec. 21.
The report also indicated that the human resources sector rose 50 percent year-on-year to 3.6 billion yuan. It also stated that about 24 percent of new HR-related companies received Venture Capital investments in 2016. This is higher than the enterprise service field overall number of 16 percent.
The demand for Software as a Service increases as more start-up companies emerge and focus on a flat organization structure This is a software distribution model in which a third-party provider hosts applications and makes it available to customers over the internet.
Xin Xiaode, the founder of the job-hunting company Hunteron, said: "The human resources sector faces a large rigid demand, at both before-and after offer stages, that the service supply is not able to meet. This business is definitely profitable and we don't need to make money a priority."
ITjuzi also unvieled its report regarding China's 100 Most Valuable Startups in the Enterprise Service Field in 2016 on Dec. 21. It indicates that 17 percent of the list are made up of human resources enterprises, two companies of which surpassed 5 billion yuan in value.
As the human resources sector continues to grow and offers great opportunities, it also faces bigger and more complicated demand. To sustain the growing sector, more service providers will need to be available in the upcoming years.
"The key lies on service continuity and efficiency", said Hu Jianglong, founder of the human resource outsourcing service company Microseer.
The Election Commission will announce on Wednesday the schedule of the assembly elections to be held in five states.
Five states, including the countrys most populous and political crucial Uttar Pradesh, will face the poll test. The other four states are Punjab, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand.
The poll schedule comes amid the split of the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh where the BJP and the BSP are eyeing to gain from the internal tussle of Mulayam Singh Yadavs family.
In Punjab, Arvind Kejriwals Aam Aadmi Party will be contesting for the first time, changing the face of the polls that has traditionally seen a straight contest between the BJP-Akali alliance and the Congress.
With the announcement of the poll date, the model code of conduct will immediately come in place, restricting the state and the central government from announcing new schemes and sops.
There has been speculation that the Election Commission might defer holding polls in Manipur, on account of the ongoing economic blockade imposed in the state by the United Naga Council.
Sources in the country commission had earlier indicated that polls in all five states will be held simultaneously.
Even though the center on Tuesday indicated that it is not considering imposition of Presidents Rule in the state, the Opposition parties, especially the Congress has hinted at the possibility.
The Congress is against deferring polls in the state and has accused the BJP of trying to delay the electoral exercise.
The assembly elections are crucial for the ruling BJP as it will be the first time it will go to the polls after demonetisation.
Goa deputy chief minister Francis DSouza said on Wednesday there is a strong possibility of a Christian becoming the next CM of the coastal state.
DSouza, one of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)s senior-most minority faces in the state, said that having a Christian chief minister is the wish of people, so the BJP as well as other political parties could accordingly nominate a chief ministerial candidate.
I was asked if there can be a Christian chief minister for Goa in the future. I said it is possible. I did not say it will happen, but it may happen. It is the wish of the people, DSouza told a press conference in Panaji.
It can be from any party... Its not that there is a ban on Christians becoming the chief minister, he said, adding that eventually it is up to the elected legislators to select their leader in the legislative assembly.
DSouza was one of the contenders for the CMs post after defence minister Manohar Parrikar, then chief minister, was elevated to become a central minister in 2014.
Eventually, DSouza was beaten in the race to the CMs post by legislator from Mandrem and former state BJP President Laxmikant Parsekar, but was appointed as the deputy chief minister months later.
Christians account for nearly 26% of the states 1.5 million population.
DSouza also said that the BJP-led coalition government in Goa has faced hurdles in fulfilling its 2012 poll promise of doing away with the offshore casinos in the state. But, he added, his party is still toying with the idea of closing down the casinos.
On the issue of casinos, we have already spoken about our difficulties. Attempts are being made to relocate. But we are also in need of revenue. Hence, we have let casinos continue and when possible, we will shut those down, he said.
There are five operational offshore casinos parked in the Mandovi river off Panaji and nine onshore casinos functioning from various five-star resorts located in the coastal fringes of the tourism-oriented state.
In the Pandeypur locality of Varanasi, a group of young Muslim men -- a tailor, a few students, an electrician, a driver who has worked in Saudi Arabia and has returned home -- are watching a BJP MLA, as he campaigns in the vicinity.
It is the perfect peg to ask about the emerging election mood. And the response is swift.
Read: Party belongs to me, people by my side: SP chief Mulayam
We are with Sapa (SP). Which SP, that of the father or the son? Akhilesh bhaiya, comes the unanimous refrain. Why? He has worked for vikas. He made a highway. He gave laptops, he gave pensions, he will give a phone if he wins, Inshaallah, says Mohammed Naseem. The men claim that for them, employment is the biggest issue and they have faith that UPs young CM will deliver on it.
For 25 years, Mulayam Singh Yadav has been the pre-eminent leader of UPs Muslims - to the extent that many would refer to him as Maulana Mulayam.
When asked if they would leave Mulayam after all that he claims to have done for Muslims, Waqar - one of the young students in the group - says, If Mulayam can leave his son for his brother, why cant we leave him?
Read: Yadav family feud: Akhilesh meets Mulayam, but no sign of truce yet
It is still a little early, and it is not clear how the SP rift will play out. UPs triangular polity, with BJP, SP and BSP with a smaller player, Congress thrown into the mix; its sheer size and population makes any generalisation difficult. Even a small swing in votes can make a difference between victory and defeat.
But what is emerging clearly is that Akhilesh Yadav remains enormously popular for a leader who has been in office for five years. His act of rebellion against the old guard in SP has enhanced this popularity- among SPs core supporters of Yadavs and Muslims, as well as other castes - in the lanes of Varanasi, villages of Mirzapur and Jaunpur, and on the highways in Purvanchal.
A senior Yadav government official says, Right down to the villages, among people who would immediately shout you down if you criticised Mulayam Singh even slightly, the mood is that the father has lost the plot; that he has been misled; that he is obsessed with power, and that Akhilesh is the future. A faculty member at the Banaras Hindu University mentions how in informal conversations at a faculty meeting, across age groups and castes, there was support for Akhilesh.
What explains this?
You must remember that for 25 years, UP has only seen Kalyan Singh, Mulayam Singh and Mayawati. All three practiced only identity politics. Akhilesh is the first leader who is at least seen to focus on the domain of governance, says the government official.
There is also sympathy for him because of the perception that he was boxed in by his father, uncle and other relatives. And this has now turned out to be a boon, because it has helped Akhilesh ward off anti-incumbency. This is in sharp contrast to Mulayam, who by the end of his terms had become deeply unpopular. Admits a local BJP leader, We havent been able to create a hawa because the negative sentiment against Akhilesh is limited. There is no anger.
Also read: Akhilesh Yadav begins work as Samajwadi Partys national president
The sympathy extends to members of caste groups not traditionally loyal to SP. Abhishek Pandey is a hotel waiter in Varanasi, and originally belongs to Gorakhpur.
He supports Akhilesh. Why? He is fighting a mafia led by his father. Pandey voted for BJP in the 2014 elections, and says, I am still a Modi supporter. But Modiji is fine in Delhi and Akhilesh bhaiya is best for Lucknow.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch a 103 satellites on a single rocket in the first week of February, a major unprecedented feat.
As India looks to grab a larger slice of the lucrative commercial space market, with 100 of the 103 satellites set for launch belonging to foreign nations, including the US and Germany. ISROs workhorse rocket PSLV-C37 will take the satellites into space from its Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh
We are making a century by launching over 100 satellites at one go, S Somnath, director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre of ISRO, told a plenary session on the second day of the ongoing Indian Science Congress here on Wednesday.
The space agency had earlier planned a launch of 83 satellites in the last week of January, of which 80 were foreign ones. But with the addition of 20 more foreign satellites, the launch was delayed by a week and will now take place in first week of February, Somnath said.
He, however, did not specify the number of countries that would launch its satellites in this mission, but said it includes nations like the US and Germany.
These will be 100 micro-small satellites, which will be launched using a PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle)- C37. The weight of the payload will be 1350 kg, of which 500-600 kg will be the satellites weight, Somnath added.
The launch will be a major feat in countrys space history as no exercise on this scale has been attempted before.
Last year, ISRO launched record 20 satellites at one go. The highest number of satellites launched in a single mission is 37, a record that Russia set in 2014. The US space agency Nasa launched 29.
Prime Minister Narendra Modis pet South Asian satellite project, meanwhile, will take off in March.
The South Asian satellite will be a part of GSAT-9, which will be launched in March this year, M Nageshwara Rao, associate director of ISRO said.
The communication satellite was to be launched in December 2016, but was slightly delayed as some other satellites are to be launched before that.
Sources said talks with Afghanistan to have the country on-board for the project is in its final stages.
Envisaged as a gift to its neighbours, the project, earlier known as Saarc satellite, faced stiff resistance from Pakistan. The neighbouring country wanted it to be launched under the aegis of the South Asian regional forum. It later backed out of the project.
Apart from India, the satellite will benefit Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar will assume the office of Chief Justice of India (CJI) on Wednesday as the tenure of Justice TS Thakur ends.
President Pranab Mukherjee cleared his appointment in December 19. 64- year-old Khehar, who will be sworn in by the President, will be the 44th Chief Justice of India and will hold the post of seven months.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday once again dismissed a plea challenging the appointment of Justice Khehar as the next CJI, saying, it is in the public interest that the curtain should be brought down.
The apex court had dismissed two similar pleas filed in the last two weeks. On December 30, the apex court had dismissed a plea filed by a group of lawyers, challenging the elevation of Justice Khehar as the next CJI, saying there was no question of him being considered ineligible for the post.
The apex court had on December 23 termed a petition filed by the lawyers body as virtually infructuous that opposed the elevation of Justice Khehar, and observed that the President has already issued a notification in this regard.
The outgoing chief justice Thakur addressed a gathering of lawyers, sitting and retired judges on Tuesday, his last working day in the top court. He said that in his retirement, he would be a spectator, observer and contributor to pay back what the institution has given to him.
Thakur, who had a long battle with the Modi government on the appointment of judges, said: This country cant progress unless judiciary prepares itself to handle challenges it would face in cases relating to cyber laws and medico legal cases.
Justice JS Khehar took over as the 44th Chief Justice of India on Wednesday morning. He succeeds Justice TS Thakur whose 13-month tenure ended on Tuesday.
Justice JS Khehar was administered the oath by President Pranab Mukherjee. He is the first Sikh to become the CJI and will hold the post for seven months.
Justice Khehars appointment was cleared by the President on December 19. His elevation as the CJI had come under challenge with three petitions before SC claiming he should not take over. All the three were dismissed, latest one being on Tuesday. The bench rejected the public interest petition saying curtain should be brought down on the controversy.
Known in the legal circle as a no-nonsense judge, Justice Khehar has delivered several high-profile judgments since he became a Supreme Court judge. As a lawyer too he handled important assignments including defending Justice V Ramaswami, a Judge of the Supreme Court, who was accused of corruption as the chief justice of Punjab and Haryana high court.
As a judge of the top court Justice Khehar was part of the bench that jailed Sahara chief Subrata Roy for flouting the order to refund money his company had collected from investors for two financial schemes declared illegal by SEBI. But Justice Khehar recused himself from hearing the case further without assigning any reason.
He headed the bench that ordered status quo ante in Arunachal Pradesh, reviving the Congress government last year. The verdict was an embarrassing moment for the NDA government which had imposed Presidents Rule in the state.
He even led the bench that quashed the controversial law that gave executive a say in the appointment of judges. According to the judgment the Centre and top courts collegium have to redraft the memorandum of procedure followed to nominate judges. This exercise remained incomplete with both the judiciary and executive refusing to blink. It would be a challenging task for Justice Khehar, who now heads the collegium to iron out the differences.
The son of a Kenyan migrant, Justice Khehar is also a regular blood donor. As a judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court he never missed a blood-donation camp. And, while being in the SC he visits the blood bank in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) every three months to donate blood.
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A suspected militant belonging to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) has been arrested from north Kashmirs Kupwara district, police said on Wednesday.
Acting on an intelligence input, a joint team of police and army arrested Ashiq Ahmed alias Abu Haider from Handwara area of the district, a police spokesman said here.
A cache of arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 rifle, three magazines, a Chinese Pistol with a magazine, three hand grenades, a magazine pouch and a map, was seized from him.
During interrogation, Ahmed said he was a close associate of Abu Bakar -- an LeT Commander who was killed in an encounter in Sopore township last month, the spokesman said.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the arrest of a Trinamool Congress (TMC) parliamentarian by the CBI, deploring the action as vendetta politics.
Kejriwal, a bitter critic of Modi, alleged that the arrest of Sudip Bandopadhyay had its roots in TMCs opposition to the invalidation of 1,000 and 500-rupee notes.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by Kejriwal, and Mamata Banerjee-headed TMC have been quite vocal against the November 8 move and the two leaders had also staged joint protests on the issue.
This is vendetta politics of Modi ji. His msg is - Agar kisi ne notbandi ke khilaaf bola to chhodenge nahi. Really deplorable, the AAP leader tweeted.
Bandopadhyay, TMCs leader in the Lok Sabha, was arrested by the CBI in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam on Tuesday.
Despite the apparent popularity of the Beti Bacho Beti Padhao scheme in Haryana, figures collected from the police in Rohtak, Sonepat, Bhiwani and Jind districts reveal that there has been an overall increase in rape and murder cases.
In 2015, Sonepat district reported 45 rape cases. However, with 62 cases in 2016 the district saw a 38% rise in rape cases. Similarly, in Bhiwani and Rohtak districts the increase was of 33% and 9% respectively. Jind district did not see an increase and the total number of registered rape cases was 31, both in 2015 and 2016. Overall, there was rise of 21% in the number of rape cases registered in these four districts between 2015 and 2016.
A similar trend is also seen in the total number of murder cases in these districts. In 2015, there were 64 murders in Sonepat. By 2016, the figure rose to 87, thus registering an increase of 36%. In Bhiwani and Rohtak districts there were 51 and 60 murders in 2015. In 2016, it increased by 22% and 23% respectively. On the other hand, Jind district registered a decrease of 2% in the number of murder cases. The overall increase in the four district s was however 20%.
There are gang-based rivalries and cross-border crimes in this region. Our focus in future will be to act against illegal fire-arm holders and proclaimed offenders. If we reduce their presence, we can reduce the overall crime scenario, said Ashwin Shenvi, superintendent of police (SP) Sonepat.
The region was in news earlier in February during the Jat quota agitation that turned violent. Many people were killed in it and property worth crores was destroyed. In the past, this part of Haryana has also seen many cases of honour killings and shootouts between rival gangs.
SP Jind Shashank Anand (who was earlier SP Rohtak) reasons that the youth in this crime belt is inclined to violence due to increase in unemployment, decreasing land holding and breakdown of family ties. He said, Our focus is to prevent youth from drugs and violence as preventive measure, and educate girls to report crime.We have been instructed to focus particularly on the youths to control crimes."
Experts from the region say the government has been ignoring the increasing caste-divide and worsening law and order in the region and rather seems more interested in announcing populist schemes. Sociologist Jitender Prasad from the Central University of Haryana argues that the government needs to build a movement to impart positive education in academic institutions rather than introducing mere cosmetic schemes. He says these schemes are only good for sloganeering".
DSP Pushpa Khatri, women police station Rohtak, says, Increase in crime also means that more women are coming forward to report.
Crimes against women cannot be blamed only to poor law and order. They are also a product of generations of subjugation of women under the patriarchal set up of the society where women is considered subordinate to men. The vicious role that Khaps play can also not be ignored. Politicians and cops are products of the same society and thus dont find it wrong when people are murdered in the name of honour killing, says Prasad.
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Assembly elections in five states in February and March could be a game-changer for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, with the potential to re-define their identities and future.
If Prime Minister Narendra Modis demonetisation gambit clicks, the BJP might aspire to emerge as the Congress of yore by adding a melange of castes and communities to its traditional Brahmin-Bania vote bank--except perhaps Muslims who remain wary of it. The ruling party is eager to see demonetisationa supposed vent for the angst of the poor against the rich--transcend castes and communities and change its image for good. The BJP had witnessed a massive expansion in its support base in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but it was anti-incumbency against the UPA that imparted velocity to the Modi wave. The BJP struggled without it in subsequent elections in Delhi and Bihar. The coming assembly elections would determine whether the recall of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes would help the BJP gain currency beyond its traditional vote bank.
If that happens, the grand old Congress, at 132, might be staring at an existential crisis with a huge dent in its standing as the principal challenger to the BJP. In the event of the Aam Admi Party (AAP) doing well in Punjab and Goa, it could emerge as a possible answer to the perceived quest of voters for an alternative political platform, even though the party has proved no different from others. It might also shake Congressmens belief that if India is a computer, the Congress is its default programme, as vice-president Rahul Gandhi enunciated at a party workshop in 2013.
If the demonetisation decision were to boomerang on the BJP as its rivals hope in the forthcoming polls, the BJP would find itself in a precarious situation with its back on the wall in Gujarat- scheduled to go to polls in November-December 2017--and in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh a year later. An adverse outcome in this round of assembly elections would have a strong bearing on the functioning of the NDA government at the Centre. With more ammunition available for party snipers and dissidents within the Sangh Parivar and the opposition camp bolstered, Modi government might be left hobbling, especially in the context of politically contentious decisions.
February-March assembly polls offer a big opportunity to the Congress to arrest the slide in its fortune. It would hope to encash anti-incumbency against the BJP-SAD combine in Punjab and the BJP in Goa to counter the BJPs derisive call for a Congress-mukt Bharat. The party might fancy its chances in Uttarakhand--where the opposition BJP is witnessing an internecine war among half-a-dozen chief ministerial contenders--and Manipur where it looks well-ensconced so far. If the Congress were to do well in the coming assembly polls, it would also set the stage for its fight back in 2019 general elections, starting with Gujarat later this year and Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarhall BJP-ruled towards the end of 2018.
While the two major national parties are keeping their fingers crossed, some other players also have their future at stake in the coming polls. The AAPs performance in the coming polls would largely determine its national ambitions. It was a front-runner to replace the BJP-SAD regime in Punjab but has lost its momentum since. It is also making a valiant attempt to dislodge the BJP in Goa. If the AAP succeeds in these two states, it would pitchfork the four years old party as the presumptive challenger to the BJP at the national level as well. If the AAP flops, it might put paid to its national ambitions in immediate future.
Whichever way the results go in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party (SP) looks set for a churn. If chief minister Akhilesh Yadav decides to part ways with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav in this election, he would emerge as a leader in his own right, no matter which party he floats and which way the results go. Even if Mulayam relents and makes way for Akhilesh, the SP or its politics will not be the same any longer.
Read| Uttar Pradesh elections: All you need to know about Indias political heartland
For full coverage on assembly elections 2017, click here
Here Are Two Big Reasons Why Ivory Trade Ban Is Good for China's Image
Chinese customs destroy about 662 kilograms of illegal ivory and ivory products at Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center on May 29, 2015 in Beijing. (Photo : VCG)
There is a silver lining in China's plan to shut down ivory production in the country amid mounting pressures from environmentalists to put an end to elephant poaching.
According to the New York Times, there are two major things from which China can benefit once it starts its ivory trade ban this year.
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First, it reinforces President Xi Jinping's fight against corrupt government officials, who have been reportedly using ivory as bribes.
Second, the shutdown enables China to "burnish its image as a global guardian of the environment" amid uncertainties over the U.S.' capacity to address various environmental issues.
Peter Knights, executive director of environment protection organization WildAid, said that China had finally come to realize that taking action on key environmental issues can legitimize its post as a global superpower.
"With power comes responsibility," said Knights in an interview with the NYT. "They know it's not worth damaging China's international image to be involved in this business."
Despite calls from various international groups to halt the production of ivory products, China had been adamant in its stance.
Over the past decade, ivory trade has led to the killing of more than 10,000 elephants, most of which smuggled from Africa to help fund armed groups there.
Environmentalists welcomed China's decision, calling it a huge win for elephants.
"China's announcement is a game changer for elephant conservation," Carter Roberts, president of the World Wildlife Fund, said in a statement via The Washington Post. "The large-scale trade of ivory now faces its twilight years, and the future is brighter for wild elephants."
The Chinese government said that it would begin halting ivory trade in March. By the end of the year, the country targets to phase out the operation entirely.
"This is great news that will shut down the world's largest market for elephant ivory," Aili Kang, Asia director at the Wildlife Conservation Society told TWP. "Ivory traffickers have just lost one of their biggest markets."
Vikram Singh Puar, the 27-year-old son of the deceased king of the former Dewas royals in Madhya Pradesh, surrendered on Wednesday after being on the run for more than a year for his suspected role in a murder.
He has been accused of leading a fatal clash with 12 armed supporters over a land dispute in Raghogarh village, about 40km from Dewas.
Puar and his gang allegedly tried to take away the wheat harvest of a farmer, Pratap Lodhi, on March 19, 2015. Lodhi and his family members resisted and, in the ensuing clash with firearms and lathis, the farmer was gravely wounded. He died on March 22.
The young former royal was on the run since then and a special court granted him anticipatory bail for 15 days in June 2016 as his father, former BJP minister Tukojirao Puar, was in his death bed.
His bail application was approved so that he could perform last rites of his father who died of brain haemorrhage on June 19. A day later, Puar was crowned King of Dewas at a private ceremony in the familys palace.
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, home minister Babulal Gaur and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had attended the senior Puars funeral.
The new king, however, escaped and remained in hiding until he surrendered before a judicial magistrate on Wednesday.
Dewas police arrested Puar at a local hospital where he was admitted earlier in the day. The magistrate sent him to judicial custody till January 7.
Superintendent of police Shashikant Shukla said Puars police remand was not sought because there was nothing to recover from him.
But several questions remained unanswered: Where was the fugitive hiding? What was he doing? Who was he with? Who all helped him helped him during the period?
A murder charge has been registered at Barotha police station in Dewas after the farmers death. But a court acquitted 12 of the 13 accused last December, making the case weak against Puar, legal experts said.
Read | The curious case of hostile witnesses, acquittals and Dewas king on the run
Face off with the government, differences in the Supreme Court collegium, vacancies in high courts and burgeoning backlog these are the challenges that await Justice JS Khehar who took over on Wednesday as the 44th Chief Justice of India.
CJI Khehar has barely around eight-month to fix these problems. He retires on August 27.
Ever since a bench headed by Justice Khehar declared unconstitutional the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) that was to replace the opaque collegium system of judges appointing judges in October 2015, the government and judiciary have been at loggerheads.
As the government and judiciary indulged in a slugfest, vacancies in 24 high courts are at an all time high at 430. As on January 1,2017, HCs have 649 judges against a sanctioned strength of 1,079. Outgoing CJI TS Thakur blasted the government several times for inordinately delaying the appointments.
But the NDA government has its own arguments. It says it has appointed 130 high court judges the maximum in a year, surpassing the UPAs record of appointing 121 HC judges in 2013.
But the governments latest move to return for the second time names of 13 candidates for appointment as judges in the Allahabad HC is bound to further complicate the already restrained executive-judiciary relationship. As per existing norms, the government can the names return only once.
The differences in the collegium and its failure to recommend names for seven vacant posts in the top court gave an opportunity to the government to question the manner in which the over two-decade-old judicial appointment system operates. Justice J Chelameswar has openly questioned opacity in collegiums functioning.
Amid showdown between the government and judiciary, there is a silver lining in Justice Khehars elevation to the top post. It was he who headed the constitution bench which in December 2015 admitted shortcomings in the functioning of the collegium system and suggested changes, including those in the memorandum of procedure, to make it transparent. Justice Chelameswar who was a part of the bench is now part of the Supreme Court collegium.
Now that Justice Khehar has taken over as the CJI, its expected that he would ensure implementation of his own judgment to end the stalemate.
Successive governments have been complaining about judicial overreach, including judicial takeover of the appointment process. Unlike in the past when coalition governments plagued with corruption failed to assert, the current NDA government has been vocal about judicial overreach.
The political class is not ready to digest the SC verdict on NJAC over which there was a political unanimity. A recent parliamentary standing committee report once again emphasized that judicial appointments are a shared responsibility. It called for restoring the original constitutional provision on judicial appointment that gave some say to the executive in the process.
How things unfold in the next eight months and how much improvement is made in the executive-judiciary relationship would depend upon the way CJI Khehar puts his judicial statesmanship to use.
Samajwadi Partys Maharashtra unit chief Abu Azmis remark on Tuesday on the recent alleged mass molestation of women in Bengaluru is just another statement in the long list of misogynist comments made by Indian politicians.
When few women in half dress come out on streets at late night with their friends, such incidents do occur, Azmi said instead of demanding a probe into the media reports on the incident on New Years Eve.
Ladies hailing from well-to-do families, be it from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan or UP, they come out in decent attire and mostly with their family members, he added.
Azmi also defended Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara who had stoked a controversy by blaming the youngsters western ways for the incidents and saying that such things do happen.
Azmis comment against women is not his first.
If rape happens with or without consent, it should be punished as prescribed in Islam. Any woman if, whether married or unmarried, goes along with a man, with or without her consent, should be hanged. Both should be hanged. It shouldnt be allowed even if a woman goes by consent, he said in April 2014.
And this is also not the first time a SP leader has put his foot in his mouth.
Although politicians cutting across party lines have courted troubles for their misogynistic remarks, heres a list of controversial statements by SP leaders.
Mulayam Singh Yadav: In April 2014, he opposed capital punishment for rape, saying Ladke hain galti ho jati hai (Boys will be boys they commit mistakes). He was referring to the death sentence given to the Shakti Mill rapists in Mumbai. Yadav said if his party was elected to power, he would amend the law.
Azam Khan: In April 2016, the senior Uttar Pradesh minister said the Bulandshahr highway gang-rape could be a political conspiracy to defame the Uttar Pradesh government.
Akhilesh Yadav: The Uttar Pradesh chief minister is not the one to fall behind. In March 2014, after being questioned by reporters over the rise in violence against women in his state, Akhilesh shot back saying, Aapko toh khatra nahin hua? (Its not as if you faced any danger?).
Naresh Agarwal: In November 2013, commenting on the Lakhimpur gang rape in Assam, Agarwal said the media was unnecessarily hyping the issue. Such things happen on a daily basis. I have read about them in Delhi as well. I understand why the media sometimes focuses on one rape but almost ignores other rapes.
However, he was just trying to prove that his thoughts had not changed one bit in a year. On August 24, 2012, speaking about a Mumbai rape case, he had said, Women also need to pay attention to their clothing to avoid being raped and should not be influenced by the media.
Ram Gopal Yadav: It seems like misogyny runs in their blood. Despite the outrage in the country surrounding the release of the juvenile rapist in the December, 2012 Delhi gang-rape and debates on changing the juvenile act, Mulayams brother in December, 2015 said: Law cannot be changed for one man.
He also went on to say that the SP was opposed to the new bill (post-Nirbhaya laws.) It has been framed on the recommendations of some mentally-retarded people.
Police detained at least six suspects on Wednesday, days after outrage erupted in the country over several women allegedly being groped and molested during New Years Eve celebrations in Bengaluru.
City police first denied that any incident of sexual harassment had taken place during the late-night celebrations. But on Wednesday, police officer Hemant Nimbalkar said at least six men were detained after several video clips of women being attacked by groups of men went viral on social media.
The incident highlights the persistent violence against women in India despite tougher laws against sexual assault imposed after the December 2012 death of a young woman who was gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi.
One senior state government minister said the New Years incidents took place because the women were acting like Westerners, implying that their attire had provoked the attacks.
Read: Such incidents do happen: Minister on reports of molestations in Bengaluru
The police had earlier said that no one had come forward to file a complaint about the incidents.
Since then, at least one woman has come forward to speak of how she was molested on Saturday night. Others have said that they saw women being molested or groped, and that revelers were making lewd remarks, even as the state government said that more than 1,500 police personnel had been deployed to control the crowds.
The young woman who came forward, Chaitali Wasnick, told NDTV news channel that she was heading home at around 1.30am when two men approached her, making her suspicious. So I just moved aside, I let them pass, she said, adding that one man began to grope her.
I did not have any idea that hed do that, so I went totally blank, Wasnick said, adding that no one came to her help her and that there were no police personnel around.
As Bangalore newspapers published images of several women who allegedly had been groped or attacked, the states home minister, G Parameshwara, criticised young women for copying the Westerners, not only in their mindset, but even in their dressing.
These kind of things do happen, he told reporters on Tuesday.
The ripples of the ongoing economic blockade in Manipur were felt in the national capital on Wednesday, with rival Manipuri and Naga groups staging protests over the tense law-and-order situation in the state that will go to polls in March.
While members of the Delhi Manipuri Society highlighted the humanitarian crisis due to the indefinite economic blockade imposed by the United Naga Council (UNC) since November 1, the Naga groups demanded imposition of Presidents Rule in the state.
The UNC had imposed the blockade against the creation of seven new districts in the landlocked state by bifurcating the existing ones.
It is a question of survival. The blockade is inhumane. People are facing extreme difficulties in terms of food, medicines, fuel. The essentials to lead a normal life are either absent or beyond the reach of the common man. Is the government scared of the UNC? Is there something called rule of law?, Delhi Manipuri Society vice-president Sangeeta asked.
A large number of Manipuri youths took part in the day-long sit-in at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, demanding an immediate end to the blockade.
Meanwhile, members of the Joint Naga Civil Societies demonstrated outside Manipur Bhawan, alleging that Manipuri mobs backed by the state government had attacked Naga civilians after December 18.
We demand Presidents Rule because the law-and-order situation in Manipur is bad. New districts have been carved out undemocratically and UNC leaders are in jail. Nagas are not safe under the Manipuri security forces, Lakpachui Siro, convener of the committee, said.
Trinamool MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay was on Wednesday remanded in six days of CBI custody by a special court in the Rose Valley chit fund scam case.
Following the court order, his party activists staged a demonstration before CBIs Odisha headquarters in Bhubaneswar.
The TMC MPs lawyer Rajiv Majumdar and others were present in the chief judicial magistrates court when judge P K Mishra remanded Bandyopadhyay for six days against CBIs appeal for a 12-day remand.
The CBI lawyer argued in the court that the agency should be given maximum time to interrogate the MP as he was not actively cooperating with the investigation.
The MPs petition for bail was also rejected by the court even as his lawyer pleaded that his client was unwell.
I am innocent. I have no involvement in the scam. I have placed my point of view before the court and will again appeal the court to consider my point of argument, Bandyopadhyay told reporters after appearing in the court.
He was produced at the CBI-designated special court amid tight security after his medical examination at the Capital Hospital.
Bandyopadhyay, also the TMC parliamentary party leader in the Lok Sabha, was the second party MP after Tapas Pal to be arrested by the CBI in a span of five days.
Sudip Bandyopadhyay, so far the senior most Trinamool Congress leader arrested by CBI in the Rose Valley scam, is not only the face of the party in Lok Sabha but also one of the close confidants of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
His importance, more than anything else lies in the fact that he has the ears of the party leaders and belongs to her core team.
A single comment is perhaps sufficient to prove his value in the party. I just cannot imagine that Sudipda has been arrested. He is a senior leader of the party in the Parliament, the CM said and then went on to emphasise that the entire party is with Bandyopadhyay and his family.
The 64-year-old MP leads the party in the Lok Sabha while Derek O Brien leads it in the Rajya Sabha. However, in age and experience, Bandyopadhyay is far ahead of O Brien in the party. He is also crucial in executing the party chiefs command.
He was the key man when Trinamool Congress undertook a series of agitations in the capital against corruption and demonetisation. A veteran politician from central Kolkata, he was elected from Kolkata North constituency. Bandyopadhyay was with Trinamool since its formation in 1998.
When Mukul Roy, once the Man Friday of Mamata Banerjee and the number two in the party fell from grace, Bandyopadhyay became her most dependable man in Delhi along with Derek O Brien.
His importance can also be gauged from the fact that Trinamool supporters started agitation in a few areas and attacked the BJP headquarters in Kolkata, while there was little reaction when Tapas Paul, also an MP, was arrested on December 30.
Read | Mamata cries political vendetta after TMC MPs arrest, mob targets BJP office
Bandyopadhyay and his wife, cine star-turned-politician Naina, are close to Mamata Banerjee. In 2004, Bandyopadhyay contested Kolkata North-West Lok Sabha constituency as an independent, which was the only occasion when relations turned sour.
The Rose Valley scam is easily the largest in the state involving more than Rs 15,000 crore and dwarfs the Saradha scam of Rs 2,500 crore. Officers told HT that he allegedly availed of a number of benefits including foreign tours, vehicles and jobs for relatives.
Incidentally, the arrests of Trinamool MLAs, ministers and MPs following the Saradha scam in 2013 created waves in the state and beyond.
I have no comments to offer. The party will say whatever it has to, remarked the MPs wife Naina Bandyopadhyay, also an MLA.
The thorns of the Rose Valley scam are beginning to hurt Bengals ruling party the Trinamool Congress. Far bigger than the Saradha scam of 2013, the Rose Valley ponzi scam may leave a deeper impact on Trinamool Congress.
The arrest of the two MPs, especially that of Sudip Bandyopadhya, the partys key face in Delhi, comes at a time when Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is aggressively trying to extend her footprints in the national capital and emerge as the face of an united opposition in the country.
Mamata made no secret of her shock at Bandyopadhyays arrest.
I could not imagine that Sudipda could be arrested. He is a senior leader of Trinamool Congress. Modi Babu is using CBI, ED to terrorise those who dare to criticise him. Chit funds mushroomed under CPI(M), she remarked in Midnapore soon after the arrest.
Read | Rose Valley scam: BJP leaders house attacked, MP says his arrest due to note ban
Lets take the numbers first. The Saradha group that sank in April 2013 raised about Rs 2,500 crore from 1.7 million depositors. But these numbers pale in front of Rose Valley group that mopped up in excess of Rs 15,000 crore.
But numbers are only the tip of the iceberg. The real point is the backdrop of the developments Saradha and Rose Valley.
In November and December 2014, when CBI arrested Rajya Sabha MPs Kunal Ghosh, Srinjoy Bose and Bengal minister Madan Mitra for their links with the Saradha scam, Mamata had no political stake at the national level.
The situation is entirely different now. Apart from Tapas Paul and Sudip Bandyopadhyay, a number of other party leaders, mostly faces from the partys Lok Sabha team, are allegedly under the scanner.
Additionally, the investigation agency is reportedly preparing to issue summons to more Trinamool leaders, mostly MPs.
Read | Rose Valley ponzi scam: TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay faces CBI grilling
The twin arrests also come at a time when Mamata has already consolidated her position in Bengal. Her image is at its zenith following her moral victory in Singur that has catapulted her as a champion of farmers rights. She is also trying to project herself as a firm defender of Muslim rights by opposing the saffron camp on a number of issues such as eating beef. Recently, she went around the Hindi heartland trying to rally all the opposition parties against the Prime Minister on the issue of demonetisation.
Mamatas strategy of supporting her leaders and MPs arrested in Saradha and Rose Valley chit funds will backfire.
The recent arrests will have deep negative impact on the image of Mamata Banerjee as well as her party. Her strategy of supporting her leaders and MPs arrested in Saradha and Rose Valley chit funds will backfire. Instead of targeting Modi, she should have said law will take its own course, said Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay, former principal of Presidency College and a teacher of political science.
According to political experts the arrests may hurt Mamatas political ambitions. It may dent her credibility among other regional parties at a time when the Trinamool Congress is trying to rally them against the BJP.
The Trinamool leaders desperation is also apparent from her challenge to the Centre to arrest her.
Mamata Banerjee is unnerved and rattled. She should answer why only leaders of her party are found to be connected in all chit fund scams in Bengal, be it Saradha or Rose Valley. Mamata Banerjee should answer why the state police failed to probe themselves and instead tried to scuttle the investigation, said Sidharth Nath Singh, BJP national secretary.
Read | Arrested Sudip Bandopadhyay is Mamatas confidant, Trinamool face in Delhi
However, Trinamool leaders may draw comfort from the fact that there are no elections in the state till the summer of 2018 when the rural polls may be held. Neither Saradha, nor the Narada sting operation could make any impact on the vote bank of Trinamool Congress that won as many as 211 out of 294 seats in the Bengal assembly in the 2016 polls.
In the meantime, Bengal appeared moving towards a free-for-all demonstration. While Mamata Banerjee announced nationwide protests, opposition parties too targeted the ruling party. The Left Front even went to the extent of harping on a tacit understanding between Modi and Mamata. It planned to hit the streets on Wednesday demanding arrest of senior leaders of the ruling party.
Why is CBI only arresting low ranking leaders and not netting the big fish? Why are they not recovering the money cheated out of commoners, said CPI(M) in a statement that also announced a mammoth procession which will be taken out in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Needless to say, the big fish they referred to was the chief minister herself.
Read | Mamata scared of CBI probe, thats why she let loose TMC goons: BJP
Trinamool Congress MPs on Wednesday took out a protest march towards the Prime Ministers residence, a day after Sudip Bandyopadhyay, TMCs leader in Lok Sabha, was arrested in an alleged corruption case.
The parliamentarians from the West Bengal ruling party were taken into police custody before they could reach 7 Lok Kalyan Marg.
We were marching peacefully towards the Prime Ministers residence, but the police detained us mid-way and manhandled few of our MPs, TMC leader Saugata Roy told reporters.
He added that as many as 36 MPs from the party took part in this protest march and they will continue to raise their voices against injustice done by the Modi government.
On Tuesday, the Trianmool Congress (TMC) leader in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhyay was arrested by the CBI in connection with the alleged Rose Valley chit fund scam case.
Read| Rose Valley scam: BJP leaders house attacked, MP says arrest due to note ban
Bandyopadhyay is the second TMC MP to be arrested within a week in connection with the alleged scam. Last Friday, actor-turned-politician Tapas Pal was subjected to questioning for more than four hours and arrested subsequently.
Agitated by Bandyopadhyays arrest, a furious Mamata Banerjee accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using central agencies like the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department against his political rivals who were raising their voice against demonetisation.
Following the arrest of their leader, alleged TMC workers descended on the BJP office in central Kolkata chanting anti-Narendra Modi slogans and hurling stones. It left several people injured and half-a-dozen cars parked outside damaged.
Read|Mamata livid as TMC MP arrested in chit fund scam, BJPs Kolkata office targeted
In a bid to encourage competition to improve sanitation standards, the government will kick start a survey, Swachh Survekshan from Wednesday to rank 500 cities across the country on cleanliness.
The survey will be conducted by Quality Council of India.
It will judge cities on the basis of data provided by Municipal bodies, data collected through direct observations and independent assessment and citizen feedbacks.
The areas of evaluations include waste collection, sweeping and transportation, open defecation free and toilets, municipal solid waste-processing and disposal, information, education and behaviour change, and Capacity building - Swachh Bharat Mission e-learning portal.
The citizens can give their feedback by either giving a missed call on 1969 to record their response or by filling up a feedback form on the Swachh Survekshan website.
Swachh Survekshan 2016 had ranked 73 cities across the country.
Around one lakh citizens participated and gave their feedback.
18th Annual Hollywood Film Awards - Arrivals (Photo : Getty Images)
There are few Chinese actors who have succeeded in being noticed by Hollywood, such as Jackie Chan, Fan Bingbing and Donnie Yen. It seems 28-year-old Chinese actress Jing Tian would join them.
Jing Tian is the female lead in The Great Wall by Zhang Yimou, currently showing in China. According to Asia Times, she would be seen next in March in Kong: Skull Island starring Tom Hiddleston, Samuel Jackson and Brie Larson. The film is a reboot of the King Kong franchise.
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2018 Film
In 2018, Jing Tian would be seen in Pacific Rim: Uprising, a sequel to the 2013 film with the same title. He co-stars in the upcoming movie are John Boyega of Star Wars and Max Zhang. But the actress from Xian Province said she never planned to reach Hollywood.
I never mapped out any kind of career path for myself. All I am looking for are different projects and different roles and it happens that several of my upcoming films are Hollywood movies. I am very grateful for the exposure, she said.
One-Year Preparation
Jing Tian explained that she accepted a role of Lin Mei, commander of the Crane Troop in The Great Wall, because she wanted to work with Zhang Yimou. As part of her preparation for the role, Jing Tian lived almost a year in the U.S. to learn English which she now speaks fluently and go through an extensive training in martial arts.
Meanwhile, Matt Damon, Jing Tians co-star in The Great Wall downplayed criticism of his being given the major role in the Chinese movie as whitewashing. He pointed out that his role is that of an English mercenary so his role should not go to a Chinese actor. He blames it on critics basing their comment on a 30-second teaser trailer, Gulfnews reported.
PATNA
It was a sea of humanity rolling towards Gandhi Maidan as thousands joined the biggest-ever religious conglomeration Patna had ever witnessed.
The intensity of the excitement of people during the 350th Parkash Parv of Guru Gobind Singh was there for all to see from dawn to dusk.
It was no smooth sail for visitors though as they had to wade through the mass of humanity, surging every minute to get into the Gandhi Maidan, where the show was truly on.
For a change, the truly chaotic local traffic was off roads, thanks to an administrative fiat, though lack of autos and buses made the walk a tad longer. Despite the trouble, thousands of people were seen in long queues at all entry points of the sprawling ground.
I have been in queue for over an hour to get in, said Amit Kumar, a student of class 8 in a local school, who wants to see what is happening inside, along with his parents.
Most of the visitors said that they wished to see the replica of Takht Harmandir Sahib and the grandeur of the Darbar Hall.
Langar has been the other main attraction of the weeklong religious meet. I came here to partake of the langar. Its Gurujis parshad. If I am able to receive it, then it will be a great achievement. said teenager Sweta.
Deputy director (tourism) Aditya Kumar said three langars were operating at Gandhi Maidan round-the-clock and pizzas are also being served at one of the langars from Tuesday.
He said the Tent City at Gandhi Maidan had witnessed an unprecedented crowd as about 2 lakh people visited the venue.
The volume of the crowd could be gauged from the fact that Jodi Ghar (shoe houses) installed near the entry gates inside ran out of tokens.
I am waiting here for more than one hour to put my shoes in, said another student Raman Kumar, who came here from Ara.
About the occupancy of the tent city, Aditya said more than 16,000 people arriving from different parts of the country were so far given accommodation in Gandhi Maidan tent city.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Chandrima Bhattacharya on Wednesday filed a complaint against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over party MP Sudip Bandyopadhyays arrest in connection with the Rose Valley chit-fund scam.
The complaint was lodged at the Anandapur police station here.
Bandyopadhyays wife Nayna also registered a complaint earlier in the day, alleging that none of the family members were informed as to where Bandyopadhyay was being taken by the CBI.
Bandyopadhyays lawyer Rajdeep Majumdar said the allegations levelled against the TMC MP were totally baseless.
So, as far as Bandyopadhyay is concerned, there is no evidence. He will be produced in court after 12 (January). We will seek his bail. He has some health-related issues. So, we will produce medical documents, he added.
Bandyopadhyay was arrested on Tuesday hours after he appeared before the CBI for interrogation in connection with this scam.
The minister will be produced in Bhubaneshwar Court on Wednesday.
A group of trekkers who were camping at a fort in Lonavala near Pune were allegedly roughed up, and male members were forced to strip by 10 to 12 men and women who claimed to be heritage buffs, on New Years eve, police said on Wednesday.
The victims, who had came to celebrate New Year at Visapur Fort, had registered through a website for the camp at Lonavala, about 50km from Pune.
The incident comes close on the heels of an alleged mass molestation of women on December 31 night in Bengaluru.
According to a police complaint registered by a 36-year-old woman from Pune, 10 to 12 men and women, who claimed to be members of a fort lovers group, allegedly roughed them up with sticks and belts.
She also alleged that the accused humiliated the male trekkers by forcing them to strip and abused the women.
I along with my husband and other fellow couples had booked a camp, which was organised at Visapur Fort, through a website, said the complainant, a fitness trainer, who claimed she suffered a hand fracture in the incident.
We reached the spot at around 1pm on December 31 and found that there were around 25 more couples, who too had come on New Years eve through the same organisers, the woman said in her complaint.
At around 9.30pm, we were sitting around a camp fire when 10 to 12 persons came and accused us of littering the place, she said.
One of the women came near me and snatched a glass of cold drink. She thrashed me with a stick and kicked me and accused us of littering the fort, she alleged.
Later, the other accused forced male trekkers to strip and thrashed them with sticks and belts, and hurled abuses at the women, the victim said in her statement to police.
She said the accused also roughed up the event organiser and warned all of them not to come back to the fort.
The people who had attacked us even called our families and told them that we were indulging in obscene act by consuming liquor, the woman told PTI.
The complainant said with the help of some villagers, they managed to leave the place and later reported the matter to police.
We have registered a case of rioting against 10 to 12 people, including women, belonging to a fort lovers group and investigation is on, Sandip Yede-Patil, assistant police inspector, Lonavala rural police station, said.
Six of the accused have been identified so far, he said. The accused have been booked under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 504 (criminal intimidation) and 354 (molestation) of the IPC, Patil said.
He said the accused claimed that those present at the fort were consuming liquor, which is being verified.
The police officer said they are probing whether the organiser had taken necessary permission from authorities to hold the camp at the fort.
Meanwhile, the complainant claimed they were not consuming liquor as the organisers had told them not to carry alcohol and music systems to the venue.
Bodies of film producer-realtor Abis Rizvi and fashion designer Khushi Shah, who were among 39 people killed in the Istanbul terror attack, arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday morning.
The Turkish Airlines plane carrying the bodies landed at Mumbai airport shortly after 5am, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirit Somaiya, who received the bodies at the airport, said.
While Rizvis body has been taken to his home in suburban Bandra, Khushis body was flown to Vadodara for cremation.
Khushi and Rizvi were among the 15 foreigners who were killed when a gunman went on a rampage at the waterside Reina nightclub in Istanbul where revellers were celebrating the New Year.
A day after BJP state headquarters in Kolkata was allegedly attacked by Trinamool Congress supporters, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Wednesday warned TMC to refrain from violence or be ready for consequences.
If Trinamool tries to walk the path of violence, we will also not sit silently, the BJP leader said.
Vijayvargiya said Trinamool supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her MPs can be stopped from entering Delhi if an all-India party like the BJP decides to pay them back in the same coin.
The TMC has a majority in Bengal but the BJP is present from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. If we also walk the path of violence, will Didi (Mamata Banerjee) be able to roam freely in the country? If the BJP decides to stop the Trinamool Congress MPs from entering Delhi, will they be able to get there? the BJP leader said.
Trinamool Congress supporters threw stones at the Bharatiya Janata Party office in Central Kolkata after TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday in the Rose Valley chit fund scam.
The BJP leader accused city police commissioner Rajeev Kumar of not taking adequate steps against TMC activists involved in the attack and said the party will demand a CBI probe against the officer.
The police commissioner did not take steps against thousands of agitators who attacked the BJP office. He is the same person who destroyed important documents related to the Saradha chit fund scam. We will ask for a CBI probe into his involvement, he added.
Emotions ran high at three public hearings held across Indore on Tuesday, with complainants threatening to harm themselves unless the authorities took steps to resolve their problems at the earliest.
In the first incident, a woman tried to immolate herself before municipal officials during a public hearing at the Indore Municipal Corporation headquarters because they didnt seem to care for her grievances.
Officials said Shweta, a resident of Nandanagar, had come to the public hearing armed with a bottle of kerosene. However, corporation staffers managed to overpower the woman before she could pour the fuel over herself and attempt immolation.
Shweta told mediapersons that she was at odds with her neighbour, who constructed an illegal wall outside her house. I brought the issue to the municipal officials notice on several occasions, but to no avail, she said.
She was handed over to the police, who registered a case of attempted suicide.
In the second instance, a 72-year-old army veteran sought permission from the district collector to kill himself if the administration was unable to solve his problem.
Kaniya Lal made the request during the weekly public hearing held by the top government official.
The Naib subedar, who hails from Sanawar district, said he had sold his 5.24-acre agricultural property in Jankhya tehsil of Sanwer district to Venkatesh Industrial Pvt. Ltd in November 2014. He and the company owner, Yogesh Jain, agreed upon a sum of Rs 2.96 crore for the land transaction.
Yogeshs father Roshanlal Jain paid 50% of amount Rs 1.48 crore through cheque after registering the property in his name, and promised to pay the remaining sum by March 2016. However, 10 months on, the owner wants to pay only in demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
The administration should either help me take back my property, or give me permission to commit suicide, said Lal, who has served in the Indian army for 24 years.
Collector P Narhari said he was looking into the matter, and would resolve it in accordance with the law.
In another instance, a woman rammed her head on the desk of the sub-divisional magistrate while urging him to help her recover property seized by her adopted son. Bhagwati Bai, a resident of Rajendra Nagar, said the youngster had turned her out and converted their residence into a cannabis-manufacturing unit.
In the fourth instance, a man in his thirties threatened to immolate himself in front of Rajwada Palace if police failed to address his grievance.
Sumit Verma, a resident of Nipaniya, presented himself before deputy inspector general Harinarayanachari Mishra during the weekly public grievance hearing and complained that certain anti-social elements were trying to encroach upon his property in Harikrushna Vihar Colony by using bogus registry documents. He said efforts over the last 11 months to recover his property had gone in vain, and suicide was now the only option before him.
Verma claimed that he took matter to the district collector, where he was informed that his detractors registry was bogus. He then registered a complaint on the chief ministers helpline and even forwarded a letter to the prime minister offices, but to no avail.
Now I can only hope that the DIG pressurises the police officers concerned into providing me succour. Otherwise, I will be left with no choice but to immolate myself on Republic Day, he said.
Mishra said the matter has been forwarded to the police stations concerned for relevant action. During preliminary investigations, we found that a case has been registered against one of the three people who encroached upon Vermas property. He is absconding. We had asked Lasudiya police to arrest that man, he added.
However, the DIG took exception to Verma making suicide threats before the police. Its not appropriate to pressurise any administrative officer in this manner. If anything like this happens in the future, I will take action against the person concerned, he said.
Police have filed an FIR in the alleged Bengaluru mass molestation incident that happened when thousands of revellers had gathered around the junction of Brigade Road and MG Road to usher the New Year on Saturday.
As promised we have found credible evidence, repeat credible evidence, in a case of wrongful confinement, molestation and attempt to rob (sic), Bengaluru Police commissioner Praveen Sood said in a series of tweets late on Tuesday.
Read | Bengaluru mass molestation: #NotAllTwitterati impressed by #NotAllMen trend
Social media was flooded with outrage over the incident, with the #Bengalurumolestation hashtag trending on Twitter. Even celebrities weighed in, with actor Aamir Khan saying he was hurt and saddened by the incident and called for swifter justice in such cases.
Heres what we know so far in the case:
1. Police finally take action
The police filed an FIR in the case two days after reports of the mass molestation surfaced. Meanwhile, much public anger was directed towards the police for alleged delay in filing cases.
2. Police outnumbered by revellers
Even by their own admission, the police have agreed that they were severely outnumbered on the night. While around 1,500 police personnel were deployed near MG Road and Brigade Road, a police officer said on the condition of anonymity that around 50,000 people had come to the area to celebrate.
3. Return of the misogynist politicians
Whether it was Karnataka home minister G Parmeshwara or Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi, politicians views on the incident kicked up a storm on social media and elsewhere. Parameshwara had sought to play down the incident saying such instances happen everywhere, while Azmi seemed to lay the blame on the victims.
Read | SPs Abu Azmi blames women in half dress after Bengaluru molestation reports
Congress legislator BK Hariprasad too waded in by suggesting that it was the infiltration of the Hindutva brigade that was behind such sexual assaults in Bengaluru.
What we dont know:
1. Why has no victim lodged a complaint?
While no one has come forth to register any complaint, many eyewitnesses have confirmed that mass hooliganism did take place.
Read | Bengaluru molestation incident: Victims, eyewitnesses come forward; but no case yet
One such eyewitness told a news channel that inebriated men went berserk on that day. There were police personnel but the mob was unrelenting. Many women were groped and attempts were made to strip women, the eyewitness said.
2. Time to sift through evidence
Police have not given a time frame to finish scanning footage from all the CCTV cameras on the stretch of the road where the alleged incident happened. Police commissioner Sood said footage from 45 CCTV cameras has been looked into. There were reportedly 100 CCTV cameras in the area put up by the police and private establishments.
3. Timing of commissioners FIR tweets
Deputy commissioner of police (central) Chandragupta said at around 7pm on Tuesday that police were still some time away from filing an FIR because only 12 policemen were looking through footage from the CCTV cameras. However, by 11pm Sood tweeted saying the police had credible evidence.
4. Nature of evidence received by police
Sood told Hindustan Times that a citizen had come forward to help the police with evidence. However, it is not known if this was a footage captured from the CCTV camera of an establishment or any other evidence captured by an eyewitness to the event.
The police commissioners tweet said credible evidence has been found in a case of wrongful confinement, molestation and attempt to rob. So, the question arises whether he is corroborating the reported mass molestation.
Read | Bengaluru molestation: Politicians add hype, but where is the evidence?
The countrys first transgender principal Manabi Bandopadhyay rejoined duty at Krishnagar Womens College service on Tuesday after her resignation letter was rejected by the education department.
Manabi resigned from the post of principal on December 23 citing non-cooperation from teaching, non-teaching staff and students of her college.
Recently, she met education minister Partha Chatterjee in Kalyani. She was asked to be meet officials of the higher education department at Bikash Bhawan in Salt Lake on Monday.
The education department said 85% of the 12 charges levelled against me are baseless. They requested me to rejoin the college and resume work. I rejoined college as a principal, she said after resuming her duties on Tuesday.
The media supported me. The nation backed me. I am happy that proper investigation was done, she added.
However, her colleagues and students, who agitated against her, claimed they never wanted her to resign. But none offered any comment on her resuming duties.
Soon after she joined the college in June last year, a bitter relationship developed between Bandyopadhyay and a section of the teachers. Both sides raised allegations of non cooperation against one another. A group of teachers alleged that the principal used to misbehave with them. In this battle, even classes were hampered.
To look into the situation, a four-member team led by the joint director of public instructions, R P Bhattacharjee came to the college a few days ago. They held long discussions with the principal and other teachers.
Bandyopadhyays resignation came at this juncture.
I am passing through terrible mental agony and cant take it anymore, added the principal. Bandyopadhyay also alleged that as many as 17 posts were vacant in the college and she had to face opposition whenever they wanted to fill them up.
Bandyopadhyay, whose earlier name was Somnath, underwent a series of surgeries in 2003 and 2004 before she turned into a full-fledged woman.
In 1995, she published the countrys first transgender magazine, Ob-Manab (sub-human). Before joining Krishnagar Womens College as principal, she passed postgraduate in Bengali and joined the Vivekananda Centenary College in West Midnapore district as a lecturer in the late 1990s. She completed her PhD on transgenders in 2005.
I faced the humiliation because I wanted to bring in discipline. Women principals in this college before me also had a tough time. However, gender is always an issue. I always highlighted myself as a transgender, she told HT in response to the question whether she was victimised because she was a transgender.
The parents of an 18-month infant have appealed to chief minister Mamata Banerjee to close down a clinic in south Kolkata after holding a doctor and a nurse responsible for administering an injection that has allegedly reduced the lively baby to a vegetative state.
Avighna Saha suffered a cardiac arrest after he was allegedly administered potassium chloride injection through intravenous fluid (IV) by a nurse at Park Clinic on September 29.
The infants parents have urged chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also in charge of the health department, to shut down the private hospital as an exemplary punishment until a full investigation is done.
Avighna was admitted to the clinic on September 28 with mild dehydration with symptoms of vomiting.
According to medical experts, concentrated potassium chloride can be fatal if it is injected.
Avighnas father, Monojit Saha, has lodged an FIR against the nursing home and Dr A K Paul and the nurse Poonam Debnath at Shakespeare Sarani police station on January 2.
It is a case of medical negligence. My sons condition deteriorated after the nurse administered the potassium chloride injection. We have lodged an FIR against the clinic, Dr A K Paul and Poonam Debnath, Monojit told the media on Tuesday.
Dr Paul was not available for comment when HT contacted him on his mobile phone on Tuesday afternoon.
Initially, the authorities tried to suppress the incident when we drew the attention of the concerned doctor about negligence in treatment. The clinics management paid the bills for my sons treatment after we shifted Avighna to Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, said Monojit.
Avighna is now undergoing treatment at Institute of Neuro Science under Dr Hrishikesh Kumar for the past two months. The hospital concocted a story that the child became hypoxic because of aspiration during feeding, said Monojit.
Although he is still breathing, the playful and happy child has turned almost lifeless and is in a vegetative state due to medical negligence, said the father.
People for Better Treatment (PBT), a non-government platform floated for the victims of medical negligence in the country, has also written to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, requesting her to take action against the erring doctors and nurses of the clinic.
The parents have briefed us. Exemplary punishment should be given to the doctors and nurses of the clinic. We have also written to the chief minister requesting her intervention. The licence of the clinic should be cancelled, said Dr Kunal Saha chief of PBT.
A Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) activist was seriously injured after being stabbed by assailants, allegedly belonging to a rival student union faction, in Jalpaiguri district on Tuesday night.
A senior police officer said the TMCP activist Shuvankar Mitra was attacked near his house by a group and stabbed multiple times.
A bleeding Shuvankar was taken to Jalpaiguri Hospital and was now at CCU cabin, a hospital doctor said.
Two persons were arrested in connection with the incident, the officer said adding police were yet to verify if the arrested youths belonged to the rival faction of local TMCP unit.
Local people said two factions of the TMCP unit were at loggerhead over control of the local college.
The reduced tariff for Australian exports to China under the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement covers the wine industry, among many others. (Photo : Getty Images)
It is indeed a happy new year for Australian exporters as tariffs have been reduced under the Chinese-Australia Free Trade Agreement starting Jan. 1.
The tariff decrease applies to a wide range of products from military weapons to plastic flowers.
According to Australia's ABC News, fees for military weapons including rocket launchers, flamethrowers, grenade launchers, torpedo tubes and similar projectors have gone down from 7.8 percent to 5.2 percent.
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Fake plastic flowers now have a tax of 8 percent, while it is 9.6 percent for silk flowers.
Also included in the list are Arabian robes which are made out of cotton. Makers of these garments have to pay a 6.4 percent tax instead of 9.6 percent.
For human hair exports, China collects a fee of 6 percent. This is 3 percent lower than the previous rate.
From 12 percent, the tariff for beddings stuffed with animal hair has decreased to 8 percent. This also applies to the animal hair industry including pig, hog, boar, badger and weasel tail hair.
The reduced tariff also encompasses the live animal, frozen meat and wine industries.
The China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) became effective on 20 Dec. 2015. Australia considers it as a historic foundation for its next phase of economic relationship with China which is its largest export market for goods and services.
Australia sends to China nearly one-third of its total exports.
"China, with its population of 1.4 billion people and rapidly rising middle class, presents enormous opportunities for Australian businesses well into the future", said Andrew Robb, Australia's Minister for Trade and Investment and signatory to ChAFTA, as reported on the website of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission.
Two years of sustained efforts by the Mumbai police to keep the streets safe for pedestrians seems to have yielded results with instances of chain snatching cases in 2016 recording the lowest in the past five years.
With a total of 445 cases reported across 93 police stations last year, the figure was less than half of what had been reported in 2014 (909), or a little more than one fifth of the cases registered in 2013 (2,090).
Sources in the Mumbai police told HT that the success in the crackdown on chain snatching syndicates (or lone operatives) was achieved through a two-pronged strategy that involved a change in the SoP (Standard Operating Procedure) and application of tougher laws. The campaign against chain snatching was persuaded with the same vigour as the anti-drink driving campaign by the traffic police or the crime branchs drive against the underworld some years back, sources added.
Joint commissioner of police, law and order, Deven Bharti said that chain snatching assumed centre stage of policing concerns in the last two years. Despite our best efforts, instances of chain snatching had refused to come down, as is seen in the figures of years preceding 2015. A chain or a mangalsutra is not just a property alone. A lot of sentimental value is attached to it, Bharti said while advancing reasons for the all-out crackdown. It also makes a feeling of insecurity in the streets.
To address the problem, a calibrated strategy was put in place. To begin with, police stations were asked to dig out information about chain snatchers, active and dormant, in their respective areas and monitor their movement on a daily basis, a deputy commissioner of police (DCP) from the western suburbs said. Secondly, the city was mapped to identify areas affected by the problem and surveillance was intensified accordingly. Moreover, special teams were constituted in police stations to solve undetected chain snatching cases with the help of private CCTV footages (obtained from residential complexes or business establishments). However, the most important field strategy was conducting raids on hideouts across the citys limits in Thane and Navi Mumbai, sources said.
After blocking the escape routes for chain snatchers in the streets, the police started applying stringent laws that denied them easy legal immunity. In cases where they were found operating as a syndicate, we started slapping the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). In other instances, we started booking them under IPC Section 392 (robbery) instead of Section 379 (theft). While the latter is a minor offence (maximum 3 years of imprisonment upon conviction), the former is a serious offence in which the jail term can be extended to 14 years upon conviction, Bharti said adding, Obtaining bail under MCOCA and IPC Section 392 is also tough.
Mumbai police spokesperson Ashok Dudhe claimed that the strategy showed results in the first year (2015) when the figure of chain snatchings fell to 909 from the previous years figure of 1409 cases. For instance, Dudhe said, Zone IV (comprising areas like Matunga, Kalachowkie, Sion, Wadala, Bhoiwada et al) which traditionally recorded higher instances of chain snatching, had just about 5-6 cases registered for several months against the traditional monthly figure of around 50-60 cases. The tempo was maintained in 2016. With prompt availability of private CCTV footages and increased presence of policemen on the street, the figure came down to an all-time low this year, he added.
Meanwhile, a former assistance commissioner of police (ACP), who had played a key role in the crackdown against the underworld a decade ago, said that the application of MCOCA has spread fear in the minds of chain snatchers. Several of them are languishing behind the bar without bail, he said. However, he expressed doubts over the drastic fall in the number of cases. As far as I know, in 10-12 per cent cases police stations burked registration of offences in order to keep the figures down, the officer claimed while requesting anonymity.
Also read: 26 years on, former mayor gets her stolen gold chain back
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The Mumbai airports muddle with kites, balloons and laser beams straying into flight paths seems far from getting over. Despite several discussions to curb the menace, a few some flights have reported fresh cases of safety scares. With Makar Sankranti about 10 days away, airport officials have again asked the Mumbai police to keep an eye on kite fliers near the airport premises.
We have raised the matter time and again with the police. But it is not easy to keep a tab on such miscreants, said an airport official, adding that people should be more responsible and that a reminder would be sent to police ahead of the festival.
On November 4, an aircraft with registration number VT-AJM reported laser light being flashed on its arrival path. The same night, a Jet Airways flight crew lodged an identical complaint. While laser beams could disturb a pilots view of the airstrip, kites and balloons straying on the runway could get sucked into aircraft engine and lead a safety scare, said air safety experts.
The civil aviation ministry had urged the state government to ban kites flying near airports, the HT had reported last September. On September 3, civil aviation secretary RN Choubey wrote to state chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya on the issue, seeking a ban on kite flying within a 2 km radius of the airport.
During the periodic meeting taken by me for the review of operational issues in the civil aviation sector, airport operators have raised the issue of use of lantern kites or wish kites especially during festivals. It was pointed out by safety and security agencies that such activities pose danger to the safety of an aircraft during take off and landing, reads the note.
Also read: Cops to keep kites away from Mumbai airport
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The Bombay high court has asked the city civic body to bring its departments together and come up with ways to make better, more lasting repairs of potholes across roads in Mumbai.
The court even set a date for this meeting January 5 that is to be attended by senior officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), MMRDA, PWD, MSRDC and the Mumbai Port Trust, to ensure potholes do not reappear every monsoon season.
A bench of justice Shantanu Kemkar and justice PD Naik observed in a recent order the primary reason for potholes resurfacing every monsoon, despite the BMCs claims of carried out extensive repair work, seemed to be that the civic body was using substandard material for repair work and was repeatedly spending huge amounts of money to benefit contractors.
The bench said the meeting must be attended by officials not below the rank of Executive Engineer and that the corporation must file a compliance report and details of the decisions taken in the meeting by February 17, 2017.
The bench also asked all stakeholders to let go of their attitude of passing the buck. Instead, ensure compliance of the courts various orders on the issue, it said.
On the next date of hearing, the PWD has also been directed to submit a separate reply about the steps that can be taken to repair potholes and damages on the Western Express Highway and to fix a deadline for repair work there. The directions came while the bench was hearing a suo moto Public Interest Litigation on the poor condition of roads in Mumbai and the BMCs failure to prevent potholes every monsoon.
During the last hearing on October 25, 2016, the BMC claimed all roads in the city would become pothole free by October 31 that year. The corporation, however, failed to keep its word. The bench then directed it to conduct the meeting and file the compliance report.
For more than a year now, the high court has been following up with the BMC to ensure Mumbais roads are pothole-free.
On the last hearing, the bench directed the BMC to not just rely on road repair material used by its contractors, but to procure good material and seek the help of experts from IIT, Central Road Research Institute and the Indian Road Congress.
The bench also suggested the corporation consults the civic authorities of other states in the country that get heavy rain. The HC is likely to take up the matter for further hearing on February 27.
Also read: After road scam, Mumbai civic body to monitor work in wards
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Taking serious note of glaring lapses in investigation and prosecution of a murder case, the Bombay high court recently directed the state government to enquire into the acts of omissions and commissions purportedly committed by two police officers, who investigated the case, and the assistant public prosecutor, who prosecuted the accused, a father-son duo from Chandrapur.
The division bench of Justice BP Dharmadhikari and Justice AS Chandurkar directed that the inquiry be completed within six months and the report be placed before it by July 10, 2017.
The entire investigation is defective and shows lapses going to the root of the matter, said the bench while reversing conviction of 24-year-old Mohan Pendam and his father Khushal. Highly unsatisfactory investigation with vital lapses makes it impossible to convict the accused, the bench cited as reason for making it impossible for it to uphold the trial court order convicting the father-son duo.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place at Ashtabhuja in Chandrapur on March 8, 2013, when Mohan and Khushal, killed Ankush Suryavanshi, attempted to kill the wife Heena, and also injured their neighbour, Siddharth Suryavanshi. A year later, the trial court convicted both of them of murder, attempt to murder and voluntarily causing grievous hurt, and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
The high court, however, found glaring lapses in the investigation as also in prosecution of the father-son duo, and acquitted them giving them the benefit of doubt. It noted that though the incident took place in a residential locality and many people had gathered, the prosecution could not find any independent witnesses to support its case.
The bench further noted that the best available evidence, the earliest version of events, as seen by material witnesses was not produced before the trial court, police officer who recorded complaint and registered FIR did not enter the witness box. It also found that though bloodstained clothes of the accused were seized, the memo did neither mention from where and from whom the clothes had been seized. The judges also found the discovery of the weapons purportedly used by the accused equally faulty, thus leaving them with no option but to acquit the two.
The bench concluded that both the investigating officers and the assistant public prosecutor prima facie appeared to be the erring officers responsible for failure of the prosecution case, and taking cue from the Supreme Court ruling of 2014, ordered inquiry against them.
The case
In 2014, in State of Gujarat v/s. Kishanbhai, the Supreme Court has held that every acquittal should be understood as a failure of the justice delivery system, in serving the cause of justice. Likewise, every acquittal should ordinarily lead to the inference, that an innocent person was wrongfully prosecuted. The Supreme Court directed the state government shall also identify the investigating and / or prosecuting officials responsible for the acquittal and if the acquittal is found to be the result of their blameworthy conduct, appropriate departmental action must be taken against the erring officials. Taking into consideration the seriousness of the matter, the official concerned may be withdrawn from investigative or prosecution responsibilities, permanently or temporarily, depending purely on his culpability, the Apex Court has said.
Body of city developer Abis Rizvi, 49, who was killed in the Istanbul nightclub attack on New Years eve, was brought to the city on Wednesday morning by his father and former MP Dr Akhtar Hasan Rizvi. According to family sources, the funeral will take place on Wednesday afternoon at a kabristan in Mazgaon.
Abis Rizvi was the CEO of Rizvi Builders and was among the two Indians killed when a gunman, reportedly dressed up as Santa Claus, opened fire in a nightclub at Istanbul killing at least 39 people. Rizvi was vacationing in Turkey and was at the nightclub with friends on the New Years eve. He is survived by his wife and son.
Kalyan
The long awaited Govindwadi bypass project will not complete anytime soon, as the land owners who are affected by the project alleged that the authorities have cheated them. They have now decided to approach the Bombay high court and bring a stay on the project. Once opened to public, the bypass will ease congestion at Shivaji Chowk in Kalyan (West) by diverting the traffic.
The cowshed owners, with the help of local activist Sreenivas Ghanekar, have decided to fight a legal battle against the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), authority supervising the bypass project.
A legal notice was been served to the Maharashtra State Urban Development Department (MSURDD), KDMC, MSRDC and the vice-president and managing director of MSRDC.
We have not received any compensation for our ancestral properties. The civic commissioner had assured to provide land at Wadeghar in Kalyan, but nothing has been done so far, said Iqbal Karte,68, owner of cowshed, adding, We are not against development, as we know it will benefit the common man. But here, we are cheated which is why we have decided to raise the issue.
The Kartes alleged that the land at Wadeghar has private ownership, although it is reserved by the civic body. The civic body has neither acquired the land nor has its reservation to residential.
Shed owners alleged that the bypass is be illegal because the sanctioned development plan states that the property of the cowshed owners wont be affected, while the corporation had changed the alignment of the road, thus affecting their properties.
The family [Kartes] approached me saying that they were cheated. I studied their case and decided to help them with legal procedure to get their compensation. We have already started the legal proceedings to approach the court and stop the bypass project, said Ghanekar.
He added that the corporation has failed to comply with the terms of settlement. The said land is not in the possession of KDMC. Also, the civic body has not mentioned clearly regarding the area of the land which will be given as a compensation to the family during the previous general body meet, added Ghanekar.
Speaking to HT, a KDMC officer said, We have received the notice from the land owners and we are looking into it. We will fight legally for the project and make sure that it is completed.
Project history
The project had been facing hurdles since it was initiated in 2011. One of the major hurdles was a cow shed on the 1.6-km long stretch. The shed owners, reluctant to hand over their 3,80-metre property, had approached the court earlier. However, the project got a push in January 2015 after the municiapl commissioner managed to convince the owners and assured adequate compensation.
Civic chief E Ravendiran had announced that he had convinced the land owners with a settlement of providing a land in compensation at Wadeghar. In January, the civic body razed the cowshed and started working on the remaining 200-metre stretch of the bypass. However, the cowshed owners alleged that the KDMC has failed to compensate them.
Currently, one lane of the bypass is completed and a trial of vehicular flow is going on. The civic body had plans to complete the work for other lane by the end of December 2016 and open the bypass for public by this January. The civic body has missed several deadlines already in the past.
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Following a demand by the Students Islamic Organisation (SIO), the state health and family welfare minister Girish Mahajan on Wednesday wrote to the Centre demanding that National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2017 also be conducted in Urdu. A recent statement released by the Union health ministry had mentioned that NEET 2017 will be conducted in eight languages, including English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Assamese, Bengali, Tamil and Telugu. NEET scores are used for admission to medical colleges across the country.
168 Urdu medium junior colleges run in Maharashtra, from where around 11,000 students appear for their class XII examinations. Considering the large number of students whose first language remains Urdu, we request the government to make appropriate changes to the present rules, read the letter addressed to Union health minister J P Nadda. An online petition filed by SIO aimed at garnering support for NEET to be conducted in Urdu has received over 2,400 supporters.
The move to conduct NEET in more languages came after the Supreme Court, in its 2016 order, made it clear that any entrance test held at a national level should be conducted in regional languages as well, especially as most state-conducted entrance exams are conducted in more than one local language. While the statement mentioned only seven regional languages and English, SIO demanded that Urdu should also be included considering students from Maharashtra as well as other neighbouring states will need the advantage.
Read
NEET 2017 to be held in 8 languages including Gujarati, Assamese, Tamil
Political blame game erupts over Kannada being excluded from NEET exam
Centre seeks SCs nod to hold NEET in 6 regional languages
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Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday decided to file a defamation suit against anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, who filed three petitions in the Bombay high court, alleging a Rs25,000-crore loss to the government caused by co-operative sugar factories.
Hazare had named Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar, among others, in the alleged sugar factory scam and sough an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the guilty.
Talking to media in Thane, Pawar raised doubts over the state governments decision to spend a whooping Rs3,600 crores on the Shivaji memorial off the Mumbai coast.
Refuting the allegations, Pawar said, Hazare has given me an opportunity to make my stand clear before everyone. I am at present consulting my lawyer and will file both criminal and defamation suits against him. I dont know from where he got the figure of Rs25,000 crore. Hazare, though a social worker, cannot defame anyone and everyone.
The petitions alleged that the fraud had been committed in governance by first burdening sugar cooperative factories with debts and thereafter selling these sick units at a throwaway price, causing loss of Rs25,000 crore to the government, cooperative sector and people.
Pawar clarified, In all the cases, tenders were floated as per the procedure several times. Moreover, the alleged scam took place when I was a minister at the Centre and not connected to decisions taken by the state goovernment.
Pawar also said there was no need to spend Rs3,600 crore on the Shivaji memorial. We are not questioning the greatness of Shivaji, though there was no need to spend so much money on a third statue. He added it was his government who had approved the statue but could not compete it due to a lower budget.
Gujarat pattern of budget announcement
With the announcement of elections in five states, the question of violation of code of conduct guidelines by declaring Union Budget has cropped up. Pawar said, The Budget will anyways be over in four to five days from January 31 to first week of February. In our time, Budget discussions and approvals used to take a minimum of 22 days. I have heard it merely takes three to four days in Gujarat and I can see the same pattern replicated in the Budget.
On Shiv Sena
Seconding Uddhav Thackerays views against releasing Budget amidst elections, Pawar said a decision whether to join hands with the Shiv Sena on the issue will be taken after a discussion with his party members. Thackeray said the opposition should come along with the Sena to demand a cancellation of the budget as it may influence voters. Pawar said, Uddhavs statement reflects that our opposition is agreeing with our way of thinking. The Sena and BJP have come together only for power.
On demonetisation
Pawar claimed that although the Centre has performed the surgery, the after-care was botched up. Fifty days are over but there is no change in the situation. Farmers have stopped getting loans as the co-operative banks have suffered. The real estate is affected. The growth of various sectors is affected due to demonetisation which will also affect our GDP.
Read
Demonetisation failed to check black money, rural economy collapsed, says Pawar
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Days before the Mumbai civic polls are announced, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray launched a verbal attack on ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), joining the Oppositions chorus that the party is using the Union budget for electoral gains, and sent strong signals that a tie-up for the Mumbai polls may be unlikely.
Addressing the Sena cadre at a party convention in Mumbai, Thackeray slammed the Centre for being keen on unveiling the budget in February just before the Assembly polls are held in five states. The Sena chief said his party will request President Pranab Mukherjee to prevent the government from announcing the budget before the elections.
The Sena chief also hardened his criticism of the PMs demonetisation move, where old notes of Rs500 and Rs1,000 denomination were suddenly decommissioned, causing inconvenience to people at large. In one of his sharp attacks on the Modi government, Thackeray said India has witnessed the kind of tension it never witnessed since it got freedom. Are we going towards a China-like dictatorship, he remarked.
Was the government napping when tycoons like Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi ran away? Today, the state of the farmers is extremely poor. They dont have money to spend. The achche din are only in the small solace that people are still alive, Thackeray said, adding the Sena will always speak out about anything that is going wrong in the country.
The Sena chief also indicated the alliance with the BJP for the Mumbai civic polls was difficult.
We wont forge an alliance out of any helplessness, he said.
Elections to the BMC are likely to be announced in a day or two, and will be conducted next month. Senior leaders of both parties admit that neither has initiated any formal talks, and there is little time left to hammer out a seat-sharing agreement and prepare candidates accordingly.
Sena office bearers from Mumbai said the party has already readied a list of probable candidates for all 227 wards, preparing to contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election alone, although it had given the BJP 63 seats to contest the last election in 2012. The way things are going, 99% any kind of alliance this time is unlikely. The chief minister may want to keep himself in the Sena chiefs good books, but the BJPs local leadership has strongly criticised, even protested against our party and even stated that the BMC will have the BJPs mayor next. Local Sainiks are disillusioned and prefer to not have any alliance, a Mumbai-based Sena office bearer said.
While relations between the Sena and BJP have been choppy for a while, the alliance is souring by the day with the tussle having reached the state cabinet on Tuesday. Sena ministers walked out, sounding their opposition to two proposals brought to the tablethe Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train and a hawkers policyand expressing their displeasure with the sudden rejigging of guardian ministers.
Thackeray lauded the ministers in his Wednesdays speech, saying, Whatever we dont agree with, we will speak out in front of whoever it may be. He said the party is not opposed to the bullet-train proposal and has always been pro-development, but the government should properly plan the project first.
Thackeray also indirectly alleged the BJP forges alliances very opportunistically and flexes money power during elections. In a veiled reference to BJP Maharashtra chief Raosaheb Danves recent remark about voters welcoming lakshmi (money) a day before polls on the eve of municipal council elections in Maharashtra, Thackeray said, If you want to contest elections, fight cleanly. We dont have that much lakshmi and whatever we have is not for buying votes.
Read more:
What 2017 means for parties in Maharashtra
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Every Indian state election is important. It alters the power structure of the state, and the distribution of resources among different social groups. It also reflects the aspirations and the angst of the electorate.
The Election Commission has just announced dates for a new set of polls.
Manipur is one of the last Congress bastions. It is also the site of armed conflicts and ethnic tensions. The election will be an important test of whether the Congress tactical redrawing of district boundaries - cause of the current blockade - will yield political dividends or whether BJP continues its expansion into the Northeast. A BJP win will be remarkable, given its strongly nationalist image, for Manipur has long been home to a strong separatist stream.
Read: Assembly elections 2017: UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur vote count on March 11
In Uttarakhand, which witnessed both an environmental disaster and political instability, the task is for the Congress to explain its record.
In Goa, the onus is on the BJP, its challenge compounded by Manohar Parikkars shift to Delhi and rebellion by a section of the RSS.
Punjab is on the cusp of a political contest where the incumbent, Akali-BJP alliance, and leading Opposition, the Congress, are pitted not just against each other but a new entrant, AAP.
Read: Uttar Pradesh elections: All you need to know about Indias political heartland
If the latter wins, its national footprint will grow, and its hopes of replacing the Congress as the primary challenger to the BJP in north and west India will get a boost.
Critics will no longer be able to dismiss Arvind Kejriwal as a Delhi phenomenon.
Alternatively, if the Congress wins, it will largely be due to the charisma of Captain Amarinder Singh and serve as a reminder there is no alternative to strong regional leaders.
But while all states are equal, some are more equal than others.
Read: If Mulayam can leave son, why cant we leave him?: Akhilesh rises amid SP feud
The political outcome in UP will affect the lives of 200 million people. Uttar Pradesh is also a microcosm of Indian diversity. It is home to every major political strand. It is the site of Indias major communal and caste fault-lines. It is also the state, which will inhibit Indias rise if it remains stuck with its current economic and human development indicators.
And it is the state which often dictates politics in Delhi, by shaping the complexion of the Rajya Sabha, by its strength in the Lok Sabha (though it is important to note there is no obvious co-relation between assembly and Lok Sabha outcomes), and by being a key factor in the election of the president (due this year).
Any triangular contest is difficult to read. But the political theatre in UP has rarely been as fluid. This is a result of the implosion in the Samajwadi Party and the emergence of Akhilesh Yadav; the likelihood of his alliance with Congress; the overwhelming energy being invested by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the state; the BSPs attempts to craft a Dalit-Muslim coalition; demonetisation; and regional variations.
But the UP election, this time, has four distinctive features.
One, the question of leadership is central to voter concerns. Local candidates matter, but the election is being constructed as an Akhilesh versus Modi versus Mayawati election. While it shows Modis continued popularity, it also speaks of the BJPs structural weakness - the absence of local leaders. If the BJP wins, it will once again be due to the PMs popularity; if Mayawati wins, it will be because of the nostalgia for her strong law and order; and if Akhilesh wins, it will be an endorsement of his focus on infrastructure and welfare, and rebellion against the old patronage networks.
Two, both caste and going beyond caste is critical for each party. UP is in this paradoxical position where every party promises that its focus is on governance, yet every partys calculation is fundamentally driven by identity.
But no one quite knows whats the right mix. A single caste group cannot win you elections; no caste group even votes homogeneously; the young think differently and are connected to a world outside; the urban-rural boundary is getting blurred.
And so employing a new grammar is essential - Akhilesh promises smartphones, Mayawati says she will not build statues anymore, Modi says the state needs vikas. At the same time, caste is a key factor in candidate selection, in creating coalitions, in voter preferences. This election will tell us not only which factor is important, but also what is the right mix, and who has got it.
Three, for UPs Muslims, this is the most high-stakes election since the post-Babri poll of 1993 because the state remains their only platform for political representation. Not a single Muslim won in the Lok Sabha in 2014 - and this has increased their alienation. Their focus will be in ensuring representatives make it to Lucknow, and that the BJP gets defeated. How the community votes, whether it fragments or consolidates to a substantial degree, will be a key determinant of the outcome.
And finally, this election will be a mini referendum on Modis demonetisation. The BJPs own base is upset with the party, yet there are indications that the party may have been able to tap into the anger and discontent of the poor against the rising inequality.
Every economic sector, every citizen remains affected, in varying degrees. If the BJP wins, it will provide a huge boost to Modis policy measure and will make him stronger at the centre to continue with his policies; if it loses, it will be interpreted as a rejection of demonetisation, and the Oppositions morale will shoot up.
Elections provide a platform for social cleavages, ideological battles, political rivalries to be played out peacefully.
The 2017 polls will once again show this strength of Indian democracy.
@prashantktm
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A woman views TV screens showing Chinese President Hu Jintao delivering a speech during the opening ceremony of the 17th CPC National Congress, at a department store on Oct. 15, 2007, in Nanjing. (Photo : Getty Images)
China's state broadcaster on Saturday launched a multilingual, multi-platform media network that aims to expand its reach globally.
Meant as a rebranding of China Central Television (CCTV) News, the China Global Television Network (CGTN) consists of six TV channels, three overseas branches, a video content provider, and a digital media division, according to the state-owned Xinhua News Agency.
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In his congratulatory letter, Chinese President Xi Jinping said CGTN should serve as a platform to "tell China stories well" to the rest of the world.
"The relationship between China and the rest of the world is undergoing historic changes. China needs to know more about the world and the world needs to know more about China," Xi said.
The rebranding is seen by industry observers as Beijing shifting its broadcasting strategy from domestic Chinese television shows to greater international discourse, with some comparing it to Russia Today, an English-language news channel funded by the Russian government.
"The successful experience of Russia Today shows that in the age of global information, in which discourse is imbalanced, such media can work wonders," Zhang Shengjun, an international politics professor at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times on Monday.
The CGTN will provide China's view on global affairs, including commentary from Chinese analysts and opinions from citizens, which could be shared to the rest of the world, he said.
However, Zhang warned against the platform taking on a narrow-minded nationalistic approach and should report with a global view instead.
"CGTN is a good start, and in the future we can have two or three such platforms competing with each other."
In February last year, Xi called for innovation in concept, content, and methods and urged media groups to reach out to people and amplify their voices on the international stage as well as establish media groups with a strong global influence.
The Election Commission on Wednesday alloted batsman as the symbol to Aapna Punjab Party (APP), the day February 4 was announced as the voting date for the state assembly polls. Party president Sucha Singh Chhotepur said, In true words, the party, going by its symbol, will hit boundaries, taking rivals by surprise.
We as a party may be new but all the members are accomplished batsmen who have already carved a niche for themselves in various spheres. Now they are all set to prove their worth in the field of politics with ethical practices being their forte, added Chhotepur, a former state convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) who floated the APP after he was sacked over allegations of taking money for poll tickets.
Food packets sold like hotcakes on day two of the Annapurna Akshaypatra, a project started by the Indian Red Cross Society, Chandigarh. Organisers had to arrange for more packets as hordes of people rushed to the food vans set up at five locations across the city. Each food packet costs only Rs 10 and targets labourers, industrial workers and the needy.
The scheme especially aims at providing an affordable and nutritious diet to the economically weaker sections in the city.
A visit to the locations revealed that there was a huge rush of workers to buy the food packets. The van set up at the grain market in Sector 26 went out within 20 minutes, selling 100 food packets.
More packets were ordered as labourers started gathering in earnest to get the food. Not only labourers, but some students also came to get the food packets from the grain market van. In the evening when HT reached the Sector 26 location at around 6pm, labourers were spotted looking for the food van. They said the administration should clearly mention the exact spot where the van will be parked so that people dont have to go looking for it.
The scheme, launched on Monday, left workers curious and they were eagerly waiting to purchase the food packets. The UT deputy commissioner Ajit Balaji Joshi said, keeping in view certain complaints, they put chappatis and vegetables in one box instead of selling them separately.
Sources in the administration said preparations for cooking the food begins as early as 1pm followed by mechanised packaging. The scheme has also provided jobs to 50 people including women, who prepare and package the food. The machines set up inside the kitchen produce 2,000 chappatis in one hour. The administration purchased the machines for Rs 75 lakh.
The Indian Red Cross Society has started the project in co-ordination with the health department, labour department, food and supplies department, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Chandigarh Sewa Bharti, Panchkula Gaushala Trust and Chandigarh Market Committee.
Minutes after the election code of conduct came into effect for the Punjab Polls, Congress leader Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu confirmed that her husband and former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu will contest the assembly polls from Amritsar East constituency.
Confirming that Navjot Singh Sidhu will be joining the Congress party very soon, Dr Sidhu said that as soon as the ticket is announced, Sidhu will reach Amritsar.
Dr Sidhu said Navjot Singh Sidhu is in regular touch with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh. Various rounds of meetings have taken place with the top brass of the Congress. They are preparing itinerary for Sidhu and whenever they say, Sidhu will join Congress.
Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu who had won the Amritsar East constituency on the BJP ticket in year 2012, vacated her seat for her husband. She categorically made it clear that Sidhu couple will not contest the Lok Sabha election.
Talking about the delay in announcement , Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu said, The party high command and senior leadership is going ahead very cautiously and want to weed out the threat of rebel factor at an early stage. So before announcing another list, party high command is talking to possible rebels and pacify them by showing surveys and other elements kept in mind by the party.
Congress MLA from Amritsar West Dr Raj Kumar Verka said that Captain Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu will jointly strengthen the Congress party and ensure its victory in the 2017 polls.
Sidhu a three-time MP from Amritsar was adjusted in the Rajya Sabha by the BJP after Arun Jaitley was given ticket in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. But unhappy with not getting a larger role in Punjab, Sidhu quit the party and resigned from Rajya Sabha.
Already, the Amritsar East constituency is flooded with posters of the Sidhu couple.
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After the announcement by the election commission of India (ECI) for assembly polls in Punjab on February 4, and immediate imposition of model code of conduct coming into effect, the state election commission officials got into huddle to make a last minute check of the list of works and responsibilities they are suppose to carry out.
By evening the flying squads which have already been formed to check flow of drugs, cash and contrabands into the poll bound state will get functional. As the checking of distribution of drugs by the political parties to the electorate to woo them is a major focus for the EC, instructions have been passed on to the three member teams comprising narcotics control bureau, state police and health department to nip the flow of drugs.
EC have already rolled out instructions for the state government to post the inspector generals of police, deputy commissioners and senior superintendents of police as per their policy. EC had also made an alternate arrangement forming an independent panel of officers from the state to be posted at the respective positions incase the working or an officer posted earlier was not as desired. 500 companies of paramilitary forced have been requisitioned for peaceful polling in Punjab.
Political parties particularly the ruling SAD-BJP combine have been asked to remove the pictures of all the political functionaries from the government websites and also asked the government not to give advertisements in the name of government now, especially after the imposition of the poll code.
The office of chief electoral officer Punjab VK Singh have also opened up the system of receiving poll related complaints and have drawn out a plan to deal with these complaints.
Two former soldiers are set to slug it out in the Patiala assembly segment as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has decided to bet on former army chief General JJ Singh (retd) against Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh for the polls due within a couple of months. Amarinder hasnt lost an election from the Patiala (urban) seat since 2002.
Gen JJ Singh stopped just short of expressly confirming the candidature: Lets wait for a day; I am ready for the battle and take up a challenge only to win.
But an Akali leader privy to the decision told HT, The idea is to pose a tough challenge to Amarinder, so that he gets less time to move around the state for canvassing. General JJ Singh is a Sikh with an illustrious career behind him. The AAP has fielded a very weak candidate from Patiala. Our party president will announce the name in a day or two, but JJ Singh has already been sounded to shift base to Patiala.
Gen Singh confirmed he has reached Patiala. Let me first make it clear that dont dub me as a paratrooper in Patiala. I have been brought up in the city and stayed here... am familiar with its every nook and cranny, he said, indicating that he is game. He said he is in Patiala for an assignment which I will accomplish in tune with my track record of no failures.
He added, Its my payback time to Patiala, where I have stayed for years as a child after my family shifted here after Partition. The city has my nanke (maternal grandfathers family) as well as dadke (paternal grandfathers), and now I am here to give back to the city socially, politically and economically, said the General.
Gen Singh, who was the first Sikh officer to become the army chief, has been provided security cover by the police in Patiala. At least 12 cops and vehicle have been put on the job on the orders of ADGP (security). JJ Singh fought the 1965 and 1971 wars, apart from being among the architects of defeating Pakistani intruders in Kargil.
For six months, JJ Singh was cosying up with SAD president and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. He was seen at the inaugural function of the war memorial in Amritsar and also at other events concerning ex-servicemen.
Amarinder, too, had served on the Indo-Pak border during the 1965 war.
After finding former minister Surjit Singh Kohli not in the pink of his health, and Bhagwan Dass Juneja, who lost decisively in the bypoll to Preneet Kaur after Amarinder left the seat to become Amritsar MP, the SAD was looking for a formidable fresh face from Patiala. Sukhbir approached JJ Singh, who agreed to the proposal, said sources.
SAD general secretary Prem Singh Chandumajra had said on Sunday that a famous personality would be pitted against Amarinder. As per the deal, say sources, the General has been promised a suitable adjustment irrespective of what the election result will be.
On being asked if it will be befitting for him to contest assembly polls after holding offices such as those of army chief and governor, JJ Singh said, No job and work is small.
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Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be used in 35 out of total 117 assembly constituencies in Punjab, which is slated to go to polls on February 4. Punjab chief electoral officer (CEO) VK Singh on Wednesday said that VVPATs will be used in keeping in mind sensitivity of the constituency.
VVPAT is a method of providing feedback to voters. VVPAT is attached to the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) to help electors verify that their vote has been cast correctly.
VVPATs will be preferably used at district headquarters during the polls, he said.
He added that an assistant commissioner of income tax will be stationed at each district. The officer will have power to carry search on the premises on complaint against any individual, he said.
He said 100 observers will be deployed in the state on January 18. Also, 6,000 pockets in different polling stations have been identified as vulnerable, and adequate security arrangements will be made at there.
The model code of conduct was enforced in the state after noon on Wednesday, immediately after the EC announced the election schedule for Punjab, he said.
He said candidates contesting the polls will have to furnish an affidavit mentioning that he has no dues against his name in form of electricity bill, telephone bill or any other fees, including rent of the house.
He said the expenses of booths set up near the polling stations will be borne by the candidate and not by his party.
The maximum expenditure limit per candidate has been fixed at Rs 28 lakh.
He said around 70,000 voters have been identified as disabled and special provisions will be made for them to exercise their franchise.
An information technology (IT)-enabled complaint-monitoring system has been set up at the poll panels office. So far we have received around 500 complaints and majority of these have been resolved. Most of these complaints were regarding not getting the voter card, he said.
He said a 24x7 toll-free number 1950 has been started to receive complaints. Besides, complaints can be made online on the Samadhan portal, he said.
Electoral rolls will be published on Thursday, he said, adding, new voters can get registered by January 9.
So far, 165 NRIs have been registered as voters and they will have to come to Punjab to exercise their franchise. At few constituencies electronic voting will be allowed for defence personnel, he said.
Webcasting will be done on 4,000 polling stations.
On a question about Aam Aadmi Party Delhi MLA Jarnail Singhs eligibility to contest polls from Punjab, he said, He will have to present a proof that he is a resident of the state.
Nominations will be held from January 11 to 18, withdrawal by any candidate can be done by January 21 and polling will take place on February 4. The results will be declared on March 11.
A high-stake election will be held in the state where the SAD-BJP will make attempt to remain in power for the third term whereas Congress and new entrant AAP will try to wrest power.
Drones will keep a vigil, choppers will shower flowers and Wadali Brothers will perform at a three-day Prakashotsav to celebrate Guru Gobind Singhs 350th birth anniversary in Jamshedpur starting January 9.
The state government on Tuesday finalised a plan and the East Singhbhum administration earmarked a budget of 1.30 crore for the celebration at Gopal Maidan.
Chief minister Ragubar Das will inaugurate the state-level Prakashotsav celebration at 7.30 pm on January 9. About 50,000 devotees are likely to attend the event.
The programme schedule was announced on Wednesday a day after the chief minister met a Sikh delegation led by nodal officer Sardar Jagjit Singh in Ranchi.
Main pandal will be of 50,000 sq feet while langar will be held in a separate pandal measuring 30,000 sq feet. Arrangements are also being made of live telecast of the celebration, East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Amit Kumar told the media.
Kumar said performance by 90 nationally acclaimed artists, including Wadali Brothers, Kanwar Grewal, Bhai Jagjit Singhs Kirtani jatthya and Nihang performance by Gurinder Singh, would be the events main attraction.
The administration has formed 10 sub-committees for smoothly organising of the programme. Sub-divisional officer Suraj Kumar was instructed to ensure deployment of adequate number of judicial magistrates and security forces for maintaining law and order situation during the event.
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Ranchi:
She grew up in Jharkhands Lalgarh at a time when the entire area was a liberated zone of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoists).
There were more rebels with arms on the streets than civilians. Policemen were either confined to the police station or were driven out of Lalgarhs boundary.
The ruling Communist Party of India (Marxists) leaders were targeted and killed one after another. Political flags had disappeared from the poles and buildings.
As a teenager, Sumi Hembrom alias Sonali Tuddu, got fascinated by the empowered women in camouflaged fatigues, brandishing sophisticated weapons and began hobnobbing with them before she inducted into the red brigade.
Barely few years with the rebels, she came in contact with Supai Tuddu, who was the bodyguard of the slain politburo member and firebrand Maoist leader, Koteshwar Rao alias Kishenji, who spearheaded the Lalgarh liberation movement.
It was love at first sight for the duo. The affair eventually culminated into marriage with the blessings of Kishenji, who freed Supai from his personal security and promoted him as a commander.
The couple was soon shifted to the bordering Jharkhands East Singhbhum to spread the Maoist base. On February 13, 2010, the couple played an active role in the kidnapping of Dalbhumgarh block development officer Prashant Layek.
Five days later, when newspapers released photographs of the abducted official in rebel custody, the couple was prominently visible holding him hostage carrying sophisticated guns.
Early on Tuesday, when security forces gunned down Supai Tuddu in the Gudabanda jungles of East Singhbhum, his colleagues except his wife deserted him in his death.
Security forces on the prowl rushed in nab Sonali but she showed no resistance and meekly surrendered, standing motionless besides her fatally wounded husband.
She was an equally devoted rebel, well trained in jungle warfare. She is as big a catch as her husband, who could not be caught alive despite our best efforts, said rural SP Shailendra Burnwal.
On Wednesday, police sent Sonali to judicial custody, but they will be seeking police remand for her in a day or two to get information about rebel movement and organization in the area.
Sources said at least two senior police officials from West Bengal will be coming to question Sonali on the killings of number of CPM leaders by the rebels.
Water management should be at the heart of all smart city planning. While there is a lot of emphasis on transportation and infrastructure development, water management remains limited to treatment of waste water, quality monitoring, and smart metering in the governments smart cities strategy.
No clear plans have emerged on how smart cities are to be linked with their water catchments to ensure sustainable provision of water. More clarity is also needed on wastewater treatment, both domestic and industrial.
Ganesh Pangare, regional director, Asia-Pacific, International Water Association, a London-headquartered non-profit organisation, says lakes, ponds and wetlands in urban areas are being reclaimed for building and development instead of being recognised as the critical natural infrastructure that cities depend upon. Better management of wastewater, so that it isnt discharged untreated into nature and ends up polluting water sources, would mean that we could reuse the treated water for industry, agriculture and even domestic use, he says
Cues should be taken from countries like Singapore which reuse nearly all of their wastewater from domestic sewage to industrial waste. The treatment of wastewater is of such high quality that some of Singapores drinking water comes from completely treated wastewater.
Copenhagen too has valuable lessons in its integration of wastewater treatment, including natural methods like the use of wetlands and leading-edge technology, to find solutions to its problems. Copenhagen does not release a drop of untreated wastewater into the sea.
Cities need to connect better to water basins that supply their water, and work with stakeholders throughout the basin to ensure better water security. And it is not easy. This requires a shift in mindset and the way we approach urban planning and management. We need to think and act cross-sectorally and break down the silos between water, energy, agriculture and urban planning, says Pangare.
Today many water sources are polluted and others are under serious strain. Inefficiencies and water losses in urban water utility systems mean no Indian city yet supplies water 24/7 to its citizens.
An immediate priority of the government should be to ensure better management of water resources, both in the basin that supplies water to urban areas, and in urban areas. Monitoring ground water extraction is of utmost importance. Drought conditions in many parts of Indian have further strained ground water supplies.
India does have the capability to address these challenges through its Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the Smart Cities Mission. What is important, and sometimes lacking, he feels, is coordination between various departments and ministries for instance, urban development and water resources.
Responsibilities also have to be fixed. Local authorities have the primary responsibility to deal with wastewater management. The wastewater in Indian cities dumped into the rivers, lakes or ocean without any treatment contaminates the available water resources for both human use and ecosystems.
Treating wastewater to a high standard would provide an additional and vital source of a citys water supply, and this reuse of water is important to reducing use of traditional sources and for replenishing those sources in Indian cities.
Wastewater also contains other valuable resources. We can recycle nutrients, metals, plastics and other useful materials from wastewater. Perhaps most relevant, water utilities can use wastewater to produce energy. This is something that it happening around the world, and in India it could provide an important source of energy for our growing cities, he says.
Investments also need to be made in new technologies to upgrade existing resources. Financing is a major issue. Water tariffs have not changed in India for years, leaving local authorities without the necessary funds to invest in upgrading old and inadequate infrastructure. To increase coverage of water supply as towns and cities grow bigger requires smart solutions to overcome these challenges, Pangare adds.
A case has been registered against Malayalam film actor Vijay Babu for allegedly assaulting a woman film producer in Kochi, police said on Tuesday.
Producer Sandra Thomas has alleged that she was assaulted by Vijay at her office in Elamakkara on Monday.
However, Vijay has said in a post on Facebook that the case filed against him is fake. Friends , a fake case is filed against me by my most trusted partner and her husband for the sake for taking over business property which I disputed. I shall prove it otherwise and will be fine. Thank you for the concerns. Shall update, he wrote.
The actor is the co-founder of the film production company along with Sandra Thomas.
Sandra is admitted in a private hospital in the city, police said.
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One Piece - Sanji and Vinsmoke Family (Photo : Youtube/ One Piece)
One Piece is steadily reaching the climax of the Totto Land arc. Sanji has finally uncovered the truth behind Pudding's sweet face and the deception of the Big Mom's pirates to kill the Vinsmoke Family and gain its clone soldiers. Indeed, it's a bitter pill for Sanji to swallow, but that may have finally snapped him out of his daydream.
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Of course, who would disregard the return of Jinbe to the battlefield? The Fishman and former Shichibukai arrived in the nick of time to save Luffy and Nami from Opera, one of the children of Big Mom whom he has affiliation. Does this mean Jinbe decide to join the Strawhat Pirates for good?
Potential Spoilers & Questions for Chapter 852:
Is Jinbe ready to become member of Strawhat Pirates?
Jinbe's attack on Opera as he knocked him down with 5 thousand-gawara Seiken!! could only mean he has already severed his affiliation with the Big Mom Pirates. Keep in mind that only his affiliation with Charlotte Linlin, one of the four Yonkos, was preventing him to joining Luffy's strawhat pirates. Does this mean Strawhat Pirates has its new crew? And what will be Big Mom's reaction when she finds out Jinbe's betrayal?
Luffy's Resolve:
You can never dispute Luffy's resolve when it comes to saving his cook and friend, Sanji. The captain of the Strawhat Pirates has come to Totto Land with one goal in his mind: retrieve Sanji. What will be Luffy's next move now that he has finally escaped with new ally in his back. Will he go straight to Pudding and obliterate her?
Brook vs. Big Mom Dynamics:
Brook going up against Big Mom is quite surprising since it basically pits the Soul King vs, the Soul Queen or should I say someone who can manipulate soul like Big Mom. It's the battle everyone wants to tune in every chapter. Big Mom truly has the advantage but you can never count out Brook's determination as he sets sight on the copy of the Road Poneglyph.
Sanji's Move
And of course, the million dollar question heading into the next chapter. What will Sanji do now that he learns Pudding's true colors. Very much aware the entire Vinsmoke Family will be murdered during their wedding, will Sanji still choose love over family?
One Piece chapter 851 is scheduled for release on January 7, while chapter 852 slated on January 14, 2017 on Shonen Weekly Jump. For more One Piece manga and anime update, follow me at ShonenLord@Twitter
Following months of silence, reality television star Kim Kardashian re-emerged on social media on Tuesday, posting a photograph of herself with rapper husband Kanye West and their two children.
family A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Jan 3, 2017 at 10:56am PST
Kardashian, who has 49.3 million followers on Twitter and 89.6 million on Instagram, also posted a home video of her family that will likely put to rest rumors of a divorce.
She and West, 39, are shown lovingly embracing in the two-and-a-half-minute clip that also features intimate moments with their two children -- North and Saint.
The family picture posted on Twitter had a caption that simply read family.
The 36-year-old Keeping Up With the Kardashians star, who also changed her profile picture on Twitter and Instagram Tuesday, had not been heard from on social media since October, when she was robbed at gunpoint in Paris.
Her rap superstar husband, meanwhile, reportedly suffered a breakdown in November that landed him in hospital and forced the cancellation of his tour.
Celebrity website TMZ said the couple had returned to Los Angeles from Oklahoma on Tuesday after visiting his mothers grave site.
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US President Barack Obama will make a short but politically charged trip from the White House to Capitol Hill Wednesday, calling allied lawmakers to arms in defense of his signature healthcare reforms.
Obamas eight-year drive to extend medical coverage to tens of millions of Americans will come under sustained assault when President-elect Donald Trump takes office January 20 with Republican majorities in both house of Congress.
In a preemptive strike, the outgoing president will meet Senate and House Democrats, principally (to) discuss how to counter the stated Republican objective of repealing the Affordable Care Act, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
Obamas rare legislative pilgrimage coincides with a dueling visit to the Congress by Vice President-elect Mike Pence.
Were focused on repealing and replacing Obamacare, Pence said Tuesday. We look forward to legislation that will give us the tools to roll back the avalanche of red tape and regulation that have been stifling American jobs.
After a crushing election loss, Democrats may have limited options for stalling reforms without significant Republican defections.
They also face criticism that Obamas reforms have led to rising insurance premiums and a string of technical problems.
Repeal and then what?
But while Republican opposition to Obamacare is clear, their prescription to fix it is not.
House Speaker Paul Ryan has proposed a tax credit system as a possible replacement, but the costs to government and individuals remains vague.
Some Republicans have suggested repealing Obamacare now and replacing it at later, perhaps after the next election.
But the White House is betting that Americans voters will react with fury if Trump moves to strip millions of coverage with no viable alternative.
They are hoping that public outcry could force Trump to confront some of the more ideologically driven reforms proposed by his own party.
The president-elect is seen as highly sensitive about his public standing.
He has been quick to tweet defensively about perceived slights or reminders that despite his electoral college victory in the November elections, his rival Hillary Clinton still won the popular vote by almost three million ballots.
Trump comes to office with 48 percent of Americans polled by Gallup believing he is handling the transition effectively.
That is far less than the 75 percent approval Obama enjoyed at the same point or George W. Bushs 65 percent.
Republican legislators are eager to take charge after eight years spent fighting against Obamas policies.
But some are wary that white working class Americans, who delivered them to office, may bear the brunt of any reforms.
Gutting Obamacare could also have knock-on effects for funding healthcare for retirees, a group essential to the Republican Partys survival.
In these two issues, Democrats see pressure points they hope to exploit in defense of Obamas plan.
Its not surprising to me that there are some Republicans who are now a little queasy about the prospect of the impact that repealing Obamacare would have on their own supporters, said Earnest.
We know there are people all across the country who benefit from this law, who are protected by this law, whose lives have been saved by this law.
Obama is believed to have put this point directly to Trump when they talked soon after the election.
Privately many Democrats admit their best hope now could be offering Trump some form of political victory, so long as the plan survives more or less intact.
Britains ambassador to the European Union has confirmed what many in London and Brussels believed - that there is muddled thinking among those responsible for taking the country out of the bloc, and resigned his post weeks before crucial Brexit talks are to begin.
Ivan Rogers, considered one of the top British experts on the EU, put 10 Downing Street on the backfoot after writing a resignation email to his staff in Brussels, asking colleagues to speak truth to power and to tell ministers unvarnished and uncomfortable views from Europe.
Prime Minister Theresa Mays government is accused of not having a plan or clarity on Brexit, with sharp divisions among political parties. May has insisted she will try to get the best possible deal for Britain after triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to exit the EU by the end of March.
Rogers, who was due to leave his post later this year, resigned to make way for his successor before Article 50 is triggered. His email to staff said the "government will only achieve the best for the country if it harnesses the best experience we have".
Downing Street said it would not comment on the resignation email, though Rogers was "free to express his own opinions".
But former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, who campaigned to leave the EU during last years referendum, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that when a civil servant "starts going public", ministers "can no longer trust that individual".
Rogers told his staff: "I hope you will continue to challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking and that you will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power. I hope that you will support each other in those difficult moments where you have to deliver messages that are disagreeable to those who need to hear them."
He said the government would only succeed if it "negotiates resolutely", adding, in a reference to the remaining 27 EU states: "Senior ministers, who will decide on our positions, issue by issue, also need from you detailed, unvarnished - even where this is uncomfortable - and nuanced understanding of the views, interests and incentives of the other 27."
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China plans to conduct a record number of 30 space launch missions this year as part of its efforts to expand its ambitious space programme, authorities said on Wednesday.
The record-breaking space launches will be launched by Long March-5 and Long March-7 rockets, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said.
Long March-5 is Chinas largest carrier rocket.
The successful test launch of the vehicle in November in South Chinas Hainan Province will pave the way for space station construction, state-run China News Service reported.
China recently released an official white paper on its space missions stating that it will launch a lunar probe in 2018 to achieve worlds first soft landing on the far side of the moon and a mission to Mars in the same year.
Wang Yu, general director of the Long March-5 programme, said 2017 is a critical year for Chinas new generation of carrier rockets and the Long March-5 rockets will carry Change-5 probe to the space.
The probe will land on the moon, collect samples and return to Earth, it said.
On the other hand, Long March-7, the more powerful version of Long March-2, will send Chinas first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 into the space in the first half of 2017, according to Wang Zhaoyao, director of China Manned Space Engineering Office.
Tianzhou-1 is expected to dock with Tiangong-2 space lab and conduct experiments on propellant supplement.
China conducted 22 launch missions in 2016 and 19 in 2015.
The country successfully tested its Long March-7 rocket in June last year and has gradually shifted to new generation rockets that reduce the use of toxic rocket fuels.
In the next five years, China plans to provide space and aviation-related services to countries involved in the One Belt and One Road initiative, such as satellite communications, navigation and weather forecasting analysis.
President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he will hold a press conference on January 11, during which he has previously indicated he would unveil plans to avoid any conflict of interest between the White House and his business dealings.
Trump has not held a press conference since July, and his announcement gave just the latest date set for the much-delayed event previously due to take place December 15. He was elected in November.
I will be having a general news conference on JANUARY ELEVENTH in N.Y.C. Thank you. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
Precedent has seen American presidents-elect field numerous press conferences during the transition to power to discuss matters such as their choices to fill their cabinet and policy plans for the incoming administration.
Instead Trump has relied largely on rallies, photo ops, select interviews and -- in unprecedented fashion -- on tweets.
He has largely snubbed thus far the tradition that the presidential news conference has become.
His methods of communicating news about the transition have been unorthodox for an incoming head of state.
Last month, he unexpectedly announced to reporters camped in the lobby of his Manhattan Trump Tower skyscraper that Masayoshi Son -- the flamboyant head of Japanese telecoms giant SoftBank and a self-made billionaire -- had announced a $50 billion investment in the US that would create 50,000 jobs.
Economic announcements of this magnitude are rare and generally take place through a news release or a carefully planned press conference, requiring the efforts of many public relations experts who carefully consider every word and gesture.
Steven Mnuchin, tapped to become Secretary of Treasury, and Wilbur Ross, the commerce pick, announced on CNBC television that they had been appointed to their Cabinet positions by Trump.
The official announcement was published several hours later.
As for the nomination of his future Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, the president-elect announced the pick during a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, the first stop of his thank you tour in the industrial states that gave him the presidency.
A record five Indian-Americans have taken oath as members of the US Congress, scripting history for the minority ethnic community that comprises just one per cent of Americas population.
52-year-old Kamala Harris, whose mother was from India and father from Jamaica, was sworn in on Tuesday as the Senator from California by outgoing US vice president Joe Biden. She is the first Indian-American to have ever served in the Senate.
She was accompanied by her husband Doug Emhoff, sister Maya Harris and other members of her immediate family during the swearing in ceremony.
Harris, who before the swearing in held the position of California Attorney General, replaced Senator Barbara Boxer, who decided against seeking re-election. She is one of the seven new Senators to have taken office in the new Congress.
Today I was sworn-in to the US Senate. I am humbled and honoured to serve you and the people of California. Lets get to work, Harris said immediately thereafter.
After her elections, she has made it clear that her top priority would be to fight out the alleged divisive policies of the Republicans who are now in majority in both the House of Representative and the Senate.
A few hours later, the focus of the community shifted to the House Chambers wherein as many as four Indian-Americans were sworn in as its members, including Congressman Ami Bera, who has been re-elected for the third consecutive term.
In the process Bera, 51, equalled the record of Dalip Singh Saundh, who exactly 60-years ago became the first Indian-American to be elected as a member of the US Congress.
Joining Bera was young and dynamic Ro Khanna (40) representing the Silicon Valley. He was sworn in on a bicentennial edition of the Constitution on loan from the rare books division of the Library of Congress.
Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, 42, who won the election from Illinois took the oath on Gita. He is only the second US lawmaker after Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii to take the oath on a Gita. Gabbard, the first ever Hindu to be elected to the US Congress took the oath for third consecutive term.
Having created a national niche for herself even before being sworn in, Pramila Jayapal (51) is the first Indian American woman in the US House of Representatives. Her 78-year-old mother, who especially came in from India, watched the proceedings from the gallery.
The worlds oldest killer whale, a 100-year-old animal affectionately known as Granny, is missing and presumed dead, scientists say.
Following Granny and other matriarch killer whales has shown their crucial role within the family group.
They guide the pod as it forages, take care of other females young calves and even feed the larger males, researchers said.
These post-reproductive female leaders help their families to survive, and the advantage they offer could show what drives a species to evolve to stop reproducing.
It was inevitable that this day was going to come but it is very sad news and a further blow to this population, said Darren Croft from the University of Exeter in the UK, who leads this evolutionary biology research.
In her later years she had been helping her family group to survive by sharing her knowledge of when and where to find food, said Croft.
The orcas of an area known as the Salish Sea - close to Vancouver and Seattle - have been the subject of a four decades long study led by Ken Balcomb from the Center for Whale Research (CWR). He had first photographed Granny, official named J2, in 1976, BBC News reported.
On the centres website, which first reported Grannys death, Balcomb wrote that he last saw her on October 12 last year as she swam north far ahead of the others.
Perhaps other dedicated whale-watchers have seen her since then, but by years end she is officially missing from the Southern Resident Killer Whale population, and with regret we now consider her deceased, he said.
More than 130 inmates have escaped in one of the largest jailbreaks in recent years after suspected Muslim rebels attacked a jail in the southern Philippines before dawn on Wednesday, officials said.
Jail warden superintendent Peter Bongat said a guard was killed and an inmate was wounded in a gunbattle when dozens of gunmen stormed the North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan. The city is in Cotabato Province.
Kidapawan police chief superintendent Leo Ajero said two prisoners of the 132 who escaped had been recaptured, and army troops and police were searching for the others. The jail held more than 1,500 inmates.
Local village leader Alexander Austria said he and his men had captured one of the men.
He said the exchanges of gunfire woke his village, which was several kilometers (miles) from the prison, and he immediately posted guards because of worries the attackers and escaped inmates could enter the village.
We heard the gunfire and we sprang into action to guard our village, Austria said. We were afraid the escapees could try to enter our village to hide or take hostages.
Windows Holographic VR Headset
Microsoft announced at its Windows 10 event in late October that it had big plans for virtual reality (VR) products. The Development Edition of its HoloLens augmented reality (AR)/VR headset has been featured in many applications including one for the block-building game "Minecraft." Lenovo is using Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017 to show off the first Windows 10 VR headset.
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This update is in line with Microsoft's Windows 10 event. The tech giant revealed that original equipment manufacturers (OEM) would develop mid-range VR headsets to work with application program interfaces (API) in Windows 10.
Microsoft also shared the price tag of the VR headsets would be about $300. That is appreciably higher than the $20 Google Cardboard but also fairly low since it provides room-scale VR.
The price is much lower than the $799 HTC Vive and $599 Oculus Rift. Lenovo's new headset also weighs just 350 grams (12.3 ounces) compared to the HTC Vive's 555g (19.5 oz.). It will also be about 100g (3.5 oz.) lighter than Oculus Rift, according to Engadget.
The Chinese tech company's VR headset has a design like Sony's PlayStation VR. That is because the lenses hang over the user's eyes rather than a strap holding them in place.
Lenovo's VR headset with OLED panels uses 1440p x 1440p resolution. That is the standard for the Windows Holographic platform and is higher than Vive and Rift.
The new VR gadget will also support inside-out, six degrees-of-freedom tracking. An external camera will therefore not be needed.
The new headset will probably include HoloLens apps. They require the unit's two front cameras that end the need to set up light posts in the room for tracking, and might also allow for live video to stream to the two mini screens.
Lenovo plans to price its VR headset in the range of $300 to $400. It hopes, however, the price will be closer to $300, according to Digital Trends.
The Chinese company has not released a launch date yet for the VR headset although it will ship in 2017. This OEM VR headset could be the first Windows-powered headset to earn big sales in the VR market.
Lenovo was founded in 1984. It manufactures several tech products including desktops, notebooks, tablets, and smartphones.
Here's "Minecraft" for HoloLens:
When US president-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office on January 20 on Capitol Hill amidst all the attendant pomp and pageantry, his defeated Democratic rival Hillary Clinton will be in the audience with her husband, former president Bill Clinton.
They are attending the inauguration as will be former president George W Bush, who, along with his father, former president George H W Bush, did not endorse Trump. But he had called to congratulate Trump after this victory.
Former presidents are invited to attend by protocol with their spouses, but they dont have to. Hillary Clinton, as the defeated rival, also didnt have to attend Mitt Romney didnt at President Barack Obamas second inauguration in 2012.
But Clintons attendance is likely to be seen as another symbol of a peaceful transition of power after a bitterly contentious race.
Of the two other living former presidents Jimmy Carter will be attending but not George H W Bush, for health reasons.
Iraqi forces pressed gains against Islamic State militants in eastern Mosul on Wednesday and have retaken two more districts, security sources said, with thousands more civilians fleeing the fighting.
An elite interior ministry unit had entered the Mithaq district and were clearing it on Wednesday, the sources said, while counterterrorism forces retook an industrial zone on Tuesday.
The militants are using the city terrain to their advantage, concealing car bombs in narrow alleys, posting snipers on tall buildings with civilians on lower floors, and making underground tunnels and surface-level passageways between buildings.
We were very afraid, said one Mithaq resident.
A Daesh (Islamic State) anti-aircraft weapon was positioned close to our house and was opening fire on helicopters. We could see a small number of Daesh fighters in the street carrying light and medium weapons. They were hit by planes.
Most of those fleeing are from the eastern districts but residents of the besieged west, still fully under the militants control, are increasingly attempting to escape, scaling bridges bombed by the coalition and crossing the Tigris by boat.
A displaced Iraqi woman, who fled the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, carries her baby in the Mithaq district of eastern Mosul on Wednesday. (Reuters)
Despite shortages of food and water, most Mosul residents had stayed in their homes rather than fleeing as many had expected before the offensive began in October.
The UN refugee agency has said 125,568 people have been displaced from Mosul, a city of about 1.5 million, and more than 13,000 of those have fled in the five days since the US-led coalition renewed an offensive that had stalled for weeks.
That represents an increase of nearly 50% in the number of people who fled every day from Mosul over the several weeks of relative calm that ended last weekend.
Twelve weeks into Iraqs largest military campaign since the US-led invasion of 2003, security forces have retaken about a quarter of Mosul.
Finally we have been freed, a second Mithaq resident told Reuters by phone. We feared fighting would be fierce, but it was easy compared with other areas. Daesh members fled without putting up strong resistance.
Counterterrorism units pushed into eastern Mosul in October but regular army troops tasked with advancing from the north and south made slower progress and the operation stalled.
After redeploying forces, Iraqi forces have been advancing on three fronts towards the Tigris river that bisects Mosul, in a second phase of the offensive.
Victory in Mosul would probably spell the end for Islamic States self-styled caliphate but in recent days the militants have displayed the tactics to which they are likely to resort when they lose the city, with bomb attacks in Baghdad, and attacks on security forces in territory they have lost.
Iraqi journalist Afrah al-Qaisi, known in her country for criticising the government in satirical articles for local media, has been released unharmed after being kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in Baghdad a week ago.
The head of the Iraqi Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, Ziyad al-Ajili, said on Wednesday the kidnappers had returned the car, telephone, laptop and gold jewellery they took when they broke into her home and that she drove back overnight around midnight.
A video aired by the Kurdish NRT channel showed emotional scenes after Qaisi, who used to work for the Saudi-owned pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, was reunited with her family and friends after returning home.
I just want to say that Im fine and I was well treated, she said, sobbing and shaking.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi telephoned Qaisi to check on her well-being after her release, his media office said.
The kidnapping highlighted the dangers journalists face in Iraq, where 71 have been killed with impunity over the past decade, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Many were victims of Sunni insurgents active in Iraq even before Islamic State militants overran around a third of the country more than two years ago.
But other armed factions, including Shia militias, some backed by the government, have grown increasingly powerful through their participation in Baghdads fight against Islamic State.
An Israeli soldier was convicted of manslaughter on Wednesday in the deadly shooting of a badly wounded Palestinian attacker, capping a nine-month saga that has deeply divided the country.
The verdict, which marks an extremely rare case of an Israeli military court convicting a soldier for lethal action taken in the field, threatened to deepen the rift. Military commanders have condemned the soldiers conduct while much of the public, along with leading members of the nationalist ruling coalition, have rallied behind him.
With Sgt. Elor Azarias sentencing believed to be weeks away, the country now faces a heated debate over whether he deserves clemency. Within minutes of the verdict, leading politicians were already calling for him to be pardoned. Under Israeli law, the countrys largely ceremonial president has the authority to issue a pardon.
Azaria, an army medic, was caught on video in March fatally shooting a wounded Palestinian attacker who had stabbed a soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron. The Palestinian, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, was lying on the ground and already unarmed when Azaria shot him in the head.
In delivering the verdict, which lasted nearly three hours, Colonel Maya Heller, head of a three-judge panel, rejected Azarias defense in painstaking detail.
She said there was no evidence to support his contradictory claims that the attacker was already dead or that he posed any threat at the time, telling him he couldnt have both sides of the stick. She called his testimony unreliable and said he needlessly shot the assailant.
We found there was no room to accept his arguments, she said. His motive for shooting was that he felt the terrorist deserved to die.
Azaria faces a maximum penalty of 20 years behind bars, though he is not expected to receive that much time. The military said he would be sentenced on January 15. The defense team said it would appeal.
The 20-year-old Azaria entered the court smiling and appearing confident, and he was embraced by a few dozen relatives and friends. But as the verdict was delivered, he stared gloomily ahead, and tensions quickly boiled over in the cramped, crowded courtroom.
Members of Azarias family clapped sarcastically as the decision was delivered, some screaming Our hero! A female relative was kicked out of the courtroom for screaming at the judges, and a second woman stormed out, shouting, Disgusting leftists.
After the judges walked out, Azarias mother, Oshra, screamed, You should be ashamed of yourselves. Azaria tried to comfort her and calm her as she wailed. Another family member whipped his jacket at a female reporter, missing his target and instead hitting another relative.
Hundreds of the soldiers supporters, many of them young religious men wearing skullcaps, gathered outside the military court in Tel Aviv ahead of the verdict. The crowd, holding large Israeli flags and banners, periodically scuffled with police.
Some demonstrators chanted veiled death threats against the Israeli armys chief, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, insinuating he would face the same fate of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated 20 years ago by an ultranationalist Israeli.
Gadi, Gadi, watch out. Rabin is looking for a friend, the demonstrators chanted. The crowd was quickly dispersed without any further violence.
The shooting occurred at the height of what has become more than a yearlong wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Azarias defenders said he shot the assailant in self-defense and accused the army of abandoning a soldier on the battlefield, and hard-line politicians have said he should be either cleared or released with a light penalty. But his detractors, including senior military commanders, have said his actions violated the armys code of ethics and procedures.
The uproar has put the army, the countrys most respected institution, in a delicate position. Military service is compulsory for Israels Jewish majority, and there is widespread sympathy for soldiers, since virtually every family has a member who is serving or has served in the past.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who initially defended the militarys handling of the case, later softened his position and called Azarias parents to console them.
The dispute helped fuel the resignation of Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, who sided with the military, earlier this year. His successor, Avigdor Lieberman, visited Azaria in court. Education Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the pro-settler Jewish Home Party, has also sided with Azaria and led the chorus calling for his immediate pardon on Wednesday.
Lieberman, who heads a hard-line nationalist party, said he disagreed with the difficult verdict but urged the public to respect the courts decision. He said the defense establishment would do everything it can to help Azaria and his family.
We must keep the army outside every political argument ... and keep it in the widest consensus in Israeli society, he said.
Miri Regev, a popular Cabinet minister from Netanyahus Likud Party and a former military spokeswoman, and Shelly Yacimovich, a leading opposition lawmaker, also called for him to be released.
President Reuven Rivlins office said a pardon request would be weighed only following a conclusive judicial ruling. With Azaria still facing sentencing and an appeals process, that means the matter may not come before the president for some time.
The statement gave no indication whether Rivlin would support a pardon, saying only that he would consider a request in accordance with standard practices and after recommendations from the relevant authorities.
Israeli rights groups have accused the army of failing to prosecute soldiers who commit unnecessary violence against Palestinians, and trying a soldier for a crime as serious as manslaughter is virtually unheard of. According to the army, the only manslaughter conviction in recent years came in 2004 over the fatal shooting of a pro-Palestinian British activist.
Gilad Grossman of Yesh Din, a rights group that monitors the Israeli military justice system, said the video of Azaria shooting the Palestinian gave the military no choice but to prosecute.
Sharon Gal, a spokesman for the Azaria family, accused the court of siding with human rights groups over a soldier on a battlefield.
It was like the court was detached from the fact that this was the area of an attack. I felt that the court picked up the knife from the ground and stabbed it in the back of all the soldiers, he said.
Lt. Col. Nadav Weissman, a military prosecutor, said this was not a happy day.
We would have preferred that this didnt happen. But the deed was done, and the offense was severe, he said.
In Hebron, the slain Palestinian attackers father welcomed the decision.
I feel good. It is fair. This is an achievement of the court that it condemned the soldier, said Yousri al-Sharif.
Al-Sharif gathered with his family in his home to watch the verdict being read live on Israeli television.
I was exhausted and tense, he said. I smoked two packs of cigarettes while watching the verdict.
Thousands of people are starting to return to formerly rebel-held east Aleppo despite freezing weather and destruction beyond imagination, a top UN official told Reuters from the Syrian city.
In the last couple of days around 2,200 families have returned to the Hanano housing district, said Sajjad Malik, country representative in Syria for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
People are coming out to east Aleppo to see their shops, their houses, to see if the building is standing and the house is not that looted ... to see, should they come back, he said in an interview.
Boys walk past debris in Doudyan village in northern Aleppo Governorate. (Reuters Photo)
Appalling conditions
It is extremely, bitterly cold here, said Malik. The houses people are going back to have no windows or doors, no cooking facilities.
Aid is vital to prevent more deaths. The UN is helping people to restart their lives in one room of their apartments to start with, he said, giving them mats, sleeping bags and plastic sheets to cover blown-out windows.
Bread and water
Hanano was one of the first Aleppo neighbourhoods to fall to rebels in 2012, and the first to be retaken by the Syrian government on its way to seizing back full control of the northern city last month - the biggest victory for President Bashar al-Assad in nearly six years of war.
As government forces rapidly advanced after months of fierce Syrian and Russian air strikes, some residents stayed put, tens of thousands fled of their own accord and around 35,000 fighters and civilians were evacuated in late December in convoys organised by the Syrian government.
A general view shows tents housing displaced people from Aleppo in al-Kamouneh camp, in Idlib province. (Reuters Photo)
Reconstruction will take a long time, Malik said, but the immediate priority is to keep people warm and fed. UN-supported partners provide hot meals twice a day to 21,000 people, and 40,000 people get baked bread every day.
Over 1.1 million people once again have access to clean water in bottles or through tankers and wells.
Mobile clinics are up and running, and more than 10,000 children have received polio vaccinations. Thousands of children who have not been able to attend school need reintegrating into the education system through remedial classes to rebuild their confidence, Malik said.
There was no register of births, deaths and marriages in the rebel-held sector, so the UN is working with the government to issue people with papers. I met a woman with five children and she was excited that she now has her kids registered as Syrians. She has ID cards and a family book, he said.
Samah, 11, and her brother, Ibrahim, transport their salvaged belongings from their damaged house in Doudyan village in northern Aleppo Governorate, Syria. (Reuters Photo)
Bombing has destroyed hospitals, schools, roads and houses, and damaged the two main water pumping stations. The experienced UN official said the level of destruction surpassed anything he had seen in conflict zones like Afghanistan and Somalia.
Nothing would have prepared us to see the scale of destruction there, its beyond imagination.
Read | Aleppos fall will change US and Russian roles in Syria
A commission probing violence in Myanmars Rakhine State on Wednesday denied security forces had abused Rohingya -- days after a video emerged showing police beating civilians from the Muslim minority.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya -- a group loathed by many among Myanmars Buddhist majority -- have fled a military operation in the northwestern state, launched after deadly attacks on police posts in October.
Dozens have died in the crackdown, while escapees now in neighbouring Bangladesh have alleged rape, arson, murder and torture at the hands of security forces.
Myanmars government, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, said the allegations were made up and has resisted mounting international pressure to act to protect the minority.
On Wednesday, a commission set up to investigate the violence released its interim report dismissing claims that security forces had carried out abuses or has embarked on a campaign to force the Rohingya out.
The size of the Bengali population, mosques and religious buildings in the unrest-hit area are proof that there were no cases of genocide and religious persecution, it said in a statement carried in state media.
Myanmar refuses to recognise the Rohingya as one of the countrys ethnic minorities, instead describing them as Bengalis -- or illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.
The commission, headed by a former army general until recently blacklisted by Washington, also found insufficient evidence of rape and was still looking into claims of arson, illegal arrests and torture of the Rohingya.
Legal action has been taken against 485 civilians, it said, without giving further details.
The statement comes days after the government detained four police officers over a video shot by a fellow policeman that shows them beating and kicking Rohingya villagers, a rare admission of abuse.
More than 120,000 have been trapped in squalid displacement camps since sectarian violence erupted in 2012, where they are denied citizenship, access to health care and education.
Acknowledging that he is not a miracle-maker, the new UN chief Antonio Guterres has said that conflicts in the world are multiplying and interlinked and have triggered a new phenomenon of global terrorism.
Speaking to his staff on his first day at the UN headquarters after taking over the world bodys reins from Ban Ki-moon, 67-year-old Guterres said his election as the UN chief has generated a lot of expectations but he cautioned that there are no miracles.
I think we should have no illusions. We are facing very challenging times. On one hand, we see everywhere in the world conflicts that multiply, that are interlinked, that also have triggered this new phenomenon of global terrorism, conflicts in which international humanitarian law is not respected, situations in which we see massive human rights violations, even refugee law is no longer as respected as it was few years ago, he said.
I am sure I am not a miracle-maker. And the only way for us to be able to achieve our goals is to really work together as a team, and to be able to deserve to serve the noble values enshrined in the Charter (of the United Nations), he said.
The former Portuguese Prime Minister said nations are failing to recognise that there is a unifying factor in everything we do.
And that factor is people. People is undivided. And when we look at the different areas of action in the UN, we need to integrate them, because people integrate them on the receiving end, he said.
Guterres also stressed on the need to ensure that we are able to reform the UN development system as Member States have asked us, and we need to try to get rid of this straight jacket of bureaucracy that makes our lives so difficult in many of the things we do.
This requires a lot of effort from ourselves, but this also requires a lot of discussion and dialogue and mutual understanding with Member States and we need to overcome many of the divides that still exist within the organisation.
Guterres called for teamwork, saying it is not enough to the do the right thing, we need to earn the right to do the right thing.
It is important for us to recognise our achievements (...) but we also need to recognise our shortcomings, to recognise our failures and where we are not able to deliver as we should, he said, outlining the multitude of challenges -- ranging from complex conflicts to global terrorism -- confronting the world.
Guterres first day at UN Headquarters as Secretary General began with the laying of a wreath at the Memorial Wall.
Shortly after taking office two days ago, he made an appeal for peace. Let us make 2017 a year in which we all -- citizens, governments, leaders -- strive to overcome our differences, Guterres said Sunday morning, urging people to share his New Years resolution: Let us resolve to put peace first.
Chinese media and netizens on Wednesday hailed the death of Xinjiangs most wanted terrorist in US air strikes in Syria as a superb New Years gift, stressing the importance of global fight against terrorism while glossing over Chinas stonewalling of Indias bid to slap a UN ban on JeM leader Masood Azhar.
Abu Omar al-Turkistani, head of Chinas Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) -- a branch of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) fighting for the separation of Xinjiang province -- was killed in a US drone strike in Syria on Sunday.
The air strike in Sarmada in northwestern Syria reportedly claimed the lives of eight persons, an article in the state-run Global Times said on Wednesday.
A large number of Uighur militants from Xinjiang have reportedly joined the Islamic State and are fighting along with it in Syria.
While the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang declined to react saying he is not aware of the details, the daily said many Chinese netizens gave their thumbs up and even called it a superb New Years gift.
Amid applause for the move from the US, the event also indicates the internationalisation of terrorism and the significance of joint anti-terror efforts, the article said.
ETIM, which is active in the Uighur Muslim-majority province of Xinjiang, has been listed as terrorist body by UN for its alleged involvement in a spate of violent attacks in China.
The UN listed ETIM as a terrorist organisation in 2002. Yet over the past years, some Western nations have been refusing to cooperate with Beijing, and even accused China of violating freedom of religion when it comes to cracking down on ETIM, which shielded the emergence of the extremist group, the article said.
Given geopolitical factors, interests and competition among major powers, international anti-terror collaborative actions have been far from effective.
However, if every nation only cares about its own interests and short-term prospects while standing aloof from other countries terrorist threats, nobody can be immune from the expansion of terrorism in the end, it said, skirting any reference to China repeatedly blocking Indias efforts to get Azhar listed as a global terrorist by the UN.
China justified its efforts to block Indias move, saying there was no consensus, amid assertions by New Delhi that Beijing was the only country in the 15-member committee to block the move to get Azhar listed as terrorist.
As a result, India has to file a fresh application before the UN 1267 Committee this year along with details of charge sheet about Azhars involvement in Pathankot terror attack.
Over 100 clerics were among 150 people arrested on Wednesday in Pakistans Punjab province for trying to hold a rally to celebrate the killing of liberal governor Salmaan Taseer in 2011 over the controversial blasphemy issue.
Defying prohibitory orders, clerics gathered in Lahore to hold a rally on Main Boulevard in Gulberg area to celebrate Taseers sixth death anniversary, local media reported.
Protesters belonging to religious parties like Sunni Tehreek, Tehreek-i-Khatme Nabuwat and Tehreek-i-Labbaik Ya Rasool (SAW) were among those who had planned to march from Kalma Chowk to Liberty Chowk in Lahore to eulogise Taseers killer and express support for blasphemy laws.
Taseer was killed on January 4, 2011 in Islamabad by his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri for allegedly criticising the blasphemy laws in the country -- a sensitive issue in the country.
A police official said that the clerics had planned two separate rallies in Gulberg and the Mall Road areas of the city. The government banned the Gulberg protest while allowing the clerics to hold a rally on the Mall Road.
Defying government decision, hundreds of supporters of the three religious groups gathered in Gulberg for a rally but police went into action, disrupting the protest and arresting around 150 of them, over 100 of whom were clerics, local media reported.
Protesters also put up dozens of banners in Lahore and other cities, declaring Qadri as a hero.
Senior police officials said no one had permission to hold a rally in Lahore. They added that the Punjab government had not allowed the demonstrators to hold any rally in Lahore and police would block routes and make arrests if necessary.
Main area and arterial roads were blocked and police personnel were heavily deployed across the city. Due to the diversions, capital of Pakistans most populous province also witnessed severe traffic jams along certain routes.
Qadri was apparently infuriated when the governor visited a Christian woman called Aasia Bibi, who was given death sentence for alleged blasphemy, and on the occasion he termed blasphemy regulations as black law.
Qadri, who was arrested and convicted of murder, was hanged in Rawalpindis Adiala jail in 2016 and buried in Bhara Kau area of Islamabad where his supporters are constructing a shrine to honour him.
Blasphemy laws were enacted by former military ruler Ziaul Haq in 1980s and clerics have refused to allow any reforms in the laws despite concerns about their misuse.
Sales of Adolf Hitlers Mein Kampf have soared since a special edition of the Nazi leaders political treatise went on sale in Germany a year ago, the German publisher has said.
The book outlines Hitlers ideology that formed the basis for Nazism and sets out his hatred of Jews, which led to the Holocaust.
The new edition is the first reprint since World War Two, released last January after a 70-year copyright on the text expired at the end of 2015. It includes explanatory sections and some 3,500 annotations, and has sold 85,000 copies to the surprise of its publishers.
These sales figures have taken us by storm, Andreas Wirsching, who heads up the publishers, the Institute for Contemporary History (IfZ) told German news agency dpa.
No-one could really have expected them, he added.
Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, which translates as My Struggle in English, between 1924 and 1926. It was banned by the Allies at the end of World War Two.
Hitler wrote most of the first, highly autobiographical, volume while incarcerated in Landsberg prison after his failed Munich coup attempt in 1923. After his release, he wrote much of the second volume at his mountain retreat near Berchtesgaden.
A bestseller after he became chancellor in 1933, Mein Kampf had by 1945 sold 12 million copies and been translated into 18 languages.
China in Need of More Organs and Hospitals, Say Experts
Despite the increasing number of Chinese people registering for organ donation, there remains a deficit in organs that can be used for transplants. (Photo : Getty Images)
In a recent event held in Beijing, delegates of the 2016 China International Organ Donation Conference concluded that there are not enough organ donors in the country.
A patient by the name of Liu Ning waited for a year for her liver transplant. She said, "Every day I was racing with time. I did not know whether death or a new liver would come to me first."
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"Hope is a terrible thing as it makes you endure endless waiting. I was tired of asking doctors whether I could get a new liver and was ready to quit," she added.
As of Monday, savelife.org.cn reported that about 110,000 Chinese citizens have registered themselves as organ donors. Savelife.org.cn is an organ donation registration platform under the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC).
The Chinese government has banned the illegal trade of organs since 2011. Since then, the Communist Party has been encouraging registration of organ donors.
Organ donation has been regarded as taboo by much traditional Chinese and does not agree with organ donations as respect to their ancestors.
However, many young people, especially the younger generation, have become organ donors because of the growing awareness on the issue, according to Zhu Jiye, director of the Organ Transplantation Center of Peking University.
Zhu said, "Organ donation needs wider dissemination as in most cases, it relies on coordinators, who find possible organ sources and persuade them and their families to donate."
There is also the problem with the lack of storage facilities, according to Chen Jingyu, deputy head of Wuxi People's Hospital in East China's Jiangsu Province. He said that many donated organs ultimately go to waste due to poor storage.
South Korea is committed to deploying an advanced US missile defense system this year despite opposition from China, a minister said Wednesday, even as opposition lawmakers headed to Beijing with a different message.
Seoul and Washington agreed to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in the South after a string of North Korean nuclear and missile tests -- prompting strong objections from China.
THAAD deployment is part of our efforts to bolster defense against threats from North Korea, Defence Minister Han Min-Koo said in a report to the countrys acting president.
This is not a subject for political considerations, he told Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn, who took over the executive powers of scandal-hit President Park Geun-Hye after she was impeached last month.
But the opposition Democratic Party has said they will review the deployment if they win upcoming presidential elections, and a group of their lawmakers flew to Beijing to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other top officials.
They are going to convey our belief to China that the THAAD issue should be left in the hands of the next president, the partys parliamentary floor leader Woo Sang-Ho said.
Originally set for December 2017, the countrys presidential election may be brought forward if Parks impeachment is upheld by the Constitutional Court, which has up to six months to decide.
The Democratic Partys presidential hopeful Moon Jae-In is currently the frontrunner in the race.
Beijing argues THAAD will hurt its security interests and increase the risk of military conflict in the region, and has imposed what have been seen in South Korea as a string of sanctions in retaliation for the development.
These include new restrictions on Korean K-pop stars and other celebrities appearing on Chinese TV programs or performing in the mainland.
China also refused to approve chartered flights from South Korea for the Lunar New Year holiday, hitting the lucrative tourism industry.
Washington maintains THAAD is no threat to Beijing.
Theres no reason for China to oppose that system. This is a defensive system. And theres no reason for anyone in the region to have concern about that, other than, perhaps, North Korea, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said Tuesday.
The proposed missile system has also sparked angry protests from both residents of the areas where it is set to be deployed.
Residents of Damascus are scrambling for clean water after the government attacked rebels holding the citys main source in a nearby valley, leading to an accidental outage that has stretched on for nearly two weeks.
The cut-off is a major challenge to the governments effort throughout the nearly 6-year-old civil war to keep the capital as insulated as possible from the effects of the conflict tearing apart much of the country.
I have stopped cleaning the house, washing dishes or clothes. We no longer take showers, said Mona Maqssoud, a 50-year-old resident of Damascus. She said residents have relied on water tankers that come by occasionally and give 20 liters (5 gallons) of water to each house, but that hasnt been enough.
We begged the drivers (to return) to our neighborhood, but they refused.
The cut-off, since December 22, is the longest Damascus has seen, say residents, who are accustomed to intermittent outages.
The opposition has long controlled Wadi Barada, the valley northwest of Damascus through which the river of the same name flows to the capital. The Barada River and its source, the Ain al-Fijeh spring, supply 70 percent of the water for Damascus and its environs.
The government and the opposition had previously had an understanding to keep water services running. But that modus vivendi ended when forces of President Bashar Assad and his allies, the Lebanon Hezbollah guerrilla force, attacked the valley, home to some 100,000 people.
The two sides blame each other for the cut-off.
An activist-run media collective in the Barada Valley said government and Russian aircraft had bombed the Ain el-Fijeh water processing facility, puncturing its fuel depots and contaminating the water stream. The collective said the plants electrical control systems had been destroyed as well. Images showed the roof of the facility collapsed into its main water basin. An activist with the group, Abu Mohammed al-Bardawi, said it would take at least two months to get the facilities working again.
Read | Syria truce begins, but clashes erupt near Damascus
Damascus officials said they were forced to shut off the water after opposition forces poured gasoline into the river. The government denied attacking the water processing facility, saying it would not set out to harm its own population. Still, it would not be the first time it strikes its own facilities: government strikes hit pumping stations in the northern city of Aleppo in April, September, and November.
The battle for resources has always been an undercurrent to the war. The government, in particular, has advertised its efforts to keep electricity and water flowing to areas under its control, while it blocks the U.N. and other relief agencies from supplying opposition zones.
But rarely has that struggle been so starkly felt inside the capital.
Damascus, the seat of Assads power, has been spared from the widespread destruction in other parts of the country, though rebels on the outskirts occasionally fire mortar rounds into the city. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have flocked to the capital seeking its relative security, swelling its population to 4 million from 2 million, according to the UN.
For its residents, the water cuts are a grueling reminder of the war beyond.
If this goes on, I will rent a room at a hotel just to take a shower, said a 60-year-old woman carrying a pair of buckets back to her apartment on the sixth-floor of a walk-up building. Like many others in the capital, she was filling her basins from distribution points at a parks and mosques. The local press is reporting soaring prices for unregulated private water.
Residents are making adjustments to cope. Some are now flushing their toilets with bottled water. Others are dining on disposable tableware as an alternative to doing the dishes.
Ground wells around Damascus, even at maximum capacity, can only cover about a third of the minimum water demand of around 600,000 cubic meters a day, according to UNICEF spokeswoman Juliette Touma.
The agency has rehabilitated some 200 wells around the capital since 2011, partially insuring the government against the effects of its own Barada Valley campaign. This year, UNICEF funded $50 million in water projects in Syria.
The Barada Valley is surrounded by all sides by the Syrian army and Hezbollah forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict.
Pro-government forces have kept up their assault with airstrikes, artillery and infantry pushes, despite a Russia and Turkey-brokered cease-fire that went into effect Friday. The government and the Observatory say fighters loyal to al-Qaida are present in the valley, and the militant are not included in the cease-fire. Local residents say there are no al-Qaida fighters in the valley.
Most of the food depots have now been struck and burned, said al-Bardawi. They are striking the schools we are using for shelters.
In early December, pro-government media reported efforts by officials to reach a so-called reconciliation agreement with the towns and villages of Barada Valley, under which thousands of dissidents, military defectors and draft-dodgers would leave in exchange for the valley submitting to government control.
The opposition and the U.N. have likened these sorts of agreements to forced displacement. Such deals were reached in other areas around the capital under the pressure of years of government bombardment and siege.
Barada opposition fighters and councils have held out against any settlement. Activists say they believe that prompted the renewed government assault.
Opposition forces have retaliated by choking a natural gas pipeline to Damascus to pressure the government to stop its offensive, compounding the woes of the resource starved capital. A group of rebels calling themselves the Coalition for the Joint Defense of Syria filmed themselves cutting the gas to the capital at an isolated station outside the capital Thursday.
At least five suspected Islamic State group militants believed to be linked to the deadly Istanbul nightclub attack were detained by Police on Wednesday, Turkeys state-run news agency reported.
Anadolu Agency said the operation was launched in the Aegean port city of Izmir and was on going.
The gunman, who killed 39 people during New Years celebrations, has not been publicly named and is still at large.
Read: Two Indians among Istanbul nightclub attack victims: Sushma Swaraj
The IS group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded nearly 70 people.
The private Dogan news agency said the police operation targeted three families who had arrived in Izmir about 20 days ago from Konya a city in central Turkey where the gunman is thought to have been based before carrying out the nightclub attack. It said 27 people, including women and children, were taken into custody.
At least 14 people were previously detained in connection with the attack, including two foreigners stopped Tuesday at the international terminal of Istanbuls Ataturk Airport after police checked their cellphones and luggage, according to Anadolu.
Turkeys parliament approved a government-backed motion to extend by another three months the state of emergency imposed in the wake of the July 15 failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The state of emergency -- which has seen tens of thousands lose their jobs or be arrested on suspicion of links to the putsch -- had already been prolonged once before and was due to expire on January 19.
Ankara argues the state of emergency is needed to eradicate the influence in Turkish institutions of the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who it blames for the failed coup. Gulen denies the charges.
However, the state of emergency -- which is now set to last at least nine months -- has troubled the European Union which fears it has been used for a broad crackdown against Erdogan critics and not just suspected coup plotters.
According to the latest figures published by the state-run Anadolu news agency, over 41,000 people have been arrested over suspected links to Gulen in the investigation.
Over 103,000 people have been investigated as part of the probe, it added.
The state of emergency gives the government special powers to fire state employees and close down associations, including media groups. It also extends the time that suspects can be held in jail without being charged.
Erdogan had in November already hinted that the state of emergency would be extended, lashing out at the European Parliament which had backed freezing membership talks with Turkey over the emergency powers.
Whats it to you? he said in comments directed at the European Parliament. Is the European Parliament in charge of this country or is the government in charge of this country?
Know your place! he added, in an angry tirade.
He noted that France had also put in place a state of emergency after it was hit by a string of Islamist attacks in 2015.
Turkey warned on Wednesday that a new round of Syria peace talks was at risk, accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assads government of violating a fragile truce it brokered with Russia last week.
The nationwide ceasefire has brought quiet to large parts of Syria, but has been threatened by ongoing fighting in the Wadi Barada region near the capital Damascus.
Government forces backed by Lebanons Hezbollah group are fighting to recapture the area, which is the main source of water to the capital.
Supply has been cut since December 22, with the regime and rebels trading accusations over responsibility.
Turkeys foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday urged the regime and its backers to end their violations of the truce, warning they were jeopardising the planned talks in Kazakh capital Astana this month.
If we do not stop the increasing violations, the Astana process could fail. After the ceasefire, we see violations, Cavusoglu told the state-run Anadolu news agency in an interview.
When we look at who commits these violations, it is Hezbollah, in particular Shia groups and the regime, he added.
He urged Russia and Iran, which both back Assad and are also helping prepare the Astana talks, to pressure Damascus and Hezbollah to stop the fighting.
Despite the call, fighting continued on the ground in Wadi Barada on Wednesday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.
It reported ongoing clashes as well as government air strikes and artillery fire in the area, but had no immediate details on casualties.
Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks during a news conference (Reuters file photo)
Talks to halt fighting
Wadi Barada has been under government siege since 2015, but government forces upped pressure on the region several weeks ago as they tried to secure a reconciliation deal with rebels there.
The regime has reached a series of such deals with opposition forces around Damascus in recent months, offering rebels safe passage to other parts of the country in return for surrender.
The government accuses rebels in the area of deliberately targeting water infrastructure, causing leaking fuel to poison the supply to the capital, and then cutting the flow altogether.
Rebels say the infrastructure was damaged in government strikes and deny responsibility for the damage that has left four million people without water since December 22.
On Tuesday, the government brought reinforcements to the area, the Observatory said.
But opposition officials and Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman also reported ongoing talks on a deal to end the fighting and repair the water infrastructure.
Local officials want... Russian teams to enter to fix the infrastructure in exchange for a halt to the fighting, Abdel Rahman told AFP.
But the regime wants control of the spring and the pumps to prevent any blackmail or threats in the future, he added.
This is their condition for halting military operations.
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian president Bashar Assad, right, meets with Alaeddin Boroujaerdi, who leads the foreign policy and national security portfolios at Iran's top Shura Council, left, at the Syrian presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria, on Wednesday. (AP)
Iranian official in Damascus
The opposition accused Hezbollah of preventing Russian officials from entering Wadi Barada to assess the work needed and continue negotiations.
A checkpoint belonging to the Hezbollah militia prevented the Russian officers from entering, Ahmed Ramadan of the National Coalition opposition body said in a message to journalists.
The ceasefire and Astana talks are the latest bid to resolve nearly six years of conflict in Syria, which has been ravaged by violence since an uprising began in March 2011.
More than 310,000 people have been killed and over half the country displaced in the violence, which has drawn in regional and international players.
Regime ally Moscow began a military campaign in support of Assads government in September 2015, and Turkey launched its own fight against the Islamic State group and Kurdish fighters in northern Syria in August last year.
Despite backing opposite sides in the conflict, Ankara and Moscow have worked closely to broker the ceasefire and plan the Astana talks, which Cavusoglu said could take place on January 23.
Regime ally Iran is also involved in organising the talks, and top official Alaeddin Boroujerdi was in Damascus on Wednesday for talks with Assad.
He praised the governments recapture of Aleppo city last month, and pledged that Iran would continue to back the government, Syria state media reported.
A government official was suspected to have carried out a rare shooting rampage in China on Wednesday in which two officials were wounded when a gunman burst into a meeting and opened fire, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The shooting happened at an exhibition centre in Panzhihua city in Sichuan province. The gunmen fired multiple shots at city leaders assembled there before fleeing, Xinhua reported.
The shooter was suspected to be the chief of the citys Land and Resources Bureau, who was found dead after committing suicide on the second floor of the building, it said.
Xinhua did not give any more details about the attack or a motive. Telephone calls to the city governments information office were not answered.
The mayor and the head of the citys municipal committee were wounded but would survive, Xinhua said.
Violent crime is rare in China, compared with many other countries, and gun ownership is strictly controlled, but there has been a series of knife attacks in recent years, including one in November when seven children were wounded.
Violence claimed the lives of at least 6,878 civilian Iraqis last year, the United Nations said on Monday, as the Iraqi government struggles to maintain security nationwide and to dislodge Islamic State group militants from areas under their control.
The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, known as UNAMI, said its numbers have to be considered as the absolute minimum as it has not been able to verify casualties among civilians in conflict areas, and of those who lost their lives due to secondary effects of violence ... due to exposure to the elements, lack of water, food, medicines and health care.
Read | Iraq: Before blast, suicide bomber attracted crowd by offering job; 36 killed
UNAMI said in a statement that 12,388 other civilians were wounded in 2016. It added that last year figures didnt include casualties among civilians in Iraqs western Anbar province for the months of May, July, August and December.
According to UNAMI figures, at least 7,515 civilians were killed in 2015.
The monthly UN casualty report for December 2016 showed that a total of 386 civilians were killed and another 1,066 were wounded. The worst affected area was the northern province of Ninevah, where government forces are fighting to retake the IS-held city of Mosul, with 208 civilians killed and 511 injured. The capital, Baghdad, came next with 109 civilians killed and 523 injured.
IS, known locally by the Arabic acronym Daesh, has claimed responsibility for a string of bombings in Baghdad that have killed more than 50 people in the last week alone.
The deadliest IS attack was in July when a massive suicide bombing in a bustling market area in central Baghdad killed almost 300 people, the bloodiest single attack in the capital in 13 years of war.
This is, no doubt, an attempt by Daesh to divert attention from their losses in Mosul and, unfortunately, it is the innocent civilians who are paying the price, Jan Kubis, the special representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Iraq, said in the statement.
The group was also behind Mondays suicide bombing in a commercial area in eastern Baghdad, which killed 41 people and wounding 64 others. Several other attacks, including one carried out by five suicide bombers against two police stations in the city of Samarra north of Baghdad, killed at least 27 people and wounded 89.
Backed by the U.S.-led international coalition, Iraqi government troops and paramilitary forces launched the campaign in mid-October to dislodge IS from Mosul Iraqs second-largest city and the last major IS urban bastion in the country.
Unlike other reports, last months report didnt include casualties among security forces. The U.N. came under criticism from the Iraqi military last month after reporting that nearly 2,000 members of the Iraqi forces had been killed in November. The Iraqi government has not publicized the casualty figures for government troops and paramilitary forces fighting in Mosul and elsewhere in northern Iraq.
The United States has said it encourages India and Pakistan to resolve all their outstanding disputes bilaterally, including the one relating to the Indus Waters Treaty, and sees no role for itself as a mediator.
Pakistans Dawn newspaper had reported on Monday that the US had offered to mediate the dispute in a phone call between US secretary of state John Kerry and the Pakistani finance minister Ishaq Dar in late December.
I can confirm that he did speak on the 29th of December with Finance Minister Dar, state department spokesman John Kirby said in response to a question about the call from Kerry.
Im not going to read that out in any great detail.
He went on to say that the Indus Waters Treaty, signed in 1960 by the two countries, had served as a model for peaceful cooperation and, We encourage, as we have in the past, India and Pakistan to work together to resolve any differences.
Asked if the US had offered to mediate, Kirby said India and Pakistan need to resolve it bilaterally, a position Washington takes on all attempts to drag it into problems between the two countries.
Recent reports in Pakistan indicated Islamabad felt frustrated by the World Banks decision to pause two different processes initiated by India and Pakistan to resolve the dispute arising out of two power projects planned in the Indus river system by India.
India had sought a neutral expert and Pakistan had asked for the chairman of the Court of Arbitration to resolve the dispute, which the World Bank--which brokered the treaty--felt created a risk of contradictory outcomes that could potentially endanger the treaty.
We are announcing this pause to protect the Indus Waters Treaty and to help India and Pakistan consider alternative approaches to resolving conflicting interests under the Treaty and its application to two hydroelectric power plants, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim had said in a statement in December.
This is an opportunity for the two countries to begin to resolve the issue in an amicable manner and in line with the spirit of the treaty rather than pursuing concurrent processes that could make the treaty unworkable over time. I would hope the two countries will come to an agreement by the end of January.
Islamabad, it appeared from Pakistani press reports, decided to seek Washingtons help instead.
Though Kirby gave no details about Kerrys call with Dar, the US doesnt want to get involved in this dispute as he reiterated US position on all India-Pakistan disputes that it wants the two countries to resolve their differences bilaterally.
The worlds oldest killer whale, a 100-year-old mammal affectionately known as Granny, is missing and presumed dead, scientists have said.
Tracking Granny and other matriarch killer whales has shown the crucial role played by the mammal in the family group.
They guide the pod as it forages, take care of other females young calves and even feed the larger males, researchers said.
These post-reproductive female leaders help their families to survive, and the advantage they offer could show what drives a species to evolve to stop reproducing.
It was inevitable that this day was going to come but it is very sad news and a further blow to this population, said Darren Croft from the University of Exeter in the UK, who leads this evolutionary biology research.
In her later years she had been helping her family group to survive by sharing her knowledge of when and where to find food, said Croft.
The orcas of an area known as the Salish Sea - close to Vancouver and Seattle - have been the subject of a four decades long study led by Ken Balcomb from the Center for Whale Research (CWR). He had first photographed Granny, official named J2, in 1976, BBC News reported.
Granny was considered to be missing by the end of 2016. (Picture courtesy: CWR official website)
On the centres website, which first reported Grannys death, Balcomb wrote that he last saw her on October 12 last year as she swam north far ahead of the others.
Perhaps other dedicated whale-watchers have seen her since then, but by years end, she is officially missing from the Southern Resident Killer Whale population, and with regret we now consider her deceased, he said.
Frederic Francis Gerard was a man of many rolesincluding one at the Little Bighorn. Fluent in French, English, Lakota, Arikara and Ojibwe, Gerard was a natural as an interpreter for the 1876 expedition, helping Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer communicate with his company of Arikara soldier-scouts (see related story,P. 26). He was also an experienced fur-trader, an unlicensed frontier physician,a sometime journalist, a dabbler in gold before the intrusive Black Hills Expedition of 1874 and the head of three families, with four white children, three half-Arikara daughters, and one half-Blackfeet son.
Frederic was born on November 14, 1829,to Francois Gerard, a French-Canadian,and Catherine Trotier, an American of French ancestry, and grew up speaking both French and English. His hometown was St. Louisonce part of the French colonial empire in North America that had extended from north of Quebec to south of New Orleans and west into the domain of the Plains Indians. Fascinated with medicine, he spent four years at St. Xaviers Academy, and at 19 he ventured north to Fort Clark, Dakota Territory, signing on as a clerk for the American Fur Co., which supplied the wannabe doctor with medical books and bottles of pills. Arikara medicine men initially viewed Gerard as a potential rival but later sought him out for second opinions. He earned the name Swift Buffalo by quickly learning the Arikara language and for his horsemanship in buffalo hunts.The Lakotas named him Strikes the Bear after he fought off a grizzly with a knife in 1855. He soon learned their language, too. Many Plains tribes spoke rudimentary Lakota, just as many Europeans outside France spoke rudimentary French.
Given his courage and, perhaps more important, his linguistic skills, Gerard was put in charge of the American Fur trading post at Fort Berthold in 1857. There he took up with an Arikara woman named Helena Catherine and sired three daughtersJosephine in 1860, Carrie in 1862 and Virginia in 1864. He sent his daughters down the Missouri for a Catholic education, and Josie and Virginia ultimately became Benedictine nuns in a St. Joseph convent.
In 1863 Fort Berthold trader Gerard welcomed a party of prospectors headed downriver from the Montana Territory goldfields. They proudly showed him their mackinaw boat fitted with a false bottom, beneath which theyd concealed an estimated $100,000 in gold dust. Gerard warned the men not to follow the river through Lakota country, but they did and were wiped out. Hearing of the massacre,Gerard sent an Arikara relative to recover the gold dust from the boatand received a coffee pot and several belts full of ore. Rumor soon had it the treasure came from the Black Hills.
In 1869 American Fur sold Fort Berthold, and Gerard became an independent trader in Montana Territory, soon fathering a son, Frederic Francis Jr., with a Blackfeet woman named Catherine. Within a few years, however, a band of hostile Blackfeet ambushed his train and made off with the goods. Starting over, he staked a claim near Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory, and supplied meat and vegetables to the Army postuntil the Northern Pacific Railroad discovered his claim lay on their land grant. Fortunately,he had earlier saved from Indian ambush a railroad survey party headed by Custers old West Point friend Tom Rosser. In gratitude the Northern Pacific gave Gerard 40 acres of land south of Mandan that he later sold for a tidy $5,000.
The man of many languages hired on in July 1872 as post interpreter at Fort Lincoln, and as the Army planned its 1876campaign, Gerard secured a slot as interpreter for Custers Arikara scouts. He signed up on May 12, just five days before the Arikaras, singing their death songs,joined the 7th U.S. Cavalry on the fateful expedition into Montana Territory. Gerard was with Custer at the Crows Nest, overlooking the Little Bighorn, when sharpeyed scouts described the huge Lakota-Cheyenne village Custer couldnt see.He and the company of 40 Arikaras were assigned to bolster Major Marcus Renos three companies of troopers when Custer tried to surround the village. When the village exploded with angry warriors, Gerard and the Arikaras fell back into the timber with Renos men, and when Reno ordered the retreat over the Little Bighorn, Gerard was stuck in the cottonwoods with a dozen other soldiers and scouts. No fan of Reno, Gerard later told Lieutenant Edward S. Godfrey that only two or three of the boldest Lakotas had infiltrated the woods,and Reno probably would have lost fewer men had he stayed put. He later recalled that no one at the Reno Court of Inquiry in Chicago seemed interested in his opinion.
During the retreat Gerard and Billy Jackson, a mixed-blood Blackfeet scout, had kept their horses and found cover with Lieutenant Charles De Rudio and Private Thomas ONeill, both unhorsed. When night fell the four fugitives tried to escape by fording the river. No one knew how deep the Little Bighorn was, and Gerard supposedly took out his expensive gold watch and offered an incantation and sacrifice: Oh, Powerful One, Day Maker!And you, people of the depths, this I sacrifice to you. Help us, I pray you, to cross safely! With that, he threw the watch into the river, and his horse waded out and never got wet above the knees. Considering Gerards Jesuit education, and that two of his daughters were nuns, its quite possible Billy Jackson made up this story.Regardless, when a party of Lakota warriors challenged them on the opposite bank, Gerard and Jackson rode off, leading them away from De Rudio and ONeill.
All four ultimately made it to Reno Hill,where Gerard found 13 of the Arikara soldiers in the troopers ranks. The others,minus two dead, had just kept riding,though most rejoined the command on June 28. During the hours-long standoff Gerard, with his laymans knowledge of medicine, assisted Dr. Henry Porter. The remnants of the 7th Cavalry soon returned to Fort Lincoln, where Gerard remained post interpreter until July 1883.
On November 15, 1877, at age 48, Gerard married Ella Scarborourgh Waddell,a young and respectable woman from Kansas City. He fathered four more childrenFrederic Curtis in 1878, Birdiein 1880, Charles in 1888 and Florence in1893. Carrie, his middle daughter with his first Arikara wife, lived with the family until adulthood. Fred Jr., son of the Blackfeet wife, remained a stranger.
Once married to a white woman, Gerard opened a store, became active in local politics and operated a ferry across the Heart River. In 1890 he moved his third and final family to Minnesota, where he worked in advertising for the Pillsbury Baking Co. Gerard once dryly remarked he was probably helping to sell flour given to the reservation Indians who almost killed him at the Little Bighorn. He lived out the last months of his life in the care of Benedictine nuns at St. Cloud, including the two daughters from his first marriage. Fred Gerard died on January 30, 1913.
Originally published in the June 2015 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
Actors Wagner Moura and Pedro Pascal speak onstage during the 'Narcos' panel discussion at the Netflix portion of the 2015 Summer TCA Tour at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on July 28, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo : Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
It was just in September when the crime drama web television series, "Narcos," ended its second installment. With the third season expected to be out sometime this year, recent reports claim that "Sense8's" Miguel Angel Silvestre will be joining the series.
According to MNA, it was confirmed that Silvestre is going to be part of the upcoming "Narcos" Season 3. Although the same publication noted that no revelation has been made yet regarding his role, Silvestre provided hints on his character. The actor said that he will be portraying an enigmatic person, and that his character has a dark past which involves a bad relationship or a painful love story.
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The 34-year-old Spanish actor also revealed that his character will display an aura full of hate. Silvestre also added that he is going to do a Colombian accent for his role in "Narcos" Season 3.
Meanwhile, the same report cited that "Narcos" Season 3 will focus on the Cali Cartel, which is the rival cartel of Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura). It can be recalled that the recent season showed the death of the series' lead character, Pablo, from the hands of the Colombian authorities. Reports said before that the producer of the series already confirmed that they could not prevent Moura's exit.
On the other hand, Guide noted the entry of several new characters in the anticipated "Narcos" Season 3. According to the publication, Andrea Londo will be joining the cast to portray the role of Maria, who is a young and strong beauty queen from Colombia. Aside from her, it is said that Nicholas Gonzales will be on board to play the role of DEA agent Lopez. Another addition to the crew is Michael Stahl-David, who is said to fill the role of Chris Feistl.
There is still no official release date of "Narcos" Season 3, but reports suggests that it is expected to air sometime in 2017.
Laws, California, was built in anticipation of a railroad the narrow-gauge Carson & Colorado to be exact. The Carson & Colorado Railroad Co., formed on May 10, 1880, envisioned its line running from Mound House, Nevada, on the Carson River, to the Colorado River. By the time the tracks arrived in Californias Owens Valley three years later, the budding settlementthen known simply as Station comprised a depot, an agents house, a section supervisors house, a water tank, a railway turntable and outhouses. Other structures soon followed, including homes, two general stores, a hotel, a boardinghouse, a blacksmiths shop, a dance hall, a barbershop, warehouses and (in 1887) a post office.
The 300-mile C&C railroad never did reach the Colorado, but it provided a boost to Station and environs, shipping livestock and crops from local ranches and ore from district mines. In 1900 the C&C sold the line to the Southern Pacific Railroad, which changed the towns name to honor longtime Southern Pacific superintendent R.J. Laws. The town of Laws became the main shipping point for supplies to such Nevada gold boomtowns as Tonopah and Goldfield.
Laws remained a close-knit, solid community for another half-century. Its decline in the 1950s was attributed to, among other things, the closure of local mines and the lower cost of shipping by truck vs. rail. By 1959 it was virtually a ghost town. The last train left the depot on April 30, 1960, and soon after Southern Pacific officials presented a gift deed to Inyo County and the city of Bishop for steam locomotive No. 9 together with other rolling stock and the Laws station building and surrounding installations for safekeeping in behalf of generations to come.
With a groundswell of public support the Bishop Museum and Historical Society purchased additional land for an outdoor museum to preserve the areas railroad era. The society saved the few remaining buildings in the town of Laws and moved in other historic buildings from around the Owens Valley to recreate the village. Film crews working on the 1966 Western Nevada Smith, starring Steve McQueen, shot at various locations in the Owens Valley and Inyo National Forest, using Laws as a set and building additional structures.
As the Laws Railroad Museum and Historic Site took shape, several old-timers visited to share their memoriesa retired engineer stood beside locomotive No. 9 and envisioned his hand on the throttle; an elderly couple remembered the day the man greeted his bride-to-be at the depot; an old sheep rancher described loading his woollies onto train cars; and a former cattle rancher recalled the sound of the train whistle blowing once his stock was all aboard.
The main attraction at the site remains the trains. Parked on the tracks beside the original 1880s depot is the 1909 Baldwin 4-6-0 steam locomotive No. 9. Visitors are encouraged to climb into the cab and ring the bell. Trailing behind are several freight cars and an 1883 C&C caboose. Another intriguing railcar on display is the 1929 self-propelled Brill Co. car, donated by the Death Valley Railroad and fully restored in 2004. Summer visitors can hop aboard and ride the historic train.
The village holds its own appeal. Near the depot are the original agents house, water tank and oil tank, as well as the working turntable. Stroll farther into town to find the post office, a general store and a saloon, to name just a few of the historic buildings. In all youll find more than 30 structures, including an icehouse from Bishop, an early gas station and its pumps, the 1909 North Inyo schoolhouse and Bishops first Catholic church. At the east end of town, nestled amid a grove of trees, are several small restored Victorian homes, which house exhibits of 19th-century clothing, appliances, musical instruments, childrens toys and other artifacts.
The Laws Railroad Museum & Historic Site, off U.S. Highway 6 in Inyo County, 5 miles from U.S. 395, is open year-round. For more information call 760-873-5950 or visit www.lawsmuseum.com.
Originally published in the June 2015 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
The Hunkpapa Lakota warrior Left Hand is one of the quiet enigmas of Custers Last Stand a man who served as both a scout for Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and a warrior for Sitting Bull but died without explaining why he did what he did.
Left Hand signed on as a U.S. Army Indian scout on December 9, 1875, and mustered out in early June 1876 while serving with Brig. Gen. Alfred Terrys column (including the 12 companies under Custers immediate command), then headed west into Sioux country. What happened between then and the battle is open to conjecture, but Left Hands fate is certain: In 1912 Arikara scout Young Hawk told interviewer Walter Mason Camp, When Left Hands time expired, he joined the Sioux, his own people, and after the Battle of the Little Bighorn River his horse was found in the village, and his dead body among those left in the village by the Sioux.
Left Handalso known as Chat-ka (Lakota for left)was one of five Lakota scouts who had signed on with Custer in December 1875. These Lakotas were especially important to Custer, as neither the Arikara scouts he and brother Tom signed up near Fort Abraham Lincoln nor the Crow scouts he later secured from Colonel John Gibbon spoke Lakota. Arikara is a Caddoan language. The Crow language, while Siouan, is not mutually intelligible between a Crow and a Sioux.
Left Hand was identified as a Hunkpapa, a people that came to be known as the Sitting Bull Sioux. The Hunkpapas (whose name means Head of the Circle) were the northernmost band of the Lakota tribe. They traditionally avoided any type of contact with whitesunlike the Oglalas, Brules and friendlier Sans Arcsalthough they had fought Custer during the 1873 Yellowstone Expedition. The Indians were made up of different bands of Sioux, principally Uncpapas [sic], the whole under command of Sitting Bull, who participated in the second days fight, Custer wrote to his wife. A large number of Indians who fought us were fresh from the reservations on the Missouri River. Many of the warriors engaged in the fight on both days were dressed in complete suits of the clothes issued at the agencies to the Indians. The arms with which they fought us (several of which were captured in the fight) were of the latest improved patterns of breechloading repeating rifles, and their supply of metallic cartridges seemed unlimited.
The year after that inconclusive campaign Custer led an expedition through the Black Hills that the Hunkpapas and other Lakotas considered a violation of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. A year later the government told the Lakotas the United States wanted to buy the Black Hills, said to be full of gold from the grass roots down. Some of the Lakota chiefs offered to sell for $70 million; the government offered $6 million. Delegates from the Oglala Crazy Horse and the Hunkpapa Sitting Bull refused to sell at any price, some even threatening to kill any Lakota who touched the pen. Negotiations faltered, and it was around that time Left Hand signed on as a scout. Three possibilities suggest themselves: (1) He may have been an outcast from the Hunkpapas for some personal argument or moral failure, (2) he may have realized the old free-roaming days were doomed and sought to secure his own future, or (3) he may have been a spy sent by Sitting Bull to learn what the whites were up to. In any case Left Hand signed up with the Army just as it was about to order the Sioux to report to their assigned agencies or face condemnation as hostiles.
Left Hand does not figure by name in the accounts of Custers other Lakota scouts on the approach march to the Little Bighorn. If, as Young Hawk remembered, Left Hand mustered out in June, he probably would have done so on June 9, 1876, after a six-month term of service. To confuse matters, Young Hawk, who knew Left Hand by sight, named only four Lakota scoutsBear Come Out, Red Bear, White Cloud and Buffalo Ancestorat the columns departure from Fort Lincoln on March 17. As Indians often went by multiple names, Left Hand actually may have been with the 7th Cavalry and scouts when they left Fort Lincoln. Young Hawk was certain, however, he left some weeks before the fight on the Little Bighorn. According to Young Hawk and other Arikaras, en route to the battle the Lakota scouts pointed to signs in abandoned Lakota camps indicating the enemy knew the troops were coming. But again there was no mention of Left Hand.
A clue to what may have happened to Left Hand popped up in 1922, when Army officer and World War I veteran Colonel Alfred Burton Welch was interviewing Lakotas at Fort Yates, on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota. On August 17 he spoke to an educated elder named Emeron White.
The Sioux people sing a song about a Ree [Arikara] scout who died with Custer, White told Welch. They call him Makpia Tatonka (Buffalo Cloud). He rode a swift horse, but it was wounded, and they got around him. The scout begged for his life and named the firstborn of the families of those Hunkpapas who were around him. This is sacred to the people, to name the firstborn, and they always let an enemy get away when they do that. But this time everyone was excited, and so they killed him there. I think maybe that it was Bloody Knife, his other name. They are all sorry for that thing now and sing this song in his honor:
The horse came alone
Where is his rider?
Where is Buffalo Cloud?
Here he lays.
The man killed was clearly not the half-Arikara scout Bloody Knife, who was shot not surrounded by Hunkpapa enemies but so close to Major Marcus Reno that the bullet splattered the scouts brains and blood on Renos face. According to witnesses, the other two slain Arikara scouts, Bob-tailed Bull and Little Brave, were fighting when killed. No other Arikaras were reported killed. Whites anecdote raises two questions: What language did the surrounded Ree speak for the Lakotas to have understood him? And how did that man know the names of the Hunkpapas firstborn? Is it possible Left Hand was the one surrounded and killed by his own people as a suspected traitor? Or was he a self-appointed spy who tried to forewarn his people of Custers attack?
The Hunkpapa Nation at Standing Rock lists Left Hand, under his Lakota name Chat-ka, as a combatant and casualty on the Indian side: Chat-ka. Hunkpapa Sioux. His body was found in abandoned tepee in the valley after the Little Bighorn battle. He was a scout at Fort Lincoln.
Young Hawk, the Arikara scout, offers one more provocative description of Left Hands body at the Little Bighorn: He had on a white shirt. The shoulders were painted green, and on his forehead, painted in red, was the sign of a secret society. In the middle of the camp they found a drum, and on one side, lying on a blanket, was a row of dead Dakotas [sic] with their feet toward the drum.
Left Hand was definitely an Army scout, definitely left the Army in June and definitely turned up among the honored Lakota dead after the battle. He may or may not have been the Ree who mysteriously spoke Lakota and knew the names of the Hunkpapa firstborn. He may simply have been accepted back into his warrior society and fought to the death alongside his brothers at the Little Bighorn. Barring new information, the story of Left Hand is another mystery of Custers Last Stand.
Originally published in the June 2015 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
Though referred to as scouts, even by Lt. Col. George A. Custer, these Indians enlisted as soldiersand some fought well at the Little Bighorn.
On June 2526, 1876, Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne warriors on the Little Bighorn River annihilated the five 7th U.S. Cavalry companies under the direct command of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and decimated seven other companies that barely survived to tell the tale of the Armys biggest defeat in the Western Indian wars. That much is familiar even to those otherwise unschooled in 19th-century battles. Far less known is the presenceand fate of a 13th company at that Montana Territory fight. Instead of white soldiers, this company comprised Arikara Indians, mortal enemies of the Lakotas, whom Custer had signed up as U.S. soldiers at the last moment.
The Arikaras themselves had mixed feelings that spring when they learned about the Custer expedition of 1876. The Sioux were a formidable enemy, and previous wars and two smallpox epidemics had not been kind to the Arikaras. Many joined up for the money. Young Hawk, an Arikara who had soldiered for Custer before, chose to sit out this campaign. His father felt otherwise and stated, I will go, and my son too. Young Hawk obeyed, as Arikaras had great respect for their elders.
Frederic F. Gerard, a fur trader who served as civilian interpreter for Custers Arikaras, took the 40 Arikara volunteers, including the dubious Young Hawk, to the Army encampment near their village by the Missouri River for the enlistment ceremony. Captain Tom Custer was on duty, and Gerard told the Indians to raise their hands for the oath of allegiance (for more on Gerard see Pioneers and Settlers, P. 18; also see the related story and photo of Younk Hawk in Indian Life, P. 24). George Custer then strode in and, through Gerard, told the Arikaras the expedition was imminent, and they were to remain at Fort Abraham Lincoln and not return to their village.
The Arikaras were officially American soldiers, unlike the Crow scouts Custer hired later in the campaign. A July 28, 1866, congressional act, amended in 1873, had authorized the president to enlist and employ up to 1,000 Indians as U.S. soldiers, though department commanders were granted the discretion to release them from service. As soldiers the Arikaras received government uniforms and weapons and were subject to military orders. They earned $13 a month, the same as other enlisted men, though white and half-blood scouts often received higher wages. Even Custer himself referred to the Arikaras as scouts, perhaps to boost camaraderie among his Indian forces. Legally, however, they were soldiers and subject to whatever discipline he might impose in a fluid tactical situation. To understand the role of the Arikara soldiers is to better comprehend what happened at the Little Bighorn. The Arikaras were combatants but also somewhat detached observersand some became decidedly more detached as things grew worse for the 7th Cavalry.
The Arikaraswho called themselves the Sahnish (original people) and were informally known as the Reeswere the largest of three farming tribes (along with the Mandans and Hidatsas) that since the 18th century had lived in proximity along the Missouri River. To endure the brutal northern Plains winters, they lived in earth lodges thickly insulated with logs, soil and sod. The women raised corn and beans during the growing season, while the men organized sporadic buffalo hunts, camping out in small tepees transported by dogs. Author and illustrator Thomas E. Mails estimated that by 1800 the farming tribes had atrophied to about 3,800 Arikaras, 3,600 Mandans and 2,500 Hidatsas, while the Lakotasfull-time buffalo hunters who cackled at the corn eatershad swollen to some 27,000 members.
In 1823 fur trappers clashed with the Arikaras, sparking a brief war in which the tribe faced a force of 230 U.S. soldiers, 50 trappers and 750 Sioux (yes, allies of the whites at the time). The Arikaras escaped extinction mostly through U.S. clemency, and by allowing the tribe a measure of independence, the Americans won the Arikaras cautious loyalty. A decade later the smallpox epidemic of 1837 all but exterminated the neighboring Mandans and severely reduced the Arikaras and Hidatsas. At that low point, mostly out of desperation, they became U.S. allies against their principal enemy, the Sioux. John James Audubon visited the survivors in 1843 and described them as lanky and squalidperhaps because the smallpox had invalided so many Arikaras. Another white visitor in 1858 derided them as sullen, insolent and disease-ridden. By 1876 the Arikaras, badly outnumbered and targeted as white allies, had more reason than ever to side with soldiers trying to contain the powerful Sioux.
The nominal commander of the new 13th company was Lieutenant Charles Varnum, a 26-year-old West Point graduate. Custer, however, understood enough about Indians, the Arikaras in particular, to know they would be leery of leadership by such a young man. Indeed, the Arikaras seem to have regarded their own chiefs as field commanders, seldom mentioning Varnum in their reminiscences.
After the May 7 enlistment ceremony Custer met in his tent with two veteran Arikara warriors, Bob-tailed Bull and Soldier. The colonel, through interpreter Gerard, first expressed his appreciation:
The man before me, Bob-tailed Bull, is a man of good heart, of good character. I am pleased to have him here. I am glad he has enlisted. It will be a hard expedition, but we will all share the same hardships. I am very well pleased to have him in my party, and I told it in Washington. We are to live and fight together, children of one father and one mother. The great-grandfather has a plan. The Sioux camps have united, and you and I must work together for the Great Father and help each other. The Great Father is well pleased that it took few words to coax Son-of-the-Star [the principal Arikara chief] to furnish me scouts for this work we have to do, and he is pleased, too, at his behavior in helping on the plan of the Great Father. I, for one, am willing to help in this all I can, and you must help too. It is this way, my brothers. If I should happen to lose any of the men Son-of-the-Star has furnished, their reward will not be forgotten by the government. Their relations will be saddened by their death, but there will be some comfort in the pay that the United States will provide.
Bob-tailed Bull thanked Custer and shared his readiness to die in battle. It is a good thing you say, my brother, my children and other relatives will receive my pay and other rewards, he answered. I am glad you say this, for I see there is some gain even though I lose my life. Custer said further words were unnecessary and stated, Bob-tailed Bull is to be the leader, and Soldier second in command of the scouts.
Scouts they may have been in Custers view, but the Arikaras comprised their own company, and on May 17, accompanied by four mercenary Sioux scouts assigned to them, the Arikaras formed up to leave Fort Abraham Lincoln. Theirs was the first company to parade on the fort grounds but the last to leave, marching at the rear of the column that first day. The Arikaras spoke their own tongue, a subset of the Caddoan language family, and used sign language to converse with their attached Sioux scouts and the six Crow scouts Custer plucked from Colonel John Gibbons Montana column on June 21. The Crow scout Curley claimed Custer paid Gibbon $600 to rent the Crows.
Custers favorite Indian scout, Bloody Knife, who had a Hunkpapa Sioux father and Arikara mother, also conversed with the Arikaras in sign language. As the column headed up the Yellowstone River, Bloody Knife encouraged the Arikaras to stick with the command no matter what happened. There are numerous enemies in the country, he told them. If we attack their camp [and] are beaten, we must retreat in small groups. You scouts must not run away [or] go back to your homes.
Around June 22 the Arikaras arrived at an abandoned Lakota camp, where they found the skeletal remains of a soldier. All about him were clubs and sticks, as though he had been beaten to death, Young Hawk recalled. Only the bones were left. Custer stood still for some time and looked down at the remains. The detachment also found a dead Sioux warrior on a scaffold. On Custers orders they dismantled the scaffold and stripped the corpse, finding a partially healed gunshot wound in the dead mans back. They threw the body in the river.
On June 23 the Arikaras looked on as the steamboat Far West ferried cannon (referring to Gatling guns) back across the river, as Custer thought the gun carriages would only slow down the column; the Indians thought this was a mistake. Officers also detailed three Arikaras to carry mail back to Fort Lincoln. The other Arikaras received five mules to carry their supplies as the command, shifting to attack mode, moved out ahead of its supply train. Here Gerard told us he wanted us to sing our death songs, Young Hawk said. Custer then ordered two groups of scouts to go ahead, one on each side of the river.
The next day, June 24, the Arikaras and scouts found an abandoned Lakota camp set up around a circular clearing for a sun dance. The Dakota [Sioux] scouts in Custers army said that this meant the enemy knew the Army was coming, Young Hawk recalled. In one of the sweat lodges was a long heap or ridge of sand. On this one Red Bear, Red Star and Soldier saw figures drawn, indicating by hoofprints Custers men on one side and the Dakota on the other. Between them dead men were drawn lying with their heads toward the Dakotas. The Arikara scouts understood this to mean that the Dakota medicine was too strong for them, and that they would be defeated by the Dakotas.
Inside another sweat lodge Young Hawk found three stones, each painted red. This meant in Dakota sign language that the Great Spirit had given them victory, and that if the whites did not come, they would seek them, Young Hawk explained. They saw other signs, too, that shook their confidence. That may explain why later that day the Arikaras and their Crow scouts missed the obvious travois trail that ultimately led to the Little Bighorn. Varnum, their nominal commander, took the blame for the oversight and in 1909 shared his recollections with Walter Mason Camp, the dean of Little Bighorn interviewers: Custer told me that [Lieutenant Edward S.] Godfrey had reported that a trail of a part of the Indians had gone up a branch stream to our left about 10 miles back, and Custer was rather angry that I had let anything get away from me.
Custer assigned Lieutenant Luther Hare to assist Varnum and his Arikaras, and with Hares help and Custers rebuke fresh on their minds, the Arikaras had no trouble finding the travois trail. They and their attached Crows followed it about 10 miles that afternoon before stopping to make camp.
That night Custer summoned Red Star and five other Arikaras to his headquarters tent, around which the officers had clustered. Gerard gave them their instructions: Long Hair wants to tell you that tonight you shall go without sleep. You are to go on ahead. You are to try to locate the Sioux camp. You are to do your best to find this camp. Travel all night. When day comes, if you have not found the Sioux camp, keep on going until noon. If your search is useless by this time, you are to come back to camp. These Crow Indians [known to the Arikaras as Big Belly, Strikes Enemy, Comes Leading and Curly Head] will be your guides, for they know the country. White scout Charley Reynolds accompanied the Indians, as did Mitch Bouyer, a half-blood French-Sioux with a Crow wife who served as an interpreter. The party headed out and soon reached an overlook familiar to the Crows and later dubbed the Crows Nest.
I saw two of the Crow scouts climbing up on the highest peak of the hill, Red Star recalled. I heard the Crows call like an owl, not loud but clear. Returning to the group, the Crows warned the Arikaras not to sing a traditional song that meant an enemy was in sight. Then all the scouts climbed up the peak to look for signs of the Dakotas, Red Star continued. Crooked Horn, an older Arikara warrior, told Red Star, Look sharp, my boy, you have better eyes than I. Red Star saw a dark object and light smoke rising from what he assumed was the Lakota village. Reynolds scanned the horizon with his field glasses, scrawled out a note and gave it to Crooked Horn. He in turn handed the note to Red Star and sent him and another Arikara back to the soldiers main camp, marked by rising smoke in the opposite direction.
When Red Star reached Custers encampment, a fellow Arikara named Stabbed greeted him: My son, this is no small thing you have done. The Custer brothers, Bloody Knife and Gerard clustered around as George read Reynolds note. Custer then mounted up and headed for the overlook to see for himself.
When the party reached the hill, Custer at first claimed he couldnt see the village. Reynolds then handed the colonel his field glasses, and a moment later Custer nodded. The Arikaras and Crows told Custer that while Red Star was relaying the message, they had seen six Sioux scouts, who seemed well aware of the soldiers presence. Custer brushed off the suggestion. These Sioux we have seen at the foot of the hill, two going one way and four the other, are good scouts, Big Belly, one of the Crow scouts, insisted. They have seen the smoke of our camp.
I say again we have not been seen! Custer snapped back. That camp has not seen us. I am going ahead to carry out what I think. I want to wait until it is dark, and then we will march. We will place our army around the Sioux camp.
That plan is bad, Big Belly replied bluntly. It should not be carried out.
I have said what I propose to do, the colonel said curtly. I want to wait until it is dark and then go ahead with my plan. Custer then rode back down to rejoin his command.
Circumstances soon forced him to reconsider. In his absence Sergeant William Curtis had turned back along the trail to recover a box of hardtack inadvertently left behind and had encountered several Sioux. After exchanging shots, the Sioux rode off. Ironically, the warriors Curtis saw wouldnt make it back to the Indian village until after the battle. But Custer decided to strike first. He instructed the Arikaras, through Gerard: Boys, I want you to take the horses away from the Sioux camp. Make up your minds to go straight to their camp and capture their horses. Boys, you are going to have a hard day. You must keep up your courage. You will get experience today.
The company of Arikaras, by then at the head of the column, joined in the general charge toward the village and its horse herd. Encountering a lone burial tepee, they rode around it, slapping its sides with their quirts and slashing it open: Even a coup on a dead Lakota was worth something. Custer and Gerard soon caught up, and through Gerard the angry colonel said: I told you to dash on and stop for nothing. You have disobeyed me. Move to one side and let the soldiers pass you in the charge. If any man of you is not brave, I will take away his weapons and make a woman of him. Red Bear recalled what a fellow Arikara shouted back to Gerard: Tell him if he does the same to all his white soldiers who are not so brave as we are, it will take him a very long time indeed. The Arikaras laughed at the gibe and rushed into the brewing fight. Six or eight of them split off to rush the Sioux pony herd from two different directions. After cutting out a group of horses, they fired wildly on the Lakota village and then spent much of the day eluding angry Sioux warriors.
About half of the Arikaras stuck with Bob-tailed Bull, their war chief, and Bloody Knife, who had accompanied Major Marcus Reno and three companies of white soldiers. Young Hawk was with the Arikara company, as were two Crow scouts, on the left flank of Renos companies as they advanced on the village. Bob-tailed Bull was nearest to the opposing Sioux when they moved to flank Renos left, defending their village in overwhelming numbers.
All at once over the middle of the ridge came riding a dense swarm of Dakotas in one mass straight toward Bob-tailed Bull, Young Hawk recalled. At that moment a white soldier beside Young Hawk turned and shouted, John, you go! apparently advising the young Arikara to run for it. The attacking Sioux bore down on the Arikaras, and men started to flee back across the river. The Arikaras claimed the other soldiers were the first to run. In the midst of the melee Bloody Knife had taken a Sioux bullet to the head, and his brains and blood splattered Renos face, adding to the majors dismay over a very bad situation.
As they crossed the river, several Arikaras got separated from the command and sought cover in a grove of trees. Among them was Young Hawk, who resolved to die fighting after his cousin Goose was severely wounded and lost his horse to Sioux bullets. After propping up Goose against a tree, Young Hawk helped Crow scout Half-Yellow-Face drag Strikes the Enemy, a wounded fellow Crow, into the shelter of the grove.
The sight of the wounded men gave me queer feelings, Young Hawk remembered. I did not want to see them mutilated, so I decided to get killed myself at the edge of the timber. Before going out, I put my arms about my horses neck, saying, I love you. I then crawled out and stood up and saw all in front of me Sioux warriors kneeling ready to shoot. I fired at them and received a volley but was not hit. I was determined to try again and get killed.
Just then he spotted Forked Horn, an experienced Arikara warrior, who was firing from behind a cluster of driftwood. Dont you do so again! Forked Horn scolded. It is no way to act. This is not the way to fight at all, to show yourself as a mark. Heeding the older mans advice, Young Hawk fought alongside Forked Horn from behind cover. The Sioux set fire to the grass, trying to smoke out the Arikaras, but it was too green. When a Sioux on a gray horse rode into plain sight, Young Hawk fired, missed, then reloaded and fired again, killing the enemy warrior and shouting in triumph. Some little time after this the Sioux came closer again, he recalled. I saw one Sioux coming right toward me, and I drew a fine bead on him and dropped him. Then I jumped up and gave the death call again.
Young Hawk could hear Sioux women crying out, urging their warriors to kill the Arikaras, but the Sioux fire soon slackened, and their attackers rode off downstream. He and Half-Yellow-Face thought Custer must have struck the village from the other side, so they helped Goose and Strikes the Enemy up on their horses and prepared to leave. Spotting an American flag in the commands fallback position atop Reno Hill, they rode that way under Sioux fire while Young Hawk waved a white flag to avoid being shot by fellow soldiers. Just outside the skirmish line on Reno Hill a Sioux bullet dropped the horse Young Hawk loved, but the scouts made it into camp. Major Reno told them in sign language that Bob-tailed Bull was dead. Young Hawk, Goose and the 11 other Arikaras who did reach Reno Hill took position alongside their fellow soldiers, firing at their attackers from behind stacked supply boxes. According to Young Hawk, an officer detailed him, four other Arikaras and a white sergeant to ride out at dusk with a message to the President of the United States, in order that all might know what happened. But enemy fire kept them pinned down all night.
The next morning, June 26, the firing resumed on all sides and persisted into the afternoon. Amid the din of battle around midday Young Hawk heard a Sioux singing a war song: Come on, white man, come on if you are brave, we are ready for you. All at once the firing stopped, and soon, just visible in the distance, the Sioux and Cheyennes gathered in the village to dismantle all of their tepees but fivethe burial tepees, as the soldiers later learned. The men atop Reno Hill then watched as the enemy warriors and their families set off toward the Bighorn Mountains.
Late that afternoon the Arikaras saw what they first thought was a party of enemy hunters returning to the village. In fact the approaching party was Brig. Gen. Alfred Terrys force, which had arrived to relieve the trapped white and Indian soldiers on Reno Hill. The Battle of the Little Bighorn was over.
The Arikaras spent the next day gathering troopers bodies for burial and foraging for food. Records show that of the 40- man company of Arikara soldiers, nine had remained at the Powder River camp or at Fort Lincoln. Of the 31 Arikaras in Custers command, 22 had followed Reno across the river to attack the massive Sioux and Cheyenne village. Only two were killed. Thirteen made it back across the river to join the defenders atop Reno Hill, while the others apparently just kept riding when things turned dire.
Brought to battle as mercenaries to fight a common enemy, and motivated by the need to feed their families, some Arikaras fought very wellto the death in the case of Bob-tailed Bull and Little Brave, and with suicidal courage in the case of Young Hawk. An equal or larger number lit out the minute the battle turned sour. That the other half proved plausible soldiers was overlooked when the booty was distributed and glory and honors bestowed. By June 28 the Arikara company had reassembled at Fort Lincoln. The Army quietly paid off the survivors and mustered them out of the service.
The Crows got to retain the site of the battlefield within the boundaries of their ample reservation. The Arikaras, though they boasted far more defenders on the firing line atop Reno Hill, resumed life among the Three Affiliated Tribes along the Missouri River, largely ignored by history until the 1940s. The 194753 construction of the Garrison Dam despite vocal opposition by tribal residents of the Fort Berthold Reservation forced the relocation of 1,700 tribal members and inundated virtually all of their farmland and several burial grounds. Though the Three Affiliated Tribes remain along the Missouri in North Dakota, many harbor bitter memories of this most recent battle. In the end the Garrison Dam project did the Arikaras far more harm than anything they suffered fighting their traditional enemies for Uncle Sam in 1876.
John Koster is the author of Custer Survivor. Colonel W.A. Graham collected key Arikara narratives in The Custer Myth (1953). Also see the 1920 work The Arikara Narrative of Custers Campaign and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, edited by Orin G. Libby.
Originally published in the June 2015 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
Californias grape varieties and wine business might be older than most realize. The region was a part of New Spain in 1779 when Franciscan missionaries planted the first sustained vineyard at Mission San Diego de Alcala. French settler Jean-Louis Vignes was among the first to establish a non-mission vineyard and is credited with introducing a better strain of Vitis vinifera (cultivated European grapevines) to Mexican-governed California around 1833. Many winemakers still consider Vignes the father of the California wine industry.
Among the 300,000 people who joined the California Gold Rush were many Forty-Niners who never realized their dream of a golden fortune and turned to agriculture. At the time most California winemakers were still using the Franciscans strain of Mission grapes, which, according to 19th-century historian Lyman L. Palmer, produced sour, unpalatable and dreggy stuff, yet it answered the purpose and was relished by those accustomed to its use from youth to old age. But newcomers from the States and Europe demanded better, and by the 1850s vineyards had sprouted up in Sonoma, Napa, Sutter, Lake, Yuba, Butte, Trinity and El Dorado counties.
By the mid-1850s Sonoma had gained notice for its non-mission wine. On December 6, 1858, the Daily Alta California ran the headline Vine Culture in Sonoma and noted, The wine of Sonoma is different from that of the southern portion of the state, being lighter and more like the French wines. Early popular varieties, wrote historian Hubert Bancroft, were Zinfandel and Riesling from Central Europe. Notable winemakers included Agoston Haraszthy de Mokcsa and Charles Krug, founders of two of Californias oldest wineries still operating.
Born into Hungarian nobility in 1812, Haraszthy moved to Wisconsin in the early 1840s, where he planted hops for beer and grapes for wine, before joining the exodus to California in 1849. He first settled in San Diego, where he started several business and agricultural concerns, including a vineyard. By 1852 the self-proclaimed count was buying land around San Francisco, determined to find a better place to plant his vines. In preparation he imported from Hungary six choice rooted vines and 160 cuttings. Also in the shipment were two small bundlesone was Muscat of Alexandria, the other Zinfandel. In 1856 Haraszthy purchased an 800-acre Sonoma ranch, renaming it Buena Vista. The following year he excavated tunnels in a nearby mountain for storing and aging wine, and Buena Vista produced 6,500 gallons of its first vintage. By 1860 he had planted more than 250 acres of vines. Quite the innovator, the count created the first gravity-flow wineryin which the grapes fall gently into the fermentation tanks to minimize bruisingand is credited with championing dry-farming techniques and the use of redwood barrels to age wine.
In 1861 Haraszthy persuaded the state to sponsor him on a tour of Europe to study winemaking methods. He and son Arpad returned with cuttings representing more than 400 varieties of vines. This encouraged other California winemakers, like Charles Wetmore, to experiment with varieties. Haraszthy and Wetmore were among the first to plant mixed-field blends, with several varieties in one vineyard, to see which worked and which didnt. In 1863 Haraszthy, with the help of investors, established the Buena Vista Vinicultural Society, a corporation dedicated to expanding and modernizing winemaking. While Haraszthy had a successful first year, his costly ambitions exceeded the early demand for California wine. Shareholders forced him out of the society in 1867, and the next year he headed for Nicaragua to look into the sugar and rum trade. In early July 1869 the flamboyant count reportedly fell into an alligator-infested stream on his property. His body never turned up.
Despite winning accolades for its wine in 1873 in London, Vienna, Australia, Chile, Japan and Paris, the Buena Vista Winery succumbed to financial pressures, and in 1878 the society auctioned off the estate. Arpad Haraszthy continued to make wine and in 1880 was appointed president of the California Board of State Viticultural Commissioners. In its 1888 annual report Haraszthy noted that the number of vineyards in the state had tripled since 1880, and that overall wine production in 1887 totaled 15 million gallons. But his fathers Buena Vista Winery laid dormant into the 1940s. In 2011 the French-based Boisset wine group purchased the winery [www.buenavistawinery.com], continuing the rich heritage Count Haraszthy began a century and a half ago.
Within months of purchasing Buena Vista in 1856, Agoston Haraszthy sold another parcel of land in Sonoma to friend and apprentice Charles Krug, who started his own winery. Krug, who was born in Prussia in 1825 and fought for independence from Germany in 1848, had arrived in San Francisco in 1852 with little money but plenty of determination and a willingness to work hard. He maintained his Sonoma vineyard for two years before selling it, borrowing an apple press and moving to Napa to make wine for pioneer John Patchett. On December 19, 1890, the San Francisco Star published an excerpt of Krugs memoir. When I first visited Napa County, I found less than a dozen small vineyards of so-called Mission vines, he wrote. In October 1858 I made the first lot of wine ever made in Napa County, at the place of John Patchett, Napa City. As a cellar he used an old pioneer adobe house built on the banks of Napa Creek. I said, The first lot of wine ever made in Napa County. Allow me to correct this statement: They offered me in the fall of 1859, at each of the Bale and Yount ranchos, a tin cup full of elegant claret, which had been fermented in large cowhides, tied to and spread out with lassos between four trees and filled with grapes crushed by Indians.
In 1861 Krug founded his own winery, centered on a 14-foot-high by 20-footdeep cellar a mile north of St. Helena, and introduced the cider press for winemaking (the first of which remains on display at the winery). By 1872 he was the fourth largest grower in Napa and had expanded his cellar to hold nearly 300,000 gallons of wine. His vineyards grew Rieslings, Muscatel, Burger, Chasselas, Malaga, Black Malvoisie, Flame Tokay, Rose de Peru and Zinfandel. In 1874 a fire destroyed the winery, but that summer Krug built a new cellar of stone, concrete and wood. By fall 1880 he had more than doubled his capacity to 700,000 gallons. By 1892, after widespread damage from phylloxera, an invasive insect, the St. Helena winery had been reduced to 75 acres, of which only 35 were bearing fruit. Krug wanted to keep going. He planned to replant up to 10 acres to Riparia, 30 acres to Lenoir and five acres to Mondeuse, Cabernet Sauvignon, Burger, Cabernet Franc and other grafts, but he died that November before seeing it through.
After Krugs death, James Moffitt held the winery in proprietorship through Prohibition, when grapes were often shipped east. In 1943 he sold it to Cesare Mondavi, an Italian immigrant with a passion for wine he passed down to sons Robert and Peter. Today the Peter Mondavi family manages the historic Charles Krug Winery [www.charleskrug.com], and Californias viniculture still celebrates the spirit and tenacity of Krug in Napa and Haraszthy in Sonoma.
Originally published in the June 2015 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
Trade deals after Brexit could create almost 400,000 jobs, Change Britain claims. This is an organization that favours Brexit. If UK leaves the European Union (EU), it would be able to negotiate with China, US, India, Canada, South Korea and other countries and economic blocs. It would increase the exports in 23bn and would create 387,580 jobs. Change Britain wants a "hard Brexit" as a way to leave the customs union with the EU and be free to negotiate with other countries. This research is based on calculations made by the European Commission about the increase that exports and jobs would have in the EU as a whole if trade deals were struck with the main economies of the planet. The conclusion was that for every 1 billion euros generated through exports, about 16,700 jobs would be created.
Economic freedom will create prosperity
There are estimates about the number of jobs that would be created with the trade partners of UK if it leaves the EU customs union. Here we give you the countries and the number of jobs that would be created with each one: US (73,610 jobs), India (29,043 jobs), China (3,505 jobs), Korea (63,094 jobs), Japan (63,094 jobs), Canada (36,555 jobs), Mercosur (34,301 jobs) and Asean (84,376 jobs). A total of 387,580 jobs would be created if UK would have more economic freedom.
China, US, India, Canada, South Korea and Mercosur have expressed their interest in trade deals with UK once that it leaves the EU.
Britain is not allowed to make its own free trade agreements because it is a member of the EU's customs union. This is an obstacle for the trade development of UK but many important officials believe that it will change. Many people want to leave the EU because they see this as an obstacle to economic growth.
The Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, has declared that UK will "probably" have to leave the EU customs union.
@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Turkish government has identified the attacker at an Istanbul nightclub that left 39 people dead and 70 others wounded, according to its foreign minister. Five suspected members of ISIS terror group were already arrested in relation to the attack after it claimed responsibility for the New Year's Eve shooting. The gunman, however, remains at large.
In an interview over Turkish TV Anadolu, foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkish authorities have already secured the records and fingerprints of the suspect. Although the investigators earlier released photos of the suspect, the Turkish officials did not name the gunman.
"The identity of the person carrying out the attack in Ortakoy has been determined," he said.
A separate report claimed that the suspect may have trained in Syria and an expert in guerilla warfare. It said that he entered Turkey from Syria and went to the central city of Konya in November. He is traveling with his wife and two children to avoid detection.
As of this posting, police detained nearly 30 people as part of its manhunt operation against the suspect including two foreign nationals. Most of the fatalities of the attack were foreigners from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Israel, and Syria.
@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt agree to seal the documents of their divorce and custody cases. But she remains relentless on her attack against him, saying her former husband was the bad guy. She remains adamant in blaming him for their marriage woes.
After she moves for the sealing of the documents, Jolie said Pitt is the one to blame for the incident that resulted in the breakup of the former A-List couple. Earlier, Jolie went on to unseal the documents making it open for public. After the incident, an irked Pitt accused her of airing their dirty laundry in public.
While she agreed with Pitt on keeping their business away from public eye this time, she said the damaging effect of the incident on their children could all be blamed to the actor. In a TMZ article, Jolie was quoted saying that Pitt tries to "deflect from [his] own role in the media storm which has engulfed the parties' children."
She added that her former husband prefers to keep the entire case private, particularly given the detailed investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Dept. of Children and Family Services into the allegation of abuse.
But the FBI and DCFS earlier closed their investigation finding not enough evidence to indict Pitt.
@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
What has Carrie Fisher's death done to the awareness of women's heart disease? Experts reveal possible telltale signs of heart disease
Carrie Fisher at the Oscar Wilde awards last Feb. 19, 2015 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo : Getty Images/Alberto E. Rodriguez)
Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death across all demographics. Just this past year, a lot of people have unfortunately passed away as a result of this condition. One of the most notable people who succumbed to their heart disease was the well-loved author, actress, and "Star Wars" star Carrie Fisher.
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Fisher suffered a heart attack while she was on a flight going from London to Los Angeles. Medical personnel were able to rush her to the hospital, but she was unable to recover and passed away four days later.
Fisher seemed relatively healthy prior to the mishap and was reportedly even able to finish all of her shoots for the next "Star Wars" film. To many, this raised the question of women's heart disease and of heart disease and general, as well as how people are susceptible to it without them even knowing it in the first place.
"Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women and is more deadly than all forms of cancer combined," Dr. Jennifer Mieres, professor of cardiology and population health at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, told USA Today in an interview.
Research shows that the symptoms women experience prior to a cardiac arrest are deemed more atypical compared to the "textbook" symptoms that men experience prior to an episode. What's even scarier is that two-thirds of the women who experience heart disease showed no telltale signs of the condition.
In fact, the occurrence of this condition is so terrifyingly common that it actually occurs once a minute, according to the American Heart Association. Luckily, there are now signs that have been pinpointed that could mean a certain percentage of the female population is at risk of having heart disease.
Women are at a higher risk for cardiovascular problems if they experienced menopause before the age of 50. Certain inflammatory diseases such as lupus as well as rheumatoid arthritis can also help determine risk. Other risk factors are specific towards women such as pregnancy complications and preterm births, which is why it is very important to watch out for these things.
Watch some of Carrie Fisher's best moments here:
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Accuray Incorporated (Sunnyvale, CA, USA) has signed an agreement with Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital [HKSH] (Happy Valley, Hong Kong) for the acquisition of three Radixact systems to provide clinicians and their patients access to advanced radiation therapy.Out of the three Radixact systems, two will replace the existing TomoTherapy systems, while one will be installed in a new bunker. As per the agreement, HKSH's existing CyberKnife M6 system will also be upgraded with the latest features for motion management and treatment efficiency. With this, HKSH will become the first hospital in Asia to have both the Radixact and CyberKnife M6 systems for treating patients.Following the agreement with Accuray, HKSH will now be able to treat the full range of cancer patients by using the Radixact system, considered to be the next-generation helical radiation therapy technology. Accurays Radixact systems will allow HKSH to deliver precise radiation treatments and adjust the therapy according to changes in tumor size, shape and location, as well as subtle changes in the location of organs and other healthy tissue."HKSH has a well-earned reputation for high-quality patient care based on advanced knowledge, expertise and technology. We are honored to expand Accuray's role in helping their team meet the needs of their rapidly growing patient population. HKSH will be the first hospital in Asia to have both the Radixact and CyberKnife M6 Systems available for patient treatments. This commitment shows confidence in our new Radixact System and in the Accuray team's ability to help the Hospital provide 'Quality in Service; Excellence in Care,'" said Josh Levine, President and CEO of Accuray."We are excited to build on the previous experience we have had with the TomoTherapy platform by moving to the next generation helical platform from Accuray. The TomoTherapy platform has enabled us to treat a wide range of cancer patients. The CyberKnife M6 and Radixact Systems, together, are complementary technologies that will enable us to offer each cancer patient the advanced radiation therapy best suited to precisely treating their disease while minimizing side effects," said Mr. Wyman Li, Administration Manager of HKSH."Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital has had great success in the treatment of cancer, the number one cause of death in Hong Kong. We are excited to build on our initial work with Accuray to offer state-of-the-art advanced radiation treatments to patients. The Radixact and CyberKnife M6 Systems' unique modalities and precision will enable us to meet growing demand for high quality treatment and will play a key role in the armamentarium of state-of-the art technologies that form the backbone of the Hospital's arsenal against cancer," he added.
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Lee Min Ho attends a press conference for a commercial event on September 11, 2014 in Taipei, Taiwan. (Photo : Getty Images/Ashley Pon)
Lee Min Ho's fantasy drama "Legend of the Blue Sea" continues to achieve impressive milestones. Recently, the SBS series nabbed the first place on a drama brand reputation index.
"Legend of the Blue Sea" bested 19 other dramas in terms of brand reputation, according to data from the Korean Business Research Institute, as cited by Osen. Lee's mermaid fantasy series topped the leaderboard of the said index for the month of December 2016.
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To come up with the list, the Korean Business Research Institute compiled various data of several South Korean dramas for the period of Oct. 16, 2016 until Dec. 17, 2016. The said data included a production's communication, community, brand and media exposure.
Meanwhile, "Legend of the Blue Sea" rose to the top of the said drama brand reputation chart given the SBS series' active fan community. Several fanarts would typically circulate online following a release of an episode or to highlight a memorable scene.
Short clips that capture some of the fantasy drama's adorable or suspenseful scenes, as released by SBS on its social networking services accounts, would also post impressive page views, as indicated in the same report. Recently, an SBS clip from "Legend of the Blue Sea" episode 13 reached a view count of more than 2 million.
In other news, Lee took home several awards during the recently held 2016 SBS Awards Festival (SAF) Drama Awards. The South Korean actor nabbed a total of three honors including Best Couple Award with "Legend of the Blue Sea" co-star Jun Ji Hyun, according to Star News. Other drama couples who also received the same honor included "Romantic Doctor Kim" stars Seo Hyun Jin and Yoo Yeon Seok, as well as "Scarlet Heart Ryeo" co-stars Lee Joon Gi and IU.
Apart from Best Couple Award, Lee was also recognized with a Top 10 Stars Award, as well as the Top Excellence Award for Genre and Fantasy Drama. Lee's "Heirs" co-star Park Shin Hye also received the same accolades for her portrayal of a rebel student turned top surgeon in the drama "Doctors."
"Legend of the Blue Sea" airs every Wednesday and Thursday on SBS. Watch a clip from episode 13 below:
With five hip-hop-related releases in the top 10, its an awesome week for the likes of The Weeknd and Bruno Mars, who swapped #2 and #3 spots since last week, along with J. Cole, Drake, and the members of Suicide Squad: The Album. The latter two made some huge jumps from last week, starting 2017 off on the right foot and each hopping 11 spots since last time. Last-minute 2016 releases from Yo Gotti (at #16) and Run The Jewels (at #35) round out a great week on the charts for rap music.
1) The Weeknd Starboy: Up from #3 last week is The Weeknd at #2. Starboy came out super strong, debuting at #1 with all 18 tracks in the Hot 100. Since then its barely cooled down, and this week it adds 93,716 TAEU and 33,033 sales to the fire.
2) Bruno Mars 24K Magic: Swapping spots with Abel is Bruno Mars, who lands at #3 this week. 24K Magic is riding high off the mega hit of the same name, which landed at #5 on the Hot 100 today. The album logs 80,510 TAEU and 54,845 sales to its name.
3) J. Cole 4 Your Eyez Only: Another super strong debut towards the end of 2016 was J. Coles 4 Your Eyez Only, which also copped the #1 spot with each single on the Hot 100 upon release. Spending his third week on the charts with this record, the North Carolina rapper/producer clocks 75,109 TAEU and 42,984 sales.
4) Drake VIEWS: Jumping up all the way from #19 to #8 is Drake with VIEWS. Could it be all the publicity that hes getting with Jennifer Lopez that is to thank for the boost? Either way, the album is back in the top 10, claiming 49,239 TAEU and 18,672 sales.
5) Various Artists Suicide Squad: The Album: Also making a huge jump, from #21 to #10, is the Suicide Squad Soundtrack, which continues to thrive off contributions from the likes of Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, and Eminem. This time around, the album does 41,802 TAEU and 20,302 sales.
6) Yo Gotti White Friday (CM9): Heres a new one: the new Yo Gotti project which features Kanye West, Kodak Black, Big Sean, DJ Khaled, and more. White Friday (CM9) was one of the final releases of 2016, coming out just a few days before Christmas. The last-minute technique worked out, as the album debuts at #16 with 33,945 TAEU and 22,731 sales.
7) Rae Sremmurd SremmLife 2: As the #MannequinChallenge hype dies down a little bit, SremmLife 2 drifts slowly out of the top 10 and into the #19 spot. This week, the duo claims 32,111 TAEU and 3,654 sales to add to the success of their sophomore album.
8) Post Malone Stoney: At #25 is Post Malone, whose debut full-length studio album Stoney continues to thrive despite a less-than-stellar critical response. This week, the album tallies 29,7200 TAEU and 5,826 sales.
9) Rihanna Anti: At #28 is Rihanna, with her eighth studio album ANTI. The album had a huge 2016, and continues to do well, with 26,378 TAEU and 6,002 sales this time around, thriving off of big singles like Work and Needed Me.
10) Various Artists The Hamilton Mixtape: Hamilton the Broadway play is a massive success, and The Hamilton Mixtape is following in its tracks, to some extent. The album, which has contributions from The Roots, Busta Rhymes, Usher, Wiz Khalifa, and more, debuted at #1 and finds itself this week at the #30 spot with 25,651 TAEU and 21,923 sales.
While SremmLife 2 recedes on the charts, Black Beatles actually reclaimed the #1 spot, taking the place of The Weeknd and Daft Punks Starboy, which is now at #3. Bad and Boujee by Migos and Lil Uzi Vert is the real success story of the week, however, as it jumps from #13 to #2 following the hype of a viral video of the song being performed in Nigeria. It seems possible that the track will take the #1 spot next week if the hype continues!
D.R.A.M. and Lil Yachtys Broccoli is back in the top 10, coming it at #10 from last weeks #15. The Weeknd and Daft Punks other collaborative hit I Feel It Coming actually slipped considerably, from #25 to #34. Big Sean has a new one titled Moves coming in at #71, Lil Yachty debuts with the KYLE collab iSpy, Kodak Blacks Flockin debuts at #95, Boogie Wit da Hoodie debuts at #96, and Nicki Minajs Black Barbies debuts at #97. Lots of seeds have been planted there towards the top, and itll be interesting to see how they grow over time.
J. Cole
Straight outta the Nawfside bando, the dab has spread across the world over the past couple of years, as it was performed by many superstar athletes, including Cam Newton, and even politicians, including presidential runner-up Hillary Clinton. One guy who somehow missed the viral dance trend (though its so much more than that to its originators) is a leading Republican, the current Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.
Ryans first encounter with an attempted dab came yesterday when he was swearing in new Congressman Roger Marshall, a Republican from Kansas. Ryan was getting Marshalls family ready for a photo with him and a book, presumably the Constitution, when he noticed that one of Marshalls sons the boy holding the book was employing a peculiar pose. A clear, but nonetheless failed, attempt at a dab was underway, as the boy, whose name is Cal, had his left arm raised toward his face and had his nose leaning toward his elbow, as if he was about to sneeze.
You alright? Ryan first asked, before saying, You wanna put your hand down? and then pushing the boys arm down himself. Im sorry, Im sorry, Cal giggled in response.
Were you gonna sneeze, is that it? Ryan then asked, to which Cal responded affirmatively. Hes sneezin, confirmed Rep Marshall.
Dont worry about it, Ryan told the dabbing prankster after the photos were taken.
The Speaker must have been told later that he was the target of an attempted dab attack. Still dont get what dabbing is, he wrote in a tweet about a successful day of swearing in new members and meeting their families.
As for Marshall, he was not pleased with his sons effort to pull a fast one on his new superior. In response to an article about his sons dab, he confirmed to Speaker Ryan that Cal has been grounded. Ah, the price of viral success.
During his confinement, Cal would do well to learn that the dab is not, in fact, a sneeze, as the Migos famously reiterated on Plan B.
Paul Ryan
Reebok today launched the new Reebok CrossFit Nano 7 training shoe featuring NanoWeave technology which helps to achieve the most comfortable, most durable, and most breathable Nano ever.
Additional features to the shoe include the Powerlaunch toebox, adding to a strong foundation for improved power, fit and stability. Reinforced heel clips offer stability and locked in feel for any movement in your workout.
Sneakerheads might notice the colorful, gradient midsole of the CrossFit Nano 7 appears to be a reverse of the All-Star Kobe X.
Reebok always strives to produce the best products for the CrossFit and the greater fitness community. We continually develop and provide the most versatile training franchise in the Nano. Our ultimate goal is empower the community to move the way they were born too. said Judson Vancor, Global Director of Product at Reebok.
For the first time in the history of the Nano franchise, fitness fans will be able to get their hands on the latest Nano training shoe in January, ensuring they can take advantage of the sleek design and dynamic fit while competing in this 2017 Reebok CrossFit Games Open and ensuring all fitness enthusiasts can make every nanosecond count throughout 2017 when working out in this ultimate training shoe.
The Reebok CrossFit Nano 7 will be available from the official CrossFit store at store.crossfit.com today, January 4th 2017, and on Reebok.com from January 5th 2017.
Reebok Nano 7
He was one of the biggest pop icons of the 80s, but now Rick Astley is planning to brew up a different kind of storm with his own brand of beer!
I enjoy a beer with friends and Im hoping to sell my own brand soon. Ive been working with the Mikkeller brewery in Copenhagen, which was founded ten years ago by a teacher who made his own beer at home, he said.
Mikkeller beer is quite experimental and theyve been sending me various bottles to sample. Some are quite fruity one was a pear beer they make for a restaurant, but weve gone for a pilsner type lager.
He added in an interview with the Mirror newspaper, All I need now is a name for it.
Whats the odds on him using one of his own chart-topping singles from the '80s in the advertisement for his beer?
If cast, Harrelson will star as the mentor to young Han Solo, played by Alden Ehrenreich.
Woody Harrelson is in early talks to earn himself a role in the upcoming Star Wars spinoff about young Han Solo. If cast, Harrelson would play Han Solo's mentor, a kind of Obi-Wan-Kenobi for a new generation of Star Wars audiences. Much of the rest of the cast already set in stone, but Disney and Lucasfilm have been on a long search for a star to fill this role, with a list of possibilities that once included former Batman Christian Bale.
The rest of the cast includes Donald Glover, also known as rapper Childish Gambino, as well as Emilia Clarke of Game of Thrones fame. The role of Han Solo will be a well-deserved leading part for young actor Alden Ehrenreich, who recently appeared in the Coen brothers' film Hail Caesar.
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WASHINGTON Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of State, attempted to deflate concerns around his activities abroad as CEO of Exxon Mobil during a series of meetings with congressional leaders Wednesday
Over a more than 35-year career at the Irving-based oil giant, Tillerson has established relationships with world leaders in Russia and the Middle East, at times criticizing U.S. foreign policy and questioning the rationale, including the decision to impose sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea, a former province of Ukraine, and support for pro-Russian separatists fighting against the Ukraine government.
Leaders from both parties are eager to hear whether Tillerson still holds those positions now that he is slated to become the nation's top diplomat, ahead of an expected confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next week.
Following a more than hour-long meeting with Tillerson Wednesday, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., the ranking Democrat of the Foreign Relations committee, told reporters the two had a "very candid" discussion" that touched on subjects including Russia and climate change.
"Obviously he did business with Russia and was able to get things done there," Cardin said. "That's going to get a great deal of attention during the confirmation process. Russia is not a friend of the United States."
In a much anticipated meeting, Tillerson was also sat down Wednesday with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Along with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., McCain has raised questions around Tillerson's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom McCain has described as a "thug."
Asked Wednesday whether he could support Tillerson's nomination, McCain told reporters, "Sure. There's also a realistic scenario that pigs fly."
An aide to McCain said later the McCain was joking and had not yet made a decision on how he would vote.
Tillerson did not take questions as he moved around the Capital building in Washington Wednesday, escorted by security personnel provided by the U.S. Department of State.
Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, once a contender for Secretary of State himself, has worked to convince Senate Democrats of Tillerson's credentials.
"People understand he's a distinguished individual, he really is," Corker told Politico Tuesday. "If people can get comfortable with where he is, he could in fact have an overwhelming vote."
While most observers see it as a long shot, even a small amount of Republican opposition could conceivably scuttle Tillerson's nomination. Republicans only have a 52 -48 advantage in the Senate. Were Democrats to unify against the nomination, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would need near unanimity from Republicans to get Tillerson approved.
Beyond Russia, Tillerson's decision five years ago to cut a deal for oil rights with the Kurdish regional government in Iraq defied U.S policy at the time and angered the Iraqi government in Baghdad.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a member of the Foreign Relations committee, who also met with Tillerson Wednesday, said he had not yet decided on whether to support Tillerson's nomination. Coons has critcized Trump's statements questioning reports from U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia attempted to undermine the presidential election through hacking the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee and other political committees.
"We all have to recognize a secretary of state is principally charged with carrying out the vision and priorities and values of the administration," Coons said. "But one area where I was somewhat encouraged is (Tillerson's) clarity that he views part of his role as stepping up and speaking to those values, helping to shape policy."
Another issue likely to play a prominent role in the confirmation hearings, for which no date has yet been set, is climate change. As CEO of Exxon, Tillerson led the company away from its long-standing skepticism of climate science and opposition to regulation designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Exxon came out in support of the 2015 Paris climate agreement and has called for a so-called carbon tax as a way to provide incentives to select cleaner burning fuels and lower carbon dioxide emissions.
On Wednesday Cardin struck an optimistic note that Tillerson could work with Democrats on climate change.
"He stressed to me his background in science and he is a believer in science," Cardin said. "We had a long conversation on what we need to do in countries where extreme poverty has denied many people access to energy."
Questions around Tillerson's finances continue to circulate. Senate Democrats have asked Tillerson to turn over his last three years of tax returns. In a questionnaire submitted to the Senate committee, Tillerson indicated he would comply with the request, but as of Wednesday afternoon, staff had not received the returns, a senior aide on the committee said.
Cardin and Corker remain at odds over the need to review the tax returns. Cardin will continue to push for the returns' release, the aide said.
Tillerson is already moving ahead in trying to clear up concern around his considerable wealth. Exxon Mobil announced Tuesday Tillerson would sever ties with Exxon and cash out about $240 million in Exxon stock from his retirement package and other holdings, placing the proceeds in an independently managed trust to comply with conflict of interest regulations.
On Wednesday afternoon, Tillerson also met with McConnell and was expected to meet with more members of Congress Thursday.
WASHINGTON - President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named as his chief trade negotiator a Washington lawyer who has long advocated protectionist policies, the latest sign that Trump intends to fulfill his campaign promise to get tough with China, Mexico and other trading partners.
The choice of Robert Lighthizer to be the U.S. trade representative nearly completes Trump's selection of top economic advisers and underscores his focus on making things in America. That is causing unease among some Republicans who regard his views on trade as dangerously retrograde, even as they embrace the bulk of his economic agenda.
Mainstream economists warn that protectionist policies like import taxes could impose higher prices on consumers and slow economic growth.
But some Democrats are signaling a readiness to support Trump. Nine House Democrats held a news conference Tuesday with the AFL-CIO president, Richard Trumka, to urge renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada.
"We wanted him to know that we'll work with him on doing that," Trumka said. "I don't think he has enough Republican support to do it, and rewriting the rules of trade is a necessary first step in righting the economy for working people."
Trump and his top advisers on trade, including Lighthizer, share a view that the United States in recent decades prioritized the ideal of free trade over its own self-interest. They argue that other countries are undermining America's industrial base by subsidizing their own export industries while impeding U.S. importers. They regard this unfair competition as a key reason for the lackluster growth of the economy.
In picking Lighthizer, who has spent much of the last few decades representing U.S. steel producers in their frequent litigation of trade disputes, Trump is seeking to hire one of Washington's top trade lawyers to enforce international trade agreements more vigorously. He must be confirmed by the Senate.
"He will do an amazing job helping turn around the failed trade policies which have robbed so many Americans of prosperity," Trump said in a statement.
Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which will hold hearings on Lighthizer's nomination, issued a cautiously supportive statement Tuesday.
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Hundreds of thousands of New York students would be able to attend college for free under a proposal announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to make state universities tuition-free for residents earning $125,000 or less.
The Democrat unveiled his plan Tuesday at LaGuardia Community College in Queens alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Sanders, who pushed for free tuition at all U.S. public colleges during his presidential campaign, called Cuomo's proposal "revolutionary."
Comparing student debt to "starting a race with an anchor tied to your leg," Cuomo said his Excelsior Scholarship program, if approved by lawmakers, would apply to full-time students who attend State University of New York or City University of New York colleges, including two-year community colleges.
"It should be a wake-up call to this nation," Cuomo said, "to say if you really want to be competitive globally, we have to have the best-educated workforce, and that means we have to have college for every child, man or woman who wants to attend."
Concerns about the nation's collective $1.3 trillion in student loan debt - more than credit card or auto loan debt - have prompted the federal government, states and some schools to offer debt forgiveness or relief programs. Tennessee and Oregon have enacted programs to cover residents' tuition costs at community colleges, and some cities have tuition-free programs for eligible students headed to certain colleges.
Under Cuomo's more expansive plan, 940,000 New York households with college-aged children would be eligible. The program would be phased in over three years, beginning this fall, with those earning up to $100,000. About 80 percent of all New York households earn less than the $125,000 threshold.
The program would cover tuition costs that remain once other state and federal aid is applied, at an estimated cost of about $163 million per year, Cuomo's office said.
SUNY and CUNY annual tuition averages about $6,500 for a bachelor's degree and $4,350-$4,880 for an associate's degree.
"If New York state does it this year, mark my words, state after state will follow," Sanders said.
New York has the nation's largest public university system, with 440,000 students spread among 64 campuses.
For a glimpse into how a proposed U.S. tax overhaul could cost you money, don't miss my colleague James Osborne's article on the potentially higher cost of imported goods.
For the past 18 months I've warned that any effort to discourage imports would require American consumers to pay more for foreign-made products, ranging from umbrellas to mobile phones. I was initially worried that President-elect Donald Trump would impose a 40 percent tariff on Chinese made goods, which would mean 40 percent higher prices.
Now Osborne tells us the price hike could be tucked inside an overhaul of the tax code.
Houston's own U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is ready to end the taxation of profits that U.S. companies make overseas. Many corporations are leaving profits in overseas bank accounts because those countries don't tax them and the U.S. does.
Harmonizing how all developed nations tax multinational corporations should be a major goal for any administration. Brady is trying to get the U.S. in line with Europe, which is a good first step. That means U.S. companies pay won't pay taxes on things they make in America and then sell overseas.
That's good if you make oil field equipment in North Houston and export it through the ship channel. There is a flip side, though.
Corporations that make goods in overseas factories, or import them from foreign companies, will no longer be allowed to deduct the cost of the imported goods from their profits. Losing that deduction will force importers like Phillips 66, Apple and Wal-Mart to charge much more for their products to maintain profit margins.
Those companies, of course, think this is a really bad idea. After all, higher prices don't sit well with consumers who make fewer purchases. Brady remains sanguine, even as powerful conservatives like the Koch Brothers gear up to fight him.
"I don't expect industry to change on a dime," Brady said. "These are big changes so I've invited business leaders to engage with me."
So how much more are you willing to pay for gasoline and just about anything made in China to boost the profits of American manufacturers, and hopefully create American jobs? Economists tell us people won't notice a 5 percent price hike, but when it goes over 10 percent, the average consumer feels the pain.
These are still early days, and it's impossible to calculate exactly how much an iPhone will cost if Apple loses the deduction on the cost of importing it from China. But I'm willing to bet a cup of coffee it will be more than 5 percent.
Nothing in this world is free, and someone has to pay the high cost of cutting corporate taxes and employing more Americans. And that someone is us.
Every January, the New Year rings in with the promise of fun new happenings in Houston's vibrant wine world, and 2017 will be no exception, the price of oil be hanged.
While we wait for word from master sommelier David Keck regarding his next posting and also what longtime Brasserie 19 general manager/wine guy Shawn Virene has up his sleeve, I'm weighing in on a few things I'm certain are going down. Fact is, some of them already have.
Oenophiles know by now that master sommelier Jack Mason has made a triumphant return to Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, and that former Keck sidekick Lindsay Thomas has joined him there, giving the two Pappas locations a true dream team of somms. And the Divino duo, chef/owner Patrick McCray and wine maven Thomas Moesse, are going gangbusters with their new Rice Village-area cave Vinology, which offers sipping, snacking and bottle browsing - featuring some 300 selections - with, of course, the take-away option.
And the transition from Keck, the spiritual force behind Camerata wine bar on Westheimer, to new general manager/wine director Chris Poldoian has been seamless. Although Poldoian is "only" a "Level Two" sommelier and came from the Houston's mainstream wine program, he's ready to flap his wings, expand his horizons and keep pushing the same envelope that Keck routinely did to make Camerata a special destination for wine lovers seeking quirky, sometimes downright geeky offerings from boutique producers and off-the-beaten-path vineyards. Canary Islands, anyone?
Houston couldn't be more fortunate to have a Camerata and Midtown's 13 Celsius - plus, now, Vinology - offering the kinds of innovative programs that put our city in a wine-hipness league with anybody.
Talk to the well-traveled, Tufts-educated Poldoian about his plans and you may imagine a kid in the candy store. But one plan he doesn't have for the near term is to pursue advanced sommelier status, never mind trying to seize the master's brass ring.
"In my situation, I think it's much more important for me to focus only on Camerata for at least the next year," Poldoian said. "This is such an exciting opportunity. I was given some latitude to expand what we were doing at Houston's and that only made me want to take even bigger steps. I'm learning something new every day."
Camerata ain't broke, to be sure, so Poldoian isn't fixing it. The same also could be said of restaurateur Bill Floyd, who will soon be presiding over the long-awaited opening of the two Italian food-and-wine emporiums he's operating in partnership with Astros owner Jim Crane near Minute Maid Park. Houston wine-industry veteran Rick Jamail, whose specialty is Italian producers, is Floyd's sommelier.
Potente will be high-end, Osso & Kristalla more casual. But they will share something important in common besides an outdoor patio: A wine list with the same splendiferously low markups we've enjoyed at Reef, the Floyd-Bryan Caswell seafood mecca in Midtown. Yes, even white-tablecloth Potente will sell wine at barely more than some high-end supermarkets do. Floyd's prices will be about 1.8 times his cost and, he insists, "That's across the board. It won't be scaled any."
Which means a $10 wholesale bottle will sell for $18 ballpark (pun intended) at Osso & Kristalla and a $300 single-vineyard Gaja at Potente will cost $480, or thereabouts. Extreme examples, obviously, but that's the deal. The plan for the former is to have 50 wines at $50 or less and the latter to have 150 wines starting at about $50. But, if you're noshing off the menu from Osso & Kristalla on the patio and simply must have that Gaja, a server will happily go snare a bottle.
Along these same lines, chef Ryan Hildebrand and his enthusiastic young somm, Rick Stiles, have conspired to significantly lower the tariffs on the eclectic list at Triniti on Shepherd. Examples? A half-bottle of Krug "Grande Cuvee" sells for $72, compared to $99 retail. The 2010 Mayacamas Cabernet Sauvignon for $110 ($85 retail, and I've seen on lists around town for $300). The Cos Pithos Rosso, a reference-standard Nero D'Avola from Sicily, for $42 ($25 retail). I'll also personally vouch for one of Stiles' go-to wines, the Tselepos "Amalia Brut" Moschofilero, a delicious Greek sparkler that sells for $12 for a glass and $42 for a bottle.
This is the way of the modern world, and in Houston we have the Clark Cooper Concepts team (Ibiza, Brasserie 19, SaltAir and Coppa) to thank in leading the movement, which means Virene, who spent 15 years as part of their team, is certain to follow suit in his next incarnation. Just as Chris Shepherd and his sidekick somm, Matthew Pridgen, did when they opened Underbelly - and will do again with their second spot, One Fifth, opening up the street on Westheimer this month.
All these guys will tell you that, years ago, Charles Clark and Grant Cooper inspired them to go low, which always translates into a New Year's high for Houston's wine-lovers.
Salut, gentlemen.
US Working to Strengthen Allied Asian Armies and Navies against China despite Duterte
American and Filipino soldiers in joint training. (Photo : US Army)
The United States will accelerate a 2016 plan to strengthen the land and naval forces of its allies in Asia facing-off against China despite the defection of the Philippines and its pro-communist president (Rodrigo Duterte) to China's side.
American media said the Pentagon is vigorously forging ahead with its support to allies in the Pacific as they continue standing against a China, which remains undeterred by legal and world opinion condemning its claim to own most of the South China Sea.
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The core for the effort supporting the navies of America's allies is the Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative (MSI) whose goal is "to drive cooperation on maritime security challenges and aggression in the South China Sea." The initiative introduced in 2015 was implemented in April 2016.
Its members are the five member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) plus Singapore, Brunei and Taiwan.
More important, the initiative provides new funding to authorize a U.S. Department of Defense effort to train, equip, and provide other support to the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter committed $425M over Fiscal Years 2016-2020 for MSI with an initial investment of $50M available in fiscal year 2016 toward this effort.
There is also a substantial U.S. Army component to the MSI. Army participation involves more and more military-to-military activities with allies in the region; coordinating with other leaders and land armies and efforts to move or re-position weapon systems in the area.
The ground element of the Pacific rebalance is important to ensure the stability in the region. The re-balance to the Pacific is both a military and economic initiative.
Also, the Pentagon appointed a four-star general as Commander of U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC), the United States Army's largest Service Component command. The current USARPAC commander is General Robert B. Brown.
The command is headquartered at Fort Shafter, Hawaii with portions of the command-forward deployed and based throughout the Indo-Asia Pacific.
The Army has some 18,500 men stationed in Korea; 2,400 in Japan; 2,000 in Guam; 480 in the Philippines; 22,300 in Hawaii and 13,500 in Alaska.
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The New Year's Eve bubbles have fizzed into golden memories. And all the Christmas cocktails, punch bowls and holiday-scented drinks have played themselves out as we step soberly into 2017.
But that doesn't mean we've lost our interest in good spirits. Our liquor shelves are ready for a new year of acquisition. New high-end bottles and limited-edition introductions are ready to be snatched up by spirits aficionados.
Here are some of the primo offerings itching to make their way onto your bar cart:
Leona Tequila
Ultra premium, ultra anejo tequilas are hardly new but the makers of DeLeon Tequila have outdone themselves with Leona, an anejo tequila blended from a small selection of hand-picked barrels and aged first in American Oak and then French Sauternes casks. Notes of fresh fruit and warm cinnamon with an elegant spice finish; $850.
Compass BoxThree Year Old Deluxe
Scotland's leading independent Scotch whisky maker has blended malt whiskeys of different (but considerable) ages with peaty malt whisky distilled on the Isle of Skye and 0.4 percent 3-year-old malt whisky. The result is a blend subject to UK and EU regulations that forbid marketing of the various ages in the blend except for the youngest one - hence the name of this elixir with a floral, exotic fruits nose and a honeyed vanilla taste; $300.
CrownRoyal XR
This limited-release "extra rare" whiskey is a lush blend that features notes of dried fruit, honey, brown sugar and a finishing touch of Canadian rye spice notes; $130.
Whoop & Holler
From the Orphan Barrel Whiskey Distilling Co. comes a 28-year aged American whiskey that was distilled at the George Dickel distillery in Tennessee. It's a robust affair with a nose of corn kernel, tobacco and citrus peel and flavors of spicy peppercorn, clove, dark chocolate and peanut shells; $175.
Alta Belleza
Casa Noble has launched its first luxury line of tequila with Alta Belleza, an extra anejo that was aged in barrels used for Robert Mondavi Winery's To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon. (Love that Napa-Jalisco merger.) Only 563 bottles were producedfor the initial
collection; $1,200.
anCnoc Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Knockdhu Distillery is one of the smallest distilleries in the Scottish Highlands, known for producing excellent single malts. This 18-year-old whisky rested in Spanish oak sherry casks and American oak bourbon barrels. It's full-bodied with notes of oranges, leather, dried fruits, candied lemon, vanilla and caramel; $130.
Clase Azul Anejo
The new vomFASS store in the Woodlands at Hughes Landing carries a wide selection of brandy, cognac, Armagnac, whisky, Calvados, absinthe and other spirits and liqueurs. It also stocks this tequila that is aged for 25 months in ex-Jim Beam bourbon barrels. With notes of cedar, citrus, vanilla and walnuts, the anejo is bottled in hand-painted Talavera ceramic bottles; $500.
Craigellachie 17
The Speyside distillery's new single malt, matured in American oak casks, offers a nose of apple, melon, raisins, pears and oak. The taste has been described as a "caustic candy store": pineapple, licorice, custard, cinnamon, vanilla cream and spice; $145.
Littlemill 25 Year Old
One of Scotland's oldest distilleries is no longer. But master blenders dipped into remaining warehoused casks from 1989 and 1990 to create a whisky sought after by serious collectors. Initially matured in American and European oak, it was finished in first-fill Oloroso sherry
casks; $3,000.
Templeton Rye Special Reserve 10 Year Old
To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Templeton Rye debuted a 10-year reserve (only 6,080 bottles, hand-numbered). This birthday whisky features a nose of vanilla, baking spice and green apple with flavors of spiced rye, toasted oak, white pepper, caramel and vanilla; $150.
Laphroaig Cairdeas Madeira
This iteration of Laphroaig's annual "Cairdeas" release is a sweet-leaning whisky aged in ex-bourbon barrels and then in Madeira-seasoned traditional casks. Look for a ripe orange nose with hints of licorice and spices, and mossy, peaty flavors tinged with spiced nuts, dates, orange, lemon and burnt butter; $75.
Teeling 24 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey
One of Ireland's leading independent whiskey companies has released this limited-edition whiskey matured first in bourbon casks then in Sauternes wine casks. The dual maturation results in a depth of fruit flavors (berries, orchard fruit) married to gentle peat and wood smoke; $500.
Lagavulin 25 Year Old
Lagavulin, one of the world's most treasured single malt whiskies, recently celebrated its 200th anniversary with the launch of this limited-edition whisky. It's described as having voluptuous flavors of ginger, charred wood, spearmint, burnt orange peel and a play on sweet and salty; $1,200.
Leona TequilaUltra premium, ultra anejo tequilas are hardly new but the makers of DeLeon Tequila have outdone themselves with Leona, an anejo tequila blended from a small selection of hand-picked barrels and aged first in American Oak and then French Sauternes casks. Notes of fresh fruit and warm cinnamon with an elegant spice finish; $850.
Leona TequilaUltra premium, ultra anejo tequilas are hardly new but the makers of DeLeon Tequila have outdone themselves with Leona, an anejo tequila blended from a small selection of hand-picked barrels and aged first in American Oak and then French Sauternes casks. Notes of fresh fruit and warm cinnamon with an elegant spice finish; $850.
Many of us will start out the New Year by making a list of resolutions changes we want to make to be happier such as eating better, volunteering more often, being a more attentive spouse, and so on. But as we know, we often fail. After a few failures we typically give up and go back to our old habits.
Why is it so hard to stick to resolutions that require us to make effective or lasting changes?
I would argue the problem isnt that we try and we fail; the problem is how we treat ourselves when we fail. I study self-compassion, and my research and that of others show that how we relate to personal failure with kindness or harsh self-judgment is incredibly important for building resilience.
From early childhood, we are taught how we must succeed at all costs. What most of us arent taught is how to fail successfully so we can change and grow.
One of the best ways to deal with failure is to have self-compassion.
What exactly is self-compassion?
I define self-compassion as having three main components: self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. Self-kindness refers to the tendency to be caring, understanding, and supportive toward ourselves when we fail or make mistakes rather than being harshly critical or judgmental.
Common humanity involves recognizing that all humans are imperfect, and connecting our own flawed condition to the shared human condition so we can have greater perspective on our shortcomings.
Mindfulness involves being aware of the pain associated with failure in a clear and balanced manner so that we neither ignore nor obsess about our faults. The three together combine to create a self-compassionate frame of mind.
A large body of research shows that self-compassion results in greater emotional wellbeing. One of the most consistent findings in this research is that greater self-compassion is linked to less depression, anxiety and stress.
In addition to reducing such negative mind states, self-compassion appears to enhance positive mind states such as optimism, gratitude, and curiosity. By meeting ones suffering with the warm embrace of self-compassion, positive feelings such as happiness are generated at the same time that negative emotions are alleviated.
Self-compassion has been found to be an important source of coping and resilience in the face of various life stressors such as divorce, chronic health conditions, or military combat. It also reduces body dissatisfaction and even leads to healthier eating behavior (relevant to many New Years resolutions!)
Misgivings about self-compassion
If self-compassion is so good for us, why arent we kinder to ourselves?
Perhaps the biggest block to self-compassion is the belief that it will undermine our motivation. In parenting circles we no longer hold to the adage spare the rod spoil the child. When it comes to our own selves, however, many of us think that sparing the rod of harsh self-criticism will turn us into lazy, self-indulgent ne'er-do-wells. This theme constantly comes up in the workshops I teach.
Of course, the dynamics that go into motivating our children and motivating ourselves are quite similar. Lets say your teenage son were to come home with a failing English grade. You have two ways to motivate him to try harder and do better next time.
You could admonish him and tell him how stupid he is and that you are ashamed of him. The other is, knowing how upset he is, you could give him a hug and gently ask him how you could support him in doing better next time. This type of caring, encouraging response would help your son maintain his self-confidence and feel emotionally supported. The same goes for how we respond to ourselves when we fail.
A growing body of research indicates that self-compassion is linked to greater motivation. Self-compassion has been associated with increased personal initiative the desire to reach ones full potential.
Self-compassionate people are also more likely to adopt mastery goals, which focus on learning and mastering material to increase competence, and less likely to adopt performance goals, which are primarily concerned with succeeding to make a favorable impression on others.
While self-compassionate people have performance standards that are as high as those who are harshly self-critical, they dont get as upset when they dont reach their goals. As a result, self-compassionate people have less performance anxiety and engage in fewer self-defeating behaviors such as procrastination.
Not only are self-compassionate people less likely to fear failure, when they do fail theyre more likely to pick themselves up and try again.
A series of experiments by psychologists Juliana Breines and Serena Chen from the University of California at Berkeley examined whether helping undergraduate students to be more self-compassionate would impact their motivation to change.
In one study, participants were asked to recall a recent action they felt guilty about - cheating on an exam, lying to a romantic partner, saying something harmful, etc. something that still made them feel bad when they thought about it.
Next, they were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. In the self-compassion condition, participants were instructed to write to themselves for three minutes from the perspective of a compassionate and understanding friend.
The second condition had people write about all their positive qualities, and the third about a hobby they enjoyed. These two control conditions helped to differentiate self-compassion from positive self-talk and positive mood in general.
The researchers found that participants who were helped to be self-compassionate about their recent transgressions reported being more motivated to apologize for the harm done and more committed to not repeating the behavior than those in the control conditions.
Sustaining motivation through kindness
Another study in this same series of experiments explored whether self-compassion would directly translate into greater efforts to learn after failure. Students were given a difficult vocabulary test they all did poorly on.
One group of students were given an instruction to be self-compassionate about their failure. The instruction said,
If you had difficulty with the test you just took, youre not alone. Its common for students to have difficulty with tests like this. If you feel bad about how you did, try not to be too hard on yourself.
Another group was given a self-esteem boost, which said,
If you had difficulty with the test you just took, try not to feel bad about yourself you must be intelligent if you got into Berkeley!
A third group of participants were given no additional instructions.
The students were next told that they would receive a second vocabulary test, and were given a list of words and definitions they could study for as long as they wanted before taking it. Study time was used as a measure of improvement motivation.
The students who were told to be self-compassionate after failing the first test spent more time studying than those in the other two conditions. Study time was linked to how well participants actually performed on the test. These findings suggest that being kind to yourself when you fail or make mistakes gives you the emotional support needed to try your best, and to keep trying even when discouraged.
Kindness is the engine that drives us to keep trying even after we fall flat on our face. So this New Year, when you make and inevitably break your resolutions, instead of beating yourself up and then giving up, try being kind to yourself. In the long run youll be more likely to succeed.
Kristin Neff is an associate professor of educational psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. This article was originally published on The Conversation, where you can read the original article.
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Tomball police on Wednesday have arrested a man accused of killing another man inside a Tomball Walmart.
The department announced Michael Brandon Jemison's arrest on its Facebook page Wednesday night.
Police found Jemison at about 6:45 p.m. at a house in Waller County.
Jemison, who turns 30 on Friday, is charged with murder for allegedly attacking Justin Jones, 37, inside the Walmart at 27600 Tomball Parkway on Monday. Police say the two men knew each other prior to the killing.
Jones, of Magnolia, died from severe head trauma at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Hospital after the altercation with the suspect on Monday at 1 a.m., Sgt. Gary Hammond said on Tuesday.
CAR SLAMS INTO BUS STOP: Seven people hospitalized after SW Houston crash
Jones was inside the Walmart with a friend when he started talking with the suspect, police said in a release on Tuesday. Jemison then allegedly struck Jones, who fell to the floor unconscious.
Investigators determined that Jemison and Jones had been engaged in an ongoing dispute "for some time."
A photo of the suspect that shows him leaving the Walmart was released on Monday.
Jemison has previously been convicted of marijuana possession, assaulting a family member, evading arrest and felony theft.
Check back later for updates in this developing report.
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A gun-wielding patient, apparently tired of waiting in the emergency room, was shot by off-duty sheriff's deputies after he opened fire Tuesday morning inside a suburban Houston hospital, sending receptionists diving under their desks.
Sheriff's deputies working security at North Cypress Medical Center confronted and shot the 21-year-old gunman, police said. Though struck multiple times, he is expected to survive. His name has not been released.
Though hospital shootings are rare, Houston has experienced at least two others in the past two years. Someone opens fire in a U.S. hospital - most commonly in the emergency department - more often than once a month, according to the most recently available data.
The shooting
In the Cypress shooting, the alleged gunman arrived at the emergency room by car about 8 a.m. Tuesday and demanded an X-ray, according to a statement from the hospital, located at 21214 Northwest Freeway near Huffmeister. Police said the man did not have visible injuries but grew impatient waiting for care.
A triage nurse evaluated him before he was examined by a nurse and ER physician in a private room, the hospital said. When they asked him to disrobe, he refused, left the room and started running.
When he was stopped by a staff member in the ambulance bay, he allegedly pulled a black pistol from his waistband, fired at least one shot in the air and ran out of the building.
A pair of Harris County sheriff's deputies was alerted by hospital staff. They spotted him about 50 feet away as he headed toward other hospital buildings and ordered him to drop his weapon, a sheriff's office spokesman said. The man turned around and allegedly pointed the gun at the deputies, who opened fire, striking him four or five times in the legs and torso.
The man was rushed into surgery and is expected to survive, said the spokesman, Sgt. Cedrick Collier. No other injuries were reported.
"We're very lucky," Collier said.
Shootings at hospitals have grown more common, according to data recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. From 2000 through 2005, American hospitals saw an average of nine active-shooter incidents annually, compared to 16.7 incidents each year from 2006 through 2011 - more than one a month, leaving 235 dead or injured.
But Dr. Eli Y. Adashi, a Brown University professor of medicine who wrote the article, cautioned against pouring money into metal detectors, armed guards and other security measures at U.S. hospitals.
"It's not that simple to create a foolproof system, and it's certainly very expensive," he said. "It's a very small, tiny fraction of the total number of preventable deaths, which have been estimated at 100,000 per year in the conservative estimate."
Incident was unusual
Houston drew national attention in 2015 when off-duty Houston police officers working at St. Joseph Medical Center downtown shot and wounded a 26-year-old student being treated for possible bipolar disorder. More recently, at Ben Taub Hospital, an off-duty sheriff's deputy last October shot a Harris County Jail inmate who had taken a medical student hostage. The man died two weeks later.
Monday's incident in Cypress was particularly unusual because police do not have a motive.
The alleged gunman had been combative throughout his treatment, Collier said, yelling even after he was shot. He did not have a criminal history, and police could not speak to his mental state.
Most hospital shooters have a specific target, according to Dr. Gabor Kelen, a Johns Hopkins University physician who has studied the phenomenon. Most are either seeking to commit suicide, euthanize an ailing relative or exact revenge on someone.
However, Monday's incident was typical in its location. More shootings happened in the ER than anywhere else, Kelen found - about a third of the 154 hospital shootings from 2000 through 2011.
Throughout the morning, homicide investigators and crime-scene technicians scoured the area, placing at least 20 markers to indicate shell casings and other evidence.
The hospital complex largely had returned to normal by noon Tuesday as patients checked in to a neighboring outpatient clinic and, just a few feet from an apparent bullet hole in a window, employees ordered drinks at a coffee shop.
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The guns were still in boxes, stacked in locked truck trailers and ready for store shelves, when the team of thieves moved in during the night.
Their target: 72 new pistols, rifles and shotguns in an Academy Sports & Outdoors warehouse parking lot, ripe to be hauled away by criminals who appeared to have inside information.
It was one of the largest firearm heists in years in Texas, which leads the nation in thefts from licensed gun dealers such as Academy, according to federal officials.
Today, however, nearly two years later, most of the weapons are still missing - likely pumped into the Houston region's thriving black market. Only seven of the stolen guns have been recovered, records show.
"That is a lot of handguns to be floating around," said Matt Abowd, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Houston. "We are trying to get these guns off the street."
Two men connected to the theft were convicted of aggravated assault and kidnapping of the security guard who watched over the Academy warehouse lot, and a third person pleaded guilty on a weapons charge. No one else has been publicly identified in connection with the case.
"There were others involved," Abowd said. "I spoke with many witnesses, suspects. They all have nice stories, but putting them at the scene is different."
Academy did not respond to repeated requests for comment, and the criminal investigation is closed pending any new leads on other people involved.
But the search to recover the weapons is still underway, and authorities say new charges are likely as the guns show up, perhaps one by one.
The case illustrates how quickly stolen guns can change hands and how difficult it can be to recover weapons, even when arrests are made.
Getting past the guard
Dillon Richardson was accustomed to being asked for directions by drivers as he sat in the guard box at the Academy warehouse parking lot on Mason Road, so he wasn't surprised when a man approached him that day on March 26, 2015.
Instead of asking for help, however, the man pulled a gun, struck the security guard in the head and then stuffed him in the back seat of a car, where two other men were waiting. He could feel the steel of a gun on the back of his bleeding head.
The men took his keys, wallet and phone, along with his pants, shirt, shoes and socks.
None of the men wore masks, and he assumed they were going to kill him. The 22-year-old thought of his mother, his father, his sister and their last conversations; he thought of his body being found, and of his family getting the news that he'd been killed.
He invented a story, told the men he had a daughter who needed him and that he'd do whatever they asked.
The car slowed. He was told to keep his eyes closed, step out, and get face down on the ground.
Richardson clenched his eyes tightly as he waited for the end.
But instead of a gunshot, he heard silence. The car had pulled away without him even hearing it.
He opened his eyes to find himself along an access road near the Katy Freeway and the Grand Parkway.
Covered in blood, he ran barefoot along the roadway as he screamed and waved at passing motorists. Finally, realizing that no one would stop to pick him up, he dropped to his knees near a red light so a driver could see him from a distance.
"Call the police," he said.
Moving in for the guns
While Richardson was being driven away from the warehouse parking lot, thieves moved in for the guns.
The guns were stolen from containers in three truck trailers that were among dozens of trailers laden with merchandise to be delivered to Academy stores.
Authorities say the crew apparently knew which trucks to hit, moving in through a hole cut in the yard's fence.
There was no surveillance video of them grabbing the weapons, but the two men convicted in the case were captured by video surveillance prior to the crime at a nearby convenience store.
William Eason, who authorities contend was the ringleader, was arrested four days after the heist and charged with aggravated robbery and kidnapping of Richardson. Curtis Duncan, who met Eason when they both were in the state's juvenile justice system, was arrested about a week later and also charged with aggravated robbery and kidnapping.
Eason, 26, of Missouri City, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Duncan, 27, of Pasadena, quickly confessed, then recanted before pleading guilty to the charges. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Other people caught later with stolen guns or accused of helping sell them were charged with lesser offenses.
The joint investigation was led by the Harris County Sheriff's Office and the ATF, in conjunction with the Pasadena Police Department and other local agencies.
"This case was damn good detectives just being humans and talking to people," said Assistant District Attorney Christopher Handley, who prosecutes organized crime cases. "At the end of the day, there is nothing better than getting cooperation from people."
Tracing the weapons
The stolen guns trickled in for the first few months, as investigators worked their way through jails, homes, pawn shops, convenience stores, Facebook pages and an array of databases.
A 9mm handgun turned up in La Porte two days after the robbery, in the hands of an ex-convict with 16 prior arrests for such charges as drug possession, fraud and theft. He told police he bought it for cash and drugs at a laundromat.
A few months later, a state trooper in Wise County near Fort Worth found another weapon in a traffic stop. The man he pulled over said he worked at a department store and bought it from his boss. The next month, a gun still in the original box was sold to a southwest Houston pawn shop.
Then, in August 2015, two of the stolen pistols were found in a Deer Park pawn shop, sold by a man who said he bought them through a neighbor's former employee.
The last two guns recovered were in January 2016. One was taken from a man found sleeping in a pickup who said he bought it on Craigslist from a man in Acres Homes. Another was in the hands of a man who said he made a deal on Snapchat and bought it in the parking lot of a Pasadena grocery store.
There are endless scenarios for where the missing guns from Academy could be today, said Robert Elder, a former ATF chief in Houston who retired earlier this year.
"If you have burglary (or robbery) and don't have a good lead, you have to wait for the guns to start popping up," he said. "It is a low percentage unless law enforcement can get some tips and act on it fast."
Stolen guns can be sold quickly and usually don't end up in the hands of law-abiding citizens, he said.
"They are usually stolen by a criminal element to go to a criminal element," he said. "They can move these things fast and are going to make a profit."
And although it's been nearly a year since the last stolen weapons were recovered, officials expect all the firearms will eventually be found.
"It will take time," Abowd said, "but they will show up."
'Something is going to happen'
Richardson is still trying to put the ordeal behind him, finding solace in listening to music and working with animals.
When he started his shift that night in March, life was going well for him. He was a good fit for the job - he grew up nearby, was the son of a state trooper and hungry to work. He was in line for a promotion to supervisor that would have moved him from the guard house to inside a building.
After the attack, however, he gave up working security and instead took a warehouse job, resigning from Academy about a year later.
He's played that night through in his mind countless times.
"I realize no matter what you do, something is going to happen. That is the way the world is," he said. "It is just how you deal with it. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do. That passion, that drive to do something, is not there like it used to be."
More guns on the streets
In the meantime, another sizable cache of weapons has been stolen in the Houston area.
In March last year, a crew of about a dozen people used a pickup and chain to yank the front doors off a Carter's Country Guns & Ammo store that was closed for the evening.
Display cases at the southwest Houston store were smashed. The incident was recorded on surveillance footage that has drawn thousands of views on YouTube.
Arrests were quickly made with the use of a confidential informant, and 32 of the 84 stolen guns were recovered within 48 hours, according to a court document filed by the ATF. At least two men have been charged federally in that case, Anthony Cannon and Tony Watkins, who are awaiting trial.
And just like the guns ripped from the Academy trucks, it is unclear how many of those weapons still remain on the streets.
AUSTIN - Texas health officials envisioned burying tens of thousands of fetuses in a mass grave when they wrote a rule requiring the cremation or burial of all embryonic and fetal remains, a high ranking state official said in federal court Tuesday.
And they figured it would be inexpensive, testified Jennifer Sims, deputy commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services.
In the latest fight over abortion in Texas, state officials have argued the change ensures the dignity of the fetus, and that it is a matter of public health. Under the new rule being challenged the state seeks to offer a fetus burial rights regardless of the wishes of the mother.
"These regulations were clearly rushed out, for political reasons it appears," said Alex Lawrence, a lawyer for the national Center for Reproductive Rights, after arguing against the rules in U.S. District Court Tuesday. "It has no benefit to health and safety. It has no benefit to anything, to anyone. The timing of it, how was it was introduced, shows it's punitive in nature and that was the intent here."
Four Texas health clinics sued the state last month to block what they consider an unconstitutional new regulation requiring the burial, cremation or incineration of fetal remains from abortions, miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies without the woman's consent. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks issued a temporary restraining order against the new regulation, which was supposed to go into effect last month. He is expected to rule on the latest case by Friday.
The regulations from DSHS pared down a nearly 30-year-old rule that treats the disposal of fetal remains the same as other human tissue. All medical waste, including fetal tissue, is currently incinerated, buried or discarded through grinding or a chlorine disinfection, followed by dumping down a sanitary sewer or into a sanitary landfill.
When pressed in court, Sims said making the rules "more clear" enhances public health, but said she was not aware of any other health benefits.
"We wanted to ensure our rules promoted human dignity" and aligned with the values of Texans, as exemplified by the philosophical makeup of the conservative state Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott, Sims said.
The department quietly aired the new rules four days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Texas in June, striking down provisions of the state's 2013 law that required abortion clinics to renovate their facilities to adhere to ambulatory surgical center standards and require their physicians obtain hospital admitting privileges. The court called the regulations unconstitutional and said future regulations must improve public health.
Almost two dozen abortion clinics have since closed, leaving 19 remaining in Texas. Few of the closed providers willing or able to reopen.
Days after the rule went public, Abbott championed the regulation in a fundraising letter, saying "I believe it is imperative to establish higher standards that reflect our respect for the sanctity of life," and adding "Will you contribute today as we turn the tides against the soulless abortion industry in Texas and unite in defense of life."
In the first day of a two-day hearing of the fetal burial rules, abortion rights advocates Tuesday tried to prove that few women elect to bury or cremate the fetal remains and that the change could be expensive and offered no public health benefit.
The state's attorneys pointed out that remains can be incinerated and buried in bulk for low costs in an attempt to negate arguments that the rule creates an unconstitutional barrier.
Sims became deputy commissioner of the department in March and was in charge of reviewing and approving the rule change. She said the agency's research showed a year's worth of embryonic and fetal remains collectively would weigh about 130 pounds. If collected throughout the state, the tissue could be cremated collectively for $125 or buried for $300, assuming each abortion clinic and hospital pool their resources.
She said at no point did the department reach out to hospitals, abortion clinics, funeral homes or crematoriums to ask their input.
The calculation was part of a financial analysis done by the department, said Sims. The calculation factored in 236 facilities statewide that would be affected by the new rule but failed to include obstetrician's offices and forensic labs and pathology labs, which often handle fetal tissue to test for criminal cases or for diseases. Sims said she did not know how many facilities were missed in the calculation.
Lawmakers plan to write the rule into law during this year's legislative session. It would stop the dumping of fetal remains in sanitary landfills, but there's nothing in it to stop someone from throwing the ashes into a junk yard if they have permission from the owner, said Lawrence, the abortion-rights lawyer.
Sims said the department had not considered that.
"So the regulations are for naught," said Judge Sparks.
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The mock village looked like a Hollywood set equipped with video cameras and an open roof. Actual police officers apprehended fictional bad guys as trainers and supervisors - not movie directors - observed from a catwalk.
The films created in the Washington, D.C., police training facility provided critical information about tactical successes and errors before potentially deadly events in real life, such as the active shooters who terrorized the Houston area's Memorial neighborhood and West University Place municipality in 2016.
After watching a demonstration, Houston Police Foundation chairman and billionaire Tilman Fertitta left convinced that a similar facility was needed for the nation's fourth-largest city. In short order, the Houston Police Foundation board committed to a $10 million capital campaign.
A $2.5 million leading gift secured the building's name: Tilman Fertitta Family Tactical Village.
"We need our patrol officers that are driving down the streets to be trained to be able to go in and take that active shooter out," said Charlene Floyd, the nonprofit's executive director. "The more they train and the more they practice, the more they're going to feel comfortable doing that."
The foundation - which provides training and equipment for HPD in addition to the city budget - has raised nearly $5 million. Floyd said she hopes to secure the other half in the next six months.
The two-level, 40,000-square-foot training center will be built on Aldine Westfield Road close to HPD's police academy in north Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport area. Construction could begin in 2017 with the earliest opening in late 2018.
"We have police officers who have never shot their weapon other than in training - which is a blessing - but we want to know that they have been trained and know what to do," Floyd said. "They'll be able to go in and do real-life scenarios - active shooters, domestic disputes, bank robberies."
Scenario-based training
The village will have a school, residences and businesses, including at least one doughnut shop, and a high-rise building with an atrium. Entrances will be large enough for cruisers, tanks and horses to fit inside.
Foundation fundraising efforts point to President Barack Obama's task force on 21st century policing. The group's final report, published in May 2015, advocated for "training innovation" and "scenario-based training" as ways to improve the effectiveness of the nation's law enforcement officers.
Patrol officers working their beats are often the first to respond to active shooters, hostage situations or terrorist attacks.
"It's going to make our officers better prepared for the job that they do. Currently, the vast majority of our training is in a classroom environment," former HPD acting chief Martha Montalvo said in a promotional video. "The tactical village will bring us to the next level, which is scenario-based training."
An unstable military veteran unleashed more than 200 rounds from a Memorial-area automotive shop in May, killing one person and injuring six in less than an hour. The chaos included a fired-upon gas pump set ablaze and bullets sent skyward toward a police helicopter. The ordeal ended when a SWAT sniper fatally shot Dionisio Garza III.
Ambushes in July claimed the lives of five Dallas police officers and three more in Baton Rouge, La.
In late September, Harris County experienced another mass shooting in West University Place, a tiny jurisdiction nestled between Houston, Bellaire and Southside Place. Officers from Houston, West University and Bellaire fired their weapons during the incident to subdue Nathan DeSai, who was randomly shooting at civilians and then officers in a neighborhood strip mall. He wounded nine people before police killed him.
HPD Sgt. George Batcheler, who discharged his weapon during the West U. active shooter incident, said in the fundraising video that hands-on simulations help officers learn to make better decisions under less stress and think more clearly.
No more pretending
The tactical village is a special project in addition to the ongoing work of the Houston Police Foundation. In recent years, the nonprofit has provided heavy external vests to protect officers against high-powered rifle shots, vans for homeless outreach, dogs for canine units and a precision mapping system for police helicopters.
In 2015, Fort Worth opened a $100 million combined headquarters for its police and fire departments that includes a tactical village.
The training space with moveable walls includes a school and apartments as well as a bank, restaurant and convenience store. Speakers can pipe in sound effects such as screams or gunfire, and 15 cameras record the sessions. The facility can be filled with smoke in 15 minutes.
"This makes the scenarios a little bit more challenging and forces the officer to push past this distraction and get to the threat. We have seen active shooters using fire as a weapon and we have to train for this," said Sgt. Eddie Trinidad, the mock village's unofficial "mayor" who is with the Fort Worth Police Department's reality-based training unit. "The officers want training that is realistic - training that will help them deal with dangerous situations as well as routine situations. The village allows for that."
Over the last year, hundreds of Fort Worth police officers, firefighters and paramedics have participated in simulations. There are daily exercises for SWAT, canine and special response teams.
"One of the main goals of training is to get as close to real as possible while maintaining safety. The village allows us to do that," Trinidad said. "In our old academy, we had to pretend that a classroom was a bank, an apartment, a store and so on. Now we don't have to pretend."
Lee Se Young has been cleared of sexual assault charges after being accused of molesting male idols on "SNL Korea." (Photo : YouTube/Official )
The sexual assault case against Lee Se Young has finally come to an end. The comedian has been cleared of the sexual assault charges against her after inappropriately touching male idols on "SNL Korea."
In November 2016, Lee sparked controversy after behind-the-scenes video footage of the comedian and other female members grabbing the genitals of B1A4, INFINITE, and Block B members surfaced online, as Koreaboo previously reported. The comedian came under fire for sexually molesting the idols and drew criticism over her indecent behavior.
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Some fans even went to court and filed a sexual assault case against the "SNL Korea" host. However, on Jan. 4, Wednesday, the Seoul Mapo Police department confirmed via a statement obtained by All Kpop that Lee had been found innocent and the charges against her had been dropped as there was no evidence to support the sexual assault claims.
In the statement, the police noted that the personal statements recorded from the male idols conflicted with the sexual assault allegations. "The members of B1A4, INFINITE, and Block B testified that Lee Se Young did not actually touch their private parts," the police said. Since the artists decided not to press charges, the police did not continue the investigation against the comedian.
The dismissal of the case against Lee has led to outrage among netizens who thought it was unfair that the comedian would walk scot-free despite video evidence of her molesting the male idols. The netizens pointed it out that if a man had done the same, he would have been behind bars.
They commented saying that the comedian should be punished even though the B1A4, INFINITE, and Block B refused to testify against her. Some even criticized the male idols for not speaking out about the incident and hiding facts from the police in order to avoid further drama and scandal.
Watch video footage of Lee and other female staff members inappropriately touching B1A4, INFINITE and Block B members below:
WASHINGTON - Almost every new president has hit Washington with a sense of swagger and talk of barnstorming the town in the first 100 days.
Then they met the United States Senate.
Now, it's President-elect Donald Trump's turn to acquaint himself with a place of strange rules and rituals, amazing ego and ambition, where friends become enemies in a matter of hours - and where many previous administrations have perished.
As the 115th Congress prepares to be sworn into office Tuesday, talk of fundamentally transforming Washington has filled the air. The emerging policy agendas of Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., - whose on-again, off-again relationship dominated 2016 - seem to be meshing on key items such as overhauling the Affordable Care Act and revoking President Barack Obama's executive orders on business regulation.
But the new president's early months in office are likely to rise or fall in Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's Senate, where a narrow Republican majority guarantees the confirmation of most nominees and an ability to set the agenda - but little else.
The minority Democrats are afforded enough rights to turn confirmation hearings for Trump's Cabinet picks into a referendum on the president-elect's own policy views and qualifications to lead. By demanding scrutiny of nominees' personal finances, they can revive questions about Trump's own holdings.
The Senate's 60-vote threshold for clearing a filibuster on most legislation means that Trump will have to reckon with Democrats often. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., plans to drive home this point in his maiden speech as the new minority leader.
"The Senate has a rich, bipartisan tradition of being a constitutional check on presidents of both parties," Schumer will say Tuesday, according to an advance copy of his planned remarks. "Many in this body have long observed that in America, we are a nation of laws, not men. That sacred constitutional duty of holding the president accountable to the law must continue."
The last time one party controlled the Oval Office and all of Capitol Hill, Obama and Democrats pushed a mostly partisan agenda that Republicans resisted and then used against them in subsequent elections.
McConnell, R-Ky., enjoyed a good relationship with Trump throughout the campaign. Unlike Ryan, he kept his doubts about Trump's campaign style mostly to himself, and he has forged an early bond with Vice President-elect Mike Pence.
Yet, less than 24 hours after Trump's stunning presidential victory, McConnell tried to set expectations on his own terms. His early signals have been about bringing along Democrats rather than changing Senate rules in a unilateral power play.
"We've been given a temporary lease on power, if you will. And I think we need to use it responsibly," McConnell told reporters Nov. 9. "I think what the American people are looking for is results. And to get results in the Senate, as all of you know, it requires some Democratic participation and cooperation."
Democrats are only one piece of Trump's Senate problem. If past is prologue - and it almost always is in the Senate - Republicans will betray him at key moments and cause big headaches early in his presidency.
Senators have their own egos and their own agendas, and many of them see a president every time they look in the mirror. This has already been on display in early statements from Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in joining Schumer to call for aggressive investigations of Russian meddling in the 2016 elections.
McCain is getting sworn in Tuesday to a seventh term after winning re-election in November by a wider margin in Arizona than Trump received over Hillary Clinton. That gives McCain - already a self-proclaimed maverick - extra political freedom because he wasn't swept into office on the new president's coattails. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, all won re-election by bigger margins than Trump did in winning their states.
Rubio has already rattled the Trump transition by expressing doubt about Rex Tillerson, the ExxonMobil CEO with close ties to Russia who is Trump's pick for secretary of state. The transition responded with a concerted effort to court Rubio, knowing that just one Republican defection at the committee level could imperil the nomination.
Such maneuvers are likely to be regularly necessary for Trump, who, as a novice politician, is not steeped in the quirks or pretensions of the Senate.
His closest ally in the chamber has been Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who is now his nominee for attorney general. Sessions is generally well-liked on both sides of the aisle but has always been considered an ideological outlier, more successful at blocking something than orchestrating its passage.
Recent history is replete with examples of new presidents running into the gantlet of the Senate. In 1993, Bill Clinton's administration watched as several Cabinet picks withdrew in disgrace despite a large Democratic majority in the Senate. The rocky relationship hit an even lower point the following year in an open feud with Democrats over his bid to reshape health laws.
In 2001 George W. Bush's administration watched his proposed tax cut shrink by hundreds of billions of dollars to meet demands of moderate Senate Republicans - and watched his own party lose the majority when then-Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont angrily switched caucuses and handed Democrats a 51-49 majority.
In 2009 Obama, a former senator, seemed poised to dominate the body, taking from its ranks his vice president, Joe Biden, his secretary of state, Clinton, and interior secretary, Ken Salazar. But for him, too, things fell apart quickly.
Nominees withdrew amid leaks from Democratic-controlled committees. The economic stimulus package shrank by hundreds of billions of dollars because moderate Senate Democrats fought big spending. And the Affordable Care Act's final negotiations all centered around meeting demands of moderates to clear a Senate filibuster.
McConnell hopes to avoid such mistakes, but it's unclear whether conservative activists will appreciate his restraint at a time when Republicans control all the keys to power in Washington.
"It's always a mistake to misread your mandate. And frequently new majorities think it's going to be forever," McConnell said a day after Trump's victory. "Nothing is forever in this country. We have an election every two years right on schedule. We have had since 1788. And so I don't think we should act as if we're going to be in the majority forever."
Paul Kane covers Congress and politics for the Washington Post.
Last month, a police truck burned on the side of the road in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, with flames melting the interior and the four bodies, three of them murdered federal police officers, that lay inside. Yet, the brutality barely registered in the region's collective consciousness beyond a few cursory news stories. These were just four more deaths in a country that is once again living through a wave of violence.
The last time that Mexico's murder numbers spiked so dramatically was more than six years ago, not long after former President Felipe Calderon began his well-known confrontation against the country's organized criminal groups, before falling through the start of the Enrique Pena Nieto presidency in late 2012. Yet the much welcomed drop in killings - which has defined Mexico's security situation over the past few years - has now bottomed out. And today's homicide numbers are creeping upward, across ever-larger swaths of the country.
Some of the reasons behind this second spike in violence are the same as in previous years. First, the Mexican government still faces its perennial challenges of strengthening a weak rule of law, and tackling collusion among local authorities and criminal groups. Despite federal efforts to reform the judicial system, professionalize the police, and reduce corruption, impunity remains high, and trust in the authorities is still low.
Second, the Mexican government has barely changed its security strategy over the decade-long offensive. President Pena Nieto entered into office with a rhetorical shift on security issues, but the current strategy continues to call for Calderon-era confrontation with criminal groups and prioritizes the targeting of kingpins. Law enforcement and security officials have been successful with Calderon killing or capturing 25 of his 37 most wanted narcos and Pena Nieto plucking off 105 of his top 122.
Yet, each downed narco creates more than a photo-op. The relentless pounding of top leadership also breeds an underworld power vacuum, where rivalries, ambitions and greed all inflame intra-cartel backstabbing and leave splinter groups locked in bloody battles. These groups have adopted gruesome tactics and ventured into additional activities to beef up their revenue - such as extortion or kidnapping - often far more damaging to Mexican communities than standard drug trafficking.
There are dozens of these groups, but the standout is the Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG), which has steadily expanded its territorial reach since 2010. Its surge to power has placed it comfortably "among the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in Mexico," according to the U.S. Treasury, and it's also quickly becoming among the most murderous.
There are also market forces at work in driving up the violence. The United States' prescription drug epidemic has pushed addicts who can't get pills into cheap heroin to fulfill their opioid cravings. Either sensing a market opportunity or strategically boosting the demand, Mexican cartels have capitalized on the health crisis, quite literally fighting one another to provide the heroin supply.
However, one thing that looks dramatically different this time around is the promise of a U.S.-Mexico bilateral security partnership. In 2007, as Calderon began his push against criminal groups, Mexican officials worked with their American counterparts to form the Merida Initiative and formalize the binational working relationship on security issues.
The Merida platform earmarked $2.5 billion in U.S. funds over eight years (of which $1.5 billion was released) to complement Mexico's $79 billion in security investments over the same period. Over time, the Merida Initiative's mandate evolved, but it always focused on supporting Mexico's efforts to implement a more professional and institutionalized security response.
During this second wave of violence, the Merida Initiative stands on shaky policy ground. President-elect Donald Trump has largely adopted a go-it-alone approach for tackling regional crime and violence. When combined with Trump's "America First" motto and a distaste for foreign aid, the Merida Initiative and overall bilateral security cooperation is unlikely to look the same or even exist on a recognizable scale in the coming years.
Slowing Mexico's bloodshed will continue to require a comprehensive security policy approach. It will also require international cooperation - whether in the form of the Merida Initiative or otherwise - as the market forces and criminal groups stretch well beyond Mexico's borders.
Yet as Mexico's murder levels climb the response will need to be quick and multi-faceted, addressing and tamping down on the flames of violence that are once again burning across the country.
Garza (@aogarza) is a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico. He is counsel in the Mexico City office of White & Case and chairman of the Texas Exes Alumni Association. Leutert (@Sleutert) is the Mexico Security Initiative Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin.
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HQ-9 SAM. (Photo : PLA)
China's deployment of an undetermined number of surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) in some of the islands it illegally occupies in the South China Sea is "completely reasonable, in light of the powerful naval force of the U.S. in the region."
A story in the People's Daily, China's largest newspaper and owned by the Communist Party of China (CPC), said neither the U.S. nor surrounding countries are the targets of the SAMs. It noted the SAMs "won't be launched unless China's sovereignty over these islands and reefs are violated."
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The story also said "the U.S. is the one who truly threatens regional stability, though Western media has been spreading the theory of the so-called China threat."
On the other hand, it noted the situation in the South China Sea has been stable since the U.S. presidential election. Some countries (read Japan) still hope the U.S. will maintain its Asia-Pacific Rebalance strategy.
"We will never start a fight as long as others remain peaceful, but we'll fight back when violated," said the story.
The bottom line is China will never give up its core interest in the South China Sea, which is that it owns this piece of maritime real estate despite a court declaring China's claim illegal and unlawful.
The event that triggered China's response it has the lawful right to defend the South China Sea it owns were news stories stating China had deployed "hundreds" of SAMs on the islands it occupies in the Spratlys Archipelago.
Fox News made the patently untrue claim China deployed over 500 missiles in the Spratlys, an impossible number since there isn't any room on China's occupied islands to hold this many SAMs.
These SAMS were said to include CSA-6B (a non-existent SAM) and the land-based HQ-9 SAM, as well as the HQ-26 only deployed on surface warships such as destroyers of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).
Fox also said these SAMs will form a comprehensive air defense system once it deploys CSA-6B, HQ-9 and HQ-26 in the South China Sea.
Images from American intelligence satellites, however, reveal two SAM systems stationed in Hainan. Intelligence officers said the SAM systems were recently moved to Hainan from the mainland, and are believed to be in Hainan only temporarily.
They believe Hainan is likely a training site before the missiles are eventually deployed in early 2017 to China's man-made islands in the Spratlys and on Woody Island that houses a large military base and an airfield capable of taking any Chinese military aircraft, including fighters.
From training to retention, performance management to compensation talks, this edition of Talent Management Excellence Essentials brings you the best and latest from the industry. Our cover page article Repetition + Reinforcement = Retention by Patricia Fripp talks about the importance of online training and why should companies invest in online training. Just like learning to tie shoelaces, being able to revisit those lessons through virtual online training can make all the difference in whether those skills are imbedded and become skills that have a powerful and enduring impact for your company. Do you agree? The heart of any business is its people, says Kim Peters in her article Good For People, Good For Growth, where she explains how a thriving workplace can pay dividends. If a company loves its people, it touches great heights. Not every office has the resources for a hefty bonus plan or off-site retreats. But thoughtful consideration of how team members experience the workplace can drive meaningful changes in communication practices, management interaction, professional development and camaraderie among colleagues. Demonstrating an ongoing interest in employee well-being and following through on the findings can drive employee engagement, retention and growth. We also have a short video for you that features our Excellence In Practice series. This month, we have one of HR.coms industry experts and Performance Management Ad...
German police are defending their decision to racially profile hundreds of North African men on New Year's Eve.
Last year, police in the city of Cologne were overwhelmed by hundreds of sexual assaults. The city's police chief was dismissed amid criticism of the force's handling of the incidents.
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This year, police tweeted that hundreds of "Nafris" an abbreviation for North Africans had been detained.
Police Chief Juergen Matthies said he regretted using the word "Nafris," adding it was an internal term that wasn't meant for public use.
However, he did say he felt profiling was necessary.
We had a clear idea of who we should be checking. It wasnt gray-haired old men or blond young women," he told broadcaster WDR.
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"We had a clear idea of who we should be checking. "
A question of proportionality and legitimacy arises when almost 1,000 people are being checked and some detained based on how they look like, Green Party leader Simone Peter told the Rheinische Post, as translated by Reuters.
Some felt that police were not only racially profiling citizens, but using racial slurs.
Comedian Jan Bohmermann tweeted: Whats the difference between Nafri and n****r?" according to The Telegraph.
There's no law that explicitly bans racial profiling in Germany.
With files from The Associated Press
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If we could all have this woman's attitude about winter, it would seem a lot less miserable.
Petawawa, Ont. experienced 36 straight hours of snow recently, leaving the town completely covered in white.
Heather Lanteigne decided to demonstrate exactly how to take care of the massive rooftop overhang on her garage, shown in a "before" photo by her husband.
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Unfortunately, it didn't go exactly as she had planned.
But, she laughed it off anyway.
Unfortunately, she might be in for a repeat. Environment Canada's forecast called for the town to get hit with another 20 centimetres of the white stuff on Wednesday.
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Its only day four of 2017, but baby name predictions are already coming in strong. According to U.K.s Tatler magazine, parents should get ready for posh baby names to make a comeback.
To inspire its readers and help this trend come to fruition, the high-end magazine compiled a list of 52 boy and girl names they consider the poshest names known to man. While Tatler claims these monikers are centuries old and the real deal, we have to admit, theyre pretty bizarre.
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Among the most outstanding suggestions for boys are Uxorious, Hickman and Wigbert. As for girls, theres Alfreda, Debonaire and Koala (yes, you read that right).
While these monikers are incredibly bold, the magazine is correct in saying that they date far back into history. Alfreda, for instance, is the feminine form of Alfred and dates back to the 9th century, according to Behind the Name. The name means elf counsel.
Similarly, the name Wigbert can be traced back to the 5th century, according to Baby Names Pedia. The name is of Germanic origin and means bright or famous warrior.
Other eyebrow-raising names from Tatler include Figgy, Hum and Yellow for girls, and Yak, Victory and Npeter (pronounced with a silent n) for boys.
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While many of these choices seem peculiar, the magazine did come up with some unique picks that are both charming and elegant without being over the top. These include Estonia and Queenie for girls, and Aubyn and Gustav for boys.
Visit Tatler magazine to see their full list of posh baby names for 2017.
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Lena Dunham is letting the world know she is proud of her body, cellulite included.
For Glamour's all-female February 2017 issue, titled "Powered by Women," Dunham is joined by her fellow "Girls" cast members, Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, and Jemima Kirke, on the Emma Summerton-shot cover, which sees all four actresses wearing threads and platforms from Marc Jacobs' spring 2017 collection.
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Unlike the other girls? Dunham wears pink satin pants that show off her legs, cellulite and all. And she took to Instagram to thank Glamour magazine for not retouching her image one bit.
"Throughout my teens I was told, in no uncertain terms, that I was fucking funny looking. Potbelly, rabbit teeth, knock knees- I could never seem to get it right and it haunted my every move," the 30-year-old writer penned. "I posed as the sassy confident one, secretly horrified and hurt by careless comments and hostility."
"Let's get something straight: I didn't hate what I looked like- I hated the culture that was telling me to hate it."
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She continued on in the lengthy Instagram post, "When my career started, some people celebrated my look but always through the lens of 'isn't she brave? Isn't it such a bold move to show THAT body on TV?' Then there were the legions of trolls who made high school teasing look like a damned joke with the violent threats they heaped on, the sickening insults that made me ache for teen girls like me who might be reading my comments. Well, today this body is on the cover of a magazine that millions of women will read, without photoshop, my thigh on full imperfect display."
When they let you rock that Fenty gear with only a bra... Surreal sleepover @glamourmag A photo posted by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Jan 3, 2017 at 8:04am PST
Although Dunham has a history of being controversial, with many of her comments being both harmful and offensive, she is a body positive activist, which we applaud her for.
"Whether you agree with my politics, like my show or connect to what I do, it doesn't matter- my body isn't fair game. No one's is, no matter their size, colour, gender identity, and there's a place for us all in popular culture to be recognized as beautiful. Haters are gonna have to get more intellectual and creative with their disses in 2017 because none of us are going to be scared into muumuus by faceless basement dwellers, or cruel blogs, or even our partners and friends."
A photo posted by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Jan 1, 2017 at 9:09pm PST
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"Thank you to the women in Hollywood (and on Instagram!) leading the way, inspiring and normalizing the female form in EVERY form, and thank you to @glamourmag for letting my cellulite do the damn thing on news stands everywhere today."
Every photo commissioned for the issue was created entirely and exclusively by women, including photographers, stylists and hair and makeup artists.
GIRLS. Ultimate sleepover invitation. Photo @emmasummerton @girlshbo #girlshbo @glamourmag February issue A photo posted by jilliandavison (@jilliandavison) on Jan 3, 2017 at 1:18pm PST
"Gender equality is on all our minds, and gender equality doesn't just happen at the CEO or president-of-America level," Glamour editor in chief Cindi Leive wrote in her editor's letter. "It starts at home, and as I looked at those numbers, it was pretty clear: Our home could use a shake up."
Glamour's February issue hits newsstands on Jan. 10.
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Conservative leadership contender Lisa Raitt says the negative, irresponsible politics of rival Kellie Leitch and likely candidate Kevin OLeary will doom Tory hopes of winning government in 2019.
The veteran Ontario MP blasted both Leitch and OLeary at a press conference in Ottawa Wednesday. She also announced a new website StopKevinOLeary.com targeting the businessman who isnt officially in the race.
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Raitt said both would-be successors to Stephen Harper threaten the partys path to victory in the next election by embracing elements of Donald Trumps campaign while ignoring others. She warned that her party was at risk of being "hijacked by the loudest voice in the room."
OLeary, she said, is a TV entertainer with no filter.
She called out his recent controversial remarks about there being nothing proud about being a warrior, musings about making unions illegal, and past remarks that the disparity between the worlds richest and poorest people was fantastic.
Canadians will not elect someone who says these kinds of things, she said.
Leitch 'pinning our problems on immigrants'
Raitt accused Leitch of embracing the other half of Trump by pinning our problems on immigrants with her plan to screen for so-called anti-Canadian values. Leitchs leadership would destroy all in-roads Tories previously made with new Canadians, Raitt charged.
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She said such bluster will ensure Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus Liberals get to govern for a generation.
Kevin OLeary and Kellie Leitch are both taking lessons from what we saw in the U.S. election and embracing a style of negative, irresponsible populism, she continued. Unfortunately for them, we are not Americans and neither of them are president-elect Donald Trump.
When a reporter pointed out that her words were reminiscent of what was said about Trump by both Republicans and Democrats during his unlikely rise to the White House, Raitt said Canadians are different and increasingly concerned about sensational antics coming north of the border.
Major Campaign Announcement Posted by Lisa Raitt on Wednesday, 4 January 2017
What happened in the United States happened in the United States and were going to work with the president-elect. It doesnt mean its going to happen in Canada and you know what, Im going to give it a shot, she said. Im going to make sure Canadians know that I will stand up to this cheap talk.
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Pragmatic and principled Conservatives know Canadian voters wont get behind OLeary or Leitch, she said.
When asked why her website only targets OLeary who has hinted he wont get into the race officially until next month Raitt said those concerned about Leitchs brand of populism can also find a home on her team.
If this is the path that is going to be chosen, we are going to be sitting in opposition for a very long time because I firmly believe that the general Canadian populace will not buy this, she said.
'Lisa Raitt drew a line in the sand today'
O'Leary later told The Globe and Mail that Raitt's criticisms were "ridiculous" and "incorrect," but also said it was "fantastic" the leadership race was finally seeing some excitement.
Leitch, meanwhile, released a statement on Facebook defending her call that "every immigrant, refugee and visitor to Canada" receive a face-to-face screening by federal officials.
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"Lisa Raitt drew a line in the sand today and showed that she stands with the Liberals and media elites," Leitch said in the post.
.@lraitt drew a line in the sand today and showed that she stands with the Liberals and media elites. https://t.co/qbwahSjIC7#cpcldr Kellie Leitch (@KellieLeitch) January 4, 2017
On Tuesday, Leitch appeared on the Fox Business Network in the U.S. In the segment, she promoted immigration screening, bashed the prime minister, and agreed with host David Asman that so-called "socialized medicine" wasn't the answer for Americans.
Bernier not scared of O'Leary
Rival Maxime Bernier took to Twitter Wednesday with a thinly veiled dig, saying that unlike other leadership contestants, he isnt scared of OLeary.
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Unlike other leadership contestants, I welcome more competition, and I am not scared of @kevinolearytv Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) January 4, 2017
Raitt also challenged Macleans writer Martin Patriquin for suggesting the anti-OLeary website made her look fearful of the businessman. She pointed out how other candidates, including Andrew Scheer, Erin OToole and Michael Chong, have also criticized him.
.@MartinPatriquin so when Scheer, O'Toole and Chong criticize him they're "scared" too? Or I'm different for some reason? Lisa Raitt (@lraitt) January 4, 2017
Just a day earlier, Scheer called on the unilingual OLeary to get in the race ahead of a French-language debate in Quebec this month.
If Kevin wants to run, its time to fish or cut bait, Scheer said.
Tories will choose their new leader in May. The deadline to register as a candidate is Feb. 24.
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Kids loved Lunchables. They were doing everything sideways, backwards and upside down. But they were also laughing and having fun while doing it, Drane said. "It was a sort of puzzle game. Like LEGOs."
Inspired by the design of the American TV dinner, Oscar Mayer finally settled on a 4.5-ounce package. It hit grocery shelves packed in its trademark bright yellow box. In its first year, Oscar Mayer brought in US$218 million but because of high production costs, it would be years before it turned a profit.
Months of research went into perfecting the branding of Lunchables to widen its appeal. "Salt Sugar Fat," the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Michael Moss, reveals how dozens of families in two states participated in the company's research.
They were given pre-loaded shopping cards to track their purchases; special devices on their TVs showed Lunchables commercials that were not broadcast to other families in the neighbourhood.
Moss writes:
The testing, which went on for months, surpassed Oscar Mayer's highest hopes. Not only did the people in the experiment go for the trays after being exposed to the advertising, the familiarity of the contents, however plain they were, proved to a foundational theorem in processed foods, which Drane calls "the weirdness factor": if a new product is too unusual, shoppers get scared. "I used the term, '80 per cent familiar,'" Drane told me. "If you've got a new thing, it better be 80 per cent familiar, or you'll have people scratching their heads wondering what the hell it is."
"80 per cent familiar." The quote hit me like a rock.
Lunchables was advertised to be a sort of "badge" to promote individuality, Drane told me. It was a powerful marketing strategy that infused children's lunchtime with new "little special moments."
"A badge makes you feel special. Like you've been recognized somehow. You've been cheered on. I think that fits. I think that's always been it," he said.
Actually, the exact opposite was true for me, I told him. Lunchables was something I wanted because I didn't want to stand out. I wanted to conform.
Drane laughed and repeated, "How interesting!" four times.
"Marketing is all about making the not-all-that-important in our lives have more value."
"Multiculturalism and sensitivity to all that" in his generation was different from the discussions around it today, he explained. "I think a good thing to happen in our society is that people see the world through the eyes of more than themselves. They're more sensitive to fitting in, and not fitting in, and feeling comfortable.
"So when you said what you said, I don't think I heard it that way before, but it certainly made sense to me immediately."
He continued: "Marketing is all about making the not-all-that-important in our lives have more value."
So obvious, right? But as an eight-year-old, I was oblivious to the advertising forces raining down on me and shaping my perceptions. My obsession with Lunchables stemmed from the anxiety of not being able to fit in because of factors my family, background, economic circumstance beyond my control.
And kids love to have control.
To Drane, there was no mystique to his creation. His only pursuit was to create industry in the Madison community during the '80s and '90s.
"I had the joy of creating lots and lots of good, paying jobs for that product," he said of Lunchables.
But there are also forces bigger than Drane, bigger than Lunchables. Oscar Mayer is slated to shut down its Madison plant in March 2017, after nearly 100 years of operation. Almost 1,000 people will lose their jobs.
Xiaomi Mi 6 (Photo : Twitter / AndroidHeadlines)
Rumors have it that the Xiaomi Mi 6 will be the first Snapdragon 835 powered Chinese smartphone to release in the market.
The upcoming flagships such as the Samsung Galaxy S8, LG G6 and HTC 11 are all pegged to come loaded with Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC. In the recent past, there have been rumors that Asus will be unleashing a Snapdragon 835 chipset smartphone at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2017.
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When it comes to Chinese brands, none of the major Chinese smartphone companies are expected to launch a SD 835 smartphone soon. However, an industry insider from China has revealed that the Xiaomi Mi 6 will be the first Chinese smartphone to come powered with SD 835 SoC, Gizmo China reported.
Samsung is the manufacturing partner for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 SoC. Well-known Chinese leakster has said that the production of the next generation is slow and this has prompted many of the smartphone companies to push the release of their flagship phones to a later date.
Samsung is rumored to have pushed the Galaxy S8 release date to April. However, the leakster has claimed that Xiaomi is facing no problem in receiving the stock of the SD 835. Hence, the Xiaomi Mi 5 is slated for an announcement at the MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2017 event.
The rumor mill has not revealed many details on the specifications of Xiaomi Mi 6. Leaked photos of an unknown Xiaomi device that is dubbed as Mi 6 hints that the smartphone would be looking like a smaller edition of Xiaomi Mi Note 2.
Even though leaked photos do not show dual-lens rear camera and dual-edge curved display, early Xiaomi Mi 6 rumors have hinted that these features would be arriving on the flagship.
Xiaomi had launched the Mi Mix concept smartphone in December in black color. Since it has teased that it will be launching a product at CES 2017, speculations are rife that the Xiaomi Mi Mix will be unveiled to the world in white color. The Mi Mix is also rumored to be the first smartphone to come loaded with Android 7.0 Nougat enabled MIUI, GSM Arena reported.
Here is a review of XIaomi Mi 5:
The Canadian government continues to strike a friendly tone amid renewed threats by United States president-elect Donald Trump to invoke protectionist measures.
Trump criticized General Motors on Tuesday for producing a model of a Chevrolet Cruze in Mexico, claiming the automaker sells the cars in the U.S., skipping paying import tariffs.
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He threatened to make the automaker pay a big border tax if it continues to produce vehicles outside the country for sale in the states.
General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border. Make in U.S.A.or pay big border tax! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
General Motors issued a statement after Trumps threat, saying all its Chevrolet Cruze sedans are made in Ohio. The model the president-elect refers to is its hatchback, which is produced for international markets.
Only a small number of these models approximately 4,500 are sold in the U.S, according to CBNC.
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During the election campaign, Trump repeatedly pledged to force Canada and Mexico to renegotiate or scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement as a means of protecting and creating U.S. jobs.
A model for the world
The threat stoked some concerns in Canada that U.S. protectionist measures will play an important role in helping Trump rehaul trade policy once he assumes office later this month.
Major American carmakers, including Ford and General Motors, have assembly plants in Canada.
The federal department of innovation, science and economic development declined to comment on the latest in Trumps trade rhetoric.
Global Affairs repeated language previously used by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after Trumps election win in November.
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Citing $2.4 billion in trade the two countries do every day, spokeswoman Diana Khaddaj told The Huffington Post Canada the country has no closer friend, partner, and ally than the United States.
Khaddaj added officials are looking forward to working very closely with the new Trump administration as well as U.S. Congress on matters related to trade and investment.
The relationship between our two countries serves as a model for the world.
Trudeaus olive branch
Members of the 115th U.S. Congress sworn in Tuesday were also greeted with a video message from Trudeau and David MacNaughton, Canadas ambassador to Washington.
The message was congenial, the pair stressing how intertwined the two countries economies are.
MacNaughton said: We know that were better off when we tackle challenges together. Thats why Canada stands beside you ready to work with you to make all of our citizens lives better, safer, and more prosperous.
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The prime minister stressed the continuation of an economic relationship that supports jobs in every Congressional district.
We are the largest international customer for goods and services made in the USA, Trudeau said.
When it comes to stellar star-gazing, the destination you choose is all-important. Being far away from the glow of city lights is fundamental but there can also be considerable divergence between each remote destination. Would you prefer a cozy setting, wrapped up warm on a snowy mountain, or to lie in the desert on a balmy night? Perhaps ocean side with the sounds of the waves crashing to accompany the view?
We've scoured our recommendations to bring you the very best places to stargaze across the world. So, to reconnect with nature and see distant galaxies and constellations against the darkest of skies, head to one of the following destinations.
M'hamid, Morocco
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A starting point for visiting the Sahara Desert, M'Hamid is a small oasis town in Morocco in an area long-inhabited by ancient Berber tribes. Morocco's most extensive sand dunes, the Erg Chigaga, can be reached by (relatively uncomfortable but memorable) camel ride or by jeep. These dunes reach heights of around 60m and seeing them ripple in the wind while bathed in the amber glow of the Saharan sun is enough to move you to tears. There are several smaller dunes near M'Hamid too, which provide just as magical a setting for stargazing, all the more so when accompanied with live, traditional Berber music. Stay at Hotel Kasbah Azalay to make the most of your star seeking.
Sesriem, Namibia
Seeing as desert climates with next to no precipitation tend to be ideal for clear night sky gazing, Sesriem also features as one of the world's greatest stargazing spots. It's famous for its massive red sand dunes, its canyon and the twisted, black, dead trees that cover the surrounding plains (and as striking photo subject matter). But it's even more glorious to be here at night, especially at Desert Quiver Camp, enjoying the dazzling display of shooting stars and constellations.
Lake Tekapo, New Zealand
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To visit Lake Tekapo is to witness nature in all her finery; by day, the milky-blue lake, its purple floral shores and surrounding pine forests form a hypnotizing backdrop. And by night, as an International Dark Sky Reserve it has so little light pollution that stargazing is utterly magical. Pitch up a tent at the Lake Tekapo Lodge to stay a few days and take a tour of the nearby astronomical observatory atop Mount John, with the largest telescope in New Zealand.
Cabo Polonio, Uruguay
There are no roads leading to this Uruguayan hamlet. Just a tiny collection of shacks constructed on a sliver of sand stretching out into the Atlantic Ocean, this is genuine seclusion. Luckily, building in Cabo has been restricted in recent years to save it from turning into a typical South American resort. Stay nearby at Lo De Ro or join the resident hippies for a session of sleeping under the stars and you'll soon grow so attached it'll be near impossible to leave.
Wadi Rum, Jordan
The barren, desert wilderness of Wadi Rum is a life-affirming place. The horizon is dotted with craggy canyons and orange sand, and watching the stars from this lunar-like landscape feels somewhat surreal. Camping in isolated sites at Wadi Rum Night Luxury Camp and enjoying an incredibly vivid view of our Milky Way will stun you into awed silence.
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Sao Domingos Mine, Portugal
Though man-made, this deserted mine in Portugal is a phenomenal place to star gaze. Its interesting history dates back to the Roman era, and there's a museum, an English cemetery and many old mine buildings dotted around. This is a good choice for those looking for a quirky but stunning place to lie back and enjoy a celestial show, especially from the stunning setting at the Alentejo Star Hotel.
It's easy to book a flight to Cancun, or wherever your go-to destination may be, to escape the cold every year. But not all of the world's best warm-weather destinations are lined by the turquoise Gulf of Mexico or Caribbean Sea. Sri Lanka, floating off the southeastern tip of India, and splashed by salt water on all sides, is a tropical destination that isn't on everyone's travel radar, but it should be.
These four reasons to visit the country formerly known as Ceylon will inspire you to skip the Caribbean and venture to the Indian Ocean for your warm weather escape in 2017.
You Won't Be Surrounded By Sunbathers
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Photo credit: prise69
It can be fun to meet fellow travelers on getaways, but struggling to find an empty place on the sand makes popular tourist destinations much less fun. While tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka have been growing exponentially in recent years, just 1,798,380 tourists visited the country in 2015. The city of Cancun alone sees roughly 5 million visitors each year.
Your journey around the world will be rewarded with long, untouched stretches of sand, aquamarine lagoons free of swimmers, and, not to worry, plenty of places to party on the sand when you're feeling social.
You'll Fill Up On Fresh Eats
Google images of Sri Lanka, and you'll probably find photos of fishermen perched atop skinny structures made of sticks. You'll wonder how they ever reel in a sea creature until you see the collections of fresh fish sold near the sand and streets every evening. Fresh fish brought in by the iconic Sri Lankan stick fishermen isn't the only organic and affordable food you'll enjoy. Pancake-like hoppers, colourful curries, jackfruit, stir-fried kottu, and rotis (flatbreads) stuffed with everything from potatoes to eggs, curried beef and fish, are just a few of the delectable snacks and dishes you'll find directly on the street.
You'll Have Authentic Cultural Experiences
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You may feel a bit like a local when sipping tequila in a hole-in-the-wall bar in coastal Mexico, but mildly authentic experiences in the most popular tourist destinations don't compare to the cultural heritage you'll find in Sri Lanka. Evidence of human settlements in Sri Lanka date back roughly 125,000 years, and the cultural diversity that has developed over hundreds of centuries is what makes Sri Lanka such a memorable travel destination.
Taste the tea (Ceylon) that was made famous by the island nation in the 19th century, visit the Sacred City of Kandy, shop the Portuguese-settled town of Galle, and admire the UNESCO World-Heritage listed cave monastery at the Golden Temple of Dambulla.
You'll Travel Like Never Before
Forget about taxi rides from the airport and take the train through Tea Country or along the palm-tree-studded coast instead. Take bus rides free of tourist taxes, haggle over tuk tuk (or rickshaw) rides with friendly locals, or opt for an action-packed air taxi ride to Arugam Bay's world-class waves or the ancient rock fortress of Sigiriya. Wherever you travel throughout the 65,610-square-kilometre island, you're guaranteed to reach your destination in style.
Canadian indigenous people have been described as "ghosts of history," spectres lingering in the background, haunting our legacy. This refers to the fact that indigenous people have been ignored to a great extent in Canadian history, yet Canadians are fully aware that indigenous people were here long before the arrival of the Europeans. Canadians are also generally aware that indigenous people were mistreated over time. Their lands and culture were stripped away through questionable means leaving generations traumatized.
For many Canadians, ignorance is bliss -- it has been easier on the conscience to just ignore this unpleasant chapter in Canadian history and pretend that the displacement, oppression and trauma of indigenous people never happened.
In the short run, ignoring this history may make it easier for Canadians to have pride in being Canadian. But, in the long run, ignoring this history rather than facing it head on, has costs. It weighs heavily on the Canadian psyche.
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The eclipse of the indigenous people by the English and French settlers by the time of Confederation has left present day Canada floundering with its identity -- and even affects us on the world stage. Canada's attempt to be a leader on the world stage as a champion of human rights is often ridiculed by its enigmatic treatment of its indigenous population.
If we ignore the problems, the trauma will continue to grow exponentially. If we address the problems, the healing will grow exponentially.
In 2014, a United Nations report showed that, of the bottom 100 communities in Canada on the Community Well-being Index, 96 were indigenous communities. In 2015, the Conference Board of Canada ranked 117 health regions in Canada and found that indigenous communities were at the bottom, mostly affected by social problems affecting health. That's the effect of systematically undervaluing a whole group of people. That's trauma in real life.
History also shows us how important indigenous people were to the founding of Canada. John Ralston Saul argues that Canadian identity extends beyond the French and English and actually rests on a triangular foundation which includes Canada's indigenous peoples. Early exploration and settlement by the French followed by the English would not have been possible without the assistance of indigenous people and whole indigenous nations.
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Indigenous people taught the rest how to exist on this land we call Canada. Indigenous participation in the fur trade enabled the establishment of the first major economic activity in this country.
Not only trauma, but solutions and new-found pride in the Canadian identity may be found in looking honestly and responding appropriately to the lessons of history.
An Indigenous girl plays inside a teepee at a young bush camp taught by rangers which teaches survival skills in the northern Ontario First Nations reserve in Attawapiskat, Ont., on Wednesday, April 20, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
The social problems facing many indigenous people today because of intergenerational trauma are large, but the fact that the indigenous population is the youngest demographic group in Canada offers opportunity to support change in a large generation of young people that could cascade forward into the generations to come. If we ignore the problems, the trauma will continue to grow exponentially. If we address the problems, the healing will grow exponentially.
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So what are the solutions?
Many solutions come under the reconsideration of Treaties. Rather than keep our Treaties hidden under a cloak of shame, we should acknowledge and celebrate their existence with pride by focusing and emphasizing their original intent -- that of an agreement between peoples about the peaceful sharing of lands in exchange for security: security from hunger, security from disease, security from obsolescence.
Recognizing the value of indigenous people, inherent in the recognition of the intent of Treaties as agreements between two peoples will reduce the societal push for assimilation. If you value someone, you don't see a need to assimilate that person. Indigenous people have always resisted being absorbed into the larger society through forced assimilation. Chief Sitting Bull once famously said, "If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man, He would have made me so in the first place."
Indigenous people should not be written off derisively as a stone-age people without the wheel as opined by the Conrad Blacks of this country. In fact, Canada is criss-crossed by many rivers and lakes that were in summer traversed by light, efficient birch bark canoes by indigenous people and by voyageurs after arrival by Europeans. In winter, snowshoes and toboggans were the only modes of transport over the deep snow which blanketed our lands for a good part of the year. The wheel was useless during this period of history.
Valuing indigenous people also means that we are compelled to help them.
Only a handful of reserves, the lucky few adjacent to mainstream markets, have reached standards that are equivalent to the rest of Canadian society. Canada needs to pay attention to the Shamattawas and Attawapiskats of this country that are plagued by suicides, drugs and alcohol amongst other issues. Forced relocation is not an option; however, valuing people by enabling them to relocate if they want to, with government assistance, should be available.
Indigenous people can assume their rightful place as valued citizens of Canada.
Economic corridors linking these isolated communities to the nearest regional centre need to be negotiated -- because jobs are lifelines to human purpose. Any new resource developments in the area must include some ownership by the communities. Most importantly, Treaty rights need to be portable and no longer used to restrict and confine indigenous people within the boundaries of their designated reserves.
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These are only starting points. But indigenous people need to be recognized in history as a people who at one time had independence, territory, communities, governance, trade, culture, traditions and spirituality.
Rather than focusing on the shameful outcomes, recognizing and acting upon the original intentions of Treaties will go a long way toward restoring pride, respect and dignity to indigenous peoples. It will coincidentally address Canadians' divided conscience over the pride they can realistically hold in their identity as Canadians. These approaches would also help indigenous peoples assume their rightful place as one of the three valuable pillars in Canada's triangular foundation.
Together we can bring indigenous people out of the shadows and they will cease to be "ghosts of history." Indigenous people can assume their rightful place as valued citizens of Canada.
This piece was based on a keynote speech delivered by Len Flett at the Indigenous Healing and Trauma conference in Calgary, Alberta.
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LauriPatterson via Getty Images Chicken Parmesan Baked in Tomato Sauce with Spaghetti and Mozzarella Cheese- Photographed on a Hasselblad H3D11-39 megapixel Camera System
By Rossana Gudani
We all love spaghetti, but who would think it has a national celebration? Well, it does! January 4 is National Spaghetti Day. Spaghetti Day is more than just a clever marketing gimmick. For those of us who dig the twirly stuff, it's a day to reflect on the history, evolution and universal appeal of spaghetti and other lengthy pastas.
We normally think of spaghetti as an Italian dish, and the name is definitely from that part of the world. Who doesn't love a traditional Italian restaurant, complete with a heaping plate of this semolina treat? As Disney's Lady and the Tramp reminds us, there are few dishes more romantic.
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Courtesy of the Disney Food Blog (click here for the spaghetti and meatballs recipe!)
But history reveals that long before spaghetti became a staple in Italian cuisine, families in central Asia were sitting down to similar noodle dishes. As early as the 5th century, nomadic Arabs likely brought the meal westward. The Italians revolutionized the dish, and invented a wide variety of pasta shapes. The word spaghetti literally means "little lines". And today, it is enjoyed worldwide as a dinner tradition!
Noodles worldwide
Just as Canadian families relish spaghetti for dinner on a cold night, families in China enjoy noodles as a comfort food. In that part of Asia, the earliest written record of noodles is from a book dated way back to the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD).
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A favorite meal in the Philippines is Pancit or "noodles". Click here for a recipe! Stock photo.
Noodles for comfort
When I think about noodles, there's an immediate feeling of comfort. Growing up, it was definitely a staple food in our household.
I remember the good ol' days when my mom made Pancit -- a Filipino Chow Mein -- to celebrate birthdays. Filipinos prepare Pancit in many ways: sauteed, with broth, deep-fried or double-cooked, and then mixed with vegetables or meat such as chicken liver or pork bits.
Noodles aren't just for special occasions, as anyone who has nursed a cold will know. The long, comforting strands can lift spirits and satisfy bellies in all kinds of circumstances. What better medication than a bowl of chicken noodle soup? Some Asian families even have a belief that noodles will give you long life!
Noodles for life
For the past few years, Canadians have helped bring the goodness of noodles to children in North Korea, where malnutrition is chronic. Through World Vision, we've been helping support two noodle factories in the country.
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Three-year-old Pok enjoys her noodle soup at a nursery school in North Korea, thanks to support from Canadians through World Vision. World Vision Photo
Last year alone, the noodle factories helped nourish 42,146 children in kindergartens and nursery schools. The pictures seem cute, but it's so much more than that. A steady food supply can improve children's health, preventing many long and short-term health problems.
World Vision Photo
Noodles tonight!
Being a mom of three wonderful children who all have an appetite for practically anything, it is important that I choose meals that are easy to make and fill their hungry bellies. Spaghetti is definitely one of their favourite dishes. I love seeing them twirl the noodles with their forks and slurp the last strand. Sometimes they snack on just the noodles while watching TV. Slurp, slurp, burp!
So tonight my friends, spaghetti is on the menu!
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In Colombia, Brayan looks through the donation box of food that he and his mother just received from World Vision staff and happily finds what he likes the most: Spaghetti! Photo: World Vision
Partners sabotage each other's attempts to cut down on drinking, with men worse than women, new research suggests.
Drinkers struggle to reduce their alcohol intake due to their partner suggesting one more drink or encouraging them on nights out, a poll found.
Among 2,000 couples where at least one drinks more than the recommended 14 units a week, 26% of women said they were concerned about the effects of alcohol on their partner's health, while the figure was 21% for men.
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Women were more likely than men to say they would drink less if it was not for their partner loving booze (29% compared with 16%).
A third (33%) of men also liked to suggest one more drink if their partner was thinking of stopping for the night, compared with 15% of women.
Just 57% of all people said they would drink less to help their partner if they were trying to cut down.
At present, around 40% of men and a fifth of women drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week, according to industry-funded charity Drinkaware, which carried out the research.
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A third of those surveyed (33%) said alcohol being readily available in the home was an issue when it came to cutting down, while 40% of those whose partner wanted to drink less thought the attempt would fail because stress would drive them to drink.
Rev Kate Bottley, from the TV programme Gogglebox, is supporting a new Drinkaware campaign.
She said: "It's quite sad to see that stress can really undo those good intentions, but we are a nation who bottle up our feelings, it would be far healthier to talk through your bad day rather than turn to a glass of wine or a beer."
Drinkaware's chief executive, Elaine Hindal, added: "We know that couples who are planning a health regime together fare better when they really support each other.
IakovKalinin via Getty Images
Could Parliament still block Brexit? The answer is undoubtedly Yes. On 3 November 2016 the High Court decided that Theresa May needs Parliament's consent before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to leave the EU.
The Sovereignty of Parliament
The point is that the referendum was purely advisory. This cannot be disputed, because of that most fundamental principle of the UK Constitution, the Sovereignty of Parliament - which I stressed in my last two blogs and which was the basis of the exemplary decision of the High Court, but which was completely lost sight of by the Government as well as by 1,054 barristers in an open letter to David Cameron.
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1979 Referendums
Could the referendum result have been made binding? Yes, very easily. The original referendums on Scottish and Welsh devolution in 1979 were binding. In both cases an Act of Parliament was passed in 1978, before the referendum was held, which actually set up devolved assemblies for Scotland and Wales. The 1979 Welsh referendum failed dismally, with only a 20.3% vote in favour of devolution, so the 1978 Act was repealed as it itself provided. The 1979 Scottish referendum also failed, but much more narrowly. There was a 51.6% majority in favour of devolution, but this was less than 40% of those entitled to vote, so, according to the provisions of the 1978 Act, the Act was repealed, and Scottish devolution had to wait until a fresh referendum was held in 1997.
2015 Act
But making a referendum result binding can be done much more simply. A referendum can only be called by an Act of Parliament. The 2016 EU referendum was called by the EU Referendum Act 2015, which says absolutely nothing at all about what is to happen after the referendum. Could that Act have delegated to the Government the right to trigger Article 50 in the event of a "Leave" majority? Yes it could. But the crucial point is that it didn't.
As a result, the EU referendum was purely advisory - meaning that it advised Parliament, giving Parliament the right to accept that advice (with or without conditions) or to reject it. If allowed to, Parliament will almost certainly accept the voters' Brexit verdict, but it will probably want to impose some conditions on the Government, which it is perfectly entitled to do.
Alternatives
What are the alternatives before the Supreme Court? They are:
a.To affirm the High Court's ruling that Parliament's consent is needed to trigger Article 50. This is undoubtedly the best option from both a legal and a political point of view. Parliamentary consent must be given in the form of legislation.
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b.To overturn the High Court decision and allow the Government to trigger Article 50 without Parliament's consent. Because of the Sovereignty of Parliament, this would be wrong. The Government's elaborate arguments in court about the power of the royal prerogative over treaties were largely irrelevant.
c.To require parliamentary consent to triggering Article 50 subject to certain specific conditions. This would not be a good option for the court to select, as any conditions are a matter for Parliament. The court should confine itself to deciding whether parliamentary consent is needed to invoke Article 50 or not.
d.To allow the Government to trigger Article 50 without parliamentary consent but subject to certain other conditions. This would also not be a good choice, as this would amount to the court's taking charge of the Brexit negotiations, which is a government function.
The elephant in the room is the position of the devolved governments of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. The Scottish Government is particularly insistent that Scotland should not be dragged screaming out of the EU. But neither the Sewel Convention of 1998 nor the Declaration of Arbroath of 1320 has the force of law.
2017 should be a landmark year for housing policy in the UK: for the first time in decades, housebuilding is at the top of the domestic political agenda, with cross-party consensus on the need for building more homes.
The Government set itself a target to build one million homes by 2020 - equivalent to 200,000 homes a year, significantly more than we have seen since the financial crisis of 2008. In the meantime, house prices have reached record highs; home ownership has reached record lows; and private rents are rising fast. As we approach the midway point of this parliament, there are concerns that uncertainty around Brexit will hamper efforts to address Britain's housing crisis. Here are three key things to look out for in 2017.
1.How many houses are completed
It's good to start with the basics. If we are to address our housing shortage, we are going to need to build more homes. The Government's quarterly reports on housebuilding tell us how many homes have been started, and how many have been completed. Of the two, the latter is key because it tells us how many new homes are actually available for people to live in. The two numbers are not the same - for example, in the year to September, 147,880 homes were started, whereas 141,690 were actually completed.
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It's likely that those targets will again be missed because of the economic uncertainty we have seen since the EU referendum. Typically, investment in bricks and mortar is the first thing to be hit by falling confidence. The financial crisis of 2008 had a substantial impact on the UK housing market, with a decline in house prices accompanied by reduced mortgage availability. Developers also found it harder to access the credit they need to fund new developments, and faced with lower than expected house prices, the numbers of homes completed slowed from a pre-crisis high of 220,000 to a low of 140,000.
If uncertainty around Brexit persists into 2017, or if economic conditions worsen as the year progresses, developers will slow down their delivery because they will be less confident that they will find buyers for their homes. While developers currently hold land with planning permission for 460,000 new homes, and many will have started building them, there is no guarantee they will be completed any time soon.
If that happens - if housing completions slow or stagnate - there is little chance that the Government's ambition for one million homes over this Parliament will be met.
2.How the Build to Rent sector fares
One way that this might be alleviated is by the growing 'Build to Rent' sector. Instead of building homes speculatively for sale, which is how most of our homes are built, this growing part of the industry focuses on building homes for rent, typically to young professionals in our big cities. Building for rent is more resilient to market shocks than building for sale, because the demand for rental homes is more resilient - you don't need a mortgage to rent a home. Even in a recession, people need somewhere to live. So those building for rent can do so with more confidence that they will have customers to move in when they are finished.
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This is one of the reasons that the Government has directed its focus on the Build to Rent sector as one way of increasing the level of housebuilding, through a 1 billion fund to support private investment, planning and construction. The potential is clear - it's an undeveloped sector in the UK, with 98% of the rental market made up of small-scale landlords.
In 2017, we should see a move from aspiration to reality, with tens of thousands of rented homes expected to be built.
3.What the Government's vision means in practice
Both the Secretary of State, Sajid Javid, and the Housing Minister, Gavin Barwell, have spoken of the need to build more homes, and to do so across all housing types. And the Prime Minister has outlined the need for the state to step in where the market is failing to deliver for those who are just about managing to get by. For many people, rising housing costs are now the biggest strain on their finances.
We will see what this means in practice when the Government publishes its Housing White Paper, expected later this month. It will be interesting to see how much focus is given to addressing the predicted slowdown in the number of homes built for sale, and to supporting Build to Rent and other sources of supply in the private sector.
Two smartphones are presented in contrasting positions to showcase their external features. (Photo : YouTube/ Technology Fogy)
Nokia phones specs, price, and release date continues to excite the curiosity of consumers worldwide. With its highly anticipated line-up, including Nokia Edge, Nokia D1C and the Nokia 150, the company is hoping for a major comeback.
After a major flop of its previous attempt to regain market dominance with its Windows OS smartphones, Nokia is now stepping up its latest offerings that are expected to arrive this year. For consumers interested only with basic features, call and text, the Nokia 150 would be a decent option.
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According to the Finnish company, the said device is built to last and is expected to have a battery power similar to that of the Nokia 3310. Users may be able to appreciate a 22 hours talk time with Nokia 150 and 31 days standby, according to The Sun.
Apart from the said retro feature, it is also expected that the classic games like Snake and Nitro Racing will also be incorporated in some of the upcoming Nokia phones. This approach somehow suggests that Nokia is trying to reinvent their approach towards the current smartphone industry while keeping some known effective formula for success.
Moreover, other potential avenues through which Nokia is expected to dominate is the Android mobile industry. The former largest phone distributor hopes to regain global popularity and influence by introducing Android phones championed by the rumored Nokia Edge and D1C.
Although the company has been quite strict with the release of details concerning its upcoming devices, leaks still managed to surface online. The budget variant of Nokia D1C has been speculated to feature a Snapdragon 600 series processor, 4GB RAM and 64GB, according to The Android Soul.
On the other hand, another Android offering, Nokia Edge, will feature an expected Android 7.0 Nougat with 6GB RAM and would likely be bezel-less, as mentioned in a separate report. With a speculated powerful 23MP rear camera with Carl Zeis technology and octa-core processor, the said smartphone would be within $450-500 price point.
As of the moment, in terms of a release period for the said Nokia phones, only the Nokia 150 has been reported for release in the Q1 of this year. Further specs info and release period of the upcoming Nokia Android phones remains to be elusive.
Watch here below speculated feature of Nokia Edge:
As captains of the fossil fuel industries and their lobbyists prepare to take over the White House - appointed by a President elected by a minority, claiming to represent the people on an anti-elite ticket yet possessing by far the highest cumulative wealth of any cabinet ever - they will face evidence breaking out all around them of a fast-moving global energy transition threatening to strand the fossil fuels they seek to boost.
"World energy hits a turning point", a Bloomberg headline read on 16th December. "Solar power, for the first time, is becoming the cheapest form of new electricity," the article marvelled. Analysis of the average cost of new wind and solar in 58 emerging-market economies - including China, India, and Brazil - showed solar at $1.65 million per megawatt and wind at $1.66.
Google leads the giant corporations eagerly going with this flow. The largest corporate buyer of renewable energy announced on 6th December that it expects to hit its target of 100% renewable power in, wait for it, 2017. Google is a huge consumer of power, and going solar means deep emissions cuts, especially when solar infrastructure is hooked up with all the digital efficiency-enhancement fandangoes that Silicon Valley giants are zeroing in on in the fast emerging era of artificial intelligence in an internet of things.
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Google's emissions reductions will be meaningful even considering full product life cycles. Solar panels made today pay back the energy used to make them in little more than a year, a Belgian research team from the University of Louvain reported in December. "For every doubling of installed photovoltaic capacity", Atse Louwen and his colleagues write, "energy use decreases by 13 and 12% and greenhouse gas footprints by 17 and 24%, for poly- and monocrystalline based photovoltaic systems, respectively." This means that solar panels now return more energy than American oil: an average energy-return on energy-invested of around 14 (and rising) versus around 11 (and falling).
This is excellent news not just for rich Californians but for the developing world, where "solar lanterns and rooftop photovoltaics are becoming the energy of choice", so Bloomberg reported. In India, "the millions not connected to the grid may never connect" now, dooming much coal to be stranded underground in the process. The cumulative market of new Indian households accessing small-scale energy is potentially 200 gigawatts, with only a tiny fraction currently served.
In Myanmar the government needs no further persuasion: it announced plans to bring solar to all as soon as 2030.
The technical advances in batteries and electric vehicles also became ever clearer in December. "Diesel faces global crash as electric cars shine", the Financial Times announced. According to a UBS report, this whole category of oil use will be gone from the global market within ten years.
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The positives of EVs synergise with the negatives of air pollution to create a perfect storm for diesel. At the C40 cities summit, Paris, Mexico City, Madrid and Athens all vowed to ban diesel vehicles by 2025. In China, the worst air pollution this year put 24 cities on red alert, with schools shut and flights grounded. Half a billion people were affected by this "airpocalypse". In Chengdu, protestors took to the streets, putting smog masks on statues in the city centre. A heavy handed response by the police suggested that the government is super-sensitive to this issue.
Which is not to say that the Chinese authorities aren't trying to abate the problem at source. I have summarised their rapid advances in renewables in earlier monthly reports. This month, a presentation in London by Zhang Gang, Counsellor of the State Council of China, revealed that China's efforts to use electricity more efficiently, cutting the need for coal, now involve 317 million smart meters in operation across 100% of urban areas and 70% of rural areas. These are hooked up in smart co-ordination, spanning all aspects of grids, at all scales, in a vast project involving 230 million users. Part of this co-ordination involves China's first expressway fast-charging EV network, stretching for 1,262 km between Beijing and Shanghai.
No other country comes remotely close to this kind of smart-grid deployment. On 12th December, the International Energy Agency issued a report concluding that China's coal fired power plants "make no economic sense". Small wonder.
India is on a similar rapid transition path. On 12th December the Central Electricity Authority announced that India does not need more coal-based capacity addition until 2022. The Authority now plans for non-hydro renewables to meet 43% of electricity as soon as 2027. Such an ambition would have been inconceivable until recently. On 20th, Bloomberg analysed the widening gap between projected and actual demand in the world's third largest emitter, and put their conclusion in an encouraging headline: "India's energy forecasts are falling short and climate could win."
What are investors to make of all this? Well, it is rare for a report to hold the potential to change the world. But one published on 14th December did. The Recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) aim to give investors, lenders and insurers visibility of how climate-change risk will affect individual businesses, and a roadmap for reacting to it. The report presents the results of a year of deliberations by 32 representatives of companies with market capitalisation of $1.5 trillion and financial institutions responsible for assets of $20 trillion. Their intention is for the capital markets to behave consistently with the aims of the Paris Agreement on climate change, which is to say progressively retreat from fossil fuels, and increasingly favour clean-energy investments, not least renewables.
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A reminder of the background. The target of the Paris Agreement, agreed by every independent nation on the planet in December 2015, is to keep global warming at less than 2C. If society is to do that, most reserves of fossil fuel will have to stay underground, unburnt. Since companies view all reserves as having financial value, this means a risk - should governments do what they promised to do in Paris, or some it - of what investors call "stranded assets": having money invested in a resource that you then can't realise. Investing any more money to add to this stock of potentially unburnable reserves creates what can be thought of as a "carbon bubble". The risk of stranded assets is growing with every decision made by fossil-fuel companies to invest in yet more unnecessary fossil fuel projects: new coal mines, new oil and gas fields, new fracking, new fossil fuel power plants, and so on and so on.
The Bank of England awoke to this issue as a systemic risk in September 2015. After listening to arguments by Carbon Tracker, a financial think tank I chair, and other worried financial experts, they came to fear that fossil-fuel asset-stranding would risk wasting a lot of investment capital, and might even threaten global financial stability.
The effort to stop this threat soon went international. The G20's Financial Stability Board set up a taskforce in December 2015 with a brief to specify the information investors need to be provided with in order for them to avoid stranded-asset risk. It is chaired by no less a figure than Michael Bloomberg. As soon as his Task Force's report came out out, more than 30 organisations - including Aviva, Axa, BHP Billiton, JPMorgan and Daimler - announced their support for its conclusions. Many more will surely follow, because the starting point in the TCFD's proposed roadmap is that companies should include climate-related financial disclosures in their public financial filings. Not to do so would be to ignore material risks to organisations, the Task Force professes.
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Those disclosures should span the core elements of how organisations operate: governance, strategy, risk management and the setting of metrics and targets. Crucially, the TCFD advocates, companies should align business models with a 2C future. Remuneration of chief executives and boards should be linked to the extent to which their companies are hitting targets aimed at a sub-2C world.
Even before the Paris Agreement was adopted last year climate risk was high on the agenda of the world's largest institutional investors and asset managers. Resolutions asking oil and gas companies to stress test their business models against a 2C-consistent climate outcome were generally opposed by boards, but received record-high support levels from shareholders. Now there will be no hiding place. The TCFD report provides a template for best practices and a road map for better disclosure. Neither fossil fuel companies nor asset managers investing in them will easily be able to ignore it.
Some investors have not waited for the G20 Task Force's advice. By the time of the December 2015 Paris climate summit, investment funds with collective assets of $3.4 trillion had either divested from all or some fossil fuels, or announced their intention to. This movement has continued to grow in 2016. On 12th December the value of funds divested passed $5 trillion. 80% of the funds involved, spanning 688 institutions, are managed by commercial investment and pension funds. This shows that the campaign is now mainstream in the capital markets. Capital is fleeing fossil fuels just as the fossil fuel industries manoeuvre their capos into the White House for the first time.
What damage can a Trump administration do to this analysis? According to a PWC report this month, the impact they can have on global greenhouse emissions will be "pretty small", if others hold course. With the trends I have chronicled each month in 2016, and the declaration by all governments in Marrakech in November that the Paris process is "irreversible", a holding of course seems a more than a reasonable assumption.
Trying to derail Paris, and revive coal, Trump will have to somehow suppress the progressive American states. His problem is that 33 states and the District of Columbia have cut carbon emissions while expanding their economies since 2000, including some Republican states. How do you persuade officialdom in those states to revert to a failed economic model that seeks essentially to recouple economic growth and fossil fuel use? Fifteen of the states, led by California, New York, Virginia, Vermont and New Mexico, have already told Trump that if he tries to kill US climate plans, they will see him in court.
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How has Big Energy coped on the transition frontier as 2016 came to a close? Two snapshots. The utility industry continues to be split into companies seeking to defend the fast shrinking status quo, and those now rushing to be part of the new world. One of the latter, Engie (formerly GdF Suez) announced that it sees the oil price falling to $10 as a result of current trends in energy markets, and the wave of clean-energy investments it and other major corporates are making. That would be interesting, should it transpire. For example, on 1st December BP gave the green light to a $9bn investment in a deepwater oilfield, rather appropriately named Mad Dog 2, due onstream (cue laughter, based on the industry's record of delivering major projects on time) in 2021. Good luck to them in recouping their investment if Engie's view of the world comes to pass.
My conclusion, as the new year begins, is that the global energy transition is progressing faster than many people think, and is probably irreversible. Trump's prospects of resurrecting coal, and giving the oil and gas industry the expansionist dream ticket most of it wants, are very low.
There is a caveat, of course: that he doesn't manage to blunder into a world war. All bets would be off then.
Planned changes to the rules about faith schools haven't made huge headlines - in fact the announcement was slipped out under the cover of the more obviously controversial grammar school proposal. You may not even know that the UK Government is scrapping a rule that new faith centred free schools have to allow at least some people of other faiths in. Even if you do, it may not sound like a big deal.
When you think "faith schools" you may think of a scattered few Muslim Schools or Jewish Schools - if these aren't religions you follow personally, you might not be too bothered about trying and send your child to one. But a full third of state-funded schools in the UK are faith schools - 68% of those Church of England and 30% Catholic.
Whether you have school-age kids or not, whether you have a faith or not, there are two reasons this might matter to you.
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Because fostering inclusion, diversity and empathy should be priorities, especially right now.
Because children shouldn't be deprived of a quality education because of the personal beliefs of their parents.
Isn't now a time when a united society matters more than ever?
In a Brexit/Trump era tensions and fears are running high. Exactly when promoting inclusion, respecting diversity and fostering empathy should be national priorities, the UK Government is taking a dangerous swerve towards damaging segregation - supposedly to boost social mobility, but that has been strongly contested. If you've not quite had "enough of experts" yet, integration expert Professor Ted Cantle has written powerfully about why this is a big, damaging deal. Also, the Casey Review into "integration and opportunity in isolated and deprived communities" has this month specifically recommended "more integrated schools."
Segregation is damaging for everyone. It's damaging for the minorities who could find themselves excluded from the best schools, but also for the kids with parents of the "right" faith. Wouldn't every child benefit from mixing with a variety of children from a variety of backgrounds? But maybe just as crucially, when we talk of selection based on faith, it has nothing to do with the 5 year old child whose education is at stake. Their future hangs on the personal beliefs of their parents.
Should a child be punished for their parents' beliefs or non-belief?
I happen to be an atheist, in a rural area, where all the surrounding primary schools are CofE. My daughter may well grow up to be religious, but she certainly doesn't know that at 5. At the moment existing faith schools have a wide variety of entry policies, but if the direction the government is moving in continues, where does that lead?
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Would our daughter be denied attending not only a good school, but the local school, because of OUR religion, or lack thereof? A child automatically barred from a state-funded school based on her parent's personal choice? I have always assumed social care in the UK is geared towards protecting children from the actions and choices of their parents, and defending them against discrimination. Why would that be any different in their access to state-funded education?
The last census showed the number of people in the UK with 'no religion' growing fast, but the best performing, sometimes only, local schools are often church schools. If they can select pupils entirely based on a religion you don't adhere to, what are your choices?
To compromise quality, to travel or to lie?
In an area with plenty of schools, you might simply chose a less well-performing school, in a rural area you could travel, and keep travelling, until you hit some distant appropriate school, or you could suck up the religion and just lie about your personal beliefs on the application form.
And plenty of people already do. I would be amazed to hear of any middle-class parent who knew no-one in their peer group that feigned or exaggerated a religious belief to secure the best school place - dragging kids to church throughout their 4th year to prove commitment to a religion they, at best, don't outrightly reject.
This already results in an unnatural skew towards those with the time, resources and determination to put in this kind of effort - a luxury many less advantaged families can't afford, and an option not easily available to people in every culture or ethnic group.
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Is this the direction we want for British education?
tbradford via Getty Images
The holiday season is a time for enjoying good food - sometimes too much food - with friends and family. As we clear out our Christmas trees and look ahead to 2017, we should spare a thought for the farmer who reared the bird or grew our Brussel Sprouts. This year the Government will make big decisions that will determine the shape and cost of future Christmas dinners. A new report from the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee, which I chair, finds that EU has been good for British food, farming and the UK environment. Whatever Brexit eventually means, consumers do not want the Government to negotiate a deal that trades away vital food safety, animal welfare and environmental standards.
Leaving the EU will be the largest administrative and constitutional task since World War Two. Theresa May wants to cut and paste 40 years' worth of EU law - including around 800 pieces of environmental legislation - into UK law. Government cuts mean Defra lost 900 staff in 2014-15, and Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom hinted to us that her department is struggling to cope. She also told my Committee that up to one third of EU legislation that affects food, farming and environmental protection, could be difficult to roll forward into UK law.
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That is why, today, in our report, we are calling on the Government to pass a new Environmental Protection Act before we leave the EU, so that our most treasured natural places and wildlife are protected for future generations.
Brexit carries a triple risk for the UK's farmers and environment. They risk losing Common Agricultural Policy subsidies vital to their livelihoods; being exposed to increased competition and tariffs in new trade deals; and the erosion of the UK's world-leading environmental protections.
The EU's Common Agricultural Policy is one of the most maligned EU policies, but subsidies are vital for the survival of many UK farms. CAP payments make up, on average, 50-60% of farm incomes. CAP supports rural towns and villages, environmentally friendly farming, and helps to keep UK produce on supermarket shelves. The government has guaranteed that basic farm subsidies will be paid until 2020. But in a 2007 blog post, before she was elected, Andrea Leadsom argued that farm subsidies should be abolished. When she gave evidence to my Committee she did not resile from her previous position and refused to guarantee that farm subsidies would continue in any shape after 2020.
Those arguing for a "hard" Brexit say we'd be better off leaving the single market and trading with the rest of the world. But our inquiry found this wouldn't be easy for British farmers. If we leave the single market and fall back on WTO rules we might suddenly find tariffs and extra paperwork hitting our farmers and food producers. Almost all British lamb goes to the European Union, but farmers could face tariffs on those exports if we leave the single market. Coupled with the loss of EU subsidies, this could prove catastrophic for farm businesses.
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The third risk is that, outside the EU, British farmers could face increased competition from countries like Brazil or India with lower food safety, animal welfare and environmental standards. This could lead to pressure for environmental protections to be watered down in the UK. Brexit Secretary David Davis has said the Government "will do anything necessary" to protect the City from Brexit. We heard concerns that food standards and environmental protections could be negotiated away in trade deals, in return for preferential market access for the UK's financial services sector.
These issues were not debated in the heat of the referendum campaign. The evidence is clear: leaving the EU poses profound risks for the future of our countryside, environment, farmers and rural communities. A new Environmental Protection Act is essential to ensure the health and wellbeing of future generations, and to protect the UK's most precious places, plants and wildlife.
At what point does it become passe to keep wishing every friend, relative and stranger we meet a Happy New Year? Now that we are back at work? When the Christmas Tree comes down? (on which note, which one exactly IS the 12th night?) Seriously - it's something I'd really like to know.
Anyway. Happy or not, it is unmistakably a new year. I know this because I watched Jools Holland on TV, lit sparklers the one night of the year besides Guy Fawkes that it's appropriate, and recreated 'Fenton!!!!!' in Richmond Park the following day. Late in the day, natsch - I saw 2016 out (good riddance, quite frankly) with a small selection of my closest friends and a very large, irresponsibly champagne-fuelled buffet.
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Introducing Coco to Rodney the Reindeer pre-walk (Picture: Blogger's Own)
When I woke up on the first day of 2017, my Australian friend Jaimee (her heritage is of no relevance tbf) made me a brunch of oven chips and ketchup with a side of roast potatoes in bed and announced she was going Vegan for Jan. Veganuary. Apparently that's a thing. I am not joining her. I am, however, doing dry January-from-the-3rd. Because really I'd already drunk champagne at midnight on the 1st, and the 2nd seemed too soon.
They're not exactly resolutions, more challenges, but the sentiment is similar. The trouble with resolutions and such like, though, is that they can be overly big-picture, and thus hard to achieve. So this year, I've set myself some more practical, realistic goals..
Procrastination is key.. (Photo: Blogger's Own)
1.Get organised - Organisation is not my strong point. It's a running joke in my family that I must be the only person to have passed out of Sandhurst and still manage to exist in boarderline chaos. If you're like me, you need a Hello Day planner. It organises literally everything for you, down to monitoring your daily water intake. I'm just getting started with it, but it seems fairly organisational-fool-proof.
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2.Stick to a routine - I'm sure I'm not alone in the lament that it's difficult to have routine when you're freelance. Because I am a little bit lazy, the call of my OnePiece is sometimes too great to ignore if there isn't something I really need to do. This year, I'm setting myself a wake-up time and a schedule. Next I just need to fight the snooze button..
3.Prioritise happiness - Obvious to some, but it's been a slow dawning on me just how important happiness is. I've always been quick to write it off as an unneceary extra, but actually I found toward the end of the year that being in a positive headplace means that I am so, much more productive, pro-active and focused.
Little dogs and Parajumpers coats make me happy. That counts, right?... (Photo: Blogger's Own)
4.Eat positively - When I was in Bali, the temptation was huge to break my gluten-free regime and binge on tasty treats. By day five it was getting me down that everyone else could eat things I couldn't, and frankly it was pretty much all I could think about. It was the elephant in the room of my head. Then I found a gluten-free place called Shelter Cafe. The menu was so varied and the dishes so beautifully colourful that I was no longer focused on the negative of having to be gluten-free, but on the positive of being exposed to such enjoyable food.
5.Listen body cues - I am pretty militant with my fitness, and have a tendency to take workouts too far, particularly when I'm stressed. Towards the end of last year, I started training at Duo Chelsea, and am learning about the different muscle groups and skilful ways of increasing performance rather than just punishing my body. I've even started stretching post-training. Acknowledging the need to work on something as subtle as flexibility is a huge step for me.
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(Photo: Blogger's Own)
Barcelona is an incredible city. From the hipster neighbourhoods and the graffiti walls of El Carmel to Gaudi's distinctive architecture and the beautiful beaches of Barceloneta, this cosmopolitan capital is bursting with things to see and do. Without a doubt, it's got something for everyone. And you won't have to go far to find your perfect place to eat, drink, shop or sightsee. It's rather impossible to have a bad time within the city. But some of the best advice you'll ever get is to travel a little further out. Because in the outskirts and surrounding region of Barcelona, you'll discover some incredible gems. Here are 5 places near Barcelona that will blow your mind...
1. Siurana
This spectacular village is just over 2 hour's drive from the city and it's worth a visit for anyone who loves the great outdoors. It's a paradise for hikers, climbers and walkers alike and the views are like something out of a fairy tale. It's also a great place to visit for wine lovers, with many small family-run wineries in the area which have developed international recognition. With an incredible natural landscape and the most picturesque hill top panoramas, Siurana is not to be missed.
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"Siurana, esglesia" by Miquel Colomer Planaguma is licensed under CC BY 2.0
2. Sitges
If you've chosen Barcelona as your holiday destination for its great mix of city and beach, a day trip to the old fishing town of Sitges is perfect for you. Located further south along the coast from Barcelona, it's easy to get to and there's a choice of 17 beautiful beaches for sun seekers. There are also 3 gay beaches and a choice of mixed / nudist beaches as well as some more secluded spots for couples or families.
"Sitges Seawall" by Valerie Hinojosa is licensed under CC BY 2.0
3. Tarragona
Another 40 minutes from Sitges is the fantastic seaside city of Tarragona. Perfect for a daytrip or an alternative base to Barcelona, Tarragona is a destination that has it all. It boasts great weather and long hours or sunshine, glorious beaches that are never overcrowded with picturesque spots to sunbathe, countless historic monuments and UNESCO World Heritage Sites to check out, plus some of the best tapas bars in the Catalonia region. For food that will really blow your mind, don't miss the Tarragona dTapes Festival every April.
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"Tarragona, Spain" by Juan Antonio F. Segal is licensed under CC BY 2.0
4. Figueres
For Dali fans, it really doesn't get better than the small city of Figueres. The small but exciting capital of the comarca of Alt Emporda in the province of Girona, this charming destination has a number of unmissable attractions. The Salvador Dali Theatre-Museum is the most famous attraction; a place where art lovers will get to see some of the Spanish surrealist artist's finest works. Also not to be missed are Sant Ferran Castle, Museu del Joguet de Catalunya, Museu De L'Emporda, and the Iglesia de San Pedro.
"Dali Theatre-Museum @ Figueres" by Momo is licensed under CC BY 2.0
5. Olot
To get away from the hustle and bustle of Catalonia's cities and for views that will make you never want to leave, visit the stunning mountain town of Olot. Set in the foothills of the Pyrenees, visitors can enjoy a slow pace of life along with the town's rich history and culture. The architecture is truly elegant and nature lovers will fall in love with the lush green surroundings.
Media have been buzzing over the New Year's holiday break with news that China has declared publicly that it's going out of the ivory business: closing down carving factories and domestic ivory markets. Reports even go so far as to suggest that the Chinese government will help retrain ivory carvers. Ivory may finally become a relic of a painful and destructive age of commodifying wildlife, and elephants may be spared widespread regional extinction if China can implement its 2017 ban on ivory within the year, as planned.
Congratulations, and thank you to China.
The Obama Administration deserves thanks, as well. It has been in discussions with the Chinese government for some time, pushing for equal measures to stop the trade in ivory. As two of the top consumers of wildlife generally and ivory specifically, action by the U.S. and China to demonstrably reduce domestic commercialization of elephant ivory could send a message to the world--most notably across Africa--that the ivory business is dead. If the ivory business is dead, then elephant poaching is no longer a lucrative enterprise. Elephants have a fighting chance. Better to kill the ivory trade than kill elephants to supply the ivory trade.
I used to wonder aloud why Japan insisted on pushing so hard to legalize commercial whaling and to commercialize whale meat at meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). There was little appetite globally for whale meat. The government was even thought to provide whale meat from scientific whaling endeavors free to schools to help children develop a taste for it.
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What a great message it would send for Japan's diplomats to simply say, "We're done. We're no longer pushing to kill whales for their meat because we realize it's unnecessary and cruel." A massive public relations victory.
But, they did not do this. They simply, quietly, stopped submitting proposals to trade in whale meat.
China has clearly taken a different position. It has made this proclamation public and sent a message that it's time to stop elephant poaching. We have to hope that China remains true to this commitment. We have to hope that it enforces its new ivory prohibition. If it does, elephants have a fighting chance.
But, we also must not be complacent about China's relationship with other wild animals. This declaration against ivory consumption says nothing of stopping the demand for rhino horn, which causes the poaching of rhinos in South Africa and elsewhere. It does not close the bear factories in the country where animals are kept in cages so small they cannot turn around, perpetually "milked" for their bile and killed for their gallbladders, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine and luxury cosmetic items. It does not close the tiger farms where animals are bred and languish only until they are slaughtered for their bones, organs, skins, and teeth, which seep into the domestic market.
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I believe in credit where credit is due. In the past year, the U.S. and China have committed to doing much more to curtail their domestic ivory markets. Kudos to both for keeping their promises. The eyes of the world now watch closely to see if China delivers on its promise.
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
We live in a time of Rupture. First, the sundering of the United States in an unconscionable act of hate, towards American ideals and the American people, on Election Day. Second, the Rupture within the American Jewish community, completing a division that had been growing for a decade but which has been finalized these past two weeks at the end of the Obama administration. I will discuss the latter today.
Two weeks ago, the United Nations Security Council passed resolution 2334, with a vote of 14-0 and the United States abstaining. The abstention was a surprise to some, but not to others. The vote was followed the next week by Secretary Kerry's speech in favor of the two-state solution and with harsh words for the current Israeli government which has been blatantly acting against its promises to advance that solution.
I spent over two weeks in Israel and Palestine in November, seeing for myself the facts on the ground, and reading about the continuing efforts of the Netanyahu government to promote and extend the Occupation. The debate over the evacuation of Amona, the bill to legalize all the previously built settlements, small as well as large, and the glee of the extreme right, both within and without the government, on the anticipation of the coming hawkish, Islamophobic government in the United States, all contributed to the sense that there will never be a Palestinian state.
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When asked, Israelis, be they government officials, activists, academics, or the everyday citizen, had no vision for the future. Even some right-wing Knesset members spoke of despair at the creeping annexation, but the lack of creativity and the willingness to take the initiative were depressingly evident. The events of the past two weeks here have made it clear that this country's Jewish community is just as bereft of answers as the Israeli Jewish population, and the division is just as stark.
These are the facts on the ground here. The large majority of Jewish Americans voted for Hillary Clinton and support the two-state solution. These are people who are not naive about the prospects for peace, but who understand that action must be taken, even if risky, to provide for Israel's security as well as remove the stain of a fifty-year occupation. 30% support what used to be the Republican party, and its long history of blindly supporting whatever right-wing coalition was governing Israel.
It wasn't that long ago - one could argue as recently as a decade ago - that American Jews were united in a bipartisan fashion in support of Israel, regardless of the government. Netanyahu's resurrection by deposing Ehud Olmert, ending the last fruitful Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and driving the coalition to the far right began just as the Obama administration did, and with it the racist opposition of the Republican party that continues to this day. But the responses to the UNSC resolution and the Kerry speech were very interesting and highlighted the root problem.
There was the now usual split - right-wing organizations criticized the actions, the more extreme ones calling the vote anti-Semitic and worse, trashing the U. N. and personalizing the attacks against the President when the U.S. did nothing more than reiterate what every administration since 1967 has said. That's plain to see if you bother to read the Resolution and then Ambassador Powers' words along with Secretary Kerry's. Those organizations on the left, like J Street, praised the administration for making a clear statement to its long-time friend, with whom it recently concluded a $38 billion-dollar aid package. Basically, friends tell their friends the truth, even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts.
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But many people I know, particularly those in the center, criticized the American abstention and statements as being one-sided, despite the resolution calling out Palestinian terrorism. True, it didn't specify Palestinian terrorism, but it was obvious that was its intent. Putting that nuance aside, it was the clearest and most balanced statement about the conflict and its potential resolution, and was right in line with the agreements nearly finalized over the past fifteen years. Yes, it was the Palestinians who balked at the last minute on signing those agreements, but it was Israel which has the power and the ability to act in a way that would induce the Palestinians to finally sign an agreement.
One criticism from a respected friend in the Maryland civil rights movement was that the U.S. action would only serve to encourage the Palestinians to continue working through the U.N. and the International Criminal Court. True, but that assumes that Israel has any interest in negotiating a settlement, which is arguable at best. It also unfairly criticizes the Palestinians for using the United Nations when the Jews of the Yishuv did just that in 1947 to gain their statehood. If it was acceptable for Israel, why shouldn't it be for Palestine as well?
That American Jews still feel threatened by a clear condemnation of Israeli policy and the fifty-year occupation is evidence to me that the fear-mongering of the Right in the U.S. has been effective. When one cannot handle criticism from a friend, as was the case with Netanyahu lashing out against those nations which voted for the Resolution by threatening economic ties and basically doing the BDS movement's job for it, you can infer that there is a great deal of either shame or guilt at work. As one who did not really begin to pay close attention to the conflict until a few years ago, I am sympathetic to the difficulty in dealing with a reality to which you've been willfully blind for half a century.
Today an Israeli court announced its guilty verdict in the manslaughter case of Elor Azaria, the IDF medic who decided to shoot a Palestinian attacker in the back of the head while he lay prone and unmoving on the ground. A medic, mind you, which shows how far the deterioration of ethics has gone in Israeli society. This verdict highlights the rupture in Israeli society, analogous to that of the American Jewish community and the United States in general. The center is not holding anymore.
It's a shame that after so long, when the Israelis who've administered the occupied territories and run counterintelligence for all those decades have all called for an end to the Occupation, there isn't any civil, mature discussion about the current policies and their consequences, both here and in Israel. Like our refusal to engage the global crisis of global warming, by the time we get around to surrendering to reality the price may already be too high for a rational resolution.
By Jeremy Adam Smith
It was a great year for the Greater Good Science Center's Education program. Hundreds of teachers attended our annual Summer Institute for Educators, and we reached hundreds of thousands more through workshops, talks, partnerships, and, of course, articles in Greater Good magazine. Here's our list of the twelve best, based on a composite ranking of pageviews and editors' picks.
How to Help Diverse Students Find Common Ground, by Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu: What are the principles that promote a truly inclusive university? Here are eight.
The Trouble with Trigger Warnings, by Mariah Flynn: Can educators warn students about troubling content without discouraging class participation? Here are some tips.
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Four Ways Teachers Can Reduce Implicit Bias, by Jill Suttie: We're all subject to bias. Here are tips to help teachers treat all of their students with dignity and care.
How to Bring SEL to Students with Disabilities, by David Lichtenstein: Social-emotional learning programs have not traditionally targeted students with psychiatric or developmental disabilities. Here's why they should.
Why We Should Teach Empathy to Preschoolers, by Shuka Kalantari: One Berkeley preschool is baking empathy into its curriculum--and for good reason.
How Teachers Can Help Students Who Fail in Class to Succeed at Life, by Mark Katz: There are people who got bad grades but grew up to be successful adults, says Mark Katz. What's their secret--and how can schools help?
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Why Don't Students Take Social-Emotional Learning Home?, by Vicki Zakrzewski: New research suggests we need to take account of how diverse groups of students view and apply SEL skills.
What if Schools Taught Kindness? by Laura Pinger and Lisa Flook: Lessons from creating a "kindness curriculum" for young students.
How to Stop the Culture of Complaining at Schools, by Owen Griffith: Fourth-grade teacher Owen Griffith offers practical ways to turn schools and classrooms into no-complaint zones.
Five Ways to Help Misbehaving Kids, by Stuart Shanker: Bad behavior is often a sign that children are stressed--and punishment isn't the best solution.
By Kira M. Newman
If your life were a movie, where would the plot be headed right now?
You may not be immortalized in film anytime soon, but your life is still a story. According to psychologists, we all have an internalized narrative that explains how we became the person we are today and where we are headed tomorrow. Like any Hollywood blockbuster, this narrative has settings, scenes, a plot, characters, and themes.
As we ponder resolutions for the coming year, New Year's can also be a time to reflect on our life story--and to figure out how everything fits together. Incorporating our goals into the larger narrative of our life can give us more energy to pursue them, and to become the person we want to be.
The science of the life story
Storytelling starts in childhood, as kids narrate events to their parents. Their stories--fragmented, short, and sometimes seemingly pointless--are more than just cute. They reflect a struggle to master this innately human form of communication; children's efforts also reveal just how cognitively demanding it is. Parents help this process along by asking questions about causes, effects, and emotions, implicitly teaching kids what makes a good story.
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Adolescents improve by leaps and bounds in their storytelling ability, but they don't quite perfect the art. In fact, at least one study says our stories become more and more coherent through our 20's. The ability to integrate our stories around a common theme--more on that below--continues improving even into our 40's. Stories are the way we make sense of the world, and we're constantly narrating and revising in our heads, sometimes without even realizing it.
Although our life story is based on actual events, it is also highly personal and subjective. The same life could be narrated many ways; we might hone in on our parents' divorce and how it colored everything that followed, or downplay the divorce and instead highlight an exemplary college career.
"Creating any kind of a story is a construction. It's not just finding something that's out there," says Northwestern professor Dan McAdams, a pioneer in the field of narrative psychology. "Selves create stories, which in turn create selves."
Not only do stories tell us who we are, but they can also become resources we draw upon in times of difficulty: Recalling stories of strength or resilience helps us confront new challenges, reminding us of how we solved problems in the past. Telling stories can connect us with others, creating intimacy and strengthening relationships. The best stories provide meaning and purpose by linking seemingly random events and experiences into a progressive journey.
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Three common life themes
Studying stories is not easy, since every person's life is so unique. In their quest to categorize and correlate, researchers have come up with different ways to analyze life stories, and one of those ways is by theme.
A theme is a common motivational thread or pattern that runs through a life story. The three themes detailed below--communion, agency, and redemption--have all been linked to well-being. If you want to cultivate happiness in the coming year, organizing your goals and your life story around one of these themes could help the pieces fall into place.
1. Communion. Stories that emphasize connection, love, friendship, intimacy, caring, or belonging embody the theme of communion. For example, in a 2013 paper, one participant focused on her supportive relationships when recalling a particular memory: "I was warm, surrounded by friends and positive regard that night. I felt unconditionally loved."
In a 2004 study, 125 undergrads filled out personality surveys and then wrote about ten scenes from their life story, including a morality scene and a decision scene. Researchers analyzed these scenes for different themes, including the theme of communion. The more this theme showed up in their writing, the more extraverted and agreeable the students tended to be--two traits that are associated with high happiness.
2. Agency. If some stories emphasize social connection, others emphasize achievement, self-mastery, empowerment, status, and influence. "I challenge myself to the limit academically, physically, and on my job. Since that time [of my divorce], I have accomplished virtually any goal I set for myself," a different participant wrote in that 2013 study. When describing their experience in therapy, people who tell stories with a stronger agency theme tend to have higher well-being.
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The distinction between communion and agency doesn't simply boil down to a focus on relationships or work, though. Remember, stories are subjective, and so are themes. If I started a meetup group, I could choose to look at that as an entrepreneurial act of leadership or the pursuit of deeper connection. Each lens would have a different impact on my sense of self, and my life story.
3. Redemption. The theme of redemption, perhaps the most well-studied in narrative psychology, exists when something bad is mitigated or transformed by the good that follows. Stories of redemption are sad stories with a happy ending: We've grown or learned something, or simply recovered; perhaps we choose to see the whole experience as a form of loving sacrifice.
In a 2001 paper, University of Missouri professor Laura King quotes the parent of a disabled child telling a story of redemption. The story concludes:
I know my daughter is quite special. It's as if she's part of another race or from another planet. She's definitely wired differently. And I think those wires are hooked directly to God. She's the closest I've come to an angel on Earth.
In another 2001 study, researchers interviewed 74 adults about their life story. During a two-hour conversation, participants described a variety of scenes from their lives, including a high point, a low point, a turning point, their earliest memory, and important scenes from childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. When their stories were analyzed, the results showed that participants who tended to tell more stories of redemption also reported higher life satisfaction. Redemptive stories were more strongly linked to life satisfaction than stories involving positive emotions, so it wasn't just redemption's happy ending that made people feel better.
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"A [redemptive] story suggests hope and progress in life and may thus confer on the storyteller a general coping advantage," the researchers write. It may become a self-fulfilling prophecy, whether the positive interpretation was initially true or not: In a 2013 study, alcoholics who said their last drinking episode improved them in some way (making them stronger or more motivated) were more likely to be sober and in better health four months later.
In middle age, people who tell redemptive stories also tend to display more altruism, or "generativity": acts such as volunteering, mentoring, civic activity, parenting, and teaching.
More evidence is needed before researchers conclude that particular life stories cause people to become happier, but they suspect it's a kind of loop: Emphasizing certain life themes leads to happiness, but it's also the case that happier people are more likely to highlight certain themes, and to become even happier.
How goals fit into your life story
In reading about these themes, you might find yourself gravitating toward one of them. Perhaps you're prioritizing relationships at this point in your life, or you're struggling to overcome trauma.
"The trick really is identifying the type of theme that will work for you and your life (there's no "one size fits all" solution here)," says UC Riverside professor Will Dunlop.
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So how should your life theme inform your goals for the next year?
The first thing to understand is that goals are part of the tapestry of the life story. "There can be no story without intention," wrote McAdams in 1992. "Further, there can be no intention without story."
As a rule, then, life stories and goals tend to align. In a 2006 study, researchers asked undergrads to describe their goals and their life stories. They found that students with social goals (to meet people or make friends) were more likely to have social life stories--life stories emphasizing the themes of communion and altruism. Goals can even shape which memories we're more likely to recall.
Achieving this kind of integration between goals and life stories will make us more motivated and energized to work toward our aims, says McAdams.
"Goals are crying out or beckoning to be brought into the narrative," he says. "There's this ongoing story about life, and if a goal is worthy of being brought into that ongoing narrative, then it's arrived."
When a goal gets integrated into our life story, "it raises the stakes," he adds. "It says, 'This is an important thing. My very identity is (to a certain extent) hinging on success.'" And the more a goal becomes part of our identity, self-determination theory suggests, the more it moves from being extrinsically motivated toward being intrinsically motivated.
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Yet McAdams also points out that a goal may represent a departure from our previous trajectory in life, a kind of transition or turning point--and that can become part of our life story, too. The workaholic who vows to make it home in time for dinner may be shifting from a theme of agency to a theme of communion, for example.
More fake news found every day on The Political Garbage Chute.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- Just a matter of hours after he was rushed from a maximum security prison to a hospital, convicted serial killer Charles Manson was rushed from the hospital across the country to Trump Tower.
"At approximately 3:36am local time," Dr. June Smithson told reporters, "we transferred Mr. Manson from a hospital bed to a helicopter, where he was taken to the airport and put in a private jet. From there, he was flown to Trump Tower."
Dr. Smithson said that the decision to move Manson from the hospital to New York was made "way, way, way above [her] pay grade."
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"We were just told to prep Mr. Manson for a cross-country flight," Smithson said, "and so that's what we did."
The Donald Trump administration, which has been conducting much of its business related to Mr. Trump's transition into power as the president, released a statement acknowledging that Manson had been flown in to meet with them. While not a lot of details about the meeting were given in the statement, the Trump camp did say that Manson was the "kind of person who would fit in on Team Trump" in the statement, and it was implied that his presence was requested by one man in particular.
"Steve Bannon had requested the chance to meet Mr. Manson," the statement read, "because he shares an affinity for German symbols of the 1930s and 1940's with Charles and he wanted to pick his brain about how Mr. Manson would handle certain issues facing America today."
Later, reporters in the press pool caught Trump as he was leaving Trump Tower and managed to ask him a couple questions about Charles Manson's invitation for a visit.
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"I want to be inclusive, okay? Very inclusive," Trump told the media, "because we've had eight years of a guy who, unless you did that whole uber-PC thing where you can't even say the N word half jokingly, or call fags faggots anymore, you weren't let in. So exclusionary, right? So divisive. It's like he was saying, 'If you don't accept that society has moved on and certain things aren't cool by and large anymore, then you're not welcome here.' Well, I'm welcoming to everyone, even if -- no, especially if -- those people may or may not have wanted to start a race war."
Speaking in front of a local bookstore in his town, David Duke -- the former KKK Grand Wizard and congressman from Louisiana -- told the crowd and a handful of reporters there that inviting Manson to speak with him was a "stroke of Trump geniuus, no doubt about it." Duke said it gave him hope that he too would get an audience with Mr. Trump at some point in the next four years to "discuss what to do about all the uppity blacks, semi-blacks, and black lovers."
"No," Trump told reporters when asked if Manson would be offered a job in his administration, "I don't think that would be right of us to give Chuck a job. We have a lot of other white supremacists' applications ahead of his, and I'd hate to be accused of playing favorites with my racist friends, know what I mean? Steve just wants to hire him as his own personal adviser."
As he was being wheeled away on a hospital gurney, reporters managed to get a couple questions off to Manson, who answered as best as he could from the bed.
Taeyang of BIGBANG performs on the stage during a concert at the K-Collection In Seoul on March 11, 2012 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo : Getty Images/Chung Sung-Jun)
Dispatch has been the number source for the latest dating news on South Korean celebrities. In the past years, the news outlet has been the first to break some of the biggest dating news. Every year on Jan. 1, Dispatch ushers in the new year with the fresh scoop on a new celebrity couple. However, breaking its tradition, Dispatch is reportedly not revealing any dating news this year.
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Dispatch has never failed to deliver fresh dating news year after year, complete with photos of the couple and statement from sources close to the situation. It came as a surprise to its loyal patrons when the news outlet did not release anything for the new year.
According to Koreaboo, readers of Dispatch inquired about the lack of news through its Facebook page. In response to the question, Dispatch wrote, "The country is in the middle of impeachment. The attention of Korea must be on President Park Geun Hye and Choi Soon Sil, their parties and the traitors of the country. Our country's politics need to be the center of focus more than ever."
Dispatch explained that the current national issue and political scandal concerning President Park Geun Hye and Choi Soon Sil is the news outlet's primary focus at the moment. The news outlet added that they will release a new dating scoop once the time is right.
Year after year, Dispatch has proven itself the leader of delivering celebrity dating news. The outlet has proven itself to be truly credible. Some of the celebrity couples revealed by Dispatch include Choiza and Sulli. The outlet was the first to release photos of the couple going on a date.
Dispatch was also the first to break dating news about Sooyoung and Jung Kyung Ho, and YoonA and Lee Seung Gi.
Hello Kpop reported that Dispatch was also the one who released exclusive photos of Taeyang and Min Hyo Rin going out on a date. The photo showed the couple walking while holding hands in the Hannam-dong neighborhood.
The outlet also exposed the relationship of Kim Tae Hee and Rain, and Shin Min Ah and Kim Woo Bin.
Never has a president-elect so roiled American foreign policy before even taking office. On a dizzying range of fronts--Russia, China, Europe, the Middle East-- Donald J. Trump has dissented from longstanding U.S. policy, challenged the outgoing president as he has managed America's international relations, and put in doubt the future of such cornerstones of peaceful international relations as the United Nations and the North Atlantic alliance.
John F. Kennedy did not challenge (nor did he endorse) President Eisenhower's decision to break diplomatic relations with Cuba on the eve of his inauguration in January 1961, which would lock the United States into a half-century of fruitless conflict. Ronald Reagan was content to let President Carter work out whatever accord he could to end the Iranian hostage crisis without second-guessing him. Bill Clinton did not take issue with outgoing President George H.W. Bush's dispatch of U.S. forces to Somalia.
(The one seeming counter-example--Richard Nixon's undermining of President Lyndon B. Johnson's breakthrough effort to launch negotiations halting the war he had escalated in Vietnam--was clandestine rather than public, and undertaken before the election, not as president-elect.)
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Strikingly, the one foreign-policy arena where Mr. Trump's post-election moves are arousing bipartisan political resistance in Washington is Russia. Republicans reflexively suspicious of Moscow since cold war days can make common cause with Democrats inclined to blame Vladimir Putin for Hillary Clinton's election loss on the theory that publication of her campaign chairman's emails turned Great Lakes voters against her.
Mr. Trump's breezy dismissal of the measures that U.S. intelligence agencies demanded, and President Obama imposed, in retaliation for Russian hackers' politically calibrated dissemination of the fruits of their espionage has not sat well with the security establishment in Washington. It risks strengthening the headwinds against confirmation of his idiosyncratic choice of Rex Tillerson for secretary of State.
A new "reset" of U.S.-Russian relations, more durable than the improvement Barack Obama fostered early in his presidency with Russia's then-president Dmitri Medvedev, would of course be desirable. The stubborn question with Russia resets has always been, on what terms? Arguably, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman could have maintained harmonious relations with Moscow if they had turned a blind eye to Stalin's imposition of communist regimes in eastern Europe, which they did not have the power to prevent; but American public opinion would not be so quiescent.
Perhaps Mr. Trump would forge a cooperative relationship with Mr. Putin based on U.S. disengagement from promoting democracy in former Soviet states, from maneuvering its favorites into their governments, or from extending NATO ties to them. Maybe U.S. deference to Moscow's repugnant revival of discredited notions of "spheres of influence" would do the trick. Still, it is not just Washington interventionists but Europeans across the spectrum who would resist acquiescing in Mr. Putin's blatant ruptures of international law--such as the seizure of Crimea and creation of Russian enclaves in eastern Ukraine.
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A close embrace of Mr. Putin will prove hard politically for Mr. Trump to sustain at home. Nor is it likely to translate into a successful U.S.-Russian international condominium. Russia is, after all, an economically and demographically declining power, and Mr. Putin is notably unable to rally support in international institutions for his agenda. His one occasional ally on the U.N. Security Council, China, is the real rising power--with which the U.S. president-elect chose gratuitously to pick an early fight.
Mr. Trump's outreach to the Chinese republic on Taiwan, now governed by an independence-minded Taiwanese party, may stir nostalgia among some Republican elders, but has little political traction in Washington and scant resonance with the American public. On the other hand, it does upend four decades of U.S. policy, policy that arguably opened the door to a global economic surge and put an end to enmities that had drawn Americans into two major wars in Asia. Yet even as Mr. Trump has signaled indifference to China's political relevance, he seemed to expect it should compel its North Korean ally to knuckle under to international demands for an end to its nuclear weapons program.
The incoming president will, however, resist pressure on a U.S. ally that Chinese diplomats sometimes cite as a mirror image of theirs. During this pre-inaugural period the president-elect has completed his metamorphosis from the one candidate in the Republican primaries who would "be a neutral guy" and "deal-maker" between Israelis and Palestinians--in fact, the candidate booed by Republican Jewish donors for not declaring Jerusalem the "undivided capital of Israel"-- into a full-throated advocate of Israeli expansion into occupied Arab territories. By the end of 2016 Mr. Trump would choose a militant advocate of the settlement enterprise as U.S. ambassador to Israel--in fact, his own personal lawyer whose expertise, without intended irony, is bankruptcy.
In his most overt transition-period challenge to President Obama, the president-elect complied with an extraordinary request by Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu to call publicly on the president to veto a U.N. resolution reiterating Security Council (and U.S. government) calls across four decades for a halt to Israeli settlement construction. Bristling at yet another hostile intrusion into U.S. politics by the redoubtable Netanyahu, Mr. Obama ordered a U.S. abstention, and Security Council Resolution 2334 won unanimous adoption.
Shoot the messenger. "As to the U.N.," the president-elect responded, "things will be different after Jan. 20th." Whatever Mr. Trump might have in mind, a trio of Southern Republican senators would make concrete. South Carolina's Lindsey Graham sees the Israeli settlements as the wedge issue that can "create a backlash in Congress against the United Nations" and revive the hoary practice of nonpayment of U.S. dues, which had dogged American diplomacy at the United Nations in the 1980s and '90s.
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Of course, it was not "the U.N." but 14 states that voted for the resolution, and none of the 14 states--not Russia or China, not France or Britain, not Japan or Spain or any other of them--would feel any pain from U.S. nonpayment of U.N. assessments.
If the point of the president-elect's congressional partisans is to alter these other countries' critical views of Mr. Netanyahu's Jewish settlements, it misses its target. "The U.N." may have to withdraw peacekeepers from areas of deadly conflict, but it is Senator Graham's departing governor Nikki Haley, Mr. Trump's designated U.N. ambassador, who may find herself holding the bag, isolated and discredited in both New York and Washington.
Then again, perhaps that is the point. And does Team Trump wonder why he will enter the presidency with unprecedented lack of public confidence in his ability to handle international crises?
NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 06: President-elect Donald Trump pauses to briefly speak to the media at Trump Tower on December 6, 2016 in New York City. Potential members of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet have been meeting with him and his transition team of the last few weeks. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The billionaires and millionaires who white "working-class" people (we're told) voted overwhelmingly to put in charge of Washington have already signaled they intend to use the power of the federal government to wage class warfare against their constituents. The Republican assault on the social safety net will go far beyond repealing the Affordable Care Act and is already taking aim at Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Representative Tom Price, the Georgia Republican who Trump nominated to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, has a long history in Congress trying to roll back these vital social insurance programs. In a recent speech, Price voiced his displeasure with the "small number of automatic spending programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, which are not subject to annual appropriations." He wants to turn these insurance programs that are funded by payroll taxes with workers and employers both contributing, into "welfare" programs that his department and the Republican Congress can systematically dismantle.
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On the campaign trail, Trump assured voters he would defend Social Security knowing that calls for gutting it are extremely unpopular even in Trumpland. Millions of struggling working-class Americans depend on Social Security for a lifeline. And since more children are living with their grandparents privatizing it will be like stealing from the elderly, disabled, orphans and children all at the same time.
Trump's promises contradict the draconian budgets that Price, who chaired the Budget Committee, and House Speaker Paul Ryan have put forward in recent years. There might be an area of disagreement between Trump, Price, and Ryan on Social Security. But as with everything else, we can't trust a word that comes out of any of their mouths
The harmony among Trump and the 115th Congress comes in their quest to de-regulate every corporate special interest they can get away with including banks and credit card companies, food and drug companies, oil and gas companies, Internet Service Providers, and so on and on, leaving workers and consumers to fend for themselves.
In an era when we've seen predatory behavior from corporations like Mylan (with its Epipen price gouging) and Wells Fargo (with its fraudulent accounts ripping off unwitting customers), and numerous other examples (including the massive Wall Street fraud that produced the meltdown of 2008), the Republicans' ideological commitment to vague notions of "deregulation" as a panacea for our economic woes is as stubborn as ever.
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When the economy is in a downturn the Republicans say "times are bad we must cut taxes and deregulate"; when the economy is growing and unemployment is relatively low, they say "times are good we must cut taxes and deregulate." It's pure ideology.
The last time around when the Republicans controlled the House, the Senate, and the presidency (2003-2007) they cut taxes while launching wars that cost a trillion dollars, doubled the national debt, gave away $400 billion to their big donors among pharmaceutical companies, and presided over the worst financial crisis and recession since the Great Depression. The longest serving Republican House Speaker in U.S. history (Dennis Hastert) was later convicted for illegal pay-outs to hide his pedophilia, and Majority Leader Tom DeLay and his friend Jack Abramoff redefined the meaning of "influence peddling" on K Street.
Today, the 115th Congress is gearing up to enact the same misguided policies that failed the country so miserably under George W. Bush -- but this time on steroids. Overreach is baked into their ideology. They simply cannot contain their greed.
And the Republicans' blind hatred of everything Obama and their zeal to undo everything he accomplished over the past eight years might lead them to discover at some point that the first black president they loathed so much put in place some smart policies that lowered the costs of health care, stabilized the federal budget, and kept us out wars.
In 2016, the Republicans brought us a new reality. "Gaslighting" became institutionalized. Instead of having a public debate about the ideas of the candidates and realistically parsing their policy proposals we got bizarre denials of fact and Big Lies that boomeranged back into the discourse in ways that challenged reality itself. One thing we've learned from the Trump juggernaut is that lying works, and lying bigly works even better.
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As with the run-up to the Iraq War in 2002 the corporate news media in 2016, cable news shows, the networks, and even major news outlets, proved totally unequipped to deal with the new order of things or defend the norms of democratic governance. The editor of the Wall Street Journal has even given up trying to fact check Trump's liars and gaslighters giving them an open platform for their propaganda; no Edward R. Murrows there.
When Beltway reporters allow powerful people to come on their shows and lie to them with impunity, and then leave it to their viewers to sort out fact from fiction, we see how low American political "journalism" has sunk. Those in power labor tirelessly to deconstruct our political reality and corporate news media have been their greatest enablers. The same business model that motivated those Macedonian teens who flooded pro-Trump sites with false stories for click bait and eyeballs also animates Jeff Zucker at CNN, Leslie Moonves at CBS, and Rupert Murdoch at Fox.
There is one area that might allow for a little pushback against the lies and gaslighting and that's the courts, law schools, and the legal system generally. Despite the inherent injustices between rich and poor in the justice system it still largely exists in the fact-based world. Lawyers can twist and misinterpret the law and the meaning of words but it's much harder to gaslight or to outright lie. In fact, there's even a crime called perjury to dissuade people from lying in court.
A court even forced Trump to pay out $25 million to settle the fraud case involving his bogus for-profit eponymous "University." Trump's lawyers didn't try to gaslight their way out of his fraud case - they chose to settle. And Trump's usual tactic of smearing people who challenge him as he did with Judge Gonzalo Curiel failed to make the case disappear.
For now, the legal system still functions in the world of facts largely because a lot of rich and powerful people and corporations need it to function that way. How else could Disney or ExxonMobil or Apple or JPMorgan Chase protect their bottom lines, their property and patent rights, their contracts and business dealings if the courts partook in the same kind of crazy-making and gaslighting PR departments and Trump surrogates engage in every day?
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photo: Ed Juillard
1/1/2017
This New Year's Eve, 750 heavy wooden crosses were distributed to a gathering of Chicagoans commemorating the victims of gun violence killed in 2016. Rev. Michael Pfleger and the Faith Community of St. Sabina Parish had issued a call to carry crosses constructed by Greg Zanis. The crosses, uniform in size, presented the name and age and, in many cases, a facial photo of the person killed. Some who carried the crosses were relatives of the people killed. As the group assembled, several sobbed upon finding the crosses that bore the names and photos of their loved ones.
Those carrying the heavy crosses along Chicago's "Magnificent Mile" of high end shops and restaurants knew that other arms than theirs were aching...aching with longing for loved ones who would never return. In 2016, more people were killed in Chicago by gun violence than in New York City and Los Angeles combined. The number killed represented a 58% increase over the number killed in 2015. "How could this happen?" - was the question asked on the front page of the Chicago Tribune.
It was a year of social service program shutdowns driven by the Governor's office in Springfield. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's description of a triplet of giant evils, each insoluble in isolation from the others, helps us identify an answer to the Tribune's question. King spoke of the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism. Training for, and the diversion of money to, wars overseas was a crisis inextricable from the race crisis at home, as were policies promoting radical wealth inequality. Representative Danny Davis, of Chicago, whose grandson was killed by gun violence in 2016, insists that "poverty was fueling the city's bloodshed, and that Chicago needed to make investments 'to revamp whole communities.'"
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Poverty and racism clearly interact: Blacks and Latinos comprise 56% of the incarcerated population, yet only 30% of the U.S. population. A report documenting the rates of incarceration for whites, African Americans, and Hispanics in the Illinois state prison system notes that over half of this prison population is black. For every 100,000 people in the state, 1,533 black people are imprisoned as compared to 174 white people and 282 Hispanic people. The consequences of incarceration affect entire communities: former prisoners are restricted in terms of employment, their families are disrupted, housing becomes unstable, they become disenfranchised, and stigmas persist.
We must also consider gun violence in relation to U.S. militarism. Gun violence in Chicago is condemned, as it should be, and yet a message to every one of the 9,000 Chicago Public School children participating in U.S. military junior ROTC programs is that killing is acceptable if you are following orders. Killing of civilians by the U.S. military is considered regrettable but acceptable "collateral damage". These killings eliminate "high value targets". The mere suspicion of harboring a targeted person in a home, restaurant, or mosque becomes an excuse for an airborne drone attack to execute whole families or communities. Ironically, this policy enacts an airborne version of a drive-by shooting.
Soldiers who have seen combat are less likely to praise the virtues of military life. "The myth is that the military teaches discipline," say the Chicago area Veterans for Peace, in their 'education not militarization' campaign. "The reality is that the military teaches children to follow orders without question and to use the military solution to conflict resolution - that is, death and destruction."
President Obama had tears in his eyes in January, 2016, calling for relief from record breaking shootings and killings in the U.S. Yet 2016 became a record breaking year for U.S. export of weapons to other countries. The U.S. is responsible for nearly 33% of worldwide weapon exports--by far the top arms exporter on the planet.
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"Arms deals are a way of life in Washington," writes William Hartung. "From the president on down, significant parts of the government are intent on ensuring that American arms will flood the global market and companies like Lockheed and Boeing will live the good life. ...American officials regularly act as salespeople for the arms firms. And the Pentagon is their enabler... In its first six years, team Obama entered into agreements to sell more weaponry than any administration since World War II."
Carrying a cross along Michigan Avenue yesterday, I thought of the terrible slaughter in World War I that killed 38 million people. Elites, weapon makers, and war profiteers drove millions of men into the trenches to fight and die in the war that was to end all wars. In 1914, mired in mud, war-weary and miserable, troops on both sides took matters into their own hands. For a brief, yet magnificent time, they enabled the "Christmas truce". One account relates how some German troops began singing one of their carols, and British and other troops then sang a carol from their side. As voices wafted across the no-man's land, troops began calling out to one another.
"Time and again during the course of that day, the Eve of Christmas, there were wafted towards us from the trenches opposite the sounds of singing and merry-making, and occasionally the guttural tones of a German were to be heard shouting out lustily, 'A happy Christmas to you Englishmen!' Only too glad to show that the sentiments were reciprocated, back would go the response from a thick-set Clydesider, 'Same to you, Fritz, but dinna o'er eat yourself wi' they sausages!'"
"The high command on both sides took a dim view of the activities and orders were issued to stop the fraternizing with varying results. In some areas, the truce ended Christmas Day in others the following day and in others it extended into January."
Dr. King said, "Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit, and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism." The soldiers in those trenches went out into their no-man's land and showed the world one way to end wars. They should never have had to. It was left to them to venture into the no-man's land, risking exposure to the others' fire and their generals' punishment for disobeying orders.
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No matter what gang is issuing the orders to kill, whether a massive military power or a smaller group that has acquired weapons, we can all claim our right not to develop, store, sell or use weapons. We can claim our right not to kill and not to live with the memory of having killed. "Declaring eternal hostility" to the fear, greed and hate which are our real enemies seems to be our true hope. We can lay aside forever the futility of killing. We can be hopeful and determined that our resources and ingenuity are directed toward meeting human needs.
Nacho's Story
Last March when I visited the Vermont school where Nacho had been raised by an elementary teacher, I encountered one of the more startling moments of my partnership with this extraordinary guide dog. I was delivering an emotional convocation to students and staff, expressing gratitude for their hand in raising Nacho. As we'd done often for convocations, Nacho and I were apart with me at the podium in the middle of the gym and Nacho in the hallway waiting for the moment when he would be released to charge across the gym floor and into my arms.
This time, though, instead of running to me when released, Nacho ran straight to the place where he had sat with his puppy raiser and class, then circled the entire gym to say hello to the people who had been part of his past. I, of course, had no idea what was happening until much later, but I knew Nacho wasn't coming to me even though I was calling him. I was positive I had destroyed our young partnership by bringing him back to his first human family whom he was choosing over me.
Nacho did eventually charge up to the podium for a joyful, slobbery reunion. And, our partnership actually grew after that experience. His behavior that I had thought was dreadful--having split allegiances and sorting through what must have been ridiculously confusing canine memories of a once-familiar place--reminds me of something I forget too often.
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Lesson Learned
We are influenced by a past that adds to the innate qualities we have. Both parts of that equation are valid. The combination means each of us has gifts and aptitudes but also has the potential to be polished, refined, and expanded. That polishing, refinement, and expansion began before, continues now, and won't ever stop. Our journeys don't leave us.
Each year, Lutheran World Relief's Early Warning Forecast singles out seven continuing or potential hot spots that may require humanitarian -- and in some cases diplomatic -- action in the next year.
But as an organization that draws inspiration from faith, we always embrace and maintain hope. We can clearly see that significant progress is being made in reducing global suffering and poverty. For example, as measured by the Millennium Development Goals, the number of people living in extreme poverty and under-age-5 mortality has fallen by more than half. Continuing that work, the world community has adopted a set of Sustainable Development Goals that are truly aspirational, including reaching a statistical "zero" on extreme poverty, preventable child deaths and other targets.
In that spirit, here are 3 signs of hope that we see in 2017.
1. Building Peace in Colombia
What We're Seeing
The advent of peace in Colombia will bring an end to five decades of armed conflict that has DISPLACED NEARLY 6 MILLION PEOPLE. After a first peace accord failed to win public approval at referendum, the government and the main rebel group reached a new agreement in November that preserves the promise of peace in Colombia. And with peace comes tremendous opportunity. With almost a third of Colombia's population living in rural areas of the country, Colombia must address its "new rural reality" as part of the post-peace process. The effort presents a chance to tackle some of the most important root causes of the conflict and offers the best way to attain a lasting peace.
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What We're Doing
LWR is committed to advancing the dignified, safe and sustainable rural return and relocation for Colombia's internally displaced people as the country emerges from five decades of civil conflict. LWR has worked in Colombia since the late 1990s, supporting cooperatives and rural populations, including Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, to help increase their incomes and claim their rights under the Victims and Land Restitution Laws. LWR has been an active participant in the peace process at the highest levels, offering counsel and support. Our current focus builds on this work to promote innovative programs with the private sector, which link the promise of peace to family food security in former conflict areas.
To achieve this, LWR works primarily with local NGOs, farming communities, Afro-Colombian community councils and indigenous governments to implement projects that strengthen the social fabric of communities weakened by violence, stimulate agricultural production (particularly in coffee and cocoa) for increased food security and higher incomes, and improve water systems.
2. The Promise of Information Communications Technology
What We're Seeing
Information communications technologies -- powerful, yet accessible tools such as mobile phones, laptop computers, the internet, radio and other technologies -- allow people to more easily connect with each other. These technologies are becoming increasingly accessible in the developing world, as noted in a recent Pew Research Center survey that characterized cell phone usage in sub-Saharan Africa as
pervasive (two-thirds or more of those surveyed across the continent said they owned a cell phone). And these mobile and internet technologies aren't just being used for simple text messages, emails and calls, but also for an increasing array of activities and services such as banking, knowledge sharing and education. These instruments of ICT4D (Information Communications Technology for Development) are increasingly being used as powerful tools in development. They can be used to share important information, helping farmers to increase agricultural productivity, aiding in the protection of the environment and facilitating the collection of vital information in disaster situations.
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What We're Doing
LWR uses ICT4D extensively in projects around the world, such as conveying agricultural information to farmers in our Mobile Cocoa initiative in Nicaragua; using mobile banking with savings groups in Uganda; and collecting disaster data on tablets in the Philippines. The use of ICT4D enhances relief and development programs because it:
Provides a cost-effective way to deliver agricultural extension services to farmers living in isolated communities;
Offers a potent way to access financial and credit services, and manage money in a rural economy, where few banks exist;
Allows producers a way to quickly and directly obtain accurate weather and market information, improving production and ensuring best commodity prices.
3. African Economic Growth: Good and Bad News
What We're Seeing
Currently, there are what could be called two Africas, growing at different rates. Between 2000 and 2010, the GDP in Africa grew by an annual average of 5.4 percent, making it one of the fastest growing regional economies in the world. But recent years have seen a slowdown, with average GDP growing by 3.3% between 2010 and 2015. And the International Monetary Fund recently downgraded its 2016 forecast for growth in sub-Saharan Africa to 1.4 percent. This is a classic good news/bad news scenario. The bad news: economic growth in some countries has declined sharply, due in large part to the steep drop in commodity prices. Countries with economies dependent on commodities like oil, including Nigeria and Angola, have seen their growth plummet. The good news: countries with more diverse portfolios are continuing to thrive. Ivory Coast was on track for a growth rate of 8 percent in 2016; East African nations were also humming along, with Ethiopia's projected growth at 8.1 percent, Tanzania at 7.2 percent, Kenya at 6 percent and Uganda at 5.1 percent. The cloud hanging over this positive economic trend is that growth within these countries has failed to be equal and inclusive, with some sectors benefiting as large swaths of society are left out.
What We're Doing
I'd like to be the executive producer for The Celebrity Apprentice. I've been told that it takes no investment of time or energy to fill that post, but I've nevertheless put some thought into this.
When The Apprentice first came on the air, people told me I should watch the show because it had some actual business lessons about leadership and teamwork. Despite my normal aversion to reality TV, I gave it a try. Unfortunately, what I learned from Governor Schwarzenegger's predecessor was all about what not to do when leading a team. Here are three of Donald Trump's mistakes that you can easily avoid.
1. Don't Surround Yourself With Yes Men
Reality television thrives on conflict. This is especially true of shows that have a competitive format. It's not enough for the competitors to want to beat each other; the judges have to snipe at each other, too.
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Despite the fact that internal conflict could have helped the ratings, the original version of The Apprentice was oddly free of any tension between the judges in the boardroom. No matter whom the old host decided to fire, the assistant judges always agreed that he had made the right decision.
Surrounding yourself with yes men doesn't make for great television. It also doesn't help with making good business decisions in the real world. Real leaders need to evaluate information from their subordinates. That sometimes requires listening to multiple points of view. It's a bad practice to write off people who disagree with you or to ignore facts that don't support your predetermined position.
Perhaps employing relatives and suck ups was just something the old host did for the TV cameras. Hopefully in his real business he would surround himself with a team of experts that could offer him actual guidance and not merely endless reassurances that he was already making the best possible decisions.
2. Don't Overestimate The Opportunity
This is especially important for anybody undertaking a new venture. Before diving into unfamiliar waters, it's a good idea to estimate the size of the opportunity. All you have to do is identify your industry, determine the annual sales, and then estimate your market share. The old host of The Apprentice would regularly botch two out of the three steps.
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Before every task, the old host would tell the contestants about the industry they'd be working in and what that industry's annual revenue was. It would sound impressive, but it would also be completely irrelevant to the task at hand. For example, he began one episode by proclaiming the HUGE annual revenue for the restaurant industry... before assigning the teams the modestly-sized task of selling as much pizza as they could in one afternoon.
It's easy to see how the old host failed to properly estimate the size of the opportunity. First, he didn't narrow the size of the market. Instead of the entire restaurant industry in America, he should have looked at just pizza sales in just a few blocks of New York City. (He also should have subtracted sales in the evening since the teams were only peddling to a lunch crowd. And he should have divided the whole thing by 365 instead of listing an annual income.) Second, he skipped over the important step of estimating what percentage of the market they could claim.
Why did he mention the annual sales at all? You could argue that the old host was trying to make his show seem more important than it was by mentioning some large (and unrelated) numbers, but who would do that? Even a kid who offers to shovel the neighbors' driveways for ten dollars each would know better than to brag that he's part of the $70 billion landscaping industry.
3. Don't Underestimate Your Costs
Revenue minus expenses equals profit. That's not a hard concept for viewers to grasp, but the old host of The Apprentice generally didn't take any of the operating costs into account during the show's boardroom segments. On one episode, a team earned about $4,000 during a task... but they had to take the flamboyant step of hiring a blimp to do it.
The old host could have taken two approaches to measuring the performance of his teams:
Talking about the revenue that his teams earned, which would make him sound successful.
Talking about the profit, which would run the risk of revealing that his teams are losing money.
By conveniently ignoring the fact that his teams had to pay for taxes and expenses, the old host consistently prioritized inflating his personal brand over keeping the actual business afloat.
Social media platforms can be a waste of time or a source of income depending on how you make use of your online presence. You can choose to misuse the resources you use for browsing or use them to accumulate a lot of wealth. Apart from having a personal social media account where you can chat with friends, you also need an account for your business.
The challenge with millennial is that they spend a lot of time on social activities instead of undertaking beneficial deals on social media. You could turn a huge proportion of your friends on social media into productive customers. You can also get a lot of referrals from your existing networks. Some people waste a lot of time on social media while others have used the same sites to become billionaires. It's paramount to spend some time chatting with friends on social issues in life. However, you need to spend most of your time on social media on meaningful business activities if you want to become a millionaire.
Time Consuming
It is a waste of time to log into social media sites if they are not your top interest. The challenge with the young generation is that they can't tell when they become addicts to social media networking. Social media should not become a stumbling block on your road to success. You should not behave like a bonded laborer while operating on social media. I have seen people who use social media as stepping stones to success. Defending yourself against any infantilizing effects of technology is critical. You can use most of your time on social media to generate significant leads that will grow you into a millionaire.
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Identify Business Opportunities on Social Media
There are always two ways of looking at a coin. The challenge with the current generation is that they only view social media platforms as a place of having fun. One thing you need to realize is that you can get a lot of business from the social media networks you create. Most of them are potential customers, or they can lead you to other clients.
You can think of a business idea you can push on social media. You can still carry out some business activities on a part-time basis even if you are in full employment. Look at the nature of friends you have and think of a product or service you can sell to them. Create a business page and make sure that all of them are your followers. You may find yourself becoming a millionaire courtesy of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as long as you think outside the box.
Use Social Media as a Learning Tool
Several skills out there can develop you into a millionaire. Most of these skills are within friends whom you interact with on different social media pages. Apart from chatting on important social matters, make sure you also talk business. You can learn so much business skills from your followers. Some of them are professionals in your line of interest. Others have gone through the challenges you are encountering and have better solutions. Make sure you use your online time to learn some income generating techniques that will add to your investments.
Limit your Time on Social Media if you have other things to do
Don't spend a lot of time on social media at the expense of your work. You will agree with me that time is money. If your income generating activities are offline, limit the time you spend on Facebook and other social media platforms. You could spend such time to do a lot of work and generate more income for investment purposes. As a millennial, you should always attach value to the time you have.
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Socialization is important, but you need to budget for the time you spend on social media if it doesn't bring any extra coin to your pocket. This approach calls for a lot of self-discipline because most of these sites are addictive. First, you have to understand that logging into social media requires internet connectivity. It implies that you need bundles to connect with friends. You can invest some of these resources into profit generating activities if you don't get any return from social media.
Secondly, you could use part of the time you spend on social media to engage in meaningful activities. You need to look at social media from an investor's point of view. The truth of the matter is that social media platforms make a lot of profits from users. Take advantage and also make a kill from these connections.
Social Media Grants you Access to the Global Market
Gone are the days when the geographical location was a limitation in the trading industry. Currently, you can meet a customer and close a business deal within minutes courtesy of social media. Social media allows you to sell anything all over the world. You can use a small proportion of social media users to become the next billionaire.
Social media exposes you to so many individuals and opportunities. The mistake that the young generation makes is that they don't take advantage of what these sites present to them. You can trade with someone from another continent by a click of the button. The advantage is that most social media followers are in the juvenile stage. The young generation can be full of millionaires if they seize the opportunities that social media presents.
Take Advantage of Social Media Marketing
Most social media sites like Facebook provide opportunities that allow you to boost the visibility of your promotional posts. You will pay a small fee to ensure that your content reaches the target market. The advantage with Facebook promotions is that they allow you to choose certain demographic features of your target market such as location, age, and profession just to name a few.
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Budget for your Time and evaluate the Results
Apart from budgeting on how you will spend your time on social media, you also need to assess the results. Evaluation is the only way you will be sure that you are having meaningful interactions. Ensure that you understand how much income comes as a result of social media and work towards increasing the proceeds.
Conclusion
Right now Pakistan is once again in the news related to its controversial anti-blasphemy law. Shaan Taseer, the son of late Salman Taseer is in hot water after posting a video message in which he condemned Pakistan's blasphemy laws and tried to show solidarity to its oppressed Christian minority.
After seeing the message the religious community is calling for his arrest. Some have gone even further and have started to incite violence against him. Pakistan over the years has become so bizarre that now even criticism against a man-made law has assumed the status of blasphemy.
Shaan Taseer is now facing similar risks which his father, the late Salman Taseer, had faced after criticizing the blasphemy laws. If these religious zealots are not controlled, I fear that he may end up sharing the same unfortunate fate of his father.
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His father, Salman Taseer, a politician and Governor of Pakistan's most populous province Punjab, was an outspoken man and was murdered by Mumtaz Qadri, his own security guard, for speaking in favor of repealing Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws, according to which a person found guilty of blasphemy can be sentenced to death. Salman Taseer had also asked for official pardon of an illiterate woman, Aasia Bibi, who had been sentenced to death by Pakistani courts after being found guilty of blasphemy.
However, even this humane gesture was construed as blasphemy by the religious lobby and they started to agitate against him. The drop scene finally came when Qadri, his own guard, shot him and surrendered himself to police.
Later, in embarrassing scenes which have been permanently ingrained in the memory, he was showered by rose petals. After Qadri's arrest he went to court where finally he lost his appeal. He was executed on 29th February 2016 and his funeral was attended by millions.
But why did it happen? Why did Qadri shoot Taseer, and why was he subsequently showered with rose petals? Why was his funeral was attended by millions despite the fact that he cowardly murdered a person he was supposed to protect?
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And why is Shaan Taseer, son of the late Salman Taseer being threatened so openly and the state is literally helpless to offer protection. In fact, the only thing it has done so far is to register a case of "hate speech" against him rather than against those who are threatening him!
To some extent the murder of Salman Taseer happened due to the extreme reverence attached to religion and the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). Outright religious fanaticism is of course responsible and perhaps the only cure in the long run is desensitizing people from religion. I will not dispute this obvious reality.
But this only partially explains the complex situation. Reverence alone does not lead men to commit murders. It is what the society explicitly or implicitly expects with respect to actual demonstration of reverence (particularly when the revered figures and symbols are perceived to be under attack) which often leads to adoption of a particular action.
These expectations are not always spelled out clearly but nevertheless articulated through loaded slogans and narratives which project some real life individuals as heroes and villains.
Extremely pervasive and loaded slogans in Pakistan like "Hurmat-e-Rasool per Jaan be qurban hai" (for the honor of the Prophet (PBUH) we are ready to sacrifice our lives) actually expect that the honor of the Prophet (PBUH) should be protected even if one has to give their life. Slogans such as these become extremely dangerous with respect to their potential impact. I am not saying that they affect every person in the same way, but it merely takes one individual to get affected in "that" way to do the unthinkable.
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Moreover, such slogans and the related literature also lowers the threshold of the desired level of "reverence," as that line where so-called blasphemy starts, becomes blurred, and is eft for the individuals to simply decide what they consider as blasphemy.
I think this is important because such acts are often committed for personal glorification which the society is willing to bestow on such individuals. Yes, Mr. Qadri courted possible death when he fired upon Taseer but he also looked towards widespread hero worship and "immortality' in the similar vein of Ilm-ud-Din ( a hero for some Muslims) who had killed had stabbed a Hindu in 1929 on publishing a supposedly blasphemous book which had contained derogatory remarks about Prophet (PBUH). He was tried in court and hanged but over time has achieved a legendary status.
His act was subsequently glorified and his legacy has been immortalized in the following words of Iqbal, the national poet of Pakistan: "This uneducated young man has surpassed us, the educated ones". The narrative around Ilm-ud-Din is that he did the right thing and today he is highly respected. This, in my opinion, is a dangerous narrative as it is projecting the wrong kind of heroes.
In a society where Ilm-ud-Din has been made into a legend and a "Shaheed", the murder of Salman Taseer is hardly a surprise. Mumtaz Qadri, in his head was going to heaven and on his way to attaining the same legendary status when he fired shots at Salman Taseer, despite the fact that the latter had only asked for a presidential pardon of an illiterate woman accused of blasphemy. And yet Mumtaz Qadri took the decision, a calculated one, and literally got away with it. And the subsequent showering of the rose petals demonstrate that he was not wrong in his calculations.
No society is monolithic, as it is composed of numerous individuals and has so many cultures and sub cultures. It would be totally wrong for me to say that actions of Mumtaz Qadri were supported by all and he is a universal hero. I know that many hated his act. And many of those who did not support his act were devout Muslims. I personally talked to many and found that apparently a large number was utterly shocked by Mumtaz Qadri's act.
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However, those many never came out to protest. Immediately after his act, it was the Islamists chiefly belonging to the Brailvi sect who thronged the streets. And they were celebrating and threatening that any review of the controversial blasphemy law would be met with severe resistance.
The vigil which was organized by those protesting Taseer's murder barely attracted a few hundred and those who attended look so different from the rest of Pakistan. The size and the appearance of the crowd contrasted so much from the processions of the "other" side. There could be no greater disparity between the two groups.
So-called moderates may be more, but it is the hardliners to whom the street and the weapons belong. And by the word "moderate" too is relative to hardliners only. If we start judging with respect to Western standards then an overwhelming majority is hardliner.
We need to reexamine the narratives here about people like Ilm-ud-Din. Why do we try to narrate the story of men like Ilm-ud-Din in a consecrated manner? By such narrations, we may not be converting the entire population into fanatics but nevertheless a critical mass is getting "motivated," and all the hardliners need is that critical organized mass which is ready to even adopt violence.
In the end, I would like to make a humble plea to all my Muslim brothers and sisters.
Why is this night different from all other [awards] nights? New York Magazine film critic and emcee for this annual awards fete David Edelstein had some answers about honoring the storytelling but Mark Ruffalo, on hand to present the Best Screenplay award to Kenneth Lonergan for "Manchester By the Sea," put it succinctly: the speeches are fresh. This being the beginning of the long slog to Oscars, everyone can let loose. And "Manchester"'s lead, Casey Affleck did, reading one-liners from negative reviews, especially from the night's emcee. Edelstein, for his part, was ruffled and began to praise Affleck for just about everything, until that wore thin. But it was all in good fun. Had the awards been televised as the Globes and Oscars are, this would have been a different night indeed.
Isabelle Huppert, on a roll starting with last month's Gothams, won Best Actress for her work in both "Elle" and "Things to Come," was gratified that the first such honor was bestowed upon Greta Garbo in 1935. Best Foreign Film went to "Toni Erdmann" and a man in creature suit--you have to see this comedy to get it-- appeared on stage to collect the prize along with director Maren Ade. Michelle Williams picked up an award for her work in "Manchester" and "Certain Women," and Mahershala Ali gave a dignified speech for Best Supporting Actor in "Moonlight."
It seemed that the night was divided between " Manchester" and "Moonlight" but ultimately belonged to Damien Chazelle and "La La Land." We first met Chazelle when his "Whiplash" was honored by the NYFCC at this same venue, Tao Downtown. When we asked about his next project, he said, "A musical set in L.A.," and we thought, good luck with that. Now he closed the night explaining his inspiration: "In movies, emotion can override logic much the way dreams can. It is important in our time to value love, art and dreams, whether or not the dreams come true."
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Eastman Johnson, A Ride for Liberty - The Fugitive Slaves
On New Year's Eve, at 3:30am, I finished Colson Whitehead's gripping novel The Underground Railroad. I'd purchased the National Book Award winner and Oprah Book Club selection over the summer but had put it down early, not ready to go back to plantation life after watching the harrowing WGN series Underground. Underground showed slavery's horrors, but also honored the enslaved characters' will to love and protect, their mighty sacrifices made to survive. The characters transcended fiction, felt like stand-ins for our ancestors. That's why I stayed with the show.
When I picked up Whitehead's novel again, I found horror in every direction, but the insight--and magic--went deeper with his book-length storytelling. In The Underground Railroad, we follow a young enslaved woman named Cora as she escaped from her Georgia plantation and made her way northbound, each state its own "state of possibility", American way stations for runaways that were different until they were not different at all.
Cora's journey followed a cruel pattern: whenever she found a haven, she found the familiar horror behind the facade. In South Carolina, her first exit off "The Underground Railroad," she relished a structured new life where she could work as a domestic, live in a dormitory, and go to school. This new life felt utopian, given the tortures of Georgia; the white people seemed committed to "racial uplift" and creating communities where blacks and whites could co-exist in peace.
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But the tilt begins. Cora's assigned a new job as a "type" in a natural history museum. Now, she is on perpetual display as an African woman rotating between scenes of an African village, a slaveship, and an American plantation. Then she goes to a doctor's appointment and must rebuff the doctor's offer of sterilization, and later her dorm proctor's requests that she talk-up sterilization with her peers. Soon she learns that the doctors who have deluged South Carolina's new hospitals are running syphilis experiments on local black men. Cora realizes that her crisis has not ended by escaping to South Carolina:
"If they had been sensible and kept running, she and [fellow runaway] Caesar would be in the Free States. Why had they believed that two lowly slaves deserved the bounty of South Carolina. That a new life existed so close, just over the state line? It was still the south, and the devil had long nimble fingers. And then, after all the world had taught them, not to recognize chains when they were snapped to their wrists and ankles. The South Carolina chains were of new manufacture--the keys and tumblers marked by regional design--but accomplished the purpose of chains. They had not traveled very far at all."
As Cora's story progressed, she travelled through South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, and ultimately "The North." Each time I turned the page to find a new state's name, I ached that this would be the state where Cora found freedom. But Whitehead's states were both magical and real as he reconfigured American race history into new tableaus for his characters. Tableaus they hoped would secure them. Would not give them up. Only to find that no matter where they ran, America was one big breathing Funnyhouse for all Negros, keeping us in dungeons, or, in neat living rooms until the day the floor tilted and slid all occupants into the hell below.
I shelved The Underground Railroad in the summer because of the traumatic terrain. I don't breeze past sadism, no matter how fluid the text. God moments, full of grace. Yes, those were there. But so many plot points were punches to the heart. I put the book down. I breathed. I had to decide to pick up the book again.
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I did. And shortly after 100 pages, I glimpsed the genius in Whitehead's storytelling and knew I must finish fast. Stay up all night if necessary.
I finished knowing I didn't want to be another person saying "hooray" and "good" and then on to the next read. Why? Because we need to talk about the content. There is nothing "past" about The Underground Railroad. Whitehead could have added several more iterations to his American funnyhouse. He could have kept that floor tilting us to hell via sharecropping, via drugs, via mass incarceration. I finished the novel wondering, with the coming Trump presidency, and his arousal and alignment with white-nationalist forces in America, Russia, and Europe, is there a tilting to come? Just when we were so comfortable - if not materially, at least in the belief that the worst was behind us - could a President Trump allow for such an erosion of democratic norms and laws that the facade we thought unshakeable reality reveals itself to be anything but? Even Oprah had taken a "deep breath" after Trump met with President Obama and tweeted #HopeLives.
I live in New York City. Days after the election, I batted back grief and fear. I imagined us a newly declared open city, waiting for the occupation, an occupation we wouldn't know how to identify, not at first. Maybe Russian infiltration, given Putin's incredible sway over the President-Elect. Or maybe just American law enforcement empowered to try new schemes. To have this fear of waiting. The waiting in Amsterdam in World War II. Not unlike the waiting of the American slaveholder, or the sons of slaveholders, waiting for the raids. I never thought I'd be someone waiting for the barbarians. But these are the fever dreams I hold at bay.
My hope is alive because there has never been an America like the one we know now. I live in a City filled with millions of people who voted against Trump, people who want fairness, who want our cosmopolitan way of life protected. This is not just a NYC thing: President Obama won the White House by solid margins in popular and electoral votes in 2008 and 2012. In public forums across the country we call out white supremacy in all its loud and latent forms. We call out men's attempts to control women and keep us less than.
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I'd like to take comfort in demographics, but it's never just about numbers. As Cora poignantly noted about the enslaved and free Black population in America: "if we say it, we don't say it for anyone to hear...how big we are." Yes, we've always had massive numbers. But we've had those numbers within a system forever shape-shifting to keep us in line. I argue that more than numbers, consciousness matters. Consciousness with enough systemic due process to keep us all from being persecuted.
The Trump ascendancy threatens a new tilting. But in 2017, too many of us live for what is promised in our founding documents and subsequent amendments. We've been fighting generations to manifest these promises. We are not going to let one asterisk presidency tilt the whole country into catastrophe.
Pia Wurtzbach shows off her assets in Hawaii holiday (Photo : YouTube/DailyShowbiz)
Pia Wurtzbach in Hawaii (Photo : YouTube/DailyShowbiz)
Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach took some time off from her duties and responsibilities as beauty queen to frolick the beach in Hawaii showing off her deep cleavage and perfectly-shaped ass.
Pia went to Hawaii during the New Year holiday and gifted us with tantalizing photos. Pia was once wearing a pair of blue, skimpy bikini while enjoying the white sand and the pristine waters of Waimanalo. In another photo, Pia was sunbathing in her orange, printed bikini showing off her assets.
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She spent the New Year's with her boyfriend Marlon Stockinger. Marlon is a race car driver and is the first Filipino to win a formula race in Europe. He rose to celebrity status and became well-known nationwide when he started dating Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach.
This is not the first time that the Miss Universe reigning beauty queen has attracted attention thanks to her boobs. During the pageant last year, many people have noticed her curves that could be a factor to her win.
According to her latest Instagram post, Pia is flying back to New York for her last minute duties and responsibilities as the reigning Miss Universe. The beauty queen is also flying back to Manila for the upcoming Miss Universe 2016 beauty pageant.
Meanwhile, Pia will most likely be the gracious host to the candidates and the organizers and she will show around the Philippines. The coronation of the Miss Universe 2016 is on January 30, 2017 at Mall Of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Mom smiling at newborn at hospital
By Megan Scudellari
BOSTON -- Two rows of plastic cocoons line the walls of the neonatal intensive care unit, sheltering babies so tiny, their little hands can't wrap around their parents' index fingers. Many have been treated with multiple medications in their short lives: antibiotics, anesthetics, narcotics, diuretics.
And most of the drugs coursing through their fragile bodies have not been approved for use in newborns.
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That's not just the case here at the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center. It's a global problem. Pharma companies are afraid to test drugs on babies because they're so vulnerable, and because the risk of liability is so high. Parents and doctors say they're wary of enlisting newborns as "guinea pigs" in clinical trials.
The result: An estimated 90 percent of medications administered to newborns are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in children so young. That means neonates -- premature and full-term infants less than 28 days old -- are routinely treated with drugs that are not adequately tested for safety, dosing, or effectiveness.
Despite this gaping hole in medical knowledge, infants admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit may receive up to 60 medications in their first month of life, said Dr. Jonathan Davis, chief of newborn medicine here at Tufts Medical Center.
Davis, a soft-spoken, baby-faced man with a smile for every child and parent, is a fierce advocate when it comes to changing all this. He's conducting several clinical trials with the newborns in his NICU. And he's helping other doctors around the world do the same.
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In 2015, an FDA-funded nonprofit launched two global efforts to spur clinical trials in infants. Davis directs one of those initiatives, the
International Neonatal Consortium, known as INC. In November, INC published its initial contribution to the field -- a guide to clinical trials in neonates, including information on trial design and data collection for investigators and study sponsors, and advice for drug regulators.
"We've got to do something," said Davis, who has spent more than 35 years studying medications in infants and has published over 150 papers.
Without drug data for newborns, he said, "we can't be certain which drugs, in which doses, to use when."
Davis argues that the current system -- doctors making decisions based on little more than anecdotes and intuition -- essentially treats each sick newborn as an uncontrolled, unapproved study of one. The baby may or may not do well on the drug; either way, no data is collected and the result does not inform treatment of other infants around the world.
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"Children are protected through research," said Dr. Raphael Rousseau, director of pediatric oncology drug development at Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche.
It's technically more challenging to study drugs in neonates than older children, he acknowledged. But still, he said, "there is no real excuse not to do drug development in neonates."
When mistakes are fatal
Some of the babies in the Tufts NICU are swathed in blue light to treat jaundice; others are draped with colorful knit blankets made by local volunteers. Behind a curtain in alcove number 18, first-time mother Aubrey Baptista nurses 2-week-old Elijah.
Elijah was born Oct. 28 with a heart defect requiring surgery. When doctors discovered his condition, Elijah was immediately put on an IV drip of a drug to help keep his heart valve open. During surgery, he received anesthesia and morphine. Post-surgery, doctors administered nitrous oxide, oxygen, and antibiotics.
At least, those are the drugs Baptista remembers being told about.
What she was not told, at any point, was that the FDA hadn't reviewed the safety or efficacy of those drugs, in those doses, for babies like Elijah. Doctors simply told her, "This is what we're doing."
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"There wasn't much choice," she told STAT.
Over the last 25 years, the FDA has approved only two drugs that significantly improved neonatal survival: surfactant and nitric oxide for respiratory conditions.
Most neonatologists do not tell parents about the lack of medical evidence for the drugs they use, said neonatologist Dr. Matthew Laughon of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They just prescribe.
Because there is little alternative.
"When you're sitting there at the bedside, and you're looking the parents in the eyes, and the baby is dying or really sick, to just stand there and say, 'We don't have anything to do because it hasn't been proven' --well, that's challenging," said Laughon. "If we never gave drugs because they were off-label, we wouldn't have any drugs."
Physicians often make treatment decisions by scaling down from how medications are used in adults. "We take it right out of the vial of an adult drug, dilute it down, and give it to the babies," said Davis.
In multiple cases, that technique has led to disaster. "There have been some big, big, big mistakes in neonatology through the years when it comes to drugs," said Laughon.
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Those include the sudden deaths of preemies due to too-large doses of the antibiotic chloramphenicol in the 1950s; the fatal poisoning of infants from large amounts of benzyl alcohol, a preservative used to flush catheters, in the 1980s; and deaths from a preservative, propylene glycol, in a multivitamin given orally to premature infants in a dose intended for adults.
Infants are not tiny adults and should not be given drugs as if they were, said Catherine Sherwin, division chief of pediatric clinical pharmacology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, who studies pharmacology in neonates.
Newborns absorb, metabolize, and excrete drugs differently than adults. "Yet we haven't done the studies to know exactly what those differences are," Sherwin said. "We just know they're different."
Lackluster laws and shoddy trials
There have been two large legislative efforts to encourage pharmaceutical companies to increase the number of pediatric drug studies: the Best Pharmaceuticals for Children Act of 2002 and the Pediatric Research Equity Act of 2003. Both were made into permanent law in 2012 with the passage of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act.
Overall, the incentives and requirements within that legislation -- carrots and sticks -- worked. As of Oct. 31,
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651 drugs in the US have new or revised labeling for pediatric patients.
But the laws did not work for newborns.
Just 24 of the 406 labeling changes made as a result of that legislation affected neonates -- and those were primarily on drugs that are used rarely, if at all, in NICUs in the United States, according to a 2015 analysis.
Even worse, the few labels that were changed for neonates didn't add any beneficial new drugs to the NICU arsenal. "The most frequent drug labeling changes were [to state] that a drug was not effective or there was a safety concern," said Laughon, who coauthored the study.
The most positive neonatal label changes have come from a National Institutes of Health initiative that put $25 million per year toward studying off-patent, older drugs in children -- but that program's funding runs out this year.
Pharmaceutical companies and institutional review boards continue to shy away from studying infants because they are fragile, cannot spare many blood samples, and are vulnerable to permanent injuries -- injuries that, in the past, have been awarded large malpractice verdicts.
It's also a small market, so pharmaceutical companies aren't likely to make money by getting drugs approved for neonate use, Rousseau said. And few drug makers have dedicated pediatric teams.
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"Any study that I've ever done that could potentially be sponsored by Big Pharma, but is in neonates, sends them running," Sherwin said. "It's hard to do, and it's hard to get money to do it."
The majority of studies that have been done in neonates in recent years "were not able to establish efficacy," wrote Dr. Susan McCune, deputy director of the Office of Translational Sciences at the FDA, who communicated with STAT via an emailed statement reviewed by the FDA's press office.
It remains unclear whether that lack of success is due to the drugs themselves or trial design issues, she added. The latter is a major problem for the field. For example, many studies group all infants born two or more months before their due date into a single category, yet a 4-week-old infant born at 24 weeks gestation is not the same as a 1-day-old born at 28 weeks.
Last year, Davis and colleagues analyzed 25 proposed neonatal trial designs submitted by pediatric clinical trial groups and individual researchers, and found that six had fatal flaws -- like requiring six EKGs on babies in the first day of life -- that made it unlikely the trials would ever be successfully completed.
Davis hopes the new INC guidance will change that. At Tufts, he conducts about 10 neonatal trials at any one time. Among them: A clinical trial he's been running for the past three years to test whether morphine or methadone, the two most common medications used in infants suffering from neonatal abstinence syndrome, is more effective.
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Despite widespread use of both medications, doctors simply don't know.
As Davis walks through the NICU, talking to nurses about new arrivals, Aubrey Baptista cradles Elijah, still with an IV port buried in his tiny hand for another round of antibiotics. Would she have enrolled her newborn son in a clinical trial if asked?
We published more than 200 stories on Ecosystem Marketplace last year, and most of them focused on forests or forest carbon, which is why this forest retrospective took a bit longer to piece together than the others.
The year opened with the healthy tailwind of the Paris Climate Agreement and the role of forest carbon finance firmly embedded in it. We spent the bulk of the year examining the agreement's development before looking at Plan B after the election of Donald Trump.
In "REDD+ In The Paris Climate Accord: A Summary", we offered a clear and simple summary of the role within the agreement for forest-carbon programs that save endangered rainforest and promote sustainable land management (REDD+).
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We then turned to the markets component of the agreement as Germany, Japan, and New Zealand began shepherding the world's carbon markets towards compatibility with each other in a two-part series that began with "Building On Paris, Countries Assemble The Carbon Markets Of Tomorrow" and culminated with "The Road From Paris: Green Lights, Speed Bumps, And The Future Of Carbon Markets", which waded into the accounting challenges of building cross-border carbon markets.
Our focus then shifted to the United States, where forests, farms, and fields, sponge up roughly 15% of the country's industrial greenhouse gas emissions. That carbon sink, however, could go up in smoke as forests age, urban areas expand, and the climate changes. We looked at how carbon finance, green bonds, and a dash of policy coordination could help ensure a robust sink for years to come in a piece called "Forests, Farms, And Fields Absorb 15% Of US Carbon Emissions, But Face Uncertain Future. Here's How To Save Them".
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Turning to Indonesia, we examined that country's new forest-carbon accounting system in a piece called "Indonesia Aims For Top-Tier Carbon Accounting Across All Land Types By 2018, But Peat Proves Problematic", the title of which kind of says it all.
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In April, the World Bank unveiled its new five-year forest plan, which aims to deliver support for sustainable management of forests by shifting away from isolated projects and towards programs more carefully incorporated into national strategies. We covered this in a piece called "With New Forest Strategy, World Bank Aims For Action Over Experimentation".
Meanwhile, African countries - which have historically given conservation short shrift when offered hard cash for prized rosewood - began reacting to the impact this was having on forest-dependent communities. We covered their reaction in "West African Countries Come Together To Address Illegal Rosewood Trade".
In Brazil, soybean buyers extended their ten-year moratorium on soy from farms that grow at the expense of forests, which we covered in "Soy Sector Extends Moratorium On Amazon Soy. Now, Can They Expand It?", before heading to Bonn, Germany, for mid-year climate talks. Those culminated in a piece called "Bonn Paves The Way For Integration, Implementation And Action In Marrakesh".
Then we hopped the train to Cologne, where we released our annual State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets report, showing that voluntary carbon markets grew 10% in 2015. You can get the details in "Voluntary Carbon Markets Show Steady Growth As Paris Reframes Climate Action".
After that, our attention turned to the various strategies that companies are using to drive down emissions in "Users Of Voluntary Offsets See More Sophisticated Carbon-Neutral Strategies In 2016".
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Then we shifted to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which were released at the end of 2015 and officially link climate protection with poverty alleviation, biodiversity conservation, and the empowerment of women. In the carbon world, they're becoming a sort of de facto benchmark for the non-carbon "co-benefits" that so many have worked so hard to create. We explored that in "Emissions Reduced, Lives Saved: New Metrics For The New Normal", and then offered a super-simple introduction to the SDGs in "Why The UN Sustainable Development Goals Really Are A Very Big Deal"
Then came Brexit - the first sign that something was out of kilter in the Western electorate - and we offered our take in "What Does Brexit Mean For Illegal Logging And The Global Timber Trade?"
By then, Colombia's peace process appeared to be stampeding towards ratification - largely because it was built on the fair and equitable distribution of natural resources. We examined the role that sustainable agriculture can play in helping to building trust in war-torn areas, in a piece called "Climate, Conflict, And Commodities: The Calculus Of Peace On A Changing Planet". The peace agreement was put on hold after another surprising referendum, but signed by year-end.
With Fall approaching, we turned our eyes to year-end talks in Marrakesh in a piece called "The Missing Link In Protecting Forests? The Private Sector", which set the stage for a potentially large story that broke in October, when 65 countries representing 83% of international aviation agreed to cap their greenhouse-gas emissions from international flights at 2020 levels from 2021 onward - in part by forcing airlines to offset emissions above that threshold, perhaps by funding programs that save forests and support sustainable agriculture around the world. We covered that in "Will New Aviation Deal Save Forests?".
Then it was on to Marrakesh, which opened with the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. Within hours of the election, we posted a piece that has since proven to be weeks ahead of the competition. Called "Can Individual US States, The Private Sector, And The International Community Fix The Climate Despite Trump Election?", it took stock of the paths forward in a climate world without federal US leadership.
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If you're more inclined to listen than read, check out "Voices From Marrakesh", on the Bionic Planet Podcast, available on iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, and pretty much anywhere you access podcasts, as well as in three recent stories on Ecosystem Marketplace.
Voices from Marrakesh
You can access all editions of Bionic Planet through the links above, or you can also stream the most recent edition here:
We also published a quick-and-dirty edition shortly after the election, including unedited interviews with former Canadian negotiator Peter Graham, Naomi Swickert of the Verified Carbon Standard, and Mike Korchinsky:
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Voices from Marrakesh, in Order of Appearance
I am not an expert in toxicology, climate science, ecology or hydrology, but in environmental policy, organizational management, policy formulation, program implementation and evaluation along with public opinion and American politics. I have worked in environmental policy and management since 1976 but my PhD is in political science. My earliest days in environmental policy taught me that effective environmental policy requires sound environmental science, and one of my jobs as an environmental policy and management analyst was to learn the basics of environmental science and engineering. I needed science to understand the nature of the policy problem, its cause and effect. I needed engineering to understand what could be done to address the problem. I needed to learn how to communicate with and learn from scientists, even though their field was not my field.
The problems we were dealing with in the 1970s and 1980s were obvious and no one doubted they were real. People who depended on well water suddenly realized they needed to tap into filtered public water. Their well water was no longer safe to drink. They could see and taste the difference, and some homeowners had their water tested and found they were drinking toxics. In Buffalo in the 1970s most sewage was untreated and was dumped raw into Lake Erie, just as Manhattan's sewage flowed untreated into the Hudson. Multibillion dollar investments in sewage treatment plants ended the problem and we finally met federal treatment standards in the mid-1980s. In nearby Pittsburgh, people dusted the orange red dust off their windshields every morning to clean off the sulfur-based particulates that came from the steel mill smoke stacks. And at Love Canal in Niagara Falls, Lois Gibbs and her neighbors were trying to get the government to do something about the toxic ooze that was leaking into their homes and making them sick. There were no "deniers" at the Love Canal. No one doubted that Pittsburgh's air was dirty and that our waterways were a mess.
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The steel mills are gone and Pittsburgh, like New York City, is being reinvented as a high tech city after many painful decades of job loss. Buffalo is still struggling, but hopefully will eventually recover from decades of decline. As bad as the economy is in Western New York, at least the area can offer a high quality of life. It provides a low cost of living, and a livable natural environment. The water in Western New York is filtered and the sewage is treated. The autos have pollution control devices and our air, land and water is safer today than it was forty years ago. But while we have moved forward, other parts of the world are learning the lessons we learned decades ago. In late December, a team of my Earth Institute colleagues was in Beijing and Tianjin, China and experienced an air pollution "red alert." Roads, factories and schools were closed while government officials anxiously waited for the "fog" to lift. Our team was unable to complete the tasks they had hoped to undertake while they were in China because they and the people they hoped to meet with could not freely travel. Pollution can get so bad that the government needs to shut down the economy to make the air breathable. The anti-environmental advocates heading to Washington should take a trip to China or India if they'd like to see what an unregulated environment looks like. We need jobs and a livable environment, and with adequate modern pollution control technology we can have both.
The science of air and water pollution is not simple, but the solutions are available to purify air and water and they are cost effective. It does not mean they are free. A factory can pollute the air and water and produce whatever they are selling and not pay the costs of controlling the pollution they are creating. Those costs are paid by society in lost productivity, illness and health care treatment. American industry has been regulated for decades. Some manufacturing has fled the country for lower labor costs and less stringent environmental and health and safety rules. But many businesses have modernized, remained in the country, and are competitive globally. Some sources of pollution like power plants and motor vehicles must remain local, and they pollute far less than they used to. Here in New York City we have banned the most polluting forms of oil from our apartment furnaces and replaced them with cleaner oil or natural gas. New York City's air is better than it was forty years ago and we don't need to close down due to air pollution.
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The science of air, water and toxic pollution seems to have been accepted, even if most people are scientifically illiterate. The more complex modern environmental sciences of ecosystems and climate change seem to be harder for people to accept. Part of the issue is that cause and effect can involve networks of relationships that may not be directly connected. The impact of a declining bee population on farm productivity may be quite real, but more difficult to see and smell than a stream with an orange tint that's caught fire. And climate change may be the most difficult environmental problem to fully understand. It is created everywhere and much of its impact is in the future and difficult to predict. Climate scientists can measure past temperatures quite precisely and they know that the past hundred years of global warming are without precedent and clearly human made. What they don't know is the impact this warming will have in the future and what to do about it. The issue of what policies should be used to mitigate and adapt to climate change is beyond the expertise of most climate scientists. While scientific and engineering expertise is needed to frame solutions, the choice of public investments and acceptable risks are issues of public policy, not science.
They are policy, political, ethical and economic issues, not issues of science. These are tough issues requiring difficult trade-off choices. I live in a city with 60,000 homeless people, most of them children. Despite these homeless children, New York is spending about $20 billion on climate adaptation measures in response to Hurricane Sandy. Is the problem of climate resiliency more important than homeless children? Looking at the city's capital budget it is. That is a difficult choice. While climate science leads to the conclusion we should stop burning fossil fuels, immediately ending the use of fossil fuels is not on the political agenda, nor is raising the price of energy. Fossil fuels are too important to the economy to disrupt their use without a substitute and so the transition to renewable energy will need to be gradual. Climate change and adaptation are not the only problems our elected officials must address. Science can inform our approach to these issues, it can provide information about probable impacts and risks, but it cannot and should not be used to make public policy.
While science has its limits, denying the science of global warming is absurd. But accepting the science of climate change does not require decision-makers to accept the policy prescriptions of climate scientists. Policymakers must learn and understand what the historical analysis of climate change tells us and they must learn to understand the probabilities and risks presented by climate models. In a modern world where economic life is increasingly based on technological change, decision-makers cannot afford the luxury of scientific illiteracy. Records of natural climate change in the past demonstrate how frequently and intensely the planet's climate changed before seven billion humans were around to affect it. But it is very clear that all of us and our fossil fuel powered machines have had a rapid and unprecedented impact on the planet's temperature. If you doubt it, come visit the Columbia's Earth Institute and our Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. See the thousands of core samples of earth taken from beneath the ocean's floor, and listen to our faculty explain what those samples tell us. Go to the tree ring lab and see the record of climate change that can be seen with that evidence. There is much more evidence in our labs and in others around the world. Moreover, our scientists have taken these and other data and developed models of our climate's future.
Is water a basic human right or something with an inherent economic value? The answer to this question has led to decades of conflict in Chile.
In September, the private Chilean energy company Endesa announced it has given up its rights over water exploitation in five significant hydropower projects.
But water rights activists met the news with caution. Their fight for water rights for the Chilean people, they know, is far from over.
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If water scarcity troubles the capital, it's already and every day reality for Indigenous peoples in Chile. In the northern regions, the impact of mining and the lack of regulation of water markets have led to water scarcity and the contamination of watercourses in local communities.
Author provided
A water code rules by market economy
Since the introduction of the 1981 Water Code in Chile, water resources have been governed by strict market rules, with the government powerless to intervene. The code enshrines free market water economics to facilitate resource use and secure property rights under competitive conditions.
The code is unique in South America in that it allows the extraction of water supplies (both surface and ground) under market rules, without providing environmental safeguards, such as instream flows - the ability to keep water running in a river.
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This has consequences for agriculture, the local environment, and Indigenous peoples' sense of identity.
In practice, the code has failed to coordinate water use and resolve river basin conflicts, and has only increased private speculation, hoarding and the monopoly over water rights.
In 2005, the Chilean government attempted to address many of the issues with a set of tangential reforms, one of which forces water users to pay an annual fee to the state for unused water, in an attempt to avoid speculation. But the policy does not protect the water rights of Indigenous communities.
The Atacameno's struggle for river access
The application of the 1981 Water Code has already affected the future of Indigenous communities in the north of Chile, such as the Atacameno, de Aymara and the Quechua.
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The case of the Atacameno is particularly dramatic. Although this community had historically developed agricultural and cultural activities along the Loa River, after the application of the 1981 code, the community lost access to a large amount of water, as people were not made aware of the need to register their water rights officially.
In fact, several communities were told to register their water rights only for agricultural purposes, under the threat that they would have to pay additional taxes.
Molina/2011, Author provided
Although these communities applied for recognition of their traditional water rights under the 1993 Indigenous law, the situation proved intractable. They have tried to register their ancestral water rights with the local government since the early 1990s, but authorities did not recognise their ancestral use of the territory.
Consequently, large amounts of water in the Loa river were officially deemed to be "unused", and opened to reallocation to other sectors - something chiefly solicited by companies in the water-intensive mining sector. Now Indigenous communities have only secured a portion of their original provisions, which represents a significant loss in cultural and productive
terms. In this context, they were allowed to irrigate only during the day and had to redirect water back into the river at night.
Author provided
Tensions rising
The conflict over water has increased local divisions and left Indigenous communities more vulnerable.
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In the case of the Chiu-Chiu area, it can be seen how changes in water management have caused tensions in local relationships and generated internal differences, affecting overall social cohesion and ancestral property claims. For example, the fact that different age groups have been treated differently in terms of benefits has caused intergenerational conflict.
Members of Indigenous communities have responded to their straitened circumstances in creative ways. Artistic initiatives developed by younger generations have become a new way of claiming and demanding water justice, mixing ancestral claims over water and land with specific initiatives in housing and education.
Although pressure from resource companies has redefined many local communities and created divisions between generations, when dealing with water issues, internal differences are secondary. Resistance against water inequality remains the top priority for the Indigenous people of Northern Chile.
This is part of our ongoing series about water conflicts.
Malvoisie vineyards in Lanzarote. Yummifruitbat/Wikipedia, CC BY-SA
Current debates surrounding two European trade agreements - CETA and TAFTA - provide us with a perfect opportunity to examine the French concept of terroir, and issues regarding the protection of geographic labelling (Protected Designation of Origin, and Protected Geographical Indication) that relate to that concept.
Geographical origin has always been used as a mark of quality in selling a wide array of agricultural products. Who hasn't heard of Champagne or Bordeaux wines, Prosciutto di Parma, Parmesan or Roquefort?
In France, this practice has resulted in the development of specific geographical labelling, the Appellation d'origine controlee, which revolves around the concept of terroir. The reputation and prestige associated with a product's geographical origin has created the temptation for misleading labelling. Fighting against misuses has become a major financial and legal issue in many rural areas.
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While the concept of terroir is universally understood in France, its international definition and relevance has been the subject of lively debate. The United States has contested it at the World Trade Organization.
The system of Protected Designation of Origin and Protected Geographical Indication has now been successfully expanded throughout Europe. Does this mean that the fight for terroir recognition has been won?
An ode to cultural diversity
France's national institute of origin and quality (INAO) defines terroir as:
a restricted geographical area, in which a community of people, over the course of their history, developed a shared knowledge and production methods, based on a set of interactions between the physical and biological environment, and human factors. The particular characteristics, or typicity, arising from these social and technical histories bestow their notoriety to products originating from this geographical area.
To a large extent, the European Protection of Designated Origin is based on the French appellation. To be awarded this label, producers must prove:
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the product's historical origin and reputation
the strict delineation of territory and area of exclusivity for a given geographical designation
the specific characteristics, or typicity, of the product; knowledge and know-how inherent in the traditions and local customs associated with the local community.
In France, studies in anthropology, history, geography, economics, sociology, agronomy and animal science have helped define the link between a product and its terroir but failed to resolve differences of opinions as to its exact nature.
Between tradition and innovation
A product of the wine industry, the concept of terroir applied exclusively to wine for a long time. But terroir is a flexible concept that has progressively expanded to include other French products such as cheeses, cured meats and vegetable products.
Sometimes considered inapplicable internationally, this concept emphasises the role of natural elements (landscape, soil, climate, genetic resources, and flora, among other things), and their interaction with human factors. Therefore, the definition of a locality and the legal protection given to geographical designations raise questions about the importance accorded to local knowledge, a product's reputation and history, and the natural environment.
Some efforts have been made recently to encourage UNESCO to classify a number of terroirs as world heritage sites. However, such emphasis on history and cultural heritage does not translate into inertia or an end to innovation.
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Maintaining a diverse range of social and technical systems is also useful in the fight against climate change, and the protection of natural resources (landscape, soil, biodiversity, and water, among other things).
However, ever increasing industrialised production methods, the standardisation of of know-how, as well as the development of new production lines for origin-based products (using reverse engineering techniques), do raise the tricky question of how to reconcile tradition with innovation.
Constant collaborative re-invention
The US has mainly fought against and criticised the concept of terroir, while supporting private trademarking. But some American producers have shown growing interest in the idea over the last decade. This group, coordinated by the American Origin Products Association, indicates a real change in outlook.
Labelling geographic origin can be understood as what Elinor Ostrom and Charlotte Hess define as "knowledge commons". It's based on both the shared prestige and reputation of a product with its customers and on the specific set of natural and cultural resources that come from local communities' and producer regions' shared knowledge and know-how.
This attitude is substantiated by the growing number of countries in Africa, South America and Asia that are adopting legal measures similar to Europe's protected geographic indications. In these cases, however, the concept of terroir and what constitutes typicity is broader: products are labelled according to their geographic origin, with a lesser substantive reference to other criteria defining their terroir.
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Even in France, the origin-based labeling system has been sometimes criticised for its supposed rigidity and failure to adapt quickly enough to the demands of international markets, although it has boosted the promotion of local products and helped strengthen regional identities. By creating another link, terroir products have helped reshape the relationship between urban and rural areas.
By promoting traditional, typical and regional products with an origin-based label, terroir has become a valuable economic development tool for many EU rural regions.
The international use of the concept of terroir also includes transforming and adapting it to different contexts and applications, such as "urban terroirs", and artisanal products, among other things. This usage should help reshape our vision of regions and their heritage.
Translated from the French by Alice Heathwood for Fast for Word.
This article was published
originally on The Conversation France.
By Dan Ouellette, ZEALnyc Senior Editor ZEALnyc, January 4, 2017
Each year as Winter Jazzfest expands, you can expect new twists in the mix. One of the most prominent this season is the one-night record imprint showcase of Germany-based ECM Records (Saturday, January 7), presenting nine vital artists who record for the label that is celebrating its 48th birthday this year--with the grand No. 50 just around the bend. The Jazzfest shows (listed below) will take place at The New School's Tishman Auditorium (63 Fifth Avenue). (Note: Last year's ECM showcase within the fest took place over two days.)
What's remarkable about ECM is that in the midst of major labels crashing and burning their jazz divisions along with the rise of independent record labels taking a DIY approach, it's still standing tall, as recognized in jazz magazine polls and in this year's just announced NPR top jazz releases for 2016, as voted on by 137 international jazz journalists. In the top 10, three ECM recordings were heralded: Jack DeJohnette / Matt Garrison / Ravi Coltrane, In Movement (No. 3); Michael Formanek / Ensemble Kolossus, The Distance (No. 5); Vijay Iyer / Wadada Leo Smith, A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke (No. 6). Not a shabby showing at all.
During this ongoing sober upheaval in the jazz marketplace with disparaging questions abounding (what is jazz; how can we keep jazz alive; should jazz be watered down for mass consumption), there has been one constant of creative music commitment: ECM. Founded and piloted by producer Manfred Eicher, its credo is summed up quite succinctly in the label's Catalogue 2009-10: "ECM has maintained the most old-fashioned of business practices while staying in tune with what is newest and most alive in music." He added, "You can never go merely for the routine. It never should be routine. Otherwise, it will sound routine."
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Espousing that "music is the art that speaks directly to the soul," Eicher said, "Music is my driving force. I'm longing to listen to music that I have not heard yet. Music has no location and no nationality. In the early days of ECM, we recorded mostly American artists...[Today] I go anywhere I have to go to find music that interests me."
Launched in November 1969 with pianist Mal Waldron's Free At Last, ECM boasts more than 1700 titles in its "genre-resistant" catalog, with a steady flow of 30 to 40 new releases each year, featuring border-crossing jazz, improvisational music, transcultural collaborations and classical (specifically in the ECM New Series begun in 1984 to record the music of Arvo Part). With a track record of scoring million-selling hits such as Keith Jarrett's Kohn Concert and Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble's Officium, ECM became the home for dozens of improvisers, including Jarrett, Chick Corea, Paul Bley, Paul Motian, Dave Holland, Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden--among many others.
"We just started to grow organically," Eicher said. "I've always looked to America, especially New York. I [like] to listen to music and discover musicians and music that I had never heard before."
With Eicher's aesthetic providing the guiding light of ECM, the label continues to forge ahead as the prime purveyor of the luminous fine art of jazz. In recent years, he's given recording opportunities for the creme de la creme of the new generation of jazz artists, including Vijay Iyer, Chris Potter, Mark Turner, Craig Taborn, David Virelles and Theo Bleckmann. "I'm happy to see" their growth as artists, Eicher said
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In a conversation I had with Eicher on the occasion of the label's 40th anniversary, he talked about the bottom line of running a label that releases so many albums a year: "There's a lot still to do to fulfill the plan we have to record improvised music that is art, especially today with bringing together different cultures, which fits with the influences of our time. I continue to make records out of musical instinct and drive even though you can never foresee how many copies a record will sell. So, as far as reaching the bottom line, we have never reached a panic yet. We go on as long as we can. Even though it's more difficult to sell music today because there are fewer outlets (other than Amazon), I feel there's an enormous interest in music. There is a need to record music. I've been inspired this year by how much good music we have recorded. My instinct tells me to continue to do what I've been doing and do more."
Nearly a decade later that has proven to be the creative m.o. of ECM.
Of particular note this year at Winter Jazzfest's spotlight on ECM is the appearance of Cuba-born, Brooklyn-based pianist David Virelles in two settings. He's a remarkable talent who celebrates finesse on the piano married to the drums and percussion of his homeland. He's lyrical, off-kilter, mysterious, earthy, measured and spirited in his playing. Unlike fellow countrymen who bring their voices into the piano tradition, Virelles seems to belong to his own universe of influences dominated by the percussive heartbeat of Afro-Cuban tradition. His 2014 ECM debut, Mboko, was an ear-opener of sacred music that teemed with pockets of slow-pulse quiet and fractured chordal pounces, single-note meanderings and rushing tumbles. It was a critics favorite. Recently Virelles released the vinyl/digital EP, Antenna, a vital electro-acoustic fantasia of keyboard art steeped in Cuban rhythms, street poetry and synthesized textures. He said regarding the new project: "I wanted the music to have the sound and feel of traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms, but generated and deconstructed electronically, so that I could make new, very different music out of those elements."
Virelles appears as a sideman in trumpeter Tomasz Stanko's NY Quartet (playing music from his 2013 album Wislawa as well as new music from an upcoming release) and stars in a duet set with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane that will result in an album recorded later in 2017.
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Here's the ECM lineup for Saturday, January 7 of what promises to be an exciting evening of prime improvisational music at Jazzfest:
6:00 -- Tomasz Stanko NY Quartet (w/David Virelles, Thomas Morgan, Gerald Cleaver)
7:20 -- Jakob Bro/Thomas Morgan/Joey Baron (playing from the recent trio recording, Streams)
8:40 -- Ravi Coltrane/David Virelles duo
10:00 -- Bill Frisell/Thomas Morgan duo (playing music from their forthcoming release scheduled for June)
11:20 -- Nik Bartsch Mobile (playing pieces from its 2016 album Continuum)
Cover: David Virelles; photo: Vincent Oshin
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Naruto Shippuden (Photo : Youtube)
Naruto Shippuden episode 488 will be the final part of the Sasuke Book of Sunrise arc that has focused on Sasuke's journey several years after the 4th Great Ninja war and subsequent battle with Naruto at Valley of End.
During his journey to atone his sins, Sasuke has been tasked by the Sixth Hokage, Kakashi Hatake, to investigate on a series of attacks on villages, including the Village of the Dancing Leaf, with the use of exploding human as weapons.
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Little did he know the mission would lead him to an uncharted territory, where he discovered the grim fate of a former exalted clan and the plot to destroy the current Shinobi system by a mysterious avenger.
And after four episodes, that avenger turned out to be Chino, the true leader of the Dark Thunder Group and the last of the Chinoike Clan. Sasuke, a former avenger, found himself in a similar situation with Chino, who seeks to destroy the five major villages whom she considered the culprit behind the fall of his clan. It sets the stage for a much-anticipated dojutso battle between Sasuke's Sharingan and Chino's Ketsuryugan.
Here are the four potential spoilers for Episode 488: 'The Last One'
-The power of the Ketsuryugan will be explained in details. The first four chapters show how powerful Chinoike's clan dojutso is, with the ability to turn human into exploding weapons. In the next episode, Chino will further demonstrate other abilities of the Ketsuryugan such as manipulating iron existing in blood and then turning them into multi-headed dragons.
-Chino will reveal the reason why he hates Sasuke and what he represents. Being the last member of the Chinoike clan, Chino believes he has the obligation to avenge what happened to his clan which was pushed to near extinction by the ninja world, and in particular by the Uchiha clan, which was hired as henchmen to combat Chinoike's Kekikei Genkai.
-Sasuke's resolve. This will be the moment where Sasuke shows to everybody that he has no intention of reverting back to being an avenger. As a matter of fact, the last of the Uchiha clan will vow to protect the peace Chino and Nowaki have been longing for. In the Book of Sunrise novel, Chino and Nowaki became prisoners, but were eventually freed on condition of working for Kirigakure and Kumogakure.
-It's uncertain if episode 488 will include the rare Sakura x Sasuke moment, but if it does, then it's fanbase is headed for some special moment. In the epilogue of the Sasuke: Book of Sunrise, Sasuke, after receiving a letter from Naruto, finally decided to return to Konoha following years of journey across the Shinobi world. Waiting at the gate was none other than Sakura, who gave him a warm welcome.
Live Stream and TV Info:
Naruto Shippuden episode 488 will be aired on January 5 at 6:30 a.m US EST on Tokyo TV. CrunchyRoll will provide streaming feed of the latest episode simultaneously with its Japan airing.
For more Naruto Shippuden news and update, follow me at ShonenLord@Twitter
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A chilling film about a schoolgirl who was groomed online before being raped and murdered has been released to make parents aware of the dangers.
The video, called Kayleigh's Love Story, shows how 15-year-old girl Kayleigh Haywood was bombarded with Facebook messages from a stranger over a period of two weeks.
Kayleigh was eventually persuaded to spend the night at Luke Harlow's house in Ibstock, Leicestershire, before his neighbour, Stephen Beadman, dragged the teenager into nearby woodland, where he raped and murdered her.
The five-minute film was made by Leicestershire Police to warn of the dangers of grooming and sexual exploitation.
It was shown to 35,764 secondary school children across the country at 1,000 controlled screenings by a team of PCSOs last year.
The screenings gave 35 children the courage to come forward and report possible cases of grooming to officers, police said.
The force has now released the full video online in the hope that it will encourage more victims to seek help and support.
The multiple award-winning film begins with Kayleigh receiving a flood of affectionate text messages on October 31, 2015, from Harlow, that continue for two weeks.
It shows how Kayleigh was lured into Harlow's home before Beadman, 29, sexually assaulted the girl and dumped her body in a woods.
On April 5 2016, Harlow, 28, pleaded guilty to grooming and two counts of sexual activity.
He was found guilty of false imprisonment following a trial at Nottingham Crown Court on June 28, where he also admitting grooming two separate girls.
Harlow was jailed for 12 years.
On April 5, Beadman, 29, pleaded guilty to rape and murder.
On June 7, he was also found guilty of false imprisonment and was given a life sentence in which he will serve a minimum of 35 years.
The video ends by warning: "Stop and think. When you meet someone online, you don't always know who you are talking to."
Leicestershire Police Deputy Chief Constable Roger Bannister said: "What happened to Kayleigh was horrific but we are pleased that some good is coming from the awful tragedy and that this film is raising far greater awareness of the dangers of online grooming and the signs that it may be happening. They are signs that we can all look out for and do something about - before it is too late.
"We felt it was critical that we showed the film to local schoolchildren first, in structured screenings where our staff could discuss with children the issues raised by the film, before we made it more widely available."
The film was made with the support of Kayleigh's parents, Stephanie and Martin.
A signed version, an audio described version and versions of the film translated into five languages Polish, Hindi, Guajarati, Urdu and Punjabi will also available on the force's YouTube page.
Kansas men's basketball wins exhibition game against Pittsburg State
The Jayhawks may not have started this exhibition game well Thursday, but they were able to recover and come away with a win.
Eastern Libya's dominant military figure has no plans to resume talks with his U.N.-backed rival in the west, according to comments in an interview that may further dent foreign hopes of an end to years of conflict in the divided country.
Strongman Khalifa Haftar and Fayez Seraj, who heads the internationally recognised administration in Tripoli, were expected to meet in Algiers in coming days, a source close to the Algerian government said.
They were to discuss the possibility of forming a government of national union, the source told Reuters.
But Haftar said talks with Seraj begun 2-1/2 years ago had yielded no result and the existing state of war now required combat rather than politics.
"Once the extremists are defeated we can go back to talking about democracy and elections. But not now," Haftar was quoted as telling Tuesday's edition of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
The outlook for Seraj's government, already uncertain as it struggles to fulfil Western hopes that it could bring stability to Libya, worsened on Monday when one of its deputy leaders announced his resignation, saying it had failed to tackle urgent problems.
Haftar said his forces now controlled about 80 percent of the country, according to the newspaper.
A deeply divisive figure portrayed by his rivals as a military strongman seeking national power, he has been waging a campaign against Islamists and other opponents in eastern Libya for more than two years.
Haftar has close ties to Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and said that on a recent trip to Moscow he had tried to reactivate contracts there that were interrupted in 2011, when an uprising toppled former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
An arms embargo imposed by the U.N. Security Council is stopping any weapons arriving in Libya, but Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to lift it, Haftar said.
He said his patrols were ensuring the rule of law was being upheld around the oil ports of Ras Lanuf, Brega and Es Sider.
"If our army controlled our southern border, there would be fewer problems for everyone. And the same is true for the energy plants so dear to Italy. I would be very happy to discuss this with the managers of (oil major) Eni," Haftar said.
Libyans "had no idea what democracy meant" when elections were held in 2012, drawing a line under 42 years of Gaddafi's rule, he said. "They were simply not ready."
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Lloyds of London could be paying Disney $50 million in the wake of the sudden death of Hollywood legend Carrie Fisher.The acclaimed writer and actress best known as thefranchises indomitable Leia Organa died Dec. 27, four days after suffering a heart attack while on a flight.Disney, the company producing the newtrilogy, placed an insurance policy on Fisher before she signed a three-picture deal for the new movies, according to Business Insider. The policy was taken out in case Fisher couldnt fulfill her contract.Fisher starred in 2015s. She also completed filming for the forthcoming. But production onhasnt yet begun. That means Disney could receive a $50 million payment, according to Business Insider.The policy was underwritten by New Jersey-based managing general agent Exceptional Risk Advisors, according to The Insurance Insider. However, if the policy triggers the loss will be borne entirely by Lloyds.Its unclear if Disney had similar policies on Harrison Ford, who played Han Solo in The Force Awakens, or Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker in the films, according to Business Insider.Its also unclear how the franchise will deal with Fishers death in. Industrial Light and Magic used special effects to resurrect deceased actor Peter Cushing in Decembers Rogue One, but the company has said it doesnt plan to use that effect often.
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The organizers unveiled the banner which will be leading the way during the march at a meeting on Tuesday night as they iron out the final details of the event. The march is the day after the 76th anniversary of the speech delivered by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. U.S. Sen. Edward Markey will be speaking. Attorney Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, a member of the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women also highlights the speaking portion. NAACP Berkshire Branch President Dennis Powell is known for delivering powerful speeches. PreviousNext
'Four Freedoms' March Set for Saturday in Pittsfield
NAACP Berkshire Branch President Dennis Powell is both one of the organizers of the march and one of the speakers to talk at the rally. PITTSFIELD, Mass. It was an "unprecedented" time in 1941 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed the nation and called for a world "founded upon four essential human freedoms."
It's been 76 years since then and the resolve of the Berkshires remains strong toward securing exactly that.
On Saturday, hundreds will be marching down North Street to stand up for those four freedoms President Franklin D. Roosevelt cited: the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom of every person to worship God in his own way, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
"There was interest from several groups to bring the community together to stand up for their freedoms and rights," said Megan Whilden, one of the organizers. "And to really stand up against the resurgence of bigotry and prejudice."
It was just about a month ago when the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Berkshire Central Labor Council, and the Berkshire Brigades started talking about making such a public stand. The idea came up for a march and since then it has taken off. Now some 100 local organizations have pledged their support, including some 20 elected officials, and the group is expecting at least 500 people to join.
The rally kicks off 12:30 on Saturday, starting at St. Joseph's Church on North Street. At 1, the crowd will march down North to First, waving flags and banners, and end at First Church of Christ on Park Square. Inside the church, a lineup of close to a dozen speakers will provide remarks including U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and James Roosevelt III, grandson of FDR.
"We definitely wanted a wide range of speakers to represent our community," Whilden said.
Beyond Markey and Roosevelt, speakers include attorney Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, a member of the state Commission on the Status of Women; Dennis Powell, president of the Berkshire NAACP branch; Elizabeth Recko-Morrison, the 2015 labor person of the year; Eleanore Velez of Berkshire Community College's Multicultural Center; Ethan Zukerman, director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Civic Media; and spoken word poets from Miss Hall's School. The Rev. Sheila Sholes-Ross of First Baptist Church will be master of ceremonies.
Whilden said the group is trying to limit speakers to three minutes to keep the program under 45 minutes.
Concurrently, the three main organizations have formed a Four Freedoms Coalition. So far, all eyes of that new group have been focused on the march but they hope to move forward after it.
The new "non-partisan" coalition hopes to serve a role in bringing together various organizations and individuals to "reaffirm our true American values as outlined in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's landmark Four Freedoms speech."
Following the march, some 30 "action tables" will be manned by various groups that are involved in projects helping to secure those freedoms. For example, if somebody wanted to help with the Berkshire Immigrant Center, he or she can find out exactly how.
"We don't want to reinvent the wheel. We just want to provide the community a place to come together," Whilden said.
What do they hope to accomplish with the march? A message that this community is against hate and bigotry in all of its forms. That this community is united in its efforts to secure those four freedoms for everybody.
"We want it to be a big tent where everyone feels welcomed ... It shows everybody in the community that they are not alone," Whilden said, later adding, "we're trying to be as broad and inclusive as possible."
The organizers have been working on the project over the holidays and returned Tuesday to find hundreds expressing support and interest. The 100 or so organizations range from private businesses to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and the mayors of both North Adams and Pittsfield, to religious organizations to cultural groups. The Brigades, the Berkshire organizing arm of the state Democratic Party, alerted its email list as did the North Adams Chamber of Commerce. Facebook invites were passed along to some 2,600 people.
"It's really been heartwarming to see the positive response," Whilden said.
Saturday may be a little cold for those marching, with temperatures predicted to be in the 20s, but the sun is supposed to be out and no rain is in the forecast.
The School Committee received an update on efforts to deal with levels of lead and copper found in some water taps in the schools.
North Adams School District Completing Repairs on Affected Water Taps
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The school district has nearly completed repairs and replacement to water fixtures that showed elevated levels of lead and copper.
All but six water faucets remain to be replaced before a second round of testing takes place.
The city tested some 353 water fountains, faucets and other water taps in September through a state grant through the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust. The results released in December showed 50 points were identified as exceeding the state levels, most of those being non-drinking water faucets.
Superintendent Barbara Malkas told the School Committee on Tuesday that the district had followed the guidance and technical assistance provided by the state Department of Environmental Protection to mitigate the water issues.
"We followed exactly the guidance that was provided," she said, noting the district's notification to faculty, students and the community on the results, and the immediate shut-off of affected drinking water taps. The DEP has since given the nod to the district's repair plan, Malkas said, "They have agreed to all of the elements. We're in the middle of completing that."
Action levels for lead are .015 milligrams per liter of water and tests found a range from 0.16 to .24 (the two highest being in custodial/work sinks). The state level for copper is 1.3 milligrams per liter; the bulk of the copper issues were found at Colegrove Park Elementary School and all were just over the level with the exception of one classroom sink at 2.3.
All of the contamination levels were caused by pipes and/or lead solder in the faucet fixtures. The city's water supply is clear.
Malkas said the state guidance for Colegrove, Drury and Johnson schools were to flush the water for 30 seconds before using.
"There is a real strong belief that that will be more than sufficient and when we do our next sampling that those numbers will come back under the recommended levels," she said, adding that the "very, very low, close to being below detectable" copper levels at the new Colegrove School were considered caused by new piping. Flushing, in that case, was also the recommendation of the state and the contractor.
"At Brayton, two faucets that were used for the consumption of water have been replaced and all but six of the water faucets used for consumption have been replaced at Greylock," Malkas continued. "The only reason we haven't replaced the remaining six is because they're on back order. As soon as they come in, we will finish that work and notify the [DEP] and they will come in and do a second round of testing."
Egypt's police arrested in the early hours of Wednesday a man suspected of killing a liquor shop owner in east Alexandria, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.
According to Al-Ahram, Alexandria's police investigations team was able to identify the 48-year-old suspect only 24 hours after the gruesome murder of storeowner Youssef Lamei.
The man was arrested while hiding in a building in the vicinity of Al-Montazah police station east of Alexandria.
Investigators say they are trying to determine the reasons and motives behind the crime.
The arrest came after police reviewed surveillance camera footage taken by neighbouring shops in Khaled Bin El-Waleed street, one of Alexandria's busiest commercial streets.
Lamei died immediately after the attack at the scene of the crime.
The storeowner, a Coptic Egyptian, ran the store for 40 years.
A video of the attack that went viral shortly after the incident shows the suspect, a bearded man wearing a yellow coat, slash the storeowner's throat twice with a knife from behind while the victim was smoking a hookah in front of his store.
It is not clear whether the attack was motivated by sectarianism.
The victim's son, Tony Youssef Lamei, said in a phone interview with Mehwar TV on Tuesday he was proud of his father's job, adding that he and his brothers would continue running his business.
"I'm proud of my dad's job, even if his occupation was one that is rejected by society," Tony said.
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The spokesman responded to statements from Tunisia's president on the potential for a three-way summit between Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia to discuss political transition in Libya
Egypt is committed to establishing peace in Libya, whether through trilateral talks with Tunisia and Algeria, or in direct dialogue with Libya, its neighbouring countries, the United Nations, the African Union or the Arab League, Egypts foreign affairs ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid told Ahram Online on Wednesday.
Abu Zeid's comments come in response to statements by Tunisian President Beji Essebsi to Tunisian Leaders Magazine this week, saying that Algeria proposed an initiative to solve the Libyan crisis and that Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria will meet in a trilateral summit to discuss the country's situation.
Abu Zeid said he had no details on the date of the proposed summit but that the three countries would meet soon in a general meeting with other neighbouring North African countries.
Abu Zeid added that these countries, which also include Sudan, Chad and Niger, share long borders with Libya and thus have vested interests in the stability and security of Libya, as well as eradicating terrorism in Libya.
The spokesman highlighted Egyptian efforts last year to create a Libyan national dialogue, in order to reach a consensus on how to end the current crisis.
According to Abu Zeid, these efforts included hosting over 48 influential Libyan figures, under the supervision of Egypts army Chief of Staff Mahmoud Hegazy and the Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Sameh Shoukry.
Egypt also hosted in 2016 Libyas House of Representative speaker Aguila Saleh, who met with Egypts President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi last week and conveyed his intention to call the parliament to consider the proposed changes in the Sikhrat agreement.
The Sikhrat agreement, which was reached in Morocco in 2015, mandated the reaching of a peaceful transition of power in Libya and the establishment of a national unity government.
There are currently five proposed amendments in the agreement, including a change in the makeup of the Libyan national dialogue committee to better balance the country's factions, a change in the duties of the army commander, and measures to maintain the independence of the armed forces and separate them from political conflicts.
Abu Zeid added that in 2017, Egypt would continue its efforts to reach a consensus between all Libyan factions.
Libya currently has two parliaments and two rival governments, which have effectively divided the country into east and west.
The parliament and interim government in the eastern part of the country are refusing to endorse the UN-backed administration in Tripoli in the west, a prerequisite for the Tripoli camp to take sovereign control of the country.
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Loris Naguib, a 60-year-old victim of the St. Peter and St. Paul Church bombing, died on Wednesday of her injuries
Cairo's St. Peter and St. Paul Church declared on Wednesday that the death toll from the December bombing at the church has risen to 28 following the death of a 60-year-old woman injured in the blast.
In a short statement on its official Facebook page, the Church announced that Loris Naguib passed away from her injuries at a Coptic hospital in Cairo Wednesday afternoon.
A suicide bomber, identified as 22-year-old Egyptian national Mahmoud Shafiq Mohamed Mostafa, set off explosives in the womens section of the St. Peter and St. Paul church in Cairo in December, instantly killing 23 people, mostly women and children, and wounding over 40 others.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility of the attack, whereas the Egyptian Ministry of Interior accused members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood organisation residing in Qatar of plotting the bombing.
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A Cairo prosecutor ordered on Wednesday evening the detention of 12 people for four days pending investigation for allegedly protesting against the approval of the Egyptian-Saudi Red Sea island deal by the Egyptian cabinet last week.
The defendants are accused of illegal protesting, assaulting public officials, thuggery, illegal assembly, damaging public property and blocking traffic.
The defendants were arrested on Monday after allegedly gathering at the Journalists Syndicate in Cairo to protest the cabinet's approval of the deal despite the lack of a court verdict on a lawsuit challenging the agreement.
Egypts cabinet referred last Thursday the border demarcation agreement to parliament after approving the deal, which would place the Egyptian-controlled Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir under Saudi Arabian sovereignty.
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The young girls and boys of Inigan Elementary have been a constant source of inspiration for Brother Philippines
For the students of Inigan Elementary School in Rodriguez, Rizal, education is worth crossing a river for. Every day, they make the perilous journey across the river to get to their poorly equipped classrooms to fulfill their dreams of a brighter future.
The young girls and boys of Inigan Elementary have been a constant source of inspiration for Brother Philippines. The business and home tech solutions company has been at the side of the students and the school since 2012, donating school supplies and equipment to help promote meaningful instruction and interaction within the classroom. Fun and engaging lessons on creating a better, greener environment are also provided as part of Brothers global advocacy.
Last December 8, 2016, Brother Philippines once again renewed its support for the Inigan community this December 2016 with a fresh supply of ICT tools and school necessities, as well as a Lakbay Aral trip to the Museo Pambata and Fort Santiago for a day of fun and learning with the companys employees.
Brother Philippines commitment to Inigan Elementary School has resulted in various educational assistance activities since 2012 and annual educational tours
The whole Brother Philippines team has been looking forward to this special activity for the diligent students and inspiring teachers from Inigan Elementary School, said Glenn Hocson, Brother Philippines President. Their collective passion for learning is truly admirable, and a force that inspires us to develop more products and programs that can help realize dreams in the future.
Brother Philippines commitment to Inigan Elementary School has resulted in various educational assistance activities, since 2012, and annual educational tours.
To date, Brother has helped hundreds of students by providing school supplies, a good number of teachers with ICT tools that can enable further research and learning, and the school with its very own generator set (the school has no formal energy subscription) and a public-address system that come in handy when staging school programs and activities.
The grateful smiles of teachers and students are more than enough to keep us going, - Glenn Hocson
The grateful smiles of teachers and students are more than enough to keep us going, added Glenn Hocson. These experiences that some of us take for granted mean the world to them. As long as we can help, well always be at the side of Inigan Elementary School.
For more information on Brother Philippines corporate social responsibility programs, visit brother.com.ph or call (02)581-9888.
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Governor Brown Submits U.S. Congressman Xavier Becerra's Nomination for California Attorney General to State Legislature
Sacramento, California - Following the resignation of California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. officially submitted U.S. Congressman Xavier Becerras (D-CA) nomination for California Attorney General to the State Legislature today. The nomination is subject to confirmation by the California State Assembly and Senate, which each have 90 days to act.
Xavier has been an outstanding public servant in the State Legislature, the U.S. Congress and as a deputy attorney general, said Governor Brown when he named Rep. Becerra as his nominee last month. I'm confident he will be a champion for all Californians and help our state aggressively combat climate change.
Rep. Becerra, 58, of Los Angeles, has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1992, most recently as the first Latino member of the Committee on Ways And Means, ranking member of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security and chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. The congressman is a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which he chaired from 1997 to 1998, and the Executive Committee of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. In 2010, Rep. Becerra served on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.
Prior to his election to Congress, Rep. Becerra served in the California State Assembly as representative for the 59th Assembly District in Los Angeles County from 1990 to 1992. He served as a deputy attorney general in the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General from 1987 to 1990. The congressman began his legal career in 1984, advocating for and representing individuals with mental illness.
Rep. Becerra earned a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Stanford University. Rep. Becerra is the son of working-class parents and was the first in his family to graduate from college with a four-year degree. His mother was born in Jalisco, Mexico and immigrated to the United States after marrying his father. Rep. Becerra is married to Dr. Carolina Reyes. They are the proud parents of three daughters: Clarisa, Olivia and Natalia.
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There has been a glut of terrific true crime documentaries in recent times; masterful works like Making a Murderer, The Jinx and OJ: Made in America. These compelling narratives are every bit the equal of any scripted drama and it feels as though we are living in a genuine golden age for the form. In 2012, Bart Laytons The Imposter was released, an astonishing achievement that is every bit the equal of the aforementioned documentaries.
This is a film in which ones jaw is on the floor throughout and, just when it seems things cannot get any more shocking, an astonishing third act revelation leaves the audience positively reeling. To say too much would be a mistake but the story begins in San Antonio, Texas in 1994 and concerns the disappearance of a 13-year-old boy named Nicholas Barclay. Three years after being reported missing, the Barclay family are astonished to learn their son is apparently alive and well in Spain.
At this point, things get very strange indeed. The authorities bring Nicholas back to America and he is welcomed home by his relatives despite his insistence on wearing a cap, scarf and dark glasses and the fact that hes clearly much older than 16 and fails to resemble their son in a number of obvious ways ranging from eye colour to skin tone.
The imposter of the title is Frederic Bourdin, a French confidence trickster who appeared to fool just about everyone bar Charlie Parker, a canny Texas private investigator straight out of the Coen brothers' Blood Simple. His obsession with Bourdins ears and the fact that they were the key to solving the case just goes to show that the truth is often stranger than fiction.
But the real elephant in the room concerns the Barclay family and why they were so willing to accept this charlatan as their son. Is it possible that the trauma of losing a child is so great that they were blinded to something as obviously fraudulent as Bourdins scheme. Here is a documentary with the suspense and intensity of the best thrillers and a denouement any scriptwriter would be delighted to have concocted. For fans of true crime, file under essential viewing.
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In Ryan Reynolds' first fully-fledged incarnation of the cheeky, spandex-wearing superhero Deadpool, his character is content and in love with girlfriend Vanessa [Morena Baccarin].
But that could change in future instalments, Reynolds suggests, and the pansexual Marvel character could be seen with a boyfriend at some point as well.
"What love is to Deadpool may not be what love is to Batman or someone else," he told Variety in its cover story this week.
"I think that could be played up more. He's an outsider in every way, shape and form... the only thing you have to consider going forward is: 'Are we being faithful to the canon that we nurtured and created?'
"One of those things is that Deadpool is in love with Vanessa. Deadpool isn't in love with Vanessa just because she's a woman. He's in love with Vanessa because he loves her."
LGBT+ relationships are still rarely depicted in top Hollywood films.
A study conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California examined 700 films released between 2007 and 2014 and looked at LGBT people featured onscreen as well as those featured in film production.
Out of a total of 4,610 characters in the top 100 films of 2014: 10 were gay men, four were lesbians, and five were bisexual.
Recommended Why Rogue One is a watershed moment for gender pay equality in cinema
Depictions of healthy romantic or sexual relationships were scarce; of 19 LGB characters, only two were portrayed as being in a public, stable, long-term partnership, while another two were shown dating.
One of the reasons cited for Hollywood's apparent fear or reluctance to introduce more diverse characters to its screens is the risk of alienating audiences in countries where gay rights are less tolerated.
Reynolds points out that this would not be a problem for Deadpool, at least, because the film is banned in China. "We were rated 'f**k you!' in China," he said.
Deadpool 2 is set for release on 2 March 2018.
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Game of Thrones is one of the biggest shows on TV right now. Millions of people from around the world follow the fantasy drama with ferocious intensity, the shows actors often becoming worldwide stars thanks to its popularity.
Hoping to cash in on his new-found celebrity is Commander Jeor Mormont actor James Cosmo, who has recently entered the Big Brother house for series 19 of the Celebrity version.
Cosmos previous TV work also includes Sons of Anarchy, Midsomer Murders, and Soldier Soldier, while hes also appeared in Braveheart, Trainspotting, and Troy.
The 68-year-old said when entering the CBB house: I wouldn't say I'm scared about going into the house. One of the things that I'll miss is listening to Eminem.
He continued: I'm in here for an experience, I hope I'm going to enjoy it and that's it. Game, set, match and nothing else.
In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Show all 34 1 /34 In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Ramsay Bolton Fed to the hounds by his ex-wife In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Tommen Baratheon Jumped out of a window In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Rickon Stark Shot by Ramsay with an arrow In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Grand Maester Pycelle Stabbed by little birds In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Loras Tyrell Wildfire In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Alliser Thorne Hung In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Olly Hung #F*ckOlly In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Walder Frey Ticked off the list In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Shaggydog Head cut off In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Summer Ripped apart by White Walkers In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 High Sparrow Wildfire In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 The Blackfish Killed off-screen In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Hodor Hold the door In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Trystane Martell Stabbed through the face by those damned Sand Snakes In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Leaf Blown up saving Bran In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Walda Frey and her little boy Fed to the hounds In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Balon Greyjoy Thrown off a bridge by his brother In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Lady Crane Fell off a chair In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Mace Tyrell Wildfire In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 The Waif Killed in the dark by Arya Stark In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Lothar Frey and Black Walder Rivers Fray pie In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Brother Lancel Lannister Stabbed once then blown up by Wildfire In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Lem Lemoncloak Hung by the Brotherhood Without Banners plus The Hound In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Brother Ray Hung by Leomoncloak and his gang In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Three-Eyed Raven Killed by the Nights King In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Margaery Tyrell Wildfire In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Khal Rhalko, Khal Brozho, Khal Qorro, Khal Forzho, Khal Moro Burnt by the Mother of Dragons In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Roose Bolton Stabbed in the chest by his own son In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Kevan Lannister Wildfire In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Smalljon Umber Beaten by Tormund In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun That Goddamn Ramsay again In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Osha Throat slit by Ramsay In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Doran Martell Stabbed in the hearth by Ellaria Sand In memoriam: Every major character who died in Game of Thrones season 6 Areo Hotah Stabbed in the spine by Tyene Sand
Cosmo fans can next catch the actor reprising his role of Mr. Renton in Trainspotting 2 later this year. Meanwhile, other CBB contestants include Ray J (famous for making a sex tape with Kim Kardashian), American reality TV star Speidi, and Jasmine Waltz.
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Everybody knows that humble, little Dobby the House Elf was the true hero of Harry Potter, right?
Well, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London has finally given the character his full dues, by creating a one-of-a-kind experience at their massive Harry Potter exhibition at Leavesden Studios.
First introduced in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Dobby has marked the very forefront of CGI character technology; intermixing multiple cinematic techniques to bring to life one of J.K. Rowling's most memorable creations.
During filming, a lifelike model of Dobby was created so actors knew where to look when shooting scenes, with each detail being carefully hand-painted right down to the veins in his eyes; said model will now be moved to a more prominent location on the tour so visitors can see those details up close.
In addition, visitors will be able to take part in the Studio Tour's first interactive motion capture experience; standing in front of the display, visitors will be able to control Dobby's movements in real-time, as they see the character in three different stages of the process - from an initial wire-frame to the fully-rendered Dobby seen in the finished film.
JK Rowling's hidden Harry Potter sketches Show all 7 1 /7 JK Rowling's hidden Harry Potter sketches JK Rowling's hidden Harry Potter sketches Harry and the Dursleys, by J.K. Rowling JK Rowling's hidden Harry Potter sketches Quidditch, by JK Rowling JK Rowling's hidden Harry Potter sketches Peeves, by JK Rowling JK Rowling's hidden Harry Potter sketches Snape, by JK Rowling JK Rowling's hidden Harry Potter sketches Outside Privet Drive, by J.K. Rowling JK Rowling's hidden Harry Potter sketches MIrror of Erised, by J.K. Rowling JK Rowling's hidden Harry Potter sketches The Weasleys, by J.K. Rowling
Dobby can also be spotted in the window of Harry's childhood home at Number Four, Privet Drive; which will reopened for the occasion to allow visitors a peek into the Dursley's living room where hundreds of Harry's Hogwarts letters can be seen flying out of the fireplace, recreating the iconic scene from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
Directing Dobby will run at the Studio Tour from Saturday 4th February Friday 31st March 2017.
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Frances far-right movement has been angered once more, this time because a film depicting rising nationalism in Europe features a character similar to Marine Le Pen.
Titled Chez Nous (translation: Our Home), the film follows a nurse from Northern France who is asked to lead a far-right party, named the "Patriotic Bloc" party.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), having a blond female lead the nationalist party has left few Le Penne advocates in any doubt the character is modelled on the National Front leader.
Vice-president of the party, Florian Philippot, toldFrench media that the film was "scandalous" and "clearly anti-National Front. With Chez Nous release in February coming two months ahead of Frances elections, it has hit a particular nerve.
"Having seen the trailer... it looks like a real turkey, Philippot continued. Gilles Pennelle, a far-right leader based in Western Brittany, also hit out at the film, saying it is a "disrespect for the French people and its freedom of expression.
Director Lucas Belvaux was reportedly surprised by the reaction, saying outrage from the trailer causes cheap controversy that avoids debating the films actual message.
Le Pen's legacy: bitter battle for future of the French far right Show all 3 1 /3 Le Pen's legacy: bitter battle for future of the French far right Le Pen's legacy: bitter battle for future of the French far right 506411.bin Le Pen's legacy: bitter battle for future of the French far right 506506.bin REUTERS Le Pen's legacy: bitter battle for future of the French far right 506507.bin
"It's not so much an anti-FN film as a film about the populist message and how people relate to politics. It's voters that interest me, not political parties," he told the BFMTV channel.
Recently, Le Pen made headlines after insisting Russian annexation of Crimea is totally legitimate.
Sixteen Yemeni pro-government fighters were killed on Tuesday in separate clashes with Houthi rebels and Al-Qaeda fighters in the south of the war-torn country, military sources and officials said.
Forces supporting Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, are fighting both the Huthi rebels who control parts of the country including the capital Sanaa and Islamist militants in the south.
Al-Qaeda fighters on Tuesday ambushed an army unit on its way to conduct an operation against a Islamist militant position east of the coastal town of Shaqra in the southern province of Abyan, security sources said.
Local officials said 11 soldiers and 15 Al-Qaeda fighters were killed in the attack.
Al-Qaeda fighters seized two military vehicles and weapons, security sources said.
Meanwhile, in the neighbouring province of Shabwa, five pro-Hadi fighters including an officer were killed along with nine Houthi rebels near the town of Baihan, loyalist military sources said.
Baihan is held by the Shia Houthis and their allies, supporters of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Al-Qaeda and the rival Islamic State (IS) militants have taken advantage of chaos in Yemen to reinforce their presence in the Arabian Peninsula country.
Yemen's war has killed more than 7,000 people since the Saudi-led coalition began its military intervention in March 2015, according to the United Nations.
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Members of the Star Wars cast are expected to keep details of the plot completely under wraps, but what about when their children spill the beans instead?
Diego Luna has revealed that he found his eight-year-old son revealing secrets of the Rogue One story to a group of teenage girls on a family beach trip, which took place while he was filming on set.
Admitting that he had told his children a few things about the film he was making, Luna spoke about the moment he realised he may come to regret that decision.
"I start swimming and I just listen [to him saying]: 'Oh no, this film has no Jedis, just rebels.' And I go: 'Oh my god,'" he told Yahoo.
Luna stars in the latest Star Wars prequel as Cassian Andor, a Rebel Alliance Captain and Intelligence officer who helps Jyn Erso [Felicity Jones] escape from Imperial captivity and brings her to the Rebels.
The film has received praise for casting a diverse range of actors; with Felicity Jones in the starring role and Luna, who is Mexican, Chinese stars Jiang Wen and Donnie Wen, and British actor Riz Ahmed, who is of Pakistani heritage, making up the rest of the cast.
The film was released in UK cinemas on 16 December and on 2 January was named the biggest film of 2016 at the UK box office with just hours to go.
Disney had a total of four films in the top 10 best-performing: Finding Dory, Captain America: Civil War, and The Jungle Book also appeared.
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The 30th year of Eurosonic Nooderslag Festival takes place in next week - the annual exchange and networking event for new music in Europe - and it's a chance to check out some of the artists you'll likely be hearing a lot more from later on in the year.
Each year the festival, held in Groningen highlights talent from a different country and this year it's Portugal - whose local artists will perform on the same stages as the best new talent from Britain, Ireland and Scandanavia.
The theme means a number of diverse, up and coming acts from the country featured that year are provided with a space to perform to figures from the music industry - similar to The Great Escape Festival held in Brighton.
21 Portuguese acts will perform at the January showcase: papercutz, Batida presents the Almost Perfect DJ, Best Youth, DJ Firmeza, DJ Ride, First Breath After Coma, Gisela Joao, Glockenwise, Holy Nothing, Marta Ren & the Groovelvets, Memoria de Peize, Moonshinersw, NEEV, Noiserv, Octa Push, Rodrigo Leao, Sam Alone and the Gravediggers, The Gift, The Happy Mess, Throes + The Shine and We Bless This Mess.
Nuno Saraiva of WHY Portugal said: "With Eurosonic Noorderslag as a platform for European music, we are excited to present new Portuguese music.
"There are so many great artists in present-day Portugal that it is no doubt a tough job for the Eurosonic team to pick which ones to invite, in order to offer the music business professionals and European audiences the very best talents from Portugal in this important year."
Peter Smidt, Creative Director of Eurosonic Noorderslag told The Independent: "We always do careful research about music developments in Europe; last year we did a focus on the whole central eastern Europe to show what is happening in that part of Europe which was an eyeopener for a lot of people.
"Eurosonic is the main platform for new European music and our aim is to provide press and professionals in the music sector as well as audiences an overview of the diverse an high quality of music that is made everywhere in Europe.
"Currently we are impressed by the amount and the quality of new talents that is coming out of Portugal so we want to present and show that. We feel not everyone is aware that Portugal has not only a very large amount of great summer festivals but also a lot of great new talent to offer."
Also among the line-up are rising British pop star Anne-Marie, Scottish electronic act Be Charlotte, Black Foxxes, Bonzai, Dan Owen, Declan McKenna, Era Istrefi, Lets Eat Grandma, Nils Bech, Seramic and Ward Thomas.
Eurosonic Noorderslag 2017 takes place from 11 - 14 January 2017.
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Farmers could go bust after Brexit as subsidies are slashed, tariffs are slapped on exports to Europe and the UK is flooded with cheap imports from countries with few, if any, animal welfare rules, MPs have warned.
In a report, the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said the agricultural sector was facing significant risks because of the UKs departure from the European Union.
And the natural world is also in danger, the MPs said, because EU rules designed to protect wildlife could become zombie legislation in the UK officially the law of the land but without any official body to enforce or update it.
As the report was released, the National Farmers Unions Vice President Guy Smith urged the Government not to water down animal welfare, food safety and environmental protections even if we are forced to compete against agricultures in other parts of the world that clearly do not have such high standards as ours.
However he added: Clearly we must not be put at a competitive disadvantage.
And he issued a plea for what amounted to the softest of Brexits at least as far as agriculture is concerned.
It is essential for the food and farming sector to maintain full, unfettered access to the single market while having continued access to a flexible, competent and reliable workforce, Mr Smith said.
Farming summit
Retaining tariff-free access is vital for UK farmers its where 75 per cent of our food exports go.
The EAC's report said farmers were facing "a triple jeopardy" from Brexit.
"First, leaving the Common Agricultural Policy will threaten the viability of some farms," it said.
"Second, trade agreements which impose tariff or non-tariff barriers to UK farm exports similarly threaten farm and food business incomes.
"Third, new trading relationships with states outside the European Union could lead to increased competition from countries with lower food standards, animal welfare standards and environmental protection.
"This risks putting UK farmers at a competitive disadvantage and may make it more difficult to agree and implement a strong future UK environmental policy."
EU farm subsidies currently make up to around 50 to 60 per cent of farmers income in the UK, with payouts from the Common Agricultural Policy totaling 3.5bn last year.
But Mary Creagh, who chairs the EAC, noted that Andrea Leadsom, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, had not guaranteed there would be any support, let alone this amount.
It was concerning that the Environment Secretary gave my committee no reassurance that there would be subsidies for farmers after we leave the EU, she said.
Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty
The EAC also warned there was a risk that legislation designed to protect the environment much of which was created in the last few decades on an EU-wide scale would no longer carry any teeth even after being transferred into UK law.
The fear is that there will not be a government body tasked with enforcing the rules and coming up with proposed changes where necessary. The rules could also be changed by ministers with little scrutiny by parliament, the MPs warned.
The report called for a new Environmental Protection Act to be passed during the negotiations over Brexit with the EU.
Ms Creagh said: Changes from Brexit could put our countryside, farming and wildlife at risk. Protections for Britains wildlife and special places currently guaranteed under European law could end up as zombie legislation even with the Great Repeal Bill [which will transfer much EU law into UK law]."
Trevor Hutchings, director of advocacy at WWF-UK, said the EACs report was a good reminder of the challenges ahead.
Now more than ever, our natural environment is at risk, both at home and overseas, he said.
But he added that Brexit has the potential to be a once in a generation opportunity to protect and enhance nature and build a healthy and prosperous future for all.
As well as bringing over existing EU legislation into UK law during the negotiations, the Government must go further, and publish an ambitious and strong 25-Year Environment Plan so that we become a world leader in environmental protection, safeguarding nature for future generations, Mr Hutchings said.
The Government plans to issue a formal response to the report at a later date.
However a Government spokesperson said: The UK has a long history of wildlife and environmental protection and we are committed to safeguarding and improving these, securing the best deal for Britain as we leave the EU.
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The most futuristic car ever made has just been revealed an electric vehicle with the acceleration of a Formula 1 car and the ability to learn about its driver.
But some have already voiced fears that the car might not ever actually be made. And it appeared to run into problem during its first outing, unable to complete a demonstration that served as the centrepiece of the big reveal.
The Faraday FF91 was revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. As a highly-designed, self-driving and fast electric vehicle it looks to take on Tesla but is likely to cost significantly more than any of that company's cars.
Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty
The company says that the FF91 will go into production in 2018. It has 1,050 horsepower and can go from 0-60 in 2.39 seconds putting it among the fastest cars ever seen and beating the speediest Tesla's 2.5 seconds.
Aside from the car's speed, it will also have a "driverless valet" system. That will let it recognise people as they approach the car and have it unlock for them, and will allow it to adjust to the preferences of whoever is driving it. When the journey is over, the car will be able to park itself up.
But the huge amount of technology, engineering and industry required to make such a car has led some people to doubt that it will ever actually be built. The company unveiled one of its cars at CES last year but was quickly criticised for being vague about its plans and not giving much detail on what it was actually developing for the future.
The company in charge of building Faraday's $1 billion car factory stopped work in November last year. And it lost three of its top executives including its global CEO last month, according to reports at the time.
The car was supposed to park itself on stage at CES but wouldn't move when the company's Chinese investor told it to do so. "As a new baby, she's very very timid," Nick Sampson, Faraday's vice president of engineering, explained but the car has already been written off by some people.
Mr Sampson has said that the problem was caused by the car being indoors and that the company will "persist" despite the "naysayers and the skeptics".
Faraday said only 300 models would be made available initially to those who pay a 4,000 deposit, with the first expected to be delivered in 2018.
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A man has replaced Baroness Ford as the chairman of Grainger, breaking up the first all-female board of a FTSE company.
The 30% Club, which is campaigning to achieve 30 per cent female representation in boardrooms, hailed a breakthrough when Grainger, the UKs largest listed residential landlord, became the first FTSE company to appoint women to its three most senior board positions in October 2015.
Over a year ago Vanessa Simms became the group finance director, joining the chief executive Helen Gordon. Meanwhile, the residential landlords board was chaired by Baroness Ford.
However, on Wednesday the company said that Baroness Ford will be retiring after serving a full nine years the last two in the role of non-executive chairman.
She will be replaced next month by Mark Clare, the former executive of blue-chip housebuilder Barratt.
(Statista (Statista)
Helen Gordon, chief executive of Grainger said Ms Ford had been instrumental in identifying the need for a step change in the companys strategic direction.
Efforts to appoint more women to the boards of Britains biggest companies have stalled, according to the Female FTSE Board Report.
While blue-chip FTSE 100 companies met a voluntary target of 25 per cent in October 2015 up from 23.5 per cent in March 2015 the proportion has not increased since then.
Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Show all 20 1 /20 Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Angela Merkel German Chancellor AFP/Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Hillary Clinton U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Reuters Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Janet Yellen Federal Reserve Chair Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Melinda Gates Co-founder of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation AFP/Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Mary Barra General Motors Co. Chairman and CEO Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Christine Lagarde Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Sheryl Sandbert COO of Facebook Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Susan Wojcicki CEO of YouTube Getty Images for GLAAD Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Meg Whitman Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Ana Patricia Botin Santander Bank's president AFP/Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Ginni Rometty IBM Chairman, President and CEO Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Park Geun-Hye President of South Korea Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Michelle Obama U.S. first lady Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Indra Nooyi Chairperson and CEO of PepsiCo Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Angela Ahrendts Apple senior vice president Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Abigail Johnson President and CEO of Fidelity Investments and chairman of Fidelity International Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Tsai Ing-wen Taiwan President AFP/Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Michelle Bachelet Chile President AFP/Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Federica Mogherini High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy AFP/Getty Images Forbes top 20 most powerful women in the world Safra Catz Oracle president Getty Images
A review, chaired by Sir Philip Hampton, the chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, said the UKs corporate governance code should be amended so that all FTSE 350 companies disclose their gender balance in their annual reports and accounts.
Jessica Uhl will join ranks of women rising to the boardroom level and become one of the most senior women in the male-dominated oil and gas industry, as she takes over the role of Royal Dutch Shells chief financial officer in March this year.
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Donald Trumps pick for US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, will get a $180m (147m) cash payout from oil giant ExxonMobil, if he gets the job.
Mr Tillerson, who stepped down as Exxons chief executive at the beginning of this year, was in line to collect 2 million shares, worth around $182m, over the next decade as part of his pay package but that sparked fears of a colossal conflict of interest.
In his potential new role as Americas top diplomat, Mr Tillersons decisions could affect the value of those shares to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.
In order to assuage concerns that the new secretary of state could be looking out for Exxon ahead of the American people, the company agreed late on Tuesday to pay around $179m in cash, instead of shares. Federal ethics watchdogs have requested the $3m (2.4m) reduction from Exxons current market value.
The payout will be placed in an independent trust which will make periodic payments to Mr Tillerson and cannot invest in Exxon.
Mr Tillerson has agreed not to work in oil and gas for 10 years, giving up $4.1m (3.3m) in cash bonuses and benefits such as medical and dental cover.
If he breaks the rules of the trust, the money would be distributed to one or more charities involved in fighting poverty or disease in the developing world, Exxon said in a statement.
Women go on strike against Donald Trump Show all 7 1 /7 Women go on strike against Donald Trump Women go on strike against Donald Trump People rally as part of a nationwide protest against US President-elect Donald Trump outside of Trump Tower on December 12, 2016 in New York. Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images Women go on strike against Donald Trump Protestors march during a demonstration against U.S. President-elect Donald Trump near Trump Tower in the Manhattan borough of New York City, December 12, 2016. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters Women go on strike against Donald Trump Protestors march during a demonstration against U.S. President-elect Donald Trump near Trump Tower in the Manhattan borough of New York City, December 12, 2016. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters Women go on strike against Donald Trump People rally as part of a nationwide protest against US President-elect Donald Trump outside of Trump Tower on December 12, 2016 in New York. Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images Women go on strike against Donald Trump People rally as part of a nationwide protest against US President-elect Donald Trump outside of Trump Tower on December 12, 2016 in New York. Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images Women go on strike against Donald Trump People rally as part of a nationwide protest against US President-elect Donald Trump outside of Trump Tower on December 12, 2016 in New York. Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images Women go on strike against Donald Trump People rally as part of a nationwide protest against US President-elect Donald Trump outside of Trump Tower on December 12, 2016 in New York. Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images
He has also committed to sell the approximately $55m (44.7m)-worth of Exxon stock he already owns.
Mr Tillersons suitability for a senior government position has been questioned amid conflicts of interest and extensive business ties to Russia and Vladimir Putin. The two men worked together to secure energy and drilling deals while Russia was subject to US sanctions. Mr Tillerson later accepted an award from Moscow.
In December, leaked documents revealed he was a director of Exxons US-Russian subsidiary, which is based in the Bahamas, a tax haven. This is seemingly at odds with Trumps commitment to crack down on offshoring.
Darren Woods, a 25-year Exxon veteran who had served as the companys president, took over as Exxon chief executive at the start of the new year.
Tillerson began his career at Exxon as a production engineer straight out of the University of Texas at Austin in 1975. He replaced longtime boss Lee Raymond in 2006 and led the company during one of the most turbulent periods in its history, which included the 2008 financial crisis and a collapse in oil prices since mid-2014 that has sharply diluted Exxons profits.
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Swedens experiment with a six-hour work day may be doomed after a two-year experiment showed that the costs outweigh the benefits.
The scheme saw 68 nurses at an old peoples home in Gothenburg have their eight-hour days cut in a bid to improve staff satisfaction, health and patient care.
Preliminary results concluded that it achieved all of these aims, but the city had to employ an extra 17 staff, costing 12m kroner (1.4m), Bloomberg reported.
EU court rules commuting should count as working hours
City officials have decided not to make the scheme permanent because of fears costs could spiral out-of-control.
It's associated with higher costs, absolutely, said Daniel Bernmar, a local left-wing politician who has been a leading advocate of the six-hour working day and is responsible for elderly care.
It's far too expensive to carry out a general shortening of working hours within a reasonable time frame.
Despite the setback, Bernmar is still supportive of the principle of decreased work hours. I personally believe in shorter working hours as a long-term solution, he said.
The richer we become, the more we need to take advantage of that wealth in other ways than through a newer car or higher consumption.
While the public sector may have shunned the idea, at least for now, Swedens vibrant tech start-up scene may still be open to it.
Filimundus, an app developer based in the capital Stockholm, introduced the six-hour day last year. The eight-hour work day is not as effective as one would think, the companys chief executive Linus Feldt told Fast Company in October.
Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.
To stay focused on a specific work task for eight hours is a huge challenge. In order to cope, we mix in things and pauses to make the work day more endurable. At the same time, we are having it hard to manage our private life outside of work.
Attempts to prove the effectiveness of reduced hours have been inconclusive so far. A handful of trials in the 1990s and 2000s were scrapped due to a lack of raw data.
One success has come at Toyotas Swedish service centre where shifts were cut 13 years ago, sparking an immediate boost to productivity and increased profits. The company has kept the shorter shifts ever since.
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A group of young Chinese children were attacked by knife wielding man after he climbed over the wall of their kindergarten.
A 41-year-old suspect has been caught, but his motives remain unclear, state media reported.
None of the children sustained life threatening injuries during the attack in the south western city of Pingxiang in the province of Guangxi.
Although violent crime is rare in China compared with many other countries, there have been a series of knife and axe attacks targeting children in recent years.
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A man stabbed 10 children outside the gates of a school in China before killing himself last February.
Six boys and four girls were attacked outside Yang Fan Primary School in the city of Haikou, on the southern island province of Hainan.
Between 2010 and 2012 there were a spate of attacks on schools and kindergartens.
There was a national outcry and calls for greater security after a a man stabbed 29 school children and three teachers at a kindergarten in Taixing city in April 2010.
Xu Yuyuan, 47, was sentenced to death for the attack.
He told a court that his motive was to "vent his rage against society", the state run Xinhua news agency reported at the time.
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As President-elect Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address, groups of activists plan to hand out joints to those listening - and light up.
The group known as DCMJ intends to distribute thousands of joints of marijuana on Inauguration Day - for free - as part of a campaign to push for the federal legalisation of pot.
The group plans to start handing out joints at 8am January 20 on the west side of Dupont Circle in the nations capital, part of the city where recreational marijuana is legal. Then, marchers will walk to the National Mall where the real protest will begin.
The plan is to light up on the Mall at precisely four minutes and twenty seconds into Mr Trumps inaugural address, a time chosen to symbolise April 20 - or 4/20 on American calendars - which is dubbed National Weed Day, and is celebrated by many across the United States.
DCMJ, a Washington.-based group which focuses on marijuana laws and equal rights for DC cannabis users, growers, and their families, is organising the event with the mission to build awareness on marijuana reform in the wake of the forthcoming Trump administration.
The main thing is to show that cannabis reform is not a partisan issue, Nikolas Schiller, co-founder of DCMJ, told The Independent.
Hollywood sign changed to Hollyweed' to promote cannabis legalisation
This is not a protest against Trump at all. Its an awareness building activity. Were going to hand out joints. It doesnt matter what political affiliation you are.
The organisers will meet with other participants near Dupont Circle for coffee and tea, followed by a walk to the National Mall. But with conflicting DC and federal laws concerning the possession and recreational use of marijuana, the group has to juggle the complications created by the presence of both federal and city laws.
In February 2015, the District of Columbia, passed Initiative 71 which allowed legal possession of small amounts of marijuana with certain restrictions.
Individuals aged 21 and older can possess two ounces or less of marijuana, and use it on private property. But since a significant amount of DC is federal land, the laws surrounding marijuana possession can get tricky.
Initiative 71 does not affect federal law, therefore possessing any amount of marijuana on federal land is still illegal.
The DCMJ has prepared for this. The organisers will gather on the west side of Dupont Circle (avoiding federal land) to distribute 4,200 joints of marijuana to participants.
They also plan to take other precautions with plans to card individuals receiving a free joint to ensure they are 21 years old or older.
Mr Schiller said each joint will have up to one gram of cannabis in order to stay in line with DCs guideline that an individual can transfer up to one ounce or less of marijuana to another person.
The protest aspect will play out when the group plans to light up at the National Mall during Trumps inaugural speech.
But Mr Schiller said the bigger point of the protest was to encourage Mr Trump to make his plans surrounding marijuana reform clear and for him to take action to push for marijuana legalisation on a federal level. Marijuana is listed as a DEA Schedule 1 drug, along with LSD.
He said the DCMJ is particularly concerned about Mr Trumps pick for Attorney General, Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, who said: Marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalised.
The DCMJ plans to attend Mr Sessions upcoming Senate confirmation hearing.
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Mass murderer Charles Manson has been taken to hospital after falling seriously ill, according to reports.
The 82-year-old is purportedly being treated at a medical centre in Bakersfield, which is just over an hour away from Californias Corcoran State Prison.
One source told the Los Angeles Times the condition of the convicted criminal who founded a murderous quasi-commune that became known as the Manson Family was serious.
Afton Elaine Burton talks about Charles Manson
But corrections officials have declined to say whether Manson had been hospitalised, citing inmate security procedure, only confirming the criminal was still alive.
Corcoran has medical facilities to treat inmates requiring urgent or emergency care as well as inpatient hospital stays, but prisoners are usually transported elsewhere if they need surgery.
In general, inmates are sent to outside hospitals if they need surgical services, emergency care, or diagnostic services of an acute nature, said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for the federal receiver who controls prison medical care.
These services are not provided in state prison facilities.
Manson headed a macabre cult that committed grisly murders in majority white neighbourhoods of Los Angeles in the hope of generating hatred towards African Americans and igniting a race war.
He has been imprisoned since shortly after the 1969 killings, which included the murder of Sharon Tate, director Roman Polanskis wife, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant at the time.
Ms Tate an American actress and model was killed at her Beverly Hills home along with three of her friends who were staying with her.
An 18-year-old man, Steven Parent, who was visiting the propertys caretaker, was also killed.
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The following night, Leno and Rosemary La Bianca, a supermarket executive and dress shop owner, were bound and stabbed to death.
After being convicted for the murders of seven people, along with four of his Manson Family followers, Manson was sentenced to death. But he was spared execution after a US Supreme Court ruling temporarily banned the death penalty in 1972.
Late on Tuesday night, three vans from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation were parked outside Bakersfields Mercy Hospital Downtown, where prisoners have been treated before.
Ms Tate's sister Debra Tate told The Associated Press that, as a Catholic, she makes no ill wishes for the people who killed her sister, and will reserve her feelings until hearing Manson has died.
I would probably say a prayer for them and shed a tear and ask God to have mercy on their souls, but so far I haven't allowed myself to feel anything because it's unsubstantiated, Ms Tate said.
I'm not allowing myself to feel anything until I know that it's true.
Sarah Ardalani of the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said in an email that the agency had no information on Manson. The office prosecuted Manson and has objected to his release. He was most recently up for parole in 2012 his 12th bid for freedom.
Charles Manson's 10 most bizarre quotes Show all 10 1 /10 Charles Manson's 10 most bizarre quotes Charles Manson's 10 most bizarre quotes "I'm nobody. I'm a tramp, a bum, a hobo. I'm a boxcar and a jug of wine, and a straight razor if you get too close to me." - Interview, 1989 Getty Charles Manson's 10 most bizarre quotes "Maybe I should have killed four, five hundred people. Then I would have felt better. Then I would have felt like I really offered society something." - NBC interview with Heidi Schulman, 1987 Granger/REX Charles Manson's 10 most bizarre quotes "Do you feel blame? Are you mad? Uh, do you feel like wolf kabob Roth vantage? Gefrannis booj pooch boo jujube; bear-ramage. Jigiji geeji geeja geeble Google. Begep flagaggle vaggle veditch-waggle bagga?" - NBC interview with Heidi Schulman, 1987 Charles Manson's 10 most bizarre quotes "I've been 15 years in the nut ward, for trying to stop the trees from being cut down, from trying to rearrange the lifestyle of a bunch of people who don't want to change. But they're gonna change because a cold wind is blowing. You're gonna change or else there's going to be no life left on the planet Earth." - Interview with Penny Daniels in San Quentin Prison, California, 1989 Rex Charles Manson's 10 most bizarre quotes "We use the word God. God hooks all the other words up. I'm the pope. I'm ten times the pope. I'm sixty times the pope. But I'm the pope in the hills and in the mountains." - Interview by Penny Daniels, 1989 Rex Charles Manson's 10 most bizarre quotes Will of God.. whatever you wanna call it.. you call it Jesus, call it Mohammed, call it goobybob, call it nuclear mind, call it blow the world up, call it your heart. Whatever you wanna call it, it's still music to me. It's there. It's the will of life. - Interview with Geraldo Rivera (1981) Rex Charles Manson's 10 most bizarre quotes Believe me, if I started murdering people, there'd be none of you left. - Interview, Rolling Stone (1970) Getty Charles Manson's 10 most bizarre quotes You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something. Nowadays everybody's crazy. - Interview by Diane Sawyer (1994) AP Charles Manson's 10 most bizarre quotes If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy. - Interview by Diane Sawyer (1994) AP Charles Manson's 10 most bizarre quotes "I was so smart when I was a kid that I learnt that I was dumb fast." - Interview on the album 'All the Way Alive' (2003) Rex
Manson, who did not personally commit the murders but ordered his followers to carry them out, is not eligible to apply for parole again until 2027.
In 2014 Manson was granted permission to marry Afton Elaine Burton, yet the ceremony never happened.
Ms Burton, now known as Star, who is 53 years younger than Manson, has been accused of wanting to marry the criminal in order to make money.
In November, the state inspector general, which monitors the corrections system, characterised care at Corcoran as inadequate.
An Israeli soldier who shot dead a wounded Palestinian in the occupied West Bank as he lay on the ground posing no apparent threat was convicted of manslaughter Wednesday after a trial that deeply divided the country.
The soldier, Elor Azaria, had been on trial for manslaughter in a military court since May, with right-wing politicians defending him despite top army brass harshly condemning the killing.
Sentencing is expected at a later date. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
Judge Colonel Maya Heller spent more than two and a half hours reading out the decision, sharply criticising the arguments of Azaria's lawyers.
On behalf of the three-judge panel, Heller said there was no reason for Azaria to open fire since the Palestinian was posing no threat.
She called Azaria's testimony "evolving and evasive."
Azaria's demeanour drastically changed as the judge read the verdict.
Dressed in a green army uniform, he had entered the courtroom smiling, with family members and supporters applauding him while one man embraced him.
But he and his family later looked shaken as the judge spoke, with his mother and father huddling together.
Azaria was 19 at the time of the killing in March 2016.
On Wednesday morning, dozens of protesters scuffled with police as they gathered outside Israel's military headquarters in Tel Aviv, where the verdict was announced.
They held a sign that read: "People of Israel do not abandon a soldier in the battlefield".
*This report was edited by Ahram Online
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Donald Trump has accused the Democratic National Committee of being careless over its online security, after Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said it could have been hacked by a 14-year-old.
In an interview with Fox News that was broadcast on Tuesday night, Mr Assange said a teenager could have hacked into the computer of John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clintons election campaign, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
We published severalemails which show Podesta responding to a phishing email, said Mr Assange. Podesta gave out that his password was the word password. His own staff said this email that youve received, this is totally legitimate. So, this is something ... a 14-year-old kid could have hacked Podesta that way.
Some of the emails were leaked on the eve of the Democratic National Convention last July, and revealed that some DNC staff had conspired to undermine Ms Clintons rival, Bernie Sanders.
The US intelligence community has reportedly concluded Russia was behind the hacking, and passed the information to Wikileaks.
They believe Russias meddling was designed to benefit Mr Trump. Russia, and Mr Trump, have denied that Moscow was behind the hacking. Wikileaks has declined to say where the emails came from, but Mr Assange said they were not from any state party.
Julian Assange questions Seth Rich death
In a tweet on Wednesday morning, in which he initially spelled Mr Assanges name incorrectly, Mr Trump wrote: Julian Assange said a 14-year-old could have hacked Podesta why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!
The evening before, Mr Trump had claimed that intelligence officials due to brief the President-elect on various issues, including the findings of a probe into the alleged Russian hacking, had postponed the meeting.
The Intelligence briefing on so-called Russian hacking was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange! he said.
The US intelligence community has hit back, telling various media outlets that no such meeting had been fixed.
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A 50-year-old man is being held at Heathrow Airport in London on suspicion of a terror offence, police have said.
The man was apprehended by counter-terrorism police as he got off a plane from Cairo, said the Metropolitan Police in a statement.
He was arrested on suspicion of "possession of articles containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism".
Police are also searching a home in north London in connection to the arrest, which they said was not related to Isis or Syria.
"The arrest was pre-planned and not in response to any immediate danger but as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of terrorist activities overseas," said the statement.
The man is being held under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act.
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A former soldier has been sentenced under the Terrorism Act after he attempted to travel to Syria to fight Isis.
Robert Clarke came to the attention of police in July last year when it was believed that he was considering travelling to Syria, possibly to fight on behalf of Kurdish forces.
The 23-year-old from Wales was about to board a flight to Jordan at Heathrow Airport when he was detained and questioned by detectives, heard Westminster Magistrates Court.
He was handed a year-long community order for failing to give officers the pin number to his mobile phone when required to do so.
The verdict came shortly after it emerged that 20-year-old chef Ryan Lock was killed in Syria on 21 December the third British man to die fighting Isis with the Kurds in the country.
After his arrest, Islamist extremists made extremely nasty threats towards Mr Clarke, who previously served four years in the Army, the court heard.
Ryan Lock was killed on 21 December, two months before he intended to return to the UK (Facebook)
Defence lawyer Korina Claire said Mr Clarke believed his intentions had been good and he had planned to go to Syria to assist victims of war, including by donating medical supplies that were in his luggage along with military paraphernalia.
She said he received some extremely nasty threats from Islamic extremists or those purporting to be Islamic extremists after he was charged.
Ms Claire added that once her client was remanded in custody she was contacted by a member of staff in prison, who said he was concerned about Mr Clarke's safety there given that he had openly stated that he wished to fight against Isis.
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On 9 September, Mr Clarke told police officers who had visited him on several occasions that he was booked on a flight in four days time.
Prosecutor Louise Gray said he had been seen using an iPhone but refused to give officers his pin number after being detained.
He gave various reasons including that he had forgotten it, that it required fingerprint recognition and giving a number, which did not work, she said.
The court heard he still had not provided the correct number.
In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Show all 11 1 /11 In pictures: Isis' weapons factories In pictures: Isis' weapons factories A mortar round fin manufactured by Isis in Gogjali, Mosul, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Isis rocket components discovered in Gogjali, Mosul, Iraq in November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Isis mortars discovered near Karamlais, Iraq, in November 2016 CAR In pictures: Isis' weapons factories An Isis rocket launch frame in Qaraqosh, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories A memo from Isis' COSQC on quality control at a manufacturing facility in Gogjali, Mosul, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Electrically-operated initiators manufactured by Isis in forces Gogjali, Mosul, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Isis mortar tubes at a manufacturing facility in Karamlais, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories An Isis mortar production facility discovered in Gogjali, Mosul, in November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories An Isis weapons manufacturing facilities near Mosul in November 2016 Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories Stocks of French-manufactured Sorbitol, Latvian potassium nitrate and Lebanese sugar at an Isis weapons factory in Iraq Conflict Armament Research In pictures: Isis' weapons factories A destroyed Isis weapons facility in Qaraqosh, Iraq, November 2016 Conflict Armament Research
Mr Clarke will have to undertake 50 hours unpaid work as part of his sentence and is also banned from leaving the UK for the same period.
At an earlier hearing Mr Clarke, from Carmarthenshire, admitted wilfully obstructing an examination under the Terrorism Act on 13 September.
Sentencing him, District Judge John Zani said: We live in difficult and potentially dangerous times and whatever frustration you felt has to be relaxed when you are asked to supply necessary information by the police officers merely doing their job.
Dean Evans, 22, a dairy farmer from Reading, Berkshire, died in the city of Manbij in July last year and former Royal Marine Konstandinos Erik Scurfield, 25, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, died in the northern village of Tel Khuzela in March 2015.
The Home Office has repeatedly warned that anyone travelling to fight in Iraq and Syria for whatever side can be prosecuted upon their return.
Anyone who does travel to these areas, for whatever reason, is putting themselves in considerable danger, said a Home Office spokesperson.
Those who travel abroad in order to participate in conflicts may be committing criminal or terrorism offences and could face prosecution when they return to the UK.
There are many crimes committed abroad including murder which courts in the UK can prosecute.
Additional reporting from Press Association
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The first British soldier to be killed in Iraq since 2009 may have died in an accidental shooting, just weeks after arriving in the country to help train local troops.
The Ministry of Defence is investigating the death of L/Cpl Scott Hetherington and said it was not the result of enemy activity.
Sources told the BBC he was killed in an accidental shooting, in what is believed to be a tragic accident near the start of his six-month deployment.
The 22-year-old, nicknamed Snowball, had become a father in October and was due to return home to his partner and their baby girl in Middleton, Greater Manchester, later this year.
L/Cpl Hetherington died on Monday following an incident at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, where he serving with 2nd Battalion The Duke of Lancasters Regiment.
Officers said he was a member of the Blenheim Company and a Vehicle Commander in the Force Protection Platoon.
Maj-Gen Rupert Jones, Deputy Coalition Commander, said L/Cpl Hetherington died supporting Iraqi forces defeat Daesh and so protect the United Kingdom, without providing details of his mission.
Around 150 soldiers from the battalion have been deployed to Iraq for six months as part of a 500-strong force training Iraqi government forces and Kurdish allies to fight Isis.
Isis 'does not have the guts' to continue fight for Mosul, claims Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi
L/Cpl Hetheringtons battalion was believed to be providing protection to other British troops training local security forces in infantry skills, weapons maintenance, medical, engineering and counter IED measures.
As a member of the US-led coalition, the UK is also backing the ongoing advance on Isis stronghold of Mosul with air strikes.
L/Cpl Hetheringtons commanding officer, Lt-Col Rob Singleton, paid tribute to a superb soldier and a first class leader.
Utterly professional and talented, he was full of character, fun and his enthusiasm was infectious, he said.
The Battalion has lost a huge talent and a real character. He will be missed."
L/Cpl Lynch, from the young fathers platoon, described his friend as a top bloke.
He added: You could always count on him to have a laugh, and he always had an answer for everything."
In pictures: Mosul offensive Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Mosul offensive In pictures: Mosul offensive A doctor carries an Iraqi newborn baby at a hospital in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi girls play at a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017alal Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A woman on crutches who is a relative of men accused of being Islamic State militants is seen at a camp in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq July 15, 2017. Picture taken July 15, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A displaced girl, who fled from home carries a doll at Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq July 13, 2017. Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on 9 July 2017 after the government's announcement of the "liberation" of the embattled city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he was in "liberated" Mosul to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory" AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken on 9 July 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City. Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. AFP In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of the Iraqi federal police raise the victory gesture as they ride on a humvee while advancing through the Old City of Mosul on 28 June 2017, as the offensive continues to retake the last district held by Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance through the Old City of Mosul on 26 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district held by the Islamic State (IS) group. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi man wearing the green scarf of the Shi'ite faith kisses an Iraqi Army soldier on safely reaching the Iraqi forces position as Iraqi civilians flee the Old City of west Mosul where heavy fighting continues on 23 June 2017. Iraqi forces continue to encounter stiff resistance with improvised explosive devices, car bombs, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A picture taken from the inside of an Iraqi forces armoured vehicle shows residents walking through a damaged street as troops advance towards Mosul's Old City on 18 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group. Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi Army soldiers advance in a destroyed street after an Iraqi forces airstrike targeted an Islamic State sniper position 17 June 2017 in al-Shifa, the last district of west Mosul under Islamic State control. IS snipers, as well as car and suicide bomb attacks continue to hinder the Iraqi forces efforts to retake the final district. A series of airstrikes by Iraqi helicopter gunships attempted to hit multiple Islamic State sniper positions in al-Shifa. Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier frisks a displaced Iraqi man at a temporary camp in the compound of the closed Nineveh International Hotel in Mosul on 16 June 2017 which was recovered by Iraqi troops from Islamic State group fighters earlier in the year. A screening centre set up in the compound's fairgrounds sees a constant stream of Iraqis fleeing the battle for Mosul, awaiting their turn to be checked by the Iraqi forces who are searching for suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. The small fairground lies at the end of a pontoon bridge across the Tigris recently opened to civilians that is the only physical link between the two banks of the river. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis staying at the al-Khazir camp swim in a river near the camp for internally displaced people, located between Arbil and Mosul on 11 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on 9 June 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi policeman carries a poster bearing an image of Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback), on 22 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqis stand in line to receive food aid in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 7 June 2017, during ongoing battles as Iraqi forces try to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Living conditions in Mosul have again deteriorated since the start of the Iraqi government's offensive on the city in October in which they retook a large part of the west of the city. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced Iraqis carry lightbulbs and sacks as they evacuate from western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) flashes the victory gesture as he patrols in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighbourhood on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi army soldiers from the 9th armoured division on a truck flash the sign of victory as they drive back from Mosul to the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya) Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Members of Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory on their vehicle as they advance towards Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi security forces gestures in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi children, one flashing the sign of victory, greet Iraqi army's soldiers from the 9th armoured division in the area of Ali Rash, adjacent to the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Peshmerga forces look at a tunnel used by Islamic State militants near the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier takes a photograph with his phone as his comrade stands next to a detained man, whom the Iraqi army soldiers accused of being an Islamic State fighter, who was fleeing with his family in the Intisar disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Iranian Kurdish female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan (PAK) hold a position in an area near the town of Bashiqa, some 25 kilometres north east of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families, who fled their homes in Hamam al-Alil, gather on the outskirts of their town Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Displaced people walk past a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah In pictures: Mosul offensive A boy who just fled Abu Jarbuah village is seen with his family at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi child eats a pomegranate upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive People who just fled Abu Jarbuah village sit as they eat at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive A couple who just fled Abu Jarbuah village are escorted by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers Reuters In pictures: Mosul offensive Women carry a boy over a wall as civilians flee their houses in the village of Tob Zawa, Iraq AP In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier and a civilian ride a motorbike as smoke rises behind them, on the road between Qayyarah and Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces, wearing a skull mask, waits at a checkpoint for people fleeing the main hub city of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint in an area near Qayyarah Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi men prepare food portions for Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi forces celebrate upon the arrival of vehicles bringing food to them Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive Iraqi childen smoke cigarettes upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty In pictures: Mosul offensive A member of Iraqi forces distributes drinks to children in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty
Mike Penning, the armed forces minister, said an investigation had been started into the circumstances of L/Cpl Hetheringtons death.
Family and friends of the former Middleton Technology School student paid tribute to him on social media.
On Facebook, his aunt, Nicola Hetherington, said the family were heartbroken.
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James Postlethwaite posted: Shocked and saddened that Scott Hetherington has been taken from us all far too soon! Not a day would pass without him making you laugh or smile. Really was the light in a dark room.
"So many funny memories, one of the most genuine and biggest personalities within the battalion, amazing friend, soldier and leader amongst many other things. Had such a massive effect on so many people's lives and careers! You will never be forgotten! My heart goes out to your friends and family. RIP."
He signed off with the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment motto: Nec Aspera Terrent (Difficulties be Damned).
News of L/Cpl Hetheringtons death came as Kurdish forces confirmed a British volunteer had been killed fighting Isis in Syria.
Ryan Lock, a 20-year-old former chef from Chichester, was killed during an offensive in Raqqa province on 21 December.
He left for Syria to fight Isis in August, telling his family he would return in six months, before joining the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG).
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The Queen has given an honour to a member of her staff as she continues to recover from a heavy cold.
Queen Elizabeth missed church services on Christmas Day and New Years Day due to ill health, prompting growing concern about her health.
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace told The Independent the Queen had presented the honour to her member of staff in person and she was continuing to recuperate.
She is continuing to recuperate and she is dealing with her regular red boxes of official papers, a spokesperson for the palace said.
The court circular, who makes the official record of royal engagements, recorded that the monarch made Ray Wheaton, the Queen's Page of the Chambers, a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order.
Referred to as the LVO, the honour is in the Queen's personal gift and are given to those who have served her or the monarchy in a personal way. They are bestowed independently of 10 Downing Street. The Order was founded by Queen Victoria in April 1896 as a way of rewarding personal service to her.
Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Show all 62 1 /62 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II on a walk-about in Portsmouth during her Silver Jubilee tour of Great Britain, 1977 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The future Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (R) pictured with her younger sister Princess Margaret (L) in 1933 AFP/Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The 9-year-old Elizabeth attends an aristocratic wedding with her mother and younger sister. Later in that year with the death of her Grandfather and the Abdication of her Uncle Edward VIII she became first in line to the throne, 1936 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The coronation of King George VI in 1937, Elizabeth aged 10 became the heir apparent to the throne Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth and her sister arrive at Waterloo station to say goodbye to their parents as they leave to tour Canada. Elizabeth was thought too young to escort her parents on the tour and was described as "tearful" as they departed. She and her parents made the first ever transatlantic telephone call during their time away, 1939 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The 13-year-old Elizabeth and her sister Margret address children who have been evacuated from the cities on BBC's 'The Chilrens Hour' She said "We are trying to do all we can to help our gallant sailors, soldiers and airmen, and we are trying, too, to bear our share of the danger and sadness of war. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well", 1940 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Just before the end of the war Elizabeth took part in training to become an ATS officer. She is pictured learning to change a tire, 1945 AFP/Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The official announcement of Princess Elizabeth and Phillip Mountbatten's engagement. The pairing was incredibly controversial as Prince Phillip had no financial standing and he was foreign born, the prince of Denmark and Greece (though he served Britain in the war and was given British Citizenship), 1947 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II (in coach) and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh are cheered by the crowd after their wedding ceremony, on 20 November 1947, on their road to Buckingham Palace, London Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth smiles at her first child, a month old Prince Charles. Charles was born on 14 November 1948 Corbis Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The couples second child Princess Anne was born in 1950 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Arriving back in England upon hearing the death of her father King George VI. The Kings health had been in decline for a number of years and Elizabeth had been filling in for him on an official visit to Australia by way of Kenya. As his heir Elizabeth became Queen aged 26 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth's coronation took place on 2 June 1953. It was the first ever coronation to be aired live on television, being one of the most watched events in history with millions gathering around their TV sets to see the new monarch Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II standing next to her daughter Princess Anne, 1960 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II President Eisenhower (centre) with the British Royal family (L-R) Prince Philip, Princess Anne, HM Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Captain John Eisenhower, at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, 1959 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II as she turns to smile and talk to an unidentified officer, during the Trooping of the Colour by the First Battalion of the Jamaica Regiment at Up-Park Camp, Kingston, Jamaica, 1966 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II walking cross country at the North of Scotland Gun Dog Association Open Stake Retreiver Trials in the grounds of Balmoral Castle in 1967 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to the Chelsea Flower Show in London, a regular fixture in the royal calendar, 1971 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh during their traditional summer break at Balmoral Castle. The highland retreat is one of the Queen's favourite places, each year, she heads off to Scotland for the summer. "It is rather nice to hibernate for a bit when one leads such a moveable life," she once said, 1976 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II during a walkabout in Muscat while visiting Oman, 1979 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II with some of her corgis walking the Cross Country course during the second day of the Windsor Horse Trials. The monarch is responsible for introducing a new breed of dog known as the "dorgi" when her corgi Tiny was mated with a dachshund "sausage dog" called Pipkin which belonged to Princess Margaret, 1980 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II (L-R) the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William, Prince Harry and the Prince and Princess of Wales after the christening ceremony of Prince Harry, 1984 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II taking the salute of the Household Guards regiments during the Trooping of the Colour ceremony in London, 1985 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Diana, Princess of Wales and Queen Elizabeth II as they smile to well-wishers outside Clarence House in London, 1987 AP Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II, with Chief Instructor, Small Arms Corp LT Col George Harvey, firing the last shot on a standard SA 80 rifle when she attended the centenary of the Army Rifle Association at Bisley, 1993 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II South Africa's President Nelson Mandela greets Queen Elizabeth II as she steps from the royal yacht Britannia in Cape Town at the 1995's official start of the her first visit to the country since 1947 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II smiles as she visits Bowring Park in St. John's, Newfoundland, on the third day of a 10-day official visit to Canada, 1997 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh make their way into St. George's Chapel at Windsor for the annual Garter ceremony, 1999 AFP/Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and Pope John Paul II as they meet at the Vatican, 2000 AP Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother leaving church by horse drawn carriage on the Sandringham Estate, Norfolk, 2000 PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth rides her horse in the grounds of Windsor Castle, 2002 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth arrives for the world premiere of James Bond movie "Casino Royale" at the Odeon cinema in Leicester Square in London, 2006 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth boards a scheduled train at Kings Cross station in London, 2009 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II planting a tree at Newmarket Animal Health Trust, during a royal visit which marked her 50th year as the charity's patron, 2009 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II talking with Pope Benedict XVI during an audience in the Morning Drawing Room at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh during a four day visit by the Pope to the UK, 2010 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II visiting the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 2010 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II receives flowers from the crowd during her visit to Federation Square in downtown Melbourne, 2011 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth watches a preview of her Christmas message wearing a pair of 3D glasses, studded with Swarovski crystals in the form of a "Q", at Buckingham Palace in central London, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Members of Britain's royal family (front L to R) Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles cheer as competitors participate in a sack race at the Braemar Gathering in Braemar, Scotland, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Britain's Prince Charles kisses the hand of his mother Queen Elizabeth at the end of her Diamond Jubilee concert in front of Buckingham Palace in London, 2012 Reuters Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge laughs as Queen Elizabeth gestures during a visit to Vernon Park in Nottingham, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attend a service for the Order of the British Empire at St Paul's Cathedral in London, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II meets young people during an official visit to The Shard building in central London, 2013 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Actress Angelina Jolie is presented with the Insignia of an Honorary Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George by Queen Elizabeth II in the 1844 Room at Buckingham Palace, London, 2014 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visit the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red evolving art installation at the Tower of London, 2014 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at the State Opening of Parliament, 2015 AFP/Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II (L-R) Britain's Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge holding his son Prince George of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Harry (back), Prince Andrew, Duke of York (back), James, Viscount Severn (front), Princess Beatrice of York (back), Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Eugenie of York (back) stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace waiting to view the fly-past during the Queen's Birthday Parade, 'Trooping the Colour,' in London, 2015 Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The Trooping of the Colour is an annual celebration marking the Queen's birthday, 2015 Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Britain's Queen Elizabeth II stands with Kate the Duchess of Cambridge whilst pushing Princess Charlotte in a pram as they leave after attending the Christening of Britain's Princess Charlotte at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, 2015 AP Photo/Matt Dunham, Pool Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II arrives at the Broadway Theatre in Barking, 2015 Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II greets wellwishers during a 'walkabout' on her 90th birthday in Windsor in 2016 AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Members of the Royal Family during trooping of the colour in 2017 AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The Queen waves at Prince Harry and Meghan after their wedding in 2018 POOL/AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex gesture during their visit to the Storyhouse in Chester, Cheshire in 2018 AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Prince Charles reacts as he sits with his mother Britain's Queen Elizabeth II during an event to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, in Portsmouth in 2019 AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are joined by her mother, Doria Ragland, as they show their new son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, to the Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle Chris Allerton/Sussex Royal/PA Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II reacts as she visits the Haig Housing Trust in Morden in 2019 POOL/AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II takes her seat on the The Sovereign's Throne in the House of Lords next to Prince Charles, before reading the Queen's Speech during the State Opening of Parliament in 2019 POOL/AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II looks at the coffin of Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh during his funeral service at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle POOL/AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II and Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales pose alongside the tree which they planted to mark the start of the official planting season for the Queen's Green Canopy (QGC) at the Balmoral Cricket Pavilion, Balmoral Estate in Scotland POOL/AFP via Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Britain's Queen Elizabeth II cuts a cake to celebrate the start of the Platinum Jubilee during a reception in the Ballroom of Sandringham House, the Queen's Norfolk residence on February 5, 2022. - Queen Elizabeth II on Sunday will became the first British monarch to reign for seven decades, in a bittersweet landmark as she also marked the 70th anniversary of her father's death AFP/Getty Queen Elizabeth II: Life in pictures Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II arrives in Westminster Abbey accompanied by Prince Andrew, Duke of York for the Service Of Thanksgiving For The Duke Of Edinburgh on March 29, 2022 in London Getty
Earlier the 90-year-old sent a message of condolence to the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, following the terror attack in an Istanbul nightclub which left 39 people dead and around 70 wounded.
Prince Philip and I were saddened to learn of the terrible attack in Istanbul on New Year's Day, she said in a statement. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and the wounded, and with the Turkish people at this time."
The Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, became ill in the run-up to Christmas and were late travelling to Sandringham Estate in Norfolk where they traditionally spend the Christmas period. She then missed the Christmas day church service, which she has attended nearly every year for three decades, due to her ill health.
The monarch did not attend a New Years Day church service. At the time Buckingham Palace said she did not yet feel ready to attend and was still recuperating.
Queen Elizabeth II is the longest-reigning monarch but has announced she will step down as patron of a number of organisations and charities before her 91st birthday which is in April.
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Andrea Leadsom, the Environment Secretary, has hinted that farmers could continue to hire EU migrants to carry out seasonal agricultural work after Brexit.
In a speech at the Oxford Farming Conference, Ms Leadsom, a leading figure in the Leave campaign during the EU referendum, said she was aware how important the labour is to the agricultural industry.
Despite the Government consistently insisting to introduce a tougher immigration system, she added: Ive heard this loud and clear around the country, whether in Herefordshire, Sussex, or Northamptonshire, and I want to pay tribute to the many workers from Europe who contribute so much to our farming industry and rural communities.
Recommended Andrea Leadsom wants youth to take up fruit picking after Brexit
Access to labour is very much an important part of our current discussions and were committed to working with you to make sure you have the right people with the right skills.
Ms Leadsom has previously suggested that more young Britons could do some of the fruit picking and farm labouring jobs done by EU migrants. Speaking at the Conservative conference in October, she added: "We could get British people doing those jobs and that tempts me to stray into the whole issue of why wages aren't higher and so on.
"My absolute hope is that with more apprenticeships, with more young people being encouraged to engage with countryside matters, that actually the concept of a career in food production is going to be much more appealing going forward."
Elsewhere in her speech at the Oxford Farming Conference on Wednesday, Ms Leadsom added that EU rules that required farmers to grow three different crops each year should be abandoned after Brexit allowing 40,000 farmers to grow the crops they want.
Rachael Maskell, Labours shadow environment secretary, said: "Despite some warm words from Andrea Leadsom today, her department's continued failure to outline a plan for Brexit is deeply disappointing.
"Rural communities, and the farming and fishing industries that help sustain them, deserve better.
"What's more, as the Environmental Audit Committee highlights, the Government's silence on whether important EU environmental protection laws will be maintained is also a matter of serious concern.
"No matter where they live, people in this country deserve legal protections for their right to clean air and water, and I continue to urge the Government to guarantee that existing levels of protection will not be watered down."
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Brexit is an opportunity to reshape the British farming industry to support small producers, instead of subsidising landowners, according to a new report from a sustainability focused think-tank.
The report from the New Economics Foundation argues that a "new deal" for British farmers could save the taxpayer 1.1 billion, and radically alter UK food production.
The EUs Common Agricultural Policy currently gives subsidies to farmers linked to the land they control, with wealthy landowners receiving large payouts ahead of small businesses.
The report argues that these payments could be more equitably distributed between large and small scale producers, and prioritised to incentivise both in-demand products and environmental sustainability.
Nick Dearden, the director of Global Justice Now, said: Some members of the government seem to think that we no longer need to grow food in this country and should instead rely on international trade.
"They pay lip service to the importance of small and medium scale farming, but act as if we should just trade with poorer countries who can grow food cheaper than we can actually have a get big or get out attitude for farmers both here and in the global south.
What experts have said about Brexit Show all 11 1 /11 What experts have said about Brexit What experts have said about Brexit Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond The Chancellor claims London can still be a world financial hub despite Brexit One of Britains great strengths is the ability to offer and aggregate all of the services the global financial services industry needs This has not changed as a result of the EU referendum and I will do everything I can to ensure the City of London retains its position as the worlds leading international financial centre. Reuters What experts have said about Brexit Yanis Varoufakis Greece's former finance minister compared the UK relations with the EU bloc with a well-known song by the Eagles: You can check out any time you like, as the Hotel California song says, but you can't really leave. The proof is Theresa May has not even dared to trigger Article 50. It's like Harrison Ford going into Indiana Jones' castle and the path behind him fragmenting. You can get in, but getting out is not at all clear Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Michael OLeary Ryanair boss says UK will be screwed by EU in Brexit trade deals: I have no faith in the politicians in London going on about how the world will want to trade with us. The world will want to screw you that's what happens in trade talks, he said. They have no interest in giving the UK a deal on trade Getty What experts have said about Brexit Tim Martin JD Wetherspoon's chairman has said claims that the UK would see serious economic consequences from a Brexit vote were "lurid" and wrong: We were told it would be Armageddon from the OECD, from the IMF, David Cameron, the chancellor and President Obama who were predicting locusts in the fields and tidal waves in the North Sea" PA What experts have said about Brexit Mark Carney Governor of Bank of England is 'serene' about Bank of England's Brexit stance: I am absolutely serene about the judgments made both by the MPC and the FPC Reuters What experts have said about Brexit Christine Lagarde IMF chief urges quick Brexit to reduce economic uncertainty: We want to see clarity sooner rather than later because we think that a lack of clarity feeds uncertainty, which itself undermines investment appetites and decision making Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Inga Beale Lloyds chief executive says Brexit is a major issue: "Clearly the UK's referendum on its EU membership is a major issue for us to deal with and we are now focusing our attention on having in place the plans that will ensure Lloyd's continues trading across Europe EPA What experts have said about Brexit Colm Kelleher President of US bank Morgan Stanley says City of London will suffer as result of the EU referendum: I do believe, and I said prior to the referendum, that the City of London will suffer as result of Brexit. The issue is how much What experts have said about Brexit Richard Branson Virgin founder believes we've lost a THIRD of our value because of Brexit and cancelled a deal worth 3,000 jobs: We're not any worse than anybody else, but I suspect we've lost a third of our value which is dreadful for people in the workplace.' He continued: "We were about to do a very big deal, we cancelled that deal, that would have involved 3,000 jobs, and thats happening all over the country" Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Barack Obama US President believes Britain was wrong to vote to leave the EU: "It is absolutely true that I believed pre-Brexit vote and continue to believe post-Brexit vote that the world benefited enormously from the United Kingdom's participation in the EU. We are fully supportive of a process that is as little disruptive as possible so that people around the world can continue to benefit from economic growth" Getty Images What experts have said about Brexit Kristin Forbes American economist and an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England argues that the economy had been less stormy than many expected following the shock referendum result: For nowthe economy is experiencing some chop, but no tsunami. The adverse winds could quickly pick up and merit a stronger policy response. But recently they have shifted to a more favourable direction Getty
"The new deal we set out today is quite different its a win for small farmers, a win for the environment and a win for the taxpayer. The only people who wont be happy are the massive landowners and speculators who will lose their free government money.
Stephen Devlin, Senior Economist, New Economics Foundation said: Our farming and food system faces serious challenges; from climate change, to ever-lengthening supply chains and the concentration of land ownership in the hands of a small, wealthy elite.
"Brexit has thrown all the pieces into the air, and it's up to us to shape how they fall."
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British diplomats are secretly trying to negotiate the UK back into the European Union, a former Tory Cabinet minister has claimed.
Officials tasked with negotiating the UK out of the EU may actually be attempting to keep Britain part of the 28-member bloc, former trade secretary Peter Lilley said.
Commenting in the wake of Sir Ivan Rogers resignation as Britains ambassador to the EU, Mr Lilley insisted many diplomats, Eurocrats, are actually in the business of trying to negotiate a way back in, rather than committing to getting us out.
Farage calls for more resignations after Sir Ivan Rogers quits
Accusing Sir Ivan of sour grapes, the backbencher told BBC Radio Four's World at One: Why did he put out this long, 1,400-word letter, half of which reads like a sort of CV - this is my job, I'm a very clever person, anyone who is looking for someone to employ, I'm available.
"And the other half looks like some degree of sour grapes, and possibly some genuine degree of misunderstanding between him and ministers, or concern about what ministers are doing.
"It would be very unusual to have somebody leading the team who was not really committed to leaving.
And one has a feeling that many diplomats, Eurocrats, are actually in the business of trying to negotiate a way back in, rather than committing to getting us out.
And if Sir Ivan Rogers was in the former group it is good he has gone."
Mr Lilley added that the outgoing ambassador's replacement should be willing to "walk away" from negotiations if Britain fails to secure the right deal.
The former shadow chancellor said: "Quite possibly they'll be no trade agreement at all. And we should be prepared to walk away.
And you have got to have someone tough enough to walk away.
I am not sure that many people in the Foreign Office have got the attitude that they are prepared to walk away from negotiations without a deal.
And unless we have someone there who has got that tough approach we won't get the best possible deal, and we won't get the quickest possible deal, which is what Britain needs."
Yesterday's surprise move by Sir Ivan comes after he provoked controversy with a private warning to the Government that a post-Brexit trade deal could take a decade to finalise.
Downing Street moved to play down the resignation, saying Sir Ivan was leaving his post "a few months early", but opposition figures said the turn of events was "alarming".
A Government spokesman said: "Sir Ivan Rogers has resigned a few months early as UK Permanent Representative to the European Union.
"Sir Ivan has taken this decision now to enable a successor to be appointed before the UK invokes Article 50 by the end of March. We are grateful for his work and commitment over the last three years."
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The shock departure of Britains EU envoy may be the start of a Michael Gove-style cull of the experts, a former top civil servant fears.
Sir Nicholas Macpherson stepped up his criticism of the loss of Sir Ivan Rogers by drawing attention to Mr Goves notorious comment that the country is tiring of experts.
The permanent secretary at the Treasury from 2008 to 2016, hinted at a widespread fear in the civil service that the Government is not prepared to listen to awkward advice on Brexit.
I only hope Ivans departure is not about shooting the messenger and does not presage a Govean cull of the experts, he told the Financial Times.
Lord Macpherson said it beggared belief the government had dispensed with the services of the three best EU-qualified negotiators that the civil service possessed, ahead of the crucial Brexit talks.
Sir Jon Cunliffe, a former EU ambassador and Michael Ellam, a former Treasury EU specialist, have also left recently, making Sir Ivan's the third departure.
It was Lord Macphersons second high-profile criticism, after he tweeted: Ivan Rogers huge loss. Can't understand wilful & total destruction of EU expertise.
During the Brexit campaign, Mr Gove, the former education secretary, was fiercely criticised for saying: I think people in this country have had enough of experts.
He later qualified his comment, insisting he had only been referring to economists whose forecasts had proved wildly inaccurate.
However, Mr Goves words were seen by many to epitomise a shift to a post-truth approach, where well-informed experts challenging populist opinion are no longer welcome.
Sir Martin Donnelly, the permanent secretary at the Department of International Trade and another veteran EU expert, is also stepping down this spring, removing another experienced Whitehall negotiator.
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Labour has called for Tory cabinet minister David Davis to make a Commons statement following the "astonishing" resignation of Britains top diplomat in Brussels.
Shadow brexit secretary Keir Starmer wrote to Mr Davis today demanding his appearance in front of MPs to explain the departure of Sir Ivan Rogers, who quit his job after attacking 'muddled thinking' on Brexit .
It comes after Tory ex-foreign office minister Alistair Burt also demanded Theresa Mays government explain the resignation in the Commons. The Liberal Democrats also called for a statement to MPs.
In Sir Keirs letter to the Brexit Secretary he said Sir Ivans departure would be a "significant loss for the UK", as he called for Mr Davis to take questions on the issue on Monday January 9.
He added: "It is frankly astonishing that in his resignation letter to his colleagues, Sir Ivan says We do not yet know what the government will set as negotiating objectives for the UKs relationship with the EU after exit.
"Time is running out. It is now vital that the Government demonstrates not only that it has a plan but also that it has a clear timetable for publication. As Labour has repeatedly made clear that timetable must allow for proper scrutiny of the plan by the House of Commons, the Devolved Administrations and relevant Select Committees."
Lib Dem Leader Tim Farron said: "The Government must now urgently make a statement on what on earth it is going to do now Sir Ivan Rogers has resigned, and start answering on where it stands on key issues like Britains membership of the single market."
In an article for ConservativeHome Mr Burt, a minister until last summer, said the manner of the senior diplomats departure "shouts a very public warning" about the way in which the Government is handling Brexit.
Tunisian security forces have dismantled a 13-member "terrorist cell" that was funnelling young recruits to militant groups, authorities said Wednesday, as part of a growing crackdown on extremists.
The suspects, aged between 22 and 43, were arrested on Tuesday in Hergla, a town north of the coastal resort city of Sousse, the interior ministry said in a statement.
Members of the cell held "secret meetings in a mosque" and admitted to recruiting and sending 12 youths to fight with Islamist militant groups abroad, it said, linking it to the Okba Ibn Nafaa Battalion, a group connected to Al-Qaeda.
It was the seventh announcement in less than a week of arrests of alleged "terrorists" in Tunisia, which has detained more than 70 people in a widening crackdown on Islamist militants since December 25.
Authorities stepped up their efforts after Tunisian Anis Amri was identified as the primary suspect in last month's attack on a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people.
Amri was shot dead by police in the Italian city of Milan four days after the attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group.
Since the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has been battling an Islamist militant movement that has killed dozens of soldiers and police officers as well as civilians including 59 foreign tourists.
Some 3,000 Tunisians have joined the ranks of militant groups fighting in neighbouring Libya, as well as in Syria and Iraq, according to officials. The United Nations puts the figure at 5,000.
Tunisia's government said last week that it had jailed or closely monitored 800 militants who had returned from foreign battlefields.
Concern has been growing for the threat posed by returning militants, with the national union for security forces last month urging the government to take "exceptional measures" against them.
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A former member of the Government has claimed Foreign Office civil servants are in despair about Boris Johnsons approach to Brexit.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire told The Independent that Whitehall officials have complained about Mr Johnson alienating other EU foreign ministers and failing to keep up with briefs.
The Liberal Democrat peer said he had also been told that visitors going to see Brexit Secretary David Davis were warned not to say negative things about the UKs withdrawal from the EU.
The comments from Lord Wallace, who served in the Government until the last election, come amid the fallout over the departure of the UKs ambassador to the EU Sir Ivan Rogers.
In an article for The Independent, the Peer set out what he said is the insider view of civil servants about the Governments Brexit approach.
He wrote: The Foreign Office is reported to be in despair over Boris Johnson: he is, apparently, not reading his briefs, not providing clear guidance for his officials, alienating other EU foreign ministers whose goodwill we will need to a successful negotiated exit, and failing to hammer out any framework for Britains future foreign policy towards Europe.
Lord Wallace went on to say that while David Davis has a better reputation he had also been told that visitors seeing the minister were warned to only say positive things about Brexit.
Will you be able to remain an EU citizen after Brexit?
An aide to the Foreign Secretary immediately hit back at the claims today, saying that FCO officials will all tell you how energised they are by Boris Johnson.
He added: Lord Wallace, whoever he is, is clearly talking to those who don't know or work closely with the Foreign Secretary.
If you actually speak to those in a position of working with him you hear of a man who is dedicated to public service, works incredibly hard, reads his briefs, encourages all levels of the FCO team to participate on issues and is driving forward a Foreign Office that is empowered and engaged on the world stage.
As Downing Street prepares to choose a successor to Sir Ivan to represent the UK at the EU, Lord Wallace dismissed eurosceptic claims that the outgoing diplomat is an FCO establishment europhile.
Instead he said: Ministers need competent officials to negotiate a successful Brexit and they have just lost one of the most competent.
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Theresa May has been warned she will further damage the Brexit process if she appoints a patsy as her new envoy to Brussels.
Former top diplomats raised the alarm after right-wing newspapers were briefed that a wholehearted Brexit supporter will succeed Sir Ivan Rogers, who resigned yesterday.
One said the Prime Minister must appoint a successor for what they know, not what they believe while a second went further, warning a patsy would bring disaster.
2016: The year of Brexit
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is said to be among top ministers demanding a replacement who believes in Brexit after Downing Street lost confidence in the outgoing EU ambassador.
Sir Ivan fell out with No.10 and was fiercely criticised by hardline Brexit-supporters after his memo, warning that a new EU trade deal could take up to a decade to achieve, was leaked last month.
But Sir Simon Fraser, the former head of the diplomatic service, said: When you appoint ambassadors, you dont appoint them for what they believe you appoint them for what they know.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he added: We have someone leading this negotiation who believes in Brexit and that is David Davis [the Brexit Secretary] - that is the role of the minister
The role of the ambassador and the civil servants is to give clear, dispassionate and objective advice.
And Jonathan Powell, Tony Blairs former chief of staff, said: If they want to have someone who is a patsy, who agrees with them, then what is the point of an independent civil service?
If you are not prepared to have the argument, if you are not prepared to have someone who will tell you what the problems are, then you are going to end up in a disaster.
And Im afraid that is what is going to happen with these negotiations if you really go for a patsy.
But Iain Duncan Smith, the former Cabinet minister, laid bare Eurosceptic anger with Sir Ivan by claiming the Government could not trust him.
He told the same programme that Sir Ivan probably leaked both his own resignation letter and last months warning that a post-Brexit trade deal could take a decade to deliver.
Mr Duncan Smith said: It gets to a point when a civil servant starts to go public on stuff that you, as ministers, can no longer trust that individual.
You must have absolute trust and cooperation and you cannot have this stuff coming out publicly. This is now the second time.
It may actually prove that ministers may well be right to say that they werent prepared perhaps to trust him in quite the way they would have done with others.
The clash came after a Government source told the Daily Telegraph that Ms May intends to appoint a new with the same attitude towards Brexit after Sir Ivan was branded a gloomy pessimist.
The replacement is expected to be a senior civil servant, but it left open the possibility of the choice being a figure without any previous experience of Whitehall.
Yesterday, the Government said Sir Ivan had merely retired a few months early, although his tenure was due to run until nearly the end of 2017.
In fact, the Prime Minister has been left with the headache of appointing a new envoy, less than three months before the Brexit negotiations are due to get underway.
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After Sir Ivan Rogerss unexpected resignation as the ambassador to the EU, Theresa May and her aides will be manoeuvring to find a replacement for the highly experienced and respected diplomat in Brussels, who knew what he was talking about.
While it is likely the role will go to a civil servant with a deep understanding and knowledge of the Brussels machinery there have been calls from Brexiteers to award the job to someone who backed Britain leaving the EU at the referendum in 2016.
But speaking on BBCs Radio 4 Today programme Sir Simon Fraser, the former head of the Foreign Office, said that the role of the ambassador and the civil servants is to give clear, dispassionate, objective advice. He added there will be many people keen on the role and experienced people in the Foreign Office, the Treasury and in the Cabinet Office, who are qualified to do it.
I think what we need in Brussels is somebody who has experience, whos going to be a real professional negotiator, who will be sitting in a room with lots of other very experienced and knowledgeable negotiators, and who will be hold his or her own in that negotiation, he added.
The Government, however, will have to appoint a new ambassador urgently, given the Prime Minister intends to serve the Article 50 notice the formal mechanism to begin the exit negotiations to EU leaders by the end of March. Sir Ivans resignation also comes after his deputy, Shan Morgan, announced late last year she would leave the post to be the Welsh governments permanent secretary.
Here The Independent looks at some of the likely runners and riders to replace Sir Ivan as the next representative for the UK in Brussels:
Tom Scholar
Currently the permanent secretary at the Treasury one of the most respected roles in the civil service Mr Scholar also helped David Cameron, the former Prime Minister, during the negotiations with the EU last year as his principal adviser.
George Osborne, the former Chancellor, has previously described the former aide to Gordon Brown as an outstanding civil servant, with experience of advising on some of the biggest challenges facing the country in recent years
Oliver Robbins
The 41-year-old is a well-respected civil servant and known as impartial operator with significant EU experience. He is currently permanent secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union and has a responsibility to support the department in the negotiations. Before this he worked as a senior civil servant in the Home Office while Theresa May was in charge of the department.
Caroline Wilson
Ms Wilson was recently appointed as the Europe Director at the Foreign Office, which means her responsibility is to promote Britains interests in Europe. She has previously worked in Hong Kong and Macao.
Peter Storr
The Downing Street EU adviser was brought from the Home Office where he previously worked as the senior director for the international and immigration policy group. The Prime Minister and her closest aides have been known to respect those loyal to May during her time as Home Secretary creating speculation Mr Storr could be in the running.
Sir Jon Cunliffe
Sir Jon, who currently works at the Bank of England as deputy governor, has done the job before he is Sir Ivans predecessor as ambassador to the EU.
The Government could also consider another ambassador or former ambassador for the role.
Sir Kim Darroch
He is the current US ambassador based in Washington and his diplomatic career spans three decades. He has primarily focused on national security issues and EU policy.
More recently, Ms May was forced to express confidence in Sir Kim after calls from the President-elect Donald Trump to replace him with the former Ukip chief Nigel Farage. Moving him back to Brussels could also provide an opportunity for the Prime Minister to appoint a fresh face in Washington as she attempts to build a relationship with Mr Trump.
Alex Ellis
The respected diplomat has been brought back from ambassador to Brazil to become director general at the Department for Exiting the European Union. He has previously worked as an adviser to the president of the European Commission on energy, climate change, competition and development. He also spent three years working for Jose Manuel Barroso when he was President of the European Commission.
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The Government has named senior Foreign Office official Sir Tim Barrow as its new ambassador to the European Union.
Sir Tim, previously the Whitehall department's Political Director, is on course to replace Sir Ivan Rogers after his shock resignation this week.
The appointment is a win for Boris Johnson's department which has been pushing for a "Foreign Office lifer" with good diplomatic experience to take up the role.
After it was officially confirmed, Sir Tim said: "I look forward to joining the strong leadership team at the Department for Exiting the EU and working with them and the talented staff at UKRep to ensure we get the right outcome for the United Kingdom as we leave the EU.
Sir Tim first joined the FCO in 1986 and is the former ambassador to Russia. He has also held several roles relating to the European Union.
The experience gained in his most recent post, where he manages the Government's foreign policy objectives across the globe, will be crucial to handling the highly-charged Brexit talks set to begin in two months when Theresa May triggers Article 50.
Mr Johnson said Sir Tim had been "invaluable" since he arrived at the department, adding: "He is just the man to get the best deal for the UK and will lead UKRep with the same skill and leadership he has shown throughout his career. I wish him all the best.
Brexit Concerns Show all 26 1 /26 Brexit Concerns Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the back of the queue for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice. Getty Images Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germanys top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as gateway to Europe for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the BundesbankGermanys central banktold a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were equivalent between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market, the BBC reports. Jason Hawkes Brexit Concerns Exodus The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union Shutterstock Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEOs performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterlings fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors. Rex Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all". Getty Brexit Concerns Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court Getty Brexit Concerns Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit PA wire Brexit Concerns Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais Getty Brexit Concerns Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp Getty Brexit Concerns The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today EPA Brexit Concerns Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain Reuters Brexit Concerns Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry Getty Brexit Concerns Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote PA Brexit Concerns The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging Getty Brexit Concerns Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities Getty Brexit Concerns A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses Getty Brexit Concerns Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes Getty Brexit Concerns A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU Getty Brexit Concerns Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum Getty Brexit Concerns Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU Getty Brexit Concerns NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit Getty Brexit Concerns The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future Getty Brexit Concerns A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain Reuters Brexit Concerns The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions Getty Brexit Concerns The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market Getty
The diplomat's extensive EU experience has seen him work as the First Secretary at UKRep, which represents the British Government in Brussels, and as the UK's representative to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: "A seasoned and tough negotiator, with extensive experience of securing UK objectives in Brussels, he will bring his trademark energy and creativity to this job - working alongside other senior officials and ministers to make a success of Brexit."
Sir Ivan quit while delivering a veiled attack on Britain's Brexit negotiating strategy, urging his colleagues in Brussels to challenge "muddled thinking and...speak truth to power".
Tory Brexit backers had welcomed the resignation of Sir Ivan and called for someone more in tune with the Government's thinking. Dominic Raab MP claimed Sir Ivan's "heart hasn't really been in Brexit" and his resignation would be "quietly, cautiously and respectfully welcomed at the top of government".
But Sir Tim's appointment, and his long history at the Foreign Office, was unlikely to please Leavers who believe the Whitehall department to be institutionally pro-EU. He will take up his new post next week.
Sir Tim Barrow has been appointed the UKs Permanent Representative to the European Union and will take up the role next week.
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The UK's ambassador to the European Union urged staff to "challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking" over Brexit as he resigned.
Sir Ivan Rogers unexpectedly stepped down with weeks to go before Theresa May was due to trigger the process of leaving the 28-nation bloc.
Here is his shock resignation letter in full.
2016: The year of Brexit
Sir Ivan Roger's message to civil servants in full
Dear All,
Happy New Year! I hope that you have all had/are still having, a great break, and that you will come back refreshed and ready for an exciting year ahead.
I am writing to you all on the first day back to tell you that I am today resigning as Permanent Representative.
As most of you will know, I started here in November 2013. My four-year tour is therefore due to end in October although in practice if we had been doing the Presidency my time here would have been extended by a few months.
As we look ahead to the likely timetable for the next few years, and with the invocation of Article 50 coming up shortly, it is obvious that it will be best if the top team in situ at the time that Article 50 is invoked remains there till the end of the process and can also see through the negotiations for any new deal between the UK and the EU27.
It would obviously make no sense for my role to change hands later this year.
I have therefore decided to step down now, having done everything that I could in the last six months to contribute my experience, expertise and address book to get the new team at political and official level under way.
This will permit a new appointee to be in place by the time Article 50 is invoked.
Importantly, it will also enable that person to play a role in the appointment of Shan's replacement as DPR. [Shan Morgan his deputy]
I know from experience - both my own hugely positive experience of working in partnership with Shan, and from seeing past, less happy, examples - how imperative it is that the PR and DPR operate as a team, if UKREP is to function as well as I believe it has done over the last few years.
I want to put on record how grateful I am to Shan for the great working relationship we have had.
She will be hugely missed in UKREP, and by many others here in Brussels, but she will be a tremendous asset to the Welsh government.
From my soundings before Christmas, I am optimistic that there will be a very good field of candidates for the DPR role.
But it is right that these two roles now get considered and filled alongside each other, and for my successor to play the leading role in making the DPR appointment.
I shall therefore stand aside from the process at this point.
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
I know that this news will add, temporarily, to the uncertainty that I know, from our many discussions in the autumn, you are all feeling about the role of UKREP in the coming months and years of negotiations over Brexit.
I am sorry about that, but I hope that it will help produce earlier and greater clarity on the role that UKREP should play.
My own view remains as it has always been. We do not yet know what the government will set as negotiating objectives for the UK's relationship with the EU after exit.
There is much we will not know until later this year about the political shape of the EU itself, and who the political protagonists in any negotiation with the UK will be.
But in any negotiation which addresses the new relationship, the technical expertise, the detailed knowledge of positions on the other side of the table - and the reasons for them, and the divisions amongst them - and the negotiating experience and savvy that the people in this building bring, make it essential for all parts of UKREP to be centrally involved in the negotiations if the UK is to achieve the best possible outcomes.
Serious multilateral negotiating experience is in short supply in Whitehall, and that is not the case in the Commission or in the Council.
The government will only achieve the best for the country if it harnesses the best experience we have - a large proportion of which is concentrated in UKREP - and negotiates resolutely.
Senior ministers, who will decide on our positions, issue by issue, also need from you detailed, unvarnished - even where this is uncomfortable - and nuanced understanding of the views, interests and incentives of the other 27.
The structure of the UK's negotiating team and the allocation of roles and responsibilities to support that team, needs rapid resolution.
The working methods which enable the team in London and Brussels to function seamlessly need also to be strengthened.
The great strength of the UK system - at least as it has been perceived by all others in the EU - has always been its unique combination of policy depth, expertise and coherence, message co-ordination and discipline, and the ability to negotiate with skill and determination.
UKREP has always been key to all of that. We shall need it more than ever in the years ahead.
As I have argued consistently at every level since June, many opportunities for the UK in the future will derive from the mere fact of having left and being free to take a different path.
But others will depend entirely on the precise shape of deals we can negotiate in the years ahead.
Contrary to the beliefs of some, free trade does not just happen when it is not thwarted by authorities: increasing market access to other markets and consumer choice in our own, depends on the deals, multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral that we strike, and the terms that we agree.
I shall advise my successor to continue to make these points.
Meanwhile, I would urge you all to stick with it, to keep on working at intensifying your links with opposite numbers in DEXEU [Department for Exiting the EU] and line ministries and to keep on contributing your expertise to the policy-making process as negotiating objectives get drawn up.
The famed UKREP combination of immense creativity with realism ground in negotiating experience, is needed more than ever right now.
On a personal level, leaving UKREP will be a tremendous wrench. I have had the great good fortune, and the immense privilege, in my civil service career, to have held some really interesting and challenging roles: to have served four successive UK prime ministers very closely; to have been EU, G20 and G8 Sherpa; to have chaired a G8 Presidency and to have taken part in some of the most fraught, and fascinating, EU negotiations of the last 25 years - in areas from tax, to the MFF to the renegotiation.
Of all of these posts, I have enjoyed being the Permanent Representative more than any other I have ever held.
That is, overwhelmingly, because of all of you and what you all make UKREP: a supremely professional place, with a fantastic co-operative culture, which brings together talented people whether locally employed or UK-based and uniquely brings together people from the home civil service with those from the Foreign Office.
UKREP sets itself demanding standards, but people also take the time to support each other which also helps make it an amazingly fun and stimulating place to work.
I am grateful for everything you have all done over the last few years to make this such a fantastic operation.
For my part, I hope that in my day-to-day dealings with you I have demonstrated the values which I have always espoused as a public servant.
I hope you will continue to challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking and that you will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power.
I hope that you will support each other in those difficult moments where you have to deliver messages that are disagreeable to those who need to hear them.
I hope that you will continue to be interested in the views of others, even where you disagree with them, and in understanding why others act and think in the way that they do.
I hope that you will always provide the best advice and counsel you can to the politicians that our people have elected, and be proud of the essential role we play in the service of a great democracy.
Ivan
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Labour has suggested it would boost military spending if it wins power, to counter allegations it is soft on the issue.
Nia Griffith, the Shadow Defence Secretary, said she would end the Governments smoke and mirrors approach, which exaggerated the scale of investment.
The Conservatives have boasted of achieving the Nato-recommended target of spending two per cent of GDP on defence.
But, according to independent House of Commons figures, this includes millions of pounds spent on war pensions and UN peacekeeping missions.
Ms Griffith told the Daily Mirror: When Labour was in government we consistently spent well above the two per cent commitment.
But, since 2010, the Tories have hammered the defence budget with major cuts.
She added: The Government are very busy pretending they are doing things when in fact they have been very sneaky in what they have done - the fact theyre trying to say theyre spending two per cent on defence when actually a big chunk of that is on pensions.
Pensions are very important but they in no way contribute to the defence capabilities we have.
They are fiddling about with the figures. Its smoke and mirrors, an accounting trick, a sleight of hand.
Ms Griffith said she was determined that Labour offers a really strong voice on defence issues which was backed by the vast majority of Labour party activists.
She said: Sometimes we are portrayed in the media as being soft on defence.
But if you actually look at people who are doing work in the party, getting elected on the ground, they are very committed to our defence.
We need to make absolutely certain that people hear a really strong voice from Labour on defence.
The apparent commitment comes after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn abandoned his attempt to make scrapping Trident party policy.
Ms Griffith said she had backtracked on her opposition to Trident renewal because the party had made a democratic decision which must be respected.
Our policy is absolutely, firmly committed to renewing Trident, she added.
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Nigel Farage has attacked the appointment of a career diplomat as the UK's new ambassador to the EU.
Former Russian ambassador Sir Tim Barrow is set to replace Sir Ivan Rogers after his shock resignation this week.
Good to see that the government have replaced a knighted career diplomat with... a knighted career diplomat, tweeted the former Ukip leader.
Politicians and other social media users were quick to offer their ripostes to Mr Farages remarks.
Says the career politician, tweeted one journalist, while Philip Hunt, Labours deputy leader in the House of Lords, said: It is indeed good to see an expert appointed.
In a scathing resignation message to staff, Sir Ivan attacked the Governments muddled thinking over Brexit and urged civil servants to challenge ill-founded arguments.
The ambassador unexpectedly quit just months after he sparked controversy by warning the Government that a post-Brexit trade deal could take a decade to finalise, and even then may fail to get ratified by member states.
Sir Ivan, who was expected to continue in his role until October, said he had done all he could to contribute his experience, expertise and contacts to the team responsible for invoking Article 50 and overseeing Brexit negotiations.
Farage calls for more resignations after Sir Ivan Rogers quits
Mr Farage said Sir Ivan should have stepped down the day after referendum and he hoped his resignation was the start of a real political revolution.
I think we should get rid of many of our ambassadors around the world, he said on his LBC radio show on Tuesday night.
The Brexit campaigner then repeated his calls for a political overhaul during an interview with Sky News in which he called Britains revolution incomplete because the same people are still in charge.
Sir Tims appointment is a win for Boris Johnson's department which has been pushing for a Foreign Office lifer with good diplomatic experience to take up the role.
After it was officially confirmed, Sir Tim said: I look forward to joining the strong leadership team at the Department for Exiting the EU and working with them and the talented staff at UKRep [UK Representation to the EU] to ensure we get the right outcome for the United Kingdom as we leave the EU.
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
Sir Tim first joined the FCO in 1986 and is the former ambassador to Russia. He has also held several roles relating to the European Union.
Brexit Secretary David Davis said of his appointment: UKRep will have a crucial role to play in the negotiation over the UK's exit from the EU, and Sir Tim Barrow will add to the already extensive experience it brings.
His knowledge of Brussels means he will be able to hit the ground running at a vital time, and steer UKRep throughout the negotiation period.
Recommended Government to name top civil servant new EU Ambassador
I am confident that with his help, the UK will be able to forge a new relationship with the EU that works to the mutual benefit of both sides.
But Ukip said the role should have been given to a committed Brexiteer.
This appointment is a disappointment because the last thing we need is another career diplomat wearing a Brussels jersey, said the partys Brexit spokesman Gerard Batten.
The Foreign Office needs a complete and revolutionary shake-up for it must begin to reflect the stated desire of the British people to leave the EU.
2016: The year of Brexit
Labours's Brexit spokesman Sir Keir Starmer said Sir Ivan's resignation was likely to be a significant loss for Britain and raised a number of serious questions about the Government's preparations for the talks, which Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will trigger under Article 50 of the EU treaties before the end of March.
I welcome the appointment of Sir Tim Barrow as the UK's new Permanent Representative to the EU, he said.
It is of course vital that there should be no vacuum in such an important role and that the new Permanent Representative should be someone with a strong and distinguished record of service as a diplomat.
But a number of fundamental questions remain unanswered. In particular, Sir Ivan Rogers' confirmation that the Government lack a plan for Brexit and his statement that the UK does not have a proper and effective negotiating team in place.
Additional reporting from Press Association
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The UKs ambassador to the European Union attacked the Governments muddled thinking over Brexit as he resigned, a leaked message to staff has revealed.
In his shock resignation letter, Sir Ivan Rogers revealed civil servants still faced uncertainty over the Governments Brexit plans and urged his colleagues to challenge ill-founded arguments.
Sir Ivan, who has been the UKs top ambassador to the EU for three years, resigned with weeks to go before Theresa May was due to trigger the process of leaving the 28-nation bloc.
Farage calls for more resignations after Sir Ivan Rogers quits
I hope you will continue to challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking and that you will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power, he wrote.
I hope that you will support each other in those difficult moments where you have to deliver messages that are disagreeable to those who need to hear them.
Sir Ivan unexpectedly quit just months after he sparked controversy by warning the Government that a post-Brexit trade deal could take a decade to finalise, and even then may fail to get ratified by member states.
The ambassador, who was expected to continue in his role until October, said he had done all he could to contribute his experience, expertise and contacts to the team responsible for invoking Article 50 and overseeing Brexit negotiations.
I know that this news will add, temporarily, to the uncertainty that I know, from our many discussions in the autumn, you are all feeling about the role of UKREP [the UK Representation to the EU] in the coming months and years of negotiations over Brexit, he wrote.
I am sorry about that, but I hope that it will help produce earlier and greater clarity on the role that UKREP should play.
Former Ukip leader and Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage said Sir Ivan should have stepped down the day after referendum and he hoped his resignation was the start of a real political revolution.
I think we should get rid of many of our ambassadors around the world, he said on his LBC radio show.
The former permanent secretary to the Treasury called Sir Ivans resignation a wilful and total destruction of expertise amid fears he has been hounded out by hostile pro-Brexiteers.
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
Nicholas Macpherson said the ambassador was the latest in a worrying line of experienced figures to walk away.
Ivan Rogers huge loss. Cant understand wilful and total destruction of EU expertise, he wrote.
Sir Ivan said unlike in Brussels, serious multilateral negotiating experience is in short supply in Whitehall.
Recommended Theresa May appeals for unity ahead of triggering Article 50
The government will only achieve the best for the country if it harnesses the best experience we have a large proportion of which is concentrated in UKREP and negotiates resolutely.
He also appeared to criticise views held by politicians, writing: Contrary to the beliefs of some, free trade does not just happen when it is not thwarted by authorities.
Increasing market access to other markets and consumer choice in our own, depends on the deals, multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral that we strike, and the terms that we agree.
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An Ex-Foreign Office Minister has demanded Theresa Mays government explain the resignation of Britains top diplomat in Brussels to the House of Commons.
Alistair Burt said the decision of Sir Ivan Rogers to quit as the UKs ambassador to the EU "shouts a very public warning" about the Governments approach to Brexit.
He also echoed comments made by the outgoing diplomat, who angered Brexiteers by suggesting a new EU deal could be a decade away, in saying that civil servants should be able to deliver uncomfortable news to ministers in certainty they will be listened to.
Writing for ConservativeHome, he said: "A very senior UK patriot has chosen to leave his post, rather than continue down a path of which he fears for our country. This requires a Government statement and explanation next week and should induce further urgency into our preparations, and the base for our negotiations.
"MPs will be right to urge that we appoint quickly an ambassador with the ability to understand fully what it is that the Government is looking for, and with the capacity to influence and shape such a positionbut also with the certainty of being listened to, however uncomfortable that may be."
Mr Burt, minister until last summer, also said: "The manner of departure and the clarity of Rogerss concerns over speaking the unvarnished truth, challenging ill-founded arguments, and ensuring that there are in place those harnessing the best experience, shouts a very public warning about what is currently occurring on our nations behalf as we enter the most important negotiations of our peacetime life.
"If such warnings from a public servant who has devoted his working life to his country are dismissed simply as coming from a Europhile, who deserves clearing out with the others or similar nonsense, then we will all be the losers."
His article won the backing of another former minister Anna Soubry, who retweeted a link to the piece.
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Sir Tim Barrow, a former envoy to Moscow with a career as a diplomat spanning three decades, has been confirmed by the Government as the new UK ambassador to the EU.
The 52-year-olds appointment comes after Sir Ivan Rogerss unexpected resignation from the role, in which he urged fellow civil servants to provide impartial advice and stand up to ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking of politicians in a fiery letter.
Sir Tim, a senior diplomat educated at the universities of Warwick and Oxford, has a wealth of experience and earlier in his career acted as first secretary at UKRep the UK embassy in Brussels meaning he will be more than familiar with the EU machinery.
Downing Street described him as a seasoned and tough negotiator.
2016: The year of Brexit
He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1986 and became the Whitehall departments political director after succeeding Simon Glass in March last year.
The experience he has gained in that post, where he managed the Governments foreign policy objectives, will be crucial to handling the highly charged Brexit talks set to begin in two months when Theresa May serves the Article 50 notice to the EU.
In a statement, he said: I am honoured to be appointed as the UKs Permanent Representative to the EU at this crucial time. I look forward to joining the strong leadership team at the Department for Exiting the EU and working with them and the talented staff at UKRep to ensure we get the right outcome for the United Kingdom as we leave the EU.
But Sir Tim has held several roles in his 30-year career as a diplomat, including postings in Kiev and Brussels. His most influential, however, was his tenure as the UK ambassador to Moscow until 2015.
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
Speaking about his appointment to the role in 2011, the father of four said he was pleased to be returning to Russia. I have good memories of working in Moscow in the early nineties. I look forward to getting to know again this vast and dynamic country and to continuing the steady work of developing relations between our two countries. It was a role that won him a knighthood in the New Years Honours 2015 for services to British foreign policy and interests in Russia.
In his new role as the UKs ambassador to the EU, his former boss Charles Crawford told LBC radio he will be fearless and that he was an excellent choice for the high-profile role as Britain negotiates its exit from the EU.
His appointment viewed as a victory for the Foreign Office also signals a snub by the Prime Minister to those calling for a hardline Brexiteer to be appointed to the role. Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, responding to the announcement said: Good to see that the Government have replaced a knighted career diplomat with a knighted career diplomat.
Recommended Government to name top civil servant new EU Ambassador
However, among civil servants his appointment is likely to come as welcome news. Speaking on BBCs Radio 4 Today programme, Sir Simon Fraser, the former head of the Foreign Office, said there will be many people keen on the role and experienced people in the Foreign Office, the Treasury and in the Cabinet Office, who are qualified to do it.
I think what we need in Brussels is somebody who has experience, whos going to be a real professional negotiator, who will be sitting in a room with lots of other very experienced and knowledgeable negotiators, and who will be able to hold his or her own in that negotiation, he said.
Thousands of people are starting to return to formerly rebel-held east Aleppo despite freezing weather and destruction "beyond imagination", a top UN official told Reuters from the Syrian city.
In the last couple of days around 2,200 families have returned to the Hanano housing district, said Sajjad Malik, country representative in Syria for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
"People are coming out to east Aleppo to see their shops, their houses, to see if the building is standing and the house is not that looted ... to see, should they come back," he said in an interview.
But given the appalling conditions, the UN is not encouraging people to return.
"It is extremely, bitterly cold here," said Malik. "The houses people are going back to have no windows or doors, no cooking facilities."
Aid is vital to prevent more deaths. The UN is helping people to restart their lives in one room of their apartments to start with, he said, giving them mats, sleeping bags and plastic sheets to cover blown-out windows.
BREAD AND WATER
Hanano was one of the first Aleppo neighbourhoods to fall to rebels in 2012, and the first to be retaken by the Syrian government on its way to seizing back full control of the northern city last month - the biggest victory for President Bashar al-Assad in nearly six years of war.
As government forces rapidly advanced, some residents stayed put, tens of thousands fled of their own accord and around 35,000 fighters and civilians were evacuated in late December in convoys organised by the Syrian government.
After months of fierce Syrian and Russian air strikes, reconstruction will take a long time, Malik said, but the immediate priority is to keep people warm and fed. UN-supported partners provide hot meals twice a day to 21,000 people, and 40,000 people get baked bread every day.
Over 1.1 million people once again have access to clean water in bottles or through tankers and wells.
Mobile clinics are up and running, and more than 10,000 children have received polio vaccinations. Thousands of children who have not been able to attend school need reintegrating into the education system through remedial classes to rebuild their confidence, Malik said.
There was no register of births, deaths and marriages in the rebel-held sector, so the UN is working with the government to issue people with papers. "I met a woman with five children and she was excited that she now has her kids registered as Syrians. She has ID cards and a family book," he said.
Bombing has destroyed hospitals, schools, roads and houses, and damaged the two main water pumping stations. The experienced UN official said the level of destruction surpassed anything he had seen in conflict zones like Afghanistan and Somalia.
"Nothing would have prepared us to see the scale of destruction there, it's beyond imagination."
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Tony Blair has injected over 9m to his new policy unit for centre-ground politics he set up in the wake of the political earthquakes of the Brexit vote and the American elections.
The former Labour leader, who was Prime Minister between 1997 and 2007, established the Tony Blair Institute in December 2016 but made clear he would not be returning to frontline politics. He has since gifted 9.2m to the organisation.
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In a statement in December last year, Mr Blair said: This is not about my returning to the frontline of politics. I have made it abundantly clear that this is not possible.
However, I care about my country and the world my children and grandchildren will grow up in; and want to play at least a small part in contributing to the debate about the future of both.
He said the policy unit would provide thought leadership to politicians around the globe and oppose the new populism and its essentially close-minded approach to globalisation.
The statement also made clear the organisation would not be a think-tank but a place "to build a new policy agenda for the centre ground together with the networks which link people up, and allow a reasonable and evidence based discussion of the future which avoids the plague of social media-led exchanges of abuse".
"It is a platform for engagement to inform and support the practising politician. It is what I know I would want were I still in the frontline of politics."
The statement added: Part of its focus will plainly be around the European debate; but this will not be its exclusive domain. It has to go far wider than that since in many ways the Europe debate is a lightning rod for the whole of politics. We're now planning to bring all of these four parts together in one new Not For Profit Institute.
The business side has been shut down and the assets, running into many millions of pounds, gifted to the Institute. In the New Year, we plan to merge the activities of the different organisations into the Institute, with any charitable funds used exclusively for the purposes for which they were originally given.
This will allow us to work more coherently across the board; use the obvious synergies between the different elements of the work; and to be far stronger on the global policy side than we have been up to now. The focus previously was mainly on programmes. These will remain but the organisation will also be far more about thought leadership.
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Zambian women who are on their period are allowed to call their employers for "Mother's Day" and take time off work.
The southern African nation has enshrined the practice into its Labour laws.
Even if women are not going through their menstrual cycle, they can call in and take a day off if they are feeling too sick to work.
Ministers have made it clear however, that the practice is only entitled for those who are ill.
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"If you absent yourself yet you are found in a disco house, then it will not be taken as Mother's Day," the country's labour minister, Joyce Nonde-Simukoko, told the BBC.
"You shouldn't even leave town, be found doing your hair or shopping. You can be fired. For example, somebody was found farming after taking Mother's Day and she was fired."
While some employers have objected to the law, saying it can be bad for productivity, they can face legal action if they deny a woman her "Mothers Day".
Discussing periods is taboo in Zambia which is why it is referred to by that name.
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
Allowing women to take time off during their menstrual cycle is rare among African countries so Zambia is leading the way with the law, although similar legislation has been enacted in East Asia.
Three Chinese provinces Shanxi, Hubei and Ningxia - now allow women to take leave for painful periods and employers can be punished if they do not allow the time off.
Japan introduced a similar law in 1947 and Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan all have similar legal provisions.
Women in Indonesia rarely take these days off, even if they need to, because companies insist on examining women before they would be allowed to take leave, according to the Jakarta Globe.
It is also believed that the leave is underused in the other countries for fear of alerting male colleagues to a menstrual cycle, potentially causing humiliation and drawing harassment.
There is no provision for menstrual leave in the West. The idea was proposed in Russia in 2013, but failed to become law.
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In the final days of Barack Obamas presidency, the fate of the Affordable Care Act hangs in uncertainty as Democrats and Republicans launch their battles to either preserve or obliterate the law.
Both Mr Obama and Vice President-elect Mike Pence held meetings with their respective parties to strategise for the future of the ACA commonly referred to as Obamacare.
The outgoing President urged Democrats in Congress to not rescue the GOP by voting for something worse than the healthcare reform law that is currently in place.
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Republicans could deal a major blow to the Mr Obamas legacy with the dismantling of the ACA. A full repealment without replacement could result in the loss of health insurance for some 30 million people a large percentage of whom live in counties that favoured President-elect Donald Trump in the general election.
Keep up the fight, Mr Obama said, according to Ohio Rep Tim Ryan. Tell the stories about the people who have benefited from it. The more you can get that message through, the better off were going to be.
He also suggested Democrats turn the tables and refer to the GOPs potential new plan as Trumpcare to highlight the differences.
After the closed-door meeting, Mr Obama said that he told fellow Democrats to Look out for the American people.
The Vice President-elect assured GOP lawmakers that repealing the ACA would be one of Mr Trumps first order of business, as promised on the campaign trail.
GOP leaders want to get Mr Trump legislation to sign by 20 February.
Make no mistake about it, Mr Pence told reporter, Were going to keep our promise to the American people. Were going to repeal Obamacare and replace it with solutions that lower the cost of health insurance without growing the size of government.
US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul Show all 16 1 /16 US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338741.bin GETTY IMAGES US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338882.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338883.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338884.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338885.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338886.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338888.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338889.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338890.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338891.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338892.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338893.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338887.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338894.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338895.bin Getty Images US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul 338896.bin Getty Images
He added that Americans voted decisively for a better future for health care in this country, and we are determined to give them that.
The outlook for Obamacare became rather grim following Mr Trumps narrow Electoral College win against Hillary Clinton who won the popular vote by almost three million ballots.
While Mr Trump will have virtually no obstacle in getting rid of the ACA in his first 100 days in office, he still faces the challenge of having no viable plan for a replacement from Republicans.
Mr Pence said that the Trump transition team was already working with GOP legislators to take action after inauguration, but did not specify what such actions would look like.
Shortly before Mr Pences meeting with Republicans, Mr Trump tweeted his own forecast for Mr Obamas monumental health care law.
Massive increases of ObamaCare will take place this year and Dems are to blame for the mess, he wrote, without specific citations. It will fall of its own weight be careful!"
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Donald Trump has taken a new swipe at American intelligence agencies ahead of a meeting over Russias alleged interference in the US election.
The President-elect appeared to suggest security services were manufacturing evidence of the Kremlin's involvement in cyber attacks in a tweet posted late on Tuesday evening.
It said: The Intelligence briefing on so-called Russian hacking was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!
Senior US intelligence officials immediately refuted the claim, telling networks including CNN and NBC that the briefing with the heads of the NSA, CIA, DNI and the FBI had always been scheduled for Friday and was not delayed.
President Obama vows to take action against alleged Russian hacking of election
The President-elects latest attack on his own security officials came amid tension over allegations the Russian government supported cyber attacks against American political sites and email accounts ahead of the November election.
The hacking, which is believed to have benefited Mr Trump, resulted in Barack Obama expelling 35 Russian diplomats last week as part of a raft of new sanctions.
All Americans should be alarmed by Russias actions, Mr Obama said, claiming the extent of data theft and cyber attacks uncovered could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government.
But Mr Trump has publicly undermined his predecessors assessment, taking to Twitter to hit out at the intelligence agencies he will soon lead.
If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? read one of several posts last month. Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?
Mr Trump has repeatedly praised Vladimir Putin, calling the Russian Presidents decision not to expel any American diplomats in retaliation a great move.
The pair have announced joint efforts to improve US-Russian relations that have been severely damaged by Russias support for Bashar al-Assad in Syria and annexation of Crimea in the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
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
US intelligence agencies believe that Moscow was behind the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails that were then passed to Wikileaks.
Though the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued a joint report on Russian malicious cyber activity with examples of malware code used by the Russians, it still has not released a broader report promised by the President.
Mr Trump has repeatedly dismissed allegations from the CIA and other intelligence agencies that the Kremlin was behind the cyber attacks.
The Russian government has denied any involvement in the hacking, with foreign minister Sergei Lavrov saying the US was putting groundless accusations on Russia to cover for its own policy failures.
Mr Putins spokesman accused the outgoing US administration of harming Russian-American ties and dealing a blow on the foreign policy plans of the incoming administration of the President-elect after Mr Obama unloaded the new sancitons.
Mr Trump will be given more information from the intelligence community about Russian interference in the coming days, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said.
He added: The world will see that with our president-elect taking office that America will be standing tall in the world again, engaging the world again, and standing firmly for America's interests.
Mr Trump has announced plans to hold his first news conference since winning the presidency on 11 January, just nine days before he is sworn into office at a ceremony attended by Bill and Hillary Clinton.
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Donald Trump should have more "respect" for intelligence professionals, according to the vice president of the US Intelligence Committee.
Senator Mark Warner made the claim after the President-elect suggested on Twitter that an intelligence briefing with him had been delayed because spy chiefs perhaps needed more timeto build a case on Russias alleged electoral hacking.
Trump added that it was very strange that the group of highly senior intelligence officials pushed the meeting back until Friday.
Taking to the social media site to respond, Mr Warner said he really wished "we saw more PEOTUS (President-elect of the United States) respect for our intelligence professionals."
US government sources have also claimed that the meeting was always scheduled for Friday, adding that President Obama has not yet been fully briefed on the issue.
A security official told the Washington Post that there may have been a scheduling disconnect between Mr Trump's transition team and the spy agencies.
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The official, who was not authorised to speak publicly, added that it was a complex process to organise a meeting with all the top US spy chiefs.
CIA director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and National Security Agency Director Admiral Michael Rogers are believed to be attending the meeting.
President Obama has also not yet been briefed on the full extent of Russian hacking, a US government source told CNN. They also denied the meeting had been delayed.
The officials were responding to a tweet from Mr Trump in which he said: The Intelligence briefing on so-called Russian hacking was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!
He did not provide any evidence to back up his claim.
The President-elect seemed to be implying that the US intelligence community did not have proper evidence connecting Russia to interference in the US democratic process.
Both the CIA and the FBI have stated otherwise.
Trump's advisor suggests Obama's sanctions against Russia are to 'box in' the incoming President
Mr Trump has previously criticised the spy agencies by citing the faulty intelligence which surrounded Iraqs supposed possession of weapons of mass destruction prior to the US in 2003.
However, to publicly embarrass some of the most senior intelligence officials in the country and question their motives is unprecedented for a President-elect or incumbent president.
The Independent contacted the US State Department but they had not commented by the time of publication.
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A black teenage girl is suing the white police officer who pinned her down during a Texas pool party in June 2015, after the incident was captured in a viral video.
Dajerria Becton, 16, filed the lawsuit through her legal guardian, Shashona Becton, in December. Ms Becton is suing the police officer involved, Cpl Eric Casebolt, individually and in his capacity as an officer, the McKinney Police Department, and the City of McKinney, the court documents read.
Mr Casebolt, who is white, can be seen slamming Ms Becton, a black bikini-clad teenage girl, to the ground in the seven-minute video posted to Youtube. The officer can then be seen pulling out his gun as two black teenage boys rushed to her side.
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Ms Becton seeks $5m in damages, according to a local NBC affiliate.
The high-profile incident sparked a nationwide debate on the officers response, and helped fuel ongoing distrust between police officers and the black community as it concerns racial disparities in police brutality and excessive police force.
The lawsuit states Ms Becton is suing for Officer Eric Casebolts individual use of excessive force, assault, unlawful detention resulting in the injuries to minor child, D.B. under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution...
McKinney: Viral video raises fresh questions about US police brutality
For their part, city officials pushed back against claims made in the lawsuit.
The City of McKinney denies the claims alleged against it and the McKinney Police Department, and as such, will vigorously defend the recently filed lawsuit, a representative for The City of McKinney told The Independent. McKinney prides itself in cultivating the highest standards of training and professionalism for our officers, and it strongly believes that its standards and training will withstand legal challenge.
After the video depicting Mr Casebolts aggressive treatment of Ms Becton made its rounds, McKinney Chief Greg Conley responded to the video saying during a press conference that Mr Casebolt ... came into the call out of control, and as the video shows, was out of control during the incident. Mr Casebolt resigned from the department that month.
Mr Casebolt and other McKinney officers were responding to reports of a disturbance at the private pool party. Ms Becton claimed in her complaint that she had been invited to the pool party, Dallas News reported.
In June of last year, Grand Jury decided to not indict Mr Casebolt.
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Two people have been arrested in Texas in connection with what police claimed was one of the worse cases of child sexual assault they had ever dealt with.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters that officers had been called to a home in San Antonio after receiving reports that a one-year-old girl had been attacked by dogs. When they arrived at the scene, they discovered the child, but determined the injuries did not correspond to dog bites.
I cant even begin to describe to you the level of depravity that went into this crime, Mr Salazar said, according to News 4 San Antonio.
There are certain cases that we carry with us, that make us lose sleep at night. This is one of those cases. The child did suffer stab wounds to her upper body, but additionally to her private areas of her body.
Animal Care Services found that the dogs at the home were not aggressive, the San Antonio Express-News reported, and medical staff saw that the girl was stabbed multiple times and brutally sexually assaulted, not bitten by dogs.
The child was immediately taken to hospital and is now in a stable condition. The office said a couple had been arrested over the attack.
The man has been identified as 23-year-old Isaac Andrew Cardenas. Mr Cardenas has been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. His bond has been set at $300,000.
His girlfriend was identified as 22-year-old Crystal Herrera. Ms Herrera has been charged with injury to a child serious bodily injury by omission.
It is not clear whether either of the individuals has had the opportunity enter a plea or if they have been assigned legal representation.
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Police in the Indian city of Bangalore say they have credible evidence that numerous women were groped during New Year's Eve celebrations and they will use CCTV footage to pursue the alleged offenders.
Urging victims to come forward Commissioner Praveen Sood said that there were 45 cameras on the two roads where the majority of the offences took place.
As promised, we have found credible evidence, repeat credible evidence, in a case of wrongful confinement, molestation and attempt to rob, he wrote on Twitter.
We have taken action by registering a FIR (First Incident Report). Investigation is in progress. Police is working though silently (sic)."
His post seemed to signal a change attitude as Commissioner Sood initially suggested that journalists were concocting or exaggerating the story.
He said: "The media is making it look like molestation was taking place by blurring the faces (of the crowd) but no such thing was happening."
This was despite numerous pictures of distraught women rushing out of crowds and seeking help from police appearing on both local and social media shortly after the attacks in the city, which is the capital of Indias southern Karnataka state.
Local newspaper, the Bangalore Mirror described it as a "brazen, mass molestation of women".
There was further uproar when the state's home minister, G Parameshwara, told a TV channel that such incidents do happen but blamed women for dressing like westerners.
Criticising the remarks, Indias National Commission for Women chief Lalitha Kumaramangalam called them "unacceptable and regrettable."
"I want to ask this Minister, are Indian men so pathetic and weak that when they see a woman in Western clothes on a day of revelry, they get out of control, she said.
Some of the victims have now spoken about their ordeals in the media.
Manisha Gupta told the Bangalore Mirror that she was groped on the way to a train station despite her friends trying to protect her.
"It was impossible to catch one person in that moving crowd," she said. "There were a number of girls there who were in a similar situation. I saw a few of them crying and running for help. It seemed futile. The police were vastly outnumbered - like 20-25 to 1. There was no cheer; women were either worried or scared. It really was mass molestation. I wish the police had managed the situation better."
Another woman, who gave her name as Pooja, who told the BBC: People were pushing and shoving, touching, grabbing, groping and everything was happening on that street.
It was not only to me. It was happening to other girls too. They were all scared.
I felt helpless. Although I have hands and legs and I could abuse and slap them, I could not do anything. I didn't know who was touching me and groping me.
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A Burmese government commission has said the Rohingya Muslim ethnic group is not facing genocide in the country's remote Rakhine State, rejecting any evidence to the contrary as "propaganda".
The official report, published on Wednesday in the state-funded Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper, denied "external allegations" of human rights violations, and cautioned readers against falling for "fabricated news and rumours".
The actions of state forces in the region have been described as ethnic cleansing by senior UN officials, while journalists and aid organisations have documented mass rape, murders, and beatings. Satellite imagery has shown entire villages destroyed by Burmese soldiers.
But according to the commission it is impossible that a genocide is underway in the region, which is currently entirely closed to reporters and foreign aid workers, because a "Bengali population" continues to reside there.
The report cites the existence of mosques and religious edifices as proof the Muslim population is not facing persecution on the grounds of their religion.
Violence has erupted sporadically in Rakhine state since 2012, with state forces implicated in either instigating or actively perpetuating attacks on the up to one million Muslim Rohingya who lived there. Members of the minority ethnic group are denied Burmese citizenship and have been described by the government as illegal immigrants, despite having lived in the country for generations.
Since 2012, many Rohingya people have been confined to inadequate IDP camps, where they have become ill and malnourished and struggled to access healthcare. Many have fled abroad by boat, with thousands believed to have drowned at sea.
The most recent spate of fighting began on 9 October last year, when several Buddhist Burmese border guards were attacked and killed.
Since the incident, dozens of Rohingya villages have been burned to the ground, women have been raped and civilians murdered by the army. At least 10,000 Rohingya have fled across the Bangladeshi border to escape the violence.
But the commission who were tasked by the president, operating under de facto head of state Aung San Suu Kyi, with uncovering the truth about terrorist attacks in the region failed entirely to address allegations that Burmese security forces had killed civilians. It said there was insufficient evidence of mass rape, and argued that police beatings were ordinary in many countries, so did not matter.
Allegations of arson, torture, and arbitrary arrest are still being investigated, the report said.
Human Rights Watch described the report as "very worrisome".
"This commission is looking more and more like the Myanmar government whitewash mechanism that we feared it would be," said Asia Division Deputy Director Phil Robertson.
"This commission report is all about giving the Myanmar government some wiggle room, to try and dispute established facts about burning of Rohingya house and communities and the swelling mountain of evidence about Tatmadaw and police abuses against the Rohingya," he added.
"No doubt that this is the unofficial role of this committee, to raise doubts and counter-points to assertions by the UN, the Kofi Annan Commission, and of course, rights groups like Human Rights Watch and its sad that this is the tactics they are pursuing, rather than allowing a truly credible, internationally assisted investigation that would get both the facts and point to all the perpetrators of the rights abuses on all sides of this situation."
Mr Robertson said that while no one should condone the attacks against government security officials, this is only part of the story of rights abuses happening in Rakhine state.
"The problem is the commission is apparently treating it as the biggest part, and discounting or delaying the other half of the story, which is the disproportionate, rights abusing response by security forces against defenseless Rohingya villagers," he said.
The commission also claimed in the report that they encountered no cases of malnutrition in the north of the impoverished state.
In December, Amnesty International said tens of thousands of people are now at risk of starvation, after the blanket ban on aid.
In pictures: Burma protests against Rohingya Muslims Show all 5 1 /5 In pictures: Burma protests against Rohingya Muslims In pictures: Burma protests against Rohingya Muslims Burma Buddhist nationalists demonstrate against the UN and the return of Rohingya Muslims in Yangon In pictures: Burma protests against Rohingya Muslims Burma Hard-line Buddhist monks lead a demonstration against Rohingya migrants who were resettled in Rakhine state after being found at sea while fleeing Burma following anti-Muslim violence EPA In pictures: Burma protests against Rohingya Muslims Burma Buddhist monks demonstrate against the UN and the return of Rohingya Muslims in Yangon In pictures: Burma protests against Rohingya Muslims Burma Buddhist nationalists demonstrate against the UN and the return of Rohingya Muslims In pictures: Burma protests against Rohingya Muslims Burma Radical Buddhist nationalists protest the international pressure on Myanmar to accept the repatriation of persecuted Rohingya boat refugees
"Even before 9 October, malnutrition levels were critically high in the region where 150,000 people were dependent on food aid for their survival," the organisation said.
The commission report was also refuted by journalists, who questioned claims they have been allowed to "freely go and cover the news as they wish". In reality, the north of the state is entirely closed to members of the press.
Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, has been widely condemned for her failure to speak up in defence of the Rohingya, and actions which appear to discriminate against the group.
Soon after the NLD government won power in an election the Rohingya were not allowed to participate in, and in which the party fielded no Muslim candidates Ms Suu Kyi wrote to foreign ambassadors in the country asking them to stop using the term Rohingya.
In recent weeks, the government has been accused of sharing fake news images of atrocities in other countries, or even in some cases in Hollywood films, and claiming these are being passed off as images of crimes against the Rohingya, in a bid to discredit real reporting.
The government claim the "fake news" stories are damaging the country's reputation abroad, which is confusing many Burmese citizens who do not know what to believe.
The Global New Light, state television channel MRTV, and even a government department have simultaneously showcased the images the origins of which are unclear and condemned them.
Posts warning citizens about fake news have been shared thousands of times on Facebook by Burmese citizens, provoking angry nationalistic sentiment.
In a particularly absurd move Ms Suu Kyi's office on Tuesday even sought to use a still from a Rambo movie, alleging it had been shared by Muslims who claimed it showed human rights violations in Rakhine State.
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China has launched its first ever train service to travel all the way to Britain.
The locomotive will cover 7,456 miles and pass through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France before reaching Barking, east London.
Filled with 4m worth of goods, including socks, clothes, bags and suitcases, the freight train departed on 1 January, and will take 18 days to complete its journey, reports the Xinhua news agency.
The UK is the eighth country to be added to the China-Europe line, and London the 12th European city.
The development is part of President Xi Jinpings One Belt, One Road strategy to connect Asia with Europe and Africa on old Silk Road trading routes.
According to the China Railway Corporation, the service will improve China-Britain trade ties and strengthen the rising superpowers links to western Europe.
Chinas spending spree slowing economy
Because of the differing railway tracks involved in the journey, a single train cannot travel the entire route, meaning the containers need to be reloaded at various points.
The initiative came the same day that China Central Television, the countrys biggest and most important TV network, launched a new global platform.
The state broadcaster aims to help rebrand China overseas, with Mr Xi urging the network to tell China's story well and showcase China's role as a builder of world peace.
The US-led coalition said Wednesday it has doubled to about 450 the number of military advisors assisting Iraqi troops engaged in the fight to retake Mosul from Islamic State (IS) militants.
"We have increased the number of advise and assist forces that are there with the ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) command elements to help advise them as they move forward and to synchronize operations," coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian said in a video conference from Baghdad.
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A landmark ruling by Indias highest court has banned the use of religion and caste by politicians seeking votes.
The judgement, which could radically alter the country's political landscape, comes just weeks ahead of assembly elections in five states.
Polls have shown that faith and caste carry great influence at the polls.
Religion has no role in electoral process, which is a secular activity, a bench of seven judges at The Supreme Court concluded in their ruling.
They added that using religion or a hierarchical group to garner ballots was tantamount to electoral corruption.
In a split decision, the court said the relationship between man and God was an individual choice and that the state should not interfere.
No politician can seek vote in the name of caste, creed or religion, said Chief Justice TS Thakur said in the order, adding that election process must be a secular exercise.
The panel was divided by four votes to three, with the dissenting judges saying the winning verdict was an overreach by the court.
The justices who disagreed argued it should be left to parliament to decide.
They said that discussion on caste, creed and religion is constitutionally protected within and outside elections and this cannot be restricted.
Although India is officially secular, political parties have long sought to gather votes along lines of religion and social status.
Prime Minister Narendra Modis ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has long sought to win votes on a Hindu nationalist platform.
BJP politicians have been accused in the past of spouting Islamophobic statements in order to divide the electorate.
World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. 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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 courts ruling came after years of petitions for changes to the countrys campaigning practices.
The judgement has nonetheless received heavy criticism.
Kancha Ilaiah, a political scientist based in Hyderabad, said the inclusion of caste in the judgement was unfortunate, since it would prevent the views of those in lower castes being implemented in policy.
Indias caste system is among the world's oldest forms of surviving social stratification.
The system which divides Hindus into rigid hierarchical groups based on their karma (work) and dharma (the Hindi word for religion, although it is generally taken to mean duty).
Generally accepted to be more than 3,000 years old, it divides them into four main categories - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras.
Many believe that these groups originated from Brahma, the Hindu God of creation.
At the top of the hierarchy were the Brahmins who were mainly teachers and intellectuals and are believed to have come from Brahmas head.
They were followed by the Kshatriyas, or the warriors and rulers, supposedly from his arms. The third rank went to the Vaishyas, or the traders, who were created from his thighs while at the bottom of the pile were the Shudras, who came from Brahmas feet and did all the menial jobs.
The main castes were further divided into about 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes, each based on their specific occupation.
Outside of this Hindu caste system were the Achhoots - the Dalits or the untouchables.
Mr Ilaiah, who belongs to the Dalit community, told Al Jazeera: The Supreme Court now says we cannot use the caste issue for our liberation, for our equality.
If they say that, then how do we achieve our liberation? What about the right to speak about my oppression?
It is as if the Supreme Court has said [our repression] cannot be used as an instrument to fight back, he added.
But Ashok Malik, a fellow at Delhi-based think-tank The Observer Research Foundation told The Guardian the ruling would have little effect because it was too difficult to implement.
Identity is intrinsic to human society and there is political mobilisation all over the world that takes place along these lines, he said.
You cant ban identity [] A sweeping ban on the use of identity for political mobilisation is going to be unimplementable.
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India is going to endorse a Universal Basic Income (UBI), according to a leading advocate of the system.
The worlds largest democracy will release a report in January stating that UBI is basically the way forward, according to Professor Guy Standing, who has worked on universal income pilot projects in India.
If implemented, India would join Finland in providing free money to citizens.
However, Prof Standing, a founding member of the Basic Income Earth Network, didnt believe UBI would be introduced universally across India because of its radical nature.
Elon Musk believes Universal Basic Income will follow more automation
Under a universal income system, citizens would receive a set amount of money from the state, forfeiting other benefits.
India, which has an estimated population of 1.3 billion people, has a growing economy but around 29.5 per cent of people live in poverty, according to a 2014 government report particularly in rural areas.
Prof Standing told Business Insider the effects of the UBI trials had been remarkable positive on their communities, allowing people to have a sense of control over their money, reducing debt and empowering women.
"As a consequence of this, Prof Standing said, The Indian government is coming out with a big report in January. As you can imagine that makes me very excited. It will basically say this is the way forward."
While Prof Standing said the government report would say UBI was feasible he added: "I don't expect them to go the full way, because it's such a dramatic conversion.
Indias Chief Economic Advisor, Arvind Subramanian, confirmed in October that the annual Economic Survey would discuss UBI.
Mr Subramanian has been sympathetic towards the concept of a universal income, telling The Indian Express: The government spends a lot of money on schemes to help the poor It is not clear that the money actually reaches the poor. So the question is whether the UBI is a more effective way of reaching the poor that the current schemes that government employs.
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 concept of UBI received a boost recently when the government of Finland announced the introduction of a trial involving 2,000 unemployed people.
The recipients will be given 560 (480) every month for two years unconditionally, even if they find work.
In a statement, the Finnish government said: The primary goal of the basic income experiment is related to promoting employment. The experiment, including follow-up research, aims to find out whether basic income promotes employment."
However, UBI projects in Finland and India - if it goes ahead - are likely to strongly vary in their scale and implementation due to the vast differences in social and economic context.
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Chinese state media has said the US is just a shooting star in the ample sky of history, in an editorial warning Donald Trump not to boss China around on economic and security issues.
The Global Times newspaper, which is backed by the ruling Communist Party, took the strong line on Wednesday, shortly after the President-elect announced the appointment of a second outspoken critic of China to his trade team.
Robert Lighthizer, who has condemned the east Asian country for failing to abide by international trade agreements in the past, will be Americas next chief trade negotiator, the President-elect said on Tuesday.
The 69-year-old has previously advocated for higher trade tariffs and called for tougher methods to change the system. His appointment is seen as part of Mr Trumps plan to up-end US trade policy.
But according to China, the US has had its moment and the President-elect's actions may not matter much in the future.
May the arrogant Americans realise that the United States of America is perhaps just a shooting star in the ample sky of history, the paper said, adding that Mr Trump appears to be "fixated" on trade, in a dismissive response to his latest appointment.
Last month, the President-elect appointed Peter Navarro to lead a new presidential office for US trade and industrial policy. Mr Navarro has previously described Chinas government as a despicable, parasitic, brutal, brass-knuckled, crass, callous, amoral, ruthless and totally totalitarian imperialist power.
Mr Lighthizer, a former Reagan-era trade official, who once travelled the world negotiating deals to curb steel imports, is not at outspoken as Mr Navarro, but has expressed a similar belief that China's economic policies are fundamentally flawed.
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 trade lawyer once wrote: Going forward, US policymakers should take these problems more seriously, and should take a much more aggressive approach in dealing with China.
Mr Trump said Mr Lighthizer would fight for good trade deals that put the American worker first.
He added: He will do an amazing job helping turn around the failed trade policies which have robbed so many Americans of prosperit."
With Mr Navarro and Mr Lighthizer in important roles, Mr Trumps trade team is predisposed to be extremely hostile to China.
Louis Kuijs, the head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics and a former senior China economist at the World Bank, told the Guardian he expected Mr Trumps policies to treat the rival superpower particularly harshly.
There is almost no guessing, economic policy under Trump will become more nationalistic and more interventionist," he said. "Its very clear their policies will be especially tough on China."
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Theresa May has been warned that the European Union is more unified in its stance on Brexit than on any other issue in the blocs history.
Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, the new holder of the EU presidency, made the statement after holding meetings with the leaders of the other member states.
He said the EU 27 which excludes the UK were united in their approach to Brexit negotiations which will begin if the British Government sticks to its pledge to trigger Article 50 by the end of March.
Speaking at a diplomatic conference in Slovenia, he said: I spoke and visited basically all other 26 (EU) member states and theres a ... convergence on the attitude towards Brexit.
I have never seen such a convergence within the European family.
Theresa May left standing on her own at Brussels EU summit
His comments will come as a blow to Brexit negotiators in the UK who had hoped to secure a better deal with Brussels by relying on disunity among the remaining EU members.
Mrs May delayed triggering Article 50 the legal mechanism for leaving the EU to allow her team to formalise its plans for an orderly departure.
But the nine-month hiatus between the June 23 vote and March has also given EU leaders time to draw up their own plan.
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
Previous reports suggested the EU's remaining member states were split on whether to push for a hard or soft Brexit.
Countries such as Poland, Estonia and Latvia are said to be focused on ensuring the rights of their citizens to work in the UK are protected.
Others are expected to want to punish the UK with a tough deal to discourage other members from leaving the union.
Mr Muscats comments came as Downing Street suffered another setback when Sir Ivan Rogers, Britains ambassador to the EU, suddenly resigned.
The senior diplomat was expected to stay in his post until at least the end of the year but quit dramatically yesterday saying Mrs May's government has been hindered by "ill-founded arguments" and "muddled thinking".
His departure leaves the UK without one of its most experienced EU negotiators.
Asked about Sir Ivans resignation, Mr Muscat said: That's a totally national issue for them .... We stick to the point that there should be no negotiation without notification."
He went on to talk about other pressing issues facing the EU, including tackling the migration crisis.
We are keen and want to put forward proposals on the securing of maritime borders that is why we believe that a replication of any deal which is similar to the Turkish deal in the central Mediterranean is very important in the next few months before there is a larger crisis, he said.
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In a love story which delivers some optimism in the bitterness of the refugee crisis, an Iraqi refugee and a Macedonian border guard have told of how they found love on the European migrant trail.
Noora Arkavazi, 20, had fled Diyala, Iraq, with her family when she reached the muddy Macedonian border in March 2016.
She had a high fever and needed medical attention, and was directed by border security to an English speaking officer - Bobi Dodevski.
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And it was love at first sight.
Mr Dodevski, 35, told the BBC: "I see many, many girls...but I see something special in Noora's eyes, and I say: 'This is it. I must have Noora here to be my wife!'"
A female border guard colleague of Mr Dodevskis even noticed how smitten he was with the young refugee, telling him that she had stolen his brain while he was working.
Ms Arkavazi was given care by the Red Cross and waited in the Tabanovce camp on the Serbian border with her family, who were trying to get to Germany.
She began working with the Red Cross allowing Mr Dodevski to get to know her. The pair began spending more time in each others company.
Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily.
Ms Arkavazi liked the way Mr Dodevski played with the children of the migrants, AFP reported, in contrast to the stern attitudes of many of his colleagues.
Macedonia took a hard-line against migrants during the crisis in 2016, and the country's security forces were known for their harsh handling of people trying to cross its borders. There were occasions when tear gas and other riot tactics were used against asylum seekers.
But Ms Arkavazi received more favourable treatment from Mr Dodevski, including being treated to food.
In April, the pair were in a restaurant when Mr Dodevski asked her to marry him something he had to repeat 10 times to clarify it wasnt a joke.
Border tensions: Macedonian police fire tear gas at refugees
It was an unexpected move: Mr Dodevski is an Orthodox Christian and Ms Arkavazi is a Kurdish Muslim.
However, she relented and the couple were married in the northern town of Kumanovo in July.
Now, Ms Arkavazi has found a safe home just not where she expected to.
She is living with Mr Dodevski in his home in the town and with his three children from other marriages.
And in a few months, they will be joined by another child: their own.
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Vladimir Putin has invited the children of 35 US diplomats to visit the Kremlin in a provocative stunt aimed at embarrassing the outgoing US president.
The move was designed to rile Barack Obamas administration after it chose to expel 35 Russian officials from the US amid claims the Kremlin interfered in the US election.
It came just days after Mr Putin accused the US President of irresponsible diplomacy.
Invitations were sent to Moscow-based diplomats at the US embassy before Christmas, with the children of the 35 diplomats given the chance to see the Russian Presidents festive tree.
Trump's advisor suggests Obama's sanctions against Russia are to 'box in' the incoming President
The action is Russias latest attempt to undermine Barack Obama before he leaves office on January 20.
Russian diplomats at the UK embassy earlier tweeted that Mr Obama was a lame duck president.
Mr Putin said: All the children of American diplomats accredited in Russia, I invite you to the New Year's and Christmas tree in the Kremlin.
A US embassy spokesperson responded that diplomats appreciated the invite but did not comment on whether anyone had attended the event.
Vladimir Putin and the people Show all 11 1 /11 Vladimir Putin and the people Vladimir Putin and the people 561608.bin Vladimir Putin and the people 561611.bin GETTY IMAGES Vladimir Putin and the people 561614.bin EPA Vladimir Putin and the people 561615.bin REUTERS Vladimir Putin and the people 561617.bin AP Vladimir Putin and the people 561618.bin GETTY IMAGES Vladimir Putin and the people 561620.bin PA Vladimir Putin and the people 561621.bin AP Vladimir Putin and the people 561622.bin GETTY IMAGES Vladimir Putin and the people 561624.bin GETTY IMAGES Vladimir Putin and the people 561625.bin EPA
The move followed the expulsion last week of 35 Russian diplomats in retaliation for the hacking of email accounts linked to the Democratic Party.
US security officials believe Kremlin-backed hackers accessed the servers to help Mr Trump win the presidency.
The emails, taken from Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, were then released by Wikileaks.
In all 96 Russians were flown home after being given 72 hours to leave the country.
Many of the Russian officials and their families arrived in Moscow early on Monday.
Some had complained that the expulsion ruined families' celebrations of New Year's Eve, Russia's main gift-giving holiday.
The expulsions were part of a package of sanctions ordered by President Barack Obama last Thursday in the final weeks of his administration.
Russias foreign ministry advised Mr Putin to carry out reciprocal expulsions of 35 US officials.
But Mr Putin said he would not stoop to the level of irresponsible diplomacy.
We will not create problems for American diplomats, we will not expel anyone, he continued in a statement, adding that Russia reserved the right to retaliate.
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A tour guide has recorded an unusual sound in the north of Sweden that has been likened to the noise emitted by a fictional gun from the Star Wars films - but he believes it comes from the Northern Lights.
Oliver Wright, a photographer and tour guide working for Lights Over Lapland, heard what he described as a rat-a-tat swooshing sound while out with a group of people on Christmas Day.
I was standing beneath an intense display of auroras in Abisko, Sweden, when I heard something that sounded like Star Wars blasters, he told Spaceweather.com.
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The photographer said the sounds appeared to be coming from nearby powerlines, and that people around him heard the noise, too. He then rushed closer to the power lines and was able to record a sample using my iPhone.
Mr Wright said the sound grew louder as he approached the power lines and fainter as he walked away. He had heard the sound three times before on previous trips, each time while close to a power line, but this was the first time he recorded the strange swooshing (listen below).
The sound could have been created by electrophonic transduction, according to Spaceweather.com, which is created by the conversion of electromagnetic energy into mechanical motion. This could cause currents to flow through the nearby powerlines with enough force to make them shake and emit noise.
At the time of the Christmas aurora outburst, magnetic fields around Abisko were seething with activity. Strong low-frequency currents can literally shake objects, launching acoustic vibrations into the air, astrophysicist Dr Tony Philips said, The Local reported.
After Mr Wright uploaded his own sound recording from Christmas Day online, one person agreed with the photographers description that the swooshing was akin to the sound emitted from a Star Wars blaster gun, and claimed that they knew exactly how it was created. Its high tension electrical lines undulating in the wind and rocking against their pinions, user Douglas Bryendlson claimed.
This is exactly how Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt created those blaster sounds in the first place, he wrote, posting a video of someone re-creating the sound effect from the films by banging a rock against a large metal cable of a radio tower.
Mr Wright is not the first person to have been curious about the sounds of the aurora borealis, however. For more than a century there have been reports of sounds such as a faint hissing or crackling associated with the Northern Lights that have largely been dismissed as hearsay, according to National Geographic. But Finnish researcher Unto Laine has studied the sounds for more than 10 years and believes the lights may well cause clapping sounds, and he has a theory as to why.
In history there are thousands of relevant observations, but recordings also exist that consists of many different type of sounds described by observers around the world such as crackling, clapping, popping, booms and low frequency noise, Mr Laing said.
He believes that the sounds are produced during intense displays of the aurora borealis and when there are cold, clear and calm weather conditions.
Speaking to LiveScience Mr Laing claimed the sounds can be created when a layer of relatively warm air becomes blanketed over a layer of cold air near the Earths surface. Electrical charges then build up in the warm layer of air while opposite charges build in the cold layer, and when an intense aurora display appears over these layers it can create geomagnetic disturbances that cause the electricity to discharge and create sounds, he said.
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The attacker who killed 39 people in a shooting at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Eve has been identified, the Turkish foreign minister has said.
Mevlut Cavusoglu did not name the suspect, who remains at large, in a televised interview with Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu on Wednesday.
Investigators have previously released photos of the alleged gunman, and Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday that the authorities have records of his fingerprints.
Turkish police conducted a series of raids in the Aegean port city of Izmir overnight on Tuesday, arresting five men thought to have links to terror group Isis, but did not catch the perpetrator of the seven-minute long massacre in Istanbul's Reina nightclub.
The gunman is thought to have been living in Izmir with his wife and children for three weeks before going to Istanbul to carry out the shooting. It is believed he was previously based in Konya, in the centre of the country.
At least twenty people have been detained in connection to the incident so far, including two people of foreign nationality who were arrested at Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Tuesday.
Isis has claimed responsibility for the attack, which wounded 70 more people, several of whom are still in a critical condition. CCTV footage showed a man killing a police officer and security guard before entering the nightclub. After people dropped to the floor when the first shots were fired, he shot at those lying down before changing his clothes and leaving the scene.
Most of those killed were foreigners from Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Israel and Syria.
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US Special Forces have been deployed close to the border with Russia as part of a persistent presence of American troops in the Baltics.
Dozens of special ops solders are being stationed along Europes eastern flank to reassure Nato allies Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
The move will also allow the US to monitor Russian manoeuvres amid fears of further destabilisation following its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
General Raymond Thomas, head of the Pentagons Special Operations Command, said the Baltic states were desperate for America's help in deterring potential Russian aggression.
NATO planes police the skies over Baltics
He told The New York Times: Theyre scared to death of Russia. They are very open about that.
Lithuanian defence ministry spokeswoman Asta Galdikaite confirmed the US had offered additional safety assurance measures to the Baltic countries following the deterioration of the security situation in the region.
The troops will also help train local forces and add to intelligence gathering operations carried out by the CIA.
Eastern European countries neighbouring Russia fear an incursion similar to that launched in 2014 in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, where fighting continues.
The Lithuanian Presidents office released a statement saying the US was playing an active role to provide the most reliable security guarantees for the Baltic states and for the whole transatlantic community.
Army Photographic Competition 2016 Show all 13 1 /13 Army Photographic Competition 2016 Army Photographic Competition 2016 Corporal Sean Neill, from Kilmarnock, kissing his daughter Madison in the streets of Glasgow after the 400 strong Homecoming Parade. The photo, by Mark Owens, has been named Winner of Best Online Image (voted by the public) in the Army Photographic Competition 2016 Mark Owens/Army HQ Scotland/PA Wire Army Photographic Competition 2016 This photograph shows Officer Cadets from Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS) on Exercise Dynamic Victory, Grafenwoehr & Hohenfels Training area, Bavaria Bombardier Murray Kerr RA/PA Wire Army Photographic Competition 2016 Great Men, by Bombardier Murray Kerr RA Bombardier Murray Kerr RA/PA Wire Army Photographic Competition 2016 The photograph shows the changing room buzzing 30 minutes before forming up Sergeant Rupert Frere RLC/PA Wire Army Photographic Competition 2016 Prepping for the Worst, by Cpl Timothy Jones Cpl Timothy Jones/PA Wire Army Photographic Competition 2016 Y Company, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, conducting jungle warfare training in Brunei, learning to live, survive and fight in the unique training environment Cpl Timothy Jones/PA Wire Army Photographic Competition 2016 Right Hook, by Bombardier Murray Kerr RA Bdr Murray Kenneth Kerr, Royal Artillery/PA Wire Army Photographic Competition 2016 Army Photographic Competition 2016 The Climb, by Capt Ben Norfield, RGR Capt Ben Norfield, RGR/PA Wire Army Photographic Competition 2016 This photograph shows the TIGERS Freefall Parachute Display Team from the 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (1 PWRR) send a Birthday message to the Queen from 8,000 feet above Paderborn in Germany Dominic King AMC/PA Wire Army Photographic Competition 2016 Nightlife in Otterburn, by Cpl Timothy Jones Cpl Timothy Jones/PA Wire Army Photographic Competition 2016 The photograph shows Garrison Sergeant Major Andrew Stokes of the Coldstream Guards making inspections of the soldiers drill Sergeant Rupert Frere RLC/PA Wire Army Photographic Competition 2016 Y Company, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, conducting jungle warfare training in Brunei, learning to live, survive and fight in the unique training environment Cpl Timothy Jones/PA Wire
However, Russia views the build-up of NATO troops in the Baltics as a provocation and has said the main barrier to warm relations with the West is Americas continued military presence there.
US special operations forces will complement around 4,000 Nato troops posted to Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia in the coming months.
The deployment the largest on Russias doorstep since the Cold War was criticised as truly aggressive by Moscow.
Russia had every sovereign right to take necessary measures throughout the territory of the Russian Federation, a statement from the Kremlin added.
Britain will send an 800-strong battalion to Estonia, supported by French and Danish troops, beginning in May.
Elsewhere, Canada is sending 450 troops to Latvia and Germany is sending up to 600 soldiers to Lithuania.
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Benjamin Netanyahu has called for the Israeli soldier convicted for shooting a wounded Palestinian man dead to be pardoned.
The Israeli Prime Minister described Sgt Elor Azarias manslaughter verdict as a difficult and painful day for all of us first and foremost for Sgt Azaria and his family, IDF soldiers, many citizens and parents of soldiers, myself included".
Without commenting the man Sgt Azaria killed or his family, Mr Netanyahu called on Israelis to act responsibly towards the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), saying the army was the basis for our survival.
IDF soldiers are our sons and daughters and must remain above any controversy, he added. I support giving Sgt Azaria a pardon.
Mr Netanyahus statement was released hours after the soldier was convicted of manslaughter, facing a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
The Israeli Prime Minister put himself at odds with military commanders who moved swiftly to condemn the killing of Abdel Fattah al-Sharif in March and called on all soldiers to obey its code of ethics.
President Reuven Rivlin has authority to issue pardons but has said he will wait for the legal process to run its course before making a decision, with Sgt Azarias legal team already announcing an appeal.
A porotest in support of Sgt Azaria (AFP/Getty Images)
The case has reignited tensions across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, with thousands of Israelis protesting against the case and hundreds of Sgt Azarias supporters gathering outside the court on Wednesday.
Among those demanding a pardon is Naftali Bennett, leader of the right-wing Jewish Home party.
Today a soldier who killed a terrorist who deserved to die, who had tried to slaughter a soldier, was put in handcuffs and convicted like a criminal, he wrote on Facebook.
Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli defence minister, also said he disagreed with the difficult verdict and would do anything he could to assist Sgt Azaria and his family.
We must keep the army outside every political argument...and keep it in the widest consensus in Israeli society, he added.
Sharon Gal, a spokesperson for the Azaria family, accused the court of picking up the knife [used to attack an IDF soldier] from the ground and stabbed it in the back of all the soldiers.
Video footage captured by a local resident showed the soldier shooting al-Sharif in the head at close range as he lay on the ground in Hebron following a stabbing attack on an Israeli soldier.
He had already been shot alongside another man who died immediately at the scene, and was lying immobile on the ground in the divided West Bank city.
Palestinian man shot by Israeli soldier as he lies on the ground
Sgt Azaria said he believed Mr al-Sharif remained a threat but judges found that Sgt Azaria was aware that his actions in shooting the wounded Palestinian assailant would result in loss of life, and that the terrorist did not pose a threat.
The IDF medic, now 20, did not act in accordance with army protocol, the three-judge panel found, and the claim that he felt threatened because al-Sharif may have been carrying explosives or still been able to reach for his knife was not justified.
One cannot use this type of force, even if we're talking about an enemy's life, the Tel Aviv military court said in its verdict.
Sgt Azaria remained emotionless as the chief judge read out the conviction, but his mother screamed you should be ashamed of yourselves as the panel left the bench.
Yousri al-Sharif, the father of the man killed, said the verdict was fair following his sons death.
It is an achievement of the court that it condemned the soldier, he said after relatives gathered at the family home in Hebron to watch the three-hour verdict live on Israeli television.
Lt-Col Nadav Weissman, a military prosecutor, said, The judges decided that it was an unjustified shooting. This is not a happy day for us. We would have preferred that this didn't happen. But the deed was done, and the offence was severe.
The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Show all 10 1 /10 The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Medics evacuate a wounded man from the scene of an attack in Jerusalem. A Palestinian rammed a vehicle into a bus stop then got out and started stabbing people before he was shot dead AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Israeli ZAKA emergency response members carry the body of an Israeli at the scene of a shooting attack in Jerusalem. A pair of Palestinian men boarded a bus in Jerusalem and began shooting and stabbing passengers, while another assailant rammed a car into a bus station before stabbing bystanders, in near-simultaneous attacks that escalated a month long wave of violence AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Getty Images The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians throw molotov cocktail during clashes with Israeli troops near Ramallah, West Bank. Recent days have seen a series of stabbing attacks in Israel and the West Bank that have wounded several Israelis AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Women cry during the funeral of Palestinian teenager Ahmad Sharaka, 13, who was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes at a checkpoint near Ramallah, at the family house in the Palestinian West Bank refugee camp of Jalazoun, Ramallah AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A wounded Palestinian boy and his father hold hands at a hospital after their house was brought down by an Israeli air strike in Gaza Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinians look on after a protester is shot by Israelis soldiers during clashes at the Howara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus EPA The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies A lawyer wearing his official robes kicks a tear gas canister back toward Israeli soldiers during a demonstration by scores of Palestinian lawyers called for by the Palestinian Bar Association in solidarity with protesters at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, near Ramallah, West Bank AP The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Undercover Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian in Ramallah Reuters The IsraeliPalestinian conflict intensifies Palestinian youth burn tyres during clashes with Israeli soldiers close to the Jewish settlement of Bet El, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, after Israel barred Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City as tensions mounted following attacks that killed two Israelis and wounded a child
The prosecutor said the verdict was important, clear, decisive and speaks for itself.
The case is the first conviction of an Israeli soldier for killing a Palestinian since the start of a new wave of violence in October 2015.
Palestinian attackers have killed at least 36 Israelis and several foreign nationals in stabbings, shootings and car rammings, while more than 220 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli security forces.
Authorities say the vast majority were carrying out or attempting attacks, while the UN and humanitarian groups have raised concern over excessive use of force.
A report by Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din found the IDF opened 186 criminal investigations into suspected offences against Palestinians in 2015, but just four of those investigations yielded charges.
Of 76 Palestinians killed in clashes with soldiers in the West Bank in 2015, only 21 deaths resulted in investigations, the group said.
The fact that in 55 incidents no criminal investigation was considered necessary raises doubts about the implementation of Israel's declared policy on investigating civilian fatalities, the report concluded.
Turkey's prime minister will this week pay a critical visit to Iraq, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, after tensions soared to unprecedented levels ahead of the operation to recapture Mosul.
Ankara has been concerned over the role of Shiite pro-Tehran militia in the operation to take the majority Sunni second city of Iraq from Islamic State (IS) militants.
"We are watching all actions aimed at starting a confessional conflict in Iraq," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.
He said that Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and a delegation would be making a visit to Iraq starting on Friday.
"We want to bring our relations to a better level after they ground to a halt in recent times."
Ankara has been largely left on the sidelines in the Mosul operation and the tensions led to a bitter public spat between Erdogan and Iraqi Premier Haider al-Abadi.
Erdogan last year told the Iraqi leader to "know your place" and even said "you are not at my level".
Not to be outdone, Abadi hit back by mocking Erdogan's appearance on FaceTime to rouse supporters on the night of the failed July 15 coup.
But on December 30, Erdogan spoke to Abadi by telephone for the first time since the row, Turkish media said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said earlier this week that a "new era" was starting in Turkey's relationship with Iraq's leaders.
Ruled for nearly half a millennium by the Ottoman Empire, Mosul is considered by mainly Sunni Muslim Turkey to be part of its natural sphere of influence in the Middle East.
Ankara has insisted Mosul must keep its Sunni Arab Muslim majority which it had before IS took over the city from woefully unprepared Iraqi troops in 2014.
Before the emergence of IS in Iraq, Turkey had major ambitions for Mosul, opening a vast consulate but then finding its entire 49 strong staff was taken hostage by the Islamist militants in June 2014.
The hostages were later freed in September 2015 amid murky circumstances and, symbolically, the consulate building was destroyed in a US-led coalition air strike in April 2016.
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The first man to interrogate Saddam Hussein after his capture by US forces in 2003 has said it quickly became clear he had not developed weapons of mass destruction.
Former CIA analyst John Nixon was tasked with questioning the Iraqi dictator after he was found hiding in a cave in December 2003.
He said all the White House wanted to know was if there was any evidence that Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction.
But talking to Hussein, his advisers and subsequent research had led him to the conclusion that Iraq's nuclear weapons programme had ended years earlier.
His team were regarded as failures after they came to that conclusion, he told the BBC,
Mr Nixon added that he was not invited to debrief the then president George W Bush until 2008 - two years after Hussein's execution.
In a scathing assessment of the former Commander in Chief, he said he was one of the few to shake both Mr Bush's hand and that of Hussein, but he would rather have spent more time with the latter.
Mr Bush was isolated from reality and his advisors were yes men, he said.
I used to think what we said at the CIA mattered and the president would listen, but it doesn't matter what we say, politics trumps intelligence, he added.
Mr Nixon, who left the CIA in 2011, said he was ashamed of what happened in Iraq after Husseins fall.
The most iconic images from the war in Iraq Show all 20 1 /20 The most iconic images from the war in Iraq The most iconic images from the war in Iraq U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman HM1 Richard Barnett, assigned to the 1st Marine Division, holds an Iraqi child in central Iraq, March 29, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An explosion rocks Baghdad during air strikes March 21, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi woman watches U.N. weapons inspectors leave Saddam airport in Baghdad March 18, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi girl holds her sister as she waits for her mother (R) to bring over food bought in Basra March 29, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq U.S. Marine Corp Assaultman Kirk Dalrymple watches as a statue of Iraq's President Saddam Hussein falls in central Baghdad's Firdaus Square, April 9, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq US Marines kick in a door while securing a building next to the main hospital in central Baghdad April 15, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq A soldier of U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division (Task Force Ironhorse) searches through dense vegetation around the Diala river where Iraqi militants are hiding outside Baquba early November 13, 2003 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi detainee gestures toward U.S. soldiers through bars of his cell at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad May 17, 2004 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq Mays, a young Iraqi Shi'ite girl, cries after a mortar shell which landed outside the family's home in a Najaf residential area injured her uncle August 18, 2004 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq U.S. Marines carry an injured colleague to a helicopter near the city of Falluja, November 10, 2004 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi man suspected of having explosives in his car is held after being arrested by the U.S army near Baquba, Iraq, October 15, 2005 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq A wounded Iraqi woman is helped after several bomb attacks in central Baghdad, July 27, 2006 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq A man runs down a street warning people to flee shortly after a twin car bomb attack at Shorja market in Baghdad, February 12, 2007 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi girl holds her hands up while U.S. and Iraqi soldiers search her family house in Baquba early June 30, 2007 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi woman tries to explain that she has nothing to do with illegal fuel as soldiers from the 2nd battalion, 32nd Field Artillery brigade patrol search for illegal fuel sellers in Baghdad August 6, 2007 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq U.S. President George W. Bush (L) walks in front of Humvees with Defense Secretary Robert Gates (C) and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice following remarks to the press after nightfall at Al-Asad airbase in Anbar Province September 3, 2007 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq U.S. soldiers blindfold an Iraqi man after arresting him during a night patrol at the Zafraniya neighborhood, southeast of Baghdad September 4, 2007 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq An Iraqi baby lies in a cradle while a woman argues with U.S. soldiers of 1/8 Bravo Company searching for weapons, explosives and information about militants in the area during a foot patrol in a neighbourhood of Mosul June 26, 2008 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq Policemen cry during a funeral of their colleague a day after a bomb attack in Baghdad's Jihad district November 3, 2010 Reuters The most iconic images from the war in Iraq Staff Sgt. Keith Fidler kisses his wife Cynthia, as their son Kolin looks on, during a homecoming ceremony in New York, April 8, 2011 for the New York Army National Guard's 442nd Military Police Company's return from Iraq Reuters
He said the Bush Administration gave no thought to what would happen after the US led invasion of the country.
Perhaps, in light of the subsequent rise of Isis, the region would have been better off if Hussein had remained in his post, he added.
Mr Nixon's comments come after the Chilcot Report finally delivered its verdict on Tony Blairs decision to take Britain into the war alongside the US.
Sir John Chilcot savaged the decision to go to war and said there was no imminent threat from Saddam Hussein in March 2003.
He said: We have concluded that the UK chose to join the invasion of Iraq before the peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted. Military action at that time was not a last resort.
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The Kurdish Womens Protection Units (YPJ) in Syria is both widening its operations to include Arab women who want to join the fight against Isis and stepping up its military assault on the extremists de facto capital of Raqqa in 2017, a spokesperson has said.
As the women of the YPJ, we aim not only liberation from Isis but also a liberation of mentality and thoughts," the YPJs spokesperson Nesrin Abdullah announced.
War is not only the liberation of land. We are also fighting for the liberation of women and men. If not, the patriarchal system will prevail once again, she said in an wide-ranging interview with the Amsterdam-based Kurdish news agency Firat.
The mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters began a US-backed operation to retake the northern Syrian city of Raqqa in November, timed to dovetail with the assault on Isis other remaining urban stronghold of Mosul in neighbouring Iraq.
2016 saw womens participation in the fight greatly expand, Ms Abdullah said, with the formation of several new military councils designed to encourage the participation of freed Arab and Yazidi women across both Syria and Iraq.
In Manbij in particular, female residents were so inspired by the female YPJ soldiers who helped liberate them they have created their own all-female battalion to retake the neighbouring town of al-Bab.
Two units have now completed training for battle inside the umbrella Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) coalition, Ms Abdullah said, and both a military training academy and college-style institution were being set up for 2017.
Arab people were the predominant residents of the liberated areas. They were impressed when they saw that women participated in military affairs and played a leading role in clashes. This had important consequences. From Shaddadi to Manbij, many women have joined us, she said.
Syrian women burn burkas to celebrate liberation from Isis
The YPJ gained a lot of battlefield experience in 2016, Ms Abdullah added, which is being transformed into an academic consciousness.
The training women receive covers many fields, including feminist history and philosophy.
This is because the YPJ is not a brute fighting force but a force of social, cultural and moral consciousness. Women who realise themselves wage this struggle, the spokesperson said..
The results give women confidence, empowering them to make their own decisions and take an active, mobilised, intellectual role in the fight against Isis without relying on men, she added.
In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani An explosion rocks Syrian city of Kobani during a reported suicide car bomb attack by the militants of Isis group on a People's Protection Unit (YPG) position in the city center of Kobani, as seen from the outskirts of Suruc, on the Turkey-Syria border In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani An explosion rocks the Syrian city of Kobani during a reported suicide car bomb attack by Isis Getty In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani An explosion in the Syrian city of Kobani set off as fighting continues Getty Images In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Heavy smoke rises following an air strike by the US-led coalition aircraft in Kobani Getty Images In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani An unidentified armed man takes position near a building in the Syrian town of Kobani, as seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Kurdish fighters walk to their positions in Kobani In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Residents of Kobani walk in the streets of the besieged town, as seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani People's Protection Unit (YPG) fighters walk in the Syrian town of Kobani, as seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani People watch the Syrian town of Kobani from near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani A Turkish soldier stands on a top of a tank as he watches the Syrian town of Kobani from near the Mursitpinar border crossing, on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani, seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc. Kurdish forces defending Kobani urged a U.S.-led coalition to escalate air strikes on Isis fighters who tightened their grip on the Syrian town at the border with Turkey. A group that monitors the Syrian civil war said the Kurdish forces faced inevitable defeat in Kobani if Turkey did not open its border to let through arms, something Ankara has appeared reluctant to do In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Newly arrived People's Protection Unit (YPG) fighters walk in a line in the Syrian town of Kobani, seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Heavy smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani, seen from near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Kurdish women mourn at the grave of a relative, who was a Kurdish fighter killed in fighting with the militants of the Islamic State group in Kobani, and was buried at a cemetery in Suruc In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Turkish army tanks mechanized units take position on top of a hill near Mursitpinar border crossing in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Smoke rises after an US-led air strike in the Syrian town of Kobani. The air strikes pushed Isis fighters back to the edges of the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani, which they had appeared set to seize after a three-week assault, local officials said In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani A huge plume of smoke rises after an airstrike in eastern Kobani, Syria, behind a hilltop where militants with the Islamic State group had raised their flag on Monday AP In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Turkish Kurds watch as airstrikes hit Kobani AP In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani as Turkish army tanks take position on the Turkish side of the border Reuters In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Military aircraft flies over the Turkey-Syria border as it nears targets in Kobani In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Smoke rises after a US-led air strike in the Syrian town of Kobani Reuters In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Turkish Kurds, on the Turkey-Syria border, watch over the border at the intensified fighting between Isis and Kurdish forces AP In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Smoke rises during airstrikes on the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobani by the Kurds Getty In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani A huge plume of smoke rises after an airstrike outside west Kobani, Syria AP In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani A militant with the Isis group walks in the town of Kobani In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Militants with the Isis group, bottom, along with a machine gun-fitted pick up truck, partially seen bottom right, hold positions in Kobani, during intensified fighting with Syrian Kurds In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani People watch smoke rising from the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobani by the Kurds, after an air strike Getty In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Smoke rises from a strike at an area of a mosque that destroyed its minaret, in Kobani during heavy fighting between militants with the Isis group and Syrian Kurds In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani Militants with Isis hold positions in Kobani, Syria, during intensified fighting with Syrian Kurds AP In pictures: Fighting between Kurds and Isis intensifies in Kobani Kobani A partial view of Kobani with a mosque's minaret
Kurdish fighters in Syria managed to fight off government troops at the beginning of the civil war, establishing their own relatively peaceful and democratic administration in Rojava despite the chaos that has engulfed much of the country since.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is thought to be be in a position to defeat remaining Sunni rebels now that the tide of the war has turned in his favour following the fall of Aleppo.
While they have been kept out of all peace talks to date, Rojava officials remain hopeful that they will be allowed to continue govern themselves, despite opposition from neighbouring Turkey.
2017 will be the final year [of the war] both militarily and politically. Even if a solution is not reached, the conditions for a solution will be created. The YPJ will always support a democratic peaceful solution, Ms Abdullah said.
Whether the war winds down or not, the YPJ aim to double or triple their existing forces regardless, she added: There is the possibility that contradictions and clashes deepen. We should enhance our strength."
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An Israeli soldier who shot dead an immobilised Palestinian assailant as he lay on the ground has been convicted of manslaughter by a Tel Aviv military court in a landmark ruling.
The 21-year-old attacker, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, was shot and wounded after he and an accomplice stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier in the incident in Hebron in March last year.
As he lay on the ground, Sergeant Elor Azaria, who arrived on the scene 11 minutes later, shot him in the head.
The killing was captured on video and widely shared by human rights activists.
The controversial trial has dragged on for months, focusing on Sgt Azarias mental state at the time and the extent to which the judges found him to be acting out of self-defence or revenge. In the process, it has polarised Israeli society. There have been widespread protests and fund-raising concerts calling for the charges to be dropped in the last 10 months.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even took the unusual step of calling the sergeants family after he was arrested to offer his sympathies.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the court on Wednesday awaiting the trials verdict, with crowds calling on the Israel Defence Force (IDF) and government to defend the soldiers actions which kept Israel safe.
But in a damning verdict which dismissed the defence case, Justice Maya Heller said that Sgt Azaria was aware that his actions in shooting the wounded Palestinian assailant would result in loss of life, and that the terrorist did not pose a threat.
The IDF medic, now 20, did not act in accordance with army protocol, the three-judge panel found, and the claim that he felt threatened because al-Sharif may have been carrying explosives or still been able to reach for his knife was not justified.
'I saw Israeli bulldozer kill Rachel Corrie' Show all 3 1 /3 'I saw Israeli bulldozer kill Rachel Corrie' 'I saw Israeli bulldozer kill Rachel Corrie' 335079.bin AP 'I saw Israeli bulldozer kill Rachel Corrie' 335078.bin AP 'I saw Israeli bulldozer kill Rachel Corrie' 335077.bin AFP
One cannot use this type of force, even if we're talking about an enemy's life, the court said in its verdict.
Sgt Azaria remained emotionless as the chief judge read out the conviction, but his mother screamed you should be ashamed of yourselves as the panel left the bench.
Manslaughter carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years under Israeli law. Sgt Azaria will be sentenced on a later date and can appeal both the conviction and sentence to the Military Appeals Court.
Hundreds of protesters supportive of the soldiers case waiting outside the court appeared deflated by the decision, which makes Sgt Azaria the first member of the IDF to be convicted of the charge in 12 years.
More than 150 Palestinians have been fatally shot on suspicion of carrying out terrorist attacks since October 2015, Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted.
Todays conviction is a positive step toward reining in excessive use of force by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians, said Sari Bashi, the organisations Israel advocacy director.
Before the verdict was handed down there were already calls to pardon the 20-year-old, including from high level politicians such as Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennett.
Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman described the decision as a tough verdict but called on those who did not like it to respect the ruling and keep the peace.
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A group of foreign construction workers who staged a protest about unpaid wages have been sentenced to 300 lashes and four months behind bars in Saudi Arabia.
Video from the protest in April shows a row of buses belonging to their employer, Binladin Group, set ablaze by the angry men, who claimed had not been paid for six months.
Authorities confirmed at the time that seven buses were set alight.
In the courtroom in Mecca, some of the protesters were reportedly sentenced to four months in prison and 300 lashes for destroying public property and inciting unrest during the demonstration. Others were given a lesser sentence of 45 days detention.
Workers employed by the Binladin Group and Saudi Oger were left waiting for their wages after a collapse in oil revenues left the kingdom unable to pay the private firms it had contracted to undertake major building projects.
Binladin Group, which has constructed hundreds of landmark buildings in Saudi Arabia on government contracts, was founded more than 80 years ago by the father of deceased Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
The company said it had completed payment to 70,000 sacked employees at the end of 2016.
Workers still with the company would get their back pay as the government settled its arrears, the company said.
Tens of thousands of employees of Saudi Oger, which is led by Lebanons Prime Minister Saad Hariri, were also waiting for wages.
One Oger worker said in December that he had received part of the money but was still owed five months of pay.
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
The government had earlier said that it would pay its arrears to private firms by the following month, Middle East Eye reported.
But on 22 December, Finance Minister Mohammed Aljadaan, after releasing the 2017 budget, said money owed to the private sector would be paid within 60 days.
The majority of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia come from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Many send the majority of their earnings to families in their home country, who rely on them to get by.
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The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) killed 32 children in the past year as a result of violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem, human rights group Defence for Children International (DCI) has said.
A new report from the organisation found 2016 was the deadliest year on record in the last decade, with 32 Palestinian minors killed during raids and confrontations with the army.
An upswing in violence in Jerusalem in particular since October 2015 - including stabbings and shootings - has killed 36 Israelis.
More than 150 Palestinians have been fatally shot in cases where non-lethal force was not necessary in the same time period, Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted.
Of the Palestinian dead, 19 people were aged 16 - 17, and 13 more were 13 - 15, DCI said.
Israeli soldiers employ a shoot-to-kill policy... the fact they can do so with impunity and no consequences builds the foundation for such shootings to take place, Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Accountability Programme Director at DCI Palestine, told Al Jazeera.
Israel: From independence to intifada Show all 7 1 /7 Israel: From independence to intifada Israel: From independence to intifada 26973.bin Israel: From independence to intifada 26974.bin Israel: From independence to intifada 26975.bin Israel: From independence to intifada 26976.bin Israel: From independence to intifada 26977.bin Israel: From independence to intifada 26985.bin Robert Capa/Magnum Israel: From independence to intifada 26986.bin Robert Capa/Magnum
The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to DCI, 28 Palestinian civilians under 18 were killed in 2015, 13 in 2014, and four in 2013.
Only one manslaughter investigation into the death of an unarmed 17-year-old boy at a protest has been opened in the last three years. The trial is still in progress.
2016s high death toll has been due to the increased tensions in Jerusalem, the organisation said.
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Benjamin Netanyahu is to be questioned under caution for a second time by police over allegations of corruption.
The Israeli Prime Minister will reportedly be questioned on Friday morning by Israeli police, with no time limit on how long he can be interrogated for as the so-called graft inquiry continues.
Mr Netanyahu, who has been Prime Minster since 2009, has strenuously denied what he calls baseless reports he received a string of "inappropriate" gifts from two businessmen.
Netanyahu blames Palestinians for lack of peace in Israel
He posted messages on Facebook and Twitter after being questioned for the first time on Monday, saying that long years of persecution against me and my family turned out yesterday to be nothing.
Speaking at a meeting with his party, Likud, on Monday afternoon, Mr Netanyahu said: We've been paying attention to reports in the media, we are hearing the celebratory mood and the atmosphere in the television studios and the corridors of the opposition, and I would like to tell them, stop with the celebrations, don't rush, he said.
Recommended Israel considers granting Netanyahu immunity from possible charges
There won't be anything because there is nothing.
But on Monday evening, Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit issued a statement on the allegations, confirming the probe into Mr Netanyahus dealings has become a fully-fledged criminal investigation and that the Prime Minister has been accused of ethics breaches.
Israel's Channel 2 television reported Mr Netanyahu accepted favours from businessmen in Israel and abroad, and is the central suspect in a second investigation that also involves family members.
Haaretz said investigators are looking into allegations Mr Netanyahu accepted 850,000 from Arnaud Mimran, a French businessman currently serving eight years in prison for committing a huge carbon-tax fraud.
During his trial, Mimran claimed to have donated the money to Mr Netanyahu during the 2009 Israeli election campaign - something the politician has consistently denied.
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
Channel 10 also reported Mr Netanyahu's oldest son, Yair, accepted free trips and other gifts from Australian billionaire James Packer.
Israels Justice Ministry and police have declined to comment on the media reports, and details of the Graft inquiry remain murky.
Previous inquiries stretching over Mr Netanyahus more than two decades in public life have examined his family trips and expenses without resulting in charges.
Israeli Justice Minister Ayalet Shaked this week appeared to give her backing to a bill that would grant sitting premiers immunity from certain types of criminal prosecutions.
The bill, proposed by politician David Amsalem from the ruling coalition Likud party, would amend the law to stop police from investigating a sitting prime minister for fraud, bribery and breach of trust, The Times of Israel website reported.
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Instead of working up a thirst sightseeing, drink in both booze and views at bars that look out at the world's most amazing sites.
We've rounded up drinking establishments that have some of the world's most incredible views, from iconic landmarks like Paris' Eiffel Tower and India's Taj Mahal to stunning cityscapes and dramatic scenery.
Ozone, Hong Kong
(The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company (The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company)
Forget a buzz. You'll get full-on vertigo at Ozone, which, on the 118th floor of Hong Kong's Ritz Carlton and 1,608 feet above sea level, is the world's highest bar, featuring views of Kowloon and Central Hong Kong, and all the way to its suburbs.
Coq d'Argent, London, UK
The Coq d'Argent in London is like a rooftop country club, featuring a manicured lawn to drink on flanked by perfectly trimmed hedges. There are also views of some of London's top landmarks, like the Gherkin, the Bank of England, and St. Paul's Cathedral.
Top of the Mark, San Francisco, California
On the top of a hill on top of the InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, Top of the Mark features sensational, 360-degree views of San Francisco in its entirety. You can see Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, even as far as Sausalito... and choose from over 100 martinis.
Three Sixty, St. Louis, Missouri
Perched right above Busch Stadium, Three Sixty in St. Louis, Missouri, allows you to catch a Cardinals game from above while drinking better beer, or just take in views of the Gateway Arch and Mississippi River.
The Galaxy Bar and Restaurant, Athens, Greece
The Galaxy Bar and Restaurant, atop the Hilton Athens, has legendary views of the Acropolis, Parthenon, Syntagma Square, and Kallimarmaro stadium the site of the first Olympic Games.
Aer, Mumbai, India
(Four Seasons Mumbai (Four Seasons Mumbai)
The views at Aer, a Four Seasons hotel bar in Mumbai, India, stretch across the city and all the way to the Arabian Sea.
O2 Lounge, Moscow, Russia
The O2 Lounge at The Ritz-Carlton in Moscow looks straight down at the Red Square and the Kremlin, and, in the distance, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
Skye Bar, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Once you've peeled your eyes from the blood-red rooftop pool in the middle of Sao Paulo's Skye Bar, you can look out at Ibirapuera Park and pretty much all of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Sky Bar, Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok's Sky Bar will have you feeling drunk without a drop to drink, as it sits on the Lebua Hotel's 63rd floor 820 feet in the sky. The trippy LED-lit bar changes color every few minutes, has some of the most incredible views of the city, and was prominently featured in "The Hangover Part II."
Blu Bar, Sydney, Australia
(Shangri-La (Shangri-La)
They dont call it a million dollar view for nothing: Sydneys Blu Bar on 36 has insane views, and prices to match (theres a $10,000 martini). On the 36th floor of the Shangri-La hotel, views encompass most of the city, but most notably the Sydney Harbour, with both the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge at your feet.
TOP Mountain Star, Hochgurgl, Austria
TOP Mountain Star, perched at 9,800 feet in the Hochgurgl ski resort in the Austrian Alps, features views of 23 Alpine peaks, from the Otztal Alps to the Dolomites in Italy.
The Roof, Los Angeles, California
(The Roof on Wilshire (The Roof on Wilshire)
Rooftop bars are a dime a dozen in sunny LA, but the Roof at the Hotel Wilshire is a favourite thanks to its killer views of the Hollywood Hills.
Wythe Hotel, Brooklyn, New York
Step outside of Manhattan and into Brooklyns the Ides at the Wythe Hotel to see unrivalled views of the entire island of Manhattan, from Harlem to FiDi.
Hotel Saniya Palace, Agra, India
What this budget hotel lacks in luxury it makes up for in views: The Hotel Saniya Palace in Agra, India, arguably features the world's best view of the Taj Mahal from its rooftop restaurant and bar.
New York Bar, Tokyo, Japan
On the 52nd floor of the swanky Park Hyatt hotel, Tokyo's New York Bar has floor-to-ceiling windows making way for jaw-dropping views of Tokyo, which stretches as far as the eye can see. And yes, you recognise it from "Lost in Translation."
La Vue, Paris, France
(Hyatt (Hyatt)
La Vue in Paris shows the City of Light from its most dramatic side, with the Eiffel Tower looming not all too far away. On the 34th floor of the Hyatt Regency Paris Etoile, this lounge is one of the city's most romantic spots and that's saying something.
Vertigo and Moon Bar, Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkoks Vertigo and Moon Bar is aptly named, as the 360-degree views from its 61st floor roost atop the Banyan hotel, which encompass pretty much all of Bangkok, are dizzying.
360, Istanbul, Turkey
(360 Istanbul (360 Istanbul)
Floor-to-ceiling windows at the glass-enclosed 360 in Istanbul, Turkey, affords views of two continents, stretching from the Bosphorus all the way to St Antoine's, the Hagia Sophia and out to the Sea of Marmara.
Al Sarab Rooftop Lounge, Dubai, UAE
The Al Sarab Rooftop Lounge, located in the Bab Al Shams Desert Resort of Dubai, overlooks miles of the Arabian Desert and offers stunning views during sunsets.
AirBar, Las Vegas, Nevada
Theres no shortage of decadence in Sin City, but for the most self-indulgent views head to AirBar, on the 108th floor of the Stratosphere Tower. At 800 feet above The Strip it's the highest bar in Vegas, and features towering views of the entire city through giant windows.
Vista Bar, Cape Town, South Africa
Tabletop Mountain is one of South Africas most famous sites, and makes a stunning backdrop to Cape Towns Vista Bar, which features panoramic views of the majestic mountain through its floor-to-ceiling windows.
Read more:
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The 10 best countries for expats to work in
Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
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Voyages of Discovery, part of the All Leisure Group, cancelled the cruise aboard the Voyager to Borneo, Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore two days before the New Year. Its sister company, Swan Hellenic, did the same for a cruise due to depart on 3 January.
Passengers were told the cancellations were for operational reasons. But now All Leisure has ceased trading and all future holiday bookings with the company are now cancelled.
Around 400 passengers are abroad, but the Civil Aviation Authority says: The vast majority of these will be able to use the scheduled airline tickets included as part of their booking to return to the UK shortly. The CAA has made arrangements to bring the small number of remaining passengers back to the UK at no extra cost.
According to Abta, the travel association, the firm has around 13,000 forward bookings. About one-third of those are for UK departures, and are financially protected by Abta.
For cruises beginning abroad, passengers who paid with a credit card are being told to claim a refund from their card provider.
Other customers who have Atol-protected bookings where the cruise was sold along with a flight will be able to claim from the CAA. A dedicated helpline, 0808 164 8810, has been set up.
According to the most recently published figures, covering the year up to October 2015, the cruise division lost 146 for each passenger it carried. The fall in the value of the pound following the EU referendum added extra pressure. All Leisure Groups revenue is predominantly in sterling, but its costs are mainly in foreign currencies, particularly the US dollar and euro.
The chairman, Roger Allard, told The Independent that a perfect storm of geo-political upsets and cost increases had led to the failure:
The reality is that a lot of the places we historically operate like the Black Sea and North Africa are simply not feasible.
Were trying to get as much money back as we can for the creditors and give people who are booked for the summer as much time as possible to organise alternatives.
Around 1.9m British passengers cruised last year; the All Leisure collapse represents two-thirds of one per cent of the total market.
A Canadian firm, G Adventures, bought two other brands owned by All Leisure Group, Travelsphere and Just You, just after Christmas.
All Leisure Group also owned Hebridean Island Cruises, which has a single ship, Hebridean Princess converted from a Caledonian MacBrayne car ferry. But the firm was sold to a group of investors before Christmas.
Click here to view the latest river and ocean cruise offers, with Independent Holidays
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Already, with more than two weeks before his inauguration, Donald Trump is changing the way US business behaves. Ford has dropped its $1.6bn plan to build a plant in Mexico and instead is going to invest in Michigan instead. The company has denied that there is any deal with the new President, but the message is very clear. A President that shouts is going to be listened to. He does not need to unwind Nafta and put a tariff on US imports from Mexico to check the move for US firms to shift production south of the border and, he would argue, do Americans out of jobs.
Now it may well be that the real challenge to jobs in the US comes less from lower-waged workers in Mexico and more to technological advance, but that is a separate point.
The issue here is the ability of the president to use language, rather than formal powers, to achieve an objective. It is not new. Theodore Roosevelt, President from 1901 to 1909, coined the expression the bully pulpit to catch the ability of a president to urge a course of action though he had in mind the older meaning of the word bully as encouragement, rather than its current less pleasant usage.
Trump takes credit for Sprint plan to add 5,000 jobs in U.S.
It is an old concept but it may actually work even better now than it did then, because communication lines are now so short. Donald Trump seems to understand intuitively how a tough tweet will change peoples behaviour. Anyone running an American company does not want to be thought un-American. The stuff may be made in China, but US companies stress how their products are still conceived and designed in the US. There is a book of 450 photos of Apple products since 1998 called Designed by Apple in California, published a couple of months ago, pushing home this message.
But the high-tech corporate aristocracy of America does not only have its products made abroad. It also keeps its spare cash abroad, an estimated $2,500bn of it. The tax incentive to do so is overwhelming: companies pay zero tax on profits made overseas provided the money is not brought back into the US. That will doubtless be changed and the President will use his bully pulpit to thump the legislation to do so through Congress. Quite what the terms of the deal will be are not clear. Maybe there will be some kind of amnesty, though that word is unfair in that US companies have not done anything wrong. But one way or another the money will come back.
Teddy Roosevelt, as he was called a newspaper cartoon of him on a bear hunt was the origin of our teddy bear had several other resonant phrases, of which two are relevant to the President-elect. One is the Square Deal.
He wrote it on a bit of White House headed paper: All I ask is a square deal for every man. Give him a fair chance. Do not let him wrong any one, and do not let him be wronged.
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
You see the language: not nuanced, not the product of a focus group, the stress on opportunity, the simplicity, and so on. But if this sounds a bit Trumpian, the substance was rather different from what we know of the next Presidents aims. There were three elements: conservation of the environment, protection of consumers, and control of corporations. Roosevelt has gone down as one of the greatest of US presidents. Insofar as The Donald would like to emulate him, he should look at the Square Deal.
The other famous quotation was this: Speak softly and carry a big stick.
Actually Teddy Roosevelt did not always speak softly by any means, but the idea that the US should be cautious in using its overwhelming military power has been at the very core of American foreign policy for the past century. Here again there is a message for the next President.
The big point here is this. A US president has soft power as well as hard power. Words are a key element in soft power. An effective president is not simply one who can get things through Congress, though legislative change is often necessary. He still a he is one who can change behaviour without necessarily using legislation to do so. But people will only listen to the bully pulpit if the sermon from the pulpit sounds like a square deal. Things have to be fair, and at the moment they are not.
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Dont try to tell me what you think I want to hear, Theresa May told civil servants. I want your advice, I want the options. Then politicians make the decisions.
The Prime Ministers message, relayed in an interview with The Spectator in December, made perfect sense. As Home Secretary, her style was to weigh the evidence and then make her mind up. She did the same on entering Downing Street, postponing a decision on the Chinese-backed proposed nuclear plant at Hinkley Point, and then giving the go-ahead.
Yet different rules seem to apply to the biggest challenge facing the Government. On Brexit, May shows every sign of listening only to what she wants to hear. It is the most plausible explanation for the abrupt and damaging resignation of Sir Ivan Rogers as Britains ambassador to the EU, just weeks before formal exit negotiations begin.
I have met Rogers; it seemed to me that he rightly sees the civil services role as ensuring how the Government achieves its goals, not what the goals should be a decision for politicians. He certainly believes in the plain speaking May claims to want. The problem with Brexit is that it is incredibly complicated. There is no simple A to B answer to the how question. It appears that Rogers was marginalised by Downing Street for spelling out some of the difficulties ahead and where the 27 EU countries stand doing his job, in other words. Hardline Brexiteers are delighted to see the back of him. They claim, without any proof, that he leaked his own advice to May that negotiating a trade deal with the EU could take 10 years. I doubt very much that he did; its more likely that it was leaked to undermine his position.
2016: The year of Brexit
May should resist the temptation to join the hardliners in suspecting the Whitehall machine of trying to block Brexit. Although the Brexiteers have won, many are paranoid that their enemies plot to snatch victory from them. This culture breeds a poisonous atmosphere in which some civil servants fear their motives are doubted and so dilute their advice to avoid being branded not one of us, as Margaret Thatcher dubbed her critics. There is a lot of self-censorship on Brexit going on, said one Whitehall insider.
Rogers imposed no such constraints on himself; that was not his style. His resignation may prove the tip of an iceberg. The word in Whitehall is that some other officials will do their duty until Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty is triggered to kickstart the exit talks, and then seek a transfer or pastures new outside the civil service. The hardliners would say good riddance and welcome the appointment of officials who believe in Brexit. But this would mean a worrying politicisation of our neutral civil service. The system works when officials give unvarnished, independent advice, and then make the decisions of their political masters work, as the overwhelming majority do.
The barbs directed at civil servants by the Brexiteers are all of a piece with Michael Goves ludicrous statement during the referendum that people have had enough of experts. He now admits it was manifestly nonsense to claim that expert engineers, doctors and physicists were wrong, but insists a sub-class of experts, particularly economists, pollsters, social scientists should reflect on their mistakes.
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
Goves original remark sums up the hubris of the Brexiteers, who seem prepared to cut off their nose to spite their face if it means listening to any expert with pro-EU instincts. They are in denial about there being two sides in any negotiation. It is also obvious that you need to know what those on the other side of the table want, the influences upon them and any divisions amongst them. Rogers was the best-placed person to know; talking about this does mean selling out, as the Brexiteers suggest.
To prosper, the UK needs to exploit the many opportunities that Brexit will bring, but also win the best possible deal with the EU, especially on trade. That is precisely what Rogers argued in his resignation letter to his UK staff in Brussels, which showed his frustration at them being sidelined.
Rogers confirmed that he does not know the Governments negotiating objectives. This is not a case of being out of the loop; May is yet to decide them. She now needs to do so quickly. The task would be eased by forgetting Goves mantra and not suspecting the motives of those offering candid advice.
May will need all the expertise she can muster to find a way out of the Brexit maze.
Around 100 armed men with links to Muslim rebels stormed a prison in the southern Philippines on Wednesday, killing a guard and freeing more than 150 prisoners, some of them Islamic militants, officials said.
The Southeast Asian, majority Roman Catholic nation has for decades been plagued by insurgency by Muslim rebels in its southern islands.
The gunmen opened fire at guards at the North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan, prison warden Peter Bongat said on radio. Of the jail's 1,511 inmates, 158 managed to escape, he said.
Eight prisoners had since been caught, two had surrendered, while six were killed, according to the office of the president.
Shirlyn Macasarte, acting governor of North Cotabato, said her office had been tipped off about the plan by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) to free its members as early as the second quarter of last year.
"They were involved in murders and at the same time I think they have experience in bomb making so we watched them closely," Macasarte told news channel ANC.
The leader of the attackers, known by the alias Commander Derbie, had links with the BIFF, a splinter group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Macasarte said.
Some members of the MILF and BIFF were said to be behind the killing of 44 police commandos in a secret mission two years ago to capture a Malaysian bomb maker with a $5 million bounty from the U.S. State Department on his head.
In 2014, the government signed a peace deal with the MILF, the biggest Muslim rebel group, but clashes still occur with smaller groups.
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The Irish Medical Organisation called on Health Minister Simon Harris and other health managers to stop blaming a surge in flu illness
Overcrowding in the country's hospitals remains at record levels for a second day in a row.
A headcount of patients on trolleys by the Irish Nurses' and Midwives' Organisation (INMO) found 602 people waiting for a proper bed in a cubicle on a ward.
It is only the third time in more than 10 years that the figure has breached 600 with the crisis at its worst at University Hospital Limerick, where 66 patients had been admitted but no space could be found for them.
In Tallaght Hospital in Dublin it was reported that nine people on trolleys should have been in isolation but were not.
Among others suffering the worst overcrowding included Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore, where 45 people were on trolleys, and South Tipperary General Hospital, where 41 people were in a similar position.
Elsewhere, there were 30 people or more on trolleys in hospitals in Waterford, Galway, Kilkenny, Portlaoise, Mullingar and both the Mercy and University hospitals in Cork.
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) called on Health Minister Simon Harris and other health managers to s top blaming a surge in flu illness and warned that a lack of beds, staff and investment in GP practices is at the root of the problem.
Dr Peadar Gilligan, consultant in emergency medicine at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, said: "Politicians often complicate what is a very simple explanation for our overcrowding crisis.
"It's not because of seasonal issues or a spike in flu cases.
"It's because politicians knowingly and deliberately took 1,600 beds out of our hospitals, introduced policies that were a direct cause of doctors emigrating and failed to invest in general practice."
Dr Gilligan said it was a miracle the numbers on trolleys were not even higher.
Mr Harris claimed that the scale of flu illness in the first week of January could not have been predicted and it was being compounded by outbreaks of respiratory illnesses.
His assertions were dismissed by health professionals.
Jim Gray, an A&E consultant in Tallaght and lecturer at Trinity College, said Ireland has 2.8 hospital beds for every 1,000 people, while the norm in other western and developed countries is 4.8 beds.
He also warned before Christmas that the trolley watch numbers would drop significantly in the run-in to the holidays only to balloon again this week.
Fergal Hickey, an A&E consultant at Sligo University Hospital, also warned about the low number of acute hospital beds in Ireland.
According to the Health Service Executive (HSE) winter initiative plan, designed to deal with the surge in demand for beds, no more than 236 patients should be on trolleys on a single day.
Sinn Fen leader Gerry Adams blamed mismanagement in the health service for the unprecedented overcrowding and hit out at Mr Harris's claims about flu levels.
"Such a proposition is nonsense. It has been clear for months now that this winter was going to see the health service at crisis point," Mr Adams said.
Alan Kelly, Labour's health spokesman, said all available beds must be opened immediately and spare capacity in private hospitals accessed.
"It is naive of the minister to just blame the flu for a crisis we all saw coming, with no shortage of proposals put forward to alleviate the situation," Mr Kelly said.
"The minister's so-called 'perfect storm' is an indictment of his failure to adequately plan, prepare and ensure appropriate resources are in place."
Britain's ambassador to the European Union Ivan Rogers is pictured leaving the EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium, June 28, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
Brussels officials said the resignation of Sir Ivan Rogers meant the UK had lost a "professional" diplomat who had always "loyally defended" his Government.
In an explosive resignation email, Sir Ivan hit out at the "ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking" of politicians and said civil servants still did not know the Government's plans for Brexit.
Sir Ivan unexpectedly quit weeks after he sparked controversy by warning the Government that a post-Brexit trade deal could take a decade to finalise, and even then may fail to be ratified by member states.
The European Commission said it regretted the loss of a "very knowledgeable" envoy and indicated that Sir Ivan had been a tough negotiator in wrangles with Brussels.
Sir Simon Fraser, the former head of the Diplomatic Service, warned that Britain was losing one of its biggest experts on Europe months before "very complex" Brexit negotiations begin.
But prominent pro-Brexit MP Iain Duncan Smith suggested civil servants are now having to "tear up the rulebook" for how they normally operate to deal with leaving the EU.
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Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud paid tribute to Sir Ivan in Brussels.
She said: "We regret the loss of a very professional, very knowledgeable - while not always easy - interlocutor and diplomat who always loyally defended the interests of his Government."
Asked if his resignation shortly before the tough Brexit talks begin would cause problems, she said: "This is not something that we are going to comment on at this stage. Negotiations have not yet started and we are still waiting for the triggering of Article 50 to commence those negotiations."
Sir Simon told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "He is a highly intelligent, knowledgeable and experienced official and one of the greatest experts, if I can use the expert word, that we have on European matters in the British Civil Service."
He went on: "I do think that his sort of in-depth knowledge and expertise is a loss as we go into what is going to be, as (Brexit Secretary) David Davis himself has said, a very complex set of negotiations."
Sir Simon, who left his post in July 2015, rejected suggestions that Sir Ivan was not tough enough in negotiations, including David Cameron's attempt to reshape Britain's relationship with the EU before the referendum.
The ex-diplomat insisted Sir Ivan "called a spade a spade" in his advice to ministers.
In his resignation letter, Sir Ivan criticised politicians and urged his civil servants to continue to challenge ministers and "speak the truth to those in power".
Sir Ivan wrote: "I hope that you will support each other in those difficult moments where you have to deliver messages that are disagreeable to those who need to hear them."
It emerged in December, as Theresa May met European counterparts at a Brussels summit, that Sir Ivan had passed on warnings from other EU members that negotiations on a trade deal could take a decade.
But former Tory leader Mr Duncan Smith suggested Sir Ivan's views were less relevant as EU member states will inevitably be feeding him their most hardline views before negotiations begin.
He told Today: "They are now having to accept and understand that we are leaving and that means therefore sometimes the views and the opinions of what you keep feeding back from various member states isn't actually sometimes quite relevant."
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Mr Duncan Smith also suggested Sir Ivan had undermined his position by "going public" too often.
Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's former chief of staff and an ex-diplomat, warned the Prime Minister against hiring a pro-Brexit successor to Sir Ivan.
Appointing a "patsy" who does not explain plainly what the other side is thinking will doom the Brexit negotiations to failure as ministers will be operating in a "fantasy land" about what is achievable, he told Today.
In the email from Sir Ivan, sent just before 1pm on Tuesday, he said he decided to step down early so his replacement can be in place when Article 50 is triggered by April and formal negotiations begin.
But it comes amid reports of tension between the senior diplomat and ministers because of his pessimistic views on Brexit.
Sir Ivan stressed the need for expert civil servants to play a central role in the negotiations and urged his staff to tell ministers the true opinions of the other 27 member states "even where this is uncomfortable".
He added: "Serious multilateral negotiating experience is in short supply in Whitehall, and that is not the case in the (European) Commission or in the Council.
"The Government will only achieve the best for the country if it harnesses the best experience we have - a large proportion of which is concentrated in UKREP - and negotiates resolutely.
"Senior ministers, who will decide on our positions, issue by issue, also need from you detailed, unvarnished - even where this is uncomfortable - and nuanced understanding of the views, interests and incentives of the other 27."
Sir Ivan also said the allocation of roles in the UK's negotiating team needs "rapid resolution" and hit out at assertions by some politicians that a free trade deal will be easy to negotiate.
In comments seen as a veiled swipe at International Trade Secretary Liam Fox he said: "Contrary to the beliefs of some, free trade does not just happen when it is not thwarted by authorities: increasing market access to other markets and consumer choice in our own, depends on the deals, multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral that we strike, and the terms that we agree."
The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, paid tribute to Sir Ivan, describing him as "a much-respected UK civil servant in Brussels who knew what he was talking about".
UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit preparations were dealt another serious blow yesterday after the UK's ambassador to the EU abruptly quit.
With just under three months to Downing Street's self-imposed deadline to trigger formal exit negotiations, Ivan Rogers - regarded as one of Britain's leading EU experts - reportedly told his staff he would be stepping down, but did not give any reasons.
His departure was welcomed by the pro-exit camp, with Nigel Farage pushing for a "tough Brexiteer" to replace him. Such an appointment could be bad news for Ireland, given the need here for Britain to negotiate as soft an exit as possible. Mr Rogers had been appointed to Brussels under David Cameron in 2013, but stoked controversy with some in the anti-EU camp after he privately told ministers that a UK free trade deal post-Brexit could take a decade to thrash out.
Britain's foreign and Commonwealth office said Mr Rogers had taken the decision now - earlier than his planned exit date in November - to allow a successor to be appointed before Article 50 is triggered in March, as planned.
The chairman of the Leave.eu group, Arron Banks, branded Mr Rogers a pessimist and said it was time for someone who was "optimistic" about the future to take up the post.
"If Mrs May were serious about leaving the EU, she would have removed him long before," said Gerard Batten, the United Kingdom Independence Party's Brexit spokesman.
Charles Grant, head of the London-based Centre for European Reform, suggested that the departure would make the negotiations all the more difficult.
"Ivan Rogers's resignation makes a good deal on Brexit less likely," he said via Twitter.
Hilary Benn, chairman of parliament's Brexit committee, said a change in such a significant position was "not a good thing".
"This is a time for continuity and experience, because this going to be a very complex, a very challenging, a very difficult negotiation," Mr Benn said.
"It's an absolutely vital job - both conveying the British government's view to the other 27 members states, but also honestly reporting back what he was picking up about the attitude of the other 27 toward the forthcoming negotiations."
Meanwhile, IDA chief executive Martin Shanahan said yesterday that the agency had received a "significant volume of specific queries" from across the world in the wake of the Brexit referendum.
He said the queries were not exclusively from financial services, but also from technology and pharmaceutical companies.
Leading Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage has said he believes Ireland may follow Britain and exit the European Union.
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Farage said there is a perception that Irish voters are major supporters of the EU but that he does not believe this is the case.
He said if Britain is in a better place in two or three years - after Prime Minister Theresa May unlocks Article 50 - then momentum may grow in Ireland to take a similar step.
If two or three years down the road and we are clearly better off...I think if we can do that then the pressure on Ireland, the public opinion in Ireland is going to move in our direction, Mr Farage told RTEs Sean ORourke.
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There has been speculation that the former UKIP leader, who is a serving MEP, could become involved in a so-called Ire-exit in the future.
Mr Farage said Irish voters twice voted 'no' in referenda on EU treaties.
He also said he agreed with frustrations expressed by Irish politicians over the delay by London to spell out its Brexit strategy.
I do agree with the Irish government. We do need the Brits to be clear about what they want, Mr Farage said.
Bord Bia and the main players in the live export sector came together for their annual meeting in Tullamore today to review the past year and assess export opportunities in 2017, a year that will see the number of cattle on the market increase by approximately 100,000.
Live cattle exports have fallen by approximately 18% this year, reaching 147,000. This follows a 55% decline in cattle movements to Northern Ireland, as well as fewer exports to the Netherlands (-38%) and Italy (-24%).
More positively, exports to Turkey began in September, and these reached almost 20,000 for the year. Exports to Spain increased by 26%, totalling 36,700 head.
The group received presentations from Bord Bia, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Animal Health Ireland and Mr. Billel Haddad, a Market Consultant in North Africa, who played a key role in the ministerial trade mission to North Africa in November 2016.
Joe Burke, Bord Bias Livestock Sector Manager, provided a review of Irish live trade during 2016 and an outlook for respective markets. Live exports experienced a decline in 2016 to markets in Northern Ireland, the Netherlands and Italy.
He confirmed that French exports were highly competitive last year, while the Netherlands remains challenging. While Spain is a key market for quality calves, EU demand has been impacted by cull cow supplies and so there is an increasing focus on international markets.
The recent trade mission to Algeria has prompted interest from Algerian livestock buyers to explore possibilities of buying livestock from Ireland. Mr. Haddad, who is based in Spain, highlighted the main opportunities and threats of the Algerian livestock market.
Recent communications with these potential importers indicate a desire by them to visit Ireland and establish direct contacts with the Irish livestock industry. Algeria imports an average of 40,000 animals per year, with France and Spain being the main two export partners.
Jim OToole, Bord Bias Meat & Livestock Director, chaired the meeting and gave an update on the European beef market, while James Casey, Veterinary Inspector at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, provided an update on live animal transport and shipping.
In addition, Michael Sheahan, Senior Superintending Veterinary Inspector, outlined export developments and certification and Pat Keena presented on the Department`s Animal Identification and Movement System. Finally, David Graham, Deputy CEO, Animal Health Ireland discussed the animal health issues affecting the intra-Community and international live export trade.
A high-ranking city official in China burst into a government meeting Wednesday and shot the mayor and city party secretary before killing himself, state media reported.
Suspect Chen Zhongshu, 54, was secretary of the land bureau in Panzhihua, a city of 1.2 million in the southwestern province of Sichuan, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The attack occurred during a meeting of the municipal party committee and high-level city government cadres at the Panzhihua convention and exhibition centre, it said.
The gunman fired a series of shots, injuring city party chief Zhang Yan and mayor Li Jianqin before fleeing, Xinhua reported, without giving any details of motive or background to the incident.
The two men were hospitalised, but their injuries were not life-threatening.
The suspect killed himself after the attack and was found on the building's second floor, Xinhua said.
Gun violence is rare in China, as private citizens are generally banned from owning firearms.
Chinese media outlet Jiemian.com cited an unnamed city official saying Chen was known to have a stubborn personality and explosive temper.
During a land bureau meeting, it said, he once seized a colleague's phone after it rang and threw it down, smashing it into pieces.
Chen had complained in anger to friends that the party chief picked on him, Jiemian.com reported.
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Over 10,000 farmers are still waiting on GLAS payments - six weeks after the October payment day, which the Department of Agriculture's commitment to.
GLAS 2016 payments representing 85pc of the full year payment for 2016 have issued to over 19,225 GLAS 1 participants and over 8,135 GLAS 2 participants, according to the Department of Agriculture.
It says further payments will continue on an ongoing basis as individual issues are resolved. However, according to the IFA, some 10,000 farmers are still waiting on payment.
IFA Rural Development Chairman, Joe Brady said the pay-out of GLAS payments to farmers to date is sluggish, and called on the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to ensure that all 38,000 farmers are now paid the promised 85pc payment without any further delay.
Brady said that while the commencement of GLAS 1 and 2 payments over the past week is welcome, it would appear from feedback IFA is getting on the ground that there are many who have yet to be paid.
Excuses such as IT issues are wearing very thin and if problems persist in this area, the Minister must intervene, he said.
The first two tranches of GLAS, proved to be a major success for the Department, with a total of 38,000 participants approved into the scheme to the first two tranches on the scheme and a further 14,000 applications to GLAS 3 a record number of entrants to any agri-environment scheme in a single year.
Prior to Christmas the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed announced that his Department had commenced issuing GLAS payments to farmers some four weeks later than its commitment in the Farmers Charter of Rights to make payment of up to 75pc from the third week of October.
GLAS 3
In relation to GLAS 3, the IFA Rural Development Chairman said all 14,000 farmers who applied must be accepted into the scheme, including the 830 Tier 3 farmers. This will bring the total in the scheme to around 52,000 farmers and well within the annual allocated amount of 250m promised in the 2014-2020 RDP. Scope exists to bring in additional farmers later this year.
Brady said that GLAS 3 farmers must be notified of their acceptance into the scheme before the end of January. This will allow full year payment to be made later in 2017.
ABP is to back a new lamb producer group in the UK which will offer sheep farmers guaranteed bonuses of up to 15p/kg (17c/kg).
Group members will receive bonus payments for lambs sired by Alpha Ram sires and produced according to protocols designed to improve both the quality of lamb produced for the table and the profitability of individual members sheep enterprises.
The Meatlinc Sheep Company and EasyRams, are to supply rams to ABPs Alpha Lamb Producer Group from this autumn.
The creation of this new group confirms ABPs commitment to the long term profitability of UK sheep farming.
Alpha Rams will only supply grass fed sires from high health status and fully recorded flocks.
Ultrasound and CT scanning will be mandatory allowing their ram breeders to incorporate the benefits of recent research into carcase yields and meat eating quality into their breeding programmes.
FEC analysis will be carried out in all ram breeders flocks, enabling them to produce rams with reduced worm burdens requiring less anthelmintic drenches.
Steven Feehan, ABPs Head of UK Procurement, said ensuring that commercial sheep farmers have long term profitable and sustainable businesses that are able to withstand future challenges is in the interests of all in the lamb supply chain from ram breeder to processor.
"By collaborating with some of the UKs most innovative ram breeders we will help bring about the necessary changes required in the sheep industry more quickly.
Alpha Producer Group members will not only be receiving bonuses on their Alpha Ram sired lambs, but will also be given access to group meetings and consultancy advice that will concentrate on developing low cost production systems through improved grazing management, sheep genetics and animal health.
Swedens experiment with a six-hour work day may be doomed after a two-year experiment showed that the costs outweigh the benefits.
Sixty-eight nurses at an old peoples home in Gothenburg, saw their eight-hour days cut in a bid to improve staff satisfaction, health and patient care.
Preliminary results of the pilot scheme concluded that it achieved all of these aims but the city had to employ an extra 17 staff, costing 12m kroner (1.6m), Bloomberg reported.
City officials have decided not to make the scheme permanent because of fears costs could spiral out-of-control.
It's associated with higher costs, absolutely, said Daniel Bernmar, a local left-wing politician who has been a leading advocate of the six-hour working day and is responsible for elderly care.
It's far too expensive to carry out a general shortening of working hours within a reasonable time frame.
Despite the setback, Bernmar is still supportive of the principle of decreased work hours. I personally believe in shorter working hours as a long-term solution, he said.
The richer we become, the more we need to take advantage of that wealth in other ways than through a newer car or higher consumption."
While the public sector may have shunned the idea, at least for now, Swedens vibrant tech start-up scene may still be open to it.
Filimundus, an app developer based in the capital Stockholm, introduced the six-hour day last year. The eight-hour work day is not as effective as one would think," Linus Feldt, the companys chief executive told Fast Company in October.
"To stay focused on a specific work task for eight hours is a huge challenge. In order to cope, we mix in things and pauses to make the work day more endurable. At the same time, we are having it hard to manage our private life outside of work."
Attempts to prove the effectiveness of reduced hours have been inconclusive so far. A handful of trials in the 1990s and 2000s were scrapped due to a lack of raw data.
One success has come at Toyotas Swedish service centre where shifts were cut thirteen years ago, sparking an immediate boost to productivity and increased profits. The company has kept the shorter shifts ever since.
Soft drinks manufacturer Britvic has announced it will acquire Brazilian firm Bela Ischia Alimentos in a deal worth around 63m.
The deal is the latest example of Britvic's ambition to expand its international operations in the area of concentrates and juices.
It is the second acquisition the company has made in Brazil, following on from the 2015 purchase of Empresa Brasileira de Bebidas e Alimentos.
Britvic is the second largest provider of soft drinks in the UK and the company has a large Irish presence at its plant in Kylemore in Dublin.
Britvic Ireland employs approximately 500 people on the island of Ireland. The company's most recent revenues showed growth of 5.8pc, to 131m (154m).
The latest figures reveal that the company has now posted six consecutive quarters of growth.
"The proposed acquisition of Bela Ischia represents an exciting opportunity to build on our very strong first year in Brazil with further expansion of our presence in a large and growing soft drinks market. Bela Ischia operates in a category where Britvic has proven capability of generating growth," Britvic ceo Simon Litherland said.
"We are confident that this complementary acquisition should create a fantastic platform to consolidate our strategic position in Brazil and generate additional shareholder value over the coming years," Mr Litherland said.
The company combines its own leading brand portfolio including Fruit Shoot, Robinsons, Tango, J2O, Teisseire and MiWadi with PepsiCo brands such as Pepsi, 7UP and Mountain Dew Energy.
Britvic's Irish arm produces Ballygowan water and MiWadi dilutables.
Traders work on the floor at the opening of the day's trading at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Manhattan. Photo: Reuters
Shares in a number of listed Irish companies have the potential for significant upside during 2017, according to Davy Stockbrokers.
In its inaugural conviction list, the firm selected the stocks it believed had the greatest potential this year from the 120 companies it covers.
Betting group Paddy Power Betfair could see the biggest upside to its share price this year, with Davy reckoning it could rise as much as 30pc.
Shares in insulation maker Kingspan had a potential 24pc upside in 2017, while at diversified group DCC, the potential upside was 26pc, according to Davy.
The broker said its picks were based on rigorous bottom-up analysis. It selected stocks based on a company's ability to grow revenue regardless of the underlying environment, and also preferred firms that could convert profits to free cash flow.
Capital discipline was also a necessary trait, and selected companies must have the ability to deploy capital to grow the business, improve returns or reward shareholders.
Davy added that Ryanair shares had an 11pc potential upside, while at hotel group Dalata, shares could rise as much as 18pc.
In financial stocks, Davy said the best sectoral bets were Bank of Ireland and Permanent Tsb. "The recovery of the Irish mortgage market remains the great prize for the Irish banking sector," the broker said. "The recent introduction of a Government help-to-buy scheme and the relaxation of macro-prudential rules for first-time buyers have hastened this eventuality. Ptsb remains the purest way to play this, while Bank of Ireland will also benefit from rising bond yields in reducing its pension deficit."
Davy also pointed out that hotel group Dalata still had about 30m to spend on hotel acquisitions in Ireland.
Dalata is Ireland's biggest hotel group and is benefiting from robust demand coupled with a shortage of bedrooms.
Dublin currently has a shortfall of about 4,000 hotel bedrooms.
"Until resolved, room rates will continue to increase, benefiting Dalata," the broker said.
Davy also said that builder Cairn Homes was a top sectoral pick, with the company set to benefit from its ownership of a significant land bank and continuing government stimulus for the sector.
Anglo-Irish exploration firm Tullow Oil was also a top sectoral pick for Davy, and would benefit from rising oil prices.
Ryanair and LastMinute.com been rapped over the knuckles by the advertising watchdog for trying to entice customers into buying flights and holiday deals with misleading advertisements.
Separate complaints against the two companies have been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority, while the two adverts in question have been banned.
A Ryanair television advert seen in October last year was found to be in breach of three broadcast advertising rules after on-screen text saying Fly from 19.99 was followed by larger text, which read Summer 2017 on sale now, despite the offer not applying to summer flights.
The airline, whose controversial CEO Michael OLeary last year revealed ambitions to make air travel free in the next five to 10 years, argued that the Summer 2017 text was a subsidiary message that appeared separately at the end of the advert, adding that there was a small on-screen disclaimer throughout the commercial that the offer only applied to travel before the end of March.
But the ASA ruled that the wording was ambiguous and said viewers were likely to understand the advert to mean that flights for summer 2017 were available from 19.99.
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While we noted that the 19.99 offer was qualified by small text stating the start and end dates for the promotion, we considered that, given the conjunction of the offer with the claim Summer 2017 on sale now, the qualification was not sufficiently prominent to correct the overall impression that summer 2017 flights were included in the sale, the watchdog said in its assessment.
A Ryanair spokesman said: "Ryanair disagrees with this ASA ruling, but has taken note of it in relation to future ads."
It was similarly scathing of an online advert seen on website LastMinute.com in September, which promised deals of 569 Price per person Flight + hotel.
The ASA received a complaint after a customer booked the package but was then told the advertised price was no longer available. She was then told she would have to pay an additional 70.77.
Despite the websites claims that the offers were dynamic and their availability was subject to change at any time, the ASA found that the price statement was misleading.
It said: Approximately an hour after making a booking request for the package at the quoted price, the complainant was informed that the price had increased and they would need to pay an additional sum of 70.77 in order to maintain the booking.
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
The chief financial officer of Shannon Group, David McGarry, has left the semi-state company.
He had been with the business for three years, having joined from waste management group Indaver.
Mr McGarry is also a non-executive director of Bus Eireann, having been appointed to that role in 2015. He is chairman of the bus company's audit and risk committee.
Mr McGarry is understood to have left his Shannon Group role before Christmas.
A spokesperson for the company confirmed that he had stepped down "to pursue other career opportunities".
She said that Mary Considine, Shannon Group's company secretary, had taken over the responsibility for the finance function within the group.
Mr McGarry's departure comes just seven months after the company - whose activities include the operation of Shannon Airport and Shannon Heritage - appointed Matthew Thomas as chief executive.
Ms Considine was the acting chief executive until Mr Thomas' appointment.
Mr Thomas formally took on the role in June. He succeeded Neil Pakey, and joined from Canada's Vantage Airport Group, where he was chief commercial officer. Mr Pakey had also joined Shannon from Vantage.
Mr McGarry's departure comes as Shannon Airport faces challenges and opportunities.
Low-cost carrier Norwegian Air International (NAI) plans to launch flights between Cork and Boston this summer, in a move that could divert passenger traffic away from Shannon.
But NAI has also indicated that it is interested in starting flights from Shannon to the United States.
Shannon has also secured seasonal summer services from Lufthansa and SAS, but Ryanair is cutting some services from the airport this year.
Shannon Airport handled 1.71 million passengers in 2015, compared to 1.64 million in 2014.
The Shannon Group generated turnover of 65.6m in 2015 and a pre-exceptional operating profit of slightly under 8m that year. Shannon Airport's revenue was flat at 42.6m in 2015. It made a 2.2m pre-exceptional profit that year.
In January last year, the NTMA raised 3bn through a syndicated sale of 10-year bond debt at a yield of 1.156pc. That was the third year in a row the agency ran a sale on January 7. Photo: Reuters
The State is to issue a new 20-year syndicated bond deal in what looks set to be the first fundraising of the year by any European government.
A deal could be done as soon as today, with 2bn to 3bn expected to be raised.
The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) said it had mandated Barclays, Cantor Fitzgerald, Danske Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley as "joint lead managers" of the bond sale. In traditional government bond auctions the debt is issued, or sold, to investors through primary dealers. In a syndicated bond the debt is underwritten by a group of banks, who then in effect sell on the risk to others investors.
In January last year, the NTMA raised 3bn through a syndicated sale of 10-year bond debt at a yield of 1.156pc. That was the third year in a row the agency ran a sale on January 7.
Yesterday, Irish 10-year government bonds, seen as the benchmark for investors, underperformed peers ahead of the expected new supply. But 10-year yields of 0.8pc remain well below the level seen at the same time last year, meaning it is cheaper for the State to borrow.
The rate of unemployment was 7.2pc last month
The unemployment rate in December dropped slightly by one percentage point month-on-month - but substantially lower than for the same period in 2015.
According to the latest CSO figures, the rate of unemployment was 7.2pc last month, down from 7.3pc in November 2016 and a drop from 8.9pc in December 2015.
The jobless rate has now fallen for seven months in a row and is down from a post-crisis high of 15.2pc at the beginning of 2012.
Today's figures reflect the lowest unemployment rate since August 2008.
The number of people unemployed, therefore, was 157,700 in December 2016, down from 160,500 in comparison with the previous month's figure and a decrease of 35,500 when compared to December 2015.
Figures for December 2016 at a glance:
Unemployment rate was 8.1pc for men (total 97,100), down from 8.4pc in November 2016 and down from 10.6pc in December 2015.
Unemployment rate for women in December 2016 was 6.1pc (total 60,600), unchanged from November 2016 and down from 6.9pc in December 2015.
Unemployment rate for people aged 15-24 years (youth unemployment rate) was 14.5pc in December 2016, a decrease from 15.4pc in November 2016.
Ian Talbot, Chief Executive Chambers Ireland said: The ongoing reduction in the unemployment rate is positive news, coming as it does at a time of uncertainty for the Irish economy.
However, the most encouraging aspect of the December figures is the drop in the rate of youth unemployment. High youth unemployment remains as a legacy of the recession and needs to be addressed. Increasing opportunities for young people starting out in the workplace is important not only for economic reasons but is essential for the future social cohesion of Ireland."
Here are the main business stories from this morning's papers:
Irish Independent
*Total employment at international companies in Ireland now stands at just shy of 200,000 - the highest on record.
But Martin Shanahan sounded a cautious note when showcasing the IDA's latest results.
We need to avoid complacency, be alert to the uncertain international backdrop and whether we're competitive enough to face it, he suggested.
*Manufacturing in Ireland rose to a 17-month high in December, according to the latest Investec PMI index.
Based on a survey of managers, it measures output on an index scale of 50, where a number above 50 shows growth.
*Head of multi-asset funds at Dublin-based Setanta Asset Management, David Ryan said the firm was a long-term investor, focusing on underlying value rather than risk being swayed by short-term surprises.
The UK's decision to exit the European Union and Donald Trump's election shocked the world - but David Ryan shrugged and carried on as usual.
*KPMG was paid fees and expenses of more than 770,000 for the administration of the five-star Lough Erne resort, new documents show.
The resort was put into administration in 2011 following a Belfast High Court application by Bank of Scotland and was sold to a group of US investors headed by financier Michael Saliba in 2015.
*A number of Irish companies will make announcements or demonstrate their technology at the world's biggest tech trade event, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
The Irish presence at the event, which kicks off tomorrow, is being led by Dublin-based Cubic Telecom.
*The growth of digital shopping across the EU continues unabated with an ever-increasing number of people now shopping online, according to a recent survey from Eurostat.
Two thirds of internet users made an online purchase in 2016, according to the data.
The Irish Times
*The sudden resignation of Britain's most senior diplomat in Brussels has raised feared among Irish officials and politicians that a hard Brexit is becoming more likely.
Mr Rogers resigned abruptly on Tuesday - just three months before the formal triggering of the exit mechanism by the British and the beginning of negotiations between the UK government and the EU on an exit agreement.
*The States debt agency plans to raise up to 3bn by selling its first ever 20-year bond through a group of banks and securities firms.
The National Treasury Management Agency said on Tuesday afternoon it had hired a syndicate of banks, comprising Barclays, Cantor Fitzgerald, Danske Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, to manage the bond sale.
*One hundred and twenty first-time buyers applied for the Governments new Help-to-Buy scheme within the first few hours on Tuesday.
The home purchase incentive offers homebuyers the chance to get up to 20,000 to put against their deposit on a new home.
*The Tax Appeals Commission has ruled that two taxpayers cannot get refunds of tax overpayments dating back more than four years, even though the Revenue Commissioners have conceded that in both cases the taxpayers involved paid too much.
In one case, too much tax was wrongly deducted from a social welfare pension for a period of 15 years, but repayments were only made in respect of four of these years.
Irish Examiner
*Sterling has jumped against the euro on evidence the UK currencys Brexit-driven slump had helped boost British factories, while Irish factories too appear to have weathered their Brexit troubles to post a strong rise in output last month.
*UK-based companies considering EU relocation in light of last years Brexit decision are expected to start making formal decisions on their future movements by the summer.
IDA Ireland chief executive Martin Shanahan yesterday said the agency has, since June 23, seen an intensification of inquiries being made about Ireland from firms considering a new EU home.
*Cyber criminals are set to demand higher ransoms for breaching company data in 2017, while also exploiting the growing complacency in the general public regarding online security.
That is the prediction of leading Irish information security company, Ward Solutions, which said that ransomware attacks and data breaches are set to grow this year, leading to serious repercussions for information security.
*Ford Motor Co said it will cancel a planned $1.6bn factory in Mexico and invest $700m at a Michigan factory, after President-elect Donald Trump harshly criticised the Mexico investment plan.
Ford chief executive Mark Fields yesterday that said the decision to cancel the new Mexico factory was the result of sagging demand for small cars in North America and not because Mr Trump was elected president.
Italy vowed Wednesday to increase deportations of migrants whose asylum requests have been rejected, after a riot in a reception centre sparked by the death of a young woman.
The country, which has been on the frontline of migrants arriving across the Mediterranean from North Africa, is pushing for an agreement with Niger and a renewed deal with Tunisia to facilitate returns.
"We have saved many lives but we cannot accept rule-breaking. We need to speed up deportations," Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, the country's former interior minister, said in an interview with La Stampa daily.
He was "working to tie up agreements which will reduce arrivals and prevent departures" from the coast of North Africa, he said after a record 181,000 people were rescued from the Mediterranean and brought to safety in Italy in 2016.
Asylum seekers set fires inside the reception facility near Venice earlier this week in a protest over living conditions and access to healthcare after a 25-year-old woman from the Ivory Coast died.
The migrants cut the electricity and forced social workers to barricade themselves in their offices at the centre in Cona, where 1,500 people were housed in a space designed for 15 according to the local mayor.
The nearby hamlet, which has just 190 residents, has seen the number of migrants lodged in flimsy tents balloon over the past year.
Protesters had complained of a delay in calling an ambulance for the woman, who died in a bathroom of a blood clot.
Some 100 people were transferred Wednesday from the Cona centre to Bologna, where they were destined for other facilities.
They were met by a small group of Italian demonstrators holding banners reading: "Solidarity with those who revolt".
Interior Minister Marco Minniti said at least one "Centre for Identification and Expulsion" (CIE) will be opened in every region of Italy in the coming weeks, where those who have had their asylum request rejected will be held before deportation.
Returning migrants is a costly, time-consuming process that requires bilateral agreements with the countries of origin.
Alfano said three countries were "key" to tackling the biggest migrant crisis since World War II: Libya, Niger and Tunisia.
The EU believes just over half the migrants arriving in Italy travel first through Niger and last month it offered Niamey 610 million euros ($635 million) to curb transit towards Europe.
Alfano said Italy was "close to sealing an agreement" with the West African country, while Minniti spent Tuesday in Tunisia for talks on "renewing" a repatriation agreement between Rome and Tunis.
Italy's police chief Franco Gabrielli vowed at the weekend to deport more migrants who have no right to be in the country following the shooting in Milan of the suspected attacker behind the Berlin Christmas market tragedy.
Tunisian Anis Amri had arrived in Italy by boat in 2011. He spent time in a detention centre and several prisons in Sicily for violent behaviour after Italy tried but failed to deport him back to Tunisia, and was finally ordered to leave the country in 2015.
His return to Italy -- where he was shot dead -- after the Berlin attack raised fears he was attempting to contact jihadist plotters here.
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Total employment at international companies in Ireland now stands at just shy of 200,000 - the highest on record.
IDA-backed firms created just under 19,000 jobs here last year, according to end-of-year results from the agency.
The number of net new jobs totalled 11,842, with job losses at multinationals here at their lowest since 1997, the IDA said. Multinational companies here now employ 199,877.
More than half of the jobs created last year were outside of Dublin, although the regional successes differ considerably.
The midlands recorded just 58 new IDA-backed jobs - a 1pc increase - to bring multinational employment in the region to 4,280.
The border region, by contrast, enjoyed a 5pc increase, with an extra 559 jobs. Total IDA-backed employment there now stands at 10,868.
The mid-west enjoyed the largest percentage increase in jobs last year, at 10pc, to 17,143.
Other regions also saw an increase, including Dublin and mid-east, which saw a 6pc hike in the number of jobs to 95,054.
The south-west had an increase of 5pc to 36,059.
The west jumped 8pc to 22,070 jobs.
Meanwhile, the south-east rose 4pc to 14,403, with the midlands up 1pc to 4,280.
The agency also reiterated that it had experienced a "significant volume of specific queries" to IDA offices from across the world as a result of the Brexit vote.
Martin Shanahan, IDA ceo, said the queries were not exclusively from financial services, but also from technology and pharmaceutical companies.
He said a lot of the queries were progressing to site visits and that he expected companies to make decisions by June. But Mr Shanahan also warned that IDA-backed firms here which service the UK market - around 350 - could face difficulties in the event of a hard Brexit, signalling some may transfer operations, depending on their exposure to the British market.
Read more:
Around 100 of them are thought to be very heavily exposed to the UK.
The IDA's annual results showed that a record number of investments were secured from international companies in the last year - 244 versus 213 in 2015.
The majority came from the US at 176, followed by 49 from Europe and 19 from growth markets including India and Japan. The number of new-name investments went to 99 from 94 the previous year.
Mr Shanahan warned against getting too excited about the record-breaking figures.
"We absolutely cannot be complacent about this success - we have to keep an eye on our competitiveness, including costs," he said.
Mr Shanahan said that regions which were less densely populated and which did not have significant urban centres would remain a challenge for the IDA.
The IDA boss also said that it was too early to say what impact the election of Donald Trump will have.
But amid bellicose campaign rhetoric from the billionaire that he would bring home US jobs, Mr Shanahan said he believed US companies would continue to have an international presence because of the required access to market.
Meanwhile, the British Irish Chamber of Commerce yesterday announced a new service to help more Irish and UK businesses trade together. 'BIG: The British Irish Gateway for Trade' is an initiative that links members of business organisations.
Manufacturing in Ireland rose to a 17-month high in December, according to the latest Investec PMI index.
Based on a survey of managers, it measures output on an index scale of 50, where a number above 50 shows growth.
The data points to resilience despite Britain's June vote to leave the EU.
The Investec PMI rose to 55.7 last month, the highest level seen since the middle of 2015. Analysts believe the surge in manufacturing is a strong indication the worst of the pressure from the Brexit vote has now passed.
The robust performance of the index owed largely to a spike in new orders, which rose at the fastest rate since last January.
That was attributed to an improvement in the overall picture in the UK, which also dipped significantly in the wake of the Brexit vote.
The improved growth in Irish manufacturing is mirrored across the Irish Sea. On Monday, data released in the UK revealed that British manufacturing now stands at its highest level since 2014. "The anecdotal evidence is that there has been an uptick in activity in the UK. That is significant for the domestic economy in Ireland, because 40-45pc of all Irish indigenous exports go to the UK," Philip O' Sullivan, chief economist at Investec, said.
"There was initial reticence to place orders in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, and that seems to have subsided somewhat in the last quarter of 2016 and has given people more confidence to start placing orders," he said.
Job expansion also grew in the sector for the third successive month. The number being created in December grew at the fastest rate for 19 months, confounding initial fears that the fallout from Brexit could lead to job losses due to retrenchment across the sector.
A rise in the cost of raw materials saw input costs rise, however this was offset by a hike in the amount being charged for manufactured products.
The manufacturing sector in Ireland has now been in expansionary territory for 43 months - an indication of the vital contribution made by the sector to Ireland's impressive economic performance.
A steady growth in domestic demand has also boosted the sector.
Read more:
Martin Shanahan, CEO, IDA Ireland with Watson the Android who introduced the press conference
Martin Shanahan sounded a cautious note when showcasing the IDA's latest results.
We need to avoid complacency, be alert to the uncertain international backdrop and whether we're competitive enough to face it, he suggested.
There's no doubting the agency's success. Yesterday's announcement was peppered with "record" achievements in terms of the number of investments secured in a single year and the total numbers now employed in multinationals here.
The success, as the agency put it, was secured despite "unprecedented geopolitical changes" as well as tough competition from other jurisdictions for investment.
Last year heralded the onset of those intense geopolitical changes, but it will be in 2017 and beyond when the effects are felt.
The negative impact on the economy from Brexit has yet to be quantified, even though exporters and Border retailers have been feeling the currency squeeze.
Whether Donald Trump's campaign trail rhetoric slamming globalisation and promising a more protectionist approach is translated into policy remains to be seen, but Mr Shanahan himself suggested US companies may hold off making investments until they know the direction of the new administration.
He was keen to stress that despite the bombastic claims about bringing US jobs back home, American companies will continue to look for international locations to set up shop and access markets.
That may be true, but with a wild card in the White House, who knows what could occur.
Just yesterday, Ford cancelled a $1.6bn (1.53bn) plant planned for Mexico, opting to expand its operations in Michigan, in an apparent bow to pressure from Mr Trump.
As Mr Shanahan himself suggested, the threats to Ireland are outside of our control.
The achievements by the IDA over the last year are welcome. So is the caution.
Colm Kelpie
Analysis
Over 150,000 visitors are expected at Las Vegas CES this week
A NUMBER of Irish companies will make announcements or demonstrate their technology at the world's biggest tech trade event, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
The Irish presence at the event, which kicks off tomorrow, is being led by Dublin-based Cubic Telecom.
The company, run by Barry Napier, is showcasing its 4G LTE connectivity for cars. This facilitates always-on 'infotainment' and internet access in vehicles. It currently has deals in place with Audi and other car manufacturers.
Cork-based Hax, which is owned by the SOSV investment fund founded by Irish-American technology investor Sean O'Sullivan, is also active at the show. The firm focuses on helping companies to manufacture products in the Chinese province of Shenzhen.
Dublin-based Logograb, which focuses on logo-recognition technology, also has a stand at the event.
CES is expected to see over 150,000 executives, buyers and media pass through its doors this week.
Top themes this year include car automation, artificial intelligence, 5G and wireless audio. So-called '8K' televisions are also expected to be introduced at twice the resolution of current '4K' ultra high definition TV sets.
Robotics is also set to be a big theme this year, with advances in artificial intelligence and voice technology systems driving greater functionality in droids and machines from vacuum cleaners to home healthcare robots.
Smart home technology is one of the most invested technologies from large electronics companies at CES, with internet-connected kitchen appliances such as refrigerators, coffee-makers and washing machines on display. Smart home gadgets are considered to have higher profit margins than more established products such as televisions or mobile phones, as there is less established competition in the nascent sector.
The once-prominent tech products of laptops and tablets have a much-reduced presence at CES, falling victim to the success of large smartphones. For the same reasons, Microsoft and Intel also have a reduced presence at the event.
The main absence is Apple, which does not demonstrate its products at non-Apple events.
However, most of its rivals are at CES, including Samsung, LG, Sony and dozens of Chinese manufacturers.
While Sony may announce a new Xperia handset, smartphone companies save their biggest announcements for Mobile World Congress in February.
Global bank regulators have stalled the introduction of a final decision on tougher new bank capital standards in what is seen as a victory for Europe, particularly French and German banks.
The oversight board of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision said yesterday that it had postponed a meeting scheduled for January 8 to allow for more debate on standards that are meant to prevent banks from gaming capital rules.
European Union policy-makers have campaigned against a major element of the reform package, a so-called capital floor, arguing that it would unfairly punish the bloc's banks and harm its economy.
The capital floor has emerged as the main flashpoint in several years of talks on rules intended to clamp down on banks' use of their own complex models to assess the risk posed by mortgages, corporate loans and other assets.
Big banks rely on the models to determine how much capital they need to fund their businesses. Regulators have grown increasingly sceptical of the accuracy of the estimates since the financial crisis.
But, with the US already seen taking a tougher view on capital positions, it was EU banks, especially in Germany, that have lobbied against the tougher standard.
Work on the post-crisis capital framework known as Basel III should conclude in the "near future", the oversight body said.
The delay could open the door to more lobbying from the financial industry and EU officials to soften the restrictions.
"Completing Basel III is an important step toward restoring confidence in banks' risk-weighted capital ratios, and we remain committed to that goal," European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who heads the Basel Committee's oversight body, said.
The Basel Committee brings together regulators including the ECB, the US Federal Reserve and Japan's Financial Services Agency to set global standards.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley think French, German, Dutch and Nordic banks could be hit the hardest by any change because they have traditionally modelled minimal risks stemming from mortgages and corporate loans. (Bloomberg)
The owner of a book shop looks through a copy of the book Hitler, Mein Kampf. A Critical Edition in Munich, Germany. Photo: Reuters/Michael Dalder
'Mein Kampf' has become a bestseller in Germany once again, 92 years after it was first published.
A new, heavily annotated academic edition has sold more than 85,000 copies since it was published last year despite weighing in at almost 2,000 pages and costing 59. However, the sales are unlikely to be a sign of a resurgent German far-right or a rehabilitation of the racist text, but more to do with the fact that it is the first time 'Mein Kampf' has been published in German since 1945.
The rambling screed, which contains Adolf Hitler's thoughts on everything from eugenics and race theory to syphilis and the movies, continues to attract a morbid fascination and remains a bestseller in several countries.
But while it sold in translation around the world, publication of the original German text was blocked by German authorities for 70 years. So dangerous was the book considered to be that copies in the Bavarian state library were kept in a "poison cabinet" and readers had to be vetted before being access.
'Mein Kampf' was never officially banned in Germany but publication was prevented by the Bavarian government, which had the copyright.
That copyright expired a year ago and the Institute for Contemporary History, an academic publisher, brought out an edition with extensive annotations criticising Hitler's racist ideology. Only 4,000 copies were originally printed, but the publisher has now had to order a sixth print run.
Meanwhile, Germany's interior minister has called for radical reform of the police and intelligence services in the wake of last month's Berlin terror attack.
Thomas de Maiziere called for the federal government to take over responsibility for deporting rejected asylum seekers from the country.
He said a single national police force should take charge of counterterror operations and domestic intelligence be put under central government control. The federal structure was created in post-war Germany.
Anis Amri, the Tunisian who killed 12 people when he drove a lorry into a crowded Berlin Christmas market was a rejected asylum-seeker.
But he could not be deported because Tunisia was disputing his nationality and was allowed to stay in Germany and move freely through the country.
Under Mr de Maiziere's proposals, new "federal exit centres" would be set up near airports to hold deportees until they could be expelled.
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Actress/director Sharon Horgan and talent Carrie Fisher speak on stage at Tribeca Tune In: Catastrophe at SVA Theatre 2 on April 19, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
Sharon Horgan has fondly remembered her Catastrophe co-star Carrie Fisher in an emotional written tribute.
Writing in The Guardian, Horgan recalled the moments she shared with Fisher in the week leading up to her death.
Fisher had been in London filming Catastrophe, which stars Horgan and Rob Delaney as a newly married couple raising two young children, just days before she passed away. In the sitcom, she played Delaney's particularly heinous (and absolutely hilarious) mother Mia
Horgan recalled how the night before Fisher boarded her flight to Los Angeles, the two women enjoyed dinner with Salman Rushdie. The Drogheda writer and actress explained that she had tried to get out of the dinner, blaming a hangover and inferiority complex for her decision, but Fisher wasn't having any of it.
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"She reminded me that she dragged her ass all the way out to Hackney to see me the week before and I should return the favour. So I did. Thank the dark lord, I did."
It would be the last time that she saw her friend.
Horgan described Fisher as a caring and down-to-earth friend who always made sure people in her company were looked after. She was interested in people. She asked questions. She listened to them.
But Horgan reserved the most praise for Fisher's bravery in tackling a male dominated film industry and calling out its double standards and sexism.
"My God, girls, we owe her a lot. Not many women of her generation called out the double standards of the film industry the way she did. And how it treats women of a certain age.
"She knew that she had to keep mouthing off about it. And she did it with great wit. But it hurt her. Make no mistake about that.
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Horgan explained that Fisher, like most women, criticised her own looks but that it's "hard not to when the world is telling you that you're not allowed to age like a regular person".
In her tribute, Horgan listed Fisher's traits and urged fans to remember her for the many great things she was.
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"I want everyone to remember her and all the great things she was. A wonderful writer, a fine actress, a great mother, a caring daughter, a loyal friend, a wit, a prolific present giver, a lunatic, a legend".
Sarah Greene kicked back and enjoyed some down time in Dublin ahead of the US premiere of her new CBS drama, Ransom.
The Cork actress was spotted enjoying a few fancy cocktails in the Woollen Mills on Ormond Quay and The Exchequer Bar with pals last week.
Brunch with me fave @mssarahgreene A photo posted by | a d a m M A T T H E W S | (@adamphoeno) on Dec 30, 2016 at 6:50am PST
She recently finished filming American crime drama Ransom on location in France and has now returned home to begin working on her next film project, Black 47.
It's set during the Famine and will also star Matrix actor Hugo Weaving, Vikings star Moe Dun- ford, Stephen Rea, Jim Broadbent and Freddie Fox.
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In CBS show Ransom, Sarah takes on the role of private investigator Maxine Carlson. The show was created by Frank Spotnitz, who previously worked on The X-Files.
The first episode aired on New Year's Day, but it has been met with lukewarm reviews in the States. The New York Times described the storyline as "clickbait TV plotting", while The Hollywood Reporter said it was "not very memorable" and "mediocre".
Expand Close (L-R) Actors Daisy Ridley, James Corden and Sarah Greene attend the Oscar Wilde Awards at Bad Robot on February 25, 2016 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for US-Ireland Alliance) / Facebook
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Whatsapp (L-R) Actors Daisy Ridley, James Corden and Sarah Greene attend the Oscar Wilde Awards at Bad Robot on February 25, 2016 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for US-Ireland Alliance)
However, viewers seemed more enthralled, and Sarah's performance was praised.
She last appeared on Irish TV screens in period drama Penny Dreadful and 1916 show Rebellion.
Me and my homegirl @nazneenc solving crime in style #ransom A photo posted by Mssarahgreene (@mssarahgreene) on Nov 21, 2016 at 10:31am PST
In 2015 she picked up the Best Actress IFTA for her role in Deirdre O'Kane's drama, Noble.
Sarah used to date Poldark star Aidan Turner, but they parted company in November 2015. The pair remain good friends, and Sarah has said she would like to work with him at some stage.
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Turner was also in Dublin last week. The TV hunk was seen dining with friends at Musashi restaurant on Capel Street.
Fourteen people were killed when a taxi swerved to avoid a cow and crashed into two large vehicles on what is known as Uganda's deadliest road, police said Wednesday.
Eight people died on the spot including a journalist, while six others died later in hospital, regional traffic police chief, Scovia Birungi told AFP.
Nine other other people had serious injuries, while the cow also died.
The crash happened at Lwengo along the Masaka-Kampala highway on a stretch of road known locally as the most dangerous in Uganda.
"The accident took place when a speeding omnibus taxi avoided hitting a cow that was crossing the road, (and) rammed into a bus and a truck," said Birungi.
"The vehicles crashed into each other, subsequently killing and injuring people.
"And the cow was not spared," he added.
More than 200 people had already been killed on the 130km (80 mile) stretch of road from January to September 2016, another traffic police officer, Edith Nanteza had said last year.
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Fianna Fail has ramped up the pressure on Gerry Adams over his continued refusal to hand over the name of a senior IRA figure who may hold the key to solving the murder of prison officer Brian Stack.
The Sinn Fein president was warned he faces an "obligation" to provide any information to investigators that could assist the murder inquiry.
But the Louth TD refused to be drawn on the growing controversy last night, instead opting to re-release a statement he gave to the Dail on the killing on December 7.
In the statement, Mr Adams said he would co-operate with gardai in relation to the investigation - but repeated his view that people involved in the IRA should not be named.
"Progress was only possible on the basis of confidentially and trust," Mr Adams said in his statement that was rehashed last night.
"That is why no IRA people were named during any of these initiatives and why they should not be named today."
The controversy surrounding the Stack case was reignited after the Irish Independent revealed that gardai have stepped up their investigation into the 1983 murder.
Read more: Gardai to quiz Adams as the probe into IRA killing of Stack gathers steam
Detectives attached to the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI) have begun a fresh round of interviews in a bid to determine the identity of the IRA figure who attended a 2013 meeting with the victim's sons Austin and Oliver Stack at an undisclosed location.
The brothers have been interviewed separately in recent weeks.
The pair provided detectives with information aimed at building a profile of the IRA figure, who was a trusted associate of Mr Adams at the time.
In a statement released yesterday, Austin Stack accused Mr Adams of continuing to compound his family's pain.
"The Stack family note that on several occasions Deputy Adams has publicly called on anybody who has information regarding the murder of my father to go to An Garda Siochana," Mr Stack said.
"His own reluctance to do just this seems to imply that he holds himself above the law and is willing to apply a different set of standards to himself than he would to any other citizen of this Republic."
Mr Stack also said his family had received many messages of goodwill, including from former colleagues of his father. "Brian Stack was not a solider and neither was he fighting in a war. Brian Stack was a chief prison officer, his job was to protect society by ensuring some of the most dangerous criminals to come before Irish courts served their time fully.
"This meant among other things stopping the flow of guns and explosives into Portlaoise Prison; Brian Stack was good at his job and was therefore targeted by the IRA for assassination."
Last night, Mr Adams came under further pressure.
Fianna Fail said it was not acceptable for anybody to withhold information that could assist a live murder investigation.
Read more: Niall OConnor: The questions that refuse to go away as Adams must decide which way to turn
"Every citizen faces such an obligation, whether you are a politician or not," Fianna Fail's justice spokesperson Jim O'Callaghan told the Irish Independent.
It's understood the Stack case has been discussed in recent weeks at senior management level within An Garda Siochana, since Mr Adams sent an email to the Garda Commissioner with a list of four names who he said may have information in relation to the case.
Two of the individuals - TDs Dessie Ellis and Martin Ferris - were named in the Dail under privilege. Both deny having any information relating to the case.
Gardai are investigating the stabbing of a woman during an attempted mugging in Drumcondra, Dublin. Picture: Arthur Carron
Gardai at the scene where a woman was atbbed during an attempted mugging in Drumcondra, Dublin. Picture:Arthur Carron
04/01/2017 Members of the Gardai at the scene of a stabbing which involved a 36-year-old woman who was walking home from work when she was approached by another woman who demanded her handbag on the Drumcondra Road Lower between Clonliffe Road and the Archbishop's House, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins
04/01/2017 Members of the Gardai at the scene of a stabbing which involved a 36-year-old woman who was walking home from work when she was approached by another woman who demanded her handbag on the Drumcondra Road Lower between Clonliffe Road and the Archbishop's House, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins
04/01/2017 Members of the Gardai at the scene of a stabbing which involved a 36-year-old woman who was walking home from work when she was approached by another woman who demanded her handbag on the Drumcondra Road Lower between Clonliffe Road and the Archbishop's House, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins
04/01/2017 Members of the Gardai at the scene of a stabbing which involved a 36-year-old woman who was walking home from work when she was approached by another woman who demanded her handbag on the Drumcondra Road Lower between Clonliffe Road and the Archbishop's House, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins
04/01/2017 Members of the Gardai at the scene of a stabbing which involved a 36-year-old woman who was walking home from work when she was approached by another woman who demanded her handbag on the Drumcondra Road Lower between Clonliffe Road and the Archbishop's House, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins
04/01/2017 Members of the Gardai at the scene of a stabbing which involved a 36-year-old woman who was walking home from work when she was approached by another woman who demanded her handbag on the Drumcondra Road Lower between Clonliffe Road and the Archbishop's House, Dublin. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins
A garda on routine patrol came across a woman who was knifed in the throat during an attempted mugging in Dublin yesterday evening.
Gardai have today launched a fresh appeal for witnesses to the horror knife attack which took place outside the Archbishop's House.
Last night Independent.ie revealed how the 36-year-old woman was confronted as she walked along Lower Drumcondra Road shortly after 5pm.
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The female attacker demanded that the victim hand over her handbag, before stabbing her in the neck.
It has now emerged that a garda on routine patrol came across the injured woman. The officer raised the alarm and the victim was taken to the nearby Mater Hospital.
It has also emerged that the victim was stabbed multiple times in the incident. Her injuries were not, however, believed to be life-threatening.
Now gardai have issued a fresh appeal for witnesses. In a statement they said tey were particularly "appealing to anybody who was in the vicinity of Drumcondra Road Lower between Clonliffe Rd and the Archbishop's House between 5pm and 5.30pm."
Witnesses are asked to contact the incident room at Mountjoy Garda Station on 01-666 8600, the Garda Confidential Line 1 800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
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Last night, Archbishop Martin described the incident as "tragic".
"It's very sad to realise that someone just walking home from work would be attacked like that. I sincerely hope the woman will be OK. It's a tragic event," he said.
Noel Rock, Fine Gael TD for Dublin North West, called for a heightened Garda presence in the area.
"This is a dreadful, unprovoked attack in a normally peaceful part of the city," said Mr Rock.
"It's simply not good enough that someone can't walk down one of the main pedestrian routes in our city in the early evening for fear of this kind of incident.
"Gardai need to improve their presence in Drumcondra, and the city council must improve the lighting here as soon as possible. It's pitch black in parts."
An innocent family are living in fear after three of their cars were burned out by the Mr Big crime gang over a playground fight.
Reports have claimed that the attacks were launched by the Dublin drug trafficker after his son became embroiled in a row with another child. Both children are under the age of 10.
The Irish Daily Mail is reporting that the family have had three cars torched in recent weeks.
The family have been left terrified by the incidents and are now considering taking their son out of the school that the children attend. They are also considering moving house altogether.
Mr Big, from Dublin's northside, is considered one of Ireland's largest drug dealers and has a history of violence.
He is suspected of ordering the murder of Real IRA leader Alan Ryan in September 2012 and is also suspected of playing a part in the murder of Ryan's brother Vincent last February.
His gang have carried out a number of other attacks on the Ryan family and burned out a number of vehicles belonging to members who are not involved in republican activity.
A source told the Irish Daily Mail: "Gardai have always known what this man is capable of. He has ordered at least two murders in the capital and has a reputation for ruthlessness, including countless stabbings and beatings. But this issue between his son and another young boy has brought things to a new level.
"Essentially, it is a minor row between two little boys in a playground. Literally a scuffle. Nothing serious, no bullying or anything considered more than a very minor playground row.
"But Mr Big's reaction to this is to literally step in and become the bully figure in his own child's row. His reaction has been to target the other boy's family by so far burning out three cars linked to the family."
The family have been offered security advice by gardai.
Mr Big, who is aged in his 30s, has links to both sides in the Kinahan\Hutch feud. However, his gang has not been active in the feud.
Previously his gang launched an arson attack on a gym in Coolock after deciding the gym was a threat to its own fitness centre.
Selection boxes have been replaced by Easter Eggs in some Irish supermarkets, three months before Easter.
The festive period is now well and truly over as shops start preparing for Easter which falls this year on April 16.
People took to social media to express the madness.
One Twitter user wrote: "We've waved goodbye to Christmas and there are already Easter eggs in the shops."
In JC Savages in Swords, the staff have made a tradition of selling Easter eggs in mid-December.
On Facebook they wrote: You know its Christmas in Dublin When JCs get the Easter Eggs in!! Continuing our long running Christmas tradition.
Ideal for Kris Kringles or novelty pressies (OR JUST GREAT BIG CHOCOHOLICS LIKE ME!)
A Tesco spokesperson said: We stock a small range of Easter eggs from early January to cater for customers who prefer to stock up early or to buy them over a period of time to help spread the cost.
The full Easter Egg range will arrive in all stores at a later date.
Lord of the Dance Michael Flatley is to honour his parents last wishes by having them buried together in their native Ireland.
It was a love affair that would last for 60 years. They would conquer the world together, he said.
The dancers mother, Elizabeth Eilish Flatley (81), died on December 28 in Chicago in the US.
His father, Michael James Flatley (88), died in March 2015 and was buried in Carlow.
Mrs Flatleys family were by her side as she passed away and the dancer simply said: Her heart just gave out.
Her US funeral arrangements were staged on Saturday in Orland Park, Chicago.
However, Mrs Flatley insisted she wanted to be buried in Ireland alongside her husband.
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He was interred in picturesque Glynn-St Mullins on the Carlow-Wexford border two years ago.
Now, the dancer has confirmed that his mother will be buried following Requiem Mass in the same church from which his father was buried.
The Requiem Mass is expected to be staged next Tuesday.
The dancer described his father as his hero and said his entire family were also blessed with a mother who was devoted to her family and immersed in Irish culture.
We were blessed that my mother and my grandmother (Hannah Ryan) both carried on the tradition and gave us the opportunity to do something that is uniquely Irish, he said.
She was a truly remarkable woman. My father and mother were totally devoted to each other. They were blessed with a fabulous relationship
60 years married. They worked side by side to build the family plumbing business.
They never took weekends off. They never took holidays. We didnt have a nanny or a housekeeper growing up.
My mother did it all. Im so proud of them and we are blessed to have had them as parents.
It is such a very, very sad time for us.
His mother hailed from Carlow while his father was from Sligo.
They both moved to the US for work in the 1940s and met at an Irish dance in Detroit. The couple married in 1956.
They later relocated their family to Chicago and worked to build up a successful plumbing business.
However, the couple insisted that their five children be raised with an appreciation of Irish art and culture with their son, Michael, being introduced to Irish dancing by his mother and grandmother.
He went on to become the first American to win the World Irish Dancing Championship and performed regularly with The Chieftains.
Mr Flatley achieved fame with first Riverdance and then Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames and Celtic Tiger.
He purchased Castlehyde House in north Cork for 3m and the subsequent 27m refurbishment of the mansion was in part inspired by his parents and their deep love of Ireland.
Both his parents were regular visitors to the River Blackwater property, attending every Christmas party and major celebration staged there.
His mother admitted one of her most memorable evenings at Castlehyde was hosting Hollywood legend, Maureen OHara, whom she had been in awe of in the 1940s and 50s.
However, his mother remained a woman of simple tastes with The Chicago Sun Times pointing out that, despite her sons fame, her favourite meal remained tuna sandwich and a glass of chocolate milk.
Mrs Flatley is survived by her sons, Michael and Patrick, daughters, Liza, Thoma and Annie as well as sons in law, daughters in law and grandchildren.
Hospitals warned patients to stay away from emergency departments unless absolutely necessary, as the country faced a flu epidemic and overcrowding hits crisis levels.
Medical staff said they were at breaking point, with a record 612 patients on trolleys, and the rate of flu doubling within the past week alone.
The HSE confirmed that one person has died as a result of flu - the predominant AH3 flu strain is affecting mostly older people. The pressure on hospital services has been exacerbated by a severe respiratory virus sweeping across the country, as well as the norovirus, or the winter vomiting bug.
A HSE spokesperson said that many hospitals were reporting a "significant surge" in demand as the number of cases of winter-related illnesses continued to rise.
"While the HSE expects this spike in demand for ED care to continue in the coming weeks, the situation will continue to be carefully monitored," a HSE spokesperson said.
Some hospitals asked patients to stay away from emergency rooms unless strictly necessary and to seek treatment from their GP initially.
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Read more: Health crisis as 612 patients now on trolleys nationwide, 'exceptional' increase in GP visits
A spokesperson for Tallaght Hospital said: "The hospital's full capacity protocol is in place, and the public is asked to attend their GP in the first instance, where appropriate."
Beaumont Hospital added: "Like many other hospitals across the country, Beaumont is requesting that patients with cold and flu symptoms who may be considering coming to the ED to first contact their GP."
Predictable
Health Minister Simon Harris admitted that hospitals faced a "challenging time ahead", but denied that there was a national emergency and said there had been a sharp spike in cases of flu over New Year.
But the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) claimed the situation was "totally predictable".
INMO general secretary Liam Doran said: "2016 saw the highest levels of overcrowding since our records began over 12 years ago. We have to think about 180 beds closed because of staff shortages and generally about the lack of community care services."
Read more: Health Minister denies trolley crisis a 'national emergency'
A record-breaking 612 patients are waiting on trolleys in hospitals around the country.
Further chaos looms in hospitals as nurses will start industrial action within weeks. It will ultimately mean nurses will insist on bed closures if there is not enough staff to cater to them.
But Mr Doran said questions must be asked as to what measures were taken over the past eight weeks to alleviate the trolley situation. "612 patients, admitted for care, for whom there is no bed, is a truly shocking figure," he said.
The HSE said that 21 respiratory infection and influenza outbreaks were reported this season in healthcare settings.
"There has been a significant increase in the numbers of persons aged 75 years and older presenting for treatment and care," a spokesperson said.
"These patients are typically twice as likely to be admitted to hospital, and in turn, are likely to have a length of stay that is twice that of the general population.
"Due to the rise in winter-related illnesses, hospitals are also reporting bed closures due to necessary infection control measures and staff illness."
The HSE, which uses a different counting method to the INMO, said its figures identified 489 people waiting on trolleys - 300 over nine hours.
Simon Harris speaks to the press at the Department of Health yesterday. Photo: Colin ORiordan
Health Minister Simon Harris has urged older people to stay in their nursing homes if they are suffering from flu-like symptoms as he faces the worst trolley crisis on record.
Mr Harris said he would work with nursing homes to ensure they had the supports they needed to treat people with the flu and keep them out of overcrowded hospitals.
Mr Harris said older people were especially susceptible to the current strain of flu, which resulted in 612 people languishing on trolleys in hospital wards yesterday.
There has been an almost 20pc rise in the number of patients aged over 75 going to hospitals in recent days with flu-like symptoms compared with the same period last year.
Mr Harris said "frail elderly" people would be better served staying in nursing homes when they show flu symptoms as they will have private rooms and bathrooms.
"Perhaps they could be better cared for there with access to community supports, with access to doctors and nurses rather than being brought into an emergency department or a hospital where they may pick up further infections," he said.
Mr Harris's comments were among a number of initiatives he outlined aimed at tackling the overcrowding crisis.
Read more: Health Minister denies trolley crisis a 'national emergency'
He also committed to opening hospital diagnostic services until 8pm each day and said the HSE would review the length of stay of patients who were admitted during the Christmas break.
In addition, he called for GPs to be given direct access to consultants to stop overcrowding in emergency departments.
Despite the record trolley figures, Mr Harris refused to call the crisis a national emergency.
"We can all come out with a soundbite or a buzz word to try to address the issue of the day but what is happening here is much more important," he said.
"Rather than having headlines about national emergencies or whatever else, the headline and message I would like to get out is the absolute importance of the vaccination and the absolute importance for all us as citizens doing everything we possibly can to minimise the spread of the flu."
The minister said he was open to expanding the vaccination programme to allow more people avail of the flu jab for free. He also committed to carrying out a review of bed capacity in hospitals.
Mr Harris held a crisis meeting with HSE director general Tony O'Brien yesterday and will be seeking a progress report on the trolley crisis tomorrow.
"It is my job to set policy and fund that policy. It is the job of managers and the HSE that everything possible that can be done is being done. I have conveyed that message to them today.
"We need a redoubling of efforts by the HSE and of managers in every hospital site," he said.
"It is interesting to see some hospitals doing very well in very difficult circumstances. I put that down to operational grip, to managers doing what they are paid to do and I want to see that practice expanded to other hospitals."
Influential British art critic and prize-winning author John Berger, a self-declared revolutionary who controversially backed the far-left Black Panthers, has died aged 90, his son told AFP Tuesday.
Berger was best known for his art criticism essay "Ways Of Seeing", written to accompany a BBC television series, which is credited with changing the way people viewed art.
He also won the 1972 Booker Prize for Fiction for his experimental novel "G.", set in pre-World War I Europe.
Berger died on Monday in the Paris suburb of Antony, his son Jacob said.
"He died peacefully at home, surrounded by his family," he said. He had lived in France since the 1970s.
Berger was born in London in 1926. After serving in the British army, he enrolled in the Chelsea School of Art, becoming a painter.
He then taught drawing from 1948 to 1955, becoming a noted art critic from 1952 onwards, according to his French publishers, Les Editions de l'Olivier.
He wrote about artists including Pablo Picasso, Titian, Paul Cezanne and Gustave Courbet.
"Ways of Seeing", a highly influential criticism of Western cultural aesthetics, originally aired in 1972 as a four-part BBC television series and was subsequently published as a book.
"Art and the wider world seemed to make more sense after watching Berger on the BBC, with his piercing blue eyes, steady delivery and groovy seventies shirt, eloquently explain perspective or the idealisation of the nude," wrote Mark Brown, arts correspondent for Britain's Guardian newspaper.
But besides art criticism, Berger also wrote novels, plays and poetry.
"G." won the Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in English-language literature.
A Marxist humanist who called himself a revolutionary, he donated half of his 5,000 prize money to the UK branch of the Black Panthers, the far-left black nationalist organisation.
"There is not a single book of his that is not impregnated with politics," Jacob Berger said.
"He was a friend of Subcomandante Marcos (former leader of Mexico's Zapatista rebels), a friend of the Palestinian people... who had an extremely strong political position without being a dogmatic communist."
Berger moved to France to escape the "extremely anti-communist" Britain, his son said.
In France, "there was a balance which tended much more towards support of, if not the Soviet Union, then of Marxist and communist ideals".
Tributes came from the worlds of art, literature and politics.
"With John Berger's passing we have lost one of the great storytellers of our times," said publishers Penguin Books.
Jeremy Corbyn, the veteran leftist leader of Britain's main opposition Labour Party, said: "John Berger changed the way we see the world and each other.
"He was an advocate for socialism -- and a more kind and generous life for all."
For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture
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A medical consultant has warned that the trolley crisis is "only going to worsen", as it is revealed that at least 602 patients remain on trolleys nationwide today.
Dr Fergal Hickey of Sligo General Hospital said the influenza season has yet to reach its peak and disregarded the Health Ministers comments that the trolley crisis was unpredictable.
On Tuesday the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation recorded 612 people on trolleys around the country -- the highest number on record.
Today, the updated number of patients on trolleys is at least 602, as St Vincent's were not in a position to provide a ward figure to the INMO.
University Hospital Limerick is the worst-hit, with 66 patients on trolleys at the moment.
Midland Regional Hospitals in Tullamore, Portlaoise and Mullinagar have 45, 34 and 32 patients on trolleys, respectively.
In the wider area of Dublin, Tallaght Hospital and the Mater are the worst-hit with 23 patients on trolleys each.
Speaking to RTE Radio Ones Morning Ireland programme, Dr Hickey said the current situation is a crisis for the individual patient.
It certainly is a crisis for the individual patient, even if its not a political crisis, he said.
I dont accept unpredictability as a reason [for the number of patients on trolleys], perhaps things happened earlier than planned this year but that is not an excuse.
There were 612 patients on trolleys yesterday. The minister is being disingenuous.
The influenza, at a normal background level, is 18 cases per 100,000 people. At the moment, we have 46.7 cases. And this is nowhere near what its likely to get to, which is 80.
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To suggest that [influenza season] is someway unpredictable or unprecedented is nonsense, he continued.
Thats the nature of an influenza season, the cases increase exponentially over weeks, reach peak and then tail off in a similar fashion. This information is known. The only issue is it occurred two or three weeks earlier than expected.
Dr Hickey said the fundamental problem was the lack of beds to submit patients into hospital.
Its interesting that both Britain and Ireland have the greatest trolley crisis in Europe and were outliers when it comes to acute beds. The lack of capacity means were going to run into this problem.
Unless we solve the capacity problem, were never going to get out of this mess.
What the minister talks about is moving deck chairs around the Titanic. We need to deal with the fundamental problem which is the lack of capacity. A lot of the discussion is around peripheral issues.
Bed cuts
The Irish Medical Organisation also said the crisis of overcrowding will continue until the cuts to bed numbers in public hospitals are reversed.
They also said Ireland needs to become an attractive location for Irish-trained doctors to want to work in.
"Politicians often complicate what is a very simple explanation for our overcrowding crisis," Dr Peadar Gilligan, Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Beaumont Hospital and Chairman of the IMO Consultant Committee, said.
"Its not because of seasonal issues or a spike in flu cases.
"Its because politicians knowingly and deliberately took 1,600 beds out of our hospitals, introduced policies that were a direct cause of doctors emigrating and failed to invest in General Practice.
"All this at a time when our population was rising and there are more elderly people than ever before in need of healthcare. It doesnt get simpler than this; weve reduced the size of the container but were still trying to get more and more into it every day. It just wont work.
Overhaul
Meanwhile, another leading doctor said an overhaul of the A and E model in Ireland is needed if overcrowding in hospitals is to be tackled effectively.
A and E's around the country have become "one stop shops" which is adding pressure to a system where there is a lack of capacity Chris Luke, an A and E consultant based in Cork University Hospital warned.
"I really do think that we have to have a very urgent debate about the demand. I don't think, unfortunately, that the model we have of the emergency department function in these islands is working anymore," he told Newstalk Breakfast.
"In a sense it's become kind of a one stop shop... the majority of patients in Emergency Departments are now are not in for [what we would call emergency treatment].
"It's become the main portal of entry into the health service for the elderly, who are declining slowly, in nursing homes for example you can predict their heart or lung function is declining and admission to hospital could be better planned," he said.
Others are sent to A and E because there is a delay in getting further scans or treatment done he added.
"Unfortunately the emergency department has become kind of an emergency department store," Dr Luke said.
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The doctor also warned that in the coming years there will be a shortage of GPs which will also have an impact on the health system.
"Look at number of GPs about to retire in the net five years that's coming down the track too. You have this huge cohort of GPs in their late fifties who are destined to retire in the next three to five years. Not just GPs but you have a lot of consultants in A and E who will go in the next five years.
"Instead of doubling the number of consultants in the emergency department you are going to see a shrinkage in the next two-five years.
"These problems have been here a long time and they are fundamentally about capacity but also about the model we have of the emergency department," he said.
Contagious patients requiring isolation were instead isolated in cubicles with just curtains as Tallaght Emergency Department dealt with yet another day of overcrowding today.
Dr Jim Grey, who likened the effects of the trolley crisis on patients as akin to torture, said nine patients had presented to Tallaght Hospital today needing for various reasons, including the winter vomiting bug.
Weve got people being isolated with curtains... thats a great concern for patients and staff and it really shouldnt be happening in a first world
They have no dignity, no privacy, there is a complete lack of confidentiality. They are being subjected to constant noise and light, its a form of sensory torture, he said.
I had a patient who was in an emergency department for three days recently. You cant sleep in an emergency department. Its a disgrace. Its an ongoing national scandal, he said.
Its been an emergency thats been going on for many, many years. ts all very predictable."
Dr Grey dismissed the idea that the flu is behind the overcrowding in hospitals.
In the last three years alone the first Tuesday of every January weve had a massive trolley problem, he said.
Spin
The admission rate from influenza is small its not causing the trolley problem. Trolley patients are admitted patients for whom there are no beds.
There is a bit of spin there in relation to the flu being a part of the trolley crisis, its not, he said.
Dr Grey said that increasing capacity and staffing levels are among the solutions to the ongoing overcrowding problem which has become a year-long crisis.
Independent.ie visited the A and E department in the busy Dublin hospital today and observed a number of people in trolleys.
At least four people on trolleys in one area in A and E, near a busy nurses station.
One woman was on a trolley right beside the nurses station, raising concerns about patient confidentiality.
Another woman was served a lunch including sandwich on her trolley.
All waiting areas were very busy, with the main waiting room in A and E filling up by mid-afternoon.
A patient who had just been discharged said he had been on a ward with a woman who had been on a trolley in the corridor, protected only by a curtain.
The woman had been there since Saturday he claimed.
Patients in the A and E department reported varying waiting times.
One patient had been seen by one doctor in less than an hour.
Another woman waiting with a family member was told it would be between six and eight hours.
Thats good, usually its a lot longer, she said.
She also raised concerns about waiting in A and E with people who may be contagious without realising it for so long.
A local councillor has called for immediate action after "at least 16 ambulances" were spotted waiting outside University Hospital Limerick (UHL) yesterday morning.
According to eye-witnesses, the ambulances couldn't unload patients as there were no beds available inside the A&E department at the regional hospital.
Eyewitness Julie Byrnes sent the video of the ambulances into Independent.ie after witnessing the chaos.
I was going to visit a friend and I couldnt believe the number of ambulances outside the hospital. There were more than sixteen waiting at the A&E department, Julie told Independent.ie.
I came back after an hour and a half and there were at least 10 ambulances outside. Ive never seen it as bad.
Local FF Cllr Jerry ODea said the hospital cant continue like this.
Ambulances couldnt unload patients because all the trolleys were used in the A&E department. That meant the ambulances parked outside couldnt get away to other people in need either so there was chaos. It was horrendous for patients in need, said Cllr ODea.
Its a regular problem and the local frustration is ongoing. The HSE closed the A&E department in Ennis and Nenagh and St Johns A&E is only open during the day. Everyone is going to the UHL and its chaos.
Cllr ODea said that UHL needs more beds now.
We need to invest more money in UHL or re-open the other A&E departments.
He told Independent.ie that the situation yesterday morning was potentially very dangerous.
Whether people were critical or not there was potential for health and safety issues, car collisions and the conditions of the patients could have become more serious with time.
We cant go on like this at UHL. We need more beds now.
On Tuesday the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation recorded 612 people on trolleys around the country -- the highest number on record.
Read More
Today, the updated number of patients on trolleys is at least 602, as St Vincent's were not in a position to provide a ward figure to the INMO.
University Hospital Limerick is the worst-hit, with 66 patients on trolleys at the moment.
Meanwhile, the HSE Director for emergency management Damien McCallion said the numbers are "unacceptable".
Its very challenging and for any patient thats waiting on a trolley thats the core focus that we need to have over the coming weeks. We would see this as our top priority for the moment and thats reflected in some of the actions that we have taken and will continue to take," he told RTE Radio One's News at One.
"The numbers are clearly unacceptable and we have to face up to that.
"We would see this as a crisis. There just isnt enough bed capacity."
He said the flu is a factor in the current problem and advised people to get the flu vaccine.
"We have to decide what kind of health system we want and how to plan for it.
"There is a reality that we face an ageing population and we have to decide where we are going to invest our limited resources"
Crisis 'to worsen'
A medical consultant has warned that the trolley crisis is "only going to worsen".
Dr Fergal Hickey of Sligo General Hospital said the influenza season has yet to reach its peak and disregarded the Health Ministers comments that the trolley crisis was unpredictable.
Speaking to RTE Radio Ones Morning Ireland programme, Dr Hickey said the current situation is a crisis for the individual patient.
It certainly is a crisis for the individual patient, even if its not a political crisis, he said.
I dont accept unpredictability as a reason [for the number of patients on trolleys], perhaps things happened earlier than planned this year but that is not an excuse.
There were 612 patients on trolleys yesterday. The minister is being disingenuous.
The influenza, at a normal background level, is 18 cases per 100,000 people. At the moment, we have 46.7 cases. And this is nowhere near what its likely to get to, which is 80.
Read More
To suggest that [influenza season] is someway unpredictable or unprecedented is nonsense, he continued.
Thats the nature of an influenza season, the cases increase exponentially over weeks, reach peak and then tail off in a similar fashion. This information is known. The only issue is it occurred two or three weeks earlier than expected.
Dr Hickey said the fundamental problem was the lack of beds to submit patients into hospital.
Its interesting that both Britain and Ireland have the greatest trolley crisis in Europe and were outliers when it comes to acute beds. The lack of capacity means were going to run into this problem.
Unless we solve the capacity problem, were never going to get out of this mess.
What the minister talks about is moving deck chairs around the Titanic. We need to deal with the fundamental problem which is the lack of capacity. A lot of the discussion is around peripheral issues.
Bed cuts
The Irish Medical Organisation also said the crisis of overcrowding will continue until the cuts to bed numbers in public hospitals are reversed.
They also said Ireland needs to become an attractive location for Irish-trained doctors to want to work in.
"Politicians often complicate what is a very simple explanation for our overcrowding crisis," Dr Peadar Gilligan, Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Beaumont Hospital and Chairman of the IMO Consultant Committee, said.
"Its not because of seasonal issues or a spike in flu cases.
"Its because politicians knowingly and deliberately took 1,600 beds out of our hospitals, introduced policies that were a direct cause of doctors emigrating and failed to invest in General Practice.
"All this at a time when our population was rising and there are more elderly people than ever before in need of healthcare. It doesnt get simpler than this; weve reduced the size of the container but were still trying to get more and more into it every day. It just wont work.
Overhaul
Meanwhile, another leading doctor said an overhaul of the A and E model in Ireland is needed if overcrowding in hospitals is to be tackled effectively.
A and E's around the country have become "one stop shops" which is adding pressure to a system where there is a lack of capacity Chris Luke, an A and E consultant based in Cork University Hospital warned.
"I really do think that we have to have a very urgent debate about the demand. I don't think, unfortunately, that the model we have of the emergency department function in these islands is working anymore," he told Newstalk Breakfast.
"In a sense it's become kind of a one stop shop... the majority of patients in Emergency Departments are now are not in for [what we would call emergency treatment].
"It's become the main portal of entry into the health service for the elderly, who are declining slowly, in nursing homes for example you can predict their heart or lung function is declining and admission to hospital could be better planned," he said.
Others are sent to A and E because there is a delay in getting further scans or treatment done he added.
"Unfortunately the emergency department has become kind of an emergency department store," Dr Luke said.
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The doctor also warned that in the coming years there will be a shortage of GPs which will also have an impact on the health system.
"Look at number of GPs about to retire in the net five years that's coming down the track too. You have this huge cohort of GPs in their late fifties who are destined to retire in the next three to five years. Not just GPs but you have a lot of consultants in A and E who will go in the next five years.
"Instead of doubling the number of consultants in the emergency department you are going to see a shrinkage in the next two-five years.
"These problems have been here a long time and they are fundamentally about capacity but also about the model we have of the emergency department," he said.
Irish people gave over 150 million to overseas aid in 2016, according to new figures released by Irish Aid.
Over 125 million people were in need of humanitarian aid in 2016 across the world.
Irish people donated the most to the Syrian crisis with over 25m raised for the cause.
Africa
Ireland donated a large sum of money to nine African causes this year with South Sudan the most popular cause with over 11m donated by Irish people.
Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) received some 4m while the Central African Republic (CAR) received over 6m.
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Irish people donated over 3m to Nigeria and almost 6m to Somalia.
Middle East
Countries in the middle east also received Irish funding with 3m for Iraq and 4m for Yemen.
Funding
The funding includes costs associated with deployment of 37 rapid responders and 357 tonnes of emergency relief stocks to these and other crises throughout 2016 under Irelands Rapid Response Initiative.
Additional core funding of 27m was also provided to key humanitarian partners and to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund in 2016.
The Department of Agriculture also provided 6m of funding as part of a 20m contribution to the World Food Programme in 2016.
Plans for a massive wind turbine at a gaeltacht business park is facing opposition from the Irish Aviation Authority over claims it could compromise safety on a flight path..
Plans for a massive wind turbine at a gaeltacht business park is facing opposition from the Irish Aviation Authority over claims it could compromise safety on a flight path.
The body is now one of more than 140 objections received to a planning permission application submitted to Donegal County Council.
Galway-based Lir Energy Ltd wants to erect the 1.5MW turbine in Gaoth Dobhair Business Park in west Donegal.
If completed it would stand 123 metres above the skyline, taller than The Spire in Dublins OConnell Street and more than half the height of the Cliffs of Moher. The turbine would have blades with a diameter of 77m.
Campaigners against the plan in the area say the objection from the IAA is the most significant to date.
In its submission to the council, seen by the Irish Independent, the IAA says the turbine could interfere with flights in and out of Donegal airport in Carrickfin 9km away.
The airport operates daily flights to Dublin and Glasgow as well as a number of commercial flights.
The IAA said the airport believed visual manoeuvring minimum on the aeronautical charts would be compromised by a wind turbine.
The objection went on: The proposed development is located on the route for Visual Flight Rules traffic from the north east and also on the left base turn for Runway 21 and would, therefore, impact negatively on the safety operations at Donegal Airport.
After consultation with Donegal Airport, the IAA is objecting to the proposed development.
The objection has been welcomed by a group in the gaeltacht group campaigning against the development.
We are hopeful planners will decide before the end of January and we hope they will turn down the application, said a spokesman for Stad an Tuirbin Gaoithe group.
A young boy who survived a terrifying house fire on St Stephen's Day has received a skin graft.
Nine-year-old Rhys Mullan was left with third-degree burns after the blaze which gutted his father's home in Magilligan, Co Derry.
His father Stephen Mullan, his partner Miriam Ramsey and children Ben (12), Leah (10) and Rhys escaped through the roof of their house on the Seacoast Road.
Family friends Stephen McLean and his wife Louise set up a Facebook page titled "Help Rhys Recover" which includes a number of updates each day, including that Rhys has undergone a number of surgeries in recent days and faces a long and painful road to recovery.
Expand Close The scene on the Seacoast Road in Magilligan in Co.Derry where a house fire broke out on Boxing Day. The family of five including three children escaped with one of the sons receiving third degree burns / Facebook
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Whatsapp The scene on the Seacoast Road in Magilligan in Co.Derry where a house fire broke out on Boxing Day. The family of five including three children escaped with one of the sons receiving third degree burns
This is part of an effort by neighbours, family and friends to rally around the family.
Mr McLean, a local businessman and amateur photographer, is also running an auction with prints he has made of UK and Irish photographers' work.
His wife Louise said the auction had seen an 'overwhelming response'.
"Already he has more than 40 photos ready for the auction which we're hoping to hold this month," she said.
"Stephen thought it was something different from the other fundraisers and is very grateful to all the photographers who have offered their work."
She added: "It's a very Northern Ireland thing, but it's the kind of place where families have known each other for two or three generations and I think that especially when there's a child involved people just want to help.
"The family have been through an ordeal and will just want things to get back to normal as soon as possible."
Family friend Kelly Canning and her cousin Roisin Anderson from Limavady are organising a raffle. Kelly said she hoped their efforts would help the family replace some of their belongings.
She said: "Local businesses in Magilligan have been very generous and a lot of other people have got involved in helping with it too.
"It's a very close-knit community, everybody rallied round when they heard what happened - every door we have knocked on people have been very supportive.
"The family were very lucky they weren't killed and have lost everything - even Stephen's clothes have been destroyed and the children have lost all the things they were given for Christmas."
Players at St Aidan's GAC are also holding a car wash this Saturday to raise money for the family and someone in the village has also anonymously replaced Rhys' burned iPad.
Speaking on behalf of Rhys' mother, Annette Friel, a family friend said she would like to thank everyone who has supported the family in any way.
She said: "Annette has stayed at the Royal Victoria Hospital with Rhys since he was admitted, only coming home twice to see her other children. She is more than grateful for everything that has been done for the family. No words can describe just how much they appreciate the support from people, some who don't even know them personally."
The fire broke out just after 4pm on St Stephen's Day.
Mr Mullan said a spark from the hearth fire caught his youngest son Rhys' clothing.
He has spoken of how he rushed to put it out immediately, but the fire spread too quickly to control, adding that "within minutes the whole house was completely covered in smoke".
The Co Derry man paid tribute to his son Ben for his quick thinking after he suggested his family seek safety on the roof and helped put out the flames on his younger brother.
Iwona Gontarczyk (30), originally from Warsaw, Poland, who the victim of an attempted abduction on her way to work on Christmas eve. Picture:Arthur Carron
A young woman has spoken of her terror following an early morning abduction attempt, which took place while she walked to work through a city suburb.
Iwona Gontarczyk (30) was attacked on Ranelagh Road, in the upmarket south Dublin suburb of Ranelagh, at around 7am on Christmas Eve.
Ms Gontarczyk was making her way to Brown Thomas, on Grafton Street, to begin her shift, when a car with two men in it began coasting past her.
They shouted at me do you have any change? In that situation, you usually just freeze, she told the Herald.
Im usually a very open person but they looked dangerous. One of them looked like he had been hit in the face a lot of times. The other one was younger. But he also looked dangerous, she added.
She said they both looked like they may have been under the influence of drugs.
Ms Gontarczyk, whose story first appeared on Liveline on RTE Radio One, ignored the men but they continued to follow her, stopped the car and then got out and tried to grab her by the shoulder.
The area of the attack was not far from the junction with Mountpleasant Square.
Expand Close Iwona Gontarczyk (30), originally from Warsaw, Poland, who the victim of an attempted abduction on her way to work on Christmas eve. Picture:Arthur Carron / Facebook
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Whatsapp Iwona Gontarczyk (30), originally from Warsaw, Poland, who the victim of an attempted abduction on her way to work on Christmas eve. Picture:Arthur Carron
She ran and although they followed her for a short time she managed to get away.
When she arrived into work, her team leader noticed that she was shaken.
CRYING
They were really kind. They saw I was shaking and I had been crying. They saw there was something wrong, she said.
Her manager tried to call her boyfriend but he was asleep with his phone on silent, so he took her home in a taxi.
I wanted to forget about the situation. I thought Im alive, everything is OK, she said.
However she has remained badly shaken by the experience.
When I analyse the situation I think what if? What would have happened if I didnt run, she said.
Ms Gontarczyk, who is originally from Warsaw, in Poland but has been living here since February, said the men did not appear to be trying to steal her bag and was worried that their intentions where more sinister.
The experience has changed her outlook on life.
I dont like walking in the dark. I dont feel safe, she said. Never have I been in a situation like this. My life changed from this day. Im a different person, Im not open any more.
Her boyfriend Kevin Whitty, who lives with Ms Gontarczyk, said they have now agreed if she finishes work late he will give her a lift home.
SUSPICIOUS
Mr Whitty said he was very familiar with the Ranelagh neighbourhood, having lived there for the last three years.
He said he had not heard of any other attacks or abduction attempts on the night but he had noticed suspicious people.
Mr Whitty said they did not report the incident to gardai at first because Ms Gontarczyk did not get a good look at her attackers but they now intend to make an official report to ensure gardai and local people are aware of what happened.
First Minister Arlene Foster speaks to Belfast Telegraph in relation to the RHI Scheme at Stormont Castle
The RHI scheme will not cost the Northern Ireland taxpayer a penny, First Minister Arlene Foster has vowed.
In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, Mrs Foster said detailed work has been carried out over the Christmas period to devise ways of cutting the cost of the scheme, which currently has a projected overspend of 490m (576m) over the next 20 years.
She said: "A lot has been made about the potential overspend. I want to make sure that doesn't happen. We plan to bring that potential cost down to zero. There will be no overspend."
Economy Minister Simon Hamilton will bring a paper to the Executive in the next few days setting out interim measures to end any abuse of the scheme and to cap the costs in the longer term.
In a wide-ranging discussion the First Minister said:
She will not be standing aside to allow an inquiry into RHI to take place;
Revealed that the head of the Civil Service, in consultation with the Attorney General, has drawn up terms of reference for an independent inquiry into the RHI debacle. These have been sent to Sinn Fein but no response has yet been forthcoming;
The permanent secretary of the Department of the Economy has written to all those participating in the scheme asking for consent to name them publicly. They have to respond by January 10.
She also spoke about the personal affect that the row over RHI has had on her and her family, and of the support that she has received from the public and her party.
The First Minister admitted that the latest Stormont crisis has affected the public perception of politicians in the devolved administration.
She said: "I am trying to keep my head and draw up a plan to deal with RHI while everyone else is whirling around in total hysteria. That does not speak well of the political classes if that is how we deal with a crisis".
She had strong words for her political opponents.
Sinn Fein, she said, had gone into meltdown prior to her decision to address the Assembly on December 19.
"On Wednesday, December 14 we had agreed a way forward and I would agree to a time-based independent inquiry, but by that Friday, Sinn Fein had gone into meltdown.
"It was like the row over welfare reform where they agreed to a course of action and then resiled from it.
"Now they want me to stand aside before any inquiry.
"There was never a chance for me to stand aside because I have nothing to hide". She added: "I want an inquiry to go ahead and I want to get cost controls in place. I have been working with the Minister for the Economy to get a plan in place to deal with the projected overspend. That is what people want us to deal with at the minute".
The First Minister accused the other parties of using the RHI crisis to further their own political aims. "For Sinn Fein this is all about more than RHI. 2016 was a very good year for us in the DUP. We made good ministerial appointments and are in a good position as regards unionism. I believe Sinn Fein is not in a good position. They seem to be in inner turmoil. The Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness is not well and there seems to be some jockeying for position internally.
"They think this is an opportunity to weaken unionism, but speaking to ordinary unionists across the province they tell me we are the party that speaks for them."
She also believes that the criticism levelled at her and her party by Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt (below) is not going down well in the country.
"They see him leading the challenge against the leader of unionism but if you know anything about unionists outside of Belfast you would know that doesn't go down well. He doesn't understand that".
While her tone is much more subdued than that displayed on television or in the Assembly before Christmas, her message remains steadfast. "I have been through a lot in my life and I am not about to be a weak unionist leader when something like this comes about... I am certainly not".
Mrs Foster denies she was taking a risk going on television immediately after former Economy Minister Jonathan Bell made his claims about the RHI scheme on the Stephen Nolan show without knowing what those claims were.
"I have absolutely nothing to hide. I had no difficulty going on to speak to Stephen Nolan without knowing what information he had because I had done nothing wrong. What I didn't want to happen was Jonathan Bell going on and giving his side without me putting the facts before the public".
She added: "The Public Accounts Committee had been looking at the scheme for some time before the BBC Spotlight programme on it.
"After so-called revelations on that programme people became engaged in shock and awe revelations which often misrepresented the facts."
She said the RHI crisis has been based on distortion, lies and spin and is particularly critical of the role of social media in heightening tensions.
"It has become something of a feeding frenzy."
She defended her letter to banks here urging them to support people wanting to buy into the scheme.
"There was an underspend on the scheme at that time and people were approaching the banks for finance to purchase boilers. The banks were cautious. A number of businesses asked me to write to the banks and explain to them how the scheme would work.
"Even then we were working on the assumption that there would be a return of 12.5pc on investments and I got officials to draw up a letter which I then signed. We were not aware of the flaws in the scheme at that time."
First Minister's statement in full on her plans to deal with RHI scheme
Over the Christmas holidays I have been working on a plan to reduce the costs of the RHI scheme to the Northern Ireland Executive's budget.
Detailed work by the Department of the Economy has gone into analysing the costs as well as the legal and administrative issues involved in amending the scheme.
"The RHI had initially been devised on the basis that it would be funded from Westminster, but due to the errors inherent in the RHI as developed for Northern Ireland there is a danger that the Executive would have to cover around 490m over the next 20 years. And we also need to avoid risking the 660m over 20 years that should be available from the UK Government for this purpose.
"However, the proposals I have been working on are designed to eliminate any future cost to the Northern Ireland budget while allowing the scheme to function as initially envisaged.
"Further detailed work is required on the long term solution to this issue, but in the next few days the Economy Minister Simon Hamilton plans to bring an urgent paper to the Executive setting out an interim measure to end the incentive to abuse the scheme.
"If agreed, these could involve recalling the Assembly next week to seek approval for action to put this into effect, so that the immediate problem of excessive payments is stopped while we prepare a proper long term permanent solution.
"We will consult on the proposals to ensure the permanent arrangements involve no further call on the Northern Ireland budget."
Foster on personal cost ...
"Things have been said that should not have been said. I am human. I am not a robot. There has been a lot of talk in the Assembly about mental health issues and the need to deal with them. Not very many have been thinking about my mental health in recent weeks, but I am a strong person and I am very encouraged by the support I have received from across the unionist people and some nationalists.
"People need to go out and talk to ordinary people. A lot of them are confused and want clarity. That is what I want, too.
"I worry about the impact on my 83-year-old mother, Georgina. She and my late father were very proud of what I have achieved. However, my mother realises that these sort of attacks on me can happen.
"Northern Ireland politics are quite misogynistic and some of the commentary on this issue has been quite misogynistic. No political leader will go through life without someone attacking them, but this criticism has been quite vicious.
"Comments on social media have been horrific. People say things on social media, anonymously, that they would never say to your face.
"I worry about the impact on my children. I have a 16-year-old daughter who is quite across social media. I tell my children to look away from comments about me or to ignore them, but that is difficult to do. I signed up for politics, but my family did not."
on her supporters ...
On her desk at Stormont Castle the First Minister has a transparent folder full of cards and letters sent in by supporters. She has also received, she says, many emails and messages of support sent through party colleagues.
"That is something positive I can take out of all this. My party is fully behind me and that is very encouraging."
One message from a blind RAF veteran simply underlined key lines in Kipling's poem If:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,....
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools
"That was a lovely thing to receive," she adds. "It is great when people take the time to send you a letter or a card. That takes effort instead of just sending an email."
One person she did not receive a card from is former minister Jonathan Bell.
She reveals that she has not spoken to him since he went public with his allegations and does not intend to.
"He is subject to disciplinary measures within the party at the moment".
She adds: "I would like to know when he started working with the BBC. Was it before the Spotlight programme. It was all very cloak and dagger".
Foster on the parties ...
Sinn Fein: "Declan Kearney of Sinn Fein is going on about this crisis reaching a tipping point. No one has died, no one has been killed.
"This is part of an organisation that tried to kill my father (John Kelly, a police officer, was shot in an IRA attack in 1979 but survived) and blew me up when I was 17 (she was on a school bus which was targeted by the IRA because the driver was in the UDR). They believe I am going to roll over by stepping aside. I don't think so.
"Given the respective backgrounds of myself and Martin McGuinness, we have a purely professional working relationship. In the past year since the Fresh Start Agreement we have managed to work through a number of the issues. Everything is now being thrown to the wind when a difficulty presented itself instead of us working through it.
Ulster Unionists: "They wanted me removed from office before any investigation took place. That is ludicrous. They thought it was a chance to weaken me and weaken my party by taking out the leader and therefore benefit themselves.
"If there was an election then only 90 members would be returned to the new Assembly. Maybe that is why Mike Nesbitt is now saying that an election would solve nothing. We might lose members in an election but other parties would also lose members.
All opponents: "I will not be distracted by political opponents whoever they are. People gave me a mandate to lead and that is what I intend to do."
The Cairo Steps Ensemble and the German Quadro Nuevo Ensemble will give concerts in Cairo, Alexandria and Damanhour Jan. 11, 13, and 14 respectively
Egypt's Cairo Steps Ensemble will be joined by German Quadro Nuevo ensemble in three concerts to be performed in Cairo, Alexandria and Damanhour the second week of January.
The Cairo Steps Ensemble is an international jazz and world music ensemble consisting of Egyptian and German musicians. The ensemble was founded in 2002 by Egyptian Oud player Basem Darwisch and German pianist Matthias Frey, as a collaborative project between the two.
Their music combines traditional Egyptian and oriental music with jazz improvisation, incorporating other musical styles from around the world, including spiritual music from the sufi tradition.
The Quadro Nuevo ensemble is a world music and jazz quartet founded in 1996. The band has released eight albums since its formation and received numerous awards, including thirteen German Jazz Awards and five European Impala awards. Their albums have also frequently topped the German World Music Charts.
Programme:
11 January, 8pm
Main Hall, Cairo Opera House
13 January, 8pm
Alexandria Opera House
14 January, 8pm
Damanhour Theatre
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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Housing Minister Simon Coveney has defended his plan to tackle the housing crisis - insisting "we're ahead of schedule".
And he vowed that despite a view that he was "crazy" to promise an end to homeless families being housed in hotels, he is "going to make that happen".
Almost six months after the launch of his 'Rebuilding Ireland' action plan, Mr Coveney said there would be about 14,000 homes completed in 2016. This is still far short of the 25,000 that the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) estimated has to be built every year to meet demand.
"We're ahead of schedule in terms of the Rebuilding Ireland plan," Mr Coveney said, adding that he expected as many as 19,000 housing units to be built in 2017.
Mr Coveney said the Government exceeded its target of 4,200 social housing solutions last year by almost 1,000 through acquisitions, bringing voids units back into use, long-term lease arrangements, and new construction.
"There's a real acceleration happening here in terms of delivery," he said, pledging that there would be more than 21,000 social housing solutions provided in 2017.
He also pointed to measurements of activity in the building sector including an increase in construction commencements and figures that show planning permissions in Dublin increased by 57pc in the third quarter of 2016 and were up 45pc nationally.
He said that Government funding for housing this year would come to 1.2bn, up from 800m. The latest figures showed that almost 7,000 people were homeless, but Mr Coveney insisted the problem was "solvable".
He said this should include providing for medical needs as well as housing - particularly for rough sleepers - and he also vowed to end the practice of housing homeless families in hotels.
He said some people said he was "crazy" to promise a solution to the use of hotels and B&Bs for emergency accommodation for families by the middle of 2017, but he added: "I am going to make that happen."
Mr Coveney said that he thought Ireland was now "a more socially divided place than I can ever remember", saying this wasn't unusual among European countries that had gone through recession and austerity.
He said he believed housing was a way of "healing" social division and that the creation of mixed-tenure communities that included private, social and affordable housing was the "most ambitious thing" in his action plan.
Arlene Foster insists the troubled green energy scheme tipped to cost Stormont some 500m will not cost the Northern taxpayer a penny.
In an interview with the 'Belfast Telegraph' the North's First Minister said detailed work had been carried out over Christmas to devise ways of cutting the cost of the Renewable Heating Incentive (RHI) scheme.
It currently has a projected overspend of 490m (577m) over the next 20 years.
"A lot has been made about the potential overspend. I want to make sure that doesn't happen," she said.
"We plan to bring that potential cost down to zero. There will be no overspend."
It came as the UK government rejected a call to instigate a public inquiry into the scheme. It made clear the RHI controversy was a devolved issue for Belfast to deal with.
The escalating political row has edged the power-sharing institutions towards implosion.
The RHI was supposed to offer a proportion of the business cost to run eco-friendly boilers, but the subsidy tariffs were set too high, so it ended up paying out significantly more than the price of fuel.
Responding to Sinn Fein calls for her to stand aside, Ms Foster said: "I want an inquiry to go ahead and I want to get cost controls in place."
Members of Home Sweet Home and the Irish Housing Network march from Apollo House to the Department of Finance. Photo: Damien Eagers
Apollo House campaigners said they have no plans to vacate the building next week, even as dozens of residents were granted much sought-after emergency accommodation.
A total of 37 residents in Apollo House have moved to six-month beds, according to Dublin City Council. A further four will be moved today.
Expand Close Mairead Hughes and granddaughter Alex Collins Hughes (6) support the protest. Photo: Damien Eagers / Facebook
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Whatsapp Mairead Hughes and granddaughter Alex Collins Hughes (6) support the protest. Photo: Damien Eagers
The Nama-controlled building was taken over by activists frustrated with the homelessness crisis. Rosi Leonard, from the Home Sweet Home campaign group, said: "Six-month beds are like gold dust in this country. A lot of those people taking those beds are people who did not know where they were going to be sleeping night by night."
But she said there were no plans to vacate the building on January 11 if other residents did not get suitable accommodation.
Read more: Apollo House residents lead petition urging minister to house homeless in state-controlled properties
"We've got a three-page waiting list of people trying to get in here. We won't be able to leave this building if everyone is not sorted out - there's no way we can," she said.
Expand Close Carrie Hennessy and Niamh McDonald of the Irish Housing Network hold up a petition calling for action. Photo: Damien Eagers / Facebook
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Whatsapp Carrie Hennessy and Niamh McDonald of the Irish Housing Network hold up a petition calling for action. Photo: Damien Eagers
Ms Leonard was speaking as a march from Apollo House - involving about 300 activists, homeless people and their supporters - went to the Department of Finance to hand in a petition.
The petition had just under 4,000 signatures and called for the Finance Minister to "use his powers under the Nama Act to use those properties for social good".Niamh McDonald, a volunteer who handed over the petition, said: "Right now, this country is in an accommodation emergency and the Government is sitting on a bank of houses.
"It is time for this Government to put the most vulnerable in our society first, before profit," she said.
"The Government is forcing us into hostels, where the people next to you are using drugs and smoking," resident Mitzalo Reyes said.
"They should keep this place open until the Government builds the social housing that they've failed to build time and time again."
The Peter McVerry Trust had made an offer of accommodation to 40 residents of Apollo House before Christmas.
A spokesperson for the Department of Finance said: "Nama has already been active in this space and have offered almost 7,000 units to local authorities for use as social housing."
Gardai sealed off the scene of the mugging in Drumcondra.
A woman was rushed to hospital after she was stabbed in the neck during an attempted mugging in Dublin.
It is understood that the 36-year-old victim was approached by a woman near the home of Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in Drumcondra at around 6.15pm yesterday.
The attacker demanded that the victim hand over her handbag, before stabbing her in the neck.
Emergency services were called and the victim was taken to the nearby Mater Hospital.
Her injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
Last night, Archbishop Martin described the incident as "tragic".
"It's very sad to realise that someone just walking home from work would be attacked like that. I sincerely hope the woman will be OK. It's a tragic event," he said.
Noel Rock, Fine Gael TD for Dublin North West, called for a heightened Garda presence in the area.
"This is a dreadful, unprovoked attack in a normally peaceful part of the city," said Mr Rock.
"It's simply not good enough that someone can't walk down one of the main pedestrian routes in our city in the early evening for fear of this kind of incident.
"Gardai need to improve their presence in Drumcondra, and the city council must improve the lighting here as soon as possible. It's pitch black in parts."
The incident happened while commuters were travelling home from the city yesterday evening.
Gardai carried out a forensic examination at the scene last night.
Locals said while the neighbourhood was usually quiet, there had been a series of robberies and some assaults in recent years.
Wallet
"A few years ago a man was coming home and getting some food in a restaurant across the street.
"Someone saw him take out his wallet and followed him.
"He was stabbed in the back, it was a close one, but he survived," one man, who did not want to be named, told the Irish Independent.
A number of houses on the block have CCTV cameras and it's understood gardai will try to obtain any evidence that might hint at the attacker's identity on the footage.
A woman who was the first child born in Iceland in 1980 gave birth to the first baby of 2017 in a surreal incidence of perfect timing.
Katrin Gujonsdottir (36) hit headlines in January 1980 when she was the first baby to be born in Iceland that year and said it was surreal that she welcomed the first baby of 2017 on New Year's Day.
According Icelandic news organisation Visir, the new mum gave birth in South Iceland health clinic in Selfoss.
We joked about it that he may be the first baby of the year but never believed it would happen. It would be too surreal, she said.
Katrin, who has two other children, said she was thrilled to share her birthday with her son.
A late, late flurry of new-car registrations nudged Toyota to the top of the best-seller league for 2016, latest figures show.
In the dwindling days of December, the Japanese brand overtook long-time leader Hyundai whose Tucson was far and away the biggest-selling model last year.
Official statistics from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show how Toyota racked up registrations of 15,530 for the year.
Hyundai came in second with 15,442, the figures show, with Volkswagen registering 15,411 despite a difficult year in the wake of the emissions scandal. Ford came fourth and Nissan were fifth.
The late-year rush to register meant numbers for December were up 45pc (499) compared with the corresponding month in 2015 (344).
According to Michael Rochford of Motorcheck.ie, Toyota emerged as top seller on the last two days of 2016 "with pre-registrations of the new Toyota C-HR reaching 160 for December".
Overall, new-car registrations for the year came to 146,672, up 17.5pc on 2015 (124,804).
That is the biggest number registered since 2008 but there is caution across the industry about whether it will be reached this year as uncertainty deepens over Brexit.
Most experts are predicting 146,000 or so, especially as used imports are expected to climb.
SIMI's director general, Alan Nolan, says the industry "is anticipating a continuation of the strong performance seen during 2016 and is projecting similar registration numbers to last year".
Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) were up 18.3pc (28,180) and are regarded as the best indicator of activity within the economy.
The number of used UK imports surged in 2016 to 72,182 (from 47,798) according to the SIMI figures. Many in the industry expect the total to increase again this year.
Mr Nolan said nearly 50pc of imports were between three and five-years-old, with 40pc more than six-years-old.
And, according to Mr Rochford: "There is evidence to suggest that a lot of people who may have been waiting to purchase a new car in 2017 took advantage of the drop in sterling and opted to import a nearly-new vehicle at the end of 2016 instead."
He advised intending buyers to be extra vigilant and to make sure they check the vehicle has not been clocked, written-off or still under finance.
The visit came one month after the Egyptian Museum was opened to the public in the evenings twice a week
Egyptian parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Al and members of parliament's Culture, Antiquities and Media Committee toured the halls of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo's Tahrir Square Tuesday evening.
Guided by Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany, Abdel-Al and the committee members visited several sections of the museum including the treasure halls and the Tutankhamun collection.
The visit came one month after the Egyptian Museum was opened to the public in the evenings twice a week.
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Is that the sound of ghostly laughter I hear emanating from the once-famous or infamous licensed premises in Harry Street, Dublin, known as McDaid's, as the ghosts of Myles na gCopaleen's world (Brian O'Nolan, Patrick Kavanagh, John Jordan and Anthony Cronin) consider the euphemistic terminology now being used to describe their activities in that literary (or anti-literary) establishment, to wit, "socialising"?
One newspaper report on the death of poet Cronin last week described him as "the last of the bohemians". But some other bohemians from the McDaid's era remain, including a group of somewhat younger writers who drank in the company of the aforementioned authors in McDaid's and elsewhere in the 1960s, myself included.
Instead of the label, "the last of the bohemians" being most appropriate for Anthony Cronin, may I suggest that the title he gave to his biography of Samuel Beckett, 'The Last Modernist', is more fitting.
Hugh McFadden
Harold's Cross, Dublin 6W
Only certainty is tough times ahead
2017 will certainly bring, as the Government keeps assuring us, rent certainty: very many poor souls in rental accommodation can now be quite certain that, due to the measures being introduced by those in power, they will no longer be able to pay their rent.
They will face the scandalous prospect of homelessness in the midst of alleged recovery and restoration in this sadly mismanaged little country.
James N O'Sullivan
Killarney, Co Kerry
Time never right to drop anthem
Mickey Harte says the GAA could drop the Irish anthem and the tricolour from games "when time is right".
There is about as much chance of the GAA dropping the anthem and the tricolour as there is of Mickey standing down as manager of Tyrone.
It looks like the time will never be right in either case.
Seamus McLoughlin
Keshcarrigan, Co Leitrim
Fighting the scourge of terrorism
The recent cowardly terrorist attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, targeted civilians for no reason other than the fact they were celebrating the new year.
The vast majority of Arabs and Muslims stand united in condemning this scourge of international terrorism. It is a regional and global responsibility to combat this twisted ideology.
As his majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan puts it: "We are waging this war to protect our faith, our values and our human principles. Our war will be ferocious and reckless for their sake and will hit terrorists in their own ground."
Dr Munjed Farid al Qutob
London, UK
The sober meaning of 'merry'
In Mary Kenny's article on festive boozing (Irish Independent, December 26), she says that "the cup that cheers" comes from a long Christian tradition and she associates that sentiment with the word "merry".
She quotes the old English carol 'God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen'. But when that carol was composed, "merry" had a somewhat religious connotation, rather than endorsing "the cup that cheers".
On the eve of his execution, St Thomas More wrote to his daughter, Margaret, of his hope "that we shall merrily meet in heaven". And 'Merry in God' is the title of the biography of Fr Willie Doyle, SJ, killed while volunteering with Irish soldiers in World War I.
Nowadays, to be "merry" can indicate being slightly tipsy, but in times past, "Merry Christmas" meant a happy one, of course, and certainly a sober one!
Patrick Fleming
Glasnevin, Dublin 9
Thatcher's view of Irish leaders
It is interesting to read that recently released state papers for 1986 purport to give an insight into Margaret Thatcher's relationship with Charles Haughey and Garret FitzGerald.
They seem to imply that she disliked Mr Haughey and was happy doing business with Dr FitzGerald. Her autobiography, 'The Downing Street Years', published in 1993, paints a very different picture.
Her opinion of Mr Haughey was: "I found him easy to get on with, less talkative and more realistic than Garret FitzGerald. Charles Haughey was tough, able and politically astute with few illusions and, I am sure, not much affection for the British."
On the other hand, she thought that although Dr FitzGerald prided himself on being a cosmopolitan intellectual, "he was a man of as many words as Charles Haughey was few. He was also, beneath the skin of sophistication, even more sensitive to imagined snubs and more inclined to exaggerate the importance of essentially trivial issues than Mr Haughey".
One of her memories of Dr FitzGerald when discussing agricultural issues at an EU meeting was that "we never seemed to get by without a tear-jerking homily on the predicament of Ireland from the Irish Prime Minister, Dr Garret FitzGerald, who pleaded that his country should be exempt from the disciplines on agricultural spending".
She said that she had met Mr Haughey in the margins of the European Council and he had urged her to find some face-saving device that would allow the hunger strikers in Long Kesh to end their fast, though he fully accepted that political status was out of the question. Mrs Thatcher stated that she came to the view that Dr FitzGerald's government did not speak with a single voice. He told her that unless the minority in Northern Ireland could be turned against the IRA that Sinn Fein would get the upper hand and, with the help of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, would drag down the Republic.
This, in her view, was a point being exaggerated to the level of absurdity.
Hugh Duffy
Cleggan, Co Galway
The wrong Gabor
John Fitzgerald's letter (Irish Independent, January 3) fondly remembers Zsa Zsa Gabor in US sitcom 'Green Acres'.
It's just as well her sister Eva has also departed this life, as she would be not be too impressed to have Zsa Zsa credited with her own most famous role.
Margaret Hogan
Thurles, Co Tipperary
Actress January Jones attends the 20th Century Fox party during Comic-Con International 2015 at Andaz Hotel on July 10, 2015 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Now: Actress January Jones attends the 67th Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 20, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for TNT LA)
Actress January Jones attends the 'Concert For Our Oceans' hosted by Seth MacFarlane benefitting Oceana at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on September 28, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Actress January Jones attends the Sixth-Annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic at Will Rogers State Historic Park on October 17, 2015 in Pacific Palisades, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for Veuve Clicquot)
Actress January Jones attends the AMC celebration of the "Mad Men" season 7 premiere at ArcLight Cinemas on April 2, 2014 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Actress January Jones attends the Fallout 4 video game launch event in downtown Los Angeles on November 5, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images for Bethesda)
Actress January Jones attends the 16th Annual AFI Awards at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on January 8, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for AFI)
Actress January Jones attends the 4th Annual Crab Cake LA fundraiser event presented by Cadillac and Agavero to benefit Chrysalis on July 31, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images for Crab Cake LA )
Actress January Jones attends the 5th Annual NFL Honors at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on February 6, 2016 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)
Actress January Jones attends the AMC celebration of the final 7 episodes of "Mad Men" with the Black & Red Ball at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on March 25, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
January Jones has opened up about raising her son as a single parent in a rare, candid interview.
The Mad Men star (38) welcomed her son Xander in 2011 and for personal reasons, never revealed the identity of his father and is raising him as a single mother.
While she has spoken about her private life selectively over the years, previously saying she "knew I would be raising my son alone" and was "excited" when she discovered she was pregnant, she has opened up about raising him alone.
The famously private actress said that her son has plenty of "bro time" with the male figures in his life.
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"Xander has a lot of bro time with the neighbour dads and my dad, who is super young. It's good to have strong women around a man to teach him to respect women. He doesn't have a male person saying 'don't cry' or 'you throw like a girl,'" she told Red magazine.
"All those s**tty things that dads accidentally do."
The Golden Globe nominee said she would have to meet the right person in order to "make room" for him in her fulfilling family life.
"I just don't feel I need a partner," she explained.
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"Do I want one? Maybe. But I don't feel unhappy or lonely.
"It would have to be someone so amazing that I would want to make room. Someone who would contribute to my happiness and not take away from it."
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"After I had Xander, I went on a couple of dates and I was like, 'I'd rather be at home sleeping, watching TV or hanging out with my kid.' People want to set me up all the time and I'm like, 'No way.' If I meet someone and we go out, fine, but I'm not going to go look.
"The moment I see someone who I think is cute, I Google him and, oh, he's 25, and I'm thinking, 'What is my problem?!' I want a manly man in flannel, with a beard and an axe. But then there's always something wrong. Like he's a Republican."
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As for her son, she recalled her labour experience in which she wanted only "female energy" in the room and would love to have another child.
"My younger sisters and my mom and my doula were in the room; my brother-in-law and my dad were next door. I only wanted women with me. Female energy," she said.
"It was a 30-hour process but it was awesome. I'd love to do it again."
Sherlock Holmes returned to our screens this week (BBC)
Sherlock producer and actor Mark Gatiss has made a poetic response to critics who have attacked the show's latest series for being too much like James Bond.
The star, 50, wrote a five-verse piece, complete with rhyme, explaining how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective had always been a skilled fighter.
Referring to some of the most famous Sherlock stories, Gatiss challenged his critics: "In hurling Moriarty over the torrent, did Sherlock find violence strange and abhorrent?
"In shooting down pygmies and Hounds from hell, Did Sherlock on Victorian niceties dwell?"
His composition followed an article in The Guardian, which claimed that the show's New Year's Day episode, which saw Benedict Cumberbatch's famous character embroiled in fist fights and his friend John Watson's wife turn out to be an assassin, was too physically violent.
The article, by Ralph Jones, described Sherlock as "perversely morphing" into the typical 007-style action movie detective, rather than the science-focused "nerd" of Sir Arthur's stories.
Addressing his critic, Gatiss wrote: "Here is a critic who says with low blow, Sherlock's no brain-box but become double-O.
"Says the Baker St boy is no man of action - whilst ignoring the stories that could have put him in traction."
Hitting back at the idea that the modern Sherlock Holmes of his and Steven Moffat's creation has become more akin to the suave, gun-toting Bond, he concluded: " There's no need to invoke in yarns that still thrill, Her Majesty's Secret Servant with licence to kill.
"From Rathbone through Brett to Cumberbatch dandy, w ith his fists Mr Holmes has always been handy."
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Read the full poem below:
"Here is a critic who says with low blow
Sherlock's no brain-box but become double-O.
Says the Baker St boy is no man of action -
whilst ignoring the stories that could have put him in traction.
The Solitary Cyclist sees boxing on show,
The Gloria Scott and The Sign of the Fo'
The Empty House too sees a mention, in time, of Mathews,
who knocked out poor Sherlock's canine.
As for arts martial, there's surely a clue
in the misspelled wrestle Doyle called baritsu.
In hurling Moriarty over the torrent
did Sherlock find violence strange and abhorrent?
In shooting down pygmies and Hounds from hell
Did Sherlock on Victorian niceties dwell?
When Gruner's men got him was Holmes quite compliant
Or did he give good account for The Illustrious Client?
There's no need to invoke in yarns that still thrill,
Her Majesty's Secret Servant with licence to kill
From Rathbone through Brett to Cumberbatch dandy
With his fists Mr Holmes has always been handy."
- Mark Gatiss.
A newlywed couple are determined to change the proposal game in Ireland.
It's no secret that weddings are big business, but Jason and Niamh Weldon (both 30) are keen to make the experience as special as possible from the very start.
The pair, who wed last August, have launched a new engagement planner service after Jason said he had "ideas beyond my reach" when it came to popping the question to his girlfriend of eight years.
On Valentine's Day 2015, Jason got down on bended knee at Jamie's Italian in Dundrum and while he was thrilled to have organised a photographer to capture the surprise (pictured above), he said he was overwhelmed by all that was required for the proposal to show how much he meant to him.
"You have all these plans for hot air balloons or a horse and carriage but you simply dont have the time for it," he told independent.ie
"It was important for me to show the love of my life how much she means to me, so I wanted to have it all organised and for it to be a surprise to her.
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"I managed to do this but I also found that we lead a busy life and we spend most of our free time together. So making calls and sending e-mails were all difficult when trying to organise so much."
They set up YourEngagementPlanner.ie as a passion project as both still work full-time in their respective careers - Jason in commercial finance and Niamh owns a home bakery.
Prices for the planning vary from client to client based on "heir individual needs and budgets", but said there are the "bog standard" packages available with the option of enhancing experiences that will require more time and money.
Examples of more elaborate proposals would include the aforementioned hot-air balloons or catering for ex-pats coming from America looking to source an idyllic proposal.
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The service is fully dependent on the perons budget and the plans they want, he said.
One example of a simple proposal suggested by the couple is on the HaPenny Bridge after a "romantic night out when the stars out in a stunning location".
Howth Head would also be suitable with a "stroll and some ice-cream before proposing at the end of the pier."
The service will be full available around the country.
CP, from South Africa, moved to Dublin with family when he was 12 years old.
Just a few years later, he met Dubliner Amy when their separate youth groups happened to be staying at the same B&B on a trip away. Soon after the pair had their first date along Bray seafront, and it wasn't long before they fell for each other.
In December 2014, Amy arrived at the Gibson Hotel, Dublin, thinking that CP had booked them a double room as a Christmas surprise - but instead she arrived at the executive suite, where she was greeted with prosecco, chocolates and rose petals. CP's perfect proposal was answered with a yes!
The couple opted for a church ceremony in Rathmichael Parish Church in South Dublin and afterwards held their reception at Tankardstown House, Meath.
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"Besides its obvious beauty and breathtaking rooms, Tankardstown House just ticked all the boxes. I knew that it would capture the magic of a winter wedding, with real fires and candles everywhere," says Amy, who found her dream dress at Embrace Bridal, Wexford.
Amy and CP added several personal touches on the day, including bringing their own chairs for the ceremony - which had been embroidered by Amy's great-grandmother. Amy also tied a small locket to her bouquet which contained a picture of her grandmother and great uncle, with whom she was very close.
After their big day, Amy and CP stayed at Fota Island Resort, Cork for three nights, and the pair have a big honeymoon planned for summer 2017.
n Words by Dee Finnerty. Photography by Couple Photography, visit couple.ie
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If you would like your wedding featured here, email weddings@independent.ie
LG has unveiled a new smart fridge that users can control with their voice thanks to the integration of Amazon's Alexa personal assistant.
The technology normally found within the Amazon Echo speaker hub has been added to the Korean tech giant's new InstaView fridge, which also comes with a 29-inch full HD touchscreen display on the door and built in camera for scanning and checking the food being stored.
Users can ask Alexa to add items to their shopping list, check the weather and set cooking timers via the fridge, which will also send notifications and images to an owner's smartphone for food shopping planning.
LG's home appliances boss Song Dae-Hyun said: "By working with Amazon, we are able to broaden our smart refrigerator's capabilities and further provide our customers with a pleasurable cooking and dining experience.
"Our Smart InstaView Door-in-Door refrigerator will allow users to enjoy their kitchen experience like never before."
The smart fridge also has LG's WebOS software built in - normally saved for their TVs - that enables users to use the touchscreen to leave virtual notes, lists and memos for other family members.
As part of their press conference ahead of the CES technology show in Las Vegas, LG also revealed a series of new robots they plan to bring to homes and public spaces.
The firm's Hub Robot also uses Amazon's Alexa voice controls and connects to other smart appliances around the house, enabling it to set the heating and control the oven and music speakers among other tasks.
The Hub can move and swivel in place while showing an array of emotions on its built-in display.
An Airport Guide Robot that can scan a passengers plane ticket and give them airport information and directions to their gate was also demoed on stage.
LG also used their event to introduce their new flagship TVs, the Signature OLED W, which is only 2.57mm thick and must be mounted to the wall with magnetic brackets.
LG says the result is the impression the TV is either levitating or is built into the wall like a window, which it said partly inspired the "W" name.
A second-hand bookshop owner who has sparked more than 20 complaints about his rudeness has admitted he was wrong to call a customer a "pain in the arse".
Steve Bloom, who runs Bloomindales high in the Yorkshire Dales, has been criticised for asking visitors for a 50p entry fee, with the chairman of Hawes Parish Council branding him "the bookseller from hell".
Mr Bloom, describing himself as "not really a people person", said the council had given the issue more importance than it deserved.
The 63-year-old admitted he should not have called a customer, who went on to complain about his welcome to the council, "a pain in the arse".
At his home near Settle, North Yorkshire, he said: "I regretted it as soon as I said it.
"He arrived just as I was closing, but I allowed him to go in and browse around. But he ignored me completely when I asked for my 50p, which didn't help things at all."
He explained his policy of asking customers for 50p was a way of finding out whether they were serious or not, and that he did not actually take the money.
He said: "There are times when I've wondered whether it's the right thing to do, but I stand by it."
Parish councillors in Hawes have discussed the shop five times since 2013, and chairman John Blackie said the "dreadfully rude and offensive" bookseller was a discredit to the market town.
Mr Blackie said he has received more than 20 complaints from visitors in the past four years about the shop and Mr Bloom's 50p entry fee for browsers.
Mr Blackie, 68, said: "I'm afraid we have the bookseller from hell.
"He seems to have a strategy unlike anybody else's.
"He charges 50p, people object and he is very rude to them. Yet he feels that improves his business."
He added: "The trouble is, he is doing a disservice to the other traders, to the reputation of the town which is very much a friendly town. We welcome people to come a visit us."
Mr Blackie said Mr Bloom seemed to enjoy the notoriety, and did not seem bothered by criticism online.
One comment on the Yell website said other shoppers "recoiled in embarrassment" when the reviewer was asked to leave while browsing postcards, having refused to pay 50p.
Another gave only one star out of five, and said that he and his wife received a very rude reception and they were asked to pay the entry fee, returnable on purchase of a book.
The bookshop is based in Hawes Market House, a charity - and although complaints have been passed on to the building's trustees, there has been no change Mr Blackie said.
The parish council chairman said he will visit Mr Bloom again and urge him to be polite.
"He can see the great difficulties, the upset that he causes in the local community," Mr Blackie said.
"He might be better off trying a charm offensive. If you charm them more and offend them less, you might have a business even better than it is now, and we can all live happily ever after."
Mr Blackie will urge the Market House Trustees to put pressure on Mr Bloom to mend his ways, or warn him he could be thrown out.
Israeli soldier Sgt Elor Azaria before the verdict inside the military court in Tel Aviv (Heidi Levine, Pool via AP)
Israeli soldier Sgt Elor Azaria before the verdict inside the military court in Tel Aviv (Heidi Levine, Pool via AP)
Israel's prime minister has called for a pardon for a soldier convicted of manslaughter in the shooting death of a badly wounded Palestinian attacker.
With his comment, Benjamin Netanyahu has plunged into a raging political debate that has divided the country, putting himself at odds with the military.
The prime minister made the remarks just hours after Sergeant Elor Azaria was convicted on Wednesday. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years. Azaria's defence team has already said it will appeal.
On his Facebook page, Mr Netanyahu wrote: "I support giving Elor Azaria a pardon."
He also urged the public to support the army and its commanders.
The country's president, Reuven Rivlin, has authority to issue pardons but has said he will wait for the legal process to run its course before making a decision.
AP
Charles Manson pictured in October 2014, following reports that he had been taken to a California hospital (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation/AP)
Mass murderer Charles Manson has been taken from his California prison cell to a hospital, according to several news reports.
A prison official would only confirm that the 82-year-old was alive and gave no other information.
Manson was convicted of orchestrating the 1969 murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others.
The cult leader attracted disaffected young people who lived in a commune, followed his orders and were ultimately turned into killers.
Both TMZ and the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday that Manson had been taken to hospital.
TMZ said he had been taken to a medical centre in Bakersfield, about 60 miles south of Corcoran State Prison where Manson was being held.
Two vans from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) were parked early on Wednesday outside Bakersfield's Mercy Hospital Downtown, where state prisoners have been treated before.
Some news media have gathered across the street from the hospital.
But CDCR spokeswoman Terry Thornton said only that Manson was alive and still assigned to the prison in Corcoran.
She declined to say whether he was at the hospital in Bakersfield, citing safety privacy laws prohibiting her from discussing an inmate's medical situation.
Tate's sister Debra Tate told the Associated Press on Tuesday night that, as a Catholic, she makes "no ill wishes" for the people who killed her sister, and will reserve her feelings until hearing Manson has died.
"I would probably say a prayer for them and shed a tear and ask God to have mercy on their souls, but so far I haven't allowed myself to feel anything because it's unsubstantiated," Ms Tate said.
"I'm not allowing myself to feel anything until I know that it's true."
Manson and three female followers, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten, were convicted of murder and sentenced to death for killings at two gruesome scenes in the summer of 1969. Another defendant, Charles "Tex" Watson, was convicted later.
All were spared execution when a US Supreme Court ruling temporarily banned the death penalty in 1972.
Sarah Ardalani, of the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, said in an email that the agency had no information on Manson.
The office prosecuted Manson and has objected to his release. He was most recently up for parole in 2012 - his 12th bid for freedom.
The California State Prison, Corcoran, has medical facilities to treat inmates requiring urgent or emergency care as well as in-patient hospital stays.
"In general, inmates are sent to outside hospitals if they need surgical services, emergency care, or diagnostic services of an acute nature," said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for the federal receiver who controls prison medical care.
"These services are not provided in state prison facilities."
In November, the state inspector general, which monitors the corrections system, characterised care at Corcoran as "inadequate".
AP
It isnt every day the General Federation of the Chambers of Commerce together with the biggest Investors Association in Egypt representing most of the Egyptian private sector publish an appeal to the president complaining about the policies adopted by the government and the central bank, as they did last week.
The call for help is illustrative both of economic mismanagement and the lack mechanisms and channels to resolve differences and manage competing interests society.
The origin of the latest problem is the upheaval in the currency market over the last year. Companies importing equipment, raw materials, or other products borrowed from banks in foreign currency to meet their needs, but couldnt make loan payments in the same currency, either because it was not available in the official market or because buying it outside of it became a crime carrying the risk of prison.
So banks demanded coverage of the debt in Egyptian pounds, as a guarantee for future payment. When the pound value collapsed, these companies debt suddenly doubled, leading them to realise significant losses at years end. And where this could have been an ordinary commercial dispute of the type seen around the world when currency prices change markedly, it became a full-blown crisis in the last few weeks due to the fact that it involves dozens of companies, that the delay in unifying the price of the pound exacerbated matters, that these companies and their workforce are now in jeopardy, and that the tax revenue the state was expecting this year may be significantly lower given the steep decline in corporate profits.
This is not the first crisis resulting from recent economic decisions, and I dont think it will be last. But the problem is not actually about the decision to float the pound, which I still believe was a sound, necessary step, though late in coming. The heart of the problem is that the state acted as if simply floating the pound, raising energy and fuel prices and customs fees, and introducing the VAT are its economic policy, when in fact it was necessary to follow up on these decisions with programs and policies to increase investment and employment, bring back tourism, encourage exports, and protect the poor from the price increases in necessary goods and services that inevitably follow such decisions.
Instead, having seemed serious in recent weeks about correcting the economic course and working as a team, the government now looks to have stumbled, taking reluctant, contradictory steps without articulating a clear vision of what it hopes to accomplish.
This was demonstrated in its failure to anticipate and then to swiftly deal with a sugar crisis, then a fertilizer crisis, then a pharmaceutical crisis, then the imported poultry crisis, in the ongoing shortage of foreign currency despite the float, out-of-control price hikes, the public recriminations between various ministries and public agencies, and most recently the public appeal directed at the president. In each of these crises, the state didnt seem prepared or even cognizant of the predictable outcomes it shouldve been ready for.
Part of the problem is that the state thinks that because people havent reacted to its economic decisions by revolting or demonstrating in the streets, then such economic policy is a success. In fact, there is a crisis and the anger at economic mismanagement is spreading across all social classes. And if investors associations have the resources to express their anger in paid ads, it doesnt mean other segments of the population happily accept this out-of-control situation. They just lack the means to voice their demands and problems.
This brings me to the issue of demands and interests. Its not unusual to have competing, mutually incompatible interests in societyin fact, thats the norm. Workers interests are not employers interests; the demands of importers will certainly run up against those of producers and manufacturers; pensioners have different concerns than youth looking for jobs, and major global firms have a different perspective than artisans and small craftsmen.
Countries dont make economic strides by assuming some imaginary, idealised social consensus. They advance and grow when theyre able to manage competing class and social interests in a balanced, democratic waywhen local councils, parliament, the media, NGOs, labor unions, and business associations are strong, independent, and truly representative of their members interests, and when channels are open for continuous, collective, social bargaining.
But with a weak parliament, the absence of elected local councils, state control of the media, unions, and civil society, the pillory of everyone who opposes government policies, and dialogue limited to those with influence with the powers that be, people will have no choice but to petition the president or look for other channels of protest.
*The writer holds a PhD in financial law from the London School of Economics. He is former deputy prime minister, former chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority and former chairman of the General Authority for Investment.
A version of this article was published in Arabic in El-Shorouq newspaper on Monday, 2 January.
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A bleak film which tells the story of how teenager Kayleigh Haywood was groomed online by a stranger and then brutally raped and murdered has been released by police.
The film, called Kayleigh's Love Story, charts the last fortnight of her life and warns parents and children of the dangers of online grooming.
Kayleigh, 15, was killed by Stephen Beadman in November 2015 after being bombarded with messages on Facebook and other social media sites for around two weeks by his 28-year-old neighbour Luke Harlow.
Over a fortnight, they exchanged 2,643 messages.
Harlow groomed Kayleigh, along with two other girls he had also been speaking to, but it was Kayleigh who finally agreed to his requests to spend the night at his house.
The five-minute short was made with the support of Kayleigh's parents and has already been shown at schools in Leicestershire and Rutland.
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Leicestershire Police said 35 children found the courage to come forward and report possible cases of grooming to officers after seeing the film.
The award-winning film, which begins with a warning that it would have a 15 certificate if shown in a cinema, starts by showing how Kayleigh began receiving messages from Harlow.
As the pair exchange messages, the film cuts between scenes of Kayleigh at home with her family and Harlow smoking a cigarette in his flat.
It also shows examples of messages Harlow sent the teenage girl as he groomed her.
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"Mum and dad wouldn't understand, they don't know that he's different," the actress playing Kayleigh says.
The film shows Kayleigh meeting Harlow at his house on Friday 13 November, where she spent the next day.
In the early hours of Sunday 15 November, having been held against her will by Harlow and his next door neighbour Stephen Beadman, Kayleigh was raped and murdered by Beadman.
The video ends by warning: "Stop and think. When you meet someone online, you don't always know who you are talking to."
Expand Close Flowers and tributes left outside Sence Valley Forest Park in Ibstock, Leicestershire where police found a body during the search for Kayleigh Haywood. Joe Giddens/PA Wire / Facebook
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Whatsapp Flowers and tributes left outside Sence Valley Forest Park in Ibstock, Leicestershire where police found a body during the search for Kayleigh Haywood. Joe Giddens/PA Wire
The film was shot in various locations across Leicestershire and Nottingham by Affixxius Films.
Miles Latham, managing partner of Affixxius Films, told The Independent: "It is one of the most intricate projects we have ever taken on. The production of a film this graphically accurate, while the case was still going on, is unheard of.
"Very few police forces would have the courage to get the family's permission. There were obvious difficulties having to work with Kayleigh's mum and dad, which was incredibly difficult.
"They were obviously broken, hollow people. But to give them enormous credit, they were one hundred per cent behind the project from the beginning. They endorsed the film wholeheartedly."
He said the video agency wanted to capture the character of Kayleigh in the film. "We wanted her to walk like Kayleigh, to move like Kayleigh, to interact with her family like Kayleigh did."
Expand Close Police make their way across a field in Ibstock, Leicestershire, near to where a body has been found during the search for missing Kayleigh Haywood. Joe Giddens/PA Wire / Facebook
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Whatsapp Police make their way across a field in Ibstock, Leicestershire, near to where a body has been found during the search for missing Kayleigh Haywood. Joe Giddens/PA Wire
Leicestershire Police gave them access to all of the digital messages exchanged between Kayleigh and Harlow, allowing them to build their script. "It's like reading something out of a horror film," Mr Latham said.
He said he hoped the film would "reinforce a message which is as old as time: Don't talk to strangers.
"The only way we can stop other incidences like Kayleigh's happening is if young adults have a moment of realisation and are able to realise that things could develop."
Leicestershire's Deputy Chief Constable Roger Bannister said: "What happened to Kayleigh was horrific but we are pleased that some good is coming from the awful tragedy and that this film is raising far greater awareness of the dangers of online grooming and the signs that it may be happening."
Last July, Beadman, then 29, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape, false imprisonment and murder of the teenager, while Harlow was given a 12-year jail term for false imprisonment and grooming.
Parents have complained on social media after Alison Colwell turned away pupils who failed to obey the uniform policy at Ebbsfleet Academy in Kent, which includes a rule banning skirts that sit more than 5cm above the knee. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire
A head teacher has defended enforcing her school's uniform policy by sending home "teenage girls who flash large amounts of thigh".
Parents have complained on social media after Alison Colwell turned away pupils who failed to obey the uniform policy at Ebbsfleet Academy in Kent, which includes a rule banning skirts that sit more than 5cm above the knee.
Ms Colwell said about 20 pupils were sent home on the first day of term on Tuesday.
She said: "We have a clear uniform policy that we enforce. Our rules are no stricter than most schools, it's just that we are consistent in enforcing them.
"Parents were warned about this last term and students who chose to break the rule yesterday were given the choice to borrow a school second-hand skirt.
"The tiny minority of parents who choose to defy us, and our rules, are a minority - it's a curious parent who thinks it is acceptable for teenage girls to flash large amounts of thigh, or worse.
"The overwhelming majority of our parents are fantastic and support what we are doing and the tremendous achievements of the academy since opening three years ago."
Ms Colwell said, following an Ofsted inspection last term, the school was rated good and was praised for "strong leadership" which "has led to higher academic standards, better behaviour and increased attendance".
One parent wrote on Facebook that her 15-year-old daughter had been turned away for wearing a skirt that she had worn previously to the school. She said "about 200 other girls" had been refused entry.
She said: "They're letting their pupils down by turning them away, they're shutting the gates in their faces for silly reasons.
"I'm very angry - school is a place where these kids should be able to feel safe, they just want to go to school."
Ms Colwell has received criticism from some parents over her policy of enforcing school uniform rules since she took over at the school in 2012.
She took charge of the newly opened Ebbsfleet Academy, which replaced the under-performing Swan Valley Community School.
Terry Joseph, whose 14-year-old daughter Nicole was one of those turned away, said he was concerned that pupils were left out of school without supervision.
The 55-year-old HGV driver, from Greenhithe, said: "They put out quite a few girls and boys out of the school without their parents' knowledge, there were children walking the streets of Kent, perhaps some without anywhere to go.
"My biggest concern was for the safety of the children as the school has a duty of care."
He continued: "I do not have a problem with them enforcing it but they need to give parents enough time, nobody was made aware at the end of term. The first time I knew about it was when my daughter came back on Tuesday.
"My personal feeling is they aren't too short but they have different ideas."
An 18-year-old student who died after attending an event at popular London nightclub Fabric smuggled drugs into the venue in his boxers before buying more inside, an inquest has heard.
Jack Crossley, from Worcester Park, Surrey, died on the morning of August 6 after becoming unwell at the club, in Farringdon, central London.
He had brought MDMA into the venue with two friends but later purchased more after being approached by a stranger, Poplar Coroner's Court in east London was told.
Mr Crossley, a trainee electrician, received medical attention after trying to leave the venue - propped up by two friends - at around 5.30am.
His temperature was recorded as high as 42.2C as he received treatment and his heart rate was measured at 190 beats per minute, paramedic Caroline Smith, who was working at the venue, said in a statement.
A heart rate of 60 to 90 beats per minute is expected in a healthy individual, she added.
Mr Crossley was taken to the Royal London Hospital where he died at 8.58am after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Senior Coroner Mary Hassell said the death was caused by MDMA toxicity.
She added: "I make a determination that the death was drug-related."
Mr Crossley arrived at the club with friends Joe Ryan and Josh Green between 11pm and 11.30pm on Friday August 5.
He had visited Fabric twice before and had taken drugs on both occasions, the inquest heard.
One visit was in June on the same night that 18-year-old Ryan Browne was taken to hospital after taking ecstasy at the club. He later died.
Mr Green said staff had carried out a "brief search" of the trio but they managed to smuggle in three-quarters of a gram of MDMA, which they had bought ahead of the event, in their boxers.
He added that staff had "squeezed" his ankles, he assumed to search for weapons.
Mr Ryan said: "I do not remember it being at the ankles. I remember it being a pat.
"I actually said to one of them 'Do you want me to empty my pockets?' and he said no. It was a bit weird."
The group took the drugs while inside but Mr Crossley and Mr Ryan later had more, which they bought from someone in the club.
Mr Ryan said Mr Crossley had not appeared unwell - apart from looking "red in the face" when he was in the smoking area.
Staff were alerted to Mr Crossley's condition when the group left the club.
In the medical area, Ms Smith said he was "pale and sweating profusely", his "teeth were chattering" and he lashed out at staff as he experienced "confusion and paranoia".
As she gave her verdict, Ms Hassell said: "A youngster like Jack, who has taken MDMA twice before, has gone to a club and has done what it seemed like other people are doing and it's no more than that.
"It's no more than doing what so many youngsters will do and they won't have any consequences."
Mr Crossley's inquest comes days before Fabric's reopening event this weekend.
The nightclub had its licence revoked in September and was forced to close after Islington Council found it had a "culture of drug use" which staff were "incapable of controlling".
But the venue reached an agreement with the Metropolitan Police and the council in November over new licence conditions such as a raised entry age and tougher security measures.
Giving evidence at the inquest, Luke Laws, general manager at Fabric, said the club had made changes to its security processes and updated its CCTV ahead of the relaunch.
He urged further education on drugs to prevent any more tragedies and stressed that the problem was wider than one club.
"I cannot express how horrific it is to witness that sort of thing," he said.
"We run a disco ultimately. It's there for enjoyment and it's there to have fun."
Frances Cappuccini, 30, who died after giving birth by emergency Caesarean section, as the jury has been selected in a landmark case in which a doctor and a trust are charged in connection with her death. Photo: Family handout/PA Wire
A mother-of-two who died just hours after having a caesarian told her husband: "I love you - if anything happens just make sure you look after the boys", an inquest heard.
Primary schoolteacher Frances Cappuccini, 30, died just eight hours after the birth of her second son Giacomo - having lost several litres of blood.
An inquest on Tuesday resumed into her death after it was halted in 2014.
It heard how the mother, from Offham, Kent, was absolutely "terrified" about having her second child after experiencing a traumatic birth with first son Luca - then aged four.
Her husband Tom Cappuccini said she entered Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury, Kent, on October 8, 2012 "certain" she wanted an elective caesarian procedure following advice from a consultant obstetrician at nearby Maidstone Hospital.
But on arrival Mr Cappuccini said midwives had "almost a smirk across their face almost laughing" when he told them she needed a caesarian and had been advised against having an epidural by their doctor.
Giving evidence at the hearing in Gravesend, Kent, on Tuesday, her husband said: "Frankie was terrified. She had been terrified for months in the run up to giving birth because of the previous experience and what happened.
"She was very certain she wanted me to make sure she had C-section on arrival."
Expand Close Consultant anaesthetist Errol Cornish. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire / Facebook
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The couple had booked an elected caesarian for the following Monday - just two days later - but had arrived at 8.30pm after she went into labour.
He said midwives and doctors at the hospital advised them "not to make a decision based on pain and fear" and told them there was no reason she could not give birth naturally.
Following their advice, she endured 12 hours of grueling labour before being rushed for a caesarian at 8.30am the following morning - where surgeons made the fatal error of leaving a large piece of placenta in the uterine cavity.
Asked if he felt free to make the choice about the birth, Mr Cappuccini added: "I put my trust and Frankie"s trust in the people that were there. They disregarded previous medical advice and we were made to feel small and insignificant.
"In hindsight I wish I had never agreed."
The mother was feeding her newborn son for the first time when she felt blood "flowing between her legs" and midwives found a pool of blood under her sheet.
When bleeding did not stop she was rushed back to theatre for surgery to investigate and stem the bleed.
Following the surgery Mr Cappuccini was told a piece of placenta which was described as "raggedy" was found in her uterine cavity.
But she was rushed to an Intensive Care Unit when she failed to come around from the general anaesthetic.
Appearing emotional in court, Mr Cappuccini said: "I was told that I could see her when she was stable in the ICU but I never got the chance.
"At 4pm a group of doctors came to see me and said her blood pressure had dropped and her heart had stopped. They had tried to revive her but they were unable to do so."
Neil Sheldon, a lawyer representing the family, told coroner Roger Hatch the fact Mrs Cappuccini underwent 12 hours of gruelling labour rather than be sent for an immediate elective caesarian was of "paramount concern" to her family.
He said: "As you will be immensely aware this inquest represents the only chance for Mrs Cappuccini's family to have investigated the circumstances surrounding her death and to have answers to the questions they still have as to why she died.
"There was an early admission of liability by the trust and there has been no civil trial and the criminal trial collapsed - for which the family watched as frustrated and to some extent bemused spectators.
"They have waited four and half years for long this opportunity with no little restraint and great patience."
He claimed if a caesarian had been undertaken at the earlier opportunity her death may have been avoided - something the NHS trust denies.
He added: "If the c section had been undertaken in an elected basis promptly on arrival at hospital l, possibly by a different surgeon, then that basic error may not have been made."
Representing the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, Mike Atkins said the risk of placenta being left behind remained the same regardless of when the surgery took place.
"The risk was no greater in the morning of the 9th than the evening of the 8th because when that surgery was performed the surgeon had the same good view of the stomach open. In fact the same staff were in duty."
Making an emotional tribute to his wife, Tom Cappuccini said: "She was one of the greatest people I am ever likely to meet in my life."
"She was very bubbly, kind, caring and loving person. She had lots of friends and lots of time for her friends.
"She was a great mother, a fantastic wife and she loved looking after Luca.
"As a teacher her education background enabled her to give him a good start to his young life."
The inquest was originally halted in 2014 when it became apparent that criminal charges could be brought following the tragedy.
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust made legal history by becoming the first NHS trust to face corporate manslaughter charges.
But the case was dismissed by a judge at the Inner London Crown Court in February 2016.
Dr Errol Cornish, the consultant anaesthetist who treated Mrs Cappuccini, was also told he had no case to answer with regards to gross negligence manslaughter charges against him.
Another doctor, Nadeem Azeez, also had charges against him dropped.
The inquest, which is due to last 10 days, continues.
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
France has started measures to suspend sales of a Vitamin D supplement marketed as Uvesterol D after the death of a baby who had been given a dose of it, a French medical safety watchdog said on Wednesday.
The agency said in a statement that investigations had found that there was a "probable link" between the infant's death and the way in which it was administered to the child.
Health Minister Marisol Touraine said that oral syringe through which it is administered appeared to be at fault and that the supplement itself was not dangerous.
Uvesterol D is developed by the Crinex laboratory and is used against Vitamin D deficiencies in children up to five years old.
Officials at Crinex could not be immediately reached for comment. The company told French media on Tuesday, before the ban was announced, that tens of millions of children had been given the supplement since 1990 without any deaths resulting.
The European Medicines Agency said that the supplement is not marketed in any other EU country but that it was monitoring the situation.
McDonald's has opened a franchise just steps away from the gleaming white marble dome of St. Peter's Basilica, giving indigestion to some cardinals and local business owners.
There was no fanfare for the Dec. 30 opening of the U.S. fast food giant's new venue behind a subdued exterior on the picturesque Borgo Pio, just outside the spiritual home of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.
When the plan emerged last year, one of its most strident critics was Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, who said McDonald's fare was far removed from Roman gastronomic traditions and not the healthiest of foods.
"The mega sandwich shop on Borgo Pio is a disgrace," Sgreccia told La Repubblica newspaper at the time.
"It would be better to use those spaces to help the needy of the area, spaces for hospitality, shelter and help for those who suffer, as the Holy Father teaches," Sgreccia said.
Despite the holy outrage in some quarters, two nuns were spotted on Tuesday lunchtime going inside the fast food joint.
In a statement, McDonald's emphasised that the new restaurant was in a popular tourist area outside the Vatican, although the building itself is Holy See property.
"As is the case whenever McDonald's operates near historic sites anywhere in Italy, this restaurant has been fully adapted with respect to the historical environment," the company said.
Some local business owners had written to Pope Francis to ask him to keep the chain out, for fear it would upset the artistic, culture and social identity of the neighbourhood.
In the letter, consumer group Codacons and a committee set up to protect Borgo Pio said the area, full of restaurants and shops selling religious articles, was already "saturated" and bringing in more tourists could be a security risk.
But some people who frequent the area welcomed the new arrival, including Raffaella Scarano, an Italian woman who works nearby.
"Anything that is good for the economy of our country is fine by me," she said.
Cities across Italy have been turning up the heat on fast food restaurants. McDonald's filed a $20 million lawsuit against Florence after the mayor of the Renaissance city turned down an application to open one of its restaurants there.
France has banned smacking, despite the vast majority of French parents being in favour of giving occasional corporal punishment to their children.
The move leaves only four countries in Europe where smacking remains a legal way of disciplining children, including Britain.
Anyone in France who breaks the new law will not face criminal sanction, making it a largely symbolic change, but child protection groups said the ban was essential. They said that decades of research suggested smacking was a counterproductive practice.
Smacking children, often known in French as "la fessee", has long been a divisive issue in a country where 70pc of adults were against a total ban and 85pc said they smack their children, according to a recent poll.
Until now, corporal punishment was forbidden in schools, but the "right to correct inside the family" was still tolerated as long as it was "light and to educational ends". But, after years of heated debate, a ban on smacking will be added to the civil code under a law discreetly passed just three days before Christmas.
Laurence Rossignol, the French family minister, called it an "indispensable tool in preventing child mistreatment".
But Jean-Christophe Lagarde, a French centrist MP, has described the new law as "a ridiculous attempt to micromanage family life".
The bill was passed after the independent Council of Europe, the EU's leading human rights organisation, last year urged France to impose a clear ban after a British charity complained.
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
The former leaders, many white-haired and in their eighties, sing Oh God Our Help In Ages Past
Former Nigerian rulers have banded together to sing a hymn for peace in the troubled nation, with some acknowledging they had a role in creating the "mess".
Their video wish for 2017 has received scornful comments from many on social media.
The former leaders, many white-haired and in their eighties, sing Oh God Our Help In Ages Past in sometimes shaky tenor and bass.
They include former military rulers Olusegun Obasanjo and Yakubu Gowon, former interim leader Ernest Shonekan and current vice president Yemi Osinbajo.
One Twitter user called the VIP choir a "rogues' gallery", while others accused them of being responsible for the woes of a resource-rich country impoverished by endemic corruption.
In comments made after singing the hymn, some of the former leaders acknowledged responsibility.
"In spite of the mess we made of the country, he (God) manages always to rescue us," said Alex Ekwueme, vice president from 1979 until the first of many military coups in 1983.
Ebitu Ukiwe, vice president under a dictatorship in 1984-1985, said: "I am grateful to almighty God for accepting us despite the mess we have made of ourselves and the country."
Africa's largest economy and the continent's second-biggest oil producer is currently in a recession caused by a looted treasury, low oil prices and massive shortages of foreign currency.
Nigeria is also beset by deadly violence including Boko Haram's Islamic uprising in the north east, attacks by oil militants in the south, demands by separatists for an independent Biafra in the south east and clashes between mainly Muslim herders and Christian farmers.
AP
Rebel fighters dig a trench on the forth day of the truce, on al-Rayhan village front near the rebel held besieged city of Douma, in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta, Syria. Photo: Reuters
A rebel fighter carries his weapon up a staircase on the forth day of the truce, on al-Rayhan village front near the rebel held besieged city of Douma, in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta. Photo: Reuters
Rebel fighters carry their weapons down a staircase on the forth day of the truce, on al-Rayhan village front near the rebel held besieged city of Douma, in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta. Photo: Reuters
A rebel fighter stands near weapons on the forth day of the truce, on al-Rayhan village front near the rebel held besieged city of Douma, in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta. Photo: Reuters
Rebel fighters walk inside a trench on the forth day of the truce, on al-Rayhan village front near the rebel held besieged city of Douma, in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta. Photo: Reuters
Residents of Damascus are scrambling for clean water after the Syrian government attacked rebels holding the city's main source in a nearby valley, leading to an accidental outage that has stretched on for nearly two weeks.
The cut-off is a major challenge to the government's effort throughout the nearly six-year-old civil war to keep the capital as insulated as possible from the effects of the conflict tearing apart much of the country.
"I have stopped cleaning the house, washing dishes or clothes. We no longer take showers," said Mona Maqssoud, a 50-year-old resident of Damascus. She said residents have relied on water tankers that come by occasionally and give 20 litres of water to each house, but that hasn't been enough. "We begged the drivers (to return) to our neighbourhood, but they refused."
The cut-off, since December 22, is the longest Damascus has seen, say residents, who are accustomed to intermittent outages. The opposition has long controlled Wadi Barada, the valley north-west of Damascus through which the river of the same name flows to the capital. The Barada River and its source, the Ain al-Fijeh spring, supply 70pc of the water for Damascus.
The government and the opposition had previously had an understanding to keep water services running. But that modus vivendi ended when forces of President Bashar al-Assad and his allies, the Lebanon Hezbollah guerrilla force, attacked the valley, home to some 100,000 people. The two sides blame each other for the cut-off.
An activist-run media collective in the Barada Valley said government and Russian aircraft had bombed the Ain el-Fijeh water processing facility, puncturing its fuel depots and contaminating the water stream. The collective said the plant's electrical control systems had been destroyed as well. Images showed the roof of the facility collapsed into its main water basin.
An activist with the group, Abu Mohammed al-Bardawi, said it would take at least two months to get the facilities working again.
Flowers and a Turkish flag are placed near the entrance of Reina nightclub, which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Yagiz Karahan
Flowers and pictures of the victims are placed near the entrance of Reina nightclub, which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Yagiz Karahan
A woman reacts outside the Reina nightclub by the Bosphorus, which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Yagiz Karahan
Turkish police conduct a security check near the Reina nightclub by the Bosphorus, which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Yagiz Karahan
Turkish police stand guard outside the Reina nightclub by the Bosphorus, which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Yagiz Karahan
A Turkish policeman stands guard near the Reina nightclub by the Bosphorus, which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Yagiz Karahan
Relatives react at the funeral of Busra Kose, a victim of an attack by a gunman at Reina nightclub, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
Relatives of Fatih Cakmak, a security guard and a victim of an attack by a gunman at Reina nightclub, react during his funeral in Istanbul, Turkey, January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
People walk outside the Reina nightclub by the Bosphorus, which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Yagiz Karahan
Relatives react at the funeral of Busra Kose, a victim of an attack by a gunman at Reina nightclub, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
A police officer looks at photographs of the victims after the attack at a nightclub in Istanbul (AP)
A man believed to be the gunman who killed dozens at an Istanbul nightclub films himself as he wanders near Istanbul's Taksim square (DHA-Depo Photos via AP)
THE suspected gunman who massacred 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub reportedly brought his wife and children with him to Turkey in order to deflect attention as he prepared his assault.
Three days after the shooting at the Reina club in the early hours of New Years Day, Turkish authorities were still hunting for the suspected killer and have yet to publicly identify him, despite having reportedly arrested his wife.
Sixteen people have been arrested so far in connection with the attack, including two foreigners who were detained at Istanbuls airport, but the prime suspect himself remains on the loose.
The woman identified as his wife was taken into custody in the city of Konya, along with two children.
The Haberturk newspaper said the man had brought his family with him to avoid suspicion from Turkeys security services. Young men travelling on their own face closer scrutiny than those with wives or children.
The woman told police that she did not know her husband was a member of Isil, which claimed credit for the massacre, according to Hurriyet, another Turkish newspaper. She apparently only learned of the attack after seeing news reports on television.
Turkish authorities believe the attacker had combat training and may have spent several years fighting with Isil in Syria, before leaving to carry out the attack in Istanbul.
He is absolutely a killer and he probably shot at humans before, said Abdullah Agar, a counter-terrorism expert. The attacker is a determined, faithful, practical,
cold-blooded expert and knows how to get results... he probably fired bullets in real clash zones.
Media reports said the suspect and his family flew from Kyrgyzstan to Istanbul on November 20 and then drove to Ankara, the Turkish capital, eventually arriving in Konya on November 22.
They reportedly found a studio flat and paid three months of rent upfront. The man told an estate agent that he was hoping to find a job in Konya, according to Hurriyet. He spent a month in Konya, a city of 1.2 million, before heading to Istanbul a few days before the attack.
Turkish police have either been unable to identify the suspect or decided against releasing his name to the public, prompting speculation in the press and on the streets.
Yesterday afternoon, a passport photograph emerged online belonging to a 28-year-old man from Kyrgyzstan who resembled the main suspect.
However, the man in the passport photograph, Iakhe Mashrapov, soon stepped forward to say that he had nothing to do with the attack and was in Kyrgyzstan when it happened.
He said he had travelled to Istanbul the day after for work and had been stopped by Turkish authorities, but was released soon after when they realised he had no connection to the hunted man. He was questioned by authorities in Kyrgyzstan yesterday and released.
Two unnamed men, identified only as foreign citizens, were arrested at Istanbuls Ataturk Airport yesterday. Their bags and mobile phones were searched and they were taken to a police station in the city for questioning.
Turkish media showed a selfie video of the suspect as he circled Istanbuls most famous square. The camera never leaves the mans unsmiling face as he walks through Taksim Square.
Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Convicted murderer Charles Manson is shown in this handout image released March 18, 2009 from Corcoran State Prison in California. REUTERS/Courtesy of Corcoran State
This Oct. 8, 2014 file photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows serial killer Charles Manson. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP, File)
Cult leader Charles Manson is still alive after being taken to hospital from his prison cell in California, a state corrections official has confirmed.
Both TMZ and the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday that the 82-year-old mass murderer had been taken ill. TMZ said Manson had been transported to a medical centre in Bakersfield, about 60 miles (97km) south of Corcoran State Prison where he was being held.
Late on Tuesday night, three vans from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation were parked outside Bakersfield's Mercy Hospital Downtown, where state prisoners have been treated before.
But CDCR spokeswoman Terry Thornton said only that Manson is still alive and still assigned to the prison in Corcoran. She declined to say whether he was at the hospital in Bakersfield, citing safety privacy laws prohibit her from discussing an inmate's medical situation.
Manson was convicted of orchestrating the 1969 murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others.
Miss Tate's sister, Debra Tate, told The Associated Press on Tuesday night that, as a Catholic, she makes "no ill wishes" for the people who killed her sister, and will reserve her feelings until hearing Manson has died.
"I would probably say a prayer for them and shed a tear and ask God to have mercy on their souls, but so far I haven't allowed myself to feel anything because it's unsubstantiated," she said. "I'm not allowing myself to feel anything until I know that it's true."
Manson was convicted of leading a cult in which disaffected young people living in a commune followed his orders and were ultimately turned into killers.
Manson and three female followers, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten, were convicted of murder and sentenced to death for killings at two gruesome scenes in the summer of 1969. Another defendant, Charles "Tex" Watson, was convicted later.
All were spared execution when a US Supreme Court ruling temporarily banned the death penalty in 1972.
Sarah Ardalani, of the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, said in an email that the agency had no information on Manson. The office prosecuted Manson and has objected to his release. He was most recently up for parole in 2012 - his 12th bid for freedom.
The California State Prison in Corcoran has medical facilities to treat inmates requiring urgent or emergency care as well as in-patient hospital stays.
"In general, inmates are sent to outside hospitals if they need surgical services, emergency care, or diagnostic services of an acute nature," said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for the federal receiver who controls prison medical care. "These services are not provided in state prison facilities."
In November, the state inspector general, which monitors the corrections system, branded care at Corcoran as "inadequate".
Donald Trump yesterday derailed an attempt by his party to weaken an independent ethics watchdog on the first day of the new term of Congress, prompting a last-minute reversal from Republicans.
Republicans voted behind closed doors on Monday to strip the Office of Congressional Ethics of its independence and much of its authority, despite the objections of Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House, and protestations from senior Democrats.
The change was due to be passed yesterday after the swearing-in of the new Republican Congress as part of a broader rules package. But just hours earlier, Mr Trump took to Twitter, without warning, to share his disapproval.
"With all that Congress has to work out, do they really have to make the weakening of the independent ethics watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority?" he wrote. "Focus on tax reform, health care and so many other things of far greater importance."
Less than two hours later, Republicans huddled in an emergency conference to determine how to proceed. They eventually decided to leave the ethics board intact.
Mr Trump rallied supporters during his campaign with a pledge to "drain the swamp" in Washington and came under pressure after the initial vote on the watchdog, which could have shielded Congress from investigation.
It had initially appeared that he would accept the move and Kellyanne Conway, his senior adviser, even attempted to defend it yesterday morning, noting that many members felt the office was overzealous and unfair and that "there are many ways for constituents to make their voices heard".
The unexpected intervention seemed to strengthen Mr Trump's hand by showing his influence in Congress, while embarrassing his own party, to the delight of Democrats.
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Some Republicans said angry calls from constituents, rather than pressure from leadership or Mr Trump, caused them to change their minds about the ethics overhaul. Republicans had planned to focus on efforts to roll back President Barack Obama's signature health reforms during the opening day of the 115th Congress.
It is a high-risk process, as some 20 million Americans now have health coverage under the law, certain aspects of which have proved highly popular.
Mrs Conway said no one would lose coverage under Mr Trump's plan, which she admitted has yet to be fully formulated.
Meanwhile, Ford Motor Company is cancelling plans to build a $1.6bn (1.5bn) factory in Mexico, and will invest at least some of the savings in new electric and autonomous vehicles to be built in the US.
The San Luis Potosi, Mexico, plant, which was announced last spring, was the subject of months of contention between the company and Mr Trump.
Ford had planned to move production of its Ford Focus small car to the plant from Michigan. Ford CEO Mark Fields said the company decided in recent weeks not to build the plant because of declining demand for small cars in the US.
It will still move production of the Focus to Mexico, but that will go to an existing plant in Hermosillo. The Michigan plant that currently makes the Focus will get new products next year.
Fields said Ford would invest $700m in the Flat Rock plant to make hybrid, electric and autonomous vehicles.
It will also hire around 700 workers. In announcing the Michigan expansion, Fields noted Mr Trump's promise to make the US more competitive by lowering taxes and easing regulations.
Mr Trump also launched a social media attack on General Motors, threatening to slap a tax on the US car giant for importing compact cars from Mexico. In a tweet, Mr Trump said the owner of Chevrolet, Cadillac and Vauxhall would have to stomach a "big border tax" if it failed to make cars in the United States.
GM makes the vast majority of compact Chevrolet Cruzes at a factory in Lordstown, Ohio, but imports hatchback versions of the Cruze from a plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.
Mr Trump said on his route to office that he would impose punitive tariffs of 45pc on goods from China and 35pc on goods from Mexico as part of a package of economic measures designed to boost US manufacturing industries. Writing on Twitter, Mr Trump said: "General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to US car dealers - tax free across border. Make in USA or pay big border tax!"( Daily Telegraph London)
A young boy with special needs has formed a heartwarming bond with a deaf dog.
Six-year-old Connor Guillet was born with a genetic disorder and is non-verbal.
His mother Brandi from New Jersey said her son has been "blessed" by the arrival of foster dog Ellie, who is deaf.
"I adopted my son at birth knowing he had a genetic disorder. He is now six and non verbal but uses sign for communication," Brandi wrote on Facebook.
"We are fostering a beautiful deafie boxer girl (soon to be adopted!). She is amazing with my son. She is the most gentle, loving girl ever. The most beautiful part of this adoption is my son and his dog can actually talk to each other.
"I highly encourage adoption of deaf dogs. She is such a perfect addition to our family. We have been blessed with Ellie."
The post along with a picture of Ellie cuddling Connor has gone viral, with Connor even making it onto the Ellen DeGeneres site.
A man with a Turkish flag walks past a police officer during a memorial outside the Reina club following the New Year's Day attack in Istanbul (AP/Emrah Gurel)
Turkey has identified the gunman in the Istanbul nightclub massacre, the foreign minister said as the president vowed that the country will not surrender to terrorists or become divided.
The gunman, who killed 39 people during New Year's celebrations at the Reina club, is still at large.
But foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said authorities had identified the man, without providing details.
"The identity of the person who carried out the attack on the Reina nightclub has been established," Mr Cavusoglu told Anadolu in a live televised interview.
Turkish police, meanwhile, detained at least five suspected Islamic State (IS) militants believed to be linked to the attack, the state-run news agency reported.
The operation was launched in the Aegean port city of Izmir and was ongoing, the Anadolu Agency said.
IS has claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded nearly 70 people.
Of those killed 27 were foreigners, many from the Middle East.
IS said a "soldier of the caliphate" had carried out the mass shooting to avenge Turkish military operations against IS in northern Syria.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the attack aims to set Turks against each other and deepen fault lines, but the country will not fall for this game.
Mr Erdogan made the comments in a live speech from Ankara, the first time he has publicly addressed the nation since the attack.
Responding to accusations in the past that Turkey had given support to IS, Mr Erdogan said that "to present the country which is leading the greatest struggle against Daesh as one supporting terrorism is what the terror organisation wants".
Mr Erdogan said that "in Turkey, no-one's way of life is under any threat. Those who claim this have to prove it. It is my duty to protect everyone's rights".
He also said that "to say Turkey has surrendered to terrorism is to take sides with the terrorists and terror organisations".
Police in Istanbul have set up checkpoints and are checking vehicles across the city as security levels remained high.
Police were stopping cars and Istanbul's ubiquitous yellow taxis, with passengers and drivers holding up their identifications while officers inspected inside the vehicles. Istanbul has been on high alert since the attack, with the gunman still at large.
The private Dogan news agency said that Wednesday's police operation targeted three families who had arrived in Izmir about 20 days ago from Konya - a city in central Turkey where the gunman is thought to have been based before carrying out the nightclub attack.
It said 27 people, including women and children, were taken into custody.
At least 14 people were previously detained in connection with the attack, including two foreigners stopped on Tuesday at the international terminal of Istanbul's Ataturk Airport after police checked their mobile phones and luggage, according to Anadolu.
Turkish media reports claimed on Tuesday that the gunman's wife was in custody and had told police she did not know her husband was linked to IS.
An eerie selfie video emerged of the alleged gunman on Tuesday, showing him silently touring Istanbul's most famous square. The camera never leaves the man's unsmiling face as he walks through Taksim Square during the 44-second clip that was broadcast on state-run Anadolu television and other Turkish media.
Funerals were held in Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and Turkey for the dead and on Wednesday, a Turkish Airlines jet carrying the bodies of two Indian citizens killed in the shooting landed in Mumbai. The bodies were received by a governing party politician and the victims' relatives and friends.
Bollywood film producer Abis Rizvi's body was taken to his home in suburban Bandra for burial later. The 49-year-old wrote, produced and directed a Bollywood movie, Roar: The Tigers Of Sunderbans, in 2014 aimed at spreading awareness about tigers.
The other Indian victim of the Istanbul attack was Khushi Shah, a 39-year-old fashion designer from Vadodara, a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Ms Shah's body was flown to her home town for cremation later, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Late on Tuesday, Turkey's parliament voted to extend by a further three months a state of emergency that was declared in the aftermath of the failed July 15 coup.
Turkey imposed the state of emergency to crack down on a network linked to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused of orchestrating the coup attempt. Gulen denies any involvement.
AP
An asylum-seeker hides his face as he sits in the dock of a court in Berlin (Maurizio Gambarini/dpa via AP)
A Syrian asylum-seeker has gone on trial in Germany accused of being a member of Islamic State (IS) and scouting out Berlin landmarks for a possible attack.
The hearing began two weeks after an attack on a Christmas market in the German capital, in which 12 people were killed and dozens more were injured.
IS said one of its members, a 24-year-old Tunisian who was shot dead days later by Italian police, carried out that attack.
Prosecutors do not believe that Shaas al-Mohammad, the 20-year-old defendant now on trial, was involved in the Christmas market attack, but cited it as one reason for allowing the public to observe the trial.
Judges rejected a defence motion to exclude the public due to the defendant's young age.
Federal prosecutor Gerwin Moldenhauer told the court that al-Mohammad joined IS in Syria in 2013 and underwent military training.
He then allegedly performed armed guard duty during the siege of the eastern Syrian city of Deir el-Zour and its airport in 2013 and 2014, and also helped transport supplies for the group.
Prosecutors alleged that he remained in the service of IS after coming to Germany as an asylum-seeker in summer 2015.
Phone records, WhatsApp messages and other evidence showed that al-Mohammad sent his IS contact details about tourist groups visiting Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, Alexanderplatz and the Reichstag parliament building in apparent preparation for an attack, they said.
Prosecutors also said that al-Mohammad recruited at least one new member, offered himself as a contact for extremists planning attacks in Germany, and even offered to carry out an attack himself or return to Syria to fight for IS.
He is charged with membership in a foreign terrorist organisation and violating weapons laws.
Al-Mohammad, seated behind a pane of reinforced glass, confirmed his name, address, date and place of birth to the judge but declined to state his last occupation.
The defendant, who has been in jail since his arrest on March 22, told the court through a translator that he would not make statements or answer questions during cross-examination.
His lawyer told the court that al-Mohammad was not a member of IS but of a different group, called Jund ar-Rahman, who had no motivation to carry out attacks in Germany.
Tarig Elobied said WhatsApp chats - in which his client allegedly went by the name "He who yearns for paradise" - showed he had not sworn allegiance to IS.
After the hearing, Mr Elobied said his client's trial had already been influenced by the Christmas market attack, citing the court's dismissal of his motion to exclude the public.
"We as Berliners are affected by this and of course the judges, who work in Berlin, are affected too," Mr Elobied said.
The trial is scheduled to continue until April.
Court spokeswoman Lisa Jani said the possible sentence al-Mohammad could face depended on whether he is convicted under juvenile or adult law.
The former entails a maximum sentence of five years, while the second could result in a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
AP
Donald Trump tweeted that North Korea would not develop nuclear weapons capable of reaching the United States (AP/Matt Rourke)
US president-elect Donald Trump has moved to fill senior posts in his administration even as new questions emerged about his priorities at home and abroad.
With his inauguration less than three weeks away, Mr Trump has appointed a former Reagan government official who has condemned Republicans' commitment to free trade as US trade representative.
The incoming president indicated that Robert Lighthizer, who is expected to take a hard line against China, would represent the US "as we fight for good trade deals that put the American worker first".
The new administration's specific plans for crafting new trade deals, spokesman Sean Spicer said, "will come in time".
While several hundred high-level White House posts remain unfilled, just a handful of outstanding Cabinet-level vacancies remain, specifically in the departments of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs, as well as a director of national intelligence.
Mr Trump's private meetings included one with Leo MacKay, a senior executive at a military contractor who previously served in the Department of Veterans Affairs under former president George W Bush.
"The president-elect is up on the issues," said Mr MacKay, a senior vice president at Lockheed Martin Corp, citing "first-class health care" for veterans as one of his priorities.
While tending to his cabinet, the president-elect and his senior advisers also worked to craft a domestic and international agenda while huddled behind closed doors in his Manhattan skyscraper.
Mr Trump has offered few details on his specific plans for governing in the months leading up to his stunning victory.
He signalled that he would not give his blessing to all of the Republicans' priorities on Capitol Hill, however, and openly questioned the timing of the House Republicans' push to gut an independent ethics board just as the new Congress gathers in Washington.
"Do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority"? Mr Trump tweeted. House Republicans later dropped the push.
The clash underscored Mr Trump's ability to influence the party's priorities on Capitol Hill. Once Mr Trump is inaugurated on January 20, the Republican Party will control the House, Senate and White House for the first time in nearly a decade.
US vice president-elect Mike Pence and Mr Trump's pick for secretary of state, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, are planning separate visits with representatives on Wednesday.
Ahead of those meetings, Mr Pence issued a direct challenge to Washington Republicans: "The president-elect has a very clear message to Capitol Hill. And that is, it's time to get to work.
"And it's time to keep our word to the American people."
Mr Pence said the administration's initial focus would be "repealing and replacing Obamacare" along with legislation to cut government regulation on businesses.
Mr Trump's team has yet to say whether millions of Americans covered under the health care law would lose health care insurance altogether once it is repealed.
At the same time, Mr Trump faced questions about his foreign policy, having issued a sharp statement about North Korea and China on Twitter the night before.
The president-elect charged that China "won't help with North Korea", a country working to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"It won't happen!" Mr Trump tweeted.
Senior aide Kellyanne Conway said Mr Trump was putting North Korea "on notice", but he was "not making policy at the moment".
She declared that as president, Mr Trump "will stand between (North Korea) and missile capabilities".
The aggressive stance prompted a warning from Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, who said China's efforts and commitment to the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear programme are "consistent and clear".
"We hope all sides can refrain from speaking or doing anything that can aggravate the situation and work in concert to pull the issue back to dialogue and negotiation," Mr Geng said.
Relatives react at the funeral of Busra Kose, a victim of an attack by a gunman at Reina nightclub, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
Turkey has established the identity of the gunman who killed 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Day, its foreign minister said on Wednesday, as police detained suspected Islamic State members of Central Asian and North African origin.
In an interview with the state-run Anadolu news agency, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu gave no further details about the gunman, whom Turkish officials have not named.
The attacker shot his way into the exclusive Reina nightclub on Sunday, then opened fire with an automatic rifle, reloading his weapon half a dozen times and shooting the wounded as they lay on the ground. Turks as well as visitors from several Arab nations, India and Canada were among the dead.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria.
Turkish media reports have said the attacker is believed to be an ethnic Uighur, possibly from Kyrgyzstan. He appeared to have been well-versed in guerrilla warfare and may have trained in Syria, according to one security source.
Police in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir said they had detained 20 suspected Islamic State militants thought to be of Central Asian and North African origin in raids on three addresses. Fake passports, cell phones, and equipment including night vision goggles and a GPS device were seized.
Police did not say whether the detentions were directly linked to the Istanbul nightclub attack. But local media reports have said the gunman is thought to have entered Turkey from Syria and spent time in Konya, traveling with his wife and two children so as not to attract attention.
At least 36 people have been detained since the attack, according to Turkish media reports. Anadolu said on Tuesday that 14 people had been detained in Istanbul, while NTV reported that two foreign nationals had been held at Istanbul's main airport.
Expand Close Relatives of Fatih Cakmak, a security guard and a victim of an attack by a gunman at Reina nightclub, react during his funeral in Istanbul, Turkey, January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas / Facebook
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Whatsapp Relatives of Fatih Cakmak, a security guard and a victim of an attack by a gunman at Reina nightclub, react during his funeral in Istanbul, Turkey, January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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Among those held in Istanbul were seven Uighurs detained at a restaurant in the working-class neighborhood of Zeytinburnu, where the gunman was thought to have gone by taxi after the attack and asked to borrow money to pay the driver, according to the Haberturk newspaper.
It said raids had been carried out on 50 addresses in the district, where many Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and Uighurs live.
"NOBODY'S LIFESTYLE UNDER THREAT"
The shooting in Istanbul's Ortakoy neighborhood, an upscale district on the Bosphorus shore, came after a year in which NATO member Turkey was shaken by a series of attacks by radical Islamist and Kurdish militants and by a failed coup.
Expand Close Flowers and pictures of the victims are placed near the entrance of Reina nightclub, which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Yagiz Karahan / Facebook
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Whatsapp Flowers and pictures of the victims are placed near the entrance of Reina nightclub, which was attacked by a gunman, in Istanbul, Turkey January 2, 2017. REUTERS/Yagiz Karahan
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Parliament voted overnight to extend emergency rule, first imposed after the attempted putsch, by another three months, enabling the government to enact new laws and limit or suspend rights and freedoms when deemed necessary.
President Tayyip Erdogan said the attack, which targeted a club popular with local celebrities and moneyed foreigners, was being exploited to try to divide the largely Sunni Muslim nation and that the state never meddled in how people lived.
"There is no point trying to blame the Ortakoy attack on differences in lifestyles," he said in a speech to local administrators at the presidential palace in Ankara.
"Nobody's lifestyle is under systematic threat in Turkey. We will never allow this," he said in comments broadcast live. It was his first public speech since the shooting.
Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate, which condemned the attack in its immediate aftermath, had issued a statement in December saying celebrating the New Year did not fit with Muslim values, triggering criticism from some parts of Turkish society.
Such calls have made many secular Turks suspicious of the Islamist background of Erdogan and the ruling AK Party, seeing them as bent on eroding the secular principles of the modern republic founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk after the fall of the Ottoman empire. Erdogan rejects such suggestions.
CONCORD- When Samuel Jijon-Bacilio got on stage to speak at a recent education event, he asked the audience if they had ever done anything that made them feel alive.
He said that is how he feels every time he works in a kitchen.
This A.L. Brown student that won SkillsUSA competitions in the culinary arts category, was a speaker during an Education Summit held by the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce. The summit, entitled Teaching Tomorrows Workforce Today, was held at ACN and brought business leaders together with educators from Kannapolis City Schools, Cabarrus County Schools and Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.
Jijon-Bacilio provided samples of his food and served as the student spotlight for the summit. He talked about why he loves SkillsUSA, which is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce.
I was so excited to join and little did I know it would take me so far, he said. I was third in the state as a freshman and then I came in first and I became vice president. Then I attended a national leadership and skills conference.
He also talked about how SkillsUSA is a student-driven organization and described how it is governed, adding that the organization teaches high school students valuable skills needed on the job. He also added that internships are a big help as well.
I dont know what would have happened to me without the culinary program. How do I learn to work in a kitchen? By working in a kitchen, Jijon-Bacilio said.
He concluded with a quote from American Chef Thomas Keller, saying A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.
What you learn in CTE (career and technical education) classes are like recipes. The student is the cook and the internship is the class, he said. With more experience you can add soul to your dish.
Another part of the summit was a Career and Technical Educators Panel with Rusty Parker, CTE director for Cabarrus County Schools; Daryle Adams, CTE director for Kannapolis City Schools and Dr. Van Madray of Rowan-Cabarrus.
The three discussed how career skills and soft skills are implemented into curriculum to ensure that students are ready for jobs after graduation.
DPI (Department of Public Instruction) is starting to develop a soft skills curriculum for us to use, so the state has seen a need for that, Parker said. The state is taking that direction and some is already imbedded in the curriculum.
They also continued the discussion about apprenticeships and internships and how those can work as partnerships with industries. Van Madray said those are also great opportunities for students to learn about what kind of careers they might want to pursue.
Unless they get to explore they dont know, he said.
The local employer spotlight for the summit was on Wayne Brothers, Inc., civil/infrastructure and concrete contractors. Milton Chicas, training director for the company, spoke about the value of student internships from the perspective of the employer.
Chicas gave the audience several examples of current employees that began as interns and worked their way up.
Our job is to supply the apprenticeship, internship or externship. Who gains something out of that internship? The student and the employer, Chicas said. Our society has changed. Our kids have different expectations of the world and life. Theres an opportunity for us. Maybe you can influence them through your work.
Chicas compared an internship to the construction of a large building. He said as people drive by the location where the building is being constructed, it gets better and better. He said thats what internships do for learning.
We hire an intern full-time and they come and learn with hands-on training. That hammer turns into an opportunity to truly understand what theyve learned as a college graduate, he said. They work side-by-side with the construction worker. That construction worker realized the student is just like us, and the student learns respect for them.
Throughout the internship, Chicas said the student usually becomes the cream of the crop because he or she understands the business and then they are great candidates for the job.
Go out there with the young guys or gals and share there is an opportunity in internships, Chicas concluded. Lets be the ones who start changing the image of the industry. It is a win-win, it really is.
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Editors Note: Following the release of this resolution over the weekend, a group of NAACP members staged a protest in Sessions Mobile, AL office. Our objective is certainly to stop his nomination, Bernard Simelton, president of the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP, told the Daily News from Sessions office. But our objective is also to get out the word to people in power to stop it, he said.
NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks issued the following statement opposing the nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions as potential Attorney General:
America yet stands at the beginning of presidential administration but also in the middle of a Twitter age civil rights movement based on old divisions. Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions is among the worst possible nominees to serve as Attorney General amidst some of the worst times for civil rights in recent memory.
Following a divisive presidential campaign, hate crimes rising, police videos sickening the stomach while quickening the conscience, protesters marching in the streets and politicians mouthing the myth of voter fraud while denying the reality of voter suppression, Senator Sessions is precisely the wrong man to lead the Justice Department. The NAACP, as the nations oldest and largest civil rights organization, opposes the nomination of Senator Sessions to become U.S. Attorney General for the following reasons: a record on voting rights that is unreliable at best and hostile at worse; a failing record on other civil rights; a record of racially offensive remarks and behavior; and dismal record on criminal justice reform issues.
Voting Rights:
Senator Sessions supported the re-authorization of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in 2006, but called the bill a piece of intrusive legislation just months earlier. Sessions has consistently voted in favor of strict voter ID laws that place extra burdens on the poor and residents of color, and drive voter suppression across the country. When the Supreme Court struck down federal protections in 2012 that prevented thousands of discriminatory state laws from taking effect since 1965, Sessions declared it was a good thing for the South. As a prosecutor in 1985, Sessions maliciously prosecuted a former aide to Martin Luther King for helping senior citizens file absentee ballots in Alabama.
Rather than enforcing voting rights protections, Senator Sessions has instead made a career of seeking to dismantle them. When Shelby County v. Holder gutted the protections of the VRA, Senator Sessions cheered. For decades, he has pursued the rare and mystical unicorn of voter fraud, while turning a blind eye to the ever-growing issue of voter suppression.
While Senator Sessions historical record on civil rights remains one of dismay, it is his unrepentant stance against the vote that remains our issue. The threat of voter suppression is not a historical but current challenge. At least 10 times in the past 10 months, the NAACP defended voting rights against coordinated campaigns by legislators targeting African-American voters in Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and many other states.
While the NAACP could gain the assistance of the Justice Department in fighting back against voter suppression, a Sessions-led DOJ would likely lead to the exact opposite. During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, then-Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbachs commitment to democracy allowed him to help write the VRA. Today, our nation stands on the verge of selecting an AG who has never shown the slightest commitment to enforcing the protections Katzenbach and others wrote into law.
How can our communities who have born the both historical and current brunt of the attacks on the right to vote, sit idly by while an enemy to the vote is now given the responsibility of enforcing this right? The simple answer is that we cant.
Other Civil Rights:
Since 1997, Senator Sessions has received an F every year on the NAACPs federal legislative civil rights report cards. Hes voted against our policy positions nearly 90 percent of the time. Senator Sessions has repeatedly supported lawsuits and attempts to overturn desegregation while shamelessly voting against federal Hate Crime legislation four times from 2000 to 2009.
Notwithstanding, he has also repeatedly voted against the Violence Against Women Act that expanded protection for victims of domestic violence and repeatedly stood on the wrong side of immigration and LGBT issues.
Racial Insensitivity:
During his failed 1986 federal judgeship hearing, four DOJ attorneys and colleagues of Senator Sessions testified that he made several racist statements. J. Gerald Hebert testified that Sessions had referred to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) as un-American and Communist inspired because they forced civil rights down the throats of people.
Additional accusations of racist behavior were attributed to Senator Sessions by Thomas Figures, an African American Assistant U.S. Attorney, who testified that Sessions said he thought the Ku Klux Klan was OK until I found out they smoked pot. Sessions later said that the comment was not serious, but did apologize for it. Mr. Figures also testified that on one occasion, Senator Session railed against civil rights cases, threw a file on the table and called him the derogatory racist term boy, and later advised Figures to watch what he said to white people.
Criminal Justice Reform:
In a time of expanding protests against the scourge of police brutality, Senator Sessions stands on opposite ground. He has repeated stood against the consent decree, a main tool of the DOJ to reel in racist and unaccountable police departments. In a report by the Alabama Policy Institute, Senator Sessions called consent decrees: One of the most dangerous, and rarely discussed, exercises of raw power is the issuance of expansive court decrees. Consent decrees have a profound effect on our legal system as they constitute an end run around the democratic process.
While under the administration of President Barack Obama, the DOJs Civil Rights Division made investigating police departments charged with racism and police brutality a key focus by intervening in high-profile cases in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland to impose consent decrees and reforms to correct misbehavior and the violation of citizens civil rights.
Senator Sessions would become the Attorney General under a president who supports nationalizing the racist and disproven stop and frisk, strategy. Both Sessions and the incoming president are supporters of the DOD 1033 program which allows police departments access to surplus military equipment including tanks, armored vehicles, grenade launchers and more. He also opposes the removal of mandatory minimum sentences and blocked efforts to reduce nonviolent drug sentencing despite wide bi-partisan support for doing so. If not enough, Senator Sessions has repeatedly voted against safe, sane, and sensible measures to stem the tide of gun violence.
Given that these are issues our nation the attorney general is sworn to protect and enforce his nomination represents an ongoing and dangerous threat to our civic birthrights particularly, and the right to vote.
We call upon the Senate to reject Sessions and for President-elect Donald J. Trump to replace Sessions with a nominee with a record of inclusion and commitment to protecting the civil rights of the American majority.
The NAACP does not believe that an election where the incoming president lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes represents a mandate to overhaul the America of the Majority. The vote remains the most important resource in making democracy real for all people.
As we have since 1909, the NAACP will continue to stand against Senator Sessions and any attempts to unravel the progress earned through the blood, sweat and tears of our people to enjoy the same rights under law as all Americans.
Bengaluru's mass molestation on the new year's eve proved that women aren't safe anywhere and geographical location has nothing to do with women safety.
BCCL
Despite the police presence, the blatant molestations and sexual abuse of women have left the entire country in a state of shock.
Reacting to the incident, Salman Khan's father and Bollywood scriptwriter Salim Khan took to Twitter to express his displeasure and anguish on the incident.
Twitter
He didn't just express his opinion, he even tagged PM Modi in the tweets and urged him to look into it immediately.
Honble PM Narendrabhai, you have time and again mentioned that Indias youth will drive the country forward. Salim Khan (@luvsalimkhan) January 3, 2017
Its a shame what the youth have done in Bngluru.Such acts are happning rptdly all ovr.We were also young once bt nvr have such things happnd Salim Khan (@luvsalimkhan) January 3, 2017
Narendrabhai the power of the youth is double edged it can go either way. You need to address it immediately @narendramodi @PMOIndia Salim Khan (@luvsalimkhan) January 3, 2017
Aamir Khan too expressed his anger during one the recent media events. A media report quoted the actor saying,
Twitter
The Bengaluru incident is saddening. We are hurt and ashamed that such a thing happened in our nation. We and every state government have to take the right steps and this should be a continuous process. There is no single solution to this problem."
For Aamir, having stricter rules and faster dispensation of justice to the victims is the best way to curb such incidents. He added,
Law and order will become very strict and so will judiciary. In America, when such an incident happens within two or three months the culprit gets punished and the case is closed. When this will happen here, change will happen. In todays times, those who molest women think that nothing will happen to them. When examples are set before them that of culprits getting punished and being thrown behind bars, that is when the situation will change and criminals will feel scared. It is important to do that. Through my films and other things, I strive to increase sensitivity among women on such issues."
1. SRK Teases Fans With A Glimpse Of Raees' Song 'O Zalima', Recites Its Lyrics In His Own Voice
After back to back posters and 'Laila Main Laila' song, SRK took to his social media accounts to tease his fans with a glimpse of another song and he attached the lyrics in the video and even recited the lines in his own voice.
2. Swami Om Threatens The Makers Of Violence & Shutting Down Bigg Boss If They Don't Make Him Win!
Colors
A report claims that Swami Om started shouting and screaming and he started threatening that if the makers fail to announce him as the winner, he would resort to extreme violence.
3. Aamir Khan Aims To Make Maharashtra Drought Free In The Next Five Years
During a recent media interaction, Aamir said, It is our dream to make Maharashtra drought-free in five years. And it is our good fortune that Maharashtra got a Chief Minister who has pledged to solve the water crisis. His political will is really strong."
4. Farhan Akhtar Gives The Perfect Response To Abu Azmi's Remarks On Bengaluru Mass Molestation
MARD
Farhan took to Twitter and he wrote, "Women should not dress like westerners b'coz men dressed like westerners are molesters, says the man in the shirt.#oxy(deprived)morons"
5. Salim Khan-Aamir Khan Condemn The Shameful Bengaluru Incident, Call For Strengthening Of Laws
Salim Khan didn't just express his opinion, he even tagged PM Modi in the tweets and urged him to look into it immediately. For Aamir, having stricter rules and faster dispensation of justice to the victims is the best way to curb such incidents. He added, Law and order will become very strict and so will judiciary. In America, when such an incident happens within two or three months the culprit gets punished and the case is closed. When this will happen here, change will happen. In todays times, those who molest women think that nothing will happen to them. When examples are set before them that of culprits getting punished and being thrown behind bars, that is when the situation will change and criminals will feel scared. It is important to do that. Through my films and other things, I strive to increase sensitivity among women on such issues."
As expected from reports last week, Googles CEO Sundar Pichai flagged off two key programs -- Digital Unlocked and My Business Websites -- to push offline businesses to transition their businesses online smoothly and efficiently. Both Google initiatives are exclusively tailored for Indian businesses.
Google released 90 video tutorials specifically made for Indian business audiences to help them migrate online, as part of their Digital Unlocked program. Theyre available at: https://g.co/digitalunlocked
Google has also collaborated with Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business and FICCI (a body that promotes businesses in India) to build a comprehensive online, offline and mobile skills development and online marketing program for businesses to learn the online tricks of their trade. Over the next three years, Google will also conduct around 5,000 workshops across 40 Indian cities to help promote the Digital Unlocked program for Indian businesses.
Based on a KPMG report, Google claims that 68% of Indias 5.1 crore small and medium businesses are still offline
An app called Primer has also been launched which will help anyone be part of Googles Digital Unlocked program through Android smartphones or iPhones. The app is available in English and Hindi, with support coming soon for Marathi, Tamil and Telugu, and it will help teach online marketing tricks to offline businesses.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai further said that the My Business Website initiative -- which will help offline businesses create mobile optimised websites and apps for free -- will be launched later this year. The templatised, easy-to-launch My Business Website initiative will be available in English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, and Malayalam languages for Googles My Business users.
Flying thousands of miles, around 350 Sikhs, majority of them from Birmingham in the United Kingdom (UK), have assembled in Patna to celebrate the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. These Sikhs are also serving pilgrims selflessly here.
BCCL
The Sikhs, many of whom were born and brought up in the UK, are enjoying a lifetime experience by serving food to devotees at langars and spreading Guru Gobind Singh's message of love.
Around 60 women, young and old, are working as 'sewadaars' at Kangan Ghat langar round the clock. Several of them were spotted sitting nearby ovens and cooking rotis without reflection of any discomfort on their faces.
BCCL
These British Sikhs are still linked to their roots. All these people clad in complete white dresses are making their presence felt at Patna City. Harvey Singh Doal (43), born and brought up in Birmingham, said they are 'sewadaars' of Baba Mahindra Singh of Guru Nanak Nishkam Sevak Jattha of Birmingham which runs free schools and serves food to the needy.
"This is an amazing experience. This celebration is outstanding. The langar is functional round the clock. If someone gets tired, we have a separate team of people which performs massage to relax body aches which arises after working continuously. Once the ache subsidises, we all resume work," said Doal, a businessman from Birmingham.
BCCL
Jagjeet Singh (45), a working professional, while stuffing paneer samosas at the massive kitchen of their langar, said he had applied for leave in April 2016 to make himself available for the occasion. "This is a lifetime opportunity for us and we are trying to serve more and more people," said Jagjeet.
Helping Jagjeet were Dalvindrajeet Singh, Harjinder Singh and Kulvinder Kaur, also from Birmingham. Kulvider, a housewife, said, "I can't describe the feeling. I will never forget this event."
BCCL
Agamjot Singh (27), an engineer, said he had shifted to Birmingham from Punjab with parents when he was only six years old. "I have never been to such a massive event earlier and would remember this occasion for a very long time," he said while sweeping the floor after a batch of people finished langar. Tegmant Singh (21) echoed Agamjot's tone.
It seems like Bengaluru has gone to the dogs. As the city ushered in the new year with mass molestation of its women on Sunday, another woman's modesty was outraged by two beasts who prowled the streets in the dead of night.
A CCTV footage has emerged that shows two scooterists groping and molesting a woman just a few hours into the new year. The horror that took place at 2:30 am on Sunday was captured on the security camera installed at a house near the Kammanahalli 5th Main Road in east Bengaluru.
The woman was grabbed by one of the two men just moments after she alighted from an autorickshaw - some 50 metres from her house.
#Correction #CaughtonCam: Two scooter-borne men molest a girl in Kammanahalli area in Bengaluru (Source: Unverified) pic.twitter.com/fAKPfMkoOz ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
The incident comes as a chilling proof of what Bengaluru witnessed on the first night of 2017. Even as the state Home Minister G Parameshwara dismissed it as something "that happens", this video just goes to prove how badly he needs a reality check.
The woman visited the house with her friends on Monday, where the CCTV was installed, to request the owner to allow her to view the CCTV footage. She said, "I don't know the people who attacked and molested me. It was bad. I realised that my wallet was missing after the incident. I guess they robbed me too."
Bangalore Mirror
She also added that she didn't wish to report the incident to the police as the government's apathy towards its own women was more than apparent.
The resident of the house said, "I did not want to remain silent after seeing what happened on our street. I came to know about the incident when the woman came to my house with her friends on Monday, saying that she wanted to view the CCTV footage as she was groped by two youths nearby. What I saw in the video left me disturbed. If residential areas, too, are unsafe for women, where are they supposed to go?"
Yes, where should the women go? Where is that safe place, free of men who can't keep their bestiality in control?
New Army Chief General Bipin Rawat has warned Pakistan that it should stop aiding and abetting cross-border infiltration and terrorism, saying that his 1.3-million strong force has the requisite will, intelligence and capability to destroy terror wherever it emanates.
BCCL
Pointing to the "surgical strikes" conducted by the Army on terror launch pads in PoK on September 29, Rawat told TOI on Tuesday: "The operation's unequivocal message was we have the capability, we are aware of the terror infrastructure that lies across the border and intelligence is forthcoming."
"If the need arises... we can strike effectively. The surgical strikes achieved good success. The aim and intention was fully achieved. We are not a war mongering nation but there are certain thresholds that shouldn't be crossed. Our response will vary".
BCCL
Though there has been some de-escalation along the line of control (LoC) after massive retaliatory fire assaults by the Indian Army and Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa taking over the reins of the Pakistan army from Gen Raheel Sharif, there are still about 20 terror-training camps running at full capacity in PoK and Pakistan.
Apart from the different options available to take the battle to the terrorists and their handlers, the Army chief was also quite sanguine about the Indian armed forces being capable of handling a two front contingency in the backdrop of the collusive threat from Pakistan and China.
Gen Rawat, who took over as the 27th Army chief from Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag on December 31, said,
"The two-front is a real scenario. Much has changed from before in terms of our capabilities...The Army, Navy and IAF are now jointly very much prepared for such an eventuality."
Reuters
Apart from the development of the Agni-V and Agni-IV nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, the forces have taken a series of steps to slowly but surely transform the "dissuasion" posture against China into "deterrence", which in turn is now being upgraded to "credible deterrence".
The Army is also raising the new 17 Mountain Strike Corps, which with 90,274 soldiers will have two high-altitude infantry divisions.
ALSO READ: 10 Things You Need To Know About Lt. Gen. Bipin Rawat, Who Takes Over As Army Chief
BCCL
While India wants cooperation, not confrontation with China, the new corps will ensure "quick-reaction ground offensive capabilities" on the "northern borders" for the first time. "The raisings for the new corps are underway, while weapons and equipment are also being acquired. The infrastructure is also coming up. There is full support from the government. All adversaries respect strength, which comes from having the capability to strike across the border," said Gen Rawat.
The Army chief did, however, acknowledge the excruciating slow progress of infrastructure development in construction of 73 all-weather roads along the line of actual control with China as well as the 14 "strategic" railway lines on the two fronts. While the rail lines only exist on paper, only 22 of the 73 roads have been completed over a decade after they were first identified.
"But there is a renewed impetus now. The government has reorganized the BRO, including shifting it to the defence ministry from the ministry of road transport.Technology is also being increasingly used. Tunneling is also being examined for not only road connectivity , but also command and control centers and storage," he said.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch a record 103 satellites in one go using its workhorse PSLV-C37 in the first week of February, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet South Asian satellite project will take off in March.
BCCL/representational image
As many as 100 of the satellites set for launch in February belong to foreign nations, including the US and Germany.
"We are making a century by launching over 100 satellites at one go," said S Somnath, Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre of the Isro.
Also Read: ISRO To End A Successful Year By Launching Remote Sensing Satellite On December 7
The space agency had earlier planned a launch of 83 satellites in the last week of January, of which 80 were foreign ones. But with the addition of 20 more foreign satellites, the launch was delayed by a week and will now take place in first week of February, Somnath said.
He, however, did not specify the number of countries that would launch its satellites in this mission, but said it includes nations like the US and Germany.
ISRO
"These will be 100 micro-small satellites, which will be launched using a PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle)- C37. The weight of the payload will be 1350 kgs, of which 500-600 kgs will be the satellite's weight," Somnath added.
The launch will be a major feat in country's space history as no exercise on this scale has been attempted before.
Also Read: ISRO Successfully Launches RESOURCESAT-2A On The PSLV-C36 Rocket This Morning
Last year, Isro launched 22 satellites at a go and this launch will have almost five times the number of crafts.
The South Asian satellite will be a part of GSAT-9, which will be launched in March this year, said M Nageshwara Rao, associate director of Isro.
AFP/representational image
The communication satellite was to be launched in December 2016, but was slightly delayed as some other satellites are to be launched before that.
Sources said talks with Afghanistan to have the country on-board for the project is in its final stages.
Also Read: ISRO Just Launched A Remote Sensing Satellite On Board PSLV-C36 And Here's Why It's Important
Envisaged as a gift to its neighbours, the project, earlier known as SAARC satellite, faced stiff resistance from Pakistan. The neighbouring country wanted it to be launched under the aegis of the South Asian regional forum. It later backed out of the project.
Apart from India, the satellite will benefit Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch a record 103 satellites in one go using its workhorse PSLV-C37 in the first week of February, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet South Asian satellite project will take off in March. As many as 100 of the satellites set for launch in February belong to foreign nations, including the US and Germany. "We are making a century by launching over 100 satellites at one go," said S Somnath, Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre of the Isro.
1. 350 British Sikhs Fly To India To Offer 'Sewa' For 350th Birth Anniversary Of Guru Gobind Singh
BCCL
Flying thousands of miles, around 350 Sikhs, majority of them from Birmingham in the United Kingdom (UK), have assembled in Patna to celebrate the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. These Sikhs are also serving pilgrims selflessly here. The Sikhs, many of whom were born and brought up in the UK, are enjoying a lifetime experience by serving food to devotees at langars and spreading Guru Gobind Singh's message of love. Read more here
2. 88 Million Cows And Buffaloes Across India Will Get Their Own Version Of Aadhaar ID!
BCCL/representational image
Have your milkman's cattle got their 12-digit unique identification numbers yet? No, they won't have to queue up to get an Aadhaar card. The concept is similar, though, and the exercise unparalleled in its sheer scale. Nearly one lakh technicians have started to fan out across the country since New Year's Day, armed with 50,000 tablets and a single mission to affix a tag with a 12-digit unique identification number inside an ear of each of the staggering 88 million cows and buffaloes within this year. Read more here
3. India Is All Set To Become The World's Third Biggest iPhone Producer
AFP/representational image
With the upcoming Bengaluru assembly plant of Apple, India will become only the third country to do the final assembly of iPhones - an indication of how important the country has become for the world's most-valued company. Apart from one assembly facility in Brazil, all of Apple's assembly units for its bestselling product are in China. Apple uses a global and fairly complex supply chain. The parts for the iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac are manufactured, mostly by third parties, across 28 countries. It has 766 suppliers, of which 346 are based in China, 126 in Japan, and 69 in the US. There is one in India -in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu. That's a unit of Flextronics. But it's not clear what the unit makes. Read more here
4. Now Kerala Man Claims Fading Of Printing In Rs 500 Note!
The new currency notes, it appears, cannot stay away from controversy. After reports of faulty Rs 500 notes being circulated, now it is reported that the ink on a new currency note got washed-off after it accidentally came into contact with water. According to a report in a leading Malayalam daily, a Rs 500 was damaged after water fell on it. As per the report, the incident happened on Tuesday in Kerala's Palakkad district. Read more here
Pak Refugees In J&K Will Now To Get Identity Certificates So That They Can Get Govt Jobs
IndiaToday
With the state government of Jammu and Kashmir deciding to issue identity certificate to Pakistan refugees which would help them get job in central government, a new political turmoil has surfaced in the state with National Conference accusing the government of sabotaging the rights of the orginal residents of the state especially Jammu. Dogras are said to be the original residents of Jammu. BJP which is in power in alliance with PDP is adamant to give Pakistani refugees these identity certificate as it won't affect rights of the original people. Read more here
According to a Request to Information filed by activist Commodore (Retd) Lokesh Batra, the Prime Minister's Office owes crores in foreign air flight expenses to Air India, India's official flier.
agencies
The RTI found that Air India spent Rs 117 crore in 2015-2016 on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign travels, to 22 countries, including Russia, France, Germany, Korea, Mongolia, China, the UAE, Ireland, the UK, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey among others till December 2015 last year.
Among PM Modi's most expensive trip last year was in April 2015 when he visited France, Canada and Germany which cost the exchequer Rs 31 crore. While his trip to China, Mongolia and Korea cost Rs 15 crore, Air India raised a similar bill for the PM's Central Asia visit. This included countries like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan.
Another report says that Modi and his ministerial team spent Rs. 567 crore on foreign trips in 2015-2016
"This is the tax payers' money that you are hoarding. There is no practical reason for the delay, and the matter concerns larger public interest," he said, Catch News reported.
The RTI addressed
1. Details of expenses incurred on air travel by Air India in respect of foreign visits of the incumbent Prime Minister and former Prime Ministers
2. Process/procedure/steps involved in chartering flights for PM's foreign visits
3. Filing 'flight returns' and raising bills/invoices and clearing bills on completion of the visit, copy of bills, etc.
Last year, the PMO had told Batra that the record pertaining to flights of the PM contain information which has security issues and hence it is exempted from disclosure under section 8(1)(g) of the RTI Act.
Also read: It's All Work And Little Sleep Aboard Modi's Air India One, No Alcohol Or Groupies Around!
National Conference politician, Shauqat Hussain Ganai, while debating in the Legislative Councillor on Tuesday declared slain Hizbul Mujahidden commander Burhan Wani a martyr which triggered protest from ruling BJP and PDP.
During the debate, the MLC Ganai, said that Wani was a martyr and had given up his life the cause of Jammu and Kashmir.
FB
His remarks about Wani, however, drew heavy flak from PDP and BJP members, Firdos Tak, the PDP member said that such words shouldnt be spoken on floor of the house. But despite protest, Ganai stood by his words and added, "Kashmir is political problem and youth have taken to guns." BJP MLC Surinder Ambardar also asked Ganai not to resort to such remarks on the floor of House.
Burhan, commander of Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit, was killed in an encounter with the security forces in a village of Anantnag district in Kashmir on July 8 last year.
Later, speaking to reporters outside the Council, Ganai once again repeated his statement and said, "Burhan Wani is a martyr.
AFP
Ganai claimed till the time the alliance of BJP and PDP came to power, Wani had no FIR. "I don t know how you can brand him as a terrorist. Jammu and Kashmir is an issue and if he has raised this issue and given sacrifice of his life, he is a martyr. It is my personal opinion, not that of the party," the NC MLC was quoted in DNA.
He went on to add, "Whatever the special rights we had in Jammu and Kashmir, central government always tried to bulldoze them and amend them. We had a Prime Minister and 'Sadr-e- Riyasat' (president) in Jammu and Kashmir and it was changed into the post of Chief Minister and Governor.
"Government of India slowly and steadily eroded the special position of Jammu and Kashmir. If some people fight for restoration of that special status and he loses his life in the fight, what can be he called, he is a martyr?"
AFP
Reacting to NC MLC's remarks, Leader of the House and Education Minister Naeem Akhtar said, "It has become a fashion to say that those killed in Kashmir are our children. They are not our children. They (some politicians) do politics on them and nothing else. We did nothing to save them. They are further pushing them into it. They should be asked what they saying."
Taking a dig at such people, Akhtar said, "we feel good to call our neighbour's son a martyr but God forbid, if our own children are involved, our sentiments are different. My (separatists') own son is well settled in a foreign country and my daughter is working somewhere else." Slamming the remarks, Ambardar said, "it is very unfortunate. NC is a very responsible party and their legislator talks of a separatist language".
AFP
The BJP MLC recalled that Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, during his address to the UN General Assembly in September last, had also described Burhan as a "Kashmiri leader".
"It was established in the entire world that Burhan Wani was a terrorist and a Pak agent. Now NC, being out of power, is glorifying him with this term," Ambardar said.
"Whenever the NC is out of power, it rakes up such issues. It is unfortunate that the honourable member of NC speaks at the behest of separatists on the floor of the House," he said
Fueling the world's longest train ride, China sent its first freight train from Bejing to London earlier this week. The journey commenced at Yiwu West Railway Station in Zhejiang province on Sunday and is headed for the British capital, according to Xinhua, China's state-run news agency.
(Also read: In A Historic Move, China To Ban Ivory Trade In A Bid To Tackle Elephant Poaching)
China Railway Express makes small item freight delivery from Yiwu to #London https://t.co/frVRDn7FaQ pic.twitter.com/fn348bD8LW People's Daily,China (@PDChina) January 3, 2017
This is the first direct rail link between China and Great Britain. The route of the service will traverse from Beijing, across Asia and Europe, before terminating in London.
The 8000-mile journey will take two and a half weeks to complete.
The train is carrying household goods, bags, suitcases and garments, among other items, and will pass through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France before it gets to London.
The train, which is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's vision for "One Belt, One Road", is seen as the new silk road by many, considering that it will fuel the exchange of goods.
nepalforeignaffairs
It's done in a bid to enhance China's economic ties with Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The previous silk road, which commenced in 200 BC, was majorly used by Chinese silk caravans, who carried wears to Europe and Africa. The trail provided enormous wealth and prestige to today's Chinese empire.
(Also read: Beipanjiang Bridge, The World's Highest Bridge In Remote China Is Now Open To Traffic)
The new route unlocks a new option for shippers. Currently, the choice is two-fold. One, take an ocean-bound route, which, although cheap, can be slow. Two, use an air carrier that is considerably faster, but much more expensive.
The Istanbul terror attack claimed several souls who had come together to welcome the new year in a nightclub. Among them was Rita Chami who had eerily predicted her own death in a Facebook post.
Facebook
Chami and her fiance, Elias Wardini - both 26-year-olds and students at the American University of Science and Technology in Lebanon - were in Istanbul to celebrate New Year's together. However, a night of revelry turned into nightmare for both when terrorists opened fire and gunned them down.
Chami died in Wardini's arms who too became a victim of the horrific attack.
Instagram
Chami had taken to Facebook to announce her New Year Eve's plans in a chilling post that read:
"Hopefully we will have fun (in Turkey), worst case scenario is that I will die in a blast and follow my mum."
Facebook
According to sources, while Chami was shot twice, Wardini was shot three times and both died in each other's arms. Chami had lost her mother to cancer four years ago. She is now with her mother, taken too soon from this world.
What could have been a year of possibilities for two lovers was snatched away by the clutches of terror. May they rest in peace.
People living in the Syrian capital of Damascus are facing a shortage of clean drinking water for 10 days running now. And foreign-backed militants are being blamed for it.
Reuters
The armed groups have been accused of contaminating the citys water reservoirs. The Syrian government reportedly is looking for ways to restore water to the city.
In the nearly six-year-long civil, the government has tried very hard to keep the capital has insulated as possible but water shortages have posed as a challenge to maintain that status quo.
Representational image/Reuters
Massive water shortage started around December 22, 2016 and is the longest one residents have faced and they have experienced periodical water shortages.
The opposition has long controlled Wadi Barada, the valley northwest of Damascus through which its namesake river flows into Damascus. The Barada River and its source, the Ain al-Fijeh spring, supply 70 per cent of the water for Damascus and its neighbouring areas.
The 26-year-old Colombian, who is currently a member of the Greens on loan from Cagliari Calcio until the end of 2016-17 season, seems willing to leave Greek Super League and continue his career in Asia with a lucrative annual salary, while Bologna
Good News: Washington Frozen Out of Syria Peace Plan By Ron Paul January 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - As the US mainstream media obsessed last week about Russia's supposed hacking of the US elections and President Obamas final round of Russia sanctions in response, something very important was taking place under the media radar. As a result of a meeting between foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, and Turkey last month, a ceasefire in Syria has been worked out and is being implemented. So far it appears to be holding, and after nearly six years of horrible warfare the people of Syria are finally facing the possibility of rebuilding their lives.
What is so important about this particular ceasefire? It was planned, agreed to, and implemented without the participation of the United States Government.
In fact it was frustration with Washingtons refusal to separate its moderates from terrorist groups and its continued insistence on regime change for the Syrian government that led the three countries to pursue a solution on their own for Syria. They also included the Syrian government and much of the opposition in the agreement, which the US government has been unwilling to do.
We have been told all along by the neocons and humanitarian interventionists that the United States must take a central role in every world crisis or nothing will ever be solved. We are the indispensable nation, they say, and without our involvement the world will collapse. Our credibility is on the line, they claim, and if we dont step up no one will. All this is untrue, as we have seen last week.
The fact is, it is often US involvement in solving these crises that actually perpetuates them. Consider the 60-plus year state of war between North and South Korea. Has US intervention done anything to solve the problem? How about our decades of meddling in the Israel-Palestine dispute? Are we any closer to peace between the Israelis and Palestinians despite the billions we have spent bribing and interfering?
Non-intervention in the affairs of others does not damage US credibility overseas. It is US meddling, bombing, droning, and regime-changing that damages our credibility overseas. US obstruction in Syria kept the war going. As the Syrians and Russians were liberating east Aleppo from its four year siege by al-Qaeda, the Obama Administration was demanding a ceasefire. As Syrians began to move back into their homes in east Aleppo, the State Department continued to tell us that the Russians and Syrian government were slaughtering civilians for the fun of it.
So why all the media attention on unproven accusations of Russian hacking and President Obamas predictable, yet meaningless response? The mainstream media does the bidding of Washingtons interventionists and they are desperate to divert attention from what may prove to be the beginning of the end of Syrias long nightmare. They dont want Americans to know that the rest of the world can solve its own problems without the US global policemen in the center of the action. When it is finally understood that we dont need to be involved for crises to be solved overseas, the neocons will lose. Lets hope that happens soon! Copyright 2017 by RonPaul Institute. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Information Clearing House editorial policy.
The Real Face of Washington (and America)
Thank You, Donald Trump
By Tom Engelhardt
January 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Tom Dispatch" - Know thyself . It was what came to mind in the wake of Donald Trumps victory and my own puzzling reaction to it. And while that familiar phrase just popped into my head, I had no idea it was so ancient, or Greek, or for that matter a Delphic maxim inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo according to the Greek writer Pausanias (whom I'd never heard of until I read his name in Wikipedia). Think of that as my own triple helix of ignorance extending back to... well, my birth in a very different America 72 years ago.
Anyway, the simple point is that I didnt know myself half as well as I imagined. And I can thank Donald Trump for reminding me of that essential truth. Of course, we can never know whats really going on inside the heads of all those other people out there on this curious planet of ours, but ourselves as strangers? I guess if I were inscribing something in the forecourt of my own Delphic temple right now, it might be: Who knows me? (Not me.)
Consider this my little introduction to a mystery I stumbled upon in the early morning hours of our recent election night that hasn't left my mind since. I simply couldnt accept that Donald Trump had won. Not him. Not in this country. Not possible. Not in a million years.
Mind you, during the campaign I had written about Trump repeatedly, always leaving open the possibility that, in the disturbed (and disturbing) America of 2016, he could indeed beat Hillary Clinton. That was a conclusion I lost when, in the final few weeks of the campaign, like so many others, I got hooked on the polls and the pundits who went with them. (Doh!)
In the wake of the election, however, it wasnt shock based on pollsters errors that got to me. It was something else that only slowly dawned on me. Somewhere deep inside, I simply didnt believe that, of all countries on this planet, the United States could elect a narcissistic, celeb billionaire who was also, in the style of Italys Silvio Berlusconi, a right-wing populist and incipient autocrat.
Plenty of irony lurked in that conviction, which outlasted the election and so reality itself. In these years, Ive written critically of the way just about every American politician but Donald Trump has felt obligated to insist that this is an exceptional or indispensable nation, the greatest country on the planet, not to speak of in history. (And throw in as well the claim of recent presidents and so many others that the U.S. military represents the greatest fighting force in that history.) President Obama, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, John McCain -- it didnt matter. Every one of them was a dutiful or enthusiastic American exceptionalist. As for Trumps opponent, Hillary Clinton, she hit the trifecta plus one in a speech she gave to the American Legions national convention during the campaign. In it, she referred to the United States as the greatest country on Earth, an exceptional nation, and the indispensable nation that, of course, possessed the greatest military ever. (My friends, we are so lucky to be Americans. It is an extraordinary blessing.) Only Trump, with his "make America great again," slogan seemed to admit to something else, something like American decline.
Post-election, here was the shock for me: it turned out that I, too, was an American exceptionalist. I deeply believed that our country was simply too special for The Donald, and so his victory sent me on an unexpected journey back into the world of my childhood and youth, back into the 1950s and early 1960s when (despite the Soviet Union) the U.S. really did stand alone on the planet in so many ways. Of course, in those years, no one had to say such things. All those greatests, exceptionals, and indispensables were then dispensable and the recent political tic of insisting on them so publicly undoubtedly reflects a defensiveness thats a sign of something slipping.
Obviously, in those bedrock years of American power and strength and wealth and drive and dynamism (and McCarthyism, and segregation, and racism, and smog, and...), the very years that Donald Trump now yearns to bring back, I took in that feeling of American specialness in ways too deep to grasp. Which was why, decades later, when I least expected it, I couldnt shake the feeling that it couldnt happen here. In actuality, the rise to power of Trumpian figures -- Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, Vladimir Putin in Russia -- has been a dime-a-dozen event elsewhere and now looks to be a global trend. Its just that I associated such rises with unexceptional, largely tinpot countries or ones truly down on their luck.
So its taken me a few hard weeks to come to grips with my own exceptionalist soul and face just how Donald Trump could -- indeed did -- happen here.
It Can Happen Here
So how did it happen here?
Lets face it: Donald Trump was no freak of nature. He only arrived on the scene and took the Electoral College (if not the popular vote) because our American world had been prepared for him in so many ways. As I see it, at least five major shifts in American life and politics helped lay the groundwork for the rise of Trumpism:
* The Coming of a 1% Economy and the 1% Politics That Goes With It: A singular reality of this century has been the way inequality became embedded in American life, and how so much money was swept ever upwards into the coffers of 1% profiteers. Meanwhile, a yawning gap grew between the basic salaries of CEOs and those of ordinary workers. In these years, as Im hardly the first to point out, the country entered a new gilded age. In other words, it was already a Mar-a-Lago moment before The Donald threw his hair into the ring.
Without the arrival of casino capitalism on a massive scale (at which The Donald himself proved something of a bust), Trumpism would have been inconceivable. And if, in its Citizens United decision of 2010, the Supreme Court hadnt thrown open the political doors quite so welcomingly to that 1% crew, how likely was it that a billionaire celebrity would have run for president or become a favorite among the white working class?
Looked at a certain way, Donald Trump deserves credit for stamping the true face of twenty-first-century American plutocracy on Washington by selecting mainly billionaires and multimillionaires to head the various departments and agencies of his future government. After all, doesnt it seem reasonable that a 1% economy, a 1% society, and a 1% politics should produce a 1% government? Think of what Trump has so visibly done as American democracys version of truth in advertising. And of course, if billionaires hadnt multiplied like rabbits in this era, he wouldnt have had the necessary pool of plutocrats to choose from.
Something similar might be said of his choice of so many retired generals and other figures with significant military backgrounds (ranging from West Point graduates to a former Navy SEAL) for key civilian positions in his government. Think of that, too, as a truth-in-advertising moment leading directly to the second shift in American society.
* The Coming of Permanent War and an Ever More Militarized State and Society: Can there be any question that, in the 15-plus years since 9/11, what was originally called the "Global War on Terror" has become a permanent war across the Greater Middle East and Africa (with collateral damage from Europe to the Philippines)? In those years, staggering sums of money -- beyond what any other country or even collection of countries could imagine spending -- has poured into the U.S. military and the arms industry that undergirds it and monopolizes the global trade in weaponry. In the process, Washington became a war capital and the president, as Michelle Obama indicated recently when talking about Trumps victory with Oprah Winfrey, became, above all, the commander in chief. (It is important for the health of this nation, she told Winfrey, that we support the commander in chief.) The presidents role in wartime had, of course, always been as commander in chief, but now thats the position many of us vote for (and even newspapers endorse), and since war is so permanently embedded in the American way of life, Donald Trump is guaranteed to remain that for his full term.
And the role has expanded strikingly in these years, as the White House gained the power to make war in just about any fashion it chose without significant reference to Congress. The president now has his own air force of drone assassins to dispatch more or less anywhere on the planet to take out more or less anyone. At the same time, cocooned inside the U.S. military, an elite, secretive second military, the Special Operations forces, has been expanding its personnel, budget, and operations endlessly and its most secretive element, the Joint Special Operations Command, might even be thought of as the presidents private army.
Meanwhile, the weaponry and advanced technology with which this country has been fighting its never-ending (and remarkably unsuccessful) conflicts abroad -- from Predator drones to the Stingray that mimics a cell phone tower and so gets nearby phones to connect to it -- began migrating home, as Americas borders and police forces were militarized. The police have been supplied with weaponry and other equipment directly off the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, while veterans from those wars have joined the growing set of SWAT teams, the domestic version of special-ops teams, that are now a must-have for police departments nationwide.
Its no coincidence that Trump and his generals are eager to pump up a supposedly depleted U.S. military with yet more funds or, given the history of these years, that he appointed so many retired generals from our losing wars to key civilian positions atop that military and the national security state. As with his billionaires, in a decisive fashion, Trump is stamping the real face of twenty-first-century America on Washington.
* The Rise of the National Security State: In these years, a similar process has been underway in relation to the national security state. Vast sums of money have flowed into the countrys 17 intelligence outfits (and their secret black budgets), into the Department of Homeland Security, and the like. (Before 9/11, Americans might have associated that word homeland with Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, but never with this country.) In these years, new agencies were launched and elaborate headquarters and other complexes built for parts of that state within a state to the tune of billions of dollars. At the same time, it was privatized, its doors thrown open to the contract employees of a parade of warrior corporations. And, of course, the National Security Agency created a global surveillance apparatus so all-encompassing that it left the fantasies of the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century in the dust.
As the national security state rose in Washington amid an enveloping shroud of secrecy (and the fierce hounding or prosecution of any whistleblower), it became the de facto fourth branch of government. Under the circumstances, dont think of it as a happenstance that the 2016 election might have been settled 11 days early thanks to FBI Director James Comeys intervention in the race, which represented a historical first for the national security state. Argue as you will over how crucial Comeys interference was to the final vote tallies, it certainly caught the mood of the new era that had been birthed in Washington long before Donald Trumps victory. Nor should you consider it a happenstance that possibly the closest military figure to the new commander in chief is his national security adviser, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who ran the Defense Intelligence Agency until forced out by the Obama administration. No matter the arguments Trump may have with the CIA or other agencies, they will be crucial to his rule (once brought to heel by his appointees).
Those billionaires, generals, and national security chieftains had already been deeply embedded in our American world before Trump made his run. They will now be part and parcel of his world going forward. The fourth shift in the landscape is ongoing, not yet fully institutionalized, and harder to pin down.
* The Coming of the One-Party State: Thanks to the political developments of these years, and a man with obvious autocratic tendencies entering the Oval Office, its possible to begin to imagine an American version of a one-party state emerging from the shell of our former democratic system. After all, the Republicans already control the House of Representatives (in more or less perpetuity, thanks to gerrymandering), the Senate, the White House, and assumedly in the years to come the Supreme Court. They also control a record 33 out of 50 governorships, have tied a record by taking 68 out of the 98 state legislative chambers, and have broken another by gaining control of 33 out of 50 full legislatures. In addition, as the North Carolina legislature has recently shown, the urge among state Republicans to give themselves new, extra-democratic, extra-legal powers (as well as a longer term Republican drive to restrict the ballot in various ways, claiming nonexistent voter fraud) should be considered a sign of the direction in which we could be headed in a future embattled Trumpist country.
In addition, for years the Democratic Party saw its various traditional bases of support weaken, wither, or in the recent election simply opt for a candidate competing for the partys nomination who wasnt even a Democrat. Until the recent election loss, however, it was at least a large, functioning political bureaucracy. Today, no one knows quite what it is. Its clear, however, that one of Americas two dominant political parties is in a state of disarray and remarkable weakness. Meanwhile, the other, the Republican Party, assumedly the future base for that Trumpian one-party state, is in its own disheveled condition, a party of apparatchiks and ideologues in Washington and embattled factions in the provinces.
In many ways, the incipient collapse of the two-party system in a flood of 1% money cleared the path for Trumps victory. Unlike the previous three shifts in American life, however, this one is hardly in place yet. Instead, the sense of party chaos and weakness so crucial to the rise of Donald Trump still holds, and the same sense of chaos might be said to apply to the fifth shift I want to mention.
* The Coming of the New Media Moment: Among the things that prepared the way for Trump, who could leave out the crumbling of the classic newspaper/TV world of news? In these years, it lost much of its traditional advertising base, was bypassed by social media, and the TV part of it found itself in an endless hunt for eyeballs to glue, normally via 24/7 news events, eternally blown out of proportion but easy to cover in a nonstop way by shrinking news staffs. As an alternative, there was the search for anything or anyone (preferably of the celebrity variety) that the public couldnt help staring at, including a celebrity-turned-politician-turned-provocateur with the worlds canniest sense of what the media so desperately needed: him. It may have seemed that Trump inaugurated our new media moment by becoming the first meister-elect of tweet and the shout-out master of that universe, but in reality he merely grasped the nature of our new, chaotic media moment and ran with it.
Unexceptional Billionaires and Dispensable Generals
Lets add a final point to the other five: Donald Trump will inherit a country that has been hollowed out by the new realities that made him a success and allowed him to sweep to what, to many experts, looked like an improbable victory. He will inherit a country that is ever less special, a nation that, as Trump himself has pointed out, has an increasingly third-worldish transportation system (not a single mile of high-speed rail and airports that have seen better days), an infrastructure that has been drastically debased, and an everyday economy that offers lesser jobs to ever more of his countrymen. It will be an America whose destructive power only grows but whose ability to translate that into anything approaching victory eternally recedes.
With its unexceptional billionaires, its dispensable generals, its less than great national security officials, its dreary politicians, and its media moguls in search of the passing buck, its likely to be a combustible country in ways that will seem increasingly familiar to so many elsewhere on this planet, and increasingly strange to the young Tom Engelhardt who still lives inside me.
Its this America that will tumble into the debatably small but none-too-gentle hands of Donald Trump on January 20th.
Tom Engelhardt is a co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of The United States of Fear as well as a history of the Cold War, The End of Victory Culture. He is a fellow of the Nation Institute and runs TomDispatch.com. His latest book is Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World.
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, John Feffer's dystopian novel Splinterlands, as well as Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead, and Tom Engelhardt's latest book, Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World .
Copyright 2017 Tom Engelhardt
Crosses Marking Chicago Death Toll By Kathy Kelly January 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Rev. Michael Pfleger and the Faith Community of St. Sabina Parish had issued a call to carry crosses constructed by Greg Zanis. The crosses, uniform in size, presented the name and age and, in many cases, a facial photo of the person killed. Some who carried the crosses were relatives of the people killed. As the group assembled, several sobbed upon finding the crosses that bore the names and photos of their loved ones. Those carrying the heavy crosses along Chicagos Magnificent Mile of high-end shops and restaurants knew that other arms than theirs were aching aching with longing for loved ones who would never return. In 2016, more people were killed in Chicago by gun violence than in New York City and Los Angeles combined. The number killed represented a 58 percent increase over the number killed in 2015. How could this happen? was the question asked on the front page of the Chicago Tribune. It was a year of social service program shutdowns driven by the Governors office in Springfield. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Kings description of a triplet of giant evils, each insoluble in isolation from the others, helps us identify an answer to the Tribunes question. King spoke of the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism. Training for, and the diversion of money to, wars overseas was a crisis inextricable from the race crisis at home, as were policies promoting radical wealth inequality. Representative Danny Davis , of Chicago, whose grandson was killed by gun violence in 2016, insists that poverty was fueling the citys bloodshed, and that Chicago needed to make investments to revamp whole communities. Poverty and racism clearly interact: Blacks and Latinos comprise 56 percent of the incarcerated population , yet only 30 percent of the U.S. population. A report documenting the rates of incarceration for whites, African-Americans, and Hispanics in the Illinois state prison system notes that over half of this prison population is black. For every 100,000 people in the state, 1,533 black people are imprisoned as compared to 174 white people and 282 Hispanic people. The consequences of incarceration affect entire communities: former prisoners are restricted in terms of employment, their families are disrupted, housing becomes unstable, they become disenfranchised, and stigmas persist. Global Slaughters We must also consider gun violence in relation to U.S. militarism. Gun violence in Chicago is condemned, as it should be, and yet a message to every one of the 9,000 Chicago Public School children participating in U.S. military junior ROTC programs is that killing is acceptable if you are following orders. Killing of civilians by the U.S. military is considered regrettable but acceptable collateral damage. These killings eliminate high value targets. The mere suspicion of harboring a targeted person in a home, restaurant, or mosque becomes an excuse for an airborne drone attack to execute whole families or communities. Ironically, this policy enacts an airborne version of a drive-by shooting. Soldiers who have seen combat are less likely to praise the virtues of military life. The myth is that the military teaches discipline, say the Chicago area Veterans for Peace , in their education not militarization campaign. The reality is that the military teaches children to follow orders without question and to use the military solution to conflict resolution that is, death and destruction. President Obama had tears in his eyes in January 2016, calling for relief from record-breaking shootings and killings in the U.S. Yet 2016 became a record-breaking year for U.S. export of weapons to other countries. The U.S. is responsible for nearly 33 percent of worldwide weapon exports by far the top arms exporter on the planet. Arms deals are a way of life in Washington, writes William Hartung . From the president on down, significant parts of the government are intent on ensuring that American arms will flood the global market and companies like Lockheed and Boeing will live the good life. American officials regularly act as salespeople for the arms firms. And the Pentagon is their enabler. In its first six years, team Obama entered into agreements to sell more weaponry than any administration since World War II. Carrying a cross along Michigan Avenue, I thought of the terrible slaughter in World War I that killed 38 million people . Elites, weapon-makers, and war profiteers drove millions of men into the trenches to fight and die in the war that was to end all wars. Christmas Truce In 1914, mired in mud, war-weary and miserable, troops on both sides took matters into their own hands. For a brief, yet magnificent time, they enabled the Christmas truce. One account relates how some German troops began singing one of their carols, and British and other troops then sang a carol from their side. As voices wafted across the no-mans land, troops began calling out to one another. Time and again during the course of that day , the Eve of Christmas, there were wafted towards us from the trenches opposite the sounds of singing and merry-making, and occasionally the guttural tones of a German were to be heard shouting out lustily, A happy Christmas to you Englishmen! Only too glad to show that the sentiments were reciprocated, back would go the response from a thick-set Clydesider, Same to you, Fritz, but dinna oer eat yourself wi they sausages! The high command on both sides took a dim view of the activities and orders were issued to stop the fraternizing with varying results. In some areas, the truce ended Christmas Day in others the following day and in others it extended into January. Dr. King said, Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit, and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism. The soldiers in those trenches went out into their no-mans land and showed the world one way to end wars. They should never have had to. It was left to them to venture into the no-mans land, risking exposure to the others fire and their generals punishment for disobeying orders. No matter what gang is issuing the orders to kill, whether a massive military power or a smaller group that has acquired weapons, we can all claim our right not to develop, store, sell or use weapons. We can claim our right not to kill and not to live with the memory of having killed. Declaring eternal hostility to the fear, greed and hate which are our real enemies seems to be our true hope. We can lay aside forever the futility of killing. We can be hopeful and determined that our resources and ingenuity are directed toward meeting human needs. Kathy Kelly ( kathy@vcnv.org ) co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence ( www.vcnv.org ) The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Information Clearing House editorial policy.
U.S./UK Paid "White Helmets" Help Blocking Water To 5 Million Thirsty Syrians By Moon Of Alabama January 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Moon Of Alabama " - The blockade of water from Wadi Barada to 5 million people in Damascus is taking an interesting turn. The U.S. and UK financed White Helmet organization seems to be directly involved in it. This increases the suspicion that the illegal blockade of water to civilians in Damascus is part of a organized campaign under U.S. command. The campaign is designed to block utilities to government held areas as revenge for the liberation of east Aleppo. As we described it yesterday: After the eastern part of the city of Aleppo was liberated by Syrian government forces, the local rebels and inhabitants in the Barada river valley were willing to reconcile with the Syrian government. But the al-Qaeda Takfiris disagreed and took over. The area is since under full al-Qaeda control and thereby outside of the recent ceasefire agreement. On December 22 the water supply to Damascus was suddenly contaminated with diesel fuel and no longer consumable. A day later Syrian government forces started an operation to regain the area and to reconstitute the water supplies. Photos and a video on social media (since inaccessible but I saw them when they appeared) showed the water treatment facility rigged with explosives. On Dec 27th the facility was blown up and partly destroyed. The Syrian government is ready to send repair teams to rehabilitate the water flow to the millions of civilians in Damascus. But access to the site is denied and the Syrian army is now trying to push al-Qaeda and its allies away from it. Curiously some "civil" groups today offered access under several (not agreeable) conditions: Hassan Ridha @sayed_ridha - 2:10 AM - 3 Jan 2017 Wadi Barada statement: we will let teams to fix water spring if SAA-Hezb stop attack, siege lift & monitor ceasefire by intl observers
[attachment] EHSANI2 @EHSANI22 - 6:43 AM - 3 Jan 2017 Offer by opposition to trade access to water source for #Damascus with halting of military operations by army
[attachment] Here is the attachment to both tweets. Note who signed it:
bigger Check the logos of the undersigning organizations You will probably recognize the middle one in the second row. Here it is magnified. And here is the original of that logo taken directly from the website of the Syrian Civil Defense organization aka The White Helmets: The organizations who make an offer to lift the water blockade of Damascus obviously think they have the power to do so. They then must also be held responsible for keeping the blockade up. They must also have intimate relations with the al-Qaeda fighters who currently occupy the damaged water facilities. The U.S. and UK government created and paid White Helmets are "impartially", "neutrally" and "for all Syrians" blocking the water supply to 5 million Syrians in Damascus. U.S. military and CIA officers run the "operations rooms" in Jordan and Turkey that direct the insurgency. This increases suspicion that the blockade is part of an organized response by the enemies of Syria to the recent liberation of east-Aleppo. As noted yesterday: This shut down is part of a wider, seemingly coordinated strategy to deprive all government held areas of utility supplies. Two days ago the Islamic State shut down a major water intake for Aleppo from the Euphrates. High voltage electricity masts of lines feeding Damascus have been destroyed and repair teams, unlike before, denied access. Gas supplies to parts of Damascus are also cut. Even after 14 days of water crisis in Damascus the "western" media are not reporting about the al-Qaeda blockade of water for 5 million Syrians. We can be sure that not a word will be written by them about this illegal hostages taking of millions of civilians in Damascus by their favorite propaganda organization White Helmets. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Information Clearing House editorial policy. Syria rebels freeze negotiations, saying truce violated: Sources told Al Jazeera the groups were freezing their participation in negotiations being prepared by Russia due to a government-led assault on Wadi Barada, a rebel-held area near Damascus that is key to the capital's water supply.
God Hates Mexicans By Charles Pierson January 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Counterpunch " - People will believe anything if it flatters their vanity. Think of the idea that Americans are Gods favorites and that the Almighty directs history for Americas benefit, even when that harms non-Americans, particularly non-Whites.
From the belief that divine providence guides Americas destiny came two more bad ideas. American exceptionalism and Manifest Destiny were heroic-sounding euphemisms used to justify the trampling of Native Americans and Mexicans in the course of the US Empires mad dash across the continent.
Divine providence was such a transparently self-serving and chauvinist notion that we can be thankful that it has vanished from American thinking. Except that it hasnt. Michael Medved, nationally syndicated conservative radio host, makes the case for heavenly intervention on behalf of the United States in his new book, The American Miracle: Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic.
Medved argues that the rise of the US cannot be explained naturalistically; there must have been a divine guiding hand. The American Miracle opens with the extraordinary coincidence of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both dying fifty years to the day from the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Such a wildly improbable conjunction of events, writes Medved, could not have been mere coincidence. In another early chapter, Medved describes how unusual weather conditions saved the Continental army following the disastrous Battle of Long Island. A fierce storm on the night of August 29/30, 1776 kept British troop ships from reaching vulnerable American positions. A dense fog, unprecedented during the Summer months, rose up towards morning and continued past daybreak, concealing the Americans and allowing them to make a strategic retreat from Long Island across the East River to Manhattan. Incredibly, not one American life was lost during the retreat.
The Almighty also brought about the freeing of the slaves. President Lincoln had determined not to issue an Emancipation Proclamation until there was a major Union victory; otherwise, Emancipation would be seen as an act of Northern desperation. The Union victory at Antietam on 17 September 1862 gave Lincoln what he wanted. That victory, Medved writes, came about through a literal miracle. Confederate battle plans wrapped around three cigars were found by Union soldiers in a campground which Confederate troops had vacated the day before. Possession of the Confederate plans ensured Union victory. Five days later, on September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
Medved finds in such wildly improbable occurrences a pattern for which the influence of some higher power remains the most rational explanation.
Baloney. Strange concatenations of unlikely circumstances happen everywhere, not just to Americans. People in every nation can point to evidence that God loves them best. Were George Washingtons many escapes from death testament to divine protection, as Medved insists? Fidel Castro survived dozens of assassination attempts by the CIA and lived to be 90. Washington only lived to be 67. Did God love Castro 34% more than George Washington?
Washington and Fidel may just have been lucky. Still, if you want to believe that God kept Jefferson and Adams alive long enough so that they could expire on the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, be my guest. That belief is harmless. And if you believe as does Medved that the attempt on the life of President Andrew Jackson failed because God kept the powder in the assassins gun from igniting, that belief is harmless too (although even the reviewer for the conservative Commentary magazine questioned why God would want to save the life of this slaughterer of thousands of Native Americans).
What should disturb us, however, is occasions when, to hear Medved tell it, Gods intervention on behalf of America harms non-Americans, particularly non-Whites. On such occasions, ruling elites use divine providence to justify American imperialism and racism.
Consider Medveds chapter on the Mexican War. The Mexican War divided the US public between extremists who wanted to seize all of Mexico and moderates who just wanted half. Moderation won out. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed by the US and Mexico on February 2, 1848, formally ended the war and ceded California and large chunks of what would become New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado to the United States for $15 million.
Unknown to both Mexico and the Administration of President James K. Polk, gold had been discovered nine days earlier on January 24 at Sutters Mill, California. The deal would not have gone through had Mexico known what it was losing. Medved says that the timing of the discovery was no accident. Medved quotes a French prospector who said at the time: It had been so ordered by Providence, that the gold might not be discovered until California should be in the hands of the Americans.
What the hell had the Mexicans done to piss God off? The US had been the aggressor in what Mexicans aptly call la intervencion norteamericana. The Mexican War was a blatant land grab which the US cloaked in the half-baked notion of Manifest Destiny. In asking for a Declaration of War, President Polk told Congress that Mexico had invaded US territory. Polk knew that was false. Americans were the invaders. Washington sent troops into Mexico pursuant to a bogus claim that the border of Texas (which had become a US state in 1845) extended as far south as the Rio Grande (p. 241). Medved unquestioningly accepts Polks bogus claim as sincere. The US House of Representatives did not. In November 1848, the House voted to censure President Polk for starting an unnecessary war.
As for Manifest Destiny, Medved is fine with it. Medved told a caller to his December 2 show that he was glad the US acquired California. California, he said, had been going to waste under the Mexicans. The Mexicans, and the Spanish before them, had done nothing to develop California. Or to populate it. Medved tells us that in 1848, a mere 7,500 people of European ancestry (because Whites are the people who matter) lived in California.[1] California must have seemed to Americans like a land without people for a people without (enough) land.
Today, the phrase Manifest Destiny has gone out of fashion, replaced by the secular doctrines of humanitarian intervention and the right to protect (with its hip abbreviation R2P). Dont be fooled. These are simply this seasons imperialist styles. The US still goes where it pleases and takes what it wants.
U-S-A! U-S-A!
Why then does God shed his grace on America rather than let loose the thunderbolts we deserve? It is not because Americans are better than other people, Medved assures us. Medved explains that God blesses the US not as reward for distinctively righteous behavior but as an exercise of his inscrutable will (p. 21). Ill say its inscrutable. In the case of the Mexican War, Gods will was downright perverse if we believe that God gave victory to the nation that started the war.
Medved insists that Gods grant of His favor imposes obligations on America towards the rest of the world. Tell that to the Pentagon and State Department. Medved is aware of the lefts criticism of US foreign policy, but rejects it. Medved points out that Americas military interventions in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. (it is a lengthy etc.) added no territory to the US. Yes, but what Medved does not consider is that it is less hassle for an imperial power to rule indirectly from outside than directly from inside. Medved also declares that US military interventions have largely not benefited the US, but are carried out at great expense. To US taxpayers, certainly, but the military-industrial complex does just fine.
I told a priest in my antiwar group about Medveds book. He replied by telling me about eisegesis. Dont confuse that with exegesis. In exegesis, believers approach a biblical text with an open mind with the purpose of determining the texts meaning. Eisegesis, on the other hand, is imposing your own meaning on Scripture. My friend said that it sounded like that is what Medved was doing.
Medved sees himself in The American Miracle as telling historys greatest success story. It has not been a success story for non-Whites. It still isnt. The US robbed Mexicans of half of their country in the 1840s. Medveds subtext, whether he intends this or not, is that God hates Mexicans. Why else would He hand half of Mexicoincluding Californias goldto the American aggressors? It seems like many Americans hate Mexicans, too. We have just been through a Presidential election where 62,979,636 voters cast their ballots for a candidate who promises mass deportations. Thats 46.1% of all votes cast. (To his credit, Michael Medved rejects Donald Trumps plans for mass deportations.)
God must hate Native Americans, too. Western expansion drove Native Americans from their homes, and to this day, Whites continue to displace Native Americans. Running an oil pipeline through a mostly White city like Bismarck, ND is unthinkable. But Whites dont have a problem with the Dakota Access Pipeline fouling Native American water and destroying Native sacred grounds at Standing Rock. (Medved has referred to the water protectors on air as morons.)
My purpose has not been to attack religion. My purpose has been to attack the misuse of religion in the service of imperialism. It is a misuse of religion to suggest that God blesses one people by bringing calamity down on another. It is a misuse of religion to suggest that God favors the strong over the weak, Americans over non-Americans, Whites over non-Whites. I prefer to think that God blesses the downtrodden, the victims of injustice, not the conqueror. I do not know how many Americans share Medveds views. Lets hope it is not many. That would be a blessing. Charles Pierson is a lawyer and a member of the Pittsburgh Anti-Drone Warfare Coalition. E-mail him at Chapierson@yahoo.com.
Notes.
[1] The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History remarks that The American takeover of California caused an indigenous population decline that was sharper than in any other time or place in U.S. history. In 1848 the California Indian population was probably about 150,000. By 1860, it was only 30,000. See Jeffrey Ostler, Genocide and American Indian History, in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History (Mar. 2015). The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Information Clearing House editorial policy.
Where's The Evidence The Election Was Hacked?
Video
Tucker Carlson schools Philadelphia Inquirer Editor for believing what he's been told by the Obama Administration without doing any investigations.
Posted January 03, 2016
This is the Reason We Don't Dwell on Turkish Deaths in the West
If a democratically-elected dictator wants to act as a conduit in a neighbours civil war, what does he expect but massacres in his own major cities?
By Robert Fisk January 03, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Independent " - Turkey is alone. First, well take a look at the racist reasons for this. If 39 men and women had been slaughtered in Paris or Brussels or Berlin on New Years Eve, the headlines would ripple on for three or four days. Two or three days if the victims had been western European. But of course, this being Turkey, which is a Muslim country whose people are not always as white as those from Christendom the headlines drifted off far more quickly. Not our lot, we Westerners said.
Thus few readers of this article will know that, proportionately, Arabs were among the largest number of casualties of this mass murder: from tiny Lebanon alone, three dead and four wounded, both Muslims and Christians. We are quite unaware of the outrage in Lebanon at the domestic television coverage of the massacre victims morbid, sensational, deeply intrusive interviews with collapsing family members, so gruesome that even the Lebanese prime minister had to plead with journalists to leave relatives alone.
Then there are the military reasons. Hasnt Turkey been playing fast and loose in the Syrian war? Hasnt it allowed weapons and money to be funnelled across its border to Isis and Jabhat al-Nusra (aka al-Qaeda, the murderers of 9/11 and the heroes of eastern Aleppo) and to various US and British-backed moderates, who can kill without apparently being jihadis? Hasnt Turkey gone back to war with its own Kurds and the Syrian Kurds, too? Hasnt the Turkish army the largest in Nato, although for some reason we dont mention this these days been a bit disloyal recently?
For last Julys attempted coup despite all the claptrap about Gulenists was essentially a military plot to overthrow President Recep Tayip Erdogan. If a democratically-elected dictator (of which there are a growing number around the world) wants to act as a conduit in a neighbours civil war as Pakistan did in Afghanistan, channelling weapons, funds and fighters to combat the Russians with American and Saudi help and encouragement what does it expect but massacres in its own major cities? Touch Afghanistan, and the Pakistanis found the Taliban marching on Islamabad. Touch Syria, and the fireworks explode in your back yard.
Then there are the political reasons. The Turks used to want to join the EU; theyre not so keen now, and who can blame them? So their present policy is to take the EUs massive bribes (courtesy of Angela Merkel) for closing the seas to Muslim refugees trying to reach Europe and demand the promised visa-free trips to Europe for its 79 million citizens, while at the same time making up with Russia, Iran, China and any other non-Arab nations that might be friends.
Oddly for a man who is nostalgic for the old Turkish empire hence, I suppose, his newly-gilded palace in Istanbul Erdogan has turned anti-Ottoman in his foreign policy, virtually ignoring the Arabs whom he courted after the 2011 revolutions in favour of larger powers.
Erdogan, who demanded that Trumps name be taken off his towers in Istanbul after the then presidential candidate called for restrictions on Muslim immigrants, now thinks he may get a critic-free ride from the new guy in the White House. I wouldnt be so sure.
And thats part of the problem. For Erdogan is now so fickle in his alliances, shooting down a Russian jet and then cosying up to Russias president, loving Assad at the start of the Syrian revolution and hating him later, flirting with Europe and then jeering at the EU, that no-one in their right mind would want to get too close to the Caliph himself.
Anyone who can bomb Kurds while claiming to bomb Isis, who can demand that no power dare interfere in his countrys domestic affairs while positioning Turkish troops in both Syria and Iraq (where Turkeys involvement outside Mosul is enraging the Baghdad government) is clearly walking a very dangerous path.
So whats next? More massacres? Of course. From Isis, Kurds, Marxists, you name it. More attempted coups? Now theres the more important political and military question.
More than 7,000 Turkish soldiers, including 164 generals, had been detained by last October. Not, surely, just to punish them. Any sane army knows that when you throw that many soldiers into the clink, its not to hand them over to the judiciary, many of whose members have anyway been savaged by detentions.
No, the mass arrests among Natos largest army is to prevent the military staging a more successful coup attempt in which the Caliph himself would end up in prison. Or worse. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Information Clearing House editorial policy.
German factory orders down, underlining recession fears AP - 21 minutes ago Official figures show that German factory orders were down 4% in September compared with the previous month, underlining expectations that Europes biggest economy is heading into recession $SPX : 3,719.89 (-1.06%) $DOWI : 32,001.25 (-0.46%) $IUXX : 10,690.60 (-1.98%)
Raw Sugar (SB) Testing 38.2% Fib Retrace of Apr-Sep Consolidation Tradable Patterns - Fri Nov 4, 12:49AM CDT Raw Sugar (SB) formed a second straight daily Hammer yesterday, and appears poised to test downchannel resistance (on the weekly chart) by next week sometime. Yesterdays close just shy of the 38.2%... SBH23 : 18.47s (unch) SGG : 57.90 (-0.15%)
RFD-TV Interview: Grain and Livestock Markets Blue Line Futures - Thu Nov 3, 6:38PM CDT What's on the radar for grain and livestock markets to round out the week?
Cotton Bounce Continued through Thursday Barchart - Thu Nov 3, 4:48PM CDT Front month cotton futures ended with another triple digit bounce on the day. December closed at the allotted 4c limit, while the other nearbys were 138 to 353 point gains. Census data reported 703,536... CTZ22 : 83.45 (+0.54%) CTH23 : 81.82 (-0.43%) CTK23 : 81.66 (-0.41%)
Red Thursday for Wheat Market Barchart - Thu Nov 3, 4:48PM CDT The nearby wheat market ended with mixed but mostly lower. SRW prices gave back 3 to 5 1/2 cents on the day. December stayed at a net 11 1/4 cent gain wk/wk so far. KC wheat held firmer with December up... ZWZ22 : 845-6 (+0.62%) ZWH23 : 865-0 (+0.61%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.7263 (-0.65%) KEZ22 : 949-2 (+0.85%) KEPAWS.CM : 8.9929 (+0.14%) MWZ22 : 953-2 (+1.09%)
Hog Market Fades on Thursday Barchart - Thu Nov 3, 4:48PM CDT Lean hog futures held onto minimal gains in the December contract on Thursday, while the other nearby contracts dropped by 2 to 20 cents. The USDA National Average Base Hog Price was $3.36 weaker in the... HEZ22 : 83.375s (+0.09%) HEJ23 : 92.550s (-0.11%) KMZ22 : 94.000s (+0.16%)
Weak Thursday for Cattle Market Barchart - Thu Nov 3, 4:48PM CDT Front month fat cattle futures ended the session mixed with a 55 cent gain in Dec and a 5 cent gain in the August 23 contract. The other nearby futures fell by 2 to 20 cents on a mixed / mostly weaker... LEZ22 : 151.950s (+0.36%) LEG23 : 154.875s (-0.02%) LEJ23 : 158.300s (-0.13%) GFX22 : 178.000s (-0.52%) GFF23 : 179.425s (-0.32%)
Corn Faded on Thursday Barchart - Thu Nov 3, 4:48PM CDT Thursday action in the corn market left futures 2 3/4 to 8 1/4 cents lower. For December contracts that was the lowest close since 10/19. IHS Markit expects the national U.S. corn yield at 172.9 bpa,... ZCZ22 : 681-4 (+0.33%) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.7556 (-1.15%) ZCH23 : 687-0 (+0.33%) ZCK23 : 687-0 (+0.33%)
Commissioners in Collier County, Fla., have placed a year-long ban on self-storage and several other land uses along a 7-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 41, near the Naples, Fla., city limit. The development moratorium also includes car washes, gas stations and pawn shops, while the county works on a plan to lure hotels, restaurants and retail to the area, according to the source.
The ban includes land along U.S. 41 from Palm Street to Price Street, just west of Collier Boulevard. Much of the frontage along the highway has been acquired by self-storage companies and gas stations, according to commissioner Donna Fiala, who said the area looks like a slum.
Nobody is going to travel to East Naples to eat or shop at a self-storage unit, Fiala said during the meeting. We desperately need a hotel because theres no place for people to stay in that corridor. We would love to have some restaurants and some shopping areas. We just need more places we can go.
Part of the problem is zoning along the corridor allows for more than 180 uses but has never addressed the growth of residences in the vicinity, according to the source. Theres almost no limitations on what they can put up, so its becoming this whole canyon of self-storage places, Fiala said. Its this useless corridor, and it doesnt help to build a well-functioning community around it. People who live there should be able to stay there to buy clothes or shoes or something to eat. They have to travel for everything.
Kathy Curatolo, executive officer of the Collier Building Industry Association, argued commissioners were sending the wrong message to developers and suggested the county consult with builders about possibilities for the area. "We certainly understand that there are concerns about gas stations and self-storage among our public," Curatolo said. "But the way to diversify is not by implementing a moratorium. It's by communication between the public and private sectors to create a balanced approach."
During the ban, the county will examine new restrictions on self-storage and other uses, which could include distance requirements between businesses of the same type. Proposed changes will be written during the next year before being presented to the commission for approval, the source reported.
Update 5/16/17 While the SSAA continues to work with Hong Kong officials on viable solutions for self-storage operators to meet fire and safety demands, commercial real estate services firm CBRE Hong Kong has also offered its opinion on how the two sides could reach a compromise.
Among the most problematic regulations for self-storage operators to meet are the demand for increased corridor space between units and a larger ratio between windows and total floor area, according to an editorial written by Kelvin Leung, senior director of building consultancy services at CBRE Hong Kong, and published today by the South China Morning Post. CBRE believes the amount of available storage space will likely shrink by more than the 30 percent operators claim has been lost from tightening regulations due to the high cost of changing configurations and the likelihood of much higher rental rates.
Our team at CBRE believes that there are viable solutions that can satisfy the operator and governments requirements, Leung wrote. For example, container doors could be converted into sliding doors so that the corridor space will not be compromised while both doors are open. From our understanding, the [FSD] has increased the corridor dimension from 1 meter to 2.4 meters to create more space for firemen to move between containers in case of an emergency. A sliding door ensures that the firemens safety is taken into account without infringing on the self-storage space.
Leung also called on the government to withdraw or alter its stipulation on the ratio between windows and floor area. The ratio is a regulatory requirement applicable to office and residential buildings for the sake of airflow and hygiene, he wrote. CBRE does not believe that this ratio is necessary or suitable for the purposes of a warehouse. Since the foot traffic of warehouses is much lower than that of an office or residential building, we suggest the government reconsider this overarching requirement and judge each storage company on a case-by-case basis.
In a letter also published today by the South China Morning Post, La Tona reiterated the SSAAs stance to work with government officials to find common ground. [The SSAA] shares the same concerns as the public; we are especially concerned about the safety of these facilities, La Tona wrote. We understand licensing and higher standard regulations are a consideration, and welcome working with the government to formulate proactive strategies.
Last month, the Buildings Department, FSD and Security Bureau submitted another proposal designed to improve the fire safety in older industrial buildings, according to La Tona. We welcome the proposals and believe it is important for the government and relevant stakeholders to work collaboratively on this, he wrote.
At stake, according to La Tona and CBRE, is having enough storage space to meet consumer demand. Given the citys very limited space, self-storage plays an increasingly important role in Hong Kong peoples lives, La Tona said.
The growth of small residences, particularly nano flats with usable space of less than 160 square feet, is among the drivers that necessitate adequate self-storage space in the market, according to Lueng. These new guidelines have created murky waters for self-storage business owners and landlords, he wrote. While safety is a priority, CBRE urges the government and operators to find a middle ground so that the market demand is not ignored.
We are happy the government is willing to continue discussing and coming to a balanced understanding of all the issues in order to reach a consensus on storage layout requirements, La Tona wrote. Safety is the number one priority, and the industry is open and willing to work closely with the regulators to find a way to best adapt to these new and higher-standard rules, within an achievable time frame.
2/28/17 The SSAA believes it has found a workable compromise to help self-storage operators meet fire and safety demands being imposed by Hong Kong officials. To meet the governments distance and maximum-space requirements, the association will propose allowing operators to install fireproof boards to enclose clusters of units, according to a source. The SSAA came up with the solution after hiring a fire engineer from consulting group Arup and a team of surveyors.
Fire-safety principles were very difficult for the sustainability [of] the industry, so it was important to match safety and sustainability in order to meet all stakeholder needs to find a win-win solution, La Tona told the source.
If the SSAAs proposal is approved by the FSD, operators will need their modifications approved on a case-by-case basis.
Though complying with modifications will be expensive, the costs are acceptable and sustainable, according to Kevin Chan, chairman of the Store Friendly Self Storage Group.
RedBox Storage estimated its costs would be up to HK$20 million and take more than a year to complete, according to the source. Oliver Leung Wing-hong, chief operating officer for RedBox, said he was hopeful the government would consider subsidizing the cost.
Government assistance is also supported by the Hong Kong Mini-Storages Association, which has demanded officials consider interest-free loans to self-storage businesses that cant afford to make the improvements. The association told a source it estimates about 100 operators have gone out of business already and believes more than half of facilities wont be able to meet requirements.
"[The government] should not go too far and should consider the feasibility of the regulations," said Peter Hung Kai-kei, chairman of the Hong Kong group.
The Hong Kong association represents about 70 percent of the local industry, a source reported. It has also hired fire engineers to seek suitable counterproposals.
1/18/17 The Self Storage Association Asia (SSAA), whose members represent about two-thirds of the industrys gross floor area in the region, indicated its working with the Hong Kong Buildings and Fire Services Departments (FSD) on crafting safety standards that meet guidelines and are realistic for storage operators. Some of the standards that resulted in hundreds of citations being issued last month are impractical, Luigi La Tona, executive director of the SSAA, said yesterday during a press conference.
We are proactively working with the government in order to find safe and sustainable solutions, La Tona said. Among the requirements the association has been working with members to meet include the elimination of aisle dead-ends, improved fire exits, lighting and signage, according to a source.
One of the sticking points is the requirement for a 2.4-meter gap between storage zones, which La Tona said the industry could absolutely not meet. The gap requirement would drastically and negatively impact the industry because of its need for floor space, he said. The SSAA estimates up to 50 self-storage facilitiesabout one-tenth of the marketcould close as a result of the strict safety standards, a source reported.
An alternative to the gap requirement proposed by the FSD during a meeting with the SSAA on Dec. 30 would create sealed, 50-square-meter storage islands designed to stop the rapid spread of fire. Their ultimate goal is to stop the spread of fire for at least 30 minutes, La Tona told the press. They have said this outright. They have been willing to accept alternative solutions to meet their goal.
SSAA has retained a fire engineer from consulting firm Arup to help it propose possible alternative measures designed to keep a fire contained for at least 30 minutes. It plans to submit two proposals each to the Buildings Department and FSD, a source reported. The FSD has been very clear that they will accept alternative solutions, and the industry wants to stay in communication and in collaboration with the FSD, La Tona said.
While the FSD is willing to consider alternative proposals, commercial considerations could not override public safety, officials told a source. The FSD considers the 2.4-meter zone gap and a one-meter requirement between storage units and the ceiling to be feasible and necessary. The SSAA maintains the 2.4-meter requirement falls under general warehouse regulations and was unheard of by self-storage operators before last years fires, La Tona said.
The SSAA is hopeful it can reach a compromise with the FSD and announce a new set of approved standards by the end of March.
Launched in 2014, SSAA supports members' interests to help grow the self-storage industry in Asia.
1/3/17 Government officials have cited hundreds of Hong Kong self-storage operators for building, lease and safety violations following investigation of facilities in the wake of two devastating fires that killed two firefighters last summer. As of Dec. 23, the Buildings Department had issued 571 orders to 259 storage businesses demanding they fix safety problems. In many instances, fire escapes were found to be too few or too long, with storage units taking up too much space within facilities, according to Michael Pang Yuk-lung, chief building surveyor.
In addition, the Fire Services Department (FSD) has issued 1,267 fire-hazard abatement notices to 257 self-storage operators, of which only 50 have been satisfied, according to Terence Tsang Wing-hung, acting assistant director of fire safety. Violations of the fire ordinance include inadequate locking devices on escape doors, insufficient coverage of the hose-reel system, insufficient exit and directional signage, and obstructed or too few windows. The FSD indicated it has inspected 756 of 885 identified self-storage facilities, a source reported.
Of 871 self-storage businesses inspected by the Lands Department, 213 were suspected of violating their leases, according to Patrick Leung Yun-hing, principal land executive. The Lands Department has issued 13 improvement notices and 221 written warnings. It has also initiated 13 prosecutions related to occupational-safety violations endangering employees, Thomas Chan, chief occupational safety officer, told a source.
Business owners were given 28 days to bring their facilities into compliance. Further legal action could be taken if regulations arent met, Pang Yuk-lung said.
Officials from an unidentified trade association indicated self-storage operators had made strides in promoting safety awareness but felt powerless from new FSD requirements and feared the industry could be forced out of business, a source reported.
Elite Stor Capital Partners LLC, an equity investor focused on the self-storage industry, has hired Rob Consalvo as president and chief technology officer. In his role, Consalvo plans to build Elites management platform, which includes implementing an automated revenue-management system, advanced digital marketing, inquiry and conversion tracking, and other automated accountability systems, according to a company press release.
Bringing Consalvo on board not only adds the [information technology] expertise our company has been searching for, but the skills to drive operational efficiency as we scale and strive to further enhance the customer experience and continue to drive outsized returns to our investors, said Benjamin Macfarland, CEO and co-founder.
Consalvo was formerly the chief operating officer for iStorage, where he managed 70 self-storage locations across 12 states. The iStorage portfolio and property-management platform were acquired last year by National Storage Affiliates Trust, a Maryland real estate investment trust specializing in self-storage.
Elite is a real estate investment company focused on the acquisition of self-storage properties as well as direct-equity investments with developers and operators. Operating under the Storage Rentals of America brand, the company doubled its footprint in 2016 to nearly 3 million square feet of storage space, the release stated.
As some face grave danger (see: Dallas Police & Fire), a few government systems are clawing their way back to long-term solvency.
For many of Americas underfunded public defined benefit systems, theres no painless path forward only pain now or pain later. And despite a few standout examples of the pain later camp, a growing number of plans have toughed out reforms aimed at long-term survival. But some states have gone farther, creating dedicated funding sources or rainy-day funds, which have been picking up steam this year.
Since the 200809 financial crisis, officials at U.S. state and municipal pension funds as well as lawmakers have had to work harder to provide the retirement benefits promised to teachers, firefighters, police, and other public service workers.
Were seeing more and more communities take steps to protect public pensions, and its a trend that has largely fallen under the radar, says Bailey Childers, executive director of the National Public Pension Coalition. Most public pension funds have increased employee and employer contributions to help counteract the hit of U.S. equity markets 40 percent drawdown during the crisis.
Among those steps: establishing dedicated funding sources, such as revenues from gambling or so-called sin taxes (on cigarettes and alcohol, for example). The Kansas legislature kicked things off in 2012, when it approved legislation allowing gaming revenues from state-owned casinos to be directed to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System, along with proceeds from any sale of state surplus real estate. The following year, Montana legislators approved a bill dedicating a portion of the coal extraction tax to the states unfunded pension liabilities.
In 2013 the state of Oklahoma created the Oklahoma Pension Stabilization Fund, to be used when any of the state pension systems funding ratios fall below 90 percent. A dedicated portion of sin taxes and lottery proceeds will fund this asset pool. And in April, to pay for cost-of-living adjustments and shore up overall funding status, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin (a vice chair of president-elect Donald Trumps transition team) signed legislation to protect contributions beyond one-fiscal-year horizons.
In Louisiana, voters have approved the Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund, which will be funded by recurring mineral and tax revenues. Hawaiian taxpayers approved a constitutional amendment to include unfunded pension liabilities in the existing list of possible recipients of general fund surplus money.
Weve seen a lot of improvement in the past few years, says Keith Brainard, research director of the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, pointing to the $150 billion increase in total public pension assets from September 2015 to September 2016. Last year state and local government systems paid out $250 billion to 10 million retirees and other beneficiaries.
Along with creating new sources of pension funding, states have been engaged in other activities to secure promised retirement benefits for their employees. To ensure that plan members receive their retirement benefits, state and municipal pensions most recently have had to push back against efforts to close their defined benefit funds and move both new and existing participants into defined contribution plans, says Childers.
For all of Oklahomas proactive pension protection, a 2016 bill sought to eliminate health insurance for teachers and the required funding of the Oklahoma Teachers Retirement System, among numerous other changes. The measure was defeated, as was a similar one in Indiana that would have allowed members of the state Teachers Retirement Fund, who contribute to the pension fund, to opt out of the system in favor of a 401(k) fund.
Another means to bolster public pension benefits is for smaller municipalities to join the larger state system. This also allows for portability of benefits should a member move to a job in another part of the state. In Wisconsin last year, the state legislature approved a bill to allow the nine cities excluded from the Wisconsin Retirement System to enter the fold.
Its not unusual for a statewide retirement system to allow new employer members, says Brainard. The Texas Municipal Retirement System, he notes, covers 830 employers and takes new ones every year.
An ASX-listed company said that in order to ensure timely adoption and compliance and to prevent anti-competitive, delaying tactics in Australia's banking and insurance sectors, a system for securely sharing customer data between institutions should be mandated.In response to a recent Productivity Commission report, insurance comparison website iSelect said the launch of open data application programming interfaces (API) could help consumers get a fairer deal,) reported."Over our 16 years of operations, we have encountered numerous occasions where businesses have used high levels of industry jargon, excessive complexity in product development and marketing around frustrating access to data which, under the nebulous guise of customer 'retention,' we believe is tantamount to anti-competitive behaviour, Scott Wilson, iSelect CEO, said in the company's submission."iSelect recommends that the new data framework incorporates the mandating of an open API system for banks and other organisations to securely share their consumer data, and be subject to strict customer consent parameters."Wilson expressed concern that in the banks' and insurers' desire to retain consumers, the companies might delay settlement or only offer a discount once a customer decides to move to another bank, the report said."The bit that is anti-competitive is if you intentionally frustrate a customer and, for us, we see the apathy of consumers who get overwhelmed by the process," Wilson said. "We have a fundamental belief that consumers should have access to their own information and make an informed choice."A study by the Queensland University of Technology found that Aussies waste $11.6 billion annually by staying with their incumbent provider instead of shopping around,said.iSelect's submission was made in response to a report released by the Productivity Commission at the end of last year. The report indicated that implementing technology-based laws to regulate customer data sharing across industries might not be the best solution,reported."The great difficulty with specifying a technology [such as APIs] to be used for a purpose of exchange in a regulatory fashion is that you get stranded laws which refer to a specific technology and risks hampering innovation in the future, said Peter Harris, Productivity Commission chairman.In November, the parliamentary inquiry into the banks called for aggressive timelines for the creation of an open-access regime for customer data, in the hope of boosting competition and make pricing more transparent.Harris said that while he supported the parliamentary inquiry findings, he hoped that rather than legislating based on current technology options which could quickly become outdated broader legislation that enshrined standards and principles of openness would be adopted."Surprising though it may be to many, individuals have no rights to ownership of the data that is collected about them, Harris said. Data is increasingly an asset, and when you create an asset you should have the ability to use it, or not, at your choice."We are proposing the creation of a comprehensive right to data control for consumers that would give people the right to access their data, and direct that it be sent to another party, such as a new doctor, insurance company or bank, he said. Plus an expanded right for people to opt out of data-collecting activities. And existing privacy laws would all remain in place."George Lucas, chief executive of fintech Acorns Australia, did not agree that mandating for an open API system would solve the problem."The issue is about legalising the existing ePayment code as recommended in the Financial System Inquiry and privacy rules so it is clear to the banks that they don't own the data, that customers can consent to who access their data held by banks, that banks can't block this access if the client has given consent, who is liable if there is a breach," he said. "Basically the banks want to control on what terms and what data can be shared."In its draft report, the commission stressed that the "private sector is likely to be best placed to determine sector-specific standards for its data sharing between firms."This recommendation is supported by the National Australia Bank (NAB) in its submission, which said that statutory requirements for data sharing would be expensive and hamper innovation,reported."In principle, NAB agrees with sharing customers' data with other institutions, providing the appropriate security arrangements are in place and that institutions which received this data accord the same high premium to data protection as NAB does," NAB said. "NAB urges caution against the adoption of statutory mandatory requirements for data sharing due to the impact on innovation already occurring, the cost of mandating and ensuring appropriate security concerns."On the other hand, Wilson said that iSelect recommended that Australia follow Britain's lead and require banks and other organisations securely share data with third parties from 2018, the report said."By opening their history, financial services customers will be able to shop to find a product which better suits their needs," he said. "This is especially important in the home loans area, where the major banks still control more than a 70 per cent market share."The financial services sector needs a shake-up in competition levels and empowering consumers with better information and educating them on their choices would improve Australia's productivity and economy, while cutting costs, Wilson added.The inquiry report is expected to be released to the government in March.
AXON Underwriting Services LLC, a program administrator and service provider based in Somerville, N.J., has hired David McMillan as an underwriting manager.
He joins the firm in order to further develop its growing portfolio of environmental insurance products in the areas of pollution legal liability, contractors pollution liability and contractors pollution professional.
His responsibilities include managing underwriting activities for business produced under AXONs multiple program administration agreements and overall compliance of the MGU.
McMillan holds more than 18 years of environmental underwriting and consulting experience, having held positions at Markel Corporation, James River Insurance Company and Joyce Engineering.
Spending the last seven years at Markel Corporation, he managed the southeast region and was instrumental in product and underwriter development while increasing overall profitability of the environmental book.
Our new product innovations and increase in demand led us to look for an additional team member who fits our spirit of innovation and exceptional service, and were privileged to have found someone of Davids caliber, said Doug Gahagan, executive vice president at AXON, in a company press release. Davids extensive environmental experience and industry knowledge has already made him a key addition to the AXON family. Were confident he will play a key role in providing and implementing high quality solutions for our select brokerage partners.
Source: AXON Underwriting Services LLC
Topics Underwriting Pollution New Jersey
A judge has ruled that a Portsmouth, N.H., auto dealership incurred damages caused by a city sewer line running through the property.
The Portsmouth Herald reports Rockingham County Judge William Delker says Toyota dealer James Boyle wasnt informed when he bought the property in 2003 that a municipal sewer line was installed in a berm across the rear of the property.
Delker says the city promised to repair the sewer line but hasnt done so. He says part of the property has become flooded due to years of failed maintenance.
The Portsmouth City Council previously voted to take 4.6 acres of Boyles land to maintain the sewer line and allocate $348,000 to compensate him. Boyle and his lawyer have called the amount inadequate.
Information from: Portsmouth Herald
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Auto New Hampshire
With cyber attacks at an all-time high, PSA Insurance & Financial Services (PSA), a Baltimore, Md., headquartered independent firm specializing in risk management, personal insurance and employee benefits, has added an experienced expert to its risk solutions team.
PSA has expanded its cyber risk management expertise by establishing a dedicated specialty practice to be led by cybersecurity expert Mike Volk.
In this role, Volk will oversee the specialty practice, which focuses on cyber education and mitigation.
The establishment of a dedicated cyber insurance specialty practice and addition of cyber specialist Volk is in direct response to the increasing number of cyber attacks happening around the world, said Craig English, senior vice president of PSAs Property & Casualty practice, in a company press release.
This move follows changes seen taking place within the insurance industry, such as new ISO regulations that mean cyber-related risks are no longer covered under general liability, personal injury policies and property policies.
In his new role, Volk is responsible for helping PSA clients develop dynamic risk strategies to bolster cyber resiliency and protect against organizational cyber risk.
He will work to bring a unique view of cyber risk to PSAs clients by drawing from his background as an instructional specialist in cyber and technology training and as a cybersecurity navigator for the Baltimore City Mayors Office of Employment Development.
While Volk is new to the firm, PSA is not new to cyber risk. In fact, PSA team members have been actively working with clients to advise their enterprises and the business community for more than five years and are active with industry organizations, such as the Cybersecurity Association of Maryland Inc. (CAMI).
Ponemon Institutes Cost of Cyber Breach Study found the average cost per piece of lost or stolen data is $221.00 for an organization in the U.S., making data breaches a high-cost risk for American businesses, according to the release.
The release added that small businesses are at even greater risk, according to Symantec, because they comprise the majority of phishing attacks and as many as 60 percent go out of business within six months of a breach due to reputational damage and high recovery costs.
Additionally, a study from Washington, D.C.-based WalletHub ranked Maryland as one of the states with the most identity theft complaints per capita, the release said.
As the threat landscape becomes increasingly complicated and the techniques used by malicious actors evolve, PSA is working to take a holistic and strategic approach to mitigate cyber risks, Volk said in the release.
Its impossible to attain true cybersecurity, he explained. Thats why a dynamic risk management strategy and cyber resilience are essential.
PSAs proprietary cyber risk management process focuses on assessing cyber exposures, reviewing clients insurance policies to identify possible gaps in coverage, examining strategies used for controlling, responding and recovering from incidents and identifying goals that align with client objectives.
Ive found the best cyber risk management and insurance approaches involve partnering with clients in a consultative role, Volk said in the release. The goal is to help clients simplify security by focusing on the mission of the organization, how cyber threats can impact operations and providing guidance, support and education to make informed decisions about how to manage cyber risk and purchase proper coverage.
Source: PSA
Topics Cyber Training Development Maryland Risk Management
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions has appointed Falk Schmaler as head of Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
In his new role, Schmaler will be based in Dubai and responsible for driving the companys business strategy and market presence in the MENA region. His latest position was senior underwriter in the wholesale energy team in London, a global role in which he served clients and brokers throughout the MENA region.
We are excited to have Falk take on this leadership role. said Tony Buckle, CEO of Europe, Middle East and Africa, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. With his extensive knowledge of the risk landscape in the MENA region and a proven track record in serving our clients and brokers, we are confident that we will continue the momentum we have built in delivering our commercial insurance capabilities to the region.
Schmaler, a German national, has over 18 years of experience in the insurance industry. He joined Swiss Re in 2009 and held several positions in property and energy underwriting in Zurich and London. He graduated from the University of Applied Science in Cologne, Germany with a diploma in Business Administration and a post graduate degree in Manufacturing Technology. He is also a fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute.
Source: Swiss Re Corporate Solutions
Topics Swiss Re
Insurers paid out around $50 billion for natural disaster claims last year, almost double 2015s payout of $27 billion, reinsurer Munich Re said in its annual natural catastrophe review on Wednesday.
Earthquakes in Japan and devastating floods in China only 2 percent of whose losses were insured were the most expensive natural catastrophes of 2016. But the year saw the second-fewest fatalities from natural disasters in 30 years.
Some $125 billion of losses were uninsured.
It was the costliest 12 months for natural catastrophe damage after three years of relatively low losses, and above the 10-year average of $45.1 billion.
Losses in a single year are obviously random and cannot be seen as a trend, said board member Torsten Jeworrek. The high percentage of uninsured losses, especially in emerging markets and developing countries, remains a concern.
Reinsurers act as a financial backstop to insurance companies, paying a chunk of the big claims for storms or earthquakes in exchange for part of the premium.
Lower claims payouts boost insurance industry profit but have a downside for reinsurers, whose insurance company clients often then demand lower prices for reinsurers backing.
Two earthquakes on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu in April caused overall losses of $31 billion, while floods in China in June and July caused losses of $20 billion.
There are now many indications that certain events such as persistent weather systems or storms bringing torrential rain and hail are more likely to occur in certain regions as a result of climate change, said Peter Hoeppe, head of Munich Res Geo Risks Research Unit.
North America was hit by more natural disasters than in any year since 1980, with overall losses totalling $10.2 billion and Hurricane Matthew the most serious event. Its greatest impact was in Haiti, where it killed around 550 people.
The climate phenomenon known as El Nino had in 2015 helped reduce the development of hurricanes in the North Atlantic, which traditionally cause some of the heaviest claims for the insurance industry.
Globally, 8,700 people were killed by natural disasters in 2016, far fewer than the 25,400 fatalities in 2015 and the 10-year average of 60,600.
The review gave no claims figures for Munich Re itself. The reinsurer is due to report 2015 results on Feb. 7.
(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan and Maria Sheahan; editing by Harro ten Wolde and Alexandra Hudson)
Topics Carriers Catastrophe Claims Reinsurance
North Dakotas new insurance commissioner, Jon Godfread, who was sworn in on Jan. 3, 2017, appointed Jeff Ubben as deputy insurance commissioner and Marcy Ost as executive assistant as part of his first official day in office.
Godfread succeeds Adam Hamm, who decided not to seek re-election this year. Godfread comes to the North Dakota Department of Insurance from the Greater North Dakota Chamber, where he served as vice president of government affairs representing statewide business interests to the legislature, executive branch officials, and to companies looking to operate in North Dakota.
Ubben and Ost were both previously serving in the insurance department.
Ubben has served as general counsel for the insurance department for the past four years and will continue in that role in addition to his duties as deputy until a replacement is hired. He is a North Dakota native and earned his law degree from the University of North Dakota in 2006. Prior to becoming general counsel at the insurance department he served as an assistant states attorney for Burleigh County for several years where he successfully prosecuted multiple large insurance fraud cases.
Ost has served the insurance department as executive assistant including fulfilling public information duties since 2014. A native of Dickinson, she graduated from Dickinson State University and prior to joining the insurance department, Ost worked in the North Dakota Legislative Council.
Source: North Dakota Department of Insurance
Johnson & Johnson won a ruling cutting almost in half a $1.04 billion jury award to patients who accused the company of hiding defects in its Pinnacle artificial hips that had to be surgically removed.
A judge on Tuesday left undisturbed a jurys finding that officials of J&J and its DePuy unit failed to properly warn doctors and patients about the artificial hips flaws, but found the panels punitive-damage awards to six patients were excessive and should be reduced, according to court filings.
Constitutional considerations limit the amount a plaintiff may recover in punitive damages, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade in Dallas said in the ruling.
The cut wipes out about $500 million in punishment damages against J&J and DePuy over the companys mishandling of the hip implants, said Mark Lanier, a lawyer for the patients who sued.
J&J still faces almost 9,000 lawsuits accusing the company of illegally marketing the flawed metal-on-metal hips. J&J stopped selling the devices in 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration toughened artificial-hip regulations.
Now that judgment has been entered in these cases, the company can move forward in seeking appellate review of the legal errors with the trial, John Beisner, a lawyer for J&J and DePuy, said in an e-mailed statement.
J&J won the first Pinnacle hip case to go to trial in October 2014 after a jury rejected a Montana womans claims that the devices were defective and gave her metal poisoning. In March 2016, a Dallas jury ordered J&J to pay $502 million to a group of five patients who accused the company of hiding defects in the hips. A judge cut that verdict in July to about $150 million.
The December verdict against J&J and DePuy was the third-largest overall jury award of 2016 while the punitive award in the case was the largest against a company last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The U.S. Supreme Court has said such bad-conduct awards must be proportional to compensatory damage verdicts that underlie them and has limited punitive verdicts to 10 times a plaintiffs actual damages.
In his ruling, Kinkeade reduced the jurys punitive awards to about nine times the actual damages suffered by the six hip plaintiffs, Lanier said. The plaintiffs are appealing the reductions, he added.
The lead case is Andrews v. DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., 15-cv-03484, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas)
Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Topics USA Legislation
Duck Creek Technologies, a Boston-based provider of core system cloud services and software to the global property/casualty insurance industry, said it has acquired Yodil, an insurance data management software firm based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Yodils platform offers enterprise data management software with business intelligence, data warehousing, data quality, and data governance features for property/casualty, workers compensation and specialty lines of insurance.
According to the announcement, Yodils software and the Duck Creek Insights data and analytics platform will position carriers to harness all of their data, analyze their operations, and optimize market opportunities. This combination will also provide Duck Creek customers with a full suite of structured insurance data stores, from core system to warehouse to data mart.
Analyst Reaction
Jeff Goldberg, vice president and analyst with technology research firm Novarica, sees this deal as in keeping with the trend toward consolidation in the P/C insurance technology core systems space and a direct response to insurer preferences for suite providers as opposed to best-of-breed. Writing in the Novarica blog, Goldberg said insurers are showing a strong inclination towards vendors that can provide additional components at a later date.
Goldberg also said the deal is likely also a response to Guidewires multiple acquisitions, which have included ICSC, a smaller carrier vendor; First Best, a commercial lines software firm. Last March, Guidewire acquired EagleEye Analytics, a provider of SaaS-based predictive analytics products.
Its safe to say that BI and data warehousing can now be considered a core part of the insurance suite just like any other business process focused system, Novaricas Goldberg writes.
Sources: Duck Creek Technologies, Novarica
Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Property Casualty
Velocity Risk Underwriters has expanded its Florida home insurance products and is now writing coastal homeowners policies statewide.
Velocity offers an A.M. Best A rated coastal homeowners program through Texas-based State National Insurance Company. Velocity had been writing home insurance through Citizens depopulation beginning in 2016, and during that time, had also started writing home policies in Texas and Connecticut. Velocity plans on continued expansion to coastal states around the country in 2017 and beyond.
Velocity currently insures coastal home owners in the states of Connecticut, Florida and Texas, and writes commercial lines products in all 50 states. Velocity writes through independent agents and is currently contracting new partners in Florida.
Topics Florida Texas Underwriting Homeowners
Authorities are searching for the cause of a fire that tore through a row of houses on Wheeling Island, W. Va.
Wheeling Fire Department spokesman Philip Stahl tells media outlets no one was injured in the fire that was reported at 12:09 a.m. Monday when a resident heard a smoke alarm going off. As many as 50 firefighters battled the fire for more than three hours.
Stahl says six houses were damaged or destroyed. Many of the houses along the street were vacant. Two families were displaced and many surrounding homes were evacuated.
Stahl says its the citys largest fire since 2011.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Homeowners Virginia
Police records show business owners in Savannah, Ga., reported a significant increase in burglaries during 2016.
Crime reports by Savannah-Chatham County police show 347 commercial burglaries were reported between last Jan. 1 and Dec. 24. Thats up 41 percent from the same period in 2015.
WTOC-TV reports Whit Campbell, the owner of Hawg Scooters, says crooks broke into his business three times within an eight month period. He says installing surveillance and security equipment cost him $1,200.
Savannah police havent singled out any one reason for the spike in commercial burglaries. But Marvin Williams, a crime prevention officer in the department, says thieves are more likely to target businesses they perceive as vulnerable. He urged shop owners to form a buddy system and help each other keep watch.
Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Topics Trends Law Enforcement Georgia
Heffernan Insurance Brokers has named Paul Matlock assistant vice president in its commercial lines department of the Petaluma, Calif. office.
Matlock has more than 10 years of sales experience in technology and finance. He was most recently with Coding Pixel as president of business development.
He began his career at Wells Fargo holding various roles in business banking. Matlock also consulted for companies, focusing on enhancing sales productivity with new technology and streamlined operations.
Walnut Creek, Calif., Heffernan has offices in San Francisco, Petaluma, Menlo Park, Los Angeles and Orange County, as well as in Portland, Ore. and St. Louis, Mo.
Topics California
They are among 10 individuals within firm who have been promoted.
Sophie Donnithorne-Tait
Donnithorne-Tait advises on all aspects of UK corporate tax at Akin Gumps London office. She concentrates on financial restructurings, group reorganisations, structured finance arrangements and VAT. She has particular experience in the tax implications of restructuring UK oil and gas companies and works closely with her counterparts in the firms US offices and frequently advises US funds on the tax-efficient structuring of their investments into Europe.
Olivier De Moor
De Moor is based in the New York office and is also a member of the firm's tax practice. He focuses on the US federal tax and tax treaty aspects of corporate and financial transactions involving hedge and private equity funds, the structuring and restructuring of investments in the US, and cross-border mergers and acquisitions. In addition, he regularly advises on the US and international tax aspects of foreign investments by US investors, advises on a broad range of US withholding issues and has extensive experience handling Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) issues.
Alexander Specht
Specht focuses his work on the US federal tax aspects of domestic and cross-border financial transactions, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships. He regularly advises private equity and hedge funds on matters related to the structuring of investments and operations within and outside of the US.
LIstat ha rivisto al rialzo la crescita del primo trimestre del 2017, con il Pil che balza allo 0,4% sui precedenti tre mesi e all1,2% su base annua. Le prime indicazioni dellIstituto, diffuse a meta maggio, davano il Prodotto interno lordo a +0,2% a livello congiunturale e a +0,8% in termini tendenziali. La revisione, a sorpresa, e dovuta, spiegano dallIstat, allintegrazione nei dati della buona performance dei servizi.
LIstat rileva che il primo trimestre del 2017 ha avuto due giornate lavorative in piu sia rispetto al trimestre precedente, sia rispetto al primo trimestre del 2016. La variazione acquisita per il 2017 e pari a 0,9%.
Rispetto al trimestre precedente, i principali aggregati della domanda nazionale hanno registrato una crescita dello 0,5% dei consumi finali nazionali e un calo dello 0,8% gli investimenti fissi lordi. Le importazioni sono aumentate dell1,6% e le esportazioni dello 0,7%. La domanda nazionale al netto delle scorte ha contribuito per 0,3 punti percentuali alla crescita del pil (0,3 i consumi delle famiglie e delle Istituzioni Sociali Private (Isp), 0,1 la spesa della pubblica amministrazione (Pa) e -0,1 gli investimenti fissi lordi).
Anche la variazione delle scorte ha contribuito positivamente alla variazione del Pil (0,4 punti percentuali), mentre lapporto della domanda estera netta e stato negativo per 0,2 punti percentuali. Si registrano andamenti congiunturali positivi per il valore aggiunto di agricoltura (+4,2%) e servizi (+0,6%), mentre quello dellindustria risulta negativo (-0,3%).
#Istat Riviste al rialzo le stime per il 2017. LItalia cresce piu del previsto e limpegno continua ha commentato su Twitter il premier Paolo Gentiloni.
Per Matteo Renzi i dati di ieri e di oggi dellIstat dimostrano che con la flessibilita ottenuta nei Mille Giorni e con le riforme fatte, leconomia riprende fiato. Sulla sua pagina Fb il segretario del Pd parla di risultati figli degli anni di lavoro serio e rigoroso che abbiamo alle spalle.
Con la revisione delle stime sul Pil lItalia recupera anche a livello europeo. Il +0,4% congiunturale e il +1,2% tendenziale non vedono piu lItalia isolata, fanalino di coda. LIstat infatti, diffondendo i conti trimestrali, riporta anche i dati relativi agli altri Paesi. Svetta la Germania (+0,6% e +2,9% su anno), ma la Francia fa come noi a livello congiunturale (+0,4%) e peggio su base annua (+1,0%). Restiamo pero sotto la media dellEurozona (+0,5% e +1,7% annuo).
Learn how much you need to retire comfortably, and how to prepare for the "unexpected." Plan for everything from living expenses, to healthcare, to planning that trip you've always wanted to take.
Letter from The Editor
Our relationship with money has changed.
The pandemic accelerated a lot of those changes, but many of the forces were already set in motion over a decade ago. Investing apps and platforms, zero-commission trading, a historic bull market for stocks coming out of the Great Financial Crisis followed by record-breaking inflation, the emergence of cryptocurrencies, and the evolution of financial planning are just some of the forces that have reshaped the way we think, use, plan, save, and invest our money.
Our notions about retirement have changed, as well.
Younger generations are less likely to work at the same company their entire careers, collect a pension, and ease their way out of the workforce at the age of 65. We are living longer, and we need to be able to afford the lives we want to live when we stop working. For most people, retirement is not their end of work, but the end of being able to depend on a regular paycheck with benefits and a 401(k) match, if we were lucky enough to get one.
While over half of working adults in the U.S. are invested in the stock market, the average 401(k) balance for baby boomers and Generation X is only around $161,000 according to Fidelity. With the cost of living rising higher every year, and questions about the staying power of Social Security, the numbers just don't add up for most people nearing retirement.
There is no magic bullet solution to these problems. There are, however, some fundamental practices and approaches that younger adults and those approaching retirement, can focus on:
Financial awareness: Do you really know what it costs to be you?
Investing appropriately for your age: Are you too risky, or not risky enough, or well-balanced?
Balanced portfolio: Is the 60/40 portfolio still the answer, given the shake-out in the stock market?
Saving and budgeting in a world of rising prices: Inflation is not a bug in the systemit's a feature that we need to accept and incorporate into our personal budgets.
Planning and caring for yourself or family members: The cost of care keeps rising, but few are prepared for those bills when they come due.
Estate planning: If you can and want to pass along your savings to charity or the next generation, are your affairs in order?
Investopedia's special issue on retirement is our first foray into magazine publishing. We are honored to have been a go-to resource for millions of readers for the past 23 years, but we, like you, realize that the game has changed in retirement planning and investing. Therefore, we have dedicated those pages to laying out those changes and offering solutions that can help you change with the times.
Pick up your copy at your nearest retailer or buy now online. We hope you enjoy the issue and learn from it. The first step in financial awareness is to educate yourself, so let those pages help you get on the right path.
While the fears of the looming trade war between two of the worlds leading economies, the U.S. and China, have been making headlines for quite some time, U.S. tech giants have largely stayed out of the fight. Many tech industry leaders have expressed disappointment over Trumps policies on environment and immigration, but they have abstained from making comments on tariff policy. In fact, Silicon Valley has supported the administration on the issues of intellectual property theft and local trade barriers like those erected by China for its local technology companies. However, the technology sectorwhich is known to work in a borderless manner owing to significant portion of its onlinehas started to feel the heat of trade conflict. (See also: A Primer on Investing in the Tech Industry.)
Tariff Impact on American Technology Sector
As the Trump administration is considering imposing tariffs on the import of networking equipment from China, major tech giants operating from the U.S. with online offerings, like cloud computing solutions, are set to get hit. Such companies include Alphabet Inc.s Google (GOOGL), Facebook Inc. (FB) and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN). Such giant organizations are either operating their business online, offering online solutions or both.
Additionally, there are many technology hardware companies, like chipmaker Intel Inc. (INTC) that may come under the tariff purview owing to their current mode of operations. For instance, many such hardware companies send their manufactured products to China for the necessary configuration, testing and packaging. Though being U.S.-made products, they may face the tariffs when shipped back to the U.S. from China.
As per the earlier announced proposals by the Trump administration, modems and routers are included in the list of Chinese goods that may face a 10% trade penalty after Aug. 30. Such hardware is necessary for the sustained operations of the technology industry, as they need it to support their mammoth networks processing troves of data for their products and services. Dean Garfield, president and CEO of The Information Technology Industry Council that represents tech behemoths like Google and Microsoft, said in a statement, Trade is critical to economic growth and supports millions of jobs from Silicon Valley to the savannahs of the heartland. Yet the administration continues to impose more tariffs without a clear objective or end in sight, threatening American jobs, stifling economic investment, and increasing the prices of everyday goods. He urged President Trump to delay this unnecessary escalation before more consumers and workers are harmed.
Ripple Effect of Trade Tariffs
The effects of trade war are not limited to the increased costs for the American companies. The fateful development has the potential to upset the well-established businesses, the supplier network and the entire supply chains. If many businesses in Chinabig or smallare unable to weather the impact of a trade war over an extended period of time, many may be forced to shut down, leaving a smaller number of suppliers. That could lead to higher prices, delays in shipments and quality-control issues, and it could impact a whole ecosystem that is currently functioning smoothly. While the bigger U.S. tech organizations have deep pockets to absorb the incremental costs, the other smaller players may find it challenging to bear the brunt.
US-China Technology Trade By the Numbers
The numbers tell the story of the potential impact. CNN Money quotes figures by Panjiva, a S&P Global Market Intelligence-owned global trade research company, that show the Asian powerhouse accounted for nearly 50% of the $23 billion of IT network equipment that America imported during the 12-month period through April 2018.
American semiconductor manufacturers are also facing 25% duties on their $3 billion worth of products in the semiconductors space. The bulk of these are manufactured by the U.S. companies but pass through the Chinese workflow and supply chains, which brings them under the purview of the tariffs. Proposed in June, these tariffs were deemed counterproductive by the Semiconductor Industry Association, which represents big firms like Intel, Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) and Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM). CNN Money further adds that in the backdrop of the development, rating agency Fitch has put TI and Intel on the list of those vulnerable to tariffs because they move product parts around the world. Initiating the work locally in the U.S. will need time, effort, cost and necessary training for the local staff. (See also: How Chip Stocks May Get Killed By a Trade War?)
The Bottom Line
Either the importing American companies may need to look for alternative, non-Chinese suppliers or pay the increased cost for the necessary imports from a possibly dwindling number of suppliers. On the Chinese side, while a few suppliers may explore the options to relocate to Malaysia or Vietnam, the process will be difficult or expensive and may be available only to the larger players. Over the next many months, uncertainty may rule in the technology business, putting a strain on profits. (See also: 6 Big Techs Stocks May Get Slammed in a Trade War.)
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have come a long way since the first U.S. fund, Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts, better known as spiders (SPDRs), was launched back in 1993.
This first ETF tracks the S&P 500 and its popularity with investors led to the introduction of ETFs based on other benchmark U.S. equity indexes, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq 100.
From their early beginnings as equity-index trackers, ETFs have grown to encompass a huge array of investment choices, but they aren't all equal in quality.
In fact, the flip side to the phenomenal growth in ETFs is that it increases the risk that some of them will be liquidated, primarily due to a lack of investor interest.
And that makes it all the more important to choose wisely.
Key Takeaways As an investor, buying ETFs can be a smart and low-cost strategy to build an optimal portfolio.
But, with so many ETFs out there, it can feel overwhelming to select just those that fit your strategy and goals.
Luckily, there are several tools out there to help you narrow down the right ETFs and to find the lowest cost, most efficient one for each asset class or index you want to own.
2:19 Click Play to Learn More About ETFs
Narrowing a Wide Selection of ETFs
The choices in the ETFs space include traditional index ETFs based on U.S. and international equity indexes and subindexes, and others that track benchmark indices in bonds, commodities, and futures.
There are ETFs based on investing style (value, growth, or a combination of both) and that focus on market capitalization.
You will also find leveraged ETFs that provide multiples in returns (or losses) based on the underlying index's movements, as well as inverse ETFs that rise when the market falls and vice-versa.
There are currently more than 2,000 ETFs listed on U.S. exchanges with combined assets exceeding $5.8 trillion.
As an investor, the first thing you need to do is narrow down this enormous universe of ETFs and focus on just those that will suit your portfolio and long-term investment strategy. There are many ways to do this, but you can start with an asset screener that will filter out anything you don't wantlike those riskier leveraged or inverse ETFs, perhaps.
Even after you've settled on the types of ETFs you want and the general asset classes or indexes that you want to track, you still have some work to do.
Competition Among Similar ETFs
The ETF market has become intensely competitive. This has generally been positive for investors, as it has driven the fees associated with ETFs down toward zero, making them extremely low-cost and efficient securities.
But that can also leave investors confused. If you want an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 index, you can go for the original SPDR (SPY). But there is also a Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, a Schwab S&P 500 ETF, and an iShares S&P 500 ETF. In fact, there are at least a dozen S&P 500 ETFs listed on major U.S. stock exchanges.
In a bid to differentiate themselves, some ETF issuers have developed products that are either very specific in focus or are based on an investment trend that may be short lived. An example is the Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy ETF (CNCR). This esoteric ETF tracks the Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy Index and invests in 30 stocks that focus on the research and development of drugs and technology to fight cancer using immunotherapy.
As for ETFs that are based on hot investment trends, examples include the recently launched Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ) or the Drone Economy Strategy ETF (IFLY).
There's even one called the Obesity ETF (SLIM) that invests in companies in the business of fighting obesity and related diseases.
Picking the Right ETF
Given the bewildering number of ETF choices that investors now have to contend with, it's important to consider the following factors:
Level of Assets : To be considered a viable investment choice, an ETF should have a minimum level of assets, a common threshold being at least $10 million. An ETF with assets below this threshold is likely to have a limited degree of investor interest. As with a stock, limited investor interest translates into poor liquidity and wide spreads.
: To be considered a viable investment choice, an ETF should have a minimum level of assets, a common threshold being at least $10 million. An ETF with assets below this threshold is likely to have a limited degree of investor interest. As with a stock, limited investor interest translates into poor liquidity and wide spreads. Trading Activity : An investor needs to check if the ETF that is being considered trades in sufficient volume on a daily basis. Trading volume in the most popular ETFs runs into millions of shares daily. Some ETFs barely trade at all. Trading volume is an excellent indicator of liquidity, regardless of the asset class. Generally speaking, the higher the trading volume for an ETF, the more liquid it is likely to be and the tighter the bid-ask spread. These are especially important considerations when it is time to exit the ETF.
: An investor needs to check if the ETF that is being considered trades in sufficient volume on a daily basis. Trading volume in the most popular ETFs runs into millions of shares daily. Some ETFs barely trade at all. Trading volume is an excellent indicator of liquidity, regardless of the asset class. Generally speaking, the higher the trading volume for an ETF, the more liquid it is likely to be and the tighter the bid-ask spread. These are especially important considerations when it is time to exit the ETF. Underlying Index or Asset : Consider the underlying index or asset class on which the ETF is based. From the point of view of diversification, it may be preferable to invest in an ETF that is based on a broad, widely followed index rather than an obscure index that has a narrow industry or geographic focus.
: Consider the underlying index or asset class on which the ETF is based. From the point of view of diversification, it may be preferable to invest in an ETF that is based on a broad, widely followed index rather than an obscure index that has a narrow industry or geographic focus. Tracking Error : While most ETFs track their underlying indexes closely, some do not track them as closely as they should. All else being equal, an ETF with minimal tracking error is preferable to one with a greater degree of error.
: While most ETFs track their underlying indexes closely, some do not track them as closely as they should. All else being equal, an ETF with minimal tracking error is preferable to one with a greater degree of error. Market Position: The first ETF issuer for a particular sector has a decent probability of garnering the lion's share of assets before others jump on the bandwagon. It is prudent to avoid ETFs that are mere imitations of an original idea, because they may not differentiate themselves from their rivals and attract investors' assets.
In Case of ETF Liquidations
The closing, or liquidation, of an ETF is usually an orderly process. The ETF issuer will notify investors, generally three to four weeks in advance, about the date when the ETF will stop trading. That said, an investor with a position in an ETF that is being liquidated still has to decide on the best course of action in order to protect the investment. Essentially, the investor has to make one of the following choices:
Sell the ETF shares before the "stop trading" date : This is a proactive approach that may be suitable when the investor believes that there is a significant risk of a substantial near-term decline in the fund's price. In such cases, the investor may be willing to overlook the wide bid-ask spreads that are likely to be prevalent for the ETF, due to its limited liquidity.
: This is a proactive approach that may be suitable when the investor believes that there is a significant risk of a substantial near-term decline in the fund's price. In such cases, the investor may be willing to overlook the wide bid-ask spreads that are likely to be prevalent for the ETF, due to its limited liquidity. Hold on to the ETF shares until liquidation: This alternative may be suitable if the ETF is invested in a sector that is not volatile and the downside risk is minimal. The investor may have to wait a couple of weeks for the issuer to complete the process of selling the securities held within the ETF and distributing the net proceeds after expenses. Holding on for the liquidated value eliminates the issue of the bid-ask spread.
In any case, the investor will have to contend with the tax issue. If the ETF was held in a taxable account, the investor will owe taxes on any capital gains.
The Bottom Line
When selecting an ETF, investors should consider factors such as its level of assets, trading volume and underlying index. In the event that an ETF is to be liquidated, an investor has to decide whether to sell the ETF shares before it stops trading or wait until the liquidation process is completed, with due consideration given to the tax aspects of the ETF sale.
Investopedia does not provide tax, investment, or financial services and advice. The information is presented without consideration of the investment objectives, risk tolerance, or financial circumstances of any specific investor and might not be suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.
The daughter of President Park Geun-hye's crony Choi Soon-sil appeared in a Danish court on Monday to deny she knew anything about her mother's shenanigans. Korean ambassador to Denmark and other Korean officials were present in the court in the northern Danish city of Aalborg as Chung Yoo-ra answered questions about her role in the massive corruption scandal that has brought down Park. Chung responded in halting English through an interpreter.
Chung Yoo-ra gets out of a car after her court hearing in Aalborg, Denmark on Monday. /AP-Yonhap
She admitted that Samsung bought her a pure-bred horse but claimed she is merely an equestrian who was completely oblivious to any influence-peddling that may have prompted the conglomerate's generosity. "Mom did everything. I don't know anything," she told the court. She said her son, who was with her when she was arrested, is 19 months old. "The father left when the baby was 11 months old and has not been in touch," she added. Asked if there is anyone to care for the child, Chung said, "There's nobody." "I am only worried about my baby. If [Korean] police allow me to be with my baby, I am willing to return any time," she added. Chung was given two 10-minute breaks during the hearing, during which she responded to questions from Korean reporters despite being told by court officials that she did not have to. When reporters asked her about her underhand admission to the prestigious Ewha Womans University and good grades for classes she did not attend, she said, "I asked mom to withdraw my name from the school, but that request was not granted." "I came to Germany right after I had my baby so I had no idea who my professor was or other information," she added. "I thought I would automatically be kicked out of school because of my poor attendance record." She claimed she met Ewha professors in 2016 and does not know how she achieved the passing grades.
Chung Yoo-ra answers questions from Korean reporters during a break from a court hearing in Aalborg, Denmark on Monday.
On allegations that she was the beneficiary of around W8 billion from Samsung through a paper company she and her mother owned in Germany, Chung said, "I simply signed a paper with post-its [concealing important sections] so I wasn't aware of the contents (US$1=W1,206)." She also denied any knowledge of why Samsung bought her the horse, which cost more than W1 billion, saying a former executive of the Korean Equestrian Federation, Park Won-oh, told her she would be one of six dressage athletes sponsored by the conglomerate. "I accepted it when Samsung abruptly said it was taking back the horse and car" when the scandal erupted last autumn. Chung also denied stashing away a huge slush fund in overseas accounts and claimed she paid all her taxes both in Korea and in Germany. Asked if her mother told her anything about the president's whereabouts during the so-called "missing seven hours" when the ferry Sewol sank in April 2014, Chung said she had no knowledge of such matters. "The last time I saw President Park was when my father worked with her and I was in elementary school," she said. Her father, Choi's ex-husband Chung Yoon-hoi, was a top aide to Park when she started in politics in 1998. When the judge decided to extend her detention until Jan. 30, Chung sighed deeply. She immediately appealed, but the court swiftly turned down the appeal and said it is willing to let her go before the expiry of the detention period if she wants to go to Korea. Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday ordered Chung to turn in her passport in a bid to pressure her to return home and face investigators. If she fails to turn it in by Jan. 9 it will be automatically canceled, which would make her an illegal alien in Denmark.
Read this article in Korean
Toyota was the top-selling manufacturer of 2016, according to new figures released today.
The Society of the Irish Motor Industry says over 146,000 new cars were sold last year, the highest in eight years.
Update 4pm: Health experts have warned that the hospital overcrowding crisis will continue unless there's a massive redesign of Ireland's health system.
DCU health professor Anthony Staines says the system needs to be redesigned so that hospitals are a patient's last resort: "Simon Harris has a really tough job, but my experience with the people involved is that they are all working very hard, they are all working very focused to improve things.
"But they need an over all plan, somebody needs to say this is where the health service is going."
Update 2pm: Health minister Simon Harris says he has begun a review of bed capacity at every hospital, in an attempt to solve the problem.
But consultants and experts are warning that overcrowding will continue unless the health system is totally redesigned.
Christine O'Malley is Consultant Geriatrician at Nenagh Hospital in Tipperary and a former President of the Irish Medical Organisation.
She says the situation isn't surprising: If right now there was double the money in the health service the Irish health service by policy would not open beds because they don't believe hospital beds are required.
So I at the moment don't think it is a money issue, I think it is a failure of analysis, failure of policy, failure of understanding.
Update10.40am: The INMO has said there are 602 people waiting on trolleys in the country's hospitals this morning. This follows yesterday record figure of 612.
Update 9am: The Minister for Health has said the flu vaccine may be made mandatory for health workers.
Simon Harris said he was disappointed at the uptake levels in the sector, and said fewer than 20% of nurses have got the jab. The HSE has cited a surge in winter illnesses like the flu for the current surge in demand for services at the country's hospitals.
"There's an onus on all of us working in the health service and going in and out of hospitals, to get it. Not only does it keep us well; it also limits the chances of us carrying it and impacting on patients," he said.
"If the uptake is so low, it's something we will have to look at in the future."
Health chiefs have blamed flu, winter vomiting bugs and chest infections for a new record overcrowding crisis in the country's hospitals, with the INMO saying 612 patients were waiting on trolleys in emergency units yesterday.
HSE bosses disputed the nurses' head count, claiming that its records showed 487 patients waiting for a bed at 8am on Tuesday morning.
The HSE said the problem is being compounded by 21 outbreaks of respiratory infections and flu this season in hospitals, nursing homes and residential centres.
It also said there has been a significant increase in the number of over 75s seeking hospital care. They are twice as likely to be admitted and commonly stay twice as long.
Earlier:
The Health Minister Simon Harris is to meet the HSE tomorrow to discuss the new record level of people on trolleys at hospitals around the country.
The daily count hit 612 yesterday. Earlier this week, the HSE warned that influenza and respiratory illness levels have doubled over the past two weeks and are likely to increase further in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the medical director of Cork and Kerrys out-of-hours GP service, SouthDoc, Gerry Stack, said there was a 40% rise in patient contacts this Christmas compared to last and a 53% rise comparing this new year period and last.
Meanwhile, nationally, the INMO said there has been a significant deterioration in emergency department overcrowding in November and December.
In total, there was a record 93,621 admitted patients on trolleys last year, said INMO secretary general Liam Doran.
The INMO says overcrowded emergency departments mean conditions are "chaotic, cruel and extremely difficult" for nurses and patients.
Officials are expecting the numbers of people on trolleys to be the same, if not worse, today after yesterday's record high of 612.
Extended service hours and giving GPs direct access to consultants are among the options being available in a bid to reduce the number of patients on trolleys.
The Minister said the surge is a result of a highly contagious flu which has particularly targeted older people.
He is encouraging anyone who has not had the flu vaccine to consider getting it straight away, regardless of their age.
"It's about ensuring we minimise the spread of the flu," he said
Meanwhile, the body representing nursing homes said they have a key role to play in solving the trolley crisis.
Tadhg Daly from Nursing Homes Ireland is welcoming a pledge from Minister Harris to look into working with them on the issue, "We welcome the fact the Minister acknowledges, however late it is, the role of Nursing Homes Ireland and our members.
"We're happy to engage with Minister Harris, his Department and the HSE to alleviate the crisis that's in our hospitals at the moment and alleviate the suffering of families and older people."
1,427,166 people visited the Cliffs of Moher in Co Clare during 2016.
Visitor numbers were up an impressive 14% on 2015 with a huge increase in people visiting during the low season such as December.
There was a 52% increase in visits to the magestic cliffs during December 2016 compared to 2015.
The Director of the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience Katherine Webster said the figures reflect the huge popularity of the Cliffs of Moher and how the attraction is now a primary reason for many people choosing to visit Ireland.
However Mrs Webster also said that the popularity of the cliffs led to challenges for the management of the tourist centre.
Dealing with this number of visitors is not without its challenges and the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Experience faced capacity issues during peak times throughout the season, explained Ms. Webster.
She continued, The majority of people look to visit between 11.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. and consequently, our facilities have at times struggled to cope with the numbers during the peak season.
"We introduced off-peak pricing for pre-booked groups who come outside of these times in 2014 but it takes time for tour operators to be able to change their itineraries. This was one of the reasons we saw higher growth from this segment as our extended opening hours in the summer allowed above average increases outside of the peak.
Turkey has warned that repeated ceasefire violations by Syria's government are threatening peace talks scheduled for later this month.
Foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the talks in Kazakhstan were scheduled for January 23, to be preceded by preparatory meetings between Turkish and Russian "experts" in Turkey.
The Syrian government and allied militias have pressed on with an offensive to take the Barada Valley outside Damascus from rebels despite a ceasefire agreement signed shortly before the new year.
The government says the region was never included in the agreement.
Rebels have retaliated with shelling and raids on government-held areas in other parts of the country.
The rebels also accuse the government of carrying out air raids in the rebel-held province of Idlib, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have sought refuge.
Mr Cavusoglu called on Iran, a key ally of Syrian president Bashar Assad and one of the guarantors of the agreement, to address the violations by pro-government forces. Turkey supports the Syrian opposition.
The ceasefire was supposed to prepare the way for the talks in the Kazakh capital Astana, in what would be the first substantial diplomatic movement towards ending the conflict in nearly a year.
Russia, Turkey and Iran had agreed to broker those talks. Russia is also a key ally of Assad.
Mr Cavusoglu warned the Astana process "might fail if we cannot stop the escalating violations", in remarks made to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.
The foreign minister also said he had received assurances from Russia that the Kurdish Syrian PYD party would not be invited to Astana.
Turkey considers the party and its armed wing an extension of its own outlawed Kurdish insurgency and classifies it as a terror organisation.
The PYD controls most of the Syrian-Turkish frontier. Its armed wing enjoys the backing of the US military and is the most effective ground force battling Islamic State in Syria.
- AP
Cult leader and murderer Charles Manson has been taken to a California hospital, according to reports.
A state prison official said that the 82-year-old is still alive, but refused to give any details, citing rules designed to protect his privacy.
TMZ reported on Tuesday that Manson was taken to a hospital in Bakersfield, about 60 miles south of the prison where he has been incarcerated.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton declined to say whether the leader of the notorious Manson family is in hospital.
She said Manson, 82, is still assigned to the prison in Corcoran, but she declined to say whether he is there, citing safety and security protocols.
Privacy laws prohibit her from discussing an inmate's medical situation, Ms Thornton said.
Manson was convicted of orchestrating the 1969 murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others.
Sarah Ardalani of the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said the agency had no information on Manson. The office prosecuted Manson and has objected to his release. He was most recently up for parole in 2012 - his 12th bid for freedom.
The California State Prison, Corcoran, has medical facilities to treat inmates requiring urgent or emergency care as well as in-patient hospital stays.
"In general, inmates are sent to outside hospitals if they need surgical services, emergency care, or diagnostic services of an acute nature," said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for the federal receiver who controls prison medical care.
"These services are not provided in state prison facilities."
In November, the state inspector general, which monitors the corrections system, described care at Corcoran as "inadequate".
Manson was convicted of leading a cult in which disaffected young people living in a commune followed his orders and were ultimately turned into killers.
Manson and three female followers, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie Van Houten, were convicted of murder and sentenced to death for killings at two gruesome scenes in the summer of 1969. Another defendant, Charles "Tex" Watson, was convicted later.
All were spared execution when a US Supreme Court ruling temporarily banned the death penalty in 1972.
- AP
An Israeli military court has convicted a soldier of manslaughter over the fatal shooting of an incapacitated Palestinian attacker.
The verdict caps a nine-month saga that has deeply divided the country.
Defence officials have criticised Sergeant Elor Azaria's conduct, while large segments of the Israeli public, along with members of the nationalist ruling coalition, have rallied behind him.
In delivering her verdict, Colonel Maya Heller systematically rejected all of Azaria's defence arguments, saying "the fact that the man on the ground was a terrorist does not justify a disproportionate response".
The court threw out a relative of Azaria, while a second relative stormed out after his conviction.
A young woman called the verdict a disgrace and screamed "the Israeli military is over" before she was thrown out of the courtroom.
Another woman screamed "disgusting leftists" and stormed out.
Azaria sat emotionless as the verdict was delivered.
He is expected to be sentenced in several weeks.
- AP
IDA Ireland chief executive Martin Shanahan yesterday said the agency has, since June 23, seen an intensification of inquiries being made about Ireland from firms considering a new EU home.
He added Ireland is amongst a small number of locations being seriously sized up by companies.
Mr. Shanahan said he expects companies to start making real relocation decisions by the second quarter of 2017.
It is not likely companies will await the outcome of the negotiations between Britain and the EU [before deciding to act]. The political and commercial timeframes are totally incompatible, he said.
While he said an increase in the level of due diligence being carried out has been evident, Mr Shanahan declined to state a figure for the number of actual site visits which have been undertaken here by prospective re-locators in recent months.
However, he said Irelands membership of the EU has become an even more important factor since the Brexit vote last summer.
[It] gives us all important access to the European market, but it also gives us access to a European labour pool which allows talented people to come and work in Ireland.
"Given it is access to talent that will dictate which jurisdictions win investment, access to the European labour market is a big positive for Ireland.
Far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, renewed her attacks on the European model of immigration, budget controls, and currency union.
National Front leader Le Pen, who pollsters expect to reach the second round of voting, stuck closely to her partys traditional themes in an hour-long radio interview.
Socialist contenders including former prime minister Manuel Valls and former education minister Vincent Peillon held press conferences setting out their policy programmes, while the Republican frontrunner Francois Fillon also set out his stall.
The French want less Europe and more France, Ms Le Pen said, promising a referendum on Frances relations with the EU within six months of taking office if elected.
With the two-round election scheduled for April 23 and May 7, the candidates have about four months to make their cases to voters worried about terrorism, immigration and a lacklustre economy.
Mr Fillon, who ran the government for five years under former president Nicolas Sarkozy, has shown a consistent lead in the polls since winning the Republicans nomination in November.
He would win between 26% and 29% of the votes in the first round and Ms Le Pen would get between 24% and 25%, an Ipsos Sopra Steria poll showed.
Former industry minister Arnaud Montebourg who, like Mr Valls and Mr Peillon, is running in the Socialist Partys primary later this month also attacked the European consensus on economic policy, blaming spending cuts, rather than worker protection, for Frances unemployment problem.
The Socialist primary will be the next major development in the campaign, with seven candidates competing over two rounds on January 22 and 29.
Five years in power helped make the current Socialist president, Francois Hollande, the least popular head of state in half a century and the first not to seek a second mandate. Now the Socialists have a battle just to stay in the race.
Bloomberg
Independent counsel Park Young-soo on Tuesday declined demands by Chung Yoo-ra to be investigated without detention if he wants her to return to Korea.
Chung, the daughter of President Park Geun-hye's longtime crony Choi Soon-sil, has been arrested in Denmark and is suspected of being a major beneficiary of the extortion racket her mother ran with Park's connivance.
Lee Kyu-chul, a spokesman for the independent counsel, said a Danish court has already ruled in favor of detaining Chung and that she will be brought back to Korea as soon as possible.
Chung told the court in the northern Danish city of Aalborg that she would return to Korea voluntarily if she can stay with her 19-month-old son instead of a remand prison.
"Chung has already been placed on the Interpol most-wanted list and an arrest warrant will be sought immediately she is extradited," Lee said. "If the warrant is granted, she can be held for 48 hours, so we will be able to make a decision on indicting her then."
Lee said the Danish court would have no reason to block Chung's extradition as her passport will be canceled in a week's time unless she turns it in.
There are fears that Chung will fight extradition, but Lee said chances are that she will return to Korea before the end of this month. A source at the independent counsel's office said, "If Chung opposes the court's decision, she may end up being detained longer."
That is the prediction of leading Irish information security company, Ward Solutions, which said that ransomware attacks and data breaches are set to grow this year, leading to serious repercussions for information security.
Ward Solutions said it expected breach fatigue would set in among the general public.
CEO Pat Larkin said: The general public is increasingly growing tired of being told their personal data may or may not have leaked into the wrong hands.
"This fatigue offers huge opportunities for cyber criminals as consumers drop their guard. It also places an increased responsibility on organisations to secure and protect all of the customer and third-party data that they collect and handle.
Mr Larkin said the growing threat of global cyber- terrorism was a threat to world peace.
He said 2017 could see state-sponsored cyber-terrorism escalate to a point that prompts a military response.
2017 could be the year that sees a country respond to a cyber attack with a show of military force, resulting in the first bullets or missiles flying in response to cyber-terrorism.
"We would hope that governments and security agencies engage in co-ordinated preventative measures so this particular prediction isnt actually realised, he said.
He said Ireland needed to be more prepared to the growing threat of cyber attacks, saying that it was imperative that critical infrastructures and assets were protected from these growing threats.
Mr Larkin called on Irish companies to take heed of the impending General Data Protection Regulation legislation, due to come into force in May 2018. The legislation is an EU regulation aimed at securing the personal data of individuals. Non-compliant companies face fines of 4% of worldwide turnover.
He said: Many Irish organisations have grossly underestimated the workload required to become compliant. When they finally realise the scale of the challenge they will be forced to seek assistance from a limited pool of knowledgeable external resources.
Yesterday, a warrant was issued for the arrest of the attacker.
Curtis Keniry, aged 20, of Gateway House, 34 Leitrim St, Cork, was convicted in his absence yesterday at Cork District Court on a charge of assaulting John Lynch.
He failed to show up for the case against him and Judge Marie Keane issued a warrant, wanting him before the court for sentencing.
The State has proved its case, Judge Keane said. This was a vicious unprovoked attack on an innocent man walking on Patrick St at 9.30pmm on a Sunday. For no reason whatsoever, Mr Keniry began to engage in provocative behaviour culminating in a vicious assault. I am satisfied it would have been a very frightening incident for Mr Lynch.
Eyewitness Jim Faulkner said he was standing on the corner of St Patricks St and Grand Parade that night when he heard a man shouting at another: Get away from me, leave me alone.
He beats him around the head, he [the injured party] drops to the ground, Mr Faulkner told Inspector Finbarr OSullivan.
I heard a crack. I felt the vibration of his head hitting the ground come up through my shoes. The gentleman doing the assaulting never saw the guard coming. He just kept laying into the guy.
CCTV evidence shown in court yesterday showed Mr Lynch walking backwards to avoid another man walking directly at him. Mr Lynch initially tried to fend off blows before turning to run. The victim said that when the incident continued out of sight of the CCTV camera, he was knocked to the ground.
He testified that he did not know the attacker, had never seen him before the incident, and had not see him since.
The INMO predicts this current flu outbreak will cause even more chaos at emergency departments.
Earlier this week, the HSE warned that influenza and respiratory illness levels have doubled over the past two weeks and are likely to increase further in the coming weeks.
There were 33 on trolleys at Cork University Hospital yesterday, 26 at the Mercy University Hospital in Cork, 42 at the Midland Regional in Portlaoise, and 41 at St Lukes Kilkenny.
Meanwhile, the medical director of Cork and Kerrys out-of-hours GP service, SouthDoc, Gary Stack, said there was a 40% rise in patient contacts this Christmas compared to last and a 53% rise comparing this new year period and last. He said there is a crisis in general practice, with up to 18 GP vacancies in Cork and Kerry alone.
Dr Stack said some patients are forced to wait up to 24 hours to see a GP because of a lack of doctors.
Meanwhile, nationally, the INMO said there has been a significant deterioration in emergency department overcrowding in November and December.
In total, there was a record 93,621 admitted patients on trolleys last year, said INMO secretary general Liam Doran.
The stark reality is that, in 2007, after it was declared a national emergency, the number of patients on trolleys was recorded as 50,402, said Mr Doran. However, in 2016 this has increased by 86% to 93,621. This confirms that successive governments approach to the public health service have failed to address this problem and it must now become a top priority for a government- wide response in 2017.
What steps have been taken to implement the recommendations, of an expert group report last August, which called for additional nursing posts to be created and filled, to look after all admitted patients in emergency departments and extra patients on wards?
Fianna Fails health spokesman Billy Kelleher said the HSE seems to think it is acceptable to have 300 to 400 people on trolleys and warned regional hospitals are amongst the worst affected by overcrowding.
The winter initiative has failed, and [Health] Minister [Simon] Harris must review what his department and the HSE are doing... The minister needs to bring forward proposals that increase capacity in hospital wards. Across the country, there are community hospitals with fully functioning wards that could be used to treat non-acute patients, thereby freeing up acute beds in our major hospitals.
Ann Marie Horan, pharmacist and member of the executive committee of the Irish Pharmacy Union, warned people to get the flu vaccination, especially those in at-risk groups.
While it can often be difficult to tell the difference between the common cold and flu, flu is a much more severe illness than a cold, she said. Flu symptoms, particularly fever and muscle aches, tend to come on suddenly, whereas a cold usually starts gradually with symptoms of a sore throat and a blocked or runny nose.
The Irish Examiner has learned that following talks between Health Minister Simon Harris and Waterford Fine Gael TD John Deasy who was central to the uncovering of the scandal the Government recognises a major gap exists in the law and must be closed.
It is understood that Mr Harris agrees with Mr Deasy and the whistleblowers who cared for Grace that vulnerable adults are at risk.
Mr Deasy has sought legislation to protect adults in a similar way to children.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr Deasy said: I passionately believe we need to move on this so the political will is there. We need now just to sort the when.
Mr Harris has discussed the matter with Attorney General Maire Whelan who has asked the Law Reform Commission to immediately begin examining what shape new legislation should take.
This is a complex area and it is not simply a matter of copying the law for children, said Mr Harris. Adults are open to many forms of abuse, financial abuse, elder abuse or whatever. So its now a case of making sure we can proceed as quickly as possible.
Mr Deasy said: I welcome the progress here. If what happened to some of these people in the Waterford foster home had happened to a dog, there would be a greater chance of securing a conviction, given that Ireland, in some circumstances, affords greater protections to animals than to adults with disabilities.
Mr Deasy said he went to Mr Harris on this issue as he felt he would have been wasting his time trying to get anything done with super junior minister Finian McGrath, who is technically the line minister responsible for this area
Barrys work, set in the wars of 1850s America, has been hailed by judges as a miracle of a book.
His fourth book, The Secret Scripture, won the Costa Book of the Year in 2008.
Non-fiction writer Francis Spufford has won the First Novel Award for his debut work of fiction, Golden Hill. Spuffords historical novel, set in New York in the winter of 1746, was called captivating and dazzlingly original.
Debut non-fiction writer Keggie Carew has won the Costa Biography Award for Dadland, her attempt to learn about her fathers past as he slips into dementia; while Alice Oswald has been named winner of the Costa Poetry Award for Falling Awake, a collection of poems written to be read aloud.
Brian Conaghan has taken the Costa Childrens Book Award for The Bombs That Brought Us Together.
The five winning authors, chosen from 596 entries, each receive 5,000 (about 5,870) and will now compete for the 2016 Costa Book of the Year.
The winner will be announced at a ceremony hosted by broadcaster Penny Smith in London on January 31. The winning book will be chosen by a panel of judges chaired by Professor Kate Williams and comprising authors and category judges Nicci Gerrard, Charlotte Heathcote, Matthew Dennison, Kate Kellaway and Cressida Cowell, joined by Graham Norton, Sian Williams, and Robert Bathurst.
Dominic Paul, Costa managing director, said: Were very proud and excited to be announcing this years Costa Award Winners, a collection of terrific books.
Five wonderful reads and something here for all readers tastes just what the Costa Book Awards are all about.
The winner of the Costa Short Story Award voted for by the general public will also be announced at the awards ceremony. The 2015 Costa Book of the Year was The Lie Tree by Francis Hardinge.
The Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) ordered the Irish arm of the British retailer to pay Alan McNally 18,000.
The tribunal found that an unexplained delay of seven months in dealing with an appeal against his dismissal was unacceptable. Mr McNally suffered a heart attack during this period.
It was alleged that Mr McNally had an interest in buying a VTech toy and set it aside in a security office to be purchased at a later date.
A security officer who gave evidence to the tribunal had noticed the toy had been removed from the office a few days later and checked CCTV footage, which showed Mr McNally taking the item without paying.
Mr McNally told the tribunal he had brought the toy home to check its suitability for his child, and for safekeeping as items that had previously been left in the office for subsequent purchase had been removed.
He said he had always intended to pay for the toy and made no effort to conceal it either when he was bringing it home, or when he brought it back to the store a few days later.
A store investigation was commenced that led to his dismissal on 22 April, 2014.
Mr McNally wrote three times to request an appeal of the decision to dismiss him, but he received no response.
His legal representative wrote to Tesco on June 6, 2014, but a response to this letter was issued directly to Mr McNally, as they refused to engage with his solicitor.
At this point, Mr McNally suffered a heart attack and was not capable of engaging directly with Tesco, the tribunal heard.
The EAT found Mr McNallys actions had been against company policy, and noted a central part of his role as security manager was to police this policy. It noted that he accepted what he had done was wrong.
The EAT found that the decision to dismiss Mr McNally was a reasonable one, in the circumstances, but said it was satisfied there was significant procedural unfairness in the manner of Mr McNallys dismissal.
The EAT said compensation for the total loss arising from the dismissal would have amounted to approximately 65,000, but it was necessary to consider the extent to which the financial loss was attributable to Mr McNallys own conduct.
In the light of this, it was satisfied that compensation in the amount of 18,000 was just and equitable.
However, he refused to define record numbers attending at hospitals as a national emergency.
Mr Harris was speaking at his department yesterday after the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said 612 patients were admitted for care on trolleys in hospitals around the country.
Mr Harris said that winter was normally a challenging time for the hospital sector but he said the challenges being faced are not just the challenges of a normal winter.
The Health Minister rejected claims by the INMO that the situation was entirely predictable.
Health minister Simon Harris addressing media on pressure on accident and emergency depts #iestaff pic.twitter.com/6sggNuvZ6K Daniel McConnell (@McConnellDaniel) January 3, 2017
It is interesting that everybody says something is predictable after it has happened, said Mr Harris. Perhaps next time they will tell us in advance.
Mr Harris said he will now begin a bed-capacity review, although he said that while there are calls for extra beds it is important there is extra staff.
My department will commence a bed-capacity review of the beds in our acute hospitals and across our health service and I want it done in time for the mid-term review, said Mr Harris. But to have beds you have to have staff.
He said he will meet the HSE tomorrow for a further update on the situation and called on the HSE to redouble its efforts to ensure enough is being done to relieve the crisis.
Hyundai Merchant Marine will join hands with local rivals to take on the Asian market amid the drastic slump in the shipping industry here.
Hyundai said on Tuesday the company will form a consortium in March with Sinokor Merchant Marine and Heung-A Shipping, both of which specialize in shipments in the Asian region.
Sinokor and Heung-A own 42 and 35 container ships, most of them small vessels of 2,500 TEU. Hyundai operates 66 medium to large container ships. Sinokor and Heung-A will carry freight to Busan from China, Japan and Southeast Asia, while Hyundai will transport it to long-haul destinations like Europe and the U.S.
That will result in 102 Asian shipping lines for Hyundai, up from the current 20. Hyundai hopes the consortium will give it a competitive edge against Chinese and Japanese rivals in the region.
Residents of Apollo House, an empty office block in Dublin city centre occupied and refitted as a shelter by the Home Sweet Home campaign before Christmas, led the petition.
The building was once used by the civil service and is now controlled by receivers after property loans were taken over by the states Nama.
Irish Housing Network activist Tommy Gavin said: The Minister for Finance is failing in his duty to the people of Ireland by not exercising his powers under the Nama act to direct Nama to make proper and adequate housing stock immediately available to local authorities around Ireland.
The housing crisis is bigger than Apollo House.
Home Sweet Home secured more than 4,000 signatures of support for the petition.
There were more than 1,200 families homeless in the last week of November, according to official figures, including 6,985 people staying in emergency accommodation during December, with 2,549 of them children.
The open letter to Mr Noonan calls on the Government to identify properties, loans, land and other assets which are controlled by Nama and could be used to house homeless people.
It said Mr Noonan should intervene directly and order Nama to prioritise its social mandate, including the delivery of social, public or affordable housing within a set time. The campaigners also said that Apollo House or an alternative vacant property should be made available immediately for sheltered accommodation for homeless people for at least six months.
A resident of Apollo House, whose name was given as Mitzalo, said: The Government is forcing us into hostels where the people next to you are using drugs and smoking.
We have great facilities at Apollo thanks to the generosity of Irish people. We have our own rooms.
We have everything we need. They should keep this place open until the Government builds social housing that theyve failed to build time and time again.
The occupation has won support from musicians Hozier and Glen Hansard, filmmaker Jim Sheridan, and actress Saoirse Ronan among many others.
The campaigners are facing eviction next week after the High Court gave them until January 11 to leave the building, which has been empty since 2015.
Home Sweet Home said Apollo House has provided shelter to 40 people and helped another 205 people access shelter over the Christmas period.
It said Nama-controlled buildings should not be used as honey pots for private development, but as public housing and high-quality accommodation to end the homelessness crisis.
Due to the vagaries of Irish weather, we had nicer days in November and December than we had in the summer.
Ive had reason to remember one horrible day a long-planned day to cycle the Great Western Greenway, in Mayo.
Setting out from Westport, the morning didnt look promising; by lunchtime, the rain was lashing and your hapless cyclist was already soaked to the skin. Eventually, after almost making it to Mulranny, about 13km from the final stop at Achill, we had to turn back: not so much because of rain, but a driving head wind blowing in from Atlantic was almost impossible to pedal against.
It was also a day when we couldnt see any of the much-vaunted scenery because of low cloud. The greenway itself is mainly on a disused rail line, but there is more of it on the public road than we expected.
Signage could be improved, especially by putting up warnings to cyclists to slow down coming to acute bends at the bottom of slopes on the greenway, which can be tricky to negotiate at speed. The plan is to return on a, hopefully, better day in 2017, due in no small part to the service provided by Travis Zeray, of Clew Bay Bike Hire. The Canadian just cant do enough for visitors and his local knowledge is superb, down to where the best black pudding can be got in Mayo.
Another standout memory from 2016 is a trip to Garinish Island, Glengarrif, on a glorious day, in August. The ornamental garden of tropical plants was also being visited by hundreds of other people, while white-tailed sea eagles roosting in the area were also attracting attention.
Still in West Cork, great to see the evergreen Matt Murphy, an environmentalist before the term was coined, has lost none of his passion or crusading spirit.
Hes the editor of Sherkin Comment and the latest issue contains an interview with professor emeritus Brian McKenzie Bary, first professor of oceanography at University College Galway. The professor, now 97, did lots of useful research over a long, distinguished career.
On a sad note finally, Eileen Cronin, an old friend and a woman known to countless hillwalkers in The MacGillycuddys Reeks for decades, died before Christmas after a short illness. Most people climbing Carrantuohill pass by Eileens home, near Beaufort (widely known as Cronins Yard), and she had a cheery salute for one and all.
In the 60s and 70s Cronins Yard, was base camp for the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team. A most hospitable woman, Eileen would make pots of tea, served with her delicious apple pie, for rescuers, gardai, media people and anyone who dropped by. Eileen will be missed greatly. May she rest gently.
City breaks offer all of the ingredients needed for a memorable New Years celebration.
From the buzz of a city centre, to the smell of just-exploded fireworks, there is something viscerally exciting about spending the end of one year and the start of another in the urban playground of a city.
With that in mind, we have come up with nine amazing European cities to visit this New Year, all of which boast direct flights from Cork.
Weve found the best parties and located the ideal spots to stay all thats needed is to book your ticket. So, get planning for next year now.
Amsterdam
Achingly cool, Amsterdam is the best place in Europe to let down your shackles and party like its well 2017.
Amsterdam is the best place in Europe to let down your shackles
Accommodation in this city is not cheap and, while a wealth of Airbnb options may seem the most budget- friendly, there is a new wave of modern budget hotels popping up around the city.
Our favourite is CitizenM; a futuristic hotel boasting extremely large beds, soundproofed rooms, and an interior that looks like an IKEA catalogue on steroids.
It has a canteen-style restaurant for quick re-fuelling between New Years parties, of which there are serious amounts citywide.
Do not miss:
Osterdok, the citys official celebration, where superstar DJs prevail as fireworks shoot across the sky. Celebrations start at 9.30pm at the edge of the Scheepvaartmuseum. Be sure to pack a jumper, as Amsterdam nights are extremely cold this time of year.
www.citizenm.com
Cardiff
The undeniable party city of Wales, Cardiff has long hosted elaborate New Years celebrations that attract crowds from far and wide.
We suggest starting in the afternoon with a visit to the New Theatre, where none other than David Hasslehoff is starring in pantomime.
Follow on to the Chapter Arts Centre, which is hosting a David Bowie New Years, replete with Bowie-inspired cocktails and fancy dress.
Stay at The Big Sleep, which may sound suspect, but is in fact an old British Gas building, which converted offices into hotel rooms. It is decorated in Scandi-chic, has few bells and whistles, but is a stones throw from the main shopping thoroughfare and, crucially for New Years, operates a 24-hour bar.
www.thebigsleephotel.com
Edinburgh
Ah, Hogmanay. There is nothing that rivals the world-famous festival that rocks Edinburgh through to New Year.
From a candle-lit concert of classical music in the hallowed surrounds of St Giles Cathedral to a rip-roaring belter of a concert, headlined by Paulo Nutini, to a ceilidh in the Old Town, this is New Years on a citywide level.
Edinburgh has Hogmanay
Theyve even taken kids into account, with a Sprogmanay festival for nippers.
Book into Stay Central, a brilliantly imaginative budget hotel located just off the Royal Mile. Bedrooms are urban in the extreme (exposed walls and metal and rough wood) complemented by the necessary iPhone docks and flat screen televisions of todays traveller.
They even gift each check in with a bottle of wine, which is a lovely touch.
www.staycentral.co.uk
Geneva
Pack your snow gear, darling, youre skiing into the New Year. The beauty of Geneva airport is that it is less than an hour away from some of the best ski resorts in Europe. Head towards Chamonix, which is an hours drive from Geneva airport and an ideal spot for a weekend getaway.
Check into Vallorcine Mont Blanc Residence & Spa; super fancy apartments with daily room service, an on-site spa with hammam and its very own ice rink. We recommend booking a table at Le Privilege to see how the other half lives for a night, before dancing the night away at Clubhouse.
The crowd here are fancy, so be sure to pack your (ski- appropriate) gladrags.
www.chamonix-vacances.com
Liverpool
These days, Liverpool is one of northern Englands biggest party cities, making it an ideal destination for your end of year celebrations.
If we were going, we would book a ticket to District House, an uber-fancy bar/cocktail/club/restaurant that seems as though it would house many a reality television star.
The night at District House includes dinner, dancing to samba, lots of cocktails and a DJ set by the Son of 8 and Drew Moreland, who we are assured are two of the citys hottest tickets.
We would stay at Novotel, which, as well as having a city-centre location and a pool, has an extremely decent room rate.
www.novotel.com
London
There are so many things going on in London on New Years Eve, it can be quite the daunting task trying to figure out what to do.
First things first; if you want to watch the fireworks near the display, you will have to get a ticket and you will have to pay. To get a ticket, log onto www.london.gov.uk and sign up.
If money is no object, splash out on a ticket to the New Year Gala at The Ritz this year.
Their world-famous restaurant The Palm Court will transform into a beacon of revelry, departing from its usual incarnation, to stage a glamorous 1920s-themed black-tie event.
Delight in a delectable four-course dinner created by executive chef, John Williams, MBE, and toast the New Year with a glass of Dom Perignon Champagne.
With entertainment from vintage swing bands, bagpipes, and a 14-piece military marching band, tickets cost a mere 795 per person, and 300 per child.
www.theritzlondon.com
Malaga
New Years Eve is a big deal all over Spain, and Malaga is no exception.
Traditionally, locals eat a family meal together before taking to the streets for a night of dancing and music.
Malagas main square will come alive with an orchestra and the city hall distributes 2,000 bags of grapes, which revellers eat for luck in the New Year.
We recommend eating some amazing tapas in Gorki or Bodega Bar El Pimpi, before working your way down to the public celebrations.
Stay in Alcazaba Premium Hostel, a high-end budget hostel with accommodation ranging from dorms to doubles, all with private bathrooms and some with their own balcony.
It has a fantastic roof-top terrace with view across the city, and a delicious restaurant on site.
alcazabapremiumhostel.com
Munich
Get ready party people. Munich has its own name for New Years Eve, so seriously do they take it. On Silvesterabend, the whole city goes into full-on celebration mode. Restaurants offer lavish five- and six-course menus and bars and clubs host huge elaborate parties. Marienplatz is the citys central square and is the perfect place to head to on the night, because it is right in the middle of the major bar and restaurant district.
Munich: On Silvesterabend, the whole city goes into full-on celebration mode
The city will throw an elaborate firework display, but the real fun will be found in the wee hours in the citys many nightclubs where parties will go on until the early morning.
There is lots of choice when it comes to accommodation in Munich, but Motel One a hugely popular chain in Germany offers six different hotels across the city, all for 69 per night. The rooms are no frills and dont include breakfast, but there is no denying its good value.
Paris
If you are lucky enough to be in Paris on the cusp of the New Year, then you better make the most of it. The city of light offers something for everyone, whether it is a shared glass of vintage champagne overlooking the Seine or a massive rave in a disused warehouse.
Paris
Somewhere in between, the city offers a huge amount of New Years tourist packages; from a dinner and music at the famous Le Mere Catherine Montmartre, that promises to keep you singing until dawn, to a ticket to the world-renowned Moulin Rouge, this is a night to taste all that Paris has to offer.
To sleep, jadore Hotel Le Relais Montmartre, whose rooms are pretty and clean and frou frou and morning coffee can be taken in the courtyard during the warmer months.
The hotel is like an old pension and is located just a few minutes from the Sacre-Coeur, but feels almost village-ish in atmosphere.
WITTENBERG is not a major tourist attraction, but it is where modernity began. Five hundred years ago, on October 31, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the parish church, still extant. He shattered the notion of universal or objective truth. I was placed at the centre of the cosmos. Though dependent on princely power, the change in thought he unleashed ultimately undermined all hierarchy. As over-enthusiastic peasants discovered on their way to the slaughter in the Peasants Revolt, he was no Jacobin. But there could have been no French Revolution without him.
Lutheranism today is everywhere and nowhere. Nowhere, in that the state-sponsored churches he inspired are withered. Everywhere, in that the individualism he enabled is the last objective reality. Luther said we could all be our own priest. Now we are our own gods.
Wittenberg then was a town of hardly 2,000 people, in outlying Brandenburg, far from places of influence. Visiting with two friends, the remoteness and relative insignificance are still apparent. The Augustinian Friary which was his home as a priest- professor, the parish church, and the electors castle all remain. Many German towns are unrecognisable since the Second World War, but Luthers is intact. The friary, afterwards his family home and home to those who thronged to study with him, can be visited. The latrines where the man with a scatological obsession and acute constipation relieved himself are extant.
Social media is decried for its crudity and brevity. The 16th century broadsheet, a pamphlet with a picture, was Luthers equivalent. The image were accompanied by few words in a largely illiterate society. But enough could read aloud to amplifying the message. Artists such as Lucas Cranach collaborated with Luther. To understand the effect, think Banksy crossed with Raphael. The Fall of Constantinople 64 years before and the emergence of humanism, partially fuelled by an exodus westward of Greek learning, recovered original texts in classical and biblical scholarship.
If clerics dominated the scriptoria, lay men worked the printing presses. The rebirth of classical architecture reflected rationality, not divinity.
Luthers reformation, founded on the written word, was an academic religion. The preacher was professor and prophet. The famous parish church at Wittenberg, cleansed of saints, boasts portraits of Luther and fellow reformers. It is a modern church, in that its chief function is as a lecture theatre.
The sacramental world was over, and the break with apostolic tradition was complete. Arguably the greatest ornament of Lutheranism, after his own bible, was the music of Bach and that was still in the future.
The Reformation was the platform for the preacher-man, untethered by boundaries except his own. Almost instantly, and to his vehement horror, Luthers reformation split into multiple conflicting creeds. The unmediated understanding of God he demanded for himself did not extend to others who rejected fundamentals he had newly arrived at. Nietzsche remarked how Luther, like St Paul, was a genius of hatred.
The mature Luther, angered by the failure of Jewish people to see the authenticity of his scriptural exegesis penned the virulently anti-Semitic On the Jews and Their Lies. It was a tract of 65,000 words and damned a people full of the devils feces. Like his bible, his anti-semitism was also culturally foundational. Ultimately, it became the open pit that consumed an entire culture.
A hundred years later, Rene Descartes brought Luthers formula of only scripture, only grace, only faith to their logical fruition, while still professing God, albeit on his own terms. Descartes shifted faith from what is true to what I can be certain of. His dictum, I think therefore I am, replaced God with man, as the guarantor of truth. God could be found by logical processes, but it was mans reason, not, as Luther advocated, divine revelation in scripture, and certainly not authority divinely vested in the pope or Church. Descartes thought he could guard against scepticism. But the I Luther had circumscribed with scripture was now utterly unbound. The mindset we call modern, born at Wittenberg, was now untrammelled by higher authority.
The effect of reformation in Ireland was at the same time limited and fundamental. Limited in the extent to which it gained adherents, but fundamental in how directly and indirectly it influenced Irish thought, including Irish Catholicism. Augustine, St Pauls greatest early disciple, fostered a dour understanding of the human person. Having enjoyed a misspent youth, he knew the difficulty of conforming the flesh with the will.
Luther was Augustinian in his sense of sin. Calvin went further, believing in the total depravity of humanity and limited atonement, meaning that Christ died only for some, not for all. Lutheranism and Catholicism differ fundamentally from Calvinism on the impact of Christs death, but their common Augustinian heritage, re-emphasised by the influential Flemish Catholic bishop Jansen, injected into Irish Catholic thought at the foundation of Maynooth, a sin-centered Catholicism. Institutionally and politically opposed to Presbyterianism and a Presbyterian- tinted Church of Ireland, in its theology it balefully mirrored Luthers view that everything we can do is sin.
If Irish Protestantism nurtured great minds such as Archbishop James Ussher in the 17th century and Jonathan Swift, Edmund Burke, and Henry Grattan in the 18th, after the Act of Union it remained largely reactive and sometimes reactionary. Issac Butt and Charles Stewart Parnell were exceptions. Ironically, it was British non-conformism as much as the prudery of peasant proprietor Irish Catholicism that brought down the latter. Modernity, sparked in Wittenberg, did not finally catch fire in Ireland until the 1960s.
In 2017, Ireland marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, with only a limited intervening experience of the modernity it began. In James Joyces Ulysses... Stephen jerked his thumb towards the window, saying: That is God. Hooray! Ay! Whrrwhee! What? Mr Deasy asked. A shout in the street, Stephen answered, shrugging his shoulders.
Historically, Stephens common-place sense of an echo of the divine, was an end of an era. After Auschwitz, the divine valediction of a shout on the street would metaphorically no longer be possible. The European public space, long dominated by God, would be enclosed. The concentration camps were an open pit of what Luther might have called the feces of a culture become putrid.
The ultimate tragedy of modernity, which we live through, now unfolds. Freed 500 years ago to believe in anything; now there is nothing left to believe in. Everyone preaches something, but no one believes anything. The only correct response to religion now allowed is to shrug your shoulders.
Burma YCDC, Street Vendors Locked in a Lawsuit
Street vendors in Rangoon. / Pyay Kyaw / The Irrawaddy
RANGOON Rangoons municipality officers and street vendors are looking to sue one another after a scuffle between them broke out Tuesday morning, a police officer with the Lamadaw Township police station confirmed.
Some trishaw drivers and street vendors did not take kindly to municipal officers clearing them from the street while they were selling goods by the roadside and on the corner of Anawrahta Road and 8th Street in Lanmadaw Township.
A video clip showing the scuffle has since gone viral. It depicts street vendors swearing at municipal officers and what appears to be a trishaw driver trying to hit someone with a bottle while police attempt to control the situation and calm participants down.
In early December, Rangoon municipality, also known as the YCDC (Yangon City Development Committee), relocated thousands of street vendors to a newly designated night market on Strand Road in order to regulate unmanageable traffic congestion on eleven major downtown streets: Anawrahta, Bogyoke, Mahabandoola, Pansodan, Merchant, Shwedagon Pagoda, Sule Pagoda, Latha, Lanmadaw, Phone Gyi, and Strand.
As a result, selling goods along these 11 major roads has been prohibited since Dec. 1.
The video footage does not show how municipal officers handled the goods sold by street vendors, though Rangoon municipality has said before that it would throw away any goods sold on those particular roads as they would garbage.
YCDC officials have filed a lawsuit against seven peoplethree trishaw drivers and four street vendors. And a street vendor has also filed a lawsuit against a YCDC staff member for allegedly touching her breast. The seven people, however, have been released on bail. Some municipal staff and street vendors sustained small cuts and bruises during the altercation, said a police officer with the Lanmadaw police station.
[YCDC] has filed a lawsuit under charges of causing small injuries, disturbing duty [of government officials], and swearing. And one of the street vendors has filed a lawsuit against a junior clerk of the YCDC for insulting her modesty, the officer told The Irrawaddy.
Guest Column The Most Impossible Job on this Earth
A Buddhist man looks at a portrait of U Thant, the third Secretary-General of the UN, during celebrations for the anniversary of his birth in 2014. / Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters
On January 1 the former prime minister of Portugal Antonio Guterres took the helm as the ninth secretary-general of the United Nations.
While the world focuses on US president-elect Donald Trump and his tweets, there is far less attention on the position once described as the most impossible job on this earth.
That judgement was reportedly made by the first UN secretary-general Trygve Lie of Norway as he exited a job that had been assailed by relentless difficulties, including from the Soviet Union on the left to Americas Joseph McCarthy on the right.
Lie is said to have made the oft-repeated statement to his successor, Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden, who assumed the role of secretary-general in April 1953, five months after Lie announced his resignation.
Lies successors have taken a different public tone on the position. Kofi Annan stated at the end of his two terms that the role of UN chief could also be the most fulfilling job in the world.
The eighth secretary-general Ban Ki-moon stated in an interview a few days before his second term ended that he had considered it his duty to make this impossible job a possible mission.
The 10-year tenure of Ban Ki-moon followed a tradition in the UN in which the leader serves no more than two terms, though there is nothing to require as such in the organizations charter.
Burmas U Thant, who was the UNs third secretary-general, wasin a very slight way
something of an exception.
U Thant was acting secretary-general from Nov. 3, 1961, to Nov. 30, 1962, and he was then secretary-general until Dec. 31 1971a total of 10 years and seven weeks.
After a turbulent decade that included the Cuban missile crisis, civil war in the then Congo as well as crises in the Middle East and the Vietnam War, U Thant was more than ready to be without the burden of the position.
About a year before his second term ended U Thant announced that under no circumstances would he serve for a third time.
When asked during a news conference in September 1971 whether he would stay in office for a few months beyond his term, should the United Nations not find a successor, U Thant gave an unequivocal no.
By mid-December, when a successor had yet to be found toward, U Thant felt terribly sick, he later wrote in his memoir.
Fortunately for U Thant, 10 days before his second term was to end, Kurt Waldheim of Austria was designated the United Nations fourth secretary-general.
In his farewell speech to the UN General Assembly on Dec. 27, 1971, U Thant said that he felt a sense of great relief bordering on liberation in laying down the burdens of office.
The New York Times titled an editorial two days later The Liberation of U Thant, stating that the wise counsel of this dedicated man of peace would still be needed after his retirement.
U Thant and the fifth UN secretary-general, Perus Javier Perez de Cuellar, were the only office holders asked by UN members to serve a third term. Both declined. Kurt Waldheim was the only secretary-general to seek a third term, but Chinas veto forced him to withdraw his candidacy.
When U Thants term ended, he received a standing ovation from the UN General Assembly, as all secretaries-general have done since then.
It is a testament to the self-effacing nature of U Thant and de Cuellar that they did not feel it necessary to mention their standing ovations in their memoirs.
The less self-effacing Waldheim and Boutros Boutros-Ghali (the sixth and only secretary-general to be denied a second term in office because the United States vetoed his candidacy in 1996) deemed it necessary to mention these accolades in their publications about their terms in the office.
After his liberation U Thant wrote that he closed his eyes and meditated. He prayed for the success of his replacement Mr. Waldheim. And he prayed for the success of the United Nations, just as all with an interest in world affairs may do now as Antonio Gutteres begins his challenging work.
Astronauts that lives in space to discover the various aspects of the universe that contains stars, sun, moon, planets and further. The life they live is what we all know as fancy and marvel what it will be similar to live on other worlds such as Mars. One of the most predicted projects is NASA's Mars work and space and science devotees eagerly wait for data from the red planet.
But have you ever thought how hard it is to live on Mars? Making a living space for the astronauts has been one of the major challenges faced by NASA astronomers. After years of attempts, NASA has concluded with a novel housing idea that would defend the astronauts from harsh climate. The space-age home will have a structure similar to that of an igloo. Yes, it will be made of ice and has formally been named as Mars Ice Home.
The Mars Ice Home will be pumped-up, will look like igloos roofed with ice. The astronauts will be able to live securely, will be thriving from extreme temperatures and high-energy energies and work in it.
"After a day devoted to identifying needs, goals, and limits we rapidly evaluated many crazy, out of the box concepts and finally touched on the current Ice Home design, which offers a sound engineering solution," said senior system engineer Kevin Vipavetz, from NASA's Langley Research Centre in Virginia, reported.
"It combines properties haul out from Mars, and for the reason that water in the Ice Home could hypothetically be transformed to rocket fuel for the Mars Ascent Vehicle, the assembly itself doubles as a storage reservoir that can be fill up for the next crew."
Cosmic rays can pierce the Martian atmosphere and they are so damaging that they can damage cells, levitation the risk of a slew of health fears such as cancer and acute radiation illness. Therefore, the Ice Home concept is thoroughly remarkable.
The Ice Is Rich In Hydrogen, It Acts As A protective Barrier Against Harmful Rays.
"The elements that the Ice Home impression it must endure many years of use in the harsh Martian atmosphere, counting ultraviolet radiation, charged-particle radiation, perhaps some atomic oxygen, perchlorates, along with dust storms - although not as brutal as in the movie The Martian," explains researcher Sheila Ann Thibeault, also from the Langley Research Centre.
"After months nomadic in space, reaching at Mars and your new home is ready for you to move in, it will be a good to start your day," explains team member Kevin Kempton.
Oxygen allows the chemical reactions that animals use to get liveliness from stored carbohydrates -- from food. So, it may be no accident that animals seemed and evolved during the "Cambrian blast," which accorded with a spike in atmospheric oxygen approximately 500 million years ago.
The Cambrian Explosion Creates Current Animal Species Existing Today
In green plants, photosynthesis splits carbon dioxide into molecular oxygen (which is released to the atmosphere), and carbon (which is stored in carbohydrates). But photosynthesis had already been around for at least 2.5 billion years as it nourished the Earth. So, what is the kick-start for the sudden spike in oxygen during the Cambrian?
The February issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters relates the rise in oxygen to a rapid upsurge in the burial of residue containing large quantities of carbon-rich organic matter. The key, says study co-author Shanan Peters, a professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is to identify that deposit storage blocks the oxidation of carbon.
Without burial, this oxidation response causes dead plant substantial on Earth's crust to burn. That causes the carbon it holds to bond with oxygen to form carbon dioxide. And for oxygen to nourish in our atmosphere, plant matter must be thriving from oxidation.
And that's exactly what occurs when organic things - like raw material of coal, oil, and natural gas -- is buried through geologic progressions. Peters and his post-doctoral fellow Jon Husson mined a unique data set called Macrostrat, a collection of geologic data on North America whose building Peters has masterminded for 10 years.
The graphs of oxygen in the atmosphere and residue burial, based on the data of sedimentary rock, indicate a connection between oxygen and sediment. Both graphs show a smaller peak at 2.3 billion years ago, and a larger one more or less 500 million years ago.
"It's a correlated to each other, but our argument is that there are mechanistic influences between geology and the past of atmospheric oxygen," Husson says. "When you store sediment, it holds organic matter that was shaped by photosynthesis, which transformed carbon dioxide into biomass and released oxygen into the air. Burial eliminates the carbon from Earth's surface, preventing it from bonding molecular oxygen dragged from the atmosphere."
Some of the rushes in sediment burial that Husson and Peters recognized accorded with the formation of vast fields of fossil fuels that are mined today, this includes oil-rich Permian Basin in Texas and the Pennsylvania coal fields of Appalachia.
"Burying the deposits that became fossil fuels was the main to advanced animal life on Earth," Peters says, noting that multicellular life is mainly a creation of the Cambrian.
These days, burning billions of tons of kept carbon in fossil fuels is eliminating large amounts of oxygen from the atmosphere, reversing the design that drove the rise in oxygen. And so, the oxygen level in the atmosphere falls as the absorption of carbon dioxide rises.
The information about North America in Macrostrat echoes the work of thousands of geoscientists over more than an era. The present study only concerns North America, since complete databases concerning the other 80 percent of Earth's mainland surface do not yet exist.
Continual burial of carbon is required to keep the atmosphere build up with oxygen. Many lanes on Earth's surface, Husson notes, like corrosion of iron -- rust -- consume free oxygen. "The secret to partaking oxygen in the atmosphere is to eliminate a tiny portion of the present biomass and confiscate it in sedimentary deposits. That's what materialized when fossil fuels were placed."
Everybody is craving for information or updates regarding the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 8. With its release date allegedly moving on the latter date of 2017, consumers are greatly hoping that they would be able to get a glimpse of what the Note 8 could offer to them. Because of this, Samsung gave out a great sneak peek of what the device would actually look like.
Samsung Fires Backs: Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Features Excellent And Sophisticated Specifications
Sources told that Samsung has been very critical to releasing their upcoming devices mainly because of what had happened in their Galaxy Note 7, where multiple reports drag them to controversies because of the battery issues. But it seems like the company is ready to rise again from its failure as it introduces the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
With its highest hopes of regaining their customers back, Samsung introduces its AI that would be included in their upcoming smartphones. News revealed that just like any other AI it would be helping its user achieve tasks in a more convenient and easier way. However, the AI seems to be a little bit of the top than Siri and Amazon's Alexa as it would provide an integration not just in the smartphone itself but also in devices like appliances, smart watches and tech-related gadgets.
It is also speculated that the Samsung Galaxy Note 8's AI is able to build its own program and cope up with the questions of the users in a faster way.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Impresses Consumers As It Features High-Quality Specifications
On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 seems to be proving its top of the line quality as it includes specifications that could never be observed in the smartphones currently released to date. The Note 8 features a 6GB of RAM storage capacity, an iris scanner, 30-megapixel camera, Stylus Pen Support with Speakers and Snapdragon 830.
A leak reported from sources said that a new feature of Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S8 - like desktop experience, would let users use windowed apps on a big screen using a keyboard and mouse, as we heard it first from Microsoft. The company will also turn its upcoming much-awaited Surface phone into a PC, as well all know the 'Continuum'.
Microsoft amazed everyone with Continuum for phones last year, a feature of Windows 10 that allows phones turn into a PC. Continuum makes use of Qualcomm chipsets and also Windows 10's new universal apps to scale from a phone screen up into a monitor, including features that would really make it feel like a full-blown PC. Moreover, it might look like a PC, you can't currently run apps like Chrome or Photoshop, and it's dependent on developers making universal apps.
Microsoft is making Continuum a lot more powerful next year, thanks to desktop apps. Samsung would not be the first Android company to mimic this feature, with Motorola introducing OneCompute in June 2016. The Galaxy S8 is said to add new features including a major one that it reportedly seems to have borrowed from Apple which is ditching the headphone jack and having wireless ear pods as an alternative accessory. The device is also expected to give the physical home button a miss. Well, Samsung is really trying to mirror major features from it's biggest Rival, Apple, and Microsoft.
Rumored Samsung S8 Specs And Features
Samsung Galaxy S8 is expected to come in two sizes, a 5-inch (Galaxy s8) and 6-inch (Galaxy S8 Plus) said to powered by 835 Qualcomm's Snapdragon Chip. To sport a 4k design. S8 will be equipped with a whopping 8 GB RAM, 30 MP for the rear and 9 MP for the front camera. Under the hood is a massive 4200 mAh battery life. For the storage, 64 and 128 GB internal memory with an expandable with dual micro SD cards. Samsung Galaxy s8 will run the Android Nougat 7.0.
Rumored Microsoft Surface Phone Specs And Features
The Microsoft Surface Phone is set to powered by Qualcomm's brand-new Snapdragon 835 chipset. According to rumors, Surface phone will come equipped with 6GB of RAM. To sport a 20-megapixel rear and 8 mp for the front with a Carl Zeiss lens and a dual camera. A device as powerful as your full desktop or PC.
Lesotho, a high-altitude, landlocked kingdom encircled by South Africa wherein an estimated 23% of the population is HIV positive, has been the target of The Vodafone Foundation. The said organization has recently announced a mobile-based HIV program, where many of whom live in extreme poverty in remote rural communities separated by mountainous terrain with minimal infrastructure. The foundation's program has been reportedly combining Vodafone's M-Pesa mobile money service with mobile health clinics traveling around the region and a smartphone app that has been specifically designed for healthcare professionals that reportedly enables the tracking of patients in remote areas to be much easier and accessible. It was found that M-Pesa mobile money service by Vodafone is what health experts across sub-Saharan Africa have been using all these times.
The Solution For HIV Depletion Found In Mobile Technology?
According to reports revealed by The Guardian, the said foundation has been found to work hand-in-hand with the Lesotho Ministry of Health. Authorities from the said health program had also explained that a patient's information are simultaneously recorded on a central database so that future treatment and care can be planned, recorded and accessed in the field by healthcare workers using an app produced by the company's charitable arm, the Vodafone Foundation, and Vodacom Lesotho.
Furthermore, as per Biz Community, the Vodafone Foundation has specifically designed the program for pregnant women, mothers and young children who are among the most vulnerable groups in Lesotho society, since they have the lesser capability in spending many hours of walking to the nearest HIV clinic. Ultimately, it was found that the said health care programme will be fully funded by the Lesotho government from mid-2017. Accordingly, health experts has revealed that this is to be expected to be fully implemented by a full roll-out across the other Lesotho districts, transforming the life prospects for vulnerable people in hundreds of remote villages across the country. In one of his statements, Vodafone Foundation director Andrew Dunnett has also described HIV as an immense healthcare crisis for the people of Lesotho, thus, making the said programme beneficial and significant for the people.
Qualcomm has announced on Tuesday, Jan. 3, at CES in Las Vegas new details about its upcoming Snapdragon 835 processor.
Qualcomm's Successes In 2016
According to Forbes, after facing a challenging 2015, Qualcomm had an exceptional 2016. The high-tech manufacturing company stood up to some pushy investors who tried to split it, managed a major corporate restructuring plan and finally started to have contracts with most Chinese phone manufacturers.
Qualcomm also managed to get back into the Samsung Galaxy game with its Snapdragon 820 processor, announced the industry's first 5G modem and shipped the first 1 Gbps LTE-A modem. All of these successes happened in 2016 and now the company is announcing at CES in Las Vegas details of the Snapdragon 835.
Snapdragon 835 Achieves Balance
Like its predecessor processor, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 is all about balance. The 835 balances objectives such as connectivity, image capture, immersive experiences, battery life, machine learning, and security. All these objectives align nicely with what's possible with existing smartphone technology and with what consumers want today while opening at the same time towards the computing experiences of tomorrow.
Qualcomm designed the Snapdragon 835 as a single chip that has many different subsystems on it, including a digital signal processor (DSP), wireless modem, CPU, GPU, image signal processor (ISP), Wi-Fi, security and audio processors. The company developed their own software architecture in order to effectively manage all of these different components. These various components are used to the best of their ability in order to maximize performance, power and user experience.
The Symphony Manager allows the Snapdragon 835 to find the right balance in order to deliver the best power and performance for any workload. According to Videocardz, the Snapdragon 835 is also Qualcomm's first 10nm SoC. In fact, this is the first 10nm SoC to be announced by any manufacturing company. For this reason, this mobile processor should be able to perform things that have been impossible before.
The latest Qualcomm flagship, the Snapdragon 835, will most likely be used in most high-performance Android smartphones coming out on the market this year. One of the advantages of Qualcomm is the fact that the company teamed up with Samsung to produce this processor. It is well-known to the industry experts that the South Korean tech giant Samsung has been making giant leaps in terms of more efficient and smaller processors.
Mixed Reality, Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality
With the upcoming Snapdragon 835 mobile processor, Qualcomm is focusing on immersive experiences. Augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and the mixed reality (MR) that is a blend of the two have finally captured the attention of educators, enterprises, and consumers.
Qualcomm's vision of VR includes natural user interfaces that anticipate user inputs and spatial audio, not only high visual quality. The company's forward-looking vision framework is going to be pursued by adding new elements in the near future.
User immersive experiences require an orchestration and tight integration of sub-components along with the raw performance of the components in order to deliver the best experience using the lowest power subsystems and lowest latency. Given their lead in heterogeneous computing, Qualcomm is a company in a unique position to achieve these objectives.
The public is in for a big showdown between two of the biggest tech companies currently in the market. But while most have an eye out for the Galaxy S8 and the iPhone 8 - which should be good because of retribution and a ten year anniversary, respectively - Samsung and Apple are about to release other notable items. The Galaxy Tab S3 and the iPad Air 3 are going to be two of 2017's biggest releases.
TechRadar notes that Samsung has already confirmed that it will unveil the Galaxy Tab S3 in September this year. However, the specific date and corresponding release to the market is still unknown. In the case of the current Galaxy Tab S2, the tablet was announced July 2015 and released September 2015. So its successor might arrive just before the end of the year.
There is not much else confirmed other than a vague announcement date. Nevertheless, the publication points out that a leaked photo of the Galaxy Tab S3 indicates relatively the same design. That is a 4:3 ration, a home button on the front of the screen and a plastic back. The photos were only of one size, but the unit is expected to come in an 8 inch and 9.7-inch variants.
The other rumored specs of the Galaxy Tab S3 are pretty exciting in themselves. The tablet will apparently come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 processor and a 4000 mAh battery. Furthermore, the device will run on 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Front and rear cameras are expected to hit at least 2 megapixels and 8 megapixels respectively.
The lowest end of the Galaxy Tab S2 is available for about US$399 for the 8-inch variant and about US$499 for the 9.7-inch variant. The Galaxy Tab S3 has no pricing at this point, but at least the same price range is expected. It might even be slightly more expensive, but the jump - should there be one - is not expected to be overwhelming.
Meanwhile, Apple is reportedly working on the third generation of the iPad Air. The Cupertino giant has yet to officially announce the same, but the current generation was released in October 2014. As such, various reports suggest that the next helping of the lineup will be released within the year.
According to IBTimes AU, the iPad Air 3 will arrive in March 2017 in a thinner and lighter body than the current generation. The sleeker design will apparently make it more comfortable to hold and additional color options will be provided as well. But more than the physical and aesthetic changes, Apple is expected to make some necessary alterations to the features as well.
The publication goes on to say that the iPad Air 3 might sport some of the features of the iPhone 7 Plus, particularly the dual lens camera. Other than this, an HD 4K display and 3D Touch technology are also possibilities. In addition, 16GB and 32GB storage memory will be provided. Price is expected to reach about US$610. However, should Apple release the same, it might be the last one in the Air lineup.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 is going to be a BIG impact for the Korean-based tech giant. Launching flagship devices are always a big deal, in the idea that this is where a majority of a company's overall sales and profits come from for the subsequent 12 months.
Samsung needs to bounce back
But more than that thought, following the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco of last year, Samsung needs the Galaxy S8 to be perfect and a huge success in order to make up for the big hold it put in its finances. Currently, the S8 is still under development, yet rumors and speculations are already at an all-time high.
S8 to feature dual-camera sensor
Recently, sources inside China have claimed that the Galaxy S8 will be featuring a dual-camera sensor. This would mean that the handset is keeping in trend with the likes of the LG G5 and Huawei P9, as well as rumors about the iPhone 7 Plus/Pro.
According to the details, the rumored dual-camera sensor will be engineered by Samsung Motors, implying that the firm will be producing its own imaging tech this time around.
Further rumors about dual-camera sensor
As time goes by, more and more sources are adding towards the Galaxy S8 rumor mill, further reiterating that the new handset will be featuring a dual-camera sensor. The unknown informant claims that the sensor array will feature both a Samsung 12MP sensor and a Sony 13MP sensor. On the other end, the front-facing camera is said to be an 8MP sensor.
The source also leaks about a potential Galaxy Note 7-style iris scanner.
S8 to feature no headphone Jack
It has also been claimed that Samsung will be following Apple's path of ditching the 3.5mm headphone jack in order to switch towards wireless and free up some internal space for other components like a bigger battery.
At the same time, the Galaxy S8 will be adopting the USB Type-C port as well
Earthquakes occur daily in many parts of the world. Most of them are small earthquakes that cannot be detected by people. There are some though that occur in batches. For those following the California earthquake, 250 small tremors that recently happened intrigue scientists.
A number of small earthquakes occurred over the California-Mexico border. This happened on New Year's Eve. This has left residents in the area worried, though scientists are said to be intrigued about the tremors.
The earthquakes occurred near the end of the Brawley Seismic Zone. The area is said to be a tectonically active place. The area also connects the San Andreas Fault with the Imperial Fault.
The largest quake measured at around magnitude 3.9 and has hit Brawley directly. Seismologist Egill Hauksson has been monitoring the series of quakes since there could be a chance to have a magnitude 5 quake occurring. However that possibility has lessened by Sunday night.
The Brawley Seismic Zone is constantly monitored as it could trigger a seismic event on the San Andreas Fault, according to Fox News. The San Andreas Fault is one of the most monitored faults as various parts of the fault have not seen movement in many years. Movement in the fault could have great consequences for many communities especially in Southern California.
Brawley has been hit by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in 1940. The Imperial Fault has also seen movement, causing at least two earthquakes fairly recently. A magnitude 6.5 earthquake came from it in 1979, as Newsmax reports.
Many residents in California are highly alert to earthquakes, especially large earthquakes. Scientists have been warning of a large earthquake that can possibly strike since the San Andreas Fault has not moved in many years. The potential for a large earthquake happening becomes even more likely as long as the fault does not see movement in each year that passes.
Many have been following on the California earthquake. 250 small tremors intrigue scientists as well as cause some concern on residents. Conspiracy theorists say that Nibiru might likely cause havoc this 2017.
Maine Governor Paul LePage has signed a measure for marijuana legalization after a ballot initiative approval by voters.
With the signature, Maine has become the ninth state to legalize recreational marijuana use.
According to the law, adults of ages 21 above will be permitted to use the said drug in the privacy of their own homes or other places that are not public.
People in Maine will be allowed to have as much as 2.5 ounces or 70.9 grams of marijuana.
However, people will not be able to purchase marijuana not until state officials and lawmakers set up regulatory legislation and establish laws for retail sales.
Gov. LePage called on the legislature to put a moratorium on the sale of marijuana until lawmakers could thresh out details of funding to set up the regulatory framework on the sale of marijuana according to a report by the Portland Press Herald.
The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry is tasked to regulate the commercial sales of the drug.
David Boyer, Maine's political director for Marijuana Policiy Project and spokesperson for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol questions the moratorium as according the new law, legislative leaders have nine months to develop the regulatory framework.
A poll set up by Gallup in October showed that 60 percent of Americans support marijuana legalization for recreational use. An even more number of Americans support the drugs medical application.
President-elect Donald Trump, who will be taking office in January 20, has sent mixed signal about the legalization of the drug. During his campaign, Trump, a Republican stated that it was best left to the states to decide on the legalization of marijuana.
With the new law, Maine has become the second state in the northeast to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. The drug remains illegal under federal law according to a report by Reuters.
Science fiction has, at times, anticipated what would become reality later on. One of those that have been so far in the realm of science fiction is tractor beams. Now, creating a tractor beam makes science fiction into reality.
The tractor beam has been in a number of sci-fi films. "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" have featured tractor beams in some way. Building one might soon be a reality, and it won't be too expensive as well.
A team from the University of Bristol has developed a tractor beam. The tractor beam that has been developed can pull objects towards it. Unlike the tractor beam in sci-fi films though, the tractor beam that has been developed uses sound waves.
Asier Marzo has been one of the members of the team that has developed the tractor beam. In order to build the tractor beam, all that is needed is 3D printed parts along with Arduino components. Overall the parts needed aren't as expensive for such a project. The team has also created a video that would guide those who might want to make the tractor beam.
Sound waves have long been known to levitate and move objects, according to the Daily Mail. However, this would be the first time that sound waves are used to pull objects. Objects and even insects can be pulled by the tractor beam.
Dr. Marzo has said that it is easy to push objects away, but pulling them would be much harder. He also said that the tractor beam can levitate small plastics. The tractor beam can be useful in pulling objects towards the source.
Three different designs have been made by the team, as CNet reports. The tractor beam so far can only levitate and pull small objects. The team would be working on a model that can overcome this limitation.
Science fiction has inspired many inventions. Now it has inspired a new one, as creating a tractor beam makes science fiction into reality. NASA has also confirmed a comet sighting for 2017.
A few days ago the virtual world was rocked by a naughty Alexa which spurned out NSFW words in front of a toddler. Today, popular toymaker Mattel unveiled its own digital assistant - for children. Hopefully, history does not repeat itself.
A video posted by a dad who was filming his young son as he talked to an Amazon Echo Dot, particularly with Alexa. The young boy asked Alexa to play "Digger, Digger" which the AI did not readily recognize. His mother chimed in and told him to ask Alexa to play 'Wheels on the Bus" instead. Alexa had other things in mind.
What was supposed to be an innocent fun-filled moment with the Amazon device turned into a censored tirade from the AI which hopefully did not scar the boy for life, while many found the incident hilarious, it does open the eyes to the many possibilities, both positive and negative, that may happen with an AI like Alexa.
This brings us to the question, "What is Skynet?"
Kidding aside, one can never tell how a digital assistant may respond when the user is unintelligible, like in the toddler's case, or is up to no good, like the person who trolled Microsoft's Tay chatbot.
When Tay was released, someone or some people with nothing better to do taught Tay to swear and say other not-so-nice words. There are also a lot of videos floating on the net that shows users shouting and subjecting the AI to verbal abuse.
If Alexa can pick up words related to porn and share the data it gathered, then other AIs may have this ability. And that is a scary thought.
Now consider that Mattel is planning on releasing Aristotle, the toy manufacturer's $300 smart speaker which is targeted at children. The WiFi Bluetooth speaker is a clone of the Amazon Echo. It looks the same and acts the same.
The Verge notes that Aristotle has two "personalities". In real-life, this is seen as a problematic medical condition. But in the AI industry, it seems to be a good thing.
One of the AI personalities is a female descendant of Greek philosopher extraordinaire Aristotle. Its abilities include telling stories and playing games such as "guess the animal sound" with children. It can also play lullabies and other children's songs which are great when a baby wakes up and starts to cry or when a toddler starts craving for attention.
So far, so good.
The other personality is, err...Alexa.
As with the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot, anyone can talk to Alexa through the Aristotle smart speaker. Adults can do the same things with Aristotle as they can with the Echo. This may also mean that there is a possibility that Aristotle may misinterpret what is being asked of her and start saying words like, "Porno ringtone, hot chick, and an amateur girl calling sexy, ...".
In Amazon's defense, the company said it quickly fixed the issue and promised to be tougher this time around. It released a statement which read:
"This issue has been fixed, and we are working to build additional restrictions to prevent this from happening in the future. We have also contacted the customer to apologize."
Aristotle will be officially unveiled at the CES 2017 and is expected to be released in June.
Samsung is bent on starting the new year right with a few new announcements that are geared towards a smarter and safer home.
The tech company will soon be releasing new members to its smart home family in the form of refrigerators and monitoring systems. These announcements come after it revealed a new four-in-one washer/dryer which is set to make people forget about the flying washer lid controversy of last year.
Family Hub 2.0 Refrigerator
Aside from the recent unveiling of the latest Samsung Galaxy A series phones, the Korean tech giant has just launched not one but six new smart refrigerators. Not content on the success its four 2016 models, Samsung says it has six more smart fridges to cater to different needs for the different household.
The new models include French Door models with three or four doors while more Four-door Flex models have been added to the current line-up. The smart appliance still has the View Inside cameras which will help the user see what is inside the fridge. This takes out the annoying part of crouching and scrambling to find something in the fridge. This feature also lessens the need to open and close the fridge which is a surefire way to use up more power in old refrigerators.
The Family Hub 2.0 also still has the shopping list feature and support for the apps such as AllRecipes, Grocery by MasterCard, Spotify, and GrubHub.
The latest smart fridge from Samsung has a new interface where members of the household can create their own avatar or profile which can be seen on the fridge's 21.5-inch LED touchscreen. This new feature allows members of the family to post photos, notes and schedules on the fridge's door. This time, however, there is no need for fridge magnets.
WiseNet SmartCam
Samsung is also announcing the new WiseNet-SmartCam A1 Home Security System at the CES 2017. The system comes with two cameras, one for indoors and another for outdoor use. The indoor 1080p HD camera can move around at a 130-degree angle on its own but when attached to the panning base, its field of view increases to 350 degrees. The base also allows the camera to track movements within the security zones designated by the owner. The outdoor camera will have a 720p resolution and will be powered by a battery.
BabyView Baby Monitor
Monitoring a baby can be fun what with the unexpected things a baby does while no one is looking. With three new BabyView (SEW-3053W, SEW-3055W and SEW-3057W) baby monitors, Samsung intends to take taking care of a baby to a different new level. The monitoring systems come with a 720 HD camera and a touchscreen each. The SEW-3055W takes a notch higher with a Bluetooth watch which vibrates when the system picks up a sound in the baby room. The SEW-2057W adds an environmental sensor the three previous devices.
The environmental sensor, as the name implies, takes the condition inside the room in consideration. It can tell how hot or cold the room is so the parents would know if they need to adjust the thermostat and keep the baby comfortable. It can also assess the room's humidity and air quality.
There's a race to put more computing power in self-driving cars, and it's shaping up to be eerily similar to an earlier battle between Intel and AMD to crank up PC horsepower.
Intel at CES announced the powerful Go computer with up to 28 Xeon chips so self-driving cars can cruise the streets safely. Beyond Xeon, Go will also be available with either next-generation Atom chips or 5G connectivity.
The first 40 self-driving BMW cars based on the Go will hit the streets in tests this year.
Autonomous cars need a lot of computational power under the hood to avoid accidents and make smart driving decisions. That horsepower comes from computers like the Go, which is configured to be faster than gaming PCs and many servers.
Go will compete with Nvidia's Drive PX 2, a water-cooled supercomputer for autonomous cars announced by Nvidia last year. The Drive PX 2 has 12 CPU cores and two Pascal-based GPU cores but no 5G connectivity.
The car chip race between Intel and Nvidia resembles the competition between AMD and Intel in the late 1990s and early 2000s PC heyday to crank up the clock frequency of processors. The chip makers ultimately gave up the battle to focus on power efficiency to increase battery life in laptops.
Intel believes it has an advantage over its rivals with 5G connectivity, allowing cars to communicate with servers in the cloud to analyze images. The connectivity is an important tool for cars to identify objects on streets.
Both the Go and the Drive PX 2 have the same target: to train computers to be smarter. The computers help cars detect pedestrians, recognize lanes, and stop at signals. Computers make decisions based on algorithms and data collected from cameras and sensors like lidar and radar.
Intel and Nvidia are also in a race to put self-driving cars on streets. Intel is working with Mobileye and BMW on self-driving cars, and Nvidia's hardware is being used in Tesla vehicles with self-driving features.
The biggest benefit to self-driving cars is in safety, but there are other functional and economic benefits, said Kathy Winter, vice president and general manager of the automated driving division at Intel.
Self-driving vehicles could help people make better use of their time. Self-driving cars could bring economic benefits to logistics related to transportation and delivery of products, Winter said.
Uber is already testing self-driving taxis in the U.S., and other technology companies are dabbling in self-driving cars. Companies are working together to establish standards for autonomous vehicles to communicate on traffic and weather conditions.
The Go computers are part of development kits that come with software tools. The kits join a stable of Intel computers that include NUC mini desktops, Compute Sticks, and development boards for smart devices, robots, and drones.
Intel's Go hardware with Xeon is supplemented by two FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays), which can be reprogrammed to do multiple tasks. The FPGAs are to Intel's Go what the GPUs are to Nvidia's Drive PX 2 -- fast chips that will help cars make key decisions instantly. The version of Go with next-generation Atom chips has only one FPGA.
The Go computer with 5G will be demonstrated at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Intel announced its first 5G modem at CES this week.
The closure of a major online marketplace for paid distributed denial-of-service attacks appears to have done little to slow down the illegal activity.
In late October, HackForums.net shut down its "Server Stress Testing" section, amid concerns that hackers were peddling DDoS-for-hire services through the site for as little as US$10 a month.
According to security experts, the section was the largest open marketplace for paid DDoS attacks -- a notorious hacking technique that can disrupt access to internet services or websites. But since the section's closure, the attacks remain rampant.
In November, for instance, the number of DDoS attacks saw a slight dip from the month before, said Internet backbone provider Level 3 Communications. But starting in December, the number of DDoS attacks it observed almost doubled.
Richard Clayton, director of the Cambridge Cybercrime Centre in the U.K., said his sensor network hasn't detected any drop in DDoS attacks.
"There's no real difference in volume from a few months back," he said in an email.
The hackers behind these DDoS-for-hire services are probably still attracting clients through Google, either with online advertisements or search engine optimization, said Allison Nixon, a director at security firm Flashpoint.
In addition, plenty more paid DDoS attack tools are available for sale on underground forums. "Theres always been more than one outlet for them," Nixon said. "So I dont think theres going to be any immediate change."
HackForums.net Hack Forums has removed its Server Stress Testing section.
Although DDoS attacks are illegal, many hackers peddle their services by describing them as "booters" or "stressors," claiming theyre designed to test a website's resiliency. These services often appear professionally made, include customer support, but they can also flood a target with an overwhelming amount of traffic, forcing it offline.
For hackers, threatening to take down a victims website can be lucrative. "We've seen these services used for criminal extortion operations," said Nixon, who's been researching the illegal trade since 2012.
Building a DDoS-for-service can also be easy. Often times, the hackers will simply rent six to 12 servers, and use them to push out internet traffic to whatever target, she said.
"It really doesnt take a lot of know-how," Nixon said. "One thing we've noticed is that a lot of underage people will get themselves involved."
In December, for example, law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Europe, arrested 34 suspects involved in DDoS-for-hire services, some of whom were 20 years old or younger.
In September, Israeli authorities also arrested two alleged operators of vDOS, a so-called booter service that managed to rake in more than $618,000 and attract tens of thousands of customers. Both suspects were reportedly 18 years old.
Nixon said she's hopeful more law enforcement agencies will crack down on this illegal business. The problem has become especially serious, following the emergence of Mirai, a malware thats designed to launch massive DDoS attacks.
Several internet disruptions, including a large-scale attack in the U.S. back in October, have been blamed on the malware. Making the matters worse is that the Mirai source code is openly available on the internet.
"We may not see a decrease in DDoS attacks, but a lot more law enforcement seems to be paying attention to this," Nixon said.
Forrester predicts that more than 500,000 internet of things (IoT) devices will suffer a compromise in 2017, dwarfing Heartbleed. Drop the mic enough said.
With the sheer velocity of how the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks spread through common household items such as DVR players, makes this sector scary from a security standpoint.
Today, firms are developing IoT firmware with open source components in a rush to market. Unfortunately, many are delivering these IoT solutions without good plans for updates, leaving them open to not only vulnerabilities but vulnerabilities security teams cannot remediate quickly, write Forrester analysts.
The analyst firm adds that when smart thermostats alone exceed over 1 million devices, its not hard to imagine a vulnerability that easily exceeds the scale of Heartbleed. Security as an afterthought for IoT devices is not an option, especially when you cant patch IoT firmware because the vendor didnt plan for over-the-air patching.
Alex Vaystikh, co-founder/CTO of advanced threat detection software provider SecBI, says small-to-midsize businesses and enterprises alike will suffer breaches originating from an insecure IoT device connected to the network. The access point will be a security camera, climate control, an old network printer, or even a remote-controlled lightbulb. This was demonstrated in September in a major DDoS attack on the web site of security expert Brian Krebs. A hacker found a vulnerability in a brand of IoT camera and caused millions of them to simultaneously make HTTP requests from Krebs site.
It successfully crashed the site, but DDoS attacks are not a great way to make money. However, imagine an IoT camera within a corporate network being hacked. If that network also contains the companys database center, theres no way to stop the hacker from making a lateral move from the compromised camera to the database, Vaystikh said. This should scare organizations into questioning the popular BYOD mentality. We are already seeing a lot of CCTVs being hacked within organizations.
Florin Lazurca, senior technical manager at Citrix, believes that consumers will be a target of opportunity in 2017. Innovative criminal enterprises will devise ways to monetize on potentially billions of internet-facing devices that many times do not meet stringent security controls. Want to browse the internet? Pay the ransom. Want to use your baby monitor? Pay the ransom. Want to watch your smart TV? Pay the ransom, Lazurca says.
Want to browse the internet? Pay the ransom. Want to use your baby monitor? Pay the ransom. Want to watch your smart TV? Pay the ransom.
Florin Lazurca, senior technical manager at Citrix
Mike Kelly, CTO of Blue Medora, agrees, stating that, the inability to quickly update something, such as your home thermostat, is where we will see the risk. Its not about malware getting on the devices, the focus will need to be on the ability to remediate the issue. Like we saw with Windows, there will be a slew of vulnerabilities, but unlike with a computer, patching wont be as easy with IoT devices, he says.
More connected devices will create more data, which has to be securely shared, stored, managed and analyzed. As a result, databases will become more complex and the management burden will increase. Those organizations that can most effectively monitor their database layer to optimize peak performance and resolve bottlenecks will be in a better position to exploit the opportunities the IoT will bring, he says.
Lucas Moody, CISO at Palo Alto Networks, says security has to be baked into the IoT devices not be an afterthought. The bloom of IoT devices has security practitioners in the hot seat, with industry analysts suggesting a possible surge up to 20 billion devices by 2020.
Given the recent upward trend in both frequency and intensity of DDoS attacks of late, 2017 will introduce an entirely new challenge that security teams will need to contend with; how do we secure devices, many of which are by design dumb and, for that matter, cheap?, he says.
Large corporations are still challenged with finding security talent to manage security in the traditional sense, leaving IoT startups to fend for themselves in a digital economy.
Moody asks, can they keep up? For the interconnected future of cars, televisions and refrigerators, maybe, but maintaining the security of smaller and seemingly less critical items such as toasters, thermostats, and pet feeders, it seems unlikely.
Security has to be baked into these technologies from the conception and design stages all throughout development and roll-out. Security practitioners will need to do more than just scramble to develop strategies to address this pivotal trend, he says.
Corey Nachreiner, CTO at WatchGuard Technologies, predicts that IoT devices will become the de facto target for botnet zombies. With the shear volume of internet-connected devices growing every year, IoT represents a huge attack surface for hackers. More disturbingly, many IoT manufacturers do not create devices with security in mind, and therefore release devices full of potential vulnerabilities. Many of their products have vulnerabilities that were common a decade ago, providing easy pickings for cyber criminals.
Many IoT devices coming on the market have proprietary operating systems, and offer very little compute and storage resources. Hackers would have to learn new skills to reverse engineer these devices, and they dont provide much in terms of resources or data for the attacker to steal or monetize. On the other hand, another class of IoT products are devices running embedded Linux. These devices look very familiar to hackers. They already have tools and malware designed to target them, so pwning them is as familiar as hacking any Linux computer.
On top of that, the manufacturers releasing these devices seem to follow circa 2000 software development and security practices. Many IoT devices expose network services with default passwords that are simple for attackers to abuse, Nachreiner says.
He cited the leaking of the source code for the Mirai IoT botnet. This botnet included a scanner that automatically searched the internet to find unsecured, Linux-based IoT devices, and take them over using default credentials. With this leaked code, criminals were able to build huge botnets consisting of hundreds of thousands of IoT devices. They used these IoT botnets to launch gigantic DDoS attacks that generated up to 1Tbps of traffic; the largest ever recorded.
In 2017, criminals will expand beyond DDoS attacks and leverage these botnets for click-jacking and spam campaigns to monetize IoT attacks in the same way they monetized traditional computer botnets. Expect to see IoT botnets explode next year, he says.
Mike Davis, CTO at CounterTack, believes IoT will continue to be a part of the threat conversation in the coming year, but fundamentally there will be a massive change in the risks associated with the devices it wont be about security, it will be about patching.
Hold your IoT security hypberbole
Stan Black, CSO at Citrix, says we need to dispel security myths around emerging technology like IoT, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Many people are afraid to adopt these emerging technologies for fear that they may be their security downfall, but as with any technology, the same security 1-2-3s apply. Change the admin username and password, allow and enable devices on separate networks (separate from the networks used to pass sensitive data), create management and access policies, and above all, make sure that employees are educated about how, when and where to use these kinds of technologies, he says.
Adoption of emerging tech like IoT can actually have more security benefits than challenges, if implemented correctly, Black says. The same goes for machine learning. The security wave of the future includes these technologies, so its best for businesses to learn about them early, learn about the benefits and reap the rewards of clouds, devices and networks that can learn from, and adapt to, changing behaviors to make for a stronger security posture.
The wave of the future will be computers that can grant or deny access based on fingerprinted keyboards that can sense the normal amount of pressure your fingers normally apply. Taking advantages of benefits like these will help companies move to a new security infrastructure and mindset, he predicts.
The mobile devices we depend on every day are loaded with sensors, heat, touch, water, impact, light, motion, location, acceleration, proximity, etc. These technologies have numerous applications including sensing motion and location to ensure people are safe when they travel, Black adds.
These devices are rarely protected or maintained with the same vigor as corporate IT systems, making them generally more vulnerable to being compromised and drafted into a zombie army. This situation is nothing new, but in the next year we can expect to see personal networks of things reside in homes with gigabit internet connections like those offered by Google and AT&T and so make home networks far more interesting, especially if vulnerabilities in popular home devices can be exploited mechanically (e.g., how the Mirai botnet was built).
Consumers will need to protect their personal networks from this new version of Mirai botnets, creating demand for services that safeguard them. More importantly, vendors will need to adopt better standards for protection of devices. If the Mirai botnet is any indication, the lack of security in device design is still quite profound, Black says.
Speaking of standards
Steven Sarnecki, vice president of federal and public sector at OSIsoft, pointed to the National Institutes of Standards and Technologys (NIST) National Cyber Center of Excellence for a glimpse of what is to come. NIST is currently piloting a project to assess how energy companies can better utilize connected devices to integrate and increase security with hopes of sharing those best practices and insights across the energy sector.
As more companies wake up to the reality of IoT security threats, these solutions will become more commonplace, enabling enterprises to markedly increase their security footprint with only minimal incremental cost, he says.
Sarnecki adds that in 2017 he would expect a large portion of IoT users, especially within the enterprise and industrial spaces, to begin to seriously consider the internet of threats aspect posed by IoT to their networks. Energy companies, water utilities, and many other critical infrastructure sectors rely on connected devices to support their missions.
Jeannie Warner, security manager at WhiteHat Security, agrees that new guidelines will emerge from organizations such as NIST requiring that application security vendors partner with device manufacturers and testing labs to deliver secure IoT systems.
The internet of things is growing daily, with smart devices and controlling applications at the core of every business from healthcare to smart cars and smart buildings. Its essential to protect smart anything from attackers attempting to exploit their vulnerabilities, she says.
In the same way manufacturing safety testing via the American National Standards Institute controls new releases in devices, she believes NIST SP 800 or a similar body will form guidelines for a comprehensive security assurance through the integration of dynamic application scanning technology and rigorous device controls testing.
Commonalities in all IoT systems include controls for tracking and sensing interfaces, combined with web- or mobile-enabled control applications that combine to expand the borders of the security ecosystem, she says. New guidelines will (ideally) force more application security vendors to partner with device control testing labs to support manufacturing earlier in the development process, helping the innovative organizations to manage risk by identifying vulnerabilities early in development, continue to monitor challenges during testing, and help release more secure products.
Big data
The enterprise has paid attention to IoT for some time, though 2017 will be the year we move past the wow phase and into the how do we do we securely and effectively bring IoT to the enterprise, how do we handle the high speed data ingest, and how do we optimize analytics and decisions based on IOT data, says Redis Labs Vice President of Product Marketing Leena Joshi.
Mark Bregman, Chief Technology Officer at NetApp, believes 2017 will be about capitalizing on the value of data. The explosion of data in todays digital economy has introduced new data types, privacy and security concerns, the need for scale and a shift from using data to run the business to recognizing that data is the business.
Off-line data analytics and threat hunting become endless money pits, says Gunter Ollmann of Vectra Networks. Were told, and we observe, that each year our corporate data doubles. That power-of-two exponential growth, after merely four years of storing, mining, and analyzing logs for threats, means a 16-fold increase in overall costs with an accompanying scaled delay in uncovering past threats.
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The year 2016 has been sort of kind to Scarlett Johansson, who played the role of Black Widow in the worldwide movie franchise "Avengers." The actor has received several movie projects that made her earn more money than any other Hollywood actors.
Although Black Widow played second fiddle to Captain America and Iron Man in the movie "Avengers," Johansson managed to kick the asses of Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. when it comes to the top-grossing actors list for 2016. Johansson's movies sold $1.2 billion worldwide, Forbes reported.
Johansson also managed to take the top spot from Jennifer Lawrence, who played Mystique in the movie X-Men. Lawrence has been the top-grossing actor for two years in a row. The "X-Men" actor had an essay about not receiving equal fee as her male co-stars, while Johansson reportedly got the almost the same level of fees as Evans and Chris Hemsworth, who played Thor, Jobs & Hire previously reported.
The $1.2 billion worth of tickets that Johansson sold worldwide was thanks to her role in "Captain America: Civil War" and "Hail, Caesar!" The figure is a bit too close to the Evans' and Downey's $1.15 billion each, but it managed to get Johansson into the first place of the list.
It seems, however, that Johansson will not be able to achieve the same feat in 2017. Johansson has only two movies due out in 2017, and one of them has already received several negative feedback online.
Casting Johansson as the main character in the much-beloved anime hit "Ghost in the Shell" got some backlash from the Asian community. Many are saying that a Japanese actress should have been chosen instead of Johansson.
The bad press surrounding her casting in "Ghost in the Shell: could have a negative impact on the gross of the movie once it's out, so Johansson might not hold on the top-grossing actor title this year.
In a surprise news, one of the biggest stars of Fox News Channel is leaving the network this week to host a couple of shows on NBC News. Words have it that this move would make Megyn Kelly the highest-paid female news anchor.
Megyn Kelly will exit "The Kelly File" on Fox News this Friday. The program that airs at 9PM every weekday is the second-most watch program among all cable news, according to Deadline, bringing in some 2.7 million viewers. Reports say that Kelly already earns about $15 million a year with Fox. Given that, speculations abound as to how much NBC News would be paying her.
The details of Megyn Kelly's contract with NBC News are kept confidential, so there are no confirmed details as to how much she would be earning after her transfer. But according to Forbes, Fox was willing to pay her up to $20 million, which apparently was not a successful offer to keep Kelly.
NBC had previously admitted that they can't match Fox's offer to Megyn Kelly, but she being "an exceptional journalist and news anchor, who has had an extraordinary career," as NBC put said, the network might have come up with something really close.
While NBC's salary offer for Megyn Kelly is lower than Fox's, the former is said to provide the host a better working condition. But that would perhaps depend on how Kelly would be able to balance her time now that she would be hosting a daytime news and talk show, a Sunday night news, and other special programming such as political coverage and big-ticket events.
Estimates suggest that Megyn Kelly might be receiving around $18 million to $18.5 million pay from NBC. That is still lower than Matt Lauer's $25 million ("Today") and Bill O'Reilly's $18.5 million "The O'Reilly Factor"). The current highest-paid female news anchor is Robin Roberts ("Good Morning America"), who earns $18 million a year.
Megyn Kelly currently has a net worth of $15 million, with a base salary of $270,000 in an annual package of $9 million, according to Notjustrich.com.
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Local home prices remained on a slow but steady incline during November, according to a report released Tuesday by CoreLogic, a national real-estate research company,.
However, CoreLogic officials cautioned that higher mortgage rates are likely to soften demand and limit further growth in home prices.
Prices in the Winston-Salem metropolitan statistical area were up 2.4 percent year over year for the second consecutive month, but they were unchanged month over month from October.
The Winston-Salem metropolitan statistical area comprises Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Stokes and Yadkin counties.
CoreLogic, based in Irvine, Calif., does not disclose a median price. It no longer provides a home-sale price breakdown that excludes distressed and foreclosed houses.
The Winston-Salem MSA again had the lowest year-over-year increase of North Carolinas five largest metropolitan areas.
Home prices in the Greensboro-High Point MSA rose 4.1 percent year over year and by 0.5 percent from October.
Prices in the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord MSA rose 6 percent year over year and 0.4 percent from October.
Prices in the Durham-Chapel Hill MSA were up 5.3 percent year over year, but down 0.4 percent from October.
Prices in the Raleigh-Cary MSA increased 6.3 percent year over year and by 0.5 percent from October.
For North Carolina overall, home prices were up 5.2 percent year over year.
Last summers very low mortgage rates sparked demand, and with for-sale inventories low, the result has been a pickup in home-price growth, said Frank Nothaft, CoreLogics chief economist.With mortgage rates higher today and expected to rise even further in 2017, our national home price index is expected to slow to 4.7 percent year over year by November.
Home prices in 27 states, including North Carolina, have risen above their pre-crisis peak levels, said Anand Nallathambi, the president and chief executive of CoreLogic.The (national) home price index remains 4 percent below its April 2006 peak, but should surpass that peak by the end of 2017.
The top four executives at Insteel Industries Inc. received sharp salary and incentive pay increases during fiscal 2016, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday.
The Mount Airy company, as is its pattern, is the first corporation to report annual executive-compensation figures among those based or having major operations in the Triad and Northwest North Carolina.
H.O. Woltz III, Insteels president and chief executive, was paid $588,462 in salary, up 12.1 percent. His nonequity incentive-plan compensation was $823,846, up 46.4 percent.
Woltz received stock and option awards valued at $599,999 on the date they were awarded. He received $71,800 in all other compensation: $53,340 in dividends or the equivalent paid on restricted stock units; $15,533 in 401(k) matching payment; and $2,727 in value for a death benefit program provided to executive officers.
The total compensation package for Woltz was listed at $2.42 million in the companys summary compensation table, up from $1.9 million in 2015.
The company said the executives met standards aimed at aligning their compensation with shareholder interests related to the companys return on capital.
For fiscal 2016, which ended Oct. 1, Insteel had net income of $37.2 million, up 71.5 percent. Sales were down 6.4 percent to $447.5 million, while cost of sales dropped 14.3 percent to $333.4 million.
Michael Gazmarian, the chief financial officer and treasurer, received $320,385 in salary, up 8.6 percent, and $384,462 in nonequity incentive-plan compensation, up 41.8 percent.
Richard Wagner, the general manager for Insteel Wire Products, received $296,923 in salary, up 6 percent, and $356,308 in nonequity incentive-plan compensation, up 38.5 percent.
James Petelle, the vice president of administration and secretary, was paid $205,231, up 8 percent, and received $246,277 in nonequity incentive-plan compensation, up 41.1 percent.
The holidays are over, but a classic line from Its a Wonderful Life, uttered by Jimmy Stewarts George Bailey as he presents a housewarming gift of wine, will forever ring true: And wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever.
There are many vineyards and vintners to celebrate in our areas burgeoning fun and lucrative wine industry. But in so doing, we shouldnt lose sight of those who play crucial supporting roles in this story. One of the most important of those was R. Bruce Heye of Lewisville, who was just 74 when he died Dec. 14.
The area has a fine share of the wine industry, including RayLen Vineyards going strong and Westbend Vineyards springing back under new ownership. Heye promoted the area industry from Lewisville. They called him a wine educator, but that term seems stodgy for this bear of a man as bombastic with his opinions as he was witty and charming in holding his own with the best of wine aficionados and in enlightening those naive in the ways of the grape.
Michael Hastings captured his story well in last weeks Journal West.
With the support of his longtime partner, Judi Wallace, Heye, as Hastings reported touched thousands of people through his wine articles, wine-appreciation classes, and countless wine tastings and dinners.
It all went back to the 1960s, when he was with the U.S. Army in Germany. A New Jersey native, he came to Winston-Salem in 1981 to work for Wachovia. Upon retiring from the bank, he did consulting work but eventually quit to spend more of his time sharing his knowledge of wine, Hastings reported.
Heye wrote about wine, taught classes at Wine Merchants Gourmet, and Salem College (which included wine dinners and tours of tours of Yadkin Valley wineries) and appeared on local radio and television programs. In 2014, the North Carolina Winegrowers Association gave him its Member of Distinction Award, the only time it was given to someone who was not a winegrower or winemaker, Hastings wrote.
He never stopped learning. Wallace said she thinks that the sheer breadth of the wine world was part of the appeal for Heye. The two traveled together to many of the great wine-growing regions of the world, including Californias Napa Valley and Sonoma County; Frances Burgundy, Champagne, Alsace and Rhone; and Piedmonts Italy, Hastings reported.
Heye knew his stuff, but he was no snob.
In many ways, Heye stood out in a crowd. He was 6 feet, 6 inches tall, a big guy with a big voice, who loved to hold court at wine tastings. More often than not, he would be wearing his signature red polo shirt which conveniently hid red-wine stains, Hastings reported.
Back to George Baileys quote from Its a Wonderful Life as he presents that housewarming gift to the Martini family:
And wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever. Enter the Martini castle.
Bruce Heye helped build the castle of the local wine industry. Well done, sir.
The N.C. Court of Appeals has blocked an order issued by a Forsyth Superior Court judge that directed the N.C. Department of Transportation to start making payments to property owners in the path of the Winston-Salem Northern Beltway.
The appeals court has issued a temporary stay of an order made by Judge John O. Craig on Oct. 3. Craigs order would have set in motion a procedure for the DOT to begin paying landowners after the N.C. Supreme Court ruled in their favor in June 2016 in an inverse condemnation case.
The stay will remain in place while the state files an appeal of Craigs order with the N.C. Court of Appeals.
The 34-mile beltway will include a western loop that will begin at U.S. 158 (more commonly known as South Stratford Road at that point), skirting just east of Clemmons and Lewisville, and crossing Yadkinville and Reynolda roads not far from Reagan High School on its way to U.S. 52. The states current 10-year transportation plan doesnt include any construction money for most of the sections in the western loop.
The appellate courts stay is the latest twist in a series of court rulings over several years regarding the fate of properties that are in the path of the Northern Beltway but havent yet been bought by the state.
When the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of landowners in June, landowners and their attorney, Matthew Bryant, cheered and predicted that the property owners long wait for the state to buy their properties would soon be over.
The Supreme Court decision stated that the DOT had caused a fundamental taking of property rights from the landowners. The state now appears ready to argue that the court didnt intend to rule on the propriety of judgment as a matter of law for those landowners, according to a motion the state filed with the state appeals court on Nov. 28.
Bryant said the state is now making absurd arguments to delay the inevitable payments it owes to landowners.
All we are trying to do is hold the state to what they should have done years ago, he said.
State officials declined comment, but pointed to the states Nov. 28 motion in which, in part, it claims the state would have to make unauthorized expenditures of public funds if Craigs order was allowed to stand.
Craigs order would force the state to make monetary deposits relating to the lands in question, which the property owners would then be allowed to withdraw at will.
After Craig issued his order in Forsyth Superior Court, the state filed a motion on Nov. 2 to block any further action pending its appeal to a higher court. Craig denied the states motion on Nov. 14. State attorneys then asked the appeals court to issue the temporary stay, which it did on Nov. 29.
The state said Craigs Oct. 3 order improperly shifted the burden of proof from the landowners to the state in deciding whether landowners had suffered losses, and called egregious the portion of Craigs ruling that allows property owners to withdraw state-deposited money before the court has ruled on the amount of compensation owed.
State attorneys argued that the landowners could immediately withdraw any money deposited, even if it turned out later that the state didnt owe the money.
To say that the property owners are upset over their latest setback would be an understatement:
How many years does it take to beat somebody down? asked landowner Ben Harris, who said he owns five houses in the McGregor Park subdivision that he built in the 1990s and still cant sell because theyre in the path of the beltway. The DOT is thumbing their noses at the people of Winston-Salem.
Paula Smith, a landowner, said shes not surprised that the state is blocking payment.
Of course they did, she said. Ive begun to not have any reaction because you dont know what is going to happen next with the state.
The lawsuits over the states failure to buy beltway properties date back to 2011, when landowners represented by Bryant filed suit in Forsyth Superior Court charging that the DOT effectively took their properties when it included them in the designated route of the Northern Beltway in 1997 and 2008.
The beltway designation limited the ability of landowners to subdivide or develop their properties. The property owners claimed that amounted to what is called inverse condemnation: The DOT had taken the properties without paying for them, the landowners alleged.
Bryant represents about 70 people who own property in the western loop.
In 2013, Craig ruled against hearing the inverse condemnation claims. The state Court of Appeals reversed that decision and the state appealed. The state Supreme Court affirmed that ruling in June and sent the cases back to Craig.
In his Oct. 3 ruling, Craig ordered the DOT to begin the process of recording land descriptions and making compensation payments plus interest to the court for ultimate distribution to the landowners.
Craigs order stopped short of forcing the state to acquire the properties outright. The order left open the possibility that the state could ask its property appraisers to set values and payments based on how much value the property had lost by being in the beltway corridor..
At the same time, Craig wrote that because the properties would be graded and covered with asphalt, it might make more sense for the DOT to simply buy the properties outright. The full purchase of the properties plus interest is what all the landowners who sued the state have demanded.
Homeowner Elaine Eurey said that ever since the Supreme Court ruling she and her husband have been looking for a new place to live thinking the state would soon buy her house.
We are anxious to move, she said. We find this news terribly distressing. At the end of summer, it looked like the light at the end of the tunnel was not a train. I will continue to wait until the state will pay me my just due.
Gov. Roy Cooper is not taking long to move forward on a key campaign pledge of expanding Medicaid coverage by nearly 500,000 North Carolinians.
Cooper said Wednesday during an economic forum in Durham that he will pursue expansion even though Republicans have super-majority control in both chambers and there is a state law prohibiting the executive branch from making such an attempt.
Medicaid expansion was a hot-button issue throughout Pat McCrorys term as governor. Currently, Medicaid covers about 1.9 million North Carolinians, and is a $14 billion a year program.
Cooper plans to file an amendment by Friday that asks the federal government to amend the N.C. Medicaid reform waiver request submitted in June.
Cooper said he believes the law prohibiting the expansion of Medicaid in the state, approved in 2013, infringes on core executive functions of the governors role for negotiating the waiver request with the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. McCrory said he was pursuing federal waiver exceptions for what he called a North Carolina plan, and not a Washington plan that could have featured expansion.
North Carolina is one of 19 states that have chosen not to expand their Medicaid program though the federal Affordable Care Act. The act provides resources for states to extend coverage to all non-elderly adults with incomes below 133 percent of the federal poverty level, currently $32,253 a year for a family of four and $18,000 for an individual.
A study released in 2016 by Harvard University found that as many as 1,145 people in North Carolina may die every year because Medicaid has not been expanded and they have no access to screenings and preventive care.
Cooper said expansion could result in the net gain of up to 40,000 jobs statewide, mostly in the health care sector.
A December 2014 study sponsored by the Cone Health Foundation and the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust determined that the Triad and Northwest North Carolina could have 93,471 more people insured and 8,962 jobs created by 2020 if state leaders choose to expand the states Medicaid program.
A 2014 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Urban Institute study, a philanthropy that advocates for public health, found that North Carolina could lose as much as $51 billion in federal Medicaid payments over the next 10 years if its program is not expanded.
Gov. Cooper believes expanding Medicaid will help grow jobs and our economy, said his spokeswoman, Noelle Talley. We fully expect input and cooperation from the legislature in this process and intend to comply with our states laws and the constitution.
GOP objects
Republican legislative leaders have said consistently since 2013 that expansion is a nonstarter for them, primarily because they dont trust the federal government to keep its pledge to pay more than 90 percent of the administrative costs. Expansion states must pick up 5 percent of the administrative costs in 2017 and 10 percent for 2020 and beyond.
North Carolinas expansion prohibition prevents the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services and the N.C. Department of Insurance from making any attempt to expand the program through the ACA.
Still, McCrory had said he would consider expansion once the states Medicaid program was fixed.
State health officials reported a third consecutive Medicaid surplus in fiscal 2015-16, based primarily on less demand for services than projected and lower prescription drug costs. Some of the 2015-16 surplus was factored into the 2016-17 state budget.
N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said he considers Coopers proposal as his intention to violate his oath of office with a brazenly illegal attempt to force a massive, budget-busting Obamacare expansion on North Carolina taxpayers.
According to Berger, Cooper is three strikes and out on his attempt to break state law: he does not have the authority to unilaterally expand Obamacare; his administration cannot take steps to increase Medicaid eligibility; and our constitution does not allow him to spend billions of state tax dollars we dont have to expand Obamacare without legislative approval.
On Thursday, Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, sent a letter to CMS expressing its opposition to Cooper's amendment request and citing the state law for its reasoning in requesting rejection.
"We are disappointed by this news, as such action is clearly prohibited under state law," the lawmakers said. "We encourage CMS to decline the governor's illegal request for expansion."
In the letter, the legislative leaders cited a potential $600 million annual state funding commitment to Medicaid expansion.
Cooper said he will ask hospitals in North Carolina to step up and pay assessments to come up with as much as a 5 percent state match for expansion for 2017 through 2019.
The expansion fight may be part of Coopers strategy to take his 2017 agenda straight to a statewide audience. Cooper also mentioned his continued pursuit to fully repeal House Bill 2, better known as the bathroom bill.
I think he figures it suits him politically to fight for expansion of Medicaid and feels that he can make the General Assembly look bad with the public, said David Meyer, senior partner with Keystone Planning Group of Durham.
Mitch Kokai, a policy analyst with the John Locke Foundation, a conservative-leaning research group, said Medicaid expansion has zero chance of support among legislative leaders.
It remains to be seen whether the new governor will be able to get away with this move, Kokai said. But it certainly bodes ill for future relations with the General Assembly.
Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi, an economics professor at Winston-Salem State University, said Cooper intends to attempt a vast progressive agenda that will allow him to paint the legislature as obstructionist
I do not know if this will work well for him given how legislative redistricting favors conservatives in this state. It could also backfire on him, Madjd-Sadjadi said.
Mark Hall, a law professor at Wake Forest University and a nationally renowned health-care expert, issued a report in January 2016 that examined the pros and cons of expanding Medicaid in North Carolina. Hall came down on the side of the viability of expansion despite potential risks.
We should know more in a month, but Congress could get rid of exchanges but keep Medicaid expansion in some form or rework each piece in different ways, Hall said.
The latter is more likely, he said. If Congress gives states more flexibility in how to structure Medicaid, then expansion could well be politically feasible in North Carolina.
State Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, said that we need to understand the new federal options we will have in N.C. under the Trump administration, and then look at what makes the most sense.
Hospital request
North Carolina hospitals would receive $11 billion in funding over the next 10 years if Medicaid was expanded, said a report from left-leaning N.C. Policy Watch. Thats money that could literally help many rural hospitals stay open and operating.
The N.C. Medical Society and N.C. Hospital Association signaled their support for Coopers proposal.
Hospitals and health systems strongly support expanded insurance coverage, inclusive of Medicaid expansion, to provide essential health coverage for North Carolinians, the hospital association said.
Given the complexity of the issue and the process, we believe coverage expansion can only happen through a bipartisan, collaborative effort, it said. We are prepared to work with the governor, the General Assembly and our members of Congress to achieve this goal.
U.S. Magistrate Judge L. Patrick Auld has recommended that an amended federal lawsuit filed by a Clemmons whistle-blower against North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Carolinas Healthcare Systems of Charlotte be dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.
Auld also recommended to a U.S. District Court judge the granting of both hospital systems motion to dismiss the case filed by Joseph Vincoli.
All parties are now able to file objections, if any. The federal judge assigned to the case will make the ultimate decision on whether to dismiss the lawsuit.
Vincoli initially filed a lawsuit in June 2009 in the Middle District of N.C. against Baptist and Carolinas Healthcare Systems of Charlotte. Vincoli worked at Baptist as its managed-care director from July 2006 until his job was terminated in October 2007.
Vincoli claims that Baptist and Carolinas fraudulently obtained tens of millions of dollars from Medicare and Medicaid through an arrangement that artificially inflated their expenses.
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and Carolinas co-own MedCost, a for-profit company that administers health plans and contracts with hospitals and doctors offices to provide medical services.
In his second amended complaint, filed Feb. 4, 2016, Vincoli claims that the systems failed to disclose on their Medicare cost reports more than a billion dollars in related-party transactions and falsely claimed more than a billion dollars in fictitious costs for employee health-care benefits that were not actually out-of-pocket costs.
In September, the U.S. Justice Department said it would not join the lawsuit on behalf of the Medicare program. The department closed its case against Carolinas in January 2016.
Baptist said in its dismissal request filed April 8 that Vincolis complaint does not include a shred of factual detail or particularity about NCBHs alleged knowledge of any supposed wrongdoing, including that cost reports were not part of his job responsibilities.
Baptist claims that Vincoli cannot plausibly allege that he had first-hand knowledge of purported fraudulent acts.
Carolinas argued in its motion for dismissal, also filed April 8, that Vincoli was never its employee, and stated, Without such (or any) specific facts about CHS, Vincoli simply cannot state a plausible claim that (CHS) knowingly submitted false claims.
Retaliation allegations
In his complaint, Vincoli also accuses the hospitals of retaliating against him by going to the McCrory administration to get him fired from his administrative role with the Department of Public Safety.
Vincolis job in the department was shifted from nonexempt to exempt in 2013. He worked for more than three years in an administrative role with the state corrections department, attaining career status with excellent employee review upon saving the department and state $45 million per year by making changes in how the state paid hospitals and physicians for health care services rendered to inmates, he has said.
Vincoli has said he was terminated on Dec. 9, 2013, in part because he attempted to continue his role as a health-care whistleblower.
State employees had gained, through a previous Vincoli legal challenge and subsequent legislative action, more whistleblower powers as it affected the State Health Plan.
Vincoli has said he was told when he was fired that a change in agency staff is appropriate at this time. He said he discovered that his position has been kept, rather than being eliminated through a reduction in workforce.
Since August 2014, he has been pursuing a hearing before the N.C. Office of Administrative Hearing to ask state administrative officials about the circumstances of his firing. Vincolis efforts were opposed by the N.C. Attorney Generals Office, which is led by Gov.-elect Roy Cooper.
The N.C. Court of Appeals ruled on Nov. 1, 2016, that Vincoli has a statutory right to a state hearing. Vincoli said his hearing will take place in late April, conducted by an administrative law judge.
Vincoli filed a complaint in May 2015 against state Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, alleging that Lambeth betrayed his trust by forwarding his emails to two health care groups. The complaint involves emails that Vincoli sent to Lambeth related to his claim that Carolinas should be prohibited from co-owning MedCost, which manages its health insurance accounts.
The state Ethics Commission dismissed the complaint against Lambeth, saying there was insufficient evidence to constitute a violation.
In his memorandum opinion and recommendation, Auld said that the statue of limitations bars Vincolis retaliation claim as to the 2011 lawsuit.
The Second Amended complaint sufficiently alleges who possess personal knowledge of the alleged fraud, Auld stated. However, the Second Amended complaint and Vincolis proposed amendments fail to plausibly allege the requisite scienter for an FCA claim.
Auld also stated that this amended complaint failed to plausibly allege that Baptist caused the state of North Carolina to take adverse employment actions against Vincoli.
The proposed amendments likewise fail to plausibly allege such retaliation, Auld said.
The amended complaint against Baptist and Carolinas also asserts that hospital employees were affected financially by the arrangement because it allowed the hospitals to overcharge workers for their health care.
In 2009, Baptists employees sued the hospital, alleging that its choice of MedCost was not serving the best interests of employees. N.C. Baptist agreed in 2011 to pay about $5.4 million to settle the lawsuit even though it denied any wrongdoing.
In response to the recent recommendation by Auld, Wake Forest Baptist stated that it is pleased with the U.S. Magistrates recommendation to dismiss the complaint filed by Mr. Vincoli on behalf of the United States. The recommendation confirms our position and belief all along that North Carolina Baptist Hospital did not violate the False Claims Act.
Paul Lawrence, Vincolis lawyer, said, We have no comment other than to say we think Magistrate Judge Auld got several things wrong and will be objecting to his report and recommendation.
Carolinas said, We dont have anything to add to the story.
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th, voted against a move by some House Republicans to weaken an independent congressional ethics board, a proposal that on Tuesday came under fire from President-elect Donald Trump and got yanked from going to a floor vote.
A majority of the House Republican Conference voted Monday to clip the powers of the Office of Congressional Ethics, the independent body created in 2008 to investigate allegations of misconduct by lawmakers after several bribery and corruption scandals sent members to prison, The Associated Press reported.
The proposed ethics change, which was met by an outcry from Democrats, government watchdog groups and Trump, was part of a rules package on which the full House was scheduled to vote Tuesday but never did.
Undermining the independence of the Houses Office of Congressional Ethics would create a serious risk to members of Congress, who rely on OCE for fair, nonpartisan investigations, and to the American people, who expect their representatives to meet their legal and ethical obligations, Norman Eisen and Richard Painter of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said in a press release.
Eisen was the top ethics lawyer for President Barack Obama, and Painter was the top ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush.
With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it ... may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! Trump wrote on Twitter.
And he used the hashtag DTS shorthand for drain the swamp.
Under the proposal pushed by U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. the Office of Congressional Ethics would have fallen under the control of the House Ethics Committee, putting lawmakers in a position of watching over one another rather than having an independent panel do it.
The change would have required that any matter that may involve a violation of criminal law must be referred to the Committee on Ethics for potential referral to law enforcement agencies after an affirmative vote by the members, according to Goodlattes office.
The overall vote of the House Republican Conference was made public: 119-74.
But there is no public record of how individual Republican members voted, said John Dinan, a political science professor at Wake Forest University. These party conference votes are simply votes that a party holds internally on whether to move forward with a measure and dont carry any legal weight.
Foxx was among the 74 GOP House members who opposed the proposal, according to her spokeswoman, Sheridan Watson.
While Congresswoman Foxx agrees the Office of Congressional Ethics is in need of reform, she believes that changes should be made in a bipartisan manner, Watson said.
The 5th District includes some or all of several counties in Northwest North Carolina: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Forsyth, Stokes, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes and Yadkin counties as well as two precincts in Catawba County.
The process of putting the House proposal into effect would have gone like this:
Primarily, the full House would have to vote on rules under which the chamber will operate, according to Dinan.
This is usually the first order of business in a new Congress, for the House to vote on a resolution containing the rules under which the House will operate for the next session.
And presumably any changes in the way that the ethics committee and ethics office operates would be included in this House resolution, which requires approval by a majority vote in the entire House, in what would be a public vote, Dinan said.
There is no need for approval by the U.S. Senate or the president.
That is, the House is not passing a law, which would require Senate concurrence and presidential approval, he said.
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By Tom Engelhardt | ( Tomdispatch.com ) |
Know thyself. It was what came to mind in the wake of Donald Trumps victory and my own puzzling reaction to it. And while that familiar phrase just popped into my head, I had no idea it was so ancient, or Greek, or for that matter a Delphic maxim inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo according to the Greek writer Pausanias (whom Id never heard of until I read his name in Wikipedia). Think of that as my own triple helix of ignorance extending back to well, my birth in a very different America 72 years ago.
Anyway, the simple point is that I didnt know myself half as well as I imagined. And I can thank Donald Trump for reminding me of that essential truth. Of course, we can never know whats really going on inside the heads of all those other people out there on this curious planet of ours, but ourselves as strangers? I guess if I were inscribing something in the forecourt of my own Delphic temple right now, it might be: Who knows me? (Not me.)
Consider this my little introduction to a mystery I stumbled upon in the early morning hours of our recent election night that hasnt left my mind since. I simply couldnt accept that Donald Trump had won. Not him. Not in this country. Not possible. Not in a million years.
Mind you, during the campaign I had written about Trump repeatedly, always leaving open the possibility that, in the disturbed (and disturbing) America of 2016, he could indeed beat Hillary Clinton. That was a conclusion I lost when, in the final few weeks of the campaign, like so many others, I got hooked on the polls and the pundits who went with them. (Doh!)
In the wake of the election, however, it wasnt shock based on pollsters errors that got to me. It was something else that only slowly dawned on me. Somewhere deep inside, I simply didnt believe that, of all countries on this planet, the United States could elect a narcissistic, celeb billionaire who was also, in the style of Italys Silvio Berlusconi, a right-wing populist and incipient autocrat.
Plenty of irony lurked in that conviction, which outlasted the election and so reality itself. In these years, Ive written critically of the way just about every American politician but Donald Trump has felt obligated to insist that this is an exceptional or indispensable nation, the greatest country on the planet, not to speak of in history. (And throw in as well the claim of recent presidents and so many others that the U.S. military represents the greatest fighting force in that history.) President Obama, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, John McCain it didnt matter. Every one of them was a dutiful or enthusiastic American exceptionalist. As for Trumps opponent, Hillary Clinton, she hit the trifecta plus one in a speech she gave to the American Legions national convention during the campaign. In it, she referred to the United States as the greatest country on Earth, an exceptional nation, and the indispensable nation that, of course, possessed the greatest military ever. (My friends, we are so lucky to be Americans. It is an extraordinary blessing.) Only Trump, with his make America great again, slogan seemed to admit to something else, something like American decline.
Post-election, here was the shock for me: it turned out that I, too, was an American exceptionalist. I deeply believed that our country was simply too special for The Donald, and so his victory sent me on an unexpected journey back into the world of my childhood and youth, back into the 1950s and early 1960s when (despite the Soviet Union) the U.S. really did stand alone on the planet in so many ways. Of course, in those years, no one had to say such things. All those greatests, exceptionals, and indispensables were then dispensable and the recent political tic of insisting on them so publicly undoubtedly reflects a defensiveness thats a sign of something slipping.
Obviously, in those bedrock years of American power and strength and wealth and drive and dynamism (and McCarthyism, and segregation, and racism, and smog, and), the very years that Donald Trump now yearns to bring back, I took in that feeling of American specialness in ways too deep to grasp. Which was why, decades later, when I least expected it, I couldnt shake the feeling that it couldnt happen here. In actuality, the rise to power of Trumpian figures Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, Vladimir Putin in Russia has been a dime-a-dozen event elsewhere and now looks to be a global trend. Its just that I associated such rises with unexceptional, largely tinpot countries or ones truly down on their luck.
So its taken me a few hard weeks to come to grips with my own exceptionalist soul and face just how Donald Trump could indeed did happen here.
It Can Happen Here
So how did it happen here?
Lets face it: Donald Trump was no freak of nature. He only arrived on the scene and took the Electoral College (if not the popular vote) because our American world had been prepared for him in so many ways. As I see it, at least five major shifts in American life and politics helped lay the groundwork for the rise of Trumpism:
* The Coming of a 1% Economy and the 1% Politics That Goes With It: A singular reality of this century has been the way inequality became embedded in American life, and how so much money was swept ever upwards into the coffers of 1% profiteers. Meanwhile, a yawning gap grew between the basic salaries of CEOs and those of ordinary workers. In these years, as Im hardly the first to point out, the country entered a new gilded age. In other words, it was already a Mar-a-Lago moment before The Donald threw his hair into the ring.
Without the arrival of casino capitalism on a massive scale (at which The Donald himself proved something of a bust), Trumpism would have been inconceivable. And if, in its Citizens United decision of 2010, the Supreme Court hadnt thrown open the political doors quite so welcomingly to that 1% crew, how likely was it that a billionaire celebrity would have run for president or become a favorite among the white working class?
Looked at a certain way, Donald Trump deserves credit for stamping the true face of twenty-first-century American plutocracy on Washington by selecting mainly billionaires and multimillionaires to head the various departments and agencies of his future government. After all, doesnt it seem reasonable that a 1% economy, a 1% society, and a 1% politics should produce a 1% government? Think of what Trump has so visibly done as American democracys version of truth in advertising. And of course, if billionaires hadnt multiplied like rabbits in this era, he wouldnt have had the necessary pool of plutocrats to choose from.
Something similar might be said of his choice of so many retired generals and other figures with significant military backgrounds (ranging from West Point graduates to a former Navy SEAL) for key civilian positions in his government. Think of that, too, as a truth-in-advertising moment leading directly to the second shift in American society.
* The Coming of Permanent War and an Ever More Militarized State and Society: Can there be any question that, in the 15-plus years since 9/11, what was originally called the Global War on Terror has become a permanent war across the Greater Middle East and Africa (with collateral damage from Europe to the Philippines)? In those years, staggering sums of money beyond what any other country or even collection of countries could imagine spending has poured into the U.S. military and the arms industry that undergirds it and monopolizes the global trade in weaponry. In the process, Washington became a war capital and the president, as Michelle Obama indicated recently when talking about Trumps victory with Oprah Winfrey, became, above all, the commander in chief. (It is important for the health of this nation, she told Winfrey, that we support the commander in chief.) The presidents role in wartime had, of course, always been as commander in chief, but now thats the position many of us vote for (and even newspapers endorse), and since war is so permanently embedded in the American way of life, Donald Trump is guaranteed to remain that for his full term.
And the role has expanded strikingly in these years, as the White House gained the power to make war in just about any fashion it chose without significant reference to Congress. The president now has his own air force of drone assassins to dispatch more or less anywhere on the planet to take out more or less anyone. At the same time, cocooned inside the U.S. military, an elite, secretive second military, the Special Operations forces, has been expanding its personnel, budget, and operations endlessly and its most secretive element, the Joint Special Operations Command, might even be thought of as the presidents private army.
Meanwhile, the weaponry and advanced technology with which this country has been fighting its never-ending (and remarkably unsuccessful) conflicts abroad from Predator drones to the Stingray that mimics a cell phone tower and so gets nearby phones to connect to it began migrating home, as Americas borders and police forces were militarized. The police have been supplied with weaponry and other equipment directly off the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, while veterans from those wars have joined the growing set of SWAT teams, the domestic version of special-ops teams, that are now a must-have for police departments nationwide.
Its no coincidence that Trump and his generals are eager to pump up a supposedly depleted U.S. military with yet more funds or, given the history of these years, that he appointed so many retired generals from our losing wars to key civilian positions atop that military and the national security state. As with his billionaires, in a decisive fashion, Trump is stamping the real face of twenty-first-century America on Washington.
* The Rise of the National Security State: In these years, a similar process has been underway in relation to the national security state. Vast sums of money have flowed into the countrys 17 intelligence outfits (and their secret black budgets), into the Department of Homeland Security, and the like. (Before 9/11, Americans might have associated that word homeland with Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, but never with this country.) In these years, new agencies were launched and elaborate headquarters and other complexes built for parts of that state within a state to the tune of billions of dollars. At the same time, it was privatized, its doors thrown open to the contract employees of a parade of warrior corporations. And, of course, the National Security Agency created a global surveillance apparatus so all-encompassing that it left the fantasies of the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century in the dust.
As the national security state rose in Washington amid an enveloping shroud of secrecy (and the fierce hounding or prosecution of any whistleblower), it became the de facto fourth branch of government. Under the circumstances, dont think of it as a happenstance that the 2016 election might have been settled 11 days early thanks to FBI Director James Comeys intervention in the race, which represented a historical first for the national security state. Argue as you will over how crucial Comeys interference was to the final vote tallies, it certainly caught the mood of the new era that had been birthed in Washington long before Donald Trumps victory. Nor should you consider it a happenstance that possibly the closest military figure to the new commander in chief is his national security adviser, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, who ran the Defense Intelligence Agency until forced out by the Obama administration. No matter the arguments Trump may have with the CIA or other agencies, they will be crucial to his rule (once brought to heel by his appointees).
Those billionaires, generals, and national security chieftains had already been deeply embedded in our American world before Trump made his run. They will now be part and parcel of his world going forward. The fourth shift in the landscape is ongoing, not yet fully institutionalized, and harder to pin down.
* The Coming of the One-Party State: Thanks to the political developments of these years, and a man with obvious autocratic tendencies entering the Oval Office, its possible to begin to imagine an American version of a one-party state emerging from the shell of our former democratic system. After all, the Republicans already control the House of Representatives (in more or less perpetuity, thanks to gerrymandering), the Senate, the White House, and assumedly in the years to come the Supreme Court. They also control a record 33 out of 50 governorships, have tied a record by taking 68 out of the 98 state legislative chambers, and have broken another by gaining control of 33 out of 50 full legislatures. In addition, as the North Carolina legislature has recently shown, the urge among state Republicans to give themselves new, extra-democratic, extra-legal powers (as well as a longer term Republican drive to restrict the ballot in various ways, claiming nonexistent voter fraud) should be considered a sign of the direction in which we could be headed in a future embattled Trumpist country.
In addition, for years the Democratic Party saw its various traditional bases of support weaken, wither, or in the recent election simply opt for a candidate competing for the partys nomination who wasnt even a Democrat. Until the recent election loss, however, it was at least a large, functioning political bureaucracy. Today, no one knows quite what it is. Its clear, however, that one of Americas two dominant political parties is in a state of disarray and remarkable weakness. Meanwhile, the other, the Republican Party, assumedly the future base for that Trumpian one-party state, is in its own disheveled condition, a party of apparatchiks and ideologues in Washington and embattled factions in the provinces.
In many ways, the incipient collapse of the two-party system in a flood of 1% money cleared the path for Trumps victory. Unlike the previous three shifts in American life, however, this one is hardly in place yet. Instead, the sense of party chaos and weakness so crucial to the rise of Donald Trump still holds, and the same sense of chaos might be said to apply to the fifth shift I want to mention.
* The Coming of the New Media Moment: Among the things that prepared the way for Trump, who could leave out the crumbling of the classic newspaper/TV world of news? In these years, it lost much of its traditional advertising base, was bypassed by social media, and the TV part of it found itself in an endless hunt for eyeballs to glue, normally via 24/7 news events, eternally blown out of proportion but easy to cover in a nonstop way by shrinking news staffs. As an alternative, there was the search for anything or anyone (preferably of the celebrity variety) that the public couldnt help staring at, including a celebrity-turned-politician-turned-provocateur with the worlds canniest sense of what the media so desperately needed: him. It may have seemed that Trump inaugurated our new media moment by becoming the first meister-elect of tweet and the shout-out master of that universe, but in reality he merely grasped the nature of our new, chaotic media moment and ran with it.
Unexceptional Billionaires and Dispensable Generals
Lets add a final point to the other five: Donald Trump will inherit a country that has been hollowed out by the new realities that made him a success and allowed him to sweep to what, to many experts, looked like an improbable victory. He will inherit a country that is ever less special, a nation that, as Trump himself has pointed out, has an increasingly third-worldish transportation system (not a single mile of high-speed rail and airports that have seen better days), an infrastructure that has been drastically debased, and an everyday economy that offers lesser jobs to ever more of his countrymen. It will be an America whose destructive power only grows but whose ability to translate that into anything approaching victory eternally recedes.
With its unexceptional billionaires, its dispensable generals, its less than great national security officials, its dreary politicians, and its media moguls in search of the passing buck, its likely to be a combustible country in ways that will seem increasingly familiar to so many elsewhere on this planet, and increasingly strange to the young Tom Engelhardt who still lives inside me.
Its this America that will tumble into the debatably small but none-too-gentle hands of Donald Trump on January 20th.
Tom Engelhardt is a co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of The United States of Fear as well as a history of the Cold War, The End of Victory Culture. He is a fellow of the Nation Institute and runs TomDispatch.com. His latest book is Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World.
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, John Feffers dystopian novel Splinterlands, as well as Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead, and Tom Engelhardts latest book, Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World.
Copyright 2017 Tom Engelhardt
Via Tomdispatch.com
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |
One of the thirty-nine victims of the Daesh (ISIL, ISIS) shooting at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, Layan Nasser, 19, was buried on Tuesday in her home town, Tira, in central Israel. Roughly a fifth of Israeli citizens are of Palestinian heritage, the majority of them Muslims.
Daesh carried out the attack to undermine Turkeys tourism industry and discourage foreign direct investment, two engines of the countrys economic growth over the past twenty years. The act was revenge on Turkey for intervening against Daesh in northern Syria during the past year.
Yusuf Munayyer pointed out that Nasser was identified as Israeli in international press headlines, as a victim, and suspects that she would have been instead called an Arab had she been instead involved in an act of resistance. His point is that Palestinian-Israelis are seen as sympathetic when attacked by fundamentalists, but when Israeli Secretary of Defense Avigdor Lieberman threatens to ethnically cleanse them, few in the West protest.
When Palestinian citizens of Israel are victims of attacks they are "Israeli" when they are perpetrators they are "Arab" pic.twitter.com/5TMzRo0yKv (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) January 1, 2017
Thousands of Palestinian-Israelis attended the ceremony, in what both the Israeli and Arab press saw as a rebuke to the Muslim fundamentalists who blamed the victim by criticizing Layan for attending a New Years eve celebration (a Christian festivity, in a night club wearing make up and in an place where drinks were being served).
Layan Nasser had just become a dental assistant rather than rushing to get married, as her mother had wanted. Even her trip to Turkey was a sign of her independence of mind. Her father advised against it, given the deteriorating security situation in that country. The UAEs The National quoted her cousin Hadil Haj-Yihya as saying, She is just an innocent kid. She doesnt know about politics and terrorism. She loved fashion and make-up. She just wanted to live life. She was just a child . . . Now her mother is crying, saying Im giving her to the grave, not to her husband.
Al-Masdar said that the huge crowds attended the funeral to mourn Layan and to protest religious repression.
Among those attending were prominent Palestinian-Israelis, and a disproportionate number of women, who were protesting those voices that criticized Layans trip and that of her girlfriends to Istanbul by themselves to celebrate the new year.
One of those who spoke was the mayor of Tira, Mamun `Abd al-Hayy, who referred to the criticisms launched at her by religious groups. He said, We do not accept the besmirching of the reputation of Layan and her friends. We strongly support a plurality of opinions and we reject religious repression. He continued, We are proud of Layan and her friends, and of the young generation and their consciousness, and of their decisive stand against illiteracy and close-mindedness. . . Our youth will decide what is good for themselves, and what is not, and no one has the right to impose anything on them. He added, We are the true Islam, and there is no place for those who adopt a counterfeit jihad.'
The United Arab List political coalition posted on Facebook a statement that also criticized those who slammed Layan and her friends. the coalition denounces the intellectual influence of Daesh [ISIL, ISIS], and calls for combating both this way of thinking and the practices associated with it, through intellectual work and practical action. It called on the masses and civil society to encourage dialogue and mutual understanding and open-mindedness, instead of repression and the imposition of opinions blackballing. It urged the that the utmost effort be expended to fight this way of thinking and this phenomenon, which threatens the life of the Arab peoples in their entierty, and threatens their identity and their existence and their just struggles. The list then called for a big turnout at Layans funeral and condemned the criminal and sanguinary operation that took her life.
Daesh/ ISIL is a threat to many societies, but Westerners often forget that it is above all a threat to Muslims. Something like 90% of all its victims have been Muslims (especially Shiites but also Sunnis). It has a theory of revolutionary action its leaders call tawahhush, acting like wild beasts and making a spectacle of death. These techniques have brought it into disrepute even among other terrorists! As the Palestinian-Israelis pointed out, it is losing friends for Arab causes because it allows them all, including the just ones, to be tagged as barbarous or terroristic. Long after it is rolled up as a territorial state, Daesh will go on poisoning minds, and the United Arab List is correct that an intellectual battle needs to be waged against it. The instinct of the United States has been to undermine secularism in the Middle East because it has been associated with socialism. And, leftist regimes have unwittingly fostered a fundamentalist opposition by associating secular thought with torture in prison. The Middle East can only get past this decades-long crisis by becoming more democratic and more secular. The regimes elites often want only one or the other, for their own selfish reasons, and so are prolonging the agony. And Western elites have to stop destabilizing the place for the sake of black gold.
Israeli emergency personnel and security forces work at the scene of what Israeli police said was a stabbing attack by two Palestinians on two Israelis in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Beit Horon near Jerusalem on January 25, 2016.
Its not just about potentially rogue soldiers, but also about senior Israeli officials who publicly tell security forces to unlawfully shoot to kill, said Sari Bashi, Israel advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. Whatever the results of trials of individual soldiers, the Israeli government should issue clear directives to use force only in accordance with international law.
Elor Azaria, a 20-year-old Israeli soldier, is on trial for the March 24, 2016, fatal shooting of 21-year-old Abd al-Fatah al-Sharif. Al-Sharif stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron. At issue in the trial is Azarias shooting of Sharif after he had been shot and injured by Israeli security officials.
There have been more than 150 instances since October 2015 in which security forces fatally shot Palestinian adults and children suspected of trying to stab, run over, or shoot Israelis in Israel and the West Bank. During that time, Palestinian assailants have killed 33 Israelis, including passersby and security officials, in Israel and the West Bank. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly condemned Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians.
International human rights law limits the intentional lethal use of firearms shooting to kill to circumstances in which it is strictly necessary to protect life, and in which no other, less extreme, option is viable. The Israeli open fire regulations do not note this limitation but do limit shooting at a persons torso or head to situations in which it is necessary to prevent an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury.
However, the calls by officials and the apparent conduct of some soldiers and police deviate from both international standards and the Israeli rules of engagement. With some notable exceptions, senior Israeli officials, including those who command security officers, have in some cases called for excessive use of force and in other cases failed to condemn such calls by others.
In one example, following a stabbing attack that injured two Israeli passersby in West Jerusalem on October 10, 2015, police fatally shot the 16-year-old Palestinian suspect. Jerusalem Police District Commander Moshe Edri told reporters that those who carry out attacks should be killed: The police are doing their job and arriving quickly. Within less than a minute and a half, the attacker had already been killed. Everyone who stabs Jews or harms innocent people should be killed. Whatever justification may or may not have existed for shooting the child, Edris final statement appears to be a call to kill all persons who use violence, even after they no longer pose a threat.
In October 2015, a radio interviewer asked Israeli Police Minister Gilad Erdan if he agreed with a statement by a lawmaker from an opposition party that if a terrorist has a knife or screwdriver in his hand, you should shoot to kill him without thinking twice.
Erdan said yes: Definitely. The question of course depends on the circumstances. There are clear instructions to the Israeli police. As soon as a police officer feels danger to himself or any other citizen, he needs to shoot according to the regulations. Its clear. We dont want to endanger any citizen or police officer. And also, every attacker who sets out to inflict harm should know that he will likely not survive the attack.
In contrast, the army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot gave a clear admonition to follow the Israeli militarys rules of engagement, telling a group of students on February 17, 2016, that the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] cannot speak in slogans such as, if someone comes to kill you, arise to kill him first. A soldier can only unlock the safety catch if there is a threat to him or his fellow soldiers I dont want a soldier to empty a magazine on a girl holding scissors.
The next day, two 14-year-old Palestinians were arrested after allegedly fatally stabbing an Israeli soldier and injuring a passerby in a supermarket in the West Bank. Transportation Minister and cabinet member, Yisrael Katz, of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus Likud party, referred to the incident on Facebook, saying that: The attackers were caught and remained alive. I hope that the statements of the chief of staff, whom I appreciate and commend, against the automatic shooting of minors, were not misunderstood, causing hesitation and endangering lives. Because sometimes the message is greater than the words. The restrictions and codes are clear, but we cannot let attackers remain alive, risking the lives of Jews.
In the wake of the publication of a video of the al-Sharif killing, Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, then-Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, and Eisenkot affirmed the need to obey the Israeli militarys rules of engagement, which limit the use of force to situations in which there is a threat of death or serious bodily injury and, in some circumstances, to stop fleeing suspects. Yaalon, however, was soon replaced by the current defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who in October 2015, when he was an opposition member of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, wrote on his Facebook page that the government should adopt a policy that no attacker, male or female, should make it out of any attack alive.
Given the prevalence and prominence of statements encouraging security forces to shoot to kill even when not strictly necessary to protect life, and persistent and credible allegations of excessive use of force, Netanyahu and senior security officials should issue strong public and private admonitions to intentionally use lethal force only when strictly necessary to protect life.
The authorities should regulate the use of force by soldiers and police and conduct credible investigations of all cases in which suspicions of excessive use of force, including extrajudicial killings, arise. The authorities should also change the rules of engagement to limit intentionally lethal use of force to situations in which it is strictly necessary to protect life, in accordance with international standards.
Now is the perfect moment for the top officials of the country to repudiate the shoot-to-kill rhetoric and clearly outline the limitations on soldiers and police opening fire to kill, Bashi said.
The Use of Lethal Force
Statements by senior Israeli officials, including those at the top of the chain of command, encourage violation of both the international standards regarding the use of force as well as the rules of engagement that Israel issues to its soldiers and police officers. In some cases, officials directly responsible for the conduct of law enforcement officers have publicly encouraged them to kill rather than to arrest suspected attackers when feasible. In other cases, senior political and religious officials who are employed and paid by the government have encouraged the killing of suspected Palestinian attackers, and other senior officials have failed to repudiate those statements.
In many of the more than 150 cases since October 2015, in which Israeli security forces fatally shot Palestinians who allegedly attacked or tried to attack Israelis with knives, guns, or motor vehicles, video footage and/or witness accounts raise serious questions about the necessity of the use of lethal force. Amnesty International, the Palestinian human rights group Al Haq and a coalition of nine Israeli human rights groups have called on Israeli officials to rein in excessive use of force. Citing video footage, forensic evidence, and eyewitness accounts in many of the more than 150 cases in which security officials lethally shot suspected attackers, the groups have said that security forces appear to have killed Palestinians after they no longer posed a threat, killed Palestinians who did not appear to be carrying out an attack at all, or used lethal force to subdue attackers when non-lethal force would have sufficed.
While the Israeli authorities conduct criminal investigations into every fatal shooting of Palestinians by security forces in the West Bank, Azaria is the only security officer to face trial for the shooting death of a Palestinian in the past year.
In October 2015, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel wrote to Israels attorney general, expressing concern about official endorsements of a shoot-to-kill policy and demanding investigations into two alleged cases of excessive use of force. In a response letter, the Attorney Generals Office affirmed the need to follow the rules of engagement and said that the attorney general had reminded police and government officials to do so. Shooting after the threat of harm to life or limb has already been thwarted would violate the provisions of the law, the letter said.
Rabbis, Lawmakers
Yet official endorsement of a shoot-to-kill policy continues.
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who holds the state-funded, statutory position of Israels Chief Sephardic Rabbi, said in a March 12, 2016 sermon, partly in response to Eisenkots admonition to limit the use of lethal force, that the Bible authorizes a shoot-to-kill policy: Whoever comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first. let them afterward take you to the High Court of Justice or bring some military chief of staff who will say something else As soon as an attacker knows that if he comes with a knife, he wont return alive, it will deter them. Thats why its a religious commandment to kill him.
The Sephardic Chief Rabbi does not command police or soldiers, but he heads the Supreme Rabbinical Tribunal and is tasked with advising on the interpretation of religious law. He is chosen by a committee composed of public officials and more junior state-appointed rabbis and is the state-appointed authority on religious law for the roughly half of Jewish Israelis of Arab or Eastern descent. Netanyahu did not publicly repudiate Yosefs statement.
Such statements are also coming from politicians inside Netanyahus government. For example, Bezalel Smotrich of the Jewish Home Party, part of Netanyahus coalition, said in a February 2016 speech in the Knesset that: An attacker who sets out to kill a Jew because hes a Jew, whatever his age, does not make it out alive. Period. Smotrich has repeated that statement multiple times since then on social media. Another lawmaker, Naavah Boker, from Netanyahus Likud party, said in an interview on April 21, 2016 that: A terrorist should simply be killed, also quoting the Biblical passage that whoever comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.
In July, Eisenkot reaffirmed his support for the incoming Chief Military Rabbi, Eyal Karim, after records came to light showing that, in 2003, Karim told religious followers that suicide attackers who have been injured, should be killed. Eisenkot distanced himself from that statement and others considered contrary to the militarys policy but confirmed that he would still give Karim the armys top religious post. In August, female lawmakers from the left-wing Meretz party petitioned Israels Supreme Court to block the appointment, citing Karims statements against integrating women in the army and negative comments he made about the LGBT community and non-Jewish soldiers. The petition was withdrawn after Karim articulated more moderate positions consistent with IDF policy on the above-mentioned issues. He did not address or repudiate his statements about killing attackers who have been injured. On December 2, 2016, he was sworn in as the Chief Military Rabbi.
Public Opinion, Support
According to Israels Central Bureau of Statistics, about half of Jewish Israelis define themselves as religious or traditional, not including ultra-Orthodox Jews, who usually do not serve in the army. Conscription for non-ultra-Orthodox Jewish men is universal. Most soldiers are in their teens or early 20s, and after a few months of basic training, they can be sent to serve in the occupied West Bank.
The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that a Minnesota program that keeps sex offenders confined to secure facilities after they complete their prison sentences is constitutional and necessary to protect citizens from dangerous predators. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit, more than 700 offenders, argue that the program is essentially a life sentence and that it is almost impossible to progress to a level deemed necessary for release. Only six offenders are currently released from the program after more than 20 years of its enactment. The court stated:
The class plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that any of the identified actions of the state defendants or arguable shortcomings in the Minnesota Sex Offenders Program were egregious, malicious, or sadistic as is necessary to meet the conscience-shocking standard.
The plaintiffs plan to appeal to the US Supreme Court.
In June a judge for the US District Court for the District of Minnesota [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] that Minnesotas sex offender program and civil commitment statutes were unconstitutional. In other countries, controversial laws pertaining to the preventative detention of prisoners deemed a threat to public safety have also come under fire. In May rights groups called for reform [JURIST report] of a Kashmir law they allege is being used to detain people despite the absence of sufficient evidence for a trial. Last year the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] unanimously that a federal law allowing for the indefinite detention of mentally ill sex offenders [JURIST report] was constitutional.
[JURIST] Hong Kongs former chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of misconduct and accepting advantages following corrupt dealings during his term. Before leaving office in 2012, Tsang reportedly negotiated [SCMP report] with a major shareholder of Digital Broadcasting Corporation (DBC) [official website, in Chinese] to approve license applications. In exchange, Tsang was granted free remodeling of his rental penthouse in Shenzhen. Tsang also recommended his interior designer for an honor without disclosing the nature of their relationship. At trial, Tsang pleaded not guilty [Reuters report] to all three corruption charges, each of which had a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment. This matter has made Tsang the highest ranking official to face a criminal trial in Hong Kongs history.
Hong Kong has recently been faced with political conflict and civil unrest. In November a Hong Kong Court ruled against [JURIST report] two elected, pro-independence politicians, preventing them from taking local office. In October three officials were barred as a result of a political protest [NYT report] launched during their inaugural oaths. The November decision deemed the oaths unfulfilled when two of the legislators pledged their allegiance to the Hong Kong Nation as opposed to the Peoples Republic of China. The politicians were found to have willfully omitted their duty to take the oath when requested to do so and has their positions automatically invalidated as a result. Protests [AP report] took place in Hong Kong Sunday with an estimated 5,000 people marching in support of pro-democracy politicians.
[JURIST] An Israeli soldier who killed a wounded Palestinian in the West Bank city of Hebron in March was been found guilty of manslaughter Wednesday. The three-judge military panel in Tel Aviv ruled against Sgt Elor Azaria. Chief judge Col Maya Heller gave a lengthy verdict reading in which the court ruled that accounts [Guardian report] of the incident that he had given were unreliable and problematic. The panel rejected the defenses arguments. We found there was no room to accept his arguments, the Chief judge said. His motive for shooting was that he felt the terrorist deserved to die. Israeli politicians have called for Azaria to be pardone,d and this case has caused division among the Israeli population [WP report].
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been at the forefront of recent international news and reports. Human Rights Watch claimed [JURIST report] recently that some senior Israeli politicians are calling for Israeli soldiers and police to kill Palestinians whom they suspect of harming Israelis, even if the suspects are not currently dangerous. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May condemned remarks [JURIST report] made by US Secretary of State John Kerry on the current Israeli government. In a speech given in December, Kerry criticized the building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, stating that such actions jeopardize prospects of peace in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in December summoned the ambassadors of the 14 UN Security Council members [JURIST report] who supported a resolution condemning Israels settlement in Palestine to rebuke them for the vote. Following the passage of this resolution, Netanyahu also ordered the countrys foreign ministers to reevaluate Israels ties to the UN within the month.
[JURIST] President Barrack Obamas [official website] nomination of Judge Merrick Garland [BBC profile] to the US Supreme Court expired on Tuesday following the formal adjournment of the 114th Congress [materials]. The refusal to grant Garland a proper hearing has been regarded [WSJ report] as an injustice against the Obama administration. Republicans, however, have praised Congress inaction, stating that the Supreme Courts available seat should be addressed by the recently elected president and Senate members. With the Republicans holding a 52-48 advantage in the Senate, it is expected that President-elect Donald Trumps [official website] Supreme Court nomination will be supported. Garland will return to his judicial position in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and will resume hearing cases on January 18.
Obama nominated [JURIST report] Garland, Chief Judge of the DC Circuit, to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the US Supreme Court in March. Garland was appointed to the DC Circuit in 1997 by Bill Clinton and became Chief Judge in February 2013. Republican senators had pledged to block any nomination by Obama, arguing that since it was an election year, the American people had a say [SCOTUSblog op-ed] in the process by voting in the then-upcoming presidential election. In November a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit [JURIST report] attempting to force Congress to vote on the confirmation of Garlands nomination. Prior to the election, Samford University law professor William Ross wrote [JURIST op-ed] about the importance of potential Supreme Court nominations during election years.
Mexico laments cancellation of Ford investment
From:Xinhua | 2017-01-04 09:46
MEXICO CITY, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Mexican government lamented Tuesday the decision by American carmaker Ford to cancel its plan to build a plant in the state of San Luis Potosi, worth 1.6 billion U.S. dollars.
The carmaker had said it would reimburse "any expenses made by the state government to facilitate this investment," the Ministry of Economy said in a statement.
Ford announced the cancellation of its investment in San Luis Potosi, which would have generated 2,800 jobs. It has decided instead to expand its plant and hire 700 new people in Flat Rock, Michigan, in the United States.
The Mexican government also said the growth of Ford in Mexico and the jobs it had created in the country "had contributed to maintaining manufacturing jobs in the United States, which otherwise would have disappeared due to Asian competition."
"The government reiterates its commitment to make Mexico a more competitive country for national and foreign investment," read the statement.
Ford's reversal came on the same day when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened on Twitter to slap taxes on General Motors (GM) for allegedly importing the Chevrolet Cruze into the United States from Mexico free of taxes.
GM responded by saying most of its Cruze cars are made in Ohio and only a small number of the cars of the hatchback version are imported from Mexico.
Violators of smog rules punished
From:Xinhua | 2017-01-03 13:48
China's top environment watchdog disclosed violations of smog-easing measures yesterday as heavy air pollution in the north is set to persist.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection punished more than 500 enterprises and construction sites for breaching haze response plans, and 10,000 vehicles were caught breaching regulations.
The move came as 72 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and Shaanxi Province have issued or maintained yellow or more severe smog alerts.
China has a four-tier warning system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue. When a high alert is in force, heavy polluting vehicles and trucks carrying construction waste are banned from roads and some manufacturing firms have to cut production. Inspectors sent by the ministry identified several metallurgy, agricultural chemicals and steel plants in the region that failed to follow the alert-triggered bans.
The government of heavy-industry Tangshan City in Hebei Province has been warned for failing to strictly abide by a truck ban on its roads. Meanwhile, an unlicensed quarry in the city was found to have continued operation even after one of its officials had been detained, the ministry said, citing it as an example of foot-dragging over rectification orders.
The ministry urges local governments to take prompt remedial action and severely punish wrongdoings.
As of last night, Chinas national meteorological center renewed orange smog alerts for large swathes of the northern region. The continuing heavy smog in large parts of China is disrupting schools and causing holiday travel problems.
The smog is predicted to dissipate from Sunday with the arrival of a cold front.
Yesterday was the last day of the three-day New Year holiday in the country, but authorities in Zhengzhou, capital of central Chinas Henan Province, ordered students of primary and high schools as well as kindergartens to take today off as the city is on red alert for smog.
According to an urgent notice issued by the citys educational bureau, primary and high schools may use weekends or holidays to make up the missing classes.
In neighboring Shandong Province, the provincial weather station yesterday issued orange alerts for fog and smog that has led to visibility of less than 200 meters in 11 cities in the province. Around 50 flights were affected in the provincial capital Jinan as of 10am. Nearly 300 toll gates along 30 expressways have been closed, according to the provincial transport department.
Heavy fog was also seen in Chengdu, capital of southwest Chinas Sichuan Province, stranding more than 8,000 passengers at its airport. A runway at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport was closed for four hours, leaving over 80 flights delayed and seven canceled. .
Beijing Capital International Airport said flights there were returning to normal. Smog on Sunday caused hundreds of flights to be canceled and highways to shut.
Weather forecasts yesterday showed the smog would return to Beijing and nearby Tianjin City from today. It was expected to persist until Thursday in Hebei, the heavily industrialized province that surrounds the capital, and Henan and Shandong provinces as the region battles freezing temperatures.
Authorities have been issuing smog alerts across the north since mid-December, prompting orders for hundreds of factories to scale back production or close outright and for restrictions on motorists to cut emissions.
A pollution index that measures the average concentration of small breathable particles, known as PM2.5, dropped to just over 100 micrograms per cubic metre in Beijing early yesterday from over 500 late on Sunday. The safe recommended level of PM2.5 is 10 micrograms per cubic metre, according to the World Health Organization.
Yesterday, the Beijing government maintained its orange alert for heavy pollution and a ban on heavy-duty construction trucks from using the roads.
It is all too easy for populists to pin their domestic failures on the EU, but the only solution to Europes crises is deeper integration and more Europe.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has warned that Europe will fall over the edge unless the European Union scales back its ambitions and mainstream politicians start listening to the demands of voters flocking to populist parties.
In an attempt to diagnose the populist surge that has dominated European politics in 2016, Rutte stated that Europe cannot push its project by demanding more Europe. He was referring to those wishing to shift powers from member states to Brussels. We are losing the population in the process, he added.
It is disappointing that so many Europeans have chosen to turn to so called populist parties, on either side of the political spectrum. And yet, it is not in the least surprising.
It is disappointing that so many Europeans have chosen to turn to so called populist parties, on either side of the political spectrum. And yet, it is not in the least surprising. For decades, popular opinion has been ignored, both by national elites and governments and by the EU itself. Only recently have the European institutions really opened up and reached out to the public, in an effort to make themselves more approachable and better understood.
On the other hand, national governments have often scapegoated the EU for their own mistakes, while happily claiming its successes as their own. There has rarely been any considerable effort to engage the public with a pan-European civil society movement.
National governments have often scapegoated the EU for their own mistakes, while happily claiming its successes as their own.
In addition, each national government, in a desperate effort to promote their own countrys interests or rather those of their financial backers have adopted disastrous financial and social policies that have brought Europe into economic decline.
Not only have citizens been inadequately informed, even when they have been given the option to vote in referendums, their opinion has largely been rejected until they vote again for the planned outcome. (With the exception of Brexit, perhaps.) That has inevitably fed a growing distrust and suspicion among the European electorate, mainly regarding the EUs undeniable democratic deficit.
The sinking flagship
The exposure of the euros weakness by the economic crisis dealt another blow to the confidence of Europeans in the continents most ambitious project. Europe set up a single currency without a common taxation system or political integration. It was certainly not a functioning monetary union.
The result was the near collapse of the euro, which forced voters to make massive and painful sacrifices to stabilise the continents banks and save the currency. Yet, it is becoming obvious that despite all the measures that have been adopted, the problem has not been decisively solved. Because ultimately, in order for the euro to survive, it needs further political integration.
Scaremongering and sewing confusion
As if the economic crisis and the austerity measures that followed were not enough, the prolonged war in Syria and instability in other parts of Europes neighbourhood have caused a sizeable refugee and migrant influx to the continent.
That has further challenged the European publics openness and tolerance. Populist groups and figures have taken advantage of the situation and promoted scaremongering and further confusion, in order to gain more power and influence to satisfy their ambitions.
In some EU countries, they are thriving, even threatening the established parties. And while it is great to see the governing elites finally being punished for their corruption, bad choices and disastrous policies, the alternative is also horrifying.
It is sad to see that we are running out of options in Europe, to really transform our continent. The establishment parties have lost the trust of the voters, yet their challengers offer few solutions of their own. Apart, of course, from populist, knee-jerk reactions like abolishing the euro, withdrawing from the EU and restricting immigration and the free movement of people.
Citizens need to understand that migration, the euro as an idea or the EU with its single market and the free movement of people, are not the real problems. If there were properly established and managed, their impact on our everyday lives would be a more positive one, both subjectively and objectively.
The electorate has not rejected outright the idea of more Europe. Rather, it lost its faith in it.
And the electorate has not rejected outright the idea of more Europe. Rather, it lost its faith in it. Yet that is primarily the fault of the national establishment politicians. They have purposely disconnected communication between the EU and its citizens, with the predictable result that discontent surrounding the EU is on the rise.
More Europe, that is more transparency, democracy and less inter-governmentalism, is the solution to the EUs current predicament. But sadly, the European elites do not want to lose power by handing it over to a fully functioning European democracy. So we go round in circles while the whole European project, and the continent itself, teeters on the brink of collapse.
It is disappointing that so many Europeans choose to abandon what has been achieved over the past decades, to retrace the steps, while believing that the benefits can be maintained. The transition back to national currencies may not be as smooth as we would like it to be. Are Europeans ready to pay the price of further economic depression that the dissolution of the eurozone could bring?
Replacing the business tax with value-added tax (VAT), which helped reduce tax burdens on enterprises and industries, has brought many positive effects to Chinas macro economy, according to Fan Yong, a professor at the School of Finance and Tax at Central University of Finance and Economics.
Under the reform, VAT covered all services and products, further cutting redundant taxation and reducing the tax burden on enterprises. The reform has boosted industries to be more specialized and professional, and improved productivity standards nationwide.
It helped optimize the industrial structure by including modern services, finance and productive services in the reform. Tax cuts in these industries promoted the industrial structure to shift focus to the tertiary industry. And as tax consumption of other industries on the service industry decreased with the implementation of VAT, more funds could be invested in the service sector, thus helping to optimize the industrial structure.
In addition, by investing more in tech consultation, research and branding, the product quality and competitiveness of enterprises will be further improved, and the inner growth engines and potential of the Chinese economy could be spurred.
As more service sectors have been involved in the tax collection, an improved tax rebate system for service industries would be established, and with the proportion of service sector being expanded in foreign trade, Chinas foreign trade structure could also be improved.
Kuanzhai Ancient Street, a traditional cultural hot spot located in downtown Chengdu, Sichuan province, is taking on a new look after Premier Li Keqiangs visit in April 2016.
Premier Li visited the Jianshan Bookstore in the alley, and bought a book and two postcards, which have become the best-selling items in the bookstore.
Liao Yun, founder of the bookstore, praised the Premier for his care of local culture and encouragement for increasing innovation.
I remember that Premier Li said the black-and-white postcard represents the past, while the colorful one represents the future. He also encouraged us to focus more on cultural innovation and creativity.
Premier Li Keqiang visits Kuanzhai Ancient Street in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on April 25, 2016.
Over the past six months, her bookstores have launched literature and art collection of Chengdu, and a series of cultural products featuring famous local historic collections along with Chengdu Museum.
The courtyard, where the bookstore is located, is one of the 45 core yards in the Kuanzhai Ancient Street. The alley has become the name card of Chengdu, with more than 150 entered enterprises, including more than 30 cultural innovative ones. Every year, more than 3,000 jobs were created here, and the consumption reached 300 million yuan. Last year, the alley attracted 17 million tourists.
Not far from Jianshan Bookstore is a cafe named Lonely Dings Coffee, which also became well-known after Premier Lis visit.
Ding Zhi, the owner of the coffee shop, originally came to Chengdu to join the rescue work during the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008.
Later, he settled down here and opened the coffee shop. And according to Ding, he met the Premier three times, once in his shop in April last year and twice at the rescue scene during Lushan and Ludian earthquakes, in 2013 and 2014 respectively.
The owner recalled that during the third time they met, Premier Li suggested the coffee producers should introduce domestic brand coffee to the world, such as Yunnan Arabic coffee beans.
In this regard, Ding said his coffee shop will open a chain store in Japan, using Yunnan Arabic coffee beans by this March.
And he also introduced his public welfare project, opening libraries in rural areas, to the Premier. Premier Li has spoken highly of the project and asked him to keep building such libraries.
Premier Li Keqiang visits Kuanzhai Ancient Street in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on April 25, 2016.
Over half year, four such libraries have been built with the total number reaching 28, said Ding.
Ding added, after Premier Lis visit, business in the coffee shop has skyrocketed with monthly revenue reaching 400,000 yuan, doubling previous years.
Premiers visit to the alley shows his concern for the individual economy and the implementation of replacing business tax with value-added tax.
The Premier also further explained the specific policy to some private business owners and was informed the policy has relieved the tax burden for private business owners, especially in the food and drink industry.
Our tax rate has now lowered from 5 percent to 3 percent, saving 30,000 yuan. And I am also inspired by Premiers speech on combining culture and business industry needs, innovation and new ideas, said Wang Hong, a restaurant owner who plans to integrate traditional culture elements into her daily business.
The alley can be narrow but not the idea of benefiting the people, said Premier Li, during his visit to the alley.
To a lot of commentators, Canada looks like a sanctuary for progressive thinking on immigration, an exception to the nativist wave sweeping the United States and Europe.
A recent cover of the Economist put a maple leaf crown on the Statue of Liberty and proclaimed Canada an example to the world. Famously, on election day, the Canadian immigration website crashed because of the number of Americans reportedly considering a move to their northern neighbor as Donald Trump won the presidency. Year after year, polls show that Canadians are, by far, more open and more optimistic about immigration than the citizens in any other Western country.
But such optimism is perhaps easier to achieve in Canada than in other nations: For historical and geopolitical reasons, Canada does not have to cope with the same immigration challenges as the United States and Europe.
To start, Canada has pursued a much more selective immigration policy than the United States or any western European country. It accepts far more immigrants legally than most Western nations, but under a policy designed primarily to dovetail with the economic interests of the nation.
Since the 1960s, the country has sought to reduce instances of racial bias in its immigration policy, and it now prioritizes professional competence in a younger generation of migrants, regardless of ethnicity.
In 1967, it was the first country to move to points-based admission, which other countries have adopted and refined since then: Applicants are rated according to their skills and adaptability relative to the Canadian workforce.
In consequence, Canada accepts far fewer immigrants on the basis of family ties than in the U.S., for example, and the proportion of skilled immigrants is much higher. Further, the country sets a higher education standard for immigrants than the U.S.
The points system and geography also have a noticeable effect on where Canadas immigrants come from.
Official data show that the leading countries among foreign-born residents in Canada are the United Kingdom, China and India. In the U.S., 28 percent are Mexicans and 24 percent are from other Latin American countries. In Europe, foreign-born residents originate mainly from the Muslim world (in the Netherlands, for instance, Turkey, Suriname and Morocco; in France Algeria and Morocco).
Canada therefore does not have to deal (at least not on the same scale) with the complex problems associated with integrating newcomers from a rural and conservative Muslim background into a highly secular environment.
Not that Canada hasnt welcomed Muslims. Between November 2015 and November 2016, it resettled more than 35,000 Syrian refugees; most European countries have been much more reluctant to extend permanent status to these immigrants. But again, Canada can and does exert a great deal of control over the process.
Refugees accepted in Canada have been selected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Theyve had health and criminal background screenings; their identities have been permanently registered using biometric security methods such as iris scanning. Canada accepts only whole families, single women or children. Single men, considered a possible security threat, are turned away.
Canada succeeds because of its specific geopolitical situation, and because it has one of the strictest immigration systems in the Western world.
Paul May is a lecturer in political science in the department of government at Harvard University.
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Current reports from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) suggest that the United States is second on the list of countries with the highest per capita consumption of opiates. Data from 2014 quotes U.S. use of opiates at 700 mg per capita per year. The only country that has a higher per capita use is Canada at 967 mg per capita both in ME (morphine equivalents). This suggests that in 2014 the amount of prescription opiates consumed in this country was equivalent to providing seventy 10 mg morphine tablets to every American including babies and children.
Opiates are a class of painkillers closely related to heroin and believed to have a similar risk of addiction as heroin. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) estimated that about one out every four individuals who use heroin develop addiction. Considering this statistic, physicians will need to exercise more caution when prescribing opioids to their patients. Many in the medical field have blamed the current state of opiate use in the U.S. on the Joint Commissions inclusion of pain as a fifth vital sign in 2001 and the resulting enforcement of its treatment as a quality measure. The validity of this claim is not the focus of this message though. I would like to talk about how this situation has however changed the population dynamics of opiate abuse in this country and some potential solutions.
As a physician, I have treated a significant number of patients with opiate abuse and dependence. My initial medical experience was in mostly big urban centers, and most of the patients that I treated with opioid-related problems were usually city and suburban dwellers mostly African American. I recently moved to a different practice and served in a semi-rural setting on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and was very surprised at how common opiate abuse and addiction was in my patient population. While most urban opiate addicts may have started out using street drugs rural opiate users mostly started using either by getting a prescription opiate from a doctor or from a family member or friend who had received their prescription through perfectly legal means as a prescription from a licensed medical professional. This situation was confirmed in a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2014 which revealed that 70.6 percent of individuals taking prescription opiates for non-medical reasons procured these from a friend or relative.
While my city patients are well aware of the fact that most physicians consider opiates high risk for addiction, this fact may totally elude my rural patients. I believe what has made rural Americans more at risk for opiate abuse and dependence is the fact that most people believe strongly that a drug prescribed by a medical provider could not be harmful. I had a few experiences with individuals who were clearly addicted to opiates but would constantly state they were not addicts since they received opiates only from licensed prescribers. I quickly caught on the need to monitor the prescription drug monitoring program when a friendly pharmacist gave me a call informing me that one of my patients had recently filled a prescription for an opiate from another doctor within two weeks of when I had written his script. This was my wake-up call, and I have since used this resource when I can. The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) has saved me from many long, unpleasant conversations with patients that I suspect narcotic shopping because I can just look up prescription data and tell patients who prescribed their medications and how many tablets they received.
One reason for the opioid epidemic in rural America, at least from my experience, is the state of our mental health system in the U.S. Mental health services are significantly inadequate for low-income Americans, and this is even worse in rural areas. While there are difficulties in accessing mental health in rural America, unfortunately, some of the barriers are extrinsic of the health system. I still struggle to convince some of my patients that I do not feel competent enough to manage their mental health needs and they need to see a psychiatrist. I usually get an incredulous response: What! Are you not a doctor? My other doctor managed all my problems I have never had to see a psychiatrist.
At this point, I just start explaining that yes, the other doctor most probably may have had more experience with that and felt more comfortable doing that. More often than not, though, my review of charts suggests that most providers just gave up after multiple attempts to transfer complicated patients to mental health specialist failed. With so much metal health issues not appropriately addressed, I am not surprised at the apparent need for mood altering drugs.
I hate difficult conversations, and they sap my energy and usually take a lot of time, and most primary care providers including myself may not always have the time this requires. Unfortunately, until providers and health care system managers make efforts to make room for these difficult conversations most providers will reach for the prescription pad and continue to flood our communities with mood altering medications.
I welcome the efforts being made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC ) at addressing this problem by coming out with clear guidelines. Unfortunately while useful this is just a drop in the bucket; I believe all Americans must work together to try to address why Americans as a community are in so much pain that we have to consume 80 percent of all the prescription narcotics in the world. The solution does not only lie with the health system; this is a community problem.
Leonard A. Sowah is an internal medicine physician.
Image credit: Shutterstock.com
A brave little Kilkenny girl continues to defy the medical odds and is currently undergoing an assessment in Dallas in the United States in the hope that she will one day be able to realise her dream to walk indepedently.
Katie Lonergan (7) is in first class in the local national school in Owning and is thriving. The bubbly youngster was diagnosed as having celebral palsy when she was 18 months old. She was born in 2009 15 weeks early in 2009 and is a surviving twin. Her twin Conor passed away and Katie spent the first 19 weeks of her life in hospital. During this time she underwent heart surgery and was ventilated for seven weeks. She was diagnosed as profoundly deaf on discharge and was also subseqently diagnosed with dystonia.
Her parents Aisling and John have been resolute to obtain the best medical treatment and intervention for their young daughter and their labour of love has paid off.
A fund, Katie's Wish to Walk was set up (it has recently closed) and 120,000 was raised. These monies enabled the family to travel to America in 2013 and Katie under SDR (Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy) treatment. Katie responded extremely well to the treatment and undergoes physio on a regular basis. She is able to walk using a frame but she is determined to walk unaided.
On St Stephen's Day Katie, her parents and her five-year-old brother Jamie travelled to Dallas to meet with Dr Jan Brunstrom. Their hope is that Dr Jan may be the link that will enable Katie to walk. The neurologist herself has dystonia and celebral palsy and is leading the way when it comes to treating such conditions.
"Over the past three and a half years we have realised that dystonia is definitely present in Katie. Her balance is poor and this is down to the involuntary movements due to the dystonia," her Mum said.
"She has never met a neurologist before so we are hoping that Dr Jan will be able to help us. As parents, we want to make sure that we have not left any stone unturned. She has such strength and determination but her legs won't work properly for her.
"She is flying it in school and she is academically brilliant. Katie was told that she would never walk or talk and now she talks for Ireland. Four years ago we set up Katie's Wish to Walk and now the fund is finished and we want to thank them from the bottom of our hearts. Without their fundraising none of this would have been possible. It is unbelievable to think what her prognosis was and all the progress she has made," she added.
There are 30 patients on trolleys and wards at St Lukes General Hospital in Kilkenny today (Wednesday), according to figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
Yesterday, the figure was as high as 41. Its in stark comparison to the last day figures were recorded before Christmas (December 23), when the total figure for trolleys and wards was three. The hospital is currently implementing visitor restrictions, due to a high incidence of admissions of people suffering from influenza.
It has become as consistent a hallmark of the new year as any, and this year is no different. January brings with it a considerable spike in the number of people on trolleys and wards.
This time last year (January 4), there were 31 patients on wards and trolleys here in Kilkenny. The year before that, the figure peaked at 39 people on January 5.
St Lukes yesterday appealed to members of the public to only visit the hospital if it is absolutely necessary, and not to visit if they have had flu-like symptoms in the previous four days.
People with flu-like symptoms are advised to telephone or visit their GPs, in the first instance, rather than presenting at the hospitals Emergency Department or AMAU.
The Kilkenny People is teaming up with The Wedding Journal Show to give away ten pairs of tickets to the Dublin show in the Citywest Convention Centre on January 14 and 15.
With over 300 of Irelands top wedding suppliers and businesses under one roof, this really is a wedding show not to be missed.
Couples will have the chance to Win a 35,000 Wedding at the show; a life-changing prize for anyone. This is the Wedding Journals BIGGEST EVER wedding giveaway to date and the lucky winners will go on a once-in-a-lifetime luxury honeymoon to Dubai, with business class flights from Emirates, following their wedding in the exclusive Markree Castle. Visitors to the show can enter this incredible competition for free, with the winner being revealed during the exciting live final on the main stage on Sunday.
Couples can celebrate their upcoming big day in style in the luxurious VIP Lounge where VIPs will be treated to a glass of bubby and a fabulous free Benefit goody bag.
The renowned International Bridal Catwalk will run three times daily featuring the very latest wedding dresses, bridesmaids gowns, occasion wear and grooms wear from world-renowned designers and manufactures. Collections are modelled by a team of professional dancers who really know how to put on a show.
Wedding Journal Show visitors will also have the opportunity to talk to wedding industry experts about every aspect of their wedding day, from venues and stationery, to cakes and cars, that all-important honeymoon and a lot more besides.
At the Alternative Wedding Village couples will be introduced to some of Irelands most creative and quirky wedding suppliers, and the Honeymoon & Destination Wedding Pavilion provides the perfect platform to plan that dream honeymoon or wedding abroad.
Opening times: Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th September 12pm-6pm.
For your chance to win a pair, answer the following question:
In what venue will The Wedding Journal Show take place in Dublin this January 2017? Answers by email to mary.cody@kilkennypeople.ie
HANOI, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official market and indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi at 0138 GMT.
Jan 4 Jan 3 USD/VND mid-point 22,162 22,158
USD/VND interbank 22,745/22,750 22,700/22,780 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.20/36.52 36.05/36.47
NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank quotes are indicative bid/ask prices.
One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co, the gold manufacturer.
Interbank offered rates are indicative, quoted from market sources.
For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom)
HANOI, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0410 GMT.
Jan 4 Jan 3 USD/VND mid-point 22,162 22,158 USD/VND interbank 22,670/22,760 22,700/22,780 USD/VND unofficial 23,060/23,100 23,070/23,100 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.15/36.47 36.05/36.47
Interbank offered rates Overnight 4.1-4.9 3.0-5.0
1 week 4.5-5.1 4.0-5.1
1 month 5.0-5.5 5.0-5.5
3 months 5.1-5.4 5.2-5.5
NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016 the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources.
One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co.
For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on .
For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom)
By Davide Barbuscia and Tom Arnold
DUBAI, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank (GIB) has chosen six banks to arrange an upcoming U.S. dollar-denominated bond sale, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Wednesday.
The bond will be a benchmark transaction, which traditionally means upwards of $500 million, and could be launched as early as the end of January, said the sources.
Citigroup, HSBC, JP Morgan, Mizuho, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Standard Chartered are the lead banks, said the sources, with one of them adding that JP Morgan and National Bank of Abu Dhabi are coordinating the transaction.
GIB was not immediately available for comment.
GIB is likely to be one of the first banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council to issue international bonds in 2017, leading the way for a number of regional lenders tapping debt markets to offset the impact of lower oil prices on their liquidity and to comply with international regulatory standards on capital adequacy ratios.
The Bahraini lender issued a request for proposals for the bond in November last year, as reported by Reuters. GIB has a $500 million outstanding five-year Eurobond maturing in December 2017. Barclays, GIB Capital, JP Morgan, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered were the lead arrangers of the 2012 bond sale.
GIB is 97.22 percent-owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. It is rated Baa1 by Moody's and A- by Fitch.
(Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 4 (Reuters) - South Africa's state-owned power producer Eskom will meet with Exxaro Resources after the coal producer approved a transaction that will see its black ownership drop to 30 percent from over 50 percent, the utility said on Wednesday.
The diversified miner said in November it planned to replace its existing ownership structure through a share buyback process that would dilute its black ownership. The ownership issue is important because Eskom's policy requires new contracts with suppliers that have more than a 50 percent black shareholding.
Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said old contracts such as Exxaro's would not be affected but it was seeking a meeting with the company about the issue.
"We are suggesting that we should have a meeting very soon," he said.
A spokesman for Exxaro declined to comment beyond saying the company anticipated a meeting with Eskom shortly. Shares in Exxaro were 3.6 percent lower in late Johannesburg trade.
Government and mining companies have often been at odds over the issue of "black economic empowerment", known locally as BEE, which was established to redress the imbalances of white apartheid rule.
The Chamber of Mines, which represents several mining companies, expressed concern over a revised draft of the mining charter, which seeks to establish a new regulatory agency and impose social development targets on the industry based on revenues. (Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by Ed Stoddard and Mark Potter)
ISTANBUL, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Here are news, reports and events that may affect Turkish financial markets on Wednesday.
The lira was at 3.5840 at 0516 GMT, firming from 3.5925 at the close on Tuesday.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond was at 11.37 percent in spot trade on Tuesday and was at 11.30 percent in Wednesday-dated trade.
The main share index fell 1.46 percent on Tuesday to close at 76,618.2 points.
EMERGENCY RULE
Turkey's parliament voted on Tuesday in favour of extending emergency rule by a further three months, effective from January 19, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. OBAMA CALL
President Barack Obama spoke by telephone on Tuesday with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to offer his condolences for those killed and wounded in an attack on an Istanbul nightclub on Dec. 31 for which the Islamic State has claimed responsibility, the White House said. ERDOGAN
President Tayyip Erdogan will make the latest in a series of speeches to neighbourhood officials (1000 GMT).
YILDIRIM
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim will meet a delegation from the Confederation of Turkish Tradesmen and Craftsmen (1030 GMT). He will also meet British Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan (1300 GMT).
U.S.-LED COALITION IN SYRIA
The U.S.-led coalition carried out flights in support of Turkish forces near the Islamic State-controlled Syrian town of al-Bab last week but did not carry out air strikes, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said on Tuesday. For other related news, double click on:
Turkish politics Turkish equities Turkish money Turkish debt Turkish hot stocks Forex news All emerging market news All Turkish news For real-time quotes, double click on:
Istanbul National-100 stock index , interbank lira trading , lira bond trading (Reporting by Daren Butler)
(Adds details about case, background on investigation)
By Nate Raymond
NEW YORK, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A former Barclays Plc trader pleaded guilty on Wednesday to U.S. charges arising from a global investigation into the manipulation of foreign-exchange prices at major banks, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Jason Katz, a former Barclays trader who later worked at BNP Paribas SA , pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to participating in a price-fixing conspiracy, becoming the first person to admit criminal wrongdoing in the probe.
Katz's plea came after Barclays and three other banks last year pleaded guilty to conspiring to manipulate currency prices. Barclays agreed to pay $2.4 billion to resolve various related U.S. and UK probes.
Prosecutors said that from January 2007 until July 2013, Katz, while working at three different financial firms, conspired with others to suppress competition by fixing prices in Central and Eastern European, Middle Eastern and African currencies.
"These conspirators engaged in blatant collusion and succeeded in manipulating exchange rates for multiple currencies to their advantage," Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder said in a statement.
A lawyer for Katz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In addition to pleading guilty, Katz also entered a consent agreement announced by the Federal Reserve Board that would ban him from the banking industry and require him to cooperate with its own investigation.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Katz joined Barclays Capital in August 2010 from Standard Bank, before moving to BNP Paribas in September 2011 as its director of emerging markets foreign exchange trading.
He left two years later to join Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd in September 2013, his LinkedIn profile said.
Barclays and the three other banks are scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday by a federal judge in Connecticut. Barclays declined comment on Wednesday.
The case is U.S. v. Katz, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-cr-003.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler and Andrew Hay)
(Adds roadshow details, background, quotes)
By Robert Hogg
Jan 4 (IFR) - The State of Israel is planning to bring its first euro deal in around two years, having mandated banks for a trade that could emerge as early as next Wednesday.
The issuer has appointed Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays and Citigroup to organise investor meetings in the UK and Europe starting January 9, according to a lead.
The sovereign will visit Germany and France next Monday, followed by the Netherlands and London on Tuesday, with a 10-year benchmark expected to follow.
Israel could also consider a longer-dated tranche, subject to demand.
"They do these exercises as benchmarking and credit marking as opposed to strictly funding," said a lead banker. "If there is a good level of interest beyond 10-years, they might look at it."
The sovereign last came to international markets in 2014 with a 1.5bn January 2024 transaction, and is returning in order to keep its curve liquid, the lead said. That deal was bid at a Z-spread of 58bp, according to the lead.
"From a trading perspective, Israel is relatively attractive compared to the rates market," the lead said.
"But it will of course garner interest from emerging markets investors. It's one of the most stable sovereigns from an economic perspective, with a credible track record of growth, and it has benefited greatly from the tech boom."
Israel is rated A1 by Moody's, A+ by S&P and A+ by Fitch.
(Reporting by Robert Hogg, Editing by Helene Durand, Julian Baker)
* Fuels distribution unit to restructure ahead of IPO
* Six banks to advise on Sinopec Marketing revamp-IFR
* Listing could raise $12 bln, depending on markets
(Adds banks' comments, details on Sinopec Marketing)
HONG KONG, Jan 4 (Reuters) - China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) has mandated six banks to advise it on a restructuring of its fuels distribution unit ahead of a planned initial public offering in Hong Kong, IFR reported on Wednesday, citing people close to the deal.
Sinopec tapped China International Capital Corp Ltd (CICC) , China Merchants Securities Co Ltd , CITIC Securities Co Ltd , Citigroup , Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley for the financial advisory role, added IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication.
The company had invited 14 banks to pitch for the role, people close to the deal previously told Reuters.
The advisers will help the unit, Sinopec Marketing Co Ltd, transition from a limited liability company, which has less than 50 shareholders, into a corporation that can have a multitude of investors and a board of directors, among other things, one person said.
The IPO could raise about $12 billion, a separate person said, though the value is subject to market conditions at the time of the listing. China Merchants Securities, CICC, Citigroup and Goldman declined to comment, while Sinopec, CITIC Securities and Morgan Stanley did not reply to a Reuters request for comment on the advisory role and restructuring of Sinopec Marketing.
Sinopec Marketing was valued at about $58 billion when it sold a 30 percent stake to a group of 25 investors for $17.5 billion in 2014 in what was hailed at the time as the country's biggest privatisation since President Xi Jinping came to power.
The company operates fuel stations and more than 23,000 convenience stores around the country.
(Reporting by Fiona Lau of IFR; Additional reporting by Elzio Barreto and Julie Zhu; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Stephen Coates)
ANM: De vineri temperaturile incep sa scada / Care vor fi maximele la sfarsitul lunii noiembrie si cat de mari sunt sansele sa avem zapada la iarna
(Adds quotes, analysts)
By Ingrid Melander
PARIS, Jan 4 (Reuters) - French far-right party leader Marine Le Pen said on Wednesday that France should leave the euro but the shift to a new national currency could be accompanied by a framework similar to the pre-euro era of the ECU.
Speaking to Reuters after a New Year news conference, the National Front leader, who is a candidate in the presidential election in spring, said France's national debt would be denominated in the new national currency under her administration.
Le Pen is alone among top presidential candidates in favouring leaving the euro, which France adopted in 1999 after ditching the franc along with other European countries who abandoned their national currencies. But she has offered little detail about how the departure could happen until now.
With just a few months left to the first round of the election in late April, mentioning the framework of the ECU could be a move by Le Pen to reassure voters worried over a euro exit.
Elderly people are particularly concerned over the impact on their pensions of any big currency reform.
"The ECU existed alongside a national currency," Le Pen said. "A national currency co-existing with a common currency would not have any consequences for French daily life," she added.
"A 'monetary snake' is something that appears reasonable," she said - a reference to the 'snake in the tunnel' system introduced in the 1970s to limit fluctuations between European currencies.
The ECU was a basket of European currencies used as a unit of account by members of the bloc in the two decades leading up to the introduction of the single currency in 1999.
It existed in parallel with the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) which attempted to narrow fluctuations between the currencies of member states.
Le Pen reiterated her party's stance that leaving the euro would be a major step to recovering sovereignty, something she said she would seek to achieve in negotiations with other EU countries.
She said that economic difficulties in other euro zone countries led her to believe she could find allies in such talks. She reaffirmed she would put the result of these talks to a referendum.
Opinion polls have consistently shown Le Pen making it to the second round of the presidential election, to be held in May, but losing that run-off to a mainstream candidate, likely to be conservative Francois Fillon.
Surveys also show that despite strong misgivings about the EU and the euro, the French want to remain members of both groups.
"All this (Le Pen's comments) probably reflects a reluctance to openly advocate a full retreat from the monetary union," said Bank of America Merrill Lynch chief European economist Gilles Moec.
"NOT IN YOUR WALLET"?
Nicolas Bay, a senior National Front official, said the party had stated the euro did not work and now it was engaged in a "second phase" of explaining how a new system could function.
Le Pen's deputy Florian Philippot said some degree of monetary cooperation with other European countries did not represent a change in the leader's view that France should leave the euro.
"A currency following the ECU model is not a currency you have in your wallet or your bank account. It's an accounting currency between countries," he said.
"It could be a model, maybe even a transitory one," he added.
National Front economist Jean-Richard Sulzer said the new system the party advocated would have fixed exchange rates but allow "rare" adjustments. "Rates should be fixed but adjustable," he said.
"The exchange rate would not float every morning like before the ECU because it created huge instability for our exporters." He however said the French could, under such a system, have two credit cards, one in francs and one in ECU.
"It's not that complicated, is it?," he said.
Bank of New York Mellon currency strategist Neil Mellor said Le Pen's comments on swapping the euro for an ECU system raised many questions.
"There are a whole host of practical problems with this, but I suspect that her statement isn't designed to be overly bothered with the nitty gritty - it's designed to make a statement," he said.
"This is an issue for France but if Le Pen were to win, then it's an issue for the concept of the euro zone as a whole," said Patrick O'Donnell, investment manager, Aberdeen Asset Management. "I think the markets would vote with their feet first of all and spreads would widen significantly."
(Additional reporting by Jemima Kelly, Dhara Ranasinghe, Jamie McGeever and Marc Jones; Writing by Michel Rose; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Shenandoah, IA (51601)
Today
Cloudy with periods of rain. Thunder possible. High 43F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%..
Tonight
Evening rain followed by a mix of rain and snow late. Low 31F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precip 100%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.
By Lee Hyo-sik
Kia Motors' plant in Monterey, Mexico / Yonhap
Concerns are growing over Kia Motors' Mexico plant as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to slap a "border tax" on vehicles imported to the United States from the country, according to analysts Wednesday.
Citing Trump's move to make produced-in-Mexico cars more expensive for American consumers, they say Korea's second-largest automaker will have to rethink its business strategy in North America.
Last September, Kia opened a plant in Monterey, Mexico, capable of producing 300,000 vehicles a year. It manufactures the K3 compact sedan and other popular models, most of which are shipped to and sold in the world's largest automobile market.
"The incoming Trump administration will certainly increase tariffs on imported vehicles and take other steps to force automakers, both American and non-American, to produce cars inside the United States," said an industry analyst, who declined to be named. "What has happened to Ford and GM clearly shows what will happen to other carmakers operating plants in Mexico."
On Tuesday (local time), Ford Motor canceled a plan to open a plant for assembling its Focus sedans in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi. Instead, the company has decided to add 700 jobs to its plant in Michigan at the cost of $700 million to produce more electric and automated vehicles.
Ford's latest change of heart came at a time when Trump is intensifying pressure on American companies not to shift production to Mexico or elsewhere, and instead to operate plants in the United States.
The billionaire-turned-politician is also pressing General Motors to stop importing compact cars to the United States from Mexico, threatening to slap a border tax on the largest American carmaker.
"Kia's Mexico plant is facing an increasingly uncertain outlook. The automaker built the facility to produce vehicles at cheaper costs, mainly for the U.S. market," the analyst said. "But if Trump revises the North American Free Trade Agreement or hikes taxes on imported cars, the Korean carmaker will be in a difficult position. It would be less economically feasible for Kia to manufacture cars in Mexico."
Kia cannot expand its U.S. plant in Georgia overnight, he said, adding that it would take years of planning and require hundreds of millions of dollars of investment if it constructs a second U.S. plant.
"I think when Trump occupies the White House, things will be much more difficult for Kia and other carmakers running plants in Mexico."
Kia officials say the automaker hasn't made any changes in the way it does business in North America.
"We are closely monitoring the situation in the United States. But we haven't taken any action in response to changes in U.S. politics," one company official said. "We will stick to our initial plan as far as our Mexico plant is concerned."
By Park Jae-hyuk
Restaurants specializing in fried foods have suffered from the recent price hike of soybean oil, which was caused by the short supply of soybeans in South America, hit by severe flooding last summer, industry observers said Wednesday.
Soybean oil sellers in Korea, such as CJ CheilJedang, Lotte Foods and Ottogi, have decided to raise the price of soybean oil by 7 to 9 percent. Daesang and other manufacturers are considering raising their prices, depending on market conditions.
Soybean oil has been imported from the United States, Argentina and Brazil. However, a disastrous flood that hit Argentina last summer decreased the production of soybeans there and increased global prices.
Although Korean sellers have begun to import more soybean oil from the U.S. this year, the supply has yet to become stable, as the refinement procedure takes a certain amount of time. Argentine soybean oil this year is also of inferior quality, yielding 10 percent less edible oil than before.
Suppliers and retailers said the price hike seems to affect restaurants only, because most households use canola or other premium oils for cooking. They said small restaurants, most of which make their foods with canned soybean oil for businesses, will suffer the most.
Larger franchise restaurants, such as Genesis BBQ and BHC, said they remain undamaged, as they have used olive, canola or sunflower oil to cook.
Some analysts said suppliers specializing in business-to-business deals may profit from the price hike, but such firms denied the claim, saying soybean oil accounts for only a small amount for their total sales.
Manufacturers said fluctuations in the foreign exchange rate have also influenced the prices of their products. They expected the prices will stabilize by the end of this month, after soybean oil from the U.S. hits the market here.
By Lee Hyo-sik
Korean shipbuilders have fallen behind their Japanese rivals in their order backlog for the first time in 17 years.
Korea's backlog of orders totaled 19.91 million compensated gross tonnage (CGT) as of last December, lower than Japan's 20.64 million CGT, according to data from Clarkson Research, a global information provider on the shipbuilding industry, Wednesday.
A year earlier, the Korean shipbuilding industry had 31.08 million CGT, compared to Japan's 25.55 million CGT.
This is the first time in 17 years that domestic shipbuilders have fewer ships to build than their Japanese counterparts. Since 1999, Korean shipbuilders have had larger construction volume than their Japanese competitors. But with local firms struggling to win new orders in 2016, their backlog orders have declined at a faster rate than those of Japanese shipbuilders.
"This shocking overturn shows how dire the situation has become for Korean shipbuilders over the past few years," said an official at one of Korea's three largest shipbuilders. "For the past two decades, Korea ruled the global shipbuilding industry. But now it is behind China and Japan in orders secured. Local shipbuilders must double their efforts to win new contracts in 2017."
Hit hard by falling orders, local shipbuilders have laid-off thousands of workers over the past two years. In 2016 alone, Hyundai Heavy Industries downsized its workforce by 1,700, followed by Samsung Heavy Industries' 1,500 and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering's 1,300.
Thousands more employees are expected to be laid off this year if things do not improve for the struggling industry.
Amid the ongoing massive layoffs, some employees, with expertise in ship design, engineering and core areas of business, are reportedly being recruited by Japanese and Chinese shipbuilders, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
The ministry, which appears to be concerned about the country's advanced shipbuilding knowhow going abroad, has been tracking people with core skills since last November to learn of their whereabouts.
"I heard some of the laid-off employees found jobs in China and in Japan. But I wouldn't worry too much about it," the official said. "Chinese and Japanese shipbuilders, who have also been hit hard by the prolonged industry slump, have laid-off thousands of workers, as well. They won't be able to hire large numbers of engineers and other skilled workers from Korea."
By Yoon Ja-young
With the country's population expected to start decreasing in a decade and the economy losing vitality, cities are facing a pessimistic future. It is estimated there will be 3 million empty houses around the country in 2050, with one in four houses empty in some small cities in South Jeolla Province and Gangwon Province. The Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS) noted in a report that a compact city will be an answer to avoid ghost towns.
In a report titled "Images of Future Cities and Korea's Choice," the institute cited the aging of society and decreasing population as a serious threat for Korea's cities.
Korea's population, which has been continuously increasing after the Korean War, is facing a huge transition. According to Statistics Korea, the population is expected to peak at 52.2 million in 2030, and then to continuously fall to reach 44 million in 2060. The working age population has already started to decline, after peaking at 37 million last year. The country will see the figure drop by over 10 million by 2050.
"A low birthrate and aging population are becoming serious problems, lessening the vitality of the community," it noted, pointing out that senior citizens aged 65 or older will be 40 percent of the population in 2060.
"Since senior citizens with low mobility tend to choose places close to healthcare, culture and commercial facilities for their residences, concentrating urban functions will be more necessary than ever," the report said.
It pointed out that rural areas and small cities in provinces are likely to be uninhabited if the government fails to take measures. Data from the land ministry, for instance, estimates that 53 percent of areas where people currently reside will see a population decline by 2040.
"Most of the small cities in provinces are included in this category. They will have difficulty in maintaining their urban function due to the lack of demand."
Currently, most of these small cities, however, are making their development plans based on estimations that the population will increase. Many of these cities are in fact experiencing "shrinkage sprawl," in which developed areas of the city expand despite the decreasing population. This only incurs increasing costs and fiscal burden on the local government.
While the increasing number of empty houses and schools is already rising as a headache for some local governments, the institute advises that a compact city can be the answer. This means they should concentrate their urban functions in regional hubs. While smartly shrinking suburbs, the essential urban services such as healthcare, welfare and education as well as residential functions should be concentrated in downtown or transportation hubs.
Local governments are also advised to ponder over ways to make use of land or houses that are left empty due to the falling population or else they may trigger crime, not to mention a drop in real estate value. The institute advises turning them into "green infrastructure," building parks or farms. Temporarily using them as pop-up cafes, shopping malls, galleries, and concert halls, for instance, can also help the city to attract visitors and revitalize itself.
By Nam Hyun-woo
New Woori Bank outside directors said Wednesday the bank's new CEO will be appointed from within the bank.
"The board decided to exclude candidates from outside the bank," said Ro Sung-tae, the chair of the newly organized Woori Bank board, during a press conference at the bank's headquarters in central Seoul.
"In order to seek stability in the bank after its privatization, former or current executives from the bank or other Woori affiliates who are familiar with internal matters would be the right candidates."
After the bank was freed from the government's control by selling off its 27.9 percent stake to seven major shareholders, five outside directors were recommended by the new shareholders and appointed on Dec. 30.
Hanwha Life Insurance recommended Hanwha Life Economic Research Institute's former chief Ro. Park Sang-yong, former Public Fund Oversight Committee chairman, was recommended by Kiwoom Securities. Former Shinhan Financial Group President Shin Sang-hoon was recommended by Korea Investment & Securities. Chang Dong-woo, IMM Investment president, was recommended by IMM Private Equity. And Tong Yang Life Insurance recommended ICBC's former Middle East head Tian Zhiping.
The new outside directors will comprise an eight-person board, along with two from within the bank and one non-executive director proposed by the Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC), which previously held a controlling stake in Woori and still has 20 percent.
"In recent years, the profitability of Woori Bank has significantly improved and it is hard to say the bank is in crisis. Thus, we did not recognize any necessity to recruit a new CEO from outside the bank," Ro said.
According to him, the board members will look into the candidates' visions for improving the bank's corporate value, managerial achievements and other leadership-related aspects. The application window will close at noon on Jan. 10, and the new CEO will be approved at a general shareholders' meeting scheduled for March 24.
"Though the shareholders' meeting is scheduled for March, we will do our utmost to confirm the candidate as soon as possible in order to contain unnecessary discord and seek stability in management," Ro said.
To the question about selling the KDIC's remaining shares in the bank, Park said he believes the government arm will either opt to sell its stake to multiple oligopolistic shareholders or in a block sale.
"Should discussions and studies begin this year and the price of Woori Bank stocks rises sufficiently, I believe it will be appropriate for the KDIC to sell half of its remaining stake in the bank by autumn," Park said.
Since some of the new major shareholders are strategic investors who are rivals in the same sector, such as Hanwha Life and Tong Yang Life, concerns have been raised that such an ownership structure may hamper Woori's successful "collaboration" with other financial firms.
To these questions, Ro said "it is possible" but he and other outside directors are there to come to a consensus for the progress of Woori Bank.
Park also said, "We are not the executives or employees of the shareholders. This means that we are independent from them. Though we will try to reflect the shareholders' will. If their will goes against the progress of the bank, we will not follow that."
During the conference, the directors dropped a hint about Woori's transformation as a financial holding company.
"After we nominate the new CEO, we will discuss the plan and perhaps come up with some conclusions within the year," said Park.
The bank commemorated its 118th anniversary at its headquarters on Wednesday.
An official of the Cultural Heritage Administraion (CHA) holds a "mokgan," or ancient wooden tablet, during a press conference at the National Palace Museum of Korea in downtown Seoul, Wednesday. The tablet is one of the 23 mokgans excavated from Seongsan Fortress in Haman, South Gyeongsang Province, from 2014 to 2016. / Yonhap
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Wooden tablets excavated from Seongsan Fortress in Haman County, South Gyeongsang Province, revealed the strong centralization of power of Silla Kingdom (57 BC935 AD).
The wooden tablets, known as "mokgan" in Korean, had regional governance and tax systems of Silla inscribed on them, the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) announced Wednesday, summarizing the results of the 17th examination of excavated relics from the fortress carried out from 2014 to 2016.
Kim Sam-ki, director of the Gaya National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage in charge of the excavation, said the institute discovered 23 tablets in the excavation, which add ups to a total of 350 unearthed from the fortress.
The highlight of the 17th dig was a four-sided wooden tablet made from pine dated around the 6th century. The 34.4-centimeter-long, 1.8-centimeter-wide tablet bears 56 letters.
It is in the format of a report from a village official to a central bureaucrat, bearing a written apology. It says a government official was supposed to work for 60 days, but he worked for only 30 days.
Legal terms on the wooden tablet are evidence of the constitutionalism of Silla established during the reign of King Beopheung from 514 to 540 and the regions' governance by the central government.
"No detailed records of Silla laws exist and some scholars insist that the laws were not effective. This wooden tablet proves Silla was a law-abiding country and had a written culture," said Yoon Seon-tae, a professor at Dongguk University.
The Gaya Institute also will publish a book on the wooden tablets found in the fortress to encourage further research on them.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
By Lee Han-soo, Park Si-soo
Outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has declared his bid for the South Korean presidency, saying he is ready to "sacrifice myself" for the country.
He made the remark during a meeting with Korean correspondents in New York on Tuesday (local time). His term as the world's top diplomat expires on Dec. 31.
"If what I have seen, learned and felt as U.N. Secretary-General would help develop South Korea, I am willing to sacrifice myself to achieve this goal," Ban told Korean correspondents at the U.N. "The public is enraged and frustrated by the lack of good politics. I have gotten personal requests about how to improve society that has exposed accumulated problems. I am in deep agony thinking about how to do my part."
He acknowledged the need for a political alliance in Korea, saying politics is not something he can do by himself.
By Rachel Lee
Outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a leading presidential hopeful, allegedly received bribes worth $230,000 (280 million won) from Park Yeon-cha, an entrepreneur who was at the center of a bribery scandal involving former President Roh Moo-hyun and his aides, according to media reports.
Citing sources close to the businessman, the weekly magazine Sisa Journal reported Saturday that Park, former CEO of Busan-based shoemaker Taekwang, gave a bag with $200,000 in cash to Ban in 2005 when Ban was serving as South Korea's foreign minister.
The money was handed over to Ban when he hosted a welcoming dinner for visiting Vietnamese foreign minister Nguyen Dy Nien at his residence in Hannam-dong, Seoul, according to the magazine.
The magazine also reported that Park asked a restaurant owner in New York to give $30,000 to Ban in early 2007 after Ban became the U.N. secretary-general. Citing a source close to Park, the report said the money was given to Ban directly.
The report also claimed that prosecutors covered up Park's bribery case involving Ban in 2009 even though they were aware of it through testimony from Park in March 2009 that he gave money to Ban during their investigation into the Park's lobby scandal.
By Kim Hyo-jin
The voting age is likely to be lowered to 18 for the 2017 presidential election.
The New Conservative Party for Reform (NCPR), created by lawmakers who left the Saenuri Party, said Wednesday that it will seek to lower the voting age from 19 to 18 and apply it to the next election.
With all three opposition parties supporting an increase in the number of eligible voters, there is a high possibility that the Election Law could be revised during an extraordinary session of the National Assembly in January.
If revised, those who are 18, currently high school students, will be able to vote in the presidential election, which could take place earlier than scheduled.
"We agreed to lower the voting age to 18," Rep. Choung Byoung-gug, the head of the preparatory committee for the establishment of the NCPR said after a meeting of the group.
"We will strive to pass a revision as soon as possible and apply it possibly from the presidential election."
The NCPR, which will be officially inaugurated Jan. 24, now has 30 incumbent lawmakers.
With 165 opposition lawmakers and six independent lawmakers, the National Assembly can meet the requirement of 200 seats needed to pass a revision bill without the participation of the ruling Saenuri Party.
The Saenuri Party now has 99 lawmakers while the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has become the largest party with 121 seats. The minor opposition People's Party has 38 seats and the Justice Party, six.
The opposition parties made lowering the voting age their official position in the 20th National Assembly.
Hailing the NCPR coming onboard, Rep. Woo Sang-ho, the DPK's floor leader said, "Lowering the voting age is an issue to be pushed through in this Assembly, not one to be considered depending on whether it is advantageous to each party."
The People's Party earlier announced the adjustment of the voting age as one of their four major reform policies. Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, a former party leader and a potential presidential candidate, has publicly supported a civic groups' campaign to lower the voting age to 18.
If the voting age is lowered, the number of eligible voters will increase by 600,000 1.5 percent of the electorate, considering it was 42.1 million at the end of last year, according to the National Election Commission.
South Korea is the only country that limits the voting age to 19, while the remaining 32 OECD nations allow voting from the age of 18 with the exception of Poland where it is 20, lawmakers said.
The voting age in Korea was set at the age of 21 in 1948 and lowered to 20 in 1960 with the onset of the liberal government. It was later adjusted to 19 in 2005, the first change in 45 years.
Chung Yoo-ra
By Jung Min-ho
A Danish high court has rejected Chung Yoo-ra's appeal to overturn a district court decision to detain her.
According to the Danish prosecution, the Western High Court decided Tuesday (local time) that the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, the central figure in a massive influence-peddling scandal in Korea, must remain in custody until Jan. 30.
It is unclear whether she will take the case to the Supreme Court for a final decision.
Chung and four other Koreans, including her baby born in 2015, were apprehended at a house in Aalborg, Sunday, on charges of staying in the country illegally.
Investigators believe she may return to Korea voluntarily. But if she fights the extradition process in Danish courts, she may not return in time for Feb. 28, the deadline for an independent counsel team's investigation.
The team led by special prosecutor Park Young-soo sent an extradition request as well as legal documents about her alleged crimes to the Danish prosecution through the Ministry of Justice. The ministry is expected to send the documents to Denmark within this week.
Mohammad Ahsan, deputy director at Denmark's Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, said in a statement he believes the decision over her extradition will be made within a few weeks. But it depends on "when we receive the necessary documents from South Korea," he added.
Chung is suspected of receiving special favors from Ewha Womans University in admissions and grading owing to the influence of her mother, who allegedly exploited her ties with President Park Geun-hye to benefit herself and her cronies.
Investigators are looking into who was behind the favors. So far, Lyou Chul-gyun, an Ewha professor known by his penname Lee In-hwa, has been arrested. More professors will soon be questioned. Among them is his colleague Kim Kyung-sook.
During questioning, Lyou said it was Kim who introduced Chung and Choi to him in 2015, and asked him three times to give Chung high grades she did not earn.
Speaking to Korean reporters in Denmark earlier this week, Chung said she also wondered about her higher-than-expected grades in 2015 because she did not attend classes that year after giving birth. She claimed to have no idea how it happened, but blamed any special treatment given to her on her mother.
However, according to the education ministry's audit office, which inspected the university in October and November, Chung may know exactly how it happened.
During the inspection, auditors found that Chung and Choi met at least six Ewha professors personally, including Kim and former university president Choi Kyung-hee, during the 2015 spring semester.
According to the audit office, Kim, who was the dean of the College of Physical Education at that time, even gave "specific advice about how to receive good grades" to Chung with two other professors at her office.
The counsel team will summon Namkung Gon, former chief admissions officer at Ewha, today to question him over the allegations. He had earlier said that Kim mentioned Chung before the admissions process, hinting at favors for her.
During a Supreme Council meeting of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), Rep. Kim Young-joo criticized Chung's comments, urging the foreign and justice ministries to bring her back as soon as possible.
"She shows no signs of repentance," the lawmaker said. "After enjoying all these unjust benefits, she is now selling out her mother to avoid any blame."
By Jun Ji-hye
South Korea will set up a special unit this year tasked with removing the North Korean leadership including its leader Kim Jong-un in the case of a war, the Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday.
The ministry advanced the plan by two years as part of efforts to better counter Pyongyang's evolving nuclear and missile threats.
During a New Year policy briefing to the acting president, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, Defense Minister Han Min-koo said, "We are planning to set up a special infiltration brigade with the goal of removing or at least paralyzing North Korea's command structure in the event of a war."
He said the original schedule was to set up such a unit by 2019.
The unit will be established to infiltrate into Pyongyang to remove its wartime leadership that has the authority for ordering the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) including nukes and missiles, he said.
The ministry stressed that the North is obsessed with advancing its nuclear and missile capabilities by increasing its stockpiles of weapons-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium despite pressure and sanctions from the international community.
Han said the ministry has recently updated information on the amount of the materials the North may be holding, indicating that the stockpile has actually increased. But he refused to reveal a definite figure.
The ministry has so far estimated that the repressive state has 40 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium.
Han warned that the North could make a "strategic or tactical provocation" in the coming months while not giving up its nuclear and missile programs.
In his New Year message, Sunday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un also made it clear his country has no plan to abandon its nuclear and missile ambitions.
Kim claimed Pyongyang was in the final stages of preparations for a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The North's KN-08 road-mobile ICBM with a range of more than 10,000 kilometers is capable, in theory, of hitting targets on the U.S. mainland.
Speculation is growing that the isolated state may push ahead with major provocations this month on and around the young leader's birthday, Jan. 8, and the inauguration of Donald Trump as the new U.S. president, Jan. 20.
Regarding the planned deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, Han said the installation will go ahead as planned, downplaying calls from opposition parties to reconsider the plan.
"THAAD deployment is to better deter North Korea threats. It cannot be the subject of political debate," Han said. "The battery will be deployed as planned."
Seoul and Washington announced a decision last year to deploy the THAAD battery here this year, but the opposition bloc has been demanding the plan be reviewed after President Park Geun-hye, who strongly pushed for the deployment despite controversy, was impeached by the National Assembly, Dec. 9.
Mindful of THAAD dissenters' claim that the deployment will hurt South Korea's relations with China, Han said, "We will seek out various communication channels with China and consistently explain our position."
On the upcoming inauguration of the new U.S. government, Han said the ministry will enhance high-level personnel exchanges to stably manage key pending issues between the two countries, including defense cost-sharing and the transfer of U.S. wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean forces to Seoul.
By Kang Seung-woo
The government's low-key approach on sharing the cost of stationing the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) here is coming under scrutiny as the new U.S. government is likely to demand more money.
Korea and the United States hold negotiations on cost-sharing for the upkeep of 28,000 American troops every five years under the Special Measures Agreement (SMA). Seoul pays about half the cost 944.1 billion won ($782 million) and 932 billion won in 2016 and 2015, respectively. The last SMA was made in 2014 and the next negotiations for 2019 through 2023 are likely to begin later this year, according to the foreign ministry.
However, Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, a liberal presidential hopeful, claimed Tuesday that South Korea is actually paying more than Japan and Germany, both of which have a U.S. forces presence.
According to him, Germany and Japan pay 18 percent and 50 percent of the total costs, respectively, while South Korea share stands at 77 percent.
His calculation includes indirect costs such as providing land for bases and firing ranges for free along with an exemption from taxation and benefits such as cheaper electricity and telephone charges things not included in the SMA negotiations.
In addition, civic groups also insist that the SMA should include the nation's support such as providing police to guard bases and troops under the Korean Augmentation to the United State Army (KATUSA) program.
His claim came as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is highly expected to demand full payment of the stationing costs after taking office Jan. 20 as he frequently hinted at on the campaign trail.
In response to Lee's argument, Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said Wednesday that it is not appropriate to simply compare each country's spending for the U.S. military presence as there are different conditions.
Diplomatic analysts said Seoul should seek to provide the U.S. military with funds on a case-by-case basis rather than paying a lump sum in an effort to enhance transparency on where taxpayers' money is used."Like Japan (and Germany), the defense-cost sharing contributions need to be determined on a case-by-case basis," said Choi Jong-kun, a professor of political science at Yonsei University.
"The method will improve transparency in defense funding use that comes from the taxpayer."
In October 2013, the government was under fire for being idle in its monitoring of funding after Rep. Park Joo-sun found that the U.S. military was sitting on more than 1 trillion won of unspent defense funds provided by Seoul.
According to Choi, the government tried to adopt the case-by-case method in the last SMA negotiations, but the U.S. side rejected it. The foreign ministry declined to comment on the issue.
"We are well aware of the two methods' advantages and disadvantages. Keeping them in mind, we are bracing for the upcoming SMA negotiations," said a foreign ministry official without further elaborating.
Kim Yeoul-Soo, an international politics professor at Sungshin Women's University, also said, "The government is required to include the indirect support such as real estate and taxes, and public utility charges reductions in the upcoming negotiations."
However, it will not be easy to persuade Washington to consider the indirect support, according to Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong Global University.
"When it comes to defense costs, the U.S. Congress wants the South Korean government to pay more, as well as Trump," he said.
"So, to keep its burden at the current level, Seoul needs to demand something like revising the ROK-U.S. missile agreement to extend the South's ballistic missile range, or building a nuclear-powered submarine, in return for the cost-sharing."
Saenuri Party Rep. Suh Chung-won, a loyalist of President Park Geun-hye, speaks to reporters at the National Assembly, Wednesday. He urged In Myung-jin, the party's reformist interim leader, to leave the party immediately. / Yonhap
Park loyalist urges interim leader to leave immediately
By Kim Hyo-jin, Choi Ha-young
Rep. Suh Chung-won, the de-facto leader of a Saenuri Party faction that supports President Park Geun-hye, called on the party's interim leader In Myung-jin to leave the party immediately, Wednesday.
Suh's demand represents a deepening struggle between Park loyalists and In, who has called for their departure from the party repeatedly, saying their existence is hampering reform.
"It is In, not us, who should leave the party right away," said Suh. "Did he come to the party to reform or ruin it?" he asked.
Suh labeled In a "tyrant" and a "left-wing extremist," saying he was purging the party just like North Korean leader Kim Jong-un purges his country.
This is a response to In's speech that likened the pro-Park faction to a "tumor." In, Tuesday, targeted Reps. Suh and Choi Kyung-hwan.
Suh added that In and some party officials are forcing lawmakers to quit the party and demanding that others not go to pro-Park rallies. Previously, Suh sent a letter to fellow lawmakers, saying that he will not leave the party through an "undemocratic" way.
The ruling party recruited In, a former Christian activist, to overcome the party's crisis that it has faced since the influence-peddling scandal erupted involving impeached President.
Jeju governor quits
Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong announced Wednesday that he will leave the Saenuri Party and join the group that broke away to create the New Conservative Party for Reform.
"I will quit the Saenuri Party and take a path to form a new political force," Won said during a press conference at the National Assembly.
"I apologize to the public because I failed to prevent the Park administration's bungled state management while being pulled back by factional politics centering on a single person, the President."
His move came as anti-Park lawmakers who quit the Saenuri Party en masse last month are preparing to officially inaugurate the new conservative party, Jan. 24.
The New Conservative Party for Reform has 30 lawmakers so far and is expanding its influence with more Saenuri Party members joining.
Won became the second governor to leave the party, following Nam Kyung-pil of Gyeonggi Province. His resignation reduces the number of Saenuri Party-affiliated local governments to just six out of 17.
Later in the day, Rep. Jeong Kab-yoon, a five-term lawmaker loyal to President Park, said he will leave the Saenuri Party, too, taking responsibility for the presidential scandal that led to the impeachment of Park.
The breakaway of Jeong, one of the key pro-Park members, raised speculation that more pro-Park members could follow suit, according to party officials.
In has ratcheted up his offensive against Park loyalists, saying they need to give up party membership as a way to take responsibility of the botched state administration and Park's impeachment.
Former party Chairman Rep. Lee Jung-hyun, a staunch ally to Park, became the first to resign amid increasing pressure by In.
With the aggravating feud between the new chief and mainstream pro-Park lawmakers, the New Conservative Party for Reform is expecting additional 10 or so Saenuri lawmakers to join them.
"I decided to leave the party as I worried the Saenuri Party could even dissolve amid falling popularity and accelerated internal division unless someone takes action," Jeong told reporters.
Police station chiefs and inspectors are participating in an inauguration of metropolitan police force and drug enforcement group to encounter growing crimes that became more extensive and global at the National Police Agency in Seoul in October 2004. / Korea Times file
By Ko Dong-hwan
Facebook post of Incheon Seobu Police Station's new conduct codes for officers / Courtesy of Facebook
Who would have thought that America's hippie culture of the 1960s would cause a "conflict of interests" in Korea's Incheon police force a half-century later?
The clash revolves around a notice issued by Incheon Seobu Police Station chief Cho Eun-soo to officers on Jan. 1. It included conduct codes on grooming and uniforms "to realize the reliable, devotional police force image," and quickly spread on Facebook.
It aroused massive criticism from officers on SNS, saying Cho's "passe" order reminds of the government's zero-tolerance hair regulation in the early 1970s.
The notice highlighted officers' hairdos, particularly perms, and their downgraded reliability because of not dressing properly on duty.
The notice required officers to "maintain a neat hairstyle, not leaving hair on the side and back bushy" and to "keep their uniforms ironed and shoes clean."
It also ordered substation chiefs to "keep an eye on the officers' cleanness on hairstyles and mustaches."
Enraged Incheon police officers left more than 100 comments on Facebook, including: "Will skinhead pass the bar? Who decides the standards of being neat?"; "If the one in charge of making the standards does not like a certain style, does that style suddenly become unallowable?"; and "Whether it's a perm, raised up or groomed mustache, why cannot they just let it go once they don't look disgusting?"
Most said the notice harked back to the government's hairdo regulation in 1970-71.
Koreans in the late 1960s and early 1970s began to enjoy the influx of U.S. hippie culture, taking up acoustic guitar playing, drinking beer and wearing blue jeans. But with the slogan of "sweeping off debauchery fads," police under the regime of dictator president Park Chung-hee the late father of incumbent President Park Geun-hye cracked down on men whose hair covered their ears and looked "anti-social" with longer back hair than women. Some were sentenced to a year or less in prison or fined 5,000 won ($4) or more.
A police officer shaves a citizen's hair for growing improperly long. / Korea Times file
A Seoul Shimmun report from Oct. 1, 1971, said police nabbed 1,164 citizens on one day and shaved their heads on the spot.
Meanwhile, some officers endorsed Cho's notice, saying the new order is only natural to follow as a police officer.
Their voices are supported by laws that mandate police "must retain prestige at all times with kempt grooming and uniform."
One netizen said: "It is one's attitude problem when he or she misunderstands the guideline to stay looking neat as a violation of human rights." Another said: "There is no need to mention violating human rights in public workers being required to look neat in accordance with their class and status."
In 2007, a court ruled in favor of a police officer who wanted to reverse his superiors' decision to give him three months' detention for growing a mustache.
The court dismissed the superiors' reason for punishing the officer for "looking improper as a public worker," adding there was no evidence the mustache made the officer look "delinquent."
Lee Song-mi, right, a second grader at Dangjin Information High School, serves a client, who is her classmate, while playing the role of a banker during Shinhan Bank's financial education program at its education center in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, Dec. 15. / Korea Times photo by Chung Hyun-chae
Lack of education produces financial illiterates in real life
By Chung Hyun-chae
The need for financial education for children have been consistently raised by people with experience of having difficulties investing in stocks, buying insurance and even opening a bank account after years of studying economics at schools.
Currently high school students studying liberal arts choose two among nine social studies subjects, including economics, East Asian history and Korean geography, to take the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), the state-administered university entrance exam.
According to data from the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation, only 2.26 percent of students chose economics for the CSAT in 2015.
"Feeling daunted, most students hesitate to study economics," said a teacher at a Daegu-based high school.
What's worse is that even those who opt for economics can hardly learn about finance related to real life because this only accounts for around 14 percent of the textbook.
Experts say such an education system has produced a lot of financially illiterate people.
Lack of financial education is not a concern for Koreans alone.
In January 2015, a tweet by Naina K, a 17-year old German girl, caused a nationwide debate about what students learn at schools and how relevant it is to their lives.
She wrote on Twitter, "I am almost 18 and have no idea about taxes, rent or insurance. But I can analyze a poem in four languages."
Following the controversy over her comment, the German government decided to introduce the subject of finance related to real life at 110 high schools starting from last November.
Outside lecturers
Oh Heung-seon
In Korea, schools have been seeking outside help for financial education.
Among the experts is Oh Heung-seon, a former director of the Korea Financial Education Association and adjunct professor of the Division of Finance and Accounting at Cyber Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
"I introduce diverse careers in finance or accounting such as fund manager and analyst to middle school students during my class," Oh said.
He provides classes tailored to needs of students at each grade level.
For example, he teaches elementary school students how to write a pocket money entry book while advising high school students, who are able to start a part-time job, on how to cope with a situation such as failing to get paid.
"I felt that financial education helped students foster personality," Oh said, citing his experience of delivering a lecture at a juvenile prison in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province.
"After taking my class, a 15-year-old boy told me that he wanted to take a school qualification examination and obtain a welding license to make money,"Oh said. "He came to have a great dream for his life."
Banks
Banks are at the forefront of financial education especially for the banking system.
Shinhan Bank launched a financial education program in 2012 to help students learn basic knowledge and tips on how to become financially smart.
For this, the bank established an education center in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul.
"Schools and individual students can apply for our program which is so popular that applications are closed at the moment," Shin Yun-jin, deputy general manager of the corporate social responsibility department at the bank, said.
Since last year when all middle schools adopted a free learning semester, in which middle school first graders spend one semester without tests to explore future career paths, schools actively seek such programs to provide finance education to students.
In Shinhan's program, students are able to play the role of both clients and bankers at the center which has exactly the same setting as a real bank.
"It is interesting to open a bank account as a bank client and issue a card as a banker," said Lee Song-mi, 17, a second grader at Dangjin Information High School in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province. "As I have dreamed of entering banking after graduating from high school, this experience will undoubtedly help me in seeking jobs."
For those who cannot come to the bank's center in Seoul, Shinhan also sends bankers to schools to teach students. All branches of Shinhan throughout the nation have relationships with about 580 schools as of last year.
In the case of schools located in remote areas, the bank also sends traveling branches called Van Birds which the bank created last year.
The van is equipped with a small-scale bank branch setting so that students are able to experience banker and client roles as well.
"We focus on making classes interesting so that students can get interested in finance because finance is not so imminent an issue for them," Shin said. "We make sure that we do not encourage students to become a banker but we explain what bankers, which we believe is the basics of career education."
Government effort
According to the guidelines for the national curriculum which was revised in 2015 and will be implemented beginning this year, high school students will learn basic social studies and science in their first year.
"Recognizing the importance of financial education, we expanded the finance part in social studies," Gil Hyun-joo, an educational researcher at the Ministry of Education, said.
In an effort to quell rising concerns over a lack of expertise in finance among social studies teachers, the ministry conducted training programs for 2,400 teachers from September through December last year.
"We will provide training programs for more than 5,000 teachers this year as well," Gil said.
By Doug Bandow
U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump criticized the defense dole for South Korea, one of Washington, D.C.'s, most sacred sacred cows. However, as his swearing in nears, he is being strongly pressed to abandon his contrarian views.
During the campaign Trump accurately diagnosed the problem of nominal allies becoming costly dependents. He declared: "We are better off frankly if South Korea is going to start protecting itself."
Moreover, "We get practically nothing compared to the cost of this." He's right: it doesn't benefit America to pay for the defense of nations able to defend themselves.
Alas, Trump fell short when discussing the solution. He argued: "They have to protect themselves or they have to pay us."
The U.S. shouldn't hire out its military like a mercenary force. Rather, Washington should turn over defense responsibilities to one of the world's wealthier nations.
However, after being elected Trump appeared to be going on his own apology tour, calling South Korean President Park Geun-hye to promise that America would be "steadfast and strong" with the Republic of Korea.
Policy advisers Alexander Gray and Peter Navarro wrote that "Trump will simply pragmatically, and respectfully discuss with Tokyo and Seoul additional ways for those governments to support a presence all involved agree is vital." If true, then the president-elect will be effectively declaring preemptive surrender.
South Koreans interpreted the forgoing to mean that the good times will continue: no need to bother their own people by matching North Korea's military efforts. Indeed, Seoul plans to do whatever is necessary to save its defense subsidies.
American forces arrived in the Korean peninsula after Japan's surrender in August 1945. The U.S. still has nearly 29,000 troops stationed in the South which act as a tripwire to ensure American involvement in any new war.
In its early years the South remained an economic and political wreck, vulnerable to renewed attack by Pyongyang. However, the world has changed dramatically.
In the 1960s South Korea took off economically, soon passing the collectivist North. Democracy arrived in the ROK in 1989, when the South's last military junta passed into history. Neither of Pyongyang's traditional allies would back the DPRK in another aggressive war today.
The South possesses roughly twice the population and 40 times the GDP of North Korea. But the ROK's military is smaller than that of the North, since the South has no reason to invest more on territorial defense when the world's greatest military power is prepared to intervene on its behalf.
Washington turned defense into welfare.
Trump's campaign remarks caused much complaining in Seoul, worried that it might have to contribute more in "host nation support." However, the greater cost to the U.S. is that for raising, equipping, and maintaining military units made necessary by additional force commitments.
There's no persuasive reason for the U.S. to continue protecting populous and prosperous allies. With the end of the Cold War, the Korean peninsula lacks any significant security relevance to America.
A second Korean War would be horrid, of course, but would not threaten the U.S. in any way. Loss of a mid-size trading partner cannot justify a willingness to go to war. Some American policymakers see the ROK as necessary to contain China, but South Koreans are unwilling to play that role.
Finally, U.S. defense guarantees may discourage some potential conflicts. However, America's role encourages allies to behave irresponsibly and ensures U.S. involvement in any conflict even if not in America's interest.
Anyway, East Asia doesn't appear to teeter on the edge of chaos. And better to have friends and allies do more, rather than rely on America's willingness to come in.
Would an American departure cause South Korea and Japan to go nuclear? Washington could maintain its nuclear umbrella while withdrawing its conventional forces.
But there is something worse than the possibility of friendly democratic states building nuclear arsenals. That is getting in the middle of a nuclear exchange over stakes of minimal importance to the U.S.
In short, South Korea should defend itself. America's goal should be responsible internationalism rather than either isolation or intervention.
President Park said that President-elect Trump promised to work with Seoul "to protect against the instability in North Korea." The best way to do that would be to push the ROK to take the steps necessary to deter and if necessary defeat a North Korean attack.
Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan. He is the author of "Tripwire: Korea and U.S. Foreign Policy in a Changed World" and co-author of "The Korean Conundrum: America's Troubled Relations with North and South Korea."
The U.S. is fully capable of defending against North Korean missiles, the White House said Tuesday, after the communist nation said it's in the final stage of preparations to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"For years, the United States has, at the direction of the commander in chief, President Obama, has increased the defenses that are deployed in the Pacific region to protect the American people from this threat," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at a regular briefing.
"I can confirm once again that the United States military does believe it has the capacity to protect the American people from the threat that's emanating from North Korea," he said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made the remark about test-firing an ICBM in his New Year's address on Sunday. It was widely seen as a thinly vehiled threat that Pyongyang is close to developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the continental U.S.
The threat sparked security concerns in the U.S., even leading U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to send a tweet: "North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won't happen!"
It was unclear what Trump's message means exactly, whether it represents his assessment of the North's weapons capabilities based on intelligence, or if it means he's going to do something to prevent the communist nation from acquiring those capabilities.
Still, it showed Trump recognizes the issue as a priority.
The North's threat also dominated Tuesday's briefing at the Pentagon, with reporters even asking if the U.S. is willing to shoot it down if the North test-launches an ICBM, and whether the U.S. is willing to take out a North Korean capability in a preemptive fashion.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook stressed the U.S. is capable of defending itself.
"I'm not going to hypothesize on what could happen in the future," Cook said in response to a question if the U.S. is willing to shoot down a North Korean missile. "But we remain confident in our ballistic missile defense and in our defense of our allies and our defense of the homeland."
The U.S. Pacific Fleet has a number of ships equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile defense system that has undergone successful testing.
Cook also said the U.S. is working hard to deploy the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea "as quickly and efficiently as possible."
"We'll do everything we can working with the South Koreans to do that. We think it's an important part of our broader missile defense efforts in support of our ally and in support of the region as well," he said.
He also rejected China's opposition to the deployment.
"There's no reason for China to oppose that system. This is a defensive system. And there's no reason for anyone in the region to have concern about that, other than, perhaps, North Korea," he said. (Yonhap)
By Shin Chul-ho
Last February, I retired as a school teacher and entered Korea National Open University to study Japanology. My scattered knowledge of Japan's politics, economy, society, culture and history began to come together and producing new, dense branches of knowledge. Naturally, Japan came to me more clearly than before. I was very happy when I was rewarded with a scholarship thanks to studying hard. I have also been making remarkable progress in Japanese.
While in the vortex of my desire to know everything about Japan, I came upon a column in the Donga Ilbo, a Korean daily, dated Oct. 7. In the article, titled "the Nobel prizes for science, Japan: Korea 22: 0?" the author analyzes how Japan has won so many Nobel prizes in science but offered many incorrect pieces of information throughout, which I did not find acceptable.
"The Japanese people emphasize that the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592 was a war of technology that deserves to be called the China War.' The Japanese invaders took Korean potters like Lee Sampyung, who was from the low class, back to Japan and subjugated the world market in China in the 17th century by fully supporting the market. The huge sum of money made at the time became the seed capital for the Meiji Restoration. Since then, Korea has never surpassed Japan in terms of the economy."
I asked a professor who specializes in Japanese cultural history regarding the validity of the author's opinion, and here is the answer I received:
"It is true that the Japanese army planned to kidnap Korean potters before the invasion. It is untrue, however, that Lee Sampyung was from the low class, and (this misinformation) comes from the ignorance that Japan dominated the Chinese market in the 17th century."
China cornered the world china market from ancient times. Only during a short period of confusion when Ming was taken over by Qing that Japan was able to export china to Europe because Dutch East lndia Company temporarily shifted the china production center from China to Japan. When it comes to china, China comes first as its name suggests.
For the first time in my life, I learned that Japan made the seed money for the Meiji Restoration by selling china. This is also due to ignorance and irresponsible assertion. It was not until Japanese china was exhibited in an international exposition in the latter half of the 19th century that china became popular in Europe.
"Since then, Korea never surpassed Japan in terms of the economy." This statement is shockingly wrong too. Korea never got to lead in terms of economic power even way before the Meiji Restoration but far long before.
Because it was closer to China, Korea adopted elements from advanced Chinese civilization earlier than Japan and delivered many of these elements of Chinese culture and institutions to Japan during the formative period of its kingdom. Even so, we cannot say the Korean Peninsula was more advanced than the Japanese islands in agricultural productivity.
However, the stages of industrial development among East Asian countries prior to the Industrial Revolution in England are not that meaningful. More to the point, Japan began its industrial revolution earlier than Korea, and the latter was left behind, having the agony of being colonized by the former.
This historical lesson has an important meaning even today. When an entity, whether it be a business or a nation, miss a golden opportunity to undertake reform, it is overtaken by competitors. The fact that Japan has remained stationary for the past 20 years shows it well.
Based on unbearable ignorance, an editorial writer of one of Korea's leading newspapers discusses how this nation can win Noble prizes. But only when these sort of half-trained people disappear from the stage will Korea win Nobel prizes in the nearer future.
The writer is a retired elementary school teacher. Write to heemy123@hanmail.net.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has dismissed the possibility that North Korea could develop a nuclear missile capable of hitting American territory. In a tweet Monday, Trump said, "North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won't happen!" Trump's remarks are seen as a reaction to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's New Year message that his country was close to testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.
How Trump will deal with the secretive state is drawing keen attention, especially given that the president-elect's first request for a special classified intelligence briefing was reportedly for one on North Korea and its nuclear weapons program. Still, it's unclear whether Trump will act to stop Pyongyang's weapons program or question the North's weapons development capabilities. This may be natural, considering that Trump has yet to make a North Korea policy in the run-up to his inauguration.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in an op-ed story that the objection to the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in South Korea is one of the ministry's key policies for 2017. This is a clear indication that Beijing will intimidate Seoul further over the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) issue. It's quite regrettable that South Korea might have to choose between the United States, its traditional ally, and China, its largest trading partner, at a time when conditions for diplomacy are getting tougher.
Recent developments have increased the chance that North Korea could be among Trump's top foreign policy agendas. One can take note of his criticism of China, the North's closest ally, for not doing enough to discourage its nuclear weapons program. This might reflect Trump's wish to resolve the nuclear quagmire by applying stronger pressure on Beijing. But given the poor track record so far, it's questionable if China could do more to influence its unruly neighbor.
The deepening conflict between the two superpowers is making the nuclear issue more complicated, which requires our diplomats to be more creative and proactive. But the snowballing political crisis now engulfing President Park Geun-hye is only touching people's nerves. It's time to join forces to tackle the looming diplomatic debacle.
Kevin Koh, CEO of DDB Korea, an advertising agency, poses in front of the words that embody his company's and his belief in what makes for success in the business. / Courtesy of DDB Korea
DDB Korea chief stresses 'win-win' mindset for clients, company
By Kim Ji-soo
On New Year's first Monday, workers at ad agency DDB Korea were already busy attending to business.
The casually dressed mostly 30-somethings walked hurriedly about as if already under a deadline. It is here in this office that Kevin Koh, 50, sits as CEO, catering to such global companies as IKEA, LEGO, and Henkel, as well as Korean companies.
Asked what message he delivered to his employees at this year's commencement meeting, Koh said he asked his employees to work efficiently.
"This year, it will be about working efficiently," Koh said. "Or simply put, don't hold meetings that do not add value, and don't attend a meeting if you have no value to add."
He also asked employees to prioritize the company over their respective divisions, and to respect colleagues in this industry, where services are the products themselves, and therefore it is natural for people to be emotional or sensitive.
DDB Korea has won Campaign Asia's Agency of the Year Award for four straight years from 2012 to 2015. Last year, its chief, Koh, won Advertising CEO of the Year for Japan/Korea for the first time among agencies in Korea.
On the honor of winning Campaign Asia's recognition as best advertising chief in the Japan/Korea region, he said with a sheepish smile, "It's not bad to win."
Koh won for creating a work environment that encourages inspiration and equality in the workforce. Foremost, employee satisfaction at DDB Korea was the highest in the Asia-Pacific region, and second among DDB subsidiaries worldwide. This task is a tall order for a leader of any organization, but it is especially meaningful in the Korean ad industry, which is considered "closed" because of the prevalence of in-house agencies and because English is not the predominant language spoken. DDB Korea itself is part of DDB Worldwide Communications Group, which has more than 200 offices in some 90 countries. The ad giant made a name for itself in the 1950s and 1960s with its Volkswagen "Think Small" series.
Asked how he achieved the equality and inspiration against the backdrop of the Korean culture of hierarchy, where rank and seniority prevail, Koh replied: "I think a sense of equality brings about inspiration."
He said he emphasizes speaking out fairly and equally at meetings but at the same time paying "respect" to rank and seniority, in line with the "hoesik" practice of dining out with colleagues after work.
"Creating such an environment where there is respect among members in our company is important," Koh said. The cultural environment is important because he wants satisfied employees first, which will lead to satisfied clients and business growth, he said.
The company's systems, such as its performance appraisal system where an employee is cross-evaluated by colleagues and immediate supervisors, enable efficiency and equality to coexist in the company. The company also has a so-called "Avengers" team comprised of lower-level employees who tackle such issues as improving company morale.
Based on such values, the company was able to create a drama-like ad for IKEA, which centers on the fact that Korean children have a hard life, but they could have the greatest playground for families at home with IKEA furnishing.
DDB Korea also works with NH Nonghyup and the 24-hour news cable channel YTN in informing three times a day the national prices of agricultural produce, which works as a standard guideline on the produce previously sold at random prices in stores throughout the nation.
Most of all, Koh said he stresses "business creativity" to his employees, meaning the ads are not just about creativity, but also about business. Ads are a tool that allows a client to heighten brand awareness or product sales.
"I highly value business creativity, with an emphasis on business," he said. He said, for example, while creative advertising may be inspiring, it also has to have a tangible effect on the product of their client, who hopes to reach more consumers with its product. He added that the reason DDB does business is to allow for its clients to grow.
Advertising, like any industry in this day and age, is not exempt from change.
Koh said he wasn't particularly perturbed by the changes brought about by the so-called fourth industrial revolution.
"There is always change, and I tell my people, do not subject your idea to a new technology. Work to produce the big idea, and then the technology will be reconfigured," he said. The fast advent of digital technology today means consumers have more channels through which to view ads.
Asked to cite his priority as an organizational leader, Koh said "consistency."
"You want the facts to be reported to the CEO, even on a bad day," he said.
"To that end, I don't read business management books so much anymore. Now, these books contain stellar practices that I would be tempted to try out. But if I were to try out some business model or practice only for several months before doing away with it, it would not be fair to the employees or to our clients." The consistency also ensures employees that the shared vision and policies will continue.
As for DDB Korea, he said he would like to retain its characteristics of being both local and global; about 5 percent of its accounts are from the worldwide group and the rest of its accounts are developed locally.
Koh is also "bicultural." After graduating from Yonsei University in Seoul in 1988, he migrated to the United States and then to Canada. He returned to Korea in 2000.
As for his business goals this year, Koh said he hopes for DDB Korea to make it among the top 15 advertising companies in Korea and to increase its client retention from 7.5 years to up to 8.5 years.
Asked if he was a pessimistic or an optimistic leader, he replied:
"I do not think I am either. I like to take things as they are. When we fail to get an account, I like to think of it as a blessing in disguise. I don't think I am a pessimist or an optimist. That question is hard to answer. I guess I am here to make decisions, to herald the company in times of uncertainty."
By Lee Min-hyung
Samsung Group is moving to improve product quality this year, in a bid to recover its brand image following the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, and the firm's link to the political scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye and her confidant Choi Soon-sil.
Management of the nation's largest conglomerate held this year's first weekly meeting Wednesday. Presidents and high-ranking executives of key affiliates highlighted the need to overcome the ongoing crisis and market uncertainty here and abroad by realigning management capacity to make more quality products.
In particular, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun reaffirmed that the company would push for reform so as not to repeat anything like last year's Galaxy Note 7 production termination.
"For this year, we are going to do what I said in my New Year's address," he told reporters without elaboration.
The remark came after the Samsung executive delivered his New Year's address to employees, Monday. He said the company would focus on winning back customer trust and making sweeping changes to product quality.
Some of Samsung Electronics' top management including consumer electronics division head Yoon Boo-keun and visual display unit chief Kim Hyun-seok did not attend the meeting due to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the United States.
The world's largest trade show begins Thursday (local time) in Las Vegas. As the tech fair is considered the most influential venue to sign business-to-business (B2B) contracts with global clients, other Samsung presidents such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics President Lee Yoon-tae and Samsung Electronics' memory business head Jun Young-hyun said they would be going to Las Vegas tonight for meetings with clients and to seek new business opportunities.
The executives, however, declined to comment on the ongoing political turmoil in which the company and other Seoul-based conglomerates are suspected of providing illicit funding for Choi and her family.
With the scandal drawing a growing public backlash, Samsung had to delay its planned year-end executive reshuffle and other corporate activities.
For the regular weekly meeting, Samsung invited Rutgers University professor Kim Won-yong, who spoke on platform business strategy and disruptive innovations. He urged Samsung to embrace the ongoing shift from a traditional manufacturing business to the platform industry.
The court held that employees who have not exercised the option to join the Employees Pension Scheme must be given a further chance of 6 months to do so.
GOT7 has captured the heart of many fans and they have showed that they are loved worldwide by winning MAMA 2016 as the Worldwide Favorite Artist. But the spotlight doesn't go with GOT7 only. The ahgase, GOT7 fandom, also fall in love with GOT7's parents, especially Mark's.
The most popular parents for GOT7 is Mark's father, Raymond Tuan. He is often called Papa Tuan by ahgase. He has got a lot of attention from ahgase by getting so much increase for followers in instagram and twitter.
According to report from koreaboo, here are 7 reasons Mark's father gets a lot of attention:
1. He is true fan of GOT7 by buying their merchandise
He doesn't only buying, but he actually collects the merchandise. It is not only from Korea, but from Thailand and Japan too. He often shows picture of his collection on his post.
2. He always tries to find their pictures when he travels
When he has a vacation with his wife, he always posts a picture with the picture of GOT7. For example, when he was in Thailand, he tried looking for their picture and took picture with them. With the post, he said, "we just try to fund you guys", What a sweet fans!
3. He is friendly to ahgase
Whenever ahgase sees Papa Tuan and they want to take a picture, he welcomes them easily and greeted so warmly. Not only he is friendly to ahgase, he also often makes a joke to their tweet. According to report from officiallykmusic, he often replies to their tweet. For example, when fans tweet "What is Papa Tuan's ideal girl?" He tweeted "you". What a funny and flirty way to answer!
4. He supports GOT7
Ehen GOT7 has fan meeting or concert in USA, especially in LA, he will welcome them and ask them to come over to his house. He once made special birthday party to Bambam. Papa Tuan really prepared the party with the help of other family members.
5. He knows GOT7 very well
It is proven that he knows some many of the jokes GOT7 has. He knows the jokes that are usually said to each of the members, meaning that he often sees their video or reality show a lot.
6. He shares the post of fans accounts
He easily shares the post of GOT7 fans to his post as he has many ahgase followers for his instagram and twitter. When there is something serious or fun, he often posts it and makes ahgase give comments immediately.
7. He post picture of Mark a lot
He seems to less care of Mark's image by posting many picture of his son when he was a kid. Some are embarrassing and some are cute. He also has no doubt to post the picture of Mark when he was wearing girl outfit. But it doesn't matter as he does it for a joke and make funny caption. Fans really like his posts a lot. They like to see more of Mark.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he doesn't want the Legislature to hold off on taking up his $50 million tax cut plan. He says it would send the wrong message to the state and delay his push to cut income taxes across the board.
The Republican governor on Wednesday defended his proposal to cut income taxes for hundreds of thousands of low-income residents. Hutchinson calls it the most conservative approach and something the state can afford.
House Speaker Jeremy Gillam earlier floated the possibility that lawmakers may not enact any tax cuts during the upcoming session and instead wait until a special session or 2019. Hutchinson's plan faces opposition from some Republicans who want deeper tax cuts that take effect sooner.
Senate Majority Leader Jim Hendren said he thinks there is strong support for Hutchinson's tax cut plan along with a proposal to exempt military veterans' retirement benefits from the income tax.
Hutchinson was elected in 2014 on a vow to cut income taxes across the board. Lawmakers in 2015 approved a $103 million tax cut that the governor championed.
The top Republican in Arkansas' Senate says he expects lawmakers to begin modifying the state's hybrid Medicaid expansion even before the future of the federal health law that enabled the expanded insurance program is settled in Washington.
Senate Majority Leader Jim Hendren told reporters on Wednesday he expects the Legislature to pursue more restrictions to the program, which uses federal funds to purchase private insurance for low-income residents. Lawmakers convene for the session next week.
Hendren predicted a special session would be needed to address longer-term changes if Congress follows through on Republicans' vow to repeal the health law.
House Speaker Jeremy Gillam urged lawmakers to have patience as the health law's future is debated in Washington.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he thinks the battle over reauthorizing funding for the state's hybrid Medicaid expansion is in the past and the focus needs to be on seeking flexibility from the federal government for new restrictions for the program.
Hutchinson said he believed the funding fight over the program, dubbed Arkansas Works, is behind lawmakers. He says the state needs to seek flexibility to impose a stricter work requirement and other changes to the program. The program uses federal funds to purchase private insurance for thousands of low-income residents.
The program last year faced a heated debate over its future in the Legislature, with some Republicans calling it an embrace of the federal health care law that Republicans vow to repeal.
The state leaders spoke at an Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors forum.
Top legislative leaders say they're not actively trying to discourage Arkansas lawmakers from filing bills on controversial social issues such as abortion or guns. They want their colleagues, however, to consider the purpose of such proposals.
Arkansas House Speaker Jeremy Gillam and Senate Majority Leader Jim Hendren said they don't know if they would support legislation similar to a law in North Carolina that requires people to use bathrooms consistent with the gender on their birth certificates. The North Carolina law faces widespread criticism from opponents who call it discriminatory and prompted boycotts of the state.
Hendren said the last-minute negotiations in 2015 over an Arkansas religious objections measure that became law provides a guide on how to find compromise on divisive issues.
The two spoke at a forum held by the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors.
Three police officers fired at a man with a gun early Sunday after the man walked onto National Avenue and pointed a gun at the officers, who were about 10 feet from him. Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams on Tuesday afternoon revealed the exact number of officers who fired.
James E. Lewis, 44, of Springfield died at a hospital after being shot about 3:30 a.m. Sunday. His family says Lewis had a mental illness and may have called 9-1-1 as a way to try to get help.
At his news conference, Williams said officers found Lewis riding a bicycle around Silver Springs Park, on the west side of National south of Division Street, after Lewis called 9-1-1, said he had a gun and threatened his wife, and gave his location. Williams says investigators now have learned from Lewis' family that Lewis wasn't married. His family said in an interview on Monday that Lewis had a girlfriend.
Officers tried to get Lewis to speak to them but he wouldn't, Williams said. Instead he kept riding his bike. At one point, he fired one or two shots but officers didn't shoot him because they didn't believe Lewis' shots were aimed at them. Officers also fired bean bags at him, and tried to use an electric stun gun to subdue him, but both efforts failed.
By the time Lewis got out of the park onto National Avenue near Lynn Street, about eight officers were in the area and three of them were about 10 feet away from Lewis. The officers repeatedly tried to get Lewis to drop the gun so they could take him into custody and sort out what was going on, Williams said.
The chief said Lewis then drew his gun again and pointed it at officers. That's when the three closest officers fired at him. After he fell, they immediately gave first aid and called for an emergency medical crew, Williams said.
The chief said, besides protecting themselves, another goal of the officers on the scene was to keep Lewis from getting to a nearby neighborhood. Williams said that could have endangered people living in that area.
The chief said the three officers who fired their weapons are on administrative leave, which is routine after a lethal use of force.
Two simultaneous investigations are ongoing. Results of one investigation will be sent to the Greene County prosecuting attorney for a determination of possible criminal charges. The other is an Internal Affairs investigation that likely will never be revealed to the public. It will examine whether officers followed all the department's rules, regulations and mandated procedures. Unless someone is fired, Williams refuses to tell the public when officers are disciplined for not following department policies.
The investigations will include interviews with witnesses and the other officers who were on the scene.
A New Mexico convenience store owner appears to promote his business by making threats of political violence.
The Mayhill Convenience Store has had signs up for more than a year that include phrases like Bullets Not Ballots and Kill Obama with the word care written in smaller letters under it.
Although the signs have been around for some time, local station KOB drew new attention to the store on Friday. Outside the business, a sign reading Obama & other Muslims not welcome here greets customers.
A former worker at the store, Marlon McWilliams, told the station that people who have called out the owner for his racist signs have been banned from the establishment.
If you go in there and you offend him, you cant go in there no more, McWilliams said. He turns lots of people away.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement condemning the store.
While everyone has the First Amendment right to free speech even offensive speech we urge the stores owner to remove the sign in the interest of common decency and of our nations unity at a time of increasing divisions, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said in a statement.
The owner of the store could not be reached for comment when huffingtonpost.com tried to reach him and the stores listed phone number is no longer in service.
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The Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen Tukur Buratai, on Tuesday said Nigeria would deploy 800 soldiers to the United Nations Mission (UNAMID) in Dafur.
Buratai made the disclosure at the Nigerian Army Peace Keeping Centre during the graduation of 755 soldiers and 45 officers that participated in the pre-deployment training in Jaji, Kaduna State.
The army chief, who was represented by the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 1 Division, Maj.-Gen. Adeniyi Oyebade, said Nigeria would continue to deploy quality peacekeepers as part of its contribution to global peace and security.
He tasked the personnel to discharge their duties in consonance with the UNAMID mandate at all times.
Buratai said the rule of engagement in the UNAMID gives them the opportunity to exhibit utmost professionalism in the discharge of their responsibility.
I caution you to avoid any ugly incident that could tarnish the professional image of the Nigerian Army in particular and Nigeria in general, he said.
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BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:
If youve never had your hair done in Italy and chances are you havent you can come close to that experience at Valente Hair & Co. on Girard Avenue, which next month celebrates its first full year in business.
Its 26-year-old owner is San Diego-raised Laura Valente, a graduate of Paul Mitchell beauty school and, more notable still, a veteran of three years learning and crafting her hairdressing talents in Italy. While in Naples where her father was stationed at a military base, Valente seized the opportunity to meet and assist some of Italys most famous hairdressers. Not only did Valente learn the techniques of these stylists, but she recognized what kind of a salon shed like to have herself when she returned to the United States.
Valente Hair & Co. (named, Valente says, in honor of her fathers architectural firm, Valente & Co.) is modeled after the salons in Italy she most admired. Thats how I came up with the very European, luxurious-yet-modern feel, she explained. Even the salons location, across the street from Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church, attracted her because of all the cathedrals in her midst when in Italy.
But Valente is quick to acknowledge that outside appearance isnt everything. You can have the most beautiful looking salon, she said, yet without the talent of the artistic hairdressers who work there, you dont have people who can create these beautiful hairstyles and colors and make women leave feeling Omigosh!
Sometimes customers leave crying. Tears of joy, of course. When people cry, I know that everything I have put into the salon is paying off, Valente said.
Valente employs 12 hairdressers, all of whom perform a full spectrum of beauty services. She prefers to call her employees artists. I like people who are really passionate and hungry and who want to go beyond being just a hairdresser. They want more. They want to convert themselves from a hairdresser to a well-known artist.
Valente Hair & Co.'s clientele is primarily, but not exclusively, women from La Jolla, and its not all female, either. In fact, Valente says one of her goals in 2017 is to promote and entice more male customers to the salon.
Its plum location and rich Italian heritage aside, Valentes salon may not necessarily be out of your budget. I believe in luxury for everybody, Valente said with confidence. I want to have a salon where people can come in and experience that at a reasonable, competitive price.
While most of her time is occupied these days running the business, Valente still takes clients herself. I specialize in coloring and hair extension when shes not in administration mode, she said. Ive found a happy medium.
You shouldnt be surprised, either, that the boss is 26. Valente recalls her adolescence like this: I was always 13 going on 30, she said.
Valente Hair & Co. is at 7722 Girard Ave., Suite 100, La Jolla. (858) 230-7574. valentehair.com
Business Spotlight features commercial enterprises that support La Jolla Light.
Some commercial property owners in La Jolla, led by Lincoln Foster, have filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego in an attempt to undo a newly approved taxing authority designed to spruce up local streets and sidewalks.
The lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court claims that the City has fallen short in providing general maintenance of La Jollas coastal business district, forcing taxpayers to take matters into their own hands.
In November 2016, 56 percent of voters approved creation of the La Jolla Maintenance Assessment District (MAD), a legal mechanism that allows residents to tax themselves and fund additional maintenance in their area through outsourced vendors.
Single-family homeowners will pay $87 a year, and the cost to owners of apartments and commercial property will vary by square footage.
Former City Attorney Michael J. Aguirre, who is representing the dissident group of property owners, said the MAD violates California law because its collecting funds for several services taxpayers already pay the City to deliver.
If the City is providing the base level of maintenance, then taxpayers can legally create a district to go above and beyond that, Aguirre said. What you cant do is re-tax people for the same service theyre already supposed to be getting.
According to the San Diego Charter, the City has an obligation and responsibility to provide various services to its residents, including regular maintenance of capital assets such as land, buildings, equipment and infrastructure.
The new assessment is expected to raise about $500,000 a year for trash collection, litter pickup, power-washing sidewalks and landscape maintenance.
According to a preliminary engineering report on the MADs proposal, services will include shrub and ground cover maintenance, watering of plants and weed control, all of which make parks, sidewalks and streets cleaner and more attractive to visitors.
That is absurd, Aguirre said. The City of San Diego already has an obligation to take care of its own parks. Those are all things the City should already be doing.
City spokesperson Katie Keach declined to comment on the pending litigation.
District 1 City Council member Barbara Bry, who was elected Nov. 8 to represent La Jolla and other parts of northwestern San Diego, also declined to comment. Bry previously spoke in favor of the special tax and called the MAD a necessary change that would make the area cleaner, safer and more attractive.
The Village of La Jolla is a treasure enjoyed by all San Diegans and people from all over the world, and the formation of the Maintenance Assessment District will ensure we keep it the special place we all want it to be, Bry told The San Diego Union-Tribune in November.
Enhance La Jolla, a non-profit organization, was the driving force behind the MAD. Voters also chose Enhance La Jolla to manage the district, with City oversight of its administration.
Phyllis Pfeiffer, an Enhance La Jolla board member, said the organization has the funds to start improving the neighborhood but was restricted by City regulations and codes.
For example, the City collects garbage in public areas twice a week, Monday through Friday, Pfeiffer said, but bins near popular tourist destinations were already overflowing by the end of a weekend. This trash would then spread throughout surrounding parks and streets.
The La Jolla Community Foundation offered to pay for trash pickup on the weekends.
We were told we couldnt touch the City trash cans because its a liability, said Pfeiffer, who is president and general manager of the La Jolla Light and a founding member of the La Jolla Community Foundation.
Other improvements include planting more trees and flowers, adding more benches and uniform flower pots across City parks.
Those trees and flowers are going to die if we dont have anyone to water and maintain them, she said.
Pfeiffer said waiting for the City to provide similar services would be like Waiting for Godot, a play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters wait for the arrival of someone named Godot who never arrives.
We had to ask, Are we going to wait for the City to get around to it, or are we just going to do it ourselves? she said. Everybody wants more from the City, but the City is strapped for cash right now. Most cities are.
Lincoln Foster, a commercial property owner in La Jolla, said he was against the MAD right away and is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit with the City.
Foster said hes in favor of capital improvements in La Jolla, but feels the MAD will enable the City to divert more funds away from the already-dwindling maintenance services.
It basically takes the City off the hook, he said. Its just not fair and its not the right thing to do. Dont come to me and ask me to pay a second time when youve already spent the money on something else.
According to the lawsuit, the something else is the Citys growing pension obligations.
The City is contributing $261 million for pension costs this year, a figure that is expected to grow to $311 million next year.
According to the lawsuit, the City has a financial incentive to push through a Maintenance Assessment District.
Rather than fund all necessary maintenance, the City has continually underfunded its maintenance services in favor of establishing as many Maintenance Assessment Districts across as many areas of the City as possible, the complaint said.
There are currently more than 60 maintenance districts in San Diego.
For the La Jolla district, commercial properties will cover 85 percent of the $502,400 bill, with condominiums and single-family homes contributing the remaining 15 percent. Its boundaries are the Pacific Ocean, La Jolla Boulevard, Pearl Street, Girard Avenue and Torrey Pines Road.
ON THE WEB: Find more information about the Maintenance Assessment District (MAD) for the Village of La Jolla at enhancelajolla.org
Institute on UC San Diego campus to hold open house Jan. 7, 2017
Are you over the age of 50 and still interested in learning something new?
If so, there is a place for you nearby. Its called The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC San Diego, and is a membership program for adults who want to be part of a learning community with peers. Its located in the Wenger Building of UC Extension Division complex on the UC San Diego campus.
At Osher you can take classes (without the stress of homework, papers or tests) from top professors in the arts, humanities, math and law, in an atmosphere conducive to interaction and making new acquaintances.
Osher came into being at UCSD in 2003, but it dates back more than 42 years to 1974, when it was founded as The Institute for Continuing Learning by Bernard Osher, who funded its development.
Today Osher has some 800 members. Of course, not all 800 come to every class!
Those who are currently participating in classes, which run on the quarter system, with a summer session, come to school for lectures at 10 a.m. and/or 2 p.m., with a lunch break at noon. Students may stay around until 5 p.m. to participate in music, theater or poetry groups.
Osher is almost completely run by a team of like-minded volunteers. The only paid staff member is Amy Patterson, who serves as the program manager. Patterson says her chief aim is to develop a rich sense of community with abundant social opportunities for members.
All the live lectures at Osher, which are given by professors from such diverse institutions such as UCSD, Loyola Marymount, University of San Diego and UC Riverside, are recorded. If you miss one, you can watch it on your computer from the comfort of home.
Mark Evans heads up the volunteer committee that selects the Law and Society courses for Osher. Lately, he has been organizing lectures on workings of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Evans is a retired lawyer who worked in Washington, D.C., for many years. He spent most of his time in private practice, but also served four years working for the Department of Justice and three years for the Interstate Commerce Commission.
He now lives in La Jolla Village, just down the hill from Osher. The professors who come to Osher to speak really like it here because of the high interest level of students and their thoughtful questions.
Pat Fleming is another volunteer at Osher. Before retiring and joining Osher, she worked for 26 years as a marketing consultant for SDG&E; and before that, she spent seven years working at the Harvard Business School.
Fleming said she learned about Osher from a friend in her condo complex."The $250 a year fee to take classes is a great bargain (that not many people know about), because you can take as many classes as you want for the whole year! she said. And you can participate in all the special events, such as field trips and theater groups, whenever you like!
Carol Roberts is also an Osher volunteer who is chair of the Activities Committee. She says shes been very impressed by the people shes met in her classes at Osher. Just about everybody is interesting and very well educated. Its also a treat for me that when I get home my husband asks me what I learned in school today; and my children gather round and encourage me to do my homework!
Valerie Chereskin is the new marketing director. She is freshly retired and still has the buzz of her powerful work ethic. For relaxation, she said she likes to play the flute, which she brings to practice with the Osher musical ensemble.
The president of volunteers at Osher is Jim Wyrtzen, a former psychologist who came out to San Diego from New York for the great weather, after he retired. Wyrtzen has headed the Volunteer Committee for three years. He comes to Osher everyday from his home in Carlsbad for his favorite classes in music, history and law. He said he attends both the morning and afternoon lectures and ends up staying until 5 p.m. to fulfill his volunteer duties. Yep, its almost like a full time job, he joked.
Wyrtzen says Osher students come from as far away Temecula and Chula Vista to attend classes, usually about three times a week. Everything takes place right here. So there is a sense of community and everybody gets to know everybody else. All you really need to join up is a readiness to learn something new!
Osher Open House
At 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017, those interested can preview and sign up for Winter Quarter classes, which begin Jan. 9 through March 17, 2017. The event will be held on the UC San Diego Campus Extension Complex at 9600 North Torrey Pines Road, Building D. RSVP to olli@ucsd.edu
Phone: (858) 534-3409
On the Web: olli.ucsd.edu
Program highlights include the Master Classes of Professor Brian Keating with instruction on the Big Bang and possible parallel universes, aka multiverses, and Professor Sam Rickless on the 14th Amendment, which promises due process and equal protection under the law.
In addition to the Master Classes, there are Premier Classes, such as those by Allan Kleinman on how new cures and therapies are developed in medicine, and an art class comparing the techniques of Matisse and Picasso.
A handful of La Jollans attended the San Diego County Regional Airport Authoritys Airport Noise Advisory Committee (ANAC) meeting Dec. 21, 2016 to speak out against recent changes in flight patterns that have brought planes and their noise closer to their homes.
In mid-2016, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed changes to flight paths nationwide to reduce fuel costs and improve the flow of plane traffic. In San Diego, that has meant planes flying closer to the coast.
Soon after, concerned residents from Bird Rock to La Jolla Shores noticed (and wrote to La Jolla Light about) the increase in plane noise and the resulting frustration that they were not notified of the flight plan changes and how these changes might affect them. Although the airplane curfew is 11 p.m., many residents stated theyve heard airplanes well past that time.
At the meeting, several voiced their frustrations to the 25-member ANAC board. La Jolla Shores resident Karen Marshall said, I cannot tell you how angry I am that these changes have been made. I lived in Point Loma for 20 years and I knew when I bought my house in Point Loma that there would be airplanes, so how dare the FAA come in and make these changes without letting anyone know. Im devastated and I have not been able to sleep.
Added La Jolla resident Leonard Gross, There has been a dramatic change in the character of noise in our area. Our quiet neighborhoods, with the occasional sound of jets, helicopters and general aviation sounds, has been transformed into an aircraft thoroughfare. He reported that during a 90-minute period around noon one day, he was able to see and hear a different aircraft every two minutes.
That is a stark contrast to what was in effect before, Gross said. It is a huge change and since that change, our quality of life has degraded. Last night, around 11 p.m., there was a 20-minute period with jets every four minutes.
Gross also inquired why residents were not notified of the proposed flight path changes, and suggested comparing recent data to historical data in terms of distances from land, altitude and slant range distances from homes to these aircraft. Lets see how much closer, lower and faster they are going, he said.
Beatriz Pardo, a Bird Rock resident who said she noticed the noise change in October, questioned whether residents would have to sue to get something done.
You have moved San Diego Airport into our neighborhoods from 6 in the morning until 12:12 at night, when I am trying to sleep, she said. It feels like we are under assault. Its not just commercial aircraft that we hear, but also helicopters and little airplanes. The skies have opened up. Can we please go back to (the flight path) that was working before? Thats what we want. Or do we have to resort to lawsuits?
Residents of other areas of San Diego, empathetic to La Jollas concerns, spoke in solidarity.
Saying he understood that the flight path changes were prompted by fuel cost savings, Gary Wonacott of the Mission Beach Town Council suggested quantifying the data of quality-of-life impacts to residents to see how it compares to the cost savings associated with a change.
Lila Schmidt opined, Now that La Jolla is mad, maybe that will help, because we have been screaming about it, and we havent gotten anywhere. Every meeting, we get told well look into it and I want to hear we fixed it.
To look into it, ANAC uses data collected from an online complaint form and a system known as WebTrak (found at webtrak5.bksv.com/san) to guide its decision-making. However, program manager Sjohnna Knack said incomplete complaints or template complaints (one document copied-and-pasted repeatedly with minor changes), are not productive to the cause. Instead, she offered advice on how to file a complete complaint that ANAC can record and include in future statistics.
Noise complaint format
When it comes to filing a complaint, the more detailed information one can give, the better. I acknowledge its a lot of work for the public to do, but those are the types of things that make it easier for us to have a conversation with the FAA or the operators, she said. Whats really difficult is were getting copy-and-paste messages and the only change on each is the time. That is 70-80 percent of what we get. I want to get the most accurate information possible, which would allow us to take action and make things better.
The most important complaint details, she continued, are the time of the noise (most critical), whether it is a departure or arrival, if the person can see the plane and identify a color, whether the plane uses a propeller or is a jet, and a valid address.
Alternatively, she said, If you use WebTrak, you could look up active flights, see the plane that was concerning you, and click on that to find all the information you need. Information found on WebTrak includes Flight ID numbers, aircraft types, origin, destination and altitude.
At the conclusion of the public comments, facilitator Heidi Gantwek thanked all the speakers for their time, energy and comments. It really does help and it is important to us, she said.
The Airport Noise Advisory Committee meets quarterly at the San Diego Airport Administration Building, 3225 N. Harbor Drive. The next meeting has not been announced. Find more information at san.org/airport-authority/meetings-agendas
PRESS RELEASE
Istanbul Attack Points Once Again to the British-Trained Jihadis
Jan. 3, 2017 (EIRNS)The deadly News Years attack at an Istanbul night club points to the bloody hand of British intelligence. Unlike many of the previous attacks, this one was not carried out by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The Turkish media, including Hurriyet, claim that the attacker in the Istanbul night club shooting is from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, or even from among the Uyghur terrorists in China operating under the banner of the Islamic State, a.k.a. Daesh.
Yeni Safak reports that an analysis of the attack method used at the nightclub was similar in nature to the June 28, 2016 terrorist attack at Ataturk Airport. It has been predicted that the gunman responsible for the New Years Eve attack was from the same Daesh terrorist cell.
This is significant, because, at the time, the BBC reported that the June 28 attackers were from the Russian North Caucasus region, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, and that they were possibly Chechen. CNN ran a similar report; Turkey itself had identified two of those attackers as Russian nationals Rakim Bulgarov and Vadim Osmanov, while not identifying the third.
Lyndon LaRouche commented at the time of that June attack that the Chechen connection points to a hard-core British intelligence-controlled network. In fact, all of Central Asia, that is to say, former Soviet Union republics and the Russian Caucasus, as well as the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China, are British-controlled.
Today, LaRouche again advised, to look to the hand of the British-Chechen networks for those who perpetrated the New Years atrocity.
Kyrgyzstans Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it is investigating the possibility that the gunman was Kyrgyz.
"Our consulate in Istanbul has been instructed to investigate the news stories claiming the gunman was Kyrgyz," said the Ministrys spokesperson Aiymkan Kulukeyeva.
PRESS RELEASE
Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi To Visit Five African Nations Beginning on Jan. 7
Jan. 3, 2017 (EIRNS)Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit five African countriesMadagascar, Zambia, Tanzania, Republic of Congo, and NigeriaJan. 7-12, with the aim of speeding up the implantation of the consensus reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the leaders of the five countries at a summit in 2015, said a spokesman of Chinas Foreign Ministry today. CGTN (formerly CCTV) quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang telling the reporters in Beijing,
"The year 2017 will be a year when the China-Africa cooperation will advance and be upgraded in an all-round manner. The main purpose of Foreign Minister Wang Yis Africa visit is to speed [it] up, in the face of the new changes in the international political and economic situation and new challenges facing the African countries."
"Relations with developing countries, including in Africa, are the bedrock of Chinese diplomacy," Geng said.
"Chinese foreign ministers have visited Africa during their first foreign trips each year over the past two decades. The practice has become a much treasured diplomatic tradition for China,"
Xinhua quoted Geng as saying.
At the 2015 summit, China announced 10 major plans for China-Africa cooperation over three years, backed with a $60 billion package. As of July 2016, China and Africa had signed 245 various cooperation agreements worth a total of $50 billion.
"A batch of early successes related to the summit were achieved in 2016, including the opening of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway and progress on the Mombasa-Nairobi line, as well as development of industrial parks and special economic zones."
Geng said.
PRESS RELEASE
Fusion Research Advances in Russia
Jan. 3, 2017 (EIRNS)Fusion scientists at the famed Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in Siberia report that they are completing the first stage of work on an innovative fusion experiment, called a Gas Dynamic Trap. It is a mirror fusion machine, which is an open vessel, like an unwrapped tokamak. They report that they have achieved a plasma temperature "on a scale of ten million degrees." Their aim is to increase the steady heating of the plasma by three- or four-fold, through the use of a microwave heating system, which, the scientists told Sputnik News, is at the Kurchatov research center in Moscow.
The Budker Institute is seeking financing for their experimental device from the Russian Science Foundation, to support the next two years of the program. The Deputy Director of the Institute, Aleksander Ivanov, told RIA Novosti that the recent results confirm "a very important milestone for our work. Now we can seriously begin to consider options for the establishment of fusion systems based on open traps."
Fusion Power Associates (FPA) has produced a summary of the major achievements in magnetic fusion research over the past year, which highlights experimental results obtained on the Chinese and South Korean tokamaksEAST and KSTAR, respectively. EAST reached a new milestone in its own operations, achieving a greater than 60-second-long plasma pulse, and KSTAR set a world record of 70 seconds of high-performance operationeach machine under unique conditions.
FPA founder Steve Dean particularly recognized the hard work and dedication the scientists expended to reach these results, and, in the Chinese case, the importance of international collaboration.
Less than 24 hours after Milo Yiannopoulos upcoming book was announced, pre-orders for the controversial young conservatives Dangerous propelled it to the top of Amazons bestseller list, knocking the recently deceased Carrie Fishers Princess Diarist down to No. 2.
I think he has a much wider fan base than people realize, said Tom Flannery, Yiannopoulos literary agent at AGI Vigliano. Reached by phone in Malibu, Flannery declined to confirm the deals dollar amount, but the Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news, reported that Yiannopoulos received $250,000 for the book.
Yiannopoulos, who is tech editor at Brietbart, is a provocateur whose language dovetails with the alt-right, although he disputes that classification. He has said America has a Muslim problem, called Black Lives Matter activists extremists, and suggested that women should stop going online so I, Donald Trump and the rest of the alpha males will continue to dominate the Internet without feminist whining.
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He found his greatest mainstream fame when he was banned from Twitter following the harassment of Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones, who was deluged with sexist and racist tweets sparked in part by Yiannopoulos. Twitter didnt specify the reason for the ban but noted that it had previously warned Yiannopoulos for violating its terms of service.
The fact that someone with extreme views considered offensive by many people got such a significant book advance shows how the publishing world reflects, and plays to, many of the divides in our culture. Few left-leaning readers realize that within mainstream publishing, conservative books are a booming business.
Conservative books sell at least as well as quote unquote liberal books. Jim Milliot, Publishers Weekly
Threshold Editions, which will be publishing Dangerous in March, is a 10-year-old imprint dedicated to publishing conservative voices. Its peers include Sentinel, Crown Forum, and Broadside Books. Together, they publish a mix of polemics, memoir, reportage and even fiction.
Flannery approached these imprints specifically with Yiannopoulos book. We didnt go as wide as we normally would just because we understand the controversy Milo was going to bring to the table, he says. They all knew who Milo was all the conservative imprints were interested in talking to him.
Another thing they have in common is that theyre all imprints of one of the five major publishers: Threshold is part of Simon & Schuster; Sentinel and Crown Forum are part of Penguin Random House; Broadside is an imprint of HarperCollins. They typically do business in New York just like their fellows. Broadside founder Adam Bellow, a son of Nobel Prize-winning novelist Saul Bellow, described himself to the New York Times as a conservative in a liberal industry.
Conservative books sell at least as well as quote unquote liberal books, says Jim Milliot, editorial director of the trade journal Publishers Weekly. To make a space for conservative authors within the industry, major publishers created these imprints with targeted editorial direction. It was a deliberate move by the publishers to say, Were going to sell these conservative books in this imprint, Milliot says.
But, he notes, most people dont buy a book by imprint.
That proved to be the case when there was blowback over Yiannopoulos book deal. As quickly as his fans ordered his book from Amazon and showed their support for him on social media, his critics decried it. And in so doing, many overlooked Threshold Editions, his conservative imprint, and instead targeted parent company Simon & Schuster.
Comedian Sarah Silverman, who has 9.5 million Twitter followers, tweeted, The guy has freedom of speech but to fund him & give him a platform tells me a LOT about @simonschuster YUCK AND BOO AND GROSS. Mark Harris, author of the Hollywood history Five Came Back, an L.A. Times Book Prize finalist, tweeted, Someone was going to give this a pile of money. But @simonschuster, it didnt have to be you.
Members of the publishing industry, including writers and booksellers, circulated contact information for decisionmakers at Simon & Schuster privately and via Facebook for those wanting to speak out against the publication of Dangerous. The Chicago Review of Books, an independent online outlet, announced that it would not review any Simon & Schuster books in 2017. Instead, that space about 15 reviews will be reserved for small and independent presses, says editor Adam Morgan.
The right to free speech is different from the right to a $250,000 megaphone. Adam Morgan, Chicago Review of Books
From a purely financial standpoint, Simon & Schuster was smart to capitalize on an extremely popular figure, Morgan told The Times by email. But from an ethical standpoint, I dont know how Simon & Schuster editors will sleep at night knowing they normalized hate speech for profit.
This is an essential tension with the outcry over Yiannopoulos deal. Publishing has long made it a practice to stand up for free speech, going to court to battle for books that were banned or deemed obscene, including James Joyces Ulysses, Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller and Allen Ginsbergs Howl.
Should Yiannopoulos right to free expression be defended equally? Or does what he write in Dangerous cross the line from controversial statements into hate speech? Threshold Editions declined to provide a preview of the book, although this is a common practice, so its impossible to say.
Simon & Schuster is standing by the book and asked protesters to withhold judgement. In a statement to the Associated Press, the publisher noted, We have always published books by a wide range of authors with greatly varying, and frequently controversial opinions.
Thats not entirely the case. In 1990, Simon & Schuster responded to media protests three months before the publication of Bret Easton Ellis American Psycho by dropping the book. (The novel was later published by Vintage.)
Those who have objected to Yiannopoulos deal pointed to the size of his advance. The right to free speech is different from the right to a $250,000 megaphone, notes Morgan of the Chicago Review.
It is a sizable amount for an unproven author. By contrast, writer Sloane Crosley got just $25,000 for her first book, the essay collection I Was Told Thered Be Cake, which became a bestseller.
For Threshold to make its money back to turn a profit on the deal the publisher would have to sell 50,000 to 100,000 books, insiders estimate. Thats a lot of books, about as many sales as have been clocked by the new oral history of The Daily Show and of Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Chabons 2016 novel Moonglow.
Flannery is confident the book will connect with readers. I think that Milo really holds a mirror up to whats happening in America, he says.
On Twitter, Buzzfeed culture editor Saeed Jones speculated that the Yiannopoulos deal may actually be reflecting biases within publishing itself: The publishing industry as of this year is 79% white. Being racist is quite profitable.
Its possible that both are true. And whether publishing is or isnt in the business of defending free speech, it is in the business of selling books. As Milliot says of Yiannopoulos, They wouldnt have signed him if they didnt want to sell him.
Here are two books that differ dramatically stylistically, yet are unforgettably linked by images of the dying human body.
In Jane Meads book-length poem, World of Made and Unmade the failing body is that of a beautiful and practical mother. In Daniel Borzutzkys The Performance of Becoming Human, the central obsession turns on how authoritarian nation-bodies absorb and destroy powerless bodies.
To the extent that these books are performative, we can read each one as enacting a fierce argument with death.
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In her fifth book (a dreamlike, distractedly connected poem on the end of her mothers life), Mead performs a sustained feat of imagination. We are given details of a harrowing present, as the patients selfhood dissipates, yet still renavigates the past and peers into an unforgiving future.
Mead focuses almost exclusively on the ongoingness of dying: a diminishing life witnessed by a reluctant yet attentive daughter-survivor. Her depiction of a growing tumor or a confused gauging of morphine dosages that could mean death make the reader want to look away at times. But in disjunctive yet fluidly linked moments, the landscape of the family vineyard, with its flourishing acres, emerges as a background distinct from the stark drama of loss. Harvest bounty is shadowed by fleeting memories in dropped stitches of distraction:
Passing back to the house/from my mothers cabin/in the full moon light:/ her wheelchair tracks in the gravel/make a wide turn and disappear/into the shadow of the palm tree,/ as narrow-gauge tracks disappear/into the deep mineshafts/ of the Sierra Nevada
Mead balances herself as narrator on a tightrope of thought running from her mind to her mothers elusive consciousness. This aerial movement is choreographed against a vast horizon that is split occasionally into memorys borders, adding other contexts to individual death.
Mother and daughter cleave together as two minds in fraught alliance, just as two countries, (represented by the rancher landowners and the migrant workers who tend their vines) also cleave as the great momentum of grape harvest moves forward:
From my mothers cabin I hear them /Viva los Estado Unidos/This year I havent picked figs/or taken them sun-warm to the barn/or left them in the big tin bowl/where the flags of the US and Mexico/hang high in the rafters, left them/with the little sign, Viva Mexico/This year / I havent balanced on the wagon/picking bad fruit from the two bins/or walked behind the pickers with my bucket,/or watched the bins being strapped/on the trucks, cinched down/my white hands/fruit-sticky at my sides./This year/I have disappeared.
Yet it is the mother who is disappearing, inevitably a figure of mystery (Im deaf and Im blind and Im not/ answering any more questions) no longer the whole self a skilled artist, a bold traveler but still her personality surfaces in sudden intimacy, clarity and beguiling humor like a childs. (An album photo of the mother pedaling an old-fashioned tricycle with a smaller sibling hanging on, dated Oct. 22, 1929, appears, coda-like, at the poems end.)
The dying mother, who made a family, is being unmade herself. Mead recalls moving among the specimen jars of her ichthyologist fathers laboratory as a child: In my fathers lab/jars and jars/the egg/the embryo, the adult male,/the adult female../All that perfection./World of made and unmade.
When Borzutzkys The Performance of Becoming Human was awarded the 2016 National Book award, the books selection elicited some negative response. Criticism centered on his language: diction described as flat and repetitive; imagery deemed unrelentingly repellent; an authorial tone rejected as the unpoetic rantings of an ideologue.
It is undeniably true that while Meads poems reveal a compassionate aesthetic imagination, Borzutzky (in describing shocking atrocities) offers little obvious compassion and mocks those seeking to impose emotional sensitivity on his words: The creative consultants waiting to turn this misery into poetry.
That charge (creative consultants) is a bitterly acute one, wherein destroyed cultures, tortured citizens and the brutalized other form the backdrop for exquisite poetic pain (or what used to be called the poetry of witness.) This indictment goes beyond our helpless removal from nightmare headlines: over-development, torture, corporate greed, wars, attacks on immigrants, women, minorities in fact, mocking those who write movingly about this suffering.
Poetry, in defense, might conversely deny the raw undigested ranting of this litany as ineffective on strictly aesthetic grounds. But to grasp Borzutzkys project, the reader must confront the realpolitik that informs his style. Perhaps he is not a bad writer (his intelligence and learning are formidable); rather, he appears to be writing as a bad writer on purpose.
Implicit in his dystopic perspective is an indictment of poetic simile. Think of Neruda, (with his other-worldly lyrical gifts) reacting to state-sanctioned violence in Chile: The blood of children ran in the streets like the blood of children.
It is important to remember that Borzutzky is not Chilean, but Chilean American, having lived his entire life in the U.S. Thus he has formed a uniquely hybrid sensibility an American writer who is profoundly loyal to his Chilean heritage, who has distinguished himself as a translator of Chilean writers, but is a Yank.
He straddles a long Whitmanesque American line, but the line originates with an Orwellian Whitman then to Neruda, then from Neruda to Mistral to Parra to Raul Zurita (whom Borzutzky has translated and passionately admires.)
They say: Poet your favorite poet from now on is my boot/The poet-boot kicks one of my teeth and I feel it fall into my mouth/And when day inevitably breaks I watch the morning ritual:/They take away the sky and the streets/They take away the sewers and the beaches and the river and the trees and/the birds and the cats and the raccoons and the garbage/ my rotten carcass sinking into the privatized waters of dawn
Borzutzkys approach is politically grotesque meaning if one understands politics and bureaucratic policy as twisted, then only grotesque language and imagery can create a literary response. Borzutzky seeks to instill words, employing language as bureaucrats use power. If you hear music in the unlovely hypnotics of his lines, you may be learning to listen differently, as he said in a 2011 interview: Id like to think that art can keep that individual body from becoming invisible.
Carol Muske-Dukes is a professor of English and creative writing at the USC and a former poet laureate of California. Her ninth poetry collection, Blue Rose, will be published in 2018 by Penguin.
World of Made and Unmade
By Jane Mead
Alice James Books: 100 pp., $16.67 paper
The Performance of Becoming Human
By Daniel Borzutzky
Brooklyn Arts Press: 98 pp., $17.10
Congressional Republicans, evidently hoping that by repeating an untruth theyll convince American voters, and perhaps themselves, that its a truth, on Wednesday said the Affordable Care Act has failed.
The undistilled version of this view came from House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who emerged Wednesday from a meeting with Vice President-elect Mike Pence to assert: This law has failed. Americans are struggling. The law is failing while we speak. Things are only getting worse under Obamacare. The healthcare system has been ruined dismantled under Obamacare.
Every one of those statements is demonstrably untrue. How do we know this? We know because every measure of healthcare spending, access and cost has improved since the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Timothy McBride of Washington University in St. Louis has done the heavy lifting of pulling together the relevant charts and graphs, and posting them online in a series of 12 tweets compiled on Storify. Weve culled some of the most important, and present them here.
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We should add, first, that Ryan also pledged, once the GOP repeals the law, to make sure that there is a stable transition to a truly patient-centered system. We want every American to have access to quality, affordable health coverage
This is nothing but fatuous gobbledygook. The GOP has had six years to come up with an alternative plan, and never has done so. Its current strategy is to repeal the Affordable Care Act now, and then cook up a replacement sometime in the next two, three, even four years. (They cant even agree on a time frame.) What exactly is a patient-centered system, anyway?
Here are the charts, courtesy of professor McBride.
First, the overall uninsured rate has come sharply down since the advent of Obamacare:
The decline in uninsured rates was especially pronounced among lower-income Americans, according to the Council of Economic Advisors and other sources:
Although Republicans claim that even if the Affordable Care Act brought down the uninsured rate, its enrollees had trouble seeing a doctor, that isnt true. Numerous studies debunk claims that doctors shun Affordable Care Act enrollees. This sample by the Council of Economic Advisors shows that the decline in the uninsured rate is closely associated with a reduction in people who were prevented from seeking and finding medical care because of its cost:
Hospitals are major beneficiaries of the Affordable Care Act, as the Department of Health and Human Services and the Council of Economic Advisors report. Hospitals uncompensated care costs fell sharply in Medicaid expansion states, as patients treated as indigent in the past are now covered by Medicaid. Their uncompensated care costs fell from an average 4% of operating costs before the Affordable Care Act to less than 2% afterward, a decline worth tens of billions of dollars nationwide.
Overall national health spending has come down even faster than was predicted, as a share of gross domestic product:
The average growth in per-enrollee spending by private health plans in key categories has slowed materially since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, from annual growth averaging 5% in 2000-2010, to 1.5% in 2010-2015. Spending growth on hospital services, physician services and prescription drugs all slowed. Medicare, which has instituted numerous cost-control initiatives under the Affordable Care Act, has seen an overall decline in spending per enrollee.
Finally, even though employer-based insurance hasnt yet been directly affected by the Affordable Care Act, there seems to be a spillover effect from the overall reduction in healthcare spending growth. Premiums rose by an average 5.6% a year in the 10 years prior to passage of the Affordable Care Act, but only 3.1% since, according to Kaiser Family Foundations annual survey of employer health benefits.
Republicans have promised to give Americans a health insurance system better than the Affordable Care Acts and at lower cost. This is almost surely a chimera; no plan that the GOP has considered would expand coverage beyond the Affordable Care Act. To the extent that the plans would reduce costs, they would do so by relieving the federal government of responsibility for paying for coverage and placing it even more heavily on the shoulders of individuals and families. Thats not lowering costs; its just shifting them to those least able to pay. The fact that the GOP will have to face is that bringing healthcare to more Americans costs money. Taking it away from millions of Americans will cost money, too.
No one claimed, either before the passage of the Affordable Care Act or afterward, that it was perfect or that it would solve Americas healthcare crisis in one swipe. What became evident in the three years since the individual insurance exchanges opened for business (on Jan. 1, 2014) is that the subsidies for premiums needed to be increased and improved. Because theyre inadequate, especially as households cross the threshold of 400% of the federal poverty line at which subsidies are eliminated at about $97,200 for a family of four middle-class families in the individual insurance market feel overburdened. They blame Obamacare for this injustice. The real culprits are Republicans who have refused to consider any approach to the Affordable Care Act except repeal. Now the GOP is it on healthcare, and its discovering that crafting a solution from scratch may be almost impossible.
What became evident during the most recent open-enrollment period for Obamacare exchanges is that Obamacare is more popular than ever, as Kevin Drum of Mother Jones observes. Enrollment grew to 12 million, up by about 1 million from 2015, even in the face of higher premiums. In any case, more than 85% of all enrollees are entitled to subsidies, which limits and in some cases cancels out the higher prices.
Yet the GOP pledges to overturn all that. The question the party never has found an answer to is: If this is what a failure looks like, how would it define a success?
Keep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.
Return to Michael Hiltziks blog.
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President-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate Wall Street attorney Jay Clayton to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, transition spokesman Sean Spicer said Wednesday.
Clayton, a partner with New York-based global law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, would succeed Mary Jo White, who announced in November that she would step down at the end of the Obama administration.
Jay Clayton is a highly talented expert on many aspects of financial and regulatory law, and he will ensure our financial institutions can thrive and create jobs while playing by the rules at the same time, Trump said in a written statement.
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We need to undo many regulations which have stifled investment in American businesses, and restore oversight of the financial industry in a way that does not harm American workers, he said.
Trump reportedly had been considering Los Angeles lawyer Debra Wong Yang, a former federal prosecutor, to head the SEC.
Instead, he opted for Clayton, who joins other key Trump nominees with strong Wall Street ties, including Treasury secretary pick Steve Mnuchin and Commerce secretary choice Wilbur Ross.
Claytons work has included representing Ally Financial and two other unnamed large financial firms in connection with settlements of federal cases related to toxic mortgages or foreclosure problems, according to the firms website.
The SEC is the federal governments top watchdog for Wall Street and has expanded regulatory powers under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law that Trump has promised to dismantle.
Jay Clayton is just the latest addition to the growing pool of Wall Street insiders that make up the Trump administration, said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. As head of the SEC, Clayton will have the power to carry his pro-Wall Street agenda to the agency that is entrusted with regulating Wall Street.
Clayton thanked Trump for the opportunity to head the agency. His nomination is subject to confirmation by the Senate.
If confirmed, we are going to work together with key stakeholders in the financial system to make sure we provide investors and our companies with the confidence to invest together in America, he said. We will carefully monitor our financial sector, as we set policy that encourages American companies to do what they do best: create jobs.
Claytons work has included mergers and acquisitions, as well as regulatory and enforcement proceedings. Among his clients listed on his law firms website are Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, and British Airways. Clayton also worked on the 2014 initial public offering of Chinas Alibaba Holding Group, which was the largest IPO in U.S. history.
Dennis Kelleher, president of Better Markets, a group that advocates for stricter financial regulation, said Clayton needs to favor Main Street over Wall Street as SEC chairman.
While Mr. Clayton may be an excellent lawyer representing Goldman Sachs and Wall Streets too-big-to-fail banks, Americas families need to know that he will represent them as zealously and as effectively, Kelleher said. He must lead without fear or favor and he must not bring the failed mind-set that whats good for Wall Street is good for America, which the 2008 financial crash proved catastrophically wrong.
White, who was a former federal prosecutor, also worked for a top New York law firm before becoming SEC chair in 2013. Her clients included some leading financial industry firms and figures, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. director Rajat Gupta and former Bank of America Corp. chief Ken Lewis.
Some liberals sharply criticized White for being too deferential to business interests. In October, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) publicly called on President Obama to replace her, in part because she had not enacted rules to force companies to disclose their spending on political activities.
The first SEC chair under Obama, Mary Schapiro, also did not make friends among liberals during her tenure. They wanted her to be tougher in the wake of the financial crisis. Schapiro had been chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra, a nongovernmental, self-regulatory body for the securities industry.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, was among those who had criticized White. He wasnt optimistic that Clayton would be an improvement.
Its hard to see how an attorney whos spent his career helping Wall Street beat the rap will keep President-elect Trumps promise to stop big banks and hedge funds from getting away with murder, Brown said.
jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com
Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera
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UPDATES:
1 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) as well as with additional background on SEC Chair Mary Jo White.
9:20 a.m.: This article was updated with information about Jay Claytons clients, including financial firms involved in toxic mortgage cases, and with comments from Dennis Kelleher of Better Markets.
This article was originally published at 8:50 a.m.
AEG Lives ties to anti-LGBT groups nothing more than fake news, says Philip Anschutz
Coachella in 2016. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)
Following news this week that the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival had booked Radiohead, Kendrick Lamar and Beyonce to lead its 2017 lineup, the owner of the company that oversees the festivals organizers has come under fire for his political interests.
According to a widely picked-up report in Uproxx, Philip F. Anschutz, the owner of AEG, whose AEG Live division is the worlds second largest presenter of live music, sports and entertainment after Live Nation, has donated to a number of anti-LGBTQ groups such as Alliance Defending Freedom, National Christian Foundation and Family Research Council.
A number of these organizations have been listed as extremist groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Because AEG Live oversees Coachella promoter Goldenvoice, people have taken to social media to question if anyone should drop hundreds of dollars for the destination festival out of fear that their money would fund anti-gay groups. General admission passes to Coachella sold out in an hour on Wednesday.
In a statement to The Times on Thursday, Anschutz said he was unaware of the anti-LGBTQ work done by any of the organizations he had supported and that he had ceased all contributions after learning.
Recent claims published in the media that I am anti-LGBTQ are nothing more than fake news it is all garbage. I unequivocally support the rights of all people without regard to sexual orientation, the statement read. We are fortunate to employ a wealth of diverse individuals throughout our family of companies, all of whom are important to us the only criteria on which they are judged is the quality of their job performance; we do not tolerate discrimination in any form.
Anschutz is one of the richest people in America, amassing fortunes in oil, railroads, telecom and real estate on top of his entertainment endeavors (he came in at No. 42 on Forbes U.S. billionaires list last year) and the conservative dealings of his foundation were reported by the Washington Post over the summer in a piece that labeled him as one of the enemies of equality.
His foundation was said to have donated $110,000 to Alliance Defending Freedom, a group that advocates for your right to freely live out your faith; $50,000 to National Christian Foundation, an organization that funds groups that have worked to fight LGBT rights; and $30,000 to Family Research Council, which is labeled as an extremist group by the SPLC. The contributions were made between 2010 and 2013.
Anschutz said he and his foundation contribute to numerous organizations that pursue a wide range of causes.
Neither I nor the Foundation fund any organization with the purpose or expectation that it would finance anti-LGBTQ initiatives, the statement continued, and when it has come to my attention or the attention of The Anschutz Foundation that certain organizations either the Foundation or I have funded have been supporting such causes, we have immediately ceased all contributions to such groups.
Jim Jarmusch does his writing in a notebook, creating page after page of text of varying sizes in different colors of ink, some ideas circled, others crossed out. He has two small notebooks placed neatly on a table in front of him during a recent interview. His cellphone is in a jacket thrown over a chair a few yards away.
If many people would likely have those objects in the opposite positions, wanting their cellphone within more immediate reach, Jarmuschs new film Paterson in part grapples with that tension between the connected anxieties of modern life and more lasting feelings of observant calm. It is about a poet who is also a bus driver and it is also an exploration of the idea that no person need only be defined as one thing. The film isnt motivated by a sanitized nostalgia for the past but, rather, a melancholy for things left behind along the way.
I dont want to say what the meaning of anything is, Jarmusch said. But I will just say that people put too much importance on how modern things are, the advance of things, like technology. And I love technology, but all these things are tools. And what is very sad to me is when people abandon previously beautiful things because they dont happen to be new.
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In the film, set in the town of Paterson, N.J., a man named Paterson (played by Adam Driver) drives a city bus, transforming the regimented drift of his job into an opportunity for observations he can fold back into his poetry. Where his life is dedicated to working his way through his daily routines, his wife, Laura (Golshifteh Farahani), has more exuberant creative impulses, an explosion of ideas in which one day she might pursue being a baker, the next a musician or printmaker. The films cast also includes Barry Shabaka Henley as a local bartender; William Jackson Harper as a lovelorn actor; and a brief appearance by Japanese actor Masatoshi Nagase, who appeared in Jarmuschs 1989 film Mystery Train.
Paterson, now playing in Los Angeles, has garnered Jarmusch some of the best reviews in a career that has made him a towering figure in American independent filmmaking for more than 30 years. Writing for The Times, Justin Chang called it wonderfully serene and beguiling, while in the New York Times, Manohla Dargis hailed the films visual precision and emotional restraint.
Adam Driver and Golshifteh Farahani star in Paterson.
Driver recently received the actor prize from the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. for his performance. (Full disclosure: I am a member of that group.) When Paterson premiered in the main competition at last years Cannes Film Festival, Jarmusch was also at the festival with his documentary on musicians Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Gimme Danger, which was released last fall.
Jarmusch first visited the city of Paterson some 25 years ago on a day trip from New York City. He can now extol the citys unusually vibrant history, how it was originally developed by Alexander Hamilton, was a home to the silk and textile trade and was an early hotbed of unionism. Or how writer William Carlos Williams who published an epic, multi-volume poem titled Paterson was a pediatrician who may have delivered the infant Allen Ginsberg.
Jarmusch often likes to describe himself as a self-proclaimed dilettante, someone who purposefully dabbles in many different pursuits. (His musical group Squrl contributed the ambient score.) So it shouldnt be a surprise to learn that when Jarmusch, 63, first moved to New York in the 1970s it was to study literature at Columbia University. There he would fall under the sway of the group known as the New York School, as his teachers included poets Kenneth Koch and David Shapiro, and he would also encounter the work of Ron Padgett and others. (Patersons poems in the film are actually by Padgett, who wrote three new poems for the film.)
The New York School are my godfathers because they dont take things too seriously, said Jarmusch. Their poems are playful yet beautiful, they love playing with forms, they dont believe in shouting things from the mountaintop; every poem is like almost a letter to one other person.
If that sounds like an apt description of Jarmuschs films, and the gentle evocations of Paterson in particular, Jarmusch can only say he should hope so.
I would be so thrilled if years and years from now when Im gone, people would say, Well, yeah, that guys films were kind of like the cinematic extension of the New York School of poets. I would be very proud.
Since bursting to attention with his role on the HBO show Girls, for which he has received three Emmy nominations, Driver has worked with an impressive list of filmmakers that now includes Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, the Coen brothers, Steven Soderbergh and Noah Baumbach. His public profile has also risen tremendously with his appearances as villain Kylo Ren in J.J. Abrams Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rian Johnsons upcoming Star Wars: Episode VIII.
My only game plan, or my only hope, is that I continue to work with really good directors, said Driver, 33. Ive been very lucky. Regardless of what the scale of it is, it doesnt matter where it is or what it is necessarily.
Talking about how he enjoys being part of a collaborative process, Driver interrupts his own answer at one point to circle back and add, That sounds like actor propaganda doesnt it? Im boring myself with that answer.
What is very sad to me is when people abandon previously beautiful things because they dont happen to be new. Jim Jarmusch
That may explain partly why Driver took to the part of the bus driver/poet of Paterson in Paterson. The role gave him a chance to just listen.
Its my favorite thing to do in movies, he said. I often think things are way overwritten and want to cut lines more than add them, because listening is a powerful thing to watch someone do. Also, Im surrounded by really great actors, like Golshifteh and Barry Shabaka, who plays the bartender, or William Jackson Harper; to get to sit and listen to those people all day long is great. I would have done that way longer than our scheduled shoot.
Writing in the New Yorker, critic Richard Brody recently noted of Paterson that its world-building comes off as a credo, a belatedly laid and lifeworn cornerstone of Jarmuschs work, a quietly ecstatic vision of workaday perseverance and inspiration. Perhaps predictably, and inadvertently confirming the notion, Jarmusch brushed aside any idea that the films dedication to the steady, persistent work of artistic pursuits was a personal manifesto or that this film was in some way more personal than his others.
I dont understand that at all, Jarmusch said. When I made Broken Flowers, people said, This is your most personal film. Then I made Only Lovers Left Alive and people said, Obviously your most personal film. Then I make this and they say This is your most personal film. Like, wait a minute, you keep saying that but I have no idea how to answer that.
Theyre all personal, and not auto-biographical to me, Jarmusch said. And yet they are in some way, but not. I dont know.
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Mark.Olsen@latimes.com
Follow on Twitter: @IndieFocus
Hey, were fighting bears here: Iggy Pop and Jim Jarmusch celebrate the Stooges with their new documentary Gimme Danger
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The Jenners are making their mark on the beauty space and quickly stealing the Kardashians spotlight in the sector.
Not to be outdone by daughter Kylie Jenner, who on Monday night teased an image of her new Royal Beach eye shadow palette to her 82.5 million Instagram followers, Caitlyn Jenner is gearing up to release a makeup collection of her own, MAC Caitlyn Jenner. The eight-piece makeup line will hit MAC counters and maccosmetics.com on Thursday with the dedicated hashtag #MACCaitlynJenner.
This is the second time Caitlyn Jenner has partnered with MAC Cosmetics. Last year she collaborated with MAC Viva Glam on the lipstick shade Finally Free, where $1.3 million in proceeds went toward the MAC AIDS Fund Transgender Initiative. This time, though, Jenner teamed with the The Estee Lauder Cos. Inc.-owned brand to do something a little more commercial.
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The 15 stockkeeping unit range is comprised of two lipsticks, $17 each; two lip pencils, $17.50 each; three shades of Cremesheen Glass, $21 each; three eye shadows, $16 each; eyeliner, $17; a set of false lashes, $17; Mineralize Skinfinish, $33; a blush duo palette, $29, and an additional lipstick shade to be sold exclusively online at maccosmetics.com for $17.
A MAC spokeswoman said Jenner would not be doing interviews at this time.
A source close to the company called MAC Caitlyn Jenner a classic MAC collaboration.
Its a diversity play and [is in line with] the long-standing brand position of All Ages, All Races and All Sexes, the source continued. Its part of conversation. There will be people who love and people who wont love it. It will definitely be a little controversial.
In October, MAC launched its MAC Selena collection, which sold out online in five hours. The range was restocked at the end of the December. In November, Mariah Carey for MAC debuted and sold out within 24 hours, and as of right now, there are no plans to restock it.
The launch of the Caitlyn Jenner line comes as MAC is battling headwinds in its core U.S. market due to lower foot traffic in midtier department stores and fewer shoppers in major cities where the makeup brand has freestanding stores, such as New York and Florida. In November, Estee Lauder chief executive officer Fabrizio Freda said to turn around the brand, the group would focus on product innovation, better services, new collections and a stepped-up social media presence and the Jenner collection clearly ticks at least two of those boxes with her 8.3 million Instagram followers.
Launch Gallery: Caitlyn Jenner and Mac Team Up for Makeup Collaboration
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With Inauguration Day less than three weeks away, Melania Trump has made a point of keeping a low profile but the first-lady-to-bes choice of a Dolce & Gabbana dress for New Years Eve in Palm Beach at Mar-a-Lago has kicked off an online firestorm.
After Melania a longtime client of the Italian brand wore a black Dolce & Gabbana cocktail dress with bows on each shoulder, Stefano Gabbana thanked her via Instagram with #madeinitaly and called her a DG Woman. Gabbanas post had generated more than 13,000 likes and 1,129 comments as of Tuesday afternoon. Among other things, the designer called her a beautiful woman, and chided her critics as ignorant.
In response to one Instagrammers comment No! Whether shes beautiful or not, would you be proud to dress Eva Braun? So wrong, an apparent reference to Adolf Hitlers companion and wife for 40 hours. Gabbana responded with Who is Eva Brown? Sorry. perhaps mistakenly translating Braun from German to mean Brown.
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A spokeswomen for Dolce & Gabbana declined to comment Tuesday and a spokeswoman for Melania did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Thus far, such enthusiastic endorsements of Melanias sartorial selections have been scarce among designers. That could all drastically change once the First Family is officially installed (regardless of when they are ensconced together at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue). With former New York Fashion Week and Costume Institute Gala frontwoman Stephanie Winston Wolkoff playing an instrumental role in orchestrating the inaugural festivities, the January 20 celebration is expected to be very different than in years past.
At the first presidential debate this fall, Trump showed her former model status, wearing a black ruched off-the-shoulder Dolce & Gabbana dress from the fall runway. As was the case with most of her election season wardrobe choices, Trump bought the dress herself at the companys New York boutique. Known not to be a nationalist when it comes to fashion, the future first lady favors an assortment of both American and European labels. Some of her other designer choices were bought online, including the $3,669 virgin wool coat with embossed buttons that Olivier Rousteing designed for Balmain that she bought via Net-a-porter for Election Day.
In November, Sophie Theallet asked other American designers to follow her lead and not dress or associate with Melania Trump. While the proposed boycott may not have transpired into the call to action that Theallet imagined, some big-name designers such as Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs have said they will not dress the First Lady. Others, like Tommy Hilfiger, Diane von Furstenberg, Thom Browne and Carolina Herrera, have been more receptive to the prospect.
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All credit scores are not created equal.
Thats the upshot of federal enforcement actions levied Tuesday against credit bureaus Equifax and TransUnion.
The bureaus will pay penalties of $23.1 million as part of a settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which said the firms misled consumers into paying for credit scores that might be dramatically different from the scores used by lenders.
Mortgage lenders, credit card companies and others generally use the ubiquitous FICO score, calculated by San Jose firm Fair Isaac Corp. But the CFPB alleged that TransUnion and Equifax sold customers their own in-house scores and improperly implied that those were the scores lenders check.
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The CFPB also said the companies used the promise of free or cheap credit scores to hook consumers into costly monthly credit-monitoring subscriptions. The two companies will pay $5.5 million in fines plus $17.6 million in restitution to consumers to settle with the CFPB.
Credit scores are central to a consumers financial life, and people deserve honest and accurate information about them, CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement. TransUnion and Equifax deceived customers about the usefulness of the credit scores they marketed.
The CFPB targeted Atlanta-based Equifax for practices from 2011 to 2014, and Chicagos TransUnion for practices from 2011 until Tuesdays enforcement action. The bureau did not take action against the nations other major credit bureau, Experian of Costa Mesa.
TransUnion spokesman David Blumberg said the company agreed to settle with the CFPB but nevertheless believes that our consumer marketing has been clear and has complied with the law and other government guidance.
Equifax spokeswoman Ines Gutzmer said the company agreed to change some of its practices after the CFPB began its investigation about three years ago and that, despite the settlement, the company does not believe it has violated any laws.
As part of the settlements, neither firm acknowledged any wrongdoing.
At issue is the difference between the credit scores calculated by the credit bureaus using their own in-house methods and the scores calculated using formulas developed by Fair Isaac Corp.
FICO scores are calculated by Fair Isaac using financial information compiled by the credit bureaus. The credit bureaus have to pay Fair Isaac to run FICO scores.
But the bureaus also have their own credit-scoring models that they can use without paying.
That means, when companies sell credit scores to consumers, they have an incentive to sell their own, in-house scores, said Chi Chi Wu, an attorney at the National Consumer Law Center who focuses on consumer-credit issues.
Credit bureaus developed these scores because they want to keep the money they get from selling scores, Wu said. If they do FICO, they have to pay FICO.
The credit bureaus in-house scores also called educational scores are often fairly close to FICO scores, according to a 2012 CFPB report that compared different scores for the same consumers. But the report suggested that the scores can be different enough to warrant caution.
For instance, the report found that thousands of consumers with FICO scores of 680 to 740 representing good but not perfect credit had educational scores that made them look significantly better or worse. In all, the bureau found that educational and FICO scores put consumers into different credit categories about 20% of the time.
Weve been complaining about credit monitoring for years if not decades. Chi Wu, attorney at the National Consumer Law Center
The CFPB noted in its report that big differences between these two types of scores might push consumers to apply for loans they ultimately arent likely to be approved for, or perhaps to not apply at all thinking their credit is worse than it really is.
In 2014, an Illinois man sued TransUnion over just this issue, saying he paid for a credit score that ended up being about 100 points higher than the score used by an auto dealership where he hoped to buy a car.
Attorneys in that ongoing case argued that TransUnion did not make clear that its in-house score was different than the score likely to be used by lenders.
The CFPB made a similar case in its actions Tuesday. For instance, the bureau said Equifax ran an advertisement for its in-house score that said, Banks and lenders will most likely check your credit make sure you see what they see.
The two bureaus included some disclaimers on their websites, noting that lenders might use a different credit score, but the CFPB said those were not prominent enough.
The CFPB also tagged the credit bureaus for offering free or discounted credit scores and reports through teaser offers for credit-monitoring services. The bureau said both bureaus offered such deals, luring consumers to sign up for free trials that would later automatically convert into paid credit report subscriptions that cost more than $16 a month.
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Wu of the National Consumer Law Center said theres little need for consumers to sign up for those subscriptions because consumers are entitled to three free credit reports annually one from each of the major bureaus though they are not entitled to free credit scores.
Weve been complaining about credit monitoring for years if not decades, she said. People end up with these subscriptions, and they have a hard time cancelling them.
james.koren@latimes.com
Follow me: @jrkoren
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The new Congress opened with a stumble Tuesday after the Republican majoritys plan for gutting an independent ethics office drew a firestorm of criticism including tweets of displeasure from President-elect Donald Trump that forced lawmakers to reverse course in a sign of battles to come.
The messy debut of what was supposed to be a celebratory start on Capitol Hill foreshadowed roadblocks ahead as House Speaker Paul D. Ryan tries to lead his often willful GOP majority while maneuvering unexpected outbursts from the partys new leader in the White House.
Trumps early-morning tweet storm against surprise GOP plans for a watered-down ethics watchdog showcased a president-elect who has no qualms about publicly opposing and embarrassing members of his own party, even lawmakers he will rely on to implement much of his agenda.
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And the instant course correction by the House to suit Trumps preference showed he may not pay much of a political price for intervening. He may even draw praise.
Mr. Trump has shown a penchant for being effective with Twitter, said Rep. Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican. I am glad Donald Trump intervened because a change of this magnitude needs to be done more publicly and with more lead time.
Despite the dramatic turn of events, Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sounded upbeat Tuesday as they opened the 115th Congress, welcoming new lawmakers who arrived with families and friends to be sworn in to office and snap official photos.
The unforced error did not appear to harm Ryans reelection as speaker, nor did his fraught on-again, off-again relationship with Trump.
House Republicans overwhelmingly chose the Wisconsin Republican for another term, avoiding the tumult of past leadership elections, including in 2015 when he took over after former House Speaker John A. Boehners abrupt retirement. Just one Republican dissented on Tuesday.
Theres no sense of foreboding today, Ryan said after taking the gavel. Theres only a sense of potential.
The speaker reminded his colleagues of their vast responsibilities now that Republicans control the House, Senate and soon the White House. Its the kind of thing that most of us only dream about. I know because I used to dream about it, a lot, he said.
The people have given us unified government. And it wasnt because they were feeling generous. Its because they wanted results. How could we live with ourselves if we let them down?
Republicans have unfurled an ambitious conservative agenda, including repealing the Affordable Care Act, lowering tax rates, boosting economic growth and tightening immigration rules. Many are in sync with Trumps campaign promises.
But despite their unified front, Republicans have yet to produce the kind of detailed first-100-days plan that often comes with a new session of Congress or a new president.
We know that the coming days are going to require hard work, McConnell said. But if we work together, well be able to continue a record of achievement.
Senate Republicans quickly introduced legislation to begin the painstaking process for repealing Obamacare, with mostly symbolic votes likely to begin next week. The thorny details will not come until later, and because parts of the bill are popular even with Republicans, full repeal may never pass.
Democrats vowed to fight Trump on some issues including efforts to deport immigrants here illegally but said they will work with him when they can.
As Tuesday showed, Democrats may be able to find daylight between the White House and Republicans in Congress. Many Democrats were officially aghast at the last-minute Republican push to weaken the ethnics panel.
But Democrats also see possible coalitions with Trump on his calls to rebuild roads and bridges and to expand child care. Those issues have drawn a cool reception from conservatives on the Hill, but Trumps team has signaled he wants to pursue them.
Were Democrats. Were not going to just oppose things to oppose them, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), told CNN after he was sworn in as the Senate minority leader. The only way were going to work with [Trump] is if he moves completely in our direction and abandons his Republican colleagues. Thats not going to happen very often.
The ethics controversy was not the way Republican leaders had planned to showcase the new Congress when they convened GOP lawmakers for a private meeting late Monday night.
But the proposal from Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to rein in the Office of Congressional Ethics struck a nerve with rank-and-file lawmakers. Many have chafed at the watchdog panel, which was set up in 2008 after high-profile corruption scandals sent several members to prison.
Under Goodlattes plan, the independent office would be put under jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee, which is made up of lawmakers, and barred from investigating anonymous tips or releasing any details of its work to the public.
Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) warned lawmakers that opening day was not the time to make such controversial changes. They argued the proposal would carry more weight if it had bipartisan support from Democrats.
The leaders advice was ignored. Late Monday, House Republicans voted to tuck the proposal into a broader rules package set for a vote on Tuesday afternoon.
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, McCarthy told reporters Tuesday morning as he struggled to explain the changes amid an onslaught of questions.
Then Trump tweeted his point of view.
With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it........may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance!
He closed with #DTS a reference to one of his campaign slogans, Drain the swamp.
Office telephone lines on Capitol Hill were already ringing by that time, and social media accounts filled with howls of protest.
Republicans said they had little choice but to back down.
Ryan convened a quick meeting behind closed doors in the Capitol basement, where GOP lawmakers were told the provision might tank the broader rules package that was set for a vote in several hours a potentially embarrassing setback on opening day.
They agreed to shelve the issue for now.
The feeling was, it was the right thing to do, but the wrong time to do it, said Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.). It was better to delay it.
Caroline from Sierra Madre wrote to me about the five-year-long funeral that followed her fathers stroke, saying he retired a member of the middle class and died impoverished after all the family funds were spent on care.
Art from Studio City wrote about his 96-year-old father, who has dementia and whose bank account is evaporating at a fast pace because of the cost of caregivers, food, medicine and daily expenses.
Dick from Long Beach told me hes 84, his wife is 82, and theyre hung up on the financing of our old age.
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They were among a small army of readers who responded to my Nov. 20 column about my 87-year-old moms failing health and the tough choices families are forced to make.
Many thanks, by the way, for all the well wishes. To update the situation, my mother who did not look long for this world has improved physically and mentally since her release from the hospital.
The San Francisco Bay Area doctors and nurses who cared for her seemed to be good at what they do individually, but they didnt do a great job of communicating with one another or our family. None of them told us in the hospital that dementia can be temporarily worsened by infections. We were left with the impression that delirium was my mothers new state. Shes still got a few major health problems, but she became much less disoriented once she was home, and a gerontologist told us thats not uncommon after an infection is treated.
Dolores Westfall, 79, who lived in an RV for seven years while following work around the country, listens to the estimate on needed repairs for her RV, which she could not afford. Her story was chronicled in a Times report headlined Too poor to retire and too young to die. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times )
Its ever more clear to me that getting old, or helping someone who is aging, can be a full-time job. In our family, that job is done primarily by my sister, who just marked the 10th anniversary of ovarian cancer by checking into the hospital again for her fourth brain surgery. But remarkably, despite eight years of metastatic brain tumors, shes still full of fight.
A nurse named Julia who recently lost her mother emailed me with a line thats making more and more sense to me lately: Getting old isnt for sissies.
And heres the thing:
Boomers are crowding the retirement turnstiles just as safety nets may get a haircut from a Republican Congress fixated on an Obamacare repeal that could whack Medicare and Medicaid. And although President-elect Trump has defended entitlements, a key advisor once called for privatizing Social Security. California has been a national leader in supporting in-home care and expanding medical insurance to wider populations, but federal funding cuts could jeopardize those advances.
Everything is a wild card right now, said UCLA professor Steven Wallace, chair of the schools Department of Community Health Sciences.
Wallace co-authored a report published last year on what he refers to as Californias hidden poor, approximately 655,000 older adults who are above the federal poverty level and ineligible for some government programs, but not wealthy enough to live comfortably in a region with such high housing costs.
I know those people. Ive met many of them and written about some of them.
Doris Tillman comes to mind. Shes the South Los Angeles retiree who went nine months without running water after losing a job and falling behind on a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power bill she disputed.
Im going to write a book about how to survive in L.A. without water, the 71-year-old Tillman told me at the time. She learned to get by on 50 gallons a week of water she purchased, lugging heavy five-gallon jugs into and out of her car and into her home.
Another story comes to mind the one on 79-year-old Dolores Westfall last January by John Glionna and photographer Francine Orr. The headline was Too poor to retire and too young to die, and the story chronicled the travels of Westfall, who left her California home and lived in an RV she called Big Foot. For seven years, she roamed the country, moving from one temporary job to another.
She endures what for many aging Americans is an unforgiving economy, said the story. Nearly one-third of U.S. heads of households ages 55 and older have no pension or retirement savings and a median annual income of about $19,000.
Westfall died just before Christmas.
Orr and I have been talking for several months about teaming up on a series of stories about the hard choices Californians make in middle age and later on, and it was she who directed me to the UCLA research by Wallace and his cohort, D. Imelda Padilla-Frausto. The research found that people of color were harder hit, that the hidden poor had more health problems than the general population but less access to care, and that those people were more likely to suffer from depression.
Women are particularly hard hit, Wallace said, partly because they often survive their husbands but lose their pensions.
The expenses dont drop as much as the income does, so youve got older women particularly in their 80s who may have the family home paid off, but the roof is leaking and the water heater goes out, and they dont have the money to fix them, said Wallace. So theyre downsized into apartments, where theyre struggling to pay the monthly rent.
If youre in that kind of situation, or know someone who is, shoot me an email. Orr and I are gearing up to chase stories around the state, to keep an eye on policy decisions in Washington and Sacramento, and to take a close look at programs and policies that can help people in need.
By the way, in my November column, I referred readers to the SCAN Foundation but gave an incomplete website address. Go to www.thescanfoundation.org, click on Aging Well, and youll find piles of good planning advice.
And thanks again to all of you who sent kind thoughts and words of support for my mom.
steve.lopez@latimes.com
Get more of Steve Lopezs work and follow him on Twitter @LATstevelopez
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For the second time since her double-murder conviction, former San Diego socialite Elizabeth Betty Broderick will appear Wednesday before a parole board after spending decades in prison.
Broderick, who is now 69, was convicted of second-degree murder for the 1989 shooting deaths of her ex-husband, medical malpractice lawyer Daniel Broderick, 44, and his wife, Linda Kolkena Broderick, 28.
It was a sensational case that drew national attention. The events were turned into a made-for-television movie.
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Broderick was sentenced in 1991 to 32 years to life and now is housed at the California Institution for Women in Chino. Her first parole hearing was in January 2010, when a two-person panel found her unsuitable for release.
One commissioner from the Board of Prison Terms said Broderick showed no significant progress in evolving from where she was emotionally at the time of the killings.
The victims were shot the morning of Nov. 5, 1989, as they slept in their home near Balboa Park in San Diego. According to the district attorneys office, Broderick used a key that she had taken from her daughter weeks earlier and sneaked up the stairs as the couple slept.
She fired five shots from a revolver, three of which hit the victims as they tried to dive for cover.
Daniel Broderick attempted to reach for the telephone to call for help. He was shot in his back and fell off the bed.
Betty Broderick then pulled the phone from the wall and left it in the hallway, out of reach. She left the home and was arrested later that day.
Although she never denied committing the shootings, Broderick contended at two trials the first ended in a mistrial that she was driven to do it after enduring a bitter divorce in which she claimed she was emotionally and psychologically abused.
Prosecutors argued that Broderick was an angry and violent stalker who sought revenge against her ex-husband and the younger woman he had left her to marry. She left numerous obscene messages on Daniel Brodericks answering machine, prosecutors said, and once drove her vehicle through the front door of the couples home.
The San Diego County district attorneys office has said it will oppose Betty Brodericks request for release. Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Sachs is expected to argue at the Wednesday hearing that Broderick remains a danger to society.
The board could find that she is suitable for parole and set a parole date, or deny parole for three, five, seven, 10 or 15 more years.
dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @danalittlefield
Littlefield writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune
Anti-gay graffiti and extensive vandalism at a Van Nuys home prompted a hate crime investigation Tuesday night by Los Angeles police officers.
The vandalism was reported about 6 p.m. at a home in the 7400 block of Vista Del Monte Avenue, according to Officer Mike Lopez, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.
Sgt. Carl Taylor said someone broke into the home, sprayed anti-gay graffiti, kicked in walls and destroyed water pipes.
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Its pretty extensive damage, said Taylor, who confirmed that detectives were treating the burglary and ransacking as a suspected hate crime.
When officers arrived at the property, the homes door was open. Police made sure no one was inside and noticed the large amount of property damage.
Its unclear who lives at the property. No one was injured during the ransacking and there was no description of a suspect or suspects, Lopez said.
The suspected hate crime comes after a period in which Los Angeles County has seen an increase in such targeted violence.
According to a report issued in September by the countys Commission on Human Relations, the number of hate crimes in the county rose sharply in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. A total of 483 hate crimes were reported, a 24% increase from 2014.
Of those, 120 hate crimes were motivated by sexual orientation an 11% increase from the previous year.
Officials said the overall spike came after a roughly seven-year period that saw a downward trend for reported hate crimes.
Still, experts have cautioned that the statistics on hate crimes against LGBT people may not be accurate because of concerns about reporting incidents to authorities and exposing ones sexual identity.
matt.hamilton@latimes.com
Twitter: @MattHjourno.
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The California Supreme Court appeared skeptical Wednesday that Newport Beach officials had reviewed the proposed Banning Ranch development adequately before approving it.
During a hearing, the justices considered whether the city had obeyed environmental law when it approved the large commercial and housing development in 2012.
The California Coastal Commission rejected a scaled-down version of that plan in September, but the developer can present another proposal later this year.
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If the state Supreme Court decides the city failed to follow legal requirements in approving the project, Newport Beach would have to reconsider the plan all over again if it were to go forward.
The justices did not state how they were leaning, but their questions indicated that they found the citys environmental review wanting.
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye noted that she could not understand the citys maps in the environmental impact report that showed the locations of sensitive habitat. She asked whether local governments were required to provide information in a way that the public can decipher.
The chief justice also suggested that Newport Beach had been penny-wise but pound-foolish in approving the project before fully analyzing the potential environmental impact.
Among the questions the court must answer is whether Newport Beach adequately consulted the Coastal Commission in doing its environmental review. The law requires cities to work with the panel but does not specify exactly what must be done.
The justices appeared concerned about how to fashion a ruling that would give adequate guidance to all cities.
The question we are facing is how to write a rule that shows what work with means going forward, Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuellar said.
Attorney Whitman F. Manley, representing Newport Beach, told the court that records showed the city had at least one meeting with Coastal Commission staff members and that both sides also consulted at the development site.
It may be work with a lowercase w, but it is work, Manley said.
He argued that the city had fully complied with the law but knew at the time that the Coastal Commission had the final word in designating environmentally sensitive habitat on the property.
Some of the justices suggested the city may have shirked its duties by deciding the commission could work out the details later.
How do you draw the line where it is appropriate for a city to say, We are going to punt to somebody else, and where that is not appropriate? Cuellar asked.
The Banning Ranch Conservancy, a group that wants to buy the property for open space, challenged Newport Beachs approval of the project. An appeals court in Orange County sided with the city, and the conservancy appealed the decision to the California Supreme Court.
The city originally approved a plan to build 1,375 homes, a 75-room hotel and a commercial zone on about 95 acres of the 401-acre coastal property.
The developer then asked the Coastal Commission for a permit to build a smaller project including 895 homes, the hotel, a 20-bed hostel and 45,100 square feet of retail space on 62 acres.
After the commission rejected that proposal, the developer sued the agency and asked for compensation of at least $490 million.
Most of the property has been used for oil drilling for decades. The developer has argued that the public will benefit from the project because the vast majority of the land will be preserved as open space.
The court has 90 days to decide the case.
maura.dolan@latimes.com
Twitter: @mauradolan
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has infuriated customers with its billing screw-ups, long telephone wait times and unfettered spending.
After winning the Los Angeles mayors race in 2013, Eric Garcetti vowed to overhaul the agency, promising more oversight and better service at the nations largest government-run utility.
For the record: A previous version of this article stated that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcettis proposed bill of rights for Department of Water and Power customers needed approval by the City Council before taking effect Feb. 1. The DWP Board of Commissioners will vote on the plan, but no City Council approval is needed.
On that front, hes relied on performance yardsticks to track DWP progress and brought in new hires. He also backed an unsuccessful ballot measure last fall that would have overhauled the utility.
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On Tuesday, Garcetti took a different approach in his DWP reform campaign. He reached back more than 200 years and evoked the Founding Fathers by unveiling a DWP customer bill of rights.
The mayors bill of rights plan, which comes two months before he faces reelection, offers ratepayer guarantees, such as a $25 rebate in some billing error cases. But the proposal includes practices already in place at the agency, drawing criticism from DWP watchdogs.
The bill of rights also doesnt ensure ratepayers any legal protections, according to the documents fine print.
As news cameras zoomed in on an oversized bill of rights poster -- a prop modeled after a yellowed 18th century scroll at Tuesdays news conference, Garcetti said the document would ensure the highest level of service.
Today were taking one of our most important steps, Garcetti said.
The dozens of proposals are scheduled to go into effect Feb. 1, the mayor said. The DWP Board of Commissioners will vote on the plan, but approval by the Los Angeles City Council is not required.
Some of Garcettis proposals already exist. For instance, the proposal states defective meters will be replaced within 90 days of first being reported or discovered by the DWP.
DWP spokeswoman Michelle Figueroa said that defective water meters, on average, are currently being replaced within 60 days of being discovered or reported. Defective electric meters are replaced with 90 days, she said.
Garcettis proposal states wait times for callers to the DWP wont exceed three minutes, on average. However, wait times have been under three minutes for the last 16 months at the department, Garcetti said.
In a statement, Garcetti spokesman Carl Marziali said, The bill of rights is intended to formalize reforms and policies for future ratepayers. Some, like the reduction in call wait times, started before the bill.
The mayors emphasis on customer improvement comes as opponents in the March 7 mayoral election are likely to focus on his record with the DWP. Already, Mitchell Schwartz, one challenger, has released his own plan for reforming the utility.
The consumer group J.D. Power & Associates ranked the utility last among large Western power providers in its 2016 annual customer satisfaction survey. Another J.D. Power survey on water providers released last year ranked the DWP near the bottom.
Separately, the DWP owes its customers at least $66.7 million in refunds and credits after faulty software led to widespread overbilling.
Under Garcettis proposal, questions sent to the DWP via email would receive a response within 24 hours, or one business day. Recent response times have been 48 hours, Figueroa said.
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Other proposed policies state that bills that exceed three times the average historic use for the same billing period will automatically be reviewed. Customers with a bill that is three times their average historic billing period use because of an inaccurate meter reading will receive a $25 bill credit. Additionally, the bill will be corrected.
Customers would have to apply to receive the credits, according to Garcettis proposal.
Steve Erie, professor emeritus of political science UC San Diego, said there are a lot of gray areas and questioned whether the plan would change public perceptions of the DWP.
I dont think $25 service credits are really going to mollify angry customers, Erie said.
dakota.smith@latimes.com
Twitter: @dakotacdsmith
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Days after a Pomona artist told reporters that he altered the Hollywood sign to read HOLLYWeeD, Los Angeles police detectives say they plan to submit their case to the Los Angeles County district attorney for possible prosecution.
LAPD Officer Liliana Preciado said Wednesday that investigators were talking to a person in connection with the trespassing case, but declined to name the person. Preciado said detectives would not arrest the prankster on suspicion of trespassing, but would instead present their findings to the district attorneys office. Prosecutors will then decide whether or not to file charges, she said.
Artist Zach Fernandez, who calls himself Jesus Hands, told Vice that he and his creative partner/former wife, Sarah Fern, were responsible for the prank. Dressed in camouflage, Fernandez used a rope to swing around the letters, he said, and used clamps to clip sheets of fabric and photographs to them. The entire act took about two hours, he told Vice.
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Fern told the online magazine that they mapped it out together and double checked measurements and everything.
We did it on a budget and were very resourceful about it, she told Vice.
Police said surveillance footage showed a man dressed in black, tactical-style gear scaling the signs ladders and hanging tarps over the Os to change them to Es at 3 a.m. Sunday. One of the tarps was decorated with a peace sign, and another with a heart.
Following the prank, the Hollywood Sign Trust, the agency that maintains and secures the site, said it planned to boost security.
The couple said the prank was an homage to Daniel Finegood, a Cal State Northridge student who pulled off the same act on New Years Day in 1976.
Finegood scaled Mt. Lee with $50 worth of curtains and changed the sign to coincide with the first day that California classified possession of up to one ounce of marijuana as a misdemeanor, rather than a felony.
The couple said they also drew inspiration from the divisive election, saying they hoped the piece brought conversation and positivity.
Fern and Fernandez said they aware they could face consequences for revealing their identifies. But Fern told Vice, Were OK with that.
veronica.rocha@latimes.com
For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.
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A high-ranking Chicago police official who was asked to lead reform efforts in one of the nations largest police departments has been tapped to lead Oaklands troubled police force less than a year after the agency was caught up in a wide-ranging sexual abuse scandal.
Anne Kirkpatrick, a former police chief in Spokane, Wash., who was also a finalist to be named Chicagos top cop last year, was introduced as Oaklands police chief during a Wednesday afternoon news conference.
Oakland has been without a permanent chief for more than six months, after Chief Sean Whent resigned amid allegations that more than a dozen of his officers had sexual relations with a self-described sex worker. The woman has claimed that some of the encounters occurred while she was underage, and some officers have been accused of tipping her off about upcoming prostitution raids in exchange for sex.
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Several Oakland police officers were fired as a result of the scandal, and a few face criminal charges. Whent resigned in June, and the city released a statement citing his departure as a personal choice. Several city officials, however, told the Los Angeles Times that Whents ouster was connected to the scandal.
Two other interim chiefs were appointed and dismissed in the span of a week last year, and the department was ultimately placed under the control of Oaklands civilian city administrator while Mayor Libby Schaaf led a search for a permanent chief.
Kirkpatrick hinted that she has wanted to move to Oakland for some time, though she did not explain why. Asked why she would leave one department beset by challenges for the chance to lead another entrenched in controversy, the veteran police leader said she welcomed the challenge.
I dont consider it a mess, said Kirkpatrick, who has been a police officer for more than 30 years. I consider it an opportunity.
In Chicago, Kirkpatrick was leading the departments newly created Bureau of Professional Standards, part of a wider reform effort that followed national outrage over the 2014 shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Video of the incident showed Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting the teen 16 times. Van Dyke now faces murder charges.
The firestorm that followed the release of the video led to the firing of former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, and Kirkpatrick was one of three finalists to succeed him.
In Oakland, Kirkpatrick faces the task of cleaning up a culture that Schaaf once likened to a frat house. The department has been subject to federal monitoring since 2003, but city officials were close to regaining local control of the agency until the sex abuse scandal gained national attention last summer.
In an interview with a Bay Area television station, 19-year-old Jasmine Abuslin claimed she had sex with dozens of officers across multiple East Bay law enforcement agencies. Four Oakland police officers have been criminally charged in the scandal, including Giovanni LoVerde, who prosecutors claim had a sexual encounter with Abuslin while she was a minor.
Three other officers face charges such as failing to report the abuse and illegally accessing law enforcement databases as a favor to Abuslin.
The Times does not normally name victims of sexual assault, but Abuslin has identified herself in a number of interviews and during a news conference with her attorney last year.
Kirkpatrick dismissed the idea that she would face unique challenges as a female leader trying to heal an agency dogged by sexual misconduct allegations against male officers, saying the skills that make her an effective police executive are not gender-specific.
I am a leader, who is cloaked as a woman, and Im grateful for being a woman, she said.
John Burris, the civil rights attorney who negotiated the settlement that placed the department under federal oversight in 2003, said he was glad Schaaf chose someone disconnected from Oaklands political power structures to lead what he believes will be a lengthy and complex reform effort. While Kirkpatricks resume is impressive, Burris said the problems faced by Oakland police could prove difficult for even the most qualified candidate.
I really thought it was good to have an outsider, to have fresh eyes looking at the problems that exist here. Someone who is not beholden to any vested interests in the department. So in that sense, its a positive appointment, he said. But it certainly remains to be seen whether or not she can tackle, in a positive way, some of the contentious issues that exist within the city.
Sweeney is a reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
james.queally@latimes.com
Follow @JamesQueallyLAT on Twitter for crime and police news in California.
UPDATES:
2 p.m.: This article was updated with additional comments from Kirkpatricks news conference.
This article was originally published at 12:45 p.m.
A real estate agent was charged with arson and murder Wednesday in connection with the slayings of two women and a house fire in Westminster on New Years Day, according to court records.
Christopher Ken Ireland, 37, faces two counts of murder and one count of arson, according to an Orange County Superior Court criminal complaint. He is also charged with one count of aggravated mayhem for intentionally and unlawfully [causing] permanent disability, disfigurement, and deprivation of a limb, organ and body member of one of the victims, according to the complaint.
Westminster police have released few details about killings, which they said occurred sometime Sunday.
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Firefighters were called at about 5:30 a.m. to put out a fire at a home in the 5000 block of Northwestern Way in Westminster, police said.
But the homeowner, Yolanda Holtrey, and her friend, Michelle Luke, were nowhere to be found.
Police said the fire was suspicious, so an arson investigator and detectives were asked to look into the case to determine what happened.
The next day, police found Holtrey and Lukes bodies in a field off Bonita Canyon Drive and Ford Road in Newport Beach, according to the Orange County Sheriff-Coroners Division.
Investigators found neighborhood surveillance video that led them to Ireland, KNBC-TV reported. He was arrested after he and his wife showed up at Holtreys home offering to help, the television news station reported.
The couple had gone to a party at Holtreys home on New Years Eve.
His wife, Samantha Ireland, told KNBC-TV that they went home after the party and she didnt recall him leaving. She said she thinks her husband was sleep walking.
Ireland is a real estate agent who worked at Realty ONE Group and was going to help Holtrey sell her home, she told the news station.
I dont know any realtors that would kill their clients, Samantha Ireland told KNBC-TV. Thats stupid -- why would he do that?
A relative of Holtrey told KTLA-TV that Irelands wife worked with Holtrey at a department store, the relative said.
Although Irelands wife knew Holtrey, the defendant hadnt met the victims before that evening, the relative told television news station.
veronica.rocha@latimes.com
For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.
The University of California unveiled a proposal Wednesday for the first tuition increase in six years, saying booming enrollment growth and reduced state support have left campuses scrambling to pay for more faculty, course offerings, classrooms and financial aid.
Under the proposal, tuition would grow to $11,502 for the 2017-18 school year a 2.5% increase, or $282. The student services fee would increase to $1,128, a $54 increase. But financial aid would cover the increases for two-thirds of the universitys California resident students, who number about 175,500, said UC spokeswoman Dianne Klein.
For the record: A previous version of this article misspelled the first name of Audrey Dow, of the Campaign for College Opportunity, as Audrew.
Nonresident undergraduates would face a total increase of $1,668. They would pay the same increases in base tuition and student fees but also a 5% hike in their supplemental tuition, which would rise $1,332 from $26,682 currently to $28,014 next year.
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Were at the point where if we dont do this, if we dont invest, the quality of education is going to suffer, Klein said. We want these students to have the same or better experience than students who came before them.
The proposed increases will be presented to the UC Board of Regents this month. They have been opposed by many students, and protests briefly shut down the last regents meeting in November. Students have said that even with financial aid covering their tuition, they face hardships paying for food and rent in the high-cost areas where most campuses are located, such as Berkeley, Westwood, San Diego and Santa Barbara.
Ralph Washington Jr., the UC Student Assn. president, said many students want a rollback of the current tuition and fees, which have more than doubled since 2006 and are at their highest level in history. He said students understand the university systems financial crunch but want a greater voice in how money is spent.
Klein said all of the increased revenue which would total $88 million would be used to benefit students. Many would receive more financial aid because one-third of money raised by any tuition increase goes directly into student awards, and assistance from the state-funded Cal Grant and Middle Class Scholarship programs also increases automatically.
A California resident student with an annual family income of $120,000, Klein said, would receive an estimated additional $700 in financial aid more than twice the amount needed to cover the proposed $336 hike.
But many Californians support making at least some public colleges tuition-free as New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo proposed this week. Cuomo announced a plan to make city and state colleges and universities free for students with family incomes of $125,000 or less.
A statewide survey last month by the Public Policy Institute of California found that nearly three-quarters of respondents spanning all political parties, race, ethnicities, incomes and education levels backed making community colleges tuition-free. An even greater share 82% supported more scholarships and grants for students. Higher taxes for higher education were supported by 68% of Democrats, 20% of Republicans and 42% of independents, according to the survey.
Assemblyman Jose Medina (D-Riverside), chairman of the Assemblys higher education committee, said there were no plans yet to follow New Yorks lead. But he said he would fight for more funding and was moderately optimistic about solutions other than tuition hikes.
Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) plans to hold a hearing in February on how to expand financial aid for needy college students to cover not only tuition but housing and other needs.
Even now, however, California provides some of the most generous financial aid in the nation. UC covers tuition for all students with family incomes of $80,000 and less. Of the 2.1 million California Community College students, 45% receive tuition waivers from the Board of Governors, while 61% of Cal State University undergraduates pay no tuition.
A scholarship program to assist middle-class families earning up to $156,000 annually will be fully phased in by the 2017-18 school year.
With the UC increases, campuses would be able to hire more faculty to lower class sizes, which have swelled in recent years following the largest boost in enrollment of California students since World War II. The student-faculty ratio at UC San Diego, for instance, grew to 27 to 1 over the last eight years well above the historical ratio of 18 to 1. A tuition increase would help fund more tenure-track faculty throughout UC, including 27 more at UC San Diego, 34 more at UC Davis and more than 40 more at UC Irvine, Klein said.
She added that the tuition and fee increases also would help pay for more counselors, tutors, mental-health counselors, graduate-student fellowships and improvements to classroom spaces.
Washington argued, however, that not all students necessarily would benefit from the added services. If the new faculty hired were not sufficiently diverse, for instance, they would not improve the campus climate for marginalized students. He said he personally wanted to see more money spent on such needs as staff for sexual misconduct cases and support for hungry students.
Juniper Cordova-Goff, a third-year UC Berkeley student, said UC should lower executive pay rather than stick students with higher tuition. She said she receives enough financial aid to cover tuition and fees but that even with a full-time job, she still scrambles to cover the cost of housing, books and food because she sends money to her parents, who are homeless.
But Audrey Dow of the Campaign for College Opportunity a nonprofit that advocates expanding college access called the tuition proposal reasonable given rising costs and the long tuition freeze and said, UC has made a good commitment to cover the increase for low-income families.
UC officials say that modest and predictable tuition increases could help families better plan their college expenses and give the university greater financial stability.
The state slashed nearly one-third of its support to UC after the 2008 recession prompting the university to impose double-digit tuition increases but has steadily restored the funding in the last six years in exchange for a tuition freeze and some academic and administrative reforms.
Gov. Jerry Brown is among the elected officials who have said a modest increase next year would be reasonable after the six-year tuition freeze.
The proposal is sure to draw scrutiny from the regents. At the last meeting in November, Regent Eddie Island said UC should consider providing more aid to students to cover the full cost of attendance, and Regent Norman J. Pattiz said he had presided over many tuition hikes during his long years on the board but that using financial aid to justify another one doesnt fly anymore.
Pattiz said Tuesday he remains undecided about his support. He said he wants answers to key questions first, such as what the alternatives to a tuition hike might be.
teresa.watanabe@latimes.com
Twitter: @teresawatanabe
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4:25 p.m.: This article has been updated with additional comments from students and advocates.
This article was originally published at 12:10 p.m.
Bail was set at $300,000 Tuesday for a Tijuana City Council member who is facing money-laundering charges in San Diego.
Superior Court Judge David J. Danielsen rejected the prosecutions $5-million bail request for Luis Torres Santillan, which described him as a flight risk.
The councilmans attorney argued that Torres had never been arrested before, held U.S. and Mexican citizenship and was married to a teacher working in Chula Vista.
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According to Anthony Colombo, his client is the general manager of Productos Diamond, a family-operated Tijuana business that imports rice, beans and lentils from different parts of the world and sells them in Mexico.
The councilman had been in office for 16 days when he was arrested at the border Dec. 16. Charged with 10 counts of money laundering, he has pleaded not guilty and currently is on leave from the council.
The case is one of three resulting from an investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administrations narcotics task force, in collaboration with other agencies. Torres is one of 12 defendants named in a complaint filed by the state of California.
According to court documents, proceeds from illegal activity were being smuggled from Mexico into the United States, deposited into banks and then wired back to Mexico.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Feb. 9.
local@sduniontribune.com
The Joe and Murray Show, the high-stakes, long-running rivalry between an Arizona sheriff and federal judge, has chosen a federal appeals court as its new backdrop for an eighth year that has turned ugly and increasingly personal.
Since 2009, Arizonans have watched the drama play out between Joe Arpaio, 84, and U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow, 57. Among the shows highlights: unintentional comedy and spying allegations, remorseful confessions and digital-age intrigue, and dont forget the investigations into investigators followed by investigations into the investigators investigating the original investigation.
There was even a rerun.
Through it all, the two main players have maintained stoic public faces while letting accusations and counterpunches fly among mountains of legal briefs and judicial orders. The most recent came last week, when Arpaio asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to remove Snow from his case.
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During more than 20 years as sheriff of Maricopa County, Arpaio was used to defeating those who challenged him. As recently as 2012, the U.S. Justice Department cleared Arpaio of wrongdoing in a four-year abuse-of-power investigation. But in Snow, Arpaio may have met his match.
After reviewing Arpaios treatment of Latino drivers in massive stings targeting immigrants in the country illegally, Snow deemed Arpaios application of justice as unfair, partial and inequitable, and found the sheriff broke the law in failing to carry out a 2011 court order to refrain from bias against minorities.
Thus, the Joe and Murray Show really got going.
The two men are more similar than different. Snow and Arpaio are both conservative Arizonans with a long history of federal service, Arpaio in the Drug Enforcement Administration and Snow on the bench.
Their differences come down to their jobs, personalities and the nature of the public spotlight: Arpaio is used to it, even thrives in it, and pulled Snow, a devout Mormon, into its glare. In Phoenix, Arpaio is a longtime power player, Snow a relative unknown. Arpaio is used to turning to the court of public opinion, until he came to Snows federal court, where cameras arent allowed.
Arpaio learned years ago that by pulling federal court proceedings into the public square and personifying the governments investigation into him, he can divert public attention from the allegations against him and raise significant sums of money for his legal defense and reelection campaigns.
He prevailed against another federal judge in 2009. At Arpaios urging, a Mexican American judge was disqualified because her twin sister was a prominent leader of a national Latino advocacy organization. Arpaio used the experience as further proof to his supporters that there was a grand federal conspiracy at work against him, a theme he continued while facing off against Murray last year.
Dear Patriot, Arpaio began a 2015 fundraising letter. In the daily exercise of doing my job I am often targeted by groups that file legal actions against me for a variety of reasons. I do not have the personal wealth or the wherewithal to keep up with the costly demands of paying for attorneys to defend me.
But he hasnt been as successful with Snow, though not for lack of trying.
In May 2015, Arpaio asked for Snow to be taken off the case. His reasoning: The judge is personally involved in the case because Arpaios former lawyer authorized a secret investigation of Snows wife.
Snow declined to remove himself. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals then denied Arpaios request to remove Snow. Petitioners have not demonstrated that this case warrants the intervention of this court by means of the extraordinary remedy of mandamus, a three-judge panel wrote in an order denying Arpaios motion.
If 9th Circuit justices thought that was the last Snow-family-related appeal they would receive from Arpaio, they havent been watching the Joe and Murray Show closely.
In August, Arpaio made his case against Snow in a fundraising letter, breaking from his usual practice of warning against a general conspiracy against him and taking the unusual step of identifying the judge as the problem.
The judge made this decision just 10 days before my primary election! Arpaio wrote in late August, before winning the Republican county primary. Im now going to have to fight tooth and nail against this court action. Thats why I need your help, right away. Barack Obama, his Justice Department and their far-left allies like the ACLU would love nothing better than to see me convicted of a crime.
In a court filing this week, Arpaio chose another Snow family member: his brother-in-law.
Arpaio argues that Snow learned that his brother-in-law was an equity partner in the law firm representing plaintiffs against Arpaio in 2010, but did not recuse himself, though Snow did notify the parties in the lawsuit in 2012.
By then, Judge Snow had awarded [the law firm] nearly $100,000 in attorneys fees at a time when only he knew that his relative might share in those fees, according to Arpaios filing.
The main issue with the appeal? Arpaio had waived his right to contest the conflict of interest after Snow revealed the connection, something his attorneys say Arpaio did to avoid delaying resolution of a case that had already significantly impaired their financial and reputational well-being.
Now, Arpaios attorneys want the waiver deemed null and void, and want Snows connection to his brother-in-law back before the appellate court. In addition to Snows connection to his brother-in-laws firm, Arpaio also alleges that Snow had improper contact with the federal monitor overseeing the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office.
Arpaio lost his seventh bid for sheriff in November, and his successor is Paul Penzone.
Arpaios court costs, billed to the county, amount to more than $48 million. But those costs came in a civil trial, and Snow in August referred Arpaio to the U.S. attorney for Arizona, which charged Arpaio with criminal contempt, accusing him of violating Snows orders to stop profiling Latino drivers.
In criminal court, Arpaio will have to bear his own legal fees, a matter he has pledged to contest. His trial is scheduled to begin April 4. The Joe and Murray Show rolls on.
nigel.duara@latimes.com
Twitter: @nigelduara
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The Pentagon said Tuesday it would waive repayment for more than 15,000 California National Guard soldiers and veterans who received enlistment bonuses over the last decade but that 1,000 or so other service members would not have their debts waived.
Peter Levine, the Pentagons top personnel official, told reporters that the Defense Department would begin notifying soldiers this month that their debts were being waived and that all of the notifications would be completed before July 1.
We think that the number of cases in which well be recouping will be a few hundred, as opposed to the many thousands of cases that are under the sword of Damocles right now, Levine said.
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Levines figures were higher than those the California Guard had provided in recent months, and suggest the problem was larger than previously recognized. California Guard officials had said they had audited 14,000 soldiers bonuses and that about 9,800 were facing repayment demands.
The announcement follows President Obamas signing of a defense authorization bill into law on Dec. 23. The bill contained language that required the Pentagon to conduct a case-by-case review of the California Guard bonuses and to wave repayment unless a soldier took the money fraudulently or did not fulfill his or her enlistment contract.
The Times reported in October that the California Guard was using tax liens and other aggressive tactics to force about 9,700 soldiers and veterans to repay enlistment bonuses and other financial incentives awarded during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Though some of the bonuses were awarded improperly, The Times found that many of the repayment demands resulted from the California Guard losing soldiers records or other administrative errors. Many of the soldiers who received the demands had served in combat, and some returned with severe injuries.
Many soldiers were told to repay bonuses of $15,000 or more, years after they had completed their military service. Student loan repayments, which were given to some soldiers with educational loans, sometimes totaled as much as $50,000.
In the most detailed accounting of the fiasco yet, Levine said that a Pentagon review had found a total of 17,500 bonuses were paid to California Guard soldiers from 2004 to 2010.
Of those, he said, 1,400 soldiers had been ordered to begin repaying a bonus or student loan incentive, while another 16,000 had been notified that they could face debt collection.
About half the 1,400 who have been repaying their bonuses are likely to have the debts waived and their money returned, Levine said.
About 1,000 or fewer of the remaining 16,000 will have to repay, he added.
In most cases, repayments will be from soldiers who decided not to fulfill their six-year enlistment terms or other terms of their contract, he said.
Most of the cases in which well be recouping, we will be recouping because the soldier didnt fulfill their commitment, Levine said. There will be some cases in which we have fraud or evidence of fraud or knowledge or should have known.
The cases will be reviewed by the Army Board for the Correction of Military Records.
National Guard soldiers in other states who have been ordered to repay bonuses are not eligible for the debt forgiveness that Congress approved for California.
Audits by the National Guard of Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky and Pennsylvania starting in 2011 looked at small samples of records and found that hundreds of soldiers received improper bonuses in two of the states. Internal checks in Texas found thousands of improper payments.
The Pentagon has not done a full-scale nationwide audit of National Guard bonus payments. But officials say reforms have been put in place to make it much harder for soldiers to receive bonuses for which they are not entitled.
Pentagon officials have said California was distinct in scale and because a handful of soldiers fraudulently took bonuses.
Explaining the decision to limit forgiveness to California soldiers, Levine said, Weve determined that there was no other state in which there was the kind of massive problem that there was in California.
He said fiscal controls on bonuses were lax in other states as well, some of which also had just one person responsible for approving bonuses.
Those internal control problems werent unique to California, he said. What we had in California was the vulnerability was systematically exploited. Thats why we had the problem there that we didnt have elsewhere.
Most of the improper bonuses in California were processed by Army Master Sgt. Toni Jaffe, the California Guards incentive manager, who pleaded guilty in 2011 to filing false claims of $15.2 million and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
Jaffe was the sole official in the California Guard responsible for processing bonuses. She told The Times in an interview last month that she was overworked and under pressure to approve bonuses to meet recruiting goals.
david.cloud@latimes.com
Twitter: @davidcloudLAT
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The white supremacist found guilty last month of gunning down nine black members of a South Carolina Bible study class plans to represent himself Wednesday in court proceedings to determine whether he will receive the death penalty.
In an unusual move, 22-year-old high school dropout Dylann Roof has chosen to dismiss his experienced capital defense attorney.
If the 12-member jury votes unanimously in favor of the death penalty, Roof could become the first person in American history sentenced to death in a federal hate-crimes trial. He faces death by lethal injection or life in prison.
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On Dec. 15, a federal jury in Charleston found Roof guilty of 33 counts in the June 2015 massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, including committing a hate crime against black victims, obstructing the exercise of religion and using a firearm to commit murder. The Department of Justice is seeking the death penalty on the basis of Roofs significant premeditation, apparent lack of remorse and stated animosity toward African Americans.
On Monday, Judge Richard Gergel ruled Roof competent to represent himself during sentencing. The decision, announced after a daylong hearing that was closed to the public, represented yet another blow for Roofs court-appointed attorneys, who have failed to convince their client that his best chance of avoiding execution is a mental health defense.
When sentencing starts Wednesday, federal attorneys will begin to call more than 30 witnesses in an attempt to persuade jurors that Roof should be sentenced to death. Roof, meanwhile, plans on calling no witnesses and presenting no evidence.
I expect it to be a charade of a capital sentencing, said Christopher Adams, a Charleston defense attorney who specializes in federal cases and is not involved in this one. Here you have a guy who clearly is mentally ill, and he is not going to present any mental health evidence. So the jurors are going to be asked to make the toughest decision imaginable under law without any real information.
During the trial, jurors watched Roof confess in a taped interview with FBI investigators, heard from two survivors who identified him as the shooter and saw closed-circuit television footage of him exiting the scene of the crime with a gun in his hand. Even his attorney admitted Roof committed the massacre.
If anybody ever has been a candidate for the death penalty, Dylann Roof would be a candidate, said Joseph Darby, a presiding elder of the Beaufort District of the A.M.E. Church and the first vice president of the Charleston branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. If he is not executed, it would be hard to make the case for anyone else to be executed in America.
Family members who testify during the sentencing phase of the trial are not allowed to tell the jury what penalty they would like Roof to receive.
Two days after the massacre, some relatives of those who died expressed forgiveness at Roofs bond hearing, calling for God to have mercy on him. President Obama and Republican Gov. Nikki Haley praised what they called family members grace.
From the beginning, Roof has balked against the idea of being defended on the basis of any mentally illness.
I am morally opposed to psychology, he scrawled in a journal that investigators found in his car after the massacre. It is a Jewish invention, and does nothing but invent diseases and tell people they have problems when they dont.
I will not be calling mental health experts or presenting mental health evidence, he wrote to Judge Gergel a day after a jury found him guilty.
If Roof is sentenced to death, the dispute about his choice to represent himself and his withholding of information about his mental health will probably lead to multiple appeals, legal experts said.
Before the trial began, a rift emerged between Roof and his lawyers over the question of his mental health. Roofs attorneys raised questions about his mental state, asking the judge to declare their client incompetent to stand trial. Capital defendants often choose to represent themselves in order to prevent presentation of mitigating evidence at the penalty phase of their trials that they cannot bear to have revealed, they noted in a court motion.
After ordering a psychiatric competency assessment of Roof, Gergel found him capable of standing trial, stating he had an extremely high IQ and was able to understand legal proceedings.
But some legal experts pointed to a difference between mental ability and judgment.
You can have an understanding of the legal process, but that does not mean you are any less mentally ill or emotionally disturbed, said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. To the extent that your extreme mental illness or emotional disturbance affects your perception of the evidence, and affects your perceptions of issues like motive, you may be incapable of making rational trial decisions.
During the guilt portion of the trial, Roofs attorney, David Bruck, tried repeatedly to raise the issue of mental illness, drawing attention to his clients abnormal and delusional behavior: his seeming inability, a day after the crime, to judge how many people he had killed; his unwillingness to make small talk with investigators; his admission to FBI agents that he didnt have a best friend.
Roof, he emphasized, was a loner who took hundreds of photos of his cat, and appeared to have no close connection with any human being.
After the jury found Roof guilty and he reiterated his decision to represent himself in the sentencing phase, his attorneys asked the judge for a second hearing, again raising the question of Roofs competence. A court-appointed forensic psychiatrist examined Roof last weekend. After interviewing the psychiatrist and a number of other witnesses, Gergel again ruled that Roof was competent to represent himself.
While Roof has said he will not introduce witnesses, he is likely to deliver opening and closing statements during his sentencing phase. Gergel issued firm ground rules Monday, specifying that Roof must sit at the third seat from the center aisle, address jurors from a lectern facing the jury box, and not attempt to approach the jury, the witness stand, or the bench.
Even if Roof, who faces a separate death penalty trial in state court later this month, is sentenced to death, he is unlikely to be executed anytime soon partly because death penalty cases involve years of appeals, but also because South Carolina is one of many states that faces challenges in acquiring drugs for lethal injection.
Jarvie is a special correspondent.
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They are falsehoods President-elect Donald Trump has repeated over and over again: Inner-city crime is reaching record levels.
The murder rate in the United States, its the worst, the highest its been in 45 years.
You wont hear this from the media: We have the highest murder rate in this country in 45 years.
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You wont hear it from the media because it isnt true. But thats also not the whole story.
Though mostly far below their record levels in the 1980s and 1990s, homicides have jumped dramatically in some U.S. cities over the last two years, breaking from Americas decades-long decline in violent crime as Trump prepares to take control of federal law enforcement agencies. And as often is the case with crime statistics, experts cant pinpoint what causes numbers to rise or fall.
Although the FBI wont release 2016s national homicide totals for a while, in some cities the numbers are hard to ignore, representing hundreds more lost lives, broken families and mourning neighborhoods.
Chicago saw at least 762 victims, its most since 1996. Killings there soared more than 50% compared with 2015. Memphis, Tenn., saw a record 228 deaths. Las Vegas had its highest homicide total in at least 20 years, and so did San Antonio.
Crime scene tape is tied to a pole in Chicago across from the Labor of Love church, where a Christmas day shooting left Jamil Farley dead on Dec. 27, 2016. (Scott Olson / Getty Images )
Other metro areas seemed to settle into an ugly new normal. Baltimore just had its second-deadliest year ever per capita, after 2015, when fatal and nonfatal shootings soared by more than 75%. Baltimores 2016 death toll was 318 victims, a dip from at least 344 a year earlier.
Milwaukees 142 homicides nearly kept pace with its bloodshed of 2015, the citys deadliest year since 1993. (In 2015, Milwaukees homicides jumped nearly 69%.) The situation was similarly unchanged in 2016 for St. Louis, whose 2015 was its deadliest in 20 years.
Yet if you keep looking around, the picture gets more complicated. Homicides also rose in Los Angeles in 2016, but by a much smaller amount: 5%. The city is still far less deadly than it was even a decade ago.
Homicides in Washington, D.C., dropped by 17% compared with 2015. New York City saw a small decline of homicides in 2016 and almost beat its record low. Homicides in Baton Rouge, La., and its surrounding parish plummeted 22%. It doesnt lend for easy explanations for experts.
Tevin Green, center, shakes hands with New York Police Department recruiter Officer Omisanya during a job fair on Nov. 15, 2016, in Brooklyn. (Mark Lennihan / Associated Press )
Can we explain either the general direction, or more importantly, the pattern of change? said Franklin Zimring, a professor of law at UC Berkeley who has studied crime rates. The answer is: not really.
History has shown that crime rates can behave unpredictably and that presidents, while making crime a top campaign issue, have had limited success in decreasing homicides.
Sixty years ago, in 1957, Americas homicide rate was 4.0 killings for every 100,000 people, the lowest point of the 1950s. It hasnt been that low since.
Homicides began to seriously jump in the U.S. in the late 1960s, a time when deep social upheaval roiled the nation. For the first time, polls showed Americans believed crime was the nations No. 1 problem.
Seeking to capitalize on those fears, Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon ran on a law and order campaign platform in 1968, partly to court white voters in the South. During his first term in the Oval Office, Nixon declared a war on drugs, citing abuse and calling narcotics a major contributor to crime.
But it didnt work. Homicides kept increasing through the rest of Nixons time in office and the rest of the 1970s.
By the 1980s, America was almost twice as deadly on average as the 1950s. President Reagan called for a tougher approach after taking office.
Many of you have written to me how afraid you are to walk the streets alone at night, Reagan said in a 1982 radio address. We must make America safe again, especially for women and elderly who face so many moments of fear.
Death sentences soared during the 1980s, and so did prison populations, often with the help of state legislatures, where politicians embraced mandatory-minimum prison sentences that brought tougher punishments for drug-related offenses and violent crimes.
There was a moment in the early 1980s when homicides began to drop. It dropped so much in between 80 and 85 that we were having conferences called Crime is down Why? What happens next? Zimring said. What happened next is it went back up.
Depending on which way you count, Americas worst-ever year for homicides in the modern era was either 1980 when the homicide rate hit its peak at 10.2 killings for every 100,000 people, with 23,040 homicides or in 1991 when a record 24,703 people were killed. The homicide rate for 1991 was 9.8 deaths per 100,000 people, according to FBI statistics.
But then the unexpected happened: Carnage began to subside in the 1990s, slowly but surely, and continued to drop for the next two decades.
New York City police officers greet a man as they patrol Brooklyns Bushwick neighborhood on Dec. 31, 1996, during a period when the citys violent crime rate was dropping dramatically. (Adam Nadel / Associated Press )
The trend puzzled experts. Some suggested it had to do with tough prison sentences and larger, more skilled police departments. Some suggested it was the result of more abortion. Some suggested it was video games keeping kids busy and off the streets.
Some credited lower lead poisoning rates, which led to less developmental damage in children.
Mass incarceration also didnt offer an easy explanation. In the last half of the 1980s, which had the largest increase in imprisonment in American history, crime went up, Zimring said. There arent any easy answers that fit the data.
By 2014, homicides had dropped to levels not seen since the early 1960s: 4.5 killings for every 100,000 people, or 13,280 deaths, according to the FBI.
By then, much of the mainstream debate about violence had focused on preventing mass shootings, which represented a small but politically charged portion of the nations homicides. A surging liberal justice reform movement found an ally in the Obama administration.
Then homicides began to jump in some cities in 2015, leading to a new generation of theories, speculating that the causes could be due to surging heroin use, more inmates being released from prison, and the Ferguson effect, which claims that criticism and protests of police over a few highly controversial cases had led to less aggressive policing overall.
On Nov. 25, 2014, police officers watch protesters as smoke fills the streets in Ferguson, Mo. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press )
On Monday, Trump addressed his concerns about Chicago, tweeting incorrectly that Chicagos murder rate was record setting. (Chicagos highest death toll was in 1974, and its deadliest year per capita was in 1994.) He also appeared to offer his assistance to Mayor Rahm Emanuel. If Mayor cant do it he must ask for Federal help! Trump tweeted.
Zimring had his doubts that, whatever Trumps agenda, the president could make a clear impact on the homicide rate. We cant just give it another dose of what worked last week, because we dont know what worked last week, Zimring said.
He added of presidents trying to bring down crime: If Nixon didnt, if Lyndon [Johnson] didnt, if Jimmy Carter didnt and Ronald Reagan didnt, then why should Mr. Trump?
Email: matt.pearce@latimes.com
Follow me on Twitter: @mattdpearce
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Federal jurors at the biggest gang trial in recent Chicago history Wednesday convicted the core leadership of the Hobos, who prosecutors billed as an all-star team of the type of ruthless gangs police largely blame for an alarming spike in homicides in 2016.
The nations third largest city logged 762 homicides last year, the highest tally in 20 years and more in 2016 than the two largest New York and Los Angeles combined. More than 50 people were shot and 11 killed over the long Christmas weekend alone as some gangs sought out and shot rivals gathering at holiday parties, police said.
Accused Hobos boss Gregory Bowlegs Chester, alleged hit man Paris Poe and four others were found guilty of a racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors alleged the conspiracy included the murder of at least nine people, from gang rivals to government witnesses. Prosecutors say the Hobos cultivated a reputation for brutality, once even torturing robbery victims with a hot clothing iron, to extend their power on the citys South Side.
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After three months of testimony, 12 panelists deliberated for six days, with notes sent to the judge hinting at some discord inside. The most serious charge in a 10-count indictment was racketeering conspiracy, a charge designed as a legal tool to go after all forms of organized crime. Nine standalone counts included drug and gun charges.
So feared are the Hobos that some witnesses were visibly nervous testifying with its alleged leaders looking on. One refused outright to speak against the gang, telling the judge, I choose not to testify for the sake of me and my family. He was held in contempt and given a 60-day sentence.
Their alleged crimes included the fatal shooting of government witness Keith Daniels in 2013, in front of his screaming step-children, to stop Daniels from testifying, and the robbery at gunpoint of then-NBA player Bobby Simmons relieving him of a $200,000 diamond-and-gold chain outside a nightclub.
There are more than 150,000 street-gang members in Chicago, though many arent active, according to the nongovernmental Chicago Crime Commission. The Hobos trial was considered so significant because so many purported gang leaders were on trial simultaneously, and also because of how prosecutors portrayed the Hobos as uniquely brazen and vicious.
U.S. attorneys in Chicago have said for years that dismantling gangs was a key to reducing violence. They used racketeering laws to convict other gang bosses, including Latin Kings leader Augustin Zambrano in 2011. Racketeering laws enable prosecutors go after individuals, not necessarily for specific crimes, but for their leadership of groups that displayed patterns of illicit activity over years.
Experts said an underlying cause of gang violence was the demolition of public housing starting in the 1990s that dispersed gang members into rival-gang neighborhoods. Others pointed to an unintended consequence of prosecuting gang leaders: Breaking up a gangs command structure leads to inter-gang rivalry and, therefore, to even more violence.
Others say causes of violence are more varied, pointing to poverty and growing availability of high-caliber guns. And even when gang members are involved, the genesis of a deadly conflict is sometimes insults or perceived slights rather than territorial disputes, gang expert John Hagedorn has argued.
The Hobos had fewer members than the Latin Kings, Vice Lords and other gangs. But they were well-organized, well-armed and quick to kill. Hits were often carried out in daylight, including one five-car drive-by shooting that killed two Black Disciple rivals outside a funeral home; hours later, the Hobos celebrated the killings at a luxury hotel off Michigan Avenue, prosecutors said.
Poe killed Daniels, a gang associate-turned-informant, days after Chesters arrest and after Daniels testified to a grand jury in the racketeering case, prosecutors said. He stood over and shot Daniels more than a dozen times at close range as the mans 4-year-old stepdaughter and 6-year-old stepson looked on.
In a courtroom video, the boy recalled shots through the windows before his stepfather stumbled from the family car, saying, I was covering my ears because the gunshots were too loud. Prosecutor Derek Owens told jurors the murder sent this message: You dont snitch on the Hobos.
The onus was on prosecutors to prove, not only that the six men committed crimes, but that they coordinated their crimes.
Chester, 39, was the only defendant to testify, insisting the Hobos gang didnt even exist despite his full-arm tattoo emblazoned with the words: Hobo: The Earth is Our Turf. And he said the supposed Hobos horns gang sign he flashed in photographs was merely a universal sign of celebration.
Chester, born with a rare bone disease that has badly deformed his legs, scoffed when asked if someone who struggled to even walk could head a gang. A crippled gang leader? he answered. No, sir.
Prosecutor Timothy Storino told jurors Chester led not with his legs but with his head, calling him smart as hell. Chester relied on others, sometimes children, to do the dirty work, prosecutors said.
Chester said he grew up poor in the now-demolished Robert Taylor projects where only the strong survived and faced ridicule because of his rickets, a bone deformity caused by nutritional deficiencies.
He described himself a hustler who dealt heroin, then smartly invested in record labels and clubs. He said the other five charged had nothing to do with his crimes and he had nothing to do with theirs.
Defense lawyer Beau Brindley told jurors authorities manipulated evidence against Chester, likening the investigation to an archer who shoots an arrow and then draws a target around wherever it lands.
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Neil Gorsuch could fall somewhere between his hero, Justice Scalia, and former boss, centrist Justice Kennedy By David Savage Judge Neil M. Gorsuch was resting midway down a Colorado ski slope last year when his cellphone rang with the news that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had died. I immediately lost what breath I had left, Gorsuch recalled in an April speech, and I am not embarrassed to admit that I couldnt see the rest of the way down the mountain for the tears. Now, as President Trumps pick to replace Scalia on the high court, Gorsuch is seen by many on the right as a fitting replacement for the iconic jurist that Gorsuch considered a lion of the law. Like Scalia, Gorsuch, 49, who serves on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, is a well-respected conservative who believes judges should decide cases based on the law as it was understood when passed, not on how they think it should be. Hes a clear, impassioned writer, albeit without Scalias flare for biting sarcasm. But Gorsuch also evokes the qualities of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, for whom Gorsuch worked as a law clerk. (If confirmed, Gorsuch would join three justices who previously clerked on the high court, but he would be the first ever to serve alongside the justice he or she worked for.) Like Kennedy, 80, Gorsuch is a Westerner with a polite, congenial manner who at times has won praise from liberals. He may be more conservative than Kennedy when it comes to expanding individual rights, but he seems to lack Scalias fervor for overturning liberal precedents from decades past. Which way Gorsuch skews could be pivotal for the future of the court. Conservatives clearly hope hell be more like Scalia than Kennedy, a centrist swing vote who has often joined liberals on issues such as gay marriage and abortion. Some conservatives have even expressed hope that Gorsuchs personal history with Kennedy might enable him to draw the Reagan-appointee back toward the right. Read More Facebook
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Trump chooses Neil Gorsuch, a conservative seen as likely to be confirmed, for Supreme Court By Michael A. Memoli President Trump nominated federal Judge Neil M. Gorsuch on Tuesday to the Supreme Court to fill the seat of the late Antonin Scalia, choosing from his short list an appeals court judge from Denver seen as most likely to win Senate confirmation. Because Scalia was a stalwart conservative, Trumps choice is not likely to change the balance of the court. But it does set the stage for a bruising partisan fight over a man who could help determine law on gun rights, immigration, police use of force and transgender rights. Read More Facebook
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Trump administration is radicalizing Democratic voters, creating a challenge for the party, Rep. Adam Schiff says By Sarah D. Wire (Mark Wilson / Getty Images) As protests spread over policy announcements from the Trump administration, Democrats must work to encourage participation in politics, but face a danger of the party becoming too radicalized, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) said Tuesday. The radical nature of this government is radicalizing Democrats, and thats going to pose a real challenge to the Democratic Party, which is to draw on the energy and the activism and the passion that is out there, but not let it turn us into what we despised about the tea party, Schiff said. During a meeting with reporters and editors in the Los Angeles Times Washington bureau, Schiff also discussed his role as the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Select Intelligence Committee under a Trump administration and how Democrats will manage in the minority. Ever since the election, party leaders have been debating: Did we lose because we were too far to the left and we had too small a tent, or did we lose because we are too mainstream and didnt energize the base? Schiff asked. We are obviously having that debate, but theres a whole new element, which is the reaction to the Trump administration that makes this different in kind, certainly different in intensity, than I think weve ever seen after an election, he said. The more radical the administration is, the more radicalized our base becomes, which just feeds the Breitbart crowd, and who knows where that ends. Democratic leaders have to channel public reaction to Trumps actions into progress, rather than deadlock, Schiff said. Reaction to Democrats seen as working with the Trump administration has been strong. Monday night, for example, protesters marched on Sen. Dianne Feinsteins home and office voicing fears she would back Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general. The senator from California announced Tuesday that she would oppose Sessions. Several groups calling themselves indivisible have popped up in cities across the country as focal points for efforts to organize. We have two of the most capable strategists as the head of our House and Senate Democrats, Schiff added, referring to House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Senate Democratic leader Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York. If anybody can grapple with this, they can, but its going to be a challenging and moving target day to day. I just hope that we can channel that energy in a way where we can provide a check on this administration because Ive never been more worried about the countrys future than I am right now, he said. Schiff said part of his role as the ranking Democrat on the House Select Intelligence Committee will be pushing back when the Trump administration puts out inaccurate information about the intelligence community and its findings. Trump has repeatedly dismissed or sought to minimize the intelligence communitys findings that Russia sought to intervene in the 2016 election to benefit him. Schiff said hes concerned about what else the administration might be willing to dismiss. I think that will be kind of a new frontier, he said. How do we contradict a president making representations about what the intelligence community has to say when the information is classified? Facebook
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Trump administration signals that some temporary bans on entry into the U.S. could become permanent By Brian Bennett Trumps orders put a greater emphasis on deporting those convicted of crimes and those in the country illegally who were charged with crimes not yet adjudicated The Trump administration doubled down Tuesday on its commitment to transforming the nations border law enforcement, signaling that some of the temporary bans on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries are likely to be made permanent and elevating a deportations official to run the top immigration enforcement agency. Administration officials, led by newly sworn-in Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, moved to allay the havoc that marked the roll-out of the ban and another on refugees. They briefed reporters and planned to head to Capitol Hill later today in an apparent effort to smooth relations after reports that lawmakers and other stakeholders were left out of the crafting of the executive order on toughened vetting at border entry points. In a news conference, Kelly and other top Homeland Security officials conceded some problems, including poor communication. But they insisted that all court orders were followed over the weekend, rebutted reports that some legal residents were denied access to attorneys at airports and said they everyone detained by border agents was treated with dignity and respect. The vast majority of the 1.7 billion Muslims that live on this planet, the vast majority of them have, all other things being equal, have access to the United States, Kelly told reporters. And a relatively small number right now are being held up for a period of time until we can take a look at what their procedures are, he said, seeming to acknowledge that mostly Muslims have been affected by the ban. The moves signaled that the White House remained committed to remaking border law enforcement even in the face of widespread confusion and condemnation of President Trumps order. Kelly said for the first time that the some of the restrictions that caused confusion and sparked protests over the weekend could be extended well into the future. Some of those countries that are currently on the list may not be taken off the list anytime soon, he said. Trump also named a longtime deportation officer, Thomas D. Homan, as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homan, who will oversee the execution of Trumps immigration enforcement order, was most recently in charge of the agencys 5,000 deportation officers, a force Trump said he would triple to 15,000. Trumps orders put a greater emphasis on deporting not only those convicted of crimes, but also people in the country illegally who were charged with crimes not yet adjudicated, those who receive an improper welfare benefit and even those who have not been charged but are believed to have committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense. Facebook
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White House tries to ban the word ban, hours after president uses it himself By Noah Bierman This is not a ban, spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters in a fiery news briefing. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) President Trump used the word ban in a tweet as recently as Monday to describe his new executive order suspending travel from seven Muslim-majority countries and halting the refugee program for several months. But facing backlash from many directions, the White House adamantly insisted Tuesday that the word is verboten. This is not a ban, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters in a fiery news briefing. When we use words like travel ban, he said later, that misrepresents what it is. Its seven countries previously identified by the Obama administration, where, frankly, we dont get the information that we need for people coming into this country. In fact, people from the seven banned countries Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Libya cannot enter the United States under the order. Spicer appeared to be making a renewed effort to distinguish the order from the all-out ban on Muslims entering the country that Trump proposed during the campaign. Many around the world see the newest policy as an outgrowth of that proposal. Trump himself conceded a religious connection when he said in an interview on Friday that he wanted to make it easier for Syrian Christians to enter the country. And former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told Fox News that the order sprang from a group he formed at Trumps request to create a legal framework that would accomplish the campaign goal of a Muslim ban. But amid confusion and worldwide criticism in recent days, the Trump administration has tried to temper some of the more incendiary rhetoric around the proposal. Even the words extreme vetting, a favorite Trump slogan, were called into question by Spicer on Tuesday. Calling for tougher vetting [of] individual travelers from seven nations is not extreme, he said. It is reasonable and necessary to protect our country. But changing the ban branding around the program at this point will be difficult. Heres Trumps tweet from Monday: If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the "bad" would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad "dudes" out there! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017 And Spicer himself used the term ban as recently as Sunday: Sean Spiceer today: This is not a Muslim ban. It is not a travel ban.
Sean Spicer in White House press release, Jan. 29: pic.twitter.com/axTM1m66nM Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) January 31, 2017 Facebook
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Senate confirms Elaine Chao as secretary of Transportation By Associated Press Elaine Chao testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Jan. 11, 2017. (Zach Gibson / AP) The Senate has confirmed Elaine Chao to serve as Transportation secretary in the Trump administration. The vote was 93 to 6 on Tuesday. Chao is an experienced Washington hand. She was Labor secretary under President George W. Bush and is the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Chao would be a lead actor in pursuing Trumps promise to invest $1 trillion to improve highways, rail service and other infrastructure projects. Facebook
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Speaker Paul Ryan defends Trumps immigrant and refugee ban, as Congress grumbles about being left out By Lisa Mascaro "What is happening is something we support... we need to make sure that the vetting standards are up to snuff," Paul Ryan says of travel ban pic.twitter.com/iX6YkOLkLl CBS News (@CBSNews) January 31, 2017 House Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Tuesday stood by President Trumps temporary ban on refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations and indicated that he was confident the administration could fix the confusing rollout without action from Congress. What is happening is something we support, said Ryan, whose office was the target of a sit-in by protesters opposed to Trumps order. We need to pause and we need to make sure that the vetting standards are up to snuff so we can guarantee the safety and security of our country. Congress was blindsided by Trumps executive action -- Ryan learned about it as the public did when the White House announced it Friday afternoon. Many GOP lawmakers have raised concerns. During a private meeting in the Capitol basement Tuesday, Republican lawmakers were counseled on how to handle protesters and office sit-ins happening across the country. Its regrettable that there was some confusion on the rollout of this, Ryan said. No one wanted to see people with green cards or special immigrant visas, like translators, get caught up in all of this. Ryan also said he was concerned the ban could be used as propaganda by terrorist groups. The rhetoric surrounding this could be used as a recruiting tool, and I think thats dangerous, he said. Still, Republicans leaders as well as rank-and-file GOP lawmakers largely agreed with the presidents move to halt refugee admissions for 120 days, and to temporarily ban citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries, unless they are Christians or other religious minorities. The president was well within his right to issue an executive order, said Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), chairman of the House Rules Committee. Do I feel let out? I feel like everybody was left out, he said. I wish they communicated it. I wish they had gotten more information to people. I wish they had measured three times and sawed once. Lawmakers have shown little appetite for Congress to get involved, and suggested the chaos that erupted at airports over the weekend was just part of a learning curve at the White House. I support the thrust of the executive order, said Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), who nevertheless said the administration should have been better prepared and will need to get your act together. Last year, Ryan had strongly condemned Trumps campaign-trail call for a Muslim ban. In recent days, Ryan, like other congressional leaders, was forced to dial up the administration with his questions and concerns about the order, conferring Monday with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. I am very pleased and confident that he is, on a going-forward basis, going to make sure that things are done correctly, Ryan said. Pressed on whether Congress would have a role, Ryan did not indicate any immediate legislative action. Facebook
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Democrats boycott Senate committee votes on Price, Mnuchin By Jim Puzzanghera Senate Democrats speak with reporters after boycotting Finance Committee confirmation votes. (JIM WATSON / AFP/Getty Images) Senate Democrats on Tuesday boycotted a committee vote on two of President Trumps top Cabinet nominees -- Tom Price to lead Health and Human Services and Steve Mnuchin to be Treasury secretary. Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) blasted the Democratic move as he sat in a hearing room with only Republicans on the dais. They ought to be embarrassed. Its the most pathetic treatment Ive seen in my 40 years in the United States Senate, Hatch said. I think they should stop posturing and acting like idiots, he said. At least one Democrat needs to be present for the committee to vote on the nominations, Hatch said. He recessed the hearing until further notice, saying he hoped a vote could take place later Tuesday. But asked mid-afternoon if he thought the committee would be able to meet Tuesday, Hatch said it doesnt look like it. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the committees top Democrat, said Price and Mnuchin have misled the public and held back important information about their backgrounds. Until questions are answered, Democrats believe the committee should not move forward with either nomination, Wyden said. This is about getting answers to questions, plain and simple, he said. Ethics laws are not optional, and nominees do not have a right to treat disclosure like a shell game. Today @SenateFinance Democrats refused to move forward with nominations of Mnuchin & Price. Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) January 31, 2017 The litany of ethics revelations regarding @RepTomPrice are strong evidence that he cannot be allowed to have control of #Medicare. Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) January 31, 2017 Mr. Mnuchin continued to fail to come clean on shady foreclosure practices that hurt Americans. Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) January 31, 2017 Liberal groups cheered the boycott while Senate Republican leaders decried it as Democratic obstructionism. They are manufacturing issues on a daily basis to drag this process out, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kent.) said of the confirmations of Trumps nominees. I dont see how they can explain to the American people how it is appropriate to prevent the administration from getting up and getting started, he said. Democrats have said Mnuchin, a wealthy Wall Street executive, misled the committee in his response to a written question about foreclosures at Pasadenas OneWest Bank while he ran it from 2009-15. Democrats pointed to a report Sunday by the Columbus Dispatch that Mnuchin denied that OneWest engaged in so-called robo-signing of mortgage documents. The paper said its analysis of nearly four dozen foreclosure cases in Ohios Franklin County in 2010 showed that the bank frequently used robo-signers. The Columbus Dispatch cited a foreclosure involving a mortgage signed by Erica Johnson-Seck, a OneWest vice president who said in a deposition in a 2009 Florida case that she signed an average of 750 documents a week. Barney Keller, a spokesman for Mnuchin, said Monday that several courts had dismissed cases involving allegations of robo-signing by Johnson-Seck. The media is picking on a hardworking bank employee whose reputation has been maligned but whose work has been upheld by numerous courts all around the country in the face of scurrilous and false allegations, Keller said. Democrats also have problems with Price, a six-term congressman and former orthopedic surgeon who has distinguished himself in conservative circles for his staunch opposition to the Affordable Care Act and his plans to slash federal healthcare spending. His nomination has become among Trumps most controversial, in part because of his hostility to government safety net programs, including Medicaid and Medicare. Democrats have also been increasingly critical of Prices extensive trading in healthcare stocks while he has been in Congress, and in some cases while he has pushed legislation that would benefit his portfolio. Price has denied any wrongdoing. Also drawing criticism is Prices purchase of discounted shares in an Australian biotech firm, Innate Immunotherapeutics, which he was offered through a private deal not available to general shareholders. Price also denied that this was improper, and Senate Republicans have rallied to his side, saying he did not violate any ethics rules. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said he and the other Democrats on the committee want Mnuchin and Price to explain their lies either in person before the committee or in new written answers. I want them to disclose this information that they seem not to want to disclose, Brown said. 12:10 p.m.: This post was updated with additional comments from Hatch as well as from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Sherrod Brown. 8:00 a.m.: This post has been updated with additional information and background. 8:07 a.m.: This post has been updated with additional information. Facebook
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White House aides who wrote Trumps travel ban see it as just the start By Brian Bennett (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Even as confusion, internal dissent and widespread condemnation greeted President Trumps travel ban and crackdown on refugees this weekend, senior White House aides say they are only getting started. Trump and his aides justified Fridays executive order, which blocked travel from seven majority-Muslim countries for 90 days and halted refugees from around the world for 120, on security grounds an issue that they say they take seriously. But their ultimate goal is far broader. Trumps top advisors on immigration, including chief strategist Steve Bannon and senior advisor Stephen Miller, see themselves as launching a radical experiment to fundamentally transform how the U.S. decides who is allowed into the country and to block a generation of people who, in their view, wont assimilate into American society. That project may live or die in the next three months, as the Trump administration reviews whether and how to expand the visa ban and alter vetting procedures. White House aides are considering new, onerous security checks that could effectively limit travel into the U.S. by people from majority-Muslim countries to a trickle. Read More Facebook
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Why corporations cant risk keeping silent about Trumps immigration ban By David Pierson Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz said the Seattle coffee company is developing plans to hire 10,000 refugees over the next five years. (Richard Drew / Associated Press) Corporate America generally prefers to stay quiet about partisan politics. Pick one side of a hot-button issue, the thinking goes, and youll risk losing customers on the other side. But like so many norms before it, President Trump has turned this one on its head. A growing number of companies are deciding its a bigger risk to their investors and bottom line to stay quiet than it is to protest Trumps ban on refugees and travel from seven Muslim-majority nations, betting vocal opposition to the executive order scores them a moral and fiscal victory. While it was possible for companies to take a wait-and-see approach leading up to Trumps inauguration, many firms can no longer ignore the White Houses policy given the effect the order is already having on employees either stranded or fearful of traveling. Only a week ago it seemed foolish to speak out against a president who has admonished individual companies on social media such as Carrier, Boeing and General Motors. Now the pendulum has swung the other way. Companies, mostly in technology but increasingly in other sectors, have decided that its not enough just to speak out against the immigration order. They believe that they must also take headline-grabbing action. Read More Facebook
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Op-Ed: Trump is taking the Bannon Way, and it will end in disaster By Jonah Goldberg Bannon has said hes a Leninist' but hes really more of a Trotskyist because he fancies himself the leader of an international populist-nationalist right wing movement, exporting anti-'globalist' revolution. In that role, his status as an enabler of Trumps instinct to shoot or tweet from the hip seems especially ominous. The Bannon way might work on the campaign trail, but it doesnt translate into good governance. Its possible and one must hope that Trump can learn this fact on the job. But what if he doesnt? He could put the country in serious peril. Jonah Goldberg Read More Facebook
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Trump will leave LGBTQ protections in place By Associated Press (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) The White House says President Trump will leave intact a 2014 executive order that protects federal workers from anti-LGBTQ discrimination. In a statement released early Tuesday, the White House said Trump is determined to protect the rights of all Americans, including the LGBTQ community and that he continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election. The Trump administration has vowed to roll back much of President Obamas work from the last eight years and had been scrutinizing the 2014 order. The directive protects people from LGBTQ discrimination while working for federal contractors. The recent statement says the protections will remain intact at the direction of Trump. Here is the text of Obamas executive order, signed on July 21, 2014: By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including 40 U.S.C. 121, and in order to provide for a uniform policy for the Federal Government to prohibit discrimination and take further steps to promote economy and efficiency in Federal Government procurement by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Amending Executive Order 11478 . The first sentence of section 1 of Executive Order 11478 of August 8, 1969, as amended, is revised by substituting sexual orientation, gender identity for sexual orientation. Sec. 2. Amending Executive Order 11246 . Executive Order 11246 of September 24, 1965, as amended, is hereby further amended as follows: (a) The first sentence of numbered paragraph (1) of section 202 is revised by substituting sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin for sex, or national origin. (b) The second sentence of numbered paragraph (1) of section 202 is revised by substituting sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin for sex or national origin. (c) Numbered paragraph (2) of section 202 is revised by substituting sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin for sex or national origin. (d) Paragraph (d) of section 203 is revised by substituting sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin for sex or national origin. Sec. 3. Regulations . Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Labor shall prepare regulations to implement the requirements of section 2 of this order. Sec. 4. General Provisions . (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an agency or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. Sec. 5. Effective Date . This order shall become effective immediately, and section 2 of this order shall apply to contracts entered into on or after the effective date of the rules promulgated by the Department of Labor under section 3 of this order. Update 6:45 a.m.: This article was updated with the text of the 2014 executive order. Facebook
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Trump fires Justice Departments top official after she refuses to defend his refugee ban By David Lauter Sally Yates. (J. David Ake / Associated Press) President Trump fired acting Atty. Gen. Sally Yates on Monday, just hours after she announced that the department would not defend his controversial executive order banning refugees and travelers from certain countries. Yates has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States, the White House said in a statement. It is time to get serious about protecting our country. The move came after Yates sent a letter to Justice Department lawyers saying that she questioned the lawfulness of Trumps executive order. My responsibility is to ensure that the position of the Department of Justice is not only legally defensible, but is informed by our best view of what the law is after consideration of all the facts, Yates wrote. At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities, nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful, she wrote. Consequently, for as long as I am the acting attorney general, the Department of Justice will not present arguments in defense of the executive order unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so. Yates was a holdover from the Obama administration. But because Trumps nominee for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions, has not been confirmed and no other senior Justice Department officials have been appointed, firing her was expected to cause significant problems within the department. Among other issues, Yates is the only person in the department currently authorized to sign warrants for wiretapping in foreign espionage cases involving the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Trump replaced Yates with Dana J. Boente, a three-decade veteran of the Justice Department who was appointed in 2015 by former President Obama as U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Virginia. 6:37 p.m.: The story was updated with Trumps decision to fire Yates. Read More Facebook
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U.S. service member killed in Yemen identified as Navy SEAL from Illinois By Jeanette Steele The Pentagon on Sunday confirmed the death of a U.S. servicemember in a raid in Yemen targeting al-Qaeda, marking the first American combat death under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. A Navy SEAL from the Virginia-based elite unit known as SEAL Team 6 was killed Sunday during an unusual nighttime raid that put U.S. troops on the ground against Al Qaeda leaders in the middle of war-torn Yemen. The fallen sailor was identified Monday as Chief Special Warfare Operator William Ryan Owens, 36, of Peoria, Ill.. Three other Americans were wounded in the raid and an MV-22 Osprey had to be destroyed after the aircraft suffered a hard landing and couldnt fly. Another U.S. service member was injured in that crash. The raid marked the first known counter-terrorism operation and first confirmed combat fatality under President Trump. Steele writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. Facebook
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Protests against Trumps ban on certain immigrants continue across the country By Ann M. Simmons Protesters rally at Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 29, demonstrating against the immigration ban imposed by President Trump. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) After a weekend of turmoil at many of the nations airports following President Trumps executive order to suspend the U.S. refugee program and temporarily prohibit entry to citizens of seven predominantly Muslim nations, federal officials said all people being detained on arrival to the U.S. had been released. But that hasnt put a stop to demands to lift the travel ban. Protests continued to be held and organized throughout the country incluidng in New York, New Orleans, Colorado and Connecticut. According to Ground Game, an online platform for organizing, at least a dozen demonstrations were planned for this week in what the group described as a fight against Islamophobia and Fascism. Calls to rally, demonstrate and protest swept social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook. In Louisville, Ky., a rally was planned for Monday evening at the Muhammad Ali Center, in what organizers said would be a gathering for American values and to voice support for our nation and our city, which was founded and is strengthened by immigrants. In Hattiesburg, Miss., there was call to join a peaceful vigil in solidarity with refugees, immigrants, and Muslims on the University of Southern Mississippi campus on Monday evening. Declaring that Jersey City stands with our Muslim and immigrant community, organizers in that New Jersey city called on people to come to a pedestrian mall on Monday to stand in solidarity and peace as we show our strength in diversity as one of the most diverse cities in the nation. Other demonstrations were planned for later in the week in cities nationwide, including Tuesday in Tuscon, where organizers encouraged people to stand in solidarity with Senator (John) McCains strong public statement opposing the executive order banning refugees and Legal Permanent Residents from Muslim countries! Similar actions were planned on Tuesday at the South Carolina State House in Columbia and at the Worchester City Hall and Common in Massachusetts, while organizers in San Francisco, under the banner #NoBanNoWallSF, urged residents to join the resistance against Donald Trumps racist and exclusionary Executive Orders on Saturday. We will not allow our country to be divided by hate and religious persecution, read a statement from #NoBanNoWallSF posted on Facebook. Facebook
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Obama carefully weighs in on refugee ban, says he is heartened by public response By Michael A. Memoli (Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images) Former President Obama has offered his first public comment on the conduct of his successor, saying through a spokesman that he is heartened by public demonstrations against the Trump administrations controversial move to temporarily ban refugees and block all admissions from seven countries. President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country, Kevin Lewis, a spokesperson for the former president, said in a statement emailed to reporters Monday. In his final official speech as President, he spoke about the important role of citizen and how all Americans have a responsibility to be the guardians of our democracy--not just during an election but every day. Citizens exercising their constitutional right to assemble, organize and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake. Lewis also said in the statement that Obama fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion. Trump aides deny that his executive order, released Friday, involves religious discrimination. The order temporarily blocked travel to the U.S. by residents of seven predominantly Muslim nations, but left many of the Islamic worlds largest population centers unaffected, they note. The order also included an exception for believers of minority religions in those countries, a provision that Trump explicitly said would help Christians. Obamas statement is notable less for its content than for the fact that it was issued at all. It reflected the delicate balance he feels he must strike between showing a degree of deference to the new president and speaking out on issues he sees as critically important. The statement tiptoed around the content of the order, focusing more on the former presidents interest in citizen engagement. Obama said before leaving office that he expected to choose carefully when to comment on the actions of his successor and would focus less on normal functioning of politics and more on certain issues or certain moments where I think our core values may be at stake, as he put it in his final news conference. Mondays statement did point, though, to comments Obama made at a news conference in November 2015, when he called the idea of a religious test for immigration policy shameful and not American. We dont have religious tests to our compassion, he said at the time. Facebook
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GOP-led Congress worries about its role in the Trump era By Lisa Mascaro Its what congressional Republicans had long dreamed about: a majority in both chambers to advance conservative policies and a president from the same party to sign them into law. But the Trump White House isnt turning out exactly the way they envisioned. The GOP establishment is experiencing whiplash after a week of President Trump bulldozing through the norms of policy and protocol dashing off executive orders without warning, escalating a diplomatic crisis with the countrys closest southern neighbor, triggering global confusion with a new refugee policy and generally hijacking party leaders agenda and replacing it with his own. Rather than the hoped-for collaborative new relationship between the White House and Congress, GOP officials complain that Trump is brushing aside their advice, failing to fully engage on drafting tough legislative packages like tax reform and Obamacare, and bypassing Congress by relying on executive actions, something they frequently complained about under President Obama. At the same time, Trumps unilateral moves continue to blindside Republicans and direct the national focus toward topics many in the party would rather avoid, whether thats how to pay for building the border wall with Mexico, warming ties with Russia, investigating false claims about voter fraud or, most recently, implementing sweeping new policies on refugees and visas. In the name of party unity, many Republicans so far have refrained from publicly attacking the new president. But for some, the new refugee policy crossed the line, signaling the first major rift in their already fraught partnership. Read More Facebook
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Washington state sues Trump over immigration order By Mark Z. Barabak President Trump signed an executive order Friday that suspends all immigration for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) Opening a new legal front, lawyers for the state of Washington filed suit Monday seeking to block President Trumps executive order temporarily banning foreign refugees from entering the United States. No one is above the law, not even the president, Atty. Gen. Bob Ferguson said in announcing the federal lawsuit. And in the courtroom, it is not the loudest voice that prevails. Its the Constitution. Over the weekend, a federal judge in Brooklyn issued an order curtailing portions of Trumps executive order, issued Friday, which temporary halts migration from seven predominantly Muslim countries for at least 90 days and also closed the nation to refugees for at least the next four months. Other challenges are pending. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Seattle was the first taken by a state attorney general, and its provenance was no surprise. Washington state and others along the West Coast voted overwhelmingly for Democrat Hillary Clinton in November and have emerged as a hotbed of anti-Trump sentiment. We will not yield, said Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who joined Ferguson at a Seattle news conference. We will not be leveraged. We will not be threatened. We will not be intimidated. We will not be bullied by this. Trumps order, which has sparked demonstrations across the country, brought an outpouring of objection from Insleys Democratic colleagues around the country. President Trumps recent executive orders that divide and discriminate do not reflect the values enshrined in the U.S. Constitution or the principles we stand for as Oregonians, said Gov. Kate Brown. A single executive order does not define who we are as a country, said Connecticut Gov. Daniel P. Malloy. We are a nation of immigrants and must continue to fight for the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to breath free. In Massachusetts, another state that voted overwhelmingly for Clinton, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker joined the chorus of Democratic criticism, saying the travel ban would undermine the international relations forged by the states business, academic and healthcare communities. The confusion for families is real. The unexpected disruption for law-abiding people is real, Baker said. Thankfully, the federal courts will have an opportunity to straighten this out and it is my hope they do so, and do so quickly. Facebook
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How a top conservative radio host took on Trump, lost his audience and faith, but gained a new perspective By Mark Z. Barabak Charlie Sykes, right, interviews Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) before Wisconsins 2016 primary (Morry Gash/Associated Press) For nearly 25 years, Charlie Sykes was one of the most powerful and influential voices in Wisconsin. He cheer-led policies that turned this historically progressive state into a model of conservative governance. He made and destroyed political careers, using his perch on Milwaukee talk radio to help vault figures such as House Speaker Paul Ryan and Gov. Scott Walker to national prominence. But for the moment Sykes was speechless. He sank into the brown leather banquette of a suburban steakhouse. He stammered. He sighed. When youve devoted your whole life to certain beliefs and you think now they have been undermined and that you might have been deluded about things, he began. So. So. Um... In 2016 Sykes emerged as one of Donald Trumps most prominent critics, a stance that outraged listeners, strained longstanding friendships and left him questioning much of what he once held true. Read More Facebook
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Pentagon compiling a list of Iraqis who aided the U.S. military and wants them shielded from Trumps travel ban By W.J. Hennigan The Pentagon is compiling a list of Iraqi citizens who have worked with the U.S. military and is recommending that they be exempt from President Trumps temporary ban on entry to the U.S. by people from Iraq and six other predominantly Muslim countries, according to the U.S. military. The move could potentially shield tens of thousands of Iraqi interpreters, advisors, and others who have assisted the American military from the presidents controversial executive action that blocked visitors from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen. Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Monday that the list will include names of individuals who have demonstrated their commitment to helping the United States. Even people that are doing seemingly benign things in support of us whether as a linguist, a driver, anything else they often do that at great personal risk, he said. So people who take these risks are really making a tangible signal of support to the United States, and thats something that will, and should be, recognized. The list would not require any changes to the presidents order, but rather serve as guidance to the Department of Homeland Security and the White House in implementing the new policy. White House spokesman Sean Spicer later pushed back against blanket exemptions. We recognize that people have served this country, we should make sure that in those cases theyre helped out, he said. But that doesnt mean that we just give them a pass. Trump, who signed the order at the Pentagon on Friday, did not consult Defense Secretary James N. Mattis or Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the temporary suspensions of entry to visitors from the seven nations, according to U.S. officials. The executive action put the U.S. military in a difficult position because it works closely with the Iraqi government on a range of issues, including the fight against Islamic State, which necessitates travel between the two countries. For instance, Iraqi military pilots train to fly F-16 fighter jets at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. Its not clear those pilots, who are active in the fight against Islamic State, could arrive in the U.S. for the training. 1:10 p.m.: This post was updated with White House response. Facebook
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Trump signs order on rulemaking: For every regulation added, agencies have to cut 2 others By Noah Bierman (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump signed an executive order Monday designed to fulfill his campaign pledge reduce red tape for businesses. The two-page order requires that when a federal agency proposes new regulations, it shall identify at least two existing regulations to be repealed. We want to make the life easier for small businesses and big business, Trump said Monday from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, where he met with nine representatives of the small-business sector. Trump said he hoped to see up to 75% of federal regulations eliminated during his presidency. Regulation has been horrible for big business, but its been worse for small business, Trump said. He also reiterated his promise to gut the Dodd-Frank Act, the financial regulatory overhaul that was passed after the financial crisis. Dodd-Frank is a disaster, he said. Were going to be doing a big number on Dodd-Frank. Consumer advocates who backed the law say that eliminating it would help Wall Street and other players in the financial sector at the expense of consumers. Facebook
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U.S. diplomats to protest Trumps travel ban order By Tracy Wilkinson Protesters of President Trumps immigration order block traffic at LAX. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) A number of U.S. diplomats are condemning President Trumps ban on some Muslim immigrants and visitors, saying the abrupt order does not make the U.S. safer and will only stoke anti-American fervor overseas. The complaint, being made through the State Departments so-called dissent channel, echoes criticism coming from human rights attorneys, legal experts and lawmakers from both political parties, as well as world leaders. It is significant because it represents the viewpoint of the men and women who must carry out Trumps unconventional and often provocative foreign policy. A policy which closes our doors to over 200-million legitimate travelers in the hopes of preventing a small number of travelers who intend to harm Americans ... will not achieve its aim of making our country safer, said a draft version of the memo that was circulating Monday and was reviewed by the Los Angeles Times. It was first reported by ABC News. Moreover, such a policy runs counter to core American values of non-discrimination, fair play and extending a warm welcome to foreign visitors and immigrants. The White House was quickly dismissive of the dissent and seemed to suggest the diplomats should quit if they disagree with a policy. Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the diplomats raising of opposition does call into question whether or not they should continue to work in the State Department. It was not clear how many officials would sign the memo. Dissent channel memos are in theory not made public. The mechanism is designed to allow diplomats to offer an alternative policy without fear of retaliation. Acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner confirmed the existence of the memo but declined to comment on its contents. The dissent channel is a longstanding official vehicle for State Department employees to convey alternative views and perspectives on policy issues, he said. "... It allows State employees to express divergent policy views candidly and privately to senior leadership. The agency is still waiting for a boss. Trumps pick for secretary of State, former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate this week. The last time a dissent-channel memo was reported publicly was last year, when about 50 diplomats protested Obama administration policy in Syria, which they described as inaction. 12:20 p.m.: This story was updated with White House comment. 8:40 a.m.: This story was updated with comment from a State Department spokesman. Facebook
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Trump to announce his Supreme Court choice Tuesday -- in prime time By Michael A. Memoli (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump will announce his first Supreme Court nomination in prime time on Tuesday, he tweeted this morning. I have made my decision on who I will nominate for The United States Supreme Court. It will be announced live on Tuesday at 8:00 P.M. (W.H.) Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 30, 2017 The announcement was moved up two days amid the continued fallout from the executive action Trump signed temporarily banning refugee admissions from some countries. Trump had tweeted last week that he would announce his high-court decision Thursday. In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Friday, Trump said his administration was doing some final vetting of his choice to replace the late Antonin Scalia, and that the pick would be from among the list of 20 names he issued during the election campaign. I think the person I pick will be big, big, he said. I think people are going to love it. I think evangelicals, Christians will love my pick. And will be represented very fairly. Times Supreme Court reporter David Savage profiled each of the leading contenders: Judge Thomas Hardiman of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Neil M. Gorsuch of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, and Judge William H. Pryor Jr. from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The move could prompt a major clash with Senate Democrats, who have warned the president against a choice outside what they consider the mainstream. Some are threatening to block any choice in retaliation for Senate Republicans refusal to even hold hearings on President Obamas choice to replace Scalia, Merrick Garland. Democrats 2013 change to Senate rules that allowed most nominations to advance with a simple majority vote exempted Supreme Court nominations, meaning that Democrats could potentially filibuster the choice. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appeared to rule out any further rule change in an interview last week, though Trump urged him to consider doing so. Facebook
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As Hollywood gathered at the SAG Awards, some entertainers joined LAX protest Facebook
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This New York doctor went to visit family in Sudan, and now hes stuck By Molly Hennessy-Fiske Dr. Kamal Fadlalla (Dr. Kamal Fadlalla / For The Times) Dr. Kamal Fadlalla, a hospital resident who has been working in New York for the last 20 months, was stuck in Sudan on Sunday, having gone there to see his family earlier this month. He had left Jan. 13, was due to return Feb. 4 but tried to return on Friday after hearing about President Trumps executive order on immigration, which suspended entry for people from seven countries, including Sudan. He made it past passport control, all the way to the gate at the airport in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. One hour before departure they called my name, he said, and summoned him to the ticket counter, along with other New York-bound Sudanese passengers. When I got to the counter, they said there was a notice from Customs and Border Protection that ... they had to offload us from the flight. I was shocked. Fadlalla, 33, hoped for a reprieve as other passengers gathered, all stuck. One family, they came back from Dubai, she was a mother of three or four kids. She was waiting overnight at the Dubai airport. There were also two passengers turned back from New York, he said. It was a very tough night on me, He stayed for several hours, then returned to his mothers home in Madani, two hours south. Fadlalla is a second-year resident in internal medicine at Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn. He is hoping to specialize in hematology and oncology. The Committee for Interns and Residents found an attorney to represent him, he said, but he had not received any news about how a New York federal judges ruling late Saturday, which halted the deportations of people who had arrived in the U.S. with valid visas, could affect him. I dont know what Im going to do. My vacation is going to end and I have to join the hospital next week. Its going to be tough on me, Fadlalla said. I dont know for how long Im going to stay here. I dont know what Im going to do. My visa is valid for three months. Im really stuck. I have my house there, my utilities, my work, my patients, my colleagues. It was my life for the past 20 months. And Im stuck here. Fadlalla is from northern Sudan, and describes himself as a moderate Muslim. He said the executive order wont make the U.S. safer by barring valid visa holders like him because, Ive been through the whole process of visa interviews. He had planned to take board exams next year, and if he misses them, his schooling will be delayed. He had wanted to stay and work in New York, too. All my life is there. Now Im stuck here. I dont know what to do, he said. Its going to really affect my life, my patients, my colleagues and their work schedule. He said the executive order has shocked others in Sudan, too. Theyre talking about human rights. Everybody knows the United States is about freedom, he said. Everybody knows America is a free country, a country of chances for everybody. Still, people have hope in those protesting at airports all over the United States and attorneys who have volunteered to help immigrants and refugees, he said. He said the order is especially worrying for aspiring Sudanese medical residents who have been preparing to match with a hospital in March to study in the United States. A lot of my colleagues who are preparing for exams are really, really worried about this, Fadlalla said. Im really worried about the future of these young people. They study a lot and spend a lot of money, a lot of effort to enter the United States. Im concerned about my future and my colleagues future. Facebook
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Californias congressional Republicans hold their fire on Trumps refugee order By Sarah D. Wire Only a few of the states 14 Republican representatives have publicly commented on an executive order signed by President Trump on Friday that barred refugees and green card holders from seven countries from entering the country. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) released a statement Sunday night saying that some tweaks are needed, but that his background as chairman of the House Select Intelligence Committee leads him to support the executive order. In light of attempts by jihadist groups to infiltrate fighters into refugee flows to the West, along with Europes tragic experience coping with this problem, the Trump administrations executive order on refugees is a common-sense security measure to prevent terror attacks on the homeland, Nunes said. While accommodations should be made for green card holders and those whove assisted the U.S. armed forces, this is a useful temporary measure on seven nations of concern until we can verify who is entering the United States. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) told the Washington Post that the executive order is the right call to keep America safe, but he hopes the cases of people traveling on visas who were prevented from reentering the country are resolved quickly. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) said Sunday on Twitter that the rollout has created confusion, and that executive orders arent the way to fix the countrys long-term problems. View Twitter post View Twitter post Several of Californias 38 Democratic congressional representatives and the states two senators were out in force over the weekend demanding the release of refugees and green card holders as well as an end to the executive order. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced she would file two pieces of legislation in response. One would immediately rescind the presidents order. The second would limit executive authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act to prevent a president from unilaterally banning groups of immigrants. Its clear that the president gave little consideration to the chaos and heartbreak that would result from this order, she said in a statement. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) joined protesters outside the White House on Sunday afternoon. We will fight against racism. We will fight against anti-Muslim rhetoric. We will fight against those who will marginalize who we are. pic.twitter.com/R54f3MDhvo Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 29, 2017 In Los Angeles, Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) joined protesters at Los Angeles International Airport. On Saturday, Reps. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), Nanette Barragan (D-San Pedro) and Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) joined the initial protests at the airport, and worked to get some of those being held released. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) accompanied protesters at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday. Congresswoman @MaxineWaters is here at LAX protest leading the crowd in the chant "no ban, no wall, you build it up we'll tear it down" pic.twitter.com/iNEmkVVkmW Javier Panzar (@jpanzar) January 29, 2017 Facebook
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Legal moves come too late for Iranian man who arrived at LAX after Trumps order By Matt Hamilton Ali Vayeghan arrived at 7:15 p.m. Friday from Tehran. He was going to stay with relatives, then go to Indiana, to join his wife, who arrived in the U.S. four months ahead of him, and his son. But he never emerged from customs. His niece said he was put on a plane to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at 3:15 p.m. Saturday. The ACLU was trying to prevent his deportation but arrived with paperwork 45 minutes too late. The family spoke to him by phone after he landed in Dubai, where he was waiting to be put on a flight to Tehran. Hes literally crying in the airport in Dubai, Ali Vayeghans niece, Marjan Vayghan, said. On Sunday afternoon, a federal judge in Los Angeles ordered authorities to transport Vayeghan back to the U.S. and admit him under the terms of his visa, which is set to expire Feb. 14. U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee said in her order that Vayeghan had demonstrated a strong likelihood of success in establishing that removal violates the Establishment Clause, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and his rights to Equal Protection guaranteed by the United States Constitution. But by the time the order came down, Vayeghan was on a plane bound for Tehran. Federal judge in LA has issued order allowing Iranian man deported from LAX yesterday to be admitted to US pic.twitter.com/yPth0xEQpv Matt Hamilton (@MattHjourno) January 29, 2017 Facebook
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The political climate is a hot topic at the Screen Actors Guild awards The Actor statue watches over the red carpet at the Shrine Auditorium. (Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press) Stars on the red carpet and at the winners podium tonight in Los Angeles are not keeping their mouths shut on current affairs. The 23rd Screen Actors Guild awards are being held at the Shrine Auditorium. Heres what they have had to say so far: I want you all to know that I am the daughter of an immigrant. My father fled religious persecution in Nazi-occupied France, and Im an American patriot, and I love this country, and because I love this country, I am horrified by its blemishes and this immigrant ban is a blemish and it is un-American. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, accepting her award for her role in Veep We need to vote. Had we all voted, we wouldnt be here. You dont like it, you dont have nothing to say if you didnt vote. Get a clipboard, get organized and get in it. Dont sit back on the sidelines. Get in it. This is a fight for the country right now. Its worth fighting for. Courtney B. Vance, nominated for his performance in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story For the first time ever in my lifetime, Ive been concerned about where its going to go. It doesnt seem to be that its going to go in a very positive direction. Claire Foy, nominated for her role as Queen Elizabeth in the Netflix series The Crown Read More Facebook
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Green card holders will not be blocked by Trumps order, Homeland Security says By David Lauter (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times) The Trump administration backed away from one of the most controversial parts of its new executive order on immigration Sunday evening, saying that permanent U.S. residents in most cases will not be affected by the new rules. Since the president issued the order Friday, confusion has been rampant over the effects on permanent residents, noncitizens who hold so-called green cards that allow them to live and work legally in the U.S. Many were stopped and detained at airports for many hours on Friday and Saturday and, in some cases, reported that they had been threatened with being returned to their home countries. An undetermined number of other green card holders were stopped from boarding U.S.-bound planes. Late Sunday, however, the secretary of Homeland Security, retired Gen. John Kelly, issued a statement changing the policy. Statement By Secretary John Kelly On The Entry Of Lawful Permanent Residents Into The United States https://t.co/Es1qivoR3J pic.twitter.com/hffMK2MOQC Homeland Security (@DHSgov) January 29, 2017 I hereby deem the entry of lawful permanent residents to be in the national interest, Kelly wrote. Green card holders from one of the seven countries covered by the 90-day ban will still need to request a waiver to gain reentry to the U.S. if they have traveled abroad. But unless officials have significant derogatory information about a green card holder that indicates a serious threat to public safety and welfare, lawful permanent resident status will be a dispositive factor in deciding the case, Kellys statement said. A White House official, briefing reporters about the change in policy, said that about 170 people have applied for a waiver to the ban so far, and all 170 have received a waiver and have been allowed to enter the U.S. The seven countries affected by the ban are Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Facebook
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Uber fights immigration order -- and #DeleteUber hashtag -- with $3-million legal fund for drivers By Tracey Lien Hours after Lyfts co-founders announced a $1-million donation to the American Civil Liberties Union to defend the
Constitution, Uber Chief Executive Travis Kalanick pulled out his pocket book as well. Kalanick promised in a Facebook post that the company would create a $3-million legal defense fund to help drivers affected by the Trump administrations move to restrict immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries. The fund will help drivers with immigration and translation services. Kalanick also said the San Francisco ride-hailing company will provide 24/7 legal support to drivers stuck outside the country and compensate them for lost earnings. Drivers eligible for assistance were directed to contact the company via an online form. Although the announcement was greeted with some support on Facebook and Twitter, many saw it as too little too late. The company had come under fire a day earlier for advertising on Twitter that it was operating at New Yorks Kennedy International Airport during a taxi strike protesting the executive order. That gaffe, coupled with Kalanicks involvement in a panel advising President Trump on economic issues, helped spawn the Twitter hashtag #DeleteUber, which encouraged customers to delete the app from their phones in protest. You are 20 hours too late, one person wrote in response to Kalanicks Facebook post. Still deleted my account today, wrote another. Though Kalanick issued a statement on Saturday opposing the executive order, it didnt stop thousands of Twitter users from adopting the trending the #DeleteUber hashtag to decry Ubers actions. They accused the company of attempting to profit from the strike and prioritizing business interests over a moral imperative. Celebrities also jumped on the bandwagon, with actor and activist George Takei on Sunday tweeting to his 2.9 million followers: Lyft donates $1mil to ACLU while Uber doubles down on its support for Trump. #DeleteUber. Facebook
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75-year-old grandmother from Iran tells the story of her detention at LAX By Alene Tchekmedyian Siavosh Naji-Talakar of Phoenix hugs his grandmother Marzieh Moosavizadeh after she was released from detention at LAX early Sunday morning. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Marzieh Moosavizadeh and her grandson follow a routine when she visits almost every year from Iran. The 75-year-old, who travels in a wheelchair and speaks little English, struggles to find direct flights to Phoenix, where he and his family live. So they meet in Los Angeles and he escorts her on the last leg of her trip. This time was different. Moosavizadeh landed at Los Angeles International Airport a day after President Trump signed an executive order banning citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iran, from entering the United States. Read More Facebook
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GOP senators call executive order a self-inflicted wound. Trump calls them wrong and weak By Matt Ballinger McCain and Graham in 2013. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona released a statement Sunday saying that confusion at U.S. airports shows that President Trumps executive order on immigration was not properly vetted. Such a hasty process risks harmful results, the Republicans statement read. We should not stop green-card holders from returning to the country they call home. We should not stop those who have served as interpreters for our military and diplomats from seeking refuge in the country they risked their lives to help. And we should not turn our backs on those refugees who have been shown through extensive vetting to pose no demonstrable threat to our nation. It went on: Ultimately, we fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism. The president responded on Twitter: The joint statement of former presidential candidates John McCain & Lindsey Graham is wrong - they are sadly weak on immigration. The two... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2017 ...Senators should focus their energies on ISIS, illegal immigration and border security instead of always looking to start World War III. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2017 Facebook
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At least 600 people wait to greet Syrians arriving in Phoenix By Nigel Duara Elijah Chavez and Brandi Hernandez protest in Phoenix (Nigel Duara/Los Angeles Times) A Phoenix-bound British Airways flight was scheduled to arrive from London at Sunday evening carrying several Syrians. A protest of about 600 people was waiting at a Phoenix international airport terminal for the flight to arrive. The outcome when these people arrive is uncertain at best, said Tanveer Shah, an Arizona attorney in private practice who volunteers with the ACLU. Shah said Syrians on board the flight would, in the best case, walk off the plane without a problem. But given the outcomes in other cities on Saturday and Sunday, Shah said it was incumbent on civil liberties attorneys to be there when the plane arrives. We have staff attorneys here ... who are prepared to file emergency pleadings, Shah said. Facebook
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When Muslims got blocked at American airports, U.S. veterans rushed to help By Matt Pearce (G. Morty Ortega / Getty Images) Jeffrey Buchalter was reflooring his foyer in Chesapeake Beach, Md., and listening to MSNBC over the weekend when he heard the news: An Iraqi who had worked with American forces as an interpreter had been stopped from entering the U.S. under a new executive order on immigration from President Trump. The story stopped him cold. Buchalter, an Army veteran who works as a law-enforcement instructor at the Department of Homeland Security, had served multiple tours of duty as a military policeman in Iraq, service that cost him dearly. He was decorated for injuries sustained from gunfire and improvised explosive devices. Exams revealed hed suffered herniated discs, traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, and he spent 2 years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center trying to get right. But he was still alive, and now the married father of two children. And he believes thats thanks in part to the work of Iraqi interpreters who acted as guides during his work in their country. So he told his younger daughter and son they were going to take a trip: a two-hour drive to Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., where, for the first time in his life, Buchalter would join a protest. Read More Facebook
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Demonstrators against Trumps immigration limits and a few who like them surge through LAX By Javier Panzar The crowd at LAX is getting bigger and bigger. pic.twitter.com/dJ281TETXj Javier Panzar (@jpanzar) January 29, 2017 Thousands of people filled the international terminal at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday afternoon to call for the release of an unknown number of people being detained by immigration authorities. Filling the arrivals section of the terminal and spilling into the street outside, the throng chanted, Let them in, and Love, not hate, makes America great. Jacob Kemper, a 35-year-old Army veteran who fought two tours in Iraq, said he was infuriated to think soldiers he fought alongside might be denied entry to the country. I really dont care about religion, but I really hate oppression, he said, holding a sign that read, I Fought Next To Muslims. Shay Soltani, a network engineer, fled the Iranian revolution 40 years ago and still has family members in Iran. She doesnt know if she will be able to see them again. As she and hundreds of others marched through the airport, she said she was horrified by Trumps order. I am so hurt by this, she said. He is against freedom of speech and the constitution and everything I believe in as an American. Meanwhile, about a dozen counter-protesters popped up on the other side of the street, holding signs that said X-treme vetting and Keep Refugees Out. They said they were tired of immigrants entering the U.S. illegally, which they said jeopardizes the safety of American citizens. Chanell Temple, 63, of Los Angeles said she was sick of watching immigrants here illegally steal benefits and services from American citizens, specifically veterans and homeless people who need aid. I worked out here for 40 years and they are coming here and taking everything away, said Temple, a former bookkeeper who said she lost her job and healthcare after she was fired for an inability to speak Spanish. Raul Rodriguez Jr., coordinator of a group called America First Latinos, said he was concerned about what he considers a surge in crimes committed against Americans by those who are in the country illegally. They are lawbreakers. They have violated federal law and they need to be deported, he said. Facebook
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Silicon Valley execs speak out against immigration ban By Tracey Lien Technology executives are speaking out against President Trumps executive order on immigration, highlighting how the ban hurts their businesses. Leaders of companies that include Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Dropbox and Twitter denounced it over the weekend. Apple would not exist without immigration, let alone thrive and innovate the way we do, said Apple chief executive Tim Cook in a memo to employees. In my conversations with officials here in Washington this week, Ive made it clear that Apple believes deeply in the importance of immigration both to our company and to our nations future. General Electric Co. chief executive Jeff Immelt said Sunday that businesses with global operations must balance working with the new administration while also supporting their workers and partners. We have many employees from the named countries and we do business all over the region, Immelt said in a statement. These employees and customers are critical to our success and they are our friends and partners. We stand with them and will work with the U.S. administration to strive to find the balance between the need for security and the movement of law abiding people. Facebook
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LAX protest grows as families wait Meg Heatherly, 27, of Los Angeles holds a Shame sign during a protest at the Tom Bradley International Terminal. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Facebook
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L.A. city attorney barred from seeing detainees at LAX By James Queally Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer said he was repeatedly denied access to federal detainees or an attorney who could discuss the situation with him at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday night and Sunday morning. Federal officials have declined to discuss the LAX detentions or respond to Feuers criticisms. While he was at the airport, Feuer said he was approached by a woman who claimed her father, suffering from Parkinsons disease, was among the detainees. It is those kind of real stories that are at stake because of this outrageous action by the feds. It is time not only for officials in my position, but all Americans, should find this a breathtaking violation of rights. Mike Feuer Read More Facebook
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Democratic attorneys general from 15 states condemn Trump immigration order By Ann M. Simmons California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) More than a dozen Democratic attorneys general from states across the country have condemned the Trump administrations executive order suspending acceptance of refugees and have vowed to oppose it to ensure that as few people as possible suffer from the chaotic situation that it has created. In a communique Sunday, the group said: As the chief legal officers for over 130 million Americans and foreign residents of our states, we condemn President Trumps unconstitutional, un-American and unlawful Executive Order and will work together to ensure the federal government obeys the Constitution, respects our history as a nation of immigrants, and does not unlawfully target anyone because of their national origin or faith. The executive order places an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria and prohibits citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering as refugees for four months. It also places a suspension on admissions of other citizens of those countries. The legal officials represent 15 states. They include California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra and his contemporaries in Washington, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia. Religious liberty has been, and always will be, a bedrock principle of our country, and no president can change that truth, the attorneys general said in the statement. They praised the decision of multiple federal courts to order a stay on some aspects of the order. We are confident that the Executive Order will ultimately be struck down by the courts, the statement said. Facebook
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13 people who had been detained at LAX have been released, source says By James Queally Protesters at LAX on Sunday. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) Thirteen people who were detained Saturday night at Los Angeles International Airports Terminal 2 were eventually released, a law enforcement source told The Times. Each of them held green cards, which grant permanent residency in the U.S. The source, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the situation at the airport, could not provide detention figures for the Tom Bradley International Terminal, which has been the center of protest activity. Thats where protesters were gathering Sunday. Nurse Jamie Shoemaker, 51, of Los Angeles held an American flag in one hand and carried a sign that read, Muslims are welcome here, racists and fascists are not. She called Trumps order un-American. This is not the country I want, she said. This is not the country I grew up in. Read More Facebook
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Democrats in Congress drafting legislation to repeal Trumps refugee ban, pressuring GOP for support By Lisa Mascaro Sen. Chuck Schumer becomes emotional speaking against Pres. Trump's immigration order, calling it "mean-spirited and un-American." pic.twitter.com/NkhUdpaNyV ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 29, 2017 Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and Democrats will introduce legislation as soon as Monday to stop President Trumps actions temporarily banning refugees and arrivals from certain Muslim countries. House Democrats are taking similar legislative action, and lawmakers from both chambers will rally Monday evening at the Supreme Court to protest Trumps orders. This executive order was mean-spirited and un-American, said Schumer, the New York Democrat, choking up as he stood with immigrants and refugees at a press conference Sunday. It must be reversed immediately. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said House Democrats are exploring legal options, including an amicus brief in support of the ACLU lawsuit against the actions. The chances of passing a bill through the Republican-controlled Congress are slim, as most GOP leaders and lawmakers have not objected to Trumps ban. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Sunday that while he was personally opposed to a religious test on admissions, it was best left to the courts to resolve the issue. Its hopefully going to be decided in the courts as to whether or not this has gone too far, McConnell said on ABCs This Week. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) expressed his support Friday for Trumps action. A handful of Republicans, though, are uneasy with Trumps orders, and have spoken against them. Schumer noted that just few more Republicans would be needed to reach the 60-vote threshold for advancing Senate legislation. Maybe we can pass something in Congress, Schumer said. Its up to Republicans. Facebook
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Emotional reunion at JFK airport after release of elderly Sudanese man from immigration detention By Barbara Demick Tears and hugs at JFK's international arrivals as a detainee is released, reuniting father with son. More families wait, cheering. pic.twitter.com/WrVpoocWjY Jack Smith IV (@JackSmithIV) January 29, 2017 For those immigrants temporarily detained under a new Trump administration executive order at New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport, attorneys have put a priority on getting some of the older detainees released to their families. One small victory for the lawyers was the case of Yassin Abdelrhman, a 76-year-old green card holder from Sudan who had been detained after a trip home to visit family. He was released about noon on Sunday after being detained for 30 hours. Soon, he was reunited with his sons. He is a strong individual, but he has some health challenges, said U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who had been working on their case. Facebook
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Iranian director Asghar Farhadi will not attend Oscars Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi after winning an Oscar in 2012. ((Allen J. Schaben/ Los Angeles Times) ) In a statement to the New York Times today, Oscar-winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi said he no longer planned to attend this years ceremony. Farhadis film The Salesman is nominated in the foreign language film category. Farhadi had initially hoped to attend despite the prohibition on visitors from Iran. But he said he had decided the possibility of this presence is being accompanied by ifs and buts which are in no way acceptable to me even if exceptions were to be made for my trip. Read More Facebook
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How an Iranian Fulbright scholar got into the U.S.: We found a lawyer who found a lawyer who found a lawyer By Barbara Demick Iranian students in front of a makeshift law office in JFKs Terminal 4. (Barbara Demick / Los Angeles Times) Perhaps nothing encapsulates the chaos emanating from President Trumps executive order better than what happened with Ukrainian Airlines Flight 232. The regularly scheduled flight to Kiev had to turn around on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy Airport early Sunday after a federal judge issued a stay of a deportation order of dozens of foreigners, including a 32-year-old Iranian linguist who is a doctoral candidate and former Fulbright scholar. With just minutes to spare, Vahideh Rasekhi -- helped by volunteer lawyers and her smart phone managed to prevent the flight from taking off. She had arrived Saturday afternoon, but was blocked from entering the United States by the executive order barring arrivals of citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia and Libya. Around midnight, she was put on the Ukrainian Air flight to return to Tehran, via Kiev. We found a lawyer who found a lawyer who found a lawyer, said Mehdi Namazi, 29, a friend who has been waiting for her at the airport. The lawyers were showing officials a copy of the order issued a few hours earlier by U.S. District Court Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn. It was all very confusing. They were arguing as the plane was taxiing, Namazi said. According to one lawyer, Melissa Trent, Rasekhi herself was walking up and down the aisles arguing for the plane not to take off. She knew that if the plane left she would never get back to the United States again, Trent said. Rasekhi spent most of Sunday in detention with other Iranians, but was released into the United States at around 3 p.m.. A dozen Iranian friends had been waiting inside the airports Terminal 4 amid a clutter of discarded coffee cups and half-eaten donuts in front of a diner that had been turned into a makeshift law office. Another Iranian student was waiting for her parents, who were taken into detention after arriving on another flight I havent seen them in 3-1/2 years. They dont speak English. But Im hopeful, said the student, who gave her name as Sahar. The students were both furious at the way their country had been targeted by Trumps order and touched by the outpouring of support from the volunteer lawyers. We see two different Americas here. There is this order banning us, and than there are all these people here who came to the airport. If it werent for these volunteers, she would have been deported, said Namazi. Im very depressed. We feel betrayed by this country that we invested so much energy and hope into. We are all graduate students, professors, PhDs, engineers. To say this is for national security, it doesnt add up, said Tahmineh Tabrizian, 33, another friend of Rasekhis. She said her own parents had planned to come to the United States and had spent $14,000 on tickets and visas and would now have to cancel their trip. Rasekhi, who has lived in the United States for a decade, was a Fulbright scholar at UC Santa Barbara and received a masters degree at Fresno State University, according to a resume supplied by one of her friends. She had been studying for a PhD at Stony Brook University on Long Island. She had gone to Tehran over the Christmas break to visit her parents and was on her way back to resume her studies when she was detained. Facebook
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Protests begin again at LAX on Sunday morning By Genaro Molina Facebook
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Protesters in Tel Aviv compare Trump immigration order to Israeli refugee policies By Joshua Mitnick Demonstrators in Tel Aviv protest U.S. President Trumps new immigration order. (Joshua Mitnick / Los Angeles Times) Holding signs reading Refugees Welcome and chanting No Ban, No Wall, Sanctuary for All, several dozen demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv on Sunday to join protests in the U.S. against President Trumps new immigration policy. Mia Zur Szpiro, a 36-year-old filmmaker, said she felt compelled to demonstrate because her parents survived the Holocaust. We are a country of immigrants, and to me it was astounding that this [order] was passed on Holocaust Memorial Day, she said. Its wrong to stereotype, and its wrong to send people who are in need back into the face of danger and the risk of death. Elliot Vaisbrub Glassenberg, a protest organizer and migrant rights activist, compared the new U.S. policy to Israeli policies toward tens of thousands of Eritrean and Sudanese migrants who crossed into the country illegally from Egypts Sinai desert. The policies that Trump has enacted are no worse than the policies that [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has enacted for years here such as not allowing any non-Jews to be given refugee status in Israel, except for a select few. Togod Omar, a native of Sudan who was at the protest, said he applied for political asylum in Israel three years ago, and is still waiting. He said Sudanese friends hoping to be resettled in the U.S. were upset by the new executive order. Trump doesnt understand whats going on in Sudan, Omar said. You cant punish the Sudanese people for what the Islamic government is doing. You cant banish someone because of their religion. Facebook
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President Trump hits majority disapproval in record time, Gallup finds By David Lauter Days until achieving MAJORITY disapproval from @Gallup
Reagan: 727
Bush I: 1336
Clinton: 573
Bush II: 1205
Obama: 936
Trump: 8. days. pic.twitter.com/kv2fy0Qsbp Will Jordan (@williamjordann) January 29, 2017 President Trumps actions during his first week in office have appeared to be aimed at the voters who already supported him, not at reaching out to the rest, and thats taken a rapid toll on his support, which was already historically low. Gallup, which has measured job approval for presidents for decades, shows Trumps approval so far at 45%, with 48% disapproving. Thats an average of several days polling. The daily trend lines are not kind to the new administration. As of Saturday, 51% of Americans disapproved of Trumps performance. Thats a record for the speed of getting to majority disapproval. By comparison, President George W. Bush hit majority disapproval six months into his second term, in June 2005, and remained in negative territory for the rest of his tenure. President Obama did not hit 51% disapproval until August of 2011, during the crisis over the federal debt ceiling that summer. His approval rebounded later that year, but he had a second period of majority disapproval during late 2013 and much of 2014. He ended his term with widespread approval and 37% of Americans disapproving. Trump Job Approval: Approve 45% (-1); Disapprove 48% (+3). Get the full trend https://t.co/BjTUhf0NAM. GallupNews (@GallupNews) January 27, 2017 Facebook
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Hundreds of travelers were caught in limbo over rushed visa ban By Brian Bennett (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Hundreds of travelers were blocked from entering the U.S. or prevented from boarding flights in the hours after President Trump signed his order banning arrivals from seven predominantly Muslim countries, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In the order, Trump temporarily suspended refugee admissions and banned travelers from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Scores of people from those countries were aboard airplanes flying toward the U.S. when Trump signed his executive order on Friday afternoon, setting off waves of confusion among border officials and the traveling public. Upon landing at U.S. airports, 109 people from the listed countries were detained by immigration officials and prevented from entering the U.S., officials said. The department had approved 81 waivers to the new travel ban by Saturday afternoon, the official said, but at least some of the people detained on arrival were sent back to their countries of origin. Court orders issued Saturday evening required U.S. border officials to stop returning people who had already arrived with valid visas. It is unclear how many people were deported before the orders were issued. It is also unclear if the Trump administration has fully complied with those orders. In addition to the people who arrived in the U.S. and were detained, as of 3 p.m. on Saturday, an additional 173 travelers from the listed countries had been stopped from boarding flights to the U.S., a Homeland Security official said in a statement. The department did not make an official available to describe the actions and the agencys response. As many as 3,250 travelers may have been inconvenienced by the new visa restrictions, officials for the department said in a statement Sunday. Yesterday, less than 1% of the more than 325,000 international air travelers who arrive every day were inconvenienced while enhanced security measures were implemented, the statement read. The department will comply with court orders, the statement said. But no evidence was given to confirm this. Lawyers seeking to meet with detainees at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington and at San Francisco have said that they were blocked by officials on Sunday. The Department of Homeland Security will comply with judicial orders, faithfully enforce our immigration laws, and implement President Trumps executive orders to ensure that those entering the United States do not pose a threat to our country or the American people, according to the departments statement. All of the visa holders and travelers from the listed countries blocked from entering the U.S. since Friday already had gone through multiple steps of security screening that checked their biographical information and travel history against U.S. terrorism databases. Facebook
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White House seems to back down on part of new vetting policy By Christi Parsons The White House on Sunday appeared to back down on a key part of President Trumps tough new immigration order, signaling that travelers trying to enter the country from seven banned countries will be allowed in if they hold green cards. White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said that these legal permanent residents are exempt from the travel ban moving forward, even though over the weekend other administration officials said the rule did apply to them. The apparent reversal came amid a national controversy over the new Trump order that temporarily halts the entry of all refugees to the U.S. and any traveler from seven majority Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Federal judges across the country have blocked parts of the presidents executive actions since they came down on Friday, mostly preventing the deportation of some travelers who ran into the first wave of implementation over the weekend. The back-and-forth over the green-card holders reflected a generalized confusion about the new order, which also bars Syrian refugees from entering the United States indefinitely. Lawyers for some of the affected immigrants said border agents seemed uncertain about the new rules and were disagreeing with one another about which travelers were affected and which were not. Further complicating the picture was a statement from the Department of Homeland Security asserting that its agents would enforce all of Trumps orders while also complying with judicial orders. As some of the orders block deportation, that left individual officers to try to figure out which priorities to honor. Facebook
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Op-Ed: Trumps cruel, illegal refugee executive order By Erwin Chemerinsky Protesters demonstrate at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on Saturday. (Stephanie Keith / Getty Images) Barring individuals fleeing persecution from entering the United States is simply inhumane. Adding irony to injury, Trumps executive order was issued on Holocaust Remembrance Day, which should have been an occasion to atone for turning away refugees during the 1930ssome of whom then died in concentration camps. For example, in 1939, the United States turned away the St. Louis, a boat filled with refugees, many of them German Jews. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 254 passengers from the St. Louis died in the Holocaust. Erwin Chemerinsky Read More Facebook
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Lyft pledges to donate $1 million to ACLU following Trumps immigration order By Tracey Lien (Richard Vogel / Associated Press) Tech executives had been mostly quiet for the first week of Donald Trumps presidency but that changed after his controversial executive order restricting refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries. Executive after executive spent Saturday tweeting and posting messages to Facebook decrying the administrations actions. Lyft co-founders John Zimmer and Logan Green went a step further: On Sunday, they announced they would donate $1 million to the American Civil Liberties Union over the next four years. Banning people of a particular faith or creed, race or identity, sexuality or ethnicity, from entering the U.S. is antithetical to both Lyft and our nations core values, the co-founders wrote in an email to Lyft customers. We stand firmly against the actions, and will no
Good morning. Its Wednesday, Jan. 4, and heres whats going on around California:
TOP STORIES
Drought buster?
So what would it take to bust the California drought? A lot more of the kind of storms that have dumped large amounts of rain and snow across Northern California the last few months. State officials say theyve seen major improvements especially as key reservoirs rise back to normal levels but stress that a lot more rain is still needed. Los Angeles Times
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Trump trials
Xavier Becerras confirmation hearings to become California attorney general will take a decidedly Donald Trump flavor. Lawmakers asked for Becerras positions on immigration, including cooperation with federal immigration authorities and his view of sanctuary cities, civil rights, environmental protection, police accountability and consumer protection. It underscores how Trump is emerging as Public Enemy No. 1 in Democrat-controlled Sacramento. Los Angeles Times
Music and lights
Inside the new push to renovate one of Los Angeles strangest landmarks. Los Angeles Times
L.A. STORIES
Gay landmark: The Factory, a groundbreaking gay nightclub in West Hollywood and a key part of the gay rights movement, is threatened with demolition. Now, there is a push to preserve it. Curbed Los Angeles
Shipping container mall: In the Bixby Knolls section of Long Beach, theyre rethinking the shopping center with a food court made out of shipping containers. Press-Telegram
Calendar craze: In the Chinese American shopping districts of the San Gabriel Valley, this is calendar season. And some customers cant get enough. With the calendar, we can honor tradition, celebrate culture and give something meaningful, useful and practical. San Gabriel Valley Tribune
POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT
Harris milestone: Before friends and family in a packed chamber, Kamala Harris was sworn in as Californias newest U.S. senator Tuesday morning. She became the first black woman the Golden State has sent to the Senate and the first Indian American to ever serve in the body. Los Angeles Times
Brace yourself: Tolls on Bay Area bridges could rise to $8. Mercury News
Family leave: This week, a groundbreaking family leave law takes effect in San Francisco. Most parents living in the city will now receive six weeks of fully paid leave. SFGate
Fake news: Did California Democrats legalize child prostitution? No, but the claim is the latest fake news battle. Sacramento Bee
Homeless woes: Sacramentos new mayor is facing a familiar problem for cities in California: homelessness. New York Times
CRIME AND COURTS
Killer ill: Charles Manson is seriously ill and was taken to a hospital, but the exact nature of his condition is unknown. Los Angeles Times
Solutions sought: A big surge in homicides in San Bernardino has city leaders struggling to figure out some solutions. San Bernardino Sun
Mall ban: Hoping to reduce the number of brawls and violence, some shopping malls have a radical idea: banning teenagers. Civil liberties groups are crying foul, and a mall in Sacramento might become a test case. Mercury News
Double killings: A man was arrested Monday in connection with the deaths of a woman and her friend after a house fire in Westminster led authorities to their bodies, which were found miles away in Newport Beach. Los Angeles Times
CALIFORNIA CULTURE
Jack in the Box taco mystery: Some call it vile and gross, an insult to Mexican food. But the people love it. A look at how the Jack in the Box taco has become such a huge fast-food hit. Wall Street Journal
Arts District dead? Valet parking, $6 coffee, four-star restaurants and luxury high-rises: Is L.A.s once-gritty Arts District dying before our eyes? LA Weekly
Dogged concern: The dog of a homeless man finds a new home and breaks some hearts in Fresno. Fresno Bee
Beyond orcas: Making good on SeaWorlds promise to add more thrill-oriented rides, the San Diego theme park will build its tallest and fastest roller coaster. Is it enough after years of Blackfish backlash? Los Angeles Times
Museum brawl: The latest rivalry between Los Angeles and San Francisco is over George Lucas and a lot of Star Wars booty. Associated Press
CALIFORNIA ALMANAC
Los Angeles area: Cloudy with highs topping out at 60. San Diego: Partly cloudy with highs in the low 60s. San Francisco area and Sacramento: Rainy with highs in the low 50s.
AND FINALLY
Todays California memory comes from Tom Kruse:
I had arrived in California from Chicago in 1960 and my brother had given me a job in his warehouse. I didnt bring my lunch one day and asked a co-worker where I might get something inexpensive. He told me about a Mexican deli a block away and told me to ask for a burrito. I thought it was a joke, but I asked the counterman if he had anything called a burrito. He gave me the once over and smiled and asked what kind I wanted. I didnt know. He said he would fix me up. It was probably the best thing I had ever eaten.
If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)
Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Shelby Grad.
Sales of plant-based milk alternatives have been skyrocketing in recent years. Of course, no marketer in her right mind would try to sell anything with such a clunky, unappetizing name. Instead, they are sold as cashew milk, almond milk, hazelnut milk and a handful of other milks from unlikely sources with names that evoke creamy wonderfulness.
It drives producers of what you might call traditional milk that is, the people who sell the old-fashioned, nutritious white liquid that comes from cows a little nuts that the purveyors of nondairy drinks are calling their product milk and directly competing with the real thing in refrigerated cases across America.
It was one thing when there was just soy milk. But now that there are all manner of milk products concocted from the oddest things cashews, hemp, even quinoa, for heavens sake the dairy industry has had enough. Last month, on its behalf, a bipartisan group of 32 members of Congress from agricultural states sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration asking for a crackdown on the proliferation of faux lait.
This is no frothy matter to milk producers who have seen decades of decline in milk consumption. These hard-working Americans have experienced deep cuts in income as milk prices have plunged 40 percent since 2014, the members of Congress wrote in their letter. The authors include two California congressmen from the states agricultural heartland, Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare).
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Americans waning interest in drinking milk may be attributable, in part, to a better understanding of its provenance and production.
Federal regulations (21 CFR 131.110, to be exact) define milk as the lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows. And that means, according to the letter from the members of Congress, that it is illegal for milk imitators to profit from using milks good name.
But perhaps it is federal regulations that are out of touch with consumer trends. Though it is true that milk alternatives are generally less nutritious than the real thing, which is packed full of protein, calcium, and vitamins A and D, theres no evidence that consumers have been tricked into buying a less nutritious plant-based alternative or that theyre unaware of the difference. Most people are smart enough to understand that quinoa milk isnt cows milk flavored with quinoa (because, who would buy that?) just as as they can tell the difference between goats milk and Milk of Magnesia.
Indeed, Americans waning interest in drinking milk may be attributable, in part, to a better understanding of its provenance and production. These days, there are vegans eager to enjoy a bowl of cereal or ice cream without cows milk, often because theyre concerned about the treatment of the animals. There are parents concerned about the use of growth hormones in cows. There are people who, for whatever reason, dont like the taste of cows milk and are pleased to have alternatives available.
So far, the FDA hasnt responded to the letter. Even if the new leadership of the FDA were inclined to expend resources protecting the milk brand for the dairy lobby and were to force imitators to change their labels, its uncertain whether that would have any effect on consumption habits.
Nor is it clear if a crackdown would stop the word milk from being used in labeling. In 2011, the FDA sent a letter to CytoSport Inc. in Northern California warning it to stop mislabeling its popular Muscle Milk brand nutritional shakes because they dont contain milk. (Happily, it doesnt contain muscles, either.) Yet, Muscle Milk is still readily available for purchase in major retail stores.
Perhaps thats because the word milk like its close dairy relations butter and cream is a relatively generic term that cant be easily controlled through trademarks and copyrights.
Its unfortunate that the dairy industry is blaming milk imitators rather than a change in consumers tastes for its woes. This is the industry, after all, that came up with one of the more memorable advertising campaigns in recent history: Got Milk?
In the end, consumers arent really dumb at all. Most of us know by now that theres no cream in Cream of Wheat, no butter in cocoa butter and no grapes in Grapenuts. Or nuts, for that matter. And we know what milk is, too.
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About once a week, I pick up a half gallon of soy milk from the market. I do this of my own free will, fully cognizant of what Im buying. But 32 members of the House of Representatives worry that consumers like me are confused by the word milk on the label; they think were laboring under the false impression that the carton contains dairy from a cow.
Since the 1930s, milk has been legally defined as the lacteal secretions of a bovine mammal. It is therefore technically illegal to use the term milk on something other than cows milk, even with a clear modifier, and now lawmakers are asking the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on products that could steal cows thunder. Their stated intention is to protect consumers from deception.
While this latest push to enforce labeling laws has been directed at popular plant-based alternatives such as almond, soy and rice milk, it could also have an effect on other animal products including sheep and goat milk, since theyre not secretions from a bovine mammal either. No word yet on what these products are supposed to call themselves. Goat juice doesnt exactly caress the ears.
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The FDA, to its credit, has not expended much energy playing nanny state on this issue, apparently recognizing that a definition from the 1930s shouldnt haunt us in 2017, and that theres no epidemic of confusion at supermarkets. Whats this almond milk thing? Must be from a cow that ate almonds, is not a common line of thought.
It is technically illegal to use the term milk on something other than cows milk, even with a clear modifier.
Dictionaries, moreover, take a wide view of what milk means; the second definition in Merriam-Webster is a liquid resembling milk in appearance which should certainly cover plant-based alternatives. And the rare person who truly isnt clear on what shes buying could always refer to a nutrition label. (In the 1930s, nutrition labels werent yet mandatory, but of course they are today.)
Theres something else going on here. Whatever lawmakers may say, theyre trying to protect the dairy industry, not consumers. Dairy is struggling. The latest data from the USDA show that Americans are drinking nearly 40% less dairy milk than they were a few decades ago. (In 1970, the average American was drinking about 12 ounces of milk per day. Now its closer to 7 ounces.) This fall, the USDA stepped in to buy $20 million worth of cheese to reduce a glut caused by lack of demand. The dairy industrys response to this socialist price support? Not enough!
In the meantime, the dairy-alternatives industry is thriving, expanding sales by 250% over the past five years. Plant-based options such as almond, soy and rice milk make up 9% of the milk market, and new ingredients and brands are rapidly being developed to meet demand.
Consumers are not buying plant-based milk because they have been tricked into believing they actually came from a cow. Some are interested in exploring new flavors or finding healthy alternatives to cows milk; others have concerns about the environmental impact of conventional milk production or object to the treatment of dairy cows.
Its not the first time Big Food has stepped in to squelch competition. In late 2014, Unilever filed a civil suit against the San Francisco startup Hampton Creek, claiming that the company shouldnt be allowed to call its plant-based mayonnaise Just Mayo since it doesnt contain eggs, which are required for mayonnaise under the same Depression-era regulations. In the end, Unilever dropped its suit and Hampton Creek was able to keep its Just Mayo brand, in part because there is no standard for mayo.
The milk push may come to nothing as well. The FDA has not yet replied to the eager lawmakers, and Washington is in a fairly anti-regulatory mood at the moment. But the fact that such an absurd rule remains on the books creates market uncertainty for producers of dairy alternatives. Thats why my organization, the Good Food Institute, filed a Freedom of Information lawsuit earlier this year seeking all relevant enforcement records as a first step toward filing a petition calling for permanent regulatory change.
Current 1st Amendment jurisprudence makes clear that if the government is going to restrict corporate speech, it must be in furtherance of a legitimate government purpose, and helping one industry over another does not qualify. Restricting the milk label would, then, not only be condescending to consumers, but also potentially unconstitutional.
Soy milk and almond milk are accurate labels. If we want to call things what they are, we can start by calling this latest legislative effort by its true name: industry-funded market interference.
Emily Byrd is the San Francisco-based communications manager of the Good Food Institute, a nonprofit that promotes alternatives to animal agriculture.
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Dick Cheney, back when he was vice president, insisted all the TVs in his hotel suite be tuned to Fox News before he arrived.
Its not just conservative politicians who like to stay ideologically insulated, though. So do campus liberals. Consider what happened two years ago at Rutgers University when Condoleezza Rice was invited to be commencement speaker. The faculty senate objected and students protested vehemently enough that the former secretary of State backed out.
In the wake of the 2016 election, theres been a lot of talk about how Americans are stuck in partisan bubbles, especially on Facebook and Twitter. Anecdotes like the ones above remind us that bubbles dont happen accidentally or passively. Instead, many politically minded people are in a state of motivated ignorance: They neither know nor want to know what the opposition has to say.
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As social psychologists, we wondered whether liberals and conservatives were equally resistant to learning about one anothers views. Some psychology studies, for instance, have suggested that conservatives are more prone to the confirmation bias meaning they selectively consume information, like biased news, that aligns with their preexisting opinions. But we werent so sure that liberals were any more open-minded.
A functioning democracy requires that citizens make informed choices which voters cant do if their information sources are ideologically monochromatic.
So we created some experiments to check. In one, we offered a chance to win $10 to participants who opposed letting gay couples marry. There was a catch: To qualify for the prize drawing, they had to read eight arguments for legalizing same-sex marriage. As an alternative, they could read eight anti-same-sex marriage statements but any potential prize money would be reduced to $7. Greed and curiosity were teamed up against motivated ignorance.
Motivated ignorance won. Most conservatives (61%) chose to stay in their bubble and forgo the extra cash.
And when we gave liberals the same dilemma? Slightly more, 64%, chose to stay in their bubble.
The general trend held regardless of the issue or how we probed their interest. We asked about legalizing marijuana, climate change, gun control, or abortion. We even asked about elections (including Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton). The result was the same: Neither side much wanted to hear from the other.
Why were they so dug in? It wasnt that they already knew the opposing arguments. Participants on both sides admitted to being largely unaware of the other sides views, and this was confirmed by how poorly they did on a quiz before diving into the rest of the experiment. Rather, participants said that hearing from the other side felt lousy; they reported it was about as unpleasant as taking out the trash or standing in line for 20 minutes.
Participants pointed to social ramifications, too. In a separate study, people we surveyed said they anticipated getting angry if they were to listen to the other side, and suspected that it might damage their relationship with the person spouting off. This might explain why holiday dinners are both cherished (the meal part) and dreaded (the conversation part). Socially speaking, the safe bet is to stay in your bubble.
Although our research found that both liberals and conservatives are averse to learning about the other side, it is fair to ask whether both sides ideas are equally worth hearing. To be civically informed, one should consider a spectrum of reasonable views; fake news, baseless claims and lies are not necessarily in bounds. Trump and his surrogates notoriously played fast and loose with facts and propagated baseless claims. So perhaps opponents of Trump have reasonable grounds to ignore what he has to say.
Still, plugging ones ears can prove costly. For example, during the election, mainstream media outlets spotlighted Trumps most unhinged moments and largely ignored his dominant message economic populism. Focusing on coverage of Trumps gaffes made it too easy for the anti-Trump camp to dismiss his supporters as deplorables.
Those who feel politically embattled arent likely to unilaterally abandon motivated ignorance. But they should and for their own sake. If their political opponents feel understood, they might be more receptive to hearing what others have to say. Listening to the other side could at least help prepare an arsenal of counterarguments.
Talking past each other is deeply unhealthy for our entire political system. A functioning democracy requires that citizens make informed choices which voters cant do if their information sources are ideologically monochromatic. Motivated ignorance replaces the marketplace of ideas with two isolated, noncompeting monopolies. Its a scary situation if, in this deeply partisan moment in U.S. history, the one thing both sides have in common is a lack of curiosity about what the other thinks.
Jeremy Frimer is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Winnipeg. Linda J. Skitka is a psychology professor and Matt Motyl is an assistant psychology professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
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My sister, actress Sharon Tate, was murdered on Aug. 9, 1969. Sharon was eight months pregnant. Patricia Krenwinkel and other followers of Charles Manson broke into her home and killed everyone there in a horribly brutal manner. The next night, the Manson family again chose another home at random and murdered its occupants, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
In a two-night killing spree Krenwinkel was personally responsible for butchering three individuals. She mutilated one of her victims with a fork and carved the word war into his stomach. She wrote words all over the LaBianca house with blood. She admits she wasnt on drugs. She claims she wanted to ignite a race war Helter Skelter that she would ride out, living in a hole in the middle of the earth.
During her trial, Krenwinkel laughed about the murders and her victims. From my perspective, she has never shown real remorse. She claims she finally woke up and broke away from Manson when she heard he had bet her, as his property, in a prison card game with another inmate.
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It would seem ... that some parole board commissioners may be trying to empty our prisons of offenders over the age of 60, regardless of the danger to society.
On the last Thursday of 2016, I attended the 14th parole hearing for Krenwinkel, the longest-serving female inmate in Californias prison system. She was condemned to death in 1971, but after the state Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972, her sentence was changed to life in prison.
In the hearing room the commissioners on the Board of Parole Hearings set the tone: Victims families are allowed to speak, but the hearings are really all about the inmate and her history in prison not the crime, not those who were murdered. For this hearing, I submitted 98,000 signatures on a petition gathered in just 13 days in the beginning of December opposing Krenwinkels release. More than 10,000 people didnt merely sign the petition, they wrote letters telling the state of California to keep Krenwinkel in prison.
During the hearing, Deputy Commissioner Nga Lam suggested Krenwinkel had possibly been suffering from something like battered spouse syndrome at the time of the murders. Experts studying every aspect of Krenwinkels case and all the Manson murders, including court and parole transcripts, have concluded that only one female in the group was being assaulted by Manson, and it was not Patricia Krenwinkel. Krenwinkel has had 13 previous parole hearings over four decades to claim Manson beat her, and only now has this come up as an excusable reason for brutally murdering seven strangers and an unborn child. This suggestion resulted in the postponement of a parole decision pending an investigation of facts.
I couldnt believe it when Lam asked if Krenwinkel qualified as a battered woman. Nor could the other family members in the hearing room. This was the same type of leading question that had been posed at another Manson family parole hearing in 2016 Leslie Van Houtens, in April. In that hearing, the suggestion had to do with brainwashing as a mitigating factor. Afterward, the Parole Board recommended a parole date for Van Houten, although Gov. Jerry Brown rejected that recommendation and the state Supreme Court refused to review his decision. Van Houten, appropriately, remains in prison.
It would seem, though, that some parole board commissioners may be trying to empty our prisons of offenders over the age of 60, regardless of the danger to society.
In Krenwinkels case, postponing a parole decision based on the spurious need for further investigation is a colossal waste of tax dollars. It is a travesty of justice.
Look up the word sociopath. You will see there is no cure for this affliction. There is no medication, no programming that can relieve it. Patricia Krenwinkel has been diagnosed as a sociopath more than once. In the controlled environment of prison, she has done well. But she is still a dangerous woman. Krenwinkel and all the members of the Manson family should never be granted parole.
Debra Tate is a volunteer victims advocate. She has represented the Tate family at every Manson family parole hearing since 1998. www.noparoleformansonfamily.com
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
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Logic, science and common sense have blazed the trail to humankinds triumphs. But oh, how we love to wander off that bright path toward the campfire shadows, to hear legends of things that go bump in the night. The mysterious and the implausible from bizarre tales that gained traction in the 2016 presidential campaign, to macabre old legends of the supernatural are irresistible. Each month, more than 2.5 million people tune into Aaron Mahnkes podcast Lore. He drills far into the factual origins of unsettling tales of vampires, lost adventurers, premature burials, spiritual powers, spectral sightings, dream coincidences and witchery. This year, Lore is being adapted into an Amazon TV anthology series, bringing the visual to the aural. Mahnke muses about how humans always believe that a good scare is a good idea.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS INTERVIEW ON THE PATT MORRISON ASKS PODCAST
How did you get interested in this subject?
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For me scary stories go back to grade school, probably about fifth grade. I remember having a writing teacher and probably in early October, she assigned us a short story we had to hand-write. So I wrote a scary story because thats what I was interested, in and that love has stayed with me ever since. I have an undergrad degree in psychology. That kind of colors how I look at things. I think, what are peoples motivations, how do people make decisions and process the experiences they go through?
What have been your influences since then?
I love the works of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman. I think that both of them get kind of lumped into, that Stephen King is a horror writer and Neil Gaiman writes for the fantasy world. I think they bring a lot of humanity to the table. Theyre full of stories of human who are put into extraordinary circumstances and have to find their way out of them. By the end of The Shining I dont really care whether Jack Torrance gives in, whether he fights back, is killed, or wakes up and its all been just a dream, right? I just want to know whats on the next page.
Of your podcasts, do you have one or two that are favorites?
Theres an episode called Half-Hanged, about a woman named Mary Webster, and her story feels very modern, in the sense that this was the late 1600s, she was in colonial western Massachusetts. But she was a woman who spoke her mind, she wasnt very religious, and all of these qualities didnt fit in with what people expected women to do in in the late 1600s.
Because of that, she wasnt very well liked. And back then, if you didnt like somebody, it was very easy to label someone a witch and let hysteria take over from there.
She was acquitted of accusations of being a witch in Boston, and about a year later, a town elder became sick and they couldnt figure out what was wrong with him. So they decided it was because Mary had cursed him, and some of the local men walked to her house, dragged her outside of her door and then hanged her in the tree.
What I love about the story is that they cut her down and they walked away, and the next morning she got up and walked away from it. She had somehow survived in what feels like the biggest middle finger you could think of to a town that didnt like you.
She had family and that family eventually moved to Canada, and [author] Margaret Atwood is [supposedly] a descendant of Mary Webster. She wrote a poem called Half-Hanged Mary. There are 12 stanzas about the 12 final hours of her life or what should have been the 12 final hours and it ends with this line that says, I wasnt a witch before but now I am one. If you thought I had magic before, I just walked away from the hangmans noose.
Theres something modern about it, about how in our own ways we still drag the others of our society out and string them up in a tree in a figurative way. We havent matured, we havent gotten better in those 300 years. We still do it. Marys story gives you hope because she managed to survive that and escape that in a way. Theres power in that.
I have chills.
Thats my job!
In the last year, with this election, have you see anything that puts you in mind of the behavior you see repeating itself in your work?
We certainly havent seen the best of humanity in the last year, thats probably a safe thing to say. Weve become almost like people have been given permission to fall back on deep prejudices and knee-jerk reactions.
I think that some people look for permission to do that, and thats why weve seen more of it in the last year than we have in a very long time. And to think what-ifs about the future, that we could be taking steps backward its pretty frightening. And I tell stories like that for a living!
Tell me a bit about your novels.
For my novels, I like to dig into New England folklore, the mythology, the superstitions, the things that are unique to this part of the country. Thats originally what I was trying to do when I created Lore. It was just sort of a happy accident that came out of that.
Was there one that made you think, theres a podcast in all of this?
I had read that if you want to grow the readership of your book, its good to be connected to [readers] over email, that you can build an email list where you reach out periodically and say, Hey, I have a new book you should go buy it.
I thought, well, nobody just gives their email address they need an incentive to do that. I created this nonfiction document that I would give them as a PDF. It was going to be like five favorite New England folk tales with a historical yet spooky bent to them.
I wrote four of the five, I looked at the word count and I panicked, because theyd gotten so big that I personally wouldnt have the time to sit down and read it, especially in PDF. And I had that literal moment of dragging the files to the trashcan on my desktop and I just hovered there for a second.
And I thought, you know, I dont read a lot of books because I do audio books thats how I take in my content, is through audio. So my plan was to record these five essays as sort of a home-brew audio book and give that away. I had no idea that it would work as a podcast until I let a friend listen to the very first one. He said, You should put this out as a podcast. And I gave it some brief thought and then just jumped in with both feet.
Lore won an award for history podcast, which is interesting considering some of the stories you do. Do you consider yourself a historian?
Im an armchair historian. But I do like to find stories that have a lot of provenance or that there are written records very close to the events that happened. Obviously when you get into the realm of ghost stories, people can record their sightings or whatnot but that doesnt necessarily make it true.
I try to avoid things that all they have to prove their existence is a Reddit post or a meme that hangs around the internet for a while. I probably wont touch on things like Slenderman, but the story of an Irish woman being burned alive by her husband because he thinks shes a changeling replaced by the elves thats a real event that really happened, and thats compelling.
Youve been doing this long enough you must have a sense of why we like to scare ourselves virtually.
In some ways I think its because its nice to know that someone elses life is worse off than ours. That may be the root of why people rubberneck on the highway when you drive by an accident. Part of that I think has to do with the fact that were just glad it wasnt us. At the same time, I do think scary stories help us feel like were alive. That heart racing, that adrenaline rush it reminds us that everything is working. Theres enough scary stuff in the world right now. These are moments of escapism, however much rooted in true facts I try to find the stories that are.
Has it changed your views of the nature of humanity or human history?
Its a lot easier to look at strangers and wonder, knowing the potential that people have toward the weird, the violent, the tragic, for what they believe are very good reasons. Obviously to some degree Im studying the ghost stories and true crime and weird unknown creatures, but at the same time, Im studying people, and why in the world we share those stories.
Its tough sometimes to be on an airplane and you just look around and wonder right?
And you, do you subscribe more or less to the Hamlet quote that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy?
I do know that were really good at looking for reasons, just as humans. We want to explain why something happens. Early on, it was, Why in the world does that yellow thing come up from the horizon and then sail through the sky and disappear? And we made stories that explain that.
Eventually science explains a lot of things, but there are still a lot of stories that science hasnt touched on, or that science never could touch on, and it does make you wonder. I think mystery adds texture to life, so to try to explain everything away with rationality would probably create a life that has a lot less flavor in it.
The podcast is really basic. Theres some music and you tell a story. Theres no reenactment. Was that a deliberate decision on your part to keep it as something like sitting around a campfire telling stories?
If youve ever been to New England, theres a lot of old homes. My house isnt the oldest in the area, but my office is angular, with horsehair plaster and hardwood floors and sharp-edged furniture. So my first recordings were really echo-y and tinny, and the music was in a lot of ways like what an Instagram filter does to a bad photo makes it look a little bit better. The music took a little bit of the tin and a little bit of the echo out of my voice and made the recording palatable. Looking back, it makes sense that its part of the mood, its part of the environment.
How do you see that transitioning to the visual?
Its certainly going to be a new sort of television show. And with Lore, I think we plan to take some risks. Were blending high-quality dramatic retelling of these true historical stories with unique documentary elements that bring context to the story. And woven through all of that will be narration, in a lot of the same way the podcast has, tying it all together, moving people like a tour guide from station to station.
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To the editor: The article on El Montes six-figure pensions illustrates the inevitable disaster of public employee collective bargaining. Employees cannot be expected to bargain fairly with other employees regarding compensation. (Californias pension crisis: When city retirement pays better than the job, Dec. 30)
Democratic processes inevitably subsidize concentrated special interests at the expense of the public interest. Employees have become the most powerful of all the special interests. Unions get collective bargaining and compulsory membership. Dues are taken from employees and passed to the union. The unions donate resources to control the politicians.
Two cardinal rules govern politics: First, concentrate the benefits to the few (employees) while spreading the burdens among the many (taxpayers), and second, distribute the benefits immediately while postponing the disastrous costs.
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This is further evidence that our form of government must be considered a failed experiment.
Gary Colboth, Long Beach
The writer is a professor emeritus of public administration at Cal State Dominguez Hills.
..
To the editor: Public pensions are based on three criteria: annual pay, years on the job and a multiplier between 2% and 3% that is decided by each of the hundreds of public agencies in California.
The very small minority of California civil servants who receive a six-figure pension are CEO-type managers who had high salaries, worked in the public sector 30 years or more and worked for cities whose elected council members voted for greater benefits during boom times in the late 1990s.
Much more common are civil servants like me with pensions below $20,000. Mine is a result of 16 years of work for the state, a modest salary and a multiplier of 2%.
Am I glad to have a pension? Of course. Am I frustrated by repeated newspaper articles that focus only on the six-figure pensioners, causing my family and friends to think that I too am living on Easy Street? Of course.
Diane Scholfield, Vista, Calif.
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
In the 2018 governors race, Gavin Newsom leads the pack in fundraising Gavin Newsom, the first major candidate to jump into CA's 2018 governor's race, narrowly lead the pack in 2016 fundraising w/ $4.27 million Phil Willon (@philwillon) February 1, 2017 Facebook
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Schwarzenegger: Were going through some difficult moments ... but I guarantee we will work our way out of this By Seema Mehta (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that the United States had faced trying times and political crises before, and has always persevered. Yes, were going through some difficult moments right now, as we have in the past, but I guarantee we will work our way out of this, Schwarzenegger said, speaking at an electoral reform event at the University of Southern California. He recalled immigrating to the United States and seeing the violent protests at the Democratic National Convention in 1968, Watergate and the economic troubles during President Jimmy Carters tenure. One thing you can count on in America is even though it falls every so often as we all do it dusts itself off, gets up and gets going again, Schwarzenegger said. That is why its the number one country in the world. Although Schwarzenegger did not mention President Donald Trump by name during his remarks, the comments appeared to be a reference to the turbulence since Trump took office less than two weeks ago. Tensions between Schwarzenegger, who replaced Trump as the host of Celebrity Apprentice, and the new president and fellow Republican have been escalating. On Monday, Schwarzenegger called the implementation of Trumps temporary ban on immigration from several Muslim-majority countries crazy. The previous week, Schwarzenegger slammed Trumps pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma Atty. Gen. Scott Pruitt, as a hypocrite. Earlier in January, Trump mocked Schwarzenegger for the first ratings of Celebrity Apprentice after the former governor took over as the host. During the presidential campaign, Schwarzenegger repeatedly made clear his disdain for Trump, pointedly casting his ballot in the California primary for Ohio Gov. John Kasich after he had dropped out. On Tuesday, Schwarzenegger was headlining an event about redistricting reform at his namesake institute at USC. He did not respond to reporters questions after the event. While governor, Schwarzenegger championed electoral reform, including an ultimately successful effort to take the redrawing of congressional and legislative districts away from politicians and give them instead to an independent commission. Both political parties have long tried to use gerrymandering to create districts that favor their politicians. But David Daley, author of The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal Americas Democracy, argued that Republicans were able to make unprecedented changes in the 2010 redistricting that will have long-lasting effects on this nations politics because of a confluence of factors, including unprecedented technology such as mapping software, and a flood of anonymous money due to the Citizens United ruling. In 2010, gerrymandering enters its steroid era, Daley said. The end result, he said, was that while the nation remained relatively closely divided between the two parties, the GOP was able to exponentially expand its hold of statehouses, governors mansions and congressional seats. Speakers urged Californians to take the lessons they had learned through the states redistricting reform and try to help voters apply them in other states, through the initiative, or legislative or legal systems. We are the model for the rest of the nation and that is why we in California have to do everything we can to pull together all the things that happen successfully in California and nationwide, Schwarzenegger said. Because the rest of the states are waiting for us. Facebook
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Top Democratic donor Tom Steyer is planning a larger role opposing President Trump By Chris Megerian On Sunday, Tom Steyer was holding a cardboard sign saying not on my watch at San Franciscos airport, one of thousands protesting President Trumps order preventing visitors from several predominantly Muslim countries. I went out there to participate, but also to listen, he said. Like other liberal leaders, hes been hunting for the right approach to counter Trump. Now the deep-pocketed Democratic donor is launching a new effort that could expand the scope of NextGen Climate, the San Francisco-based organization he created and funded. Although Steyer expects to stay active on environmental issues the onetime hedge fund manager is best known for advocating stronger steps to fight climate change and support clean energy hes looking to play a more expansive role in opposing Trump. The number of issues that have to be addressed are broader, he said in an interview, pointing to Trumps statements on issues such as voting that he considers to be a broader attack on fundamental American rights. In a video posted on Tuesday night, Steyer says, I promise to do everything in my power to stand up to Trump and asks for the publics thoughts on what next steps should be taken. Steyer spent $74 million in the 2014 midterm election, and then millions more last year to support Hillary Clinton and other Democrats. Although results have been mixed Republicans gained ground in both years Steyer said the experiences have positioned NextGen to educate and mobilize voters across the country. There are very few people who are set up organizationally to do what were trying to do, he said. Steyer has already played a role in opposing Trumps nominees, running advertisements criticizing his choice for secretary of State, former Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson. Besides simply fighting Trump, Steyer also hopes to project an alternative view of the country one that comes with a dose of California sunshine. America can pursue a much more optimistic, a much more prosperous, a much more equitable and a much healthier future, he said. Facebook
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Former aide is preparing to run for Rep. Grace Napolitanos seat if she retires By Javier Panzar Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Norwalk), who turned 80 last year, has not made plans to retire. But one San Gabriel Valley politician is raising funds to run in case Napolitano does decide to bow out after 10 terms in Congress. Mary Ann Lutz, the former mayor of Monrovia and a former aide to Napolitano, reported having $101,000 in the bank to run for Napolitanos 32nd Congressional District seat, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission. But Lutz says she will run only if Napolitano retires. I have enormous respect for my former boss, Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, and would never run against her for any office, Lutz said in a statement. In the event that the 32nd Congressional District seat eventually opens up, I plan to run, and run aggressively. Napolitano suffered a minor stroke last February that affected her ability to write and slightly slowed her walk. She continued her reelection campaign and beat state Assemblyman Roger Hernandez (D-West Covina), who effectively ended his campaign in August after a judge granted his ex-wifes request for a domestic violence restraining order against him. During an interview with The Times a day before the November election, Napolitano said the health of her 90-year-old husband would be a key factor in her decision on whether to run for an 11th term in 2018. I would love to stay but it depends, she said. I will be ready to hang it up when I am ready. Lutz was elected in 2003 to the City Council in Monrovia, a city of 36,000 in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, and was elected mayor in 2009. She lost her reelection bid in 2015 and went on to work for Napolitano as an advisor on water issues. Lutz raised $26,000 and loaned her campaign committee an additional $75,000. Napolitano has $144,692 in the bank if she wants to run again. Facebook
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State Senate committee votes in favor of funding legal aid for immigrants in California facing deportation By Jazmine Ulloa (John Moore / Getty Images) A state legislative bill seeking to expand legal services for immigrants in the U.S. illegally moved out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday on a 5-2 vote. The bill, introduced by state Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego), would create a legal defense program funded with state money that would provide lawyers for immigrants caught in deportation or removal proceedings. It comes roughly three years after the Unaccompanied Undocumented Minors program began providing state-funded legal services for young refugees fleeing gang violence in Central America. Hueso said the measure faced new urgency given President Trumps executive orders last week on immigration. This is a bill protecting Californians, protecting their families, but also protecting Californias economic prominence, Hueso said. I hope we can all stand united on this and say, Yes, we stand by our immigrant community in California. Members of the committee raised concerns about whether it whittled away at defense services available for detainees convicted of certain crimes and over how the state would be able to afford it amid a looming deficit and budget cuts from the federal government. It is well-meaning, but it is a whole different agency that we are setting up in an expedited way, Sen. Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont) said. Read More Facebook
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California assemblyman wants state to make cleaner purchases By Chris Megerian (Alexis Cuarezma / For The Times) A California lawmaker wants state officials to consider greenhouse gas emissions when making new purchases, a proposal that would add a new wrinkle to the bidding process for government contracts. Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) said the legislation (AB 262) would harness the states enormous buying power to support clean manufacturing. The measure, which includes state agencies and university systems, would affect the purchase of materials such as asphalt, cement, steel and glass for projects such as hospitals, dormitories and roads. Companies bidding on state contracts would be required to report greenhouse gas emissions generated by the manufacturing and transportation of supplies. Officials would then factor that information into their decision. Given Californias goal of slashing emissions, Bonta said he hopes that the legislation puts the states money where its values are. He doesnt expect the requirement to report more information would be a significant burden on companies seeking contracts. This will just be one more piece of information that will need to be added, he said. Facebook
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First of several immigrant protection bills clears state Senate Public Safety Committee By Jazmine Ulloa (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) As national debate and protests have taken place over President Donald Trumps executive actions on immigration and refugees, the state Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday passed the first of several bills aimed at protecting immigrants in California. Senate Bill 54, introduced by Senate President pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), would prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies from using resources to investigate, detain, report or arrest persons for the purposes of immigration enforcement. The proposal, dubbed the California Values Act, also aims to protect immigrants personal data, requiring state agencies to review their confidentiality policies and to ensure that they are only collecting information necessary to their departments. It moved out of committee with a 5-2 vote. Long line of advocates, lawyers in support SB 54, prohibiting law enforcement agencies from using resources for immigrants enforcement. pic.twitter.com/G0IV9ihRjE Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) January 31, 2017 The bill seeks to strengthen immigrant protections threatened under Trumps executive actions. In orders signed last week, the president pledged to cut federal dollars from so-called sanctuary cities, which have policies limiting the cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. At a committee hearing Tuesday, De Leon said the proposal builds on the California Trust Act, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed in October 2013. The state law prevents law enforcement agencies from detaining immigrants longer than necessary for minor crimes so that federal immigration authorities can take them into custody. A long line of immigrant advocates, lawyers and lobbyists rose in support of the bill, saying it would continue to help law enforcement officials build trust within immigrant communities and allow more victims and witnesses to report crime. Democratic members in the committee urged their Republican colleagues to vote for the legislation and move away from Trumps rhetoric, which they said stereotyped immigrants as criminals. They pointed to low crime rates in immigrant communities and stressed that many police chiefs do not want to enforce immigration laws. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), chair of the committee, said people across California were under economic stress that could be manipulated into fear. All of us want hardened criminals prosecuted under the law, she said. All of us. But what we are watching now is a pitting of people against each other, a targeting of immigrants. Opponents were not swayed. They said the bills language was too broad and could prevent communication among police agencies at different levels of government, allowing dangerous criminals to escape prosecution. Im concerned that you are basically making the state of California a de facto sanctuary state, Sen. Jeff Stone (R-Murrieta) told De Leon. Facebook
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California lawmakers seek stricter enforcement, more transparency at state toxics control agency By Melanie Mason Jose Gomez, at his home on South Hicks Avenue in East Los Angeles, is among thousands whose yards have been tested for contamination from the former Exide plant. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) Assembly Democrats unveiled a package of five bills Tuesday aimed at reforming the state agency tasked with regulating toxic substances. The Department of Toxic Substances Control has been roundly criticized for its flat-footed response in regulating and cleaning up pollution from the now-closed Exide battery recycling plant in Vernon. A Los Angeles Times review in 2015 found the department knew for years that the plant was violating environmental regulations but was slow to act on it. Too many communities, including communities I represent, have been harmed by toxic emissions that were released into their neighborhoods emissions that could and should have been stopped, Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) said in a statement. The goal of this legislative package is a more transparent, accountable, and responsive Department of Toxic Substances Control and safer and healthier communities throughout California. The proposed legislation includes: AB 245 by Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles), which would require hazardous waste facilities to comply with higher financial assurance requirements to make sure there are adequate funds for contamination cleanup.
AB 249 (Gomez), which would increase maximum penalties the department can assess to match what the federal government can assess in similar situations.
AB 248 by Assemblywoman Eloise Gomez Reyes (D-San Bernardino), which would require hazardous waste facilities to submit permit renewals two years prior to the current permits expiration to avoid lapses.
AB 246 by Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), which would promote the use of fence line monitoring by facilities to better detect leaks.
AB 247 by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens), which would create a statewide task force focused on reducing lead poisoning in the state. Facebook
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein says she will vote no on Jeff Sessions nomination for U.S. attorney general By Sarah D. Wire California Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced this morning that she will vote no on the nomination of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for U.S. attorney general. The statement comes after protestors visited Feinsteins home and office out of concern that she may vote in favor of the nomination. Protesters marched on her home and California offices last night. #CASen https://t.co/U0HhsJxwTB Sarah D. Wire (@sarahdwire) January 31, 2017 JUST NOW: On Sessions attorney general nomination: I must vote no. pic.twitter.com/lfQnX5Khug Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) January 31, 2017 It is very difficult to reconcile for me the independence and objectivity necessary for the position of attorney general with the partisanship this nominee has demonstrated, Feinstein said Tuesday. We are being asked to determine whether this nominees record demonstrates that he will have the objectivity to enforce the law for all Americans and be an independent attorney general and not an arm of the White House. Feinstein is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which votes today on the confirmation of Sessions to be President Trumps attorney general. Feinstein pointed to former acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Sally Yates as an example of what she is looking for. Yates was fired Monday, just hours after she announced that the Justice Department would not defend Trumps controversial executive order banning refugees and travelers from certain countries. Yesterday, early in the evening, we clearly saw what a truly independent attorney general doesI have no confidence that Senator Sessions will do that, Feinstein said. Instead, he has been the fiercest, most dedicated, and most loyal promoter in Congress of the Trump agenda, and has played a critical role as the clearinghouse for policy and philosophy to undergird the implementation of that agenda. Facebook
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Where do Californias members of Congress stand on President Trumps refugee order? By Sarah D. Wire Noor Hindi, left, and Shah Najjar, middle, join the protest at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) President Trumps executive order Friday, which blocked U.S. entry to refugees and nationals of seven Muslim-majority nations, brought thousands of Americans to the nations airports in protest over the weekend. Several Democrats from Californias 54-member congressional delegation joined constituents at airports, and lobbied customs and Border Patrol officials to release the detained visa holders. Many of the states 14 Republican representatives were initially silent on the executive order. Several have since voiced their support, while others were critical of the orders rollout. Heres a look at what each member of the California congressional delegation has said about the executive order: Read More Facebook
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California state Senate passes resolution condemning President Trumps refugee ban By Jazmine Ulloa Protesters are held back by airport police on Sunday at LAX. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) After nearly two hours of debate, the state Senate on Monday passed a resolution that condemned President Trumps executive order banning immigrants and refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries, calling it discriminatory overreach. Democrats introduced the resolution after the presidents order Friday spurred a weekend of protests and chaos at airports across the country. The resolution denounces Trumps actions and urges the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to comply with federal court orders permitting detainees to have timely access to counsel. It cleared the Senate floor with a 26-11 vote largely along party lines, reflecting the national rift over Trumps immigration order. Two Republican members abstained. On the Senate floor, Democrats called the executive order an affront on religious freedom that panders to fear and foments discrimination, and said it would not further public safety. Reaching to members across the aisle, they said the resolution was not about partisanship or opposing Trump, but about protecting American institutions. In a fiery speech, state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) said the order is unconstitutional and violates fundamental rights. You see this is how we end up with fascism and totalitarianism, she said. Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) said she did not want four more years of executive orders crafted in the cover of darkness. But Republican members said that President Obama had taken similar actions and that they had a duty to their constituents, who were worried about national security and a vetting process they said did not stop terrorists from entering the nations borders. Obama has rejected comparisons of his policy to Trumps. We do not welcome those who have come here to harm us, Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) said, urging a no vote. We cannot ignore contemporary reality. Our enemies do not reside beyond our shores. They are within. The resolution states that 134 million people are temporarily barred from entering or reentering the United States, including nationals with dual citizenship. Hundreds of thousands with visas are also blocked, it says. The resolution also denounces the manner in which the executive order was executed, saying it was not fully vetted by the departments tasked with protecting the nations national security interests. Facebook
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State attorneys general met in Florida to strategize on how to counter Trump, Becerra says By Patrick McGreevy California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra. ((Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) ) A joint statement by 15 attorneys general over the weekend condemning President Trumps refugee order grew out of a meeting in Florida between California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra and some of his concerned counterparts, Becerra said Monday. Becerra gathered Thursday in Fort Lauderdale with other attorneys general, including Washington Atty. Gen. Bob Ferguson, to strategize about responding to the Trump administration on various issues. The meeting took place at the annual winter conference of the Democratic Attorneys General Assn. Several of the AGs have been in communication, Becerra said in an interview with The Times. We made it very clear in our joint statement that we are going to do everything we can to make sure that the unlawful, unconstitutional executive orders by the Trump administration dont see the light of day. Officials who signed the joint statement included legal representatives from Washington, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Virginia. On Monday, Ferguson announced he was suing Trump over the executive order that suspended refugee entries for 120 days and barred entry to the U.S. for 90 days for those traveling from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Becerra said that he had been in contact with Ferguson and that the option to pursue legal action is under consideration for California. Thats one of many avenues of how we are looking to approach this, Becerra said. As a result of the Florida meeting, Becerra said, the top lawyers from the 15 states are collaborating on how to address various Trump directives. Everyone is doing a little bit of something, he said. Everyones trying to figure out how best to address this. Florida Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, a Republican, did not attend the meeting, Becerra said. Facebook
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California warily watches President Trump while pushing forward on climate change By Chris Megerian (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Its been a decade since California set its first target for slashing greenhouse gas emissions, one of several policies that has made the state an international leader in the fight against global warming. So while President Trump suggests hes going to roll back the countrys environmental regulations, state leaders insist they wont be knocked off track here. This is when you do your best work, said John Laird, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency. We cant worry about pulling back just to sink with everyone else who isnt moving at all. Read More Facebook
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Rep. Duncan Hunter urges Trump to make an executive order exemption for Iraqis who aided U.S. military By Sarah D. Wire Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) are asking President Trump to approve waivers to his executive order for Iraqis who helped the American military. Hunter and Kinzinger, who both served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said in the letter to Trump that they supported a request from Defense Secretary James N. Mattis that visa reviews for some Iraqis be fast-tracked. For the safety of these courageous individuals and their families, and in the interest of our national security, its critical that we make this exception and do so swiftly, the congressmen said in a statement. The executive order Trump signed Friday bars all refugee entries for 120 days, blocks Syrian refugees indefinitely and bars for 90 days the entry of citizens from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia. Some of the earliest stories of people caught up in the ban included military interpreters from Iraq who had visas. We respectfully ask that you take this action to ensure these individuals are not put in any further danger. Doing so would send a strong signal to those who show such immense courage to advance U.S. security interests at a risk to their own safety, as well as the many veterans and warfighters whove relied on the service of these individuals for their own protection and to accomplish their objectives, their letter states. Facebook
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Democrats in the California Legislature move to condemn President Trumps immigration orders Facebook
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Assembly Republican leader Chad Mayes voices his misgivings about refugee order By Patrick McGreevy Assembly Minority Leader Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley) speaks in the Capitol on Jan. 11. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP) Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley on Monday joined a number of GOP politicians who are voicing misgivings about President Trumps order temporarily barring refugees from some majority-Muslim countries from entering the country. Religious liberty is a core value of our nation. My ancestors immigrated to America to flee religious persecution, Mayes said in a statement. While bolstering our national security is important, when forced to decide between security and liberty, I will always side with liberty. He is concerned about them [the orders], said Matt Mahon, a spokesman for the assemblyman. Trumps directives suspended refugee entries for 120 days and barred entry to the U.S. for 90 days for those traveling from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Facebook
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Rep. Zoe Lofgren and other ranking Democrats demand emergency meeting on refugee ban By Sarah D. Wire After two days of protests across the country over President Trumps order Friday banning refugees from seven countries, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) and the ranking Democrats of three committees that oversee immigration issues are demanding a meeting with President Trumps new Homeland Security secretary, John F. Kelly. The move by Trump prevented green card and visa holders from reentering the country, and led to the detention of more than a hundred people landing at U.S. airports with valid entry documents. Late Saturday, a federal judge in New York issued a temporary stay against the deportation of anyone who had arrived with a valid visa. The letter demanding the meeting, signed by Lofgren, Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers (D-Mich.), Homeland Security Committee ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Elliot Engel (D-N.Y.), calls for it be scheduled by the close of business Wednesday. The Democrats also ask for more information about how the order is being implemented, whether the stays placed by federal judges over the weekend are being followed and whether green card holders are affected. Only two days after the order was signed it is clear that it has already led to panic and disorder, not to mention protests, the letter states. This is apparently due in part to the lack of internal administration review prior to its issuance as well as a lack of clarity and guidance provided thereafter. Lofgren, a former immigration attorney and the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committees Immigration Subcommittee, also plans to file legislation today to rescind the executive order. Getting such legislation through the House could be difficult with Speaker Paul Ryan supporting the executive order. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is proposing similar legislation in the Senate. House and Senate Democrats plan to hold a rally against the order outside the Supreme Court Monday evening. Facebook
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As California Democrats blast Trumps refugee order, Republicans in the congressional delegation hold their fire By Sarah D. Wire Only a few of the states 14 Republican representatives have publicly commented on an executive order signed by President Trump on Friday that barred refugees and green card holders from seven countries from entering the U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) released a statement Sunday night saying some tweaks are needed, but his background as chairman of the House Select Intelligence Committee leads him to support the executive order. In light of attempts by jihadist groups to infiltrate fighters into refugee flows to the West, along with Europes tragic experience coping with this problem, the Trump administrations executive order on refugees is a common-sense security measure to prevent terror attacks on the homeland. While accommodations should be made for green card holders and those whove assisted the U.S. armed forces, this is a useful temporary measure on seven nations of concern until we can verify who is entering the United States, he said. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) told the Washington Post that pausing the intake of refugees from terror hotspots is the right call to keep America safe, but he hopes the cases of people traveling on visas who were prevented from reentering the country are resolved quickly. Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) said on Twitter on Sunday that the rollout has created confusion, and that executive orders arent the way to fix the countrys long-term problems. View Twitter post View Twitter post Several of Californias 38 Democratic congressional representatives and the states two senators were out in force over the weekend demanding the release of refugees and green card holders, and an end to the executive order. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced two pieces of legislation shell file in response. One would immediately rescind the presidents order. The second would limit executive authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act to prevent a president from unilaterally banning groups of immigrants. Its clear that the president gave little consideration to the chaos and heartbreak that would result from this order, she said in a statement. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) joined protesters outside the White House Sunday afternoon. We will fight against racism. We will fight against anti-Muslim rhetoric. We will fight against those who will marginalize who we are. pic.twitter.com/R54f3MDhvo Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) January 29, 2017 In Los Angeles, Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) joined protesters at Los Angeles International Airport. On Saturday, Reps. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), Nanette Barragan (D-San Pedro) and Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) joined the initial protests at the airport, and worked to get some of those being held released. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) accompanied protesters at San Francisco International Airport Sunday. Congresswoman @MaxineWaters is here at LAX protest leading the crowd in the chant "no ban, no wall, you build it up we'll tear it down" pic.twitter.com/iNEmkVVkmW Javier Panzar (@jpanzar) January 29, 2017 2:31 p.m. Jan. 30: This post was updated to clarify Rep. Ed Royces statement about the executive order. It was originally published Jan. 29. Facebook
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State Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra condemns Trumps refugee order and explores challenge By Patrick McGreevy Assyrian Christians, who fled unrest in Syria and Iraq, attend Mass at St. Georges Assyrian Church in Jdeideh, Lebanon. Trumps directive provides an exception for religious minorities. ( (AFP/Getty Images)) California state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra on Saturday condemned an executive order by President Donald Trump barring people from some Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. and said he is consulting with legal advisors over a way to challenge the directive. Trump has suspended all refugee entries for 120 days and barred entry to the U.S. for 90 days for those traveling from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Justice in America doesnt live or die on the stroke of one mans pen regardless of how high his office, Becerra said in a statement late Saturday, less than a week after taking office. The Trump Administrations anti-religion, anti-refugee executive order is in so many ways unjust and anti-American He said the order discriminates against people based on their faith and denies entry to those with fears of death and persecution. I have conferred with my team, and we are reaching out to others as well, to find every avenue possible to defend our family members and those who live permanently in our communities who may be barred from re-entry into America, Becerra said. The Trump executive order should not stand and must be confronted as a constitutional overreach, he added. Facebook
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California Politics Podcast: Reactions to President Trumps first week By John Myers Even before the weekend controversy and protests, Californias top elected officials spent much of the last week reacting to the first moves by President Donald Trump. On this weeks California Politics Podcast, we take a closer look at the sharp words offered by Gov. Jerry Brown in his State of the State speech when it comes to the new politics of Washington. We also focus much of this weeks discussion around three big topics that caught the attention of a number of California lawmakers: immigration moves by Trump; the rough week that was for the nations environmental protection enforcers; and rekindled but unproven allegations of widespread voter fraud. Im joined by Marisa Lagos of KQED News and Anthony York of the Grizzly Bear Project. Facebook
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Gov. Jerry Brown will undergo new round of treatment for prostate cancer, but wont miss any work By John Myers Gov. Jerry Brown, who first was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, will begin a new round of treatment for the disease, his office reported on Saturday. Brown, 78, will maintain his duties as governor during the treatment, according to his staff. No additional details were provided about how long the treatment will take, or what prompted its timing. Fortunately this is not extensive disease, can be readily treated with a short course of radiotherapy, and there are not expected to be any significant side effects, said Dr. Eric Small, a UC San Francisco oncologist, in an emailed statement provided to reporters. The prognosis for Gov. Brown is excellent. Brown initially learned he had prostate cancer in late 2012 and underwent similar treatment for several weeks. The governor has also been treated for basal cell carcinoma a type of skin cancer twice in the past nine years, with reconstructive surgery on the right side of his nose in 2011. With almost two years remaining on his final term in office, Brown is already the oldest governor in California history. He often made a point of pointing out his physical fitness in his return to the job in 2011, including a 2012 challenge to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie of a 3-mile race, a push-up contest and a chin-up contest. Though hes been treated in San Francisco, the governor and First Lady Anne Gust Brown now live full-time in the historic governors mansion in Sacramento after moving out of Oakland last year. Facebook
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Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra takes a jab at the Trump administration when asked about the battles to come Facebook
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Proposed law would make penalties for using fake immigration papers the same as those for using fake drivers license By Jazmine Ulloa A proposed California law seeks to ensure that a person who uses false documents to conceal their citizenship status faces the same punishment as a person who uses a fake drivers license. The legislation by Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra (D-Pacoima) would amend the penal code to make both crimes wobblers,
meaning prosecutors would have the discretion to charge suspects in such cases with either felony offenses or lower-level misdemeanors. Under the proposal, the repercussions for defendants would be the same: If convicted of a misdemeanor, offenders would have to serve up to one year in county jail, while a felony conviction would mean up to 16 months in county jail, or two or three years in prison. A spokesman for Bocangera said the measure was introduced as a proactive response to President Trumps hard-line stance on immigration and would reverse part of Proposition 187, a controversial ballot measure to deny public services, such as education and healthcare, to immigrants in the country illegally. The proposition, approved by voters in 1994, requires any person who uses false immigration records to face felony charges. Bocangeras bill amending those provisions would need a two-thirds vote in the Assembly and the state Senate to pass. Today, if an underage college student uses a fake ID to purchase a six-pack of beer, he or she can be charged with a misdemeanor, Bocanegra said in a statement. However, if an immigrant is caught using that same fake ID, he or she is automatically charged with a felony and is subject to five years in prison. This is fundamentally unfair. Facebook
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Fearing catastrophe, Californias Gov. Jerry Brown wants the worlds leaders to stop goofing off By Chris Megerian Gov. Jerry Brown pointedly criticized world leaders for goofing off instead of addressing looming problems with climate change and nuclear weapons during a radio interview on Friday. Theyre really averting their gaze, he said. And that is dangerous, very dangerous. Brown has become increasingly outspoken about issues he describes as existential threats to humanity, and the election of Donald Trump has only made him more concerned. During the interview, he spoke in sweeping terms about the need to support scientific research in the face of political denial. Darkness cannot totally extinguish the light, Brown said while criticizing Republicans for refusing to accept the scientific consensus around climate change and the need for dramatic changes to confront global warming. @JerryBrownGov in our studio (in fact, in my chair!) as he chats w/ Ira Flatow on @scifri pic.twitter.com/kIyGBFQW9X Beth Ruyak (@CapRadioRuyak) January 27, 2017 At another point, Brown mused that humans have accumulated vast power without a corresponding increase in wisdom. That creates a gap between the power to destroy and the wisdom to control those destructive forces. Brown reiterated his plan to push forward Californias policies on climate change even if Trump follows through on the federal governments plans. Were going to do everything we can to stay on track, he said. Facebook
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Some California lawmakers say its time to expand how the state defines violent crime By Jazmine Ulloa As California undergoes the largest overhaul of prison parole in a generation, some lawmakers and law enforcement officials say its time to revisit how the state legally defines a violent crime. Gov. Jerry Browns Proposition 57, which voters overwhelmingly approved in November, continues a statewide effort to increase rehabilitation services and decrease the prison population. Among its provisions, the initiative gives the state parole board greater latitude to consider the early release of prisoners who have served their primary sentences, and whose crimes are not designated as violent under the California penal code. But since the early days of the ballot measure campaign, debate has brewed over just who the law will benefit, with prosecutors saying that short and porous list excludes certain rape crimes and other dangerous offenses. This legislative session, the discussion moves to the Capitol. Read More Facebook
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Fearing deletion, Tom Steyer copies Environmental Protection Agency website on climate change By Chris Megerian (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) With President Trump in the White House, information about climate change has been disappearing from government websites. Some fear the same thing could happen with the Environmental Protection Agency. Now the advocacy organization run by environmentalist and political donor Tom Steyer is taking steps to preserve the information. We will not allow Trump and the oil corporations to push us towards an Orwellian world full of official lies and misinformation. Tom Steyer (@TomSteyer) January 27, 2017 NextGen Climate copied the website and made it available at SaveOurEPA.com. As Americans, we will not allow Donald Trump to erase the truth or rewrite history, Steyer said in a statement. This information belongs to the people, and the public has a right to know the truth. Trump has taken other steps that have alarmed environmentalists. For example, he greenlighted two oil pipelines that had been stopped by former President Obama. Facebook
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For California, a return to center stage in the 2020 presidential contest By Mark Z. Barabak (Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press) Kamala Harris hadnt even arrived in Washington to take up her job as Californias spanking-new U.S. senator when the chatter began: Kamala for president! Never mind her disavowals Seriously? or the fact that the first balloting of the 2020 race is, at a minimum, 1,000-plus days away. The soul-sapping election of Donald Trump has Democrats desperately looking far, far down the road. Usually the candidates start sending signals, said Jim Demers, a longtime party strategist in New Hampshire, the state that traditionally holds the first presidential primary. This time Im hearing activists begging for the race to begin. With a wide-open contest (read: not a Clinton or Obama in sight), the list of would-be contenders, real and imagined, is lengthy, even by the prodigious standards of this early stage. Whats different in 2020 is that California huge in population, mighty in economic power, desperate to matter in presidential politics figures to be at the center of speculation in a way it hasnt for a generation. Read More Facebook
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Theres a major fight on the way over Trumps plans for sanctuary cities By Liam Dillon Immigrant workers marching in Los Angeles in 2014. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times) Cities in California are gearing up for a legal fight against President Trumps plans to take away federal dollars from so-called sanctuary cities. These cities typically are defined as those that dont cooperate with federal immigration officials for deportation purposes, and the new president wants to strip them of funding unless they start doing so. But the language in Trumps executive order on the issue is vague, and San Francisco officials believe their city is already exempt from the mandate. Read More Facebook
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Fighting Trumps border wall on environmental grounds probably wont win in court By Liam Dillon A pair of fences separates Mexico, left, and the U.S. south of San Diego. (Bill Wechter / AFP) California political leaders are seeking all sorts of strategies to fight President Trumps plans to build a wall along the border with Mexico. One strategy thats likely to fail is a lawsuit based on state and federal environmental laws, legal experts said. Congress already has given the federal government broad authority to waive environmental laws to build a border fence and the courts have upheld that power. Read More Facebook
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Calexit organizers can now start collecting signatures to get California secession on the ballot By Christine Mai-Duc Supporters of the campaign for California to secede from the United States can now begin collecting the hundreds of thousands of signatures they need to get a proposed Calexit initiative on the ballot. California Secretary of State Alex Padilla cleared the proposed initiative to begin collecting signatures on Thursday. If the measure gets on the ballot and gains approval by a majority of voters, it would repeal clauses in the California Constitution stating that the state is an inseparable part of the United States and that the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land, according to the title and summary prepared by the state attorney generals office. The measure would place another question on the ballot in 2019, asking whether California should become a separate country. If at least half of registered voters participate in that vote, with at least 55% of those voting to approve, the results would be treated as Californias declaration of independence. The current measures fiscal effect is dependent on various factors, writes the states nonpartisan legislative analyst, and if it succeeds would result in major, but unknown budgetary impacts. The proposals backers, known as Yes California, have argued that the state is culturally out of step with the rest of the U.S. and that California pays more money to the federal government than it receives in spending. The election of President Trump has only strengthened their argument, they say. California loses [by] being a part of America culturally and financially, said Marcus Ruiz Evans, one of the groups founders. It could be a nation all its own, everybody knows that. The only question is if they want to break off. Its unclear how the group will collect the required 585,407 valid signatures from registered voters over the next 180 days to qualify for the ballot. A campaign committee, Yes California Independence Committee, has raised no funds so far, according to records from the secretary of state. But Evans says that his group has more than 7,000 volunteers (significantly down from a 13,000 estimate in December) ready to gather signatures and that voters can expect to see signature gatherers on the streets in the next couple of days. Yes California says that even if the proposed initiative does land on the ballot and voters approve it, such an unprecedented move to secede would need to receive approval of at least a majority of the states in the union, among other legal hurdles. Evans says hes not fazed. America already hates California, and America votes on emotions, he said. I think wed have the votes today if we held it. UPDATE 7:01 p.m.: This post has been updated to clarify that the proposed initiative would place a future vote on Californias secession on the ballot in 2019. Facebook
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Rep. Ted Lieu is trolling Donald Trump, and he hopes youre watching By Sarah D. Wire Rep. Ted Lieu is now placing an asterisk next to President Trumps name in news releases. Its the Torrance Democrats way of drawing attention to his concerns about the new administration, he said. Sometimes the best way to respond to crazy is with satire, Lieu said. Never before have I had this feeling where our leader is potentially unhinged and has a problem with the truth, and that is highly disturbing for the leader of the free world. So Ive decided Im just going to point that out as much as I can. The asterisk leads readers to the bottom of the email, where a postscript says: ***In addition to losing the popular vote, Trump as of January 20, 2017 is in violation of the Emoluments Clause set forth in Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution due to massive conflicts of interests and his refusal to put his global business holdings in blind trusts. Trump also benefitted from Vladimir Putin ordering a multifaceted and brazen Russian influence and cyber hacking campaign with the goals of undermining faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrating Secretary Clintons electability, and helping Trumps election chances. Trump and his press secretary also routinely make stuff up. The sophomore congressman said he initially planned to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, hoping his rhetoric was a campaign tactic and that he would pivot to uniting the country following the election. Then Lieu listened to the presidents inaugural speech. I was hoping he would govern different than how he campaigned, he said. I came to the conclusion that it would be worse for America to normalize him. Lieu followed the addition to his news releases with a Cloud of Illegitimacy Clock that counts the time since Trumps swearing-in, which is how long Lieu says Trump has been in violation of the Constitution by not divesting from his businesses or putting them in a blind trust. The Constitution bans government officials from receiving gifts or payments from foreign governments. Next he posted a series of tweets mocking White House spokesman Sean Spicer for giving incorrect figures on how many people attended the inauguration, and top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway for using the term alternative facts. Was charged $2.99 for coffee listed at $2.59. That's why I have trust issues. Oh, and the fact that @seanspicer at #WhiteHouse makes shit up Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 23, 2017 Ive decided that the administration using alternative facts is more profane than anything that I could say, he said. When the administration lies, they just need to be called out on that. If they are going to lie about stupid little things, like crowd size, imagine what theyre going to say when they roll out their healthcare plan, whenever that might be. Lieu has needled Trump in responses to several executive orders this week, including by saying he would bet a nice bottle of California wine that the Administration will be unable to find a credible witness to testify under oath to the allegation that 3-5 million people illegally cast votes in 2016, and by mentioning the inauguration crowd while talking about Trumps proposed border wall. Lieu said hes absolutely hoping Trump will respond. I think satire is an effective way to highlight issues, and I want the American people to see who this president really is, because in 22 months they get to vote again on every member of Congress, and that will be a referendum on Donald Trump, Lieu said. Facebook
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California Democrats propose adding third, nonbinary gender option for drivers licenses and other official documents By Melanie Mason View Twitter post California drivers licenses and birth certificates could have a third option for gender in addition to male or female under legislation unveiled Thursday by Democratic lawmakers. The bill by state Sens. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) would establish a new nonbinary gender marker for official state documents. Lawmakers framed the measure as an expansion of rights for transgender, intersex and other people who do not identify as male or female. It will keep California at the forefront of LGBTQ civil rights, Atkins said at a Capitol news conference. The bill, SB 179, also would streamline the process for people to change their gender on such documents. It would remove the requirement that an individual obtain a sworn statement from a physician certifying medical treatment for gender transition. It also would create a process for people younger than 18 to apply for a change of gender on their birth certificate. Jo Michael, of Equality California, a gay rights advocacy group, said the bill had personal resonance. Michael identifies as transgender and nonbinary. For the first time, Californians like me could have accurate gender markers that truly reflect who we are, Michael said. Wiener said the proposal places California in stark relief to other states in the country, including North Carolina, where a high-profile law regulating transgender peoples use of public bathrooms roiled the state. As the LGBT community but especially the trans community is under assault in this country, California needs to go in the opposite direction and embrace the trans community and support the trans community and modernize these laws, he said. The legislation does not specify what the alternate gender marker would be, but other countries that have implemented such a policy, such as Australia and New Zealand, have used the letter X alongside M for male and F for female, according to Sasha Buchert of the Transgender Law Center. Atkins, who is a lesbian and a member of the California Legislative LGBT Caucus, said this proposal marks an evolution for her in better understanding the concerns of the transgender and intersex community. She authored a law in 2014 that ensures death certificates reflect a persons gender identity, an experience she said made her more aware of the bureaucratic hurdles that transgender people often face. This years bill, she said, is moving us forward into a new world, where acceptance is ... letting people be who they tell you they are. Facebook
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Former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder will visit Sacramento to meet with Democratic legislators next month By Melanie Mason (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press) California lawmakers will have a chance to meet the Legislatures new outside counsel on Feb. 7, when former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. travels to the state to address Senate and Assembly Democrats. Holder, leading a team of attorneys from the firm Covington & Burling, has been hired by Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) to serve as outside counsel as the state prepares a legal strategy to deal with the administration of President Trump. But Senate and Assembly staff officials said his invitation to meet with lawmakers was extended prior to the contract, which begins in February, and that Holder is making the trip on his own personal time. His travel and accommodations expenses will not be paid with state funds, and his appearances will not be part of his billable hours, they said. Holder will address Senate Democrats at their annual policy retreat, and will speak to the Assembly Democratic caucus. His visit comes soon after state Democratic leaders this week denounced Trumps executive orders on immigration and pledged to take his administration to court should other legislative means of resistance fail. Facebook
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A guide to the guessing game that is the 2018 California governors race By Phil Willon While the race to succeed Gov. Jerry Brown already has attracted a small cadre of well-known Democrats, the behind-the-scenes strategizing, cajoling and guessing games surrounding a handful of other potential contenders could create havoc in whats expected to be Californias biggest political showdown since 2010. Among those watching closely are the candidates already definitely in the running, including Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Treasurer John Chiang. Delaine Eastin, who spent eight years as Californias top education official, announced she was running in November and officially launched her campaign and fundraising operation on Thursday. Read More Facebook
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This is not a monarchy: California Senate leader Kevin de Leon bashes Trumps immigration orders By Jazmine Ulloa (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) California Senate leader Kevin de Leon took another shot at President Trump and his executive orders on immigration Wednesday night, calling his threat to withhold federal dollars from so-called sanctuary cities political blackmail and political vengeance. In an interview on the MSNBC show The Last Word with Lawrence ODonnell, De Leon said California was working with former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. to study all of its legal options to oppose the directives. Under the 10th Amendment, the state Senate leader said, the federal government cannot commandeer and force local municipalities and police agencies from carrying out their work. The appearance came hours after Trump signed orders to temporarily halt the U.S. refugee program, cut funding for cities that offer immigrants protections and order federal officials to construct a U.S.-Mexico border wall. California will not become a cog in the Trump deportation machine, De Leon said. This is not a monarchy, and I know he fancies himself as a king, but this is a republic. Read More Facebook
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President Trumps voter fraud allegation is a lie, says Californias top elections officer By John Myers Secretary of State Alex Padilla. (Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press) With President Donald Trump rehashing last years accusation of widespread voter fraud in California and elsewhere, the states top elections official is also restating his take: Its not true. When the president says millions of illegal ballots are cast, thats simply not the case, said Secretary of State Alex Padilla in an interview on CNN Wednesday. Its a lie. As was the case when Trump made the accusation in November, theres no evidence of such a broad attempt to sway the outcome in California. The president lost the Golden State to Democrat Hillary Clinton by almost 4.3 million votes. Trumps announcement on Wednesday of a major investigation into voter fraud reignited the issue, even though there was also Republican skepticism in the wake of the new round of accusations. Is it a question of millions of people? Thats a pretty steep hill to climb, said Assemblyman Matthew Harper (R-Huntington Beach), the vice chairman of the Assemblys elections committee. Youd have to have a very strong coordinated effort across California to pull that off. Harper said he believes the better discussion is whether new, independent audit capabilities need to be in place to examine election results. Others, though, were sharply critical of the presidents motives. Allegations of widespread voter fraud are not just alternative facts, they are a calculated and sinister attempt at voter suppression that takes a page from this nations bleak history of segregation, said Laphonza Butler, president of the state council of the Service Employees International Union. In the CNN interview, Padilla said he worried the president was sowing doubt in an effort to legitimize efforts such as a purging of voter rolls. I hope that its not a sign of things to come, he said. Facebook
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Intelligence committee led by Californians investigating Russian influence in 2016 election By Sarah D. Wire The House Select Intelligence Committee is examining allegations that the Russian government tried to influence the 2016 election, Republican Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes and ranking Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff said in a statement Wednesday. The two Californians said the committee is looking at Russian cyber activity and other active measures directed against the U.S. It also will examine links between Russia and people working for political campaigns as well as the federal response to Russia, including leaks of classified assessments from the intelligence community. The statement does not specifically mention President Trump, the assessment of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia attempted to intervene in the presidential election to ensure he would win or news that Trumps national security advisor was in frequent contact with the Russian ambassador as President Obama was considering sanctions against Russia. This issue is not about party, but about country. The Committee will continue to follow the facts wherever they may lead, the statement said. The Senate Intelligence Committee, on which Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) serves, also is investigating Russian interference in the election, and the U.S. response. Two Republican senators have joined a number of House and Senate Democrats, including House Select Intelligence Committee member Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) in pushing for a nonpartisan independent commission to examine the issue. Nunes, who served on Trumps transition committee, has previously said he doesnt think an independent commission is necessary. The statement also asked the new, Trump-appointed heads of intelligence agencies to bring documents requested by the committee directly to committee members. It will not be adequate to review these documents, expected to be in the thousands of pages, at the agencies. They should be delivered to the House Intelligence Committee to provide members adequate time to examine their content, it states. Facebook
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No stamp, no problem: Lawmaker says postage-paid ballots should be available to all Californians By John Myers (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) California voters would no longer have to scrounge around in search of a stamp to mail in their ballot under new legislation introduced this week at the state Capitol. We want to make sure voters dont have any barriers, said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego), the bills author. Ballot envelopes sent by elections officials would be marked as prepaid postage and the postage costs would be paid for by individual counties. A key question will be the cost for mailing in as many as 10 million ballots statewide. Not all ballots will weigh the same, given the numerous city and county measures that also are considered in regularly scheduled elections. The initial language of Assembly Bill 216 doesnt offer specifics on reimbursing counties, though Gonzalez Fletcher said she expects the proposals ultimate cost could be under $2 million, if the law also makes clear that voters can still place a stamp on their ballot. Regardless, postage fees are likely to be deemed a mandated cost that state government must cover. Gonzalez Fletcher said the advent of email and online bill-paying services have meant that fewer voters have stamps readily available, with busy working Californians scrambling just to find the time to exercise their right to vote. It starts to feel like a very small poll tax, she said. The proposal is another example of the steady evolution of elections conducted less by the ballot box than the mailbox in California, as more than half of all registered voters now permanently receive absentee ballots. A number of the states most populous counties are expected to soon embrace a sweeping new law shifting elections away from neighborhood polling places and toward a substantial number of votes being cast by mail. This is welcome legislation, said Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation. Requiring voters to pay for ballot postage sends a message that the government is putting up obstacles to make it more difficult to vote. In many cases, ballots placed in the mail without proper postage are already being delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. Some counties in California have offered prepaid postage in the past, but the vast majority have not. Facebook
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California improves grades from anti-smoking group with barrage of anti-tobacco laws By Patrick McGreevy California led other states in adopting a flurry of new laws restricting tobacco products last year, resulting in a big improvement in the states grades from the American Lung Assn. In a report released Wednesday, the health group boosted the states grade for the level of tobacco taxes from an F last year to a B, in recognition that California voters in November approved a $2-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax. The Legislature last year also adopted a half-dozen new laws, including an increase in the minimum age for smoking from 18 to 21 and an expansion of a smoking ban in public places, including restaurants and theaters, to also include use of electronic cigarettes. The states grade for smoke-free air policies rose from a B to an A, while California received a B for restricting tobacco to young people. The group gave the state an incomplete for funding of tobacco prevention programs because officials have not yet started collecting money from the tobacco tax increase in Proposition 56. In 2016, Californians fought back against Big Tobaccos grip on our state, said David Pogue, chairman of the American Lung Assn. in Californias governing board. Tobacco-related illnesses remain the single most preventable cause of disease and death in California, and were proud to reaffirm ourselves as a national leader in the effort to reduce smoking rates and exposure to secondhand smoke and to protect our children from a lifetime of addiction. The group cited the lack of significant new tobacco laws passed in Los Angeles for its decision to leave the citys C grade unchanged. El Monte and West Hollywood passed some new tobacco policies and raised their grades. Santa Ana earned a C, but was at top of the list in Orange County, where almost all the other cities received Fs, officials said. Facebook
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Sen. Kamala Harris pushes Trumps budget director pick on timely disaster relief By Sarah D. Wire Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) pushed President Trumps budget chief pick Tuesday on whether hed advise the new Republican leader to offer timely disaster relief, especially to states like California that face earthquakes, fires, floods and other natural disasters. Can you assure me that when natural disasters hit various parts of the country like California, that you will be willing to put the immediate interests of people in need as the first priority for you, or will you insist that the budget cuts be made before agreeing to provide critical assistance to those victims? Harris asked Rep. Mick Mulvaney during a confirmation hearing Tuesday. The South Carolina Republican asked for spending cuts to offset billions in relief funding after Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast. There is a proper federal role in dealing with natural disaster relief, Mulvaney said in response to Harris questioning. Sandy is a tremendous example of something so large, its simply too large for one state or local government to deal with, it is an appropriate function of the federal government. Harris pushed a second time, So can you assure me that if a natural disaster hits other states, like California for example, that you will not hold up relief for the state, waiting to determine whether there are going to be budget cuts or cuts in order to provide that relief? Or are you going to sit back and crunch the numbers while people are waiting for help? Mulvaney replied, No, I see my role in that particular circumstance as advising the president. Mr. President, heres what weve done it in the past, heres how it worked out, heres how I think we should proceed in this circumstance and heres why. And then whatever the president says to do, I will enforce. Harris is still weighing how to vote on Mulvaneys confirmation, her staff said. Facebook
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Trump is a hot topic in Californias race for governor, but not in a good way By Phil Willon Donald Trump at the California Republican Party convention in Burlingame in April. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) One of the most talked about politicians in Californias 2018 governors campaign isnt even running. Rarely does a day go by when Republican President Donald Trump isnt used as a political pinata by one of the top Democrats in the race. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom took some jabs Tuesday when he addressed the California Legislature before Gov. Jerry Browns annual State of the State speech. Newsom mocked the Trump administration for its reliance on alternative facts a phrase used by a Trump senior advisor when defending inflated inauguration crowd figures and took a subtle shot at the presidents comment about American carnage in the nations cities. The insecurity of this man is near incomprehensible. These lies damage our democracy & country's reputation-Shameful https://t.co/ib7i6DqfH8 Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 24, 2017 On Monday, state Treasurer John Chiang criticized Trump for doubting the scientific evidence of climate change. President Trump may believe global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing noncompetitive, Chiang said. We Californians stand with the scientific community and the 195 nations that have declared climate change is an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet. When Antonio Villaraigosa announced his bid for governor right after the general election, the former Los Angeles mayor was sure to include a dig at Trump. Im running because I think the answer to the divisiveness we see in the country right now is unity, and the answer to fear is hope, he said. Last May, Villaraigosa compared Trump to segregationist George Wallace. Californias former superintendent of public instruction, Delaine Eastin, last week ripped Trump for nominating Betsy DeVos for Education secretary. Eastin said DeVos, a charter school advocate and Republican fundraiser from Michigan, was a threat to public education in the country. In speeches, in fundraising emails, in tweets and Facebook posts, the Democrats have liberally excoriated Trump while largely avoiding lobbing any criticism at one another. Its a safe and easy tactic that appeals to a sizeable majority of voters in left-leaning California. In the November election, Trump was trounced by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in California losing to her by more than 4.2 million votes. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, a Republican being urged to run by fellow party members, has also rebuked Trump in the past. In May, Faulconer said he rejected Trumps divisive rhetoric about women and immigrants. Faulconer was absent at Trumps inauguration and skipped a Trump campaign rally in San Diego last spring. For any Republican to have a legitimate shot in the governors race, or any statewide election, the more distance they put between themselves and Trump the better, said GOP political consultant Rob Stutzman. Its important that youre not on the record gushing about Trump, Stutzman said. 3:30 p.m.: This story was updated to correct the title of Delaine Eastin. She is a former state superintendent of public instruction. Facebook
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Californias House members vote along party lines on permanently banning federal funds for abortion By Sarah D. Wire Californias House delegation split along party lines Tuesday on a bill to permanently prohibit the use of certain federal funds for abortions. President Trump promised the anti-abortion community during the campaign that he would make the funding ban commonly called the Hyde Amendment permanent. It passed the House 238-183 and goes next to the Senate. The 52 members who represent California in the House split along party lines, with 36 Democrats against for it, and 14 Republicans voting for it. Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) and Jim Costa (D-Lieu) did not vote. Their staffs each said the member would have joined Democrats in voting against the measure. If passed by the Senate, it would permanently prohibit federal funding from being used to cover abortion costs except in cases of rape, incest or if the mothers life is in danger. It effects government employees health plans, Medicaid and health insurance plans offered under the Affordable Care Act. The amendment has been added to the annual appropriations bill for the past 40 years and the bill approved by the House Tuesday would make it permanent. During debate on the House floor Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) called the bill a womens health catastrophe that will keep poor women on Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act from having access to insurance. In effect it makes abortion only an option for the wealthy, she said. Previous versions of the bill twice passed the House but were not considered by the Senate while President Obama was in office. 11:09 a.m. Jan. 25: An earlier version of this article reported that Democrats voted for the bill and Republicans voted against the bill. It was the opposite. Facebook
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California lawmakers to weigh whether younger children should be allowed to testify in custody cases By Jazmine Ulloa California lawmakers will weigh whether family courts should allow children as young as 10 to testify before judges regarding parent custody or visitation rights. A bill filed by state Sen. Connie Leyva (D-Chino) would lower the current threshold from age 14 to enable more children to express their wishes in court, some of whom she said could find themselves in life-threatening situations. The legislation was co-sponsored by the California Protective Parents Assn. and the Center for Judicial Excellence. Neither current law nor the bill would require children to testify in family cases unless they choose to. In a statement, Levya called the proposal an important child safety measure. As a family court makes critical life decisions for children, it makes sense for them to be granted a greater voice in court proceedings since they can contribute essential information before final decisions are made, she said. Facebook
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Support for California secession is up, one poll says By Phil Willon Students from several high schools rally at City Hall in downtown Los Angeles on Nov. 14 after walking out of class to protest the election of Donald Trump. (Reed Saxon / Associated Press) Californians support for a breakaway California republic has increased, one poll has found. One-third of state residents support peacefully seceding from the United States, up from 20% since Californians were last asked the same question in 2014, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll. The polls margin of error for the California answers was plus or minus 5 percentage points. Still, half of Californians opposed the idea of succession, though Democrats were more inclined to support it than Republicans. The survey found that 60% of Republicans gave the idea of peacefully seceding a thumbs down compared with 48% of Democrats and 50% of independents. Nationally, 22% of those polled supported having their state break away from the U.S., according to the survey. A Calexit campaign already is underway to make California an independent nation. The effort faces extremely long odds. The poll surveyed 14,000 adults nationwide, and 500 in California, from Dec. 6 to Jan. 19. Facebook
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Gov. Jerry Brown defiantly tells lawmakers California is not turning back in face of Trump and GOP proposals By John Myers Gov. Jerry Brown used his State of the State speech on Tuesday to promise a forceful defense of Californias efforts on climate change, healthcare and assistance to those in the country illegally against new proposals by President Donald Trump and national Republican leadership. California is not turning back, Brown said to applause. Not now, not ever. The governors remarks, delivered in front of lawmakers and state elected officials in the Assembly chambers, came just four days after President Trumps forceful inaugural address that signaled a dramatic new course for the federal government. While he never mentioned the president by name during the 16-minute speech, Brown said there are disturbing signs as to whats on the horizon. We have seen the bald assertion of alternative facts, whatever those are, he said, a reference to top Trump advisor Kellyanne Conways weekend comments on NBCs Meet the Press. We have heard the blatant attacks on science. Familiar signposts of our democracy truth, civility, working together have been obscured or swept aside. The annual event in the chamber of the state Assembly was unusual from the outset. Just minutes before beginning his speech, Brown gave the oath of office to Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, the former Los Angeles congressman confirmed to the post on Monday afternoon by the state Senate. Legislators have had a decidedly unusual start to their new two-year session. After a raucous opening day in December that laid bare wounds from the presidential race, lawmakers were presented two weeks ago with Browns projection of a $1.6-billion budget deficit looming on the states fiscal horizon. But the sea change in national politics has been a persistent buzz in the state Capitol, and Brown promised a strong defense of Californias unique view on major policy issues. The governor made a special mention of the issue of illegal immigration, offering perhaps his strongest words to date. Let me be clear, the governor said, his voice rising. We will defend everybody every man, woman and child who has come here for a better life and has contributed to the well-being of our state. Even with those critiques, the governor veered from his prepared remarks to praise Trumps call for a new focus on infrastructure projects. I say, Amen to that, man! he said. And Brown urged members of the Legislature to reject the bitter partisan divisions of this moment in the nations history. Democrats are in the majority, but Republicans represent real Californians, too, he said to bipartisan applause. We have generally been civil to one another and avoided the rancor of Washington. I urge you to go even further and look for new ways to work beyond party and act as Californians first. Facebook
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Xavier Becerra takes oath of office, is first Latino to become California attorney general By Patrick McGreevy Xavier Becerra ((Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) ) Minutes after resigning his seat in Congress on Tuesday, Xavier Becerra took the oath of office as Californias new attorney general, and he immediately made plans for a sit-down with sheriffs from throughout the state to talk about law enforcement issues. Becerra, 58, was given the oath of office at the Capitol by Gov. Jerry Brown, who predicted earlier that Xavier will be a champion for all Californians. The ceremony was held before Brown was scheduled to deliver his annual State of the State address, and a day after Becerra received final confirmation by the state Senate. I will do my utmost to uphold your faith in me to serve as our great states next chief law enforcement officer and legal advocate, Becerra said in a letter to Brown on Tuesday, letting him know he had resigned from Congress. And while I leave Congress with mixed emotions, I am ready to begin my work as Attorney General. Californias hard-working families are counting on us, and we wont let them down, Becerra said. Becerra was accompanied at the ceremony by his wife, physician Carolina Reyes, two of his three daughters, and his parents, both immigrants from Mexico. Brown appointed Becerra to fill a vacancy after former Atty. Gen.l Kamala Harris won election to a seat in the U.S. Senate. Becerra has pledged to challenge any attempts by the new administration of President Trump to roll back state policies on immigration, civil rights and the environment. Brown noted his appointees background during his speech. Like so many others, he is the son of immigrants who saw California as a place where, through grit and determination, they could realize their dreams, Brown said. And they are not alone, millions of Californians have come here from Mexico and a hundred other countries, making our state what it is today: vibrant, even turbulent, and a beacon of hope to the rest of the world. The first Latino to become state attorney general in California spent the last two weeks meeting with dozens of legislators as he went through confirmation hearings in both houses. Governor Brown and state legislators have already shared valuable ideas on our path forward, Becerra said in a statement after his confirmation. And next week I hope to sit down with sheriffs from across our state to begin our work together keeping our families safe and enforcing our laws fairly. The first focus on local law enforcement was welcomed by Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood, president of the California State Sheriffs Assn. He wants to start with law enforcement in the San Joaquin Valley, and I think thats a really positive step, Youngblood said. Im impressed with his credentials. Im impressed with his background, and I think hes going to be a good attorney general. Facebook
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Watch: Gov. Jerry Brown delivers his State of the State address Gov. Jerry Brown will deliver his State of the State address at 10 a.m. PST. Watch live here: Facebook
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Xavier Becerras resignation from Congress took effect at 9:15 a.m.; he calls serving a distinct honor Xavier Becerra has submitted letter of resignation from Congress ahead of swearing in for California attorney general today Patrick McGreevy (@mcgreevy99) January 24, 2017 Facebook
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Californias senators split on CIA director confirmation By Sarah D. Wire Californias senators split Monday night on the confirmation of Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), President Trumps pick to lead the CIA. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who serves on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee and backed Pompeo, said in a statement that Pompeo gave straightforward answers to her questions, and that House colleagues called him smart, hardworking and devoted to protecting our country. Congressman Pompeo has committed to following the law regarding torture, promised to provide objective analysis of Irans compliance with the nuclear agreement and insisted that he would continue to keep the Senate Intelligence Committee fully informed of CIA activities, Feinstein said. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said in a statement that she appreciated that Pompeo was responsive, engaging, and has made a number of positive commitments during the confirmation process, but said she couldnt vote for him after looking at his entire record on issues such as torture, surveillance, and the collection and use of metadata. Pompeo was confirmed 66 to 32 Monday evening. Thirteen Democrats joined Feinstein in voting for him. While House members dont get to vote for confirmation, the leaders of the House Select Intelligence Committee, Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) and ranking Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) joined Feinstein in congratulating Pompeo for his confirmation. Facebook
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Sen. Kamala Harris moves into some familiar digs on Capitol Hill By Sarah D. Wire (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and her staff can begin moving today into her official Senate office, the same space she interned in as a college student. Few offices can hold a staff as large as the ones allocated to the California members and as expected, Harris was assigned an office in the Hart Senate Office Building, the same space occupied by former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Harris can start moving in this morning, her staff said. Back home, Harris plans to have state offices in Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco, her staff said. It is a bit of a change from Boxer, who had additional offices in Oakland and Riverside, but did not have an office in San Francisco. The space in Washington should feel familiar. It was occupied by Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) when Harris interned for him as a mailroom clerk for a summer when she was a Howard University student in the 1980s. Two floors up in the same building is Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Except for states where staff size is a consideration, Senate offices are assigned based on seniority and sitting senators have months to decide if they want to move offices. That means some new senators could spend months working out of temporary space. Facebook
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Assembly speaker taps former Obama spokesman for communications strategy By Melanie Mason Bill Burton (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) With Californias face-off against Washington, D.C., getting widespread attention, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon has turned to a veteran of national politics to help shape his public image: White House veteran Bill Burton. Burton, who once worked as deputy press secretary in the Obama administration, was hired this month by Rendon, a Democrat from Paramount, for communications strategy. Now a managing partner in the Los Angeles office for SKDKnickerbocker, a prominent liberal public affairs firm, Burton said he relished being involved in California politics, which he said sets a model for liberals nationwide. With President Trump and congressional Republicans controlling the national agenda, Speaker Rendon and his incredible staff are at the center of some of the most important progressive fights in the country and we couldnt be more excited to be helping any way we can, he said. Burton said his services, paid for out of Rendons campaign account, are meant to offer a more intentional approach to how hes been dealing with media a recognition, he said, of Rendons and Californias elevated role in national politics. Rendon is not the only legislative Democrat to be represented by SKDKnickerbocker. Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia of Bell Gardens also is a client. The firm also worked with Democratic Reps. Grace Napolitano and Linda Sanchez in their reelection bids, as well as freshman Rep. Nanette Barragan in her heated congressional race against fellow Democrat, former state Sen. Isadore Hall. Facebook
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State Senate votes for final confirmation of Xavier Becerra as state attorney general By Patrick McGreevy Gov. Jerry Brown, left, appointed Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) as state attorney general. ( (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) The state Senate on Monday voted 26-9 in favor of final confirmation of Rep. Xavier Becerra as Californias attorney general, putting on watch a veteran politician who has promised to block efforts by President Trump to roll back state policies on immigration, civil rights and the environment. Becerra, a Los Angeles Democrat and 12-term congressman, is set to take the oath of office on Tuesday before Gov. Jerry Browns State of the State address. As Attorney General, Xavier will be a champion for all Californians, Brown said in a statement after the party-line vote. Brown appointed Becerra as the states first Latino attorney general to fill the vacancy left when former state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon said Becerra will be an effective counter force to Trump, who has threatened mass deportations and the repeal of some environmental laws. Many of us know him personally and can attest to his character, to his integrity and to his qualifications, De Leon said of Becerra. He will be a strong partner for our state to help us work with the federal government when we can and to resist when we must. State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) said Becerra understands the challenges ahead. He will indeed vigorously defend the values of our state by taking the fight to the federal government when necessary, said Jackson, who chairs the state Senate Judiciary Committee. Becerra, 58, said during two weeks of confirmation hearings that he would also fight any attempt to weaken environmental protections or adopt stop-and-frisk police policies that allow officers to search anyone on the street. All Republican senators voted against Becerra or withheld their vote. I think when you are the top cop you have to enforce the law to the fullest extent, said state Sen. Joel Anderson (R-San Diego) before he voted against Becerra. Opponents cited Becerras support for sanctuary cities that refuse to have their officers help enforce immigration laws. San Francisco prohibits local authorities from holding immigrants for immigration officials if they have no violent felonies on their records and do not currently face charges. Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities. Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) also opposed Becerra, saying he is worried that the antagonistic tone being set by Democratic lawmakers with Becerra could put at risk the $86 billion the state and its cities gets annually from the federal government. I dont want to jeopardize those funds, Moorlach said. Becerra said he was humbled by the vote and ready to get working.He plans to meet soon with county sheriffs to discuss local law enforcement issues. As I embark on this new journey, my compass will be the experiences of hard-working families like the one I grew up in, Becerra said. As the son of immigrants, I know how important it is to protect the rights and dreams of every aspiring American. I will make sure no headwinds from outside our state can knock us down. Facebook
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Attorney general nominee Becerra questioned on guns, death penalty and pot during confirmation hearings By Patrick McGreevy Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles), shown at a gun violence event in June, was selected by Gov. Jerry Brown to be Californias next attorney general. ((Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) ) In two weeks of confirmation hearings, state attorney general nominee Xavier Becerra has been asked for his position on many issues, including new gun control laws, the states death penalty policy and the recent voter approval of an initiative that legalized recreational marijuana use. The 12-term congressman is up for a possible final confirmation vote Monday in the state Senate. Read More Facebook
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California attorney general nominee Xavier Becerra is warned against suing Trump early and often By Patrick McGreevy Rep. Xavier Becerra (Rich Pedroncelli / AP) With Xavier Becerra facing a final confirmation vote Monday for state attorney general, two former high-level officials in the office are warning against drowning President Trump in lawsuits. The pressure to sue Trump early and often is a trap, according to Michael Troncos, former chief counsel in the California attorney generals office, and Debbie Mesloh, a former senior advisor to the California attorney general, writing in an op-ed piece published by the Los Angeles Times. In this right-wing political moment, a major legal case on our climate change laws or our policies benefiting (young immigrant) Dreamers may well lead to a Trump White House victory, establishing precedents that far outlast this presidency, the two write. In fact, the cases Becerra chooses not to bring may be among his most important achievements. Courts cant rule on whats not before them. Troncos and Mesloh said California will be up against a U.S. Supreme Court remade in Trumps image, and that [a]sking a federal court to overturn federal immigration policies could be a fools errand. Read More Facebook
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California cities would have to make it easier to build houses under new legislation By Liam Dillon California cities that are falling behind on housing production goals set by the state would be forced to remove some of their development restrictions under legislation from a Bay Area state senator. State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) released new details in his bill, SB 35, Monday morning that would require cities to approve new housing in areas already zoned for high-density development provided developers set aside some units for low-income residents. The bills provisions would only apply in cities where growth isnt keeping pace with housing production targets developed by the state every eight years that are designed to ensure California has enough homes for its growing population to live affordably. Right now, thats not happening. The states median home price of $485,800 is more than 2 1/2 times the national average, with the states poorest residents the hardest hit. And in the most recent eight-year housing cycle ending in 2014, production was less than half of the state target. Wiener, a former San Francisco supervisor, said Californias affordability crisis requires the state to involve its
Formally nominated by the governor on Tuesday to become state attorney general, Rep. Xavier Becerra will face a Jan. 10 confirmation hearing before assuming a key role in Californias expected battle against the administration of President-elect Donald Trump. And in a glimpse of the road ahead, the Los Angeles Democrat has been asked by lawmakers how he will counter Trumps positions on issues including immigration and the environment.
The congressman is expected to be confirmed by the Democrat-controlled Legislature which has 90 days to do so but some lawmakers want Becerra to stake out positions early to put Trump on notice that some of his proposals will face a fight from Californias next lead attorney and top law enforcement official.
Donald Trump has made multiple statements that directly contradict California law and policy, wrote Democratic Assemblymen Reggie Jones-Sawyer of Los Angeles and Mark Stone of Scotts Valley in a letter to Becerra. Jones-Sawyer and Stone are the co-chairs of the Assembly Special Committee on the Office of the Attorney General, which will consider the confirmation.
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The pair asked Becerra to submit written comments on five critical issues confronting California today and over the next two years remaining in the attorney generals term.
Becerra, 58, was asked to respond with his positions on immigration, including cooperation with federal immigration authorities and his view of sanctuary cities, civil rights, environmental protection, police accountability and consumer protection.
In the next four years, Californians and our laws will encounter substantial challenges from the next President and his administration, the two lawmakers letter said. Our next Attorney General will have great responsibility for protecting Californians and our values, and defending our laws.
Becerra has said he is prepared to protect Californias progressive policies on immigration, the Affordable Care Act, energy and criminal justice against any change in federal policy under Trump.
Updates from Sacramento
If you want to take on a forward-leaning state that is prepared to defend its rights and interests, then come at us, Becerra said last month.
Trump campaigned on a pledge to crack down on illegal immigration and has threatened to withhold federal funds from cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, that declare themselves sanctuary cities for those in the country illegally.
The committee leaders asked Becerra to outline what he would do on the issues of religious and press freedoms, including Trumps proposal for a registry for Muslim immigrants.
The panel is also asking Becerra to outline his positions on Californias climate change policies, which could be undermined by Trump.
During the campaign, Trump often questioned how much man-made pollution affects climate change, threatened to cancel international agreements to address the problem and said he would reduce environmental protection regulations that hurt U.S. businesses.
Becerra was formally nominated Tuesday to become state attorney general by Gov. Jerry Brown on the same day that Kamala Harris resigned from the position to take office as a U.S. senator following her election victory.
Becerra has served in Congress since 1992 and was most recently the first Latino member of the Committee on Ways and Means, as well as chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. He previously served in the state Assembly from 1990 to 1992.
Xavier has been an outstanding public servant in the state Legislature, the U.S. Congress and as a deputy attorney general, Brown said when he announced last month that Becerra would be his nominee. Im confident he will be a champion for all Californians and help our state aggressively combat climate change.
Harris named Kathleen Kate Alice Kenealy chief deputy attorney general to lead the state Department of Justice as acting attorney general until Becerra is confirmed.
patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com
@mcgreevy99
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Over the last 10 years, influenza has claimed on average just short of 33,000 lives a year in the United States. Motor vehicle accidents take just over 35,000 lives each year. Cancers of the urinary system kill just over 32,000.
Gun violence claims an average of about 33,000 lives a year.
All but one of the above causes of death have a large and active community of medical or public health researchers exploring ways to reduce or prevent fatalities. Fueled largely by federal funds, these researchers publish articles and attend conferences to share their findings.
Most years, the collective effect of that research may be to shave death numbers at the margins. But every once in a while, federally funded research leads to breakthroughs, and fatality statistics in some corner of medicine or public health plummet.
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Gun violence is the exception. New research finds that, given the number of U.S. fatalities linked to firearms, public health research on them is very underpowered.
Given its role in U.S. deaths, research aimed at curbing gun violence could be expected to command about $1.4 billion yearly in federal funding, the authors of a new study reckoned. In fact, from 2004 to 2015, the federal government spent an average of $22 million annually to support research on gun violence.
Thats a meager 1.6% of the amount the study authors expected to be spent.
Not surprising, that deficit translates directly into fewer articles published on the subject.
In a research letter published Tuesday in JAMA, Dr. David E. Stark, a researcher at New Yorks Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Nigam H. Shah of Stanford University estimated that, given its importance as a cause of death, there should have been about 38,897 scholarly articles published on the subject of gun violence. When they scoured Medline, the federal governments comprehensive digital catalog of biomedical and public health publications, they found only 1,738 such articles.
Gun violence killed about as many individuals as sepsis, the authors wrote. But while sepsis a complication of infection that can be fatal has a designated World Sepsis Day and has been the subject of high-level federal meetings, gun violence research bumps along on a shoestring.
Funding for gun violence research was about 0.7% of that for sepsis and publication volume about 4%, Stark and Shah wrote. In relation to mortality rates, gun violence research was the least-researched cause of death and the second-least funded cause of death after falls.
That mismatch did not occur by happenstance. In a 1996 funding bill, gun rights advocates and their allies on Capitol Hill forbade the use of any money appropriated for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to advocate or promote gun control. Over the ensuing years, that ban was extended to other agencies, including the National Institutes of Health.
The prohibition did not explicitly ban research on guns and public health. But what agency head was going to risk a run-in with lawmakers over research that might underscore the wisdom of a change in the design, sale or use of guns? The ban cast a pall over the research community, Stark and Shah wrote.
The Obama administration has increased research funds for gun violence and backed a wide range of initiatives aimed at making firearms safer. But the future of those efforts is uncertain at best under President-elect Donald Trump, who has expressed skepticism about measures that would extend limits on access to firearms.
melissa.healy@latimes.com
Follow me on Twitter @LATMelissaHealy and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.
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The Burbank Noon Lions Club honored three students for winning the local level of the Lions Clubs International - Annual International Peace Poster Contest.
The theme was A Celebration of Peace. Winners each receiving $25 were Amadis Madrid, representing the Boys & Girls Club of Burbank and Greater East Valley; Jamie Perez Fernandez, Luther Burbank Middle School; and Gracia Rojas of Muir Middle School. Students were selected by personnel from each school.
Lions Clubs International established the Peace Poster contest more than 27 years ago to promote the awareness of world peace internationally among youth. This is the 21st year the Burbank Noon Lions club has sponsored the project in Burbank.
Winners of this competition have the opportunity to proceed to the next level. After all judging around the world, there will be 23 Merit winners (receiving $500) and one top winner, receiving $5,000 and a special award trip.
Elks give gift of knowledge to Providencia Elementary
The Burbank Elks Lodge recently made its 12th annual stop at Providencia Elementary School, delivering paperback dictionaries to three third-grade classes.
Exalted Ruler John Coyle was joined by fellow Elks members Charlene Peale, who is dictionary chair and chair of the board of trustees, as well as Greg Peale and Ramona Higgins.
Each year, all the third-graders at Providencia receive dictionaries. This year, 1,031 dictionaries were given, Charlene Peale said.
Jennifer Culbertson, Providencias principal, introduced Coyle to the students. He told them the dictionaries will help them with not only their spelling, but many other subjects of reference, too.
There is a place at the beginning of the book where students can write their names, and their teachers names have been placed on a label on the same page.
It has the symbols for sign language, a list of planets, history of each country, the state capitals and when each became a state and the longest word in the English language that took up half a page.
Other highlights in the book are the U.S. presidents and their biographies, the U.S. Constitution and the evolution of the American flags design.
The students oohed and awed as Coyle told them each highlight.
Joining in the morning presentation was Burbank Unified Supt. Matt Hill and Peter Knapik, the districts director of elementary education .
The Elks and Providencia already share a partnership in that for the past 15 years the fraternal organization has welcomed the nearby school to hold its fifth-grade promotion ceremony at the lodge, Culbertson said.
On behalf of Providencias third-graders and, of course, on behalf of all the third-graders in our district, thank you so much for your generosity, Culbertson told the Elks. The fact that they will have [the dictionaries] for years to come is so special.
As the arts are a major part of the schools curriculum, Culbertson added, the school has been recognized as a 2016 Exemplary Arts Program School. The designation is from the California Department of Education as part of its Gold Ribbon Awards.
So, to thank the Elks members for their donation, each class sang a song and had drawn colorful props to help illustrate the lyrics. They also presented the Elks with handmade thank-you notes.
I want to thank all of you for entertaining us with some beautiful music and all your artwork, Coyle said. You are very talented, though obviously the school teaches much more than singing and art. Im looking at penmanship here that for a third-grader is really unbelievable. Some adults cannot write this clear.
Carol Lopez, parent of student Cesar Lopez, attended the ceremony and said she thinks the dictionary-donation program is great because it keeps him off the Internet.
He can use it without asking me to go online, so its safer than using the computer, she said.
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JOYCE RUDOLPH can be reached at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.
Echoes of Success was this years theme of the 2017 Rose Parade, in which entrants had to embody the importance of people coming together and helping others. However, the sentiment rang truer for some of the participants than others.
It is the first time since 2009 that the Burbank Tournament of Roses Assn. failed to receive an award for its float, which was titled Home Tweet Home this year. A slew of technical difficulties and being unable to finish decorating the float before judging cost the Media City a shot at a trophy.
We didnt have [one of the cupolas] completely shingled, said Jon Reeves, construction chair for the Burbank float association, referring to one of the steeple-like structures on the entry. And we didnt have all of the trim around the base of the house ... Theres lots of blame to go around. We just ran out of time, and it was not ready.
The City of Burbank float Home Tweet Home in the 128th Rose Parade on Monday, January 2, 2017. The parade theme Echoes of Success presented 96 entries with 42 floats, 22 bands, and 19 equestrian. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
As Burbanks float made its way down Orange Grove and Colorado boulevards, a group of shingles nearly fell off the roof and two of the three baby birds atop a smaller birdhouse were moving up and down, but the third bird malfunctioned.
Despite the hiccups that Burbank volunteers experienced this year, Reeves said the float still turned out great, and he was thankful for all of those who helped put it together.
It was not all bad news for self-built float entrants, though. The La Canada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Assn. walked away with the Bob Hope Humor Trophy for its float titled Backyard Rocketeer.
The float depicted a boy and his dog flying in a home-built rocket ship made out of items from his backyard. The logos for Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA graced the side and tail fin of the space vessel.
We went to NASA and JPL and asked them if we could use their logos, said Chuck Terhune, president of the La Canada organization. They said it was OK and to get ready for takeoff. We were delighted.
Terhune said more than 400 volunteers helped put together and decorate this years float. He said he believes that they would not have won without the support of La Canada residents.
The spirit of the Rose Parade is about the communities, Terhune said. They like seeing the local community support.
Also, the overall event had local ties this year as La Canada resident Brad Ratliff served as president of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Assn., which produces the parade.
Though Glendale did not have an entry in this years parade, the American Armenian Rose Float Assn. won the Past Presidents Trophy for its float titled Field of Dreams!
On the float were the figures of three children who represented the American-Armenian experience in science, literature and music riding a stallion, said Stepan Partamian, founder of the American-Armenian association.
Because the organization has entered the Rose Parade only three times, Partamian said he was excited to hear the news about its win.
Its all thanks to the volunteers effort and the community at large that helped us, he said. Its a sentimental reward. Were so happy to receive it because we presented something nice.
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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
Laguna Beach police said they are investigating whether the man who was arrested in October for allegedly trespassing by leaping off of buildings in Laguna and Newport Beach has performed a similar stunt.
Police say a man jumped off a ledge and into the pool shortly after 8:15 p.m. Dec. 28 at the Pacific Edge Hotel, at 647 S. Coast Hwy., Laguna police Sgt. Tim Kleiser said.
Were highly confident its him, based on the footage we have from the location, Kleiser said, referring to Laguna Niguel resident Anthony Booth Armer, who was arrested last year in connection with a series of videos showing dives from buildings and cliffs.
A YouTube post shows the man landing on the edge of the pool, falling into the water and then climbing out. He crawls toward a nearby gate. Another person is seen opening the gate for him.
Kleiser said the person who opened the gate was a friend of the jumper, who along with a hotel employee helped the man to a car, Kleiser said. Employees reported the incident to hotel management, police said.
The YouTube post also contains video footage from a camera apparently attached to the man as he jumps into the pool, and photos that reveal the mans bloodied heel as he lies in a bed with both feet wrapped in bandages.
Police are continuing to examine the video, Kleiser said in a follow-up email.
Hotel management had not immediately returned a call seeking comment Tuesday.
In October, the Orange County district attorneys office charged Armer with two misdemeanor counts of unauthorized entry into a dwelling and one misdemeanor count of trespassing with intent to interfere with business, the Daily Pilot reported. Charges are related to one incident in Newport and two in Laguna.
Armers arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 3, according to the Orange County Superior Court website. He posted $500 bail.
He is accused of climbing over a wall last Sept. 29 to get into the employee-only areas of Laguna Beachs Surf & Sand Resort before jumping from the fifth floor of the hotel into the pool. Hotel employees reported that incident to Laguna Beach police.
Vincent Tucci, Armers attorney as listed on the Orange County Superior Court website, had not immediately returned an email Tuesday seeking comment on the charges.
bryce.alderton@latimes.com
Twitter: @AldertonBryce
A Huntington Beach man has been charged with murder in the deaths of two of his wifes co-workers, whose bodies were found Monday in Newport Beach.
Christopher Ireland, 37, a real estate agent, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one felony count of arson in connection with a fire at the Westminster home of one of the women and one felony count of aggravated mayhem in connection with the permanent disability, disfigurement and deprivation of a limb, organ and body member of one of the victims.
Ireland was expected to be arraigned Wednesday in an Orange County Central Jail courtroom in Santa Ana, but the arraignment was postponed to Jan. 20. He is being held without bail.
Firefighters were called to a house fire in the 5000 block of Northwestern Way in Westminster at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze and called arson investigators and Westminster police detectives to the scene because of suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire, according to police.
The homeowner, Yolanda Holtrey, 59, was nowhere to be found.
By Monday morning, detectives had information that led them to the bodies of Holtrey and her friend Michelle Luke, 49, of Huntington Beach in a field off Bonita Canyon Drive and Ford Road in Newport Beach.
Friends said both women worked with Irelands wife, Samantha, at the Huntington Beach location of Stein Mart, a department store.
Evidence at Holtreys house led police to Ireland, who was arrested Monday, authorities said.
Police have not released how the women died and said a motive for the crime is under investigation.
Samantha Ireland told KNBC-TV/4 this week that she and her husband attended a New Years Eve party at Holtreys house. When they arrived home around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, she and her husband went to sleep, she said.
I dont remember him leaving the house in the middle of the night; he doesnt remember anything, she told the station, adding that her husband may have been sleepwalking.
Samantha Ireland said her husband had planned to help Holtrey sell her home.
A fundraising page to help Holtreys family restore her damaged home and pay other expenses has been set up at Gofundme.com. As of Wednesday afternoon, it had raised $3,285 toward a $15,000 goal.
Police asked that anyone with information about the case call Westminster police Det. Jim Wilson at (714) 898-3315 or Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) TIP-OCCS (847-6227).
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Nuran Alteir is a contributor to Times Community News.
Twitter: @whatnuransaid
About 60 Newport-Mesa Unified School District staff members, teachers, students, parents and other guests attended Early College High Schools 10th-anniversary celebration last month at the Costa Mesa campus.
Early College offers a college preparatory program designed to help students fulfill University of California admission requirements.
District board President Karen Yelsey acknowledged the schools achievements, such as a Gold Ribbon Award, while Supt. Fred Navarro recognized Early Colleges first principal, Kathy Slauson, who was in attendance.
Coastline Community College President Lori Adrian presented Early Colleges current principal, David Martinez, with a plaque of appreciation.
Police chief to discuss crime during Wake Up Newport breakfast
Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis will discuss new initiatives in the Police Department, crime trends and the implications of legalized recreational marijuana use in California during a Wake Up Newport breakfast Thursday.
Wake Up Newport, presented by the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce, begins at 7:15 a.m. at the Newport Beach Public Library, 1000 Avocado Ave.
Corona del Mar to host sailing convention for women
The Long Beach-based Southern California Yachting Assn. will present the 28th annual Womens Sailing Convention on Feb. 4 at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club in Corona del Mar.
The daylong convention, sponsored by the Virginia-based Boat Owners Assn. of the United States, will offer a series of women-only workshops about sailing for beginners and experts.
The convention gives women an opportunity to meet other women sailors, discuss options for more racing, cruising and day sailing, find out about existing womens sailing organizations in their area as well as instructional programs available, convention director Gail Hine said in a statement.
The $215 convention fee includes workshops, breakfast, lunch, dinner and souvenirs. Attendance is limited to about 225 people.
For reservation forms, email gail@scya.org or call (951) 677-8121. Bookings can be completed through womenssailingconvention.com.
Environmental Nature Center gets $50,000 for improvements
Newport Beach residents Frank and Joanne Randall donated $50,000 to the Environmental Nature Center last month to help restore the Newport facilitys stream, pond and two teaching stations for environmental learning.
The donation also is intended to help develop a new butterfly habitat observation deck and a desert tortoise enclosure.
It was time to make some major repairs to our stream and pond, which have been flowing at the center since 1972, the facilitys executive director, Bo Glover, said in a statement. Our restored stream and pond will no longer leak. ...
The desert tortoise enclosure will give us the opportunity to add another teaching animal to our repertoire, and the restored teaching stations will be significantly more conducive to learning in nature.
New UCI administrative and business official to start next month
UC Irvines new vice chancellor for administrative and business services, Ron Cortez, will begin work Feb. 13.
He will replace Wendell Brase, who served in that post for 25 years.
Cortez currently is vice president of administration and finance and chief financial officer at San Francisco State University.
He previously was associate vice chancellor for administrative services at UC Santa Barbara, where he oversaw departments including information technology, accounting and human resources.
UCIs administrative and business services work on building and infrastructure efficiency and accounting, human resources, risk management and transportation services.
Pacific Symphony gets second $1.2-million grant
For the second time, the James Irvine Foundation has awarded the Pacific Symphony a $1.2-million grant to help strengthen its commitment to Orange Countys Chinese American communities through arts engagement.
Three years ago, the symphony which performs at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa was one of three organizations statewide to receive the maximum award from the foundation.
The new grant, as with the first, is payable over 36 months. Both grants are part of the foundations New California Arts Fund.
A Huntington Beach man is being held at Orange County Jail without bail after being arrested Monday in connection with the deaths of two of his wifes co-workers after a house fire in Westminster that is suspected to be arson.
Christopher Ireland, 37, was taken into custody on suspicion of murder after the bodies of the two women were found miles away in Newport Beach.
The case began to unfold about 5:30 a.m. Sunday, when the Orange County Fire Authority was called to a fire at a house in the 5000 block of Northwestern Way in Westminster. Firefighters extinguished the blaze and called arson investigators and Westminster police detectives to the scene because of suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire, according to police.
When authorities arrived, the homeowner, 59-year-old Yolanda Holtrey, and her friend, a 49-year-old woman from Huntington Beach, were nowhere to be found.
The Orange County coroners office identified the second woman Wednesday as Michelle Luke. Friends said she worked with Holtrey and Irelands wife, Samantha, at the Huntington Beach location of Stein Mart, a department store.
By Monday morning, detectives had information that led them to the womens bodies, which were found in a field off Bonita Canyon Drive and Ford Road in Newport Beach.
They apparently were killed at the home and then were moved, police said. Authorities have not said how the women died.
The motive for the crime is still under investigation, said Westminster police Cmdr. Cameron Knauerhaze. We do not believe any other suspects are outstanding.
Irelands wife told KNBC-TV/4 that she and her husband attended a New Years Eve party at Holtreys house. When they arrived home around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, she and her husband went to sleep, she said.
I dont remember him leaving the house in the middle of the night; he doesnt remember anything, Samantha Ireland told the station, adding that her husband may have been sleepwalking.
Christopher Ireland is a licensed real estate agent who works for Realty One Group Inc. in Rancho Cucamonga. He first received his license in August, according to the California Bureau of Real Estate.
Samantha Ireland told Channel 4 that her husband had planned to help Holtrey sell her home.
Police asked that anyone with information about the case call Westminster police Det. Jim Wilson at (714) 898-3315 or Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) TIP-OCCS (847-6227).
hannah.fry@latimes.com
Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
Removing debris from Upper Newport Bay could be aided by a proposal thats been floating around City Hall for several months a trash-collecting barge.
At first glance, the so-called water wheel looks like a cross between a steamboat and a conch shell. From its proposed stationary position where the San Diego Creek feeds into the Back Bay near the Jamboree Road bridge, the vessel would funnel incoming creek debris into an onboard bin that would be emptied periodically.
The vessel could be powered by a mix of solar and hydraulic energy, said Bob Stein, an engineer with the city of Newport Beach, which is leading the effort. The projects cost is estimated at $750,000 to $1 million, including ongoing maintenance costs.
City officials are looking to have it funded under Measure M, a countywide sales tax intended for transportation programs.
Stein said the water wheel is intended as an interim solution possibly through 2029, if its installed in 2019 to collect trash before it flows into Newport Harbor or the Pacific Ocean. An ideal and permanent solution, he said, would be building a trash collection facility farther up San Diego Creek, possibly near Main Street in Irvine.
Newport officials point to the success of a water wheel installed in Baltimores Inner Harbor in 2014. The barge has been nicknamed Mr. Trash Wheel it has two googly eyes attached and has enough of a following that its minute-by-minute progress can be viewed online. It also has a Twitter account.
Between its May 2014 debut and October 2016, Mr. Trash Wheel collected 1 million pounds of cigarettes, trash and other debris, the Baltimore Sun reported.
A second water wheel, named Professor Trash Wheel, was installed in Baltimore in December, the Sun reported.
Billy Dutton, an organizer with Newports Help Your Harbor program, said the water wheel would be a valuable tool in protecting the Back Bay.
He noted that Help Your Harbor participants have collected 18,291 pounds of trash and debris since February 2014, but thats a small percentage of whats floating out there.
The group realizes what theyre doing is just scratching the surface of all the trash thats coming in, Dutton said.
Not everyone is excited about a water wheel in the Back Bay.
In October, Newport Bay Conservancy board President Peter Bryant wrote to a city official and then-Mayor Diane Dixon that his group could not support it.
We feel it would be inappropriate to carry out this kind of construction in the reserve, which is also a state marine conservation area, Bryant wrote. And we also feel that it would be an unsightly piece of machinery that would be very unpopular with local residents.
The water wheel is still in a conceptual stage, Stein said. An environmental study will determine its potential effects on the Back Bay. The project also would require review by the county, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and other agencies.
We want to study those impacts and make sure were not doing anything that would not be beneficial to the preserve, Stein said.
bradley.zint@latimes.com
Twitter: @BradleyZint
Thousands of invasive plants will be replaced over the next five years in a move to restore a portion of Harriett M. Wieder Regional Park, which forms an important trail link between Huntington Beach Central Park and Bolsa Chica State Beach.
Wieder park, opened in 2004, occupies 106 acres of land in Huntington Beach. It was named after Harriett Wieder, who was elected in 1978 as the first female member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, representing the district that includes her home city. The three-term supervisor died in 2010 at age 89.
The Bolsa Chica Conservancy, the local environmental group heading the project, plans to restore 9.5 acres of the park that have been overwhelmed by invasive vegetation, David Pryor, the groups senior environmental scientist, said in a news release.
Grace Adams, the executive director of the conservancy, said the park is ripe for overgrowth because the only developed area is a small playground that sits on about an acre.
The conservancy hopes to bolster species diversity and the number of native, drought-resistant plants in the area by removing the invasive vegetation, which has overtaken 99% of the parcel, Pryor said.
As an example, he noted plans to help the recovery of the southern Tarplant, a rare plant with bright yellow flowers.
Adams said the modified habitats will help attract species like the California gnatcatcher and the burrowing owl, birds that are not currently nesting in the park but have been seen along Californias coasts in environments similar to Wieders.
The project will be funded through renewed Measure Ms Environmental Mitigation Program. The half-cent sales tax measure known as M2, passed by voters in 2006, was intended to continue Measure Ms funding of transportation projects in the county but with the added environmental component.
The OCTA authorized the project in 2012, but the conservancy has had to work with the county to finalize the plans, including completing an addendum to an environmental impact report done when the park was originally proposed in 1992, Adams said.
Pryor said it will take until about 2021 before the project, which will include installing a water line, is completed.
Adams said the group is aiming to begin the massive overhaul of invasive vegetation at the end of January or the beginning of February.
Residents will still be able to walk through the unrestricted trails, but some areas may be temporarily closed off if there is safety concern regarding equipment in use, Pryor said.
benjamin.brazil@latimes.com
Twitter: @benbrazilpilot
A Glendale woman suffering from Alzheimers disease is safely back with her family after being reported missing Tuesday.
Liza Galstyan, 77, was found at around 12:40 p.m. Wednesday in Pasadena by local police. She had been reported missing after not coming back from a walk in the 600 block of South Adams Street, according to Glendale Police spokesman Sgt. Robert William.
While her family said its not unusual for Galstyan to go on long walks, this time was different.
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Obviously, yesterday she was gone for too long. Thats why the family reported her missing, he said.
Pasadena police subsequently transported her back home.
Other than being tired and confused, William said Galstyan was physically fine when she returned. He said Galstyan suffers from an advanced level of Alzheimers and has no recollection of what happened.
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Andy Nguyen, andy.nguyen@latimes.com
Twitter: @Andy_Truc
Two of the first babies born in Glendale on New Years Day both arrived a little earlier than expected, and another was born as planned for two area men.
At Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Dulce Garcia gave birth to her daughter, Victoria, at 12:13 a.m. on Sunday.
Victoria wasnt expected to arrive until Jan. 10, but the Alhambra resident said that all changed abruptly.
My water broke, she said. And my mom said, You have to go to the hospital.
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Victoria was born weighing 6 pounds, 6 ounces, and now joins 4-year-old brother, Santiago, in the family with father, Angel Rivera.
Highland Park resident Cynthia Henao gave birth to her daughter, Aubree, at 4:46 a.m. Sunday at Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital.
Weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces, Aubree also arrived a little early. I really wasnt ready for her to come already, her mom said.
She said she was at home and started experiencing considerable pain, so she decided to head to the hospital.
I thought, I have to make sure everything is OK, she said.
When she got to the hospital, she was already dilated 4 centimeters. The process had started, said Henao. She and Aubrees father, Miguel Salgado, also have a 2-year-old daughter named Kayla.
Los Angeles residents Felipe Osorno and Ian Holloway were a little less surprised at the arrival at 1:03 p.m. on New Years Day of their second daughter, Lucia her delivery by cesarean section at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital was actually scheduled ahead of time, Osorno said on Tuesday.
We thought it would be nice if she could be the first baby, so we planned for that day, said the new father, just minutes home from the hospital. The first (of January) is a pretty special day to be born.
Holloway and Osorno arrived at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital earlier that day and were in the delivery room with the babys birth mother. Together, they cut the umbilical cord and later introduced baby Lucia to her 2-year-old sister Sofia, whom the pair, married in 2013, had also adopted at birth.
Once home, it was time for the new arrival to meet family dogs Sherry and Rocco.
They sniffed her when we got home and one of them went for a lick, so were good, Osorno said.
Now that the holidays are over, Los Angeles International Airport can get back to normal, but what does that mean for a facility deep in the midst of a $14-billion modernization project?
It means that the new year brings new roadway obstacles and changes that could cause you or your passengers to miss a flight. LAX, recovering from an estimated 4.3 million holiday travelers between mid-December and Tuesday, will resume work on construction projects Wednesday.
Heres what you can expect if you are traveling to the airport this month.
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1. Terminal 1
Upgrading the terminal that houses Southwest Airlines means that part of the upper level (departures) road lanes are closed through March, a news release says. Further, the entire lane closes between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. weeknights too.
This may cause a big backup because its the first terminal as you enter LAX. The fix: Use the lower level (arrivals) to drop off passengers who can then take an escalator or elevator up to the ticket counters and gates.
The pedestrian bridge connecting Parking Structure 1 with the terminal is closed too; there are signs to direct you how to get to the terminal.
2. Parking Structure 3
Expect lane closures most weekdays from 4 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the lower level (arrivals) adjacent to the parking structure for landscaping. You dont have to avoid this area at all times, but know that it could occasionally get backed up.
3. Shuttle changes
In an effort to ease traffic, LAX plans to assign shuttles and buses to single levels. It will limit hotel shuttles to lower level roads only, and private parking shuttles as well as Lot C buses to upper level roads. This is scheduled to start Jan. 23.
4. Upcoming terminal changes
An automated screening lane is coming to security checkpoints at Terminal 4. And Terminals 7-8, which house United Airlines, now feature five automated security lanes aimed at getting passengers through checkpoints quicker.
Heads up for American Airlines travelers: The carrier will relocate some gates at Terminal 6 (which recently rolled out a snazzy makeover with a Sunset Boulevard theme) to Terminal 5 at the end of January.
What would really cut traffic inside the airports central terminal would be a train that would take passengers to and from car-rental kiosks, public transit, etc. Its coming but not until 2023, at the earliest.
To stay on top of traffic, follow LAX on Twitter (@flyLAXAirport) and Facebook.
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mary.forgione@latimes.com
@maryforgione
Despite the efforts of the last three American presidents, North Korea has continued advancing as a nuclear state. Can Donald Trump rein in the rogue state any better?
In a televised New Years Day address to his nation, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced his resolve to develop a missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
We will continue to build up our self-defense capability, the pivot of which is the nuclear forces, and the capability for preemptive strike, he said.
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President-elect Trump responded the next day on Twitter: North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It wont happen!
His confidence drew skepticism from many North Korea security analysts, who noted that the issue has long confounded the international community and that Trump hasnt detailed a strategy for dealing with the North.
Its just a statement of resolve without any indication of how hes going to prevent it, said John Delury, an associate professor of Chinese studies at Seouls Yonsei University. And, of course, its all about the how.
The United States and its allies have tried a variety of tools to prevent North Korea, one of the worlds most isolated countries, from developing and deploying nuclear weapons.
But diplomatic negotiations stalled in 2008, and a series of economic sanctions and aid have at times slowed, but not stopped, North Koreas nuclear ambitions.
In the 1990s, then-President Clinton helped win agreement to close a North Korean nuclear facility in exchange for aid a deal that ultimately fell apart. His successor, George W. Bush, sought a change in government in Pyongyang.
The Obama administration has demanded that Pyongyang denuclearize while also trying to get other countries in the region to oppose the countrys efforts.
The strategies havent worked. Most security experts now believe North Korea is, in fact, an established nuclear state perhaps possessing more than a dozen devices. A key question now, analysts such as Delury say, is whether the nation has the tools to deploy the weapons globally.
North Korea has numerous missiles, some of them mobile and outfitted with reengineered Russian technology. Americas allies in the region, such as Japan and South Korea, whose capital is 120 miles from Pyongyang, are already on edge about short- and intermediate-range capabilities.
Long-range missiles remain a major goal, and in his New Years speech, Kim said the North Korean military was close to testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Since he took power in late 2011, Kim has supervised tests for dozens of missiles, including some that, in theory, could be launched from submarines. His country has also tested at least three nuclear devices, drawing ire from much of the international community, including Pyongyangs longtime ally China.
Given the Norths advances in missile development, Trumps administration now faces fewer options than previous presidents. Some include convincing North Korea that its nuclear program threatens the Pyongyang governments survival. Theres also the possibility of a negotiated agreement involving regional countries and perhaps more economic and political pressure from China and Russia.
Chun Yung-woo, a former South Korean national security advisor who has participated in talks with North Korea, sees in Trumps confident tweets a leader who finally might make headway with Kim.
In dealing with unconventional leaders like Kim Jong Un, I think a leader like Trump, another unconventional leader, could help. Chun Yung-woo, former South Korean national security advisor
I see the advent of Trump as an opportunity, said Chun, now a senior advisor at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. In dealing with unconventional leaders like Kim Jong Un, I think a leader like Trump, another unconventional leader, could help. I dont think a conventional approach works better.
Others are more skeptical.
Duyeon Kim, a Seoul-based researcher at Georgetown Universitys Institute of the Study of Diplomacy, questioned, for example, Trumps decision to weigh in on Twitter.
Trump punctuated his recent tweet with It wont happen! Does that mean Trump does not believe North Korea can achieve the missile capacity, she asked, or that he will find a way to stop it? She said the president-elects public resolve could be an opportunity for diplomacy or a disaster.
I seriously hope Trump does not mean he will stop the North with force, she said. Trump needs a real North Korea policy and strategy, and Twitter is not the forum through which to create one.
Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California, said North Koreas desire for long-range missiles would be difficult for any president today to stop.
I dont think theres any way that hes come up with a silver-bullet solution that he said in his tweet, said Hanham, who closely examines North Koreas propaganda photos to gather clues about its military capabilities. This is actually a very complex quagmire with all sorts of variables that he cant stop with sheer force of will.
In his speech, Kim also left a narrow opening for a diplomatic solution, subtly suggesting that the nation might halt its work if the United States and South Korea stop their regular war exercises on the Norths doorstep.
Delury, the Yonsei professor, took to Twitter to discuss the diplomatic opening in Kims remarks. He also noted that Trump had been relatively restrained in his tweets not personally insulting Kim, for example. The North Koreans, in turn, havent attacked Trump.
They have left themselves room to at least explore what a preliminary deal might look like, he said.
Stiles is a special correspondent.
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Myanmars western state of Rakhine, where the majority of the countrys Rohingya Muslims live, has seen a wave of violence in recent months. Armed men attacked three border guard outposts on Oct. 9, killing nine police officers. A crackdown by security forces followed that reportedly included killings, rapes and widespread destruction of Muslim villages.
The countrys estimated 1 million Rohingya are not considered citizens and are referred to pejoratively by the government as Bengalis. Human rights organizations say the government has disproportionately used violence and committed human rights abuses against the minority group. The government says it is conducting a campaign of counterinsurgency.
Now complicating matters is a finding by the International Crisis Group that a militant Rohingya organization with ties to individuals in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan was behind the recent border guard attacks and represents the face of a new armed insurgency by Muslims in Rakhine state.
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The emergence of this well-organized, apparently well-funded group is a game changer in the Myanmar governments efforts to address the complex challenges in Rakhine state, said the report by the International Crisis Group, a conflict research organization based in Brussels.
The violence directed by Muslims against government forces in the October attacks and subsequent clashes was unprecedented, the report said. It showed a previously unseen capacity for planning and coordination and also represented a dramatic twist in the story of the Rohingya in Myanmar.
The armed group, which calls itself Harakah al-Yaqin (Faith Movement in Arabic) but is also known to government officials as Aqa Mul Mujahidin (Communities of Fighters), does not appear to be motivated by a jihadist terrorist agenda, according to the report. It appears to be focused instead on ending persecution of the Rohingya and securing greater rights for them within Myanmar. However, the report warned that the Rohingya could become further radicalized or have their cause taken up by extremist groups to serve their own agendas if the Rohingya continue to be mistreated by the government.
Analysts from the International Crisis Group interviewed six members of Harakah al-Yaqin and several others with connections to it, as well as Rohingya refugees and members of the diaspora. They also analyzed the groups communications.
They found that the group is led by a committee of about 20 Rohingya emigres headquartered in Mecca, and commanded on the ground in Myanmar by about 20 more Rohingya from Saudi Arabia who have international training in modern guerrilla tactics. They also found that the group sought and obtained fatwas, or religious rulings, from Islamic clerics in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, among others, and appears to have received funds from private donors in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.
More than 100,000 Rohingya Muslims live in camps for the displaced in Myanmar, where they have little access to humanitarian aid, and few opportunities to speak with journalists or human rights organizations. Hundreds of thousands more live just over the border as refugees in Bangladesh, as well as in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Despite their history of persecution, the Rohingya have not engaged in armed conflict against the government, unlike many of the other ethnic minorities in Myanmar, experts say.
Of all the ethnic groups in Burma, the Rohingya are one of the ones that have been least likely to take up arms, said Simon Billenness, executive director of the International Campaign for the Rohingya. Myanmar is also known as Burma, the name preferred by pro-democracy activists who contest the legitimacy of the military junta that changed the name in 1989.
When three Rohingya men were convicted of the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman in 2012, a series of violent clashes between Buddhists and Muslims exploded in Rakhine, prompting a brutal crackdown by government security forces on the Rohingya. Human Rights Watch called the crackdown ethnic cleansing.
The violence eventually subsided, but in 2015 the Rohingya were forbidden to vote in general elections and lost a major escape route out of the country with the shutting down of migration pathways to Malaysia.
This is new territory for everybody looking at this. Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch
All of these factors combined to spur the creation of Harakah al-Yaqin and cement its resolve to launch an insurgency, the International Crisis Group said in its report.
Ata Ullah, one of the groups leaders on the ground, is believed to have attended a six-month Taliban training course in Pakistan shortly after the 2012 violence. Active recruitment and training of local leaders and villagers in Myanmar took place in 2013 and 2014, the report said.
Villagers were organized into cells to make it more difficult for the government to infiltrate the organization. Training, which took more than two years, was led by Rohingya veterans and Pakistanis or Afghans with recent fighting experience and included weapons use and guerrilla tactics, with a focus on IEDs and other explosives. Planning and communication were done mostly over encrypted chat apps, including WhatsApp and Viber.
Observers said it was only a matter of time before at least some Rohingya took up violence. When you are killing them and burning down their houses and dont recognize their citizenship and persecute them based on their religion, its no surprise, said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch.
The Burmese army, by meting out this collective punishment on Rohingya communities, risks radicalizing the Rohingya in a way that weve not seen before, Billenness said. The responsibility for that lies with the Burmese army.
Adams said the report provided the clearest picture yet of what happened in the October and November attacks, but it was only a starting point for research.
This is new territory for everybody looking at this, said Adams. It was clear the attacks had been organized and planned, probably from outside the local community, but more investigation was needed of the composition and scale of the armed insurgent group, he said.
Both Billenness and Adams feared the violence would legitimize further crackdowns by Myanmars security force. In two recent reports, Human Rights Watch compiled witness accounts of the government crackdown following the October attacks, and cited satellite imagery that shows the burning of at least 1,500 buildings in Maungdaw township, where the clashes occurred. The government had previously accused the Rohingya of burning down their own homes, but the Human Rights Watch evidence, Adams said, clearly refutes that.
See the most-read stories in World News this hour
The U.N. estimates that 30,000 people, most of them Rohingya, have been newly displaced internally and largely cut off from humanitarian aid as a result of the conflict; a further 50,000 are estimated to have fled to Bangladesh.
Any army use of the International Crisis Group report to rationalize additional harsh measures would be counterproductive, its authors wrote. Continued misuse of military force, the report warned, could create conditions for radicalizing sections of the Rohingya population that jihadist groups might exploit for their own agendas.
nina.agrawal@latimes.com
Twitter: @AgrawalNina
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An Israeli military tribunal has convicted a medic of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a hobbled Palestinian assailant in March a verdict that spurred public protests and a call from the prime minister for a pardon.
Abdel Fattah Sharif, who had carried out a stabbing attack on a soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron, had been shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers and incapacitated on the ground when Sgt. Elor Azaria fatally shot him in the head.
Azaria testified that he feared Sharif was wearing an explosives belt or would grab a nearby knife and start attacking bystanders.
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But the three-judge panel rejected that account and unanimously ruled Wednesday that the 20-year-old soldier had violated the militarys open-fire regulations.
We found that there was no place to accept his arguments, the chief judge, Col. Maya Heller, said during a verdict reading that lasted more than two hours at the Israel Defense Forces headquarters in central Tel Aviv. His motive for shooting was that he felt the terrorist deserved to die.
Azaria, who was also found guilty of behavior not befitting a soldier, could face a 20-year jail term if the manslaughter conviction is upheld. His attorneys said they planned to appeal.
At the same time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other politicians called for a pardon. This is a difficult and painful day for all of us, first and foremost for Elor and his family, for IDF soldiers, for many citizens, and for parents of our soldiers myself included,' Netanyahu wrote on his Facebook page.
Also writing on Facebook, Education Minister Naftali Bennett said: Today a soldier who killed a death-deserving terrorist who tried to butcher a soldier was put in handcuffs and treated like the worst of criminals.
A pardon can be issued only by the president, Reuven Rivlin. His office released a statement saying that any request would be considered in accordance with standard practices.
The case has captivated the country since the Israeli human rights group BTselem released a video that showed Azaria cocking his gun, walking up to Sharif and shooting him in the head.
An Israeli military tribunal has convicted a medic of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a hobbled Palestinian assailant last March a verdict that spurred public protests and a call from the prime minister for a pardon.
The military is one of the countrys most trusted institutions, but its decision to prosecute Azaria a rare case of a soldier being disciplined for a killing committed during operations was met with widespread disdain.
A September poll by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University found that 65% of Israeli Jews supported Azarias actions and believe that he acted in self-defense. From 2015 until the middle of last year, the country was roiled by a spate of deadly knife attacks.
As the verdict was being read, hundreds of Azaria supporters from the far-right staged a demonstration, chanting, Death to terrorists and Hes a hero.
Today Elor, tomorrow, your son, read protest signs. Demonstrators said that the judges had unfairly sided with the military.
The verdict is outrageous, said David Kadosh, an unemployed waiter. The open-fire rules are absurd. This is a war.
The protesters werent the only ones unhappy with the trial. The case had attracted widespread attention abroad and calls for intervention from the international community.
The Palestinian Authoritys Foreign Ministry called the trial a farce meant to mollify the critics and avoid an international prosecution.
In Hebron, an uncle of Sharif said that his family rejected the court decision and that the International Criminal Court should take up the case. The court did nothing but condemn, said Fathi Sharif, a family spokesman. We want him to be punished.
The military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, has been the leading proponent within the military for a court-martial. While politicians have argued that any attacker should be killed rather than arrested, Eisenkot has held that lethal force should be used only in a life-threatening situation.
An 18-year-old man who enlists in the IDF is not everyones son, he said on the eve of the verdict, as if to prepare for the fallout.
At first, Eisenkot had support from key members of the government, including Netanyahu. But that changed as public opinion coalesced around Azaria.
Last year, Netanyahu replaced the defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, who had angered the public by supporting prosecution, with Avigdor Lieberman, who slammed it.
After the verdict was announced, Lieberman told reporters that it should be respected even though he didnt like it.
Human Rights Watch, which said that 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces since October 2015, said the conviction was a positive step in reining in excessive force.
However, the problem is not just one rogue soldier but also senior Israeli officials who publicly tell security forces to unlawfully shoot to kill, the organization said in a statement.
See the most-read stories in World News this hour
Mitnick is a special correspondent.
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UPDATES:
12:35 p.m.: This article was updated with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling for Azaria to be pardoned and other reaction.
This article was originally published at 6:25 a.m.
Turkey has identified the suspected gunman in the Istanbul nightclub massacre, the foreign minister said Wednesday as the president vowed that the country wont surrender to terrorists or become divided.
The gunman, who killed 39 people during New Years celebrations at the Reina club, is still at large. But Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said authorities had identified the man, without providing details.
The identity of the person who carried out the attack on the Reina nightclub has been established, Cavusoglu told Anadolu in a live televised interview.
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Turkish police, meanwhile, detained 20 suspected Islamic State militants, including 11 women, believed to be linked to the attack, the state-run news agency reported. The operation was thought to have been launched in the Aegean port city of Izmir.
Anadolu said the suspects were from the largely Muslim Russian republic of Dagestan, from Chinas Muslim Uighur minority and from Syria. It said they may have lived with the nightclub attacker.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, which wounded nearly 70 people. Of those killed 27 were foreigners, many from the Middle East. Islamic State said a soldier of the caliphate had carried out the mass shooting to avenge Turkish military operations against Islamic State in northern Syria.
The private Dogan news agency said Wednesdays police operation targeted three families who had arrived in Izmir about 20 days ago from Konya a city in central Turkey where the gunman is thought to have been based before carrying out the nightclub attack. It said 27 people, including women and children, were taken into custody.
At least 16 people were previously detained in connection with the attack, including two foreigners stopped Tuesday at the international terminal of Istanbuls Ataturk Airport after police checked their cellphones and luggage, according to Anadolu.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the attack aimed to set Turks against each other and deepen fault lines, but that the country would not fall for this game.
Erdogan made the comments in a live speech from Ankara, the first time he has publicly addressed the nation since the attack.
Responding to accusations in the past that Turkey had given support to Islamic State, Erdogan said that to present the country which is leading the greatest struggle against Daesh as one that is supporting terrorism is what the terror organization wants. He used an Arabic acronym for the group.
Erdogan said that to say Turkey has surrendered to terrorism is to take sides with the terrorists and terror organizations.
Erdogan also said that in Turkey, no ones way of life is under any threat. Those who claim this have to prove it. It is my duty to protect everyones rights.
It was in response to a campaign before the attack by some government supporters who warned against New Years celebrations they depicted as a Western or Christian tradition, as well as some social media postings that seemed to support the attack. The campaign and social media postings caused uproar amid secular Turks who said their lifestyles were being threatened. The government has said authorities were taking measures on social media accounts that allegedly support terrorism and foster divisiveness in society.
Police in Istanbul have set up checkpoints and are checking vehicles across the city as security levels remained high. Police were stopping cars and Istanbuls ubiquitous yellow taxis, with passengers and drivers holding up their identifications while officers inspected inside the vehicles. Istanbul has been on high alert since the attack, with the gunman still at large.
The Hurriyet newspaper said the suspected gunman had previously entered Turkey twice, in 2014 and in 2015. He is believed to have slipped illegally into Syria, where he fought and received training in the use of guns and bombs.
The pro-government Sabah newspaper said the suspect had been in contact with someone believed to be a chief Islamic State operative in Istanbul as well as his aide a Tajik man who reportedly was among those detained.
According to Sabah, the suspect was born in 1988 and is believed to be a Kyrgyz national. It said he speaks Russian, Uzbek, Arabic and Turkish.
Haber Turk newspaper reported meanwhile that after the attack, the suspect walked some 400 yards and then took a taxi but was forced to get off because he didnt have any money on him. He later took another taxi and woke up some Uighurs working at a restaurant in Istanbuls Zeytinburnu district to get some money and pay the driver. The newspaper said seven Uighurs either working or sheltering at the restaurant have since been taken into custody.
The newspaper interviewed the owner of the restaurant, Semsettin Dursun, a Uighur who said he didnt know the suspect. He also condemned the attack on Turkey which had opened its arms to those who escaped China.
Turkeys European Union affairs minister Omer Celik said the attack was carried out in an extremely professional way and that the assailant appeared to have received training in the Middle East.
He said the attacker was using methods that avoid all modern intelligence techniques of tracking, including acting alone, not contacting anyone and not using technology.
Turkish media reports claimed Tuesday that the suspects wife was in custody and had told police she didnt know her husband was linked to Islamic State. An eerie selfie video emerged of the alleged gunman on Tuesday, showing him silently touring Istanbuls most famous square.
Funerals were held in Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and Turkey for the dead and on Wednesday, a Turkish Airlines jet carrying the bodies of two Indian citizens killed in the shooting landed in Mumbai. The bodies were received by a governing party lawmaker, and the victims relatives and friends.
Bollywood film producer-realtor Abis Rizvis body was taken to his home in suburban Bandra for burial later Wednesday. The 49-year-old Rizvi wrote, produced and directed a Bollywood movie Roar: The Tigers of Sunderbans, in 2014 aimed at spreading awareness about tigers.
The other Indian victim of the Istanbul attack was Khushi Shah, a 39-year-old fashion designer from Vadodara, a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Shahs body was flown to her hometown for cremation later Wednesday, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Brazilian authorities were frantically searching for 126 violent convicts Wednesday, days after they escaped from a maximum-security prison in the northern city of Manaus during a riot in which 56 inmates were killed.
The 17 hours of violence broke out Sunday between two gangs competing for control of the cocaine trade through the Amazon. It turned into a massacre on a scale seldom seen. Many of the dead were decapitated or cut into quarters by fellow inmates and thrown over prison walls.
The Family of the North gang, which operates from prisons in Manaus, was responsible for most of the deaths, using machetes to slaughter rivals from the Sao Paulo-based First Capital Command gang, according to Sergio Fontes, the top security official in Amazonas state, where the Anisio Jobim prison complex is located.
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Investigators said they discovered a network of tunnels under the prison floors that they believe was employed during the massacre and suggested that the killings were premeditated. In the days before the uprising, prison guards had come to believe that drug trafficking groups were smuggling in firearms, some of which were collected by police after the violence subsided.
Authorities have released little information about the hunt for inmates who escaped, other than to say that 184 had escaped and that 58 had been caught. The state Secretariat of Public Safety published photos of 90 escapees.
Most of the inmates at the prison had been convicted of murder, rape or violent gang activity.
Remains were still being identified, suggesting that it is still unclear who escaped and who died. At the morgue in Manaus, families were lined up in the scorching sun waiting for the bodies of their relatives to be released.
Suspects in the killings were being moved to high-security federal prisons while they await prosecution.
Fearing more violence elsewhere, state authorities transferred 223 inmates from other prisons to an abandoned jail in Manaus to protect them from gang violence. Other states are now on high alert for signs of brewing violence or planned escapes.
Riots in Brazils prisons are common, but the massacre in Manaus is among the bloodiest in decades.
In 1992, police seeking to end gang violence at Sao Paulos Carandiru prison stormed the facility, leaving 111 inmates dead. An appeals court recently drew scorn from human rights groups for voiding the conviction of 73 officers who had participated.
More riots occurred at various prisons across the country in 2002, 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2016, often attributed to overcrowding. The First Capital Command gang was protesting poor prison conditions when it took to the streets of Sao Paulo in 2006 and killed 40 police officers and penitentiary employees.
An estimated 656,000 people are incarcerated in Brazils state prisons, which were designed for fewer than 400,000. The government has repeatedly promised to ease crowding but not managed to do so.
With roughly 3,000 people sent to prison every month, the inmate population has increased by more than 160% since 2000. Before Sundays riot, the Manaus prison housed more than three times its capacity.
Camila Nunes Dias, a sociology professor who specializes in prison violence, organized crime and public safety, said she was not surprised by the violence there.
The conditions are terrible, degrading, inhumane and favor the growth of violence and the organization of crime, she said.
Brazilian prisons are often managed by prisoners, which controls costs but leaves open the risk of conflict as various factions struggle for control, she said. Building more prisons without making other changes would not quell the violence, she said.
The authorities want to give the impression that all this was a surprise and that they did not know that it could happen, she said. In fact, these tragedies are more than advertised and the conditions for them to happen are there, always present.
The countrys justice minister, Alexandre Moraes, told reporters Wednesday that Amazonas state authorities knew of the possibility of a riot and prison break sometime between Christmas and New Year and had reinforced security at the Manaus complex.
They had not relayed those concerns to the federal government, he said.
President Michel Temer announced that he would meet Thursday with the attorney general and ministers of justice, defense, institutional security and transparency to discuss the penal system crisis.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis prayed for the victims in his Wednesday Mass, saying he was pained and concerned and calling for prisons to be places of reeducation and places for reinsertion into society when sentences are completed.
Langlois is a special correspondent.
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Find Out Why Dentists Advice To Cut Out The Cake Culture: People Beware If You Cannot Say No To Sweet At Work
staff@latinoshealth.com By Surav Thakrar Jan 04, 2017 12:18 AM EST
People should stop the office cake culture as it is a daily health hazard and everyone should stop it. Staff brings birthday treats for the celebration which is not good for health and they should find another alternative for it, experts have advised.
Since some years, it has become a custom to offer birthday cake or sweet gifts to colleagues. Many staff brings their holiday leftover chocolates, biscuits and treats and shares with others.
As written in Telegraph, National Obesity Forum says that 'A smile is better than a cake.' Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) has warned that in large offices, cakes and sweet have become a daily occurrence because of a large number of people and probability of having an event every day.
This growing trend is contributing to the poor oral health and the obesity epidemic because of the daily sweet consume. There are many ways to celebrate special occasions, birthdays, holiday gifts or reward from the manager.
These sweet treats might mean well but they are responsible for the obesity epidemic and poor oral health. This custom should be changed and people need to be aware of the hazard.
There are many ways to celebrate than sweet. Everyone need a workplace or an office where staff members are aware of this risk and encourage healthy eating so that they stay away from sweet temptations. It is found that cake is mostly undeniable and everyone takes a piece of it whenever offered.
As written in Mail Online, People should make combating cake culture in their workplace one of them New Year's resolutions for a healthier 2017. Studies say that nearly two-thirds of adults in Britain are overweight or obese and nearly 64K over 118s were admitted to hospital in 2016 because of tooth decay.
Still, people spent about 200 million on cakes, biscuits, chocolates and sweets in the fortnight running up to Christmas. This sweet market is growing year by year and people doesn't seem to be aware of it. Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said that such food is neither a treat nor a reward.
If someone wants to give the fellow workers anything then the best option is a smile, hug or both. Employees of big companies' shares cake almost daily.
The faculty of dentists suggests that worker should consider buying low sugar alternatives and share the small amount. They advised that biscuits and cakes should be shared at lunch time, not any other time in the day.
Employers should also choose low sugar alternatives like dry fruits and fruits and remove biscuits and cookies. Removing high sugar products in meeting and fewer items in canteen will help employees.
Top dentists suggest that by cutting out the cake culture at work, employees will be encouraged to eat products with less sugar. These sweet treats at work increase the risk of obesity and teeth problem.
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India Offers Global Climate Solution With Two Groundbreaking Energy Projects
Ever heard of baking soda being made out of carbon dioxide? Or solar panels lighting 150000 households? Two plants in Tamil Nadu, India are giving the world serious climate saving goals. Converting Carbon into useful chemical and Going Solar is the Indian way of fighting climate worries.
The first plant situated in Tuticorin Tamil Nadu has been capturing CO2 from its own coal-powered boiler. According to the Guardian the firm will be gathering up to 60,000 tonnes of CO2 which will be used in manufacturing soda ash aka baking powder, manufacturing glass, sweetners, detergent and paper products. The firm's managing director, Ramachandran Gopalan is very positive about the whole prospect as he proudly claims the plant releases zero emissions.
The idea behind this unique usage of carbon had first struck two young minds from Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur. Having found no financial contributors in India, they approached the UK government where the idea was appreciated and the two yIndians were offered grants and special entrepreneurship status.
The firm known as Carbonclean has its Headquarters in London's Paddington district. It is being helped by another carbon researching organization from Bristol named Carbon8 which buys carbon to make aggregates. Some other researchers are also contributing in the process by working on making plastics and fuels from the waste CO2.
In another related news, according to BBC News a massive solar firm providing power to 15000 homes is in operation just a few kilometers away from the Tuticorin carbon plant. The Kamuthi solar plant has been getting government subsidies for delivering solar power to 60 million homes by 2020 whereas looking to derive 40% of its energy from renewables by 2030.
This plant iunder the supervision of Indian firm Adani is looking to create the largest coal mine in Australia which can provide power to almost 100 million energy starved people of India. As per their view, it is impossible to produce energy solely from renewables to cater a country as populated as India.
China, EU and many ountries pledged their support to bring down emission levels to a minimum at the recently held Marrakech climate conference where interestingly India didn't made any tall claims. Despite underplaying their role as a climate concerned and responsible nation, the recent innovation puts India as one of the global leaders to tackle the universal issue of climate control.
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When one hears of ghosts, the first impression would be frightening. But that is not the case with the royalties living in the Drottningholm Palace in Sweden. Queen Silvia might have said that the ghosts roaming in the palace are quite friendly.
Queen Silvia of Sweden stated that the palace where she lives in is haunted by ghosts. This is according to a documentary that will premiere on the nationwide television on Thursday.
"There's a lot of history here. There are also little friends... the ghosts. They're all very friendly, but you sometimes feel like you aren't alone. Come and feel it for yourself, go around here when it is dark and the like. It's very exciting," Queen Silvia told a new SVT documentary about the building as reported by The Local Sweden.
According to Queen Silvia living in old buildings for many eras evidently, strengthen up any person. She claims she is not a bit frightened of 'other' dwellers who already passed away whom she personally been in the presence of.
Aside from the Queen, another Swedish royal like King Carl XVI Gustaf's sister, Princess Christina is certain that there are ghosts roaming the palace. She said in the program that there are indeed ghosts in all old houses and it would be odd if they will not have their presence felt through sounds and shapes. The princess added that in old houses there are surely stories of ghosts.
Yahoo News reported that Drottningholm Palace is considered as one of UNESCO's world heritage building. It was built during the 1600s on Lovon Island in Stockholm. It became the permanent home of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. The 73-year-old Queen hails from a German businessman and a Brazilian woman. The king and queen got married 40 years ago making her the state's longest-serving queen.
Amateur ghost hunters who have the guts to meet the 'friendly' ghosts can visit the palace. Drottningholm Palace is accessible to the public the whole year round. However, the southern wing will be restricted since it is solitary for the royals.
Colombia passes on Wednesday accepted an amnesty regulation to defend hundreds of demobilizing Marxist guerrilla fighters from prosecution for minor crimes devoted in the course of the united states' 52-12 months conflict.
The The amnesty also applies to contributors of u. S . A .'s army. It's far the first in a series of laws tied to the deal that will be sped via congress in hopes of reassuring rebels who are beginning to transport to big demobilization zones.
A few 7,000 FARC warring parties are expected to lay down their palms over the subsequent six months.Rebels discovered responsible of great crimes like massacres, sexual violence or kidnapping will no longer fall under the amnesty and could as an alternative serve opportunity sentences along with land mine removal, to be determined with the aid of a unique courtroom.
In a joint declaration on Wednesday, the FARC and the government stated they could set up how many rebels are not eligible for the amnesty through Jan. 30 at the present day. Different legal guidelines tied to the peace deal encompass rural reform, repayment to sufferers, removal of land mines and a United Countries-monitored cease-fireplace. The FARC will convert right into a political celebration below the accord.
Rebels determined guilty of significant crimes along with massacres, sexual violence or kidnapping will no longer fall beneath the amnesty and could rather serve alternative sentences such as land mine removal, to be determined through a unique courtroom.
After more than 50 years of struggle, Colombia's authorities and the left-wing guerrillas of the Modern Defense force of Colombia, Farc, have declared a definitive bilateral ceasefire and end to all hostilities. The talk of amnesty highlights one of the peace deal's early demanding situations: the need for congress to skip law imposing the accord and putting in place unique peace tribunals.
The institution, capping four years of negotiations, a referendum rejection, closing-minute compromises and signing ceremonies Colombia's authorities has formally ratified a revised peace settlement with the FARC leftist rebellion.
Leicester Citys Under-19s are set to embark on an exciting trip to Germany this week to participate in the prestigious Mercedes Benz Junior Cup in Stuttgart.
- Leicester City U19s will this week travel to Germany to compete in the Mercedes-Benz Junior Cup
- Trevor Peake's men will come up against Schalke, Rosenborg and RB Leipzig on the opening day
- Matches will consist of two nine-minute halves and six-a-side teams at the Glaspalast Sindelfingen
- Peake says the young Foxes are determined to do the Club proud against their illustrious opponents
Leicester City Under-19s are preparing to embark on an exciting trip to Germany this week to participate in the prestigious Mercedes-Benz Junior Cup in Stuttgart.
Under the guidance of Trevor Peake, the young Foxes will represent the Club in a gruelling two-day competition (6-7 January) which will see them line-up against the likes of FC Schalke, RB Leipzig, VfB Stuttgart, Rapid Wien and the South Korea Under-19s.
Across the tournaments seven-year history, won by European giants Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain in recent seasons, 99 teams from 39 countries have been represented in Stuttgart with the holders Rapid Wien hoping to overcome City this time around and retain their crown.
With Leicester set to face Schalke on the opening day at the state-of-the-art Glaspalast Sindelfingen Arena on Friday 6 January, Peakes men will then line-up against Rosenborg later in the afternoon before an intriguing clash with RB Leipzig all on the first day of action.
Peake, speaking before the squad fly out to Germany on Thursday afternoon, said: Were expecting the standard to be very high. Weve managed to look at some clips from years gone by and some of the quality weve seen has been very impressive.
Itll be a real test for us but we are confident we can make an impact on the competition. There are so many different variables with trips like these and playing against opposition from across the continent.
The City Academy manager also stressed the importance of learning lessons from the competitions unique set-up with recovery times and game management set to be pivotal if the Foxes are to be successful later this week.
He added: Its the first time weve been invited to a tournament with this kind of format but it is similar to the Hong Kong Sevens in some respects. By the looks of the intensity of the matches, this will be a great test.
We will need to be a lot cleverer about the way we approach the matches and we will have to look at recovery times between them because its so fast and furious.
The Mercedes-Benz Junior Cup is just the latest international competition which the Club has been invited to this season and Peake, whose players have already benefitted from experience in the UEFA Youth League and a trip to Doha last year, acknowledged Leicester City's growing stature.
For us, at Under-18s level, we do owe a big thank you to the First-Team for winning the Premier League last season, Peake continued.
Weve been able to enjoy a host of wonderful opportunities both at home and abroad on the back of that success. We have to try and make the most of these opportunities and learn as much as we can from them.
Competition information
- U19 indoor football tournament
- Participants: 8 x U19 teams (4 x national / 4 x international).
- Group A: Schalke 04, RB Leipzig, Rosenborg Trondheim, Leicester City.
- Group B: TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, VfB Stuttgart, Rapid Wien, U19 South Korea.
Day one schedule*
Preliminary round fixtures:
14.32 - Schalke vs Leicester City
14.55 - Leicester City vs Rosenborg
16.04 - Leicester City vs RB Leipzig
18.00 Intermediate round fixtures begin
* Local time (GMT +1 hour)
Make sure to keep informed of all the action from Germany on LCFC.com and LCFC TV over the coming days with reports, reaction and interviews set to follow.
Faraday Future unveils FF91 with 1,050hp, 378-mile range
Jan 4, 2017, 1:25am ET
FF91 production is scheduled to kick off in 2018.
California-based, Chinese-funded startup Faraday Future has traveled to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, to introduce its very first production car.
Named FF91, the close-to-production prototype takes the form of an aerodynamic crossover with a cutting-edge design characterized by smooth, simple lines and LED light bars on both ends. A lidar sensor located right below the windshield and two additional sensors neatly integrated into the roof hint at the FF91's autonomous capabilities.
The FF91 rides on Faraday's modular Variable Platform Architecture (VPA) technology. The prototype displayed at the CES show is equipped with a multi-motor drivetrain that generates no less than 1,050 horsepower. That's enough to send the crossover from zero to 60 mph in 2.39 seconds, a figure that makes it one of the fastest cars on the planet.
Electricity is provided by a 130-kWh lithium-ion battery pack located under the passenger compartment. It gives the FF91 a total driving range of 378 miles in ideal conditions. An on-board quick charger replenishes the battery pack in less than an hour. The pack was developed jointly by Faraday Future and LG Chem, and it's billed as the world's densest automotive battery.
The FF91 is a high-end luxury car, so the cabin was developed around the rear passengers. The NASA-inspired rear seats offer industry-leading reclining angles, and the occupants can tap the windows to automatically dim them when additional privacy is required. The infotainment system was developed jointly with China's LeEco.
Faraday Future's first car is brimming with futuristic features like a camera built into the B-pillar on the driver's side. The camera uses facial recognition technology to unlock the car and open the door when the user approaches the door, eliminating the need for a key. It also offers best-in-class high-speed internet, even when it's traveling at freeway speeds.
Buyers who want to be among the first to take delivery of the FF91 can visit Faraday Future's website and place a refundable $5,000 deposit. In March, the first 300 reservation holders will be given the chance to upgrade to a launch model named Alliance Edition.
Pricing information hasn't been revealed yet. However, an earlier report claims the model will retail between $150,000 and $200,000 when production begins in 2018. Of course, whether or not Faraday Future can keep its promises largely depends on its financial situation.
Jan 4, 2017, 11:33am ET
Ford, Toyota join forces to create single standard for in-vehicle apps
Ford, Toyota and several other companies are pushing for a single, in-vehicle app solution.
Ford and Toyota have announced the establishment of a new organization that will work toward a new open source standard for the development of smartphone applications for vehicles.
Known as the SmartDeviceLink Consortium, the non-profit group also includes automotive partners Mazda, PSA, Fuji Heavy Industries and Suzuki. Elektrobit, Luxoft, and Xevo have joined on as the first supplier members; Harman, Panasonic, Pioneer and QNX have all signed letters of intent to join the group.
The consortium is seeking to develop a single standard for smartphone-to-vehicle application design. Such a system would allow developers to create a single version of an app rather than several different versions for varying infotainment systems, which would lower both costs and development times.
"Encouraging innovation is at the center of Ford's decision to create SmartDeviceLink, and this consortium is a major step toward that goal, said Doug VanDagens, global director, Ford Connected Vehicle and Services, and a board member of the consortium. "Consumers will win with new, innovative app experiences from increased collaboration and developer engagement.
Shigeki Tomoyama, president of Toyota's Connected Company said, "Connectivity between smartphones and the vehicle interface is one of the most important connected services. Using SmartDeviceLink, we can provide this service to our customers in a safe and secure manner. We are excited to collaborate with many auto manufacturers and suppliers who share our view.
The SmartDeviceLink technology is based on Ford's AppLink software, which was introduced in 2013. Last year Toyota announced that it would adopt Ford's open source app software; the first Toyota vehicles with SmartDeviceLink technology are expected to launch in 2018.
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Holiday firm All Leisure Group has collapsed - leaving hundreds of holidaymakers stranded at their destinations.
The operator, which is based in Market Harborough and operates cruise lines Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery, called off its New Year cruises at short notice.
The Civil Aviation Authority is now helping to repatriate the 400 people who are currently abroad with the Atol-protected company.
All holidaymakers will receive refunds.
Andy Cohen, head of Atol at the CAA, said: "We understand this will be concerning news for anyone who has booked to travel with the company.
"However, the Atol scheme exists for exactly this kind of situation and we are making immediate arrangements so all Atol-protected customers can claim full refunds as quickly as possible."
All Leisure Group also owns Page and Moy Travel Group Holidays, which trades as Just You and Travelsphere, which also ceased trading.
However, in a deal brokered by administrators at Grant Thornton, the Page and Moy business has been sold to G Adventures (UK) Ltd and bookings with Just You and Travelsphere will go ahead.
The sale means around 200 jobs will be saved at the firm's Harborough headquarters. Twenty to 30 staff are thought to have been made redundant.
Roger Allard, chairman of All Leisure Group, told trade paper Travel Weekly he is "very sorry" his business ceased trading, adding he had done everything he could to minimise the inconvenience for customers, creditors, agents and staff.
"I am personally very sad and I apologise to everyone affected, but you can't keep putting more and more money into a bottomless hole when it's not working and you can't control things that are thwarting your efforts," he said.
Mr Allard said a "perfect storm" of geopolitical events had made it impossible to carry on, leaving All Leisure "between a rock and a hard place".
Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery specialised in cruises for more mature guests to cultural and iconic destinations like the eastern Mediterranean, North Africa and the Black Sea.
Mr Allard said: "Over the last few years, since the Arab Spring, it has been increasingly difficult to operate to these areas, either because of Foreign Office advice or a dampening of demand from consumers to travel to certain areas where we specialised."
Grant Thornton, joint administrator at Eddie Williams, said: "Whilst I am extremely pleased to have concluded a sale of the Page and Moy business which safeguards the holidays and bookings for over 13,500 tours passengers and preserves 200 jobs, I am very disappointed that we have no alternative other than to close the remaining ALH operations.
"The sale to G Adventures was particularly complicated and required extensive interaction with numerous worldwide parties and the licencing authorities during December and over the Christmas period.
"However, the cruise operations have been significantly loss making over a number of years and the ongoing cost of funding these operations by the tours operations has created significant cash issues for the entire group."
Grant Thornton is seeking buyers for several assets, including All Leisure Group's freehold headquarters in Market Harborough, Voyages of Discovery's Voyager cruise ship and other assets including brand names and databases.
Mr Allard, who purchased All Leisure Group's Hebridean Princess cruise ship last year remains chairman of Hebridean Island Cruises Ltd.
"I have various other interests in leisure businesses both in and outside of travel. I have been looking to step back for a while but ideally not in this way. I am personally extremely sad that this has happened," he said.
Atol has set up a dedicated helpline, 0808 164 8810, for anyone concerned about their bookings.
The ABTA customer helpline for All Leisure Holidays is 020 3758 8742.
The helpline for employees of ALH should contact ERA Solutions on 01827 383 531.
Two rural enterprise schemes for Laois have received 100k in grants between them, to boost jobs in the food and IT business sectors.
Laois County Council won the funding from the REDZ (Rural Economic Development Zones) initiative, for a Fab Lab in Portarlington Enterprise Centre, and for a ten month Business of Food programme of workshops, mentoring sessions and events to be held around the county.
The projects are designed to help Laois people in the food industry to improve their business.
In Portarlington, a manufacturing unit beside the centre's communal office and reception area, will be converted into a training / hot-desking area, and will also be equipped with a Fab Lab (fabrication laboratory).
The proposal is to re-orientate the focus of the centre to effectively meet the needs of the emerging digital economy, deputy CEO Kieran Kehoe said at the December council meeting.
It is an excellent co-development, with Carlow ITs games development programme. The next step is 3D printing, he explained.
The Business of Food program will be open to people thinking of starting a food business, as well as established food businesses who wish to improve the efficiency and profitability of their business.
Last year the small Laois town of Rathdowney was chosen as the pilot of the REDZ scheme, and the 50k grant created half a dozen jobs there.
Further back-up is promised for Rathdowney's fledgling businesses.
Cllr John Joe Fennelly had asked for continued support, at the December council meeting.
It created five or six jobs, its been fantastic, but is there a follow-up for towns who have been successful, to help them move on, he asked.
Director of Services Kieran Kehoe agreed to follow up on the scheme.
We may continue networking in the year ahead, for Rathdowney in particular, he said. He also congratulated the five Laois towns who competed in the Bank of Ireland National Enterprise Competition, praising the winner, Portarlington, and merit award winners Mountrath and Rathdowney.
Nationwide, 5.3 million will be spent on REDZ initiatives, to stimulate economic development in rural towns and their hinterlands.
This is all about empowering local communities to provide residents with opportunities, said Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys, announcing the scheme.
The keys have been given to 15 people on Laois County councils housing list for new homes in Fruithill Manor in Graiguecullen, formerly one of Ireland's worst ghost estates.
The council is to ask the developer to lease out 20 more homes in Fruithill, beside Carlow town, for Laois tenants on the waiting list.
Director of Services over housing Gerry Murphy said he will be the first if the developer offers more houses .
If these houses become available, and they may not, as the developer intends to privately let them, well be the first to ask for 20 more, he said.
Cllr Ben Brennan wanted the council to buy the homes instead of leasing them.
By all reports these are top class houses. We need them locally, we have families to fill them, we lost enough to Carlow, he said at the December council meeting.
The tenants have moved in, its a great project, said Cllr Padraig Fleming, also asking about getting more houses down the road.
I hope Carlow is told where to go, make sure youre on top of your game, he said.
Cathaoirleach Cllr Tom Mulhall said that all six councillors in the Portarlington Graiguecullen municipal district were disappointed at the small allocation of 15 homes.
We all agree and support you. We are going for the 20 for Laois, he said.
In the first wave of houses leased to local authorities, Carlow County Council was given 45 homes in Fruithill, which is inside the Laois border in Graiguecullen.
Fruithill was planned as one of the biggest estates in Laois. It was to have nearly 570 houses and 15 apartment blocks, in a 400 million development begun in 2007.
Work was suspended in 2008 and the estate entrance was padlocked shut for the next six years. It was put up for sale for 1.25m in 2014.
Irish acoustic folk rock band Hermitage Green will help kick off 2017 in style when they play the Dunamaise Arts Centre this Saturday, January 7.
Formed in 2010 as a result of a spontaneous jam session between friends, 2016 was Hermitage Greens biggest year yet and there is no sign of the momentous growth for this band slowing.
After signing to Sony Records Ireland, their debut studio album Save Your Soul was released in March to huge chart success.
It is an album that captures their confidence and talent as superb musicians, their ability as a combined creative writing force and their varied musical backgrounds.
Save your Soul showcases stadium-worthy expansive and riotous songs, while also delivering heartfelt and poetic ballads.
Hermitage Green have built a dedicated legion of fans across the globe thanks to their captivating and unforgettable live set. Their unique arrangement of instruments include bodhran, djembe and dobro.
Coupled with rhythmic guitar lines and banjo rolls all sitting on top of a dual percussive backbone and wrapped in powerful four part harmonies, Hermitage Green offers a truly original sound that captivates and intrigues every audience member.
The show Hermitage Green have created is a fascinating one, and it is sure to hold anyones attention for its length.
Following the success of Save Your Soul and a string of powerful performances Hermitage Green ended the summer of 2016 by playing the main stage at The Electric Picnic.
On November 4 they played their biggest headline gig to date, taking to the stage of a sold out Olympia Theatre in Dublin.
To end the year on a high note they embarked on a nationwide tour of dates where they travelled the length and breadth of the country.
This a show not to be missed and once you experience one of their passionate, high energy live performances it will only leave you wanting more.
Hermitage Green take to the stage of the Dunamaise Arts Centre at 8pm this Saturday. One not to miss.
The annual Colleges Career Speed Dating event in Kildare Town Community School, which took place on Wednesday, December 22 last, has been hailed as a huge success again this year.
A total of 27 past pupils returned to the school to share their college experiences with the present leaving Cert students.
The event was organised by guidance counsellor Elizabeth Urell as part of College Awareness Month at the school.
Past students shared their college experiences with the 6th year students, telling them about travel, accommodation costs, the transition to third level, their specific subjects and the ups and downs of daily life.
Information that is not available in the prospectus is extremely helpful for students to hear especially from the perspective of some one from their community who has just started college, explained Elizabeth.
A total of 12 colleges were represented on the day including UCC, DCU, TCD, NUIG, UL, IT Carlow, IT Tallaght, DIT and GMIT.
According to Elizabeth, the idea of the event is a little like speed dating, in that if a pupil likes what he or she hears about a college then it could be a match and something to aspire to in Leaving Cert year.
The teachers took photographs for the Wall Of Fame, and each (returning ) student was given a Lily O Briens Christmas Cracker as a thank you for participating in the event and sharing their experiences, she added.
The event was followed by a cup of tea or coffee for all the participants.
It is never too early to start reading to your child even do it from birth. That is the message behind Kildare towns library latest initiative which was launched recently.
There was a great turn out of tiny tots at the launch and Kildare mascot Rua was there on Friday, December 16 last dressed up in his new festive gear.
Local Cllr Suzanne Doyle welcomed everybody to the library and handed out goodie bags to all the
participants.
There has been a great take up of this initiative, she said.
Remember books are full of places to go and people to meet.
Emer McGinn from the Childrens Books Ireland then welcomed everybody including lots of babies and their parents to the launch and spoke about the importance of reading.
It is never too early to start reading,she said.
Simply having books in the home sends an important message. Reading to your preschool child develops early literacy skills and helps them prepare for learning to read once they reach primary school.
Participants also heard that early literacy skills helps a child to develop listening skills and increases their attention span. It helps them to develop an interest in books and to see reading as a fun activity.
It gives them an opportunity to explore their ideas and feelings and improves their social skills and their understanding of the world, she added.
It helps foster their creativity and curiosity and it is a special time for you to cosy, cuddle up and have fun reading together.
Paul Brady from Cill Dara Housing Association who are also involved in the scheme said that this is a pilot project.
We hope to make it an annual event and it could be something that other libraries across Kildare could look at. There was a great up take here today and over all a great interest in the project.
The book pack pilot is for babies from 0-1.5 years. It has kindly been made up by the county library and it is aimed on the parents and guardians to read to the children, where it is proven to have a positive cognitive development on the child even at this early age.
Participants were reminded that it is free to join the library and it is best to let children choose their own books which they like best from the library.
Children learn that reading can be fun and reading together could be a real treat instead of sweets.
Parents and guardians were advised to be a reading role model and to have plently of books in the home and read them regularly.
Pick a time when you are not stressed to find a comfortable spot and read together.
A Kildare business woman experienced her first robbery in seven years in business when a man armed with a knife and stocking over his head robbed her premises in Main Street, Celbridge, around 5.00 pm on Tuesday evening.
Gardai said a lone male entered the Freedom Travel shop with what was described as a knife.
He ordered the two staff including owner, Ciara Mooney, into the back office and asked that they open a safe.
He took items from the safe including an unknown amount of cash.
The man then left. It is not known in what direction he went, whether on foot or otherwise.
Ciara Mooney, who has owned Freedom Travel for seven years, had just returned from Austria and had went straight from the Dublin Airport to the office to relieve another member of staff.
She and one other member of staff were present but no customers were present.
She told the Leader that the man had a Dublin accident and was wearing a peaked cap, like a coalmans but black in colour.
He had black tights over his head.
The man seemed agitated and may have been on drugs, said Ciara, who has another branch at the Tesco Monread Shopping Centre in Naas.
He told them: I dont want to hurt you girls, show me the the tills.
He demanded that the safe be opened.
She said he could not understand how little money there was.
Unfortunately there was more than usual but normally there is hardly any because most business is done by cards now, she said.
He then demanded wallets and the business cards were taken but quickly cancelled.
She said however that no customers would suffer because of the raid.
Ciara worked for Toolin Travel before setting up in business on her own.
Regarding the role of drugs in such crime, she said that they need to tackle the problem from the ground up. In Portugal they made drugs legal and crime has gone down, I have read.
Relieved at lack of injury to either herself or her staff member, she was glad there was two of them in the office at the time.
Ciara was generous in spirit. There is good in everyone but when you mix drugs in, the nicest people can turn into demons.
Gardai said no arrests have been made in relation to the incident.
Last month, Liberal Democrat peer Kate Parminter allowed us to publish her Burntwood Lecture to the Institution of Environmental Sciences in which she talked about the challenges Brexit poses to the environment.
Now the Institution has kindly said that we can publish some of their photographs of the event.
During her lecture, Kate talked about incorporating legislation into UK law, establishing systems for compliance and enforcement, joining EU frameworks and improving on EU policy. She concluded:
It should be clear that achieving this aim this vision of a government and society and economy fully committed to environmental goals will require an immense amount of persuasion. There will be many voices in favour of the first vision I set out of a deregulated cheap-labour economy which devalues nature and despoils the environment though of course they wouldnt describe it that way and they need countering with argument and facts and passion.
In many ways the environmental movement in the UK by which I include all of us who care about the natural environment has had it relatively easy in recent years. The EU framework has been, mostly, a good one, and much of the argument and lobbying has taken place at a fairly technocratic level and mostly in Brussels, far away from public view. It was too easy, during the referendum, for the Leave campaign to paint all regulations emanating from Brussels as absurdly bureaucratic, or costly, or somehow un-British. At the same time the Remain campaign almost entirely failed to paint a positive picture of the EU, despite the fact that a substantial majority of people agree with the principle that countries need to cooperate in tackling environmental problems.
We wont be able to rely, after Brexit, on the EU winning our battles for us. We will have to fight for every piece of environmental legislation, and demonstrate why it matters, not just for middle-class liberals like myself and, probably, most of you but for ordinary men and women, for the 52 per cent as well as the 48 per cent. We need to show how an ambitious climate policy is good for jobs and growth and prosperity across the country, through new renewable energy industries and electric car plants and home insulation, through stewardship of the land, through the revival of areas devastated by the end of traditional industries where there are no jobs and no hope. We need to show why protecting nature is good for peoples health and the economy. We need to show why cutting waste and sharing resources makes peoples lives better.
I and my colleagues in Parliament will try to do all that. But we need your help. Scientists & practitioners like yourselves will have a crucial role to play, alongside businesses and campaigning NGOs and community groups and individual citizens.
We need to take environmental arguments out of the technocratic closet and make them popular. We need to make sure that the government any government cant ignore the public desire for a better environment and a better life. And we need to win these arguments, for our childrens and our countrys future.
In an article for the Telegraph (which the sub-editors did not headline in a particularly helpful way), Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland Alistair Carmichael called on Labour moderates to work with others who share the aim of securing the UKs place in the single market and who want to see a successful economy which gives more money to invest in public services.
First of all, he states that the party really is over for Labour:
First, as this summers leadership election made clear, they do not even have a Neil Kinnock, let alone a Tony Blair. The Corbyn grip on Labour is stronger than ever, and so the party will continue to look inwards not outwards to voters. Secondly, Labour then could look to Scotland and the North for both raw numbers and talent. No longer. So as they view their prospects for 2017, Labour MPs face some unpalatable but necessary decisions. The Fabian estimate of Labour reduced to 150 seats may turn out to be optimistic. Its leader is more interested in ideological purity than winning elections, and, challenged by identity politics in its heartlands, Labour is as far from power as it was under Michael Foot. This time, however, there is no way back. Our first past the post electoral system long supported by Labour now threatens to consume them.
Labour, he says, is a road block to progress.
He calls on those in the Labour Party who dont agree with its current direction to work with us:
Will Labour moderates seize the moment?
Liberal Democrats, Greens, the Womens Equality Party and others who wanted a progressive modern Britain without attaching themselves to any individual party took the first tentative steps in the Richmond Park by-election and to some effect. Now we need moderate mainstream Labour politicians to do their part, by breaking away completely or working with us informally. Will they work with Liberal Democrats to maintain the most vital aspects of our relationship with Europe, notably our membership of the single market? Will they recognise that we need a successful economy to give our underfunded schools and hospitals the investment they need? And will they abandon the class-based, divisive politics of yesterday to represent all of Britain?
You can read the whole article here.
* Newshound: bringing you the best Lib Dem commentary in print, on air or online.
The Scottish Government consults on all sorts of important things. At the moment, its consulting on expanding early learning and childcare in Scotland and on the best way to empower teachers. What could possibly be more important than that?
How predictable. I dont expect the SNP to give up on their quest for independence, but do they really have to give it the top billing? The SNP take comfort from a poll which shows support for independence still pretty much where it was at the referendum but ignore that more than 50% of those asked really dont want to do it all over again.
In the aftermath of the EU Referendum, it seemed like Nicola Sturgeon was building a pretty big tent to try to find a way forward for Scotland. Sadly, though, it seems that the SNP are unable to find a road that doesnt lead to independence whereas the Lib Dems are focused on keeping Scotland in the UK and the UK in the EU. If the SNP were to work with us, then we might well have the parliamentary numbers to ensure a key part of that a referendum on the Brexit deal.
Willie Rennie called on them to do just that today:
With all the problems the SNP Government faces it stills finds the time to drone on about independence. This Bill breaks the promise that the last referendum would be once in a lifetime. It also shows that the SNP are only using the European Union as a device to advance their independence obsession. If they were genuinely interested in the EU they would back the Lib Dems efforts for a Brexit Deal Referendum to keep the UK in the EU. The Liberal Democrats are the only party that is for Scotland in the UK and the UK in the EU.
Will the SNP agree to Willies call? Perhaps they are reluctant because they fear the precedent it would set. In the unlikely event of Scotland voting for independence, a referendum on the exit deal from the UK would be expected if one took place on Brexit. And, of course, if there was a referendum on the Brexit deal and it ended up with the UK staying in the EU, their arguments for independence would be substantially diminished.
Governments have to govern for the whole country, not just narrow party interests. Weve had enough of that from the Tories who put party before country all the time. These two parties seem to be using the same playbook so much of the time. The Tories have built on what the SNP did during the independence referendum. Alex Salmond then portrayed anyone who disagreed with independence as being against Scotland. Now senior Tories vilify anyone who criticises their general disarray on Brexit.
The last thing Scotland needs is to have the SNP and Tories polarising the entire country. As Labour are pretty much finished, its down to the Liberal Democrats to lead the pro-EU, pro UK, progressive cause. There is nobody else who can do it. There is a big space in Scottish politics for us and we must do all we can to build support. The big test will come in May when every council seat in Scotland is up for election under STV. The Tories will be making a concerted effort to move forward, too. Recent council by-elections has seen their support growing, unlike in England where we are taking council seats off them all over the place. The Scottish Tories are well-funded and they are going for it. The Scottish Liberal Democrats have to counter that Tory advance and take seats off the SNP. Campaigning has been underway for a while in our key areas. In four months, we will know how successful we have been.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
THE FOUNDING president of the University of Limerick, Dr Edward Walsh, has described Chuck Feeney, the Irish-American philanthropist and former secret billionaire who has now signed his final cheque, as "the most remarkable man I have ever met."
New Jersey born Feeney, 85, who was behind the concept of duty-free shopping in the 1960s, has given more than 1.5 billion to projects across Ireland via Atlantic Philanthropies (AP) over the past three decades.
The last payment from AP has now been signed off, after Feeney pioneered the concept of 'giving while living', fulfilling his "life-long ambition" to give away his fortune of some 7.6 billion.
UL has received more than any other Irish third-level institution - in excess of 170m - with Dr Walsh describing his first introduction to him in the late 1980s as "a wonderful stroke of good fortune".
"It's probably understating it to say that he is the most remarkable man I ever met - living modestly and yet encouraging others in a variety of ways," he told the Limerick Leader.
His first introduction to him came during the Troubles, and it formed the beginning of a long friendship, during a time when Dr Walsh led the fledging university from 1989, formerly the NIHE Limerick, for 28 years.
"At the height of the IRA atrocities, after the Enniskillen bombing, Chuck Feeney came to Ireland. He was horrified at what he had heard, and saw education as the means of creating a better future for Ireland.
"We had formed the Irish-American Partnership and received an anonymous gift. At the time, it seemed enormous - it was for 50,000 - and we were wondering who it was from. I met him, invited him down to Limerick.
"He was a rather nondescript character, but when he came into my office it was clear that he had done an enormous amount of research and was amazingly well-informed about the issues in Ireland at the time, and the difficulties the IRA were creating.
"He then arranged for me to visit Cornell University with him; one of the great Ivy League universities in the United States, and it was agreed that the president of Cornell would visit Limerick to sign a co-operation agreement, between NIHE Limerick and Cornell, just months before the NIHE was even established as a university [in 1989]. It soon become quite clear that we were interacting with a man with enormous and unusual abilities."
A strict confidentiality clause applied for many years as he began donating millions of pounds to UL, with the first major construction on campus being the University Concert Hall, which Dr Walsh said left many in other institutions "dumb-founded" as to how UL had acquired such funds.
"For many years, UL was the only university in Ireland to receive funding. He was hidden away in the Concert Hall building when it opened, and no one knew him or recognised him, so we had lots of fun together behind the scenes, in trying to keep his name from the local and national media.
"Other people simply couldn't believe how we were in a position to develop a world class concert hall and the first on campus in the country, and that student residences were rising out of the ground, and laboratories were being built, especially in such lean and hungry years. Over time, the greater the jealousy grew - particularly in Cork and Galway," he said, with a laugh.
Over the years, he said that Chuck has become a close family friend, along with his wife Helga, and they have often travelled to his home in Newport, county Tipperary.
He recalled him coming in his front door and producing from underneath his raincoat a cheesecake he had bought in New York before he flew over.
"Everyone knows that Chuck Feeney has given enormously and hugely financially, but he also has helped individuals and organisations in ways that are outside the realm of finance. It's great that he has lived to see the fruits of his efforts globally. We are all hugely fortunate to be associated with this wonderful man," he told the Leader.
Even from its inception, on June 1, 1989, when the University of Limerick bill was brought through the Seanad, Feeney championed the UL cause, flying in crates of champagne from the United States that morning for a major celebration in Castletroy.
Among the most recent projects to come to fruition, supported by AP, is the science-led Bernal Institute, with AP contributing more than 26 million towards the design of a new building, capital work and the recruitment of academic chairs.
Chuck Feeney will long be remembered as one of the greatest philanthropists of our lifetime, said David Cronin, chief executive of the UL Foundation.
The total figure gifted by AP to University of Limerick Foundation exceeds 170m and has been transformational to our campus, the city, our region, our country, our students and future generations, said Mr Cronin.
UL president Don Barry said that Feeney helped UL to set greater goals than we could imagine for ourselves and to drive us on with the belief that anything is possible.
Through his philanthropy the university has had the means to thrive and grow at a rapid rate," he said, with the UL campus growing exponentially in physical size during Chuck's involvement with UL.
His deep commitment to the advancement and success of UL has led to the development of a young, energetic and enterprising university with a proud record of innovation in education, and excellence in research and scholarship, said president Barry, who is due to step down this May when his ten-year term comes to a close.
He said that his generosity led to the development of iconic projects such as the Living Bridge, the Glucksman Library and the Graduate Entry Medical School, to name just a few.
Through his phenomenal vision the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, established in 1994, has been developed into a world-renowned academy and a global centre of academic and performance excellence, enhancing ULs role as a major centre of artistic and cultural creativity, he concluded.
In 2012, UL joined with the eight other universities on the island of Ireland to honour philanthropist Feeney, with an honorary doctorate of laws the first time such an honour has been conferred jointly by all the universities.
He also provided funding towards the 2m residence for the universitys presidents residence on campus, which was a source of controversy at the time and dubbed lavish and extravagant.
Milford Care Centre in Castletroy, which provides palliative care, and the Limerick-based support agency for all migrants in the Mid-West, Doras Luimni, have also been recipients from the former so-called secret billionaire.
Milford Care Centre received some 5.4m from Atlantic Philanthropies over a three-year period.
Mary Immaculate College received 407,000 from Atlantic Philanthropies in 2001 for a project to address disruptive pupil behaviour in primary schools in disadvantaged areas.
In its 35-year lifetime, AP has invested 7.6 billion in philanthropy, much of it to construct university and hospital buildings and medical research facilities around the world, especially in the US, Ireland, Vietnam, Australia and South Africa.
At a ceremony in New York last month, Chuck and his foundation approved a final grant of $7 million (6.7 million), to his university, Cornell, in upstate New York, which was the recipient of his first donation in 1982.
A CALL has been made on Limerick City and County Council to install closed circuit cameras in parts of Galvone.
It comes after the southside area came bottom of the influential Irish Business Against Litter (Ibal) anti-litter league, which was released on Tuesday.
The area, which includes an industrial estate, Kennedy Park, Janesboro and OMalley Park, was ranked 40th out of 40 towns, cities and areas surveyed across Ireland.
The judges said the area had suffered from long term abuse and neglect from an environmental point of view, criticising the condition of the Galvone Industrial Estate and OMalley Park.
Now, local activist Sarah-Lee Kiely, Janesboro, has called on the local authority to take action.
And she also said representatives of Ibal which appoints An Taisce to carry out the survey are disingenuous to criticise the area on national radio, rather than work with the council to solve the issue.
They have targeted Galvone again. I think they are clever in what they do. Butto use that area to say Limerick or Galvone is not clean is unjustified. When are people going to be going there on business? To use it in a tourist framework isnt fair. They are dragging down the name of the area, she said.
Sarah, who ran in the local elections for Fine Gael in 2014, said the survey gives a false impression of Galvone.
Although she admitted there are some issues in the area.
The council needs to put cameras where the blackspots are. That would be the immediate need. I know in other parts of our area, they were having hassle with illegal dumping. But they put cameras up, and it stopped and it stopped quickly, she said, The fact of the matter is, in this area, we do not have a public representative. There is no-one with a voice in our area, so how are we going to get these things sorted out?
Limerick City as a whole slipped 13 places in the twice-yearly league, while Kildare was named the tidiest town in Ireland yesterday lunchtime.
A COMMUNTY is in mourning after an up-and-coming rugby player was found dead in bed at his home in Raheen in Limerick.
Ogie Barrett, 17, who played rugby for Old Crescents under-18s, and was in fifth year at Crescent College Comprehensive, was found in the early hours of New Years Day by his devastated mother Ita.
The youngster has been described as great fun with a fantastic sense of humour by Helen ODonnell, who chairs the board of management at the school.
Meanwhile, Old Crescent, where he lined out, has said a veil of sadness hangs over the club.
Although the cause of death has yet to be determined, it is believed Ogie whose family live on Church Road, Raheen may have lost his life to Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. He died 'suddenly and peacefully at home'.
It is the second tragedy to have befallen the family after his father Ray died suddenly almost three years ago.
Ogie will be laid to rest after Requiem Mass in Raheen Church at 12 noon today, while his school will remain closed.
Ms ODonnell said: The school family is devastated by this. Its just so shocking and so very very sad. We are shocked and saddened by such a sudden death at a young age. Its something the school community has not had to deal with in a long number of years.
Many of Ogies schoolmates learnt of the devastating news while on a ski-trip in Italy and school principal Karin Fleming is returning to be present at the funeral, which will be led by chaplain Fr Jim Maher.
The school community also came together on Bank Holiday Monday to say prayers for the teenager.
He was a very quiet boy, a very good boy. He never caused his mother an ounce of trouble, or the school for that matter. He was very highly regarded, great fun, and had a fantastic sense of humour. He was a witty boy, and will be sadly missed, Ms ODonnell added.
Ogie is survived by mum Ita, brothers Joe and Paul, aunts Nora, Jacinta, Kay and Jill; Paul's fiancee Aoife and Joe's girlfriend Kayleigh, cousins and friends.
THE number of patients being treated on trolleys at University Hospital Limerick has hit record heights once again, with the figure standing at 66 this Wednesday.
UHL broke the national record for overcrowding on November 8, 2016, when there were also 66 patients treated on A&E trolleys and on additional trolleys or beds in wards in the Dooradoyle facility.
According to figures released by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation this Wednesday, there are again 66 patients being treated on trolleys at UHL.
The hospital was frequently the worst hospital in the country for overcrowding in 2016, with more than 8,000 patients stuck on trolleys for treatment. This was close to 2,000 people more than the second busiest hospital at Beaumont.
The previous record-holder of the most overcrowded A&E was Our Lady of Lourdes, Drogheda, with 58 patients in October 2011.
In a statement issued to the media on Tuesday, a spokesperson for UL Hospitals Group said that it was "exceptionally busy" festive period and noted that the ED in UHL was one of the busiest in the country with over 60,000 attendances annually.
"Traditionally, average attendances at the ED have been approximately 150 over a 24-hour period from Mon Fri and 120 per 24 hours at weekends. On three consecutive weekdays last week (27th, 28th and 29th Dec), the daily attendance figures ranged between 180 and 211 patients and this pattern has continued into this week, this can unfortunately cause delays to ambulances arriving at UHL. This evening (Tuesday) there are 17 adults waiting in ED for a hospital bed."
WILLIE ODea has paid tribute to former Mayor of Limerick Tony Bromell as a man of great intellectual ability following his passing.
Mr Bromell, from Thomondgate and who lived on the Ennis Road, was a former Senator and councillor in Limerick for 17 years. He was mayor from 1982-3 and was 84 years of age when he died this Tuesday night.
He was integrally involved in the establishment of the University of Limerick and was the last surviving member of the executive committee formed to lobby for the institution, receiving a Limerick Person of the Month award in 2012 for the groups endeavour.
Mr Bromell was also involved in the setting up of the college that would later become LIT and was registrar in Mary Immaculate College for almost thirty years, seeing the student population grow from 200 in 1967 to 1,700 in 1998, when he retired.
Mayor of Limerick Kieran OHanlon said he was a great servant of Limerick.
His passion and commitment to education in Limerick in particular is unsurpassed, said the Mayor.
Deputy ODea said: When I was first nominated to run back in June 1981 he canvassed very successfully for me in old stomping ground around Thomondgate. He was a native of the area and helped me get an exceptionally good vote there as he knew everyone.
He was a man of great intellectual ability in national affairs and of course in the history of Limerick. When he was mayor you were very proud that he was representing Limerick, whether it was talking to tourists or investors thinking of setting up here.
He was a faithful servant of the party (Fianna Fail) for all his life. The only area where we differed over the years was on the subject of Charles J. Haughey, he was a very big supporter, I took a different view, but we could agree to differ on the matter," he added.
Deputy O'Dea said that many people would not have realised the contribution he made at national level, particularly his advice to former Education Minister and now fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, when he was in office.
Micheal often consulted Tony on different policies on national level and made a big contribution not only to Limerick but to the country, he explained.
The Fianna Fail leader said in a statement that he was "deeply saddened" to hear of Mr Bromell's passing.
"His contribution to public life and in particular to the area of higher education was felt at every level. His commitment to Limerick City, its public life and its promotion was well known, and he was respected across the political spectrum.
"As Minister for Education, I trusted his wise counsel and the 30 years he spent as Registrar of Mary Immaculate College ensured that his opinions were based on real life experience.
"I want to extend my condolences, and the condolences of the Fianna Fail organisation, to Tonys children, extended family, and the wider community in Limerick," added Deputy Martin.
Tony was the beloved husband of the late Aine (ni Thuathaigh) and loving father of Una, Declan, Fionnuala and Eamonn. Deeply regretted by his family, sister Anne (Beacom), sons-in-law Con and Ultan, daughter-in-law Mairead, grandchildren Eanna, Conor, Aine, Eva, Ailbhe and Oisin, relatives and friends.
Reposing at Griffins Funeral Home on Friday from 5.30pm. Removal at 7.30pm to Our Lady of the Rosary Church. Funeral on Saturday after 11 am Mass to Mount Saint Oliver Cemetery.
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The Flying Scotsman is steaming through Lincolnshire today and will seen in Lincoln, the Sleaford area and the south of the county.
However, the timings of when the famous loco will be making her appearances have been changed from those advertised.
The train is now due to reach Lincoln at 11.55am on Saturday, June 24, pulling the Scarborough Flyer from Yorkshire to London King's Cross.
It is expected to pass non-stop through Metheringham at 12.11pm and then Ruskington, before taking the avoiding line east of Sleaford at about 12.24pm.
The service will then travel through Helpringham, Donington, Spalding to rejoin the East Coast Mainline at Peterborough, arriving in London at 3.21pm.
On November 30, 1934, the Flying Scotsman took part in running speed tests between Leeds and King's Cross, during which it reached 100mph.
It was the first time that speed had been recorded in the UK.
May 3, 2021, 1 AM
A 1946 souvenir sheet of one stamp issued by the Second Corps of exiled Polish officers and soldiers in World War II, and printed in the wrong color, sold for $690 at the Raritan Stamps auction in early December.
A 20-kopeck Russian telegraph stamp of 1866, one of only 14 known and the only one with a plate flaw that caused some missing shading, realized $28,750 at the Raritan Stamps auction held in Dayton, N.J., in early December.
Russian-area cinderellas offered by Raritan Stamps at a sale in early December included an album page with a set of 1890s playing-card and tobacco license stamps. It sold for $747.50.
By Matthew Healey, New York Correspondent
Raritan Stamps held an auction Dec. 9-10 in Dayton, N.J. The sale featured a substantial number of lots from a collection of Russian-area cinderellas, which are stamps and labels produced for anything but postage: revenues, fees, propaganda or other purposes.
One of the more eye-catching lots was an album page containing a splendid set of Russian bicolored playing-card and tobacco license stamps from the 1890s. All but one were overprinted Specimen. Fresh and charming, the lot sold for $747.50, including the 15 percent buyers premium levied by Raritan on all lots.
A very scarce 20k Russian telegraph stamp of 1866, with an octagonal design featuring the words Telegraph/20 kopecks 20 in Cyrillic letters around a coat of arms, showed a small flaw on its printing plate that resulted in a bit of missing shading in the top right corner.
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Just 14 examples of this stamp survive, and the one with the flaw is probably unique, according to the firm. With full original gum, hinged, it sold for $28,750.
Like postage stamps, which prepaid letters, telegraph stamps paid the sending of telegrams, which was a government monopoly in many countries.
The Raritan sale also included items from the Jay Carrigan collection of stamps and postal history from World War II displaced-persons and prisoner-of-war camps.
During the war, tens of thousands of exiled Polish officers and soldiers formed a force known as the Second Corps, which fought extensively in Italy and was highly regarded by the other Allies.
Numbering over 100,000 men at its peak, the corps issued a number of stamps and souvenir sheets, although their purpose seems to have been primarily philatelic rather than postal. Not listed in the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, the issues can be found in Italian catalogs such as Sassone under the heading Corpo Polacco.
Variously inscribed Poczta Polowa 2 Korpusu (Field Post of the Second Corps) or Poczta Osiedli Polskich w Italii (Post of Polish Settlements in Italy), the stamps commemorate the corps battles and iconography.
The souvenir sheets generally show a hefty charity surcharge.
One of the souvenir sheets appears to have been printed in a wrong color: rose red. The 3-lira+247-lira sheet of one, with a stamp showing a pair of soldiers superimposed on a map of prewar Poland (Sassone BL3A), was issued in 1946. Mint and never hinged, it sold for $690.
Another lot, a collection of 82 Polish Corps stamps, seven souvenir sheets and three covers, presumably philatelic, including a number of proofs and unlisted varieties, went for $2,530.
Jenny Invert last seen in 1918 to be auctioned
Jan 3, 2017, 12 PM
Out of circulation for 99 years, the Position 79 Inverted Jenny airmail error has resurfaced and will be auctioned Feb. 15 by Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Chicago.
By Michael Baadke
A treasured error stamp that seemingly vanished after its discovery 99 years ago is making a dramatic reappearance.
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers reports that it will offer the Position 79 1918 24 Inverted Jenny airmail stamp during a public auction taking place Feb. 15 at the firms galleries in Chicago. The stamp has been authenticated by the Philatelic Foundation, according to a Jan. 3 press release, and is hinged, according auction gallery president and CEO Leslie Hindman.
The stamp is part of a collection that has been in the same family for generations, Hindman told Linns Stamp News. The family has asked to remain anonymous, she added.
The stamp is listed with a presale estimate of $200,000 to $300,000. It is part of a larger collection that includes a number of other important rarities that will be offered during the Feb. 15 auction; among them, a block of four U.S. 1901 4 Pan American Inverts (Scott 296a) described as "unknown," and a single 2 invert stamp from the same Pan-American set (295a).
The collection was preserved as a family heirloom, Hindman said, and the current owners are not collectors.
Catalogs for the upcoming sale are available for $10 at the gallery or $15 by mail. The print catalog can be ordered by telephoning 312-280-1212.
The Inverted Jenny (United States Scott C3a) is the most famous U.S. stamp error, a 24 airmail stamp printed in carmine and blue with the central image of the Jenny biplane incorrectly printed upside down. One sheet of 100 error stamps was purchased at a Washington, D.C., post office in 1918 by collector William T. Robey; he sold his prize soon after to Eugene Klein, a well-known Philadelphia stamp dealer.
Klein subsequently sold the intact sheet of 100 stamps to the millionaire collector Col. E.H.R. Green, who had Klein break up the sheet into singles and blocks. Green kept some of the stamps and sold others, and efforts have been made to track the history of each stamp from the sheet ever since the story began nearly a century ago.
Two stamps from the sheet of 100 seemingly have no history: Position 49 and Position 79. Both are listed with the simple phrase No record in the 1986 book Jenny! by George Amick, one of the most authoritative studies of the history of the prominent stamp error.
A website devoted to the Inverted Jenny was launched last year by Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York City. The Jenny site pictures 98 of the 100 error stamps, with blank spaces at positions 49 and 79.
Hindman told Linn's that the consigning family does not have historical information about how their Jenny Invert stamp was acquired.
Philatelic Foundation curator Lewis Kaufman and executive director Larry Lyons led the process of expertizing the Jenny Invert that will be auctioned.
Based on its extensive electronic and photographic records of this rarity, the PF was able to certify that the Jenny Invert was genuine and came from position 79 in the sheet of 100, one of only two positions which have not been seen in the marketplace since the stamp was issued almost 100 years ago.
Just nine months ago, the Philatelic Foundation authenticated another long-lost Jenny Invert, the Position 76 stamp that had been stolen in 1955 when it was part of the McCoy block of four.
The block was purloined from an American Philatelic Society exhibit in Norfolk, Va., and turned up in Northern Ireland where it was found among items presumably purchased in a flea market setting years ago.
The stamp was returned to the rightful owner, the American Philatelic Research Library, by the finder, Keelin ONeill, during a public event at World Stamp Show-New York 2016.
The Foundation notes that it has issued certificates of authenticity for 85 of the 100 stamps from the original Jenny Invert error sheet.
The Philatelic Foundation is a not-for-profit education institution chartered in 1945. Its many activities include expertization and authentication of stamps and covers.
For more information about the foundations activities, contact the Philatelic Foundation, 341 W. 38th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018; or visit online.
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This story was updated Jan. 4, 2017.
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A secret history
Avro Canada VZ-9AV Avrocar at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (Image credit: U.S. Air Force)
Government and military secrets can range from terrifying to amusing to downright absurd, but most are nothing short of intriguing. From a secret U.S. Air Force project to build a supersonic flying saucer to a now-famous World War II-era research program that produced the first atomic bombs to a plan to train domesticated cats to spy on the Soviet Union, here are 22 declassified military and CIA secrets.
Project 1794
Declassified designs show the U.S. Air Force's attempts to build a flying saucer capable of both hovering and going supersonic. (Image credit: National Archives)
In late 2012, the U.S. Air Force declassified a trove of documents, including records of a secret program to build a flying saucer-type aircraft designed to shoot down Soviet bombers. The ambitious program, called Project 1794, was initiated in the 1950s, and a team of engineers was tasked with building a disc-shape vehicle capable of traveling at supersonic speeds at high altitudes.
The declassified documents reveal plans for the plane to reach a top speed of Mach 4 (four times the speed of sound), and reach an altitude of 100,000 feet (30,480 meters). The project's estimated cost was more than $3 million, which in today's dollars would be more than $26 million.
Project 1794 was canceled in December 1961 after tests suggested the flying saucer design was aerodynamically unstable and would likely be uncontrollable at high speeds (let alone supersonic speeds).
Project Iceworm
In the 1960s, the U.S. Army launched a secret program to build mobile nuclear missile launch sites under the Greenland ice sheet. The operation was codenamed "Project Iceworm," but operated under a cover research project called "Camp Century." (Image credit: Frank J. Leskovitz
In the 1960s, the U.S. Army embarked on a secret mission to build a series of mobile nuclear missile launch sites under the Greenland ice sheet. The objective was to house medium-range missiles close enough to strike targets within the Soviet Union.
The program was codenamed Project Iceworm, but to test its feasibility, the Army launched a cover research project called "Camp Century" in 1960. Under this guise, engineers built a network of underground buildings and tunnels, including living quarters, a kitchen, a recreation hall, infirmary, laboratories, supply rooms, a communications center and a nuclear power plant.
The base, which was kept secret from the Danish government, operated for seven years. The program was canceled in 1966 after shifting ice created unstable conditions. Today, the crushed remains of Project Iceworm are buried beneath Arctic snow.
Project MK-ULTRA
During the Cold War, the CIA initiated Project MK-ULTRA, a secret and illegal human research program to investigate potential mind-control systems. The program's operators examined the effects of hypnosis, biological agents and drugs, such as LSD and barbiturates, on human subjects. Some historians suggest the program was designed to develop a mind-control system that could be used to "program" the brains of potential assassins. [The 10 Craziest Military Experiments]
In 1973, then-CIA director Richard Helms ordered that all documents from Project MK-ULTRA be destroyed, but a formal investigation into the program was launched several years later. The project became the basis for several movies, such as "The Manchurian Candidate" and "The Men Who Stare at Goats."
Area 51
An aerial view of Area 51 and Groom Lake in Nevada. (Image credit: Public domain)
Almost no other site has garnered as much attention from conspiracy theorists and UFO-enthusiasts as Area 51, a remote desert tract near Groom Lake in Nevada, roughly 83 miles (134 kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas. The intense secrecy surrounding the base sparked peoples' imaginations, and Area 51 was commonly linked to paranormal activities, including pervasive theories that suggested Area 51 hid aliens and UFOs.
In July 2013, declassified documents from the CIA acknowledged the existence of Area 51 for the first time, and confirmed that the top-secret site was used to test a variety of spy planes, including the well-known U-2 reconnaissance aircraft.
While Area 51, which operates as a detachment of Edwards Air Force Base in neighboring California, has never been declared a covert base, the research and activities conducted there were some of the nation's most closely guarded secrets.
Project Grudge
Illustration of a flying saucer. (opens in new tab) | Shutterstock (opens in new tab) ) (Image credit: Fer Gregory
While Area 51 was not a top-secret base designed to study extraterrestrials, the U.S. Air Force did study the existence of UFOs. Project Grudge was a short-lived program launched in 1949 to study unidentified flying objects. The mission followed an earlier program, known as Project Sign, which published a report in early 1949 stating that while some UFOs seemed to be actual aircraft, there was not enough data to determine their origins. [Top 10 States for UFO Sightings]
Critics of Project Grudge said the program solely set out to debunk UFO reports, and very little actual research was conducted. In his book on the topic, Edward J. Ruppelt, Air Force Captain and director of Project Grudge, wrote: "[I]t doesn't take a great deal of study of the old UFO files to see that standard intelligence procedures were not being followed by Project Grudge. Everything was being evaluated on the premise that UFOs couldn't exist. No matter what you see or hear, don't believe it."
Operation Paperclip
Dr. Wernher von Braun (center) describes the Saturn Launch System to President John F. Kennedy (right, pointing). NASA Deputy Administrator Robert Seamans stands to the left of von Braun. (Image credit: NASA)
In September 1946, President Harry Truman authorized a program called Operation Paperclip, which aimed to lure scientists from Nazi Germany to the United States following World War II. Officials at the Office of Strategic Services (the predecessor to the CIA) recruited German scientists to America to aid the country's postwar efforts, which would also ensure that valuable scientific knowledge would not end up in the hands of the Soviet Union or the divided East and West Germany.
Operation Paperclip's most famous recruit was rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, who would go on to mastermind NASA's Apollo moon missions.
Operation Northwoods
Fidel Castro arrives MATS Terminal, Washington, D.C. (Image credit: Warren K. Leffler, Library of Congress)
The tense relationship between the United States and Cuba during the Cold War led the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to hatch a slew of bizarre schemes aimed at taking down the Castro regime. While the goal of most of these covert operations (such as Operation Mongoose) was to assassinate Fidel Castro himself, other plans aimed to incite an all-out war between the U.S. and Cuba, experts have said.
In 1998, the National Security Archive (NSA) a non-governmental organization that publishes information made available through the Freedom of Information Act posted declassified documents related to Operation Northwoods. The scheme, dreamed up in 1962 by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (uniformed members of the U.S. Department of Defense who advise the president and others), involved committing acts of violence against U.S. and Cuban civilians and then blaming those acts on the Cuban government, according to the NSA documents. These acts, which included faked terrorist attacks in U.S. cities, the hijacking of planes and the sinking of boats full of Cuban emigres en route to the U.S., would then be used to justify a war with Cuba, according to the documents.
The Kennedy administration recognized the folly of Operation Northwoods and rejected it, according to news reports.
Manhattan Project
The only color photograph available for the Trinity blast, taken by Los Alamos scientist and amateur photographer Jack Aeby from near Base Camp. As Aeby later said, "It was there so I shot it." (Image credit: Jack Aeby)
One of the most well-known secret research programs is the Manhattan Project, which eventually produced the world's first atomic bombs. The project began in 1939, and was cloaked in secrecy as physicists investigated the potential power of atomic weapons. From 1942 to 1946, Major General Leslie Groves of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led the Manhattan Project.
The first nuclear bomb was detonated at 5:30 a.m. on July 16, 1945, during the so-called Trinity test at the Alamogordo Air Base, 120 miles (193 km) south of Albuquerque, N.M. The explosion created a mushroom cloud that stretched 40,000 feet (12,200 m), and the bomb's explosive power was equivalent to more than 15,000 tons of TNT.
A month after the Trinity test, two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in the waning stages of World War II. To date, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain the only uses of nuclear weapons in war.
Operation Gladio
Arrival ceremony for Giulio Andreotti, President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic, April 17, 1973. (Image credit: National Archives and Records Administration)
During the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, developed a classified plan for keeping Europe "safe" in the event of a Soviet invasion. The plan, known as Operation Gladio, called for the formation of secret armies or "stay-behind" organizations in many NATO countries, including Italy, Belgium and France, according to declassified documents.
The mission of the secret armies was simple: Prepare for a potential communist takeover and lead an armed resistance should such a takeover occur. In some countries, "preparing" for Soviet invasion included espionage and the hoarding of ammunitions.
And these clandestine armies weren't just kept secret from the Soviet Union. High-ranking government officials in countries where the military forces operated were sometimes not aware of the armies' existence. Italian Prime Minister at the time, the late Giulio Andreotti divulged information about Italy's secret Cold War army (known as Gladio) in 1990, becoming the first leader of a NATO country to publicly acknowledge one of these forces. Declassified documents related to NATO's stay-behind armies are accessible via The Black Vault, a website that makes declassified documents available to the public.
My Lai Massacre
Unidentified Vietnamese women and children before being killed in the My Lai Massacre. (Image credit: Public Domain)
In March 1968, American soldiers murdered hundreds of unarmed civilians in the South Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai, according to accounts of the massacre that describe harrowing killings of at least 300 women, children and elderly people.
Army officials managed to cover up the massacre for a year before an investigative journalist with the Associated Press (AP) brought the atrocity to the attention of the American people in November 1969. In light of news reports, an official inquiry was made into the events at My Lai and was concluded in March 1970. The inquiry resulted in criminal charges against 14 U.S. Army officers, all but one of whom were acquitted for their crimes. Declassified documents associated with the inquiry are available from the Library of Congress.
In the wake of the My Lai massacre, the Pentagon established a task force known as the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group, which investigated incidents similar to the killings at My Lai. That group compiled more than 9,000 pages of documents detailing crimes by U.S. troops during the Vietnam War, many of which were declassified during the 1990s. These and other declassified documents regarding Vietnam War crimes can be accessed through the National Archives.
President-elect Donald Trump joins a rally protesting the Iran nuclear deal on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 9, 2015, in Washington, D.C.
Nobel laureates and other top scientists are imploring Donald Trump to keep the Iran nuclear deal intact when he becomes president.
In an open letter, 36 scientists including one who helped design the first hydrogen bomb asked the president-elect to preserve the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
"The JCPOA does not take any options off the table for you or any future president," the scientists wrote. "Indeed it makes it much easier for you to know if and when Iran heads for a bomb. It provides both time and legitimacy for an effective response." [The 10 Greatest Explosions Ever]
The Iran deal
The nuclear deal was announced in 2015. According to the deal, the United States and five other major nations would lift some sanctions against Iran if the country began dismantling its nuclear-weapons program. According to the White House, by Jan. 16, 2016, Iran had shipped 25,000 pounds of enriched uranium out of the country, dismantled two-thirds of the centrifuges used to enrich uranium, disabled its heavy water reactor and allowed unprecedented international monitoring. The goal was to increase the time it would take Iran to make a nuclear bomb from a few months to at least a year.
In their open letter, the scientists touted the agreement as a success.
"The JCPOA has dramatically reduced the risk that Iran could suddenly produce significant quantities of nuclear-weapon materials," they wrote.
Critics of the Iran deal argue that it would at best delay Iran, not prevent it from acquiring nuclear capabilities. Trump's campaign rhetoric was even more pointed. In September 2016, for example, he said at a town hall in Virginia Beach that the deal was "the highest level of incompetence."
Scientist signatories
The organizer and first signatory on the letter is Richard Garwin, a physicist who designed the first hydrogen bomb built in 1952. Garwin is now an IBM Fellow Emeritus. The letter was also signed by physicist Robert Goldston of Princeton University, who has worked on a process to verify nuclear disarmament (opens in new tab) without requiring knowledge of classified information. Another signatory, nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, once directed the weapons lab at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and has devoted his research to nuclear security.
The signers include Nobel laureates, winners of the most prestigious prize in the sciences. Signer Philip W. Anderson won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1977 for his work on "the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems." Other signers: Leon Cooper won the physics prize in 1972 for developing a theory of superconductivity; Jerome Friedman, a particle physicist, won the prize in 1990 for work that informed the quark model of particle physics; and Sheldon Lee Glashow was a 1979 winner for work on the interactions between elementary particles.
Other Nobel laureates on the signatory list were David Gross, who was awarded the physics prize in 2004, and Burton Richter, who won in 1976.
Other notable names on the signatory list include Freeman Dyson, a physicist famous for the concept of the "Dyson sphere," or an artificial biosphere around a star built by intelligent extraterrestrials; Philip Coyle, the former associate director for National Security and International Affairs in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; and Allison Macfarlane, a former commissioner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Original article on Live Science.
Digging up the past
Built for the pharaoh Khufu about 4,500 years ago, the Great Pyramid at Giza is considered a wonder of the ancient world. (Image credit: Nina Aldin Thune, CC Attribution 2.5 Generic)
Archaeologists will continue to dig up the past in 2017. But what can we expect them to uncover? Four out of the five predictionsthat Live Science made at the end of 2015 about major discoveries in 2016 came true. Read on to see whose bones and which major artifacts are most likely to be revealed in the year ahead.
Iraq heritage emerges from ashes
Neanderthal remains were found, along with a plinth of sediment, in Shanidar Cave in Iraq. (Image credit: Photo courtesy of Graeme Barker )
An Iraqi-Kurdish army is in the process of retaking Mosul, the last major city held in Iraq by the Islamic State group (also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh). In addition to killing and displacing hundreds of thousands of people, the terrorists embarked on a campaign of looting and destruction of archaeological sites. However, although the destruction was terrible, it did not annihilate everything.
When a Kurdish force retook Khorsabad, a former capital of the ancient Assyrians, they found numerous fragments of inscriptions and statues that had been brought to an archaeological center for repair and conservation. Similarly, archaeologists and historians will study, and at least partially repair, fragments of inscriptions and art that survived at Nimrud.
Additionally, with the war over, archaeological teams likely will be able to return to more areas of Iraq and begin the process of conserving and excavating sites. Although the artifacts that ISIS looted to fund their war effort are now scattered all over the world, in time, they could gradually be discovered and returned to museums in Iraq and Syria where archaeologists and historians can conserve, study and display them properly. A court case is currently underway in which the United States government is seeking permission from a federal court to seize several artifacts which an ISIS leader was selling.
Great Pyramid chambers?
(Image credit: Simulation by K. Morishima (Nagoya University) and Benoit Marini for ScanPyramids, results by K. Morishima (Nagoya University) for ScanPyramids)
In October 2016, researchers with the ScanPyramids project announcedthat they had found two voids inside the Great Pyramid, a 4,500-year-old pyramid built for the pharaoh Khufu that was hailed as a "wonder of the world." The news was greeted with excitement; however, a scientific team overseeing the project cautioned that the voids in the team's data also could have appeared because the pyramid's interior was constructed of stones of various sizes.
The ScanPyramids project was extended by one year. That will allow time to produce more data that could answer the question of whether these voids are real and, if so, how large they are and whether they might contain anything. Even if the voids do not exist, the data may provide clues as to how the Great Pyramid was constructed.
Dead Sea Scrolls
The rare papyrus from the time of the First Temple, or the seventh century B.C. (Image credit: Shai Halevi, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.)
The Israel Antiquities Authority thinks more ancient scrolls remain to be found in the Judean Desert and that looters have already found some of them. The authority has announced a series of surveys, excavations and law-enforcement operations to find them this year.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1946 or 1947 by Bedouins in caves near the site of Qumran. Between 1947 and 1956, thousands of scroll fragments making up about 900 manuscripts were uncovered by archaeologists and Bedouins who sold the scrolls. Smaller batches of scrolls have been found at other sites in the Judean Desert since that time.
There are indications, however, that more undiscovered scrolls remain to be found in the Judean Desert. In October, Live Science reported on 25 new Dead Sea Scroll fragments that had been described in two books. They were purchased on the antiquities market, and scholars think that although some are forgeries, others might be from caves that looters discovered. Since 2002, about 70 fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls have appeared on the antiquities market, and that number is growing. Also in October, an anti-looting unit intercepted a 2,600-year-old papyrus fragment that was about to be sold (although there is a debate over whether it is authentic).
Abydos discoveries
A cemetery containing at least 15 burials was found beside the remains of the ancient city at Abydos. One of the tombs (shown here) holds the remains of at least one person in a fetal position. The grave would have been covered with a building (remains shown in the image) in ancient times. (Image credit: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities)
Two big discoveries from Abydos in Egypt were announced in 2016. In October, a team led by Josef Wegner, a curator at the Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania, announced the discovery of a 3,800-year-old tableau that shows more than 120 ancient Egyptian boats. The tableau was found in a structure located near the tomb of pharaoh Senwosret III.
Just a few weeks later, an Egyptian team announced the discovery of a 5,000-year-old city at Abydos. The city has a necropolis (cemetery) next to it that contains 15 graves.
Archaeologists will resume excavations this year, and more new discoveries are likely to be made as a sizable amount of the site is unexcavated, the researchers noted.
Biblical artifacts revealed
Museum of the Bible is expected to open in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2017. (Image credit: Museum of the Bible screenshot)
In the fall of 2017, a 430,000-square-foot (40,000 square meters) museum called the Museum of the Bible will open just three blocks south of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The museum will house the "Green Collection," made up of about 40,000 artifacts donated by Steve Green, president of the Hobby Lobby chain of arts and crafts stores. The artifacts have some connection to the Bible and include about a dozen Dead Sea Scrolls that were published recently.
Green purchased his first artifact in 2009 and grew his collection rapidly. Much of his collection has never been studied by scholars. There are rumors that the collection includes a fragment of the Gospel of Mark that some scholars believe dates to the first century A.D., a date that would make it the oldest copy of a Christian Gospel known to exist. The Museum of the Bible has not confirmed or denied that this text is part of the Green Collection.
When this museum, with its vast collection, is open to the public in 2017, much will be revealed. Also, as scholars analyze the collection, many new discoveries will be made, they predict. Some of the artifacts will turn out to be modern-day forgeries, experts told Live Science.
White House Science and Technology Advisor John Holdren (second from left) stops by the Mars Science Laboratory Mission Support Area on Aug. 5, 2012, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
One of the president's most important responsibilities is fostering science, technology and innovation in the U.S. economy. The relationship between science and policy runs in two directions: Scientific knowledge can inform policy decisions, and conversely, policies affect the course of science, technology and innovation.
Historically, government spending on science has been good for the economy. Innovation is estimated to drive approximately 85 percent of economic growth. Not only does it provide a means for creative destruction within the economy, it also results in reduced costs for products and services that consumers demand. The United States prides itself as the most innovative country in the world, but how did it get that way?
Many famously disruptive technologies were invented in the United States the internet, shale gas fracking and solar photovoltaics are three examples and subsequently led to the growth of major American industries and associated jobs. Such inventions are the fruits of investments and effort made both by the private sector and the U.S. government (usually at different points in time).
President-elect Trump has made clear he intends to boost the economy's growth rate and supporting science and technology should be a vital part of his plan. So how does an American president settle on research priorities for the country? And once he has a science and innovation agenda, how does he move it forward to eventually seed new industries that have the potential to generate jobs and improve the country's competitiveness?
Where does the president get scientific advice?
Every president since World War II has maintained a personal science advisor in the White House to inform key decisions about domestic and foreign policy, although some presidents proved more attentive than others.
The very first science advisor, Vannevar Bush, demonstrated his value during World War II as head of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD). OSRD's mission was to marshal and coordinate civilian and military scientists to develop and deploy new technology in wartime. OSRD helped to establish the Manhattan Project and was the origin of the military-industrial complex. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bush later founded the Raytheon Corporation.) Bush also pushed for the creation of the National Science Foundation.
Congress established the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in 1976 to provide the president and others with scientific and technological expertise related to domestic and international affairs. It's part of the Executive Office of the President, and its director (and associate directors) must be confirmed by the Senate.
Although the director does not have cabinet rank (as does, for example, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors), OSTP works alongside the other offices in the White House, including the Domestic Policy Council, the Council on Environmental Quality and the National Security Council. The 1976 act also authorized OSTP to lead interagency efforts to develop and implement sound science and technology policies and budgets.
Typically, the director of OSTP also has a separate appointment as special assistant to the president in order to serve as his private science advisor.
Many people in Washington seek the president's ear, ranging from cabinet secretaries, senators and congressional representatives to lobbyists. But the president usually relies most heavily on his own personal staff within the Executive Office of the President. The Office of Science and Technology Policy thus is enormously influential in clarifying and implementing the president's science, technology and innovation priorities.
Budget is a big part of it
Once a president determines his science and innovation priorities, his main tool to influence the country's research agenda is the federal budget. His priorities may spring from concern about U.S. competitiveness in certain industries or sectors, or from a sense of opportunity about where new science or innovation could contribute to the public interest or national good. Of course, the president's budget request must be approved by Congress in order for the spending priorities to be fulfilled.
Innovation research is an uncertain and risky investment, which is why the government has traditionally shouldered the burden for pre- or noncommercial science and technology research and why universities do most of this type of research. Federal funding for basic research is a crucial long-term investment in the nation's future, and has traditionally garnered bipartisan support since businesses tend to focus on already proven technologies that are close to commercialization.
The Department of Defense manages the largest portion of the federal R&D budget (US$78 billion in the FY17 budget) compared with all other nondefense R&D combined, at $68 billion. The National Institutes of Health comes in second at 0.77 percent with $30.9 billion. The Department of Energy and NASA have far fewer resources, with R&D funds of about $14 billion and only $12 billion, respectively.
These research dollars go to our world-renowned national laboratories, to the private sector and to support the research of professors and graduate students in American universities.
Some of these investments will directly bear fruit for the economy, and others will do so indirectly through spillovers. The skills of the U.S. workforce are created in part through investments in STEM education and through their work experience over time. Those doing the research accumulate knowledge and expertise that can contribute to improved understanding and problem-solving. These people can then take their skills to commercial companies which create economic value, or they continue to innovate in nonprofit research institutes or universities to address problems in the public interest, such as how to reduce air pollution or improve lifesaving treatments for diseases ignored by private firms.
Of course, high-risk research sometimes yields high-value rewards, especially when the government partners with the private sector.
The internet was originally invented by researchers associated with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, shale gas fracking from both Defense and DOE investments at Los Alamos National Lab and research on the human genome from NIH. Private firms like Microsoft and Google, Mitchell Energy and Pfizer capitalized upon taxpayer investments in science and technology to develop these industries.
Case study: Obama's OSTP
President Obama's science advisor, John P. Holdren, has provided advice on advanced manufacturing, national security, STEM education, space policy, climate change, energy policy, cybersecurity and more. So during the Obama administration, the Office of Science and Technology Policy indeed worked with agencies to clarify science and technology priorities consistent with the president's wishes, but it accomplished much more than that.
The OSTP worked to make more than 180,000 federal datasets and collections available to students, entrepreneurs and the public. It produced the first-ever U.S. innovation strategy, launched the Precision Medicine Initiative (providing more than $200 million to accelerate a new era of personalized medicine), embarked on a Cancer Moonshot initiative and launched the BRAIN initiative that resulted in a doubling of research funding for Alzheimer's research at NIH between 2012 and 2017.
Initiatives like these are a hopeful down payment on results that usually bear fruit years later. Through the efforts of the SunShot and wind R&D programs at DOE and private firms, for example, the United States now generates more than three times as much electricity from wind and four times as much from solar as it did in 2008. That's because the cost for renewables has come down rapidly solar costs 1/150th what it did in the 1970s.
One example of a problem that we understand much better than we did 30 years ago as a result of governmental scientific investments is global climate change. Due to sustained federal investments in Earth observations, geophysical research and global circulation modeling, we now know how much the world has warmed, how rapidly mountain glaciers and Arctic ice are retreating, how much and where precipitation is changing, how much soil moisture is reducing and what it would take to avoid significant global climate disruption. Long-term, depoliticized investments in this kind of measurement science are crucial to understanding global change and the fate of the planet.
Science opportunities for President Trump
Although President-elect Trump seems to find little value in facts, he clearly wishes to reinvigorate the U.S. economy. He cannot do so without improving access to high-quality STEM education and accelerating U.S. investments in science, technology and innovation.
Scientific advice could also provide President-elect Trump with some good ideas for revitalizing manufacturing in the United States, which he's pledged to do. Indeed, the current President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) produced an excellent report on accelerating U.S. advanced manufacturing in 2014.
President Trump can use science and innovation to achieve his goal to restore American greatness, whether it is through launching a new moonshot-type initiative or creating advanced manufacturing jobs. With history as a guide, appointing a respected science advisor and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy will help him accomplish his goals.
Kelly Sims Gallagher, Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy and Director of Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at The Fletcher School, Tufts University
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
A killer whale thought to be over 100 years old and known affectionately as "Granny" has not been sighted in several months and is thought to be deceased.
The orca was described as "officially missing" from the local population and likely dead, as she had not been seen since Oct. 12, 2016 in a memorial post shared online Dec. 31, 2016, by marine biologist Ken Balcomb, a principal investigator at the Center for Whale Research (CWR) in Washington.
Granny was identified as "J2" decades ago by CWR scientists who studied her pod of so-called Southern Resident killer whales in Puget Sound, a Pacific Ocean inlet off the coast of Washington. Balcomb first observed J2 in 1976, and continued to observe her over the next 40 years, describing her in his memorial as "the energizer bunny" who just kept going and going, despite her remarkably advanced age. [Orca Gallery: See Gorgeous Photos of Killer Whales]
Female killer whales are much longer-lived than their male counterparts, with a life span that can exceed males' by decades. Male orcas have an average life span of about 30 years, but can live as long as 50 years. However, a female orca's typical life span is around 50 years, and they can live to be at least 100, according to a species description by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
But it is highly unusual for scientists to have the opportunity to observe a single orca in the wild over many decades as it ages. Granny had a distinctive nick in her dorsal fin that helped scientists to recognize her quickly and track her over time. In fact, she and her pod were instrumental in establishing that orcas had unique patterns and fin features that could be used by researchers to identify them, Balcomb explained.
"A closed-saddle female"
In 1976, she was described as "a closed-saddle female that has a small nick halfway down on the trailing edge with a finger-size tag of tissue protruding upward from the bottom of the nick," by marine biologist Michael Bigg, who pioneered individual whale identification through observation, Balcomb recalled.
Her age was approximated to be at least 45 years old and possibly 76 years old in 1987. By those estimates, her age in 2016 would have been at least 74 years old and perhaps as much as 105 years old. Either way, she was the oldest known Southern Resident killer whale the only known resident population of killer whales in the United States, inhabiting waters near British Columbia and Washington.
Granny was one of dozens of orcas divided among three pods nicknamed "J," "K" and "L" Dawn Noren, a research fishery biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, told Live Science in 2016. As of Dec. 31, 2016, an estimated 78 Southern Resident killer whales remain in total, with Granny's "J" pod holding 24, Balcomb wrote in the memorial.
And while it's possible that Granny may turn up again, after a months-long absence, it isn't very likely, Balcomb said.
"Perhaps other dedicated whale-watchers have seen her since then, but by year's end she is officially missing from the SRKW [Southern Resident killer whale] population, and with regret we now consider her deceased," he added.
Original article on Live Science.
From left: Journalist Hoang Huong, Prof. Dang Hung Vo and Lawyer Nguyen Ngoc Lan
VietNamNet: Through matters such as "policies made in heaven", "policies made in air conditioned rooms" or "those with flat chests are banned from driving motorcycles," some have raised the question whether we are going far away from the law-making philosophy of seeking a contract to keep social order and stability?
Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Lan: In society, relationships change every day, every hour and we run after them, leading to making "patchy" policies. The policy makers all aim for social stability and harmonious development but because the rapid development of social relations, the lifespan of policies is not long. We are always in the vortex of "making a plough in the middle of the way".
VietNamNet: There is an important question: how to have practical policies?
Mr. Hoang Ngoc Giao: "No flour, no paste". If you sit in air-conditioned rooms to draft law according to their experience of subjective thinking and information you have, then it's not social practice.
We should also consider whether the collection of information has practically supported the formulation and analysis of policy. Literally it is not. We have still insisted that consultation and information processing accounts for 50% of the quality of draft laws; the remaining 50% is due to the selection of priority values of different policies.
Furthermore, the funding for lawmaking is very limited, with only a few hundred million VND for making a bill. Citing that they have no specific budget for lawmaking, state officials paid by the state are responsible to make laws. I think this policy is inappropriate.
We must consider law making as socio-economic development projects. Once you make a good law, you can save hundreds of trillions in VND for society. We should not think that lawmaking is just work on paper. A poor law causes losses in terms of costs and social time worth hundreds of trillions of VND. We must have a separate budget for this task.
VietNamNet: People have recently talked about interest groups. Do you know about it, Mr. Dang Hung Vo?
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Prof. Dang Hung Vo: There is always a matter associated with the law: the law can benefit one group and harm other groups. We can never require law makers to build perfect policies and not prefer any group.
So we cannot believe that there is no personal interest in making policy. There is always so-called self-interest in the mind of lawmakers; sometimes it is their family members like father, mother, wife, son or his village, even his district, his province. That is real life.
Therefore, to build law, we need various opinions from different subjects to ensure objectivity and fairness. Objectivity is not standing on anyone's interests, and fairness is creating gains and losses that all groups can accept.
Besides the National Assembly, we need to collect the opinions of social organizations and population groups.
VietNamNet: This is the question from a reader of VietNamNet Mr. Pham Huu Dung: I see that the first thing that many policy makers think of is the interest group. For this reason, the Social Insurance Law was amended upon its issuance when it had not become effective yet. How should we do to prevent this situation to happen again in the future? "
Mr. Hoang Ngoc Giao: As I said from the beginning, the policy must be drafted based on analyzing information from a variety of subjects in society. There is a phenomenon that many laws facilitate state agencies rather than creating conditions for people to exercise their rights.
Mr. Hoang Ngoc Giao
There are two types of legal documents: one is through the National Assembly (called laws, ordinances or resolutions of the National Assembly) and legal documents called bylaw documents. The issuance of these kinds of legal documents is different in form, but they both have common legal values.
I also agree that in the current institution of National Assembly deputies, it is very difficult for them to assume the representative role of the voters. For example, you are a young woman, or you belong to youth, but you're a resident in the mountains and a teacher too, so you belong to the intellectual structure. So, for example, when a bill has beneficial effects on womenbut it is unfavorable for the education sector, or the mountainous region, how will you vote? In this case, structural contradiction appears in the representation of this NA deputy.
Secondly, just a short period of time before National Assembly sessions, NA deputies receive draft bills, which are hundreds of pages each. NA deputies do not have enough time to study these bills. As for meeting voters to get information? NA deputies have to wait for the arrangement of the local Fatherland Front. At all meeting with voters, NA deputies see the same voters so can these people represent all groups of related voters?
In recent years I saw the NA committees try to make field surveys and accept proposals of social organizations to organize workshops and seminars to collect comments on draft bills. In my opinion it is a very good direction!
VietNamNet: This is a question from reader Pham Truong Son It seems that the media has 'holes' in writing about policies, for example, the strike of workers on the Labor Code in HCM City. The media did not write about this law during the draft period. Not until the law was issued did workers know that this law had already affected them. How can the press be a bridge for the people and social organizations to contribute to policy?
Mr. Dang Hung Vo: I think that's the story in the Press Law. Our Press Law has been revised several times. From the question of VietNamNet reader, I think that if it is the law, we must strictly implement the law. Nothing can stand in front of and above the law. If the law says that this issue is not secret, that means the press can talk about it.
VietNamNet: Do you think that legal issues are too complicated to write about so journalists do not write about them or are there other reasons?
Mr. Dang Hung Vo: I think journalists are intelligent so it is not true that they dont understand the law. There are only things that we think they are sensitive to write about. For example, a district official only said "this should not be reported in newspapers". Then journalists did not.
Mr. Hoang Ngoc Giao: Throughout the lawmaking process, we are proposing regulations on the role of the media. This is not only good for the people but for the State. We need to recognize the role of communication in the lawmaking process.
Timely reporting about draft policies and laws that are related to the people, through which people can make suggestions to these drafts, is good because in the process of making bills the people already know about the policies so when the laws and policies are approved, they understand them.
Like making a movie, while it is being shot, a PR campaign is already launched so why doesn't the Government or the authority apply the role of the press in marketing the law? We have proposed to add this to the Law on Issuance of Legal Documents for better policy making and better law enforcement in the future.
To be continued...
VietNamNet
A Tennessee man is charged with child abuse after he reportedly admitted to hitting and choking his daughter when he found out she was posting nude photos to Snapchat.
Hamilton County deputies arrested Christian Amason, 45, on Sunday after his daughter reported the abuse to the police, according to WTVC.
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Note: This article was first published by The Daily Beast.
More than 15 years into Americas war in Afghanistan, the Russian government is openly advocating on behalf of the Taliban.
Last week, Moscow hosted Chinese and Pakistani emissaries to discuss the war. Tellingly, no Afghan officials were invited. However, the trio of nations urged the world to be flexible in dealing with the Taliban, which remains the Afghan governments most dangerous foe. Russia even argued that the Taliban is a necessary bulwark in the war against the so-called Islamic State.
For its part, the American military sees Moscows embrace of the Taliban as yet another move intended to undermine NATO, which fights the Taliban, al Qaeda, and the Islamic State every day.
After Moscows conference, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova spoke with reporters and noted that the three countries expressed particular concern about the rising activity in the country of extremist groups, including the Afghan branch of IS [the Islamic State, or ISIS].
According to Reuters, Zakharova added that China, Pakistan, and Russia agreed upon a flexible approach to remove certain [Taliban] figures from [United Nations] sanctions lists as part of efforts to foster a peaceful dialogue between Kabul and the Taliban movement.
The Taliban, which refers to itself as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, quickly praised the Moscow tripartite in a statement posted online on Dec. 29.
It is joyous to see that the regional countries have also understood that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is a political and military force, Muhammad Sohail Shaheen, a spokesman for the groups political office, said in the statement. The proposal forwarded in the Moscow tripartite of delisting members of the Islamic Emirate is a positive step forward in bringing peace and security to Afghanistan.
Of course, the Taliban isnt interested in peace and security. The jihadist group wants to win the Afghan war and it is using negotiations with regional and international powers to improve its standing. The Taliban has long manipulated peace negotiations with the U.S. and Western powers as a pretext for undoing international sanctions that limit the ability of its senior figures to travel abroad for lucrative fundraising and other purposes, even while offering no serious gestures toward peace.
The Obama administration has repeatedly tried, and failed, to open the door to peace. In May 2014, the U.S. transferred five senior Taliban figures from Guantanamo to Qatar. Ostensibly, the Taliban Five were traded for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, an American who reportedly deserted his fellow soldiers and was then held by the Taliban and its jihadist allies. But the Obama administration also hoped that the exchange would be a so-called confidence-building measure and lead to more substantive negotiations. The Talibans leaders never agreed to any such discussions. They simply wanted their comrades, at least two of whom are suspected of committing war crimes, freed from Guantanamo.
Regardless, Russia is now enabling the Talibans disingenuous diplomacy by pretending that ISIS is the more worrisome threat. Its a game the Russians have been playing for more than a year.
In December 2015, Zamir Kabulov, who serves as Vladimir Putins special representative for Afghanistan, went so far as to claim that the Taliban interest objectively coincides with ours when it comes to fighting ISIS head Abu Bakr al Baghdadis loyalists. Kabulov even conceded that Russia and the Taliban have channels for exchanging information, according to The Washington Post.
The American commanders leading the fight in Afghanistan dont buy Russias argumentat all.
During a press briefing on Dec. 2, General John W. Nicholson Jr., the commander of NATOs Resolute Support and U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, discussed the malign influence of external actors and particularly Pakistan, Russia, and Iran. Gen. Nicholson said the U.S. and its allies are concerned about the external enablement of the insurgent or terrorist groups inside Afghanistan, in particular where they enjoy sanctuary or support from outside governments. Russia, in particular, has overtly lent legitimacy to the Taliban.
According to Nicholson, the Russian narrative is that the Taliban are the ones fighting the Islamic State, not the Afghan government. While the Taliban does fight its jihadist rivals in the Islamic State, this is plainly false.
The Afghan government and the U.S. counterterrorism effort are the ones achieving the greatest effect against Islamic State, Nicholson said. He went on to list the U.S.-led coalitions accomplishments over the past year: 500 ISIS fighters (comprising an estimated 25 to 30 percent of the groups overall force structure) were killed or wounded, the organizations top 12 leaders (including its emir, Hafiz Saeed Khan) were killed, and the groups sanctuary has been reduced from nine Afghan districts to just three.
So, this public legitimacy that Russia lends to the Taliban is not based on fact, but it is used as a way to essentially undermine the Afghan government and the NATO effort and bolster the belligerents, Nicholson concluded. While Nicholson was careful not read too much into Russias motivation for backing the Taliban, he noted certainly theres a competition with NATO.
Theres no doubt that ISISs operations in Afghanistan grew significantly in the wake of Baghdadis caliphate declaration in 2014. However, as Nicholson correctly pointed out, Baghdadis men are not adding to the territory they control at the moment. Their turf is shrinking. The same cannot be said for the Taliban, which remains the most significant threat to Afghanistans future. At any given time, the Taliban threatens several provincial capitals. The Taliban also controls dozens of Afghan districts and contests many more. Simply put, the Taliban is a far greater menace inside Afghanistan than Baghdadis men.
Regardless, the Russians continue to press their case. Their argument hinges on the idea that ISIS is a global force to be reckoned with, while the Taliban is just a local nuisance.
Kabulov, Putins special envoy to Afghanistan, made this very same claim in a newly-published interview with Anadolu Agency. Kabulov contends that the bulk, main leadership, current leadership, and the majority of Taliban are now a local force as a result of all these historical lessons they got in Afghanistan.
They gave up the global jihadism idea, Kabulov adds. They are upset and regret that they followed Osama bin Laden.
Someone should tell the Talibans media department this.
In early December, the Taliban released a major documentary video, Bond of Nation with the Mujahideen. The video included clips of the Talibans most senior leaders rejecting peace talks and vowing to wage jihad until the end. It also openly advertised the Talibans undying alliance with al Qaeda. At one point, an image of Osama bin Laden next to Taliban founder Mullah Omar is displayed on screen. (A screen shot of this clip can be seen above.) Photos of other al Qaeda and Taliban figures are mixed together in the same shot.
An audio message from Sheikh Khalid Batarfi, an al Qaeda veteran stationed in Yemen, is also played during the video. Batarfi praised the Taliban for protecting bin Laden even after the Sept. 11, 2001 hijackings. Groups of Afghan Mujahideen have emerged from the land of Afghans that will destroy the biggest idol and head of kufr of our time, America, Batarfi threatened.
A narrator added that the mujahideen in Afghanistan are the hope of Muslims for reviving back the honor of the Muslim Ummah [worldwide community of Muslims]! The Afghan jihadists are a hope for taking back the Islamic lands! and a hope for not repeating defeats and tragedies of the last century!
The Talibans message is, therefore, unmistakable: The war in Afghanistan is part of the global jihadist conflict.
All of this, and more, is in one of the Talibans most important media productions of 2016. There is no hint that the Taliban regrets allying with al Qaeda, or has given up the global jihadism idea, as Kabulov claims. The exact opposite is true.
There is much more to the Taliban-al Qaeda nexus. In August 2015, al Qaeda honcho Ayman al Zawahiri swore allegiance to Mullah Mansour, who was named as Mullah Omars successor as the Talibans emir. Mansour publicly accepted Zawahiris fealty and Zawahiris oath was prominently featured on the Talibans website. After Mansour was killed earlier this year, Zawahiri pledged his allegiance to Mansours replacement, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada. Zawahiri and other al Qaeda leaders regularly call upon Muslims to support the Taliban and reject the Islamic States Afghan branch.
In his interview with Anadolu Agency, Kabulov concedes that not all of the Taliban has given up the global jihadist ideas. He admits that within the Taliban you can find very influential groups like the Haqqani network whose ideology is more radical, closer to Daesh [or ISIS].
Kabulov is right that the Haqqanis are committed jihadi ideologues, but he misses the obvious contradiction in his arguments. Siraj Haqqani, who leads the Haqqani network, is also one of the Talibans top two deputy leaders. He is the Talibans military warlord. Not only is Siraj Haqqani a radical ideologue, as Kabulov mentions in passing, he is also one of al Qaedas most committed allies. Documents recovered in Osama bin Ladens compound show that al Qaedas men closely cooperate with Siraj Haqqani on the Afghan battlefields.
Kabulov claims that the Islamic State operates much more smartly than al Qaeda and has learned from all the mistakes of al Qaeda. He says Baghdadis enterprise has brought more advanced and sophisticated people to design, plan, and [execute] policy. Once again, the exact opposite is true.
Al Qaeda has long known the pitfalls of the Islamic States in-your-face strategy, and has smartly decided to hide the extent of its influence and operations. Zawahiri and his lieutenants have also used the Islamic States over-the-top brutality to market themselves as a more reasonable jihadi alternative. And both the Taliban and al Qaeda are attempting to build more popular support for their cause as much of the world remains focused on the so-called caliphates horror show.
Al Qaedas plan has worked so well that the Russians would have us believe that the Taliban, al Qaedas longtime ally, should be viewed as a prospective partner.
Kabulov says that Russia is waiting to see how the new president, [Donald] Trump, describe[s] his Afghan policy before determining what course should be pursued next.
Heres one thing the Trump administration should do right away: Make it clear that the Taliban and al Qaeda remain our enemies in Afghanistan.
Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal.
Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
Managing IP was first to report major stories that matter, from a Peppa Pig dispute to the UPC sunrise period and new targets for the Indian and UK IP offices
Lets say you have a doctors appointment. You get in your car or on the bus or subway and head over, looking at your watch to keep time. Now youre there. Almost. You can see the building, but you cant get inside. Hostile people with signs are crowding your path. You force your way past the congestion and rattle the doors; theyre locked. Through a web of legislation, members of your state and federal government have caused the clinic where your doctor practices to close, restricting your ability to access the healthcare you need. Its like being in a terrible, frustrating dream. Except, for many women visiting Planned Parenthood facilities, its reality.
These roadblocks dont mean all is lost. Women doctors, volunteers, people just like you are doing their part every single day to keep the doors of Planned Parenthood clinics open, despite potential defunding.
This is the second day that Ive gotten through without crying, Alyssa Miller, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, told me over the phone. She is one of many women involved with Planned Parenthood who I spoke to following news of the presidential election about what it could mean for the nonprofit healthcare organization. This kind of conversation opener was common in the various interviews I conducted for this piece. Moods were somber, the future uncertain, yet a sense of optimism pervaded. One thing was clear: of the employees and volunteers I interviewed, all testified that being a part of this organization whether filing papers, passing out condoms, escorting patients or providing medical services offered a sense of purpose. None of the women were stymied, none were hopeless.
2.5 million men and women in the United States visit Planned Parenthood affiliate health centers each year. Abortions make up 3% of the services offered. The remaining percentage includes birth control, STI/STD testing and treatment, breast and cervical cancer screenings and prevention, pregnancy testing, HIV testing and counseling, HPV vaccines, prenatal services, family practice services, adoption referrals to other agencies and hormone therapy for transgender patients.
Backed by a GOP-led congress, President-elect Donald Trump wants to cut off Planned Parenthoods federal funding. The final decision could come shortly after his inauguration, and would eliminate over forty percent on the nonprofits total budget. [D]enying Planned Parenthood roughly $400 million in Medicaid funds would take effect immediately, reports the Chicago Tribune. Planned Parenthood receives more than $500 million in federal funding a year, 75 percent of that from Medicaid reimbursement for health care services provided to poor and low-income patients. To put that number into perspective, the federal government spent $845 billion on Social Security in 2014.
According to Planned Parenthoods 2014 to 2015 report, 24 percent of the organizations funding came from non-government health services revenue, 27 percent came from private contributions and bequests and 6 percent was listed under other.
Government funding with federal dollars comprising the biggest portion of this part of the organizations budget are absolutely critical to Planned Parenthoods total operation, wrote Janell Ross in a 2015 Washington Post article.
Adrienne Verrilli, Associate Vice President for Communications, Planned Parenthood NYC, is one of the many women I spoke with about Planned Parenthoods current predicament. She stressed that the threat to defund Planned Parenthood isnt a left/right issue, its a health care issue. Many times she assured me, the public is behind us.
One in five women will visit Planned Parenthood in their lifetime, she said. The vast majority of the American people support this organization. They want to ensure that we continue to be a Medicaid provider. This includes Trump voters. So long as abortions take place under Planned Parenthoods roof, though, pro-life supporters will take issue with the organizations federal funding regardless of the fact that taxpayer money does not pay for abortion services.
According to Politicos October 2016 report, The 2016 Election: Clinton Versus Trump Voters on American Health Care, a majority (58%) of voters [ed note: meaning both Clinton and Trump supporters] favor continued federal funding of Planned Parenthood. Politico also reported that a majority of voters (58%) oppose allowing Medicaid funding to be used for abortion services. (To be clear, the Hyde Amendment currently forbids the use of federal funds for abortions except in cases of life endangerment, rape or incest. It has guided public funding for abortions under the joint federal-state Medicaid programs for low-income women.)
At the end of December 2016, Texas Governor Greg Abbott formally announced his intent to remove Planned Parenthood from the states Medicaid program. The plan has been in the works for over a year; it could be enacted within the month.
Ken Lambrecht, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texass president and CEO, released a statement on the matter. Texans deserve to decide where to receive their healthcare, he said, and for more than 80 years they have counted on Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas for that care. In the days ahead we will take every step necessary to ensure Medicaid patients can continue to count on Planned Parenthood for quality, accessible healthcare. In the meantime, our doors remain open for everyone, regardless of their income or insurance status, no matter what.
His forward-marching attitude echoed that of the two New York-based and one Tennessee-based Planned Parenthood operations I spoke with in regards to what Trumps election could mean for them.
We lost Title X funding a few years ago, said Dr. Sarah Wallett, Director of Medicine at Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region. We made some adjustments and focused on different strategies. We worked on increasing the commercial insurance patients coming in the doors. We figured it out, and we stayed open. All of us are so committed to this work. There is only room for hope. We will continue to figure it out.
Adrienne Verrilli was confident in PPNYCs ability to withstand adversity, too. There has been an outpouring of support from volunteers and donations post-election, she said. Weve been overwhelmed by how many people want to help us during what is going to be a very trying time, but were in it for the long haul. Our doors are going to stay open no matter what.
Alyssa Miller, the aforementioned Director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood in Hudson Peconic (who previously held the same job at Planned Parenthood in South Carolina), spoke about the supporters and volunteers who help the nonprofits doors stay open, and of those who physically walk Planned Parenthood patients to and from the front door, past protesters.
Ive seen a real commitment to our clinic escort programs, said Alyssa. Clinic escorts are dedicated to the patients who seek our services in areas where theres a tangible, pervasive threat to their access to reproductive health. There is a next-level sense of Im here for you, no matter what. Truly. After the flood in Columbia, South Carolina, people were calling the office to ask when they could come back out to help.
She spoke of how the escorts are there for both patients and employees. Sometimes its the clinicians who need to hear, Im with you. They have to walk through protesters shouting things at them, too. Especially in places where people are not comfortable telling their families what they do, I cant stress enough how much good it does someone who is used to protesters to then see someone who says, Thank you.
Miller said that its never the escorts job or goal to impress anything upon any of the patients. We are there to listen if they want to talk and not impose our experiences on anyone in any way. Its about recognizing everyones experiences are different and valid.
A. Molloy*, a Planned Parenthood volunteer in Philadelphia, said that the clinic escort program taught her empathy. The protesters make it so hard for these women. Patients have to walk through a crowd of mostly grown-ass men handing them some bullsh*t pamphlet. Its sickening. The program also taught her to never assume anything about other peoples situations. All different kinds of people come here for all different reasons, she said.
Grace*, a New-York-based writer, has participated in a variety of Planned Parenthood volunteer levels, from office administrative tasks (lots of filing) to escorting. She was a clinic escort during protests against Planned Parenthood in Columbia, Missouri. Thats the most charged and fraught [way to volunteer] because you feel the passion against you. It can feel like a powder keg when people are yelling at you.
She also stressed the sense of community she felt, and the benefits of taking part in such an organization. Volunteering is effective protesting, she said.
Escorting can be challenging, said Kristi Mahoney, a volunteer at Planned Parenthood in Boston, Massachusetts. I have a lot of opinions, but I cant rile up the protesters. Youre there to make patients who are walking in and out feel as comfortable as possible. College students who pass our clinic say the things to protesters that I wish I could say. They high five the escort volunteers. They remind you that not everyone is there to protest women and their decisions.
Sarah Cyr-Mutty, also a volunteer of Planned Parenthood in Boston, told me that when she first started clinic escorting, there was a buffer zone that prohibited protesters from getting within 35 feet of building. In 2014, the Supreme Court struck it down, ruling that the law infringed upon the First Amendment rights of anti-abortion activists.
Legislation in Massachusetts worked quickly to get a new bill that gives police the right to disperse people if theyre blocking door access, she said.
Cyr-Mutty stands by the First Amendment, but it felt like the right to access health care was being shadowed by the right to yell opinions in other peoples face. Part of accessing health care is about how easily youre able to physically get in the door. That often gets overlooked.
I literally work for the man in a terrible industry, a Planned Parenthood NYC volunteer named Jamie told me. So many people get to make a difference through their work. This allows me to help make a difference with what Im able to give. Its also a great way to learn about health, reproductive justice and other topical issues. Thats my favorite part: Ive learned so much, which you then spread to the community.
She said something interesting, too, something that Id been thinking about in terms of the volunteer/patient dynamic. Everyone who spoke about escorting or volunteering at Planned Parenthood in general, really was careful to point out that they were not there to save anyone, just as much as they werent there to judge. Jamie, who is part of the organizations sex-education program in addition to escorting, stated it so clearly: This idea that Planned Parenthood exists for a woman in need is a wrong way to think about it. Planned Parenthoods goal is for every woman, every person of every gender, to have a healthy relationship with their sexuality and access to healthcare.
Dr. Gillian Dean, the Physician Director of Clinical Research at Planned Parenthood of New York City, elaborated on Jamies point. Planned Parenthood takes care of all women, not just women who need a safety net. Women of diverse backgrounds and ages and insurance coverage plans and income and education levels turn to Planned Parenthood to receive personal, compassionate, evidence-based sexual reproductive health care.
Like many of the women I spoke to, Dr. Dean is concerned for what the political future could hold in terms of patient access to healthcare the implications of legislative assault on abortion access that dont just affect Planned Parenthood, but other health centers. Shes worried about low-income womens access to reproductive services. My primary concern is that women get the care they need, she said.
Dr. Dean has always been open about her involvement with Planned Parenthood, but after the shooting at Planned Parenthood in Colorado, she decided to be more vocal. One way to deal with fear and danger is to say, I do this work. I am proud of what I do. Abortions are a normal part of healthcare, and this is the way that I am taking care of my patients. And not to leave it to a few brave soldiers, but to get more and more of us who provide abortions to say Im proud of it.
Normalizing comprehensive reproductive health care is part of Dr. Sarah Walletts mission as well. She noted that abortion is not the only reproductive service stigmatized.
Wallett and Aimee Lewis, the Vice President of External Affairs at Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region, told me of their affiliates program Free Condoms Memphis, which distributes 500 thousand condoms a year. Lewis said that since its inception in 2013, the program has had a real success normalizing sex-positive condom usage within the once-resistant, conservative city.
We need to not be afraid to talk about these kinds of issues, she said.
There was a moment in my first conversation with Adrienne Verrilli that felt like the terrible drop following a sugar rush. Id spoken to so many women over the course of researching this piece who inspired me to take real action, to get angry, to do something, (to write this), that for days I was running on fire. Then I let myself ask, But what if What if Planned Parenthood actually loses federal funding? What if those patients who rely on Medicaid can no longer access the health care they need? What if abortion is made illegal?
Weve been here 100 years and were not going anywhere, she said to me. Weve fought many a battle, including the ones just to get ourselves open in 1916. Does that mean we might look a little different in the next few years? Maybe. No matter what, we will be moving ahead to make sure people are getting the care they need, when and where they need it. Theres a resounding force in the community and overwhelming support by the American people. We have the strength to push forward, and the will. Were not rolling over.
***
Here are 7 things you can do to get involved with Planned Parenthood.
Illustrations by Charlotte Trounce; follow her on Instagram @charlottetrounce. Planned Parenthood Photo and Graphs Courtesy of Planned Parenthood.
*A single asterisk indicates where names have been abbreviated or changed
Heres the Real Oil Price Russia Needs to Break Even
BY JACOB SHAPIRO : We published our 2017 forecast earlier this week. One of our predictions is that Russia is in for a difficult year economically. This is because Russias economy depends significantly on oil.
The price of oil in 2016 has averaged roughly $43 a barrel. Thats a far cry from two years ago, when it was more than double. According to Russias Federal Customs Service, oil-export revenue accounts for 26 percent of total revenue from Russian exports. For an economy with exports making up almost 30 percent of GDP, thats fairly significant.
Russia has seen this problem manifest in its ballooning 2016 budget deficit. The budget deficit was $25 billion in 2015, or 2.6 percent of total GDP, according to Russias Finance Ministry. But Russias finance minister said last September that 2016 budget deficit projections had been revised upward. It could reach 3.7 percent of Russias GDP by years end.
This is why Russia has been dipping into reserve funds. Theyve also slashed social services and pension benefits.
Doing the Math
A great deal of ink has been spilled over the rise in oil prices since the OPEC agreed to production cuts on November 30. Lets leave aside that oil has not actually surged upwards. (The price for Brent crude at closing on December 14 was only 11 percent higher than November 28.)
Instead of speculating on market gyrations, it is more interesting to figure out the exact oil price that would be geopolitically significant from Russias point of view.
Russias finance minister said last January that Russia could balance its budget if oil reached $82 a barrel. But we have a doctrinal distrust of politicians statements. So, we wanted to see if we could discover a similar figureor a more accurate oneon our own.
Russia reports oil-export revenue in both metric tons and dollars. According to Russias Federal Customs Service, from January to October 2016, Russia exported $59.6 billion worth of oil. Thats about 213 million metric tons of crude. Converting metric tons to barrels for crude is not simple. Each type differs in density. The generally accepted conversion for metric tons to barrels is 7.33 (according to BPs Statistical Review of World Energy).
By analyzing Russias export statistics this way, it is possible to make two observations. One is that in the first 10 months of 2016, Russia produced almost 5 percent more oil than in all of 2015. That means, it needed to sell more this year than last. The other is that we can roughly estimate Russia thus far this year has exported approximately 5.13 million barrels of oil per day.
Breaking Even
From here we have to make a bit of a leap. Russian statistics show it exported $76.7 billion of oil in 2015, when the average price was $41.85. With data from the first 10 months of 2016, we have to do a little guesswork. But lets assume that in November and December of this year, Russia will have exported the average value it exported in the first 10 months of the year. (In reality, it probably will be a little more.) That means total Russian oil exports in 2016 would be approximately $71.52 billion.
We also must factor in recent comments by Russias energy minister that indicate Russia has, at least verbally, agreed to coordinate its oil production with OPECs cuts. Russian would reduce production by 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2017. If we assume that is removed from Russias average production next year, we conclude Russia will export roughly 4.8 million bpd next year.
As stated above, Russia expects to run a budget deficit of $48.1 billion in 2016. If Russian oil exports are valued at $71.52 billion in 2016, that means Russia would have to export $48.1 billion more oil in order to break even just on its budget deficit. That comes to approximately $68 a barrel, assuming daily production of 4.8 million barrels. That is a little lower than Russias finance minister suggested earlier in the year. But its not overly surprising.
The State Duma in Russia recently approved next years budget, and parts of itsuch as certain types of defense spendingare not publicly reported. The finance minister may know of other costs that must be factored in that we dont. Or he may simply have wanted to lower expectations.
Too Much Supply
This means that Russia needs oil prices to increase by about 30 percent from the current position. Thats just to break even on the budget. Even that much of a rise would not solve Russias economic problems. It would only mean that Russia would be able to continue current levels of spending without having to dip into various reserve funds.
That spending already includes cuts to various social services. Russias Finance Ministry has already indicated it expects one of those funds to be spent covering the budget deficit in 2017. Russia expects the budget deficit to slightly decrease to 3 percent of GDP.
A significant increase in oil prices in 2017 at this point seems unlikely. The market is oversupplied. Growth projections for major economies in the world are stagnant at best. And the higher the price increases, the more likely the US will increase production.
OPEC and other oil exporters participating in production cuts may be able to make a dent in oversupply. (Thats assuming they break historical precedent and dont cheat on quotas). But they wont be able to solve the problem entirely, nor prevent other countries from increasing production.
Getting caught up in market swings can be addictive. Since we care about such things because of what they mean geopolitically, we discipline ourselves as much as possible. The above logic shows why oil prices would have to be maintained over at least $68 a barrel for a sustained period before we start getting too excited.
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MARTINSVILLE-An investigation is underway after one person was killed Saturday night on Rivermont Heights Road. The Virginia State Police have classified the incident as a fatal hit-and-run.
The incident happened at 11:59 p.m. Saturday in the 1600 block of Rivermont Heights Road, according to an email from Corinne N. Geller, public relations director for Virginia State Police.
Linda L. Shrader, 54, of Martinsville, was in the roadway outside her residence when she was struck by a white 2008 Nissan Versa, heading southbound. She was taken to Memorial Hospital in Martinsville, where she died early Sunday morning.
During the course of the investigation, Virginia State Police Trooper K.E. Pegram located the damaged Nissan later Sunday morning.
No charges have been filed yet in the case, as the crash remains under investigation. State police ask anyone with information about the crash or the vehicle to call the Martinsville Area 42 Office at 276-632-3060 or area42@vsp.virginia.gov.
Merck Foundation (www.Merck-Foundation.com), the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany conducted their Annual Kenya Alumni Summit in Nairobi to discuss their programs with their partners and beneficiaries to transform patient care landscape in Kenya through building healthcare capacity, raising awareness about sensitive social and health issues; and to meet the Merck Foundation Alumni and Media Winners.
This Annual Summit was co-chaired by Prof. Dr. Frank Stangenberg Haverkamp, Chairman of both Executive Board of E.Merck KG & Merck Foundation Board of Trustees and Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation.
Prof. Dr. Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp during his Keynote address said, At Merck Foundation, our goal is improving overall health and well-being by building healthcare capacity, by providing access to quality and equitable healthcare solutions in the African continent and beyond. We at Merck Foundation are committed to transform the patient care landscape not only in Kenya, but also across the entire African continent. Therefore, to fulfil this commitment 1300 scholarships have been provided to young doctors from 45 countries in 32 critical and underserved specialties.
Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation emphasized, Firstly, I am very happy to meet the Merck Foundation Alumni and Media Awards Winners in person for the first time after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. I am very proud of the work we are doing to transform public healthcare in Kenya. We have provided 118 scholarships in Kenya in critical specialties such as Oncology, Embryology, Diabetes, Preventative Cardiovascular Medicine, Endocrinology, Sexual and Reproductive Medicine, Gastroenterology, Respiratory Medicine, Acute Medicine, Biotechnology of Human Assisted Reproduction and Embryology, Critical Care, Psychiatry, Internal Medicine, Urology and many more. We will continue to scale up these numbers in order to create a stronger platform of skilled medical professionals and strengthen the public healthcare system in Kenya and rest of Africa.
Merck Foundation conducted their Alumni Summit to meet the doctors who have completed or are undergoing the scholarships provided by Merck Foundation.
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A teenage boy shot and killed in Charlotte previously lived in Burke County and folks have set up a GoFundMe page to help the family.
Anthony Frazier, 14, was shot around 10:20 p.m. Monday at a house on Finchley Drive, near Eastway Drive. Investigators said the teenager and his aunt were pulling into the home on Finchley Drive, near Eastway Drive around 10:20 p.m., when they spotted two young men hiding in the bushes. Sources told Channel 9 the two men ran, then one turned around and fired several shots, hitting the teenager while he was sitting in the backseat of the car, the Concord/Kannapolis Independent Tribune reported.
After the shooting, the aunt drove to 7-Eleven on Eastway to get help, according to the story in the Independent Tribune. Police are looking for two black males in their teens to early 20s.
Anthony died on Tuesday. He is the son of Burke County natives and Kannapolis Police Officer Daniel Fraizer and his wife, Brandi.
The Kannapolis Police Department is heartbroken over the loss of one of our family members, especially as this young person, Anthony Frazier, was just beginning his teenage years, Kannapolis Police Chief Woody Chavis said in a statement. Every member, of our extended family, plays an important role in our everyday lives and are critical to ensuring we are successful in carrying out our professional duties. Our families are the backbone of our department and without them we could not survive.
Chaivs went on to say, May God place his protective and loving arms around Officer Daniel Fraizers family during this time of sorrow. A special thank you to the public for all the prayers, moral support, and acts of grace which you have shown us.
Daniel and Brandi Fraizer are graduates of Freedom High School in Morganton. Anthony attended Oak Hill Elementary School through the fifth grade, said Cheryl Shuffler, public information officer for Burke County Public Schools.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family at http://bit.ly/2iPYSh7. The page says, on behalf of the Freedom High School class of 2002, a GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help his parents.
As you all know, now is the time to come together as a community and show support for Daniel, Brandi and their entire family, the page says.
The funding goal is $20,000. As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, it had raised $2,725.
Sharon McBrayer is a staff writer and can be reached at smcbrayer@morganton.com or at 828-432-8946.
Artists often develop new creative techniques late in life, often at the same time as they begin suffering from dementia. Some scientists suspect that it is the dementia itself that fosters ways of expression that havent been tried by the artists before. At the University of Liverpool a team of researchers wanted to examine this connection further by performing fractal analysis of paintings of famous artists. Specifically, they were looking for evidence of cognitive decline within the brush strokes of art works completed before and after the onset of artists dementia.
The team analyzed the fractal dimension of paintings and compared earlier works of a number of artists with their later pieces. Roughly speaking, fractal dimensions represent different patterns of complexity as one looks at artworks at different scales. Typically artists maintain about the same fractal dimensions between their works, an indication of their individual styles.
What the Liverpool researchers discovered is that the four artists studied who had known cases of dementia ( Dali and Morrisseau with Alzheimers, and Brooks and De Kooning with Parkinsons) had a marked change in the fractal dimensions of their works as their conditions set in. Three others (Chagall, Picasso, and Monet) who lived to old age seemingly without suffering from dementia maintained the fractal dimensions within their works.
Study in journal Neuropsychology: What paint can tell us: A fractal analysis of neurological changes in seven artists
More from University of Liverpool
by Karlene Lukovitz @KLmarketdaily, January 4, 2017
While digital media startups are hardly rare, its probably safe to say that few executives have co-founded, incubated and been instrumental in driving the growth of as many visible ventures as Josh Engroff has in 16 years.
Engroff selected as one of MediaPost's 2016 Online All Stars, in the media category currently balances two extremely demanding roles. On the one hand, he serves as managing partner of KBS+ Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of advertising agency KBS and its holding company, MDC Partners. On the other, he serves as digital media officer at The Media Kitchen, the media planning and buying arm of KBS, with clients including Vanguard, Victoria Secrets Pink, Vail Resorts, Stanley Black & Decker, Seventh Generation and Noosa Yoghurt.
In his three years at KBS+ an early-stage investor in martech, ad tech and SaaS startups that talks to 500 startups a year Engroff has led 13 deals in 10 companies, including Entrypoint VR, msg.ai, PlaceIQ, Indicative, AdsNative, Dextro and Mezzobit. Those deals ran the gamut of hot, emerging martech areas: AI and personalization, VR distribution, video analysis and computer vision, and mobile messaging, to name a few.
Its like having a front-row seat to the future, says Engroff who is relishing the chance to be a venture capitalist himself, having pitched innumerable VCs during his earlier career.
His path began in the late 1990s, working for friends at e-commerce startup Dash.com. The venture raised a huge amount of money quickly, which led me to believe for a short while that being an entrepreneur was easy, he shares.
But the company, hit hard by the crash of April 2000, folded about a year later. Engroff left with important friendships, including ones with Jeremy Levine (a VC legend now at Bessemer Venture Partners), Rob Goldman (head of ad products at Facebook), and Jeff Brooks (president of Huge New York).
He also left with a deep love of the Internet, a knowledge of programming and core programs like Flash and Photoshop, the insight that raising too much money could be as disastrous for a startup as raising too little, and an understanding that being an entrepreneur is actually grueling but a perfect fit for his personality.
There is nothing romantic or glamorous about being an entrepreneur, he says. In my experience, great ideas are a dime a dozen. The hard thing is execution. Its messy, unsexy and gritty. In fact, the one quality nearly all successful entrepreneurs have in common is grit: the determination and perseverance to keep moving forward despite physical, psychological, or financial pain.
Engroff warns would-be entrepreneurs that 90% of startups fail, and the 10% that survive take six to eight years, on average, to pay off with a sale or exit.
But relentless curiosity, along with a drive to create, keep the pain in context.
Creativity is about bringing something new into the world, he says. Creating a new company is a full-on commitment to an original endeavor that carries a risk of total failure.
Since Dash.com, he has co-founded three other startups. Two digital music company Jango and design consultancy Marching Ant are going concerns. Another, mobile programmatic DSP EveryScreen Media, was acquired in 2013 by Media6Degrees, since rebranded as Dstillery. He also led that companys mobile platform business unit for a time, driving 700%+ YOY revenue growth through product and business development, marketing, analytics and operational honing.
Engroff also spent a few years leading product and business development for Billboards mobile apps and online properties. (He won a National Magazine Award for best Web design for Billboard.com.) Later, under new owner Prometheus Global Media, he added digital oversight for The Hollywood Reporter and Adweek.
Engroff says his current dual roles at KBS+ and The Media Kitchen complement one another. Ive had the privilege of working with amazing people at some truly cool brands. Maintaining connections with clients keeps me tuned into marketers real challenges, he says. This helps me vet whether the startups were talking to are actually solving real problems.
Under his digital media leadership, The Media Kitchen won MediaPost's Mobile Agency of the Year in both 2015 and 2016, and Programmatic Agency of the Year in 2014.
He and his team contribute a winning media edge to numerous successful campaigns each year. In 2016, examples included a Noosa tool on Spotify that is inspiring thousands of consumers to generate custom playlists, and a campaign for the Justice tween fashion brand that generated 96% of its sales revenue and conversions from Instagram and Facebook.
In addition, Engroff plays a critical thought leadership role at the agency which, under president Barry Lowenthal, this year focused on emerging issues and areas, including VRs distribution problem, local programmatic TV, the Snapchat API, the bot problem, AI, and mobiles transformation of marketing, among others.
His influence is also very much felt In the broader industry. Hes a prolific, insightful writer for MediaPost and other business media, and hosts the annual Digital Media Venture Capital Conference, which attracts the biggest names in VC and Silicon Valley.
MediaPost's 2016 Online All Stars, celebrating nine outstanding achievers in online media, advertising and marketing, will be celebrated at an awards presentation on Jan. 19, in New York City.
, Tuesday, January 3, 2017 7:08 AM
French workers are no longer required to check their work email after work. The new right to disconnect law has gone into effect, protecting workers from being over worked by keeping in touch with their companies at all times. The law applies to businesses with more than 50 employees.
Read the whole story at
by Tanya Gazdik , January 4, 2017
Quaker is launching an ad campaign that celebrates its 140th anniversary, playing up its history and heritage in making oats.
The campaign, themed We are the good we make, includes two TV spots created by PepsiCos in-house creative team, The Creators League.
Heritage shows the connection between Quakers history and its future, reminding people that at its core, the company consists of millers who are dedicated to making quality oats. Creations is more food-forward and showcases the power of the oat, and how a little bit of creativity and a personal touch can transform its blank canvas into a meal.
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The spots broke January 2 and will air across broadcast and cable networks including ABC, NBC, E!, TBS, HGTV, Food Network and Bravo.
The campaign is similar to the brands previous campaign, which ran for more than a year, in that they both focus on how there is a window of opportunity in the mornings to help positively influence the rest of the day, and Quaker wants to play a role in helping families make the most of that time.
Off You Go used creative storytelling to emotionally illustrate this idea, while We are the good we make taps into Quakers history as leaders in breakfast and how oats are a blank canvas that can deliver a creative, delicious and nourishing start to the day, says Paige Corbett, Quaker marketing director.
In a time when many people are finding comfort in getting back to basics, the We are the good we make campaign is meant to remind people that Quaker has been there from the beginning, since 1877, says Corbett tells Marketing Daily.
The creative treatment was anchored in characteristics that are intrinsic to Quakers core -- authenticity, warmth and familiarity, says Kristin Patrick, senior vice president, Creators League.
From the approachable casting to the uplifting, yet gritty music to the thoughtful way we feature the oats, the spots are meant to truly reflect the tagline in a meaningful way that pays homage to Quakers rich heritage and bright future, says Patrick.
by Jess Nelson , January 3, 2017
Eight out of ten B2B marketing executives predict artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize marketing by 2020, according to a December report by Demandbase -- but is it the key to unlocking a future without email spam?
Demandbase, an account-based marketing (ABM) platform, partnered with Wakefield Research to poll 500 B2B marketers from the manager level to c-level executives, at companies with at least 250 employees, about AI-driven marketing. The results of the study suggest that marketers are eager to embrace artificial intelligence, yet only 10% of respondents are currently using AI and only 26% of marketers are confident that they understand how artificial intelligence can be applied to marketing.
Education and integration concerns are the largest hurdles obstructing marketers with regard to artificial intelligence. Integrating AI into an existing marketing stack was the top-ranking challenge expressed by marketers when they considered incorporating AI into their marketing campaigns, with 60% of marketers selecting it as their top concern. Training employees followed in second place with 54% of respondents, while 46% of marketers said that interpreting the results of AI could be difficult.
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One integral component of integrating artificial intelligence into a marketing technology stack is data quality. Darian Shirazi, CEO and co-founder at Radius, calls data quality foundational and a prerequisite to delivering AI predictions.
Many companies have not addressed how they will ensure that the data their AI models are built on is high quality, says Shirazi. Data quality is key to pulling accurate insights and actions and in 2017, we will see more companies focus on solving the challenge of maintaining accurate, valuable data, so that AI technology lives up to its promise of driving change and improvement for businesses.
Although many marketers are still unsure how to incorporate AI into their marketing programs, that concern has not dimmed their hopes for the benefits that AI could bring. The top three benefits listed by B2B marketing executives in Demandbases study included garnering better insights into accounts, more detailed analysis of campaigns and expediting daily tasks.
Aman Naimat, SVP of technology at Demandbase, says the value of artificial intelligence in marketing lies in delivering more personalized conversations to customers and prospects by understanding their pain points, goals and ambitions.
This type of personalized communication eliminates the worthless spam that often plagues marketing today, says Naimat, referring to email marketing fatigue.
Each of a companys 10 million Web site visitors can expect to have a unique conversation with a brand based on their specific needs, says Naimat. From dynamic ad copy, to 1-to-1 emails and customized Web site experiences, AI will make hyper-personalization at scale possible.
Chris Golec, founder and CEO at Demandbase, also expressed how artificial intelligence could eliminate spam mail by automatically scanning out the bad leads and creating custom, personalized communication instead.
by Sara Guaglione , January 4, 2017
Former CEO of Robb Report Stephen Colvin has been tapped to lead Bloomberg Medias global events business, Bloomberg Live.
Colvin left Robb Report in August. The CEO position at the luxury title has been vacant since then, with the management team running the business, Brian Hermelin, managing partner of Robb Report parent company Rockbridge Growth Equity, told Publishers Daily.
In his new role at Bloomberg, Colvin will be responsible for expanding live event opportunities at the two-year-old division of the company. He will also identify and expand new monetization strategies for Bloomberg Live.
"Arguably one of the oldest forms of media, live events is one of the fastest-growing segments of the media industry and are critical to executing a successful, modern multiplatform media strategy, stated Bloomberg Media CEO Justin B. Smith.
Events, Colvin added, generate not only great insights and solutions, but also create opportunities for marketers to align their brands alongside meaningful conversations between global leaders, influencers and newsmakers, both at the event and on all the other Bloomberg media platforms.
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Smith told Politicos Morning Media that sponsorships from live events were up around 30% last year, compared to 2015.
We expect revenue to grow even more as we define our global events strategy under Stephen, he said.
Smith and Colvin previously worked together at The Week, over a decade ago.
Colvin has served as president of The Daily Beast and CEO of The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. He also helped launch Dennis Publishing's U.S. division.
Publishers Daily reported yesterday that the 40-year-old Robb Report is now co-owned by Penske Media Corporation and Rockbridge Growth Equity. The joint venture will focus on expanding the brand's digital reach, print subscription and distribution, event business and product suite.
by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, January 4, 2017
Broadband carriers are urging the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider its stringent new privacy rules, which require carriers to obtain consumers' opt-in consent before drawing on their Web-surfing data for ad targeting.
In a petition filed Monday, the trade group US Telecom Association argues that carriers shouldn't be subject to tougher rules than other Web companies -- like search engines and social networking services.
The rules, which took effect this week, prohibit Internet service providers from drawing on information about subscribers' Web activity and app usage for ad targeting, without their opt-in consent.
The regulations apply only to companies that provide consumers with access to broadband, like Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon. Online publishers, search engines, social networks and other so-called "edge providers" aren't required to follow the FCC rules. Instead, those companies generally adhere to an industry code that allows consumers to opt out of receiving targeted ads based on Web-surfing data. (The self-regulatory code also requires companies to seek opt-in consent from consumers before drawing on a narrow category of "sensitive" data, including financial account information, geolocation data and certain types of healthcare information.)
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The US Telecom Association argues that the rules rest on the "false" premise that carriers "are nearly omniscient and have greater visibility into consumer data" than other Web companies.
"Given the recent rise of encryption and multiple ISP connections per user, any given ISP has rapidly declining visibility into the details of consumers Internet usage and, in some respects, less visibility than leading social media platforms, search engines, and data brokers," US Telecom asserts in its 25-page petition.
That argument isn't new. The carriers have claimed for many months that they have no unique insight into consumers' Web activity. Last February, privacy expert and former White House official Peter Swire authored a paper -- partially funded by the industry group Broadband for America -- concluding that the growing use of encryption, combined with consumers' increasing reliance on smartphones and tablets, deprives broadband carriers of comprehensive information about their subscribers' Web use.
But others, including the consultancy Upturn, disagree with Swire's assessment. "Today, ISPs can see a significant amount of their subscribers' Internet activity, and have the ability to infer substantial amounts of sensitive information from it," that group wrote in a report funded by the Media Democracy Fund. "ISPs and the vendors that serve them have clear opportunities to develop methods of inferring important information even from encrypted data flows."
Broadband carriers aren't the only ones opposed to the new rules. Late last year, Google foe Oracle argued that the privacy requirements will benefit the search company by "hamstringing ISPs while allowing Google to continue to engage in invasive data collection and aggregation techniques, bolstered by its tight control of the Android operating system."
The major ad industry groups also petitioned the FCC to reconsider the rules. Those groups make several arguments, including that the new rules are unconstitutional because they violate broadband providers' free speech rights.
"The creation, analysis, and transfer of consumer data for marketing purposes constitutes speech," the groups say in a petition filed Tuesday. "The prohibition against the use of ... all web viewing history and app usage information, without opt-in consent, unlawfully restrains and unreasonably burdens the ability of [broadband] providers to engage in broad ranges of protected speech," the ad groups argue.
The FCC hasn't indicated how it will act on the new petitions for reconsideration. But the rules faced an uncertain future even before the trade groups asked the agency to revisit the regulations, given that the two Republicans on the FCC said last month that they aim to repeal the net neutrality and privacy rules.
by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, January 4, 2017
Havas New York has just expanded its C-suite with the appointment of Jon Dupuis as the agencys first chief performance marketing officer.
As part of the senior leadership team, Dupuis has also been named a managing director at the agency. He joins Havas from Publicis Groupes DigitasLBi, where he served as EVP, marketing, leading the agencys American Express business in North America, across brand, acquisition and loyalty.
Dupuis is tasked with scaling and optimizing the agencys expanding performance marketing offering for clients within the New York group. The shops within that group include Havas Creative, Havas Media and digital and customer experience agency Helia.
The group also includes Cognitive -- which was launched formally earlier this year in partnership with IBM to leverage IBMs Watson technology to assist in creating artificial intelligence and other applications to help with development of tailored marketing campaigns for clients.
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Dupuis will report to Laura Maness, CEO Havas New York, who said he is a hybrid marketer with a deep understanding of creative, digital, data and media, and a proven track record for leading marketers through transformative growth and organizational change. His strengths are a great match for Havas, as we continue to break new ground in creativity using the tools of modern marketing.
During his seven years at DigitasLBi, Dupuis is credited with helping to develop some of American Express most notable digital-led platforms, including Small Business Saturday, Unstaged and Passion Project.
Dupuis also started a DigitasLBi relationship with Under Armour, helping the agency add Performance Media AOR duties under his leadership.
Earlier, Dupuis was co-founder of creative independent NYCA, an agency he helped grow from two people to a shop of 65 employees across 12 global accounts.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, January 4, 2017
In a blow to Comcast, a Washington state judge refused to dismiss Attorney General Robert Ferguson's lawsuit accusing the company of bilking customers.
The ruling, issued late last month, means that Ferguson can proceed with claims that the country's largest Internet and cable provider duped around 500,000 Washington residents into purchasing near-worthless "service protection" plans.
Comcast's plan -- which cost $4.99 monthly -- was supposed to cover the cost of all repairs, including fixes to "inside wiring," Ferguson's lawsuit alleged. Instead, the service plans cover only "a narrow scope of repairs," and specifically excludes most of the wiring inside people's homes, according to the lawsuit.
Ferguson alleges that Comcast misrepresented the scope of the plan protections on its Web site, as well as in emails and online chats with customers. The company allegedly collected $73 million in fees for the plan from Washington residents since 2011.
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From January of that year through mid-June 2016, Comcast's site allegedly promised people that the service protection plan would provide a host of benefits, including "unlimited covered service calls with no contracts," "hassle-free replacement and repair of defective customer inside wiring," and "confidence that if there is a problem with any XFINITY service, Comcast will take care of it without charging a service fee."
The plan's online terms and conditions state that it covers "all inside-wiring related service calls," but the last paragraph contains a disclaimer stating: "The plan does not cover the repair of wire concealed within a wall (i.e. wire that is wall fished)," according to the lawsuit.
Comcast had argued that the case should be dismissed at a preliminary stage. The company made several arguments, including that its service protection plans enabled customers to save "millions of dollars in avoided service call costs."
A company spokesperson added on Wednesday that the lawsuit "fails to demonstrate violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act, and in fact acknowledges that our customers have saved millions of dollars in avoided service charges with our Service Protection Plan."
by Barry Janoff , January 4, 2017
Has actor/comedian Kevin Hart been missing in action?
According to Nike, he has been gone since October, when he got an Apple Watch Nike+ and took off for parts unknown to fulfill his destiny as The Man Who Kept Running.
The new multi-media campaign with Hart is a follow-up to Nikes Time is Precious effort last month, which raised the question, Are We Running? or watching TV, taking selfies or fixating on celebrities.
The Man Who Kept Running transforms Hart from a Hollywood star to a bearded desert nomad, much like Tom Hanks Forest Gump when he was obsessed with running.
In the intro ad, Hart puts on his multi-function Apple Watch Nike+ and proclaims, Running just became a lot easier.
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According to the spot, The next day he vanished. Months, later, a film crew found him in the desert, 700 miles from home.
In documentary-type style, we then follow Harts progress from film star to a guy who lives off the land and converses with the animals, relying on his Apple Watch Nike+ to survive.
Ive been living out here for months, but my spirit has been out here forever," Hart says. "Running used to be hard for me, but then things changed when I woke up and started to hear this little voice in my head, asking me the same question, Are we running today? I started to answer that question: YES!!
Using his multi-functional Apple Watch Nike+, Hart fends off numerous obstacles including heat, lack of directions and loneliness to keep running.
On Day 75 he talks about survival methods. Looking at his watch, he finds the best time to run. Its 120 degrees now, he says, but at 4:30 it will be 119. Thats when I strike.
Day 86 sees Hart using his watch to communicate with another runner. My guy Mo just put in four miles, he says, looking at his watch and seeing a message from his friend, accompanied by a fist-bump emoji. I see you, Mo. You know what I say back to you: Fist bump. Fist bump.
On Day 95, the Siri-voiced watch sends him in the right direction, If you listen close enough, you can hear the rocks speaking, he says, mishearing the source of the voice. These rocks are full of wisdom. I got my rocks full of wisdom, and my Apple Watch Nike+ full of GPS wisdom. I also have my wisdom teeth.
On Day 98, he reveals his motivation to run. To find Kevin Hart, I had to leave Kevin Hart. Its not a competition with others. Its a competition with me.
On Day 99 he sits on a rock and talks about his New Years resolutions: Working on my beard, to motivate and inspire others, run every day, to have bigger calf muscles. His watch then chimes in, reminding him to get up and run.
Lead agency is Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Apparently, Hart enjoys journeys away from Hollywood. He appeared in The Road Trip spot, driving an RV with David Beckham for H&M this past September.
The Apple Watch Nike+ is a companion piece to the Apple Watch Series 2 with added features such as the Nike+ Run Club app.
Barry Janoff is executive editor of NYSportsJournalism.com.
Scientists at the Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC) at Osaka University, Japan, report a new group of monocytes they call SatM. Studies in mice show that SatM may be responsible for causing fibrosis and creates a new drug target for an ailment that has little effective therapies.
Fibrosis is a form of scarring that could if uncontrolled cause deleterious thickening of tissues. Although it is known that fibrosis is caused by an activated immune system, which specific cells are responsible continuous to elude researchers.
Scientists at IFReC may have found this subgroup, as they report in Nature a class of monocyte cells with strange morphology. "The cells had a bi-lobed segmented nuclear shape and many cytoplasmic granules. We therefore called them 'Segregated nucleus atypical monocytes (SatM)'", said IFReC Professor Shizuo Akira.
To identify this subgroup, the researchers looked at immune cell subpopulations that predominantly appeared in fibrosis. "These cells were regulated by C/EBP," observed Akira.
Detailed examination of immune cells showed that the C/EBP mutant mice, unlike normal mice, produced no SatM, whereas no other observed immune cell population was changed. The mice were also significantly more resistant to fibrosis. On the other hand, when the mutant mice were exposed to SatM, their susceptibility to fibrosis rose.
Although Dr. Akira, Dr. Satoh and his colleagues describe SatM as a subset of monocytes, SatM showed characteristics that suggested they were hybrids of different immune cells. According to Akira, gene analysis found SatM "showed granulocyte markers, but SatM are definitely not granulocytes. These cell type is one of monocyte."
Additional study found the progenitor cells responsible for producing SatM. Adoptive transfer of these progenitors into mutant mice unable to produce SatM resulted in a SatM population, and C/EBP was found to be essential for maintaining the progenitors.
The ability to isolate cells specifically related to fibrosis gives hope for new therapies.
"Decades of research have shown that immune cells are extremely diverse," said Akira. "Clear definitions of the subpopulations are essential for properly diagnosing and treating diseases. Our discovery of SatM should improve therapeutic strategies against fibrosis."
A new active pharmaceutical ingredient may help against severe forms of testicular cancer, which only respond inadequately to other therapies. In mice, the substance kills degenerated cells and allows testicular tumors to shrink. Researchers at the University of Bonn were able to demonstrate this in a recent study. However, first clinical trials are still pending. The work has now been published in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.
Testicular cancer is the most common malignant tumor disease in men between 20 and 40 years of age. It can usually be treated well. In some cases, however, the cancer hardly responds or does not respond at all to treatment. A substance that was originally destined to be an innovative contraceptive is offering new hope in these cases. An experimental drug with the cryptic name JQ1 blocks sperm maturation and was discussed to be a male contraceptive. Instead, it may be suitable for cancer therapy.
JQ1 belongs to a new class of drugs with far-reaching abilities: its members fundamentally influence which genes in the cell are active and which are not. The hereditary material DNA is similar to an extremely long strip of Morse code, on which the assembly instructions for the cellular molecules are found. To fit into the cell nuclei, this strip of Morse code is wrapped around small protein balls at regular intervals - the histones. Histones and DNA together resemble a string of pearls.
However, the histones do not only play a structural role. They also feature chemical tags - called methyl or acetyl groups. These tags signal to the synthesis machinery in the cell whether the strip of Morse code should be read at this point or not. "JQ1 inhibits those proteins that read these histone marks and thus changes the gene activity in the cell," explains Prof. Hubert Schorle from the Institute for Pathology at the University of Bonn.
The cancer cells react very sensitive to these changes: they activate a suicide program, called apoptosis. "In a testicular cancer mouse model, the tumors began to shrink after administering JQ1," explains the lead author of the study, Sina Jostes. "In contrast, healthy skin cells seem to tolerate JQ1 very well."
Especially effective in combination
Besides JQ1, other drugs that alter the marks of the histones are also known. One of these is romidepsin. The laboratory in Bonn was recently able to show that romidepsin is also very effective at fighting testicular cancer cells. Unlike JQ1, romidepsin is already approved for the treatment of patients with certain types of cancer.
"In our study, we treated mice with both JQ1 and romidepsin," explains Dr. Daniel Nettersheim, who helped in planning and performing the studies. "This way, we achieved a similar effect alike JQ1 or romidepsin treatment alone, but we could reduce the quantities of both substances. Such a combination therapy to treat testicular tumors may be much better tolerated. Chemotherapy-resistant patients could also benefit from this." However, clinical studies are now needed to move the treatment towards the clinics.
Besides scientists from the University of Bonn, the studies also involved researchers from the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) and Harvard Medical School (USA).
Looking at before-and-after photos, plastic surgeons and nurses can't tell whether breast augmentation surgery was done using conventional round implants or newer anatomically shaped implants, reports a study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
At least in the specific group of patients studied, the results of breast augmentation using round versus shaped implants are indistinguishable, according to the new research, led by Dr. Carlos Rubi of The IMED Hospital Department of Plastic Surgery, Valencia, Spain. The results suggest that routine use of increasingly popular "teardrop-shaped" implants is not justified.
No Visible Difference in Results between Implant Types in Before-and-After Photos
In the study, 30 plastic surgeons and plastic surgery nurses reviewed preoperative and postoperative photos of 30 women who had undergone breast augmentation with round or anatomically shaped implants-15 patients in each group. The two groups were otherwise similar: all procedures were done using silicone implants, placed under the muscle (subpectoral), with an average implant size of about 300 cc.
For each set of photos, the surgeons and nurses judged whether the procedure was done using round or shaped implants. The goal was to determine if the aesthetic results of round versus shaped implants could be differentiated from each other.
For all observations, there was about a 50-50 chance that the surgeons and nurses could correctly identify the type of implant used. There was a lack of agreement not only between different raters, but also for individual raters comparing the same images several weeks later.
Plastic surgeons performed slightly better than nurses in identifying the type of implant-possibly because they could deduce which type would likely be recommended, based on the "before" photos.
Introduced recently, teardrop-shaped implants have become increasingly popular for breast augmentation surgery. "A widespread idea is that the anatomically shaped implants give more natural results than the round implants," Dr. Rubi and coauthors write.
But the new study shows that even plastic surgeons and plastic surgery nurses cannot tell the difference between the final outcomes of breast augmentation with round versus shaped implants, in a group of patients with otherwise similar characteristics. The results add to a previous study that showed similar outcomes with the two implant types used for breast reconstruction.
The inability to tell the difference between implant types for breast augmentation questions the preference for shaped implants - especially since they cost more and carry a risk of complications related to implant rotation, compared to round implants. "The systematic use of anatomically shaped implants is not justified," Dr. Rubi comments. "Natural results are achieved with both types of implants."
Article: Comparing Round and Anatomically Shaped Implants in Augmentation Mammaplasty: The Experts' Ability to Differentiate the Type of Implant, Rubi, Carlos G. M.D.; Lozano, Jose Angel M.D., Ph.D.; Perez-Espadero, Alberto M.D.; Leache, M. Elena M.D., Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, doi: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000002896, published January 2017.
Patient satisfaction has become an important quality measure in the US healthcare system. But some plastic surgeons question the value of subjective patient satisfaction ratings - suggesting that they might even lead to lower-quality care in some situations, according to a special topic article in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
"Increasingly used as a measure of physician performance, patient satisfaction data can be flawed and not broadly applicable," comments ASPS Member Surgeon Terence Myckatyn, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. "While patient satisfaction is important, we think that better rating tools are needed to measure it." Dr. Myckatyn's coauthors were Justin Brent Cohen, MD, and Keith Brandt, MD.
Plastic Surgeons Question Value of Subjective Patient Satisfaction Ratings
Dr. Myckatyn and colleagues share some concerns about the trend toward using patient satisfaction ratings as a measure of physician performance. The focus on patient satisfaction is driven by the fact that the United States spends more than any other nation on healthcare, but lags behind in outcomes. Patient satisfaction is now among the quality of care indicators used in "pay for performance" programs tying financial reimbursement under Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.
But using patient satisfaction ratings in this way is having some unintended consequences, the authors believe. For example, some hospitals are upgrading their physical facilities and adding luxury amenities, in an attempt to improve patient satisfaction scores. "One could argue that these costly expenses have more to do with the perception of healthcare quality rather than actual outcomes," Dr. Myckatyn and colleagues write.
There are even anecdotal reports of doctors altering their medical judgment to improve patient satisfaction and minimize negative reviews - for example, prescribing antibiotics or strong pain medications to keep patients happy and move them quickly through the system. "Behavior motivated by patient satisfaction becomes especially dangerous when ratings are directly tied to compensation," according to the authors.
Meanwhile, it's unclear whether satisfaction and other measures of patient experience are correlated with traditional measures of health care safety and quality. Dr. Myckatyn and coauthors write: "The truth is that there is little high-level evidence to support that patient satisfaction surveys will provide Americans with improved medical outcomes, but there are plenty of contradictory data."
Some studies even suggest that higher-intensity healthcare is associated with increased patient satisfaction but also with increased mortality, with no impact on objective quality measures. While other studies have linked higher satisfaction to better outcomes, interpretation of these studies is limited by the fact that patient satisfaction is "inherently subjective and labile."
As a specialty, plastic surgery doesn't have a strong body of research on patient satisfaction and its relationship to outcomes. Yet especially for aesthetic surgery, plastic surgeons have always been attuned to the importance of patient feedback.
While they don't discard the notion of assessing patient satisfaction, Dr. Myckatyn and colleagues make the point that the rubrics currently used to rate patient satisfaction "do not consistently predict improved outcomes and satisfaction." They conclude: "What is needed are reliable tools that will take into account what constitutes superior quality in a more systematic, meaningful, and validated way."
Article: The Importance of Patient Satisfaction: A Blessing, a Curse, or Simply Irrelevant? Cohen, Justin B. M.D., M.S.; Myckatyn, Terence M. M.D.; Brandt, Keith M.D., Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, doi: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000002848, published January 2017.
A large global medical imaging equipment manufacturer is to begin production of Computed Tomography (CT) scanners in Russian in early 2017, pending receipt of final approvals from the Russian authorities.The company concluded contracts for licensing and sub-contracting the production of medical equipment (CT scanners) with one of the largest X-Ray equipment manufacturers in Russia.Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (TMSC; Otawara-shi, Tochigi-ken, Japan) signed the contracts with ZAO Roentgenprom (Moscow, Russia) under the Russian government's program to reform the entire Russian healthcare system to 2020. The government intends to implement advanced healthcare technologies, and to improve and expand the healthcare infrastructure including advanced diagnostic imaging systems. The Russian government is giving preference to medical equipment produced locally. ZOA Roentgenprom produces a wide range of medical X-Ray equipment including digital mammography Computed Radiography (CR) systems, digital fluorography systems, mobile X-Ray rooms, and related software.In September 2015, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation established the Russia-Japan Cardiac Imaging Training Center in Moscow, Russia, together with Medical Excellence JAPAN, as part of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry program to encourage international expansion of Japanese medical services. The training center is intended to provide diagnostic medical imaging training and contribute to improving life expectancy, and the quality of life in Russia.
On the New Years Eve, women were molested on the busiest streets of Bangalore by a bunch of monsters under the supervision of 1500 policemen who were deployed to ensure the safety of people.
BCCL
It resulted in a stampede with girls being groped, molested and pawed at.
BCCL
It was just another stark reminder that India is far, far away from being a safe place for women. We lost the battle for women's safety that wed been fighting for decades right there.
BCCL
Now, a video of a girl getting molested that night has surfaced and while its very, very disturbing, its important to be shown to everybody in this country. Because being ignorant is not an option anymore. Because its time India gets a much needed reminder about how normal sexual assault has become.
She was walking home at 2.40 am when the incident happened.
Watch her struggle as the two men molest and assault her, throw her on the ground and drive off. Because thats how much of a daily occurrence this has become. Watch this and feel ashamed of being a part of this country.
Rooster-themed stamps to celebrate the Year of the Rooster are displayed at a post office in Weifang, Shandong province, on Tuesday. [Photo by Zhang Chi/China Daily]
China Post Group Co will release a new set of rooster-themed stamps to celebrate the Year of the Rooster based on the Chinese zodiac.
The set, which goes on sale on Thursday at designated post offices, includes two stamps and has a face value of 2.4 yuan ($0.34). People can also buy them through the company's official app as well as on its online shop on WeChat, according to an announcement by the company.
One stamp features a running rooster, while the other displays a hen with two chickens.
Han Meilin, designer of the stamp set, said many artists enjoy painting roosters because of their colorful feathers, adding that the animal is the most popular topic of folk paintings in China, according to a report by China News Service.
Han said Chinese have a special affinity for roosters because their silhouette resembles the shape of China on a map. "The stamps symbolize family harmony," he added.
Han, 80, who is well known for his paintings and sculptures, said he is passionate about the world, children and animals, despite the fact that he is getting older.
It is the third time that he has accepted the invitation to design Lunar New Year stamps.
A sheet of 32 stamps with a face value of 38.4 yuan costs about 150 yuan on the company's website, while a private business on Taobao, a popular shopping website in China, is selling the stamp sets for 25 yuan.
The newspaper quoted a senior stamp collector as saying that the value of the rooster stamp set is less than the monkey stamp set issued the previous year.
The rooster is the 10th Chinese zodiac in a 12-year cycle, with the previous Year of the Rooster being in 2005.
The coming Year of the Rooster starts on Jan 28, 2017, which is Chinese Lunar New Year Day, and ends on Feb 15, 2018.
The rooster is said to be the epitome of fidelity and punctuality, as it was used to awaken people for centuries before alarm clocks were invented.
Chinese scholar Dong Qiang is selected as a tenured correspondent in the general section of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences in Paris. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Meeting celebrated writer Milan Kundera and becoming one of his students in Paris in the 1990s was a turning point for Dong Qiang, who may have otherwise stayed in France and become a "China expert" there.
Dong returned home and is a professor of French language and literature at Peking University. He has translated dozens of important works between the two languages and has remained dedicated to promoting exchanges between the two countries, particularly in the sphere of culture.
In recognition of his achievements, he was elected as a tenured correspondent in the general section of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, one of the five academies of the prestigious French Institute.
The 49-year-old is the first Chinese person to have been selected for the post since the academy's establishment in 1795. Britain's Prince Charles has been one of the foreign associates there since 1992.
"The tenure is lifelong. I'm taking the vacancy passed from French historian Jean-Louis Cremieux-Brilhac with great honor because he was the one who fought with General Charles de Gaulle and directed Free French radio broadcasts during World War II," Dong tells China Daily at his office in Peking University.
He has just returned from the French Institute's annual meeting in mid-November, where he was officially introduced as the new correspondent.
"I was welcomed by the honor guard with their swords up," Dong says.
This, to him, rivaled the memorable hours he spent with Kunderaauthor of The Unbearable Lightness of Beingat Paris' School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in the early 1990s.
"Kundera led me into a small room where several students already were. He hung an 'in recording' sign on the door and closed it, then started his lecture on music and novels," Dong recalls of his first lesson.
BAD AXE Newborn Megan Joy Manchester has three older sisters, but has already found a way to stand out in her own little way.
In the early afternoon of Monday, Jan. 2, Megan became the first baby born in Huron County in 2017. At 2:54 p.m., at Huron Medical Center in Bad Axe, parents Don and Laura Manchester welcomed their fourth bundle of joy into the world.
She weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces and was 20.5 inches in length.
With the birth, the family took home the annual First Baby Contest that the Huron Daily Tribune runs in conjunction with the hospital, where various prizes donated by area businesses are awarded to the winner.
While Megans due date was Jan. 8, her mother had other ideas on how the birth might go.
I had thoughts of a December baby, said Laura, with a laugh. Our first one was two weeks early, so I kept thinking any day for the past week.
Megan was welcomed home Tuesday by sisters Stacia, 9 years old, Breanna, 6, and Ava, 3. Stacia was born in November, Breanna October and Ava in June, so none of them were really able to make a run at Huron Countys first baby. But mom said the big sisters were excited at the possibility of their newest sibling getting the honor.
However, after Jan. 1 rolled by, the family thought the chance had passed.
I didnt think I would have a chance since it wasnt the first, it was the second, Laura said. So it was exciting to find out.
Previously from the Detroit area, the Manchesters moved to Pigeon six years ago after Don took a job teaching math in the Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port school district. Laura teaches piano lessons from the couples home, although with the new addition to the family, she will not be accepting any new students for a while.
The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen France SAS, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Suzhou Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel Ireland Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Brooks Instrument Shanghai Co. 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De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Ningbo Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology China Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. 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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...
The Marine Corps' crisis response task force for Africa was called upon to evacuate an injured special operations troop from Libya in a quiet mission never previously made public, the commander of the task force said.
The crisis response force, which includes some 800 Marines, including a reinforced infantry company, is capable of executing tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel (TRAP) missions, as well as embassy evacuation and reinforcement, and other quick-response efforts on the African continent.
During a six-month rotational deployment last year, which wrapped up as U.S. forces began conducting airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Sirte, Libya, at the behest of the country's government, the task force received a call to conduct the rescue, said Col. Martin Wetterauer, commander of the 8th Marine Regiment.
The U.S. has acknowledged that a small number of special operations troops have been on the ground in Libya to assist Libyan forces in defeating ISIS militants.
"It was a no-notice," Wetterauer said of the mission during a December post-deployment briefing near Washington, D.C.
The response element, stationed in Moron, Spain, was on its normal "N-plus-6" alert, Wetterauer said, meaning the Marines would be able to respond to a crisis within six hours. They received their mission between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m., he said.
"We got the call that one of our [special operations forces] partners had been injured down on the continent; basically, he ended up with something in his eye," Wetterauer said. "So we went through the planning cycle. We initially didn't know if it was going to be an Osprey/C-130 mix, or a C-130 CASEVAC."
Ultimately, he said, the unit learned from the special operations team on the ground that they would be able to move the injured operator to Misrata, in the northwest corner of the country. Based on that decision, he said, the task force opted to leave the MV-22 Ospreys in Moron and execute the rescue with a single C-130 Hercules aircraft.
"We did a C-130 flight directly from Moron into Misrata, tail-to-tail, picked the injured soldier up and then flew him to Landstuhl," Wetterauer said, naming a large Army medical facility in Germany. "And we saved his eye in the process."
The entire operation took 16 hours, he said. The task force team that conducted the rescue spent one night in Landstuhl to rest up enough to make the return flight, then flew back to Moron to await more missions.
In addition to the rescue of an operator, Wetterauer said the task force was "tightly integrated" with U.S. special operations during its deployment, collaborating with training as well as sharing capabilities including TRAP and quick response. In the coming year, he said, he expects that close collaboration to continue.
"Until Libya becomes a stable environment or SOF is not the only guys working there, I would say this is going to be a lot of what we're doing," he said.
-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at@HopeSeck.
Joseph V. Micallef is a best-selling military history and world affairs author, and keynote speaker. Follow him on Twitter @JosephVMicallef
With the future of the Assad regime now well in hand, the Kremlin has turned its attention to another former Soviet client in the Middle East Libya.
The "Libyan Political Agreement" negotiated under UN supervision and announced on December 17, 2015, was supposed to herald the formation of a unity government for Libya and begin the process of stabilizing a country that has been torn apart by four years of civil war. It did neither. Instead, the two rival governments, the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HR) and the Tripoli headquartered General National Congress (GNC), have continued their rivalry.
Both sides continue to function as the government of Libya; conduct separate foreign policies and, in many cases, field rival ambassadorial appointments. In the meantime, the Government of National Accord (GNA), which was to have replaced the two rival governments, has failed to establish its authority. Its territorial control is largely limited to a former naval base outside the city of Tripoli and it is continuing to steadily lose what little authority it had. The GNC originally endorsed the GNA, although in recent months it has turned against it. The HR never accepted the GNA even though its formal approval was a precondition of the original agreement.
Part of the impetus for the UN brokered agreement was the success of Islamic State (IS) in establishing a foothold in Libya. The Libyan branch of IS was officially formed on November 13, 2014. There were three separate branches of IS in Libya, corresponding to the three historic divisions of the country when it was under Ottoman rule: Cyrenaica in the east, Fezzan in the south and Tripolitania in the west.
The group's genesis was in the Battar Brigade, a militant group of Libyans that were fighting against the Assad regime in Syria during 2012. In early 2014, about 300 veterans of the Battar Brigade returned to Libya and organized the Islamic Youth Shura Council (IYSC). Bolstered by recruits from other jihadist organizations, the IYSC took control of the Libyan city of Derna. Starting in early 2015, IS gradually expanded its territory to also take control of the city of Sirte. This was the largest city controlled by Islamic State outside of its Iraqi-Syrian domain. At one point, it even appeared that if IS was defeated in Syria and Iraq, Sirte might become the organization's new capital.
The Islamic State in Libya steadily lost ground over the course of 2015. A rival jihadist organization, the Shura Council of Mujahideen in Derna, succeeded in expelling IS fighters from the city. Further east, Libyan National Army (LNA) forces loyal to Khalifa Hiftar, with assistance from French Special Forces, succeeded in expelling IS militants from the city of Benghazi. IS, however, continued to retain control of Sirte.
On August 1, 2016, in response to a request for assistance by Fayez al-Sarraj, the Prime Minister of the Libyan Government of National Accord, the U.S. launched Operation Odyssey Lightening to help government-aligned forces push IS out of Sirte. AFRICOM, which was charged with the mission, conducted "495 precision airstrikes against Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devices, heavy guns, tanks, command and control centers and fighting positions." It's estimated that there are between 200 and 1,000 IS militants still operating in Libya, either in cells in Libya's major cities or dispersed in the country's desert south.
While the immediate threat of an Islamic State takeover of Libya is, for now, contained, Libya is no closer to a resolution of its civil war than it was a year ago. In the east, the Libyan National Army (LNA), under the control of Field Marshal Khalifa Hiftar, has emerged as the region's principal power broker. The LNA supports the Tobruk-based House of Representatives and operates under its authority. Hiftar is supported by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and, increasingly, by Russia. The U.S. has repeatedly urged Hiftar to accept the authority of the GNA. He has refused to do so.
The Field Marshall is an enigmatic and controversial figure in Libya. A former general in Muammar Gaddafi's military, he took part in the coup that brought the Libyan strongman to power in 1969, only to break with the Libyan leader in the late 80s. He has longstanding ties with Russia, having received training there in the 1970s, but paradoxically also with the CIA. Hiftar came to the U.S. in 1990, along with 300 of his former soldiers, under a CIA sponsored U.S. refugee program. He lived in Virginia for almost 20 years and in the process also became a U.S. citizen.
Hiftar's Libyan National Army has succeeded in gaining control of most of eastern Libya and the main operating oil fields there. In September, the LNA took control of four critical oil export terminals in the Gulf of Sirte, Ras Lanuf, As Sidra, Zueitina and Marsa el Brega, as well as the El Sharara and El Feel oil fields, two of Libya's largest, giving him control of almost all of Libya's onshore petroleum production. On December 20, the Libyan National Oil Company announced that it had reopened oil pipelines from its western oil fields capable of delivering 270,000 barrels a day of crude oil, a 50 per cent increase over its current production. Proceeds from oil sales have been deposited into the Libyan Central Bank and are theoretically under the control of the GNA.
Arrayed against Hiftar and his Libyan National Army is a broad assortment of rival militias ranging in orientation from jihadist to so called moderates, although what that latter term actually means in Libya is anybody's guess. The most prominent group is the Misratan militia. Based in the Libyan city of Misrata, the group at one point numbered more than 230 different organizations fielding around 40,000 fighters. It's unclear what its current strength and membership is. It was members of the Misratan militia that led the effort to oust Islamic State from Sirte.
The Misratan militia supports the Tripoli based General National Congress and has been a stalwart opponent of both Hiftar and his Libyan National Army. Moderate groups within the Misratan Militia originally supported the GNA, but of late have become more ambivalent in their support. The LNA and the Misratan Militias have repeatedly clashed over the last four years. The Islamist groups that make up a significant portion of the Misratan Militia's strength oppose Hiftar's secularist and anti-jihadist policies, especially his belief that all Islamists are de facto jihadists, and have opposed any role for Hiftar in a national unity government.
The third major militia grouping is the Zintan Brigades based in the city of Zintan southwest of Tripoli. The Zintan Brigades are technically allayed with Hiftar's LNA and are considered "moderates" within the Libyan political constellation and have been fierce opponents of Islamist groups operating in Libya, particularly those aligned with the Misratan militias. The Zintan brigades have, however, maintained a truce with the Misratan militias and cooperated with them in the campaign to oust the Islamic State from Sirte.
In addition to the LNA, Misratan Militias and Zintan Brigades, there are a range of other armed groups also operating in the country. In the deep desert, there are Tebu militias that control most of the region south of Sabha. In the southwest, there are Tuareg militias that control several oil fields in the area. Both groups have been supportive of the GNA, but neither can do much to aid the unity government. In addition, there are is a range of jihadist organizations that operate independently, although at times they have collaborated with various groups in the Misratan militias. These groups include Ansar al-Sharia and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
At the moment, none of the major armed groups have sufficient strength to overcome the others. While the LNA and the Zintan Brigades collectively control a significant part of Libya, it's not clear that the Zintan Brigades would support the LNA if renewed fighting broke out between the Libyan National Army and the Misratan Militias. With the Government of National Accord widely seen as being on its last legs and a new round of negotiations to create a new unity government imminent, all three of the main groups have a vested interest in cooperating in the organization, and subsequent division of power, in a new government.
In recent months, the Kremlin has been ratcheting up its support of Khalifa Hiftar; describing him, as quoted in a Bloomberg report, as "a leading political and military figure" and as someone who is "doing a lot to fight Islamic State terrorists and help the government restore control of oil production." At the same time, Russia has criticized the UN organized unity government as ineffective and urged UN envoy Martin Kobler to find a prominent role for Hiftar in Libya's government.
Hiftar has been to Moscow twice in the past six months for high level meetings with the Russian Defense and Foreign Ministers. Russia has been providing military advice and training as well as "military experts" to the Libyan National Army, but insists that it has observed the UN mandated arms embargo to supply arms to anyone other than for the UN sponsored Government of National Accord.
During the Gaddafi regime, Libya was a major purchaser of Soviet and Russian arms. It's estimated that the Libyan Revolution that overthrew Gaddafi cost Russia some four billion dollars in contracted arms deals. In addition, during the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet Union operated military bases in Libya, including access to the Okba Ben Nafi airfield (now Methega Airport), the former Wheelus air base operated by the United States in the 1950s and 60s. It's possible that Russia is again looking for access to military bases in Libya, as well as restoring its influence with a former Soviet client.
Libya is not Syria and Hiftar is not another Assad. Nonetheless, there are important and unmistakable parallels between the two countries. Both nations have been torn apart by a ruthless civil war, a war that has created spaces for jihadist organizations in general and Islamic State, in particular, to thrive. Both wars have created waves of refugees that are sweeping into Europe and creating domestic and political disruptions there. Both wars have destabilized their surrounding regions, drawn in jihadists from neighboring countries and facilitated the proliferations of arms to local militant groups.
Both countries were former Soviet clients and, in both cases, Russia has aligned itself with military strongmen, while the U.S. and its allies have sought to identify moderate political forces around which it could build broader coalitions. In Libya's case, unlike in Syria, the U.S. played a prominent role in overthrowing Gaddafi and in setting off the chain of events that would plunge Libya into civil war and political chaos.
Hiftar is by no means assured to emerge as Libya's strongman. His control of eastern Libya and its oil fields, the support of the Libyan National Army as well as Russia's backing makes him a strong contender; especially given the fragmentation and disunity of his potential opposition. Nonetheless, it's unlikely that his opponents will willingly concede to his control of Libya and such a gambit will likely precipitate continued fighting and bloodshed. In the meantime, Moscow spins its webs and bides its time.
-- If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration.
Turkish officials made a veiled threat Tuesday to ground U.S. warplanes at Incirlik Air Base over the U.S. denial of air support for the Turkish military inside Syria.
The officials questioned the value of having the U.S. fly missions out of Incirlik in southeastern Turkey against ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq while Turkish forces are struggling to take the ISIS-held Syrian town of al-Bab.
"This is leading to serious disappointment in Turkish public opinion," Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said, adding that "this is leading to questions over Incirlik," Turkey's Anadolu news agency reported.
To avoid repercussions that could affect Incirlik operations, Isik called on the U.S. to "start to provide the aerial support and other support that the [Turkish military] needs" to take al-Bab, which would also drive a wedge between Syrian Kurdish militias supported by the U.S. in actions against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
U.S. Air Force Col. John Dorrian said Wednesday than any actions by Turkey to shut down or limit U.S. air operations out of Incirlik would be disastrous for the U.S. anti-ISIS campaign now focused in Syria on the drive by a mixed Syrian Kurdish and Arab force against Raqqa, the self-proclaimed ISIS capital.
"It's absolutely invaluable," Dorrian, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, said of Incirlik. "Really, the entire world has been made safer by the operations that have been conducted there."
Turkey briefly closed its airspace to U.S. operations out of Incirlik last July and cut off power to the base during the failed military coup against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan when suspicions ran high among Turkish officials that the U.S. may have supported rebels within the military.
Turkish pilots supporting the coup attempt took off from Incirlik and bombed Ankara, including the parliament building. As the coup attempt failed, a high-ranking Turkish officer walked across the Incirlik airfield and tried to turn himself into the U.S. military to seek asylum. His request was rejected, and he was arrested by Turkish authorities.
On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, "The U.S. is a very important ally for us. We have cooperation in every field, but there is the reality of a confidence crisis in the relationship at the moment" over Incirlik and the al-Bab offensive, which Turkey has named Operation Euphrates Shield.
He said, "Our people ask, 'Why are they [the U.S. and coalition warplanes] using the Incirlik air base' " if they won't back up Turkish forces against ISIS and the Kurdish militias considered terrorists by Turkey? "What purpose are you serving if you do not provide aerial support against Daesh [an Arabic acronym for ISIS] in the most sensitive operation for us?"
U.S. officials have acknowledged withholding airstrikes from the al-Bab offensive while maintaining overall support for Turkey's anti-ISIS efforts inside Syria, aimed at sealing off border areas.
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said Tuesday that U.S. aircraft flew near al-Bab on Monday but did not conduct any strikes. In a briefing from Baghdad to the Pentagon on Wednesday, Dorrian suggested that weather and poor intelligence on the disposition of friendly forces may have been a factors in the decision not to attack.
"The cardinal rule of air support is to do no harm," Dorrian said, adding that the aircrews may not have had "good fidelity" on enemy positions. The result was "a show of force that was conducted at the request of Turkish forces operating on the ground," he said.
There were ongoing discussions at higher levels "to increase the support and operations" by the U.S. military to back Turkish forces, but "I can't get ahead of those discussions," Dorrian said.
"I don't have the details to offer you about what the way forward will be in al-Bab. But I do know there has been some good discussion on that, and Turkey is aware of that discussion," he said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction in 1951 of what was to become Incirlik Air Base, and U.S. and Turkish air forces signed an agreement in 1954 for joint use of the base. Incirlik long served as a deterrent to the then-Soviet Union and as a staging base for U.S. operations in the Mideast.
The U.S. Air Force will neither confirm nor deny that nuclear weapons are stored at the base. About 5,000 U.S. service members, mostly Air Force, are based at Incirlik; they are currently confined to the base because of unrest in the region. The U.S. last year withdrew military families from Turkey, and the State Department has also sent home non-essential personnel.
The tensions over al-Bab and Incirlik have only added to the downward spiral of relations between the U.S. and NATO ally Turkey, marked by Erdogan's new alliance with Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring about a ceasefire and peace talks to end Syria's nearly six-year-old civil war.
The U.S. was not invited to a Moscow meeting last month of the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran that led to Putin's announcement last week of the ceasefire and possible peace talks later this month in Astana, Kazakhstan, with rebel groups. However, continued attacks and barrel bombing by the Syrian air force led rebel groups to suspend their agreement to further negotiations.
Turkey has also been angered by what it sees as U.S. foot-dragging on its extradition request for exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, now living in Pennsylvania. Erdogan has blamed Gulen for fomenting the July coup attempt.
In addition, Erdogan has bridled at U.S. support for the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the YPG, or People's Protection Units. The YPG has proven to be the most effective fighting force against ISIS in Syria, but Erdogan considers it an arm of the Kurdish PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, which has been branded a terrorist group by the U.S. and Turkey.
A senior U.S. military official, speaking on background last month, said that the Turks "hate that we support" the YPG.
Erdogan and other Turkish officials have charged that the U.S. is supplying weapons to the YPG. The U.S., while acknowledging support for the YPG, has denied giving them recent supplies of weapons.
-- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com.
Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead is making an appearance at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12 at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, 911 N. University Ave. to talk about his new book, The Underground Railroad.
(Madeline Whitehead)
ANN ARBOR, MI - Author Colson Whitehead is returning to Ann Arbor to talk about his new book, "The Underground Railroad," as part of the University of Michigan's bicentennial celebration.
Whitehead has been to Ann Arbor on book tours a handful of times in the last few years, and is making an appearance at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, 911 N. University Ave.
"It's been awhile, but I used to go to Borders," Whitehead said. "It's a great book town, a lot of nice folks come out."
The event will include Whitehead reading aloud from parts of the book, as well as opportunities to meet Whitehead and have him sign copies of his work. It is free and open to the public. Literati Bookstore will have copies of "The Underground Railroad" available for purchase at the event.
The book idea came to him about 16 years ago, and was published in August 2016.
Whitehead received the National Book Award for fiction for the 320-page novel, and it has since been included in Oprah's Book Club and reviewed by numerous publications including the New York Times and NPR.
Ahead of the book reading Jan. 12, he spoke to the Ann Arbor News about his latest work.
Can you explain The Underground Railroad in your own words?
"A slave girl named Cora running away from a plantation in Georgia around 1850, making her way north and going through a series of allegorical adventures.
I was doing research before I started writing the book. It's hard to contemplate putting my characters through so much misery. It was a big moment to get past, realizing the depths of the brutality I had to depict."
When did you start working on this book, and what was your writing process like?
"I started working on it in earnest two years ago, and it took me about a year to write and research. Lucky for me, I'm a bit of a home body. Most of the big slave narratives and testimonials are all digitized and in the public domain. I do a lot of downloading and I don't leave the house."
How does this piece compare to other literature you have written?
"Some books are research heavy, some don't require research at all. My book 'Zone 1' is set in post-apocalyptic New York, a book of fantasy. This book ('The Underground Railroad') and 'John Henry Days,' both deal with history in different ways. It depends on what kind of book you are writing."
What inspired you to write from a female perspective? Was there a particular person you researched who inspired Cora?
"You pick the right tool for the job. I think a female slave presents one specific way of existing in bondage different from a male peer. I thought was worthy of exploring. It was time to mix it up, I've had a few male protagonists."
"Harriet Jacobs wrote about the complexity of being a female slave. I read that in college and I wanted to pay tribute to her experience."
Was there anything shocking you discovered while doing research for The Underground Railroad?
"Nothing I was surprised to learn. Once you hit puberty, you're supposed to produce babies. More babies mean more hands to pick cotton, more cotton to make money. You're enmeshed in the machine of slavery in a different way."
Any possibility of The Underground Railroad being adapted for a television series or film?
"Right now, it's being brought to TV networks by Barry Jenkins (writer and director of the 2016 film 'Moonlight.') If he found a place to bankroll it, he sees it as a TV mini-series. I would have some involvement. It would be nice to see what he does with it."
How has your work as a journalist shaped your work as an author?
"Being a freelance writer gave me the confidence to start writing fiction. I was getting paid and supporting myself by being a critic. That gave me the confidence to work on my own stuff. Working with editors, a piece a week, by collaborating with other people to be a better writer.
Learning how to sit down for five hours and having that discipline when working on books when no one is watching was really important."
Anything you can share about Michigan's part in the Underground Railroad you learned while researching for the book?
"Michigan was required to enforce the capture and return of fugitive slaves. When you're running from the South and going North, it's a gateway to getting out of the country. After the fugitive slave law went into effect in middle part of the 19th century, you could no longer stay in America as a fugitive slave. You kept running to Canada.
Michigan was part of the equation of where you'd find a safe harbor. With the fugitive slave laws, even if you'd been free for decades, you could be recaptured by your owner.
You're still in a racist country. How free is free, in the end?"
Strong December sales that rivaled pre-Recession years at Ford and GM are fueling some expectations that 2016 US auto sales will top the previous year's record.
Sales growth at GM reached 10 percent, according to company data released today, with fleet sales reaching the best levels since 2007. Retail sales, meanwhile, reached 249,983 units in December, marking a 3 percent growth rate from the previous year and the best retail performance for the company since 2005.
Ford's year-over-year sales went up 0.3 percent in December, marking a 12-year high. Its retail sales reached 183,454 units for a 5 percent gain and its best retail month in more than a decade.
"December marked Ford's best retail performance since 2004, with average transaction prices increasing $1,600 for the month - $1,000 more than the industry average," said Mark LaNeve, Ford vice president of U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service, in a news release.
Those gains by the top two biggest US brands by market share are prompting some analysts to say that they're anticipating a new US vehicle sales record in 2016, a year after a record was set at nearly 17.5 million units.
The success of Ford and GM contrast with FCA US sales data for December, which showed a 10-percent year-over-year decline to 192,519 units. Chrysler brands were down 32 percent, while FIAT brands were down 54 percent.
Meanwhile, Toyota- the third largest-selling brand in the US - posted 2 percent gains in December.
Analysts and economists have been watching changes in US auto sales.
"Key economic indicators, especially consumer confidence, continue to reflect optimism about the U.S. economy and strong customer demand continues to drive a very healthy U.S. auto industry," said Mustafa Mohatarem, GM's chief economist, in a news release.
"We believe the U.S. auto industry remains well-positioned for sales to continue at or near record levels in 2017."
Others, however, warn that peak production won't last in the cyclical industry. Already, used car prices are poised to fall for several years as leased vehicles hit the secondary market.
"(Production is) going to start to come down," said Edmunds.com analyst Tim Fleming in mid-December.
Fleming noted that he and other experts are watching some key indicators in US car production and sales following 2016 sales trends.
Among them is the shift by buyers to SUVs from cars, as evidenced by the record-setting unit sales at Ford for the Escape and Edge in 2016. Ford sold 772,667 SUVs in 2016, "marking its best annual performance since record 2001 sales," according to the automaker.
At GM, Buick's U.S. retail sales grew by nearly 5 percent in 2016, led by the brand's crossovers, the Encore and Envision, the company said.
Sales include leasing, which Fleming said was topping 30 percent nationally for all units.
While an optimal proportion of traditional sales to leases isn't determined, Fleming said he's wondering if the number is sustainable.
"We're wondering what is the limit of what is healthy and sustainable," he said. "In our opinion, we might be past that point."
Automakers already have moved to cut production, which some of that resulting in job losses in Michigan. One example is GM's Hamtramck assembly plant, which is cutting its second shift in 2017.
The trims in production also should help curtail incentives, which Fleming noted increased by late 2016.
Another indicator is the mix between retail and fleet sales.
The December sales reports released Jan. 4 a strong showing for GM's fleet sales, including a 10 percent increase in vehicles sold for daily rentals. At Ford, the company reported a 9 percent increase in commercial van sales in 2016.
Retail sales drive higher prices, which is one reason FCA is existing that market segment. Its fleet sales dropped 34 percent in December, but fleet vehicles still accounted for 19 percent of sales.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Driving vintage cars in January from Boston to Detroit through Indianapolis, Grand Rapids and Traverse City may seem wrong to some preservation-minded car aficionados.
But that's not how William Hall sees it. He drove a cherry red 1957 Chevrolet Nomad from Indianapolis into downtown Grand Rapids on Tuesday, Jan. 3.
"Driving these cars may put them at risk, but confining them dooms them," said Hall, one of three volunteers who drove the Chevrolet and a red 1966 Mustang into town.
"Drive Home II - The Heritage Run" is sponsored by America's Car Museum of Tacoma, Wash. Volunteers drove the cars from Washington to the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit last year. The cars are being driven to this year's auto show from Boston - a 12-day, 2,150-mile road trip.
Absent from the convoy was a 1961 Chrysler 300G that left Indianapolis with them Tuesday morning. A broken rear axle outside of Indianapolis forced them to seek repairs while the other cars continued on to Grand Rapids.
The convoy includes a 1917 Simplex Model 5 that was once owned by oil baron John D. Rockefeller. The Simplex is being trailered to its appearances.
On Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., the convoy will be featured at a "Cars and Coffee Classic Car Show" at 47 Commerce Ave. SW. The event, which also will feature local collector cars, is being by hosted by Lambert, Edwards and Associates.
Weather permitting, the convoy will leave Grand Rapids for Traverse City in the afternoon, where they will visit the headquarters of The Hagerty Group, a company that provides insurance for collector cars.
While the collector cars are valuable, Hall said they not "concours" level restorations that are meant to be babied.
Instead, they are reconditioned cars that recall how simple transportation once was before computerized fuel injected engines, anti-lock brakes and air bags became standard features.
"There's a lot more connectivity to the road," said Hall of the big cars, which still have their manual steering and brakes but roll on radial tires.
The 1957 Chevrolet was hopped up with a newer V-8 engine and four-speed transmission with a floor shifter. With a stiff clutch and throaty roar, the big car tended to rock and lurch as it rolled through the city.
Rock Jenkins, a Seattle-based executive with State Farm Insurance and volunteer driver, said any mechanical problems along the way have been addressed by knowledgeable car buffs they've met during their journey.
For example, a windshield wiper blade that fell off the Chevy will be replaced by a collector on Wednesday before they head north to Traverse City, Jenkins said.
ANN ARBOR, MI - As a social worker at Ann Arbor Public Schools, Jonathan Stern says he sees the school community experiencing some "grief fatigue" following the loss of five students in just two months this past fall.
Stern says some students and staff are finding they don't have the emotional stamina to grieve over and over.
"So you'll hear students ... saying, 'I know I'm supposed to be sad. I know this is really awful, but I just don't want to go through this again,'" said Stern, who works at Pioneer High School. "I think that kind of does settle in, and it does for all of us, staff as well."
Stern and Community High School counselor John Boshoven - as well as other members of the AAPS crisis teams - have spent recent months showing students that everyone grieves in their own way. They created places at school where students could feel comfortable expressing whatever emotions they felt in the aftermath of their peers' deaths.
"It's a lot of work for kids to suffer something that they maybe have never experienced before," Boshoven said. "Many of them have never lost a grandparent, much less a friend, a colleague, somebody that sits in their class with them or went to middle school with them or whatever the situation is."
Stern and Boshoven - who have worked in Ann Arbor Public Schools for 23 years and 28 years, respectively - can't remember another time so many student deaths came in such rapid succession.
Huron High School student Laura Burns died at the age of 15 on Sept. 27, 2016. Seven days later, Pioneer High School student Jordan Klee, 18, was shot to death in Ann Arbor. Three weeks after Klee's death, Community High School junior Qi-Xuan "Justin" Tang, 16, was struck by a car while crossing Fuller Road the morning of Oct. 25 and died of his injuries.
Two weeks later, Huron High School sophomore Benjamin Pierce, 15, died after accidentally falling from the seventh floor of a parking garage in downtown Ann Arbor. On Nov. 28, Community High School sophomore John Kuhnke, 16, died after an accidental overdose.
The student deaths followed the loss of Skyline High School teacher Chris Peterson, 42, who drowned while kayaking with his family on July 3.
"These deaths compound one another. ... Every loss reminds them of the last loss that they haven't really gotten over or gotten past or gotten through," Boshoven said.
Rather than focus on "getting over" a person's death, Stern says the crisis teams try to shift the goal to returning to a regular routine. School administrators, social workers, counselors and psychologists that make up the crisis teams are available in the deceased student's school for at least a day after the death is announced. The team offers stress management strategies rather than grief counseling, Stern said.
"It's really designed to play into sort of the natural resilience that kids have," he said. "They want to be listened to, they want to express themselves, but they want to know that their world is still on balance. They're looking to return to the familiar structures and the familiar routines. ... I think what they want to know is that that's OK.
"There's sort of this sense that if I become OK and if I'm doing well, then I'm somehow dishonoring this person that I've lost," Stern continued. "I think part of that comes from this philosophy of getting over, getting past something. I don't think that's the goal. I think the goal is to return to functionality in some way - with the instrumental task of school, but it's also about being emotionally functional."
Offering emotional support to grieving students and staff over long periods of time is difficult for the caretakers on the crisis team, Boshoven and Stern agreed. Members of the crisis team may have known the deceased student personally, Boshoven added, so they're processing their own emotions in addition to helping others cope.
"I've been at this a very long time and I've learned to compartmentalize. But it's not an easy thing," Stern said. "Self-care is extremely important because the stakes are very high, the issues are very real and difficult and complex. So if you're not taking care of yourself, then you're not going to be able to do that."
There is no substantial difference in how teenagers grieve compared to adults, Stern said, but those unfamiliar with grief will have a different experience. Boshoven says that puts a "spotlight" on teachers and other adults as children look for models of how to react in a situation they may be experiencing first-hand for the first time.
"It's a matter of kids knowing that the most important adults in their life are available to them and ready to talk," Stern said. "Parents cover one domain of a kid's life, and we cover another domain. It's up to all of us to sort of look for the signs that this student has not been able to, like I said, return to their normal functioning and they are still struggling hard."
Ann Arbor Schools has a student population of about 17,000. Classes resume for the winter on Jan. 9.
Members of the Ann Arbor Public Schools community have come together to take care of each other especially this fall, said Superintendent Jeanice Swift during her report to the board of education on Dec. 7.
"One loss of life has a terrible impact on our schools and our community. And to have this happen again and again between Sept. 27 and then again just last week (Nov. 28) has been a tremendous toll on our students, on our staff and on our Ann Arbor community," Swift said. "Our hearts are broken as a community, and we are grieving these losses and that will not go away anytime soon."
In addition to the crisis teams' services, each high school has its own variations of peer support groups, outside agencies partner with AAPS to provide more mental health services and a series of parent forums on grief and loss is coming up, Swift said. She thanked staff for their continuing work following up with vulnerable students who are still struggling.
In November, Swift assembled a "superintendent's student advisory group" of 25 high school students tasked with planning an event to communicate hope and give students a chance to heal together. The group is coordinating an assembly that will bring together all 5,000 AAPS high school students to hear from guest speakers, pay tribute to the deceased through art and find a way to celebrate hope.
Darius Hall, a junior at Skyline High School, said the student advisory group thought of the event in terms of a band-aid versus stitches. They aren't interested in simply covering up a problem, and instead the students want to address the negativity - even if it's painful - so they can heal properly.
"(We want to) ensure that, you know, even though our problems may not be solved, this was a positive thing," Hall told the school board on Nov. 16. "It will continue to impact people as time passes. ... We want to make sure this isn't just an event that you attended, another assembly that has come and gone throughout our Ann Arbor Public Schools careers. It's something that we're going to remember for the rest of our lives."
A date for the assembly has not yet been set as organizers work to find a venue large enough to accommodate all the students.
"This has been a sort of extraordinary time, and I think we want all of Ann Arbor to know that we're all in this together and that we recognize that," said Stern, who is helping the student advisory group plan the assembly. "I think it's important for the district to sort of make a statement through this event that we know that there's been too much suffering this fall, and we want you to know that we know, and we're standing with you."
ANN ARBOR, MI - Along with the new year, the city of Ann Arbor ushered in a new legal minimum age of 21 to purchase tobacco products. Area businesses are now tasked with adjusting accordingly.
One store manager said he has already had to turn away a couple of people under age 21 attempting to buy cigarettes over the last few days, and he expects there will be more in the days to follow.
Bassam Beydoun, manager of the BP gas station and mini mart at 300 N. Main St., said he altered some of the signs inside his convenience store on Tuesday, Jan. 3, to reflect the new legal minimum age to purchase tobacco products in the city.
"You're in a college area and there's a lot of kids," Beydoun said. "Even in high school, they're 18, and when they turn 18, they like to buy cigarettes. Even if they don't smoke, they buy it for somebody else."
Beydoun believes some minors will attempt to buy only because they aren't aware that the new law, which went into effect Jan. 1, is in place. He says the city did not make him or his business aware of the change.
"They didn't even let us know, we knew from the paper," Beydoun said. "Ann Arbor schools are still out and those kids don't know what's going on. They're going to try to come and buy."
Retailers can be assessed up to $500 for selling to underage individuals, allowing for discretionary actions, including education and warnings.
"It's not worth it," Beydoun said. "We'll try not to sell (to minors)."
As of Sunday, Ann Arbor is the first city in Michigan to ban the sale of tobacco products to individuals under 21 years of age, joining a national movement that has touched more than 200 cities across the country so far.
Washtenaw County Public Health officials say increasing the minimum age of legal access to tobacco products from 18 to 21 was a move validated by statistics.
Health officials cited the example of Needham, Mass., the first city in the country to pass a Tobacco 21 policy in 2005, which then saw the prevalence of youth smoking cut in half in five years' time.
Dr. Jessie Kimbrough Marshall, medical director at WCPH, said the move will benefit Ann Arbor area youth.
"This new law will save lives," Marshall said. "Tobacco kills more Michigan residents than AIDS, drug overdoses, alcohol, automobile accidents, suicides and homicides combined."
National data shows that 95 percent of adult smokers begin smoking before their 21st birthday, according to WCPH, and over 10,000 Michigan children become new regular smokers each year, with a third of that group going on to die from the addiction.
Additionally, health officials say those under 21 have still-developing brains, which can make them more susceptible to nicotine addiction and to smoking longer.
According to the city, tobacco use among youth in Ann Arbor is a public health concern, as shown by the 9.2 percent of Washtenaw County high school students that report they have smoked a cigarette.
Backed by data from the Institute of Medicine, city officials believe raising the minimum legal age of access to tobacco products is likely to delay initiation and reduce prevalence across all ages, with the largest proportionate reduction emerging among adolescents aged 15 to 17.
The city is hopeful that the implementation of the law in Ann Arbor will spur neighboring jurisdictions and the state to adopt the policy as well.
KPK.AnnArborSnow.15
Snow accumulates on Monday, December 12, 2016 at Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor. Katy Kildee | MLive.com
(Katy Kildee)
ANN ARBOR, MI -- Hold on to your hat if you're going outside today in Washtenaw County.
The National Weather Service issued a hazardous weather warning for parts of southeast Michigan, including Washtenaw County for Wednesday, Jan. 4, with anticipated wind gusts as high as 45 miles per hour.
As cold air funnels into the state this afternoon, the forecast calls for winds to pick up throughout the day with gusts up to 45 MPH possible in some areas.
Along with the strong winds, some snow showers are possible with temperatures topping out at 24 degrees. Expect the temperature to drop this afternoon and by the evening, a low of 13 degrees is anticipated with a wind chill of -2 degrees.
Thursday calls for similar temperatures with a 30 percent chance of precipitation.
Screen Shot 2017-01-04 at 10.17.55 AM.png
(NWS Detroit )
Strong winds paired with bouts of snow could create for some hectic travel before noon Wednesday, Jan. 4 in southeast Michigan.
The National Weather Service reports that while the threat of snow squalls may vanish in the afternoon, gusty westerly winds could reach levels as high as 45 mph. The weather service issued a special weather statement to Detroit, Warren, Ann Arbor, Pontiac, Howell, Port Huron, Lapeer, Flint and Owosso.
NWS reports that snow squalls will persist throughout Wednesday, as visibility could be reduced to less than a quarter-mile at times.
"The combination of Heavy Snow and strong winds will result in localized white out conditions. Reduced visibilities along with snow covered and slippery roads will cause variable traffic rates throughout the area," the weather statement reads. "Motorists are urged to use caution and account for the variable driving conditions by slowing down and allowing extra space between vehicles."
Wednesday's forecast calls for temperatures in the mid-20s, a steady wind around 25 mph and a chance of snow showers throughout the day. Overnight, wind chill values could sink below zero as temperatures dip into the teens with persistent wind gusts coming in at around 35 mph.
An early look at Thursday's forecast calls for cloudy skies, temperatures in the low 20s, and wind chills near zero at around 11 to 13 mph. Snow showers or precipitation do not appear in the extended forecast until Tuesday, Jan. 10 as of now.
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Volunteers unload water behind First Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in this 2016 Flint Journal file photo.
(Flint Journal file photo)
FLINT, MI -- The state has dropped plans for an invitation-only "town hall" meeting to discuss the condition of the Flint water system after officials were questioned about restrictions on who could attend.
A spokeswoman for Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said Tuesday, Jan. 3, that "organizers of the town hall ... agreed to make the event open to the public" at the mayor's urging after city and state officials were asked about the program by MLive-The Flint Journal.
Information sent to one individual initially invited to the Jan. 11 town hall said attendance would be restricted and that tickets were non-transferable.
A live stream of the event was and is still planned so that everyone has access to information presented, Tiffany Brown, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Quality, said in an email to MLive.
Kristin Moore, a spokeswoman for Weaver, initially referred questions about the town hall to the DEQ, a co-sponsor of the event, but Moore said later that the mayor had pushed to open up who could attend the program.
"She feels everyone who wants to be part of the discussion should be since this water crisis has impacted everyone in the city of Flint," Moore's email said.
Brown said no one would have been turned away from the meeting until the Northbank Center at the University of Michigan-Flint was at its capacity of just over 300 people.
"It was important that we had a reasonable size location that was also conducive to a productive exchange of information," she said.
Coming one day after a "Flint data summit" hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Chicago, the town hall meeting has the potential to be a key development in the Flint water crisis.
A promotional flier says the meeting will "provide an update on the status of the Flint water system, explain the latest testing data and discuss steps moving forward."
A panel discussion is scheduled to follow the update from representatives of the EPA, Wayne State University, Virginia Tech university professor Marc Edwards, the city of Flint and the state.
The EPA data summit was organized for scientists, including Edwards, to compare the latest data from Flint. It is not open to the public or the media, according to the agency.
Brown said the state took on the role of co-sponsoring the town hall because of the potential for important information to come from the EPA summit in Chicago.
The Flint Cares Community Coalition is also listed as an event sponsor and Weaver is listed as host.
Information about the live streaming for the town hall is not available yet, according to Brown, who said the program may also be broadcast live on a local television station.
The Northbank Center is located at 432 N. Saginaw St. and the town hall is scheduled for 6-9 p.m. Jan. 11.
The meetings come as experts from the state and Virginia Tech claim recent testing shows a decrease of lead in the city's water.
Tom Dempsey, left, and Jim Saalfeld take part in the Kent County Board of Commissioners meeting inside the Kent County Administration Building in Grand Rapids on Jan. 3, 2017.
Cory Morse | MLive.com
A returning chairman
The first act of the new class of Kent County commissioners this year was to reappoint Commissioner Jim Saalfeld as the body's chairman.
After accepting the nomination, his first public address of the year looked back at the major accomplishments of 2016 and forward to the work to be done in 2017.
We got a lot done last year, Saalfeld said.
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An emergency communications operator takes a 911 call at the Kent County Dispatch Center in 2010.
File | MLive.com
911 surcharge
The newly-reappointed chairman listed four key accomplishments of the county government in 2016 during the Board of Commissioners' Tuesday, Jan. 3, organizational meeting. The first of those was the success of a recent ballot issue.
The 70-cent surcharge on telephone and internet connections, approved by voters in November, will help the county fund a multimillion-dollar update to its public safety dispatch system.
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Kent County commissioners take part in the Kent County Board of Commissioners meeting inside the Kent County Administration Building in Grand Rapids on Jan. 3, 2017.
Cory Morse | MLive.com
County credit rating
Another major achievement in 2016, Saalfeld said, was that the county maintained its AAA credit rating for the 18th consecutive year.
Which means so much to not only this county, but to our entire community, he said. Including the city of Grand Rapids, which took advantage of that credit rating when they were working their flood project.
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Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids as seen from a helicopter Friday, May 16, 2014.
Cory Morse | MLive.com
Creating an airport authority
Saalfeld also pointed out 2016 saw the transformation of Kent Countys Gerald R. Ford International Airport from a division of county government to a separate airport authority.
The long-discussed transition was made possible after legislation permitting the change was enacted in 2015.
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Switch, a Nevada company that specializes in operating large-scale data centers, plans to convert the former Steelcase pyramid into SUPERNAP Michigan, a data center that will result in a $5 billion investment and 1,000 new jobs over the next 10 year -- provided Michigan adopts a series of bills designed to provide them with tax breaks.
Courtesy | Switch
Bringing Switch to West Michigan
One of the biggest single chances to the countys business landscape was the decision by data center giant Switch to locate its new SUPERNAP Michigan Data Center inside the empty Steelcase pyramid in Gaines Township.
Bringing them into the community was a big deal, Saalfeld said.
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Kent County Commissioner Board Chair Jim Saalfeld takes part in the Kent County Board of Commissioners meeting inside the Kent County Administration Building in Grand Rapids on Jan. 3, 2017.
Cory Morse | MLive.com
Four priorities for 2017
The returning board chairman also acknowledged there is plenty to keep county leaders busy in 2017.
This year, we have our hands full as well, Saalfeld said.
During his brief remarks Tuesday, the chairman listed the following four major issues facing commissioners in 2017.
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Kent County Administrator Daryl Delabbio plans to retire in July 2017. County Commissioner Chairman Jim Saalfeld, left, says leaders will take their time seeking a successor.
Matt Vande Bunte | MLive.com
County administrator search
First on the to-do list for county officials will be finding someone to replace veteran County Administrator Daryl Delabbio.
Probably the biggest thing we have on our plate is the appointment of the new administrator/controller, he said.
Delabbio will retire in June after more than two decades of service. The search process to identify his replacement overseen by a special subcommittee appointed by commissioners is already underway.
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Kent County in 2005 bought the building at 82 Ionia Ave. NW. It currently houses offices for the county's Friend of the Court program, the county prosecutor and the Circuit Court Probation Department.
Matt Vande Bunte | MLive.com
Space needs
Saalfeld also pointed to the countys ongoing space needs as an area of concern in 2017.
The county plans to market its building at 82 Ionia in 2017, which could result in a need to build new or lease space elsewhere for the offices currently housed in the building.
Delabbio has recommended the county set aside $920,000 from a $2.1 million windfall to help fund future county space needs, but that suggestion has yet to be discussed by county commissioners.
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Kent County commissioners (from left) Herold J. Voorhees, Dan Koorndyk, Stan Ponstein and Tom Antor take part in the Kent County Board of Commissioners meeting inside the Kent County Administration Building in Grand Rapids on Jan. 3, 2017.
Cory Morse | MLive.com
Task force issues
The returning board chairman also pointed to the five special subcommittees and task forces set up for 2017 and, in particular, those tasked with addressing issues tied to the countys Friend of the Court program, lead exposure in the county and the county land bank.
County commissioners also approved creation of the countys standing rules committee and the administrator/controller recruitment subcommittee when approving the creation of the five groups on Tuesday, Jan. 3.
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Courtesy | Kent County
Yet another budget
The final 2017 priority outlined by Saalfeld is one of the Board of Commissioners' most important responsibilities the development and approval of the county's annual financial plan.
We continue to be proud of the fact that we pass balanced budgets and do not run deficits at the end of the year, and Im sure that we will continue to do that this year, he said.
With limited revenue sources and ever-present needs, Saalfeld admitted there will be budgetary challenges ahead. But he expressed confidence in the his fellow commissioners and their ability to lead Kent County in 2017.
Im very honored to have your confidence, and at any time, if you have questions Im always available, he said. Just give me a call; Im happy to talk to you.
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KENTWOOD, MI -- A new plan from Kent County officials is aimed at addressing concerns of explosive methane gas seeping from the long-closed Kentwood Landfill.
Officials first detected methane outside the perimeter of the facility, located at 4900 Walma Drive SE, in August 2016. The county issued notices to 150 properties in the surrounding area.
Since that time, the Kent County Department of Public Works has offered free methane testing to those homeowners, and started work on a plan to recapture the escaping gas.
"To date, eight residents have requested methane testing in their homes," Kent County DPW Director Dar Baas said. "All eight were negative for methane."
The City of Kentwood municipal complex closest to the landfill is also tested regularly, Baas said, and testers have yet to detect any traces of methane inside those buildings.
Residents nearby expressed concern about the dangerous gas seeping into their homes and their water supply during a public meeting held on Aug. 31.
County DPW officials consulted with environmental health experts at the Kent County Health Department, who reported methane is non-toxic and dissipates quickly when exposed to air. But the gas is flammable, specifically when it is trapped in closed-in spaces.
County officials are working with engineering firm Golder Associates to finalize the designs for an expansion of the landfill's current methane collection system.
Those plans call for doubling the current system, which means nine additional gas wells and a second flare will be installed to collect and burn off the methane gas.
Engineers are currently determining the best placement of additional gas wells, and officials expect to issue a request for proposals soon.
Construction of the new wells is expected to begin before the end of March.
Homeowners and renters who live within 1,500 feet of the landfill's western boundary are still able to request free testing through third-party firm Fishbeck, Thompson, Carr and Huber by calling the Kent County DPW at 616-632-7920.
"Because conditions can change as residents close their windows this time of year, we are offering return visits to the homes that have been tested," Baas said. "Homeowners or renters within 1,500 feet of the landfill's western boundary are still able to request quick, on-site testing for methane at no cost to the homeowner."
Though potential methane exposure to homes in the area around the old landfill is a new concern, the issue in general is nothing new.
Methane was identified outside the landfill perimeter in 2009, when the new library building was being planned for at 4950 Breton Road SE.
Related: Membrane beneath new library will keep out gases from landfill
The Kentwood City Commission spent $45,000 on a polymer membrane designed to bar methane and radon gas from entering the building.
The 72-acre landfill, which closed in 1976, is one of 88 Superfund sites in Michigan monitored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Quality.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Grand Rapids Public Schools two new school board members were sworn in Tuesday, Jan. 3, along with two reelected incumbents during the school board meeting.
Kristian Grant, 29, owner of 12 Oakes, a downtown co-work space for entrepreneurs and program manager for the United Way's Schools of Hope reading program, and retired Kenowa Hills English teacher Katherine Downes Lewis, 73, emerged as the top two vote getters in a field of nine candidates.
Grant has a daughter who attends school in the district and Lewis has two grandchildren enrolled.
Four, four-year seats were up for grabs on the nine-member board on Nov. 8. Raynard Ross, won a second term, and Jen Schottke, appointed in March to fill the expiring term of David LaGrand, gets her first full term.
Board members Nathaniel Moody and Dr. Monica Randles chose not seek second terms.
The board elected new officers during its organizational meeting. Longtime board member Wendy Falb is now president, Ross continues as vice president, Schottke is now board secretary, and former president Tony Baker is treasurer.
In other business:
The school board approved shared use and service agreements with the Blandford Nature Center for its use by students. The provisions are generally the same as in previous years but the district now pays $32,500 annually to the center, up from $25,000, due to Blandford's rising costs, according to the district's Chief Financial Officer Larry Oberst.
There was a prelude to an upcoming board work session discussion on student reinstatement and the role of board members in that process. Board member Jose Flores continued his objections Tuesday to returning students, who assault an employee or another student, back to the same school because of the severity of the infraction.
But board members Maureen Slade, John Matias and Tony Baker, who have sat on the reinstatement panel for students seeking to return after a year or more absence from the district, said it is a rigorous process return. They said school staff does weigh in and some students are sent to others schools. Raynard Ross said it would be helpful to learn more about the process and discuss the potential impact on school climate.
KENTWOOD, MI - With her face covered by a scarf, the woman accused of threatening to blow up a mosque told a judge she was a devout Muslim - mistreated by the mosque, the jail, even her family.
Kari Moss, in disjointed statement in court, claimed to be a Shiite Muslim, and said the mosque is Sunni.
"They want to kill us in Iraq," Moss said Wednesday, Jan. 4. "They think we are kafir (non-Muslim). That's why they wouldn't give me the charity I asked for."
Kentwood District Judge William Kelly ordered Moss, 33, held on a $500,000 bond. Moss is charged with making a false threat of terrorism.
Kari Moss
Her mother, Charlotte Steigenga, said after the hearing that it should be obvious to everyone that her daughter needs mental-health treatment.
"She is severely mentally ill," Steigenga said.
She said that a mental-health worker recently believed her daughter was on the "brink of psychosis" and should be hospitalized. But Moss thought she was OK after going to an emergency room and being sent home with sedatives, Steigenga said.
"She thinks she's fine because she's been cleared," she said. "She said, 'I told you, I am OK.' ... She's very ill. She's not making any sense."
The mother said she was grateful Kentwood Police arrested her daughter without incident, despite reports that she had a handgun outside At-Tawheed Islamic Center, at 3357 E. Paris Ave. SE, on Monday, Jan. 2.
Moss "did threaten to blow up the At-Tawheed Islamic," Kentwood Police Officer Darrin Cline wrote in a probable-cause affidavit.
"Moss threatened that she had a gun and that if her demands were not met that she would blow up the mosque," the officer wrote.
Kentwood Police called in a state police bomb squad but found no explosives. Police did not find a gun, either.
The mosque was closed at the time but a small group of people inside heard Moss pulling at the door and answered, police said.
A mosque representative told the judge that Moss clearly appeared troubled. After the hearing, he and her mother embraced. He told her there was no ill will between them.
Steigenga said her daughter has suffered mental illness many years but is very intelligent. She speaks French and graduated from a university in France, she said.
Her daughter grew up Christian, and became Muslim while spending six years in France. Her mother said she uses the religion as a "crutch."
"She's not a devout Muslim at all," she said.
She hoped her daughter would get mental-health treatment. She expected her daughter's competency to be an issue.
"What she needs now is to be in the hospital," she said. "She needs a judge's order to get and receive the right medication."
She said she was relieved that her daughter is in jail. It's safer for her, she said.
Steigenga, a registered nurse at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, said other families suffer with mental illness, too. It is not an easy subject to talk about for most, she said.
She had feared her daughter in recent weeks but said she "can be a very productive member of society" if she is properly treated.
In court, Moss rambled while talking to the judge.
When he asked if she understood she would be back in court soon for a probable-cause hearing, she said: "What is that? It's OK. I'm a philosophy major. I'm not a law student like you."
Then, she complained about her "inhumane" treatment in jail. She said she wanted to be around other women but was in solitary confinement. She said she was fed pork for every meal.
The judge, showing patience, said he did not run the jail.
"There are a lot of inhumane things going on here, just so you know," she said.
"I'd like to press charges against the jail."
When told that her family had hired an attorney, she responded: "I'm a 33-year-old adult, without a guardian. Why is my family involved?"
She also vowed to spend the rest of her life in jail because her religion did not allow her to make interests payments for bond costs.
"And, I'm innocent," she said.
Betsy DeVos
President-elect Donald Trump calls out to the media as he and Betsy DeVos pose for photographs at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse in Bedminster, N.J., Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016.
(Carolyn Kaster | AP Photo)
U.S. Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos is set to go before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Jan. 11 for a hearing to determine whether she'll ascend to the post.
The hearing will take place 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017 at 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., according to the committee's website.
DeVos was announced as President-elect Donald Trump's pick for the position Nov. 23 - in a statement, Trump called DeVos a "brilliant and passionate education advocate" who will help reform the U.S. education system.
Republicans widely applauded the decision, while Democrats and public school advocates have criticized the choice because of DeVos' views on issues such as school choice, vouchers and Detroit Public Schools reform.
DeVos, whose husband Dick unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2006, is an advocate -- both in Michigan and nationally -- for school choice and charter schools. She serves on the board of the Michigan-based Great Lakes Education Project and is chair of the Washington D.C.-based American Federation for Children.
On the campaign trail, Trump pushed for greater school choice, including a proposal to pump $20 billion into expanding options for low-income students.
During Trump's Dec. 9 appearance in Grand Rapids, DeVos promised to "put kids first every single day" if she wins U.S. Senate confirmation to the post.
"This means expanding choices and options to give every single child the opportunity for quality education regardless of their ZIP code or family circumstances," she said. "The answer isn't bigger control. The answer is local control, it's listening to parents and it's giving more choices."
whitmer
In this file photo, then-Sen. Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer speaks at a special town hall meeting at Burton Elementary about the impact of Gov. Snyder's budget on Michigan families. Listening at right is Carol Hennesy, Senita Lenear, Tom Czerwinski and Brandon Dillon.(T.J. Hamilton | The Grand Rapids Press)
(T.J. Hamilton)
Democrat Gretchen Whitmer is officially in the hunt for Michigan's 2018 gubernatorial election.
In a statement posted on Medium and sent out to potential supporters, the East Lansing resident and former Senate Minority Leader said she was entering the race for governor to fight for greater opportunities for Michigan residents.
She said she remembered when Michigan was in a position to face and beat its challenges, but argued current leaders have "been content to manage our decline."
"Together we can build the Michigan we believe in, because we still have what we need most - the strength, the talent, the vision and the grit of the incredible people of this state," she said.
Democrat Gretchen Whitmer expected to file in 2018 governor's race Tuesday
Michigan Republican Party Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel was critical of the timing of Whitmer's announcement, since it was shortly after the end of her temporary position as Ingham County Prosecutor.
She likened a potential Whitmer gubernatorial term as "a disastrous return to the unsuccessful policies of the Granholm era."
"Michigan is looking forward to a brighter future and Gretchen Whitmer would be a flashback to the failed past," Romney McDaniel said.
Whitmer filed a statement of organization with the Secretary of State for the position of governor Tuesday afternoon, which allows her to begin fundraising for the election.
In 2013, Whitmer took her name out of the 2014 race against Gov. Rick Snyder's bid for his second term, citing her desire to spend time with her daughters, who were 9 and 10 years old at the time.
After being term limited out of the Legislature in 2014, Whitmer returned to work in private practice at the Dickinson Wright law firm in September 2015 and was later unanimously selected to replace Stuart Dunnings III as interim Ingham County Prosecutor until Jan. 1, 2017.
Another possible contender for the Democratic gubernatorial ticket in 2018 is U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, who was recently reelected to a third term in his Congressional seat.
In a May interview with MLive, Kildee said he was saving his decision until after the Nov. 8 election cycle and was working to determine whether or not running "is the best way for me to advance the things I care about."
Kildee spokesperson Mitch Rivard said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that the Congressman is currently focused on representing his constituents and will be making a decision in the coming months.
"Congressman Kildee appreciates the encouragement he is getting from across the state to run for Governor," Rivard said.
On the Republican side, the top names being circulated include state Attorney General Bill Schuette and Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, although neither have officially filed for the race yet.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Schuette said the attorney general would focus on Flint, supporting human trafficking victims and prosecuting criminals tied to rape evidence kits for the time being.
A judge ordered former Michigan lawmaker Todd Courser to undergo an examination to determine if he is competent to stand trial on a charge of perjury, according to court documents.
A Wednesday, Jan. 4, order signed by Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William E. Collette states Courser shall undergo an examination related to the issue of competency to stand trial at the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Saline.
Courser's attorney, Matthew DePerno, said the judge issued the order during a hearing in which DePerno was asking the AG's office to give him evidence in the case.
DePerno said he received 323 pages from the AG's office during the hearing, but claims there is more evidence the AG's office did not give him.
Michigan Attorney General Spokeswoman Andrea Bitely declined to comment, other than to say that the AG's office did not request the order for a competency examination. DePerno said he did not request the competency hearing either.
A message left for a clerk at Collette's office did not immediately return a message left seeking comment.
Courser currently faces a single count of perjury in Ingham County Circuit Court.
He originally faced four charges in Ingham County Court -- three misconduct and one perjury. He now faces only the perjury charge in Ingham County. One misconduct charge was refiled in Lapeer County, while the others were dismissed.
The AG's office announced in February 2016 the charges against Courser and former lawmaker Cindy Gamrat, who was charged with two counts of misconduct in office.
The charges against Gamrat were later dismissed Ingham County court.
The AG's office filed the charges in the aftermath of an affair Courser and Gamrat had while serving as legislators in the Michigan House of Representatives.
Michigan's schools earned a C-minus in a new report by Education Week that examined academic performance, school spending and how well students are put on a path to success.
The annual report, known as Quality Counts, shows Michigan ranked 34th in the nation and below the national average of a C. Michigan ranked 35th in the nation in last year's report.
Massachusetts was the top performing state in the U.S., earning a B. It was followed by New Jersey, Vermont and New Hampshire. Nevada came in as the lowest performing state. It and two other states - Mississippi and New Mexico - earned a D grade.
Michigan performed worst in the academic achievement category, earning a D. The category encompassed factors such as high school graduation rates, reading and math performance, results on advanced placement exams, and poverty-based achievement gaps.
The state earned a C in the categories measuring school finance and how well the state's schools put students on a path to success.
Here's a look at the grade assigned to each state:
Adam Stevens sentencing
J. Scott Park | MLive.comAdam Stevens was sentenced by Circuit Judge John McBain on Thursday morning to 25 to 50 years on the second degree murder conviction in the death of his son, Kian.
(J. Scott Park)
JACKSON, MI - With a murder trial on the horizon, the Jackson County Medical Examiner's Office has been ordered to accommodate a defense attorney's request to examine a sample of a deceased child's eyeball.
Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wilson on Jan. 3 granted a request from Adam Stevens' attorney that the Medical Examiner's Office to allow an expert to visit the office and examine a sample of his Stevens' son's eyeball, which was preserved from his autopsy from almost seven years ago.
Stevens, who is accused of killing his 3-month-old son Kian Stevens in 2010, is preparing to go to trial for a second time after his original conviction was tossed out by the Michigan Supreme Court.
Stevens' defense attorney argued that their medical expert can determine Kian's cause of death by analyzing the child's eyeball.
At a previous motion hearing, the defense alleged Kian Stevens was not properly intubated on his way to the hospital which could have contributed to his death.
Stevens' attorneys contend Kian was without oxygen for 32 minutes while he was being transported to the hospital, according to court records.
Wilson asked prosecutors why there was an issue with the Medical Examiner's Office not being able to accommodate the defense's expert to which prosecutors answered "they are not set up to do that."
A jury first convicted Stevens in 2012 of second-degree murder and second-degree child abuse, but the Michigan Supreme Court granted him a new trial last year because Circuit Judge John McBain "pierced the veil of judicial impartiality" and deprived Stevens of a fair trial. The high court ordered a new judge to oversee the latest proceedings.
Stevens is accused of causing the injuries that killed his son, who died Aug. 19, 2010 of what two doctors said was abusive head trauma.
After midnight the same day, Kian's mother Crystal Anderson found Stevens holding the boy upside down in the living room. He flipped the baby "back around" without supporting his head and gave him to Anderson. Kian was then gasping for air and limp, she testified in 2012.
Stevens contended during the first trial that he tripped or lost his balance while holding Kian and the baby fell, hitting his head.
The boy went to Allegiance Health and then to the University of Michigan Health System's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, where he died at 5:17 p.m. the same day.
Stevens is scheduled to return to court for another evidence hearing Feb. 10 in Wilson's courtroom.
The Michigan State Police Jackson post provided the following log of activities for Tuesday, Jan. 3 with troopers investigating 17 incidents and calls for service.
Operating While Intoxicated:
Jackson County, Parma Township: Troopers initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle for lane and speed violations. Upon contact with the driver, a 59-year-old female from Oak Forest, Illinois, it was learned that she was operating while intoxicated. She was arrested for the offense and lodged at the Jackson County Jail.
Flee and Elude Suspect Arrested:
Hillsdale County, Jefferson Township: Troopers have been attempting to locate a subject wanted for fleeing and eluding. The subject had fled from Troopers and had a warrant for his arrest. The subject was also wanted out of Fulton County Sheriff's Office for a similar offense. The subject was located and arrested and has been lodged at the Hillsdale County Jail.
Additional activities:
Troopers are investigating a criminal sexual conduct report in the city of Jackson.
Troopers are investigating a larceny of a handgun in Parma Township, Jackson County.
Troopers were dispatched to two separate traffic accidents in Hillsdale County.
Troopers are investigating a credit card fraud complaint in the village of Allen, Hillsdale County.
SOMERSET TWP., MI -- It would be hard to find a young firefighter in Jackson or Hillsdale County who wasn't trained by Fred A. Newton Sr.
He impacted hundreds of careers throughout his 20-plus years of public safety. And on Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 3, the men and women he trained gathered to send him off to his final call.
A traditional procession took place on U.S. 127 and U.S. 12 between his visitation at Brown-Van Hemert Funeral Home, 122 N. Steer St., and Somerset Beach Campground, 9822 Brooklawn Court.
"He really took time with his students," said Sam Eder, a Spring Arbor firefighter who was taught by Newton Sr. at the Jackson County Fire Academy. "It was fun. He brought a lot of knowledge to the table."
Somerset Fire Capt. Newton Sr., 66, had just finished a night shift on Tuesday, Dec. 27. He went out to his car in the station's parking lot, sat down and started it up, then suffered a heart attack.
Somerset Fire Chief Scott Friess arrived at the station about 8:15 a.m. that morning and noticed the captain, who appeared to be sleeping in his car.
The firefighters at the station checked on him and realized that wasn't the case. He was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital.
"He was a great guy," Spring Arbor Firefighter and Paramedic Mark Jamieson said. "I always liked him because he was approachable, he always had something to say."
The Spring Arbor Fire Department and Addison Fire Department raised a 20-by-30-foot U.S. flag 60 feet in the air over U.S. 12 during the procession. They were stationed outside of the Somerset Township Fire Department, 12715 Chicago Road.
Newton Sr. was well-known among the Spring Arbor firefighters, having coordinated the Jackson County Fire Academy out of their station.
"Fred was the kind of guy that at first you just weren't sure, but I figured him out," Spring Arbor Fire Chief Tim McEldowney said. "He was all business and he did a great job for Jackson County."
Before five years with Somerset Township, Newton Sr. spent 18 years with the Liberty Township Fire Department.
He also worked for Ford Motor Company in Livonia for 31 years, retiring in 2003, where he was U.A.W. Assistant Fire Chief for the Livonia Transmission Plant.
Newton Sr. was able to work with his son at Somerset, Fred A. Newton Jr., who currently teaches firefighter students at Lake Superior State University.
He was born in 1950 in Pineville, Kentucky. He then moved to Michigan and attended Dearborn High School.
After serving in the Vietnam War in the late 1960's, he married Mary Ann Prebes, who survives him along with two kids, five grandchildren, his mother, nieces, nephews and cousins.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Abigail Kopf, the Battle Creek teenager who survived the February 2016 mass shooting in Kalamazoo, is struggling in her recovery and faces "intense" surgery soon, her family reported on its Facebook page today.
The girl was 14 years old when she was shot in the head the night of Feb. 20 by a gunman who killed the four adults who were with her at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Texas Township.
Abbie was one of eight people shot and two who survived the gunman's rampage in and around Kalamazoo that night.
Although by spring she had regained her ability to walk and talk, Abbie's first health setback came when infection set in around a plate put into her head to replace a portion of her skull that had been shattered.
In June, Abbie was briefly hospitalized for treatment of an infection and the removal of a plate..
She was released from the hospital, but she was required to wear a helmet again for three months and was being treated at home with antibiotics.
In July, she was again briefly hospitalized for treatment of the infection.
She did not return to school in the fall, and has been tutored at home.
The Jan. 4 post on Abbie Kopf's Recovery Facebook page said Abbie "is not doing very well.
"She has hypotension, which means her blood pressure is very low," the statement read.
"Abbie is also experiencing speech issues and memory loss. We are also waiting for Abigail to get her new replacement plate put in sometime this month. The surgery will be a lot more intense than the last one."
Doctors will have to do a skin graft from her thigh and rotate her scalp to help cover the section where the bullet exited, because it did so much damage.
The post has generated hundreds of prayers and encouraging comments.
An online fundraising campaign has generated more than $64,000 to help with her family's expenses.
Bishop Paul Bradley
The Rev. Paul Bradley, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo, during a Mass at the Cathedral Church of St. Augustine.
(MLive file)
KALAMAZOO, MI-- Modeling peaceful family life, performing daily acts of mercy, and helping those who feel vulnerable and alienated -- especially immigrants-- were suggestions from the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo Bishop Paul Bradley's call to make 2017 a year of peace.
Southwest Michigan experienced unprecedented violence in 2016, including 20 homicides in Kalamazoo County alone.
In his New Year's Letter to the Faithful for 2017 Bradley detailed his hope for a more peace-filled year in Southwest Michigan, echoing the World Day of Peace message from Pope Francis.
"If we truly want to be faithful followers and joyful witnesses to Jesus, the Prince of Peace," writes Bishop Bradley, "that means that we should make every effort to remove violence from our homes. Let us commit ourselves in this way to being true followers of Jesus, which means refusing to entertain or engage in violent acts of any sort within our family relationships, as well as those other relationships in our lives."
Bradley reaffirmed the Church's commitment to support and protect immigrants and refugees.
"Let us be mindful of those in our circle of friends and family who may feel alienated, unwelcome, or frightened," he wrote, "especially our immigrant sisters and brothers."
Bradley called upon Catholics to "love our neighbor as we love ourselves" and to practice works of mercy every day.
The Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo encompasses 5,337 square miles of nine counties in southwest Michigan--Allegan, Barry, Van Buren, Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch. It includes 59 parishes as well as 23 Catholic schools.
Pope Francis' World Day of Peace message for 2017 can be found here.
cass county chase.JPG
The driver fled into a corn field; a passenger was detained, too.
(Courtesy Google Maps)
CASSOPOLIS, MI--A Cass County Sheriff's Office tracking dog and its handler caught a man as he fled on foot across a corn field early Wednesday morning to end a pursuit that began in Elkhart County, Indiana.
At approximately 2:20 a.m. Jan. 4, deputies were called to assist Elkhart County Sheriff's Department with a pursuit that had begun in Elkhart and continued into Cass County, according to a news release from the Cass County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies located the vehicle near Calvin Center Road and Williamsville Street and the pursuit was then led by Cass County deputies.
Authorities said it ended near the intersection of Birch Road and Teasdale Lake, where the suspect vehicle continued to drive into a corn field and the driver then fled on foot.
Cass County's dog Faust apprehended the fleeing driver, who was taken into custody. A 29-year-old South Bend man, a passenger in the vehicle, was detained at the scene and released with no charges at this time.
The driver then lodged at the Cass County Jail on preliminary charges of Fleeing and Eluding and operating without a driver's license. Names are being withheld at this time pending arraignment.
Cass County Sheriff's Deputies were assisted by Elkhart County Sheriff's Department and Bristol Police Department.
CASS COUNTY, MI - A 16-year-old Lansing teen died early Wednesday morning when a tree limb fell onto the truck in which he was riding on M-40 in Cass County's Newberg Township.
The driver of the pickup truck was injured and rushed to the emergency room at Three Rivers Area Hospital. His condition was not reported.
The Jan. 4 incident occurred at about 6:35 a.m. on M-40, south of Harvey Street, in Cass County's Newberg Township, according to Sheriff Richard Behnke.
Nicholas Hewitt, 16, was a passenger in a pickup truck that was being driven north on M-40 by Michael Rinehart, 52, according to the sheriff.
"Investigation showed that a pickup being driven by Michael Rinehart (52 years of Lansing) was northbound on M-40 highway when the vehicle was struck by a falling tree," the sheriff reported. "The tree seriously damaged the cab of the truck and fatally struck passenger Nicholas Hewitt (16 years of Lansing). The pickup then left the roadway and struck a number of trees."
Hewitt was pronounced dead at the scene. Rinehart was transported to the hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Behnke did not say if the two were related or where they may have been headed when the mishap occurred. He stated that both were wearing seatbelts and alcohol is not suspected as a caused of the crash.
Deputies were assisted at the scene by members of the Newberg Fire Department, Newberg Ambulance and the Michigan Department of Transportation.
MDOT closed M-40 between McKinley and Harvey streets at the M-60 interchange as rescue teams worked to extricate the injured men from the truck and clear the crash.
The incident remains under investigation.
Defense Attorney Shirley Burgoyne
MUSKEGON, MI - Convicted gang felon Maurtice Deshawn Poole-Knight is looking for a new lawyer to represent him in a murder trial, after a health issue stopped his previous lawyer from continuing his defense.
Poole-Knight, 20, is charged with open murder in the gang-related 2014 shooting death of DaQuaries Love, 17.
In 2015, a Muskegon County jury found Poole-Knight guilty of committing a "gang-related felony" but was deadlocked on the underlying felony of open murder. The judge then declared a mistrial on the murder charge.
Poole-Knight's former defense attorney, Shirley Burgoyne, had appealed to the Michigan Court of Appeals, Michigan Supreme Court and even U.S. Supreme Court all to prevent Poole-Knight from being retried for murder. All appeals were unsuccessful, with the U.S. Supreme Court in Oct. 2016 essentially declining to review the case.
But now, Burgoyne won't be able to represent Poole Knight for a different reason.
Judge Timothy G. Hicks said in Muskegon County's 14th Circuit Court Wednesday, Jan. 4 that Burgoyne wouldn't be able to represent Poole-Knight any farther because of her health.
"I don't know what Ms. Burgoyne last told you, but she does care about your case and she worked very hard," Hicks said.
Poole-Knight, is currently serving a sentence of a minimum 7 years 11 months at the state prison in Ionia for his earlier felony conviction. But Poole-Knight said in a court video conference Wednesday that he's working to hire a new lawyer through his mother.
Hicks gave Poole-Knight a few weeks to hire a new lawyer. If none are hired, a defense attorney would be appointed through the Muskegon County Public Defender's office.
No date has been set for the trial.
In addition to her dogged appeals, Burgoyne has been marked for her verbal sparring with Judge Hicks in the courtroom, once calling his comments from the bench "extremely obnoxious" and a "terrible insult."
LUDINGTON, MI - A little less BBQ. A little more smokehouse.
That's the goal at Q Smokehouse downtown Ludington.
In big cities, smokehouse joints have lines out the door at 11 a.m. because experienced patrons know they can only make so much of their mouth-water smoked meats - they take time after all, said Dave Diephouse, owner of Q Smokehouse.
The Ludington restaurant is similar to those places, he said.
"A lot of people aren't aware of the process," Diephouse said.
The Texas-style brisket sits in the smoker for 14 hours, the Memphis-style ribs for six to eight hours and the chicken for four hours.
Before making it to the smoker, the chicken is brined for 24-36 hours and then refrigerated for 12-24 hours. It's seasoned with a secret concoction.
That being said, customers can understand that it's not to just make more.
The smokehouse serves its meat dry, and provides a variety of sauces for patrons to choose from.
Q opened during September 2015, and had a good first tourist season during summer 2016 - running out of meat from time to time, Diephouse said.
"It's a great homemade meal - everything is made from scratch," he said.
Customers order at the counter, and can carry out or choose a seat inside, which expedites service, Diephouse said.
While Diephouse and his staff (21 during summer) never asked for tips, he said people wanted to give them. The tips are now collected into a monthly donation for local charities. More than $17,000 has been donated so far.
"You have to support the community that supports you," Diephouse said. "If you can't do that, there's no point in owning a business."
Q is open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday during winter.
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"Real talk: Daniel Rubin has a great little piece up wherein he chats with The Field Negro, the Philly-based blogger who sharply ponders all things black on a daily basis. (Seriously, if youve never checked in with TFN, you should: Its author, Wayne Bennett, is a fantastic read who can cut through bullshit like a hot knife through butter, which is a far grosser analogy than I wanted to make, but there you have it.)"
~Philebrity~
"One of the most precocious and hilarious Black political minds on the net. Ive been a long-time fan!" ~Asad Malik~
"..While most of what he writes is tongue-in-cheek, his space is a safe house for candid discussions about race, especially in the comments section, where people of all colors meet."
~~Daniel Rubin, "The Philadelphia Inquirer"~~
"To white people, Bennett's musings are like kitchen-table talk from a kitchen they may otherwise never set foot in. To African Americans, he is part of a growing army of black Internet amateurs who have taken up the work once reserved for ministers and professional activists: the work of setting a black agenda, shaping black opinion and calling attention to the state of the nation's racial affairs."
~~Richard Fausset, "L.A. Times"~~~
~Erik Hare, "The Twin Cities Daily Planet"~
"That's why I love the blog " Field Negro " so much. Field, as he's known to his fans, has the sense of reality that it takes to call out the ( CowPuckey ) of blame beating by those who are in positions of power and their lackeys. Because of his handle and his unabashed way of writing about racial issues, Field is often cited as a "Black blogger." What he is, however, is a first-class detector of blame deflection and an excellent student of history. If you want to write about the past and future of repression there's really no other perspective to take - which is why everyone should read Field."~Erik Hare, "The Twin Cities Daily Planet"~
411 On The Field field negro Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Raised in the house, but field certified. Jamaica is the land of my birth, but I consider myself a citizen of the world. I currently practice law in the city of "brotherly love". View my complete profile
"Half a century after Little Rock, the Montgomery bus boycott and the tumultuous dawn of the modern civil rights era, the new face of the movement is Facebook, MySpace and some 150 black blogs united in an Internet alliance they call the
AfroSpear.
Older, familiar leaders such as Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, are under challenge by a younger generation of bloggers known by such provocative screen names as Field Negro, thefreeslave
and African American Political Pundit. And many of the newest struggles are being waged online."
~Howard Witt-The Chicago Tribune~
"I had no idea, for example, of the extent of the African-American blogging world out there and its collective powers of dissemination.But now, after reading thousands of anguished, thoughtful comments posted on these blogs reflecting on issues of persistent racial discrimination in the nation's schools and courtrooms, what's clear to me is that there's a new, "virtual" civil rights movement out there on the Internet that can reach more people in a few hours than all the protest marches, sit-ins and boycotts of the 1950s and 60s put together." ~Chicago Tribune Reporter, Howard Witt~
IF YOU ARE BRAVE ENOUGH TO FLAUNT IT. Come visit my store on CafePress!
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business Kohinoor Foods expects imports from Iran to start soon Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Gurnam Arora, Joint MD of Kohinoor Foods said that exports from Iran had stopped since last three months. However, he expects Iran to start importing from India in January.
business Bull's Eye: Buy Godrej Industries, Sintex, Bata, Tata Chem, BEL Kunal Saraogi of Equityrush is of the view that one may buy Sintex Industries with a target of Rs 84.
January 04, 2017 The Enemy Du Jour Is Always Hacking Three pieces in the same leading newspaper show how little changes with "hacking" stories when the powers-that-are decide that some country is now the "enemy." 1. By NYT staff reporter Erich Lichtblau: Increase in Electronic Attacks Leads to Warning on Hackers and U.S. Safety Intelligence officials are concerned that a recent rise in electronic attacks against government and military computer networks in the United States may be the work of pro-[country] hackers and could signal a "potential crisis" in national security, according to a classified F.B.I. assessment. The assessment, prepared last week by the National Infrastructure Protection Center at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, warned intelligence officials that the attacks, which have been relatively limited, are likely to grow more widespread and "more dangerous" as tension over a possible war against [country] grows. American intelligence analysts say they have long been concerned by the notion that Al Qaeda could use computers to wage terror -- disrupting water treatment plants or nuclear facilities, for instance. Experts say the link between [country] and computer hacking may have been underestimated and poses a growing threat to United States security. "[Country] is certainly among the places in the world that we think a cyberattack might well be launched from," Representative Robert E. Andrews of New Jersey, a Democrat on the House Armed Service Committee who has been active on cyberwarfare issues, said in an interview. Mr. Andrews noted that computer attacks were difficult to trace and could be damaging, which he said met 's goals. "A cyberattack really fits [country]'s [leader] paradigm for attacking us," he said. 2. By NYT staff reporter Nicole Perlroth: Cyberespionage Attacks Tied to Hackers in [country] SAN FRANCISCO An elaborate, three-year cyberespionage campaign against United States military contractors, members of Congress, diplomats, lobbyists and Washington-based journalists has been linked to hackers in [country]. The campaign compromised the computers of some 2,000 victims and went unnoticed since 2011, according to a report to be released Thursday by iSight Partners, a computer security firm in Dallas. American intelligence officials have long said [country]'s hackers are a serious threat, [..]
...
[L]ast year, American officials said [country] hackers were behind a wave of attacks on several American oil, gas and electricity companies,that officials described as probes looking for ways to disrupt critical processing systems. 3. By NYT staff reporter Erich Lichtblau: Computer Systems Used by Clinton Campaign Are Said to Be Hacked, Apparently by [country] WASHINGTON Computer systems used by Hillary Clintons presidential campaign were hacked in an attack that appears to have come from [country]s intelligence services, a federal law enforcement official said on Friday. The apparent breach, coming after the disclosure last month that the Democratic National Committees computer system had been compromised, escalates an international episode in which Clinton campaign officials have suggested that [country] might be trying to sway the outcome of the election.
...
Clinton campaign officials have suggested that [leader] of [country] could be trying to tilt the election to Mr. Trump, who has expressed admiration for the [country]'s leader. But the campaign officials acknowledge that they have no evidence. The Trump campaign has dismissed the accusations about [country] as a deliberate distraction. The first piece was published on January 17 2003, the country is Iraq and the leader is Saddam Hussein. The second piece was published on May 29 2014, the country is Iran. The third piece was published on July 29 2016, the country is Russia and the leader is Vladimir Putin. Posted by b on January 4, 2017 at 19:46 UTC | Permalink Comments next page next page
The adversarial relationship between one in-town charter school and the local school district reared its head recently as the two sides again took swipes at one another over a proposal for a new school site.
Voices College-bound Language Academy, which has been operating out of a short-term lease agreement on the grounds of Advent Lutheran Church on Murphy Avenue, was supposed to go before the city council last month for consideration of establishing a permanent school on Juan Hernandez Drive.
That item was removed from the citys Dec. 14 agenda at the request of the charter operators, but not before a back-and-forth in letter form between the two feuding entities.
It has never been clear why the district would go out of its way to interfere with a school which welcomes the very population which the district has struggled so mightily to serve, wrote Voices Chief Operating Officer Frances Teso in her Dec. 14 submission to the city council.
Furthermore, Teso stated Voices is seeking to minimize its impact on the district by locating private facilities rather than district facilities under Prop. 39.
Morgan Hill Unified Superintendent Steve Betando claimed the charter leaders violated an agreement they had with them and took exception to their proposal to purchase a 3-acre portion of land located at Juan Hernandez Avenue, and owned by The Health Trust, to locate a public charter school that would eventually serve 505 students
The charter school never advised the district, or fulfilled its legal duty to meet and confer with the district, over the districts concerns or objections to its proposed purchase of the portion of the Health Trust Land, wrote Betando in his Dec. 12 letter addressed to Mayor Steve Tate and the city council. He requested the council table the item for 30-45 days.
In her rebuttal letter to the city council, Teso claimed that Betando misinterpreted the agreement in place and that they are under no obligation to meet with district officials at this early stage in the land acquisition process.
Your letter falsely claims that Voices had violated the settlement agreement by not meeting and conferring with the district regarding a potential private site, Teso wrote. Voices has not currently sought a (Conditional Use Permit) from the city regarding the relevant site, and as such has no obligation to meet and confer with the district regarding this site at the current time.
Voices has been working with city staff to locate several facilities options, according to Teso. However, they still plan to seek an early determination on the Tennant/Juan Hernandez site from the city council in February.
We are working with all stakeholders to come to the best decision for our students and families, and that will work with city plans and values, Teso added.
Voices and MHUSD settled a facilities dispute in May 2016. That agreement kept the charter school operating out of its current location off Murphy Avenue with the installation of two portable classrooms to meet its growing enrollment needs. Each school year, the charter adds a grade level until eighth grade. MHUSD also made a $125,000 lump-sum payment to the charter, which agreed to drop its complaint and waive all rights to facilities for three years through the 2017-18 school year.
Because the proposed site is adjacent to the districts Barrett Elementary School, the district believes that the potential traffic impact of the proposed project must be studied and considered, Betando continued in his letter. At the very least, the charter school breached its legal obligation to meet and confer with the district
The two sides had been battling over facilities since Voices won its appeal with Santa Clara Countys Office of Education to open a Morgan Hill school in fall 2015 and filed an initial Prop 39 request with MHUSD. Under Prop 39, a local district must offer fair and equitable facilities to an incoming charter school as long as space is available and does not disrupt any of their existing programs.
We will remain optimistic about our future discussions, however, even as the district appears eager to commence litigation even though Voices has yet confirmed the basic feasibility of the property as an alternative site, Teso continued.
This is the first public spat since the agreement was finalized last year. A pair of parents of Voices students brought the conflict to light at the Dec. 13 school board meeting, one day before the city council meeting.
Im here to express my disappointment and sadness for the continual actions taken by the district to keep us from having a facility, said Tanya Martinez, a Morgan Hill resident. The relationship between Voices and the district thus far has been a bit contentious and we as parents are feeling picked on and a little bit harassed by the district and by at least one superintendent in particular.
Martinez said district staff misled families living near Barrett Elementary School on the impact it would have as far as traffic congestion if Voices was allowed to build a new school in the same neighborhood.
The letter mentions that there is going to be a lot of traffic issues because of the possible proximity of the schools. But we would like you to know that our current school is down the street from Nordstrom and there arent any issues so far, added Martinez, who also asked for the district to work with rather than against Voices. Its real important to have your support.
However, Voices has never garnered support from the MHUSD board, which denied its petition prior to the county board giving overriding approval. The district then denied Voices initial Prop 39 request, which was later pulled by the charter leaders who refiled their facilities request only to settle on a temporary private location.
While Voices understands and appreciates the districts concerns, Voices and the property owner must make a preliminary determination of feasibility before such an application can be prepared, Teso wrote. This leaves ample time for representatives of our school to meet with members of your (MHUSD) staff as contemplated in the agreement.
A local officer recently was honored for saving a woman from a burning vehicle.
Officer Mason Eastwood with the Drexel Police Department recently was presented the NCADA Hometown Hero award by former N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory and the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association (NCADA) at a ceremony in Cary, N.C. held Dec. 13.
Eastwood was celebrated for pulling a woman from her burning vehicle Oct. 6, 2015. Eastwood came upon the vehicle and, after approaching, he was told by the driver, Melinda Corday, that she could not walk on her own.
Eastwood and a Rutherford College man, Matt Jensen, took action to assist.
Eastwood and Jensen tried to pick her up but ended up pulling her to safety as flames engulfed the front of the vehicle, Drexel Police Chief Craig Treadway said in a previous article. If not for Officer Eastwood and Mr. Jensen, the outcome could have been tragic.
John Greene of John Greene Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Morganton nominated Eastwood for his actions of pulling the Drexel woman from a burning vehicle.
The NCADA Hometown Heroes program honors local First Responders in North Carolina who make sacrifices to protect the public.
The NCDA Hometown Heroes program is designed to recognize those North Carolina Hometown Heroes who work to make our communities safe, Meghan Killela of NCADA, said in a press release. Local franchised car dealers have been working with their fire, police, EMT and sheriffs departments to honor those who serve their local communities.
Eastwood received the award from McCrory and Greene with his wife Kaylin by his side.
To all the First Responders, I just want to say 'thank you,' said McCrory. This is the best of North Carolina.
Eastwood spoke with The News Herald Monday about being awarded as an NCADA Hometown Hero.
I was very honored to get the award and I am glad to bring some positive light to law enforcement during a time where sometimes the most negative aspects are highlighted. Eastwood said. I just did my job and hope that any other officer in the same situation would do the same thing.
Staff writer Christy Traylor and can be reached at ctraylor@morganton.com or at 828-432-8941.
New Ratings
Barbara Claus
This income-oriented strategy aims to achieve high payouts monthly; therefore, the portfolio is split evenly among high-yield bonds, convertible bonds, and equities with covered calls. Compared with its category peers in the USD Moderate Allocation Morningstar Category, historic risk figures are generally higher because of the funds high allocation into risk assets. The process is designed to offer a higher yield than its income-oriented peers, and payouts result mainly from short-term capital gains. This, coupled with the poor transparency into the fund's underlying components, leads to a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Neutral.
BGF World Bond Bronze
Carlos Lucar
Scott Thiel, BlackRocks deputy CIO for fundamental fixed income, has managed this fund since January 2012. He also leads the firms nine-person global bond team that employs a disciplined duration-controlled, relative value approach here which aims to outperform the Barclays Global Aggregate Index USD-hedged by 100 basis points annualised over a market cycle. The strategy has a wide opportunity set that consists mainly of government and investment-grade corporate bonds, but it can also take small active currency bets occasionally. In our view, the backing of BlackRocks deep resources is an advantage here. Moreover, we believe Thiels relevant experience and long tenure at the firm, which he joined in 2002, further enhances his ability to exploit the depth of resources at BlackRock and underpin our conviction in the fund.
BNY Mellon Emerging Market Debt Local Currency Neutral
Shannon Kirwin
The funds two lead managers, Javier Mucio and Federico Garcia Zamora, have officially been at the helm for just 10 months, following the departure of former lead manager Alexander Kozhemiakin in February 2016. However, both have been involved with the fund for longer than that; Murcio joined as a comanager in 2007 and Zamora in 2013. Their tenure at the strategy has coincided with a period of underperformance, driven by unfortunately-timed duration and emerging-market currency underweights. Since taking over lead responsibility for the fund, the managers have tweaked the investment process to improve communication and idea-sharing within the team. So far, those changes havent perceptibly improved performance, but its too early to draw definitive conclusions.
Fidelity China RMB Bond Neutral
Don Yew
Hong Kong-based Bryan Collins has managed this fund since its inception on 7 December 2011. While Collins had no prior experience managing RMB bond portfolios, we take some comfort from his familiarity with Chinese issuers through managing Fidelity Asian High Yield, which has a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Bronze. He is supported by an eight-member Asian credit research team that is still expanding its onshore Chinese credit capabilities.
Although the investment process focuses on bottom-up credit selection and is broadly similar to that used at Fidelity Asian High Yield, we note that a key difference is the greater role of duration and yield-curve positioning as a source of active return for this fund. Hence, we need more time to see how Collins executes the investment process.
First State Asia Focus Gold
Germaine Share
Although this fund was only launched on August 24 2015, topnotch portfolio manager Martin Lau has run the strategy via the Gold-rated First State Asian Equity Plus since 2003. He has 21 years of investment experience and has proved to be an expert investor not only on this strategy but also on several Greater China mandates. He is supported by an adept and stable team of 17 that is one of our favourite teams in the region. Lau and his team steadily apply a disciplined and robust, quality-focused investment process, which has proved to be successful over multiple market cycles. Along with competitive fees, we believe this offering encompasses many best-of-breed traits.
Nomura Funds Japan Strategic Value Neutral
Don Yew
This fund has been managed by the highly-experienced portfolio manager Kentaro Takayanagi since its inception in January 2010. He has dedicated most of his 25-year investment career to managing Japanese equities and demonstrates deep knowledge of the Japanese equity market. He has managed the strategy at a Japanese-domiciled vehicle since July 2000, where he has delivered solid returns. He receives solid support from an experienced six-member team of portfolio managers dedicated to this strategy, as well as one of the biggest buy-side Japanese equity research teams in the category. However, with assets under management of USD 5.2Bn as of June 2016, this strategy is one of the biggest in the category. Given its flexibility to invest in small-caps, we are cautious on the team's ability to manage liquidity risk at such an elevated asset level.
Upgrades
Germaine Share
Veteran managers Robin Parbrook and King Fuei Lee have led this closed-end fund since March 2013. They have a longer track record at the strategys SICAV vehicle, Schroder ISF Asian Total Return, which they have comanaged since its inception in November 2007. They have spent their respective 26- and 17-year investment careers exclusively with Schroders, and we hold them both in high regard. They use a rigorous, quality-growth-focused stock selection process with a hedging overlay to mitigate market risks. They have used the process to good effect: the fund has comfortably outperformed the MSCI AC Asia Pacific ex Japan Index since April 2013, while offering unparalleled downside resilience.
The longer and equally impressive track record on the SICAV vehicle further strengthens our conviction. Overall, we believe the fund possesses several best-of-breed traits.
Stewart Investors Indian Subcontinent Silver
Mark Laidlaw
Increased conviction in the team and process behind Stewart Investors Indian Subcontinent have resulted in a rating upgrade. The portfolio management duo of Sashi Reddy and David Reddy have worked together on the strategy since 2009 and their insights are amongst the sharpest in the peer group. They also get strong support from the strong team at Stewart Investors. The process here has proven its worth over time. It is a discerning bottom-up approach with a key focus on sustainability which is seen through three lenses sustainable goods and services that have a positive impact on society, responsible finance, and required infrastructure. The track record is excellent, particularly during times of market duress. There are multiple strengths on show here.
Downgrades
Aberdeen Asia Pacific and Japan Equity Bronze
Aberdeen Asia Pacific Equity Bronze
Aberdeen Global Asia Pacific Equity Bronze
Mark Laidlaw
Our conviction in the Aberdeen Asia Pacific team has wavered, whilst peer competition has been getting stronger, resulting in an overall drop in our conviction levels. Both the Asian equities and the Japan equities teams have seen some turnover within the ranks over the last few years. That said, Flavia Cheong still leads a quality outfit, which is well resourced and flat structured, with many of the team having spent their whole investment career at the firm. Nonetheless, we feel they are no longer seen as one of the elite groups in this space. The investment process is tried and tested quality and valuation the major keys. Aberdeen is a patient investor who is willing to back quality businesses that are well managed.
A potential criticism is that the team hasnt always been critical enough when looking at the continued merits of some long-term holdings where the investment thesis has started to deteriorate. We are encouraged by the measures put in place by the team to help potentially alleviate this issue. Significant outflows, which are down from peak levels, has lessened previous capacity concerns. Whilst we retain conviction in the funds, we do feel there are more compelling choices available.
David Holder
Whilst we are reassured to see the return of Charles Montanaro as the driving force in the day-to-day management of this fund, we are concerned that shareholders have had a series of short-tenured managers here recently. This has been unsettling for investors and has led to small but discernible changes to both the investment approach and portfolio implementation. We feel it prudent to reduce the rating on the fund pending a period of ongoing stability.
Mount Pleasant, SC (29464)
Today
Sun and clouds mixed. Slight chance of a rain shower. High near 75F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph..
Tonight
Some clouds. Low 68F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.
This is the most competitive US housing market
Competition among homebuyers is the strongest in Seattle with Boston not far behind.
A report from Redfin shows that two neighborhoods in Seattle top the rankings of the most competitive markets in the US Factoria and University District with Bostons Washington Sq., and Prospect Hill in 3rd and 4th place respectively. San Franciscos Inner Richmond neighborhood completes the top 5.
The list is ranked by median days on market, the average sale-to-list price ratio and home price growth. In Factoria, Seattle for example, homes went under contract in an average 7 days, sold for 5 per cent above asking price and prices were up 26 per cent year-over-year.
Home prices continued higher towards 2016 close
Home prices were up again in November according to the latest data from CoreLogic.
There was a 7.1 per cent rise in prices nationwide, including distressed sales, compared to a year earlier and were up 1.1 per cent from October. The increase was supported by the low cost of borrowing but that is changing which slows the forecast for 2017.
Last summers very low mortgage rates sparked demand, and with for-sale inventories low, the result has been a pickup in home-price growth, said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. With mortgage rates higher today and expected to rise even further in 2017, our national Home Price Index is expected to slow to 4.7 per cent year over year by November 2017.
Home prices in 27 states are now at pre-crisis levels, CoreLogic says.
Mortgage insurer UGC sold by AIG
Leading private mortgage insurer United Guaranty (UGC) has been sold to Bermuda-based Arch Capital Group Ltd by AIG.
The North Carolina insurer had $186.4 billion of first-lien primary mortgage insurance in force as of September 30, 2016 and the sale was announced by AIG in August as part of its plan to become a leaner insurance business.
We believe UGC and the outstanding professionals who work there have gained a strong partner in Arch to continue to grow and facilitate home ownership for consumers and provide valuable and necessary protection to mortgage lenders, commented AIGs president and CEO Peter D. Hancock.
President-elect Donald Trump said today that he would nominate attorney Jay Clayton to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Clayton is a partner with the New York law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, according to a New York Times report. As chair of the SEC, he will be responsible for encouraging investment in American companies and providing strong oversight of Wall Street and related industries, Trumps communications office said in a statement.
We will carefully monitor our financial sector, as we set policy that encourages American companies to do what they do best: create jobs, Clayton said in his own statement.
Clayton is the latest Trump appointment with strong ties to Wall Street, according to the Times. He represented Goldman Sachs, Ally, Bear Stearns and other Wall Street giants during the financial crisis, according to a HousingWire report.
Clayton also helped take Alibaba Group public in the largest IPO in history and advised Barclays Capital when it acquired Lehman Brothers after that firm collapsed in 2008, according to the Times.
Holbox is a small, tick-shaped island off the northern tip of the Yucatan peninsula. It is still fairly unspoilt: no cars, no skyscrapers, no chain hotels. The accommodation available suits all budgets from high-end ( Las Nubes ) to mid-range ( Casa Maya ) to hostels. The place is so small, you can cover it in a day, then explore in detail at your own speed. If, like me, you come from a busy city, itll take a few days to slow down to local pace. Wi-fi is patchy the wind changes and its gone so take books or a Kindle. Sip margaritas while swinging in the breeze on a hammock or a bar swing.
When it comes to the food, you can also go high or go low. From posh cheffy restaurants and fine dining to humble eating houses and street stalls, the cooks use local ingredients and Mayan Indian culinary know-how. The Mayan Indians are my kind of people: small, round, and with a large appetite for food.
I spent eight days there; the last four were cooler and more windy, which I enjoyed. (Menopausal.) This is the ultimate place to zone out and properly relax. I just hope that big business plans to develop Holbox dont happen. It mustnt change.
1. Eat.
Restaurants and street stalls
Las Panchas is not only cheap, but also the best authentically local restaurant on Holbox. No fusion to be found here.
El Sabor de las Nubes (below) at Hotel Las Nubes at the far end of the beach is a little more expensive but has high-end Mexican and European cooking and excellent cocktails. You can also feed the raccoons, which is fun and slightly scary.
Casa Maya hotel bar (below), open only during the day when I was there, served fantastic fare. Chilaquiles verde, aka nachos for breakfast, became the new normal. (Make them at home with my chilaquiles recipe.)
Viva Zapata is a cool place for a beer and something to eat. The bar has swings. But the margaritas can be overly sweet, apparently due to tourists tastes. I like em sour.
Market and food shops. There is a small fresh market every morning, a tortilleria and other food shops. Fishermen will happily sell their catch to you.
On Sundays, it is traditional to eat cochinita pibil, which is pig marinated in achiote and sour orange and cooked Mayan-style slowly over a wood fire, or traditionally in a fire pit covered with banana leaves. It takes a long time to cook so its a once-a-week treat, accompanied by red pickled onions and yellow habanero sauce.
There are two main stalls to buy it in Holbox. Local residents Juan and Alexandra spend all Saturday night making it in their back yard (below). Cooks from Cancun travel to Holbox on Sundays, setting up a stall in a side alley in a street near the market (further below).
Street food
El Changarrito Street Stall, just back from the beach. Incredibly fresh fish.
You will also see wandering carts or school kids selling a plastic bowl of food their mum has made. Do try it: the cooking is excellent and it costs pennies. Tamales, below, tend to be made in banana leaves rather than corn husks.
At night, street stalls are set up in the main square, where you can get a drink and a snack.
Drink
I liked a bar on the beach, just before Hotel Las Nubes, part of the hotel Villas Flamingas. The hammocks were actually in the water. The Hot Corner is a nightspot for drinks, where dancing can spill over into the street. Rumour has it you can buy some weed nearby if you ask around.
2. Eat the freshest, bestest ceviche in the world.
I highly recommend a fishing boat trip with these super cool, tanned wiry guys in their 60s, who help you land a fish and make it into ceviche. I caught a small one and carefully undid the hook from its cheek, throwing it back. We made it on the boat with lime, red onion, fresh coriander, a little habanero and salt. I stood beside the boat in cataract blue water, my legs being nibbled by gaping catfish, while I gobble two consecutive bowls. This is the best ceviche Ive had in my life. Im dismayed when they pour the tiger milk into the water, yelping:
I wanted to drink that!
But the catfish go crazy for it, leaping out of the water, their flat wide mouths gaping, whiskers quivering. They obviously dont mind a bit of habanero chilli.
3. Go on boat trips.
You can visit adjacent islands on boat trips; thrillingly, along the way, dolphins black backs arching, followed us. Go to the Isla de Pajaros (Island of the Birds) to see the pink flamingos and pelicans. On Isla Passion, there is a good fish barbecue, where you can eat lunch after taking a dip in the cenote, a fresh water pool. You will also see mangroves, amphibian trees with roots that grow above still water, and small crocodiles.
4. See the wildlife.
Holbox has seasons for wildlife, but the birds and fish are always there to see. Part of the island is a protected wildlife area, Yum Balam.
Flamingos: Although Id just missed the big season, which must be a spectacular blur of fluo pink, I still got to see a few. April October.
Although Id just missed the big season, which must be a spectacular blur of fluo pink, I still got to see a few. April October. Whale sharks: I didnt see this, but Holbox has one of the largest populations of whale sharks, which feed on plankton and are therefore harmless. Go early in the morning before they disappear into deeper waters in the afternoon. June mid-September.
I didnt see this, but Holbox has one of the largest populations of whale sharks, which feed on plankton and are therefore harmless. Go early in the morning before they disappear into deeper waters in the afternoon. June mid-September. Catfish: They can be seen and felt (nibbling at your legs) in the shallows.
They can be seen and felt (nibbling at your legs) in the shallows. Snorkelling: Not the best, being in the gulf of Mexico rather than the Caribbean. The water is iridescent green and slightly cloudy rather than clear and turquoise. But its possible to take a boat out to some areas for a nice snorkel.
Not the best, being in the gulf of Mexico rather than the Caribbean. The water is iridescent green and slightly cloudy rather than clear and turquoise. But its possible to take a boat out to some areas for a nice snorkel. Phytoplankton: This is a rare effect that can be seen in Holbox. Go to the northern tip of the island, where a boat takes you out to snorkel at night. The effect of bioluminescence is sparkling starry water with glowing plankton. Sadly I only found out about this on the last day. Next time.
5. Walk around town. Virtually every property has a hand-painted colourful mural; the town is a street-level art gallery with works the size of buildings. Decorative and often political, murals have a long history in Mexico. You could say the popularity of todays street art stems from the Mexican muralism art movement of the 1920s see the works of Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlos husband.
6. Go to the beach.
Learn to kite surf on windy days. Read a trashy novel. Drink cocktails. Walk along the shore at sunset or sun rise. The beach and the sea are a constantly evolving production you wont get bored.
There are hammocks everywhere, little beach bars, and sun beds the size of four-posters. The water, being shallow for quite a distance, is suitable for young children. Some sections of the beach have seaweed; they used to clear it but realised this affected the ecology of the island. Before and after storms, the seaweed may be worse.
8. Ride a bike.
You can either hire a bike or borrow one from your hotel. The entire length of the island can be covered in a day, culminating in watching the sunset from the northern end. Cycle along the road adjacent to the beach, where the sand is compacted, rather than the interior road, which can be flooded.
9. Get a massage.
Most of the hotels have masseuses. Book one for the day you arrive to help ease the jet lag.
10. Sleep.
I was lucky enough to stay at the Hotel Las Nubes (around 250 a night but negotiable in low-season or for longer stays) in a room with a balcony overlooking the sea. I love to sleep to the sound of waves, the only cure for my menopausal insomnia. The hotel has a spa and several pools, plus charming touches, such as being sent a little dessert every night; their patisseries and breads are a particular speciality.
Casa Maya, where I also stayed, has a few rooms on the beach side. These are around 90 a night, but again you can negotiate in the off-seasons (January-April; October-November).
Other options are cheaper hotels off the beach in town (its noisier though), hostels, campsites (watch out for sandflies) and Airbnb. I booked an Airbnb location, which wasnt really as advertised and became flooded when it rained. I cancelled after seeing it and had no problem getting my money back.
New members inducted into Institute of ...
Sonora, CA The selling of marijuana for recreational use is now expressly forbidden in Tuolumne County, but plans to work on new local rules will proceed. Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to specifically ban the sale of marijuana for recreational use in Tuolumne County.
The ordinance was open for public discussion but did not have any representatives speaking in favor of it. Three spoke out against the ordinance citing some patients medical need to purchase it, and three spoke neutrally about the ordinance but in favor of laws regulating and permitting the sale of marijuana in Tuolumne County.
Supervisor District 5, Karl Rodefer, stated We still have a constitutional issue between the State and the Feds and I think its time that we take this up at the Federal level. The audience of about 15 clapped in approval of the idea. Rodefer continued, Its a real conflict for us up here that have sworn to uphold and defend two constitutions when those two constitutions are in conflict.
District 2 Supervisor Randy Hanvelt and other board members agreed with Supervisor Rodefer. Supervisor Hanvelt said he would see Paul Smith, a Senior Legislative Advocate from Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) in the next few weeks, and would talk to him about the issue. The RCRC represents the interests of 35 rural counties, including Tuolumne, at state and federal levels. Current Federal law regulates marijuana as a Schedule I drug identified as having no medical use. Schedule I drugs include heroin, LSD and peyote. Methamphetamine, or meth, is a Schedule II drug, there are five regulation levels in total.
Each of the Supervisors thanked the public for their patience, several public comments noted the years the issue of regulating the sale of marijuana has been before the board with no change.
Supervisor Distric 3 Evan Royce said We put this off because of the election so we are going to get on this and you are going to start seeing some action.
The approved ordinance banning all sales was recommended for approval by the Tuolumne County Planning Commission last month by a 4-2 vote. The ban will remain in place while a marijuana working group, created by the board, can review the various aspects of Proposition 64 and potentially come back with a revised ordinance. Supervisor Royce and newly elected board chair and District 1 Supervisor Sherri Brennan will be leading the marijuana working group.
Proposition 64, passed in November, legalizes marijuana for recreational use in California and allows residents to grow up to six plants.
Surveillance Image Of Alleged Vehicle Thief View Photos
Angels Camp, CA The Angels Camp Police Department is seeking information about a man that allegedly stole a car from the parking lot of Rite Aid.
The PD reports that an unknown man entered the business and went back to the employee locker room. He reportedly cut off the lock to one of the lockers and stole a pair of keys. According to the Police Department, the man used the remote to find the vehicle in the parking lot and unlocked the door. The suspect was in and out of the store in a matter of minutes, and is reportedly unknown to the employees. You can see a surveillance photo of the man in the image box.
The vehicle is a 2007 white Toyota Yaris with a California license plate of 7CDV572. Anyone with information about the suspect or vehicle is asked to call the Angels Camp Police Department at 209-754-6500 or 209-736-2567.
No one would blame historians for remembering 2016 as a year of great discord, but to do so would overlook the unity Americans voiced around the issue of legalized marijuana. In an unprecedented wave, voters across political persuasions in states spread throughout the country came together and emphatically endorsed the production, distribution, and regulation of cannabis. As of November 2016, access to medical marijuana was legal in 28 states (with eight of those states also including a legal recreational marijuana program).
Even though more than half the US population now lives with state-legal marijuana, and the momentum is clearly on the side of those seeking to end prohibition, the conflicts arising from the federal governments continuing classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug will keep the large banks and financial services companies on the sidelines. Instead, it is the credit unions and community banks that will make compliant cannabis banking possible in 2017.
Major Banks and Financial Services Will Clean House
2017 will be the year of the audit. Rather than actively - or even passively - participating in the cannabis industry, the large banks and financial services companies will use the greater business transparency that comes when states create their legal markets to discover (and close) unapproved cannabis business accounts. For those operating in anything but full transparency, this means loss of services, disruption to business operations, and additional costs, hassles, and risks associated with cash.
The Year of the Credit Union and Community Bank in Cannabis
In contrast to this increased scrutiny from the major institutions, Credit Unions and Community Banks will fill the banking gap in 2017 in each of the newly legalized recreational markets and several of the new medical markets through compliant and transparent cannabis banking programs.
Banks Require Legitimacy
Financial institutions operating compliant banking programs for the cannabis industry will begin requiring their clients to utilize financial services strictly approved for the cannabis industry. The era of hidden merchant accounts, operating through intermediaries, or doing business under any other name than your business DBA (Doing Business As) name will come to an end as these institutions and their federal regulators push for complete transparency and legitimacy.
Story continues
The federal government stays out of cannabis
The federal government will continue its non-interventionist approach to the cannabis industry in states with strong regulatory and enforcement programs. While this means that conflict between federal law and state laws will persist, it also means that the new administration will be focused on its many other priorities and the state markets will be allowed to grow and even thrive.
My advice to cannabis businesses is to seek out partners and vendors openly participating in the industry. Do not just take a salespersons word for it. Take the time to understand why their service is approved for your business. If they do not allow you to do business in your own DBA name, until you can prove otherwise, lead with the assumption that the nature of your business is being hidden from someone with the authority to close your account down once they find out.
With legalization comes the opportunity for legitimacy and as the cannabis industry matures, 2017 is going to be a turning point where more cannabis businesses then ever will have access to transparent and compliant banking services. But with that legalization comes a greater responsibility for cannabis businesses to ensure they are operating their businesses above reproach. If they do not, the required transparency in the industry will eventually catch up to them.
With new markets coming online and greater access to banking and financial services, 2017 is going to be a great year for legal cannabis. Happy growing.
Dustin Eide is the CEO of CanPay, the first legitimate debit payment solution for the cannabis industry
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2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
The new Congress is now in place. It is swearing-in day in the nation's Capitol. Four new lawmakers from Central Florida and the Tampa area took the Oath of Office in a cold and rainy Tuesday in Washington D.C.
U.S. Congress oath of office today
Central Florida, Tampa area sent four new representatives
D.C. DIGEST: Latest news | Find Your Congressman | Monthly Calendar
All of the new representatives from the I-4 corridor are Democrats. They are now part of the 115th Congress.
Representative Stephanie Murphy now represents Florida's 7th Congressional District, which includes Winter Park and Seminole County. In an upset, she replaced long-time Orlando lawmaker, John Mica.
"I'm so excited to be here," said Murphy. "It's a real honor. We campaigned on change, security and equality, so the change piece is coming to D.C."
Representative Darren Soto from Florida's 9th District spent the last decade in Tallahassee being outnumbered by Republicans. He now faces that same challenge in the U.S. House.
"We need to fight to maintain access to high quality health care and education nd of course the environment is always deep in my hear," said Soto, whose district covers south Orlando and Osceola County.
Friends and family from Florida drove up by bus to watch former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings take the oath of office.
"It's very humbling they would come so far, leave Florida and see me sworn-in as a member of Congress, "said Demings, whose 10th District covers west Orange County.
Also going the Washington ranks today is former Florida Governor Charlie Crist. Representative Crist says he is ready to work with his old party, the GOP and the new Republican president.
"Whatever it is that we can do to help American worker get back to work and help the middle class and our country, we need to do it together and do it in a spirit of cooperation," said Crist, who represents part of Pinellas County.
Also representing part of Central Florida is Rep. Neal Dunn, a new Republican for House District 2. His district includes the western part of Marion County, but he is from Panama City.
The new representatives from Florida held meet and greets inside their new congressional offices after the swearing-in ceremony.
Since the House of Representatives is elected every two years, all congressmen took the oath of office Tuesday. But most of them were re-elected.
Meet your new Congressmen
Rep. Val Demings: Democrat, District 10 Former Orlando police chief and wife of Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings. Started as a social worker before becoming a police officer in the 1980s. Won the open seat for District 10, which was a newly-formed district including parts of former Rep. Corrine Brown's district and Rep. Dan Webster's district.
Rep. Neal Dunn: Republican, District 2 Doctor and retired U.S. Army. Founded Panama City Urology Center, Bay Regional Cancer Center and the Advanced Urology Institute. Lives in Panama City. Won the seat vacated by Rep. Gwen Graham, who chose not to seek re-election because the district was redrawn to become solid Republican. Rep. Stephanie Murphy: Democrat, District 7 Executive at Sungate Capital, former national security specialist for the U.S. Secretary of the Defense, working on issues ranging from counterterrorism to foreign military relations. Lives in Winter Park. Defeated longtime incumbent Rep. John Mica.
Rep. Darren Soto: Democrat, District 9 Lawyer and environmentalist who served in the Florida House and Senate for south Orange County and Osceola County. Won Congressional seat vacated by Democrat Rep. Alan Grayson.
Rep. Charlie Crist: Democrat, District 13 Lifelong Pinellas County resident, lawyer, former Florida attorney general, former Florida governor, former Republican. Defeated former Rep. David Jolly, a Republican.
Rubio returns to Washington
Senator Marco Rubio also was sworn in Tuesday in Washington.
The Republican junior senator from Florida took the oath as administered by Vice President Joe Biden who is president of the Senate.
Rubio was originally not going to run for re-election. He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for president, and then decided to run for the Senate, up-ending the race for the Republican nomination there.
Rubio went on to defeat Rep. Patrick Murphy in November.
Rubio will serve on the following committees in the U.S. Senate:
Committee on Appropriations
Special Committee on Aging
Committee on Foreign Relations
Select Committee on Intelligence
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Florida's senior senator, Sen. Bill Nelson, did not have to take a new oath since he did not have to run for re-election. His term is up in 2018.
Groveland City Council members voted 3-2 Tuesday night to table a vote declaring where Mayor George Rosario should forfeit office.
Groveland mayoral candidate pushing to oust Mayor George Rosario
Rosario had 2 felony convictions from Pennsylvania; opponent says it disqualifies him
Rosario says he never lost his civil rights because he never went to prison
The vote stems from the revelation that Rosario was found guilty of two felonies in another state.
Attorney Derek Schroth found out that he had criminal convictions from Pennsylvania in 1987 -- one for possession of cocaine and another felony for trying to sell cocaine to an undercover officer.
Schroth represents Glen Wilson, who ran against Rosario for mayor in November. He says they started looking into Rosario after he says Rosario lied about having certain medals from the military.
Schroth said the convictions disqualify Rosario from seeking public office.
According to Florida law, anyone running for a municipal office must be able to vote in Florida. And Florida law states a resident is disqualified from voting or holding office if they have been convicted of a felony "in this or any other state" until restoration of civil rights.
Rosario says this is all political and claims he never lost his civil rights, so he can hold office.
Speaking outside his house Tuesday afternoon, Rosario said he was placed on probation, but never incarcerated and doesn't have to apply for clemency.
In Pennsylvania, felons on probation keep their voting rights, and felons who go to prison get their voting rights restored when they complete their sentence.
"I made a mistake when I was young. I'm not that person anymore," Rosario said. "I never lost my rights and it's up to them to prove that I don't have any rights to hold public office."
Rosario says he will not step down and will take it to court if council votes to remove him.
Despite tearful testimony from the mother of Roger Trindade, two of three teens charged in the Winter Park student's beating death have been granted home detention.
Roger Trindade, 15, was beaten and found unconscious in October
After autopsy, 3 teens were charged in his death
2 of 3 teens were released to go home after hearing Wednesday
RELATED: Winter Park High teen dies 2 days after beating 2 boys charged in Roger Trindade's death to remain in custody
They have to understand you cant do this. Its wrong, said Adriana Trindade, the mother of the victim. These boys they have to serve as an example, to society.
The teens charged in the case went before a judge Wednesday morning for their alleged role in the death of Trindade, who died at a hospital two days after being beaten in Winter Park.
Trindade's mom said she is disappointed and thinks the teens need to serve as an example to society.
"The worst thing is, I'm going to pay more than these boys and these parents for sure. Because I'm going to remember my son every day," Adriana Trindade said.
Laura Thome Koch, Roger's sister, told the court that holding the boys would send a message that bullying shouldn't be tolerated.
Roger "doesn't deserve this," Koch said. "... There have to be consequences for what they did."
Two 15-year-olds are charged with manslaughter, and a 14-year-old is charged with tampering with a witness.
Each came before Judge Gail Adams on Wednesday, often with a parent or grandparent giving testimony on their behalf. Then, Trindade's mother and sister expressed why the charged teens need to remain in custody.
But Adams ordered a motion for continuance, so the attorneys have time to prepare.
The two 15-year-olds got home detention, and the 14-year-old who faces the lesser charge was ordered back to court at 8:30 a.m. Thursday for a status plea.
We hope that they pay as they can. As they stay in jail as most they can, said Koch. My mom wakes up every day, and cries every day, and its going to be like this for the rest of her life.
The three boys were arraigned as juveniles just before Christmas, after an autopsy was performed on Trindade.
A state attorney said a 15-year-old punched Trindade and then spit on him after Trindade smirked at him on a Saturday night in October.
Trindade, who moved from Brazil in 2015, was beaten, punched and kicked, a police report stated. He was found unconscious not far from Park Avenue and taken to a hospital. Trindade died there two days later after he was taken off life support.
The two 15-year-old defendants are expected back in court on the morning of Feb. 24.
Members of the NAACP in Alabama were arrested after staging a sit-in, protesting Donald Trump's pick for U.S. attorney general.
NAACP wants U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions to withdraw his name due to alleged past racist remarks
Sessions has denied making racial remarks
Sit-in ends in six arrests
Several people refused to leave Alabama's U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions' office. He was nominated by the President-elect in November.
The NAACP's President Cornell W. Brooks showed his view from Sessions' office for hours on Tuesday via social media, even broadcasting the protest live.
Brooks said they were occupying the office until Sessions withdraws as the attorney general nominee or until they were arrested, which is ultimately how the sit-in ended.
Sessions has been a controversial figure in the past. The Republican was accused by former employees of making racist remarks in 1986, something Sessions denies.
Still, these NAACP members remained in Sessions' office until they were removed by police, resulting in six arrests. They face charges of criminal trespass in the second-degree, according to Mobile police.
Brooks tweeted a picture of all the mug shots from the arrested members, many people replying thanking them and calling them heroes.
Sessions' spokeswoman tweeted a statement:
After experiencing unseasonably warm weather for most of December, Old Man Winter has made a return visit to the region.
The National Weather Service said the first of a series of cold fronts moved through the Texas Panhandle-South Plains on Tuesday morning. Another push of cold air will arrive on Thursday, and lows on Friday morning should be in the teens for most of the region.
A slight chance of snow showers are possible across the southern Texas Panhandle and portions of the South Plains late Thursday and Friday.
Light snow accumulations will be possible late Thursday night into Friday as a passing storm system couples with cold air that will move in early on Thursday, the NWS reported in a hazardous weather outlook at 2:35 p.m. Tuesday. Currently it appears a dusting to an inch of snow will be possible over parts of the South Plains region, with the southern Texas Panhandle most favored.
The same storm system is expected to bring significant snow accumulations and strong winds to Northern New Mexico. Preceding the storm, a strong back-door cold front will bring subfreezing temperatures to the eastern New Mexico plains with low temperatures dropping to the single digits and teens as early as Wednesday night. More cold air will spill into northern and eastern New Mexico from the north early Friday. Some of the coldest temperatures should occur across the northeast plains where readings will probably remain below freezing from Wednesday night until Saturday afternoon.
Theres a potential for 1 to 2 feet of snow accumulations in the northern mountains Thursday and Friday, and around a half-foot in surrounding lower elevation locations. Elsewhere across northern New Mexico and the eastern plains, a few inches of snow or more will be possible.
Wind gusts of around 50 mph along the eastern slopes will cause periods of drifting snow and very low visibility.
For the Texas Panhandle-South Plains, snowfall amounts are expected to be light with most areas likely to receive an inch or less.
The Plainview-area forecast calls for a low of 16 Wednesday night, high Thursday near 28, and low Thursday night around 12 with a 20 percent chance of snow and sleet.
On Friday, snow chances remain 20 percent with a high near 35. Friday night will be clear and cold with a low around 14.
Saturdays high will be near 38 with low Saturday night around 19.
Sunday will be sunny with a high near 48 and a low around 31. Monday will be sunny with a high near 62.
SOUTHINGTON There are more questions than answers about a loud noise that was heard in parts of Southington, Cheshire, Meriden and Wolcott on Monday morning. After receiving a flood of calls, fire and police crews searched the south end of Southington but couldnt find damage or an apparent cause. Experts and government officials contacted Tuesday also couldnt come up with a reason for the noise. Here are some of the theories:
1. Sonic boom from an aircraft.
The Federal Aviation Administration refused to disclose whether or not supersonic aircraft were in the area Monday morning, deferring comment to the military. Maj. Andrew Schrag, a spokesman for Air Combat Command, said the closest base with supersonic aircraft is 500 miles away.
Based off of our analysis, theres no way it could have been an (Air Force) jet, he said Tuesday. It couldnt have been us.
Its possible that another branch of the military, such as the Navy or National Guard, was flying a jet in the area, Schrag said.
A representative with the North American Aerospace Defense Command also said the group had no missions in the area at the time the noise was reported.
2. Low-level seismic activity.
The noise and vibrations felt by area residents likely were not from a shallow earthquake, according James Dewey, a research seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Based on the spread of reports, he estimated that the vibrations were felt in an area of 25 square miles. Earthquakes felt for that distance are generally a strength of 2 magnitude or greater, but a station about 20 miles away detected nothing at that time on Monday.
Dewey said there are very shallow earthquakes, but at a low strength they wouldnt produce the boom heard by residents.
While the nearby station can detect seismic activity of as low as 1.5 magnitude, Dewey said hed also check with a United Nations nuclear testing monitoring site which measures infrasound. While the agency is looking for clandestine nuclear tests around the world, the data can be useful in discovering seismic activity.
We lean towards the idea that it doesnt represent a seismic incident, Dewey said. An earthquake that would be large enough to produce a sound over a substantial area, even if it was very shallow, would be in the two range.
Scientists have speculated that shallow earthquakes not recorded by equipment were the cause of unexplained loud noises in the Northeastern part of the country and along the East Coast, often referred to as Seneca guns, according to a post on the U.S. Geological Surveys website. Loud booms have been heard on the shores of Lake Cayuga and Lake Seneca in New York. Similar unexplained noises have occurred along the coasts of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as coastal India.
More unusual seismic activity that can cause noise is cryoseism, also known as a frost quake. If the ground freezes to a sufficient depth, plate movement can cause cracks and noises. Dewey said its more common farther north and he ruled it out due to the lack of sustained cold weather in the area recently.
3. Meteorite.
A meteorite can cause a boom, but according to Bill Cook with NASAs Meteoroid Environment Office, area residents wouldnt have been able to miss seeing a fireball caused by the meteoroids entry into the atmosphere.
Those things generally garner a great deal of attention, he said. If its large enough to create a boom, it would have been visible even in daylight. They probably should have seen something in the sky.
Most meteoroids dont cause a crater, so the lack of an impact area doesnt necessarily rule out that cause for the boom. But Cook had no records of any such event on Monday.
4. Industrial noise or explosion.
Police Sgt. Jeffrey Dobratz said no smoke was observed as crews traveled around town and even drove to high points in the south end. Dispatchers were swamped with calls from residents Monday and even into Tuesday but there was little police or firefighters could do.
Nothing at all, no smoke, no reports of any property damage, Dobratz said. We really couldnt send anybody because we didnt have an address, just an area of town.
Most of the companies in the area were closed Monday as well, according to Dobratz.
jbuchanan@recordjournal.com 203-317-2230 Twitter: @JBuchananRJ
Cuts announced Thursday, Dec. 29 by Connecticuts budget office eliminate $50 million of state aid to municipalities, including $20 million in education funding.
The cuts will reduce the state money sent to Durham and Middlefield, which make up Regional School District 13, by more than $71,000, according to a chart from the Office of Policy and Management.
The state funding to support local education is referred to as Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grants.
The ECS funds go to municipalities and not directly to the schools and the cuts are different for Durham and Middlefield. Durhams reduction is $45,582, while Middlefields is $25,836.
Durham First Selectman Laura Francis said she did not know the formula used to determine the cuts.
Combined, Durham and Middlefield are still scheduled to receive $6,066,036, so the $71,000-plus cut represents 1.2 percent of 2017s ECS grant for RSD13.
That 2017 figure began $48,689 lower than RSD13s 2016 ECS grant, as the state had already been wrestling with the budget.
In those earlier efforts, the idea of cutting ECS grants had been pitched. In April, Governor Malloy presented a plan to close a remaining $350 million budget gap through a combination of spending cuts, including cuts to education, hospitals, and tourism, and elimination of state employee positions. The figures for education cuts were not specified until midway through the fiscal year.
I wish they would have cut it then, not mid-year, but well deal with it, said Francis, who will meet with Middlefield First Selectman Ed Bailey and Superintendent of School Kathryn Veronesi to discuss the change.
Connecticut Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano also criticized the timing of the spending cuts.
In a statement, Fasano said, The administration has known since August that they would need to hold back these funds from municipalities. But they chose to wait until now to let towns know how much they would lose, after half the fiscal year has already gone by, making these cuts more difficult for towns to absorb.
The cuts were designed to have the least impact on cities and towns with struggling schools. For example, school aid cuts to Hartford were capped at $250,000, which represents a 0.1 percent reduction.
The state permitted the cuts to be larger, either as a dollar figure or a percentage of what is received from the state, among wealthier towns such as Darien and Greenwich, which lost 48 and 90 percent of their grants, respectively.
In a letter to legislative leaders and school superintendents, Benjamin Barnes, Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, wrote of a circuit breaker for 48 distressed municipalities, which limits the reduction to a maximum of $250,000 or 2 percent of all statutory formula aid.
Barnes continued, These reductions will be made in a needs-directed manner, whereby the ECS grant is reduced between 25 percent and 90 percent for the 25 wealthiest communities, and the 68 poorest communities in the state will lose only 1 percent or less of their ECS grant.
The funds will be withheld from payments scheduled in January and April of 2017.
When announced in April 2016, the governors office included a chart, noting that the mil rate for the towns losing the largest state aid were below the state average.
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One day after signing free-agent outfielder Rajai Davis to a one-year, $6 million contract, As general manager David Forst acknowledged that he might not be done.
The As are talking to free-agent power-hitter Mark Trumbo, The Chronicle confirmed. Oakland, with a vacancy at designated hitter and apparently willing to spend money, previously made a bid for Edwin Encarnacion, who signed with Cleveland.
The As made Encarnacion a two-year offer, but he wanted three years and ultimately landed such a deal with the Indians (for $65 million). Length of contract also could become an issue in Oaklands pursuit of Trumbo, who turns 31 this month.
He led the major leagues last season with 47 home runs. Trumbo, playing for Baltimore, struck out 170 times while hitting .256 with 108 RBIs.
Were looking all over, Forst said on a conference call Wednesday. We could probably use a right-handed bat, as these rumors and reports make clear. Were certainly looking at right-handed hitters, but we have a handful of spots we can put guys in.
Now that weve filled center field, were open to adding guys in any number of spots. We will continue to explore the market.
Forst indicated that Davis, 36, will play center field for the As and probably will hit near the top of the order. He played 80 games in center and 66 in left field last season for Cleveland.
His speed makes him a logical fit in center for Oakland, especially given the vast frontier of outfield grass at the Coliseum.
Rajai has always played well in center field, Forst said. Hes played more in the corners the last two years, but anytime hes been in center, his defense has remained excellent. Thats a big part of the attraction, the way he runs. He still has his legs.
Davis, speaking on a separate conference call, seemed to savor the chance to stay in center.
You get a little more room to roam and take away hits, he said.
Davis hit a career-high 12 home runs last season for the Indians plus his memorable, game-tying homer in Game 7 of the World Series and stole 43 bases in 49 attempts.
He downplayed concerns about rejoining an As team that struggled mightily the past two seasons. He pointed to Oaklands good young pitching, and suggested his familiarity with the Bay Area he played in 63 games for the Giants in 2007 and 08, then spent most of three seasons (2008-10) with the As was a factor in his decision.
Davis subsequently bounced around the American League, with stops in Toronto, Detroit and Cleveland.
This is the place where I really established myself as a big-leaguer, he said of Oakland, and really gained confidence that I am a big-leaguer. Im excited to be back.
Briefly: Forst said infielder Jed Lowrie (foot injury), pitcher Chris Bassitt (elbow surgery) and catcher Josh Phegley (knee injury) are making good progress in their recoveries. The As named Don Schulze as Double-A Midlands pitching coach this season.
Chronicle staff writer Susan Slusser contributed to this report.
Ron Kroichick is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rkroichick@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ronkroichick
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The Obama administration called Wednesday for an expedited review of Gov. Jerry Browns $15.7 billion delta tunnels project, a show of support for the long-disputed plan to shore up Californias water supplies.
An order issued by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell directs federal officials to complete their preliminary environmental assessment of the water project this month, potentially removing a major barrier before President Obama leaves office Jan. 20.
While final federal review of the project wont come until April, when Donald Trump is president and the governments priorities will undoubtedly have changed, state officials believe the stepped-up proceedings by the Obama administration will give the delta plan a sense of inevitability.
Putting a public timeline on when the federal government will make its final decision builds on the momentum we have, said Erin Mellon, spokeswoman for the California Natural Resources Agency, which is spearheading the tunnels effort. Anyone who comes in is going to have to look at the ... 10 years of work that has been done on the project. Were pretty confident that the work we put in will be convincing that this is the solution to Californias water supply reliability and ecosystem health.
The project, officially known as California WaterFix, calls for the construction of two 35-mile tunnels to carry water beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta from Northern California to the drier south.
Because pumping water through the delta has historically caused problems for fish and wildlife, prompting state and federal orders to halt flows, the tunnels offer a better means of delivery, advocates say.
Critics, however, fear the project could reduce the amount of water pouring into the delta and harm water quality there.
The delta, a sprawling estuary at the intersection of the states largest rivers, the San Joaquin and Sacramento, serves as a hub for water deliveries to two-thirds of California residents. It also provides habitat for 500 species of wildlife, including migrating salmon.
A state-required environmental review of the tunnels project was completed last month, but before work can begin, the federal Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must ensure the plan doesnt violate the Endangered Species Act.
Jewells order Wednesday calls for an initial draft opinion on the matter to be issued by the end of the month, a final draft opinion by March and a final opinion by April.
Federal officials said the timely action seeks to support California as it wrestles with the effects of drought and climate change.
This secretarial order is a practical and broad-based strategy to help protect Californias water lifeline for present and future generations, Deputy Interior Secretary Michael Connor said in a statement.
Brown welcomed the order, saying in a statement that a state-federal partnership is whats necessary to improve water reliability for residents and farmers.
Restore the Delta, a group that has long fought the tunnels proposal, said the governor seemed desperate in his bid to win federal backing for the project before the incoming Republican administration takes over.
Trump has not weighed in on the plan, but has broadly endorsed efforts to deliver more water to growers.
The Silicon Valley Leadership Group, an association of Bay Area businesses that supports the tunnels, said Wednesday that it had hoped Obama would give final approval before leaving office. But the group said it was optimistic that Jewells order will push the project forward.
Let me put it this way, said Vice President Mike Mielke. Better late than never.
Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander
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Ending some seven months without a police chief, Oakland has chosen an outsider from Chicago to take the departments top post, according to a source with knowledge of the selection process.
Anne Kirkpatrick, who most recently led reform efforts within the Chicago Police Department, will relocate from Chicago to serve as Oaklands police chief, becoming the troubled departments first-ever female chief.
The appointment by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf of Kirkpatrick, the former police chief in Spokane, Wash., ends months of speculation about who would be selected to the East Bay citys top police post.
A spokeswoman for Schaaf and another with the Oakland Police Department did not immediately return requests for comment.
Councilman Dan Kalb said he couldnt confirm the selection of Kirkpatrick, adding that the mayors office planned to brief council members Wednesday morning on the process.
Independent of this person possibly being the mayors choice, just in general, I could say Ive heard good things about her as a law enforcement leader, Kalb said.
Kirkpatrick, a licensed attorney, has spent almost 30 years in law enforcement, including stints around Washington, according to her LinkedIn profile.
In Chicago, she took charge of a department designated by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to work to reform the force, and she was one of three finalists to replace an ousted Chicago police superintendent in 2015, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Schaaf recently named Venus D. Johnson, who advised outgoing Attorney General Kamala Harris, as Oaklands director of public safety a position designed to oversee law enforcement in the absence of a standing police chief,
The mayor announced her national search for a new chief in August following a revolving door of internal scandals that escalated to the point of Schaaf saying civilian control of the department was temporarily needed to eradicate the macho culture she said continued to pervade its ranks.
In November, Oakland voters overwhelmingly approved a new citizen-led police commission that would have the power to mete out discipline to officers and even fire the chief if five of its seven members voted for dismissal.
The last acting Oakland police chief, Paul Figueroa, in June became the third head of the department to leave the top post in nine days, leading a frustrated Schaaf to declare at a news conference that she was here to run a police department, not a frat house.
Schaaf revealed that an internal investigation was under way inside the department, this one examining racist text messages and emails swapped among officers.
At the time, the police department was already engulfed by a sex scandal involving a female teenager prostitute that led to criminal charges for seven current and former police officers. Several of the charges were dropped, with prosecutors citing a lack of evidence.
The woman, whose attorneys have asked she be referred to as Jasmine, was a minor at the time of the alleged sex offenses. She told The Chronicle she had sex with 29 officers from several police agencies, including more than a dozen from Oakland, when she was 16 and 17 years old.
Though it wasnt specified at the time, the resignation in June 2016 of Chief Sean Whent who had taken charge after acting chief Howard Johnson resigned in 2013 was later found to be linked to the sex scandal.
Michael Bodley and Andrew Ross are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com, matierandross@sfchronicle.com
Twitter: @michael_bodley, @matierandross
A Union City woman has agreed to a $130,000 settlement of a lawsuit in which she accused police of throwing her to the pavement facedown and setting a dog on her after she she saw them using a stun gun on her husband.
Police said the woman, Heidi Velarde, had been the aggressor, biting and kicking an officer who was trying to restrain her. The settlement, reached last week in federal court in San Francisco and subject to approval by the City Council in the Alameda County community, carries no admission of wrongdoing.
The incident occurred late one night in September 2009. Police stopped a car that was driving without lights and said they had struggled to arrest the driver, one of Velardes sons, in front of the familys home.
Velardes husband, Arthur, came out on the front porch and started shouting, and police said an officer had to use a Taser electronic stun gun to restrain him. The husband later pleaded guilty to resisting arrest.
Heidi Velarde, then 56, said in her lawsuit that she came outside and told the officer to be careful because her husband was elderly. She said the officer, James Martin, ran up to her, threw her facedown on the driveway and sat on her. She said Martin then told a second officer, Brian Baumgartner, that she was resisting, and Baumgartner deployed his dog, who bit her on both legs.
Martin was sitting on her back while Baumgartners dog clamped onto her legs, Panos Lagos, a lawyer for Velarde, said Tuesday. He said that Velarde, a former postal worker and teachers aide, weighed less than 100 pounds and that it was hard to understand why these two officers could not handcuff and control this lady who was admittedly on the ground.
She was taken to a hospital with wounds that required 47 stitches and took months to heal, her lawyers said. She was also jailed for three days on suspicion of assault and resisting arrest, but prosecutors decided not to file charges.
Police described the events much differently. They said Heidi Velarde had first grabbed the officer who was trying to arrest her son, then fought with Martin, biting, kicking and scratching, as he tried to subdue her.
Martin couldnt secure her hands and was screaming for help from Baumgartner, said Dale Allen, a lawyer for the officers. He said Velarde had also punched the dog that was biting her.
A jury in Velardes damage suit against the two officers deadlocked in December 2015. The settlement avoided a retrial that had been scheduled for Tuesday.
Justice was served, Lagos said. This should never have happened.
Allen said the city had settled to avoid the costs of a second trial.
Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
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The Weitzman Group and its Cencor Realty Services affiliate now go by the name Weitzman.
The new Weitzman brand and logo have been changed at the Houston and other Texas offices and will start showing up on 1,800 leasing and management signs across the state. The Dallas-based company celebrated its 25th anniversary last year.
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Convicted mass murderer Charles Manson was still alive Tuesday evening following earlier reports of his hospitalization, according to the states corrections department.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Manson was taken from the Central Valley prison where hes been incarcerated to a hospital for an unknown medical issue, citing two anonymous sources.
Hes alive, said Krissi Khokhobashvili, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Thats all we can confirm.
Citing prison regulations prohibiting disclosing information about the location of inmates and federal privacy laws, Khokhobashvili declined to confirm the reports. She did say that Manson was still assigned to Corcoran State Prison, which is in Kings County, about halfway between Fresno and Bakersfield.
Inmates may be removed from California prisons for outside treatment for a multitude of reasons, Khokhobashvili said.
Manson, 82, has been incarcerated since his 1969 arrest and later conviction for carrying out with his followers, the so-called Manson family, a series of seven murders he believed would incite a race war around Los Angeles. That included the slaying of pregnant actress Sharon Tate.
Manson has notched more than 100 rules violations on his record, including possession of a cell phone and a weapon, as well as assault and threatening California correctional staff, while in prison, Khokhobashvili said.
Just last week, a state parole board delayed a decision on the release of Patricia Krenwinkel, an accomplice of Manson who is the longest-serving female inmate in California. Manson himself, who has shown no remorse for his role in the killings, has been denied parole 12 times.
Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @michael_bodley
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Matt Goodwin compares Latin@ Rising, the new anthology of science fiction from San Antonios Wings Press, to an eclectic literary mix tape or playlist in which there is an ebb and flow as you move through the loud and the brash, the quiet and the thoughtful.
The latter might be Carmen Maria Machados Difficult at Parties, a first-person, present-tense story told as if through a camera lens about a woman struggling to return to some semblance of normal life after a sexual assault. As tension builds, she discovers she has developed a disturbing new psychic power.
On the other hand, Giannina Braschis Death of a Businessman is the cacophonous opening to a novel titled The United States of Banana, which is the authors response to 9/11: I saw the wife of the businessman enter the shop of Stanley, the cobbler, with a pink ticket in her hand. The wife had come to claim the shoes of the businessman. After all, they had found the feet, and she wanted to bury the feet with the shoes.
Goodwin, an assistant professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico in Cayey, began thinking about the book while earning his doctorate in comparative literature in 2013 from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Science-fiction is not really on the radar of most Latino Studies programs, he said in a recent interview at the King William home of Wings Press publisher Bryce Milligan. I started looking around, and realized there was no anthology, no book like this. But there are a lot of Latino writers writing science-fiction and fantasy.
Latino writers tend to get pigeonholed as Latino writers; they are seen as coming from sort of a primitive place, he continued. But the reality is that young Latino writers grew up with Tolkien and Star Wars, too.
More Information Latino Rising: An Anthology of Latin@ Science Fiction & Fantasy Edited by Matthew David Goodwin Wings Press, $16.95 See More Collapse
As Ohio State University professor Frederick Luis Aldama a rock star in the field of Latino pop culture, notably comics and sci-fi puts it in an introduction to Latin@ Rising: I have a confession to make. Science fiction in comic books, TV and film got me into world literature Of course, with the veneer of seriousness that envelopes the academy and that generally considers sci-fi lowbrow, it takes some huevos to admit that this was instrumental in my coming of age as a professor.
Funded primarily by a $10,000 Kickstarter campaign, the 246-page Latin@ Rising features 24 stories and poems (yes, sci-fi poetry!) by 20 authors.
They range from such well known writers such as Ana Castillo and Junot Diaz, who won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, to talented newcomers such as California writer Alejandra Sanchez (The Drain, a disturbing story about a strange addition to a morning shower ritual) and Brooklyn writer Richie Narvaez (Room for Rent, about a space alien in search of a safe place in the city to give birth).
I think its incredible how rapidly Latino science-fiction writers have developed, said Milligan. If you would have tried to put together this book 15 years ago, you may have been able to identify three or four writers. Now, there are more than enough for an entire anthology.
Goodwin acknowledges that magical realism haunts any discussion of Latino literature, but that only one or two stories in Latin@ Rising might fall within the bounds of that wonderfully rich genre.
But magical realism see classics such as Gabriel Garcia Marquezs One Hundred Years of Solitude can be double-edged, Goodwin said, in that it forms a boundary around Latino literature for the general reading public.
It has been common among readers to unthinkingly categorize a story written by a Latin@ as magical realist when there is just a hint of something strange or even when the story is flat-out science fiction or fantasy, Goodwin writes in Latin@ Risings foreword. At its worst, this imposed magical realism is a way to relegate U.S. Latinos and Latinas to the realm of the irrational, the mythological, effectively cutting off the ability to engage science and technology.
Immigration is a subject dear to Goodwins heart, and many stories in Latino Rising are politically themed, dealing with issues of English/Spanish code switching, colonialism, conflict between Anglo and Latino groups, and homeland, migration and dislocation.
One of my main concerns and one that directs my creative endeavors is undocumented immigrants, said Goodwin.
Science-fiction, he argues, is a natural fit: Often, writers invent two worlds that only come into contact when one group migrates to the other.
I like things that are being born, he said. I appreciate the intellectual underpinnings of the whole idea of immigration in a sci-fi or technological setting. Its just a very natrual fit, and I think it is an imporant genre for Latino writers. Plus, its just good literature.
As Aldama notes, the authors of Latin@ Rising throw us into the middle of hot-zone apocalyptic plagues, shape-shifting robots, intergalactic skinwalkers, preColumbian holobooks, cyberpunkistas, hybrid inverterbrate/human mestizos ... Latina cyborgs born of recycled parts and cybernetically wired patron saints.
As a Latino on an intellectual journey, he concludes, Science fiction is me.
sbennett@express-news.net
You probably know what kind of experience to expect from Hidden Figures, so the task of this review is more or less to tell you that youre right.
And thats mostly good news.
The film is old-fashioned in a good way, classical and well-acted, and the fact that it has no surprises keeps it from being disappointing even as it keeps it from being great.
It tells the story of three black women who worked at NASA in the very early days of the 1960s, back when the Soviets were outpacing us in the race for the moon. It takes place, not in Houston, but in NASAs Northern Virginia headquarters, which is important, as this was the South before civil rights.
In a very early scene, the three women, stuck on the side of the road with car trouble, are approached by a white highway patrolman. The dynamic is positively weird the women have to practically do everything but kiss his ring and it would be nice to be able to say that, more than 50 years later, that kind of tension is foreign to our modern understanding.
All three of these real-life women all made contributions to American space exploration, but Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) is at the center of the film. A math prodigy from childhood, she was one of a team of people assigned to double-check NASAs mathematical calculations.
Gradually, she began to stand out from the pack and assume greater importance, though at the time no one expected genius in the form of a woman, or a black person, or most especially a black woman, so nothing was easy for her.
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Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) was the leader of a computing team, back when the word computers referred to people who did computations. Eventually, she would become an expect in computers as we now know them. And Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) became an aerospace engineer.
Because its based on fact, Hidden Figures is not as immediately satisfying as a fictional version of this story might have been. For one thing, the women remain as hidden figures. Though they achieve professional respect and security in their positions, people dont fall over themselves to tell them how right and wonderful they are, and the movie doesnt overestimate their impact. Hidden Figures is quietly, cumulatively, calmly gratifying.
Theodore Melfi (St. Vincent), who directed and co-wrote the film, based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly, does a nice job of organizing and telling a complicated story, involving three women and their personal and professional lives.
Where the movie lets us down is in the matter of tone. It feels light at times, too light and so we get a scene of the three women dancing around the house, which is obligatory in all Hollywood movies dealing with female friendship.
More problematic is the recurring scene of Katherine having to run to the bathroom. Apparently, in the division in which Katherine worked, there were no colored bathrooms, and so she had to walk (or run) a half mile every time she needed to relieve herself. But the movie underscores these scenes with music suggesting that this situation is comic or at least farcical, when its neither.
Henson, Spencer and Monae all excel, conveying the intensity and worthiness of these womens ambitions even as they deal (almost in a matter-of-fact way) with obstacles that are maddening. Through them we see the shadows of thousands and millions of others in our history, whose gifts dried up unused and unrecognized. The waste is painful to contemplate, and so its right that movies to celebrate where they can.
Kevin Costner is nicely cast as Al Harrison, Katherines boss, who is mostly too busy to differentiate the very smart people on his staff from the flat-out geniuses. Costner is a useful actor to have in period films, because he can slip into that mid-century vibe like nobody else.
Its more than just short hair and a white shirt, but rather a whole way of being, an attitude, the life history. In a way, hes the most authentically 1962 thing in the movie.
Speaking of 1962, the late John Glenn missed seeing Hidden Figures by a few days, and thats too bad, especially since they got a 28-year-old actor (Glen Powell) with a full head of hair to play Glenn back when he was a bald 40-year-old. And thats the beauty of film in a sentence. If nature wont give you a full head of hair, Hollywood can at least correct the oversight.
Running time: 127 minutes
MPAA rating: PG (profanity)
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The contracts have been signed, and the deal is done: Albany Medical Center and Saratoga Hospital are affiliates.
Under the new arrangement, first announced in October 2015, the health systems will not merge, but collaborate on joint projects and eventually negotiate with insurance companies as a single entity, giving them more clout to demand higher fees.
The alliance was approved by a state advisory panel in October 2016.
Each institution will retain its own governing boards, executives, medical staffs and other employees, according to the health systems. The alliance is similar to one finalized a year ago between Albany Med and Hudson-based Columbia Memorial Health.
Initially, their focus will be on looking where gaps in services need to be filled or expanded, executives from both institutions said on Wednesday.
"It's first intended to look at the services that are being provided, over a 110-mile geography," Steven Frisch, senior executive vice president at Albany Med, said of the alignment of the three health systems. "And that's going to be over years."
Saratoga Hospital Chief Executive Angelo Calbone pointed to an interventional cardiology collaboration between the two institutions that is already underway as an example of how Saratoga Hospital could benefit from the new affiliation.
Saratoga Hospital officials knew there was a need to provide catheter-based procedures like angioplasty in their community. But getting such a unit started required an investment of resources that Saratoga Hospital did not have on its own. They were able to do it with Albany Med's specialists overseeing the operation, Calbone said.
The collaboration also helped Saratoga Hospital recruit medical talent that may have hesitated to come to a small community hospital, Calbone said.
As the affiliation brings Saratoga Hospital expertise and resources, it allows Albany Med to extend its geographic reach. Current health reforms reward institutions for improving health through the entire community, something that requires a significant base of patients over a large geographic area.
Frisch said that the three health systems would not immediately seek to negotiate contracts together, but that eventually they would. Among the questions that must be answered first, he said, is what value to place on services at such different institutions. Albany Med is a large academic medical center, while Saratoga and Columbia Memorial health systems are anchored by community hospitals. "What we've got to figure out is, what are the appropriate price points across the delivery system," Frisch said.
A recent study from the New York State Health Foundation showed market power, sometimes created by consolidations and affiliations, can increase hospital prices. Frisch said that's always a concern, but is not the point of bringing the institutions together.
"We're not intending to re-contract the market," he said. "This is not intended to be sort of a hostile movement."
chughes@timesunion.com 518-454-5417 @hughesclaire
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Despite an online petition drive, social media complaints and the start of a new year, the popular bar carts at Grand Central Terminal remain closed with no reprieve in sight.
The 18 commissary carts were closed last month after a Metro-North spot audit found irregularities and the railroad opened a theft investigation, including a full-scale audit.
Aaron Donovan, a Metro-North spokesman, offered no time frame Tuesday for when the investigation might conclude and the bar carts reopen.
All 18 commissary carts and two commissary counters at Grand Central Terminal have been taken out of service because of an ongoing investigation initiated by Metro-North, Donovan said. They will remain closed while the investigation continues.
The closure is not sitting well with commuters, many of whom view the bar carts a necessary and long-standing tradition. An online petition drive and protest on the website ipeititons.com described the carts as a vital part of the New York commuter experience.
As of Tuesday, 219 people had signed the petition and 75 offered comments demanding the return of the carts as the investigation unfolds.
Tom Lochtefeld, of Stamford, wrote bring back the bar carts in Grand Central Terminal, while Scott Nemeth, of the Bronx, simply noted I need a drink.
Sam Fanelli added, I commute on the New Canaan line and would love to have this return.
The surprise closing has been called a crime against the hard working adults who depend on your trains to get to and from the city, the petition stated. Its reported that your riders can live with the lack of wifi and seats, but not the lack of beer. The undersigned do not believe that you should halt operations at Grand Central during the investigation or ever.
Donovan said the investigation and closure of the carts, which are staffed by Metro-North workers, was prompted by a vendor complaint. An inspector from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is working with Metro-North to complete the investigation, he said.
So far, the ongoing investigation has resulted in three people being removed from service.
Donovan noted there are still dozens of other places where Metro-North customers can buy alcohol in and around Grand Central.
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BRIDGEPORT So far, the new Geraldine Claytor Magnet Academy gets two thumbs up from Serenity Davis, 5.
There are big new crayons, new toys, new cubbies, and the same teacher all to her liking.
Mid-morning into her first day in her brand new school, Serenity and her classmates were hard at work learning about weather.
Except for two columns of red, black and gold balloons framing the entryway, and the occasional classroom visitor, it was business as usual.
One of those visitors, Bee Thompson, said her late mother, Prophetess Gerry Claytor, would have loved it.
She would have been so happy, Thompson said, stopping in at the school which welcomed students, most dressed in beige, navy and white, for the first time on Wednesday.
She would have said My babies are dressed nice and looking nice, professional like they are ready to learn, agreed Claytor Principal Steve Douglas, as he walked the shiny hallways. That was key for her.
Four years in the making, Claytor opened to some 370 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. All live in the West Side neighborhood many are from the nearby P.T. Barnum housing complex but have been attending other schools across town while their former school, Longfellow, was torn down and rebuilt.
Claytor was a longtime aide and volunteer to the Longfellow community who was active in the schools reconstruction when she died in 2015. The board moved immediately to rename the new school after her.
We wanted it as much as possible to be a regular school day, Douglas said of the soft, midyear opening, which was aided by much of the central office staff to make sure things went smoothly.
Even Douglas admitted the building felt different with kids finally filing down the hallway in straight lines.
School expectation are posted on classroom walls for all to see. And in many classes there was a review of those rules.
A formal ribbon-cutting at the $50 million school is planned for the spring. That affords time enough to start filling two empty display cabinets in the foyer. Next year, empty seats in the new school, which has a capacity of close to 600, will be distributed on a lottery basis.
I like everything about it, said Kirice Powell, 6, a first-grader, unable to pinpoint just one thing.
Jenny Booker, a kindergarten teacher, had less difficulty pointing out the differences.
Its gorgeous, Booker said. Her room has a smart board which she said would be used daily, a restroom which will cut down on trips outside the classroom and a playground right outside her classroom door. At Columbus Annex, all she had access to was blacktop.
Being together with the rest of the staff will also be huge, Booker said.
Cristina Moore, the schools assistant principal, is familiar with most of Claytors youngest students, who were housed at Columbus Annex.
On this morning, part of Moores time was spent consoling one first-grader who was close to tears in the hallway outside her classroom. For her, the change was a bit overwhelming.
She will be OK; Shes got this, Moore told Douglas. She is going to be fine. She came on a field trip to see the new building. Its just a different building. She is going to be all right.
BALLSTON SPA The former manager of a McDonald's restaurant in Malta was sentenced to jail for grand larceny.
Shawn J. Morrison, 53, of Mechanicville was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in jail and 5 years of probation, the Saratoga County District Attorney's Office said.
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GREENWICH Amy Siebert probably knows more about the inner workings of Greenwichs streets, sewer lines, bridges, ponds, parks and trash cans than anyone else in town.
Really nothing goes on around Greenwich that doesnt go through, in some way, shape or form, the public works area, said Don Conway, who introduced Siebert to a packed crowd Wednesday at the Retired Mens Association of Greenwich weekly lecture.
As Commissioner of Public Works, Siebert oversees a department that is responsible for 265 miles of paved roads, 185 miles of sewer lines, 75 bridges, more than 10,000 storm structures, 11,000 signs, 130 trash receptacles, dealing with 7,000 permits a year and even winding the large clock on Greenwich Avenue.
These are the things we take for granted in our town and we dont pay any attention to unless the signs are on the ground or things arent working for us, Siebert said. Thats what we take care of.
For 45 minutes, Siebert gave an update on several completed and ongoing projects ranging from the long-delayed dredging of Binney Pond to the newly finished Cos Cob Park on the site of the old Cos Cob Power Plant.
The Greenwich Fire Department administration moved into the new Central Fire Station in December and the firefighters and equipment are expected to move in as early as February, she said.
The old Byram municipal pool has been removed and it should be ready for its projected opening at the start of the 2018 beach season, she said.
Were getting things geared up for a lot of construction, Siebert said. The weather has been pretty favorable for us this fall to get everything set.
But much of her time was spent talking about Binney Pond, a sore point for some Old Greenwich residents who live near the waterway and have asked it be cleaned up for years.
A lot of people have asked, Why havent you done all this yet? Siebert said.
Siebert did not discuss potential contamination of the material in the pond and how that would affect dredging.
Community members have expressed concern over polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) found in the sediment, according to tests done in the past few years. The dredged silt could not be sent to a normal landfill if it is toxic.
Instead, Siebert concentrated on the project itself.
The town initially wanted to find out where the sediment that fills the pond was coming from and fix that problem before dredging the pond, she said.
But the Army Corps of Engineers, which needs to sign off on the project before it begins, wanted the dredging plan to include fixing future silt problems, she said.
A study showed that the majority of the sediment comes from the western side of the watershed, despite initial concerns it was coming from Stamford, she said.
Siebert said the project now includes installing sediment basins at the northern end of the pond.
A project start date has not been fixed. The Army Corps of Engineers is still reviewing the project plans and getting public input. The DPW is asking for $3.5 million in the 2017-18 municipal budget to go along with $880,000 budgeted in 2015-16 for dredging and construction.
The cost would include ongoing water bank stabilization and material removal, Siebert said.
kborsuk@scni.com
On this date in ...
1917: Coal dealers and merchants of Albany voiced their opinion that the coal shortage situation, while serious, was not the "menace" others had been calling it, or of sufficient magnitude to cause the suspension of factory operations. They pointed out that coal was being shipped into Albany daily in loads of between three to 30 train cars, but that applied almost exclusively to domestic coal but not steam coal, which was extremely scarce.
1967: The Saratoga Performing Arts Center was to receive half of a $60,000 grant by the Rockefeller Foundation to establish an East Coast branch of the American Federation of Musicians Congress of Strings program. The University of Southern California in Los Angeles would receive an equal grant to establish a West Coast program. Sixty students would be housed at each center, with the eight-week program scheduled to begin June 25 at SPAC.
1992: Along with food and clothing, Americans were sending their prayers to Russia. The Family Rosary Inc., a national organization headquartered in Guilderland, had collected 300,000 rosaries to send to the former Soviet Union. The barrage of rosary beads, held in prayers to the Virgin Mary, resulted from an article in The Evangelist and several other Catholic publications around the country last fall. Patrick Peyton, a priest and founder of the crusade, asked readers to send in their rosaries, which would then be shipped to Russia.
Want to read more about the Capital Region's past? See http://blog.timesunion.com/history/.
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HARTFORD No place would seem more ripe for tension than the Connecticut Senate, where Democrats and Republicans are dead-locked for the first time since 1893.
But the chambers top leader avoided handshakes with colleagues on both sides of the political aisle for altogether different reasons Wednesday during the opening of the legislative session.
Against the advice of his doctors, Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, returned to the divided chamber for the first time since undergoing a kidney transplant December 20.
Looneys GOP counterpart and longtime friend, Len Fasano, credited the progressive stalwart with brokering a power-sharing accord from his hospital bed just 24 hours after his surgery. Without it, he said, the Senate, was on a path toward a bitter stalemate.
I asked him if he was on any drugs, and he said, Oh yeah, plenty, Fasano said on the Senate floor. Many people questioned whether or not we would have a functioning state Senate.
Whether that detente can be sustained over the course of the five-month session one in which lawmakers will grapple with a $1.4 billion budget deficit, cuts to municipal aid, pension reform and a push for the legalization of recreational marijuana is no guarantee.
We will not allow the bigotry, cruelty and reckless character assassination that has turned national politics into a cesspool to undermine our public discourse here in Connecticut, Looney said during his return.
Republicans picked up three seats in the November election in the Senate, including in the 17th District, where newcomer George Logan, of Ansonia, knocked off 24-year-incumbent Joseph Crisco Jr., of Woodbridge.
Looney, 68, stood with the help of a cane during his remarks to the 36-member chamber, which began the session down one Republican and one Democrat.
Evening the score
Sens. Rob Kane, R-Watertown, and Eric Coleman, D-Bloomfield, each submitted their resignations Wednesday morning, with the expectation that Kane will be appointed to a $180,000-per-year state auditor post and Coleman will get a judgeship. There will be a special election to fill both seats, with each vacancy raising the stakes that much higher in the split chamber.
With bipartisan power comes bipartisan responsibility and accountability, Fasano said.
A large bottle of hand sanitizer sat conspicuously on the desk of Looney, who was helped back to his chair by fellow Democrat Ted Kennedy Jr., of Branford, son of the late lion of the U.S. Senate Edward M. Kennedy. Looney was sworn-in as Senate president pro tempore by Brian Fischer, a state Superior Court judge who donated a kidney to Looney.
I couldnt imagine this chamber today not having Senator Looney here with us, said Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, who serves as the Senate president. He is a stalwart of this body and the Legislature.
Wyman is poised to wield tremendous influence over the knotted Senate as the tie-breaking vote by state law. Both parties will get to pick committee co-chairmen under the power-sharing agreement hatched between Looney and Fasano. The congenial lieutenant governor said she hopes that she wont have to use her tie-breaker vote that often.
Id like us to start this term focused on unity, not division, Wyman said.
neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy
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STAMFORD Avery Carmichael almost dropped her bag when she found out she couldnt renew her license at the AAA office on High Ridge Road on Tuesday.
Seriously, starting today? the 22-year-old asked incredulously when she discovered Fairfield County AAA offices would no longer offer DMV services. I have to make a big drive back to college in North Carolina so this has me a little stressed out.
Carmichael, a Greenwich resident, was one of at least 20 would-be license renewers who were turned away at the Stamford AAA office Tuesday, an employee said.
The arrangement between AAA and the Department of Motor Vehicles which expired on Dec. 31 after talks on a new pact broke down was both a benefit for members and a safety valve for a government service that has struggled to reduce wait times.
Now theyre having to absorb members of the public who were using the AAA club branches for minor tweaks like address changes and renewals.
The loss of Stamfords AAA for license renewal poses a dilemma for residents of the greater area, who will now have to either plan ahead at Stamfords appointment-only Henry Street DMV or travel to the Norwalk DMV and wait in line.
I guess Ill try to get up to Norwalk today, Carmichael said. My license expired yesterday, so this has to get done now. I guess more than anything Im mad I put this off for so long, but its hard when youre away at school.
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DMV offices reopened Tuesday after being closed for several days for the New Years holiday, with extra staff assigned to the Norwalk and Bridgeport offices, spokesman William Seymour said.
But it is hard to judge what impact the end of the contract with the AAA franchise serving Fairfield and New Haven counties will have on wait times, the DMV spokesman said.
Spokeswoman Fran Mayko said Tuesday that signs have been posted on AAAs front doors telling people DMV service is no longer available.
I feel sorry for the people on the front line who have to explain what happened, she said.
Darien resident Kathryn Ledwith was making her third trip to the AAA in Stamford when she was turned away.
I was given two faulty licenses here they dont scan or swipe, said Ledwith, who recently turned 21 and was issued a new license to remove her underage status. I just came back from school and now I guess Ill have to go to the DMV.
Mayko said the Fairfield and New Haven county AAA offices handled about 160,000 transactions for the state DMV each year, about half of them for customers who were not members.
The AAA franchise had sought to offer DMV services only to its members, as the $5 service fee charged to non-members did not cover our cost and we couldnt handle the influx of people, the AAA Northeast spokeswoman said.
Commissioner Michael Bzdyra said DMVs contract with the AAA franchise was ending because the departments responsibility is first and foremost to the general public. We need to maintain service levels while controlling costs. As such, we cannot subsidize a private organizations provision of DMV services if that organization is not willing to find ways to serve the general public.
AAA officials said in a statement after the decision was announced that "AAA Northeast remains committed to working with state officials to extend the DMV program in AAA offices into 2017 and well beyond.
AAA has shouldered labor and other costs related to the program, which approached $1 million annually, since its inception in 2001. We remain willing to reimburse the state for an equitable portion of the additional expenses necessary to make the program work, though to date, those additional expenses have been somewhat of a moving target."
Competition remains fierce among area law enforcement agencies for new recruits, with a dozen departments or more working to fill open positions.
"In the four years that I've been in this office, I don't think we've ever been fully staffed," Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset said. Recruiters from his department are working to fill eight peace officer positions.
One of the ongoing challenges is officer retention, he said.
"Once we get an officer trained, they often pass through and are hired to go to other areas in the county or take higher-paying jobs with other agencies," Trochesset said.
The approximate salary for an entry level peace officer is $38,600 at the Galveston County Sheriff's Office.
Trochesset said his department wasn't able to offer signing incentives, such as the police department which offers a $6,000 incentive for certified officers who pass the probationary period.
"We haven't tried to put an incentive program in place because we're focused on bringing our salary range to be more competitive with these other departments," Trochesset said.
Harris County
Deputy cadets also are needed at the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Recruiters there are offering an entry level salary of $44,862 and certified peace officers graduate to an annual salary of $49,339, according to the HCSD recruiting documents posted online.
Both county agencies are competing against three local police departments offering potential recruits significantly higher salaries.
League City
The City of League City offers one of the most attractive salary packages. Entry level cadets are paid $42,671 annually and the salary range quickly increases to $51,774,94 after six months and $57,480 after nine months. A certified peace officer will earn $61,345.02 after one year with the department.
The League City Police Department has 12 open positions and will host a police officer candidate orientation for interested candidates at 9 a.m. Jan. 7 at Clear Springs High School, 501 Palomino Lane.
"The purpose of the orientation is to walk interested candidates through the hiring process which includes the written examination, physical assessment test, background investigation, oral interview, medical, polygraph, and psychological screenings," Kelly Williamson LCPD Media Relations and Public Information Officer said via email. "This orientation will help ensure the hiring process runs as smooth and successful as possible. For the first time, we are offering those applicants that are interested an opportunity to run through the PT test.
"This opportunity will show applicants the areas they may need to improve on prior to the actual examination. The Physical Assessment test will begin promptly following the conclusion of the orientation."
The League City Police Department also offers new officer candidates with at least three years of experience a $5,000 signing bonus.
Pearland
The City of Pearland also hopes to fill three to four available positions and recruiters strive to attract candidates that possess different skill sets, diverse backgrounds and life experiences, police spokesman Jason Wells said.
"We strive to have a highly trained and educated police force and officer education incentives for all our officers," Wells said.
Officers who attain an associate's degree earn an extra 58 cents an hour. A four-year degree brings an extra 87 cents an hour to an officer's annual salary and an advanced degree is worth another $1.15 an hour. Officers can also earn bonuses for attaining higher-level peace officer certifications.
"We also offer a $5,000 signing bonus for certified peace officers who meet certain criteria," Wells said.
An entry-level certified police officer earns $52,320 at the City of Pearland. After five years, the midpoint salary is currently listed as $60,653. New recruits who choose to work for the Pearland Police Department typically enroll in a law enforcement certification program at Alvin Community College.
PASADENA
The Pasadena Police Department, however, runs its own police cadet academy and is hoping to hire 20 new cadets to go through their 26-week program. Though it doesn't offer a signing bonus, the starting salary for new cadets is one of the most generous at $55,680 annually.
Other cities
Smaller agencies such as the Dickinson, La Porte and the Deer Park Police departments are also hiring new officers.
"We get plenty of applications, but the recruiting process just takes time," Deer Park Police recruiting officer Sam Jammas said. "For us, it's preferable if the candidate is already certified but if they're not we can send them to police academy at Houston Community College or College of the Mainland."
Officer candidates must have a college degree to work for the City of Deer Park where new cadets have a starting salary of $46,446,40.
Tim Cook
Apple will invest $1 billion into the SoftBank Vision Fund, a spokesperson told Business Insider.
The fund will be the world's largest technology venture fund if it hits its $100 billion goal.
"Apple is planning to invest $1 billion in SoftBank's Vision Fund. We've worked closely with SoftBank for many years and we believe their new fund will speed the development of technologies which may be strategically important to Apple," Apple spokesperson Josh Rosenstock told Business Insider.
Apple is joining investors such as Saudi Arabia's government fund, which is expected to plow $45 billion into the $100 billion fund. SoftBank has said it will contribute $25 billion. Softbank confirmed that Apple intends to invest in the fund, and other investors include Foxconn, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, and Qualcomm.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Apple's announcement.
Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank, which owns wireless carrier Sprint among other holdings, is expected to use the fund to invest in technologies like artificial intelligence.
In December, president-elect Donald Trump claimed credit for a promise by Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son to invest $50 billion in US companies, bringing 50,000 jobs to the country. Son later revealed that the investment would come from the Vision Fund.
Apple is unusual among tech giants in that it doesn't run its own venture capital wing. It has invested in companies in the past, though, and Apple has done business with Softbank for years.
Most recently, Apple invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, the Uber of China. Before that, Apple mostly invested in complementary companies like ARM, which designs the chips used in the iPhone, although it divested its stake years before ARM was sold to Softbank for over $30 billion in 2016.
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Dear Toni:
This year, I got into the "donut hole" in September. It has financially devastated and I almost stopped taking my prescriptions. I can afford my monthly $80 co pays but on my statement, it says the actual prescription drugs cost is $950.00 per month. How can I stay out of the "donut hole" or not get in it so fast for 2017? Thanks, in advance Diane from West U.
Hello Diane:
Your prescription drug problem is typical for the average person on Medicare whose true prescription drug cost is over $300 per month. Many believe that their monthly co pays are what takes them to the "donut hole." But (they) are absolutely dumbfounded when they learn that the real cost of their prescription drugs is $950 each month like yours are.
For 2017, the Medicare Part D plans have changed and the cost of prescription drugs has increased. Want to know why?
The "donut hole" will begin once the true cost of all prescription drugs whether generics or brand name reach a total of $3,700 and then the fun begins.
You must pay the next $4,950 to get out of the "donut hole." You will pay 40 percent for a brand name drug and the brand name drug manufacturer will pay 50 percent of that covered brand name drug. Now, the remaining 10 percent will be paid by the prescription drug plan which you have enrolled in. For generic drugs, the cost is 51 percent co pay while in the "donut hole."
When we perform Medicare consultation with Part D planning in the Toni Says office during this Medicare Open enrollment season, it has come to our attention via the Medicare.gov prescription drug planning site that the cost of brand name drugs has increased since 2016.
We have noticed that many brand name prescription drugs have changed from the tier 3 preferred brand name status with a simple co pay to a tier 4 non-preferred brand name drug with a 30-50 percent of the drug co pay. Example: Benicar which was in 2016 $30 preferred brand name drug is now a 30-50 percent co-pay of the true cost of Benicar $179.08 with a co pay of $89.54 or a 50 percent co pay. Many Part D plans for 2017 are not covering Benicar and other brand name drugs.
Always verify with the specific prescription drug plan that you want to enroll what tier your specific prescription drug is. Talk to your doctor about changing brand name to generics. Get samples of prescriptions whether brand name or generic from your doctor.
Seeks prescription drug discount programs for brand name or generic drugs such as goodrx.com, H-E-B, Walmart, Sam's and Costco's discount generic program.
Be very aware of how the Medicare Part D plan which you have enrolled in works and what the prescription drug plan tiers are:
Tier 1: Preferred generic (lowest cost and co pays)
Tier 2: Regular generic (average cost and higher generic co pay)
Tier 3: Preferred brand name: (lower brand name cost and average co pay such as $30, $40, $80, etc.)
Tier 4: Non-preferred brand name: 30 to 50 percent co pay of the brand name cost example: 50 percent of $300 brand name drug which is $150 co pay.
Tier 5: Specialty drugs 33 percent co pay: $1,000 prescription drug will have a co pay of $333.
Visit Tonisays.com to receive your copy of the 2017 Medicare costs and to sign up for the latest Toni Says newsletter.
Toni King, author of the new Medicare Survival Guide offers a "Thank You, Houston" $5 discount available for Houston Chronicle/HCN readers at http://tonisays.com/reader-special Medicare consultations are available at the Toni Says office or email questions to info@tonisays.com or call 832/519-TONI (8664).
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A frustrated Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal responded Tuesday to allegations on social media that he violated his amended suspension order by swearing in 418th state District Court Judge Tracy Gilbert on New Year's Day.
The Woodlands-based attorney Eric Yollick took to Facebook Monday alleging Doyal "defied and violated" the order, issued in August by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, by participating in the ceremony.
"...Doyal performed a 'judicial function' when he administered the oath of office to 418th District Judge Tracy Gilbert," Yollick stated in a post on his Facebook page. "Chapter 602 of the Texas Government Code lists who may administer oaths in the State of Texas. Although notaries public, peace officers under very limited conditions, and certain others may administer oaths, the power of a County Judge to administer an oath derives from his presiding over the Constitutional County Court, which is a court of record. Craig Doyal administering an oath of office arises from his 'judicial functions' from which the Commission has suspended him.
"Doyal violated the terms of the State Judicial Conduct Commission's suspension by administering the oath, which is a 'judicial function.'"
However, according to the commission, the swearing-in event was ceremonial and did not violate his suspension order that prohibits him from performing any judicial function associated with the office of county judge. The order allows him to perform his non-adjudicated, administrative (and ceremonial) duties.
The original suspension order was issued June 28 following Doyal's June 24 indictment on a charge he conspired to circumvent the Texas Open Meeting Act regarding negotiations surrounding the $280 million road bond approved by voters in November 2015. Also indicted on the same charge were Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley, Precinct 4 Commissioner Jim Clark and political consultant Marc Davenport. An indictment is a formal charge, not a conviction or indicator of guilt.
On July 26, Doyal along with high-profile Houston defense attorney Rusty Hardin appealed the suspension. The SCJC issued an amended suspension order Aug. 2 allowing Doyal to return to work with pay but still prohibited him from any judicial function.
While some county judges in the state of Texas serve in both an administrative and judicial role, that has not been the case in Montgomery County and Doyal is not involved in the adjudication of any cases.
A March 27 trial date has been set.
"These allegations are from a person that has repeatedly made false claims in attempt to undermine our commissioners court," Doyal said. "While they continue to try and tear down this great county, I will continue my work to help this county prepare for growth that is coming by enacting sound policies and making wise decisions."
According to Doyal, he contacted the County Attorney's Office in mid-December requesting guidance regarding his participation in the swearing-in ceremonies Sunday. A total of 19 newly elected or re-elected officials were sworn in to office Sunday at the Lone Star Convention Center in Conroe. Gilbert was the only official Doyal swore in.
In a memo to Doyal dated Jan. 3, Assistant County Attorney B.D. Griffin outlined the events regarding Doyal's participation in the swearing-in ceremony, noting he contacted the commission for guidance on the issue. The memo stated that Seana Willing, executive director of the SCJC, responded to Griffin's request and stated it is her opinion that Doyal's action to swear in Gilbert is administrative and not judicial.
Griffin stated that while Willing's response is "not an 'official' pronouncement of the Commission, I feel it reasonable to rely upon the opinion of the Executive Director of the Commission that issued the order of the suspension."
"In my opinion," Griffin stated. "The ceremonial administration of an oath of office is 'non-adjudicatory" and would have no reasonable effect on the public's confidence in the judiciary. It also appears that the Executive Director of the Commission clearly sees the issue in the same light."
Willing confirmed she did send the County Attorney's Office a response noting in her opinion that the swearing-in "would not be a violation of the order that is in place." She added that if someone files a complaint with her office, the commission would review it, but it does not have legal authority to say whether the swearing-in is a judicial function.
A person, Willing said, does not have to be a judge to administer oath.
"This was purely a ceremonial function," said Doyal, adding that Gilbert already had taken his oath prior the ceremony.
In fact, before taking the stage and stating the oath, each elected official signs documents with a notary public as the official record of the swearing-in.
"I didn't sign anything," Doyal said.
Nathan Jensen, director of court administration, issued a statement Tuesday regarding Gilbert's swearing-in.
"On January 1, 2017, prior to the public, ceremonial oath administered by County Judge Craig Doyal, 418th District Court Judge Tracy A. Gilbert took his official Oath of Office before Kim Roe, a notary public for the State of Texas," the release stated. "All District and County Court at Law judges in Montgomery County regularly take their official Oath(s) of Office before a notary public in advance of the ceremonial oaths that are administered publicly."
According to the Local Government Code Chapter 602, an oath can be administered by various people including a county judge, a judge or retired judge, a county treasurer and justice of the peace.
Willing said her office has not received any complaints regarding Doyal and the commission was not reviewing the situation.
Doyal, along with Clark, Riley and Davenport were investigated during a six-month grand jury proceeding regarding whether certain members of Commissioners Court violated TOMA during negotiations in August 2015 with members of The Woodlands-based Texas Patriots PAC that led to the $280 million November road bond referendum, which voters passed. An open records request by The Courier showed Davenport communicated with certain members of the court regarding the bond, specific projects and dollar amounts.
A grand jury handed up the indictments June 24
Gilbert did not return calls before press time.
Info Box:
Sec. 602.002. OATH MADE IN TEXAS. An oath made in this state may be administered and a certificate of the fact given by:
(1) a judge, retired judge, or clerk of a municipal court;
(2) a judge, retired judge, senior judge, clerk, or commissioner of a court of record;
(3) a justice of the peace or a clerk of a justice court;
(4) an associate judge, magistrate, master, referee, or criminal law hearing officer;
(5) a notary public;
(6) a member of a board or commission created by a law of this state, in a matter pertaining to a duty of the board or commission;
(7) a person employed by the Texas Ethics Commission who has a duty related to a report required by Title 15, Election Code, in a matter pertaining to that duty;
(8) a county tax assessor-collector or an employee of the county tax assessor-collector if the oath relates to a document that is required or authorized to be filed in the office of the county tax assessor-collector;
(9) the secretary of state or a former secretary of state;
(10) an employee of a personal bond office, or an employee of a county, who is employed to obtain information required to be obtained under oath if the oath is required or authorized by Article 17.04 or by Article 26.04(n) or (o), Code of Criminal Procedure;
(11) the lieutenant governor or a former lieutenant governor;
(12) the speaker of the house of representatives or a former speaker of the house of representatives;
(13) the governor or a former governor;
(14) a legislator or retired legislator;
(15) the attorney general or a former attorney general;
(16) the secretary or clerk of a municipality in a matter pertaining to the official business of the municipality;
(17) a peace officer described by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, if:
(A) the oath is administered when the officer is engaged in the performance of the officer's duties; and
(B) the administration of the oath relates to the officer's duties; or
(18) a county treasurer.
NORWALK In an effort to connect local artists with commercial galleries and showcase the arts in Fairfield County, the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County will make Norwalk its next stop on the second annual Progressive Gallery Tour.
Jennifer Bangser, director of marketing and public relations for the cultural alliance, said the event, now in its second year, was so successful in its first rendition that more galleries and artists have signed up to be involved.
We have over 200 (artist) members that are part of the cultural alliance so it helps them get into the gallery space and get to know the owners, Bangser said. It gives a chance for that kind of meet and greet. As an artist, part of marketing is that you want to be in the galleries, so its a very informal way to get that acquaintance. Its just a big open house environment for all parties involved.
Three of Norwalk's commercial galleries will open their doors Jan. 18 to the cultural alliance and art supporters. The event is free and open to the public.
The evening will begin at 6 p.m. at Artists Market at 163 Main St., where owner Jeff Price will talk about the gallery and an exhibition of photographs of political activists from the Watergate era.
We have a new exhibit on politics and protest photography from the early 1970s, and Ill be talking about that, our collection of book plates and our collection of M.C. Escher, so it should be interesting, Price said. ... We will also be giving a tour of our frame shop so theyll see how the inner mechanics work.
More Information For further details about the tour and how to participate, or for information about how to become a member of the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County as an artist, cultural nonprofit or creative business, contact David Green, director of programs and membership at David@CulturalAllianceFC.org. See More Collapse
Participants will reconvene at the LOVE ART Gallery at 132 Washington St. in SoNo. Owner and artist Cabell Molina will speak about the gallery at 7:15 p.m. The tour will move next door to Galeria Isadora where owner Isadora Gacel will speak at 7:45 p.m.
Molina opened the LOVE ART Gallery in March, and said she hopes the event will help introduce more people to the gallery. The gallery doubles as a work space where people can watch artists, including Molina, in the creative process.
Most of my artists are local and the point of my gallery is to showcase really talented local artists, Molina said. Im also trying to build a community with this gallery because theres so many local artists. I feel like theres a lot of talent in the area and I would love to connect local artists. My gallery is also different because I mainly have pop art and street art, and I want to try to open peoples minds to that kind of work.
The Annual Progressive Gallery Tour was launched by the cultural alliance in 2016 to bring artists, cultural nonprofits and creative business members together to celebrate the variety commercial art galleries across Fairfield County.
The tour visits one town each month. The 2017 tour began in September at the C. Parker Gallery and Isabella Garucho Fine Art Gallery in Greenwich. In November, the tour moved on to the Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery in downtown Stamford. In December, CAFC was able to join the New Canaan Holiday Stroll with three commercial gallery members: Handwright Gallery & Framing, Heather Gaudio Fine Art, and the Sorelle Gallery. In February the tour will visit Westport at the Amy Simon Fine Art Gallery and the Nylen Gallery.
This is really highlighting the commercial gallery aspect of Fairfield county because thats really important to the local economy, Bangser said. It shows us how important the arts are to the economy, and gets people out and engaged with the art.
Price said he hopes the tour will bring first-time visitors to the galleries.
I think once people come into a gallery like ours or others on the tour they will come back, Price said. The biggest stumbling block is getting people in the first time. Each gallery is a very special place and this gives the public a chance to discover that.
KKrasselt@scni.com; 203-354-1021; @kaitlynkrasselt
BRIDGEPORT Each holiday season, the Connecticut Post partners with local charities to highlight the needs of our neighbors.
This season, readers have been particularly generous in response to those needs.
CT Post readers continue to amaze in the way that they are helping their neighbors, David Kennedy, chief operation officer of United Way of Coastal Fairfield County, said in an email.
As of Tuesday, 125 readers and an employee group representing 100 people had donated $28,719, according to Kennedy. Thats an increase compared to the same time last year in the number who donated (90 readers and an employee group) and the amount ($20,466).
Its not to late to participate in this community response. The final 10 profiles are listed below.
With this final installment of stories and with the hoped-for kindness of readers continuing one last week, we have a chance to help every neighbor we highlighted have 100 percent of their ask met, Kennedy said. What an exceptional way to start the new year. On behalf of those (neighbors), Thank you very muchand Happy New Year to all who have donated to the Giving Fund.
The people in the stories below have taken proactive steps to improve their situation by working with LifeBridge Community Services, and their stories have been complied by a caseworker. The names are changed, but the need is real.
Overhead costs, including credit card fees, are covered by Hearst Connecticut Media, United Way, and LifeBridge. Print readers can use the newspaper coupon or go to http://www.ctpost.com/ givingfund and click on Donate to The Giving Fund.
160. Han works in Bridgeport and lives in Ansonia with his wife and a 1-year-old daughter. Han has a vehicle thats too unsafe to drive, and he cant afford the repairs. In the meantime, hes been using public transportation to get himself and his family around. A gift of $500 would help Han fix the car, and have a reliable way to get himself to work the familys only income and to his daughters doctors appointments.
161. Marjorie is a single mother of three children ages 9, 7 and 4. She lost her job in September and the family has been getting by on $275 a week in temporary unemployment benefits. To pay off rent owed to her landlord, she cleans the apartment complex. However, Marjorie is behind on her electric bill. All of her utilities run on electricity. A gift of $350 would pay what she owes and leave a small credit balance while she looks for work.
162. Sherry, 27, of Bridgeport, is a single mother of a 10-month-old girl. Shes had trouble finding work after being laid off last year. Thats despite being a hard worker with job and volunteer history, as well as going back to school to beef up her resume. Sherry is frugal and has stretched family support as best she can. However, a recent winter utility bill was shockingly high. A gift of $400 would help Sherry and her baby keep the utilities on.
163. Tabitha is a single mother to her 1-year-old baby girl. She was recently laid off and has yet to find a job that would suit her and her daughters child-care needs. She does not receive any other assistance besides unemployment and does not have a very substantive support system. Tabitha is actively seeking work, but making ends meet with unemployment has been very difficult. A gift of $500 would assist Tabitha in catching up on her utilities and purchasing groceries and other essential household items for her and her daughter.
164. Melrose is a single mother of five young children living in Bridgeport. She is under-employed after her job cut her hours to 15 per week. While church food banks and the LifeBridge Community Closet have supported her with some basic needs, its not enough. She has multiple disconnection notices. A gift of $500 would help Melrose and her children prevent the light and heat from going out in their house.
165. Lenny is a single father who works hard to support his household. Two tires on his car needed to be replaced, but he couldnt afford even one. So he slapped a spare tire on one side, and paid for the other one with the money for his electricity bill hoping for a miracle. Now its due. A gift of $400 would help Lenny replace the tire, pay the bill, and also buy groceries for his household.
166. Audrey, of Bridgeport, is a student the LifeBridge Youth Department. She wants to help her mother, the only breadwinner in the household with four kids, who works a part-time job and whose check is quickly swallowed up by rent, food, utilities, and car payments. A gift of $500 would help Audreys mother pay overdue utilities at home and buy groceries, as well as put Audrey at ease so she can focus on her studies.
167. Mackenzie is a single working mother of three children, living paycheck to paycheck. She does not qualify state assistance. Recent car problems caused her to fall behind on rent. A gift of $500 would start to get her back on track and start 2017 year off on the right foot.
168. RaeAnn is a single mother of three young children. Despite working more than 40 hours per week as a certified nursing assistant, her income does not support her family. Her former partner and the father of her third child used to work, but had lost jobs, failed to provide child care and struggled with substance abuse issues that ultimately led to separation. Now RaeAnn and her children are solely relying on her salary. A gift of $500 would help her provide clothing and food for the family.
169. Libby, of Bridgeport, is a single mother of an autistic 12-year-old boy. Libby has a history of being abused in a very dangerous relationship. She struggles daily to provide the life she would love for her and her son. Libby does not have citizenship and struggles to secure a steady income. She is a very humble, respectful woman and is thankful for any opportunity or blessing. A gift of $375 would help Libby provide some items for herself and her son.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed in a new interview that he is completely confident that the Russian government was not the source of the hacked emails that his organization released leading up to the U.S. presidential election. He also shrugged off the question of whether the politically damaging emails affected the outcome of the race.
The publisher of classified and private information released embarrassing emails from Hillary Clintons campaign chairman, John Podesta, and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Fox News political pundit Sean Hannity asked Assange to address the allegation that WikiLeaks was a tool employed by Moscow to interfere with the U.S. election.
Can you say to the American people, unequivocally, that you did not get this information about the DNC, John Podestas emails, can you tell the American people 1,000 percent that you did not get it from Russia or anybody associated with Russia? Hannity inquired.
We can say, we have said repeatedly that over the last two months, that our source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party, Assange responded.
Democrats have argued that the WikiLeaks email dumps were conducted as part of an orchestrated plot to tilt the election in favor of Donald Trump, who frequently showers praise on Russia and its leaders. Despite Assanges claims, the U.S. intelligence community has said it is certain that Russia was behind the cyberattacks that led to the WikiLeaks disclosures. Experts have also linked Guccifer 2, the hacker who claims to have leaked the DNC emails, to the Kremlin.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he continues to seek asylum, in London, England. (Photo: Carl Court/Getty Images)
On Dec. 29, President Obama announced a slew of retaliatory measures against the Russian government for its alleged interference. This included the eviction of 35 suspected Russian intelligence operatives and sanctions against nine different Russian individuals and institutions, including two of the GRU and FSB Russian intelligence services.
Story continues
Assange said he believes the Obama administration is trying to delegitimize Trump before his predecessor enters the White House.
They are trying to say that President-elect Trump is not a legitimate president, he said.
According to Democrats, the leak of thousands of Podestas emails were particularly damaging to Hillary Clintons campaign. An earlier hack this summer led to the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and renewed distrust of the Democratic establishment among supporters of Bernie Sanders primary campaign.
When asked if the emails WikiLeaks published changed the outcome of the election, Assange said, Who knows? He also argued that if they had, the responsibility lies not with WikiLeaks but the people who penned the emails in the first place.
Who knows, its impossible to tell. But if it did, the accusation is that the true statements of Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager, John Podesta, and the DNC head Debbie Wasserman Schultz, their true statements is what changed the election, he said.
The full interview is scheduled to air Tuesday night on Fox News.
What looks like a unique case of self-improvement revenge, a Houston mother dropped 103 pounds after her cheating husband called her fat behind her back.
Betsy Ayala originally weighed 262 pounds, but after learning about her husbands affair, she hit the gym six times a week.
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Hamshire-Fannett ISD educators jumped at the sound of rapid gunfire as they watched footage of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre on a 10-foot screen.
As the last seconds of the video played, the group of around 250 sat motionless, their faces frozen in expressions of horror.
"I got emotional," Hamshire-Fannett Assistant Superintendent John Burris said. "It's difficult to see someone get shot. It's not something you see every day."
After showing the video, James Riley, a SWAT officer with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, taught the district's employees three steps to follow in the event of a similar shooting event on campus: run, hide and fight.
"Your first move should be to visualize an escape, but if that's not a possibility, seeking cover is the next best option," said Riley.
Riley said he recommends elementary school teachers gather students into a hiding spot, since controlling a group of 6-year-olds is more difficult than it would be with a group of high school students.
When hiding, he said teachers should lock doors, turn off lights, silence cell phones and barricade classroom doors with large pieces of furniture.
"If you can't run or hide, defending yourself should be your last resort," Riley said.
If an attacker were to make it past the barricades, the best places to attack are the throat and eyes, he said.
The average arrival time for an officer responding to an active shooting is 3 minutes, Riley said. Once law enforcement officials make their way onto the campus, Riley said listening to their orders is crucial.
"Keep your hands up, and if you happen to come in contact with the shooter's gun, don't have it near you," Riley said. An officer's job is to find the gunman, and if the wrong person has the weapon it can lead to confusion.
"Our most important goal is that you get home safely at the end of the day," Riley said.
Valerie Gill, a special education teacher at the intermediate school, was one of the teachers to take part in the voluntary training session on Tuesday.
"It made me more aware of the way I could change my daily routines at school, in the event that something were to happen - and to react quicker," Gill said.
She said watching the footage from Columbine, a mass shooting by two Colorado high school students who killed 12 of their peers and a teacher, reminded her of the reality of mass shootings.
As employees sat inside the cafeteria, deputies fired blank rounds from an M4 .233 semiautomatic rifle, a 12 gauge shotgun and a handgun - first outside of the school, and then at the end of the hallway.
Deputies wanted the educators to know what each gun type sounded like and from different ranges.
Some teachers covered their faces with sweaters as the guns were fired.
Burris said each campus goes through an active shooter training seminar at the beginning of each school year. He said this is the first time in his 14 years with the district that the training was facilitated by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
Campuses have lockdown drills two to three times a year, he said.
"Once you feel something, I think you learn a little bit more," Burris said. "It shows the importance of these training sessions and why we go through them."
SFlores@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/_saraeflores
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If approved for a nearly $100,000 grant, the Orange County Sheriff's Department could become the latest local law enforcement agency to obtain body-worn cameras using state dollars.
The Orange County Commissioners Court voted unanimously on Tuesday to apply for a grant program offered by the Governor's Criminal Justice Division.
The total cost of the 57 body-worn cameras and supplemental equipment would be $95,000, said Orange County Sheriff's Capt. Dennis Marlow.
If approved, the grant from the state would cover 80 percent of the cost, which includes software and digital storage. The sheriff's office would be responsible for the remaining 20 percent, or $19,000, which would be covered using federal drug forfeiture money, Morrow said.
The cameras would benefit Orange County residents but would be especially helpful to deputies, Morrow said.
"What we've found out is (cameras) save our rear ends more often than not," he said. The sheriff's department recently purchased new dashboard cameras.
Police body cameras have played a role in several high profile cases in the past year, including the fatal shooting of five Dallas police officers in July.
Critics, however, have argued against some Texas police department's body camera policies, which do not require officers to keep their cameras on at all times.
In August, protesters in Houston complained after Mayor Sylvester Turner released police video from the July shooting of 38-year-old Alva Braziel.
The 18 minutes of footage began with video from store surveillance equipment across the street, but the body camera footage only started after Braziel had been shot.
As part of the state grant application, law enforcement agencies are required to outline their body-worn camera policy.
Morrow said the Orange County Sheriff's Department would require officers to keep their cameras on any time they're interacting with the public, the same policy the department has for its dashboard cameras.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department and the Beaumont Police Department both applied and received funding through the program during the application process this past summer.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department received $43,000 to buy 70 cameras for patrol deputies, said Deputy Marcus McLellan. The department is shopping for cameras and has not yet set a date for the program's launch, he said.
The Beaumont Police Department received $192,500 for 140 cameras, said BPD Assistant Chief Jim Clay. The department has ordered the first seven cameras for a pilot program, but they are on back order, said Clay.
Morrow said it's a "long shot" that the Orange County Sheriff's Department will receive any money from the state program.
He said the state handed out most of the funding for the program during the last round of applications, which were available this past summer, and competition will be fierce for the program's remaining dollars.
"If we don't make it this round, persistence is the key," Morrow said.
Houston Chronicle reporter Andrew Kragie contributed to this article.
NKrebs@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/Natalie_Krebs
A pickup driver was injured when another motorist slammed into him late Tuesday night along Interstate 45 in northwest Houston.
The two-vehicle crash happened about 11:30 p.m. on the southbound North Freeway near Shepherd, said Sgt. James Roque of the Houston Police Department.
Two Midland Police Department officers who were involved in a shooting in October are returning to their regular duties following a no bill ruling by a Midland County grand jury.
After hearing evidence from a Texas Rangers investigation, the grand jury for the 142nd District Court ruled on Wednesday that Officers Aaron Renz and Aaron Trevino were found to have not committed criminal wrongdoing in a shooting that occurred on Oct. 10, according to a press release from the city. Kheyanev Littledog, 19, was fatally shot by the officers when he refused to comply with orders and reached for a handgun in his waistband.
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A year ago, David Molak was a 16-year-old Alamo Heights High School sophomore and the latest victim of alleged cyberbullying.
The story of Molak's suicide spread past the Bexar County line and served as a cautionary tale to millions across the country.
The harassment investigation into Molak's death did not result in criminal charges from the district attorney's office due to "insufficient evidence," but State Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, announced plans to file a bill establishing David's Law in the weeks following.
READ MORE: No charges will be filed in the suicide of Molak, attorney says
The bill would make electronically harassing or bullying anyone under age 18 via text and social media a misdemeanor.
Now a year from Molak's death and weeks away from the start of the legislative session, Menendez nad State Rep. Ina Minjarez, D-San Antonio, are preparing to discuss David's Law.
Menendez told mySA.com he believes the bill has support from "both sides of the aisle."
"Children should not be a partisan issue and protecting them should not be a partisan issue," he added.
Both senators recognized the somber anniversary as a time to reflect on his passing and issued a call to action for support from the public to combat the nationwide "crisis."
"Passing David's Law is one of the most important issues facing this legislature when it gavels in on January 10th," Menendez said in a statement Wednesday. "The legislature needs to hear from Texas families on this critical issue."
RELATED: Alamo Heights student was a victim of bullying before committing suicide, family says
He asked the public to contact local state senators and representatives in support of David's Law.
"(The public) doesn't think their voice matters, but it does," Menendez said. "This isn't just a San Antonio problem, it's a statewide problem."
Minjarez added to Menendez' sentiments, saying her "thoughts and prayers" are with the Molaks and any family who has suffered a similar loss.
"David's Law is the bill I will be prioritizing this legislative session," she said in a statement.
In addition to making cyberbullying a misdemeanor, David's Law would require school districts to include cyber bullying in their school district policies and notify parents whose children are victims or alleged aggressors.
The bill also provides for civil liability, allowing parents of victims to sue bullies' families, which Menendez said would allow subpoeana power to discover who's doing the bullying
RELATED: S.A. student film sheds new light on David Molak's life, death
School districts would be required to develop a system to anonymously report bullying and would be given more latitude to place students in a disciplinary alternative education program or expel them for encouraging suicide or other serious bullying.
Alamo Heights Independent School District Spokeswoman Patti Pawlik-Perales told mySA.com a task force was implemented in response to Molak's death. It consists of 16 community members who "devoted countless hours" to research issues affecting the "social and emotional wellness" of its student body.
"The district began implementing recommendations by the Task Force to address the social and emotional, digital citizenship and character education issues facing our children and community, including the issues related to adolescent suicide and the five forms of mistreatment," Pawlik-Perales said.
Staff writer Peggy Fikac contributed to this report.
mmendoza@mysa.com
Twitter: @MaddySkye
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The San Antonio Zoo welcomed an adorable litter of otter pups recently.
Zoo spokesman Mason Rodriguez told mySA.com the pup trio was born Nov. 17, 2016 to mother Ague and father Charlie.
Ague and Charlie are the zoo's only otters and are both 8 years old. They will both help the zoo raise the pups, Rodriguez said.
RELATED: S.A. zoo to expand jaguar habitat with a 'one-of-a-kind' overhead catwalk
"Mom (Ague) spends a lot of time eating so she can provide nutrition for the pups as they nurse," the zoo said in a statement. "The father (Charlie) is a great protector and he likes to build a new cozy bed every day out of the hay and bedding that we give them so that the mom and pups have a comfortable, safe place to stay."
The zoo's animal care staff is keeping a "close eye" on the newborns, tracking their growth and taking their weights daily. They are currently nursing from Ague but will eventually be eating fish (their favorite food,) balanced chow and sometimes shrimp and clams as enrichment.
RELATED: S.A. zoo's million-dollar exhibit upgrade allows visitors to play tug-of-war with lions
It's unclear when the pups will be ready for the public to see, but Rodriguez said they will grow a thicker fur coat and their noses and nostrils will open over the coming weeks.
The zoo said this litter is Ague and Charlie's third.
mmendoza@mysa.com
Twitter: @MaddySkye
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SAN ANTONIO - Reyes Torres, 31, was watching her son play with the other kids in the complex as they often do in the evening when two gunshots rang out.
"I grabbed my son and ran inside my apartment before coming back to check out what happened," she said.
San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus said one man, in his 30s, was fatally shot in the chest while running to his apartment at about 6:30 p.m. at the Hilltop Oaks Apartments, 6130 Ingram Road.
RELATED: Father charged with choking daughter over nude Snapchat photos
The man and a woman were standing in the parking lot when another couple drove up in a pickup truck and began arguing with them.
"We know what the argument was about," McManus said. "It appears to have been possibly drug-related." Then the two standing in the lot began running toward the apartment building as shots were fired, McManus said.
The man made it to an open doorway before collapsing inside the apartment, he said.
He had been shot in the upper torso, investigators said.
EMS arrived and pronounced the man dead at the scene, police said.
RELATED: Elderly 'hoarder's' home catches fire on Northeast Side
The chief said the shooter was also a man in his 30s who drove away after the shooting.
"I'm pretty confident we'll have that individual in custody before long," McManus said.
The scene at the complex was one of the more extreme incidents residents said they have seen recently, as drug-related fights further in the complex had died down.
Marie Segovia, 34, said she just moved in three months ago and that it's been quiet.
"Usually there's no cops here because we have security here late at night," She said. "Everybody keeps to themselves, it's just kids running around."
jbeltran@express-news.net
Twitter: @JBfromSA
SAN ANTONIO A 17-year-old man was shot in the face by an unknown suspect Tuesday night on the North Side near Winston Churchill High School, according to police.
Emergency personnel responded shortly after 10:10 p.m. Tuesday to a Baptist Healthcare Clinic for a man who suffered a gunshot wound to the face.
SAN ANTONIO The lower level of Interstate 10 near Cincinnati Avenue reopened Wednesday afternoon after an hours-long closure caused when an 18-wheeler struck a large traffic sign, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
TxDOT traffic cameras show at 2:30 p.m. that traffic appears to be moving in and out of the lower levels of I-10 following this morning's crash.
President Barack Obama, his days in office waning, blacklisted 15 Russian individuals and companies for their dealings in Crimea and Ukraine recently. And last week, the president expelled 35 Russian officials and imposed sanctions on that countrys intelligence services in response to Russian interference in the U.S. election.
Meanwhile, the incoming Trump team seems to want to ease sanctions on Russia, denies that it meddled in the U.S. election, and is poised to have confirmed as secretary of state an oil executive with extensive business dealings with Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin.
If anything, the pressure on Russia should increase, not decrease.
The interference in the U.S. election alone with high confidence, the intelligence community says it occurred spoke to the need for responses ranging from more sanctions to cyber mischief of our own. But the blacklisting by the Obama administration was purely about Ukraine and Crimea.
These targeted sanctions, said John E. Smith, the acting director of the Treasurys office of foreign assets control, aim to maintain pressure on Russia by sustaining the costs of its occupation of Crimea and disrupting the activities of those who support the violence and instability in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trumps choice of Rex W. Tillerson, chief executive for Exxon Mobil, for secretary of state points to some disturbing questions that must be raised during Senate confirmation hearings.
Tillerson negotiated a $500 billion joint venture with Russia in 2011 to drill for oil on the Arctic shelf and the Black Sea, and another deal in Siberia to develop shale drilling. These were properly put on hold after Russian intervention in Crimea and Ukraine triggered U.S. sanctions.
Among the questions the Senate must ask: Does Tillerson propose that these sanctions be softened or lifted? He has in the past been a critic of Russia, and then its partner. Has he divested himself of his Exxon holdings to avoid conflicts of interest in his dealings with Russia as secretary of state? Putin awarded an Order of Friendship on Tillerson shortly after the Arctic deal. Will this relationship with Putin sway U.S. dealings with Russia?
We await details on Tillerson and also on what a congressional inquiry determines about Russias role in the U.S. presidential election. But these are separate from the sanctions necessary to continue to punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea and sowing war in Ukraine. And this isnt even considering Russias role in the brutalization of Aleppo and the war crimes there.
The sanctions must remain in a Trump administration unless Russia substantively relents.
WESPORT A 47-year-old Westport man and actor whose screen credits include Boardwalk Empire has been arrested after police said they found 50 digital images of child pornography during search of his home.
Paul Jude Letersky, of Riverside Avenue, was charged with child pornography in the first degree, enticing a minor and risk of injury.
Lt. David Farrell said the Westport Police Department was alerted to an inappropriate sexting relationship between Letersky and a juvenile from Colorado. At around 5 a.m. Wednesday, the Westport Police Detective Bureau executed a search warrant on Leterskys home, Farrell said.
Over 50 digital images of child pornography were discovered during the search, he said. Based on this evidence, Letersky was arrested on scene for child pornography, first degree.
Farrell said an arrest warrant was also served on Letersky charging him with enticing a minor and risk of Injury, stemming from the original complaint. Letersky was held held on $500,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Stamford Court on Jan. 13.
This incident is still under investigation by the Westport Police Detective Youth Division, led by Sergeant Sereniti Dobson, Farrell said. Assisting with the investigation is the Southwest Connecticut Technical Investigation Unit, comprised of officers from Weston, New Canaan, Norwalk, Greenwich and Connecticut State Police.
According to the website IMDB, Letersky played a number of uncredited, recurring roles including an iron salesman, a postal supervisor and a state police officer from 2010 to 2013 on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. More recently, he appeared in another uncredited role as a KGB agent in 2014 and 2015 episodes of the FX series, The Americans, the website said.
SACRAMENTO California legislative leaders upped the ante on their vows to fight attempts by the incoming Trump administration to weaken the states climate change, immigration or other policies, announcing Wednesday that their houses hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to help.
State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount (Los Angeles County), said Holder and his team from the firm Covington & Burling will serve as outside legal counsel for the Legislature under a three-month, $75,000 contract.
Its very important to prepare California in the event there needs to be a legal fight to protect the policies that have made California the fifth-largest economy in the world, de Leon said in an interview Wednesday.
The move comes after Gov. Jerry Brown nominated Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra to fill the attorney general seat vacated by Kamala Harris, who was sworn into the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. The Legislature is holding nomination hearings next week for Becerras appointment, which lawmakers are expected to approve.
Californias attorney general typically serves as the states top attorney, but Rendon and de Leon said they began talking in November about bringing on additional legal help after Donald Trump was elected president. They said Holder and his firm ensure they have the best and brightest defense in order to resist any attempts to roll back the progress California has made.
The renowned firm has represented states and corporations in fights against the federal government.
The Assembly and state Senate will split the firms $25,000 monthly fee, which covers 40 attorney hours, to retain Holder and his team.
The three-month contract is scheduled to begin Feb. 1. Rendon said Holder and the firm will work directly with him and de Leon.
The contract calls for Holder, former Los Angeles Rep. Howard Berman, former federal prosecutor Daniel Shallman and others at the firm to advise the Legislature on a wide range of topics where the state could clash with the Trump administration, including immigration, health care, civil rights and climate change policies.
The Legislature made the announcement on the first day of the new legislative session. Democrats have a supermajority in both houses of the Legislature, meaning they have a two-thirds voting bloc that could be used to pass taxes or put initiatives on the ballot without a single Republican vote.
The move to hire Holder comes after de Leon and Rendon used their swearing-in ceremonies last month to say they will fight Trump and his Cabinet picks on any effort to increase deportations of immigrants in the country without documentation.
I am honored that the legislature chose Covington to serve as its legal advisor as it considers how to respond to potential changes in federal law that could impact Californias residents and policy priorities, Holder said in a statement. I am confident that our expertise across a wide array of federal legal and regulatory issues will be a great resource to the legislature.
A spokesman at the firm declined to comment further.
Holder was a partner at Covington from 2001 to 2009 before becoming attorney general in the Obama administration. He resigned as attorney general in 2015 and returned to the firms Washington office.
State Republicans called the move a political stunt and questioned why outside counsel is needed given the attorney generals office serves as the states legal team and the Legislature has an office of its own legislative lawyers.
Democrats should focus on solving these real-world problems instead of wasting tax-payer money to score political points before the president-elect even takes office, said Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes, R-Yucca Valley (San Bernardino County), in a statement. The states incoming attorney general has spent decades in Washington working on federal policies. Its not clear why legislative Democrats needed to hire a D.C. insider to litigate the exact same issues.
What a waste, added state Sen. Patricia Bates, R-Laguna Niguel (Orange County).
Rendon said the attorney general is tasked with providing legal advice to the state, not lawmakers, and that legislative counsel is a nonpartisan office that cant advise Democrats on strategy.
The rhetoric coming out of the future administration, the rhetoric throughout the campaign we dont think this is overreaction at all, Rendon told reporters Wednesday.
Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
Hines Global REIT has bought 8.8 acres of property at The Rim, including the sites of Hopdoddy Burger Bar and Macys Backstage, completing its three-year process of becoming the dominant landowner at the shopping center.
The Houston-based real estate investment trust bought the land in late December from entities connected to Thomas Enterprises Inc., the Georgia firm that developed The Rim about a decade ago, property records show. The purchase includes 136,000 square feet of existing retail space and another 100,000 square feet that is either under construction or has been leased to chains such as Lupe Tortilla and Glorias Latin Cuisine, Hines spokesman Mark Clegg said.
carrie fisher
Disney could get financial compensation for the death of Carrie Fisher.
The company behind "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and all new movies in the franchise put in place an insurance policy on Fisher before she signed a three-picture deal to reprise her role as Princess Leia from the original trilogy in the event that she could not fulfill her contract, according to The Insurance Insider.
Because Fisher died on December 27 after suffering a heart attack on a flight four days earlier Disney could receive $50 million, according to The Insurance Insider.
Fisher starred in "The Force Awakens" and she will also be in the next "Star Wars" film, "Episode VIII," which has completed filming. However, production on "Episode IX" hasn't started yet.
There's no word on if Disney has similar policies for "Star Wars" actors Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford.
It is also unclear how the franchise will address Leia in "Episode IX." In the first standalone "Star Wars" movie, "Rogue One," digital effects brought Peter Cushing, who died in 1994, back to the screen to reprise his role as Grand Moff Tarkin from the original 1977 "Star Wars" movie. But Industrial Light and Magic, which created the computer-generated Tarkin and a younger version of Fisher as Leia in the movie has said it doesn't plan to do that sort of effect often.
"We're not planning on doing this digital re-creation extensively from now on," John Knoll, chief creative officer of ILM and visual effects supervisor on "Rogue One," told The New York Times. "It just made sense for this particular movie."
"Star Wars: Episode VIII" opens in theaters in December 2017.
Fisher's representatives and Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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Obiang's seized cars.
Teodorin Obiang Nguema, son of Equatorial Guineas president, is set to be tried in France for money laundering and corruption. Obiang, who is also the countrys vice-president, is accused of looting state funds and spending lavishly acquiring luxury cars and mansions across Europe.
While the trial proceedings will be held in France, other European countries have clamped down on Obiangs questionable spending. Last November, 11 of Obiangs luxury cars, including a $2.8 million Koenigegg One, and a $2 million Bugatti Veyron, were seized in Switzerland while Dutch authorities seized Ebony Shine, a $120 million 76-meter (250 ft) luxury yacht, said to belong to Obiang.
The US has also cracked down Obiangs assets. As part of a settlement, Obiang forfeited more than $30 million worth of assets, including a Malibu mansion and other luxury cars, purchased with corruption proceeds.
For his part, Obiang is expected to plead not guilty as his lawyers says he earned the money legally in his country. His attorneys have also tried to delay the trial claiming they have not had enough time to prepare.
Should the trial go ahead as scheduled, Obiang is not expected to attend or serve a sentence if convicted. However, a conviction of the vice-president will reinforce the notion in Equatorial Guinea that the countrys ruling family are plundering state resources for personal gain. Obiangs father is Africas longest serving president, in power for 37 years.
Despite being oil-rich with one of Africas highest rates of GDP per capita, 2013 estimates pegged the countrys poverty rate at 60%. Equatorial Guineas wealth earnings and poverty rate paradox means the country has the worlds largest gap between per capita wealth and human development score.
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By Matthew Cunningham-Cook, who has written for the International Business Times, The New Republic, Jacobin, Aljazeera, and The Nation and has been a labor activist
It was a grim Christmas in the Houthi-supporting Yemeni countryside, where the peasants backing a right to national self-determination are subjected to an old form of population control: starvation. The Yemenis have the misfortune of sitting at a key strategic chokepoint in global production: the Bab el-Mandeb at the southern base of the Red Sea, passing 13% of global oil production annually through its waters. The Bab el-Mandeb is just 25 miles across, making it difficult to navigateand easy for a small group of pirates to disrupt.
Management by Instability
Directly west of Yemen sit Eritrea, Djibouti, and then Ethiopiathree countries that are active targets of US intervention. Djibouti features Africas only permanent US military base, Camp Lemonnier, which hosts over 1000 highly trained special forces. Eritreas fiercely independent government is an ongoing target of the State Department and liberal NGOs. Ethiopias sociopathic leadershipcomposed of the henchmen of the now-deceased brutal despot Meles Zenawimakes Ethiopia the largest recipient of US aid in sub-Saharan Africa. Bordering Ethiopia and south of Yemen lies Somalia, the site of arguably the most sustained campaign of American-European-Saudi intervention anywhere in the world. Persistent overt and covert meddling in Somali affairs has made it without a functioning national government for over a quarter-century. Directly north of Yemen sits Saudi Arabiato paraphrase Porfirio Diaz, poor Yemen, so far from Godand so close to the Saudis.
The region surrounding the Bab el-Mandebthe Horn of Africais a hot spot at the center of global production, and a site of ongoing neoimperialist assault. Exemplifying the ongoing, multiple and converging crises that humanity faces, what happens there is of deep import to us all.
The facts on the ground are this: Nearly four years of upheaval culminated in a nationalist revolutionary militia, the Houthis, seizing the capital in 2015, demanding recognition as Yemens civil government. The Houthis have a primary demand: an end to US and Saudi imperialism in the Middle East. They have denounced the Saudi government, and particularly the Saudis family ties to al-Qaeda and Salafism-Wahhabism more broadly.
Riyadh and the Gulf States have not responded kindly to such broadsides, beginning a horrifying bombing and blockade campaign in March 2015, with the crucial logistical support of the US and the UK. The US has sold over $115 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since 2009; the UK has sold over $4 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia since the war began. Over three million people have been displaced by the bombs, with 600 hospitals and health centers destroyed. Seven million people are on the brink of starvation, and as of December 15 all further wheat imports have been halted in a country dependent on imports for 90% of its food, due to the chicanery of the puppets at Yemens new central bank (the old central bank was shut down by the government-in-exile in September and moved from Sanaa to Aden in the Southmuch more on this below).
It appears the Saudis have a plan for complete extermination. Their murderous campaign is being led by King Salmans son, 31-year old defense minister and second deputy crown prince Mohamed bin Salman al Saud, who among other things happens to be buddies with both President Obama and the patron of leading ISIS/Al-Qaeda theocrat Mohamed AlArefe.
While mass starvation deepens, the bombing continues apace, with the Saudis dropping cluster bombs on Hajja governorate on December 26, according to Al-Manar. (Cluster bombs are a particularly nasty product of the military-industrial complex, with collateral damage a built-in feature.) This fall also notably featured the Saudi bombing of a funeral, with 140 civilians dead.
Amidst a foreground cast of Arabs, the war has brought from his blood-splattered cave the likes of the brother of Secretary of Education-designate Betsy DeVos, Erik Prince of Blackwater fame, who trained 450 mostly-Colombian mercenaries (paid a reported $1000 per week) to fight on behalf of the Emirates presidential guard, led by Australian citizen Mike Hindmarsh.
Its a cruel war with no beneficiaries outside the leaching fingers of the Saudi royal family and the boardrooms of Lockheed, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Raytheonbut those actors combined are far too powerful in todays world to be stopped by a ragtag band of poverty-stricken Yemenis like the Houthis.
None of this humanitarian catastrophe would be possible without the craven role played by the media in London and New York, which has vastly underreported the scale of Saudi atrocities (which include, at this juncture, the bombing of no less than six Doctors Without Borders clinics and hospitals), the pressing and desperate nature of the pending mass starvation, and, most importantly, the cynical and criminal role played by the arms manufacturers, making a literal killing yet again off of death and destruction.
Mainstream human rights organizations, while recognizing the scale of the problem, resort to both-sides critiques that fail to recognize that both the famine and the ongoing bombing-related destruction are products of Saudi aggression: it is the Saudis that are exclusively bombing, and the Saudi bombing of Yemens agricultural infrastructurecombined with the Saudi naval blockadeprecipitated the mass starvation now.
Also vastly underreported is the crucial role of the shutdown of Yemens Central Bank in Sanaa and the firing of the neutral central bank governor, Mohammed Awad bin Hammam, a brave man who during the course of the war has prevented complete famine from emerging. Until now.
Mass Starvation by Finance
Mohammed Awad bin Hammam had served under Ali Abdullah Saleh, the US-backed dictator who ruled from 1979 until 2011 (and is now aligned with the Houthis), and under Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, the Saudi puppet with no army or coherent base of supporters to speak of. (Hadi has had to depend on Emirati-paid mercenaries and Saudi air power for his armed forces in the civil war.) When Hadi resigned in January 2015 as the Houthis approached, bin Hammam stayed. The governor is widely respected, even earning praise from the usually taciturn IMF.
Of chief complaint to the Saudis is that bin Hammam had continued to pay the salaries of civil servants and soldiers who may be Houthis. That bin Hammam was also continuing to pay the salaries of civil servants aligned with Hadi has been shunt from view.
What is indisputable is that bin Hammam is a neutral actor attempting to make the best of a bad situation. The central bank in Sanaa was the only institution capable of paying salaries across the country and preventing the rise of famine.
In September, Hadi sacked bin Hammam and ordered that the central bank be moved to Aden, where his puppet government resides. Bin Hammam had begged that Hadi hire a Big 4 audit firm to review the practices of the Central Bankin particular, any wavering on neutralitybefore attempting to move the bank to Aden. Hadi and the Saudis demurred. The Aden bank is incapable of getting food into Yemen, which has resulted in the end of wheat shipmentsa disaster of Biblical proportions, inflicted on Yemens most vulnerable civilians, in particular 2.2 million children.
Despite the desperate pleas of bin Hammam, the IMF, Wall Street and the Treasury Department appear to have recognized the Aden bank as the sole monetary authority in the nation, making the Saudi-Hadi gambit 100% successful so far. More ordinary concerns, like the starvation of 7 million people, have not risen to the level of concern for Masters of the Universe. John Kerry has emphasized a defunct peace process which include the preconditions of the Houthis leaving Sanaa and giving up all of their heavy weaponry (lambs to the slaughter, etc. etc.) while letting the fact that a child dies every ten minutes in Yemen due to this vile blockade go unmentioned.
Were the IMF or the Treasury Department to declare the Sanaa bank a legitimate monetary authority, it is likely that food shipments could begin immediately. The Aden bank has nowhere near the level of technical expertise (nearly all of the civil servants appear to have remained in Sanaa) needed to be able to bring food innor is it clear that the leaders of the Aden bank would like to. The Saudi military has suffered setback after setback on the battlefield, and mass starvation is the response by Riyadh to this string of defeatsstarve em out.
On December 16 Reuters published an astounding article detailing the distressing circumstances behind the cancellation of wheat shipments. One of the largest food importers, the Fahem Group, sent a letter to both the Sanaa and Aden banks saying that they could not process their transactions in United States dollars. Further detail was not provided, but the two banks were advised that this was a serious problem that needed to be addressed.
The December import cancellation is not the first time that Yemens ability to import food had been financially (rather than directly via Saudi naval blockade) hampered. In July, the bin Hammam-led Central Bank of Yemen was cut off from access to $260 million in foreign currencystored in Yemen rather than abroadbecause international financial institutions were refusing to cooperate with it. This means that the currency must travel by plane to be deposited in a foreign financial institutionat great expense to an impoverished nation. It is unclearbut highly, highly unlikelythat the bank has been able to deposit these funds successfully in the succeeding months.
At this point, it is apparent that the Treasury Department and the IMF are actively working to undermine theagain, neutralSanaa bank. The problem is that the private financial sector does not have faith in the creditworthiness of Yemeni institutions, a faith that could be easily grantedand in fact, is the oft-ignored mission ofthe IMF. Given the US extensive support for the war thus far, Treasury involvement in propping up the Aden bank at the expense of the Sana bank is guaranteed. The bait and switch reveals itself: as Obama finally cancels some arms exports to Saudi Arabiaan acknowledgement of the barbaric nature of this warthe US financial apparatus and the IMF agree with the sacking of the neutral central bank governor and replacing him with a puppet determined to starve the nations people until Saudi victory. (Its worth noting that the US has both formal and informal veto power over IMF decision-making). Convicted criminal Christine Lagarde apparently is too busy destroying what remains of the Greek welfare state to focus on stopping a food-based genocide. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, meanwhile, appears to be too fraught with the dilemma of aubergine or burgundy drapes for his new, much-grander-than-before office at Citigroup to be able to help any starving Yemeni babies.
The December Reuters article also contained this little gem:The Houthis try to play this card of the starvation of people to gain more international media attention Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asseri, spokesman for the Saudis.
Wheres the Opposition?
So far weve concluded that the Saudi-led war, naval blockade, and IMF/Treasury-assisted financial blockade in Yemen is 1) destructive and depraved; wretched, and 2) that these vile attacks on the Yemeni people could not have happened without the active support of the United State government, the country most of you, dear readers, live in.
So who is standing up to say Enough! of this deadly aggression, and Stop! to the genocide of a people? Certainly not leading intellectual huckster and UN Ambassador Samantha Power, who has now stamped her name on the term genocide in more ways than one, in part by helping to stamp out a Dutch effort to have the UN investigate the war. Then we have an ostensibly progressive movement debasing itself with absurd claims of Russian hacking rather than focus on the real issue: who gets to live or die on planet Earth today.
That said, there are some names worth noting in the small opposition that has begun to form against the war on the Yemeni people. The first casualty of war is truth, so well start with the rare voices in the media. Ben Nortons dispatches, formerly of Salon, have consistently drawn the contrasts necessary to explain this conflict succinctly: namely, that this is a war of Saudi aggression. Iona Craig of the Intercept has provided the most desperately needed on the ground reporting on the brutal and punitive nature of the war. Reuters coverage of the central banking crisis has been invaluable (linked profusely throughout this article.) Andrew Cockburn of Harpers published in September the only long-form overview of this catastrophic war I can find, an article which in part inspired this one. And the BBCs documentary on starvation in Yemen has been an incitement to action. The Real News Network and their Yemen source, Bilal Zaneb Ahmed, have also been doing vital work on the roots of the conflict, as has Democracy Now!
In politics, Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) has played a yeomans role in attempting to whip opposition to the Saudi aggression in Congresresulting in a near victory of an amendment to ban transfers of cluster munitions in June 2016. Lieu was helped in this effort by John Conyers (D-MI), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), and Barbara Lee (D-CA).
Likewise, the bipartisan coalition of Senators Rand Paul, (R-KY), Chris Murphy, (D-CT), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Al Franken (D-MN) successfully raised the issue in the Senate in September, but further action has not been taken. A key question is if this opposition will be raised in Senate confirmation hearings for James Mattis for Secretary of Defense. Mattis was an advocate for aggressive US intervention against Iranian humanitarian support for Yemenis while head of Middle East-based CENTCOM from 2010-2013. Such opposition could also be raised during confirmation hearings for Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. Tillerson has deep experience in Yemen, once working as head of Exxon Yemen.
In the UK, Jeremy Corbyns leadership of the Labour Party has been a vocal site of resistance to the British role in the conflictproving that socialists tend to provide the most able critiques of imperial wars.
In the streets in the US Medea Benjamins Code Pink has been the most strident voice of opposition to the War in Yemen.In the UK, that role has been filled by the Stop the War Coalition.
A ramping up of No!s desperately must happen, however. In the media, in Congress, and in the streets. And at this crucial juncture, the No.1 priority should move from stopping arms shipments to restoring the functionality of the neutral Sanaa Central Bank of Yemen and restoring Muhammad Awad bin Hammam to his position as Governor of the bank. The Saudis have shifted their focus from the battlefieldwhich invites unfortunate headlinesto the shadowy levers of global finance. The potential casualtiesat 7 million, including 2.2 million childrenwill be far higher, lest we stop them.
Further actions and dispatches will be forthcoming in the coming weeks. If interested in getting involved, please contact me at m.cunninghamcook@gmail.com.
By Cevat Giray Aksoy, Research Economist, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development: Christopher S. Carpenter Professor of Economics, Professor of Law, Professor of Education, Professor of Medicine, Health, and Society, and Professor of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University; and Jefferson Frank, Professor of Economics, University of London. Originally published at VoxEU
Since the mid 1990s, many researchers have investigated labour market discrimination based on sexual orientation (e.g. Badgett 1995, Black et al. 2003, Arabsheibani et al. 2004, Plug and Berkhout 2004). These studies frequently find large earnings differences. Partnered gay men earn significantly less than partnered heterosexual men, and partnered lesbian women earn significantly more than partnered heterosexual women. When individual level self-reports of sexual orientation are available, the earnings differences are generally smaller.
The previous studies have struggled with a trade-off between representativeness and sample size. Couples-based datasets such as population censuses in Canada, the US, and the UK provide large samples of same-sex couples, but do not identify the sexual identity of non-partnered individuals. In contrast, datasets with individual-level information on sexual orientation or sexual behaviour have been much smaller. The few studies with individual-level information on sexual orientation and reasonably large samples of sexual minorities have been limited to single states (e.g. Carpenter 2005), limited to young adults (Plug and Berkhout 2004), or lacked information on labour market earnings (Carpenter 2008a). As a result, we do not know whether differences in estimated earnings effects of a minority sexual orientation in studies have been due to differences in the samples, populations, or outcomes. It has also been difficult to disentangle the causes of sexual orientation-based differences in labour market outcomes (is it specialisation or discrimination?).
A Nationally Representative Dataset
In a recent paper, we overcome these problems by using confidential versions of the 2012-2014 UK Integrated Household Surveys (IHS), linked to high-quality labour market earnings data from the countrys Annual Population Survey (Aksoy et al. 2016). To our knowledge, it is the first country-wide dataset combining partnership status, self-identified sexual orientation, and high-quality data on labour market earnings.
We use to it identify large samples of sexual minority individuals more than 2,500 self-identified lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGB) through their responses to a direct question about sexual orientation. We also identify those in same-sex partnerships. This means we can directly test for how measurement of sexual orientation (individual level self-reports versus same-sex partnerships) is related to earnings differences between sexual minorities and heterosexuals, and comment more directly on possible explanations for differences in earnings.
Partnership Status Matters: Full-time Employment
We discover that it is important to have data on both partnered and non-partnered sexual minorities. Our full-time employment models indicate that gay (bisexual) men are 4.5 (11.9) percentage points less likely to be working full time than similar heterosexual men. This difference for gay men is driven by the partnered sample. Partnered gay men are 6.1 percentage points less likely to be working full time than similar partnered heterosexual men. In contrast, the difference for bisexual men is driven primarily in the non-partnered sample. Non-partnered bisexual men are 11.7 percentage points less likely to be working full time than similar non-partnered heterosexual men.
Lesbians are 8.2 percentage points more likely to be working full time than similar heterosexual women, while bisexual women are 5.4 percentage points less likely to be working full time. As with gay males, the lesbian difference in full-time employment (although of opposite sign) is predominantly driven by the partnered sample. Partnered lesbians are 15.4 percentage points more likely to be working full time than similar partnered heterosexual women.
Partnership Status Matters: Earnings
After controlling for observable determinants of earnings such as education, location, and family structure, we find a positive and statistically significant difference in earnings for partnered lesbians compared to partnered heterosexual women, but no earnings differential for non-partnered lesbians compared with similar non-partnered heterosexual women.
We find a negative and marginally significant earnings penalty for partnered gay men compared to partnered heterosexual men, but no earnings differential for non-partnered gay men compared with similar non-partnered heterosexual men. Taking partnered and non-partnered individuals together, we find that the earnings difference associated with a gay sexual orientation for men is near zero, while the associated population-based earnings difference among women associated with a lesbian orientation is a premium of about 5.5%, and is statistically significant.
Specialisation or Discrimination?
Our results are consistent with specialisation. Heterosexual partnerships typically involve gendered specialisation. The man is more engaged in market activities than the woman, particularly given that many couples have children. Even if the degree of household specialisation were the same in heterosexual and gay male households, gendered heterosexual specialisation means that the average partnered heterosexual man would be more focused on market activities than the average partnered gay man.
The same argument implies the average partnered lesbian would be more focused on market activities than the average partnered heterosexual woman. These differences would not accrue to non-partnered individuals. Our data support these specialisation-based predictions. Our finding that the lesbian premium among partnered individuals accrued approximately equally to lesbians who are household heads and lesbians who are not household heads also supports the idea that there is less specialisation in a lesbian household.
There is some limited evidence for discrimination as an explanatory factor. Our results show that older gay men and partnered gay men earn less than comparable heterosexual men. It is likely that, as men get older, not being in a heterosexual marriage becomes more of a signal of sexual minority status (Carpenter 2007, Frank 2007). It may also be easier to see that partnered gay men are gay, compared to their counterparts who do not have partners. For example, they may have photos of a same-sex partner or list their same-sex partner as a beneficiary. If there is discrimination against gay men, more observable individuals may bear a greater penalty. The gay male penalty occurs only outside London, where there is likely to be a stronger taste for discrimination. Finally, the bisexual male penalty occurs only in the private sector, and not the public sector where there is greater protection against discrimination.
Our unique samples of partnered and non-partnered sexual minorities, and high-quality data on earnings, provide evidence to support a role for specialisation in explaining sexual orientation-based differences in labour market earnings, with less evidence for selectivity, and limited and mixed support for discrimination.
See original post for references
Chance meeting leads to creation of antibiotic spider silk
(Nanowerk News) A chance meeting between a spider expert and a chemist has led to the development of antibiotic synthetic spider silk.
After five years' work an interdisciplinary team of scientists at The University of Nottingham has developed a technique to produce chemically functionalised spider silk that can be tailored to applications used in drug delivery, regenerative medicine and wound healing.
Spider silk and spider are shown. (Image: The University of Nottingham)
The Nottingham research team has shown for the first time how 'click-chemistry' can be used to attach molecules, such as antibiotics or fluorescent dyes, to artificially produced spider silk synthesised by E.coli bacteria. The research, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is published today in the online journal Advanced Materials ("Antibiotic Spider Silk: Site-Specific Functionalization of Recombinant Spider Silk Using Click Chemistry").
The chosen molecules can be 'clicked' into place in soluble silk protein before it has been turned into fibres, or after the fibres have been formed. This means that the process can be easily controlled and more than one type of molecule can be used to 'decorate' individual silk strands.
Nottingham breakthrough
In a laboratory in the Centre of Biomolecular Sciences, Professor Neil Thomas from the School of Chemistry in collaboration with Dr Sara Goodacre from the School of Life Sciences, has led a team of BBSRC DTP-funded PhD students starting with David Harvey who was then joined by Victor Tudorica, Leah Ashley and Tom Coekin. They have developed and diversified this new approach to functionalising 'recombinant' -- artificial -- spider silk with a wide range of small molecules.
They have shown that when these 'silk' fibres are 'decorated' with the antibiotic levofloxacin it is slowly released from the silk, retaining its anti-bacterial activity for at least five days.
Neil Thomas, a Professor of Medicinal and Biological Chemistry, said: "Our technique allows the rapid generation of biocompatible, mono or multi-functionalised silk structures for use in a wide range of applications. These will be particularly useful in the fields of tissue engineering and biomedicine."
Remarkable qualities of spider silk
Spider silk is strong, biocompatible and biodegradable. It is a protein-based material that does not appear to cause a strong immune, allergic or inflammatory reaction. With the recent development of recombinant spider silk, the race has been on to find ways of harnessing its remarkable qualities.
The Nottingham research team has shown that their technique can be used to create a biodegradable mesh which can do two jobs at once. It can replace the extra cellular matrix that our own cells generate, to accelerate growth of the new tissue. It can also be used for the slow release of antibiotics.
Professor Thomas said: "There is the possibility of using the silk in advanced dressings for the treatment of slow-healing wounds such as diabetic ulcers. Using our technique infection could be prevented over weeks or months by the controlled release of antibiotics. At the same time tissue regeneration is accelerated by silk fibres functioning as a temporary scaffold before being biodegraded."
The medicinal properties of spider silk recognised for centuries.
The medicinal properties of spider silk have been recognised for centuries but not clearly understood. The Greeks and Romans treated wounded soldiers with spider webs to stop bleeding. It is said that soldiers would use a combination of honey and vinegar to clean deep wounds and then cover the whole thing with balled-up spider webs.
There is even a mention in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream: "I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good master cobweb," the character 'Bottom' said. "If I cut my finger, I shall make bold of you."
'I think we could make that!'
The idea came together at a discipline bridging university 'sandpit' meeting five years ago. Dr Goodacre says her chance meeting at that event with Professor Thomas proved to be one of the most productive afternoons of her career.
Dr Goodacre, who heads up the SpiderLab in the School of Life Sciences, said: "I got up at that meeting and showed the audience a picture of some spider silk. I said 'I want to understand how this silk works, and then make some.'
"At the end of the session Neil came up to me and said 'I think my group could make that.' He also suggested that there might be more interesting 'tweaks' one could make so that the silk could be 'decorated' with different, useful, compounds either permanently or which could be released over time due to a change in the acidity of the environment."
The approach required the production of the silk proteins in a bacterium where an amino acid not normally found in proteins was included. This amino acid contained an azide group which is widely used in 'click' reactions that only occur at that position in the protein. It was an approach that no-one had used before with spider silk -- but the big question was -- would it work?
Dr Goodacre said: "It was the start of a fascinating adventure that saw a postdoc undertake a very preliminary study to construct the synthetic silks. He was a former SpiderLab PhD student who had previously worked with our tarantulas. Thanks to his ground work we showed we could produce the silk proteins in bacteria. We were then joined by David Harvey, a new PhD student, who not only made the silk fibres, incorporating the unusual amino acid, but also decorated it and demonstrated its antibiotic activity. He has since extended those first ideas far beyond what we had thought might be possible."
David Harvey's work is described in this paper but Professor Thomas and Dr Goodacre say this is just the start. There are other joint SpiderLab/Thomas lab students working on uses for this technology in the hope of developing it further.
David Harvey, the lead author on this their first paper, has just been awarded his PhD and is now a postdoctoral researcher on a BBSRC follow-on grant so is still at the heart of the research. His current work is focused on driving the functionalised spider silk technology towards commercial application in wound healing and tissue regeneration.
Where will we be in 5 years' time?
Find the newest releases to watch from National Geographic on Disney+, including favourite documentary series and films Free Solo, The Rescue, Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
A Tipperary nurse has returned from a two week volunteering placement in Uganda where she played a key role in helping to improve health services for people in one small town in the African country.
And Anne Hayes from Clonoulty says she would recommend the experience to anyone
Anne, a public health nurse based in the County Clinic in Clonmel, travelled to Uganda with an Irish charity called Nurture Africa, which has a targeted focus on healthcare, education, child protection and economic empowerment.
She says it does amazing work in Nansana, a town 6 km from the capital city of Uganda, Kampala.
A health centre has been built, which provides free care and medication to children under 5, from very poor families in the local area.
It also provides free counselling and HIV drug treatment to families.
It runs an ante natal clinic for pregnant mothers infected with HIV, and provides free medication and free food for these mothers.
Working with University College Dublin VSO, a new physiotherapy department has just opened in June this year and now treats children with cerebral palsy, and they have made amazing progress in a very short period of time.
Anne says Nurture Africa also offer small loans to local individuals and groups, in building and developing small business, such as fruit and vegetable stalls, in order to sustain their families, and send their children to school.
She says - "Nurture Africa' are very closely involved with local schools, and we as a group of volunteers were fortunate to visit and carry out library reading, and health education workshops with these children.
"The charity is supported by Deloitte' and 'Friends First and this summer an Information Technology centre has been built by Irish volunteers, and computer training and classes have just commenced for children from local schools.
"I was privileged and humbled to be part of the incredible work during my two week placement - working in the clinic, carrying out HIV testing, visiting homes of people infected with HIV, and visiting local schools, and local small businesses.
"The most amazing thing is that everyone in Uganda is smiling, and so grateful for our help and involvement with 'Nurture'.
"For anyone who might be interested in a volunteering placement in Africa, I can wholeheartedly testify to the incredible lifesaving work of Nurture Africa".
Anne is pictured with groups of familes and children in the town of Nansana while one shot (below) shows the difficult conditions that people live in.
The Senate Banking Committee will have six fresh faces in the new Congress as Republicans grapple with a slimmer majority.
The panel roster was finalized Tuesday as Republicans announced committee assignments that included Sens. David Perdue, R-Ga., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Kennedy, R-La.
Perdue and Tillis were elected in 2015 and Kennedy won in a runoff election in 2016 to fill the Senate seat vacated by Sen. David Vitter, a banking panel member in the previous Congress. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., is also off the committee and Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., lost his 2016 re-election bid.
In a statement, Perdue said he will carry the GOP torch to reduce regulations on financial institutions.
"We need to dismantle the regulatory regime of Dodd-Frank, encourage entrepreneurial innovation, and unleash economic growth to get Americans working again," Perdue said.
Democrats, meanwhile, benefit from an additional seat on the panel. They now have 11 seats, compared with Republicans' 12, reflecting the closer division between political parties in the full chamber.
Overall, Democrats had three additional members as two left the committee. Joining the ranks are Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., will no longer be on the banking committee, instead focusing on his responsibilities as the Senate Democratic leader. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., is also getting off the panel.
Progressives praised the Democratic assignments.
"Adding Schatz, Van Hollen, and Cortez Masto is a pretty clear win for folks who pushed Schumer in October to not stack Senate Banking with even more conservative Democrats," said Kurt Walters, campaign director at Rootstrikers.
But Washington observers said the dynamic at the committee will likely be similar to that of the previous Congress, with policymaking likely up to Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, who is chairing the committee, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, the panel's top Democrat.
"Obviously it helps to have a bigger margin rather than a smaller margin, but for most purposes it doesn't really change much," said Mark Calabria, a former Senate Banking Committee staffer and director of financial regulations studies at the Cato Institute.
"The mix on the Dem side really hasn't shifted things much, in terms of progressive-moderate," Calabria said.
Likewise, Brian Gardner, a policy analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, said: "I don't see a big ideological shift among RepublicansThe newer members will probably to some extent defer to the chairman and to the new administration."
However, there are high hopes for a better working relationship between Brown and Crapo. The committee may also be more active under Crapo.
"You have a big stylistic change with Crapo at the top replacing Shelby as chairman," Gardner said.
Of note is that Nevada will now have both its senators on the panel while New York the financial center of the U.S. will have none. Still, in his role as Senate Democratic leader, Schumer will carry significant weight, observers said.
"I suspect Schumer will be kind of a shadow member," Gardner said. "He may not be there to vote, but he is going to have a lot of behind-the-scenes say in what the Democrats' angle is to the committee. He is going to be active; he is just not going to be formally part of the committee."
But the Nevada senators could prove to be active in any debate over housing finance reform.
Nevada "was ground zero for the mortgage crisis," Gardner said. "They will be looking at mortgage issues obviously, but in a crisis mode it is more what the system should look like going forward."
Cortez Masto played an important role in the $25 billion national mortgage settlement as Nevada attorney general and later was able to settle a separate lawsuit with Bank of America, accusing the bank of breaking the terms of the original settlement.
Sometimes campaign contributions can also provide some insight into a lawmaker's policy positions.
Tillis counts the fund company Elliot Management as his top campaign donor, and the $1.6 billion-asset Live Oak Bank, which is based in his home state of North Carolina and is a large Small Business Administration lender, is his fifth-largest donor.
(Natural News) The British governments mass surveillance powers have been severely undermined by The European Unions top court. The new ruling could constrain police and spy agency investigations. The judgement was handed down last month, in Luxembourg, where the European Court of Justice declared that general and indiscriminate data retention regarding peoples communications and whereabouts is inconsistent with privacy rights. The court stated that bulk storage of private data is highly invasive and exceeds the limits of necessity, therefore it cant be justified within a democratic society.
The ruling is a victory for civil liberties advocates, but a major blow against mass surveillance. Retention of our digital histories is a very intrusive form of surveillance which needs safeguarding. The 15 judges on the European courts panel acknowledged that modern investigative techniques were necessary to fight against organized crime and terrorism efforts, but couldnt justify general and indiscriminate retention of all traffic and location data.
It is still acceptable, however, for governments to perform targeted data retention. This pertains to cases involving serious crimes, but access to that data must be overseen by a judicial authority or independent administrative authority. Those who were targeted by surveillance will be notified upon completion of the investigation.
In December, 2014, two British members of parliament originated the case by challenging the legality of the UK governments Data Retention, where telecommunications companies were forced to store their customers communication records for one year. The law was replaced with the Investigatory Powers Act, which was approved by British parliament.
Since the UK recently voted to leave the European Union, Wednesdays significant ruling will likely be a headache for British government officials. The ruling will be forwarded to the UKs Court of Appeal, so judges can determine how it will be applied in context with the national law. This might force the government to make changes to controversial sections of the Investigatory Powers Act, which gives police and spy agencies an abundance of access to civilian data.
This will mark the UK governments first serious post-Brexit test to their commitment for protecting human rights and the rule of law. The people of the UK have voted to leave the EU, but not to give up their rights and freedoms. The government must now make significant changes to the Investigatory Powers Act in order to comply with the peoples personal privacy rights.
In a statement from the British governments Home Office, a spokesperson said that We are disappointed with the judgment from the European court of justice and will be considering its potential implications. The government will be putting forward robust arguments to the court of appeal about the strength of our existing regime for communications data retention and access.
The UKs appeal of the decision is likely be dragged out for a long time. If the appeal can outlast the completion of the Brexit process, the ruling will no longer matter. This should raise questions concerning politicians who are granting the government powers to inappropriately spy on citizens.
Sources:
TheIntercept.com
TechDirt.com
(Natural News) The U.S. establishment is not content simply to have domination over the media narratives on critical foreign policy issues, such as Syria, Ukraine and Russia. It wants total domination. Thus we now have the Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act that President Obama signed into law on Dec. 23 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2017, setting aside $160 million to combat any propaganda that challenges Official Washingtons version of reality.
(Article by Tyler Durden, republished from zerohedge.com)
The new law mandates the U.S. Secretary of State to collaborate with the Secretary of Defense, Director of National Intelligence and other federal agencies to create a Global Engagement Center to lead, synchronize, and coordinate efforts of the Federal Government to recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining United States national security interests. The law directs the Center to be formed in 180 days and to share expertise among agencies and to coordinate with allied nations.
The legislation was initiated in March 2016, as the demonization of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia was already underway and was enacted amid the allegations of Russian hacking around the U.S. presidential election and the mainstream medias furor over supposedly fake news. Defeated Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton voiced strong support for the bill: Its imperative that leaders in both the private sector and the public sector step up to protect our democracy, and innocent lives.
The new law is remarkable for a number of reasons, not the least because it merges a new McCarthyism about purported dissemination of Russian propaganda on the Internet with a new Orwellianism by creating a kind of Ministry of Truth or Global Engagement Center to protect the American people from foreign propaganda and disinformation.
As part of the effort to detect and defeat these unwanted narratives, the law authorizes the Center to: Facilitate the use of a wide range of technologies and techniques by sharing expertise among Federal departments and agencies, seeking expertise from external sources, and implementing best practices. (This section is an apparent reference to proposals that Google, Facebook and other technology companies find ways to block or brand certain Internet sites as purveyors of Russian propaganda or fake news.)
Justifying this new bureaucracy, the bills sponsors argued that the existing agencies for strategic communications and public diplomacy were not enough, that the information threat required a whole-of-government approach leveraging all elements of national power.
The law also is rife with irony since the U.S. government and related agencies are among the worlds biggest purveyors of propaganda and disinformation or what you might call evidence-free claims, such as the recent accusations of Russia hacking into Democratic emails to influence the U.S. election.
Despite these accusations leaked by the Obama administration and embraced as true by the mainstream U.S. news media there is little or no public evidence to support the charges. There is also a contradictory analysis by veteran U.S. intelligence professionals as well as statements by Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and an associate, former British Ambassador Craig Murray, that the Russians were not the source of the leaks. Yet, the mainstream U.S. media has virtually ignored this counter-evidence, appearing eager to collaborate with the new Global Engagement Center even before it is officially formed.
Of course, there is a long history of U.S. disinformation and propaganda. Former CIA agents Philip Agee and John Stockwell documented how it was done decades ago, secretly planting black propaganda and covertly funding media outlets to influence events around the world, with much of the fake news blowing back into the American media.
In more recent decades, the U.S. government has adopted an Internet-era version of that formula with an emphasis on having the State Department or the U.S.-funded National Endowment for Democracy supply, train and pay activists and citizen journalists to create and distribute propaganda and false stories via social media and via contacts with the mainstream media. The U.S. governments strategy also seeks to undermine and discredit journalists who challenge this orthodoxy. The new legislation escalates this information war by tossing another $160 million into the pot.
Propaganda and Disinformation on Syria
Syria is a good case study in the modern application of information warfare. In her memoir Hard Choices, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote that the U.S. provided support for (Syrian) civilian opposition groups, including satellite-linked computers, telephones, cameras, and training for more than a thousand activists, students and independent journalists.
Indeed, a huge amount of money has gone to activists and civil society groups in Syria and other countries that have been targeted for regime change. A lot of the money also goes to parent organizations that are based in the United States and Europe, so these efforts do not only support on-the-ground efforts to undermine the targeted countries, but perhaps even more importantly, the money influences and manipulates public opinion in the West.
In North America, representatives from the Syrian Local Coordination Committees (LCC) were frequent guests on popular media programs such as DemocracyNow. The message was clear: there is a revolution in Syria against a brutal regime personified in Bashar al-Assad. It was not mentioned that the Local Coordination Committees have been primarily funded by the West, specifically the Office for Syrian Opposition Support, which was founded by the U.S. State Department and the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
More recently, news and analysis about Syria has been conveyed through the filter of the White Helmets, also known as Syrian Civil Defense. In the Western news media, the White Helmets are described as neutral, non-partisan, civilian volunteers courageously carrying out rescue work in the war zone. In fact, the group is none of the above. It was initiated by the U.S. and U.K. using a British military contractor and Brooklyn-based marketing company.
While they may have performed some genuine rescue operations, the White Helmets are primarily a media organization with a political goal: to promote NATO intervention in Syria. (The manipulation of public opinion using the White Helmets and promoted by the New York Times and Avaaz petition for a No Fly Zone in Syria is documented here.)
The White Helmets hoax continues to be widely believed and receives uncritical promotion though it has increasingly been exposed at alternative media outlets
as the creation of a shady PR firm. During critical times in the conflict in Aleppo, White Helmet individuals have been used as the source for important news stories despite a track record of deception.
Recent Propaganda: Blatant Lies?
As the armed groups in east Aleppo recently lost ground and then collapsed, Western governments and allied media went into a frenzy of accusations against Syria and Russia based on reports from sources connected with the armed opposition. CNN host Wolf Blitzer described Aleppo as falling in a slaughter of these women and children while CNN host Jake Tapper referred to genocide by another name.
The Daily Beast published the claims of the Aleppo Siege Media Center under the title Doomsday is held in Aleppo and amid accusations that the Syrian army was executing civilians, burning them alive and 20 women committed suicide in order not to be raped. These sensational claims were widely broadcast without verification. However, this news on CNN and throughout Western media came from highly biased sources and many of the claims lacking anything approaching independent corroboration could be accurately described as propaganda and disinformation.
Ironically, some of the supposedly Russian propaganda sites, such as RT, have provided first-hand on-the-ground reporting from the war zones with verifiable information that contradicts the Western narrative and thus has received almost no attention in the U.S. news media. For instance, some of these non-Western outlets have shown videos of popular celebrations over the liberation of Aleppo.
There has been further corroboration of these realities from peace activists, such as Jan Oberg of Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research who published a photo essay of his eyewitness observations in Aleppo including the happiness of civilians from east Aleppo reaching the government-controlled areas of west Aleppo, finally freed from areas that had been controlled by Al Qaedas Syrian affiliate and its jihadist allies in Ahrar al-Sham.
Dr. Nabil Antaki, a medical doctor from Aleppo, described the liberation of Aleppo in an interview titled Aleppo is Celebrating, Free from Terrorists, the Western Media Misinformed. The first Christmas celebrations in Aleppo in four years are shown here, replete with marching band members in Santa Claus outfits. Journalist Vanessa Beeley has published testimonies of civilians from east Aleppo. The happiness of civilians at their liberation is clear.
Whether or not you wish to accept these depictions of the reality in Aleppo, at a minimum, they reflect another side of the story that you have been denied while being persistently force-fed the version favored by the U.S. State Department. The goal of the new Global Engagement Center to counter foreign propaganda is to ensure that you never get to hear this alternative narrative to the Western propaganda line.
Even much earlier, contrary to the Western mythology of rebel liberated zones, there was strong evidence that the armed groups were never popular in Aleppo. American journalist James Foley described the situation in 2012 like this:
Aleppo, a city of about 3 million people, was once the financial heart of Syria. As it continues to deteriorate, many civilians here are losing patience with the increasingly violent and unrecognizable opposition one that is hampered by infighting and a lack of structure, and deeply infiltrated by both foreign fighters and terrorist groups. The rebels in Aleppo are predominantly from the countryside, further alienating them from the urban crowd that once lived here peacefully, in relative economic comfort and with little interference from the authoritarian government of President Bashar al-Assad.
On Nov. 22, 2012, Foley was kidnapped in northwestern Syria and held by Islamic State terrorists before his beheading in August 2014.
The Overall Narrative on Syria
Analysis of the Syrian conflict boils down to two competing narratives. One narrative is that the conflict is a fight for freedom and democracy against a brutal regime, a storyline promoted in the West and the Gulf states, which have been fueling the conflict from the start. This narrative is also favored by some self-styled anti-imperialists who want a Syrian revolution.
The other narrative is that the conflict is essentially a war of aggression against a sovereign state, with the aggressors including NATO countries, Gulf monarchies, Israel and Jordan. Domination of the Western media by these powerful interests is so thorough that one almost never gets access to this second narrative, which is essentially banned from not only the mainstream but also much of the liberal and progressive media.
For example, listeners and viewers of the generally progressive TV and radio program DemocracyNow have rarely if ever heard the second narrative described in any detail. Instead, the program frequently broadcasts the statements of Hillary Clinton, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power and others associated with the U.S. position. Rarely do you hear the viewpoint of the Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations, the Syrian Foreign Minister or analysts inside Syria and around the world who have written about and follow events there closely.
DemocracyNow also has done repeated interviews with proponents of the Syrian revolution while ignoring analysts who call the conflict a war of aggression sponsored by the West and the Gulf monarchies. This blackout of the second narrative continues despite the fact that many prominent international figures see it as such. For example, the former Foreign Minister of Nicaragua and former President of the UN General Assembly, Father Miguel DEscoto, has said, What the U.S. government is doing in Syria is tantamount to a war of aggression, which, according to the Nuremberg Tribunal, is the worst possible crime a State can commit against another State.
In many areas of politics, DemocracyNow is excellent and challenges mainstream media. However in this area, coverage of the Syrian conflict, the broadcast is biased, one-sided and echoes the news and analysis of mainstream Western corporate media, showing the extent of control over foreign policy news that already exists in the United States and Europe.
Suppressing and Censoring Challenges
Despite the widespread censorship of alternative analyses on Syria and other foreign hotspots that already exists in the West, the U.S. governments new Global Engagement Center will seek to ensure that the censorship is even more complete with its goal to counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation. We can expect even more aggressive and better-financed assaults on the few voices daring to challenge the Wests group thinks smear campaigns that are already quite extensive.
In an article titled Controlling the Narrative on Syria, Louis Allday describes the criticisms and attacks on journalists Rania Khalek and Max Blumenthal for straying from the approved Western narrative on Syria. Some of the bullying and abuse has come from precisely those people, such as Robin Yassin-Kassab, who have been frequent guests in liberal Western media.
Reporters who have returned from Syria with accounts that challenge the propaganda themes that have permeated the Western media also have come under attack. For instance, Canadian journalist Eva Bartlett recently returned to North America after being in Syria and Aleppo, conveying a very different image and critical of the Wests biased media coverage. Bartlett appeared at a United Nations press conference and then did numerous interviews across the country during a speaking tour. During the course of her talks and presentation, Bartlett criticized the White Helmets and questioned whether it was true that Al Quds Hospital in opposition-held East Aleppo was attacked and destroyed as claimed.
Bartletts recounting of this information made her a target of Snopes, which has been a mostly useful website exposing urban legends and false rumors but has come under criticism itself for some internal challenges and has been inconsistent in its investigations. In one report entitled White Helmet Hearsay, Snopes writer Bethania Palmer says claims the White Helmets are linked to terrorists is unproven, but she overlooks numerous videos, photos, and other reports showing White Helmet members celebrating a Nusra/Al Qaeda battle victory, picking up the bodies of civilians executed by a Nusra executioner, and having a member who alternatively appears as a rebel/terrorist fighter with a weapon and later wearing a White Helmet uniform. The fact check barely scrapes the surface of public evidence.
The same writer did another shallow investigation titled victim blaming regarding Bartletts critique of White Helmet videos and what happened at the Al Quds Hospital in Aleppo. Bartlett suggests that some White Helmet videos may be fabricated and may feature the same child at different times, i.e., photographs that appear to show the same girl being rescued by White Helmet workers at different places and times. While it is uncertain whether this is the same girl, the similarity is clear.
The Snopes writer goes on to criticize Bartlett for her comments about the reported bombing of Al Quds Hospital in east Aleppo in April 2016. A statement at the website of Doctors Without Borders says the building was destroyed and reduced to rubble, but this was clearly false since photos show the building with unclear damage. Five months later, the September 2016 report by Doctors Without Borders says the top two floors of the building were destroyed and the ground floor Emergency Room damaged yet they re-opened in two weeks.
The many inconsistencies and contradictions in the statements of Doctors Without Borders resulted in an open letter to them. In their last report, Doctors Without Borders (known by its French initials, MSF) acknowledges that MSF staff did not directly witness the attack and has not visited Al Quds Hospital since 2014.
Bartlett referenced satellite images taken before and after the reported attack on the hospital. The images do not show severe damage and it is unclear whether or not there is any damage to the roof, the basis for Bartletts statement. In the past week, independent journalists have visited the scene of Al Quds Hospital and report that that the top floors of the building are still there and damage is unclear.
The Snopes investigation criticizing Bartlett was superficial and ignored the broader issues of accuracy and integrity in the Western medias depiction of the Syrian conflict. Instead the article appeared to be an effort to discredit the eyewitness observations and analysis of a journalist who dared challenge the mainstream narrative.
U.S. propaganda and disinformation on Syria has been extremely effective in misleading much of the American population. Thus, most Americans are unaware how many billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on yet another regime change project. The propaganda campaign having learned from the successful demonizations of Iraqs Saddam Hussein, Libyas Muammar Gaddafi and other targeted leaders has been so masterful regarding Syria that many liberal and progressive news outlets were pulled in. It has been left to RT and some Internet outlets to challenge the U.S. government and the mainstream media.
But the U.S. governments near total control of the message doesnt appear to be enough. Apparently even a few voices of dissent are a few voices too many.
The enactment of HR5181, Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation, suggests that the ruling powers seek to escalate suppression of news and analyses that run counter to the official narrative. Backed by a new infusion of $160 million, the plan is to further squelch skeptical voices with operation for countering and refuting what the U.S. government deems to be propaganda and disinformation.
As part of the $160 million package, funds can be used to hire or reward civil society groups, media content providers, nongovernmental organizations, federally funded research and development centers, private companies, or academic institutions.
Among the tasks that these private entities can be hired to perform is to identify and investigate both print and online sources of news that are deemed to be distributing disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda directed at the United States and its allies and partners.
In other words, we are about to see an escalation of the information war.
Read more at: zerohedge.com
Northwest China's 'Energy Golden Triangle' is being targeted as part of a national strategy to concentrate large-scale energy industries in the region. Given its scarce rainfall and vegetation, it is ecologically fragile and susceptible to atmospheric pollution a point that seems to have been overlooked in the scramble for long-term energy security.
A team at Lanzhou University has observed signs of water and soil contamination, and damage to the sparse local ecosystem by toxic substances from energy and chemical industries in the area (unpublished results). Sulfur dioxide pollution is increasing there and elsewhere in northwest China (Y. Shen et al. Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett. 3, 275279; 2016), whereas it has declined across the rest of China in the past decade.
Towards the end of The Theory of Everything, the 2014 film about Stephen Hawking, scenes depict the reception of his popular science classic, A Brief History of Time (1988). The camera zooms in on a large display of the book in a shop window; fans crowd the physicist-author, hoping that he will autograph their copies. Future events are outlined in the film's closing titles: the first relates not to the ongoing impact of Hawking's scientific achievements or the challenges of living with motor neuron disease, but to the sales of the book, which by 2013 stood at more than 10 million. Stephen Hawking and colleagues at the University of Cambridge in the 1980s, before the publication of A Brief History of Time. Credit: Ian Berry/Magnum Photos
Sales of popular-science books very rarely reach the million mark, and are usually much lower. So this is an astounding achievement for a science book aimed at the non-scientist, and especially for one that grapples with the some of the biggest questions in physics the Big Bang, black holes, a 'theory of everything' and the nature of time. As Hawking entertainingly related in a 2013 essay in The Wall Street Journal, he rewrote A Brief History repeatedly at the behest of his editor, Peter Guzzardi at Bantam, to make it more understandable to a lay readership. He later regretted, however, not further clarifying tough concepts such as imaginary time.
As a publishing phenomenon, A Brief History of Time is not, as is sometimes claimed, unprecedented. There were nineteenth-century science blockbusters such as mathematician Mary Somerville's 1834 On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (see R. Holmes Nature 514, 432433; 2014). And in 1930, physicist James Jeans' The Mysterious Universe achieved a comparable reception to Hawking's book (in Britain, at least); the jacket of the 1937 Pelican edition promotes it as the famous book which upset tradition by making Science a bestseller. Nor was Hawking writing in a vacuum. The 1970s and 1980s had seen a series of big-selling popular-physics books, from Fritjof Capra's 1975 The Tao of Physics to Steven Weinberg's 1977 The First Three Minutes, Carl Sagan's Cosmos (1980) and James Gleick's Chaos (1987). The sales of A Brief History, however, put even these best-sellers in the shade.
Hawking's book changed perceptions of the market for popular science. Keen to repeat his success, US and UK publishers in the late 1980s and early 1990s invested heavily in the genre. They quickly promoted existing titles (Penguin, for example, reissued physicist Paul Davies's backlist with rebranded covers); signed on new ones, in some cases with inflated advances; and opened popular-science lists. Bookshops placed slick displays of popular-science titles in prominent positions, and publishing-industry magazines started talking about a 1990s 'popular-science book boom'. Titles by newcomers to the field such as Steven Pinker and Jared Diamond sold well, as did new releases by established popularizers such as Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins. With exact figures difficult to access, it is unclear to what degree a boom empirically existed, but the genre's profile had undeniably risen.
Hard act to follow
Attempts to capitalize on the 'Hawking phenomenon' went hand in hand with speculations about the factors that led to it. Hawking was highly regarded in the physics community, and had been a minor celebrity to the general public even before his watershed book, appearing (for example) in Nigel Calder's UK television series The Key to the Universe in the late 1970s. The disparity between the physical limitations of his disability and the cosmic scale of his ideas was part of his charisma. Few other popular-physics books of the period feature, as A Brief History does, a photograph of the author on the front. Hawking's book contributed to his becoming one of the world's biggest science celebrities. Credit: Joel Ryan/Invision/AP
As Hawking himself noted, the book's title was also important. Guzzardi convinced him to revise his original suggestion, 'From the Big Bang to Black Holes: A Short History of Time'. 'Brief' is much better than 'short' in this context because it suggests duration a human-scale interval that produces an ironic, and striking, juxtaposition with the abstract concept of time. Framing time as a historical phenomenon has a similar effect. And in the text itself, rhetorical gestures towards fundamental philosophical and theological issues to uncover a theory of everything, writes Hawking, would be to know the mind of God beckon a broad readership. But although these ingredients were readily identified, Hawking's recipe could not be repeated, even in his own subsequent books.
Although the ingredients were readily identified, Hawking's recipe could not be repeated.
Most commentators agreed on what was not relevant to sales: A Brief History's readability. Despite the rewrites, it has a certain notoriety as the book everyone bought and no one read. There is now even a light-hearted 'Hawking index' designed to measure just how much a particular best-seller is read: A Brief History scores low (as, more surprisingly, does the 2011 Fifty Shades of Grey). Evidently, the act of buying Hawking's book (or E. L. James's, for that matter) says something about the consumer's identity; reading it is secondary.
Lone genius
Other runaway popular-science best-sellers did follow. Dava Sobel's 1995 Longitude, Simon Singh's 1997 Fermat's Last Theorem and Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe (1999) all appeared towards the end of the last millennium. It is difficult, however, to identify any commonality with Hawking's success, except perhaps an emphasis on the figure of the scientist, broadly speaking. Sobel's text concentrates on a lone genius, the clockmaker John Harrison. Singh's features one mathematician in its title and cover image, and focuses closely on another in its narrative. The Elegant Universe's popular success was spurred on by its adaptation as a US television series featuring the charismatic Greene.
A few years into the new millennium, however, commentators were agreeing that the 'boom' had subsided. The large sales of Bill Bryson's 2003 A Short History of Nearly Everything, with its Hawkingesque title, seemed as much a product of the travel writer's established following as of its topic. Standout 'serious' non-fiction best-sellers now tended to come from the social sciences, with Malcolm Gladwell's 2000 The Tipping Point and the 2005 Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner achieving worldwide success.
A Brief History did, however, leave another important legacy to popular science: a new sense of the cultural capital of scientific ideas. From the 1990s onwards, space in broadsheets that had been devoted to literary texts opened up to scientific ones. Popularizers began to speak regularly at cultural festivals. Science book prizes were inaugurated, funded and maintained. The lives of scientists and mathematicians became suitable subjects for mainstream films, such as Ron Howard's 2001 A Beautiful Mind (about mathematician John Nash); The Imitation Game, the 2014 biopic of computing pioneer Alan Turing; and, indeed, The Theory of Everything.
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is staring at the Sun 24/7 in order to aid scientists in monitoring the activities of the center of the Solar System. But timekeeping in space is a lot more difficult compared to Earth as every millisecond is crucial.
Recently, the official clock in the world added a leap second. This was done before midnight Coordinated Universal Time (6:59:59 p.m. EST). In line with that, the SDO's master clock followed suit including other NASA missions.
This maneuver is not just a simple clock adjustment; this is actually done to keep the clock movements around the world in sync with the rotation of the Earth. The rotation slows down over a certain period of time thus the need to add a leap second every now and then. How drastic are the changes? Based on NASA's report, the Earth during the dinosaur era used to take only 23 hours for one full rotation.
In science, every millisecond counts, so the accuracy of clocks around the globe is vital. It is also crucial in the observation of satellites, according to a report.
"SDO moves about 1.9 miles every second," Dean Pesnell, the project scientist for SDO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland said in a press release. "So does every other object in orbit near SDO. We all have to use the same time to make sure our collision avoidance programs are accurate. So we all add a leap second to the end of 2016, delaying 2017 by one second," Pesnell added.
In order to produce precise observations, the master clock of the SDO should be in sync with the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The time is embedded in every image taken by the SDO, which is again vital in studying the movements of the Sun.
The SDO has a clock that's been ticking since the mission started, adjustments are consistently being made to incorporate the leap seconds added to the Coordinated Universal Time to sync the movement.
By Bernie Woodall and David Shepardson FLAT ROCK, Mich./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co said Tuesday it will cancel a planned $1.6 billion factory in Mexico and invest $700 million at a Michigan factory, after President-elect Donald Trump had harshly criticized the Mexico investment plan. The second largest U.S. automaker said it would build new electric, hybrid and autonomous vehicles at the Flat Rock, Michigan plant and add 700 jobs. Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields said the decision to cancel the new Mexico factory was the result of sagging demand for small cars in North America and not because Trump was elected president. He told Fox Business that the automaker would have made the same decision even if Trump had not been elected. "There was no quid pro quo because there was no negotiation" with Trump over the decision to cancel the plant, Fields said. Fields told reporters the decision related to the need to "fully utilize capacity at existing facilities" amid declining sales of small and medium sized cars such as the Focus and Fusion. Fields also endorsed "pro growth" tax and regulatory policies advocated by Trump and the Republican-led Congress. "This is a vote of confidence for President-Elect Trump and some of the policies he may be pursuing," Fields said. Trump repeatedly said during the election campaign that if elected he would not allow Ford to open the new plant in Mexico, which he called an "absolute disgrace" and would slap hefty tariffs taxes on imported Ford vehicles. Ford executive chairman Bill Ford Jr. told reporters he spoke with Trump to notify him of the decision. The company said the decision was influenced by Trump's policy goals such as lowering taxes and regulations but that there were no negotiations over the decision announced on Tuesday. By contrast, Trump's team held talks with United Technologies Corp in November before the company agreed to keep about 800 jobs at its Carrier air conditioning unit in Indiana out of 2,100 set to go to Mexico. Trump has also held high profile meetings with the chief executives of Boeing and Lockheed Martin to talk about the cost of military contracts. Also on Tuesday, Trump threatened to impose a "big border tax" on General Motors Co for making some of its Chevrolet Cruze cars in Mexico. The New York businessman, who has vowed to bring back American jobs that have been outsourced overseas and be tough on illegal immigration from Mexico, takes office on Jan. 20. Fields said Ford will build a battery electric SUV with a 300-mile driving range at the Michigan plant by 2020 -- taking on companies like Tesla Motors Inc , Volkswagen AG and GM -- and will launch production there by 2021 of a fully autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel or a brake pedal for use in ride services fleets. Ford also plans new hybrid versions of its F-150 pickup truck, Mustang and police vehicles by 2020 as the auto industry faces rising fuel efficiency mandates. Ford will add 700 jobs at the Flat Rock plant, Fields said, to cheers from union workers gathered at the factory for the announcement. TRUMP PREDICTION Ford in April announced it would invest $1.6 billion in the new plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico to build small cars. The company said it will shift production from Michigan of its Focus to an existing plant in Hermosillo, Mexico. When Trump announced his campaign in June, 2015, he said Ford would cancel its planned Mexico investments. "Theyll say,Mr. President weve decided to move the plant back to the United States were not going to build it in Mexico. Thats it. They have no choice," Trump said. Trump tweeted a link on Tuesday to a story about the decision. Ford shares rose 3.3 percent to $12.54, up $0.41 a share, while the Mexican peso fell on Tuesday to touch its weakest level in seven weeks. Ford said it will add two new unnamed products at its Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, where the Focus is manufactured today. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alistair Bell)
A new review of the latest published research about the psychology, behavior and emotions of chicken revealed that the world's most abundant domesticated animal is as clueless or bird-brained as people previously believed them to be.
The review, published in the journal Animal Cognition, showed that chickens have the ability to present distinct personalities, outmaneuver one another, determine specific order of things and reason by deduction.
"They are perceived as lacking most of the psychological characteristics we recognize in other intelligent animals and are typically thought of as possessing a low level of intelligence compared with other animals," said Lori Marino, senior scientist for The Someone Project, a joint venture of Farm Sanctuary and the Kimmela Center in the USA and lead author of the review, in a press release. "The very idea of chicken psychology is strange to most people."
For the study, Marino conducted a comprehensive review of scientific literatures to summarize the cognitive, emotional, personality and social characteristics of domesticated chickens. Utilizing the Web of Science Core Collection, Google Search and Science Daily, Marino conducted a thorough search of the topic across different publications and peer-review journals.
Marino found that some research showed that chickens have some sense of numbers and ordinality. Newly-hatched domestic chicken can discriminate between quantities. At five-day old chicks could perform simple arithmetic in the form of addition and subtraction.
Other studies showed that chickens have some level of self-awareness. Chickens can manage to present self-control when it comes to holding out for a better reward. Additionally, chickens can self-assess their position in the pecking order.
Chickens communicate to other of their kind through a large repertoire of different visual displays and at least 24 distinct vocalizations. They use their calls, visual displays or whistles to sound an alarm during danger and warn others.
Furthermore, Marino found that chickens could also feel positive and negative emotions. These emotions may include fear, anticipation and anxiety. Chickens can choose to act based on the emotions they feel. Studies also showed that chickens possess simple form of empathy and some levels of personal maternity trait.
Welcome to prison.
Rahsaan Thomas greets me with a firm handshake and a big grin inside the Catholic chapel at San Quentin. It's job fair day at the prison in December, and things are busier than usual. Thirty seven inmates, including Thomas, are interviewing with 33 potential employers from around the Bay Area. They are hopeful. In the bright scenario that they make it out of prison, they could get hired by the owners of yoga studios, dog grooming boutiques, Home of Chicken and Waffles and City College of San Francisco. Even after years of being incarcerated, these hardened men know that these first impressions could pave the way for their reimmersion into society.
Thomas, who is serving a 55-year-to-life sentence, asks me questions about the days biggest news stories. Most of them are related to the recent U.S. presidential elections. I start to answer him, while trying to take in the strikingly beautiful San Francisco Bay ironically outside the walls of one of the countrys most notorious prisons and Californias only death row and gas chamber. (Scott Peterson is currently its most infamous inmate).
Thomas shows me his latest story in the inmate run newspaper, San Quentin News an interview with Golden Gate Warriors star Draymond Green, who spent time at the prison recently, playing dominos with prisoners in the yard.
The subject shifts to election night, and eventually Donald Trump. For inmates at San Quentin, like most people who supported Hillary Clinton, Trump winning the presidency was a wake-up call. Suprisingly enough, even though an overwhelming majority of inmates voted for Clinton in a mock election set up by the prison newspaper, quite a few of those very same people are willing to give Trump a chance. But it comes with reservations.
They want Trump to "Make America Great Again." But for everyone, not just one particular class. Their way of dealing with this bizarre moment in the history of American politics is honest, poignant, real and at times, funny.[[406654505, C]]
"I voted for Michelle Obama," Thomas, says with a laugh, obviously referring to the prison's mock election. "I am very disappointed she wasn't running. I liked Obama's presidency. I don't think he was perfect, but he did a lot of things right."
For Thomas, Trump winning the presidency was heartbreaking. "As an incarcerated American, for a long time, we haven't had enough good Supreme Court decisions," he said. "And the next president gets to decide who becomes the ninth Supreme Court judge, and I don't think Trump is going to pick anyone that's going to change the status quo."
Thomas wants to know if I have any qualms as an immigrant living in the United States under a President Trump. Will you get deported? he asks me. I assure him that I was going to be OK. And then ask him what he thinks about Trump. I kinda saw it coming but when I saw Trump was actually leading, that it was the reality, I was like, 'Oh man, what could this mean for America, is there going to be civil war? What does it mean that America voted Trump, do we no longer care about each other?'
Despite his misgivings, Thomas thinks there might be some upside to Trump. "Trump is going to make us rich," he said with a pause. "Before he gets us killed.
Theres someone else at San Quentin who thinks that Trump will stimulate the American economy. Curtis Wall Street Carroll, also known as the Oracle of San Quentin, is a murderer turned stock picker who hangs out with the late actor Robin Williams son, Zak Williams, to teach fellow inmates a class on finance.
Invest in energy, he tells me. I ask him about Trump.
I voted for Hillary Clinton in the mock elections, but I think Trump is a better businessman, he said. I think the policies that he has in place, if hes able to get those through the Senate and the House, I think its going to stimulate the economy, its going to put people back to work, I think its going to create a bubble, thatll eventually burst, and itll have its effect down the line.
For the short term, Carroll said, Trumps plans will create jobs by taking on debt, starting construction projects, lowering taxes, and using subsidies to hire people. This will rally the stock markets and lift the U.S. GDP.
Economically, he is going to do for the country what has not been done in modern history, he said.
Over the next four hours, more than a dozen inmates share their hopes and fears about our current president-elect, who hasn't really been that vocal about criminal justice reform. Trump wants to bring back the death penalty, and in his words: "Bring it back strong." But inmates at San Quentin don't really know what to expect when it comes to Trump and prison reform.
Some prisoners aren't moved by Trump's billionaire and reality star status.
"He needs to quit, he needs to resign," said Eddie Herena, who is serving 55-years-to-life in prison for stabbing a man to death three time. "He's not a politician, he should go back to doing what he does best, which is entertain people."
As the battleground states fell, and it became obvious that Trump was going to win on Nov. 8, the cell blocks became quiet, said Juan Moreno Haines, senior editor of SQ News, who organized the mock elections. It was a completely different scenario from when Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008. That year, inmates cheered and banged on their cell doors to celebrate. Moreno was convicted in 1996 for robbing a bank and subsequently sentenced to 55 years-to-life. He has been in prison for 21 years, and is waiting for his second parole hearing in May of 2020.
San Quentins walls are filled with stories. Theres Antwan Williams, co-producer of San Quentin's first ever podcast, "Ear Hustle," set to air in May. Williams wants to keep an open mind about Trump: "The man has some hangups. What does a Trump presidency hold for the black and the poor community? Who knows? The man deserves a shot.
At the end of the night, I walk up to SQ News editor-in-chief Richard Richardson and asked him what he thought of Trump. Theres nothing wrong with Trump," he said smiling.
Before I leave, Thomas makes me promise that I'll send him a postcard to let him know I'm OK, come Jan. 21. I promise him I will. [[409406805, C]]
A San Francisco woman whose special needs son vanished from their home Monday was ever so grateful to a stranger across the bay in Oakland who found the boy on a BART platform in Oakland hours later.
Tina Berhane's 6-year-old son Nathan took off from their home near Hayes Valley around 4:30 p.m. Monday.
"In two mintues, he disappeared with his scooter," she said.
San Francisco police said they were concerned because he was so young and because of autism had a limited ability to communicate.
"We put out teletype; it goes to surrounding agencies," SF police said.
Dozens of SFPD officers circulated his picture as they searched for the boy.
Hours later, across the bay in Oakland, a BART passenger anonymously called police about a boy alone on the 19th street platform on a scooter. Officer Chris Evola responded.
"If I had to, I was gonna take him home," Evola said. "I was gonna find his parents, didn't care how long it took."
Evola asked Nathan to write down his address.
"He just kept writing down numbers, and I kept dialing," Evola said. It's a gift from God one number worked."
It's a moment Evola and Berhane won't soon forget. The boy's mother said he probably got on a bus and then on BART to oakland by himself. It's a route he takes to therapy once a week.
"All the different stops and all the people. The worst could have happened," she said.
"Thank you for saving my son. Thank you, I'm so happy."
Former Spokane, Washington, Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick has been picked as the new top cop in Oakland, sources told NBC Bay Area late Tuesday night.
Kirkpatrick will become the first woman police chief in the city's history. Her most recent position was leading an organizational development within the Chicago Police Department, the sources said.
Mayor Libby Schaaf is expected to make a formal announcement about the hiring Wednesday morning, the sources said.
Kirkpatrick comes to a department mired in turmoil, including a sexual misconduct scandal involving a teen, a racist text scandal among officers and excessive force accusations.
Kirkpatrick was a runner-up for the Oakland chief's job back when Jean Quan was mayor, sources said. She was once second in command at the King County Sheriff's Department in Washington state, was a semifinalist for Seattle police chief and a finalist for Chicago's top cop position.
Anne Kirkpatrick became Oaklands fourth top cop in seven months on Wednesday, inheriting a beleaguered police department that has been embroiled in a sex-abuse scandal involving a teenage girl that cost the three former police chiefs their jobs.
In all, the Oakland Police Department has had six police chiefs since 2011: Paul Figueroa, Ben Fairow, Sean Whent, Anthony Toribio, Howard Jordan and Anthony Batts.
Kirkpatrick, who introduced herself on Wednesday to Oakland with some feisty Southern charm, is the first woman to lead the city's police department.
"Y'all have been nothing but absolutely welcoming to me," the Memphis, Tennessee, native said with a laugh, teasing Californians as the ones with the strange accent. "I'm so excited to be here in Oakland."
Kirkpatrick admitted that she was not looking for a job when Schaaf offered her the position, but acknowledged that now there is work to be done.
"I am so proud to be an Oakland police officer, but I also know I need to earn the right to be their chief," she said. "And I'm going to do everything I can to earn that and to earn your respect as an outsider coming into Oakland."
Interestingly, Kirkpatrick applied to run Oaklands police department under former Mayor Jean Quan, a source told the East Bay Times. However, she was passed over for Whent, who was appointed interim chief in May 2013, and was the first chief to resign in the wake of the sex scandal with Jasmine aka Celeste Guap who said she had relations with about 30 officers across the region.
According to public records, Whent was being paid $235,000 when he left. Kirkpatrick, who plans to live and work in Oakland and is slated to start her new job on Feb. 27, will earn a base salary of $270,000, pending City Council approval, according to city officials.
Mayor Libby Schaaf, who launched her search for a police chief in August, said Kirkpatrick is "the reform-minded leader that Oakland has been searching for." She added that Kirkpatrick is "unafraid to hold officers accountable to the highest standards of conduct."
In the past, Schaaf expressed disgust with some of the behavior within the Oakland Police Department, adding she was not hired to oversee a "frat house."
Kirkpatrick touted her "courage" to hold officers accountable, but said that practice begins with herself.
The new chief also said to Oakland's officers, "I have the courage to stand by you and I will. And you have a community that wants to love you and I'm going to do everything I can to earn that for you."
Kirkpatrick said her goal in the new role is not reform a buzzword surrounding police departments nationwide. Instead, she has her eye on transformation.
"Thats the change of thinking. Thats the cultural change," she stressed.
Oakland Police Department
In a brief statement, Oakland Police Officers' Association president Sgt. Barry Donelan said: "We are glad that the uncertainty surrounding the position of Oakland Chief of Police is finally settled." He added that his officers look forward to working "collaboratively" with Kirkpatrick.
Despite the lack of a permanent chief since the summer, Schaaf thanked officers who "continued to serve the community during these trying times," delivering a 2016 that was the city's safest year since 2005.
With 34 years of law enforcement experience, Kirkpatrick has for some time had an eye on being the police chief of a big city. She has applied for the position in Chicago, Phoenix, Seattle and San Francisco, the East Bay Express reported.
She was the police chief of Spokane, Washington, from 2006 to 2012, where she struggled with the aftershocks of a fatal police beating and hog-tying of a janitor. The incident prompted outcry and a demand for police reforms and accountability.
However, Kirkpatrick's attempt at holding officers responsible for their actions did not sit well with the department's rank-and-file, according to the Chicago Tribune. In fact, a detective sued her and the city of Spokane for defamation and wrongful termination after he was fired for allegedly threatening his wife. Not only was Jay Mehring awarded over $700,000 by a jury, but he was also reinstated to the force.
After Kirkpatrick's departure, a Justice Department review reprimanded the Spokane Police Department for a "lack of transparency, accountability, and community outreach efforts," which, they said, "increased the distance between the police and its community."
Kirkpatrick has also served as chief deputy of the King County Sheriff's Office in Washington state, where she supervised a staff of more than 1,000 from November 2012 to June 2014. Most recently, she spent six months as the Chief of Bureau of Organizational Development for the Chicago Police Department.
Kirkpatricks LinkedIn profile indicates she has been a licensed attorney in Washington state for 23 years, after graduating from the Seattle University School of Law. She also graduated from the FBI National Academy, the FBI National Executive Institute as well as the FBI's Law Enforcement Executive Development School.
Stakeholders in town said they want to keep an open mind about the new chief.
Civil rights attorney John Burris, who is a vocal Oakland police critic, said Wednesday that he hopes Kirkpatrick develops an appreciation for the different interest groups in the community. He said its not enough to just be concerned with officers.
Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter organizer and Anti Police-Terror Project founder Cat Brooks was critical of Schaaf's decision to hire a chief without waiting for input from the newly minted police commission that Oakland voters approved in November.
Schaaf did not directly address the police commission question. But she did say that "community input" served as the "cornerstone" of the recruitment process. She heard from more than 300 Oakland residents over a dozen meetings and over 600 more shared their thoughts in an online survey. All participants were "very clear" about their vision for their hometown's chief cop, she said.
"Oaklanders wanted a leader with integrity, able to change culture," she said. "Someone who would deliver on fair and just policing, prevent violence and increase accountability, and, of course, most importantly, build community trust."
As for her part, Kirkpatrick acknowledged that the Oakland Police Department, like officers all over the country, are in the midst of a "very hard time."
"I will promise you leadership," she said. "We'll get there."
The Oakland City Council is scheduled to receive a proposal from Schaaf sometime this month. At that time, members are are expected to vote on Kirkpatricks contract and salary, city officials said.
NBC Bay Area's Lisa Fernandez and Bob Redell contributed to this report.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is surrounding herself and her city Cabinet with feminine power.
On Tuesday, Schaaf announced a new director of public safety, the same day sources leaked that a new police chief has been hired. Both choices are women.
That now means Oakland's top leadership positions mayor, city administrator, police chief, fire chief, city attorney and public safety director are all held by women. Both assistant city administrators are also women. And both spokeswomen for the police department and the mayor's office are also female. In addition, Alameda County's district attorney and coroner, whose offices are in and jurisdictions include Oakland, are also female.
To compare in the Bay Area, San Francisco has had a female police chief, fire chief and sheriff, but not with a female mayor at the helm, and not all at the same time.
"I have high hopes that this appointment will change how the citizens of Oakland will feel about the police, their tactics and politics," said Candice Elder, founder of the East Oakland Collective and the executive coordinator for the Women's Funding Network in San Francisco.
Cat Brooks, an activist and Black Lives Matter organizer, said shes upset Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf hired a new police chief without waiting for the newly elected police commission to be involved. Bob Redell reports.
Not all Oakland residents, and women, for that matter, are so optimistic.
In an interview Wednesday, Black Lives Matter organizer and Anti Police-Terror Project founder Cat Brooks was critical of Schaaf's decision to hire a new chief without waiting for the newly elected police commission that Oakland voters approved in November. The commission, to be led by citizens and which hasn't started meeting yet, has the power to mete out discipline to officers and even fire the chief.
Brooks also wasn't so sure that having women in power would help everyone in the city. "So far, we have not had a fair and just society. There's been an onslaught against the black and the poor. There's no difference than if a man was in power," Brooks said.
It should be noted that most of the women in Oakland's government leadership roles are not people of color. In Oakland, 55 percent of the population is either African American or Latino; slightly more than 30 percent are white.
Still, the roles of Oakland's newest hires come at a time when Schaaf has been trying to clean house following a national police sex abuse scandal. She vowed this summer: I am here to run a police department, not a frat house.
Schaaf hired Anne Kirkpatrick, former police chief of Spokane, Washington as Oaklands new top cop. She will be the first woman in that position in city history. She described Kirkpatrick as a "reform leader" who will hold police officers accountable. She didn't directly take on the question of why she didn't wait for the police commission, but she did say "community input" was key in hiring Kirkpatrick. Shaaf said that 300 residents attended a dozen or so meetings, and 600 more residents gave their input online into what they wanted in a new police chief.
Kirkpatrick has most recently worked for the Chicago Police Department, hired in June to oversee reforms resulting from the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald. Previously, she was among the finalists for police chief of Chicago, the East Bay Times reported. She also had been a runner-up in 2013 when Jean Quan was mayor, a source told the newspaper, but was beaten out by Sean Whent.
According to her resume, Kirkpatrick has worked for the FBIs Law Enforcement Executive Development Association and has been chief of police in Spokane, Federal Way, Washington, and Ellensburg, Washington. Her highest degree is a Juris Doctorate in law from the Seattle University Law School.
Also on Tuesday, Schaaf said she was proud to announce that Venus D. Johnson will be the new director of public safety who will lead the coordinated effort to break cycles of violence in Oakland through effective crime prevention coupled with smart and principled policing.
Johnson is a former Alameda County prosecutor with a history of fighting for the rights of crime victims and a track record for implementing innovative efforts to reduce recidivism and address the root causes of crime and violence, Schaaf said.
Before this, Johnson served as a senior legal and policy adviser to former California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris. Johnson served on the California Commission on Access to Justice, which is tasked with developing solutions to improve access to civil justice for low and moderate income Californians. Johnson earned her bachelors degree in Political Science from Loyola Marymount University, and her law degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law.
One of Johnson's Facebook cover photos? A sweatshirt that reads: "The future is female."
Venus has been one of Oaklands finest champions in the legal and public safety community, Schaaf said in a statement. She brings significant experience with law enforcement at the local and state level, as well having as deep roots in communities across Oakland.
Oakland has been without a chief for seven months. A succession of chiefs either resigned or were forced out this summer following a sex abuse scandal involving officers and a teenage sex worker now known as Jasmine. The Oakland department has also been tainted by officers accused of sending racists texts to each other.
It was in June that Schaaf called the current department toxic and macho. She also promised that she wouldnt stand for it anymore."
The San Francisco arts community and city leaders are intent on prevent another disaster like the one that killed 36 people at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland last month.
To that end, artists, fire officials and building department employees gathered Tuesday at the Brava Theater to discuss ways to improve fire safety. The workshop, which was expected to attract roughly 100 people, was hosted at the Mission District theater because artists who live and work in warehouses are now afraid of being raided by fire marshals or evicted by their landlords.
I got as many fire extinguishers as they have. I got power cords that have circuit breakers, housing activist Spike Kahn said, while rolling a shopping cart out of Discount Builders Supply.
She said she planned to hand out her purchases at Tuesdays meeting.
Kahn, who organized the workshop, described it as a completely free event for artists to learn how to make their spaces safer.
She is not a newcomer to the cause. Kahn has financed the renovation of 20 artist studios inside a 6,000-square-foot warehouse next to a condo development in the Mission District.
As a result of a lot of political pressure, the developer was forced to provide this art space as a community benefit in order to get his luxury condos, Kahn said.
The studio space in question has all the bells and whistles missing from the Ghost Ship warehouse, which officials found lacked smoke alarms and sprinklers, and was not permitted for use as a residence only a warehouse.
Kahn said shes been leaning on officials to create more live-work spaces for artists across the Bay Area.
A lot of artists can only afford to live in warehouses like the one that burned down in East Oakland on Dec. 2, she said, because it isn't feasible for them to shell out the Bay Area's astronomical rents. But now they feel trapped between fire officials who would kick them out and landlords who would do the same.
The problem is, as soon as the Ghost Ship fire happened last month, landlords were using that to start evictions, Kahn explained.
She said Tuesdays meeting is aimed at preventing that from happening by getting fire safety information to the people living in warehouses, without tipping off city fire marshals and alarming landlords.
We are not going to say where we have our studios, we're just going there to get information, Kahn said.
The search continues for a man who went missing after fleeing from police in Brighton, Vermont last week.
Quincy OGorman, 23, was last seen Dec. 31 around 11:43 p.m. in the area of Island Pond Village.
Police said OGorman was driving with three passengers when he was pulled over for failing to stop at a stop sign and erratic operation. All four fled from police after the stop and were soon detained by police.
He is described as 510, approximately 200 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.
Vermont State Police Scuba team, Brighton Police Department and Vermont Fish and Wildlife are currently searching for the OGorman. The Scuba team was called in to search the brook and swamp area surrounding the Island Pond Village.
Another ground search has been scheduled for Wednesday.
Anyone who may have any information involving Mr. OGorman is asked to contact the Derby State Police Barracks at 802-334-8881.
A court drama is unfolding in Chicago which has the potential to become a reality show-style divorce involving what was once one of Chicagos most powerful power-couples.
On the heels of periods when they both served time in Federal prison, former congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife Sandi, a former Chicago alderman, are suing each other in dueling divorce battles---she in Washington D.C., he here in Chicago.
During a brief hearing at the Daley Center in Chicago Wednesday, Jacksons attorney Brendan Hammer pressed his clients contention that the case belongs in Chicago. And in doing so, he dropped hints about potential bombshell allegations against the one-time 7th ward alderman.
Personal jurisdiction over Ms. Jackson is appropriate, in light of acts committed by her in the state of Illinois, Hammer said. The actsoccurred during his convalescence, investigation, and incarceration.
Indeed, in a recent court filing---Jacksons attorneys stopped just short of spelling out that accusation.
On or about March 21, 2015, Jackson states in that motion, I discovered evidence that Sandra had engaged in numerous acts in Illinois and/or with Illinois residents, that led to the irretrievable breakdown of our marriage.
Jackson was hospitalized for exhaustion in the summer of 2012. He acknowledged treatment for a bipoloar condition that August, resigned from Congress in November, and admitted converting campaign funds to personal use the following February. In August of 2013, Jackson was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Hammer did not elaborate on what Sandi Jacksons purported acts might have entailed. However, the court file shows Jackson has subpoenaed his wifes cell phone records, with specific requests for phone calls and text messages since 2011.
Sandi Jackson has filed motions to have the Cook County divorce case dismissed, contending that she and the couples children have lived exclusively in Washington D.C. since 2013.
Through his attorney, the former congressman disagreed.
Mr. Jackson has been, and is a resident of Illinois, Hammer said. He resides here in the parties home on the south side, he voted here in the last election, he has a drivers license here, he is a resident of Illinois and hes living here.
The pair pleaded guilty to a list of felonies in 2013 and subsequently served staggered jail sentences.
Jackson Jr. pleaded guilty to charges he illegally spent campaign funds on a variety of expensive items, like a $4,600 fedora owned by Michael Jackson and a $1,200 reversible mink parka. Sandi Jackson pleaded guilty to a tax fraud charge that stemmed from the same case.
Sandi Jackson claimed in court filings last week that she is currently out of work, selling her belongings and borrowing from friends to make ends meet, while her husband has a monthly income of at least $10,250 a month.
Jackson said her husband is living in a house without a mortgage while their other mortgage is in arrears. She also claimed Jackson Jr. has failed to contribute to the mortgage or any household expenses since September, something the former Congressmans lawyer refuted.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden Tuesday as the 115th Congress convened in Washington, D.C.
Duckworth, who beat out incumbent Republican Mark Kirk in a contentious race last November, was joined Tuesday by her daughter, mother and husband.
"I was proud to be sworn in today to represent the great state of Illinois in the United States Senate," Duckworth said in a statement. "I am eager to get to work -- with members on both sides of the aisle -- to help Illinois families with common-sense policies that grow manufacturing jobs, invest in communities that have been ignored for too long, rebuild our crumbling insfrastructure, and help make college more affordable for all Americans."
"I will also continue my life's mission of supporting, protecting and keeping the promises we've made to our Veterans and ensuring we fully stand behind the troops we send into danger overseas," she added.
Sen. Dick Durbin welcomed Duckworth to the Senate Tuesday, reflecting on her rise to prominence. After losing both legs co-piloting a helicopter over Iraq in 2004, Duckworth worked in the Illinois and U.S. departments of Veterans Affairs before being elected to Congress in 2012.
It was my honor to accompany Senator Duckworth to her swearing-in ceremony as a U.S. Senator, Durbin said in a statement. Having first met Senator Duckworth while she was recovering from her combat injuries at Walter Reed, to watching her be sworn-in as an Assistant Secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs and then as the U.S. Representative of Illinois 8th District, today was a very proud moment.
I look forward to working with her as a partner, friend, and now colleague in the Senate to advance the priorities of the people of Illinois, he added.
Democrats Duckworth and Durbin will serve as Illinois representation in the GOP-controlled Senate. Republicans retained control of both chambers of Congress in the November election.
Recently-elected Democratic Reps. Brad Schneider and Raja Krishnamoorthi were also sworn in Tuesday. Krishnamoorthi replaces Duckworth as the representative for Illinois 8th congressional district.
Police are investigating why a 10-month-old baby stopped breathing twice after being exposed to the opioid fentanyl in Methuen, Massachusetts.
There was drug paraphenalia found in the baby's mother's car, according to police.
Methuen police said they were called to a Treetop Way residence at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday for a report of a baby who was not breathing.
Upon arrival, emergency personnel immediately began treating the child before transporting her to Lawrence General Hospital, where she stopped breathing twice and had to be revived by hospital staff. The child was later flown to Tufts Medical Center in Boston via MedFlight helicopter and has since been released from the hospital.
Hospital tests indicated that the baby had fentanyl in her system. The type of drug and amount ingested has not been released.
The baby lives with her mother and grandparents in Methuen, according to Michael Quinn, an attorney and family friend.
There are a lot of questions and they have no answers, Quinn said.
Quinn says the mother found the baby unresponsive Saturday after a nap and the grandfather started CPR.
The babys mother has struggled with drugs, but has been clean for several months, according to Quinn.
She has no idea how this happened, even before she delivered the baby she was in a program and she has been drug free ever since and that hasnt changed, she has had negative drug tests the whole time, there hasnt been anything, Quinn said. They are still cooperating with police and whoever wants to talk about it and whatever the investigation shows, theyd like answers as well.
"It's disconcerting," Methuen Police Lt. Michael Pappalardo said. "It's heartbreaking, to say the least. It's a 10-month-old baby. It's very difficult to deal with a young child that has become a victim."
"The opioid epidemic knows no boundaries," added Methuen Mayor Stephen Zanni. "We must continue to be vigilant in ensuring that children do not have access to harmful substances and to do everything we can to fight the disease of addiction."
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid medication that is similar to morphine but 50 to 100 times more potent. It is often mixed with or substituted for heroin.
Methuen Police Chief Joseph Solomon said his department's focus now is to determine where the drug came from and how it wound up in the baby's system.
No arrests have been made, but police said charges are still possible.
The Department of Children and Families is investigating in collaboration with Methuen Police, Massachusetts State Police and the Essex County District Attorney's Office.
The baby is now in the custody of an aunt. A DCF hearing is scheduled to be held on Tuesday.
A Chicago police officer was relieved of his police powers on Tuesday after fatally shooting an unarmed man on Chicago's Northwest Side while off-duty on Monday morning, according to police.
The shooting happened around 9:30 a.m. Monday in the 2500 block of North Lowell in the city's Hermosa neighborhood, police said.
"As part of the ongoing investigation of the fatal shooting on the 2500 block of North Lowell, this afternoon Superintendent Eddie Johnson has relieved the officer involved in the incident of his police powers," CPD spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.
"The Chicago Police Department continues our fact based investigation of the incident, in parallel with the Independent Police Review Authority," Guglielmi added.
The officer had "a verbal altercation with a subject that was known to him," Supt. Eddie Johnson said during a news conference Monday.
"The verbal altercation resulted in the officer discharging his weapon," Johnson added, "striking the subject several times, and the subject is now deceased."
The officer had been visiting an acquaintance in the area at the time of the shooting, according to police, who said that the man was not armed.
"The person who was shot did not have a weapon, that much we know," Guglielmi said Monday. "The officer's weapon is the only weapon involved."
The victim, who was later identified as 38-year-old Jose Nieves, was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
He died of multiple gunshot wounds, authorities said, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Angelica Nieves said her brother was moving furniture from storage and putting it into his apartment when the shooting occurred. His family last saw him on Christmas, she said.
"I never thought I would see him in that way," she said.
Johnson said the officer and the man knew each other from a confrontation a few weeks ago.
"There was already animosity towards my brother," said Nieves' sister Angelica Nieves. "My brother has called 911 prior because [the officer has] come out with a gun up to my brother."
"I have a lot more questions than I do answers at this time," Johnson said Monday, "so I came out because I wanted to make sure the investigation was done properly. The chief of detectives is here to manage our part of the investigation. We have a parallel investigation going on right now with IPRA."
An investigation remains ongoing with both the Chicago Police Department and the Independent Police Review Authority. [[409340735, C]]
A clerk wrestled a gun away from two men who tried to rob his Austin neighborhood store and then shot them Tuesday afternoon on the West Side, according to Chicago Police.
The botched robbery happened about 4:45 p.m. inside the small business in the 5800 block of West Chicago, police said.
One of the alleged robbers, 34, was shot in the torso and taken to Loyola University Medical Center. The other, 35, was shot in the upper leg and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said.
They were listed in critical condition.
A sheriffs deputy in suburban DuPage County fatally shot a 17-year-old boy while responding to a "violent" domestic battery call in unincorporated Villa Park on Monday, according to police.
Around midnight, the first responding deputy arrived at a home near Standish Lane and Ardmore Avenue and was "involved in an altercation" with the suspect, the DuPage County Sheriffs Office said in a statement.
The officer opened fire, according to police, striking the 17-year-old boy. He was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, officials said.
The boy's cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds and his death was ruled a homicide, according to a statement from the DuPage County Coroner's office.
The identity of the 17-year-old was not released, but he lived in unincorporated York Township, the coroner's office said. Police also withheld the identity of the deputy who shot him, pending the investigation.
Illinois State Police are investigating the incident, according to police, and the DuPage County states attorneys office has been notified, police said.
A northern Illinois man who spent 25 years in prison for a rape has been cleared of the charge by a Lake County judge.
William Carini was convicted in 1992 and sentenced to 26 years in prison in the sexual assault of a woman who was attacked after she fell asleep in her car on the shoulder of the Tri-State Tollway near Gurnee.
Lake County State's Attorney Michael Nerheim announced in December forensic testing revealed none of the physical evidence collected in the rape case matched Carini.
On Tuesday, Nerheim appeared before Judge Daniel Shanes to argue the evidence testing results are, at a minimum, grounds for granting Carini a new trial. However, Nerheim said he does not intend to retry Carini on the sexual assault charge.
Nerheim says Illinois State Police are expected to reopen the case.
Tenants in a suburban office building where a lawyer was found strangled to death say police showed them surveillance images of a mysterious person in the building the day the mans body was discovered, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Multiple tenants in the Northbrook building told the newspaper police showed them a photo of what appeared to be a man wearing a trench coat and a hat. According to one tenant, the man definitely knew what he was doing and managed to keep his face from being captured on security cameras throughout the building.
On Wednesday afternoon, police released the images to the public, showing a man in a tan trench coat, with a black hat and possibly a surgical mask covering his face. The man is also seen walking with a cane.
Jigar Patel, 36, was found dead in his office around 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 7 in the 13400 block of Shermer Road, authorities said. An autopsy determined he died from strangulation and his death was ruled a homicide, the Cook County medical examiners office said.
Tenants told the Tribune they believed Patel was expecting to meet with a new client that afternoon, and others who would normally be in the building during that time happened to be out of the office the afternoon he died. Ralph Cram, of Envoy Leasing Partners, told the publication the guy picked the perfect time to come in.
Northbrook Police and the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force are investigating the homicide.
Anyone with information on the homicide should call Northbrook police at (847) 564-2060.
Chicago rapper/songwriter Che "Rhymefest" Smith said Monday that he supports President-elect Donald Trumps call for federal aid to fight violent crime in Chicago as long as it results in additional resources for certain neighborhoods.
In his tweet, Trump bemoaned the citys violence, asserting that Mayor Rahm Emanuel should "ask for federal help" if local authorities cant handle the crisis.
If the president-elect is talking about federal intervention in terms of resources, then we welcome that, Smith said in an interview with CNN. Illinois is number one for African-American unemployment. When we look at violence, especially in Chicago, you can circle on a map the small areas where violence in happening.
If we can circle small areas, that means we can take what works in Chicago, by and large, and apply that to these areas that have been divested from, Smith added.
In an August interview with CNN, the rapper invited Trump to Chicago as a response to the president-elects divisive rhetoric about the city.
Chicago is in a fragile state, Smith said at the time. However, its not what Donald Trump is saying it is."
Smith, who lost to indicted Ald. Willie Cochran in a 2011 runoff election, said Monday that its not the presidents job to stop violence in Chicago, referencing President Barack Obama. He claimed that responsibility falls to the Chicago City Council and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Emanuels office responded to Trumps tweet Monday, signaling a working relationship between the mayor and the president-elect. Emanuel met with Trump last month in New York City, delivering a letter from mayors across the country calling for protections for young immigrants.
"As the president-elect knows from his conversation with the mayor, we agree the federal government has a strong role to play in public safety by funding summer jobs and prevention programming for at-risk youth, by holding the criminals who break our gun laws accountable for their crimes, by passing meaningful gun laws, and by building on the partnerships our police have with federal law enforcement," Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins said in a statement.
We are heartened he is taking this issue seriously and look forward to working with the new administration on these important efforts, Collins added.
During Mondays interview, Smith went on to criticize Emanuel for not releasing $420 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for affordable housing in Chicago.
This thing thats happening in Chicago didnt just happen out of a vacuum, it has a history, Smith said. The affordable housing, the projects, if you want to call them that, were torn down, you know, decades ago in Chicago, and the people who lived in those places were just pushed around to various areas of the city with vouchers and were never given an opportunity to get on their feet, Smith said.
I wouldnt necessarily blame President Barack Obama because thats not within his jurisdiction, but I would ask Mayor Rahm Emanuel why hasnt these communities of major violence been invested in at the level that the money has been coming in, he added.
Emanuel's office claimed Smith was referencing dated numbers Tuesday. According to the mayor's office, the Chicago Housing Authority had $154 million in reserve funds at the start of last year.
"We actually have been aggressively spending on the reserves for development," Emanuel spokesperson Kiera Ellis told Ward Room. "We've added over 8,000 new units in the last two years."
Watch the full interview in the video clips below.
It has been nearly two months since video showing a womans tirade at a Chicago Michaels store went viral, but now the woman at the center of the footage that quickly took over the Internet, broke her silence.
This wasnt about race, this was not about political views, this was about very poor customer service and being told to leave without warning, Jennifer Boyle said in an exclusive interview with NBC 5 that aired Tuesday.
In the weeks that have followed the videos release, the 29-year-old Lakeview resident said she has been attacked on social media and called racist and unhinged for her comments.
How did the situation escalate to the point we saw on video?
The video, seen more than 4.5 million times, shows Boyle yelling repeatedly at a black employee at a Lakeview store and telling one employee to shut your face.
Boyle says an employee discriminated against her and mumbled that she must have voted for Donald Trump, but the employee is heard in the video denying that assertion.
And I voted for Trump, so there, she said in the footage. What? You want to kick me out because of that? And look who won. Look who won.
Why not leave? Why not get out of the situation?
Now, at the start of 2017, Boyle said she regrets not leaving the store and ending the situation before her viral tirade.
Looking at it now, I think that would have been the right thing to do, she said. I really believe that it was fight or flight kicked in and I felt that I needed to defend myself.
If you had to do it over again, you would have handled it differently?
Boyle maintains that she was discriminated against, and confirmed that the incident started over a reusable bag.
Witnesses have argued the employees did nothing to provoke this verbal attack and in fact treated all customers with professionalism and courtesy.
"I wish I would have just been above, cooler heads prevail, been above reproach and would have just left and called corporate like I did do on Friday," she said.
A few days later another video surfaced, at Peet's coffee. Do you think you have an issue with dealing with your anger?
The Michaels video wasnt the first footage of Boyle in a heated diatribe to be posted online. A similar video showed her in a verbal altercation at a Peets Coffee in the citys Boystown neighborhood months earlier.
Oh my God youre a floor manager and you call people a b----, youre a b----, she is seen shouting. I was treated like crap, Bobby.
But Boyle claims this isn't a pattern.
"I do not believe that I have an issue dealing with my anger," she said. "I believe that again, taking the high road and walking away from situations in that matter. What people dont know is what was said to me at Peets."
This wasn't the end of this. What's happened since then?
Boyle called the backlash from the video very scary and very difficult. Her home address, cell phone number and email address were all published online, leading to what she described as lewd calls, vulgar emails and death threats.
Theres not one bone in my body thats racist or homophobic, she said. And thats the bottom line.
Are you sorry about anything you said in the videos?
But still, Boyle refuses to apologize for what happened that November day and stands by what she said.
I believe that I stood up for myself, she said. Again, everybody is a work in progress. Were all human and I really believe that being above reproach is the way to be from now on.
What was your reaction to the Michael's employee receiving more than $30K via a GoFundMe page?
Soon after the video was posted, a GoFundMe campaign aimed at helping the employee who became the target of Boyles tirade raised more than $32,000, well above its goal of $400.
In a letter to those that donated to the campaign, the store manager identified only as Holli wrote "you have all single handedly changed my life."
"I've tried to be kind, I've tried to be fair, I've tried to share regardless if I was able to," the letter read. "I want others to smile when I smile back at them. Knowing deeply we all have a higher purpose."
Michaels said in a statement it does not tolerate discrimination or racism of any kind against our team members or customers.
We regret that our customers and team members were affected by this unfortunate incident and are grateful for the leadership of our store team in working to resolve it without further escalation, the statement read.
The company also tweeted later, We appreciate the outpouring of support for our Chicago-based team member.
Will there be another Jennifer Boyle video?
"No. Other than what men have posted about me on YouTube and the disgusting, derogatory, crude videos that people have created about me, no there won't be."
An Israeli soldier was convicted of manslaughter on Wednesday in the deadly shooting of an incapacitated Palestinian attacker, capping a nine-month saga that has deeply divided the country.
The verdict, which marks an extremely rare instance of an Israeli military court siding against a soldier over lethal action taken in the field, threatened to deepen the rift. Military commanders have condemned the soldier's conduct, while much of the public, along with leading members of the nationalist ruling coalition, have rallied behind him.
Sgt. Elor Azaria, an army medic, was caught on a cellphone video fatally shooting a wounded Palestinian attacker who had stabbed a soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron in March. The Palestinian was lying motionless on the ground when Azaria shot him in the head.
In a verdict that stretched nearly three hours, Col. Maya Heller, head of the three-judge panel, painstakingly rejected all of Azaria's defense arguments. She said there was no evidence to support his claim that the attacker was already dead or that the man posed any threat at the time.
She said that Azaria was an "unreliable" witness and had "needlessly" shot the assailant. She also said his defense witnesses were problematic.
"We found there was no room to accept his arguments," she said. "His motive for shooting was that he felt the terrorist deserved to die."
The defense team said it would appeal the verdict. The sentencing is expected in the coming weeks.
The 20-year-old Azaria entered the court smiling and appearing confident, joined by a contingent of relatives. A young man wore a T-shirt that said "the nation is with you." But as the verdict was delivered, Azaria stared gloomily ahead, and tensions quickly boiled over in the cramped, crowded courtroom.
Members of Azaria's family clapped as the decision was delivered, screaming "Our hero!" A female relative was kicked out of the courtroom for screaming at the judges and calling the decision a disgrace. A second woman stormed out, shouting, "Disgusting leftists."
After the judges walked out, Azaria's mother, Oshra, screamed, "You should be ashamed of yourselves." Azaria tried to comfort her and calm her down as she wailed. Another family member turned toward the media and whipped his jacket at a female reporter. He missed the reporter and instead hit another relative.
Israeli lawmaker Oren Hazan approached Azaria and gave him a hug before police ordered him to stop.
Hundreds of the soldier's supporters, many of them young religious men wearing skullcaps, gathered outside the military court in Tel Aviv ahead of the verdict. The crowd, holding large Israeli flags and banners that said "the nation neglected a soldier on the battlefield" periodically scuffled with police. After the verdict, however, there were no further clashes.
The shooting occurred at the height of what has become more than a yearlong wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Azaria's defenders said he shot the assailant in an act of self-defense, and hard-line politicians have said he should be either cleared or released with a light penalty. But his detractors, including senior military commanders, have said his actions violated the army's code of ethics and procedures.
The uproar has put the army in a delicate position. Military service is compulsory for Israel's Jewish majority, and there is widespread sympathy for soldiers, since virtually every family has a member who is serving or has served in the past.
The dispute helped fuel the resignation of Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, who sided with the military, earlier this year. His successor, Avigdor Lieberman, visited Azaria in court. Education Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of the pro-settler Jewish Home Party, has also sided with Azaria.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who initially defended the military, later softened his position and called Azaria's parents to console them.
After the verdict, Lieberman, who heads a hard-line nationalist party, said he disagreed with the "difficult" verdict, but he urged the public to respect the court's decision. He said the defense establishment would do "everything it can" to help Azaria and his family.
"We must keep the army outside every political argument...and keep it in the widest consensus in Israeli society," he said.
Israeli human rights groups have accused the army of failing to prosecute soldiers who commit unnecessary violence against Palestinians, and trying a soldier for a crime as serious as manslaughter is virtually unheard of.
The rights group Yesh Din said it was just the second manslaughter case of a soldier since the second Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000. The first case involved the death of a British activist.
Sharon Gal, a spokesman for the Azaria family, accused the court of siding with human rights groups over a soldier on a battlefield.
"It was like the court was detached from the fact that this was the area of an attack. I felt that the court picked up the knife from the ground and stabbed it in the back of all the soldiers," he said.
Lt. Col. Nadav Weissman, a military prosecutor, said this was "not a happy day."
"We would have preferred that this didn't happen. But the deed was done, and the offense was severe," he said.
State legislators returned to the capitol Wednesday morning to begin another session. They plan to address a $1.3 billion deficit at the state level and might be called on to help several cities facing budget shortfalls, including Hartford.
But not every town is facing large deficits.
Bloomfield, which borders Hartford, is booming.
The town has seen record growth in building permit fees. Over the last fiscal year, July 2015-June 2016, the town projected it would take in about $800,000 in permit fees. Instead, it collected a whopping $2.5 million.
This fiscal year, town leaders again projected about $800,000 in building permit fees and it has already surpassed that by $100,000 in the first six months.
A big contributor this year is an apartment building, with 215 luxury units, under construction behind Bloomfield Town Hall.
When I started they had one building official. Now they have three. Two of them are working 10 hours a piece overtime every week, said Jose Giner, the director of planning and economic development for Bloomfield.
Giner credits the towns success to his predecessor and the town council, for laying the groundwork for zoning and economic development.
He said what sets Bloomfield apart is that town leaders recognize there is a lot of competition to attract business, not just between municipalities in Connecticut, but between states.
Giner said that when town leaders see a good opportunity, they go for it.
Do an analysis. If you think its good, then find a way to get it done. A lot of times you have boards and commissions in other towns that obstruct a lot of things, Giner said.
The next project town council members will be contemplating is a Trader Joes warehouse, near the Amazon Fulfillment Center off Day Hill Road. On Wednesday night, a subcommittee plans to discuss a tax abatement package of 50-percent for four years.
If approved, it would go to the town council for a vote on January 9.
Many residents of Bloomfield are supportive of all the growth.
As long as they do it the right way, yea its a good thing for the people, jobs, the town. Anything to bring more people into the area, Paige Pichette said.
I think bringing in business is good for the town. We have schools to support, Jerry Guerrero, Jr. said.
Comptroller Kevin Lembo says unless Republicans have a better idea for how to ease pension payments through 2045, then they need to get out of the way of the deal negotiated by the Malloy administration last month.
If not this, then what?" Lembo asked during an interview Tuesday. "Someone else needs to come up with a better idea and I havent seen one yet, so if youve got a leadership role, you have the reins of authority, you have to put your ideas on the table.
The deal to which Lembo is referring was struck by Gov. Malloy's administration and SEBAC, the coalition of state unions that negotiates benefits.
The agreement stretches payments passed the expected "fiscal cliff" date of 2032, out to 2046. That extension reduces annual pension payments made by the state, and it avoids what is projected to be a $6 billion payment in 2032 which could amount to more than 30 percent of the state's total operating budget.
Theres a deal on the table" Lembo said. "Its not the deal that any of us would write in a vacuum but it gets the job done and it really preserves budgets well into the future and in doing so preserves important services that the State of Connecticut needs to provide.
Republicans have called for a new policy that would mandate votes on all union contracts by the General Assembly. The agreement struck by the Malloy administration will go into effect automatically unless lawmakers vote "No" on the deal within thirty days.
Rep. Themis Klarides, the House Minority Leader said of a possible vote, I dont know of anything else thats more important, so well see what comes up.
Sen. Len Fasano, the incoming Republican president pro tempore, said if the vote was held tomorrow, then he would vote against it because of higher interest payments over a longer period of time.
However, Fasano did say, "I still want to see more information before any vote is taken."
Fasano would support having the deal taken up for debate during the thirty day window.
Rep. Joe Aresimowicz, the expected next Speaker of the House, anticipated that the deal would pass the House without issue.
Lembo said the state can't leave a deal like this one hanging in the balance when so much of the budget is uncertain.
"These are big numbers in a $20 billion budget so something needs to be done," Lembo said.
The Kmart in Cromwell is one of 150 Kmart or Sears locations that will be closing this spring, according to company officials.
Sears Holdings announced Wednesday that it would be closing 78 Kmart stores and 26 Sears stores in the spring. The company had previously announced closures at 30 other Kmart locations and 16 Sears stores. Liquidation sales will begin Friday, Jan. 6.
The Cromwell location, located at 45 Shunpike Road, will close in mid-March.
Sears said the move was part of a strategic plan to close unprofitable stores as it evaluates store space and productivity.
Many of these stores have struggled with their financial performance for years and we have kept them open to maintain local jobs and in the hopes that they would turn around, the company said in a statement. But in order to meet our objective of returning to profitability, we have to make tough decisions and will continue to do so, which will give our better performing stores a chance at success.
Company officials did not release how many employees would be affected by the Cromwell closure. All employees will be eligible for severance and can apply for open positions at other Sears or Kmart locations.
The Sears store in Enfield is also slated for closure.
Following is Gov. Dannel Malloy's full 2017 state of the state address, as it was prepared:
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Lt. Governor Wyman, and my fellow state officials, ladies and gentlemen of the General Assembly, honored members of the judiciary, members of the clergy, and all the citizens of our great state: thank you for the honor of inviting me once again into the people's House.
Let me offer my sincere congratulations to those of you taking on new and important leadership roles, as well as those who have been reelected into leadership positions. I also want to congratulate the new members sworn in earlier today. I look forward to working with all of you.
Let me note, since we were here last together, we have lost some dear friends, including Mary Fritz and Betty Boukus, both of whom served in this house. Our hearts are heavy as we continue to mourn their passing.
As always, let us thank Connecticut's brave men and women serving our nation around the globe.
Thank you, as well, to my dear friend and the best Lt. Governor in the country, Nancy Wyman.
And finally thank you to my wife Cathy and our three sons for their love and support.
This past September, the Connecticut General Assembly met in a special session. You met to take historic action in support of our states economy and our incredible workforce.
The legislation you voted to support and that I signed into law protected 8,000 jobs at Sikorsky Aircraft. Equally importantly, it shored up thousands more jobs up and down Sikorskys supply chain, and across every corner of our great state. It nearly doubled their spending with local suppliers to almost $700 million per year over the next decade and beyond.
Thank you for that work.
In recent years weve secured similar investments from United Technologies and Electric Boat. Taken together, these agreements cement our leadership in advanced manufacturing around the globe.
A decade ago, if any of us had told our constituents that in 2017 not only would Electric Boat would be ramping-up their production rather than winding it down, not only would Pratt and Whitney be planning to put thousands more people to work, but that Sikorsky would be committed to Connecticut for another generation to come well, they wouldnt have believed us. They would have told us that we were overly optimistic at best, and naive at worst.
And yet, here we are today. Working together, we have turned what many once considered impossible, into a reality.
Together weve protected Connecticuts aerospace and defense industries for a generation and likely beyond. More importantly, weve given these employers, and the tens of thousands of employees who work for them, something that is vital in todays world:
Weve given them predictability.
We know that predictability creates confidence. And we know that confidence creates growth.
When we give people reason to believe that their job is here to stay, were giving them the confidence to purchase a home, to buy a new family car, or to start a college fund. In other words, were giving them confidence to take part in our state economy.
And its equally true for their employers. Predictability allows businesses to expand, to make new hires, to put down new roots right here in Connecticut. This is what companies and their workers are looking for. They deserve it, and its on us to provide it.
Thats what I want to talk to you about today about what weve done in recent years to make our budget more predictable, and our economy more sustainable. And about how we can continue that important work this legislative session.
Im going to discuss three key areas that I believe we should focus on this year in order to balance our current budget, and also continue our progress towards long-term prosperity.
The good news is that, for each of these three areas, positive change has already begun.
To start, we need to continue making state government leaner and more cost-effective.
The responsible way to do that is by setting priorities, and allocating our resources where they are needed most. Because the truth is, we simply cant afford to continue doing everything weve done in the past.
In recent years, commissioners and state employees have been hard at work finding creative ways to continue providing essential services while also saving money. These cuts were not painless. Important work had to be phased out so that other vital services could continue. But the results are plain to see.
Last year we cut nearly $850 million to bring our current fiscal year in balance. In so doing, we spent less in the General Fund than we had in the previous year for the first time since 2002.
Weve reduced the number of state agencies by 28 percent since 2011 shrinking from 81 agencies down to 58.
During that same time period, we reduced the size of our executive branch workforce by nine and a half percent. We now employ 5,000 fewer full-time employees than we did in 2008.
And dont let anyone tell you that these reductions are only in front-line employees. Weve reduced the number of state management positions by 28 percent.
While we had to go through the unfortunate, but necessary, process of layoffs last year, the vast majority of these reductions have come through attrition.
Were also spending less on overtime. With your strong partnership and encouragement, overtime costs dropped 14.5 percent last year, saving the state $37 million.
All told, excluding higher education, the executive branch workforce is at the smallest it has been since Ronald Reagan was president.
And now, in this biennium, we need to continue that work, ensuring we reduce spending responsibly and with great care.
Commissioners will need to once again work with their staff and with you, our legislative partners to find additional savings. Like families across Connecticut, just because we responsibly managed our budget in recent years doesnt mean we can take this year off. We must continue to live within our means, spending only as much revenue as we have, and no more.
In September, my administration asked agencies to begin thinking about what additional cuts would mean. Having further explored these options, many of their recommendations will be included in the budget I present to you next month.
Cuts in specific areas, or outright eliminations, should not be taken to mean that certain work is not valued. It simply means that we can no longer afford to do it all, and that our spending must be focused on the very core, essential services for our residents.
And to be clear, saving money isnt just about cutting line-items, or reducing headcount. Agencies will continue to modernize systems, reduce waste, and increase productivity in order to cut costs as much as possible before impacting services, or the valuable employees who provide them.
Together, we can continue to make state government more efficient, more sustainable, and more reflective of our economic reality.
The second area Id like to talk about are the obligations we have to Connecticuts state workers, educators, and retirees.
Connecticuts state pension systems were created 80 years ago, but not a single dime was deposited into the account during the first 30 years of its existence. It was a pay-as-you-go system.
Over many decades, legacy costs, insufficient contributions, lower-than-assumed returns, and early retirement packages left us with a significant unfunded liability in the states employee and teacher retirement systems.
The stark reality is that, after 80 years, the state has set aside only one-third of the money necessary to responsibly fund its obligations.
Let me put it in context. Of the $1.65 billion that we will pay next year into the state retirement systems, 78 percent of that or nearly $1.3 billion is what were paying to make-up for what past administrations and past legislatures failed to do.
Simply put, our generation is paying for Connecticuts past mistakes.
Is it frustrating to do that? Of course. Is it necessary? Absolutely.
It's also the right thing to do. Our state retirees dedicated their lives and careers to public service. We need to pay them the pensions they were promised.
Lets also acknowledge and thank todays state workers for their efforts in support of Connecticut residents and businesses. In 2011, we worked at the bargaining table to help put Connecticut on a more sustainable fiscal path. Together we changed benefits, reduced longevity pay-outs, restructured state pensions, raised the retirement age, and required all employees to pay for a portion of their post-employment benefits.
We saved the state $1.6 billion on our unfunded liability in the immediate two years following that agreement and a total of $21.5 billion over the following 20 years. Had we not realized that level of savings, our current $1.5 billion projected deficit would be much, much worse.
Since making this agreement in 2011, the state has honored its commitment to fully fund the pension obligations each and every year finally doing together what should have been done for the prior 80 years.
Building upon these years of work, my administration recently came to a crucial agreement with our state employees and our retirement commission, an agreement which will make our pension payments more affordable, and yes, more predictable.
Independent analysts are taking note. Moodys Investors Services, a national credit rating agency, deemed this to be a credit positive step for our state. And the plans actuaries say these changes will enhance the stability of our pension system.
I urge you to support these important reforms.
Today, despite all this hard work and real progress, its clear we have more work to do to make our short and long-term labor obligations more affordable.
Fixed costs continue to increase every year, hampering our ability to maintain vital public services. Pension obligations for both state employees and teachers are on track to cost the state an additional $360 million in the next fiscal year compared to this current year. Clearly, the fiscal challenges we face during the next biennium are very real.
In the weeks ahead, my administration will continue working with labor leaders to find solutions for bringing employee costs in line with our economic reality. These talks have been frank and direct so far, and Im appreciative that state workers are taking part in them.
Its very hard, but we must reach an agreement on how to make our pensions and benefits more affordable, as we face these fiscal challenges together. We must recognize that a responsible and balanced solution to our budget problem is one that includes state employee concessions.
These changes can and should be reached respectfully, and at the bargaining table. Our state must honor its legal obligation to our public servants and state retirees, while at the same time keeping our promises to Connecticut taxpayers.
Here's another promise: We will not remake the poor decisions of the past. We will not saddle future generations with fiscal cliffs and unpayable fixed costs. Responsible changes must be made and they must be made this year.
As our past record demonstrates, when we come together, hold realistic expectations, and seek common ground, we can deliver results.
The third and final area Id like to focus on with you today is how we go about distributing aid to our towns and cities primarily how we fund public education.
The state provides a total of $5.1 billion in municipal assistance. Thats more than one fifth of our overall budget this year, making it our biggest single expense not state employee pensions, not Medicaid, not debt service, not salary and benefits of our employees; town aid accounts for the largest portion of our state budget.
It simply would not be fair for us to talk about continued state agency reductions, or talk about the need for labor concessions, without talking about new ways to provide town aid.
Of the $5.1 billion distributed to municipalities, 81 percent of that or $4.1 billion is educational funding. That doesn't include school construction financing, which accounts for approximately one quarter of Connecticuts bonded debt.
Now that Ive put what we spend into context, let me say this of course Connecticut should be spending lots of money on local education. We all believe that investments in education are a down payment on our states future. Our budget must reflect those values.
The question is, in a time of scarce state resources, are we spending this money in the best way possible? Are we ensuring that all students, regardless of the life circumstances into which they are born, regardless of what town or city they live in can receive a quality public education?
I dont believe we are meeting that standard. And I will point out that a recent court decision says that, as well.
Its why I have long-advocated that we direct our support to those municipalities that are struggling the most so that we can level the playing field for our students and our taxpayers.
While we have made progress on this front in recent years I still believe we have not gone far enough. Connecticut needs a new way to calculate educational aid one that guarantees equal access to a quality education regardless of zip code.
Our state constitution guarantees it, and our moral compass demands it.
We need a formula that appropriately measures a given communitys burden. A formula that recognizes specific challenges faced by local property taxpayers. And a formula that takes into account the impact those challenges have on the education provided to our children.
The budget that I will present to you next month will outline a more equitable system for providing town aid. It will be based on the local property tax burden, student need, and current enrollment.
The system will be designed to be more fair, transparent, accountable, and adaptable meaning that it will provide flexibility to fit the needs of a given community.
The result will be a fairer distribution of our states limited funds.
And if we are successful in this effort, there will be an important ancillary benefit we can help ensure that no Connecticut city or town will need to explore the avoidable path of bankruptcy.
To be clear, that kind of help shouldnt come without strings attached. If the state is going to play a more active role in helping less-affluent communities in helping higher-taxed communities part of that role will be holding local political leadership and stakeholders to substantially higher standards and greater accountability than theyve been held to in the past. We should do it so that increased aid doesn't simply mean more spending on local government.
Those are the steps I believe we need to take on town aid funding. The budget I propose next month will lay out a detailed path for getting there.
Now, based on prior experience, I can assume that the proposal I put before you will not be exactly what arrives on my desk a few months later. I understand that. That's how it works. And Im ready to partner with you.
But understand this we need real change. Change that leads to a better, more equitable system for town aid. For the sake of our collective future, there is no reason to wait.
So lets get to work.
I began today by talking about our recent historic partnership with Sikorsky. But of course, its not just about the aerospace industry.
Regardless of region, employment, or income, people in every industry and at every income level are counting on us to get it right.
A family in Farmington where both parents work in the insurance industry deserves the reassurance of a more stable business climate one that keeps their jobs here in Connecticut.
A math teacher in Norwalk should have the peace of mind that her pension and benefits will be intact when she retires after decades of hard work.
A New London High School graduate, following in his fathers footsteps building submarines here in Connecticut, is owed a stable job with livable wages enough to buy a home and raise a family.
If you dont think we can do it for these people, and for all people in our state, if you dont think we can help our constituents and make their lives and their careers more positive and more predictable, I ask that you look no further than the progress we've made in recent years to see exactly what is possible when Connecticut works together.
Years of good economic development are helping to grow jobs. In fact, since the end of the Great Recession, we have recovered 85,000 jobs.
Through the Small Business Express program, more than 1,600 companies have retained 18,000 good jobs and are now creating even more.
The Manufacturing Assistance Act has helped 150 companies since 2011, retaining 34,500 jobs and growing 8,500 more jobs.
All told, unemployment is now at 4.7 percent its lowest level since 2007.
In 2012, we worked across party lines and passed comprehensive education reforms. Today, thanks to great teachers and principals, our students are some of the best readers in the country.
And after years of decline, our graduation rates have risen for five years in a row and are now at their highest point in Connecticuts history.
Weve made monumental advancements for our most vulnerable children in Connecticut, as well.
Many people have doubted that we would finally be in a position to resolve the 25-year-old Juan F. case, which has kept DCF under federal oversight. For too long, this has been an embarrassment for our state, and an unacceptable situation for our children.
But today, the end of that federal oversight is within reach. We are finally ready for Connecticut state government to reclaim its responsibility for Connecticut kids. Please join me in support of this progress.
We are also improving our transportation system as we speak, thanks to the investments we've made together. The on-time and on-budget completion of the Q Bridge project means that, on a daily basis, 140,000 motorists are getting to where they need to go with greater ease.
And with CTfastrak, more people are riding Connecticut transit buses to work. Exceeding all initial projections, average ridership on CTfastrak is as high as 19,000 people per weekday.
And finally on the criminal justice front, Connecticut is leading the nation, and is now safer than it has been in fifty years.
Our prison population has dropped significantly, and high-risk, violent offenders are serving more of their sentence than ever before. Recidivism has declined substantially. This progress has allowed us to save taxpayers $70 million in the current fiscal year.
All of this work all of it is making Connecticut a better, more desirable place to work and live.
I need to do one other thing. I would be remiss if I didnt take a moment to stress the importance of predictability and stability in the wake of Novembers presidential election.
I have no desire to rehash or re-analyze the results we all get plenty of that from cable news. But I do want to offer two brief thoughts on what we can learn from November, and how it might impact our work here at home this session.
First, it is now more clear than ever that too many Americans feel disconnected from their government. They feel the system isnt working for them that they arent able to take part in the American Dream.
While we might disagree on the role of government in that effort, on whether it should be more active or less, I offer to you that a greater degree of predictability in government in all government, at all levels will help reengage and reinvigorate our democracy.
Second, regardless of your party or who you voted for, most of us can agree that this presidential transition has been nothing if not unpredictable. It has left some people and some communities feeling anxious and uncertain.
But let me remind you of this our state has a long legacy of acceptance, compassion, and fairness. Regardless of whether your family settled in Connecticut 300 years ago or three days ago, you are welcome here.
As the people of Connecticut navigate a changing national landscape, we will continue to ensure that every state resident is treated with dignity and respect.
That will not change. Not now. Not ever.
This year, here in Connecticut, we must focus on these historic strengths as we also work to make our budget and our economy more vibrant. We must continue our progress together.
Im asking for your partnership. Im asking that we approach this session and this budget in a spirit of authentic, bipartisan collaboration.
Next month, I am going to come back to you with more details on the topics I laid out today: about how government should continue to become smaller and more effective; about how we can continue working with our partners in labor to create a sustainable benefit system that we can afford not just now, but into the years ahead; and about why we should find a fairer way to fund public education, so that we can ensure dollars are going to where they are needed most.
All of it will be geared toward building a more predictable budget and a more sustainable Connecticut economy.
We are in this together, and together we shall prevail.
Thank you. God bless you, and may God bless the great State of Connecticut.
The Westport man accused of sexting with a child from Colorado has been arrested and charged with child pornography, as well as enticing a minor and other charges.
Police said they were alerted to an inappropriate sexting relationship between 47-year-old Paul Jude Letersky, of Westport, and a Colorado child and searched his Riverside Avenue home around 5 a.m. on Wednesday, where they found more than 50 digital images of child pornography.
Officers arrested Letersky at the scene on a first-degree child pornography charge and served a warrant charging him with enticing a minor and risk of injury connected to the original complaint.
He is being held on $500,000 cash bond and is scheduled to appear in Stamford Court on Jan. 13. Its not clear from the online docket if he has an attorney.
If Letersky is able to post bond, there will be several conditions attached to his release, according to police. He will have to wear a GPS monitoring device, he must stay 1,500 feet from any school or daycare, cannot have any contact with the alleged victim and cannot possess an internet device.
The Westport Police Detective Youth Division and the Southwest Connecticut Technical Investigation Unit, which includes officers from Weston, New Canaan, Norwalk, Greenwich and Connecticut State Police are investigating.
A judge has dismissed the murder charges against former pro wrestler Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, deeming him mentally incompetent to stand trial in the 1983 death of his girlfriend.
The ex-wrestler was charged in September 2015 in the death of 23-year-old Nancy Argentino, whose body was found in their Whitehall Township hotel room in 1983. Authorities reopened the investigation after The Morning Call newspaper raised questions about the case in 2013. Prosecutors alleged she was beaten, while Snuka has maintained that she died from a fall.
The defense argued Snuka, 73, couldn't stand trial because he suffers from dementia, partly due to the head trauma he suffered over a long career in the ring. The prosecution argued Snuka's brain showed normal signs of aging and suggested he was faking symptoms.
"Hearing the news today that it's finally over," Snuka's attorney Robert Kirwan told NBC10 Tuesday. "Case is closed. It's done. Charges are dismissed. That sense of relief is overwhelming."
Kirwan said his client was in hospice care in Florida and had six months to live.
"I'd like for him to leave this world with a clean record and everybody knowing he's an innocent person," Kirwan said.
NBC10 reached out to the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office for comment on the judge's dismissal.
"We are considering our options and will decide at the appropriate time what action we'll take," a spokeswoman wrote.
Argentino's sisters Louise Argentino and Lorraine Salome also reacted to the decision and said they were disappointed but not surprised by the ruling.
"It's really been a travesty of justice from the beginning," said Louise Argentino. "Thirty years ago my sister had bruises all over her. He had told all the authorities that he pushed her and they had a fight. And they just let him walk away."
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The Dallas Cowboys have reportedly taken a flier on once-highly regarded guard Jonathan Cooper.
The Dallas Morning News' Jon Machota reported that the Cowboys agreed to terms with the free agent Cooper Wednesday.
Cowboys have agreed to terms with guard Jonathan Cooper but need to make corresponding roster move. He was the 7th pick in the 2013 draft Jon Machota (@jonmachota) January 4, 2017
The signing is a low-risk move for the Cowboys that could pay dividends if Cooper returns to the form that made him a first-team All-America selection in college.
Cooper was widely considered the top interior offensive lineman available in the 2013 draft. The North Carolina product was picked seventh overall by the Arizona Cardinals.
Cooper was part of the trade package that helped Arizona acquire edge defender Chandler Jones from the New England Patriots in March.
The Patriots released Cooper in October.
The Cleveland Browns claimed Cooper two days after his release from New England. Cleveland released him in December.
Everyone wants to be seated at the cool kids table--and when you're at the Golden Globe Awards, every table is cool.
While we know who's a proud member of the nominee pool for this year's upcoming ceremony and who will be doling out golden statues at the podium, there are still a few elements of the Golden Globes that will remain a mystery until the big night--the winners, the fashion and the seating chart.
It's only until the camera pans to the audience during the live broadcast Sunday evening that fans will get to see which lucky stars got to wine and dine together over the course of the highly anticipated ceremony.
While attendees are typically seated with their co-stars, in a dream world, there are a few pairings we hope assemble in the name of television magic.
2017 Golden Globes: Meet the Presenters
A "Blue Valentine" Redux
While Ryan Gosling has reunited once again with fellow Golden Globe nominee Emma Stone for their musical rendezvous, "La La Land," there's another leading lady included in his silver screen history also up for an award on Sunday: Michelle Williams. The "Manchester By The Sea" nominee and Gosling were both honored with acting nods in 2010 for their emotional turn in "Blue Valentine." For nostalgia's sake, it's only right that these two get seated at the same table once again.
The Ladies of "The Help"
Similarly, this year marks the Golden Globe return of "The Help" ladies--Jessica Chastain, Stone, Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis. Four years later, they're all in the running to win a statue for their highly acclaimed respective projects. Now, imagine that table packed with star power. Let's just hope Minny's famous chocolate pie is not on the menu.
E! Live 360: Experience the Red Carpet Like Never Before
Matchmaker: Golden Globes Edition
While there's plenty of romance sprinkled throughout this season of award-worthy films, there is also a history of flirtation behind the scenes for two of the ceremony's high-profile attendees. Fellow nominees Stone and Andrew Garfield dated for four years before splitting in 2015. While they may not officially be back together, they have been toying with fans' emotions while doing recent press. When asked by The Hollywood Reporter which actress he would bring with him on a desert island, Garfield responded, "Emma Stone. I love Emma." Can this awards season bring these former lovebirds back together? Seats next to each other wouldn't hurt.
Justin Timberlake and the "Stranger Things" Kids
The Grammy winner landed his second Best Original Song nod for the summer's smash hit, "Can't Stop the Feeling" from Trolls. Imagine if the triple threat could jam out with television's coolest child stars, the 'Stranger Things" kids--Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin. After all, they already proved their musical chops with a cool rendition of "Uptown Funk" during the pre-show at the Emmy Awards. Throw "This Is Us" nominee Mandy Moore and Nicole Kidman's expected date, husband Keith Urban, into the mix and they might just have to pause the show for a full-on singalong. After all, there's nothing like an award show commercial break to rehearse the next big hit.
A "Sex and the City" Flashback
The last time Sarah Jessica Parker was nominated for a Golden Globe for television work, she was starring as the iconic Carrie Bradshaw on HBO's "Sex and the City." Life has come full circle for the actress, who is once again being recognized for her work on HBO with a nomination for Best Actress in "Divorce." Coincidentally, her former SATC co-star and "Snowden" actor Timothy Olyphant is slated to present that evening. The only thing better than this dream table pairing would be if Parker also wore tulle.
Macy's says it is eliminating more than 10,000 jobs and plans to move forward with 68 store closures after a disappointing holiday shopping season. The department store chain also lowered its full-year earnings forecast.
The retailer said Wednesday that sales at its established stores fell 2.1 percent in November and December compared to the same period last year. Macy's Inc. pointed to changing consumer behavior and said its performance reflects the challenges that are facing much of the retail industry.
Two of the 68 stores to close are in North Texas, one at Dallas' Southwest Center Mall and another at Collin Creek Mall in Plano. Another six will close elsewhere in the state at the following locations: Parkdale, Beaumont; Sunland Park, El Paso; Greenspoint, Houston; West Oaks Mall, Houston; Pasadena Town Square, Pasadena; Broadway Square, Tyler, according to CNBC.com.
The company said the 68 store closures are part of the 100 closings it announced in August. Of the 68, three were closed by the middle of 2016, 63 will close in the spring and two will be closed by the middle of 2017. Some may be offered positions at nearby stores but Macy's estimates that 3,900 employees will be affected by the closures.
Macy's also said it plans to restructure parts of its business and sell some properties. This will lead to the reduction of 6,200 jobs. The moves are estimated to save $550 million annually.
Overall, Macy's said, the job reductions represent about 7 percent of its workforce.
The company, which owns the Macy's and Bloomingdale's brands, has been struggling with declining traffic in its stores, where the bulk of its business is still conducted. It said it is closing stores that are "unproductive or are no longer robust shopping destinations" as well as selling those with highly valued real estate.
It plans to invest some of its savings in growing its digital business.
Macy's said it now expects to earn between $2.95 and $3.10 per share on an adjusted basis for its 2016 fiscal year, versus its prior forecast of $3.15 to $3.40 per share. The company is scheduled to report full results in February.
Shares in Macy's fell nearly 10 percent to $32.30 in after-hours trading.
After hospitals used more blood than anticipated last week, an area blood center is asking people to donate.
Carter BloodCare, who supplies blood for hospitals in 56 counties, said their inventory is critically low. The center has asked people who can give blood to donate on Tuesday or Wednesday.
As a general rule, blood centers see fewer blood donations around the holidays.
Holiday gatherings, seasonal illnesses and severe weather can lead to fewer people donating, according to the Red Cross.
On top of that, hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area used significantly more blood than normal last week, a spokesperson for Carter BloodCare said.
The reason for the spike is unclear, the spokesperson said.
Click here for a list of donation centers.
Four people were shot in an Allen neighborhood late Tuesday night following an argument between two groups on Facebook, according to police.
The shooting happened at about 11:45 p.m. along the 500 block of Hawthorne Drive.
"I just couldn't believe it. At first I thought it was fireworks," said James Ramsey, who lives a few houses down from where the shooting took place. "I heard eight to 12 shots."
Allen police spokesman Sgt. Jon Felty said a group of nine people from the Dallas area drove to the neighborhood where they confronted a group of seven people at a home, apparently upset over something that had been posted online.
"The argument moved out into the street," he said. "It appeared everything was going to end peacefully and then somebody drew a weapon and shots were fired."
The four victims were taken to two area hospitals with injuries that were not life threatening.
"I can't imagine what would be so important that it would end like this," said Felty. "It is a tragedy. We're just trying to work our way through the investigation and see what the disagreement was, what the gist of it was."
Felty said officers arrested 20-year-old Devonte M. Wade in connection with the shooting. Wade has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Police said eight other people were also detained for questioning.
The Gunn family lives two doors down. Two bullet holes now riddle the Bernard Gunn's pickup truck. Another bullet tore through the window of their next-door neighbor's Suburban SUV.
Bernard, Jr. and Misty Gunn raced over to their parents' home when they heard what happened.
"You know, words aren't going to kill you, but bullets will," Bernard Gunn, Jr. said. "Bring a neighborhood to such violence is just wrong. It is wrong."
"I'm very grateful it didn't go through the window," Misty added. "These are my loved ones here."
Watch Homa Bash broadcast her live report on Facebook Live:
NBC 5's Todd Davis contributed to this report.
Police said they arrested a man in connection with the fatal shooting of a 21-year-old man at a Dallas hotel last month.
Dallas police said they arrested Cicero Leonard Louisjean Tuesday at the Budget Suites in the 9500 block of Forest Lane in connection with the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Stephen Egana.
Egana was shot at the Regency Hotel on the 11300 block of LBJ Freeway Dec. 11, 2016. Egana was transported to a hospital where he died from his injuries shortly after the shooting.
Following an interview with detectives Tuesday, Louisjean was jailed and is being held on $250,000 bond.
Fort Worth's housing agency is set to approve a sweeping redevelopment plan that will likely mean tearing down its largest public housing project and relocating its residents to new homes across the city.
Built in 1940, Butler Place has been home for generations of Fort Worth's poorest families.
About 900 people live there in 66 brick buildings located on 42 acres of prime real estate just east of downtown.
Fort Worth Housing Solutions, formerly known as the Fort Worth Housing Authority, asked developers for ideas.
Nine of them drew up plans.
The city is scheduled to approve one in March.
"There's so many different ways this site can be redeveloped and there's so much potential for this site," said Housing Solutions president Naomi Byrne.
She acknowledged the details haven't been worked out yet.
"Everything is up in the air," she said. "Everything is up for discussion. Our bottom line is we want the best deal for us, the city of Fort Worth and our residents."
The best deal for the city may mean moving the residents.
Across the country, the trend has been to get rid of projects like Butler, with big clusters of poor residents, and pay them to live in other places.
If Fort Worth closes Butler, it will be the biggest city in Texas to get out of the public housing business entirely.
"It's an OK place to live, if you have no other place else to live," said Butler resident Bambie Trotty, a retired telephone company worker.
She is wary of the city's plans.
"That's basically what it is, the rich people kicking out the poor people and the poor people have no place to go," she said.
Byrne promised that even if the agency doesn't operate any large projects anymore, it'll still help people pay their rent and find a place to call home.
She also didn't rule out the possibility some people may be able to stay on the property and live among more affluent residents in the future development.
Fort Worth also is closing its second-largest public housing project, Caville Place, located in East Fort Worth in the Stop Six neighborhood.
Dallas homicide detectives are starting 2017 with a heavy workload.
Between 2015 and 2016, the city's murder rate increased 28 percent with the majority of the cases having taken place south of Interstate 30 in South Central Dallas. More than half of those homicides remain unsolved. In 2016 the clearance rate which indicates arrests, not convictions was 49 percent.
At the Dallas Police Department, there are 19 homicide detectives that are trying to piece together details that could lead to an arrest in these cases, but the department is spread thin. A mass exodus of officers in 2016 has led to a shortage close to 300 officers.
We expect more to leave in the next few months, said Deputy Chief Albert Martinez of the departments Southside Division.
Martinez has been with the department for 23 years and said officers are asked to do more with less.
Right now, its not a question of trying to more efficient. We have to be," Martinez said. "We are at a critical point in our department in our history when we need to do things smoother sharper better. Do more with less work smarter not harder.
The department is asking for anyone in the community, who may have details about these unsolved murders, to step forward.
You never know when that break comes to help solve the case," Martinez said. "Sometimes it's a phone call. Sometimes its a witness that steps forward."
Meanwhile, at the center of each unsolved murder case is a family that lives in a constant state of uncertainty. This is a scenario where time does not heal all wounds. The mental and emotional trauma of losing a loved one to violent crime is heightened when the case goes unsolved.
We live with that loss, too, and our detectives are working hard to piece together evidence that can lead to arrests, Martinez said.
Officers are reaching out to pastors in South Dallas to plan community meetings. The goal would be to engage residents and build trust.
Recommendations from the Dallas Mayors Commission on Homelessness moved forward at City Hall Tuesday, despite concerns about some of the details.
What Ive discovered is, its not just an issue of us working with other entities. Its an issue of us working inside these walls at City Hall. So, that is certainly concerning to me, said Council Member Tiffinni Young.
The Dallas City Council Housing Committee sent the list of proposals on for review by the full City Council in the future.
Speaking from his wheelchair, Austin Street Shelter resident James Dunn pleaded with city leaders for action on the proposals.
We need in Dallas to have a heart, realize that some people who never thought they would wind up homeless are going to wind up homeless, he said.
The Mayors Commission spent months holding hearings and studying homeless issues after tent camps that sprang up all around Dallas in 2016 demonstrated the growing problem.
When the city closed big camps, Shelia Crawford, President of the Ideal Neighborhood Association, said homeless people wound up in her South Dallas area, bringing trash and drug paraphernalia with them.
Theyre coming to our communities, which are putting our lives and our children in danger, Crawford said.
The commission report first issued months ago showed about 3,900 people were counted homeless in a 2016 census.
It estimated 10,000 people experience homelessness in Dallas at some time during the year.
The Dallas Independent School District reported 3,700 homeless children.
My challenge to the Council and everybody sitting here is, lets not remain focused on minor differences in wording, said Dallas County Criminal Justice Department Director Ron Stretcher. Lets stay focused at the work at hand and thats to solve this crisis. And it is a crisis for us. Its in the jail, its in the hospitals and its on the streets.
The recommendations include an ongoing panel be formed to see that the first groups plan becomes reality.
Im very much in favor of a commission that would report to the Housing Committee. I like the structure of a 15 member board, with each council member appointing someone, the mayor appointing the chair, said Council Member Scott Griggs.
Other key recommendations are better outreach to locate homeless people and provide services, coordinated community-wide data entry of cases between different agencies, more shelter capacity and permanent supportive housing.
Non-profit agency CitySquare has just opened a 50 cottage campus for permanent supportive housing near Interstate 45 and Interstate 30.
The cottages took longer than expected to complete and cost approximately $140,000 per unit, but the money includes providing expensive services that many homeless people need.
The homeless population in Dallas has substantial needs. Theyre an aging population. Were dealing with a lot of mental illness, substance abuse issues, a number of barriers that would make it hard for them to go straight to work. They need supportive services to get them on their feet, said CitySquare Chief Operating Officer John Siburt. And really as simple as it sounds, the cure for homelessness is a house. And so when folks get housing first, that in and of itself is a stabilizer.
The Mayors Commission suggested about 2,000 additional units of permanent supportive housing, but money to pay for it has not been earmarked.
Some could be existing rental apartments. Dallas landlords refusing to accept government vouchers for homeless housing is another problem identified in the report.
The city of Houston has made great strides in the fight against homelessness. The state of Utah has virtually eliminated it. But across the board, the success comes when you go with housing first, Siburt said.
Some money for homeless housing could be included in a 2017 bond referendum. Dallas city council members discuss a possible bond borrowing plan Wednesday.
A San Antonio-area man is jailed on a first-degree sexual assault charge after a female toddler he reported had been mauled by a dog was determined by investigators to have been sexually assaulted and stabbed.
Isaac Andrew Cardenas is in the Bexar County Jail accused of attacking the child, who police said is not yet 2 years old. Bond for the 23-year-old man is set at $300,000. His attorney didn't return a telephone message.
A 22-year-old woman described in a Bexar County Sheriff's Office statement Tuesday as a relative of the child has been charged with injury to a child by omission resulting in serious injury. Her name isn't found in online jail records.
The child is listed in stable condition at University Hospital after the incident reported Saturday morning.
Cleanup is planned Wednesday morning for Manchester Square, an area increasingly dotted with homeless encampments as it transitions from residential neighborhood to its envisioned role in modernizing access to Los Angeles International Airport.
During the past decade, scores of apartment buildings and single family homes have been purchased and razed by Los Angeles World Airports as it seeks to acquire all of the lots inside a roughly quarter of a square mile of Westchester between LAX and the 405 Freeway. Manchester Square is bounded by Century Boulevard to the south, Arbor Vitae Street to the north, La Cienga Boulevard to the east, and Aviation Boulevard to the west.
The increasingly empty streets became a destination for homeless with vehicles for auto camping, and in the past two years, tent camps have increased on the sidewalks.
Many of those still occupying the remaining residences have complained to city officials of trash pileup and other problems they blame on the encampments.
"Now we can't even take walks. They have the whole sidewalk blocked," said resident Dennis Morgan.
"Basically, they have taken over," his wife Jena Morgan said.
They expressed doubt the cleanup would have much lasting impact. To the homeless, it is another inconvenience to be endured.
"If I didn't love camping, I don't know that I'd be able to tolerate this," said Joe Sigler, who has been living in a tent since summer.
Under rules that have emerged from a series of court decisions on homeless camping, campers are allowed to set up on public sidewalks after 9 p.m., and are supposed to pack up at 6 a.m., though the tents generally remain where pitched in Manchester Square.
"I live this way because I can't live any other way," said Dana Tritch, who has a tent near Sigler's. "Nobody's giving us a break."
From 2015 to 2016, the homeless population in LA county increased 5.7 percent to 46,874, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
In the past three months, the city and service organizations increased outreach efforts to find shelter for the Manchester square homeless, said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
It's not known how many have been placed, but several of the homeless said they are still waiting after being contacted. Others, including Trich and Sigler, said they do not want to give up their pet dogs if placement requires that.
Tuesday afternoon, two Airport Police officers assigned to Manchester Square delivered the news to one homeless woman that her housing expense voucher had been authorized. But she remained pessimistic suitable housing would be found.
Though the Los Angeles municipal code does not permit car camping on residential streets, it is often not enforced, unless there are specific parking restrictions. Some, but not all of Manchester Square streets have signs posted that read no parking between 2 and 6 a.m.
Westside city councilman Mike Bonin has pushed for amending the code to permit car camping in commercial and industrial areas. Bonin has also called for creating "safe parking" for homeless to car camp in areas such as church parking lots. Mayor Garcetti sees that as a possible temporary measure, but not a long term solution.
Last November, Los Angeles voters approved Measure HHH, authorizing the city to issue bonds to raise up to $1.2 billion to build homeless housing.
Garcetti said congestion at LAX over the holidays was another indicator of the need to proceed with the airports Landside Access Modernization Program, dubbed "LAMP." The plan foresees using Manchester Square as the location for a consolidated rent-a-car facility, "Conrac" for short.
The mayor expects ground-breaking for Conrac to begin by the middle of next year. Those in the remaining houses and apartments in Manchester Square realize they likely will have to move in the next few months.
With the changes in her neighborhood in recent years, airline employee Rosie Pecina has mixed feelings.
"You want to get away," Pecina said. "But you want to stay because it's convenient and affordable."
Half a century ago, at the dawn of the jet age, LAX was confronted with increasing complaints about noise from residents in an ocean view community of Playa del Rey on the sand dunes beneath the airport's take-off pattern. The city dealt with it by buying up the properties in short order, and fencing off the area as a permanent no-man's land. The houses are gone, but the grid of empty streets can still be seen from Vista del mar.
If you loaded up your 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible, the baby blue one with the sky-high fins, and you applied some extra Brylcreem to your pompadour and made sure the AM dial on your radio worked just fine, it would still take you over a day to drive from Palm Springs to Memphis, Tennessee.
Surely it would be an important drive, if you treasure the legend of The King and all of the major music, and influences, he left the world to enjoy. But you can save the 1700+ miles, at least for the time being, and mark the 82nd anniversary of the birth of Elvis Presley at the famous desert-snazzy Honeymoon Hideway.
The acclaimed abode, which is where Elvis and Priscilla Presley spent the days following their 1967 wedding, will once again honor the legend's birthday with more music, memories, and tours than you can fit into a tour bus, proverbially.
The date? It's all going down, with hip shakes and thankyouverymuch-ing, on the eve of Mr. Presley's Jan. 8 birthday.
So you'll need to be at the lauded Ladera Circle locale on Saturday, Jan. 7 to catch performances by a pair of tribute artists (George Thomas'll be homaging Elvis while James King will step in for Frank Sinatra) and a trio of midday "Tours of the Kings House."
Other happenings, like an appearance by Dick Grob (who worked for The King), as well as The Palm Desert Strummers, fill out the daytime schedule.
You'll want to secure a ticket before gassing up the convertible, so do that, blithely, as you hum "Love Me Tender" or another croony hit.
Of course, if you're a through-and-through King fan, making the highway-epic drive to Graceland, with, perhaps, an emotional stop in Tupelo, Mississippi, is a commendable dream to have. (Tupelo, of course, was the birthplace of the icon.)
And Elvis was very much a dream-maker. His songs were lush with fantasy and hope, as was his life, outlook, homes, cars, and fabulous glittering jumpsuits.
It is good to have a dream, in short, and that The King's birthday arrives just days after the new year is a buoyant reminder of this notion. Need to find that hope-filled thread again? Put on a few songs, sway the hips, and pursue a Presley-themed party now.
The regime of former president Yahya Jammeh (C) is accused by human rights defenders of systematically torturing political opponents and journalists, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances (AFP Photo/MARCO LONGARI) (AFP/File)
Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - The head of Gambia's electoral commission has fled to neighbouring Senegal fearing a plot against him, a month after declaring President Yahya Jammeh lost elections following 22 years in power, one of his relatives said.
Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairman Alieu Momar Njie "fled to Senegal after he got information that the Gambian authorities were plotting against him and his team" one of his relatives told AFP late Tuesday.
"Some of his team members have also left for Senegal," the relative said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The relative did not elaborate on how Njie fled or say who had gone with him.
There was no immediate comment from Senegalese authorities.
Njie had declared opposition candidate Adama Barrow the winner of December 1 presidential elections and pleaded with all parties to respect the result.
Jammeh's party later lodged a legal complaint against the electoral commission and the country has since been in political deadlock.
The 51-year-old Jammeh, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1994, has said he will await a Supreme Court ruling in the case, delayed until January 10, before ceding power.
Jammeh's refusal to step down, despite initially conceding defeat in the election, has stoked international concerns about the future of the tiny west African country.
Both the United Nations and African leaders have called for him to step down.
Meanwhile, a security source said that a group of people arrested for selling or wearing T-shirts bearing the slogan #GambiaHasDecided had been released.
One of those briefly detained, who declined to be identified, said armed men had entered a shop selling merchandise featuring Barrow's image and seized T-shirts, caps and badges.
They said they were taken to Gambian National Intelligence Agency headquarters where they were cautioned before being released.
Cyber-security analysts are probing a Vermont utilitys laptop, following the discovery of malware on the device.
Burlington Electric said federal authorities issued an alert to utilities around the country about possibly suspicious internet activity. The alert led to the discovery of a concerning piece of code that didnt belong on one of its employees laptops.
Were still looking into the laptop, said cybersecurity analyst Jon Rajewski, who consulted for Burlington Electric on the situation. Theres a team of people from federal agencies working on this as well.
In their alert, the feds linked the type of code discovered in Vermont to Russian hackers.
Friday, The Washington Post incorrectly reported that Russian hackers penetrated the U.S. electric grid through that code, infecting a Vermont computer. The paper later amended its reporting to say the discovery indicated there are technological risks to the nations power system.
By Monday night, the newspaper issued an update citing experts and officials close to the investigation that some evidence showed the incident was not linked to any hacking effort by the Russian government.
The utility called the initial newspaper report deeply flawed and said the code may have had little or no direct impact at all on Burlington or on the power grid as a whole.
Theres been no indication of compromise of either our electric grid systems or our customer information said Neale Lunderville, the general manager of Burlington Electric.
Lunderville told necn the laptop wasnt connected to the grid systems, and noted the code has been found elsewhere in the country.
Were constantly scanning for threats, 24-7-365, Lunderville said. All utilities, including Burlington Electric, take cyber-security very, very seriously.
The scare and its initial link to Russia, which the Obama administration has fingered in the hacking of Democratic political institutions ahead of November's election, sparked several fiery political responses.
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin said, Vermonters and all Americans should be both alarmed and outraged that one of the world's leading thugs, Vladimir Putin, has been attempting to hack our electric grid, which we rely upon to support our quality-of-life, economy, health, and safety.
This episode should highlight the urgent need for our federal government to vigorously pursue and put an end to this sort of Russian meddling, Shumlins statement continued.
necn reached out to Shumlin's office Tuesday in light of Washington Post's further reporting.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, also weighed in.
This is beyond hackers having electronic joy rides this is now about trying to access utilities to potentially manipulate the grid and shut it down in the middle of winter, Leahy wrote. That is a direct threat to Vermont and we do not take it lightly.
Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vermont, said in a statement, This attack shows how rampant Russian hacking is. It's systemic, relentless, predatory. They will hack everywhere, even Vermont, in pursuit of opportunities to disrupt our country.
While federal agencies have linked the code they told utilities to watch for to Russian hackers, Rajewski, the cybersecurity analyst, said a full forensic exam of the malwares origins and the motive behind it will be complicated.
Often, viruses can get onto computers through bogus emails that trick users into opening a malicious file, he said.
You have to spend a lot of time looking at the evidence and trying to determine what happened, Rajewski said. All that takes some time and effort.
While the probe into the utilitys laptop continues, Rajewski said the case underscores the need for homeowners, businesses and other organizations to keep up-to-date on cybersecurity, to protect against possible breaches.
Computers hold a lot of valuable information. Its important to keep it safe and secure, Rajewski said. Its really important to keep your phone and computer up-to-date so you can try to stop or slow down these attackers from breaching your security.
Florida Power & Light is looking to recoup nearly $320 million from customers to cover costs associated with Hurricane Matthew and to replenish a storm reserve.
Documents filed with the state Public Service Commission by FPL are requesting to start collecting the money in March, the News Service of Florida reported.
The company says 1.2 million customers had service interrupted and it replaced more than 250 miles of wire, more than 900 transformers and some 400 poles after Matthew swept past the state in October.
Many of the outages were reported in central and north Florida, including Brevard, Volusia, Flagler and St. Johns counties. According to the filing, the company estimates it spent $316.8 million in restoration costs.
The Public Service Commission has the authority to review the request and determine how much would be passed on to customers. The collections would last a year and customers who use 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month, for example, would see their monthly bills increase by $3.36, the documents said.
A hit-and-run victim is pleading for help to find the driver who barreled into him and left him in the middle of a Wynwood street with some serious injuries.
Alex Giraldo says he was riding his motorcycle during Bike Night last month when out of nowhere he was run down by a car.
"I have a fractured tibia right underneath my knee that they had to put a plate in and also my, both of my feet are fractured," Giraldo said in an exclusive interview with NBC 6 on Tuesday. "He didn't even stop at all to see if I was fine or anything. It was just like bam. He hit me and that's it. He took off."
According to the City of Miami Police Department, Giraldo was sideswiped by a car and the driver is missing in action. The collision happened around 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 15 on Northwest 29th Street near North Miami Avenue.
"I was driving right in front of the O Cinema and out of nowhere a car hit me. I didn't even see him coming," Giraldo said.
The 48-year-old said he was in the hospital for a week and said it will be more than six months before he fully recovers. While he's grateful it wasn't worse, he claims the accident has affected his livelihood since he can't drive his beloved motorcycle or his limousine for his business.
Giraldo said he wants to use his story to raise awareness about what he calls a hit and run epidemic in South Florida.
"This is something that has to stop because I've seen people being killed and people are getting away with murder and it doesn't have to be someone getting killed," he said. "Look, I'm pretty much maimed for life or whatever. Hopefully I make a full recovery but there has to be something done. This is something that is happening way too frequently and people are just taking advantage and leaving."
Police haven't released a description of the vehicle but Giraldo said his riding buddies saw the car flee.
"They told me it was a Nissan Sentra, four doors, and he got damage in the front," he said.
Police are continuing their search for the driver. Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
An Orlando man is accused of forcing an exchange student to have sex with him multiple times while she was living with him.
Joshua Perez, 28, is facing charges of sexual battery and exposure of sexual organs.
Investigators say the incidents happened at the Valencia Forest Apartments, where the victim lived with Perez and his girlfriend.
An arrest report says Perez, who was the victim's host dad, forced the Vietnamese exchange student into sexual encounters about 13 times over the past three months.
Arrest documents also show that a second exchange student living with Perez told investigators the suspect exposed himself to her as she cooked him food.
Information on Perez's attorney wasn't immediately available.
Miami-Dade Police are searching for a man wanted for questioning in a deadly police-involved shooting last week.
Detectives released a flyer Tuesday with a photo of Devin Lamar Smith.
Officials want to talk to the 25-year-old about his involvement in Friday's police-involved shooting that unfolded on West Indigo Street in West Perrine.
Miami-Dade Police said officers were forced to shoot 21-year-old Jamar Rollins during an attempted traffic stop. Smith was the passenger and fled the scene on foot. Detectives say Rollins, who was behind the wheel, pulled out a gun on two officers before he was shot and killed.
However, one witness said Rollins had his hands up. "This was an assasination. My nephew was gunned down and killed by an officer," said Rollins' aunt, Karen Harris.
A community meeting was held Tuesday evening at Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church. County Commissioner Dennis C. Moss along with pastors and Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez discussed the investigation with frustrated residents.
Harris spoke directly to Perez during Tuesday's meeting. "Why was he allowed to be in our community, targeting these young men in the first place?" Harris asked.
Harris along with many in the crowd were visibly frustrated about the deadly shooting. "The officer that could not catch the young man that did run away from the vehicle, resorted to shooting my nephew who was standing still and surrendered. That is unacceptable to me," Harris said.
Director Perez told the crowd that the officer involved had been assigned to district because of the possibility of a revenge shooting.
Both officers, Andrew Garcia and Jesus Soto, involved in the shooting have nine years of experience. They were placed on administrative paid leave as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates the shooting.
A clothing store employee is outraged after she was sucker-punched by a male shopper at the Southland Mall in Cutler Bay.
The woman, who does not want to be identified, said she was attacked by the shopper for no apparent reason.
Surveillance video from New Year's Day shows a man and woman entering Moda Xpress just before 2 p.m.
At one point, the man walks into the cash register area. The victim told him he's not allowed to walk in that area and that's when the shopper punches her in the face. The victim then tends to her battered face. She was not seriously hurt.
The suspect got away. The woman says she is bothered and nervous knowing that he is still out there and could return and do the same thing to someone else.
The store employee is also outraged at Miami-Dade Police for what she calls a delayed response to the attack.
A police officer responded to the scene to write an incident report, but the officer refused to review the surveillance video. Miami-Dade Police spokesman Daniel Ferrin told NBC 6 the officer followed protocol. Department rule says the assigned detective of the case investigates surveillance videos and other evidence, not responding officers.
The male suspect remains on the run.
Students at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers are on edge after a woman was attacked by two men on campus.
The incident happened on New year's Day around 9:30 p.m. in one of the housing parking lots. The victim said she was sexually battered by one man while another man stood as the lookout.
Students say the news of the attack is unnerving especially since FGCU has few reported sexual assaults.
Only one reported last year. A woman said an older man assaulted in the common area of a dorm.
The university offers resources through Title IX and other programs to sexual assault victims.
University police are searching for the unidentified suspects.
President-elect Donald Trump appeared to side with controversial WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over U.S. intelligence officials Wednesday, citing the activist's assertion that Russia did not provide his organization with the hacked Democratic emails that roiled the 2016 election.
Trump's latest challenges to the intelligence community - which has assessed that Russia interfered in the election on the Republican's behalf - comes as the government rushes to finish a highly anticipated report on the hacking. The president-elect is expected to be briefed on the report Friday by CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
Clapper is also testifying on Capitol Hill Thursday. But he could be limited in what he can say about the report's conclusions given that Trump - and perhaps President Barack Obama, who ordered the report - will not have been briefed by the time he steps before lawmakers.
The gulf between the intelligence community's assessment and the public information available to support that assessment has given Trump an opening to question whether Russia was behind hacking of the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, a top aide to campaign rival Hillary Clinton. Trump's resistance has put him at odds with Obama and lawmakers in both parties, raising questions about why an incoming American president appears to believe Russia's denials over the intelligence agencies he will soon oversee.
Trump's posture has appeared to stem in part from concerns that the allegations of Russian election interference delegitimized his victory. But Trump aides have argued Trump's position isn't personal, but based on what he sees as incomplete or inconclusive information.
Spokesman Sean Spicer said Wednesday that Trump has received "raw data" on the hacking during daily intelligence briefings. But he said the president-elect was "more skeptical of the conclusions that are drawn."
Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday, said Trump was expressing "his very sincere and healthy American skepticism" about intelligence conclusions.
"Given some of the intelligence failures of recent years the president-elect's made it clear to the American people that he's skeptical of conclusions from the bureaucracy and I think the American people hear him loud and clear," Pence said.
The nature of the presidency gives the commander in chief discretion to decide how to respond to intelligence assessments. But any skepticism about the agencies' conclusions usually plays out privately in the Situation Room and Oval Office, not on Twitter - Trump's main forum for challenging the intelligence community and others.
On Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted about a Fox News interview in which Assange denied Russia provided WikiLeaks with Podesta's emails. WikiLeaks released thousands of Podesta's files throughout the final weeks of the presidential election.
"Julian Assange said 'a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta' - why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!" Trump wrote.
It was remarkable for the incoming president to give credibility to Assange, whose organization has been under criminal investigation for its role in classified information leaks. Assange has said his source for the hacked emails WikiLeaks published during the campaign was not a government, but his assertion has left open the possibility they came from a third party.
On Tuesday night, Trump cast more doubt on U.S. intelligence agencies by saying his briefing on the hacking report has been delayed. "Perhaps more time needed to build a case," he wrote.
Trump's tweets caused confusion among intelligence officials, who said there was no delay in the briefing schedule.
The fresh clash came as Trump took further steps to fill his Cabinet and key White House positions, with his attention shifting toward the challenges of governing.
He announced that he wants Wall Street lawyer Jay Clayton to be chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying in a statement that his pick is "a highly talented expert on many aspects of financial and regulatory law."
Trump has repeatedly said he wants to undo many regulations that he says have "stifled investment" in Americans' businesses. Clayton, in a statement, said he'll "carefully monitor" the financial sector and set policies that encourages companies to create jobs.
Clayton is the latest Trump pick with deep ties to Wall Street - having represented Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc.
On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, Pence told Republicans that Trump has signaled that "it's time to get to work" and plans to have a shorter-than-usual 90-minute Inaugural parade on Jan. 20 and then go straight to the Oval Office to begin signing executive orders repealing some of President Obama's actions. Pence did not specify the topics of the potential executive orders.
Trump also promised to hold his first formal news conference since his Nov. 8 election victory next week in New York. He has already waited longer than any other president-elect in the modern era to hold his first exchange with journalists. Most have held such events within days of their elections.
Transition officials said Wednesday that Trump would address his business during a wide-ranging press conference but it was not clear if he would fully outline how he plans to avoid potential conflicts of interest involving the Trump Organization after taking office.
A 34-year-old man was kidnapped by a group of people, at least one of them armed, in the Bronx Tuesday, authorities say.
Witnesses told police the group of men forced Russell Lowe into a 2014 black Toyota Sienna with New York license plates on Wilkinson Avenue in Pelham Bay shortly after 2 p.m. and drove south on Westchester Avenue.
The men who took him are believed to be in their 20s or 30s.
Police say Lowe has been abducted in the past, but he was let go. Investigators are looking into whether the kidnapping may be drug- or gambling-related.
Lowe, who lives in the Bronx, is about 5 feet 9 inches tall and 170 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. Anyone who has seen him is asked to call police.
What to Know New York state officials have offered blood tests to all Newburgh residents after a cancer-causing chemical was found in their tap water
PFOS, the chemical found in the water, has been linked to cancer, thyroid problems and other serious health issues
PFOS can be found in firefighting foam, which is used at Newburgh's military air base
State leaders in New York are calling for drastic action to keep drinking water safe in response to what they call a water quality crisis," especially in Newburgh and surrounding cities.
We can no longer cook with it, we can no longer make our coffee with it, and we cannot drink it -- and the kids, we were told not to brush our teeth with it, too, New Windsor resident Tina Coughlin told NBC 4 New York.
Coughlin said the state tested her well water back in August, and that's when they discovered that it was contaminated with Perfluorinated Compounds, or PFOS.
I dont want to see my kids get sick, said Coughlin.
Amid jugs of bottled water provided by New York state, Coughlin and her family are at the epicenter of a water crisis that has engulfed the towns of Newburgh and New Windsor, as well as the certain areas of Beaver Dam Lake.
A multi-state agency response was launched after the EPA and a Department of Environmental Conservation investigation revealed that Lake Washington, the city of Newburghs reservoir, was contaminated with PFOS. It is a chemical that was used in firefighting foam, and the source of the contamination was linked to a retention pond at Stewart Air Force Base.
The health effects that have been identified as potentially concerning for PFOS including liver conditions, immune and thyroid concerns, low birth weight are the main ones, Brad Hutton, state deputy commissioner of public health, told NBC 4.
In May 2016, the city of Newburghs water supply was switched to Browns Pond. In June, it was switched to the Catskills Aqueduct to provide the city of 27,000 residents with clean drinking water. The state is footing the bill and advanced a payment of $2.4 million to the city of Newburgh in September 2016.
For residents with private wells, several options have been made available from the state. Some residents, like the Coughlins, have been provided with bottled water as their clean source of water. Other residents that are close to public water supply hookup have been hooked up to public water. Those who arent have the option to opt into a Point of Entry Treatment System -- or a POET -- that would purify their well water.
Despite the response from the state, many people like the Coughlins are still fearful.
"This has been in the drinking water supply for years we may have exposed a whole generation to this contaminant," said Dan Shapley, the water quality program director with Riverkeeper.
This chemical is, unfortunately, like a perfect contaminant. It's soluble in water and its very toxic. You can have very small levels, so just under four pounds of this stuff in that whole reservoir is enough to contaminate it beyond EOA safe drinking water guidelines, Shapley said.
Riverkeeper has served as an advocate for the impacted communities. Shapley said the organization is fighting for primarily three things. The first is a robust health response to make sure that theres a long-term medical monitoring program. That starts with free blood testing, "which were happy to see the department of health Is now doing here in Newburgh," he said.
"Were also concerned about robust cleanup of the contamination, and thats a point that were still very concerned on because the Air National Guard base has not filtered the water thats coming off of their base, the pollution is still flowing off of their base," said Shapley. "And third, were interested in protecting the drinking water supply in the long term and that really means protecting the streams that feed into the reservoir."
As a part of the health response, the Department of Health has launched an unprecedented effort to test the blood of every resident. Over 3,000 residents have signed up to date, and the state has tested over 400 of those that have opted into having their blood tested for PFCs.
Hutton said PFOS typically takes between 5 to 7 years to have a half-life and sort of dissipate in the levels of a persons blood.
"I think it is helpful to try and understand what the levels are that were experienced here in the Newburgh residence, so that we can monitor for health effects over time and provide information to clinicians and patients," said Hutton.
The program is a comprehensive bio-monitoring program launched by the NYSDOH in partnership with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevent and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. The program will serve as a national model for understanding the effects of PFOS exposure.
There arent many labs nationally that can perform a test to find this in water, let alone blood. Our Wadsworth Center in the New York State Health Department is one of the premier public laboratories in the nation. Its because of Wadsworths capabilities that we even have the ability to offer for bio-monitoring to a community like Newburgh, Hutton said of the state funding program.
NBC 4 has learned from city officials that testing has been easier said than done.
Theres a lot of distrust in the community when the federal government or any type of government tries to come in and take information from your body. Certainly, a community of color, weve had lots of experiences where that has taken a negative connotation, Newburgh City Councilwoman Karen Mejia said, explaining the fears that resonate with many residents.
In New Windsor, Tina Coughlin still has her concerns. We were advised that it slowly absorbs into the skin so it shouldnt be a concern, she explained, Im concerned the water may not absorb quickly through their skin, but it may get through their cuts and any other scrapes the kids have.
For Coughlin, information cant come soon enough: Its frustrating because nobody has an answer. Nobody has any information, anything new. So its very frustrating. You kind of feel like they are putting you on the back burner because theres nothing new.
In a statement Tuesday, the DEC said, "New York State is taking aggressive actions to identify and confront emerging water contaminants, hold polluters accountable, and create a national model for the protection of drinking water. This session, we look forward to working with the Legislature to increase the State's investment in water infrastructure and source water protection."
The Air National Guard said in its own statement, "The Air Force is committed to protecting human health and ensuring safe drinking water for our Airmen and impacted communities. We are systematically sampling groundwater and soil where Aqueous Film Forming Foam was released. Where our activities contaminated drinking water above the Environmental Protection Agency health advisory we will take action, and have taken actions across the Air Force to transition to a more environmentally responsible AFFF alternative."
The Department of Health said it is offering testing throughout the month of January. The dates are as follows:
January 5th
January 6th
January 8th
January 10th
January 13th
January 15th
January 18th
January 20th
January 23rd
January 26th
January 29th
Anyone interested in having their blood tested should call the Water Quality Hotline at 800-801-8092.
A father and his 6-year-old son avoided injury when their vehicle slammed into a utility pole in New Jersey, and live electrical wires fell onto the sedan Tuesday morning.
It's not clear what caused the father to lose control of the car when he crashed into the pole in Linden. Trapped below the live wires, he called his wife, and she called 911 -- and they instructed him and his son to stay in the car, no matter what.
"What happens is if you were to step out of your car and touch the ground with an energized car, you now become the point of contact to the ground for the electricity to follow the path, and you'll be electrocuted," said Linden Fire Dept. Chief William Hasko.
It's a crucial point to remember in a car accident involving live wires, even if victims are injured or anxious to get out, officials say: it's best to stay in the car.
"You always have to assume the wires are energized," Hasko said.
While firefighters were on the scene Tuesday, a transformer exploded and caught fire near the car. Still, the father and son were told not to get out until the power company turned off the power. They had to sit tight for 45 minutes.
"Luckily he stayed calm, and he was talking to his wife and first responders," said Linden Police Lt. Christopher Guenther. "He listened to what they told him and stayed put."
Hasko said they were "very proud of the 6 year old -- he did an excellent job."
A 26-year-old woman in Fanwood, New Jersey, made the choice last July that cost her life: she got out of her car after wires fell on it during a storm and was killed.
The dad and son in Linden got out and were fine, police said. PSE&G crews worked into the night Tuesday to clear the accident scene and fixing the utility pole.
A Blainesville's beaked whale washed up dead on a New Jersey beach, only the second time in a generation the extremely rare specimen has been seen on the region's shores.
The Marine Mammal Stranding Center reported Wednesday that the 15-foot male weighed roughly 800 pounds when it was found at Island Beach State Park. It was already decomposing when found, so it was not clear when the animal actually died.
The last time this particular type of whale washed up in the state was 1989. Part of that animal is in the center's museum in Brigantine.
According to the conservation charity WDC, the whale is known for a beak that resembles a dolphin's, and prefers deeper, tropical waters.
What to Know Two men -- one armed with a knife, one with a gun -- were killed by police in separate incidents just hours apart, the NYPD said
President Obama and Vice President-elect Mike Pence head to Capitol Hill for separate strategy sessions dealing with the Affordable Care Act
Sentencing begins for Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof, who is representing himself as he faces the death penalty
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2 Deadly Police-Involved Shootings in NYC
Two men were shot and killed by police in Brooklyn in a matter of hours, the NYPD said. Police shot and killed a man in Prospect Heights on Wednesday morning, about six hours after another man was shot and killed by an officer in Canarsie. In the latter shooting, police said a 63-year-old man was wielding a knife and coming at officers before he was shot and killed around 9:30 p.m. Hours later, around 3:40 a.m. Wednesday, an unidentified man holding a .38 caliber revolver was shot and killed by two officers, according to police. An investigation into both shootings is ongoing. No one else was reported injured.
Obama Travels to Capitol Hill
President Barack Obama is traveling to the Capitol to give congressional Democrats advice on how to combat the Republican drive to dismantle his health care overhaul. Vice President-elect Mike Pence is meeting with GOP lawmakers to discuss the best way to send Obama's cherished law to its graveyard and replace it. The separate strategy sessions were coming on the second day of the new, GOP-led Congress. In 16 days, Republican Donald Trump replaces Obama at the White House. Obama's chief White House photographer released his favorite 2016 photos.
Democrats to Fight Trump Nominees
Suggesting that turnabout is fair play, the Senate's new top Democrat said Tuesday night "it's hard for me to imagine" Democratic senators' supporting a Supreme Court nomination submitted by President-elect Donald Trump. In a measured but blunt interview on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York took on Trump over a number of issues, calling him a "fake" populist. But it was the vacancy on the Supreme Court created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February that led to Schumer's strongest challenge to the president-elect.
Fox News Star Moves to NBC
Megyn Kelly, the Fox News star who's had a contentious relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, said Tuesday that she's leaving the network for NBC News, where she will host a daytime talk show and a weekend newsmagazine, as well as contribute to breaking news coverage. NBC News made the announcement Tuesday, ending months of speculation over whether she would re-up with Fox, where she has flourished while suffering bruised feelings in recent months, or start a new chapter in her career. Her contract with Fox expires this summer. Her last show on Fox will be Friday night.
Speculation About Mansons Health
A California prison official says cult killer Charles Manson is alive following reports that he was hospitalized. TMZ reported Tuesday that Manson, 82, was taken to a hospital in Bakersfield, about 60 miles south of the California prison where he has been incarcerated. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton declined to say whether the leader of the notorious Manson family has been hospitalized.
Sentencing for Charleston Shooter
The same jury that last month unanimously found Dylann Roof guilty in the slayings of nine black parishioners at a South Carolina church is returning to court to begin contemplating his punishment. The sentencing phase of Roof's federal trial begins Wednesday in Charleston. He could face the death penalty or life in prison. Roof is representing himself but has said he plans to call no witnesses or introduce any evidence. His former legal team has said Roof fears embarrassing himself or his family.
Turkey IDs Nightclub Attack Suspect
Turkish authorities on Wednesday said they determined the identity of the gunman in the Istanbul nightclub attack and that they have detained five suspected ISIS militants believed to be linked to the event, the state-run news agency reported. The police operation to detain the IS suspects was launched in the Aegean port city of Izmir and was ongoing, Anadolu Agency said. The gunman, who killed 39 people during New Year's celebrations, hasn't been publicly named and is still at large.
Girl Scouts Unveil New Cookie
Girl Scouts cookies fans can look forward to a new flavor that honors an old campfire classic: the s'more. In honor of the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scout Cookies, the company has added two s'mores-inspired treats. The ABC Bakers S'mores layers a creme icing and a chocolate coating over a graham cracker wafer. The Little Brownie Bakers version is a "crunchy graham sandwich with creamy chocolate and marshmallow-y filling."
The city is set to pay up after trashing and crushing the personal belongings of three homeless New Yorkers as they looked on helplessly.
Just over a year after the three men had their medications and birth certificates thrown into a trash truck and crushed by police and sanitation workers, they will be compensated, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) said.
Floyd Parks, Timmy Hall and Jesus Morales were sleeping near the entrance of a school building in East Harlem on a rainy Friday in October 2015 when the incident happened, NYCLU said.
It was about 5 a.m. when they were woken by police with flashlights and sanitation workers in hazmat suits.
The men were told to move along, so they started to gather their belongings. But before they could do so, the officers and sanitation workers grabbed their things and chucked them in the trash truck, where they were crushed.
The incident was captured on surveillance camera, which NYCLU obtained through a Freedom of Information request.
It shows Parks, who has been homeless since 2013, pleading with the sanitation workers to let him get his belongings.
His blood pressure medicine, inhaler, birth certificate, ID card, social security card, a list of contacts and shelters and his clothing were all thrown in to the garbage truck, NYCLU said.
I'm grateful that the city is paying me back for the things the cops stole from me because I'm homeless, I need new shoes and a warm jacket, and my disability benefits aren't enough, Parks said.
With this settlement, we got our foot in the door. People will know how we've been treated and that the cops should stop kicking around and abusing homeless people."
Morales lost his birth certificate, social security card, clothing and personal hygiene products, while Hall lost his birth certificate and social security card, and various items of clothing.
NYCLU said the men would be compensated for the exact amounts they had asked for in their notices of claim to the city: $800 for Hall, $500 for Parks and $215 for Morales.
Homeless people deserve to be treated with dignity like all New Yorkers, and the city acknowledged that it had no right to treat their few possessions like garbage, NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman said.
New York City did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What to Know A Long Island Rail Road train derailed at track 6 at Brooklyn's Atlantic Terminal at the height of Wednesday's morning rush
103 people were hurt, though fire officials said their injuries were considered minor; some were taken to hospitals for evaluation
The cause of the derailment is under investigation; photos showed the train tipped at an angle and the platform filling with smoke
UPDATE: LIRR Train Was Going More Than Twice the Speed Limit at Time of Crash; Engineer Doesn't Recall Crash: NTSB
A Long Island Rail Road train derailed at Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn at the height of Wednesday's morning rush, injuring more than 100 people and riddling the track area with shattered glass and debris.
Officials say 103 people were hurt when the six-car train from Far Rockaway struck the bumping block at the terminal's track 6 around 8:30 a.m. The train went up and over the block; the impact knocked the wheels of the first car and one other axle off the rails, MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast said at the scene.
[NY] LIRR Train Derails at Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn
"Obviously the train is supposed to stop short of the bumping block," Prendergast, who days ago announced his intent to retire in the upcoming weeks, said. "It did not do that."
The train was likely coming in at a fairly low rate of speed -- the posted speed limit on approach to the terminal is 5 mph, according to officials -- at the time of the crash, Gov. Cuomo said. Many riders were standing, prepared to get off, at the time of the derailment. Several passengers complained of neck and back injuries after the accident. Some people were carried away on stretchers; others were sitting outside the train holding ice packs to their heads.
Cuomo said it appears the worst injury is a possible broken leg.
A victim of the Brooklyn train derailment who was in the first carriage describes people with broken bones and teeth falling out in the moments after the train crashed.
"This is a relatively minor accident," Cuomo said. "Luckily ... all things considered, this was a relatively minor accident."
Mayor de Blasio was at an NYPD crime statistics briefing and did not appear at the crash site. About three hours after the crash, his office tweeted, "Our thoughts are w/ all aboard this mornings LIRR derailment."
An LIRR train derailed at Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn at the height of Wednesdays morning rush, injuring more than 100 people and scattering debris on the platform.
The National Transportation Safety Board says it will take several days of investigation before it can determine what caused a commuter train derailment in New York City.
An NTSB spokesman says the train's event recorders have been recovered. He says the train's engineer has undergone drug testing. Results of those tests aren't known yet.
Pictures on social media showed the train tipped slightly at an angle. The platform also appeared to be smoky as emergency personnel flooded the scene.
Ever been on a train waiting for it to leave and realized the train across the platform just derailed and crashed into the station? #LIRR Danielle Kraese (@daniellekraese) January 4, 2017
The conductor on my train said, doors are closing, if you want to get off the train do so now. Quite a decision to make before coffee #LIRR Danielle Kraese (@daniellekraese) January 4, 2017
Silent ride after that. I had to change at Jamaica, but no one came around to clip my ticket. It felt very "Ride at your own risk." #LIRR Danielle Kraese (@daniellekraese) January 4, 2017
NTSB is sending a go-team to NYC today to begin an investigation into this morning's accident there involving the Long Island Railroad. NTSB_Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) January 4, 2017
FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Daniel Donoghue said first responders faced a difficult task, with about 430 people packed on the derailed train.
When we got here a lot of people had fallen because the train actually went through the final bumper and went through a small room in the area at the end of the track," Donoghue said. "A rail actually pierced the bottom of the train, it was fortunate we didnt have more severe injuries."
FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Daniel Donoghue says emergency services faced a difficult task. There were many people to help on the train packed with about 600 700 people, and not a lot of first responders on the scene.
Aerial NYPD photos showed traffic at a virtual standstill outside the terminal all morning amid a massive emergency presence; buses that normally use the area were detoured. But at 11:36 a.m., LIRR tweeted that service was on or close to schedule in and out of Atlantic Terminal.
An LIRR train derailed at Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn at the height of Wednesdays morning rush, injuring more than 100 people and scattering debris on the platform.
Passengers described the train pulling into the station, followed by a crash and a loud boom, after which the train's doors opened.
"We just heard this loud boom, and people were thrown," recounted passenger Aaron Neufeld.
"You're shocked, nobody knows what's going on," he said, adding that he saw a woman wailing on the floor as she bled from her face.
Lisa Jackson said, "Next thing I know, I hit my head and my back and I can't remember anything else."
My #LIRR train crashed at #AtlanticTerminal in #Brooklyn. Crazy. Seems only a few people are lightly injured. pic.twitter.com/oXHvy2yxDL Aaron D. Neufeld (@Aaron_D_Neufeld) January 4, 2017
NBC 4 New Yorks Andrew Siff breaks down the technical details of the train derailment in Brooklyn this morning that injured more than 100 people.
The derailment comes about four months after an NJ Transit train crashed into the Hoboken Terminal in New Jersey, killing a woman on the platform and injuring about 100 other people.
Cuomo said of the LIRR derailment Wednesday, "This is minor compared to what happened in Hoboken, but the same question: why did the engineer not stop the train?"
A preliminary federal report on the Hoboken crash said the five-car train accelerated from 8 to 21 mph more than twice the speed limit as it approached the end of the track Sept. 29, before the emergency brake was engaged in the final second. Engineer Thomas Gallagher, who later was found to be suffering from sleep apnea, told investigators he had no memory of the train speeding up. That investigation is ongoing.
Last year, the LIRR saw four derailments, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. In 2015, there were nine LIRR derailments, and there were three derailments in 2013 and 2014.
What to Know A Brooklyn attorney has made history by becoming the first Hasidic Jewish woman to become a judge
There are reports that Rachel Freier is the first Hasidic woman to hold public office in the U.S.
Freier hails from Borough Park, where she campaigned hard despite skepticism from more conservative members of the community
A New York real estate attorney is the first female Hasidic judge in the state and perhaps the nation.
There are even reports that Rachel Freier is the first Hasidic Jewish woman to hold public office in the U.S.
The mother of six worked hard to earn the titles of trailblazer and your honor she spent 10 years in college and law school, despite skepticism from friends.
They looked at me and said, 10 years, you're going to be 40 then, she said. And guess what happened, 10 years later we all turned 40 and I was a lawyer.
In her own community of Borough Park, Freier had to convince religious conservatives to vote for her. As a woman, the culture precluded her from putting her picture on campaign posters.
I cannot campaign in the men's synagogue, which my opposition thought would work to my detriment, she said.
Despite the skeptics, Freiers husband and three sons helped her campaign. She was elected to the Fifth Judicial District in Brooklyn after winning a three-way Democratic primary and the general election in November.
She started work as a civil court judge on Tuesday.
Freier, 51, said she wants to blend both worlds the Hasidic world, with its customs, its beauty, its tradition, and the professional world in which she has become a true pioneer.
I prefer the term trailblazer, because a trailblazer is someone who is setting the path for Hasidic women, she said. Do it your way.
At a swearing-in ceremony in December, Freier both vowed to uphold the Constitution and pledged to illuminate the Hasidic world for her new colleagues.
"This is a dream," she told the gathering. "It's the American dream."
There's no official tally of American judges' religions, but experts aren't aware of any Hasidic woman before Freier winning a judicial post. It is extremely rare even in Israel for Hasidic or other ultra-Orthodox women to hold any elected position.
Her election is "a step for the ultra-Orthodox community at large," showing it's open to women making progress on the political ladder, said Yossi Gestetner, a longtime Hasidic political activist and public relations consultant who co-managed Freier's campaign.
Hasids and other ultra-Orthodox groups together make up only 6 percent of America's estimated 5.3 million adult Jews, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center study.
Dating to 18th-century Eastern Europe, Hasidism combines stringent adherence to Jewish law and a joyful belief in mysticism. Followers often speak Yiddish, wear traditional dress including beards and sidelocks for men and wigs for married women, and separate men and women in contexts ranging from buses to classrooms.
"The very idea that an ultra-Orthodox woman could be a judge" is notable, said Samuel Heilman, a City University of New York sociology professor who studies Orthodox Judaism. Under the strictest interpretations of Jewish law, women can't be judges or largely even witnesses in the rabbinical courts that weigh various disputes in Orthodox communities.
Freier, nicknamed Ruchie, started working as a legal secretary after high school. College wasn't customary for Hasidic women, though it has since become more common.
But when her husband, David, got a college degree, she aspired to one of her own. After graduating from a women-only, Orthodox Jewish-friendly program at private Touro College, she went on to Brooklyn Law School, finishing in 2005.
Some other Hasidic Jews questioned what she was doing. But they came to realize "I was completely devoted to our religion and our tradition, and this was something I wanted to do regardless," she says.
"I didn't want to ever be considered someone who was turning away from my community," but rather to work within its structure, she said.
That has sometimes required finding creative ways to resolve issues.
An appeal for help from boys who had chafed in Orthodox Jewish schools, for example, led Freier to found a program that helps young men get general-equivalency diplomas.
Then Freier was enlisted to represent Orthodox Jewish women who wanted to join an all-male volunteer ambulance corps, aiming to aid fellow women during childbirth or gynecological emergencies.
After ambulance corps leaders rebuffed the idea, which a well-known Orthodox Jewish blog called a "new radical feminist agenda," Freier helped the women launch their own volunteer service and joined it herself. She was still taking her turn on call this past week.
If there's a message she hopes her election sends, it's "don't give up."
"And don't let go of your standards."
Police shot and killed a man in Prospect Heights on Wednesday morning, about six hours after another man was shot and killed by an officer in Brooklyn, the NYPD said.
The man, identified as 18-year-old Joshua Martino, of Brooklyn, had been firing shots into a lounge moments before police pursued and then confronted him around 3:40 a.m., NYPD Chief Terrence Monahan said at a press briefing.
Two officers shot Martino twice in the torso after he turned towards them with a .38 caliber revolver in his hand, Monahan said. The man never fired and no officers were injured.
Martino was taken to the hospital in cardiac arrest and pronounced dead sometime before 4:30 a.m.
Police said the .38 caliber revolver was recovered at the scene.
Neighbor Sheryl Akin said Martino was a twin, and that she bonded with him over that. She said she's shocked that he's dead and wants to know more about what happened.
"I heard the news and I was devastated, I cried," said Sheryl Akin. "I have a twin sister, and those are nice boys, twin boys. A loss of life is just terrible."
"The last memory of the boy I have, he came upstairs with his twin to give us condolences, to hold us down, because we just lost our older sister," she said. "That says something about him."
No one answered the door at Martino's home when NBC 4 New York knocked Wednesday. Neighbors said he lived there with his mother, twin brother and two younger siblings.
Atlantic Avenue was shut down from Washington to Franklin streets as police investigated before dawn. It reopened late Wednesday afternoon.
In a separate incident, an NYPD officer shot and killed a 63-year-old man holding a knife in Canarsie Tuesday night.
A couple picked up an unusual hitchhiker during a New Year's Day road trip in the Southern California desert.
Marie Kubin was trying to snap a photo of a rainbow Monday during a drive from Julian to Borrego Springs in San Diego County. As they drove slowly on the side of the road to capture the colorful sight on the horizon, something else swooped into view -- a falcon landed on the car's windshield.
The bird remained perched on a wiper blade for about 20 minutes, having a look around at the desert landscape and his traveling companions. The couple waited on the side of the road with their new feathered friend, who eventually flew away.
Many on social media noticed the falcon had anklets, used with jesses to tether birds, around its legs. The loops suggest it might belong to a falconer and likely is used to being around humans.
The mystery was solved when the bird's owner, who identified the falcon as Pancho, stepped forward to say Pancho was just fine and back on his arm.
Cisco Clibourne, the bird's owner who says they have an incredible bond, didn't think anything of Pancho's 20-minute disappearance -- until he got a call from his buddy.
"Im on my way home and I get a text from a buddy of mine -- us falconers are really close," Clibourne said.
His friend asked if he lost his bird after seeing a video that showed a falcon who looked just like Pancho riding on a hood.
Clibourne said there was no way it was Pancho -- he was right there with him. Then he went online.
"Im floored when I see the video," he said. "My mouth is wide open. I go, 'Oh my god, that is my bird.'"
Clibourne said when Pancho went missing for 20 minutes, he figured he was out having fun. He swung his lure, a line with a piece of meat to bring Pancho back, and back he came -- flying back 100 mph.
He had no idea Pancho, a 9-year-old peregrine falcon he's had since the bird was a baby, was out hitchhiking across the highway.
"I would have never in my wildest dreams thought this would have happened," he said.
A 7-year-old girl and a woman were killed when two cars collided head-on in Allentown Tuesday night, police said.
The child, Yartezi Ramos, of Kissimmee, Florida, died shortly before midnight at Lehigh Valley Hospital, about an hour after the 10:30 p.m. crash at the intersection of Fourth and Susquehanna streets, according to a preliminary autopsy report.
One of the drivers, Christine Rivera, 47, died about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday at a nearby hospital, a preliminary autopsy report said.
Neither reports indicated exact cause of death.
Police did not say how many people were in the cars or in which cars the victims were.
Allentown Police Chief Keith Morris said the investigation is still ongoing at the scene.
A dozen young Philadelphians are among some of the most crucial change-makers and innovators in the nation, joining the likes of Olympian Simone Biles and reality TV star Kylie Jenner on the Forbes 2017 30 under 30 Class that was announced Tuesday morning.
Forbes received more than 15,000 nominations for the 600 available spots, 30 honorees for 20 distinct categories ranging from art & style to manufacturing & industry and food & drink to venture capital.
One of the locals to make the cut, Christopher Gray has become a familiar name in the city's ballooning tech industry. The founder of scholarship curation app, Scholly, the Drexel University alum had a breakout year in 2015 following an appearance on ABC's Shark Tank, where the potential investors battled over his startup.
Gray appeared on the Forbes 30 under 30 list last year too, along with two others from our area, the team behind Sweet Bites, in the social entrepreneurs category.
To view the full gallery, click here.
For more business news, visit Philadelphia Business Journal.
An Atlantic City man who allegedly used stones to fatally beat another man and then left his body in a trash can has made his initial court appearance.
Thomas Green didn't enter a plea during Wednesday's hearing in Mays Landing. He faces murder and weapons charges in the death of 52-year-old city resident Ricky Ward, whose body was found Saturday morning.
Atlantic County prosecutors say the 64-year-old Green hit Ward in the head "multiple times'' with the stones. But they haven't disclosed a motive for the attack.
There was confusion at the hearing over Green's legal representation. Green indicated that he couldn't afford a lawyer and would need a public defender, then later said he could hire an attorney.
Green faces a life sentence if convicted on the murder charge.
Two trolleys crashed on Lancaster Avenue in West Philadelphia on Wednesday, leaving 46 people with minor injuries, officials on the scene said.
"It's like a bomb set off," one passenger told NBC10. "It just like really hit us so hard that it just like knocked everybody on the floor and everything."
Both Route 10 trolleys were heading west in the Powelton Village section about 1 p.m. near 38th Street when one of the trolleys rear-ended another.
"All of a sudden the trolley just rammed in from the back man," said Jarrod McCain, one of the passengers. "It must've been going 40 miles an hour man. It shook everybody up. Terrible way to start the New Year."
SEPTA said none of the injuries were life-threatening. A fire department battalion chief on the scene said four of the 46 passengers and operators who were injured were taken to a nearby hospital.
"Luckily I wasn't hurt too badly," said Kathleen Kelley, another passenger. "I just want to get my knee checked out. But there was a girl in the front that was sitting right behind the driver. Her face hit the thing in front of her."
Scene @ 38th and Lancaster, where witnesses on @SEPTA trolley say they smashed into the back of another trolley w/o warning @NBCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/CmlKlapNtm Rosemary Connors (@RosemaryConnors) January 4, 2017
It remains unclear why the trolleys were running so close to each other. The vehicles usually run on a schedule about 10 minutes apart, according to a SEPTA spokeswoman.
SEPTA's Route 10 was diverted around the accident scene but remains in service.
Rte 10: Service is delayed westbound at 38th Street & Lancaster Avenue due to an accident. SEPTA (@SEPTA) January 4, 2017
Vice President Joe Biden is developing a partnership with the University of Delaware that will focus on economic and domestic policy, a Biden aide said Wednesday, rounding out the vice president's plans for after he leaves the White House.
In addition to working with the Delaware school, Biden's alma mater, he also plans an affiliation with the University of Pennsylvania. The Ivy League school in the state of his birth will house Biden's activities on foreign policy and global engagement initiatives, said the aide, who requested anonymity because the partnership hasn't yet been publicly announced.
The two partnerships shed new light on how Biden will spend his time as a private citizen after more than four decades in public office. First elected to the Senate in 1972, Biden served there until becoming the vice president in 2009.
Over the years, Biden has focused intensely on foreign policy, becoming the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, and on domestic issues including violence against women and middle-class economic issues. All are expected to remain part of Biden's work after the Obama administration.
He also plans to continue with his more recent "cancer moonshot'' effort to accelerate developments toward a cure. The initiative was launched after his son, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, died from brain cancer in 2015. With backing from President Barack Obama, it has focused on trying to streamline efforts of the many cancer research institutions and increase sharing of data about specific tumors that can be used to develop targeted treatments.
Biden was driven to establish a relationship with the University of Delaware because of his fondness for his alma mater and desire to stay connected to the state he represented in the Senate, the aide said.
The vice president graduated in 1965 from the school, which has its main campus in Newark and campuses in other Delaware communities. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a two-hour drive from Philadelphia, where the University of Pennsylvania is located.
The vice president appeared to reference the project at Penn on Tuesday when he was heard on a hot mic discussing his plans while swearing in new senators at the Capitol. He's expected to release more details about the work he'll perform at both universities after his term as vice president ends on Jan. 20.
Biden, who considered running for president in 2016, has said recently he could consider running again in 2020.
One-time San Diego socialite and convicted killer Elizabeth "Betty" Broderick will ask for parole for the second time since her double murder conviction in the shooting deaths of her ex-husband and his bride.
Broderick, 69, will petition the board at the California Institution for Women in Corona Wednesday after spending decades in prison for the crimes.
Broderick was convicted in 1991 of second-degree murder and sentenced to 32 years to life in prison for shooting and killing ex-husband Daniel Broderick, 44, and Linda Kolkena Broderick, 28.
At the time, she used a key she took from her daughter prior to the crime and sneaked onto the stairs and up to their bedroom, using a five-shot revolver to shoot into the bed where they slept.
Though the victims dived for cover, three fatal shots hit them, according to the DA. The remaining two narrowly missed.
When her ex-husband attempted to reach for the telephone to call for help, Broderick walked to the bed, grabbed the phone, pulled it from the wall and dumped it in the hallway, out of reach, according to the DA's office.
The socialite has maintained she was driven to kill by a bitter divorce and custody battle.
Her story gained national attention and became the subject of a book and two TV movies.
On Wednesday, the San Diego County District Attorney's office plans to oppose Broderick's potential release.
"Elizabeth Broderick remains an unreasonable risk of danger to society," DA Bonnie Dumanis said in a statement. "She still has not developed appropriate insight or remorse for these gruesome murders, which she committed with a callous disregard for human suffering."
At her first parole hearing in Jan. 2010, the board decided that then-62-year-old Broderick was unrepentant, had no insight into what she had done and would be a danger to society if she were released. She was denied parole.
She has not shown any remorse over the years and really, its all about her and not about the victims and the families, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said at the time.
Deputy District Attorney Richard Sachs will appear on behalf of the State of California at the Wednesday hearing to argue she remains a risk to society.
The Board has two options Thursday: they will either find her suitable for parole and set a date or will deny parole and set a next possible parole suitability hearing for three, five, seven, 10 or 15 years in the future.
Deadly DUI crashes in the city of San Diego are up slightly from 2015, according to new statistics from San Diego Police Department (SDPD) officials.
According to local law enforcement agencies, there were a total of eleven deadly DUI crashes on city streets and highways between January 1 and Dec. 28, 2016.
Sixteen people died in those crashes, one more than in 2015 in as many crashes, officials said.
One of the most devastating suspected DUI crashes this year happened at Chicano Park in October when a U.S. Navy sailor's truck flew off a Coronado Bridge ramp and onto a crowd below, killing four people.
Married couple Cruz Elias and AnnaMarie Contreras, Andre Christopher Banks and his girlfriend Francine Denise Jimenez were killed in the crash.
Richard Sepolio, 24, has since pleaded not guilty to multiple charges related to the fatal crash, including four counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving under the influence causing injury or death, and four different great bodily injury allegations.
The entire San Diego County - which includes statistics from the San Diego County Sheriffs Department (SDSO), among other agencies - will release their 2016 statistics after Jan. 1, 2017.
NBC 7 has reported on several deadly crashes on county roads, including a DUI crash on State Route 67 that claimed the life of a young man.
At the sentencing for the man convicted in the crash, the victim's mother said she hopes others will learn from the tragedy and avoid drinking and driving.
"This is a horrific crime and it's affecting us as individuals, our family has been devastated," Tami Riley said.
It's a sadness that Monica Zech understands deeply: more than two decades ago, her father was stuck and killed by a drunk driver.
She says it is a pain that never goes away.
"My family was robbed of somebody so precious to the family, the patriarch, and suddenly he's ripped away and my mom now has been living with me over those 24 years because of devastated her to this day," Zech said.
Zech now educates others about the dangers of drinking and driving. She says while her father died nearly 25 years ago, the loss never goes away.
"He was just starting to enjoy life and retirement and the grand kids, who were very young at the time," she said.
One thing adding to her pain is knowing that the crash could have been preventable.
"As long as we still have that statistic where one person is affected or killed, but it's too many and we need to stop it," Zech said.
California Highway Patrol officials remind drivers to always plan ahead before they go out drinking: there are too many alternatives now to make excuses.
San Diego law enforcement agencies said they continue to operate DUI checkpoints across the county on a consistent basis in an effort to get intoxicated drivers off the road and prevent DUI-related crashes and deaths.
The penalties for a DUI can range from $8,000 to $15,000, including attorney fees.
One of San Diegos top attorneys is suing former City Attorney Jan Goldsmith.
Marlea DellAnno said her former employer retaliated against her and abused his power when he asked her to break the law and she refused.
I spent 20 years of my life building that reputation. I had a spotless record. In one fell swoop Jan Goldsmith took that all away from me, she told NBC 7 Tuesday.
DellAnno said she was San Diegos Assistant City Attorney in charge of the Criminal Division when Goldsmith asked her to remove negative performance evaluations from certain employees files.
I could not do that. Within a couple weeks I was demoted. He responded by humiliating me in the most public way possible, she said.
I was put in a dingy office on the fifth floor with a big sign on the door that said Do Not Enter, she said.
In November 2015, Goldsmith opened an investigation into DellAnno and an attorney she oversaw. The investigation, he said, was about dozens of mishandled cases. Several of them were domestic violence cases that were not filed in time.
My suspicion was that she was just overwhelmed and doing too much work and did not enter the cases into the system, DellAnno said.
DellAnno said Goldsmith used the case as a reason to demote and eventually terminate her for disobeying him.
I found out I had been fired a week before Thanksgiving, she recalled.
I think Jan lost sight and it became about Jan and Jans interest and Jans image, she said.
NBC 7 reached out to the City Attorneys Office and was told they are reviewing the lawsuit.
The downtown homeless population is the highest its been in the past five years, and many are calling it a problem that's out of control.
Now, some are taking action. They've asked San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer to protect the homeless population and suspend arrests, ticketing and stay-away orders.
Many in the homeless population told NBC 7 this is only hindering their efforts of getting off the streets.
Dozens marched to Mayor Faulconer's office Tuesday with a petition, asking for change.
"We're calling upon the mayor this first day of business in 2017 to suspend this practice and to focus all of the city's efforts on sheltering people safely until permanent housing can be found for them," said Martha Sullivan of Women Occupy San Diego. The group said arresting, ticketing and implementing stay-away orders for the homeless population is not working.
Besides being cruel and inhumane, it's also totally ineffective," Sullivan added.
John Brady has been living on the streets for a little over a year and has been ticketed for leaving his belongings on the sidewalk. Brady told NBC7 he has no way of paying his fine.
"I think the impression is that if you're homeless and you go to the police that you immediately get a home and shelter, they give you a tent and a sleeping bag; whatever you need to survive. That doesn't exist," he said.
Mayor Faulconer's office has responded to the group's request.
"We are very appreciative of the community's passion in support of the unsheltered. This is a growing concern that we share and City staff are working diligently every day to ensure services and beds are made available to homeless individuals. Mayor Faulconer has made addressing homelessness a top priority and plans to discuss solutions at next week's State of the City address."
The group started the online petition through Change.org and received 1,100 signatures in just a couple of months.
The latest homeless numbers were released at the end of 2016 by the Downtown San Diego Partnership. They show the average population size of homeless people living in downtown San Diego has nearly doubled in the past four years.
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's Finance Ministry said on Wednesday it expected its budget deficit to be around 0.9 percent in 2016, in line with the last official forecast in October but weaker than Finance Minister Michael Noonan suggested in comments last month.
"Budget 2017 forecast a General Government Deficit for 2016 of 0.9 percent of GDP. The exchequer figures for end-2016, released today, support that forecast," the ministry said in a statement. The 2015 deficit was 1.9 percent.
Noonan last month told journalists that the deficit could fall as low as 0.7 or 0.8 percent if tax receipts were strong enough, but December's tax returns published earlier on Wednesday were weaker than forecast.
(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Alison Williams)
A girl was struck by a vehicle early Wednesday near two schools in the Bay Terraces/Paradise Hills area of San Diego, her grandfather told NBC 7.
The victim, identified by police as a juvenile, was rushed to Rady Children's Hospital.
San Diego Fire-Rescue crews helped the victim after she was struck just after 8 a.m. near Paradise Valley and Briarwood roads. The location is less than a mile north of Bell Middle School and less than a mile south of Boone Elementary School.
Raul Belgra was walking his granddaughter and another child to school. He said the group was in the crosswalk and had almost reached the middle of the road when the incident happened.
"They were in front of me," Belgra said. I see the car.
Belgra said he grabbed one child's backpack to keep the child from being hit by the car. He soon realized his granddaughter had been hit.
"The car stopped then we say to the driver, 'What happened, what happened' but my granddaughter was under the car," he said.
Other drivers stopped to help, he said.
They lift the car and pull my granddaughter from under the car, he said.
Jerry Guevara had just dropped off his child at school when he saw the rescue.
She was actually under the front axle, said Jerry Guevara. They lifted the car and pulled her out.
Guevara said he watched as the paramedics from a nearby fire station jumped in to treat the girl.
"My heart was pounding," he said. "I was like, 'Please be alive, please be alive.'"
The injuries to the pedestrian were unknown, officials told NBC 7.
Belgra said his granddaughter talked a little bit after the collision and he's not sure of her injuries.
The driver of the vehicle stopped and was being questioned by police near the crash scene.
He told NBC 7 he was going southbound on Briarwood, making a left turn onto Paradise Valley Road and didnt see the child.
Both schools are in the San Diego Unified School District which reopened Tuesday after the winter break.
No other information was immediately available.
Check back for updates on this breaking news story.
A 7-day old infant girl was transported from Mexico to Rady Childrens Hospital Tuesday night to receive treatment not available in her home country.
A San Diego Fire-Rescue (SDFD) crew and a Rady ambulance helped escort the Mexican ambulance from the border to the hospital.
The baby girl is in critical condition and was transported in a life-sustaining incubator, according to SDFD Captain Joe Amador.
The San Diego County medical system policy forbids its ambulances from transporting incubators, so the Mexican ambulance had to be cleared to bring the baby onto U.S. soil with assistance from SDFD.
It is unclear what medical condition the infant is being treated for.
Chris Van Hollen was sworn in as Maryland's new U.S. senator Tuesday.
The Democrat told News4 he is already preparing to grill President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet nominees.
"I have great trouble with some of his nominees, but I'm going to listen to their testimonies," he said.
Vice President Joe Biden, who conducted the official swearing in, thanked Van Hollen for his help playing Republican Sen. Paul Ryan during Biden's preparation for the 2012 vice presidential debate.
Van Hollen, who served seven terms in the House, won the seat that opened with the departure of Barbara Mikulski, who retired after serving 30 years in the Senate.
Maryland also had two new House members sworn in Tuesday: Democrats Anthony Brown and Jamie Raskin.
Brown is a former lieutenant governor during then-Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration from 2007 to 2015 who ran for governor two years ago but lost to Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. He represents Maryland's 4th Congressional District.
Raskin is a former state senator from Montgomery County. Raskin represents Maryland's 8th Congressional District.
Charles J. Colgan, a Democrat who represented Prince William County who was the longest-serving member of the Virginia Senate, has died, his daughter said.
Mary C. Finnigan told The Washington Post that her father died Tuesday at a hospice center in Aldie. He was 90.
Colgan was the founder of Colgan Air, a regional commuter airline based in Manassas. He was first elected to the Virginia senate in 1975. He retired in January 2016 after having served in Prince William County, a swing county that supports Republicans and Democrats.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said in a statement that Colgan's bipartisan approach should serve as an example to all in the Virginia Senate.
What to Know Leonard Peltier was convicted of killing two FBI agents in 1975 and received two life sentences.
His supporters advocate for his clemency, accusing prosecutors of coercing witness statements and withholding evidence.
AU removed the statue of Peltier installed in December after a request from the FBI Agents Association.
American University removed a controversial statue from its campus in northwest Washington, D.C., Tuesday afternoon.
The 9-foot-tall mostly wooden statue depicts Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of murdering FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams in South Dakota in 1975.
In prison for 41 years now, he's appealed his case more than a dozen times, including twice to the U.S. Supreme Court, but his conviction has always been upheld.
FBI Agents Association President Thomas O'Connor, who called for the statue to be removed, saw it as a slap in the face.
First amendment, the idea that someone can put a piece of artwork up there, completely agree with it, 100 percent, he said. It's just the idea that these types of things -- there are victims, there are families of the victims.
He knows some of those victims himself, and Tuesday he honored Williams and Coler.
This really is not the year to come out and say that we think someone who ambushed two FBI agents should be given a statue as a piece of artwork, he said.
American University said the statue wasn't meant to make a statement, and the university's Katzen Arts Center simply displayed it as it would any other piece of art.
The university released a statement saying, in part, "The nature and location of the piece called into question our ability to honor our responsibilities to ensure the security of the art and the safety of our community.
We fully agree with First Amendment rights to free speech, to showing this piece of artwork, we just don't think it should be in a public space, OConnor said.
Peltiers supporters accuse prosecutors of coercing witness statements and withholding evidence favorable to Peltier. They want President Barack Obama to pardon him.
Agents Coler and Williams took on fire when they attempted to pull over a vehicle as they searched for a suspect, the Times reported. Peltier has admitted firing on the agents but maintains someone else fired the close-range, execution-style shots that killed them.
Colers gun was found in a vehicle Peltier was traveling in after he was pulled over by a state trooper in Oregon months after the agents were killed, the Times reported. He was sentenced to two life sentences.
The firm hired to find the next superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools will hold 10 community forums this month.
Superintendent Karen Garza announced her resignation from her post just after the school year began.
Garza wrote she was leaving by Dec. 16 for a position as president and CEO of Battelle for Kids, a nonprofit education organization based out of Columbus, Ohio. The blog post was published on Monday, Sept. 19.
Garza was the first female superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools, the 10th largest in the nation.
Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA), the firm hired to find Garza's replacement, will hold 10 forums across the county in January.
The meetings will be held in the following locations:
Jan. 9, 1 p.m., Gatehouse Administration Center, room 1600, 8115 Gatehouse Road, Falls Church, VA 22042.
Jan. 9, 7 p.m., South County High School, 8501 Silverbrook Road, Lorton, VA 22079.
Jan. 10, 12:30 p.m., Virginia Hills Center Library, 6520 Diana Lane, Alexandria, VA 22310.
Jan. 11, noon, Providence District Office and Community Center, multipurpose room 2, 3001 Vaden Drive, Fairfax, VA 22031.
Jan. 11, 7 p.m., Mount Vernon High School Little Theater, 8515 Old Mount Vernon Road, Alexandria, VA 22309.
Jan. 17, 11 a.m., Herndon Council Chambers, 765 Lynn Street, Herndon, VA 20170.
Jan. 17, 1 p.m., Burke Centre Library, 5935 Freds Oak Road, Burke, VA 22015.
Jan. 17, 7 p.m., Stuart High School Little Theater, 3301 Peace Valley Lane, Falls Church, VA 22044.
Jan. 17, 7 p.m., Chantilly High School Lecture Hall, 4201 Stringfellow Road, Chantilly, VA 20151.
Jan. 18, 7 p.m., Langley High School Auditorium, 6520 Georgetown Pike, McLean, VA 22101.
Residents can also submit their opinions on www.fcps.edu on Jan. 9.
The day before Donald Trump becomes the next U.S. president, he will speak at a concert at the Lincoln Memorial.
Seventeen days before Trump takes office, the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) shared new details on inauguration week with News4.
Trump will give his first major speech of the week at the "Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration," spokesman Alex Stroman said.
Trump will honor some inaugural traditions, such as staying at Blair House, having coffee with the sitting president and attending a service at St. John's Church on Inauguration Day morning.
Other aspects of the festivities will be different.
"You're going to see a shorter parade this year, probably about an hour and a half or so," Stroman said. "That's probably a testament to this president's willingness and eagerness to get to work for the American people."
Obama attended nine inaugural balls the night of his first inauguration; Trump is set to attend only three.
Organizers say all inaugural events will be open to the public in some manner.
"That's probably one of the greatest things about the inauguration -- the ceremony, the parade and the concert all have aspects that are open to the public. Because, again, this is about the celebration of the American people," Stroman said.
Plans are still underway for the "Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration." Stroman said it will be a two-part event.
"We'll have a pre-concert that will feature American voices, or the voices of the American people, then we'll have a welcome celebration where the president-elect and vice president-elect will speak," he said.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to head to D.C. to celebrate Trump's inauguration. Thousands more are expected to protest.
The National Park Service said in an update Tuesday that 25 groups have requested permits to protest on federal land. All but one of those permits -- to the Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition -- has not been issued yet because the inaugural committee has not said which locations they do not need to use, a Park Service representative said.
Stroman said the inaugural committee supports peaceful protest.
"People have the right to protest, thankfully, in our country. As long as it's done peacefully and done to follow all laws and regulations, we welcome it," he said.
The Park Service representative said the agency will find space to accommodate all protest groups.
Like protesters, street vendors also are waiting on the inaugural committee to release space for them to use.
Officials say the clock in the Washington Monument's automated lighting system is likely out of sync after the monument went dark.
The spotlights that illuminate the monument went out about 7 p.m. Tuesday, but the National Park Service said in a statement that they were on again when electricians arrived Wednesday morning. Officials say they expect the lights to be on Wednesday evening as usual.
The monument has been closed to visitors since August because of ongoing problems with its elevator, which carries visitors to an observation deck near the top of the 555-foot tall monument. It usually draws 600,000 visitors a year.
In December, officials announced a $2 million to $3 million project to modernize the elevator. The monument is expected to reopen to visitors in 2019.
A male victim was shot near a high school in Manassas, Virginia, Wednesday afternoon.
Stonewall Jackson High School, Ellis Elementary School and New Directions were placed in "secure the building" mode as a precaution. Entry to the schools was restricted, but all students and staff are safe.
The victim was shot in the abdomen in the woods next to Stonewall Jackson in the 8800 block of Rixlew Lane.
The area has been secured, police said.
Prince William County Police are searching for the shooter. Police said there's an indication the shooter and the victim knew each other and there's no threat to the public.
The victim, who called 911 himself, was flown to Inova Fairfax Hospital.
Another male victim was taken to the hospital for a minor injury not related to a gunshot, police said.
Police did not release the victims' ages.
Hardening battle lines for the brawl to come, President Barack Obama urged congressional Democrats to "look out for the American people" in defending his legacy health care overhaul, while Vice President-elect Mike Pence stood firm Wednesday in telling Republicans that dismantling "Obamacare" is No. 1 on Donald Trump's list.
"We're going to be in the promise-keeping business," Pence declared at two separate Capitol news conferences. Just 16 days before Trump takes over the Oval Office, he said repealing and replacing Obama's law will be the president-elect's "first order of business."
"The American people voted decisively for a better future for health care in this country, and we are determined to give them that," Pence said.
Outnumbered in the new Congress, Democrats didn't sound confident in stopping the Republicans cold but signaled they wouldn't make the GOP's job any easier. New Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that if the Republicans do scuttle the health care law, they will have to come up with a replacement plan before Democrats consider whether to help them revamp the system.
That adds pressure on Republicans, who for years have battled among themselves over what a new law would look like, including how to finance its programs and whether to keep Obama's expansion of Medicaid for more lower-income people.
"They're repealing, we're not. It's their obligation to come up with a replacement," Schumer said, a sentiment he said he believed Democrats shared unanimously.
Obama and Pence held dueling strategy sessions with lawmakers at the Capitol as the new Republican-led Congress commenced its drive to dissolve the health care statute. The 2010 overhaul, which has extended coverage to 20 million people and reshaped the nation's $3 trillion-a-year health care system, has long stood as one of Obama's proudest triumphs and the ascendant GOP's top target for extinction.
"Despite the negativity you have a big chunk of the country that wants this thing to succeed," Obama told Democrats, according to an aide who attended Wednesday's session.
The two sides traded insults through the day.
"Don't let the Schumer clowns out of this web," Trump wrote on Twitter.
Said Schumer: "The Republican plan to cut health care wouldn't make America great again, it would make America sick again."
Previewing an attack line sure to be heard again in this year's debate, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the GOP is aiming to also scuttle Medicaid and Medicare, going after programs that are "very personal in the lives of the American people."
Even with White House and congressional control, annulling "Obamacare" and replacing it looms as a daunting task for the GOP.
Leaders hope to have legislation voiding much of the law on Trump's desk by late next month, Republicans said. But after six years of failing to unite behind an alternative, GOP leaders are discussing postponing when repeal would take effect for 18 months or longer, allowing more time to craft replacement legislation.
Underscoring the law's widespread constituency, the Obama administration said at least 8.8 million people signed up through Dec. 31 for coverage in 2017. Even so, outside experts doubt the administration will meet its nationwide target of 13.8 million signups.
Millions more have coverage under the statute's Medicaid expansion.
Trump has provided few details about how he would redesign the law, but has said he wants to retain popular provisions like ensuring coverage for people with pre-existing medical problems.
Republicans will also need to figure out how to protect health coverage for millions of Americans during a transition period and how to avoid market-place bedlam as nervous insurance companies stop selling policies or boost rates. Seemingly acknowledging that danger, Trump tweeted warnings to GOP lawmakers.
"Massive increases of ObamaCare will take place this year and Dems are to blame for the mess," he wrote. "It will fall of its own weight be careful!"
Republicans said Pence told them in their private meeting to argue that Democrats broke the health care system and Republicans will fix it.
Trump's team is already working with GOP congressional leaders on plans to undo Obama's law with both legislation and executive action that the president and federal agencies would be able to take, Pence said. Lawmakers said that according to Pence, Trump would sign some orders the day he takes office.
Pence did not specify what those actions would be. But House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters they would involve "transition relief."
In the Democrats' meeting, Obama accepted some blame for not sufficiently promoting it.
"The president said, I guess we all could have done a better job of messaging to the American people," said Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y.
Obama made his remark about looking out for the American people as he left the meeting.
Meanwhile, the Senate voted 51-48 Wednesday to begin debating a budget that, once approved, will prevent Democrats from using a filibuster to block future Republican legislation to void the health care law.
Republicans control the Senate by 52-48, but it takes 60 votes to end a filibuster, a procedural roadblock that can kill legislation.
The Senate is expected to complete the budget by next week, with House approval to follow.
Two people were hospitalized Wednesday afternoon, including one student, after a school bus crashed into a van in Westford, Massachusetts.
The crash happened at the intersection of Pine and Abbott streets shortly after students were released from Nashoba Valley Regional Schools at 2:30 p.m.
School officials said 22 students were on the bus. One was taken to Lowell General Hospital for an unknown injury.
The adult passenger in the van was taken to Emerson Hospital in Concord where their condition was unknown.
Police said the van driver will be issued a citation for a stop sign violation.
The trial for a former executive at a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy blamed for national meningitis outbreak that killed more than 60 people in 2012 started on Wednesday.
Barry Cadden, who is charged with 25 counts of murder and other offenses under federal racketeering laws, was the co-founder and head pharmacist of the New England Compounding Center in Framingham.
Prosecutors say the tainted injections sold by the center were the result of poor sanitary standards.
More than 750 people in 20 states fell ill, and 64 died.
Attorney Kristen Johnson has represented all of clients in a civil case, but now she says they're eager for their criminal one to begin.
Sixty-four deaths, 750 grievous injuries, no amount of money can really bring people back or make whole those who have suffered this," said Johnson.
Former pharmacy supervisor Glenn Chin is facing the same charges as Cadden, but his trial has been put off until this one is over.
"The trials were severed between this defendant and another one that is considered to be equally as culpable," legal editor Randy Chapman said. "The thought is the defenses are going to be antagonistic, meaning that they are likely to point the finger at each other and say that's the person who's responsible for what occurred here."
Cadden has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial in U.S. District Court in Boston is expected to last a couple of months. Jury selection is expected to get underway Friday.
Doctors across New England are dealing with patients who have put off their lingering cold, until now.
The waiting room at Convenient MD in Windham, New Hampshire, was busy all day long on Tuesday. In fact, workers say its been busy since Christmas and there are two extra providers trying to treat patients as efficiently as possible.
Richard Paquin of Atkinson, New Hampshire, was there on Tuesday after finally giving in and calling out sick for work.
I dont like to be out of work, it backs up, Paquin said.
Turns out, Paquin had a pretty bad upper respiratory infection.
Dr. Emily Nields says she is treating most adults for the same sort of thing Paquin is dealing with, but the kids are a bit different.
Lots of strep throat, pink eye, viral stuff, bronchitis, Nields said.
She says its always busy this time of year. Theres been a 20 percent uptick in patients just since Christmas.
Everyone is a little run down, having seen their families for the holidays, and germs spreading, she said.
Nields hasnt seen many people with the flu yet. But cases are on the rise down at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston.
Were beginning to see uptick in cases of flu, said Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes. Typically, flu peaks late February, early March and this year we appear to be on track with the epidemic.
Paquin admitted to the nurse that hes been feeling lousy for a while now.
But Dr. Nields says its less about time and more about temperature.
When you have a fever, its a good time to stay home, rest, get some fluids and feel better, she said.
Both doctors NBC Boston spoke with said theres still plenty of time to get a flu shot. Flu shots are free at all nine Convenient MD locations across New Hampshire.
A Vermont doctor accused of diverting or falsely prescribing more than 1,200 oxycodone pills for her own use has pleaded guilty.
The Brattleboro Reformer reports 49-year-old Melanie Canon, of Weston, pleaded guilty in a plea deal on Tuesday to prescription-fraud and narcotics possession.
Canon admits she acquired or tried to obtain narcotics through misrepresentation in November 2015 and January 2016.
Her attorney says Canon used a prescription pad from a clinic where Canon previously worked to get oxycodone pills. Oxycodone is a strong opioid pain reliever.
Canon will serve four years of probation. She doesn't currently have a license to practice medicine in the state.
Canon says she used poor judgment and is longer using drugs. She says she plans to reapply for her medical license in New York.
Investigators have released the cause of a massive New Year's Day fire that killed three people and destroyed an entire apartment building in Massachusetts.
The State Fire Marshal says the blaze at 106 North East Street in Holyoke was traced back to a wall outlet in the living room of a third floor apartment.
Three people living on the fourth and fifth floors, Jorge Munoz, Trevor R. Wadleigh and Maria Cartagena, died in the fire.
Holyoke Fire Chief John Pond says it doesn't appear the building had a working fire alarm.
"In this fire, there was a substantial delay from the discovery of the fire to the first 9-1-1 call, which allowed the fire to progress significantly," Chief Pond said in a statement.
It's unclear if there will be criminal charges filed in connection with this fire.
Officials have set up a fund to help the dozens of people left homeless by the fire.
House Democrats have unanimously re-elected Robert DeLeo to another two-year term as speaker.
The Winthrop Democrat, who has held the powerful post since January 2009, was unopposed at a House caucus on Wednesday prior to the opening of the new legislative session on Beacon Hill.
If DeLeo serves out his term he would become the longest serving speaker in Massachusetts history. He engineered a change in House rules that allows him to serve more than eight years as speaker, a limit that he originally helped to put in place.
The state Senate on Wednesday is expected to re-elect Amherst Democrat Stan Rosenberg to a second term as president.
The 160 members of the House and 40 Senate members will be sworn-in for new terms by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.
A judge has set bail at $500,000 for a New Hampshire man charged with stabbing two people and setting fire to a church and two other buildings.
Twenty-seven-year-old Anthony Boisvert, of Lebanon, started yelling during his arraignment Tuesday in Lebanon District Court as the judge tried to set his bail.
"Maybe I could cut them up and eat them on a frying pan," Boisvert was heard saying about his family members, while appearing in court.
Boisvert was arrested Monday in connection with starting three fires, including one at the First Baptist Church in Lebanon on Dec. 28.
The 3-alarm fire started in the rear of the church on School Street and destroyed much of the building, according to fire officials.
One firefighter was taken to the hospital for a minor injury after slipping on ice.
A second fire was located at 68 Mascoma St. on Dec. 29.
Following an investigation, police identified Boisvert as a person of interest after the fires were deemed suspicious.
On Sunday night, police received a 911 call regarding a stabbing that occurred at the Boulders Condominium complex at 20 Wolf Rd.
The two victims, a 52-year-old man and a 66-year-old woman, suffered serious stab injuries and said Boisvert was their attacker who they said fled after stabbing them.
Boisvert was taken into custody a short time later.
Both stabbing victims are expected to survive.
Boisvert was arraigned on two counts of first-degree assault and three counts of arson. He appeared without a lawyer during his arraignment and filed paperwork seeking an attorney.
Authorities said charges could be upgraded to attempted murder.
Police are searching for the men who robbed a man in a motorized wheel chair in Lowell, Massachusetts, on Tuesday.
Authorities said the incident happened in a parking lot of Summer Street when the 51-year-old victim was stopped by two men, believed to be in their mid-20s.
The victim told police one man ask him for 'a light,' and when he said he didn't have one, the other man took out a gun and pressed it against his chest.
Police said the other man went through the victim's pockets and robbed him of his money. The two suspects then fled toward South Common pool.
The victim, who has not been identified, went to the nearby Tedeschi's to call police.
One suspect is described as 5 feet 6 inches with a thin build. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt with orange on it and had neon orange shoe laces. The victim said he was the one with the gun.
The second suspect is described as 5 feet 9 inches with a thin build. No other description was available.
The victim was not hurt in the incident.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Lowell Police.
A man was hospitalized on Tuesday evening after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in Attleboro, Massachusetts, police said.
Officers responded to the crash at the intersection of North Main and Peck streets at 5:36 p.m. where the victim was in the road.
The man, who has not been identified, was transported to Rhode Island Hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Police said they are searching for the driver of the vehicle.
File picture of Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the leader of the self-styled Libyan National Army, who has met with UAE leaders for talks on military cooperation (AFP Photo/Abdullah DOMA)
Rome (AFP) - Russia will seek to end an arms embargo against Libya and could supply weapons to Khalifa Haftar, whose forces support a rival administration to the UN-backed unity government, the military strongman said Tuesday.
Asked whether he was promised arms during a recent visit to Russia, Haftar said Moscow had told him weapons "can arrive only once the (UN) embargo ends".
But he was assured that "Putin will undertake to revoke it," he said in the interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera.
The Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli, is recognised by the international community.
But Haftar, the controversial head of the so-called Libyan National Army, supports a parallel authority, based in eastern Libya near the border with Egypt, that controls much of the country's oil production.
The bitter divisions in the country are matched by those among the powers pushing for democracy in the conflict-torn country.
Western supporters of the GNA have prioritised the fight against Islamic State jihadists and controlling migration flows from Libya towards Europe.
But another group including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Russia see Haftar's forces as the nucleus of a future military, and are suspicious of the Islamist clout in Tripoli.
- Dialogue possible, but not yet -
US Secretary of State John Kerry said last month there had been a "significant shift" in efforts to bring the field marshal to the table.
Haftar said he was open to dialogue with GNA head Fayez Serraj in principle, but it was impossible to talk politics just now.
"We are at war, security issues take precedence. It's not an opportune time for politics. We need to fight to save the country from Islamic extremists," he said.
"I began talks with Serraj two and half years ago. Without any concrete results. Once the extremists have been beaten we can start talking about democracy and elections again. But not now," he added.
Story continues
Haftar denied media reports of an upcoming meeting with Serraj, saying the last time they had spoken directly was in January 2016.
But he admitted: "I have nothing personally against Serraj. He is not the problem, it's those around him.
"If he really wants to fight to make peace in the country, he should take up arms and join our ranks. He is always welcome."
Libya has been mired in chaos since the fall of former dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with a constellation of militias vying for control of the country.
Haftar complained of countries providing support to the GNA but not the rival Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HOR), saying "we expect help from everyone to fight Isis (IS).
"We would be happy to cooperate with Great Britain, France or Germany. Italy too," he said.
Jeffrey Miller is just 16 years old, but he already has thousands of followers on Twitter and millions of followers on Vine.
He just released his first EP called "Rise," which features the catchy pop tune "Live for the Night." Yet, despite his growing fame, this Norfolk native is still in high school. Hes a sophomore at King Philip High School in Wrentham.
His mom Cindy told NBC Boston she hopes hell be able to stay in school as long as possible. Its all part of her plan for keeping him grounded. Cindy said
"Education is important. Hes s student. He has to maintain good grades, and he has chores at home," she said.
When asked if he was the most popular guy at school, Jeffrey told us "No, I wouldnt say that."
"I would love to continue and finish out senior year here at KP, but if this grows and I have to be online, or home schooledthat would be awesome too," he said.
Jeffrey already has a jam packed tour schedule, and a sea of devoted fans. It seems like hes certainly a star on the rise.
For more information about Jeffrey Miller, go to his official website.
Police are looking for two suspects who may have been involved in a shooting in Central Falls, Rhode Island early Tuesday morning.
Robert Rego, 28, of Providence, and Samantha Brayall, 21, of Central Falls, are both wanted on felony assault with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy charges, according to WJAR.
Police responded to the intersection of High and Hunt Streets after hearing gunshots and the sound of glass breaking.
The victim has been identified and was treated at Miriam Hospital in Providence for a leg injury.
If you're injured, the first place you may think to go is the emergency room. But more and people are turning to urgent care facilities.
"If people need care and they don't have a lot of time or they're feeling uncomfortable, urgent care gives them an option," said Shaun Ginter, CEO of CareWell Urgent.
One of those people is Ann Joyce.
"I've been sick going on three weeks now," Joyce told NBC Boston's Jason Frazer. "You don't want to go to an ER. You'll be there for 10, 12, 20 hours. It's too busy."
According to the Urgent Care Association of America, visits cost an average of $150, while the average emergency room visit is more than $1,300. Advocates also say patients also don't have to wait so long to see a doctor.
"Average urgent care visits are between 45 minutes and an hour," said Ginter.
As critics warn, however, all urgent care facilities aren't equal.
"There's the disparity of urgent care facilities. There's a really big difference between a Minute Clinic at CVS, which is great for sore throats and flu shots, versus what we do at Beth Israel, which is an advanced urgent care staffed by emergency physicians where we have CTS, Ultrasounds and X-Rays," said Dr. Barbara Masser of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Some critics also have concerns about continuity of care and ensuring primary care doctors know exactly what patients were treated for.
"Urgent care is an episodic visit," said Masser. "We see you, we diagnosis your problem and we discharge you. Within the greater system of care, many patients need follow-ups."
Carewell says at its facilities, though, things are different.
"We focus on making sure that the medical records of a patient flow back to their primary physician or a specialist they might need," Ginter told NBC Boston.
Experts say if you're facing a life-threating injury, go to the ER. But if you have a bump, a bruise or even the flu, urgent care may be right choice for you.
Ideas forum TED ended its year by picking its top 10 TED Talks for the year, and we'll start 2017 off by selecting a handful of techie ones we figure might be of particular interest to Network World readers.
These talks, published during 2016, touch on subjects ranging from AI to the Blockchain to Linux (as discussed by Linus Torvalds himself). One nice thing about the TED YouTube channel is that videos are now captioned, so yes, you can digest these videos even when you're not in a position to actually listen to them...
MORE: 9 tantalizingly techie TED Talks
The mind behind Linux
This isn't quite a typical TED Talk, but rather a more traditional interview, as TED curator Chris Anderson discusses open source with Linux kernel pioneer Linus Torvalds. Among other things we learn that Torvalds really likes to work alone, maybe with the exception of his cat hanging out on his lap.
Can we build AI without losing control over it?
Neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris describes how "The gains we make in artificial intelligence could ultimately destroy us." An uplifting message for sure.
How the blockchain will radically transform the economy
Researcher/educator Bettina Warburg says blockchain technology is fairly new, but is also "a continuation of a very human story." Here she explains how this complex technology could simplify the economy in many ways.
Is your phone under surveillance?
In the wake of the big Apple-FBI encryption tussle at the end of 2015/early 2016, privacy expert Christopher Soghoian dives into the big security difference between iPhones and Android phones -- and addresses what he calls "the digital security divide" between those who can afford iPhones and those who cannot.
A glimpse of the future through an augmented reality headset
Meta Founder/CEO Meron Gribetz, whose company makes augmented reality products, shows off ways to use machines that exploit neuroscience to work in a more natural way than current computers and gadgets (and let you do cool things with holograms). "The future of computers is not locked inside one of these screens. It's right here, inside of us," Gribetz says.
Your company's data could help end world hunger
Mallory Soldner says private sector companies' data could be useful in solving big problems such as the refugee crisis and world hunger, and must join forces with academic and government institutions to do so.
By the way, if you have any interest in experience one of the big annual TED conferences this year, they take place in April in Vancouver and in August in Tanzania.
Central processing units (CPUs) from vendors such as Intel and to a lesser extent AMD have been staples in the data center for decades. Both companies have done an outstanding job making CPUs faster and containing more cores so businesses can run computationally intensive processes on them.
However, digital technologies such as deep learning, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and the Internet of Things (IoT) are driving the need for a new model of computing beyond the capabilities of CPUs.
+ Also on Network World: Nvidia GPU-powered autonomous car teaches itself to see and steer +
Data centers are entering the era of graphics processing units (GPUs) as the brains of digital applications. NVIDIA pioneered the market in the late 1990s with its G80 processor that provided co-processing capabilities for graphics-heavy applications such as gaming. Some vendors, such as Intel, have integrated graphics controllers on the CPU, and these work great for applications such as Microsoft Office, Solitaire and Minesweeper. However, any game that was even moderately graphics-intensive required a separate GPU to deliver a high-quality experience.
A good way to think of the difference between the two is that the high end of the integrated Intel GPU isnt even equivalent to the low end of an NVIDIA GPU. Now, as customers have started adopting VR for an immersive gaming experience, the GPU is flexing its muscle and distancing itself from the CPU and integrated GPUs.
GPUs not just for gaming
Today, GPUs arent just for gaming. The NVIDIA general purpose GPUs are designed for a wide variety of data-intensive workloads as opposed to just graphics. These processing units really shine when massive amounts of data-crunching power is needed for workloads such as autonomous cars, high performance computing (HPC) workloads, scientific analysis and search that require real-time machine learning.
Why are GPUs so good at handling these compared with CPUs? CPUs have 2, 4, 8 or even 16 large cores, where as GPUs have literally thousands of smaller processors. Its true that a single CPU core will blow the doors off of an individual GPU-based one, but think of the GPU as grid computing on a chip where all the processors run in parallel optimizing them for tasks with large amounts of data. This is one reason why Teslas autonomous car initiative is being powered by NVDIA and not Intel or even Mobileye, a company whose entire focus was aimed at self-driving cars.
+ What do you think? Share your comments about shifting to GPUs on our Facebook page +
Its important to understand that Im not saying GPUs will kill off CPUs. You need both in a computer because each is optimized for different purposes. CPUs are needed to boot the computer and are ideal for long, single-threaded, complex tasks such as Excel and Oracle. ARM processors are perfect when low power is a requirement, such as connected thermostats and home automation. However, workloads like that are run in hyper-scale data centers and/or require massive amounts of data to be searched and then decisions made quickly are much better served by GPUs.
Below are just a few of the top machine learning-based applications that are GPU-powered:
Manufacturing robots
Healthcare analysis
Autonomous cars
Search
Facial recognition
Star Treks Universal Translator, also know as real-time translation
Speech to text
Airflow analysis
Some of you might think your business doesnt need this kind of processing capabilities, but that is flat out incorrect. The fact is machine learning will soon power almost everything and be ubiquitous. We wont book a reservation at a restaurant, drive somewhere or travel without some kind of machine learning interface helping us. The reality is machines can write software and make decisions faster and better than people, as todays workloads need superhuman capabilities. GPUs can do this at a rate once possible only in the video games the technology has supported for so long.
At the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff was quoted as saying, Speed is the new currency of business. If you believe that, then the way computing is done must changeand GPUs are the change agent. Resistance is futile.
Hungerford antiques dealer teams up with Queen Mother's former chauffeur
A HUNGERFORD antiques dealer plans to help the Queen Mothers former chauffeur raise thousands for Help for Heroes with an international Royal memorabilia sale.
James Podger, who runs Great Grooms Antiques Centre, met Arthur Barty when the latter visited his Charnham Street showrooms several years ago.
The pair subsequently became friends.
Mr Barty (pictured, left with Mr Podger), formerly a member of iconic Royal Highland Regiment the Black Watch, was chauffeur to the late Queen Mother for 27 years.
In May, 2003, Mr Barty became the verger of the Royal Chapel of all Saints in Windsor Great Park.
Now retired, he has chosen to donate for sale his collection of photographs and 24 Christmas cards sent to him by the Queen Mother between 1977 and 2001.
All are personally signed and include colour images of the Queen Mother, her corgis, the royal family and scenes from royal life.
All proceeds will go to the Help for Heroes charity for wounded ex-servicemen and women a cause close to Mr Bartys heart.
Mr Podger said: Arthur came into Great Grooms one day and we began talking.
He is obviously very discreet about his Royal service but is a lovely man and a fascinating character.
Recently I was pleased to invite him on a [Hungerford] Rotary Club trip to the Jaguar headquarters where he was delighted to be driven in Her Majestys favoured Jaguar VI2 1973 car.
Now Mr Podger has offered to promote and sell the Christmas cards and photographs via his new global online sales portal, Best In Antiques, and hopes to help Mr Barty raise more than 4,000 for Help for Heroes.
To see a sample of the memorabilia collection visit www.bestinantiques.com/blog
YouGov poll a week ahead of end of Government consultation over future of UK's free press
JUST four per cent of people think a press regulator should be funded by donations from wealthy individuals and trusts, the Impress model, compared with 49 per cent who believe it should be funded by the newspaper industry itself, as the Independent Press Standards Organisation is, a new YouGov poll has found.
In his report into the culture, ethics and practices of the press published in November 2012, Lord Justice Leveson said that a regulator for the press should be funded by its members, and IPSO which is funded entirely by member publishers was subsequently established to regulate the press.
A new YouGov poll published today has found that the public agree that a press regulator should be funded by the industry (49 per cent) while just four per cent believe that a regulator should be funded by a wealthy individual or trust.
Impress, the state-recognised regulator for the press which not a single significant publisher has signed up to, is funded by Max Mosley.
Lynne Anderson, News Media Association deputy chief executive, said: This survey demonstrates conclusively that a regulatory regime led by Impress which is completely reliant upon funding from one wealthy individual, Max Mosley cannot command the confidence of the public.
IPSO is funded in its entirety by its member national, regional and local newspaper publishers which is the funding model the public want and expect from an industry which is committed to robust self-regulation.
It is also abundantly clear from the poll that there is absolutely no public appetite for further activity from the Government in this area such as the reopening of the Leveson Inquiry when there are other much more pressing priorities at hand.
The YouGov poll also found that the public overwhelmingly believe the Government should be focussing its attention and resources on areas other than press regulation which came at the very bottom of a list of 16 issues the Government should focus on over the next few years.
The poll found that just one per cent of respondents thought press regulation should be among the top four priorities, after airport expansion (two per cent). Top four priorities were Brexit (53 per cent), health (48 per cent), immigration and asylum (45 per cent) and the economy (44 per cent).
Commissioned by the NMA, the poll also found that more than two-thirds (68 per cent) of people believe that news on social media platforms like Facebook which are currently unregulated - should be subject at least to the same level of regulation as newspapers or even tighter regulation.
Britains press is subject to numerous criminal and civil laws covering news gathering and reporting. The vast majority of newspapers and magazines have also signed up voluntarily to a system of tough, independent self-regulation under IPSO.
The YouGov poll comes a week before the end of a Government consultation exercise into the possible triggering of Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which would mean newspapers which refuse to accept state press regulation would be ordered to pay both sides costs in court actions for libel and privacy even when we win.
The so-called costs sanctions are designed as an incentive to make newspaper publishers join Impress, the regulator recognised by the Government-appointed Press Recognition Panel under the Royal Charter.
Publishers that are members of Impress would be exempt from the costs sanctions if they made use of its arbitration scheme.
But even this could cost more than 6,000 plus unspecified damages for every complaint.
For independent publishers like the Newbury Weekly News these are unaffordable penalties.
It is rare for the Newbury Weekly News to incur any legal fees during the course of a year.
We employ journalists who are trained in media law and we set the highest standards of accuracy and fairness. When we do make a mistake we are quick to correct it and apologise.
This poorly thought-out law could be the final nail in the coffin for the local press.
If you value a free press and the vital role newspapers like the Newbury Weekly News play in our democracy then please do take part in the online consultation being run by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport into Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013.
Please support the NWNs position that Section 40 will not incentivise publishers to join the state regulator and that Parliament should repeal Section 40 in full.
You can find the consultation, which closes on January 10, 2017, at www.research.net/r/9WH5LV3
By PTI
BENGALURU: A team of doctors at a private hospital here today claimed to have successfully treated a
2-month-old Iraqi baby suffering from a rare birth defect called Bladder Exstrophy and Episadias.
"Baby Ameer Hayder Thaey was born with his urinary bladder exposed outside of his body due to the incomplete formation of the tissues and bones in the pelvic region. The bladder, muscles and bones had defects which needed to be corrected," Urology and Transplant Surgeon at Fortis Hospital, Mohan Keshavamurthy said in a statement here.
He said, "The procedure for treatment involved following a meticulously planned sealing of the entire bladder and penile area."
The surgery for episadias, which is a malformation of the penis causing the urethra to be formed on the upper part of the penis, was done by reconstructing the penis by Cantwell Ransley procedure, Keshavamurthy said.
Ameer suffered from Bladder Exstrophy with episadias abnormality, where the skin over the lower abdominal wall is not formed properly, he said, adding the complex procedure involved a multi-speciality team of doctors which took 10 hours to treat the rare condition.
Ameer's grandfather, said, "When Ameer was born, we noticed that he was passing urine through his belly.
We wanted to seek treatment immediately. However, we could not get proper medical care."
"Once we get to know about the expertise of Fortis Hospitals in treating such babies, we immediately came down to the city for treatment," he added.
BENGALURU: A team of doctors at a private hospital here today claimed to have successfully treated a 2-month-old Iraqi baby suffering from a rare birth defect called Bladder Exstrophy and Episadias. "Baby Ameer Hayder Thaey was born with his urinary bladder exposed outside of his body due to the incomplete formation of the tissues and bones in the pelvic region. The bladder, muscles and bones had defects which needed to be corrected," Urology and Transplant Surgeon at Fortis Hospital, Mohan Keshavamurthy said in a statement here. He said, "The procedure for treatment involved following a meticulously planned sealing of the entire bladder and penile area." The surgery for episadias, which is a malformation of the penis causing the urethra to be formed on the upper part of the penis, was done by reconstructing the penis by Cantwell Ransley procedure, Keshavamurthy said. Ameer suffered from Bladder Exstrophy with episadias abnormality, where the skin over the lower abdominal wall is not formed properly, he said, adding the complex procedure involved a multi-speciality team of doctors which took 10 hours to treat the rare condition. Ameer's grandfather, said, "When Ameer was born, we noticed that he was passing urine through his belly. We wanted to seek treatment immediately. However, we could not get proper medical care." "Once we get to know about the expertise of Fortis Hospitals in treating such babies, we immediately came down to the city for treatment," he added.
By PTI
NEW DELHI: Leader Brinda Karat today attacked Karnataka minister G Parameshwara over his objectionable remarks after women were molested en masse in Bengaluru, saying he has no right to continue in office after the "reprehensible" statement.
"With his utterly reprehensible statement, the Home Minister of Karnataka has forfeited the right to hold office," the CPI(M) Politburo member said.
Parameshwara had blamed the "western ways" of youngsters for the Bengaluru molestation incident. The remarks were widely condemned.
Questioning the law and order situation in the state, Karat said the mass molestation took place in the presence of police, yet there was not a single arrest.
"The CCTV footage of the incident shows the license the molesters enjoy as they are certain they will get away with their sexual crimes instead of getting punished," she said.
"At the same time, the CCTV footage is a mirror to where India is today when citizens are so uncaring or afraid that they do not intervene to stop a crime against a young woman taking place before their eyes and instead many blame women for the crimes against them," she said.
The former Parliamentarian urged citizens to speak out against such incidents or else the number of such cases would only increase.
The incidents of molestation occurred on Saturday night in and around the junction of Brigade Road and M G Road, where thousands had gathered to herald the New Year.
Eyewitness accounts said women were molested and groped and lewd remarks were also passed by miscreants late night on December 31 in the posh area, even as it was claimed that 1,500 police personnel had been deployed to control the crowds.
Speaking to a TV news channel on the issue, Parameshwara had said, "Unfortunately, what is happening is, as I said, days like new year, Brigade Road, Commercial Street, M G Road, large number of youngsters gather. Youngsters who are almost like westerners, they try to copy the westerners not only in the mindset, but even the dressing."
NEW DELHI: Leader Brinda Karat today attacked Karnataka minister G Parameshwara over his objectionable remarks after women were molested en masse in Bengaluru, saying he has no right to continue in office after the "reprehensible" statement. "With his utterly reprehensible statement, the Home Minister of Karnataka has forfeited the right to hold office," the CPI(M) Politburo member said. Parameshwara had blamed the "western ways" of youngsters for the Bengaluru molestation incident. The remarks were widely condemned. Questioning the law and order situation in the state, Karat said the mass molestation took place in the presence of police, yet there was not a single arrest. "The CCTV footage of the incident shows the license the molesters enjoy as they are certain they will get away with their sexual crimes instead of getting punished," she said. "At the same time, the CCTV footage is a mirror to where India is today when citizens are so uncaring or afraid that they do not intervene to stop a crime against a young woman taking place before their eyes and instead many blame women for the crimes against them," she said. The former Parliamentarian urged citizens to speak out against such incidents or else the number of such cases would only increase. The incidents of molestation occurred on Saturday night in and around the junction of Brigade Road and M G Road, where thousands had gathered to herald the New Year. Eyewitness accounts said women were molested and groped and lewd remarks were also passed by miscreants late night on December 31 in the posh area, even as it was claimed that 1,500 police personnel had been deployed to control the crowds. Speaking to a TV news channel on the issue, Parameshwara had said, "Unfortunately, what is happening is, as I said, days like new year, Brigade Road, Commercial Street, M G Road, large number of youngsters gather. Youngsters who are almost like westerners, they try to copy the westerners not only in the mindset, but even the dressing."
By Express News Service
BENGALURU: Three days after women were allegedly molested during New Year celebrations on M G Road and Brigade Road junction, the city police registered a first information report in this case on Tuesday.
Speaking to Express, City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood said, We had been quietly working on this over the past three days. At this point of time, I cant reveal any information. As promised we have found credible evidence in a case of wrongful confinement, molestation and attempt to rob. We have registered an FIR. Investigation is in progress. We have taken up a suo motu case.
Praveen Sood tweeted about the filing of the FIR on Tuesday around 11 pm.
We have taken action by registering a FIR. Investigation is in progress. Police is working.... though silently. Praveen Sood IPS (@CPBlr) January 3, 2017
As promised we have found credible evidence repeat credible evidence in a case of wrongful confinement, molestation and attempt to rob. Praveen Sood IPS (@CPBlr) January 3, 2017
Enquiry is already underway by an officer of DCP rank. Praveen Sood IPS (@CPBlr) January 3, 2017
Enquiry conducted by a DCP rank officer has gone through feed from 45 cameras at MG road. Unedited video available with police. Praveen Sood IPS (@CPBlr) January 3, 2017
The commissioner had earlier tweeted, Inquiry conducted by a DCP rank officer has gone through feed from 45 cameras at MG road. Unedited video available with police.
Additional Commissioner of Police (West) Malini Krishnamurthy said, I have asked the DCP to get more footage to go ahead with our investigations. The police have also asked people who witnessed the incidents to provide information, footage or photographs.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Command Centre) Nagendra Kumar, who also heads the Social Media Wing, said, We have not received any complaint on Facebook, Twitter or over police helpline over this issue. We are appealing to people to pass on information in this regard to make the case stronger.
A police source said, After the incident came to light, a team headed by a DCP rank official investigated the matter. The police obtained CCTV video footage from cameras installed by police and those installed by shops or commercial outlets.
Some Bengalureans who participated in the New Year revelry, however, claimed that nothing unusual had happened on MG Road and Brigade Road junction on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
I and seven friends had gone to Brigade Road for the celebration. Neither I nor the three other girls in our group faced any problem. We didnt see any such incident, says Ekta Gurung from Shanthi Nagar.
Daney Abraham, an engineer from RT Nagar, and his friends, including girls, did not face any trouble. We didnt have any problems nor did we witness any such thing, said Abraham.
Zain Sharif, a student of Christ University, said, I spent New Years eve around MG Road and I didnt find anything unusual.There was a big crowd and all of us were in a party mood.
A police officer who went through the CCTV footage said, All we have seen in the CCTV footage is women being taken either by their friends or relatives or escorted by police in presence of their relatives. Other women are seen celebrating without any problem.
BENGALURU: Three days after women were allegedly molested during New Year celebrations on M G Road and Brigade Road junction, the city police registered a first information report in this case on Tuesday. Speaking to Express, City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood said, We had been quietly working on this over the past three days. At this point of time, I cant reveal any information. As promised we have found credible evidence in a case of wrongful confinement, molestation and attempt to rob. We have registered an FIR. Investigation is in progress. We have taken up a suo motu case. Praveen Sood tweeted about the filing of the FIR on Tuesday around 11 pm. We have taken action by registering a FIR. Investigation is in progress. Police is working.... though silently. Praveen Sood IPS (@CPBlr) January 3, 2017 As promised we have found credible evidence repeat credible evidence in a case of wrongful confinement, molestation and attempt to rob. Praveen Sood IPS (@CPBlr) January 3, 2017 Enquiry is already underway by an officer of DCP rank. Praveen Sood IPS (@CPBlr) January 3, 2017 Enquiry conducted by a DCP rank officer has gone through feed from 45 cameras at MG road. Unedited video available with police. Praveen Sood IPS (@CPBlr) January 3, 2017 The commissioner had earlier tweeted, Inquiry conducted by a DCP rank officer has gone through feed from 45 cameras at MG road. Unedited video available with police. Additional Commissioner of Police (West) Malini Krishnamurthy said, I have asked the DCP to get more footage to go ahead with our investigations. The police have also asked people who witnessed the incidents to provide information, footage or photographs. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Command Centre) Nagendra Kumar, who also heads the Social Media Wing, said, We have not received any complaint on Facebook, Twitter or over police helpline over this issue. We are appealing to people to pass on information in this regard to make the case stronger. A police source said, After the incident came to light, a team headed by a DCP rank official investigated the matter. The police obtained CCTV video footage from cameras installed by police and those installed by shops or commercial outlets. Some Bengalureans who participated in the New Year revelry, however, claimed that nothing unusual had happened on MG Road and Brigade Road junction on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. I and seven friends had gone to Brigade Road for the celebration. Neither I nor the three other girls in our group faced any problem. We didnt see any such incident, says Ekta Gurung from Shanthi Nagar. Daney Abraham, an engineer from RT Nagar, and his friends, including girls, did not face any trouble. We didnt have any problems nor did we witness any such thing, said Abraham. Zain Sharif, a student of Christ University, said, I spent New Years eve around MG Road and I didnt find anything unusual.There was a big crowd and all of us were in a party mood. A police officer who went through the CCTV footage said, All we have seen in the CCTV footage is women being taken either by their friends or relatives or escorted by police in presence of their relatives. Other women are seen celebrating without any problem.
Dhinesh Kallungal By
Express News Service
KOCHI: Call it a New Year gift from the European Union. Much to the delight of all parties involved, the EU has lifted the ban imposed on the export of taro, bitter gourd, snake gourd and eggplant from the country. Now, the CIAL authorities, in particular, can afford a full-hearted chuckle. The Kochi airport is the second largest exporter of vegetables and fruits from India after Mumbai airport.
Prakash Rao, assistant director, plant quarantine section (export/import), Union Agriculture Ministry, said the ban on four vegetables from the country was lifted this month. He said the farmers and cargo exporters were now allowed to export vegetables and fruits to the EU.
The four vegetables and mango were banned by the EU in May 2014 for a period of 20 months following the detection of fruit flies in some consignments. The ban on mango was lifted in January 2015. The export of these four vegetables can be carried out only by complying with the guidelines issued by the 28-member EU bloc. There will be strict monitoring and in-house certification is required for the export of perishable goods, he said. An EU delegation had recently inspected farms and pack houses in India.
The Union Ministry has also made pack-house certification by the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) mandatory. Gopalakrishnan Nair, the proprietor of Geekey International Exports Imports and Trade, Mumbai, said the ban had its own effect on farmers/exporters and dented the goodwill towards Indian products in the EU.
But he said the overall impact was minimal because the annual export of these four vegetables accounts for less than 5 percent of Indias total farm exports to the EU - approximately $1.9 million. Experts, however, said the EU accounts for more than 50 per cent of the total exports of fruits and vegetables from the country. The UK, followed by the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium are some of the major destinations of Indian exporters in the EU.
According to CIAL officials, their cargo section has exported 55,132 tonnes of various vegetables and fruits to different destinations - mainly to West Asia - in the 2015- 16 fiscal even after the EU ban. The CIAL has also exported 63,095 tonnes of cargo to various destinations in 2015-16 and netted a revenue of Rs 19.34 crore. They said the vegetables and fruits accounted nearly 80 percent of the total cargo exports.
KOCHI: Call it a New Year gift from the European Union. Much to the delight of all parties involved, the EU has lifted the ban imposed on the export of taro, bitter gourd, snake gourd and eggplant from the country. Now, the CIAL authorities, in particular, can afford a full-hearted chuckle. The Kochi airport is the second largest exporter of vegetables and fruits from India after Mumbai airport. Prakash Rao, assistant director, plant quarantine section (export/import), Union Agriculture Ministry, said the ban on four vegetables from the country was lifted this month. He said the farmers and cargo exporters were now allowed to export vegetables and fruits to the EU. The four vegetables and mango were banned by the EU in May 2014 for a period of 20 months following the detection of fruit flies in some consignments. The ban on mango was lifted in January 2015. The export of these four vegetables can be carried out only by complying with the guidelines issued by the 28-member EU bloc. There will be strict monitoring and in-house certification is required for the export of perishable goods, he said. An EU delegation had recently inspected farms and pack houses in India. The Union Ministry has also made pack-house certification by the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) mandatory. Gopalakrishnan Nair, the proprietor of Geekey International Exports Imports and Trade, Mumbai, said the ban had its own effect on farmers/exporters and dented the goodwill towards Indian products in the EU. But he said the overall impact was minimal because the annual export of these four vegetables accounts for less than 5 percent of Indias total farm exports to the EU - approximately $1.9 million. Experts, however, said the EU accounts for more than 50 per cent of the total exports of fruits and vegetables from the country. The UK, followed by the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium are some of the major destinations of Indian exporters in the EU. According to CIAL officials, their cargo section has exported 55,132 tonnes of various vegetables and fruits to different destinations - mainly to West Asia - in the 2015- 16 fiscal even after the EU ban. The CIAL has also exported 63,095 tonnes of cargo to various destinations in 2015-16 and netted a revenue of Rs 19.34 crore. They said the vegetables and fruits accounted nearly 80 percent of the total cargo exports.
By Express News Service
KOCHI: A day after film producer Sandra Thomas filed a complaint that actor and business partner Vijay Babu had assaulted her, the actor, whom the police say is at large, put up a Facebook post with counter-allegations.
Police at Elamakkara station, where the complaint was lodged, said they have not recorded the statement of Vijay Babu as he is still at large. Vijay Babu, meanwhile, posted on Facebook allegations that Sandra Thomas --whom he had considered his most trusted partner-- had filed a 'fake case' against him to usurp his share of property in the business.
"Friends, a fake case is filed against me by my most trusted partner and her husband for the sake of taking over business property which I disputed. I shall prove it otherwise and will be fine. Thank you for the concerns. Shall update, he wrote on his Facebook wall, on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Sandra Thomas is recuperating at a city hospital. Police said a probe is underway.
Vijay Babu is the co-founder of the film production company, Friday Film House, along with Sandra Thomas. Friday Film House, which has produced popular films like 'Philips and the Monkey Pen', 'Adi Kapyare Kootamani', Peruchazhi and 'Aadu Oru Bheekarajeeviyanu'.
Based on the complaint lodged by Sandra, the Elamakkara police registered a case under sections 294 (b) sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place, 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 506 (1) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of IPC. According to the police, the incident occurred at the office of the film production company, Friday Film House, on Pottakuzhi Road on Tuesday noon. Police officers said the alleged differences between them on business-related matters led to the assaulting his business partner.
KOCHI: A day after film producer Sandra Thomas filed a complaint that actor and business partner Vijay Babu had assaulted her, the actor, whom the police say is at large, put up a Facebook post with counter-allegations. Police at Elamakkara station, where the complaint was lodged, said they have not recorded the statement of Vijay Babu as he is still at large. Vijay Babu, meanwhile, posted on Facebook allegations that Sandra Thomas --whom he had considered his most trusted partner-- had filed a 'fake case' against him to usurp his share of property in the business. "Friends, a fake case is filed against me by my most trusted partner and her husband for the sake of taking over business property which I disputed. I shall prove it otherwise and will be fine. Thank you for the concerns. Shall update, he wrote on his Facebook wall, on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Sandra Thomas is recuperating at a city hospital. Police said a probe is underway. Vijay Babu is the co-founder of the film production company, Friday Film House, along with Sandra Thomas. Friday Film House, which has produced popular films like 'Philips and the Monkey Pen', 'Adi Kapyare Kootamani', Peruchazhi and 'Aadu Oru Bheekarajeeviyanu'. Based on the complaint lodged by Sandra, the Elamakkara police registered a case under sections 294 (b) sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place, 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder) and 506 (1) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of IPC. According to the police, the incident occurred at the office of the film production company, Friday Film House, on Pottakuzhi Road on Tuesday noon. Police officers said the alleged differences between them on business-related matters led to the assaulting his business partner.
Vikram Sharma By
Express News Service
AZAMGARH: Azamgarh is a town in eastern Uttar Pradesh that struggles to live down the terror taint. The origins of underworld gangster Abu Salem and the 2008 Batla House encounter in Delhi -- in which young men from Azamgarh were killed -- were both unwelcome associations as far as the elders of the town are concerned.
Now the town is back in the news once again. This time around it is for Azamgarh native Asadullah Akhtar's conviction for his alleged role in the Dilsukhnagar blasts in Hyderabad in 2013. The death sentence awarded to the son of popular doctor Javed Akhtar has once again stirred up a debate about whether the town is indeed a nursery for terrorism.
After the Batla House encounter put Azamgarh on the terror map of India, community elders floated an organization called the National Ulema Council and roped in Dr Akhtar to contest the Lok Sabha polls in an initiative to rid the town of the taint. The Ulema Councils founder president Maulana Aamir Rashadi Madni says successive governments have labelled youth from the district as terrorists only to keep the Muslim community under check.
The terror tag is working to the disadvantage of the youth of the area, locals say. In fact, people from Azamgarh have left to other cities to escape this taint. There have been instances when some youths faced difficulties in getting jobs when they said they belong to Azamgarh,'' says a local Muslim leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Its a dusty town of many madarassas and mosques, some of them of historical significance. The greater district around the town has a population of 4.6 million, about 20 per cent Muslim. Locals say that some localities like Saraimeer and Sanjarpur have become no-go areas to outsiders.
Maulana Aamir Rashadi Madni
Across Azamgarh, be it within the city or in the dingy lanes of Sanjarpur, Saraimeer, Jalandhari or Bilariyagunj, several madarassas have come up over the last few years. According to government estimates, till 2009 there used to be 180 madarassas in the district. Now there are 820.
Asked to comment on the increasing number of madarassas, Ulema Council president Maulana Madni says its a mistake to think that terrorism is taught in madarassas.
The government says people should study and become educated. When English medium schools are opened, everyone is fine with it. But do we become terrorists if we learn Arabic in madarassas?
Yet, Azamgarh appears regularly on Indias anti-terror list of infamy. Sanjarpur was the native place of Atif and Sajid, the two men who were killed in the Batla House encounter. Before the Delhi blasts, the Gujarat police had arrested the alleged mastermind of the Ahmedabad serial blasts, Abu Bashar, a resident of Beenapara village in Saraimeer area of the district. Nine of the 12 terrorists wanted by Delhi's Special Cell are from Azamgarh.
AZAMGARH: Azamgarh is a town in eastern Uttar Pradesh that struggles to live down the terror taint. The origins of underworld gangster Abu Salem and the 2008 Batla House encounter in Delhi -- in which young men from Azamgarh were killed -- were both unwelcome associations as far as the elders of the town are concerned. Now the town is back in the news once again. This time around it is for Azamgarh native Asadullah Akhtar's conviction for his alleged role in the Dilsukhnagar blasts in Hyderabad in 2013. The death sentence awarded to the son of popular doctor Javed Akhtar has once again stirred up a debate about whether the town is indeed a nursery for terrorism. After the Batla House encounter put Azamgarh on the terror map of India, community elders floated an organization called the National Ulema Council and roped in Dr Akhtar to contest the Lok Sabha polls in an initiative to rid the town of the taint. The Ulema Councils founder president Maulana Aamir Rashadi Madni says successive governments have labelled youth from the district as terrorists only to keep the Muslim community under check. The terror tag is working to the disadvantage of the youth of the area, locals say. In fact, people from Azamgarh have left to other cities to escape this taint. There have been instances when some youths faced difficulties in getting jobs when they said they belong to Azamgarh,'' says a local Muslim leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Its a dusty town of many madarassas and mosques, some of them of historical significance. The greater district around the town has a population of 4.6 million, about 20 per cent Muslim. Locals say that some localities like Saraimeer and Sanjarpur have become no-go areas to outsiders. Maulana Aamir Rashadi MadniAcross Azamgarh, be it within the city or in the dingy lanes of Sanjarpur, Saraimeer, Jalandhari or Bilariyagunj, several madarassas have come up over the last few years. According to government estimates, till 2009 there used to be 180 madarassas in the district. Now there are 820. Asked to comment on the increasing number of madarassas, Ulema Council president Maulana Madni says its a mistake to think that terrorism is taught in madarassas. The government says people should study and become educated. When English medium schools are opened, everyone is fine with it. But do we become terrorists if we learn Arabic in madarassas? Yet, Azamgarh appears regularly on Indias anti-terror list of infamy. Sanjarpur was the native place of Atif and Sajid, the two men who were killed in the Batla House encounter. Before the Delhi blasts, the Gujarat police had arrested the alleged mastermind of the Ahmedabad serial blasts, Abu Bashar, a resident of Beenapara village in Saraimeer area of the district. Nine of the 12 terrorists wanted by Delhi's Special Cell are from Azamgarh.
By PTI
SAMASTIPUR (BIHAR): Unidentified gunmen on Tuesday shot dead a journalist at Salkhani village in the district, police said. Around 5-6 unidentified men opened fire at journalist Braj Kumar Singh, killing him on the spot, said Samastipur SP Nawal Kishore Prasad Singh.
Singh was associated with a prominent Hindi daily and also ran a brick kiln where he was shot dead by the gunmen. Though the reason behind the killing is yet to be ascertained, an old enmity is suspected to be the cause.
Salkhani village falls under Bibhutipur police station, about 40 kms from the Samastipur district headquarters.
Earlier, Dharmendra Singh, a journalist of a prominent vernacular daily, was shot dead in Rohtas district on November, 2016 apparently over his articles on illegal stone chips units.
Hindi daily Hindustan's Siwan bureau chief Rajdeo Ranjan was shot dead in Siwan district in May, 2016
SAMASTIPUR (BIHAR): Unidentified gunmen on Tuesday shot dead a journalist at Salkhani village in the district, police said. Around 5-6 unidentified men opened fire at journalist Braj Kumar Singh, killing him on the spot, said Samastipur SP Nawal Kishore Prasad Singh. Singh was associated with a prominent Hindi daily and also ran a brick kiln where he was shot dead by the gunmen. Though the reason behind the killing is yet to be ascertained, an old enmity is suspected to be the cause. Salkhani village falls under Bibhutipur police station, about 40 kms from the Samastipur district headquarters. Earlier, Dharmendra Singh, a journalist of a prominent vernacular daily, was shot dead in Rohtas district on November, 2016 apparently over his articles on illegal stone chips units. Hindi daily Hindustan's Siwan bureau chief Rajdeo Ranjan was shot dead in Siwan district in May, 2016
By PTI
NEW DELHI: The Cabinet today cleared the appointment of academician David R Syiemlieh as interim chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
He will take over the charge from Alka Sirohi, a former IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Syiemlieh has been appointed as interim chairman of the UPSC," government sources said.
He has been a member of the UPSC since June 2012.
A post graduate in history from the North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, he held various academic positions in the same varsity, including head of the history department and that of the pro-vice chancellor.
Syiemlieh, is also a former vice chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University in Arunachal Pradesh. He has also authored several books on the history of North East region.
NEW DELHI: The Cabinet today cleared the appointment of academician David R Syiemlieh as interim chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). He will take over the charge from Alka Sirohi, a former IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Syiemlieh has been appointed as interim chairman of the UPSC," government sources said. He has been a member of the UPSC since June 2012. A post graduate in history from the North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, he held various academic positions in the same varsity, including head of the history department and that of the pro-vice chancellor. Syiemlieh, is also a former vice chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University in Arunachal Pradesh. He has also authored several books on the history of North East region.
By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The election commission on Wednesday sounded the poll bugle for the assembly elections to be held in five states including Utter Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur in which over 16 crore voters will exercise their democratic rights.
With a view to ensure peaceful polls and to provide proper security arrangement in the crucial poll battle in Utter Pradesh, the EC has decided to hold elections in seven phases starting from February 11 and concluding on March 8. Officials said that the schedule for the state polls was prepared after consulting all stakeholders. It was discussed that Goa and Punjab elections will be held on the same day on February 4. Manipur will go to the polls in Phase I on March 4 and Phase II on March 8. The results of the elections for all states will be announced on March 11.
Chief Election Commissioner Naseem Zaidi said it will closely monitor the day-to-day situation. "Owing to cash crunch, possibilities are that some other kind of favours, gifts may be distributed. We will keep an eye on these things," he said.
The CEC said that expenses above Rs 20000 have to be out of bank accounts to be set up and it has to be through cheques. There will be elaborate expenditure monitoring device, he added. The limit for expenses for candidates is Rs 28 lakh for UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Rs 20 lakh for Manipur and Goa, Zaidi said.
On the ongoing tussle between both the factions in Samajwadi party in UP, the CEC said that the poll panel has received documents from both the sides. The commission will consider the earlier precedence to decide on this issue.
On the new date of the general budget scheduled for February 1, the CEC said that the poll panel is examining whether budget can be presented now as model code of conduct is in force. "The Commission has received representation sent by some political parties. This representation is with regards to presentation of the budget. The Commission is examining this representation and in due course of time will take a call on this," he said.
Zaidi said that the poll panel will completely abide by the Supreme Court verdict in the 'Hindutva' case, banning seeking of votes in the name of religion, caste and creed.
Electoral roll of Goa will be published on January 5, Manipur on January 12, Punjab January 5, Uttarakhand on January 10 and Uttar Pradesh on January 12, Zaidi said adding that the EC has imposed Model Code of Conduct in the states due for elections with immediate effect.
The EC has also for the first time made it mandatory for every candidate contesting these polls to file another affidavit in the form of a "No demand certificate" declaring any pending electricity, water, telephone bills and rent for government accommodation in their possession in last ten years. The CEC said candidates will also make a declaration while filing their nominations on their being a citizen of India and having not held citizenship of any other country.
Election Commission will distribute photo voters slip to all voters. " A (multi-coloured) voter guide will be distributed to all families. This will have details of polling stations, date and time of polling, ID documents that can be used, etc. At least 1.85 Lakh polling stations will be covered under these polls. This has increased by 15 percent. For secrecy, height of the voting compartment has been raised to 30 inches," Zaidi said.
Meanwhile, amidst the protest of opposition parties on the move to present Union Budget on February 1, BJP rubbished their claims saying it is a constitutional exercise that should not be linked to election cycle. A senior party leader also did not rule out announcement of sops for different segments of society in the budget, saying Union budgets have been presented in the past during elections and it cannot be any different this year. "Union Budget's timing and announcements cannot be subject to schedule of various elections. It has never been like this," he said.
NEW DELHI: The election commission on Wednesday sounded the poll bugle for the assembly elections to be held in five states including Utter Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur in which over 16 crore voters will exercise their democratic rights. With a view to ensure peaceful polls and to provide proper security arrangement in the crucial poll battle in Utter Pradesh, the EC has decided to hold elections in seven phases starting from February 11 and concluding on March 8. Officials said that the schedule for the state polls was prepared after consulting all stakeholders. It was discussed that Goa and Punjab elections will be held on the same day on February 4. Manipur will go to the polls in Phase I on March 4 and Phase II on March 8. The results of the elections for all states will be announced on March 11. Chief Election Commissioner Naseem Zaidi said it will closely monitor the day-to-day situation. "Owing to cash crunch, possibilities are that some other kind of favours, gifts may be distributed. We will keep an eye on these things," he said. The CEC said that expenses above Rs 20000 have to be out of bank accounts to be set up and it has to be through cheques. There will be elaborate expenditure monitoring device, he added. The limit for expenses for candidates is Rs 28 lakh for UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Rs 20 lakh for Manipur and Goa, Zaidi said. On the ongoing tussle between both the factions in Samajwadi party in UP, the CEC said that the poll panel has received documents from both the sides. The commission will consider the earlier precedence to decide on this issue. On the new date of the general budget scheduled for February 1, the CEC said that the poll panel is examining whether budget can be presented now as model code of conduct is in force. "The Commission has received representation sent by some political parties. This representation is with regards to presentation of the budget. The Commission is examining this representation and in due course of time will take a call on this," he said. Zaidi said that the poll panel will completely abide by the Supreme Court verdict in the 'Hindutva' case, banning seeking of votes in the name of religion, caste and creed. Electoral roll of Goa will be published on January 5, Manipur on January 12, Punjab January 5, Uttarakhand on January 10 and Uttar Pradesh on January 12, Zaidi said adding that the EC has imposed Model Code of Conduct in the states due for elections with immediate effect. The EC has also for the first time made it mandatory for every candidate contesting these polls to file another affidavit in the form of a "No demand certificate" declaring any pending electricity, water, telephone bills and rent for government accommodation in their possession in last ten years. The CEC said candidates will also make a declaration while filing their nominations on their being a citizen of India and having not held citizenship of any other country. Election Commission will distribute photo voters slip to all voters. " A (multi-coloured) voter guide will be distributed to all families. This will have details of polling stations, date and time of polling, ID documents that can be used, etc. At least 1.85 Lakh polling stations will be covered under these polls. This has increased by 15 percent. For secrecy, height of the voting compartment has been raised to 30 inches," Zaidi said. Meanwhile, amidst the protest of opposition parties on the move to present Union Budget on February 1, BJP rubbished their claims saying it is a constitutional exercise that should not be linked to election cycle. A senior party leader also did not rule out announcement of sops for different segments of society in the budget, saying Union budgets have been presented in the past during elections and it cannot be any different this year. "Union Budget's timing and announcements cannot be subject to schedule of various elections. It has never been like this," he said.
Harpreet Bajwa By
Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: Former army chief General JJ Singh (Retd) is in all likelihood to be pitched against Punjab Congress chief and Patiala Royal Captain Amarinder Singh from Patiala (Urban) Assembly constituency by ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), as the polls are set to take place on February 4 in Punjab. However, an official announcement in this regard is yet to be made by SAD.
The news gains more significance recalling that Capt Amarinder Singh has not lost an election from the Patiala (urban) constituency since 2002. Presently his wife and former union minister Preneet Kaur is the sitting MLA from the constituency.
The first Sikh chief of army staff, Gen JJ Singh (Retd) had reached Patiala a few days back and has been campaigning for SAD in Patiala since then.
He was invited by deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal at the inaugural function of the war memorial in Amritsar and also at Heritage Street inauguration besides other events concerning ex-servicemen. Singh has reportedly been in touch with Sukhbir and other leaders for nearly a year now.
Gen JJ Singh told Express, After serving as army chief and then governor, I wanted to serve the real people and that is why I jumped into politics.
When asked that he might be termed a Para-trooper in the polls, he said, I had lived in Patiala for five years as my father was posted in the army from 1947 to 1952. I was in the city and studied here. Both my paternal and maternal family lived here.
I am ready to take on the challenge and I will win. The candidates who fought elections against Capt Amarinder Singh, earlier, were weak. My track record has no failures, he said.
In the next list of the party, I expect to see my name, he said.
Its my payback time to Patiala and Punjab. I want to give back to the people all the love and affection and the spirit of compassion that I have received from them, Singh said.
Singh has been provided a security cover of around 12 armed men along with a security vehicle by the Punjab police in Patiala. Singh had fought the 1965 and 1971 wars, and is said to have donned a pivotal role in the war against Pakistani intruders in Kargil.
CHANDIGARH: Former army chief General JJ Singh (Retd) is in all likelihood to be pitched against Punjab Congress chief and Patiala Royal Captain Amarinder Singh from Patiala (Urban) Assembly constituency by ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), as the polls are set to take place on February 4 in Punjab. However, an official announcement in this regard is yet to be made by SAD. The news gains more significance recalling that Capt Amarinder Singh has not lost an election from the Patiala (urban) constituency since 2002. Presently his wife and former union minister Preneet Kaur is the sitting MLA from the constituency. The first Sikh chief of army staff, Gen JJ Singh (Retd) had reached Patiala a few days back and has been campaigning for SAD in Patiala since then. He was invited by deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal at the inaugural function of the war memorial in Amritsar and also at Heritage Street inauguration besides other events concerning ex-servicemen. Singh has reportedly been in touch with Sukhbir and other leaders for nearly a year now. Gen JJ Singh told Express, After serving as army chief and then governor, I wanted to serve the real people and that is why I jumped into politics. When asked that he might be termed a Para-trooper in the polls, he said, I had lived in Patiala for five years as my father was posted in the army from 1947 to 1952. I was in the city and studied here. Both my paternal and maternal family lived here. I am ready to take on the challenge and I will win. The candidates who fought elections against Capt Amarinder Singh, earlier, were weak. My track record has no failures, he said. In the next list of the party, I expect to see my name, he said. Its my payback time to Patiala and Punjab. I want to give back to the people all the love and affection and the spirit of compassion that I have received from them, Singh said. Singh has been provided a security cover of around 12 armed men along with a security vehicle by the Punjab police in Patiala. Singh had fought the 1965 and 1971 wars, and is said to have donned a pivotal role in the war against Pakistani intruders in Kargil.
By PTI
MUMBAI: Bodies of film producer-realtor Abis Rizvi and fashion designer Khushi Shah, who were among 39 people killed in the Istanbul terror attack, arrived here early today.
"The Turkish Airlines plane carrying the bodies landed at Mumbai airport shortly after 5 AM," BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, who received the bodies at the airport, told PTI.
While Rizvi's body has been taken to his home in suburban Bandra, Khushi's body was flown to Vadodara for cremation later today, he said.
Rizvi's burial will also take place today.
The flight carrying the bodies left Istanbul last night.
Khushi and Rizvi were among the 15 foreigners who were killed when a gunman went on a rampage at the waterside Reina nightclub in Istanbul where revellers were celebrating the New Year.
MUMBAI: Bodies of film producer-realtor Abis Rizvi and fashion designer Khushi Shah, who were among 39 people killed in the Istanbul terror attack, arrived here early today. "The Turkish Airlines plane carrying the bodies landed at Mumbai airport shortly after 5 AM," BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, who received the bodies at the airport, told PTI. While Rizvi's body has been taken to his home in suburban Bandra, Khushi's body was flown to Vadodara for cremation later today, he said. Rizvi's burial will also take place today. The flight carrying the bodies left Istanbul last night. Khushi and Rizvi were among the 15 foreigners who were killed when a gunman went on a rampage at the waterside Reina nightclub in Istanbul where revellers were celebrating the New Year.
By PTI
HANDWARA: A suspected militant belonging to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) has been arrested from north Kashmir's Kupwara district, police said today.
Acting on an intelligence input, a joint team of police and army arrested Ashiq Ahmed alias Abu Haider from Handwara area of the district, a police spokesman said here.
A cache of arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 rifle, three magazines, a Chinese Pistol with a magazine, three hand grenades, a magazine pouch and a map, was seized from him.
During interrogation, Ahmed said he was a close associate of Abu Bakar - an LeT Commander who was killed in an encounter in Sopore township last month, the spokesman said.
HANDWARA: A suspected militant belonging to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) has been arrested from north Kashmir's Kupwara district, police said today. Acting on an intelligence input, a joint team of police and army arrested Ashiq Ahmed alias Abu Haider from Handwara area of the district, a police spokesman said here. A cache of arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 rifle, three magazines, a Chinese Pistol with a magazine, three hand grenades, a magazine pouch and a map, was seized from him. During interrogation, Ahmed said he was a close associate of Abu Bakar - an LeT Commander who was killed in an encounter in Sopore township last month, the spokesman said.
Fayaz Wani By
Express News Service
At least 62 rifles, six pistols and 182 magazines were looted by militants and unruly mobs from security personnel in Kashmir last year.
According to the figures released by J&Ks Home department, which is headed by State Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, 16 incidents of weapon snatching/looting took place in the Valley between January 1 and December 31, 2006.
Of the 16 weapon snatching/looting incidents, 13 incidents took place in four south Kashmir districts of Kulgam, Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian while two incidents took place in central Kashmirs Budgam district and a single incident took place in Srinagar, it states.
The first weapon snatching incident in 2016 took place on May 8 at Adijan in Damhal Hanjipora in South Kashmirs Kulgam district when militants snatched 2 Insas rifles and 2 SLR rifles from policemen guarding minority Kashmiri Pandit community in the area. The last weapon snatching incident of the year took place on October 17 in Dooru area of South Kashmirs Anantnag district when militants snatched 3 SLR rifles, 9 magazines, 480 rounds, 1 Insas Rifle, 5 magazines, 200 rounds, 1 carbine, 2 carbine magazine and 60 rounds of carbine from policemen guarding Lower Power Transmitter Station in the Deviash village.
In 11 of the 16 weapon snatching incidents, militants were directly involved while in five other cases, the weapons were snatched by the unruly mobs.
According to official figures, 62 rifles were snatched from security personnel during the 16-weapon snatching incidents.
Of the 62 weapons snatched, 19 were AK-rifles, 22 were SLRs, 18 were Insas rifles, a carbine, .303 rifle and Pika gun. Besides six pistols and a Tasar gun were also snatched from the security personnel or police stations, revealed the statistics.
The data further reveals that 12 AK magazines, 34 magazines of SLRS, 131 magazines of Insas and four carbine magazines were also snatched from the security personnel by the militants and unruly crowds last year.
The biggest weapons loot took place at Damhal Hanjipora in South Kashmirs Kulgam district on July 9, a day after killing of 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces.
The unruly crowd forcibly entered into Police Station building at Damhal Hanjipora and looted large cache of arms and ammunition and set the police station on fire. Five Insas rifles, 11 AK-47 rifles, 7 SLR rifles, 1 Taser gun, 6 pistols, 1 Pika gun, 3 UBGL throwers, 10 LMG magazines, 117 Insas magazines, 2484 Insas rounds, 299 AK rounds, 4 AK magazines, 1863 SLR rounds, 1 Carbine magazine, 268 rounds of carbine ammunition, 5 pistol magazines, 133 pistol rounds and 189 Pika rounds, the official statistics revealed.
It stated that one Insas rifle, 3 AK rifles, 2 Insas magazines, 55 AK rounds, 74 SLR rounds and 4 Pika rounds have been recovered
The militants also attacked residences of two PDP leaders PDP Rajya Sabha MP Nazir Ahmad Laway at Chawalgam in Kulgam district on August 31 and PDP leader Sheikh Javed Ahmad at Boni Dialgam in Anantnag district on September 18. At both the places, the militants snatched four rifles each from the policemen.
At least 62 rifles, six pistols and 182 magazines were looted by militants and unruly mobs from security personnel in Kashmir last year. According to the figures released by J&Ks Home department, which is headed by State Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, 16 incidents of weapon snatching/looting took place in the Valley between January 1 and December 31, 2006. Of the 16 weapon snatching/looting incidents, 13 incidents took place in four south Kashmir districts of Kulgam, Anantnag, Pulwama and Shopian while two incidents took place in central Kashmirs Budgam district and a single incident took place in Srinagar, it states. The first weapon snatching incident in 2016 took place on May 8 at Adijan in Damhal Hanjipora in South Kashmirs Kulgam district when militants snatched 2 Insas rifles and 2 SLR rifles from policemen guarding minority Kashmiri Pandit community in the area. The last weapon snatching incident of the year took place on October 17 in Dooru area of South Kashmirs Anantnag district when militants snatched 3 SLR rifles, 9 magazines, 480 rounds, 1 Insas Rifle, 5 magazines, 200 rounds, 1 carbine, 2 carbine magazine and 60 rounds of carbine from policemen guarding Lower Power Transmitter Station in the Deviash village. In 11 of the 16 weapon snatching incidents, militants were directly involved while in five other cases, the weapons were snatched by the unruly mobs. According to official figures, 62 rifles were snatched from security personnel during the 16-weapon snatching incidents. Of the 62 weapons snatched, 19 were AK-rifles, 22 were SLRs, 18 were Insas rifles, a carbine, .303 rifle and Pika gun. Besides six pistols and a Tasar gun were also snatched from the security personnel or police stations, revealed the statistics. The data further reveals that 12 AK magazines, 34 magazines of SLRS, 131 magazines of Insas and four carbine magazines were also snatched from the security personnel by the militants and unruly crowds last year. The biggest weapons loot took place at Damhal Hanjipora in South Kashmirs Kulgam district on July 9, a day after killing of 21-year-old Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces. The unruly crowd forcibly entered into Police Station building at Damhal Hanjipora and looted large cache of arms and ammunition and set the police station on fire. Five Insas rifles, 11 AK-47 rifles, 7 SLR rifles, 1 Taser gun, 6 pistols, 1 Pika gun, 3 UBGL throwers, 10 LMG magazines, 117 Insas magazines, 2484 Insas rounds, 299 AK rounds, 4 AK magazines, 1863 SLR rounds, 1 Carbine magazine, 268 rounds of carbine ammunition, 5 pistol magazines, 133 pistol rounds and 189 Pika rounds, the official statistics revealed. It stated that one Insas rifle, 3 AK rifles, 2 Insas magazines, 55 AK rounds, 74 SLR rounds and 4 Pika rounds have been recovered The militants also attacked residences of two PDP leaders PDP Rajya Sabha MP Nazir Ahmad Laway at Chawalgam in Kulgam district on August 31 and PDP leader Sheikh Javed Ahmad at Boni Dialgam in Anantnag district on September 18. At both the places, the militants snatched four rifles each from the policemen.
MADISON, WI--(Marketwired - January 04, 2017) - Sonic Foundry, Inc. (SOFO), the trusted global leader for video creation and management solutions, today announced a new partnership with the California State University System (CSU) to offer a robust lecture capture solution to its 23 campuses.
The CSU system signed a Master Enabling Agreement naming Mediasite one of two preferred lecture capture solutions for CSU's 474,600 students and 49,000 faculty and staff. This is the newest addition to the existing suite of Mediasite solutions currently available to the campuses. In April, Sonic Foundry was named CSU's preferred video content management solution, making Mediasite the only video solution to offer CSU both lecture capture capabilities and video content management. Having one automated and scalable system for creating, publishing, searching and managing all academic video gives CSU students and faculty a campus YouTube-esque environment where they can share knowledge and personalize learning.
"The success of our students is positively impacted with a seamless and easy-to-use lecture capturing solution that allows us to capture and share the educational content from inside our lecture halls," said Jean-Pierre Bayard, CSU director of system-wide learning technologies and program services. "After reviewing dozens of other solutions, we chose Sonic Foundry's Mediasite based on a range of quality, affordable and scalable tools for our academic video needs."
Automated Mediasite lecture capture will allow CSU faculty and staff to take their courses to the next level, increasing engagement and student achievement without changing the way they teach. In addition, with the ability to incorporate multiple sources of lecture materials -- from slideshows to smart boards as well as links to secondary sources -- all content is captured, perfectly synchronized and immediately published for student viewing live and on-demand.
Currently, nine of the 23 system universities use Mediasite to record and manage lectures, trainings and special events from anywhere - classrooms, campus lawns or in the field. This flexibility, coupled with the My Mediasite application, allows faculty, staff and students to create, edit, manage and share academic video from their desktops or mobile devices. Among the current CSU campuses using Mediasite to enhance student learning are California State San Marcos, California State Fullerton School of Nursing and San Diego State University.
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"As the largest public university system in the United States, CSU is supporting the success of its students with empowering video-learning technologies," said Gary Weis, CEO, Sonic Foundry. "According to a recent Wainhouse Research study, the ability to capture lectures and provide students access to those lectures is a key success factor in increased retention and graduation. Such technology ensures the rich repository of educational content and materials has a secure, central and highly-functional home -- while streamlining the most time-consuming steps of traditional video capture -- for the benefit of faculty and staff alike."
About the California State University
The California State University is the largest system of senior higher education in the country, with 23 campuses, 49,000 faculty and staff and 474,600 students. Half of the CSU's students transfer from California Community Colleges. Created in 1960, the mission of the CSU is to provide high-quality, affordable education to meet the ever changing needs of California. With its commitment to quality, opportunity, and student success, the CSU is renowned for superb teaching, innovative research and for producing job-ready graduates. Each year, the CSU awards more than 105,000 degrees. One in every 20 Americans holding a college degree is a graduate of the CSU and our alumni are 3 million strong. Connect with and learn more about the CSU at the CSU Media Center.
About Sonic Foundry, Inc.
Sonic Foundry (SOFO) is the trusted global leader for video capture, management and streaming solutions. Trusted by educational institutions, corporations and government entities, Mediasite Video Platform quickly and cost-effectively automates the capture, management, delivery and search of live and on-demand streaming videos and rich media. Mediasite transforms communications, training, education and events for more than 4,300 customers in over 65 countries. Leading analyst research firms Aragon, Forrester, Wainhouse and Frost & Sullivan recognize Sonic Foundry as a leader in enterprise video, webcasting and lecture capture.
2016 Sonic Foundry, Inc. Product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of Sonic Foundry, Inc. or their respective owners.
Prasanta Mazumdar By
Express News Service
GUWAHATI: The SS Khaplang faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K)
has opposed the India-Myanmar border fencing work asserting that it is against the wishes of the Nagas.
The ongoing Indo-Naga-Myanmar international border fencing, being undertaken jointly by Indian and Myanmar armies in the heart of Naga settlement Pangsha village is totally against the wishes of the Nagas and the Nagas have not been consulted or their consent was acquired at any stage, the NSCN-K said in a statement.
The outfit alleged that the physical barrier was being instituted to accentuate the 1953 Nehru-U Nu arbitrary partition of Naga country and to keep the Nagas divided and marginalized permanently.
The Nagas have a sizeable population in Myanmar.
The NSCN-K, which unilaterally abrogated its ceasefire with the Centre in 2015, said when the rest of the world was making progress by breaking down every physical and ideological barriers, India and
Myanmar was resorting to another despotic imposition of a physical wall between same families that live side by side since time immemorial.
Solidifying the imaginary borderline that runs in the middle of one's hearth and tearing apart the same family into two countries clearly demonstrates the blatant disregard to the sentiments of subjected people and defies the very ideals of humanity, international peace and security the two great democracies underhandedly are trying to promote in the global arena, the statement said.
It added: The relentless Indo-Myanmar policies and conspiracies to illegally divide and suppress the Nagas only prove anti-thesis and is resulting in the resurgence of even the dormant spirited Nagas to
challenge the threat emanating from this deliberate and heinous programme of physical partitioning. The passions and patriotic fervor of the Nagas across the border are running high and may spill over any moment. It is not a mere obligation but a bounden duty of every Naga citizen to rise to the occasion and assert the rights which are inherent.
The NSCN-K said it would explore every means and ways to thwart further forcible division of our motherland, homes, and families in the hands of the colonizing forces.
GUWAHATI: The SS Khaplang faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K) has opposed the India-Myanmar border fencing work asserting that it is against the wishes of the Nagas. The ongoing Indo-Naga-Myanmar international border fencing, being undertaken jointly by Indian and Myanmar armies in the heart of Naga settlement Pangsha village is totally against the wishes of the Nagas and the Nagas have not been consulted or their consent was acquired at any stage, the NSCN-K said in a statement. The outfit alleged that the physical barrier was being instituted to accentuate the 1953 Nehru-U Nu arbitrary partition of Naga country and to keep the Nagas divided and marginalized permanently. The Nagas have a sizeable population in Myanmar. The NSCN-K, which unilaterally abrogated its ceasefire with the Centre in 2015, said when the rest of the world was making progress by breaking down every physical and ideological barriers, India and Myanmar was resorting to another despotic imposition of a physical wall between same families that live side by side since time immemorial. Solidifying the imaginary borderline that runs in the middle of one's hearth and tearing apart the same family into two countries clearly demonstrates the blatant disregard to the sentiments of subjected people and defies the very ideals of humanity, international peace and security the two great democracies underhandedly are trying to promote in the global arena, the statement said. It added: The relentless Indo-Myanmar policies and conspiracies to illegally divide and suppress the Nagas only prove anti-thesis and is resulting in the resurgence of even the dormant spirited Nagas to challenge the threat emanating from this deliberate and heinous programme of physical partitioning. The passions and patriotic fervor of the Nagas across the border are running high and may spill over any moment. It is not a mere obligation but a bounden duty of every Naga citizen to rise to the occasion and assert the rights which are inherent. The NSCN-K said it would explore every means and ways to thwart further forcible division of our motherland, homes, and families in the hands of the colonizing forces.
By PTI
KANPUR: Three persons were today arrested with counterfeit Rs 2,000 notes having a face value of Rs 7.64 lakh from Pukharian area in Kanpur Dehat district, police said.
After a tip-off, the police raided the house of Samrendra Sachan and seized fake notes in huge numbers along with a high quality printer and a scanner. Paswan was arrested on the spot, SP Prabhakar Chowdhary said.
The remaining two accused, Prasoon Sachan and Ashish Gupta, were arrested after Samrendra gave their location during an interrogation, he said, adding fake notes with face-value Rs 7.64 was recovered from them.
"The accused said that they have circulated fake Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes having face value Rs 80 lakh in Kanpur and its surrounding areas. They used to exchange people's demonetised notes with fake ones," the SP claimed.
Even though the seized notes look similar to the real ones, the paper is thinner and the RBI mark is missing on the notes, he said.
The accused were all graduates and one of them was an M.Sc graduate in Computer, Chowdhary said, adding the police has lodged a manhunt to nab other members of the gang.
A case has been lodged under relevant sections of the IPC and the matter is being probed, the SP said.
KANPUR: Three persons were today arrested with counterfeit Rs 2,000 notes having a face value of Rs 7.64 lakh from Pukharian area in Kanpur Dehat district, police said. After a tip-off, the police raided the house of Samrendra Sachan and seized fake notes in huge numbers along with a high quality printer and a scanner. Paswan was arrested on the spot, SP Prabhakar Chowdhary said. The remaining two accused, Prasoon Sachan and Ashish Gupta, were arrested after Samrendra gave their location during an interrogation, he said, adding fake notes with face-value Rs 7.64 was recovered from them. "The accused said that they have circulated fake Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes having face value Rs 80 lakh in Kanpur and its surrounding areas. They used to exchange people's demonetised notes with fake ones," the SP claimed. Even though the seized notes look similar to the real ones, the paper is thinner and the RBI mark is missing on the notes, he said. The accused were all graduates and one of them was an M.Sc graduate in Computer, Chowdhary said, adding the police has lodged a manhunt to nab other members of the gang. A case has been lodged under relevant sections of the IPC and the matter is being probed, the SP said.
Namita bajpai By
Express News Service
LUCKNOW: A referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modis demonetisation, a verdict on Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadavs governance in the past five years, a reaction to the Yadav pariwars internal squabble, and a semifinal to the big battle of 2019 the Uttar Pradesh elections could be all of these and many other factors rolled into one.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh
Yadav honours renowned poet Gopal
Das Neeraj in Lucknow on Wednesday | PTI
As far as the four main parties are concerned, the BSP appears to be the most prepared of the lot. It has already announced 403 candidates, has its chief ministerial face leading from the front and its big rallies and small sabhas are underway for quite some time.
The ruling SP, on the other hand, is a divided house and the BJP is yet to announce its chief ministerial candidate, though both Modi and party chief Amit Shah have launched their blitzkrieg across the state. For the Congress, all hopes are on a much talked-about alliance with the ruling party.
The implications of the recent Supreme Court order banning political players from seeking votes in the name of religion, caste, creed or language would be visible as the electorate stands sharply divided along religious and caste lines.
The fate of the SP seems to be hanging in the balance with the daily twists and turns in the intense clash of egos among the Yadavs.
All Opposition parties are keeping a close eye on the developments in the SP to reap maximum benefits from the situation.
The BJP is yet to announce its candidates. We will announce the list of our candidates in phases, said party spokesperson Dr Chandramohan.
We will fight and win on the issues of good governance and development. This time the lotus will bloom on over 300 seats, said BJP state chief Keshav Kumar Maurya. The Karaina exodus, Muzzafarnagar riots, Bulandshahr rape case and the overall poor law and order situation in the state will be some other issues besides development that the party will focus on in these polls, Chandramohan said.Asked about the partys chief ministerial face, said a senior party functionary, There is no dearth of leaders in the BJP. When the time comes, we will present the CM candidate. BJP leaders also feel that the note ban will up the partys chances in the state.
And the BSP is operating at a different level. We have been working silently. Our party candidates are final. The names have been announced at the district level and the candidates are already working in their constituencies, said a party leader.
LUCKNOW: A referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modis demonetisation, a verdict on Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadavs governance in the past five years, a reaction to the Yadav pariwars internal squabble, and a semifinal to the big battle of 2019 the Uttar Pradesh elections could be all of these and many other factors rolled into one. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav honours renowned poet Gopal Das Neeraj in Lucknow on Wednesday | PTIAs far as the four main parties are concerned, the BSP appears to be the most prepared of the lot. It has already announced 403 candidates, has its chief ministerial face leading from the front and its big rallies and small sabhas are underway for quite some time. The ruling SP, on the other hand, is a divided house and the BJP is yet to announce its chief ministerial candidate, though both Modi and party chief Amit Shah have launched their blitzkrieg across the state. For the Congress, all hopes are on a much talked-about alliance with the ruling party. The implications of the recent Supreme Court order banning political players from seeking votes in the name of religion, caste, creed or language would be visible as the electorate stands sharply divided along religious and caste lines. The fate of the SP seems to be hanging in the balance with the daily twists and turns in the intense clash of egos among the Yadavs. All Opposition parties are keeping a close eye on the developments in the SP to reap maximum benefits from the situation. The BJP is yet to announce its candidates. We will announce the list of our candidates in phases, said party spokesperson Dr Chandramohan. We will fight and win on the issues of good governance and development. This time the lotus will bloom on over 300 seats, said BJP state chief Keshav Kumar Maurya. The Karaina exodus, Muzzafarnagar riots, Bulandshahr rape case and the overall poor law and order situation in the state will be some other issues besides development that the party will focus on in these polls, Chandramohan said.Asked about the partys chief ministerial face, said a senior party functionary, There is no dearth of leaders in the BJP. When the time comes, we will present the CM candidate. BJP leaders also feel that the note ban will up the partys chances in the state. And the BSP is operating at a different level. We have been working silently. Our party candidates are final. The names have been announced at the district level and the candidates are already working in their constituencies, said a party leader.
Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Amid allegations of corruption, the Army commander who was ignored for the post of Army chief met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday. Interestingly, Lt. General Praveen Bakshi did not meet Army Chief Bipin Rawat. Normally, every Army Commander makes a courtesy call to the Chief, whenever he is in Delhi. Bakshi had assured full support to Army chief and continued to serve, putting speculations of his resignation to an end. But, he has gone on a month-long-leave till end of this month.
Wednesdays meeting was the second between Bakshi and Parrikar. Sources said that Parrikars office had received complaints of misappropriation of funds allocated to the Eastern Army Commander. Bakshi, had mentioned that he wanted to come clean from the allegations by investigating the issue.
NEW DELHI: Amid allegations of corruption, the Army commander who was ignored for the post of Army chief met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday. Interestingly, Lt. General Praveen Bakshi did not meet Army Chief Bipin Rawat. Normally, every Army Commander makes a courtesy call to the Chief, whenever he is in Delhi. Bakshi had assured full support to Army chief and continued to serve, putting speculations of his resignation to an end. But, he has gone on a month-long-leave till end of this month. Wednesdays meeting was the second between Bakshi and Parrikar. Sources said that Parrikars office had received complaints of misappropriation of funds allocated to the Eastern Army Commander. Bakshi, had mentioned that he wanted to come clean from the allegations by investigating the issue.
Prasanta Mazumdar By
Express News Service
GUWAHATI: Come January 7, Manipurs apex social organisation of the Nagas, United Naga Council (UNC), will take a decision on whether to continue its economic blockade or lift it.
UNC will meet the leaders of all frontal organisations of the Nagas of Manipur on January 7. They will express their views and accordingly, a consensus decision will be taken on the ongoing economic blockade, UNC general secretary Milan Shimray told Express on Wednesday.
He said a consensus decision would also be taken on the banning of the construction of trans-Asian railways and other national projects in the Naga areas of Manipur.
The blockade was enforced since November 1 on two National Highwaysthe lifelines of Manipurin protest against the decision of the States Congress government to create seven more districts, particularly Sadar Hills, without consulting the Nagas. In the wake of these developments, the State government had recently started providing security to bring the stranded goods-laden vehicles from Nagaland and Assam.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Wednesday announced the schedule for the two-phase Manipur polls. Shimray said, It is an electoral decision but ours is a political issue on our ancestral land. We are concerned about our ancestral land.
Asked if the UNC will make any appeal to the Nagas to boycott Congress in the polls, he said, We have not yet discussed banning Congress in the Naga areas. Three anti-tribal bills were introduced in August and subsequently, four Naga Peoples Front (NPF) MLAs had resigned in protest but eight other Naga MLAs (all of Congress) did not comply with the resolution of the Nagas (who had resolved to oppose the bills).
On August 31 last year, three bills Protection of Manipur Peoples Bill 2015, Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms (seventh amendment) Bill 2015, and Manipur Shops and Establishment (second amendment) Bill 2015 were introduced in the Assembly. The Nagas viewed the bills as anti-Naga and anti-tribals and registered their protests.
Shimray said the Nagas expected their aspirations, sentiments and opinions to be expressed through the elected Naga representatives. But are they doing that? Let them answer, he added.
Congress didnt fulfill our aspirations. These MLAs supported the stand of the State government on the creation of the seven districts or else they would have resigned, he added.
Twenty of Manipurs 60 Assembly seats lie in tribal areas. The rest are in Imphal Valley where pre-dominantly Meiteis (Manipuris) are in a large majority.
GUWAHATI: Come January 7, Manipurs apex social organisation of the Nagas, United Naga Council (UNC), will take a decision on whether to continue its economic blockade or lift it. UNC will meet the leaders of all frontal organisations of the Nagas of Manipur on January 7. They will express their views and accordingly, a consensus decision will be taken on the ongoing economic blockade, UNC general secretary Milan Shimray told Express on Wednesday. He said a consensus decision would also be taken on the banning of the construction of trans-Asian railways and other national projects in the Naga areas of Manipur. The blockade was enforced since November 1 on two National Highwaysthe lifelines of Manipurin protest against the decision of the States Congress government to create seven more districts, particularly Sadar Hills, without consulting the Nagas. In the wake of these developments, the State government had recently started providing security to bring the stranded goods-laden vehicles from Nagaland and Assam. Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Wednesday announced the schedule for the two-phase Manipur polls. Shimray said, It is an electoral decision but ours is a political issue on our ancestral land. We are concerned about our ancestral land. Asked if the UNC will make any appeal to the Nagas to boycott Congress in the polls, he said, We have not yet discussed banning Congress in the Naga areas. Three anti-tribal bills were introduced in August and subsequently, four Naga Peoples Front (NPF) MLAs had resigned in protest but eight other Naga MLAs (all of Congress) did not comply with the resolution of the Nagas (who had resolved to oppose the bills). On August 31 last year, three bills Protection of Manipur Peoples Bill 2015, Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms (seventh amendment) Bill 2015, and Manipur Shops and Establishment (second amendment) Bill 2015 were introduced in the Assembly. The Nagas viewed the bills as anti-Naga and anti-tribals and registered their protests. Shimray said the Nagas expected their aspirations, sentiments and opinions to be expressed through the elected Naga representatives. But are they doing that? Let them answer, he added. Congress didnt fulfill our aspirations. These MLAs supported the stand of the State government on the creation of the seven districts or else they would have resigned, he added. Twenty of Manipurs 60 Assembly seats lie in tribal areas. The rest are in Imphal Valley where pre-dominantly Meiteis (Manipuris) are in a large majority.
Prakash Nanda By
Predictably, the Karnataka governments proposed plan to provide Kannadigas 100 per cent reservation mainly in blue-collar jobs in private companies except infotech and biotech sectorsin the state has evoked adverse reactions from many quarters. The move is said to go against the national policy of one country, one market and one set of laws.
However, this is not the first time India is witnessing the socalled sons of the soil controversy. There have been provocative remarks by Maratha champion Raj Thackeray against North Indian, particularly Bihari and Uttar Pradeshi migrants in Mumbai.
Usually, the phrase sons of the soil is considered divisive because it implies separation from the national mainstream. But such an assessment will be simplistic. Contrary to traditional notions, some dimensions of the phenomenon of sons of the soil are healthy and if sympathetically viewed and addressed, they promote the cause of national integration. Only when these dimensions are overlooked contemptuously, the phenomenon takes a nasty turn.
States like Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, over many years now, have been exporting manpower to many parts of the country. Bihari labourers comprise nearly 30 per cent of Delhis slum dwellers.
They are an important component of Punjabs agricultural success. In Tamil Nadu factories and Gujarat industrial establishments, Biharis and Odias constitute the bulk of the labour force. There are no protests against them in these states. In contrast, there is massive antipathy against Biharis from locals in states such as Assam and Maharashtra. Why?
Examples from a few foreign countries will help us find an answer. When Sri Lanka got independence in 1947, the two largest ethnic groups were the Sinhalese, with 74 per cent of the population; and the Tamils, with 19 per cent. Seeds for division were sown when the Lankan government created the Gal Oya Development Board for providing landless peasants with fertile areas in the Eastern Province. Initially, most migrants were Tamils and Muslims. But then, came a group of Kandyan Sinhalese villagers from the Central Province, and then mostly Sinhalese from other provinces. They received better land. This inflow activated a demographic threat among the Tamils leading to the formation of protest groups and self-protection militias. The dangerous LTTE was also born.
Similarly, during the partition of India, 95 per cent of the population of Pakistans Sindh province was Sindhi. But by 1951, 50 per cent of the urban population of Sindh was Mohajirs (who came from India) whose mother tongue was Urdu. It reached 80 per cent in Karachi and 66 per cent in Hyderabad. The government entered the equation as early as July 1948 when Karachi was turned into a separate federal area under the Centres jurisdiction. This meant a considerable financial loss for Sindh.
As a result, the urban-rural divide widened, with Karachi receiving investment almost exclusively and rural Sindh being ignored. Worse, Punjabis were further brought to Sindh as landholders. Sindhis began to see themselves as sons of the soil, demographically challenged by Mohajirs and Punjabis. Now, Pakistani analysts believe Sindh may follow the example of what today is Bangladesh. Similar examples are the Chakmas in the Chittagong Hills of Bangladesh, the Moros in the Philippines, Uighurs in Xinjiang, China, and Achenese in Indonesia. The point is, causes of national integration are not strengthened by promoting migrants to prosper amidst the locals poverty and backwardness.
If in the name of national integration, a Punjabi sets up a factory in Telengana and fills up all posts of sweepers and clerks with people from outside the state, then it promotes national disintegration. In other words, the sons of the soil slogan can only be confronted successfully by dealing with the sources of migration than with its consequences.
If Biharis face no problem in Punjab and Odias evoke no hostility in Gujarat, it is mainly because there is a perennial shortage of manual labour, as more and more people are graduating to better paying jobs in these states. But in a state like Assam, Biharis are targeted because jobs are shrinking fast, a problem compounded by the influx of alleged illegal migration from Bangladesh. Similarly, there have been instances of resentment against Biharis trying for subordinate posts in the government and education sector in other states which have substantial number of educated but unemployed people. A few years ago, the Congress government in Rajashan decided not to recognise Bihar degrees as Biharis were flooding their subordinate posts.
So, if Biharis, or people from Uttar Pradesh, are disturbed in Mumbai, then the real reason goes beyond the aggressiveness of Shiv Sainiks who, all told, did send a first-generation Bihari- migrant like Sanjay Nirupam (or a first generation Bengali-migrant like Pritish Nandy) to the Parliament not long ago. It is sad that the overall economy of Maharashtra, once among Indias richest states, is not doing well. It will be worth analysing the migration pattern of poor rural Maharashtrians to Mumbai in search of jobs that Biharis are doing. And it is not just a coincidence that farmers in Maharashtra are committing suicide on a large scale.
Thus, Karnatakas latest move is a clear sign that the states rural economy, as is the case in the rest of the country, is not doing well, leading to increasing migration of unskilled labour to cities. The problem needs a long-term solution at the national level; there is no point in blaming the Karnataka government for its incompetence.
Prakash Nanda Distinguished Fellow, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi
Email: prakasnanda@gmail.com
Predictably, the Karnataka governments proposed plan to provide Kannadigas 100 per cent reservation mainly in blue-collar jobs in private companies except infotech and biotech sectorsin the state has evoked adverse reactions from many quarters. The move is said to go against the national policy of one country, one market and one set of laws. However, this is not the first time India is witnessing the socalled sons of the soil controversy. There have been provocative remarks by Maratha champion Raj Thackeray against North Indian, particularly Bihari and Uttar Pradeshi migrants in Mumbai. Usually, the phrase sons of the soil is considered divisive because it implies separation from the national mainstream. But such an assessment will be simplistic. Contrary to traditional notions, some dimensions of the phenomenon of sons of the soil are healthy and if sympathetically viewed and addressed, they promote the cause of national integration. Only when these dimensions are overlooked contemptuously, the phenomenon takes a nasty turn. States like Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, over many years now, have been exporting manpower to many parts of the country. Bihari labourers comprise nearly 30 per cent of Delhis slum dwellers. They are an important component of Punjabs agricultural success. In Tamil Nadu factories and Gujarat industrial establishments, Biharis and Odias constitute the bulk of the labour force. There are no protests against them in these states. In contrast, there is massive antipathy against Biharis from locals in states such as Assam and Maharashtra. Why? Examples from a few foreign countries will help us find an answer. When Sri Lanka got independence in 1947, the two largest ethnic groups were the Sinhalese, with 74 per cent of the population; and the Tamils, with 19 per cent. Seeds for division were sown when the Lankan government created the Gal Oya Development Board for providing landless peasants with fertile areas in the Eastern Province. Initially, most migrants were Tamils and Muslims. But then, came a group of Kandyan Sinhalese villagers from the Central Province, and then mostly Sinhalese from other provinces. They received better land. This inflow activated a demographic threat among the Tamils leading to the formation of protest groups and self-protection militias. The dangerous LTTE was also born. Similarly, during the partition of India, 95 per cent of the population of Pakistans Sindh province was Sindhi. But by 1951, 50 per cent of the urban population of Sindh was Mohajirs (who came from India) whose mother tongue was Urdu. It reached 80 per cent in Karachi and 66 per cent in Hyderabad. The government entered the equation as early as July 1948 when Karachi was turned into a separate federal area under the Centres jurisdiction. This meant a considerable financial loss for Sindh. As a result, the urban-rural divide widened, with Karachi receiving investment almost exclusively and rural Sindh being ignored. Worse, Punjabis were further brought to Sindh as landholders. Sindhis began to see themselves as sons of the soil, demographically challenged by Mohajirs and Punjabis. Now, Pakistani analysts believe Sindh may follow the example of what today is Bangladesh. Similar examples are the Chakmas in the Chittagong Hills of Bangladesh, the Moros in the Philippines, Uighurs in Xinjiang, China, and Achenese in Indonesia. The point is, causes of national integration are not strengthened by promoting migrants to prosper amidst the locals poverty and backwardness. If in the name of national integration, a Punjabi sets up a factory in Telengana and fills up all posts of sweepers and clerks with people from outside the state, then it promotes national disintegration. In other words, the sons of the soil slogan can only be confronted successfully by dealing with the sources of migration than with its consequences. If Biharis face no problem in Punjab and Odias evoke no hostility in Gujarat, it is mainly because there is a perennial shortage of manual labour, as more and more people are graduating to better paying jobs in these states. But in a state like Assam, Biharis are targeted because jobs are shrinking fast, a problem compounded by the influx of alleged illegal migration from Bangladesh. Similarly, there have been instances of resentment against Biharis trying for subordinate posts in the government and education sector in other states which have substantial number of educated but unemployed people. A few years ago, the Congress government in Rajashan decided not to recognise Bihar degrees as Biharis were flooding their subordinate posts. So, if Biharis, or people from Uttar Pradesh, are disturbed in Mumbai, then the real reason goes beyond the aggressiveness of Shiv Sainiks who, all told, did send a first-generation Bihari- migrant like Sanjay Nirupam (or a first generation Bengali-migrant like Pritish Nandy) to the Parliament not long ago. It is sad that the overall economy of Maharashtra, once among Indias richest states, is not doing well. It will be worth analysing the migration pattern of poor rural Maharashtrians to Mumbai in search of jobs that Biharis are doing. And it is not just a coincidence that farmers in Maharashtra are committing suicide on a large scale. Thus, Karnatakas latest move is a clear sign that the states rural economy, as is the case in the rest of the country, is not doing well, leading to increasing migration of unskilled labour to cities. The problem needs a long-term solution at the national level; there is no point in blaming the Karnataka government for its incompetence. Prakash Nanda Distinguished Fellow, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi Email: prakasnanda@gmail.com
The government has embarked on an ambitious programme to give a 12-digit unique identification number to 88 million cows and buffaloes in the country. According to a report, one lakh trained technicians have been sent to every nook and cranny to affix a tag inside an ear of each such animal. The polyurethane tag is tamperproof, cannot be opened by a wrench and is designed to last for years. It weighs just eight grams and causes no trouble to the animal. Once the tag is in place, the owner will be given an animal health card giving all its details as also the owners.
The government claims that it will help in better breeding, increasing milk production and doubling the owners income by 2022. No other country, including Switzerland and Australia, which have vast cattle wealth, has such an animal identification system. The UID programme for animals was not discussed much in the public domain; so, few have a clear idea of the benefits that would accrue to the nation.
That so many people are employed in it is a pointer to the enormous cost involved. Also, it is not known how the UID will help in improving the quantity and quality of the milk yield. At best it will help in having a databank on Indias cattle wealth. Eventually, it will involve the setting up of a department with adequate staff to update the databank by removing those which die and including those which are born.
The critics may see it as an attempt to keep track of illegal slaughter of the animals, because with the information the government would have, it would be easy to identify those who push their cows and buffaloes into slaughterhouses or transport them to states like Kerala and West Bengal where cow slaughter is not yet banned and a country like Bangladesh where they are in demand. The question arises: Why should animals have an UID when not every citizen has been given an Aadhar card?
The government has embarked on an ambitious programme to give a 12-digit unique identification number to 88 million cows and buffaloes in the country. According to a report, one lakh trained technicians have been sent to every nook and cranny to affix a tag inside an ear of each such animal. The polyurethane tag is tamperproof, cannot be opened by a wrench and is designed to last for years. It weighs just eight grams and causes no trouble to the animal. Once the tag is in place, the owner will be given an animal health card giving all its details as also the owners. The government claims that it will help in better breeding, increasing milk production and doubling the owners income by 2022. No other country, including Switzerland and Australia, which have vast cattle wealth, has such an animal identification system. The UID programme for animals was not discussed much in the public domain; so, few have a clear idea of the benefits that would accrue to the nation. That so many people are employed in it is a pointer to the enormous cost involved. Also, it is not known how the UID will help in improving the quantity and quality of the milk yield. At best it will help in having a databank on Indias cattle wealth. Eventually, it will involve the setting up of a department with adequate staff to update the databank by removing those which die and including those which are born. The critics may see it as an attempt to keep track of illegal slaughter of the animals, because with the information the government would have, it would be easy to identify those who push their cows and buffaloes into slaughterhouses or transport them to states like Kerala and West Bengal where cow slaughter is not yet banned and a country like Bangladesh where they are in demand. The question arises: Why should animals have an UID when not every citizen has been given an Aadhar card?
By Express News Service
VIJAYAWADA: A major fire mishap occurred at Sentini Hospital in Vijayawada on Tuesday. Smoke billowed out of the Central Processing Unit of a computer in the MRI Scanning Room on the first floor of the building reportedly due to short circuit. Thankfully, there is no casualty.
Fire service official shows the room from
where smoke emanated, at Sentini Hospital
in Vijayawada on Tuesday
There was a tense atmosphere as smoke spread all over the hospital and as many as 51 patients had to be evacuated to nearby Ayush and Ramesh hospitals. There were about 170 persons inside the hospital at the time of the incident.
The fire detection equipment sounded alarm immediately. The smoke spread quickly through all air conditioners and resulted in the burning of the ceiling. On being alerted, three fire tenders reached the spot and broke the glass panes of the hospital to provide ventilation. The fire service officials said there was only one fire exit, due to which evacuation became difficult.
According to Assistant Commissioner of Police N Satyanandam, hospital officials have responded fast. He said investigation showed that there was no negligence on the part of the hospital administration.
He said further investigation is still on, based on which decision would be taken as to whether a case should be registered or not against the hospital authorities.
According to fire services department Director General K Satyanarayana, hospital has necessary clearances and permissions from Fire department. Accordingly, alarm went off immediately saving lives, he said.
Health minister Kamineni Srinivas instructed district officials to submit a report on the accident.
However, Sentini Hospital chairman Seshagiri Rao refused to respond and stayed away from the media.
VIJAYAWADA: A major fire mishap occurred at Sentini Hospital in Vijayawada on Tuesday. Smoke billowed out of the Central Processing Unit of a computer in the MRI Scanning Room on the first floor of the building reportedly due to short circuit. Thankfully, there is no casualty. Fire service official shows the room from where smoke emanated, at Sentini Hospital in Vijayawada on Tuesday There was a tense atmosphere as smoke spread all over the hospital and as many as 51 patients had to be evacuated to nearby Ayush and Ramesh hospitals. There were about 170 persons inside the hospital at the time of the incident. The fire detection equipment sounded alarm immediately. The smoke spread quickly through all air conditioners and resulted in the burning of the ceiling. On being alerted, three fire tenders reached the spot and broke the glass panes of the hospital to provide ventilation. The fire service officials said there was only one fire exit, due to which evacuation became difficult. According to Assistant Commissioner of Police N Satyanandam, hospital officials have responded fast. He said investigation showed that there was no negligence on the part of the hospital administration. He said further investigation is still on, based on which decision would be taken as to whether a case should be registered or not against the hospital authorities. According to fire services department Director General K Satyanarayana, hospital has necessary clearances and permissions from Fire department. Accordingly, alarm went off immediately saving lives, he said. Health minister Kamineni Srinivas instructed district officials to submit a report on the accident. However, Sentini Hospital chairman Seshagiri Rao refused to respond and stayed away from the media.
By Express News Service
KARWAR : BJP MP from Uttara Kannada Anant Kumar Hegde was caught on camera thrashing doctors at a private hospital in Sirsi on Monday night.
According to sources, Hegde along with his followers rushed to TSS Hospital in Sirsi on Monday night accusing the doctors of being negligent in treating his mother. Hegde enquired about the same with the doctors and allegedly assaulted Dr Madhukeshwar, Dr Balachandra Bhat and staffer Rahul.
CCTV grab of MP Anant Kumar Hegde hitting a doctor at a Sirsi hospital on Monday
The MPs mother had sustained fractures after a fall in her house recently. On Monday, she was taken to TSS Hospital, but the doctors are said have refused to treat her. Later, she was taken to a hospital in Mangaluru, the source added.
The alleged assault was captured on CCTV cameras in the hospital. However, no complaint was filed with the police as Hegde is said to have apologised to the doctors later. As the video clip went viral on social media on Tuesday, Congress workers staged a protest against the MP. Later, members of the Indian Medical Association joined the chorus and submitted a memorandum to the Sirsi assistant commissioner requesting him to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
Hegde said: No one will tolerate if mothers treatment is neglected by the hospital. My mother was taken to Mangaluru as she had not got proper treatment here. I agree that I did a mistake. But the hospital also neglected in ensuring treatment to the patient and I hope that it will mend its ways in the coming days.
KARWAR : BJP MP from Uttara Kannada Anant Kumar Hegde was caught on camera thrashing doctors at a private hospital in Sirsi on Monday night. According to sources, Hegde along with his followers rushed to TSS Hospital in Sirsi on Monday night accusing the doctors of being negligent in treating his mother. Hegde enquired about the same with the doctors and allegedly assaulted Dr Madhukeshwar, Dr Balachandra Bhat and staffer Rahul. CCTV grab of MP Anant Kumar Hegde hitting a doctor at a Sirsi hospital on Monday The MPs mother had sustained fractures after a fall in her house recently. On Monday, she was taken to TSS Hospital, but the doctors are said have refused to treat her. Later, she was taken to a hospital in Mangaluru, the source added. The alleged assault was captured on CCTV cameras in the hospital. However, no complaint was filed with the police as Hegde is said to have apologised to the doctors later. As the video clip went viral on social media on Tuesday, Congress workers staged a protest against the MP. Later, members of the Indian Medical Association joined the chorus and submitted a memorandum to the Sirsi assistant commissioner requesting him to ensure that such incidents do not recur. Hegde said: No one will tolerate if mothers treatment is neglected by the hospital. My mother was taken to Mangaluru as she had not got proper treatment here. I agree that I did a mistake. But the hospital also neglected in ensuring treatment to the patient and I hope that it will mend its ways in the coming days.
K Shiva Kumar By
Express News Service
MYSURU: The Cauvery issue threatens to boil over again with the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordering Karnataka to continue release of 2000 cusecs of water per day to Tamil Nadu and the state government stating that it cannot. The SC order has caused concern in a drought year in the state, with reservoir levels fast dipping and farmers threatening another agitation over the issue which was in lull for over two months. The state government has expressed inability to release water. Water Resources Minister M B Patil said on Wednesday, "The reservoirs have no water and the state will not be in a position to release further water."
The Kabini and Krishnarajasagar reservoirs are left with just 13 tmc ft of water to meet the drinking water needs of Bengaluru, Mysuru and other towns till April-end. The water is also required for wildlife, particularly of over 5,000 elephants in Nagarhole, Bandipur and Wayanad regions.
The Kabini reservoir level is currently 2260.30 ft as against 2265.8 ft ( max 2284 ft) last year. Outflow is 500 cusecs while inflow is only 15 cusecs. The KRS level is 79.44 ft as against 105.79 ft ( max 124.8 ft) compared to previous year.
Patil added that Karnataka has filed a petition pleading for modification of the order and that it has stopped the release of water to farmers for the standing crops in order to meet drinking water needs. The Supreme Court on Wednesday also fixed day-to-day hearing on the appeals filed by states against the 2007 award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) on sharing of water from February 7.
Farmer organisations have already opposed the court order, saying despite their demand no water is being released for standing crops and that they have lost rabi crops.
G Made Gowda, president of the Cauvery Raitha Hitharakshana Samithi and former MP, said no water should be released from the reservoirs. "We will launch an agitation against the government if they fall in line and release water. We will not hesitate to guard crest gates and take over reservoirs as drinking water should be priority of any government in summer," he added.
Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd Managing Director Shivashankar said water is available to meet drinking water needs only till April end.
Dams run dry
Kabini
Max 2284 ft
Current 2260 ft
Last yr 2265 .8 ft
KRS
Max 124.8 ft
Level 79.44 ft
Last yr 105.79 ft
MYSURU: The Cauvery issue threatens to boil over again with the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordering Karnataka to continue release of 2000 cusecs of water per day to Tamil Nadu and the state government stating that it cannot. The SC order has caused concern in a drought year in the state, with reservoir levels fast dipping and farmers threatening another agitation over the issue which was in lull for over two months. The state government has expressed inability to release water. Water Resources Minister M B Patil said on Wednesday, "The reservoirs have no water and the state will not be in a position to release further water." The Kabini and Krishnarajasagar reservoirs are left with just 13 tmc ft of water to meet the drinking water needs of Bengaluru, Mysuru and other towns till April-end. The water is also required for wildlife, particularly of over 5,000 elephants in Nagarhole, Bandipur and Wayanad regions. The Kabini reservoir level is currently 2260.30 ft as against 2265.8 ft ( max 2284 ft) last year. Outflow is 500 cusecs while inflow is only 15 cusecs. The KRS level is 79.44 ft as against 105.79 ft ( max 124.8 ft) compared to previous year. Patil added that Karnataka has filed a petition pleading for modification of the order and that it has stopped the release of water to farmers for the standing crops in order to meet drinking water needs. The Supreme Court on Wednesday also fixed day-to-day hearing on the appeals filed by states against the 2007 award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) on sharing of water from February 7. Farmer organisations have already opposed the court order, saying despite their demand no water is being released for standing crops and that they have lost rabi crops. G Made Gowda, president of the Cauvery Raitha Hitharakshana Samithi and former MP, said no water should be released from the reservoirs. "We will launch an agitation against the government if they fall in line and release water. We will not hesitate to guard crest gates and take over reservoirs as drinking water should be priority of any government in summer," he added. Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd Managing Director Shivashankar said water is available to meet drinking water needs only till April end.Dams run dryKabini Max 2284 ft Current 2260 ft Last yr 2265 .8 ftKRS Max 124.8 ft Level 79.44 ft Last yr 105.79 ft
By Express News Service
KASARGOD: District police chief Thomson Jose has banned public assemblies and processions in the district from Wednesday to Friday.
The preventive orders have been imposed against the backdrop of violence perpetrated allegedly by CPM and BJP activists in Cheruvathur and Kasargod town on Monday and Tuesday.
The restrictions have been imposed under Section 78 and 79 of Kerala Police Act for the preservation of peace and public safety. The situation would be reviewed after three days, he said. Under the sections, the restrictions could be imposed up to 15 days.
The BJP's hartal on Tuesday had turned violent in Kasargod town and neighbouring areas. Hartal supporters threw stones at cars, shops, banks, and clashes broke out when police intervened. The BJP had called the shutdown to protest against the attack on its march 'for political freedom' allegedly by CPM workers in Cheruvathur on Monday.
The CPM had planned to conduct a protest meet and procession in the town against BJP's violence in Kasargod town on Wednesday evening. The party cancelled it in the wake of the restrictions.
KASARGOD: District police chief Thomson Jose has banned public assemblies and processions in the district from Wednesday to Friday. The preventive orders have been imposed against the backdrop of violence perpetrated allegedly by CPM and BJP activists in Cheruvathur and Kasargod town on Monday and Tuesday. The restrictions have been imposed under Section 78 and 79 of Kerala Police Act for the preservation of peace and public safety. The situation would be reviewed after three days, he said. Under the sections, the restrictions could be imposed up to 15 days. The BJP's hartal on Tuesday had turned violent in Kasargod town and neighbouring areas. Hartal supporters threw stones at cars, shops, banks, and clashes broke out when police intervened. The BJP had called the shutdown to protest against the attack on its march 'for political freedom' allegedly by CPM workers in Cheruvathur on Monday. The CPM had planned to conduct a protest meet and procession in the town against BJP's violence in Kasargod town on Wednesday evening. The party cancelled it in the wake of the restrictions.
Sam Paul A By
Express News Service
KOCHI: A disclaimer in his blog reads I am not an economist. I am a civil engineer by profession. The 47-year-old engineer, who works with the Kerala governments special cell on the Mullaperiyar Dam water dispute had written and commented extensively on the threat posed by the Mullaperiyar dam to lakhs of people living in the Central Kerala, but of late he is becoming a credible voice on a matter even economists are finding it difficult to decipher.
James Wilson, a virtuoso on water resources management and interstate water disputes, hailing from Kollam in Kerala has emerged as an expert voice on the aftermath of the governments demonetisation drive. While people were groping in the dark to interpret the governments move in the days following November 8, his blog Decipher the Demonetisation, and his Twitter handle @jamewils have been feeding information to the public, largely revealing the drawbacks of the demonetisation drive. His posts had even forced the Reserve Bank of India to delete a statement issued by its deputy governor, R Gandhi, on the volume of new notes.
After the government decided to withdraw the higher value notes, I got two Rs 2000 notes in exchange of Rs 500 and Rs 1000. Later, I find it very difficult to get change for the new purple-pink currency notes. I went on to study the impact of the government decision and find serious drawbacks, he says.
His first tweet on demonetisation appeared on the night Prime Minister announced his decision to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Five weeks later
he launched his new blog on December 17. The post titled 500 NOTE Pivot note of the currency in circulation discussed about the number of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 in circulation and the time needed to replace the demonetised notes with new notes, supporting his argument with tables, graphs and pie charts.
He also rubbished the government version that it was planning demonetisation at least for 6 months in advance, by raising a question why did RBI push lakhs of crores of demonetised currency into the system in the preceding months before demonetisation? Just to demonetise it later?
On December 21, he published another hard-hitting piece A monumental disaster in the offing that analysed the capacity of printing presses and the possibility of outsourcing the work to foreign countries. So far his blog has been viewed by more than 71,000 people.
James says that he collects data from the websites of the Reserve Bank of India and the National Payment Corporation of India, along with referring to the journals before tweeting and writing his ideas in the blog.
He says that the government decision to demonetise the higher value currency notes and restricting the exchange of notes to five RBI centres after December 31, 2016 has only given people troubles. There may be several people living in the interiors of the country who are yet to know about the demonetisation.
Governments decision has only given pain and distress to the citizens, he added.
While most of the people are supporting his views, a few seems to be skeptic. "Your analysis is based on the assumption that the whole 24023 million pieces were in circulation before the demonetisation. Can it be true? A lot of people were hoarding money and definitely there were a few millions in the currency chests and in the banks. We have to take into consideration of this too when attempt an analysis like this," reads one of the comments on his blog.
KOCHI: A disclaimer in his blog reads I am not an economist. I am a civil engineer by profession. The 47-year-old engineer, who works with the Kerala governments special cell on the Mullaperiyar Dam water dispute had written and commented extensively on the threat posed by the Mullaperiyar dam to lakhs of people living in the Central Kerala, but of late he is becoming a credible voice on a matter even economists are finding it difficult to decipher. James Wilson, a virtuoso on water resources management and interstate water disputes, hailing from Kollam in Kerala has emerged as an expert voice on the aftermath of the governments demonetisation drive. While people were groping in the dark to interpret the governments move in the days following November 8, his blog Decipher the Demonetisation, and his Twitter handle @jamewils have been feeding information to the public, largely revealing the drawbacks of the demonetisation drive. His posts had even forced the Reserve Bank of India to delete a statement issued by its deputy governor, R Gandhi, on the volume of new notes. After the government decided to withdraw the higher value notes, I got two Rs 2000 notes in exchange of Rs 500 and Rs 1000. Later, I find it very difficult to get change for the new purple-pink currency notes. I went on to study the impact of the government decision and find serious drawbacks, he says. His first tweet on demonetisation appeared on the night Prime Minister announced his decision to withdraw Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Five weeks later he launched his new blog on December 17. The post titled 500 NOTE Pivot note of the currency in circulation discussed about the number of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 in circulation and the time needed to replace the demonetised notes with new notes, supporting his argument with tables, graphs and pie charts. He also rubbished the government version that it was planning demonetisation at least for 6 months in advance, by raising a question why did RBI push lakhs of crores of demonetised currency into the system in the preceding months before demonetisation? Just to demonetise it later? On December 21, he published another hard-hitting piece A monumental disaster in the offing that analysed the capacity of printing presses and the possibility of outsourcing the work to foreign countries. So far his blog has been viewed by more than 71,000 people. James says that he collects data from the websites of the Reserve Bank of India and the National Payment Corporation of India, along with referring to the journals before tweeting and writing his ideas in the blog. He says that the government decision to demonetise the higher value currency notes and restricting the exchange of notes to five RBI centres after December 31, 2016 has only given people troubles. There may be several people living in the interiors of the country who are yet to know about the demonetisation. Governments decision has only given pain and distress to the citizens, he added. While most of the people are supporting his views, a few seems to be skeptic. "Your analysis is based on the assumption that the whole 24023 million pieces were in circulation before the demonetisation. Can it be true? A lot of people were hoarding money and definitely there were a few millions in the currency chests and in the banks. We have to take into consideration of this too when attempt an analysis like this," reads one of the comments on his blog.
By Express News Service
CHENNAI: Parched and cracked fields, withered crops and dying farmers there are only 10 days left for the upcoming Pongal festival, but there is precious little to harvest, much less to celebrate for thousands of farmers and farmhands in Tamil Nadu.
The irony is unmistakable, as the severe drought is coming right after the unprecedented floods of the last monsoon during which the State received enough water to meet its needs for two-three years.
Acknowledging the gravity of the situation prevailing in the State due to monsoon failure, the effects of which have been accentuated by the meagre share it received from Cauvery water, the State government has directed collectors to submit the status of the standing crops in all districts except Chennai.
This assessment is necessary under the new guidelines of the Centre, which mandates a direct status check on the standing crops to be examined in 10 percent of villages.
To monitor this process, committees comprising ministers and senior IAS officers would be immediately constituted and would tour the districts till January 9 and submit their report to the State government on January 10. Based on this, a declaration about the impact of drought would be notified, said Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Tuesday.
This was decided in two back-to-back meetings he chaired at the Secretariat during the day. I assure the farmers that the relief assistance for the crop loss would be given immediately after the high-level committee submits its report.
Apart from this, the farmers who had insured their crops would get claims from insurance companies, Panneerselvam added in a statement.
The announcement came at a time when farmers associations, backed by opposition parties, have been laying siege to collectorates seeking to declare their districts as drought-hit.
The All Farmers Associations Coordination Committee had announced a road roko on Thursday, which, however, was deferred after the Chief Minister assured them of all efforts during a meeting with its leaders at the Secretariat on Tuesday.
This has been a particularly tough year for the farmers in the State, with both monsoon and the Cauvery water sharing agreement failing to deliver when it mattered.
The north-east monsoon was abject: at 62 percent deficit, this is the worst year in over a century.
All that Tamil Nadu received this year was 168 mm rains, second only to 163.5 mm recorded way back in 1876. As many as 21 of the 32 districts have received less than 40 per cent rains. What made this hurt the farmers is the failure to realise Tamil Nadus share from the Cauvery.
In this season between June and December, the State received only 66.60 tmc ft only about a third of what was awarded by the Cauvery Tribunal.
The distress in agrarian belts has led to an alarming number of farmer deaths. In Nagapattinam alone, there have been 39 deaths so far.
However, only two of them are suicides while the rest were mostly heart attacks, due yet another thankless season. But, desensitised by cycles of agrarian distress, a death or a few dozen does not perhaps matter if it is not a suicide.
CHENNAI: Parched and cracked fields, withered crops and dying farmers there are only 10 days left for the upcoming Pongal festival, but there is precious little to harvest, much less to celebrate for thousands of farmers and farmhands in Tamil Nadu. The irony is unmistakable, as the severe drought is coming right after the unprecedented floods of the last monsoon during which the State received enough water to meet its needs for two-three years. Acknowledging the gravity of the situation prevailing in the State due to monsoon failure, the effects of which have been accentuated by the meagre share it received from Cauvery water, the State government has directed collectors to submit the status of the standing crops in all districts except Chennai. This assessment is necessary under the new guidelines of the Centre, which mandates a direct status check on the standing crops to be examined in 10 percent of villages. To monitor this process, committees comprising ministers and senior IAS officers would be immediately constituted and would tour the districts till January 9 and submit their report to the State government on January 10. Based on this, a declaration about the impact of drought would be notified, said Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Tuesday. This was decided in two back-to-back meetings he chaired at the Secretariat during the day. I assure the farmers that the relief assistance for the crop loss would be given immediately after the high-level committee submits its report. Apart from this, the farmers who had insured their crops would get claims from insurance companies, Panneerselvam added in a statement. The announcement came at a time when farmers associations, backed by opposition parties, have been laying siege to collectorates seeking to declare their districts as drought-hit. The All Farmers Associations Coordination Committee had announced a road roko on Thursday, which, however, was deferred after the Chief Minister assured them of all efforts during a meeting with its leaders at the Secretariat on Tuesday. This has been a particularly tough year for the farmers in the State, with both monsoon and the Cauvery water sharing agreement failing to deliver when it mattered. The north-east monsoon was abject: at 62 percent deficit, this is the worst year in over a century. All that Tamil Nadu received this year was 168 mm rains, second only to 163.5 mm recorded way back in 1876. As many as 21 of the 32 districts have received less than 40 per cent rains. What made this hurt the farmers is the failure to realise Tamil Nadus share from the Cauvery. In this season between June and December, the State received only 66.60 tmc ft only about a third of what was awarded by the Cauvery Tribunal. The distress in agrarian belts has led to an alarming number of farmer deaths. In Nagapattinam alone, there have been 39 deaths so far. However, only two of them are suicides while the rest were mostly heart attacks, due yet another thankless season. But, desensitised by cycles of agrarian distress, a death or a few dozen does not perhaps matter if it is not a suicide.
By Express News Service
CHENNAI: It was a desperate plea for mercy to the Qatar government by families of three migrant workers, two facing death and the other life imprisonment for a murder. Their release and deportation has been sought on humanitarian grounds.
Chelladurai Perumal, Alagappa Subramaniam and Sivakumar Arasan were convicted for the murder of an old Qatari lady while trying to burgle her house in Salata Jadeed area our years ago.
Families of Sivakaumar and Chelladuai Perumal, had approached the state government to appeal for clemency.
Sivakumars mother, Dhankodi and father Arjunan, recalling the conversations they had with their son, said he had no link in the murder. According to them, he was at the wrong time at the wrong spot. He cried. He doesnt have any link in the murder. He was taken as an eyewitness. We are bed-ridden. My health has deteriorated and my whole family is dependent on my son. Someone has committed such a heinous crime and my son is suffering, said Dhankodi.
Sivakumar, also sentenced to death by the trial court, had got a reprieve from the Court of Appeals, which commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. It has further reduced his lifer to 15 years in jail.
Rajammal, wife of Chelladurai Perumal, said his health was deteriorating. He is undergoing dialysis. We want him to be released on humanitarian grounds, she said while breaking down.
Valarmathi, state coordinator of National Domestic Workers Movement, playing a key role in helping Tamil migrant workers held in prison abroad, said Tamil Nadu government has sent in a mercy plea to Qatar government. She said now it was up to the Centre to intervene in the case.
CHENNAI: It was a desperate plea for mercy to the Qatar government by families of three migrant workers, two facing death and the other life imprisonment for a murder. Their release and deportation has been sought on humanitarian grounds. Chelladurai Perumal, Alagappa Subramaniam and Sivakumar Arasan were convicted for the murder of an old Qatari lady while trying to burgle her house in Salata Jadeed area our years ago. Families of Sivakaumar and Chelladuai Perumal, had approached the state government to appeal for clemency. Sivakumars mother, Dhankodi and father Arjunan, recalling the conversations they had with their son, said he had no link in the murder. According to them, he was at the wrong time at the wrong spot. He cried. He doesnt have any link in the murder. He was taken as an eyewitness. We are bed-ridden. My health has deteriorated and my whole family is dependent on my son. Someone has committed such a heinous crime and my son is suffering, said Dhankodi. Sivakumar, also sentenced to death by the trial court, had got a reprieve from the Court of Appeals, which commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. It has further reduced his lifer to 15 years in jail. Rajammal, wife of Chelladurai Perumal, said his health was deteriorating. He is undergoing dialysis. We want him to be released on humanitarian grounds, she said while breaking down. Valarmathi, state coordinator of National Domestic Workers Movement, playing a key role in helping Tamil migrant workers held in prison abroad, said Tamil Nadu government has sent in a mercy plea to Qatar government. She said now it was up to the Centre to intervene in the case.
By Express News Service
HYDERABAD: As many as 180 minors, including girls, were rescued from 11 brick kilns in and around Choutuppal on the city outskirts on Tuesday. The Rachakonda police, continuing with last years Operation Smile, raided brick kilns and rescued the children working in the brick kilns.
Among the rescued children, 150 were aged between seven and 13 years, and 30 were aged between 13 to 18. On credible information, the Choutuppal police along with labour department officials, raided brick kilns located at Peddakondur village on Tuesday afternoon.
Except 10 children, all the others were working along with their parents, who have migrated from Odisha. The 10 children were living with their relatives, who also work at the kilns and reside in huts located nearby, said Choutuppal ACP Snehita. Police teams were collecting information from the rescued children about the middlemen, who employed them at the brick kilns, she said.
Meanwhile, the bricks kiln owners claimed that they shared the information about the children of the workers with the officials of the education department, but they did not take appropriate measures to send them to school.
As the children belonged to Odisha and know only Odia, the government could not arrange separate school in the village. Cases have been booked against the owners of brick kilns.
HYDERABAD: As many as 180 minors, including girls, were rescued from 11 brick kilns in and around Choutuppal on the city outskirts on Tuesday. The Rachakonda police, continuing with last years Operation Smile, raided brick kilns and rescued the children working in the brick kilns. Among the rescued children, 150 were aged between seven and 13 years, and 30 were aged between 13 to 18. On credible information, the Choutuppal police along with labour department officials, raided brick kilns located at Peddakondur village on Tuesday afternoon. Except 10 children, all the others were working along with their parents, who have migrated from Odisha. The 10 children were living with their relatives, who also work at the kilns and reside in huts located nearby, said Choutuppal ACP Snehita. Police teams were collecting information from the rescued children about the middlemen, who employed them at the brick kilns, she said. Meanwhile, the bricks kiln owners claimed that they shared the information about the children of the workers with the officials of the education department, but they did not take appropriate measures to send them to school. As the children belonged to Odisha and know only Odia, the government could not arrange separate school in the village. Cases have been booked against the owners of brick kilns.
Rajitha Sanaka By
Express News Service
Karimnagar town patterns itself after Hyderabad: You have stand-alone Louis Phillipe stores, Chaineese fast food centres, Bawarchi biryani franchises and needless honking in the streets. I stopped an auto and asked to be taken to the bus station for the journey to Warangal. It was 10 am and the driver Ravi said it would take less than five minutes.
Speeding down a near-empty main street, I wondered if it was past rush hour but Ravi said this is what things have come to since three new districts -- Sircilla, Jagtial and Peddapalli were carved out of Karimnagar.
Ravi didnt sound like he liked it. You used to be stuck in traffic jams until 12 noon on a working day. After Karimnagar was divided, people have moved and our business has fallen by 40 per cent. The decision may be good for the new districts, but it has been a blow to Karimnagar. He has a wife and child to support.
He didnt expect much from the new year. What can you say? You saw how unpredictable 2016 was. Who expected the Delhi government to ban big notes? Who thought the new districts would affect Karimnagar. Anything can happen, he said.
I mulled over the irony of Karimnagar, the epicentre of the Telangana agitation, suffering the wages of division as I got onto the express bus to Warangal. It was a short hop of 80 km but the sun was warmer than it had been in Adilabad. The road was part of NH 163 connecting to the Vajpayee Golden Quad and Warangal was quickly reached, another town mimicking Hyderabad with a flash mob distracting the bus driver from the green signal and the hoardings inviting youngsters to a DJ party.
Before catching the train to Khammam, I thought I would dart into a book store to get a book worms perspective. I found a store in the station and bought three magazines and a novel a bit ambitious for a two-hour-journey. The man in the store didnt seem happy either. I asked G Ravi how sales have been and he said, Not much. People buy newspapers and magazines. We get a 10 per cent commission. If there is a sale of Rs 1,000, I get Rs 100. Thats hardly anything.
Alarmingly, he added that he was thinking of quitting and taking up work as a security guard.
Auto Driver Ravi in Karimnagar
Warangal too has suffered from being sundered into several districts. Once the Uttar Pradesh of Telangana, it has been cut down to size. People dont come to Warangal too often now. They go to the new district HQs. The rush has come down. And the note ban has brought business down by 50 per cent, said Ravi.
I will shift to something else now, he told me. He looked bleak but he cheered up when I invited him to join me in a selfie. People should learn about our misery, he said as I thanked him and left.
As I walked onto the platform, the announcement was being made for the Hyderabad-Howrah 18646 Up East Coast Express. I asked the ticket collector where my seat would be. He asked to see my ticket and wrote 50 on the back. Please take seat 51 in this compartment, he said. I got on and opened a magazine to read when I realised he had come for me. He asked me to pay Rs 50 and I gave him the money. Now what was that, 5o, 51 and all that? I gazed out the window to unplucked cotton fields until another man, clad in a white shirt and trousers, asked me if my seat was reserved. I showed him the ticket. Is pe Khammam jaate aap? (You want to go to Khammam on this ticket), he said and then examined the ticket. He returned it and walked away.
I asked the man seated beside me what had just happened. He looked at my ticket and explained, You wont find place in the general compartment. But with this ticket you can travel in the AC compartment also. Depends on how much the collector wants to charge, he told me. Wait a minute, who gets the money? It goes into his pocket, obviously. It is common here, the man said.
In Khammam, I was to wait for a contact to pick me up and so sat down with three greasy, chote samose when a 60-year-old daily wage worker came and sat by my side. She was ordering her husband to sleep on the cleaner side of the platform.
We came for his checkup, Mareed Kausalya said, indicating to her husband. He was diagnosed with fever. There are hospitals in my village, but they dont treat us well, she said.
The ticket to her village costs Rs 10. With no rains in the district this year, her employers havent paid her. We pluck cotton and red chillies and earn Rs 100 a day. We didnt get much work this year. And they havent paid us saying banks are not giving enough cash, she said. She didnt know about the note ban.
I asked her if she had a bank account. Why would I have a bank account? she replied.
Karimnagar town patterns itself after Hyderabad: You have stand-alone Louis Phillipe stores, Chaineese fast food centres, Bawarchi biryani franchises and needless honking in the streets. I stopped an auto and asked to be taken to the bus station for the journey to Warangal. It was 10 am and the driver Ravi said it would take less than five minutes. Speeding down a near-empty main street, I wondered if it was past rush hour but Ravi said this is what things have come to since three new districts -- Sircilla, Jagtial and Peddapalli were carved out of Karimnagar. Ravi didnt sound like he liked it. You used to be stuck in traffic jams until 12 noon on a working day. After Karimnagar was divided, people have moved and our business has fallen by 40 per cent. The decision may be good for the new districts, but it has been a blow to Karimnagar. He has a wife and child to support. He didnt expect much from the new year. What can you say? You saw how unpredictable 2016 was. Who expected the Delhi government to ban big notes? Who thought the new districts would affect Karimnagar. Anything can happen, he said. I mulled over the irony of Karimnagar, the epicentre of the Telangana agitation, suffering the wages of division as I got onto the express bus to Warangal. It was a short hop of 80 km but the sun was warmer than it had been in Adilabad. The road was part of NH 163 connecting to the Vajpayee Golden Quad and Warangal was quickly reached, another town mimicking Hyderabad with a flash mob distracting the bus driver from the green signal and the hoardings inviting youngsters to a DJ party. Before catching the train to Khammam, I thought I would dart into a book store to get a book worms perspective. I found a store in the station and bought three magazines and a novel a bit ambitious for a two-hour-journey. The man in the store didnt seem happy either. I asked G Ravi how sales have been and he said, Not much. People buy newspapers and magazines. We get a 10 per cent commission. If there is a sale of Rs 1,000, I get Rs 100. Thats hardly anything. Alarmingly, he added that he was thinking of quitting and taking up work as a security guard. Auto Driver Ravi in Karimnagar Warangal too has suffered from being sundered into several districts. Once the Uttar Pradesh of Telangana, it has been cut down to size. People dont come to Warangal too often now. They go to the new district HQs. The rush has come down. And the note ban has brought business down by 50 per cent, said Ravi. I will shift to something else now, he told me. He looked bleak but he cheered up when I invited him to join me in a selfie. People should learn about our misery, he said as I thanked him and left. As I walked onto the platform, the announcement was being made for the Hyderabad-Howrah 18646 Up East Coast Express. I asked the ticket collector where my seat would be. He asked to see my ticket and wrote 50 on the back. Please take seat 51 in this compartment, he said. I got on and opened a magazine to read when I realised he had come for me. He asked me to pay Rs 50 and I gave him the money. Now what was that, 5o, 51 and all that? I gazed out the window to unplucked cotton fields until another man, clad in a white shirt and trousers, asked me if my seat was reserved. I showed him the ticket. Is pe Khammam jaate aap? (You want to go to Khammam on this ticket), he said and then examined the ticket. He returned it and walked away. I asked the man seated beside me what had just happened. He looked at my ticket and explained, You wont find place in the general compartment. But with this ticket you can travel in the AC compartment also. Depends on how much the collector wants to charge, he told me. Wait a minute, who gets the money? It goes into his pocket, obviously. It is common here, the man said. In Khammam, I was to wait for a contact to pick me up and so sat down with three greasy, chote samose when a 60-year-old daily wage worker came and sat by my side. She was ordering her husband to sleep on the cleaner side of the platform. We came for his checkup, Mareed Kausalya said, indicating to her husband. He was diagnosed with fever. There are hospitals in my village, but they dont treat us well, she said. The ticket to her village costs Rs 10. With no rains in the district this year, her employers havent paid her. We pluck cotton and red chillies and earn Rs 100 a day. We didnt get much work this year. And they havent paid us saying banks are not giving enough cash, she said. She didnt know about the note ban. I asked her if she had a bank account. Why would I have a bank account? she replied.
Rajitha Sanaka By
Express News Service
The TSRTC bus to Nirmal filled up slowly but we made speed as Sunday morning traffic was sparse, and we were on the outskirts of Hyderabad in 15 minutes. The conductor seemed relaxed as he sold me my ticket and signaled to the driver to turn on the radio.
The man behind me grunted as the radio crackled to life with a message. Mana PM manasulo maata vinandi (hear the PM speak from his heart). Tune into Mann ki Baat in Telugu today! said the voice full of exclamation marks.
And my phone beeped. It was a WhatsApp message from VK-MyGovt: Ee roju 11 gantalaku radio lo Mann ki Baat. Aa ventane Telugu lo vinavachu. Mobile phone lo vinataniki 1922 ki missed call ivvandi (Mann ki Baat at11 am. Hear it in Telugu. Give a missed call to 1922.)
No exclamation marks but the same importuning urgency.
This was going to be a journey from one end of Telangana to another. But the state has the shape of a nautilus on the map in time-honoured Telugu movie tradition, TRS poets think its like a pearl adorning the navel of India and a passage from extremity to extremity is not going to take long. This journey from the capital in the heart of the state to the northern district of Adilabad is all of 300 km. Yet, I took three catnaps before I talked to the lady next to me. She said she was returning from Basavatarakam after a check-up. Basavatarakam is a cancer hospital in Banjara Hills in Hyderabad, named after the wife of the late N T Rama Rao. My co-passenger had had a tumour removed last year, and happily, there was no sign that it was growing again.
I got off at Nirmal and had a half an hour before my onward hop to Adilabad. I went walkabout around the terminus and stopped at a shop that reminded me of one close to my office in Begumpet. Yes, Maydum, what you want? asked the shop-keeper and I gaped at him. I only wanted one Little Hearts and I was going to give him a Rs 100 note. He sensed my demonetised embarrassment and smiled. You dont have two rupees? I found a five rupee coin in my purse. He gave me the Little Hearts and three toffees. Change problems, Maydum. So toffees. It will be sweet like you, he said.
I laughed and walked away.
Munching on the Little Hearts, I walked by a group of truckers lounging by their vehicles. Despite myself, I smiled at them and a thought flashed in my mind as I did so: what if they get me wrong? Bolo, Maydum, said one of the truckers, a middle-aged man. Whats happening? Hows work, I asked.
What can I say, Maydum? We have no work, so we are sitting here and cracking jokes, said the trucker.
But for demonetisation, these truckers might have been rumbling up NH 44 rather than trading jokes at this layby. Our lives have become miserable after the government banned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, he said although he didnt in the least look miserable, because of the jokes perhaps.
His name was Mohammed and he has been driving for 25 years, eventually growing to own a truck. He transports cotton out of the markets of Adilabad. Since the time this Prime Minister came, theres been nothing for us Muslims, he said. Now with demonetisation, theres no money. Cotton buyers pay by cheque and we get diesel tokens. But what do we feed ourselves with?
Another man in the huddle, Mohammed Pasha, said he had had to cancel his daughters engagement. Ive been driving for 18 years. I was hoping to be done with one responsibility this year. Now I have to wait for another year. I have no hopes. Nirmal has become a new district, so maybe things will change a bit. But Im unsure, he said.
It was only 4.30 pm but it got chilly in the bus as we left the hills north of Nirmal. The conductor told me to shut my window, not because I might catch a cold but there were monkeys about in the green countryside. I spotted unplucked fields of cotton. The passenger next to me, too shy to furnish his name or be photographed, said things were better than in the last two years, which were affected by drought. The rains in fact ruined the crops this year, he said.
After I got off at Adilabad, I managed to inveigle myself into a scolding a farmer was receiving from his sister-in-law. Lingannas bus to Nirmal was due and bhabhi was using the time to admonish him for his laid-back attitude. Making myself welcome, I asked him if the last crop had gone well. She replied for him. Most of it was damaged by the rain. But we could have saved something. If only he was responsible.
Linganna just smiled until the bus rescued him and I headed off to buy a snack from a bandi.
I was disappointed by Adapu Ashoks bajji bandi. The bajjis were cold and hard and open and, who knows, rotting? He took the demonetisation plea. Thats how it has been in the past two months. We reopened only yesterday after 15 days idle, he said.
Before leaving hungry, I asked him what he does with the unsold bajjis. In the morning, I pack them and give them to bus drivers going to Mancherial and Nirmal.
He explained himself just as I began to sympathise with the drivers. They feed the monkeys.
Ashok had said he had no money for rent and had to feed a family of eight. But he seemed happy to be feeding the monkeys.
The TSRTC bus to Nirmal filled up slowly but we made speed as Sunday morning traffic was sparse, and we were on the outskirts of Hyderabad in 15 minutes. The conductor seemed relaxed as he sold me my ticket and signaled to the driver to turn on the radio. The man behind me grunted as the radio crackled to life with a message. Mana PM manasulo maata vinandi (hear the PM speak from his heart). Tune into Mann ki Baat in Telugu today! said the voice full of exclamation marks. And my phone beeped. It was a WhatsApp message from VK-MyGovt: Ee roju 11 gantalaku radio lo Mann ki Baat. Aa ventane Telugu lo vinavachu. Mobile phone lo vinataniki 1922 ki missed call ivvandi (Mann ki Baat at11 am. Hear it in Telugu. Give a missed call to 1922.) No exclamation marks but the same importuning urgency. This was going to be a journey from one end of Telangana to another. But the state has the shape of a nautilus on the map in time-honoured Telugu movie tradition, TRS poets think its like a pearl adorning the navel of India and a passage from extremity to extremity is not going to take long. This journey from the capital in the heart of the state to the northern district of Adilabad is all of 300 km. Yet, I took three catnaps before I talked to the lady next to me. She said she was returning from Basavatarakam after a check-up. Basavatarakam is a cancer hospital in Banjara Hills in Hyderabad, named after the wife of the late N T Rama Rao. My co-passenger had had a tumour removed last year, and happily, there was no sign that it was growing again. I got off at Nirmal and had a half an hour before my onward hop to Adilabad. I went walkabout around the terminus and stopped at a shop that reminded me of one close to my office in Begumpet. Yes, Maydum, what you want? asked the shop-keeper and I gaped at him. I only wanted one Little Hearts and I was going to give him a Rs 100 note. He sensed my demonetised embarrassment and smiled. You dont have two rupees? I found a five rupee coin in my purse. He gave me the Little Hearts and three toffees. Change problems, Maydum. So toffees. It will be sweet like you, he said. I laughed and walked away. Munching on the Little Hearts, I walked by a group of truckers lounging by their vehicles. Despite myself, I smiled at them and a thought flashed in my mind as I did so: what if they get me wrong? Bolo, Maydum, said one of the truckers, a middle-aged man. Whats happening? Hows work, I asked. What can I say, Maydum? We have no work, so we are sitting here and cracking jokes, said the trucker. But for demonetisation, these truckers might have been rumbling up NH 44 rather than trading jokes at this layby. Our lives have become miserable after the government banned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, he said although he didnt in the least look miserable, because of the jokes perhaps. His name was Mohammed and he has been driving for 25 years, eventually growing to own a truck. He transports cotton out of the markets of Adilabad. Since the time this Prime Minister came, theres been nothing for us Muslims, he said. Now with demonetisation, theres no money. Cotton buyers pay by cheque and we get diesel tokens. But what do we feed ourselves with? Another man in the huddle, Mohammed Pasha, said he had had to cancel his daughters engagement. Ive been driving for 18 years. I was hoping to be done with one responsibility this year. Now I have to wait for another year. I have no hopes. Nirmal has become a new district, so maybe things will change a bit. But Im unsure, he said. It was only 4.30 pm but it got chilly in the bus as we left the hills north of Nirmal. The conductor told me to shut my window, not because I might catch a cold but there were monkeys about in the green countryside. I spotted unplucked fields of cotton. The passenger next to me, too shy to furnish his name or be photographed, said things were better than in the last two years, which were affected by drought. The rains in fact ruined the crops this year, he said. After I got off at Adilabad, I managed to inveigle myself into a scolding a farmer was receiving from his sister-in-law. Lingannas bus to Nirmal was due and bhabhi was using the time to admonish him for his laid-back attitude. Making myself welcome, I asked him if the last crop had gone well. She replied for him. Most of it was damaged by the rain. But we could have saved something. If only he was responsible. Linganna just smiled until the bus rescued him and I headed off to buy a snack from a bandi. I was disappointed by Adapu Ashoks bajji bandi. The bajjis were cold and hard and open and, who knows, rotting? He took the demonetisation plea. Thats how it has been in the past two months. We reopened only yesterday after 15 days idle, he said. Before leaving hungry, I asked him what he does with the unsold bajjis. In the morning, I pack them and give them to bus drivers going to Mancherial and Nirmal. He explained himself just as I began to sympathise with the drivers. They feed the monkeys. Ashok had said he had no money for rent and had to feed a family of eight. But he seemed happy to be feeding the monkeys.
By Associated Press
ISTANBUL: The White House says President Barack Obama has offered his condolences to Turkey's leader over a pair of deadly attacks, including at a nightclub on New Year's Eve.
Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also agreed during their telephone conversation Tuesday that their countries must "stand united" to defeat terrorism.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Dec. 31 shooting at Istanbul's Reina nightclub that killed 39 revelers.
Obama also expressed sorrow over a Dec. 17 attack on off-duty Turkish soldiers in the central province of Kayseri that killed 13 troops. A wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party has said it was responsible.
The White House said Obama also welcomed Turkey's efforts to help implement a nationwide cease-fire in Syria as well as the resumption of political talks between the Syrian government and the opposition.
___
6:50 p.m.
Lebanon is bidding farewell to three victims of the New Years' Eve attack in an Istanbul nightclub.
Hundreds attended emotional funerals held Tuesday for two of the victims, Haykal Mousallem and Elias Wardini. A third victim, Rita Shami, will be laid to rest Thursday.
The bodies of the three arrived Monday night in Beirut, wrapped in red, white and green Lebanese flags. On Tuesday, relatives and friends of Wardini, a 26-year-old fitness instructor who was engaged to be married, set off fireworks as his white coffin arrived at a church in the district of Ashrafieh.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced one hour of national mourning for the victims. Four Lebanese were also wounded in the Istanbul attack.
___
5:45 p.m.
Hundreds of people have attended the funeral of a Jordanian businessman who was among the 39 people killed in the shooting at Istanbul's Reina nightclub.
The funeral for 44-year-old Nauras Assaf, a Christian, was held Tuesday in the town of Fuheis in central Jordan. Assaf's wife was wounded in the attack and is recovering in a hospital in Turkey.
Jordan's ambassador to Turkey, Amjad al-Adayleh, was among those attending the funeral.
Al-Adayleh says, "This attack is condemned by all religions, not only by Islam and Christianity."
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4:40 p.m.
Turkey's interior minister says authorities have thwarted a total of 339 possible attacks in 2016, most of them by Kurdish militants.
Suleyman Soylu told parliament Tuesday that the foiled attacks include 313 planned attempts by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and 22 by the Islamic State group.
The minister said authorities seized 247 explosive devices, 23 car bombs and detained 23 would-be suicide bombers last year.
Speaking a day after the IS claimed responsibility for the deadly attack at a popular Istanbul nightclub, Soylu said some 80 of the attacks were thwarted in the past three months.
More than 3,506 IS suspects were detained in 2016, including 1,531 foreign nationals, the minister said.
Soylu said authorities had stepped up security on public transportation such as trams and buses as well as airports and at train and bus terminals.
___
4 p.m.
Thousands of people have attended the funeral of an Arab Israeli teen who was killed in the Istanbul nightclub attack.
Layan Nasser, 18, was among those killed in the attack. Mourners wept and wailed as they marched behind her wooden coffin through the streets of the Israeli city of Tira Tuesday.
Tira Mayor Mamoun Abd El Hai said the city had declared a day of mourning in memory of Nasser, meaning banks and municipal offices were closed.
"She had dreams to work, to progress, to study, to raise a family, but unfortunately the terror put an end to her dreams," Abd El Hai said.
Nasser, a dental assistant, traveled to Istanbul to celebrate the New Year with three friends.
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3:30 p.m.
Turkey's state-run news agency says police have detained two foreign nationals at Istanbul's main airport on suspicion of links to the deadly nightclub attack.
Anadolu Agency said the two were taken into custody on Tuesday at the international flights terminal at Ataturk Airport. No information on their nationalities was available.
It said police checked the pair's cellphones and luggage before they were taken away to Istanbul's main police headquarters.
Meanwhile the private Dogan news agency said airports and border crossings were put on high alert and that anyone resembling the wanted gunman was being stopped and questioned by police.
___
2:40 p.m.
Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper says a woman identified by Turkish media as the wife of the Istanbul nightclub massacre suspect has told police she did not know her husband was a member of the Islamic State group.
IS has claimed responsibility for the New Year's Eve attack that killed 39 people at the Reina nightclub. Police are still searching for the gunman.
The woman was detained in the central town of Konya as part of the investigation. Neither she nor her husband has been identified by name. Hurriyet said on its online edition Tuesday that the woman said she learned about the attack on television and told police she didn't know her husband harbored "sympathies toward" the Islamic State group.
Media reports say the gunman flew to Istanbul from Kyrgyzstan with his wife and children on Nov. 20. From there they drove to the Turkish capital, Ankara, by before arriving in Konya on Nov. 22.
The family rented a studio in Konya, paying three months of rent upfront. The gunman told the estate agent he had arrived in Konya in search of work, according to the report.
Hurriyet said the gunman returned to Istanbul Dec. 29.
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1:50 p.m.
Turkey's state-run news agency says six more people have been detained in connection with the deadly Istanbul nightclub attack, raising the number of suspects held to 14.
Anadolu Agency said Tuesday all 14 were being questioned at Istanbul's main police headquarters. It did not provide details on the suspects or say where they were taken into custody.
Anadolu said police were receiving numerous reports of sightings or tips from citizens, following the release of photos and videos of the alleged gunman, who has not been publicly identified.
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12:50 p.m.
Turkey's prime minister has slammed the Obama administration for backing Syrian Kurdish forces which Turkey considers to be terrorists, and urged President-elect Donald Trump to put an end to "this shame."
Binali Yildirim said that Turkey's military had killed more than 1,200 Islamic State militants since the start of its military incursion into northern Syria in August, insisting that Turkey was the country leading the most effective fight against the extremist group.
Yildirim was addressing members of the ruling party in parliament a day after IS claimed responsibility for the Istanbul nightclub attack, which killed 39 New Year's revelers.
Yildirim said: "They are pretending to fight Daesh. Turkey is the only country that is leading a fight. The United States isn't doing anything."
___
12:10 p.m.
Turkish tourism industry professionals have marched to the nightclub where 39 New Year's revelers were killed, in a show of solidarity and to protest a spate of attacks that has crippled the sector.
About 200 people, including restaurateurs, hotel owners and gastronomy students, took part in the protest, marching behind a large banner that read: "We won't be daunted! For our tomorrows."
Turkey's crucial tourism industry has suffered enormously after a series of recent attacks in the country.
The nightclub assailant, armed with a long-barreled weapon, killed a policeman and a civilian early Sunday outside the Reina club before entering and firing at some of the estimated 600 people inside.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the nightclub attack.
___
11:45 a.m.
Turkish media are quoting security experts as saying that the man who killed 39 and wounded nearly 70 people in a New Year's nightclub attack in Istanbul before fleeing the scene is a highly professional assassin.
The English-language Daily News quoted anti-terror expert Abdullah Agar as saying the way the attacker operated shows that "he is absolutely a killer and he probably shot at humans before."
Agar is quoted as saying that "the attacker is determined, faithful, practical, coldblooded expert and knows how to get results ... he probably fired bullets in real clash zones."
The nightclub assailant, armed with a long-barreled weapon, killed a policeman and a civilian early Sunday outside the Reina club before entering and firing at some of the estimated 600 people inside.
___
10:50 a.m.
The United Arab Emirates has warned its citizens not to travel to Turkey following the attack on an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people.
The UAE's Foreign Ministry has issued a terse statement in Arabic to "postpone plans to travel to Turkey until further notice."
While no Emirati was killed in the attack, one Kuwaiti and seven Saudis were killed in the New Year's assault.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack at the Reina nightclub.
___
10:40 a.m.
Turkish media have run a "selfie video" of a man they say is the gunman who killed 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub.
The video broadcast on Turkish television Tuesday shows the alleged gunman filming himself at Taksim square. It wasn't immediately clear if it was filmed before or after the New Year's massacre at the Reina nightclub.
The Islamic State group claimed the attack. The gunman, who is still at large, hasn't been identified.
Several media reports said the man was believed to be from a Central Asian nation. Haber Turk newspaper said the man is thought to be a member of China's Muslim Uighur minority. It said he arrived in the Turkish city of Konya with his wife and two children. His family was detained, it said.
ISTANBUL: The White House says President Barack Obama has offered his condolences to Turkey's leader over a pair of deadly attacks, including at a nightclub on New Year's Eve. Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also agreed during their telephone conversation Tuesday that their countries must "stand united" to defeat terrorism. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Dec. 31 shooting at Istanbul's Reina nightclub that killed 39 revelers. Obama also expressed sorrow over a Dec. 17 attack on off-duty Turkish soldiers in the central province of Kayseri that killed 13 troops. A wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party has said it was responsible. The White House said Obama also welcomed Turkey's efforts to help implement a nationwide cease-fire in Syria as well as the resumption of political talks between the Syrian government and the opposition. ___ 6:50 p.m. Lebanon is bidding farewell to three victims of the New Years' Eve attack in an Istanbul nightclub. Hundreds attended emotional funerals held Tuesday for two of the victims, Haykal Mousallem and Elias Wardini. A third victim, Rita Shami, will be laid to rest Thursday. The bodies of the three arrived Monday night in Beirut, wrapped in red, white and green Lebanese flags. On Tuesday, relatives and friends of Wardini, a 26-year-old fitness instructor who was engaged to be married, set off fireworks as his white coffin arrived at a church in the district of Ashrafieh. Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced one hour of national mourning for the victims. Four Lebanese were also wounded in the Istanbul attack. ___ 5:45 p.m. Hundreds of people have attended the funeral of a Jordanian businessman who was among the 39 people killed in the shooting at Istanbul's Reina nightclub. The funeral for 44-year-old Nauras Assaf, a Christian, was held Tuesday in the town of Fuheis in central Jordan. Assaf's wife was wounded in the attack and is recovering in a hospital in Turkey. Jordan's ambassador to Turkey, Amjad al-Adayleh, was among those attending the funeral. Al-Adayleh says, "This attack is condemned by all religions, not only by Islam and Christianity." ___ 4:40 p.m. Turkey's interior minister says authorities have thwarted a total of 339 possible attacks in 2016, most of them by Kurdish militants. Suleyman Soylu told parliament Tuesday that the foiled attacks include 313 planned attempts by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and 22 by the Islamic State group. The minister said authorities seized 247 explosive devices, 23 car bombs and detained 23 would-be suicide bombers last year. Speaking a day after the IS claimed responsibility for the deadly attack at a popular Istanbul nightclub, Soylu said some 80 of the attacks were thwarted in the past three months. More than 3,506 IS suspects were detained in 2016, including 1,531 foreign nationals, the minister said. Soylu said authorities had stepped up security on public transportation such as trams and buses as well as airports and at train and bus terminals. ___ 4 p.m. Thousands of people have attended the funeral of an Arab Israeli teen who was killed in the Istanbul nightclub attack. Layan Nasser, 18, was among those killed in the attack. Mourners wept and wailed as they marched behind her wooden coffin through the streets of the Israeli city of Tira Tuesday. Tira Mayor Mamoun Abd El Hai said the city had declared a day of mourning in memory of Nasser, meaning banks and municipal offices were closed. "She had dreams to work, to progress, to study, to raise a family, but unfortunately the terror put an end to her dreams," Abd El Hai said. Nasser, a dental assistant, traveled to Istanbul to celebrate the New Year with three friends. ___ 3:30 p.m. Turkey's state-run news agency says police have detained two foreign nationals at Istanbul's main airport on suspicion of links to the deadly nightclub attack. Anadolu Agency said the two were taken into custody on Tuesday at the international flights terminal at Ataturk Airport. No information on their nationalities was available. It said police checked the pair's cellphones and luggage before they were taken away to Istanbul's main police headquarters. Meanwhile the private Dogan news agency said airports and border crossings were put on high alert and that anyone resembling the wanted gunman was being stopped and questioned by police. ___ 2:40 p.m. Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper says a woman identified by Turkish media as the wife of the Istanbul nightclub massacre suspect has told police she did not know her husband was a member of the Islamic State group. IS has claimed responsibility for the New Year's Eve attack that killed 39 people at the Reina nightclub. Police are still searching for the gunman. The woman was detained in the central town of Konya as part of the investigation. Neither she nor her husband has been identified by name. Hurriyet said on its online edition Tuesday that the woman said she learned about the attack on television and told police she didn't know her husband harbored "sympathies toward" the Islamic State group. Media reports say the gunman flew to Istanbul from Kyrgyzstan with his wife and children on Nov. 20. From there they drove to the Turkish capital, Ankara, by before arriving in Konya on Nov. 22. The family rented a studio in Konya, paying three months of rent upfront. The gunman told the estate agent he had arrived in Konya in search of work, according to the report. Hurriyet said the gunman returned to Istanbul Dec. 29. ___ 1:50 p.m. Turkey's state-run news agency says six more people have been detained in connection with the deadly Istanbul nightclub attack, raising the number of suspects held to 14. Anadolu Agency said Tuesday all 14 were being questioned at Istanbul's main police headquarters. It did not provide details on the suspects or say where they were taken into custody. Anadolu said police were receiving numerous reports of sightings or tips from citizens, following the release of photos and videos of the alleged gunman, who has not been publicly identified. ___ 12:50 p.m. Turkey's prime minister has slammed the Obama administration for backing Syrian Kurdish forces which Turkey considers to be terrorists, and urged President-elect Donald Trump to put an end to "this shame." Binali Yildirim said that Turkey's military had killed more than 1,200 Islamic State militants since the start of its military incursion into northern Syria in August, insisting that Turkey was the country leading the most effective fight against the extremist group. Yildirim was addressing members of the ruling party in parliament a day after IS claimed responsibility for the Istanbul nightclub attack, which killed 39 New Year's revelers. Yildirim said: "They are pretending to fight Daesh. Turkey is the only country that is leading a fight. The United States isn't doing anything." ___ 12:10 p.m. Turkish tourism industry professionals have marched to the nightclub where 39 New Year's revelers were killed, in a show of solidarity and to protest a spate of attacks that has crippled the sector. About 200 people, including restaurateurs, hotel owners and gastronomy students, took part in the protest, marching behind a large banner that read: "We won't be daunted! For our tomorrows." Turkey's crucial tourism industry has suffered enormously after a series of recent attacks in the country. The nightclub assailant, armed with a long-barreled weapon, killed a policeman and a civilian early Sunday outside the Reina club before entering and firing at some of the estimated 600 people inside. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the nightclub attack. ___ 11:45 a.m. Turkish media are quoting security experts as saying that the man who killed 39 and wounded nearly 70 people in a New Year's nightclub attack in Istanbul before fleeing the scene is a highly professional assassin. The English-language Daily News quoted anti-terror expert Abdullah Agar as saying the way the attacker operated shows that "he is absolutely a killer and he probably shot at humans before." Agar is quoted as saying that "the attacker is determined, faithful, practical, coldblooded expert and knows how to get results ... he probably fired bullets in real clash zones." The nightclub assailant, armed with a long-barreled weapon, killed a policeman and a civilian early Sunday outside the Reina club before entering and firing at some of the estimated 600 people inside. ___ 10:50 a.m. The United Arab Emirates has warned its citizens not to travel to Turkey following the attack on an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people. The UAE's Foreign Ministry has issued a terse statement in Arabic to "postpone plans to travel to Turkey until further notice." While no Emirati was killed in the attack, one Kuwaiti and seven Saudis were killed in the New Year's assault. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack at the Reina nightclub. ___ 10:40 a.m. Turkish media have run a "selfie video" of a man they say is the gunman who killed 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub. The video broadcast on Turkish television Tuesday shows the alleged gunman filming himself at Taksim square. It wasn't immediately clear if it was filmed before or after the New Year's massacre at the Reina nightclub. The Islamic State group claimed the attack. The gunman, who is still at large, hasn't been identified. Several media reports said the man was believed to be from a Central Asian nation. Haber Turk newspaper said the man is thought to be a member of China's Muslim Uighur minority. It said he arrived in the Turkish city of Konya with his wife and two children. His family was detained, it said.
By Associated Press
RABAT: Morocco has become the latest Muslim-majority country to authorise Islamic banks, amid growing market demand for Sharia-compliant banking.
The Moroccan central bank announced this week it has approved five such banks, fulfilling a long-standing promise of the Islamist party leading a coalition government since 2011.
Among them are leading national banks Attijariwafa, linked to the royal family, state-owned Banque Centrale Populaire and private BMCE Bank of Africa. All three hold increasing assets around French-speaking Africa. The others are CIH Bank and Credit Agricole du Maroc.
Four of the five will be partnerships between Moroccan banks and Islamic financial institutions in the Gulf, according to a statement from the central bank.
The approval of Islamic banks was long awaited by the market and the political scene.
Morocco had been reticent about Islamic finance, seeing it as politically sensitive, but now sees it as a growth prospect. The Islamist PJD party had made the opening of Islamic banks one of its campaign promises in 2011, when it won parliamentary elections.
The regulatory framework was updated in 2015 with a law authorising independent Islamic institutions labelled "participative banks." A board was created within Morocco's Supreme Council of Islamic Scholars to rule on the conformity of financial products to Sharia, or Islamic law. Sharia forbids interest, which is key to most banks' operations.
The central bank also allowed the subsidiaries of three leading French banks to sell Islamic products in Morocco: Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole.
RABAT: Morocco has become the latest Muslim-majority country to authorise Islamic banks, amid growing market demand for Sharia-compliant banking. The Moroccan central bank announced this week it has approved five such banks, fulfilling a long-standing promise of the Islamist party leading a coalition government since 2011. Among them are leading national banks Attijariwafa, linked to the royal family, state-owned Banque Centrale Populaire and private BMCE Bank of Africa. All three hold increasing assets around French-speaking Africa. The others are CIH Bank and Credit Agricole du Maroc. Four of the five will be partnerships between Moroccan banks and Islamic financial institutions in the Gulf, according to a statement from the central bank. The approval of Islamic banks was long awaited by the market and the political scene. Morocco had been reticent about Islamic finance, seeing it as politically sensitive, but now sees it as a growth prospect. The Islamist PJD party had made the opening of Islamic banks one of its campaign promises in 2011, when it won parliamentary elections. The regulatory framework was updated in 2015 with a law authorising independent Islamic institutions labelled "participative banks." A board was created within Morocco's Supreme Council of Islamic Scholars to rule on the conformity of financial products to Sharia, or Islamic law. Sharia forbids interest, which is key to most banks' operations. The central bank also allowed the subsidiaries of three leading French banks to sell Islamic products in Morocco: Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole.
PK Balachandran By
Express News Service
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has cancelled Wednesdays visit to Jaffna. A spokesman of the President told Express that unscheduled meetings in Colombo led to the cancellation.
But he will be visiting Jaffna on January 25 or any other suitable date before that," the spokesman added.
In Jaffna he was to have inaugurated an island-wide mobile app facility to get in touch with the President and track the progress of requests through ministries and departments in the Center. He was also to release about 600 acres of private land presently held by the military.
The President may have been held back by the developing political situation in South Sri Lanka with a resurgent former President Mahinda Rajapaksa vowing to overthrow the Sirisena-Wickemesinghe coalition government in 2017.
The Joint Opposition group and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led by Rajapaksa are gearing up for frenetic political activity to bring about a regime change this year.
With a Sirisena group member Priyankara Jayaratne resigning from his post of State Minister, and another State Minister Palaitha Range Bandara wondering if there is any point in being a minister without work, the media has been speculating about more resignations from the United National Party (UNP)-Sri Lanka Freedom Party Sirisena (SLFP-Sirisena ) coalition and crossovers to the Joint Opposition led by Rajapaksa.
With President Sirisena overturning many decisions of UNP ministers, UNP backbenchers in parliament got worried about the Presidents own commitment to the sustenance of the coalition government and the prospects of the government parties in the local bodies and Provincial Council elections in 2017.
Thirty UNPs met the President last Friday in regard to this and the President assured them that he is committed to the coalition. Later he publicly stated that he would not tolerate any party member or coalition partner having links with Rajapaksa.
However, several issues in the coalition remain unresolved. The latest is the disagreement over the deal the UNP-led government had entered into with a Chinese state owned company to manage the Hambantota port.
Disapproving the deal to give the Chinese company 80 percent of the stake in the port for 99 years, the President recently appointed his own representative in the negotiating committee. Given this, there is speculation that he will not attend the January 7 signing ceremony, if it is held at all.
Unrest in North
Meanwhile, dissatisfaction and unrest are brewing in North Sri Lanka over the slow pace of post-war reconciliation mechanisms.
Briefing Express on the emerging situation, Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member M.K.Shivajilingam said that the President has not kept his promise to return private lands taken by the military during the war and after. He has released only bits here and there. According to Northern Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran, only 5.2 percent of the land has been returned.
Government has rejected the demand for an international judicial mechanism to go into war crimes charges by the military. But it has not set up even a domestic judicial mechanism. The Office of Missing Persons exists only on paper. All major parties of the majority Sinhalese community have rejected the Tamils call for a federal constitution and the merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
Meanwhile, further centralization is taking place with the Governor of the Northern Province Reginold Cooray setting up an office in his official premises to channel peoples complaints to the President.
He could have set up this facility in the Jaffna Secretariat or the Northern Provincial Council. When there is an elected government, why not allow it to be the channel of communication with the President? The Governors action comes in the wake of Tamils demands that the Governor be figure made a figurehead under the elected Chief Minister, Shivajilingam said.
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has cancelled Wednesdays visit to Jaffna. A spokesman of the President told Express that unscheduled meetings in Colombo led to the cancellation. But he will be visiting Jaffna on January 25 or any other suitable date before that," the spokesman added. In Jaffna he was to have inaugurated an island-wide mobile app facility to get in touch with the President and track the progress of requests through ministries and departments in the Center. He was also to release about 600 acres of private land presently held by the military. The President may have been held back by the developing political situation in South Sri Lanka with a resurgent former President Mahinda Rajapaksa vowing to overthrow the Sirisena-Wickemesinghe coalition government in 2017. The Joint Opposition group and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led by Rajapaksa are gearing up for frenetic political activity to bring about a regime change this year. With a Sirisena group member Priyankara Jayaratne resigning from his post of State Minister, and another State Minister Palaitha Range Bandara wondering if there is any point in being a minister without work, the media has been speculating about more resignations from the United National Party (UNP)-Sri Lanka Freedom Party Sirisena (SLFP-Sirisena ) coalition and crossovers to the Joint Opposition led by Rajapaksa. With President Sirisena overturning many decisions of UNP ministers, UNP backbenchers in parliament got worried about the Presidents own commitment to the sustenance of the coalition government and the prospects of the government parties in the local bodies and Provincial Council elections in 2017. Thirty UNPs met the President last Friday in regard to this and the President assured them that he is committed to the coalition. Later he publicly stated that he would not tolerate any party member or coalition partner having links with Rajapaksa. However, several issues in the coalition remain unresolved. The latest is the disagreement over the deal the UNP-led government had entered into with a Chinese state owned company to manage the Hambantota port. Disapproving the deal to give the Chinese company 80 percent of the stake in the port for 99 years, the President recently appointed his own representative in the negotiating committee. Given this, there is speculation that he will not attend the January 7 signing ceremony, if it is held at all. Unrest in North Meanwhile, dissatisfaction and unrest are brewing in North Sri Lanka over the slow pace of post-war reconciliation mechanisms. Briefing Express on the emerging situation, Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member M.K.Shivajilingam said that the President has not kept his promise to return private lands taken by the military during the war and after. He has released only bits here and there. According to Northern Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran, only 5.2 percent of the land has been returned. Government has rejected the demand for an international judicial mechanism to go into war crimes charges by the military. But it has not set up even a domestic judicial mechanism. The Office of Missing Persons exists only on paper. All major parties of the majority Sinhalese community have rejected the Tamils call for a federal constitution and the merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Meanwhile, further centralization is taking place with the Governor of the Northern Province Reginold Cooray setting up an office in his official premises to channel peoples complaints to the President. He could have set up this facility in the Jaffna Secretariat or the Northern Provincial Council. When there is an elected government, why not allow it to be the channel of communication with the President? The Governors action comes in the wake of Tamils demands that the Governor be figure made a figurehead under the elected Chief Minister, Shivajilingam said.
Express News Service
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said here on Wednesday, that the Palaly airport in the northern district of Jaffna, will be developed as a regional airport, to serve not only Sri Lanka, but also South India.
India has been pressing for the development of Palaly as an international airport to improve communication links between Tamil-speaking North Sri Lanka with India, especially Tamil Nadu.
There had been an air service between Palaly and Madras and Tiruchi, before the ethnic conflict turned the airport into a military base.
Addressing the media on the coalition governments development agenda at the end of the second year in office, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said that efforts to develop the Kankesanthurai harbor in Jaffna district to further develop communication links with South India will be discussed when the new Indian High Commissioner (Taranjit Singh Sandhu) assumes office.
On the current controversy surrounding the joint Indo-Lankan use of the 100 giant oil tanks in Trincomalee, he said that talks are on with the stakeholders concerned. The Lanka India Oil Corporation has been resisting efforts by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation to develop some tanks unilaterally, bypassing the existing government to government agreement signed in 2002.
Wickremesinghe said that Trincomalee port and its hinterland will be developed with Indian, Singaporean and Japanese investments.
On the controversial grant of 80 percent stake to a Chinese government-owned company in the Hambantota harbor, the Prime Minister said there is nothing wrong in giving it that way, because a huge loan taken from the Chinese has been converted into a stake or investment.
He said that his government believes in developing the country through FDIs and not loans in contrast to the policy of the predecessor Rajapaksa government.
On the grant of 99 year lease on 15,000 acres of land near Hambantota port for the development of an economic zone, the Prime Minister said that it is better than giving land on a freehold basis to the Chinese as the Rajapaksa government did in the case of the Colombo Port. His government had to reverse the earlier governments decision.
On the finalisation of the deal with China on Hambantota port, Wickremesinghe said that eight or nine agreements are still to be negotiated but he made it clear that there will be no change in the grant of 80 percent stake and 99 year lease on land for the economic zone. However, he evaded the question whether any agreement will be signed on January 7.
The Prime Minister said that Sri Lanka will march on the path of development through trade and investment agreements like the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with India, and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)with China, Singapore and Japan. He will not be deterred by politically motivated criticism he added.
ETCA and other FTAs will be signed this year, he said.
The government plans to make Sri Lanka a logistics, IT and electronics hub, and hopes to secure US$ 2 or 3 billion in FDIs this year.
On the controversy over the Electorates Delimitation Committee report he said that some political issues need to be resolved which he hopes to do when he meets the political parties in parliament on January 9. He said that a consensus is needed on this issue.
On charges of political instability in his government, Wickremesinghe said that all governments face such problems whether they are single party or multi-party governments.
If there are two big political parties in coalition, jockeying for positions is only to be expected, he said.
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said here on Wednesday, that the Palaly airport in the northern district of Jaffna, will be developed as a regional airport, to serve not only Sri Lanka, but also South India. India has been pressing for the development of Palaly as an international airport to improve communication links between Tamil-speaking North Sri Lanka with India, especially Tamil Nadu. There had been an air service between Palaly and Madras and Tiruchi, before the ethnic conflict turned the airport into a military base. Addressing the media on the coalition governments development agenda at the end of the second year in office, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said that efforts to develop the Kankesanthurai harbor in Jaffna district to further develop communication links with South India will be discussed when the new Indian High Commissioner (Taranjit Singh Sandhu) assumes office. On the current controversy surrounding the joint Indo-Lankan use of the 100 giant oil tanks in Trincomalee, he said that talks are on with the stakeholders concerned. The Lanka India Oil Corporation has been resisting efforts by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation to develop some tanks unilaterally, bypassing the existing government to government agreement signed in 2002. Wickremesinghe said that Trincomalee port and its hinterland will be developed with Indian, Singaporean and Japanese investments. On the controversial grant of 80 percent stake to a Chinese government-owned company in the Hambantota harbor, the Prime Minister said there is nothing wrong in giving it that way, because a huge loan taken from the Chinese has been converted into a stake or investment. He said that his government believes in developing the country through FDIs and not loans in contrast to the policy of the predecessor Rajapaksa government. On the grant of 99 year lease on 15,000 acres of land near Hambantota port for the development of an economic zone, the Prime Minister said that it is better than giving land on a freehold basis to the Chinese as the Rajapaksa government did in the case of the Colombo Port. His government had to reverse the earlier governments decision. On the finalisation of the deal with China on Hambantota port, Wickremesinghe said that eight or nine agreements are still to be negotiated but he made it clear that there will be no change in the grant of 80 percent stake and 99 year lease on land for the economic zone. However, he evaded the question whether any agreement will be signed on January 7. The Prime Minister said that Sri Lanka will march on the path of development through trade and investment agreements like the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) with India, and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)with China, Singapore and Japan. He will not be deterred by politically motivated criticism he added. ETCA and other FTAs will be signed this year, he said. The government plans to make Sri Lanka a logistics, IT and electronics hub, and hopes to secure US$ 2 or 3 billion in FDIs this year. On the controversy over the Electorates Delimitation Committee report he said that some political issues need to be resolved which he hopes to do when he meets the political parties in parliament on January 9. He said that a consensus is needed on this issue. On charges of political instability in his government, Wickremesinghe said that all governments face such problems whether they are single party or multi-party governments. If there are two big political parties in coalition, jockeying for positions is only to be expected, he said.
By IANS
ISTANBUL: Police arrested 27 suspected members of the Islamic State terrorist organisation in the Turkish province of Izmir on Wednesday for their alleged links to the New Year attack on Istanbul's Reina nightclub.
According to local newspaper Hurriyet, the detainees include several children and belong to three families from Central Asia. They allegedly lived with the attacker in central Turkey and had fled their homes after the attack.
The anti-terrorist unit carried out a raid on four houses in Izmir, and according to security services, the operation is still ongoing, reports Efe.
Also arrested were 16 people in Istanbul and Konya in central Turkey between January 1 and 3 for their alleged involvement in the attack, which killed 39 and wounded 65.
The attacker, whom the Turkish Foreign Ministry identified earlier but did not disclosed his name, is still on the run.
Among the arrested is the wife of the attacker, who told the police that she did not know her husband belonged to IS.
According to investigations, the head of the terrorist group's cell that carried out the attack was in Konya, used the alias Yusuf Hoca and organised the attacker's journey from Konya to Istanbul.
The Islamic State claimed on Monday responsibility for the nightclub attack.
The attack took place at the exclusive Reina nightclub, where over 600 persons were celebrating the New Year's Eve.
ISTANBUL: Police arrested 27 suspected members of the Islamic State terrorist organisation in the Turkish province of Izmir on Wednesday for their alleged links to the New Year attack on Istanbul's Reina nightclub. According to local newspaper Hurriyet, the detainees include several children and belong to three families from Central Asia. They allegedly lived with the attacker in central Turkey and had fled their homes after the attack. The anti-terrorist unit carried out a raid on four houses in Izmir, and according to security services, the operation is still ongoing, reports Efe. Also arrested were 16 people in Istanbul and Konya in central Turkey between January 1 and 3 for their alleged involvement in the attack, which killed 39 and wounded 65. The attacker, whom the Turkish Foreign Ministry identified earlier but did not disclosed his name, is still on the run. Among the arrested is the wife of the attacker, who told the police that she did not know her husband belonged to IS. According to investigations, the head of the terrorist group's cell that carried out the attack was in Konya, used the alias Yusuf Hoca and organised the attacker's journey from Konya to Istanbul. The Islamic State claimed on Monday responsibility for the nightclub attack. The attack took place at the exclusive Reina nightclub, where over 600 persons were celebrating the New Year's Eve.
By AFP
ISTANBUL: Turkey's prime minister will this week pay a critical visit to Iraq, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, after tensions soared to unprecedented levels ahead of the operation to recapture Mosul.
Ankara has been concerned over the role of Shiite pro-Tehran militia in the operation to take the majority Sunni second city of Iraq from Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
"We are watching all actions aimed at starting a confessional conflict in Iraq," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.
He said that Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and a delegation would be making a visit to Iraq starting on Friday.
"We want to bring our relations to a better level after they ground to a halt in recent times."
Ankara has been largely left on the sidelines in the Mosul operation and the tensions led to a bitter public spat between Erdogan and Iraqi Premier Haider al-Abadi.
Erdogan last year told the Iraqi leader to "know your place" and even said "you are not at my level".
Not to be outdone, Abadi hit back by mocking Erdogan's appearance on FaceTime to rouse supporters on the night of the failed July 15 coup.
But on December 30, Erdogan spoke to Abadi by telephone for the first time since the row, Turkish media said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said earlier this week that a "new era" was starting in Turkey's relationship with Iraq's leaders.
Ruled for nearly half a millennium by the Ottoman Empire, Mosul is considered by mainly Sunni Muslim Turkey to be part of its natural sphere of influence in the Middle East.
Ankara has insisted Mosul must keep its Sunni Arab Muslim majority which it had before IS took over the city from woefully unprepared Iraqi troops in 2014.
Before the emergence of IS in Iraq, Turkey had major ambitions for Mosul, opening a vast consulate but then finding its entire 49 strong staff was taken hostage by the jihadists in June 2014.
The hostages were later freed in September 2015 amid murky circumstances and, symbolically, the consulate building was destroyed in a US-led coalition air strike in April 2016.
ISTANBUL: Turkey's prime minister will this week pay a critical visit to Iraq, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, after tensions soared to unprecedented levels ahead of the operation to recapture Mosul. Ankara has been concerned over the role of Shiite pro-Tehran militia in the operation to take the majority Sunni second city of Iraq from Islamic State (IS) jihadists. "We are watching all actions aimed at starting a confessional conflict in Iraq," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara. He said that Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and a delegation would be making a visit to Iraq starting on Friday. "We want to bring our relations to a better level after they ground to a halt in recent times." Ankara has been largely left on the sidelines in the Mosul operation and the tensions led to a bitter public spat between Erdogan and Iraqi Premier Haider al-Abadi. Erdogan last year told the Iraqi leader to "know your place" and even said "you are not at my level". Not to be outdone, Abadi hit back by mocking Erdogan's appearance on FaceTime to rouse supporters on the night of the failed July 15 coup. But on December 30, Erdogan spoke to Abadi by telephone for the first time since the row, Turkish media said. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said earlier this week that a "new era" was starting in Turkey's relationship with Iraq's leaders. Ruled for nearly half a millennium by the Ottoman Empire, Mosul is considered by mainly Sunni Muslim Turkey to be part of its natural sphere of influence in the Middle East. Ankara has insisted Mosul must keep its Sunni Arab Muslim majority which it had before IS took over the city from woefully unprepared Iraqi troops in 2014. Before the emergence of IS in Iraq, Turkey had major ambitions for Mosul, opening a vast consulate but then finding its entire 49 strong staff was taken hostage by the jihadists in June 2014. The hostages were later freed in September 2015 amid murky circumstances and, symbolically, the consulate building was destroyed in a US-led coalition air strike in April 2016.
Getty Images. Living on minimum wage is possible in these 13 U.S. cities, according to a GOBankingRates study but don't expect to have too much cash leftover.
Nineteen states are raising their minimum wage in 2017and that means a renewal of the debate on whether or not a higher minimum wage actually benefits or harms workers.
It's a debate that takes me back to my childhood.
In some ways, we felt rich when my mom earned the minimum wage working the breakfast shift at McDonald's. My brother and I could eat pancakes any time we wanted, and the manager always gave us the newest Happy Meal toys. I also had my birthday party at Mickey D's, which in my understanding of the world at the time was a luxury normally reserved for the super-wealthy.
As far as I knew, Michael Jordan's kids probably had their birthday parties at McDonald's.
Peggy McKissen's kids did notat least until she donned the brown uniform of a 1980s McDonald's employee.
So, life on the minimum wage had its moments, but for the most part, it was a hard way to live. I remember my mom talking about the way her hair smelled like French fries, and how difficult or even cruel customers could be. I also remember how McDonald's wasn't her only jobshe also delivered newspapers in the afternoon.
My mom didn't support our family on two jobs people typically associate with teenagers because she was lazy, or because she hadn't figured out how to find her bootstraps and pull herself up by them. My dad actually made decent money as a well-driller when my brother and I were born, but he lost his job after a back injury he suffered lifting a pipe.
In a town hit hard by the early Reagan-era farm recession, there were few options for my mom, who until that point had done one job: she raised my brother and me.
So, as a 30-year-old woman with two kids and a husband who couldn't work, she got a job on the morning shift at McDonald's, serving Egg McMuffins to the same people she had gone to high school with.
She wasn't the picture often painted of the minimum wage earner. She wasn't a teenager. And she didn't lack ambition. In fact, she was doing something our society says it admires: going to work, and doing whatever she could to support a family that needed her.
Story continues
My mom died a few years ago, but I think of herof a grown woman never able to completely scrub the smell of French fries out of her hairevery time I read an argument against raising the minimum wage that basically comes down to two points:
1. All minimum wage earners are teenagers, or
2. Most minimum wage earners are teenagers, but the ones who aren't are suffering from their own lack of ambition, skill, or both.
I know that's not true based on the databut I also know that's not true because my family lived it.
At the same time, my personal position on the minimum wage is more complex. As a business owner, I pay three employees. Not all of them make $15 an hour, and if I were required to pay all of my employees $15 per hour, I would have to seriously consider whether I could continue to afford them.
A year agobefore my company experienced growthI simply would have had to let those employees go.
That's not because my wife and I are living like Saudi Arabian sheiks, and are reluctant to share the wealth. I pay my employees as much as I can possibly pay them for the value they deliver and would love to pay them more, but I simply can't.
Like my family's experience making ends meet on the minimum wage, I can show you data that says an increase in the minimum wage can result in fewer jobs at small businesses like mine.
But I also know that story because I live it every day.
Many minimum wage earners are adults doing whatever they can to feed themselves and their families.
Minimum wage increases do have an impact on jobs at small businesses like mine.
Both of these statements are true, and do not cancel each other out.
Yet, they get shouted at each other by both sides of the minimum wage debate as if they do cancel each other out.
Raising the national minimum wage will require both sides of the debate to do something almost impossible to do in our current political environment: recognize there are valid points on both sides, and work to find a solution somewhere in the middle.
My mom was just doing her best to take care of her family when she was earning the minimum wage. I'm just doing the best I can to take care of my family and am concerned a $15 minimum wage might impact my ability to do that.
If we start the debate from a place that acknowledges one truth doesn't cancel another truth out, maybe we can actually get something done.
Commentary by Dustin McKissen, the founder and CEO of McKissen + Company, a strategy, marketing, and public relations firm based in St. Charles, Missouri. He was named one of LinkedIn's "Top Voices" in 2015 and 2016, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Organizational and Industrial Psychology. Follow him on Twitter @DMcKissen.
For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCOpinion on Twitter.
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Spare Change: Finally! Election TV ads soon will be done
Truth is, I suspect these spots are effective. For instance, Allan Fung is portrayed as a regular Joe from Cranston.
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The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Nursing has received a $3.25 million federal grant to continue its research to identify risk and protective factors related to drinking and drinking-related problems among sexual-minority -- lesbian or bisexual -- women.
The five-year study, led by Tonda Hughes, professor of health systems science and associate dean for global health, will examine how stressful experiences in a person's life -- childhood sexual abuse, adult sexual assault or discrimination based on race/ethnicity or sexual orientation -- are related to psychological suffering and hazardous drinking in adult sexual-minority women.
Now in its 17th year, Hughes' study is the longest-running project of its kind, and one of the only longitudinal studies focusing on sexual-minority women's drinking and health.
Sexual-orientation-related health disparities are now well recognized, and some of the largest inequalities have been documented between the drinking behavior of sexual-minority and heterosexual women, Hughes said. The new study will evaluate the impact on sexual-minority women's drinking and health following the Supreme Court's landmark Obergefell decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
It will also take advantage of a unique longitudinal data set, tracking the drinking patterns of the same women over a 20-year period, to examine their long-term drinking trajectories and health.
Hughes said findings from the study will add significantly to the current sparse knowledge about individual, interpersonal and societal factors that contribute to elevated rates of physical and mental health problems -- including hazardous drinking and its complications -- in sexual-minority women.
"This will generate information that can guide the development of prevention, treatment and policy to reduce health disparities in sexual minorities, and potentially other minority groups as well," Hughes said. "We anticipate that the supportive policy change garnered from the historic Supreme Court decision that was passed in June 2015 will have beneficial effects for all sexual-minority women, and those who choose to marry will demonstrate many of the health benefits of marriage observed among women in the general population."
Hughes' earlier research showed that sexual-minority women interviewed after Illinois passed its Marriage Fairness Act in 2014 reported better mental health and lower levels of hazardous drinking than those interviewed before the bill was passed. Benefits were seen for all women in the study, but African American and Latina sexual-minority women, as well as those without college degrees, appeared to benefit most -- suggesting that women who are more marginalized may see the most benefit from supportive policies.
Source: University of Illinois at Chicago
The practice of pathology is entering a period of broad adoption of digital workflows, as near real-time access to digital slides offers opportunities to greatly improve clinical outcomes and accelerate research.
Image credit: Huron Digital Pathology.
As Liron Pantanowitz, Professor of Pathology and Biomedical Informatics at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center recently described, digital pathology offers benefits with respect to image analysis, education, telepathology, centralized services, archiving, workflow efficiency, subspecialty practice, and computational pathology.
However, Pantanowitz also cautions that digital workflows must be executed properly, and this starts with the successful digitization of glass slides by means of whole slide scanning. Get this part right, and it will positively benefit the rest of the pathology workflow.
Lets look at the seven most prominent pitfalls encountered in whole slide scanning and the potential solutions for overcoming them.
Pitfall #1: Those pesky barcodes
Most slide scanners expect standard 1 x 3 slides to have a single barcode placed at the top of the slide, and are therefore designed to read that barcode in that specific position. But sometimes, multiple barcodes are placed on top of each other, making the slides too thick to fit into the slide handling mechanism. Or, there may be multiple barcodes in multiple locations of the slide. Both these scenarios can result in the need for time consuming manual intervention.
Solution: Find a more accommodating slide holder and image-based barcode capture. Look for a slide scanner that can handle a variance in slide thickness in case there is a need to place a barcode on top of another. The slide holders on Huron Digital Pathologys TissueScope LE scanner, for example, can handle thicker slides. Furthermore, the scanner employs image-based barcode capture, so the barcode or barcodes can be read anywhere on the slide.
Pitfall #2: Trying to scan damaged slides
Through the slide preparation process, slides can become broken or chipped. They can still be scanned, but special care must be taken. The slides may have to be scanned separately, which disrupts the automation expected from digital pathology.
Pitfall #3: Scanners that eat slides
In many scanners, the slide handling mechanism can actually break the glass slide as it moves through the scanner during image acquisition. This not only destroys the slide, but requires scanner maintenance to remove the broken slide and glass. This is clearly a handling hazard for laboratory personnel.
Solution to Pitfalls #2 and #3: Look for a slide holder that does no harm. Choose a scanner that can accommodate imperfect slides without impacting throughput, one that ensures the integrity of the slide. The TissueScope LE120 slide holder has a unique clamping system that can accept slides that are broken or have chips. And because its tray-based, the scanner doesnt actually touch the slides, keeping the precious specimens and fragile glass safe.
Huron Digital Pathology Innovative Slide Holder Play
Figure 1. The Huron Digital Pathology slide holder keeps slides safe.
Pitfall #4: The care required in slide preparation
Most slide scanners are automatic, generally designed to accommodate pristinely prepared slides with little variability. In reality, this is often not the case. Therefore, extra care needs to be taken by lab staff to reduce the variability in preparation, because this will affect the success of image acquisition, and re-scans are costly to the efficiency of the workflow.
For example, take Canadas largest microscopy facility, the Advanced Optical Microscope Facility (AOMF) in Toronto. General Manager, James Jonkman and his staff actively instruct those responsible for preparing slides to the facility to adhere to these strict procedures to ensure optimal results:
Slides are dry and not sticky
Slides are clean with no finger prints, oil etc. on them
Labels are not sticky or overhanging the slides
Coverslips are not overhanging the slides
No globs of mounting media are on the slides
No marker annotations such as arrows or circling tissues are on the slides
Solution: Find the right slide holder, and take advantage of scan preview. A bit of extra mounting media shouldnt ruin your day, so look for a scanner that can handle difficult slides without impacting throughput. Also, if available, take advantage of the scanners preview function to ensure that the scans are set up to be properly acquired. Make sure your scanner allows for full control of the region of interest, focus area, and other factors to ensure a successful scan.
Figure 2. Hurons interface gives users more power to tackle difficult slides. Image credit: Huron Digital Pathology.
Pitfall #5: Managing scanner down-time
As demonstrated by pitfall #4, scan preview and set-up is a critical step for ensuring all slides are properly imaged. However, this step can be time consuming, costing 10-20% of scanner throughput each day. Instead of acquiring images, your expensive investment (the medium to high throughput slide scanner) sits idle. Further, the power of these cameras is routinely wasted when spent taking low-resolution preview images. So how can digital pathology workflows increase throughput without sacrificing image quality?
Solution: Improve scanner throughput by offloading scan preview and setup. If a workflow can separate preview acquisition from final image acquisition, the imaging system will be put to best use, maximizing throughput. Huron Digital Pathologys TissueSnap, which works along-side the TissueScope LE120, is designed to do just that.
A few words about Hurons TissueSnap Preview Station
Figure 3. The TissueSnap connects to an LE slide scanner to maximize throughput. Image credit: Huron Digital Pathology.
While the TissueScope LE120 is scanning, the TissueSnap can capture preview images of slides yet to be scanned. The preview images are sent instantly to the main scanners user interface. As the scanner continues to acquire high-resolution images, the next batch of slides can be previewed and setup simultaneously without interruption.
As well as separating image set-up from high throughput scanning, TissueSnap has a compact size and networkability that mean it can be placed almost anywhere in the laboratory. Various TissueSnap preview stations placed in different locations can feed a single high throughput scanner, thereby improving workflow.
Pitfall #6: Navigating proprietary file formats
Once image acquisition is complete, the digital slide may move through a series of other phases: image viewing, image management, image sharing, and image analysis. As the digital slide travels through this cycle, it may interact with different software systems, which may have varying degrees of integration with image acquisition. For example, the image analysis software may prefer file formats different from that of the viewing software. The risk here is of additional investment in software development, extra expense on proprietary image viewers, or at worst, incompatibility.
Solution: Open up. Look for scanners that output in a non-proprietary file format. TissueScope LE, for example, creates a BigTIFF that can be read by just about every image management and image analysis software, making it fast and simple to integrate. That gives you a lot of freedom to easily mix and match hardware and software components, and reduce cost.
Figure 4. The TissueScope LE120 with 1 x 3, 2 x 3, and 5 x 7 slide holders. Image credit: Huron Digital Pathology.
Pitfall #7: Slides that are too big
While most slides are standard size (roughly 1 x 3), there are instances particularly in the research area where tissue can be much larger. This is particularly true with whole mount brain, breast, and prostate tissue. So, what do you do about these larger slides?
Solution: Be flexible. Choose a scanning solution that can accommodate multiple slide sizes. Hurons TissueScope, for example, can accommodate both standard and double-wide slides, and any size slide up to 6 x 8.
About Huron Digital Pathology
Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Huron Digital Pathology has a 20 year history designing sophisticated imaging instrumentation. Our end-to-end digital whole slide imaging solutions for digital pathology incorporate our award-winning TissueScope digital slide scanners; TissueView image viewing, sharing and management platform; and our workflow-enhancing accessories, which include our innovative TissueSnap preview scanning station.
Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments.
German consumer rights champion myRight filed the first legal test case against Volkswagen in Germany on Tuesday, raising pressure on the carmaker to compensate customers in Europe over the emissions scandal.
Europe's largest automaker has pledged billions to compensate U.S. owners of Volkswagen (VW) diesel-powered cars, but has so far rejected any compensation for the 8.5 million affected vehicles in Europe where different legal rules weaken the chances of affected customers winning a pay out.
Instead, VW is in the process of removing the illicit software that cheated emissions tests and insists the technical fixes will inflict no loss of value on car owners in Europe. It hopes to have completed repairs to all affected vehicles by the end of the year.
MyRight, which has gathered more than 100,000 VW owners through its web site, has accused VW of breaching European Union law by selling cars with software that was banned under EU rules, according to the 93-page legal document seen by Reuters.
Rather than seeking compensation for a decline in value, the lawsuit aims to force VW to repurchase the vehicles at the original price, myRight founder Jan-Eike Andresen said.
MyRight has mandated US law firm Hausfeld to pursue the claims. Hausfeld represents aggrieved VW owners and shareholders on both sides of the Atlantic.
The purpose of the proceedings by myRight is to act as a model - resolving generic or common issues for other related cases. However, unlike in a US class action, it does not have the legal effect of resolving all individual claims.
Wolfsburg-based Volkswagen, has said the software fitted into the engine at the centre of the scandal, codenamed EA 189, does not violate European law and declined comment on the myRight suit.
"We have taken note that myRight has announced the submission of diesel lawsuits for Jan. 3. The lawsuits have not yet been made available to us which is why we cannot comment on the contents at the moment," the carmaker said.
New European research suggests a lack of vitamin D could have yet another effect on health, increasing the risk of chronic headaches in men.
Carried out by researchers from the University of Eastern Finland, the team looked at 2601 men aged between 42 and 60 years who were taking part in the Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study (KIHD).
The men were tested for levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH) D), a marker for vitamin D status, with 68% of the men showing a serum vitamin D level of below 50 nmol/l, generally considered the threshold for vitamin D deficiency.
The men were also asked to report on the frequency with which they experienced headaches.
After dividing the participants into four groups based on their serum vitamin D levels, the team found that the group with the lowest levels of serum vitamin D had over a twofold risk (116%) of chronic headaches in comparison to the group with the highest levels.
Chronic headaches were also reported more frequently by men who were examined outside the summer months of June through September, a time when average serum vitamin D levels may be lower due to a lack of UVB radiation from the sun.
The new study adds to the growing body of evidence that a lack of vitamin D can have an adverse effect on health and increase the risk of various chronic diseases, with recent research also showing an association between a lack of vitamin D and conditions such as cognitive decline, multiple sclerosis, IBS and bladder cancer, with a lack of vitamin D while pregnant also associated with autism, ADHD and asthma in children.
Low vitamin D levels have also been found previously to be linked with an increased risk of headaches, although in smaller studies.
The results now suggest that in Finland and other countries far from the Equator, extra care should be taken outside of the summer months to ensure vitamin D levels are topped up with food such as oily fish, beef or calf liver, eggs and cod liver oil, or from vitamin D supplements.
The results can be found online published in Scientific Reports.
: Almost all the high-value bank notes that ceased to be legal tender post the demonetisation announcement on November 8 have returned to the banks dealing a blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise move to unearth black money in circulation, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.About 97 percent of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in circulation until November 8 have been deposited back, the report said quoting "people with knowledge of the matter"."Banks have received Rs 14.97 trillion ($220 billion) as of December 30, the deadline for handing in the old bank notes, the people said, asking not to be identified citing rules for speaking with the media. The government had initially estimated about 5 trillion rupees of the 15.4 trillion rupees rendered worthless by the sudden move on November 9 to remain undeclared as it may have escaped the tax net illegally," Bloomberg said.According to the report, banks have disbursed about 8 trillion rupees in new currency bills. The figures of bank notes deposited are provisional and may change.Although the deadline for depositing the scrapped notes in bank accounts expired on December 31, the Reserve Bank of India is yet to release any final figure on the value of notes already returned.
December 31 proved to be a night off horrors for women who stepped out looking for a night of merriment. MG Road, Brigade Road and Church Street - the glitzy heart of India's tech capital transformed into a melee where drunken revellers shouted lewd remarks, harassed and even molested women on the streets. All this, even as state government claimed that 1500 policemen were deployed in the area.A day later, a shocking CCTV video has surfaced , showing a woman being followed, groped and beaten to the ground by perpetrators. This time, the location was't a party destination along a high street, but a quiet residential neighborhood. What ails Bengaluru? News18 is looking to give Bangaloreans a voice.If you have been a victim or a witness of the night's horrors, tell us about it in the form below.If you wish to remain anonymous, you can leave the personal information fields blank.
Mumbai: The Union government has informed the Bombay High Court that it has issued guidelines to all the states to block matrimonial websites encouraging dowry.
"Such guidelines have been issued to all the states, including Maharashtra, and it is for the state governments to act on them," it said recently in an affidavit on a PIL filed by advocate Priscila Samuel on the dowry menace.
Advocate General Rohit Deo and Government Pleader Abhay Patki, appearing for the state government, assured the court that steps would be taken to implement such guidelines.
Patki submitted that the state would file an affidavit within two weeks, detailing the steps taken regarding the formation of the grievance redressal mechanism and district-level advisory boards as also the time-frame within which these would be set up.
Deo told the court that the proposal of appointing dowry prohibition officers was under the consideration of the state Women and Child Welfare Department.
Thereafter, it will be approved by the General Administration and Finance departments and then, it will be placed before the Cabinet for approval.
Patki submitted that the state will put on affidavit details of steps taken till date and the time required for appointing dowry prohibition officers.
On his request, the court granted two weeks to the state to file an affidavit in this regard.
A bench headed by Justices Shantanu Kemkar and Prakash Naik posted the matter to January 10 for the next hearing.
The PIL claimed that though the Dowry Prohibition Act was enacted in 1961, the state had done "little" to control the dowry menace.
It urged the court to inquire into the "mushrooming of illegal businesses" of marriage brokers and marriage service providers.
It also contended that advertisements on matrimonial websites seeking dowry were directly violating the provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act and sought orders to the state government to regulate the functioning of such websites.
For more than 50 days now, Poonam Pardesi has not been able to go to a bank to withdraw money. It's not the long lines, the interminable waiting or the fear of harassment by bank officials that has deterred her. Neither did she magically have a stash of the new notes stacked away at home that came to her rescue.
For Poonam it was not a question of convenience neither one of practicality. She is 100 percent visually impaired, a disability that didn't stop her from getting the finest education, from living in and navigating a city like Delhi all by herself or from working fulltime. But what the disability didn't do, demonetisation managed to pull off in a mere two months time- make her feel debilitated and completely reliant on others.
Since November 8, when the Prime Minister took the entire nation by surprise with his demonetisation announcement, Poonam has had to rely on the kindness of friends and colleagues- individuals who go in lieu of her to withdraw money from her bank account.
She says that most banks don't have counters to help the visually impaired or for that matter, any customer with any disability. That means she needs an escort, something that banks also aren't allowing. Poonam says, "When someone goes to withdraw money on my behalf, because of the rush at banks, they can't get all the cash I need. I am always reliant on someone else's schedule and availability. Did the government even think about people like us?"
Many ATMs also don't have a voice feature which means Poonam can't navigate the process of withdrawing cash without help this despite an RBI circular that mandates that all Automatic Teller Machines must be accessible for all people.
The alienation doesn't end there. Poonam describes the frustration that comes with using the new notes. The two security features that the 2000 and 500 rupee notes have are easy to miss. Poonam says the raised rectangle and circle on the currency along with the angular lines will eventually fade once the notes become well used.
This makes size the only discernible feature for the visually impaired. What Poonam does then is to keep the notes in different compartments in her wallet, depending on their size. "But sometimes the 20 rupee note feels just like the 500 rupee note. The new currency is simply not accessible for us," she adds.
PM Narendra Modi's 'Digital India' push did not come handy for her there. Unfortunately, like they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Applications like Paytm dont have a voiceover feature, which means Poonam is automatically excluded from this digital platform. Similarly not all websites are disability friendly, which means more dependence on others.
"The other day, I wanted to buy groceries from the local kirana store. The shopkeeper had Paytm on his phone but didnt know how to use it. I couldn't even explain to him what he needed to do because of my disability. With no cash on me, I was ready to leave the shop without purchasing anything but then I decided to call a colleague who helped," Poonam says adding her purchases are now limited to a known grocer near her home.
This isn't the first time though that the banking system has let Poonam down. In 2013, when she walked into an SBI bank branch to open her first bank account, she was made to wait for an hour following which bank officials told her that she couldn't open an account. "They asked me, how will you ever operate an account?" she recounts. After asking her for an undertaking and pushing her to give her thumb impression (Poonam refused, reminding them shes literate and can sign), she managed to open an account.
Not just that, in another instance, bank officials refused to give her a cheque book or even an ATM card by saying, "what if something goes wrong?" Even now, she says when she goes to the bank with an escort, the bank employees talk to the person accompanying her- assuming that with blindness, hearing loss and lack of comprehension skills are also a given.
Poonam overcame these challenges- she pushed and she prevailed. But demonetisation has turned the clock backwards, alienating her and pushing her out of the system once again.
ReneSola Ltd SOL has signed a framework agreement with an affiliate of Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy Group (Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy) Limited for developing rooftop solar projects of 335 megawatts in China.
Details of the Agreement
The projects will be based in the Hebei, Shandong, Fujian, Shanxi and Jiangsu Provinces of China.
As per the deal, ReneSola will be responsible for engineering, procurement and construction of the projects, while Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy will provide financing during construction. The projects are expected to be completed by Jun 30, 2017 and ReneSola will sell them to Beijing Enterprises Clean Energy upon completion.
This agreement is in line with ReneSolas positive outlook for rooftop solar distributed generation projects in China. Moreover, it is a strategic fit for ReneSolas long-term strategy of shifting business toward project development and LED distribution.
Price Movement
Shares of ReneSola lost 64% in the last one year, underperforming the Zacks categorized Solar industrys loss of 59.6%.
The primary reason for this underperformance could be the U.S. Department of Commerces imposition of anti-dumping duties and anti-subsidy rates on the import of Chinese solar panels, which has adversely impacted ReneSolas revenues since all of the companys production facilities are located in China.
Solar Industry Outlook
Throughout last year, the solar industry has grappled with challenges like declining solar panel prices, weaker power plant contracting activity and increasing regulatory stringency. The industry-wide downturn was owing to a looming glut of solar panels. As solar players continued to step up production in an effort to seize a higher market share, panel supply outweighed demand significantly.
Strong project build-up in the U.S. in anticipation of the Dec 2016 expiration of the solar investment tax credit (which was eventually extended) also played a major role in curbing activity in this space as developers now have more time to build their projects.
Story continues
This had a material impact on solar companies such as First Solar, Inc. FSLR,Canadian Solar Inc. CSIQ and JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. JASO.
Further, the unexpected victory of Donald Trump in the Presidential election does not bode well for the renewable energy space. The President-elect has not only vowed to revive the coal industry but has even called climate change a Chinese Hoax.
Zacks Rank
ReneSola carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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I want to remove the CPI (M) from power in West Bengal and to do that, I will not hesitate to join hands even with the devil, she had said in a steely voice that had silenced everyone present in the room.
In politics, no one can predict the future. For the present, BJP is our main enemy and Didi is playing a central role in uniting the entire Opposition against Modi. Just wait and watch, is how a senior minister in her Cabinet explained the unfolding political drama.
In the din created by consecutive arrests of two Trinamool Congress MPs by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and a furious Mamata Banerjees demand for the arrest of Narendra Modi, many have forgotten that Mamata was one of the very few political leaders in India, who had congratulated Modi after his victory in Gujarat assembly elections following the communal riots.This correspondent, then almost a cub reporter and his senses still not immune to the darker aspects of political ambitions, had asked Mamata why she had chosen to send Modi a bunch of roses when almost the entire political class was condemning him for the Gujarat riots.But that was more than two decades ago. She has now ascended the throne in Bengal and has reduced the CPI (M) to the footnotes of history, as her senior leaders say. To do it, she joined hands with the devil, not once but repeatedly.Both the BJP and the Congress are devils she has said many times in her close circles and she has never dithered to embrace them and then dump them again and again in her journey to power.Now that her power is secured in West Bengal, Mamata is eager to play a central role in national politics.Will she join hands with the Congress? Well, she already has.Will she dump the Congress and make friends with the BJP in future?In her journey to power, Mamata made her first big and somewhat risky step forward by quitting the Congress, splitting the party in West Bengal and forming the Trinamool Congress in 1998. This might not have happened had PV Narasimha Rao agreed to make her the Congress chief in Bengal, which she was demanding for at least two years.Always on good terms with both Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani, Mamata joined the BJP-led NDA and became the first woman Railways minister. When the Opposition criticised that she was acting more like a Railways Minister of West Bengal, she simply ignored them and introduced new trains and projects for her state. Her target was the 2001 assembly polls.During those days, the BJP was nothing more than a fringe organisation in the state. So, as soon as the Tehelka scam erupted, she dumped the BJP, joined hands with the Congress again and fought the assembly polls. It turned out to be one of her worst performances.So Mamata lost no time in warming up to the BJP leaders again particularly Advani and some other senior leaders, who are now in the Modi cabinet. In 2004, she went back to NDA and became the coal and mines minister.But her close associates some inside Trinamool and others, interestingly, from some strongly anti-CPI(M) fringe Left organisations were trying to convince her for quite some time, that unless she distanced herself from the BJP, the nearly 28 per cent minority votes in Bengal would not come to her kitty and she would never come even close to power. She realised this the hard way.In 2005 she lost the prestigious Kolkata Municipal Corporation election and in 2006 she got only 35 of the 294 seats in the assembly polls.At this point, Mamata decided to change course and took full advantage of the changing political situation in the state.During her anti-land acquisition movement", first in Singur and then in Nandigram, her party sent a clear message that only the land belonging to the Muslim community was being acquired by the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government. Mamata and not the Left was the new messiah of the minorities. The huge success of the two struggles finally made her the chief minister of West Bengal.In the first five years in power, the Trinamools primary objective was to reduce both the Left and the Congress to political non-entities. Having successfully done that she is now eyeing Delhi.Demonetisation and the consequent coming together of the Opposition present her with a unique opportunity.Arrest of her two MPs Tapas Paul and Sudip Bandyopadhyay has created a public perception that she is being targeted by the BJP because she is the most vociferous voice against demonetisation, Trinamool leaders say insisting that this will only catapult her to the centre stage of national politics.The arrests have come as a boon in disguise, a senior Trinamool leader said, chuckling, over phone late on Tuesday night.(The writer is a senior journalist based in Kolkata)
Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa will pick new assemblies between February 4 and March 8 in the biggest popularity test since the Lok Sabha polls of 2014. Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, will go to the polls in seven phases: February 11 (73 seats), 15 (67 seats), 19 (69 seats), 23 (53 seats) and 27 (52 seats) and March 4 (49 seats) and 8 (40 seats).The results from all the states will be known on March 11, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said on Wednesday while unveiling a slew of new election-related rules. For the first time, there will be separate polling stations for women and photographs of the candidates will be displayed on the electronic voting machines.The results from all the states will be known on March 11, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said on Wednesday while unveiling a slew of new election-related rules. While the BJP rules Goa, it is a junior ally to the Shiromani Akali Dal-led government in Punjab. The Congress governs Uttarakhand and Manipur.The AAP, the country's youngest political outfit and which rules Delhi, will contest for the first time in Punjab and Goa. For the first time, there will be separate polling stations for women and photographs of the candidates will be displayed on the electronic voting machines. The maximum limit for expenses for each candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand is Rs 28 lakh, while that in Goa and Manipur is Rs 20 lakh,.
Washington: Creating history for a minority ethnic community that comprises just one per cent of the US population, five Indian Americans took oath as members of the Congress.
52-year-old Kamala Harris whose mother was from India and father from Jamaica of African heritage, was sworn in yesterday as the Senator from California by the outgoing US Vice President Joe Biden. She is the first Indian American to have ever served in the Senate.
She was accompanied by her husband Doug Emhoff, sister Maya Harris and other members of her immediate family members during the swearing in ceremony.
Harris, who before the swearing in held the position of California Attorney General replaced Senator Barbara Boxer, who decided against seeking re-election. She is one of the seven new Senators to have taken office in the new Congress.
"Today I was sworn-in to the US Senate. I am humbled and honoured to serve you and the people of California. Let's get to work," Harris said immediately thereafter.
After her elections, she has made it clear that her top priority would be to fight out the alleged divisive policies of the Republicans who are now in majority in both the House of Representative and the Senate.
A few hours later, the focus of the community shifted to the House Chambers wherein as many as four Indian Americans were sworn in as its members, including Congressman Ami Bera, who has been re-elected for the third consecutive term.
In the process he equalled the record of Dalip Singh Saundh, who exactly 60-years ago became the first Indian American to be elected as a member of the US Congress.
Joining Bera were young and dynamic Ro Khanna (40) representing the Silicon Valley. He was sworn in on a bicentennial edition of the Constitution on loan from the rare books division of the Library of Congress.
Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, 42, who won the election from Illinois took the oath on Gita. He is only the second US lawmaker after Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii to take the oath on a Gita. Gabbard, the first ever Hindu to be elected to the US Congress took the oath for third consecutive term.
Once upon a time Indian women were kept secure in joint families, till one day it was decided that women could work and augment the family income, provided they dressed traditionally, in accordance with the state they lived in, and came home straight from work.Education and earning power were reluctantly conferred on women, so they could make both ends meet if, say, husband was maimed, dead or elopes with another woman.But this went to their head! Soon women were gathering day and sometimes night to just say hello to each other.The moral police had not a minute to themselves; canoodling couples had to be crowbarred out of nooks and crannies. Women needed to be herded, stalked and acid-attacked to constantly remind them of how hazardous it was to be out and about.To this end, molesters and gropers have dedicated their lives, not to mention both of their hands, to the cause of personally teaching women a lesson: walk on the streets, hang out in public spaces, drink in pubs, pass through dark stretches without lamps, wear what you want but at your own risk.In case women in one city think sexual violence the problem of another city, cities quickly set them right.Keeping women unsafe is a fulltime job, any Indian city knows that.But with a little bit of help from the local police, yawning politicians and multiplying male mobs, rape stats are evenly maintained across the country.The former says, but no FIR filed, and the latter is too hung over to speak after a night of such male bonding. Teaching women a lesson is a tiring activity. And really they would retire from this altogether if it wasnt for the clothes women choose to wear, tch-tch. When men cant keep their hands to themselves it is always the womans fault.What happened in Bengaluru on New Years Eve couldve happened anywhere, but what happens elsewhere in India had seldom happened in Bengaluru before such blatant disregard for the safety of its women.Very few cities in India are considered female-friendly in the first place. With the exception of Mumbai and Puducherry, no other place is a preferred destination for solo women who like to stay out late. Only men have the right to be nocturnal hereabouts.In Bengaluru on New Years Eve reportedly 1,500 policemen patrolled the MG Road-Brigade Road area, the main social and commercial artery of the city.But a band of merry men, who leered at and got handsy with the opposite sex, obviously knew police blindness was a sure thing.Home Minister G Parameshwaras sociological analysis They (the victims) tried to copy the Westerner, not only in their mind-set but even in their dressing.So some disturbance, some girls are harassed, these kind of things do happen puts the blame squarely and ungrammatically on women.Once a woman feels unsafe, she feels unsafe forever. She is never going to regain that trust in the world she lives in. For the revellers it was just another night out with the boys, for the victims it was the city as it really is.(The author is a Bengaluru-based writer)
Bengaluru: Prominent citizens of Bengaluru reacted in horror and despair on Wednesday after CCTV footage came to light of a women being groped and assaulted by two bike-borne men on New Year's Eve.
Prominent activist Ranjana said, "There is no action, there has been no punishment in these cases. It's very unfortunate that on one hand we keep blaming the migrants but this is something else."
"These people must be punished and must feel ashamed of these activities. This sends a message of what kinds of brats parents are raising. No action has been taken in Bangalore," she added.
Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai, another prominent Bengalurean, put the onus on the city police to take stricter preventive measures to stop such incidents from taking place.
"Police should have stricter action. There should be a show of force at places where people gather.There was a lack of enforcement at that point of time. The police should have caught the miscreants immediately and taken them behind bars. If they would've made a few arrests, the situation could've been different," he said.
Brinda Adige, another prominent activist, said, I am ashamed, outraged and angry that these men continue molesting and abusing women with with impunity. Blame squarely lies with politicians who make obnoxious shameful statements that it is because of clothes, western thinking. This is what encourages men to continue because they know no one will fault or punish them."
Actress and politician Nagma said these incidents are unfortunate. "Unfortunate what is happening. All this is happening across the nation whether its in Haryana or Karnataka, and we have seen recently how people have molested and even killed girls. We must not be selective about one state. This also happens in haryana and we see leaders in all parties making obnoxious statements. We are still living in a regressive society," she said.
Sheopur (Madhya Pradesh): Farmer receives Rs 2000 notes from SBI Bank without Mahatma Gandhi's image pic.twitter.com/To8yiFIFxq ANI (@ANI_news) January 5, 2017
Two elderly farmers in Madhya Pradeshs Sheopur district got a shock after being handed Rs 2000 notes without the customary picture of Mahatma Gandhi on Wednesday at State Bank of India (SBI).The farmers, who thought the currency was fake, heaved a sigh of relief when the bank officials told them that the notes were genuine but were not printed properly.Laxman Meena, from village Bichhugawdi, had withdrawn Rs 6,000 from the SBI branch. Laxman had never seen the new Rs 2,000 note so did not react when he was handed three Rs 2,000 notes by the cashier.But when Laxman reached home, his son saw the notes and informed him that they were fake notes as the currency did not have Mahatma Gandhis picture on them.Alarmed, he hurriedly reached the bank and narrated the matter to the bank officers.Initially the bank staff tried to hush-up the matter but soon another farmer, Gurmeet Singh from Kadukhera village, reached the bank with two Rs 2,000 notes with the same issue.The bank officers quietly accepted the notes but did not offer new notes.Shrawanlal Meena, Manager of the branch, said that the notes were not fake. "The space meant for picture was blank. We have accepted the notes," he said.
Gen Dalbir Singh hands over the command to 27th #COAS Gen Bipin Rawat in an impressive ceremony at South Block today. pic.twitter.com/1aOve6PuuF ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) December 31, 2016
My 1st priority is to boost Indian Army's moral and make every jawan believe that they empower our force: Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat to ANI pic.twitter.com/3mpi45NF1s ANI (@ANI_news) January 3, 2017
Gen Bipin Rawat #COAS on taking over being presented a ceremonial Guard of Honour at the Lawns of South Block pic.twitter.com/bERzy7S9QA ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) January 1, 2017
: India will give a calibrated "hard" response to terror activities that will compel Pakistan to completely rethink its strategy on supporting insurgency and terrorism here, says new Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat.Gen Rawat, who as the Vice Chief was actively involved in the surgical strikes on terror camps across the LoC, also feels while it has to be ensured that "pain" is felt by the terrorists and their supporters, the response need not be in the same manner always.He brushes aside Pakistan's threat of use of tactical nuclear weapons, saying such statements will not deter India when it comes to defending our borders."While we do agree that we have to retaliate and ensure that the pain is felt by the terrorists and their supporters, the response need not be the same every time," the army chief said in an interview in New Delhi.Gen Rawat, who took over as the 27th chief on December 31, said, said "We will calibrate the response in a manner it hits them hard and compels them to think in the long run whether they need to completely rethink their strategy on supporting insurgency and terrorism in our state". He was asked about Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's statement that enemy needs to feel the pain too.Gen Rawat also said that not every incident needs to be seen from the same perspective as there are "large number" of terrorists operating in the valley who are always attempting to carry out some sort of violence against the security forces and citizens.Asked about Pakistan's threat of using tactical nukes, the army chief said nuclear weapons are weapons of deterrence. "And if Pakistan is reviewing their strategy on use of nuclear weapon, it is something that they have decided to strategise," he said adding that Pakistan's statements doe snot find favour either with India or with the international community.Gen Rawat said one will have to wait and see what call Pakistan takes finally.He said that the government, which decides the nuclear policy, may not be deterred by the threat in case India is forced to get into a confrontation with Pakistan along the borders.Responding to a question on whether India needs to revisit the "no first use policy", Gen Rawat said all policies are subject to review."Any policy that is made is subject to analysis and review. If a review is necessitated and it is felt that this review is necessary, we will go along with the government," he said.He said India is a democracy and nuclear policy is not decided at his level but by the government."There are various guidelines that have been formulated and it will be issued. But if a review has to be taken, directions will come from the hierarchy," he said.He also spoke extensively on modernisation of the army and said "time has come to imbibe new technology and adapt them to weapon system and equipment that we wish to bring and induct into the armed forces".Admitting that while not everything can be made in India, he said the army is also looking at collaborating with some of the international firms manufacturing weapons and finally looking at Transfer of Technology which will give a boost to domestic industry.
The first week of 2017 has started and with it comes a brand new list of film everybody all over the world is waiting for. From sci-fi action to Disney's live-action Hollywood has an entire platter set for the year, making every Friday a big day.
From big studios to big director and big franchise, 2017 is going to be a year of comeback for many. While Johnny Depp will be seen donning the captain's cap in Pirates of the Caribbean, Donny Boyle will once again bring the addict gang together in T2: Trainspotting.
As we walk into the first week of this New Year, let's take a look at films one should look forward to in 2017.
The Superhero Universe
2016 marked the beginning of a Superhero decade, with new characters entering the cinematic Universe of Marvel and DC. While Marvel introduced Deadpool, Spiderman, Black Panther and Doctor Strange, DC went ahead with Batman, Wonder Woman and Flash.
While Avengers still have things to figure out, it's nice how they laid foundations for the 'supposed' new gang. 2017 will see the life of 19-year-old, Peter Parker after he becomes a part of Avenger's war in Spiderman: Homecoming. And now has Iron Man mentoring him. Thor, who has been missing for quite some time will return to Asgard along with Hulk and Doctor Strange in Thor: Ragnarok
Star-Lord returns to save the galaxy along with little Groot and gang in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. With infinity stones scattered all around and Avengers: Infinity War at the horizon, the fight is about to get intense and entertaining.
In the X-Men front, Hugh Jackman is all set to say his farewell to Wolverine in Logan. Hugh's last appearance as the immortal X-Men appears to be interesting and will tread the past of Wolverine and his making.
DC is geared up to make up for a disappointing year with Wonder Woman. Gal Gadot is all set to bring her much-appreciated role of Wonder Woman in a solo film.
She will again be seen alongside Ben Affleck in Justice League, which will introduce other DC Superheroes as well. Flash, Aquaman, Mera, Cyborg Dc is going heavy with its heroes this time.
Dunkirk
Ace filmmaker Christopher Nolan is back with a new film. A World War II drama, Dunkirk, is a story based on a true incident. Set in the 1940s, the film is the story of the massive evacuation of nearly 400,000 British and French soldiers that took place during the war. The allied soldiers were stranded at the beach with Germans surrounding and bombing them at regular intervals. Nolans much-anticipated film is a star-studded film with actors like Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Aneurin Barnard. One directions Harry Styles makes his debut in the film.
Blade Runner 2049
1982 classic noir film by Denis Villeneuve is returning to the big screen. The sequel will have Harrison Ford reprise his role as Rick Deckard, with Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri, Lennie James, Dave Bautista and Jared Leto in supporting roles. The events occur 30 years after the events of the first film. A new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.
Beauty and The Beast
The highly-anticipated romantic-fantasy movie, Beauty and The Beast will live up your childhood dream once again in 2017. Starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens as the odd Disney couple directed by Bill Condon. With Emma Watson adding her touch to the ever popular Belle and Dan Stevens bringing Beast to life, the film has been generating interest for all the good reasons. It is just one of the many upcoming live-action films adapted from Disneys large catalogue of animated feature hits.
Pirates of The Caribbean
Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom will continue to reprise their roles of Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner respectively. Though, this time along the two lead actors will not have much to do in the sequel. And the major focus will be on Henry Turner and the main villain, Captain Salazar. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is expected to release on May 26, 2017. We hope that the fifth instalment of the film will be the best out of the four prior instalments.
Star Wars: Episode VIII
The epic space opera film franchise will get its eight chapter this year. The film which was revived in 2015 with entirely new plotline and few familiar faces (like Han Solo, Princess Leia and ofcourse Luke Skywalker) will resume the story exactly from where it was left at The Force Awakens, with Rey having tracked Luke Skywalker to a remote planet. Episode VIII is also Carrie Fisher's final film role after her death following a heart attack.
Fate OF Furious
Fast & Furious 8 is an upcoming action film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Chris Morgan. It is the eighth instalment in The Fast and the Furious franchise. The film will star Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Kurt Russell, Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren. It will see Vin go rogue in order to save his friends and family. The film is scheduled to be released on April 14, 2017.
Kong: Skull Island
The famous monster classic King Kong is getting a reboot this year. The story will see anothyer spine chilling experience of humans with the giant Kong. It stars an ensemble cast consisting of Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman, Brie Larson, Jing Tian, Toby Kebbell, John Ortiz, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Shea Whigham, Thomas Mann, Terry Notary, and John C. Reilly. Also, it's also a crossover film of King Kong and Godzilla. Do we need to say more?
The Circle
The Circle is a science-fiction thriller film directed and written by James Ponsoldt, based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Dave Eggers. The story revolves around a woman who lands a job at a powerful tech company called the Circle, where she becomes involved with a mysterious man and the way The Circle has been controlling lives of people through technology. The film stars the likes of Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, John Boyega and Karen Gillan. Expect a performance- rich and intriguing experience with this one.
T2: Trainspotting
Renton, Begbie, Sick Boy and Spud are set for a reunion as Danny Boyle's classic Trainspotting is back with its sequel. The events in T2: Trainspotting happens 20 years after the first film. Ewan McGregor will return as Renton with original cast members Robert Carlyle as Francis Begbie, Jonny Lee Miller as Sick Boy and Ewen Bremner as Spud, joining him. Novelist Welsh will also return in his role of Mikey Forrester. This Danny Boyle directorial classic is all set to get a modern twist.
Lion
Lion is an Australian-American British Drama film which is all set to release in India on 24th February 2017.The film had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival. The film has Nicole Kidman, Dev Patel, Rooney Mara and it also features Priyanka Bose, Deepti Naval, Nawazuddin Siddique and Tannishtha Chatterjee and it has been shot in Kolkata as well as in Australia. The film revolves around A five-year-old Indian boy who gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He survives many challenges before being adopted by a couple in Australia; 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family. Lion has already won various awards and it has also got 4 nominations at the Golden Globe Awards.
Alien
Alien: Covenant is an upcoming American science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and written by John Logan. It is the sequel to the 2012 film Prometheus and the second installment in the Alien prequel series. Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant find what they believe to be an uncharted paradise. What the crew discover is a dark, dangerous world, inhabited by the "synthetic" David (Michael Fassbender), the sole survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition, and monstrous creatures that are hunting them. The film is scheduled to be released on May 19, 2017.
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday reinstated four district presidents of the party who were sacked by his uncle and party leader Shivpal Yadav.
"As per the directions of Akhilesh Yadav, party President Naresh Uttam Patel reinstated Ram Iqbal Yadav (Deoria), Ram Abadh Yadav (Kushinagar), Hawaldar Yadav (Azamgarh) and Ashish Yadav (Mirzapur) and directed them to ensure strengthening of the party", an official release issued by Akhilesh faction said.
The presidents in these districts were removed by Shivpal Yadav, who is state president of another faction of SP supported by Mulayam Singh Yadav.
After restoring them to their position, these office bearers were asked to work in favour of the party and ensure victory of party candidates.
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on January 1 removed Shivpal Yadav as SPs Uttar Pradesh unit chief and appointed MLC Naresh Uttam in his place, soon after being anointed its president at a disputed national convention.
Soon after Uttams appointment, Akhilesh supporters took control of the party office and removed Shivpals nameplate outside his room, despite a heavy deployment of police personnel outside the office this morning.
Hopes of truce after days of crisis in the warring Samajwadi Party remained grim on Tuesday despite a last minute effort to broker peace between the factions led by Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh amid a battle over the party's symbol, the cycle.
On his return from New Delhi, a day after he claimed his right over the party before the Election Commission, SP chief Mulayam Singh was closeted with his son at his residence for more than three hours.
Party veterans had hoped that the two sides would shake hands, two days after the son dethroned his father as the President of the ruling party in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.
But they stuck to their guns, a party source said in Lucknow.
In middle of the meeting, Mulayam Singh called his younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav and the meeting concluded without making much headway, the source said.
The source said conditions for the "peace deal" deliberated upon by the first family were the return of Mulayam Singh as the party chief but with a new nomenclature - founder President.
Akhilesh Yadav would, however, hold sway over the decision making process of ticket distribution for the assembly polls due this year.
It was also proposed that Shivpal Yadav, one of the nagging problems between the father and son, would be given a "larger role" nationally.
Akhilesh Yadav reportedly stuck to his non-negotiable demands.
Mulayam Singh was not ready for the "package" and soon it became evident that hopes of peace had dashed.
Earlier, state Urban Development Minister Azam Khan went to Delhi to meet Mulayam Singh but was snubbed as the Yadav chiefian left for Lucknow in a chartered plane.
Ram Gopal Yadav, who has stood firmly behind the Chief Minister and is considered the mentor of the Akhilesh camp, also made it clear that chances of rapprochement were very dim.
The Congress on Wednesday remained unrelenting in its attack on the Narendra Modi government over its plans to present the Union Budget on February 1, three days prior to the start of voting in assembly elections in five states.The principal Opposition party said the budget is traditionally presented on February 28 since Independence but the Modi government wants to present it during the time of elections.Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar said it is a convention that when an assembly election is scheduled, the Centre presents a vote-on-account and presents a full-fledged budget later.He recalled that the BJP had raised objections in 2012 on the same count and the then UPA government had only presented a vote-on-account."Fearing defeat and leaving aside the good traditions of Parliament, Prime Minister Modi wants to present the budget in the poll atmosphere. The public knows it all and Prime Minister will not be successful in his plans," he said.The Congress leader accused Modi of presenting a "mini-budget" two days ahead of the poll schedule announcement and making some lofty announcements in a bid to lure voters.Another spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil said the Congress and 15 other parties have also written to the President on the "ill-timed decision" of the Modi government to advance the date for budget presentation."Like the drowning man in the ocean, Prime Minister Modi made announcements three days before the election dates came out. As a result of his misgovernance, Modi will not receive the support of the people in these elections," he said.The Congress, Left, Samajwadi Party and some others have already represented to the Election Commission not to allow the Centre to present the budget during poll process.Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi has said the poll panel is examining the representation of opposition parties and will take a call on it soon.On Wednesday, BJP ally and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, too, appealed to President Pranab Mukherjee not to allow presentation of Budget before the scheduled elections in five states, saying the Union government might use it to lure voters."By making attractive announcements in budget, government can grab votes indirectly," Thackeray said, addressing a statewide gathering of Sena workers here.The Sena president asked his party MPs to meet the President and request him to postpone the budget beyond polls.Reacting to the demand, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said presenting the budget is a "constitutional requirement".Without naming anyone, Jaitley said: "This is the same party that protests against demonetisation; why are they bothered with the budget."Jaitley said an interim budget was presented even before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and earlier too budgets had been presented ahead of elections.Another senior BJP leader said presentation of the budget should not be linked to election cycle. "Union budget's timing and announcements cannot be subject to schedule of various elections. It has never been like this," PTI quoted the BJP leader as saying.(With agency inputs)
WASHINGTON (AP) The new GOP era in Washington got off to a messy start Tuesday as House Republicans, under pressure from President-elect Donald Trump, abruptly dropped plans to gut an independent congressional ethics board.
The dizzying about-face came as lawmakers convened for the first day of the 115th Congress, an occasion normally reserved for pomp and ceremony under the Capitol Dome. Instead, House Republicans found themselves under attack not only from Democrats but from their new president, over their secretive move Monday to neuter the independent Office of Congressional Ethics and place it under lawmakers' control.
GOP leaders scrambled to contain the damage, and within hours of Trump registering his criticism on Twitter, they called an emergency meeting where House Republicans voted without opposition to undo the change.
The episode, coming even before the new Congress was convened and lawmakers were sworn in, was a powerful illustration of the sway Trump may hold over his party in a Washington that will be fully under Republican control for the first time in a decade. GOP lawmakers who've felt unfairly targeted by the ethics office had defied their own leaders with their initial vote to neuter the body, but once Trump weighed in they backpedaled immediately.
"With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority," Trump had asked over Twitter Tuesday morning, in an objection that appeared focused more on timing than on substance. Trump, who will take office in a little over two weeks, said the focus should be on tax reform and health care, and he included the hash-tag #DTS, for "Drain the Swamp," his oft-repeated campaign promise to bring change to Washington.
Democrats and even many Republicans were quick to point out that the lawmakers' plans for their ethics watchdog flew in the face of that notion. The measure was part of a GOP-written rules package that looked like it could fail after Trump registered his objections amid a public outcry from good government activists. The stripped-down package was approved late Tuesday by the House, 234-193.
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"We were elected on a promise to drain the swamp, and starting the session by relaxing ethics rules is a very bad start," said GOP Rep. Tom McClintock of California.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy mentioned Trump's opposition in the emergency meeting, and some lawmakers said it had a powerful effect.
"I do believe when President-elect Trump tweeted out...members got calls," said Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa. Trump spoke by phone with House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday after the ethics change was dropped.
The Office of Congressional Ethics was created in 2008 after several bribery and corruption cases in the House, but lawmakers of both parties have groused about the way it operates.
Lawmakers were especially incensed by an investigation of members of Congress from both parties who went on a 2013 trip to Azerbaijan paid for by that country's government. Lawmakers said after the investigation was made public in 2015 that they had no idea the trip was paid for by the government, and the House Ethics Committee ultimately cleared them.
Once the ethics controversy was dispensed with, Congress returned to the ceremonial business. As set out in the Constitution, both chambers gaveled in at noon, and as storm clouds threatened outside, the halls of the Capitol filled with lawmakers' children, friends and spouses on hand to witness the procedures. The day had a festive feel of the first day back at school, as new arrivals roamed the halls with old hands, exchanging greetings and taking in the day.
In the Senate, seven new members joined those who won re-election, taking the oath of office administered by Vice President Joe Biden. The Senate will be controlled 52-48 by the GOP and includes two new Republicans and five new Democrats. They include Illinois' Tammy Duckworth, a double-amputee Iraq war vet, who walked to the dais and stood for the oath.
Biden remains president of the Senate until Trump becomes president Jan. 20; then Vice President-elect Mike Pence will take over.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York set battle lines, saying Democrats will hold Trump to his promises to create jobs, raise incomes and protect Americans but will "fight him tooth and nail when he appeals to the baser instincts that diminish America and its greatness."
Issues confronting America are complex, he said, and "we cannot tweet them away."
In the House, lawmakers easily re-elected Ryan, of Wisconsin, as their speaker. The House will number 241 Republicans and 194 Democrats; among the members are 52 freshmen.
Behind the ceremony was a sense of anticipation, as Republicans prepare an ambitious agenda, beginning with dismantling President Barack Obama's health care law. The GOP directed Senate committees to produce repeal legislation by Jan. 27 while debate begins this week.
But there was uncertainty, too, as Republicans confront an untested new president who has opposed fundamental elements of GOP orthodoxy and may exercise his influence in unpredictable ways, as illustrated with the ethics kerfuffle.
"The people have given us unified government, and it wasn't because they were feeling generous, it's because they wanted results," Ryan said. "How could we live with ourselves if we let them down?"
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Associated Press writers Matthew Daly, Mary Clare Jalonick, Richard Lardner, Andrew Taylor, Alan Fram and Kenneth Thomas contributed to this report.
Chandigarh: It's going to be a quick run-up to the most tightly fought elections in Punjab ever. Exactly a month from now, Punjab goes to the polls for 117 assembly seats in a single-phase election. It will be an agonising wait for the results though.
Along with Goa, Punjab will have to wait for a month and seven days after polling for the results to be declared on March 11.
A fluid situation for now with no party having a clear advantage, for the first time Punjab would have three major political groupings slugging it out. The SAD-BJP combine will face strong anti-incumbency after 10 years in power and this will be despite Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal sparing no opportunity to highlight a lengthy list of developmental activities carried out in the state. He will have to fight allegations of corruption, nepotism and a lingering allegation of not handling the drug abuse problem in Punjab efficiently.
Congress, on the other hand, is making a desperate all out bid to claw its way back to political relevance in Punjab. In a state where being in power can make all the difference to ensuring that financial and administrative muscle continues to be strengthened, 10 years of not calling the shots has weakened an already faction-ridden Congress.
The staid old party that relied on an alternating political party cycle in the state, took things for granted during the last elections in 2012, banking on an automatic victory. The SAD-BJP, also well aware of the cycle, spared no efforts in ensuring they beat it. And they did. Despite Congress on the whole garnering a higher vote share than the Akalis, a seat by seat plan executed by the Akalis, coupled with the BJPs vote share, ensured it being back in the saddle for another five years.
Not wanting to take any chances this time round, Captain Amarinder Singh is defying his stereotyped image of a laid-back maharaja and actually spending a great deal of time crisscrossing Punjab to put his stamp of approval on several campaigns, addressing grievances highlighted by his advisory organisations, including Prashant Kishors IPAC.
The Aam Aadmi Party, many observers say has crossed its peak in the state. Its campaign and outreach started early in 2016. A few months into it, factions and rifts were out there for everyone to see, shattering the image of a tightly knit party with a common cause. This is a charge that is denied by party leaders, including Sanjay Singh, who says there is no question of the party going downhill. Unlike the Congress and the SAD-BJP combine, where the chief ministerial candidates are obvious, if not declared, AAP has almost laid to rest any possibility of declaring the Chief Ministerial candidate for Punjab before the polls, saying the CM face would be decided later from among the party MLAs. Capt Amarinder Singh says it is Arvind Kejriwal who is eyeing the post of CM in Punjab but does not want to run the risk of giving up his Delhi office for the sake of running an unsure race in Punjab.
Punjab is gearing up for a flurry of activity in the less than one month of campaign time available to the contenders. Navjot Sidhu will soon make his entry into the Congress camp, ready to unleash his one-liners as also former army chief General JJ Singh indicating a possibility of his contesting on an Akali ticket against Capt Amarinder Singh in Patiala. It will be a General versus Captain faceoff if that happens. Sukhbir Badal has already been promising fresh faces to try and stave off anti-incumbency to the extent he can.
Will Punjab see a hung Assembly in this tightly fought contest or will there be a clear winner? The complex dynamics of Punjab coupled with a triangular fight are too fluid for that clarity to emerge for now.
A day after Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay was arrested by CBI for his alleged involvement in Rs 60,000 Cr (approx) Rose Valley group chit fund scam, TMC workers protesting outside PM Narendra Modis residence were detained.
Earlier, TMC workers took to the streets in various parts of West Bengal to protest the arrest of their Lok Sabha MP and staged demonstration in front of union minister Babul Supriyos house demanding his arrest.
Bandyopadhyays wife had registered a complaint in Bidhan Nagar, West Bengal against the CBI alleging that she was not informed of his arrest.
ALSO READ: Sudip Bandyopadhyay Arrested in Rose Valley Scam, TMC Workers Attack BJP Office
Reacting to Bandyopadhyays arrest, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee termed it as a result of political vindictive attitude of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.
As it happened.
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Bhubaneswar: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay was on Wednesday remanded in six days of CBI custody by a special court in the Rose Valley chit fund scam case.
Following the court order, his party activists staged a demonstration before CBI's Odisha headquarters in the city.
The TMC MP's lawyer Rajiv Majumdar and others were present in the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court when judge P K Mishra remanded Bandyopadhyay for six days against CBI's appeal for a 12-day remand.
The CBI lawyer argued in the court that the agency should be given maximum time to interrogate the MP as he was not actively cooperating with the investigation.
The MP's petition for bail was also rejected by the court even as his lawyer pleaded that his client was unwell.
"I am innocent. I have no involvement in the scam. I have placed my point of view before the court and will again appeal the court to consider my point of argument," Bandyopadhyay told reporters after appearing in the court.
He was produced at the CBI-designated special court amid tight security after his medical examination at the Capital Hospital.
Bandyopadhyay, also the TMC Parliamentary Party leader in the Lok Sabha, was the second party MP after Tapas Pal to be arrested by the CBI in a span of five days.
Both Pal and Bandyopadhyay were arrested on charges of having links with the Rose Valley Group that allegedly duped investors of Rs 17,000 crore in different states including Odisha and West Bengal.
The CBI in its charge sheet against the Ponzi company in January last year mentioned that investors from Odisha alone had deposited Rs 450 crore with the Rose Valley Group.
While Tapas Pal was a director of Rose Valley Group in 2010, Bandyopadhyay has been accused of having strong links with the Group's chairman Goutam Kundu, now in jail, CBI sources said.
Sources also said the CBI was planning to interrogate both Bandyopadhyay and Pal together as they have been arrested on the charge of their involvement with the scam.
TMC activists, many from West Bengal, along with TMC Odisha state president Arya Kumar Gyanendra, staged a demonstration before the investigating agency's office while both Bandyopadhyay and Pal were inside the CBI office.
"CBI has arrested Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Tapas Pal on political consideration. We will certainly oppose the action. The state unit of the TMC is planning a massive protest rally in Bhubaneswar on January 10," Gyanendra told PTI.
A two-member delegation of the TMC also met senior CBI officials here and lodged protest against the arrest of Bandyopadhyay and Pal.
All other factors remaining constant, it is important at times for a party in multi-phased polls to do well in the first couple of phases," said the BJP functionary.
Polling in the 2009 general elections, which again followed an east to west pattern did not yield favorable results to the BJP.
And once the polling is on, it is very difficult to reverse the momentum midway. Or the wind direction, it is in the air - 'hawa' - as they call it in UP. One may not see it, one can only smell it.
Whats in a phase? Probably there is something, if elections in a large province with diverse demography are held in multiple phases over a period of time.The sequence of electioneering from first to the last phase may influence electoral outcome, one way or the other under given circumstances.A BJP functionary closely associated with 2014 general election management was keeping his fingers crossed till the announcement of poll dates.He heaved a sigh of relief when the Commission called for a seven phase polls in UP, with western districts polling in the first leg.The electioneering travelled from West to East culminating in the Poorvanchal region with two high stake battles in Varanasi (Narendra Modi) and Azamgarh (Mulayam Singh Yadav).Western UP, post the riots, was our strong-hold. A good performance here helped us build a momentum with each passing phase to outclass our opponents in areas where we have been traditionally weak, he said.By that same argument, the announcement of poll dates for the 2017 UP assembly elections would have brought some cheer to the BJP.As even this time the elections will begin from Ghaziabad bordering Delhi and end in far-east Chandauli.Now contrast this with 2012 state assembly polls. Once again UP had multi-cornered fight and multi-phased polls. But the electioneering that year started from the east and moved west in a clockwise direction - the areas where regional parties have traditionally done well.With SP seemingly doing well, and with momentum on his side, Mulayam Singh Yadav picked up seats in western districts where he has no or little base vote and romped home in the Ruhelkhand regions which polled last.Miffed with Mulayam Singh for joining hands with Kalyan Singh for a brief while, Muslims in pockets voted for the Congress in the first phase.Maharajgunj near Gorakhpur, for instance, was won by the party after many years. The trend continued till the very last with Congress picking up almost two dozen seats from the state.Likewise, the first couple of phases in the upcoming polls could also be crucial in determining the trend of minority votes in parts which poll later.BSP this time around has put all its money on Dalit-Muslim combination. Take for example Bijnor district abutting Uttarakhand in Western UP.Out of the eight seats, two are reserved; and for the remaining six BSP has fielded muslim candidates. SP is not far behind nominating five candidates from the minority community.As the elections travel from west to east, Muslims voting pattern in the first couple of phases in places like Bijnor, Saharanpur and Rohilkhand may set the trend.BJP generally prefers the westerly. Easterly suits the Samajwadi Party. As for BSP whose support base is spread even, the party performance is generally impervious to prevailing weather conditions.
Unlike what has been perceived, indigenous digital payments app BHIM, launched by prime minister Narendra Modi, is not free . The BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app is available for free on the Google Play Store, but users have reported that Rs 1.50 gets deducted from their mobile account balance.Read more: Samsung Galaxy A Series (2017) Launched; All You Want to Know It has been learnt that people trying to download the BHIM app get a notification code via SMS after which the amount (Rs1.50) gets deducted from their account balance instantly.It is pertinent to note that the app is already a hit and has been downloaded by over three million people.Read more: Samsung Announces New Campaign for Customer Service While launching the BHIM app PM Modi had said that it would be the biggest wonder in the coming times. In a bid to further push adoption of e-payments in the country, PM Narendra Modi had on December 30 launched the BHIM app, which will enable fast and secure cashless transactions using mobile phones.Read more: LeEco Le2 64 GB Model Launched, To be Available Exclusively on Snapdeal Named after the architect of the Indian Constitution, Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) is a simplified payment platform designed to make Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and USSD payment modes simpler and usable across feature phones and smartphones.Developed by National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), BHIM is supported by host of banks, including State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank,Oriental Bank of Commerce and Punjab National Bank, among others.The app, which can be downloaded from Google Play Store, is currently available in Hindi and English, and support for more languages is expected soon.BHIM is interoperable with other Unified Payment Interface (UPI) applications and bank accounts.
Samsung India on Tuesday launched a nationwide television and digital campaign named "Wherever You Are, We'll Take Care of You", showcasing its initiative to take customer service to the doorsteps of users.Read more: Newly Launched BHIM App is Not Free; Here is Why "Our new initiative of expanding to rural India, right up to the taluka level, helps us in taking care of our valued customers, wherever they are," said Ranjivjit Singh, Chief Marketing Officer, Samsung India, in a statement.Read more: Samsung Galaxy A Series (2017) Launched; All You Want to Know With this, Samsung's reach will extend to customers in over 6,000 talukas - or sub-districts -- across 29 states and seven Union Territories.The campaign film "#SamsungCares", which has gone viral, showcases the journey of a young Samsung engineer on his way to provide the services in a remote village in India.Read more: LeEco Le2 64 GB Model Launched, To be Available Exclusively on Snapdeal In October 2016, Samsung launched 535 service vans, to ensure timely service to customers in the remotest corners across the country.
Colombo: A court in Sri Lanka has asked the army to submit by January 30 the list of people who had surrendered to it during the final phases of the war with the LTTE in 2009 as it heard a case related to individuals who allegedly disappeared after surrendering.
The Mullaithivu district judge M S M Samsudeen yesterday asked the army to submit the list by January 30, KS Ratnavel, an attorney said.
The magisterial order came as a Habeas Corpus case washeard in respect of those LTTE members who had allegedly disappeared after surrendering.
The military at the previous hearing had said they were in possession of a list of those who had surrendered.
However, Ratnavel had argued the list contains the names of those who had been sent to the government rehabilitation and not those who had allegedly disappeared.
The government said it had successfully rehabilitated over 8,000 of the LTTE cadres who had surrendered.
According to the UN figures, up to 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by security forces during the Mahinda Rajapaksa's regime that brought an end to the nearly three decades-long war with the defeat of the LTTE.
A 6th Judicial Circuit Court judge found dead in his Prince George County office on New Year's Day committed suicide, the state medical examiner's office has ruled.
Judge Nathan Curtis Lee, 60, died of an "intraoral gunshot wound," which means he suffered a gunshot wound in his mouth, the medical examiner's office said this morning.
Police, fire and EMS were called to the Prince George Courthouse for reports of an unresponsive male at 9:46 p.m. Sunday, Prince George County police said. Lee was found dead in his office.
Police immediately noted in a statement released Monday that foul play was not suspected in the judge's death.
Prince George authorities have not released any further details about the circumstances of Lee's death.
Lee, who lived in Hopewell, was appointed as a circuit court judge in 2012. He practiced law in Virginia for more than 30 years.
Lee was one of two judges appointed by the General Assembly to serve the 6th Judicial Circuit, which includes Hopewell and the counties of Prince George, Brunswick, Greensville, Surry and Sussex counties. Lee and 6th Judicial Circuit Judge W. Allan Sharrett sat in all six localities.
On Sunday, January 1, 2017, while surrounded by family, friends and Pups, Dana departed us in Monroe, Va. at her home fondly known as Murph Mt. She fearlessly fought cancer, a glioblastoma brain tumor, for 14 months. Dana is survived by her husband, Mike Murphey and daughter, Cecelia Marie Murphey. She is also survived by sister, Joanie Robertson and husband, Kevin of Chesterfield County Va.;sister/cousin, Patti Lanier and husband, Mario Paul of Williamsburg Va. She is survived by many loving relatives including cousin, Barbara Chomycia and husband, Nick of Fredrick, Md.; and "Aunt Doris" Lanier of Richmond Va. Shewas preceded in death by her parents, Nancyand James Guarino. Among the many special people in Dana's life are neighbor and longtime friends, LaDonna Shedor, and Dorothy Morcom of Amherst County. Dana was a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a Masters in Special Education. For the past 16 years she has taught at Hutcherson Early Learning Center in Lynchburg City Schools with the last several years as lead teacher. She was previously an adjunct professor with Lynchburg College where she was coordinator for the Virginia Dept. of Education's Southwest/Central Technical Assistance Center (T-TAC) and helped develop the Learning Curriculum for the regions area of Early Learning centers. She worked directly with families and educators to provide the necessary tools to help with the children's advancement. Dana was an avid supporter of her daughters' Girls Scouts, Blue Ridge Caballeros 4H Club, and the Bedford Hunt Pony Club, she held several different officer positons throughout the years. Visitation will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, January 8, 2017, at Whitten Monelison Chapel, Madison Heights, Va. www.dignitymemorial.com/whitten-monelison-chapel with services to follow at same location at 12 p.m. A reception will be held immediately following at Amelon United Methodist Church, Madison Heights, Va. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Centra Health, Cancer Patient Support Fund @ www.Centrafoundation.com or to "Dana's Angels Fund" to help needy children and families at Hutcherson Early Learning Center @ www.Lynchburgcommunitytrust.org. Trust will be set up by January 6, 2017. Dana's love and compassion for all living things was felt by all who had the good fortune to know her. She will be greatly missed. We honor and love you "Babes", you will forever be in our hearts. Whitten Monelison Chapel is serving the family.
If Israel were a nation in human form, like Uncle Sam or Marianne, the feminine symbol of France, long bloody knives would be protruding from both back and breast.
The man with blood on his hands would be President Obama, who departed from decades of American policy under several presidents both Republican and Democrat and refused to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution rebuking Israel for land settlements, which the Jewish state hopes to use in a land swap to secure a lasting peace.
The presidents action, or rather lack of action, is nothing less than treachery. The man presents himself as a great friend of Israel, but his long knives cut deep in a malevolent farewell gesture of contempt for the only democracy in the Middle East. Coming from the United States, Israels most reliable friend for so long, this was the unkindest cut of all.
The reaction across America has been swift and angry from left and right, liberal and conservative, Democrat and Republican. Liberal Democratic law professor Alan Dershowitz recalls in disbelief that soon after Obamas first inauguration, the president called him into the Oval Office to seek his support, promising that he would always have Israels back.
Dershowitz didnt get the presidents real meaning at the time, he told Fox & Friends, which was that he would have their back so he could stab them in the back. Obamas fading administration tries to wrap itself in sheeps clothing, blaming the absence of any meaningful peace process, as well as ... the face of accelerated settlement activity. But the text of the resolution goes far beyond the settlements.
The resolution would make the Western Wall (or the Wailing Wall, as it is commonly known), part of Israels holiest site, illegally occupied under international law. Roads that act as pathways for both Israeli and Arab students to study at the Hebrew University and offer Israeli and Arab patients access to Hadassah Hospital would suddenly be rendered illegally occupied, too.
Israel opened its doors to Palestinians in answer to the Palestinians closing theirs to Israelis. For two decades before the Wailing Wall was liberated in the Six-Day War, Jews were denied access to the ancient stones once stained by their ancestors prayers and tears.
John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, agrees that Barack Obama stabbed Israel in the front by endorsing the Palestinian narrative and reducing possibilities for land for peace. But all is not lost. President-elect Donald Trump now has ample opportunities to pivot away from his predecessors perfidy. Bolton joins a chorus of politicians who suggest cutting U.S. assessed contributions to the United Nations, which amount to about $3 billion annually.
Alan Dershowitz and John Bolton visualize brutal stabbings in both the front and the back of Israel. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina describes the Obama treachery as abandoning the only democracy in the Middle East who shares our values. House Speaker Paul Ryan calls the betrayal absolutely shameful and promises the clear focus of a unified Republican governing party to forge a new strong alliance with Israel.
If the Obama administration anticipated Republican fury, it seems surprised by the angry roars from the Democrats. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who will be the new leader of Senate Democrats, calls the failure to veto the resolution frustrating, disappointing and confounding. Former Sen. George Mitchell, a Democrat who acted as special envoy to the Arab-Israeli peace process in the Obama administration, tells MSNBC News that the betrayal hurts the peace prospects for both Israel and the Palestinians. One Democrat, in the sharpest cut of all, says Obama is worse than Jimmy Carter.
Anger becomes farce as critics suggest what to do with the valuable piece of real estate now occupied by the United Nations in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of New York City. One critic says the iconic building overlooking the East River could become another Trump hotel with great views of the skyscraper canyons. If diplomats would pay their parking and traffic tickets, that might sop up some of the red ink in the national budget.
Fun is fun, but change at the United Nations, which began with such idealism as a harbinger of world peace, offers little hope now for anything but more cynicism and more vitriol. As the President-elect might tweet, its so sad.
Mixing absurdity with tragedy, Secretary of State John Kerry offered his grandiose rhetoric in a long speech that was heavily slanted against Israel. He obsessed over settlements and barely touched upon the root of the conflict: the Palestinian opposition to a Jewish state in any boundaries, as Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu observed. Leadership from this presidents administration is, as usual, too little, too late and headed in the wrong direction.
Fields is a columnist for The Washington Times. Email her at suzannefields2000@gmail.com.
Goodlatte's hypocritical ethics
I find it appalling that our representative in the House of Representatives, Bob Goodlatte, attempted to usher in the 115th Congress by eviscerating the Office of Congressional Ethics particularly after his Oct. 28 letter praising the FBIs decision to re-open its investigation into Hillary Clintons email server.
Evidently Rep. Goodlatte is betting that the good people of Virginia are incapable of recognizing a hyper-partisan double-standard when they see one. Fortunately, cooler heads have prevailed, and Goodlattes proposal was dropped. I hope he learns a valuable lesson. It would be awful if he were to pull any muscles while attempting to twist himself into pretzels.
I further hope members of the press will ask him how he could be so righteous in demanding an investigation into Clintons email server while simultaneously seeking to remove congressional oversight. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander.
MATTHEW DECAPUA
Lynchburg
Duped again by Goodlatte
In 1992, when Bob Goodlatte first ran for Congress, he pledged to limit his time in Congress to six terms. In the 2016 midterm election, he ran for and was re-elected for his 14th term. So much for his pledge.
And, if you believe that the voter could have held him to his promise by electing someone else, let me quickly add that Goodlattes integrity and honesty are not the voters responsibility. It rests squarely on his shoulders, and he should have lived up to his pledge.
If and when Goodlatte says he is ready to work in an honest and constructive manner, be wary. Be very, very wary. His honesty and integrity are questionable. He obviously has a penchant for dishonesty.
CAROLYN F. BOSIGER
Forest
Peake for Virginia Senate
On Jan. 10, a special election will be held to fill the Virginia Senate seat vacated by Tom Garrett in the 22nd District.
Is this an important election? Yes, for several reasons. Any local or state election can be as important if not more so than a presidential one because it is at that level we have a more representative vote; many times those at the local/state level move upward to federal positions, and in this particular case it is important to maintain the Republican majority since a tie vote on most if not all legislative issues would give the deciding vote to the current lieutenant governor, a Democrat with very liberal/progressive tendencies.
Mark Peake, the Republican candidate is a very soft-spoken individual who is also a staunch supporter of the rule of law who strongly adheres to our Constitutional rights to freedom of speech, religion and the right to bear arms. He believes that cumbersome regulations and excessive taxes over burden businesses and thwart the ability for businesses, old and new, to flourish and create needed jobs; he condemns the taking of property rights and restricting the rights of property owners. In other words, he believes in the freedoms that some are eager to take away from us.
A successful attorney, married some 20-plus years to his wife, Lila and father of five, a set of quadruplets and a single child, he knows full well the value of life and the value that education can and should be. He believes that where public education is the best choice for a child, control should be returned to the local school system and away from centralized control and particularly away from Washington. He is a strong, sincere conservative who believes that government should be more transparent. He will be an excellent addition to our legislature.
Please, do not let Jan. 10 slip by without voting. It only takes a few minutes and you are done! Mark your calendars now and be there!
GRACE BEAUREGARD
Lynchburg
Policemen secure the area in front of Berlin's Supreme Court where the trial against alleged Islamic State jihadist, Shaas Al Mohammad, was beginning on January 4, 2017 (AFP Photo/Tobias SCHWARZ )
Berlin (AFP) - An alleged Islamic State jihadist accused of scoping out potential targets for an attack in Berlin, including the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag building, went on trial in Germany on Wednesday.
It was the country's first trial of a suspected IS militant deployed to Germany from Syria during the chaotic 2015 refugee influx -- in contrast to "lone wolf" attacks or plots by extremists who were radicalised elsewhere.
The defendant, 20-year-old Syrian national Shaas al-Mohammad, allegedly fought with the Islamist militia in his war-torn homeland for two years before arriving in Germany as a refugee in August 2015.
Dressed in a blue pullover and a black cap, Mohammad kept his eyes on his interpreter and remained silent as his lawyers tried in vain to convince the judge to hold the hearings behind closed doors due to his young age.
Two police trucks were parked outside the entrance, with officers armed with machine guns guarding the proceedings.
Mohammad was standing trial at a special state security court in Berlin on charges of membership of a foreign terrorist organisation, which carries up to 10 years in jail, and military weapons law violations.
The trial comes just over two weeks after an IS extremist from Tunisia allegedly ploughed a truck through a Berlin Christmas market in an attack that killed 12 people.
- 'Attack targets' -
Prosecutors claim the defendant joined the jihadist group as a teenager in mid-2013, taking part in combat operations, handling an AK-47 assault rifle and supplying food to fighters.
He arrived in Germany near the peak of a mass influx of people fleeing Syria, Iraq and other crisis-torn countries that brought almost 900,000 asylum seekers to Europe's biggest economy in 2015.
He allegedly stayed in "close contact" with IS and repeatedly visited the German capital until February 2016 to scout out landmark targets and busy tourist sites for an attack.
Among the suspected targets was the area around the glass-domed Reichstag parliament building, the nearby Brandenburg Gate monument and the busy shopping square Alexanderplatz.
Story continues
He then allegedly "passed the information about the potential attack targets onto his contacts at the IS", said the court in a statement.
"In addition, he arranged to send at least one person to Syria as a fighter and offered his services as a contact person for potential attackers in Germany," it added.
But Mohammad only admitted to selling supplies to IS members, and denied having any contact with anyone of consequence in the jihadist group.
The young Syrian was arrested on March 22 last year and has been in pre-trial detention ever since. The court has set 25 hearings until April.
- Truck rampage -
Germany has been shocked by a spate of IS-claimed attacks, and some foiled plots which a growing rightwing populist movement has blamed on the open-door refugee policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In some cases last year, the jihadists were home-grown, while others were migrants and refugees.
More attacks are feared when some of the 400-odd German jihadists still in Syria and Iraq return home.
In June last year, police arrested three Syrian men over an alleged plan to use guns and suicide vests in an IS attack in Duesseldorf.
In July, a 17-year-old Afghan refugee wounded five people in an axe rampage on a train before police shot him dead.
Days later a 27-year-old Syrian blew himself up outside a music festival, wounding 15 people.
In October, police say they prevented an attack on a Berlin airport by a Syrian refugee, 22-year-old Jaber al-Bakr.
Bakr evaded a police raid but was caught by Syrian compatriots soon after and handed over to police. Two days later, he was found hanged in his cell.
December saw the worst IS-claimed attack when Tunisian suspect Anis Amri, 24, allegedly drove a hijacked truck into a packed Berlin Christmas market.
The attack claimed 12 lives. Amri was shot dead four days later in Italy after firing first at police there.
Germany's domestic security service estimates that the number of radical Islamists in Germany rose above 9,000 last year, from some 3,800 in 2011.
About 550 of them are considered dangerous and capable of a violent attack.
Vision, Falcon, Black Widow, and 7 more Marvel characters you might not know date back to the '30s and '40s
Marvel's Golden Age of the '30s and '40s had a much bigger influence on the modern Marvel Universe than you may realize
GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us.
Status of marijuana in 2016
THE MEDICINAL and psychoactive effects that we associate with marijuana are caused by unique chemical structures called cannabinoids found in the plant.
To date, there have been 86 cannabinoids identified in nature and others have been synthesised chemically. The major psychoactive ingredient in marijuana is commonly referred to as THC.
Other cannabinoids, in addition to THC, also have medicinal or psychoactive constituents. One of the major concerns with the use of matijuana is the possible effects it has on the developing brain of young people under the age of 25 years. This is a concern expressed by some Canadians which will be decriminalising marijuana in 2017.
On December 10, 2013, Uruguay became the first country in the world to completely legalise marijuana.
The law provides for the growth,sale, and price of the herb to be controlled by the government.
However, to date the system has not been fully implemented.
In Colorado the retail sale of marijuana was legalised on January 1, 2014; in Washington State the retail sale was legalised on July 8, 2014 ;in Washington DC it was legalised on February 26, 2015, and in Oregon on October 1, 2015. Marijuana is now legalised in nine states: Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, California, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada and Washington DC.
Thirteen states have decriminalised marijuana: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Thirty states have legalised medical marijuana: Alaska, Arizona, Arksansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois,Louisian, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Washington, DC. In the US, the price of marijuana varies with the quality, the THC content, and its classification as premium grade, mid-grade or low-grade.
The price also depends on the supply and demand for the product in various states. In January 2016 the average wholesale price in Denver was $1,800 a pound but by June 2016 it had declined to $750 a pound because of an over supply. It is not unusual for a premium grade to be sold for $2,200 to $2,500 a pound. In the dispensaries as the pot shops are called the average retail selling price is $15 to $20 for 1/8 ounce .Two joints sell for $14. The wholesale price of medical marijuana which attracts a sales tax of 2.9 percent has remained relatively stable at $1,600 to $1,800 a pound.
There are 110,000 to 115,000 medical marijuana cardholders in Colorado.
In 2015, the value of recreational and medical marijuana sold in the US was estimated at $5.4 billion an increase of $4.6 billion over sales for 2014. Sales for 2016 are estimated to be $6.7 billion. In Colorado sales for 2015 were valued at $996 million and the estimate for 2016 is $1.3 billion. The first $40 million in tax revenue collected is allocated to school projects. In Washington State the first two years of marijuana sales, from July 2014 to July 2016, exceeded $1 billion which brought in $250 million in excise taxes for the state.
I must mention that despite these high volume of sales in legal marijuana, because of the lower price, there continues to be an illegal or black market trade. A study done in the US nearly ten years ago, before marijuana legalisation was even on the table, found that considering the average annual upkeep per prisoner was $31,286, decriminalising illicit drugs by taking away criminal prosecution for simple possession and use would significantly reduce the prison population and save taxpayers around $20 billion a year. I am of the opinion that our prison population will be significantly reduced should the possession of small quantities of marijuana be decriminalised. How many young persons in Trinidad and Tobago have had their future destroyed for being in possession of a small quantity of marijuana, while the big fish remain free?
SHOW SOME BLASTED RESPECT!
This from Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) president general Ancel Roget as he yesterday defended the unions decision to tender notice to state-owned oil company Petrotrin of a strike by its workers over stalled salary negotiations.
Roget yesterday sought to defend the OWTU against criticism from the business sector, government and large sections of society for threatening a strike that could cripple the countrys largest income earner amid an economic downturn.
Roget insists that Petrotrin can pay its workers an enhanced salary.
The intended three-month strike is expected to begin next Monday __ the start of the new school term. But even as Roget called for Government to treat oil workers with some blasted respect, he later led OWTU officials in a meeting with Petrotrin officials at the Ministry of Labour office in San Fernando in a last minute effort at coming to some kind of agreement to prevent the strike action.
Up to press time, the five-hour meeting was still in progress and OWTU members who earlier in the day had gathered in a fiery and upbeat mood and included a rhythm section, sat morosely outside the Labour Ministry office as the Sun began to set.
Earlier, at a press conference, Roget displayed a copy of the strike notice addressed to Petrotrin President Fitzroy Harewood.
He said the letter that if the last ditch meeting did not bear fruit, he would serve the letter at Petrotrins administration offices in Pointe-a-Pierre today at 7 am.
He appealed to the court of public opinion as he sought to justify the strike saying mismanagement and inefficiency at Petrotrin is costing the company over $552 million per annum.
This is based on Petrotrins own information and record. These inefficiencies include equipment reliability, operational inefficiency, overtime, flaring and quality giveaways, Roget said adding, this is more than what workers are demanding for the entire three-year period. The workers are also not asking for what other workers got, but rather ten percent which is below the 14 percent threshold for the same collective period. Petrotrin, believe it or not, has the ability to pay this wage increase, he insisted, citing several poor decisions including a failed World Gas To Liquids (WGTL) project, which cost the company over $1 billion and payment for a production facility at South West Soldado, which never materialized.
He also cited a long delay of the Ultra-Low Sulphur Diesel which was supposed to be delivered in 2015, but was first delayed to 2017 and now 2020.
This strike will put a microscope to show the extremely bad performance by management.
The country has only heard doom and gloom from the (Petrotrin) President. He has not stated to the country, to the government or to the workers how he intends to turn around Petrotrin, Roget said.
Another important point has to do with Petrotrins bottom line which is the purchase of gas.
Petrotrin purchases 61 million standard cubic feet of gas from NGC. However, instead of using its own gas produced in the fields and maximizing the gas purchased from NGC, the Company has engaged in burning off the gas both at the Refinery and in the producing fields, Roget continued, adding, proper utilization of the gas would mean that Petrotrin can purchase less gas from the NGC Grid, having the effect that NGC will have more gas to sell to industries in Pt Lisas which badly need the gas. A 50 percent reduction in this process of burning off the gas can save $3 million per month or $36 million per year, he said. Roget also slammed the companys lack of storage capacity saying this had been reduced by less than 65 percent within the last three years.
To date eight tanks have been taken out of service for repairs, however none have returned to service and the significance of this point is that when there are ships in harbour that cannot off load crude because those tanks are limited, Petrotrin has to pay millions of dollars in demurrage, when the product is not off loaded on time. He noted there was a critical need to increase indigenous crude oil as Petrotrin purchases about 155,000 barrels per day of a mixture of local and foreign crude to refine; with local crude accounting for 45,000 barrels. Therefore, if Petrotrin produced more local crude then you would import less and the profit margin will be much more.
This has nothing to do with workers wages. The union has developed a quick win plan to increase local production to make the company profitable, he said.
He said overtime had cost the company approximately $8.7 million in September and that figure had reached $10.4 million in October.
Though not yet in, figures for November and December are expected to be astronomical, far exceeding September and October figures. This exorbitant overtime cost is the result of manpower shortages and bad planning.
In critical areas of the company they have not filled vacancies, so we have operators who are working for very long hours __ double shift continuously for over four years, in difficult conditions and there is no succession planning and non-filling of vacancies. With proper management and with the right decisions the company can save millions of dollars per year by cutting overtime cost, Roget said.
Denial of a fair adjustment and wages will not save Petrotrin, Roget said. Giving workers zero, zero, zero for 2011-2014 and zero, zero, zero for 2014-2017, or zeroes until eternity __ he added __ will not save Petrotrin. What will save Petrotrin is a radical change at the top that can significantly cut down on the inefficiencies and increase local crude production.
Govt in retreat
Rowley began by saying that while the past year was one for Ministers to settle into their portfolios, 2017 is now their first year for delivery.
We are in our second year as a Government and we have determined as any serious Government would that this year, the second year - after the first year of getting the feel of things, getting to know people, putting Perm Secs in place, getting Ministers to learn their jobs - this (second year) is the first real year of delivery. He said the Retreats focus is on the effecting the Governments development programme which needs more effort to implement than routine recurrent expenditure.
Where you are going to be creating new work, creating new entities, taking new people in, establishing new service areas for population, that is the development programme. This latter needs more drive, a bit more oomph, a bit more involvement, Rowley said. It involves procurement to management to funding to utilisation, he added. Rowley said 2017 requires some corrective decisions as several national programmes are off-track. I dont have to tell you all that - Im sure you know that.
Some of the Governments national programmes have lost their way - either deliberately, incidentally, corruptly or just by being outdated, he said.
So theres a requirement for this Government to look at whatever is so designated and do some course-correction. Most times that course-correction is not without pain and inconvenience, but whatever you would have done ought to leave us in a better place.
So there are some Government policy-changes to be made. Most of them will be made in 2017. Rowley then urged Ministers and Permanent Secretaries to work well together, show teamwork and look after each other. If the Minister and the Permanent Secretary are not getting along, are not seeing eye to eye and cant stand one another, the Ministry will not function properly. Theres no way the PS could operate on his or her own and the Minister (is) operating on his or her own.
They have to be in lockstep. He said a PS is the Ministers guide and is invaluable to their Ministrys success. We are all guided by the Exchequer Act and the human resource regulations.
You (PSs) are the Ministers guide and in some cases the Ministers mouthpiece. Permanent Secretaries are required to look after their Ministers, as Ministers are required to look after their Permanent Secretaries. An accompanying OPM statement said Rowley declared that Ministries must not falter in their delivery of service to the citizenry, despite the countrys economic circumstances. He also spoke of the accountability of State Enterprises, said the statement. The retreat continues today.
ZURICH, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General (OAG) said on Wednesday it has opened criminal proceedings in connection to the truck attack at a Berlin Christmas market in December which killed 12 people.
The proceedings are based on suspected support of a criminal organisation and a violation of Switzerland's ban on Islamic State and al Qaeda, the OAG said in an emailed statement.
They are against "unknown", which implies authorities do not yet know precisely who or how many people could be involved.
The investigation is in close cooperation with Switzerland's Federal Office of Police and will also be co-ordinated with foreign authorities, the OAG said.
(Reporting by Joshua Franklin; Editing by Dominic Evans)
THA nomination papers filed
Candidates of the four political parties gearing to contest the elections: the Peoples National Movement (PNM), the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP), the Movement for Transformation (MFT) and the Tobago Forwards, turned out at the various offices of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) to submit their nomination papers.
The PNM, PDP and Tobago Forwards will each contest all 12 electoral districts, while the MFT, led by former parliamentarian and government minister, Eudine Job-Davis, will contest three of the districts.
All 39 candidates filed the necessary documents and paid their $2000 deposit making them the legitimate bidders in the election ring.
While six candidates for the East districts filed their papers at the Rockley Vale office, the other candidates for the West filed theirs at the Main Street office.
Three of the four political parties turned up with much fanfare as scores of supporters dressed in party colours, waving banners, flags and other paraphernalia accompanied by large music trucks.
All the candidates indicated that the process went fairly smoothly as this followed a dry run session which was held one week ago.
Speaking with reporters, Political Leader of the PNM Tobago Council, Kelvin Charles, accompanied by his wife Kathryn and sons Kelvon and Kelson said that the nomination process made way for a series of campaign meetings.
We have been on the ground and generally the responses have been very favourable, so we are quite confident that we would retain control of the Tobago House of Assembly, he said.
Charles noted that the islands affairs was well handled under the current PNM-led THA over the last four years. Political Leader of the PDP, Watson Duke, said Tobago has had enough of the PNM after 16 years and is now ready to get rid of them.
We are fully confident of victory in at least seven seats, Duke said.
We are still working on five more seats to make the 12 because we need to balance the curse the PNM has placed upon Tobago over the last 16 years, he said. A confident Duke said one of the safe seats for the PDP is the Roxborough/ Delaford electoral district.
There is no chance of Watson Duke not being successful at the polls and when I say at the polls, the seat Roxborough/ Delaford is already taken that is a marked seat and it is marked Watson Duke seat on that and nobody can take that away from me. On the other hand, Political Leader of the Tobago Forwards, Christlyn Moore, said that the work has started.
Though her idea of unity among the parties opposing the PNM failed, Moore said she respects the wishes of the leaders.
We are on the ground and we are very excited, Moore said. In the early days, we held extensive talks with Ashworth Jack and, in the more recent part, we have had conversations with Watson Duke whose position is adamant that he is a standalone entity and we respect that. The MFTs Political Leader, Eudine Job-Davis, is vowing to provide Tobago with the best form of Governance possible.
Integrity in public life seems to be a thing of the past and we are hoping that we can bring that back into politics. Further, we are also looking at the Tobago House of Assembly and the Chief Secretary, Job-Davis said. There is a present Chief Secretary sitting there for like 16 years and we think that this should not happen at all.
Therefore, our political party has borrowed from the American system where we are going to limit anybody who ascends to the office to two terms.
Couva woman missing
She was last seen at her residence at about 7.30 pm last week Thursday.
Lalla is described as being of East Indian descent, 5 feet, 3 inches tall with black shoulder length hair and a tattoo of the letter N with stars, behind her right ear.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Lall is asked to call 800-TIPS or contact the police at 555, 999, 911 or any police station.
Blind retired worker in six-year wait for gratuity
Up until now the Association has not given me a dime, Baptiste told Newsday yesterday from the Port-of-Spain-based office of the TTBWA where he threatened to stay until he is given some assurance about his dues.
I talking to (Executive Officer) Mr Kenneth Surratt regularly about my money. He said that the ministry has to send over the money. He is telling me that I will get my money and I aint get no money, he said.
He told me that he has not heard from the ministry. I asked him to call the ministry. I am not leaving the office until I get something positive from him. It is up to them if they lock me up in here, he said.
Frustrated at the long wait, Baptiste said, Nobody knows what is going through my mind now. He said he has a teenage daughter in school whose welfare he has to look after. All his savings, he said, are depleted.
Contacted on Baptistes plight, Surratt said that the TTBWA has been representing Baptistes cause to the Ministry of Social Development and Family Affairs. Baptiste was not the only former employee who is seeking gratuity, he said.
There are about three others.
The Association, he said, receives a subvention from Government and was not into income generation. Surratt said that the TTBWA has calculated Baptistes gratuity and last August submitted the request for the payment to the ministry but has had no response since.
We could only pay when we get the approval and the money from the ministry to make the payout, he said.
Nevertheless, he said, that he gave Baptiste a cheque yesterday representing back pay for the last period that he worked under the collective bargaining arrangement that the TTBWA has entered into.
NGO calls on AG to deal with issue of illegal fireworks
Marshall said he had written to the Attorney General on March 28, 2016, and November 28, 2016, appealing to him to address the issue which brought so much fear and discomfort to animals, the elderly, infirmed and infants.
He said the members of Animals 360 firmly believe the current legislation is not sufficient.
We acknowledge and commend the actions of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service on the night of December 31 , 2016, to quell the disturbances of a lawless society. This behaviour however, is now ingrained in our culture, rampant and difficult to police. It is incumbent upon the Government to act to pass legislation that facilitates safe, responsible and compassionate use of fireworks that can be enforced. In order to hold accountable those that do not comply with the law a means of identifying those that are in compliance as opposed to those that are not is required, Marshall stated. He said that while the duration of the explosions on Old Years Night was not as bad as previous years, the intensity of the explosions were louder and more explosive.
Marshall said police response varied in different areas. He said while in some areas the response was very good (polite and professional) , in other areas the police were indifferent while some did not answer their telephones.
He said the extent of the lawlessness was impossible to police with missiles being launched incessantly, with the boom factor seeming more prevalent than the visual factor.
This in itself is evidence of a disturbing trend amongst our population. We are not aware of any arrests, he said.
Marshall proposed that there be a review of the legislation relevant to fireworks built around three pillars. These included that end users of fireworks must be licensed to discharge fireworks, and fireworks should only be imported by licensed importers or sold to individuals, corporations and other entities that have a licence to discharge fireworks.
Also, the days, times, events and locations permissible for the discharge of fireworks should be legislated.
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(Newser) While 7,000 police officers kept a watchful eye on revelers ringing in the new year in Times Square, three men pulled off a major jewelry heist just blocks away, WGO reports. According to USA Today, police say three men entered a Manhattan building around 10pm New Year's Eve. At midnightpossibly using noise from New Year's celebrations as coverthey allegedly broke into the offices of a jewelry wholesaler and made off with $6 million in jewelry from two safes. Police believe the burglary was an inside job, as the suspects didn't need to force their way into the safes; they were already open, the New York Daily News reports.
Police released videotaken just before the men destroyed the surveillance camerason Monday. The suspects are still on the loose. Police say the suspects stole rings, bracelets, and necklaces from jewelry designer Gregg Ruth. Rings on his website sell for up to $62,000. (Read more jewelry theft stories.)
(Newser) There's a reason Q-tips come with a warning to never use them in your earsand it's about time we heeded the advice, says the American Academy of Otolaryngology. The academy's new guidelines for dealing with earwax, the first in almost a decade, stress that the wax is as beneficial as nose mucus or eyelashes and should be left alone as much as possible. While it might seem icky, earwax traps dirt, dust, and other stuff that might get into our ears; the wax is slowly pushed outward by new skin growth and jaw movement and washed away with normal bathing, reports Reuters and CNN. That means there's no reason to get rid of earwax with cotton swabs, your finger, or any other tool. Doing so is actually a really bad idea.
You might "push the wax in further, and there also is the potential for damage to the ear drum," says Dr. Seth Schwartz, who helped draft the new guidelines. You might also scratch the ear canal, which "can lead to pain and infection," he says. "Wiping away any excess wax when it comes to the outside of the ear is enough to keep it clean." Doctors say you should seek medical help if your ear feels full, painful, itchy, or if you're experiencing hearing loss, drainage, ringing in the ears, or bleeding, rather than using a cotton swab to poke around. In fact, they say you shouldn't put anything smaller than your elbow in your earincluding ear candles, which are supposed to remove wax with heat, though there's no evidence they really work, per Quartz. (It turns out your earwax says a lot about you.)
(Newser) Despite currently serving nine life sentences, the infamous Charles Manson left prison Tuesday, TMZ reports. Sources say Manson was taken from Corcoran State Prison in California to a hospital an hour away in Bakersfield for treatment. According to the Los Angeles Times, it's unclear what's wrong with Manson, but a source "familiar with the situation" says the 82-year-old is "seriously ill." The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation isn't commenting due to privacy laws, Reuters reports. A spokesperson for the department did however confirm that Manson "is alive."
Manson entered prison in 1971 after being convicted of having his followers, mostly young women, kill seven people in 1969 in an attempt to start a race war. Manson has been denied parole a dozen times. His next parole hearing isn't scheduled until 2027, when he'd be 92 years old. (Read more Charles Manson stories.)
(Newser) Cornell William Brooks, national president of the NAACP, was among six people arrested Tuesday evening after an all-day sit-in at the Alabama offices of Sen. Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general. Around two dozen civil rights activists occupied the Republican's Mobile offices at around 11am, denouncing Sessions' record on voting rights and calling him to withdraw his name from consideration for AG, the New York Times reports. Brooks and the other five, including Bernard Simelton, NAACP's Alabama director, prayed in front of police and agreed to be arrested. "We are about to be arrested," Brooks said as police moved in around 6:30pm. "We are doing this as an act of civil disobedience standing in the tradition of Rosa Parks and members of the NAACP community."
Sessions has long been dogged by accusations of racism and was rejected for a federal judgeship in 1986. In a live-stream of the protest, Simelton said everybody had been polite and hospitable, with Sessions even ordering lunch for protesters. "As a matter of conscience and conviction, we can neither be mute nor mumble our opposition to Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions becoming attorney general of the United States," Brooks said in an earlier statement, per AL.com. "Sen. Sessions has callously ignored the reality of voter suppression but zealously prosecuted innocent civil rights leaders on trumped-up charges of voter fraud. As an opponent of the vote, he can't be trusted to be the chief law enforcement officer for voting rights." All six were charged with trespassing, according to Mobile County Jail records. (Read more Jeff Sessions stories.)
(Newser) The home of the Swedish royal family is apparently spook central. But Queen Silvia says not to worry, the "small friends ghosts" that haunt the 17th-century halls of Drottningholm Palace mean no harm and don't scare her, reports the AFP. "Theyre all very friendly but you sometimes feel that you're not completely alone," the 73-year-old queen says in a new documentary by the country's public TV network SVT. Located on Lovon Island off Stockholm, Drottingholm is the principal home of Queen Silvia, Sweden's longest-serving queen, and King Carl XVI Gustaf, her husband of 40 years. Its UNESCO World Heritage listing describes it as "the finest example of an 18th-century north European royal residence inspired by the Palace of Versailles."
While the queen doesn't get into specifics about individual spirits, Time cites a 2010 Swedish article that references a "gray man" and a "white lady" said to roam there. As for backup, the king's sister, Princess Christina, agrees the castle is indeed a phantom favorite. "There is much energy in this house. It would be strange if it didnt take the form of guises," she tells the filmmakers. The Local reports that those who want to seek out the paranormal interlopers can indeed do so: Only the southern wing is off-limits to the public. (This "haunted" photo went viral in April.)
(Newser) Some 100 law professors in support of Sen. Jeff Sessions' nomination for attorney general appear to be in the minority. More than 1,200 law professors have sent a letter to Congress in an attempt to convince the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject the nomination, noting Sessions "will not fairly enforce our nation's laws and promote justice and equality," per the Washington Post. The letter mentions his support for a border wall, attempt to prosecute black civil rights activists for voter fraud in 1985, and "repeated opposition to legislative efforts to promote the rights of women and members of the LGBTQ community" but focuses on the Senate's rejection of his nomination to a federal judgeship in 1986 after Sessions allegedly said the KKK was "okay until I found out they smoked pot," per USA Today.
A rep for Sessions says such claims are "tired, recycled, hyperbolic" and "have been thoroughly rebuked and discredited." A former chairman of the US Commission on Civil Rights adds Sessions is "a man of great character and integrity with a commitment to fairness and equal justice under the law." But "nothing in Senator Sessions' public life since 1986 has convinced us that he is a different man than the 39-year-old attorney who was deemed too racially insensitive to be a federal district court judge," states the letter, signed by professors from 176 law schools in 49 states. In a separate letter, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrickwho represented the activists in the 1985 casesuggests Sessions' "regard for facts is secondary to political objectives," per Boston.com. (NAACP's president was just arrested at Sessions' office.)
(Newser) Teresa Shook didn't even know how to create an event on Facebook when she first came up with the idea for a protest marchwhich makes it more astounding that that demonstration, now the Women's March on Washington, will likely be the largest protest in the capital during Donald Trump's inauguration week, with more than 165,000 signed on and a permit requesting accommodations for 200,000, the Washington Post reports. The march, which will take place the day after Inauguration Day near the Capitol, won't focus on Trump per se, but liberal issues that appear to contrast Trump's agenda. "The rhetoric of the past election cycle has insulted, demonized, and threatened many of uswomen, immigrants of all statuses, those with diverse religious faiths, particularly Muslim, people who identify as LGBTQIA, Native and Indigenous people, Black and Brown people, people with disabilities, the economically impoverished and survivors of sexual assault," organizers say, per NJ.com.
Shook, a 60-something retired lawyer in Hawaii who started out with just 40 RSVPs, is amazed at the protest's evolution. Issues from the get-go included racial tensions (there was criticism that Shook and her original volunteers were all white) and no available starting point. The event was eventually handed over to activists with more experience in logistics. "I didn't really think it would've ever gone viral," says Shook, who will attend. "I don't even know how to go viral." A University of California-Santa Barbara poli sci professor, however, says it makes sense that a woman, not an organization, was the impetus behind the event, which is expected to see Gloria Steinem and Amy Schumer, among other big names, in attendance. "Each organization has its own image that draws some people and pushes others back away," she notes. (Read more inauguration stories.)
(Newser) President Obama is weeks away from returning to civilian life, but he's going to party like it's 2009 one last time with a White House bash on Friday, sources tell the Washington Post. In contrast to the Donald Trump transition team's reported struggle to attract A-listers, the party will be a star-studded affair, with likely guests including Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Jay Z, and Usher, as well as Samuel L. Jackson, George Lucas, and Oprah Winfrey, the sources say. The White House announced earlier this week that Obama will deliver his farewell address next Tuesday in Chicago. (On Sunday, Obama defended his legacy on Twitter.)
(Newser) More than 150 prisoners escaped in a brazen jailbreak in the southern Philippines after a shoot-out between suspected Islamist rebels and guards, Al Jazeera reports. Six inmates and one guard were killed in the firefight on the island of Mindanao, reports the BBC. More than 100 armed men stormed the North Cotabato District Jail near Kidapawan city around 1am on Wednesday. During the two-hour firefight, some 158 inmates (out of 1,500) managed to flee.
Some prisoners leaped over a wall after stacking their beds against it, per the BBC. Others scaled a ladder, per Al Jazeera. Eight have been recaptured. There was no claim of responsibility but rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were suspected. The MILF is the largest of the Muslim separatist groups fighting for increased autonomy in the majority Catholic southern islands. Jailbreaks, kidnappings, and other violence have marked the four-decade insurgency that has left 120,000 dead, per the BBC. President Rodrigo Duterte, whose summary executions of criminals has drawn international outrage, has pursued peace talks with the rebels. (Read more Philippines stories.)
LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Below are the key excerpts from the resignation letter of Britain's ambassador to the European Union, Ivan Rogers, less than three months before London triggers complex talks on Britain's exit from the bloc.
The text of the letter was published by the BBC.
Dear All,
I am writing to you all on the first day back to tell you that I am today resigning as Permanent Representative.
...
As we look ahead to the likely timetable for the next few years, and with the invocation of Article 50 coming up shortly, it is obvious that it will be best if the top team in situ at the time that Article 50 is invoked remains there till the end of the process and can also see through the negotiations for any new deal between the UK and the EU27.
It would obviously make no sense for my role to change hands later this year.
I have therefore decided to step down now, having done everything that I could in the last six months to contribute my experience, expertise and address book to get the new team at political and official level under way.
This will permit a new appointee to be in place by the time Article 50 is invoked.
...
I know that this news will add, temporarily, to the uncertainty that I know, from our many discussions in the autumn, you are all feeling about the role of UKREP (the UK Representation to the EU) in the coming months and years of negotiations over "Brexit".
I am sorry about that, but I hope that it will help produce earlier and greater clarity on the role that UKREP should play.
My own view remains as it has always been. We do not yet know what the government will set as negotiating objectives for the UK's relationship with the EU after exit.
There is much we will not know until later this year about the political shape of the EU itself, and who the political protagonists in any negotiation with the UK will be.
But in any negotiation which addresses the new relationship, the technical expertise, the detailed knowledge of positions on the other side of the table - and the reasons for them, and the divisions amongst them - and the negotiating experience and savvy that the people in this building bring, make it essential for all parts of UKREP to be centrally involved in the negotiations if the UK is to achieve the best possible outcomes.
Story continues
Serious multilateral negotiating experience is in short supply in Whitehall, and that is not the case in the (European) Commission or in the Council.
The government will only achieve the best for the country if it harnesses the best experience we have - a large proportion of which is concentrated in UKREP - and negotiates resolutely.
Senior ministers, who will decide on our positions, issue by issue, also need from you detailed, unvarnished - even where this is uncomfortable - and nuanced understanding of the views, interests and incentives of the other 27.
The structure of the UK's negotiating team and the allocation of roles and responsibilities to support that team, needs rapid resolution.
The working methods which enable the team in London and Brussels to function seamlessly need also to be strengthened.
The great strength of the UK system - at least as it has been perceived by all others in the EU - has always been its unique combination of policy depth, expertise and coherence, message co-ordination and discipline, and the ability to negotiate with skill and determination.
UKREP has always been key to all of that. We shall need it more than ever in the years ahead.
As I have argued consistently at every level since June, many opportunities for the UK in the future will derive from the mere fact of having left and being free to take a different path.
But others will depend entirely on the precise shape of deals we can negotiate in the years ahead.
Contrary to the beliefs of some, free trade does not just happen when it is not thwarted by authorities: increasing market access to other markets and consumer choice in our own, depends on the deals, multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral that we strike, and the terms that we agree.
I shall advise my successor to continue to make these points.
Meanwhile, I would urge you all to stick with it, to keep on working at intensifying your links with opposite numbers in DEXEU (the Department for Exiting the EU) and line ministries and to keep on contributing your expertise to the policy-making process as negotiating objectives get drawn up.
The famed UKREP combination of immense creativity with realism ground in negotiating experience, is needed more than ever right now.
...
I hope you will continue to challenge ill-founded arguments and muddled thinking and that you will never be afraid to speak the truth to those in power.
I hope that you will support each other in those difficult moments where you have to deliver messages that are disagreeable to those who need to hear them.
I hope that you will continue to be interested in the views of others, even where you disagree with them, and in understanding why others act and think in the way that they do.
I hope that you will always provide the best advice and counsel you can to the politicians that our people have elected, and be proud of the essential role we play in the service of a great democracy.
Ivan (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
(Newser) An Israeli soldier was convicted of manslaughter on Wednesday in the deadly shooting of an incapacitated Palestinian attacker, capping a nine-month saga that has deeply divided the country, reports the AP. The verdict, which marks an extremely rare instance of an Israeli military court siding against a soldier over lethal action taken in the field, threatened to deepen the rift. Military commanders have condemned the soldier's conduct, while much of the public, along with leading members of the nationalist ruling coalition, have rallied behind him. Sgt. Elor Azaria, an army medic, was caught on a cellphone video fatally shooting a wounded Palestinian attacker who had stabbed a soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron in March. The Palestinian was lying motionless on the ground when Azaria, 20, shot him in the head.
In a verdict that stretched nearly three hours, the head of the three-judge panel painstakingly rejected all of Azaria's defense arguments. She said there was no evidence to support his claim that the attacker was already dead or that the man posed any threat at the time, concluding Azaria "needlessly" shot the man because "he felt the terrorist deserved to die." Tensions quickly boiled over in the cramped, crowded courtroom as the verdict was read. Members of Azaria's family clapped, screaming "Our hero!" A female relative was kicked out of the courtroom for screaming at the judges and calling the decision a disgrace. A second woman stormed out, shouting, "Disgusting leftists." The defense team said it would appeal the verdict. The sentencing is expected in the coming weeks. (Read more Israel stories.)
(Newser) California is gearing up to fight Donald Trump's administrationand President Obama's former attorney general will lead the charge. Democratic leaders of the California Legislature announced Wednesday that they've hired Eric Holder, now a partner at law firm Covington & Burling, to head a team of lawyers that will offer counsel in response to potential conflicts between the state and federal government over the next four years, including those relating to climate change, civil rights, the environment, and immigration, reports the Los Angeles Times. Trump is "surrounding himself with people who are a very clear and present danger to the economic prosperity of California," Senate leader Kevin de Leon tells the New York Times. "This means we are very, very serious."
It's an unorthodox move as the state attorney generalRep. Xavier Becerra is expected to take over the post after Kamala Harris' move to the US Senatewould normally take on such a role. But de Leon and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon sought a stronger front "to protect Californians" soon after Trump was elected. "While we dont yet know the harmful proposals the next administration will put forward, thanks to Donald Trump's campaign, cabinet appointments and Twitter feed, we do have an idea of what we will be dealing with," says Rendon. De Leon adds financial details have not been set, but "the cost will be very minimal compared to the billions of dollars at stake if California doesn't adequately make its case" and will come from the legislature's operating budget. (Read more California stories.)
(Newser) A North Carolina cop is on paid leave after video surfaced on social media showing him roughly throwing a female student to the floor, reports the News & Observer. Officer Ruben De Los Santos, a school resource officer for Rolesville High School, was responding to an early morning fight between two female students in the cafeteria Tuesday. The nine-second clip shows De Los Santos (identified by the police department, per the Washington Post) lifting up a girl in a pink shirt to about shoulder's height as a crowd of students watches, then slamming her to the ground, where she remains unmoving for a second or two until he drags her up by the arm and makes her walk away with him. The Rolesville PD says it's asked the state Bureau of Investigation to investigate and pledges to "work diligently to review any and all pertinent information so that we provide an accurate account of the events."
The school's principal said in a statement that she was "deeply concerned" about what she witnessed. The student who filmed the video posted it on Twitter and said, "THIS. IS. NOT OKAY.," including a hashtag with the school's name. The ACLU of North Carolina also weighed in, tweeting, "Disturbing use of force at #rolesvillehigh that should never be used against kids in schools." The mother of the student, identified by WLOS as 15-year-old Jasmine Darwin, says Jasmine, an honors student, has a concussion and won't be returning to the school. Jasmine, who says she was trying to defend her sister in the original fight, tells WRAL, "I was in shock." Meanwhile, Dajerria Becton, the teen taken to the ground by a Texas cop in 2015 during a pool party, has filed a $5 million suit against now ex-cop Eric Casebolt, the city of McKinney, and the police department, per the Dallas Morning News. (Read more police officer stories.)
(Newser) The American intelligence community had concluded Russia is to blame for cyberattacks during the US election, including those targeting Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange disagrees. And in a move one Republican political consultant sees as "mocking American men and women who put their lives on the line for us," Donald Trump is siding with the latter, reports the New York Times. In a tweet Wednesday, Trump repeated claims Assange made on Fox News on Tuesday, reports USA Today: "Julian Assange said 'a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta' - why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!" The tweet didn't go over well, including with members of his own party.
"Let's stare this reality square in the face: PEOTUS is pro-Putin and believes Julian Assange over the @CIA. On Jan. 20 we will be less safe," tweeted former Pentagon and CIA spokesman George Little in response, per CNN. "I have a lot more faith in our intelligence officers than I do in people like Julian Assange," added Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, per Politico. House Speaker Paul Ryan didn't address Trump's tweet, but did call Assange "a sycophant for Russia" and suggested Trump would become "better informed" once Friday's intelligence briefing about Russian hacking occurred. Trump on Tuesday night tweeted the meeting was "delayed" to Friday, suggesting the reason was "more time needed to build a case." Intelligence officials, however, say the meeting was always planned for Friday. (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
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New Delhi:
Delhi Environment minister Imran Hussain has told that his department will now be responsible to send weekly status reports of the important projects and work done under the pursuance of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodias instruction.
The reports will be submitted by Environment secretary weekly to the minister and to the Lieutenant Governor, Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and chief secretary, told a senior government official.
The orders have been given by Manish Sisodia to all the heads of departments to submit a weekly status report concerning all the important projects and proposals to the ministers concerned as well as Lt Governor and Chief Minister.
The reports that will be submitted to the Environment minister will be reviews of air pollution control measures, implementation of various orders of National Green Tribunal regarding ban on burning waste material and dry leaves, plastic waste material, among others, informed the official.
The existing ambient air quality of city was reviewed by Hussain in a meeting with the senior officials of the department and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, added the officer.
New Delhi:
Bigg Boss 10 has entered the 12th week and the show and the reality show is witnessing high octane drama inside the house with Om Swami being the perfect trouble maker.A
The day began with the contestants waking up to the tunes of 'Dhadak Dhadak'.
Housemates were suppose to continue with the 'Maalgaadi' task today as well in order to hike the prize money.
But the since the beginning of the show, one could sense the agitation prevailing inside the house Manu Punjabi expressed his displeasure over Om Swami's negative opinions about him.
Om Swami feels that Manu is lost in his own vanity. In fact, he also stated that all the housemates unnecessarily pick fights with him.
#OmSwami shares that all the housemates unnecessarily pick fights with him! Do you think so too? Or is it vice-versa? #BB10 a Bigg Boss (@BiggBoss) January 4, 2017
A
This irked Manveer and Manu, who got into an argument with Swami.
Soon Om Swami came up with his crazy self and wrote a sorry note and sticks it to his dress.
However, despite all the apology tantrums, he continued with his annoying tactics and enters the cage before the 'Maalgaadi' task for resumed.
Om even injured himself after he tried snatching Nitibha Kaul's umbrella during the task after which Manu retaliated.
A
All the housemates seemed quite irked with Om Swami's behavior, and the latter was finally called inside the confession room.
While Bigg Boss warned him not to interfere in the task, he broke down there.
Manveer, Nitibha and Manu were seen continuing the task.
A
However, jailers Rohan Mehra and Mona Lisa decided to release Manveer from the cage after the next bell rang followed by Manu being released at the next bell.
Nitibha was last one playing the 'Maalgaadi' task in the cage and Manveer came up to give her some company.
Soon after the completion of the task BB announced the winning prize as Rs 43,33,333 leaving the housemates happy.
Bigg Boss announces the total prize money as Rs. 43,33,333 after the successful completion of the Maalgaadi Task! #BB10 a Bigg Boss (@BiggBoss) January 4, 2017
A
However, Om comes across an embarrassing situation after it is revealed the he was worth only Rs 444 in the 'Maalgaadi' task.
Housemates make fun of #OmSwami after they get to know that he was worth only Rs. 444 in the task! #BB10 a Bigg Boss (@BiggBoss) January 4, 2017
A
While it is time for the house to have a new captain, there is a competition going on between Bani J and Om for the captaincy.
Amidst this discussion, the contestants are given their next task which happens to be a selfie task..
In this Om was given the role of a director and Manveer was the assistant director.
The contestants are asked to click selfie in a team, however, Om insists on being a part of every selfie and ends up getting into an argument with Manveer.
#ManveerGurjar & #OmSwami get into a fight after Om Swami says that he will be a part of every selfie! #BB10 pic.twitter.com/6Hr7xC9Kk2 a Bigg Boss (@BiggBoss) January 4, 2017
A
Manveer decides to do the task with Bani, Rohan & Manu, but looks like Om wasn't happy about it and photobombs their selfie.
As usual, Om gives the other housemates a tough time even in this task, as a result of which the contestants lose their temper and locks Swami in the jail.
Breaking from #BB10 house: Housemates lose their temper and lock #OmSwami in the jail! a Bigg Boss (@BiggBoss) January 4, 2017
A
While Om and Bani will be seen competing for the captaincy, Swami makes an attempt to convince Manu and Manveer to vote him as their new captain.
A
Considering the way housemates have been irked by Om Swami's behavior, it will be interesting to see if he is able to beat Bani J and become the new captain of Bigg Boss house.
New Delhi:
Deepika Padukone is all set to begin the promotions of her first Hollywood movie 'xXx: Return of Xander Cage' and the diva will be accompanied by her co-star Vin Diesel.
The 'Bajirao Mastani' had recently revealed that the Hollywood star will be coming to India to promote the movie.
But looks like Vin's India visit won't be just about the 'xXx' promotions as DP is planning something big for her co-star.
According to the media reports, Deepika is planning to host a big bash with the Hollywood star.
DP's party will be attended by the big shots from the industry.
On the other hand, reports are rife that Diesel will be having a filmi welcome with band-baaja wating to receive him when he touches down in Mumbai.
While Deepika is quite excited about her Hollywood venture, Vin too can't stop gushing about the B-town diva and has often praised the lady for her dedication.
Interestingly, 'xXx: Return of Xander Cage' happens to be the third installment of the blockbuster franchise.
Helmed by D. J. Caruso, the movie also stars Donnie Yen, Tony Jaa, Samuel L. Jackson, Nina Dobrev, Ruby Rose etc.
'xXx: Return of Xander Cage' is slated to release in India on January 14.
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New Delhi:
Assembly elections in the politically-crucial Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur will be held between February 4 and March 8 in what will be the first major test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gamble on demonetisation.
While polling will be spread over seven phases in Uttar Pradesh, it will be a one-day affair in Uttarakhand, Punjab and Goa, and a two-day exercise in Manipur.
Counting of votes will be taken up together in all the states on March 11, the Election Commission announced on Wednesday setting in process the mega political exercise in the new year.
Announcing the schedule, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said the Commission will keep a watch on the use of black money, which is expected to come down due to demonetisation. Steps will be taken up to ensure that other illegal inducements are not used to influence voters, he said.
In Uttar Pradesh, which has a 403-member House, polls will be held on February 11 (73 constituencies), February 15 (67 constituencies), February 19 (69), February 23 (53), February 27 (52), March 3 (49) and March 8 (40).
Full Coverage: Uttar Pradesh Elections 2017
Unlike last elections, Manipur, which recently witnessed violence raising questions whether elections would be possible now, will have a two-day polling on March 4 (38 constituencies) and March 8 (22 seats). Here, the Congress seeks to retain power.
Polling will be held in Punjab and Goa together on February 4 and in Uttarakhand it will be held on February 15.
The whole electoral process will begin with the issue of notification for polls in Punjab and Goa on January 11.
The family feud and the split in ruling Samajwadi Party have injected a new dimension in the politics in Uttar Pradesh where BJP hopes to capture power after 14 years on the back of a sweep in Lok Sabha elections in 2014. BSP and Congress, the other main challengers, hope to make it a quadrangular fight but for some alliances being made.
Punjab, which a 117-member assembly, promises to be an essentially three-way fight between the ruling SAD-BJP combine, Congress and the new entrant AAP.
Full Coverage: Punjab Assembly Elections 2017
After sensational political developments in Uttarakhand in 2016, where Congress was temporarily dislodged from power due to defections, the party and BJP are set for a virtual direct fight on 70 seats.
In Goa, where BJP seeks to retain most of the 40 assembly seats to remain in power, AAP is being seen as a new player which plans to topple the applecart of national parties Congress and BJP.
Over 16 crore people will participate in these polls for 690 constituencies in five states, for which the Commission has set up 1.85 lakh polling stations, up 15 per cent from the number during the 2012 polls.
Full Coverage: Goa Assembly Elections 2017
"The Model Code of Conduct will come into immediate effect and will apply on political parties and state governments concerned, besides the Central government in terms of announcements in these states," Zaidi said.
The CEC said candidates will have to open a bank account for all election expenditures and expenses above Rs 20,000 will be made through cheques from the new accounts. He added that donations above Rs 20,000 will also be accepted through cheques.
The maximum limit for expenses for each candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand is Rs 28 lakh, while that in Goa and Manipur is Rs 20 lakh, he said.
Responding to a question on poll funding, the CEC said the Commission has already asked the government to cut down to Rs 2,000 the present Rs 20,000 limit on anonymous donations to parties.
He said as part of reforms, the candidates will have to submit a 'No-Demand Certificate' from agencies providing amenities and government accommodation. The certificate will come from agencies dealing with electricity, water, telephone and also the rent certificate of the government accommodation which these candidates may have occupied in past 10 years.
Defence personnel posted away from their homes constituencies can cast vote through one-way electronic transmission of ballot in the polls. But the facility may not be available in all the constituencies this time and could be extended in a select seats.
The Commission had first experimented the initiative in a Puducherry bypoll recently.
Asked about suggestions that the Commission 'waited' for Prime Minister Modi's Lucknow rally before announcing the poll schedule, Zaidi said the poll panel "has its own mind."
"It does not make its schedule according to the request of political parties," he said.
The Commission will issue photo voter slips to voters ahead of polls and will, for the first time, also distribute a colourful booklet that will guide the voters on date and time of polls and location of polling stations, besides Dos and Don'ts for them.
As it happened: EC announces dates of polling in 5 states
To encourage more participation of women in election management process, the EC will also have some all-woman polling stations this time around, besides making all polling stations friendly for differently-able persons.
The tenure of Punjab, Goa and Manipur assemblies are ending on March 18, while that of Uttarakhand's on March 26 and Uttar Pradesh Assembly on May 27.
Of the total 690 constituencies going to polls in these five states, 133 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 23 for Scheduled Tribe.
To ensure full secrecy of a voter and that facial expressions don't indicate their choice of candidate, the EC had decided to increase the height of the shield that covers the EVM to 30 inches.
Full Coverage: Assembly Elections 2017
Important poll dates in Videos
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New Delhi:
In his first reaction after being arrested, Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay has said it was a reflection of his party's good performance in Parliament against demonetisation.
"It is the reflection of a good performance in the Parliament (by TMC in opposing demonetisation)," Bandopadhyay told reporters while being whisked away to the Kolkata airport.
Bandopadhyay, who was arrested on Tuesday by the CBI in connection with the Rose Valley scam, was taken to the airport on way to Bhubaneswar for his production in a court there.
Before that, a routine medical check-up was conducted on the TMC leader.
A CBI statement said he has been charged under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 408 (criminal breach of trust), 120b (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) and various sections of Prize, Chits and Money Circulation (Banning) Act of 1978.
Read | Rose Valley scam: Sudip Bandyopadhyays arrest sparks fresh tussle between BJP, TMC
Bandopadhyay arrived at the CBI office in the state capital after being summoned by the investigation agency.
He was arrested after four hours of questioning. He would be interrogated afresh by CBI in Bhubaneswar in the case which was lodged in the Odisha capital. Another TMC MP Tapas Pal, arrested in the same case on December 30, is under CBI custody in Bhubaneswar.
The arrest has sparked a fresh tussle between the TMC and the BJP that resulted in a violent attack by the ruling party on BJPs state headquarters that left several people injured.
BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha claimed 15 party workers were injured in the attack. As the protest continued, a CRPF contingent was rushed to secure BJP office and ensure safety of its workers.
We appealed to the Union home ministry to send in the CRPF to ensure our safety and security. A contingent of CRPF was sent to BJP office to ensure our safety, Sinha told PTI.
Stung by Bandyopadhyays arrest, a furious Mamata Banerjee accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using central agencies like the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department against his political rivals who were raising their voice against demonetisation.
Mamata alleged that Bandyopadhyay was arrested under pressure from the PMO and wondered why should Narendra Modi and Amit Shah not be arrested?
(With inputs from PTI)
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Itanagar:
The Arunachal Pradesh unit of Congress on Wednesday hit out at the Narendra Modi government accusing it of having a backyard policy of promoting 50 corporate families to channelise their black money and befooling the poor.
AICC secretary and in-charge of partys state unit K Jayakumar described Prime Minister Modi as anti-people during a party meeting held here.
Modi was elected on his aid campaign of Acche Din for Aam Aadmi, but his backyard policy of promoting 50 families of the country among the corporate sector have rather prompted to channelise their black money earned in various sectors as overseas investment and real estate business befooling the poor people, Jayakumar said.
The state unit of Congress has formulated strategies for its anti-demonetisation campaign against the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, a party release said.
Rajya Sabha MP Ranee Narah, who is also the AICC coordinator for Arunachal, suggested constituting a state-level campaign committee with former minister Tako Dabi as its chairman for a pan-India campaign.
He additionally asked the state unit to coordinate with AICC for nation-wide protest against demonetisation and anti-people policies of the Modi government, it said.
Congress state unit president Padi Richo has directed all its members to remain united while fighting against demonetisation as per the programme set by AICC, the statement said.
Former Chief Minister Nabam Tuki questioned Modi for failing in all his commitments before he was elected.
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New Delhi:
Government on Wednesday approved signing and ratifying an agreement between India and Uruguay regarding co-operation and mutual assistance on Customs matters.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The agreement will provide legal framework to sharing of information and intelligence between Customs authorities of the two countries and help in proper application of laws, prevention and investigation of Customs offences and the facilitation of legitimate trade. The draft text of the proposed Agreement has been finalised with the concurrence of the two Customs administrations.
"The agreement will help in the availability of relevant information for prevention and investigation of Customs offences. It is also expected to facilitate trade and ensure efficient clearance of goods traded between the countries," an official statement said.
The draft agreement will consider Indian Customs' concerns and requirements, particularly in exchange of information on the correctness of the Customs value declared, authenticity of certificates of origin of goods and the description of the goods traded between the two countries.Uruguay is a key trading partner of India among members of MERCOSUR, a trading bloc in Latin America.
India signed a preferential trade agreement (PTA) with MERCOSUR that came into effect from June 1, 2009. Trade between India and Uruguay has been expanding gradually.
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Mumbai :
Bodies of film producer-realtor Abis Rizvi and fashion designer Khushi Shah, who were among 39 people killed in the Istanbul terror attack, arrived in Mumbai early on Wednesday.
The Turkish Airlines plane carrying the bodies landed at Mumbai airport shortly after 5 AM, BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, who received the bodies at the airport, told.
While Rizvis body has been taken to his home in suburban Bandra, Khushis body was flown to Vadodara for cremation later on Wednesday, he said.
Rizvis burial will also take place on Wednesday. The flight carrying the bodies had left Istanbul on Tuesday night.
Khushi and Rizvi were among the 15 foreigners who were killed when a gunman went on a rampage at the waterside Reina nightclub in Istanbul where revellers were celebrating the New Year.
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Srinagar:
A suspected militant belonging to the lashkar-e-taiba(LeT) has been arrested from north Kashmir's Kupwara district, police said on Wednesday.
Acting on an intelligence input, a joint team of police and army arrested Ashiq Ahmed alias Abu Haider from Handwara area of the district, a police spokesman said in Srinagar.
Huge cache of arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 rifle, three magazines, a Chinese Pistol with a magazine, three hand grenades, a magazine pouch and a map, was seized from him.
During interrogation, Ahmed said he was a close associate of Abu Bakar an LeT Commander who was killed in an encounter in Sopore township last month, the spokesman said.
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Chennai:
DMK elects party treasurer MK Stalin as its working president in general council meeting in Chennai on Wednesday, while M Karunanidhi will remain on the post of party president.
The meeting was chaired by senior leader K Anbazhagan while the 93-year-old party president was not present as he has been on bed-rest after he was discharged from hospital recently.
The decision was taken days after the ruling party AIADMK party elected Sasikala as its new chief post J Jayalalithaa's death.
The announcement was made at a crucial general body meeting chaired by senior leader K Anbazhagan.During the council meet many other decision has been taken, few are:
# 16 resolutions passed in DMK General Council meet including against demonetisation, urging Centre to mitigate the hardships faced by people.
# DMK general council meeting condoles Jayalalithaa's death; Urges Sri Lanka to immediately release arrested Tamil fishermen with their boat.
# Chennai: DMK leader MK Stalin elected as the party's working president in the general council meeting.
# DMK General council meeting passes resolution urging the Central Govt to take action to lift ban on Jallikattu.
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New Delhi:
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has seized nearly 2,500 kilogram of marijuana from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in two separate raids.
In Patna, DRI officials got tip off that marijuana had been loaded in a truck at the Nagaland-Assam border. On Tuesday night, DRI officials seized 1817 kg of cannabis from a truck coming from Assam and arrested three persons.
In the second raid, DRI officials seized a consignment of 690 kgs of cannabis from Gorakhpur on Wednesday. The truck was coming from Northeast. Three persons were arrested by the officials. Further investigation is going on into the matter.
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New Delhi:
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday opposed the bail plea of controversial lawyer Rohit Tandon, who is in jail for alleged seizure of Rs 13.6 crore cash from his law firm as part of an anti-black money probe, telling a court here that he was one of the main conspirators in the illegal conversion of nearly Rs 60 crore demonetised currency.
Seeking bail for Tandon, his counsel submitted before Additional Sessions Judge R K Tripathi that his clients arrest was illegal and prima facie no offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was made out.
The court, however, listed the case for further arguments on January 7 while asking both the parties to give written submissions by then.
Part arguments heard. (The matter) be listed for conclusion of arguments of both the parties on January 7. Summary of arguments in bullet points be furnished, the judge said.
Opposing the bail plea of Tandon, EDs counsel Vikas Garg submitted that the application was not maintainable as it was moved under section 439 (special powers of high court or sessions court regarding bail) of CrPC and not under the relevant section of PMLA.
He also argued that several bank accounts were used for depositing demonetised currency on the instruction of Tandon who connived with arrested accused and Kotak Mahindra bank manager Ashish Kumar and others for the alleged conversion at a commission of 35 per cent.
However, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Tandon, submitted that the accused has not cheated people as the governments November 8 notification on demonetisation, had allowed depositing of any amount of money in bank accounts.
As per the notification on behalf of the Ministry of Finance no penal provision has been mentioned in case a person has large denomination of currency in old notes. The said notification does not attract any criminal charges for holding old notes in huge denominations, the counsel said.
He further said that there was no allegation against the accused in the FIR and he has fully cooperated in the probe even before he was arrested.
The ED counsel, however, referred to the recorded statement of Kumar and Tandons employee Dinesh Bhola in which they mentioned about having a meeting with Tandon and his firms CEO Kamal Jain after demonetisation to discuss how to convert demonetised currency into new ones.
The court had on January 2 sent Tandon to 14 days judicial custody along with Kumar and businessman Paras Lodha.
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New Delhi:
Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers allegedly attacked a house of BJP leader Krishna Bhattacharya's in Uttarpara, West Bengal on Tuesday night.
A case has been registered by the Kolkata Police in this connection. However, no casualties have been reported.
The TMC workers have been protesting against the arrest of its two MPs Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Tapas Pal.
READ MORE: BJP-Trinamool tussle: My arrest reflects TMC's good performance in Parl, says Sudip Bandopadhyay
Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay was arrested on Tuesday for his alleged involvement in the scam.
Bandopadhyay was taken to the airport on way to Bhubaneswar for his production in a court there.
Trinamool Congress leaders will also protest in Delhi at 2.302pm on Wednesday outside Parliament office against financial emergency and political vendetta.
WB: BJP leader Krishna Bhattacharya's house in Uttarpara allegedly attacked by TMC workers, last night. Case registered (Last night visuals) pic.twitter.com/R3PQlzO23a ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
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New Delhi:
The Election Commission on Tuesday announced the poll schedule for five states at a press conference in Delhi.
The terms of the legislative assembly of Goa, Manipur and Punjab are due to expire on March 18 while that of Uttarakhand expires on March 26. The legislative term of Uttar Pradesh ends on May 27.
The EC had held a meeting with chief electoral officers of these poll-bound states on Tuesday to fine-tune the arrangements.
Read | Assembly elections 2017: EC announces 7-phase polling in Uttar Pradesh, vote counting on March 11
Here is the full poll schedule for five states:
Polling: Feb 4 - March 8
Result date: March 11
1. Uttar Pradesh (403): Seven phases
Phase - 1 (73 seats, 15 districts)
Date of Notification: Jan 17
Last date of nomination: Jan 24
Last date of scrutiny: Jan 25
Last date of withdrawal of candidates: Jan 27
Election Date: Feb 11
Phase - 2 (67 seats, 11 districts)
Date of Notification: Jan 20
Last date of nomination: Jan 27
Last date of scrutiny: Jan 28
Last date of withdrawal of candidates: Jan 30
Election Date: Feb 15
Phase - 3 (69 seats, 12 districts)
Date of Notification: Jan 24
Last date of nomination: Jan 31
Last date of scrutiny: Feb 2
Last date of withdrawal of candidates: Feb 4
Election Date: Feb 19
Phase - 4 (53 seats, 12 districts)
Date of Notification: Jan 30
Last date of nomination: Feb 6
Last date of scrutiny: Feb 7
Last date of withdrawal of candidates: Feb 9
Election Date: Feb 23
Phase - 5 (52 seats, 11 districts)
Date of Notification: Feb 2
Last date of nomination: Feb 9
Last date of scrutiny: Feb 11
Last date of withdrawal of candidates: Feb 13
Election Date: Feb 27
Phase - 6 (49 seats, 7 districts)
Date of Notification: Feb 8
Last date of nomination: Feb 15
Last date of scrutiny: Feb 16
Last date of withdrawal of candidates: Feb 18
Election Date: March 4
Phase - 7 (40 seats, 7 districts)
Date of Notification: Feb 11
Last date of nomination: Feb 18
Last date of scrutiny: Feb 20
Last date of withdrawal of candidates: Feb 22
Election Date: March 8
2. Uttarakhand (70)
Date of Notification: Jan 20
Last date of nomination: Jan 27
Last date of scrutiny: Jan 28
Last date of withdrawal of candidates: Jan 30
Election Date: Feb 15
3. Goa (40)
Date of Notification: Jan 11
Last date of nomination: Jan 17
Last date of scrutiny: Jan 19
Last date of withdrawal of candidates: Jan 21
Election Date: Feb 4
4. Punjab (117)
Date of Notification: Jan 11
Last date of nomination: Jan 18
Last date of scrutiny: Jan 19
Last date of withdrawal of candidates: Jan 21
Election Date: Feb 4
5. Manipur (60): Two phase elections
Phase - 1 (38)
Date of Notification: Feb 8
Last date of nomination: Feb 15
Last date of scrutiny: Feb 16
Last date of withdrawal of candidates: Feb 18
Election Date: March 4
Phase - 2 (22)
Date of Notification: Feb 11
Last date of nomination: Feb 18
Last date of scrutiny: Feb 20
Last date of withdrawal of candidates: Feb 22
Election Date: March 8
# Vote counting for all the state to be conducted on March 11: EC
# UP Polls: Phase 1 Feb 11, Phase 2 Feb 15, Phase 3 Feb 19, Phase 4 Feb 23, Phase 5 Feb 27, Phase 6 March 4, Phase 7 March 8
# UP assembly polls: Date of poll for 1st Phase: Feb 11; Phase 2: Feb 15th: ECI
# Seven-phase polling to be held in Uttar Pradesh
# Two-phase polling to be held in Manipur: EC
# Polling in Punjab and Goa to be held on February 4: EC
# Separate set of instructions to monitor TV channels owned by political parties/candidates: CEC
# There will be strict expenditure monitor mechanism to curb black money: CEC
# Sound pollution is a concern, no use of loudspeakers after 10pm. Police and electoral officers will ensure clampdown on it: CEC Nasim Zaidi
# The limit for expenses for candidates is Rs 28 lakh for UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Rs 20 lakh for Manipur and Goa: EC
# 1.85 lakh polling stations to be in operation for assembly elections to the five states: CEC Nasim Zaidi
# Candidate will be required to affix photo on nomination papers, he will be required to mention that he is citizen of India: EC
# Model code of conduct comes into immediate effect
# There will be complete accountability of photo voter slips, colourful voter guides will be distributed to each family: EC
# Electoral roll of Goa will be published on Jan 5, Manipur on Jan 12, Punjab Jan 5, Uttarakhand on Jan 10 and UP on Jan 12: CEC Nasim Zaidi
# Total 690 assembly constituencies to go for polls in five states: EC
# 16 crore voters to exercise their franchise in five states: EC
Here is a brief profile of the poll-bound states:
Uttar Pradesh
Ruling party- Samajwadi Party
Chief minister- Akhilesh Yadav
Main opposition party- BSP
Total seats- 403
Term ends on- 27 May, 2017
Manipur
Ruling Party- Indian National Congress
Chief minister- Okram Ibobi Singh
Total seats- 60
Term ends on- 18 March, 2017
Punjab
Ruling party- SAD-BJP coalition
Chief minister- Prakash Singh Badal
Main opposition party- Congress
Total seats- 117
Term ends on- 18 March, 2017
Uttarakhand
Ruling party- Indian National Congress
Chief minister- Harish Rawat
Main opposition party- BJP
Total seats- 70
Term ends on- 26 March, 2017
Goa
Ruling Party- BJP
Chief minister- Laxmikant Parsekar
Main opposition party- Congress
Total seats- 40
Term ends on- 18 March, 2017
(With inputs from agencies)
The Election Commission will announce the poll schedule for five states on Tuesday at a press conference in Delhi. The terms of the legislative assembly of Goa, Manipur and Punjab are due to expire on March 18 while that of Uttarakhand expires on March 26. The legislative term of Uttar Pradesh ends on May 27. The EC had held a meeting with chief electoral officers of these poll-bound on Tuesday to fine-tune the arrangements.
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New Delhi:
NASA has planned to launch a USD 188 million science mission in 2020 that will help astronomers to explore the hidden details of the most extreme and exotic astronomical objects such as stellar and supermassive black holes, neutron stars and pulsars.
Objects such as black holes can heat surrounding gases to more than a million degrees. The high-energy X-ray radiation from this gas can be polarised - vibrating in a particular direction, NASA said.
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission will fly three space telescopes with cameras capable of measuring the polarisation of these cosmic X-rays, allowing scientists to answer fundamental questions about these turbulent and extreme environments where gravitational, electric and magnetic fields are at their limits, it said.
"We cannot directly image what is going on near objects like black holes and neutron stars, but studying the polarisation of X-rays emitted from their surrounding environments reveals the physics of these enigmatic objects," said Paul Hertz, astrophysics division director for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA.
"NASA has a great history of launching observatories in the Astrophysics Explorers Programme with new and unique observational capabilities. IXPE will open a new window on the universe for astronomers to peer through.
Today, we can only guess what we will find," said Hertz. Also, Scientists claimed to have developed a novel detection method which will discover around 10 black holes in a year. It means the number currently known within two years will be doubled with this method. Also, the scientists will also be able to unlock the history of black holes in a little more than a decade.
The method established by the Researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada has implications for the field of gravitational wave astronomy and the way in which we search for black holes and other dark objects in space.
Within the next ten years, there will be sufficient accumulated data on enough black holes that researchers can statistically analyse their properties as a population, said Avery Broderick, the professor at the University of Waterloo.
This information will allow us to study stellar mass black holes at various stages that often extend billions of years, said Broderick.
For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
London:
One of Britains largest Indian community organisation held protest in Londons iconic Piccadilly Circus, highlighting the plight of some of the first generation migrant Indian women in the UK who are abused and exploited by their spouses and let down by the system.
Members of Indian Ladies in UK (ILUK), a 14,000-strong womens group made up of first generation female migrants from India, braved the December cold and became homeless for one night, sleeping rough on the frigid streets of London on December 23.
They wanted to shed light on the plight of scores of women who have been left physically, mentally and emotionally abused and destitute by their spouses.
Among the protesters was a woman from Gujarat whose British-Indian husband took her to India in mid-2016 only to abandon her and kidnap her children and take them to his parents home in Madagascar.
The woman who was identified as C was left stranded in Delhi without money or her travel documents.
She soon made contact with ILUK which helped organise a passport and an airline ticket back to Britain where she is currently pursuing legal action against her husband and his family.
ILUK and its members have also organised accommodation and counselling for her as well as representing her in court.
Another woman from Hyderabad, returned to London in October after a visit to India to find that she had been locked out of her home by her IT executive husband who claimed that he had obtained a divorce through the triple talaq system of Islamic divorce.
She was left homeless before she made contact with ILUK who organised help for her.
Many of the victims often have little knowledge about how to find help in what is, for many, a largely alien country and are often turned away by police and local councils with the excuse that they have no recourse to public funds, a reference to their residency status in the UK.
Poonam Joshi, founder of ILUK, said, These are young women who come here with great hopes and dreams and are left in the lurch by the very people who they trust the most their partners.
I firmly believe that we as a community need to come together to help, support and empower these women so they can become better integrated into their new homes.
This protest is a way of highlighting the work that we do and appeal to both the Indian and British governments to do more to protect these young women.
Founded in August 2015, the ILUK group was created with the intention of providing a social media platform for first generation migrant women from India to connect, network interact with each other and to empower them.
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Panaji:
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa is set to visit his relatives in a 200-year-old ancestral house in Margao town during his India visit. The Portuguese PM will also undertake a trip to Goa on January 11-12 as part of his visit.
"Christmas has just concluded, so right now I have to clean up the house. I will spruce up the house a bit. We will prepare meal for him. But it would be a private affair. During his India visit, he needs private time with his family where he can talk to us and rest a bit," said Anna Kaarina Costa, the first cousin of the Prime Minister, who currently lives at the Costa house located on Abade Faria Road of Margao. For 55-year-old Costa from Portugal, which ruled the state till 1961, this would be his second visit to the house, the first being when he was a teen and had come with his parents. Anna, who is a hospitality industry professional, would be cooking for her cousin, whom she describes as a very low profile person. "
I really dont know what his favourite food is but he is quite a foodie himself," she says remembering the time when she met him in April 2016 in Lisbon, soon after he was elected as the Prime Minister of Portugal.
"He is just coming here for a quick visit. He will come here for quick meal. There is no much time to take him around," she said. He is the only cousin I have. For me to meet him, I still have to think that he is the Prime Minister, for me first he is my cousin. I could have thought of having a big bash here but I feel he should get some private time, some rest and spend some time with us, she said. At Costa House, Anna lives with her mother, husband and a daughter.
"I had requests from people asking do you think he can visit us. But I told them, I cant say. Security has already asked us where he will be having food?" she said. Speaking about her Portugal trip, Anna described how the Prime Minister drove his own car to join the family in a restaurant for a meal.
When asked whether she had invited him to Goa, Anna said I didnt invite him but we mentioned that Goans were waiting for him to visit and he said that he was planning a visit to Goa. He did not know which month. He said it will all depend on the government and invitations coming from here.
"When we went to Portugal, we stayed with his brother. But we met him one evening at a restaurant close to his brothers place. He stays little outskirts of Lisbon. Second time we met him for my daughters birthday at his brothers house in Portugal, that time also he came driving his own car and there was not a security."
For Costas Goa visit, the security from Lisbon had arrived with officials from Portuguese Consulate in Goa to see the House. They spent some 10-15 minutes and went away," she said.
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Istanbul:
Turkey has identified the gunman in the Istanbul nightclub massacre that killed 39 people, including two Indians, the foreign minister said on Wednesday as the president vowed that the country wont surrender to terrorists or become divided.
The gunman, who killed 39 people during New Years celebrations at the Reina club, is still at large. But Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said authorities had identified the man, without providing details.
The identity of the person who carried out the attack on the Reina nightclub has been established, Cavusoglu told Anadolu in a live televised interview.
ALSO READ: (Istanbul attack: Mortal remains of Abis Rizvi, Khushi Shah reach India from Turkey)
Turkish police, meanwhile, detained at least five suspected Islamic State group militants believed to be linked to the attack, the state-run news agency reported. The operation was launched in the Aegean port city of Izmir and was ongoing, Anadolu Agency said.
IS has claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded nearly 70 people. Of those killed 27 were foreigners, many from the Middle East. Islamic State said a soldier of the caliphate had carried out the mass shooting to avenge Turkish military operations against IS in northern Syria.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the attack aims to set Turks against each other and deepen fault lines, but the country wont fall for this game.
Erdogan made the comments in a live speech from Ankara, the first time he has publicly addressed the nation since the attack.
Responding to accusations in the past that Turkey had given support to the Islamic State group, Erdogan said that to present the country which is leading the greatest struggle against Daesh as one supporting terrorism is what the terror organization wants.
Erdogan said that in Turkey, no ones way of life is under any threat. Those who claim this have to prove it. It is my duty to protect everyones rights.
He also said that to say Turkey has surrendered to terrorism is to take sides with the terrorists and terror organisations.
Police in Istanbul have set up checkpoints and are checking vehicles across the city as security levels remained high. Police were stopping cars and Istanbuls ubiquitous yellow taxis, with passengers and drivers holding up their identifications while officers inspected inside the vehicles.
Istanbul has been on high alert since the attack, with the gunman still at large.
The private Dogan news agency said that todays police operation targeted three families who had arrived in Izmir about 20 days ago from Konya a city in central Turkey where the gunman is thought to have been based before carrying out the nightclub attack. It said 27 people, including women and children, were taken into custody.
At least 14 people were previously detained in connection with the attack, including two foreigners stopped yesterday at the international terminal of Istanbuls Ataturk Airport after police checked their cellphones and luggage, according to Anadolu.
Funerals were held in Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and Turkey for the dead and today, a Turkish Airlines jet carrying the bodies of two Indian citizens killed in the shooting landed in Mumbai.
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Donald Trump could have picked a better car to bash.
The incoming president lashed General Motors (GM) on Twitter recently for making its Chevrolet Cruze subcompact in Mexico. Whoops. The Cruze sedanwhich accounts for 97.6% of all US Cruze salesis actually built in Lordstown, Ohio. The slow-selling Cruze hatchback is built in Mexico, but annual sales of just 4,400 units are virtually negligible.
General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border. Make in U.S.A.or pay big border tax! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
Trump went after GM just as cross-town rival Ford announced it was canceling plans to build a $1.6 billion factory in Mexico, as Trump has been urging the company to do since campaigning last year. Ford will still move production of its Focus subcompact from Michigan to Mexico, by ramping up production at another plant instead of building a new one. But it will also invest a fresh $700 million in Michigan, helping create 700 new jobs. Trump tweeted his approval.
The Ford news overshadowed Trumps blunder regarding the Chevy Cruze, but Trumps confusion on that is understandable. Automobiles are complex products that typically include components from all over the world. And most automakers sell their cars in dozens of countries, which means they have to base production decisions on a multitude of factors including consumer tastes, labor and material costs, exchange rates, transportation efficiency and where a given model is likely to sell the most. Hatchbacks arent popular in the United States, for example, but European drivers love them, which is part of the reason GM builds the Cruze hatch in Mexicoit can export from there to Europe with no tariffs, while the same car shipped from the United States would face a 10% levy.
Trumps crusade to protect American manufacturing jobs has nonetheless put GM and Ford (F) in the crosshairs, and other automakers might be next. Trump targeted Ford during last years campaign because of news the company was opening a new factory in Mexico, to build the Focus subcompact. On another matter, Trump took credit for persuading Fords Lincoln division to keep producing its MKC crossover at a plant in Kentucky instead of moving it to Mexico, although Ford had merely been planning to adjust production, not move work permanently out of the country.
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The most American cars
Trump has now extended his campaign against the automakers to GM, though he could just as easily have targeted Fiat Chrysler, Honda, Toyota or Volkswagen. Virtually every global automaker assembles cars in Mexico, as this map from the Center for Automotive Research shows:
Source: Center for Automotive Research
While GM has three factories in Mexico, Trump may not be aware that it also builds some of the most American cars on US roads. In an annual made in America index calculated by American Universitys Kogod School of Business, 9 of the 10 vehicles with the most American content are GM models, including the Buick Enclave, Chevy Corvette and Chevy Equinox. The Ford F-150 pickup is the only non-GM vehicle in the top 10. The Kogod rankings are meant to capture the value that accrues to the US economy from all aspects of automotive production, including not just manufacturing but also things like research and development and where the automakers profits are likely to be spent.
A few other American models would have been better targets for Trump than the Cruze, which is tied for 24th place in the Kogod rankings. The Ford Fusion ranks 39th on the Kogod scale; the Dodge Journey 43rd, the Jeep Renegade 49th, the Cadillac SRX is 53rd, and the Chevy Trax 59th. Its tricky, though. The Fusion, for instance, is assembled in Mexico with a transmission built in the United States. The Journey is also assembled in Mexico, with major components from America, Mexico and Italy, depending on which variant you get.
Foreign automakers assemble some cars in the United States, but theyve been flocking to Mexico as well. The majority of Volkswagens sold here are imported from Mexico, along with the Honda Fit, the Nissan Sentra and some Mazda 3s. Toyota is building a Mexican factory that will produce the Corolla. In general, automakers build the smallest vehicles with the lowest profit margins in low-cost countries such as Mexico, because labor costs are a larger portion of overall expenses on such models. An interesting question is whether Trump will go after foreign automakers that ship cars to America from low-cost countries, or limit his attacks to domestic automakers.
GM and Ford are easy targets in a few ways, since theyve both reduced their American manufacturing workforce over time as theyve spread out globally and embraced automation. GM became unpopular when it declared bankruptcy in 2009 and required a federal bailout to survive. Chrysler did the same thing and ended up married to Italian automaker Fiat as part of its own bailout. Since Trump hasnt yet targeted Chrysler, it could be next.
But the three automakers are still among the biggest employers in the United States. GM and Ford each employ more than 50,000 unionized blue-collar workers here, and the tally at Fiat Chrysler is nearly 40,000. Those are generally the type of decent-paying jobs, not requiring a college degree, Trump says he wants more of. GM CEO Mary Barra is one of the business leaders Trump has enlisted for an elite advisory council, so she can press the automakers case with him directly. Or, she could just tweet him.
Rick Newman is the author of four books, including Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman.
Julian Assange
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told Fox News in an interview set to air Tuesday that hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman did not come from a Russian state source.
Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Assange whether he could "tell the American people 1,000%" that WikiLeaks did not get the hacked material that it published from Russia.
"Yes. We can say, we have said, repeatedly that over the last two months that our source is not the Russian government and it is not a state party," Assange said.
Assange's reliability on this matter is questionable. Former United Nations ambassador John Bolton, for instance, told Fox News on Tuesday that he wouldn't trust Assange.
Assange also accused the Obama administration of trying to undermine the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
"They're trying to delegitimize the Trump administration as it goes into the White House," Assange said. "They are trying to say that President-elect Trump is not a legitimate president."
The Obama administration has strongly condemned the hacks and increased sanctions on Russia.
US intelligence agencies have blamed Russia for leaking emails from DNC officials and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in the weeks and months leading up to the election. US officials have said Russia was attempting to sway the election in Trump's favor.
"Did it (WikiLeaks) change the outcome of the election? Who knows, it's impossible to tell," Assange told Fox. "But if it did, the accusation is that the true statements of Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager, John Podesta, and the DNC head Debbie Wasserman Schultz, their true statements is what changed the election."
Emails showed DNC officials seeming to favor Clinton over her Democratic primary challenger Sen. Bernie Sanders. The Podesta emails contained excerpts of Clinton's controversial speeches to the financial firm Goldman Sachs and also showed campaign officials speaking candidly about the election.
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Trump has refused to pin blame on Russia for the hacks, and last week he said he had information others didn't on who was responsible.
"I also know things that other people don't know, and so they cannot be sure of the situation," he told reporters.
Asked what he knew that others did not, Trump replied: "You'll find out Tuesday or Wednesday."
It's unclear whether Trump was referring to the interview with Assange.
NOW WATCH: Trump answers reporters' questions in his longest news conference since winning the election
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WashPost is richly rewarded for false news about Russia threat while public is deceived
In the past six weeks, the Washington Post published two blockbuster stories about the Russian threat that went viral: one on how Russia is behind a massive explosion of fake news, the other on how it invaded the U.S. electric grid. Both articles were fundamentally false. Each now bears a humiliating editors note grudgingly acknowledging that the core claims of the story were fiction: The first note was posted a full two weeks later to the top of the original article; the other was buried the following day at the bottom. (Article by Glenn Greenwald, republished from TheIntercept.com) The second story on the electric grid turned out to be far worse than I realized when I wrote about it on Saturday, when it became clear that there was no penetration of the U.S. electricity grid as the Post had claimed. In addition to the editors note, the Russia-hacked-our-electric-grid story now has a full-scale retraction in the form of a separate article admitting that the incident is not linked to any Russian government effort to target or hack the utility and there may not even have been malware at all on this laptop. But while these debacles are embarrassing for the paper, they are also richly rewarding. Thats because journalists including those at the Post aggressively hype and promote the original, sensationalistic false stories, ensuring that they go viral, generating massive traffic for the Post (the papers executive editor, Marty Baron, recently boasted about how profitable the paper has become). After spreading the falsehoods far and wide, raising fear levels and manipulating U.S. political discourse in the process (both Russia stories were widely hyped on cable news), journalists who spread the false claims subsequently note the retraction or corrections only in the most muted way possible, and often not at all. As a result, only a tiny fraction of people who were exposed to the original false story end up learning of the retractions. Baron himself, editorial leader of the Post, is a perfect case study in this irresponsible tactic. It was Baron who went to Twitter on the evening of November 24 to announce the Posts expose of the enormous reach of Russias fake news operation, based on what he heralded as the findings of independent researchers. Barons tweet went all over the place; to date, it has been re-tweeted more than 3,000 times, including by many journalists with their own large followings: Russian propaganda effort helped spread fake news during election, say independent researchers https://t.co/3ETVXWw16Q Marty Baron (@PostBaron) 25 de noviembre de 2016
But after that story faced a barrage of intense criticism from Adrian Chen in the New Yorker (propaganda about Russia propaganda), Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone (shameful, disgusting), my own article, and many others including legal threats from the sites smeared as Russian propaganda outlets by the Posts independent researchers the Post finally added its lengthy editors note distancing itself from the anonymous group that provided the key claims of its story (The Post does not itself vouch for the validity of PropOrNots findings and since publication of the Posts story, PropOrNot has removed some sites from its list).
What did Baron tell his followers about this editors note that gutted the key claims of the story he hyped? Nothing. Not a word. To date, he has been publicly silent about these revisions. Having spread the original claims to tens of thousands of people, if not more, he took no steps to ensure that any of them heard about the major walk back on the articles most significant, inflammatory claims. He did, however, ironically find the time to promote a different Post story about how terrible and damaging Fake News is:
Pizzagate shows how fake news hurts real people https://t.co/cOh7RZ4RqK Marty Baron (@PostBaron) 26 de noviembre de 2016
Whether the Posts false stories here can be distinguished from what is commonly called Fake News is, at this point, a semantic dispute, particularly since Fake News has no cogent definition. Defenders of Fake News as a distinct category typically emphasize intent in order to differentiate it from bad journalism. Thats really just a way of defining Fake News so as to make it definitionally impossible for mainstream media outlets like the Post ever to be guilty of it (much the way terrorism is defined to ensure that the U.S. government and its allies cannot, by definition, ever commit it).
But what was the Posts motive in publishing two false stories about Russia that, very predictably, generated massive attention, traffic, and political impact? Was it ideological and political namely, devotion to the D.C. agenda of elevating Russia into a grave threat to U.S. security? Was it to please its audience knowing that its readers, in the wake of Trumps victory, want to be fed stories about Russian treachery? Was it access and source servitude proving it will serve as a loyal and uncritical repository for any propaganda intelligence officials want disseminated? Was it profit to generate revenue through sensationalistic click-bait headlines with a reckless disregard to whether its stories are true? In an institution as large as the Post, with numerous reporters and editors participating in these stories, its impossible to identify any one motive as definitive.
Whatever the motives, the effects of these false stories are exactly the same as those of whatever one regards as Fake News. The false claims travel all over the internet, deceiving huge numbers into believing them. The propagators of the falsehoods receive ample profit from their false, viral news. And there is no accountability of the kind that would disincentivize a repeat of the behavior. (That the Post ultimately corrects its false story does not distinguish it from classic Fake News sites, which also sometimes do the same.)
And while its true that all media outlets make mistakes, and that even the most careful journalism sometimes errs, those facts do not remotely mitigate the Posts behavior here. In these cases, they did not make good faith mistakes after engaging in careful journalism. With both stories, they were reckless (at best) from the start, and the glaring deficiencies in the reporting were immediately self-evident (which is why both stories were widely attacked upon publication).
As this excellent timeline by Kalev Leetaru documents, the Post did not even bother to contact the utility companies in question the most elementary step of journalistic responsibility until after the story was published. Intelligence officials insisting on anonymity so as to ensure no accountability whispered to them that this happened, and despite how significant the consequences would be, they rushed to print it with no verification at all. This is not a case of good journalism producing inaccurate reporting; it is the case of a media outlet publishing a story that it knew would produce massive benefits and consequences without the slightest due diligence or care.
The most ironic aspect of all this is that it is mainstream journalists the very people who have become obsessed with the crusade against Fake News who play the key role in enabling and fueling this dissemination of false stories. They do so not only by uncritically spreading them, but also by taking little or no steps to notify the public of their falsity.
The Posts epic debacle this weekend regarding its electric grid fiction vividly illustrates this dynamic. As I noted on Saturday, many journalists reacted to this story the same way they do every story about Russia: They instantly click and re-tweet and share the story without the slightest critical scrutiny. That these claims are constantly based on the whispers of anonymous officials and accompanied by no evidence whatsoever gives those journalists no pause at all; any official claim that Russia and Putin are behind some global evil is instantly treated as Truth. Thats a significant reason papers like the Post are incentivized to recklessly publish stories of this kind. They know they will be praised and rewarded no matter the accuracy or reliability because their Cause the agenda is the right one.
On Friday night, immediately after the Posts story was published, one of the most dramatic pronouncements came from the New York Timess editorial writer Brent Staples, who said this:
Now that this story has collapsed and been fully retracted, what has Staples done to note that this tweet was false? Just like Baron, absolutely nothing. Actually, thats not quite accurate, as he did do something: At some point after Friday night, he quietly deleted his tweet without comment. He has not uttered a word about the fact that the story he promoted has collapsed, and that what he told his 16,000-plus followers along with the countless number of people who re-tweeted the dramatic claim of this prominent journalist turned out to be totally false in every respect.
Even more instructive is the case of MSNBCs Kyle Griffin, a prolific and skilled social media user who has seen his following explode this year with a constant stream of anti-Trump content. On Friday night, when the Post story was published, Griffin hyped it with a series of tweets designed to make the story seem as menacing and consequential as possible. That included hysterical statements from Vermont officials who believed the Posts false claim that in retrospect are unbelievably embarrassing.
VT Gov. Peter Shumlin on Russian hacking attempt: One of the worlds leading thugs, Putin, has been attempting to hack our electric grid. pic.twitter.com/liJbVLdT5A Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) 31 de diciembre de 2016
That tweet from Griffin convincing people that Putin was endangering the health and safety of Vermonters was re-tweeted more than 1,000 times. His other similar tweets such as this one featuring Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahys warning that Putin was trying to shut down [the grid] in the middle of winter were also widely spread.
But the next day, the crux of the story collapsed the Posts editors note acknowledged that there is no indication that Russian hackers had penetrated the electricity grid and Griffin said nothing. Indeed, he said nothing further on any of this until yesterday four days after his series of widely shared tweets in which he simply re-tweeted a Post reporter noting an update that the story was false without providing any comment himself:
In contrast to Griffins original inflammatory tweets about the Russian menace, which were widely and enthusiastically spread, this after-the-fact correction has a paltry 289 re-tweets. Thus, a small fraction of those who were exposed to Griffins sensationalistic hyping of this story ended up learning that all of it was false.
I genuinely do not mean to single out these individual journalists for scorn. They are just illustrative of a very common dynamic: Any story that bolsters the prevailing D.C. orthodoxy on the Russia Threat, no matter how dubious, is spread far and wide. And then, as has happened so often, when the story turns out to be false or misleading, little or nothing is done to correct the deceitful effects. And, most amazingly of all, these are the same people constantly decrying the threat posed by Fake News.
A very common dynamic is driving all of this: media groupthink, greatly exacerbated (as I described on Saturday) by the incentive scheme of Twitter. As the grand media failure of 2002 demonstrated, American journalists are highly susceptible to fueling and leading the parade in demonizing a new Foreign Enemy rather than exerting restraint and skepticism in evaluating the true nature of that threat.
It is no coincidence that many of the most embarrassing journalistic debacles of this year involve the Russia Threat, and they all involve this same dynamic. Perhaps the worst one was the facially ridiculous, pre-election Slate story which multiple outlets (including The Intercept) had been offered but passed on alleging that Trump had created a secret server to communicate with a Russian bank; that story was so widely shared that even the Clinton campaign ended up hyping it a tweet that, by itself, was re-tweeted almost 12,000 times.
Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank. pic.twitter.com/8f8n9xMzUU Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) 1 de noviembre de 2016
But only a small percentage of those who heard of it ended up hearing of the major walk back and debunking from other outlets. The same is true of The Guardian story from last week on WikiLeaks and Putin that ended up going viral, only to have its retraction barely noticed because most of the journalists who spread the story did not bother to note it.
Beyond the journalistic tendency to echo anonymous officials on whatever Scary Foreign Threat they are hyping at the moment, there is an independent incentive scheme sustaining all of this. That Russia is a Grave Menace attacking the U.S. has for obvious reasons become a critical narrative for Democrats and other Trump opponents who dominate elite media circles on social media and elsewhere. They reward and herald anyone who bolsters that narrative, while viciously attacking anyone who questions it.
Indeed, in my 10-plus years of writing about politics on an endless number of polarizing issues including the Snowden reporting nothing remotely compares to the smear campaign that has been launched as a result of the work Ive done questioning and challenging claims about Russian hacking and the threat posed by that country generally. This is being engineered not by random, fringe accounts, but by the most prominent Democratic pundits with the largest media followings.
Ive been transformed, overnight, into an early adherent of alt-right ideology, an avid fan of Breitbart, an enthusiastic Trump supporter, and needless to say a Kremlin operative. Thats literally the explicit script theyre now using, often with outright fabrications of what I say (see here for one particularly glaring example).
They, of course, know all of this is false. A primary focus of the last 10 years of my journalism has been a defense of the civil liberties of Muslims. I wrote an entire book on the racism and inequality inherent in the U.S. justice system. My legal career involved numerous representations of victims of racial discrimination. I was one of the first journalists to condemn the misleadingly neutral approach to reporting on Trump and to call for more explicit condemnations of his extremism and lies. I was one of the few to defend Jorge Ramos from widespread media attacks when he challenged Trumps immigration extremism. Along with many others, I tried to warn Democrats that nominating a candidate as unpopular as Hillary Clinton risked a Trump victory. And as someone who is very publicly in a same-sex, inter-racial marriage with someone just elected to public office as a socialist I make for a very unlikely alt-right leader, to put that mildly.
The malice of this campaign is exceeded only by its blatant stupidity. Even having to dignify it with a defense is depressing, though once it becomes this widespread, one has little choice.
But this is the climate Democrats have successfully cultivated where anyone dissenting or even expressing skepticism about their deeply self-serving Russia narrative is the target of coordinated and potent smears; where, as The Nations James Carden documented yesterday, skepticism is literally equated with treason. And the converse is equally true: Those who disseminate claims and stories that bolster this narrative no matter how divorced from reason and evidence they are receive an array of benefits and rewards.
That the story ends up being completely discredited matters little. The damage is done, and the benefits received. Fake News in the narrow sense of that term is certainly something worth worrying about. But whatever one wants to call this type of behavior from the Post, it is a much greater menace given how far the reach is of the institutions that engage in it.
Read more at: theintercept.com
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WASHINGTON A smaller and cheaper plan for the proposed Agriscience STEM Academy at Shepaug Valley High School was reviewed by the Region 12 Board of Education at a special meeting Tuesday before it goes to a public forum next week.
Superintendent of Schools Patricia Cosentino said district officials and representatives from the state Department of Administrative Services have done many, many revisions to the plan. The biggest changes were bringing the cost below $30 million, which was done at the states request, and reducing the square footage.
Were still fine-tuning this, Cosentino said.
Estimates for the new plan are now $29.9 million, compared to the original $36.5 million. The footprint was reduced from 73,500 square feet to 56,305 square feet. This includes using more of the existing school.
The changes have raised questions about whether a referendum is needed. Last month, Bridgewater First Selectman Curtis Read wrote to the Region 12 Board of Education, requesting one. Among the differences he cited were reduced enrollment projections and smaller building plans.
While the school board hasnt made a decision on the referendum, the districts bond counsel, Douglas Gillette, said a new vote wasnt needed, based of the project language voters approved in 2015.
He said the board is satisfied as long as the project maintains its agriscience scope and doesnt exceed the $39.5 million voters approved.
You are retaining the program set out in the bond resolution, Gillette said.
Enrollment was a key point of the discussion, with projections ranging from 122 to 163 students. Based on the policies and commitments from towns so far, some school officials believe the enrollment would be closer to 139 or 142 students.
Were making a real solid attempt at science here, said school board member Valerie Andersen. These are not actual numbers; these are excellent guesses.
The Agriscience Academy has been touted as a way to attract students from other districts and help offset Region 12s declining enrollment, because it would train students for agriculture professions and also focus on science, technology, engineering and math.
The program would have students from nearby towns, but residents from the Region 12 towns - Washington, Bridgewater and Roxbury have questioned whether enrollment projections are too high.
On Dec. 29, Ben Barnes, secretary of the states Office of Policy and Management, sent a letter to the members of the state School Construction Committee expressing concerns about the project, including those raised by residents of the three Region 12 towns.
The citizens asked that I recommend removal of this project from the priority list, Barnes wrote. I am reluctant to do so, but I urge you to review this project carefully, including how the agriscience needs are currently met, before acting on it.
At Tuesdays meeting, school board members reviewed different scenarios for enrollment, including those depending on whether Bethel decides to take part in the program or Danbury decides to change its cap from 15 students.
Some members said a good marketing campaign, proximity to other schools, a new program and facilities could also attract more students.
Despite population decreases in towns that feed into existing agriculture programs, the actual enrollment in these programs is up, said Kim Gallo, the current principal at Shepaug and former administrator at Nonnewaug High School, where there is a similar program.
Gallo said there are more students who are interested, but unable to participate because of limited space.
Board member Anthony Amato cautioned the board to be honest with the public about what different enrollment numbers mean. He said 141 would cover the agriculture program, but not the cost of the labs.
Lets be cautiously optimistic, but realistic, Amato said.
A public presentation on the plan is scheduled for 6 p.m. next Tuesday at Shepaug Valley High School. Plans call for an opportunity for questions and answers following the presentation.
The board expected to vote on Jan. 23 to decide whether to proceed with the project.
kkoerting@newstimes.com
Given the deaths, accidents, near misses, derailments and so on that have plagued Metro-North over the last few years, a federal report that the commuter line is stagnant in its progress on implementation of an automatic train safety system is discouraging news indeed.
The Federal Railroad Administration says Metro-North is in a group of East Coast passenger lines that have remained relatively stagnant in progress on installation of Positive Train Control, the GPS-like technology that allows for the automatic takeover of a train that is running dangerously, whether through human or mechanical failure.
PTC is designed, for instance, to slow a train that is heading at unsafe speed into a curve or is heading dangerously into an area where workers are on the track.
In 2008, Congress ordered implementation of PTC following the collision in Southern California of a freight train and a commuter train that killed 25.
Congress initially set a deadline at the end of 2015 but relented after protests from the railroad lobby that it was an unrealistic deadline, given the technologically complex challenge of installing the towers, relays and locomotive monitors that are the eyes, ears and heart of the system.
PTC is eventually to be operating on all 60,000 miles of freight and passenger lines in the United States.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has been relentless in his pressure on officials to speed up the PTC implementation process.
Just last month, after the presidential election was settled, Blumenthal once again called on Sarah E. Feinberg, the Obama-appointed administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration to keep pushing ahead in the weeks remaining before the presidential transition.
And now it is she, in the agencys most recent quarterly progress report, who is putting the heat of the public spotlight on Metro-North.
In order to achieve full PTC implementation, everyone has to do their part railroads must make implementation a priority, and Congress must make funding for commuter railroads a priority, Feinberg said.
Over the last few years, the need for such safeguards has been demonstrated in sharp relief.
Could the technology have prevented the high-speed Metro-North derailment in Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx in 2013 that killed four? PTC advocates say yes.
Could it have prevented the 2015 high-speed Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia that killed eight? Again they say yes.
Blumenthal has also called for the expansion of PTC use into terminals, following the September crash in Hoboken, N.J. terminal that killed one person. The train hit the wall at 21 mph, the type of human or mechanical error that PTC is designed to short-circuit.
Metro-North officials have disputed the FRA assertions, claiming, for instance, that 11 locomotives or self-propelled cars have been equipped with PTC. The FRA report says none of the lines 531 locomotives are fully equipped.
This work has to get done before another life rider or worker is lost.
Over 130 inmates escape after armed men raid prison in the Philippines
Philippines,Crime/Disaster/Accident, Wed, 04 Jan 2017 IANS
Cotabato City (The Philippines), Jan 4 (IANS) Armed men believed connected to a Muslim rebel group stormed a jail facility in North Cotabato in the Philippines early on Wednesday and freed at least 132 inmates, officials said.
Supt. Peter Bungat, warden of Amas of Kidapawan District jail, told radio station that gunmen led by a certain Commander Derbie opened fire at his men guarding the facility around 1.00 a.m. local time, leaving one of his men dead and another wounded, Xinhua news agency reported.
Bungat confirmed that 132 out of their 1,511 inmates managed to escape.
"It's well planned. Escapees used blanket as their getaway. There's ongoing clearing operation. We have manhunt operation," he said.
Bungat said Commander Derbie belongs to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
"We have no idea right now if there were any high profiles in the 132 inmates that escaped. We are still accounting our prisoners," he said.
--IANS
lok/
Cabinet approves signing of MoU on agriculture with Portugal
Delhi,National,Politics,Diplomacy,Business/Economy, Wed, 04 Jan 2017 IANS
New Delhi, Jan 4 (IANS) The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the signing of an MoU between India and Portugal on agriculture and associated areas, official sources said.
"A meeting of the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave approval to the signing of an agreement on cooperation in agriculture and allied sectors between India and Portugal," said the Cabinet release.
A Joint Working Group having representatives from both countries will be set up to develop guidelines and programmes for the execution of the MoU as well as priorities for future cooperation, and also monitor implementation, the release said.
"The agreement shall enter into force on the date of its signing and shall remain in force for five years. It shall be automatically extended for another five years unless either party gives a written notice through diplomatic channels to the other party about its intention to terminate the agreement at least six months before its expiration," the release added.
Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Costa will pay a state visit to India from January 6-12. The two leaders will hold official talks on January 7 in New Delhi.
--IANS
rs/tsb/bg
Lebanese PM and UAE envoy discuss bilateral ties
Togo,Politics,Diplomacy, Wed, 04 Jan 2017 IANS
Abu Dhabi, Jan 4 (IANS/WAM) Lebanon Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri and UAE envoy Hamad Saeed Sultan Al Shamsi discussed bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest between the two countries here, the media reported on Wednesday.
The UAE ambassador congratulated Al Hariri after his government won a parliamentary vote of confidence, wishing him and his country stability and prosperity, WAM news agency reported.
The ambassador also offered his condolences on the loss of Lebanese nationals who were killed in the Istanbul terrorist attack on January 1, stressing the UAE's stand against terrorism, and wishing the injured a speedy recovery.
The Prime Minister sent his greetings to the UAE leadership, and hailed the strong and historical relations between the two countries.
--IANS/WAM
sm/bg
12 children injured in kindergarten knife attack in China
China,Crime/Disaster/Accident, Wed, 04 Jan 2017 IANS
Beijing, Jan 4 (IANS) Twelve children were injured in a knife attack by a man at a kindergarten in south China's Guangxi Zhuang region on Wednesday, local police said.
The man, 41, was identified by his surname as Tan. He slashed the children with a kitchen knife after entering the Xiaocongzai kindergarten in Youyi Township, according to Xinhua.
Police said the suspect entered the kindergarten on the excuse that he needed to pick up his child.
The injured children have been hospitalised, with three of them in serious condition.
The suspect confessed that he committed the crime because he held a grudge against someone in his village.
--IANS
ahm/bg
US signals it won't mediate between India, Pakistan
United States,Indo-Pak/Pakistan,Diplomacy,Business/Economy, Wed, 04 Jan 2017 IANS
Washington, Jan 4 (IANS) The US has signalled that it will not be drawn into the role of a mediator between India and Pakistan, saying both countries should work together to resolve their differences.
Asked during the daily briefing on Tuesday if Secretary of State John Kerry had offered to mediate between the two neighbours on the Indus Waters Treaty dispute, State Department Spokesperson John Kirby replied bluntly: "As I said, we encourage India and Pakistan to work together bilaterally to resolve their differences."
Kirby confirmed that Kerry spoke with Pakistan Finance Minister Mohammed Ishaq Dar last Thursday but would not give details of their conversation.
A Pakistan Finance Ministry statement on Friday gave Islamabad' version of their talk.
Asked if Kerry had discussed the Indus dispute with Indian officials and at what level, Kirby said: "We're in regular communication with the Indian and Pakistani governments on a wide range of issues. I just don't have any more details for you."
"The Indus Waters Treaty has served, I think as you know, as a model for peaceful cooperation between India and Pakistan for now 50 years," he said.
"We encourage, as we have in the past, India and Pakistan to work together to resolve any differences."
According to Pakistan Finance Ministry, Kerry made the call to Dar.
Seeming to invite that Kerry had asked for Washington's intervention, according to the ministry, "Dar indicated that US support on the principles and legal position of Pakistan will be greatly appreciated".
According to the ministry statement, Dar also told Kerry that the "Indus Waters Treaty is an international commitment and it is the responsibility of the World Bank to make sure that India honours this."
The statement said Kerry told Dar "that the President World Bank (Jim Yong Kim) had recently informed him about Pakistan's complaint against India on the subject of the treaty".
--IANS
al/py/vm
George Hathaway provides a detailed analysis of the EMDrive and the recent peer reviewed research paper that measured some thrust and tried to eliminate sources of error. Measurement of Impulsive Thrust from a Closed Radio Frequency Cavity in Vacuum is the paper.
Electrical engineer George Hathaway runs Hathaway Consulting Services, which has worked with inventors and investors since 1979 via an experimental physics laboratory near Toronto, Canada. Hathaways concentration is on novel propulsion and energy technologies.
White, March and the other NASA funded researchers made considerable effort to reduce the possibility of measurement artifact. However it appears that there are some fundamental problems with the interpretation of the measurement data produced by their thrust balance. This document will analyse the measurement procedure and comment on the interpretation.
In addition to mechanical and related considerations, the authors methods of analysis of sensor data to derive thrusts rests on untenable grounds. Not only is there an assumption of the presence of only a true impulse signal as well as a thermal signal, there is an assumption that the observed signal can be broken down into just these 2 components and amplitudes can be calculated based on an idealized superposition assumption. Therefore, until more control tests are performed allowing a more accurate method for estimation of thrusts, no faith can be placed in the thrust magnitudes reported in the paper.
Hathaway calls for continued testing of EmDrive concepts and increased rigor in experimental procedures.
China is testing an EMDrive on its space station
The Cannae drive is also propellentless like the EMdrive but is a different design. They will test their system orbit in a cubesat in 2017 Cannae is not using an EmDrive thruster in their upcoming launch. Cannae is using its own proprietary thruster technology which requires no on-board propellant to generate thrust. In addition, this project is being done as a private venture. Cannae is only working with a private commercial partners on the upcoming mission.
It costs about $27000 a pound to send cargo to the international space station. Launching an experiment into low earth orbit (and not sending it to the space station) would be cheaper.
A 100 pound EMDrive experiment at the space station would cost about $2.7 million to transport.
There were also indications that former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole is being considered to succeed APC National Chairman Chief Joh...
There were also indications that former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole is being considered to succeed APC National Chairman Chief John Odigie-Oyegun if the chairman accepts an ambassadorial posting for which he is being considered by the Presidency.Although Oyeguns tenure is due to end in 2018, some power brokers in the Presidency are pushing for a choice ambassadorial appointment for him in appreciation of his role in defeating the PDP in 2015.Oshiomhole is said to be favoured by some APC governors for the post in view of his antecedent as a labour leader.But some APC leaders want Oyegun to serve his full term in office instead of being compensated.Another source added: From the look of things, Oyegun may get an ambassadorial posting which will make him to technically vacate office. They said Oyegun deserves a befitting appointment for leading an opposition party to defeat a ruling party.Some forces in the Presidency are looking forward to Oshiomhole as a respectable figure who can fit into the big shoes of Oyegun.Those who support Oyegun see ambassadorial appointment for a politician as a sort of exile which is not good. They are reading a plot into the offer in order to ease out the APC National Chairman.Also yesterday, President Muhammadu Buhari met with Oshiomhole at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.Oshiomholes visit was his first to the seat of government since leaving office in November.Asked by State House correspondents to state his mission to the Villa, the former governor simply said he was there to exchange pleasantries with President Buhari in the spirit of the time.During his state visit to Edo State in the twilight of Oshiomholes administration, President Buhari described Oshiomholes performance as excellent, adding that he would be useful at the federal level.
The Nigerian Army has barred soldiers on duty from uploading photos or videos.
The Nigerian Army has barred soldiers on duty from uploading photos or videos.According to reports, Adeniyi Oyebade, a lieutenant-general and general officer commanding (GOC) 1 Division Mechanized Army, Kaduna, gave the directive on Tuesday.Oyebade said, ''It is prohibited to upload any picture with your uniforms while in operation, he was quoted as saying.Specifically, I want to warn you on the use of social media. While you are on operation, you may want to take photo shots of some good moment but you should be very careful while doing that.Avoid any picture or video that has to do with your colleague or operation. You are barred not to upload such information. It is prohibited to upload any picture with your uniforms while in operation because it will become a pragmatic problem for the Nigerian Army.
Ghanaian prophet, and founder of the Glorious Word Ministry International, Isaac Owusu Bempah, has revealed that Nigeria's President, ...
Ghanaian prophet, and founder of the Glorious Word Ministry International, Isaac Owusu Bempah, has revealed that Nigeria's President, Muhammadu Buhari will die in 2017.
Ghanaweb reports that the prophet released the prophecy on December 31, 2016 during the crossover service. See his full list of prophecies below:
Death of a former president Death of a former first lady Coup d'etat in Ghana Death of Nigeria's president Terrorist attack in Ghana Death of several young men and women Important personalities in parliament will die Many people will be kidnapped Innocent blood will be shed in a particular political party Increase in occult practices Americans will go for war More Muslim/Christian clashes this year A great king will die Another plane crash in Ghana Fire outbreaks in important offices in Ghana More celebrities(Actors,musicians and media practitioners) in Ghana to die NDC to stay in opposition for 16 years
In a post published on The New Yorker, acclaimed Nigerian writer writes on race, identity, politics, misogyny, the media and our moral duty after the election of Donald Trump as the President of America.Read below."America has always been aspirational to me, Even when I chafed at its hypocrisies, it somehow always seemed sure, a nation that knew what it was doing, refreshingly free of that anything-can-happen existential uncertainty so familiar to developing nations. But no longer. The election of Donald Trump has flattened the poetry in Americas founding philosophy: the country born from an idea of freedom is to be governed by an unstable, stubbornly uninformed, authoritarian demagogue. And in response to this there are people living in visceral fear, people anxiously trying to discern policy from bluster, and people kowtowing as though to a new king. Things that were recently pushed to the corners of Americas political spaceovert racism, glaring misogyny, anti-intellectualismare once again creeping to the center.Now is the time to resist the slightest extension in the boundaries of what is right and just. Now is the time to speak up and to wear as a badge of honor the opprobrium of bigots. Now is the time to confront the weak core at the heart of Americas addiction to optimism; it allows too little room for resilience, and too much for fragility. Hazy visions of healing and not becoming the hate we hate sound dangerously like appeasement. The responsibility to forge unity belongs not to the denigrated but to the denigrators. The premise for empathy has to be equal humanity; it is an injustice to demand that the maligned identify with those who question their humanity.America loves winners, but victory does not absolve. Victory, especially a slender one decided by a few thousand votes in a handful of states, does not guarantee respect. Nobody automatically deserves deference on ascending to the leadership of any country. American journalists know this only too well when reporting on foreign leaderstheir default mode with Africans, for instance, is nearly always barely concealed disdain. President Obama endured disrespect from all quarters. By far the most egregious insult directed toward him, the racist movement tamely termed birtherism, was championed by Trump.Yet, a day after the election, I heard a journalist on the radio speak of the vitriol between Obama and Trump. No, the vitriol was Trumps. Now is the time to burn false equivalencies forever. Pretending that both sides of an issue are equal when they are not is not balanced journalism; it is a fairy taleand, unlike most fairy tales, a disingenuous one.Now is the time to refuse the blurring of memory. Each mention of gridlock under Obama must be wrought in truth: that gridlock was a deliberate and systematic refusal of the Republican Congress to work with him. Now is the time to call things what they actually are, because language can illuminate truth as much as it can obfuscate it. Now is the time to forge new words. Alt-right is benign. White-supremacist right is more accurate.Now is the time to talk about what we are actually talking about. Climate contrarian obfuscates. Climate-change denier does not. And because climate change is scientific fact, not opinion, this matters.Now is the time to discard that carefulness that too closely resembles a lack of conviction. The election is not a simple racism story, because no racism story is ever a simple racism story, in which grinning evil people wearing white burn crosses in yards. A racism story is complicated, but it is still a racism story, and it is worth parsing. Now is not the time to tiptoe around historical references. Recalling Nazism is not extreme; it is the astute response of those who know that history gives both context and warning.Now is the time to recalibrate the default assumptions of American political discourse. Identity politics is not the sole preserve of minority voters. This election is a reminder that identity politics in America is a white invention: it was the basis of segregation. The denial of civil rights to black Americans had at its core the idea that a black American should not be allowed to vote because that black American was not white. The endless questioning, before the election of Obama, about Americas readiness for a black President was a reaction to white identity politics. Yet identity politics has come to be associated with minorities, and often with a patronizing undercurrent, as though to refer to nonwhite people motivated by an irrational herd instinct. White Americans have practiced identity politics since the inception of America, but it is now laid bare, impossible to evade.Now is the time for the media, on the left and right, to educate and inform. To be nimble and alert, clear-eyed and skeptical, active rather than reactive. To make clear choices about what truly matters.Now is the time to put the idea of the liberal bubble to rest. The reality of American tribalism is that different groups all live in bubbles. Now is the time to acknowledge the ways in which Democrats have condescended to the white working classand to acknowledge that Trump condescends to it by selling it fantasies. Now is the time to remember that there are working-class Americans who are not white and who have suffered the same deprivations and are equally worthy of news profiles. Now is the time to remember that women does not equal white women. Women must mean all women.Now is the time to elevate the art of questioning. Is the only valid resentment in America that of white males? If we are to be sympathetic to the idea that economic anxieties lead to questionable decisions, does this apply to all groups? Who exactly are the elite?Now is the time to frame the questions differently. If everything remained the same, and Hillary Clinton were a man, would she still engender an overheated, outsized hostility? Would a woman who behaved exactly like Trump be elected? Now is the time to stop suggesting that sexism was absent in the election because white women did not overwhelmingly vote for Clinton. Misogyny is not the sole preserve of men.The case for women is not that they are inherently better or more moral. It is that they are half of humanity and should have the same opportunitiesand be judged according to the same standardsas the other half. Clinton was expected to be perfect, according to contradictory standards, in an election that became a referendum on her likability.Now is the time to ask why America is far behind many other countries (see: Rwanda) in its representation of women in politics. Now is the time to explore mainstream attitudes toward womens ambition, to ponder to what extent the ordinary political calculations that all politicians make translate as moral failures when we see them in women. Clintons careful calibration was read as deviousness. But would a male politician who is carefully calibratedMitt Romney, for examplemerely read as carefully calibrated?Now is the time to be precise about the meanings of words. Trump sayingNow is the time to remember that, in a wave of dark populism sweeping the West, there are alternative forms. Bernie Sanderss message did not scapegoat the vulnerable. Obama rode a populist wave before his first election, one marked by a remarkable inclusiveness. Now is the time to counter lies with facts, repeatedly and unflaggingly, while also proclaiming the greater truths: of our equal humanity, of decency, of compassion. Every precious ideal must be reiterated, every obvious argument made, because an ugly idea left unchallenged begins to turn the color of normal. It does not have to be like this."
WASHINGTON (AP) The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all.
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Factory jobs have been disappearing, and the new jobs the economy has been creating don't pay nearly as much, according to a recent Indiana Business Research Center study.
The study tracked automotive and steel manufacturing workers in Indiana from 2003 and 2014, and found only 33 percent were still working in those same industries in Indiana 12 years later.
About 23 percent of those first tracked in 2003 moved to another manufacturing industry, while 44 percent no longer have an Indiana payroll record because they moved out of state for work, retired, died or gave up looking for work altogether.
Indiana Business Research Center Director of Economic Analysis Timothy Slaper recently published the findings of the study on industrial change and worker transitions in Indiana University's Indiana Business Review.
The study tracked 174,865 Hoosier workers in transportation equipment manufacturing and primary metal manufacturing over the span of 12 years. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that period has been extremely rocky for employment in the manufacturing sector, which has shed 5 million jobs nationally because of automation and outsourcing since 2000.
About 45,000 of the workers, or 25 percent of the group, got unemployment benefits during 2009, the height of the Great Recession. About 43 percent of the factory workers filed for unemployment then or at some other point at least once over the 12-year period.
About 57,845 workers, or a third of the original group, signed up for one of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development's job assistance programs. About 57 percent of those workers were able to find another factory job somewhere.
"With high wages, it isnt difficult to see why workers returned to these industries, which have recovered a significant share of the jobs lost during the Great Recession," Slaper wrote.
The study however found that 16 percent of the workers in the overall study group were no longer working in manufacturing at all by 2014. Most commonly, they moved to lower-paying administrative, retail and health care positions.
Those tracked had worked in positions that paid $60,000 to $68,000 a year, and when they transitioned to other fields their new jobs only paid $25,000 to $37,000 a year, according to the study.
Twista is returning to perform in Northwest Indiana for the first time since he was arrested on a marijuana charge in Portage while traveling to Big Shots in South Haven last March.
The Porter County Prosecutor's Office has since dropped the misdemeanor drug charges against Twista and two others headed to the show, in a case that garnered national attention.
The Chicago rapper, best known for the Billboard Hot 100 #1 single "Slow Jamz" that featured Kanye West and Jaime Foxx, will headline the Region Rap Show at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28 at the Hammond Civic Center, 5825 S. Sohl Ave. in Hammond. Twista, who the Guinness Book of World Records once named the fastest rapper in the world, leads a lineup that includes DJ K-Ceasar the Crowd Pleaser, Liptak, Chino Marks, Xavier Taylor and Outfitt Music CEO Al Koleon, who will perform new material from "Grinding Season" as well as old classics.
Kolean, also known as Kush World Koley, has lived in Calumet City and Hammond, releasing the song "Welcome to Indiana" in 2001. The East Coast-style gangsta rapper, who served more than five years in prison, has opened for artists like Young Buck, Nelly and 2 Chainz and released albums like "Gangster Poetry" and "G.E.D. (Grind Every Day Get Every Dolla)."
Twista has reached the top of the Billboard 200 chart and most recently released the album "Dark Horse" on Capitol Records in 2014.
Doors open at 6 p.m., and the concert is expected to last until midnight.
Tickets cost $12, and the show is all ages.
For tickets, visit universe.com/gohammond or call (219) 853-6378.
When it comes to popular winter drinks, there's nothing like a cup of sweet, piping hot chocolate.
Hot chocolate comes in many flavors and fans of the decadent drink often add a variety of embellishments to the beverage.
There are various styles and flavors of hot chocolate, depending on what form and style of chocolate is used.
Restaurants, bakeries and other eateries often place hot chocolate on their menus during the winter months. The delicious drink can be found everywhere from chain restaurants to chef-owned eateries and cafes.
At Gayety's Chocolates and Ice Cream, customers will find a signature hot chocolate on the menu.
"We've had hot chocolate since Day 1," said Jim Flessor, owner of Gayety's. Flessor said they use their own chocolate for the creation. Gayety's has had a long history in the Chicago area. The ice cream/chocolate business opened in 1920 in the city's South Chicago neighborhood.
"Hot chocolate is completely addictive," said Flessor. Gayety's hot chocolate is available in a 10-ounce cup and can be enjoyed at the shop or to go.
Assorted Mexican restaurants in the area feature the Mexican style of hot chocolate, which has a different consistency and flavor from the usual style of hot chocolate. It's usually made with real Mexican chocolate.
According to ixtapacantina.com, "Mexican Chocolate has a distinctive, rich flavor that can be used in regular dishes or baking. It can come in a round and flat disk, scented with cinnamon. Mexican Chocolate can also come in bars, powders or syrups. Its rich taste is profound in beverages such as hot chocolate. Mexican Chocolates sweetness comes from its savory ingredients and cream finish."
Celebrated pastry chef, Alain Roby, who was awarded Pastry Chef of the Year in 2013 by the Chicago Culinary ,has long created award-winning recipes with chocolate.
Roby, who is the owner of the All Chocolate Kitchen in Geneva, Illinois, has come up with a special Grand Cru Hot Chocolate at his eatery. The Grand Cru is served in an 8-ounce cup with fresh whipped cream on top.
At IHOP locations and Starbucks locations around the country, diners will find various flavored hot chocolates. IHOP currently has a French Toast-flavored creation while Starbucks features concoctions such as Snickerdoodle, Peppermint, and Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, among others.
For hot chocolate fans who'd like to make their own creation, try this recipe.
Hot Chocolate with Salted Whipped Mascarpone
For Salted Whipped Mascarpone:
3/4 cup (6 ounces) Wisconsin mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
1 cup cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
Flaky sea salt
For Hot Chocolate:
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2-1 tablespoon instant coffee, to taste
Pinch of kosher salt
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
2-4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or seeds from 1 vanilla bean
DIRECTIONS:
For whipped mascarpone:
1. Add mascarpone and heavy cream to a mixing bowl. With electric mixer, beat on high speed until soft peaks form. Beat in honey, vanilla and salt until just combined. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
For hot chocolate:
1. In small bowl, mix together cocoa powder, sugar, instant coffee and salt. Heat large saucepan over medium heat. Add milk and heavy cream. Bring to simmer, stirring every few minutes. Sprinkle dry chocolate mixture over hot milk, turning heat down to low. Whisk continuously until smooth (do not let it boil), then whisk in chopped chocolate and vanilla extract.
2. Pour hot chocolate into mugs and top with whipped mascarpone.
From Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board
Looking for a place to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate? Try these spots.
Gayety's Chocolates and Ice Cream, 3306 Ridge Road, Lansing, Illinois, (800) 491-0755 or 36 U.S. 41, Schererville, (219) 515-2027
All Chocolate Kitchen, 33 S. Third Street, Geneva, Illinois (630) 232-2395
El Taco Real, 935 Hoffman St., Hammond, (219) 932-8333
Casa Blanca, 4616 Indianapolis Boulevard, East Chicago, (219) 397-4151
IHOP, various locations, ihop.com
Starbucks, various locations, starbucks.com
SCHERERVILLE An Illinois man accused of using stolen debit cards to withdraw money from a Chase Bank ATM in Schererville could soon face additional charges after reportedly giving police a fake name upon his arrest.
The suspect, Ashton Montgomery, 25, of Markham who had two debit cards not in his name on his person when he was taken into custody, police state allegedly told police his name was Timothy Pflugradt.
The real Pflugradt, 25, of Lansing, said Tuesday a friend told him his name appeared in a Times news article about the suspect. Pflugradt went Dec. 12 to the Schererville Police Department to tell detectives the suspect used his name.
I have a unique name. I dont want someone to Google my name and the story pop up, Pflugradt told The Times on Tuesday.
Pflugradt said he was not surprised. His identity was stolen earlier in the year and believes this may be connected, he said.
Schererville police Detective Jeff Cook said more charges will soon be filed against Montgomery. He also faces charges of fraud, identity deception, counterfeiting and resisting law enforcement in connection with the Dec. 7 incident, court records show.
Police were dispatched about 8:20 a.m. Dec. 7 to Chase Bank, 1801 Kennedy Ave., in reference to suspicious suspects in a black Chevy Impala. Upon officers' arrival, they found Montgomery attempting to withdraw money from an ATM inside the bank and being repeatedly denied.
When the officer asked Montgomery to stop, Montgomery allegedly fled on foot. In addition to the two debit cards, police also found in his possession four checks and one ATM receipt detailing a denied transaction totaling $1,500, according to police.
Cook said officers will typically run fingerprints if theres any question about a persons identity. It didnt happen in this case, and Cook said he is glad Pflugradt came to the department when he did.
Thank God he saw his name in the paper, Cook said. He came in and we took his fingerprints, taking him out of the equation.
Two others were arrested that day at Chase Bank. Dajon Thompson, 23, of Dolton, faces charges of marijuana possession and handgun possession without a permit. Armani Moore, 19, of Dolton, has been charged with handgun possession with a permit.
VALPARAISO A Portage man's history of failing to comply with law enforcement caught up with him Wednesday when he was sentenced to a year behind bars for pointing a loaded gun at the face of a local police officer.
"That conduct is simply not tolerable," Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper said before sentencing Steven Hale, 33.
A jury found Hale guilty in November on felony counts of intimidation, criminal recklessness, pointing a firearm and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
Hale was found not guilty on an additional felony count of resisting law enforcement.
Hale apologized Wednesday after Portage police Officer Dan Martinez told the court that had Hale put pressure on his trigger finger, he could be dead.
"I feel he needs to pay for what he could have done," Martinez said.
Martinez had responded to Hale's house Feb. 28, 2015, in response to a noise complaint, according to the trial. When he arrived at the house in the 2300 block of County Line Road, he said he heard loud music and saw Hale inside.
Martinez knocked on the door, which eventually opened, and he found himself staring down the barrel of a black and chrome semi-automatic 9-mm Smith & Wesson handgun.
Defense attorney Larry Rogers said Hale had an ongoing conflict with a neighbor and had sent a text earlier that night to another man defending a friend. Hale walked to the door with the gun at his side out of concern that one of these two men was knocking.
While the adult probation department recommended 3 1/2 years of probation after meeting with Hale, Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Ashley Fifield asked for three years in prison followed by period of probation.
She cited Hale's earlier conviction of drunken driving and resisting law enforcement, his heavy use of alcohol, and a history of dropping out of high school and fleeing his military service.
Rogers agreed with the recommendation for probation, saying Hale was legally at home drinking and legally had a gun. Hale works full and part-time jobs and owns a home.
Rogers said he had guns pointed at him and was shot at when he worked as a police officer.
"You get over it," he said. "It's part of the job. This is not the crime of the century."
Harper settled on a one-year prison sentence to be followed four years of probation and alcohol treatment, saying Hale has a disdain for law enforcement as is evident by his adult and juvenile records. She also said he lacks respect for others, as was exhibited by his playing loud music and testifying during the trial he did not care about the impact on neighbors.
"Defendant is going to do what he's going to do, his way," Harper said.
Shortly before being cuffed and taken away, Hale said he has no intention of appealing.
PORTAGE Police here are seeking the public's help in locating Teresa M. Chillemi, 37.
She is described as being 5-foot, 2-inches tall, weighing 120 pounds with short brown hair and blue eyes. She was driving a maroon 1995 Mercury Sable.
Chillemi was last seen by her 16-year-old daughter Dec. 10 when she left for work at the Cracker Barrel in Merrillville. Chillemi did not return home, according to a press release from Chief Troy Williams.
On Dec. 12, 13 and 14, Chillemi engaged in private Facebook chats with her daughter, but her whereabouts were not discussed or disclosed.
On Dec. 20, she was stopped in her vehicle by Lake County sheriff's police for a traffic violation, and a passenger in her vehicle was arrested on a warrant out of Porter County.
On Dec. 21, her brother received a call from her phone, but could only hear people talking about Teresa. He did not hear her voice.
On Friday and Saturday, Portage police were contacted to do a welfare check on her last known residence, 6728 Dale, Apt. 3C. Police learned she had been evicted and had not been around for more than two weeks.
On Tuesday, her mother, Mary Black, filed a missing persons report, initiating an investigation.
Williams said Chillemi was fired Dec. 15 for not showing up for work.
Anyone with any information regarding Teresa Chillemi or her whereabouts, can contact Detective Janis Crafton at (219) 764-5706.
Gary City Councilwoman Mary M. Brown is suing to keep her second job as a Gary Sanitary District employee.
State officials are seeking to stop Brown, D-3rd, from being paid by the sanitary district, where she has been an employee since 1995, in addition to her salary as a City Council member.
Brown has served on the City Council for the past 16 years and won re-election in 2015. The state's database of employee compensation lists Brown as receiving a total of $99,706 in compensation in 2015.
Other Gary City Council members receive about $29,000 a year.
Gary attorney Clorius Lay, who represents Brown, said Attorney General Greg Zoeller and Paul Joyce, director of the Indiana State Board of Accounts, claim Brown is in violation of a 2012 state ethics law that forbids local government employees from holding public offices that give them financial and policy-making authority.
Todd Caldwell, a director at the State Board of Accounts, declined to comment on the suit. A spokesman for the attorney general didn't comment, either.
City Council Attorney Rinzer Williams III stated earlier in a letter to the State Board of Accounts that Brown's two jobs do not violate the ethical conflicts law because the city of Gary and the Gary Sanitary District are two separate government units.
He said the sanitary district is independent of City Hall because it is the federal government that has been in charge of its operations under a decades-old consent decree designed to stop city sewage and other toxic discharges into the Grand Calumet River, a tributary of Lake Michigan.
At Tuesday's City Council meeting, Councilwoman Rebecca Wyatt, D-1st, and some others raised concern that Williams responded to the finding without letting other council members know.
Williams said he had to sign a confidentiality agreement in regard to the audit discussion. He emphasized that he was not representing Brown personally, but only in regard to the finding against her as a council member. He said he was asked by the State Board of Accounts to write a position on the finding.
Brown was upset that Wyatt brought the matter up on the council floor.
"What I need you to do is mind your business in the first district. I will handle mine in the third," she told Wyatt, who replied she meant no disrespect to Brown.
Lay is suing the attorney general and Indiana State Board of Accounts on grounds they previously approved of Brown keeping her sanitary district job.
"Brown felt she was eligible to do both jobs, but had a concern and asked for an opinion. In March (2016), the opinion from the attorney general was 'yes,' she could.
"Then in June, the same individuals sent another letter saying she couldn't do it. Now she has conflicting letters from the same source," Lay said.
Lay is asking Lake Superior Court Judge John M. Sedia to block the state from moving against Brown and resolve the issue in her favor. The judge has set a status hearing in the case for June 1.
The same law forced four other municipal officials to leave office last summer so they could retain their more lucrative jobs as employees.
Susan Pelfrey gave up her seat on the New Chicago City Council to remain the town's water department manager. Michael Opinker resigned as a Hammond councilman to remain a Hammond city firefighter.
Juda Parks resigned as an East Chicago councilman to remain a city police officer, and Matthew D. Claussen left the Hobart council and remained a city police officer.
They, too, had sued in state and federal court, but in both cases, the judges upheld the law.
Lay said Brown won't be resigning from the Gary City Council if she loses her battle.
Times reporter Ed Bierschenk contributed to this report.
INDIANAPOLIS House Democratic Leader Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, wants Hoosiers to take a more active role in deciding state policies.
He filed a constitutional amendment Wednesday to establish a binding citizen initiative and referendum process for proposing and enacting new laws or constitutional amendments, and enabling Hoosiers to reject statutes approved by the General Assembly.
"As people trust their institutions less than they have in the past, we must give a new breath of life to citizen participation in government," Pelath said.
The measure, House Joint Resolution 1, permits a citizen-initiated law or constitutional amendment to go on the ballot for enactment, or a referendum be held on an existing law, if supporters gather petition signatures equal to 2 percent of the total votes cast in the most recent election for secretary of state.
That would be 26,700 signatures based on voter participation in the 2014 secretary of state contest.
If a majority of voters support the initiative or referendum at the next election, the proposal would take effect five days after the results are certified.
Pelath said he's long been skeptical of direct democracy, but believes that Indiana, under Republican single-party rule, is failing to address critical policy issues.
"The future of our institutions and our self-limiting barriers to difficult reforms now demand that citizens be empowered to initiate and enact changes to our laws," Pelath said.
"We will not always like the outcome, but at least our citizens will know it was not the decision of a ... 20-year chairman of some Senate committee."
Pelath's proposed constitutional change must be approved by both the House and Senate this year or next year, and again in 2019 or 2020, to be submitted for ratification by Indiana voters at the 2020 election.
MICHIANA SHORES A recently released audit alleges bookkeeping and other financial reporting errors at the town from 2011 to 2014.
According to the Indiana State Board of Accounts, two former town clerk-treasurers should be charged a total of more than $11,000 for shortfalls in cash balances along with penalties, interest and fees.
The audit, released Dec. 29, states Patrick Margraf should be held accountable for $1,713. in penalties, interest and fees. Margraf served from January 2012 to December 2013. Margraf did not return a call for comment.
The audit also calls for the collection of $9,961 from Steven Millick, who served from January 2008 to December 2011. Millick died July 20.
According to the audit, Millick was not preparing bank reconciliations and ledgers were not maintained. Additionally, penalties, interest and fees were paid to the Internal Revenue Service, the Indiana Department of Revenue, the LaPorte County Sheriffs Department and a collection agency for late payment and reporting of withholding taxes.
About $7,800 of penalties and fees were reported during Millicks tenure. Margraf racked up $1,713 in fees and penalties during his tenure, the audit states.
The audit also outlines a series of other record keeping and procedural errors.
From 2011 to 2013, receipts were not written for every collection of money by the town. Of those collected, 90 percent were for water surcharges and refuse collection. Receipts were not issued for county tax distributions, interest income, cell tower collections and state distributions. Payroll earnings records were not available for examination.
Auditors found gas, electric and telephone services, along with wages for Street Department employees, were paid from the local road and street fund, which, according to state law, cannot be used for utility or wage payment.
The audit also found errors in the billing of water customers and for garbage collection. A 1992 ordinance set a rate of $75 per user per year, but the clerk-treasurer's office billed users $95 per year in 2011, 2012 and 2013. A 1981 ordinance set a garbage collection fee of $100 per year. Auditors found in 2014 the town billed water customers $100 for the year and $95 for garbage collection. The errors meant water customers were overcharged $25 for the year, and refuse customers were undercharged $5 for the year.
In 2013 and 2014, tax dollars collected by LaPorte County were disbursed into the towns general fund and rainy day fund, not to various individual funds specified by the county auditor.
The audit has been forwarded to the state attorney generals office for review.
INDIANAPOLIS The 2017 Indiana General Assembly is open for business.
The Republican-controlled Senate convened Tuesday to read into the record more than 100 of the expected 1,100 proposed new state laws that senators and representatives will discuss, debate, reject and approve over the next four months.
Lawmakers have only until next week to finish privately tinkering with their proposals before they must be filed at the Statehouse and subjected to public scrutiny.
The earliest measures run the gamut from requiring a DNA sample be taken from every person arrested for a felony (Senate Bill 104), to prohibiting drivers from holding an animal while operating a vehicle (Senate Bill 32) and cleaning up Indiana's court-overturned statute prohibiting gay marriage (Senate Bill 68), among others.
What is likely to be among the most contentious proposals is set to be filed Wednesday by state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, when the Republican-controlled House holds its first meeting of the year.
Soliday's road funding plan, House Bill 1002, is expected to call for an increase in the state's 18 cents per gallon gasoline tax, along with other revenue-raising provisions, to ensure Indiana adequately can maintain and develop its transportation infrastructure over the next two decades.
House Bill 1001, the two-year state budget that takes effect July 1, also will originate in the House and direct some $30 billion in state spending to schools, roads, health care, prisons and nearly everything else state government does.
State Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Buck Creek, chairman of the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee, said he anticipates the budget and road funding will dominate Statehouse debates and be more complicated than prior years, in part because no one is quite sure what to expect from the new federal administration.
"If the long-term is positive, which many of us feel it will be, there can still be short-term volatility from change," said Hershman, whose district includes part of Jasper County.
The nine Senate Democrats in the 50-member chamber are urging the Republican supermajority to govern in a way that leads Indiana forward into the future, instead of stubbornly clinging to the past.
To that end, Democrats will propose measures establishing statewide civil rights protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Hoosiers, criminal penalty enhancements for bias-motivated crimes, easing the process to register and vote, redistricting reforms, improved funding for state agencies and a $10.62 per hour minimum wage.
State Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, also believes Republicans should halt the corporate income tax rate reductions scheduled to take effect each year through 2021 before they ask Hoosiers to pay higher gasoline taxes.
"This failed tax policy has painted them into a box and now we cut taxes over here, and we don't have any money to fix our roads," Tallian said. "The whole thing doesn't make sense."
Republican Gov.-elect Eric Holcomb has his own legislative agenda that he'll announce Thursday and expand on in his Jan. 17 State of the State address to the Legislature.
CROWN POINT A Republican state senator will introduce a bill this legislative session that would restrict municipalities from enacting ban the box ordinances, which prohibit employers from asking potential hires about their criminal history on employment applications.
Proponents of such ordinances, which include the National Employment Law Project (NELP) and the NAACP, argue the prohibition helps ex-convicts rebuild their lives after incarceration, and reduces the recidivism rate in communities.
But the Indiana Chamber of Commerce contends the ordinances place an undue burden on businesses, which should make the final decision on whom to hire.
State Sen. Eddie D. Melton, D-Merrillville, said in a statement Friday he would oppose any legislation that prohibits ban-the-box ordinances, and suggested the Legislature should instead promote fair hiring practices across the state.
Ban-the-box ordinances, sometimes called fair chance laws, have been implemented in 24 states and 150 cities and counties nationwide, including Marion County, which adopted an ordinance in February 2014 making it unlawful for the municipality or its vendors to inquire about a person's criminal convictions on employment applications or during the first interview.
The ban-the-box campaign was started in 2003 by All of Us or None, an Oakland, California-based organization that advocates on behalf of formerly and currently incarcerated people.
State Sen. Phil Boots, R-Crawfordsville, said Thursday he will introduce legislation this session prohibiting such ordinances, though he said the bill in its current form would not apply retroactively to Marion County.
Boots, who is chair of the Senate Pensions and Labor Committee, said the bill is intended to create uniformity in the hiring process across the state.
Local municipalities are passing stricter laws than the state or federal government provides, Boots said. We are trying to make it standard across Indiana so that employers know where they stand.
Boots said he became aware of the issue through the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, which took a position against ban-the-box measures for the first time this November.
Mike Ripley, the chamber's vice president of health care and employment law policy, said the chamber's position was adopted after a discussion this summer by its executive committee.
We recognize that hiring individuals with prior criminal records is good for society as a whole, but that decision should be the decision of the employer, as long as no other state or federal laws are being violated, Ripley said.
Ripley said the chamber has not heard complaints from members about Marion County's ordinance, but the proposed state law would serve as a preventative measure.
Melton said in a statement local municipalities know better than the state Legislature what is best for its residents.
Lake County has the highest unemployment rate of any county in Indiana and this type of policy would prevent many people with conviction records from securing jobs, Melton said. Once they find a job, most are exceptionally hard workers, determined to keep their employment. All applicants deserve the chance to be judged based on their qualifications, not their past convictions.
Indiana NAACP President Barbara Bolling-Williams, a resident of Gary, said ban-the-box policies are intended to provide a second chance to qualified applicants with a criminal record.
We are not saying that you never ask about their criminal history, or complete a background check, Bolling-Williams said. What we are saying is that they need to get past their initial application.
Boots said he has not yet obtained co-sponsors for his bill. The new legislative session began Tuesday.
Region greatness isn't always exemplified by people who do their best works here.
Rather, we should celebrate the solid examples set for us by people of vision who have strong Region roots or associations, regardless of whether their groundbreaking accomplishments occurred in Northwest Indiana or elsewhere.
That's why The Times has expanded parameters for the Region's annual induction into the Business & Industry Hall of Fame to include business leaders who made their mark outside, as well as within, the borders of Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.
The change is based on the principle that Northwest Indiana should glean just as much pride and equally important lessons from homegrown leaders who've impacted business landscapes outside of our geography.
To date, more than 40 people have been named to the local business hall of fame since its 2008 inauguration.
Celebrating recipients who left the Region to make substantial business contributions follows a model already incorporated by another program that celebrates Northwest Indiana greatness.
The South Shore Wall of Legends, an overall hall of fame for people with Northwest Indiana ties, celebrates the world-changing accomplishments of more than just people who spent their lives here.
For example, Wall of Legends inductee, world-renowned author and Civil War Gen. Lew Wallace didn't reside in the Region.
But he had strong recreational ties to the Kankakee River that runs through Northwest Indiana.
He was a hero of the Civil War, helping to raise thousands of troops for the Union cause, leading men in pivotal battles in the fight against slavery and preservation of our nation. Wallace also went on to write "Ben-Hur," a biblical best seller that eventually became a 1959 blockbuster movie that won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture.
Wallace's ties to the Kankakee River and our Region were worth noting in his induction into our regional Wall of Legends.
The same can and should be said for business and industry heroes who perform transformative works at home or abroad.
As a new year begins with new parameters for the Business & Industry Hall of Fame, we look forward to the celebration of new meritorious names.
NEW YORK - Wednesday morning's crash in Brooklyn is hardly a first for the New York City metro area's commuter rail lines.
Over the last three years, there have been four crashes or derailments involving Metro-North, Long Island Railroad or New Jersey Transit Trains.
The one most similar to Wednesday's happened back in September. One person was killed when a New Jersey Transit train traveling at a high rate of speed plowed into the platform at Hoboken Terminal.
The incident injured more than a hundred people and caused extensive damage to the station.
The train's engineer had undiagnosed sleep apnea.
The NTSB has not said whether that was a factor, but investigators in their preliminary report said the train was traveling at twice the posted speed limit.
About two weeks later, in October, a Long Island Railroad train derailed near New Hyde Park after it sideswiped a work train traveling in the same direction.
The incident injured more than 30 passengers.
A little more than three years ago, in December of 2013, a speeding Metro-North train derailed after it whipped around a curve in the Bronx.
The incdient killed four people.
Investigators determined that the engineer, who suffered from sleep apnea, was asleep at the controls.
And back in February of 2015, six people died when a Metro-North train collided with an SUV on the tracks in Westchester.
The impact dislodged the electrified third rail, which in turn pierced one of the cars and caused an explosion that tore apart a passenger compartment.
All of these incidents obviously raise concerns among investigators, but none more so than when a train overshoots a stop at a train terminal.
Most of these incidents, investigators have said, could have been prevented if an automatic train stopping technology known as positive train control had been installed.
SAN FRANCISCO The virtual currency Bitcoin has been swept up in yet another speculative frenzy, pushing its price toward the peak it last reached in late 2013.
The price of Bitcoin has been buoyed by increased interest from places like Venezuela, where the local currency has lost much of its value, and India, where the government recently removed the largest cash notes from circulation.
More broadly, a tilt toward isolationism that has emerged in American and European politics highlighted by Donald J. Trumps election victory has given a new sheen to a currency that can move between countries with little oversight.
The more there is an expectation for new barriers to be erected, the more there is an expectation that Bitcoin will be valuable for moving money across borders, said Gil Luria, the director of research at Wedbush Securities.
Mr. Massad has been chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission since June 2014. Earlier, he had been a senior Treasury Department official under President Obama and had overseen the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the bank bailout. Before entering government service, he was a partner at the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission indicated on Tuesday that Mr. Massad would stay as a commissioner for a few weeks after resigning as chairman to close his office. His term was scheduled to end in April.
He succeeded Gary Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs executive who galvanized the once-sleepy agency in the wake of the financial crisis, turning it into an industry watchdog. Mr. Massad has continued to enact many of the changes started under Mr. Gensler, overseeing the completion of Dodd-Frank Act rules governing the swaps markets, which were at the heart of the financial crisis, and coordinating oversight with international regulators.
I came to the C.F.T.C. with a number of priorities, and I am proud we have made significant progress in every area, Mr. Massad said in a statement on Tuesday. We have largely finished implementing the regulatory framework for swaps, and have concentrated on the areas posing the greatest risk to the financial system.
But the agency did not complete at least one closely watched rule governing the trading of commodities. It proposed what was known as the position limits rule last month for the third time since 2011. The commissioners did not wish to adopt a rule that the C.F.T.C. would choose not to implement or defend in the future, the agency said Tuesday in the news release.
The New York City police commissioner, James P. ONeill, has noted the departments efforts to push shootings below 1,000 for the first time since at least the early 1990s, when the police began keeping similar records. Mr. ONeill and Mayor Bill de Blasio were expected to discuss those efforts at a news conference in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
Scores of gang takedowns this year, resulting in about 900 arrests, took violent people off the streets and made it more costly to engage in gang-related crimes, police officials said.
Precision policing targets those people who are responsible for the violence, which in a significant amount of cases are gangs, said Stephen P. Davis, the departments chief spokesman. By going after the gang members, arresting them, we recognize the resultant reduction in violence.
Violent crime has been more persistent in some communities, especially outside Manhattan. But the Police Department, in continuing to drive down crime even as it has pulled back from heavy low-level enforcement and aggressive tactics like stop-and-frisk, has shown the value of focusing resources on stopping serious crime, said David M. Kennedy, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
New York City, in many ways, convinced the rest of the country that things like zero tolerance were the way to make communities safe, he said. And now its showing the country that you absolutely do not need to do that, you should not do it, and there are much, much better and less damaging ways to work with communities to produce public safety.
Governors do not normally if ever have private visits with prisoners.
But one evening in September, Judith Clark, the former radical who drove a getaway car in the 1981 Brinks armored car robbery that left three people dead, was summoned from a college program at the Bedford Hills womens prison. She did not know who she would be seeing until she was brought into a room used for high school classes.
About 10 minutes later, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo arrived.
As they sat down, he wanted to know first about her crime and her motivation.
Were you on drugs? Mr. Cuomo asked.
No, Ms. Clark replied. I was on politics.
Ms. Clark, now 67, had already served 35 years of a minimum 75-year term. She was not eligible to seek parole until 2056. Her only hope of getting out during her lifetime was a grant of clemency from the governor, a power Mr. Cuomo had almost never exercised in nearly six years in office.
The governor announced Friday that he was reducing Ms. Clarks minimum sentence to 35 years, meaning not that she will be released, but that she will be eligible for parole in the first quarter of 2017.
It is great news for elephants that China has declared a halt to commercial ivory trade by the end of 2017. Chinas huge appetite for ivory the combination of an ancient tradition of ivory carving and a swelling middle class ready to pay for it was by far the driving force behind soaring demand for elephant tusks and, tragically, a dangerous escalation in the slaughter of African elephants. But before the celebrations begin, several cautionary notes are in order.
First, Chinas decision was not entirely altruistic. As Javier Hernandez, a Times reporter, wrote from Beijing, there were also political benefits for President Xi Jinping. The ban strengthens his campaign against corruption, in which ivory is a currency; it improves his standing in Africa, where China has major interests; and it enhances his image as an environmentally responsible leader. Theres nothing wrong with any of that; on the contrary, it demonstrates that Chinas leadership recognizes the responsibilities that come with Chinas global power and influence.
The more important question is how strictly China will enforce the ban. In principle, the closing of the Chinese market, which has accounted for 50 to 70 percent of illegal ivory, will go a long way toward extinguishing the traffic in ivory. But Beijing has often been lax in following up on worthy decisions, and any illicit trade as lucrative as ivory could easily sneak through any cracks. Another danger is that, once China vacates the market, Asian countries such as Vietnam, Myanmar or the Philippines could try to move in.
Trafficking in elephant tusks has survived decades of bans and campaigns. Global ivory trade was banned in 1989 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), and African nations have made considerable efforts to combat poaching. But the ban had many loopholes, and so long as there was a market where ivory was fetching $2,100 per kilogram ($952 per pound), the poachers and smugglers had ample incentive and resources to bribe officials and kill rangers.
Even before the new Congress was sworn in on Tuesday, House Republicans made it clear that they had no real intention of draining the Washington swamp. They voted in secret on Monday to gut the one quasi-independent office that investigates House ethics. President-elect Donald Trump, who ran on a promise to drain the swamp, didnt demand that they stop he merely asked them to wait awhile. And that they did.
Representative Bob Goodlatte of Virginia emerged as an architect of the G.O.P. miasmic agenda with his attack on the Office of Congressional Ethics. A rules change would have prevented the office, known as the O.C.E., from investigating potentially criminal allegations, allowed lawmakers on the House Ethics Committee to shut down any O.C.E. investigation and, for good measure, gagged the offices staff members in their dealings with the news media. When the public learned about this plan, outraged constituents deluged House members with phone calls.
Mr. Trumps response was something altogether different. He didnt condemn these Republicans for defying and undermining his drain-the-swamp pledge. He asked them to address more urgent business first, like destroying health care reform and passing tax cuts for the rich. Indeed, while he was tweeting on Tuesday morning, Kellyanne Conway, the incoming counselor to the president, had already been on television supporting Mr. Goodlatte and his gang, saying House Republicans had a mandate to curb overzealousness over ethics.
For Paul Ryan, the attack on the ethics office was certainly a milestone: He hadnt even been re-elected House speaker when he was rolled by his caucus. Afterward, his statement suggested he was more worried about how bad this fracas looks for him than about his members effort to undermine congressional accountability. The claim by Mr. Ryan and Mr. Goodlatte (who, hilariously, leads the House Judiciary Committee) that gutting the office would improve due process for accused lawmakers is a marvel of Orwellian newspeak. So is Mr. Goodlattes insistence that dismantling the O.C.E. builds upon and strengthens it.
HOUSTON When a conservative newspaper in a conservative town in northwestern Oklahoma endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in October, the backlash was swift, sizable and local: 162 canceled subscriptions from Republicans and independents.
The backlash to the backlash has been just as swift and sizable but far from local: slightly more than 200 new subscriptions and donations, a majority of which appear to come from out-of-state Democrats.
The subscription battle that has broken out in Enid, Okla., a city of 52,000 whose biggest claim to fame is having one of the largest grain storage capacities in the world, caught The Enid News & Eagle by surprise. The daily newspaper, which has a circulation of 10,000 and has a history of endorsing Republicans, lost nearly 2 percent of its subscribers and 11 advertisers after its editorial board backed Mrs. Clinton and called Donald J. Trump unfit to be president in an editorial on Oct. 9.
After an article in The New York Times described the lingering controversy in Enid over the endorsement, supporters of Mrs. Clinton from around the country called the paper, buying digital subscriptions to EnidNews.com and urging others to do so on Facebook and Twitter.
It was a bittersweet day for Robert J. Dold, who gamely led the ceremonial final House session of the outgoing Congress on Tuesday. It was his own closing act, as well: Mr. Dold, who was a Republican congressman from Illinois, lost his seat in November to Representative Brad Schneider, a Democrat who also defeated him in 2012.
The halls were bustling with energy as the new Congress streamed in, pressing past Mr. Dold into the cramped chamber as he waited for the elevator, carrying an umbrella against the mornings drenching rain.
Were sorry were not going to be able to weigh in more on that because, frankly, I think thats going to be really important, Mr. Dold said, looking toward the chamber door.
WASHINGTON The Republican-controlled Congress opened the turbulent Trump era in Washington on Tuesday, as the new Senate moved instantly to begin the repeal of President Obamas signature health care law while the House descended into chaos in an ill-fated attempt to gut an independent congressional ethics office.
On a day usually reserved for pomp, constitutionally mandated procedure and small children parading around in fancy dresses, Congress instead pitched itself into partisan battles.
Speaker Paul D. Ryan easily won re-election, but not before the embarrassment of having his members defy him by voting to eliminate the ethics office, only to then abandon that effort after a flood of criticism from constituents and Twitter messages from President-elect Donald J. Trump that criticized House Republican priorities.
It was a rocky start to a period in which Republicans had promised an end to Washington gridlock if they controlled both Congress and the White House. There was intraparty conflict and a sense that Mr. Trump, who ran against the Republican establishment, would continue to be openly critical of his own party at times.
He posted it as senior national security officials including the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, and the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr. were completing plans to travel to New York on Friday to brief him about their findings.
It was not clear whether a meeting to discuss the hacking had been scheduled for Tuesday or, if so, why it did not occur. But Mr. Trumps insinuation was that intelligence officials were intentionally withholding information from him. For weeks, he has dismissed their findings and strongly criticized the intelligence agencies, saying they cannot be trusted because they were convinced, incorrectly, that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the United States 2003 invasion.
The decision by Mr. Comey and Mr. Clapper to brief Mr. Trump in person appears to be an effort to show him how seriously they take their conclusions that the Russian government was behind the hacking of Democratic officials before the election.
Last month, President Obama ordered the intelligence agencies and national security officials to provide him with a full report on Russias meddling. The White House has not said when the report will be completed, but Sean Spicer, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, told reporters on Tuesday that Mr. Trump had requested the same briefing Mr. Obama receives once the report is done. Mr. Spicer said he expected that to happen this week.
The security of the state must be able to be controlled by the state, Mr. de Maiziere argued.
Despite the countrys growing preoccupation with Islamic terrorism, the suggestions from Mr. de Maiziere met immediate resistance in a country left deeply wary of centralized power by its traumatizing history with totalitarian government, both fascist and communist.
Yet Mr. de Maizieres call presented the latest challenge to the consensus and structures, including NATO and the European Union, developed to ensure security and stable and prosperous democracies across Europe after World War II.
Those systems are now groaning under the weight of globalization and international terrorism, as well as the right-wing populist and nationalist movements that have arisen in Europe and the United States in reaction to them.
But whether Germans are ready to take such a step is far from clear, even as they grow more anxious about security threats, especially after the attack on a Christmas market in Berlin last month that killed 12. The episode continues to reverberate: On Tuesday, federal prosecutors said they had searched the homes of two people suspected of possibly having been in contact with the attacker in the days before the rampage.
The notion of revamping the organization of the government, which was deliberately decentralized by the allied powers that defeated Germany during World War II specifically to prevent another Hitler from rising, has come up repeatedly since Germanys reunification in 1990. Just as many times, it has been rejected.
An imprisoned political activist in Iran who began a hunger strike more than two months ago to protest the incarceration of his wife halted the fast on Tuesday when the judicial authorities released her at least temporarily, rights groups and Iranian news media reported.
The showdown between the authorities and the activist, Arash Sadeghi, who was sentenced in 2015 to at least 15 years for acts deemed seditious, including spreading propaganda, appeared to be a rare instance of compromise by a government not known for leniency.
The release of Mr. Sadeghis wife, Golrokh Ebrahimi-Iraee, came a day after an equally rare demonstration on the couples behalf by protesters in front of Tehrans Evin Prison, where both have been held. Videos of the demonstration were spread on Twitter.
The demonstration followed a campaign on social media to support the couple, which became a trending topic internationally despite the heavy restrictions on the use of Twitter and Facebook in Iran.
LONDON Ruth Mackenzie, the British director of the Holland Festival, has been chosen as the next artistic director of the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, succeeding Jean-Luc Choplin, who has held that position since 2004.
The decision, which must be ratified at a Jan. 11 meeting of the theaters administrative board, was announced on Tuesday by the Paris mayors office. Later, the mayor, Anne Hidalgo, tweeted that Ms. Mackenzie had been chosen for her experience and her ambitious and innovative artistic project.
Ms. Mackenzie, 59, will not just be the rare Briton to head a French national institution, but the first woman to run the Chatelet since the theater opened in 1862. She will have a partner in the French arts administrator, Thomas Lauriot dit Prevost, who was Mr. Choplins No. 2 from 2006 to 2013, and who will hold the title of general director.
We applied as a team, Ms. Mackenzie said. These are big jobs, and its very nice when there are two of you to work things out. Mr. Lauriot dit Prevost was also fantastically French, Ms. Mackenzie added, which makes up a little for me being British.
These writers not to mention Pushkin and Tolstoy are the reasons Siberia occupies the place in the popular imagination it does to this day, as a metaphor for suffering and deprivation, where the forsaken are cast out and left to suffer a civil execution, removed from society itself. The very name Siberia is enough to terrorize a Russian, as an early-19th-century explorer put it.
Beer, however, has done more with his own House of the Dead than merely reprise the accounts of great writers before him. A senior lecturer at the University of London, he has mined an impressive trove of resources, including state archives in St. Petersburg, Moscow and two Siberian cities that became hubs for the expanding penal system, Tobolsk and Irkutsk.
From these rich lodes emerges a history with the sort of granular details theres an entire chapter, for example, devoted to the knout, the lash and other tools of corporal punishment that make the terror of the very name Siberia so vividly, so luridly clear. As Chekhov wrote, describing one thrashing: The area where he has been beaten is dark-blue-crimson from bruises and is bleeding. His teeth are chattering, his face is yellow and wet, his eyes are wandering. When he is given medicinal drops, he bites the glass compulsively. Chekhov went on to note that the man had been whipped for the crime of murder; he faced yet another round for trying to escape from Sakhalin, the island off Russias Pacific coast where the penal camps reached their dystopian worst.
In Beers account, the escalating brutality that was needed to control the penal system deeply infected the society it was meant to protect, a legacy that one could argue lingers in Russia today under President Vladimir V. Putin. Worse, the system of exile and penal labor that was constructed ultimately failed its original purpose. Instead of protecting imperial Russia, it incubated the revolution that would topple it.
The House of the Dead opens with a Gogolian story about a church bell from Uglich, one of the ancient towns dotted along the Volga River. In 1591, residents rang the bell in alarm after the heir of Ivan the Terrible, then 9, was found with his throat slit.
American intelligence officials brief Congress on their investigation of Russian hacking involving the presidential election today, ahead of a briefing for President-elect Donald J. Trump on Friday.
Mr. Trump continued to raise questions about the intelligence on his preferred platform, Twitter, making common cause with Julian Assange. China, a frequent target of Mr. Trumps posts, criticized him in state news media, saying, An obsession with Twitter foreign policy is undesirable. Above, Mr. Trump making a post in 2015.
Mr. Trump said he planned to nominate Jay Clayton, a Wall Street lawyer who helped take Alibaba public, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Apple, complying with what it said was a request from Chinese authorities, removed news apps created by The New York Times from its app store in China late last month.
The move limits access to one of the few remaining channels for readers in mainland China to read The Times without resorting to special software. The government began blocking The Timess websites in 2012, after a series of articles on the wealth amassed by the family of Wen Jiabao, who was then prime minister, but it had struggled in recent months to prevent readers from using the Chinese-language app.
Apple removed both the English-language and Chinese-language apps from the app store in China on Dec. 23. Apps from other international publications, including The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal, were still available in the app store.
For some time now the New York Times app has not been permitted to display content to most users in China and we have been informed that the app is in violation of local regulations, Fred Sainz, an Apple spokesman, said of the Times apps. As a result, the app must be taken down off the China App Store. When this situation changes, the App Store will once again offer the New York Times app for download in China.
Lover.ly is one of numerous start-ups using technology to try to make planning easier for the remaining 82 percent who do it themselves.
These companies are moving beyond the traditional listing, inspiration and content services, which often have an overwhelming number of vendors, to offer personalized suggestions. And as texting and online chat become so integral to communication, those formats have been harnessed for wedding planning.
But persuading wedding service professionals to adopt new platforms and technology can be challenging. Many are hesitant to invest the time and resources, and the industry remains stubbornly offline. About 12 percent of transactions are done online, Ms. Khalil said. Its one of few industries yet to be fully digitized, she said.
Still, Ms. Khalil has been able to build a database of 65,000 vendors, who are linked via a relationship map to venues. One of the companys virtual wedding planners assembles a list of vendors based on a couples criteria, and the couples receive it within 48 hours of purchasing a service. Couples are charged from $10 to $399, and vendors $10 per client lead.
The website serves to drive traffic to the companys app, a platform for interacting with the virtual wedding planners. Testing showed that brides prefer texting over phone calls or email.
It has attracted users such as Heather Marie and Aniekan Udo, who live in New York and are planning a small wedding in Tuscany, in Italy, in June. Ms. Marie, a tech entrepreneur, was attracted by the efficiency and convenience of planning by app.
The amount of time it takes to research the different vendors would be every single weekend of my life until the wedding and its overwhelming, said Ms. Marie, who initially did her own comparisons against Lover.lys results and was impressed by the apps suggestions. I kind of wasted my time, she said.
Conde Nast Publications might be sitting on a gold mine: its archive of some eight million photographs and illustrations from Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Vogue, Architectural Digest and other magazines. Now, given the tenuous state of the media industry, the company has plans to exploit it.
The archive is housed on the 15th floor of a building not far from Conde Nasts headquarters at One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. Photographs and magazines, some going back more than 100 years, are stored in plastic slips and stacked in folders or tucked away in cabinets. Down the hall from the main room is a cold-storage locker, where original slides and transparencies are cataloged out of harms way.
Here you will find the first cover of Vogue, from Dec. 17, 1892, a sketch of a debutante clad in a ball gown and floating on what appears to be a cloud pillow. And here is a photograph of Coco Chanel lounging on a sofa, taken by the Vogue photographer Horst P. Horst, who died in 1999. Binders stand on metal shelves, packed with transparencies from long-ago runway shows in New York and Paris, a chronicle of shifting necklines, hems and bejeweled bodices.
This is the history of fashion, said Ivan Shaw, 48, the former executive photo director of Vogue, who was named Conde Nasts photography director for the archive in June.
Sales
Put your best foot forward for bargain-hunting at the New Years sales in a pair of multi-heart TOMS x James Goldcrown slippers ($59) from a new collaboration between the buy-one-give-one shoe brand and the artist behind New Yorks much-Instagrammed Love Wall murals. At 264 Elizabeth Street.
Image TOMS x James Goldcrown slippers.
In preparation for its biannual seasonal changeover, Dover Street Market is offering discounts of up to 70 percent on fall merchandise including a Christopher Kane sequin wool raglan coat ($793, originally $2,645) and a Craig Green silk workwear jacket ($274.50, originally $915). At 160 Lexington Avenue.
Fivestory is adding an additional 15 percent discount to items already marked down up to 60 percent, like a Balmain lace skirt ($397.80, originally $1,170) and a Tome tailored cropped jacket ($576.30, originally $1,695). At 18 East 69th Street.
LONDON A new year brings a new name for the latest season of the biannual British mens wear spectacle formerly known as London Collections: Men.
The four-day event, in its fifth year, shall henceforth be known as London Fashion Week Mens.
The rebranding isnt exactly surprising after a stormy year. The upheaval began when major British player Burberry abandoned its prime position in the local mens wear festivities in favor of see-now, buy-now runway shows that will take place during womens fashion week. The turmoil intensified with the Brexit referendum, which will put some distance between the tailors of Savile Row and their fashion friends in Paris and Milan.
Despite all that, Caroline Rush, the chief executive of the British Fashion Council, said the rationale for the events name change was a sign of its success. When we first launched the Londons mens wear shows, the schedule lasted just three days, Ms. Rush said. We could hardly call it a week.
She has a point. Furthermore, she said, now that consumers, rather than editors or buyers, have come to dictate how and why many brands invest in runway shows, it makes sense for the event to have a name that trips more easily off the tongue.
In a large newsroom, the collaboration between a reporter and a photographer often depends on the whims of their respective assigning editors, who calculate strengths, weaknesses, and, most of all, availability. Whos up to cover that fire? Whos up to shoot it? The resulting slapdash teamwork between writer and photographer can end as quickly as it began; they may work together the next day, or never again.
But for many years now, I have been fortunate to work with exceptional New York Times photographers for extended periods of time while writing a national column called This Land. Lately, I have been collaborating with Todd Heisler, a stunningly gifted photographer and a great companion. Before Todd, I traveled for several years beside the recently retired Nicole Bengiveno, whose profound empathy comes through in her cameras every click, and who deserves some formal commendation for having put up with a certain hack me for so long.
Even before the beginning of World War II in September 1939, Nazi Germanys open aggression toward both neighboring countries and people within its borders had sparked a refugee crisis. The German annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland in 1938 increased the number of people affected by Nazi restrictions, while at the same time those restrictions intensified to the point that Jews, political dissidents and others were effectively removed from German public life and denied rights, employment and education. Germanys aggressive steps to expand its borders touched off both an international political crisis, as world leaders scrambled to avoid war, and a humanitarian refugee crisis, as hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people, mostly Jews, sought safety from the Nazis in countries outside the grip of the Third Reich.
Despite an isolationist mood, a suspicions of refugees, and official policies that often discouraged involvement, some Americans felt a sense of responsibility toward European refugees and found ways to act on their behalf. The Unitarian Church a liberal religion with roots in Christianity had links to Czechoslovakia and wanted to offer assistance to refugees streaming into the country. Though Germany had annexed Czechoslovakias Sudetenland region, the rest of the country and its capital remained still free and independent. In January 1939, Unitarian leadership sought volunteers to lead an aid mission in Prague. Seventeen couples had turned down the risky post, but Martha and Waitstill Sharp decided to accept. Just weeks later, after arranging for neighbors to look after their children, ages 8 and 3, they sailed for Europe.
In Prague, the Sharps spent seven months providing food, shelter and medical care to refugees. Just weeks after they arrived, German troops occupied the whole of Czechoslovakia. The Sharps quickly saw the necessity for rescue as well as relief efforts, and mastered the intricacies of emigration procedures, helping refugees find jobs and sponsors abroad and often accompanying them on dangerous border crossings. They were watched by the Gestapo and had to do much of their work in secret. The Sharps went home to Wellesley only when they heard rumors of their imminent arrest. But just a few months later they returned to Europe, this time for another rescue and relief mission in war-torn France. There, Martha led a childrens emigration project that allowed 27 children from dissident or Jewish families to escape to the United States. For their work in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and France, the Sharps have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem the highest recognition accorded by the state of Israel to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during World War II. They are two of only five Americans to be so honored.
In the aftermath of World War II, the newly formed United Nations moved to set up international bodies and laws to define the status and rights of refugees for the first time. The U.N. High Commission for Refugees was established in 1951 and given a three-year mandate to resolve postwar refugee problems. Sixty-five years later, it still exists, and there are more refugees around the world today than at any time since the end of World War II.
Without warning, Tyrell Williamss mood shifts from gleeful to morose. Consumed by his action figures one moment, Tyrell, 4, will abruptly set them down, start sobbing and complain to his mother how much he needs his father.
Obviously I want to cry with him, but I dont, his mother, Myasia Williams, 23, said. I stay strong and I just speak to him. I say, Daddys away and he loves you. He misses you very much.
She will not explain to him that his father, who is also named Tyrell Williams, is in prison. That conversation must be between father and son, reserved for a future date. Mr. Williams is serving time for attempted murder and is set to be released in 2041.
Mrs. Williams said his crime has not changed her love for him, though it has caused her to lose relationships with other people in her life who question why she is loyal to a man behind bars. They dont understand the depth of the love she has for him, she said.
The source of the friction was Mr. Cuomos handling of the proposed special session. The governor, perhaps overconfident that legislators would cancel holiday plans to secure their first raise since 1999, tried to tie the session to a few choice items of his own: an ethics overhaul, measures related to bias crimes and homelessness, and a plan to deliver app-based ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft to upstate New York. (He had previously given up trying to extract more comprehensive ethics changes, among them instituting term limits and remaking the Legislature as a full-time institution.)
But as Mr. Cuomo begins positioning himself as a national leader of the left, it is his fellow Democrats who are most resentful of his maneuvering. In the telling of liberal activists, who hope New York will become a left-leaning bulwark against Mr. Trump, Mr. Cuomo has made only a watered-down effort at establishing a solid Democratic majority in the State Senate.
After the 2016 elections, the number of elected Democrats edged past the number of elected Republicans in the chamber. But because of a breakaway faction calling themselves the Independent Democratic Conference and an even more independent Democrat, Senator Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, who has resolutely attached himself to the Republicans ever since being elected as a Democrat the chamber has been controlled for several years by a coalition of Republicans and independent Democrats.
Neither Mr. Felder nor the independent Democrats budged after the November elections, drawing more accusations of Trump-enabling from liberals across New York. (In fact, the number of independent Democrats grew, and the group confirmed on Monday that it would remain happily coupled with the Republicans.)
Still, as vinegary as the talk has been so far, it is not hard to imagine the governor and Legislature getting over their differences in a few weeks as a matter of practicality. The governors tuition proposal is likely to find fans among a wide cross section of legislators, many of whose districts host community or four-year state colleges, and the issue of college affordability is politically potent.
Once you get past all the venom and the vitriol and the bruised feelings, theres a mutual self-interest in eventually finding agreement, said Bruce N. Gyory, an Albany-based political consultant. But it wont be done with hearts and flowers, that I can assure you.
By the time he took office in 2014, a federal lawsuit had led to a sharp decline in stop-and-frisk practices. But crime instead of rising, as some critics warned has continued to fall. Crime is now a central talking point for Mr. de Blasio as he runs for re-election, and it is often the first subject mentioned by the mayor, his aides and his campaign staff when providing a summary of his first term.
The decline in shootings and murders in 2016 contrasted most notably with Chicago, the nations third-largest city after New York and Los Angeles. Chicago ended the year with 762 murders, the most in two decades, and more than 3,500 shootings. While other large cities, such as Baltimore and Los Angeles, have had fluctuations in violence in recent years, New York crime rates have largely declined.
The Brooklyn setting for the news conference was a departure from the usual police precinct or headquarters to discuss crime statistics, but it underscored the changes in the city, as well as the challenges that remain. Brooklyn, the citys most populous borough, with 2.6 million residents, saw the second-highest reduction in shootings after the Bronx, where overall crime barely budged. However, the 75th Precinct in East New York in Brooklyn led the city with 23 murders, followed by four precincts, in Brooklyn and the Bronx, that had 14 murders apiece.
In a charismatic speech, Eric L. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president, praised the anti-violence groups that have for years gone into some of the grittiest neighborhoods in the city, like Mr. Adamss native Brownsville, to conduct outreach at candlelight vigils, on street corners, in hospitals and in public housing. But while crime in those communities has improved, gentrification in places like Crown Heights has made it difficult for longtime residents to stay to reap the benefits.
As they did all last year, officials on Wednesday credited the decline in shootings to the Police Departments focus on the gangs and crews that it says are driving much of the violence. After restructuring its investigative units, the department carried out 107 targeted arrests that rounded up more than 1,000 suspected gang members, drug traffickers and their associates.
Many of the suspects were indicted before they were arrested, and they are receiving longer sentences when convicted, Commissioner ONeill said.
Were picking them off one by one, or in many cases, dozens by dozens, said Commissioner ONeill, who succeeded William J. Bratton in the fall.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said on Wednesday that with a complete overhaul of La Guardia Airport underway, he wants to rebuild New York Citys other airport, John F. Kennedy International.
Mr. Cuomo outlined a plan to spend more than $10 billion modernizing Kennedys terminals and improving the highway and transit systems connected to the airport. He did not provide a timetable for the plan or say specifically where all of the money would come from.
The next step is to tackle J.F.K., because La Guardia isnt enough, Mr. Cuomo said, speaking at a meeting of the Association for a Better New York, a business group, in Manhattan. We need to build a new airport at J.F.K. and go through the same process as we did with La Guardia.
In promoting big infrastructure projects, including the Second Avenue subway, which opened Sunday, Mr. Cuomo is building his legacy in New York, and perhaps raising his national profile.
No longer. In 2013, the clinic hired oncology nurses to take patient calls and gave them protocols: For example, a chemo patient with a fever gets a same-day appointment and certain tests.
Baird said the program prevented 500 visits to the E.R. in 2016. We were able to achieve Medicares triple aim: higher quality of care, lower cost and increased patient satisfaction, he said.
Cancer causes suffering. Cancer patients take strong, toxic medicines. They need same-day appointments. But neither Medicare nor private insurers reimburse a practice for solving problems over the phone.
The Affordable Care Act allowed Dayton to make the switch. Since 2010, the A.C.A.s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has run, financed or partnered with states to do demonstration projects with 61,000 providers, testing dozens of different ideas. This allows people to try new things, measure the results, and then scale up what works. People all over the country are showing that better, less expensive care is possible.
This is a vehicle for experimentation, said Barbara McAneny, chief executive of the New Mexico Cancer Center. We need as many doctors thinking about what they can do better for their patients as they possibly can.
Republicans in Congress have objected to what they consider the Innovation Centers overreach. There have been some concerns about how wide and how mandatory the pilot programs will be, said Mark McClellan, who ran the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President George W. Bush and is now a professor at Duke. But like the shift away from fee for service, experimentation itself has bipartisan support. The concerns are not about the concept of piloting and expanding new approaches for payment, he said.
More than a third of Medicare payments to providers now depend on value instead of volume. This has already helped to hold down costs. And value-based payments will get a huge increase from a law kicking in this year that moves Medicare payments of physicians away from fee for service. The law passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and it cant work without the Innovation Centers projects.
To the Editor:
Re Barack Obama and Me (Op-Ed, Jan. 2): I was pleased to read J. D. Vances comments regarding President Obama. Indeed, Barack Obama is an admirable man, and it speaks volumes that he could serve as an ethical compass for Mr. Vance, a conservative.
I found it astounding, therefore, to read about the sigh of relief he will breathe with the new administration. In his book Hillbilly Elegy, Mr. Vance wrote with gratitude of the government programs that helped support him and his grandmother throughout his childhood and college career. Over 400,000 people in his home state of Kentucky now have health insurance through Medicaid, thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
Many of these programs are slated to be slashed, privatized or eliminated by the new administration. What exactly are his ideological preferences that may force millions into poverty and ill health? How will the Republican agenda help the next impoverished boy or girl from Kentucky achieve his or her dream?
To admire the messenger while ignoring the message is missing the example that President Obama set.
MARY KEMEN
RIO DE JANEIRO Brazils first days of 2017 were baptized by 17 hours of violence. Members of a drug ring called Familia do Norte (Family of the North) massacred members of the rival Primeiro Comando da Capital (First Command of the Capital), or P.C.C., one of the countrys largest gangs. The bloodletting occurred inside a privately administered prison in the northern city of Manaus. At least 56 people were slaughtered, and some 180 gang members escaped, 140 of whom are still at large. The state police were reluctant to intervene in the fight, fearing they might make the situation even worse.
The warning signs were written on the prisons graffiti-lined walls. The penitentiary in Manaus has experienced bloody riots before. In the days leading up to the weekend massacre, prison guards suspected that firearms were being smuggled into cellblocks housing drug trafficking groups. A collection of revolvers was turned over to the police when the riot came to end.
Investigators unearthed a network of tunnels under the prisons bloodstained floors, suggesting the attack was premeditated. Familia do Norte was sending a message: The P.C.C. is not welcome in the northern Brazilian state of Amazonas. A local judge was called in to negotiate the release of hostages, and hes now facing death threats.
As shocking as the prison riot is, it is not unprecedented. The most lethal episode of prison violence in Brazil occurred in 1992 when 111 inmates were killed during a riot in the Carandiru prison in Sao Paulo. Other outbreaks occurred in Rondonia in 2002, Maranhao in 2010, Pernambuco in 2011, Rio de Janeiro in 2014 and Roraima last year. Prison violence has been registered in at least 24 of Brazils 26 states over the past decade.
As the Obama administration makes a final push to reduce the number of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, President-elect Donald Trump is vowing to halt transfers, saying that those remaining are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield.
Mr. Trumps latest Guantanamo remark, delivered in a tweet on Tuesday, is consistent with his misguided campaign vow to keep the offshore prison open and load it up with some bad dudes. He seems oblivious to the risks and costs that keeping the prison open, and perhaps expanding it, would entail.
This makes it imperative that the Obama administration spare no effort in its remaining days to release the roughly 18 detainees who are cleared for transfer to a handful of countries that have agreed to take them. That would leave about 40 detainees, down from the 780 men who have been held at the prison, which was created after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Among the detainees who would remain, three were convicted in the military commission system and seven have charges pending before that commission. Twenty-six are deemed too dangerous to release, but the government has no plans to prosecute them; officials have concluded that prosecuting them would be nearly impossible because they have been held for years without trial and several were tortured while in custody. That assessment needs to be revisited. Holding these prisoners at Guantanamo forever is untenable for a nation that claims to adhere to the rule of law, and can only fuel the enmity of extremist groups around the world toward the United States.
He could begin by announcing, as promised, that he had decided to begin the process of moving the embassy to western Jerusalem. But he would need to make a parallel announcement that he would establish an embassy to the state of Palestine in East Jerusalem when a final status agreement is reached.
That would not quell the furor over moving the embassy. Indeed, it would likely increase it. So, Mr. Trump would also need to declare that he was willing to suspend the embassy move while the Israelis and Palestinians negotiate Jerusalems status.
He could then invite President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan two Arab leaders keen to curry favor with the new president to join him in convening a summit meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders. They could then establish a three-month timetable to conclude the direct negotiations. During that period, Israel would need to freeze housing construction and demolition in East Jerusalem.
To give the Trump administration leverage on both the Israelis and the Palestinians, the president could declare that if either side were unwilling to negotiate in good faith, it would forfeit American recognition of its capital in Jerusalem. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr. Abbas would then have an explanation for their outraged publics: They were accepting Mr. Trumps invitation to save Jerusalem, rather than to surrender it.
If the two sides failed to reach agreement, the United States, Egypt and Jordan could resort to a United Nations Security Council resolution, not to condemn any party, but rather to set out the parameters of a rational solution on Jerusalem: Israel would be asked to accept a Palestinian capital in the Arab parts of East Jerusalem, and in return, the Palestinians, and all other members of the international community, would be asked to recognize Israels capital in all of Jewish Jerusalem. The resolution would also need to call for a special regime to be established in the Old City to protect the status quo for the religious sites.
The United States could then set up two embassies in the undivided city, one on the west side for Israel and the other on the east side for Palestine. If the status of Jerusalem were resolved, it would open the way to negotiation on other final-status issues, like the borders of a Palestinian state. Arab countries would also be more likely to help with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if they saw that the issue they care about most Jerusalem was resolved.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. As we look back on 2016, and perhaps fret about 2017, we can take some solace in the remarkable things we know and continue to learn about the universe. In addition to a better understanding of the 5 percent of matter that has been well studied and understood, scientists are unlocking mysteries about the rest 25 percent of it dark matter, and the remaining 70 percent dark energy.
Dark matter interacts gravitationally the way that ordinary matter does clumping into galaxies and galaxy clusters, for example but we call it dark because it doesnt interact, in any perceptible way, with light. So 85 percent of the matter in the universe is not familiar matter. It is not made up of atoms and doesnt carry an electric charge.
Observations in the 1980s presented convincing evidence of dark matter, opening a vast field of scientific work. Of all the great advances in physics during the 20th century, surely this one should rank near the top, making it well deserving of the worlds pre-eminent award in the field, the Nobel Prize. Yet to this date none has been awarded, and may never be, because the scientist most often attributed with establishing its existence, Vera Rubin, died on Christmas Day.
Even physicists who are now legendary frequently work in obscurity until the Nobel elevates them to global stardom. So many people might not be aware of Dr. Rubin or her work, despite its pathbreaking significance. Had she won the prize, she would have been widely celebrated for her achievements and likely served as an inspiration for aspiring scientists everywhere.
The smart home outfitted with internet-connected accessories controlling home appliances was once a gimmicky niche. Older smart-home systems were difficult to set up, requiring separate hubs and clunky apps for controlling lights and locks. But the category is rapidly maturing now that giants like Amazon, Apple and Google offer Alexa, Siri and Assistant, their artificially intelligent virtual assistants, able to control smart-home accessories.
For consumers, voice assistants have broken down the complexity of interacting with smart-home devices, said Ben Bajarin, an analyst for Creative Strategies, which was among the first market research firms in Silicon Valley. (Its easy for anyone to say Alexa, turn on the lights.) And for companies that sell home accessories like locks and thermostats, it has never been easier to make a convenient smart-home product because the companies can now team up with the tech giants.
Now theres an ecosystem to plug into and build support around, and I think thats going to help a lot, Mr. Bajarin said.
At CES, consumers can expect a wave of smart-home accessories to be announced with voice-assistant compatibility. Apple customers should be on the lookout for a horde of lighting systems, locks and smart thermostats compatible with HomeKit, Apples smart-home framework for devices working with Siri and the iPhone. Amazon Echo owners should also expect a broader range of internet-connected cameras, door locks and thermostats that can be controlled through Alexa. A smaller number of devices are expected to be announced for Googles smart speaker Home because it was just released in November.
What that means is that in the next year or two, shopping for a smart-home accessory will be as simple as looking up a type of product and finding one that matches up with your Apple, Google or Amazon device. Thats a lot simpler than with older accessories, which required you to install extra hubs and download additional apps to work with your smartphone.
When you go to Amazon.com or the Home Depot or Lowes to buy a connected dead bolt from us, what you can expect from us is we want to make sure that lock is going to work with whatever platform you choose, said Rob Martens, a futurist at the lock company Schlage.
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There is the art of travel, and then there is traveling for art. In 2017, art lovers can expect splashy new museums in both well-known and surprising locales, noteworthy exhibits timed to milestone birthdays and an under-the-radar art fair that is not to be missed.
In a project 10 years in the making, the Louvre, one of the worlds largest museums, has collaborated on the Louvre Abu Dhabi (opening sometime this year) on Saadiyat Island along Abu Dhabis coast. Is the architecture more enticing or the art inside? The Pritzker Architecture Prize recipient Jean Nouvel designed the striking web-patterned, white-domed building, but the abundant collection, spanning ancient civilization through contemporary times, promises to deliver as much visual appeal.
Another much-anticipated opening will be the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (September) in Cape Town in an early-20th-century grain silo on the Victoria & Albert Waterfront. Named after the philanthropist and conservationist Jochen Zeitz, this first major contemporary art museum on the continent will house his collection of African art.
Late in the year, the Remai Modern will make its debut in Saskatoon, the largest city in the Canadian province Saskatchewan. Clad in a mesh copper screen, the four-level building will house more than 8,000 pieces of international contemporary art. Although there are works from well-known Canadians like the visual artist Althea Thauberger, the main attraction may be the Picasso gallery where there will be more than 400 of his linocuts and nearly two dozen of his ceramic pieces.
Where should your appetite take you in 2017? The temptations to travel abound, from festivals honoring crowd-pleasing foods to those that celebrate downright quirky ones, not to mention events where its possible to savor the creations of several famous chefs in a single day.
At the St. Barth Gourmet Festival (Nov. 2 to 5), for example, now in its fourth year, eight Michelin-star chefs from France will descend on the Caribbean island and dazzle with multicourse dinners by night and cooking demonstrations by day. The lineup is still to be determined, but the roll call of past chefs, such as the three-Michelin-starred Arnaud Donckele of La Vague dOr in St.-Tropez, hints at the talent in store.
There also promises to be pizazz at the 25th annual Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (March 31 to April 9), an array of more than 200 events in Melbourne, Australia, coinciding this year with the Worlds Best 50 Restaurants 2017 gathering (April 1 to 7), being held in the city for the first time. The two events are collaborating with the MasterClass series (April 1 to 2), in which eight chefs whose restaurants have appeared on the prestigious Best Restaurants list, such as Gaston Acurio of La Mar in Lima, Peru, will cook for a hungry crowd and teach a trick or two about replicating their dishes at home.
Wine can please the palate as much as food, and the Marlborough Wine & Food Festival (Feb. 11) in New Zealand, held in a picturesque vineyard in the wine-producing region of Marlborough, started in 1985 and claims to be the countrys longest running wine festival. Here, festivalgoers can taste the regions wines in free-flowing sessions, take in wine tutorials led by renowned winemakers and sample local cuisine.
A judge in Arkansas has resigned and agreed to never again serve on the bench after he was accused of arranging bond conditions or the release of female defendants in exchange for sexual favors, according to official documents.
The judge, Timothy Parker, who has denied the allegations, resigned on Saturday through a letter to the Arkansas governor, Asa Hutchinson. In the letter, he said he understood that by stepping down he would no longer be eligible to serve as a judge in any capacity in Arkansas.
The state Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission announced Mr. Parkers resignation and his removal from Carroll County District Court in a news release on Tuesday. The announcement, which included a copy of his resignation letter and the commissions letter to him outlining the allegations, was obtained by email on Wednesday from the commissions executive director, David J. Sachar.
The commission, which investigates judges who are accused of misconduct or for disabilities that prevent them from doing their jobs, said Mr. Parker continued to deny the allegations, but that he resigned as part of a negotiated resolution to avoid being formally charged with judicial conduct violations. The statement said he was concerned about the impact litigation would have on his family, and that his term was about to expire anyway.
LOS ANGELES Girding for four years of potential battles with President-elect Donald J. Trump, Democratic leaders of the California Legislature announced Wednesday that they had hired Eric H. Holder Jr., who was attorney general under President Obama, to represent them in any legal fights against the new Republican White House.
The decision by the Legislature to retain Mr. Holder, who is now a prominent Washington lawyer, is the latest sign of the ideological battle that may play out over the next four years between this predominantly Democratic state and Washington. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for president, defeated Mr. Trump by more than four million votes here.
Having the former attorney general of the United States brings us a lot of firepower in order to prepare to safeguard the values of the people of California, Kevin de Leon, the Democratic leader of the Senate, said in an interview. This means we are very, very serious.
Mr. de Leon said he expected California to challenge Washington and defend itself from policies instituted in Washington on issues including the environment, immigration and criminal justice. He said California Democrats decided to turn to Mr. Holder as they watched Mr. Trump assemble his cabinet and begin to set the tone for his presidency.
CHARLESTON, S.C. Seeming to abdicate one of his last chances to save his own life, the convicted killer Dylann S. Roof stood on Wednesday before the jurors who will decide his fate and offered no apology, no explanation and no remorse for massacring nine black churchgoers during a Bible study session in June 2015.
Instead, in a strikingly brief opening statement in the sentencing phase of his federal death penalty trial, Mr. Roof repeatedly assured the jury that he was not mentally ill undercutting one of the few mitigating factors that could work in his favor and left it at that.
Other than the fact that I trust people that I shouldnt and the fact that Im probably better at constantly embarrassing myself than anyone whos ever existed, theres nothing wrong with me psychologically, Mr. Roof, who is representing himself, told the jury, which found him guilty last month of the killings at Charlestons Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Three minutes after walking to the lectern, Mr. Roof returned to the defense table, exhaling deeply.
For a brief moment on Tuesday, Cal Marshall was the most famous teenager in politics.
Cal, 17, is the son of Roger Marshall, who that day had been sworn into Congress as the Republican representative from the First District of Kansas. Their family was standing for a photo with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan the sort of photo that hangs on the halls of Congress and is sent out for Christmas cards come fund-raising time when Cal, being a teenager, sensed an opportunity.
Standing between his father and Mr. Ryan, who had each placed a hand on the Bible Cal was holding and had begun to adopt their most solemn, official photograph faces, Cal smiled a guilty smile. And then Cal dabbed.
What is dabbing?
Mr. Ryan said he didnt know, so its entirely possible you dont either. (But seriously, hes been busy running Congress for the last year. Whats your excuse?)
In September 2015, the Atlanta rap group Migos released a mixtape that included the song Look at My Dab, which brought the move into the world. N.F.L. players, especially Cam Newton, started using it in end-zone celebrations. Teenagers on Vine found it especially fun. By January, Hillary Clinton was doing it on Ellen.
WASHINGTON Ivanka Trump, who is weighing a prominent role in her fathers administration, is planning to move with her family to a mansion in the exclusive Kalorama section of Washington, two people familiar with the decision said Wednesday. The house was previously owned by a Latvian-born financier with extensive investments in Russia and ties to a Russian opposition leader.
Ms. Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, a close adviser to President-elect Donald J. Trump who is expected to be an influential voice in the administration, have chosen a six-bedroom, 6,870-square-foot house just around the corner from President Obamas new home. The newly renovated house, with its sleekly modern decor, sold for $5.5 million in December, the people said, insisting on anonymity because the transaction was private.
The home was previously owned by Dan K. Rapoport and his wife, Irina, according to property records filed with the District of Columbia. Neither responded to emailed requests for comment.
WASHINGTON Republicans hope to repeal major parts of the Affordable Care Act using an expedited procedure known as budget reconciliation.
The process is sometimes called arcane, but it has been used often in the past 35 years to write some of the nations most important laws. Reconciliation is probably the most potent budget enforcement tool available to Congress for a large portion of the budget, the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, has said.
Here is a primer.
Q. What is the budget reconciliation process?
A. It is a way for Congress to speed action on legislation that changes taxes or spending, especially spending for entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Although conceived primarily as a way to reduce federal budget deficits, it has also been used to cut taxes and to create programs that increase spending changes that can raise deficits.
In the Senate, a reconciliation bill can ordinarily be passed with a simple majority. For other bills, a 60-vote majority is often needed to limit debate and move to a final vote.
WASHINGTON Tom Perriello, the former congressman from Virginia, is making a surprise entry into his states governors race, disrupting Democrats well-laid plans in what promises to be the most-watched election in the country this year.
Mr. Perriello on Wednesday telephoned Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam, who had been widely presumed to be the partys nominee, to tell him he was entering the race, according to three Democrats directly familiar with the conversation.
Mr. Perriello, a State Department official who is close to President Obama, is expected to announce his intention on Thursday to compete in the June 13 Democratic primary. He did not respond to a voice mail and text message. Mr. Northam could not be reached, either.
By entering the race to succeed Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat who is limited to a single term, Mr. Perriello will hinder Mr. McAuliffes effort to avert a contentious primary. Leading Democrats have sought to clear the field for Mr. Northam, hoping to give him a head start in fund-raising and organization, while at least three Republicans vie for the nomination.
PARIS Since 2011, when investigators first impounded luxury cars held by the family of Equatorial Guineas president, anticorruption groups hoped that France would deal a mortal blow to the injustice they believe has enriched the countrys elites while many of its citizens languish in poverty.
On Wednesday, a judge decided they would have to wait a bit longer.
Three days into the closely watched trial of the presidents son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, on embezzlement and money-laundering charges, the presiding judge, Benedicte de Perthuis, agreed to give the defense more time to prepare. The judge rescheduled the trial for June 19.
Mr. Obiang, known by the nickname Teodorin, is the son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who took power in a 1979 coup and is the longest-serving head of a government in Africa. A former Spanish colony, oil-rich Equatorial Guinea has experienced a boom that started around 2004, but the gains have been far from evenly distributed; half the country lives in poverty.
There is a grand narrative in the United States that Mexico was the great winner of Nafta, said Fernando Turner Davila, the secretary of the economy and labor in the industrial state of Nuevo Leon. Meanwhile, here in Mexico, they only see the benefits, which are glorified. They never see the downsides, much less talk about them.
Mr. Turner cited the loss of nearly two million jobs in the agricultural industry because of the treaty, which benefited highly subsidized industries in the United States like corn to the detriment of Mexican farmers. And while the federal government lauds the increase in manufacturing exports, Mexico still relies on a tremendous number of imports from the United States.
The Mexican government has not established policies to protect Mexican businesses, said Mr. Turner, himself a businessman, with factories in a half-dozen countries.
That said, even critics like Mr. Turner do not want to see Nafta gutted. It is an imperfect deal, one that has failed to deliver on its promise, he said. But to terminate the treaty would be a disaster, he said, hurting both Mexico and the United States and creating even more job losses.
It would also not happen easily, critics contend.
After two decades, the two economies are tightly braided together. Goods manufactured by companies operating in both countries whether speakers, cars or airplanes cross the border multiple times during production, a shared manufacturing process that, if destroyed, would mean shared job losses.
A lot of people are taking solace in the reality that its very difficult for the U.S. to impose tariffs on Mexico without damaging the U.S. economy as well, said Christopher Wilson, a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Institute. You need something to replace Nafta. Otherwise youre going to leave a lot of American workers out in the cold.
The agreement has certainly brought positive changes to Mexico, economists note. Since it went into effect at the beginning of 1994, billions of dollars in investment has been pouring into Mexico every year.
BEIJING A city official in southwest China unleashed a barrage of gunfire on the citys mayor and Communist Party secretary during a meeting on Wednesday, injuring them before fleeing and killing himself, the official news media reported.
Privately owned guns are rare in China, because of a virtual ban on civilian use, and grisly attacks on officials by colleagues are also uncommon. So rumors of the shooting in Panzhihua, an industrial city in Sichuan Province, rippled quickly across the Chinese internet even before the local authorities confirmed the news.
Panzhihua was built as part of Maos plans to relocate factories deep inland, where they would be protected from a feared war. But the violence in this isolated site was nonetheless an embarrassing breach of the efforts by Chinas president, Xi Jinping, to remake officialdom into a clean, impeccably disciplined bureaucracy.
Details were sparse, and there were no clues to the gunmans motives. But the brief initial report in the state media sketched a scene of the head of the Panzhihua Land and Resources Bureau, Chen Zhongshu, bursting into a meeting at an exhibition center and opening fire on officials there.
Xinhua, the state news agency, has more or less asked Mr. Trump to shut up. An obsession with Twitter foreign policy is undesirable, read the headline of a Xinhua commentary on Tuesday about Mr. Trumps posts.
Everyone recognizes the common sense that foreign policy isnt childs play, and even less is it like doing business deals, said the article, published after Mr. Trumps latest barbed comments on China.
Twitter shouldnt become an instrument of foreign policy, the article said. Earlier that day, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected Mr. Trumps accusation that Beijing had coddled North Korea.
But the article acknowledged that it was probably too late to detach Mr. Trump from Twitter. Mr. Trumps designated press secretary, Sean Spicer, has indicated that Mr. Trump will keep using the terse, punchy format after he settles in the White House.
Issuing tweets has become a habit for Mr. Trump, Xinhua noted. Mr. Trump, it said, appeared to assume that issuing hard-line comments and taking up sensitive issues may perhaps add to his chips for negotiating with other countries.
BANGKOK The thick white walls of the little fort are smudged and streaked with mold, doing little to keep out the racket and heavy fumes of passing traffic.
Secluded behind them, for the moment at least, is a tiny village incongruous here among the temples and palaces with elaborate wood buildings that date back more than a century.
Here at Fort Mahakan in Bangkoks historic core, a deadline for eviction is approaching at the end of next month in a 24-year battle for the fort between the city and the stubborn villagers.
It comes in the context of a seemingly endless battle for the citys past as canals have been paved over, historic teak houses demolished and entire neighborhoods done away with as a new Bangkok of tall buildings and highways takes their place.
JAKARTA, Indonesia Indonesia said on Wednesday that it had suspended military cooperation with Australia, a close partner in the fight against terrorism, after material deemed offensive to Indonesians was found on an Australian military base.
Officials would not describe the material, but reports in the Indonesian news media said a laminated paper found at an Australian special forces base had insulted Pancasila, a state ideology that mandates belief in monotheism and unity among Indonesias 250 million people. Indonesia is the worlds most populous Muslim nation, and blasphemy is illegal there.
The suspension will remain in effect until the technical matters are corrected, said Maj. Gen. Wuryanto, a spokesman for Indonesias military, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. There is no time limit. The Australian side has responded very well, and they claim to understand.
Indonesia and Australia have developed close military and economic ties, with Jakarta receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in development aid annually from Australia. The two nations have cooperated on fighting terrorism ever since bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in 2002 killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. The two countries are also seen by the United States as a bulwark against Chinese naval expansion in the region.
MANILA A manhunt was underway Wednesday for more than 150 inmates who escaped from a jail in the southern Philippines after it came under attack by gunmen overnight.
One guard was killed and another wounded in the assault on a jail in Kidapawan City on the violence-plagued southern island of Mindanao, according to Peter Bungat, the warden. The gunmen were thought to be from a bandit group that had broken away from a Muslim rebel organization, Mr. Bungat told a radio station on Mindanao, which is home to a decades-old insurgency.
Five of the 158 inmates who escaped from the facility, the North Cotabato District Jail, were later killed in a shootout with pursuing officers, Senior Inspector Xavier Solda, a spokesman for the Philippine Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, told a radio station in Manila. A village official was also killed when he was mistaken for one of the escaped inmates, the police said.
Mr. Bungat said the attack began early Wednesday, when the jails power supply was cut. Armed men then approached from behind the compound and began firing. It was well planned, Mr. Bungat said.
ISTANBUL Turkish officials accused the United States of abetting a failed coup last summer. When the Russian ambassador to Turkey was assassinated last month, the Turkish press said the United States was behind the attack.
And once again, after a gunman walked into an Istanbul nightclub early on New Years Day and killed dozens, the pro-government news media pointed a finger at the United States.
America Chief Suspect, one headline blared after the attack. On Twitter, a Turkish lawmaker, referring to the name of the nightclub, wrote: Whoever the triggerman is, Reina attack is an act of CIA. Period.
Turkey has been confronted with a cascade of crises that seem to have only accelerated as the Syrian civil war has spilled across the border. But the events have not pushed Turkey closer to its NATO allies. Conversely, they have drifted further apart as the nation lashes out at Washington and moves closer to Moscow, working with the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, to secure a cease-fire in Syria.
BUCHAREST, Romania The Romanian Parliament approved a new left-leaning coalition government on Wednesday, ending weeks of uncertainty about who would lead a country that has been a staunch member of the European Union and NATO.
Sorin Grindeanu, 43, a former minister of communications and a compromise candidate, was named prime minister. He beat his Social Democratic Partys first choice, Sevil Shhaideh, a member of the countrys Tatar minority who would have become the countrys first female and first Muslim prime minister.
The Social Democrats came to power in a national election on Dec. 11 on the promise of increasing government spending for health care, salaries and pensions. On Wednesday, Mr. Grindeanu said his government would raise the minimum wage and improve access to free prescription drugs. He also promised to create better-paying jobs so that Romanians would not seek work abroad.
The president, Klaus Iohannis, swore in the new cabinet and urged its members to strengthen the countrys judiciary and shore up its foreign relations.
Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the United Nations humanitarian office in Geneva, said by email Tuesday that the deliberate targeting of the water infrastructure had caused the shut-off.
But we are not in a position to say by whom, he said. The area has been the scene of much fighting, so we have not been able to access it.
Now, 5.5 million people in Damascus and the vicinity lack water, which has raised the risk of waterborne disease, especially among children, he said.
Fighting near the Barada Valley has continued despite the cease-fire.
Antigovernment activists say that government forces, and fighters from Lebanons Hezbollah organization, have continued to attack the area in an apparent attempt to take it over. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the conflict from Britain through a network of contacts in Syria, said the government launched 15 airstrikes on the area Monday amid clashes between rebels and pro-government forces.
What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know the information? Whats their motivation for telling us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate the information? Even with these questions satisfied, The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source. Learn more about our process.
Turkeys foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, accused the Syrian government and its allies on Wednesday of violating the cease-fire, saying that the new violence could derail peace talks meant to be held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on Jan. 23. Rebel groups have threatened to boycott the talks if government attacks do not stop.
Few Damascus residents expect much from the talks or have time to think about them. While generally safe from the violence that had reduced other parts of the country to rubble, they were struggling through a cold winter of high prices and scarce commodities before the water crisis, making things worse.
The Syrian government has sought to ease the crisis by trucking water from wells around the city, and the United Nations has rehabilitated 120 wells to cover about one-third of the citys daily needs, Mr. Laerke, the spokesman, said.
Its not easy to speak with one voice in 24 languages.
When what is now the European Union first took root in the 1950s, it included just six nations, and in three of them many people spoke French. It could sidestep national jealousies without trouble by designating most of the member nations main languages as official languages.
But that set a precedent, and as the union has grown much larger, so has the official language roster not to mention the bill for translation and interpretation, which now runs to about 1 billion euros, or more than $1 billion, a year.
Defenders of the policy say it preserves diversity and promotes language learning. They contend that it is not to blame for the blocs repeated failure to speak as one over issues like migration, the economy and Russia.
Still, the polyglottery can be a bit of a strain, especially when it comes to tongues like Irish, which only a few Irish citizens use frequently outside the education system. Though Irish has been an official language of the union for a decade, member nations keep postponing the deadline for providing full Irish translation and interpretation services.
A baby book is a time machine, a portal into the past that can bring parents great joy in later years. Its also something many parents put off indefinitely or never complete because it can feel like one more thing to worry about when your new infant is crying or being adorable or needing to be fed.
Enter Instagram, the simplest baby book ever made. You can upload hundreds of pictures and videos daily without having to haul out the baby book, a pen, scissors, etc. This is how Instagram star Laura Izumikawa began her journey to Instafame. She wanted to share photos of her baby daughter, Joey, with her relatives, but wanted to make it more entertaining for herself and for them.
I didnt want to send them the same boring pictures of her sleeping. Since she sleeps all of the time, I thought it would be cute to add props and costumes to the photos. I was amazed at how well she slept! It was like, How far can I go with this without her waking up?
Izumikawa started by dressing Joey up as Sia, complete with a blond wig covering her eyes, as a mermaid with two shells delicately placed on her chest and a long red wig. She dressed Joey as a piece of sushi, a sushi chef, Run-D.M.C., the Statue of Liberty, Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, and a Laker girl.
When she costumed Joey as Eleven from the Netflix series Stranger Things, complete with a frozen waffle in her hand, her following really took off. Brand endorsements and mountains of fan mail have now become the norm in the Izumikawa household. Her current number of followers is more than 500,000, and her photos have been shared by people such as Britney Spears, who shared the RUN DMC-clad baby Joey on her own Instagram.
Izumikawa has also heard from fans whose lives have been deeply affected by her Instagram. A woman from the Philippines whose mother passed away a few weeks earlier told me that when shed visit her in the hospital, theyd watch videos of Joey. She extended her thanks to me for making her moms last few weeks happy, Izumikawa says.
What will Joey think of her digital baby book when she gets older? Izumikawa already has an answer: We want to tell Joey that she was loved by so many fans. Well show her the fan mail and how many people were truly touched by her. Its like she has so many aunts and uncles, so I feel shell be happy.
With her sights set on a future baby clothing line and a relentless (and never-ending) photo shoot schedule, Izumikawas life is definitely hectic. But Instagram doesnt rule her life. She remains creative and down-to-earth, and makes it clear that her priorities will always be Joey; her husband, Allen; and her dog, Moseby. After all, Its not about the brands or the followers. Its a way to connect with the world, Izumikawa says.
OC Family had the chance to talk to Izumikawa in late November.
Q. How were you able to monetize your profile?
A. When we went viral, which feels so weird to say, I had a bunch of agencies contact me. People wanted to represent us. It literally happened overnight. After we processed all of this, we ended up going with an agency that allowed us to live a normal life. They take care of all the promoting, and I get to be at home doing my thing with Joey. Instagram also makes promoting easy. I use hashtags, I tag people, and people like Britney Spears repost my photos (laughs).
Q. Is it expensive to create so many costumes?
A. In all honesty, it costs me next to nothing to put costumes together. We just use whatever we have at home or borrow items from friends. Every once in awhile Ill buy something I dont have, but thats pretty rare. My agency also provides me with items from brands they want me to feature. Because of our following, many brands send us gifts.
Q. How long does it take to do a shoot?
A. Anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes from start to finish. I start with playing with her for about five minutes, and then shell start yawning or rubbing her eyes. I just turn on the white noise machine I have, shell fall asleep, and Ill do the arm drop test on her to see if shes really passed out. If she doesnt flinch, I go to work. It takes me roughly 10 minutes to dress her, and I take the remainder of the time to shoot.
Q. How do you get inspired?
A. The inspiration comes spur the moment. Im always thinking about pop culture, and I keep a list on my phone of ideas that I think will be cute. It also depends on what I find around the house. My agency is also really helpful about giving me inspiration too. I do one to three shoots per week, so it helps to have their input.
Q. Do you get any negative comments or feedback?
A. There was some backlash in the beginning from people who arent parents. It was really interesting. Theyd say, Youre abusing your child, and How could you do this to her? I feel like people and parents take things way too seriously. Its like their kids live in a bubble; theres too much restriction. We also live in a mom-shaming culture. I hate that. Ive traveled a lot and have seen how other cultures embrace parents and support one another. I dont feel like we do that in America; were so judgmental over things we dont even know about. I got a big taste of that with this project. We should enjoy parenting, have fun with our kids, and not lose our sense of humor. Sometimes thats the only thing that keeps us sane.
Q. How has your life changed since becoming Instafamous?
A. Its been a huge change. Everything from being recognized on the street to getting to work with brands Ive always dreamed of. Ive always wanted to start a baby clothing line, and now thats a big possibility.
Q. What was one of the funniest moments during your shoots?
A. (Laughs) A funny moment happened recently during the Nacho Libre shoot. My husband had the day off, so it was the first shoot he was part of. I didnt know what would happen when I put the fake mustache on Joey. But she scrunched up her face in this really cute way (but never woke up), and we busted up laughing.
Q. Whats your background?
A. I actually wanted to be a journalist, but I discovered photography while in law school. I was in law school because I wanted to do international law in Africa for a while too. After I discovered photography, I was able to go on a mission trip to Rwanda in 2007. That trip changed everything for me. I found my passion in photojournalism. Then I started shooting weddings, but I hit a point as an artist where I needed something more. I didnt think itd be something like this, though!
Q. Tell me something surprising about yourself
A. I used to play the guitar. Im Christian, so Id play a lot of worship music that wed sing at church. I havent done that in so long though. Ive always wanted to be a filmmaker too. I have so many unfinished screenplays that no one really knows about. One day, I hope I can make a film.
Q. Do you have any other projects in the works?
A. My priority is Joey, and I want to spend as much time as I can with her. In the near future, Id like to start other projects, especially that baby clothing line I mentioned.
Q. Any plans to stop?
A. As long as Joey is fine with all of this, Ill keep it going. But the minute she shows discomfort, Ill stop. Also, her fans inspire me to keep this all going. I feel like there are phases an artist goes through. For me, this was one thing I can do on Instagram, but I do want to continue to document Joey growing up. Especially because so many people feel like they know her and they want pictures of her. Its also a great way to update her baby book. Ill continue pushing the limits. Im just playing it by ear.
An Orange County daredevil famous on YouTube for jumping off buildings and landmarks was placed under investigation by police after reportedly jumping from a Laguna Beach hotel last week and injuring himself.
Anthony Booth Armer, 28, of Laguna Niguel was hospitalized after injuring his feet when a stunt went awry at the Pacific Edge Hotel on South Coast Highway.
In a YouTube video posted on New Years Day, Armer known as 8Booth is seen jumping off of a rooftop and striking a concrete pool edge with his feet before tumbling into the water.
The two-and-a-half minute video with more than 1 million views also shows photos of the injuries Armer sustained in the late-night incident. He posted another video Tuesday of hospital technicians pulling bandages from his feet.
The Laguna Beach Police Department was notified of the incident after a hotel manager called Thursday, Sgt. Tim Kleiser said.
The manager saw on surveillance footage from the previous night that someone was trespassing on hotel property around 8:20 p.m., Kleiser said. Employees apparently came across Armer.
There were two employees that told the manager about it, Kleiser said. One of the employees assisted a female friend of (Armer) and helped him get into a car and they drove off.
Kleiser said the employees offered to call an ambulance for Armer but the pair refused.
Armer started a GoFundMe page Monday asking people to help him raise $10,000 for his medical expenses. He had raised more than $1,200.
I am still in the hospital, Armer wrote on the page. Just seeking a little support to keep doing what Im doing or else Ill be working the rest of my life to pay this off. Asking a small favor from you. A donation of any kind would be phenomenal.
Armer was arrested in October for two misdemeanor counts related to other jumps, according to the Orange County District Attorneys Office.
Some of his other jumps are seen below:
The California Attorney Generals Office will take on the prosecutors role in the penalty phase of the trial of admitted mass murderer Scott Dekraai, a move that clears the way for the case to resume.
The attorney general said Tuesday that it will no longer pursue its appeal of a 2015 ruling in which an Orange County judge forced the state to take on the Dekraai case because he believed local prosecutors could not be trusted to provide a fair trial. The ruling came after the judge heard misleading testimony from sheriffs deputies about the countys use of jailhouse informants.
Paul Wilson, whose wife, Christy, was one of the eight people shot by Dekraai in 2011 at a hair salon in Seal Beach, said he is very happy to have Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas off the case and to see potential movement toward a resolution.
It will be great to get this thing moving forward and a healing process can begin.
Related: Seal Beach shootings 5 years later: Dekraai still in limbo as case rocks legal system
Wilson said he and relatives of the other victims Victoria Buzzo, David Caouette, Randy Lee Fannin, Michele Fast, Michelle Fournier, Lucia Kondas and Laura Webb will meet with attorney generals officials within weeks to develop a plan.
Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, representing Dekraai, also welcomed the news.
We are certainly glad that after significant consideration the attorney general reached this decision and were looking forward to learning more about what the agency envisions for the case, Sanders said via email.
Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff at the Orange County District Attorneys Office, did not respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday.
In March 2015, Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals heard testimony from Orange County deputies in which they denied or failed to disclose information about a network of jailhouse informants. When evidence emerged showing such a network existed, and that the deputies were running it, Goethals determined that local prosecutors should no longer be responsible for the Dekraai prosecution and that the state attorney general should step in.
The state appealed that ruling. But in November a state appellate court panel backed Goethals, citing what the justices described as systemic misconduct by prosecutors in Orange County. Tuesday was the deadline to appeal that ruling, but a spokesman for the Attorney Generals Office said the state would not push the appeal forward.
Though Tuesday also saw the appointment of interim Attorney General Kate Kenealy, its likely that Dekraais prosecution will be overseen by Gov. Jerry Browns nominee for attorney general, Xavier Becerra, who is expected to be confirmed by the Legislature by early April.
The case is expected to resume Jan. 20 for a hearing on what to do with secret logs kept on jail informants by deputies. Hearings to determine Dekraais penalty life in prison or death are likely to be set after questions about the secret logs are resolved.
The removal of local prosecutors from the Dekraai case, the deadliest mass shooting in county history, is among the most serious actions to come from Orange Countys snitch scandal.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would conduct a civil rights investigation into the county District Attorneys Office and the Sheriffs Department. Also, over the past two years at least a half-dozen cases involving people convicted of murder or attempted murder have been changed with some people convicted of crimes going free because judges believed prosecutors misused informants or withheld information or both.
Contact the writer: tsaavedra@scng.com
SANTA ANA A Huntington Beach real estate agent was charged Wednesday with murder, arson and aggravated mayhem in connection with the deaths of two women whose bodies were found in brush near a Newport Beach shopping center.
Christopher Ken Ireland, 37, is suspected in the deaths of Yolanda Holtrey, 59, of Westminster, and her friend, Michelle Luke, 49, of Huntington Beach.
On New Years Day, firefighters responded to a suspicious blaze in Holtreys home in the 5000 block of Northwestern Way in Westminster. The two bodies were later found near the Newport Hills Shopping Center.
Police have accused Ireland of killing the women, dumping their bodies and setting the fire to destroy evidence. The cause of death has not yet been determined, prosecutors said. Authorities have not released details on a possible motive.
Police said Ireland, a licensed real estate agent working for Realty One Group in Rancho Cucamonga, was acquainted with both women and possibly attended a New Years Eve party at Holtreys home.
The Orange County District Attorneys Office charged Ireland with two counts of first-degree murder and one felony count of arson.
He also was charged with one felony count of aggravated mayhem for intentionally causing permanent disability, disfigurement, and deprivation of a limb, organ, and body member of one of the victims. A prosecutor declined to elaborate.
Ireland remained in custody Wednesday at the Orange County Jail.
Contact the writer: kpuente@ocregister.com
A former Boy Scouts of America camp counselor from Fullerton was arrested Sunday, Jan. 1, on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy in 2015 at a camp in Cedar Glen.
Sean Justin Lee, 23, was booked into jail on suspicion of sodomizing an unconscious person and oral copulation of a minor, according to a San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department statement. Lee was released from jail Sunday evening after posting $100,000 bail.
The victim and his parents reported the alleged assault to deputies in October 2015, the statement said. The case was transferred to the Sheriffs Specialized Investigations Division Crimes Against Children Detail.
Detectives determined that the incident occurred in June 2015, when Lee worked as a camp counselor at the Cedar Glen camp. Detectives conducted a lengthy investigation and numerous interviews of persons who attended or worked at the camp during that time frame, the news release said.
Deputies obtained a warrant for Lees arrest Dec. 30. Lee surrendered to deputies two days later.
Anyone with further information helpful to the investigation may call Detective MJ Higgins or Sgt. Dana Foster with the Crimes Against Children Detail at 909-387-3615.
SACRAMENTO Vowing to protect Californias values and constitutional guarantees, Democratic leaders in the state Legislature selected former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to serve as outside counsel to advise their legal strategy against the incoming Trump administration.
Holder will help legislators resist any attempts to roll back progress on issues like climate change, health care, civil rights and immigration, California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, announced Wednesday.
With the upcoming change in administrations, we expect that there will be extraordinary challenges for California in the uncertain times ahead, their joint statement said. We have an obligation to defend the people who elected us and the policies and diversity that make California an example of what truly makes a nation great.
The arrangement, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, will give Holder a broad portfolio including addressing potential conflicts between the state and the federal government. Hell lead a team of attorneys from the firm Covington & Burling.
I am honored that the legislature chose Covington to serve as its legal adviser as it considers how to respond to potential changes in federal law that could impact Californias residents and policy priorities, Holder said in a statement.
Holder served as the nations top lawyer from 2009 through 2015, focusing on civil rights and criminal justice reform.
Population of Britain is set to overtake France within 13 years: Impact of high immigration will make the UK the most populous European country by 2050
By Steve Doughty, Social Affairs Correspondent for the Daily Mail 4 January 2017Britain's population is set to overtake that of France within 13 years because of the impact of high immigration, EU estimates have said.Numbers of people living here will top French levels in 2030 and will keep rising to make Britain the most populous country in Europe by 2050, they predicted.The key reason why the British population is going up so quickly compared to that of neighbouring countries is immigration, according to the projections from Eurostat.Without high rates of immigration, they said, numbers in Britain would remain lower than those in France for half a century and longer.But by 2050 the UK's population is predicted to be 77.1million, ahead of 74.7million in Germany and 74.2million in France.The estimates from the Luxembourg-based EU statistics arm confirm international expectations that Britain, already the most crowded major European country except for the Netherlands, will continue to grow quickly in numbers, largely because of immigration.The projections, however, do not take into account the political impact of Brexit, which would allow the UK the right to control immigration by EU citizens.The most recent British immigration figures showed that numbers of EU citizens coming into the country now almost match the level of immigration from the rest of the world.Eurostat future population estimates are dated from the beginning of January each year unlike the different estimates made by Britains Office for National Statistics, which are calculated from the end of June and the latest were released yesterday.They put numbers in Britain at the beginning of 2015 at 64,643,370. This compared to a population of 66,175,754 in France (including its overseas departments) and 80,709,056 in Germany.At the beginning of 2030, the projections said, numbers in the UK will have gone up to 70,469,762, just ahead of the French population of 70,396,105.Germany, despite continuing high levels of immigration, will have an ageing and falling population for the foreseeable future, the EU agency said.Numbers in Germany will fall below those in Britain in the late 2040s, the figures suggest, and reach 74,721,315 in 2050, against the UK total of 77,177,523.At that point the UK will have the highest population of any European country.The central reason for Britains increasing numbers is immigration, the projections said.Without immigration or emigration, Eurostats projections said, the British population in 2050 would be just 67,251,838, more than two million below numbers in France if they too were unaffected by migration.With no impact of immigration on numbers, the population of Britain would actually fall by 2080, the Eurostat estimates said.The official count of Britains population by the ONS put the UK total at 65.1 million at the end of June 2015.According to the EU projections, if there was no immigration or emigration, the effects of ageing and lower birth rates would mean number would begin to fall from 2050 and there would be 64,710,496 people in the UK at the beginning of 2080.The scale of the increase in future numbers and the Eurostat interpretation which says that the great bulk of rising population in Britain is a result of migration underline the extent of the concerns that fuelled the Brexit referendum vote last year.Critics of immigration fear growing pressure on housing, transport, education, power and water, and health services, especially in southern England which attracts the majority of arriving immigrants.Britain already has the greatest population density the official measure of crowding of any of the major countries of Europe.Only the Netherlands and tiny Malta have more people crammed into each square kilometre of land in the UK, and in southern England, where there are 465 people to every square kilometre, density is on track to overtake that in the Netherlands.Eurostat said: Population projections are what-if scenarios that aim to provide information about the likely future size and structure of the population.Eurostats population projections are one of several possible population change scenarios based on specific assumptions for fertility, mortality and migration.The EU estimates are based on varying assessments of the future size of the central measure of the impact of immigration, net migration. Net migration into the UK, which takes into account both immigration and emigration, is expected by Eurostat to peak at just under 210,000 a year in 2014.However net migration in Britain was measured by the ONS at 335,000 in the year to June 2016.Britains population was higher than that of France in the 1960s, but European prosperity and British stagnation in the 1970s led to a reversal.During the decade emigration from Britain was higher than immigration, and numbers in France overtook the British population in the first half of the 1980s.
The future of Banning Ranch a 401-acre parcel near the coast in Newport Beach that includes both coastal sage scrub and working oil wells is again in flux.
The California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today on whether the city of Newport Beach followed the law five years ago when it approved a housing development on Banning Ranch.
The hearing, in San Francisco, comes three months after the California Coastal Commission denied a development plan to build 895 homes, a boutique hotel and shopping on the biggest undeveloped private stretch of coastal property in Southern California.
The courts ruling could delay an effort to revive that development, or some modified version of it, whose fate is playing out in a separate court case. A decision could be issued by early April.
If a majority of the seven justices agree with the plaintiff, the Banning Ranch Conservancy, which opposes development on the property, the ruling might have far-reaching effects on cities throughout California and on projects that have nothing to do with coastal development.
A key question before the justices is whether Newport Beachs City Council violated the law by approving a development on the property even after a majority of residents had voted against the idea.
I think thats why the Supreme Court has fast-tracked this case, said Steve Ray, the executive director of the Banning Ranch Conservancy.
That (decision) is critically important for the entire state.
In 2006, Newport Beach residents voted to amend the citys general plan, specifically calling for preservation of Banning Ranch as open space. Six years later, the City Council unanimously voted to approve a 1,375-home development with a shopping area and luxury hotel on the land. At the time, Newport Beach City Councilman Mike Henn said that the land, will actually get redeveloped and made usable as opposed to the open space alternative.
One question for the court is how much flexibility city officials should have when interpreting their citys general plan.
Although Ray sees the courts decision as potentially having far-reaching implications for cities statewide, a representative for Newport Beach said the decision likely will apply only when cities are forced to interact with other agencies.
It has the potential to impact other jurisdictions, but a lot will have to do with how (that citys) rules are written, said Arron Harp, the city attorney for Newport Beach.
Meanwhile, the developer hoping to build on the parcel, Newport Banning Ranch, could submit a new plan to the California Coastal Commission as early as March but only if it can get city approval first. If the state Supreme Court sides with the conservation group on all matters, development on Banning Ranch could move back six to eight more years, said Ray, of the conservancy.
Its also possible the state Supreme Court will uphold a lower courts decision that gave city leaders more discretion in interpreting their own laws. If that happens, plans to develop the land could be revived more quickly.
Ray said such a ruling would go against what Newport Beach voters specifically said they wanted 11 years ago.
If that appellate court ruling stands, any city or school board or county government in the state could say, Well, were going to ignore our own general plan We know better than our own local people.
The developer declined to comment on the specifics of the case.
In November, Newport Banning Ranch sued the California Coastal Commission over its decision to reject the development plan.
In court filings, the developer said the decision was tantamount to a land grab, adding that a scaled-down version of the development isnt economically feasible. Newport Banning Ranch is seeking $490 million in damages in that case.
Contact the writer: lawilliams@scng.com
Jewel Plummer Cobb, the third president of Cal State Fullerton, died on New Years Day, the university announced Tuesday. She was 92.
Cobb served as the universitys president from October 1981 to August 1990 and was remembered for her work expanding the campus.
Recognized as one of the first African American women to lead a major university west of the Mississippi, she was known nationwide for her research accomplishments and her advocacy for equal access to education and professional opportunities for women and minorities.
Cobb, who had Alzheimers disease, had been living in Maplewood, N.J. She is survived by her son, Roy Jonathan Cobb; granddaughter, Jordan; and daughter-in-law Suzzanne Douglas.
During her tenure at CSUF, Cobb obtained more than $41.8 million to establish schools for communications and the Engineering & Computer Science buildings and the Ruby Gerontology Center.
It was under her leadership that a satellite campus in Mission Viejo opened in 1989 (it later moved to Irvine) to spread the schools reach in south Orange County.
After leaving Cal State Fullerton, Cobb served as trustee professor at Cal State Los Angeles, where she directed the ACCESS Center established to increase the number of economically disadvantaged students pursuing careers in math, science and engineering.
Education was Cobbs passion. As a biologist, she spent much of her education in the sciences. Cobbs research focused on skin cancer and in particular the ability of melanin to protect skin from damage.
She examined how hormones, ultraviolet light and chemotherapeutic drugs could cause changes in cell division.
While at Cal State Fullerton, Cobb worked for others to also conduct research in the sciences by establishing an endowment fund to promote science education among minorities and women.
The quality of the classroom is our overriding concern, Cobb said during her final convocation address as Cal State Fullerton president in September 1989, according to a CSUF statement. She also helped forge the first relationships with educational institutions abroad.
She also obtained state funding to build the first student dormitories on campus that bear her name today.
The fact that students of all ethnicities are residents was a source of pride to Cobb, who had lived in segregated dorms when she first entered college, the campuss statement read.
The granddaughter of a freed slave, Cobb grew up in Chicago, the daughter of a schoolteacher and doctor. She became interested in biology in high school. Despite attending segregated and underfunded schools she excelled and enrolled at the University of Michigan and later transferred to Talladega College in Alabama, where she earned her degree in biology.
She earned a masters degree in cell biology at New York University. While still in graduate school in 1949, she was named independent investigator for the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., and later earned prestigious fellowships at cancer centers while at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
At Connecticut College, Cobb was dean of arts and sciences and professor of zoology from 1969 to 1976. That year, she became dean of Douglass College at Rutgers University, where she was also a professor of biological sciences.
She was such a role model for women, so accomplished and a joy to work for, recalled Norma Morris, emeritus staff assistant to the president at CSUF. She loved students and did so much for them, especially underrepresented students.
Services are pending.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Jewel Plummer Cobb Scholarship Endowment online or by mail payable to the Cal State Fullerton Philanthropic Foundation, Account #92010. Mail to 2600 Nutwood Ave., Suite 850, Fullerton, CA 92831.
Two traditional restaurants got facelifts just in time for the New Year.
First up is Marie Callenders, which has remodeled its Buena Park location. The 41-year-old restaurant added an exposed brick wall, earthy decor, a new salad bar and updated full bar.
Marie Callenders is also adding a Pair & Share menu option where two guests can pick an appetizer to share, two entrees and two slices of pie for $25 or $30.
There is so much community history and nostalgia at this location, said Marie Callenders Regional Manager Bill Talley in a statement. The Buena Park community has been so great to us for over four decades and this redesign is our way of thanking the community for being a part of our Marie Callenders family.
When asked if other locations will be getting similar remodels, a company representative declined to comment. Address: 5960 Orangethorpe Ave.
Another old-school restaurant undergoing a remodel is Rubys Diner in Laguna Hills.
The chains Laguna Hills Mall location is now next to Macys. Its remodel includes a new patio and updated interior.
We aim to serve the guest as best we can, which lead to the decision to relocate within the Laguna Hills Mall, expand the patio and upgrade the interior, commented Rubys Diner CEO and Founder, Doug Cavanaugh, said in a statement. Guest convenience is key, and our positioning in a high traffic location will only add to diners experience.
Rubys will open a new location at the Outlets at San Clemente in January, the chains 33rd location. The Outlets recently added a Slapfish as well.
-Hannah Madans
New businesses for Laguna Woods
The Willow Tree Center at El Toro Road and Moulton Parkway in Laguna Woods is getting some new tenants.
The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf held a soft opening of its new store at the center Friday. The drive-through location, run by store manager Patrick Goddard and District Manager Kelly Tye, is gearing up for a grand opening week of Jan. 23, when it will offer daily promotions and hold a ribbon cutting ceremony, said Ashley Keehne, marketing manager for the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.
The Laguna Woods City Council Wednesday approved a conditional use permit for the sale of alcohol for off-site consumption at Aldi, a discount grocery store looking to move into the center at 24270 El Toro Road.
At this point, we are working with the community on the possibility of opening a store in Laguna Woods, said Aldi spokesman Jae Siercks, adding that no opening date has been set and there are no other details he could release.
Dollar Tree also wants to open a 12,000-square-foot store at the center in September, said Chelle Davis, spokesperson for Dollar Tree.
-Marie Ekberg Padilla
MORE FOOD NEWS
Coffee bar in the works: The owners of Social Costa Mesa are converting an old smoke shop next door to a fast-casual coffee house serving coffee-infused cocktails. The operators of Social, including co-founder Andrew Dorsey, have teamed up with cold brew coffee company ThunderKing Brewing of Costa Mesa.
ThunderKing Coffee Bar will be a one of a kind concept integrating cold brew coffee with non-alcohol and alcoholic beverages, said Dorseys wife Raquel, who acts as a marketing representative for both concepts.
Well be using house made cordials like what we use in our craft cocktails at Social to make some seriously delicious coffee based drinks, she said. We will also be serving a breakfast menu daily with breakfast sandwiches. Itll be an elevated fast-casual menu made by Socials creative chefs.
ThunderKing owner Dean Tompkins, who founded the wholesale business last year, said the cafe will open in spring 2017. Though he specializes in cold brew coffee, Tompkins said the cafe also plans to sell hot espresso drinks. The cafe also plans to sell cold brew coffee, teas and kombucha on nitrogen tap. -Nancy Luna
Taco Bell: The Irvine-based company announced plans to expand to Spain. Taco Bell is working with franchisee Casual Brands Group of Madrid to build 45 restaurants in Spain, creating 900 jobs. By 2020 Spain will have more than 70 Taco Bell locations.
Brusters Ice Cream: The East Coast ice cream chain opened its third Southern California scoop shop this month, its second in Orange County. The Pittsburgh-based premium ice cream chain (think: 12 percent butterfat) makes fresh batches and waffle cones in every shop. Unlike other ice cream parlors, Brusters is a walk-up concept, where orders are taken from windows. The first one opened in Cypress in 2015, followed by a location in Cerritos. New locations are planned next year in Anaheim and Stockton. Huntington Beach address: 7451 Warner Ave.
Round Table closures: A local franchisee of six Round Table Pizza restaurants closed all of his locations in Orange County this month. Restaurants in Irvine, Costa Mesa, Foothill Ranch, Rancho Santa Margarita, Newport Beach and Lake Forest shutdown because the franchisee ran into financial troubles.
Ted Storey senior vice president of business development for the chain, said the company is hoping to reopen them.
The closed restaurants are all owned by the same franchisee and were closed as a result of financial issues solely related to this franchisee, Storey said in a statement. We are currently working with the landlords of these locations to get them reopened as soon as is possible.
Anaheim city leaders are trying a new approach to tackling drug addiction waiting for chronic drug users to walk through the police station doors themselves.
While that seems a counterintuitive approach, it isnt as crazy as it sounds and could prove to be an important step to changing the way we look at drug addiction and treatment in the county. Part of Mayor Tom Taits citywide kindness initiate, Drug Free Anaheim is a policy in which those struggling with drug addiction can seek help at police stations and from officers in the field, and be put in contact with a nonprofit organization for treatment options, rather than be placed in handcuffs.
Drug Free Anaheim provides a path to sobriety and [an] alternative to criminal prosecution, Police Chief Raul Quezada told the Council, according the Register.
The report noted that the city is currently working on finalizing the contract with Social Model Recovery Systems, which would start at one year at $83,800, with three optional one-year extensions. Problematically, however, the money would come from the citys narcotics asset forfeiture funds.
But while we remain as skeptical as ever of the dubious nature of asset forfeiture funds and attempts at legitimizing them by backing more agreeable programs and would prefer to see other funding sources explored, that shouldnt distract from the message that Drug Free Anaheim sends. Rather than viewing drug addiction solely as a criminal justice issue, it offers hope that we can reclaim lives from drug dependence by treating addiction as just one of the many harmful living patterns that were led into by our fears and desires. The solution is not more government crackdowns, but rather treating adults like adults when it comes to what they choose to put in their own bodies and seek help.
Nations like Portugal have shown that another way is possible. The decriminalization of personal use, coupled with expanded drug treatment, has been an effective means of combating drug abuse in that country. Its an approach worth considering, as 45 years and $1 trillion after Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs, it is clear our policies have failed.
Anaheims new policy is a step closer to success.
WASHINGTON The Office of Congressional Ethics won a reprieve Tuesday, after House Republicans reversed course and dropped plans to gut the independent panel following a public outcry and criticism from President-elect Donald Trump.
At least six lawmakers remain under investigation following complaints initially reviewed by the OCE, including Washington state Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the fourth highest-ranking House Republican.
Other ongoing investigations target Republican Reps. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, Roger Williams of Texas and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, as well as Democratic Reps. Bobby Rush and Luis Gutierrez, both of Illinois.
Created in 2008, the ethics office is a nonpartisan entity that reviews allegations of misconduct against House members, officers and staff, and makes recommendation to the House Ethics Committee. In most cases, the OCE report and findings must be publicly released.
The ethics office said Tuesday it has conducted 172 preliminary reviews and referred 68 cases to the House ethics panel for further action since it began operations in 2009. Thirty-nine cases were dismissed after a full review and dozens more were dropped early in the process.
The ethics office is governed by an eight-person board of directors that includes several former members of Congress. No current lawmaker is allowed on the board. Former Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., serves as the panels acting chair.
Some highlights of OCE investigations:
Azberbaijan investigation. The panel spent months investigating a 2013 trip to Azerbaijan by a bipartisan group of lawmakers and staff that was paid for by that countrys government. Congressional rules generally bar foreign governments from paying for travel by members of Congress or otherwise trying to influence U.S. policy.
Ten lawmakers and 32 staffers attended a May 2013 conference in the capital city of Baku, near the Caspian Sea. Lawmakers said after the investigation was made public in 2015 that they had no idea the trip was paid for by Azerbaijans government. The House Ethics Committee ultimately cleared the lawmakers, saying most had obtained prior approval for the trip from the ethics panel in good faith and did not know that two groups that claimed to sponsor the trip had apparently lied about the true source of their funding.
Former Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla. The ethics office reported last April that Grayson likely violated federal law and broke House rules in a number of business and legal activities and in managing his congressional office.
The allegations against Grayson, who lost a bid for the Senate last year, centered on a hedge fund he started when he was outside Congress and legal work done by others for which Grayson may have been paid while he was in office. Grayson also faced allegations that he used his official congressional staff for purposes unrelated to his congressional work.
He denied wrongdoing, calling the allegations against him politically motivated and frivolous. The House ethics panel extended its investigation last year, but the matter was not concluded before Grayson left office on Tuesday.
Former Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga. The ethics office found in 2010 that there was substantial reason to believe that Deal, now Georgia governor, violated House ethics rules. The inquiry involved Deals ownership of a lucrative automobile salvage business; he attended meetings between the company and state officials who were considering revamping an inspection program. Deal said he attended the meetings in his capacity as a public servant.
The OCE found numerous potential ethics violations, but Deal resigned before any action was taken by the House. Deal was elected governor in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif. The ethics office said Waters likely violated House ethics rules when she contacted the Treasury Department in 2008 to set up a meeting on behalf of top executives from a bank her husband owns stock in. The House ethics panel cleared Waters in 2012 after an investigation that dragged on for more than three years and devolved into partisan squabbles and allegations of racism. Waters is African-American.
Former Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. The ethics office said Berkley may have violated House rules by advocating for a kidney transplant program that faced possible loss of Medicare approval. Berkleys husband, a doctor, directed medical services for the hospital that ran the kidney program. Berkley lost a 2012 Senate bid as the ethics allegations swirled. The House Ethics Committee later said she had violated House rules.
The crowd roared and flashes popped as limousines pulled up to deposit the likes of Tom Hanks and Nicole Kidman at the top of the red carpet Monday night.
While the scene is a common occurrence for Hollywood premieres, this red carpet was more than 100 miles from Tinseltown, trading the Chinese Theatre for the Palm Springs Convention Center for the 28th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala.
The gala has become one of the most reliable barometers of Hollywoods awards season, coming less than a week before the Golden Globes and often giving a glimpse of who will be nominated for Oscar gold.
And its become a magnet for the most feted stars of the moment: This years honorees included Kidman, Natalie Portman, Octavia Spencer, Mahershala Ali, Amy Adams and Ryan Gosling.
Started by then-Mayor Sonny Bono in 1990, the Palm Springs International Film Festival has grown in size tremendously.
In the last four years, in the year in which they were honored, 38 of the galas 42 nominees were nominated for an Academy Award, festival Chairman Harold Matzner told the crowd inside the gala.
One of the stars on track for that honor is Annette Bening, who was given the Career Achievement Award on Monday night. Bening, who attended with husband Warren Beatty, is nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of middle-age mother Dorothea in the dramedy 20th Century Women.
She was very unpredictable and thats what I loved about her, her contradictions, that she was full of paradox, Bening said on the red carpet.
Kidman was given the International Star Award for her work in Lion.
To represent the Australian community with a story like this, thats so global, its an honor, she said on the red carpet.
Palm Springs Film Festival Videos
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Like Kidman, many of the stars are repeat visitors and honorees, including Hanks, Adams, Portman, Spencer and Andrew Garfield.
But theyre not the only ones who keep coming back.
In whats become an annual tradition, Steven Markin and Steve Cutler of Cathedral City arrived early for their chance to get close to the stars. Their mission: to get glossy photos autographed.
To prepare, they had photos of the celebs alphabetized by first name in an expanding file folder. Over the eight years they have been coming to the festival, they have snagged 52 signed photos.
They arrived at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, not even the first in line, but brought along friends and plenty of junk food.
They were hoping for autographs from Hanks and Kidman and a second from Spencer, whom they netted the last time she attended. Their goal is five autographs per year, but snagged seven each in 2015 and 2016.
They were among the throngs who braved the chilly evening to get a glimpse of the celebrities.
We were here a couple of years ago and we really enjoyed ourselves, said Karen Friesen.
Friesen and Mike Pallick, of Winnipeg, Canada, had so much fun seeing Reese Witherspoon and Robert Duvall the last time they were in Palm Springs for the film festival, they showed up at noon Monday to attend for the second time.
The celeb Friesen most wanted to see: Gosling.
She wasnt the only one. There were hundreds of fans chanting the La La Land leading mans name.
And Friesen got an up-close and personal encounter when Gosling went to the crowd Monday night.
Like Friesen, the festival has also won over celebrities, including Jane Lynch, who presented Gosling and the La La Land team with the Vanguard Award.
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I love Palm Springs. Ive never been to this festival before, was thrilled, Lynch said. It was a perfect storm of Will you give the award to La La Land and we can drive you in a Mercedes and will you stay in this beautiful hotel? And I said yes.
The festival will screen 190 movies from 72 countries and runs through Jan. 16 at various locations around Palm Springs.
IF YOU GO
What: 190 films from 72 countries
When: Through Jan. 16
Where: Locations throughout Palm Springs including the Annenberg Theater, Camelot Theatres, Palm Canyon Theatre, Palm Springs High School and Regal Cinemas as well as Mary Pickford Theater in Cathedral City.
Admission: Individual passes are $13 for most films. Special events are more.
Information: 800-898-7256, psfilmfest.org
Contact the writer: vfranko@scng.com or @vanessafranko on Twitter
Brian Forde, it seems, is always a few steps ahead of everyone else including the leader of the free world.
When President Barack Obama leaves the White House on Jan. 20, he will be following Forde out the door by a few months.
Early in Obamas second term, the Tustin native joined the administration as a senior adviser in emerging technologies.
Tustin resident Jim Forde, left, said he enjoyed chatting with fellow Hawaii native President Barack Obama in pidgin English when he and his wife Rosemary visited the White House, where their son Brian Forde served as a senior adviser.
Brian Forde poses with his science project as a fifth grader at Nelson Elementary in Tustin. He would grow up to serve as a senior adviser in technology at the White House.
Forde, senior adviser in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during Obama's second term, gives first dog Bo a pat.
Brian Forde snuggles with the Obamas' dogs Bo and Sunny at the White House. Brian served as senior adviser for data innovation during Obama's second term.
Tustin native Brian Forde served as senior adviser in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during President Barack Obama's second term. He now teaches and consults at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
President Barack Obama and White House senior adviser Brian Forde, who grew up in Tustin, held a discussion in the Oval Office.
President Barack Obama stands with Tustin native Brian Forde, then a White House senior adviser, in the Oval Office. Forde turned an internship at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. into a full-time job for more than three years as a senior adviser in emerging technologies.
Yes, Forde frequently interacted with the president, scratched the ears of first dogs Bo and Sunny and even proposed to his girlfriend in the hallowed halls of the White House.
But dont expect much in the way of specific anecdotes. Forde said he is more comfortable speaking in general terms about his former boss.
Its when the cameras are not on him that you see the genuineness of his compassion not only for people hurting in televised national tragedies but also for his employees in private moments, Forde said.
He recalled witnessing Obama comfort a colleague who had recently lost his mother: The president said, My mom passed away when I was at a similar age, and I understand how hard it is. It was so heartfelt.
After more than three years in Washington, Forde took a job with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to explore broader uses of digital currencies such as bitcoin.
Fordes resume would surprise no one who knew him as a kid.
At age 8, the freckle-faced boy-wonder was building computers and reading business journals.
Instead of buying a computer, my dad bought the parts and helped me make my own, he said. It demystified computers for me.
His father, Jim Forde, likes to joke, We only had one child because Brian was like having 10 children.
As a sophomore at Tustin High, Forde launched a website consulting business.
He was always on the cutting edge of things, said Linda Levine, his history and government teacher at Tustin High. Brian is extremely clever, creative and charismatic. I knew he would go far, but to the White House? Thats incredibly fabulous.
During his four years at the high school, Forde excelled in the Model United Nations program, which Levine oversaw.
MUN kick-started my passion for understanding international issues, Forde said.
It was a passion he soon would put into action. After graduating from UCLA, Forde volunteered for the Peace Corps and was assigned to Nicaragua. There, he discovered a need: Many residents had family members living in other countries, yet international telephone calls were prohibitively expensive.
I wanted to solve this problem, Forde said. Everything I do combines emerging technologies with social issues.
Forde partnered with a friend to co-found a phone company, Llamadas, that offers a much lower rate using internet technology. He ended up staying in Nicaragua for five years after leaving the Peace Corps to run the still-thriving company.
Forde left Central America to earn an MBA at the London School of Business.
I wanted a graduate degree so I could get a job at the State Department or somewhere, he said. I never imagined I would end up at the White House. I didnt have any connections and I wasnt involved in politics.
Then an internship at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. turned into a full-time job.
One of Fordes tasks was to identify ways to activate mobile technology during national disasters. For instance, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, his team used Twitter to identify which gas stations had fuel.
Forde was impressed by the lack of politics heard in meetings and discussions. I think people would be surprised to know both sides of the table strive to represent all Americans, he said.
His parents, visiting from Tustin two years ago, were treated to a chat with Obama in the Oval Office.
I love him, said Jim Forde, a longtime Republican who never voted for Obama. He is very funny and friendly. He puts everyone at ease.
The two share a commonality, both claiming the Aloha State as their birthplace.
We talked pidgin English with each other, said the elder Forde, who is from a multigenerational Hawaiian family. My wife was horrified that I would speak to the president so casually.
Jim Forde admitted that some friends never warmed to the idea of his son working for a Democrat. But my attitude is that it is a fantastic experience for any young person to be a part of history, no matter the party.
His son believes Americans would not feel so polarized if they could see the daily routine of making the country run.
My honest wish is that everyone had the opportunity to work in the White House for three months to dispel the myth that government is an inanimate object that just gets in the way, he said. They would have new admiration for the millions of public servants who work hard for the betterment of others.
Contact the writer: sgoulding@scng.com
WESTMINSTER A makeshift memorial of candles and family photos lined the front yard of a Westminster home that police believe was intentionally set ablaze early New Years Day to destroy evidence in a double slaying.
The smell of smoke still lingered in the air Tuesday as mourners paid their respects to Yolanda Holtrey, 59, the owner of the home in the 5000 block of Northwestern Way, who was killed along with her friend, 49-year-old Michelle Luke of Huntington Beach.
The bodies of Holtrey and Luke were found Monday in brush near the Newport Hills Shopping Center off San Miguel Drive in Newport Beach, Westminster police Cmdr. Cameron Knauerhaze said.
Christopher Ken Ireland, 37, of Huntington Beach was arrested on suspicion of murder in the deaths of the women. He was being held Tuesday night in the Orange County Jail without bail.
Ireland has no prior criminal record in Orange County, according to court records.
Ireland is a licensed real estate agent working for Realty One Group, Inc. in Rancho Cucamonga with no disciplinary actions on his record, according to California real estate records. Ireland was first licensed as an agent in August.
Knauerhaze declined to disclose how Holtrey and Luke died, or a motive for their deaths. Ireland was acquainted with both women, he said.
Police believe Ireland and several others attended a New Years Eve event at Holtreys home.
Early Sunday, someone killed Holtrey and Luke, set a fire inside the house and then dumped the womens bodies in Newport Beach.
The killer didnt make a great effort to conceal either body, Knauerhaze said.
Ireland returned to Holtreys home as police investigated the arson. After questioning, Ireland was arrested, Knauerhaze said.
No one answered the door Tuesday at Irelands apartment in Huntington Beach. The door was adorned with a white holiday wreath, and a boys bicycle was padlocked to a railing outside the apartment.
Holtrey and Luke worked together at Stein Mart, a mens and womens department store with a location in Huntington Beach.
The suspects wife, Samantha Ireland, told NBC4 that the couple attended a New Years Eve party at Holtreys house and had a good time.
There were no fights, arguments, she told the station, and the couple went home, Samantha Ireland said.
I dont remember him leaving the house, she told the station. He doesnt remember anything.
Samantha Ireland worked with the women at Stein Mart, according to broadcast reports.
The deaths of Holtrey and Luke have hit co-workers hard, said Linda Tasseff, a spokeswoman for Stein Mart.
We are saddened by the news of the deaths of two of our associates, she said.
City News Service contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 sschwebke@scng.com Twitter: @thechalkoutline
BAGHDAD Violence claimed the lives of at least 6,878 civilian Iraqis last year, the United Nations said on Monday, as the Iraqi government struggles to maintain security nationwide and to dislodge Islamic State militants from areas under their control.
The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, known as UNAMI, said its numbers have to be considered as the absolute minimum as it has not been able to verify casualties among civilians in conflict areas, and of those who lost their lives due to secondary effects of violence due to exposure to the elements, lack of water, food, medicines and health care.
UNAMI said in a statement that 12,388 other civilians were wounded in 2016. It added that last year figures didnt include casualties among civilians in Iraqs western Anbar province for the months of May, July, August and December.
According to UNAMI figures, at least 7,515 civilians were killed in 2015.
The monthly U.N. casualty report for December 2016 showed that a total of 386 civilians were killed and another 1,066 were wounded. The worst affected area was the northern province of Ninevah, where government forces are fighting to retake the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, with 208 civilians killed and 511 injured. The capital, Baghdad, came next with 109 civilians killed and 523 injured.
Islamic State, known locally by the Arabic acronym Daesh, has claimed responsibility for a string of bombings in Baghdad that have killed more than 50 people in the last week alone.
The deadliest Islamic State attack was in July when a massive suicide bombing in a bustling market area in central Baghdad killed almost 300 people, the bloodiest single attack in the capital in 13 years of war.
This is, no doubt, an attempt by Daesh to divert attention from their losses in Mosul and, unfortunately, it is the innocent civilians who are paying the price, Jan Kubis, the special representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Iraq, said in the statement.
The group was also behind Mondays suicide bombing in a commercial area in eastern Baghdad, which killed 41 people and wounding 64 others. Several other attacks, including one carried out by five suicide bombers against two police stations in the city of Samarra north of Baghdad, killed at least 27 people and wounded 89.
Backed by the U.S.-led international coalition, Iraqi government troops and paramilitary forces launched the campaign in mid-October to dislodge Islamic State from Mosul Iraqs second-largest city and the last major Islamic State urban bastion in the country.
Unlike other reports, last months report didnt include casualties among security forces. The U.N. came under criticism from the Iraqi military last month after reporting that nearly 2,000 members of the Iraqi forces had been killed in November. The Iraqi government has not publicized the casualty figures for government troops and paramilitary forces fighting in Mosul and elsewhere in northern Iraq.
As the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana in California and seven other states (plus the District of Columbia) attests, Americans, and those in many other countries, are realizing that the prohibition on drugs has been just as big a failure as was the prohibition on alcohol nearly a century ago. It has been an ineffective means of preventing what some consider to be a vice, and, more importantly, criminalization has robbed people of their liberty (including the freedom to make mistakes), separated families, destroyed career and income prospects and led to increased violence in dangerous black markets all at tremendous cost to taxpayers.
With this change in thinking in mind, perhaps it is time to push the envelope a little further. For if prohibition/criminalization is counterproductive and antithetical to liberty for the supposed vices of alcohol and drug use, then it is also undesirable for other alleged vices, such as prostitution.
There has been a growing movement in recent years, backed by a number of human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, the World Health Organization, Human Rights Watch and the U.N. Global Commission on HIV and the Law, to decriminalize the practice. The Erotic Service Providers Legal Education Research Project, which represents sex workers, is challenging the anti-prostitution law here in California. The case is currently on appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. And an online petition at ThePetitionSite.com calling for Gov. Jerry Brown to meet with sex workers to discuss decriminalization has garnered nearly 30,000 signatures.
Legalizing prostitution would bring it out of the shadows, improving the health and welfare of sex workers and clients alike. Criminalizing it only ensures that it must take place in seedy motel rooms and unsafe back alleys or clients vehicles, and precludes both parties from seeking legal protection or recourse in the event of rape, theft or other crimes. Many sex workers have even been victimized by rogue police officers.
The difference can be seen in an example from New Zealand, which legalized prostitution in 2003. We used to wave the police down for help, and theyd keep driving, but now they take sex workers complaints seriously, Annah Pickering, who does outreach for the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, told the New York Times Magazine last year. One client negotiated with a street worker; she did the act, and he refused to pay. She waved a cop down, and he told the client he had to pay and took him to the ATM to get the money.
At the heart of the matter is whether one has the right to control his or her own body. Whether consenting adults trade sex for cash; or charm, good looks and drinks at the bar; or love, kindness and security, is immaterial. So long as one is old enough to responsibly enter into such contracts, and arrangements are entered into voluntarily without force or coercion, or the threat thereof, the state has no right to interfere.
Some may object that such activity should be banned because it is immoral. But these are two distinct questions. Just because some even a majority may find something distasteful or immoral, it does not mean that there ought to be a law preventing it.
Vices are not crimes, political philosopher, abolitionist and entrepreneur Lysander Spooner maintains in his essay of the same name. Vices are those acts by which a man harms himself or his property. Crimes are those acts by which one man harms the person or property of another, Spooner contends. Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they imply no malice toward others, and no interference with their persons or property.
In vices, the very essence of crime that is, the design to injure the person or property of another is wanting, he adds.
Just as we must rigorously defend unpopular or offensive speech if the freedom of speech is to mean anything for popular speech needs no protection if we are to take seriously our professed devotion to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all, then we must protect the right to engage in behavior that many may consider base or even immoral, so long as it does not infringe upon the rights of others.
Adam Summers is a columnist for the Southern California News Group.
Revealed: How our 'trailblazing' food and drinks industry is defying Brexit doom-mongers and challenging national stereotypes around the world by selling cheese to France, chocolate to Switzerland and even wine to Italy
FOOD AND DRINK EXPORTS IN NUMBERS
42,000
Tonnes of British pork sold to China every year
356m
The sales of British cheese overseas
50m
The value of British cheese exported to France in a year
140
The number of countries buying British chocolate
158m
The value of gin exports to the US
27
The number of countries we export English sparkling wine to around the world - a new record
41%
The rise in exports of whiskey to India in the first half of last year alone
By Matt Dathan, Political Correspondent For Mailonline 4 January 2017Britain's booming food and drink industry is defying Brexit doom-mongers and challenging national stereotypes around the world by selling cheese to France, chocolate to Switzerland and even wine to Italy, official figures reveal.Britain's spirits are drank in nearly every corner of the world, with exports of gin to the US worth 158million and sales of whisky rocketing by up to 40 per cent.Britain sells 42,000 tonnes of pork to China every year, 400million worth of smoked salmon around the globe and nearly 300million of beef, government trade figures show.Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Andrea Leadsom hailed Britain's 'trailblazing' exporters and told MailOnline that the popularity of our food and drink products in every corner of the world was proof Britain can thrive outside the EU.She and other Brexit supporters say Britain will enjoy even further export growth when Britain officially cuts ties with Brussels and can strike new bilateral trade deals with non-European nations.One of Britain's strongest food exports is cheese worth a staggering 356million in 2016 after a rise of 50 per cent over the last five years.Surprisingly, one in every seven pounds-worth of British cheese is sold to France the world's cheese capital. Nearly 40million of cheese exports goes to the US.Britain is also busting national stereotypes in Switzerland, where it sells 5million worth of chocolate a year.British chocolate is munched in a total of 140 countries and exports rose by two thirds in the last six years.English sparkling wine is now shipped to a record 27 countries around the world, including major wine producing countries like France, Italy and South Africa.It is also breaking into new markets in the Caribbean and Japan.Other types of alcohol exported abroad include English cider sold to Russia, 158million of gin a year to the US, while exports of whisky to India in the first half of 2016 rose by 41 per cent compared to the previous year.British langoustine are being enjoyed overseas, with exports to Mediterranean countries like Spain worth 80million a year.Britain's famous Nairn's biscuits are extremely popular in the US, Canada and South Africa, while Tiptree jam exports have seen a significant boost in demand from China and the Middle East.China is also a mass market for British pork, worth an estimated 420million last year up an impressive 73 per cent on the previous year.Other major markets for British pork include the US and Australia.UK beef exports have been given a boost by demand for premium cuts in Hong Kong and Singapore.And the value of smoked salmon sales overseas rose by 11 per cent this year and are worth nearly 400million a year.Americans are the biggest fans of the luxury food, with the US buying 121million in the first seven months of 2016 but we also exported nearly 40million to China and 6million to Vietnam in the same period.Praising British food and drink exporters, Environment Secretary Mrs Leadsom said: 'Our food and drink industry is a global success story and it is fantastic to think our high-quality meat, award-winning cheese and traditional smoked salmon are enjoyed around the world.'It is our reputation for safety, welfare and traceability that attracts international customers and in the year ahead I hope our trailblazing exporters help our newer businesses reach these markets and generate millions for our growing economy.'The Government's Great British Food campaign has recently published a new strategy to target nine key emerging markets, including Australia and the United Arab Emirates, which it has pinpointed as having the biggest growth potential.Ministers are aiming to boost British exports by 2.9billion across these markets over the next five years.
c.2017 New York Times News Service
Choe Sang-Hun contributed reporting.
Faced with a threat from North Korea that it might soon test an intercontinental ballistic missile, President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter on Monday night to declare bluntly, It wont happen!
Trump made his post on Twitter, where he often tests out his first thoughts on developing issues in the United States and abroad, a day after North Koreas young leader, Kim Jong Un, declared that the final stage in preparations was underway for a test of such a missile. Kim offered no time frame.
North Korea has routinely tested short- and medium-range missiles, with some successes and many failures, but it has so far stopped short of testing a long-range missile, which could reach Guam or the West Coast of the United States.
North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S., Trump wrote, somewhat misstating Kims warning. Pyongyang has already tested nuclear weapons underground; the latest threat concerned what Kim called a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. But Kim also boasted last year that the North had conducted the first H-bomb test, and experts say there is no evidence for that claim.
After his first Twitter message, Trump added: China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but wont help with North Korea. Nice! That appeared to reflect briefings Trump has received about how Chinese leaders fear instability and collapse in the North more than the status quo.
Trump takes office in less than three weeks, and a test by North Korea, if it demonstrated that the missile could in fact reach U.S. shores, would present one of the first big national security tests for his administration.
There was no immediate comment from either North or South Korea on Trumps latest remarks.
North Korea conducted a nuclear test in the first months of the Obama administration, turning many White House officials against the country and against the concept of negotiating with it. Early in the presidential campaign, Trump said he was willing to sit down with Kim and perhaps have a hamburger with him. But negotiating with the North would be anathema to many Republicans, and even Obama, who was willing to talk with the leaders of Cuba and Myanmar, refused to enter negotiations with the North unless it acknowledged that the endpoint of the talks would be a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.
In his New Years Day speech, Kim said he would continue his countrys efforts to build a nuclear-strike capability unless the United States abandoned its hostile policy toward the North.
Some analysts have predicted that North Korea will conduct a weapons test in the coming months, taking advantage of leadership changes in both the United States and South Korea.
How Trump would respond to such a provocation is a matter of great concern for South Koreans, who are also struggling with uncertainty in their domestic politics. South Koreas parliament voted Dec. 9 to impeach President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal. If the nations Constitutional Court decides to formally remove her from office, the country will have a new election within months.
Officers in Placentia will soon have new police service rifles to replace their decades-old firearms.
The City Council recently approved the purchase of replacement rifles, ballistic-safety equipment and associated training. The department can spend up to $190,000.
We are replacing our existing rifles, most of which are around 20 years old and some are from the Vietnam War era, Capt. Eric Point said. Due to their advanced age and use, the rifles are nearing the end of their service lives and need to be replaced.
The existing rifles were obtained through a Department of Defense program, which outfitted local agencies with surplus military equipment.
The 50 Sig-Saucer MCX 5.56 rifles are expected to be ordered from Adamson Industries within the next couple of weeks. It will take up to nine months for the rifles to be built and delivered to the Police Department.
Every sworn officer will be issued a rifle so that all first responders are better equipped to handle a violent incident, Point said. The department has 49 officers.
Eight less-than-lethal launcher kits and safety gear will also be purchased, according to a staff report. The officers will be issued vests with protective metal plates to wear over their uniforms and bulletproof vests for responding to active shooter situations.
The old rifles obtained through the DOD program will be returned to the federal government. The remaining rifles will either be traded in to the vendor or destroyed.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7868 or desalazar@scng.com
German prosecutors have added six counts of murder and war crimes to the charges against an imprisoned Islamic State member from Germany who attracted global attention after claiming disillusionment and disgust with the terrorist group.
The new accusations, announced by the prosecutors Tuesday, were brought three months after a video surfaced suggesting that the recruit, Harry Sarfo, 28, had taken part in a Syrian mass killing. But in previous interviews, he told the authorities and reporters that he had never killed anyone.
Sarfo, a German of Ghanaian descent, was convicted last year in a Hamburg court of membership in a terrorist organization after his arrest upon returning to Germany in July 2015 from Syria, where he traveled three months earlier to join the Islamic State.
Described by German judicial officials as a model prisoner who had avidly cooperated in providing information about the Islamic State, Sarfo was given a reduced prison term of three years and was allowed to provide interviews to news organizations, including The New York Times.
Sarfo detailed in those interviews how he claimed to have been recruited, as well as what he described as his harsh training, loss of allegiance and his own escape. Sarfo also spoke about what he described as the Islamic States ambitions for more attacks on civilian targets in Western nations like the November 2015 killings in Paris, which relied on collaborators based in Europe.
His accounts generally correlated with interrogation records and briefings from other captured Islamic State recruits.
But Sarfos credibility was undercut in October when The Washington Post published what it described as a leaked video clip from Syrias ancient city of Palmyra that showed Sarfo appearing to participate in prisoner killings. In his interviews, Sarfo said he had only witnessed them.
In the middle of June 2015, members of the Islamic State publicly shot six prisoners in the market square in the Syrian city Palmyra, the German prosecutors said in a statement. The suspect, armed with a gun, led one of the prisoners personally to the place of execution and prevented the others from fleeing.
The new accusations against Sarfo came against a backdrop of increased fear in Europe of attacks orchestrated or inspired by the Islamic State, despite its loss of territory in Syria and Iraq.
Germany is still dealing with the aftermath of a deadly Dec. 19 truck rampage through a Berlin market, for which the Islamic State has claimed responsibility. Officials have linked the attack to a Tunisian ex-convict who was killed days later in a shootout with the police in Italy.
In a report released a month ago, the European Police Office of the European Union, known as Europol, said the Islamic State had already adopted new tactics to assault the West, including carefully prepared attacks alongside those that seem to be carried out spontaneously.
California hopes to take the lead in giving the cannabis industry access to banking services in 2017, with a new working group focused on finding a solution to conflicts between state and federal laws that force marijuana businesses to operate largely in cash.
The Golden State has a year to come up with a plan. Thats when Californias first recreational marijuana shops are expected to open under voter-approved Proposition 64, which legalized marijuana for adults 21 and over.
We need quick action and practical solutions, State Treasurer John Chiang, who formed the Cannabis Banking Working Group, said on a call with reporters in December. California is willing to assume a leadership role nationally to effectively achieve this goal.
Federal law still classifies cannabis as a Schedule I narcotic on par with heroin. That means major banks and credit card companies wont do business with growers and dispensaries out of fear theyll be penalized for money laundering.
That changed little even after U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole in 2013 issued his now-famous Cole memo, which gave banks guidance on how to service marijuana businesses without breaking any federal laws.
Some local banks and credit unions have been quietly taking on marijuana businesses as customers. A 2015 report from American Banker showed 266 of the nations nearly 6,200 financial institutions had accounts with marijuana-related businesses.
But once recreational pot shops can open after Jan. 1, Californias cannabis industry is expected to start raking in $7 billion in profits and paying $1 billion in state taxes each year.
A lot of businesses will be hauling around a lot of cash with no place to deposit their money, putting them at risk of robbery, Chiang said.
That also makes the industry ripe for money laundering, he noted.
Chiang brushed aside the idea of creating a state bank specifically to service cannabis customers. Its an approach proposed by the Board of Equalization to combat the industrys poor record of paying state taxes, and one thats been tried and shut down by federal regulators in other legalized states.
The state of Colorado sought to create its own cannabis credit union in November 2014. But the Federal Reserve rejected the states applications to create a master account that would have allowed banks to do business with the credit union. And a U.S. District Court judge dismissed Colorados challenge to that decision, stating he was compelled to do so because marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
Efforts to remove marijuana from the Schedule I drug list have also repeatedly failed, most recently under the Obama administration. So have efforts to pass legislation that would remove criminal penalties for banks that service businesses that are operating in accordance with state law.
Those avenues seem even less promising now that Republicans, who have traditionally been less supportive of marijuana legalization, control both the executive and legislative branches. And President-elect Donald Trumps choice of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general hasnt boosted optimism for a federal solution, given the Republicans staunch opposition to marijuana in the past.
Chiang reached out to both Trump and Californias congressional delegation asking for clarification and support in finding banking solutions for the industry. But no federal representatives attended the first meeting of Chiangs working group, which was held Dec. 19 in Sacramento.
The 16-member working group, along with about 100 attendees, including cannabis industry and banking stakeholders, gathered in the state Capitol not so much to discuss solutions, but to lay out the challenges ahead.
Defining the problem is our first objective, Chiang said. As we continue to hold meetings around the state and compile information, I think we will continue to gain ever more clarity on precisely what should be done and how.
The working group is set to hold four more meetings throughout the state to discuss banking issues.
Given that 45 states now permit some form of legal marijuana use, Chiang and other members of his banking group said theyre optimistic theyll be able to make progress over the coming year in easing the conflict between state and federal law.
The cannabis industry is the largest shadow economy in California, group member and Board of Equalization Chairwoman Fiona Ma said in a statement. Allowing them banking access would facilitate compliance and bring millions of dollars into our economy.
Staff writer Will Houston
contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7963 or bstaggs@ocregister.comTwitter: @JournoBrooke
The Pacific Symphony has been named a recipient of a $1.2 million grant from the James Irvine Foundation on Tuesday for the second time in three years.
Both grants awarded to the Symphony are a part of the Irvine Foundations New California Arts Fund, which supports arts nonprofits to build organizations and expand engagement of the arts in diverse Southern California communities. As one of the largest grants the Symphony has received, the money will be used to further the Symphonys initiatives to develop programs in participatory arts engagement and strengthen partnerships with organizations within Orange Countys Chinese American community.
During the course of the first grant period, the symphony has focused on establishing ties with local organizations that serve and produce events in Chinese-American community and encouraging its members to be involved with the symphony as volunteers, donors and board members. The symphony is offering free or low-cost community concerts throughout the multi-year initiative, as well as forging relationships with organizations such as the South Coast Chinese Cultural Association and Irvine Chinese School to create programs and events for Chinese American families.
Among the programs supported by the first grant was Strings for Generations, a partnership between the symphony and the Irvine Chinese School in which parents and children perform together in an orchestra.
Pacific Symphony is honored and privileged to receive ongoing funds form the James Irvine Foundation, said Luisa Cariaga, the symphonys director of institutional giving. Their investment in our organization is the highest compliment a non-profit can receive from a funding institution, and the symphony is grateful and appreciative to accept such an influential endorsement,
Specific initiatives for the new grant also include identifying 20-25 Chinese community members to join the new support group Jade Society, recruit additional board members and increase ticket buyers by working with the Chinese Communities Leadership Council . By recruiting and training diverse volunteer corps of approximately 100 ambassadors, the Symphony hopes to also reach new and diverse Orange County communities.
Since 1990, the Pacific Symphony has been a recipient of numerous grants from the James Irvine Foundation, which has provided more than $1.5 billion in grants to over 3,600 California nonprofit organizations since it was established in 1937. The new grant will be payable over the course of 36 months, as was the first grant received in 2013.
Contact the writer: jmoe@ocregister.com
BEIRUT A Syrian cease-fire backed by Russia and Turkey is crumbling five days after it began, with government forces pushing offensives around Damascus and rebels threatening to suspend participation in further talks.
The truce was to have been followed by a meeting between government representatives and mainstream rebel factions in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
But while fighting has largely ebbed in Syrias north, where Turkey wields influence over most rebel groups, troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad have continued strategic offensives in the Damascus suburbs.
In a statement published Monday, 10 rebel factions said they were suspending talks regarding the Astana conference or the cease-fire until it is fully implemented. The groups cited major and frequent violations in the rebel-held areas of Wadi Barada and Eastern Ghouta outside the Syrian capital.
Government advances there are aimed at consolidating control of the Damascus suburbs, weeks after the army pushed rebels from the northern city of Aleppo.
In Wadi Barada, a river valley, an estimated 100,000 people have lived under siege since July, when Syrian and Lebanese Hezbollah troops cut access routes to a spring that provides 70 percent of Damascus residents with fresh water.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said pro-government forces escalated attacks there Tuesday, using barrel bombs and deploying troops near the areas most important water source, the Ain al-Fijeh spring.
Speaking from the valley, Ahmed Hassan, a local resident, said his town was on the brink of disaster. He declined to identify the town for security reasons.
Our water is running out, as is the medicine and the food, he said. Fuel supplies are dwindling, he added, forcing families to huddle around fires as temperatures dip toward freezing.
Fighting also continues in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta. After their victory in Aleppo, recapturing the enclave would give the army and its Russian and Iran-backed allies virtually secure control over Syrias two largest cities in less than a month, freeing up manpower for a final assault on what remains of the armed uprising in the northwest.
Although Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed Syrias latest truce as a historic opportunity, experts and diplomats said its terms created pitfalls from the start.
Most notably, the Syrian army said terrorist organizations would be excluded, implying that Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, an al-Qaida affiliate and an influential component of Syrias armed opposition, would continue to be targeted.
And on Monday, it was. The Syrian Observatory said airstrikes by unidentified aircraft hit a building used by the group, killing at least 25 people and wounding dozens more.
But Western officials said privately that they feared the groups exclusion from the cease-fire would be used as an excuse for pro-government forces to pursue strategic objectives elsewhere, as in Damascus this week.
The deals shaky progress also underscored the fact that no single player can now fully deliver the government or the rebel side. While Russia has burnished its reputation as a mediator during talks with Turkey, it now appears unable to bring the Syrian government in line with the cease-fire.
Turkey has also struggled to bring the most important rebel factions on board. While two of the highest-profile Islamist groups, Ahrar al-Sham and Nour al-Din al-Zinki, have agreed to uphold the cease-fire, they have not signed any agreement to attend peace talks.
The U.N. Security Council offered tepid support for the Turkish and Russian initiative on Saturday, unanimously endorsing a resolution that encouraged a new cease-fire but stopping short of endorsing the official text put forward by Ankara and Moscow.
SANTA ANA The decision over whether to remove the Orange County District Attorneys Office from another high-profile murder case is in the hands of an Orange County Superior Court judge after a public defender charged that local prosecutors cant help provide her client a fair trial.
Judge Thomas Goethals heard closing arguments Tuesday following several weeks of testimony centering on whether prosecutors intentionally withheld evidence in the trial of Cole Wilkins, facing a charge of murder in the 2006 death of Los Angeles County Sheriffs Deputy David Piquette.
A deputy public defender representing Wilkins has accused California Highway Patrol investigators and deputy district attorneys of initially hiding evidence that an original police report concluding that the deputy was at fault for the fatal traffic accident was changed to say the deputy wasnt at fault bolstering the case against Wilkins.
If the court does not recuse the District Attorneys Office, who among the (prosecutors can) stand up and make sure that Mr. Wilkins gets a fair trial? Deputy Public Defender Sara Ross asked Goethals in her closing arguments. Their reaction is to say, You are lying, we did nothing wrong and you yourself are making up accusations and are reckless.
According to court records, during the predawn hours of July 7, 2006, Wilkins stole a stove and other appliances from a construction site in Riverside County.
As he was driving on the 91 in Anaheim, the unsecured, boxed-up stove fell from Wilkins truck. Several vehicles avoided the stove. Piquette, driving his department-issued Crown Victoria, swerved around the appliance and hit a big-rig, which crushed and killed him.
The decision to charge Wilkins with either manslaughter or murder hinged partially on the CHPs findings of the accident. During recent testimony, a retired CHP sergeant said his officers initially concluded that the deceased deputy was at fault, a conclusion the sergeant admitted changing.
Deputy District Attorney Howard Gundy agreed that the information about the changes to the initial police report shouldnt have been buried by the CHP. But Gundy said it was absurd to argue that prosecutors had ordered the CHP to change its findings.
Judge Goethals said he believed that something inappropriate happened, but the question remained whether it was an error or misconduct.
I think it is pretty clear that the reports were changed, but I dont think there is any evidence the D.A. knew about it, Deputy Attorney General Ryan Peeck told the judge. The state Attorney Generals Office would be in line to prosecute if Orange County prosecutors are removed.
Prosecutor Larry Yellin initially charged Wilkins, and prosecutor Mike Murray took Wilkins to trial. Both men are now Orange County Superior Court judges.
Goethals told the attorneys he plans to return with a ruling Jan. 13.
In 2015, Goethals removed local prosecutors from the penalty phase for admitted mass murderer Scott Dekraai. The state Attorney Generals Office took over that case.
News of Firms: 1905 New Media Acquires Arco + Assocs. Fri., Dec. 17, 2021 1905 New Media acquires Arco + Associates, which specializes in content creation, marketing strategy and public relations... The Darnell Works Agency principal Roger Darnell is publishing his second book, The Communications Consultants Master Plan, on Dec. 21... Bacchus, which has offices in London and New York opens outpost in Dubai.
Agricultural News
Jackson County Farmer Mike Schulz Officially Elected as Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma Senate
The Oklahoma Senate on Tuesday convened for an organizational day and, on a unanimous vote officially, elected Jackson County farmer Sen. Mike Schulz of Altus as President Pro Tempore. Schulz is the first senator from western Oklahoma to lead the Senate in more than 50 years. Senate Majority Floor Leader Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, made the motion nominating Schulz as President Pro Tempore and, in a show of bipartisan support, the motion was seconded by Minority Leader John Sparks, D-Norman.
"I'm very humbled that my colleagues would place their confidence in me as leader of the Oklahoma Senate. The Senate has a group of very talented men and women from both sides of the aisle and from all parts of the state. Oklahoma is a great state, blessed with natural resources and hardworking, industrious people. Our job as senators is to make sure Oklahoma is a place where, with hard work and determination, anyone can achieve success. We're going to need the experience, insight and knowledge of all our members to pass laws that are helpful in the short-term, but also set us on a long-term path to economic growth and prosperity. It's time to get to work, and I look forward to leading the Senate and serving the great people of Oklahoma," Schulz said.
The organizational meeting is mandated under the State Constitution to be held in January following an election year. In addition to electing the President Pro Tempore of the Senate for the next two years, Senators on Tuesday also adopted the rules for conducting legislative business for 2017 and 2018 and certified the results of the 2016 senate races.
The 2017 legislative session will convene on February 6.
Source - Oklahoma State Senate
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Trump Hits a Home Run for Agriculture with Scott Pruitt Nomination - But will Dems Block the Plate?
President-elect Donald Trump has proven he has a knack for turning heads this year. Even after his dramatic campaign, Trump's recent actions have still managed to conjure strong emotions from different interest groups. One of his latest controversies - nominating Oklahoma's Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. National Cattlemen's Beef Association's Vice President of Governmental Affairs Colin Woodall told Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays in a recent conversation, this move is a "home run" in his book.
"We're actually excited about a lot of the names we have seen including Scott Pruitt as EPA Head," Woodall said. "We know that he is going to bring probably a much different approach than what we have seen for quite some time and that's spanning multiple administrations."
Woodall says he and his colleagues are excited about this fresh opportunity to work with an ag-friendly EPA, to roll back many of the environmental rules and regulations the agency passed over the last eight years that many consider to be bold measures of governmental overreach, such as the Waters of the United States rule.
Still, there are hoops that must be jumped through before Pruitt can officially take the reins. Congress must first approve all of Trump's nominees before they can be formally installed to their appointed positions. Pruitt has a long track record of fighting the Obama administration on environmental policy and Woodall says he expects the Democrats on his hearing committee will not make it easy for him.
"They're absolutely going to throw up every kind of road block out there," Woodall predicted. "He has done a lot of good things for agriculture and that's one thing we are all going to have to do is link arms and get behind him, because we expect that his nomination hearing will be a hairy one."
Listen to Hays and Woodall discuss Scott Pruitt's nomination to head the EPA, on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
Click below to listen to Hays and Woodall discuss Scott Pruitt's nomination to head the EPA
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Ten children from six different families living in the Fremont area were able to have memorable Christmas celebrations thanks largely in part to the thoughtfulness and generosity of a local business.
Jaycees Closet, 517 N. Broad St., hosted its first ever giving campaign the Jaycees Angels Project, as a way to reach out to area youth in need of a little extra help during the Christmas season. While many children view Christmas gifts as a guarantee each year, for some, this isnt the case.
Some families struggle to keep their children warm and well-fed during the holiday season, and spending much-needed dollars on gifts simply isnt a viable option.
Because of this, Tarrah Hovendick, owner of Jaycees Closet, decided to use her business as an outlet for 10 children to have a better holiday season.
In mid-November, Hovendick reached out to the community with a Facebook message inquiring about who could benefit from donated gifts.
After receiving more than 40 replies, Hovendick selected 10 children who she believed would benefit most from the project, which gave the 10 children their own toys and goodies.
Several local businesses donated to the cause, and one Fremont business donated 72 toys to the store, which purchases lightly-used clothing and accessories targeting children in the youth and toddler phases.
Businesses who contributed monetarily or with donated toys include: Staples, Learning Express Toys of Fremont, Blair Seed Services and Blairs Woodhouse Auto Family.
In total, $600 was raised and more than 70 toys were donated. In addition, customers purchased clothing items from the store to have donated, as well. Donated cash was used primarily to purchase clothing items, diapers, winter coats and toys, Hovendick said through an email statement.
From 11 a.m. through 1 p.m. Christmas Eve, people stopped by Jaycees Closet to enjoy a store Christmas gathering which included visits from Santa Claus and the Disney character Cinderella.
One free picture with Santa Claus was available for each family in attendance. From 12:30 to 12:45, the 10 angels were recognized and received their donated gifts.
Hovendick was pleased with how the inaugural Jaycees Angels Project turned out.
The overall goal of the project was to bring the community together to help make a great holiday for a few families, she wrote. We cant wait to see what next year brings and hope even more businesses and customers get involved so we can sponsor a few more kids. For our first year, we are thrilled with the outcome and know that we really helped out families who needed and appreciated it.
The American Red Cross on Wednesday issued an emergency call for blood and platelet donations, after collecting about 37,000 fewer donations nationally than needed in November and December.
Hectic holiday schedules kept many regular blood donors from contributing, and severe weather forced the cancellation of nearly 100 blood drives across the country in December, Red Cross officials said.
The Red Cross is extending hours at many donation sites.
Nearly three dozen such opportunities will be available in Douglas and Sarpy Counties.
Nebraska and Iowa residents can find a blood donation opportunity and schedule an appointment online or using the free blood donor app. Donors also can call 1-800-733-2767. Making a donation appointment and completing an online health history questionnaire are encouraged to help speed the donation process.
After Spartan Motors, Inc., announced Dec. 13 its wholly-owned subsidiary, Spartan Motors USA, Inc, agreed to acquire Smeal Fire Apparatus Co. and its subsidiaries for $36.3 million, business agreements were finalized Tuesday morning, information released by Spartan says.
Smeal, based in Snyder, is a manufacturer of fire apparatus. Spartan Motors designs, manufactures and assembles specialty chassis and vehicles. The two companies have a longstanding relationship that spans more than 30 years, released information says.
Spartan officials did not say whether the acquisition will affect any jobs at the Snyder location.
There is nothing to announce in terms of employee changes, a representative said in an email to the Tribune.
The newly combined Spartan Emergency Response business unit is expected to rank as one of the top-four North American fire apparatus manufacturers.
Smeal generated 2016 revenues of approximately $100 million, which includes approximately $30 million of Spartan chassis sold to Smeal, released information says.
With its expanded geographic reach spanning 44 states in the U.S., 10 provinces and 3 territories in Canada, the company is even better positioned to deliver a robust and respected portfolio of leading products, services, and technologies to its broad range of customers, including original equipment manufacturers and dealers.
This transaction marks a significant event for our Company, and we are excited to add Smeals industry-leading product portfolio and manufacturing expertise to Spartan Motors, said Daryl Adams, president and chief executive officer of Spartan Motors. The addition of Smeal complements our own Spartan Emergency Response business unit while also allowing us to provide an expanded, innovative product offering to both new and existing customers. We expect the transaction to be accretive to 2017 earnings and accelerate the turnaround of the Spartan Emergency Response business unit.
Adams added: We are pleased that Smeal chose Spartan Motors as their partner to carry on their brands legacy, as we take our supplier relationship to the next level. Spartan Motors is prepared to lead the consolidation charge in the fire apparatus market as strategic opportunities present themselves, and this acquisition represents a deliberate and strategic decision to accelerate the turnaround of Spartans Emergency Response business unit.
Founded in 1955, Smeal and its subsidiaries, U.S. Tanker Co. and Ladder Tower Co., are leaders and innovators in fire truck manufacturing and vehicle technology, offering a full line of aerial ladders and platforms, pumpers, stainless steel tankers and wildland urban interface vehicles (WUI). In addition to its Snyder plant, Smeal operates facilities located in Neligh; Delavan, Wis.; and Ephrata, Pa.
Spartan Motors is the perfect fit for Smeal, our customers, our employees, and our operational leadership team, as we combine with a proven ally and industry leader to help solidify our future and preserve the legacy of the Smeal organization, said Rod Cerny, Smeals chairman of the board. As part of a larger, profitable and well-capitalized public company, we will have the working capital necessary to ensure continued investment in product development and make sure the Smeal brand is able to deliver the exceptional products and service our dealers, departments, and municipality customers have come to expect.
Smeal is expected to add approximately $70 million in annual revenue (excludes $30 million of Spartan chassis sold to Smeal) to the companys Emergency Response segment.
The transaction will be initially financed with Spartan Motors recently amended $100 million line of credit.
We are proud of this significant milestone for Spartans Emergency Response business, and welcome Smeals knowledgeable and respected operational management team and employees to the Spartan Motors family, Adams said. This transaction will bring together some of the best talent in the industry and provides an opportunity for all employees to pursue a broader and more diverse career path.
Spartan Motors employs approximately 1,800 associates, and operates facilities in Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kansas, South Dakota, Saltillo, Mexico; and Lima, Peru. Spartan reported sales of $550 million in 2015.
That 10 p.m. email from your boss? Its your right to ignore it.
That Saturday ping from a colleague with just one quick question? A response on Monday should suffice.
If youre in France, that is.
When French workers rang in a new year, they could also celebrate a right to disconnect law that grants employees the legal right to ignore work emails outside of typical working hours, according to the Guardian.
The new employment law requires French companies with more than 50 employees to begin drawing up policies with their workers about limiting work-related technology usage outside the office, the newspaper reported.
The motivation behind the legislation is to stem work-related stress that increasingly leaks into peoples personal time and hopefully prevent employee burnout, French officials said.
Employees physically leave the office but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash, like a dog, Benoit Hamon, Socialist member of Parliament and former French education minister, told the BBC in May. The texts, the messages, the emails: They colonize the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down.
France has had a 35-hour workweek since 2000, but the policy came under scrutiny recently given Frances near-record-high unemployment rate.
The right to disconnect provision was packaged with new and controversial reforms introduced last year that were designed to relax some of the countrys strict labor regulations. The amendment regarding ignoring work emails was included by French Labor Minister Myriam El Khomri, who reportedly was inspired by similar policies at Orange, a French telecommunications company.
There are risks that need to be anticipated, and one of the biggest risks is the balance of a private life and professional life behind this permanent connectivity, Orange Director General Bruno Mettling told Europe1 radio in February. Professionals who find the right balance between private and work life perform far better in their job than those who arrive shattered.
The legislation passed the French lower parliamentary house in May. Similar legislation banning work-related emails after work hours had been introduced in France and Germany before but never made it to law.
The move received criticism from some who worried that French workers would get left behind by competitors in other countries where such restrictions did not exist. Still others objected to government interference.
In France, we are champions at passing laws, but they are not always very helpful when what we need is greater flexibility in the workplace, Olivier Mathiot, chief executive of PriceMinister, a Paris-based online marketplace, told BBC News in May.
Mathiot told the news site its company had implemented no-email Fridays and felt the problem should have been handled through education.
However, supporters of the bill said it would be an important move toward minimizing work-related stress.
At home the workspace can be the kitchen or the bathroom or the bedroom, Linh Le, a partner at Elia management consultants in Paris, told BBC News. Youre at home but youre not at home, and that poses a real threat to relationships.
French companies are expected to comply with the law on a voluntary basis, and there are no penalties yet for violating it, BBC reported.
Newly widowed, Kay McCowen quit her job, sold her house, applied for Social Security and retired to Mexico. It was a move she and her husband, Mel, had discussed before he died in 2012.
I wanted to find a place where I could afford to live off my Social Security, she said. The weather here is so perfect, and its a beautiful place.
She is among a growing number of Americans who are retiring outside the United States. The number grew 17 percent between 2010 and 2015 and is expected to increase over the next 10 years as more baby boomers retire.
Just under 400,000 American retirees are now living abroad, according to the Social Security Administration. The countries they have chosen most often: Canada, Japan, Mexico, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Retirees most often cite the cost of living as the reason for moving elsewhere, said Olivia S. Mitchell, director of the Pension Research Council at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School.
I think that many people retire when they are in good health and they are interested in stretching their dollars and seeing the world, Mitchell said.
McCowens rent in Ajijic, a community outside Guadalajara near Mexicos Lake Chapala, is half of what she was paying in Texas. And since the weather is moderate, utility bills are inexpensive.
In some countries, Mitchell said, retirees also may find it less expensive than in the United States to hire someone to do their laundry, clean, cook and even provide long-term care.
McCowen has a community of other American retirees nearby and has adjusted well.
But for others there are hurdles to overcome to adjust to life in a different country.
Viviana Rojas, an associate professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said the biggest obstacle is not speaking the language or knowing the culture.
Many of the people we interviewed said they spoke Spanish, but they actually spoke very little Spanish, said Rojas, who is writing a book about retirees in Mexico. They didnt have the capacity of speaking enough Spanish to meet their basic needs like going to the doctor or to the store.
Access to health care also can be a challenge. While retirees still can receive Social Security benefits, Medicare is not available to those living abroad, Mitchell said.
Joseph Roginski, 71, said that while the cost of living is higher in Japan, access to health care is not a problem. Things are very expensive here. It is impossible to live off Social Security alone, said Roginski, who was stationed in Japan in 1968. But health insurance is a major factor in staying here.
The former military language and intelligence specialist said he pays $350 annually to be part of Japans national health insurance. His policy covers 70 percent of his costs. The rest is covered by a secondary insurance program for retired military personnel.
Japan experienced bigger growth in American retirees, 42 percent, than any other country between 2010 and 2014, according to data from the Social Security Administration. The large U.S. military presence in the country may be a factor.
There are more than 50,000 U.S. military service members stationed in Japan. The presence is so large that on the island of Okinawa, the U.S. military occupies about 19 percent of the area, according to Ellis S. Krauss, professor emeritus of Japanese politics and policy-making at the University of California, San Diego.
Roginski, who volunteers for the Misawa Air Base Retiree Activities Office, said he helps connect more than 450 retirees and their families living in northern Japan with resources. He said he would never move back to the United States.
We have a real strong sense of security here, he said. I can leave my door unlocked and no one will take anything. When I go to another country I feel nervous, but when I come back I feel like Im home.
Mexico has become home for retired firefighter Dan Williams, 72, and his wife, Donna, 68. The couple have been living near the same retirement community in Lake Chapala for 14 years.
The climate and the medical services are very good, Dan Williams said.
Williams teaches painting to adults and children and puts together a monthly magazine for the local American Legion. He is also a member of the Lake Chapala Society, which offers daily activities for American retirees.
It was those same services that attracted McCowen to the region.
Before moving, I found out how many widowed and divorced women lived here, she said. There is comfort in numbers.
She says she loves being in a lively community.
I see older people walking year-round. I see them all over the place even in their wheelchairs. If they were in the U.S., they would probably be in a nursing home, she said. I dont think I could move back.
Hunters have illegally killed two of the elegant trumpeter swans that are wintering south of the Omaha area, a disappointment to those who love the massive creatures.
An iconic species, trumpeter swans are the largest waterfowl on Earth and were hunted nearly to extinction in the early 1900s. After a concerted effort to protect them, the population numbers in the tens of thousands in North America, including dozens wintering in southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa.
The swans were killed in separate incidents near Schilling Wildlife Management Area by hunters who said they mistook them for geese, according to Heath Packett and Dan Evasco, conservation officers for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.
Packett ticketed a 36-year-old Omaha man on Dec. 26 and Evasco ticketed a 24-year-old Bellevue man on Dec. 15. Each hunter faces about $1,000 in fines and court costs, Evasco said. Federal and state law prohibit hunting the trumpeter swan, Evasco said.
About three dozen trumpeter swans have been resting and eating in the Schilling area near Plattsmouth. In the metro area, flocks can be found at Carter Lake and near Valley.
Noted area birders Ross Silcock and Clem Klaphake said the shootings are unfortunate, but wont set back the species.
Silcock said the North American population had jumped by a third from the 2005 to the 2010 census, the most recent available. In 2010, the number stood at slightly more than 46,000, Silcock said.
Its one of the rare birds in U.S. thats made a good comeback, said Silcock, who has authored with two others the book Birds of Nebraska.
Available habitat food and bodies of water to roost on will be the key to the trumpeter swans continued success, Silcock said.
Theyre a beautiful bird, said Klaphake, past president of the Nebraska Ornithologists Union and Audubon Society of Omaha. This isnt going to threaten the existence of the trumpeter swan.
Still, its hard to believe, those interviewed said, that a careful hunter would mistake a trumpeter swan for a goose. Trumpeter swans can have a wingspan of almost 10 feet and weigh 25 to 30 pounds.
(He) thought it was a snow goose, which is about 10 times smaller than a trumpeter swan, said Evasco of the Dec. 15 shooting. He did what he did, he shot the swan.
In both instances, others witnessed the men shooting the swans, and the hunters were caught with the dead birds.
On Dec. 15, the manager of Schilling wildlife area was watching through binoculars as the flock lifted off the lake for the morning to head out to the fields to forage. As he did so, a hunter fired and a swan dropped to the ground, Evasco said.
In the Dec. 26 shooting, other hunters saw a man shoot a swan, and they contacted authorities to report him, Packett said.
Since the shootings, signs have been erected at Schilling warning waterfowl hunters about protected trumpeters in the area, Packett said.
Packett also had a few words of advice for hunters taking aim at waterfowl:
Be sure to identify your target before you shoot.
World-Herald staff writer Jay Withrow contributed to this report.
Council Bluffs police arrested two juveniles Wednesday following a small explosion in the Lewis Central High School cafeteria.
Officers were called to the school about 12:45 p.m. to assist the fire department with the explosion, said Sgt. Mark Stuart of the Council Bluffs Police Department. No injuries were reported.
Investigators determined that a commercial grade firework detonated under a table in the cafeteria where several students were eating lunch, Stuart said. Officials initially described it as a homemade explosive device.
The school quickly returned to normal following the explosion.
The names of the juveniles were not released, One was arrested on suspicion of first-degree arson and the other was arrested on suspicion of possession of a explosive or incendiary device.
A 42-year-old man has been charged with motor vehicle homicide in connection with an Interstate 80 pileup in August that killed a man.
Jeffrey Kluck, of Rogers, Nebraska, has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge and is scheduled to have his next hearing in March. Deputy Douglas County Attorney Jameson Cantwell filed the charge on Tuesday.
Kluck waived his arraignment hearing Wednesday.
If convicted, Kluck faces a maximum of one year in prison.
About 5:20 p.m. Aug. 25, police have said, Kluck was driving a 2015 Freightliner semitrailer truck west on I-80 near 84th Street when the truck rear-ended a 2002 Chevrolet Malibu. The car was stopped because of backed-up traffic. The collision caused a chain-reaction pileup involving four other vehicles, including a 2013 Subaru Impreza.
Nicholas Moneymaker, 24, driving the Impreza, suffered a head injury and died five days later.
Cantwell said that based on the physical evidence, the truck rear-ended both Moneymakers car and the Malibu.
It does appear (Moneymakers) vehicle was likely the first vehicle struck, Cantwell said.
James Martin Davis, Klucks attorney, said one witness saw Moneymaker abruptly change lanes twice before the collision. Davis said Kluck, who still is employed as a truck driver, didnt violate any traffic law.
My client wasnt following too close he had the appropriate distance, Davis said. There wasnt much he could do ... trucks cant stop on a dime.
In December, relatives of Moneymaker filed a negligence lawsuit against Kluck, the trucking company and the insurance company, alleging negligence.
Court documents claim Kluck did not slow down and slammed directly into Moneymakers car, causing it to crash into another car, off the Interstate and into a concrete wall.
The lawsuit asks for an unspecified amount to compensate the family for damages.
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. It was the trip of a lifetime.
Brenda Robinson of North Platte, Nebraska and her daughter, Jennifer, were invited to visit Cuba on a Humanities Nebraska excursion with Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
The week-long trip, Dec. 11-18, gave Robinson an exciting opportunity to get a glimpse of a changing culture.
Its kind of an odd place to be, Robinson said. It is a communist country, but they are sure turning into capitalists fast.
She said there are two kinds of money in Cuba.
They have the kind of money they get paid with and another kind that tourists get, Robinson said. The Cubans cant buy luxury goods with the pesos they get paid in; you need the higher-valued money that tourists get.
The Cuban citizens find ways to make money from tourists.
They turn their cars into cabs, they rent out a bedroom, they find something they can sell, Robinson said. They do something that youll tip them for.
Benjamin-Alvarado, a board member with Humanities Nebraska, has been to Cuba 30 times all with students. This was his first trip taking non-students to the island country.
You have to have a reason to go to Cuba and they have 12 reasons you can come there, Robinson said. The reason we went, they call it People to People, Education and Culture. We had many conversations with professionals within Cuba.
The group spoke with an economist, an architect, an urban planner and people from the Cuban film industry.
We talked with the directors of the ballet school and the university of fine arts, Robinson said. We got to listen to what they were doing and ask them questions, which was very informative.
They face a lot of problems and their goal is to remain in control of their own country without foreign involvement.
Robinson said when the group first made its arrangements for the trip last spring, there was only one air carrier available.
It was kind of a semi-charter affair, Robinson said. But since then, there are several U.S. airlines. We saw Frontier down there, Southwest, United, we saw several U.S. airlines in the airport.
Robinson said Cubans are very welcoming and friendly.
They really seem to be happy people, Robinson said. They really love to dance, and if theres music anywhere, little kids and old people, they start dancing when they walk down the sidewalk and theres music everywhere.
Robinson said the hotel where they stayed was in fairly good condition, but the rooms definitely needed remodeling, as did many of the housing units across the city of Havana.
A lot of their buildings are in tough shape, Robinson said. The urban planner we talked to said on average about three houses fall down every day.
After meeting with various people throughout the day, the group spent the evenings enjoying the culture and food of Havana. One such excursion was to the opening night of the Havana Jazz Festival, which on its opening night featured a performance from pre-revolution Cuban jazz legend Omara Portuondo.
It was pretty amazing, Robinson said. Robinson said the one thing that stood out the most was the kindness of the people.
They seem genuine; it doesnt seem to be like a waitress trying to get a better tip, Robinson said. They seem genuinely happy with their jobs and with their lives.
Theyre nervous about their future. It seems that they might be moving away from communism a little bit, although that was never said out loud.
She said the food was either really good or really bad. Robinson said she would definitely go back if given the opportunity.
They have a lot of seafood and they do raise cattle and hogs, Robinson said. The pork is really good; their national dishes are pork dishes. They dont have anything hot, no spicy food.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. Tawana Grover said it was a little surprising when she visited Howard Elementary in Grand Island, Nebraska, during the students first day of school this past July 11 and heard several teachers tell their kids that Grover was the boss of the school.
Grover said she realized that the Howard students certainly knew what their teacher does in the classroom each and every day, and most were equally familiar with the schools principal, Julie Schnitzler, and her role in making Howard a welcoming place for them and their parents.
She believes that it was Deb Glovers first-grade classroom at Howard where the teacher very enthusiastically introduced her as the boss, with Glovers first-graders seemingly impressed by the fact they were meeting the boss of an entire school system.
However, Grover said she also thought that although young students might understand the idea of a boss, they still might have difficulty understanding what a boss does in a big school system like Grand Island, which has many schools scattered throughout the city.
Grover, who was just 11 days into her first job as a school superintendent, also realized that she was not accustomed to being described as a boss. In addition to introducing herself to GIPS students, she also was in the process of introducing herself to community members, as well as all the teachers, administrators and other staff members.
She said that even though she may be the so-called boss, I do believe in a shared vision, as well as a collaborative working relationship with all of our stakeholders. I thought I have to do something about this.
She wanted both students and teachers to know more about her.
Teachers have no idea of what type of personality Im going to bring, and whats my leadership style, Grover said.
Many teachers participated in the interview process to select the new superintendent for the district, but that is still different from having the new superintendent actually on the job and being part of the school district every day.
She said all those thoughts inspired her to write a poem to help describe her, as well as what she views as the duties of a school superintendent in todays world. One portion of those duties is ensuring that tests and curriculum are aligned, which seems to be an issue that increasingly preoccupies superintendents, as well as building principals and teachers.
Grover said she delivered that poem during the annual all-staff assembly that welcomes all teachers, counselors, administrators and other staff members back for the start of another school year. She then decided to turn it into a childrens book called Super-Boss-Intendent ... Where the Journey Begins. That timing meant that she created the book in about a month.
She noted that the tenure for superintendents sometimes is very short in todays world. So superintendents have a responsibility as leaders in the field to be able to share as much information with aspiring superintendents and educational leaders as possible by describing their experiences at work.
Although the illustrated paperback is written in the form of a childrens book, Grover said she thinks both kids and adults can read it to get insight into the job of a school superintendent.
I oftentimes use childrens books in my training or presentations, she said. Its just a way that you can connect with the audience before you in a very engaging way.
Grover noted that when she was interviewed by the Grand Island school board for the superintendents job, she read from the childrens book Youre Here for a Reason. She thought the book was appropriate for the occasion as she was seeking to make a move to a new state and a new opportunity.
She said she recently shared the childrens book What Do You Do With a Problem? with building principals and district administrators. One of that books themes is that the longer a problem is ignored, the bigger it usually becomes. Another theme is that problems can be turned around and made into opportunities.
Grover said she only had to make minor changes in her Super-Boss-Intendent poem to get it to fit into the books 20-page format for illustrations and story. That does not count the copyright and dedication page, as well as the front and back covers of the book.
In Super-Boss-Intendent, she uses verse to describe the duties of a new superintendent as she sees them. Although the poetry describes the role all superintendents play in their school districts, Super-Boss-Intendent is in many ways a very specific description of Grover and the Grand Island school district.
The book opens by noting that a lady came from miles and miles away. Grover came to Grand Island from her job as an administrator with the DeSoto Independent School District in DeSoto, Texas, which is a suburb on the southwestern side of Dallas.
The book then describes Grovers initial listening tour as she met with Grand Island residents in schools, churches and other locations.
Her book refers to the Super-Boss-Intendent working with the board of education and making classroom visits to see both teachers and students. It also describes meeting with students of many languages, which certainly describes the Grand Island school district, as well as meeting with boys and girls who have come to this school from many places another accurate description of the Grand Island Public Schools.
During her narrative, Grover used a six-word phrase that could only come from the Grand Island school district: Every student, every day, a success.
Through her book, she hopes she makes it clear that students should always be the center of any superintendents focus. That focus on students includes not just the time they spend in the school district, but also who they will become as adults after high school graduation.
Grover said the next-to-last illustration of students crossing a stage to receive their high school diplomas as well as the verse that accompanies that illustration is a culmination of everything she has described in the book to that point.
GLENWOOD, Iowa The Iowa Department of Human Services has fired six employees at the Glenwood Resource Center, and six others resigned after an investigation into abuse and neglect.
The department started its investigation in late September after allegations of client mistreatment and staff failure to report incidents in a timely manner. An inquiry that ended recently found that seven clients were the subject of physical abuse, according to the Human Services Department. Thirteen clients were subjected to verbal abuse or neglect.
No clients required medical treatment, the department said.
The former staff members are accused of hitting a client, allowing peer-to-peer aggression, neglecting client personal care needs, talking abusively to and around clients, and teasing clients.
The clients reside at four of the 17 homes on the 230-acre campus in Glenwood in Mills County.
Weve taken aggressive employee action and dramatically increased supervision to ensure our clients are safe and treated properly in their homes, Richard Shults, administrator of mental health and disability services for Human Services Department, said in a release. State facilities do not tolerate mistreatment of clients, and we require staff to report concerns immediately.
After the allegations were made, the former employees were placed on administrative leave pending an investigation. Families and guardians of clients who were subject to mistreatment were also notified of the investigations.
The department said that it took additional disciplinary action against five other staff members and that one action is pending. The majority of the incidents involved employees working the evening shift.
A message left with the Glenwood Police Department regarding possible criminal charges was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Action will be taken should any additional findings conclude client mistreatment or failure to report incidents timely, the release said.
If any new incidents are brought to us, well continue to investigate those, said Amy McCoy, public information officer with the Human Services Department.
Since the investigation began, Human Services officials said the Glenwood Resource Center has taken the following steps to correct the problem:
Increased supervision of staff, including doubling supervision on weekends and evenings.
More rounds by middle and top managers, at varying times, to check on clients at their homes.
Retraining supervisors and managers on the signs and symptoms of mistreatment.
Requiring all staff to be retrained on the standards of client treatment and on reporting suspected client mistreatment.
The resource center serves about 230 clients with intellectual or developmental disabilities who are admitted because of significant behavioral challenges or medical conditions that require intensive, complex active treatment, the department said. The facility employs more than 770 people.
LINCOLN Nebraska lawmakers could take a month or more to decide whether Omaha State Sen. Ernie Chambers qualifies to continue serving in the Legislature.
The veteran lawmaker faces a challenge of his legal residency by John Sciara, who filed the challenge in November after Chambers defeated him in the Nov. 8 election.
Because of the challenge, Chambers was seated conditionally when the newly elected and re-elected senators were sworn in on Wednesday, said Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha, the outgoing chairman of the Legislatures Executive Board.
The next step in the process will be for the new Executive Board to create a special legislative panel to investigate the legitimacy of the challenge.
Under legislative rules, the committee is to consider evidence and make a determination about the residency challenge as expeditiously as possible, while giving due process to both sides.
Krist said he expects the board to name a committee, which must have at least five members, on Monday or Tuesday. The group will have legal counsel and legislative staff.
There is no deadline for the committees work, so Krist said he does not know how long it may be before the group issues findings and recommendations.
There will have to be a reasonable amount of time taken, he said. I would think, if they do a good job, that there will be clear evidence.
The committee will be asked whether Chambers meets the state constitutional requirement that senators live for at least a year in their district before they can serve.
Sciara filed a petition in November claiming that Chambers lives in Bellevue and not in the north Omaha district that he represents. Sciara said he plans to present witnesses to make his case.
But Chambers, who owns a home at 1825 Binney St., called rumors about his residency busybody, gossipy, vengeful cud that already has been chewed. He pointed to bills mailed to his north Omaha address as evidence of his residency.
Krist said Chambers, who is a member of the Executive Board, will recuse himself from any discussion or votes on the matter.
The committees final recommendation will go to the full Legislature, which can accept or reject the decision.
In the last election challenge presented to the Legislature, after the November 1990 election, senators rejected a committee recommendation on a 25-24 vote.
At issue was whether to seat Sen. Dennis Byars of Beatrice as a member of the Legislature or to seat his opponent, Beatrice attorney Paul Korslund, instead.
Byars, the incumbent, was seated conditionally when the Legislature convened because Korslund had challenged the results of the election.
The challenge was based on questions about whether to count 508 absentee ballots, which Gage County officials had initialed on the front rather than signing them on the back as required by law.
If the ballots were counted, Byars was the winner. If not, Korslund had the edge.
The Lancaster County District Court initially ruled that the ballots should not count, but the State Board of Canvassers, meeting two weeks later, voted to certify Byars as the winner.
The court then said the matter should be decided by the Legislature. Lawmakers voted to put the matter in the hands of the Executive Board, which recommended not counting the absentee ballots.
Byars cast the decisive vote when the matter came to the full Legislature. He retained his seat.
Sciara said he has been planning the challenge since 2012, when voters returned Chambers to the Legislature after a four-year hiatus. In the 2016 election, Chambers got 7,763 votes to Sciaras 1,726.
LINCOLN The Nebraska Legislature will face a wealth of issues and a shortage of experience when the 2017 session kicks off Wednesday morning.
Seven of the 49 state senators were in office when the state faced a budget shortfall as large as the one it faces now.
Fifteen have been through the twists and turns of more than two legislative sessions. Seventeen senators were just elected in November.
Yet together, lawmakers need to close the gap and produce a balanced state budget by the end of their 90-day session, as required by the state constitution.
They also will have to wrestle with conflicting demands for tax cuts and ongoing efforts to fix the state prison system and proposals to provide state support of private school students, legalize medical marijuana, ease occupational licensure requirements, rework state tourism efforts and more.
Here are five things to watch for this session:
How will lawmakers close the budget gap?
The state faces a nearly $900 million gap between projected revenues and spending for the two-year budget period ending June 30, 2019.
Tax increases are a political no-go.
That means senators will be forced to make difficult decisions about cutting state spending, while addressing costly priorities, including the troubled Department of Correctional Services.
Senators could get some help from the states cash reserve fund, which has been protected by previous lawmakers and is projected to be at $630 million by 2019.
How will lawmakers respond to calls for tax reductions?
The states budget woes have not dampened the demands for property tax and income tax cuts that most senators want to accommodate.
But finding a way to reduce taxes during a budget shortfall will be difficult.
Spending cuts would need to be more severe unless lawmakers want to shift taxes raising one type of tax to replace revenue lost from cutting another.
Nor is there agreement on which tax to tackle. Agricultural groups have pushed hard for property tax cuts. Business leaders want income taxes reduced.
How will lawmakers move forward on fixing the state correctional system?
Nebraskas prison system remains a work in progress, as corrections officials struggle to turn around overcrowding, employee turnover and past mismanagement.
Lawmakers responded in the past by passing sentencing changes and increasing funding for mental health and rehabilitation programs, community housing and staff-retention efforts.
Now the department wants to build a $75 million prison addition and add 164.5 staff positions over the next two years.
But a legislative oversight committee called for rethinking the new construction and speeding up the staff hires.
How will lawmakers work through two bitter internal issues?
The Legislatures Executive Board took no action during the summer to discipline State Sen. Bill Kintner of Papillion for using a legislative computer for cybersex, and Kintner has refused all calls to resign.
That leaves a question hanging over the new Legislature about whether to impeach, expel or censure him. Lawmakers also could do nothing at all.
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha has vowed to keep the issue alive using the legislative process, if lawmakers drag their feet on taking action.
But Chambers himself faces the potential of being ousted from the Legislature. The candidate he defeated in November is challenging whether the legislative veteran lives in his district.
A special legislative committee will investigate the residence question and report to the full Legislature, which will have to decide the issue.
How much influence will the governor have with lawmakers?
Gov. Pete Ricketts flexed his political muscle during last years election, spending more than $116,000 on legislative races and targeting incumbents who had voted against him on the death penalty, the gas tax and immigration.
Ricketts had mixed success: eight of the candidates he backed won election, including three who defeated more moderate Republican incumbents. Eight candidates supported by the governor were defeated.
The message was not lost on lawmakers thinking about re-election or possible future office: Crossing the governor can carry a political cost. On the other hand, the governors involvement could strengthen the resolve of lawmakers who saw it as overreach.
World-Herald staff writer Emily Nohr contributed to this report.
LINCOLN Conservatives ruled the opening day of the 2017 Nebraska Legislature, defeating moderates and Democrats to hold leadership positions.
State lawmakers Wednesday elected Sen. Jim Scheer of Norfolk as speaker to replace outgoing Speaker Galen Hadley of Kearney. Scheer prevailed 27-22 over Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg.
They also chose three members of the freshman class to lead legislative committees, ousting two Democratic incumbent chairs and defeating a Democratic challenger.
Scheer was the candidate considered friendlier to the agenda of Gov. Pete Ricketts.
Scheer, a Republican, promised to work with the other branches of government but also to protect the autonomy of the Legislature. Williams placed more emphasis on legislative independence.
Theres a difference between partisanship and political philosophy, Scheer said when asked whether senators had just witnessed a partisan takeover in the Legislature. The majority of the body is conservative.
Ricketts in a statement congratulated Scheer, saying that the gravity of the responsibility of what is before us this session is humbling and that work to balance the budget, control spending and deliver tax relief needed to take priority.
Nebraska Democratic Party Chairwoman Jane Kleeb said in a tweet that the results of the elections showed that the governor bought the Legislature.
Folks dont want 1 party control, she wrote. Ricketts millions bought it.
Some predict that the shift to a more conservative-led body may have poisoned the 90-day session.
State Sen. Burke Harr of Omaha said the leadership posts went to people who share an ideology of not working across party lines and of favoring partisanship over the best interests of Nebraskans.
My fear is that today is the day the music died, that we became a partisan body, said Harr, a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan Legislature.
The elections, however, will not change the issues facing the Legislature, he said. It simply changes how lawmakers work on those issues.
By the sessions end, scheduled for June 2, lawmakers are expected to create a new two-year state budget and address taxes, work to fix the troubled state prison system and hear proposals to ease occupational licensing requirements, among others.
Today will be the first day to introduce bills.
Day 1 wasnt all successful for conservative lawmakers.
No state senator made a motion Wednesday morning to change the closed practice of electing legislative leadership, though Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell rose to explain his vote against adopting the temporary rules. He said he would not try to change the rules to require open ballots.
The temporary rules that include the use of secret ballots then were adopted 45-4, with Sens. Bill Kintner of Papillion, Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn and John Lowe of Kearney voting with Kuehn against their adoption.
But Wednesday afternoon, before the days last election, Kuehn filed a motion to require a recorded vote for chair of the Legislatures Rules Committee. That attempt failed when lawmakers voted 29-19 to maintain secret ballots.
Kuehn said he waited to take formal action until the last contested race so as to not interrupt the traditional nature of the sessions first day, which included the swearing in of newly elected and re-elected senators, flanked by their families and friends.
I felt that it was an important enough issue to the people of Nebraska that the body needed to make a decision, and the body made a decision, he said.
But Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, the bodys lone independent and a strong opponent of opening ballots for leadership, called Kuehns move an effort to undercut the Legislatures integrity for the sake of the Republican Party. Kuehn, he said, was acting in bad faith and some members allowed themselves to be used as pawns.
And Harr took issue with a ruling by Lt. Gov. Mike Foley, the Legislatures presiding officer and member of the Executive Branch, to let Kuehns motion go forward, saying we have a separation of powers issue.
Think about what has happened today, Chambers said before senators voted to maintain secret ballots. Think of how youve poisoned the well already. Do you need to add insult to the legislative process to the injury youve done to your colleagues?
Lawmakers elected 17 Republicans, one Democrat and one Libertarian to committee leadership. That compares to last years 15 Republicans and four Democrats.
Veteran lobbyist Walt Radcliffe said it is not unusual to see a coalition of senators come together on the first day of a session. But Wednesday marked the first time he could recall having a freshman senator elected committee chairman, let alone three freshmen.
The freshmen senators elected to lead committees are Mike Hilgers of Lincoln (Rules), Joni Albrecht of Thurston (Business and Labor ) and Justin Wayne of Omaha (Urban Affairs).
Radcliffe said the leadership votes dont necessarily guarantee success for a more conservative agenda, however. There were 27 or 28 votes for most senators who won legislative leadership positions, but it takes 33 votes to end a filibuster.
These votes today serve to further polarize the Legislature, he said.
Kuehn disagreed, saying each Legislature is different. This years body has 17 new members.
Its part of the natural process, he said. While change can be uncomfortable for some, its the basis for new ideas and new innovations.
Sen. Tyson Larson of ONeill said he didnt see the changes as a shift to more conservatism because three different political parties now represent leadership.
Said Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte: In democracy theres winners and losers. The Democrats were never nonpartisan. Theyve always voted as a block.
Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse said now that leadership has been decided, senators will move forward to work through bills and issues.
I disagree with Sen. Chambers that this is going to bring the house down, he said.
But others saw the day as a threat to the Legislatures unique nonpartisan system.
George Norris is turning in his grave right now, said Sen. John McCollister of Omaha, referring to the architect of the Nebraska Legislature.
The divisiveness carried over into the evening as a 13-member committee met to assign individual senators to the 15 standing committees. A skirmish erupted over the political makeup of the Education Committee
Among the leadership surprises was the election of Watermeier as chair of the Legislatures Executive Board, defeating incumbent chair Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha.
Though Watermeier previously had said hed run for vice chair of that committee, he entered the race Wednesday at the urging of members of the body, he said.
They just wanted a choice, he said. It wasnt about personalities. It wasnt about what Sen. Krist has done. Hes done a good job of guiding the body.
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Senators elected to legislative leadership:
Sen. Jim Scheer of Norfolk was elected as Speaker of the Legislature to replace term-limited Speaker Galen Hadley of Kearney. Scheer prevailed over Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg. Both are Republicans.
Both Republicans in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse ousted incumbent Executive Board chair Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha. Watermeier nominated himself Wednesday, though he had previously declared to be vice chair of the committee. Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell won vice chair of the Executive Board. Kuehn, a Republican, was unopposed.
Sen. Lydia Brasch of Bancroft was elected chair of the Agriculture Committee. Brasch, a Republican, was unopposed.
Sen. John Stinner of Gering was named leader of the budget-crafting Appropriations Committee. He was unopposed. The Republican succeeds term-limited Heath Mello, a Democrat.
Republican Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha was elected to lead the Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee. Lindstrom follows Scheer.
Incumbent Business and Labor Committee Chairman Burke Harr, a Democrat, lost to newcomer Republican Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston. Albrecht threw her name into the race Wednesday.
Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte was named chair of the Education Committee over Sen. Roy Baker of Lincoln. Both are Republicans. Groene replaces term-limited Democrat Kate Sullivan of Cedar Rapids.
Incumbent General Affairs Chair Sen. Tyson Larson of ONeill defeated a challenge from Omaha Sen. John McCollister. Both are Republicans. Going into the election, McCollister was the only declared candidate. Larson nominated himself from the floor.
The Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee will again by chaired by Sen. John Murante of Gretna. The Republican was unopposed.
Republican Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston defeated Sen. Sara Howard of Omaha, a Democrat, to chair the Health and Human Services Committee. Riepe replaces Republican Kathy Campbell, who was term-limited.
The Legislatures lone Libertarian was elected to lead the Judiciary Committee. Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete follows Republican Les Seiler, who lost in the November election. Ebke, who changed her party affiliation from Republican over the summer, was unopposed.
Republican Sen. Dan Hughes of Venango won against Democrat Sen. Rick Kolowski of Omaha to lead the Natural Resources Committee. Hughes replaces term-limited Republican Ken Schilz.
The Retirement Committee will again be led by Republican Sen. Mark Kolterman of Seward. He was unopposed.
Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion will chair the Revenue Committee. Smith, a Republican who was unopposed, replaces term-limited Mike Gloor, a Republican.
The Transportation and Telecommunications Committee will be led by Republican Sen. Curt Friesen of Henderson. He was unopposed. He replaces Smith,.
Freshman Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha prevailed over Sen. Sue Crawford of Bellevue to chair the Urban Affairs Committee. Both Democrats, Crawford was the only candidate to declare for the position. Wayne, who was viewed as more conservative than Crawford and received support from conservative senators, entered the race Wednesday.
New Sen. Mike Hilgers of Lincoln defeated Lincoln Sen. Matt Hansen to chair the Rules Committee. The committee was previously chaired by Republican Tommy Garrett, who lost in the November election. Hilgers, a Republican, supports ending secret ballots, an issue the Rules Committee deals with. Hansen is a Democrat.
Republican Sen. Joni Craighead of Omaha was elected to chair the Committee on Committees. She was unopposed.
Also read: 5 hefty challenges facing Nebraska lawmakers
On horseback or motorcycle, Saundra Sandy Deepe enjoyed living life to the fullest.
She was a true renaissance woman who could accomplish anything she tried to do, said Deepes husband, Tom Paltani of Malvern, Iowa. She was very honest, unassuming and a hard worker.
Deepe, 61, died surrounded by family Monday at Nebraska Medicine-Bellevue. Paltani said his wife had battled influenza since Dec. 18 and later developed pneumonia.
A private memorial service will be held today in Omaha. In lieu of memorials, Deepes family suggested well-wishers be kind to someone you love.
Being kind was just who Sandy was, Paltani said. Its a celebration of her spirit.
Deepe was born in Deshler, Nebraska, and graduated from Bruning High School in 1973. She received an accounting degree in 1976 from Peru State.
She also earned a license as a certified public accountant and worked as a financial controller for Primus Sterilizer Co. of Omaha. Deepe was working as an accountant at Hill Brothers Transportation of Omaha at the time of her death.
Deepe loved horses and was honored to participate in 1996 in the National Pony Express Association re-ride, her husband said. The re-ride is an annual event involving hundreds of riders retracing the 2,000-mile mail route between California and Missouri.
Six years ago, Deepe found a love of iron horses when she bought a motorcycle and began riding with her sister Beverly Hargett of Omaha. The sisters, accompanied by Deepes son Lucas Krakow and his wife, Moranda, of Dixon, California, took extended trips to Alaska, across the South and to Niagara Falls.
Sandy was very proud of her Iron Butt patch, Paltani said. She got it for riding over 1,000 miles from Columbia, Missouri, to Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 24 hours.
In addition to her husband of 10 years, Hargett and Krakow, Deepe is survived by her mother, Bernice Deepe of Bruning; sisters Bonnie Boccitto of Long Beach Island, New Jersey, and Betty Deepe of Omaha; brother John Deepe of Deshler; son Levi W. Krakow of South Lake Tahoe, California; and beloved dog Jack.
WASHINGTON The Senate Agriculture Committee lacks a Nebraskan for the first time in nearly half a century, even as the panel prepares to kick off hearings on a new farm bill.
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., announced Tuesday that he will leave his seat on the panel in the new Congress and is also relinquishing his spot on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Instead, the freshman senator has secured positions on the Armed Services and Judiciary Committees, and hes keeping his seat on the Banking Committee.
In an interview with The World-Herald, Sasse said he will be just as active in the farm bill process regardless of his committee assignments and that his new ones position him well for the 115th Congress.
This allows us to participate in two of the three biggest debates at the committee level in the next 18 to 24 months, Sasse said.
That includes the Judiciary Committees handling of Supreme Court vacancies and the Armed Services Committees work on developing a national security strategy that addresses Islamic jihad and cyberwarfare, he said.
The third issue he referred to was repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, which he said is likely to be handled in the coveted Finance Committee difficult for a relatively junior senator to join.
Sasses moves mean that he wont be on the Agriculture Committee as it begins debate on what could be a highly contentious farm bill.
Nutrition assistance programs, commonly referred to as food stamps, always produce fireworks. In addition, some fiscally conservative groups have signaled that they also are gunning for the fundamental underpinnings of the farm safety net.
That could put Sasse in a tough situation. Hes a farm-state senator, but he also is a favorite of groups like the Heritage Foundation that could oppose the farm bill.
Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., has indicated that the panel will first take up President-elect Donald Trumps nominees and then dive straight into the farm bill.
We have immediate problems to address, Roberts said in a statement. We will listen to producers, Main Street and others concerned with the current economic climate in farm country. We have immediate supply and demand challenges. We need to hear from those on the ground what works in the current farm bill and what can be adjusted.
Its a striking change to have no Cornhusker representation on the Agriculture Committee. Its membership has included at least one Nebraska senator since Sen. Carl Curtis joined in 1969. For a time, in fact, both Nebraska senators Democrat Ben Nelson and Republican Mike Johanns served on the committee together.
Gosh, said John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, when he learned of Sasses move. That is disappointing. We lost Ashford to the election, and now Sasse. I dont remember when Nebraska had neither a House or Senate member on the Ag Committee.
Former Rep. Brad Ashford, D-Neb., just lost his re-election bid and was the only Nebraskan on the House Agriculture Committee. It remains to be seen whether his GOP successor, Rep. Don Bacon, will get a spot on the House panel.
After his election in 2014, Sasse touted his position on the Senate committee, particularly his role as head of the subcommittee on livestock, marketing and agriculture security.
It is a tremendous honor to serve as the chairman of this important subcommittee, Sasse said at the time.
And the position was hailed by groups such as the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation and the Nebraska Cattlemen as a way for him to look out for Nebraska producers interests.
Still, Steve Nelson, president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation, on Tuesday downplayed the impact of Sasse leaving the committee, saying there are lots of areas outside that particular panel where lawmakers work on issues important to farm country.
Its certainly a good thing when you have your senators and representatives on ag committees, Nelson said. Its not a bad thing when theyre not, either, because theres lots of other ways that they can serve.
Nelsons organization is already hashing out its priorities for the farm bill, including maintaining safety net programs such as a robust crop insurance system.
Sasses moves are also interesting given that Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., already is a senior member of the Armed Services Committee. She also will remain on the Commerce Committee and Environment and Public Works Committee.
Sasse had to get a special waiver to serve on a committee with his home-state colleague.
He defended that decision, saying its a uniquely powerful committee because it crafts a sweeping defense authorization bill every year. He said cyberwarfare will receive much-needed focus in the new Congress.
As for the Judiciary Committee, Sasse said that he hears from Nebraskans all the time about the Supreme Court and that nobody understands the burden of executive overreach more than farmers and ranchers. He suggested that his work on Judiciary will include putting people on the bench who will rein in agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency.
He said his Banking assignment will include work on pushing back regulations such as those related to the Dodd-Frank law and the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
As for the oversight that he was doing on the Governmental Affairs Committee, Sasse said he was confident that the Senate will continue efforts to push back on executive powers.
I believe there will be lots and lots of opportunities for bipartisan oversight of the executive branch, Sasse said.
LINCOLN A special prosecutor has been appointed to look into an alleged assault involving several high school students in Valentine, Nebraska.
One or more minors were the victims of assault by a group of students on Oct. 30, according to court records.
The Valentine Police Department and the Cherry County officials have declined to release any information regarding the report of the assault.
Cherry County Attorney Eric Scott, whose law office is in Valentine, requested a special prosecutor, citing a conflict of interest in reviewing the case.
On Dec. 19, Custer County Attorney Steven Bowers was appointed by District Judge Mark Kozisek as the special prosecutor. Bowers will decide whether any charges should be filed. He did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Valentine public schools officials and Scott have declined to comment on the incident, saying only that it was under investigation by law enforcement.
WASHINGTON Arriving for his first day as the Omaha areas congressman, Rep. Don Bacon was greeted by calls pouring into his office from constituents.
They were anxious to share a piece of their minds about a closed-door vote by Republicans Monday night in favor of weakening an independent ethics watchdog.
Three guys on the phone at once, Bacon said in describing the situation.
Bacon, who hadnt even been sworn in at that point, said he explained to the callers that he had opposed the changes during that Monday night meeting.
The GOP move quickly ran into a buzz saw of criticism with Democrats hammering away on the issue as evidence that President-elect Donald Trumps pledge to address Washington cronyism was nothing but hot air.
Republicans claim they want to drain the swamp, but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.
Trump himself took a shot at Congress, describing the watchdog office as unfair but suggesting that Congress had better things to do.
By midday, the proposal had been withdrawn.
It was a busy day as the House re-elected Paul Ryan as speaker. The five Republican members from Nebraska and western Iowa all supported the Wisconsin Republican for the job.
Bacon and the rest of his new House colleagues then raised their right hands and took the oath of office, pledging to support the Constitution, without mental reservation or purpose of evasion.
The retired Air Force brigadier general said he got a little emotional taking that oath, so similar to the one he took upon first entering the military many years ago.
Bacon said he was glad to see his fellow Republicans abandon the proposed changes to the Office of Congressional Ethics.
I just thought we should have made an effort to find some Democrats who agreed with us and go forward that way, he said. A lot of Democrats agree that this has gotten out of hand.
Objections to the ethics offices current structure include that complaints can be made anonymously and that false accusations have damaged reputations and required the accused to spend significant sums on lawyers, even when the complaint is baseless.
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., said he was among those who supported the proposal when the Republican conference voted on it Monday night.
The American people deserve the highest ethical standards from their lawmakers, he said, and there was a valid concern eight years ago that a more robust office was needed.
But he said the current structure represents a lack of due process for the accused.
This is almost guilty until proven innocent, Fortenberry said.
Still, Fortenberry said later that he supported the withdrawal because he thought it was preferable to tackle such a complex and misunderstood issue on a bipartisan basis.
Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., wrote on Twitter that he had opposed the proposal on Monday night.
Open, bipartisan reforms are key to restoring faith in Congress, Smith tweeted.
Rep. David Young, R-Iowa., declined to discuss the issue and how he voted Monday night. Instead, he pointed to a statement released by his office saying that he had supported the successful effort to prevent the proposal from moving forward on Tuesday.
He believes reforms are needed, but the process needs to be done in a bipartisan way, and must be debated in an open and honest process not behind closed doors, according to the statement.
New and returning Iowa and Nebraska lawmakers said they were excited to get to work. Its the first time in years that Republicans have had a united government to work with, and they are expected to dive into their top priorities.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was sworn in for his seventh term and talked up his work as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Bacon said hes particularly keen to tackle an overhaul of federal regulations.
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, was quick to introduce a slew of legislation related to immigration and the Affordable Care Act.
Fortenberrys primary job as a member of the Appropriations Committee will be to tackle the budget, which he said he hopes to bring back to regular order. He also said there will be a debate over whether to bring back the practice of earmarks.
Fortenberry said that earmarking money to specific projects that lawmakers want could make it easier to move legislation but that it has to be done in a way the public can support.
But to go back to the former system, to even use the word earmark, he said. Youve got to get rid of it. The credibility is shot.
In other areas, Fortenberry said a push to boost spending on infrastructure could draw bipartisan support, but that it must come with a plan to pay for it.
He said that health care needs an overhaul that works for everyone and that corporate tax cuts are a possibility as long as theyre not a giveaway to multinational corporations.
And the Lincoln lawmaker marveled at the national renewal that comes with the election of a new government.
As messy and difficult and controversial as it can become, this constant ability for our system to replenish itself with new people, new ideas or election processes that bring about new ideas is really, really fascinating and a great gift, Fortenberry said.
Ricketts control problem
We have a problem: Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and his need to control.
He has an obsession with the death penalty, which is state-sanctioned murder. His need to control the situation drove him to disregard the Legislatures 2015 override of his veto of a bill that ended Nebraskas death penalty, and he personally helped fund the petition drive to put it on the ballot where it was restored by voters.
He disregards Nebraskas nonpartisan Legislature. He called out the registered Republican senators who voted to override that veto and helped fund their opponents in last years election. He also personally targeted Democratic senators. This need to control will destroy the unique and unifying nature of our nonpartisan Legislature. We see this now in efforts to do away with secret ballot elections of legislative leaders.
This is not the Nebraska way.
Peg ODea Lippert, Papillion
Support a constitutional convention
I want to thank State Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete for sponsoring a bill calling for an Article V Convention of States. I see no reason that the governor or enough, if not all, of our state legislators shouldnt support this effort.
Larry Storer, Omaha
Big step in combating climate change
State Sen. Ken Haar of Malcolm, along with Sens. Tyson Larson of ONeill, Heath Mello of Omaha, John Stinner of Gering, Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln, John Kuehn of Heartwell and Ken Schilz of Ogallala, put aside partisan politics and actually got something done involving climate change (Bipartisan panel unanimously endorses wide-ranging climate plan, Dec. 29 World-Herald).
Their committee produced an action plan recommending that the Legislature promote more renewables, as well as measures for farmers and improved infrastructure.
Haar was justified in boasting, maybe Congress could take a lesson from us on this important issue. Well done, and well said.
Kathleen Ann Hughes, Omaha
Suspect graduation rates
Everyone should be very careful when cheering for increased high school graduation rates (Omaha graduation rates up, Dec. 17 World-Herald).
For educators whose continued employment is threatened in the name of school reform, there are two methods available to accomplish the appearance of the academic improvement demanded by some politicians and by all corporate school reformers.
One is test fraud. The other method is to graduate a student whose academic performance does not deserve a diploma. Just issue a pass when an academic performance deserves a fail.
Consider some recent history. In April 2014 the U.S. Department of Education reported an increase in the national graduation rate. One month later, the same agency reported that the nations high school seniors have shown no improvement in math and reading performance since 2009.
That is a mighty fishy combination.
Rob Bligh, San Antonio
More PC run amok
As I read Matthew Hansens Dec. 30 front page admonition to men demanding that they stop telling women to smile, I searched in vain for the punchline.
Hansens article was insulting because it attributed sinister meaning to an otherwise mild comment.
People are tired of being called racist, sexist, misogynistic, homophobic or patriarchal by crybabies desperately searching for a reason to be offended. I could not believe that this self-indulgent, whiny topic would be significant enough that it consumed so much space on the front page of the newspaper.
Tim Hall, Papillion
U.S. right to stand against settlements
President Barack Obamas resistance to Israeli hardliners insistence on expanding settlements is exactly right. It does not mean that he or the United States are anti-Israel but that we are anti-settlements.
Palestinian terrorism of the past and possibly the future is a separate issue. The settlements are wrong and have been from the beginning. Many American Jews and Israeli citizens agree with Obamas policy. Ordinary Palestinian people need the chance to improve their lives. The settlements are a big obstacle.
Susan Beeghly, Omaha
Congress priorities
I think it is telling that the first two congressional priorities were trying to restore pork-barrel earmarks and gut the independent ethics office. After that will likely come the use of a procedure called budget reconciliation to pass legislation with a simple majority vote, essentially making filibusters obsolete.
Joseph Slattery, Omaha
Quite a way to ring in the New Year
As a visitor to your city for the holidays, we were fortunate to witness your marvelous fireworks display on New Years Eve. Thank you, and we will be back again next year.
Dick Johnson, Kearney
At the beginning of each new year, I usually write about the foreign policy issues the president will confront in the next 12 months.
But 2017 wont be a normal political year just as 2016 was a stunner. So it isnt enough to forecast the fate of the Islamic State, or the rise of China, or the next Mideast conflict.
This years dominant theme will be something much more existential: the fate of Western liberal democratic systems as we have known them since World War II.
The cracks in Western democracies have been widening for years as economic inequality has risen and factory jobs shifted abroad or to computers.
But it took the Brexit vote in Britain and the victory of Donald Trump to lay bare a level of public fear and discontent that goes beyond the economic. Those unhappy with the pace of change or on the losing end of globalization and even some whove done well are seeking leaders who promise to roll back the clock.
That provides fertile terrain for rabble rousers who offer voters a list of enemies migrants, Muslims, international (Jewish) bankers to blame for everything that has gone wrong. Social media magnifies their message, and facts have become irrelevant. Conspiracy theories are in.
So last year was a great one for demagogues in democratic countries. This year could be worse.
The 2016 crop starred Britains Nigel Farage, leader of the Brexiteers who campaigned for Britain to leave the European Union, and demonized Muslims. The British demagogue has started a domino process that could lead to the end of the European Union, which, for all its flaws, has kept the peace in Europe since World War II.
Of course, the victory of Trump who endorsed Brexit and has hosted Farage at Trump Tower has more far-reaching implications for democracies in the West.
Trumps win reflects the bitterly political polarization that has paralyzed Congress. The president-elect has encouraged his followers to regard political opponents as the enemy and has demonized minorities and Muslims. Such extreme polarization makes it almost impossible for a democracy to function.
The United States was once viewed abroad by friend and foe alike as the exemplar of democratic institutions.
But as Ive traveled abroad, in Europe, the Mideast and China, I have repeatedly heard the same kinds of questions from ordinary people: What has happened to American democracy? How did it collapse?
If the U.S. democracy is no longer seen as a role model, indeed is viewed as a failure, this raises questions worldwide about the efficacy of democracy as a system.
Such questions are fodder for the propaganda of Russia and China, both of which are trying to promote an alternative governing model: one in which a strongman and a single party control the system. Such a system may or may not permit a cosmetic veneer of democratic institutions.
Already, illiberal democracy is making headway in Europe, as Hungary and Poland move closer toward this model. Austria came close to electing a neo-fascist president. Meantime, Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdogan, now working closely with Vladimir Putin, has turned his countrys once flourishing democracy into a virtual police state.
Russia, for its part, is encouraging populist parties and demagogues across Europe, offering reams of publicity and cash and no doubt secret cyber-assistance.
So what should you look for in 2017 to measure how democracy is faring in the West?
One key will be the results of April-May presidential elections in France, where Trumps win may have boosted the chances of right-wing nationalist Marine Le Pen, who wants France to leave the European Union. Were that to happen, the EU would collapse.
A second key factor will be how well the party of Germanys Angela Merkel does in parliamentary elections, which must be held by October.
The widely admired Merkel has rightly been billed as the last man (or last strong leader) still standing in Europe and the last firm defender of liberal democracy. But she has lost popularity since letting 1 million refugees into Germany in 2016, in large part because she considered it her countrys moral duty.
The most important factor, however, will be the governing choices made by Donald Trump.
The president-elect has made clear he has little interest in the network of the post-World War II international political and economic institutions that America created and led for decades.
No doubt they need overhaul, but if they crumble, the vacuum will be filled by others, notably China and Russia.
Moscow will also be trying to expand its geographical sphere of influence. It will be greatly emboldened if NATO and the European Union crumble. But neither prospect seems to dismay Trump, who finds Putin praiseworthy and may dream of real estate deals in Moscow.
The key to Western democracys fate in 2017 will be whether, once in office, the president-elect moves to strengthen alliances with democracies in Europe and Asia.
If he retreats to the America First stance he embraced in the election and prefers to pal with Putin rather than Merkel, Western democracy will be in even deeper trouble.
So in 2017 watch whether President Trump chooses to defend democratic principles abroad (and at home) or whether he finds such principles irrelevant and prefers to focus solely on the art of the deal.
Forecasters are calling for another day of bitter cold and a decent chance of light snow tonight in the Omaha area.
Today should be partly sunny with a high in the midteens and a 30 percent chance of snow after 6 p.m. Tonight, the snow chances increase to 60 percent, mainly before 9 p.m.
The National Weather Service office in Valley forecast around one inch of snow and a low in the upper single digits tonight in the Omaha area.
A KMTV meteorologist, Ryan McPike, said the Omaha area should receive less than an inch of snow to maybe just a dusting.
Wind-chill readings tonight in the Omaha area and locations to the north could be 10 to 15 below zero, the weather service said. In central and southeast Nebraska, and southwest Iowa, wind chills could slip to 5 to 10 below zero.
Thursday will be partly sunny with a high in the mid-teens, forecasters said, and Thursday nights low will drop to around zero.
Elsewhere, a winter weather advisory was issued for 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. Thursday for western, central, south-central and southeast Nebraska and extreme southwest Iowa. Those areas could receive 1 to 3 inches of snow, McPike said.
Included in the advisory were Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney, Lincoln, Beatrice, Falls City and Nebraska City.
The weather service said accumulating snowfall will gradually expand east out of western Nebraska into eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa by late this afternoon and early tonight.
McPike said conditions in the Omaha area should begin to warm up soon.
We should start to pull out of this cold spell on the weekend, he said. By Tuesday, Ive got us with maybe a rain shower and a high in the 40s.
The rest of the Omaha-area forecast, according to the weather service:
Friday Mostly sunny with a high in the low 20s.
Friday night Partly cloudy with a low around 7.
Saturday Mostly sunny with a high in the low to mid-20s.
Saturday night Partly cloudy with a low around 5.
Sunday Mostly sunny with a high in the mid-20s.
Sunday night Partly cloudy with a low in the upper teens.
Monday Mostly sunny with a high in the upper 30s.
Monday night Mostly cloudy with a low in the upper 20s.
Tuesday Mostly cloudy with a high in the mid-40s.
'Delhi may get relief from pollution after Nov 5': Safar chief
Delhi MCD Polls 2022 dates likely to be announced today at 4 pm
AAP has no issues with Punjab, Goa going to polls same day: Kejriwal
India
oi-IANS
By Ians English
Chandigarh, Jan 4: The AAP has no objection to Punjab and Goa going to polls on the same day, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday. Punjab and Goa are the only two states where AAP is contesting elections.
Kejriwal said the people were waiting for the announcement of the polling schedule for a long time to bring the Aam Aadmi Party to power in the two states.
"Now people will openly support and work for the AAP in Punjab and Goa," Kejriwal told reporters here.
He added that the AAP won't name any chief ministerial candidate in Punjab, which along with Goa would vote on February 4. He said a new chief minister would be elected by legislators after the polls.
In Goa, the AAP has named former Inspector General of Prisons Elvis Gomes as the Chief Ministerial candidate.
Kejriwal said his party had no objection to both Punjab and Goa voting on the same day.
The AAP leader claimed his party was poised to win more than 100 of the 117 seats in Punjab.
"The countdown has started for the ruling parties in Punjab and Goa."
IANS
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 15:23 [IST]
Assembly polls 2017: Model Code in force with immediate effect
India
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
With the poll dates being announced for five states, the model code of conduct comes into effect. The Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi announced the dates at a press conference in Delhi on Wednesday. Elections dates were announced for Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand Manipur, Goa and Punjab.
The ECI's model code of conduct is a set of guidelines issued for political parties and candidates. During this period no major decisions can be taken. No policy decisions can be announced as well.
The elections will be a closely watched affair and the stakes are high especially in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. It may be also recalled that the Supreme Court had on Monday passed a landmark verdict in which it declared illegal seeking votes in the name of religion, caste, language and caste.
Counting for all the five states that go to elections will be held on March 11. Earlier, Zaidi announced that Uttar Pradesh would poll in seven phases. Elections at Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa will be held in single phases. Manipur would poll in two phases, Zaidi announced.
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 13:21 [IST]
Budget should not be linked to poll cycle: BJP
India
oi-PTI
New Delhi, Jan 4: With opposition parties protesting the move to present Union Budget on February 1, BJP today rubbished their claims saying it is a constitutional exercise that should not be linked to election cycle.
A senior party leader also did not rule out announcement of sops for different segments of society in the budget, saying Union budgets have been presented in the past during elections and it cannot be any different this year.
"Union Budget's timing and announcements cannot be subject to schedule of various elections. It has never been like this," he said. Several opposition parties have sought postponement of the budget, alleging that the government may use this to influence the upcoming Assembly polls in five states.
Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi today said the Election Commission is examining the representation of various political parties for not allowing the presentation of the Union Budget during the poll process of five states and will take a call on it soon.
PTI
No more politics? Irom Sharmila plans to lead a peaceful life as an ordinary woman post marriage
At 46, Iron Lady of Manipur Irom Sharmila gives birth to twins on Mother's Day
Irom Sharmila to contest against Manipur CM
India
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
Imphal, Jan 4: Manipuri activist Irom Sharmila announced on Wednesday that she will be contesting from the Thoubal constituency against Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh in the upcoming assembly elections.
The 'Iron Lady of Manipur' ended her 16-year fast against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act on August 9, 2016.
Addressing a press conference, Sharmila said that her decision to contest the election was based on to have AFSPA repealed from the state as she felt her prolonged fasting 'campaign' was not yielding any results. She also accused Okram Ibobi Singh for not changing anything to repeal AFSPA during his 15 years of leadership.
In October 2016, Sharmila formed her own party, the Peoples' Resurgence and Justice Alliance, to fight against the elections.
Sharmila, born on March 14, 1972, began her hunger strike on November 2000 and vowed not to eat, drink, comb her hair or look in a mirror until AFSPA was repealed.
Assam Rifles, a unit of the Indian Paramilitary Forces allegedly shot civilians dead while they were waiting for buses at a bus stand in Malon, a town in Imphal valley on November 2, 2000.
Okram has been the chief minister for the last three terms after getting elected from Thoubal constituency. The tenure of the current Manipur assembly ends on March 18, 2017.
OneIndia News (with inputs from agencies)
ISRO to launch record 103 satellites in one go in February
India
oi-PTI
Tirupati, Jan 4: ISRO will launch a record 103 satellites in one go using its workhorse PSLV-C37 in the first week of February, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet South Asian satellite project will take off in March. As many as 100 of the satellites set for launch in February belong to foreign nations, including the US and Germany. "We are making a century by launching over 100 satellites at one go," said S Somnath, Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre of the ISRO.
The space agency had earlier planned a launch of 83 satellites in the last week of January, of which 80 were foreign ones. But with the addition of 20 more foreign satellites, the launch was delayed by a week and will now take place in first week of February, Somnath said. He, however, did not specify the number of countries that would launch its satellites in this mission, but said it includes nations like the US and Germany. "These will be 100 micro-small satellites, which will be launched using a PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle)- C37. The weight of the payload will be 1350 kgs, of which 500-600 kgs will be the satellite's weight," Somnath added.
The launch will be a major feat in country's space history as no exercise on this scale has been attempted before. Last year, ISRO launched 22 satellites at a go and this launch will have almost five times the number of crafts. The South Asian satellite will be a part of GSAT-9, which will be launched in March this year, said M Nageshwara Rao, Associate Director of ISRO.
The communication satellite was to be launched in December 2016, but was slightly delayed as some other satellites are to be launched before that. Sources said talks with Afghanistan to have the country on-board for the project is in its final stages. Envisaged as a gift to its neighbours, the project, earlier known as SAARC satellite, faced stiff resistance from Pakistan.
The neighbouring country wanted it to be launched under the aegis of the South Asian regional forum. It later backed out of the project. Apart from India, the satellite will benefit Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
PTI
Manipur CM meets President, rubbishes MHA report to EC
India
oi-PTI
New Delhi, Jan 4: Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh today met President Pranab Mukherjee to discuss the Ministry of Home Affairs' report to the Election Commission that termed the law-and-order situation in the state as "grave".
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Singh rubbished the report saying it "wrongly" concluded that the prevailing situation was "not conducive" to conduct free-and-fair polls there. However, just ahead of Ibobi's meeting with the President, the EC declared that the Assembly election will be held in two phases -- on March 4 and 8 -- in Manipur. Ibobi, who was accompanied by Congress' Manipur election in-charge Ramesh Chennithala at the meeting, welcomed the decision.
"I am told that there is a negative report sent by the MHA to the EC that the law-and-order situation in Manipur is not conducive to conduct a free-and-fair election. It is totally wrong and baseless," he told reporters.
The chief minister said issues such as insurgency, blockades, strikes are not unique to Manipur but they affect the entire north-east and that even in 2012, the state Assembly polls were boycotted by hill and valley-based underground organisations including the PLA and the UNLF.
"The Congress in particular is not allowed to hold public meetings. But, ultimately the people support the party. They gave it a thumping majority in the last polls and even this time, there will not be any problem. "We had suggested to the EC that just like earlier, the polls should be conducted in two phases. We are grateful to the commission for the announcement and hope that our party will win this time as well," the Congress leader said.
Manipur has been witnessing an unrest since November 1 last due to the imposition of an indefinite economic blockade by the United Naga Council (UNC) on the lifeline of the landlocked state, two national highways, and violence following the creation of seven new districts by bifurcating the existing ones.
PTI
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 17:32 [IST]
Comedian Atul Khatri's joke on seatbelt becomes one on him as Mumbai Police responds
'Ram Setu' 1st week box office collection: Here's how much Akshay-starrer earned, so far
'Two-finger test' should be banned in matrimonial dispute cases too, says Maharashtra doctor
Mortal remains of Indians killed in Istanbul attack arrive
India
oi-PTI
Mumbai, Jan 4: Bodies of film producer-realtor Abis Rizvi and fashion designer Khushi Shah, who were among 39 people killed in the Istanbul terror attack, arrived in Mumbai early on Tuesday.
"The Turkish Airlines plane carrying the bodies landed at Mumbai airport shortly after 5 AM," BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, who received the bodies at the airport, told PTI.
While Rizvi's body has been taken to his home in suburban Bandra, Khushi's body was flown to Vadodara for cremation later today, he said. Rizvi's burial will also take place today.
The flight carrying the bodies left Istanbul last night. Khushi and Rizvi were among the 15 foreigners who were killed when a gunman went on a rampage at the waterside Reina nightclub in Istanbul where revellers were celebrating the New Year.
PTI
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 10:18 [IST]
Now TMC burns BJP office in Hooghly, West Bengal
India
oi-Vicky
The BJP's office in Hooghly, West Bengal was set on fire allegedly by TMC workers. The incident comes just a few hours after the house of a BJP leader was bombed in Uttarapura again by TMC workers.
West Bengal: Alleged TMC workers set BJP office in Hooghly on fire pic.twitter.com/v6QrCl9tEe ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
The BJP has cried foul and says that these incidents are deliberate and the state police is looking the other way. Earlier in the day residence of BJP leader Krishna Bhattacharya in Uttarapura was allegedly attacked by TMC workers. A case has been registered in this connection.
On Tuesday TMC workers attacked the BJP's office in Kolkata. The TMC has been protesting the arrests of it two MPs. They were arrested in connection with the Rose Valley scam. The TMC has termed these arrests as an agenda by the BJP against the TMC.
On Tuesday the BJP's Kolkata office was attacked after the arrest of TMC MPs Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Tapas Pal. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Narendra Modi government of vindictive politics. She said after Note Bandi it was now Trinamool Bandi.
The BJP accused the TMC of stage managing the attacks on its office. The BJP said that the police looked the other way when their office was being attacked. This is nothing but state sponsored vandalism the BJP also said. However after the incident the CRPF was deployed outside the BJP office.
OneIndia News
UP: SP leader's car hit by truck, dragged for more than 500 meters in Mainpuri | VIDEO
Mulayam Singh Yadav passes away; Prez Murmu, PM Modi join leaders in mourning the death of SP founder
Mulayam Singh Yadav: A quick look at his controversies that made headlines
SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav to be cremated at native village on Tuesday
Samajwadi Party crisis: Azam Khan positive about Mulayam-Akhilesh patch up
India
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
Lucknow, Jan 4: At a time when a split in the Uttar Pradesh ruling party, Samajwadi Party, looks imminent, senior leader Azam Khan is 'positive' about a patch-up between the two camps.
While one camp is headed by party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, the second led by son and state chief minister Akhilesh looks 'stronger' to take over the reins of the SP.
"I spoke to Netaji, he's positive and wants to solve the issue," Azam told ANI on Wednesday.
He added that both Akhilesh and Mulayam spoke. "The talks between father and son should not stop, as it's a special relationship."
On Tuesday, Akhilesh met his father and spent three hours with him. However, it seems both the camps are yet to arrive at an agreement.
The latest round of conflict in the party started after Akhilesh announced his own list of candidates for the upcoming UP assembly elections 2017.
In fact, Akhilesh was suspended from the party for six years by his father and was immediately taken back into its fold. In a show of strength, more than 90 percent of SP legislators expressed their support for the chief minister.
OneIndia News
SC tells Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of water to TN
India
oi-Vicky
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu till it decides on the order of the Cauvery Waters Tribunal.
On the last date of hearing the court had agreed to hear appeals filed by the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu which had challenged the order of the Cauvery Waters Tribunal. The court had ruled that the appeals filed by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu challenging the award of the Cauvery Waters Tribunal are maintainable.
Both states had challenged the order of the Cauvery Waters Tribunal dated February 5, 2007. The Centre had opposed the appeals stating it is not maintainable. The tribunal in its final award had determined the usable quantum of water of the Cauvery at 740 tmcft. Karnataka is entitled to 270 tmcft, Tamil Nadu to 419 tmcft, Kerala 30 tmcft, Puducherry 7 tmcft, and 14 tmcft is meant for environmental purposes, the tribunal had said.
OneIndia News
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 15:38 [IST]
Son rise in DMK, M K Stalin appointed working president
India
oi-Anusha
By Anusha Ravi
M K Karunanidhi's political heir apparent, M K Stalin was appointed working president of DMK on Wednesday. The post was announced recently only for him to lead the party owing to party patriarch Karunanidhi's worsening health condition. Along with M K Stalin being appointed the working chief of the party, 15 other resolutions were also passed.
Breaking image of arch rivalry, the party passed a resolution to condole late J Jayalalithaa's death. For a party that has been extending its support to Jallikattu, the DMK passed a resolution asking the Prime Minister and the centre government to lift the ban on what they termed 'traditional sport' of Tamil Nadu. DMK raised concerns over issues that the government should have ideally raised. Resolutions on demonetisation, NEET, concerns on drought hit Tamil Nadu farmers, urging the government to ensure safe return of Tamil Nadu fishermen arrested by Sri Lankan security forces also found place in the DMK general body meet. The DMK asked the government to mitigate hardships faced by people as an effect of demonetisation.
Already the leader of opposition in the Tamil Nadu assembly, M K Stalin will now lead the party as well. He had been running the party eversince M Karunanidhi's health took a blow earlier this year. M Karunanidhi had already paved the way for M K Stalin to lead the party when he had declared Stalin as his political heir apparent. The statement came as a clear snub to his other son M K Azhagiri who had been contending for the post of DMK's next chief.
OneIndia News
Some CBI officers had 'setting' with TMC, so ED was sent to probe Bengal scams: Dilip Ghosh
'Won't bow my head before BJP': TMC's Abhishek Banerjee after ED interrogation in cattle scam
Sudip Bandyopadhyay's wife cries foul over arrest
India
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay's wife has cried foul over his arrest and blamed the CBI of not informing the family about it. She has also registered a complaint with the Bidhan Nagar Police Station alleging that she was not informed about his arrest.
TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay's wife registers a complaint in Bidhan Nagar (WB) against CBI alleging that she was not informed of his arrest. ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
Meanwhile, Bandyopadhyay's legal counsel has claimed that allegations against the TMC MP were totally baseless and politically motivated.
"Allegations are totally baseless, it is political vendetta. So far as Mr Bandyopadhyay is concerned, there's no evidence," news agency ANI quoted Bandyopadhyay's lawyer Rajdeep Majumdar.
TMC's Chandrima Bhattacharya has also filed a complaint in Anandpur, West Bengal, against CBI over Bandyopadhyay's arrest.
Bandyopadhyay was arrested in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam. TMC has come out in support of their leader and taken to streets in protest.
"Sudip da is absolutely fine. He is confident, he is healthy and he is happy. We are going to Delhi tomorrow. By doing all this, you cannot stop TMC and Mamata Banerjee," Trinamool's Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien said on Tuesday
Bandyopadhyay alleged that the arrest was the result of political vendetta against him and the TMC by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government.
Last week the CBI arrested actor-turned-TMC MP Tapas Pal in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam. Also, Pal's daughter Sohini appeared before the CBI for interrogation in Bhubaneswar for the second time.
OneIndia News
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 13:58 [IST]
TMC has no moral right to speak against black money: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
India
oi-PTI
Kolkata, Dec 3: In his first public appearance since the humiliating defeat of the CPI(M) in Assembly polls last year, senior party leader and former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said the Trinamool Congress has no moral right to speak against black money when its MPs were arrested in Rose Valley Chit fund scam.
Bhattacharjee alleged that the Mamata Banerjee government was full of "anti-social elements" and the entire Trinamool Congress was "corrupt". "The Mamata Banerjee government is full of anti-social elements and one of them was arrested today," he said referring to the arrest of Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay by CBI in the Rose Valley ponzi scam case.
"From top to bottom, the entire party is corrupt. This government does not have the moral right to speak against black money. Instead of searching elsewhere, they should search their own houses for black money," Bhattacharjee said. He was speaking on the occasion of 50 years of CPI(M)'s mouthpiece 'Ganashakti'.
CPI(M) state secretary Surjyakanta Mishra asked the CBI to arrest the "big fishes" allegedly involved in the scam. "We all know that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was present in the meeting with Rose Valley chairman Gautam Kundu in Delo bungalow in Kalimpong. There is no need to raise a hue and cry over the arrest of two MPs. The CBI needs to arrest the big fishes instead of arresting the small fries," Mishra said.
He also dared Banerjee to arrest CPI(M) leaders who she named earlier in the day claiming to be involved in the Rose Valley scam if she found concrete evidence against them. "She has named a few of our leaders today. However, there was no need to take names as none of our leaders are involved in the scam and they are not in the list of probables who are likely to be questioned," he said.
The CPI(M)'s Kolkata District Committee has organised a rally on Wednesday to demand the arrest of "big fishes" in the Rose Valley scam.
PTI
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 9:41 [IST]
Sushma Swaraj shuts down a troll who said she will be remembered like Sheila Dikshit
Delhi loses two of its former CMs in span of two weeks
Final Goodbye: From Sushma Swaraj to Sheila Dikshit - A look at politicians that India lost in 2019
UP assembly polls 2017: Congress CM face Sheila Dikshit has a tough time ahead
India
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
Lucknow, Jan 4: At a time when the old guard of most of the political parties are pushed aside into oblivion, often relegated to be margdarshak (guide), it came as a surprise to many when veteran Congress leader Sheila Dikshit was declared as the chief ministerial candidate for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections by her party.
In the battleground of Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress has been out of power for the last 27 years, things seem bleak for the former Delhi CM and her party.
Who is she?
Birth and education: Dikshit was born on March 31, 1938, in Kapurthala, Punjab. She did her Masters in History from Miranda House College of University of Delhi. She also has a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Delhi.
Political career: In an old interview, the 78-year-old politician admitted that her entry into politics was 'purely accidental'. Dikshit was brought into politics by former prime minister Indira Gandhi. After heading Delhi for three consecutive terms from 1998 to 2013, as its CM, she also served Kerala as governor from March to August 2014.
Controversies: Diskhit is not new to controversies. During her decades long career, the veteran Congress leader's name has been dragged in a couple of corruption cases, the most prominent one was the 2010 Commonwealth Games scam. She also faced flak for her insensitive remarks towards women during Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case in 2012.
OneIndia News
In India terror down by 34%, civilian deaths by 90% since Art 370 scrapped: Shah
Only those from political families can eye a CMs post in Congress: Amit Shah
UP assembly polls 2017: Rise of Amit Shah, from RSS volunteer to BJP president
India
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
Shah, who has been seeking votes for the BJP has left no stone unturned for the upcoming elections. Here is a look at his profile:
Date of birth: October 22, 1964
Education: Shah has a Bachelor's Degree in Bio-Chemistry from CU Shah Science College, Ahmedabad.
Political career: Shah became a member of the RSS at the age of four, where he used to attend the local shakhas and later on became a volunteer during his college days. He met Narendra Modi in 1982 when Modi was a RSS Pracharak.
Shah officially joined the BJP in 1986.
Even as Shah continued to rise within the party ranks, he campaigned for LK Advani during the 1991 General elections from Gandhinagar.
Amit Shah became the Minister of State during Modi government in Gujarat, holding portfolios like transport, housing, police, and more.
Shah played a crucial role during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections where BJP won a massive majority. Following BJP's win, he was appointed as the party president , replacing Rajnath Singh.
Controversies:
Amit Shah has had his share of controversies after his name cropped up in the Sohrabuddin Fake encounter and Ishrat Jehan encounter case. During the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, it was alleged that Shah had tried to polarise the voters in UP.
UP polls: How Mayawati is reaching out to Muslims, Dalits
India
oi-Vicky
Lucknow, Jan 4: Caste, appeasement and religion will always be an integral part of politics. An analysis of the list that has been filed by the Bahujan Samaj Party for the Uttar Pradesh elections shows that the party is depending very heavily on both the Muslim and Dalit votes.
[Also Read: Mayawati, defiant of SC verdict, lures Muslims, Dalits to vote for BSP]
The party's strategy is to stitch together the Dalit and Mulsim votes. This was done taking into consideration the fact that the Dalit and Muslim votes constitute 40 per cent of the electorate.
The number of Muslim candidates has gone up from 85 in 2012 to 97 this year. The BSP's supremo, Mayawati, had said on Monday that the Dalits and Muslims should not waste their votes on the Samajwadi Party which has split.
BSP's seat break-up:
If one were to look at the seat break-up, it is clear that Mayawati is reaching out heavily to the Muslims in Uttar Pradesh. She has fielded 28 per cent from the upper castes, 24 per cent Muslims, 21 per cent Dalits and 26 per cent OBCs.
This is a clear indicator that Mayawati is relying very heavily on the Muslim votes and she is aware that if she manages to grab a lion's share of these votes, the BJP and the SP would be in trouble.
The number of Dalit seats has fallen from 88 to 87 when compared to the 2012 polls. She has also nominated 66 Brahmins, 36 Kshatriyas and 11 from the Vaishya and Khatri communities.
The number of Brahmins has decreased considerably from the 2007 elections. In 2007 the BSP had 86 Brahmins while in 2012 and 2017 it is 74 and 66 respectively. The number of OBC candidates being fielded too has fallen from 113 in 2012 to 106 this year.
OneIndia News
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 6:47 [IST]
Some CBI officers had 'setting' with TMC, so ED was sent to probe Bengal scams: Dilip Ghosh
'Won't bow my head before BJP': TMC's Abhishek Banerjee after ED interrogation in cattle scam
WB: TMC workers block NH-2 in protest against Bandyopadhyay's arrest
India
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
The Trinamool Congress workers on Wednesday blocked National Highway 2 near Asansol, West Bengal, in protest against their MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay's arrest, said reports.
West Bengal: TMC workers block NH-2 near Asansol in protest against the arrest of TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay. Vehicles stranded. ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
Bandyopadhyay was arrested in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam. TMC has come out in support of their leader and taken to streets in protest.
"Sudip da is absolutely fine. He is confident, he is healthy and he is happy. We are going to Delhi tomorrow. By doing all this, you cannot stop TMC and Mamata Banerjee," Trinamool's Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien said on Tuesday
Bandyopadhyay alleged that the arrest was the result of political vendetta against him and the TMC by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government.
Last week the CBI arrested actor-turned-TMC MP Tapas Pal in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam. Also, Pal's daughter Sohini appeared before the CBI for interrogation in Bhubaneswar for the second time.
OneIndia News
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 11:28 [IST]
COLUMN: What is Indian Secularism?
India
oi-Oneindia
By Sanjal Shastri
The recent Supreme Court judgement forbidding the use of religion, caste or creed to seek votes did not come as a surprise. The preamble of our constitution clearly marks India as a 'Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic'. In the ideal sense in a 'secular' democracy, religion must be kept out of all political discourse. On the face of it the debate will appear to be an open and shut case. Indian democracy however is anything but straightforward. The system has multiple layers and is a highly complex process. The Supreme Court judgement forces us to relook at what Indian secularism really is. Secularism has multiple meanings and interpretations. Given India's multi-cultured, multi-religious and multi-linguistic makeup, can we afford to divorce religion and politics?
More than sixty years after Independence, there has been no national consensus regarding what Indian secularism would entail. The Supreme Court verdict spells out secularism as divorcing state and religion. The verdict also exposes several contradictions. Firstly, we have separate Hindu, Muslim and Christian family laws. Going by what the court has said, if secularism means divorcing state and religion, then we cannot be having separate family laws for different religions. The debate over triple talaq touched on this aspect of the discourse. The demand for a universal civil code is based on this very idea of secularism. In this sense in a secular democratic country, one cannot have laws, which are derived from religious teachings. The second contradiction arises from the reservation system. Going by the Supreme Court verdict, along with religion, caste and creed should also be kept away from election campaigns. The reservation system, however, allocates a certain number of seats for SCs, STs and OBCs. This goes against the Supreme Court's interpretation of secularism.
An idea open to interpretation
While making sense of these contradictions, one needs to take into account that not all interpretations of secularism have advocated a complete divorce of state and religion. Maulana Husain Ahmed Madani, proposed a form of secularism were the state would be impartial and
support all religions equally. The popular perception of secularism in India also looks at secularism as a system where the state engages all religions impartially. When drafting separate family laws for Hindus, Muslims and Christians, the idea of secularism was that the state would not divorce itself from religion totally, but would rather be impartial and give equal space to all religions.
The Supreme Court's vision of secularism follows the American and French interpretation that a secular state has noting to do with religion. In France, the ban on burqa in public places stems from the idea that religion is something that is restricted to the private sphere. Since the burqa is seen as a religious symbol it cannot be worn in a public space like a beach or a shopping mall.
Deciding what Indian secularism means will require us to understand which of the two interpretations would be most suited for the Indian context. Compared to France or US, India is a far more diverse country with several layers of identity. In India's cultural context, the division between the private and public sphere, on which French secularism is based on, is different. The Supreme Court's interpretation of totally segregating religion and politics poses several challenges. In a religiously heterogeneous state like India, the democratic system is what guards the rights and liberties of minority groups. By taking religion away from politics, the court is taking away an important tool in the hand of minority groups to ensure their rights are not trampled upon. Democracy is about representation, in a multi-religious society like India, it will be difficult for a minority group to have a political voice if the state and religion are separated.
Development and economic prosperity has not been evenly distributed. Certain castes and communities have had enjoyed the benefits of India's progress while others have not enjoyed their share. When introducing the system of reservation, the goal was to ensure groups that had previously not had a chance to gain access to education and government jobs get a chance. While there are challenges faced with the reservation system, there is no doubt that some element of positive discrimination is going to be key to ensure that all groups of people enjoy the benefits of India's progress. If religion, caste and creed is divorced from the state, then it is will be difficult to
ensure equitable progress. For this the government will have to introduce policies, which are targeted at specific regions or communities.
A matter of distinction
In Indian culture there is very little distinction between the public and the private. The personal life of a person holding a public office is carefully scrutinised. Personal habits or behaviour impacts the
social image of an individual. Social or group identities often are as important as individual identity. In a country were the line between private and public does not exist, the French model of secularism, which restricts religion to the private sphere, will not be feasible.
If we are to define an Indian model of secularism, it would be one were the state gives all religions equal importance. It is not a system where the religion and the state are two separate entities. It is not a system where religion is restricted to the personal space. Given the layers of diversity and identities Indians have, interaction between religion and political discourse will be here to stay. For any minority groups, the democratic system is the means by which their rights are safeguarded and their voice is heard. Removing religion entirely from the political discourse will not be in the interest of our representative system. India's secular democratic system will be one where different religions have a separate family law. Our current civil code is the most suited to ensure the freedom to practice one's religion. Positive discrimination and reservation system are here to stay. Successive governments in the future will have to device special policies which target specific groups in order to ensure that benefits of India's rise is distributed amongst all. While it is tempting to adopt the American or French brand of secularism, we have to account for their adaptability in the Indian context. Indian democracy has been designed as a secular system where the state gives equal space to all religions. Over the past seventy years, this system has served us well. If there is any way Indian secularism can be defined, then this must be the way.
The author is an academic associate at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He can be contacted on sshastri93@gmail.com.
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 16:59 [IST]
2017 will be a year of massacre for Europe?
International
oi-Vicky
Berlin, Jan 4: It would be a bad idea to pay a visit to Europe in 2017 as the entire region is under the threat of lone wolf attacks by members of the Islamic State. intelligence agencies from across the world have been rating the threat perception very high and say that all of Europe remains extremely vulnerable to lone wolf attacks by the IS.
[Also Read: Germany hunts possible accomplices of Berlin suspect Amri]
Attacks at Nice and Berlin demonstrate how vulnerable Europe is to lone wolf attacks. Running a crowd over with a truck is an easy option available to IS recruits and they will try and replicate more such attacks, the intelligence agencies warn.
While the threat perception remains A-grade and extremely high, the IS too issued a warning stating that 2017 would be the year of most deadly attacks for Europe.
This is just the beginning the IS handles posted on Twitter. One person wrote on Twitter that 2017 will be the year of massacre for Europe. To add to the fears of such warnings, the Europol went on to state that the threat of the IS looms large.
Intelligence agencies say that there is no doubt that the IS would step up the attacks. The pattern that we are studying indicates that there is heavy recruitment and promotion of IS ideology on the web with a specific focus on Europe, one intelligence official says.
They will look to replicate the same pattern and stage attacks. Attacks by lone wolves would be the highest, but one must also note rule out coordinated strikes as well, the officer also noted.
OneIndia News
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 7:29 [IST]
After criticising UN, Trump speaks with UN head Antonio Guterres
International
oi-IANS
By Ians English
United Nations, Jan 4: After scathing criticism of the UN, US President-elect Donald Trump spoke on Wednesday with Antonio Guterres, its new Secretary-General. The Secretary-General's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters that Guterres called Trump and described it as an "introductory calla that "went quite well."
Trump spokesperson Sean Spicer in answer to a question at his briefing about the criticism of the UN and moves in Congress to cut US contributions to it, said that as the biggest contributor to the UN budget, Washington can demand some "reforms and changes" to make it more efficient.
The US contributes about 22 percent of the UN's budget and about 25 percent of its peacekeeping expenses.
Spicer did not give any specifics about their meeting and said that Trump will work with his UN Ambassador-designate Nikki Haley on the US agenda at the world body. They discussed a number of issues and how the UN and the US can work together, Haq said. They will get into the specifics when they meet, he added.
He said that he did not think that the Paris agreement on climate change came up in their conversation. Trump has been sceptical about the Paris pact as well as about the UN version of climate change dangers.
Last month the Security Council passed a resolution critical of Israel and condemning the construction of settlements in occupied territories with the US refusing to veto it as it has in the past with resolutions criticising the strong ally of the US.
Trump attacked President Barack Obama for allowing the resolution to pass and said in a tweet, "As to the UN, things will be different after Jan. 20th," the day he takes over as President. Efforts have also started in the US Congress to cut funding to the UN as a fallout of the resolution.
In another tweet, Trump mocked the UN as a "just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time." But he also added, "The United Nations has such great potential."
Last month Guterres told the Portuguese television channel SIC last month that he hoped to have an excellent working meeting with Trump and it was in his interest to meet him.
He also acknowledged that Washington was a major contributor to the UN and has a fundamental role in its activities.
IANS
Germany: Agencies search two locations linked to Berlin attacker
International
oi-PTI
Berlin, Jan 3: German police have searched two locations in Berlin linked to the man suspected of carrying out a deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in the capital last month.
Federal prosecutors said that police conducted one of the searches at a refugee shelter where a 26-year-old Tunisian man lived.
The unnamed man allegedly knew Anis Amri, the 24-year-old Tunisian suspect ,who was shot dead by police in Milan days after the attack.
Prosecutors say the other man was in contact with Amri until shortly before the December 19 attack. They suspect he knew about plans for the attack and may have helped him. A separate search was conducted at an apartment where a former roommate of Amri's once lived. The attack killed 12 people and left dozens more injured.
PTI
Government attacks rebel-held river, Damascus goes thirsty
International
oi-PTI
Beirut, Jan 3: Residents of Damascus are scrambling for clean water after the government attacked rebels holding the city's main source in a nearby valley, producing an outage that has stretched on for nearly two weeks.
The cut-off is a major challenge to the government's effort throughout the nearly 6-year-old civil war to keep the capital as insulated as possible from the effects of the conflict tearing apart much of the country. The battle for resources has always been an undercurrent to the war. The government, in particular, has advertised its efforts to keep electricity and water flowing to areas under its control, while it blocks the UN and other relief agencies from supplying opposition zones. But rarely has that struggle been so starkly felt inside the capital.
"I have stopped cleaning the house, washing dishes or clothes. We no longer take showers," said Mona Maqssoud, a 50-year-old resident of Damascus. She said residents have relied on water tankers that come by occasionally and give 20 liters (5 gallons) of water to each house, but that hasn't been enough. "We begged the drivers (to return) to our neighborhood, but they refused." The opposition has long controlled Wadi Barada, the valley northwest of Damascus through which the river of the same name flows to the capital.
The government and the opposition had previously had an understanding to keep water services running. But that modus vivendi ended when forces of President Bashar Assad and his allies, the Lebanon Hezbollah guerrilla force, attacked the valley, home to some 100,000 people. The cut-off, since December 22, is the longest Damascus has seen, say residents, who are accustomed to intermittent outages. The Barada River and its source, the Ain al-Fijeh spring, supply 70 per cent of the water for Damascus and its environs.
An activist-run media collective in the Barada Valley said government and Russian aircraft had bombed the Ain el-Fijeh water processing facility, puncturing its fuel depots and contaminating the water stream. The collective said the plant's electrical control systems had been destroyed as well. Images showed the roof of the facility collapsed into its main water basin. An activist with the group, Abu Mohammed al-Bardawi, said it would take at least two months to get the facilities working again.
Damascus officials said they shut off the water after opposition forces poured gasoline into the river. The government denied attacking the water processing facility, saying it would not set out to harm its own population. Still, it would not be the first time it strikes its own facilities: government strikes hit pumping stations in the northern city of Aleppo in April, September, and November. Damascus, the seat of Assad's power, has been spared from the widespread destruction in other parts of the country, though rebels on the outskirts occasionally fire mortar rounds into the city.
AP
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 14:32 [IST]
PFI ban 'dangerous' as every Muslim who speaks his mind can now be arrested: AIMIM chief Owaisi
Muslim man can't remarry if he's unable to take care of family: Allahabad HC
Why a terror angle should not be ruled out in the Coimbatore cylinder blast case
What if Owaisi had? Muslim users on Twitter blast Kejriwal for asking for Hindu God images on currency notes
Muslim rebel group men free 132 from jail in Philippines
International
oi-IANS
By Ians English
Cotabato City, Jan 4: Armed men believed connected to a Muslim rebel group stormed a jail facility in North Cotabato in the Philippines early on Wednesday and freed at least 132 inmates, officials said.
Supt. Peter Bungat, warden of Amas of Kidapawan District jail, told radio station that gunmen led by a certain Commander Derbie opened fire at his men guarding the facility around 1.00 a.m. local time, leaving one of his men dead and another wounded, Xinhua news agency reported.
Bungat confirmed that 132 out of their 1,511 inmates managed to escape. "It's well planned. Escapees used blanket as their getaway. There's ongoing clearing operation. We have manhunt operation," he said. Bungat said Commander Derbie belongs to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
"We have no idea right now if there were any high profiles in the 132 inmates that escaped. We are still accounting our prisoners," he said.
IANS
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 8:53 [IST]
Suspected IS scout for Berlin attack sites goes on trial
International
oi-PTI
Berlin, Jan 4: An alleged Islamic State jihadist accused of scoping out potential targets for an attack in Berlin, including the Brandenburg Gate and Reichstag building, went on trial in Germany today. It was the country's first trial of a suspected IS militant deployed to Germany from Syria during the chaotic 2015 refugee influx -- in contrast to "lone wolf" attacks or plots by extremists who were radicalised elsewhere.
The defendant, identified only as 19-year-old Syrian national Shaas al-Mohammad, allegedly fought with the Islamist militia in his war-torn homeland for two years before arriving in Germany as a refugee in August 2015. Dressed in a blue pullover and a black cap, Mohammad hid his face behind a folder as he took his seat in the courtroom. Two police trucks were parked outside the entrance, with officers armed with machine guns guarding the proceedings. Mohammad was standing trial at a special state security court in Berlin on charges of membership of a foreign terrorist organisation, which carries up to 10 years in jail, and military weapons law violations.
The trial comes just over two weeks after an IS extremist from Tunisia allegedly ploughed a truck through a Berlin Christmas market in an attack that killed 12 people. Prosecutors claim the defendant joined the jihadist group as a teenager in mid-2013, taking part in combat operations, handling an AK-47 assault rifle and supplying food to fighters. He arrived in Germany near the peak of a mass influx of people fleeing Syria, Iraq and other crisis-torn countries that brought almost 900,000 asylum seekers to Europe's biggest economy in 2015.
He allegedly stayed in "close contact" with IS and repeatedly visited the German capital until February 2016 to scout out landmark targets and busy tourist sites for an attack. Among the suspected targets was the area around the glass-domed Reichstag parliament building, the nearby Brandenburg Gate monument and the busy shopping square Alexanderplatz.
He then allegedly "passed the information about the potential attack targets onto his contacts at the IS", said the court in a statement. "In addition, he arranged to send at least one person to Syria as a fighter and offered his services as a contact person for potential attackers in Germany," it added. The young Syrian was arrested on March 22 last year and has been in pre-trial detention ever since. The court has set 25 hearings until April.
PTI
International news brief: Series of earthquakes rattle Hawaii and more
Turkey: Emergency period extended for another three months
International
oi-IANS
By Ians English
Ankara, Jan 4: The Turkish parliament on Tuesday approved to extend the state of emergency for another three more months, Dogan News Agency reported.
[Also Read: 5 reasons why a military coup was staged in Turkey]
Turkey declared a state of emergency on July 20, 2016, days after a failed military coup, which Ankara blames on the US-based exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, Xinhua news agency reported.
Under emergency rule, the government can bypass the parliament to enact new laws and limit or suspend rights and freedoms.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday that debates on a bill to change the Turkey's constitution will start in parliament next week.
The draft will be submitted to the General Assembly on January 9 and is expected to be approved by the end of the month.
The bill grants extended power to the President and allows the President to remain the head of his or her political party.
The Turkish government said it would put the constitutional changes to a referendum, even if the proposals had gained enough support from lawmakers to pass through the parliament.
IANS
COLUMN: Turkeys bid to join the EU: Have we reached a point of no return?
International
oi-Oneindia
By Sanjal Shastri
2016 has been a testing year for Turkey's relations with the European Union. With Austria's foreign minister threatening to freeze talks regarding Turkey's EU membership bid, irreparable damage might be done to the relationship between the two sides. Turkey, a land that is described as a natural meeting point between the East and the West, is increasingly finding itself out of favor in Europe.
This commentary attempts to look at the possible fallouts of the turbulent year in EU-Turkey ties. Has irreparable damage been done to Turkey's membership bid? And finally what could we expect in 2017?
The migrant deal inked in March was the high point to EU Turkey relations in 2016. While many critics lambasted the deal for its total disregard for human rights, the fact that the two groups were able to come to the agreement was a major milestone in Turkey's attempt to join the EU. From this high point in March, the journey has gone steadily downwards, now threatening to permanently derail Turkey's bid for EU membership.
For Turkey, 2016 has been a particularly testing year. A series of terror attacks and an attempted coup has pushed President Erdogan's government to employ emergency powers to deal with the situation. It is the use of emergency powers that has been the bone of contention in the EU. From the alleged ill-treatment of the deputy leader of Turkey's parliament in Germany to the many verbal battles between the two sides, several pressure points have arisen.
Ultimately, the EU voted to freeze all talks of Turkey's membership bid, which is where the situation currently stands. What could possibly be the fallout of this tension?
The immediate victim of this could be the migrant deal the two sides struck in March. President Erdogen has already sent to feelers that he would not hesitate to scrap the deal with things spiral out of control. Much more than a battle over the use of emergency powers, for President Erdogen, this is become an, us versus them situation. In such situations, pragmatism and foresight falls prey to jingoism and hyper-nationalism. Looking at how things have panned out over the past few months, one cannot but help fear that the migrant deal would be the first victim in the whole process.
Scrapping the migrant deal would have drastic consequences across Europe. The influx of migrants has been a very volatile topic across the 27 EU member states. Right wing parties in several countries including France, Germany and Austria had been receiving a lot of support for their anti-migrant stand. The migrant deal put breaks on the number of migrants entering Europe, which halted the growth in popularity of the various right wing parties.
With elections coming up next year, a return of a large number of migrants anywhere near the 2015 numbers, will mean that right wing parties will begin to see more support. Popular support for Angela Merkel, which had fallen in late 2015, had picked up again after a fall in the number of refugees. If there is an increase in the number of refugees, it may seriously damage Merkel's chances of getting re-elected.
With Turkey's future with the EU in jeopardy, there could be changes in the regional balance of power and security calculations. Currently, Turkey, which is a member of the NATO, is a crucial ally for the West. The US and the EU have been cooperating closely with Turkey regarding the fight against ISIS. If the tensions with the EU continue, Turkey will be pushed to look for a future alliance somewhere else.
There have already been sights that the Turkish leadership has begun to look elsewhere. Talks have commenced over a possible partnership with the Shanghai Cooperation Group. The last thing the EU would want is for Turkey to move towards Russia.
A possible Turkey, Iran, Russia and Syria alliance will not be a bright possibility for the EU. While we are still very far away from getting here, if things deteriorate further between the EU and Turkey, this possible re-alignment would not be too farfetched.
The question comes, have EU and Turkey gone to a point of no return? There is still some light at the end of the tunnel. European leaders like Angela Merkel understand the importance of the migrant deal on the upcoming elections. They realize that pushing Turkey too far will jeopardize the migrant deal. The hope is therefore, some sort of understanding would be reached over the next couple of months.
There is a lot at stake for the EU to mend fences with Turkey. That being said, the outcome of the French, German and Dutch elections next year will have a lot to say. If right wing parties come out stronger, chances are that Turkey will be pushed beyond a point of no return. This however depends on the right wing parties winning a significant number of votes in the upcoming elections. As of today, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
For many in the EU, Turkey's bid to join the Union has always been a very contentious issue. Despite constant tensions with Greece and Cyprus, promising progress had been made. 2016 has however, bought about doubts if such a membership would ever be possible. A debate over emergency powers adopted by President Erdogan is quickly turning to an, us versus them debate. It puts in the all-important migrant deal between the two sides in jeopardy.
If this does happen, Europe may again witness an influx of migrants, which will have an impact on the elections planned next year in Germany, The Netherlands and France. Turkey, which has already begun looking for greener pastures with the Shanghai Cooperation Group, may be forced to look towards Russia for a possible alliance. A change of this sort is bound to have serious consequences for the security calculations in the region. While a lot that could go wrong has gone wrong, while have not yet reached a point of no return as far as EU and Turkey are concerned.
For EU, there is a lot at stake and one should not be surprised if a deal is struck between the two sides in early 2017.
The author is an Academic Associate at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He regularly rights about issues linked to the Middle East and South Asia. He can be contacted on sshastri93@gmail.com.
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Story first published: Wednesday, January 4, 2017, 16:53 [IST]
US talking to Pakistani leaders to shut down safe havens for Taliban along Pak-Afghan border: Pentagon
Concerns on terrorist safe havens in Pakistan an honest one: US
US hits back at N.Korea over ICBM claims, asks to refrain from provocation
International
oi-PTI
Washington, Jan 3: The Pentagon on Wednesday asked North Korea to refrain from provocative actions amid reports that Pyongyang is planning to test an intercontinental ballistic missile that is capable of reaching the United States.
On Tuesday, US president elect Donald Trump took to Twitter to comment on North Korea's claims on ICBM missiles.
North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won't happen! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2017
"We further call on all states to take steps to show that there are consequences to the DPRK's unlawful conduct," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters at his daily news conference. DPRK is the official name of North Korea.
Cook made the remarks while responding to questions on statements coming from the North Korean leadership on launching an ballistic missile capable of reaching the US.
"We call on the DPRK to refrain from provocative actions and to make the strategic choice to fulfil its international obligations and commitments and return to serious talks. We reaffirm our iron-clad commitments to defend our allies to utilising the full spectrum of US extended deterrence capabilities," Cook said.
Multiple UN Security Council resolutions, he said explicitly prohibit North Korea's launches using ballistic missile technology or further development of a ballistic missile programme.
"We call on all states to use every available channel and means of influence to make clear to North Korea and its enablers that launches using ballistic missile technology or efforts to advance North Korea's ballistic missile capabilities are unacceptable," he said.
The UN resolution, Cook said, explicitly prohibits North Korea from engaging in ballistic missile tests and from developing this technology.
"We would call on the North Koreans to refrain from provocative actions," he said, adding that there are ample reasons why North Korea should not carry out something of a provocative nature.
Cook said the United States is working closely with the South Koreans to install and deploy a missile defence system as quickly and efficiently as possible.
"We will do everything we can working with the South Koreans to do that. We think it's an important part of our broader missile defence efforts in support of our ally and in support of the region as well," he said.
Cook said the international community is uniformly challenging North Korea to once again not carry out provocative actions.
"This is a country that has demonstrated an unwillingness to be part of the international community, and we're once again calling on all players, all countries to use what influence they have to get North Korea not to engage in these kind of provocative actions," he reiterated.
PTI
OK! Magazine 04 Nov 2022
Queen Mother 'would have been absolutely horrified' at Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's Oprah interview, an expert said.
Hacer Aydin, ITE Turkey Tourism & Travel & Fashion Group Director answered questions of ftnNEWS.
ftnNEWS: Can you please give us information about EMITT 2017?
This year well be organizing East Mediterranean International Tourism and Travel Exhibition EMITT for the 21st time. EMITT is organized by EUF E Uluslararas Fuarclk, an affiliate of ITE Turkey, organizer of leading exhibitions in leading sectors in Turkey. Recognized as one of the top 5 tourism exhibitions in the world, EMITT will be held between 26-29 January 2017. The exhibition will be held in a total of 12 halls representing a total exhibition space of 70 thousand sqm and will be joined by national pavilions, Turkeys holiday destinations, winter and outdoor tourism destinations, hotels and tourism centers, tour operators, agencies and hotels who will showcase and promote a wide range of holiday destinations to visitors. With this exhibition well bring together holiday destinations for all 4 seasons both from Turkey and 80 countries.
ftnNEWS: What is EMITTs significance for the sector?
The exhibition which will be held in a total of 12 halls representing a total exhibition space of 70 thousand sqm will host national pavilions, Turkeys holiday destinations, winter and outdoor tourism destinations, hotels and tourism centers, tour operators, agencies and hotels as exhibitors and give information to visitors about a wide range of holiday destinations. Companies from around 80 countries will get access to new procurement, business development, new business and partnership opportunities. Thus, we can say that EMITT makes a great contribution to the sector.
On the other hand, economic contribution of EMITT, which is also a major platform that facilitates interaction between different cultures in Turkey and between international cultures, cant be underestimated. Hundreds of international exhibitors that come to our country for EMITT and thousands of visitors and exhibitors coming to Istanbul from other parts of our country enliven the tourism in the city. And those coming from abroad also enliven the economy. The biggest deals and partnerships of the tourism industry in our country are being made here. Business deals that will benefit our country are being signed thanks to EMITT. Turkeys position as a transit country due to its geographical location, and its proximity to Europe and Middle East also makes EMITT distinguished exhibition. While the Eastern Mediterranean Region as mentioned in our exhibitions name- is considered to be easily accessible for many countries, it also nests many different holiday destinations as well.
ftnNEWS: Can you please give us information about EMITT 2017s supporters and business partners?
EMITT, which will be organized at Tuyap Fair Convention and Congress center between 26 - 29 January 2017 will be held with the corporate sponsorship of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkish Republic, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Turkish Airlines, with support of KOSGEB and in association with Turkish Hoteliers Federation (TUROFED) and Turkish Tourism Investors Association (TYD).
ftnNEWS: What changes will this years EMITT be offering?
Recognized as one of the top five tourism exhibitions in the world, EMITT will be featuring the Health Tourism Special Section geared towards the health tourism industry, which has become very popular in recent years. In the Health Tourism Special Section, which will be joined by around 30 countries including Turkey, there will also be numerous health centers for treatment and plastic surgery. Ministry of Health of Turkish Republic as well will be joining the exhibition with a large exhibition space.
ftnNEWS: Will Russia join this year and what other countries will join?
As we do every year, this year as well, well have a Hosted Buyer International Buyer Delegation Program for EMITT. This year well be organizing this program in association with TravelShop Turkey. Weve already received applications from 60 countries that wish to join the program. Russia is among these countries. And we believe that the number of companies from Russia that wish to join this program will increase until the exhibition. In addition to companies from Russia, companies from Azerbaijan, United Arab Emirates, Philippines, South Africa, India, Spain, Italy, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macedonia, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Jordan and Greece as well show great interest in EMITT and apply to this program.
ftnNEWS: What will be the advantages of visiting EMITT exhibition?
With such a diverse exhibitor profile, the visitors of the exhibition will get the chance to discover new destinations and plan their 2017 holidays in detail. EMITT Tourism exhibition will help its visitors choose their holiday destinations at bargain prices, with Early booking campaigns and with holiday drawings. Holiday consumers will be hosted on the third and fourth of the exhibition which is 28 to 29 January 2017. Free online invitations for EMITT will be available on www.fuardavetiyesi.com for both before and during the exhibition.
ftnNEWS: Do you think there is sufficient state support for the tourism industry in general and for EMITT?
EMITT, which will be opening its doors for the 21st time between 26 29 January 2017, received great support from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkish Republic regarding holiday sales for summer of 2017 and 2018. The ministry sent a letter of incentive to tourism companies and tour operators to encourage them to offer EMITT visitors holiday deals at lower prices.
The early booking campaigns stated with support from the ministry with the goal of supporting the tourism industry in our country, creating holiday awareness in our citizens, help our citizens to travel across and discover their country and benefit from touristic facilities at lower prices, has come a long way in recent years. If the travel agencies and hotels that will join EMITT take into account the incentive of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkish Republic and prepare their discounted holiday package deals in advance, then our people will get the chance to enjoy holidays at prices that match their budgets. And this will both enliven the tourism industry and have a positive impact on the national economy. We believe that players of the tourism industry will do their best in that sense.
ftnNEWS will participate EMITT at S&M Publication stand at Hall 2 Stand D203
by Graham Pierrepoint
Its 2017, and yet the drama that 2016 year wrought upon the world doesnt seem to be dissipating just yet. This was a year in which we saw Donald Trump get elected, several of our favorite stars pass away, and Britain choose to leave the European Union. This last story has been reverberating around the British Isles for some time and, ahead of preliminary talks set to take place regarding exactly how the UK will disembark from the Union, it seems that a whole new can of worms has been opened up.
Sir Ivan Rogers, British Ambassador to the EU and arguably one of the UKs best experts on the Union and the ways in which an exit strategy could have been negotiated has made a surprise resignation from his role just days from talks being set to get underway. Rogers departure has not been delved into too deeply at the time of writing, however, as a staunch supporter of the Remain side of the referendum vote, many commentators have come forward to suggest that the Ambassador may have felt forced out of the role. This, it is suggested but not confirmed may have been as a result of Rogers conflicting stance on exit matters with the Brexit Means Brexit approach that the government is pressing ahead with.
Its a very interesting development particularly as it is not yet clear exactly where this will leave the UK in terms of its position on negotiating. For many who support the idea of a hard Brexit or even Brexit altogether Rogers departure may be seen as something of a positive change. However, there is little doubt that the negotiating table has lost one of its most brilliant brains and it is not yet clear exactly why.
It also continues a concerning trend of resignations and changes behind political doors in the wake of the Brexit referendum results with rumors circulating regarding which result the government genuinely predicted, and with Leave campaigner Boris Johnson allegedly having sided with Remain in private, the whole affair remains rather tentative and not particularly clear. With Prime Minister Theresa May due to find out soon whether or not MPs will be required to offer their consent on the activation of Article 50, it will prove to be a very important year for negotiating an exit strategy and for Theresa May, one which will prove pivotal in the cementing of her leadership.
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If you do not want to serve your nation with pride, you can leave the forces, says Prime Minister Peter ONeill.If you do not serve your uniform with honour, you have no right to wear it."The PMs statements follow at the back of reports of a clash between the PNG Defence Force and Police at New Year.He has issued a direction to the Nations disciplined forces to immediately enforce the one-strike and you are out policy for unacceptable behaviour."The public expects better from our service personnel and there are many young committed men and women who want to join the forces, ONeill said in a statement.The report I have on the incident at Boroko over the weekend is very concerning.It is now up to relevant commanders to finalise their investigation and take very firm action against any individual who has broken the law and violated their service codes of conduct.PM ONeill said the Government has invested significant resources into restoring the disciplined forces."Over the past five years, we have brought back training programs, we are rebuilding service housing and pride is being restored."There is increasing public confidence in our Police, Defence and Correctional Services and we will not see this tarnished by a selfish few."There are still some individuals who are living in the past, who had thrived on the dysfunction in the disciplined services over the past decades.Times are changing and these ways of the past are being eradicated from our disciplined services.The Prime Minister has further urged young men and women to consider joining one of the three disciplined services.We are continuing to recruit more people into Police, Defence and Correctional Services.I urge young Papua New Guineans to consider career opportunities with our disciplined services, to serve the Nation and to gain skills that will serve them a lifetime.As our nation develops, our economy improves and our communities become even safer, our disciplined services will continue to improve and serve the nation with pride.
Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia:
During the last two weeks of December, hedge funds delivered positive returns and outperformed both equity and bond benchmarks. For the full month of December, the Lyxor hedge fund index was up 1.3% (-0.4% YTD), Lyxor Asset Management said in its latest briefing.
Global macro managers outperformed in December on the back of the rebound in European equities and the depreciation of the EUR and GBP vs. USD. CTAs experienced a healthy rebound over the recent weeks, which contributed to reduce their negative performance in 2016. L/S equity managers underperformed towards the end of December as market conditions turned less supportive and the rebound in cyclical stocks paused.
Philippe Ferreira, Senior Strategist at Lyxor AM, commented, "It would be an understatement to say that active investing has been challenged in 2016. Political risks loomed large and the switch from deflation fears to reflation hopes in H2 led to sizeable trend reversals across the board. This took most investors by surprise."
He added that hedge funds underperformed global equity and bond indices in 2016, while active mutual funds failed to beat their benchmarks. A very small proportion of both European and US equity mutual funds outperformed their benchmarks in 2016. Active investors in the fixed income space also struggled.
"On a positive note, we find that Asian equity mutual funds delivered al......................
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Opalesque Industry Update - Global independent fund administrator, Apex Fund Services, today announces the appointment of investment expert Daniel Strachman. Strachman, who joins Apex Fund Services (US) Inc. as Head of US Business Development, is a well known industry expert who boasts an impressive background in the investment management industry. He brings with him more than twenty years of in-depth financial services experience having held positions at Cantor Fitzgerald & Company, Morgan Stanley & Company and having led A&C Advisors LLC for sixteen years delivering strategic guidance, counsel and support to investment management companies and institutional investors. Strachman is the author of nine investment strategy books including The Fundamentals of Hedge Fund Management and Getting Started in Hedge Funds. In his new role at Apex he will drive U.S. growth initiatives and deliver fund management clients with proactive fund administration solutions. Peter Hughes, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Apex Fund Services, said: Daniel is a really important addition to our US team at this time and he brings with him unrivaled experience of the local asset management space. The appointment of such an experienced investment expert demonstrates our commitment to expanding Apexs US market presence and providing clients with the best and most knowledgeable local support available. Daniels career speaks for itself and his background and subsequent knowledge base will help drive our North American presence forward as we continue to expand our local footprint. Daniel Strachman, Head of US Business Development, Apex Fund Services (US) Inc, said: I am truly excited and thrilled to be joining Apex at this pivotal time in the fund management industry. Never before has the industry been under so much market, fee, performance and regulatory pressure where a truly independent fund administrator is needed and warranted by investors and managers alike. I look forward to expanding Apexs reach in the market by delivering exactly what the market needs. Apex Fund Services, established in Bermuda in 2003, is one of the worlds largest independent fund administration and middle office solutions providers. Apex has continually improved and evolved its product suite by surrounding these core administrative services with additional products spanning the full value chain; from information delivery and regulatory products to capital introduction services. The globally distributed service model is delivered by over 600 staff, across 23 full service centres and an additional 10 sales offices. Apex now administers the investments of some of the largest funds and institutional investors in the world
by Brian Curran, Hogan Lovells As unpredictable as Donald Trump was as a candidate, the impact of his presidency seems equally difficult to forecast. As a candidate, Trumps economic and fiscal policies lacked detail, shifted frequently, and at times, were contradictory. As President-elect, he has already walked back several of his more signature campaign promises. Once his cabinet appointments are made and confirmed, and Republican leadership in the House and Senate galvanize around a set of legislative priorities, his administrations policy objectives may become clearer. In the meantime, early signs of consensus between the incoming administration and Republicans on Capital Hill suggest significant changes could be looming for the U.S. private equity industry and deal-makers more generally. Tax Changes Donald Trumps electoral win and Republican control of Congress make it likely that significant tax reform is coming, perhaps in 2017. If passed via Congress budget reconciliation process, the bill could conceivably be enacted without Democrat support. Key features of President-elect Trumps business tax proposals include: Reducing the corporate tax rate to 15%.
Limiting the top individual tax rate on pass-through income to no more than 15%.
A limit on the deductibility of interest expense (as a trade-off for full business expensing for manufacturers).
Simplified individual income taxes, with a top income tax rate of 25% and a top rate of 20% for capital gains and long-term dividends.
Taxing carried interest at ordinary income, rather than capital gains, tax rates. The tax reform Blueprint released in June 2016 by Speaker Paul Ryan and House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady is similar in many respects to the Trump plan, though with smaller rate cuts. Highlights of the Blueprint include: Reducing the corporate tax rate to 20%.
Reducing the top rate for pass-though business income to 25%.
A limit on deductibility of interest expense to no more than interest income.
Full expensing for capital business expenditures.
Simplified individual income taxes, with a top rate of 33%.
Significant cuts in rates on investment income, allowing individual filers to exclude half of their income from capital gains, dividends and interest.
The Blueprint is silent on carried interest. The proposed rate cuts to pass-through income could be a focal point of debate, even among Republicans. Some observers note that if passthrough income rates fall dramatically lower than ordinary income rates, or even capital gains rates, taxpayers will restructure their business and income generating activities to take advantage. According to the Tax Policy Center, a consequence would be that, carried interest would be taxed at a much lower rate than under current law, notwithstanding its reclassification as ordinary income (rather than capital gains), because the entities that earn carried interest income are organized as partnerships. Carried interest is currently taxed at a rate of up to 23.8%, while under the Trump plan (absent higher rates for carried interest) it would be taxed at a maximum rate of 15%. Trumps campaign advisors, including Wilbur Ross, the announced nominee for Commerce Secretary, insisted during the campaign that a set of rules would be adopted to exclude carried interest from eligibility for the 15% rate. So far, it remains unclear what these rules will be and when they will be advanced. Whatever emerges on tax reform will likely involve a compromise of both the Trump Plan and the Ryan-Brady Blueprint. Even Senate Democrats appear prepared for compromise. Incoming Senate Minority Leader, Senator Chuck Schumer, has signaled a desire to compromise on a plan that would cut corporate taxes if proceeds from Trumps proposal for a one-time tax on accumulated foreign earnings -- an estimated $2.6 trillion -- are reinvested in infrastructure improvements. Nonetheless, it remains unclear the extent to which Democrats in the House and Senate will be involved in shaping any compromise tax reform legislation and what any final reforms will ultimately entail. Financial Services Deregulation Dismantling regulation of the financial services industry is also likely to be an area of particular focus for the incoming administration. During his campaign, candidate Trump repeatedly pledged to get rid of Dodd-Frank, the set of sweeping financial services reforms passed in the wake of the 2008-9 financial crisis without a single House Republican vote and only three Senate Republicans supporting it (Senators Scott Brown of Massachusetts, and Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine). Title IV of the Dodd-Frank Act mandated that many previously unregistered advisers to private funds (such as hedge funds and private equity funds, but not venture capital funds) register with the SEC, making them subject to its oversight and enforcement jurisdiction. In 2012, after the SECs Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations launched a Presence Exam Initiative, examining more than 150 private equity firms, the SEC very publicly intensified enforcement activity over fund expenses, expense allocation, undisclosed fees, conflicts of interest, and issues related to the marketing and valuation of private equity funds. This left many private equity funds, particularly those in the middle market, to view themselves as having been unwittingly swept up in an impulse to over-regulate. In a July 2015 article in The Hill marking the 5-year anniversary of Dodd-Frank, the Association for Corporate Growths President, Gary LaBranche wrote: Regulating private equity has not enhanced the robust and highly rigorous due diligence process already performed by PEs sophisticated investors, before committing to a ten-year partnership. This due diligence is precisely why private equity outperforms most other investments over 3, 5, and 10 year periods Dodd-Frank has caused small and midsize private equity firms to divert resources from investing activities to navigating the Acts complex regulatory framework. Instead of focusing on what private equity does better than any other investment class providing returns for investors private equity firms have been forced to spend roughly $100,000 annually on compliance. Another cornerstone of Dodd-Frank that has impacted private equity is the Volker Rule. Among its restrictions, the rule restricts banks and their affiliates from investing in and sponsoring private equity funds. Notwithstanding his opposition to Dodd-Frank, when asked about the rule during the campaign, Trump was noncommittal. House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling introduced legislation earlier this year that could become the foundation of a body of financial services deregulation moving through Congress in early 2017. Hensarlings proposals, referred to as the Choice Act, include repealing the Volcker Rule and lifting the threshold for bank regulation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from $10 billion in assets to $50 billion. The Volker Rule is blamed (rightly or wrongly) for hurting institutional fundraising by virtue of its restricting investment capital from banks. The Volker Rule is also widely credited with leading to the significant growth of the secondaries market after banks were forced to divest their higher risk investments. Many fund managers point to these regulatory changes as having had a negative impact overall on general lending activities among banks, leading to a decline in loan origination for buyouts and the corresponding rise of unregulated institutional investors lending via private markets funds and business development companies. In light of the above, it is reasonable to expect a roll-back of Dodd-Frank, or at least portions of it, though timing, and the fate of some of its more controversial aspects remain unknown. Antitrust Enforcement Deal-makers in the private equity industry will be keeping an eye on the direction of antitrust enforcement under the new administration. Under President Obama, antitrust review and enforcement was widely regarded as more aggressive than in prior administrations, as evidenced by an increasing willingness by regulators to challenge transactions that fell below filing thresholds of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. While Republican administrations are generally viewed as less aggressive in their enforcement posture, the Trump administrations populist orientation could mean a more idiosyncratic antitrust posture. Citing AT&Ts bid to acquire Time Warner as an example of the power structure Im fighting, Trump famously pledged during his campaign that he would seek to block the deal.7 Moreover, if Trump makes good on pledges to clamp down on global trade, U.S. companies could be forced to find M&A opportunities at home, leading them to buy their domestic competitors, and potentially complicating competition regulation. National Security Review The incoming Trump administrations approach to foreign direct investment (FDI) in the United States and to national security reviews conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is difficult to predict, but private equity investors would be well advised to keep an eye on developments in this area in the coming months. CFIUS is an inter-agency committee with the power to review the national security implications of transactions that could result in control of a U.S. business by a foreign person. CFIUS member agencies include the Departments of Treasury, Justice, Homeland Security, Commerce, Defense, State, and Energy, as well as the White House Offices of the U.S. Trade Representative and Science & Technology Policy. Therefore, the individuals selected to head these agencies may be the best early indication of the direction of CFIUS reviews under a Trump presidency. Mr. Trump has criticized certain foreign investments in the United States8, but his trade-related critiques have focused largely on U.S. free trade agreements and the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to foreign countries. Nonetheless, according to CNN9, a Trump transition team draft memorandum outlining Mr. Trumps trade policy for the first 200 days of his presidency indicates that Mr. Trump would mandate that CFIUS reviews be expanded to consider food security and reciprocity by foreign countries in their treatment of U.S. investments abroad. Members of Congress previously have made similar proposals related to food security, including in connection with Chinese acquisitions of pork producer Smithfield Foods, Inc.10 and the U.S. subsidiaries of Swiss agribusiness Syngenta AG.11 In a September 15, 2016 letter12, members of Congress, noting the upcoming presidential transition, called for the U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) to examine whether CFIUSs regulatory and statutory powers have effectively kept pace with the growing scope of foreign acquisitions in strategically important sectors in the U.S. and to consider whether CFIUS should (i) use a net economic benefit test in its reviews of foreign investments and (ii) mandate reviews of Chinese government-backed investments. GAO agreed to conduct the review. Last month the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, created by Congress in 2000, advocated outright barring Chinese state-owned enterprises from acquiring or otherwise gaining control of U.S. companies. Under existing law, CFIUS reviews are focused on threats to U.S. national security. National security is not a defined term under the relevant regulations and statute, so even without regulatory or statutory changes, the Trump administration could seek to expand the scope of CFIUSs reviews by interpreting national security to include food security and reciprocity in cross-border investments. Chinese media reports and our discussions with Chinese investors suggest that, at least in the short term, some Chinese investors might be cautious about certain investments in the United States until they better understand the Trump administrations likely approach to FDI in the United States. For more information on the incoming administrations approach to FDI and potential CFIUS changes, please see our most recent information here. It remains too early still to predict the precise contours of Trumps policy agenda, and because of that, the impact he will have on private equity and deal-making generally. Nonetheless, changes are coming, many potentially profound. We will continue to monitor these developments closely and inform you of their potential impacts.
PILES AND PILES OF THIS KIND OF MONEY FILTERED TO SOLAR COMPANIES BY OBAMA. Need four more years of this waste of your tax dollars instead of small business loans that create REAL jobs?
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The man knew what he wanted and went out and got it! Walked into a jungle and comes out at the age of twenty-one, and he's rich! - Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman
Show Me The Money!
Is it true that anyone living in America can get rich? A popular myth* promoted in everything from best-selling books to TV sitcoms says that it is. We are told that America is the land of endless opportunity, and anyone who works hard can come out of the jungle rich. There is even the suggestion by some that refusing the call to passionately pursue wealth is un-American.
The reality, however, is quite different. The promise of untold wealth - and the personal power that supposedly comes with it - is dangled like a carrot on a stick, enticing the aspiring rich to keep focused on reaching for something the already rich know full well is forever beyond their grasp. The myth, therefore, is part of an elaborate deception, a con.
While it's true that many people do rise above humble beginnings to attain a degree of wealth and social standing, it is not at the same level as the few who inhabit the mountain top. Even among the rich there is a wealth hierarchy, as evidenced by the disdain "old" money displays for "new" money.
The success and endurance of the myth and its associated con is based on embedding the idea that all one needs to be happy is lots of money. And while people will sometimes pay lip service to this not actually being true, no one actually buys into the transparent denial. And how can they in a culture that lusts after lifestyles of the rich and famous, and values wealth above all else?
Ironically, the Declaration of Independence originally contained the phrase, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of wealth". Why then was "happiness" substituted instead? Could it be the founders had a flash of insight, recognizing that while happiness could include wealth, it didn't exclude other definitions? It's unfortunate that for many, the original sentiment remains the only meaning.
The Fatal Flaws
But upon even just a cursory inspection, three fundamental flaws underpinning the scheme are exposed. First, the numbers themselves reveal that relatively few can ever actually achieve great wealth (apart from the fact that by global standards the average American is very well off). Most Americans have become aware of the 1/99 ratio of rich to not rich that represents the stark reality.
Second, not everyone is driven to become monetarily rich. As previously pointed out, there are those who have an entirely different definition of wealth and seek riches in other forms, such as art, knowledge, discovery, promoting a cause, the satisfaction of helping others, etc. Some even see earning money to live as a needless distraction from more important pursuits.
The third and most basic flaw in the myth gets to the very heart. There is a quote attributed to Author, David Mitchell: "Whoever dies with the most stuff wins". Whether it's stuff or money, this sums up the attitude of many regarding what they understand the purpose of existence to be. But why is that? Where is it written that the meaning of life is to become as rich as possible? On what stone? The Ten Commandments? The Bill of Rights? The Hollywood Walk of Fame?
Fact is, the closest we have to authoritative guidance on this issue comes from the world's great wisdom traditions (religion and philosophy), and what they have to say directly contradicts the myth's rationale. These traditions tell us that acquiring wealth is not the goal of human existence. Enlightened teachers from different times and cultures have emphasized this truth over and over. Along with iconic literary works, fine art and music, these wisdom traditions have cast light on the deepest needs and desires of the human soul.
The quest for material wealth is a misdirected attempt to obtain the most basic of human needs: love and security. The myth suggests that the need for love and security can be satisfied by having lots of money. However, this is based on two mistaken beliefs. First, by itself, being wealthy may induce admiration in some and idol worship in others, but it doesn't guarantee being genuinely loved by anyone. Second, it assumes that just having enough money can guarantee safety and security.
A Simple Truth
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Duluth, Minnesota (OpEdNews) January 4, 2017: My favorite scholar is the American Jesuit polymath Walter J. Ong (1912-2003; Ph.D. in English, Harvard University, 1955) of Saint Louis University (SLU), the Jesuit university in St. Louis, Missouri.
Over the years, I took five courses from Fr. Ong at SLU, starting in the fall semester of 1964 when I was twenty years old. I have published a book-length study of Ong's life and work (2000; rev. ed., 2015), and I have co-edited five volumes of his essays (1992a, 1992b, 1995, 1999, and 2002) and contributed introductory essays to four of those five volumes (1992a, 1995, 1999, and 2002). In addition, I have co-edited anthologies of essays by diverse hands about Ong's thought (1991 and 2012), and I have contributed essays to anthologies of essays by diverse hands about his thought (1987, 1991, 1999, and 2012).
I regard Ong's body of work as a goldmine worthy of studying carefully -- and a very great blessing for understanding our Western and American cultural history. For bibliographic information about Ong's publications, including information about reprinted items, see Thomas M. Walsh's "Walter J. Ong, S.J.: A Bibliography 1929-2006" in the book Language, Culture, and Identity: The Legacy of Walter J. Ong, S.J., edited by Sara van den Berg and Walsh (Hampton Press, 2011, pages 185-245).
Ong's most original and creative contribution to our understanding of Western and American culture is his massively researched book Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue: From the Art of Discourse to the Art of Reason (Harvard University Press, 1958). Briefly, Peter Ramus (1515-1572) was a French logician and educational reformer and Protestant martyr. When Harvard College was founded in 1636, Ramus' work in logic (also known as dialectic) dominated the curriculum. In addition, Ramus' logic dominated the curriculum at Cambridge University in England, where almost all college-educated men in New England had studied it.
Years earlier, Ong had first learned about the influence of Ramus' dialectic from Perry Miller's book The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century (Harvard University Press, 1939). When Ong later proceeded to undertake doctoral studies at Harvard University, Miller served as the director of his doctoral dissertation about Ramus.
Fr. Ong died more than a decade before the brash developer Donald J. Trump of New York ran for president of the United States in 2016.
Nevertheless, hints in Ong's publications and certain related publications can help us establish a conceptual framework for understanding President-elect Trump's appeal to the Trump voters in the thirty states who gave him a decisive electoral victory over the Democratic Party's candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
In Ong's first book, Frontiers in American Catholicism: Essays on Ideology and Culture (Macmillan, 1957), he discusses the threefold schema of character typology that the American Jewish sociologist David Riesman (1909-2002) of Harvard University works with in his widely known book The Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character (Yale University Press, 1950): outer-directed (also known as tradition-directed), inner-directed, and other-directed. Even though Riesman acknowledges that outer-directed people have always been present in American culture, he sees inner-directed people as the classic kind of American people. Riesman's way of characterizing inner-directed people is consistent with and compatible with Ong's way of describing people (more often than not males) educated in formal logic in Western and American cultural history.
But with the memory of the Holocaust under Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in Germany fresh in his mind, Riesman was understandably worried about the then-emerging other-directed character type in American mass culture -- which Ong eventually came to refer to as secondary oral culture, the cultural constellation under the influence of the various communications media that accentuate sound.
However, Ong in his 1957 book was not as worried as Riesman in his 1950 book was about the possible negative implications of the then-emerging other-directed character type in postwar American mass culture.
In connection with Riesman's threefold character typology, I should mention that the Swiss psychiatrist and psychological theorist C. G. Jung, M.D. (1875-1961), at an earlier time became known in the prestige culture in American culture for the far more detailed personality typology he worked out in the book Psychological Types, translated by H. G. Baynes (London, 1923; New York, 1926; orig. German ed., 1921; later, R. F. C. Hull revised Baynes' translation for the edition of the book published by Princeton University Press in 1971). On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the founding of Harvard College in 1636, Harvard University conferred an honorary doctorate on Jung in 1936. In 1937, Jung delivered the prestigious Terry Lectures at Yale University -- published as the book Psychology and Religion (Yale University Press, 1938). Ong delivered the Terry Lectures at Yale in 1964, the expanded version of which was published as the book The Presence of the Word: Some Prolegomena for Cultural and Religious History (Yale University Press, 1967).
In 2009, Norton published an over-sized art-book edition of Jung's The Red Book: Liber Novus, edited by Sonu Shamdasani and translated by Mark Kyburz, John Peck, and Shamdasani. That elegant edition has spurred a renewal of interest in Jung's work and related work. I will say more about Jung's thought momentarily.
At a later time, Ong published three important books with Cornell University Press (1971, 1977, and 1981). In two of those books, Rhetoric, Romance, and Technology: Studies in the Interaction of Expression and Culture (1971) and Fighting for Life: Contest, Sexuality, and Consciousness (1981), the published version of Ong's 1979 Messenger Lectures at Cornell University, Ong discusses the masterwork of the German-born-and-educated Jewish Jungian analyst and theorist Erich Neumann (1905-1960) -- the book The Origins and History of Consciousness, translated by R. F. C. Hull (Pantheon Books, 1954; orig. German ed., 1949).
In certain earlier publications, Ong also refers to Jungian thought. See, for example, Ong's article "St. Ignatius' Prison-Cage and the Existentialist Situation in the Jesuit-sponsored journal Theological Studies, volume 15, number 1 (March 1954): pages 34-51, which Ong includes in his book The Barbarian Within: And Other Fugitive Essays and Studies (Macmillan, 1962, pages 242-259). (St. Ignatius Loyola was the founder of the Jesuit order.)
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Joe Libertelli and young friend
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My guest today is Joe Libertelli a long-time grassroots progressive activist.
Joan Brunwasser: Welcome to OpEdNews, Joe. You wrote a headliner article, The Opportunity in this Crisis . It's quite a comprehensive piece and clearly took a lot of time and effort. Why did you write it?
Joe Libertelli: Ha - well, most of the ideas in the article have been percolating in my mind and among my activist friends for many years, but I suppose I will have to thank the - alleged - election of Donald Trump for forcing my writing hand!
JB: First things first. Why do you say "alleged" when referring to the recent election?
JL: Well, since 2004, I have been involved with what is called the "Election Integrity" movement, which has uncovered some strong evidence that the so-called "official" vote totals have been doctored electronically by those with access - which are the Republican-supporting electronic voting companies. In 2004, there was a pronounced "red shift" - a phrase borrowed from physics, but which we use to describe the unexplained change in the Republican (red) direction from the exit polls (which prior to 2004 had always been extremely accurate) to the so-called official results. The 2016 presidential election fits this pattern. Thus, in addition to the fact that Mr. Trump lost the popular vote by nearly three million - despite all the well known voter suppression techniques employed by Republicans nationally - there is much evidence that he did not fairly win the Electoral College tally either.
I came to be involved with the Election Integrity movement in an odd way. In 2004, one of my best friends, a guy I met in 7th grade Spanish class, Steve Freeman, was stunned by the shift from the presidential exit poll predictions to the supposed official result. Based on his understanding of what exit polls are, Steve, who has a PhD in Business Systems from MIT and is quite fluent with numbers, thought that such a shift was not at all likely. Searching the web, he found the work of Jonathan Simon, who had captured the unadjusted exit polls online on election eve. Steve crunched the numbers, saw that the chances for such a shift were WAY beyond the expected margin of error, and became convinced that fraud had occurred. Having just helped another friend, Tim Carpenter, start Progressive Democrats of America (largely from the energy of the Kucinich primary campaign), I was able to work with PDA to help Steve publicize a monograph on the subject that became quite widely distributed, and which eventually became the basis for his book, "Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen?" Bobby Kennedy Jr. went into the issues and quoted Steve here.
JB: Exit polls are considered to be the gold standard for evaluating elections worldwide. How is it that what works well everywhere else is so off here?
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Just in time for the Trump Administration's official embrace of brutality, we have another book defending torture: Enhanced Interrogation by psychologist James Mitchell. For those unfamiliar with the author, he's a central figure in the Senate Intelligence Committee's scathing 2014 report summary on CIA abuse. And he's a co-defendant -- for having "designed, implemented, and personally administered an experimental torture program" -- in the ACLU's lawsuit on behalf of three war-on-terror detainees (Suleiman Abdullah Salim, Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, and the estate of the deceased Gul Rahman).
Although subtitled "Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying to Destroy America," Mitchell's implausible and self-serving account actually reveals much more about him than it does about the men he helped torture. Here are several reasons why.
Mitchell's dubious claims about the CIA's abusive and torturous "enhanced interrogation techniques" (EITs) are reason enough to doubt his credibility. Consider this preposterous defense of the EITs: "Although they were unpleasant, their use protected detainees from being subjected to unproven and perhaps harsher techniques made up on the fly." Apparently being locked in a coffin-like box for hours, or deprived of sleep for days, or repeatedly slammed into a wall is merely "unpleasant," somewhat akin to getting caught in the rain without an umbrella. Indeed, perhaps the victims should have offered thanks for not having had their fingers crushed or their fingernails pulled out. Mitchell's suggestion that his EITs were somehow "proven" -- in contrast to other techniques -- is equally absurd. Proven not to be harmful? Not true. Proven to "work"? Also false.
Consider as well Mitchell's deceptive description of waterboarding, the king of the hill when it comes to EITs: "The waterboard induces fear and panic. It is scary and uncomfortable but not painful." There's really no need to puzzle over how the experience of controlled drowning and near suffocation could possibly be pain-free. It's certainly not, except perhaps for the person who's pouring the water. The Senate report on CIA torture provides this account of Mitchell's first waterboarding session: "Over a two-and-a-half-hour period, Abu Zubaydah coughed, vomited, and had 'involuntary spasms of the torso and extremities.'" Not painful?
Just as disturbing are Mitchell's self-protective efforts to humanize the proponents and practitioners of torture. As one example, he describes a scene in which he and fellow contract psychologist Bruce Jessen waterboard Abu Zubaydah as a demonstration for a group of higher-ups from the CIA's Counterterrorism Center. Here's Mitchell's description of what happened when that interrogation session came to an end: "[We] told him we never wanted to do that again. He cried and promised to work for the CIA. Everyone, even those observing, was tearful." Perhaps they then passed around a box of tissue, followed by a round of hugs?
There's also a rather inconvenient truth that makes Mitchell's posturing as a self-sacrificing patriot unconvincing: he took home a small fortune from his years of involvement with CIA torture and abuse. In his book, Mitchell makes no mention of the reported $1,800-a-day consulting fees (tax-free) he initially received for his work. He also downplays his own haul from the $81 million CIA contract his firm Mitchell Jessen & Associates later received, writing: "The percentage of profit I earned from the contract was in the small single digits." Well, let's use "3" as a representative "small single digit." That works out to about $2.5 million for Mitchell alone. Not bad for such selflessness.
Elsewhere in Enhanced Interrogation, Mitchell makes it clear that he cast aside professional psychology's do-no-harm ethics in developing his gloves-off EITs. Obviously. By his reckoning, torturous techniques were "justified as long as those methods were lawful, authorized, and carefully monitored." Mitchell's personal calculus as a psychologist wasn't unique: similar thinking apparently prompted leaders of the American Psychological Association (APA) to collude with the Bush Administration, thereby enabling psychologists to play key roles in abusive U.S. detention and interrogation operations. APA's tragic choices, made over the course of a decade, caused grievous harm. The verdict is still out on the organization's current efforts aimed at institutional reform.
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1. We will stop referring to ourselves as a "civil rights" organization defending "human rights." It is a sacrilege to people actually killed or harmed by civil and human rights abuses including the 9 killed at a Charleston church.
2. We will admit "Obama's going to take your guns" was an eight year lie to sell guns and raise money. (P.S. Any ideas for fundraising under Trump?)
3. We will concede criminals do obey guns laws and 85% of mass shooters were legal gun owners, according to Mother Jones, including the last 19 mass shooters. That means better laws would work.
Many ignore .well-regulated. and .militia. in the Second Amendment
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4. We admit that the Chattanooga terrorist was a legal gun owner who passed his background check despite many red flags that indicated he could perpetrate violence. We admit that service members fired back in one location according to Military Times--it was not a "gun-free zone."
5. We will stop yelling only good guys with guns stop bad guys with guns in light of the 18 police officers shot in July in Dallas and Baton Rouge who were clearly good guys with guns (and, unlike citizen "carriers," highly trained). We admit the killers were legal gun owners.
6. We will cease blaming gun violence on "gun-free zones." Boardrooms of top US corporations ban guns and have exactly zero shootings.
7. We will admit that even though we say gun safety activists are afraid of guns it is us who have a major fear problem. We are actually afraid to go where women, children and the elderly go unless we have our guns.
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This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
From Consortium News
Occasionally a New York Times writer like Mark Landler will be permitted to step up to the plate and write a sensible article about President "No Guts Obama" and how he caved in to folks whom he lacked the political courage to cross.
Landler's Jan. 1 article shows, among other things, how Obama's bowing to heavyweights like Gen. David Petraeus, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ended up getting thousands of people killed and prolonging the fool's-errand Afghan war.
The pity, of course, is that Landler's piece, "The Afghan War and the Evolution of Obama," comes eight years too late. There is a lot of numbness out there today about how we were all had by "NGO," together with attempts to blame bad decisions on his benighted advisers. But you know where the buck is supposed to stop. And a number of us, including Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), spared no effort to get through to him in "real time."
I can understand that some of you will not want to risk being further depressed. Others, however, may wish to be reminded of our efforts to warn President Obama before he let himself be conned into doubling down on the Afghan folly. Those others may want to skim through the re-runs (linked below) of early warnings in March 2009 and January 2010, together with some retrospective comments.
On March 28, 2009, as Obama was beginning his plunge into the Afghan War swamp, I wrote an article entitled, "Welcome to Vietnam, Mr. President," which Consortiumnews.com republished last year with the intro: "With still no end in sight for the Afghan War, President Obama can't say he wasn't warned. Barely two months into his presidency in 2009, ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern welcomed Obama to his own Vietnam quagmire."
Included in that piece was this passage: "Equally relevant to Obama's fateful early decision on Afghanistan, Gen. Douglas MacArthur told another young President in April 1961: 'Anyone wanting to commit American ground forces to the mainland of Asia should have his head examined.'"
The truth of that advice even eventually sunk into the fellow whom we at the CIA used to call "windsock Bobby Gates" in the days when he was starting his bureaucratic climb to the top by tailoring his positions to please his superiors.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on May 1, 2011, watching developments in the Special Forces raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Neither played a particularly prominent role in the operation.
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Though Gates helped maneuver Obama into a pointless Afghan "counterinsurgency surge" in fall 2009, Gates later told aspiring officers at West Point: "Any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should 'have his head examined,' as General [Douglas] MacArthur so delicately put it."
My "Welcome to Vietnam, Mr. President" article of March 28, 2009, also noted: "When JFK's top military advisers, critical of the President's reluctance to go against [MacArthur's] advice, virtually called him a traitor -- for pursuing a negotiated solution to the fighting in Laos, for example -- Kennedy would tell them to convince Gen. MacArthur first, and then come back to him. (Alas, there seems to be no comparable Gen. MacArthur today.)"
Leaked Doubts
On Jan. 27, 2010, I was back at it again, citing the belated disclosure that U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry had tried to warn President Obama against escalating the Afghan War. I wrote:
"I imagine that in years to come, Eikenberry will proudly show his cables to his grandchildren. Or maybe he won't, out of fear that one of them might ask why he didn't have the guts to quit and let the rest of the country know what he thought of this latest March of Folly."
Eikenberry is an interesting case study showing, among other things, that lack of guts on the part of a commander-in-chief can be contagious. A retired Lt. General and then Obama's ambassador in Kabul, Eikenberry knew more about Afghanistan than the so-called "Gang of Five" -- Gen. Petraeus, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Defense Secretary Gates, Secretary of State Clinton, and special envoy Richard Holbrooke -- put together.
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From Wallwritings
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A New York Daily News headline published October 30, 1975, is one of the most famous headlines in modern journalism.
The headline did not quote President Gerald Ford, but it editorialized exactly what the Daily News wanted to convey.
The headline read: "Ford to City: Drop Dead."
The succinct reference was explained by writer Frank Van Riper in his opening Daily News paragraph: "President Ford declared flatly today that he would veto any bill calling for 'a federal bail-out of New York City' and instead proposed legislation that would make it easier for the city to go into bankruptcy."
Van Riper's second paragraph from 1975, conveyed more of Ford's distress over the city: "In a speech before the National Press Club, Ford coupled repeated attacks on the city's fiscal management with a promise that, if default came, the federal government would see to it that 'essential public services for the people of New York City' would be maintained."
President Ford was not dismissing the people of New York. He was dissing their political leadership.
The headline on this posting (above) does not quote former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich. It is intended, rather, in the spirit of the New York Daily News, to convey Reich's meaning.
What provoked Reich and led to his counsel, was Donald Trump's final 2016 tweet: "Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don't know what to do. Love!"
Robert Reich explains why that Trump tweet is so dangerous and so wrong:
"The man who is about to become President of the United States continues to exhibit a mean-spirited, thin-skinned, narcissistic and vindictive character [who] sees the world in terms of personal wins or losses, enemies or friends, supporters or critics."
Reich's closing word to Trump was his hope that the president-elect would simply "grow up" and discover the missing maturity of an adult soon to be president. Reich wrote:
"You have 20 days in which to learn how to act as a president. All of us -- even those who oppose your policies and worry about your character -- sincerely hope you do."
Based on Trump's compulsive adolescent tweeting and his crony-inspired cabinet choices, Reich's counsel is badly needed. Unfortunately, everything we have heard or seen from president-elect Trump assures us the counsel will be rejected.
The man we elected as our next president is a former TV reality-show rich guy who defeated 15 Republican wanna-be presidential candidates, and then outran his establishment-blessed Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, to become the 45th president of the United States.
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As the saying goes, when we enter a New Year; "out with the old and in with the new"; in this case, the old Democratic Party has seen its day and now it needs to be transformed into a new, dynamic progressive party that will turn this country in a new positive and exciting direction.
Ronald Reagan may have been on the right track when he said, ""In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Let me alter that quote somewhat and state that government in itself is not the problem, but a highly dysfunctional, corrupted, do-nothing government and this current Congress, in particular, is 'the problem.
The Democratic Party has allowed itself to become a part of that problem and now it's time that it and its members break away from that dysfunctionality and return to a strong liberal/progressive agenda.
The departure of Hillary Clinton gives the Democratic Party the great opportunity to truly reinvent itself and move into the future with a new sense of purpose and direction. The same can be said of Barack Obama who presented himself as an agent of change but most certainly wasn't up to the task by any stretch of the imagination. These two should be like the last of that breed of politicians within the Democratic Party.
The new Democratic leadership that emerges after this transformation must assure the American people that it will never again, as it did under the President Obama and Hillary Clinton's tenure, take misguided military actions against nations such as Libya, conduct relentless bombing in Syria, and launch unjustifiable drone attacks on the sovereign nations of Somalia, Yemen and Pakistan, The Democratic Party must totally renounce that form of extreme foreign policy.
Here's an excellent observation about Mr. Obama's very aggressive use of drones that continues to cause havoc and misery in these countries and the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians. These attacks are greatly tarnishing America's image around the world and creating many enemies who are motivated to seek deadly revenge; and then we wonder why we are facing this terrorist threat.
In this process of transformation here's what, in my opinion, the Democratic Party must do:
*Attack GOP voter suppression; and I mean attack! Do it now, don't wait until the next election when it will be too late. It is absolutely incomprehensible how Democrats, time and time again, have watched the GOP prevent qualified voters from casting their ballots and just haven't found the ways to put a stop to this politically evil process. How incompetent can they possibly be?
*Expose the Republican Party for what it is; an albatross around the neck of America, a party with no vision, possessing a badly damaged moral and directional compass.
*Stop the current Democratic movement toward the Right and move back to the center left where Democrats do best; acting like a more liberal version of Republicanism is certainly not working; ask Hillary Clinton about that; see where it got her. This is, in reality, a liberal/progressive party and it's way past time that the Democrats returned to that role. That's what the majority of the American people want and they will respond with their increased support.
One thing that Democrats need to do is to find the ways to flush out of their ranks those party members that we might refer to as pseudo-Democrats, those who call themselves Democrats but, in reality could never be called liberals or progressives.
*Never, ever allow someone like the overly aggressive war hawk, Hillary Clinton, to be the party's candidate for president. When the people can see that this country's most critical problems are not being solved they don't want to listen to someone who keeps telling them that everything is just fine and we just need to stay the course.
*Democrats must be far more proactive in connecting with the American people; communicate, communicate and communicate. Speak to them constantly about how Republicans are hell bent on destroying Americans' social safety nets.
Question: what kind of gutter level, twisted politicians "lick their chops", as has been reported in the news, as they prepare to destroy the medical coverage of 22 million Americans rather than fixing its problems and making it better for those same fellow citizens? Answer: gutter level, twisted, sociopathic politicians of the highest order.
*Never again let someone like the incompetent Debbie Wasserman Schulz head the DNC; pick someone like former Gov. Howard Dean who used his "50-state strategy," to strengthen the Democratic Party's infrastructure and recruitment of solid candidates in all levels of organization in every state. It worked back then and will work again if someone with real leadership skills leads the efforts.
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The roots of most political problems exist where there is an economic disparity between the two divided nations. The greater the disparity, the greater the political problem. Thus when the problems are not cultural or language, rather economic disparity, it makes little difference what the names or world locations of neighboring countries. So North Korea is to China what Mexico is to the US; Lesotho is to South Africa what Mexico is to the US; Guatemala is to Mexico what Mexico is to the US, and on it goes.
When there is no economic disparity, the political problems between countries are mostly based on historical issues, commercial rivalries and in modern times, environmental issues. The economic disparity between the peoples of Canada and the US is of little consequence thus the political problems based on the border as a dividing line were, prior to the 9/11 terrorist attack, for the most part non existent, though there are Canadians living and working illegally in the US, as well as US citizen working illegally in Canada, and arguments regarding environmental protection or lack thereof.
Along the US-Mexico border the situations is dramatically different. . . Unskilled or semi-skilled factory workers in the US earn $16.30 an hour; in Mexico $1.13. A US skilled factory worker earns $21.90 an hour; in Mexico $2.79. An office building janitor in the US earns $9.37 an hour; in Mexico $0.87. A US store clerk earns $8.91 an hour; in Mexico $1.67. A US plumber earns $28.97 an hour; in Mexico $3.50.
How long do workers in the above job examples have to work for some basic staples like: half-gallon milk; 10-tortilla pack; 1-lb butter; 1-lb Cheddar cheese; 1.42-liter corn oil; 1-lb potatoes; 1-whole chicken; 1-dozen eggs? The US factory worker: 1-hour 45-minutes - Mexican worker: 9-hours 16-minutes . . .
For millions of Mexicans their earnings, if they have jobs, do not provide sufficient income to provide the basic necessities to support a family, so they cross the political line without official permission in search of economic opportunity, and most find it rather easily. Due to the historical massive numbers crossing, though the numbers eased in the last few years, a political problem has been created in the US exhibited by tense dislike of Mexican people in some regions of the US.
The economic disparity in wages coupled with job availability in the US are the root problems of the political problem between the US and Mexico. So what does America, the country made great by immigrants, propose doing to solve the root problems? Build fences and militarizes the border; declare those desperate souls felons, famously advocated by now President-elect Donald Trump describing them as criminals and rapists; criminalize aiding them in any way; deny their children education; prohibit renting them shelter and classify them as terrorists all to ease the American conscience while avoiding facing the reality of the nation's broken immigration system.
A significant segment of the US population, supported by a great number of Republican elected officials, clamor for complete border security before considering immigration reform.
This argument lends itself to accusations of racism due to the concentration of such efforts are to take place only along the 2000 mile US-Mexico border without consideration to the 4000 mile border between the US and Canada. Further there is no definition or benchmark as to what is border security. Does it mean total non-illegal crossings? Does it include the complete stopping drug smuggling, which has nothing to do crossers looking for work?
The further problem causing accusations of racism is the use of the number of illegal immigrants in the US tending to place the total as coming from Mexico and Central America. There are educated estimates indicating the presence of 11.5-million illegal immigrants used by politicians mostly always in conversations regarding the southern border. But the fact is that of the 11.5-million around 5-million are from countries other than those in our southern western hemisphere. They are from a multitude of other countries including from Europe, Asia and Africa, including the Middle East.
Additionally discussions on stopping illegal immigration does not include arrivals through airports and sea ports as well as those gaining access to and arriving through Canada.
In short, as long as political hypocrisy and racism are part of the debate the issue will continue to fester and drive more wedges between our people and those of other countries, who are not fooled by our holier than thou preaching while practicing anti-immigration rhetoric regarding people of color but allowing them to work for miserable wages and poor working conditions in jobs few Americans will accept.
From Our Future
President-"elect" Donald Trump today announced his nomination of Robert Lighthizer for the cabinet-level office of US Trade Representative (USTR). Lighthizer, who served as deputy USTR under President Ronald Reagan, is known for criticizing Republican "free trade" ideology. Before serving in the Reagan administration he was chief of staff for the Senate Finance Committee.
Lightizer's nomination signals that Trump is likely to oppose the wide-open "free trade" ideology and policy that ruled the last several decades, enriching the Wall-Street "investor" class while wiping out US-based industries like textiles and electronics manufacturing, devastating entire regions and communities like the "Rust Belt" and Detroit, as well as much of the American middle class.
But Lightzinger and Trump's public positions are at odds with most of Trump's nominees to other positions, most Republicans in Congress and with the billionaires, "investors" and giant corporations that usually line up behind and fund the Republican party. How will Trump handle the expected opposition from these elements of the Republican coalition? If Trump would give a press conference perhaps we could know more.
Meanwhile, according to Fox News, Trump said,
"'Ambassador Lighthizer is going to do an outstanding job representing the United States as we fight for good trade deals that put the American worker first,' Trump said Tuesday in a statement announcing his pick. 'He has extensive experience striking agreements that protect some of the most important sectors of our economy, and has repeatedly fought in the private sector to prevent bad deals from hurting Americans. He will do an amazing job helping turn around the failed trade policies which have robbed so many Americans of prosperity.'"
Reuters reports that Lightizer has been fighting China's unfair trade practices,
"Lighthizer has argued that China has failed to live up to commitments made in 2001 when it joined the World Trade Organization and that tougher tactics are needed to change the system, even if it means deviating from World Trade Organization rules. "'Years of passivity and drift among U.S. policymakers have allowed the U.S.-China trade deficit to grow to the point where it is widely recognized as a major threat to our economy,' Lighthizer wrote in 2010 congressional testimony. "'Going forward, U.S. policymakers should take these problems more seriously, and should take a much more aggressive approach in dealing with China,' he wrote."
Lori Wallach Statement
Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, issued a statement on the expected nomination, and noted that it contrasts with most of Trump's appointments so far, who have been public supporters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that Trump campaigned against...
"Lighthizer is very knowledgeable about both technical trade policy and the ways of Washington, but what sets him aside among high-level Republican trade experts is that for decades his views have been shaped by the pragmatic outcomes of trade agreements and policies rather than fealty to any particular ideology or theory. I don't know that he would agree with progressive critics of our status quo trade policies about alternative approaches, but he also has had quite a different perspective on trade policy than the Republican congressional leaders and most of Trump's other cabinet nominees who have supported the TPP and every past trade deal."
Public Citizen's press release continued,
"President-elect Donald Trump has filled many top administration posts with proponents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a pact that Trump railed against during his campaign. Trump appointees who publicly advocated for the TPP include Wilbur Ross (Secretary of Commerce), Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerman (Secretary of State), Gov. Terry Branstad (Ambassador to China), Gen. James Mattis (Secretary of Defense) and Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn (Director of National Economic Council) -- not to mention Vice-President-elect Mike Pence. "'Thankfully there was never a congressional majority for the TPP in the 10 months after it was signed so the TPP was dead before the election,' said Wallach. 'But even so, most of Trump's cabinet members will be inclined to grab the shovel from Trump's hands before he can bury the TPP's moldering corpse by formally withdrawing the U.S. as a signatory.'
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Intel Network Graph
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In the wake of the JAR-16-20296 dated December 29, 2016, about hacking and influencing the 2016 election, the need for real evidence is clear. The joint report adds nothing substantial to the October 7th report. It relies on proofs provided by the cyber-security firm Crowdstrike that is clearly not on par with intelligence findings or evidence. At the top of the report is an "as is" statement showing this.
The difference between Dmitri Alperovitch's claims, which are reflected in JAR-1620296, and this article is that enough evidence is provided to warrant an investigation of specific parties for the DNC hacks. The real story involves specific anti-American actors that need to be investigated for real crimes.
For instance, the malware used was an out-dated version just waiting to be found. It makes it easier when it's an old known version. Another interesting point is that the Russian malware called Grizzly Steppe is from Ukraine . How did Crowdstrike miss this when it's their business to know
Later in this article, you'll meet and know a little more about the real "Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear." The bar for identification set by has never been able to get beyond words like probably, may be, could be, or should be in their attribution.
The article is lengthy because the facts need to be in one place. The bar Dimitri Alperovitch set for identifying the hackers involved is that low. Other than asking America to trust them, how many solid facts has Alperovitch provided to back his claim of Russian involvement?
The December 29th JAR adds a flowchart that shows how a basic phishing hack is performed. It doesn't add anything substantial beyond that. Noticeably, they use both their designation APT 28 and APT 29 as well as the CrowdStrike labels of Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear separately.
This is important because information from outside intelligence agencies has the value of rumor or unsubstantiated information at best according to policy. Usable intelligence needs to be free from partisan politics and verifiable. Intel agencies noted back in the early '90s that every private actor in the information game was radically political.
The Hill.com article about Russia hacking the electric grid is a perfect example of why this intelligence is political and not taken seriously. If any proof of Russian involvement existed, the US would be at war. Under current laws of war, there would be no difference between an attack on the power grid or a missile strike.
According to the Hill, "Private security firms provided more detailed forensic analysis, which the FBI and DHS said Thursday correlated with the IC's findings.
"The Joint Analysis Report recognizes the excellent work undertaken by security companies and private-sector network owners and operators, and provides new indicators of compromise and malicious infrastructure identified during the course of investigations and incident response," read a statement. The report identifies two Russian intelligence groups already named by CrowdStrike and other private security firms.
In an interview with Washington's blog, William Binney, the creator of the NSA global surveillance system, said, "I expected to see the IPs or other signatures of APT's 28/29 [the entities which the U.S. claims hacked the Democratic emails] and where they were located and how/when the data got transferred to them from DNC/HRC [i.e., Hillary Rodham Clinton]/etc. They seem to have been following APT 28/29 since at least 2015, so, where are they?"
According to the latest Washington Post story, CrowdStrike's CTO tied a group his company dubbed "Fancy Bear" to targeting Ukrainian artillery positions in Debaltsevo as well as across the Ukrainian civil war front for the past 2 years.
Alperovitch states in many articles the Ukrainians were using an Android app to target the self-proclaimed Republics' positions and that hacking this app was what gave targeting data to the armies in Donbass instead.
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Urinary Tract Infection Treatment Market to Reach US$ 10 Billion by 2022
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New York, January 02: Market Research Engine has published a new report titled as Urinary Tract Infection Treatment Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast 2016 2022How Big is the Global Urinary Tract Infection Treatment Market?The global urinary tract infection treatment market is expected to exceed more than US$ 10 Billion by 2022; Growing at a CAGR of more than 2% in the given forecast period.Download Free Sample Report:Urinary tract infection (UTI) arises in the kidneys, ureter, urethra and bladder because of microbial pathogens in these parts. Urinary tract infections will be uncomplicated or complicated depends on the severity of infection. The penicillin antibiotic that is amoxicillin is used to treat urinary tract infections and it is mainly used as prescribed antibiotic for uncomplicated urinary tract infection. UTI is common bacterial infections affecting many of peoples globally. Continuing urinary tract infection is a main health problem in females worldwide. Patients with spinal cord injury or urinary catheter are mainly contract complicated urinary tract infections.The urinary tract infection treatment market is segmented on the lines of its drug type, indication, distribution channel and regional. Based on drug type segmentation it covers sulphonamides, azoles and amphotericin B, tetracycline, nitrofurans, aminoglycoside antibiotics, cephalosporin, quinolones and penicillin & combinations. Aminoglycoside antibiotics is further segmented into amikacin and gentamicin. Cephalosporin segmentation covers ceftriaxone, cefuroxime, cefixime and cephalexin. Under quinolones segmentation it covers ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, nalidixic acid, norfloxacin and others. Penicillin and combinations covers amoxicillin, amoxicillin & clavulanate potassium and others.The urinary tract infection treatment market is segmented on the lines of its indication like into complicated UTI, recurring complicated UTI, uncomplicated UTI and neurogenic bladder infections. Under distribution channel segmentation it covers hospital pharmacies, gynaecology and urology clinics, drug store, retail pharmacies and online drug stores. The urinary tract infection treatment markets geographic segmentation covers various regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Each geographic market is further segmented to provide market revenue for select countries such as the U.S., Canada, U.K. Germany, China, Japan, India, Brazil, and GCC countries.This report provides:1) An overview of the global market for urinary tract infection treatment and related technologies.2) Analysis of global market trends, with data from 2013, estimates for 2014 and 2015, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2020.3) Identifications of new market opportunities and targeted promotional plans for urinary tract infection treatment.4) Discussion of research and development, and the demand for new products and new applications.5) Comprehensive company profiles of major players in the industry.Browse Full Report:REPORT SCOPE:The scope of the report includes a detailed study of global and regional markets for Urinary Tract Infection Treatment Market for variations in the growth of the industry in certain regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Johnson and Johnsons Private Ltd., Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Cipla Ltd., Bayer AG, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Pfizer Inc., F.Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Novartis AG. and AstraZeneca plc. Company profile includes assign such as company summary, financial summary, business strategy and planning, SWOT analysis and current developments.The Top Companies Report is intended to provide our buyers with a snapshot of the industrys most influential players.The Urinary Tract Infection Treatment Market has been segmented as below:By Drug Type Analysis Sulphonamides Azoles and Amphotericin B Tetracycline Nitrofurans Aminoglycoside antibioticso Amikacino Gentamicin CephalosporinCeftriaxoneCefuroximeCefiximeCephalexin QuinolonesCiprofloxacinLevofloxacinNalidixic acidNorfloxacinOthers Penicillin & CombinationsAmoxicillinAmoxicillin & Clavulanate PotassiumOthersBy Indication Analysis Complicated UTI Recurring Complicated UTI Uncomplicated UTI Neurogenic Bladder InfectionsBy Distribution channel Analysis Hospital Pharmacies Gynaecology and Urology Clinics Drug Store Retail Pharmacies Online Drug StoresBy Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificRest of the WorldAbout MarketResearchEngine.comMarket Research Engine is a global market research and consulting organization. We provide market intelligence in emerging, niche technologies and markets. Our market analysis powered by rigorous methodology and quality metrics provide information and forecasts across emerging markets, emerging technologies and emerging business models. Our deep focus on industry verticals and country reports help our clients to identify opportunities and develop business strategies.Media ContactCompany Name: Market Research EngineContact Person: John BayEmail: john@marketresearchengine.comPhone: +1-855-984-1862, +91-860-565-7204Country: United StatesWebsite:Address: 3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8942, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, United States
Global Biopsy Devices Market Share Analysis, by Key Players 2018
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The global biopsy devices market is highly consolidated with four major players collectively accounting for 91% of the total global market, reports Transparency Market Research (TMR) in a new study. The key players are CareFusion Corporation, C R Bard, Inc., Devicor Medical Products, Inc., and Hologic, Inc. A number of small local players supply devices such as forceps, needles, and punches in their respective countries via a crude network of distributors.The threat from new entrants is low due to stringent regulatory environment and low financing conditions, says the author of the study. These factors do not pose a threat to the contribution of aforementioned key players in the global market.Rising Incidence of Cancer Cases Worldwide Helps Uptake of Biopsy DevicesA growing prevalence of cancer has become a critical issue for governments and international organization such as the WHO. According to a report by the WHO, the number of deaths due to cancer across the globe will show a constant rise and will reach nearly 13.1 bn in 2030. This has led to the initiation of various patient awareness programs by such organizations. As a result, increased number of patients are undergoing biopsies, thereby driving the growth of the market.Download Exclusive Global Strategic Business Report:Additionally, with a rising geriatric population, the incidence of cancer is also likely to increase. This will serve the global biopsy market as a driver due to the fact that aging increases a persons susceptibility to cancer.A surge in the demand for minimally invasive biopsy procedures has been registered owing to the shorter patient recovery span, lesser post-surgery complications and side effects, and minimal pain. They are useful in accurate cancer diagnosis and provide great assistance to physicians to determine the best suitable treatment plan for the patient. This growth driver will have a deep impact on the biopsy devices market.Reduced Affordability to Restrain Demand for Biopsy DevicesTechnological advancements have transformed biopsy devices into higher accuracy products. However, this has also reduced the affordability of these devices. Additionally, the lack of interest of medical practitioners to invest in the capital-intensive market has elevated the cost of these devices. Moreover, the introduction of taxes such as the Medical Device Excise Tax (MDET) of 2.3% in the U.S., will lead to further price hike of products.Medical reimbursement issues further increase the reluctance of patients to opt for biopsy devices. Insurance companies do not grant reimbursements for every biopsy procedure as they consider it to be only investigating technique and not a surgical technique, says a TMR analyst. These issues will negatively influence the growth rate of the global biopsy devices market.North America Maintains Substantial Lead Owing to Large Pool of Cancer PatientsAccording to the report by TMR, the valuation of global market for biopsy devices was US$1.34 bn in 2011 and is anticipated to rise to nearly US$2.11 bn by 2018.The biopsy guidance systems form the leading segment by value in terms of product types. The segment was valued US$767 mn in 2015 and is expected to reach at US$913.5 mn in 2018. However, the needle- based biopsy guns form the fastest growing segment due to their increasing use in biopsy procedures.By geography, the global biopsy devices market is segmented into Asia, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World (RoW). The growing incidence of cancer has made it the largest regional market by value and is expected to retain its leadership by the end of 2018. The unmet medical needs in Asia coupled with the growing pool of cancer patients has made it the fastest growing region by revenue.The information presented in this review is based on a Transparency Market Research report, titled, Biopsy Devices Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2012 - 2018.Browse Full Research Report on Biopsy Devices Market:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Browse market research blog:
Rubella Testing Market Global Industry Research 2024
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Rubella Testing Market: OverviewRubella or German measles is a serious condition (disease) caused by the infection of rubivirus (genus). Sometimes rubella when passed from pregnant mother to her baby then it is termed as congenital rubella. Rubella is a contagious disease and can spread through air or close contact between patient and a healthy individual. Signs and symptom of rubella include fever, headache, inflammation of the eyes and muscle or joint pain.Culture test (nasal or throat swab culture) and blood test to check the function of immune system are the major tests performed for the detection of rubella. Women who are pregnant must undergo rubella test to know the functioning of immune system against rubella virus. There remains chance of miscarriage or stillbirth for those pregnant mothers who are suffering from measles as the child may be born with birth defects.Presently there is no treatment option available in the market for the treatment of rubella. Patients are prescribed acetaminophen for reduction of rubella fever. Rubella can be prevented with the utilization of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. Rubella vaccine is recommended for all children and is routinely given when children are 12 months to 15 months old. Almost everyone who receives the vaccine has immunity to rubella for his lifetime.Download Complete Healthcare Analytical Brochure:The global market for rubella testing is being driven primarily due to increasing awareness among people and advancement in diagnostic test. Moreover, government initiatives and support also accounted for the growth of the global rubella testing market. Pregnant mother who are suffering from rubella and are unaware about the high risk of passing the disease from her to unborn baby also contributes significantly in the market growth.Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that more than 100,000 infants are born with congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) annually worldwide. World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that in 1996, the number of countries that have incorporated rubella-containing vaccines into their routine national immunization program was 83. Later in 2011, the number was increased to 130 for the incorporation of rubella-containing vaccines into their routine national immunization.Rubella Testing Market: Region-wise OutlookNorth America dominates the global market for rubella testing due to strong demand of diagnostic test in this region. Moreover increasing awareness among people and initiative taken by the federal government also accounted for the market growth in North American region. Europe represents the second position in the global rubella testing market due to increasing awareness among people and extensive government initiative taken by the European government. For an instance, in October 2010, WHO Region of the America and Europe has established rubella elimination and CRS prevention goals for the year 2010 and 2015.Asia - Pacific is considered as an untapped market due to lack of awareness among people about rubella testing. Asian market growth will be fuelled by the presence of untapped opportunities due to extensive increase in the healthcare infrastructure and growing market penetration in this region.Rubella Testing Market: Key PlayersMajor market players contributing in the global market share of rubella testing market includes Abbott Laboratories, Inc., Becton, Dickinson and Company, Biomerica, Inc., bioMerieux, Inc., Novartis Diagnostics, Johnson & Johnson Diagnostics, Inc., Olympus Corporation, Qiagen N.V., Siemens AG, Thermo Fischer Scientific, Inc., and Zenith Healthcare Ltd.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Browse Full Research Report on Rubella Testing Market:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Browse market research blog:
Cancer Diagnostics Market Share by Global Industry Research 2024
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Cancer is one of the leading causes of death across the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that the number of new cases is anticipated to increase by nearly 70% over the next two decades. The increasing prevalence of different types of cancer is paving way for continuous development in the field of hospital cancer diagnostics. A new research report by Transparency Market Research (TMR), titled Hospital Cancer Diagnostics Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 2024, presents a detailed description of the various critical parameters of the market. These parameters include its dynamics, regional segmentation, and competitive landscape.The increasing initiatives taken by governments and eminent health organizations to spread awareness regarding cancer are playing an instrumental role in the growth of the global hospital cancer diagnostics market. Other than these initiatives, measures taken to offer best-in-class healthcare services with high efficiency and accuracy to patients is also providing a fillip to the market. One such measure is the partnerships between public and private healthcare sector to improve the infrastructure of diagnostic imaging centers. Moreover, the introduction of personalized medicines and launch of new flow cytometry reagents for diagnostics and drug discovery are augmenting the market. Furthermore, the green light given by the FDA for the development of biomarker is providing a significant boost to the growth of the market.Request a PDF Brochure with Report Analysis:However, the high cost of diagnostic imaging systems is adversely affecting the rate of adoption in emerging markets. Complicating matters is the lack of insurance coverage for novel technologies for hospital cancer diagnostics. Moreover, the high capital requirements for the production of biomarkers and low benefit-cost ratio associated with them are hampering the growth prospects of the market. The shortage of skilled and experienced personnel and presence of stringent regulations are also limiting the market from realizing its full potential. Nevertheless, the availability of miniaturized and technologically advanced diagnostic devices and the growing popularity of companion diagnostics are likely to augur well for the growth of the market.Some of the most common types of cancer are lung cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, bladder cancer, leukemia, skin cancer, oral cancer, stomach cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, colon and rectal cancer, and lymphoma. The most prevalent forms of cancer are lung and liver cancer, accounting for nearly 1.6 mn and 750 thousand deaths respectively every year. Geographically, North America and Europe will collectively command a large share in the market owing to the presence of favorable policies encouraging cancer diagnosis. Asia Pacific is likely to rise at a promising pace due to the rising prevalence of cancer and improving healthcare infrastructure in emerging economies.Some of the key players in the global hospital cancer diagnostics market are Abbott, Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation, Becton Dickinson and Company, Beckman Coulter/Danaher Corporation, Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc., Dako, bioMerieux SA, Cepheid, Inc., Myriad Genetics Inc., diaDexus Inc., Hologic Corporation, QIAGEN N.V., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, Sequenom, Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Corporation, and GE Healthcare.Browse Full Research Report on Hospital Cancer Diagnostics Market:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who us e proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Browse market research blog:
Specialty Coating Market-Technological Advancements, Evolving Industry Trends and Insights 2015 2021
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The report covers forecast and analysis for the Specialty Coating market on a global and regional level. The study provides historic data of 2015 along with a forecast from 2016 to 2021 based on volume and revenue (USD Million). The study includes drivers and restraints for the market along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes the study of opportunities available in the Specialty Coating market on a global level.In order to give the users of this report a comprehensive view on the Specialty Coating market, we have included a detailed competitive scenario and product portfolio of key vendors. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters five forces model for the Specialty Coating market has also been included, strategic development along with patents analysis is included in this report. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein type segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate, and general attractiveness.Get a copy of free Sample Report @All the segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2015 to 2021.The regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa with its further bifurcation into major countries including U.S. Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India, and Brazil.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including company profiles of the key participants operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Ashland, Axalta, Specialty Coating Systems, Nico, Specialty Polymer Coatings Inc., PPG industries, Evonik, U.S. Specialty Coatings, Inc., and NV Specialty Coatings Srl.Inquire more before buying this report @This report segments the Specialty Coating market as follows:Specialty Coating Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East and AfricaBrowse detail report @About Us:Syndicate Market Research provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Syndicate Market Research cover more than 30 industries including energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with the one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Contact Us:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suite #8138Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803Email: sales@syndicatemarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Flame Retardant Market: Potential and Niche Segments, Geographical regions and Trends to 2021
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Flame retardants are the compounds which when added to materials such as plastics products, electrical devices, construction materials or textiles delays the production of flames to prevent the spread of fire. There are various types of flame retardant such as aluminum trihydrate, antimony oxides, brominated flame retardant, chlorinated flame retardant, organophosphorus flame retardants, and other flame retardant chemicals. Usage of flame retardant market is increasing in the electronic industry due to its property of decreasing the flammability of combustible substances. Some of the major end user applications of flame retardant market include building & construction, electronics, automotive & transportation, wires & cables, textiles & other applications.Request for Sample Report:Some of the major factors driving the flame retardant market are high demand from current & emerging applications, demand from emerging economies, advancement in technology, increased security measures and the new regulatory guidelines for reducing toxic chemicals. Governments across the globe are setting improved safety standards for smoke and flammability range in different products. The growth in automotive, construction and other major end use industries are increasing the demand of flame retardant market globally. Nanotechnology is expected to play a major role in improving performance of a flame retardant market in the years to come.The major growth opportunities for the flame retardant market includes equipment & electronics, automotive & construction, in the emerging economies especially the one which are expanding in the infrastructure applications. The growth in these segments in emerging economies is likely to increase the market demand for flame retardant and the products based on it.A major factor restraining the market growth is rise in the prices which may lead to further decrease in demand. The key producers are raising the prices of flame retardant market due to the rise in feedstock costs. In addition, there is a toxicity issue at the time of flame retardant production process which could hamper the market further.Asia Pacific is the largest sales market for flame retardant. China alone accounts for about 24% of the global demand of flame retardant. High demand in China is driven by growth in the chemicals and automobile industry in the country. India is also expected to increase its share in the global market on the basis of increasing foreign investment which will result in increasing number of new industries in the country. Asia Pacific is expected to continue in its leadership position in the forecasted period due to the growing end-user markets in countries such as China and India. North America continues to be the second largest sales market followed by Western Europe. Currently, the Middle East and South American countries have a very low market share; however it is expected to increase in the coming years.Request for Table of content:Some of the major companies operating in the global flame retardant market include Akzo Nobel NV, Albemarle Corporation, Almartis GmbH, BASF SE, Borealis GmbH, Budenheim Iberica SLSC, Campine NV, Chemtura Corporation, China Antimony Chemicals, Clariant International Limited, Cytec Industries Incorporated, Daihachi Chemical Industry Company, Dover Chemical, and Glencore International AG. Among which, Albemarle Corporation, Chemtura Corporation, and Clariant International Limited are the most active companies in the flame retardant chemicals market.About Us:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact Us:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Shale Gas Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends & Forecast 2019
Shale Gas Market
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As the focus on unconventional gas sources intensifies, the global shale gas market will be the key beneficiary, finds a latest report published by Transparency Market Research. According to the report, the production of shale gas worldwide stood at 10,138.2 Bcf in 2012, and will exhibit a 7.9% CAGR from 2013 to 2019, by which year it will stand at 17,201.6 Bcf.The report, titled Global Shale Gas Market - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2013 - 2019, states that measures to address the depletion of conventional gas reservoirs has prompted sizeable investments in shale gas exploration. The key challenges standing in the way of the markets growth are the high cost of shale gas exploration and extraction and concerns about surface water being contaminated.Download the Exclusive report Sample :These efforts have already borne fruit with a shale gas revolution being seen in the U.S., which has put the country firmly on the path to becoming a net exporter of natural gas by 2017, marking an evident change from its status as a modest net importer. In the hope to emulate the U.S.s success, countries such as China have also pumped in billions of dollars worth of investments into shale gas exploration.As of 2014, however, the U.S. was the leader in both production of and revenue from shale gas. The landscape of the global shale gas market, however, could likely see a shift in the coming years with many more countries showing massive potential for shale gas production with the discovery of new reserves worldwide.As is the case with natural gas, shale gas too finds various applications, which include: power generation, industrial, residential, commercial, transportation, and others. With each of these applications needing more power with every passing year, the demand for shale gas from all application areas is expected to rise steadily.According to TMRs findings, in 2012, unconventional gas constituted 44% of all technically recoverable gas. Shale gas comprised two-thirds of all unconventional sources. About 60% of all conventional gas resources occur in Eastern Europe and Eurasia and these regions hold 16.5% of all unconventional gas sources. An appreciable part of the remaining reserves of technically recoverable unconventional gas occurs in the U.S. and China, both of whom are currently net gas importers. The report states that although massive shale gas reserves exist in Europe, the stringent regulatory scenario will prevent the shale gas market from exhibiting dramatic growth.By application, the report segments the shale gas market into power generation, commercial, industrial, residential, and transportation. As of 2012, the industrial sector constituted the largest application segment of the shale gas market with a share of 30%, and is expected to rise to about 35% by 2019. Power generation is yet another major application segment. The report conducts an in-depth technology analysis of the shale gas market by studying techniques such as horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and water usage issues.With sectoral majors such as Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, BP plc, BHP Billiton Limited, Cabot Oil and Gas, ConocoPhillips, Chesapeake Energy Corporation, ExxonMobil, and Total SA investing aggressively in setting up new platforms and refineries and midstream activities, the competitive scenario in the global shale gas market will continue to see new events and developments.Shale Gas Market: Technology Analysis-Horizontal DrillingHydraulic Fracturing-Water Usage IssueShale Gas Market: Application Analysis-Industrial-Power Generation-Commercial-Residential-TransportationBrowse the full Global Shale Gas Market - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2013 - 2019 report atShale Gas Market: Regional Analysis-North America-U.S.-Canada-Asia Pacific-ChinaTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Transparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog : http://cmfeglobalreports.blogspot.com/
A powerful provincial governor and a key backer of the Afghan chief executive is now seen as trying to undercut his standing within Afghanistans national unity government by striking a new power-sharing deal with the president.
Governor Atta Muhammad Noors support for Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah ensured that Abdullah claims near 50 percent share for their Jamiat-e Islami party in Afghanistans national unity government.
Noor, the powerful governor of northern Balkh Province, however, is now negotiating a separate power-sharing deal with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
These talks have clouded Abdullahs future and plunged Jamiat-e Islami into turmoil by seemingly pitting supporters of Noor and Abdullah against one another.
Farhad Azimi, an Afghan lawmaker close to Atta, told Radio Free Afghanistan that Atta entered the talks because Abdullah failed to implement the provisions of the national unity governments political deal.
Concluded in September 2014, the power-sharing deal between Abdullah and Ghani, brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, called for the convening of the Loya Jirga or grand assembly to deliberate on a constitutional amendment for creating the post of an executive prime minister.
Atta personally questioned Abdullahs competence.
He is a good personality, he is learned and experienced, but [with the unity government] he played weakly and could not represent us properly, he told BBC Persian. This prompted me to change the situation and engage in direct negotiations [with the president].
Daud Asaas, an adviser to Abdullah, told Radio Free Afghanistan that Atta is engaging in the power-sharing talks for personal gains.
"The talks between Atta Mohammad Noor and the presidential palace are personal, he said. [The Afghan presidential palace] Arg has pledged them a number of ministries and provincial posts, and I don't think the talks have reached any conclusions yet."
Fazel Sancharaki, another Abdullah supporter, also said Attas main aim is to safeguard his personal interests.
The talks are his own initiative and [are aimed at] solving his personal problems. Such talks can never represent the entire chief executive office or the political agreement [he concluded with the president], he said. Now Atta can talk about his personal matters with the presidential palace about his bank accounts, his foreign trips, or the issue of his acting-governorship of [northern] Balkh [Province], but regarding the provisions of the political agreement only Abdullah can speak.
The talks, which seemingly circumvented Abdullah, have garnered criticism from among many leaders of Jamiat-e Islami.
Last week, Shah Waliullah Adeeb, the former governor of northeastern Badakhshan Province, accused Noor of entering the talks without properly consulting party members.
"All members of the party should have been asked for their views. I think that entering into talks with the government on an individual basis creates confusion," he said.
Another senior Jamiat-e Islami leader, Saleh Mohammad Registani, echoed similar concerns.
"As far as I know, the leadership council has not held any meeting in this regard and is not involved in these talks, he said. But there is no doubt he [Noor] would become distant from our movement."
But Zabiullah Fetrat, a party spokesman, rejected Adeebs claims. He said all senior leadership members including current Foreign Minister and acting party Chairman Salahuddin Rabbani, presidential envoy Ahmad Zia Massoud and former minister Ismail Khan were in the picture about the negotiations.
"The talks have been conducted in consultation with the leadership council and with the respectable chief executive of our national unity government and with the allies of Jamiat-e Islami, he said. This is not a personal issue. Adeeb is not in a position to talk about such major issues. His remarks are irresponsible."
Noor was the key backer of Abdullah during the controversial 2014 presidential elections. He was a staunch opponent of Ghani and often publicly criticized the Afghan leader.
The relations between the two leaders dramatically improved late last year after Ghani met Noor during a visit to his northern powerbase Mazar-e Sharif. The city is the capital of Balkh Province, where Noor has been the governor since 2004.
His supporters such as lawmaker Azimi are optimistic direct talks between Ghani and Noor have yielded constructive results. But he refused to elaborate on the details of their power-sharing arrangements.
But critics such as Registani remain doubtful.
Our fear is that this would prove a mistake, he said.
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Isostearyl Alcohol Market Expected to Exhibit CAGRs of 4.4% by 2016
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The global isostearyl alcohol market was pegged at 14,700.0 tons in 2015 and is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of 3.2% over an eight-year forecast period to reach 19,594.4 tons by the end of 2024. Persistence Market Research in a latest report titled Global Market Study on Isostearyl Alcohol: Increasing Demand for Isostearyl Alcohol as an Ingredient in Personal care Products and Cosmetics Likely to Boost Market Growth? focuses on the growth of the global isostearyl alcohol market from 2016 to 2024 and provides useful insights into key market dynamics impacting this growth.A sample of this report is available upon request @A rising demand for isostearyl alcohol as an ingredient in personal care products and cosmetics is expected to boost growth of the isostearyl alcohol market over the forecast period. However, increasing demand for multifunctional personal care ingredients and development of natural ingredients for anti-aging skin care products are major challenges likely to affect the global isostearyl alcohol market. Isostearyl alcohol is basically derived from isostearic acid and globally, 16%18% of isostearic acid produced is captively consumed for production of isostearyl alcohol. However, isostearic acid producers are moving towards development of environmentally friendly emollients and surfactants, which could reduce the percentage of conversion of isostearyl acid into isostearyl alcohol over the forecast period. The report focuses on the key drivers and trends likely to impact the global isostearyl alcohol market over the forecast period.The global isostearyl alcohol market is segmented on the basis of application, end use, and region. On the basis of application, the emollient and solvent segments collectively accounted for 49.5% share of global consumption of isostearyl alcohol in 2015 and are expected to exhibit CAGRs of 3.9% and 3.5% respectively over the forecast period. The glossing agent and dispersing agent segments collectively accounted for 28.0% share of global consumption of isostearic alcohol in 2015 and are expected to exhibit CAGRs of 4.4% and 3.9% respectively over the forecast period. On the basis of end use, personal care is currently the most prominent segment in this market in terms of volume while the cosmetics segment is expected to gain traction over the forecast period due to a rising demand for anti-aging products. Increasing per capita consumer expenditure on personal care and cosmetics products and a growing demand for skin care products in the Asia Pacific geography especially in China are some of the factors driving demand for anti-aging products, in turn anticipated to boost growth of the isostearyl alcohol market.By region, the market is segmented into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The Europe and North America markets collectively accounted for 57.5% share of global consumption of isostearyl alcohol in 2015 and are expected to exhibit CAGRs of 3.0% and 2.5% respectively over the forecast period. Asia Pacific accounted for 22.4% share of global consumption of isostearyl alcohol in 2015 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 4.2% over the forecast period to account for 24.0% share by the end of 2024. Latin America accounted for 15.2% share of global consumption of isostearyl alcohol in 2015 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 3.7% over the forecast period to account for 15.9% share by the end of 2024.Request to view Table of content @Croda International Plc., Oleon N.V (Avril Group), Jarchem Industries Inc., and Nissan Chemicals America Corporation are the top producers of isostearyl alcohol. While isostearic acid is the basic raw material for the production of isostearyl alcohol, most producers are shifting their production to other isostearic acid derivatives due to the monotonic properties of isostearyl alcohol as compared to other fatty alcohols.To Buy Full Report for a Single User @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Oilfield Drilling Additives Market Explores New Growth Opportunities By 2021
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Oilfield chemicals play a significant role in the oil and gas industry. Most common oilfield chemicals used by the industry are organic chemicals and solvents, surfactants, transition metal compounds, inorganic salts, water-soluble and oil-soluble polymers. These chemicals control the bacterial growth, foam & wax formation and corrosive action in oils and gases. Drilling additives is one of the major applications in the oilfield chemicals market.A sample of this report is available upon request @Chemical formulations used for multiple functions in oil processing are termed as oilfield drilling additives. The additive technologies excel with emulsification and thinning or dispersion of oil-based muds. They help to create proper fluid weighting to balance pressure formation and optimize fluid flow. Other functions include maintaining strong boundary lubrication films in silicate-based mud systems specialized for shale drilling, which is done by lubricating agents. Other functions include wettability, dispersant, detergency and clay stabilization. Selection criteria of drilling additives require careful consideration of several aspects, such as pressures and temperatures, rock composition, well design, protection of the producing zone, reservoir chemistry, and environmental regulations. The focus is on performance, temperature stability and tolerance of products from contamination for drilling fluid systems.While there are many types of components and additives currently being used in the industry, usually the classification of fluids is based on the formulation of coatings as water based, oil based and synthetic based. Each type varies greatly and the composition is different with different technical specifications. The major chemicals used in the industry are sulfurized or chlorinated compounds, polyglycols, acrylics, esters polyamides, glutaraldehyde, alcohols and many more.In a recent merger by The Lubrizol Corporation, a Berkshire Hathaway company, signed an agreement with Weatherford, stating that the companys drilling fluids and additives business will now be a part of the Lubrizol Corporation. The Lubrizol Corporation has introduced a new mobile application called the Oilfield Drilling Fluids Product Guide, which is designed to help formulators of Oilfield Drilling Fluids to identify advanced Lubrizol chemistries that help achieve a wide range of performance needs. Arabian Drilling Corporation launched three new products AD41, AD42 and AD43; which have special drilling control systems equipped with Amphion Integration, a technology that provides compact and comfortable rigs.Increasing demand from energy sector is creating thrust to drilling deeper for more oil extraction, the protection of oil from various harmful organisms in the biocides industry are some of the key factors driving the growth of the oilfield drilling additives market.Request to view Table of content @Total cost to target with environmentally acceptable fluid systems, European environmental concerns, strict environmental regulations are probable factors restraining the growth of the oilfield drilling additives market.The global oilfield drilling additives market is broadly classified on the basis of formulation of coatings, type and geographies.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Polyoxymethylene Market Revenue Predicted To Go Up by 2022
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Polyoxymethylene (also known as POM) is a high performance engineering plastic that is derived from formaldehyde. It finds its applications in various end user industries such as electrical and electronics, automotive industry, consumer goods and electronics, and others. Polyoxymethylene is a preferred material in the category of high performance engineering plastics due to its various desirable properties such as excellent dimensional stability, impact resistance, fatigue resistance, and high strength. Polyoxymethylene is majorly used in electrical & electronics industry to make insulators, capacitors and various other electronic components. The use of this material makes the product more efficient and effective to deliver better performance.A sample of this report is available upon request @Polymers are considered as an important material in the food industry due to factors such as mechanical strength, low cost and ease in manufacturing and processing. As a result, the demand for plastic from the food industry is expected to strengthen the market for Polyoxymethylene, thereby creating new opportunities in the coming years. Polyoxymethylene is also used as a replacement for metal as it weighs lighter than metal and also possesses high impact strength.Polyoxymethylene is an engineering thermoplastic that is used because of its excellent physical properties which make it a metal replacing light weight material. The drivers for this market include superior properties, increasing demand in end use industries, and replacement for plastics among others. New applications in the food packaging industry along with non-crude oil derivate based raw materials would act as opportunities for Polyoxymethylene. Use of Polyoxymethylene in various industries such as automotive, electrical and electronics, others in the form of metal replacement plastic due to its light weight and high strength is expected to drive growth of the Polyoxymethylene market.Polyoxymethylene manufacturers are investing heavily in plant capacity expansion or regional expansion by creating new subsidiaries to penetrate into new markets and to improve the reach of their products in various regions. Major players in this market are engaged in R&D efforts to develop newer applications and new products to fulfill the demand from various end use industries. Also, the companies are engaged in new product launch, and mergers & acquisitions. The companies are expanding their geographical footprints by setting up plants at new locations. These strategies are helping the companies to increase their market share and expand their reach.The global Polyoxymethylene market is estimated to witness significant growth for the forecast period (2015 to 2025). Asia-Pacific is the leading market in terms of consumption and it accounts for nearly half of the total market for Polyoxymethylene. Western European market for polyoxymethylene is also expected to grow at moderate rate in the coming years. According to FMIs forecasts, this market in Asia-Pacific is expected to show the fastest CAGR over the forecasted period as huge amount of investment are made in this region.Request to view Table of content @Some of the major players of the global Polyoxymethylene market are: E. I. Du Pont De Nemours and Company, BASF SE, A. Schulman, Korea Engineering Plastics, Asahi Kasei Chemicals Corp., Celanese Corporation, Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics Corporation, and others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Mobile Payment Transaction Market is Expected to Account for US$ 2,849,231.4 Mn in the Year 2020
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http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/mobile-payment-transaction-market/toc
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he mobile payment is an integrated system linked by various components of value chain which typically includes the merchant, the consumer, the financial institution involved and not to forget the payment gateway and the telecom network.In terms of revenue, the global mobile payment transaction market revenues valued at US$ 549,917.7 Mn in 2015 will possibly reach US$ 2,849,231.4 Mn in the year 2020.A sample of this report is available upon request @Mobile payment transaction volume will grow by a massive 41.7% during the forecast period 2015-2020. In terms of volume, the global mobile payment transaction market volume was 18,969.8 million transactions in the year 2015 and this is projected to increase by 106,001.5 million transactions by the year 2020.Persistence Market Research forecasts the global mobile payment transaction market to register a CAGR of 39.1% through 2020 and reach US$ 2.89 trillion in revenues.Even though there will be tremendous growth in mobile payment transactions market, there are many challenges that are obstructing the growth of this market. A major challenge is the slow adoption of smartphone compatible POS systems by the retailers. If taken at face value, a 41.7% volume growth looks amazing, but there is something to be concerned about. One of the major concerns is that apart from few countries, consumers haven't fully accepted the concept of mobile payments, even though the facility is much more secure. However, given the inherent nature of the product, it wouldn't be long before consumers all over the world use the facilities provided by mobile payments, as per the research report of Persistence Market Research.By technology, SMS and WAP/WEB will continue to account for most of the transactions conducted worldwide. Mobile payments conducted through SMS will witness a robust CAGR of 24.5% over the forecast period. In the year 2015, the revenue from the SMS segment was US$ 238,884.3 Mn and this is going to be at the value of US$ 678,117.1 Mn by 2020 end.Mobile payments conducted through WAP/WEB will witness a CAGR of 48.0% during the forecast period. In the year 2015, the revenue from the WAP/WEB segment was US$ 164,386.1 Mn and this is going to be valued at US$ 1,725,209.6 at the end of the forecast period in the year 2020.Money transfer and merchandise purchases account for over 90% revenue share of the global mobile payment transaction market on the basis of end-use 'purpose'. Mobile payments made for merchandise purchases will be worth US$ 323.73 Bn in 2016, up from US$ 228.32 Bn in 2015. Money transfer, the largest end-use purpose in the mobile payment transaction market, will grow by over 38% to surpass US$ 381 Bn in revenues.The market for mobile payments will continue to be robust in APEJ and Africa, as majority of people there don't own a credit card, in contrast of the situation in Europe and United States. So, consumers in APEJ and Africa are making a direct shift from using cash to using mobile payments. Growth in the mobile payments market will be particularly strong in China. This is due to the entry of major market players like Apple and Samsung in the Chinese market, making the competition more fierce and interesting.Due to a strong showing in China, the market for mobile payment will continue to grow in the Asia Pacific region and this region will be the leading market in the world in terms of volume. However, in terms of value, it is Africa that will maintain its number one position in the mobile payment transaction market. This is due to the spectacular success of M-Pesa in Kenya and this has influenced consumers and businesses in other regions of Africa to adopt the technology of mobile payments. This has boosted the market of mobile payment transaction market in Africa. Currently, Africa has nearly 32% revenue share of the global mobile payment market, and boasts of a subscriber base of over 100 million. Other than Asia Pacific and Africa, Western Europe and United States are other lucrative regions for mobile payment transaction market the world over.Request to view Table of Content @Leading players operating in the global mobile payment transaction market are PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Google Wallet, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Alipay.To Buy Full Report for a Single User @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. We have an experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, who use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each PMR Syndicated Research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemical, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With a wider scope and stratified research methodology, our syndicated reports strive to serve clients and satisfy their overall research requirement.For information regarding permissions, contact:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway,7th FloorNew York City, NY 10007United StatesTel: +1 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWebsite:media@persistencemarketresearch.com
Geotextiles Market to Maintain Healthy CAGR By 2025
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Geotextiles are been used for agriculture and civil applications for thousands of years. In past, materials such as natural fibres and vegetation mix were used to produce geotextiles. Now a days, synthetic and natural fibres/polymers are used to produce geotextiles. The synthetic polymers that are used in the production of geotextiles are polyamides, polyethylenes, polypropylene and polyester. Geotextile fabrics are used to produce grids, mats, nets and webs. Vegetation or plant based geotextiles have less shelf life as compared to synthetic fibres/polymer. Synthetic fibres do not get affected by the biological or chemical reactions/processes. The geotextiles have evolved and currently geotextiles are largely used in the civil engineering applications, due to their properties such as flexibility and texture suitable. Synthetic geotextiles materials are petrochemical based products, due to which, they are not environment friendly as they are responsible for carbon emission. Synthetic geotextiles are non-renewable as well.A sample of this report is available upon request @Separation, filtration, reinforcement and drainage are four functions of geotextiles. Geotextile is also used with soil, and rock to increase the stability and lessen the wind and water erosion. As per the type of applications, the fabric composition varies. Geotextiles can non-woven, woven or knitted. The non-woven geotextiles are used in applications such as roads, payment overlays and aggregate drains. For application where high strength geotextile is required, the woven geotextile is used. Though, geotextiles are largely used in filtration of rocks, geotextiles are not apt for filtration of liquid barriers.Geotextiles are inexpensive and thus preferred for various functions such as separation, filtration, reinforcement, protection and drainage in civil engineering applications, due to which the global geotextile market is expected to grow during the forecast period. Global geotextile market is forecast to propel during the forecast period due to expected growth in the construction and agriculture industries. Properties such as flexibility and permeability of geotextiles are expected to fuel the growth of the global geotextiles market during the forecast period. Durability and cost effectiveness is also expected to fuel the growth of the global geotextile market during the forecast period. Geotextiles industry players are constantly innovating the geotextiles, due to government push and to increase their market share in the global market, which is expected drive the global geotextile during the forecast period.Though, the importance of the geotextiles is on the rise globally, as synthetic geotextiles are petrochemical based products, they cause carbon emissions, due to stringent government regulations to reduce the carbon footprint, the growth in the global geotextile market is inhibited.The global geotextiles market by value is expected to expand at a CAGR of around 79% during the forecast period (2015-2025), due to increasing demand from industries such as construction and agriculture.Some of the key market participants in global geotextiles market are Royal Ten Cate (TenCate), Geosynthetic Lining Systems (GSE) Environmental, NAUE Gmbh & Co. KG, Propex Global, Fibertex Nonwovers, Fiberweb PLC and Global Synthetics.Request to view Table of content @The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments by geographies and by end-use application, by materials and by type.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) Devices Batteries Market: Improved Power Sources Ensure Swift Uptake, says TMR
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Transparency Market Research states that the competitive landscape in the global cardiac rhythm management devices batteries market is mildly fragmented. The leading players such as Medtronic, Boston Scientific Corporation, St. Jude Medical, Inc., Greatbatch, Inc. (Integer), and EaglePicher Technologies, LLC are focusing on developing unmatched quality of batteries through state-of-art technological development. Furthermore, companies are also expected to strengthen their position across the globe through geographical expansion. In the coming years, these players are expected to increase their investments to develop products that are aimed toward increasing streamlining clinical workflow, therapy efficacy, and improving quality of life, states the lead author of this research report.According to the research report, the global CRM devices batteries market is expected to worth US$518.4 mn by the end of 2024 as compared to US$397.3 mn in 2015. During the forecast years of 2016 and 2024, the global market is estimated to progress at a CAGR of 3.0%.cardiac rhythm management devices batteries marketHigh Prevalence of Chronic Conditions across Asia Pacific Boosts Regional DemandThe various products available in the global CRM devices batteries market are implantable cardiac pacemakers (ICPs), implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICDs), and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices (CRT-Ds). Of these, the CRT-Ds are expected to show the maximum growth in the forecast period as the segment surges at a CAGR of 4.1%. The ability of these devices to manage heart failure cases and reduce the number of risks associated with irregular heartbeats are expected to boost their demand in the forecast period. Analysts projected that ICD will also be a lucrative segment for the global market in the coming years.In terms geography, the global CRM devices batteries market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Of these, North America is the most attractive market for CRM batteries as the region is slated to acquire a share of 38.2% by the end of 2024. Analysts estimate that Asia Pacific is also expected to gain a significant share in the overall market due to high prevalence of health conditions such as high cholesterol, diabetes, and hypertension that have spiked the number of cardiovascular disease cases in recent years.Aging Population Triggers Demand for CRM Devices Batteries for Disease ManagementThe demand for CRM devices batteries has grown to a significantly in the past few decades as power sources have graduated from nickel-cadmium batteries to lithium ones. These sophisticated batteries are capable of powering complicated pacing devices such as CRT devices and ICDs. These batteries are known to be light weight, highly predictable and reliable, high energy density, small in size, and come with a long service life. Owing to these regions, several CRM devices manufacturers are using them in ICD, CRT devices, and pacemakers. The demand for CRM devices batteries is also being fueled by the increasing need for data logging, biventricular pacing, and telemetry.Product Recalls Lead to Declining Sales of CRM Devices BatteriesThe report indicates that growing pool of geriatrics is also likely to boost the demand for ICD, CRT devices, and pacemakers, which, in turn, is expected to reflect positively on the sales of CRM devices batteries. These devices will be extensively used for managing diseases such as bradycardia, tachycardia, and congestive heart failure amongst the ageing population.Though the batteries have gained popularity and demand over the past few years, the growing number of product recalls have resulted in decline of sales of these devices. Failure of device batteries have been the predominant reason for recalls in recent past. The market is also likely to suffer due to the changes in purchasing patterns. These are attributable to the declining reimbursements, lower patient volumes, and a significant drop in capital expenditure since the economic recession of 2008.This review is based on Transparency Market Researchs report, titled Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) Devices Batteries Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2016 - 2024.The cardiac rhythm management devices batteries market has been segmented as follows:Global Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) Devices Batteries Market, by Product TypeImplantable cardiac pacemakers (ICPs)Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICDs)Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Devices (CRT-Ds)Global Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) Devices Batteries Market, by Power SourcesLithium-iodine cells (Li/I2)Lithium-silver vanadium oxide cell (Li/SVO)Lithium-carbon mono-fluoride cells (Li/CFx)Lithium-manganese dioxide cells (Li/MnO2)Global Cardiac Rhythm Management (CRM) Devices Batteries Market, by GeographyNorth AmericaEuropeAsia PacificLatin AmericaMEA (Middle East & Africa)Download Free exclusive Sample of this report:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Packaged Explosive Market Expecting Worldwide Growth by 2026
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An explosive can be anything solid or liquid or mixture of materials which with the help of external stimulus forms or releases number of gasses generating high pressures. The explosives are broadly classified into three categories packaged explosives, bulk explosives and initiating systems. Packaged explosives have vast applications in different industries like mining, at construction sites, road building, infrastructure development, seismic exploration and others. Packaged explosives are in form of cartridges with different sizes as per the requirements. Packaged explosives dominated the explosives market since the invention of dynamite in 1867. The rapid technology growth and ease of usability in various industries were the reasons for the development and more usability of packaged explosives. With the passage of time two more categories were packaged gel explosive and packaged emulsion explosives were developed in this segment.A sample of this report is available upon request @The global demand for the packaged explosives is well driven due to activity and investments in the infrastructure segment. Apart from the mining industries coal and metal are the core industries to drive the market demand for the packaged explosives. The downstream users for the packaged explosives are key industries responsible for economy developments like steel, power, cement, mining etc. and thus their requirements drive the market demand for the packaged explosives. The restraints for the packaged explosive market is the excessive dependent on the downstream industries. A little fluctuation in their market affects the whole demand index for packaged explosives. The hazardous risk involved in the usability is another restraint for the packaged explosive market, safety modules and trainings are essential for the safe usability are necessary.Global packaged explosive market is segmented based on type (technology), application industries (downstream users) and the region. Based on the type (technology) the global packaged explosive market is segmented into three categories Traditional Dynamite, packaged emulsions & water gel and packaged ANFO. They all have various market shares in the various regions owing to the application ease and industry. Based on the end use industry (downstream users) the global market for the packaged explosives in classified into coal, road construction, Metal mining, cement, steel and others. Based on the regions global market for the packaged explosives is divide into seven key regions which are North America (U.S., Canada), Latin America (Mexico. Brazil),Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg),Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia),Asia Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, Australia & New Zealand),Japan ,Middle East and Africa (GCC, S. Africa, N. Africa).The demand for the packaged explosives is due to the expansion of downstream user industries and their demand for the explosives. The major demand for packaged explosives is from the mining industry (60 to 70 %). Developed countries from North America and Western Europe are experiencing the stabilization in this industry due to shift and preference towards the usability of renewable sources. The fatal accidents in the production capacities of Europe has forced them to shut down the facilities. Countries in south America (Brazil, Mexico), Pacific Rim (Australia) and Africa (South) are driving the market demand owing to the surplus coal and metal reserves and low penetration in the region, making these regions the demand driver for the packaged explosives. The other important consideration for driving the market growth for the packaged explosives is infrastructure development and demand from the construction industries. Asia pacific countries with the growing economies are expected to show highest packaged explosives demand growth due to the development of rail and public facilities. China and India are expected to show the considerable market demand for the packaged explosives market. Middle East is the region where large public and private investments are being done and are expected in future because of the real estate and infrastructure development making it one of the key regions to consider as the future market for the packaged explosives.Request to view Table of content @The packaged explosive manufacturers have to be involved with safety modules and essential trainings to avoid the fatal accidents. The major manufacturing players for the packaged explosives are Orica Limited, (Australia), Dyno Nobel (US), AEL Mining Services Ltd. (South Africa), Austin Powder Company (US), EPC Group (France), Hanwha Corporation (South Korea), LSB Industries (US), NOF Corp (Japan), Sasol Limited (South Africa), Solar Industries India Ltd.(India) and others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Fluorocarbon Gases Market to Record an Impressive Growth by 2026
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The compounds and the products utilizing fluorocarbons subsidize significantly to the quality of life while. Over the years many new technologies are being introduced that are fuelling investments in industrial in fluorocarbon gases market to utilize its properties to produce electrical equipment and products at a large scale. The improved technologies in air conditioning in buildings, food-preserving refrigeration, insulation systems, motor vehicles and others.A sample of this report is available upon request @There are numerous recent attempts wherein businesses are working to make alterations to compounds with more environment protection without disturbing its basic attributes such as low toxicity, non-flammability and lot more. The market is being majorly driven by the growing electronic appliances and electronics manufacturing. There are numerous industries where a fluorocarbon gases is a prerequisite. Some other prominent industries where fluorocarbon gases are used are automotive, chemicals, semiconductors among others. CFCs emanates a very prominent usage in aerosol format products, as sterilants of equipment of medical usage, and in a lot of diverse applications including tobacco expansion, food freezing, cancer therapy and fumigation. The rising demand from different end use sectors is driving growth in global fluorocarbon gases market.The industry is entering into a fast moving phase. Growing number of industry players is rising the competition into unprecedented heights. Many fluorocarbon gases have a very high global warming potentials. Fluorinated gases are removed only in the upper atmosphere when they are damaged by sunlight. In general, fluorinated gases are the most long lasting type of gases emitted by human activities.The growing need of high-end industrial activities in different industrial applications is pushing the end users to invest in and deploy fluorocarbon gases, subsequently growing the global fluorocarbon gases market. The demand is growing in industrial applications such as electronics manufacturing, semiconductors, home appliances etc. which is acting as one of the biggest driver for the increasing demand of the fluorocarbon gases and global fluorocarbon gases market dispersion.In spite of of being in flammable, compact, and reliable source raw material/compound the fluorocarbon suffers from some challenges such as the changing legislations and strict mandates upon its usage. The gases are ozone depletion substances whose production and usage are controlled under an international agreement called Montreal Protocol. In some of the regions, usage of CFCs and HCFCs is phased out under this international agreement, and are being replaced by HFCs. This is expected to restrain the global fluorocarbon market from growing.The global fluorocarbon gases market is projected to register a favourable growth for the forecast period, 2015?2025. APAC is projected to withstand its control on the global fluorocarbon gases market. The region is anticipated to uphold its dominance in the global fluorocarbon gases market due to consistently growing demand for fluorocarbon gases from developing economies such as China and India. China is the largest market opportunity in terms of revenue in APAC region. North American and Europe are likely to follow the Asia market in terms of growth in global fluorocarbon gases market.Request to view Table of content @Some of the key market participants in global fluorocarbon gases market are Daikin Industries, Electronic Fluorocarbons, LLC, INOX Group, Hindustan Flurocarbons Limited, Fluorocarbon, among others.The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments, geographies, types, technology and applications.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd.305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Technology Spending on Core Administration in Healthcare: Rising Investments in Administrative Systems Slated to Reduce Healthcare Delivery Costs, predicts TMR
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The field of core administration solutions for the healthcare industry is highly fragmented owing to the presence of a large number of established players offering hardware, software, and services, says Transparency Market Research in a recent report. Considering the vast growth opportunities in developing regions such as India, Brazil, and China, players are focusing on diversification opportunities across these countries through mergers, acquisitions, and consolidation practices. To encash the vast growth opportunities in the core administration segment in the healthcare industry, owing to various government norms like Obamacare or Affordable Care Act (ACA), competitors are also focusing on extensive product development to offer differentiated services.According to Transparency Market Research, the global technology spending on core administration in healthcare market sector will exhibit a 5.7% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024, rising from US$25,900 mn in 2015 to US$42,317 mn by 2024.Of the key end users of core administration solutions in the healthcare industry, the payers segment accounted for over 88% of the overall market in 2015 and is expected to remain the key driver of technology spending on core administration in the healthcare industry throughout the forecast period. Geographically, North America dominated, accounted for over 50% of the overall funds spent on enabling technologically advanced core administration solutions in the healthcare industry in 2015. The trend is expected to remain strong over the forecast period as well.technology spending on core administration in healthcare marketRising Demand for Value-based Reimbursement Modules to Drive adoption of IT Solutions in HealthcareRising convergence of a variety of digital platforms for managing and processing the ever-expanding healthcare data, continuously changing healthcare reimbursement reforms and regulations, and digitally empowered consumers are collectively making the healthcare administration space increasingly complex. While at one point cost competition is at the peak in the healthcare industry, payers (insurance agencies) are pressing healthcare providers to switch from a volume-based (payment for service) to a value-based reimbursement module (payment for value).By requiring that healthcare providers deliver services at lowest costs to patients, value-based reimbursement modules entail more financial risks for providers and critically necessitate the effective management of core administrative processes to cut costs. The situation demands a robust IT infrastructure and an integrated platform wherein the payers can streamline workflows for provider contracting and engagement. In the next few years, the increased need for such platforms will emerge as one of the key drivers of technology spending on core administration in the healthcare sector.Outdated Technology and Applications Discourage Technological Advancements in Healthcare IT InfrastructureHowever, the overall global spending on technology for core administration in the healthcare sector is expected to be negatively impacted due to factors such as the presence of outdated technology and applications across several data collection and delivery nodes, continuously changing healthcare reforms, and ever-changing ways of financial transactions.The inability of healthcare professionals in using complex or time-consuming features in technologically advanced digital healthcare applications is another key factor deterring the adoption of IT solutions for managing core administrative processes in the healthcare sector. The use of IT solutions by health professionals is growing at a steady pace globally, but it is not uniform. A substantial gap exists between the numbers of providers, which is relatively small presently, the number of consumers who actively use the Internet for any purpose, which is on rise at a rapid pace, and the much larger group of patients and healthcare providers that has not used it or cannot use it.This review of the present and future scope of technology spending on core administration in healthcare is based on a recent report by Transparency Market Research, titled Technology Spending on Core Administration in Healthcare Market - Global Industry, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024.View exclusive Global strategic Business report :Global Technology Spending on Core Administration in Healthcare By SolutionIn-HouseHardwareSoftwareServicesOutsourceGlobal Technology Spending on Core Administration in Healthcare By DeploymentCloud-BasedOn-PremiseGlobal Technology Spending on Core Administration in Healthcare By End UsersPayersInsurance CompaniesGovernmentOthersProvidersHospitalsOthersGlobal Technology Spending on Core Administration in Healthcare By RegionNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaEuropeGermanyU.KFranceItalySpainRest of EuropeAsia Pacific (APAC)ChinaIndiaJapanAustraliaNew ZealandRest of Asia PacificLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin AmericaMiddle East & Africa (MEA)Saudi ArabiaUAERSARest of Middle East & AfricaDownload Free exclusive Sample of this report:Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Power over Ethernet (PoE) Chipsets Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Forecast 2024
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Global Power over Ethernet (PoE) Chipsets Market: OverviewThe Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology enables the transfer of electrical signals and data over cables, thereby avoiding the usage of separate power cords. Demand for fast and cost-effective communication is rising due to the increase in the number of internet users. Under the PoE technology, power is supplied through two or more differential pair of wires seen in Ethernet cables. Implementation of the PoE chipsets for the transfer of data signals saves the cost for setting up separate network of cables.Get Sample Report Copy :On the basis of product type, PoE chipsets have been classified into proximity sensors, VoIP phones, Ethernet switches, wireless radio access points, and pan-tilt-zoom cameras. The VoIP applications contribute significantly toward the growth of the global PoE chipsets market. PoE chipsets are deployed in majority of business-class IP phones. The PoE technology provides value proposition for wireless LAN access points, as it can be deployed without tethering to an AC outlet. Network security cameras are anticipated to hold the maximum growth potential for the market in the next few years.Global Power over Ethernet (PoE) Chipsets Market: OverviewIncrease in adoption of IP telephony has driven the demand for Power over Ethernet (PoE) chipsets. Rise in the deployment of network security cameras and Ethernet-based RFID readers will further boost the global PoE chipsets market. Introduction of industrial Ethernet PoE solutions is expected to contribute significantly toward the expansion of the market. The overall market has an opportunity to grow in the near future, with the rising popularity of PoE for digital signage.Increasing costs of energy have pushed energy-efficient PoE solutions into the spotlight. Introduction of upgraded PoE plus is anticipated to propel the applications of PoE in high-power devices. However, non-standard PoE chipsets cast a long shadow of worry over the growth of the market. Deployment of PoE technology requires high capital investment on electrical and data infrastructure. Lack of awareness about the benefits of the technology and insufficient power requirements will also impede the global PoE chipsets market.Introduction of standards such as IEEE 802.3 for the PoE technology has expanded the applications of PoE chipsets, including wireless access points and security surveillance cameras. When integrated into application and switching infrastructure, the PoE technology offers reduced deployment costs and increased control and monitoring capabilities across large enterprises and businesses.Global Power over Ethernet (PoE) Chipsets Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global PoE chipsets market has been segmented into four key regions: Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. Due to the availability of technologically advanced infrastructure, North America has been contributing significantly toward the growth of the market. In the near future, Asia Pacific is expected to emerge as a potential market for PoE chipsets, as a large number of players are operating in the region.Key players in the global PoE chipsets market include Shenzhen Quanma Industry Co. Ltd., Silicon Laboratories, STMicroelectronics, Flexcomm Technology, VISIX, Maxim Integrated, Akros Silicon Inc., Microsemi Corporation, and ON Semiconductor. The market has witnessed an influx of a number of vendors from various other sectors such as semiconductors, power infrastructure, network infrastructure, and cabling and network devices.Browse Market Research Report with ToC & Free Analysis :Market players are primarily focusing on product development and innovations. Furthermore, the key vendors are seeking mergers and acquisitions to expand their business. For example, U.S.-based chipmaker Microsemi Corporation acquired Zarlink Semiconductor, a specialty chip manufacturer, and AML Communications, a manufacturer of microwave and microelectronic assemblies, to enhance its expertise in the manufacture of PoE chipsets.About Us :Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact Us :-Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
DES MOINES How the state delivers funding to Iowas public schools could be altered dramatically this year when Republicans assume control of the states law-making agenda.
Republicans for the first time in 20 years will hold the governors office and majorities in the Iowa House and Senate.
They are poised to consider legislation that would expand so-called school choice programs that give families greater flexibility to enroll in private schools, often at the expense of funding to public schools, and alter the timeline for when the state sets public school funding levels.
Conservative state legislators have long supported school choice programs, but have faced opposition from Democrats, who in recent sessions held a majority in the Iowa Senate.
Iowa Republicans grab hold of a Statehouse in flux DES MOINES In 2011, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad marked his triumphant return to the Sta
The Nov. 8 election results could change that.
Im pretty confident were going to come out of this session with some type of school choice bill that hopefully is signed by (the governor), said Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls, the new chairman of the education committee in the House.
Rogers said proposals could range from a pilot project to something more substantial, like state-funded education savings accounts, in which state dollars are earmarked for parents to use toward education costs like private-school tuition.
Im a believer in them, Rogers said. Im taking an approach of, lets look at everything and see what we can afford, see what type of transition period it would take to implement more choice for parents. Thats where Im at. Im willing to take a look at everything. Im going to give everything a fair hearing in education.
Democrats and public school advocates have opposed such programs because typically they result in less state funding for public school districts.
Iowa Legislature likely to have minimum wage debate or two CEDAR RAPIDS Its all but certain the Iowa Legislature will have a minimum wage debate thi
Supporters of educational savings account say they give families the freedom to determine which school is best for their children.
An ESA program will allow true universal choice and inject the positive force of market competition into the Iowa educational system, Susan Fenton, a lobbyist for Iowa Advocates for Choice in Education, told Gov. Terry Branstad at a recent public hearing on the state budget.
Branstad, whose three children attended Catholic schools in the Des Moines area, told reporters after the hearing he is a strong supporter of private schools but said there are a lot of issues to consider in the tight budget.
That tight budget has led Republican leaders to say they plan to budget for a 2 percent increase for public school funding for the 2017-2018 school year.
If approved, it will be the seventh time in eight years state funding to public schools has increased by roughly 2 percent or less.
Intensive, ongoing oversight essential: Ragan DES MOINES One big Medicaid question has been hanging in the air since Republicans took co
Funding increases dipped to those levels only four times in the previous 38 years.
It is a fact that these are the worst six years in Iowa history for education funding, said Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo. There are a lot of us who believe that at a time when we had the resources, at least a cost of living (increase) averaged out over those six years was reasonable. That was not achieved. I dont think we have invested in education like it matters to our future, and it does.
Mark Smith, leader of the minority House Democrats, said more of state spending, as a percentage, should be going to public education.
We havent had our priorities straight, which is to put Iowas children first, Smith said. I would hope that the (funding increase), because of underfunding, would not ever be below 4 percent this year, but clearly Im very doubtful that we will get to that point.
Iowa Democratic leaders visit Mason City MASON CITY | Iowa Senate Minority Leader Rob Hogg said during a visit to North Iowa Tuesday
Republicans also may repeal the portion of Iowa law that requires state legislators to set school funding levels more than a year before schools set their budgets. The law which does not include any punitive measure for when legislators fail to adhere by the timeline was written to ensure public school funding gets the first bite of the state budget pie and so schools can plan their own budgets.
Republicans who want to repeal the measure say it is difficult to predict state revenues that far in advance, so setting such a big budget number so early is bad practice.
Linda Upmeyer, a Republican from Clear Lake who is going into her second session as Iowas first-ever woman Speaker of the House, said schools still can get their state funding numbers first and early if legislators act swiftly during the legislative session.
Iowas legislative sessions begin in early January, and schools must present a certified budget by mid-April.
I think if youre setting (school funding levels) in the first 30 days (of the session), youre still getting it done early, Upmeyer said. The whole goal is so we can actually deliver on what we promise. And were committed to that.
Global Ethyl Benzene Market: Size, Share, Industry Analysis & Outlook 2016 to 2021
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Ethyl Benzene Market for Plastic, Electronics, Paints & Coatings, Agriculture, Rubber and Other End-user Industries: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Segment, Trends and Forecast, 2015 2021Global ethyl benzene market revenue to reach USD 23.31 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 4.2% during 2016 and 2021.The report covers forecast and analysis for the ethyl benzene market on a global and regional level. The study provides historic data of 2015 along with a forecast from 2016 to 2021 based on both volume (Kilo Tons) and revenue (USD Billion). The study includes drivers and restraints for the ethyl benzene market along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Additionally, the report includes the study of opportunities available in the ethyl benzene market on a global level.Request Free Sample copy of Report @In order to give the users of this report a comprehensive view on the ethyl benzene market, we have included a detailed value chain analysis. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters Five Forces model for the ethyl benzene market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein end-user segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate, and general attractiveness.The study provides a decisive view on the ethyl benzene market by segmenting the market based on end-user industries. All end-user segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2015 to 2021. The regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa with its bifurcation into major countries including the U.S., Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India, and Brazil. This segmentation includes demand for individual end-user in all the regions.The report covers detailed competitive outlook including the market share and company profiles of the key participants operating in the global ethyl benzene market. Key players profiled in the report include BASF SE, BP PLC, The Dow chemical company, CPCC, CNPC, TOTAL S.A, SABIC, Exxon Mobil Corp, Jx Nippon Oil and Energy group, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Qufu Xindi Chemical Research Limited Company, Tianjin Jixin Industrial & Trade Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Weishi Biotechnology Co., Ltd., and others.Browse detail report with in-depth TOC @This report segments the global ethyl benzene market as follows:Global Ethyl Benzene Market: End-user Segment AnalysisPlasticElectronicsPaints & CoatingsAgricultureRubberOthersGlobal Ethyl Benzene Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeGermanyUKFranceAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East and AfricaAbout A to Z ResearchA to Z Research is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations. A to Z Research is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air. We have market research reports from number of leading publishers and update our collection daily to provide our clients with the instant online access to our database. With access to this database, our clients will be able to benefit from expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends.Contact US3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442, USATel: +1-386-310-3803GMTTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-465Email: martin@atozresearch.comWebsite:
Viscosupplementation Market- Evolving Industry Trends and Insights 2016 - 2023
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Viscosupplementation is a minimally invasive procedure that involves injection of gel-like substances into a joint to assist the viscous properties of synovial fluid. As of now hyaluronate injections are only approved viscosupplementation treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee. Hyaluronic acid (HA) or hyaluronate is a non-sulfated glycosaminoglycan that is distributed throughout the body in epithelial, connective tissues, and neural tissues. Hyaluronic acid is observed to be an integral component of the extracellular matrix as it contributes significantly to migration and cell proliferation. Hyaluronic acid acts as a joint lubricant and elastic in nature that allows it to act as a shock absorber because of its viscous nature. Chemical modification allows Hyaluronic acid to transform into several physical forms such as soft or stiff hydrogels, non-woven meshes, flexible sheets, viscoelastic solutions, electrospun fibers, macroporous, fibrillar sponges, and nanoparticulate fluids for use in a range of preclinical and clinical applications. According to the WHO, osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that mainly affects the articular cartilage and is related with aging. This condition affects the joints that have been continually stressed over the years including the hips, fingers, lower spine and knees. According to the WHO, globally, around 9.6% men and 18.0% women are above the age of 60 years and suffer from symptomatic osteoarthritis, which is one of the top disabling diseases in developed countries. Osteoarthritis is mostly classified in two types: primary and secondary where primary osteoarthritis occurs due to aging and wear and tear of joints and secondary osteoarthritis occurs due to an accident or obesity at an early stage.Download exclusive Brochure of this report:Factors driving the growth of viscosupplementation market are increasing geriatric population, increasing demand for minimally invasive surgical procedures, high patient awareness about new drugs and devices for the treatment of osteoarthritis and rising obese population globally. However, lack of safety and inefficiency of the products might hamper the market growth. The product innovation and process development is an opportunity window for market players as safety and efficacy are the major concerns of viscosupplementation products. Thus, introduction of products that helps to overcome these concerns have an opportunity to enter and establish in the global viscosupplementation market.The FDA approved hyaluronates currently available in the viscosupplementation market are Hyalgan (Sanofi), Euflexxa (Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), Orthovisc (Anika Therapeutics), Supartz and Gel-One (Seikagaku Corporation), and Synvisc, Synvisc One (Genzyme) and Durolane (Q MED AB).View exclusive Global strategic Business report:North America is the largest viscosupplementation market globally accounting for high product demand, high awareness in the region and acceptance of high priced products. Europe experienced an economic downturn that created problem in the hyaluronic acid products market as reimbursement policies turned out to be difficult but still the premium priced products were accepted in some of the countries. Although European market is expected to review and provide essential opportunity for viscosupplementation products as the economical conditions are reviving. Asia-Pacific and RoW observed to be the emerging markets for viscosupplementation and Asia-Pacific viscosupplementation market is especially driven by economic development, healthcare facility enhancements and high demand for minimally invasive surgeries.Some of the key players of viscosupplementation market are Alcon, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Allergan, Inc., Fidia Farmaceutici SpA, Anika Therapeutics, Inc., Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Inc., GALDERMA S.A., LifeCore Biomedical LLC, Hyaltech Ltd. and others.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
De-aromatic Solvents Market Anticipated to Grow US$ 2,918 Mn by 2022 - PMR Report
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According to the latest market report published by Persistence Market Research titled Global Market Study on De-aromatic Solvents: Increasing Demand for Paints and Coatings, Metal Working Industries to Drive the Growth of Market During the Forecast Period 2016 - 2022, globally, the revenue generated from sales of de-aromatic solvents has been estimated to be valued at US$ 1.56 Bn by 2016 end, and is expected to increase at a CAGR of 5.9% during 2016 - 2022.A sample of this report is available upon request:De-aromatic solvents, also called dearomatized hydrocarbon solvents or ultra-low aromatic solvents, are a class of hydrocarbon solvents that are characterized by the presence of paraffinic, iso-paraffinic, and naphthenic components with very low aromatic content. De-aromatic solvents market are of three types, namely low flash point, medium flash point, and high flash point. These dearomatized hydrocarbon solvents find application across various industries and are used as solvents for printing inks, paints & coatings, metal working fluids, industrial and institutional cleaning, adhesives and sealants, drilling fluids, and in consumer products. They are effective alternatives to conventional solvents such as mineral spirits and mineral turpentine.Major players in de-aromatic solvents market have channelized efforts towards developing eco-friendly or green product offerings that employ bio-based raw materials for their synthesis and, thus, eventually do away with the use of conventional solvents in certain applications. Owing to the increasing demand for greener alternatives, the bio-based solvents market is slated to register a steady CAGR of around 67% over the forecast period. Another major factor that is projected to impede growth of the de-aromatic solvents market, especially in paints & coatings application segment, is increasing demand for water-based paints & coatings, powder coatings, among others across the globe. Consumption of de-aromatic solvents is expected to increase from 1,718,100 metric tons in 2015 to 2,230,972 kilotons by 2022, increasing at a CAGR of 3.8% during the forecast period.Asia-Pacific accounted for the largest revenue share of the global de-aromatic solvents market in 2014, and the market in the region is anticipated to increase at the highest CAGR over the forecast period. Consumption of de-aromatic solvents in Asia-Pacific is projected to increase by 1.4X between 2014 and 2022. Mature markets, i.e. North America and Europe, are expected to register relatively slower growth during the forecast period.Request to view Table of Content:Exxon Mobil Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell plc., Total S.A., and Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. are among the leading players in the global de-aromatic solvents market. Other market players include CEPSA, Gandhar Oil Refinery India Ltd, Neste Oyj, and SK Global Chemical Co., Ltd.To Buy Full Report for a Single User:About Us:Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact Us:Persistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Analysis of Kiosk Market in Global Industry : Insights, Development, Research and Forecast 2016-2020
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Albany, NY, 4 JAN : A kiosk is an electronic device that provides information which is basically interactive in nature. Modern consumers demand more interactive features and the liberty while purchasing a commodity. Hence, a major section of the retail companies are contemplating incorporating kiosks in their businesses.This research report on the kiosk market provides detailed analysis of the kiosk devices and helps understanding the driving forces behind the popularity of kiosk in the market. It also provides analysis of major sub-segments of the global kiosk market for the next nine years. This report includes extensive analysis of industry drivers, restraints, market trends, and market structure. The market study provides comprehensive assessment of stakeholder strategies and imperatives for succeeding in the business. The report has segregated the market based on type, end-use, and geography.Get PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Other important points covered in the research study include:Definitions, estimates, and forecast (revenue) of the kiosk market for the period from 2016 to 2024Analysis of the global market and respective sub-segmentsRecent developments of major players and strategies followed by themProfiles of major market participants to help better understand their contribution in the marketThe research report provides a comprehensive assessment of stakeholder strategies, and the imperatives for succeeding in kiosk market. The report includes competitive analysis of various market segments based on type and end-use for kiosks, and in-depth cross-sectional analysis across different geographical segments of the kiosk market. The report segregates the kiosk market based on different geographies into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle-east and Africa and Latin America.For detailed understanding of the kiosk market, all these segments have also been estimated in terms of revenue (US$ Mn) for the geographies mentioned above. The market research study analyzes the kiosk market worldwide, and provides historical revenue estimates in terms for the years 2015 and 2014, along with the market forecast for the period 2016 to 2024. Market forecasts have been analyzed considering the impact of various economic, political, social, legal, operational and technological factors influencing market growthEnquiry @The kiosk market is segmented as followsKiosk MarketBy TypeVendingSelf-Service KiosksATM (Automated Teller Machine)Locker KioskCharging KioskOthers (Web Payphone, Gaming)By End-useRetailerTransport (Airport/Railway/Bus) OperatorBanks, AdvertisersPetrol StationCommercial Complex (Education, Hospital)GovernmentBy GeographyNorth AmericaEuropeAsia PacificMiddle East and AfricaLatin AmericaResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMoz90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States
Aluminium Heat Sinks The Benefits You Need to Know
GD Rectifiers are one of the UKs leading aluminium extrusion suppliers and have extensive experience in designing and creating aluminium profile solutions. GD Rectifiers are experts in alloy requirements and advise the best extrusion shapes and sizes to produce aluminium profiles in order to meet exact requirements.Why Choose an Aluminium Heat Sink? The most common heat sink materials are aluminium alloys Aluminium alloy has one of the higher thermal conductivity values but is mechanically soft Aluminium is a good heat conductor and reflector, making it very useful in heat transfer applications and as a highly reflective heat shield Aluminium has a low density copper is three times denser than aluminium Reduce cost - aluminium is much more cost effective than copper, on average copper costs 4-6 times more than Aluminium Aluminium can be more easily extruded than other materials Its easier to create custom aluminium heat sink profile variations When extruded in a fin, profiles can easily be attached to a copper base, conducting a large amount of thermal energy to the lighter, less expensive aluminium alloy cooling fins Aluminium is a lighter metal and is made up of all fans and radiators on the device Aluminium heat sinks usually require low maintenance Aluminium has almost twice the specific heat of copper Aluminium heat sinks are highly resistant to corrosion Heat sinks made from aluminium can be significantly exposed to air by suddenly forming a protective layer, it is a suitable heat sink for many applications and environments due to the exposure to moisture and other elements Aluminium provides a more consistent surface by eliminating the air pockets and also offers the most efficiency in cooling The product shape can easily be adapted Aluminium provides an Increased service life Aluminium provides the quickest form of assemblyAluminium heat sinks are used to tackle the heat problems generated in semiconductor devices. The primary purpose of using this heat sink is to dissipate the heat that helps to maintain the heated surface in the electronic parts.Engineers can use the heat sink made of aluminium metal because it likely to increase air in the surface area to dissipate the generated heat. This process has an ability to cool the surface area with the natural sir or forced air convection by using a fan.In order to avoid heat problems, the aluminium metal can be mounted on to an electronic component, this allows the sufficient air to be applied to the surface area which slows down the contact resistance.GD Rectifiers are the UKs leading manufacturer of standard and custom built Aluminium Heat Sinks, heat sink accessories and heat sink assemblies. They stock and machine a large range of heat sinks suitable for stud, modules and capsule semiconductors.GD Rectifiers offer technical support on all heat sinks including specific heat dissipation requirements.For further information on all GD Rectifiers heat sink products call: 01444 243 452 or email: enquiries@gdrectifiers.co.uk.GD Rectifiers is a Global Manufacturer and Distributor of products, services and solutions to commercial and industrial users of power electronic components.Established in 1964, GD Rectifiers has over 50 years of extensive experience across a large range of markets, specialising in new and current technologies for industrial power control applications. An extensive product offering has built GD Rectifiers exceptional reputation as the go-to power specialist with innovative experience across: Aviation, Automotive, Rail, Medical, Industrial and Electronics markets.GD Rectifiers are an ISO 9001:2008 registered company that design and develop bespoke power semiconductor assemblies to control voltage, current and frequency for international industrial markets.GD Rectifiers designs and manufactures Selenium and Silicon Rectifiers, Suppressors, Converters, Inverters, Regulators and all other power products for Industrial power control applications. The company distributes state of the art Diodes, Thyristors, IGBTs and MOSFETs from the worlds leading manufacturers including: IXYS, IXYS UK Westcode, Semikron and EDI.GD Rectifiers manufacture an extensive range of power components and assemblies. The company also supplies a wide range of Heat Sinks suitable for Power Semiconductors, LED Lighting and similar applications. GD Rectifiers also offer a repair and replacement service for faulty or ageing Semiconductor Rectifiers, Converters, Inverters and Regulators.GD RectifiersBentley House2 William WayBurgess HillWest SussexRH15 9AG
Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems Market 2015-2022 Growth Trends and Forecasts
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DecisionDatabases.com offers Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems Market Research Report. This Report covers the complete Industry Outlook, Growth, Size, Share and Forecast Till 2022.Get Free Sample Copy @The global tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) market research report provides detailed information about the industry based on the revenue (USD MN) for the forecast period. The research study is a descriptive analysis of this market emphasizing the market drivers and restraints that govern the overall market growth. The trends and future prospects for the market are also included in the report which gives an intellectual understanding of the tire pressure monitoring systems industry. Furthermore, the report quantifies the market share held by the major players of the industry and provides an in-depth view of the competitive landscape. This market is classified into different segments with detailed analysis of each with respect to geography for the study period.A glimpse of the major drivers affecting this market is mentioned below:A. Drivers> Strict safety norms> Increasing health and safety awareness among consumers> Technological advancementB. Restraints> Lack of standardization> High prices of tire pressure monitoring systemsThe report offers a value chain analysis that gives a comprehensive outlook of the tire pressure monitoring systems market. The attractiveness analysis of this market has also been included to evaluate the segments that are anticipated to be profitable during the forecast period.The tire pressure monitoring systems market has been segmented based on vehicle types such as light commercial vehicle (LCV), heavy commercial vehicle (HCV), and passenger vehicle. The study incorporates periodic market estimates and forecasts. Each vehicle type has been analyzed based on the market size at regional and country levels.The tire pressure monitoring systems market has been segmented based on technology such as direct TPMS, and indirect TPMS. The report provides forecast and estimates for each technology in terms of market size during the study period. Each technology has been further analyzed based on regional and country levels.The tire pressure monitoring systems market has been segmented based on channel type such as OEM, and aftermarket. The study incorporates periodic market estimates and forecasts. Each channel type has been analyzed based on the market size at regional and country levels.Access full report at:C. Major players assessed in the report are:> Schrader Electronics> TRW Automotive> AVE technologies> Bartec USA LLC> General ElectricGeographically, the tire pressure monitoring systems market has been segmented into regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. The study details country-level aspects based on each segment and gives estimates in terms of market size.Major Table Of Contents:1. INTRODUCTION2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY3. MARKET ANALYSIS OF TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEMS4. TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEMS MARKET ANALYSIS BY VEHICLE TYPE5. TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEMS MARKET ANALYSIS BY TECHNOLOGY6. TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEMS MARKET ANALYSIS BY CHANNEL TYPE7. TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEMS MARKET ANALYSIS BY GEOGRAPHY8. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE OF TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEMS COMPANIES9. COMPANY PROFILES OF TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEMS INDUSTRYPurchase Complete Global Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems Market Research Report At:DecisionDatabases.com is a global business research reports provider, enriching decision makers and strategists with qualitative statistics. DecisionDatabases.com is proficient in providing syndicated research report, customized research reports, company profiles and industry databases across multiple domains.Our expert research analysts have been trained to map clients research requirements to the correct research resource leading to a distinctive edge over its competitors. We provide intellectual, precise and meaningful data at a lightning speed.3rd Floor,Fountain chambers,Nanabhai Lane,Fort, Mumbai - 1E-Mail: sales@decisiondatabases.comPhone: +91 99 28 237112Web:
DarkMindFX adds complete FRED(c) databases support
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https://fred.stlouisfed.org
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL
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DarkMindFX significantly extends the number of and quality of supported economic indicators. Starting from release 2017.01.02 DarkMindFX will be providing an access to the complete sets of data from different data sources. In this release the indicators from Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED) are added and available on all three major platforms supported MetaTrader, NinjaTrader and cTrader.What is in FRED(c) Databases?The database of Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is invaluable source of economic information about United States and others countries. DarkMindFX provides the support of more than 50 000 indicators from all the main categories of the database Money, Banking & Finances; Population, Employment , & Labor Market; National Accounts; Production & Business Activities; Prices.How to access the data using DarkMindFX indicators package?In order to get an access to the FRED(c) in their trading terminal traders and analysts need to perform the following steps:1. Download and install DarkMindFX indicators package for their platform 2. Navigate to the list of newly added indicators and find the one call US.FRED under DataSources3. Add an indicator to the chart and specify the FRED series identifier as an indicator parameter.The FRED series identifiers can be easily found on FREDs official web site the user just need to find the data set needed and use the code which is placed next to the data set name. For example, if CPI index is needed the user goes to the data series page - and uses value CPIAUCSL specified right next to the series name.Future Developments and EnhancementsDarkMindFX plans to extend the support of FRED(c) data bases to cover even more data. A U.S. regional data which consists of more than 240 000 indicators and data series will be added. A complete list of supported FRED(c) categories and datasets can be found on DarkMindFX website -DarkMindFX is a service which serves as an aggregates and provider of the official financial and economic data. We are offering a plug-and-play solutions for popular trading platforms which allows retail traders and analyst to gain an access to the data sources around the world.Grunwaldska 441, Gdansk, Poland, 80-288
Solid growth ahead for Hyperspectral Imaging Market by 2015 to 2021
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Hyperspectral imaging is the process of collecting and processing of information across the electromagnetic spectrum. It is the combination of spectroscopy and digital imaging, implemented to create a spectral based contrast within the image. Hyperspectral images are formed with the help of an instrument called imaging spectrometer. These images are obtained at multiple wavelengths and shaped into a three-dimensional hyperspectral data cube with two spatial dimensions and one spectral dimension. Hyperspectral imaging also measures absorption of electromagnetic radiation, emission, and reflection; and provides a unique spectral signature for every pixel, used by processing techniques to identify and discriminate materials. Some of the advantages of hyperspectral imaging are the non-requirement of prior knowledge of the sample and the acquisition of entire spectrum at each point. In addition, it is an emerging imaging modality for the diagnosis of diseases and image guided surgeries. It provides extensive information for processing and analysis of the image. It also provides a continuous spectrum for each image cell and offers diagnostic information regarding tissue composition, morphology, and physiology. In addition, during the progression of the disease, the absorption, scattering, and fluorescence characteristics of the tissue change, and hyperspectral imaging helps in the diagnosis of the tissue pathology. It helps in diagnosis and treatment of diseases. It also helps improve the quality of life and reduces medical cost. It is also used in industries such as agriculture, mining, environmental monitoring, food, mining and mineralogy, military surveillance, life-science and medical diagnostics, and process vision. In the agriculture industry, hyperspectral imaging is used to monitor the development and health of crops.A Sample of this Report is Available Upon Request @North America dominates the global market for hyperspectral imaging due to the increase in research activities carried out using hyperspectral imaging and its growing adoption in areas such as military surveillance, mining, life sciences, and diagnostics in the region. Asia is expected to show a high growth rate in the next five years in the global hyperspectral imaging market, with China and India being the fastest-growing markets in the region. The key driving forces for the hyperspectral imaging market in the developing countries in Asia Pacific are: the presence of a large pool of patients, growing number of research projects, rising pharmaceutical industries, increasing usage of hyperspectral imaging in environmental testing, mining explorations and research activities, increasing health care awareness, increasing health care expenditure, and rising government funding for research activities in the region.Increasing adoption of hyperspectral imaging in ophthalmology, gastrointestinal tract, surface tissue, vascular system and mucosal membrane analysis; technological advancements in hyperspectral imaging, and the increasing use of hyperspectral imaging for carrying out various research activities are fuelling the growth of the global hyperspectral imaging market. In addition, growing adoption of hyperspectral imaging in military surveillance, mining, life sciences, and diagnostics; increasing health care awareness, increasing demand for diagnosis, increasing health care expenditure, rising government initiatives, and demand for data accuracy and consistency are some of the key factors driving the growth of the global hyperspectral imaging market. Meanwhile, high installation cost, lack of skilled professionals, and reimbursement issues act as the major restraints for the growth of the global hyperspectral imaging market.To View TOC of this Report is Available Upon Request @The major companies operating in the global hyperspectral imaging market are Applied Spectral Imaging, Ltd., Brandywine Photonics LLC, ChemImage Corporation, Cubert-GmbH, CytoViva, Inc., Gilden Photonics Ltd., HyVista Corporation Pty Ltd., Headwall Photonics, Inc., Specim Spectral Imaging Ltd., Norsk Elektro Optics A/S, and TELOPS, Inc.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated re-search, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Con-sumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs en-gagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Medical Laser Technology Market is Expected to Gain Popularity Across the Globe
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Medical laser technology generates a specific wavelength and strong beam of light. It is used in applications such as cosmetic, diagnostic, surgical, and therapeutic. Besides, the technology is used in various areas such as ophthalmology, dermatology, urology, and cardiovascular diseases. Increasing eye related diseases and rising aging population are some of the major factors driving the growth of the global medical laser technology market.Medical laser system exists in several forms and its major types include diode laser system, solid state laser system, dye laser system, and gas laser system. Diode laser systems are used in numerous aesthetic treatments. Solid state laser systems are used in tattoo removal, dentistry, treatment of vein related diseases, and skin treatment. Dye laser systems are used to treat vascular lesions such as red spots and marks on skin. The gas laser system includes the argon gas laser, which is used in the treatment of ulcers, lesions, and polyps. Meanwhile, the carbon dioxide laser is used to treat certain skin conditions such as hirsuties papillaris genitalis.A Sample of this Report is Available Upon Request @The global medical laser technology market is categorized based on product types, diseases, and applications. Based on product types, the report covers solid state laser systems, diode laser systems, dye laser systems, and gas laser systems. Based on diseases, the market covers areas such as ophthalmology, dermatology, gynecology, dentistry, urology, cardiovascular, and others. Based on the application, the market covers cosmetic, diagnostic, surgical, and therapeutic applications.North America occupies the largest market for medical laser technology, followed by Europe. This is due to the advancements in medical laser technologies, rising elderly population, increasing prevalence of eye diseases, rise in incidences of chronic diseases, and improved health care infrastructure in the region. The medical laser technology market in Asia is also expected to experience high growth rate in the next few years. This is due to the increasing aging population, rising awareness about therapeutic applications of medical lasers in various chronic diseases, increasing disposable income, developing health care infrastructure, increasing prevalence of eye diseases, and growing demand for laser treatment in the region. In addition, rising demographics and economies in developing countries, such as India and China, is expected to lead to the growth in the medical laser technology market in Asia.Increasing prevalence of eye disorders and growing aging population are some of the major driving factors for the global medical laser technology market. Moreover, advancement in medical laser technologies, increasing number of patients using advanced laser-based treatments, rising awareness about the use of laser treatment in various diseases such as skin diseases, eye diseases, diabetes, and cancer; and the availability of cost-effective laser based medical treatment are also supporting the growth of the global medical laser technology market. However, strict laser protection rules inhibit the growth of this market.To View TOC of this Report is Available Upon Request @Increasing number of mergers and acquisitions and rapid product launches are some of the latest trends that have been observed in the global medical laser technology market. Some of the major companies operating in the global medical laser technology market are Lumenis Ltd., PhotoMedex Inc., Spectranetics Corporation, BIOLASE, Inc., Iridex Corporation, Novadaq Technologies Inc., AngioDynamics Corp., Syneron Medical Ltd, IRIDEX Corporation, Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Cardiogenesis Corporation, American Medical Systems, Inc., and Bausch & Lomb Holdings, Inc.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated re-search, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Con-sumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs en-gagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Global Hepatitis E Diagnostic Tests Market: Fueled by Lack of Potable Water, Hepatitis E Hyperendemicity to Drive Growth, reports TMR
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Driven by a small number of players, the global market for hepatitis E diagnostic tests exhibits a highly competitive landscape, finds a new report by Transparency Market Research (TMR). With a share of nearly 31%, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy led the global market in 2015 and was distantly followed by Mikrogen. Competitive pricing strategy among the leading players is expected to intensify the rivalry within the market in the forthcoming years.According to the research report, the global hepatitis E diagnostic tests market stood at US$43.7 mn in 2015. Expanding at a CAGR of 3.80% during the period from 2016 to 2024, the opportunity in this market is likely to increase to US$60.4 mn by the end of the forecast period. Being the primary test for the detection of hepatitis E, the kits used for ELISA HEV IgM tests have been the most valued diagnostic kits in this market in the recent past and will continue to be so due to the same reason.hepatitis e diagnostic tests marketHepatitis E Hyperendemicity in Asian Economies to Ensure Dominance of Asia Pacific RegionThe research report has also analyzed the worldwide market for hepatitis E diagnostic tests on the basis of geography. According to the study, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East and Africa have surfaced as the main regional markets for hepatitis E diagnostic tests across the world.Due to the hyperendemicity of hepatitis E in various Asian economies, such as Nepal, Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Kazakhstan, and Thailand, Asia Pacific has surfaced as the leading regional market for hepatitis E diagnostic tests and is expected to remain so over the forecast period. The Asia Pacific market for hepatitis E diagnostic tests is likely to acquire more than 48% of the overall market by 2024.Besides, the Middle East and Africa is also projected to witness a significant rise in the market for the hepatitis E diagnostic tests over the next few years due to the increasing prevalence of hepatitis E in various countries in this region, such as Kenya, Morocco, Uganda, and Nigeria, owing to lack of safe drinking water and poor sanitation facilities.Growing Prevalence of Hepatitis E to Boost DemandThe growth of the global market for hepatitis E is directly proportional to the prevalence of hepatitis E across the world, says the author of this study. As per the WHO, nearly 20 million people suffer from HEV infections every year, worldwide, among which around 3.3 million are symptomatic cases.With the increasing scarcity of potable water and the lack of sanitation, the cases of hepatitis E infection is likely to increase considerably over the forthcoming years and will result in a substantial rise in the need for hepatitis E diagnostic test in the near future, states the research report.Rising Incidence of Asymptomatic Diseases to Hamper Markets GrowthAlthough the worldwide market for hepatitis E diagnostic tests currently looks teeming with opportunity, it may face a severe challenge over the years to come from the rising incidence of asymptomatic diseases, which are difficult to diagnose. The low level of awareness among consumers is also expected to emerge as a restraining factor for the growth of this market in the long run, notes the study.The study presented here is based on a report by Transparency Market Research (TMR) titled Hepatitis E Diagnostic Tests Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Volume, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024.The Hepatitis E Diagnostic Tests Market has been segmented as follows:By Test TypeELISA HEV IgM Test kitsELISA HEV IgG Test kitsRT-PCR Test kitsOthersBy End UserHospitalsResearch CentersDiagnostic LaboratoriesPoint of CareBy GeographyNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaEuropeU.K.GermanySpainFranceItalyRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaAustraliaRest of Asia PacificLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoRest of Latin AmericaMiddle East and AfricaA.E.South AfricaRest of Middle East and AfricaDownload Free exclusive Sample of this report:About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
MASON CITY Mayor Eric Bookmeyer told the City Council Tuesday night he will not run for re-election this year.
Bookmeyer, who is starting the last year of his second term, made the announcement subtly at the beginning of his annual "state of the city" message.
"I am humbled and honored to come before you this evening for the last time," he said.
He made no further mention of it in his speech but confirmed to the Globe Gazette he will not be a candidate for re-election in November.
Bookmeyer was elected in 2009 and re-elected in 2013. His tenure has seen much economic growth but has also had some notable setbacks.
One came last year when the council declined to support a development agreement he supported with Prestage Foods to build a pork processing plant that would have created nearly 2,000 jobs in the next four years.
The plan met with much public opposition and a 3-3 council vote killed it.
The city is now involved in another potentially big project, a $36.2 million downtown renovation plan that is still in the works.
Bookmeyer acknowledged in his speech "we had a rough 2016" but said there were many successes and more to come.
He said the city is strong "but in a state of reassessment."
"We believe in and love Mason City," he said. "I recognize a lot of the opposing voices we hear love Mason City also. We will need to reconcile that to address what is possible."
He said the achievements reached by the city are part of the legacy of Alex Kuhn, the councilman who died last July.
It is a legacy Kuhn would have been proud of, said Bookmeyer. "Because in a very short time, we have truly transformed Mason City in a way that can positively go forward on a firm foundation."
He said the city administration has pursued opportunities for growth but recognizes the challenges ahead because of the high senior population.
"We recognize the impact it will have on our schools and the tax rate. We recognize our declining population and revenue to support our existing unused infrastructure, increasing insurance and the enormous water capacity our citizens have been burdened with. We have been focused like a laser on this for seven years," said Bookmeyer.
He said seven years ago, the council was discussing downtown strip clubs as a means of economic development and prohibiting the city administrator from attending a conference in Des Moines on government efficiency.
Today, said Bookmeyer, the city has approximately $280 million in projects before the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board.
He said city government has gone from one of the least transparent in the state to one of the most transparent with listening posts after every meeting, live-streaming council meetings and having online packets for every board and commission.
Bookmeyer said the council has kept taxes in line, lowered the debt levy four out of the last seven years and offered rebates to residents who improve their homes.
Downtown improvements over the years have included the Vision Iowa project including the renovated public library and Historic Park Inn Hotel and the Streetscape.
He said the unemployment rate has gone down from 8 percent in 2010 to 3.2 percent today.
Looking to the future, Bookmeyer said a reassessment will begin in February.
"The council had planned to put together a 2025 plan, but our experience last year caught us by surprise, so we are going to support a much larger effort to develop an economic development strategic plan," he said.
The immediate goal, said Bookmeyer is to make the River City Renaissance project, for which the city is seeking state funds, a reality. This is a project Kuhn worked tirelessly on, he said, and the city wants to see it through.
"Let's go forth this year and be civil to one another," said Bookmeyer. "When opposing ideas lack civility, it is easy to dismiss them. This has to cool if we want to heal up and grow.
"We need to consider all opportunities seriously and be seen considering them seriously," he said.
Elastomeric Infusion Pumps Market Worth US$ 644.0 Million By The End Of 2024
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Persistence Market Research (PMR) delivers key insights on the global elastomeric infusion pumps market in its upcoming report titled, Elastomeric Infusion Pumps Market 2016-2024. In terms of revenue, the global elastomeric pumps market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period in terms of value. The global elastomeric pumps market value is expected to increase to US$ 644.0 million by the end of 2024.A Sample of this Report is Available Upon Request @Global Elastomeric Infusion Pumps Market: Asia Pacific to Witness Highest Growth by 2024, Growth is expected to be driven by Favorable Reimbursement Policies for Infusion Therapy in Homecare Settings over the Forecast Period.The market is segmented based on product type, treatment type, end users, and regions. Based on product type, the market has been segmented into continuous rate elastomeric pumps and variable rate elastomeric pumps. Variable rate elastomeric pumps segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR over the forecast period, driven by increasing adoption of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) elastomeric pumps, i.e. elastomeric pumps with a bolus. The segment is expected to register a significant CAGR of 6.9% during the forecast period. Whereas continuous rate elastomeric pumps segment is anticipated to grow at CAGR of 5.1% over the forecast period.The market has been segmented based on different types of treatment such as pain management, antiviral/antibiotic, chemotherapy, and chelation therapy (iron chelation for thalassemia patients) to provide deeper insight into the pattern of demand for elastomeric infusion pumps. The pain management segment is expected to expand at the highest CAGR of 6.7% over the forecast period.Based on end users, the market has been segmented into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centres, home care, clinics and, others (long-term care units, elderly care units). The hospitals segment is anticipated to account for the highest demand for elastomeric infusion pumps over the forecast period, registering a CAGR of 6.6% due to cost attainment models adopted by the hospitals, increasing the demand for disposable ambulatory home infusion therapy. Secondly, better reimbursement options for home infusion in developed economies, is expected to push demand for elastomeric infusion pumps in home care segment over the forecast period.A key trend in elastomeric infusion pumps market is the development of better designs for pumps ensuring greater patient safety. In addition, it has been noted that the market is fragmented with few established brands and many regional and local players in global elastomeric pumps market.This report assesses trends, that drive growth of each segment on the global as well as regional levels, and offers potential takeaways, that could prove substantially useful to start-up and other medical device manufacturing companies who wish to enter the market. North America is expected to dominate the elastomeric infusion pumps market with the maximum market share in 2016. North America and Western Europe collectively, have been expected to account for more than 65% of the total elastomeric infusion pump market share in terms of value in 2016. Among emerging markets, Asia Pacific is estimated to exhibit the highest CAGR of 7.1% over the forecast period, due to increase in the regional and local players.Request to View Tables of Content @Some key players in the global elastomeric infusion pump market identified in the report include B. Braun Melsungen AG., Fresenius Kabi AG, Baxter International Inc., Halyard Health, Inc., Nipro Corporation, and Woo Young Medical Co. We have discussed individual strategies of these companies in terms of enhancing product designing, creating new manufacturing facilities, and enhancing distribution base. The report has been concluded with strategic recommendations for players already present in the market and new players planning to enter the market, which could help them in the long run.To Buy Full Report for a Single User @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated re-search, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Con-sumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs en-gagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com
Institutional Buildings Denmark Forecast and Analysis Research Report to 2020
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Synopsis'Institutional Buildings Construction in Denmark to 2020: Market Databook' contains detailed historic and forecast market value data for the institutional buildings construction industry, including a breakdown of the data by construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition). The databook provides historical and forecast valuations of the industry using the construction output and value-add methods.Request a Sample Report @SummaryThis report is the result of extensive market research covering the institutional buildings construction industry in Denmark. It contains detailed historic and forecast market value data for the institutional buildings construction industry, including a breakdown of the data by construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition). 'Institutional Buildings Construction in Denmark to 2020: Market Databook' provides a top-level overview and detailed insight into the operating environment of the institutional buildings construction industry in Denmark. It is an essential tool for companies active across the Danish construction value chain and for new players considering to enter the market.Scope Overview of the institutional buildings construction industry in Denmark. Historic and forecast market value for the institutional buildings construction industry by construction output and value-add methods for the period 2011 through to 2020. Historic and forecast market value by construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition) across the institutional buildings construction industry for the period 2011 through to 2020.Reasons to Buy This report provides you with valuable data for the institutional buildings construction industry in Denmark. This report provides you with a breakdown of market value by type of construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition). This report enhances your knowledge of the market with key figures detailing market values using the construction output and value add methods. This report allows you to plan future business decisions using the forecast figures given for the market.Buy now @Table of Contents1 INTRODUCTION1.1 What is this Report About?1.2 Definitions1.3 Summary Methodology2 INSTITUTIONAL BUILDINGS CONSTRUCTION: CATEGORY DATA2.1 Institutional Buildings Construction Output: Historic Market Value2.2 Institutional Buildings Construction Output: Historic Market Value by Cost Type2.3 Institutional Buildings Construction Output: Forecast Market Value2.4 Institutional Buildings Construction Output: Forecast Market Value by Cost Type2.5 Institutional Buildings Construction Value Add: Historic Market Value2.6 Institutional Buildings Construction Value Add: Forecast Market Value3 INSTITUTIONAL BUILDINGS CONSTRUCTION: ACTIVITY ANALYSIS3.1 New Construction Output3.2 New Construction Output by Cost Type3.3 New Construction Output Forecast3.4 New Construction Output Forecast by Cost Type3.5 Repair & Maintenance Output3.6 Repair & Maintenance Output by Cost Type3.7 Repair & Maintenance Output Forecast3.8 Repair & Maintenance Output Forecast by Cost Type3.9 Refurbishment Output3.10 Refurbishment Output by Cost Type3.11 Refurbishment Output Forecast3.12 Refurbishment Output Forecast by Cost Type3.13 Demolition Output3.14 Demolition Output by Cost Type3.15 Demolition Output Forecast3.16 Demolition Output Forecast by Cost Type4 APPENDIX4.1 Methodology4.2 About4.3 Our Services4.4 DisclaimerComplete Report@Contact Us:Norah TrentPartner Relations & Marketing ManagerSales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTD75 Arlington Street, Suite 500,Boston, Massaachusetts - 02116United States of AmericaPh: +1-339-368-6938info@wiseguyreports.com
California Proposition 65 Settlements Reached for Consumer Products
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During the second quarter of 2016, a variety of California Proposition 65 (Prop 65) settlements were agreed on a number of different consumer products. In some cases the agreement called for a reformulation, in others, a clear and reasonable warning, known as a Prop 65 warning, has been allowed.The settlements require: The reformulation of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and diisononyl phthalate (DINP) to levels 1000 ppm in vinyl/PVC audio cables The reformulation of DEHP, to levels 1000 ppm, and lead, to a level 90 ppm, in hardware tape measures with vinyl/PVC hand straps The use of a Prop 65 warning for carbon monoxide in hexamine fuel tablets The use of a Prop 65 warning for carbon monoxide and soot in charcoal lighter fluids The use of a Prop 65 warning for nitrous oxide in nitrous oxide chargersCalifornia Proposition 65 is the Safe and Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, a unique consumer right-to-know law which was passed by Californian residents in November 1986. The law requires the state of California to maintain a list of chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects and other reproductive harm. Currently, the list contains around 800 substances.The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 has led to numerous lawsuits, which have resulted in a reduction in exposure to toxic chemicals, by requiring reformulation and/or labeling. The law states that, unless exempted, a business must not expose individuals to the chemicals on the list without giving a Prop 65 warning. In addition, companies must also refrain from discharging listed chemicals into sources of drinking water.Businesses not named in specific Prop 65 settlement are not legally bound by that agreement. However, due to the unique nature of Prop 65, companies are advised to use settlement reformulation limits as a reference, in order to avoid possible future litigation. SGS, with its global network of laboratories, has the expertise to help manufacturers conform with all national and international regulations.SGS Prop 65 ServicesThrough a global network of laboratories, SGS can offer comprehensive testing, product assessments and consultancy services related to California Proposition 65 to assist your risk management in your supply chain for consumer goods such as DIYs, electrical and electronics, hardgoods products, juvenile products, and textile & toy products. Learn more about SGSs Prop 65 Services (SGS SafeGuardS keep you up to date with the latest news and developments in the consumer goods industry. Read the full California Proposition 65 Settlement Agreements for Certain Consumer Products SafeGuardS. (Subscribe here,, to receive SGS SafeGuardS direct to your inbox.For further information contact:Hing Wo TsangGlobal Hardlines Information and Innovation ManagerTel:(+852) 2774 7420Email: cts.media@sgs.comWebsite:About SGSSGS is the worlds leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 85,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1,800 offices and laboratories around the world.1, Mons CalpeChitcombe RoadBroad OakRyeEast SussexTN31 6EU
Refrigerated Vehicles Market to Maintain Healthy CAGR During 2021
Refrigerated Vehicles Market, Refrigerated Vehicles, Refrigerated Vehicle, Refrigerated Vehicle market
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Refrigerated vehicles include a large types of vehicles used in several transportation requirements based on loading requirement. Some of their types include refrigerated vans, refrigerated trucks, refrigerated trailers, refrigerated railcars, refrigerated ships, refrigerated transport by air, refrigerated containers, atmosphere controlled containers, intermodal refrigerated containers, insulated containers, integral reefer containers and multimodal temperature containers. The increasing consumer awareness about fresh products is one of the important factors which have been escalating the demand for refrigerated vehicles globally.Sample of this report is available upon request @Refrigerated vehicles are used for transportation of vulnerable food, pharmaceutical and healthcare products. The increasing population and consumer spending on food products has surged their production globally. Among food products, dairy products and fresh fruits and vegetables require cold storage and transportation for their sustainability. The increasing global warming has been emerging as a matter of great concern for the food producers globally which is reducing the shelf life of these products in non-refrigerated conditions. Most of the pharmaceutical and healthcare products need protection from heat and light to maintain their chemical and biological formulation. All these concerns have been driving the refrigerated vehicles market globally and are expected to increase in terms of growth rate during 2014-2020.The developing and underdeveloped countries have an underdeveloped cold-supply chain infrastructure which leads to destruction of a large quantity of food products every year. This also increases warehousing charges of the food manufacturers and the distributors as they have to maintain local distribution points in the area of demand. The growing population and increasing per capita income in these countries is boosting the demand for food products which is further creating demands for the refrigerated vehicles in these countries. The dairy product consumption in Asia Pacific countries have also been increasing to a great extent in recent times. The pharmaceutical and healthcare industries have also been growing at a rapid pace in these developing countries which is creating demand for the refrigerated vehicles in this domain as well. The shortage of skilled labor and unstable fuel prices are the key hurdles for the refrigerated vehicles market. The companies operating in the refrigerated vehicles market are improving the fuel efficiency and noise reduction of these vehicles.There have been several technology development and introduction in the recent times by the refrigerated vehicle manufacturers. They include CorroGuard and ThermGuard by Great Dane, Strip door solution for refrigerated trucks by R.O.M, GRIPTM by RTE, LED based indicator by Carrier, economical cold plates by Johnson, reefer monitoring system by PAR, reefer-trak sentry solutions by Star-Trak, Secureseal system by OEM Group, new alternator by Robert Bosch and Fleetview by Terion.TOC of this report is available upon request @Among regions, North America dominated global sales of refrigerated vehicles market, followed by Europe. There are a large number of market players in the refrigerated vehicles market which are operating in a particular country or globally through their subsidiaries. The global refrigerated vehicles market is fragmented however; it is increasingly advancing towards consolidation with a number of companies engaged in merger and acquisition activities.The key market players include Great Dane Trailers, Ingersol Rand Company Limited, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Limited, Schmitz Cargobull, R.O.M., Thermo King, Carrier Transicold, Johnson, PAR, Star-Trak, GE, OEM Group, Robert Bosch, Terion, Northgate Plc and Fraikin Limited.Key geographies evaluated in this report are: North Americao U.So Canada Europeo France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UKo Eastern Europeo CIS APACo Chinao Indiao Japano Australiao Others Latin Americao Argentinao Brazilo OthersKey features of this report Drivers, restraints, and challenges shaping the Refrigerated Vehicles market dynamics Latest innovations and key events in the industry Analysis of business strategies of the top players Refrigerated Vehicles market estimates and forecasts(2015 -2021)About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Research and Markets: Cobb Electric Membership Corporation - Power Plants and SWOT Analysis, 2016
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"The Report Cobb Electric Membership Corporation - Power Plants and SWOT Analysis, 2016 Update provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"The report contains a detailed description of the power generation companys business operations, history, corporate strategy, and business structure. This report contains a detailed SWOT analysis, information on key employees (executives), and major products and services.View Report at:Scope- Major Power Plants (assets) - summarized and detailed information about the power plants (assets).- Operational Metrics (capacity, generation, revenue, sales, number of consumers).- Business description - A detailed description of the companys operations and business divisions.- Corporate strategy - GlobalDatas summarization of the companys business strategy.- SWOT analysis - A detailed analysis of the companys strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats.- Company history - Progression of key events associated with the company.- Major products and services - A list of major products, services and brands- Key employees - A list of the key executives and personnel heading key departments/functions.- Executive biographies - A brief summary of the executives employment history.- Financial deals - Coverage of key financial deals from 2006 onwards, depending upon information availability- Important locations and subsidiaries - A list of key locations and subsidiaries of the company, including contact details.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @Reasons to buy- Gain key insights into the company for academic or business research purposes. Key elements such as SWOT analysis, corporate strategy and major products and services are incorporated in the profile to assist in various business decisions (M&A and JV).- Identify potential customers and suppliers with this reports analysis of the companys business structure, operations, major products and services and business strategy.- Understand and respond to competitors business structure and strategies with GlobalDatas detailed SWOT analysis. In this, the companys core strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are analyzed, providing an up to date objective view of the company.Table of ContentsTable of Contents 2List of Tables 3Company Snapshot 4Key Information 4Company Overview 4SWOT Snapshot 4Operational Metrics 5Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, Operational Metrics, By Transmission 5Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, Operational Metrics, By Customers 5Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, Operational Metrics, By Segmental Information 5Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, Operational Metrics, By Sales 6Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, Solar PV Parks 7Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, Solar PV Parks, United States 7Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, Thermal Power Plants 8Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, Thermal Power Plants, United States 8Business Description 9Business Overview 9Major Products and Services 10History 11SWOT Analysis 13Overview 13Cobb Electric Membership Corporation Strengths 13Major Electric Distributor 13Focus on Reliability 13Strategic Partnerships 13Cobb Electric Membership Corporation Weaknesses 14Working Capital Deficit 14Cobb Electric Membership Corporation Opportunities 14Demand for Alternative Energy Sources 14Growth Initiatives 14Prospects for Growth in Demand for Electricity: the US 14Cobb Electric Membership Corporation Threats 14Seasonal Variations and Climate Conditions 14Volatility in Electricity Prices 14Distribution Network Security 15Key Employees 16Company Statement 17Locations And Subsidiaries 18Head Office 18Other Locations & Subsidiaries 18Financial Deals Landscape 19Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, Deals Summary 19Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, Power, Deal Details 20Asset Transactions 20Power4Georgians, Cobb, Central Georgia, Pataula, Snapping Shoals, Upson And Washington Electric To Invest US$2,100 Million For Coal Fired Power Plant In Georgia, US 20Appendix 21Report Scope 21GlobalData Coverage 21Benchmarking 21GlobalDatas Methodology 21Secondary Research 21Primary Research 21Contact Us 22Disclaimer 22MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Mr. Nachiket90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Single-Family Housing Denmark Construction Global Forecast and Analysis Research Report to 2020
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Synopsis'Single-Family Housing Construction in Denmark to 2020: Market Databook' contains detailed historic and forecast market value data for the single-family housing construction industry, including a breakdown of the data by construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition). The databook provides historical and forecast valuations of the industry using the construction output and value-add methods.Request a Sample Report @SummaryThis report is the result of extensive market research covering the single-family housing construction industry in Denmark. It contains detailed historic and forecast market value data for the single-family housing construction industry, including a breakdown of the data by construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition). 'Single-Family Housing Construction in Denmark to 2020: Market Databook' provides a top-level overview and detailed insight into the operating environment of the single-family housing construction industry in Denmark. It is an essential tool for companies active across the Danish construction value chain and for new players considering to enter the market.Scope Overview of the single-family housing construction industry in Denmark. Historic and forecast market value for the single-family housing construction industry by construction output and value-add methods for the period 2011 through to 2020. Historic and forecast market value by construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition) across the single-family housing construction industry for the period 2011 through to 2020.Reasons to Buy This report provides you with valuable data for the single-family housing construction industry in Denmark. This report provides you with a breakdown of market value by type of construction activity (new construction, repair and maintenance, refurbishment and demolition). This report enhances your knowledge of the market with key figures detailing market values using the construction output and value add methods. This report allows you to plan future business decisions using the forecast figures given for the market.Buy now @Table of Contents1 INTRODUCTION1.1 What is this Report About?1.2 Definitions1.3 Summary Methodology2 SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSING CONSTRUCTION: CATEGORY DATA2.1 Single-Family Housing Construction Output: Historic Market Value2.2 Single-Family Housing Construction Output: Historic Market Value by Cost Type2.3 Single-Family Housing Construction Output: Forecast Market Value2.4 Single-Family Housing Construction Output: Forecast Market Value by Cost Type2.5 Single-Family Housing Construction Value Add: Historic Market Value2.6 Single-Family Housing Construction Value Add: Forecast Market Value3 SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSING CONSTRUCTION: ACTIVITY ANALYSIS3.1 New Construction Output3.2 New Construction Output by Cost Type3.3 New Construction Output Forecast3.4 New Construction Output Forecast by Cost Type3.5 Repair & Maintenance Output3.6 Repair & Maintenance Output by Cost Type3.7 Repair & Maintenance Output Forecast3.8 Repair & Maintenance Output Forecast by Cost Type3.9 Refurbishment Output3.10 Refurbishment Output by Cost Type3.11 Refurbishment Output Forecast3.12 Refurbishment Output Forecast by Cost Type3.13 Demolition Output3.14 Demolition Output by Cost Type3.15 Demolition Output Forecast3.16 Demolition Output Forecast by Cost Type4 APPENDIX4.1 Methodology4.2 About4.3 Our Services4.4 DisclaimerComplete Report@Contact Us:Norah TrentPartner Relations & Marketing ManagerSales@Wiseguyreports.ComPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTD75 Arlington Street, Suite 500,Boston, Massaachusetts - 02116United States of AmericaPh: +1-339-368-6938info@wiseguyreports.com
Pharmaceuticals Report On Partnerships, Licensing, Investments and M&A Deals and Trends for September 2016
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"The Report Partnerships, Licensing, Investments and M&A Deals and Trends for September 2016 in Pharmaceuticals provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"GlobalData's Partnerships, Licensing, Investments and M&A Deals and Trends for September 2016 in Pharmaceuticals report is an essential source of data and trend analysis on partnerships, licensing, mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and financings in the pharmaceuticals industry. The report provides detailed information on partnership and licensing transactions, M&As, equity/debt offerings, private equity, and venture financing registered in the pharmaceuticals industry in September 2016. The report portrays detailed comparative data on the number of deals and their value in the last six months, subdivided by deal types, various therapy areas, and geographies. Additionally, the report provides information on the top financial advisory firms in the pharmaceuticals industry.Data presented in this report is derived from GlobalDatas proprietary in-house Pharmaceuticals eTrack deals database and primary and secondary research.View Full Report at :Scope- Analysis of the market trends for the pharmaceutical industry in the global arena.- Review of deal trends in the cardiovascular, central nervous system, dermatology, ear nose throat disorders, gastrointestinal, genito urinary system and sex hormones, hematological disorders, hormonal disorders, immunology, infectious disease, male health, metabolic disorders, mouth and dental disorders, musculoskeletal, oncology, ophthalmology, respiratory, toxicology, and women's health segments.- Analysis of partnerships, licensing, M&As, equity/debt offerings, private equity, and venture financing deals in the pharmaceutical industry.- Analysis of therapy areas which are very active in terms of venture capital financing, partnerships, licensing agreements, equity/debt offerings, and M&As.- Analysis of deals based on different payment modes, including upfront and milestone payments, primarily in partnerships and licensing agreements in the pharmaceutical industry.- Analysis of partnership and licensing deals based on clinical stage of development of products.- Summary of the pharmaceutical deals globally in the six months.- Information on the top deals happened in the pharmaceutical industry.- Geographies covered include - North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South & Central America, and the Middle East & Africa.- League tables of financial advisors in M&As and equity/debt offerings. This includes key advisors such as Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs.Get Sample Copy Of This Report @Reasons to buy- Enhance your decision making capability in a more rapid and time sensitive manner.- Find out the major deal performing segments for investments in your industry.- Evaluate the types of companies which are entering into partnership or licensing agreements; divesting and acquiring assets.- Identify companies that are aggressively looking to raise capital in the market- Evaluate niche therapy areas that are receiving majority of the upfront and milestone payments in the pharmaceutical industry.- Identify the key venture capitalists, who are financing the pharmaceutical and biotech companies.- Evaluate the clinical development stages where majority of the partnerships and licensing agreements are happening.- Do deals with an understanding of how competitors are financed, and the mergers and partnerships that have shaped the pharmaceutical industry.- Identify growth segments and opportunities in each region within the industry.- Look for key financial advisors where you are planning to raise capital from the market or for acquisitions within the industry.Table Of Content1 Table of Contents 21.1 List of Tables 51.2 List of Figures 92 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Deal Summary, 122.1 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Deal Analysis, September 2016 122.2 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Major Deals, September 2016 142.2.1 Shire Raises USD12.1 Billion in Public Offering of Notes 142.2.2 Gilead Sciences Raises USD5 Billion in Public Offering of Notes 152.2.3 Johnson & Johnson to Acquire Abbott Medical Optics from Abbott Laboratories for USD4.32 Billion 152.2.4 Sanofi Prices Public Offering of Notes for USD3.3 Billion 162.2.5 Allergan to Acquire Tobira Therapeutics in Tender Offer 162.3 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, by Type, Number of Deals, September 2016 192.4 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, by Type, Deal Values, September 2016 203 Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare, Global, Deals, Summary, by Type 213.1 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, M&A, September 2016 213.1.1 Top M&A Deals in September 2016 223.1.2 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, M&A Deals by Therapy Area, April 2016 - September 2016 233.2 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Equity Offering Deals, September 2016 253.2.1 Top Equity Offering Deals in September 2016 263.2.2 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Equity Offering Deals by Therapy Area, April 2016 - September 2016 273.3 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Private Equity and Venture Capital Deals, September 2016 283.3.1 Top PE/VC Deals in September 2016 293.3.2 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, PE/VC by Therapy Area, September 2016 303.3.3 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Venture Capital Deals by Stage of Financing, September 2016 313.3.4 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Top Venture Financing Firms, April 2016-September 2016 333.3.5 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Top VC Backed Companies, April 2016-September 2016 343.4 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Partnership Deals, September 2016 353.5 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Partnership Deals by Therapy Area, April 2016 - September 2016 373.6 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Partnership Deals by Upfront and Milestone Payments and Deal Values (US$ m), September 2016 393.6.1 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Top Partnership Deals by Payment Mode, September 2016 403.7 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Partnership Deals by Therapy Area, by Upfront and Milestone Payments and Deal Values (US$ m), April 2016 - September 2016 413.8 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Partnership Deals by Phase, Number Of Deals, April 2016 - September 2016 433.9 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Partnership Deals by Phase, Deal Values (US$ m), April 2016 - September 2016 443.10 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Partnership Deals by Phase, by Upfront & Milestone Payments and Deal Values (US$ m), April 2016 - September 2016 464 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Licensing Agreements, September 2016 484.1 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Licensing Agreements, September 2016 484.2 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Licensing Agreement Deals, Upfront and Milestone Payments and Deal Values (US$ m), September 2016 504.3 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Licensing Agreement Deals by Therapy Area, Total Deal Values (US$ m), April 2016 - September 2016 524.4 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Licensing Agreement Deals by Therapy Area, Upfront Payments and Milestone Payments (US$ m), April 2016 - September 2016 544.5 Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Global, Licensing Agreement Deals by Phase, Total Deal Values (US$ m), April 2016 - September 2016 56MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports.MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients.We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Mr. Nachiket90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Global General Lighting Market to grow at a CAGR of 5.45% during Forecast period 2016-2020
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Albany, NY, Dec 04: The lighting industry includes general lighting, automotive lighting, and backlighting. The general lighting market is the major revenue-generating segment, followed by automotive lighting and backlighting. The general lighting market includes lighting applications for residential, industrial, commercial, architectural, and outdoor purposes. The commercial and residential segments are the major drivers for the general lighting market. The general lighting can be either traditional or LED lighting. The traditional lightings are categorized into LFLs, CFLs, and others which include incandescent bulbs, halogens, and high-intensity discharge (HID) lights. The traditional lighting market will observe a decline in the sales due to the rising popularity of LED.The global general lighting market to grow at a CAGR of 5.45% during the period 2016-2020. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global general lighting market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report covers the revenue generated from the sales of general lighting products across these five segments: residential, commercial, outdoor, industrial, and architectural.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- APAC- Europe- MEA- North America- South AmericaGet a Sample Research PDF with TOC:Technavio's report, Global General Lighting Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors- General Electric- Koninlijke Philips N. V.- OSRAM- Panasonic- Schneider ElectricOther prominent vendors- Acuity brands- Advanced Lighting Technology- Bridgelux- Citizens Electronics- Cooper Lighting- Cree- Dialight- Dongguan Kingsun Optoelectronic- Energy Focus- Everlight Electronics- Intematix- Lemnis Lighting- LG Innotek- Luminus Devices- Nichia- NVC Lighting Technology- Seoul Semiconductor- Toshiba- Toyoda GoseiEnquiry at:Key questions answered in this report- What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?- What are the key market trends?- What is driving this market?- What are the challenges to market growth?- Who are the key vendors in this market space?- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:
Global Smart Home M2M Market to grow at a CAGR of 37.69% during Forecast period 2016-2020
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Albany, NY, Dec 04: A smart home comprises an internal network, home automation, and intelligent control. It is equipped with advanced and automated digital devices, home appliances, and equipment that are interconnected to each other, facilitating sophisticated monitoring and control over the building's functions. It performs three actions: remote status checks, remote information, and remote control to implement any action from a remote location.The global smart home M2M market to grow at a CAGR of 37.69% during the period 2016-2020. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global smart home M2M market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from solutions that have a smartphone application or a web portal for user interface.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- EMEAGet a Sample Research PDF with TOC:Technavio's report, Global Smart Home M2M Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors- AT&T- British Gas- China Mobile- Comcast- Deutsche Telekom- Honeywell International- Samsung- VodafoneOther prominent vendors- Amdocs- Arris Enterprises- August- Bosch- BT- China Telecom- China Unicom- CHN Smart- Cisco- Control4- Crestron Electronics- Currys- Cyber Homes- Dacor- EE- Electrolux- Emerson ElectricEnquiry at:Key questions answered in this report- What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?- What are the key market trends?- What is driving this market?- What are the challenges to market growth?- Who are the key vendors in this market space?- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:
Earthmoving Equipment Market to Register a Strong Growth By 2021
Earthmoving Equipment Market, Earthmoving Equipment, Earthmoving Equipments Market, Earthmoving Equipments
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Earthmoving equipment operates through the mechanical advantage of a simple machine where the ratio between input force applied and force exerted is multiplied. Most earthmoving equipment uses hydraulic drives as a primary source of motion. Technically skilled worker are able to operate heavy equipment, these individuals are provided with special training before they operate any heavy equipments.Sample of this report is available upon request @Earthmoving equipment is referred to heavy equipment (heavy-duty vehicles designed specially for executing construction operation, mostly which involves earthwork operation). These heavy equipments are used in the construction industry to move large amounts of earth or to dig foundations and landscape areas. Earthmoving equipments are known with different name in different region such as heavy trucks, heavy machines, construction equipment, engineering equipment, heavy vehicles and heavy hydraulics.On the bases of operation performed by the machine the global earthmoving equipments market can be bifurcated into excavators (compact excavator, dredging, dragline excavator, front shovel and others), loaders (skip loader and wheel loader), construction tractors and others (grader, scraper, track loader, material handler and others). Earthmoving equipments are majorly applied in the construction industry (private or government). Other major application of earthmoving equipments includes mining, digging and other heavy duty work. Construction industry is expected to maintain its dominance in the global earthmoving equipment market.Asia-Pacific has the largest market share for earthmoving equipment accounting for more than two fifth of the global earthmoving equipments market, followed by Europe and North America. China leads the global earthmoving equipments market. Asia-Pacific region is expected to maintain its dominance in the forecasted period. Europe and North America region are expected to witness average growth in the coming future. Global recession hampered the construction industries particularly in the western countries. But the industry is expected to show growth in the coming future helping the global earthmoving equipments market.Growth in the construction industry after the global recession is driving the global earthmoving equipments market. Additionally, increasing urban population demands for better dueling facilities proving growth opportunity for the construction industry, which in turn increases the demand for heavy machines including earthmoving equipments especially in the developing countries such as India and China. According to the 2009 revision of World Urbanization Prospect, the level of urbanization in the world crossed the 50% mark in 2009. According to the United Nations, urban population is expected to increase from 3.4 billion in 2009 to 6.3 billion in 2050. Also, governments and private sectors across the globe are investing in better infrastructure facilities. Construction of roads, residential buildings, healthcare centers and educational institutes is expected to increase the demand for earthmoving equipments to some extent. For infrastructure development, the U.K governments public sector investment is expected to rise by USD 4.9 billion to about USD 77.7 billion in 2013-14 over 2012-13. It is further expected to increase to about USD 83.0 billion in 2014-15.TOC of this report is available upon request @Increasing investment for improvement of infrastructure facilities in the countries governments and private sector are investing heavily in the construction industries, providing growth opportunity for the manufacturers to invest more in the global earthmoving equipment market. Some of the major players operating in the global earthmoving equipments market are Atlas Copco, Bobcat Company, Bharat Earth Movers Limited, Ingersoll Rand, CASE, New Holland and Track Marshall.Key geographies evaluated in this report are: North Americao U.So Canada Europeo France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UKo Eastern Europeo CIS APACo Chinao Indiao Japano Australiao Others Latin Americao Argentinao Brazilo OthersKey features of this report Drivers, restraints, and challenges shaping the Earthmoving Equipment market dynamics Latest innovations and key events in the industry Analysis of business strategies of the top players Earthmoving Equipment market estimates and forecasts(2015 -2021)About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
BRITT | A Britt man accused of leading police on a high-speed chase with marijuana in his vehicle was sentenced this week to up to five years in prison.
Antoine Lamont Smith, 42, received the sentence after pleading guilty in December to felony eluding and controlled substance violation charges and a misdemeanor charge of operating while under the influence.
Hancock County chase leads to arrest BRITT A man was taken into custody Wednesday, July 27, after a high-speed chase in Hancock
He received another five-year prison sentence for the controlled substance violation and a two-day jail sentence for OWI.
All three sentences are to be served concurrently.
He received a $750 fine on each of the felony convictions and a $1,250 fine for OWI.
A felony drug stamp violation charge as well as misdemeanor charges of carrying weapons and assault on a peace officer causing bodily injury were dismissed.
Smith fled a traffic stop on Highway 18 east of Garner July 27 and drove more than 100 mph in an attempt to evade police, according to court documents.
Police say the chase ended when Smith's pickup ran over a spike strip and was hit by police in a "controlled collision" a mile west of Britt.
He was accused of trying to hit one of the law enforcement vehicles with his truck and kicking a sheriff's deputy during the arrest.
Police said just under a pound of marijuana was found in Smith's vehicle and that more marijuana and a loaded assault rifle were found in a work area of his home.
Next Generation Bullet Proofing Market: High Velocity Projectiles's Prevention to set High Growth of Industry Globally
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Bullet proofing helps prevent high velocity projectiles or bullet from penetrating the surface. Bullet resistant materials are often used to protect personnel from death or serious injuries in law enforcement and military field. Bullet resistance is more precise than bullet proof as there are few practical materials which can provide thorough protection against all types of bullets even after several hits at identical location. Bullet-resistant materials also known as ballistic materials can be rigid or supple. They can be complex, such as carbon fiber, Lexan,Kevlar and composite materials, or a basic material, like titanium or steel. Bullet proofing is used in aerospace, liquid armor, armored fighting vehicle, bulletproof vest, military vehicle, panic room, bulletproof glass, plastic armor, bank vault, bomb suit, riot shield, safe, armored car. Presently available bullet proofing lacks coverage from high speed projectiles, cracking of shield materials from bullet strikes and shock proofing.Get Sample Report Copy for this Report atDefense expenditure around the world has been increasing. This is visible in arms and ammunition market. It is expected government defense agencies will invest in acquiring higher efficient bullet proofing in form of- vest, military vehicle and aerospace. These demands will be directly proportional to the advancements of arms industry and innovations in bulletproofing technology.Based on the type, the next generation bullet proofing market is segmented into bullet proof jackets, explosion-proof blankets, body armor, bulletproof glass and others. In 2015, the bulletproof glass segment anticipated to be the major market and anticipated to be the same during the forecast period of 2016 2024. The major factor boosting the demand of the bulletproof glass is due to uses in the different end user industries such as automotive industry, financial services industry, construction industry, marine industry and aerospace industry. In addition, bulletproof glass is also used in various places such as armored cash trucks, bank security glass, ATM booths, residential buildings, premium vehicles and display case among others.Based on the raw material, the next generation bullet proofing market is segmented into kevlar, polycarbonate, polyurethane, ceramic, titanium and thermoplastic among others. In 2015, the titanium segment anticipated to be the major market and anticipated to be the same during the forecast period of 2016 2024. The major factor boosting the demand of the market is due to uses in the different product such as explosion-proof blankets, body armor and bulletproof glass among others.Browse Report:Based on the end user industries, the next generation bullet proofing market is segmented into financial services industry, bank vault, bomb suit, riot shield, automotive industry, armored fighting vehicle, construction industry, aerospace industry and marine industry, bulletproof vest, and military vehicle among others. Growth of the next generation bullet proofing market has been increasingly driven by increasing automotive industry globally. In addition, rising automotive industry coupled with growing demand for value-added automobile products from tech-savvy consumers is anticipated to further fuel the demand for next generation bullet proofing in the automotive industry segment. Moreover, the revenue from increasing financial industry is estimated to dominate due to growing development of financial institutions and services in developing countries such as India and Brazil among others due to rising need for capital.Based on the regions, the next generation bullet proofing market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East and Africa. North America holds the major market share followed by Europe. This is due to increased consumption of bulletproof glass as a security purpose in the region. However, Middle East and Africa is anticipated to record maximum CAGR during the forecast period of 2016 2024.Key manufacturer of bullet proofing are Saint-Gobain (France), China Glass Holdings Limited, S.A (Hong Kong), China Glass Specialty AG (China), Armormax (USA), Texas armoring, Asahi Glass co. Ltd. (Japan), Nippon Sheet Glass (Japan), GKN Aerospace (UK), International Armoring Corporation (IAC) and Chongqing Dameng Group (China) among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Wireless Communications/Technologies In Healthcare Market Research, New Study, Advances, Innovation, Overview and Forecast Report 2016
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MarketResearchReports.Biz is providing you Latest Market Research report of "Global Wireless Communications/Technologies In Healthcare Market Research Report 2016".This report studies Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringAlcatel-Lucent SaApple, Inc.Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc.Cerner Corp.Cisco Systems, Inc.Philips HealthcareHewlett-Packard CompanyIBM Corp.Intel CorpSiemens HealthcareVerizon Communications, Inc.Market Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaSplit by product type, with production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoWi-FiBluetoothRadio-frequency identificationUltra WidebandOthersSplit by application, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare in each application, can be divided intoE-prescriptionAlarm NotificationsReal-time Waveform DeliveryOthersGet The Sample Copy Of This Report:Table of ContentsGlobal Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Market Research Report 20161 Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare1.2 Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare by Type in 20151.2.2 Wi-Fi1.2.3 Bluetooth1.2.4 Radio-frequency identification1.2.5 Ultra Wideband1.2.6 Others1.3 Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Segment by Application1.3.1 Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.3.2 E-prescription1.3.3 Alarm Notifications1.3.4 Real-time Waveform Delivery1.3.5 Others1.4 Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare (2011-2021)2 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, ExpansionBrowse More Surgical Equipment Market Research Reports:3 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2011-2016)3.1 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production by Region (2011-2016)3.2 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.3 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.4 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.5 North America Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.6 Europe Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.7 China Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.8 Japan Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.9 Southeast Asia Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.10 India Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)4 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.1 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Consumption by Regions (2011-2016)4.2 North America Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.3 Europe Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.4 China Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.5 Japan Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.6 Southeast Asia Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.7 India Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)5 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)5.2 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)5.3 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Price by Type (2011-2016)5.4 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Production Growth by Type (2011-2016)6 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Consumption and Market Share by Application (2011-2016)6.2 Global Wireless Communications/Technologies in Healthcare Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2011-2016)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/CountriesAbout usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.To View The Latest Industry Press Releases:ContactTel: +1-518-621-2074E-Mail: sales@marketresearchreports.bizWebsite:MarketResearchReports.biz supports your business intelligence needs with over 100,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Container Shipping Market Would Register a Healthy Growth Rate During the Forecast 2015 - 2021
Container Shipping Market, Container Shipping
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Containers are generally made up of aluminum and steel . The size and type built of each container comply with specifications and regulations formulated by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).Sample of this report is available upon request @Containers are used to transport objects from one place to another. Unlike conventional shipping, container shipping uses containers of various standard sizes20 foot (6.09 m), 40 foot (12.18 m), 45 foot (13.7 m), 48 foot (14.6 m), and 53 foot (16.15 m)to load, transport, and unload goods or objects. As a result, containers can be moved by trains, ships and trucks. Most commonly and important container sizes are 20-foot and 40-foot lengths. The 20-foot container is generally referred to as a Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) and the 40-foot container is known as the Forty-foot Equivalent Unit (FEU).Shipping containers are of various types . The most important type of container is dry cargo . Dry cargo containers are often referred to as special containers. These special containers include open side, open end, open top, half-height, flat rack, refrigerated, liquid bulk, and modular. These containers are built as a same exterior lengths and widths as the standard dry cargo containers.In addition, open top containers are used for easy loading of cargo such as odd-sized goods and machineries. Flat racks are used for vehicles, boats, machineries and industrial equipment . Open side containers are used for transporting vegetables such as onions and potatoes. Tank containers are used to transport liquids such as chemicals, wine, and vegetable oils.Each container has its own unique unit number , often known as box number. Box numbers are used by crew members, ship captains, coastguards, customs officers, dock supervisors, and warehouse managers to identify the owner of a container and who is using it to ship goods, and to track the container's location across the world.The container sizes need to be standardized so that they can be stacked most efficiently. It transport one on top of the other in trains, ships, trucks and cranes at the ports can be specially fitted or built to a single size specification. Container size standardization is carried out by the ISO whose primary work is to set standard sizes for all containers .The most important step in container shipping is proper loading of containers in trucks, ships, and trains. Several government associations such as the World Shipping Council (WSC), together with the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), published the Transport of Containers by Sea - Industry Guidance for Shippers and Container Stuffers. It provides specific guidelines to shipping companies to transport containers in a safe and efficient way.In terms of geography, North America dominates the global container shipping market . This is due to improved transportation services in this region. The U.S. represents the largest market for container shipping followed by Canada in North America. In Europe, Germany, the U.K., Spain, Italy, and France hold the major share of the container shipping market. Asia is expected to witness high growth rates in the next five years, as many companies are constructing manufacturing facilities in this region. The rising number of manufacturing units would result in significant rise in demand for containers. Improving transportation services are boosting growth of the container shipping market in this region. Japan, China, and India are expected to be the fastest-growing container shipping markets in Asia.Increasing demand for transportation services is a key driver of the global container shipping market. Rising number of factories and manufacturing units has fueled growth of the global container shipping market. In addition, several government associations are also boosting growth of the global container shipping market by providing specific guidelines to shipping companies.However, high shipping freight rates obstruct growth of the global container shipping market.TOC of this report is available upon request @Some of the major companies operating in the global container shipping market are China Shipping Container Lines, HANJIN, China Ocean Shipping Company, HAPAG-LLOYD, Mediterranean Shipping Company, and MAERSK.Key geographies evaluated in this report are: North Americao U.So Canada Europeo France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UKo Eastern Europeo CIS APACo Chinao Indiao Japano Australiao Others Latin Americao Argentinao Brazilo OthersKey features of this report Drivers, restraints, and challenges shaping the Container Shipping market dynamics Latest innovations and key events in the industry Analysis of business strategies of the top players Container Shipping market estimates and forecasts(2015 -2021)About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Global Cosmeceuticals Market Analysis, Shares, Size, Trends, Growth and Forecast Report 2016
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MarketResearchReports.Biz is providing you Latest Market Research report of "Global Cosmeceuticals Market Research Report 2016".This report studies Cosmeceuticals in Global market, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with Production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringL'OralP&GShiseidoUnileverBeiersdorfAmwayAVON Beauty ProductsBurberryINVERSIONES AVI AMERICAChanelClarinsCombeEdgewell Personal CareHenkelHelen of TroyJohnson & JohnsonKaoLVMHMary KayBoticrioRevlonTom's of MaineWorld Hair Cosmetics (Asia)ConairCotyMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Cosmeceuticals in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaSplit by product type, with production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoType IType IIType IIISplit by application, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Cosmeceuticals in each application, can be divided intoApplication 1Application 2Application 3Get The Sample Copy Of This Report:Table of ContentsGlobal Cosmeceuticals Market Research Report 20161 Cosmeceuticals Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Cosmeceuticals1.2 Cosmeceuticals Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Cosmeceuticals by Type in 20151.2.2 Type I1.2.3 Type II1.2.4 Type III1.3 Cosmeceuticals Segment by Application1.3.1 Cosmeceuticals Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.3.2 Application 11.3.3 Application 21.3.4 Application 31.4 Cosmeceuticals Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Cosmeceuticals (2011-2021)2 Global Cosmeceuticals Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Cosmeceuticals Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Cosmeceuticals Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Cosmeceuticals Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Cosmeceuticals Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Cosmeceuticals Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Cosmeceuticals Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Cosmeceuticals Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, ExpansionBrowse More Surgical Equipment Market Research Reports:3 Global Cosmeceuticals Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2011-2016)3.1 Global Cosmeceuticals Production and Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.2 Global Cosmeceuticals Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2011-2016)3.3 Global Cosmeceuticals Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.4 North America Cosmeceuticals Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.5 Europe Cosmeceuticals Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.6 China Cosmeceuticals Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.7 Japan Cosmeceuticals Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.8 Southeast Asia Cosmeceuticals Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)3.9 India Cosmeceuticals Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)4 Global Cosmeceuticals Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.1 Global Cosmeceuticals Consumption by Regions (2011-2016)4.2 North America Cosmeceuticals Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.3 Europe Cosmeceuticals Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.4 China Cosmeceuticals Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.5 Japan Cosmeceuticals Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.6 Southeast Asia Cosmeceuticals Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)4.7 India Cosmeceuticals Production, Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2011-2016)5 Global Cosmeceuticals Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Cosmeceuticals Production and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)5.2 Global Cosmeceuticals Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)5.3 Global Cosmeceuticals Price by Type (2011-2016)5.4 Global Cosmeceuticals Production Growth by Type (2011-2016)About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.To View The Latest Industry Press Releases:ContactTel: +1-518-621-2074E-Mail: sales@marketresearchreports.bizWebsite:MarketResearchReports.biz supports your business intelligence needs with over 100,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Aircraft Tyres Market is Expected To Generate Huge Profits by 2021
Aircraft Tyres Market, Aircraft Tyres, Tyres Market
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Aircraft tyres have cords which serve as the reinforcing materials in the tyre that provide dimensional stability, supporting the aircraft weight, as well as keeping the tyres in shape different road conditions. Aircraft tyres play a vital role in the performance of the aircraft. Various reinforcement constructions are needed for different types of aircrafts based on their applications and load bearing requirements. They have different requirements of tyre fabrics and tyre cords as compared to other modes of transport such as light and heavy commercial vehicles, two wheelers, agricultural vehicles as they work on different road conditions, where each tyre has a different load bearing requirement. Aircraft tyres are one of the most highly engineered products having significant complexity which require large number of raw materials pertaining to steel, cord fabric, artificial and natural rubber and other chemicals.Sample of this report is available upon request @The global demand for aircraft tyres has been significant due to growth from the aircraft industry, particularly commercial aircrafts, which have witnessed huge surge in demand for advanced and new aircraft, which are largely influenced by certain factors such as network expansion by new airlines as well as entry of new airlines. Other prominent factors such as replacing obsolete aircrafts, rise air passenger traffic, growing demand for fuel efficient aircrafts and healthy economic growth shown by emerging markets has also contributed towards the growth of the aircraft tyres market. Large scale corporations such as Goodyear, Bridgestone Corporation, and Dunlop are significantly involved in the manufacturing of aircraft tyres that are eco-friendly, more intelligent, economical, safer and less noisy. They are consumed in significant quantities for various civil and military applications, where military operation hold huge demand on aircraft tyres where loads can be highly substantial with speed going more than 225 miles per hour.Large scale companies such as Dunlop have been involved in the industry as a key player which manufactures tyres used in military aircrafts from the well known Vulcan and Spitfire to the modern F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Heavy military aircraft such as C-130, the Tornado and the Hawk, and the latest A400M. The company serves various segments of the military aviation industry such as marine corps, naval forces and air forces across the world with tyres designed to give maximum operation characteristics in the fluctuating environmental conditions as well. In addition, Dunlop was awarded three year deal supply of aircraft tyres in July 2014 to Chinas privately owned airlines for the purpose of expending its footprint in regional airlines. Under the contract, Dunlop would be providing tyres for China Express Airlines Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen aircraft. In terms of agreements and joint ventures, The Triangle Group in 2012 collaborated with the Harbin Institute of Technology to design and manufacture arcraft tyres. Regionally, developed regions such as North America accounted for the largest market share in the aircraft tyres market, followed by Europe. Emerging regions such as Asia Pacific is likely to exhibit the fastest growth in the market owing to certain factors such as increasing disposable incomes of the individuals leading to rising air travel expenditures, entry of low cost airlines and infrastructure developments in economies such as India, Singapore and China.TOC of this report is available upon request @Bridgestone Corporation, Dunlop Aircraft Tyres, Goodyear, Michelin, and The Triangle Group are some of the key players present in the aircraft tyre industry.Key geographies evaluated in this report are: North Americao U.So Canada Europeo France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UKo Eastern Europeo CIS APACo Chinao Indiao Japano Australiao Others Latin Americao Argentinao Brazilo OthersKey features of this report Drivers, restraints, and challenges shaping the Aircraft Tyres market dynamics Latest innovations and key events in the industry Analysis of business strategies of the top players Aircraft Tyres market estimates and forecasts(2015 -2021)About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.commedia@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Rising Purchasing Power of Consumers to Fuel Consumption of Cooking Oil in Qatar and GCC
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The rapidly growing population and increasing affluence of consumers have given a significant push to the GCC and Qatar cooking oil market. However, the high extraction cost and adverse climatic conditions are hampering the growth of the market. As per a report by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the GCC and Qatar cooking oil market stood at US$988.2 mn in 2015 and is estimated to reach US$1.7 bn by 2024, rising at a CAGR of 6.6% from 2016 to 2024.Changing Lifestyles and Increasing Demand for Processed Food to Boost Demand for Cooking OilThe rising demand for processed food is fuelling the growth of the cooking oil market in Qatar and other GCC countries. Increasingly busy lifestyles and rising purchasing power of the consumers residing in the GCC region are positively influencing the consumption patterns, which in turn is propelling the growth of the market. Companies operating in this market are investing heavily in research and development activities to produce high-quality cooking oils that can meet the growing requirement for healthy food.Download exclusive Sample of this report:Growing Health Consciousness among Consumers to Drive Qatar Cooking Oil MarketOn the basis of geography, the market is segmented into Qatar and other GCC countries, including the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, and Oman. Due to low population and unfavorable arid climate, the cooking oil market in Qatar is currently experiencing sluggish growth. Nevertheless, the market in this region is likely to gain traction in the next few years due to rising consumer spending and growing health consciousness. On the other hand, the cooking oil market in other GCC countries is anticipated to experience steady growth during the forecast period. The rising demand for different types of cooking oil owing to the increasing presence of expatriates from European countries such as Greece, Italy, and Spain.Some of the key players in the GCC and Qatar cooking oil market are Asia Africa General Trading L.L.C, Al Ghurair Resources Oils and Proteins, Hayel Saeed Anam Group and Co., Savola Group, Omani Vegetables Oils and Derivatives Co. LLC, and United Foods Company.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Newborn Screening Market is estimated at $540.4 million in 2015 and is projected to reach $1,240.2 million by 2022 growing at a CAGR of 12.6% from 2015 to 2022
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Research Beam added a report Newborn Screening - Global Market Outlook (2015-2022)According to Research Beam MRC, the Newborn Screening Market is estimated at $540.4 million in 2015 and is projected to reach $1,240.2 million by 2022 growing at a CAGR of 12.6% from 2015 to 2022. Rising awareness and demand for newborn screening in developed nations, presence of federal bodies for organizing awareness programs, rising paranoia of parents and government initiatives are some of the key factors driving the market growth. Additionally, technological advancements, increasing benefits related to newborn screening and growing array of new born diseases are some of the factors contemplated to fuel the market growth. However, lack of skilled professionals and lack of awareness in developing regions are the major restraints inhibiting the market growth. Furthermore, Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) is anticipated to provide growth opportunities for the newborn screening market.Download Sample Report @Dry blood spot test segment is expected to witness highest growth on account of rapidly launching new and advanced products. Due to cost effectiveness and time effectiveness provided by mass spectrometry, tandem mass spectroscopy market dominated the global newborn screening technology market. North America accounted for the largest share in newborn screening market followed by Europe. Rapid technological advancements due to considerable R & D activities, enhanced insurance coverage and stable healthcare infrastructure are the major factors favoring the North American market over the forecast period. However, Asia Pacific is expected to witness highest growth on account of rapidly expanding healthcare industry and rising awareness.Some of the key players in this market include GE Healthcare, Covidien, Plc., Agilent Technologies Inc., Masimo Corp., Perkinelmer, Inc., AB Sciex LLC, Natus Medical Inc, Waters Corporation, Trivitron Healthcare, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Quest Diagnostics Inc, Illumina, Inc. and Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings.Request for Discount @Test Types Covered: Critical Congenital Heart Disease (CCHD) Dry Blood Spot Test Hearing ScreenProduct Covered: Reagents and Assay Kits Pulse Oximetry Instruments Newborn Disorder Screening Instruments Hearing Screening Instruments Hearing Screening Accessories Hearing Screening DevicesTechnologies Covered: Hearing Screen Enzyme Based Assays Tandem Mass Spectrometry Pulse Oximetry Electrophoresis DNA-based Assays ImmunoassaysRegions Covered: North America Europe Asia Pacific Rest of the WorldWhat our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments Market share analysis of the top industry players Strategic recommendations for the new entrants Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations) Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsEnquire about Report @Table of Content:-1 Executive Summary2 Preface3 Market Trend Analysis4 Porters Five Force Analysis5 Global Newborn Screening Market, By Test Type6 Global Newborn Screening Market, By Product7 Global Newborn Screening Market, By Technology8 Global Newborn Screening Market, By Geography9 Key Developments10 Company ProfilingAbout Us:With the arsenal of different search reports, Research Beam helps you here to look and buy research reports that will be helpful to you and your organization. Our research reports have the capability and authenticity to support your organization for growth and consistency. With the window of opportunity getting open and shut at a speed of light, it has become very important to survive in the market and only the fittest and competent enough can do so. So, we try and provide with latest changes in the market that can suit your needs and help you take decision accordingly.Contact Us:5933 NE Win Severs Drive,#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesU.S. & Canada Toll Free: + 1-800-910-6452International: + 1-503-894-6022UK: + 44-845-528-1300India: +91 20 66346070Fax: +1 (855) 550-5975Email: help@researchbeam.comWeb:
Professional And In-Depth Study On The Current State Of The CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module Market
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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module Consumption 2016 Market Research Report" to its huge collection of research reports.The Global CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module Consumption 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module marketThe report provides a basic overview of the CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.The report then analyzes the global CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module market size (volume and value), and the sales segment market is also discussed by product type, applications and region.The major CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module market (including USA, Europe, China, Asia (Ex. China), etc.) is analyzed, data including: market size, import and export, sale segment market by product type and applications. Then we forecast the 2016-2021 market size of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report focuses on global major leading brand providing information such as company profiles, sales, sales revenue, market share and contact information. Then the CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module OEM market and CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module production market status is discussed.Finally the marketing, feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered.With 172 tables and figures the report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview 11.1 Definition and Specifications of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 11.1.1 Definition of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 11.1.2 Specifications of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 21.2 Classification of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 31.2.1 CIGS Solar Cell Module 31.2.2 CIS Solar Cell Module 31.2.3 Global Sales Market Share of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module by Types in 2015 41.3 Applications of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 51.3.1 Residential 51.3.2 Commercial 61.3.3 Ground Station 71.3.4 Global Sales Market Share of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module by Applications in 2015 81.4 Industry Chain Structure of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 91.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 91.6 Industry Policy Analysis of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 111.7 Industry News Analysis of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 122 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 142.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 142.2 Equipment Suppliers Analysis of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 162.3 Labor Cost Analysis of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 172.4 Other Costs Analysis of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 202.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 212.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of CIGS/CIS Solar Cells Module 223 Global Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales, Sales Price and Market Size (Volume and Value) 2010-2015 Analysis 233.1 Global 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Market Size Analysis 233.2 Global 2010-2015 Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales Price Analysis 253.3 Global 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales by Companies 253.4 Global 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales by Product Type 263.5 Global 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales by Applications 283.6 Global 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales by Region 294 USA Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales, Sales Price, Market Size (Volume and Value) and End Users Analysis 324.1 USA 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Market Size Analysis 324.2 USA 2010-2015 Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales Price Analysis 344.3 USA 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales by Companies 344.4 USA 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales by Product Type 354.5 USA 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales by Applications 374.6 USA 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Regional Import Export Analysis 395 Europe Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales, Sales Price, Market Size (Volume and Value) and End Users Analysis 405.1 Europe 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Market Size Analysis 405.2 Europe 2010-2015 Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales Price Analysis 425.3 Europe 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales by Companies 425.4 Europe 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales by Product Type 435.5 Europe 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales by Applications 455.6 Europe 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Regional Import Export Analysis 476 China Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales, Sales Price, Market Size (Volume and Value) and End Users Analysis 486.1 China 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Market Size Analysis 486.2 China 2010-2015 Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales Price Analysis 506.3 China 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales by Companies 506.4 China 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales by Product Type 516.5 China 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Sales by Applications 536.6 China 2011-2016E Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS/CIS) Solar Cells Module Regional Import Export Analysis 55Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Global Private and Public Cloud Market in the Financial Services Industry to grow at a CAGR of 13.12% during the period 2016-2020
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ResearchMoz added Latest Research Report titled " Global Private and Public Cloud Market in the Financial Services Industry 2016-2020 " to it's Large Report database.About Financial ServicesFinancial services are the services offered by the financial sector to help credit companies, insurance companies, account companies, banks, investment fund firms, and finance firms to manage capital. The financial services industry is shifting toward the adoption of cloud for business operations to avoid IT infrastructure costs and operational expenditure. Cloud improves performance, increases efficiency, and ensures the security of business operations and business data. There are many vendors offering cloud-based solutions to financial services based on their business requirements. Both private and public cloud solutions are used in the financial services industry. Private cloud solutions are used more often by financial institutions as they offer better security of financial data, flexibility when expanding their operations, and customization based on business requirements.Technavios analysts forecast the global private and public cloud market in financial services industry to grow at a CAGR of 13.12% during the period 2016-2020.Download free Sample PDF report with TOC:Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global private and public cloud market in financial services industry for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from solutions and the fee charged for subscription of the public and private cloud for financial services.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEATechnavio's report, Global Private and Public Cloud Market in Financial Services Industry 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Read All ICT Market Research Reports @Table of ContentPART 01: Executive summaryHighlightsPART 02: Scope of the reportMarket segmentationVendorsReview periodPART 03: Market research methodologyResearch methodologyEconomic indicatorsPART 04: IntroductionKey market highlightsPART 05: Market descriptionServices offered by financial companiesTypes of financial servicesSteps of cloud implementation in financial services organizationsCloud adoption in financial services industryAdvantages of cloud adoption in financial services industryPART 06: Market landscapeMarket overviewMarket size and forecastGlobal private cloud market in financial services industryGlobal public cloud market in financial services industryPART 07: Market segmentation by service typeGlobal private and public cloud market in financial services industry by service typePART 08: Geographical segmentationGeographical segmentation of global private and public cloud market in financial services industryAmericasEMEAAPACAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the world's fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMoz's service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Contact Us:Mr. Nachiket90 State Street, Albany NY, United States - 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074 / Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:Follow me on Blogger at:
Global Cancer Vaccine Partnering Available Deals And Contract Documents For Over 210 Cancer Vaccine Deals 2010-2016
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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Cancer Vaccine Partnering 2010-2016: Deal trends, players, financials and forecasts" to its huge collection of research reports.The Global Cancer Vaccine Partnering 2010-2015 report provides an understanding and access to the cancer vaccine partnering deals and agreements entered into by the world's leading healthcare companies.- Trends in cancer vaccine partnering deals- Disclosed headlines, upfronts, milestones and royalties by stage of development- Cancer vaccine partnering contract documents- Top cancer vaccine deals by valueThis report provides details of the latest Cancer Vaccine agreements announced in the life sciences since 2010.The report takes the reader through a comprehensive review Cancer Vaccine deal trends, key players, top deal values, as well as deal financials, allowing the understanding of how, why and under what terms, companies are entering Cancer Vaccine partnering deals.The report presents financial deal term values for Cancer Vaccine deals, listing by headline value, upfront payments, milestone payments and royalties, enabling readers to analyse and benchmark the financial value of deals.The middle section of the report explores the leading dealmakers in the Cancer Vaccine partnering field; both the leading deal values and most active Cancer Vaccine dealmaker companies are reported allowing the reader to see who is succeeding in this dynamic dealmaking market.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @One of the key highlights of the report is that over 210 online deal records of actual Cancer Vaccine deals, as disclosed by the deal parties, are included towards the end of the report in a directory format - by company A-Z, stage of development, deal type, therapy focus, and technology type - that is easy to reference. Each deal record in the report links via Weblink to an online version of the deal.In addition, where available, records include contract documents as submitted to the Securities Exchange Commission by companies and their partners. Whilst many companies will be seeking details of the payment clauses, the devil is in the detail in terms of how payments are triggered - contract documents provide this insight where press releases and databases do not.The initial chapters of this report provide an orientation of Cancer Vaccine dealmaking. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the report, whilst chapter 2 provides an overview of the trends in Cancer Vaccine dealmaking since 2010, including details of headline, upfront, milestone and royalty terms.Chapter 3 provides a review of the leading Cancer Vaccine deals since 2010. Deals are listed by headline value. Where the deal has an agreement contract published at the SEC a link provides online access to the contract.Chapter 4 provides a comprehensive listing of the top 25 most active companies in Cancer Vaccine dealmaking with a brief summary followed by a comprehensive listing of Cancer Vaccine deals announded by that company, as well as contract documents, where available.Chapter 5 provides a comprehensive and detailed review of Cancer Vaccine partnering deals signed and announced since Jan 2010, where a contract document is available in the public domain. Each deal title links via Weblink to an online version of the deal record and contract document, providing easy access to each contract document on demand.Chapter 6 provides a comprehensive and detailed review of Cancer Vaccine partnering deals signed and announced since Jan 2010. The chapter is organized by specific Cancer Vaccine technology type. Each deal title links via Weblink to an online version of the deal record and where available, the contract document, providing easy access to each deal on demand.A comprehensive series of appendices is provided organized by Cancer Vaccine partnering company A-Z, stage of development, deal type, and therapy focus. Each deal title links via Weblink to an online version of the deal record and where available, the contract document, providing easy access to each deal on demand.The report also includes numerous tables and figures that illustrate the trends and activities in Cancer Vaccine partnering and dealmaking since 2010.In conclusion, this report provides everything a prospective dealmaker needs to know about partnering in the research, development and commercialization of Cancer Vaccine technologies and products.Report scopeGlobal Cancer Vaccine Partnering 2010-2016: Deal trends, players, financials and forecasts is intended to provide the reader with an in-depth understanding and access to Cancer Vaccine trends and structure of deals entered into by leading companies worldwide.Cancer Vaccine Partnering Terms and Agreements includes:- Trends in Cancer Vaccine dealmaking in the biopharma industry since 2010- Analysis of Cancer Vaccine deal structure- Access to headline, upfront, milestone and royalty data- Case studies of real-life Cancer Vaccine deals- Access to Cancer Vaccine contract documents- Leading Cancer Vaccine deals by value since 2010- Most active Cancer Vaccine dealmakers since 2010In Global Cancer Vaccine Partnering 2010-2016: Deal trends, players, financials and forecasts, the available deals are listed by:- Company A-Z- Headline value- Stage of development at signing- Deal component type- Specific therapy target- Technology typeEach deal title links via Weblink to an online version of the deal record and where available, the contract document, providing easy access to each contract document on demand.The Global Cancer Vaccine Partnering 2010-2016: Deal trends, players, financials and forecasts report provides comprehensive access to available deals and contract documents for over 210 Cancer Vaccine deals.Analyzing actual contract agreements allows assessment of the following:- What are the precise rights granted or optioned?- What is actually granted by the agreement to the partner company?- What exclusivity is granted?- What is the payment structure for the deal?- How aresalesand payments audited?- What is the deal term?- How are the key terms of the agreement defined?- How are IPRs handled and owned?- Who is responsible for commercialization?- Who is responsible for development, supply, and manufacture?- How is confidentiality and publication managed?- How are disputes to be resolved?- Under what conditions can the deal be terminated?- What happens when there is a change of ownership?- What sublicensing and subcontracting provisions have been agreed?- Which boilerplate clauses does the company insist upon?- Which boilerplate clauses appear to differ from partner to partner or deal type to deal type?- Which jurisdiction does the company insist upon for agreement law?Global Cancer Vaccine Partnering 2010-2016 report provides the reader with the following key benefits:- In-depth understanding of Cancer Vaccine deal trends since 2010- Access to headline, upfront, milestone and royalty data- Analysis of the structure of Cancer Vaccine agreements with numerous real life case studies- Detailed access to actual Cancer Vaccine contracts entered into by leading biopharma companies- Identify most active Cancer Vaccine dealmakers since 2010- Insight into terms included in a Cancer Vaccine partnering agreement, with real world examples- Understand the key deal terms companies have agreed in previous deals- Undertake due diligence to assess suitability of your proposed deal terms for partner companiesMake an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
CHARLES CITY | A man accused of raping a woman in Charles City eight years ago pleaded guilty Wednesday to a reduced charge and received probation.
Eric M. Hill, 31, received a deferred judgment for misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury. He was put on probation for one year and ordered to pay a $315 civil penalty.
He also was ordered to undergo a psychiatric sexual evaluation and follow any recommendations for sex offender treatment or counseling.
Hill was arrested in February 2016 and charged with felony second-degree sexual abuse, which is punishable by up to 25 years in prison.
In July 2013 his DNA information was entered into a database after an unrelated incident in Illinois. The database indicated a possible match with DNA evidence from a rape kit done after a Charles City woman reported being raped in her home on Aug. 15, 2008.
Sexual assault trial of Charles City man underway CHARLES CITY The trial of a Charles City man accused of sexually assaulting a woman in her
A swab was collected from Hill in 2015 after he received a court order to do so. Authorities determined his DNA matched the DNA from the rape kit.
Hill's first trial in June 2016 ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury.
Mistrial declared for Charles City man being tried for rape CHARLES CITY A mistrial due to a hung jury has been declared for a Charles City man accuse
During the trial the state claimed Hill entered the woman's home, held a metal object against her neck and sexually assaulted her.
When he took the stand Hill claimed he and the woman, who knew each other, had consensual sex in her home on the day she said he raped her. He denied having a weapon and threatening her with it.
Mistrial declared for Charles City man being tried for rape CHARLES CITY A mistrial due to a hung jury has been declared for a Charles City man accuse
Hill also testified he was wearing a condom when he and the woman had sex, but during closing arguments Floyd County Attorney Rachel Ginbey questioned how his sperm could have ended up on a vaginal swab from his accuser if he was telling the truth about the condom.
Ginbey reduced the charge against Hill to third-degree sexual abuse, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, in advance of his second trial, which was scheduled to begin this week.
Ginbey did not immediately return a phone call from the Globe Gazette requesting comment.
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Registration for the 9th Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry conference closes in 2 weeks.SMis Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry conference opens in London on 18th & 19th January.The 2017 event has attracted a global audience of HCPs, marketers and social media experts from nations including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Italy, UK, USA and more.A list of attendees has been released which includes representatives from companies pioneering digital healthcare innovation such as AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Chiesi, CREATION, Daiichi Sankyo, Dexcel Pharma, Digital Health and Care Alliance, Doctors.net.uk, Eli Lilly, Facebook, GE Healthcare, GE Healthcare, Grunenthal, GS1, LEO Pharma, Lundbeck, Medicines for Europe, MHRA, MSD, NSF Health Sciences, Pfizer, Pulsar, Stevanato Group, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, and more. The full roster can be found onSocial Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry 2017 extends a platform to explore key topics such as leveraging social media to build stronger brands, digital content marketing; advancements in technology, mHealth apps, regulatory updates, patient engagement, and building social networks for HCPs.Event highlights include the following: Social media giant Facebook to showcase how to optimise the channel for evidence-based healthcare conversations to reach and engage the right patients and creative best practices for branded and unbranded campaigns. Social media guru Julie O' Donnell to discuss understanding the big players and emerging opportunities on social channels and how to future proof digital strategies from content to platform to distribution. A spotlight onthe EU Innovative Medicines Initiative's WEB-RADR project and current mobile apps used for data collection and pharmacovigilance, as well as policies and ethical guidance on appropriate use with MHRA. Pfizer explores opportunities and challenges for dedicated social media digital services within the sector featuring case studies on how digital services can deliver value within pharma brands. AbbVie, Leo Pharma, Pfizer to discuss the benefits of using digital cross-platform strategies as a resource for clinical trial engagement and recruitment. Case studies and a panel discussion on the success of building online communities for HCPs and employee activation from GE Healthcare, MSD, Doctors.net.uk, Lupus UK, and Health Unlocked.A detailed agenda and full speaker line-up can be viewed on the website.For more updates on the conference, follow SMi Group on @smipharm and join the conversation using #pharmasocialmedia on Twitter.Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry18 & 19 January 2017Holiday Inn Kensington Forum, London, UK---end ---Contact Information:For sponsorship and exhibition queries please contact Alia Malick at amalick@smi-online.co.uk. For delegate queries please contact Fateja Begum at fbegum@smi-online.co.uk. For media queries please contact Honey de Gracia at hdegracia@smi-online.co.uk.About SMi Group:Established since 1993, the SMi Group is a global event-production company that specializes in Business-to-Business Conferences, Workshops, Masterclasses and online Communities. We create and deliver events in the Defence, Security, Energy, Utilities, Finance and Pharmaceutical industries. We pride ourselves on having access to the worlds most forward thinking opinion leaders and visionaries, allowing us to bring our communities together to Learn, Engage, Share and Network. More information can be found at1 Westminster Bridge RoadSE1 7XW
Organic Pet Food to Emerge As Booming Trend as Owners Become Increasingly Concerned about Pet Health
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The pet food market is thriving with fads and trends that are no different from the marketing campaigns for human food. The demand for pet food is growing steadily after the largest recall in 2007, resulting in a rapid inclusion of organic and natural ingredients in pet foodstuff. Pet owners have the options of choosing from free-range, human-grade, organic, pure, holistic, and natural pet foods. The need for companionship is rising rapidly in the Middle East and Latin America owing to a growing inclination towards nuclear family. This has given rise to a number of people adopting pets and thus, leading to the growth of the pet food market.According to a recent study published by Transparency Market Research (TMR), the Middle East and Latin America pet food market was valued at US$239.6 mn in 2013 and is expected to reach US$350.5 mn by 2020. The market in the Middle East is projected to expand at a CAGR of 5.6% from 2014 to 2020. The Latin America pet food market was valued at US$8,202.1 mn in 2013 and is expected to reach US$10,361.0 mn by 2020. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 3.4% from 2014 to 2020.View exclusive Global strategic Business report:In this blog post, TMR answers three critical questions about the Middle East and Latin America pet food market:Q. What factors are leading to a rise in the demand for pet food in the Middle East and Latin America?The heightened demand for companionship and owing pets for security reasons are primary reasons behind the growing number of people adopting pets, subsequently giving rise to the demand for pet food. The growing trend of nuclear families is another factor driving the demand for pet foods. The rising concern and care for pets and rapid urbanization have led to an increase in the demand for pet foods. The increasing demand for branded and packaged food is also causing the pet food market in the Middle East and Latin America to grow to some extent. An overall increase in the disposable income among the people has also encouraged people to adopt pets and is boosting the pet food market.Q. Which will be the pet food type that will witness the fastest growth rate?The dry pet food segment led in the Middle East and Latin America pet food market among the different food types in 2013. Owing to the ease of handling and lesser cost, the dry pet food segment led in the market in 2013. Moreover, dry food can be stored for a longer time and feeding pets is easier.However, the nutritious food segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the Middle East and Latin America. The growth of the nutritious food segment is due to increasing concerns among pet owners regarding pet health. The growing incidences of diseases such as canine parvovirus infection and Lyme disease will also lead to a rise in the demand for nutritious food segment.Q. What are the recent trends in the pet food industry in the Middle East and Latin America?Organic pet food is one of the emerging trends in the pet food industry. For instance, Natural Planet Pet Foods has choices for organic foods and have products containing exotic protein sources such as duck, rabbit, and kangaroo.Soups are another emerging space and accelerating the value of pet food. A case in point would be Mars Petcare. In June 2016, the company launched Sheba Classic Soups for cats. Moreover, investments for expansion of facilities, with a vision to give pets better and more nutritious food are some of the other trends that are catching up with market players. For instance, Royal Canin has announced the investment of US$100 mn for expanding their facility in South Dakota.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Growth Rate (CAGR) Of Overall NDDS in Cancer Therapy Global Market During 2017-2020
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ResearchMoz presents this most up-to-date research on "Growth Rate (CAGR) Of Overall NDDS in Cancer Therapy Global Market During 2017-2020".This study on novel drug delivery systems (NDDS) in cancer therapy comprises study of technologies such as embolization devices, liquid embolics and nanoparticles that offer unique approaches in cancer remedy. Several embolic agents are used by interventional radiologists for the selective occlusion of arteries supplying blood to tumors. The selection of an embolic agent depends on various factors including size of the vessel to be embolized, desired clinical outcome, duration of the vessel to be occluded, and also the intrinsic properties and behavior of the embolic agent. Nanoparticles as drug delivery systems have emerged as a promising technology to treat patients suffering from various types of cancer. Owing to their small size, nanoparticles exhibit unique physicochemical and biological properties, and thus help in overcoming several limitations such as poor bio-distribution, non-specific drug delivery, low therapeutic indices, and lack of water solubility which are mostly associated with conventional drug delivery.This report studies the global market for NDDS in cancer therapy encompassing three major technologies: embolization particles, liquid embolics and nanoparticles. Each of these technologies has been analyzed in detail from product analysis, market trends, recent developments, future outlook and opportunities, to the competitive landscape. The report provides market size in terms of USD million for each technology for the period 2012 to 2020, considering the macro and micro environmental factors. In addition, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of the overall NDDS in cancer therapy market and the segments has also been provided in the report for the forecast period 2014 to 2020, considering 2012 and 2013 as the base years. This report includes an elaborate executive summary, which covers a market snapshot representing key findings from the study.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Geographically, the NDDS in cancer therapy market has been classified into four regions namely, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW). The market size and forecast for each of these regions along with CAGR for the forecast period from 2014 to 2020 have also been provided in the report. A detailed qualitative analysis of the major factors determining market dynamics such as drivers, restraints and opportunities, along with the market attractiveness analysis are discussed in the market overview section of the NDDS in cancer therapy market report. A section describing the U.S. and EU regulatory pathways has also been included. The study on NDDS in cancer therapy suggests a list of recommendations for new companies willing to enter the market and for existing companies to accentuate shares, which is likely to help in the decision-making process. ANSOFF matrix analysis has also been provided for the key players in this market. The competitive landscape section has been provided for each technology separately and presents the market revenue share of key players in terms of percentage for the year 2013. The market share analysis of key players involved the study of company product portfolio, sales revenue, and geographical presence along with market developments such as new product launch, brand recall, regulatory approvals, etc.The global NDDS in cancer therapy market is segmented as follows:NDDS in Cancer Therapy Market, by TechnologyEmbolization ParticlesCurrent TechnologiesDrug Eluting BeadsOthers (PVA particles, microspheres, gelatin-based)Emerging TechnologiesSelective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT)TheraSphereNDDS in Cancer Therapy Market, by GeographyNorth AmericaEmbolization ParticlesLiquid EmbolicsNanoparticlesEuropeEmbolization ParticlesLiquid EmbolicsNanoparticlesAsia PacificMake an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Pumps Market In India To Grow At A CAGR Of 9.66% during 2018-2021
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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Pumps Market In India To Grow At A CAGR Of 9.66% during 2018-2021" to its huge collection of research reports.The global pump market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.47% during the forecast period, and is likely to reach $55.32 billion by the end of 2020. Though the global growth of the market is expected to be robust, the factors that fuel this growth will vary from region to region. In emerging economies such as India and China, growth in the pump market will primarily be the result of rapid industrialization as investments in the water infrastructure and power generation sectors grow. In the developed countries, improving manufacturing output will enable the growth of process manufacturing industries. In the US, improving economy and the boom in hydraulic fracking (fracturing) in the countrys oil and gas sector will accelerate the demand for pumps.Technavios analysts forecast the pumps market in India to grow at a CAGR of 9.66% during the period 2016-2020.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the pumps market in India for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the demand for pumps from various end-users. The average price of pumps has been taken into consideration for estimating the market revenue.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:Andhra PradeshDelhiGujaratKarnatakaMadhya PradeshMaharashtraMumbaiPunjabRest of IndiaTamil NaduUttar PradeshWest BengalTechnavio's report, Pumps Market in India 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Make an Enquiry of this report @Key vendorsC.R.I. PumpsFlowserveGrundfosKirloskarKSBTexmo IndustriesOther prominent vendorsBest PumpsFalcon PumpsSam Turbo IndustrySulzerJyotiShakti PumpsWPILFalcon PumpsBest PumpsSam TurboV-GuardMarket driverDemand for energy-efficient pumps in agriculture sectorFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengePoor quantity and quality of electricity supplyFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendEmergence of intelligent pump systems and micro disc pump technologyFor a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Industry Trend and Forecast 2021: Global Magnetic Drive Pumps Market 2017
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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Industry Trend and Forecast 2021: Global Magnetic Drive Pumps Market 2017" to its huge collection of research reports.The Global Magnetic Drive Pumps Market 2016 Industry Trend and Forecast 2021 is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the magnetic drive pumps industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The magnetic drive pumps market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (North America, Europe, China and Asia (Ex. China)), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the magnetic drive pumps industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Magnetic Drive Pumps 11.1 Definition and Specifications of Magnetic Drive Pumps 11.1.1 Definition of Magnetic Drive Pumps 11.1.2 Specifications of Magnetic Drive Pumps 11.2 Classification of Magnetic Drive Pumps 71.3 Applications of Magnetic Drive Pumps 81.4 Industry Chain Structure of Magnetic Drive Pumps 91.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Magnetic Drive Pumps 102 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Magnetic Drive Pumps 152.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Magnetic Drive Pumps 152.1.1 Polypropylene (PP) and ETFE 152.1.2 Stainless Steel and Carbon Steel 172.2 Equipment Suppliers Analysis of Magnetic Drive Pumps 262.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Magnetic Drive Pumps 27Make an Enquiry of this report @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.Mr. NachiketState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Middle East and Africa Defibrillators Market is Outsourcing at a Value Price and will Reach to US$0.3 bn by 2020
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A defibrillator is a device used to rectify an abnormal heartbeat by sending a high energy pulse to restore a normal heart rhythm. It is mainly utilized in the cases of ventricular fibrillation, cardiac arrhythmia, and pulseless ventricular tachycardia in humans. The increasing incidence of cardiovascular diseases in the Middle East and Africa has fueled the demand for defibrillators significantly in this region.Browse the Sample Containing the Upcoming Market Analysis of Middle East and Africa Defibrillators at:Additionally, the technical advancements in defibrillators such as the addition of inbuilt telemedicine and remote patient monitoring features in these devices are likely to boost the Middle East and Africa market for defibrillators during the forecast period, states the report.The research report evaluates the Middle East and Africa market for defibrillators on the basis of the product, end user, and the regional spread of this market. Based on the product, the market has been classified into automated external defibrillators (AED) and advanced life support (ALS) defibrillators.The ALS defibrillators segment led the overall market in 2013. The increasing application of these defibrillators for the monitoring of various kinds of bodily functions such as heart and pulse rhythm and blood oxygen levels has boosted this segment significantly over the past few years. However, the AED segment is projected to register the highest growth rate over the forecast period on account of rising incidences of cardiac arrhythmias across the world, states the report.Based on the end user, the market for defibrillators in the Middle East and Africa has been classified into hospitals, emergency medical services, public access defibrillation, and business workplaces. The hospitals segment emerged as the leading end user of defibrillators in 2013, holding a share of more than 80% in the overall market.On the regional basis, the report has segmented the market into the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Algeria, South Africa, and Qatar. In 2013, the UAE and Saudi Arabia led the defibrillators market in the Middle East while South Africa dominated the defibrillators market in Africa.The rapid infrastructural development in the medical and healthcare industry and the growing awareness regarding the utility of defibrillators in cases of cardiac arrhythmias in these economies have fueled the demand for defibrillators remarkably in the recent times.Analysts predict Qatar and Saudi Arabia to record the fastest growth in the Middle East and Africa market for defibrillators over the forecast period, notes the research study.Read the Current Market Analysis of Middle East and Africa Defibrillators at:Zoll Medical Corp., Welch Allyn, Schiller AG, Physio-Control Inc., Philips Healthcare, Nihon Kohden Corp., and HeartSine Technologies Inc. are the major producers of defibrillators in the Middle East and Africa, profiled in this market report.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
X-ray Market Prospects are Better than Ever, Reaching US$11.79 bn by 2022 fueled by Recent Technological Advancements in Diagnostics Iandustry
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The recent commercialization of highly sophisticated X-ray systems and techniques has helped companies enrich their product portfolio and given buyers the ability to invest in more effective products. Moreover, a rapidly aging population, which has caused an increase in the demand for healthcare products and services, will help the X-ray market expand.Obtain the Future Market Analysis of X-ray at:Among the key market restraints identified by TMR analysts are: High costs that could hinder widespread adoption and the enforcement of legal provisions that promote healthcare facilities to cut service costs. Market players can benefit from emerging opportunities in countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia Pacific. The report also conducts a Porters five forces analysis to provide clarity on the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers as well as threats posed by substitutes and new market entrants.The global X-ray market is segmented on the basis of product type, technology, type, applications, and geography. Based on product type, the global X-ray market is segmented into portable and stationary X-rays. Stationary X-ray systems held a sizeable share (60.1%) of the global X-ray market by product type in 2013 as they have been in use since several decades in both mature and developing markets. Over the reports forecast period, it is expected that portable X-rays will show better growth, more so as portable X-rays find application in home health care.Likewise, by technology, the report divides the market into digital and analog x-ray. Of these, digital X-ray systems made up the dominant segment with a share of 69.1% in 2013, and were trailed by analog systems in the same year.By type of X-ray, the market segments studied are: photostimulable storage phosphor detectors, flat panel detectors, and others. Similarly, the X-ray market by application is composed of dental X-ray, cardiovascular X-ray, mammography (X-ray), respiratory X-ray, and other applications.In 2013, North America was the largest X-ray market in the world, with an impressive share of 34.6% in the global market. Asia Pacific and Europe trailed North America. The presence of developed economies such as Canada and the United States in North America has helped the region consolidate its leading position in the global X-ray market. The high geriatric population and rising prevalence of diseases requiring X-rays as part of the diagnostic process have created growth opportunities for market players in this region.In terms of growth rate, however, Asia Pacific will take the lead and emerge as the fastest-growing region in the global X-ray market. Much of this growth will be made possible by the enormous demand for healthcare from China and India, where people increasingly suffer from numerous diseases.Read the Current Market Trends of X-Ray at:The reports Company Profiles section assesses market players such as: Carestream Health, Inc., Shimadzu Corporation, Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, Canon, Inc., Philips Healthcare, Agfa-Gevaert N.V., Konica Minolta, Inc., GE Healthcare, and Hitachi Medical Corporation.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Solar Control Window Films Market 2016 - Eastman, 3M, Saint Gobain, Madico, Hanita, Haverkamp, Sekisui
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Market Research Report on Solar Control Window Films begins with definition, application, classification, industry chain analysis, news analysis, region, revenue, forecast, demand, growth, trends and policy analysis of the market.A conventional form of solar control window film consists of a substantially transparent flexible polymer substrate, some of which having a thin layer of reflective metal deposited thereon, for example, by vapor deposition or sputter deposition. The film is customarily affixed to the interior surface of a window by a substantially transparent layer of pressure sensitive adhesive. The adhesive customarily contains ultraviolet energy absorbers to protect from ultraviolet damage the contents of the room or space in which the window is located.Download Free Sample Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Solar Control Window Films in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by ManufacturersEastman3MSaint GobainMadicoJohnsonHanitaHaverkampSekisuiGarware SunControlWintechEricksonKDXAccess Full Report:Market Segment by RegionsNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America, Middle East and AfricaMarket Segment by TypeClear (non-reflective) solar control window filmDyed (non-reflective) solar control window filmVacuum coated (reflective) solar control window filmMarket Segment by ApplicationsCommercialResidentialAutomotiveOthersThere are 13 Chapters to deeply display the global Solar Control Window Films market report.Chapter 1, to describe Solar Control Window Films Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Solar Control Window Films, with sales, revenue, and price of Solar Control Window Films, in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2015 and 2016;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Solar Control Window Films, for each region, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 5, 6, 7 and 8, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 9 and 10, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2011 to 2016;Chapter 11, Solar Control Window Films market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2016 to 2021;Chapter 12 and 13, to describe Solar Control Window Films sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, appendix and data source.Fior Markets is a leading market intelligence company that sells reports of top publishers in the technology industry. Our extensive reseorts cover detailed market assessments that include major technological improvements in the industry. Fior Markets also specializes in analyzing hi-tech systems and current processing systems in its expertise.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:
dancingwiththestars_ap.jpeg
Popular ABC shows include "Dancing with the Stars." KATU, Portland's ABC affiliate, has dropped off Frontier's cable TV network.
(ABC photo)
Frontier Communications says it's continuing talks to restore Portland's ABC affiliate to its cable TV lineup, three days after it dropped KATU and two related channels.
Frontier'and KATU's owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group, are in a dispute over the broadcast rights. The cable provider says Sinclair wants a 200 percent increase for KATU (Channel 2) and other channels.
KATU didn't return a call seeking comment, but in a statement on its website the station says it "is simply asking to be treated fairly, based on the popularity of our programming, in the amount the station is compensated."
Viewers' voice
KATU is off Frontier's cable network in the Northwest while the two sides fight over terms for carrying Portland's ABC affiliate. If you want to weigh in, here's who to contact:
Frontier Communications
: Headquarters in Connecticut -- 203-614-5600
Sinclair Broadcast Group
: KATU's owner is based in Maryland - 410-568-1500
Federal Communications Commission
: The FCC has intervened in such disputes in the past.
.
Rep. Greg Walden
: Powerful congressman from Oregon is chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, which has oversight of the FCC and cable TV. Reach his office at (202) 225-6730 or
.
Frontier spokesman Javier Mendoza said in an email the company won't offer refunds to customers over the dispute and will not allow subscribers under contract to opt out of their deal. Cable regulators say Frontier's local franchises require only that it give customers notice before dropping channels.
That leaves viewers like Jerry Younger in the lurch. The Gresham retiree is flummoxed by the behavior of both companies and says he cannot understand why they cannot reach agreement on a deal that would evidently benefit both.
"I'm a longtime fan of Channel 2. I like all the people. After a while, they become family," Younger said. "I can understand Frontier wanting to be greedy. They all are. But why would Channel 2 want to leave their customers? Because now I'm watching Channel 8. Make a new family, I guess."
Disputes between TV networks and cable and satellite companies are increasingly common, but it's very rare for a local station to drop off a cable system for this long. ABC carries a number of popular ABC shows, including "Modern Family," "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal," "The Bachelor" and "Dancing with the Stars."
Frontier also has dropped ABC affiliate KOMO from its cable system in Seattle's suburbs. Frontier and KOIN, Portland's CBS affiliate, were in a similar dispute last fall but agreed to keep the station on Frontier's system during their negotiations.
The current spat between Frontier and Sinclair irritates Beaverton retiree Rick LeRoy, who enjoys watching reruns of "MASH" and "Gunsmoke," which KATU broadcasts on a digital affiliate. Though he's being deprived of shows he likes now, LeRoy said that he expects to be saddled with a higher bill if the two sides strike a deal.
"The rates are already high enough," he said. "Everybody pays a fortune for cable. When things like this go on it's an excuse for everybody to raise rates."
Frontier advertisers its cable TV service for about $76 a month following a $4 increase in November.
Frontier offers its FiOS TV service in east Multnomah County and much of Washington County. Local cable regulators say it has 20,000 cable TV subscribers in Oregon. That compares with the 600,000 Comcast says it has in Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Although Frontier is a large phone and internet company, it operates primarily in rural areas and only provides cable TV service in a handful of markets. It began operating in the Portland area seven years ago, when it purchased Verizon's local operations.
Frontier's relatively small size may put it at a disadvantage when negotiating with Sinclair, which is the country's largest operator of local TV stations. Sinclair describes itself as "the nation's largest producer of local news."
"It seems that Frontier's bargaining position isn't very strong in that they don't bring a lot of customers to the Sinclair family," said Fred Christ, regulatory affairs manager for the Metropolitan Area Communications Commission in Washington County.
KATU broadcasts over the air, so viewers with an antenna can pick up its programming for free. But reception quality is often poor in the suburban communities where Frontier operates.
In another era, Christ said, it would have been hard to imagine a cable company getting by without carrying all the broadcast networks' local affiliates. But as viewers' tastes migrate toward premium cable and streaming services, Christ said, that may be changing.
"Hopefully they'll get it fixed," he said. "But maybe this is an indication of things to come."
-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699
Aerial photos over the Columbia River
Looking west at Longview, Washington where the Cowlitz River meets the Columbia. Bruce Ely / Oregonian file photo
The state of Washington may have killed a controversial plan to build a coal export terminal on the Columbia River west of Longview.
Outgoing Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark said Tuesday he will reject a request by Millennium Bulk Terminals to sublease state-owned land that once housed an aluminum smelter.
The company was looking to build a terminal with the capacity to export 44 million tons of coal annually to buyers in Asia. That would have involved bringing some 16 coal trains a day down the Columbia River Gorge from Wyoming and Montana. Tribes, community members along the route, and conservationists weighed in by the thousands against the project, which was first proposed in 2010. But it also attracted some support from organized labor.
In a statement, Goldmark said the decision was informed by years of study and represented "the best way to protect and conserve our state's waterways."
The statement cited a "chronic pattern of failure" by Millennium to provide accurate information, including details about the agreement between Millennium and the primary leaseholder of the state aquatic property, Northwest Alloys, as well as information about the financial viability of Millennium and the international coal export business.
"To date, none of this information has been provided," the statement said.
The decision continues a winning streak for opponents of fossil fuel export terminals in the Northwest. Federal, state and local authorities have rejected more than a dozen proposals in Oregon and Washington to export coal, oil, natural gas and propane. There are still three proposals pending on the Columbia, including an oil export terminal in Vancouver and two methanol export terminals at the Port of Kalama and Port Westward near Clatskanie.
"This is a huge victory for tribes and communities that have fighting this proposal for years," said Lauren Goldberg, an attorney for the conservation group Columbia Riverkeeper. "It's an exciting way to start the new year."
Millennium Bulk Terminals could not be reached for comment. There is no administrative process to appeal the decision, Goldberg said, though the company could sue the state.
- Ted Sickinger
503-221-8505; @tedsickinger
CEDAR RAPIDS | A Charles City man who dodged a life sentence on firearms charges in the slaying of a retired grocer has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Authorities said they suspect Randy Lee Patrie, 44, killed Carl "Ken" Gallmeyer with a sawed-off shotgun after breaking into his home in search of a safe in 2012.
No one has been charged in Gallmeyer's death, but Patrie was convicted of federal gun charges, and prosecutors had earlier used Patrie's prior burglary convictions and Armed Career Criminal laws to enhance his punishment and land a life sentence.
Life sentence overturned for Charles City man suspected of murder NASHUA A Charles City man suspected of killing a retired Clarksville grocer has had his li
But Patrie won an appeal last summer after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Iowa's burglary laws were too vague to meet the definition of a violent crime to be used with Armed Career Criminal statues. The decision overturned his life sentence and sent the matter back to district court for resentencing.
On Wednesday, Judge Linda Reade sentenced Patrie to the two consecutive 10 year prison terms for a total of 20 years behind bars.
Jeff Reinitz
The chairman of Portland Community College's board resigned from his elected position to protest what he called a political decision to classify the school a "sanctuary" for undocumented students.
Gene Pitts, who represented eastern Washington County and Southwest Portland on the board, submitted his resignation letter before Christmas, school officials confirmed Wednesday.
PCC, the state's largest post-secondary institution, had voted to adopt the sanctuary campus label at the urging of its student body, and with the support of first-year president Mark Mitsui.
The board held a special meeting Dec. 20 at its Sylvania campus to consider the largely symbolic gesture. PCC was just one of several Oregon colleges and universities - including Portland State, Oregon State, the University of Oregon, Linfield College, Lewis & Clark College and others - to publicly declare the schools would not help enforce federal immigration laws.
Pitts did not attend the meeting, according to vice-chair Kali Thorne-Ladd, and he had apparently already made up his mind on the issue.
"I have spoken to each of you, so it should not be a surprise that I was not aligned with the College's decision to deem itself a 'sanctuary college,'" Pitts wrote in his resignation letter sent on the same day as the special meeting.
Gene Pitts was PCC's board chair.
"As I've shared with you, I felt that the decision to use the term 'sanctuary college' politicizes the college, places risk on the backs of the 40+ percent of the college's students that receive Pell grant monies (and ultimately on the college's Federal funding), and alienates a percentage of voters as we approach the college's next bond campaign."
Willamette Week first reported Pitts' resignation.
Pitts did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The longtime Intel manager now works for Blount International Inc. as a manager of electrical engineering.
Thorne-Ladd is expected to step in as the board's chair.
"I have a lot of respect for Gene," she said in an interview. "He's had great service and dedication to the college, and I respect him for that. While we saw differently on this issue, I think his dedication to the college has been consistent."
Kate Chester, a PCC spokeswoman, said school did not release information about his resignation over the holidays because board members needed to discuss it. "They weren't all in town," she said. "Timing was challenging, as you can imagine."
The board will vote to appoint Pitts' replacement when it meets Jan. 19, but that person could be stepping in for just a few months.
Pitts, who was elected to four-year terms in 2009 and 2013, would've been up for re-election in May.
-- Andrew Theen
atheen@oregonian.com
503-294-4026
@andrewtheen
purplesock.jpg
I don't know about you fine folks, but I'm starting 2017 off right - by knitting myself a pair of purple socks. All hail January, aka Selfish Knitting Month!
(Mary Mooney/Staff)
The Naked Sheep Knit Shop is celebrating January, aka Selfish Knitting Month. "No specific knit-a-long project, but we'll gather on Saturdays throughout January, from 1-4 p.m., to knit and/or crochet whatever our hearts desire," writes Cheri. "Bring a snack to share!" The Naked Sheep Knit Shop is at 2142 N. Killingsworth in Portland.
Northwest Wools has a special trunk show from 2-7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6. "Come meet Francisco Bautista and his son David - fourth and fifth generation weavers," the store writes. "They will give weaving demonstrations and show their work, some of which is for sale. Meet wife Laura, who also weaves, and daughter Cynthia, who draws original artwork that Francisco weaves into unique pieces. They will be showing both their heritage weaving from Oaxaca, Mexico, as well as their own striking original styles." Northwest Wools is at 3524 S.W. Troy St. in Portland.
Dublin Bay Knitting Co. is hosting a Susan B. Anderson trunk show. "Her cute critters are on display & ready to cuddle for the next two weeks," the store writes. Dublin Bay Knitting Co. is at 1227 N.W. 11th Ave. in Portland.
Knotty Lamb has a slew of sale items with which to tempt you. "Lots of yarn, roving and our Addi Olive wood needles at our sale table are all 20 percent off!" the store writes. "Come grab some before the sale is done. The sale is available online too!" Knotty Lamb is at 2003 19th Ave. in Forest Grove.
Brooklyn Tweed is hiring! "We are seeking a qualified Wholesale Specialist in Portland, Oregon, for a full-time position beginning in February 2017," the yarn company writes. Get the details here.
Happy New Year, and Happy Selfish Knitting Month, yarnies! What's on your needles/hook this month?
-- Mary Mooney
mmooney@oregonian.com
503-412-7020; @MaryKnitsPDX
MASON CITY | Iowa Senate Minority Leader Rob Hogg said during a visit to North Iowa Tuesday that "a lot of soul-searching" is going on in the Democratic Party following the 2016 elections.
"There's a lot of healing that needs to be done," said Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, who joined Iowa House Minority Leader Mark Smith, D-Marshalltown, and state legislators representing North Iowa for a public forum at the Mason City Public Library.
Robb said this was the first of six such forums he and Smith are holding across the state before the Legislative session begins in Des Moines later this month.
For the first time in many years, Iowa will have Republican majorities in both the Iowa House and Senate as well as a GOP governor, Hogg noted.
The GOP also controls the U.S. House and Senate, in addition to the White House.
Hogg said it is important to remember that "this country is bigger than one person. It's bigger even than the President of the United States."
He said Iowa needs to avoid the "dangerous ideological experiments" going on in other states with GOP-controlled governments, such as Wisconsin and Kansas and focus on real issues.
Smith said one sign of hope is Democrats in Iowa did a better job of retaining legislative seats than in some other states.
Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will soon succeed Gov. Terry Branstad, who has been appointed as U.S. Ambassador to China. She will complete the last two years of Branstad's term.
Hogg said this means privatization of the state's Medicaid system looks like it is here to stay at least for the next few years.
Senate Democrats need to push for better oversight of Medicaid, according to Hogg.
When it comes to education funding, Hogg isn't optimistic about what the Republicans will propose.
He said the past six years have been the worst in the state's history as far as state funding for schools, and this year could be even worse.
Smith said when a school closes, "that community dries up and blows away."
He also said he doesn't anticipate any action in the Legislature on stronger regulation of confined animal feeding operations. However, Smith said there could be an opportunity to work on water quality issues overall.
State Rep. Sharon Steckman, D-Mason City, said she was pleased with the turnout at Tuesday's forum.
She said she was expecting just a few people to show up, but more chairs had to be brought into the room and a few people still had to stand.
Steckman said the environment, health care and education were among the topics those who attended the forum were most concerned about.
So was "rebuilding the party," said State Sen. Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City.
State Rep. Todd Prichard, D-Charles City, said those who attended the forum were disappointed in the way Democrats performed in the 2016 elections and "they want a way forward."
He said Democrats have to stay positive, avoid inter-party bickering and focus on working people and the economy.
"We can ask for good jobs to come to North Iowa," Prichard said.
MASON CITY | A Mason City man police say was found damaging a furnace in someone else's basement early Wednesday has been charged with felony second-degree theft.
Joel Donaldson, 43, is also charged with misdemeanor possession of a burglar tool, according to the Mason City Police Department.
The department received a call from a resident in the 1100 block of Ninth Street Southwest shortly after 5 a.m. The resident reported hearing what he believed to be grunting and knocking sounds coming from the basement, according to the police.
When officers arrived, they reportedly found Donaldson damaging the furnace, duct work and exhaust vents.
There was no estimate on damages.
Police say Donaldson, who did not know the residents of the home, told officers he was looking for a friend who was inside the furnace.
He was arrested and taken to the Cerro Gordo County Jail, where he was being held Wednesday on $10,000 cash/surety bond.
-- Mary Pieper
MASON CITY | The North Iowa Diversity Appreciation Team (NIDAT) is sponsoring its 12th annual art/writing contest for North Iowa students.
The contest is open to children from kindergarten through 12th grade, including public, private and home-schooled students.
For the contest, the North Iowa area spans west to Britt, east to Charles City, south to Hampton and as far north as Northwood/Kensett and Lake Mills.
The art/writing entry should express what diversity means to the student.
There will be first- and second-place prizes in art and in writing for each level K-5, 6-8 and 9-12.
First-place winners will receive $50 and a poster made from the entry. Second-place winners will receive $25 and a poster made from the entry. All winners will receive a copy of a book with all contest entries included.
An award program is scheduled for 5 p.m. March 9 at The Music Man Square.
Entries may be mailed to Mason City Schools HR Director Jodie Anderson, 1515 S. Pennsylvania Ave., Mason City, Iowa 50401. Entries must be received by Feb. 10.
Call Jane Ginapp at 641-425-3307 for more information.
MASON CITY | A Lake Mills man charged with murdering two people in Mason City in November will undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine if he is mentally fit to stand trial.
Peter Veal, 30, was scheduled to go to trial Jan. 24 on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of the attempted murder of a witness at the scene at a residence in the 1600 block of North Hampshire Avenue.
Quiet Mason City neighborhood rattled by double homicide MASON CITY Residents in the Highlands area of Mason City were stunned by a double homicide
However, court proceedings against him have been postponed until after an evaluation is conducted to determine if he has the mental capability to understand court proceedings and participate in his own defense.
Court officials say it could be two months or more before the results of the evaluation are available.
Veal's mother, Leann Veal, testified during a hearing Wednesday that her son who had been living with her for about a year when he was arrested in connection with the Nov. 17 deaths of Mason City residents Mindy Kavars and Caleb Christensen showed many signs of paranoia and had hallucinations.
Police: Witness in Mason City double homicide called 911 MASON CITY A man considered a witness to a double homicide in Mason City earlier this mont
"He was always thinking someone was after him," she said.
Leann Veal said her son accused her of trying to poison him when she put salt and pepper on his food.
When Steven Kloberdanz, one of her son's attorneys, asked her if he would take things apart because he thought someone was spying on him, she said he would take apart remote controls and telephones.
She also said she would hear him act like he was carrying on a conversation with someone who wasn't there.
Leann Veal said her son once called his sister and asked her to come by right away because "there was a blue angel with wings outside the door."
She said Peter Veal was committed three years ago and taken to Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa, where he stayed for three days and was then released.
He has not received any mental health treatment since, his mother testified. She also said he is not on any mental health medication.
She said when her son called her from the jail shortly after his arrest, she told him, "I'm your mother and I love you."
She said he replied, "I'm not crazy," and hung up.
Leann Veal said her son called her again more recently to wish her a Merry Christmas.
Andrew Steenblock, Cerro Gordo County Jail administrator, testified no one on staff reported any unusual behavior from Peter Veal or any disciplinary problems with him.
He also said beyond the initial assessment every inmate receives upon entering the jail and a follow-up visit for a hand injury, neither Veal nor a staff member requested he receive any additional treatment.
Steenblock said Veal was on suicide watch for a time after being booked into the jail, but that was a precautionary measure taken due to the nature of the charges against him.
District Court Judge Rustin Davenport ruled probable cause exists for a psychiatric evaluation for Veal. He is to remain in the Cerro Gordo County Jail until bed space is available at the Iowa prison system's Oakdale Medical and Classification Center.
The states Department of Natural Resources plans to jettison public lands it says are difficult to manage, provide limited public recreation benefit and are isolated from other DNR-managed public land.
Fifty-six parcels across 15 counties, including Midland, Gladwin, Clare and Arenac, are included in the DNRs surplus land auction. They range in size from less than an acre to 77 acres.
Photos of items abandoned in the desert along the U.S.-Mexico border - a stuffed toy lion, a laminated prayer card, ragged underwear, a small tin of Vicks VapoRub - are poignant in themselves.
Knowing that the owners died attempting to enter the U.S. illegally gives their possessions a profound quality.
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Two people are in jail following an investigation into methamphetamine production in Gladwin County.
The Gladwin County Sheriffs Office reports that its deputies and an agent from the Michigan Department of Corrections were conducting a probation check at a Hay Township residence on Sept. 19 when they located several components and items which are commonly used in the production and use of methamphetamine.
A new state mandate to teach CPR in schools has the potential to save lives across Michigan and beyond.
Under the law, which was recently signed by Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, students between grades seven and 12 will be required to learn the lifesaving methods as part of the health curriculum starting with the 2017-18 school year.
Without a doubt, there is a need for CPR training. The American Heart Association says nearly 357,000 people suffer cardiac arrest outside of a hospital every year and only 8 percent survive. CPR can nearly triple survival rates for cardiac arrest by providing assistance until EMTs arrive, according to the association.
Public Act 388 of 2016 states that instruction would have to either be developed by the American Red Cross or American Heart Association or be based on nationally recognized, evidence-based guidelines for CPR. Students would need to be present for instruction, but are not required to obtain a certificate and may learn a simpler hands-only technique of CPR.
The bill passed in the state House by a 98-8 vote. The state Senate voted unanimously in support.
While unfunded state mandates can take control out of local hands both things we dont tend to favor this lesson in CPR has real life-saving potential.
One local school district, Coleman, has provided CPR training for freshman students since 2013.
The majority of students are happy to learn CPR, Coleman physical education and health teacher James Cronk told the Daily News in May.
The program initially was funded through a Midland County Youth Action Council grant and some funding has come from a small fee students pay to get a CPR certification card. There are ongoing costs for materials and mannequins that will need to be funded.
With at least 30 other states having similar requirements for students, schools will find ways to meet the new laws requirements. Were confident local communities will see the benefits of it for decades to come.
BLOOMINGTON The Macy's store at Eastland Mall in Bloomington is among 68 stores the national retail chain plans to close this year.
The closure of the 154,000-square-foot store, open since 2006, will affect 55 employees. It is one of five anchors at the east-side shopping center.
The 68 closures, announced by the retailer Wednesday, are among about 100 closings first announced in August as the company continues to grapple with competition from online shopping and discount chains. They will eliminate more than 10,000 jobs.
Of the 68 stores, 63 will be closed in early spring and two more will close midyear. Three other locations were sold or are to be sold and leased back.
CBL & Associates Properties, the company that owns Eastland Mall except for Macy's, said it expects the store to close March 31. It intends to purchase the location and two others in Kentucky and Texas that also will be closed from Macy's for $5 million.
The Macy's store location was added to Eastland in the 1990s by St. Louis-based Famous-Barr and later was purchased by Macy's.
CBL said the purchases will allow it to "take space that is underperforming and convert it into new retail, dining and entertainment" options. It has already had some discussions with prospective tenants.
The closure "is unfortunate news for the employees who work at Macys and its many local loyal customers," said Austin Grammer, the city of Bloomington's economic development coordinator.
Grammer said the city will be working with CBL to assist with the redevelopment of the space.
"The closure of Macys presents many new opportunities for CBL to attract multiple new, top-tier national retailers to Eastland Mall that are not currently in Bloomington, retailers that have long wanted to be in Bloomington and retailers which have been requested by area residents for many years," Grammer added.
In light of recent redevelopment of the former Kmart and Colonial Plaza, which includes Dicks Sporting Goods and PetSmart, across Empire Street, Grammer said he is "highly optimistic" about CBL's ability to redevelop the Macys space.
Nationwide, the Macy's closures are estimated to generate annual savings of about $550 million, beginning in 2017, enabling the company to invest an additional $250 million in growing the digital business and store-related growth strategies.
Macy's also plans to reorganize its structure to support its remaining stores by "reinforcing the strategy of fewer stores with better customer service," the company said in a news release.
The retailer said sales at established stores fell 2.1 percent in November and December compared to the same period last year.
NORMAL Orvid V. Lancaster, 93, of Normal, passed away Dec. 25, 2016, at Heritage Health in Normal.
Orvid (O.V.) was born on Jan. 29, 1923, in Stanford, the son of Clarence and Mary Mammen Lancaster. He married Doris Mason on July 8, 1945, in Armington after his return from Europe as a captain in the Army Air Corps. She preceded him in death on Aug. 24, 2016.
Survivors include their children: Steven (Jane) Lancaster of Normal; and Susan (Bob) Downen of Gridley; grandchildren, John Lancaster; Sara (Jeremy) Lorance; Jonathan (Jill) Frost; Kenneth (Kristen) Whitesell; Shari (Greg) King and Laura Price; seven great-grandchildren; seven great-great-grandchildren; and a brother, Stanley (Marcia) Lancaster of Minier.
He was preceded in death by his parents; five brothers, Kenneth, Milberne, Dwayne, Clarence Jr. and Leonard; and one sister, Lavonne.
O.V. served from 1941 to 1945 as a decorated pilot in the 385th Heavy Bombardment Group and 3rd Scouting Force, stationed in England. In 1949, he joined the Masonic Lodge and subsequently the Scottish Rite, York Rite, and Order of the Eastern Star, serving as master, sovereign prince, petition captain, and degree master in these organizations. O.V. received the Masonic 33rd Degree in 1971 at Philadelphia.
O.V. and Doris were members of the American Passion Play door staff for many years. In 1964, he joined the Shrine, serving as president of the McLean County Shrine Club in 1994 and as a founding member and captain of the Tin Lizzie Patrol Unit.
He was a 70-year member of the American Legion. O.V. retired from the Illinois State University Physical Plant in 1983 as supervisor of building trades. He also owned and operated Hilltop Electric for 40 years.
O.V. attained life member status in the Masonic Lodge, Scottish Rite, American Legion, 385th Bomb Group Memorial Association, and 8th Air Force Historical Society.
A celebration of life for O.V. and Doris will be held at a later date. Extended family and friends will be invited.
A private family memorial service will be held at East Lawn Funeral Home. Memorial contributions may be made to the First Christian Church, 401 W. Jefferson St., Bloomington, IL, 61701 or Shriner's Hospital for Children, 4201 Industry Drive, Bartonville IL, 61607. Online condolences may be shared with the family at eastlawn-bloomington.com.
Nowadays, gays have sex in their apartmentssometimes even in bedsbut back in the old days, lots of gays went to all kinds of raunchy locales to carry on, from clubs to parks to trucks to bath houses. Let me bring it all back to you in a pre-Grindr whiff of Poppers and protein.
THE TRUCKS
Yes, trucks. In the West Village in the '60s and '70s, gays congregated in various large vehicles that had been unloaded, as it were, and were left open in the back, poetically enough. In the 1950s, it was all about "necking" in the back seat but in the '70s, the spotlight was on fisting in the back of a large vehicle. What a ride!
THE GLORY HOLE
(11th Avenue between 21st and 22nd Street)
Talk about truth in advertising. This nightspot was exactly what it sounded like. Gays went into a booth, stuck their business in a slot as if mailing a COD package, and then waited for someone to nibble on it. Or, they simply sat there and waited for someone else to stick their business in the slot. It was sort of like a dirty version of the Horn and Hardart automat.
The former Everard Baths, now a wholesaler. Via Google Streetview
THE BATHS
The Club and the Everard were hopping with gays in towels, but maybe the most famous of all was the Continental Baths (2109 Broadway), where the gays went to see Bette Midler performthough more often, they were performing their own acts (sex acts, that is) in the rooms they rented. In this legendary shtupp palace in the basement of the Ansonia Hotel, males would check their clothes, don a towel, and lay down on a bed in a way that would suggest what their preference was. Or they'd just go to the communal room and prepare to be mass-groped.
THE INTERNATIONAL STUD
(117 Perry Street)
I've mentioned places like this, as well as the Anvil and the Mine Shaft, where sex was king in the uninhibited, post-Stonewall 1970s. At the Stud, the back room was a gigantic cluster fuck, with everyone grabbing, sucking, and sucking some more. It was the wurst of times.
J'S
(675 Hudson Street)
As huzbears.com remembers, this cavernous club started in 1977 and had a lively backroom as an X-rated attraction. In 1987, the place became J's Hangout, and later on, it evolved into a jackoff haven with events hosted by the New York Jacks. J's Hangout was closed by the health department in 2002.
THE MEAT RACK
This sandy area between two Fire Island communitiesthe Pines and the Grovetraditionally was more than just a convenient walking route between the two places. It was a wanton sex site, where gays stood around getting naked and sandyand blown (by the sand and by other guys). The Meat Rack even provided the setting for parts of the legendary gay porn film Boys in the Sand. But those days are as gone as some of the sand dunes. Today, you might occasionally see some light frottage, but basically the Meat Rack has resorted to just being a walking route again.
The Ramble today Via Google Streetview
THE CENTRAL PARK RAMBLE
A lushly wooded area between 73 rd and 78th Streets, the Ramble was sort of Manhattan's answer to the Fire Island Meat Rack--a rustic retreat which became a real-life porn movie as guys grabbed each other and went for it. But eventually, that all died down and the Ramble reverted to being a lovely spot for tourists to birdwatch in. But then, amazingly enough, the birds turned to cocks again. I hear there's steamy action going on there once more. I'm guessing there are a lot of guys with boyfriends who simply can't fuck strangers at home.
THE STUDIO 54 BALCONY
(254 W. 54 th Street)
The ultimate 1970s disco, 54 had three spectacular environs, as insiders intimately learned. The basement was where celebs and other VIPs went to do enough coke to earn them a brochure from Betty Ford. The street level was the dance floor, where sets moved, people bumped, and eternity never came. And the balcony was where revelers would sit down and feel loved. Can any Wal-Mart really top all that?
THE CHRISTOPHER STREET BOOKSTORE
(Christopher and Hudson)
Barnes & Noble this wasn't. Though it was fraudulently billed as "the largest bookstore in America," the 24-hour establishment sold videos, toys, magazines, and lube, but we're still not even warm when it comes to what their main attraction was. It was sex! There were a few booths upstairs and a whole bunch more downstairs. Gays went into these booths to carry on with strangers, and when they left, all moist and sticky, they weren't the least bit more literary than when they came in. No, really.
THE PIERS
LGBTs still get together and hang on the West Village pier, but they used to do way more than that. Back when the pier was a big, old rotting piece of wood, gays would hang out there looking for hot hookups, and totally getting them. The river -- like the woods -- seems to turn gays on, in addition to the fact that these relatively remote urban areas always provided a sort of taboo but convenient space for doing it. In today's New York, they're just a memorybut that's OK because trust mama, sex will never go away.
Splash photo screenshot from Youtube.
Azealia Banks' official Facebook page--her headquarters since getting banned from Twitter this summer--has mysteriously vanished.
The only ones remaining include verified "Azealia Banks Germany" page, and an unofficial profile--both mostly inactive and fan-run.
Banks made headlines again in the past few days after posting videos to her Instagram page of her sand-blasting a blood-stained, feather-riddled room in her New York apartment, where she claimed to sacrifice chickens for Brujeria practices.
Azealia Banks via instagram, cleaning the closet she's been performing brujeria for 3 years in. pic.twitter.com/0OsoSdJynw
AZEALIA BANKS VIDEOS (@AzealiaVideos) December 30, 2016
The development, once again, divided the internet, with many--including Sia and the Church of Satan--condemning violence against animals, while others supported Banks right to religious freedom.
It remains unclear if/why Azealia was banned from Facebook, or if it was voluntary; just Sunday, Banks took to her page to denounce the bots trolling her timeline with racist comments.
"I was more of a cigarette-coffee breakfast," Michael Zee, the London-based mastermind behind the SymmetryBreakfast Instagram account, explains of his eating habits before meeting his fiance, Mark. But "then the first time I ever met him, which was in a nightclub in East London, we went home and made breakfast the next day. I made him these Dutch pancakes because I'd just gone to Amsterdam the week before and bought all the syrups and pouches and sprinkles and so when I met Mark, I said, 'This guy's Dutch. I'll make him a Dutch breakfast.'" At the time, Zee was working at the Victoria and Albert museum while Mark was working as a designer at Burberry. Their relationship progressed but during the frenetic fashion week seasons when Mark was pulling long hours in the studio, the two would rarely get to spend time together except for a few moments in the early morning. Gradually their mornings began to include elaborate breakfasts Zee would whip up because, as he says, "I just had this urge to make those mornings a bit more special."
Zee, whose grandfather had immigrated to the UK from Shanghai and had opened a few Chinese restaurants in Liverpool, grew up in his family's kitchens and was comfortable experimenting with recipes and ingredients. After a few of his breakfasts turned out so well, so symmetrical and so photogenic that he couldn't resist taking a pic, he started getting feedback from friends to set up a separate account dedicated to his elaborate meals. And so @SymmetryBreakfast was launched, featuring mouth-watering photos of Persian herb omelettes, kimchi corn fritters or Nepalese momo dumplings. Zee says these elaborate creations don't usually have much advance planning -- he often decides what to cook the morning of, after a quick early hours trip to his nearby market.
This was back in 2013 and now, nearly four years later, the account has ballooned into 655k follower, over a thousand entries, and a new cookbook, Symmetry Breakfast: 100 Recipes for the Loving Cook, out now.
The cookbook cover
Inside the book are one hundred recipes that span numerous countries and continents, all grouped together and organized by time zone. It's this last feature that Zee is eager to share more about. "The chapters are in time zones because the idea is that somewhere in the world right now, it's breakfast," he says. "I thought every other system of organizing it felt really kind of sad. [Going by] continent felt really colonial and by ingredient, there was always something left out...So the time zone idea was the best way to not be judgmental of the food or the people or the culture or the history of those places." He goes on to add, "The first chapter is the United Kingdom, Portugal, Morocco and Nigeria. I wanted to have that ability to have a cross-selection going from the North to the South Pole that would make people work out common things or maybe go, 'Wow, they're so different.'"
Previous Next Onsen Tamago / Hot Spring Eggs Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Previous Next Dutch Puff Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Previous Next Magic grits Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Recipe: Ingredients 12 cup milk 1 34 cups water 1 tsp salt 12 tsp black pepper 12 cup grits (Palmetto Farms is my favorite) 12 cup grated sharp or mature Cheddar 2 tbsp butter Add the milk, water, salt, and pepper to a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and add the grits, stirring continuously for 5 minutes. The aim here is low and slow. If the grits start to bubble, then your heat is too high. Cover with a lid and continue to cook on low for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. Taste to check if they are tender and cooked. Take off the heat and add the cheese and butter, stirring until melted. Serve the grits as they are with an extra knob of butter, or with crispy bacon and fresh grilled jumbo shrimp, egg, or perhaps with chorizo or spicy merguez sausage. The beauty of grits is that they're a vehicle. Go to town with the flavors: perhaps make them with half milk and half stock, or add some chili paste and a teaspoon of honey. Previous Next Indian Slapjacks Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Previous Next Granita and brioche Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Previous Next Knekkebrd Norwegian Crispbread Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Previous Next Idli -- South Indian fermented rice pancakes with masala chai spiced tea Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Recipe: Ingredients, Makes about 20 idli 3 cups rice (longgrain is fine) 1 tsp fenugreek seeds 12 cup water 1 cup black gram lentils (urad dal) 3 tsp salt Oil for greasing the pans Start in the morning of the day before you'd like to eat as I said, some forward planning is required. In a bowl, mix the rice with the fenugreek seeds and cover with the water. In another bowl, put the urad dal and cover with water. Leave both bowls for a minimum of 5 hours. The evening of the day before eating, drain the water from the rice but don't discard it. Put the wet rice in a blender and add 12 cup of the water. Blend until you have a smooth batter, adding extra water, a little at a time, until it flows easily. Decant this into a large bowl and repeat with the dal (start with 14 cup of water this second time, as you should have some residual liquid in the blender). Add the liquid dal to the rice with the salt and mix together using your hands. The bacteria on your skin will help kickstart the fermentation. Leave this covered overnight to ferment in a warm oven; I leave the oven light on. Depending on the time of year, this process will give different results, but you should have a huge, bubbling white mass. The day of eating, give the batter a good stir. The consistency should be that of thick cream. Prepare your idli pan by lightly oiling each of the sections with either a brush or a paper towel. Fill the bottom of the pan with water, making sure it doesn't touch the idli holder. Ladle in enough batter to reach just beneath the edge; you'll get some rise but not lots. Steam the idli for 20 minutes with the lid firmly clamped on. Remove the idli with a wet spoon, running it round the edge of each pancake. Repeat with the remaining batter. Serve with sambar and coconut chutney. Leftovers can be transformed into idli fry, a delicious snack of deep fried idli served with a dip, chutney, or sauce of your choosing and a cup of tea. Previous Next Sfinz, Libyan Doughnuts Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Previous Next Matcha Hong Kong Egg Waffles Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Previous Next Pastel de nata -- egg custard tarts Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Recipe: Ingredients, Makes 12 tarts 1 pack readyrolled puff pastry (13.8 oz is standard in most supermarkets) 1 whole egg 2 egg yolks 23 cup superfine sugar 2 tbsp cornflour 1 23 cups whole milk Zest of 12 lemon Take the pastry out of the fridge and packaging at least 30 minutes before unrolling. In a cold pan, place the egg and egg yolks, sugar, and cornflour, and mix until combined. Pour in the milk and gently whisk until you have a smooth liquid. Place the pan on a mediumlow heat whilst continuing to whisk. The secret to smooth custard is to take your time; if the heat is too high you risk making scrambled eggs. Once it starts to thicken you can turn the heat up very slightly and continue to stir for another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the lemon zest. The custard should have a thick yet pourable consistency. Pour the custard into a glass bowl and cover with cling film to prevent a skin from forming. Preheat your oven to 425F. Unroll the pastry and remove the plastic. Cut it in half lengthways and place the sheets on top of each other. With the long side facing you, roll the pastry tightly into a long sausage and cut it into 12 discs. Place each disc in a lightly greased muffin tin. Dip your thumbs into some water and press into the middle of each round. You want to flatten the bottom and push the pastry up the edges. It is OK if the edges come up a little above the tin. Divide the cooled custard between the 12 pastry cases and bake for 2025 minutes. You want the tops of the tarts to be burnished with black spots and the insides still to be soft, with a little wobble. Leave the nata to cool and enjoy them like the Portuguese do, with a small coffee um pingo (espresso with a touch of milk) and eat with a teaspoon. That way it seems to last longer. Previous Next Roht, Afghani Bread Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Previous Next Kaiserschmarrn with red currants Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Previous Next Cassava Porridge Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Previous Next A Japanese Breakfast GohanShoku / Salmon With Green Beans And Tofu Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Previous Next Tapioca Pancakes Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Previous Next Churros y jamon con cajeta churros with ham and caramel dipping sauce Michael Zee / SymmetryBreakfast Recipe: Ingredients for the Churros Makes 8 churros 1 cup water Oil for deep frying 3 tbsp light brown sugar 1 stick butter 1 cup plain flour 12 tsp salt 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 13 cup minced Serrano ham 1 cup superfine sugar 2 tsp cinnamon 8 squares of baking parchment, 4 x 4 in Ingredients for the Cajeta Makes 3 jam jars of sauce 2 quarts goats milk 2 cups grated panela, or light muscovado sugar 1 tsp vanilla 12 tsp baking soda To make the cajeta, place the milk, sugar, and vanilla in a large, heavybottomed pan (large is important and you'll see why later). A copper pan is traditional in Mexico, but any heavy based enamel or steel pan will work fine. I'd advise against using cast iron because of the risk of damaging the pan. Over a low heat, slowly melt the sugar into the milk and add the vanilla extract. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, so you don't burn your hand. Dissolve the baking soda in a tablespoon of water and quickly add this to the milk, still stirring. Within seconds the liquid will double in volume, so quickly turn the heat down if you need to. Now, for the next 45 hours, with the heat on low, it is a matter of stirring occasionally and making sure it doesn't burn. Perhaps use this time to finish those odd jobs around the house you've been putting off. Sterilize three jam jars. The easiest method is to wash them in hot soapy water, rinse but not dry them, and then bake them in the oven at 350F for 15 minutes. The cajeta should now be glossy and caramel colored. It will thicken as it cools. Carefully pour into the sterilized jars, screw on the lids, then immediately turn the jars upside down and leave to cool completely. This will create a vacuum seal and it simply means that you'll be able to keep the cajeta for longer. You can store it in a cupboard until opened, then keep it in the fridge and use within 6 months (if you can manage it; it's more likely that you'll scarf the lot). To make the churros, you'll need to invest in a heavyduty piping bag with a star nozzle or a specialist churro gun, which you can find online. Gently heat the oil in a heavy pan. You want the oil to be at least an inch deep. In a separate pan, add the water, light brown sugar, and butter, and melt. Bring it to a boil and add the flour and salt. Combine the lot with a spoon and some elbow grease until you have a batter that looks like wallpaper paste. Beat the eggs in a bowl with the vanilla and combine this with the flour mix. You will now have a smooth, glossy batter. Finely mince the Serrano ham and add this to the batter. Combine the superfine sugar and cinnamon and set aside. Load up your churro gun or piping bag with the nozzle already inserted. Test the temperature of the oil with a peasized ball of the batter. If it browns fully in 90 seconds then it's ready. To create the classic teardrop shape, pipe the mix on to a sheet of the baking parchment and, using a pair of scissors, snip the batter clean from the nozzle. Gently lower the churro, paper attached, into the hot oil. After 30 seconds it will come free of the paper; using tongs, carefully discard the paper. Continue to cook for 1 minute, then flip and cook for another minute. Remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper. Repeat with the remaining batter. Leave to cool for a minute so that you don't burn yourself, then sprinkle each churro gently with cinnamon- sugar. Serve with cajeta and coffee.
Throughout the recipes are chatty references and anecdotes, not unlike the captions found on Zee's Insta, which sprinkles self-deprecating British charm and mentions here and there of Zee's travels with Mark around the world (they've since launched a spin-off Instagram account, @symmetrytravel). In one post last month, Zee revealed that he and Mark had gotten engaged and that his marriage proposal could be found in the book. But there's one thing he doesn't post on Instagram -- recipes. Though you'll find recipes in his cookbook (four of which we were given permission to reprint here), Zee says the Instagram "is meant to be purely inspirational" and "it's not meant to be 'this is how you make it.'" This past Saturday, Zee made a special announcement beneath a photo of rhubarb and egg custard waffles to say that he and Mark were leaving London to move to Shanghai in February.
It's safe to assume Zee's new homebase -- and its proximity to new cities and countries -- will inspire endless recipes and -- who knows? -- maybe even a follow-up book. "I had maybe 4-5 entries on China," Zee says of his current book. But "I was in a bookshop with books on China that are 4-5 inches thick!" But while we wait to see what's next from Zee, there's no better pre-work ritual than pulling up his Instagram or, for the more ambitious, taking a crack at one of his SymmetryBreakfast cookbook recipes. Maybe even take a page from Zee and Mark's story and consider whipping up a Dutch Puff or matcha Hong Kong egg waffles after the next time you have a special guest stay over. You could wind up engaged.
All photos courtesy of Michael Zee/SymmetryBreakfast
To pick up a copy of SymmetryBreakfast: 100 Recipes for the Loving Cook HERE.
Rachel Park made headlines last year for giving birth to extremely premature triplet girls. But the world was recently taken by surprise when she unexpectedly died while her girls survived premature birth.
After six years of trying to get pregnant with her husband Steven Park, Rachel got pregnant with triplets. But just when she was so close to her happiness, death took Rachel away at the age of 39, just days after she welcomed her 9-month-old triplets at home in time for Christmas.
According to the reports, Rachel started having symptoms as soon as her pregnancy period began. Rachel was a Type 1 diabetic and during her pregnancy, she developed pre-eclampsia. The condition began to fail her liver and kidneys because her blood pressure got extremely high and out of control, Fox News reported.
When she was 24 weeks pregnant, Rachel's severe condition was the reason why she was rushed to a hospital in Newcastle, which was 100 miles from her home. Due to her serious bleeding, the doctors at Newcastle found a problem with Rachel's bloodflow.
Rachel's blood stopped flowing to her placenta like it should have. Due to this serious situation, the doctors were forced to deliver the babies prematurely. Originally due June 12, the triplets were only 26 weeks and 5 days along when an emergency C-section was performed.
They were born on March 11 and the combined weight of the triplets was 5 pounds. As soon as they were born, the babies were put on ventilators, after which they fought for their lives for a tough period of two months. Once they were out of danger, the media approached Rachel Park to know more of her story.
She told the news that all three of her children suffered serious problems and even almost died. The media also reported that Rachel idolized her little girls, telling them they were her entire world.
Meanwhile, to help Steven and the girls, a GoFund Me page has been set up for donations. BBC News also reported that dozens of tributes posted on social media. In other related reports, a mother of newborn triplet babies has also died in Kansas, just days before Rachel Park's death.
Big companies that are implementing new pilot programs are making a difference for persons with autism spectrum. Through this program, American companies are beginning to discover the benefits of having employees that are neurodiverse or those with varying cognitive abilities.
Drexel University conducted a study that shows while young adults with autism spectrum are highly skilled, up to 58 percent of them have remained unemployed. Among the companies that are starting to build a more talented, diverse and productive workforce are Microsoft and Ernst & Young, which have hired four such employees providing accounting support.
"This program leverages the skills that people with high functioning autism often have: looking at data, dealing with mathematical concepts, attention to detail, the ability to focus over long periods of time, and looking at large bodies of information and spotting anomalies," said Lori Golden, Abilities Strategy Leader at Ernst & Young.
Ernst & Young made its recruitment and training process more suitable for persons with autism spectrum, according to The Atlantic. The company managers soon found out that having neurodiverse employees made them more conscious of the effectiveness of the company's management and communication strategies.
Several businesses, according to Autism Speaks, are leading the way in the hiring of individuals with autism spectrum. Web Team Corporation and Rangam Consultants, Inc. have been credited for the creation of TheSpectrumCareers.com job search website that aims to provide a solution to the high unemployment rate among those with autism.
Technology giant Microsoft has started to hire persons in the autism spectrum on a full-time basis, thanks to Mary Ellen Smith, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's Worldwide Operations. Smith's 19-year old son has autism.
One of those who has successfully been integrated into the workforce, as per Microsoft, is Kyle Schwaneke, a developer with Asperger's Syndrome who was unemployed for more than a year before he was hired under Microsoft's new program for new employees in the autism spectrum. The company has so far hired 11 employees with autism and eyes to expand the number for those who will qualify for job opportunities in data science, software engineering and even customer service.
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 03, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Company would like to note that Dr. Enrique Lavernia has resigned as a director of California Nanotechnologies Corp., effective January 1, 2017. "Dr. Lavernia has made a tremendous contribution to Cal Nano over the last several years. While stepping down as a Director, it is hoped that the strong collaborative efforts that were initiated years ago will continue," stated David Grant, Chairman of the Board. "I'm sure I speak for the entire Board in thanking Dr. Lavernia for his multifaceted support of the Company."
For further information, please contact:
Mr. Mikel Damke, Executive Assistant to the CEO
Tel. No. (403) 660-7770, or (888) 660-7770
Email: m.damke@calnanocorp.com
Website: www.calnanocorp.com
For additional information, please contact:
Mr. David Grant, Interim CEO
Tel. No. (562) 404-8510 or (800) 577-6664
Fax. No. (562) 926-6913
Email: d.grant@omni-lite.com
Website: www.calnanocorp.com
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Gun violence was rampant in Chicago even after the New Year celebrations. The reason? A total of 12 people, three of them were teenage boys, were recorded to be injured after shootings took place at noontime of New Year's Day. The record was until Monday morning and was based on reports in Chicago only.
Chicago Tribune reported that for the first six hours of Jan. 1, three people have died and 16 were injured. This was not part of the latest recording regarding the 12 people injured from shooting.
For the details of the 12 shootings at noon of Jan. 1, reports said one man was critically wounded and two others were injured during a drive-by shooting at around 10:55 p.m. on Sunday. The crime scene was in the first block of South Leamington Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood. All of the victims were on the street when the drive-by shooting took place.
As for the other shootings, a 26-year-old man was shot multiple times. He's listed under critical condition at Mount Sinai Hospital. Another man, 31 years old, was grazed in the head and a 19-year-old man was shot in the buttocks and his right arm. Both of them were taken to Stroger Hospital.
Other shootings took place at Gage Park Neighborhood. Two people were shot at around 1:40 in the morning on Monday. A 26-year-old man and a 21-year-old man were shot while they were inside their car and were on their way to 2500 block of West 55ft Street.
According to the reports, a white Nissan Murano pulled up beside them and then someone from the backseat began shooting. The man suffered an injury at the right hand while the woman was grazed in her right shoulder. Another teenager was shot in the right leg while walking at the 5300 block of South Fairfield Avenue in the Gage Park neighborhood.
Another shooting took place at 4100 block of West 15th Street in the Lawndale neighborhood. The person shot was a 48-year-old woman. Both of her legs were shot as well as her buttocks. A 16-year-old was also shot while he was in a corner in the 3900 block of West Madison Street after a sedan drove by and a passenger inside the car shot him in the hand.
ABC News reported that in Chicago alone last year, there were 762 homicides recorded. Authorities believe that these homicides have gone out of control.
Authorities are saying that increased gang activities, increase in the availability of illegal guns, and the increase in the reluctance of police officers to engage in violent prevention policies are factors in the 762 recorded homicides in 2016. Over Christmas, there were 12 killings and it is believed that 90 percent of the victims were related to gangs.
The City Life Learner is a program in Franklinton that helps teenage mothers and other pregnant teenagers to complete their high school education and receive a diploma, as well as teaching them basic life lessons and information about meals. The organization operates in Ohio and in the future, 10 more locations are expected to house this program, according to Central Ohio Youth for Christ director Scott Arnold.
According to The Columbus Dispatch, the program is very important since pregnant teens are often bullied at their school and this program allows them to acquire an education to avoid poverty after giving birth. In addition, the program is likely to decrease the chance of a subsequent pregnancy.
Some organizations account for a lower number of teen pregnancies while others report the cases are only increasing. Hence, such programs are highly beneficial.
The program has already graduated 73 teen mothers and around 30 of them even have a degree equivalent to the high school diploma. Most of these ladies have jobs too and some are even studying at colleges.
The program does not only provides a great place for the teenagers to leave their kids while they are at college or work. But it also allows them to have some close friends for both the mothers and the children.
One of the attendees of the program, Kaelyn, largely supported it and recommended it to other pregnant teenagers as well. The program even helps the girls earn points, which can be exchanged for necessary items.
As Brainy Child says, the organizer aims to help girls from ages 11 to 19 years and even offers catholic services in the program, which are of course, not mandatory to attend. The owners of the program stated that they had special love for people in distress and they understood the stress on a teenager's social and spiritual life during pregnancy and that is why they are openly willing to help.
A senator from Iowa is proposing that school districts must regularly visit families who homeschool their children. Senator Matt McCoy believes that such a check-up is necessary following an incident involving a teenager who died from parental abuse and neglect.
The senator was referring to the case of Natalie Finn from De Moines whom authorities determined experienced starvation and torture at the hands of her parents last October. When Senator McCoy was given details of what the 16-year-old girl went through, he said it made him want to vomit.
"This young woman was essentially put through one of the most torturous forms of death I could think of," the senator said, according to Des Moine Register. Thus, he wants to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. He is seeking to propose the quarterly visits for families who homeschool when the Legislature Oversight Committee opens again in January.
State Senator Matt McCoy has requested the Iowa Fatality Review Committee convene to investigate. https://t.co/mLG80ktBGS Matt McCoy (@mccoyforsenate) December 22, 2016
It was unclear when Finn stopped coming to classes. But a neighbor, Becca Gordon, related to KCCI how the young girl used to knock on their door to ask for food. The mother has a son who goes to the same public school as Finn when she used to attend it.
According to Caffeinated Thoughts, the girl was not currently enrolled this school year. It was also unclear if her parents have registered to homeschool her and her two other siblings.
Gordon added that neighbors reported the situation at the Finn household to authorities numerous times and there have been records of it with the Iowa police. She thought that agencies have taken a look at their case.
"We trust that something is going to happen, that they're going to follow up, that they're going to keep these kids safe," Gordon said. Unfortunately, that didn't happen for the teenager and she eventually died. Finn's parents, Nicole, 42, and Joseph, 45, were recently charged with murder, kidnapping, child endangerment with serious injuries and neglect.
PJ Media notes that the problem, in this case, is child abuse and the neglect of authorities to verify and give credence to the reports made on the Finns. It has nothing to do with homeschooling and the proposal from Senator McCoy might only be an invasion of privacy of families who have no incidence of neglect or abuse.
Are you a homeschooling parent? What can you weigh in on this issue? Share your thoughts in the comments!
A mother from Michigan is calling on grocery stores to become more family-friendly. Jane Kramer, who lives in Bath Township, has set up a petition for the removal of candies, junk food and tabloid magazines at the checkout line. She believes that doing so will reduce the number of the kids and parents who pick up these items at the last minute.
Kramer's petition was lodged via Change.Org, where she specifically names Meijer, a superstore chain in Ohio, as well as Wisconsin, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. She plans to deliver her petition to its CEOs Hendrik Meijer and Mark Murray, and company president Rick Keyes, once it has reached her target number of signatures.
The mother said that she didn't use to have problems with these items at the checkout lines in the store that is near her home. But things changed when she realized how this has influenced grocery habits when she became a parent of an adopted boy.
"Our only options were junk and I wanted to be able to buy a banana or carrots," she told ABC News. Apart from the food, she said that the tabloids at the checkout lines have "horrible titles" that prompted her son to ask questions.
Michigan mom launches petition to remove candy and magazines from Meijer checkout aisles - WXYZ https://t.co/bKzPeo1OXi pic.twitter.com/4Zi5NjqkcF Dora Wurth (@DoraWurth) January 3, 2017
Jane Kramer could always say no to her son when he would pick up the junk food but not every mom does the same. For her, stores should make shopping experience more family-friendly and this is one way of ensuring buying healthy habits - if stores also become proactive about it, Freep reports.
Jane Kramer's son was only 5 when he became part of the family. Now, he's 13-years-old and the mother said that she had called Meijer's selling practice over five years ago through their customer service department. The chain store didn't act on her complaint.
The mom was adamant about this and called up the store again in 2016 and was told there is no way she can have an audience with the corporate heads. "I thought the only way I can get people to listen is to get other people who feel the same way I do," she said. As her drive has been picked up by media, Meijer has not given its response regarding the issue as of press time.
A professor who teaches political science at a Chicago university is suing the school for racial discrimination. Seung-Whan Choi claims that his superiors at the University of Illinois at Chicago forced him to teach statistics courses when he has no qualifications in math. He claims that he was chosen only because he is Asian.
Choi, who was born in Korea but is now a U.S. citizen, filed his lawsuit against the school at the Chicago courts on Tuesday. He stated in the document what the school officials told him about his teaching assignment.
"Asians, especially Koreans are very good at mathematics and statistics," Choi recounted, according to Chicago Tribune. The school apparently also assigned him to teach Korean politics even as he knows he lacked the formal education for the specific subject.
Choi's problems with the school actually started after he was fired then rehired with tenure in 2011. Since then, he claims to have been excluded and denied of salary raises, promotions and other opportunities compared to other professors of political science at the university.
The school's official website indicates that Choi has been part of the faculty since 2004, after receiving his PhD in political science in 2002 at the University of Missouri. He has also worked on several articles, papers and books about international politics.
Professor from Korea sues University of Illinois at Chicago, alleging race discrimination. https://t.co/XetmqGYz4q Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) December 28, 2016
"They don't like Korean-Americans," Choi told news outlets, adding that it was expected of him to submit to his former Caucasian supervisor, Dennis Judd. Choi alleged that Judd also changed the grade of one of his Korean-American students without informing him.
The university has a new political science department head in Evan McKenzie. He has yet to respond to the lawsuit and the reports, according to Next Shark.
The professor's lawyer has not divulged what type of restitution he is demanding from this lawsuit. Apparently, Choi's health also suffered as a result of the office politics in his department. The professor has been unmotivated to report to work a few times.
The rate of suicide attempts among students is increasing and educators in Massachusetts are taking action to help curb the incidents. They have set up a commission that will ensure the students' mental health care and needs are attended. The education leaders are hoping that this will be applied in all schools in the Bay State.
The Safe and Supportive Schools Commission was formed based on the 2014 Act Relative to the Reduction of Gun Violence in response to mass school shootings. The commission is composed of 19 members from both the health and education sector.
The panel's job is to draft a recommendation for Massachusetts schools on what steps to take to improve mental health services to students, including the training of teachers. The commission is expected to submit its report in a few weeks, the Boston Herald report.
Mental Health In Schools: A Hidden Crisis Affecting Millions Of Students. #SEL https://t.co/xvz7y1FrZc SEL4MA (@SEL4MA) December 23, 2016
According to the Youth Risk Surveillance 2015 report from the CDC, over 17 percent of students in America try to take their life yearly. From these, 11.9 percent of students from Massachusetts have taken some steps to commit suicide.
The suicide attempts in this state have grown to 38 percent since 2013. More female students are likely vulnerable to suicide thoughts than male students and some of the factors as to why this is rampant include family problems, stress and school bullying.
These students are also exposed to violence, sexual abuse and poverty. Some Bay State schools put more emphasize on academic improvements, further contributing to the stress.
Dr. Melissa Pearrow told the Boston Herald that kids today have 10 times the stress and pressure than in previous decades. Worse, the students do not get the proper support and guidance that would have help prevent suicide attempts. Education leaders now acknowledge that students also need social development as well as a good support team from their second home - the school.
Thousands of parents who have enrolled their children in chartered public schools may not be aware of how this educational reform is set to change their children's future for the better. The law creating the charter school was signed 25 years ago by former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson.
Charter schools are much like the traditional public schools that are publicly funded and thus are able to provide free tuition fees for its students. These schools are non-sectarian and are allowed to design their own curriculum and to independently operate from the traditional district public schools. Students are accepted on the basis of the principle of "first come, first serve" and not on the basis of any audition or entrance examination.
The Buffalo News said charter schools have become popular because it has proven to be a better alternative to the dangerous and decaying school systems in the United States. Because of this popularity, parents who have chosen to send their children to charter schools have multiplied with the number of students enrolled at public charter schools already reaching three million in a span of 11 years. Most of those from charter schools have recorded higher scores on state proficiency tests.
What makes the charter schools unique, according to Public Charters, is its ability to be more innovative even if they are made accountable for producing student achievers. And even if the charter schools do not charge tuition fees, it holds the belief that it is responsible for the quality of education that its students are getting.
These schools are not only closing the gap on the achievement of students because of social and economic classes. But they are also raising the bar on public education.
Rethinking Schools said the idea of establishing charter schools was hatched as early as the 1980s. The concept follows that of a school run by teachers but which will operate beyond the control of the administrative bureaucracy and the politics of school boards. Despite the challenges, the charter school concept was transformed from a mere community-based school to something unique in each state.
Californians may have voted to restore bilingual education this school year. However, that is only half of the problem as the program is still challenged by the issue problem of finding bilingual teachers.
Bilingual education has been banned for almost 20 years. But with the affirmative votes last November of 73.5 percent of the voters, parents who want their English-speaking children to become globally competitive will now have the chance to learn Mandarin, Spanish and other languages.
There is already a high demand for teachers who have the credentials to teach bilingual education but the impending implementation of bilingual programs is expected to double if not triple this demand. Some of the schools in California, Oregon and Utah, which already offer the bilingual program, have hired trained teachers from abroad to narrow the gap.
"There is already a shortage for bilingual teachers with just the demand we have right now," California Commission on Teacher Credentialing spokesperson Joshua Speaks said. Also known as Proposition 58, the bilingual education program is a turnaround from the ban sometime in the 1990s when annual waivers have to be signed by parents so their English-learner children would be able to participate in bilingual education, as per Washington Post.
With the passage of the measure, LA Times said English-Only instruction have not only been repealed but California public schools are now empowered to develop their own multilingual programs for education. Supporters of Proposition 58 said the trend now is for employees to speak different languages, which is defeated by an earlier law requiring students to speak and learn only in English. Its opponents, however, claim that it will only bring back the old problems of having students who speak Spanish but who do not speak English.
According to EdSource, the overwhelming vote for the measure proposing bilingual education is a significant shift from the racial resentments that engulfed California in the 1990s. It is a signal that California has shifted from a racial to a multiethnic and multiracial society which in the end will benefit its people, especially with global economics.
A police officer in North Carolina has been placed on administrative leave after a video of him slamming a female student from Rolesville High School has gone viral. The investigation on the matter has started.
The officer was identified as Officer Ruben De Los Santos. In the video posted on Twitter on Tuesday, which lasted for nine seconds, he was seen lifting a female student into the air then dropping her to the ground. He also took her away from a group of students at the aforementioned high school.
The News & Observer reported that De Los Santos is the school resource officer assigned to the high school. Rolesville Police Chief Bobby Langston said in a statement that he asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into the matter.
According to CBS News, the Wake County Public Schools said in a statement that they are aware of the video but could not comment on the matter since they are investigating the incident. They are working with Rolesville Police regarding the investigation.
A witness claimed that a fight took place before the officer slammed the female student. The girl who was slammed was said to be trying to break up the fight as one of the females involved in the earlier scuffle is her sister. This information has yet to be confirmed.
Other witnesses are saying that the cop came out of nowhere and the girl slammed to the ground did nothing to provoke the cop. It is unclear if the cop knew about the earlier fight.
Rolesville High School students took to Twitter to demand answers about the incident. They also called the incident a disturbing use of force. The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina also said that they are investigating as they were very disturbed with what they saw, noting that such use of force is not justified, especially when children in schools are involved.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed to make tuition fees free for the students at the City University of New York (CUNY) and State University of New York (SUNY). The tuition fee costs around $6,400 annually.
According to the proposal, Cuomo wants tuition fees to be free at CUNY and SUNY community colleges for two years and four years in CUNY bachelor's programs. However, it will be limited to low and middle-income families, which are earning $125,000 annually or lesser, New York Daily News reported.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the plan, once approved, will provide additional scholarship programs in order to accommodate around 940,000 New York households with college-age children who will qualify in the planned assistance. The program will be costing the government around $163 million per year once the program has unfolded.
The plans on how the proposal will be funded have not been explained yet. However, Cuomo made it clear that the goal of the program was to provide a better path for middle-class students to graduate without the burden of having to pay debts.
Cuomo announced his plan at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, New York. Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was at the event.
Sanders pushed for free college during his campaign for his presidential bid. Sanders believes that the plan of Cuomo will materialize soon and is optimistic about other states following the program. At least nine other states have passed the same program but are still under consideration.
If the program will really be available, 64 SUNY campuses and 20 CUNY schools would have to ensure sufficient capacity in all classes at a higher cost. It is projected that an additional 10 percent admission increase will take place if the project will be available so sufficient classroom resources should also meet the demand.
Dublin, Jan. 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Strategic Review of Corn Starch Industry & Markets - Starch, Sweeteners, Bioprocessing & Co-Products" report to their offering.
This 2017 revision has comprehensive newly revised starch, sweeteners, ethanol, bioprocessing, bioplastic, co-products; has several improvements, new information, insights since we are now in a global economy. In 2017 report we have made major changes to this report to reflect several changes in the US and worldwide.
We present latest data and markets for starch derivatives. Every chapter has been updated with much new information, insights and data. How this industry operates, investments, costs, markets, margins among many other areas.
Some of the major changes and additions are:
Excellent review of cost, markets and technologies and how this industry operates with opportunities in transferring corn processing facilities into modern bioprocessing operation to diversify into new specialties
CWM (Corn wet milling) co-products technical and commercial perspective including potential markets for corn gluten feed (CGF), corn gluten meal (CGM) and corn germ.
A new chapter focused on corn ethanol, Chapter IX
Bioprocessing, bio-based chemicals and bioplastics chapter X has the most recent information with markets, capacities and opportunities for bio-based chemicals and polymers from starch and the sugars as feedstock. CWM players have entered arena of converging their facilities in to biorefineries with products such as ethanol, lactic acid, citric acid, amino acid lysine, and other monomers for new value added polymers to replace the petroleum based compounds.
Each chapter also has major revisions to reflect most recent information on the business, markets and technologies as we continue to evolve in this global carbohydrates economy.
Brand new list of starch and sweeteners manufacturers from corn, wheat, potato and tapioca primary starch crops in different regions of the world.
Excellent material on maltodextrins and other hydrolysis, enzyme processed products
A great addition to the library as reference, training tool and a strategy tool to starch processing industry members, customers and suppliers.
Report also has excellent in-depth insights from our associates and I with combined experience of > 200 yrs in starch/sweetener and bioprocessing.
New global list of starch processors is provided in Chapter XVI. Global List of Corn Processors
Several updates to each chapter to reflect currently situation and opportunities going forward.
Key Topics Covered:
I. Executive Summary
II. Brief Overview Of Corn And Wet Milling Process
III. Markets
IV. Sweeteners And Maltodextrins
V. Companies In The Us
VI. Costs, Investments And Margins
VII. Industry Capacity And Investment
VIII.Corn Wet Milling Co-Products Current Situation And Potential Markets
IX. Corn Ethanol Brief Review
X. Bioprocessing: Fermentation, Specialty Chemicals, Bioplastics - Current Situation And Opportunities
XI. Future Trends
XII. Global Issues, Policies And Plant Locations
XIII. Summary
XIV. List Of References
XV. List Of Figures And Tables
XVI. Global List Of Corn Processors
For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/dnfd6f/strategic_review
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By Donald Zuhn -
After reflecting upon the events of the past twelve months, Patent Docs presents its tenth annual list of top patent stories. For 2016, we identified twenty stories that were covered on Patent Docs last year that we believe had (or are likely to have) a significant impact on patent practitioners and applicants. Yesterday, we counted down stories #20 to #16, and today we count down stories #15 to #11 as we work our way towards the top five stories of 2016. As with our other lists (2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, and 2007), links to our coverage of these stories (as well as a few links to articles on related topics) have been provided in case you missed the articles the first time around or wish to go back and have another look. As always, we love to hear from Patent Docs readers, so if you think we left something off the list or disagree with anything we included, please let us know. In addition, we will be offering a live webinar on the "Top Patent Law Stories of 2016" on January 18, 2017 from 10:00 am to 11:15 am (CT). Details regarding the webinar, which will focus on a handful of the most important stories on this year's list, can be found here.
15. Magistrate Finds Method Claims Patent Eligible and Kit Claims Patent Ineligible
In one of several patent eligibility determinations that we reported on in 2016, Magistrate Judge Donald L. Cabell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts recommended in August that Defendants' joint motion to dismiss under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) in Oxford Immunotec Ltd. v. Qiagen, Inc. be allowed in part and denied in part. Oxford, which develops tests to diagnose and monitor patients with auto-immune diseases, asserted that Qiagen's development, use, and sale of a tuberculosis ("TB") test infringed six of Oxford's patents. Oxford's patents relate to a claimed method using eight peptides from ESAT-6, a unique protein produced by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB. Finding that Oxford "discovered a law of nature -- namely which specific peptides in ESAT-6 are most likely to induce a recognition response by the T-cells of patients who have TB without creating false positive responses by the T-cells of those who have merely been vaccinated," but also determining that the peptides are "contained in an intact ESAT-6 strand," Judge Cabell recommended that Qiagen's motion to dismiss be allowed with respect to infringement of the kit claims and denied with respect to infringement of the method claims.
For information regarding this and other related topics, please see:
"Oxford Immunotec Ltd. v. Qiagen, Inc. (D. Mass. 2016)," September 5, 2016
14. Federal Circuit Provides Some Clarity on BPCIA's Notice of Commercial Marketing Provision
In 2015, the Federal Circuit described the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act ("BPCIA") in Amgen v. Sandoz as "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside of an enigma." And one of the provisions of the BPCIA that was still shrouded in mystery after Amgen v. Sandoz was the notice of commercial marketing provision found at 42 U.S.C. 262(l)(8)(A). While describing the provision as both mandatory and stand-alone (independent of the information-disclosure and patent-exchange provisions that comprise the rest of 262(l)), the Court limited the holding to cases in which the biosimilar applicant failed to comply with disclosure provision of 262(l)(2)(A). In July, the Federal Circuit provided some clarification regarding this provision in Amgen Inc. v. Apotex Inc., noting that the notice is always mandatory -- even when the biosimilar applicant engaged in the so-called "patent dance." The Court also held that this provision is enforceable by injunction. In our report on the decision, we noted that it may not solve the entire riddle that is the BPCIA, and in fact may end up creating more confusion. For example, the opinion suggests that the FDA may begin providing tentative licensure for a biosimilar product, although such action is not specifically provided for in the BPCIA and the FDA has not suggested that it would take such action.
For information regarding this and other related topics, please see:
"Amgen Inc. v. Apotex Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2016)," July 11, 2016
"Does the "Notice of Commercial Marketing" Provision in the BPCIA Stand Alone? -- Amgen v. Apotex Case Preview," March 2, 2016
13. Massachusetts Court Finds No Per Se Ethical Violation for Simultaneous Representation of Clients Competing in Same Technology Area
Although technically issued in late December 2015, our report on Maling v. Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP was posted at the start of 2016, and therefore narrowly missed the "deadline" for making last year's Top Stories list. Nevertheless, the determination by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in Maling that the simultaneous representation by a law firm in the prosecution of patents for two clients competing in the same technology area for similar inventions is not a per se violation of Rule of Professional Conduct 1.7 is of significance to many firms performing patent prosecution on behalf of their clients. Although the decision likely came as a relief to most practitioners working in private practice, the Massachusetts Court warned about the significant financial and reputational risks of violating Rule 1.7, noting that "[n]othing we say here today, however, should be construed to absolve law firms from the obligation to implement robust processes that will detect potential conflicts." Although this case involves the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's application of Rule 1.7 of the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct, and therefore is not binding authority in any other jurisdiction that has adopted Rule 1.7 of the Model Rules, the decision nevertheless could have had a chilling effect on all intellectual property law firm practices had it come out differently.
For information regarding this and other related topics, please see:
"No Per Se Ethical Violation for "Subject Matter Conflicts"," January 12, 2016
12. Federal Circuit Finds Patent Agent-Client Privilege
In March, the Federal Circuit addressed the issue of whether communications between a patent agent and a client are privileged. The Court had not previously addressed the subject, although there had been a split between district courts that had considered the issue. A divided panel, however, determined in In re Queen's University at Kingston that there is a patent agent-client privilege. In October, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office proposed to amend the rules of practice before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board "to recognize that, in connection with discovery conducted in certain proceedings at the [USPTO], communications between U.S. patent agents and foreign patent practitioners and their clients are privileged to the same extent as communications between clients and U.S. attorneys." However, the Office's notice makes it clear that "communications between clients and U.S. patent agents relating to patent application matters would be protected as privileged under the rule, but communications between these parties regarding litigation strategies would not be protected."
For information regarding this and other related topics, please see:
"PTAB Update -- Patent Office Proposes Rule Amendment to Recognize Patent Agent-Client Privilege," October 26, 2016
"In re Queen's University at Kingston (Fed. Cir. 2016)," March 16, 2016
11. PTAB Must Articulate Its Reasoning in Final Written Decisions
In January, the Federal Circuit determined in Cutsforth Inc. v. MotivePower, Inc. that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board must provide a thorough explanation of its reasoning when it issues Final Written Decisions. The Court indicated that "[w]hen the Board determines that modifications and combinations of the prior art render a claimed invention obvious, the Board must fully explain why a person of ordinary skill in the art would find such changes obvious." In December, the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded another PTAB decision in In re NuVasive, Inc., reiterating the need for the Board to enunciate a reasoned basis for finding obviousness.
For information regarding this and other related topics, please see:
"In re NuVasive, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2016)," December 8, 2016
"Cutsforth Inc. v. MotivePower, Inc.," January 31, 2016
Gartner is the bearer of bad news if their forecast for 2017 plays out. Gartner sees 2017 being a flat year for PC's and Mobile Phones by projecting a total of 2.3 billion units in 2017, the same as it was for 2016.
Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner states in the report that "The global devices market is stagnating. Mobile phone shipments are only growing in emerging Asia/Pacific markets, and the PC market is just reaching the bottom of its decline."
This is why Samsung introduced new Galaxy A-series right out the gate to start off the New Year gunning for emerging market customers with excellent specifications for the mid-tier market starting at $400 or about half of what a premium device sells for.
Apple competitors Huawei, Oppo and Vivo all sell mid-tier smartphones with 5" displays in the $250-400 range. Apple's iPhone SE sells for between $400 and 450 with a 4" display. It's been rumored that Apple would attend the Mobile World Congress this year and if so, perhaps we'll see Apple introduce a 4.7" display for the iPhone SE and bump their entry unit to 32GB data to better compete in this important segment serving emerging markets. With Apple pushing into Indonesia this year, this would be the time to beef up their SE model.
If Apple could strengthen their entry iPhone and deliver a hot anniversary model this fall, I think that Apple will be able to beat the stagnation that Gartner is forecasting.
Mr. Atwal added in Gartners report that "Consumers have fewer reasons to upgrade or buy traditional devices. They are seeking fresher experiences and applications in emerging categories such as head mounted displays (HMDs), virtual personal assistant (VPA) speakers and wearables."
It was rumored back in September that Apple may have a Siri-centric Home Automation Device like Google Home and Amazon's Echo in the works for this year. An Apple HMD is also reportedly in the works but no time frame is known at this time.
Finally, the Gartner report notes that "Device vendors are increasingly trying to move into faster-growing emerging device categories. 'This requires a shift from a hardware-focused approach to a richer value-added service approach." .
The services area is one that Apple's CEO has championed at Apple to the dismay of Wall Street. During Cook's opening statement covering their last financial conference in October, this is some of what he said on this topic:
"We had a record setting quarter for services with revenue growth accelerating by 24% reaching 6.3 billion. App store revenue continued to skyrocket where music revenue grew by 22% thanks to the growing popularity of Apple Music.
We remain very confident about the future of our services business given the unmatched level of engagement, satisfaction and loyalty of our growing installed base. We have almost doubled the size of our services revenue in the last four years, and as we've said before, we expect it to be the size of a fortune 100 company in fiscal 2017."
Apple seems to have all the bases covered for 2017 and only time will tell if they'll be able to stand above their competition that will be battling it out to just break even in a very tough year that Gartner is projecting.
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A legal publication reported today that Apple has won at least a moral victory in a fight with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over touchscreen technology. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed with Apple on Tuesday that the patent office failed to sufficiently explain why Apple's method for reconfiguring touchscreen icons is unpatentable due to obviousness.
Apple applied for a patent in 2009 on its method of using a sustained touch to activate an icon, which then allows a person to drag the icon to a new location on the screen.
A patent examiner found the claim obvious in light of separate prior inventions on sustained touch and dragging. Combining the two inventions "would be an intuitive way" to rearrange touchscreen icons, the examiner concluded and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board affirmed.
Apple and its appellate counsel at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe argued that the claims are not obviousor at the very least that the PTO should have to provide a more reasoned explanation. The Federal Circuit agreed.
Judge Kimberly Moore wrote that "Absent some articulated rationale, a finding that a combination of prior art would have been 'common sense' or 'intuitive' is no different than merely stating the combination 'would have been obvious. Such a conclusory assertion with no explanation is inadequate to support a finding that there would have been a motivation to combine."
Moore ordered the case sent back to the PTO for reconsideration. Judge Evan Wallach concurred. Judge Pauline Newman dissented, saying the PTO should not get a do-over. "On our affirmance that the PTO has not established unpatentability, Apple is 'entitled to a patent,'" she wrote.
Apple's win follows a similar decision last summer, In re Lemay, in which the Federal Circuit found no evidence supporting the PTO's decision to refuse Apple a patent on streaming video display menus. In that case the court fully reversed the PTAB's decision.
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I recently came upon an article titled What Buddhism Learned from Christianity, by Marvin Olasky, editor of World Magazine. World Magazine covers national and international news from a distinctly evangelical perspective; I grew up reading the magazine. Intrigued, I perused Olaskys article and was struck by this paragraph:
We also need to learn more about movement the other way: What from Eastern religions found its way into pseudo-gospels such as the Gospel of Thomas? Did monasticism and doctrines concerning purgatory, indulgences, and the efficacy of saintly merit come to Christianity from the East? Take my suppositions and run with them, please.
There is so much going on here.
In its development, Christianity was dramatically influenced by other religions. Beyond Judaism, Zoroastrianism, which originated in Iran, may have had the most significant influence on the new religion. Many scholars believe that Christianity obtained its extreme good and evil dichotomy from Zoroastrianism, for example. But of course, Olasky cant accept that. For Olasky, Christianity is only founded on the unchanging Word of God.
In this brief paragraph, Olasky demonstrates not only his unwillingness to accept that his own beliefs include aspects of eastern religions but also his anti-Catholicism. He suggests that Catholic practiceswhich he does not believe are based on Gods Wordmay have come from eastern religions, all the while denying (both to himself and to his audience) that any evangelical practices could have come from other traditions.
One of the most fascinating things I did when I began sorting through my parents beliefs for myself was read a collection of scholarly books about early Christianity. In addition to this, I read through a broad collection of writings by early Christians leaders and writers. It became clear to me that every religion, including Christianity, has changed over time, adapting to the time, confronting and being molded by new ideas, and being influenced by other religions.
Olasky has decades of experience as the editor of a premier evangelical publication. I suspect that he, too, could learn a lot by reading the books I did. Perhaps if he read them, his last paragraph would look slightly different. But then, its possible that hes already read them, or others like them, and has de facto rejected the idea that eastern religions could have fundamentally influenced the early development of Christianity in ways that continue to affect his beliefs and practices today.
Being open to material that challenges your beliefs is difficult, but important.
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by Kerry Pimblott
When I began writing Faith in Black Power almost a decade ago I was spurred by a series of perceived neglects in the stories we tell about Black Power. Movement histories often focused on a small number of nationally recognizable organizations and leaders at the expense of a more complex rendering of the diversity of grassroots Black Power initiatives that flourished in communities across the nation during the late 1960s and early 1970s. I wondered what kinds of stories we would uncover if we trained our lens on obscured sites of struggle and little known activists, particularly Black workers and women of all generations. Taken collectively, how might these stories serve to transform prevailing interpretations of Black Powers character and legacy?
In my early conversations with former activists the small town of Cairo, Illinois, repeatedly emerged as one such site of struggle. Despite the citys diminutive size (pop. 2,626 in 2013) and inauspicious location at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, activists insisted that Cairo was a key flashpoint for national debates over racial injustice, economic inequality, and state violence during the long Sixties.
Perhaps most compellingly, former activists offered tantalizing insights into the Cairo movements unique blend of radical politics and religious fervor. Under the leadership of Rev. Charles Koen, the United Front Cairos foremost Black Power organization used Black congregations as staging grounds for a struggle grounded in the rhetorical and ritualistic world of the Black church. The United Fronts symbol a gun placed atop a King James Bible jarred against portrayals of Black Powers anti-clericalism and jettisoning of the religious discourses that had shaped earlier civil rights campaigns.
In Faith in Black Power I provide the first detailed account of the Cairo Black freedom struggle using a wide-range of documentary sources and interviews performed with former United Front members. What emerges is a story that challenges dominant assumptions of Black Powers de-Christianization, revealing the sustained role of Black churches and African American Christian traditions at the local level.
Among the most important findings is the dynamic engagement of local activists with the emergent Black Theology. Koen and other United Front leaders embraced the thought of James Cone, Albert Cleage, Jr. (later Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman) and others, using it to frame local Black Power campaigns and recruit mass participation.
In turn, the United Front reached outward to form alliances with Black church executives in the newly established National Conference of Black Churchmen (NCBC) to leverage more than half-a-million dollars in funding from predominantly white denominations. These religious resources and networks afforded the United Front the ability to mount a concerted Black Power struggle and weather the tide of extralegal violence and state repression that ensued.
However, funding Black Power proved controversial with churches coming under intense pressure to halt their support for local Black Power organizations from both governmental agencies and laity. As churches withdrew their support, the Cairo United Front lost an important coalitional partner with diabolical effects for activists working on the ground.
Kerry Pimblott is the author of Faith in Black Power: Religion, Race, and Resistance in Cairo, Illinois This spring, Pimblott will join the faculty at the University of Manchester as a lecturer in American history. Her research interests include African American history, Black social movements, and religious cultures and institutions. Pimblotts most recent scholarship focuses on the role of the Black Church and Black Theology in the Black Power Movement published in Christopher D. Cantwell, Heath W. Carter, and Janine Giordano Drake, eds.,The Pew and the Picket Line: Christianity and the American Working Class (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2016). Follow Kerry on Twitter @DrPimblott
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Patna: Hundreds of non-resident Sikhs living in the USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and many other countries joined hands at various 'langars' (community kitchen) in Patna on Tuesday to offer their services, or 'seva', by serving or helping cook food for thousands of visitors who arrived in the state capital to take part in the weeklong celebration to celebrate the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Govind Singh, the 10th religious leader of the Sikhs.
{gallery}newsimages2017/jan/010317{/gallery}Devout Sikhs coming from various parts of the globe and many living in India as well were seen making themselves available for any kind of community service that would make their stay in Patna a little more comfortable and convenient. With tens of thousands people to feed three times daily besides serving tea and other drinks throughout the day, the three 'langars' are the place where most NRIs and other visitors have offered to help the administration and the local Gurudwara Management Committee.
"There is a great satisfaction in being a part of the community where everyone is so helpful and friendly. It is amazing to see both men and women who otherwise live a very comfortable life on any other day volunteering to offer their services to ensure no one went hungry or thirsty from any of the many camps set up for the Prakash Utsav in Patna and Patna Saheb, the home of the Takht Shri Harmandir Saheb Gurudwara and the birth place of Guru Govind Singh.
With the state government declaring the next three days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) as official holidays, the crowd at all Tent Cities, including the one at Gandhi Maidan, is expected to swell as more and more people continue to arrive at the Patna Junction and Patna Airport.
Meanwhile, special sessions of religious hymns and prayers were held throughout the day at the Tent City at Gandhi Maidan where a group of UK visitors also impressed the crowd with their songs highlighting the divinity of Guru Govind Singh and his message of peace and harmony.
Iran Approves European, Asian Companies For Oil, Gas Projects
01/03/17
Source: RFE/RL
Iran has issued a list of 29 companies from Europe and Asia that have the government's approval to bid for oil- and gas-development projects in the energy-rich country.
The Iranian Oil Ministry said on January 3 that the National Iranian Oil Company will soon hold tenders for energy exploration and production, something made possible due to Tehran's signing of a nuclear deal with six world powers in 2015.
The historic deal lifted economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for Tehran curbing its controversial nuclear program.
European companies that were approved by the Oil Ministry include Anglo-Dutch giant Shell, Italy's Eni, France's Total, Russia's Gazprom and LUKoil, and the Dutch company Schlumberger.
Asian companies on the list were China's CNPC and Sinopec International, the Japanese Mitsubishi Corporation and Japan Petroleum Exploration, Malaysia's Petronas, and South Korea's Korea Gas Corporation and Posco Daewoo.
Several preliminary agreements between Iranian and international companies have been signed.
Total signed a tentative agreement with Tehran in November for a $4.8 billion project to develop an offshore gas field at South Pars.
And in mid-December, Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding with Gazprom on the development of two major oil fields.
Based on reporting by AFP and Shana.ir
DALLAS, Jan. 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rocky Mountain High Brands, Inc. (OTCQB:RMHB), a fully reporting consumer goods company specializing in brand development of health conscious, hemp-infused food and beverage products and a naturally high alkaline water announced today that Uptick Newswire interviewed the Companys President and CEO Michael Welch before the New Years Holiday.
In addition to the Companys goal of competing in the $60 billion worldwide energy drink market, Mr. Welch discussed the Companys major achievements within the past year and tells the fascinating story behind RMHBs unique, high-alkaline water, Eagle Spirit Spring Water. Mr. Welch also talked about the importance of the LSW Holdings LLC, a Chinese investment group represented by Mrs. Lily Li, RMHBs new Vice President of International Sales to the Companys growth plans and reported that Jerry Grisaffi, the Companys Founder and Chairman of the Board, was meeting with the group the first week in January to discuss expansion plans and funding.
For the full interview, follow Uptick Networks Stock Day Podcast on AudioBoom, iHeart Radio, iTunes, or click the following link: https://upticknewswire.com/michael-welch-rocky-mountain-high-brands-talks-niche-market-and-their-asian-market-sales-initiative/.
About Rocky Mountain High Brands:
ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH BRANDS, INC., is a consumer goods company specializing in brand development of health conscious, hemp-infused food and beverage products. The Company currently markets a lineup of four naturally flavored hemp-infused beverages (Citrus Energy, Black Tea, Mango Energy and Lemonade) and a low-calorie Coconut Lime Energy drink. Rocky Mountain High Brands also offers hemp-infused 2oz. Mango Energy Shots and Mixed Berry Energy Shots, as well as a new Relaxation Brownie. The Company recently launched a naturally high alkaline spring water, Eagle Spirit Spring Water.
For interested investors, our stock symbol is RMHB.
For ordering information please visit: LiveRockyMountainHigh.com
For corporate information please visit: RockyMountainHighBrands.com
For information on our high alkaline water visit: EagleSpiritWater.com
For Rocky Mountain High Distribution Contact:
Chuck Smith (972) 955-0964
chuck@rockymountainhighbrands.com
Visit us at our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rockymountainhighbrands?fref=nf
Visit us on Twitter:
#GetYourHempOn
Visit us at Investors Hangout: http://investorshangout.com/Rocky-Mountain-High-Brands-Inc-RMHB-69150/
Investors Hangout is the only authorized Investors blog page for Rocky Mountain High Brands, Inc.
Safe Harbor Act: This release includes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involves risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the impact of competitive products, the ability to meet customer demand, the ability to manage growth, acquisitions of technology, equipment, or human resources, the effect of economic business conditions and the ability to attract and retain skilled personnel. The Company is not obligated to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.
Imprisoned Iranian Civil Rights Activist Released After 65-Day Hunger Strike, With a Catch
01/04/17
Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
Azeri rights advocate Morteza Moradpour has been hospitalized in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province, while he recovers from the 65-day hunger strike that led to his conditional release from prison. However, his legal battle is far from over because his release order requires him to report back to prison every night.
Morteza Moradpour
"The decision by the Tabriz judicial officials to release Morteza under Article 7 occurred because they wanted to show that they had not surrendered to his legitimate demands and didn't care about his hunger strike," his brother, Fardin Moradpour, told the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
Morteza Moradpour was conditionally released on December 29, 2016 under Article 7 of Iran's Prison Organization's Procedural Regulations, which is normally applied to prisoners who have been authorized to work outside of prison in the day as long as they return to prison every night.
Morteza Moradpour ended his hunger strike on December 28-one day after his mother begged him on YouTube not to further endanger his life. The judicial authorities in Tabriz granted him conditional release the next day.
He was initially arrested at a rally in Tabriz on May 22, 2009 for peacefully advocating Azeri ethnic and environmental demands, including protecting Urmia (Oroumiyeh) Lake and maintaining the right to speak the Azeri mother tongue. He was sentenced to one year in prison for "propaganda against the state" and two years for "assembly and collusion against national security."
Iranian Azerbaijanis, also known as Azeris and Turks, are Iranians of Azerbaijani ethnicity originating from East Azerbaijan Province.
Morteza Moradpour began his hunger strike on October 25, 2016 to demand early release according to Article 134 of Iran's Islamic Penal Code. The Appeals Court's decision to deny the application of Article 134 to his case was "unlawful and arbitrary," said Morteza's lawyer, Jafar Afsharnia, via Facebook on December 24, 2016.
On December 23, a group of prominent political and civil rights advocates expressed deep concern for Moradpour's deteriorating health and called for his immediate release.
"Mr. Morteza Moradpour has been jailed for more than two years for seeking his legal rights," they said in a joint letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Campaign. "Now he is asking for the Islamic Penal Code to be applied to his case."
The letter was signed by well-known figures including Ahmad Montazeri, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Taghi Rahmani, Mehdi Aminzadeh, Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Mohammad Heydari, Hassan Yousefi Eshkevari, Yasser Mirdamadi, Noushabeh Amiri, Morteza Kazemina, Reza Alijani, Abdolali Bazargan, Mohammad Maleki, and Ammar Maleki.
The signees also pointed out that Moradpour's peaceful demands were not illegal.
The lives of at least four political prisoners on extended hunger strikes in Iran to demand reviews of their unjust sentences are currently in serious danger. Civil rights activist Arash Sadeghi ended his 71-day hunger strike on Jan. 3, 2017 after learning that his imprisoned wife and fellow rights activist has been conditionally released.
Iranian political prisoner ends his hunger strike after his wife is granted temporary furlough
01/04/17
Source: Radio Zamaneh
Arash Sadeghi, a political prisoner who was on hunger strike for 72 days, has ended his strike after his demands were met and his wife, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee was granted a temporary leave of absence from prison.
Arash Sadeghi with his wife Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee
On 3 Jan 2017 Iraee was released temporarily on a $150k (600 million Toman) bail and Sadeghi was taken to prison hospital to receive parenteral nutrition intravenously.
Sadeghi, a civil and political activist is serving a 19 year sentence; Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee is serving a six year sentence merely for an unpublished story.
Amir Raiisian, Sadeghi's lawyer expressed the hope that Sadeghi will be taken to hospital for examination outside of prison grounds.
However, latest reports confirm that Sadeghi is still in ward 8 of Evin prison. Arash Sadeghi's health has deteriorated during the 72 day hunger strike; he has been coughing up blood and is in need of medical care in facilities outside of prison.
Sadeghi has maintained that the security authorities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have arrested and sentenced his wife to six years in prison as pretext to punish them more.
Nassim Papayianni, who is a researcher with Amnesty International, welcomed the furlough but in a statement said: "neither she nor her husband Arash Sadeghi should have ever been forced to spend a single minute behind bars. They were unjustly detained and treated like criminals for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression and standing up for human rights."
Golrokh Iraee's furlough was granted after as many as seven Iranian political prisoners started a hunger strike for various demands; including her husband who denied his body food for 72 days on the condition that his wife's case is re-evaluated in court.
At the same time a social media campaign and a silent protest in front of Evin prison in Tehran demanded that the lives of Sadeghi and other political prisoner on hunger strike be saved. Hundreds of people took to the streets in front Evin prison in Tehran and on the palms of their hands they had written down hashtags including #SaveArash, #SaveAli and #SaveSaeed.
Ali Shariati and Saeed Shirzad, two other political prisoners who are on hunger strike demanding an end to discrimination against political prisoners and access to healthcare are still on strike for 65 days and 29 days respectively.
Arash Sadeghi has been in and out of prison since 2009. Sadeghi objected to the 2016 imprisonment of his wife and went on hunger strike on 24 Oct 2016.
Ebrahimi Iraee was sentenced to six year in prison in 2015 for an unpublished short story she had written on the subject of stoning women for adultery in Shiite jurisprudence. Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the National Security Division had confiscated the unpublished story during a raid on Sadeghi and Iraee's apartment when they went to arrest Sadeghi on 6 September 2014.
Arash Sadeghi is a former student of Allameh Tabatabai University who was expelled and arrested in relation to the 2009 disputed presidential election in Iran.
Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and Arash Sadeghi were arrested one more time in 2014 and sentenced to respectively 15 and Six years in prison. Sadeghi who has been a political activist was charged with assembly against the state, insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic, propaganda against the state and establishing an illegal group.
Iraee was charged with insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the state. Four years were still remaining on Sadeghi's previous sentencing and so the judge in the appeals court sentenced him to 19 years in prison in total.
Seven other prisoners are still on hunger strike including Ali Shariati (65 days), Saeed Shirzad (29 days), Iranian-Turkish citizen Hassan Rastegari Majd (35 days), Lebanese IT specialist Nizar Zaka (16 days), a Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Nekounam (14 days) and Mehdi Kukhyan (14 days).
(This program is no longer available for online streaming.) Five years after the earthquake and tsunami that triggered the unprecedented trio of meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, scientists and engineers are struggling to control an ongoing crisis. Whats next for Fukushima? Whats next for Japan? And whats next for a world that seems determined to jettison one of our most important carbon-free sources of energy? Despite the catastropheand the ongoing risks associated with nucleara new generation of nuclear power seems poised to emerge the ashes of Fukushima. NOVA investigates how the realities of climate change, the inherent limitations of renewable energy sources, and the optimism and enthusiasm of a new generation of nuclear engineers is looking for ways to reinvent nuclear technology, all while the most recent disaster is still being managed. What are the lessons learned from Fukushima? And with all of nuclears inherent dangers, how might it be possible to build a safe nuclear future?
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Putnam Legislature Approves 2023 Budget by 8-1 The Putnam Legislature concluded its budget process Friday night by approving a 2023 county budget that was $54,000 more than...
Brief Budget Hearing Before Legislators It took as long to read the public notice and lay the ground rules for the 2023 budget hearing as...
Minor Changes in Putnam Budget for 2023; The Putnam Legislature has concluded its budget review of County Executive MaryEllen Odells fiscal spending plan for 2023 minor modifications....
Get ready: Qualcomm executives say the companys next-generation Snapdragon 835 processor has entered production, and will soon power smartphones and augmented-reality devices beginning in the first half of 2017.
While performance gains are always appreciated, the main thrust behind the Snapdragon 835 is conservative power consumptionand thats a battery-preserving benefit we all can appreciate.
The company expects the Snapdragon 835 to meet or exceed the market saturation of the current flagship mobile chip, the Snapdragon 820. During a Tuesday presentation at CES, Keith Kressin, senior vice president of Snapdragon product management, noted that the Snapdragon 820 powers more than 200 different designs.
Currently, Qualcomms Snapdragon chips compete with the A-series chips that Apple uses in its iPhones, as well as the Exynos chips that appear in some of Samsungs Galaxy phones. But Qualcomm silicon powers the vast majority of the remaining market, with some share going to Mediatek in the budget phone sector.
On Tuesday, Qualcomm executives announced the first design wins for the 835and they arent phones. One design is an augmented-reality/virtual-reality headset manufactured by ODG, while the other is the Mattel Aristotle, described as a sort of an Amazon Echo for kids. Snapdragon 835 marketing manager Cisco Cheng said its likely that Qualcomm will announce design wins in the phone space at the end of February during Mobile World Congress.
IDG / Mark Hachman ODGs AR-VE headset, powered by the Snapdragon 835.
(Low) power is the point
Details of the Snapdragon 835 leaked before the event, with the key benefits of the chips architecture and Kryo CPU core summed up in PowerPoint slides. Though Qualcomm didnt talk about the Snapdragon 835s logic blocks on stage, the company confirmed that they include the Qualcomm Kryo 280 CPU to power basic processing; the Qualcomm Adreno 540 GPU to handle graphics and display processing; and the Qualcomm Hexagon 682 DSP for machine learning and other repetitive tasks.
IDG / Mark Hachman A summary of Qualcomms CES announcements.
Qualcomm executives didnt confirm the speeds and feeds of the 835 on stage, however. Instead, Kressin prioritized power consumption: The 835, the first Snapdragon manufactured at 10 nm, will be 35 percent physically smaller than the 820, and consume 25 percent less power. Kressin said that improvement will be good enough for about two additional hours of battery life.
Even better, the 835 will ship with a technology called QuickCharge 4.0, which will be designed for quickly delivering power on the go. Kressin said QuickCharge 4.0 will deliver power for five hours of talk time in just five minutes.
That doesnt mean that performance is being ignored, mind you. On the contrary, graphics performance will increase by about 20 percent over the 820part of the app uplift between the older and newer generations, Kressin said. Executives also said that the latency between motion to photon would decrease by about 20 percentbasically meaning that lag will decrease in AR and VR as a benefit from the new chip. One noteworthy addition is the inclusion of native 3D audio support, so that gamers will be able to hear sounds of explosions and other effects positioned around their head.
The Snapdragon 835 will also include 22 MIMO 802.11ac Wi-Fi, which Qualcomm chose to integrate in the die this time around, rather than leaving it as a separate, bulky chip. A complementary X16 gigabit modem is also included. This is the same modem that Qualcomm is building into cars to give vehicles the same (or better) connectivity than what users find in the home, executives said.
IDG / Mark Hachman The connected car is a priority for Qualcomm and the 835, as well.
Qualcomm said it will partner with Volkswagen for the companys 2018 and 2019 model years, providing basic connectivity and compute capabilities. The next step is autonomous driving, which Qualcomm and a host of different companies are attacking from different directions. Qualcomm, with its emphasis on connectivity, plans to partner with Ericsson to engage in V2X field trials this year. V2X, or vehicle-to-everything, uses cellular radios to communicate routes and velocity to allow cars to sense threats that the driver cannot see.
Intel has a disastrous history with smartphones. It fumbled a chance to be in Apples first iPhone, and then quit making its Atom smartphone chip to focus on modems.
But the company is now set to ship a groundbreaking modem that will deliver data transfer rates many times faster than most wired internet connections.
The chipmaker will start shipping its first 5G modem for testing in the second half this year. Beyond mobile devices, the modem could also be used in autonomous cars, servers, base stations, networking equipment, drones, robots, and other internet-of-things devices.
In name, 5G is the successor to 4G in todays mobile devices, but its significantly faster and more versatile. It will combine multiple wireless high-speed and low-bandwidth technologies and enable communications across an array of spectrum bands. New 5G networks are expected to be deployed starting in 2020.
The Intel 5G Modem, as its called, is designed to provide download speeds in excess of 5Gbps, which is five times faster than todays fastest 4G modem. Its also five times faster than Google Fiber, which offers speeds of up to 1Gbps.
But dont expect the modem to be installed in smartphones immediately. It will be used mainly for testing on 5G network deployments. It will also be used to test possible 5G applications, still being explored in areas like automotive tech.
The benefits of 5G are enormous. Download and upload speeds will go up for devices like drones, robots, smart devices, and industrial equipment. Faster networks will help autonomous cars intercommunicate over long distances about weather and road conditions.
The technology will improve mobile health-care services, which need reliable connections for patient monitoring. It will also help IoT devices remain in constant contact with servers running analytics.
Intel believes as wireless becomes ubiquitous, there will be more opportunities to put its 5G modems in devices. The 5G Modem is a big move for Intel when its mobile chip future was in question after many false starts.
Intels effort to put Atom chips into smartphones was a colossal failure, and the company wasted billions of dollars on the lost cause. Last year, it bailed out of the smartphone chip market and refocused on modems.
Apple will reportedly use Intels 4G modems in its next iPhone, and thats a major win for the company. Apple also uses modems from Qualcomm, which is considered ahead of Intel in modem technology.
Qualcomm announced its first 5G modem, the Snapdragon X50, in October. Intel is slowly catching up, but Qualcomm also has the advantage by integrating high-speed modems inside its Snapdragon chips that power smartphones. Intel does not plan to offer Atom chips for smartphones anytime soon, though it has hinted that it could make such chips if opportunities arise.
Intel until now provided FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) that could be programmed to mimic modems. But the 5G modem will be needed to obtain results from real-world testing.
The new 5G technology will be important for autonomous cars, which may make driving decisions by consulting remote servers to recognize objects, signs, and lights, said Kathy Winter, vice president and general manager of the automated driving division at Intel.
Intel also announced autonomous vehicle development kits ready for 5G at CES. Intel is also building an autonomous car with BMW and Mobileye that could be ready to hit the streets by 2021. Its possible that Intel will put its 5G modem in that car.
Intels 5G Modem supports the sub-6GHz band, where cellular networks typically operate. It also supports the 28GHz millimeter-wave band, which should enable deployment trials in U.S., South Korea, and Japan, Intel said. The 28GHz band allows for faster data transfers and is expected to be used for 5G networks.
Car makers Ford and Toyota have announced the SmartDeviceLink Consortium, a nonprofit to manage open source software for the interface of Android and iOS smartphone apps with their vehicle infotainment systems.
Mazda Motor, PSA Group, Fuji Heavy Industries and Suzuki Motor are the first automaker members of the consortium.
Elektrobit, Luxoft, and Xevo have joined as the first supplier members, while Harman, Panasonic, Pioneer and QNX have signed letters of intent to join, according to an announcement Wednesday by Ford and Toyota.
BlackBerry subsidiary QNX Software Systems already powers Fords Sync 3 infotainment system, as the Canadian company moves its focus to software, including for automotive applications.
By using an open source platform, the car makers hope to give themselves and their suppliers a standard with which to integrate apps with the vehicle display screen, steering wheel controls and voice recognition. Having a common platform adopted by many car makers would attract developers, who can benefit by integrating one linking technology used by all participating automakers.
The open source project will be managed by Livio, a software startup Ford acquired in 2013, which will work with early adopters to build the interfaces for each vehicle environment.
Apple and Google are already offering technologies that integrate smartphones with the infotainment systems of cars, and these have been adopted by many car makers. Ford itself said in January last year that it was increasing the number of smartphone functions that can be controlled from car interfaces by adding support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and introducing more apps for its Sync in-vehicle connectivity system for some of its vehicles.
SmartDeviceLink is based on Fords contribution of its AppLink software to the open source community in 2013. The AppLink connectivity interface, released to the Genivi Alliance, allowed drivers to take control of compatible smartphone apps through dashboard buttons or voice commands, and is already available on more than 5 million vehicles globally.
Toyota Motor said in January last year it would adopt SmartDeviceLink technology for its vehicles. Automakers PSA Peugeot Citroen, Honda, Mazda and Subaru were also considering adding the software, Ford said at the time. Toyota plans to launch a telematics system that integrates SmartDeviceLink by about 2018.
The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against Google, with the companys ability to win government contracts at risk.
The agency is seeking what it calls routine information about wages and the companys equal opportunity program. The agency filed a lawsuit with its Office of Administrative Law Judges to gain access to the information, it announced Wednesday.
Google, as a federal contractor, is required to provide the data as part of a compliance check by the agencys Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), according to the Department of Labor. The inquiry is focused on Googles compliance with equal employment laws, the agency said.
Like other federal contractors, Google has a legal obligation to provide relevant information requested in the course of a routine compliance evaluation, OFCCP Acting Director Thomas Dowd said in a press release. Despite many opportunities to produce this information voluntarily, Google has refused to do so.
Google said its provided hundreds of thousands of records to the agency over the past year, including some related to wages. However, a handful of OFCCP data requests were overbroad or would reveal confidential data, the company said in a statement.
Weve made this clear to the OFCCP, to no avail, the statement added. These requests include thousands of employees private contact information which we safeguard rigorously.
Google must allow the federal government to inspect and copy records relevant to compliance, the Department of Labor said. The agency requested the information in September 2015, but Google provided only partial responses, an agency spokesman said by email.
Google refused to provide some wage information requested by the agency, according to the lawsuit.
The agency is asking the court to cancel all of Googles current government contracts and to bar the company from entering into future contracts if it does not comply with the information request.
This story has been updated to include Googles comments on the lawsuit.
LAGUNA HILLS, Calif., Jan. 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PharmaCyte Biotech, Inc. (OTCQB:PMCB), a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on developing targeted treatments for cancer and diabetes using its signature live-cell encapsulation technology, Cell-in-a-Box, today announced that it will be meeting with the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday, January 17, 2017. The meeting is to discuss numerous aspects of PharmaCytes planned clinical trial in locally advanced, inoperable pancreatic cancer (LAPC).
PharmaCytes Chief Executive Officer, Kenneth L. Waggoner, commenting on the meeting said, "We are pleased that PharmaCyte will be starting out the New Year with a meeting with CBER. PharmaCyte has submitted a list of important questions to the FDA that will be essential to the design of our trial and how it is to be conducted. The questions also touch on the need for any additional information to be developed or submitted to the FDA before PharmaCyte files its Investigational New Drug application (IND). We are looking forward to CBERs responses so that we can continue with our product development of an effective and safe therapy for LAPC.
PharmaCyte recently submitted questions to the FDA as part of its pre-IND submission package. With answers to these questions and any additional information provided by CBER during the January 17 meeting, PharmaCyte will address any open issues or requests of CBER before preparing its IND. Once the IND is submitted and found to be acceptable to the FDA, PharmaCyte can proceed with its planned clinical trial in LAPC and enroll patients at the selected trial sites throughout the U.S.
PharmaCytes clinical trial in patients with LAPC is designed to meet a clear unmet medical need for those whose cancer no longer responds after 4-6 months of treatment with the combination of Abraxane plus gemcitabine. The trial will be open-label and multi-site in nature - with sites in the U.S. and Europe. Patients with LAPC will be randomized equally into two groups. One group will receive gemcitabine chemotherapy alone, and the other group will receive PharmaCytes pancreatic cancer therapy (encapsulated genetically modified live human cells that can activate the cancer prodrug ifosfamide plus low doses of ifosfamide to eliminate side effects from the chemotherapy). In addition to comparing the anticancer activity and safety of the two therapies, a major aspect of the trial will be to determine if, and how well, PharmaCytes therapy can shrink inoperable tumors so that they become operable.
About PharmaCyte Biotech
PharmaCyte Biotech a clinical stage biotechnology company developing therapies for cancer and diabetes based upon a proprietary cellulose-based live cell encapsulation technology known as Cell-in-a-Box. This technology will be used as a platform upon which therapies for several types of cancer and diabetes are being developed. PharmaCytes therapy for cancer involves encapsulating genetically engineered human cells that convert an inactive chemotherapy drug into its active or cancer-killing form. These encapsulated cells are implanted as close to the patients cancerous tumor as possible. Once implanted, a chemotherapy drug that is normally activated in the liver (ifosfamide) is given intravenously at one-third the normal dose. The ifosfamide is carried by the circulatory system to where the encapsulated cells have been implanted. When the ifosfamide comes in contact with the encapsulated cells they act as an artificial liver and activate the chemotherapy drug at the source of the cancer. This targeted chemotherapy has proven effective and safe to use in past clinical trials and results in no side effects.
In addition to developing a novel therapy for cancer, PharmaCyte is developing a treatment for Type 1 diabetes and insulin-dependent Type 2 diabetes. PharmaCyte plans to encapsulate a human cell line that has been genetically engineered to produce, store and release insulin in response to the levels of blood sugar in the human body. The encapsulation will be done using the Cell-in-a-Box technology. Once the encapsulated cells are implanted in a diabetic patient they will function as a bio-artificial pancreas for purposes of insulin production.
Safe Harbor
This press release may contain forward-looking statements regarding PharmaCyte Biotech and its future events and results that involve inherent risks and uncertainties. The words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "plan" and similar expressions, as they relate to PharmaCyte or its management, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Important factors, many of which are beyond the control of PharmaCyte, could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. They include PharmaCyte's ability to continue as a going concern, delays or unsuccessful results in preclinical and clinical trials, flaws or defects regarding its product candidates, changes in relevant legislation or regulatory requirements, uncertainty of protection of PharmaCytes intellectual property and PharmaCytes continued ability to raise capital. PharmaCyte does not assume any obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements.
More information about PharmaCyte Biotech can be found at www.PharmaCyte.com. It can also be obtained by contacting Investor Relations.
There have been 11 schools superintendents since Riverside County was formed in 1893. All have been white men.
That could change when county trustees replace departing Superintendent Kenn Young this month.
Moreno Valley Unified Superintendent Judy White, an African-American woman, could make history if shes named to the post.
White and Paul Jessup, county schools deputy superintendent and chief administrative officer, appear to be front-runners as they are the only two candidates on the suggested interview list.
Riverside County school board members are set to meet Wednesday, Jan. 4, to discuss the applicants.
Tucker said he will recommend the board interview White and Jessup at a special meeting Wednesday, Jan. 11.
Jessup and White are the only two candidates with the desired administrative experience and who are current Riverside County residents and registered voters, a requirement at the time of appointment, Tucker said.
The others simply dont rise to the level of qualifications that would make them a finalist, he said.
All previous county schools chiefs were white men, said Craig Petinak, spokesman for the Riverside County Office of Education.
Of the 10 people who applied, seven met the minimum qualifications of having a teaching or services credential and an administrative services credential, officials said.
The appointee will serve the remaining two years on Youngs four-year elected term, which ends in January 2019. Young, whose last day is Wednesday, Jan. 4, took a senior director position with Advancement Via Individual Determination, AVID, a San Diego-based nonprofit that aims to prepare high school graduates for college.
Before he became deputy superintendent in July 2007, Jessup was superintendent of the Alvord Unified School District, which serves west Riverside and part of Corona, for four years. His nearly four-decade education career includes many years as a teacher and administrator in the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District.
The depth and breadth of my experience and successes are rare, and, in total, make me uniquely qualified for the county superintendent job, Jessup wrote in a letter expressing interest in the position.
White, who has served as Moreno Valley Unified schools chief almost six years, previously worked as a teacher and administrator, including deputy superintendent, in the San Bernardino City Unified School District.
If you are searching for stability and innovation, experience and competence, with a servant leaders heart, then I am the one, White wrote in her interest letter.
The superintendents responsibilities include fiscal and academic oversight of the countys 23 school districts and leading the Riverside County Office of Education, which has more than 1,600 employees and a $285 million annual budget. The county school board sets the superintendents salary.
The other applicants are Susan Bobbitt-Voth, a special education administrator for the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools; Mina Hutchins, pupil personnel and special education director for the El Monte City School District; Micheline Miglis, executive director of the non-profit Get FocusedStay Focused! National Resource Center; Christopher Lee Schiermeyer, assistant superintendent for the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District near Santa Cruz; and Patrick Traynor, superintendent of the Alpine County Office of Education and Alpine County Unified School District in northern California.
Contact the writer: 951-368-9292 orstwall@scng.comTwitter: @pe_swall
Ontario police are turning to the public for help in finding two children allegedly abducted by their father nearly a decade ago.
Detectives have exhausted all investigative leads in this case and hope the public can help generate new leads in an effort to locate the missing children, an Ontario Police Department news release issued Wednesday says.
In October 2007, Francisco Flores failed to return his children, then 3-year-old Tammy Flores, and Diego Flores, then 2, to their mother, Griselda Gonzalez Flores, police officials said in the release.
Gonzalez Flores took the children, who lived in Victorville, to the Ontario Police Department to exchange custody with her estranged husband, Flores. The children were to spend the week with their father and then be returned to the mother, in accordance to the court custody order, police officials said.
The day following the exchange, Gonzalez Flores tried to call her husband to check on the children, but police say she was not able to complete the call, and it appeared the number had been disconnected.
The mother tried several additional unsuccessful calls throughout the week, and when Flores failed to return the children, she filed a police report.
Detectives learned only a few days prior to the exchange, Flores had received more than $100,000 in cash when he refinanced his home and sold his car, according to police.
A court granted Gonzalez Flores full custody of the children and the San Bernardino County District Attorneys Office has issued a $1 million kidnapping and child abduction warrant for Flores arrest.
Ontario police say Francisco Flores and the children may be living locally, or they may be in Mexico.
Flores is Hispanic, now 42, standing 6 feet tall and weighing about 210 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes and has a mole on each cheek and under his nose.
Police released Wednesday age-progressed photos of what the children and Flores may look like today and ask anyone who may have information on where they may be to call Ontario police Detective Jeff Crittenden at 909-395-2734 or Detective Byron Lee at 909-395-2746.
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Authorities determined on Wednesday the female body found 325 feet down an embankment off Pacific Coast Highway Northern San Luis Obispo County was Olivia Hannah Gonzalez, the missing 20-year-old woman from North Hollywood.
CHP Officer Patrick Seebart made the announcement in an emailed statement and added that our condolences go out to the family and friends of Olivia. There was no information on the still missing Brian Fernandez in the statement or release.
Additionally, there was not going to be a vehicle recovery on Wednesday because of the weather, CHP officials said in a separate release.
We are looking at a possible recovery day of this Thursday or Friday, depending on when we can get a break in the weather, the CHP said in the release.
Previously, authorities were trying to determine if a tan-colored sedan with a female body and a deceased light brown Labrador retriever mix nearby all found 325 feet down a steep embankment on the Central Coast are connected to a missing North Hollywood couple.
The California Highway Patrol reported a traffic death at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday off of Pacific Coast Highway, just south of Ragged Point in northern San Luis Obispo County.
Tony Cipolla of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs Department previously said Wednesday that coroners investigators are trying to identify the female, but challenging conditions have made it tough.
You have to understand the severity of the crash, Cipolla said. The body most likely had been at that location for several days. And its raining very heavily right now. The decomposition process has begun, and that makes it a challenge to determine the identity.
The dog had no identifying tags, Cipolla added.
Gonzalez, 20, and Fernandez, 21, went missing during a holiday road trip to Big Sur, the Los Angeles Police Department reported last week.
The duo, who had been dating on and off for months, were last seen Dec. 23, and it is unclear if they reached their destination or headed somewhere else.
The couple was traveling with Fernandezs large dogs, a brown husky and a golden retriever named Scooby and Luno, family members said.
Cipolla said it was raining heavily on Wednesday in the area, and numerous rocks and boulders, combined with steep terrain, are making the search and recovery operation very treacherous and hampering rescuers efforts.
Additionally, Cipolla said there was an ongoing search to try and find other possible victims.
In a statement, Seebart said rescue personnel had to be extremely careful as they made their way to the vehicle and recovered the bodies of the woman and the dog.
After learning of a report about a vehicle off the road Tuesday, a CHP helicopter and ground units found a car about 25 feet down a steep embankment resting near the shoreline of the Pacific Ocean, the CHPs Seebart reported.
The helicopter described the vehicle as a tan sedan and saw a deceased person and a dead dog about 15 feet away from the vehicle, officials said.
Fernandez, the LAPD previously said, was last seen driving a 2002 four-door tan Honda Civic with California license plate 5VUD295.
Because of the terrain and bad weather, the CHP reported, the helicopter had to leave the scene as rescue personnel made their way to the vehicle.
The vehicle could not be recovered Tuesday night because of the darkness, weather and terrain, authorities said, and will be recovered as soon as the weather allows.
While the CHP is investigating the traffic crash, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs Department is conducting the search and rescue operations, and the San Luis Obispo County coroners office will identify the recovered body.
Fernandezs mother, when reached by phone Wednesday morning, said I dont want to talk with anybody right now and hung up.
Three people were displaced Tuesday, Jan. 3, after a fire tore through a mobile home in Eastvale.
Flames were reported at 11:17 p.m. at the Swan Lake Mobile Home Park in the 5800 block of Hamner Avenue, according to a news release from the Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department.
The flames were contained in under 30 minutes. The American Red Cross was called to assist those who were displaced.
Time to make the chimichangas.
It looks like 2016 was the year of the pool. Deadpool that is. The Writers Guild of America announced its nominations for screenplays Wednesday, Jan. 4 and the Marvel Comics action-comedy scored a nod for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Other adapted screenplay nominations include Arrival, Fences, Hidden Figures and Nocturnal Animals.
Writers of the films Hell or High Water, La La Land, Loving, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight were nominated for best original screenplay.
The WGA Awards will be presented Feb. 19 at the Beverly Hilton in a ceremony hosted by actor-comedian Patton Oswalt. A separate ceremony will be held simultaneously in New York. WGA nominations were announced last month in the television, new media, news, radio and promotional writing categories. Videogame writing nominations will be announced Jan. 12.
The nominations announced Wednesday were:
Original Screenplay
Hell or High Water, written by Taylor Sheridan
La La Land, written by Damien Chazelle
Loving, written by Jeff Nichols
Manchester by the Sea, written by Kenneth Lonergan
Moonlight, written by Barry Jenkins, story by Tarell McCraney
Adapted Screenplay
Arrival, screenplay by Eric Heisserer; based on the story Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang
Deadpool, written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick; based on the X-Men comic books
Fences, screenplay by August Wilson, based on his play
Hidden Figures, screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Thoedore Melfi; based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly
Nocturnal Animals, screenplay by Tom Ford; based on the novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright
Documentary Screenplay
Author: The JT LeRoy Story, written by Jeff Feuerzeig
Command and Control, telescript by Robert Kenner and Eric Schlosser; story by Brian Pearle and Kim Roberts; based on the book Command and Control by Eric Schlosser
Zero Days, written by Alex Gibney
Maybe fish and chips (and some pub games?) can solve the riddle that is the corner of Third and Mercedes streets in Old Town Temecula.
A team of investors, which includes Craig Puma of The Bank, is opening up a new British pub restaurant concept called The Bridge on Third at that location, which has been the home in recent years to a comedy club restaurant, 3rd Street Live; a motorcycle-themed BBQ place, Third Street Smokehouse and a down-home BBQ outfit, Sweet Lumpys.
Im very hopeful, very excited for it, Puma said Tuesday.
According to the restaurants Facebook page, there has been a lot of work done on the interior of the building, a tidy structure fronted by an expansive patio, to get ready for a grand opening later this month.
The Bridge is getting primed and readytwo coats at a time..lolbut what a difference. The British are coming! an admin posted on its page.
Prospective customers have already submitted requests for the menu, which will reportedly be handled by an experienced top local chef, and diversions, a list that includes prawn crackers, sausage rolls, decent cider and pub games.
There are no similar dining establishments in Old Town and if the place is able to survive for a couple of years it may be situated in a great spot in front of the luxury hotel planned for opposite corner of Mercedes and Third.
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Retirement is not in Ryan Dungeys immediate plans.
The motorcycle racer had a lot of time to think while recovering from his first serious injury. The 27-year-old suffered a broken vertebra during the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Thunder Valley Nationals in June in Lakewood, Colorado. He returned to racing at the Monster Energy Cup in October and begins a push for his third consecutive AMA Monster Energy Supercross title on Saturday at Angel Stadium.
In his eighth season in the top supercross class, Dungey is reaching a point where many motocross racers start to consider retirement. He enters the 2017 season in the last year of a contract with Red Bull KTM.
During the time off, he told RedBull.com, Ill use this time to rejuvenate and come back for one good push in the sport in all areas, on the track, off the track, for my team and for the acceleration of KTM.
Did that mean retirement is imminent?
I dont know, thats the thing, he told Red Bull. Right now, I want to take it one year at a time; its hard to look any further past that, but right now thats where my minds at.
Fast-forward six months. Dungey, who tested last week at the KTM track in Corona, said he has had plenty of time to rethink his thoughts of retirement.
Why was I thinking like that? Dungey said after the practice session. Honestly, I have not even thought about that. I know I am no spring chicken and this is not the first year for me. As long as my heart is in it, I want and will race.
It was hard at times. But hard times makes you better and stronger.
For a sport in which racers are seemingly riddled with season-ending injuries, Dungey had gone through seasons relatively unscathed until he went over the handlebars in the second moto at Thunder Valley. He finished the race in fourth place, second overall, and then discovered he had broken the C6 vertebra in his neck, near the spinal cord.
It was a blessing in disguise, he said. I could refresh physically and mentally. My schedule is pretty busy with a lot of race volume and over time, like anything, you just get overloaded and it wears on you.
So, was there truly a change of heart?
A little time away and I could rejuvenate, he said. At the time, I was kind of in it so deep I could not see myself getting out. I had a little time away to reflect and look at different things and I said, Wow! I could not be better.
Dungey and his wife, Lindsay, could travel from their home in Tallahassee, Florida, to visit his family in Belle Plaine, Minnesota.
I was able to use the time to do things I normally could not do, he said. I could see people and family I do not see much.
Dungey won his first supercross title as a rookie in 2010 for Suzuki. He did not win another title until 2015, the longest stretch between a rider winning supercross championships. He won nine supercross races last year and had 16 podium finishes in the 17 races for his second consecutive title.
The melding of Dungey, general manager Roger DeCoster, trainer Aldon Baker and KTM, which had never won an American supercross title until two years ago, has been a hit.
Dungey has won 31 supercross races, sixth most in the series. He also won the motocross title in 2015. He was second in points when he got hurt at Thunder Valley.
Its time to go racing, he said. Time to focus on ourselves. I feel comfortable, confident and excited for what is to come. I am ready for the challenge. I feel with my body everything is well. Ive put in a lot work and a hard load. My body feels good.
Dungey said he has not talked to DeCoster or KTM about a contract extension.
Honestly, I have not even thought about that, Dungey said. I am focusing on one contract at a time. This year is my main focus. Those other things well get around to. I feel like Im in a great position to win.
Dungey did not need a neck brace to recover from his injury. Only rest. He was back on his bike in August and raced in the Monster Energy Cup on Oct. 15 in Las Vegas, getting three podium finishes and taking second overall.
Every year you think it gets easy and then you get a big reality check, he said of the competition. You always want to be on top of things. Youre pushing to get better and you do not want to get beat.
Racing is pretty intense these days.
Dungeys loyalty to his friends and teammates could easily spread to more years with KTM. It was a risk when he joined the Austrian company six seasons ago.
It took some years, he said. We had some ups and downs and hard times that makes you stronger. When I came on to KTM, it was very accomplished in Europe, but here in America, nobody wanted to have a factory ride with KTM. I took a gamble and so did Roger and the team. I knew it was the right people.
I wanted to do something unique. A lot of people thought I was crazy and it would never work. I never listened to those voices. I am not so much proud of what we have done, but rather thankful to be a part of it. KTM keeps investing into the team and the program. Now all the top motocross riders want to ride for the brand.
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ANAHEIM It was the last chance to drop for the Tower of Terror before it disappeared forever into the Twilight Zone of yesterland and many fans dropped in at Disney California Adventure on Monday to take a final ride.
Caitlyn McNulty drove in from Las Vegas for the last day.
I wouldnt miss the funeral of my favorite ride, she said.
The ride is getting a makeover to a more sci/fi fantasy theme. When it reopens this summer, it will be called Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout! It will feature characters from the Marvel movie series and a whole new look.
The makeover was announced last summer by Marvels producer Kevin Feige at the San Diego Comic-Con, and is the first ride at the Disneyland Resort based on a movie from the Marvel Comics universe. It will retain the elevator-drop that has been a key part of Tower of Terror.
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Many people visited the park to ride it one last time before its closure and were lamenting its departure.
We drove four hours just to get here and ride it today, said Lynn Merritt of Visalia. She was there with her husband Dan.
RELATED Changing Twilight Zone Tower of Terror into Guardians of the Galaxy makes sense
We dont want it to go and we want to write to someone and dont know who to write to, she said.
It was added to the theme park in 2004 as a major attraction, three years after Disney California Adventure opened to disappointing business. It became an anchor to Hollywood Land, and was based loosely on The Twilight Zone television series, similar to its sister attraction at Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando.
While some lamented the loss of the current version, others were looking forward to the first Marvel-based ride at the Disneyland Resort.
Im optimistic for the change, I think it will be cool, said Jayna Bosse of Dana Point.
Cast members running the attraction on Monday were busy dealing with long lines with wait times of more than two hours.
People are being pretty good about the wait, said Christine Tran, a lead on the ride. This is one of the attractions where you can really immerse yourself.
The new version is scheduled to open with the release of the sequel to the Guardians of the Galaxy movie in May. The movie stars Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, and will feature Disney Legend Kurt Russell.
Contact the writer: meades@scng.com or follow on twitter @markaeades
The conflict in Iraq and war with the Islamic State are the scheduled topics of a talk Thursday, Jan. 12 in Riverside.
World Affairs Council Inland Southern California is sponsoring the speech by Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, Kurdistan regional government representative to the United States.
Abdul Rahman is set to discuss the Kurdistan region geographically and culturally as it relates to the complex situation in northern Iraq, including a financial and humanitarian crisis that has swelled the regions population by 30 percent.
She also is expected to address the United States battle against ISIS that spans 600 miles.
The event begins at 5:30 p.m. with a reception and the talk starts at 6:15 p.m. at Marriott Hotel Riverside Convention Center, 3400 Market St., Riverside.
Admission is $45 for World Affairs Council members and $55 for non-members. Students arriving at 6:15 p.m. are free.
Contact the writer: 951-368-9292, stwall@scng.com, @pe_swall
Sage College students are starting the year with a loss.
The Moreno Valley school that specializes in training court reporters shut its doors Tuesday, stranding about 350 students. Those students had received emails about the closure Friday.
It feels like a slap in the face, said Serenity Rodriguez, 24, of Redlands, who was only a few months shy of completing what she and others described as a strenuous program. She and other students said they had been assured, despite recent problems, the school would remain open.
Sage College is the latest in a series of private for-profit colleges to abruptly quit the business. Unlike some other such institutions, however, there were no claims that the school had a bad actor. Instead, it fell victim to the actions of its accrediting agency, the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools.
The ACICS came under scrutiny as the accreditor for Corinthian Colleges. That Santa Ana-based company was accused by the government of deceptive recruiting practices and of inflating its graduation and placement numbers, among other things. Corinthian was fined $30 million by the Department of Education and, shortly after, closed its chain of colleges in April 2015.
ITT also was accused of deceptive practices and of issuing students unnecessary loans. It closed its 130 campuses in 38 states in September.
On Dec. 16, ACICS lost its final appeal to retain its standing with the Department of Education. All of the schools under its purview, including Sage College, lost accreditation.
Under DOE rules, those schools had 18 months to find another accrediting agency.
In November, Executive Director Lauren Somma, who reportedly had been meeting with other accrediting agencies since June, posted a quote from Walt Disney on her Facebook page: Its fun to do the impossible.
But Sages FAQ page on Tuesday told a different story.
We learned that Court Reporting programs do not meet required benchmarks to qualify for the approval process, the material says, therefore moving forward in that direction was not a viable option for us.
Robert Rasha is Sages information technology director and one of a handful of staffers still working. Most, including the schools 50 faculty members, were laid off at the same time students got the email about the closure.
My phone has been blowing up since this all happened, Rasha said.
Rasha said the school had pared back its operation just over a year ago. It has offices in San Diego, but it stopped training students at that site in October 2015. Moreno Valley was its only campus.
We had a great reputation in the industry, he said. We send more court reporters to the state exam than any other school.
Andrea Rinker, a district representative for the Deposition Reporters Association of California, agreed with that assessment. She said only 100 court reporters pass the state exam annually they must score 97.5 percent or higher and Sage College was a top producer.
Rasha said the impact of the closure is not limited to Sages students.
This is something that affects all the (California) court reporting schools, he said. They have all lost their accreditation.
Actually, only one other Southern California private court reporting college lost its accreditation when ACICS lost its standing. A woman at South Coast College in Orange, who identified herself only as Sharon, said the school was working with two agencies on gaining accreditation and that she expected the school would remain open.
Rinker said Sages closure would impact the industry. There is already a shortage of court reporters in California, she said. She was at the Moreno Valley campus Tuesday, encouraging the students to continue their education. She said most other court reporter schools would accept the credits students had earned at Sage not always the case with private for-profit colleges.
Jocelyn Epperson, coordinator for the court reporting program at Downey Adult School in Downey, said her program would most definitely accept such credits and has space for students.
Downey is one of the closest of a limited number of options for the students. With the closure of Sage, there are only 12 schools in the state recognized by the California Court Reporters Association.
But even Downey is too far for Jessica Davis, 25, of Menifee. She is a single mother with two children. Commuting more than an hour to school is not possible, she said. She planned to look into online programs to complete the nine tests she had left to take out of the 42 required by her program.
Disheartened at first by the email she received I thought it was a joke she said shes now determined.
I feel more fired-up than anything, Davis said. Im just going to practice harder and finish faster.
Ashley Hirsch, 31, of Beaumont said she also would figure out a way to go forward. Still, she said, its a hard way to begin the year.
They just blindsided us with this, she said. We dont have any guidance. Thats whats so hurtful about it.
Officials with the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education plan to meet with students later this week to discuss their options for continued education and financial assistance.
No meeting time has been announced.
Contact the writer: 951-368-9595 or mmuckenfuss@scng.com
NEW YORK and BANGKOK, Thailand, Jan. 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Translations.com, a division of TransPerfect, the world's largest privately held provider of language services and translation-related technologies, today announced an engagement with major Thai air carrier Bangkok Airways. Translations.com will support the launch and ongoing maintenance of the airlines booking site in Simplified Chinese with more language sites pending release in 2017.
To further establish its growing presence in Asia, Bangkok Airways launched its Simplified Chinese booking site using TransPerfects GlobalLink OneLink; a proxy-based website localization solution that automates many of the manual tasks associated with the translation of global content. With more languages to come, OneLink will simplify the ongoing maintenance of www.bangkokair.com by automatically routing new content to TransPerfects production department for translation and placing the translated content back on the localized site.
According to Prote Setsuwan, Vice President of Marketing at Bangkok Airways, OneLink has helped us to kick-start our global expansion in a manner which is both cost-effective and low maintenance from an internal resources perspective. I am confident our newly localized sites will be key to increasing our market share.
Bangkok Airways has a clear vision for international expansion, and fully embraces the benefits of establishing their presence in Asia, added TransPerfect Co-CEO Liz Elting. We are excited to be their partner of choice to help meet the needs of their growing passenger base.
Phil Shawe, Co-CEO of TransPerfect commented, We are pleased to be able to partner with a respected airline like Bangkok Airways. As they begin their globalization journey, we look forward to providing support for their efforts to reach new customers abroad.
About Bangkok Airways
First established as Sahakol Air in 1968, Bangkok Airways operates routes to more than 20 destinations in Thailand and Asia. The airline services many of the region's popular tourist spots, including Siem Reap in Cambodia, the Maldives, Yangon and Mandalay in Myanmar, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Mumbai in India, Dhaka in Bangladesh, Danang in Vietnam and Phuket, Koh Samui and Chiang Mai in Thailand.
About Translations.com
With annual revenues of over $500 million, Translations.com is a leading provider of enterprise localization services and technology solutions. From offices in over 90 cities on six continents, Translations.com offers a full range of services in 170+ languages to clients worldwide. More than 3,000 global organizations employ Translations.coms GlobalLink Product Suite to simplify management of multilingual content. Translations.com is part of the TransPerfect family of companies, with global headquarters in New York and regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit www.translations.com.
President John Mahama has urged the international community to offer the incoming Nana Akufo-Addo administration same support he received during his tenure, as he receives credentials from three envoys.
According to Mr. Mahama, Ghana needs same support from its foreign counterparts even as the country transitions into a new administration.
Mahama is leaving office on January 7, 2017 having lost the December elections to opposition leader Nana Akufo-addo.
Speaking at the Flagstaff House on Tuesday after receiving credentials of the Indian High Commissioner, Iranian and Moroccan ambassadors, Mahama lauded the three countries for their continuous support for the development of the West African country.
India has been one of the greatest and closest friends of Ghana We wish to express our appreciation to India, Mahama stated.
He added: We are in transition from one government to another and Ghana has consolidated her democratic credentials. We are on the task of completing the transition.
Im sure India is going to continue to be a strong and important partner and you are going to get as much cooperation in your new role from the incoming administration.
President Mahama had earlier chaired his last cabinet meeting before receiving the envoys. The meeting was used to wrap up his four-year tenure as president and eight years of the National Democratic Congress administration
Source: starrfmonline.com
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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Parliament reconvenes today (Wednesday) to conclude activities of the 6th Parliament of the Fourth Republic.
Key on the agenda will be the presentation of the State of the Nation address by outgoing President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday which will be his last, with Parliament expected to dissolve on the midnight of Friday January 6.
What is not certain is whether the Right to Information (RTI)Bill which is scheduled for Third Reading will be passed before the dissolution.
The right to information which is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the countrys 1992 Constitution and recognized as a right under International Conventions on Human rights has been on the desk for many years awaiting the final passage..
The current parliament, though has made progress with the Bill, there are currently 24 proposed amendments left to be made to the Bill.
The Majority caucus accused the Minority side of dragging its feet in the consideration of the remaining amendments left to be worked on before passage of the substantive Bill.
But the Minority in Parliament rejected such claims by the majority caucus.
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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President John Mahamas adviser on corruption Daniel Batidam has described the incoming administrations decision to appoint a special prosecutor to deal with corruption as an exercise in futility.
Nana Akufo Addo who is set to be officially sworn-in on Saturday has pledged to set up the office of the special prosecutor to fight the menace.
But Mr. Batidam told Starr News, no special office created to fight corruption will be effective if the attorney generals position is not decoupled from the minister of justice.
For me its not the way to go in setting up a special prosecutor, whoever does any kind of work under the present constitution that we have, it will end on the desk of the attorney general.
Unless you amend the constitution to take the powers that are granted the attorney general, it will be an exercise in futility.
Source: starrfmonline.com
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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It is largely believed Ministers who attend Cabinet meetings are under an oath of secrecy never to divulge to the public issues discussed during their sitting; but Peacefmonline.com can confirm that several ministers, who attended President John Dramani Mahamas last cabinet meeting couldnt hold back their tears.
The outgoing president held his last Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, and when he announced to the gathering that it would be his last time with them as president, a doleful atmosphere took over, leading to some ministers being drowned in their own tears.
Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon. Nii Lante Vanderpuije made this startling disclosure on Radio Gold in an interview Wednesday.
According to the out-going minister who also represents the people of Odododiodio in Parliament, it only took words of encouragement from President Mahama to cheer them up again.
He added that after President Mahamas speech during the sitting, they all exchanged smiles and hugs to demonstrate their happiness.
President Mahama and his vice then stood at the corridor after the meeting and each minister went to them to greet them, he said.
The Cabinet
Established by Articles 76(1), 76(2), and 77(1) of the Constitution, the Cabinet assists the President in the determination of the general policy of government.
The history of the Cabinet dates back to 1957, when Ghanas founding President Kwame Nkrumah formed the first government. Established by Articles 76(1), 76(2), and 77(1) of the Constitution, the Cabinet assists the President in the determination of the general policy of government.
The Cabinet consists of not less than 10 and not more than 19 Ministers of State. The President, who chairs Cabinet, reserves the right to withdraw a decision of Cabinet prior to its submission to Parliament for approval. In the absence of the President, the Vice-President chairs Cabinet meetings.
(Source: presidency.gov.gh)
The Cabinet includes the President, the Vice President and 19 Ministries the Ministers of Finance, Foreign Affairs & Regional Integration, Defence, Justice and Attorney General, Interior, Education, Lands and Natural Resources, Local Government & Rural Development, Water Resources, Works and Housing, Communications, Gender, Children and Social Protection, Health, Trade and Industry, Environment, Science, Technology & Innovation, Roads and Highways, and Power, as well as Food and Agriculture.
Source: Chris Joe Quaicoe/ email: [email protected]
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the victorious New Patriotic Party (NPP) Mr. Bernard Antwi Boasiako has begun a campaign to redefine the historical tradition of the party.
The young and energetic Regional Chairman of the party wants the party's tradition, currently known as Danquah-Busia-Dombo to be known and called Danquah-Busia-Dombo-Akoto tradition, in recognition of the invaluable role played by the late Chief Linguist of the Asante Kingdom, Baffour Osei Akoto.
The late Chief Linguist (Akyeamehene) is credited with the formation of the National Liberation Movement (NLM) which together with the Northern People's Party later metamorphosed into the now New Patriotic Party.
The late Baffour Akoto, who was incarcerated by the CPP regime headed by Ghana's first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, was said to have sacrificed his life for the survival of the UP tradition.
History has it that the seed money of 7,000.00 pounds was donated by the then Ashanti King to set the tone for the formation of the NLM whose idea was masterminded by the late Baffour Osei Akoto.
Since then the NPP tradition has been known and called Danquah-Busia-Dombo with the name of Baffour Akoto Osei conspicuously missing.
However, several years down the line, it appears that history maybe rewritten with the Ashanti Regional Chairman pushing an agenda to get the facts corrected.
The young and energetic Chairman Wontumi is reportedly preparing to send petitions to the various hierarchies of the party including the National Executive Committee, National Council of Elders, Office of the President-elect, Regional Executive Committee and all other hierarchies within the party.
Chairman Wontumi, in justifying his decision, alluded to the famous speech made by the National Chairman of the Council of Elders, Mr. C. K Tedam, during the party's National Congress in Tamale, where he played glowing tribute to the late Chief Linguist for his role and influence resulting in a successful alliance leading to the formation of the NPP.
Mr. Tedam in his speech made reference to how both leaderships of the NLM and the Northern People's Party unanimously agreed to make the late Chief Linguist the leader of the alliance because of his political experience and organizational competence.
Source: Chris Joe Quaicoe/ email: [email protected]
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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Former President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA) is asking President John Mahama to render an apology to ex-President and founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Jerry John Rawlings.
Sam Okudzeto says the outgoing President in his last State of the Nation Address Thursday must express regret for the way in which he caused the NDC an embarrassment in the just ended December 7 elections.
In an interview with Joy News Wednesday, he argued that Mr Mahama's loss constitutes a vote of no confidence on his leadership.
Mr Okudzeto advised the outgoing president not to be lured into running as a presidential candidate of the party in 2020
According to him, although the 1992 Constitution which prescribes two four-year term limits for presidents, it would be politically unwise if Mr Mahama runs as he can only govern for one term, which will be a continuation of his first term in official which ends on January 7.
Source: Joy News
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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Mr. Samuel A. Jinapor is a famous young New Patriotic Party (NPP) Politician and a Qualified Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana. He graduated from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics with specialisation in Biomedical Physics.
His intellectual thirst and political aspirations led him to enrol to be trained as a lawyer, which aspiration he successfully accomplished. Consequently, he was called to the Ghana Bar in the year 2012.
As a newly enrolled lawyer, he had his pupillage with a reputable commercial and corporate law firm, Messrs. Kulendi @ Law from October 2012 to August 2013 where he studied under the tutelage of Yonny Kulendi, a renowned Lawyer in Ghana.
His eager desire for personal advancement and diligence saw him being hired as an Associate of the law firm Messrs. Kulendi @ Law. Whilst with Kulendi @ Law, Mr. Jinapor acted as a transactional lawyer for several complex commercial negotiations.
He is one of the finest advocates for the firm in the law courts across the country. As a lawyer, Mr. Jinapor has developed a great capacity for quick thinking and oratory; he has acted as an advocate in prime commercial and corporate Litigation.
Notable among them was his participation as a member of the team of lawyers who acted for the National Communications Authority (NCA) in a dispute relating to the NCAs policy for Inter-Connect Clearing House.
He has risen to become a Senior Associate and in that capacity he periodically gets assigned to manage a team of lawyers from diverse backgrounds. Over the years he has had the rare responsibility for representing major foreign companies in Ghana as a Solicitor and legal advocate.
Mr. Jinapor skilfully and diligently led a team of lawyers to successfully negotiate a commercial dispute between a reputable Emirati Company and the State Housing Company of Ghana (SHC) in a very complex commercial dispute. He is highly respected and admired by his juniors, colleagues and seniors at the firm due to his excellent inter personal relations as well as his consummate leadership skills.
His interest in Public issues encouraged him to join politics in 2004 and he has since been a widely known Political Activist. His first International Political exposure came when he had the privilege and honour to accompany the then President of the Republic, His Excellency John Agyekum Kuffour on his famous State visit to the United Kingdom in 2007 as a Communication Aide.
Subsequently, he became a Campaign Aide to His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the famous 2007 NPP Presidential Primaries. He held this position to the NPP Presidential Candidate for both the 2008 and 2012 General Elections.
In the recently held 2016 General Elections, Mr. Jinapor played a major Political Advocacy and Activism role for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its Presidential Candidate Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. He was seen and heard on the major media and campaign platforms across the country, taking on the Mahama administration and promoting the policies of his party.
A task he executed brilliantly with enormous courage and tenacity, thereby earning the admiration of many. Mr. Jinapor is reputed as a highly driven and dynamic rising young man, energetic, intelligent and resourceful; he combines effective communication skills with detailed legal knowledge to identify commercial opportunities and deliver a satisfactory outcome whilst working alone and as part of a larger team.
Mr. Jinapor is expected to earn a Masters Degree in Law (LLM) in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) from the Faculty of Law, University Of Ghana, sometime in May, 2017. In the course of his current studies, he has successfully undertaken academic sessions in International Commercial Arbitration, Labour law, Law and Society amongst many others.
He is happily married to Mrs. Naada B.D. Jinapor, a Lawyer with the Corporate Law Department of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT). Their marriage is blessed with a daugther.
Source: Chris Joe Quaicoe/ email: [email protected]
Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
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Following recent calls on John Dramani Mahama to reappear for the 2020 flagbearership of the NDC, it is unclear whether he will make a comeback or not in the future.
Recent comments from the partys National Organizer, Kofi Adams and MP for Odododiodoo, Hon. Nii Lante Vanderpuije, seem to suggest that President John Mahama would be forced to run for the presidency in the next general elections.
Mr. Kofi Adams in his submission on a radio station based in Accra made it known that he will be leading a campaign to ensure President John Mahama is made candidate for election 2020.
In his view, the outgoing president is the NDCs sure bet for power in the 2020 general elections. Just after his submission, Hon. Nii Lante Vanderpuije also served notice that President John Mahama will return as the NDCs presidential candidate in the 2020 elections, despite a humiliating defeat in the December polls.
But attempts by aforementioned individuals to forcefully get the outgoing president to lead the NDC is nothing but rather, an attempt to impose John Mahama on us, Alhaji Dori has told Peacefmonline.com.
According to Alhaji Dori who is a former parliamentary aspirant for Bawku Central, considering the magnitude of defeat the NDC suffered in the hands of the NPP at the just ended elections, its imperative for their leaders not to make any move of imposing any candidate on the rank and file of the party.
He added that what the party needs now is serious introspection and reorganization. This in his view should be done if they want to make any significant progress ahead of 2020.
He explained to Peacefmonline.com that power, has moved from the dictates of leadership to the core supporters of the party and this was exhibited with the high apathy among NDC members during the just ended general elections.
Alhaji Dori is therefore calling on the leadership of the NDC party to be circumspect in the mode of selecting a candidate who will lead the NDC in 2020 and urges that the contest must be a free for all competent candidates who wish to show up for the flagbearership of the party.
Source: Chris Joe Quaicoe/ email: [email protected]
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New York, NY , Jan. 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The New York City Regional Center is pleased to announce the repayment of its $60 million EB-5 loan used to assist the continued redevelopment of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York Citys largest industrial park. The borrower of the EB-5 capital was the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. The $60 million investment and resulting job creation enabled 359 individuals (EB-5 investors and family members) to receive permanent residency in the United States under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. They are among the more than 2,400 individuals who have achieved permanent residency in the United States through New York City Regional Center offerings to date.
The $60 million of EB-5 capital helped fund a key phase of redevelopment at the Brooklyn Navy Yard (Navy Yard), an industrial park owned by the City of New York. Over the past few years, the City of New York has embarked on the largest expansion of the Navy Yard in 65 years. The redevelopment of the Navy Yard is a key element of the Citys plan to refurbish its industrial manufacturing sector and create additional jobs.
The $60 million loan from the New York City Regional Center provided much needed capital for the renovation of a 215,000 square foot industrial building that was previously used as a machine shop for the United States Navy during World War II but had sat vacant for decades. The project transformed the building, now named the Green Manufacturing Center, into New York Citys leading hub for green manufacturing and sustainable design. EB-5 capital was also used to assist with surrounding infrastructure improvements in the Navy Yard such as the building of new roads, water and sewer lines, and pile foundations and bulkhead walls to allow for the continued use of dry docks and adjacent berths to support maritime activity in the New York harbor.
The repayment of the $60 million loan is a major event for the 120 EB-5 investors in this offering, said Paul Levinsohn, Managing Principal of the New York City Regional Center. We take seriously our role in spurring job creation and economic development in New York City as well as our responsibility to assist our EB-5 investors and their families. We extend our best wishes to them on their continued journey.
We are pleased that our first loan in the Navy Yard has been repaid, added George L. Olsen, Managing Principal of the New York City Regional Center. This repayment is a milestone for our company and for our EB-5 investors and their families.
The repaid $60 million loan is one of seven New York City Regional Center EB-5 loans totaling $339 million being used for critical projects in the Navy Yard. Since 2009, EB-5 capital from the New York City Regional Center has directly helped implement a broad range of new construction, infrastructure and building improvements, and the renovation of over 1.2 million square feet of vacant and dilapidated buildings in the Navy Yard.
Over the past eight years, the New York City Regional Center has provided over $300 million of financing to fund a series of job-creating projects in the Navy Yard. We are pleased to play an integral role in the transformation of this industrial park. said Mr. Levinsohn.
The New York City Regional Center was approved by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2008 to secure foreign investment for real estate and infrastructure projects within Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. It was the first EB-5 regional center approved in New York City and has secured over $1.3 billion of capital for 21 economic development projects throughout the city.
In addition to projects in the Navy Yard, the New York City Regional Center has provided capital to assist with the redevelopment of the George Washington Bridge Bus Station and the construction of a wireless infrastructure network in New York Citys subway stations. The New York City Regional Center is providing capital for the redevelopment of a new cargo facility at JFK International Airport and the construction of Fresh Directs new headquarters in the South Bronx. New York City Regional Center funding is also being used for construction of the City Point development in downtown Brooklyn, a new medical office/hotel complex in Washington Heights, and the expansion of the Hutchinson Metro Center in the Bronx. The New York City Regional Center is securing capital to help fund the construction of LinkNYC, the public-private initiative that is bringing the nations largest and fastest public Wi-Fi network to the streets of New York City.
In addition to helping fuel economic development, New York City Regional Center offerings have enabled over 2,400 individuals to become permanent residents of the United States through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. To date, investors in its offerings have received over 2,340 I-526 petition approvals and over 800 I-829 approvals. Over 5,000 EB-5 investors and family members in New York City Regional Center offerings have also received conditional residency in the United States.
We are extremely proud of our track record over the past eight years. We look forward to continuing this success for our investors and their families, said Mr. Olsen.
For more information about the New York City Regional Center, please visit www.nycrc.com.
In whats got to be a record-setting breakout story, over one hundred and fifty Filipino inmates have escaped following a violent prison raid on the southern island of Mindanao overnight.
The breakout at a Kidapawan City prison, located near President Rodrigo Dutertes home town of Davao, has already claimed the life of one guard and injured one prisoner.
Officials say the majority of escapees left out the back of the jail, which housed a total of 1,511 inmates, while guards fought armed intruders out the front.
Two of the escaped 158 prisoners have since been recaptured, and the Philippine army has now police in hunting down remaining prisoners and attackers.
The leader of a village several kilometres from the prison, Alexander Austria, has claimed responsibility for one of these recaptures. He said he immediately posted guards after hearing gunfire:
We heard the gunfire and we sprang into action to guard our village. We were afraid the escapees could try to enter our village to hide or take hostages.
While previous insurgents have ranged from communist to Islamist rebels, authorities have yet to reveal who is responsible for the raid.
However, Xinhuas news agency quotes a witness saying that black-suited and heavily armed attackers stormed the jail in a bid to free specific inmates serving sentences for murder and illegal drugs.
Duterte, it needs to be said, has been especially brutal (and arguably inefficient) in his war on drugs: over 5000 people have been legally killed by police since he came into office on June 30.
The resulting fear has led to hundreds of thousands of addicts and drug dealers turning themselves into already over-crowded prisons like Kidapawan jail and stretching treatment centres thin.
Source: ABC.
Photo: Getty.
Dreams Gentlemen Club has been inundated with angry messages after news broke yesterday that a British dancers body was left inside the Melbourne strip club for up to 12 hours before the authorities were alerted.
Stacey Tierney, 29, from Manchester, was found dead inside the strip club on the Monday before Christmas (December 23) last year, but news only broke after her family in the UK had been informed this past Monday.
Its believed shed been partying with several unidentified men in the club which is closed on Sundays and Mondays the night before.
Since news broke of Tierneys death, Dreams Facebook page has been flooded by angry comments.
Putting your reputation and appearance over the value of that young womans life? wrote Eleanor Norma. Im disgusted that you havent even acknowledged what has happened, shame on you. Stop deleting peoples posts RE: the death of Stacey Tierney, wrote Mao Bedford. Your establishment has so far made zero public acknowledgement of the fact that this has even happened. This is a beyond shameful and beyond disrespectful way for you to be responding. Shame on you all carrying on like nothing has happened, wrote Lorraine Smith-Ngamoki. Rest in peace beautiful lady.
The club has yet to make a public statement about Tierneys death, despite repeated requests (including from PEDESTRIAN.TV) to do so. However, it has updated its Facebook page once since news broke, to advertise its Sexy Poker Tuesdays.
Despite News Corp reports this morning that the homicide squad had joined the investigation, a spokesperson for Victoria Police confirmed to P.TV that the investigation is still being carried out by the crime squad.
Detectives are waiting for toxicology reports to determine the cause of death, which could take to six weeks from when Tierneys body was found.
Photos: Facebook.
It was very depressing to see One Nation make a surprising resurgence in the 2016 election, but weve been able to take comfort in one simple fact: they are wildly, wildly terrible at their jobs.
Since July, their supposed mighty return to power has been plagued by infighting and surprise discoveries that their huge swathe of unvetted candidates was full of people even too weird to join their elite cadre of climate-change-denying halalophobes.
December saw them experience a steep 25% decrease in Senators, as the well and truly embattled Rod Culleton pulled up stumps due to an ongoing clash with Pauline Hanson and also pretty much everything around him.
Culleton was yesterday taken to hospital after an incident that took place after a court visit in which he attempted to secure a restraining order against two of his former associates. He injured his wrist after falling over in a fracas caused by former WA parliamentarian Anthony Fels attempting to serve him bankruptcy documents, which very nearly resulted in a biff:
Former One Nation senator Rod Culleton has been taken to hospital after a fight outside the Perth Magistrates Court #7News pic.twitter.com/IdhqL0KaCs 7 News Queensland (@7NewsQueensland) January 4, 2017
Because this could barely get more farcical, it turns out Anthony Fels had nominated as a One Nation candidate for Western Australia which was really only a matter of time, as he has previously run for the Liberal Party, Katters Australian Party, Family First, the Mutual Party and as an independent.
In an attempt to maintain some of the trace amounts of dignity the party has left, Pauline Hanson heavily distanced herself from Fels:
I heard about it, I heard about it last night and I am not impressed with it all. Anthony Fels, let me just make it quite clear, Anthony Fels had a meeting with me, at the request of people who know him, to actually stand as a candidate no one has been endorsed as a candidate in Western Australia, because the party has not been registered yet. I am not impressed with it all. He was serving papers, it was nothing to do with One Nation, it is a civil matter.
What a time to be alive.
Source: The Age.
Photo: Getty Images / Lisa Maree Williams.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has partnered with Paramount Pictures to herald the ~explosive~ release of xXx: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE, in cinemas January 19. Keep reading to find out how you could score an epic trip to one of the flicks filming locations, the Dominican Republic.
Exhibit A:
Look, were not complaining about it quite the opposite in fact. All things marvellously mediocre only make more impressive feats all the more, yknow, impressive.
One such example of something thats so impressive youd get on the blower to mum and tell her about it is the third release in the xXx franchise, xXx: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE. To celebrate this anything-but-mediocre release, weve partnered with Paramount Pictures to giveaway a trip to one of the locations the movie was filmed at, the Dominican Republic.
If youre yet to see what xXx: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE is all about, then prepare to crack a sweat over its yugggeeeeee trailer below:
As you can see the movie stars more A-Listers than you could poke a bloody stick at, including: Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson, Toni Collette, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Nina Dobrev, Ruby Rose & Tony Jaa. KEEN.
Anyway, reckon youre interested in winning an ace vaycay to the Dominican Republic ft. 2 x flights, 8 x nights accommodation in Cabarete, a scenic dirt bike adventure, a 4,500 zipline through the mofking jungle with a 60-feet free fall into an ancient cave, a 4X4 back road excursion, fly boarding + insurance for all the aforementioned and soooo much more?
OF COURSE YA ARE (its valued at over $12K which is insanity), but we need a lil something from you first. Heres how to enter:
1. Film a Fully S!ck Stunt. This can be anything ranging from the aforementioned water bottle throw, to standing on your head whilst surfing (just do us a solid and not hurt yourself in the process, aight?).
2. Upload your Fully S!ck Stunt to Instagram using the hashtag #PTVxXxStuntz.
3. Sit around the house all day imagining yourself running amuck in the Dominican Republic while waiting to see if youve won or not.
Simples, right? Fantastic. We look forward to laughing at your ridiculous entries in the near future.
GOOD LUCK, FAM.
Terms & Conditions: HERE.
Photo: @Mike_senatore / Twitter.
Re: The antique violins found in the man's attic in northern France were [ #permalink
1 Bookmarks
Join us as we look back on some of the most-impactful testimonies shared with us this year on VOM Radio.
Well hear from Dale Rhoton of Operation Mobilizationone of the first Westerners to visit VOMs founder, Pastor Richard Wurmbrand, after Richards release from prison in Romania. Well hear how God used a nameless woman walking along a road in Kenya to grab the heart of an American woman, Jami Staples, to reach Muslims for Christ. Well hear from Bob and Kasey, who left behind an American-dream retirement to serve Muslims half-a-world away. Well hear from two gospel workersHannelie Groenewald and Nik Ripkenwho experienced gut-wrenching loss while serving overseas, yet found God faithful even in that loss. And well hear how a passion for Gods Word kept John and Karen Short connected to Him and to each other, even while John was detained in the worlds most-closed country.
Your faith will be inspired by the faithfulness and courage of these brothers and sistersand by how God worked through each of them to further His Kingdom aims. (Note that you can hear our entire conversations with each of these guests by searching in the VOM Radio archives.)
Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast on iTunes or Google Play Music.
One Man's Opinion: In a sea of spam, where are our true leaders?
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Analysts bullish on 2017 Natural Gas prices
Some analysts see bullish case on Mexico pipelines, LNG export
NEW YORK
Petroleumworld.com 01 04 2017
Here's why analysts are bullish on gas despite new year jitters
Natural gas prices may have faltered in the first trading day of the year, but some analysts are still bullish on the outlook for 2017.
With demand for the power-plant fuel surpassing coal for the first time in the U.S. and exports soaring, a years-long glut from shale formations has finally been erased. Now, all natural gas needs is a good, cold winter.
Traders are watching closely to see how the commodity, which recorded its biggest rally in 11 years after stockpiles fell below their five-year average, holds up against a warm weather forecast running through Jan. 17, typically the coldest time of year. Tim Evans, an analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York, said he believes the stockpile deficit could even grow as winter plays out through the end of January and into February.
Demand is up and supply is down," Evans said in a telephone interview. It pays to watch the details of what we've got going on the supply side, on the export levels to Mexico and the exports of LNG.
Gas futures on Tuesday plunged by the most in almost three years after forecasts released earlier for a deep freeze across the U.S. suddenly turned milder. Prior to that point, gas prices were expected to average $3.18 per million British thermal units, a 25 percent increase over 2016, based on median of 22 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Gas futures traded little changed at $3.330 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:53 p.m. in Hong Kong.
Still, Evans remains unfazed. If we do get another cycle of cold this winter, say later in January or into February, then natural gas prices are going to go back on the upswing in a volatile fashion. This is what natural gas trading entails: we rally for three weeks and drop like a rock."
In 2016, gas deliveries to Mexico swelled by 31 percent from January through October year- over-year, to a record 1.1 trillion cubic feet, according to the most recent Energy Information Administration data. This occurred as Mexico deregulated its energy market, making it easier to develop pipeline projects to meet the demand of power companies seeking to switch to a lower cost, less dirty fuel.
In May, low-cost shale gas began heading south via Petroleos Mexicanos's Los Ramones Phase II pipeline, projected to boost U.S. gas deliveries south of the border by as much as 22 percent, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Forget about Mexico paying for a border wall," said Stephen Schork, president of the Schork Group Inc., an energy consulting company in Villanova, Pennsylvania. "They're building pipeline infrastructure to import more U.S. gas. We're finally getting around to a really robust demand scenario for U.S. gas supply.
Meanwhile, gas cargoes from Cheniere Energy Inc.'s Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana, which became operational in February, have headed to South America, the Middle East and Asia, the world's biggest LNG market. More than half of U.S. LNG export capacity slated to be online by 2020 has been contracted to Asian buyers as a recent expansion of the Panama Canal cuts travel time to the region, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Domestic U.S. gas use is also on the rise. The nation's power plants are burning record amounts of the fuel as coal-fired plants shut in response to environmental regulations and competition from cheap gas and renewable energy. New plants that produce fertilizer and methanol, used to make plastics and other chemical products, are also cropping up along the Gulf Coast, sending gas consumption higher.
While warmer winter temperatures will continue to be a major risk to a 2017 gas rally, shale supply also is a concern. Production dropped last year as drillers cut costs after prices tumbled to historic lows in March, but output has started to recover. The number of rigs drilling for gas in the U.S. has jumped more than 60 percent after sliding in August to the lowest in data going back to 1987, data from Baker Hughes Inc. show.
Still, the stockpile deficit won't disappear anytime soon, according to Bank of America Corp.
The U.S. natural balance is tightening rapidly on falling production and strong structural demand growth, especially from LNG export facilities, Bank of America analysts led by Francisco Blanch in New York said in a note to clients Dec. 8. Stocks will likely normalize by the end of this winter and then move to a large deficit by end of October, which may last well into 2018.
Moody's: Global oil, natural gas prices to remain volatile in 2017
Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin
Moody's Investors Service said in a press release that global oil and natural gas prices are expected to remain volatile again in 2017.
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 01 04 2017
Global oil and natural gas prices are expected to remain volatile again in 2017, but fluctuate within the $40-60 per barrel range, Moody's Investors Service said in a press release on Tuesday.
"The rating agency's oil and natural gas price estimates within a medium-term oil price band of $40-$60/bbl for both Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude globally and in North America remain unchanged for 2017-19 from its November 2016 update," the release stated. "Moody's expects prices to remain volatile within this band."
In North America, the incoming Trump administration is expected to prioritize domestic oil and coal production, benefiting energy infrastructure projects in the short-term.
Russia's agreement to cut oil production is unlikely to hurt its oil companies, but Latin American companies will continue to face funding risk for several years due to tight market conditions, according to Moody's. The oilfield services and drilling sector will likely be constrained globally by weak demand, overcapacity and high debt levels, the release also said.
Amber Robles-Gordon's My Rainbow is Enuf at the African American Museum's 'i found god in myself: the 40th anniversary of Ntozake Shange for colored girls' Read more
The African American Museum in Philadelphia is giving us another chance to see the i found god in myself: the 40th anniversary of Ntozake Shange for colored girls exhibit. But this is your last chance to go see it. And you should definitely go.
The show celebrates the 40th anniversary of Ntozake Shange's award-winning for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, the landmark poem and play featuring women of color, represented by various hues, reciting monologues that touch on race, gender, sexuality, and love.
i found god in myself was created by Harlem journalist and curator Souleo, who first put on the show in 2014 with only 20 works. In collaboration with the African American Museum, the show expanded to more than 40 pieces in which the artists take on their own interpretations or translations of Shange's pieces.
In addition to the exhibit, the African American Museum will host a screening Friday of For Colored Girls, a 1982 PBS video version of for colored girls, featuring Alfre Woodard and Lynn Whitfield.
We sat down with Souleo and asked him about the must-see pieces in the exhibit.
"Pickin'," Lauren Kelley
It's a strong, powerful image of a black woman that made me think of a fighter and an activist. It also highlights the major issue in the black community when it comes to how we define "good hair."
"The Market," Gregory Saint Amand
I selected it because I wanted to reference these global issues that face women, when we talk about economic disparity and unequal pay. Gregory was born in New York but raised in Haiti. He understands firsthand the effects of poverty on the psyche. Her face is stoic, somber, but there's a strength and vulnerability within that as well. He surrounds her with pastels and light colors that juxtaposes with her and the overall heavy subject matter.
"Isolation Refreshed 4," Noelle Lorraine Williams w/Stafford Woods
There's a sense of hope. When you look at postindustrial or postriot places, women from these communities get seen as poor and rundown. You see this woman going through this place that's dilapidated, but she finds the beauty within her community and herself.
"A Night with Beau Willie Brown," Michael Paul Britto
This poem is powerful. It's about Beau Willie Brown coming from the war. He has PTSD and he's violent. He's abusive to his woman. Through these bottles, [Britto] narrates their story. From when they fall in love, to the abuse, and when he throws the kids out the window. ... He did a really powerful job of staying true to the text and highlighting the issues of mental health, violence, and alcoholism.
"no assistance," Kathleen Granados
Lady in Red is ending a love affair where she felt devalued. I love that Kathleen touched on this universal notion of heartbreak. The piece with the heart open and crochet strings dangling shows that she's been broken apart, but she's putting herself back together.
"Harlem Elder Diva Speaks," Dindga McCannon
A lot of times, the older you get, the more invisible you get to society. What Dindga did was highlight the strength and wisdom from a woman who has been through things but can share her wisdom with others.
"Teamo mas que," Melissa Calderon
This is a powerful image of rebirth and renewal, hope and passion. Dr. Shange's text always references music, and this was a great way to highlight that.
"darkmuskoilegyptiancrystals&floridawater," Beau McCall
It represents Lady in Red after she's been with her lover. She asks her lover to leave and has a spiritual bath. Beau brings it to life with decorative buttons. It's a sanctuary of inner peace and self-love. From a technical standpoint, to sew buttons through a caste-iron bathtub is mind-boggling.
"My Rainbow is Enuf," Amber Robles-Gordon
If there's any piece that represents the entire concept [of the exhibit], it is this. All of the different ladies are represented by the different colors in the rainbow. When people look at it, they immediately want to jump in front of it and embrace it and hopefully embrace themselves. It's a rainbow of hope. I also think of the LGBT community, which played a large part in ushering in for colored girls.
"Stuff," Dianne Smith
She has three video pieces. In one of them, she's reciting the poem while showing images of the stuff in her studio/apartment that she uses to express herself.
The second video has her interviewing women talking about what has been taken from them financially or healthwise. The last one shows images of [Diane] after domestic violence. She shows her bruised eye and stats on domestic violence.
[The piece is] surrounded by butcher paper and cardboard, thrown-away things that get taken for granted. It makes me think of the black woman's body and how it's viewed in society. She's taking these things and finding beauty and strength in them. [It's the] journey of unpacking and understanding of our lives and not taking ourselves for granted or letting anyone else do it.
Through Sunday, African American Museum of Philadelphia, 701 Arch St. Free with admission, 215-574-0380 ext. 225, www.aampmuseum.org.
Well, the last ditch Electoral College flipping effort went nowhere. So at the end of the month, Donald Trump will be sworn in as president at an inauguration that, I don't know, RATT will play at. Take a little time to consider the idiocy of it all, but don't forget that the actual work of resisting a Trump presidency begins now. To help you along with that, here are a few actions you can get involved with in January:
Dump Trump Crawl
Soon, Donald Trump will control America's vast nuclear arsenal and massive security apparatus. Even before he gets sworn in though, he also controls a whole bunch of real estate around the city. The Dump Trump Crawl will therefore march past a number of Trump-branded and affiliated buildings uptown, including Trump Tower, the East 57th Street Niketown and the Vornado Partnership building to "highlight his conflicts of interests, and his inappropriate and dangerous cabinet picks."
FREE, 5 p.m., January 5th, Trump Park Avenue, 502 Park Avenue
Bridges and Powerlines, The Aye-Ayes, Stereo Off Planned Parenthood/ACLU Benefit
Planned Parenthood and the ACLU will be two groups in need of your help during the coming wave of repression of both reproductive and free speech rights. Helping them out can be more fun than filling out an online donation form though, and in the first of many benefits for both organizations this month, you can listen to some good old fashioned indie pop live while also getting a nice warm feeling in your chest knowing that the proceeds from the show will be split between both groups.
$8/$10, 8 p.m., January 6th, Union Hall, 702 Union Street
Bystander Intervention/De-escalation Workshop
Did you miss last month's class on what to do if you see someone getting harassed on the street? Lucky you, here's a second chance to learn from the same organizer, Rachel S Blum Levy. Like last month, you can learn the four D's of intervention: direct, distract, delay, and delegate, so that you can help out your fellow New Yorker without having the situation devolve into violence and chaos. Just make sure you RSVP, people are real interested in this for some reason.
FREE, 6 p.m., January 7th, SOHO20 Gallery, 56 Bogart Street
Day Against Denial
Denial...it's not just a river in Egypt! It's also a shortsighted worldview that puts profits ahead of human survival as people say "Well if it's snowing I sure can use some of that global warming" as if it's funny or original. Climate justice organization 350 is sponsoring rallies against Trump's Cabinet picks who are friendly to Big Oil, like Rex Tillerson and Rick Perry. Here in NYC you can either join up with crowds putting pressure on Chuck Schumer in front of his Park Slope home, or get slightly less personal by rallying outside of the Manhattan office he shares with fellow New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Either way, the message will be the same: keep climate change skeptics and deniers out of the decision-making process.
FREE, 12:30 p.m. (Manhattan rally) or 7 p.m. (Brooklyn rally), January 9th
ResistTrumpTuesdays: Senator Schumer: Resist Trump
If you can't make it out to the rallies against Trump's Cabinet picks on Monday, there's also one on Tuesday. This march, from Grand Army Plaza down past Schumer's home, will be less focused specifically on people like Rex Tillerson and more focused on a general message of telling Schumer to keep that spine he seems to have found.
FREE, 6 p.m., January 10th, Grand Army Plaza
Decolonize the Resistance
On the other hand, maybe you aren't a huge Chuck Schumer fan and instead of rallying on his turf to let him know you want him to stand strong against Trump, you just want to tell him to get out of the way and let more marginalized people take the lead. In that case, there's this other march that's also going from Grand Army Plaza to Schumer's home that's happening in order to let Schumer, and the people putting their faith in him, know that it isn't just Trump and Schumer who are the problem but that "white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, and imperialism are the problem."
FREE, 6 p.m., January 10th, Grand Army Plaza
NASTY WOMEN Exhibition
Put the claim that a Trump administration will mean there's some great art to the test at this four day art exhibition featuring "artists who identify with being a Nasty Woman in the face of recent and ongoing threats to womens rights." Self-identifying nasty women are invited to submit artwork to the show to be sold for $100 or less, with all the proceeds going towards Planned Parenthood. While the exhibition will be free during the day, Friday and Saturday nights will feature concerts that benefit the Callen-Lorde Community Heath Center and the New York Immigration Coalition on Friday and Girls for Gender Equity and SisterSong on Saturday.
January 12th - January 15th, Knockdown Center, 52-19 Flushing Avenue
Health Care Justice Rally
Donald Trump and Paul Ryan might be plotting to dismantle ObamaCare and Medicare to replace it with a series of coupon books for all Americans, but that doesn't mean you still can't rally for a single payer option. Medicare for All advocates will be gathering in front of Trump Tower to do just that, and who knows, it might even scare a few Republican legislators into defecting. A boy can dream...
FREE, January 13th, 4 p.m., Trump Tower, 725 5th Avenue
Queens United Against Trump Rally
What better way to make an egoist like Trump feel some shame then by joining up with a rally where his home borough tells him to go screw? So head to the Jamaica Colosseum Mall for a rally against the rhetoric that Trump and America's resurgent far-right have turned mainstream, and meet up with some like-minded folks you can build a larger movement with.
FREE, 1 p.m., January 14th, Jamaica Colosseum Mall, 89-02 165th Street
Poets Against Trump
So, you know, reading poetry about how Trump is a piece of shit and you hope Jared Kushner gets cholera isn't the same as marching in the streets against the police state. On the other hand, damn, look at this inspiring picture of Woody Guthrie. Maybe you've got something inspiring to say, maybe you just want to hear some inspiring things said to you. Either way, Poets Against Trump will be gathering folks on the front steps of City Halls across the country, and New York is no exception. Go forth and snap, man.
FREE, 1 p.m., January 15th, City Hall
Plan B: A Benefit For Planned Parenthood
It's going to be a challenging four years, so you may as well get your laughs in while you can. In the first of the month's two big comedy benefits, the likes of 2 Dope Queens' Phoebe Robinson, SNL's Julio Torres, and The Chris Gethard Show's Jo Firestone will tell you some jokes, some of which might not even be about our coming right-wing nightmare, with proceeds from the show going towards your friends at Planned Parenthood.
$20, 7 p.m., January 16th, The Bell House, 149 7th Street
Bay Ridge March Against Hate
Hate crimes are up in the city since the election, so the people of Bay Ridge are joining together with their neighbors to speak out against them on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Starting at the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, marchers will move up Fifth Avenue, all to show that "Trumps rhetoric against Muslims, immigrants, women, people of color, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ community, workers and the environment do not represent the values of the Bay Ridge community."
FREE, 1 p.m., January 16th, Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, 6807 5th Avenue
#GetOrganizedBK
Like he's been doing since the election, Councilman Brad Lander will be getting together with any citizens who want to show up and talk through ideas on how to resist the Trump agenda or meet other activists.
FREE, 7 p.m., January 16th, Congregation Beth Elohim, Corner of Garfield Place and 8th Avenue
No More Deaths Benefit Art Auction
Could you sad bare walls use some nice art to spruce things up a bit? Well, even if that's not the case because you've already got a ton of art, buying one more piece at this benefit couldn't hurt. The night's proceeds from ticket sales and art sales will go towards No More Death/No Mas Muertes, a group that directly assists migrants as they cross the border rather than just leaving them there to die. Plus, beyond the chance to hobnob with Downtown art people for a good cause, you can also eat and drink courtesy of Roberta's, Bloomer Creek Vineyards and Alphabet City Brewing Company.
$25, 7 p.m., January 18th, Salon 94 Freemans, 1 Freeman Alley
Stand Up With Mary Review
Mary Review, a magazine written and produced completely by women invites you to hear stories about defiance from writers and activists like Subway Book Review creator Uli Beutter Cohen and the New York State Youth Leadership Council's Angy Paola Rivera. Then, stick around to hear a panel discussion about how the press can hold the government accountable featuring journalist Masha Gessen and others.
FREE, 7 p.m., January 18th, The Ace Hotel, 20 West 29th Street
Resist Trump: Student walkout and rally on Inauguration Day
The Democrats are alright I guess, but if you're sick of compromise, you can do worse than joining up with the Socialist Alternative for a march against the border wall, DAPL, and sexism, and in favor of Black Lives Matter and taxing millionaires.
FREE, 5 p.m., January 20th, Foley Square (111 Worth Street)
The UNaugural Ball
Down in DC, oil lobbyists and weapons salesmen and other merchants of deaths will be eating little cocktails weenies and posing for pictures with each other as they talk about how they'll get rich off of human suffering at one inauguration party or another. Where there's darkness, there must be light though, so if you've got the scratch for a fancy black tie ball and want it to go towards something good, hit up the UNaugural Ball, where 100% of the money from ticket sales will support the ACLU, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Resources Defense Council and Planned Parenthood.
$100-$250, 9 p.m., January 20th, The Bowery Hotel, 335 Bowery
Nasty Women and Bad Hombres
That being said, if you don't have black tie-ball money, I get it. If you want to help Planned Parenthood and still have a good time though, you can hit up the back room at Freddy's, where $20 gets you in to a burlesque and comedy performance. Just think about how much Mike Pence hates the open celebration of human sexuality. He hates it so much.
$20, 8 p.m., January 20th, Freddy's Bar, 627 5th Avenue, Brooklyn
Anti-Inauguration Ball
If you were wondering how the city's free jazz and experimental jazz community, this anti-Trump party on Inauguration Day should tell you. This marathon concert and dance party featuring the city's best free and experimental jazz artists is free to attend, but will have laptops set up allowing you to donate to organizations like the ACLU, LAMDA Legal, Planned Parenthood, Hollaback!, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
FREE, 7 p.m., January 20th, DiMenna Center for Classical Music, 450 West 37th Street
WHAT A JOKE: A National Comedy Festival Supporting The ACLU Inauguration Weekend
The month's other big comedy benefit will help out the ACLU, which can usually use a helping hand anyway and will really need more funding to fight a president who is openly contemptuous of press freedoms. You've got three chances to get some laughs and help out the cause, at shows around the city. First, on Friday January 19th, you can catch Janeane Garofalo, Emily Winter and more comics at The Stand for $40. On Friday, January 20th, the likes of Josh Gondelman, Jo Firestone and Brett Davis will help you look for laughs on Inauguration Day at The Annoyance Theater for $15. And finally, for $20 you can see six comedians, including Laurie Kilmartin and Dave Hill, who'll help you laugh through your dark thoughts on day two of the Trump administration at Rough Trade.
Women's March On NYC
Can't make it down to DC for the big march? Don't worry, you can participate in this localized version of the Women's March on DC. The Women's March on NYC will start in Midtown East and move up to Trump Tower, where protestors will make themselves heard non-violently. There are also plans for speakers and music according to the organizers, so look for more information on that going forward. Also make sure you register, so you know what time to show up exactly.
FREE, 11 a.m., January 21st, One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
Tower, Tournament, Fur Helmet, Fostercare, The Wilful Boys
At this Planned Parenthood Benefit not only can you listen to a bunch of rock and roll for pretty cheap, but you can also benefit yourself by winning a variety of raffles (which will also benefit Planned Parenthood, like some kind of virtuous cycle). Raffle sponsors include places like Allied Tattoo, The Levee, Anchored Inn and Worship, so if you want to help out but you also want to look cool or get drunk, this is the benefit for you.
$12, 8 p.m., January 27th, Shea Stadium, 20 Meadow Street
Before The Wall: A Benefit To Support Immigrant Communities
Shilpa Ray is a great rock and roll artist, and ordinarily I would always recommend going to see her. But especially when she's rocking out to benefit SAPNA, an organization that assists South Asian immigrant women with their health and economic opportunities, and Women for Aghan Women, a group that advocates for Afghan women both in Afghanistan and New York City.
$12 - $50, 7 p.m., January 27th, Littlefield, 622 Degraw Street
Are we missing YOUR anti-Trump organizing effort? Shoot a message to dave@gothamist.com and I'll thrown it on the list.
Photo by Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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If you wish to contact me for questions, collaboration inquiries, comments, suggestions, reviews or just about anything, please send an email to. I will try my best to reply quickly! Unless, of course, I'm on a trip! :D All rights reserved. All photos and content in this blog are owned by(unless otherwise stated). Parts of the articles may be excerpted (a link to this site should be provided), but not reproduced as a whole. Photos may not be used without permission. Thank you very much!Unless otherwise stated, I personally write my blog posts and it expresses my own thoughts and opinions. I pay for all the expenses of my trips (unless otherwise stated). I welcome collaborations and reviews as long as they are beneficial to my readers. All reviews on collaborations contain my own views and opinion and were not influenced by anyone. For inquiries, you may contact me here . Thank you very much!
2. Psyche is heading to a wicked-cool metal world.
In the main asteroid belt resides a one-of-a-kind (at least, so far as we've discovered) metal world named Psyche. It is composed of metallic iron and nickel, like Earth's core, and might have splatters of solid metal jutting off its surface.
Is Psyche the exposed inner core of what used to be a much larger planet that was battered by drive-by asteroid collisions? That's what Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the mission's principal investigator at Arizona State University in Tempe, hopes to find out.
"Out of our initial excitement, we just named our mission directly after what we're going to visitPsyche," she said.
Psyche launches in 2023 and arrives in 2030. Unlike Lucy, it will slow down and enter orbit.
3. Lucy and Psyche are NASA's first competitively selected planetary missions in more than four years.
The last time NASA greenlit a competitvely selected planetary science probe was 2012.
In August of that year, the agency announced the selection of Insight, a Mars geophysical monitoring station originally slated to launch in 2016. Due to a leaky vacuum seal in its main science instrument, Insight's launch was pushed to 2018.
If you're wondering what a competitively selected mission is, scroll ahead to number five.
4. As a refresher, here's a little background about planetary science mission types.
There are three classes of planetary science missions: Discovery, New Frontiers and flagship missions.
Lucy and Psyche are Discovery missions. These are the least expensive items on NASA's mission menu, and are cost-capped at less than $500 million, not including launch and operations costs. Twelve Discovery missions have flown thus far, starting with the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) probe in 1996.
New Frontiers missions are mid-tier, and have included New Horizons, Juno and OSIRIS-REx. The latter, now on its way to visit asteroid Bennu, has a price tag of about $800 million, including the cost of its Atlas V carrier rocket.
Finally, there are flagship missionsbig, agency programs that take a lot of resources. The Curiosity and Mars 2020 rovers are flagships, as is the proposed Europa mission.
5. Lucy and Psyche were competitively selectedmeaning some scientists got left out.
Lucy and Psyche were selected from an initial field of 27 Discovery mission contenders that was whittled down to five last year.
As Casey Dreier and Emily Lakdwalla wrote at the time, the Discovery program was originally supposed to offer flight opportunities every two years, but ongoing budget cuts to the agency's planetary science division have slowed that cadence.
The triumph of Lucy and Psyche, unfortunately, means three other missions were left on the table. One, the NEOCam asteroid hunting telescope, will continue to receive study funding for another year because it could be used to fulfill other NASA asteroid objectives.
The other two proposed missions would have headed to Venus, where an American probe has not been since Magellan entered orbit in 1990.
6. Lucy and Psyche are scientist-led missions.
Unlike flagship missions such as Curiosity, Discovery missions are managed more directly by their proposing teams.
Lucy PI Hal Levison is a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. SwRI will lead the overall science investigation. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is providing mission management, systems engineering, and safety and mission assurance, and the spacecraft will be built by Lockheed Martin.
Psyche's science team is located at Arizona State University; as is PI Lindy Elkins-Tanton. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California manages the Psyche mission. The spacecraft structure will be built by Space Systems / Loral.
7. Both spacecraft make use of heritage technologies.
When practical, NASA likes to use flight-proven hardwareoften referred to as heritage technology. There are multiple benefits; it's usually cheaper if you don't have to develop new components from scratch, and it's always good to know that something has already flown in space successfully.
Lucy uses enhanced versions of science instruments that flew on the New Horizons and OSIRIS-REx missions, and some of Lucy's team members also come from those programs.
The Psyche spacecraft itself is very Dawn-like in appearance, and uses solar-electric propulsiona technology vetted thoroughly during Dawn's ten-year mission.
8. The new missions have a Planetary Society connection.
I'd be remiss not to mention a Planetary Society connection to both missions: Our president, Jim Bell, is the deputy principal investigator for Psyche, and a co-investigator on Lucy.
Congratulations, Jim!
Ines Papert and Luka Lindic pull off first repeat of Pizzo Badile Nordest Supercombo
Winter mountaineering: Ines Papert reports about the first repeat of the ice and mixed climb Nordest Supercombo' (800m, M7, R) up the NE Face of Pizzo Badile, carried out on 30/12/2016 together with Luka Lindic
When conditions are ideal, you have to grasp the opportunity. In particular in winter, when a thin ice line may be perfect for only a couple of days a year. Germanys Ines Papert and Slovenias Luka Lindic know this all to well, and at the end of 2016 they lost little time to make the first repeat of Nordest Supercombo up the huge NE Face of Pizzo Badile. First climbed on 16 December 2016 by the Swiss duo David Hefti and Marcel Schenk, this line combines Via Cassin with Memento Mori. Papert and Lindic, who in autumn travelled to Kyrgyzstan to make the first ascent of Lost in China on Kyzyl Asker, descended via the North Ridge route. It is worth noting that along the Cassin route the two were joined by Luca Godenzi and Charly Micheli who made a rare winter repeat of this classic alpine outing. So Piz Badile, which generally speaking sees little action in winter, is suddenly the hotbed for feverish activity.
NORDEST SUPERCOMBO by Ines Papert
Luka and I have dismissed our family duties after Christmas for a short while and "escaped" to the NE Face of Piz Badile. Thanks to the great report wed read on planetmountain.com! Of course, were always on the lookout for new routes, but making a repeat can often be rewarding. And lines on steep north faces like this one are few and far between in the Alps. David Hefti and Marcel Schenk really came up trumps with Supercombo!
At first light on 30 December we set off up the Cassin route and followed this to where Supercombo branches off. We could hardly believe our eyes. Perfect ice all the way up to the summit, just enough to follow a thin sliver up the granite slabs. Conditions as perfect as these are a real Christmas present.
For Luka and myself 2016 was quite a year, with plenty of alpine highs but also some private lows, So watching the year come to an end together on one of the most beautiful summits in the Alps was all the more special. We reached the top at 17:00 with the last rays of light, below us the Alps unfolded glowing deep red. These are moments that help us understand why we continue to take to the mountains, again and again. There is no better place on earth to share plans for the upcoming year.
RELATED NEWS
23/12/2016 Pizzo Badile Nordest supercombo, new mixed combination by David Hefti and Marcel Schenk
On 16/12/2016 the two Swiss mountain guides David Hefti and Marcel Schenk climbed the ice and mixed combination 'Nordest supercombo' (800m, M7, R) a demanding line that joins Via Cassin with via Memento Mori up the NE Face of Pizzo Badile.
The following blog post was originally posted on the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS) website.
A painting depicting law enforcement as "pigs" and chosen by Congressman Lacy Clay is currently hanging in public space in the United States Capitol. Since Congressman Clay has refused to remove this piece of hate, the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS) is calling on House Speaker Paul Ryan to remove this piece of hate from the public space. Hatred of law enforcement should not be displayed in the halls of the United States House of Representatives.
The repulsive piece was selected following an "art competition" by Congressman Lacy Clay. The Congressman hailed the hate piece as containing "symbolic characters representing social injustice" and "events in Ferguson, Missouri." In his opinion, it was "the most creative expression that I've witnessed in the last 16 years."
In this past year, we have seen unprecedented assassinations of multiple police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, with the killers motivated by hatred of police. Sadly, the number of officers killed in ambush attacks in 2016 is more than double the average of the previous decade. This painting or other public displays of hatred of police like chants from groups like Black Lives Matter of "Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon" deserve only condemnation, not praise, from public officials.
This isn't a matter of free speech. In just the past year, Congress removed Confederate battle emblems from the tunnels at the Capital following controversy over their display. Congressman Bernie Thompson lauded the removal, stating he was pleased there would no longer be displayed "symbols of hatred and bigotry in the esteemed halls of the United States House of Representatives" and that Congress should "refuse to condone symbols that seek to divide us."
Joe Patterson, President of the St. Louis County Police Association, said it best, "we are not about censorship, but good art and good taste are sometimes not the same thing. This is an extraordinarily disrespectful piece at a minimum. We in the law enforcement community have been continuing to work to build bridges and come to a better understanding with our minority community...and then we have irresponsible leadership from elected officials pouring gasoline on bridges haven't even finished being built yet. He's picking at these wounds that we're trying to heal."
Everyone should be alarmed when those whose job it is to fight crime on a daily basis are being depicted as pigs. Why do otherwise reasoned individuals-despite evidence before them to the contrary-become reflexively critical of police? How can a member of Congress jump to the twisted conclusion that it is okay to hang a painting that adds to the divide in our country and attacks law enforcement? Public safety requires a strong two-way partnership. At a time of our country facing rising crime and a shortage of those willing to work the streets as police officers and deputy sheriffs, we need to make it clear that depictions of law enforcement officers as pigs in our Nation's Capital are not acceptable. The dedicated men and women who put on a uniform daily, who serve to protect our communities, deserve all the support the community can possibly provide.
On behalf of law enforcement officers across this great country, we call on Speaker Ryan to ensure the prompt removal of this painting from general public display at the Capital. If Congressman Clay thinks it should remain at the Capital, then he should move it inside his office, where those who choose to visit the Congressman or his staff can be subjected to a visual display of the Congressman's contempt towards law enforcement.
To repeat and paraphrase Congressman Thompson, this piece of hate should not hang in the "esteemed halls of the United States House of Representatives."
The Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS) is the collective bargaining agent representing more than 7,900 deputy sheriffs and district attorney investigators working in Los Angeles County.
One of the most violent years in Chicago history ended with a sobering tally: 762 homicides, the most in two decades in the city and more than New York and Los Angeles combined, reports CBS.
The nation's third largest city also saw 1,100 more shooting incidents in 2016 than it did in 2015, according to data released Sunday by the Chicago Police Department. New York, the nation's largest city, logged 334 homicides in 2016, according to the New York Daily News, while the country's second-largest city, Los Angeles, saw 294, reports the L.A. Times.
The increase in Chicago homicides compared to 2015, when 485 were reported, is the largest spike in 60 years.
Police and city officials have lamented the flood of illegal guns into the city, and the crime statistics appeared to support their claims: Police recovered 8,300 illegal guns in 2016, a 20 percent increase from the previous year.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said during a news conference Sunday that Chicago is among many U.S. cities that have seen a spike in violence, including in attacks on police.
A Broward County (FL) Sheriffs Office motor deputy crashed near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) Tuesday afternoon, reports CBS Miami.
The crash reportedly happened in the return loop of the airport around 4 p.m. An airport spokesperson said the deputy was coming into the airport when he or she slid on the return loop. The deputy did not hit any other car.
A Broward Sheriffs Office spokesperson said the deputy has non-life threatening injuries.
Photo: Facebook
Five to 10 armed men escaped police Monday night after robbing a home in north Harris County, TX, and firing dozens of rounds toward responding officers, police said.
Three children escaped the robbers who pistol-whipped their father and stole more than $50,000 in cash from the home, which contained large quantities of drugs, a police spokesman said.
About 6 p.m. Monday a teenage girl called police from a home near the Greenspoint area and said her father was being beaten by armed men, Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Cedrick Collier said. The girl and her two siblings younger than 10 managed to escape to a neighbor's house, reports the Houston Chronicle.
Sheriff's deputies responding to the call about the home invasion and robbery were met with a hail of gunfire, Collier said -- at least 20 or 30 rounds. No one was injured.
The armed men escaped through the back door and are believed to have left in a white Jeep or SUV, the spokesman added.
The Harris County SWAT team arrived to the scene and used a robot to search the house, and police used K-9s to search the area but found no suspects.
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Donald Trump infamously put trust in Putin-pawn and hi-tech terrorist Julian Assange over his own countrys intelligence agencies this morning. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who has had a lukewarm relationship with Trump dating back to the election, refuses to go along, calling Assange a sycophant for Russia.
Appearing on Wednesdays Hugh Hewitt Show, Ryan said of the noted provocateur that He leaks, he steals data and compromises national security. Though Ryan would not address Trumps tweet directly, he appeared to be allowing Trump some lee-way, saying, the last thing Im going to do is start commenting on every little tweet or Facebook post. That is just not what I do with the president-elect or when hes president.
Per MSNBCs Kyle Griffin:
Paul Ryan to @hughhewitt on Julian Assange: "I think the guy is a sycophant for Russia." pic.twitter.com/pUN1QwXc35 Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 4, 2017
Unless its President Obama, of course. Or, you can be certain, Hillary Clinton.
Typical of Ryans passive-aggressive response to Trump, he said, I think he has not received his Russia briefing yet. No mention of the briefings Trump willfully skipped in order to focus on his uninformed Twitter and Saturday Night Live addictions.
I believe that is scheduled for Friday, so hopefully hell get to up to speed on what has been happening and what Russia has or has not done. And hell be better informed on that.
Right. A man who has resisted every attempt to inform him for the past year is suddenly going to be swayed by intelligence from the agencies he has spent weeks denigrating.
Trump, of course, has claimed the briefing was moved to Friday, casting doubt on the whole affair by suggesting it was so intelligence sources could massage their facts and build a case, as usual outright lying since according to a senior intelligence official the briefing was always supposed to take place on Friday.
This is just one more sign of the dysfunction headed our way, a demoralizing miasma of lies and obfuscation from people who care more about personal power than they do about the country they were elected to serve.
Paul Ryan famously took issue with Donald Trump during the campaign without withdrawing his endorsement. This is just more of the same, with Ryan disagreeing with Trump while making excuses for him.
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*The following is an opinion column by R Muse*
The archaic proverb, birds of a feather flock together is universally understood to mean that people with the same tastes and interests will be found together is beginning to have some 21st Century relevance respecting the cozy relationship between Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reality show celebrity Donald Trump. And no, not because each man is considered a head of state, but because each leader is prone toward actions that are considered criminal and worthy of a state-level investigation. Many people had wondered why Trump glommed on to the Israeli Netanyahu after his presidential campaign, and his supporters, began promoting decidedly anti-Semitic views, and although there is yet no proof, it might well be because both Netanyahu and Trump are as corrupt as the proverbial day is long.
In precisely the same manner that Trump is dogged by controversy over his widespread business interests that make him guilty of violating the Constitutions Emoluments Clause the second he is sworn in office, Netanyahu has been facing his own problems with accepting illegal gifts from business tycoons, including those who are foreigners. Also like Trump, Netanyahu has been dodging reporters and investigators who want to question him over allegations that he used his high political office for personal financial gain.
As reported in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit began examining allegations against Netanyahu last July over credible reports that the Israeli leader took gifts from wealthy business barons in violation of Israeli law. But now, after months of maintaining that he was only conducting an inquiry, Mr. Mendelblit announced yesterday that the probe has been upgraded to a full-fledged criminal investigation. That designation eliminates Netanyahus ability to avoid investigators making inquiries and allows Israeli police to question Netanyahu regardless his high political office.
Of course, like his new BFF Trump, Netanyahu automatically denied there has ever been, or is even a hint of impropriety in his office and denied all of the reports. Reports, by the way, that he happily accepted gifts as Israeli Prime Minister worth hundreds of thousands of shekels including high-cost suits from an American businessman named Ron Lauder who has already confessed to Israeli police that he gave Benjamin Netanyahu several gifts while he is prime minister.
As Haaretz reported, Netanyahu has been deftly avoiding police all week, while officials are telling local media that they are unable to find a time to meet with him for lengthy questioning; because he is avoiding police investigators like plague all week. Netanyahus office said that All the supposed affairs have proved baseless, and the same will be with the claims now being published in the media. There will be nothing because there is nothing. Nothing except Ronald Lauders admission that there is something and it was in the form of several high-value gifts from an American business tycoon to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
There are already Israeli claims that what started out to be just a controversy in July will soon escalate into a major scandal that is no doubt foreshadowing the major scandals about to haunt Trump beginning on day one of his administration. Remember, unless Trump sells off his vast business entanglements prior to being sworn in as president, he will be in conflict of interest. And if he or any of his business interests, including his children or his hotels, receives even a penny of funding originating from any foreign governments he definitely will be guilty of violating the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution. It is something Trump has already done as reported here, and his corruption exceeds anything Netanyahu has done.
It is not immediately clear what kind of rules the Israeli Attorney General is citing to investigate Netanyahu, but if he accepted gifts in office similarly to Trump accepting payment from foreign tenants in any of his hotels, then he is violating something akin to the Constitutions Emoluments Clause.
It is why legal scholars have railed against Trump for not already completely divesting all of his business interests. Remember, if the reprobate Trump refuses to sell his business assets like the Wall Street Journal called for and simply transfers operational control to his children, he will be in violation of the U.S. Constitution the second he is sworn in office.
It remains to be seen if the Republicans in Congress who so want to be like the nation of Israel will take a hint from the Jewish states attorney general and immediately begin a thorough criminal investigation into Trump, his businesses and his intimate relationship with Vladimir Putin. However, based on the Republican attempt to eliminate the House Ethics Committee, it is questionable if there will ever be any investigations into the Trump. It is all but certain that Trumps designee for the American attorney general job does not share the Israeli attorney generals belief that no politician is above the law; especially after being an early supporter of the man he would be investigating and when there are African American communities and civil rights laws to undermine.
Perhaps the loving embrace between Netanyahu and Trump has more to do with than just opposing President Obama for not praising Israels illegal incursions into and aggression against Palestine. Birds of a feather do flock together, and it appears that heads of state flock together as well and in Netanyahu and Trumps case, they are apparently cut from the same corrupt cloth. But at least in Netanyahus situation, there is an attorney general on the job who doesnt care if he is Israels prime minister and is going forward with a criminal investigation that one hopes is a preview of what awaits corrupt Donald Trump immediately upon taking the oath of office.
In the wake of multiple hit-and-run deaths in the past month, Manhattan Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez today introduced legislation that would create a hit-and-run reward fund of up to $1,000 per tip. Cash rewards would go to civilians with information leading to the arrest, prosecution or conviction of a suspected hit-and-run driver who kills or seriously injures a person.
"Hit and runs occur with far too great a frequency," Councilmember Rodriguez said in a statement. "Today we are sending a message that we're willing to put our money where our mouth is to catch and prosecute cowardly individuals who leave people for dead as they flee the scene."
Rodriguez has already tested the reward fund approach, according to his office. Following the December hit-and-run death of La Mega DJ Jinx Paul, the councilmember announced a $1,000 reward for information leading to the driver's arrest.
Thomas Bradley, Jr., 52, was fatally struck while crossing South Conduit Avenue at Rockaway Boulevard in Queens around 2:30 a.m. on New Year's day. No arrests have been made. Several days prior, 39-year-old Evedette Sanchez was killed by a hit-and-run driver while she was in a crosswalk at Louisiana and Flatlands avenues in East New York.
These early 2017 fatalities set an ominous tone, following Fiscal Year 2016 NYPD statistics that show relatively low arrest rates for fatal hit-and-run crashes. Of 38 fatal hit-and-run crashes between July 2015 and June 2016the most up-to-date NYPD statistics available13, or 34 percent, have resulted in an arrest. In 22 hit-and-run crashes where the victim was "seriously injured" by the NYPD's estimation, 14 arrests have been made.
Taking all fatal and injurious crashes during that time period into accountincluding those that resulted in what the NYPD classified as non-serious "personal injuries"the NYPD made 450 arrests in 5,066 crashes. That's an arrest rate of about 8 percent.
For comparison, the arrest rate for murder and non-negligent manslaughter in 2015 was 86 percent308 arrests out of 335 incidents.
Also on Wednesday, Councilmember Rodriguez said that he would "advocate" for more officers in the NYPD's Collision Investigation Squad [CIS]a priority that was not included in the NYPD's 2016 budget. Two other bills are still in the draft phase: one that would create a city-wide hit-and-run alert system to inform the public of the make and model of cars involved in hit-and-run crashes, and a second that would increase resources for investigations into hit-and-run crashes that result in property damage.
Mayor de Blasio passed legislation in December 2015 doubling hit-and-run fines. But some say stronger measures most be taken, at the state level. Currently, the maximum penalty for a DWI exceeds that for a hit-and-runa discrepancy that advocates say motives drivers to flee. Under current law, it is a C felony to kill someone while driving under the influence, but only a D felony to leave the scene of a fatal crash.
In response to advocates' concern about hit-and-run arrest rates in FY 2016, mayoral spokesman Austin Finan has stressed that CIS focuses its resources on the most serious crasheswhere the arrest rates are higherallocating crashes deemed less serious to precinct detectives.
"Hit and runs are serious, unacceptable crimes which is why the police department investigates every reported case and works hard to make arrests, including dispatching CIS investigators for all instances where an individual is seriously injured or killed," he stated Wednesday.
Attorney Steve Vaccaro, who primarily represents cyclists and pedestrians injured and killed by reckless drivers, has countered that the definition of "serious" is too narrow. Citing his experience litigating against the NYPD on behalf of hit-and-run victims, he told us last fall that the non-serious category "may include everything from scrapes and bruises and road rash, all the way up to any serious injury that doesn't involve the person needing life support. You can lose a limb and not need life support."
Vaccaro has suggested that the NYPD use the penal code definition of "serious personal injury" to determine which hit-and-run cases get CIS investigations. According to the code, "protracted impairment of health or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ" falls into the serious injury category.
Councilmember Rodriguez's reward fund legislation specifically uses the penal code definition of "serious injury."
The Mayor's Office is reviewing the legislation, which states that the reward would be paid out by that office, based on a recommendation from the NYPD.
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Donald Trump, when he was done blaming not Russia but Hillary Clinton and the DNC for the collapse of American democracy, returned his attention back to Obamacare and its many alleged failings:
Republicans must be careful in that the Dems own the failed ObamaCare disaster, with its poor coverage and massive premium increases Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
like the 116% hike in Arizona. Also, deductibles are so high that it is practically useless. Don't let the Schumer clowns out of this web Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
massive increases of ObamaCare will take place this year and Dems are to blame for the mess. It will fall of its own weight be careful! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
These are constant themes in Trumps attacks on the healthcare reform that, for the first time, gave many Americans a chance of seeing a doctor and of not being denied needed care. The system is perfect by no means, but it is a lot better than what we had before, and to what Republicans want to return us to.
Media Matters for America provided 10 facts reporters should mention when they cover Obamacare, and none of them will be mentioned by Donald Trump or congressional Republicans, or indeed, by the mainstream media:
1. Passage Of The ACA Has Resulted In The Lowest Uninsured Rate In Recent History
2. The ACA Medicaid Expansion Provided Health Care Access For Millions Of The Most Vulnerable Americans
3. The ACA Tangibly Improved Womens Health Care Coverage
4. The ACA Helped America Take Huge Steps Toward LGBTQ Equality
5. Contrary To Popular Belief, The ACA Extended The Solvency Of Medicare By Over 10 Years
6. The ACA Reduced The Budget Deficit, Reined In Medical Costs, And Reduced Economic Inequality
7. The ACA Improved Health Care Access For Minority Communities.
8. The ACA Banned Discrimination Against Those With Pre-Existing Conditions
9. The ACA Provided Crucial Insurance To Young Adults
10. The ACA Resulted In The Biggest Expansion Of Mental Health Care Services In Decades
These are just plain facts, and they are beyond dispute. Every American, whether they have obtained coverage on the marketplace or not, benefit from eliminating limitations based on pre-existing conditions and this list does not even include the elimination of lifetime limits which would render care of expensive medical conditions all but impossible.
Donald Trump made opposition to Obamacare central to his campaign, but as usual, his attacks are lacking a factual basis. When Donald Trump speaks of poor coverage, it needs to be remembered that were talking about an additional 20 million + who have coverage and didnt have it before.
When Mike Pence tweeted this morning, Were going to keep our promise to the American people. Our 1st order of business will be to repeal & replace Obamacare, he was doing nothing less than attacking the health and in some cases, the lives of millions of Americans.
Leave it to Donald Trump and the GOP to politicize healthcare. Nancy Pelosi deems the repeal of Obamacare with no alternative an act of cowardice. As Chuck Schumer says, the GOP Obamacare repeal plan would Make America Sick Again. It sure wont make America great.
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Donald Trump called Senate Democrats clowns as Republicans are trying to blame Obama and Democrats while their ACA repeal efforts are sinking in political quicksand.
Trump tweeted:
Republicans must be careful in that the Dems own the failed ObamaCare disaster, with its poor coverage and massive premium increases Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
like the 116% hike in Arizona. Also, deductibles are so high that it is practically useless. Don't let the Schumer clowns out of this web Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
The real clowns here are the Republicans and Trump who promised to repeal the ACA on day one, only to find out that passing a repeal bill may take months, and full repeal may be delayed for five years.
Bloomberg described the glacial pace and thorny situation that Republicans have put themselves in, A Republican senator on condition of anonymity said the details of the repeal bill remain very uncertain. Originally, Republicans were planning to simply bring back the bill they put on Obamas desk last year for his veto. But that bill was written knowing it wouldnt become law, and now some Republicans want to make tweaks to soften the blow of repeal.
The Republican Senator admitted that the previous repeal bills passed by Republicans were junk that werent intended to become law.
Faced with being in charge of repealing Obamacare, Senate Republicans are looking the American people in the eyes and saying, weve got nothing.
The real clowns are the Democrats who expanded access to health care for nearly 30 million Americans. The clowns are the people are so inept that they cant come up with a replacement bill.
Republicans are sinking under the weight of ACA repeal, as the real clown was the presidential candidate who promised a repeal and replace that he cant deliver.
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The top-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has accused president-elect Trump of damaging national security with a series of treacherous tweets praising Putin and Assange.
Rep Schiff tweeted:
With every conspiracy theory-laden tweet Trump does damage to national security, while raising concerns about his capacity to grow into job. Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 4, 2017
When Trump belittles the Intelligence Community, he impairs our national security and prospects for the success of his own Administration. Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) January 4, 2017
What has Schiff so alarmed are these tweets from Trump:
The "Intelligence" briefing on so-called "Russian hacking" was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
Julian Assange said "a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta" why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017
The United States is faced with an unparalleled national security threat. The US president-elect is endangering national security but mocking the nations intelligence community while cozying up to dictators and criminals.
The evidence is mounting that Trump is never going to grow into the job of being president. Instead, Trump is expressing a preference for using his power to protect those who helped him win the White House.
Rep. Schiff was correct. Tweets praising Putin and Assange in combination with attacks on intelligence community serve to make America less safe. Under the banner making America great again, Trump is weakening the worlds only superpower.
How America deals with a president who is a national security risk will determine the strength of the United States for decades to come.
South State Corp. is listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol SSB. It shares were up about 1.6 percent to $88.75 mid-afternoon Wednesday.
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The massive amount is unusual for a local school board race and thousands more than any of the other 31 candidates have managed to raise. Read moreA CCSD board candidate has raised almost $100K in campaign funds
Emanuel AMEs former secretary is suing the church and the Rev. Norvel Goff for ending her employment after she questioned the handling of donations that poured into the church after a gunman killed nine worshippers. Read moreFormer secretary at Emanuel AME sues for unpaid wages
All of us have local and national issues that we worry about: gender-related and race-related issues, education and social welfare issues, pump prices and what to do about Confederate monuments. Thats usually how we vote whats worrying us at the moment. But older adults, of all people, may be capable of standing back from whats in our face to take a longer perspective on politics. Read moreAging for Amateurs: Elections make us get clear on priorities
Though the clock is falling back, fun is still springing up all around the Lowcountry. Immerse yourself in Scottish heritage at the Charleston Scottish Games and Highland Gathering, head to Summerville for the Timrod Library's 125th birthday, or spend a night with friends celebrating Charleston Beer Week. Read moreMy Charleston Weekend: Beer, Bagpipes, and a Birthday Bash
Early on the drizzly morning of October 2nd, 2015, NYPD officers and Parks Department employees in white hazmat suits rousted two small groups of homeless men and women asleep under an overhang at Choir Academy, a public school in East Harlem. The authorities told the group they were no longer welcome underneath the overhang, and began to toss their possessions into a waiting sanitation truck.
Surveillance footage acquired by the New York Civil Liberties Union (see below) shows the police and park workers destroying the group's possessions, and was grounds for a lawsuit against the city filed in December 2015. Today, the NYCLU announced that the city will provide compensation to three homeless men named in the suit. Floyd Parks, Timmy Hall and Jesus Morales lost birth certificates, social security cards, blood pressure medication, winter clothing and contact information for city shelters during the raidas detailed in a 2015 Gothamist feature.
"Homeless people deserve to be treated with dignity like all New Yorkers, and the city acknowledged that it had no right to treat their few possessions like garbage," said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. "It's important that these three people were compensated, but some of the personal items they lost were worth far more to them than just their monetary value."
The NYPD initially claimed that Parks and his companions were told to take their personal belongings and leave the school property, and that everything "left behind" was thrown into Parks Department trucks. But in the surveillance footage, Parks employees are seen shining flashlights on men sleeping on the ground and dragging their possessions to the sanitation trucks.
Parks will receive $500, Hall $800, and Morales $215the estimated value of their possessions. "Finally someone is listening, and thank God we have proof showing what has been done to us," Parks told Gothamist on Wednesday.
But Nikita Price, an organizer for Picture the Homeless (of which Parks, Hall and Morales are members), said the payouts amounted to an "insult." While the men's claims had initially called for additional compensation for "mental and emotional distress," this was excluded from the settlement.
"I would like to think that these cases would set a precedent," Price said. "Government officials, whether they are NYPD, or work for the city, can be held accountable for abusing people's rights. But the dollar amount, without sounding crass, is an insult. What you are saying is the targeting of these folks, frightening them, that's all it's worth. People have gotten more for stubbing their toes."
Asked to comment on the size of the settlement, the NYCLU said that these cases are often settled as soon as there is an offerin part because, "Even if you prevail in a court case, you wont see any money for a long time."
Norman Siegel, a civil rights attorney and former director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, outlined the group's rights in the aftermath of the raid. "If you're on private property the cops can tell you the owner doesn't want you here, and you have to leave," he explained. However, "If they threw out people's papers, [that's] destruction of private property. What they're supposed to do is take the property and voucher it, and let people pick it up later."
Destruction of property is one of several tactics that police officers use to discourage homeless men and women from congregating in public spaces, like sidewalks and parks. Last spring, the NYCLU filed a complaint against the city calling on the New York City Commission on Human Rights to investigate the NYPD's "move along" practice.
The complaint stresses that homeless New Yorkers have every right to sit, stand or sleep in public, so long as building entrances and pedestrian traffic are not obstructed. It was brought under the 2013 Community Safety Act, which prohibits profiling based on housing status, as well as age, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, and disability.
NYCLU Staff Attorney Jordan Wells said Wednesday that the city should be focusing its efforts on steering the NYPD away from legally-dubious encounters with homeless New Yorkers.
"Rather than having to pay out individual claims like those of our clients, the city should move away from targeting and criminalizing the homeless," Wells said in a statement. "This incident underscores the need for the NYPD to implement consistent policies to ensure officers treat homeless residents with professional courtesy and respect."
Following the October 2015 raid, Parks and many of his companions started carrying cards that state their legal right to be in public so long as they are not blocking street trafficpart of a Siegel initiative to reduce NYPD arrests of street homeless.
"They still arrest us, tell us to move," Parks said Wednesday. "We stop on the corner and they'll say, 'Yo, you guys can't stand here. You gotta move, you gotta move, you gotta move, you gotta move.'"
In December 2015, with homelessness on the rise, Mayor de Blasio launched HOME-STATan initiative to canvass the homeless populations in Manhattan daily, increase homeless outreach staff, and up the number of police officers on the NYPD's homeless outreach unit. City Hall said at the time that the Choir Academy raid was unrelated to that initiative. "This incident involves individuals trespassing on school grounds. It is illegal for individuals to trespass and sleep on school grounds, and we will not tolerate it for security and safety reasons," said then-spokeswoman Karen Hinton after the lawsuit was filed.
However, she added, "we will review our protocols concerning the seizure and disposition of personal property."
City Hall deferred comment on today's announcement to the Commission on Human Rights; a spokesman for that office commented on the "move along" complaint, saying, "The NYC Commission on Human Rights continues to investigate this case."
Additional reporting by Erica Siudzinski.
[Update: 5:15 p.m.]: This piece has been updated with comment from a Picture the Homeless spokesperson.
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.
The pandemic stressed us all, but its impact was compounded among pregnant women and those who had just given birth; their rates of mood and anxiety problems doubled during that time. That should not come as a major surprise, given how the stresses around this life-giving, life-changing even Read moreEditorial: Important outreach to SC's expectant and new mothers
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
OK, the holiday season is over. Retail small businesses are thankful for the holiday sales and also are thankful they survived.
My basic question in last week's column was, "What are you going to do this new year?" I hope you have had time to think about that. You owe it to your business to do that.
I shared my challenge with a group of small-business CEOs. What will your small business look like in 2017? Will you grow? Have you thought about what you will need to change? Maybe nothing needs to change? Will same old-same old give your business the kind of leadership it needs for the new year? The one question I didn't share in my column was this, what does your business plan say?
Yes, I got some blank stares, some heads down and some heads nodding because they knew they hadn't looked at it for a while. So, I will address some items in this column related to that business plan.
Regular readers know I volunteer my time to mentor small businesses through SCORE. The most often asked topic for help is "business plan." Unfortunately, so many small-business CEOs think of the business plan as a sort of "rite of passage" and they let out a sigh of relief when it is over and then put it in a drawer. Although the process you went through to do the plan was important because it forced you to think about and focus on key elements of starting your business, if you stop the process, you miss a lot of value of the plan.
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The business plan never is done. It should be thought of as a "living document" that always needs updating and refining. While writing a business plan is important for new entrepreneurs, it has great value for existing business owners. If you see your business starting to drift from the original plan you set for it, you can make choices to put your plan back on course or to forge a new path.
So this is a good time for existing CEOs to revisit your business plan. Maybe it'll only take you an hour, or maybe you can set aside a whole afternoon. In one sense, this is a review exercise. You'll go over what you've achieved, and you can, of course, congratulate yourself as you observe how far you've come. But your business plan also can serve as a planning tool for the coming year.
I asked a SCORE colleague, Bridget Weston Pollack, what she suggests business owners look for as they review their business plan. Here are some of her thoughts.
What are my overarching goals for 2017?Does my original business plan set out to meet the same goals, or do I need to adjust?
What are my financial projections for 2017?If you've been in business for several years, you may be able to look at this part of your business plan to compare your 2016 prediction to reality. Where were you accurate? Where did you fall short? Can you tell why your projections didn't match up with your business performance, for better or for worse? Let the numbers guide you toward an ambitious, but pragmatic, 2017 projection.
What do I need to do to help me succeed next year?This question also can be aided by examining your projected and real finances. Do you always say you need a clone of yourself? Maybe it's time to hire an employee. Maybe you hoped to improve the packaging of your products but never had the time to investigate vendors for the task. Can you make time and find funds to do that now?
What are my weaknesses, and how can I work around them in the future?Your business plan should/could include a SWOT analysis, evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for your own business compared to your competition. Go back to the "weaknesses" portion of that report. Do you still agree with what you listed for your business? Are those weaknesses still true for your business, yourself as the boss, or both? Whether you've added skills and strengths to your business endeavor or you're still struggling, think about how you can grow or call in more help in 2017.
When you're finished, you'll probably have a lot of ideas for your business for 2017 and years to come. The beginning of the year is a great time to set up a meeting with a SCORE mentor to talk about how to help your business grow.
MINNEAPOLIS When Susan Carrigan got married 34 years ago, she vowed a lifetime of love to her husband, Steve.
She did not, however, make that same commitment to her ring.
To mark her 25th wedding anniversary, Carrigan did what more and more women are doing: She upgraded her wedding ring.
"I wanted something that better reflected 25 years of marriage," the Little Canada woman said. "My original ring was used as part of the design for my daughter's wedding ring. It was meaningful to pass it along."
It was an age-old idea that rings were a symbol for eternity. But today they're being upgraded like some people trade in cars.
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"It seems to be happening more often and earlier than it used to," said Bob Moeller, president and co-owner of R.F. Moeller Jeweler in the Twin Cities. "It used to happen at 25 or 30 years. Now it's not uncommon to see that upgrade happening at 10 and even five years."
Moeller estimates that as many as a quarter of his customers mostly women have upgraded their wedding rings.
"It's more of a generational thing," he said. "The younger generations don't feel the same attachment for them, the wedding ring is more of a dynamic experience than a one-time thing."
Trade-in programs
While Carrigan passed her original wedding ring down to her daughter, the decision for other women to trade their rings is driven by changes in taste, income or to mark meaningful milestones in a relationship, such as an anniversary or the birth of a baby (also known as a "push present" among women of current childbearing age).
At many jewelry stores, the idea of an upgrade is promoted when a ring is purchased. Some jewelers offer a trade-in program for couples whose budgets have grown since they first purchased an engagement ring and will adjust the price of a new diamond or gemstone based on the price of the original engagement purchase.
"There is no downside to upgrading a diamond," said Eugene Gittelson, owner of Gittelson Jewelers in Minneapolis. "Their value is always going up."
Alyssa DeRusha married WCCO-TV anchor Jason DeRusha in 1998 when she was 22. Since then, DeRusha discovered Stephen Vincent Design, a Minneapolis custom jeweler, and fell in love with Vincent's signature modern aesthetic, particularly his tension-set diamond rings.
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"[We] had come a long way since our college days and my tastes had changed," she said. "In 2012, I finally pulled the trigger and I have no regrets."
The center diamond from DeRusha's original ring was made into a pendant and some of the side stones were made into stacking rings.
"Wearing a ring symbolizes our love, but to me that love is not just represented by the original ring," she said. "When we go on vacation, I sometimes just wear a cheap band. I want to wear a wedding ring, but to me it doesn't need to just be one ring."
Daunting discussion
While DeRusha says her husband was supportive of the idea, approaching a spouse with the idea of an upgrade can be a daunting discussion.
Sometimes, it's the man who makes the first move.
"[My husband] has asked me to upgrade mine, but I can't bring myself to do it," said Heather Weirich, of Plymouth. "We were engaged at 21 and he worked hard to buy me the ring he did. It means so much to me, I just can't upgrade."
Weirich isn't alone in her attachment to sentimentality. For many, the symbolism contained in the original ring trumps both carat size and cost.
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Last April, a Minnesota woman wrote on Facebook in defense of her "small" wedding ring after hearing from friends and family that the size of her ring didn't represent the level of success she and her husband had achieved.
"Since when did the size of someone's ring become an indication of success?!" Rachel Pederson of Eden Prairie wrote. "For me, the ring is so much more. My ring symbolizes a whirlwind, storybook, 'make you sick' love story."
Sentimental value?
HGTV's "Fixer Upper" star Joanna Gaines also publicly decried an upgrade. In her book, "The Magnolia Story," Gaines revealed that she turned down a recent opportunity to upgrade her wedding ring because of the sentimental value attached to the original.
"This is the original diamond I picked, and it's perfect just the way it is," wrote Gaines.
A changing of the wedding rings isn't just for women and doesn't always cost more, either. Andy Borne has been married for 16 years, but says it might be time to update his ring finger.
"I have often toyed with the idea of downgrading my wedding ring from platinum/gold to some other metal, perhaps molybdenum or titanium just because it's cool and unusual and gold is so common," the Eagan man said. "Iridium would be my first choice and it would be an upgrade."
Minneapolis resident Jessica Reipke adores the sapphire solitaire engagement ring her husband proposed with, she just doesn't love to wear it.
"I just did not find it to be practical for a pretty low-maintenance person like myself," Reipke said.
The sapphire ring is worn for special occasions or around her neck on a chain, but Reipke now dons a simple gold band on her ring finger.
"I actually downgraded," she said. "Simple is where it's at for me."
For the first 16 years of my life, I was home-schooled. Almost every morning I would wake up, shower, and then go into my parents' room, where my mom and I would go over the schoolwork I did the day before, take any tests that I needed to take, and explain anything that I wasn't understanding.
After this, I would go down to my room, where I would do what was assigned for that day. From fifth grade on through 10th, I would also have to go to the public school for an hour each day, since I was in the orchestra.
Ideally this routine would happen every morning, but in practice that wasn't always the case. I tended to try anything I could to get out of going over the previous day's work. I didn't always get out of it, but when I did, everything would pile up and snowball, which only exacerbated the problem for me.
Part of what I hated most going over my schoolwork was the fact I could never seem to do well in certain subjects. Math was an endless nightmare for me. Science could be easy or awful, depending on what was being covered. And my mom recently reminded me of how in fourth grade I was still having trouble spelling four-letter words. (In my defense, I have gotten a lot better earlier, I spelled "exacerbated" right on my first try.)
My mom would always tell me that I couldn't keep putting things off, and that once I got into college I wouldn't be able to talk my way out of things like I could with her.
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She was right, of course. A little over a year ago, I started taking post-secondary enrollment options (PSEO) classes at the community college, and I had to get used to suddenly having much stricter deadlines and due dates for all of the work I had to do.
To be honest, it was a little scary. I knew going in that I could probably handle almost anything that I was going to see there academically, but in terms of making sure I was prepared to take every test and getting every assignment done on time, I was unsure.
Looking back at it all now with three semesters down and heading into my last one next month, I feel like I have managed to adapt to it all. The first semester was rough. I had an online class that I ended up missing an exam for that put me at an F by the midterms, but I stayed at it and struggled to bring it up to a B in the end. In each of the two semesters after that, I have managed to get straight A's.
I am still nervous about what the future might hold, and how I will have to adapt to the changes that it will bring, but I feel confident now after thinking back on how I have already grown in just the past year and a half.
I have come a long way from where I was when I began I can even spell most four-letter words.
By the time Natasha Santos, now 28, was adopted, she was 16 and had lived with six foster families. To would-be adoptive parents, the New York City resident says, "It's not too late. You'll make a difference in their lives. And parenting doesn't stop when we turn 18. I group-text with my mom and siblings every day."
Although she spent years in foster care, Santos counts herself as one of the lucky ones. About 60,000 foster-care kids, newborn to 18, await adoption, said Children's Rights, a national advocacy group. Another 355,000 foster kids are not candidates for adoption because their birthparents haven't terminated their parental rights.
And this, said Ed Anderson, 59, of Newport News, Va., is why he spent his summer vacation riding his bicycle across the U.S., during his "Tour de Adoption."
"Kids are in foster homes through no fault of their own," Anderson told folks he met along the way.
Raised $340K
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The co-owner of 11 Wendy's restaurants, Anderson has long supported the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, named for and established by the Wendy's founder to increase the number of adoptions of kids from foster homes. By riding across the country, Anderson could encourage people to donate to the foundation, he predicted. So far, $340,000 has been raised, and the money is still rolling in.
Anderson started his ride July 25 in Virginia Beach, Va. Ten weeks later, Oct. 4, he reached the Pacific Ocean in San Diego. His wife, Judy, and two of their three sons, Eddie and Joey, took turns following him in their van and lining up motels and pit stops that included 21 Wendy's restaurants whose owners asked to be on his map. Anderson praised Judy for packing "an extra everything, from bike tire to helmet."
Even at the most remote stops, Anderson was a magnet for foster and adoptive families who saw his Tour de Adoption logo on the van.
"Despite what we see on the news every night, our country is filled with kind, friendly people," said Anderson. "We met so many people like Curt and Rhonda, mom-and-pop motel owners who did our laundry. Or, the front-desk guy at another place who saw my legs and switched us to a room with a tub, so I could soak."
3 in 5 relate
The Donaldson Adoption Institute's 2015 Adoption Perceptions Study found that 60 percent of Americans have a friend or family member who is part of the adoption triad: adoptee, adoptive parent or birth parent.
After Anderson threw out the first pitch for the River City Rascals in O'Fallon, Mo., a little boy introduced himself and his soon-to-be adoptive parents.
When Anderson had food poisoning in Anton, Colo., the owner of the rural motel where he and Judy stayed one night drove Judy 60 miles round-trip to buy him ginger ale and saltines. She and Judy had plenty to talk about. She was a foster mom.
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Anderson's timing of his tour was right-on, said Adam Pertman, president of the National Center on Adoption and Permanency in Boston and Los Angeles.
"The demographics of adoption have changed dramatically in the last few decades," said Pertman. No longer is the average adoptee a healthy infant. Now, the median age is 6.8 years, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and, often, the child is part of a sibling group. Adoptive parents are not necessarily young, heterosexual same-race couples.
"Closed adoption" is becoming a thing of the past, said Pertman. Today, most adoptions of babies are open.
"That means, in the vast majority of cases, you know who the birth mom is and probably other family members as well," said Pertman. "And, increasingly, even international adoptions are becoming open too," he said.
Rethinking adoption
Adoption social services and laws are playing catch-up. Laws vary greatly from state to state. But more than that, said Pertman, it's a matter of rethinking where adoption is today.
"The old model is 'child placement,'" said Pertman. "How many kids did we place in adoptive homes today? The new model is 'family success.' Did we provide the family with pre-, during-, and post-adoption services to ensure the child or sibling group has a forever home?"
Like many older adoptees, for example, Santos had learned to live with scars in her case, from emotional and verbal abuse from a former foster mom. Finally, adoption gave her the security she needed, said Santos. That, in turn, gave her confidence, which she said is valuable socially and professionally.
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Despite a small army of volunteers like Anderson who make adoption their mission, about 22,000 foster children "age out" of foster care each year because they turn 18 without having been adopted, according to Children's Rights. As adults, they're much more likely than their adopted peers to become homeless, unemployed or incarcerated, and much less likely to earn a college degree.
While Anderson raises money for the foundation to tackle aging out and other adoption concerns, Santos (a professional community organizer) cuts right to the chase. "Are you an adoptive parent?" she asks you when you meet. If your answer is "No," she fires back: "Why not?" To you, her community looks like New York City. But to her, it is one huge pool of potential adoptive parents.
A Chatfield man had his initial appearance Tuesday in Olmsted County District Court, where he's been charged with promoting prostitution, a felony.
Jamil Lamon James, 22, remains in custody in lieu of $40,000 conditional bail and is due back in court Jan. 24.
The charge stems from an incident Dec. 16, when officers with the Rochester Police Department conducted an undercover prostitution operation at a local hotel. That day, an undercover officer responded to an advertisement in the escort section of a website that offers adult services. Members of law enforcement often monitor the site and place false ads to target people involved in prostitution, or respond to ads placed by others.
The woman who answered the text arranged to meet the undercover officer at the hotel. She arrived in a vehicle driven by James, the complaint says, who backed the car into a spot near the front entrance and stayed in the car when the woman got out.
Inside the room, the woman and undercover officer discussed services and prices as other officers listened through radio surveillance, the reports say. When a deal was struck, the officers entered the room. The woman said her boyfriend, James, gave her a ride to the hotel.
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She said he "somewhat knows" what she does and has provided rides for her to meet men at hotels in the past. When the "meeting" is over, she gives half of the money she earned to James, the court document says. The woman and James allegedly have an understanding as to how much time she should be spending in the hotel rooms, and if he "senses there's a problem, he'll come and get her."
James was reportedly present at many of her encounters with men at hotels, but he told investigators he isn't "making" the woman engage in prostitution and he has no control over her.
When asked if it bothers him that she's involved in prostitution, James allegedly said, "yeah," then added, "I don't know what she does."
New year, new school board members
The school board welcomed two new board members, Don Barlow and Mark Schleusner, and a re-elected incumbent, Deborah Seelinger, at Tuesday's meeting.
Three seats were up for grabs in November's election; each of the new members will serve a four-year term, which officially began Tuesday.
The board selected new officers with Julie Workman becoming the board's chair. Jean Marvin was selected as vice chair, Don Barlow as clerk and Anne Becker was elected treasurer. Each of these new officer positions will last one year.
School board members Richard Hinds and Dan O'Neil finished out their terms as school board members in December.
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O'Neil, an innovation and communications project manager with Mayo Clinic, served two terms on the board. Hinds, a respiratory therapist and Mayo Clinic researcher, served one.
HR director position now staffed
After about eight months without a human resources director, the district introduced an internal hire who will fill the position Tuesday.
Karl Bakken will transition to the cabinet-level position from his current post as assistant director of student services in the district. More details on that here .
Rhodes Scholarship announcement
Ahmed Ahmed, a 2013 John Marshall graduate, and Rhodes Scholar was honored Tuesday night.
At the end of November, Ahmed was selected by the Rhodes Trust as one of 32 students who will attend Oxford University next fall. Ahmed is majoring in biology at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. He will pursue a master's degree and research at Oxford in medical and organic chemistry.
He is a first-generation immigrant whose family came to the U.S. from a refugee camp in Kenya.
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"Thank you for making our district look mighty fine," Superintendent Michael Munoz said.
Ahmed thanked the district, noting he was grateful for the education he received here.
"It was here that I really found the beauty in education and all the doors that it could open," Ahmed said. "So for me, I tried to reciprocate that in any way that I could at my institution in the local communities I've been apart of. So I sincerely thank all of the people who have helped me make it to this point and I'm sincerely excited for all the future has to hold."
Mighty Oaks to open
Renovations are nearly complete on the former Burr Oak school, now known as Mighty Oaks Early Learning School .
In March, Rochester Public Schools decided to reopen the building, which closed in 2010, because of a space shortage. The district invested $3.9 million to renovate the building and it should house about 320 early childhood general education and special education students.
Some of the building's classrooms will open at the end of January and in February, and the school will be fully operational in the fall of 2017.
It will act as a "formal center" for early education, said Amy Eich, the district's director of community education.
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Golden Hill purchase agreement amended again
An agreement to sell the former Golden Hill school was changed for the fourth time.
The district is dropping the price by $100,000, making the price of the building now $1.7 million, and expects to close before Feb. 28.
The district approved the sale in September 2015 to Ryan Cos. of Rochester for $1.8 million, but the due diligence period was extended to December 2016.
After some back-and-forth with the buyer, "we decided that a price reduction of $100,000 would be fair," said John Carlson, the district's director of finance.
He added that the property includes about 283,000 square feet of land, which he said, after checking with local real estate experts, has been going for about $6 a square foot in Rochester.
"We felt if we're looking at this as just a land deal, because the building's coming down anyway, that that's a fair price for land," Carlson said.
The property, located at 2220 Third Ave. SE, last served the district as an alternative learning center, but programming was moved to another site after Golden Hill suffered heating and ventilation problems.
Olmsted County Sheriff's Office deputies could be wearing body cameras by next month, Sheriff Kevin Torgerson said during an Olmsted County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday. The county has worked for more than a year to prepare a budget and body camera policy. Here are four things to know about the program:
1. Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson hopes to have his law enforcement deputies and Adult Detention Center officers training in the use of the new equipment at the end of this month and into early February. The department will make a public announcement before the cameras go live, soon after training is completed.
2. The Sheriff's Office purchased equipment identical to that used by the Rochester Police Department. Vendor Taser Int. has delivered the cameras and other equipment. The three-year cost to purchase the equipment, maintain it and store data using an online service was $148,681, approved by the county board in November.
3. A body camera will be issued to "all licensed law enforcement staff" in the sheriff's office, Torgerson said, as well all employees at the Adult Detention Center who work with detainees. The sheriff hopes using the cameras will improve public relations with law enforcement.
"I believe these systems and policies we have in place will show the public the good work and restore the honor of what our deputies are doing," Torgerson said.
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4. The sheriff's office created a policy for body camera use based on Minnesota state statute, and the Olmsted County Attorney's Office reviewed the draft. The public hearing Tuesday was the last step in establishing the policy.
The policy sets terms for public access to video data and data retention. In general, body camera video will be retained for 90 days and will be considered public data in the case of an officer discharging a weapon, when an officer uses force that results in bodily harm to a subject, or when the subject of a video requests it be made public.
How the heck in this New Year, I ask rhetorically, did three hermit crabs end up harbored in an aquarium in my breakfast nook, the place nowadays where I am obliged to compose my weekly column?
As I sit and write, I sense their tiny, unblinking eyes fixed upon my back. I quickly turn to catch them looking at me, but they must hastily recede into their brightly painted shells. Yet, I know they are looking at me.
How's that for a disconcerting mental picture?
Before I get to crab questions, however, I must fulfill my promise to illuminate from last week's column, where I announced continued publication of my weekly column from a permanent return to Joliet.
New column
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Initially, I was troubled that an iteration of my former "Publisher's Pick" column, oft-based on inspiration gleaned from comings-and-goings in and about southeast Minnesota, would be of little interest once I became disconnected from Rochester society. However, I became persuaded by well-intentioned readers to give a continued column a chance.
Even then, I was at a loss to conjure a column-writing focus until I received a farewell gift a book of spiritual insights sent my way in the waning weeks of PB publisher-hood. Friends Susan and David Ahlquist wrote in the notecard inserted into "To Bless the Space Between Us" that the slim volume was one of their favorites. In perusing and selecting particular poems and short essays, I very much appreciate their thoughtfulness as I entered into an unmapped life journey.
I appropriated part of the book's title for my new column.
As another good friend counseled, the distance between us you in Minnesota and me in Illinois creates fresh column-writing opportunities. For burnishing sterling memories. For reflection and retrospection on the past 10 years. For grasping the pride and prejudice of progress. For thoughtful analysis of times grand and not-so-grand gleaned from shared experiences.
The space between us about 400 hundred miles is richly peopled with folks who care about one another. Indeed, it was the sense of caring community that initially drew me to the Post Bulletin publisher's role and subsequently endorsed me to be an information conduit thus the Post-Bulletin to become an unrestrained voice of and for the people it serves.
What should you know about Joliet, Ill., and how it might relate to Rochester? Joliet, nearing 150,000 population, is situated on significant crossroads: "Main Street USA," Interstate 80; and Interstate 55, the redoubtable Chicago-Springfield link. This self-proclaimed "City of Champions" is peopled by good folks who care about one another, just as I found people to be in Rochester.
Similar to Rochester and the Destination Medical Center initiative, Joliet is entering a modern-day economic renaissance. Once a steel-and-stone industrial city, it is endeavoring to reinvent itself with a robust and diversified economy, not unlike Southeast Minnesota's Journey to Growth enterprise.
Time will tell if the lofty visions of either community are destined to be met. From my two-state vantage and for a long while, I have opportunity to observe and prattle weekly upon my perceptions of people and progress in print.
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Crab encampment
I must return to my promise to prattle about the unwelcome hermit crab encampment in my breakfast nook.
You first must understand this: Daughter Allison is a creative, indulgent and impractical gift-giver to her two nieces and nephew. All that had to happen this Christmas-tide was for bright-eyed, 7-year-old Lizzy to mention how much she enjoyed caring for the hermit crabs in her first-grade classroom. Allison was off and running.
Allison has proclivity for foisting the most awesome gifts intended to delight children without considering the consequence to the sanity of unwary parents and grandparents. I recall gifts like the immense, seven-foot plush giraffe (long-abandoned), an elaborate, too-delicate-for-toddlers lighted doll house and several extraordinary fantasy costumes, suitable for masked grand balls rather than backyard romps.
The hermit crab enclave of Christmas 2016 caps all of Allison's past indulgences. The aquarium and its three semi-lively crabs in painted shells, is a wonder to behold, apparently from the distance between Joliet and Wheaton, Ill., where the grandchildren reside.
You must understand, our beautiful daughter-in-law Megan, a trained classroom teacher and nurturing mother, normally is all-in for our grandchildren. Yet she doesn't do "icky" (her word), and hermit crabs define icky for her.
Megan adamantly wouldn't welcome the icky threesome into her home. Not even the over-the-moon happiness on sweet Lizzy's face as she peered into the aquarium could sway Megan.
Of course, Sheryl and I made it much easier for crab abandonment when we decided to host Christmas gift-giving this year. When Allison, Seth, Megan, Lizzy, Charlotte and Nathaniel departed, the crabs Bobsey, Hide & Seek and Carol remained, seemingly to do nothing much but watch my back when I'm not looking.
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In my household, I don't "do" pets of any persuasion, icky or otherwise. I leave that hobby and chore to Sheryl, who would no sooner disappoint the grandchildren than anything. My function vis-a-vis crabs is to bear up, graciously grit my teeth, and aspire to outlive the crabs. Knowing Sheryl's reputation for careful pet care, the crabs likely will be to live out their optimum 23 years.
If you have stuck through reading these words, you have first taste of The Space Between Us. After a few weeks, please let me know what you think.
Randy Chapman is publisher emeritus of the Post Bulletin. He welcomes feedback to his column at letters@postbulletin.com
Many readers will recall the Trump rally in North Carolina where a 79 year-old elbowed a young African-American protester. The old man, John Franklin (Quick Draw) McGraw was unapologetic. We dont know if hes ISIS; we dont know who he is, McGraw said. The next time we see him, we might have to kill him.
The next time McGraw saw the protester, Rakeem Jones, was in a Fayetteville, North Carolina courtroom at a hearing on a charge of assault. The Washington Post has the story.
When the judge asked Jones (the victim) to speak, he complained that McGraw had not been arrested on the spot, but instead was allowed to go home. He said that he knew McGraw wasnt going to get jail time, but he has a friend who is facing five years for involvement in what Jones characterized as at the root of it, a fight.
McGraw, through his attorney, said that his elbowing of Jones was not racially motivated. The attorney added that his client believes this country needs to heal as it relates to racial tensions that have been generated as a result of this case.
Jones responded that he has never mentioned race in connection with the incident. As far as race, its not my concern. I got hit by a man, period.
Then, according to the Post:
The judge asked McGraw whether he wanted to say something, too. Im extremely sorry this happened, McGraw said, and when the judge told him to explain it to Jones, not him, he turned to Jones and took a step toward him. It was the closest theyd been to each other since the rally. This was between two men. You know what you did. And I know what I did. Im not going to say you were wrong or I was wrong, McGraw said. You and I both know what occurred, and I hate it worse than anything else in the world. He stepped closer to Jones and raised a finger. We got caught up in a political mess today, he said. His jaw began to tremble. And you and me, we got to heal our country. All right, man, Jones said after a moment. He reached out to pat McGraw on the shoulder, and he seemed surprised by the contact. He put out his hand. Jones grasped it, and, as a few claps in the audience grew into an applause, the two men embraced.
The judge sentenced McGraw to one year of probation.
After receiving his sentence, McGraw said this to Jones:
Weve got to stick together. We cant let them come between us.
(Emphasis added)
Theres plenty to like about this semi-reconciliation, but theres also something missing. McGraw didnt apologize for assaulting Jones.
Instead, he blamed the incident in part on heightened political tensions an accurate but insufficient explanation and in part on them.
Who, in this context, is them? Neither illegal immigrants, greedy capitalists, nor swamp-dwelling lobbyists caused Rakeem Jones to disrupt a political rally and Quick Draw McGraw to slug him.
Jones, assuming he wasnt paid, acted as he did out of disdain for an orderly political process and a desire to silence a voice with which he disagrees. McGraw, assuming he wasnt racially motivated, acted as he did out of mean streak coupled with a desire to punish someone with whom he disagrees.
McGraw first tried to excuse his conduct by claiming that Jones might be a terrorist. Now, still not willing to say he was wrong, he blames it on them.
McGraw is unwilling to accept responsibility for his action. Its an all-too-familiar feature of contemporary American life.
Its also consistent with the tenor of the Trump campaign to which McGraw attached himself. Americans arent winning anymore not through any fault of their own, but because the system is rigged in favor of illegal immigrants, greedy capitalists, swamp-dwelling lobbyists, or whomever.
Donald Trump promises an America that will win again. But can America really win if Americans are so quick to evade personal responsibility?
Ford CEO Mark Fields announced today that Ford has canceled plans to invest $1.6 billion in a new plant in Mexico. Instead it will produce the vehicles the Mexican plant would have manufactured at facilities in Michigan and Illinois. The move is expect to create approximately 700 jobs in the U.S.
The Washington Post buries this news in an article about Trump targeting American automakers, especially General Motors, by threatening to impose new tariffs on imports. At the same time, Post reporters Ylan Mui and Steven Overly decline to attribute Fords decision, and the American jobs it will create, to Trump.
In the Posts telling, Fords decision is down to a decrease in the demand for small vehicle due to lower fuel costs. This trend rendered the new facility unnecessary. The Post also notes that, according to Ford, the decision to produce the cars in the U.S. was made without consulting Donald Trump or his team.
The article takes a few additional shots at Trump. It refuses to credit Trump with any role in Fords decision.
Yet the Ford CEO, Mark Fields, gave Trump considerable credit. He said that Fords decision was influenced by the expectation, based on statements by the president-elect, that under Trump conditions for doing business in the U.S. will be favorable.
Indeed, Fields called Fords decision literally a vote of confidence in the pro-business environment being created by Donald Trump. He added that Ford is really encouraged by the regulatory and tax policies that Trump says he intends to put in place.
The dishonest Washington Post chooses to ignore this. Yet, there can be little doubt that Fords decision was influenced by Trumps threat to impose a huge tariff on Ford, his promise to create a more favorable environment for businesses, or both.
Donald Trumps America First approach stands in marked contrast to the America-effacing approach President Obama has pursued for the past eight years. Whether its in dealings with U.S. businesses, Americas allies, or our foreign adversaries (acknowledged by Obama or not), the current administration has left plenty of chips on the table.
President Art of the Deal will aggressively attempt to collect those chips.
Left-wingers associated with the NAACP are occupying the Mobile, Alabama office of Senator Jeff Sessions to protest Sessions nomination as attorney general. The protesters, apparently a dozen or so in number, say they will continue their sit-in until Sessions withdraws as a nominee for attorney general or they are arrested.
As usual, the left is breaking new ground in incivility. I cant recall this tactic ever being used against a presidents nominee for an administration job. Now that its being tried against Sessions, we can expect it to become fairly common (normalized, to use the lefts new favorite word).
Theres a good reason why this tactic hasnt been used, or probably even considered, before. It is anti-democratic. If protesters genuinely consider a nominee of an elected president unfit and/or racist, prove it at the Senate hearing. Dont try to preempt that discussion by trespassing.
The protesters obviously dont expect Sessions to withdraw. They are just looking to be removed forcibly from his office, presumably while singing We Shall Overcome a song that, in it original meaning, has been irrelevant for decades.
In other words, the sit-in is a publicity stunt. The publicity likely will turn off most Americans, but make its seekers feel better about themselves.
One of my failings here is not bringing regular attention to the important work of Prof. Judith Curry of Georgia Institute of Technology, and her terrific website Climate, Etc. Prof. Curry was the chair of Georgia Techs School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and was for a long time a member in good standing of the so-called consensus on climate change. Her CV shows a long list of accomplishments and publications at the highest level of scientific inquiry.
But as she looked closer at some of the details of the case for catastrophic climate change, she began to change her mind. And for her public expression of honest doubts about the fine points of the scientific evidence and computer models the predictable thing happened: she was excoriated, in the most appalling ad hominem way, by the climatistas (Michael Mann in particular, which is ironic since the un-manly Mann is suing National Review and Mark Steyn for defamation). Needless to say, Curry deserves to be regarded as one of the heroes of climate realism.
I guess Ill offer the excuse that the main reason I havent shared more of her excellent work here is that it is often very dense and very long, and not easy to adapt to our relatively shorter form. Curry gets off into the weeds of climate science, always in a calm and respectful way, unlike her climatista critics. Ive only met Judith once, but my impression from reading and listening to her is that she is not much interested in politics, and like many scientists just wants to do good scientific work. She may be largely apolitical for all I know, though for what its worth she once testified before a congressional committee as a Democratic expert witness. Unfortunately the furies of the neo-Stalinist climate science and policy community demand absolute conformity to the party line.
Hence it is melancholy news to read today that Judith is resigning from Georgia Tech:
Effective January 1, I have resigned my tenured faculty position at Georgia Tech. Before reflecting on a range of things, let me start by answering a question that may have popped into your head: I have no plans to join the Trump administration (ha ha). Technically, my resignation is a retirement event, since I am on the Georgia State Teachers Retirement System, and I need to retire from Georgia Tech to get my pension (although I am a few years shy of 65). I have requested Emeritus status. So, I have retired from Georgia Tech, and I have no intention of seeking another academic or administrative position in a university or government agency. However, I most certainly am not retiring from professional life. Why did I resign my tenured faculty position? Im cashing out with 186 published journal articles and two books. The superficial reason is that I want to do other things, and no longer need my university salary. The deeper reasons have to do with my growing disenchantment with universities, the academic field of climate science and scientists.
Like most of Judiths posts, this one is quite long and detailed and excellent. Heres one more important highlight if you dont have time for the whole thing:
A deciding factor was that I no longer know what to say to students and postdocs regarding how to navigate the CRAZINESS in the field of climate science. Research and other professional activities are professionally rewarded only if they are channeled in certain directions approved by a politicized academic establishment funding, ease of getting your papers published, getting hired in prestigious positions, appointments to prestigious committees and boards, professional recognition, etc. How young scientists are to navigate all this is beyond me, and it often becomes a battle of scientific integrity versus career suicide (I have worked through these issues with a number of skeptical young scientists). Let me relate an interaction that I had with a postdoc about a month ago. She wanted to meet me, as an avid reader of my blog. She works in a field that is certainly relevant to climate science, but she doesnt identify as a climate scientist. She says she gets questioned all the time about global warming issues, and doesnt know what to say, since topics like attribution, etc. are not topics that she explores as a scientist. WOW, a scientist that knows the difference! I advised her to keep her head down and keep doing the research that she thinks interesting and important, and to stay out of the climate debate UNLESS she decides to dig in and pursue it intellectually. Personal opinions about the science and political opinions about policies that are sort of related to your research expertise are just that personal and political opinions. Selling such opinions as contributing to a scientific consensus is very much worse than a joke.
Prof. Curry is going to pursue private sector ventures now, and wont disappear from the climate world completely. You canand shouldfollow her on Twitter, @curryja.
Its always cute when liberals re-discover the virtue of constitutionally limited government. Strange, though, that it only seems to happen when theres a Republican president. The correlation here comes in at the statistically significant .95 level, though anyone versed in situational ethics neednt consult a statistician to recognize the phenomenon or understand its cause.
The latest case in point is an article in the current issue of the lefty journal of thought Dissent, in which the author, N. Turkuler Isiksel of Columbia University, argues that policy change under Trump is the least of things to worry about:
Dont count on the elaborate system of checks and balances instituted by the founders. James Madisons ingenious machine was designed to withstand the mundane incompetence, greed, and short-sightedness of politicians, but it cannot weather the onslaught of an aspiring tyrant hell-bent on destroying it. Consider that the separation of powers, the primary mechanism Madison envisaged for holding tyranny at bay, is all but irrelevant while Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the presidencyparticularly once they get their hands on key federal judicial appointments. All autocrats set about dismantling countervailing power structures, but with the inauspicious ideological alignment of all three branches of government, Trump wont even have to try.
Now just stop right there! Who was it, for a century now, who has worked to undermine the separation of powers and aggrandize executive policy-making power? Yesit was so-called Progressives. Breaking down the obsolete separation of powers was an explicit goal of Woodrow Wilsons political science. Roscoe Pound, one of the leading legal theorists of the Progressive Era, wrote: No one will assert at present that the separation of powers is a part of legal order of nature or that it is essential to liberty. And if Progressive-taught judges hadnt gone along with this weakening of the separation of powers, then there would be less to worry about from three-branch control by one party.
But thats not the best part of the article. Better is the rehabilitation of Ted Cruz:
Progressives err in assuming that the worst danger of a Trump presidency is the reversal of Obama legacy, including the Affordable Care Act, the vindication of the constitutional rights of LGBTQ people, the Iran deal, and progress on climate change. There will surely be an all-out assault on these achievements. But it would a grave mistake to see the obliteration of the progressive policy agenda as the chief danger of a Trump presidency. What we confront is not the usual dogfight between liberals and conservatives. It is a struggle between those who believe in preserving the imperfect but serviceable constitutional system of the republic, and those who will try to undermine it. For all his abhorrent policy positions, a President Cruz could have been counted on to observe the strictures of constitutional democracy, such as the peaceful alternation of power through free and fair elections.
Funny, but I recall during primary season lefties were saying Trump was preferable to Cruz because of Trumps indistinct and therefore more pliable ideology. I guess liberals do mean it when they talk about change.
Reminder:
Turkeys parliament voted overnight to extend emergency rule by three months in a move which the government said was needed to sustain a purge of supporters of the U.S.-based Muslim Cleric accused of orchestrating Julys failed coup.
This was disclosed on Wednesday in Istanbul by the state media.
Emergency rule, first imposed in Turkey after an attempted putsch on July 15 and then extended in October, enabled government to bypass parliament in enacting new laws and to limit or suspend rights and freedoms when deemed necessary.
It said the extension, effective from January19, came as Turkey reels from a series of attacks by Islamist or Kurdish militants, most recently on Sunday when a lone gunman shot dead 39 people in an Istanbul nightclub during New Year celebrations.
Ankara accuses Pennsylvania-based preacher, Fethullah Gulen, and his supporters, whom it terms the Gulenist Terror Organisation (FETO), of being behind the July coup attempt.
Gulen denies the allegations.
Deputy Prime Minister, Numan Kurtulmus, said in parliament ahead of the vote that the purge of FETO from the state has not been completed.
He stressed the need to implement the emergency rule until FETO and all terror groups have been purged from the state.
More than 41,000 people have been jailed pending trial in connection with the attempted coup out of 100,000 who have faced investigation.
Some 120,000 people, including soldiers, police officers, teachers, judges and journalists, have been suspended or dismissed since the coup, although thousands of them have since been restored to their posts, he said.
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Donald Trump, the incoming U.S. President, has said that the opposition Democrats were to be blamed for the hacking of their email during the 2016 presidential election.
Mr. Trump in his tweets on Wednesday described the Democrats as careless.
The president-elect also again, cast doubt over the culpability of Russia in the hacking of the email of Democratic National Committee (DNC).
He supported the views expressed by Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange.
Julian Assange said a 14-year-old could have hacked (John) Podesta why was DNC so careless?
Also, said Russians did not give him the info!
@FoxNews: Julian Assange on U.S. media coverage: Its very dishonest. #Hannity More dishonest than anyone knows.
Somebody hacked the DNC but why did they not have hacking defense like the RNC has and why have they not responded to the terrible things they did and said (like giving the questions to the debate to H).
A total double standard! Media, as usual, gave them a pass, Trump tweeted.
NAN recalls that Trump had on Tuesday, slammed the intelligence agencies over the delayed briefing on Russias involvement in the hacking.
Trump, who took to twitter to express his displeasure, said the delay was very strange.
The Intelligence briefing on so-called Russian hacking was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case.
Very strange! Trump said on his Twitter handle.
The President-elect, who is due to be sworn-in on January 20 as the 45th U.S. President, also said that he would address a news conference on January 11, a day after outgoing President Barack Obama is expected to have delivered his valedictory speech.
I will be having a general news conference on JANUARY ELEVENTH in N.Y.C. Thank you, the President-in-waiting said.
NAN recalls that Trump had also said on Sunday that he knew things that other people dont know about the Russian hacking.
Trump, on Wednesday, also took a swipe at the Democrats over what he termed the failed ObamaCare disaster.
Republicans must be careful in that the Dems own the failed ObamaCare disaster, with its poor coverage and massive premium increases like the 116 per cent hike in Arizona.
Also, deductibles are so high that it is practically useless.
Dont let the Schumer clowns out of this web massive increases of ObamaCare will take place this year and Dems are to blame for the mess.
It will fall of its own weight be careful! Trump, who had repeatedly said that repealing and replacing the ObamaCare would be his first assignment at the Oval Office, tweeted.
The President-in-waiting also commended automobile giant, Ford, for announcing that it is scrapping its Mexico plant for the U.S.
Thank you to Ford for scrapping a new plant in Mexico and creating 700 new jobs in the U.S.
This is just the beginning much more to follow, Trump said on Twitter.
(NAN)
Ousman Badjie, Gambias army chief, has reaffirmed his loyalty to embattled President Yahya Jammeh, as the deadline given by the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS gets closer.
May I please seize this opportunity to renew to your Excellency the assurance of the unflinching loyalty and support of the Gambia Armed Forces, Mr. Badjie, a general, wrote in a letter to Mr. Jammeh published today in a pro-government newspaper.
Mr. Jammeh initially accepted his defeat in the December 1 election, but a week later reversed his position, vowing to hang on to power despite a wave of regional and international condemnation.
West African regional bloc ECOWAS has placed standby forces on alert in case Jammeh attempts to stay in power after his mandate ends on January 19.
Mr. Jammeh has called the blocs stance a declaration of war.
Many Gambians, who have lived through 22 years of Mr. Jammehs increasingly authoritarian rule, were stunned when the elections commission declared opposition figure Adama Barrow the winner of last months election.
Mr. Jammehs initial acceptance of the result sparked nationwide celebrations.
Mr. Badjie declared his allegiance to Mr. Barrow soon after the poll results were announced, according to a spokesperson for the president-elect.
However his position remained unclear following Mr. Jammehs dramatic about-face.
In an illustration of the growing pressure on Gambian officials as the January 19 deadline looms, Alieu Momarr Njai, the head of the elections commission, fled Gambia on Friday due to fears for his security, family members said.
Last month, Gambian security forces seized control of the commissions headquarters, which holds the original poll records and told staff, including Mr. Njai, to leave.
Over the weekend Gambian security agents closed three private radio stations, making it harder for the incoming government to communicate with its supporters.
It is a sign of weakness for any side of the political spectrum to resort to media closures rather than engagement to put ones position across, Mr. Barrows office said on Wednesday in a statement that also called for the release of detainees.
Leaders of ECOWAS member nations have dismissed Mr. Jammehs move to challenge his election defeat before Gambias Supreme Court on January 10 and say they will attend Mr. Barrows swearing-in this month.
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Security operatives, Wednesday evening, laid siege to an Abuja house belonging to a brother-in-law to Nigerias former president Goodluck Jonathan, sources close to the former leader confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES.
The house is located in Maitama, one of the enclaves of Nigerias rich in Abuja.
The spokespersons for the headquarters and Abuja command of the police said they were not aware of the operation, but security sources confirmed that police officers in uniform carried out the raid.
According to our sources, the operatives searched all the rooms in the house.
The house was allegedly bought for her brother by Patience Jonathan, who was said to be in Port Harcourt when the raid occurred on Wednesday.
Although Mrs. Jonathan has been having a running battle with the anti-graft agency, EFCC, over the ownership of a controversial $15 million, sources at the commission said the EFCC did not carry out the raid.
More details to follow
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One of Dearborn Heights own became a state police trooper as part of the Michigan State Police Academys latest graduating class Dec. 22.
Annapolis High School alumnus Jake Yacuone is one of 41 new recruits from the 131st graduating class.
After reporting for duty July 17, Yacuone endured the 22-week program, which consisted of a paramilitary type structure. The troopers report for training from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. every Sunday and dont return home until Friday night once their tasks are completed. Every day consists of a 5 a.m. revelry with a wake-up call, followed by a 10-minute breakfast, or chow break; inspection; classes that are rotated in squads; another 10-minute chow break for lunch; study time and more classes until 5 p.m., and another 10-minute chow break. At 8 p.m., the troopers are given the night to themselves until lights out at 10 p.m.
Its physically grueling, Yacuone said. It really teaches you how to manage your time.
Being the new father of a 1-year-old son, Yacuone said his hardest part was leaving every Sunday.
Ive left home before, but never like that, he said. Now that I have a son, it made it a lot harder to wait for the phone call on Sundays of when we were to report.
Both he and his family knew since he was young that he would one day be a police officer.
Before joining the academy, hed already had some experience with the City of Wayne Police Department being a police service aide and dispatching non-emergency calls.
My mom and sister are nurses and I have cousins that are police officers, Yacuone said. I wanted to do something where I helped people, too. Ever since I was little all I talked about was becoming a police officer. I knew I wanted to be a MSP officer because of how they conducted themselves.
Having expected Yacuone to become a police officer and follow his dreams, he said his family being so supportive helped him get through his 22-week training.
Theyre happy for me and they are incredibly supportive, he said. Family is what got me through because I have such a great support system.
Still being relatively new to the force,Trooper Yacuone says his training really has prepared him for many different types of situations.
Ive learned to really pay attention to details and follow concerning cues, he said. The training really ties into different scenarios so its really great to be able to actually use what I was taught. And there is always more to learn.
He said being passionate is also very important to becoming a member of the Michigan State Police.
You have to try your best and be passionate, Yacuone said. You have to take it day by day, but if you pick a goal, anything you want to do is possible with any amount of work you put into it.
Being stationed at the Metro South Post in Taylor, Yacuone hopes to give people good encounters with police and grow with the community.
I want to earn the uniform everyday, he said. I dont want to rest on the reputation that the great troopers before us built, but to build onto it.
Its late October and downtown Hammonton is bustling with people looking to grab a quick meal and a hot beverage to cuddle during the soon-to-begin Halloween parade. A huge night for business, main street shop-owners will not have time to enjoy the festivities among them Ricky Alverio, whose new business the Funky Cow Cafe is just beginning to make a name for itself.
Alverio works the room, cleaning up tables, checking on diners, doling out cups of homemade hot chocolate and greeting every potential customer who wanders in.
Welcome to the Funky Cow Cafe! Have you been here before? he asks. If the answer is no, he walks them through the menu, explaining the difference between his savory and sweet waffles a welcome distinction for many who dont know what to make of such pairings as braised shredded beef, pickled onions, horseradish mousse, sharp cheddar cheese and a waffle.
Try some of my soup, he says, rushing to the back to bring out a hearty sample of his homemade funky beef soup.
A thriving arts scene and family-owned stores make downtown Hammonton a friendly place to shop There are so many unique and interesting pockets of South Jersey. Sure, individual shops, restaurants and venues are nice to visit, but someti
Needless to say, Alverios approach to owning a restaurant is anything but hands-off. His zeal is refreshing and perhaps necessary for one attempting to open a new business. Downtown Hammonton has transformed over the past few years, blossoming from nothing-special to a travel-worthy destination, but this has not been without a few casualties the town has seen many promising businesses shutter before their time.
That said, the Funky Cow Cafe seems poised for success. Alverio and his entrepreneurial partner Jeff Geiger have made a splash with their savory and sweet waffles, having sold over 13,000 waffles since opening in September.
With a splashy sign and eyebrow-raising cow benches outside, funky is exactly the word. The concept behind the cafe came to Alverio in a moment of inspiration while on a trip to Cape May.
The name Funky Cow came up as I was driving down Route 9, Alverio explains. I got a call saying a there was a viable space in Hammonton that was a former self-serve frozen yogurt place. I said to myself, I would be buying ice cream machines. We arent going to be able to sustain ice cream on main street Hammonton. I need a cafe.
I thought it would be nice if I served sandwiches, but I didnt want to do it on typical bread. I thought, oh my god, Im going to do sweet and savory waffles. I used the f-word then, and I thought I needed something along the lines of fing cow. Thats where the Funky Cow came from. I immediately called Jeff and told him.
Alverios love of cooking goes back to his grandmothers kitchen when he was just 9 years old. Armed with his Childcraft Encyclopedia which Alverio keeps at the Funky Cow with him he began to hone his skills in the kitchen at a young age.
Since then, hes gone on to create such specialties as Lolas Cuban Waffle: fresh roasted pork, ham, pickles, Swiss cheese and funky mustard on a homemade savory waffle; the Funkn Chicken: grilled chicken, bacon, a cheddar cheese blend, lettuce, tomato and creamy sriracha on a savory waffle; and the Holy Cow: roasted turkey, lettuce, tomato, bacon and mayo on you guessed it a savory waffle. Beyond the sandwiches, the Funky Cow also offers a variety of soups, salads and healthy bowl dishes like their Funky Lane: blended organic Sambazon acai with blueberries and apple juice topped with banana, organic granola and honey.
Their desserts are just as exciting as their savory concoctions, and put the cow the cafes name. Thought up by Geiger, they include Apple-Ala-Mooooo: warm glazed apples with a cinnamon sugar crumb topped with vanilla custard on a sweet waffle; and the PB-n-J Explosion: peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiched between two sweet waffles. More waffle and ice cream sandwiches are soon to be released, thanks to Geigers sweet contributions to the menu.
Elbow-deep in waffle batter, Alverio has become somewhat of a waffle expert, able to pull out dates and figures as to when the first waffle maker was made and the history of this sweet-now-savory food. Although they have been dined on since just about the beginning of time, with the opening of the Funky Cow, Alverio has begun a waffle renaissance, at least in South Jersey.
Seaside Cheese opens Cafe Fromage to the delight of turophiles everywhere Chances are you may be a turophile or know someone that is a true cheese connoisseur. If s
All the old is new now. Everything from years ago is the new trend, he says of his decision to center his cafe on waffles.
The Funky Cow fills a void in the downtown area with its energetic, casual vibe. Hammontons Bellevue is fringed with eateries among them beloved standards, cozy cafes and swanky restaurants. What was formerly missing from this tapestry was a place to grab a quick, quality meal that doesnt break the bank. With its modern, clean, inviting atmosphere, the Funky Cow Cafe fits the bill.
With every New Year comes a clean slate and a fresh perspective. Shake off those 2016 blues with our round-up of things to look forward to in 2017.
The Steel Piers observation wheel
There are precious few family-friendly attractions in Atlantic City, so the addition of the Steel Piers soon-to-be-opened observation wheel will be a refreshing addition to Americas playground. The 220-foot wheel will feature 40 climate-controlled gondolas, making it a viable attraction all year round. Construction on the wheel has been delayed a few times, but Anthony Catanoso, the Piers president, has assured that the $14 million project will be finished in time for summer. Steel Pier.com.(tncms-asset)ef604422-c933-11e6-95f0-00163ec2aa77(/tncms-asset)
Big-name headliners
As fun as it is to see musicians from yesteryear come to Atlantic City and prove to the world theyve still got it, its refreshing to see some young stars roll through. Fortunately for 2017, Boardwalk Hall is the place to be for headliners still in their prime. The All Stars of Hip-Hop show on Jan. 15 will feature such names as Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, DMX and more. Florida Georgia Line will cruise there on March 17 after having their A.C. beach concert cancelled due to Hurricane Hermine last year, and The Weeknd perhaps the biggest name well see in Atlantic City this year brings his Starboy: Legend of the Fall tour to Boardwalk Hall on May 19. Boardwalk Hall.com.(tncms-asset)c858b374-9f84-11e6-9585-00163ec2aa77(/tncms-asset)
Michael Symons Angeline
Borgata dominates the Atlantic City scene when it comes to star chefs, with restaurants like Wolfgang Puck American Grille, Geoffrey Zakarians Sunroom and Bobby Flay Steak. Even so, this year theyll add another feather to their cap with Michale Symons Angeline. The Iron Chefs newest venture will focus on the food Symon grew up eating Italian. Angeline, named after Symons mother, will occupy the 8,200-square-food space formerly taken up by Michael Minas Seablue.(tncms-asset)fbae7604-a5cf-11e6-8733-00163ec2aa77(/tncms-asset)
My mother is Greek and Sicilian, so they are the foods I grew up eating as a kid and where a lot of my food memories started, so this restaurant is a love letter to my mom, Symon says.
Symons Borgata endeavor makes the resort the only place in the world with four Iron Chefs under one roof. The Borgata.com.
Linwood food hall
A concept akin to Phillys Reading Terminal Market will come to Linwood in 2017. Developer Gerry Bird is spearheading the project, where independent restaurants will occupy a 17,000-square-foot space on Route 9, all clustered around one bar. The specifics of the eatery remain vague, with an opening date pinned at mid-year, but it has the potential to be groundbreaking for South Jersey.
TEN (maybe)
There have been a lot of empty promises about the former Revel. Owner Glenn Straub has made some wild claims about the property in the past that it would become a school for geniuses, that it would house Syrian refugees, that it would open in mid-June 2016 despite having inadequate permits, and that he would give $10,000 to anyone who could come up with a compelling name for it. He even disowned the building after getting frustrated with CRDA officials, saying, Ill go back to Miami, go back to Palm Beach, go back to Ohio, go back to West Virginia. How many other people are spending money?
But after all that, it seems that Revel, rebranded as TEN will open in the first half of 2017. Whether the property will include a ropes course, high-speed rail lines and a water park, all plans formerly laid out by Straub, remains to be seen. TENACNJ.com.
Manco & Manco superstore
One of Ocean Citys most popular pizza joints Manco & Manco will open a huge new flagship location this year. The former Strand Theatre on 9th Street and the Boardwalk, which closed in 2014, will house the mammoth Manco & Manco. It is expected include a boutique retail store and more seating, something sorely needed in a place as popular as Manco & Manco. Additionally, they will also sell more than just pizza for the first time. The 8th and 12th streets locations will remain open, in addition to the superstore. MancosPizza.com.
Chef Jose Garces at Tropicana
Borgata isnt the only casino scoring big names in the culinary world. Philly-based Chef Jose Garces will open up a restaurant in Tropicana Atlantic City in the New Year, amidst a $40 million casino-wide renovation. Set to snuggle in among the casino floor, the restaurant will focus on offering varied, high-quality seafood dishes. Garces will bring with him the Latin-inspired hospitality that he has come to be known for, adding yet another culinary great to Atlantic City. Tropicana.net.(tncms-asset)d62e89da-c205-11e6-bb1b-00163ec2aa77(/tncms-asset)
Flogging Molly at Beer Fest
The 2017 A.C. Beer and Music Fest is reason alone to look forward to the New Year. With almost 200 breweries offering up nearly 1,000 different kinds of beer, this festival, taking place March 31 and April 1, is not to be missed. Sweetening the pot is Celtic punk band Flogging Molly, who will supply the latter element of the Beer and Music Fest 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. March 31. Flogging Molly is perhaps the biggest band to ever play the festival a fantastic addition to the massively popular event. ACBeerfest.com.
The Atlantic City and Wildwood beach concerts
There have been no announcements yet as to who will perform at either the Atlantic City or Wildwood beach concerts but, regardless, theyre always something to look forward to. The 2015 beach concerts brought such names as Jimmy Buffett, G Love and the Zac Brown Band to South Jersey. Wildwood, specifically, upped their game this year with Tim McGraw as their headliner and special guests Hunter Hayes, Maggie Rose and Shot of Southern. Hopefully 2017 brings even bigger names to the sands. ACBeachConcerts.com, WildwoodBeachConcerts.com.(tncms-asset)ccaf5cb5-99bb-5324-a528-c3e222e24cff(/tncms-asset)
Somers Point Beach Concert Series turns 25
One of the most popular and consistent beach concert series around is turning a quarter of a century old this year. The Somers Point Beach Concert Series is a beloved summer tradition for many, bringing local, national and international musicians to the beach. Guests are invited to set up their beach chairs and coolers, kick back and enjoy the wide-ranging musical lineup provided by the series all summer long. SomersPointBeachConcerts.com.
Thursday night music series in Smithville
The legendary bar Tony Mart will live on in a music series called Rockin with the Jersey Devil, set to premiere in the Smithville Square this summer. The Tony Mart team will produce this endeavor, which aims to bring both international and local musicians to Smithville, recreating the feel that once existed within the walls of Tony Mart. The concept is similar to its Somers Point Beach Concert Series: insanely talented musicians in a laid-back venue. TonyMart.com.
Irish brunch at Hard Rock
Atlantic Citys Hard Rock Cafe is still rocking, despite the closure of Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. Every Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. during the off-season, and regularly during the summer, they offer an acoustic brunch, which is exactly what it sounds like a special brunch menu paired with a live acoustic act. They held one of these brunches last year just before the kick off of the St. Patricks Day parade, to much success. So, the Irish brunch will be back in 2017, coupled with an acoustic act with Celtic flair. Guests can expect dishes like steak and eggs, chicken and waffles and their Rockin Corn Flake Crusted French Toast, paired, of course, with cocktails like their Bloody Mary and Mango Tequila Sunrise. HardRock.com.
The Pool After Darks update
To celebrate its 10th birthday, The Pool After Dark at Harrahs Resort is getting a facelift a multi-million dollar facelift. Closing after its Jan. 11 Wet n Wild Wednesday party and slated to reopen in early March, The Pool will receive a new stage, an elevated DJ booth with and LED video wall, an updated sound system, a redesigned loft gaming area, new cabanas, daybeds and lounge furniture, and an open floor plan, along with refreshed jacuzzis and pool. Frequent Pool-goers may see this as a downside of the New Year, but the payoff will be more than worth the temporary closure.
Harrahs, too, will receive a $30 million renovation. By summer the resort is likely to have revamped rooms and suites, a new fitness center and an enhanced food court. Harrahs.com.
Somers Points Gateway Playhouse to reopen
Somers Points Gateway Playhouse has been shuttered since 2006. However, the Theater Collaborative of South Jersey has been working hard to raise enough money to reopen the theater, utilizing donor contributions to finish the job. Because of their dedication, after a seven to eight month renovation, Somers Point will soon have a new outlet for the arts in 2017 when the Playhouse reopens, most likely during the summer. GatewayByTheBay.org.(tncms-asset)78675926-c7be-11e6-ab97-00163ec2aa77(/tncms-asset)
Atlantic City Weeklys Wing Wars
Our sister publication Atlantic City Weekly has a full year of exciting events ahead the Nightlife Awards, Top 40 Under 40, Burger Bash, the Health, Wellness & Fitness Expo and 50 Bites, to name a few. However, this year theyre spicing things up, quite literally, at the first ever Wing Wars. A.C. Weekly has rounded up 15 restaurants known for their top-notch wings for a battle of the birds, 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at Haven in Golden Nugget Atlantic City. A $25 ticket gets you access to all the wings you can eat and a vote for your favorite. The spot with the most votes will be crowned king of the wings. For tickets go to ACWeekly.com/WingWars.(tncms-asset)0898d174-c796-11e6-a5a5-00163ec2aa77(/tncms-asset)
Stocktons 48 Blocks
Stockton University and the Atlantic City Arts Foundation have teamed up to create an art initiative called 48 Blocks. Throughout the last weekend in June, they will produce eight projects in each of the six wards of the city, totaling 48 events. Each ward will participate in two specific projects: a collection of oral histories and the creation of a unique Adirondack chair. The other six events will be up to residents, to encourage creativity within the community. Anything goes with 48 Blocks varied art forms and productions are encouraged. Stockton.edu.
Coastal Craft Kitchen + Bar
Its out with the old and in with the new at Harrahs Resort, as the restaurant Sammy Ds will be revamped and rebranded as Coastal Craft Kitchen + Bar. With the departure of Chef Sam DeMarco, Harrahs decided to fill a void in their culinary offerings by bringing in a restaurant that will feature modern bar food, coastal cuisine and an expansive beer and cocktail menu. Set to open Presidents Day weekend, the menu has been put together by Executive Chef Robert Schoell and Coastal Crafts Chef Nicolas Faucher, with help from Harrahs seasoned mixologists. Coastal Craft Kitchen + Bar will have an aesthetic to match the menu a modern, casual, coastal vibe complete with TVs and free pool tables.
ATLANTIC CITY As the local school district begins the process of hiring a new superintendent, the school board Tuesday unanimously ap-proved a teacher to lead them for the next year.
Walter Johnson, who teaches TV and media in the Ocean City School District, was unanimously elected president of the board, replacing John Devlin. Allen Thomas was unanimously elected vice president. Michael Harvey was absent.
Johnson, who has been on the board since 2012, was also sworn in for his second elected term, along with Constance Days-Chapman and new member Sharon Zappia, who were the top vote-getters in the November election.
Former board member Patricia Bailey is also back on the board to re-place Julius Anderson, who re-signed for health reasons.
The New Jersey School Boards Association, which is assisting the district with its superintendent search, will host a meeting for parents and the public at 7 p.m. Jan. 10 at the Martin Luther King. Jr. School Complex on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. They will outline the process and answer questions.
A short survey has also been posted on the district website. The survey asks for input on the districts strengths and weaknesses, the critical issues facing the district in the next three to five years, what characteristics and leadership style they would like to see in the new superintendent, and what questions they would ask candidates for the job.
The survey is also online at www.Surveymonkey.com/r/ACSuperintendentSearchCommunityInput
Johnson said he will talk with board members to see who will serve on the search committee. He, Ruth Byard and Sharon Zappia cannot participate in the search because they have family members working in the district.
Johnson said major goals will be keeping the district on solid financial footing while also being competitive with other schools. He said he be-lieves his experience as a teacher will be a benefit.
Tickets for "A Conversation with Bruce Springsteen" at Monmouth University in West Long Branch look to have been sold out half an hour after they went on sale Wednesday.
Tickets for the event were to go on sale at noon, but by 12:30, the website selling the tickets displayed a message, "This event is soldout. Please check with the venue for more information."
"A Conversation with Bruce Springsteen" will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 10 at the Pollak Theatre at the university.
The discussion will be moderated by Robert Santelli, executive director of the Grammy Museum, and former Monmouth University professor.
There were a limit of two tickets per household, to be available for pick up at 6:30 p.m. before the event, with no exceptions.
Monmouth University houses the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection, an amalgam nearly 35,000 items strong of books, press materials, concert memorabilia and more. It is also one of nine universities associated with the Grammy Museum.
Springsteens connections with New Jersey, particularly the Jersey Shore, have been well-documented for decades (just take a look at his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.). In August of 2016, Springsteen made history in performing the longest U.S. concert at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, which he quickly beat a week later in Philadelphias Citizens Bank Park.
Sara Tracey
Growing up in Rhode Island, I never heard of wearing your pajamas inside out to help cheer on a snow day, although its much less labor-intensive than the way I chose to help the cause.
My contribution involved waking up early, often before 5 a.m., then changing out of my pajamas and dressing in full winter battle gear.
My main weapon was a snow shovel. My army was the rest of the neighborhood kids, well, at least the ones I could rile out of bed to battle that early in the morning.
Our enemy: the town of Cumberland, Rhode Island, Public Works Department. More specifically, the snowplow.
Let me explain. The superintendent of the Cumberland Public Schools lived on our street. My theory, which seemed perfectly logical at the time, was that he would simply look out the window to see how the roads are and make the decision to cancel school based solely on what he saw.
And what he saw, thanks to some ill-advised yet determined neighborhood kids that called themselves the Highland Road gang, was a snow-covered road.
If the plow had not come just yet, our task was to shovel even more snow on the already-covered road.
If we arrived to find the plow had regrettably done its work, our task was to undo it. No, not the entire road. But, rest assured, the street in front of our beloved superintendents house was covered with as much snow as our bodies could shovel onto it.
Of course, if school was canceled, our gang would proudly take the credit and consider the battle won.
If there was no snow day to be had, we promised to shovel harder and faster the next time to successfully earn a coveted snow day.
Thankfully, the inside-out pajamas superstition didnt make its way to Highland Road in Rhode Island, or I may have been the only kid outside shoveling.
Do you have your own way to ensure a snow day? Leave your methods in the comments, and we can add it to our online story.
Here are readers rituals to make sure a snow day occurred.
Winter wardrobes
Patti Barnett Wythe: PJs inside out and backwards.
Barbara Blackman: I worked in the public school system for over 35 years. Superstition was that wed have a snow day if the kids wore their pajamas inside out and chanted something (cant remember).
Chris Corona Moses: I used to have my son wear his pajamas inside out! Sometimes it worked!
Ice cubes in where?
Heather Hoffman Wieland: Pjs inside out. Spoons under the pillows and ice cubes in the toilet. Bring on the snow.
Useful utensils
Whitney Katz Poppert: PJs inside out and backwards, snow dance, spoon under pillow and ice cubes in the toilet.
Elizabeth Price Maurer: Kids always sleep with the PJs inside out and a spoon under their pillows.
Out-of-the-box methods
Heather Sudol: Snow dance.
Vicki Biggs: Pray!
Diane Pannelli: When I was a child and it started to snow during the school day, it was always said that you dont tell the teacher because it would stop snowing. If you keep the secret, it would continue into the night.
Al Heston: I was a second-grade teacher and would do a Native American war chant and dance up and down my hallway, seemed to really work!
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MAYS LANDING Atlantic County freeholders raised the stakes Tuesday in an ongoing tax battle against Atlantic City, voting 8-1 to authorize County Executive Dennis Levinson to withhold $12.8 million in tax-appeal refunds due to the city until the county gets 13.5 percent of casino payments in lieu of property taxes.
City and county officials have long fought over how much money should go to the county when a state law letting casinos collectively pay $120 million per year takes effect.
The county wants a 13.5 percent piece of the PILOT pie, which reflects the countys historic share of city tax receipts. But city officials say the county should get just 10.3 percent, which is in line with what the county has received recently.
Its a difference of $40 million over the life of the decadelong law.
Amy Gatto sworn into freeholder board after successful election MAYS LANDING Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno on Tuesday swore in Atlantic County freeholders Amy Gat
Freeholder Chairman Frank Formica said the measure is intended to spur dialogue between the city and county. County officials have said the 13.5 percent PILOT share is needed to avoid a county tax hike.
The stress on the Atlantic County budget, and therefore on the residents of Atlantic County, has the potential to be tremendous if the county does not receive its fair share, Formica said. This is not something to step on the necks of the people of Atlantic City. It is to get the governances to come together to create a resolution.
The loss of $12.8 million would be significant for the city, which has an annual budget deficit of about $100 million.
In a statement, Mayor Don Guardian said if the county illegally withholds Atlantic Citys tax appeal money, it would be the equivalent of stealing directly from the residents and children of Atlantic City.
Trump Taj Mahal to surrender gaming license but not for sale ATLANTIC CITY Casino gaming might not be returning to the shuttered Trump Taj Mahal Casino
With Atlantic City already facing financial difficulties, to kick us while we are down is truly reprehensible, Guardian said. Atlantic City continues to pay the highest percentage of the countys budget. We dont mind paying our fair share, as long as its fair for everyone.
Freeholder Ernest Coursey, whose district includes Atlantic City, was the lone no vote on the resolution. He called the measure a slap in the face to Atlantic City residents who are facing a nearly 13 percent tax increase this year.
Youre holding the folks of Atlantic City hostage, Coursey said. We cant take this fight out on those folks. I would agree to some extent that yes, negotiations are good. But Im not sure we should have done it here today.
The PILOT law allows the state Local Finance Board, if it chooses, to decide what percentage of the PILOT the county will receive. But Levinson and Formica said Tuesday the state has left it to the county to negotiate with the city.
A spokeswoman from the Department of Community Affairs, which includes the Local Finance Board, declined comment.
Levinson struck a deal with Guardian last year to get the county its desired 13.5 percent share. In April, Gov. Chris Christie said in a news conference the county would get 13.5 percent.
Atlantic City, county fight over PILOT money ATLANTIC CITY The city and Atlantic County are still fighting over $4 million.
But since then, the citys proposed recovery plan gave the county just 10.3 percent of the PILOT. State officials have said the county will get a 13.5 percent share only if it takes on more services and responsibilities for the city.
The 13.5 percent was in stone for six months, Levinson said. Suddenly when the PILOT passed, everyone got amnesia. Thats not the way its done.
In his statement, Guardian said the county should use the tax formula provided by the state and county to determine the countys share.
Or if the county is really pressed about taking unwarranted monies from municipalities, they should just ask every municipality to give them $4 million more than they are legally required to give, he said. Lets see how many municipalities would agree to that.
Atlantic City Council will hold its reorganization meeting Wednesday.
Councilman Kaleem Shabazz, who attended the freeholder meeting, said the resolution unnecessarily pits the city against the county.
To suggest the county may withhold payment to the city, I think that puts us at odds when we shouldnt be, Shabazz told the freeholders.
Though leadership on both sides of the aisle emphasized working together on day one of Montana's 2017 legislative session, the announcement of an education caucus by Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen was met with opposition by a Democratic leader on day two.
Arntzen announced a bipartisan education caucus as one of her legislative priorities during the Indian Education For All Rotunda Day. Tom Facey, the Democratic senate minority whip and member of the senates Education and Cultural Resources Committee, said he would not participate.
Arntzen said the caucus, which will meet weekly starting next Wednesday, will bring politicians together to serve 145,000 public school students. Facey said the caucus is ironic considering Arntzens legislative voting record.
She was here for 12 years and was not an enthusiastic supporter of public education for kids, Facey said.
He said Democrats and Republicans have a long history of working together to improve public education, but pointed out Arntzens votes against Early Edge funding for public preschool and expanding funding for students with disabilities.
When she says words matter but actions do too, her history doesnt back that up, he said. Shes been one of the major forces of privatizing Montana schools and getting public money into private hands.
Facey has been a teacher for 38 years.
In addition to announcing an education caucus, Arntzen said she would host an education council with tribal members, and hosted the Indian Education For All event to acknowledge the efforts made by schools and tribal members to make the program possible. Educators from across the state set up exhibits on Native American culture and Montanas history in the rotunda. Arntzen didnt announce plans to make funding or legislative changes to the program.
Putting Montana students first is the focus of this superintendent, Arntzen said.
A Philadelphia man was arrested at a Toms River motel last week on drug possession and distribution charges, authorities said Wednesday.
Farid Brown, 24, was arrested Dec. 28 at the Howard Johnsons Motor Lodge following a joint investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutors Special Operations Group, Northern Enforcement Unit and members of the Toms River Police Special Enforcement Team.
A search warrant was executed in the room Brown was staying and authorities found 40 grams of a white powder believed to be unpackaged, raw heroin, according to the Ocean County Prosecutors Office.
Drug packaging paraphernalia including rubber bands, wax folds, a scale and a small spoon also was found, the Prosecutors Office said in a press release.
Brown was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of CDS over half an ounce, intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was taken to the Ocean County jail on $150,000 bail.
Ganiel Howard, 25, of Philadelphia, was also arrested and charged with conspiracy to possess a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute. Howard was released on a summons pending future court dates.
BRIDGETON The first Superior Court appearance for the man who allegedly killed his estranged wife Dec. 19 in Commercial Township came via a video screen Wednesday.
Jeremiah Monell never left the Cumberland County jail, where he was incarcerated Tuesday after being released from Inspira Medical Center Vineland, where he was taken following his arrest Monday.
The Cumberland County courthouse was filled with family members of the victim, 35-year-old Tara OShea-Watson. They sat quietly as a tired-looking Monell answered most questions posed by Judge Cristen DArrigo in a monotone, Yes, your honor.
The only time Monell provided an extended answer was when DArrigo asked if he intended to apply for a public defender.
Not from inside here, Monell replied.
Monell, of the Cedarville section of Lawrence Township, is charged with murder. Authorities found Monell on Monday after a two-week manhunt.
Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said the decision to use the video system was up to the court.
He is being held without bail, which was originally set at $1 million.
Bail will be one of two issues to be decided during a preventive-detention hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday. The court will also hear arguments as to whether to continue Monells incarceration, with one of the considerations being whether Monell represents a danger to the community, Webb-McRae said. Details of Monells arrest could also be revealed during the hearing, she said.
After Wednesdays proceeding, OShea-Watsons cousin, Bryan Dunn, said the family wants Monells fate to be decided appropriately by the states justice system. He also said many of OShea-Watsons family members hold the justice system partially to blame for her death.
OShea-Watson wanted to leave New Jersey to live with family in Tennessee, but the courts required her two youngest children to remain in the state, Dunn said.
She wasnt going to leave them behind, he said.
Dunn said family members are holding onto each other and staying in constant communication to help make it through this difficult time.
State Police were called to OShea-Watsons house in the 7900 block of Raymond Drive in the Laurel Lake section of Commercial Township shortly after 8 a.m. Dec. 19 after a neighbor found her wrapped in a blanket on the living room floor. State Police said OShea-Watson was unconscious and unresponsive when they arrived at the house, later saying she died from multiple stab wounds.
State Police quickly named Monell their suspect. Authorities have yet to comment on a motive for the slaying.
Friends of OShea-Watson alleged Monell physically abused her for more than a decade. They also said OShea-Watson had a court-issued restraining order against Monell and had recently filed for divorce.
The search for Monell eventually became a nationwide manhunt.
Monell was arrested without incident Monday in a patch of woods near Routes 322 and 54 in Folsom, Atlantic County. State Police said they were alerted to his whereabouts at 2:45 p.m. by a person who recognized him.
Jeremiah Monell, wanted in the slaying of his estranged wife, Tara OShea-Watson, nearly two weeks ago, was found Monday behind a Folsom shopping center, in a patch of woods laced with trails and known to attract homeless squatters.
Monell, 32, had been on the run since Dec. 19, and a manhunt ensued after OShea-Watson, 35, was found stabbed multiple times in her trailer home in Laurel Lake, a lakefront community in Commercial Township, Cumberland County. He was found about 27 miles away, near routes 322 and 54 in Folsom in western Atlantic County, by someone who had recognized him, State Police said.
State Police got the call at 2:45 p.m.
OShea-Watsons friend Penny Morey was at an Atlantic City casino when her cellphone rang with news shed been waiting for.
I literally fell to my knees, crying in the middle of the casino, They got him, they got him, they got him, Morey said. I didnt care where I was.
Morey said she knew Monell would slip up sometime and get caught.
The bad part is that New Jersey doesnt have the death penalty, said the resident of the Cedarville section of Lawrence Township.
Sgt. Gregory Williams said State Police received several tips regarding Monell during the past two weeks.
The public is key in most of our investigations, Williams said. See something, say something. Its something that actually works.
Monell was taken to a hospital Monday for medical observation before being transferred to the Cumberland County jail in Bridgeton. He is scheduled to appear before Superior Court Judge Cristen DArrigo at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Cumberland County courthouse on charges that include murder. Bail is set at $1 million.
Residents near Liberty Square Center in Folsom said the woods behind the shopping center where he was found are laced with trails and frequented by homeless people. Merchants at the center declined to comment.
At Dinos Restaurant in Cedarville, Lawrence Township Committeeman Skip Bowman said residents were calling the municipal building for information about the search for Monell.
They were very concerned, he said.
One of the initial major search sites was a wooded area bordered by Saw Mill and Factory roads and Main Street. The site is just a short distance from downtown Cedarville.
Bowman said one calming influence was the number of marked and unmarked State Police vehicles in the area.
We felt well protected, he said.
Cedarville resident Steelman Peterson said his major concern was for his 5-year-old daughter.
You have to worry with someone like that running around, he said.
Another customer, Laurel Lake resident Ron Zuggi, said he met Monell last summer when Monell was looking for work to raise money for his family. Zuggi said he hired Monell to rake leaves at his property and that Monell appeared fine.
He didnt show any kind of condition that would lead us to be concerned, Zuggi said.
Morey and Jennifer Messeck, another friend of OShea-Watson, both said Monell physically abused OShea-Watson for more than a decade. Both women said they saw the bruises and other injuries she suffered in those alleged incidents. They also said OShea-Watson had a court-issued restraining order against Monell and that she recently filed for divorce.
Messeck said she at first didnt believe media reports of Monells arrest. She said she called State Police to make sure he was in custody.
I cried, Messeck said after getting confirmation. I cried like a baby. I am unbelievably grateful and thankful that he is finally arrested. It makes me feel like some sense of hope and justice will be served.
Authorities said OShea-Watson died from multiple stab wounds. Neighbors found her wrapped in a blanket on her living room floor. The neighbor told State Police he went to OShea-Watsons house after her son told him she was dead, according to a 911 call.
A Rutgers University professor who specializes in sea-level research will make one of about 100 presentations at the Delaware Estuary Science and Environmental Summit in Cape May this month.
Almost 300 people have registered, leaving about 35 seats available.
Organized by the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, the summit will be held Jan. 22-25 at the Grand Hotel in Cape May.
PDE Science Director Danielle Kreeger called it a rare chance for people with different environmental interests to share data and ideas.
The summit is unique in bringing scientists, managers, educators and restoration professionals together from across the area to share their latest findings and problem-solve in a retreat-like setting, Kreeger said.
Rutgers professor Ben Horton, the sea-level rise expert, will be the keynote speaker.
All are welcome, from amateur naturalists to professionals in environmental fields, the PDE said.
There will be five presentations on lessons from Hurricane Sandy, describing how engineers, land managers and others are making sites more resilient against storms.
Connecting Youth to the Environment will focus on innovative programs such as UrbanTrekkers and PowerCorps work in Camden.
The Delaware River and Bay are divided among four states, so its really important we get folks on all sides collaborating, said Jennifer Adkins, executive director of the PDE. We feel were best suited to do that, because were the only organization focused on the entire environment affecting the tidal river and bay.
Delaware and New Jersey share the bay, while New Jersey shares the river with Pennsylvania and New York.
Summit on Delaware Estuary set for Cape May The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary is holding a three-day summit in Cape May on the he
The registration cost (not including lodging) for the entire summit is $135 for students and $380 for nonstudents. Attendees can pay $200 per day.
Registration is required by Sunday.
Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President-elect Donald Trump, rode in the Hammonton Christmas Parade under a bright media spotlight and to loud cheers from residents of a town that largely voted Republican.
A week later, the local Hispanic community held a large posada, a re-enactment of Mary and Josephs search for lodging that first Christmas. The event, held to much less fanfare, was inspired in part by Conways parade participation, as an attempt to celebrate the communitys diversity after a harsh presidential campaign.
Civil rights and environmental activists in the region are beginning to mobilize with the Jan. 20 inauguration of Trump. The campaign unnerved people in minority communities, while the president-elects agenda has dismayed environmentalists.
In Hammonton, posada organizer Ivette Guillermo-McGahee said she has already felt a change in how people are interacting. Guillermo-McGahee cited a float during the parade that had a wall built around it with the word Trump spray-painted on the side as an example of a topic that could lead to discrimination against Hispanics.
We feel that people are feeling a little bit freer to make jokes about Hispanics, she said. This is a celebration to open our hearts and open the doors and welcome others.
Steve Young, president of the National Action Networks South Jersey chapter, said membership has doubled from 50 to 100 people since the election.
Everybody wants to know how to mobilize, said Young. The campaign of Donald Trump had a lot of discriminatory rhetoric, but we know how to protest that in a peaceful manner.
Interest in the Atlantic City chapter of Black Lives Matter has also risen, according to the Rev. William M. Williams, who is affiliated with the group.
Williams said people have been contacting the group via social media asking how they can participate.
Not everyone is alarmed. In Hammonton, new resident Sophia Melendez, who moved to the area from Mexico about a year ago, said the election or the possibility of a wall going up at the U.S.-Mexico border arent really big topics when she talks to family and friends still living in Mexico.
I would say it is about 50/50 in terms of people who care or talk about it, she said.
Richard Helfant, president of the Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance, said he doesnt recall Trump ever saying anything derogatory toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Helfant also said he hasnt seen an increase in money, volunteers, members or interest in his organization since the election.
But environmental activists are worried the incoming presidents agenda could threaten the coastal areas of New Jersey in the wake of rising sea levels and climate change.
Jeff Tittel, chapter director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said his group has seen an increase in members and volunteers in South Jersey since the election.
People have also been volunteering over concerns about two natural-gas pipelines that have been proposed to run through parts of the Pinelands, one of them from Maurice River Township to the B.L. England Generating Station in Upper Township.
When it comes to climate change, Tittel said he has heard from people who fear Trump will do nothing or make matters worse.
A silver lining, he said, is that more people believe the environment is under threat.
People are upset about the election and want to do something, he said. I think it shows that people are committed to the environment.
The countrys soldiers face challenges that many people cant even begin to understand, both during and after their military service. Too many of them end up in jail or in prisons as a result of invisible wounds they suffered on the battlefield that are not properly treated when they return home.
In 2017, we must resolve to end the incarceration of soldiers who are in need of mental health services and treatment. I am proud that New Jersey has taken important steps toward doing that.
At its last voting session of the year, the state Senate approved legislation unanimously that will drastically change the way veterans and enlisted military who served in combat, and have been diagnosed with or show symptoms of a mental health condition, are treated in the criminal justice system.
The bill, which I sponsored, will create a Statewide Veterans Diversion Program to divert these men and women away from the criminal justice system as early as possible following an interaction with law enforcement.
When a person is taken into custody for an eligible offense, the responding law enforcement officer will inquire as to whether the person is a service member or has ever served in the U.S. military. If he or she answers yes, the officer would operate with a preference for diverting an eligible service member to a county Veterans Diversion Resource Center or other community-based mental health services in lieu of filing a criminal complaint.
The program would provide appropriate case management guiding individuals toward mental health services and helping them to find housing or employment.
It would be available to defendants charged with a non-violent petty disorderly persons offense, disorderly persons offense, crime of the fourth degree or the third degree.
Veterans would be paired with a mentor, a volunteer veteran recruited by the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and if they comply with the program could have the charge dismissed.
Rather than allowing them to fall into the criminal justice system, this will better ensure that combat veterans who have found themselves headed down the wrong path are given treatment and a second chance.
They deserve it.
The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that 77 percent of veterans in prison and jail received an honorable discharge or a general discharge under honorable conditions. About half of all veterans in prison and in jail have been told by a mental health professional they had a mental health disorder.
As someone who serves in the Legislature alongside two military veterans, Assemblyman Bob Andrzejczak and Assemblyman Bruce Land who between them have three Bronze Stars, a Soldiers Medal and a Purple Heart I know that the nations soldiers have encountered very difficult conditions during their service that we cannot begin to imagine unless weve literally walked in their shoes.
Creating this program is the right thing to do. And weve already taken a big step toward meeting the goal of ensuring that military personnel and veterans have the resources they need to live a healthy and productive life. I look forward to continuing to advance the effort in the weeks and months ahead.
Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland and Atlantic, is chairman of the Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee and vice chair of the Senate Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.
We write in our capacity as members of the Montana Public Defender Commission.
We are an all-volunteer commission, formed pursuant to the 2005 Montana Public Defender Act. We are charged with administering and managing a statewide agency that consists of 247.44 FTE attorneys and staff, and 252 contract attorneys as of the end of fiscal year 2016. The agency had a budget of over $35 million (about 2 percent of the states total budget) in FY 2016.
In recent weeks, statewide news outlets have reported on certain struggles and challenges facing the Office of the State Public Defender. Specifically, media sources have noted that, due to unprecedented increased caseloads, the system faces an anticipated budget shortfall. Public defenders, it is claimed, have failed to collect fees from their clients. Further, three members of the governors commission, and the recently hired chief administrator, have resigned.
We wish to assure the public that we are taking fiscally responsive steps to address the challenges the system faces, while recognizing the legal responsibilities associated with effective representation.
The staggering caseloads that public defenders take on illuminates the problems inherent in our justice system. Last year state public defenders were appointed to more than 36,000 cases. Since 2012, OPDs caseload in homicide and other felony cases has increased by approximately 32 percent. Similarly, caseload for misdemeanors has increased by approximately 11 percent and the dependent and neglect caseload has increased by approximately 53 percent.
These increases in workload are not addressed through corresponding increases in funding, staff or attorneys. Thus, all of our attorneys are working extraordinarily high caseloads in many regions, their caseloads exceed the amount they can ethically take on and maintain effective representation. Public defenders cannot legally refuse to take a case when assigned by the courts, which creates unique ethical dilemmas for these attorneys.
Pursuant to state law, the OPD commission has developed a mitigation plan that addresses many of these challenges. We have enacted a hiring freeze on certain positions, and discontinued the use of contract investigators in certain regions. We have begun hiring modified, part-time attorneys to replace contract attorneys as a more cost effective means of providing required representation.
The plan directs that all 11 regional public defender offices work to reduce expenditures wherever possible. Offices are striving to reduce requests for investigators, psychiatric evaluations and chemical dependency screenings, all in an effort to save money. We have noted the significant ethical challenges and associated expenses involved in collecting fees from public defender clients, and have recommended that this effort be taken on by the Department of Revenue a recommendation adopted by the task force that is now the subject of specific legislation.
We are committed to working with the Governors Office and the Legislature during the upcoming session to assure that the public defender system continues to function efficiently, and admirably to fulfill this legal representation obligation. Despite the staggering caseloads, public defenders work with great dedication and dignity. They believe wholeheartedly in the constitutional and statutory provisions that guarantee all clients deserve effective legal representation. Many public defenders work in excess of a 40-hour week. They work against great odds, without complaint.
Montanas public defenders are among the finest attorneys that can be found anywhere. They deserve our appreciation, our respect and our support.
OPD Commission Chair Mark Parker, Vice-Chair Ann Sherwood, and members Roy Brown, Larry Mansch, Dr. Michael Metzger, Margaret Novak and Maylinn Smith
Montana has made progress in recent years, but we need to continue to work hard this legislative session to shore up our economy and create good paying jobs across our state.
We know that in 2017, well face some serious challenges. Weak oil and gas prices led to a drop in revenue, so money is tight. And unpredictability in the federal government threatens to reverse much of the progress weve made. At the same time, we are facing increasing needs for infrastructure improvements across the state.
Montana Democrats have a plan to rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges, sewer systems and community buildings. We are putting forward bills to address these needs and create good paying construction jobs in the process. These projects will ensure that we have the foundation to attract new businesses to Montana and keep our economy growing.
We also know that better education means a better economy down the road. In 2017, Montana Democrats are committed to crafting a responsible state budget that properly funds our public K-12 schools, supports our public safety workers, cares for our most vulnerable, protects good-paying jobs, and helps us train for the jobs of the future.
Montana Democrats have always fought for working and middle-class families, and we will continue to do so.
Well fight for a fair tax code in which everyone pays their fair share and hardworking families arent unjustly burdened. Theres no reason a millionaire should pay the same tax rate as a janitor or a nursing home attendant; but right now, thats what our tax code says.
Well fight for legislation to provide equal pay for equal work, so women arent paid less than men for the same jobs. We're working toward a system of paid leave, so workers dont have to decide between earning a paycheck and taking time off to care for a sick loved one.
Our values mean keeping our air, land and water clean so future generations will continue to enjoy public access to our world-class outdoors.
Were working to establish early education. Montana is one of just five states that does not support pre-Kindergarten education, which has proven to be one of the smartest investments a state can make. It would help free young families from the incredible costs of childcare, and give children the best chance to succeed in an ever-changing economy.
To craft laws and a budget that reflect our values requires compromise and a willingness in both parties to make tough decisions. It wont work if one side digs in, issues ultimatums and insists it cant be done.
In just the past few weeks, faced with a surprise threat of violence from mostly out-of-state white supremacists, Montanans across the political spectrum showed that we can come together. Democrats and Republicans let these agitators know that their un-American ideology is not welcome here. We made clear to the world: Hate is not a Montana value.
That hate movement, we hope, will fade away. But exercising our Montana values continues, and what we do at the Legislature will have lasting impact on our entire state. So as we make decisions over the next 90 days, we call on all lawmakers to remember what unites us, not what divides us. Thats how well make Montana even greater in 2017 and beyond.
Rep. Jenny Eck is the House Minority Leader, and Sen. Jon Sesso is the Senate Minority Leader in the Montana Legislature.
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.
Sunday's Helena Independent Record discussed the budget balancing challenge facing the Legislature. I have to be optimistic that legislators on both sides of the aisle will seek bipartisan creative ways to balance the budget without harming those least able to weather cuts in services or programs.
We, as citizens, have a responsibility to keep up to speed on what's going on. However, it's not easy. Bills are often complicated. Legislators, advocates, and the press hopefully will keep us informed of both the intended and unintended consequences of any proposed legislation. For example, sometimes cuts in state funding jeopardizes federal funding. During times of diminishing state revenues, is it wise to be "penny-wise, but pound foolish"?
I remember President Bush after 9/11, encouraging Americans to go out and shop. "Shared sacrifice" is essential for good citizenship.
His failure to ask us to make sacrifices for the common good was a missed opportunity.
Bless all Montana's legislators with both wisdom and compassion as they address budgetary challenges, while identifying opportunities to enhance the lives of those who struggle to juggle health care, housing, education, and other such costs.
Last but not least, welcome to Helena and stimulate our home town economy!
John Ilgenfritz
Helena
MISSOULA -- Cody Marble starts the new year as a free man.
On Tuesday retired District Court Judge Ed McLean issued an order overturning Marble's conviction in a 2002 rape case involving a 13-year-old boy who was in juvenile detention with Marble in Missoula.
Marble said his attorney, Colin Stephens, called him Tuesday morning, but he didnt pick up the phone. Then he heard Stephens on the line with his father Jerry, who has spent the years since Marbles conviction working to prove his son is innocent.
I heard him telling my dad, 'Its over, we won,' Marble said. Im just speechless. I dont think Ive seen him that relieved in 15 years.
In his order, McLean wrote that the testimony provided at a Dec. 12 evidence hearing "undermines the confidence the Court has in Mr. Marble's criminal conviction" and ordered it vacated, setting the stage for a new trial.
Stephens, who for the last eight years has worked as Marble's attorney in his quest to have his conviction overturned, said he thinks it's unlikely the case will go to trial, given the county attorney's view of the allegations.
Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst "has always been on board with putting an end to this," Stephens said.
Deputy County Attorney Matt Jennings confirmed Tuesday that prosecutors have filed a motion asking for the charge against Marble to be dismissed. They expect the request to be granted within the next few days, removing the need for another trial.
Marble, now 32, has maintained his innocence since being charged. In August 2015 the Montana Supreme Court sent his case back to Missoula County District Court, asking it to re-examine a decision to deny Marble a new trial, instructing the lower court to use a broader interpretation of how new evidence that has come out since his conviction should be viewed.
After the case was remanded, Pabst reviewed it and last spring filed a motion asking for the conviction to be dismissed, saying it "lacked integrity." The county attorney cited a recantation by Marble's since-deceased accuser, as well as testimony from others as casting doubt that the alleged rape ever occurred.
Former county attorney Fred Van Valkenburg, who was in office during Marbles conviction, objected to Pabsts motion, and was eventually invited by McLean to act as an adviser to the court while the judge considered the matter.
Marble has been living in Conrad since McLean released him from custody in April, pending the ruling in the case. He said Tuesday that after he and his dad celebrated the news, he left the house for a bit and took a drive.
I went out and got some coffee. I just wanted to clear my head. Finally, after all this, its over, he said.
Now free of any probation restrictions from the case, Marble said he wanted thank his attorney and the Montana Innocence Project, which has likewise championed his case, for years of fighting in court for him.
Im hoping to be able to go back to school, stay away from drugs and make my life worth the work they put in on my behalf, he said.
He also thanked Missoula County Attorney Pabst for conducting a thorough review of his case when it was sent back down by the high court.
Im not sure this would be happening without her. Thank God for Kirsten, he said.
Jennings, the deputy county attorney, acknowledged that while a push to overturn a conviction and exonerate someone was an interesting and unusual position for their office to take, it fell under their responsibility as prosecutors.
Our obligation goes beyond fighting for convictions and putting people in custody but fighting for justice, and in this case justice demanded that Cody Marbles conviction be overturned, he said.
PARADISE A small twin-engine airplane made an emergency landing just west of Paradise on Tuesday morning, with both occupants taken to the hospital.
Sanders County Sheriff Tom Rummel said the plane went down just before 9:30 a.m. between the railroad tracks and the Clark Fork River just west of town.
The pilot and passenger, the only occupants of the plane, were able to walk away from the crash, but were taken to Clark Fork Valley Hospital in Plains.
This was a good ending to a bad deal, Rummel said. The plane itself is trashed.
Rummel said the site of the crash was secured by deputies, and an investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board was called in to determine the cause of the crash.
Marlin Cooper, assistant chief of the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire Department, said as a pilot himself, he knows most of the other pilots in the area but didnt recognize the brand of the plane. The cabin area and wings remained intact but the plane appears to be totaled, he said.
Rummel said he believed the plane was on its way from Missoula to Seattle. The Federal Aviation Administrations records show the aircraft, a Softex-Aero V-24L, is registered to Summit International American Ltd. in Bellevue, Washington.
Missoulian reporter Dillon Kato contributed to this story.
NEW YORK, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
China Will Continue to be the Most Lucrative Market for Peracetic Acid in Asia Pacific
A study conducted by Persistence Market Research (PMR) on "Asia Pacific Peracetic Acid (PAA) Market 2016-2024," projects the APAC peracetic acid market to surpass 164 Million, expanding at over 8% CARG over 2024.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161114/438683LOGO )
Growing preference for peracetic acid over chlorine across various industrial domains in Asia pacific is expected to influence the overall growth of the peracetic market in the region. In recent years, the application base of peracetic acid has expanded to a significant extent. On the contrary, demand for peracetic acid from food & vegetables processing aids, healthcare textiles (HCT), industrial cleaning, aseptic filling & packaging, meat & poultry processing aids and water treatment industries is scaling at a healthy pace.
Browse Full Market Overview and Research Methodology@ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/asia-pacific-peracetic-acid-market.asp
Key factors expected to shape the peracetic acid market in Asia Pacific during the next eight years
A better alternative to chlorine as an oxidant agent for industrial cleaning, textile industry and in other purification purposes. Peracetic acid is an effective disinfectant and finds robust use in various industries in the form of purifiers, cleaners and as sanitizing agents. In addition, growing demand for peracetic acid as sanitizing agents in packaged food and vegetables for prevention of microbial contamination is likely to play a major role in stimulating the market growth in Asia Pacific. Peracetic acid contains properties of bleaching agent, easy environmental degradation, and non-toxicity. Hence, making the product a safe sanitizer that can be used in consumable products.
In contrast, high volatility of PPA above 17% and associated risks with logistics can restrain the growth of the market. Likewise, adverse side-effects on health due to excessive exposure of peracetic acid on the surface of the skin, through oral intake or inhalation.
Based on PPA grade, demand for PAA- grade above 15% is expected remain high as compared to other PAA grades. While, growth in demand for other PAA grades will be sluggish during the forecast period. By 2016 end, the PAA- grade above 15% segment is estimated to occupy for over 46% value share of the market and is anticipated to gain 130 BPS over 2025.
By end-use, food and beverage is anticipated to be the leading segment during the forecast period. In addition, the segment is projected to account for over 27% value share of the market by the end of 2016, gaining a BPS of 210 over 2025. This is primarily owing to the growing demand for peracetic acid from the F&B industry for sterilizing food contact surface equipment. In addition, the segment is set to witness a value CAGR of over 9% between 2016 and 2024.
A sample of this report is available upon request@ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12955
Region-wise, the market in China is projected to present lucrative business opportunities for leading players. The China peracetic acid market is projected to increase by 350 BPS during the forecast period. By 2016-end, China is estimated to account for mammoth 59.6% share of the market in terms of value. The market growth in China is largely attributed to the existence of a strong manufacturing and supply chain in the country that is comprehensively sustaining the growing demand for peracetic acid in the country as well as in the region. Likewise, India is another country were the market is estimated to exhibit a significant growth over the next couple of years. In the recent past, the country has attracted a healthy number of foreign investors who are planning to setup production plants in the country as demand for eco-friendly alternative chemicals is on the rise.
Request to View Report Table of Contents, Figures, and Tables@ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/asia-pacific-peracetic-acid-market/toc
Key stakeholders in the peracetic acid market in the Asia Pacific region include Tianjin Xinyuan Chemical Co., Ltd., Evonik Industries AG, National Peroxide Limited, Aditya Birla Chemicals Limited, Acuro Organics Ltd., Solvay Peroxythai Ltd., PeroxyChem LLC, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, MGI Chemicals Pvt. Ltd., and Qingdao Hisea Chem Co.Ltd.
To Buy Full Report for a Single User @ http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/12955
PMR Overview
Persistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.
To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.
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SOURCE Persistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd.
LONDON, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Global Kinetics Corporation, leader in digital health technology for people with Parkinson's has secured CE marking on its new second generation Parkinson's KinetiGraph (PKG) system, indicating that the product complies with European health and safety requirements and legislation.
The Parkinson's KinetiGraph (PKG) system is a patient-friendly, algorithm-based system that records body movements and other symptoms over the course of seven days and creates data-driven reports that empower more personalised treatment and management decisions-with the goal of leading to a higher quality of life for patients.
The first generation PKG system is already used in a number of countries throughout Europe including Sweden, Finland, Germany, France, Netherlands and the UK.
The second generation system boasts technological enhancements which could ultimately allow patients themselves (in addition to their clinician) to monitor their condition 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (or "anytime, anywhere") in order to better manage and control their symptoms.
CEO and President of Global Kinetics Corporation, Timothy I Still, said the CE marking of the new technology underpins the company's aggressive expansion into new product and service offerings to meet the needs of the Parkinson's community worldwide.
"Global Kinetics continues to deliver on its strategic business objectives while remaining steadfast in our mission to make a meaningful difference for people with Parkinson's. We recently celebrated delivery of our 13,000th PKG report - and look forward to a new era of impact for patients around the world with our second generation PKG system.
"The second generation PKG platform enables us to capitalise on our growing telehealth and clinical trial services businesses, and to build upon our already substantial partnerships with global pharmaceutical and device leaders in the area of Parkinson's."
Steve Ford, CEO of Parkinson's UK, has partnered with Global Kinetics since 2014 to enable access to the first generation PKG system for people in the UK living with Parkinson's.
"The second generation PKG system is an exciting development which potentially provides a powerful platform enabling people with Parkinson's to take control of their Parkinson's," Mr Ford said.
The new technology will be introduced to patients and clinicians in twelve leading European movement disorder clinics in the next two months, with a full rollout to follow thereafter.
For more information, visit: http://www.globalkineticscorporation.com
SOURCE Global Kinetics
LAS VEGAS, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
SMI's robust and reliable eye tracking demonstrated with the Qualcomm Snapdragon VR820 reference platform set the stage for a superior VR experience
SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI), leaders in eye tracking technology, will bring robust and reliable eye tracking to future standalone virtual reality (VR) platforms as demonstrated with the Qualcomm Snapdragon VR820 reference platform at CES 2017.
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/453736/PRNE_SMI_Qualcomm_Image.jpg )
SMI eye tracking is a proven technology in computer and tablet screens, eye tracking glasses, and will help the next generation augmented reality (AR) and VR headsets - both standalone VR head mounted displays (HMDs) and smartphone slot-ins.
The Snapdragon VR820 reference platform is designed to allow customers to quickly develop standalone HMDs optimized for VR content and applications, while meeting the processing and performance demands of an all-in-one (AIO), dedicated VR headset.
"We believe that our eye tracking technology and Snapdragon reference platforms will have significant implications for the future of mobile standalone VR," said SMI Director OEM Business Christian Villwock. "The Snapdragon VR820 reference platform can help accelerate the development of new standalone VR devices and content, and our eye tracking technology is a key component for next generation products."
"With Qualcomm Technologies' great engineering support we have significantly optimized our technology, and we are confident we will be able to achieve even lower processing loads with shorter latency for the eye tracking. Both of these factors are expected to be instrumental in attaining the very best eye tracking performance in standalone VR," added Mr Villwock.
"Eye tracking is an important technology for the future of VR, as it can potentially improve immersion through more intuitive interactions and visual quality enhancements when paired with Snapdragon processors," said Hugo Swart, senior director, product management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "Eye tracking has a roadmap of benefits in mobile and standalone VR headsets. Gaze interaction, social presence, foveated rendering, personal display calibration and analytical insights are all potential uses that OEMs and application developers will be able to utilize."
Mr Villwock concluded: "Eye tracking is set to become a 'must have' in VR systems. We are proud to work with Qualcomm Technologies, a leader in VR and AR, to bring these benefits to the mobile VR community of the future."
SMI's eye tracking technology, working along the Snapdragon VR820 platform, will be demonstrated at the Qualcomm Technologies booth at CES, Central Hall #10948.
About SMI
SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI) has been a world leader in eye tracking technology for 25 years, developing and marketing eye & gaze tracking systems for scientists and professionals, as well as OEM and medical solutions for a wide range of applications. Find out more at http://www.smivision.com. Follow @SMIeyetracking on Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter.
Media Contacts
SensoMotoric Instruments GmbH (SMI)
Tim Stott
+49 (0) 162 271 61 66
tim.stott@smi.de
###
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. is a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated. Qualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. Other product and brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Qualcomm Snapdragon is a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
SOURCE SensoMotoric Instruments GmbH (SMI)
SAN JOSE, California, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
CloudByte Names Evan Powell, Former CEO of StackStorm, Nexenta and Clarus Systems, as its Chairman
CloudByte Inc., a leading software-defined storage company, today announced the appointment of Evan Powell as its new Chairman. Evan is a well known serial entrepreneur and builder of open source communities with successes at Clarus Systems, Nexenta and recently StackStorm.
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/453665/PRNE_EvanPowell_CloudByte.jpg )
Since its inception in 2011, CloudByte has successfully delivered storage solutions to service providers and enterprises deploying private clouds. CloudByte's flagship product ElastiStor's unique capabilities include per volume QoS management, enabling it to eliminate the noisy neighbor problem. A free 25TB edition of the ElastiStor virtual storage appliance is available at http://www.cloudbyte.com; all flash hardware solutions are also available as are other solutions from partners including Q5 and Wipro.
CloudByte recently released an early version of OpenEBS, an Apache Licensed 100% open source storage project addressing the needs of today's DevOps environments with native container integration and other capabilities. The OpenEBS project leverages some of the technology developed by CloudByte including the ability to control QoS from and for containerized storage controllers.
Evan said, "The next wave of storage disruption is upon us and over the months and years to come you'll see CloudByte and the OpenEBS project delivering a new combination of technology, business model, and community to improve the lives of DevOps architects and operators. I'm already enjoying working with the CloudByte team and the growing OpenEBS community."
"We are excited to have Evan join us as Chairman," said Uma Mukkara, Co-founder and CEO of CloudByte. "Storage requirements have changed with containers reaching mainstream. I am looking forward to working with Evan in building CloudByte and specifically in growing the OpenEBS community."
About OpenEBS (http://www.openebs.io)
OpenEBS (@openebs) is a new containerized storage platform for container-based environments. It addresses the challenge of large scale storage management faced by many container users and provides ease of use in part through its close integration with Kubernetes, Docker and other orchestration projects.
About CloudByte (http://www.cloudbyte.com)
CloudByte is the provider of Software-defined storage software and appliances. CloudByte's patented technology has been helping large storage deployments to realize significant cost savings. Established in 2011, CloudByte has development offices in India and Switzerland and customers world-wide.
About Evan Powell
Evan has been the founding CEO of three enterprise infrastructure software companies, Clarus Systems (RVBD), Nexenta Systems, and most recently StackStorm (BRCD).
As founding CEO of Nexenta Systems, he helped to reimagine the storage industry as one in which the value of software and freedom from vendor lock-in would predominate. Under his leadership, Nexenta became the leader of the OpenStorage movement and the software-defined storage sector, with thousands of customers and hundreds of millions of dollars of annual partner sales.
As founding CEO of StackStorm, Evan helped to create the event driven automation category, building a vibrant open source community leveraging and improving upon approaches used by the largest operators such as Facebook. Prominent StackStorm users include Netflix, Cisco, and Dimension Data. Brocade purchased StackStorm in early 2016.
Currently Evan serves as an advisor and investor in a number of start-ups, including the emerging leader of intelligent object storage, Cloudian (http://www.cloudian.com), as well as Keewi, TextIQ, Journey Software and others.
CloudByte Media Contact:
Niti Suryawanshi
niti.suryawanshi@cloudbyte.com
4300 Stevens Creek Boulevard
Suite 270
San Jose, CA 95129
SOURCE CloudByte Inc.
HATFIELD, England, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Fycompa (perampanel) is now licensed for adjunctive treatment of partial-onset seizures, with or without secondarily generalised seizures in Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.[1],[2],[3] Additionally, it is indicated in the United Arab Emirates for the adjunctive treatment of primary generalised tonic-clonic seizures in patients with idiopathic generalised epilepsy (IGE) aged 12 years and older. Perampanel was discovered and developed by Eisai and is available in these countries through a partnership with Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC.
Perampanel is the only licensed anti-epileptic drug to selectively, non-competitively, target AMPA[*] receptors, a type of receptor that plays a critical role in the onset and spread of seizures.[4]
An estimated 724,000 people in the Arab world currently live with epilepsy,[5] and between 20-40 per cent of people with newly-diagnosed epilepsy can become refractory to available treatments, requiring further adjunctive medication.[6]
"Many patients need multiple anti-epileptic drugs to achieve optimal seizure control. The availability of a new treatment option will be welcomed by healthcare professionals and by people living with epilepsy alike," comments Bernhard J Steinhoff, Primary Investigator for perampanel and Professor, Medical Director and Executive Chief Physician, Kork Epilepsy Centre, Germany.
"We are delighted to be working with Eisai to enable access for this first-in-class anti-epilepsy drug in Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which aligns with our focus on delivering high-quality medicines to patients," says Mazen Darwazeh, Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of MENA and Emerging Markets, Hikma.
"Eisai is committed to the therapeutic area of neurology and to addressing the unmet medical needs of people with neurological conditions and their families. Ensuring access for patients to novel treatments underlines Eisai's human health care (hhc) mission, the company's commitment to innovative solutions in disease prevention, cure and care for the health and wellbeing of people worldwide," explains Neil West, Vice President, Global Neurology Business Group, Eisai EMEA.
Notes to Editors
About Fycompa (perampanel)
Perampanel is a first-in-class, non-competitive AMPA (alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid) glutamate receptor antagonist on post-synaptic neurons.[1] AMPA receptors, widely present in almost all excitatory neurons, transmit signals stimulated by the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate within the brain, and are believed to play a role in central nervous system diseases characterised by excess neuroexcitatory signalling, including epilepsy.[7] Since launch, approximately 52,000 people living with epilepsy have been treated with perampanel.[8]
About Epilepsy
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions in the world, affecting approximately six million people in Europe, and an estimated 50 million people worldwide.[9] Epilepsy is a chronic disorder of the brain that affects people of all ages. It is characterised by abnormal discharges of neuronal activity which causes seizures. Seizures can vary in nature and severity, from brief lapses of attention or jerking of muscles, to severe and prolonged convulsions. Depending on the seizure type, seizures may be limited to one part of the body, or may involve the whole body. Seizures can also vary in frequency from less than one per year, to several per day. Epilepsy has many possible causes but often the cause is unknown.
About Eisai EMEA in Epilepsy
Eisai is committed to developing and delivering highly beneficial new treatments to help improve the lives of people with epilepsy. The development of anti-epileptic drugs is a major strategic area for Eisai in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and Oceania (EMEA).
About Eisai Co Ltd
Eisai Co Ltd is a leading global research and development-based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan. We define our corporate mission as "giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides," which we call our human health care (hhc) philosophy. With over 10,000 employees working across our global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to realise our hhc philosophy by delivering innovative products in multiple therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs, including Oncology and Neurology.
For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit http://www.eisai.com
* AMPA=alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionate
References
1. Fycompa Product Summary of Characteristics. Jordan.
2. Fycompa Product Summary of Characteristics. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
3. Fycompa Product Summary of Characteristics. United Arab Emirates.
4. Rogawski MA. Revisiting AMPA receptors as an antiepileptic drug target. Epilepsy Currents 2011;11:56-63
5. Benamer, H. T. S. and Grosset, D. G. (2009), A systematic review of the epidemiology of epilepsy in Arab countries. Epilepsia, 50: 2301-2304. doi:10.1111/j.1528-1167.2009.02058.
6. French JA. Refractory Epilepsy; Clinical Overview. Epilepsia 2007: 48 (Suppl1) 3-7
7. Lee K et al. AMPA Receptors as Therapeutic Targets for Neurological Disorders. Adv Protein Chem Struct Biol.
2016;103:203-261
8. Eisai. Data on File 2016. DOF PER112
9. Epilepsy in the WHO European Region: Fostering Epilepsy Care in Europe. Available at: http://www.ibe-epilepsy.org/downloads/EURO%20Report%20160510.pdf [http://www.ibe-epilepsy.org/downloads/EURO Report 160510.pdf] Accessed November 2016
December 2016
Fycompa-EU0196
SOURCE Eisai
DUBLIN, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Strategic Review of Corn Starch Industry & Markets - Starch, Sweeteners, Bioprocessing & Co-Products" report to their offering.
This 2017 revision has comprehensive newly revised starch, sweeteners, ethanol, bioprocessing, bioplastic, co-products; has several improvements, new information, insights since we are now in a global economy. In 2017 report we have made major changes to this report to reflect several changes in the US and worldwide.
We present latest data and markets for starch derivatives. Every chapter has been updated with much new information, insights and data. How this industry operates, investments, costs, markets, margins among many other areas.
Some of the major changes and additions are:
Excellent review of cost, markets and technologies and how this industry operates with opportunities in transferring corn processing facilities into modern bioprocessing operation to diversify into new specialties
CWM (Corn wet milling) co-products technical and commercial perspective including potential markets for corn gluten feed (CGF), corn gluten meal (CGM) and corn germ.
A new chapter focused on corn ethanol, Chapter IX
Bioprocessing, bio-based chemicals and bioplastics chapter X has the most recent information with markets, capacities and opportunities for bio-based chemicals and polymers from starch and the sugars as feedstock. CWM players have entered arena of converging their facilities in to biorefineries with products such as ethanol, lactic acid, citric acid, amino acid lysine, and other monomers for new value added polymers to replace the petroleum based compounds.
Each chapter also has major revisions to reflect most recent information on the business, markets and technologies as we continue to evolve in this global carbohydrates economy.
Brand new list of starch and sweeteners manufacturers from corn, wheat, potato and tapioca primary starch crops in different regions of the world.
Excellent material on maltodextrins and other hydrolysis, enzyme processed products
A great addition to the library as reference, training tool and a strategy tool to starch processing industry members, customers and suppliers.
Report also has excellent in-depth insights from our associates and I with combined experience of > 200 yrs in starch/sweetener and bioprocessing.
New global list of starch processors is provided in Chapter XVI. Global List of Corn Processors
Several updates to each chapter to reflect currently situation and opportunities going forward.
Key Topics Covered:
I. Executive Summary
II. Brief Overview Of Corn And Wet Milling Process
III. Markets
IV. Sweeteners And Maltodextrins
V. Companies In The Us
VI. Costs, Investments And Margins
VII. Industry Capacity And Investment
VIII.Corn Wet Milling Co-Products Current Situation And Potential Markets
IX. Corn Ethanol Brief Review
X. Bioprocessing: Fermentation, Specialty Chemicals, Bioplastics - Current Situation And Opportunities
XI. Future Trends
XII. Global Issues, Policies And Plant Locations
XIII. Summary
XIV. List Of References
XV. List Of Figures And Tables
XVI. Global List Of Corn Processors
For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/89phl4/strategic_review
Media Contact:
Laura Wood, Senior Manager
press@researchandmarkets.com
For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470
For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630
For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
Related Links
http://www.researchandmarkets.com
SOURCE Research and Markets
Sean Kearney is a seasoned emerging markets banking professional with a 23-year career devoted to identifying and managing risk. His key responsibilities will include Operations team leadership, lead-managing the implementation of internal control framework enhancements, running regulatory processes and overseeing strategic change management.
Prior to joining Greenstone, Mr. Kearney worked for a decade at UBS AG, in London and Dubai. In his last position with the firm, as Group COO, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Mr. Kearney held the regulatory appointment of Senior Executive Officer (SEO) for the regional hub, UBS Dubai Branch, in which capacity he fostered and sustained excellent relations with the DFSA and the DIFC Senior Management team. He was also heavily involved in the management of relations with the many other financial regulators throughout the region with jurisdiction over UBS's offices or operations.
Throughout his career at UBS, Mr. Kearney built an impressive track-record of successfully leading complex, multi-disciplinary, cross-divisional business development projects, across a diverse range of initiatives, in very challenging global emerging markets environments. Reflecting his academic and professional qualifications in law, he also dealt extensively with legal and compliance work and policy formulation, as well as with litigation and audit matters.
Mr. Kearney holds a UK honors degree in Law and was called to the Bar by the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn. He also holds an MSc (with Distinction) in Air Safety Management from City, University of London.
Alex Gemici, Chairman of Greenstone, stated, "Sean's wealth of experience and industry knowledge have already made him a key addition to Greenstone. We view his appointment as a sign of our commitment to being the leading fund placement firm in the Middle East. I'm confident that Sean will play an important role in providing and implementing high quality solutions for Greenstone."
Khalid Alkelabi will be responsible for enhancing Greenstone's investor relationships as well as contributing to improving Greenstone's marketing capabilities.
Prior to joining Greenstone, Mr. Alkelabi worked at AL FOZAN HOLDING GROUP, a Saudi Arabian conglomerate and family business office, as the Chief Administrative Officer where he had multiple responsibilities, including the creation and development of various business units.
Prior to working at Al Fozan, Mr. Alkelabi worked for MBC GROUP, a regional media company, where he was appointed Country Marketing Manager in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Alkelabi was responsible for creating and maintaining relationships with local corporate clients.
Between 2001-2007, Mr. Alkelabi worked for SAUDI ARABIAN MONETARY AGENCY (SAMA) - INSTITUTE OF BANKING as a Faculty Member, where he was responsible for preparing bankers in Saudi Arabia for the TADAWUL (Saudi Stock Exchange) system by training and certifying them to get their brokerage license.
Mr. Alkelabi is a Saudi Arabian national and holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Mr. Alkelabi also holds an MBA degree, MSIT degree and a Diploma in Data-Warehousing and Business Intelligence from Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, Colorado, USA.
Omar Al Gharabally, the President of Greenstone, stated, "We are very excited to welcome Khalid
to our team at Greenstone. He brings years of experience dealing with the most demanding, sophisticated and discerning investors in the region. Not only will he bring a tighter focus and discipline to investor relationship development and management within our fund placement team, he will also be a great role model for our employees and a tremendous ambassador for the firm with investors who come into contact with him."
Greenstone Equity Partners
Greenstone is the largest fund placement firm in the Middle East, with a team of industry professionals fully dedicated to raising capital from MENA-based investors. Since its inception, Greenstone has raised $2.5 billion dollars for its clients across a variety of mandates and strategies and prides itself on fostering deeply rooted relationships with key institutional and family offices across the region to include corporate entities, family offices, ultra-high net worth individuals, financial institutions and sovereign wealth funds.
Greenstone has built over 4,000 MENA investor relationships and works with investment managers across various asset classes including private equity, real estate, private debt financing and hedge funds in both primary and secondary placements.
Greenstone's business growth success stems from its approach and commitment to providing institutional grade service to its clients with a concerted and relentless desire for excellence coupled with continual investment in operational development.
SOURCE Greenstone Equity Partners
STOCKHOLM, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
The electronic music festival "Into the Valley" has for two years attracted visitors from all around the world up to Dalhalla in Sweden. In 2017, the festival will be held in the new amazing place: an underwater prison of Rummu in Estonia, outside Tallinn.
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/453695/Rummu_quarry.jpg )
Moreover, new festivals "Into the Factory" (Stockholm Couty, Sweden) and "Into the Castle" (Cape Town, South Africa) are revealed. All together, six new festivals will be established by 2019. These new experiences are arranged by "Music Goes Further" promo group and are based on seven key principles: unique locations, advanced electronic music, pioneering technology, innovative art, food and bar architecture, holistic awareness and social equality.
Rummu, there Into the Valley takes place, has unique history. Since the late 1930s, it functioned as a limestone quarry, founded alongside with the Soviet prison Murru, in purpose of mining of limestone and marble. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the mine has been closed and the quarry soon enough became a quarry lake. Some parts of the prison, mining machinery and equipment were covered by crystal clear water.
Since few years back the prison was also closed and the quarry was abandoned, becoming an attractive place for hikers, scuba divers, bikers, photographers, and film-makers because of its unique landscape. There are rumours that the former prison used to be the one of the worst of its time, promoters however believe that it is now time for music and joy to seize the place and update the history.
Into the Valley Festival will take place between June 29- July 1, 2017.
The confirmed artists so far: Andrey Zots Kim Ann Foxman Anna Hanna Kink feat. Answer Code Request Rachel Row (live) Anthea Marcel Dettmann Bella Sarris Midland Cassy Nastia Cobblestone Jazz (live) Olga Korol Dixon Praslesh Hunee Recondite (live) Janina Regis Jeff Mills Renaat R & S Kask The Black Madonna
The festival is about 45 km away from Tallinn, and two accomodation packages are available: hotel package for those who want to stay in Tallinn, and the camp package for visitors with private cars and caravans for staying at the festival area. Shuttle bus tickets for travelling between Tallinn and the festival are also available. The age limit for the festival is 23 years, but limited amount of "Under 23" tickets is available.
SOURCE Music Goes Further
BioControl's established rapid detection technology and third-party validated testing platforms complement Merck's portfolio of instruments and consumables in its applied solutions business geared to the food pathogen testing workflow.
"BioControl's acquisition strengthens our ability to help customers protect the global food supply by providing an expansive portfolio of state-of-the-art testing technology," said Udit Batra, Member of the Merck Executive Board and CEO, Life Science business. "BioControl's innovative assays and validated kits, when combined with Merck's strengths in microbiology, filtration and e-commerce will create a strong global provider aimed at solving tough challenges in the food pathogen testing space," he added.
The global spotlight on the importance of food safety has grown given the increased incidents of outbreaks and recalls with foodborne diseases often caused by consuming a wide range of foods including undercooked meat, eggs, fresh produce and dairy products contaminated by Salmonella, Listeria, E.coli O157H7 and Campylobacter. BioControl's product portfolio includes pathogen detection kits to identify these food poisoning bacteria in food and ingredients and its key customers include meat producers.
"Merck is the best home for BioControl, our customers and our employees," said Phil Feldsine, President and Chief Executive of BioControl. "Merck's global market presence as a leader in laboratory sciences will introduce BioControl's innovative, customer oriented solutions to a much broader base worldwide while providing existing customers with access to Merck's food safety product portfolio and expertise. The opportunity for BioControl to become part of a world class 350-year-old organization with a reputation for doing it the right way is very rewarding."
The acquisition is in line with the strategy of Merck's life science business to expand in key geographies, and provide a differentiated experience to customers in applied settings, including food and beverage safety testing. While the business will continue to focus on microbial quality control solutions for pharmaceutical production processes and products, an area where the business currently has leading market share, the acquisition will enable Merck to offer a complete food pathogen testing platform to its customers in the food and beverage safety testing market.
Achelous Partners acted as financial advisor to BioControl on this transaction. Nixon Peabody LLP represented Merck in the transaction.
About BioControl
BioControl is one of the leading companies in innovative rapid microbiology tests for food safety for more than 30 years. It offers a diverse third party validated product portfolio lines, which include industrial microbiology testing, rapid detection methods for food-borne pathogens, the quantitative measurement of microorganisms, and hygiene monitoring. The company primarily sells its products to food manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, contract testing labs and government labs. BioControl is based in Bellevue, WA (U.S.), with over 100 employees worldwide. In FY 2015, it generated revenue of USD 34 million. For further details: visit www.biocontrolsys.com
All Merck news releases are distributed by email at the same time they become available on the Merck website. Please go to www.merckgroup.com/subscribe to register online, change your selection or discontinue this service.
About Merck
Merck is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 50,000 employees work to further develop technologies that improve and enhance life from biopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer or multiple sclerosis, cutting-edge systems for scientific research and production, to liquid crystals for smartphones and LCD televisions. In 2015, Merck generated sales of 12.85 billion in 66 countries.
Founded in 1668, Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed corporate group. Merck holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.
Related Links
http://www.merckgroup.com
SOURCE Merck
SAN FRANCISCO, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
The global n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) market is expected to reach USD 1.79 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The NMP market is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period owing to the increasing demand from Asia Pacific region.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150105/723757 )
NMP is used in a various applications including oil & gas, pharmaceutical, electronics, paints & coatings, agrochemicals and others. Emerging economies such as India are witnessing increasing FDI which is fueling the growth of industrial sector. Asia Pacific region is expected to witness higher growth rates owing to rapid urbanization in these countries coupled with per-capita disposable income levels.
Oil & gas dominated the market for NMP globally. The other key applications include electronics, pharmaceuticals, paints & coatings and agrochemicals.
Browse full research report with TOC on "N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone (NMP) Market Analysis By Application (Oil & gas [Butadiene Recovery, BTX Extraction], Pharmaceuticals [Solvent, Penetration Enhancer], Electronics, Paints & Coatings, Agrochemicals), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2013 - 2025" at: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone-nmp-market
Further key findings from the report suggest :
Globally, electronics and oil & gas application segments are expected to witness significant volume growth during the forecast period, growing at CAGRs of over 4% during the forecast period. This growth can be attributed to rapid growth from the end-use verticals such as petrochemical refineries, and electronics & telecommunication.
Asia Pacific dominated the NMP market in 2015 with an estimated revenue of around USD 450 million , and is projected to grow significantly over the coming years owing to the increasing investments from the application industries. China is expected to witness an increase in demand and expected to be the largest consumer of petrochemical products owing to presence of large capacity manufacturing units and favorable export-oriented government policies. Russian oil company Transneft has constructed Eastern Siberia Pacific Ocean (ESPO) Pipeline which provides Russia an option to supply crude oil to China .
dominated the NMP market in 2015 with an estimated revenue of around , and is projected to grow significantly over the coming years owing to the increasing investments from the application industries. is expected to witness an increase in demand and expected to be the largest consumer of petrochemical products owing to presence of large capacity manufacturing units and favorable export-oriented government policies. Russian oil company Transneft has constructed Eastern Siberia Pacific Ocean (ESPO) Pipeline which provides an option to supply crude oil to . Key participants in the N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone market include BASF SE, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Eastman Chemical Company, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, and Ashland Inc., among others. In recent years, new product developments have been the major growth strategy adopted by key market players for strengthening their market positions.
Browse related reports by Grand View Research:
Locust Bean Gum Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/locust-bean-gum-market
Beeswax Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/beeswax-market
Japan Wax Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/japan-wax-market
Pyrrolidone Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/pyrrolidone-market
Grand View Research has segmented the global NMP market on the basis of application and region:
NMP Market Application Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2025) Oil & gas Butadiene recovery BTX extraction Lube oil purification Pharmaceuticals Solvent Penetration enhancer Electronics Solvent Photoresist stripper Paints & Coatings Agrochemicals Others
NMP Market Regional Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2013 - 2025) North America U.S. Europe Germany UK Asia Pacific China India Japan Latin America Brazil Middle East & Africa
Read Our Blogs - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/blog/n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone-nmp-market-size-share-outlook
About Grand View Research
Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.
Contact:
Sherry James
Corporate Sales Specialist, USA
Grand View Research, Inc
Phone: 1-415-349-0058
Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519
Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com
Web: http://www.grandviewresearch.com
SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
DECATUR As Wilmer Otto tries to impact changes on a global scale, he turns back to lessons learned early during his business career in the Arthur area.
Otto, 69, learned about the value of partnerships and learning from others when establishing his first businesses. It's a lesson he has tried to take with him while recently starting to do business in parts of Africa.
Sending in business people is something that hasn't often been done, Otto said. They can benefit from having mentors.
Otto spoke about his experience during the Decatur Power Lunch held Tuesday at the Beach House. The monthly luncheons started as an outreach of Maranatha Assembly of God church, said Glen Nordholm of W.G. Nordholm Insurance, who lines up the speakers for the events.
The different speakers, including Otto, are inspirational in their messages, said event organizer Brenda Reynolds of Re/Max Executives Plus.
Otto's business experience started in the local real estate industry. He has recently remained involved with the Amish community, helping to organize efforts to establish a new Illinois Amish Museum and Heritage Center.
His interests expanded internationally by taking advantage of opportunities to export new and used farm equipment to Central and Eastern Europe through the dealership now known as Farm Pride in Arthur.
Other companies didn't think outside of the box, Otto said. It developed into a nice business for us.
Otto has also been involved with acquiring and restoring historic buildings in Romania as part of a developing tourism industry.
Since 2010, Otto has been working in Africa with his Ukrainian business, Agro Capital Management LLC, providing financing for aid efforts primarily in Tanzania.
While many worthwhile efforts are under way to help in those areas, Otto said developing more of a middle class can really make a difference in the economy of Tanzania. To do so, he said providing resources to develop financial literacy is necessary.
Being able to reach places farther away from his home in Arcola has increased as the ease of traveling and communicating has improved the ability to do business over the years, Otto said.
Travel isn't as much a hurdle, Otto said. It's much easier to make global connections.
Soybeans are becoming a valuable resource to boost the African economy, Otto said. He said soybeans can be a huge source of protein, so he is involved with efforts to increase soybean growing and discontinue reliance on fish meal.
OSLO, Norway, Jan 04, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Kvantel AS, a 100% owned subsidiary of NextGenTel Holding ASA, and Nordic Choice Hotels (NCH) have signed a letter of intent to enter a partnership agreement for the delivery of a solution for unified communication that includes a new voice platform, mobile and fixed voice for deliveries to NCH headquarters and hotels in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. The final agreement will have a 3 year term with an option for NCH to extend the agreement with additional 1+1 year.
The parties aim to finalize the agreement within 31 January 2017. Under this agreement, Kvantel will use Telia in the Nordic region as a partner for the delivery of mobile services. "As the largest mobile operator in the Nordics, this agreement is important for Telia to further grow with partners like Kvantel to be able to digitalize the future," says Vice President Kristian Renaas, Telia Norge AS.
"Kvantel is very proud and pleased with the trust that NCH has given Kvantel to deliver these solutions for unified communication in the Nordic countries," says Ole Jacob Moldestad, CEO in Kvantel. According to Eirik Lunde, CEO in NextGenTel Group; "This agreement strengthens the NextGenTel strategy to further grow within the partner business market."
CONTACT:
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com
http://news.cision.com/nextgentel-holding-asa/r/kvantel-signed-letter-of-intent-with-nordic-choice-hotels,c2160301
SOURCE NextGenTel Holding ASA
SAN FRANCISCO, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
The speech analytics market is expected to reach USD 1.64 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is estimated to witness a robust growth exceeding a CAGR of 10% over the forecast period. This growth is ascribed to the increasing emphasis by organizations on improving the market intelligence capabilities along with the growing prominence of voice in the multi-channel world.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150105/723757 )
The number of contact centers is increasing, resulting in industry players to innovate speech analytics solutions, which help companies understand the changing customer requirements. The technology has been increasingly adopted in consumer electronics devices, including laptops, smartphones, and tablets, as it significantly increases the enterprise's scope as well as improves performance. This, in turn, has resulted in elevating adoption of speech analytics solutions worldwide. In addition, upcoming technologies, such as voice print authentication, are estimated to spur growth over the coming years.
Furthermore, the rising demand for risk management solutions and cloud analytics is also anticipated to favorably impact growth over the next nine years. These solutions offer several growth opportunities as this solution helps optimize performance and enhance customer experience. However, issues pertaining to lack of awareness and rise in cost may pose a challenge to the speech analytics market growth in the near future.
Browse full research report with TOC on "Speech Analytics Market Analysis By Type (Solution, Service), By Deployment (On-Premise, Cloud), By Enterprise Size (Small & Medium Enterprise, Large Enterprise), By End-Use (BFSI, Telecom, IT, Retail, Healthcare, Hospitality) And Segment Forecasts, 2014 - 2025" at: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/speech-analytics-market
Further key findings from the report suggest:
The service segment is anticipated to grow at a CAGR exceeding 8.0% from 2016 to 2025, which is attributed to the wide product and solution portfolio offerings by service firms operating in the market.
The cloud-based deployment segment captured over 25.0% of the total revenue share in 2015 and is anticipated to exhibit growth of over 9.0% from 2016 to 2025, primarily ascribed to the cost benefits and improved performance offered by cloud over the on-premise solutions, along with the increasing adoption of cloud analytics in contact centers.
Speech analytics allows organizations to work on unstructured data obtained through customer interactions to enhance customer experience and gain a competitive advantage on account of which the small & medium-sized enterprise segment is expected to gain prominence over the forecast period.
The telecommunication segment accounted for a significant market share in 2015, capturing over 15% of the entire revenue share in the same year, which is majorly due to the integration of speech analytics into enterprise systems to enhance efficiency as well as customer experience.
Asia Pacific is expected to emerge as the fastest growing region with a CAGR exceeding 12.0% over the forecast period, which is mainly on account of rapid industrialization, and since, organizations have become more competitive and are focusing on better customer service.
Browse related reports by Grand View Research:
wifi Hotspot Market- http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/wi-fi-hotspot-market
Desktop Management and Helpdesk Services Market- http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/desktop-management-helpdesk-services-market
Data Analytics Outsourcing Market- http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/data-analytics-outsourcing-market
Messaging Platform Market- http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/messaging-platform-market
Grand View Research has segmented the speech analytics market on the basis of type, deployment, enterprise size, end-use, and region:
Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) Solution Service
Deployment Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) On-premise Cloud
Enterprise Size Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) Small & Medium Enterprise Large Enterprise
End-Use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) BFSI Telecommunication IT Retail Healthcare Government Hospitality Others
Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) North America U.S. Canada Europe UK Germany France Asia Pacific China India Japan Latin America Brazil Mexico Middle East & Africa Saudi Arabia UAE
Access research insight: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/research-insights/speech-analytics-market-need-decipher-insights-customer-data
About Grand View Research
Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.
Read Our Blogs - grandviewresearch.com/blogs/technology
Contact:
Sherry James
Corporate Sales Specialist, USA
Grand View Research, Inc
Phone: 1-415-349-0058
Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519
Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com
Web: http://www.grandviewresearch.com
SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
DUBAI, UAE, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
The Honourable Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Allen Chastanet has announced new improvements made to the citizenship by investment program.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160329/348711LOGO )
The changes will take effect from 3rd January 2017, which when all fees are calculated will make St. Lucia's Citizenship-by-Investment program the least expensive ahead of the popular Commonwealth of Dominica passport program.
Jeremy Savory, CEO & Founder of Dubai based Citizenship Processing Firm, Savory and Partners welcomed additional cost-effective options for his firms' clients:
"Dominica currently leads the way in terms of cost effectiveness in particular for single applicants. With the new changes in St. Lucia, although the difference in price is minimal, at least Immigrant Investors have another option at half the price of other similar second passport programs. As we are St. Lucia Government Authorised Promoters, but also accredited for Grenada, Antigua and Dominica it means we can remain impartial in the advice we give to families considering Second Citizenship in 2017."
The key changes are the following:
The requirement for an affidavit to declare financial resources of at least US $3,000,000 has been removed.
has been removed. The contribution amounts to the Economic Fund have changed. The new qualifying contribution amounts are as follows: Single Applicant: US$100,000 (Used to be US$200,000 ) Applicant with spouse: US$165,000 (Used to be US$235,000 ) Applicant with spouse having up to 2 dependents : US$190,000 (Used to be US$250,000 ) Additional dependents: US$25,000 each (Same as before)
The Government Bond Option has been reintroduced and the new administration fee is US$50,000
The maximum of 500 applications per year has been removed which means more investors are welcome to apply for the program.
The other key criteria remain the same:
A minimum investment amount of US$300,000 in government approved real estate project.
in government approved real estate project. An investment in an approved enterprise project starting from $1,000,000
Purchase of Government Bonds starting at $500,000 .
More information can be found here: http://www.savoryandpartners.com
Savory & Partners is a British family-owned company with roots reaching back as far as 1794 when the Savory family were the pharmacists to the British Royal Family. Today the company has established itself as the leading second citizenship firm in the Middle East with Authorized Agent status granted by the Governments of St. Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, and Antigua and Barbuda. Savory & Partners are trusted by governments around the world to source individuals of the highest caliber by providing the highest level of service through experience, knowledge and trust, guaranteeing successful applications.
Savory & Partners are St. Lucia Government Authorised Promoters in the Middle East. Please contact Savory and Partners at +97144301717 today for a free pre-qualification consultation.
SOURCE Savory And Partners
Brunswick strengthens public affairs expertise with addition of former U.S. House Ways and Means member
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Brunswick Group, a leading corporate advisory firm, announced today that Tim Griffin has joined the firm as senior counselor. During his more than two decades of experience at the intersection of business, law, government, and politics, Tim worked on some of the most complex and critical policy issues of our time. His insights and expertise will further enhance the firm's capabilities and benefit clients. Tim will focus his time on public affairs, corporate reputation, and crisis matters as well as digital campaign strategies.
The current lieutenant governor of Arkansas, Tim was previously elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he served on the Ways and Means Committee, was Deputy Majority Whip for the Republican caucus, and was Vice Chair for Strategy and Communications at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). Earlier in his career, he was Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Office of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush. An attorney by training, Tim was also U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas and is currently serving as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army JAG Corps.
"We are delighted to welcome Tim Griffin to Brunswick. Helping our clients navigate the regulatory and policy landscape has never been more complex or important. Tim's experience and knowledge at the highest levels of politics will be a great asset to our U.S. and global clients," said Group Chief Executive Officer Susan Gilchrist.
On joining the firm, Tim said: "I'm honored and excited to work with a world-class network of global advisors from a variety of disciplines."
Tim Griffin
Tim Griffin is currently serving as lieutenant governor of Arkansas.
Tim was elected lieutenant governor of Arkansas on November 4, 2014, and took office on January 13, 2015. The Office of Lieutenant Governor for the State of Arkansas has historically been a part-time position, with many of its former occupants holding simultaneous public and private employment.
From 2011-2015, Tim served as the 24th representative of Arkansas's Second Congressional District. For the 113th Congress, he was a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority. He also served as Vice Chair for Strategy and Communications at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). In the 112th Congress, he served as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the House Committee on Ethics, and the House Committee on the Judiciary. He also served as an Assistant Whip for the Majority.
Tim has served in the U.S. Army Reserve for 20 years, was deployed to Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and holds the rank of lieutenant colonel. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pa. He also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas and Special Assistant to the President, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush.
Tim grew up in Magnolia, Ark., and is a fifth generation Arkansan and the youngest son of a minister and teacher. He graduated from Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., and Tulane Law School in New Orleans and attended graduate school at Pembroke College of Oxford University in England. His wife Elizabeth is from Camden, Ark., and they currently live in Little Rock, Ark. with their two children, Mary Katherine, 9, and John, 6. They are members of Immanuel Baptist Church of Little Rock.
About Brunswick Group
Brunswick Group LLP is an advisory firm specializing in critical issues and corporate relations. Founded in 1987, Brunswick is an organically grown, private partnership with 23 offices around the world. For more information, visit: www.brunswickgroup.com.
Contact
Cecilia Arradaza
Tel: +1 202 393 7337
Email: carradaza@brunswickgroup.com
Related Links
http://www.brunswickgroup.com
SOURCE Brunswick Group
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Taking the CES 2016 award-winning pantry-inspired design a step further, the latest Whirlpool French Door Refrigerator boasts a door-within-door feature that delivers what families want most organization, flexibility and easy access to family favorites. The new door-within-door design features a designated "Cold Space" that keeps milk and other drinks extra cold. With an anticipated industry first door-within-door active cooling system, the door-within-door stays colder than those without a designated cooling feature. In addition, the refrigerator features an innovative, pantry-inspired shelving system that stores 30 percent more than the rest of its class1. This appliance, the latest in Whirlpool refrigeration, took home honors in the 2017 CES Innovation Awards in the Home Appliances category.
"We study the way families care for each other and develop features that solve a common problem," said Ryan Morand, senior brand manager, Whirlpool brand. "Refrigerator doors are typically warmer than the rest of the fridge, and families tend to store their milk in the door for easy access. We developed this dedicated 'Cold Space' so milk can be stored properly at an ideal temperature and right at families' fingertips like they are used to."
Every section, every shelf and every bin in the refrigerator is purposefully designed to deliver resourceful organization to change the way families think about refrigerator organization. A recent survey2 commissioned by Whirlpool found 95 percent of homeowners who've purchased or plan to purchase home appliances in the near future said overall space inside a refrigerator is important, while 92 percent said adjustable shelves are important. Other key features of the refrigerator include:
A full-width "platter pocket" shelf
The ideal space for families' favorites like salad dressings, bottled drinks and condiments, the door-within-door design intends to reduce cold air loss, providing quick access that puts the family's go-to picks front and center.
design intends to reduce cold air loss, providing quick access that puts the family's go-to front and center. Families can keep milk and other drinks extra cool in the " Cold Space ," a specially designed lower compartment in the door-within-door where the refrigerator feeds the coldest air.
," a specially designed lower compartment in the door-within-door where the refrigerator feeds the coldest air. Infinity slide shelves line the perimeter of the fridge, so families can move small items to the edges to make room for big, high-use items in the center. The shelves are precisely spaced apart based on common sizes of food packaging so that yogurts, spaghetti jars, 12-pack soda boxes and egg cartons fit perfectly. And, the adjustable center pane glides just as far as needed to accommodate taller items like corked wine bottles and pitchers.
line the perimeter of the fridge, so families can move small items to the edges to make room for big, high-use items in the center. The shelves are precisely spaced apart based on common sizes of food packaging so that yogurts, spaghetti jars, 12-pack soda boxes and egg cartons fit perfectly. And, the adjustable center pane glides just as far as needed to accommodate taller items like corked wine bottles and pitchers. With an understanding of what families buy most, the PerfectPlaces TM system has just the right spot reserved for every item, so the refrigerator and freezer spaces no longer become a dumping ground with overflowing bins. Gallon door bins give families ample gallon door bin storage. From chocolate to cheese to kids' snacks, a small items bin and Treasure TM bin help keep the little items in clear sight. Asymmetrical crispers are designed with dividers to display fresh produce like bell peppers up front, and store bags of apples in the back. The biggest crispers in the market 3 were thoughtfully designed to hold common foods and packaging like unwieldy long and wide celery stalks and large plastic lettuce containers.
has just the right spot reserved for every item, so the refrigerator and freezer spaces no longer become a dumping ground with overflowing bins.
, is designed for wide, flat items like brownie pans, lasagna and pizza boxes, so they stay tucked out of the way, kept safe from stacking.
From January 5-8, CES attendees can experience this innovative refrigerator and other Whirlpool brand innovations at booth #41730 in the Smart Home section, located at the Sands Expo Center.
For more information on the company's care-centric product innovations and to join the conversation, visit ces.whirlpool.com and follow #EveryDayCare.
1 Models WRF954, WRF964, WRF974, WRF984, WRFA94 among leading counter depth French door bottom mount refrigerator brands.
2 Online survey conducted by Survey Sampling on behalf of Whirlpool of 1,000 nationally representative individuals in the United States.
3 Compared to all Whirlpool French door refrigerators including WRX988SIB, WRF997SDD, WRF757SDE, and WRF736SDA with In-Door-Ice system only.
About Whirlpool Brand
For more than one hundred years, Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) brand has been inspired by how people care for their families. Whirlpool brand is designing home appliances that are focused on improving how families give and get the care they need with the latest technologies and innovations whether that means most flexible refrigerator storage for all types of family needs, induction technology for efficient cooking and easier cleaning, or laundry pairs that sense and adapt to clothes with the latest in connected technologies. Whirlpool brand is part of Whirlpool Corporation, the world's leading manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances. Whirlpool Corporation is also one of Habitat for Humanity's largest corporate partners for over 15 dedicated years, donating a refrigerator and range to every new Habitat for Humanity home built in North America. For more information on Whirlpool, please visit whirlpool.com /everydaycare or find us on Facebook at facebook.com/whirlpoolusa or Twitter at @WhirlpoolUSA. Additional information about the company can be found at whirlpoolcorp.com.
SOURCE Whirlpool Brand
Related Links
http://www.whirlpool.com
NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC is calling on Israeli leaders to implement without further delay the government-approved agreement on pluralistic prayer at the Western Wall (Kotel). The latest obstacle to implementation is legislation sponsored by the Shas political party that would ban and penalize non-Orthodox prayer at the Kotel area.
"The Shas bill essentially declares the Kotel compromise to be dead. It would be a tragedy for the Jewish people if the Knesset adopts it," said Steven Bayme, AJC Director of Contemporary Jewish Life. "Jews of differing religious persuasions need to find ways to cooperate for the greater collective good of the Jewish people. Ignoring that spirit of social contract over Judaism's holiest site signals intolerance and contempt for non-Orthodox expressions of Judaism, and poisons relations between Jews."
Under the agreement announced in January 2016, and approved by the Cabinet in a 15-5 vote, the egalitarian section at the wall near Robinson's Arch would be expanded and placed under the authority of a pluralist committee. The plan called for solidifying haredi Orthodox control over the site's traditional Orthodox section.
AJC welcomed the government-approved agreement as historic, but over the past year "history has been allowed to stand still, as efforts by those opposed to the compromise have repeatedly raised obstacles harmful to Jewish peoplehood," said Bayme.
The Shas measure has been sharply criticized by Nathan Sharansky, head of the Jewish Agency and one of the principal advocates for the compromise, and 30 Members of Knesset recently wrote to Prime Minister Netanyahu asking him to stop the proposed legislation.
However, a senior Likud member, David Amsalem, who chairs the Knesset Interior Committee, also has called for the Israeli government to cancel the Western Wall egalitarian prayer agreement. "It's not the end of the world if American Jews get offended," said Amsalem.
Prime Minister Netanyahu stated to AJC, in a September 2015 letter, his commitment "to strengthening the unity of the Jewish people," and pledged "to unequivocally reject any attempt to divide us or to delegitimize any Jewish community Reform, Conservative or Orthodox."
"The Kotel historically represents the national treasure and heritage of the entire Jewish people," said Bayme. "Maintaining an Orthodox monopoly there serves only to offend non-Orthodox lovers of Israel and the Jewish people. Moreover, many Orthodox Jews as well will be similarly offended by the culture of intolerance suggested by the bill and its supporters. As such, we count on the Prime Minister to oppose the measure."
SOURCE American Jewish Committee
Related Links
http://www.ajc.org
WALTHAM, Mass., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Alere Inc. (NYSE: ALR), a global leader in rapid diagnostics, today announced that its forensic toxicology division, Alere Forensics at Redwood Toxicology Laboratory, has received accreditation from the American Board of Forensic Toxicology (ABFT). The accreditation, effective December 1, 2016, encompasses post-mortem and human performance toxicology analysis, and covers driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol (DUID) testing. With ABFT accreditation, and Title 17 recognition from the California Department of Public Health, Alere's forensic laboratory will deliver innovative and timely testing services.
"ABFT accreditation allows us to launch a vital service for agencies requiring DUID and post-mortem toxicology," said Albert Berger, Vice President and General Manager. "By offering accurate results in a timely manner, we are well positioned to help criminal justice agencies and laboratories overwhelmed by backlogs."
Alere Forensics at Redwood Toxicology Laboratory will offer screening and confirmation of more than 100 drugs and drug metabolites, using fully validated analytical methods performed by highly qualified toxicologists. Alere laboratories process millions of specimens for hundreds of government, forensic, and criminal justice organizations each year.
About Alere
Alere believes that when diagnosing and monitoring health conditions, Knowing now matters. Alere delivers reliable and actionable information by providing rapid diagnostic tests, enhancing clinical and economic healthcare outcomes globally. Headquartered in Waltham, Mass., Alere focuses on rapid diagnostics for cardiometabolic disease, infectious disease and toxicology. For more information on Alere, please visit www.alere.com.
SOURCE Alere Inc.
Related Links
http://www.alere.com
DALLAS, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE: ADS), a leading global provider of data-driven marketing and loyalty solutions, will host a conference call on January 26, 2017, at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss the Company's fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 results. Hosting the call will be Ed Heffernan, president and chief executive officer, and Charles Horn, chief financial officer.
The conference call will be available via the Internet at www.alliancedata.com. Additionally, there will be several slides accompanying the webcast. Please go to the website at least 15 minutes prior to the call to register, download and install any necessary software. Please contact FTI Consulting by e-mail: [email protected] with any questions.
About Alliance Data
Alliance Data (NYSE: ADS) is a leading global provider of data-driven marketing and loyalty solutions serving large, consumer-based industries. The Company creates and deploys customized solutions, enhancing the critical customer marketing experience; the result is measurably changing consumer behavior while driving business growth and profitability for some of today's most recognizable brands. Alliance Data helps its clients create and increase customer loyalty through solutions that engage millions of customers each day across multiple touch points using traditional, digital, mobile and emerging technologies. An S&P 500 and Fortune 500 company headquartered in Plano, Texas, Alliance Data consists of three businesses that together employ more than 15,000 associates at approximately 100 locations worldwide.
Alliance Data's Card Services business is a leading provider of marketing-driven branded credit card programs. Epsilon is a leading provider of multichannel, data-driven technologies and marketing services, and also includes Conversant, the leader in personalized digital marketing. LoyaltyOne owns and operates the AIR MILES Reward Program, Canada's premier coalition loyalty program, and holds a majority interest in Netherlands-based BrandLoyalty, a global provider of tailor-made loyalty programs for grocers.
Follow Alliance Data on Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and You Tube.
Contacts:
Investors/Analysts
Tiffany Louder
Alliance Data
214-494-3048
[email protected]
Media
Shelley Whiddon
Alliance Data
214-494-3811
[email protected]
SOURCE Alliance Data Systems Corporation
Related Links
http://www.alliancedata.com
The vintage cars taking part in the journey include a '57 Chevy Nomad, '61 Chrysler 300G and '66 Ford Mustang, all of which will be alongside an antique 1917 Crane Simplex originally owned by J.D. Rockefeller, in Grand Rapids, Traverse City, Lansing, Birmingham and Detroit.
"Celebrating the past while looking into the future is exactly what The Drive Home and our partnership with America's Car Museum is about," said NAIAS Executive Director Rod Alberts. "Whether it be highlighting revolutionary technology from a century ago, or showcasing future mobility innovations unveiled from our global stage at NAIAS."
TDHII's caravan will be driving throughout Michigan and stopping off for receptions and enthusiast events in Grand Rapids, Traverse City, Lansing and Troy before arriving in the Motor City. Further information on each individual event can be found at americascarmuseum.org/TheDriveHome.
The final leg of the trip will see the caravan take off from a NAIAS- and Lincoln of Troy-sponsored cars and coffee gathering and head down the famed Woodward Avenue before ending at a cruise-in at Cadillac Square. All four of the vehicles will be on display during press and consumer days at NAIAS.
"The idea for The Drive Home came about a few years ago when I sat down for cocktails and cigars with Rod Alberts," said AAT President and CEO David Madeira. "We thought the concept of three vintage cars journeying across the country at this time of year a battle against Mother Nature would be something that truly highlights America's automotive heritage and, importantly, gives context to the amount of innovation in the vehicles debuting at the auto show.
"Now The Drive Home is in its second year and we're once again looking forward to a full schedule in Michigan, which thanks to a great partnership with NAIAS and support from our great sponsors State Farm, Michelin, Plycar, Shell, Quicken Loans, Hagerty and Montecristo allows us to continue honoring this nation's motoring legacy by holding unforgettable enthusiast gatherings."
To follow TDH II as it makes its way throughout the Northeast, follow @LeMayACM on Twitter and look for updates from participating sponsors.
About LeMay America's Car Museum (americascarmuseum.org )
America's Car Museum (ACM), an entity of America's Automotive Trust, is an international destination for families and auto enthusiasts to celebrate America's love affair with the automobile and learn how it shaped our society. Based in Tacoma, Wash., the stunning 165,000-sq.-ft. facility has been recognized as one of MSN's 10 Best Automotive Museums worldwide, USA Today's 10 Best Museums in Seattle and KING5's 2015 Best Museum in Western Washington. ACM serves as an educational center for students of all ages, features 12 rotating exhibits and hosts five annual Signature Events. For more information, visit americascarmuseum.org.
About the North American International Auto Show
Now in its 29th year as an international event, the NAIAS is among the most prestigious auto shows in the world, providing unparalleled access to the products, technologies, innovations, people and ideas that matter most up close and under one roof. Administered by Executive Director Rod Alberts, the NAIAS is the largest media event in North America, and the only auto show in the United States to earn an annual distinguished sanction of the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles (OICA), the Paris-based alliance of automotive trade associations and manufacturers from around the world. For more information, visit naias.com.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for highlights and updates.
2017 NAIAS Dates:
The Gallery Saturday, January 7, 2017
AutoMobili-D Sunday-Thursday, January 8-12, 2017
Press Preview Monday-Tuesday, January 9-10, 2017
Industry Preview Wednesday-Thursday, January 11-12, 2017
Charity Preview Friday, January 13, 2017
Public Show Saturday-Sunday, January 14-22, 2017
SOURCE North American International Auto Show
Related Links
http://naias.com
"I grew up in Southern Tennessee and cut my teeth fishing in Alabama, near the headquarters of Vision Wheel," said Dunkin. "We put a lot of miles on our trucks around here and I'm excited to add some new rims to my rig and show the fishing world what Vision Wheel is all about."
The 33-year-old angler has competed at almost every level of the sport, from the Bassmaster Opens starting at the age of 19, to competing on the Walmart FLW Tour. In 2017, he will be entering his second year as a professional on the tour.
During his rookie pro season in 2016, Dunkin made two Top 20 cuts, and earned a Top 10 finish in the FLW Rookie of the Year race. As a co-angler in 2015, he took a win at Beaver Lake and qualified for the Forrest Wood Cup.
The personable angler has also been featured as a guest host on Bassmaster LIVE, and was an On The Water analyst for FLW during the 2016 Forrest Wood Cup.
"We're thrilled to have Luke on our team this season," said John Mathew, COO at Vision Wheel. "It's important to us as a company to support the pros that believe in our products and the sport fishing community puts our wheels to the test: they make long-haul tows through tough terrain to follow their passion and we're pleased to be along with Luke for the ride in 2017."
Dunkin joins pro angler Mike Iaconelli, and off-road legend Rob MacCachren as one of the latest pros to join the Vision Wheel family.
ABOUT VISION WHEEL
Founded in 1976 and located in Decatur, Alabama, Vision Wheel is a manufacturer and distributor of quality aftermarket wheels for cars, SUVs, and light trucks, as well as ATVs and UTVs. The product range is available in a wide selection of styles and sizes, including dually fitments and styles suitable for lifted trucks and toy haulers.
SOURCE Vision Wheel
DECATUR When Forrest Suycott was living in a retirement community in Madison, Wis., a fellow resident kept trying to talk him into giving a presentation on music for the rest of the residents.
Suycott a former music teacher, professor and Dean of Fine Arts at Western Illinois University resisted at first, but eventually relented.
She was really on me about it I figured I better do it or shed kill me, the 94-year-old Suycott said, laughing.
Two years ago, Suycott and his wife Joan moved to Primrose Retirement Community in Decatur. Soon after arriving, Primrose Sales Director Kate Stankovic approached Suycott about starting a similar music presentation at Primrose.
After some initial technical difficulties, Suycotts monthly Music Talk is one of the Primrose theaters biggest draws.
We have room for 18 to 20 people in the theater, but we have to bring in 10 more chairs for Forrest, Stankovic said.
Suycott was born in Granite City and grew up in Villa Grove as the son of a railroad worker. He graduated from Eastern Illinois University, though his college years were interrupted by World War II, during which Suycott served in the Air Force as an aerial navigator.
I wound up spending four years trouncing around all the sunny Pacific isles, Suycott said.
Before graduating from Eastern, Suycott also married Joan she was a French horn player in Easterns band and he played trumpet.
Suycott had the chance to join a jazz band and travel, but chose to teach instead. He began his career in Carmi, then later ended up at earning his doctorate at the University of Iowa before landing a job as a professor and band director at Western in 1955.
Through the years, as jazz musicians came through Macomb to play to the WIU crowd, Suycott had plenty of memorable nights and stories to tell.
These outfits would come through campus and we would have big parties with them it was a lot of fun, Suycott said of run-ins with several jazz greats, including members of Ellington's band. There were a lot of characters and we got to meet a lot of good people.
Suycott retired from his position as WIUs band director and teaching at age 65, going back to school for postgraduate work at Stanford. When he returned to WIU, he was made acting Dean of Fine Arts.
I called the university president up to discuss my contract and his wife put him on the phone with me and he said, Suycott, the reason Im calling you is , and Im thinking, wait a second, I called him, Suycott said, laughing. But I didnt say that to him. He said the board of governors had met two weeks ago, formed a college of fine arts and appointed me the acting dean. I wasnt expecting anything like that, but I couldnt say no.
Suycott also dabbled in politics, becoming a member of the Chalmers Township Board and helping form a volunteer fire district. After retiring from WIU for good in 1987, the Suycotts stayed in Macomb for awhile, but eventually moved to Decatur in 2008 to be closer to Joans family in Mount Pulaski. They lived in Arbor Meadows Condominiums across the street from Primrose for a couple years before moving to Elkhart, Ind., then Madison, Wis., to be close to their daughters family.
Thats where Suycott met a fellow resident at their retirement community named Katie who pulled him back into teaching music.
She was a well-traveled, brilliant lady, and she was tough as nails, Suycott said. She knew I had been in music and she kept after me to do a presentation. I didnt think anyone would be interested, but she kept telling me to do it.
I finally set one up and did it, but she died two days before the first one. That one always hurt me she was such a great person.
The Suycotts didnt like the senior living conditions in Madison, so they returned to Decatur in 2014 and found Primrose, which Suycott said was a mansion compared to the places in Wisconsin.
After learning Suycotts background, Stankovic talked him into doing similar presentations at Primrose that he did in Madison. Suycotts son and daughter have helped him with the technological side of it, using a projector system to play music clips most of which Suycott finds on YouTube of whatever songs or musical acts his presentation will feature.
Sometimes, the language gets a little out of control in the computer room when Im working on it, Suycott said, laughing.
Suycott, who quit playing the trumpet just a few years ago, gives his Music Talk the last Tuesday of every month. Though hes strayed from the Big Band Era at times his most recent presentation was on the music of New Years he knows the names that draw the biggest crowd.
All you have to do is say, Glenn Miller, and you have a crowd there right now, Suycott said. I can remember being on a tour through Germany when I was younger and we were playing in this big festival and these German soldiers were there. One of them starts punching me and saying excitedly, Glenn Miller, Glenn Miller. Even in spite of the war, Glenn Miller penetrated Germany. Its the same thing here hes a beacon for most of the people in my age group.
Other artists Suycott features include Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Harry James, Artie Shaw and Gene Krupa.
People get tired of hearing you talk, so I try to let the music do most of the talking, Suycott said. And thats the kind of music the people here remember dancing to when they were younger.
Though Suycott is modest, Stankovic said he fields plenty of questions about the music and the bands, and his knowledge is endless. Stankovic said residents like Suycott make the experience at Primrose richer for everyone.
"We really focus on the whole lifelong learning aspect, and he helps us provide that," Stankovic said. "An active mind and active body go hand and hand, and when we can integrate residents like Forrest into that, it's an exchange that makes it a better place for everyone to live."
"Innovation is a constant focus at Ansell, both for our products and in the way we communicate through visual design," said Jeyan Heper President & General Manager, Sexual Wellness Global Business Unit at Ansell. "We are so pleased with the work of our partners at Dark Horse Agency, and are proud to be recognized."
For more than 50 years, GDUSA has sponsored competitions to spotlight areas of excellence and opportunity for creative professionals. The American Graphic Design Awards honors outstanding new work of all kinds, including print, packaging, point-of-purchase, internet, interactive and motion graphics. The awards are sponsored by Verso Corporation and Pantone, and in 2016 received over 10,000 entries worldwide. The organization's Health + Wellness Design Awards program honors the importance of design in communicating the value of health and wellness, and the organizations, people, products and services that foster better health. The awards have quickly emerged as one of the most selective design competitions for the wellness industry, receiving over 1,000 entries in 2016.
"We're always proud of the work that we do for our clients, and we're so honored to have that work recognized in both large and specialized competitions," said Christine Rusin, co-owner of Dark Horse Design.
All LifeStyles and SKYN Condoms are triple tested to meet the highest U.S. reliability standards and are available at a wide range of big box retailers, drugstores, grocery and convenience stores across the US. Products are also available at online retailers such as drugstore.com, soap.com, amazon.com and on the Company's e-commerce platform: BuyCondoms.Online
To connect with the brand and discover new content, sex tips, condom giveaways, unique stats and more, please visit: http://www.lifestyles.com/ and http://www.skyn.com/.
About Ansell
Ansell is a world leader in providing superior health and safety protection solutions that enhance human well-being. With operations in North America, Latin America/Caribbean, EMEA and Asia, Ansell employs nearly 15,000 people worldwide and holds leading positions in the personal protective equipment and medical gloves market, as well as in the sexual health and well-being category worldwide. Ansell operates in four main business segments: Medical, Industrial, Single Use and Sexual Wellness. Information on Ansell and its products can be found at www.ansell.com.
Ansell, and are trademarks owned by Ansell Limited or one of its affiliates. US Patented and US and non-US Patents Pending: www.ansell.com/patentmarking 2016 Ansell Limited. All Rights Reserved.
About Dark Horse Design
Dark Horse Design is a full-service advertising and design agency that specializes in print and package design in Central Jersey. A vision of two creatives breaking free from the confines of traditional advertising, they pride themselves on superior customer service and understanding the needs of their diverse clients, creating killer designs that are not only captivating but also functional. To learn more about Dark Horse's capabilities and services: www.darkhorsepower.com
SOURCE Ansell Healthcare
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Browse 152 market data Tables and 27 Figures spread through 235 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Antimicrobial Coatings Market"
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With the increased penetration of antimicrobial coatings in end-use applications in North America and Europe, it is anticipated that the market will register slightly higher growth than the Asia Pacific region, Middle East & Africa, and South America, during the forecast period.
Medical, the largest application in the antimicrobial coatings market
Medical is the biggest end-use application of antimicrobial coatings. These are extensively used in the medical / healthcare industry for applications such as, catheters, medical devices, medical electronics, and trays among others. The demand for antimicrobial coatings is increasing due to the rising demand from North America and Europe, where governments are creating greater awareness about antimicrobial coatings in the medical / healthcare industries. Governments in all the countries are focusing on the requirement of decreasing hospital acquired infections, which is a major concern in recent years. Stringent regulations have been imposed by governmental agencies to reduce these infections, which require the use of antimicrobial coatings.
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Silver, the leading product type in antimicrobial coatings market
Silver has the largest consumption among all antimicrobial coatings. Silver has been known to be a potent antibacterial agent and is toxic to germs, fungi, and algae; and in the past few years, the use of silver in coatings has experienced a dramatic revival. Inorganic silver antimicrobial coating systems based on colloidal silver, silver salts, silver zeolite/ion exchange resins, complex glasses containing metal ions, and nanosilver have been in high demand in the healthcare arena. The antimicrobial property of silver has not displayed any adverse effects on humans unless excessive silver is consumed.
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Growing demand in North America, the major driver for growth of antimicrobial coatings market
North America had the largest demand for antimicrobial coatings in 2015. The region has rapidly growing end-user industries in the U.S. The growth is led by increased demand from the indoor air / HVAC and medical application segments. Regulations by governmental authorities and healthcare agencies are driving the Antimicrobial Coatings Market in the region. The foods & beverages and textiles applications in the U.S. and Canada are also supporting the market growth of antimicrobial coatings.
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Antimicrobial Plastic Market by Type (Commodity Plastic, Engineering Plastic, and High Performance Plastic) by Application (Healthcare, Packaging, Consumer Goods, Automotive, Construction, and Others) & by Region - Global Forecast to 2020
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Antimicrobial Additives Market by Type (Inorganic (Silver, Copper, Zinc), Organic (OBPA, DCOIT)), Application (Plastic, Paints & Coatings, Pulp & Paper), End-Use Industry (Healthcare, Packaging, Food & Beverage, Construction) - Global Forecast to 2021
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SAN DIEGO, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Astute Medical, Inc., developer of biomarkers for better healthcare, today announced that Methodist Dallas Medical Center, one of North Texas' leading providers of quality, compassionate and integrated healthcare, is the first in the state to begin biomarker-based testing of patients at risk for acute kidney injury (AKI). AKI is a stealthy, unpredictable and dangerous complication known to strike up to half of the 5.7 million people admitted to intensive care units in the United States each year.1
Clinicians at Methodist Dallas are using Astute Medical's NephroCheck Test to quickly identify patients at risk of developing moderate to severe AKI so that intervention can occur early enough to reduce the threat of irreparable kidney damage. If left undetected, AKI can quickly lead to permanent kidney damage that can result in long-term complications and death.2
"Many of our cases involve patients susceptible to AKI, which is common, prevalent, expensive and deadly," said Roberto Collazo-Maldonado, M.D., F.A.C.P, program director, nephrology fellowship program at Methodist Dallas. "For us, AKI risk assessment is a game-changer. Having a biomarker test allows us to identify high-risk early in the process and come up with a strategic plan to help prevent AKI."
The first-of-its-kind test quantitatively measures two urinary biomarkers tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2 (TIMP-2) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 (IGFBP-7), which are associated with kidney stress.3 In high-risk hospital patients, elevated levels of the biomarkers can signal that patients are at risk of developing moderate to severe AKI in the 12 hours following test administration.
Earlier detection of AKI risk will allow nephrologists at Methodist Dallas to get involved with patient care sooner rather than later. "Current methods are slow and rely on tests that only inform us that damage is already underway. Consequently, we are often not called in until AKI has caused severe damage," said Dr. Collazo. "At that late point, the decision is about whether or not to start dialysis. Now we will be able to discuss preventative changes, such as avoiding drugs that are toxic to the kidney."
"We are delighted that Methodist Dallas Medical Center has implemented our technology with the aim of achieving earlier identification of patients at risk for AKI," said Paul McPherson, Astute Medical's chief scientific officer. "Earlier identification enables the physician to take steps that can prevent potentially deadly or debilitating AKI complications."
About AKI
AKI is as common and life-threatening as a heart attack. But unlike a heart attack, it lacks symptoms that guide risk assessment and can progress silently for hours to days, sometimes causing irreversible damage before it is detected.4 Patients recovering from major surgery or being treated for infection, trauma, and systemic illness are among the most vulnerable to the condition.5 Each year, AKI claims approximately 2 million lives worldwide.6
The financial burdens of AKI are also significant. If a patient develops the complication, the length of stay in the ICU,7 hospital costs7 and 30-day readmissions8 have been shown to double or triple. It has been estimated that annual healthcare expenditures attributed to hospital-acquired AKI could exceed $10 billion.9
Important Information About The NephroCheck Test
The NephroCheck Test System is intended to be used in conjunction with clinical evaluation in patients who currently have or have had within the past 24 hours acute cardiovascular and or respiratory compromise and are intensive care unit (ICU) patients as an aid in the risk assessment for moderate or severe AKI within 12 hours of patient assessment. The NephroCheck Test System is intended to be used in patients 21 years of age or older.
About Astute Medical, Inc.
Astute Medical is devoted to improving patient healthcare outcomes through the identification and validation of novel biomarkers.
The company's focus is community and hospital-acquired acute conditions that require rapid diagnosis and risk assessment. Astute Medical's current areas of interest include abdominal pain, acute coronary syndromes, cerebrovascular injury, kidney injury and sepsis.
Astute Medical has developed the NephroCheck Test for use in determining whether a hospitalized patient is at risk of developing moderate to severe AKI in the 12 hours following test administration. Early knowledge that a patient is likely to develop AKI may prompt closer patient surveillance and help prevent permanent kidney damage or death.
The company is a founding corporate partner of 0by25, a human rights initiative aimed at eliminating preventable and treatable deaths from AKI worldwide by 2025.
Astute Medical's NephroCheck Test received 510(k)-clearance through the FDA's de novo classification. The test is CE-marked and available in Europe.
For additional information, please visit AstuteMedical.com.
Astute Medical, Inc., Astute Medical, the AM logo, Astute140, NephroCheck, the NephroCheck logo and AKIRisk are registered trademarks of Astute Medical, Inc. in the United States. For information regarding trademarks and other intellectual property applicable to this product, including international trademarks, please see www.AstuteMedical.com/US/About/IntellectualProperty. PN0614 Rev B 2017/01/03
1 Critical Care Statistics. Society of Critical Care Medicine [accessed January 25, 2016]. Available at www.sccm.org.
2 Lewington AJ, Cerda J, Mehta RL. Raising awareness of acute kidney injury: a global perspective of a silent killer. Kidney Int. 2013;84(3):457-467.
3 Kellum JA, Chawla LS. Cell-cycle arrest and acute kidney injury: the light and dark sides. Nephrol Dial Transplant (2015) 0: 17doi: 10.1093/ndt/gfv130.
4 Ronco C, Ricci Z. The concept of risk and the value of novel markers of acute kidney injury. Crit Care. 2013;17:117-118.
5 Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) CKD Work Group. KDIGO 2012 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Chronic Kidney Disease. Kidney inter., Suppl. 2013; 3:1-150.
6 Chawla L, Kimmel P. Acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. Kidney Int. 2012;82(5):516-524.
7 Dasta JF, Kane-Fill SL, Durtschi, AJ, Pathak DS, Kellum JA. Costs and outcomes of acute kidney injury (AKI) following cardiac surgery. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2008;23:1970-1974.
8 Brown JR, Parikh CR, Ross CS, et al. Impact of Perioperative Acute Kidney Injury as a Severity Index for Thirty-Day Readmission After Cardiac Surgery. Ann Thorac Surg. 2014;97(1):111-117.
9 Chertow GM et al. Acute kidney injury, mortality, length of stay, and costs in hospitalized patients. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2005;16:3365-3370.
SOURCE Astute Medical, Inc.
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LOS ANGELES, Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cortney Shegerian of the Los Angeles-based employment discrimination firm Shegerian & Associates recently issued a statement regarding the discrimination allegations made against Bayer by the company's former Vice President, Irene Laurora. Ms. Laurora claims she was fired after arguing her pregnant co-worker should not be taken off of a project just because she wanted to take maternity leave.
"Pregnant women should never fear that they are missing out on a job opportunity by taking the maternity leave they are legally owed," Shegerian says. "And no employee should feel they will be harshly and unfairly penalized for voicing their concerns over unethical and illegal discrimination."
"If these allegations are true, Ms. Laurora has demonstrated incredible bravery in the face of adversity, not once, but twice," Shegerian continues. "She had the courage to defend her pregnant co-worker in front of her superiors, and then to defend all employees' rights by taking legal action against Bayer."
"Unfortunately, these allegations are very similar to the gender discrimination claims made against another pharmaceutical giant, Merck, earlier this year," Shegerian states. "These cases show it is possible for victims to seek justice against their employers, regardless of the company's size or perceived power within the industry."
Located in Santa Monica, Shegerian & Associates is a law firm specializing in protecting the rights of employees who have been wronged by their employers. Richly experienced in labor and employment law and possessing an unparalleled success record as litigators, Shegerian & Associates is passionately dedicated to serving the needs of its clients. For more information about the firm, visit www.ShegerianLaw.com.
Located in Los Angeles County, Shegerian & Associates is a law firm specializing in employment law and personal injury litigation. Shegerian & Associates is dedicated to serving the needs of its clients, and has won over 73 jury trials, including over 31 seven and eight figure verdicts. For more information, visit www.ShegerianLaw.com or www.GotFired.com
SOURCE Shegerian & Associates, Inc.
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RYE, N.Y., Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE: AVP) (the "Company" or "Avon") Chief Executive Officer Sheri McCoy will present at the 19th Annual ICR Conference held at the JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes in Orlando, Florida on Tuesday, January 10, 2017 at 11:00 AM Eastern Time. Also in attendance will be Jamie Wilson, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Jim Scully, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer.
The webcast and related slide presentation can be accessed at http://www.avoninvestor.com/ and will be archived at that site for one year.
About Avon Products, Inc.
Avon is the Company that for 130 years has proudly stood for beauty, innovation, optimism and, above all, for women. Avon products include well-recognized and beloved brands such as ANEW, Avon Color, Avon Care, Skin-So-Soft, and Advance Techniques sold through nearly 6 million active independent Avon Sales Representatives. Learn more about Avon and its products at www.avoncompany.com.
SOURCE Avon Products, Inc.
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MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The law firms of Baker Donelson and Ober|Kaler have completed their previously announced combination, resulting in one of the 50 largest law firms in the country. The combined firm, which maintains the name of Baker Donelson, boasts more than 800 attorneys and advisors across 25 offices in ten states as well as Washington, D.C.
Baker Donelson Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ben C. Adams said, "The initial integration process has gone smoothly due in large part to the similar cultures of our firms and a lot of hard work by numerous people with both firms. Moving forward, there's more to be done but we look forward to working with our new colleagues as one firm to bring our clients all the advantages and benefits that were the motivation behind our decision to join firms."
Joining from Ober|Kaler were nearly 110 attorneys and more than 100 staff members, giving the combined firm more than 800 attorneys and advisors, including around 380 shareholders and nearly 1,600 total employees. There were no layoffs at either firm as a result of the merger.
S. Craig Holden, who previously served as Ober|Kaler's chair and CEO, said, "We are very proud to officially be part of Baker Donelson. We are focused now on collaborating with our clients and getting them integrated and aware of the additional resources this combination brings."
The combination of Baker Donelson with Baltimore-based Ober|Kaler also results in the third largest health practice in the country. The combined health practice, now known as Baker Ober Health Law, has nearly 200 attorneys, including some of the most prominent leaders in the field of health law. The merger also gives Baker Donelson a strong presence in three crucial markets that drive the nation's health care industry: Baltimore, which is home to the headquarters of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; Washington, D.C., the center for health policy and regulation; and Nashville, the nation's center for for-profit health care.
The combination has also created a predominant financial services practice, joining Ober|Kaler's strengths in commercial finance and representation of community banking institutions with Baker Donelson's reputation as a leader in regulatory, transactional and litigation matters for financial institutions. Among other practices that are enhanced by the combination are construction, litigation, tax and intellectual property.
Members of Ober|Kaler's leadership now hold various leadership roles in Baker Donelson.
Mr. Holden and Patrick Cameron , who served as chair of Ober|Kaler's transactional practices, have joined Baker Donelson's board of directors.
, who served as chair of Ober|Kaler's transactional practices, have joined Baker Donelson's board of directors. Darlene Davis , previously Ober|Kaler's president and COO, is serving as managing shareholder of the Baltimore office.
, previously Ober|Kaler's president and COO, is serving as managing shareholder of the office. Ober|Kaler attorneys also now hold practice group leadership roles in the combined firm, including Julie Kass , previously Ober|Kaler's health law group co-chair, who now serves as co-chair of Baker Donelson's health law group; Frank Bonaventure , previously chair of Ober|Kaler's financial institutions group, who now serves as vice chair of Baker Donelson's tax group; Stuart Schabes , previously co-chair of Ober|Kaler's tax and business groups, who now serves as vice chair of Baker Donelson's Business Department; and Joseph Kovars , previously co-chair of Ober|Kaler's construction group, who now serves as co-chair of Baker Donelson's construction group. In addition to serving on Baker Donelson's board of directors, Patrick Cameron is also serving as vice chair of the Firm's Financial Services Department.
Baker Donelson Chair and CEO Ben Adams and President and COO Jennifer P. Keller are maintaining their leadership positions in the combined firm.
Recognized by FORTUNE magazine as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For," Baker Donelson is among the 50 largest law firms in the country, with more than 800 attorneys and public policy advisors representing more than 30 practice areas to serve a wide range of legal needs. Clients receive knowledgeable guidance from experienced, multi-disciplined industry and client service teams, all seamlessly connected across 25 offices in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
SOURCE Baker Donelson
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Mr. Roach was a founding shareholder of BBG. Under his leadership, BBG has expanded its national footprint by adding offices in Orange County, Phoenix and San Diego; completed the acquisition of Commercial Valuation Consultants, a leading appraisal services firm in Denver; invested in additional resources to expand the firm's Assessment Services capabilities; and launched a new Advisory Services practice.
"With some of the best talent in the industry and a unique, partnership-oriented culture, BBG is poised for strong continued growth," said Mr. Roach. "I am grateful to our Board for the opportunity to lead BBG and look forward to working with them and our management team to build upon our recent success."
Mr. Roach began his career as a commercial real estate appraiser. Prior to BBG, Mr. Roach was Vice President - National Client Manager for LandAmerican Valuation Corporation. He currently holds the MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute along with the ASA and CCIM. He is actively involved in The Real Estate Council (TREC) and was elected into the Associate Leadership Council, class of 2010-11. Mr. Roach is also an active member of the North Texas Chapter of Appraisal Institute where he currently serves as Vice President. Additionally, he is an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), National Multi-Housing Council (NMHC) and Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Mr. Roach has also served as an expert witness in numerous states and has testified in multiple courts regarding real estate valuation matters.
Mr. Leitner is a veteran commercial real estate appraiser with over 27 years of experience. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of Leitner Group Inc., a leading Tri-state area commercial real estate appraisal firm that was acquired by BBG in 2014. Mr. Leitner's experience includes analyzing various real estate markets within the Tri-state area, and he has testified as an expert witness in multiple local and federal courts regarding real estate valuation matters. Mr. Leitner was recently appointed to the panel of neutral arbitrators by the American Arbitration Association.
About BBG
BBG is a leading independent national commercial real estate valuation, advisory and assessment firm headquartered in Dallas with more than 20 offices in key US markets. BBG has achieved a reputation for personal attention, on-time delivery and deep expertise in multi-family, office, retail and industrial sectors. For more information about BBG, please visit www.bbgres.com.
Media Contact
Marc Weinstein
Ascent Communications
(908) 967-9958
[email protected]
SOURCE BBG
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To help deliver the toys and spread a holiday joy, Liset Meruelo brought along a few surprise guests including costumed characters from Party Princess Productions dressed as "Frozen's" Elsa and Anna, and "Star Wars'" Darth Vader, Jedi and a Stormtrooper.
This is the 19th year teddy bears and stuffed animals were collected for the "Bear Hugs Toy Drive," but this year came with an extra special delivery. During the visit, Liset and Alex Meruelo made a donation of $20,000 to support the Music Therapy Program part of the Child Life Program at Miller Children's.
Studies have shown that patients who receive music therapy in conjunction with traditional therapies may need less pain medication, go home earlier, and have decreased levels of anxiety compared to patients who do not receive music therapy.
"From our tiniest patients in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to our teen patients, our Music Therapy Program is instrumental in helping our patients heal," says Laurel Terreri, MA, MT-BC, board-certified music therapist, Miller Children's.
Through their generous donation, the Music Therapy Program will expand to the Infusion Center at Miller Children's. The majority of the patients who use the Infusion Center are children and adolescents with cancer and other serious blood disorders, who need to come back to the hospital on a regular basis for chemotherapy treatment or blood transfusions.
"Treatments and procedures done in the Infusion Center can take anywhere from one to eight hours," says Terreri. "Music therapy can be used as a distraction for patients that may be experiencing anxiety or pain during prolonged treatments."
Liset and Alex Meruelo are longtime supporters of Miller Children's. This is their second donation to the Music Therapy Program. Liset Meruelo also volunteered as a NICU cuddler, where she supports the development and growth of premature babies by interacting with them during times when their parents can't be with them.
"Music heals the soul and when these kids are going through transfusions or chemotherapy, we want to be able to provide them with the support, hope and reassurance that they need to heal," says Liset Meruelo, philanthropist and friend of Miller Children's.
SOURCE Miller Childrens & Womens Hospital Long Beach
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Benjamin Jealous, the youngest-ever president and CEO of the NAACP, will be the keynote speaker at Walden University's 57th Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, January 7, 2017. Jealous has been a leader of successful state and local movements to ban the death penalty, outlaw racial profiling, defend voting rights, secure marriage equality and free wrongfully incarcerated people.
Under Jealous' leadership, the NAACP grew to be the largest civil rights organization online and on mobile, experienced its first multiyear membership growth in 20 years and became the largest community-based nonpartisan voter registration operation in the country. A builder of robust coalitions, Jealous brought environmental organizations into the efforts to protect voting rights and convinced well-known conservatives to join the NAACP in challenging mass incarceration.
"Ben Jealous personifies positive social change. He is a powerful example for our graduates of how they can take actions every day that have a positive impact on their communities and workplaces," said Jonathan Kaplan, president of Walden.
Prior to leading the NAACP, Jealous spent 15 years as a journalist and community organizer. While at The Jackson Advocate newspaper in Mississippi, his investigative stories were credited with exposing corruption at a state penitentiary and proving the innocence of a black farmer who was being framed for arson. He also served as the founding director of Amnesty International's human rights program in the United States, where he led successful efforts to outlaw prison rape, expose the increasing trend of children being sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and draw attention to expanded racial profiling.
Jealous is currently a visiting professor at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a partner at Kapor Capital. At Kapor, he invests in high-growth companies that have a positive social impact.
He is a graduate of Columbia University and Oxford University as well as a Rhodes Scholar. Jealous is the past president of the Rosenberg Foundation and has been named to the "40 Under 40" lists of both Forbes and Time magazines.
The Walden University community gathers to honor its graduating students twice a year at summer and winter commencement ceremonies. The 2017 winter commencement ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Eastern time on January 7 at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, Florida. The ceremony and address can be viewed live via webcast at www.WaldenU.edu.
About Walden University
For more than 45 years, Walden University has supported working professionals in achieving their academic goals and making a greater impact in their professions and their communities. Today, more than 52,600 students from all 50 states in the U.S. and more than 155 countries are pursuing their bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees online at Walden. The university offers more than 80 degree programs with more than 400 specializations and concentrations. Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission. Walden is the flagship online university in the Laureate International Universities networka global network of more than 70 campus-based and online universities in 25 countries. Laureate Education, Inc. is a public benefit corporation, and both Laureate and Walden completed a rigorous, independent assessment to become a Certified B Corp. For more information about Walden and Laureate, visit www.WaldenU.edu and www.laureate.net.
SOURCE Walden University
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http://www.waldenu.edu
DECATUR There are several new laws going into effect this year, including an addition to a law to further protect anyone pulled over on the highway.
In 2001, Illinois passed Scott's Law, also called the "Move Over" law, which requires motorists to slow down or change lanes when approaching a stationary emergency vehicle with its emergency lights activated. Beginning in 2017 this law will also apply to any vehicle on the side of the road with hazard lights activated.
Illinois State Police District 10 Safety Education Officer Tracy Lillard said the law requires drivers to change lanes if possible, but to slow down if changing lanes isn't possible. Lillard said there's no exact speed to drive when encountering a car with its flashers on the side of the road, but said the National Safety Council recommends slowing to 20 miles under the speed limit.
"Speed can really depend on the conditions there's no hard and fast rule, but we recommend using common sense depending on the situation," Lillard said. "Being parked on the side of the road with a flat tire can be terrifying when cars are flying by at 70. If you were parked on the side of the road with a flat tire, how fast would you want people driving past you?
"Or, if it was your 87-year-old grandma out there stranded on the side of the road wouldn't you want people to slow down for her?"
Lillard said cars unable to change lanes when approaching a vehicle with flashing lights should turn their hazard lights on to alert the cars behind them they're slowing down and to use caution. She also said extra care should be taken in ice, snow, rain and fog.
Scott's Law was enacted in memory of Lieutenant Scott Gillen of the Chicago Fire Department, who was killed in 2000 by an intoxicated driver. The law has made it safer for first responders on the highway, and Lillard said the addition to the law will extend that safety to all motorists in emergency situations on the highway.
"We can write a citation if we observe a violation where no attempt to get over or slow down is made," Lillard said. "We're hoping it will eliminate the crashes we're having with motorists being struck in emergency situations on the side of the road."
Lillard said some state troopers have noticed an increase of people pulling over on the side of the interstate and turning their hazard lights on to make calls, texts or emails on their cell phones.
"The side of the road on an interstate isn't the safest location to make phone calls, texts or emails that aren't emergency situations," Lillard said. "If you do want to use your phone, we suggest pulling off to the side on an exit ramp."
Another addition for 2017 involves speeding. Driving 26 miles per hour or more above the speed limit, but less than 35 MPH above, is now a Class B misdemeanor, and 35 miles per hour or more in excess of the posted work or school zone speed limit is now a Class A misdemeanor.
Another new law requires officers to tow vehicles of anyone convicted of driving without insurance within the prior 12 months who are receiving another citation for driving without insurance.
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Bodyfriend, the biggest massage chair company in the world headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, today announced plans to open nearly 150 retail stores in the US by 2022, starting with California.
Bodyfriend has shown incredible sales growth since its inception in 2007. In its first year the company's sales only amounted to around $2.7 million. Just nine years later the company closed 2016 reaching the stunning $360 million making Bodyfriend the highest grossing massage chair company in the world for 2016.
Today, Bodyfriend launches the "VISION2020" campaign which entails goals of reaching $1 billion in sales per calendar year. To do this, Bodyfriend will continue to maintain its domestic and global leadership position by further expanding into the global market starting with the US. Bodyfriend recently acquired factories in China and Italy, and plans to concentrate its efforts on conquering the Asian and North American markets starting this year. By launching Aventar, a massage chair with a sporty look and stylish design inspired by supercars, Bodyfriend is making its first step into maintaining its global number one spot in 2017.
The percentage of households that have massage chairs in the US is still relatively low. However, with both quality of life and the average life expectancy increasing, there is a need to be fulfilled.
Starting tomorrow customers and potential business partners will be able to experience Bodyfriend's premium technology healthcare products at CES. The company's booth will be located at Sands, Halls A-D 44363 (Family & Technology Marketplace).
About Bodyfriend
Founded in 2007, Bodyfriend is the world's leading massage chair company. It focuses on user experience and avant-garde thinking processes, unparalleled to other competitors in the field. Bodyfriend has received numerous awards for their design including theiF Design Award for Innovative Design and the Red Dot Award. The company continuously revolutionizes the way massage chairs are being experienced and the company's visionary outlook has allowed it to grow rapidly reaching sales of $360 million in 2016. Bodyfriend is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.
Press Contacts:
Emil Bachev at Bacheff Communications | Telephone +1 (949) 667-3645 | Email: [email protected] Grace Hwang at Bodyfriend | Email [email protected]
SOURCE Bodyfriend
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- South African Airways Vacations (SAA Vacations) is inviting travelers to visit South Africa in the new year with its special, "South Africa Safari 2017" package that offers Cape Town and a luxury African safari, starting at just $2,017 * (restrictions apply) per person. This package is designed to provide an affordable opportunity to immerse visitors in the magnificence that consistently ranks Cape Town as one of the most beautiful cities in the world by leading consumer travel publications and combines a game safari to view spectacular wildlife, including Africa's Big 5.
The "South Africa Safari 2017" package includes round-trip air transportation from New York-JFK International Airport or Washington Dulles International Airport to Cape Town on South African Airways, Africa's most awarded airline, 4-nights hotel accommodations at the SunSquare Hotel in Cape Town, 2-nights accommodations at the Kwa Maritane Bush Lodge, adjacent to South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park, all airport transfers and meet & greet service by SAA Vacations representatives. Also included is a full-day Cape Peninsula tour to enjoy the rugged beauty of Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, and half-day Cape Winelands tour to visit some of South Africa's award-winning wineries.
The itinerary starts with accommodations at the hip and trendy SunSquare Hotel, conveniently located in heart of Cape Town, adjacent to the foot of the iconic Table Mountain and minutes from the cable tramway. Travelers will enjoy the splendour and beauty of Cape Town by visiting the historic Victoria & Alfred Waterfront or take an optional tour to Robben Island, the site where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years during South Africa's apartheid era. After discovering the Western Cape region of South Africa, the journey continues with an African safari in the Pilanesberg National Park and accommodations at the luxurious Kwa Maritane Bush Lodge. Days will be filled with safari game drives viewing wildlife and exploring the South African bush country. Opportunities to relax, indulge in a spa treatment or participate in additional nature activities abound at this luxury retreat.
"The South Africa Safari 2017 package is the perfect vacation for a first time visitor to South Africa, since it provides both the quintessential Cape Town and a safari adventure that so many travelers from North America seek to experience," said Terry von Guilleaume, president of SAA Vacations. "This package offers an incredible value to those who have limited time, but yet, want to enjoy a truly affordable South African luxury vacation. "
SAA Vacations - "South Africa Safari 2017" includes:
Round-trip air transportation on South African Airways
Four-nights accommodations at the SunSquare Hotel in Cape Town with breakfast each morning
with breakfast each morning Full-day Cape Peninsula tour
Half-day Cape Winelands tour
Two-nights accommodations at the Kwa Maritane Bush Lodge with all meals included
Two safari game drives in the Pilanesberg National Park
Round-trip airport transfers in South Africa
Destination meet and greet service by SAA Vacations' representatives
The "South Africa Safari 2017" package is available to book through January 31, 2017 for travel April 01-May 31, 2017. Travelers are encouraged to contact SAA Vacations' Africa Specialists at 1-855-FLY-SAAV or their professional travel consultant. Tailor made itineraries are their forte and the team of Africa Specialists are standing by to assist you in creating a vacation of a lifetime. For additional information on the, "South Africa Safari 2017" package, visit www.flysaavacations.com.
About South African Airways Vacations
A division of South African Airways (SAA), South African Airways Vacations (SAA Vacations ) is highly regarded for its wide array of affordable luxury packages to Africa and uses SAA's extensive route network to create packages for travel throughout South Africa, Botswana, Victoria Falls, Namibia, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania and the Indian Ocean Islands. Offering more than 80 air-inclusive packages, which range from value to superb luxury. Our specialty-themed programs offer unique experiences, whether you are interested in safaris, culture, cuisine, romance and adventure. The program is managed and fulfilled by Destination Southern Africa (DSA), which was founded in 2001 and offers an extensive portfolio of tour programs with a variety of hotels, game lodges and safari companies throughout Southern Africa.
About South African Airways
South African Airways (SAA), South Africa's national flag carrier and the continent's most awarded airline, serves over 75 destinations worldwide in partnership with SA Express, Airlink and its low cost carrier Mango. In North America, SAA operates daily nonstop flights from New York-JFK and direct flights from Washington D.C.-IAD (via Accra, Ghana and Dakar, Senegal) to Johannesburg. SAA has partnerships with United Airlines, Air Canada and JetBlue Airways, American Airlines and Virgin America, which offer convenient connections from more than 100 cities in the U.S. and Canada to SAA's flights. SAA is a Star Alliance member and the recipient of the Skytrax 4-Star rating for 14 consecutive years.
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*Terms & Conditions South Africa Safari 2017
Price is per person based on double occupancy and limited to availability. Prices valid as of January 1, 2017 for departures from New York (JFK) or Washington, DC (Dulles) between the dates of April 01 & May 31, 2017, with the same itinerary available at higher prices during other travel periods. Package must be booked by January 31, 2017. Other departure points and domestic flights within the U.S. can be booked. Price for other departure cities and/or travel dates may vary. Subject to availability and currency exchange rate fluctuations. Prices are valid for new bookings only, are not retroactive and may change without notice. Package includes all government and airline imposed taxes and fees. Baggage and optional service fees, cancellation charges and other restrictions may apply.
Contact: Todd Neuman, South African Airways; Tel: 954-769-5001
[email protected]
Terry von Guilleaume, South African Airways Vacations; Tel: 520-882-3600
[email protected]
SOURCE South African Airways Vacations
The "Bringing Happiness Home" project has been lasting for six years. As an innovation-pursuing brand that is supported by young people, PepsiCo has been striving to enrich the connotation of "happiness" and "family" from different dimensions over the past five years, thus delivering the positive energy of happiness to all consumers. In 2017, PepsiCo reunited the family and shoot a mini movie, taking advantage of number "17", a homophonic word of Chinese word "Yi Qi", which means "being together". With this innovative visual form, PepsiCo hopes to deliver the happiness of being together during Spring Festival to every corner of the world and prompts consumers to bring happiness to their families. Besides, PepsiCo plans to join hands with China Women's Development Foundation to carry out the public welfare project "Bringing Happiness Home-Mother Post Parcel", and send best wishes to those mothers who are suffering from poverty, so that everyone can have a happy new year. Developing from "Bringing Happiness Home" activities before, PepsiCo wishes to further fulfill the world with happiness and invite more customers to share and deliver happiness through this "Happy Spring Festival-Bringing Happiness Home".
"Happy Spring Festival" is a leading project held by the Ministry of Culture of China. Its goal is to celebrate the Spring Festival with all Chinese and share Chinese culture with foreign countries. It is the common wish of bringing the joy of the Spring Festival to every corner of the world that brings PepsiCo and the Ministry of Culture together. Apart from bringing Spring Festival wishes to all Chinese both at home and overseas, PepsiCo still wants to express the deep connotation of the Spring Festival, that is, the traditional culture of family and being together. Enjoying the happiness of the reunion of family is the essence of the Spring Festival, which is also the foundation and core of PepsiCo's "Bringing Happiness Home".
The most well-known Chinese family
Five isolated people construct an on-screen family, accompanying generations of Chinese people with their joys and sorrows. Off the screen, they develop a relation much deeper than that displayed in the sitcom. To many Chinese, they are the most famous Chinese Family and carry too much memory and emotion.
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than USD $63 billion in net revenue in 2015, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than USD $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales. At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose -- our goal to deliver top-tier financial performance while creating sustainable growth and shareholder value. In practice, Performance with Purpose means providing a wide range of foods and beverages from treats to healthy eats; finding innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment and reduce our operating costs; providing a safe and inclusive workplace for our employees globally; and respecting, supporting and investing in the local communities where we operate. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.
SOURCE PepsiCo
Related Links
http://www.pepsico.com/
"These will be the most technologically-advanced blood pressure monitors on the market," said Terry Duesterhoeft, President and CEO of A&D Medical. "We designed the new products based on feedback from consumers, who wanted simplified products with easy-to-use wireless capability, while also delivering accurate measurements that can be seamlessly shared with healthcare providers."
The new A&D Medical ULTRACONNECT blood pressure monitors offer an unmatched set of features and capabilities including:
A sleek, tubeless design that slips easily on the wrist or arm;
Light-weight, compact design allows users to effortlessly transport the device wherever they go, ensuring they can consistently track and share blood pressure readings;
Smart Connect feature which allows the company's A&D Connect App to automatically detect and connect to the monitor for unparalleled ease of use;
An offline, stand-alone operation, allowing for the subsequent transfer of up to 100 readings to the A&D Connect app at a later time;
A bright OLED display to provide illuminated feedback of measurement results;
Multi-user support functionality for 5 users plus a guest; and
Robust compatibility with both iOS and a wide range of Android devices.
As with existing A&D Medical WellnessConnected devices, users will be able to operate the smart blood pressure monitors with their mobile device using the company's free companion app A&D Connect designed to enhance the end-user experience with engaging and easy-to-use features such as graphing, trending, unlimited memory, reminders, and goal setting.
"The new product line leverages our deep experience in designing and delivering connected products to both consumer and healthcare spaces," said Mr. Duesterhoeft.
About A&D Medical
Since 1977, A&D Medical has manufactured and distributed a full line of advanced biometric monitoring solutions including blood pressure monitors, weight scales, activity monitors, and other health monitoring devices for consumer and professional use. A&D Medical is the worldwide leader in connected health and biometric measurement devices and services for consumer wellness and chronic condition management, marketing under the A&D brand globally and also the LifeSource brand in North America. A&D Medical is a division of A&D Company, a global manufacturer of measurement equipment, with operations in around the globe.
For more information about WellnessConnected, please visit www.wellnessconnected.com.
For general information about A&D Medical, please visit www.andonline.com.
SOURCE A&D Medical
NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- China Southern Airlines, the largest airline in China and a member of the SkyTeam Airline Alliance, is hosting a #ChinaSouthernFoodies social media contest to find the next inflight food sensation. Whether you are a professional or home cook, foodies and flyers across the world are encouraged to enter their own original recipe via social media. A number of entries will be chosen to compete in the final taste-testing event at BREAD restaurant in the Nolitan Hotel on January 26, 2017. BREAD, Winner of the TIME OUT New York's Most-Loved Restaurant Award 2016, the restaurant chefs will convert the winning entries into airline-friendly options to be tasted and voted on. "This is a very modern project so we love being part of it," says Lia Comandatore, Owner of Bread. "We are looking to open Bread in China, so this partnership looks like destiny,"
China Southern Airlines has partnered with Nik Loukas and James Mellor of The Inflight Food Trip documentary. They are highlighting not just airlines but also the cabin crews, inflight caterers and general public that have experience or interactions with inflight meals. "This is something that has never been done before. By inviting the general public, China Southern Airlines will substantially upgrade the transparency surrounding airline food, where all decisions are typically made behind closed doors", says Loukas.
Why does food taste different on the plane? Research in my lab and others suggests that loud environments can alter how we perceive the taste of foods, delivering them to us with a different profile than the chef intended." says Professor Dando of Cornell University. In order to simulate this effect, China Southern has partnered with Sennheiser. Sennheiser's superior quality headphones "channel the sound into your ear in a distinct way, making you imagine as if you were totally engulfed by sound," says Stephanie Reichert, Director of Trade Marketing at Sennheiser. Attendees of the event will enter the taste-testing wearing Sennheiser headphones, creating a realistic and immersive experience for the taste-testers.
"China Southern Airlines started this campaign to directly engage with travelers and learn more about local flavors. Partnering with these companies for this event will allow us to provide a better inflight experience," says Kevin Hou, General Manager at China Southern Airlines New York.
Contact:
Chih-Chin Sun
EMMA WORLDWIDE
646-952-8556
[email protected]
chinasouthernfoodies.com
SOURCE China Southern Airlines
DOVER, Del., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the more than 2,200 Delaware business leaders, TransPerfect employees, and community activists who comprise Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware (CPBD) announced the launch of an aggressive advertising campaign centered around a 6 figure television advertising buy. Today's announcement comes on the heels of significant momentum and growing public support for CPBD's efforts to save TransPerfect jobs while protecting the incorporation revenue that is vital to Delaware's economy. The ad will run beginning the first week of January through the last week. It will run nationally on stations including Bloomberg and Fox Business, and will run locally in Delaware on stations include CNBC, CNN, MSNBC and FNC.
The ad can be found here: http://www.delawareforbusiness.org/seeourad.
"We're taking to the airwaves because we want to make sure folks understand just what's at stake for thousands of workers and their families, and what's at stake for Delaware's economic competitiveness," said Chris Coffey, Campaign Manager for CPBD. "The more our neighbors learn about the Chancery Court's unprecedented judicial overreach, the more inclined they are to stand with the thousands of employees, business leaders, and concerned citizens who don't want to see the Court sell off Delaware's ability to attract businesses to incorporate within its borders."
In October, the Wilmington News-Journal, Delaware's largest newspaper, editorialized about the potential fallout from the Delaware Court of Chancery's actions regarding the forced sale of TransPerfect. "Already, states that compete with Delaware for incorporation revenue like Nevada, Oklahoma and Rhode Island are circling like sharks looking to wrest the business away from us," the Editorial Board wrote. "With a state budget shortfall estimated at $167 million, Delaware cannot afford to let this revenue stream dry up."
The television blitz will coincide billboards going-up along Martin Luther King Boulvard in the middle of January and with a direct mail campaign that CPBD commenced earlier this month. To date, the group has distributed full-page mailers to more than 55,000 Delaware households, and it plans to mail additional pieces in January and February.
In addition, CPBD has been engaged in an aggressive grassroots organizing program, focusing on the upcoming legislative session.
CPBD was formed after the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered an appointed custodian to sell TransPerfect amid an internal dispute among company owners. Over the past few months, CPBD has been involved with court proceedings, submitting an amicus brief and arguing that the Court of Chancery appoint a custodian to act as a provisional director until the dispute is resolved. The group intends to introduce legislation that would amend the law to require a three-year waiting period before the forced break-up of a company.
Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware is a group made up of more than 2,200 members including employees of the global translation services company TransPerfect, as well as concerned Delaware residents, business executives and others. They formed in April of 2016 to focus on raising awareness with Delaware residents, elected officials, and other stakeholders about the issue.
For more information on Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware visit DelawareForBusiness.org.
Contact: Kate Leisner, [email protected]
Julijana Englander, [email protected]
SOURCE Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware
Related Links
http://DelawareForBusiness.org
NEW YORK, Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cohen & Steers MLP & Energy Opportunity Fund, Inc. (symbol MLOAX) is celebrating its three-year anniversary. The Fund offers investors access to an important real asset class: midstream energy. Since inception, it is ranked in the top quartile versus 85 funds across all share classes of its Energy Limited Partnership Morningstar Category peer group.
"We believe a fundamental upcycle is emerging in midstream energy," said Tyler Rosenlicht, Vice President and Portfolio Manager. "We expect the oil market re-balancing to continue, which will lead to a resurgence in North American shale production and improve the midstream industry's fundamental drivers. In the meantime, rapidly evolving industry dynamics are creating opportunities for high-conviction active managers to generate alpha in the midstream sector."
Cohen & Steers MLP & Energy Opportunity Fund affords a tax advantage over many of its peers, in our opinion. The Fund is structured as a registered investment company (RIC) and therefore qualifies for tax treatment that eliminates the burden of double taxation. Many MLP funds are organized under a C-corporation structure, which accrue deferred tax liabilities on any return of capital and unrealized capital gains. At the current corporate tax rate, the deferred tax liability from a C-corp fund entity can erode as much as 35% from an investor's total return in a rising market environment and potentially result in substantially higher fees to the investor.
In addition, unlike many of its peers, the Fund's investable universe goes beyond securities structured as MLPsinvesting also in general partner C-corps, midstream corporations, Canadian midstream businesses and other energy infrastructure businesses with predictable cash flows and growth opportunities.
"We believe the RIC fund structure combined with the broad investment universe is an attractive way to invest in midstream energy space, with the potential to enhance the overall risk-adjusted return profile of an investor's portfolio." said Joseph Harvey, President and Chief Investment Officer.
The Fund's investment objective is to provide attractive total return, comprised of current income and price appreciation, through investments in midstream energy-related master limited partnerships (MLPs) and securities of companies that derive at least 50% of their revenues or operating income from the gathering, processing, transportation, storage or distribution of natural gas, crude oil and other energy resources.
COHEN & STEERS MLP & ENERGY OPPORTUNITY FUND AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURNS NET OF FEES, AS OF 12/31/16.
Fund Alerian MLP Index (a) Alerian Energy
Infrastructure Index (b) 1 Year 39.73% 22.86% 47.03% 3 Year 2.02% 5.67% 1.10% Since inception (12/20/13) 1.13% 4.48% 1.97%
Performance data quoted represents past performance, which is no guarantee of future results. Returns are net of fees. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted. The investment return and the principal value of an investment will fluctuate and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. An investor cannot invest directly in an index and index performance does not reflect the deduction of any fees, expenses or taxes. Since inception for the Alerian MLP Index and Alerian Energy Infrastructure Index is calculated from nearest month-end. Periods greater than 12 months are annualized. Returns are historical and include change in share price and reinvestment of all distributions. Month-end performance information can be obtained by visiting our website at cohenandsteers.com. Gross Expense Ratio (Class A): 1.91%; Net Expense Ratio (Class A): 1.46% as disclosed in the April 1, 2016 prospectus as amended May 4, 2016. Through June 30, 2018, Cohen & Steers has contractually agreed to waive its fee and/or reimburse the Fund so that total annual Fund operating expenses (excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, taxes and extraordinary expenses) does not exceed 1.46%. Absent such arrangements returns would have been lower. (a) The Alerian MLP Index is a composite of the 50 most prominent energy Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) that provides investors with an unbiased, comprehensive benchmark for this emerging asset class. The index is calculated using a float adjusted, capitalization-weighted methodology. (b) Alerian Energy Infrastructure Index. The Alerian Energy Infrastructure Index is a composite of 30 core North American energy infrastructure companies that engage in the transportation, storage, and processing of energy commodities. Index constituents are equally weighted within five categories. The comparison of the RIC v. C-corp structure pertains primarily to open-end funds. Closed-end funds with RIC or C-corp tax status face a similar tax impact on returns, however a number of closed-end funds that invest in midstream energy and MLPs employ leverage in order to meet their income targets, which amplifies the market returns and tax impact. This information is provided for illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as legal or tax advice. You should consult your financial or tax advisor regarding your individual circumstances. The Overall Morningstar Rating is derived from a weighted average of the risk-adjusted performance figures associates with a fund's 3-, 5-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. Each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately, which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages.
Please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund carefully before investing. A summary prospectus and prospectus containing this and other information may be obtained from your financial advisor, by calling 800-330-7348 or by visiting cohenandsteers.com. Please read the summary prospectus or prospectus carefully before investing.
Risks of investing in MLP Securities
An investment in MLPs involves risks that differ from a similar investment in equity securities, such as common stock, of a corporation. Holders of equity securities issued by MLPs have the rights typically afforded to limited partners in a limited partnership. As compared to common shareholders of a corporation, holders of such equity securities have more limited control and limited rights to vote on matters affecting the partnership. There are certain tax risks associated with an investment in equity MLP units. Additionally, conflicts of interest may exist among common unit holders, subordinated unit holders and the general partner or managing member of an MLP; for example a conflict may arise as a result of incentive distribution payments.
This material represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific point in time, should not be relied upon as investment advice, is not intended to predict or depict performance of any investment and does not constitute a recommendation or an offer for a particular security. We consider the information in this announcement to be accurate, but we do not represent that it is complete or should be relied upon as the sole source of suitability for investment.
Cohen & Steers Capital Management, Inc. (Cohen & Steers) is a registered investment advisory firm that provides investment management services to corporate retirement, public and union retirement plans, endowments, foundations and mutual funds. Cohen & Steers MLP & Energy Opportunity Fund is distributed by Cohen & Steers Securities, LLC. Cohen & Steers U.S.-registered open-end funds are only available to U.S. residents.
Symbol: (NYSE: CNS)
About Cohen & Steers. Cohen & Steers is a global investment manager specializing in liquid real assets, including real estate securities, listed infrastructure, commodities and natural resource equities, as well as preferred securities and other income solutions. Founded in 1986, the firm is headquartered in New York City, with offices in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seattle.
SOURCE Cohen & Steers MLP & Energy Opportunity Fund, Inc.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Corporate Whistleblower says, "We are urging an employee who works for a company providing services to the US Department of Defense, Department of Energy or any federal agency to call us anytime at 866-714-6466 if they have proof their company has over billed the government in a very substantial way. The kind of overbilling we are talking about includes the following:
Corrupt Government Contractors America's Watchdog
"A contractor billing the DOD or DOE for services that were never rendered.
"A contractor billing the Department of Defense or Department of Energy for materials or equipment that did not meet the specifications of their government contract.
"Company executives receiving bonuses for cheating or overbilling the federal government for services never rendered and or employees who are threatened to say nothing about the overbilling or fraud-or they will lose their job.
"A contractor that has falsely claimed to be a minority or woman owned business to get a leg up in the bidding process for a DOD, DOE or any type of federal contract. To be worthwhile the type of overbilling or fraud needs to exceed a million dollars." http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com
In a recent example the United States alleged that a company improperly billed the Department of Energy for materials and services from vendors that did not meet quality control requirements. The settlement exceeded one hundred million dollars and while the whistleblower reward has not yet been announced it is expected to be in the millions of dollars.
The Corporate Whistleblower is saying, "We are convinced contractors providing services to the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, HUD and or the Department of Transportation routinely over bill the federal government out of tens of millions of dollars each year. If your employer is ripping off a federal agency or department out of millions-please call us anytime at 866-714-6466 so we can talk about whistleblower rewards and the level of proof required to get rewarded. If you have specific information about significant over billing frequently we can build the information out to potentially increase the reward. Please don't sit on a winning lotto ticket without ever knowing what the payout could have been." http://CorporateWhistleblower.Com
Simple rules for a whistleblower from the Corporate Whistleblower Center: Do not go to the government first if you want to become a whistleblower: The Corporate Whistleblower Center says, "Major whistleblowers frequently go to the government thinking they will help. It's a huge mistake. Do not go to the news media with your whistleblower information either. Any type of public revelation of a whistleblower's information could destroy the prospect for a reward. Do not try to force any kind of company defrauding or over-billing the federal government for work not done-to come clean about their wrongdoing. Come to us first, tell us what type of information you have, and if we think it's sufficient, we will help find the right law firms to assist in advancing your information-to do everything possible to make certain you get rewarded."
The Corporate Whistleblower Center is the premier advocate for whistleblowers in the United States. Unlike any group in the US, they assist potential whistleblowers with packaging their information and providing the whistleblower with access to the most accomplished whistleblower attorneys in the nation. For more information a potential whistleblowers in any state can contact the Corporate Whistleblower Center anytime at 866-714-6466 or visit http://CorporateWhistleblowerCenter.Com.
For attribution please refer to a recent Department of Justice press release:https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-settles-lawsuit-against-energy-department-contractors-knowingly-mischarging
Media contact:
Thomas Martin
[email protected]
866-714-6466
SOURCE Corporate Whistleblower
Related Links
http://corporatewhistleblower.com
HOUSTON, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CRG, a global healthcare investment firm with more than $3 billion in assets under management, today announced the final closing of CRG Partners III L.P. (together with its parallel investment vehicles, "Fund III"). Fund III reached its hard cap of $1.25 billion of capital commitments from investors, exceeding its original target by 25 percent. Total investable capital for Fund III is expected to approach $2 billion, including debt financing.
"The market opportunity for healthcare private credit investing remains strong," said Nathan Hukill, president of CRG. "Fund III provides us with additional capital to partner with management teams and offer highly-customized, minimally-dilutive growth financing solutions. Management teams have increasingly turned to debt financing as an alternative source of capital as they have recognized the high cost and dilution associated with equity financing markets."
Fund III experienced strong demand from both existing and new investors, demonstrating confidence in CRG's proven credit-focused investment strategy. Fund III secured commitments from a diverse mix of global institutional investors across North America, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Participants in Fund III include public and private pensions, university endowments, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, wealth management firms and family offices. Investors who have participated in previous CRG funds increased their commitments by 35% in Fund III, further reinforcing conviction in CRG's model, management team and historical returns.
"CRG appreciates the support of our longstanding partners and welcomes several new institutional investors that maintain stringent due diligence and return criteria," said Mike Weinmann, managing director of CRG. "Investors were drawn to Fund III based on CRG's compelling risk-adjusted returns and cash yields, coupled with considerable downside protection and minimal correlation to other asset classes."
Fund III is targeting investments between $20 million and $300 million in public and private commercial-stage healthcare companies. The firm's strategy is focused on companies that are commercializing innovative products, technologies, and services that address significant unmet medical needs. Based on growing demand for CRG's customized and flexible financing solutions, Fund III has committed more than $900 million of capital across 16 public and private, commercial-stage healthcare investments since its initial closing. Fund III has built a diverse portfolio to date, including investments in the medical devices, tools and diagnostics, biopharmaceuticals, and healthcare IT and services sectors.
Ropes & Gray acted as the legal counsel to Fund III, and Probitas Partners served as placement agent.
About CRG
Founded in 2003, CRG (previously known as Capital Royalty L.P.) is a healthcare-focused investment firm that delivers pioneering growth capital financing solutions to the global healthcare industry. With over $3 billion of assets under management across 47 healthcare investments, CRG provides growth capital primarily through structured debt and senior secured loans. CRG works across the spectrum of healthcare products, technologies, and services and targets investment sizes ranging between $20 million and $300 million. The firm partners with innovative, commercial-stage healthcare companies that address large, unmet medical needs who are seeking flexible financing solutions with a committed, value-add partner to achieve their growth objectives. CRG is headquartered in Houston, Texas with offices in Boulder, Colorado and New York. For additional information, please visit www.crglp.com.
Media Contact:
Nick Rust
212.279.3115 ext. 252
[email protected]
SOURCE CRG LP
Related Links
http://www.crglp.com
CHICAGO, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Technomic has been tracking trending flavors for quite some time now, watching as they evolve from the introductory stage into a menu mainstay. As we look beyond flavor, we now wonder which ingredients are emerging on the innovation scale? Chicken and bacon are, by far, the most popular proteins on sandwiches, but what's next?
"The Technomic Lifecycle is pushing the envelope by showing us real-time ingredient innovation," says Bernadette Noone, vice president at Technomic. We've noticed with the growth of consumers' desires to remain healthy, that tofu is the leading cutting-edge protein used in sandwiches. Other ingredients like Muenster cheese, truffle aioli and English muffins were also identified as innovators in the sandwich category.
On the other hand, Technomic often finds that ingredients can be mainstream in some meal categories, while being unique and competitive in others. A perfect example would be "chipotle mayo." When paired with chicken sandwiches, it is often found in the mainstream part of the lifecycle, while adding it to steak sandwiches places it on the introductory and growth scale.
The Technomic Lifecycle tracks flavor and ingredient penetration levels across concept categories with varying levels of innovation, from chef-driven restaurants to national chains. It dynamically projects trends for thousands of menu categories, and helps operators find the right ingredient type before they go mainstream.
Technomic's MenuMonitor analyzes more than 7,000 commercial and noncommercial menus tracked quarterly to identify menu opportunities, including seasonal promotions, new menus and LTOs. For over 5 years, Technomic's Lifecycle has been tracking flavors through their stages of adoption, and now proudly boasts an additional 30+ ingredient types to analyze. As a dynamic part of MenuMonitor, it can pull predictive insights on a limitless range of dishes in seconds.
To learn more, please visit Technomic.com or contact one of the individuals listed below. For Technomic updates, please follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or our blog.
Contacts:
Press Inquiries: Bernadette Noone, 312-506-3853, or [email protected]
Report Details: Bri Borchardt, 312-506-4075, or [email protected]
Purchasing Details: Patrick Noone, 312-506-3852, or [email protected]
About Technomic
Only Technomic, a Winsight company, delivers a 360-degree view of the food industry. We impact growth and profitability for our clients by providing consumer-grounded vision and channel-relevant strategic insights. Our services range from major research studies and management consulting solutions to online databases and simple fact-finding assignments. Our clients include food manufacturers and distributors, restaurants and retailers, other foodservice organizations, and various institutions aligned with the food industry. Visit us at technomic.com.
About Winsight, LLC
Winsight, LLC is a business-to-business media and information services company specializing in the convenience-retailing, restaurant and noncommercial foodservice industries. Winsight has an extensive media portfolio including four publications, CSP, Restaurant Business, FoodService Director and Convenience Store Products, a suite of digital products including websites, e-newsletters (Restaurant Business Daily and CSP Daily News) and webinars, plus video products, mobile and tablet apps, custom marketing solutions and the convenience-retailer intelligence tool, CSPedia. The Winsight Events group produces six exclusive, large-scale executive-level conferencesRestaurant Leadership Conference, FARE Conference, Outlook Leadership, Convenience Retailing University, FSTEC and MenuDirectionsin addition to more than 12 major EduNetworking conferences and advisory meetings. In Aug. 2015, Winsight acquired Technomic Inc., a food industry provider of primary and secondary market information and advisory services. Winsight is a recognized leader in the markets it serves.
For more information on Winsight and its brands, go to WinsightMedia.com.
SOURCE Technomic
Related Links
http://www.technomic.com
DECATUR Firefighters spent three hours Tuesday at the scene of a residential fire that caused significant damage to the home.
The department was dispatched to the one-story house at 603 S. Jackson St. at 8:13 a.m., according to a news release from the department. Crews arrived four minutes later to find heavy smoke pouring from all openings in the house and fire in the rear bedroom area.
An injured person was found next door and taken by Decatur Ambulance to HSHS St. Mary's Hospital. Battalion Chief Dan Kline said Tuesday afternoon that the person's injuries were not life-threatening and not caused by the fire itself.
No one else was located in the house. While the blaze was controlled by 8:45 a.m., firefighters spent three hours on the scene because of what Kline described as a lot of content in several rooms.
One firefighter was also treated and released at St. Mary's Hospital for a medical issue, Kline said.
The cause remains under investigation by the Decatur Fire Department and Decatur Police Department.
NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dash Financial announced today that Dash and Convergex have signed a definitive agreement to merge Dash and LiquidPoint (Convergex's Options Trading and Technology business), creating a leading financial technology company in the options and equities markets. Dash Financial is a leading institutional trading technology, execution and analytics provider devoted to bringing unfettered transparency and superior performance to the U.S. options and equities markets. LiquidPoint is a leader in advanced options technology and routing services with deep penetration into the sell-side and exchange communities.
Private equity firm GTCR, which owns a controlling interest in brokerage firm Convergex, will be contributing LiquidPoint from Convergex to merge it with Dash. This merger brings together two highly complementary businesses to create a clear leader in the U.S. options agency execution space with 13% market share. The combined entity will operate as Dash Financial Technologies and be majority owned by GTCR. The independent company will be led by Peter Maragos as CEO and Ben Londergan as President.
"Our core mission is to deliver highly transparent trading technology and pure agency execution solutions to the institutional community," said Peter Maragos, CEO of Dash. "Together we are uniquely positioned to offer the widest range of solutions to help the buy side, sell side and exchanges navigate the ever-evolving market structure and regulatory environment."
"We are very excited to be joining forces with Dash," said Ben Londergan, Executive Managing Director and Head of Options Trading and Technology, Convergex/LiquidPoint. "The increase in human, technology and financial assets that we will share through this merger will help keep our products and services ahead of the rapidly evolving market microstructure and the demands of our clients."
"It has been very gratifying working with an exceptional team whose hard work resulted in impressive growth over the past three years and whose efforts were critical to this exciting transaction," said Eric W. Noll, Convergex President and CEO. "On behalf of Convergex, I would like to congratulate all of the parties involved in this deal and look forward to working with Dash Financial Technologies in the upcoming months on a smooth transition."
Collin Roche, Managing Director at GTCR commented, "This merger creates a well-capitalized, growing financial technology firm that is able to deliver the next generation of trading and transparency solutions to the largest and most sophisticated clients. There are also great synergies between these two firms, and we believe this merger will unlock the full potential of both businesses."
"We are thrilled to be working with the very talented teams at Dash and LiquidPoint," said Dean Mihas, Managing Director at GTCR. "We have great confidence in their ability to deliver exciting product innovations and raise the bar in terms of what clients can expect from their trading technology partner. GTCR is excited to participate in this transformative merger which creates a truly unique and scalable business. We also want to express our gratitude to the full Convergex and LiquidPoint teams for their hard work and success over the last three years."
The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2017 subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals.
Dash was advised on the transaction by Raymond James and Sidley Austin LLP served as Dash's legal counsel. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel for GTCR and Convergex.
About Dash Financial
Dash Financial is a leading trading technology provider. Its advanced, pure agency execution and analytics platform offers unmatched levels of transparency and control, empowering buy-side traders to analyze and adapt their trading strategies. Launched in 2011, Dash's flexible and performant next-generation system was designed from the ground up to tackle the structural deficiencies inherent in today's ever-evolving market microstructure, as well as provide the highly-trained team of experts necessary to help navigate it.
About LiquidPoint
LiquidPoint currently operates as the Options Trading and Technologies business of Convergex. LiquidPoint offers advanced proprietary options routing and technology, high-touch services and clearing solutions. The firm has deep penetration within the sell-side and exchange technology space and their experienced team helps create value for clients by seeking and managing liquidity while also minimizing market impact and latency.
About Convergex
Convergex is an agency-focused global brokerage and trading related services provider that takes on the industry's toughest challenges, from complicated trades to complex businesses. With clients' interests as the top priority, Convergex delivers comprehensive solutions that span global high-touch and electronic trading, options technologies, prime brokerage, clearing, commission management and beyond. Headquartered in New York with a presence in several other locations including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Orlando, San Francisco and London, the company serves nearly 3,000 clients accessing over 100 global market centers.
About GTCR
Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies in the Financial Services & Technology, Healthcare, Technology, Media & Telecommunications and Growth Business Services industries. The Chicago-based firm pioneered The Leaders Strategy finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through transformational acquisitions and organic growth. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $12 billion in over 200 companies. For more information, please visit www.gtcr.com.
Mark Dowd, Forefront Communications, (201) 376-9687
[email protected]
SOURCE Dash Financial
VISTA, Calif., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Bronner's, family-owned maker of the top-selling natural brand of soap in North America, will host a record release party and press event on Wednesday, January 25, 2017, at the Music Box in San Diego, to launch its spoken-word album, Sisters & Brothers, on long play vinyl record. Sisters & Brothers contains recently unearthed historical recordings of soapmaker and company founder Emanuel Bronner discussing his Moral ABCthe eclectic, philosophical text that is found on the company's iconic product labels. The launch party will feature special music performances by The B-Side Players, Jill Sobule, Wayne Kramer of MC5, Iron Sage Wood, and Rafi El. The event will showcase the company's mission to support progressive social change by highlighting the prison reform work of Jail Guitar Doors.
WHAT: Record Release, Listening Party, and Press Event to celebrate Dr. Bronner's new Sisters & Brothers record and highlight the work of Jail Guitar Doors.
WHEN: Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Media and VIP Party*: 6:30pm 8pm
Meet and greet with the Bronner family, performers, and other special guests. Featuring organic plant-based fare by Cafe Gratitude, and organic beer and wine. Exclusive listening stations and DJ mixes of Sisters & Brothers.
General Admission and Performances: 8pm 12am
WHO: Performances by The B-Side Players, Jill Sobule, Wayne Kramer of MC5, Iron Sage Wood, and Rafi El. Speeches by David and Michael Bronner, and others.
WHERE: Music Box, 1337 India Street, San Diego, CA 92101
Tickets for sale through Music Box. General admission tickets are $15.00 each. VIP Party tickets to non-media or non-invited guests are $50.00 each. For more information, go to: http://www.musicboxsd.com. VIP guests and media attendees will receive a free copy of the Sisters & Brothers LP.
Sisters & Brothers is a long-play record that features original recordings of Dr. Emanuel Bronnervisionary, soapmaker, grandfather and founder of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. Recorded between 1970 and 1995, on a variety of home-recording devices, the newly re-mastered tracks reveal poignant, inspiring monologue of Emanuel Bronner's personal contemplation of the All-One philosophy, and its potential to unite humankind across Spaceship Earth. Emanuel Bronner died in 1997. Still family-owned and run by his grandchildren and other family members, Dr. Bronner's honors its founder's vision by continuing to make socially and environmentally responsible products of the highest quality, and by dedicating profits to help make a better world. The company has grown from $4 million in annual revenue in 1998 to over $100 million in 2016. The vinyl LP is a tribute to the legacy of the company's founder.
Sisters & Brothers contains 16 tracks. A limited edition pressing of 1,000 copies will be available through the launch event and for purchase on the company's website starting Jan. 25, 2017. Sisters & Brothers will also be available to stream online, and to purchase digitally at Bandcamp.com.
All proceeds from sales of the album will benefit the non-profit organization Jail Guitar Doors, an international non-profit founded by Billy Bragg, Wayne Kramer, and Margaret Saadi Kramer in 2009. The organization provides prisoners with instruments and access to music education and programming while behind bars to help rehabilitate and empower prisoners serving their time.
The Sisters & Brothers LP was created in concert with Dr. Bronner's 2016 All-One Report. The report was designed to be an insert similar to liner notes for the album, printed in the form of a large 12" by 12" full color booklet that folds into a gigantic poster inspired by The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album artwork. The report is also available in digital format on the company's website. It includes a timeline detailing the progress and achievements made in 2015 across the broad range of issues Dr. Bronner's supports, and insight to the brand's growth worldwide. It shares sales data, internal company metrics, revenue growth, fair trade supply chain impact, estimated environmental footprint, a complete list of 2015 social contributions, and much more. To view the second annual All-One Report, visit:
https://www.drbronner.com/all-one-report/.
Dr. Bronner's is a family business committed to honoring the vision of founder Emanuel Bronner by making socially and environmentally responsible products of the highest quality, and by dedicating profits to help make a better world. Dr. Bronner's commitment to social justice, environmental sustainability and progressive business practices is part of the company's mission to put into practice the principles that inform the philosophy printed on the company's iconic soap labels written by founder Emanuel Bronner. The company is the top-selling natural soap maker in North America and a major brand worldwide. Based on 2015 sales, a bottle of Dr. Bronner's soap was sold, on average, every 3 seconds throughout the year.
For further information on Dr. Bronner's, please visit: http://www.drbronner.com.
To learn more about Jail Guitar Doors, please visit: http://jailguitardoors.org.
SOURCE Dr. Bronners
Related Links
http://www.drbronner.com
NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The endoscopy equipment market is poised to reach USD 35.36 billion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 6.2% during the forecast period of 2016 to 2021. Over the years, the global healthcare industry has witnessed a paradigm shift and is now increasingly focusing on minimally invasive therapies that not only cure serious illnesses but also have fewer side effects. In the past decade, the demand for endoscopy has increased significantly, largely because of patient preference for minimally invasive surgeries, low-risk procedures, and favorable health insurance coverage. Technological advancements and breakthroughs in the field of endoscopy are expected to drive the growth of the global endoscopy equipment market in the coming years. Advancements in technology have also resulted in several improvisations, including increased angles in the field of view in endoscopes, reduced outer diameters of scopes, endoscopy systems that are integrated with high-resolution technologies such as 3D systems, and miniaturized endoscopy systems. The majority of leading players in the endoscopy equipment market are launching innovative products using advanced technologies to address the specific demands of their consumers, thereby stimulating the sales of their endoscopy equipment. Other factors that are driving the growth of the global endoscopy equipment market include a favorable reimbursement scenario in select geographies and increasing prevalence/incidence of diseases requiring endoscopy procedures.
In 2016, the endoscopes segment is expected to account for the largest share of the global endoscopy equipment market, by product. In 2016, the gastrointestinal endoscopy segment is expected to account for the largest share of endoscopy equipment market, by application. The hospitals segment is expected to account for the largest share of the endoscopy equipment market, by end user.
In 2016, North America is expected to account for the largest share of the global endoscopy equipment market, followed by Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World (RoW). North America's large share can be attributed to the favorable reimbursement scenario in the U.S., increasing incidence of cancer in the U.S. and Canada, research on new technologies in the U.S., and the implementation of a new funding model for Canadian hospitals. In the coming years, the endoscopy equipment market is expected to witness the highest growth in the Asian region, with emphasis on India, China, and Japan. The high growth in India and China can be attributed to government and venture capital investments in China in the field of endoscopy, endoscopy research support in Japan, and increasing number of endoscopic surgeries & improving endoscopy infrastructure in India.
The market witnesses high competitive intensity, as there are several big and many small firms with similar product offerings. These companies adopt various strategies (agreements, partnerships, joint ventures, collaborations, geographic expansion, new product launches, and acquisitions) to increase their market shares and establish a strong foothold in the global market.
- By Company Type: Tier 1: 52%, Tier 2: 39%, and Tier 3: 9%
- By Designation: Director Level: 19%, C-level: 28%, and Others: 53%
- By Region: North America: 33.3%, Europe: 28.2%, APAC: 23.1%, and RoW: 15.4%
The report includes the study of key players offering endoscopy equipment such as Ethicon, Inc. (U.S.), Olympus Corporation (Japan), Fujifilm Holdings Corporation (Japan), KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG (Germany), Medtronic plc (Ireland), Stryker Corporation (U.S.), Boston Scientific Corporation (U.S.), Pentax Medical Corporation (Japan), Smith & Nephew plc (U.K.), Richard Wolf GmbH (Germany), and Cook Medical Incorporated (U.S.).
Research Coverage:
The report provides a picture on endoscopes, visualization systems, other endoscopy equipment, and accessories across different applications and regions. It aims at estimating the market size and future growth potential of this market across different segments such as product, application, end user, and region. Furthermore, the report also includes an in-depth competitive analysis of the key players in the market along with their company profiles, recent developments, and key market strategies.
Key Benefits of Buying the Report:
The report will help the market leaders/new entrants in this market by providing them the closest approximations of the revenue numbers for the overall endoscopy equipment market and the subsegments. This report will help stakeholders to better understand the competitor landscape and gain more insights to better position their businesses and make suitable go-to-market strategies. The report also helps the stakeholders to understand the pulse of the market and provides them information on key market drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities.
Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04523631-summary/view-report.html
About Reportlinker
ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.
http://www.reportlinker.com
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SOURCE Reportlinker
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Pretzelmaker, is known for fresh delicious pretzels and product innovation. With stores across the U.S., the bakery has thousands of loyal fans and is the original creator of the Pretzel Dog, Pretzel Bites and Mozzarella Cheese Stuffed Bites. The $1 Customer Appreciation pretzel is a hot deal as Original Salted and Unsalted are regularly priced at $3.
"Our customers are the best and Pretzelmaker's Customer Appreciation Month celebration is our way of thanking them for making us one of the country's most popular pretzel shops," said Lisa Cheatham, Director of Marketing, Pretzelmaker. "It's difficult to find anything for $1 these days, but every Tuesday in January, customers can receive a delicious fresh-baked pretzel for just that. Come enjoy this great deal and let us show you our appreciation for your patronage."
For more information and store locations, visit our website www.pretzelmaker.com or join us on social media: follow @pretzelmaker on Twitter; add @pretzelmakerpics on Instagram; follow "Pretzelmaker" on Snapchat; or become a fan of the brand on Facebook www.facebook.com/pretzelmaker.
Pretzelmaker is managed by Global Franchise Group, LLC, the strategic brand management company and franchisor behind Pretzelmaker, Great American Cookies, Marble Slab Creamery, MaggieMoo's Ice Cream & Treatery and Hot Dog on a Stick.
*Valid for Salted or Unsalted pretzels only. Offer valid on 1/3, 1/10, 1/17, 1/24, 1/31. Valid at participating locations only. Not valid with any other offer. Customer responsible for applicable taxes.
About Pretzelmaker - www.pretzelmaker.com
Since 1991, Pretzelmaker has specialized in serving fresh baked, hand-rolled soft pretzel products, dipping sauces and beverages. Long recognized as an innovator in their industry, the brand is credited with inventing the popular Pretzel Dog, Mini Pretzel Dogs, and the portable Pretzel Bites. Following integration in 2010, the Pretzelmaker brand now also includes Pretzel Time. Pretzelmaker is currently the second largest soft pretzel concept in the United States and is also rapidly expanding worldwide with locations in Canada, Guam and Mexico.
About Global Franchise Group, LLC - www.globalfranchise.com
Global Franchise Group, LLC is a strategic brand management company with a mission of championing franchise brands and the people who build them. The company owns a portfolio of franchise brands that includes five primary quick service restaurant (QSR) franchise concepts: Great American Cookies, Hot Dog on a Stick, Marble Slab Creamery, MaggieMoo's Ice Cream & Treatery, and Pretzelmaker. The brands are managed by GFG Management, LLC, a subsidiary of Global Franchise Group, LLC. Global Franchise Group, LLC is a portfolio company of Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, an independent investment firm, with approximately $7 billion of capital under management and substantial franchise management experience.
SOURCE Pretzelmaker
Related Links
http://www.pretzelmaker.com
HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Geneia, an analytics and emerging technology leader in transforming healthcare delivery, announced today that Rochester, N.Y.-based Excellus BlueCross BlueShield has agreed to partner with Geneia to deliver value-based analytics and insights to the health plan's 1.5 million members using the company's Theon platform.
"We are committed to improving the quality and affordability of healthcare and have chosen to partner with Geneia to drive insights to achieve just that," said Excellus BlueCross BlueShield CEO Chris Booth. "We were impressed with Geneia's capability to drive effective interventions and the breadth of the Theon solution that we expect will grow with our needs."
Geneia has in particular highlighted its track record of helping other customers succeed in value-based cost and quality arrangements through the use of the Theon platform. Such notable achievements with improved outcomes and member satisfaction include:
Achieving a 7.2 percent reduction in inpatient admissions and a nearly 15 percent reduction in readmissions for Medicare plan customers
Achieving an 8 percent reduction in emergency department visits for employer group and Medicare plan customers
Exceeding the regional average for Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set [1] (HEDIS ) measures for some of the leading chronic diseases
) measures for some of the leading chronic diseases Realizing a 2 percent reduction in claims expense as the result of leveraging the Theon platform to take a holistic approach to population health management
"We are excited to be working with Excellus BlueCross BlueShield," said Geneia CEO Mark Caron, CHCIO, FACHE. "This upstate New York health plan is taking a strong leadership role to improve collaboration with its provider partners and ensuring the sustainability of healthcare in the community. We look forward to helping them achieve their goals."
ABOUT EXCELLUS BLUECROSS BLUESHIELD
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, a nonprofit independent licensee of the BlueCross BlueShield Association, is part of a family of companies that finances and delivers vital health care services to about 1.5 million people across upstate New York. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield provides access to high-quality, affordable health coverage, including valuable health-related resources that our members use every day, such as cost-saving prescription drug discounts and wellness tracking tools. To learn more, visit excellusbcbs.com.
ABOUT GENEIA
Geneia specializes in the development of advanced clinical, analytics, and technical solutions for healthcare transformation. Our team of physicians, nurses, technologists, analytics experts, and business professionals have created a suite of solutions that enable health plans, hospitals and employers to better understand, evaluate and manage the health of their populations. Using our advanced analytics platform, remote patient monitoring tool, and education and research institute, we work with healthcare organizations to improve outcomes, lower cost and restore the Joy of Medicine. The company has offices in Harrisburg, PA, Manchester, NH, and Nashville, TN. To learn more, visit geneia.com or connect with us Twitter and LinkedIn.
[1] HEDIS is a comprehensive tool used by most health plans to measure performance on important aspects of care and service.
SOURCE Geneia
Related Links
http://www.geneia.com
AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Ram Truck brand sales increase 10 percent compared with same month last year
Sales of the all-new Chrysler Pacifica up 18 percent compared with previous month of November; the minivan's best sales month of 2016
Four Jeep brand vehicles record sales increases in December; Jeep Renegade sales up 39 percent
Ram Truck and Jeep brands both record full-year sales increases in 2016 versus 2015
FCA US LLC today reported U.S. sales of 192,519 units, a 10 percent decrease compared with sales in December 2015 (213,923 units).
For the full year, the Ram Truck and Jeep brands each recorded year-over-year sales gains versus sales in 2015. FCA US full-year sales were flat in 2016 compared with sales in 2015.
In December, fleet sales of 36,532 units were down 34 percent year over year as FCA US continues its strategy of reducing its sales to the daily rental segment. Fleet sales represented 19 percent of total FCA US sales in the month. FCA US retail sales of 155,987 units were down 2 percent year over year in December, and represented 81 percent of total sales for the month.
Ram Truck brand sales were up 10 percent in December as the Ram pickup truck and the Ram ProMaster van posted year-over-year increases. Four Jeep brand models recorded increases in December, led by a 39 percent increase in Jeep Renegade sales. With its 13 percent increase, the Jeep Grand Cherokee turned in its best sales month of the year. The all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica minivan posted an 18 percent sales gain compared with the previous month of November.
Ram Truck Brand
Ram Truck brand sales, which include the Ram pickup, Ram ProMaster and Ram ProMaster City, were up 10 percent in December versus the same month in 2015. The pickup truck posted a 15 percent year-over-year sales gain while the ProMaster recorded a 13 percent increase in December, the large van's second best sales month of 2016.
For the full year, Ram Truck brand sales were up 11 percent compared with sales in 2015. The pickup truck turned in a 9 percent year-over-year increase in 2016, while the ProMaster and ProMaster City vans each posted a 45 percent increase in 2016 versus 2015.
Jeep Brand
Jeep brand sales were down 6 percent in December compared with the same month a year ago. However, four Jeep brand models posted sales increases in the month, led by the Jeep Renegade and its 39 percent year-over-year sales gain. The Jeep Grand Cherokee, with its 13 percent increase, turned in its best sales month of 2016. The Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Compass posted December increases as well.
For the full year, Jeep brand sales were up 6 percent compared with sales in 2015. Four Jeep brand vehicles the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Compass, Jeep Patriot, and Jeep Renegade posted year-over-year increases for the full year. With sales of 212,273 units, the Grand Cherokee was the volume leader of the Jeep brand in 2016.
Dodge Brand
Dodge brand sales were down 21 percent in December compared with the same month a year ago. However, Dodge Challenger sales increased 15 percent in December versus the same month in 2015, while Dodge Journey sales were up 25 percent. The Dodge brand last month unveiled the new 2017 Dodge Challenger GT, the world's first and only all-wheel-drive American muscle coupe. The Challenger GT joins the Dodge Charger AWD to complete the Dodge lineup of all-wheel-drive muscle cars, delivering unparalleled year-round performance.
For the full year, the Dodge Grand Caravan minivan and the Dodge Durango full-size SUV each posted sales increases compared with sales in 2015.
Chrysler Brand
Chrysler brand sales were down 32 percent in December compared with the same month a year ago. However, sales of the all-new 2017 Chrysler Pacifica minivan posted an 18 percent sales increase compared with the previous month of November. It was the Pacifica's best sales month of the year. In addition, the Pacifica in December landed on the Car and Driver "10Best" list and earned a 2017 Top Safety Pick+ rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). In its first year on sale, the Pacifica posted sales of 62,366 units. Also, the new 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 hybrid propulsion system used in the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid last month made the Wards 10 Best Engines list for 2017.
FIAT Brand
FIAT brand sales, which include the Fiat 500, Fiat 500L, Fiat 500X and Fiat 124 Spider, were down 54 percent in December. For the full year, the 500X posted a 3 percent sales increase compared with sales in 2015. The 500X delivers the Italian design and engaging driving dynamics that are synonymous with the FIAT brand. The 500X offers an advanced all-wheel-drive system, functionality, and a full array of safety, comfort and convenience features.
FCA US LLC Sales Summary December 2016 Reflects New Methodology
Month Sales Vol % CYTD Sales Vol % Model Curr Yr Pr Yr Change Curr Yr Pr Yr Change Compass 7,954 7,260 10% 94,061 71,448 32% Patriot 7,809 12,306 -37% 121,926 121,274 1% Wrangler 15,721 15,431 2% 191,774 202,266 -5% Cherokee 16,380 24,652 -34% 199,736 220,744 -10% Grand Cherokee 23,250 20,566 13% 212,273 196,312 8% Renegade 12,045 8,653 39% 106,606 60,864 75% JEEP BRAND 83,159 88,868 -6% 926,376 872,908 6% 200 2,643 9,663 -73% 57,294 167,368 -66% 300 3,584 4,269 -16% 53,241 53,025 0% Town & Country 266 10,622 -97% 59,071 97,530 -39% Pacifica 10,283 0 New 62,366 0 New CHRYSLER BRAND 16,776 24,554 -32% 231,972 317,923 -27% Dart 1,525 5,867 -74% 43,402 87,908 -51% Avenger 0 32 -100% 45 1,326 -97% Charger 7,237 8,309 -13% 95,437 96,633 -1% Challenger 5,257 4,564 15% 64,433 66,377 -3% Viper 59 63 -6% 630 690 -9% Journey 9,768 7,829 25% 106,759 108,085 -1% Caravan 6,687 11,720 -43% 127,678 101,553 26% Durango 5,796 7,826 -26% 68,474 64,723 6% DODGE BRAND 36,329 46,210 -21% 506,858 527,295 -4% Ram P/U 47,556 41,398 15% 489,418 450,122 9% Cargo Van 0 26 -100% 21 2,183 -99% ProMaster Van 4,694 4,154 13% 40,440 27,812 45% ProMaster City 1,347 3,038 -56% 15,972 11,053 45% RAM BRAND 53,597 48,616 10% 545,851 491,170 11% Giulia 29 0 New 36 0 New Alfa 4C 23 56 -59% 480 659 -27% ALFA BRAND 52 56 -7% 516 659 -22% 500 1,411 1,737 -19% 15,437 23,980 -36% 500L 102 310 -67% 3,118 7,585 -59% 500X 843 3,572 -76% 11,712 11,357 3% Spider 250 0 New 2,475 0 New FIAT BRAND 2,606 5,619 -54% 32,742 42,922 -24% TOTAL FCA US LLC 192,519 213,923 -10% 2,244,315 2,252,877 0%
Total Car & MPV 39,356 57,212 -31% 585,143 704,634 -17% Total UV's 99,566 108,095 -8% 1,113,321 1,057,073 5% Total Truck & LCV 53,597 48,616 10% 545,851 491,170 11%
Method of Determining Monthly Sales. FCA US's reported vehicle sales represent unit sales of vehicles to retail customers, deliveries of vehicles to fleet customers and to others such as FCA US's employees and retirees as well as vehicles used for marketing. Most of these reported sales reflect retail sales made by dealers out of their own inventory of vehicles previously purchased by them from FCA US. Reported vehicle units sales do not correspond to FCA US's reported revenues, which are based on FCA US's sale and delivery of vehicles, and typically recognized upon shipment to the dealer or end customer. As announced on July 26, 2016, FCA US has modified its methodology for monthly sales reporting as follows:
Sales to retail customers by dealers in the U.S. are derived from the New Vehicle Delivery Report ("NVDR") system and are determined as the sum of (A) all sales recorded by dealers during the month net of all unwound transactions recorded to the end of that month (whether the original sale was recorded in the current month or any prior month); plus (B) all sales of vehicles during that month attributable to past unwinds that had previously been reversed in determining monthly sales (in the current or prior months).
Fleet sales are recorded as sales upon the shipment of the vehicle by FCA US to the customer or end user.
to the customer or end user. Other retail sales are recorded either (A) when the sale is recorded in the NVDR system (for sales by dealers in Puerto Rico and limited sales made through distributors that submit NVDRs in the same manner as for sales by U.S. dealers) or (B) upon receipt of a similar delivery notification (for vehicles for which NVDRs are not entered such as vehicles for FCA employees).
About FCA US LLC
FCA US LLC is a North American automaker with a new name and a long history. Headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, FCA US is a member of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCA) family of companies. FCA US designs, engineers, manufactures and sells vehicles under the Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and FIAT brands, as well as the SRT performance vehicle designation. The company also distributes the Alfa Romeo 4C model and Mopar products. FCA US is building upon the historic foundations of Chrysler, the innovative American automaker first established by Walter P. Chrysler in 1925; and Fiat, founded in Italy in 1899 by pioneering entrepreneurs, including Giovanni Agnelli.
FCA, the seventh-largest automaker in the world based on total annual vehicle sales, is an international automotive group. FCA is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "FCAU" and on the Mercato Telematico Azionario under the symbol "FCA."
Follow FCA US news and video on:
Company blog: blog.fcanorthamerica.com
Company website: www.fcanorthamerica.com
FCA360: 360.fcanorthamerica.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FiatChrysler.NorthAmerica/
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/chryslergroup/
Media website: media.fcanorthamerica.com
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/fcacorporate
Instagram: www.instagram.com/FiatChrysler_NA
Twitter: www.twitter.com/FiatChrysler_NA
Twitter (Spanish): www.twitter.com/fcausespanol
YouTube: www.youtube.com/pentastarvideo
SOURCE FCA US LLC
Related Links
http://www.fcanorthamerica.com
TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Animal Friend, an organization dedicated to saving the lives of unwanted cats and dogs throughout the state of Florida, announced their grant application process for 2017 is now available online. Grants are awarded to organizations from around the state that are striving to make a difference in the pet over-population problem by providing free or low-cost spay and neuter programs.
Each grant application is reviewed by Florida Animal Friend's Grant Review Committee and scored for strengths in the following areas: target of important animal populations, ability to increase surgery numbers above the existing baseline, the cost-benefit ratio, the track record of the applicant and the applicant's sustainability. Once applicants make it past the Grant Review Committee, the Florida Animal Friend Board of Directors reviews applications.
"Over the past ten years, Florida Animal Friend has provided approximately $5,000,000 in funds to assist spay and neuter programs throughout the state," said Lois Kostroski, Executive Director of Florida Animal Friend. "We are excited to yet again offer grant opportunities to help these incredible organizations in Florida that are contributing to the pet-overpopulation problem in our state."
This past year, the Florida Animal Friend specialty license plate was re-designed with the goal to increase sales which, in turn, can provide more funds to the organizations' critical mission statewide.
Previous winners of Florida Animal Friend grants are invited to apply; however, they cannot apply during the year when they are completing a grant. The grant winners will be announced in August with funds being released to the winners in mid-to-late August. For additional information on how to apply, how funding is awarded and for examples of previous winners' entries, visit FloridaAnimalFriend.org. Applications are only available online and must be submitted electronically by 8 p.m. on April 1, 2017 for grant consideration.
ABOUT FLORIDA ANIMAL FRIEND
Incorporated in 2005, Florida Animal Friend's mission is to help save the lives of countless unwanted cats and dogs by supporting organizations that offer free or low-cost spay and neuter services across the state of Florida. The organization strives to reduce the pet overpopulation problem by increasing awareness of programs available to pet owners and homeless pets. Grants are awarded annually and are funded through the sale of the Florida Animal Friend license plates. For more, visit www.floridaanimalfriend.org.
SOURCE Florida Animal Friend
Related Links
http://www.floridaanimalfriend.org
Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron also Keynotes
Registration Early Bird Pricing Ends Jan. 15
TEMPE, Ariz., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Institute for Supply Management (ISM) today announced General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.) will speak at the supply management profession's largest global event: ISM2017, joining former Prime Minister David Cameron as a keynote speaker.
Like supply managers everywhere, General Powell is no stranger to delivering short term supply solutions - and leadership - during a time of crisis. As former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Powell assembled a multibillion dollar supply chain involving 42 nations during Operation Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf. Powell and his team pulled together millions of coordinated supplies: military goods, machinery, food, weaponry, and critical spare parts.
General Powell will inspire and motivate ISM2017 attendees with stories of leadership under fire - and how to deliver complex supply systems when facing immovable deadlines.
"As Secretary of State, General Powell used the power of diplomacy to build trust and forge alliances, while also having the grit and experience forged by his military career in delivering results when it matters most," said Tom Derry, ISM CEO. "Powell's insight will be critical to ISM members and other purchasing and supply chain professionals as they focus on the challenges of working in a tough, ever-changing global economy."
Registration is now open for ISM2017, which will be held May 21-24, 2017, at the Disney Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Focused on "Critical Insights, Powerful Results," the event expects to draw more than 3,000 attendees from around the world. Managing change during turbulent times requires discipline, strategy, and focus. ISM 2017 features keynotes, learning tracks, and sessions about leading in times of stress.
More than 75 interactive sessions will be part of six learning tracks at ISM2017, and executives from firms such as Google, Toyota, Pfizer, Direct Energy, Zimmer Biomet and others will present. All sessions are mapped to the ISM Mastery Model, so attendees can enhance their Conference experience by selecting sessions specifically designed to improve their personal supply management acumen.
David Cameron, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who stepped down from the position in 2016 in the wake of the Brexit decision, will also keynote ISM2017 conference attendees about his experience navigating geopolitical and public policy issues and their impact on the global supply chain. He will address a range of events in Europe and worldwide, and what they could mean to supply managers everywhere.
ISM2017 is a must-attend event for supply chain professionals from entry-level to the C-suite to gain the knowledge and insights needed to proactively manage supply chains in the ever-changing global economy. For groups of five or more, special pricing is available: If groups register by January 15, they can receive up to 50 percent savings compared to on-site registration. For individuals registering, they can save 40 percent by registering by January 15 compared to on-site registration.
About Institute for Supply Management
Institute for Supply Management (ISM) serves supply management professionals in more than 90 countries. Its 50,000 members around the world manage about US$1 trillion in corporate and government supply chain procurement annually. Founded in 1915 as the first supply management institute in the world, ISM is committed to advancing the practice of supply management to drive value and competitive advantage for its members, contributing to a prosperous and sustainable world. ISM leads the profession through the ISM Report On Business, its highly regarded certification programs and the ISM Mastery Model. For more information, please visit: www.instituteforsupplymanagement.org.
Media contacts
Mike Scott
248.766.9482
[email protected]
Riley Conover
480.752.6276 ext. 3121
[email protected]
SOURCE Institute for Supply Management
Related Links
http://www.instituteforsupplymanagement.org
BOSTON, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Gawker Media has paid Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai a $750,000 settlement payment and later this month will permanently remove its libelous article about him, which denied Dr. Ayyadurai's invention of email.
Victory over Gawker Media
"This is a historic victory for truth," declared Dr. Ayyadurai. "Americans have no tolerance for fake news, lies or cyberbullying. A 14-year-old kid working in Newark, New Jersey in 1978 invented email. This settlement honors that innovation."
There is no reasonable dispute that Dr. Ayyadurai is the inventor of email. The full press kit contains more than 20 testimonials from leading technology experts and numerous Ph.D.s. The press kit also includes two extensive research papers prepared by well-respected academic university professors and scientists explaining why Dr. Ayyadurai is the inventor of email, and how the few doubters are wrong.
New Lawsuit against TechDirt.com
On January 4, 2017, Dr. Ayyadurai filed a new lawsuit against TechDirt.com for defaming him in 14 different articles published from September 2014 through November 2016. Dr. Ayyadurai seeks a minimum of $15 million in damages in the new lawsuit.
Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai
Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai holds four degrees from MIT, including a Ph.D, and is a world-renowned systems scientist, inventor and entrepreneur. He is founder and CEO of multiple successful businesses including CytoSolve, Systems Health and EchoMail. He has published in major scientific journals such as IEEE, Nature Neuroscience and CELL's Biophysical Journal, and has authored ten books, including the just-released The Future of Email (General Interactive, LLC, Nov. 2016) which discusses the history of email, its present and its future.
Dr. Ayyadurai is represented by attorneys Charles J. Harder of Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP in Los Angeles, California, and Timothy Cornell of Cornell Dolan, P.C. in Boston, Massachusetts.
Full Press Kit: www.InventorOfEmail.com/PressKit
SOURCE Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP
Related Links
http://www.InventorOfEmail.com
TUKWILA, Wash., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Genoa, a QoL Healthcare Company (Genoa), announced today the acquisition of Advanced Pharmacy Solutions (APS), based in Southaven, Mississippi. Through this addition, Genoa will expand its footprint throughout Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, and South Carolina and serve an additional 50 clinics. This combination brings together two organizations specialized in the behavioral health and addiction treatment communities, built on bringing innovative solutions around medication utilization, adherence and other programs that improve consumer care and reduce costs in the system.
Genoa is the nation's leading behavioral health pharmacy and telepsychiatry company, integrating pharmacists into the care team to improve outcomes and reduce costs. Genoa currently operates over 340 pharmacies nationally serving over ten million individuals with mental illnesses and addictions. Both companies have strong reputations for providing high-touch care and outstanding service to consumers, and true value to their partners.
"Genoa and APS share a common mission of improving the lives of individuals living with mental illness, while providing solutions to our clinic partners who serve them," said John Figueroa, Genoa's chief executive officer. "This addition allows us to combine our expertise and best practices to better serve consumers and our partner mental health centers. We look forward to bringing even more value and innovative solutions to our partners and consumers."
APS' chief executive officer Mark Bradford further explained why the combination is a fit. "Over the past seven years APS has worked to build a team that is passionate about and committed to serving the unique needs of patients with mental illness, Community Mental Health Centers, and behavioral health hospitals. During that time we've grown from caring for a few hundred patients in Mississippi to several thousand patients throughout the Mid-South and Southeast. We're pleased to be partnering with Genoa. Our core values are in alignment, and we share the same passion and commitment to patient care and client service. We're particularly excited to know our employees, patients, and clients will have access to more resources and cutting edge technology than ever before."
This announcement comes on the heels of the release of a study published in the November issue of the Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy, citing higher rates of medication adherence and lower rates of behavioral health-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits among CMHC patients utilizing Genoa on-site pharmacies compared to community pharmacies. "This peer-reviewed study validates Genoa's positive impact on patients' lives and reflects our team's commitment to working with our community mental health center partners to improve outcomes and reduce healthcare costs," commented Figueroa. "The APS acquisition allows Genoa to expand our reach to help more of the over 40 million Americans with mental illness."
About Genoa, a QoL Healthcare Company
Genoa has been serving the behavioral health community for over 15 years. The company provides pharmacy and telepsychiatry services to more than 500,000 individuals annually in 44 states and the District of Columbia, filling more than 10 million prescriptions per year. Genoa is the sixth largest drug chain in the United States with over 340 pharmacies located onsite within community mental health centers.
About Advanced Pharmacy Solutions, LLC
Advanced Pharmacy Solutions, LLC opened in 2003 for the purpose of helping people with mental illness find access to their therapy in a caring, respectful environment. Today, APS has helped over 50,000 clients and works with over 50 clinics throughout the South.
For more information, please visit www.genoa-qol.com or contact the Public Relations/Marketing Department at: (651) 583-7099 or [email protected].
Contact: Melissa Odorzynski
(952) 657-7481
[email protected]
SOURCE Genoa
Related Links
http://www.genoa-qol.com
DECATUR A 37-year-old Decatur man was arraigned Tuesday on three felony charges for allegedly threatening a woman with a butcher knife and holding her against her will.
Police were sent to a house on the city's west side about 10 p.m. Dec. 26, on the report of a domestic violence incident, in which Antoine White pulled a knife on a woman, said a probable cause affidavit by Decatur patrol officer Eric Havens.
The victim told police that White argued with her for several hours during that day.
During the argument, Antoine used both the 5-inch and 10-inch knives to threaten her, by walking up to her and pointing the knives at her, Havens wrote in his statement.
When the victim decided to withdraw from the argument, she sat on a bed.
Antoine then used the 10-inch cleaver and placed the blade of the knife on (the victim's) right thigh as she was seated, she told police. He then asked her, Would you even bleed?
There were two witnesses to that incident, Havens wrote in his statement.
Officers found a 10-inch cleaver in the hall, outside the bedroom, a 10-inch knife beneath sheets on the bed and a 5-inch knife on the floor, at the foot of the bed.
White was arrested that night and booked into the Macon County Jail, where he is being held without bond.
He was arraigned Tuesday on felony counts of aggravated battery, domestic battery with a prior domestic battery conviction and unlawful restraint.
White, who was trembling as he entered the courtroom wearing a jail jumpsuit, agreed to have Associate Judge Phoebe Bowers read the charges to him.
The defendant threatened (the victim) with a knife and placed a cleaver against her leg, making her fear she could not move from the bed, Bowers read from the information sheet on the unlawful restraint count.
White was found to be indigent and assigned an attorney from the public defender's office. He is due in court Jan. 18 for his preliminary hearing.
A registered sexual predator, White was convicted in 2003 of felony indecent liberties with a child in Leavenworth County, Kan., for which he was sentenced to 47 months in prison. He was also previously charged in three domestic battery cases and one narcotics case in Kansas, as well as a narcotics case and a case of sex with a minor in San Diego County, Calif., according to court records.
LAS VEGAS and LONDON, January 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
- Industrial/Professional sector set to be bolstered by the entrance of HP and expansion of GE into the space from 2017 and beyond
Worldwide shipments of 3D Printers rose +25% year-to-date (YTD) through the first three quarters of 2016 thanks again to shipments of low priced Personal/Desktop 3D Printers, according to figures released today by CONTEXT, the IT market research company. Of the total 217,073 3D printers shipped year-to-date, 96% of these were Personal/Desktop printers, carrying an average price of just under $1,000. This represents a 27% year-on-year growth for this sub-category compared to a decline in shipments of -12% YTD in the Industrial/Professional segment which saw only 7,726 units shipped through the first three quarters of 2016. While the market is still largely defined by the shipment of Industrial/Professional printers - which accounted for 78% of the global revenues - the market is clearly settling into two distinctive segments.
In the Desktop/Personal 3D Printer segment, Taiwan's XYZprinting remained the global leader so far in 2016, seeing its share grow to 22% through the first three quarters. This side of the market saw the exit by the #3 global overall player 3D Systems and the continued repositioning of the #1 global 3D Printer market Stratasys of its MakerBot line away from the lowest end. The market did not see the entrance of Mattel into the market as anticipated nor did it see other IT/CE household brands enter in 2016 with the exception of Polaroid. It did however again see successful Crowdsourced efforts and new brands such as Monoprice and Wanhao emerge on the global scene.
"While Stratasys and 3D Systems continued to shift away from the mainstream Personal/Desktop 3D Printer market, other brands - especially XYZprinting, filled the void" noted Chris Connery, VP for Global Analysis at CONTEXT. "Demand continues to be seen for these devices across the globe as evidenced by rising shipments, the emergence of new brands and large crowdsourced start-ups continuing to come on the scene."
Figure 1: Top 5 Vendor 3D Printer Market Share by Unit Volumes and Printer Revenues, Global Desktop/Personal Printers, YTD 2016 (Q1-Q3)
Q1-Q3'16 Q1-Q3'16 YTD YTD YTD YTD 2016 Global 2016 Global Rank Q1-Q3'16 Share Rank Q1-Q3'16 Share Unit Printer Unit Units Company Units Units Revenue Company Revenue Revenues 1 XYZprinting 46,300 22% 1 Ultimaker $33.2M 14% 2 Ultimaker 17,999 9% 2 Stratasys/MakerBot $31.4M 13% 3 M3D 15,060 7% 3 XYZprinting $22.5M 9% 4 FlashForge 13,462 6% 4 Formlabs $22.3M 9% 5 Monoprice 13,023 6% 5 3D Systems $14.5M 6%
The Industrial/Professional segment was marked by the official entrance of HP into the space but printers did not begin shipping until the end of the year. Their long-anticipated entrance actually contributed to a slowdown in the market as many end customers held off fully committing to additive manufacturing technology until more was known about the impact of HP's technology to the market.
While the Industrial/Professional segment has, in general cooled off in the past few years, the shipment of additive manufacturing devices capable of printing in metal materials was one major bright spot within this category. This Metal side was not immune to market changes in recent quarters either however, with a slow-down seen in this sub-segment as well in the 2nd half as General Electric (GE) acquired two of the top five metal making 3D Printer companies (Arcam and Concept Laser). As seen on the Plastics side with the "HP effect" end-markets for metal 3D Printers likewise put their purchases on hold until the new GE Additive company is fully formed and the market has fully shaken out.
Stratasys again enjoyed the top market share positon with a 35% share in Industrial/Professional 3D Printer Revenues YTD'Q3, followed by privately held EOS with a 19% share.
Figure 3: Top 5 Vendor 3D Printer Market by Revenue from Machines shipped, Global Industrial/Professional 3D Printers, YTD 2016 (Q1-Q3)
Revenues from Machines Q1-Q3'16 YTD YTD 2016 Rank Company Sold ($M) Global Share 1 Stratasys $ 305M 35% 2 EOS $ 163M 19% 3 3D Systems $ 86M 10% 4 SLM Solutions $ 49M 6% 5 Concept Laser $ 44M 5%
Projections for the full year 2016 remain reserved for the Industrial/Professional market and bullish for the Desktop/Personal market, largely in-line with trends seen through the first three quarters. Forecasts turn more bullish in the Industrial/Professional sector in 2017 and beyond as the HP and GE ramp results in a return of growth; the Desktop/Personal market is expected to continue its unfettered growth. "Beyond just printer shipments" noted Connery, "the total 3D Printing market, consisting of Printers, Materials and Services, is projected to rise from under $5B in 2016 to $16B by 2020 mostly dependent on the industry's ability to move beyond prototyping and into finished good production not just with metals but with plastics as well."
About CONTEXT
"Headquartered in London with approximately 250 staff across the world, CONTEXT specialises in tracking technology sales and pricing globally. Supported by the largest Distribution Channel Database in the world and coupled with our extensive experience in managing and reporting on large data sets, we provide the highest quality data that has been helping our clients make business-critical decisions for over 30 years. CONTEXT also works with Government Statistical Services and key Trade Associations globally."
SOURCE CONTEXT
WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, today announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $31.0 billion for the month of November 2016, an increase of 7.4 percent compared to the November 2015 total of $28.9 billion and 2.0 percent more than the October 2016 total of 30.4 billion. November marked the market's largest year-to-year growth since January 2015. All monthly sales numbers are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.
"Global semiconductor sales continued to pick up steam in November, increasing at the highest rate in almost two years and nearly pulling even with the year-to-date total from the same point in 2015," said John Neuffer, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association. "The Chinese market continues to stand out, growing nearly 16 percent year-to-year to lead all regional markets. As 2016 draws to a close, the global semiconductor market appears likely to roughly match annual sales from 2015 and is well-positioned for a solid start to 2017."
Month-to-month sales increased modestly across all regions: the Americas (3.3 percent), China (2.7 percent), Europe (2.5 percent), Asia Pacific/All Other (0.7 percent), and Japan (0.4 percent). Year-to-year sales increased in China (15.8 percent), Japan (8.2 percent), Asia Pacific/All Other (4.8 percent), and the Americas (3.2 percent), but fell slightly in Europe (-1.6 percent).
To find out how to purchase the WSTS Subscription Package, which includes comprehensive monthly semiconductor sales data and detailed WSTS Forecasts, please visit http://www.semiconductors.org/industry_statistics/wsts_subscription_package/. For detailed data on the global and U.S. semiconductor industry and market, please consider purchasing the 2016 SIA Databook here: https://www.semiconductors.org/forms/sia_databook/.
November 2016
Billions
Month-to-Month Sales
Market Last Month Current Month % Change Americas 6.06 6.26 3.3% Europe 2.82 2.89 2.5% Japan 2.89 2.90 0.4% China 9.78 10.04 2.7% Asia Pacific/All Other 8.88 8.94 0.7% Total 30.43 31.03 2.0%
Year-to-Year Sales
Market Last Year Current Month % Change Americas 6.07 6.26 3.2% Europe 2.93 2.89 -1.6% Japan 2.68 2.90 8.2% China 8.67 10.04 15.8% Asia Pacific/All Other 8.53 8.94 4.8% Total 28.88 31.03 7.4%
Three-Month-Moving Average Sales
Market Jun/Jul/Aug Sept/Oct/Nov % Change Americas 5.43 6.26 15.2% Europe 2.71 2.89 6.4% Japan 2.73 2.90 6.1% China 8.99 10.04 11.8% Asia Pacific/All Other 8.35 8.94 7.1% Total 28.22 31.03 10.0%
Media Contact
Dan Rosso
Semiconductor Industry Association
202-446-1719
[email protected]
About SIA
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is the voice of the U.S. semiconductor industry, one of America's top export industries and a key driver of America's economic strength, national security, and global competitiveness. Semiconductors microchips that control all modern electronics enable the systems and products we use to work, communicate, travel, entertain, harness energy, treat illness, and make new scientific discoveries. The semiconductor industry directly employs nearly a quarter of a million people in the U.S. In 2015, U.S. semiconductor company sales totaled $166 billion, and semiconductors make the global trillion dollar electronics industry possible. SIA seeks to strengthen U.S. leadership of semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research by working with Congress, the Administration and other key industry stakeholders to encourage policies and regulations that fuel innovation, propel business and drive international competition. Learn more at www.semiconductors.org.
About WSTS
World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) is an independent non-profit organization representing the vast majority of the world semiconductor industry. The mission of WSTS is to be the respected source of semiconductor market data and forecasts. Founded in 1986, WSTS is the singular source for monthly industry shipment statistics.
SOURCE Semiconductor Industry Association
Related Links
http://www.semiconductors.org
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/453724/Khalid_Alkelabi.jpg )
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/453725/Sean_Kearney.jpg )
Sean Kearney is a seasoned emerging markets banking professional with a 23-year career devoted to identifying and managing risk. His key responsibilities will include Operations team leadership, lead-managing the implementation of internal control framework enhancements, running regulatory processes and overseeing strategic change management.
Prior to joining Greenstone, Mr. Kearney worked for a decade at UBS AG, in London and Dubai. In his last position with the firm, as Group COO, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Mr. Kearney held the regulatory appointment of Senior Executive Officer (SEO) for the regional hub, UBS Dubai Branch, in which capacity he fostered and sustained excellent relations with the DFSA and the DIFC Senior Management team. He was also heavily involved in the management of relations with the many other financial regulators throughout the region with jurisdiction over UBS's offices or operations.
Throughout his career at UBS, Mr. Kearney built an impressive track-record of successfully leading complex, multi-disciplinary, cross-divisional business development projects, across a diverse range of initiatives, in very challenging global emerging markets environments. Reflecting his academic and professional qualifications in law, he also dealt extensively with legal and compliance work and policy formulation, as well as with litigation and audit matters.
Mr. Kearney holds a UK honors degree in Law and was called to the Bar by the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn. He also holds an MSc (with Distinction) in Air Safety Management from City, University of London.
Alex Gemici, Chairman of Greenstone, stated, "Sean's wealth of experience and industry knowledge have already made him a key addition to Greenstone. We view his appointment as a sign of our commitment to being the leading fund placement firm in the Middle East. I'm confident that Sean will play an important role in providing and implementing high quality solutions for Greenstone."
Khalid Alkelabi will be responsible for enhancing Greenstone's investor relationships as well as contributing to improving Greenstone's marketing capabilities.
Prior to joining Greenstone, Mr. Alkelabi worked at AL FOZAN HOLDING GROUP, a Saudi Arabian conglomerate and family business office, as the Chief Administrative Officer where he had multiple responsibilities, including the creation and development of various business units.
Prior to working at Al Fozan, Mr. Alkelabi worked for MBC GROUP, a regional media company, where he was appointed Country Marketing Manager in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Alkelabi was responsible for creating and maintaining relationships with local corporate clients.
Between 2001-2007, Mr. Alkelabi worked for SAUDI ARABIAN MONETARY AGENCY (SAMA) - INSTITUTE OF BANKING as a Faculty Member, where he was responsible for preparing bankers in Saudi Arabia for the TADAWUL (Saudi Stock Exchange) system by training and certifying them to get their brokerage license.
Mr. Alkelabi is a Saudi Arabian national and holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Mr. Alkelabi also holds an MBA degree, MSIT degree and a Diploma in Data-Warehousing and Business Intelligence from Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, Colorado, USA.
Omar Al Gharabally, the President of Greenstone, stated, "We are very excited to welcome Khalid
to our team at Greenstone. He brings years of experience dealing with the most demanding, sophisticated and discerning investors in the region. Not only will he bring a tighter focus and discipline to investor relationship development and management within our fund placement team, he will also be a great role model for our employees and a tremendous ambassador for the firm with investors who come into contact with him."
Greenstone Equity Partners
Greenstone is the largest fund placement firm in the Middle East, with a team of industry professionals fully dedicated to raising capital from MENA-based investors. Since its inception, Greenstone has raised $2.5 billion dollars for its clients across a variety of mandates and strategies and prides itself on fostering deeply rooted relationships with key institutional and family offices across the region to include corporate entities, family offices, ultra-high net worth individuals, financial institutions and sovereign wealth funds.
Greenstone has built over 4,000 MENA investor relationships and works with investment managers across various asset classes including private equity, real estate, private debt financing and hedge funds in both primary and secondary placements.
Greenstone's business growth success stems from its approach and commitment to providing institutional grade service to its clients with a concerted and relentless desire for excellence coupled with continual investment in operational development.
SOURCE Greenstone Equity Partners
Matlock comes to Heffernan with over 10 years of sales experience in technology and finance. He began his career at Wells Fargo holding various roles in business banking. Matlock also consulted for many companies, focusing on enhancing sales productivity with new technology and streamlined operations. This wide range of experience has cemented Matlock's expertise in fundraising, business finance, private equity, transportation, technology development, and start-ups.
"I am excited to welcome Paul to our Heffernan North Bay team," said Liz Bishop, Managing Senior Vice President at Heffernan. "His background in finance sets the stage for helping CFOs hone their risk management strategies. His can do spirit, competitive nature, and positive attitude will help our clients develop winning strategies on their insurance programs."
Paul looks forward to helping grow Heffernan's presence in Northern California while providing excellent service and innovative solutions to clients.
Paul Matlock
Assistant Vice President
[email protected]
direct: 707.789.3010
cell: 808.542.8200
About Heffernan Insurance Brokers
Heffernan Insurance Brokers, formed in 1988, is one of the largest independent insurance brokerage firms in the United States. Heffernan provides insurance and financial services products to a range of businesses and individuals. Headquartered in Walnut Creek, Calif., Heffernan has offices in San Francisco, Petaluma, Menlo Park, Los Angeles and Orange County, CA; Portland, OR; and St. Louis, MO.
Employee-owned, Heffernan Insurance Brokers was named the Top Mid-Sized Broker in the United States to work for in 2009 by Business Insurance Magazine. The firm has been among the Top Greater Bay Area Philanthropists since 2003, donating more than 13 percent of profits to charity in 2015.
For more information, visit www.heffins.com. License #0564249
SOURCE Heffernan Insurance Brokers
Related Links
http://www.heffins.com
The board of directors selected Lassiter as incoming CEO in 2014 as part of a planned transition. He served as a system president since December 2014 and has worked closely with the organization's leadership team on a comprehensive strategic planning effort resulting in some of Henry Ford's largest growth initiatives. This included successful mergers with HealthPLUS in Flint, Michigan and Allegiance Health in Jackson, Michigan.
"I have been so proud to be part of Henry Ford, a vital and storied institution known on the world scale for its innovation and discovery," Lassiter said. "Henry Ford has an exceptional legacy of treating and serving the southeast Michigan community and beyond with superior care and value. I look forward to working with all employees to ensure our second 100-years are even better than our first 100."
System board chair Sandra Pierce said Lassiter's talent and leadership were apparent from their first conversation. "During the past two years, our system board has had the pleasure to work with Wright and has found him to be a creative and compassionate leader with the right skills and experience to lead Henry Ford into our second century," said Pierce. "Wright engaged actively with our community from the start and has a deep passion for our city's history, culture and determination to rebound."
"I believe that healthcare institutions should be true partners in their customers' health and wellbeing, and, that the right to a healthy life should be accessible to all," Lassiter said. "Under my leadership, we will continue to spread our roots deep in the community to improve the quality of life for all citizens."
Prior to Henry Ford, Lassiter was CEO of the $865 million Alameda Health System in Oakland, California. He led Alameda through both an expansion and turnaround, resulting in nearly 10 years of positive financial performance and significant increases in patient safety and engagement that earned the system Top Performer Status by The Joint Commission. He also has more than 25 years of experience with large, complex health systems, including Methodist Health System in Dallas, and JPS Health Network in Fort Worth, Texas.
Lassiter's work has earned him several national recognitions, including Modern Healthcare's "100 Most Influential People in Healthcare in 2016" and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions' "Top Blacks in U.S. Healthcare" in 2014.
Lassiter currently serves on several boards, including the American Hospital Association, America's Essential Hospitals, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Detroit Branch. He received his master's degree in healthcare administration from Indiana University and bachelor's degree in chemistry from LeMoyne College in Syracuse. Lassiter is a native of Tuskegee, Alabama.
About Henry Ford Health System and Henry Ford Health System Innovations
Henry Ford Health System is a six-hospital system headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. It is one of the nation's leading comprehensive, integrated health systems, recognized for clinical excellence and innovation. Henry Ford Health System provides both health insurance and health care delivery, including acute, specialty, primary and preventive care services backed by excellence in research and education. The system is a 2011 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient. Visit HenryFord.com to learn more.
Established in 2011, Henry Ford Health System Innovations engineers the future of healthcare through identifying and commercializing the health system's technologies and know-how. Its main arms include Research and Education, Technology Management, Corporate Innovation, and International Programs. To learn more, visit HenryFord.com/Innovations .
SOURCE Henry Ford Health System
Related Links
http://www.henryford.com
BATESVILLE, Ind., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hillenbrand, Inc. (NYSE: HI) President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Raver will be presenting at the 17th Annual CJS Securities "New Ideas for the New Year" Investor Conference, on Wednesday, January 11, 2017 in New York City, NY. Raver will provide an overview of the company and discuss its strategies for growth. The presentation will be archived on the company's website: http://ir.hillenbrand.com/investor-relations.
Also attending the conference for Hillenbrand will be Kristina Cerniglia, Chief Financial Officer, and Chris Gordon, Director Investor Relations.
About Hillenbrand
Hillenbrand (www.hillenbrand.com) is a global diversified industrial company with multiple market-leading brands that serve a wide variety of industries across the globe. We pursue profitable growth and robust cash generation in order to drive increased value for our shareholders. Hillenbrand's portfolio is composed of two business segments: the Process Equipment Group and Batesville. The Process Equipment Group businesses design, develop, manufacture and service highly engineered industrial equipment around the world. Batesville is a recognized leader in the North American death care industry. Hillenbrand is publicly traded on the NYSE under "HI".
SOURCE Hillenbrand, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.hillenbrand.com
AUSTIN, Minn., Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) today announced it has completed the sale of Clougherty Packing, LLC, owner of the Farmer John and Saag's brands, along with PFFJ, LLC farm operations in California, Arizona, and Wyoming to Smithfield Foods, Inc.
The purchase price was $145 million in cash, adjusted for working capital. Farmer John harvests approximately 7,400 hogs per day and, in fiscal 2016, the businesses accounted for approximately $500 million in sales and earnings per share of approximately 3 cents.
About Hormel Foods Inspired People. Inspired Food.
Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a global branded food company with over $9 billion in annual revenues across 75 countries worldwide. Its brands include SKIPPY, SPAM, Hormel Natural Choice, Applegate, Justin's, Wholly Guacamole, Hormel Black Label and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named one of "The 100 Best Corporate Citizens" by Corporate Responsibility Magazine for the eighth year in a row, and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts. In 2016, the company celebrated its 125th anniversary and announced its new vision for the future - Inspired People. Inspired Food. - focusing on its legacy of innovation. For more information, visit www.hormelfoods.com and http://2015csr.hormelfoods.com/.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains forward-looking information based on management's current views and assumptions. Actual events may differ materially. Factors that may affect actual results include, but are not limited to: whether and when the required regulatory approvals will be obtained, whether and when the closing conditions will be satisfied, and whether and when the transaction will close. Topics: Company, Financial
Contact: Rick Williamson
507-437-5345
[email protected]
SOURCE Hormel Foods Corporation
Related Links
http://www.hormel.com
NEWTON, Mass., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Attivio announced today that they achieved the Hortonworks industry certification for Financial Services. Attivio was previously certified on the Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP), and earned three additional product integration badges for governance, security, and YARN. With this certification, enterprises in financial services can increase the agility of their Big Data initiatives by combining HDP with Attivio's capabilities in aggregating and correlating structured and unstructured information.
The Attivio Semantic Data Catalog enables organizations to find, unify, and act on the information stored in HDP. The Attivio Platform provides a single infrastructure for provisioning data to information-intensive applications.
"This new industry certification demonstrates Attivio's leadership in Hadoop-based Big Data solutions for the financial services industry," said Stephen Baker, Attivio CEO. "This integration with Hortonworks offers organizations with strict regulatory requirements the security and governance they require, while also providing a single foundation for reuse of data structured and unstructured so they can offer risk and compliance solutions at scale."
Big Data and Governance, Risk, and Compliance Solutions
Attivio has a solid track record of delivering Big Data solutions for financial services customers so their risk and compliance initiatives are more scalable, reliable, and efficient. Data-intensive solutions such as eCommunications Surveillance, Anti-Money Laundering, and Know Your Customer rely on a flexible, scalable platform for data storage and the agility to unify disparate data sources across silos.
Attivio will showcase the value of an agile data infrastructure for governance, risk, and compliance applications in a live webinar on January 11th at 2pm ET, Solving Compliance Complexity.
About Attivio
Attivio provides software that empowers its customers to get their hands on the right data and to work with it to quickly get it to the point of informing decisions. Attivio releases the untapped value within enterprise information ecosystems. Many of the world's leading brands rely on Attivio to gain immediate visibility into all of their information, not just the data sitting in known databases. Attivio's data obsession means that customers don't just manage their data; they achieve true Data Dexterity to crush deadlines, transform productivity, achieve global impact, and act with certainty. For more information, please visit www.attivio.com.
Hortonworks and HDP are registered trademarks or trademarks of Hortonworks, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
Media Contact
Jane Zupan
[email protected]
SOURCE Attivio
HOUSTON, Texas, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Houston American Energy Corp. (NYSE MKT: HUSA) today announced that it has entered into a Participation Agreement with Founders Oil & Gas III, LLC ("Founders") pursuant to which Houston American will acquire from Founders a 25% working interest in two lease blocks covering approximately 800 acres in Reeves County, Texas.
The purchase price for the interest is $5,500 per net mineral acre, or a total of $1.1 million.
Founders will serve as operator of the acreage with drilling of an initial well expected to commence by July 1, 2017 targeting potential resources in the Delaware Basin (which is a sub-basin of the Permian Basin) located in west Texas.
John P. Boylan, CEO and President of Houston American stated, "After evaluating numerous opportunities over the past year, we are excited to have identified and agreed to participate in this Delaware Basin prospect and to develop a long term relationship with Founders. We expect to initially target the Wolfcamp shale and Bone Springs formations, commonly referred to as the WolfBone play."
The transaction is expected to close during mid-January 2017, subject to customary closing conditions, including Houston American's ability to secure necessary financing.
About Houston American Energy Corp.
Based in Houston, Texas, Houston American Energy Corp. is a publicly-traded independent energy company with interests in oil and natural gas wells, minerals and prospects. The Company's business strategy includes a property mix of producing and non-producing assets with a focus on Texas, Louisiana and Colombia.
Forward-Looking Statements
The information in this release includes certain forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions that in the future may prove not to have been accurate, including statements regarding the Houston American's ability to secure necessary financing to complete the acquisition, the timing of commencement of drilling operations and the ultimate results of drilling operations. Those statements, and Houston American Energy Corp., are subject to a number of risks, including the potential inability to secure financing to satisfy the closing conditions and to fund Houston American's share of drilling costs, timing of drilling operations and ultimate drilling results, potential changes in price based on operations and fluctuations in energy prices, changes in market conditions, effects of government regulation and other factors. These and other risks are described in the company's documents and reports that are available from the company and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
For additional information, view the company's website at www.houstonamericanenergy.com or contact the Houston American Energy Corp. at (713) 222-6966.
SOURCE Houston American Energy Corp.
Related Links
http://www.houstonamericanenergy.com
IGT currently provides over 70 percent of printing for the Idaho Lottery's Scratch Games TM , resulting in responsible, incremental sales growth year after year. Together, IGT and the Idaho Lottery have worked closely to deliver a portfolio of games with fun, new play styles to benefit the people of Idaho. In 2016, the Idaho Lottery broke records, returning $49.5 million to Idaho public schools and the Permanent Building Fund, a 10 percent increase from 2015.
"The Idaho Lottery has a positive and productive relationship with IGT for the development and delivery of Idaho Scratch Games. We are pleased to continue this partnership," said Jeff Anderson, Idaho Lottery Director. "IGT's lottery industry expertise and leadership, along with their ability to develop new and innovative products, has helped us deliver a portfolio that produces an appealing mix of games for our players and benefits for the people of Idaho."
"IGT values the opportunity to continue collaborating with the Idaho Lottery," said Michael Chambrello, IGT Chief Executive Officer, North America Lottery. "Together we will work to deliver pioneering games and solutions to Idaho Lottery players which drive sales and maximize funds generated for Idaho's good causes."
About IGT
IGT (NYSE:IGT) is the global leader in gaming. We enable players to experience their favorite games across all channels and regulated segments, from Gaming Machines and Lotteries to Interactive and Social Gaming. Leveraging a wealth of premium content, substantial investment in innovation, in-depth customer intelligence, operational expertise and leading-edge technology, our gaming solutions anticipate the demands of consumers wherever they decide to play. We have a well-established local presence and relationships with governments and regulators in more than 100 countries around the world, and create value by adhering to the highest standards of service, integrity, and responsibility. IGT has over 12,000 employees. For more information, please visit www.IGT.com.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements (including within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning International Game Technology PLC and other matters. These statements may discuss goals, intentions and expectations as to future plans, trends, events, dividends, results of operations or financial condition, or otherwise, based on current beliefs of the management of International Game Technology PLC as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, such management. Forward-looking statements may be accompanied by words such as "aim," "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "could," "would," "should," "shall," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "future," "guidance," "intend," "may," "will," "possible," "potential," "predict," "project" or the negative or other variations of them. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside International Game Technology PLC's control. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ materially from those predicted in the forward-looking statements and from past results, performance or achievements. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include (but are not limited to) the possibility that the businesses of International Game Technology (Nevada) and GTECH S.p.A. will not be integrated successfully, or that the combined companies will not realize estimated cost savings, synergies, growth or other anticipated benefits or that such benefits may take longer to realize than expected; unanticipated costs of integration of International Game Technology (Nevada) and GTECH S.p.A.; the possibility that International Game Technology PLC will be unable to pay future dividends to shareholders or that the amount of such dividends may be less than anticipated; the possibility that International Game Technology PLC may not obtain its anticipated financial results in one or more future periods; reductions in customer spending; a slowdown in customer payments and changes in customer demand for products and services as a result of changing economic conditions or otherwise; unanticipated changes relating to competitive factors in the industries in which International Game Technology PLC operates; International Game Technology PLC's ability to hire and retain key personnel; the impact of the consummation of the business combination on relationships with third parties, including customers, employees and competitors; International Game Technology PLC's ability to attract new customers and retain existing customers in the manner anticipated; reliance on and integration of information technology systems; changes in legislation or governmental regulations affecting International Game Technology PLC, including as a consequence of the announced withdrawal of the U.K. from the EU; international, national or local economic, social or political conditions that could adversely affect International Game Technology PLC or its customers; conditions in the credit markets; changes in the top management team; risks associated with assumptions International Game Technology PLC makes in connection with its critical accounting estimates; the resolution of pending and potential future legal, regulatory or tax proceedings and investigations; and International Game Technology PLC's international operations, which are subject to the risks of currency fluctuations and foreign exchange controls. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties that affect International Game Technology PLC's business, including those described in International Game Technology PLC's annual report on Form 20-F for the financial year ended December 31, 2015 and other documents filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which are available on the SEC website at www.sec.gov and on the investor relations section of International Game Technology PLC's website at www.IGT.com. Except as required under applicable law, International Game Technology PLC does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements. Nothing in this news release is intended, or is to be construed, as a profit forecast or to be interpreted to mean that earnings per International Game Technology PLC share for the current or any future financial years will necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings per International Game Technology PLC share, as applicable. All forward-looking statements contained in this news release are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to International Game Technology PLC, or persons acting on its behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
Contact:
Robert K. Vincent, Corporate Communications, toll free in U.S./Canada (844) IGT-7452; outside U.S./Canada (401) 392-7452
James Hurley, Investor Relations, (401) 392-7190
Simone Cantagallo, (+39) 06 51899030; for Italian media inquiries
SOURCE IGT
Related Links
http://www.IGT.com
DECATUR A memorial service will be held for Richland Community College political science professor Larry Klugman, who died Dec. 27. The service will be 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6 in the Shilling Community Education Center at Richland.
Klugman, 74, was a founding faculty member of Richland and professor of political science.
The service will be streamed online. For more information, go to www.richland.edu.
MIAMI, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- IMTC, the premier events of the International Money Transfer & Payments Industry, has announced today that its first remittance & migration conference of 2017 will be held in Antigua, Guatemala at the Porta Hotel. IMTC LATAM 2017 will be its first conference in Central America and will draw attendees from the Americas & Europe.
Remittances to Guatemala will surpass US 7 Billion for 2016, an all-time high. Remittances to Guatemala have grown steadily since 2010 with an average growth of 6% per year, outperforming most of the countries in the region. But also El Salvador, Honduras and even Mexico has seen remittances grow in 2016, all of them reaching all-time highs. Remittances to Honduras are expected to reach 4 billion while El Salvador could reach 4.5 B when year-end statistics are published. Higher incomes in the US and Trump fears are cited as reasons for the increases.
The main objective of this event is to explore the remittance market in the region, learn what bank and non-bank institutions are doing to serve the families of migrants, the financial inclusion efforts, the technological innovations that are slowly reaching this market as well as the migration-related laws and regulations implemented in several countries (anti-coyote laws) and the humane treatment of migrant minors.
Hugo Cuevas-Mohr, Director at IMTC, states: "Now that migration & remittances are at the center of the political debates in Europe & the US, it is important for the industry to work together with the civil society, regulators & politicians. The importance of remittances to every country in the region is enormous and we must work together to defend the right of migrants to help their families back home. The industry has always been part of the solution."
Mr. Cuevas-Mohr will be visiting Guatemala on January 15-18 to meet with representatives from the industry, the government and the media to increase awareness on the coming event and discuss agenda topics with potential speakers and panelists.
IMTC (http://imtconferences.com/) organizes IMTC WORLD in Miami Beach, the largest industry gathering in the world, IMTC USA in San Francisco (June), IMTC EMEA in Madrid (April) and IMTC AFRICA in Nairobi, Kenya (September).
Information
Claudia Avila ([email protected]) +1 3057420759 +
SOURCE IMTC
Related Links
http://imtconferences.com
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130122/589162 )
Following the release, the leadership team will be part of a common television interaction at 10:00 a.m. IST. The participating executives will address questions from the media during this interaction which will be streamed live on the Investor Relations section of the Infosys website.
An archive of this event will be uploaded on www.infosys.com after 2:00 p.m. IST on January 13, 2017 (after 3:30 a.m. US ET on January 13, 2017).
Earnings call I
(11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. IST; 1:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m. ET)
The company will conduct a 60 minute conference call at 11:30 a.m. IST (1:00 a.m. US ET; 10:00 p.m. PST on January 12, 2017; 6:00 a.m. London time; 2:00 p.m. Singapore/Hong Kong time) on January 13, 2017 (open to investors / analysts in all regions), where the senior management will discuss the company's performance and answer questions from participants. To participate in the conference call, please dial the numbers provided below 10 - 15 minutes before the scheduled start time of the call. During this time, the operator will provide instructions on how to ask questions. As participation in the call is limited, early registration (by calling the numbers 10 - 15 minutes before the scheduled start time) is encouraged.
This event will be webcast live on the Investor Relations section of the Infosys website, following which it will be archived at www.infosys.com. The archive will be available after 3:30 p.m. IST on January 13, 2017 (after 5:00 a.m. US ET on January 13, 2017). In addition, a transcript of the conference call will be available at www.infosys.com.
Earnings call II
(7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. IST; 8:30 a.m. - 09:30 a.m. ET)
The company will also conduct a 60 minute conference call at 8:30 a.m. US ET (7:00 p.m. IST; 5:30 a.m. PST; 1:30 p.m. London time; 9:30 p.m. Singapore/Hong Kong time) on January 13, 2017 (open to investors/analysts in all regions), where the senior management will discuss the company's performance and answer questions from participants. To participate in the conference call, please dial the numbers provided below 10 - 15 minutes before the scheduled start time of the call. During this time, the operator will provide instructions on how to ask questions. As participation in the call is limited, early registration (by calling the numbers 10 - 15 minutes before the scheduled start time) is encouraged.
This event will be webcast live on the Investor Relations section of the Infosys website and an archive can be accessed at www.infosys.com after 11:30 a.m. ET on January 13, 2017 (after 10:00 p.m. IST on January 13, 2017). A transcript of the conference call will be available at www.infosys.com.
Summary of events
Event
Earnings release over the wire services
Date and Time
8.45 a.m. January 13, 2017 (IST)
10:15 p.m. January 12, 2017(ET)
Web-site/Channel - http://www.infosys.com
Event
Live broadcast of management's comments on the results
Date and Time
10:00 a.m. January 13, 2017 (IST)
Web-site/Channel - Business television channels
Event
Archived webcast of management's comment on the results
Date and Time
2:00 p.m. January 13, 2017 (IST)
3:30 a.m. January 13, 2017 (IST)
Web-site/Channel - http://www.infosys.com
Event
Earnings conference call I
(open to questions for investors/analysts in all regions)
Date and Time
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. January 13, 2017 (IST)
1:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m. January 13, 2017 (IST)
Questions during the call can be addressed to [email protected]
Web-site/Channel - http://www.infosys.com
Telephone/Fax No.
India
Toll, Mumbai:
022 6746 5898
022 3938 1098
Toll, Bangalore:
080 3940 3977
Singapore
Toll-free:
800 101 2045
Toll-number:
+65 3157 5746
Hong Kong
Toll-free:
800 964 448
Toll-number:
+852 3018 6877
Japan
Toll-free:
0 053 116 1110
Toll-number:
+81 3 4589 9421
UK
Toll-free:
0 808 101 1573
Toll-number:
+44 203 478 5524
Germany
Toll-free:
00 8001 424 3444
Canada
Toll- free:
011 8001 424 3444
France
Toll-free:
0 800 914 745
US
Toll-free:
1 866 746 2133
Toll-number:
+1 323 386 8721
Event
Replay of conference call
Date and Time
Till January 19, 2017
Web-site/Channel - http://www.infosys.com
Telephone/Fax No.
Toll-free:
USA 1 855 436 0715
US International toll:
+1 863 949 0105
Toll, Mumbai:
022 6181 3322
022 3065 2322
Toll, Bangalore:
080 3940 3988
Passcode:4636#
Event
Earnings conference call II
(open to questions for investors/analysts in all regions)
Date and Time
7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. January 13, 2017 (IST)
8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. January 13, 2017 (IST)
Questions during the call can be addressed to [email protected]
Web-site/Channel - http://www.infosys.com
India
Toll, Mumbai:
022 6746 5898
022 3938 1098
Toll, Bangalore:
080 6000 1221
080 3940 3977
Singapore
Toll-free:
800 101 2045
Toll- number:
+65 3157 5746
Hong Kong
Toll-free:
800 964 448
Toll- number:
+852 3018 6877
Japan
Toll-free:
0 053 116 1110
Toll- number:
+81 3 4589 9421
UK
Toll-free:
0 808 101 1573
Toll-number:
+44 203 478 5524
Germany
Toll-free:
00 8001 424 3444
Canada
Toll free:
011 8001 424 3444
France
Toll-free:
0 800 914 745
US
Toll-free:
1 866 746 2133
Toll-number:
+1 323 386 8721
Event
Replay of conference call
Date and Time
Till January19, 2017
Web-site/Channel - http://www.infosys.com
Telephone/Fax No.
Toll-free:
USA 1 855 436 0715
International toll:
+1 863 949 0105
Toll, Mumbai:
022 6181 3322
022 3065 2322
Toll, Bangalore:
080 3940 3988
Passcode:4637#
About Infosys Ltd.
Infosys is a global leader in technology services and consulting. We enable clients in more than 50 countries to create and execute strategies for their digital transformation. From engineering to application development, knowledge management and business process management, we help our clients find the right problems to solve, and to solve these effectively. Our team of 199,000+ innovators, across the globe, is differentiated by the imagination, knowledge and experience, across industries and technologies that we bring to every project we undertake.
Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise thrive in the digital age.
Safe Harbor
Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our future business expectations intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. In addition, please note that the date of this press release is mentioned at the beginning of the release, and any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. The company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law.
Contact
Investor Relations
Sandeep Mahindroo
+91-80-3980-1018
[email protected]
Media Relations
Sarah Vanita Gideon
+91-80-4156-3998
[email protected]
Pete Daly
+1-857-600-6839
[email protected]
SOURCE Infosys
(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/452308/PRNE_TrianzUpdated_Logo.jpg )
Speaking on this recognition, Chris Mullaney, Director - Information Security at Trianz, said, "Businesses tend to disable information access to their employees to reduce threats by eliminating access points, restricting device usage, limiting application development and deployment, and denying third party services in support of business programs. This sets an organizational 'Culture of No'." Our security consulting services are, however, focused on helping clients foster the 'Culture of Yes' by implementing a governance program that is in line with clients' business goals and objectives, current security posture, risk analysis, risk management profile, architectures supported and technology strategy."
Trianz has an experienced Security Practice team with an exceptional execution capability in assessments, architectures, implementation, analytics and operations. Trianz strongly believes that information security is key to roll out applications and manage business transactions, and that security is not an impediment.
Prashant Bhavaraju, Director - Marketing at Trianz, expressed, "We are pleased to have this recognition from the Insights Success magazine. I believe that this is a great validation for our capabilities in implementing security strategies for our global clients."
About Trianz
Trianz enables digital transformations through effective strategies and excellence in execution. Collaborating with business and technology leaders, we help formulate and execute operational strategies to achieve intended business outcomes by bringing the best of consulting, technology experiences and execution models. Powered by knowledge, research, and perspectives, we enable clients to transform their business ecosystems and achieve superior performance by leveraging Cloud, Analytics, Digital and Security paradigms. With offices in Silicon Valley, Washington DC Metro, Jersey City, Dubai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi NCR, and Mumbai, we serve Fortune 1000 and emerging organizations across industries globally. As a professional services firm, our values and culture are focused on delivering measurable business impact, predictability in execution, and a unique partnership experience.
Contact
Prashant Bhavaraju
Director, Marketing
+1-408-387-5800
http://www.trianz.com
[email protected]
SOURCE Trianz
CLEVELAND, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum, the scientist who named the "Mycobiome" after discovering how bacteria and fungus work together to affect digestive health, will be taking an operative role with leading health initiatives and medical journals as his research continues to underscore the critical role fungus plays in overall health and wellness.
Within the past two months Dr. Ghannoum has been invited to serve on the editorial board of the National Institute of Health's (NIH) Journal of Gastroenterology. He has also been invited to present at the Functional Foods Center's 21st International Conference and Expo (March 2017) as well as the NIH's workshop on "the Human Microbiome: Emerging Themes at the Horizon of the 21st Century," (August 2017).
"In some respects, the role of the fungus in the human biota has been the ignored gorilla in the room," stated Dr. Ghannoum. "The goal with my research is to force the scientific community to look more seriously at fungus as a critical instrument in health and wellness."
Important research highlights from Dr. Ghannoum's recent presentation to the NIH on the role of fungus in digestive system include the following:
Historically, fungi were considered passive colonizers of the microbial community. Recent profiling of the Mycobiome is providing a new perspective showing that: Fungi have a complex multifaceted role in humans and are active participants in directly influencing health and wellness Fungi cooperate with bacteria It is not bacteria or fungi alone. They work together. The gut is colonized with 10 fungal species dominated by C. tropicalis (65%) Fungi and NOT bacteria is responsible for aggravating digestive health issues
Soon, Dr. Ghannoum's research will not be limited to the medical community. He has been working on the next generation of probiotics called BIOHM. BIOHM, is a tri-action probiotic that combines good bacteria, good fungus and powerful enzymes to neutralize the newly discovered gut biofilm that disrupts the balance of the gut's microbiome. BIOHM will launch online early in 2017.
Dr. Ghannoum, Ph.D., MBA, FIDSA, joined Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center in 1996 from his prior position at the UCLA School of Medicine. As the acclaimed scientist who named the Mycobiome, Dr. Ghannoum has spent his entire academic career studying medically important fungi. He has published more than 400 peer-reviewed articles and has been cited over 16,000 times by other scientists, with coverage in CBS News, Forbes, Scientific American, USA Today, ABC News. Dr. Ghannoum lectures to the National Institute of Health (NIH) and has been a NIH-funded researcher since 1993 with over $25 million in funding to date.
Media Contact:
BLAZE PR / Matt Kovacs
[email protected]
310-395-5050
SOURCE Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum
PITTSBURGH, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- JazzHR, the leading recruiting solution for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), today announced it has been awarded two industry honors for top SMB recruiting services. The honors include the 2016 Brandon Hall Group Gold award for "Best Advance in Talent Acquisition Technology for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses," as well as the 2016 Best in Biz Gold award for "Small and Medium Business Service of the Year."
Both industry accolades affirm the company's SMB recruiting leadership position, and recognize JazzHR's recruiting platform for helping businesses improve their recruiting results through a powerful and affordable solution that simplifies and automates time-consuming, manual hiring processes.
Successfully attracting and hiring high performance candidates is a common challenge for companies. This is especially true for small businesses lacking the resources and manpower of larger organizations. JazzHR's recruiting solution has three primary focal points: Streamlined hiring activities, exceptional candidate experience and improved results for both who and how a company hires.
"These awards are significant as they highlight our continued commitment to providing SMBs with the tools they need to exceed their recruiting goals," says Don Charlton, founder and CPO of JazzHR. "Hiring shouldn't be painful. With JazzHR's suite of timesaving features, SMBs reclaim their hiring process and focus on what really matterspeople."
JazzHR was selected as a Brandon Hall Group honoree by a panel of senior industry analysts and executives based on competitive differentiators, market challenges solved and end-user results. The sixth annual Best in Biz honors were presented in 60 total categories, with winners from an array of industries and geographic regions determined by an independent panel of 50 judges.
To learn more about JazzHR, or to conduct a live demo and free trial, please visit www.jazzhr.com or contact [email protected].
ABOUT JAZZHR
JazzHR is powerful, user-friendly, and affordable recruiting software that is purpose-built to help growing SMBs exceed their recruiting goals. JazzHR's groundbreaking software replaces time-consuming, manual hiring processes with intuitive hiring tools that help recruiters and hiring managers build an effective recruiting process that results in great hires. To learn more about JazzHR, visit www.jazzhr.com or follow us at twitter.com/JazzDotCo.
SOURCE JazzHR
Related Links
http://jazzhr.com
BOSTON, Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The ten John Hancock closed-end funds listed below announced today that the Board of Trustees of the funds appointed Hassell H. McClellan to serve as Chairperson of the Board, effective January 1, 2017. Mr. McClellan succeeds James M. Oates, who will continue to serve as a Trustee. In addition, the following changes to committee composition have been made: (i) Grace K. Fey has joined the Compliance Committee as Chairperson, succeeding Mr. McClellan, who is no longer a member of the Committee; (ii) Mr. Oates has joined the Contracts, Legal, & Risk Committee; and (iii) Mr. Oates has joined an Investment Sub-Committee as Chairperson, succeeding Ms. Fey. Each fund's proxy statement for the Joint Annual Meeting of Shareholders ("Annual Meeting") has been supplemented to reflect these changes. The Annual Meeting will be held on January 24, 2017, at 2:00 p.m., Eastern Time, at the offices of the funds, 601 Congress Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02210.
John Hancock Closed-End Funds
John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund (NYSE: BTO)
John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund (NYSE: HEQ)
John Hancock Income Securities Trust (NYSE: JHS)
John Hancock Investors Trust (NYSE: JHI)
John Hancock Preferred Income Fund (NYSE: HPI)
John Hancock Preferred Income Fund II (NYSE: HPF)
John Hancock Preferred Income Fund III (NYSE: HPS)
John Hancock Premium Dividend Fund (NYSE: PDT)
John Hancock Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund (NYSE: HTD)
John Hancock Tax-Advantaged Global Shareholder Yield Fund (NYSE: HTY)
Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond a fund's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.
An investor should consider each fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing.
About John Hancock Investments
John Hancock Investments provides asset management services to individuals and institutions through a unique manager-of-managers approach. A wealth management business of John Hancock Financial, we managed more than $136 billion in assets as of September 30, 2016, across mutual funds, college savings plans, and retirement plans.
About John Hancock Financial and Manulife Financial
John Hancock Financial is a division of Manulife Financial, a leading Canada-based financial services group with principal operations in Asia, Canada and the United States. Operating as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States, the Company offers clients a diverse range of financial protection products and wealth management services through its extensive network of employees, agents and distribution partners. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were C$966 billion (US$736 billion) as of September 30, 2016. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as 'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at manulife.com.
The John Hancock unit, through its insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in the United States. John Hancock offers and administers a broad range of financial products, including life insurance, annuities, fixed products, mutual funds, 401(k) plans, college savings, and other forms of business insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found at johnhancock.com.
SOURCE John Hancock Investments
Related Links
http://www.johnhancock.com
BELLEVUE, Wash., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- K2 Software today announced the launch of its global partner program, K2 Ascend Partner Program. The program solidifies K2 as a channel-focused and channel-friendly company with a program that will bolster partner bottom lines and help customers rapidly foster digital transformation within their businesses through low-code application development.
"We are excited about the momentum and energy in the partner ecosystem over the past year. As we wrap up a record revenue year, we are looking forward to launching an updated partner program for 2017 to enable our partners' success in anticipation of the release of great new products in 2017," said Adriaan van Wyk, CEO, K2. "While we continue to provide innovative low-code solutions to drive much- needed business transformation and digitization in the market, it will be our partners that help us scale and ensure our customers are successful. This program will ensure they are set up to prosper at every turn."
K2 Ascend Partner Program, which officially went live Jan. 1, is built on three essential pillars:
Transparency: Proactive and preemptive communication to create simple transactions, clear requirements and specific measurements.
Proactive and preemptive communication to create simple transactions, clear requirements and specific measurements. Enablement: Tools to help partners build skills and promote offerings to achieve the highest level of customer success.
Tools to help partners build skills and promote offerings to achieve the highest level of customer success. Profitability: Opportunity registration designed to protect partners and provide incentives as fuel for future growth.
"Since K2 brought me on in May, I've made it my mission to listen to our partners and apply their feedback to create a program that partners want to invest in," said Tom Evans, vice president of Global Channel Sales, K2. "The K2 Ascend Partner Program will provide our partners with greater customization, training, certifications and incentives that significantly benefit our varied partner needs."
Through the launch of the K2 Ascend Partner Program, K2 will provide its channel partners with improved benefits in several key areas, including multiple partner levels that are customized to specific partner needs, opportunity registration for financial incentives, knowledge-building opportunities to enhance the partner and customer experience, and customizable toolsets to strengthen partner communication.
"Avanade is excited about K2's new channel program and looks forward to jointly helping clients digitize their businesses with these innovative capabilities," said Tom Hoglund, vice president Digital Workplace, Avanade.
Information about the K2 Ascend Partner Program is available on K2's website. Partners are encouraged to contact K2 via [email protected] to get more information about converting to or joining the program.
ABOUT K2: With K2's business process application platform, organizations can use visual designers to rapidly build and deploy low-code applications that are agile, scalable and reusable, resulting in modern processes that quickly and easily connect people, data, decisions and systems. K2 delivers information to the right people at the right time, empowering them to accelerate their work and become more efficient online, offline and from any device. K2 has more than 1,500 customers in over 84 countries, with 30 percent of customers being Fortune 100 companies. K2 recently received $150 million in funding from Francisco Partners.
SOURCE K2 Software
Related Links
https://www.k2.com
DALLAS, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kimberly-Clark and its Digital Innovation Lab, or D'Lab, has renewed its global call for open-source innovation to help solve the biggest challenges facing the consumer package goods category.
The company's annual K-Challenge invites the best start-ups, entrepreneurs and makers from around the world to help create consumer-driven technology solutions for its well-known global brands such as Kleenex, Huggies, Depend and Kotex.
"Consumer adoption of new technologies is increasing at an unprecedented rate, and brands must look to the forward edges of innovation to identify new ways to connect with their digitally savvy consumers," said Scott Usitalo, Kimberly-Clark's Chief Marketing Officer. "Startups represent a large part of this forward edge and the K-Challenge is an ideal interface for agile entrepreneurs and makers to connect with Kimberly-Clark's global brands."
The K-Challenge program is primarily focused on inviting start-ups, entrepreneurs and makers with proven solutions in six key areas:
Omni-channel Shopper Experiences
Data & Predictive Analytics
Content & Media Experiences
Internet-of-Things/Wearables/Connected Devices
Supply Chain/Operations Solutions
Cyber Security
"Today's consumer wants a personalized approach, not a segmented approach, so we're applying the principles of maniacal consumer centricity, rich user experiences, and algorithmic capabilities throughout the enterprise to create those connection points across consumer, customer, operations and business services," said Suja Chandrasekaran, Kimberly-Clark's Chief Information Officer. "By partnering with technology entrepreneurs through the D'Lab, our brands can more quickly leverage the very best innovation in the market."
Selected solutions will work on pilot programs with Kimberly-Clark and its brands in one or more of its regions around the world. They will also benefit from Kimberly-Clark's global CPG experience, distribution, and mentorship to develop their companies further while testing their products on a global scale.
To be eligible for the K-Challenge, a start-up, entrepreneur or maker must have a working tech solution, and be funded at seed level or above. The application deadline is January 17, 2017 for the K-Challenge event to be held in Austin, TX at SXSW (March 8-9, 2017). For applications and more information about the K-Challenge, please visit kcdlab.com.
About Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) and its well-known global brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 175 countries. Every day, nearly a quarter of the world's population trust Kimberly-Clark's brands and the solutions they provide to enhance their health, hygiene and well-being. With brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend, Kimberly-Clark holds the No. 1 or No. 2 share position in 80 countries. To keep up with the latest news and to learn more about the company's 144-year history of innovation, visit http://www.kimberly-clark.com or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
[KMB-B]
SOURCE Kimberly-Clark
Related Links
http://www.kimberly-clark.com
BALTIMORE, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- LifeMark Partners, Inc., one of the nation's largest independent national insurance marketing organizations, has added a new Broker General Agent (BGA) partner, Colorado Brokerage Group, LLC, privately-owned wholesale financial services organization based in Denver, Colorado. This new addition now makes an impressive 38 BGA partners for LifeMark.
"Colorado Brokerage Group is a fantastic agency, one we are excited to reintroduce to our partnership. They have a great reputation and always put their clients first, something we at LifeMark value and a philosophy we hold strongly," said William Shelow, CLU, ChFC, CPCU, LLIF, president and chief executive officer, LifeMark Partners.
"We pride ourselves on simplifying the life insurance sales process for financial advisors. This is accomplished by making everything from the case design process, the underwriting process and the delivery process as easy and uncomplicated as possible. By partnering with LifeMark, we can now make these processes even easier for our advisors, and we look forward to reintroducing our clients to LifeMark's resources and helping them continue to grow and improve their business," said John McWilliams, CLU, president of Colorado Brokerage Group, LLC. "And I should knowI worked with LifeMark for over 12 years previously and realize just how much easier they make it for us to work with our clients."
LifeMark Partners works to provide affiliated brokerage general agencies with the partnership, expertise and access to industry-leading resources needed to enhance their life insurance distribution and grow their agencies. This includes the most expansive underwriting resources in the industry, providing access to the Swiss Re and Hanover Re underwriting manuals, a medical director and exclusive reinsurance programs to help place jumbo capacity and more difficult cases. Advanced marketing and sales support, product knowledge and case design, and ongoing educational and training opportunities round out the service offerings provided to partner BGAs. LifeMark recognizes that its greatest asset is the intellectual capital of its partner agencies, which represent the best in class in brokerage, and the company places a significant focus on collaboration and sharing of best practices.
Colorado Brokerage Group, LLC is a full service, consultative boutique life insurance general agency in Denver, Colorado who works with financial consultants. With a uniquely skilled, tight-knit staff every client becomes part of the CBG team who are solely dedicated to helping client's grow their business. Offering exclusive marketing and product support through point of sale and underwriting assistance, CBG is a partner every step of the way to its affiliated agents. CBG helps its financial advisors secure their client relationships for more information visit www.coloradobrokerage.com or call 303.321-0565.
About LifeMark Partners, Inc.
LifeMark Partners exists to leverage partner, carrier and industry resources and expertise to enhance and expand life insurance distribution for the benefit of all stakeholders. As an independent insurance marketing organization, LifeMark is dedicated to the ongoing development and enhancement of BGA partner resources to help undeniably differentiate partner agencies from the competition. Affiliates benefit from some of the most robust service offerings in the market today, including expansive underwriting capabilities, advanced case design support, sales and product benchmarking tools, and turnkey sales and marketing systems. At its core, LifeMark Partners was founded as a study group more than 40 years ago and is celebrating more than 20 years as a leading IMO. This foundation provides a unique opportunity to form strategic alliances and share best practices for partners to grow their agencies together through regular training, networking and educational opportunities. With unparalleled partnership, expertise and access to these industry-leading resources, LifeMark Partners provides affiliates The strength of many. The power of one. To learn more about the qualifications necessary to become a LifeMark partner, visit www.LifeMarkPartners.com or call 410.837.3022.
MEDIA CONTACT:
AdvisorPR
O: (702) 685-7450
SOURCE LifeMark Partners, Inc.
Related Links
http://lifemarkpartners.com
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockton, the world's largest privately held insurance broker, announced that it has opened an office in the heart of Center City Philadelphia, Pa. The new Lockton office will complement the company's Blue Bell, Pa., operation, which has experienced significant growth over the past few years. Property and casualty, employee benefits and retirement clients will also be served out of the new office.
"Lockton entered the Philadelphia market five years ago by opening an office in Blue Bell. Now we are excited about adding a downtown office as a key part of the company's continued expansion in the northeast," said Tim Ryan, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Lockton.
Lockton's northeast region now consists of seven offices, including Center City and Blue Bell, spanning from Boston to Washington, D.C.
"The addition of the Center City office further solidifies our commitment to our associates, clients and communities" Ryan added.
"This move downtown brings us closer to our clients, markets and potential employees in the greater Philadelphia area," Chris Keith, President of Lockton Philadelphia, said. "We plan to significantly expand our operations within the greater Philadelphia metro area and the addition of the Center City office is just the first step."
The Center City office address is 1800 John F Kennedy Blvd, Suite 1110, Philadelphia, PA 19103.
About Lockton
More than 6,000 professionals at Lockton provide 50,000 clients around the world with risk management, insurance, employee benefits consulting, and retirement services that improve their businesses. From its founding in 1966 in Kansas City, Missouri, Lockton has attracted entrepreneurial professionals who have driven its growth to become the largest privately held, independent insurance broker in the world and 9th largest overall. For eight consecutive years, Business Insurance magazine has recognized Lockton as a "Best Place to Work in Insurance." To see the latest insights from Lockton's experts, check Lockton Market Update.
SOURCE Lockton
Related Links
http://www.lockton.com
As reported by WisPolitics.com, the Joint Finance Committee approved redirecting more than $21 million in bonding to offset rising costs for Milwaukee and Racine counties as they build new facilities for young offenders. Meanwhile, one committee member warned inflation will likely raise the
LONDON, January 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
LSBF students in Singapore to receive UK Bachelor's degree thanks to a partnership with The London Institute of Banking & Finance
London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) in Singapore is proud to announce the launch of a new Bachelor's degree in Banking Practice and Management, which will provide students with globally-recognised British degree. The 3-year programme will be awarded by The London Institute of Banking & Finance, and will cover the essential elements of the financial services industry and the external environment in which it operates.
London to Singapore and back
The Bachelor of Science (Honours) Banking Practice and Management will be delivered by LSBF in its Singapore campus, starting from January 2017. The partnership between LSBF and The London Institute of Banking & Finance gives students in Asia the opportunity to study close to home, while enriching their curriculum with a global qualification awarded by a British higher education institution.
"As a global institution with years of international experience, we want to help students make the most out of their academic choice. While studying abroad gives many people the possibility to enhance their career opportunities, at times they might be discouraged if the qualification they achieve doesn't hold any relevance in another country," said Rathakrishnan Govind, Managing Director of LSBF in Singapore. "By partnering with The London Institute of Banking & Finance we will be able to deliver in Singapore a bachelor's programme that ticks all the boxes when it comes to preparing to enter the global financial services industry."
Alex Fraser, CEO, The London Institute of Banking & Finance said: "it is our goal to support the career development of banking and finance professionals both at home and abroad and as such we are delighted to be working with LSBF to promote our degree in Singapore. By combining our joint expertise, we can develop the skills and knowledge of the city's professionals, to ultimately support growth in one of the world's leading financial centres."
A partnership for the students
"We are delighted to have two of the best institutions from the UK bringing The London Institute of Banking & Finance degree programme into Singapore, thereby adding further interest in supporting the educational hub. This partnership is a great starting point to explore future regional expansion together," commented Michael Chow, President of The London Institute of Banking & Finance (Alumni Singapore) and Board Director of UK Council of Association of International Accountants.
Alongside their undergraduate degrees, graduates will also earn the Chartered Associate status with The London Institute of Banking & Finance, an internationally-recognised professional qualification in the banking and finance industries. The collaboration will allow LSBF Singapore to further expand its portfolio of programme. "We have been waiting to start an undergraduate programme for the past three years," said Rathakrishnan Govind. "This will be our first, and we believe that it will be very successful with our students."
Flexible studying and specialised knowledge
The BSc Banking Practice and Management degree is designed to cater for a variety of different requirements including those starting out in a management career in financial services, particularly in retail and commercial banking. Providing essential core knowledge of the industry, the programme enables students to apply specialised, up-to-date knowledge within specific areas of the banking sector, utilising a work based learning approach where relevant.
The undergraduate programme will be delivered through a wide range of activities and teaching methods, which will be accessible to both part-time and full-time students over four intakes every year.
- ends -
About London School of Business and Finance Singapore
With two campuses in the heart of the city, LSBF in Singapore welcomes students from all over the world offering many programmes targeted for the Asian market. Having taught students from more than 20 countries since its establishment in 2011, LSBF in Singapore prides itself on its relatively short but already very successful history.
The school is a Singapore QP Accredited Learning Organisation, and holds the Platinum Approved Learning Partner Status by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). Over the past five years, LSBF in Singapore has helped a total of 138 students to become ACCA Prize Winners, an award only given to the best performing ACCA candidates.
In 2016, LSBF was awarded the Asia Enterprise Award, the School Green Lotus Award and the Spirit of Enterprise Award respectively, and received three prizes at this year's Training & Education Development Awards, establishing itself as one of Singapore's best providers of private sector education.
About The London Institute of Banking & Finance
Formerly known as ifs University College, The London Institute of Banking & Finance advances banking and finance by providing outstanding education and thinking, tailored to the needs of business, individuals, and society.
Its focus is on lifelong learning; equipping individuals with the knowledge, skills and qualifications to achieve what they want throughout their career and life.
It provides a balance of experience, insight and thought leadership into today's financial world, delivered by industry leaders, thinkers and members of our community.
SOURCE London School of Business and Finance (LSBF)
NEW YORK and ANN ARBOR, Mich., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lycera Corp., a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing breakthrough immune modulatory medicines, announced today the initiation of a Phase 1/2a clinical trial of the Company's novel immuno-oncology therapeutic candidate LYC-55716, in patients with advanced, relapsed, or refractory solid tumors.
"We continue to make rapid and significant progress in the development of our novel immune modulators. This is Lycera's third clinical trial initiated in the past 12 months and our first immuno-oncology compound to enter the clinic," said Paul Sekhri, President and CEO of Lycera. "The promising results of our preclinical program have provided confirmation that LYC-55716 modulates gene expression of RORgamma expressing T lymphocyte immune cells, resulting in enhanced effector function, as well as decreased immunosuppression, resulting in decreased tumor growth, and improved survival in in vivo preclinical models. This process of reprogramming immune cells is unique from other currently approved immunotherapies, and based on this, as well as the ability to deliver this agent orally, we believe LYC-55716 could be a significant advancement for patients."
"Unlike many immunotherapies that either stimulate the immune system or reduce immune suppression, Lycera's RORgamma agonist has demonstrated in preclinical models that it can simultaneously enhance T-cell function and reduce mechanisms of the immune suppression. Therapy with an oral RORgamma agonist may be able to demonstrate single agent activity, as well as show synergy in combination with other immunotherapies," said John Nemunaitis, a principal investigator and Director of the Mary Crowley Medical Research Center, Dallas, TX. "We are excited to be working with Lycera and to be working on a compound with such a novel mechanism of action."
The ARGON trial (Tri a l of R ORgamma A gon ist LYC-55716 in Advanced Cancer) is a Phase 1/2a study of LYC-55716 in patients with advanced, relapsed or refractory solid tumors. The initial Phase 1 portion of the study is designed to find the biologically active or maximum tolerated dose of LYC-55716. The study will utilize a 3+3 study design, in which LYC-55716 will be administered orally in subjects with relapsed or refractory solid tumors. The primary endpoints are safety and tolerability, and the study is designed to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and the recommended Phase 2 dose. Upon dose determination, LYC-55716 will enter Phase 2a, which is expected to enroll approximately 40 patients. The primary efficacy endpoint of the Phase 2a portion of the study will be objective response rate according to response evaluation criteria in solid tumors.
About LYC-55716
LYC-55716 is a first in class oral, selective RORgamma agonist. The retinoic acid-related orphan receptor gamma (RORgamma) is a nuclear receptor transcription factor that acts as an immune cell master control switch. RORgamma agonists modulate gene expression to reprogram immune cells for improved function, as well as decrease immunosuppressive mechanisms, resulting in decreased tumor growth and enhanced survival in in vivo preclinical models of cancer. Essentially, Lycera's RORgamma agonist approach "removes the brake" and "pushes on the accelerator" of immune function.
About Lycera
Lycera is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel oral immune modulators for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer. Based on successful progress of its world-class R&D platform, including expertise in immune metabolism, cell signaling, and immune cell differentiation, Lycera has commenced multiple clinical programs in 2016. The company is advancing a wholly owned, oral, gut-directed ATPase modulator, designated LYC-30937-EC, for the treatment of autoimmune disease, and has entered Phase 2 clinical studies in patients with ulcerative colitis and psoriasis. A second product candidate, LYC-55716, an oral RORgamma agonist, has progressed into Phase 1/2a testing in patients with advanced solid tumors. Lycera has an exclusive strategic collaboration with Celgene Corporation to advance Lycera's proprietary pipeline for cancer and immune-mediated diseases. In addition, Lycera had previously established collaborations with Merck to discover, develop, and commercialize small molecule therapies for autoimmune disorders.
Lycera's leadership possesses deep experience in drug discovery, development, and commercialization and has established close relationships with renowned thought leaders and clinical researchers worldwide. Lycera was founded in 2006 based on an initial scientific platform in-licensed from the University of Michigan. Lead investors in Lycera include InterWest Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, Clarus Ventures, and EDF Ventures.
CONTACT: Justin Jackson, Burns McClellan, 212-213-0006, ext. 327, [email protected]
SOURCE Lycera Corp.
Related Links
http://www.lycera.com
HOUSTON, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sterling Group, a middle market private equity firm based in Houston, Texas, today announced that its platform company, Lynx FBO Network, has completed two acquisitions at Anoka County-Blaine Airport serving the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, with prime access to US Bank Stadium and downtown Minneapolis. Lynx simultaneously acquired both Cirrus Flight Operations and Key Air Twin Cities. "We look forward to bringing the Lynx level of service and our extensive FBO expertise to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area," said Chad Farischon, a Partner with Lynx.
In August 2016, Sterling launched Lynx, a buy-and-build effort in the FBO industry, and is executing a plan to build a leading FBO network providing general aviation services. The Cirrus and Key locations at Anoka mark the third and fourth acquisitions for Lynx during the first four months of operations.
"Key Air Twin Cities has developed world class FBO terminal and hangar facilities, a state of the art fuel farm, and a large ramp capable of handling significant aircraft activity in a safe and efficient manner. Those attributes combined with the Lynx team's experience in handling special events, the ease of access to US Bank stadium, and a group of talented employees joining our team from both Cirrus and Key make Lynx the optimal location to serve our customers during the 2018 Super Bowl," stated Tyson Goetz, a Partner with Lynx.
Sterling has assembled a strong and experienced team to build the new network. Greg Elliott, a Partner at The Sterling Group, has been involved in building several FBO networks in the past fifteen years, including roles as the Chairman of Encore and Trajen, and Board member of Landmark Aviation. Chad Farischon and Tyson Goetz are former members of both the Trajen, Atlantic Aviation, and Landmark Aviation management teams and have purchased and integrated over 50 FBOs over the course of their careers. The pipeline for further acquisitions remains strong.
"Anoka County is an excellent addition to our rapidly growing network," said Greg Elliott. Lynx currently operates locations near Destin, Florida, Portland, Oregon and now Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lynx and Sterling are actively seeking acquisitions in North America.
About The Sterling Group
Founded in 1982, The Sterling Group is a private equity investment firm that targets controlling interests in basic manufacturing, distribution and industrial services companies. Typical enterprise values of these companies range from $100 million to $750 million. Sterling has sponsored the buyout of 50 platform companies and numerous add-on acquisitions for a total transaction value of over $10.0 billion. Currently, Sterling has over $2.2 billion of assets under management. For further information, please visit www.sterling-group.com.
SOURCE The Sterling Group
Related Links
http://www.sterling-group.com
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Wrapping up a year focused on long-term growth objectives, Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today reported December U.S. sales of 28,754 vehicles, representing a decrease of 1.8 percent versus December of last year. There were 27 selling days in December 2016, versus 28 the year prior. As such, on a Daily Selling Rate (DSR) basis, the company posted an increase of 1.8 percent.
The company also reported calendar year (CY) 2016 total sales (combined fleet and retail) today, totaling 297,773, down 6.7 percent, following a 20-year-high record sales year in CY2015. There were 307 selling days in CY 2016, versus 308 in CY2015; the full-year DSR represented a decrease of 6.4 percent.
"In 2016, we developed a more defined focus on brand value management, which steered our business away from fleet sales and incentive pricing," said Masahiro Moro, president and CEO of MNAO. "Rather than chasing sales simply for the sake of growth, we will continue to focus on transforming our business operations to deliver an experience that will result in higher customer and dealer loyalty, improved long-term residual value and increased satisfaction at all levels of our business, independent from sales volume numbers."
Key December and CY2016 sales notes:
As part of the overall sales strategy, MNAO significantly reduced fleet sales, with 20,359 vehicles sold in CY2016 representing a decrease of 28.0 percent YOY.
Backing the fleet numbers out of the total vehicles sold, MNAO posted a slight decline in retail-only sales for CY2016, with 277,414 vehicles sold. This number represents a 4.6 percent decrease in sales YOY.
With crossover SUV sales dominating the sales landscape in CY2016, Mazda's crossover lineup shone this year. Overall, CX-3, CX-5 and CX-9 posted an increase of 13.6 percent in December. For the year, the three vehicles posted sales up 8.0 percent, with 146,843 vehicles sold in CY2016.
With much of the U.S. now in the winter months, Mazda's i-ACTIV All-Wheel Drive system available optionally on all Mazda crossover SUVs continues its popularity among crossover SUV buyers, with 63 percent of buyers choosing the option.
Mazda CX-5 posted its best-ever month in December with 11,989 vehicles sold, making this its fifth best-ever month in CY2016. For the full year, CX-5 sold a record 112,235 vehicles, an increase of 5.0 percent YOY and CX-5's best-ever sales year.
Mazda CX-3 completed its first full year of sales, ending the year up 189.7 percent, with 18,557 vehicles sold.
The all-new 2016 Mazda CX-9 launched during CY2016 and posted its best December since 2012, with 2,594 vehicles sold. This number represents an increase of 115.5 percent YOY.
The Mazda MX-5 Miata finished December up 3.8% YOY, with 733 vehicles sold. Continued interest in MX-5, and early deliveries of the 2017 MX-5 RF, resulted in full-year sales of 9,465 vehicles in CY2016, an increase of 10.2 percent YOY. The 2017 MX-5 RF recorded 314 vehicles sold in the month of December.
Major changes impacting sales in CY2016 included the discontinuation of sales of the Mazda2 and Mazda5, as well as the introduction of the 2016 CX-9 and 2017 MX-5 RF, and refreshed versions of the Mazda3 and Mazda6.
Mazda's December sales of 28,754 vehicles add up to more than $4.3 million in donations ( $150 for every vehicle sold during the month) as part of the Mazda Drive for Good program in 2017. Total results for the 2016 charity event, which ran from November 21, 2016 to January 3, 2017 , will be released at a later date.
Mazda Motor de Mexico (MMdM) reported December sales of 6,651 vehicles, down 19.0 percent versus December of last year. Total CY2016 sales for MMdM were 54,891 vehicles, representing a decrease of 12.7 percent when compared to CY2015.
Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States and Mexico through nearly 700 dealers. Operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City. For more information on Mazda vehicles, including photography and B-roll, please visit the online Mazda media center at InsideMazda.MazdaUSA.com/Newsroom.
Month-To-Date
Year-To-Date
December December % % MTD
December December % % YTD
2016 2015 Change DSR
2016 2015 Change DSR
Mazda2 - 1 (100.0)% (100.0)%
3 297 (99.0)% (99.0)%
Mazda3 8,102 9,838 (17.6)% (14.6)%
95,567 107,884 (11.4)% (11.1)%
Mazda5 2 299 (99.3)% (99.3)%
375 8,609 (95.6)% (95.6)%
Mazda6 3,688 4,168 (11.5)% (8.2)%
45,520 57,898 (21.4)% (21.1)%
MX-5 Miata 733 706 3.8% 7.7%
9,465 8,591 10.2% 10.5%
CX-3 1,646 1,663 (1.0)% 2.6%
18,557 6,406 189.7% 190.6%
CX-5 11,989 11,417 5.0% 8.9%
112,235 111,450 0.7% 1.0%
CX-9 2,594 1,202 115.8% 123.8%
16,051 18,048 (11.1)% (10.8)%
Total Vehicles
CARS 12,525 15,012 (16.6)% (13.5)%
150,930 183,279 (17.7)% (17.4)%
TRUCKS 16,229 14,282 13.6% 17.8%
146,843 135,904 8.0% 8.4%
TOTAL 28,754 29,294 (1.8)% 1.8%
297,773 319,183 (6.7)% (6.4)%
Selling Days 27 28
307 308
SOURCE Mazda North American Operations
Related Links
http://www.mazdausa.com
ANN ARBOR, Mich., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Michigan's expansion of Medicaid health insurance coverage has boosted the state's economy and budget, and will continue to do so for at least the next five years, according to a new University of Michigan study.
The expansion's total economic impact will generate more than enough funds for the state budget to cover the cost of the program in the current fiscal year, the researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The expanded Medicaid program will continue to have this self-paying effect even as the state's share of its cost increases every year until fiscal 2021 under federal law, they project. Over the next five years, the state will end up with more money in its coffers because of the program than it actually spends on the program.
A wide range of economic effects
The analysis looks at the total economic impact of the Healthy Michigan Plan, which began in April 2014 and currently covers about 600,000 low-income Michiganders. Most were uninsured before enrolling in the plan, which is mainly supported by federal funds under the Affordable Care Act. The maximum income a single adult can have to enroll in the Healthy Michigan Plan is about $16,400.
But besides the enrollees, other Michiganders are benefiting from the expansion, the U-M team shows.
The ripple effects generate more than 30,000 new jobs every year one-third of them in health care and 85 percent in the private sector. These jobs yield about $2.3 billion more in personal spending power each year for Michigan residents.
The new jobs and related personal spending are generating approximately $150 million in income and sales tax revenue annually for the state. The state will also continue to save money it would have spent on other safety net programs if Medicaid had not expanded.
"The economic impact of Medicaid expansion extends well beyond health care providers and the wallets of those who formerly had no insurance," says John Z. Ayanian, M.D., M.P.P., lead author of the new study and director of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. "We hope that our findings will provide needed evidence to Michigan lawmakers as they consider the future of the program, as well as informing decisions about Medicaid expansion in other states."
Ayanian and U-M health economist Helen Levy, Ph.D., conducted the study with Gabriel M. Ehrlich, Ph.D., and Donald R. Grimes, M.A. from the Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics, a U-M economic modeling and forecasting unit. The team used the same economic model that this unit employs to advise the state for fiscal planning.
Under Ayanian's direction, IHPI is also leading the federally required independent evaluation of how the Healthy Michigan Plan is affecting enrollees, health care providers and the state. That effort is funded by a state contract. The new study was supported by a grant from the Commonwealth Fund and conducted separately from the evaluation project for the state.
"The Healthy Michigan Plan has not only covered more than 600,000 Michiganders most of whom had been uninsured it has also lightened the economic load on the state, on families and businesses, and on health care providers. Federal spending through Medicaid gives a big boost to the state's economy," says Levy, a research professor in the U-M Institute for Social Research.
Five-year forecast
The study modeled the impact of the Healthy Michigan Plan from its launch in April 2014 through the end of fiscal year 2021. Starting in the 2017 fiscal year that began in October 2016, the state will pay five percent of the cost of care for those enrolled. By 2020, that share will rise to 10 percent of the total cost of the program.
For 2017, the researchers find, the economic impact of expansion means the state will finish with $432 million more than its share of the program's cost, because of new tax revenue and avoided spending. In 2021, the state will end up with $162 million more than its share of the cost.
The researchers accounted for $20 million that the state spends to administer the program, and $235 million a year that it saves on selected health services that it previously funded but are now covered through the Healthy Michigan Plan. Those services include some health care for prisoners, community mental health services, and prior programs for extremely impoverished adults.
Hospitals and many other providers previously absorbed the cost of caring for uninsured people, so their ability to spend those dollars in other ways was included as were the contributions they make to the state to support part of the cost of the expansion. Increased taxes paid by the privately run health plans that enroll Healthy Michigan Plan participants were also included.
The increase in personal spending power includes the estimated $490 that each uninsured person likely spent, on average, for his or her health care every year before the expansion took effect. Spending power also takes into account the premiums on employer-sponsored or private insurance plans that some Healthy Michigan Plan participants had before transitioning to the new option.
The law that authorized Medicaid expansion in Michigan allows the program to be ended if the state's costs exceed new revenue and savings for the state budget.
Nineteen other states have not expanded the program, under an ACA provision that allows for coverage for all adults with incomes under 138 percent of the federal poverty level.
Author affiliations: Ayanian is the Alice Hamilton Professor of Medicine at the Medical School. He and Levy both hold joint positions at the U-M Ford School of Public Policy and the U-M School of Public Health and are members of IHPI. Ehrlich is an assistant research scientist and Associate Director of the Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics in the U-M Department of Economics. Grimes is a senior research area specialist at the U-M Institute for Research on Labor, Employment, and the Economy. Reference: NEJM, DOI 10.1056/NEJMp1613981
SOURCE University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation
MILWAUKEE, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) has received initial accreditation for a new family medicine residency program in southeastern Wisconsin, with a planned start date of July 1, 2017. The residency program will train six family medicine residents per year during a three-year period with a total of 18 by 2019. MCW will begin recruiting residents for the program immediately.
This new program will have a significant impact on MCW's current medical students, who must receive training from residents, per the Liaison Committee for Medical Education. In addition, the citizens of Southeastern Wisconsin will benefit, as studies show that where residencies are completed usually determines where physicians will eventually live and practice. Thus, these new residents are likely to remain in the state to provide family medicine health services.
Plus, due to the current and projected shortfall of family medicine physicians, the new residency program is a step to shorten the gap. Current data from Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) indicated there is a current deficit of 187 primary care physicians in Wisconsin. According to the Wisconsin Hospital Associations' 2013 report "100 New Physicians per Year" and the Wisconsin Council on Medical Education & Workforce's update of the report in 2016, the estimated deficit of physicians in Wisconsin by 2035 will be between 883 and 3,756, vastly within primary care and psychiatry.
"This residency program further demonstrates MCW's commitment to addressing needs for greater access to family medicine physicians across the state," said Joseph E. Kerschner, MD, executive vice president of MCW and dean of the school of medicine. "In 2016, MCW received the DeWitt C Baldwin, Jr. Award, recognizing our excellence in fostering a respectful, supportive environment for medical education. This family residency program showcases and prepares the next generation of healthcare providers to serve our state with great distinction."
Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals, Inc. (MCWAH) is the sponsoring organization and will employ the primary family medicine residents. The key training site for the residents is Community Memorial Hospital in Menomonee Falls, Wis. The program will offer specialty and inpatient rotations at the hospital, while also featuring an outpatient clinic across the street on the fourth floor of Town Hall Health Center in Menomonee Falls.
"This initial accreditation of a family medicine residency program is a win for the citizens of Southeastern Wisconsin," said Kenneth B. Simons, MD, executive director and designated institutional individual, MCWAH, Inc., senior associate dean for Graduate Medical Education and Accreditation, professor of ophthalmology and pathology at MCW. "Physicians who complete residency in Wisconsin have a better than 70 percent chance of remaining in the region to practice medicine. We are committed to eliminating the family medicine physician deficit in Wisconsin and this residency will make a significant impact toward that goal."
The residency program will be under the leadership of Jason Domagalski, MD, filling the role of program director. Having served as a faculty member and instructor at a variety of military and public hospitals throughout his career, Dr. Domagalski is board certified in family medicine. A native of this area, Dr. Domagalski graduated from medical school at MCW. In his recent past, Dr. Domagalski assisted in the development of a new family medicine residency in California. In addition, Dr. Domagalski brings several years of service as a physician in the United States Army.
About the Medical College of Wisconsin
The Medical College of Wisconsin is the state's only private medical school and health sciences graduate school. Founded in 1893, it is dedicated to leadership and excellence in education, patient care, research and community engagement. More than 1,200 students are enrolled in MCW's medical school and graduate school programs in Milwaukee, 56 medical students enrolled at MCW-Green Bay, and 26 students matriculated to MCW-Central Wisconsin in 2016. MCW's School of Pharmacy will open in 2017 or 2018 with an initial class size of 60 students. A major national research center, MCW is the largest research institution in the Milwaukee metro area and second largest in Wisconsin. In FY 2014-15, faculty received approximately $158 million in external support for research, teaching, training and related purposes, of which approximately $139 million is for research. This total includes highly competitive research and training awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Annually, MCW faculty direct or collaborate on more than 3,200 research studies, including clinical trials. Additionally, more than 1,500 physicians provide care in virtually every specialty of medicine for more than 525,000 patients annually.
SOURCE Medical College of Wisconsin
Related Links
http://www.mcw.edu
BioControl's established rapid detection technology and third-party validated testing platforms complement Merck's portfolio of instruments and consumables in its applied solutions business geared to the food pathogen testing workflow.
"BioControl's acquisition strengthens our ability to help customers protect the global food supply by providing an expansive portfolio of state-of-the-art testing technology," said Udit Batra, Member of the Merck Executive Board and CEO, Life Science business. "BioControl's innovative assays and validated kits, when combined with Merck's strengths in microbiology, filtration and e-commerce will create a strong global provider aimed at solving tough challenges in the food pathogen testing space," he added.
The global spotlight on the importance of food safety has grown given the increased incidents of outbreaks and recalls with foodborne diseases often caused by consuming a wide range of foods including undercooked meat, eggs, fresh produce and dairy products contaminated by Salmonella, Listeria, E.coli O157H7 and Campylobacter. BioControl's product portfolio includes pathogen detection kits to identify these food poisoning bacteria in food and ingredients and its key customers include meat producers.
"Merck is the best home for BioControl, our customers and our employees," said Phil Feldsine, President and Chief Executive of BioControl. "Merck's global market presence as a leader in laboratory sciences will introduce BioControl's innovative, customer oriented solutions to a much broader base worldwide while providing existing customers with access to Merck's food safety product portfolio and expertise. The opportunity for BioControl to become part of a world class 350-year-old organization with a reputation for doing it the right way is very rewarding."
The acquisition is in line with the strategy of Merck's life science business to expand in key geographies, and provide a differentiated experience to customers in applied settings, including food and beverage safety testing. While the business will continue to focus on microbial quality control solutions for pharmaceutical production processes and products, an area where the business currently has leading market share, the acquisition will enable Merck to offer a complete food pathogen testing platform to its customers in the food and beverage safety testing market.
Achelous Partners acted as financial advisor to BioControl on this transaction. Nixon Peabody LLP represented Merck in the transaction.
About BioControl
BioControl is one of the leading companies in innovative rapid microbiology tests for food safety for more than 30 years. It offers a diverse third party validated product portfolio lines, which include industrial microbiology testing, rapid detection methods for food-borne pathogens, the quantitative measurement of microorganisms, and hygiene monitoring. The company primarily sells its products to food manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, contract testing labs and government labs. BioControl is based in Bellevue, WA (U.S.), with over 100 employees worldwide. In FY 2015, it generated revenue of USD 34 million. For further details: visit www.biocontrolsys.com
All Merck news releases are distributed by email at the same time they become available on the Merck website. Please go to www.merckgroup.com/subscribe to register online, change your selection or discontinue this service.
About Merck
Merck is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 50,000 employees work to further develop technologies that improve and enhance life from biopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer or multiple sclerosis, cutting-edge systems for scientific research and production, to liquid crystals for smartphones and LCD televisions. In 2015, Merck generated sales of 12.85 billion in 66 countries.
Founded in 1668, Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed corporate group. Merck holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.
SOURCE Merck
Related Links
http://www.merckgroup.com
MERIDIAN, Idaho, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MJP International (OTCPK: MJPI) ("the Company") today announced that as part of its 2017 growth strategy, the company will be moving into the distribution and sale of its own brand of solar power consumer devices.
"We are pleased to announce that MJPI will order the manufacturing and branding of its own range of exciting solar devices targeted at the burgeoning consumer retail market," said Christopher Hudson, COO of MJPI.
"MJPI firmly believes that in today's digital age, convenient and affordable access to solar power for our daily electronic devices is a market there for the taking that promises tremendous growth."
MJPI reached an agreement with Shenzhen Hopepower Technology Co. Ltd., ("SHTECH") to manufacture "HEAL" solar power banks which the company will sell in the US.
These portable solar devices can be used to charge electronic devices on the go, and will represent MJPI's first foray into distribution and sale of its own consumer products.
"We look forward to expanding our manufacturing arrangement with SHTECH to encompass more consumer-oriented products this year," added Mr. Hudson.
About Shenzhen Hopepower Technology Co Ltd
Shenzhen Hopepower Technology Co Ltd is a leading manufacturer located in China for solar devices, specializing in power bank design and OEM manufacturing, including solar devices and mobile phone batteries. Hopepower Technology is fully ISO9001 certified, as well as having BSCI and TUV certification.
About MJP International
MJP International is a company that specializes in green energy products and services, including rapidly advancing green technologies such as solar and wind installations. The company is built on the fundamental belief that green technology is the way to a clean, profitable and energy-rich future. MJP International continually pushes the envelope to find ways for clients to use green technologies in a cost-efficient and user friendly way, firmly believing that renewable and clean energy sources will continue to come to the forefront as viable and economical alternatives to fossil fuel. Investors can visit the company's website at http://www.mjpinternational.com.
SOURCE MJP International
Related Links
http://www.mjpinternational.com
There are three major highlights of the selfie drone that help it stand out among its kind; its patented (appearance received domestic patent), intricate design makes the vehicle looks small, creative and intelligent. First, the MOLA-UFO is portable and intuitive enough so users can easily launch their drones from their palms. Meanwhile, MOLA-UFO is displayed as a shape of UFO just as its name suggests and houses a triple-axis structure, which, along with the camera's advanced image algorithm, ensures that images are stabilized and captured clearly even in windy environments.
In addition, the selfie drone also features a unique recognition technology that can identify the subjects and lock them in frame, to intelligently track them. It can follow the subjects and shoot with a range of 360-degreeswith its high resolution 4K camera. Furthermore, the photographer is equipped with a powerful app that features beauty selfie, time-lapse shooting and instant sharing via social networks.
"By creating MOLA-UFO, we hope to meet the needs and add a bit more fun to people's everyday life. It leverages the world's trendiest technology today and we also wish to achieve a perfect combination between the innovative concepts and art while we are designing our product. The shape is quite compact, unique and functional, and it will be a smart photographer along with our users," commented Peter Li, International marketing and sales director of Nine Eagles.
At the show, Nine Eagles will set their booth at No. 25629, South Hall 2 of the Drone Marketplace at LVCC at Las Vegas from Jan. 5-8 to showcase MOLA-UFO and other latest achievements. Audience will have the opportunity to preview the company's upcoming releases before they hit the market.
About Nine Eagles
Established in 2004, Shanghai Nine Eagles Electronic Technology Co., LTD, is a high tech enterprise based in Shanghai, China that integrates research, design, manufacturing and sales. There are two brands under the company, Nine Eagles, which covers all types of aerial products; and MOLA, a high-end brand specially focusing on developing the UAV series for consumers. The company has its businesses covered all over the world, including China, America, Russia, Japan and the European markets.
SOURCE Nine Eagles
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA is assigning veteran astronaut Andrew Feustel and first-flight astronaut Jeanette Epps to missions aboard the International Space Station in 2018.
Feustel will launch in March 2018 for his first long-duration mission, serving as a flight engineer on Expedition 55, and later as commander of Expedition 56. Epps will become the first African American space station crew member when she launches on her first spaceflight in May 2018. She'll join Feustel as a flight engineer on Expedition 56, and remain on board for Expedition 57.
"Each space station crew brings something different to the table, and Drew and Jeanette both have a lot to offer," said Chris Cassidy, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "The space station will benefit from having them on board."
A native of Lake Orion, Michigan, Feustel was selected as part of the 2000 astronaut class and, in 2009, flew on the space shuttle Atlantis for the final servicing mission of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. He made his first trip to the space station in 2011 as a member of the STS-134 crew on space shuttle Endeavour's final mission.
Feustel has a bachelor's degree in solid Earth sciences and a master's degree in geophysics from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. In 1995, he completed his doctorate in geological sciences, with a specialization in seismology, from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Epps earned a bachelor's degree in physics in 1992 at LeMoyne College in her hometown of Syracuse, New York. She went on to complete a master's of science in 1994 and a doctorate in 2000 in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland.
While earning her doctorate, Epps was a NASA Graduate Student Researchers Project fellow, authoring several journal and conference articles on her research. After completing graduate school, she went on to work in a research laboratory for more than two years, co-authoring several patents, before being recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency. She spent seven years as a CIA technical intelligence officer before being selected as a member of the 2009 astronaut class.
Feustel and Epps will join a long and distinguished line of astronauts who have crewed the International Space Station since November 2000. With the help of the more than 200 astronauts who have visited, the space station enables us to demonstrate new technologies and make research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. Its convergence of science, technology and human innovation provide a springboard to NASA's next giant leap in exploration, including the Journey to Mars.
Follow Jeanette Epps on Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/Astro_Jeanette
Andrew Feustel will post updates on social media at:
http://twitter.com/space_station
and
http://www.instagram.com/iss/
Get the latest Twitter updates from all NASA astronauts at:
http://www.twitter.com/NASA_Astronauts
SOURCE NASA
Related Links
http://www.nasa.gov
Agriculture is a seasonal business. Planting season. Harvest season. Bookwork season. Meeting season. Marketing season.
No, strike that last one. Marketing is a year-long process, and good farm marketers will look ahead even more than one crop year to begin their marketing.
When ethanol fueled the 2007 launch of high commodity prices, marketing was put on the back burner. Less time was spent because every sale was profitable.Young farmers starting their career in from 2007 through the drought year of 2012 only saw prices well above breakeven levels. Ag economists, who touted the new price era, convinced farmers that prices were at a new level that was well above the point of breaking even.
That isn't the case anymore. Soybean prices have been above breakeven for most farmers, thanks to Chinas voracious appetite and the El Nino drought in Southeast Asia that pushed up prices for palm and other vegetable oils, including soybean oil. Beans have now come well off their early December highs by 75 cents per bushel and are trading below the psychologically important $10 mark.
A cadre of marketing specialists project soybean prices in the $8 range in the not-too-distant future, which means they would be under breakeven levels for most farmers.
Since the agricultural economy has cut farm income in half over the past three years, many farmers have used up their working capital and see equity eroding further as debt piles up. Many are making visits to lenders for the first time in years, and the first time ever for some. Farm loan officers at commercial banks, and their counterparts at Farm Credit, aren't only willing to loan less and demanding more collateral, but are asking hard questions about a farmers marketing plan for 2016 crops and what will be raised in 2017.
Uh, marketing plan? Sell at the highest price? Is that what you mean?
Not really. A marketing plan needs to be well thought-out, written and implemented at trigger points, not by seat-of-the-pants decision-making. One needs to know the exact cost of production, so a breakeven price is known and sales can be based on profitability.
Family cost of living has to be included. That not only includes monthly food and electric bills, but college tuition, nursing home expenses and the extraordinary high cost of health insurance.
To build a marketing plan, look at yield expectations, gauged from a 5-year average for a farm, and, the lender really likes to use the term conservative. Target dates for commodity sales or price points make it easier to pull the trigger on implementation. Knowing that highest prices frequently are in the spring, knowing the basis makes it easier to write a basis or hedge-to-arrive contract, and knowing the cost of carry makes forward contracting more confident.
For farmers who feel lost in doing that, there is an information support group, of sorts, that meets monthly in Assumption, known as the Central Illinois Marketing Club. It has been around for a few years, but is renovating its purpose beginning with the Jan. 17 meeting at 6:30 p.m., when the discussion will turn to calculating breakeven prices.
Leaders will distribute a simple electronic spreadsheet with typical numbers for a Central Illinois corn and soybean farm, which can be modified at home by attendees inserting their own numbers. A subsequent meeting on Feb. 7 will introduce details of a mock farm the group has created to demonstrate how various marketing plans will impact a farm budget and its revenue prospects. Monthly meetings are typically at 6:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month at GSIs Shuler Center.
While there are no guarantees of how a lender will react, it is the type of information that a lender wants to see a loan customer learning and implementing.
See you there.
BOSTON, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- National Geographic Learning (NGL), a Cengage company, today announced a partnership with Ediciones SM to launch a new collection of authentic Spanish fiction for K-6 classrooms.
NGL's Coleccion Ventanas represents over 100 titles of Spanish literature by authors worldwide, including many from Ibero-American countries. Designed for use in Spanish language arts or bilingual classrooms, the series' titles use authentic, rich language and high quality writing to foster student engagement, improve comprehension skills and build student confidence. The collection will be available in January 2017.
The Coleccion Ventanas series spans a variety of genres, including poetry, science fiction, fantasy, realistic fiction, and mythology, and provides connections to other areas of curriculum, such as science and social studies. Accompanying lesson plans provide comprehension questions, thematic connections, and suggestions for reinforcing reading skills and strategies.
"We are thrilled to be partnering with Ediciones SM to introduce this new collection of exceptional Spanish literature. Ediciones SM joins us in our commitment to provide students with high-quality, engaging language education materials that enable students to gain confidence and achieve success," said Vincent Grosso, Senior Vice President of National Geographic Learning.
"Education is everything. With this program, we project our enthusiasm for collaborating with Cengage on this masterful project around Literature. Our commitment to educate children extends to new frontiers. Our alliance will succeed in educating thousands of children and will awaken in them the desire to travel on great adventures," said Juan Reyes, Managing Director of Ediciones SM Puerto Rico.
Coleccion Ventanas titles include El Barco de Vapor award winners. SM Foundation's El Barco de Vapor Awards recognize exceptional children's literature and authors in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
For more information visit: ngl.cengage.com/ventanas
About Cengage and National Geographic Learning
Cengage is the education and technology company built for learners. The company serves the higher education, K-12, professional, library and workforce training markets worldwide. National Geographic Learning, a Cengage company, is a provider of quality core and supplemental educational materials for the PreK12, adult education and ELT markets. Cengage Learning and National Geographic Learning distribute a variety of content from the National Geographic Society to the academic and library markets worldwide. Visit us at www.cengage.com or ngl.cengage.com.
About Ediciones SM
SM Group is an educational and cultural organization with two principal areas of influence in 10 countries. The editorial services, dedicated to young adult and children's literature, textbook printing, religious publications, teacher's professional development, and digital content development. The social and cultural intervention managed and directed by Fundacion SM for the sustainability of disadvantaged social groups. For more information visit: http://www.grupo-sm.com
Media Contact:
Kate Jennings
617-757-8147, [email protected]
SOURCE Cengage Learning
Related Links
http://www.cengage.com
Dan Iosifescu, MD, MSc, will be joining NYU Langone in March 2017 to lead a number of research initiatives both at the medical center and at its research affiliate, the Nathan Kline Institute (NKI) in Rockland County, NY. He also will provide clinical care within the department's faculty group practice.
Specifically, Dr. Iosifescu will serve as director for clinical research at NKI where he will lead the inpatient clinical research units and the outpatient clinical research. Using neuroimaging (MRI, MRS) and neurophysiology (quantitative EEG) techniques, he will investigate structural, molecular and functional brain abnormalities in refractory depression and related mood disorders and their impact on clinical treatment. Dr. Iosifescu also has a particular interest in the impact of medical diseases that are often associated with mood disorders, such as vascular disease. His research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and through other sources, including industry.
At the medical center, Dr. Iosifescu will lead outpatient clinical studies utilizing magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to better understand persistent depression and mood disorders. He also will spearhead new initiatives in utilizing transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and novel pharmacological treatments for severe mood disorders.
"Recruiting Dr. Iosifescu is a great opportunity for us, and it is indicative of the well-regarded reputation for excellence the department enjoys," says Charles R. Marmar, MD, the Lucius Littauer Professor and chair of Psychiatry at NYU Langone. "He brings the combined talents of a senior researcher and a fine clinician. Equally important, he will wear many hats for us serving in leadership positions at NKI and NYU Langone."
It has been a highly productive end to 2016 for NYU Langone's Psychiatry Department, particularly on the recruitment front. Last month, it was announced that Naomi Michele Simon, MD, MSc, who has led seminal research in complicated grief and other anxiety disorders during a distinguished 20-year career at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), will join NYU Langone in July 2017 to oversee its new Anxiety and Complicated Grief Program. This new service will focus on investigating and treating panic disorder, social anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD and complicated grief.
About Dr. Iosifescu
Dr. Iosifescu joins NYU Langone from Mount Sinai, where he was director of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program since 2010. Previously Dr. Iosifescu has served at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) as Director of Translational Neuroscience and as Site Director of the NIMH Bipolar Trials Network. He also was Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Iosifescu earned his medical degree from the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania, and completed his psychiatric residency at MGH and McLean Hospital, serving as chief resident in consultation-liaison psychiatry. His research training included a neuroimaging fellowship in the Neuroscience Laboratory at Harvard Medical School, a psychopharmacology fellowship in the MGH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Institute, and a fellowship in the Clinical Investigator Training Program at Harvard and MIT. Dr. Iosifescu also holds Master's degree in Medical Science from Harvard University.
Media Inquiries:
Jim Mandler
(212) 404-3525
[email protected]
This news release was issued on behalf of Newswise(TM). For more information, visit http://www.newswise.com.
SOURCE NYU Langone Medical Center
Related Links
http://nyulangone.org
NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Outten & Golden LLP, a preeminent employee rights law firm, is pleased to announce that Melissa E. Pierre-Louis has been promoted to Counsel and that Erin M. Pressman has joined the firm's growing San Francisco office as an associate, representing individual employees in litigation and negotiation in all areas of employment law.
Melissa E. Pierre-Louis will continue to build her growing successful practice in the area of individual discrimination and wage-and-hour matters, including her focus in the area of disability and leave laws. She is Co-Chair of firm's Family Responsibilities and Disability Discrimination Practice Group. Before promotion to Counsel, Ms. Pierre-Louis was an associate in the New York office. Before joining Outten & Golden, Ms. Pierre-Louis worked as a public interest fellow at Beldock, Levine & Hoffman LLP, where she worked primarily on labor and employment matters. She received her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 2008. Ms. Pierre-Louis is a member of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) and its New York affiliate; the American Bar Association; and the New York City and State Bar Associations. In the ABA, she is the Co-Chair of the FMLA subcommittee of the Federal Labor Standards Legislation Committee of the Section of Labor & Employment. She is also the former Chair of the National Employment Lawyers Association's Lawyers of Color Committee.
Before joining the firm as an associate in the San Francisco office in 2016, Erin M. Pressman worked as an associate at The Grey Law Firm. While attending law school, Ms. Pressman worked as a law clerk at Outten & Golden, Campins Benham-Baker, and the East Bay Community Law Center. Ms. Pressman also served as a judicial extern to Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye of the California Supreme Court. A 2015 graduate of University of California, Hastings College of the Law, Ms. Pressman represents individual employees in litigation and negotiation in all areas of employment law.
"We are very pleased to promote our long-time colleague Melissa and to welcome Erin as a new colleague," said Wayne N. Outten, the firm's managing partner. "The experience and capabilities of these attorneys will contribute to the firm's ability to represent individual employees and to advocate effectively for their rights through advice, counseling, negotiation, and litigation."
Outten & Golden LLP focuses on advising and representing individuals in employment, partnership, and related workplace matters both domestically and internationally. The firm counsels individuals on employment and severance agreements; handles complex compensation and benefits issues (including bonuses, commissions, and stock/ option agreements); and advises professionals (including doctors and lawyers) on contractual issues. It also represents employees with a wide variety of claims, including discrimination and harassment based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, race, disability, national origin, religion, and age, as well as retaliation, whistleblower, and contract claims. The firm handles class actions involving a wide range of employment issues, including economic exploitation, gender- and race-based discrimination, wage-and-hour violations, violations of the WARN Act, and other systemic workers' rights issues.
Outten & Golden has nine practice groups: Executives & Professionals, Financial Services, Sexual Harassment & Sex Discrimination, Family Responsibilities & Disabilities Discrimination, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Workplace Rights, Discrimination & Retaliation, Whistleblower Retaliation, Class & Collective Actions, and WARN Act.
Outten & Golden has offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.
For media inquiries, contact Managing Partner Wayne N. Outten at (212) 245-1000.
www.outtengolden.com
SOURCE Outten & Golden LLP
Related Links
http://www.outtengolden.com
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America, a Division of Panasonic Corporation of North America, and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, announced today that they are working together to develop a next-generation Android-based in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) system.
As part of the demonstration, Panasonic Automotive and Qualcomm Technologies have integrated state-of-the-art Android 7.0 features to give drivers a unified experience across an automaker's entire vehicle lineup, adjusting for different applications, screen sizes and resolutions. This adaptive user interface design concept is a cost-saving feature that will allow OEMs to optimize their system engineering investments and customize the infotainment system across vehicle lineups.
Using a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820Am processor, this concept system is based on the latest version of the Android operating system (7.0 Nougat), which is designed to provide automakers with a superior, high-performing platform to quickly develop cloud-connected infotainment systems, helping accelerate the rate of innovation in both the in-vehicle infotainment experience as well as the connected car. The concept system will demonstrate how new connected services and applications will deliver a safety-focused and intuitive driving experience to consumers. The next-generation infotainment demonstration takes advantage of the high-performing connectivity, multimedia and graphics capabilities integrated into the Snapdragon 820Am automotive processor, including integrated X12 LTE modem supporting up to 600 Mbps downlink and 150 Mbps uplink speeds, integrated location services, power-efficient, custom-built quad-core Qualcomm Kryo CPU, Qualcomm Hexagon 680 DSP, Qualcomm Adreno 530 GPU for video processing capabilities and support for multiple high-definition displays.
"From the beginning, our goal was to create an in-vehicle infotainment system that shortened production time, minimized development cost for major OEMs globally, and allowed for more efficient evolutions as time and technology changes in mobility," said Tom Gebhardt, President, Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America. "By working with Qualcomm Technologies and Google, we were able to accomplish that goal, resulting in an infotainment system concept that is innovative and future proof. This concept should be considered 'skip generation' technology, meaning that we expect it include features beyond that of the next two IVI generations ahead."
During CES 2017, Panasonic Automotive and Qualcomm Technologies are planning to showcase this latest IVI system built upon Android's automotive features that control in-vehicle functions such as HVAC, and demonstrate the integration of Google's services and popular Android applications with the system.
"This has been an exciting collaboration of industry leaders where our combined technologies, innovations and engineering efforts have enabled us to demonstrate superior, highly intuitive, in-car infotainment systems," said Patrick Little, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Automotive, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "We look forward to continuing to work with Panasonic Automotive and Google to continually advance our Snapdragon automotive solutions to bring to life the advanced features and services of the Android experience."
"Android has evolved into a turn-key automotive platform that enables automakers and suppliers to build powerful next-generation IVI systems," said Patrick Brady, Director of Android Engineering, Google. "We are excited to see industry leaders like Panasonic Automotive and Qualcomm Technologies integrate Android deeply with the car to provide drivers with a seamless connected experience."
This next-generation IVI system concept features the Panasonic Automotive passenger application, which is designed to address the challenges that passengers have when entering navigation destinations or controlling music. Car manufacturers, automotive suppliers and developers can create Android-powered infotainment solutions initially with Qualcomm Technologies' Automotive Development Platforms (ADP), which utilizes Qualcomm Snapdragon automotive system-on-chips, followed by production systems developed and manufactured by Panasonic Automotive.
The concept IVI system will be on display at the Panasonic Booth (LVCC, Central Hall, 12908) throughout the duration of CES 2017, and also at the Qualcomm automotive booth (North Hall, #5609).
About Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America
Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America is a division company of Panasonic Corporation of North America and is the top supplier of automotive infotainment systems globally, according to IHS. Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America acts as the North American operating company of Panasonic Corp.'s Automotive & Industrial Systems Company, which coordinates global automotive and industrial systems and components operations. Panasonic Automotive is headquartered in Peachtree City, Georgia, with sales, marketing and engineering operations in Farmington Hills, Michigan. For more information on Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America, please visit: us.panasonic.com/automotive.
About Panasonic Corporation of North America
Newark, NJ-based Panasonic Corporation of North America is a leading technology partner and integrator to businesses, government agencies and consumers across the region. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Osaka, Japan-based Panasonic Corporation and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Panasonic was featured in Fortune Magazine's 2016 ranking of 50 companies that are changing the world and doing well by doing good. Specifically cited were its smart and sustainable technologies, including its contributions to smart cities and the electric vehicle revolution. Learn more about Panasonic at us.panasonic.com/news.
Connect with Panasonic:
Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Facebook, YouTube
About Qualcomm Incorporated
Qualcomm's technologies powered the smartphone revolution and connected billions of people. We pioneered 3G and 4G and now, we are leading the way to 5G and a new era of intelligent, connected devices. Our products are revolutionizing industries including automotive, computing, IoT and healthcare, and are allowing millions of devices to connect with each other in ways never before imagined. Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, all of our engineering, research and development functions, and all of our products and services businesses, including our semiconductor business, QCT, and our mobile, automotive, computing, IoT and healthcare businesses. To learn more, visit Qualcomm's website, blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.
Qualcomm, Snapdragon, Kryo, Hexagon and Adreno are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. Other product and brand names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Qualcomm Snapdragon, Qualcomm Kryo, Qualcomm Hexagon and Qualcomm Adreno are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
SOURCE Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America
Panasonic's Countertop Induction Oven calls upon the company's more than 40-years history of innovation in induction heating technology. It quickly grills, bakes, re-heats and requires little or no preheating, resulting in perfectly cooked meals. With pre-set menu options and adjustable temperature control, the Panasonic CIO takes the guesswork out of grilling steaks, cooking chicken and vegetables all-at-once but with results that are more flavorful -- crispy on the outside and tender and moist on the inside.
The secret to appetizing results delivered by the Panasonic CIO is the combination of direct induction heat, a sealed, compact interior and circulating steam to enhance the taste. The CIO's unique, dishwasher-safe grill reduces excessive moisture and oil while producing BBQ-quality sear and sizzle.
"Our one-of-a-kind Countertop Induction Oven will change the consumer's kitchen," said Persia Tatar, Senior Marketing Manager. "The CIO is an example of food-tech innovation at its best. It delivers a quick, yet high-end and healthy cooking experience to consumers in a compact, easy-to-use design."
Panasonic will be demonstrating the CIO throughout the show, serving up delicious food and featuring recipes created in partnership with AllRecipes.com.
The Panasonic Countertop Induction Oven is now available for $599.95.
For more information on the CIO please visit Panasonic.com/CIO
About Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company
Based in Newark, NJ, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company is a division of Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation. The company offers a wide range of consumer solutions in the U.S. including products from VIERA Life+ Screens, Blu-ray players, LUMIX Digital Cameras, Camcorders, Home Audio, Cordless Phones, Home Appliances, Beauty, Grooming, Wellness and Personal Care products and more. In Interbrand's 2014 annual "Best Global Green Brands " report, Panasonic ranked number five overall and the top electronics brand in the report. To learn more about our products, visit panasonic.com. Follow Panasonic on Twitter @panasonicUSA; additional company information for journalists is also available at www.panasonic.com/pressroom.
SOURCE Panasonic
Related Links
http://www.panasonic.com
RESTON, Va., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- With the generous permission of the Rockingham County NC Sheriff's Office (RCSO), Parabon NanoLabs (Parabon) announces the company's participation in the agency's successful investigation of the murders of Douglas "Troy" and LaDonna French. On 4 February 2012, the Frenches were fatally shot by an intruder in their home in Reidsville, NC. Although DNA evidence was found at the crime scene, it failed to produce a match in any database or among the more than 50 individuals known to have been in or near the French home. In January 2015, nearly three years into the investigation and only a month after the debut of Parabon's Snapshot Phenotyping Service, RCSO Captain Tammi Howell and Detective Marcus Marshall contacted Parabon about the case. Parabon CEO Steve Armentrout remembers the call: "This was an early case for Snapshot. I recall the investigators' frustration at having such solid DNA evidence, but no one to match it to. Those are exactly the types of cases for which Snapshot was created."
The investigation ultimately led to the arrest of Jose Alvarez, Jr. on 25 August 2015. Details of Snapshot's critical role in the investigation are presented in a case summary, available at Parabon's website (French Case Summary). Prior to his arrest, Alvarez's DNA was matched to the crime scene using traditional DNA analysis. On 8 July 2016, he pled guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
"Snapshot analysis helps investigators in many ways. In this case, it helped focus the investigation onto a suspect who might have been logically discounted because of results from another type of DNA analysis," said Parabon's Director of Bioinformatics, Dr. Ellen Greytak. "Interestingly, both analyses were correct; it was the surprising relationship between the DNA sources that provided the twist in this case."
Although Snapshot has helped investigators on scores of cases, most often by enabling them to conduct their work more efficiently, details of such cases cannot be publicly released until they have been fully resolved in the criminal justice system.
About Parabon NanoLabs, Inc.:
Parabon NanoLabs is a vertically integrated DNA technology company that develops next-generation forensic and therapeutic products, which leverage the enormous power of DNA.
SOURCE Parabon NanoLabs, Inc.
Petcube Bites is the third product from the San Francisco based technology leader Petcube. In November, the company commercially released Petcube Play , the next-gen HD pet camera with interactive laser toy, on Petcube.com and with major retailers Amazon, Petco, Best Buy, and Bed Bath and Beyond. Both Petcube Play and Petcube Bites were first revealed on Kickstarter in late July as a pre-order campaign, receiving design and engineering recognition as Kickstarter's featured technology project and staff favorite. The company's first product, Petcube Camera is the original, bestselling pet cam that first broke crowdfunding records for a pet technology product on Kickstarter. Petcube's entire product lineup comes in three colors: Matte Silver, Rose Gold and Carbon Black.
"We couldn't be more excited to showcase our latest innovation in pet technology at CES. We continually challenge ourselves to disrupt and build products that connect people and their pets," said Yaroslav Azhnyuk, CEO and Co-Founder of Petcube.
This marks the 3rd year that Petcube has exhibited at CES in a fast-growing technology category of Connected Pet. According to Euromonitor, the global pet industry is estimated to be a $104 Billion market with pet ownership outpacing childbirths in major markets.
"As pet parents, we're always committed to designing products for pets with as much care as products for people. Since we began in 2012 and coined the category Connected Pet, we've seen huge growth in the space, providing validation of how technology can shape the way we interact with our pets."
Planned for February, all new and existing Petcube camera owners will receive 4 hours of free video cloud storage on a daily basis accessible through the Petcube App. This is a new lite feature of the popular Petcube Care, a video cloud recording service that helps owners look after the safety of their pets and home. A Petcube Care subscription provides 24/7 video cloud storage with 10 or 30 day history. A 10 or 30 day subscription plan provides owners with a complete solution for on-the-go pet care, including recorded video clips, timeline history, and triggered sound and motion event recording of what's happening in the home.
Petcube Bites will rollout commercial distribution starting in late April on Petcube.com and participating retailers in US, Canada, Europe and Asia. Petcube Play currently sells at $199 at Petcube.com and participating retailers. Petcube is exhibiting and showcasing its new product lineup at CES, Booth #40750, in Las Vegas.
About Petcube
Petcube is reimagining pet care. We are dedicated to improving the lives of pet parents and their pets through technology. Petcube products include Petcube Play, the next-generation interactive pet cam with built-in laser toy, Petcube Camera, the original, best-selling interactive pet cam, and forthcoming Petcube Bites, an interactive treat cam. All three products enable pet parents to see, talk to and have fun with their pets from their smartphone anytime, anywhere. Petcube is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Kyiv, Ukraine and Shenzhen, China. For more information visit the website and online media kit, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Media contact:
Brad Wells
[email protected]
415-230-0610
SOURCE Petcube
Related Links
http://www.petcube.com
MALMO Sweden, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The PolyPeptide Group announced today that the acquisition of the peptides business and operations of Lonza in Braine-l'Alleud, Belgium has been completed. The Braine facility, with approximately 280 employees, was the center for peptide chemical development and manufacturing within Lonza.
The acquisition will enhance PolyPeptide's manufacturing capacity and capabilities and will enable seamless support for its broad portfolio as many products progress toward regulatory approval and commercial supply. The Braine facility will provide immediate access to additional large-scale capacity in synthesis, purification and isolation of peptides, while PolyPeptide's existing, complementary portfolio of late-stage products offers opportunities for synergies and continued growth for the Company.
"The addition of Lonza's Braine facility to PolyPeptide is a great fit and will offer customers an even more comprehensive range of services for every stage of development," said Jane Salik, CEO of the PolyPeptide Group. "With this acquisition we will be expanding our capacity to meet the needs of customers who demand the highest quality products with the most robust, scalable and cost-efficient peptide manufacturing processes at every scale. This means we can provide even greater value to our global base of customers."
Both PolyPeptide and Lonza have long and distinguished histories in peptide manufacturing. Lonza acquired the Braine peptide business in 2006 from UCB, while PolyPeptide's corporate roots in peptide therapeutics date back to the 1950s. Both companies became successful in peptide manufacturing by building excellent reputations for quality, service and GMP support.
The acquisition will not affect ongoing activities at the Belgian facility and the integration process is expected to be seamless to customers. PolyPeptide Group announced that the harmonization of procedures to ensure consistency, continuity and quality within its expanded Group will be implemented in the coming months. With this acquisition the PolyPeptide Group will employ close to 800 people worldwide with GMP facilities in the United States (Torrance and San Diego, California), France (Strasbourg), India (Ambernath), Belgium (Braine-D'Alleud) and Sweden (Malmo).
The financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.
About Peptides
Peptides, like proteins, are naturally occurring chains of amino acids involved in virtually every life process. They help regulate body functions such as the release of hormones and the regulation of blood-sugar levels. Advances in formulation and delivery platforms have boosted the demand for peptides, particularly in the development of pharmaceuticals. Synthetic peptides serve as the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in peptide-based drugs that treat diabetes, obesity, various types of cancer, endocrine and nervous system disorders, and other health conditions.
About the PolyPeptide Group
The PolyPeptide Group is a privately held leading provider of custom and generic GMP-grade peptides for a range of pharmaceutical and biotechnology applications. With corporate roots that began in the 1950s, the Group was formally launched in 1996. Today, it operates a growing international network of peptide manufacturing facilities.
With its multinational organization, exclusive focus on peptides and solid financial base, the PolyPeptide Group offers a unique guarantee of quality, service and security of supply to its customers.
More information about the PolyPeptide Group is available at www.PolyPeptide.com.
PolyPeptide Contact Information:
CEO Global Director, Sales
Jane Salik Jan Christensen
Tel +1 310 782 3569 Tel +45 20 74 70 73
Fax: +1 310 782 3645 Fax: +46 40 36 63 86
[email protected] [email protected]
SOURCE PolyPeptide Group
Related Links
http://www.PolyPeptide.com
TUCSON, Ariz., Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The right to contract is fundamental, and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) applauds the strong defense of that right by Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady. He is on the list of candidates being considered by President-elect Donald Trump for nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Justice Canady properly dissented from a decision by the Florida Supreme Court on December 22, which invalidated a contractual agreement for dispute resolution that had been entered into by an adult patient with a medical group. See Hernandez v. Crespo, No. SC15-67. While the court majority paid lip service in respect of the right to enter into private contracts, the court then invalidated the contract as void and unenforceable based on issues like the parties agreeing to share arbitration costs equally.
The court majority declared it to be somehow against public policy for a physician and a patient to agree to bear equally the costs of arbitration for dispute resolution. Instead, the court ruled that physicians must pay the lion's share of those costs.
"Out-of-control medical expenses are exacerbated by one-sided incentives that trial attorneys have for bringing frivolous malpractice cases," observes Jane M. Orient, M.D., Executive Director of AAPS. "Patients should have the right to contract with physicians and agree that dispute resolution costs be borne equally," she added.
The Florida legislature had passed its Medical Malpractice Act to encourage use of arbitration to help limit the costs. "Consenting adults should be allowed to do as the legislature encouraged, by entering into private agreements to reduce expenses in malpractice cases," states Andrew Schlafly, General Counsel of AAPS.
In a compelling dissent, Florida Supreme Court Justice Canady criticized the illogical irony of the majority's ruling. "Nothing in the Medical Malpractice Act can be read to support the conclusion that the purpose of the statute is thwarted by voluntary pre-dispute agreements ... designed to limit the cost of litigation and the amount of paid claims. Instead, such voluntary agreements are designed to cure the same mischief that the statute seeks to address," Justice Canady astutely wrote.
Justice Canady was recently endorsed by approximately 85 organizations, including AAPS, for nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by President-elect Trump. Unlike other candidates, Justice Canady has experience that includes service in both a state legislature and in Congress. Justice Canady would be the first native Floridian to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in virtually all specialties and every state. Founded in 1943, AAPS has the motto "omnia pro aegroto," which means "all for the patient."
SOURCE Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)
Related Links
http://www.aapsonline.org
Tusk, whose mission is to work with local communities to protect African wildlife, will honor renowned paleoanthropologist, conservationist and Kenyan politician, Richard Leakey with the 2017 Tusk Legacy Award . Leakey initially gained fame for the discovery of the 1.6-million- year-old skeleton of a homo erectus youth. As the first Chairman of Kenya Wildlife Service, he reorganized Kenya's national park systems and dramatically reduced poaching levels. Leakey continues to tirelessly campaign against the slaughter of African wildlife.
This year's Game Changer Award will be given to Richard Ladkani and Kief Davidson in recognition of their Oscar shortlisted Netflix film The Ivory Game. From executive producer Leonardo DiCaprio, The Ivory Game is an epic documentary that goes undercover into the dark and sinister world of ivory trafficking. The directors filmed for 16 months in China, Vietnam, the U.K. and Africa to infiltrate the corrupt global network of ivory trafficking. The film, which premiered at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals in September and globally launched on Netflix in early November, makes a compelling case that the only way to save Africa's elephants is to completely ban the ivory trade in China. In fact, Jane Goodall congratulated the directors for their courageous work and said she believed the film "may have influenced the timing" of China's recent announcement that they would shut down their legal commercial ivory trade by the end of 2017.
David Yarrow, Europe's best selling wildlife photographer, and long-term partner of Tusk, will join the dinner as a featured guest. Yarrow has built an unrivalled reputation for capturing the beauty of the planet's remote landscapes, cultures and endangered animals. His most recent book 'Wild Encounters', was named '2016 art book of the year' by Amazon.
Executive Director, Ellen C. O'Connell
Tusk USA is a 501(c)(3) registered charity whose headquarters are in New York City.
Tusk Wildlife Gala 2017: www.tuskwildlifegala.com
The Ivory Game Movie: www.theivorygame.com
David Yarrow Photography: www.davidyarrow.photography
Media Contact: Ellen C. O'Connell 646-321-3995
Tusk USA
525 East 89th Street
Courtyard Office
New York, NY 10128
Tel: 212-602-1588
SOURCE Tusk USA
Dear Dr. Roach: I am a 71-year-old grandmother who is very concerned about the health of my 18-year-old granddaughter. She has had the following symptoms for the past seven years, at least: earache, headache, swollen glands, sore throat and cough.
I have accompanied her to many doctor visits, and talked to the doctors and the ear specialist about how often our granddaughter has had to miss school due to her symptoms. She has been out of school about once a month for years. In the beginning, she was prescribed antibiotics, which did not seem to help her much. She then was told to take ibuprofen, and that is basically what she does when these symptoms occur.
Two years ago, she had bloodwork done, and the doctor reported that her white blood cells were normal. I asked both the specialist and her doctor just last week if they have any idea why she continues to have these symptoms. The stock answer is that most children get sick from being in contact with students at school. I cannot, in good faith, accept these responses, but I do not know where to turn, particularly when she will be going off to college in September.
I write this with tears in my eyes due to sheer frustration at not being able to do anything for her. Can you help, please?
-- A.M.
A: The symptoms she has are very common and are not specific to any particular disease. However, the frequency with which she has had them is not. While her doctors may be correct that this is just from being exposed to many different germs (both bacteria and viruses), I would be concerned about the possibility of common variable immunodeficiency. CVID should be considered in any child or adult with a history of recurrent bacterial infections, especially those involving the sinuses, lungs, ears or bronchi. The screening blood test is simple: an immunoglobulin level. IgG levels are always low in this condition, and IgA and IgM also might be affected.
There are other, rarer kinds of immune deficiencies with these symptoms. An immunologist is the expert in evaluating these conditions.
Heart disease
Dear Dr. Roach: My doctor tells me that I have valvular heart disease with "trace MR and trivial TI." She doesn't seem too worried about it. Could you explain? Should I worry about it, and is there anything I can or should do?
-- B.R.
A: There are four valves in the heart: the mitral and aortic valves on the left side, and the tricuspid and pulmonic valves on the right. Valves can fail to open completely, which we call "stenosis," or they can allow blood to leak back the wrong way, which we call "regurgitation" or "insufficiency." The degree of valvular disease usually is characterized as trivial, mild, moderate, severe or critical. "MR" in this context is "mitral regurgitation," and "TI" is "tricuspid insufficiency." Both of these indicate backward flow from the ventricles into the atria.
A small amount of regurgitation is very common. In a study from 1990, 58 percent of people over 50 had trivial or mild mitral regurgitation, and 74 percent had trivial or mild tricuspid insufficiency. This degree of valvular insufficiency rarely if ever causes any problem; there usually is nothing that needs to be done, and I don't think you should worry about it.
Readers wishing for more information on heart valve disorders can order the booklet on that subject by writing: Dr. Roach, Book No. 105, 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.
The intent behind the new store is twofold: first and foremost, to provide a superior laundry experience to members of the South Gate community and, secondarily, to gather data to allow PWS to enhance the user experience for existing and future laundromats. In furtherance of the first goal, the new laundromat, located next to PWS's newly renovated headquarters, was painstakingly constructed to enhance the customer experience. Specifically, the interior, which more closely resembles a coffee shop than a traditional laundry, includes couches, large TVs, countertop space for laptop usage, 25 feet high exposed wood ceilings and free wi-fi. While it may have the feel of a local coffee shop, the high quality of the equipment cannot be overstated. The 3,400 square foot store is equipped with the latest Speed Queen washers and tumble dryers, the world's premier commercial laundry equipment, and includes over 1,400 pounds of wash capacity. The sophisticated machine controls feature the best technology in the industry with large graphical displays and options to modify and customize wash cycles based on personal preferences.
In furtherance of the second goal, PWS has taken a number of measures to ensure that this laundry is a learning platform for the company. To this end, the laundry is equipped with smart technology which gathers market intelligence. This technology will provide PWS with invaluable data which will be utilized to best serve the nation's laundry customers. Additionally, the store is equipped with two-way mirrors so PWS can observe customers' use of the space and interactions with equipment and store staff. These observations will be used to develop tools to help laundromat owners improve their customers' experiences, incorporate new revenue streams, and train and manage store employees. Lastly, all employees of PWS's South Gate office will spend time working in the laundromat and interacting with laundry customers. PWS believes that the best way for a business to differentiate itself is through providing an exceptional customer experience, which starts with a deep comprehension of customer behaviors and expectations.
"Today's laundry customer is much more selective than in years past," said Brad Steinberg, Co-President of PWS. "It is a competitive retail environment and the stores that will flourish are the ones that provide the best experience for the customer. Being able to observe consumers in the laundromat and gauge their response to new services and amenities will help us provide our PWS customers, who own and operate coin laundries, market insights that will help them be more successful."
"We appreciate the investment PWS is making in our community," said South Gate Mayor W.H. (Bill) De Witt. "Since deciding to relocate its headquarters here, PWS has demonstrated a real commitment to the City of South Gate by completely renovating a city block, commissioning a piece of public art, contributing funds to our local library and now providing our residents with this remarkable, modern laundry." The art Mayor De Witt mentions is a 55-foot mural titled Azalea Pride by artist Don Lampkin, which highlights the unique and storied history of the city of South Gate.
PWS was established in 1968 by three of the most influential entrepreneurs in the coin laundry industry: Morton Pollack, the pioneer of coin laundry resale; John Wickham, the exclusive distributor of Speed Queen commercial laundry equipment in Southern California and Southern Nevada; and Bernie Steinberg - the originator of Launderland "turn-key" coin laundries. In the decades since then, under the current leadership of Brad Pollack and Brad Steinberg, PWS has grown to become the largest distributor of commercial laundry equipment and parts and the largest broker of existing laundromats in the United States. And, at 3,000 and counting, PWS is assuredly the most successful developer of new laundromats in North America. PWS is also the exclusive California and Nevada Speed Queen distributor. PWS and Speed Queen, two iconic American brands in the laundry industry, have been partners for more than 48 years and together have had a significant impact on the laundry industry.
For more information visit www.pwslaundrywest.com.
About PWS:
Founded in 1968, PWS is the largest distributor of commercial laundry equipment and commercial laundry replacement parts in the United States. Additionally, PWS is the nation's premier developer of new laundromats and broker of existing laundromats. With offices in South Gate, Redwood City, San Diego and representation in Nevada, PWS exclusively sells Speed Queen washers and dryers and parts from all major manufacturers through their industry leading website pwslaundrywest.com.
SOURCE PWS - The Laundry Company
Related Links
http://www.pwslaundrywest.com
BATH, Maine, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Rafael Peralta (DDG 115) returned to the Bath Iron Works shipyard Dec. 16 after successfully completing a nearly week-long series of demonstrations for Navy reviewers. Based on the performance during the sea trials, the Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey recommended DDG 115 join the U.S. Navy fleet.
DDG 115 is the first Arleigh Burke-class destroyer built by Bath Iron Works after a four-year break in the Navy's DDG 51 program and demonstrates the versatility and craftsmanship of the shipyard's workers.
"The ship looked great and performed well. It's a ship Bath Iron Works can be proud of," said Bath Iron Works President Dirk Lesko.
The Navy will take delivery in February and the ship will depart Bath later this spring. She joins the other 34 active Bath-built DDG 51's in active service, including DDG-51 itself, USS Arleigh Burke.
DDG 115 is named for Marine Sergeant Rafael Peralta who was killed in Iraq in the second battle of Fallujah, falling on an enemy grenade thereby shielding other members of his squad from the blast. He was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously.
There are currently three other DDG 51 destroyers in production at Bath Iron Works: Thomas Hudner (DDG 116), Daniel Inouye (DDG 118) and Carl M. Levin (DDG 120).
More information about General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), can be found at www.gdbiw.com.
SOURCE General Dynamics Bath Iron Works
Related Links
http://www.gdbiw.com
HONG KONG, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Reolink, a global innovator in home security and camera solutions, is headed to the upcoming CES 2017, and will showcase its innovated and cutting-edge home security cameras and systems on January 58 in Las Vegas, NV.
Global Innovator in Home Security and Camera Solutions
Visitors are encouraged to meet Reolink at CES 2017 at Booth #40167 in Sands, Halls A-D in Smart Home Marketplace, to see the full lineup of innovated Reolink (registered by Shenzhen Reo-link Digital Technology Co, Ltd.) home security products. Reolink is looking for partners worldwide, and would love to exchange ideas with all CES visitors. Please refer to the exhibitor details for the exact booth location and info of Reolink: http://ces17.mapyourshow.com/7_0/exhibitor/exhibitor-details.cfm?ExhID=T0003067.
CES (Consumer Electronics Show) is one of the biggest global consumer electronics and consumer technology tradeshows. More than 165,000 people (consumer technology innovators) plan to gather in Las Vegas this year to get some serious business done. And as an innovator in home cameras, Reolink will be there, too.
With 4 product lines unfolded and refreshed, namely: wire-free security cameras, indoor smart home cameras, PoE&WiFi cameras & NVRs, and security camera systems, Reolink is about to roll out the new and improved home security products to dealers and trade press during the Consumer Electronics Show 2017. Here are some highlights:
C1 Smart A 1080p indoor smart home pan-tilt camera. With up to 180 days stand-by time, and 100% wire-free, Reolink C1 Smart makes it simple for homeowners to place and move within any indoor environment. The external PIR Sensor helps to accurately trigger alarms by automatically detecting human motions. Other excellent features include 355 pan and 105 tilt, 2-way audio, SD card slot for inserting external Micro SD card and more.
ArgusCam A battery-powered wireless smart home cube camera. Reolink ArgusCam features up to 180 days long stand-by time, and guarantees no-hassle peace of mind. It is 100% wire-free and has built-in PIR sensor for smarter and more accurate peace of mind. Two-way audio and waterproof IP65 are enabled, and also works great with WiFi NVR for 24/7 recording.
RLK16-410B8 A 1440p PoE security camera system. It captures 4MP super HD videos/images. A 16-channel PoE NVR with 3TB hard disk drive preinstalled offers no-hassle 24/7 reliable video recording. A complete DIY security system!
RLK4-210WB4 A 1080p WiFi security camera system. Sees 2MP Full HD videos and images, and allows 24/7 continuous recording via a 4-channel WiFi NVR with preinstalled 1TB HDD. Completely plug and play!
ADK8-20B4 Reolink's first all-in-one 1080p video smart alarm system, including a 8-channel HD-TVI/AHD DVR with built-in 2TB HDD for video recording, HD-TVI cameras, Window/Door Sensors to protect every entrance points, PIR Movement Sensors to trigger more accurate alarms, and Key Fob remote control.
Go to Reolink official website to view the complete list of security cameras (systems) for CES 2017. And Reolink will also push out breaking news and CES pics on its Twitter and Facebook account, for real-time coverage.
About Reolink
Reolink has spent years creating the leading-edge products with great features, which are distinguished from other security products in the market. Over the years, Reolink has made great progress in PoE/WiFi IP cameras, NVR kits, baby monitors, etc., providing the perfect security solution to make home a more secure and cozy place. Its products are sold in numerous countries and popular in the US, Canada, UK, Germany and more.
For more information about Reolink and its products, please visit https://reolink.com.
Media Contact
Amanda Li/PR manager
Email: [email protected]
Reolink Digital Technology Co.,Ltd.
This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com/.
SOURCE Reolink Digital Technology Co.,Ltd.
Related Links
https://reolink.com
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc. (the "Company" or "Rexford Industrial") (NYSE: REXR), a real estate investment trust focused on owning and operating industrial properties located in Southern California infill markets, today announced that, under its "At the Market" stock offering program ("ATM"), the Company issued an aggregate of 571,368 shares of common stock during the quarter ending December 31, 2016. The shares were issued at a weighted average offering price of $23.14 per share, receiving gross proceeds of approximately $13.2 million and net proceeds of approximately $13.0 million. The Company used the net proceeds of the ATM for working capital, general corporate purposes and to fund future acquisitions.
A registration statement relating to these securities has been declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor will there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such state or jurisdiction. The offering of these securities will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and related base prospectus. Copies of the prospectus supplement and the related base prospectus may be obtained from the Internet site of the Securities and Exchange Commission at http://www.sec.gov.
About Rexford Industrial
Rexford Industrial is a real estate investment trust focused on owning and operating industrial properties in Southern California infill markets. The Company owns 136 properties with approximately 15.0 million rentable square feet and manages an additional 19 properties with approximately 1.2 million rentable square feet.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially. Forward-looking statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," or "potential" or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases which are predictions of or indicate future events or trends and which do not relate solely to historical matters. While forward-looking statements reflect the Company's good faith beliefs, assumptions and expectations, they are not guarantees of future performance. For a further discussion of these and other factors that could cause the Company's future results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements, see the reports and other filings by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. The Company disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, of new information, data or methods, future events or other changes.
Contact:
Investor Relations:
Stephen Swett
424 256 2153 ext. 401
[email protected]
SOURCE Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.rexfordindustrial.com
NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sands Brothers Asset Management, LLC (Sands Brothers), and Genesis Merchant Partners, LP (Genesis Merchant Partners), are pleased to announce the sale of the assets of Viactiv Holdings, LLC (Viactiv), to Adare Pharmaceuticals (Adare), a Portfolio Company of Texas Pacific Group. Viactiv, the #1 doctor recommended calcium supplement chew, was originally purchased from the McNeil Nutritionals division of Johnson and Johnson in December of 2012.
"Viactiv is a high-quality brand with great distribution across multiple retail chains. It was a wonderful investment for us and we continue to believe that it has a great deal of potential. We believe that Adare's commitment and understanding of the market opportunity will allow them to leverage Viactiv's tremendous brand equity to grow the business in this extremely competitive industry," said Martin Sands, Co-Chairman of Sands Brothers and Senior Portfolio Manager of Genesis Merchant Partners.
Steven Sands, Co-Chairman of Sands Brothers and Senior Portfolio Manager of Genesis Merchant Partners also added, "As the nutraceutical segment of the female health and nutrition market continues to expand, we believe Viactiv is well positioned to capture a significant portion of this attractive and growing category. We look forward to working with Adare over the course of the next few months through this transition in ownership to help maximize value."
Sands Brothers Asset Management is a provider of investment management and advisory services to institutional and high net worth clients around the world. Sands Brothers is registered as an investment advisor with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission since the firm's founding in 1999. Martin Sands and Steven Sands have created a firm that provides investment management and advisory services for equity, venture and credit strategies.
Genesis Merchant Partners, LP ("GMP") is focused on making strategic and opportunistic asset-based and secured loans in underserved markets. GMP makes loans to both US and non-US companies as well as both public and private companies. GMP offers financing to companies with strong assets and cash flows in niche markets that are often overlooked by banks and other traditional providers of capital. GMP may also make other types of opportunistic investments.
SOURCE Sands Brothers Asset Management
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http://www.sandsbros.com
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SelfEcho announces a free 1-year subscription to Mobile Therapy for all military veterans or clinicians providing mental health counseling to Veterans. Mobile Therapy is the award winning smartphone app and Web platform that empowers clinicians to provide better mental health care. Interested and eligible clinicians and individuals should visit www.mobiletherapy.com/veterans to apply and learn more.
From the Military Times, "roughly 20 veterans a day commit suicide nationwide, according to new data from the Department of Veterans Affairs." This speaks to the disturbing mental health crisis facing our veterans. A movement knowns as #22kill has embarked to raise awareness about military suicides.
Mobile Therapy is the first of its kind smartphone and Web based system that empowers clinical psychologists and mental health professionals to gain key insights into patients' emotional well-being in between therapy visits. The software is currently used by clinicians nationwide and in research programs at University of North Carolina, Harvard, and in progress at University of California Santa Barbara.
"Veterans need the best mental health counseling available and there are simply not enough clinical psychologists available," explains SelfEcho CEO, Jacques Habra. Habra continued, "By offering Mobile Therapy at no charge to veterans and those serving veterans, we can provide a tool that not only provides valuable emotional well-being data to the professional, but also engages the veteran in daily check-ins on their mental health." Studies have shown that simply checking in regularly on one's emotional well-being leads to improved outcomes. When asked Why SelfEcho doesn't partner directly with the Veterans Administration, Habra replied, "We would love to create a partnership with the VA, but getting to the right person has been challenging; we'll keep trying."
Mobile Therapy is prescribed by clinical psychologists. The individual patients/clients download an iPhone or Android app and the system passively and actively captures emotional well-being data that is available to clinicians in a Web based platform. The system has been in the marketplace since early 2014 and over 300 clinicians and 1000 end users have used the system. Clinicians have touted Mobile Therapy as a "valuable tool that brings me closer to my patient", and "a very effective way for Clinicians to track key emotional metrics in between therapy visits."
Habra explains that, "Mobile Therapy has built in triggers and alerts that provide insights to clinicians right when patients are showing signs of beginning a downward spiral."
"This can be of particular importance for any patient suffering from suicidal tendencies, or withdrawing towards problematic behavior. The clinician can provide therapy right when it is needed even if the scheduled therapy is days or weeks away," Habra continues.
The Mobile Therapy Veterans program begins on January 3rd 2017 and entitles any Veteran or validated Clinician serving Veterans to 12 months of Mobile Therapy at no charge. "Helping veterans is important to our team, investors, and stakeholders and the free use of Mobile Therapy will hopefully add value to address veterans suffering from PTSD, depression, and other mental health conditions," Habra added.
About SelfEcho:
SelfEcho, a Santa Barbara based start-up, applies technology in creative ways to enhance well-being, mental health, and productivity. The company is committed to the technological application of subject matter experts in the fields of psychology and mental health and seeks to bridge the gap between these individuals and the business sphere. SelfEcho's management team includes four PhD Psychology leaders including the world renowned Dan Gilbert of Harvard University.
More information on the company is available at www.SelfEcho.com.
For more information, please contact SelfEcho CEO - Jacques Habra - [email protected] or calling 866-745-3555.
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SOURCE SelfEcho, Inc
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LOS ANGELES, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Social Native, a platform for creating high performing content on demand, has officially moved out of stealth mode by announcing their technology platform built to reimagine the antiquated creative process by tapping into the power of the gig economy.
Branded Content created for Polaroid Branded Content created for Coca-Cola
Social Native's SaaS platform connects brands with global content creators to create high performing, cost-efficient branded content on demand. Chief Executive Officer David Shadpour explains: "According to Intuit, 40% of American workers will be independent contractors by 2020. The trend towards a 'gig economy' has enabled companies like Uber & Airbnb to reinvent age-old industries like transportation & hospitality."
Joining David on the executive team are Co-Founder of Buddy Media, acquired by Salesforce for $745M, Jeff Ragovin & Co-Creator of AdSense, acquired by Google for $104M, Eytan Elbaz. With Jeff's track record of creating high growth SaaS businesses & Eytan's history of building scalable technology platforms, the team has reimagined the creative process. "We mapped out 396 human touch points in the creative development process, then we automated them," explains Eytan, Social Native Chief Strategy Officer.
There are 3 billion smartphones on this planet with high-resolution cameras. Social Native evaluated billions of people & identified the top 14 million content creators in the world. The technology profiles these creators based on historical content performance, demographics, brand affinities & interests, to automate the pairing of brands with epic creators. The result, a content engine that produces a wide array of branded content, on demand.
Over the past three years alone, content consumption grew by 713% according to KPCB. Marketers are increasingly looking for ways to maintain mindshare without increasing costs.
"Brands need to adjust to the pace of content creation in a socially driven world. Operating with speed & cost-effectively. Yet they can't afford to do it at the expense of great, authentic creative. Very few content creation models are able to answer that dilemma. Social Native does. Brilliantly," states Emmanuel Seuge, 20-year marketing veteran, prior SVP of Content at Coca-Cola & now founder of Cassius.
Social Native content has had a direct impact on ROI. "When we started using Social Native content across eCommerce, we earned a 180% lift in sales. Consumers need authentic personalized content that evokes an emotion. Brands need a cost-effective content engine. Social Native is the solution," said Aaron Paine, Director of Social Media & Digital Strategy for Polaroid.
Coca-Cola & Polaroid join 50 other blue-chip brands that have partnered with Social Native to create high performing content on demand.
ABOUT SOCIAL NATIVE
Social Native is the technology platform for creating high performing branded content. Social Native connects brands with over 14 million content creators, globally, to create custom content on demand. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Social Native is backed by veterans of Google, Salesforce, Scopely, Applied Semantics, & Buddy Media, whose past startups have created over $6B in equity value. Visit socialnative.com to learn more.
Media Contact:
David Bray
[email protected]
917-685-2841
SOURCE Social Native
Related Links
http://socialnative.com
NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Quant House SAS (QuantHouse) to a company owned by Pierre Feligioni, one of QuantHouse's original founders. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
QuantHouse provides end-to-end systematic trading solutions including ultra-low latency market data, algo trading development frameworks, proximity hosting and order routing to hedge funds, market makers, proprietary desks, brokers and sell-side firms.
"We are pleased to have agreed to sell QuantHouse to one of its original founders, Pierre Feligioni," says S&P Global Market Intelligence President, Mike Chinn. "Mr. Feligioni's extensive familiarity with QuantHouse provides the business and its employees with the best opportunity to invest in product enhancements and even more effectively serve clients while allowing S&P Global Market Intelligence to focus its resources on growth opportunities that most closely align with our vision."
"QuantHouse is an innovative next generation company that has changed how capital markets participants trade, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead QuantHouse again," says Pierre Feligioni. "While we leveraged S&P Global's reach together for several years, we collectively believe that the time is right for QuantHouse to regain focus and flexibility to exploit growing market opportunities in North America, Europe and Asia. I am very excited to work with our staff and partners to make QuantHouse the leading provider of ultra-low latency trading solutions, and I look forward to connecting with our customers around the world to present the roadmap for our core solutions and our plan to invest in new products and services."
QuantHouse has developed a strong global platform in recent years, with its expansion into new geographies such as Asia and the delivery of a series of market innovations in ultra-low latency market data and algorithmic trading. QuantHouse's talented management team will remain with the company as it enters this new phase of its growth.
The close of the transaction is anticipated by mid-January.
About S&P Global Market Intelligence
At S&P Global Market Intelligence, we know that not all information is importantsome of it is vital. Accurate, deep and insightful. We integrate financial and industry data, research and news into tools that help track performance, generate alpha, identify investment ideas, understand competitive and industry dynamics, perform valuation and assess credit risk. Investment professionals, government agencies, corporations and universities globally can gain the intelligence essential to making business and financial decisions with conviction.
S&P Global Market Intelligence is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence.
SOURCE S&P Global Market Intelligence
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LONDON, Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- About Spa
The spa market in Europe contributed about 40% of the global spa market by retail value in 2015. Countries in Western Europe experienced healthy growth despite unfavorable economic environment. Specialized urban spas and boutique hotels in the region offer differentiated services to customers at different pricing options. Rising investments in the hospitality and spa sector have significantly helped the growth of the market in this region.
Technavio's analysts forecast the spa market in Europe to grow at a CAGR of 8.60% during the period 2016-2020.
Covered in this report
The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the spa market in Europe for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the spa services.
Technavio's report, Spa Market in Europe 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.
Key vendors
- Lanserhof
- Ritz Carlton
- Clarins
- Fonteverde
Other prominent vendors
- VILA VITA VITAL SPA
- Clinique La Prairie
- Lefay Resort & Spa Lago di Garda
- Chelsea Day Spa
- Nirvana Spa
- Four Seasons Spa
- The Bulgari Spa
- Thermae Bath Spa
- Terme di Saturnia
Market driver
- Innovative service offerings by spa players
- For a full, detailed list, view our report
Market challenge
- Low point of differentiation compared to salons
- For a full, detailed list, view our report
Market trend
- Personalization of products and services
- For a full, detailed list, view our report
Key questions answered in this report
- What will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?
- What are the key market trends?
- What is driving this market?
- What are the challenges to market growth?
- Who are the key vendors in this market space?
- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?
You can request one free hour of our analyst's time when you purchase this market report. Details are provided within the report.
Methodology
Research methodology is based on extensive primary and secondary research. Primary research includes in-depth interviews with industry experts, vendors, resellers and customers. Secondary research includes Technavio Platform, industry publications, company reports, news articles, analyst reports, trade associations and the data published by Government agencies.
Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4539036/
About Reportbuyer
Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers
http://www.reportbuyer.com
For more information:
Sarah Smith
Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +44 208 816 85 48
Website: www.reportbuyer.com
SOURCE ReportBuyer
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Four years in a government-issued uniform and without your family can make a person do odd things. Just look at Rod Blagojevich, imprisoned for trying to sell President Obama's former Senate seat.
Ruminating in federal prison apparently left Illinois' former governor thinking it would be dandy to ask Mr. Obama yep, same Obama to commute his 14-year sentence before the president leaves office in January.
If stir crazy is that bad, perhaps social justice supporters have a point about making sure sentences are appropriate for the crime. The Blagojevich case, the Chicago Tribune wrote, is "regarded as one of the most shocking instances of corruption in U.S. history." For that, 14 years seems just to us, but not to No. 40892-424.
Illinois has a long history of sullied politicians, before and after Blagojevich. But even with that history, it's hard to tell, even at this date, what (or if) the former governor was thinking when he offered to fill the Senate seat with a person named by the highest bidder. "I've got this thing, and it's ... golden," he was recorded saying an FBI wiretap.
Now, the public has a golden opportunity to see a convicted felon a former elected official serve a prison sentence in its entirety. Blagojevich as governor, interestingly, had one of the state's lowest numbers of commutations or pardons, addressing only 25 percent of the requests that came across his desk in six years. The Chicago Tribune reported that Obama's focus on commutations has been on drug cases and that he, too, has granted only a small percentage.
Many (us included) think Blagojevich's request should be ignored by the president and any future president, for that matter. The former governor is supposed to stay imprisoned until 2024, his punishment for conviction of an original 18 counts of corruption. Five counts later were dismissed but the 14-year sentence remained in place.
In recent decades, high-profile presidential pardons/commutations have included names such as Jimmy Hoffa (Richard Nixon); Nixon (Gerald Ford); Peter Yarrow (Jimmy Carter); George Steinbrenner (Ronald Reagan); Caspar Weinberger (George H.W. Bush); and Patty Hearst (Bill Clinton). While the final decision on a pardon/commutation for a federal offense rests solely with the president, we see no overriding reason for Rod Blagojevich to serve a shorter term.
Blagojevich was trained as a lawyer and once served as a prosecutor. He was a state lawmaker, a U.S. congressman and was governor. He, more than most, should have realized the illegality of his actions. He, more than most, succumbed to the greed of politics, position, power and money.
Maybe, in 10 years, he'll have learned his lesson.
CHICAGO, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SPINS, the leading provider of retail consumer insights, analytics, and consulting for the Natural, Organic, and Specialty Products Industries, announces the addition of Kelly Marion as Senior Vice President of Customer Experience to its team.
Marion's leadership at TABS Analytics, Playtex Inc., and CPG Sales Network factor into the exceptional expertise he brings to SPINS clients. In addition to extensive experience in business development, marketing, and sales, Marion has a long history of delivering actionable insights and solutions from data, including working with brands and retailers to launch unique products ahead of their peers across a variety of channels and segments of the market.
"Kelly deeply understands how to help both brands and retailers win with business intelligence. His experience applying analytics and technology to build successful marketplace strategies affords our clients an exclusive competitive advantage," said SPINS CEO, Tony Olson. "2017 is truly our year of the customer, centered on customized solutions. With the addition of Kelly's vision and expertise, SPINS will deliver an unparalleled client experience.
About SPINS
SPINS is a passionate advocate of brands and retailers that promote healthy living. As the leading provider of retail consumer insights, analytics reporting, and consulting services for the Natural, Organic, and Specialty Products Industry, its business offerings are helping retailers in this high growth area to connect people with the brands that they need and love. Learn more at www.spins.com.
SOURCE SPINS
Related Links
http://www.spins.com
Subaru of America, Inc. today reported record-breaking sales of 615,132 vehicles for the 2016 calendar year; an increase of 5.6 percent over the previous annual record of 582,675 vehicles set in 2015. This is the eighth consecutive year of sales records for Subaru of America and ninth consecutive year of sales increases.
The December sales total of 63,177 vehicles marks the company's best-ever sales month, eclipsing the previous best month of August 2016 (60,418). December also marks the sixth consecutive month of 50,000+ vehicle sales for the company which continues to outpace the industry.
Many of the company's current models contributed to its sales success in 2016. The Forester, Legacy, Outback and Crosstrek sales were notably strong as each carline achieved new annual sales records. The Forester and Outback mid-size CUVs finished the year with sales of 178,593 and 182,898, up 1.9 percent and 20.1 percent, respectively. The small CUV entrant, Crosstrek, added 95,677 sales to the year-end total, while the Legacy sedan achieved 65,306 sales in 2016. The Impreza, all-new for 2017, added 55,238 annual sales. On the performance side, the company's WRX and STI models achieved annual sales of 33,279.
"We are thrilled to close 2016 with our eighth consecutive sales record for Subaru," said Thomas J. Doll, president and chief operating officer, Subaru of America, Inc. "We would like to thank all of our retailers for their continued commitment in making these record-breaking sales results possible and we look forward to making 2017 our next record year."
"December represented the best month ever for Subaru of America, topping off the best year in the company's history, in both sales and market share," said Jeff Walters, senior vice president of sales. "Subaru is well positioned to continue its success into 2017," added Walters.
Carline Dec-16 Dec-15 % Chg Dec-16 Dec-15 % Chg
MTD MTD MTD YTD YTD YTD Forester 18,015 16,797 7.3% 178,593 175,192 1.9% Impreza 5,126 6,059 -15.4% 55,238 66,785 -17.3% WRX/STI 2,938 3,089 -4.9% 33,279 33,734 -1.4% Legacy 5,960 5,759 3.5% 65,306 60,447 8.0% Outback 20,695 16,067 28.8% 182,898 152,294 20.1% BRZ 214 413 -48.2% 4,141 5,296 -21.8% Crosstrek 10,229 8,090 26.4% 95,677 88,927 7.6% TOTAL 63,177 56,274 12.3% 615,132 582,675 5.6%
About Subaru of America, Inc.
Subaru of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan. Headquartered at a zero-landfill office in Cherry Hill, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of more than 620 retailers across the United States. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill production plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. is the only U.S. automobile production plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. For additional information visit media.subaru.com.
Michael McHale
Subaru of America, Inc.
856-488-3326
[email protected]
Diane Anton
Subaru of America, Inc.
856-488-5093
[email protected]
SOURCE Subaru of America, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.subaru.com
NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Use this report to:
- Analyze the developing market for superconducting applications, materials and other enabling technologies.
- Assess expected technological and market trends in the longer term.
- Evaluate superconducting technologies that are expected to influence the market through 2021.
- Describe key players in the emerging superconductivity industry.
Highlights
- The global market for superconductivity technologies should reach $5.3 billion by 2021 from $3.4 billion in 2016 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4%, from 2016 to 2021.
- The superconducting magnets market should reach $3.4 billion by 2021 from $3.3 billion in 2016 at a CAGR of 0.9%, from 2016 to 2021.
- The superconducting electrical equipment market should reach $1.7 billion by 2021 from $63.3 million in 2016 at a CAGR of 92.5%, from 2016 to 2021.
STUDY BACKGROUND
Superconductivity is a unique and powerful tool in scientific research that has led to important strides in healthcare such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Other superconducting technologies on the cusp of commercialization will increase the efficiency with which electricity is produced and usedand will indirectly benefit the environment.
In the future, superconducting technologies may be used to predict earthquakes, map the magnetic fields produced by the brain and produce ultrahigh-performance computers. These are only a few examples of the wide range of superconductivity technologies and applications analyzed in this report. This report is an updated version of an earlier BCC Research report published in 2014.
STUDY GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The overall goal of this report is to provide an up-to-date understanding of the developing market for superconducting applications, materials and other enabling technologies. Specific objectives include:
- Identifying superconducting applications with the greatest commercial potential in the near to medium term (2015 to 2021).
- Analyzing the key drivers and constraints that will shape the market for these superconducting applications as the basis for projecting demand over the next five years.
- Estimating current and future consumption of superconducting materials and other key enabling technologies.
- Identifying the companies that are best positioned to meet this demand because of their proprietary technologies, strategic alliances or other advantages.
INTENDED AUDIENCE
This report is intended for marketing executives, entrepreneurs, investors, venture capitalists and other readers with a need to know where the superconductivity field is headed over the next five to 10 years. Other readers who should find the report particularly valuable include government officials associated with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and other national and state-level programs charged with advancing the development of the nanotechnology industry.
Although the report addresses specific superconductivity technologies and materials, it is generally nontechnical in nature and coverage. This analysis is less concerned with theory and jargon than with identifying the developments that work, assessing the amount of technologies the market is likely to purchase, and projecting the price of such technologies. Although the report is not written specifically for scientists and technologists, many of these professionals will be interested in its findings concerning the market for their work, including the availability of government and corporate research funding for different technologies and applications.
SCOPE AND FORMAT
The report addresses trends in superconductivity technology and the global market for superconductivity applications during the period from 2015 through 2021, including:
- Science, research and technology development.
- Healthcare.
- Electric utilities.
- Computing.
- Transportation.
- Communications.
- Military/defense.
- Other applications. The study format includes the following major elements:
- Executive summary.
- Overview (i.e., definitions, brief history, superconductivity characteristics, market summary).
- Developments in superconducting technology that are expected to influence the market through 2021.
- Detailed market estimates and projections for each technology, application and end use during the period from 2015 to 2021.
- General assessment of expected technological and market trends in the longer term. - Description of key players in the emerging superconductivity industry.
INFORMATION SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY
The findings and conclusions presented in this report are based on information gathered from primary sources within the industry, including vendors and users of superconductivity products. Interview data were combined with information gathered through an extensive review of secondary sources such as trade publications, trade association literature, company literature and online databases to produce the market projections contained in this report.
The base year for analysis and projection is 2015 and market projections were developed for 2016 to 2021. These projections are based on a combination of a consensus among the primary contacts and BCC Research's understanding of the key market drivers and their impact from a historical and analytical perspective.
The analytical methodologies used to generate the market estimates are described in detail in the section titled "Detailed Market Projections." The documentation is intended to enable the reader to evaluate the projections and, if desired, substitute alternative assumptions. All dollar projections presented in this report are in 2015 constant dollars unless otherwise noted.
ANALYST'S CREDENTIALS
Andrew McWilliams, the author of this report, is a partner in 43rd Parallel LLC, a Boston-based international technology and marketing consulting firm. He is the author of the previous edition of this report, as well as a number of other BCC Research market opportunity studies on advanced materials topics, including:
- AVM078A New Electronic Materials and Device Technologies: Global Markets.
- AVM025G Diamond, Diamond-Like and CBN Films and Coating Products.
- AVM015H High-Performance Ceramic Coatings: Markets and Technologies.
- AVM038F Advanced Structural Carbon Products: Fibers, Foams and Composites.
- AVM067D Metamaterials: Technologies and Global Markets.
- AVM064A Geosynthetics: Materials, Applications and Markets.
- AVM075D Graphene: Technologies, Applications, and Markets.
- EGY053C Advanced Materials and Devices for Renewable Energy: Global Markets.
- IAS029D Terahertz Radiation Systems: Technologies and Global Markets.
- EGY065C Enabling Technologies for the Smart Grid.
- NAN015H Advanced Ceramics and Nanoceramic Powders.
- NAN021G Global Markets for Nanocomposites, Nanoparticles, Nanoclays, and Nanotubes.
Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p096597-summary/view-report.html
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ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.
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SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SutroVax, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the delivery of best-in-class conjugate vaccines and novel complex antigen-based vaccines to prevent deadly infectious diseases, today announced the appointment of Elaine Sun as Chief Financial Officer and the additions of Peter Hirth, Ph.D., to the company's Board of Directors and Jeffrey Almond, PhD. FMedSci, to the Scientific Advisory Board.
Ms. Sun is a veteran strategic financial and business advisor with more than two decades of experience in the life sciences industry. Prior to joining SutroVax, she served as Managing Director and head of West Coast health care for Evercore Partners, a leading independent investment banking advisory firm, where she led biotechnology coverage. Prior to Evercore, Ms. Sun was a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch and Co. in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group, advising large-cap pharmaceutical, biotechnology and specialty pharmaceutical companies on a range of strategic and financing transactions. During her investment banking tenure, Ms. Sun advised on M&A and financing transactions representing over $50 billion in aggregate transaction value. Most recently, Ms. Sun built a successful consulting practice, advising venture-backed companies on a range of strategic, financing, partnering and M&A decisions. Ms. Sun received a B.A. in Economics and Japanese Studies from Wellesley College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
"Elaine brings a wealth of experience and a track record of closing major financial transactions that will be of great value in her new role at SutroVax as we continue to grow and expand our activities both internally and in partnership with other industry leaders," said Grant Pickering, CEO of SutroVax.
Dr. Hirth co-founded and led Plexxikon, Inc. as its CEO as it built a novel, structure-guided drug discovery platform that advanced several new chemical entities into the clinic, including Zelboraf, which was FDA approved and led to the company's 2011 acquisition by Daiichi Sankyo for $935 million. Prior to Plexxikon, Dr. Hirth was President of SUGEN, Inc., where he was instrumental in building the company from its inception as well as advancing several kinase inhibitors through clinical trials, including Sutent, which was FDA approved and led to the company's 1999 acquisition by Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc. for $728 million. Prior to SUGEN, Dr. Hirth was Vice President of Research at Boehringer Mannheim where he successfully led the company's erythropoietin program to approval in 1989, which was sold under the name Recormon. Before moving into industry, Dr. Hirth was a research scientist with the Max Planck Institute following his post-doctoral work at University of California, San Diego and obtaining his Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Heidelberg University, Germany.
"Drs. Almond and Hirth are truly giants in their fields of expertise. Dr. Hirth's ability to harness the potential from cutting-edge development platforms at emerging biotechnology organizations to deliver novel drugs to the market will be highly valuable to SutroVax, as we advance our lead program into the clinic," said Mr. Pickering. "Dr. Almond helmed both internal and external R&D at Sanofi-Pasteur, one of the world's leading vaccine companies, for over a decade. His insights will be fundamental to ensuring that we fully leverage our proprietary platform as we focus on creating and developing potential best-in-class vaccines."
Dr. Almond is Visiting Professor of Microbiology at the William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford and is an Oxford Martin Fellow with the Oxford Martin Programme on Vaccines. Before that he was Vice President and Head of Discovery Research and External R&D at Sanofi Pasteur. His scientific contributions include the first demonstration that a single gene can determine the host range of influenza virus a finding highly relevant to understanding evolution of new pandemic strains; completion of the genetic map of an avian influenza virus, and the first detailed description of the proteins of Influenza B virus. He has also made major contributions to our understanding of poliovirus and its vaccines. In 1985 as a young academic Dr. Almond won the Fleming Award for outstanding contribution to microbiological research by a young microbiologist in the UK, and the pace and extent of his contributions have not diminished. In his previous role at Sanofi Pasteur, he was responsible for the scientific rationale underpinning approximately 30 vaccine projects covering viruses, bacteria and eukaryotic parasites. He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and in 1999 was awarded the Ivanovsky Medal for "Contributions to the Development of Virology" by The Scientific Council of Virology of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. He is a Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and has served on numerous scientific committees in the UK and beyond, including the governing body of the Medical Research Council.
"The SutroVax platform is the ideal technological approach to use for precision conjugations to deliver a new quality of vaccines, and it is being built to create an engine for multiple product opportunities," said Dr. Hirth.
"I am delighted to join SutroVax in their quest to develop new and improved vaccines using their exciting new technology," said Dr. Almond. "I am hugely impressed by their recognition that vaccine R&D includes building the ability to scale-up and industrialise as well as solving problems at the molecular level with their platform."
About Conjugate Vaccines
Conjugate vaccines comprise the largest segment of the vaccine industry, with annual sales approaching $10 billion across multiple licensed indications, including pneumococcus, meningitis, and H flu. By far the largest of those indications is the pneumococcus market, with annual sales of nearly $7 billion. Despite the successes to date, there are not only a significant number of additional bacterial strains that have yet to be incorporated into current conjugate vaccines, but also many infectious diseases that have yet to be addressed using this potent modality.
About Xpress CF
The Xpress CF platform allows for efficient conjugation of antigens to precise positions on carrier proteins via the incorporation of multiple non-native amino acid (nnAA) substitutions to permit click chemistry attachment. This precise and robust technique has been designed to produce homogeneous and consistent vaccines that have the potential to confer important immunological and clinical benefits relative to current conjugate vaccines. Pinpointing the placement of the antigen on the carrier has the potential to improve host immune responses by avoiding the discrete sites on the carrier responsible for T-cell help, which are often impinged by current conjugation methods. Furthermore, the precise optimization of antigen positioning on the carrier protein allows the attachment of multiple antigenic constructs to a single protein carrier, which will facilitate the production of broader spectrum vaccines. These improvements, along with our high-yield, streamlined and industrialized production process, have the potential to deliver best-in-class conjugate vaccines to the market with heightened immunity and broader protection.
About SutroVax
SutroVax is an independent vaccine platform and development company whose mission is to deliver best-in-class conjugate vaccines and novel complex antigen-based vaccines to prevent deadly infectious diseases. The company is leveraging its exclusive license to Sutro Biopharma's Xpress CF platform to perform cell-free protein synthesis and site-specific conjugation for the field of vaccines. SutroVax is financed by an international syndicate of experienced, blue-chip venture capital and corporate venture investors. For more information, visit www.sutrovax.com.
SOURCE SutroVax
Related Links
http://www.sutrovax.com
Giamo joined TD Bank in 1998 as the head of its middle market lending group in New Jersey. After successfully growing and building the local middle market business, he held various positions of increasing responsibility in commercial and retail banking. Most recently, Giamo served as Regional President of TD's New York Metro region, where he oversaw an aggressive de novo growth strategy that resulted in the opening of more than 250 TD Bank stores and ran day-to-day commercial and retail banking activities.
Prior to joining TD Bank, Giamo worked at Bank of New York and CoreStates Financial Corp.
Giamo's appointment follows the retirement of Fred Graziano, who worked at TD Bank for 25 years and most recently served as Head of the Regional Commercial Bank.
"Chris has a long track record of success across the banking industry and understands how to build and develop winning strategies and teams," said Greg Braca, Chief Operating Officer, TD Bank. "He is passionate about serving customers and driving results, and is well-positioned to lead our growing commercial banking business."
"The Commercial Bank at TD Bank continues to expand, providing great opportunity for us to serve businesses of all sizes," Giamo said. "I look forward to working with the commercial team to accelerate our growth within the marketplace."
Giamo holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Rhode Island. He serves on the boards of several organizations, including the Long Island Association, Global Gateway Alliance, Huntington Hospital and TD Private Client Wealth, LLC. Giamo resides in Long Island, New York, with his family.
About TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank
TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is one of the 10 largest banks in the U.S., providing more than 8.9 million customers with a full range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services at more than 1,275 convenient locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas and Florida. In addition, TD Bank and its subsidiaries offer customized private banking and wealth management services through TD Wealth, and vehicle financing and dealer commercial services through TD Auto Finance. TD Bank is headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J. To learn more, visit www.tdbank.com. Find TD Bank on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TDBank and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TDBank_US.
TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is a member of TD Bank Group and a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada, a top 10 financial services company in North America. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the ticker symbol "TD". To learn more, visit www.td.com.
SOURCE TD Bank
Related Links
http://www.TDBank.com
SHANGHAI, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TE Connectivity (NYSE: TEL), a world leader in connectivity and sensors, announced today that the company has been named one of China's 50 Most Innovative Companies for 2016 by Fast Company China.
"We are honored to be recognized amongst the most innovative companies in China," said Chao Zhang, TE Connectivity global vice president and president of TE in China. "TE Connectivity has been leading the field of connectivity for 75 years and we are committed to driving innovation in China, helping engineers bring amazing new ideas to life."
China's 50 Most Innovative Companies is an annual award hosted by globally renowned business publication Fast Company's Chinese issue. Every year, Fast Company China invites a panel with experts from different industry backgrounds to analyze more than 800 companies from the perspectives of innovation, leadership, innovation value, design, and technology, aiming to identify the top 50 most innovative companies in China.
Credited by Fast Company China for "enabling innovation from concept to mass production through intelligent and reliable connector and sensor solutions," TE has always been at the forefront of innovation - inventing the sensors and connectors that advance how people live, move, make things and communicate. This is also a great testament of TE's strong presence and commitment to the China market.
TE has more than 7,000 engineers around the world and invests nearly $650 million annually in research, development and engineering. In China, the company's 2,000 engineers are working with local customers and expanding the possibilities of IoT, smart factory, electric vehicle, medical care, drone technology and digital engineering.
ABOUT TE CONNECTIVITY
TE Connectivity (NYSE: TEL) is a $12 billion global technology leader. Our connectivity and sensor solutions are essential in today's increasingly connected world. We collaborate with engineers to transform their concepts into creations redefining what's possible using intelligent, efficient and high-performing TE products and solutions proven in harsh environments. Our 75,000 people, including over 7,000 engineers, partner with customers in close to 150 countries across a wide range of industries. We believe EVERY CONNECTION COUNTS www.TE.com.
SOURCE TE Connectivity
NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TreasuryXpress, the global leader in frictionless and on-demand treasury management solutions recently announced that TECOM Group, a Dubai-based strategic business enabler that contributes to the realization of the Emirate's economic aspiration by creating sector-focused communities and innovative business solutions, has gone live with the firm's enterprise treasury management solution, C2Treasury. This was selected by TECOM Group to help automate the bank reconciliation and achieve deeply integrated straight-through processing with the firm's ERP, Oracle, and Yardi.
TreasuryXpress
As a significant contributor to Dubai's sustainable economic growth, TECOM Group's 11 business communities have attracted companies and talent from around the world, covering seven vibrant industries. The communities host over 5,100 companies, ranging from start-ups to multinational corporations and this breadth and reach translates into complex bank account and treasury management requirements. Having to manage many bank accounts across different banks, TECOM Group needed to find a way to simplify and economize their bank connections and bank account statement reconciliations.
Michael Wunderbaldinger, Chief Financial Officer at TECOM Group said: "As our business has expanded, we have had a growing need to streamline our bank reconciliation processes all through one central system. We knew this would require a good deal of customized integration to fully automate our bank account reconciliation with Oracle and Yardi. C2Treasury will help facilitate business partner activity through the automation of payments received, creating a smoother process for all the parties involved".
"We chose TreasuryXpress as our partner because of their reputation for quality solutions and support. Their expertise in cutting-edge technology development and their responsiveness to customer needs has exceeded our expectations," he added.
The solution is highly unique and innovative and includes the following capabilities:
Deep integration between SWIFT, Oracle, and C2Treasury for automatic data synchronization between all the systems
Automatic standardization of all transactions from bank statements and payments to invoices
Fully automated reconciliation
The custom solution was developed and fully delivered in less than one month.
"We are so pleased that TECOM Group chose TreasuryXpress as their partner for innovation. We know that each client is unique and we make it our priority to create solutions that are fully responsive to their requirements," said Anis Rahal, CEO and founder of TreasuryXpress. "Our technology and approach to development is built to scale quickly, affordably, and securely."
ABOUT TREASURYXPRESS
TreasuryXpress, a global FinTech provider, specializes in delivering innovative solutions that deliver 100% bank visibility, consolidate cash information, manage end-to-end payment processing, and achieve automated custom reporting.
Our solutions centralize 10,000+ bank accounts daily and process electronic payments for over 7 billion USD each year.
Visit www.treasuryxpress.com or email [email protected].
About TECOM Group
TECOM Group, a member of Dubai Holding, is a strategic business enabler that contributes to the realisation of Dubai's economic aspirations, by creating sector-focused communities and innovative business solutions.
TECOM Group's 11 business communities have attracted companies and talent from around the world, reinforcing Dubai's position as a global hub for business and commerce. Covering seven vibrant industries, the communities host over 5,100 companies, ranging from start-ups to multinational corporations, and employ 76,000 creative workers.
TECOM Group's free zone business communities include Dubai Internet City, Dubai Outsource City, Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City, Dubai Production City, Dubai Knowledge Park, Dubai International Academic City, Dubai Science Park and Dubai Design District (d3). The Group's newest business community, Dubai Wholesale City (DWSC), is the region's first integrated wholesale trading and industrial hub that features sector focused pavilions including Dubai Industrial Park.
http://tecomgroup.ae/
For media enquiries please contact:
Khaled Ramadan
Executive Director Corporate Communications, TECOM Group
+1.347.920.1673
[email protected]
SOURCE TreasuryXpress
Related Links
http://www.treasuryxpress.com
AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Texas ranked second in the nation for relocation activity in 2015, according to the Texas Relocation Report released today by the Texas Association of REALTORS. Analyzing statewide and national migration data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the report showed that Texas continues to be a high-demand destination for U.S. residents relocating across the country.
"The diverse job opportunities and high quality of life in Texas continues to drive in-state and out-of-state migration to Texas cities and counties, both big and small," said Vicki Fullerton, 2017 chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors. "This is the third consecutive year that Texas has gained more than 500,000 new residents from out of state."
According to the report, Texas experienced a net gain of out-of-state residents in 2015, with 107,689 more people moving to Texas than Texas residents moving out of state. This is a 4 percent increase in the net gain of Texas residents from 2014 (103,465 residents).
The total number of residents moving to Texas from out of state in 2015 increased 2.8 percent year-over-year to 553,032 incoming residents. The highest number of new Texans came from California (65,546), followed by Florida (33,670), Louisiana (31,044), New York (26,287) and Oklahoma (25,555).
Texas once again ranked third in the nation for number of residents moving out of state (445,343) in 2015. The most popular out-of-state relocation destinations for Texans were California (41,713), Florida (29,706), Oklahoma (28,642), Colorado (25,268), and Louisiana (19,863).
This is the first Texas Relocation Report to feature comparative relocation data by Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim and New York-Newark-Jersey City recorded the highest number of resident migrations to Texas in 2015. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington recorded the highest number of incoming residents from out-of-state (117,982), followed by the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugarland (101,604) and Austin-Round Rock (46,598).
At the county level, Harris County led the state with a net gain of 18,945 residents relocating to the county from out of state, but four of the top 10 counties with the highest net gain of residents from out of state were located in North Texas (Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties).
Fullerton concluded, "As thousands more people choose Texas to further their careers, grow their businesses and raise their families each year, the need for initiatives that protect our state's affordability, mobility and economy becomes increasingly critical. In the upcoming legislative session, Texas REALTORS will be actively advocating for sustainable, long-term policies that will support our state's enduring population growth."
About the Texas Relocation Report
The Texas Relocation Report is based on data from the 2015 American Community Survey and the 2010-2014 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau as well as the U-Haul 2015 National Migration Trend Reports. The report analyzes county relocation data for the 43 largest demographic areas in Texas. The Texas Association of REALTORS distributes insights about the Texas housing market each month, including quarterly market statistics, trends among homebuyers and sellers, luxury home sales, international trends, and more. To view the Texas Relocation Report in its entirety, visit TexasRealEstate.com.
About the Texas Association of REALTORS
With more than 110,000 members, the Texas Association of REALTORS is a professional membership organization that represents all aspects of real estate in Texas. We advocate on behalf of Texas REALTORS and private-property owners to keep homeownership affordable, protect private-property rights, and promote public policies that benefit homeowners. Visit TexasRealEstate.com to learn more.
CONTACT: Danielle Urban
Pierpont Communications
512-448-4950
[email protected]
SOURCE Texas Association of Realtors
Related Links
http://www.TexasRealEstate.com
"Through advancements and innovations including fetal MRIs, ultrasounds and genetic testing, we are able to diagnose birth defects much earlier than ever before," said fetal surgery pioneer and pediatric surgeon N. Scott Adzick, MD, medical director of the hospital's CFDT, and Surgeon-in-Chief. "However, birth defects still remain the leading cause of infant mortality in the United States. It is our mission to change that statistic while continuing to provide expert care to the mother and child facing a diagnosis."
The CFDT at CHOP is a global leader in fetal medicine and are one of only a few programs worldwide to offer comprehensive prenatal diagnosis, fetal surgery and therapy, and the option of delivering at a top pediatric hospital. The Center was also the focus of a three-part, documentary series called "TWICE BORN: Stories from the Special Delivery Unit," that aired on PBS in 2015 and was awarded an Outstanding Science and Technology Programming Emmy at the 37th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards this past September.
"They told me that she wasn't going to survive," recalls Lesly, mother of Lilly who was treated in the CFDT. Lesly's doctor in California offered little hope when an enormous tumor growing outside of the baby's mouth was spotted on an ultrasound. "They told me that if I kept the baby, I was putting my life at risk. They basically declared her dead in a sense." After receiving the grim news, Lesly decided to move home to New Jersey and seek care at CHOP. Here, our team quickly put into place a treatment plan, and today Lilly is a happy, healthy three-year-old. Read Lesly and Lilly's full story here: http://www.chop.edu/stories/lesly-s-leap-faith
This is just one example of the thousands patients, from all 50 states and over 60 countries, cared for by the CFDT. Each week, highly sophisticated surgical teams repair spina bifida and other birth defects both in and out of the womb, place fetal shunts to treat life-threatening congenital conditions, or perform minimally invasive procedures in the mother's uterus to treat complications in fetal twins. Of approximately 5,000 fetal surgeries done worldwide, a quarter of them have been performed at CHOP, more than any other hospital. The Center staff has also managed thousands of pregnancies complicated by birth defects in which newborns need immediate specialized medical care or surgery after delivery.
About Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals, and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 535-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu
Contact: Ashley Moore
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
[email protected]
Cell: 215.630.4683
SOURCE The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Related Links
http://www.chop.edu
For 2017's challenge, ICE partnered with celebrity chefs and food stars Marcus Samuelsson, Ted Allen, Donatella Arpaia and Duff Goldman to challenge the nation to enter and win a scholarship to attend ICE. A worldwide public vote will determine the finalists, and the winners will be chosen by an exclusive panel of ICE instructors.
"What started out as a creative way to award scholarships became a viral sensation last time we ran the challenge. This time, we've taken things to a whole new level with even more scholarships and the industry behind us," said Rick Smilow, ICE's president and CEO. "At ICE, our mission is to enable the creative light within each individual, empowering them to find rewarding careers in the culinary and hospitality industries. We've helped more than 13,000 alumni find their culinary and hospitality voices, and with the nation's help, we hope to change the lives of 18 more people, meet thousands of others and have some fun in the process."
Entrants upload an original one-minute video to ice.edu/CulinaryVoice demonstrating their creativity, their passion for food or service or their entrepreneurial flair. In the video, contestants should explain who they are, who or what inspires them and what they hope to achieve in the culinary or hospitality industries. Entrants should tell the world why they deserve one of 18 scholarships and the chance to study at the award-winning Institute of Culinary Education in New York City, widely recognized as the nation's premier, state-of-the-art center for culinary education.
"ICE has become so much more than just a culinary school. Their programs, their facility, their creativity and their entrepreneurial approach really help develop and nurture young talent in this industry," said Donatella Arpaia, celebrity chef and restaurateur behind Prova Pizzabar. "I hope the next generation of culinary and hospitality hopefuls take advantage of the opportunity this challenge offers and enters, so they too can study at such an amazing place."
The top 50 #CulinaryVoice Scholarship Challenge finalists in each category will be determined by public vote, and for every vote, ICE will make a donation to Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) to fund even more scholarships. One full scholarship and two partial scholarships will be awarded for each of ICE's six award-winning career training programs: Culinary Arts, Pastry & Baking Arts, Restaurant & Culinary Management, Hospitality Management, Bread Baking and Cake Decorating.
Important Dates:
January 4 : Entries Open
Entries Open January 17 : Voting Begins (new entries are still accepted during voting)
: Voting Begins (new entries are still accepted during voting) February 15 : Entries and Voting Close
Entries and Voting Close February 23 : Winners announced
"Access to education is extremely important to me, especially in the culinary arts, so I am thrilled to partner with the Institute of Culinary Education on this scholarship challenge," said Ted Allen, host of Food Network's Chopped. "I'm looking forward to seeing the creativity of the entrants and hope to see 18 deserving lives changed through culinary education in the process."
For more information and to enter the challenge, visit ice.edu/culinaryvoice
About the Institute of Culinary Education
The Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) is one of the largest and most diverse culinary schools in the world. Established in 1975, ICE offers award-winning six to 13-month career training programs in Culinary Arts, Pastry & Baking Arts, Restaurant & Culinary Management, Hospitality Management, Bread Baking and Cake Decorating with more than 13,000 successful alumni, many of whom are leaders in the industry. ICE also offers continuing education for culinary professionals, hosts more than 500 special events each year and is home to one of the world's largest recreational cooking, baking and wine programs with more than 26,000 students annually. In 2015, marking the school's 40th anniversary, ICE moved to a new, modern 74,000-square-foot facility at Brookfield Place in downtown Manhattan, designed for inspiration, creativity and community. Visit us at ice.edu or join us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @iceculinary to find your culinary voice
CONTACT:
Stephanie Fraiman
Public Relations Director
Institute of Culinary Education
(212) 847-0703
[email protected]
SOURCE The Institute of Culinary Education
Related Links
http://www.ice.edu
New Braunfels, TX (78130)
Today
Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. High near 85F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Higher wind gusts possible..
Tonight
Some clouds early will give way to generally clear conditions overnight. Low 52F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.
QUINCY, Ill., Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In an effort to take advantage of production capacities, Titan International will relocate key wheel production from its Saltville, Virginia manufacturing facility to its North American wheel division headquarters in Quincy, Illinois.
As the world's leading off-the-road wheel manufacturer, Titan continues to be committed to the mining industry. "We're consolidating production in order to more effectively serve our key mining customers, providing them the innovative wheel solutions they've come to depend on," stated Paul Reitz, Titan President and CEO. "During this transition, our customer service and support teams are committed to ensuring that our customers experience minimal service or production interruptions. As the mining market returns, Titan will evaluate moving production back to the Saltville, Virginia facility."
Company description: Titan International, Inc. (NYSE: TWI), a holding company, owns subsidiaries that supply wheels, tires, assemblies and undercarriage products for off-highway equipment used in agricultural, earthmoving/construction and consumer applications. For more information, visit www.titan-intl.com.
SOURCE Titan International, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.titan-intl.com
SINTON, Texas, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- After several years of anticipation, touchscreen voting is coming to San Patricio County. County Commissioners approved the purchase of Hart InterCivic's new Verity Voting system, the most advanced system certified for elections in the U.S.
Recently certified by the Texas Secretary of State's office, and recommended by the county's election office, Verity has passed rigorous testing at the state and federal levels. The move to all electronic voting in time for the May 2017 election helps clear the way for gaining approval of Vote Centers to serve the growing number of registered voters in San Patricio County.
Voters appreciate the convenience of Vote Centers, and Elections Administrator Pam Hill has sought approval for the updated system since she learned that Texas was testing the latest version of Verity. Vote Centers will require additional approval and public input once the new technology is in use.
Verity will replace San Patricio County's 11-year-old legacy system from Hart, which employs both electronic and paper ballots. Wanting to upgrade as quickly as possible, Hill urged county officials to adopt the technology as soon as it was certified in Texas.
"We're excited to move to the touchscreen," said Elections Administrator Pam Hill. "We're excited Verity is smaller and lighter; it will be great for our poll workers. Our expectations are high for the administrative software to be even easier to work with than what we're using now. We're looking forward to a good 2017, starting with Verity."
Staying with Hart, a trusted elections partner, while moving to the easy-to-use Verity system makes sense for San Patricio County.
"We've always enjoyed working with Hart because of our relationship with the company's personnel," Hill added. "We know Hart is there to help us with whatever we need. I couldn't ask for a better company to work with at election time and throughout the year."
Phillip Braithwaite, President and CEO of Hart InterCivic commented, "When the Texas Secretary of State's office certified this newest release of Verity, San Patricio was one of the first counties in line for the new technology. They've made a good move. We have worked with this county since 2005, and we look forward to a long future of successful elections together."
Verity is a flexible, transparent and trustworthy solution with the most up-to-date hardware and software available in the U.S. The Verity touchscreen is bigger and easier to read, and the complete system weighs less than other options. Its portable, briefcase style simplifies transport, setup and storage.
Since Verity Voting's first release was certified by the federal Election Assistance Commission in May 2015, jurisdictions in eight states have adopted the system. Hart, which provides voting system solutions for 111 Texas counties, has headquarters in Austin and more than 100 years of history in the election business.
Braithwaite anticipates more Verity announcements from Texas counties in the coming weeks.
Learn more about Verity in Texas: http://www.hartintercivic.com/texas4verity.
About Hart InterCivic, Inc.
Austin-based Hart InterCivic is a full service election solutions innovator, partnering with state and local governments to deliver secure, accurate and reliable elections. Working side-by-side with election professionals for more than 100 years, Hart is committed to helping advance democracy one election at a time. The Hart mission fuels passionate customer focus and a continuous drive for technological innovation. The company's new Verity Voting system makes voting more straightforward, equitable and accessibleand makes managing elections more transparent, more efficient and easier.
SOURCE Hart InterCivic, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.hartintercivic.com
MONTREAL, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Luxury Retreats has announced today that Robert Eastman has joined the company in a business development consultancy role in support of strategic trade partnerships. Eastman, who will be based in New York, will play an active role to further increase the company's reach within the travel agency sector. As a resource in strategic trade partnerships, Eastman will be responsible for increasing the presence of Luxury Retreats in the travel agency community by cementing existing relationships and creating new strategic partnerships with key agency groups.
"Robert is a terrific addition to our team and will focus on growing our presence amongst travel agencies worldwide," said Luxury Retreats founder and CEO, Joe Poulin. "Robert brings exceptional experiences and unique access to holistic partnerships; we are thrilled to welcome his support."
Eastman has nearly 30 years of experience in the luxury villa industry on a business-to-business basis. Formerly, Eastman was a Managing Director for the luxury villa division of American Express. Most notably, Eastman founded Villas of Distinction, which became a leader in the field of Vacation Villa Rentals. He also previously worked as a Chief Operating Officer for Overseas Properties where he developed a significant number of residential properties in the New York area.
"After competing with Luxury Retreats for so many years, I am thrilled to be working with a company that has a portfolio with an unmatched breadth and depth," said Eastman. "Besides being the largest private villa company in terms of sales volume, I truly believe that they are the best at what they do with the finest service for their clients and most efficient interaction with supplier partners."
About Luxury Retreats
Luxury Retreats is the world's leading luxury vacation rental company, offering over 3,000 homes in 95 destinations. A global team of passionate travel enthusiasts and partners handpick and personally inspect each property, ensuring that guests are offered only the very best. Luxury Retreats provides 24Seven concierge service as well as dedicated villa specialists to help guests find the perfect villa all without charging membership fees. For more information, visit www.LuxuryRetreats.com.
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SOURCE Luxury Retreats
Related Links
http://www.LuxuryRetreats.com
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthSouth (NYSE:HLS) today announced the appointment of Troy DeDecker as president of the Company's central region effective immediately.
DeDecker will transition into the position from his current role as the Company's vice president for the central region, which includes 17 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals in Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and the western and central regions of Tennessee.
"I have had the privilege of working alongside Troy for a few years now, and he has proven himself to be the best fit to lead our hospitals in this region," said Barb Jacobsmeyer, executive vice president of operations for HealthSouth and immediate past president of HealthSouth's central region. "Troy's knowledge of HealthSouth's operations and his expertise as a healthcare leader and physical therapist will be invaluable assets that will allow us to continue delivering strong outcomes for our patients."
DeDecker joined HealthSouth in January 2013 as the chief executive officer of HealthSouth MidAmerica Rehabilitation Hospital in Overland Park, Kansas. His first career in healthcare as a rehabilitation tech led to many opportunities in varying clinical and hospital leadership positions throughout the years and prior to joining HealthSouth.
DeDecker achieved an undergraduate degree in physical therapy from the University of North Florida and a master's degree in health services administration from the University of Kansas School of Medicine.
About HealthSouth
HealthSouth is one of the nation's largest providers of post-acute healthcare services, offering both facility-based and home-based post-acute services in 35 states and Puerto Rico through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies, and hospice agencies. HealthSouth can be found on the web at www.healthsouth.com.
Media Contact
Casey Lassiter, 205 641-1118
[email protected]
Investor Relations Contact
Crissy Carlisle, 205 970-5860
[email protected]
SOURCE HealthSouth
Related Links
http://www.healthsouth.com
BOSTON, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Julia Collin Davison and Bridget Lancaster will take center stage as hosts of America's Test Kitchen, the most popular instructional cooking show on television. Both Davison and Lancaster are original cast members of the show, which debuted in 2001. They will be stepping into their new roles in January 2017, check your local public television station listings or www.americastestkitchen.com/schedule for dates and times in your area.
Julia is the executive editor for the book division of America's Test Kitchen and began working as a test cook for Cook's Illustrated in 1999. Bridget is the executive editor for new media, television, and radio at America's Test Kitchen and joined the Cook's Illustrated team in 1998. As original cast members of America's Test Kitchen, Bridget and Julia have each appeared in more than 300 episodes of the show and have been teaching cooks the secrets to success for 16 years.
"Bridget and I are both so thrilled to assume these new roles with America's Test Kitchen," said Julia Collin Davison. "We cannot wait to grab the figurative torch and run with it, continuing the momentum that has been garnered over the course of the past 16 years through to season 17 of the TV series."
"Julia and I love to teach and our new television roles allow us to help home cooks develop and master new cooking techniques," said Bridget Lancaster. "Julia and I are ecstatic at the opportunity to host the show."
"We are incredibly excited to see our two stars take center stage for America's Test Kitchen 2017," said David Nussbaum, Chairman & CEO of America's Test Kitchen Inc. " Julia and Bridget have been preparing for the co-host roles for many years and have the cooking experience and on air talent to really wow our cherished audiences."
"Bridget and Julia are dynamic hosts with a passion for teaching home cooks the secrets to success in the kitchen," said Jack Bishop, Chief Creative Officer of America's Test Kitchen. "I'm confident the audience will connect with their energy, intelligence, and playful humor."
America's Test Kitchen is still dedicated to giving fans the high quality content they have come to expect: unbiased equipment reviews, taste tests, and foolproof recipes from our test kitchen. Viewers will continue to see cast members they know and love in the 17th season, including Jack Bishop in taste testings, and Adam Ried in equipment testing. And you'll also meet some new test cooks who bring their own unique style to the test kitchen.
About America's Test Kitchen
America's Test Kitchen, filmed in a real working test kitchen just outside of Boston, is dedicated to finding the very best recipes for home cooks. Fifty full-time (admittedly obsessive) test cooks spend their days testing recipes 30, 40up to 100 times, tweaking every variable until they understand how and why recipes work. They also test cookware and supermarket ingredients so viewers can bypass marketing hype and buy the best quality products. As the home of Cook's Illustrated magazine, which debuted in 1992, and publisher of 12 14 cookbooks each year, America's Test Kitchen has earned the respect of the publishing industry, the culinary world, and millions of home cooks. The America's Test Kitchen television show was launched in 2001; and the company added a second television program Cook's Country in 2008. Learn more at https://www.americastestkitchen.com/.
About Julia Collin Davison
Julia Collin Davison is executive editor for the book division of America's Test Kitchen and an original cast member of both the America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country television shows. She began working as a test cook for Cook's Illustrated in 1999 and is responsible for the food and recipe development for all America's Test Kitchen cookbooks. She holds an A.O.S. degree from the Culinary Institute of America and a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy from SUNY Albany. Before coming to America's Test Kitchen, Julia worked in Albany, the Berkshires, San Francisco, and the Napa Valley at several restaurants, catering companies, schools, and wineries.
About Bridget Lancaster
Bridget Lancaster is the executive editor for new media, television, and radio at America's Test Kitchen and an original cast member of both the America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country television shows. She joined the Cook's Illustrated team in 1998 and has become familiar voice as co-host for America's Test Kitchen Radio. She also is the lead instructor for the America's Test Kitchen Online Cooking School. Her earlier career led her to cook in restaurant kitchens in the South and Northeast, concentrating on pastry.
Media requests:
Julia, Bridget, and the rest of the America's Test Kitchen staff are available for interviews upon request. For more information contact [email protected]
America's Test Kitchen is co-presented by WETA Washington D.C. and American Public Television, and distributed by American Public Television.
SOURCE America's Test Kitchen
Related Links
http://www.americastestkitchen.com
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- For the fourth year running, Valeo will be at the CES in Las Vegas, where it will give five major innovations their world debut. The technologies on display at the Gold Lot Circuit and the Central Plaza booth show what the car of tomorrow will look like, in line with new ways of getting around: it will be more autonomous, more connected and more environmentally friendly.
The five major innovations demonstrate Valeo's ability to offer complete, innovative technology systems:
Valeo eCruise4U, a real technological feat that fully meets the needs of city dwellers. On board the demonstration vehicle, attendees can experience automated driving in electric mode.
a real technological feat that fully meets the needs of city dwellers. On board the demonstration vehicle, attendees can experience automated driving in electric mode. Valeo XtraVue, a set of connected computer-vision cameras that show drivers what is happening on the road, even outside their line of sight.
a set of connected computer-vision cameras that show drivers what is happening on the road, even outside their line of sight. Valeo 360AEB Nearshield, a new autonomous emergency braking system that eliminates blind spots, alerts drivers to any potential obstacles and brings the vehicle to an automatic halt to prevent impact if necessary.
a new autonomous emergency braking system that eliminates blind spots, alerts drivers to any potential obstacles and brings the vehicle to an automatic halt to prevent impact if necessary. Valeo C-Stream, the new Valeo dome module that replaces the central rearview mirror and maps out the vehicle's cabin. It can determine the number of people traveling in the car and ensure that drivers are suitably alert.
the new Valeo dome module that replaces the central rearview mirror and maps out the vehicle's cabin. It can determine the number of people traveling in the car and ensure that drivers are suitably alert. Valeo Cockpit, the Experience of Traveling. The technology demonstrator is a unique and original solution that combines a groundbreaking and innovative range of products designed to shape the sensory experience associated with new ways of using cars.
All of these innovations combine to form a new, more electric and therefore more environmentally friendly type of mobility that offers greater vehicle autonomy, improved comfort thanks to enhanced intelligence and better shareability thanks to extended connectivity.
Given that the total number of vehicles worldwide is expected grow, Valeo is committed to making the car safer, more energy efficient and more automated while also equipping it with cognitive abilities. In short, vehicle usage and the driving experience are about to be totally reinvented.
WIDELY ACCESSIBLE INNOVATIONS
Valeo's innovations are marketed at competitive prices so as to be widely accessible throughout the world.
Valeo is an automotive supplier, partner to all automakers worldwide. As a technology company, Valeo proposes innovative products and systems that contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions and to the development of intuitive driving. In 2015, the Group generated sales of 14.5 billion and invested over 10% of its original equipment sales in research and development. Valeo has 148 plants, 19 research centers, 35 development centers and 15 distribution platforms, and employs 88,800 people in 32 countries worldwide. Valeo is listed on the Paris stock exchange and is a member of the CAC 40 index.
www.valeo.com
SOURCE Valeo
GAITHERSBURG, Md., Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Vtesse, Inc., a company committed to developing medicines to benefit patients with ultra rare, life-threatening diseases, announced today the appointment of Jason Meyenburg as Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Meyenburg joins the company from Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he most recently served as Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, The Americas.
"As we near completion of enrollment in our pivotal Phase 2b/3 clinical trial of our lead drug candidate, VTS-270, our primary goal is to advance regulatory submissions. Assuming we receive favorable responses from U.S. and European regulatory agencies, our next goal will be to rapidly provide access to VTS-270 for the children suffering from NPC and its debilitating symptoms," said Ben Machielse, Drs., President and Chief Executive Officer of Vtesse, Inc. "As someone with deep experience supporting the roll out of rare disease medicines, Jason has the know-how, passion and dedication required to help us to quickly make VTS-270 available for patients in need, pending regulatory approvals."
Mr. Meyenburg's primary responsibilities at Vtesse center on leading commercialization activities for the company. He has extensive experience in the launch of therapies for ultra-rare diseases including direction of new market entry, organizational development, and market access.
At Alexion, he led operations in the U.S. and Latin America including responsibility across the company's hematology, nephrology and metabolic disorder businesses. Jason held commercial roles of increasing responsibility at Alexion, expanding access to the company's products in new markets, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland and a Master's of Business Administration from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.
"As someone who has dedicated most of my career to providing patients with access to medicines for rare and ultra rare diseases, I'm thrilled to be a part of Vtesse as we prepare to complete our pivotal clinical trial for VTS-270 and to move it forward as a potential treatment for NPC," said Mr. Meyenburg. "I'm committed to working with my Vtesse colleagues and the NPC community to provide a therapeutic offering to the thousands of individuals living with NPC throughout the world as this is a very important unmet medical need."
Clinical investigators are now enrolling patients with NPC in Vtesse's ongoing study at sites in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Turkey and Australia. NPC is a progressive, irreversible, chronically debilitating and ultimately lethal genetic disease.
About NPC
NPC is caused by a defect in lipid transportation within the cell, which leads to excessive accumulation of lipids in the brain, liver and spleen. The NIH's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) and Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in close collaboration with parents and patient support groups, conducted the preclinical research and initiated the drug development phase for VTS-270. Vtesse is leading the late-stage drug development process for VTS-270. Visit www.theNPCstudy.com to learn more.
About Vtesse
Vtesse, Inc. is a rare disease company dedicated to developing drugs for patients suffering from diseases that are underserved. Vtesse is working collaboratively with the NIH, other leading academic centers, parents, and patient advocacy groups, to advance a pivotal clinical study of VTS-270 (a well-characterized mixture of HPCD with a specific compositional fingerprint that distinguishes it from other HPCD mixtures) to treat NPC, and to conduct pre-clinical discovery and development of other novel drugs for NPC and other lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs). The company is led by a highly experienced management team that has been involved in the development of more than 20 approved drugs. Alexandria Venture Investments, Bay City Capital LLC, Lundbeckfond Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, and Pfizer Venture Investments, have committed initial funding adequate to bring VTS-270 through a pivotal clinical trial. Vtesse is based in Gaithersburg, Maryland and is the first spin-out company from Cydan Development, Inc. For more information, visit www.vtessepharma.com.
SOURCE Vtesse, Inc.
Related Links
http://www.vtessepharma.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio, Jan. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Historically, solvent-based coatings have maintained the largest share of protective and specialty coatings. However, solvent-based coatings are projected to be surpassed by water-based coatings by 2020 as regulatory concerns continue to impact the protective and specialty market. Solvents will continue to lose share to other formulations, with trends favoring the use of water-based, high-solids, and other coatings, which have lower or no VOC emissions. These and other trends are presented in Protective & Specialty Coatings Market in the US, a new study from The Freedonia Group, a Cleveland-based industry research firm.
The study is available here
http://www.freedoniagroup.com/industry-study/protective-specialty-coatings-market-in-the-us-by-market-formulation-and-substrate-3496.htm
Demand for water-based coatings in the protective and specialty segment is predicted to expand at an annual rate of 2.5 percent to 85 million gallons in 2020, supplanting solventborne coatings as the market leader. The trend toward waterborne coatings in the automotive refinish market, which historically has widely used solventborne coatings in an array of applications, is of particular importance for this formulation. End users of automotive refinishes have increasingly adopted waterborne coatings due to their improved color matching capabilities and faster drying times than their solvent-based counterparts.
Water-based coatings are also gaining a foothold in protective marine coatings as several worldwide treaties and US regulations have put stringent limits on harmful emissions produced by marine coatings. Waterborne coatings provide good adhesion to the market's primary substrate -- metal -- and offer solid resistance to weather, chemicals, and other harsh conditions in which all varieties of watercraft are exposed.
Related studies include:
#3492 Manufacturing (OEM) Coatings Market in the US (December 2016)
http://www.freedoniagroup.com/industry-study/manufacturing-oem-coatings-market-in-the-us-by-market-formulation-and-substrate-3492.htm
#3461 Global Emulsion Polymer Market (November 2016)
http://www.freedoniagroup.com/industry-study/global-emulsion-polymers-market-by-product-market-and-country-7th-edition-3461.htm
About The Freedonia Group The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com, is a leading international industrial research company publishing more than 100 studies annually. Since 1985 we have provided research to customers ranging in size from global conglomerates to one-person consulting firms. More than 90% of the industrial companies in the Fortune 500 use Freedonia Group research to help with their strategic planning. Each study includes product and market analyses and forecasts, in-depth discussions of important industry trends, market share information and profiles of the leading industry players. Reports can be purchased at www.freedoniagroup.com and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.
Press Contact:
Corinne Gangloff
+1 440.684.9600
[email protected]
SOURCE The Freedonia Group
Related Links
http://www.freedoniagroup.com
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Wingsland Technology, the premiere drone manufacturer, opened their first international office in Los Angeles, CA in October 2016 to service the growing US market.
"We understand the importance of a local US presence for the largest consumer drone market in the world and want US consumers to have a strong customer service, dedicated sales support, and US based marketing for the Wingsland brand," said Jessica Lui, President and COO for Wingsland Technology.
Wingsland Technology also brought on board Drone industry veteran, Brian Chacone, Director of Sales and Marketing to help head up the development of the sales, market direction, and strategy for the US market. "I have seen many changes in drone industry in the last four years and creating a market leading product with innovative features isn't a guarantee of success in the competitive drone market. Customer service and reputation are paramount in gaining a loyal customer," said Brian Chacone Director of US Sales and Marketing of Wingsland.
Wingsland has created a local US tech support/ customer service @ 866-944-8840 and email support at [email protected]. Customers can call Wingsland up and get a live person right away. No need to hold on the phone to get a live person to speak to during office hours.
The Wingsland office located at 17583 Railroad St, City of Industry, CA 91748. The new office and warehouse will house local inventory of Wingsland product, customer service team, dedicated marketing and sales team.
As we expand our US sales distribution into various retail channels and increase our social media footprint, we expect to grow our office quickly. The Wingsland US market will also develop a new US based website to help US customers connect with Wingsland.
For additional information, please contact:
Brian Chacone, Director of Sales and Marketing of North America - [email protected]
About Wingsland Technology Inc.
Parent company, Shenzhen Wingsland Technology Co. Ltd, is a technological innovation company that is held by CNLIGHT Co., Ltd (Stock Code: 002076) and was founded in 2014, headquartered in Shenzhen, China with market cap of $700 million. Wingsland has developed into a globalization brand specializing in R&D, manufacturing of handheld gimbals, and recreational drones. With a strong team of developers, Wingsland strongly believes that better technology brings a better life.
SOURCE Wingsland Technology Inc.
Related Links
http://www.szsungreen.com
We have taken the impossible and put many sensors and high quality optics in a foldable design that's easy to store in your purse or pocket. "It's the ultimate selfie accessory for ladies because they just need to place their Wingsland S6 on the ground and take off with their smartphone and take selfies with the auto-follow feature," said Jessica Liu, VP of Wingsland USA.
The Wingsland S6 will also appeal to drone enthusiasts with the later release of the Wingsland S6 remote with smartphone connectivity which will allow users to get tactile joystick feel and fly the Wingsland S6 with precision.
The add-on accessories further enhance the Wingsland S6 allowing younger audiences to play games with the foam cannon accessory, emoji screen, and spotlight function. In development for later release will be the object detection that will avoid objects from the forward direction.
The Wingsland S6 pocket drone is ready for shipment now in the US and we have partnered with the best drone retailers and distributors at launch. B&H Camera and Photo (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/) in NY will be our US launch retailer along with Drone Nerds (http://www.dronenerds.com/) in Florida, our premiere drone retailer and distributor.
The Wingsland S6 pocket drone is shipping today with a retail of $399 and will be on demo at the CES trade show in Las Vegas. The Wingsland S6 remote will be available in Q2 2017.
For additional information, please contact:
Brian Chacone, Director of Sales and Marketing North America - [email protected]
Click the link below for full features and specs:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bpnxjgbcsoq3o12/S6%20features%20final.png?dl=0
About Wingsland Technology Inc.
Parent company, Shenzhen Wingsland Technology Co. Ltd, is a technological innovation company that is held by CNLIGHT Co., Ltd (Stock Code: 002076) and was founded in 2014, headquartered in Shenzhen, China with market cap of $700 million. Wingsland has developed into a globalization brand specializing in R&D, manufacturing of handheld gimbals, and recreational drones.
SOURCE Wingsland Technology Inc.
What a grand and awe-inspiring sight the fifteen hundred residents of the little Town of Pelham experienced on Saturday, July 7, 1866. Those lucky ones who gazed skyward saw the great
Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe, known as Professor T.S.C. Lowe, in his massive hot air balloon as it descended from the heavens directly above the little town. Clearly the famous and massive balloon was descending. The question buzzing through Pelham at the time must have been "w
here would Professor Lowe and his balloon come down?"
Professor Lowe was an internationally-renowned American Civil War "aeronaut" (
, balloonist), scientist, and inventor. Born on August 20, 1832, by the 1850s Lowe already was widely-known for his advances in the fields of meteorology and aeronautics. His scientific career, however, was cut short by the onset of the American Civil War.
During that war, Lowe offered his services as an "aeronaut" and helped develop the concept of aerial reconnaisance as part of military operations. In July, 1861, President Lincoln appointed Lowe the "Chief Aeronaut" of the Union Army Balloon Corps. According to one brief biography of Lowe: "Though his work was generally successful, it was not fully appreciated by all members of the military, and disputes over his operations and pay scale forced him to resign in 1863. Lowe returned to the private sector and continued his scientific exploration of hydrogen gas manufacturing." Source: " Thaddeus S.C. Lowe " in Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia (visited Jan. 2, 2017).
After the Civil War, Professor T.S.C. Lowe opened an "Aeronautic Amphitheatre" on the west side of Manhattan near Central Park. The extensive facility with grandstands, concessions, and other amenities, was located at West 59th Street and 6th Avenue. There Lowe staged hot air balloon exhibitions, offered tethered balloon rides for a fee ranging from $1 to $3, offered sky-high gymnastics performances by trapeze artists and others hanging from balloons, and presented concerts, military parades, fireworks, and other crowd-pleasing antics to the delight of thousands of New Yorkers. At the time, interest in aeronautics and ballooning was becoming a passion among New Yorkers. Professor Lowe leveraged that passion into a business that attracted attention throughout the world and made him even more famous. Indeed, in July, 1866, "Lowe's Aeronautic Amphitheatre" and the science of aeronautics were becoming so successful that Lowe began publishing a monthly newspaper known as Lowe's Balloon Pictorial (see cover of first issue below).
On Saturday, July 7, 1866, Professor Lowe invited a reporter (likely from the New York Herald) to join him in an untethered balloon flight taking off from Lowe's Aeronautic Amphitheatre. The day was quite hot and, as usual, crowds gathered to watch the spectacle of balloon flight.
Lowe's balloon was christened the "United States." It was a giant gas bag about eighty feet in diameter, emblazoned with an image of the globe with an American Eagle perched atop the earth and with Lowe's likeness plastered across the image of the globe and an image of the American Flag draped down the side of the globe. The gas bag was covered in cord-netting that extended downward beneath the balloon to a massive gondola capable of carrying a group of people. The image immediately below, from an issue of Harper's Weekly published only months before the July 7th voyage, shows the "United States." Professor Lowe is standing in the middle of the group depicted in the inset on the upper left of the image.
Engraving of Professor Lowe and His Balloon, United States,
Taking Off from Lowe's Aeronautic Ampitheater Near Central Park.
Prof. Lowe is the Tallest Figure of the Three in the Upper Left Inset.
"THE BALLOON BRIDAL PARTY STARTING ON ITS AERIAL TOUR
FROM PROF. LOWE'S AMPITHEATRE, CENTRAL PARK, NOVEMBER
5, 1865." Source: Harper's Weekly, Nov. 25, 1865, p. 745.
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
Professor Lowe and the reporter took off in the balloon on that Saturday afternoon and began drifting high above the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. The balloon floated off toward the northeast. Lowe had told colleagues that he would fly the balloon for the afternoon and land the airship by 6:00 p.m.
Rising quickly, the "United States" floated high into the sky and drifted out over the East River. Soon the balloon floated high above Long Island Sound where, according to some reports, it next hung motionless for several hours. Surely residents of City Island and Pelham, as well as residents of much of Long Island, stood gazing at the skies above Long Island Sound, mouths agape and shaking their heads at the marvel of modern technology.
After a time, the balloon began to descend until it reached an "undercurrent" that blew it toward Fort Schuyler at the tip of Throggs Neck, adjacent to Eastchester Bay and near Pelham Bridge. The appointed time for landing, 6:00 p.m., came and went. Still, the balloon floated above Long Island Sound. As the balloon continued its descent toward the calm waters below, Professor Lowe joked to the reporter that he could land the balloon in the waters of the Sound and use the gas bag to "sail" the balloon across the water. According to multiple accounts, the pair agreed to try the stunt and fortified themselves with bottles of "refreshments" they had brought on board at the start of their journey.
Once the balloon had descended to a point about one hundred feet above Pelham Bay, Professor Lowe used a valve to allow sufficient gas to escape and lowered the balloon into the waters of Pelham Bay. The balloon landed in the midst of the "white sails of a hundred pleasure boats" while "along the shore tourists in costumes light as air lazily held fishing rods" while watching the spectacle.
Immediately a "dozen skiffs were put off with friendly offers of assistance to the balloonists." The pair waved off the boats as Professor Lowe handled the now-water-borne craft. As the wind caught the partially deflated gas bag, the airship began skimming the surface of the water "with the grace of a bird." According to one account, "[d]espite the trifling inconvenience of wet jackets and spoiled provisions, the sail, although of short duration, was thoroughly enjoyable."
Back in Manhattan and on much of the mainland, observers grew alarmed as they watched the airship descend toward the waters of Long Island Sound. Many feared Professor
Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe and his famous airship, the "United States," were lost. What those spectators could not see was the rescue that followed.
Within minutes of the water landing and the brief "sail" of the airship, "the balloon was surrounded by boats." The boats and their occupants rowed Professor Lowe, the reporter, and the waterlogged balloon to City Island where the group prepared themselves and the balloon for a return to New York City and Lowe's Aeronautic Amphitheatre.
Some newspapers reported breathlessly that Lowe, his balloon, and passenger were "lost." One reported that although Lowe had agreed to land by 6:00 p.m., the balloon was still floating above Long Island Sound well into Saturday evening and, by Sunday, no one had yet heard from Professor Lowe or the reporter.
City Island in the Town of Pelham may have seemed distant from Manhattan to most New Yorkers, but it was only about fourteen miles from the Aeronautic Amphitheatre. Thus, Professor Lowe, his balloon, and the reporter soon returned to New York to the relief of all who had tickets to attend upcoming balloon exhibitions at Lowe's Aeronautic Amphitheatre. . . .
Cover of the First Issue of Professor Lowe's Balloon
Pictorial, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Jul. 1866). Professor Lowe is
Depicted on the Cover with a Tethered Balloon at His
Ampitheater in the Background. NOTE: Click on
Image to Enlarge.
Undated Photograph of Professor T.S.C. Lowe Taken
in About 1890. Source: Huntington Digital Library,
1946), The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and
Botanical Gardens, Photo Archives, Unique Digital
Identifier 35009 . NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
"Harry Leslie's Gymnastic Feat Over Lowe's
Aeronautic Ampitheatre, New York City,
September 30, 1865, Artist's Impression."
Source: Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper,
Oct. 21, 1865, p. 68. NOTE: Click on Image
to Enlarge.
July 11, 1866 Advertisement for Professor Lowe's
subscription required to access via this link). NOTE:
Click on Image to Enlarge.
To facilitate search, the text of the advertisement immediately above appears immediately below:
"PROF. LOWE'S AERONAUTIC AMPHITHEATRE.
59th-st. and 6th-av., Central Park. BALLOON ASCENSION. Prie of Ascension from $1 to $3. HARRY LESLIE in his wonderful feats. Orchestral concert on WEDNESDAY, at 2 P.M. Open every day. Admission 25 cents."
* * * * *
Below is the text of a number of articles that form the basis of today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog. Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.
BY AIR AND WATER.
-----
Novel Experiences in a Balloon It Lands in the Water and Sails Along the Bay The Sound, the Ships, the Scenery, &c.
The tuft-hunting Boswell posed Dr. Johnson completely when he asked, Pray, sir, what should you do if you were shut up with a baby in a tower? It wasnt the tower that bothered the crusty old Doctor so much as the baby, and so, not having had much experience in the management of infants who pass their monage in a chronic state of stomach-ache and congestion of the brain, he replied, Hold your tongue, sir! But what if he had been asked how he could manage a balloon? Bozzy would have had him there. And not alone Dr. Johnson, for there are thousands who never see a balloon in the air without indulging in such epithets as rash and foolhardy, and thanking Heaven for leaving them just sufficient sense to remain on the earth. And yet ballooning is simple enough; and the concise narrative which follows will show that under any probable circumstances the risk to life and limb is comparatively slight: --
On Saturday last Professor Lowe and anther gentleman the pup Alexander was at Saratoga for the benefit of his health started on an aerial excursion in the balloon United States from the Aeronautic amphitheatre, at the Park. The day was favorable in every respect, and the weather was so hot that the prospect of a cool breeze in mid air lent an additional charm to the ascent. Rising with stately grace from among the trees of the Park, the voyagers had the satisfaction of seeing with gradually expanding beauty the magnificent panorama which lay at their feet. The mighty city, throbbing through all its daedalian [sic] arteries with the giant pulsations of business life; the winding rivers, glittering like a myriad of diamonds in the rays of the sun, and gradually converging into one vast expanse of shining sea; the beautiful Park, studded with trees and temples, and intersected by shining white pathways which looked no wider than a string of whipcord; the noble mountains seemingly incorporate with clouds and lining the horizon like the background of a picture; the skies themselves alternate white and blue, reflecting here and there the gleaming of the setting sun all these gave to the travelers sensations of wonder and delight. The littleness of man is a legitimate subject of his own speculation, and the only reason why he does not more frequently derive profit from the exercise is that he prefers, for the most part, to consider the littleness of others. But in this respect alone a voyage in a balloon is of inestimable value. When mighty buildings and noble bridges begin to appear insignificant nay, when a whole capital lies, as it were, within a span at his feet, man is apt to bethink him of his trifling self.
Going swiftly in a northeasterly direction, the good air-ship United States, with its dauntless skipper ever at its helm, rapidly passed the bounds of the city, and at a height of two miles and a half crossed the East river and stood motionless over Long Island Sound. Here it commenced to descend slowly, when, striking the under current, it was again driven towards the neighborhood of Fort Schuyler. Then the Professor jocularly proposed to his companion to try a sail in the balloon on the water, and, after having refreshed themselves from divers [sic] bottles which had been provided for the contingency of either of the voyagers getting thirsty not an improbable one on such a day they decided to attempt the sail. Gradually losing its buoyancy as a consequence of the valve being opened, the inflated monster neared the earth. Trees, houses, ships, and the water itself, which had appeared so insignificant a minute before, gradually grew in size and importance, until it seemed as though the balloon were about to sink into the bowels of the earth; but when within a hundred feet of the surface the buoy was lowered into Pelham bay.
Here one of the most picturesque sights it is possible to imagine was presented. The white sails of a hundred pleasure boats were moving slowly along the calm surface of the water, while along the shore tourists in costumes light as air lazily held fishing rods with quiet enjoyment. A dozen skiffs were put off with friendly offers of assistance to the balloonists; but the air ship itself skimmed the surface of the water with the grace of a bird. Despite the trifling inconvenience of wet jackets and spoiled provisions, the sail, although of short duration, was thoroughly enjoyable. In a few minutes after this peculiar landing, the balloon was surrounded by boats, and, taking advantage of the friendliness of their occupants, the aerial travellers got into one of them and were rowed in triumph to Island City [sic], Westchester county.
"PROFESSOR LOWE SAFE. -- We announced a day or two ago that Professor Low had made an ascent in his balloon, and had not since been heard of. The New York Herald says that, going swiftly in a northeasterly direction, the good air-ship United States, with its dauntless skipper ever at its helm, rapidly passed the bounds of the city, and at a height of two miles and a half crossed the East river and stood motionless over Long Island sound. Here he commenced to descend slowly, when, striking the under-current, it was again driven towards the neighborhood of Fort Schuyler. Then the Professor jocularly proposed to his companion to try a sail in the balloon on the water; and after having refreshed themselves from divers [sic] bottles, which had been provided for the contingency of either of the voyagers getting thirsty not an improbable one on such a day they decided to attempt the sail. Gradually losing its buoyancy us a consequence of the valve being opened, the inflated monster neared the earth. Trees, houses, ships, and the water itself, which had appeared so insignificant a minute before, gradually grew in in size and importance, until it seemed as though the balloon were about to sink into the bowels of the earth; but when within a hundred feet of the surface the buoy was lowered into Pelham bay.
Here one of the most picturesque sights it is possible to imagine was presented. The white sails of an hundred pleasure boats were moving slowly along the calm surface of the water, while along the shore tourists in costumes light as air lazily held fishing rods with quiet enjoyment. A dozen skiffs were put off with friendly offers of assistance to the balloonists; but the air-ship itself skimmed the surface of the water with the grace of a bird. Despite the trifling inconvenience of wet jackets and spoiled provisions, the sail, although of short duration, was thoroughly enjoyable. In a few minutes alter this peculiar J landing, the balloon was surrounded by boats, and, taking advantage of the friendliness of their occupants, the aerial travellers got into one of them, and were rowed in triumph to Island City [sic], Westchester county.
"A BALLOON ON THE WATER. -- On the 7th inst. Professor Lowe and another gentleman started on an aerial excursion in the balloon 'United States,' from the Aeronautic Ampitheatre, at the Park, New York. After some time, while the balloon was over Long Island Sound, the professor jocularly proposed to his companion to try a sail in the balloon on the water, and after having refreshed themselves from divers bottles which had been provided for the contingency of either of the voyagers getting thirsty -- they decided to attempt the sail. 'Gradually,' the account says, 'losing its buoyancy as a consequence of the valve being opened, the inflated monster neared the earth. Trees, houses, ships, and the water itself, which had appeared so insignificant a minute before, gradually grew in size and importance, until it seemed as though the balloon were about to sink into the bowels of the earth; but when within 100 feet of the surface the buoy was lowered into Pelham Bay. Here one of the most picturesque sights it is possible to imagine was presented. The white sails of 100 pleasure boats were moving slowly along the calm surface of the water, while along the shore tourists in costumes light as air, lazily held fishing rods with quiet enjoyment. A dozen skiffs were put off with friendly offers of assistance to the balloonists; but the air ship itself skimmed the surface of the water with the grace of a bird. Despite the trifling inconvenience of wet jackets and spoiled provisions, the sail, although of short duration, was thoroughly enjoyable. In a few minutes after this peculiar 'landing,' the balloon was surrounded by boats, and taking advantage of the friendliness of their occupants, the aerial travellers got into one of them, and were rowed in triumph to Island City [sic], Westchester county."
"NEW YORK LETTER. . . . On last Saturday the great aeronaut, Professor LOWE, made a grand detached balloon ascension, and went up pretty high. He remained up for several hours, and then coming down in Pelham Bay, was himself again, being once more low. The Professor was picked up by the crew of a little skiff and conveyed in safety to Island City [sic], Westchester County. . . ."
Ballooning is the rage in New York just now. Lowe makes daily ascensions; Mr. Andrews tries his flying ship, to see if his improvements will enable him to sail against the wind; Mons. Buislay ascends with his fire balloon, and entertains the people with curious gyrations in the air. Professor Wood was to go up from Brooklyn yesterday, and propose to return in three days. How he will keep his balloon in the air so long, and control it, is not apparent. Professor Lowe, who, as reported, was supposed to be lost on his recent trip, has returned to the city. His balloon remained nearly stationary for three hours over Long Island Sound; and much gas having escaped, he was let down into the water of Pelham bay, but was rescued by men in boats, who took him and his balloon to Island City [sic].
"On Saturday afternoon, Lowe, the poor balloonist, made an ascension in his mammoth balloon from near the Central Park, N.Y., accompanied by a reporter. When he left the understanding was that he would descend at 6 p.m. of that day. When last seen by the agent on Saturday evening the balloon was thought to be over Long Island Sound. At a late hour on Sunday night nothing had been heard of either the balloon or the party who went up in it."
Labels: 1866, Balloon, Balloonist, Hot Air Balloon, Long Island Sound, Professor T.S.C. Lowe, Thaddeus Sobieski Constaintine Lowe, Transportation
Genomic workshops recently held across the country gave dairy farmers, veterinarians, and students the latest information on genomics past, present, and future. At the heart of the meetings . . . the great opportunity of boosting dairy cattles fertility through genomic selection. That hasnt always been the case.
The national average for Daughter Pregnancy Rate (DPR), or the pregnancy rate of a bulls daughters, stands 16 percent, according to baseline data from a variety of sources. However, some newly collected data suggests that number has climbed to 19 percent.
For years those focused on improving dairy cattle genetics have focused on production traits while health traits stood on the sidelines with no good way to measure traits like reproduction. As that took place, milk, fat, and protein continue to improve while traits DPR declined for decades. The question arises, Can both fertility and high milk production be selected for using genomics?
That was the focus of conversation at the Tulare, Calif., genomics talk. It was the last stop on the genomic workshop road trip that traveled to Idaho, Washington, Florida, and Texas to present research, answer questions, and provide information on genomic testing. The research projects goal is to identify the novel genetic markers for fertility, currently in both Holstein heifers and cows.
Management and the health of the cows on a dairy operation also contribute to pregnancy rates. Ricardo Chebel explained another grant research project that incorporates common lactating cow diseases into fertility rates.
With fertility of dairy cattle becoming increasingly more important on dairy operations nationwide, these USDA grants presented at the workshops are vital towards the future of genomic selection. Genomic research has advanced quickly in recent years and is becoming a successful management tool for dairy producers.
For more information about the research project . . . more formally known as USDA NIFA AFRI Grant No. 2013-68004-20365 . . . as well as video presentations of previous workshops, go to: Washington State Universitys Veterinary Medicine Extension.
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Washington, Dec 30 : To protect astronauts from the harsh Martian environment, the best building material for a new home on the Red Planet may lie in ice, say NASA researchers.
The surface of Mars has extreme temperatures and the atmosphere does not provide adequate protection from high-energy radiation.
The researchers believe that their "Ice Home" design provides a sound engineering solution to offer astronauts a safe place to call home.
The Mars Ice Home is a large inflatable torus, a shape similar to an inner tube, that is surrounded by a shell of water ice.
This is just one of many potential concepts for sustainable habitation on the Red Planet in support of NASA's journey to Mars.
"After a day dedicated to identifying needs, goals and constraints we rapidly assessed many crazy, out of the box ideas and finally converged on the current Ice Home design, which provides a sound engineering solution," Kevin Vipavetz from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, said in a statement on Thursday.
The Mars Ice Home design has several advantages that make it an appealing concept, according to the scientists.
It is lightweight and can be transported and deployed with simple robotics, then filled with water before the crew arrives.
It incorporates materials extracted from Mars, and because water in the Ice Home could potentially be converted to rocket fuel for the Mars Ascent Vehicle, the structure itself doubles as a storage tank that can be refilled for the next crew.
Another critical benefit is that water, a hydrogen-rich material, is an excellent shielding material for galactic cosmic rays -- and many areas of Mars have abundant water ice just below the surface.
Galactic cosmic rays are one of the biggest risks of long stays on Mars.
This high-energy radiation can pass right through the skin, damaging cells or DNA along the way that can mean an increased risk for cancer later in life or, at its worst, acute radiation sickness.
The Ice Home concept balances the need to provide protection from radiation, without the drawbacks of an underground habitat.
The design maximises the thickness of ice above the crew quarters to reduce radiation exposure while also still allowing light to pass through ice and surrounding materials.
"All of the materials we've selected are translucent, so some outside daylight can pass through and make it feel like you're in a home and not a cave," Kevin Kempton, part of the Langley team, said.
NASA has set a goal of sending humans to the Red Planet in the 2030s.
It is important for astronauts to have something to look forward to when they arrive on the Red Planet, Kempton said.
"After months of travel in space, when you first arrive at Mars and your new home is ready for you to move in, it will be a great day," he noted.
Kozhikode, Dec 30 : With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) indicating that there is going to be a shortage of currency notes, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac on Friday said the withdrawal of December salaries could be a problem.
Interacting with the media here on Friday morning, Issac said while the state government will credit the entire amount required for payment of salaries and pensions for the month of December into the bank and treasury accounts of the people, it could be a problem for people to withdraw the money.
"The requirement for disbursement of salaries and pensions every month is around Rs 1,400 crore, but the RBI and other banking officials have already indicated to us that they are able to provide only around Rs 600 crore. And hence, the permissible withdrawal which now stands at Rs 24,000 could be hit," said the economist turned Finance Minister Isaac.
"We have not agreed to it and asked all the officials (RBI and other banks) that they are duty bound to see currencies are made available," he said.
Issac also said that given the present scenario, presenting the budget in January, would be a "difficult".
"The situation is such that none is able to gauge what the revenue and expenditure is going to be in the light of the demonetisation," Issac said.
"While Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley claims that tax collections have gone up, we will have to wait for some more time to see what the actual position is," Issac added.
He also said: "For a budget to be realistic, one should be able to reasonably estimate. We will wait for the union budget to be presented and once that's done, I will present my budget either at the end of February or early March."
New Delhi, Dec 30 : Queues were short and crowds thin here on Friday, the 50th day of demonetisation -- the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi's self-imposed deadline for normalisation of situation kicked in.
The scenario was more comforting than earlier, with queues outside the banks and at ATM kiosks reduced by a considerable margin in comparison to what those were even a week back.
The usual 'serpentine' queue outside the ICICI Bank ATM in Connaught Place 'A' Block was morphed into a straight line, with not more than 20 persons awaiting their turn. Earlier, many more note seekers lined up here.
Likewise, only a handful of people were seen waiting outside the Punjab National Bank ATM in the same block. Both ATMs, however, dispensed only 2,000-rupee notes.
Although ATMs at last seemed to hold some cash, the opinion inside the banks was mixed.
"Nothing much has changed as yet. We are still getting a reduced amount from the RBI (Reserve Bank of India), so we are still not giving more than Rs 10,000 to customers," a PNB official told IANS, declining to be named.
However, the Manager at Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) said that the situation is pretty smooth and that worst days are now behind us.
"You take a round of the block, you won't see many queues. Even though our ATM is filled with cash, I don't see a long queue before it," Mousami Mukherjee, Manager of the Connaught Place branch of the Overseas Bank of Commerce (OBC), told IANS.
The OBC ATM, however, did not give out any options for withdrawal of cash -- when people tried it for cash, its screen only offered 'statement', 'balance inquiry' and 'pin change' to the customers.
In the capital's suburban Noida, the situation wasn't all that good -- a string of ATMs were non-functional and the rest had mostly long queues.
Out of about 20 ATMs on a two-km stretch from Noida Sector 15 to Noida Sector 18, only two machines had any cash.
Three ATMs of ICICI Bank, three of HDFC Bank and two of Induslnd Bank were shut.
A Kotak Mahindra Bank ATM was functional in Noida Sector 15, where people stood in a long queue awaiting their turn to withdraw cash even on the 50th day of the scrapping of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
The ATMs of Axis Bank, Syndicate Bank and RBL Bank were also non-functional.
Friday was also the last day for the deposit of old, scrapped currency notes and their exchange with new ones. After Friday, people can deposit old notes only at the RBI offices, until March 31.
New Delhi, Dec 30 : A court here on Friday extended the judicial custody of two persons arrested in multi-million-dollar AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter scam.
Duty Metropolitan Magistrate Sumeet Anand extended the judicial custody of Sanjeev Tyagi and Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan for 14 more days. They were arrested on December 9.
Sanjeev Tyagi is a cousin of former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi, who too was arrested and is out on bail in the case.
The verdict on the bail of Sanjeev Tyagi and Khaitan will be delivered on January 4 by a Special Court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
They were allegedly involved in irregularities in the procurement of 12 AW-101 VVIP helicopters from Britain-based AgustaWestland, although both Sanjeev Tyagi and Gautam Khaitan have denied the charge.
The CBI alleges that Tyagi and the other accused had received bribes from AgustaWestland, helping the manufacturer to win the $556.262 million contract for purchase of its helicopters for the Communication Squadron of the Indian Air Force to carry the President, the Prime Minister and other VVIPs.
The accused had allegedly hatched a conspiracy to reduce the service ceiling of the helicopters from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres to make AgustaWestland eligible to bid for the contract.
A first information report was registered against them on March 12, 2013, under various charges dealing with criminal conspiracy, cheating and for violations of the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
New Delhi, Dec 30 : Delhi Police arrested three persons, including a graphic designer, here for shooting at a rape victim's mother with the intention to kill her, police said on Friday.
Those arrested are Faisal Hussain, 36, the key conspirator and resident of Shaheen Bagh, Wasim, 30, a resident of Jasola village, and Mohd Iqbal, 46, a resident of Okhla village, police said.
They were arrested by separate police teams following raids on Wednesday and Thursday nights at Batla House and nearby areas in Jamia Nagar.
"Wasim and Iqbal worked for Hussain, a graphic designer. Wasim and Iqbal admitted that they shot the rape victim's mother on the instruction of Hussain. They had no personal enmity with the rape victim's family," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Romil Banniya said.
However, interrogation of the accused gave an altogether new twist to the tale, which initially seemed to be one of bumping off the complainant.
According to the DCP, the main accused Sajid, a local builder, who had gang-raped the victim along with three others, had made some investments in real estate with the help of one Bunty, also a local builder and broker.
Hussain also had some stake in the deal struck by Sajid and Bunty. But later, Hussain developed some differences with Sajid over the deal.
Taking advantage of the circumstances, Hussain hired Wasim and Iqbal to get the rape victim's mother eliminated, so as to implicate Sajid in the murder case. This would have solved his own problems with Sajid, DCP Banniya said.
Hussain also told interrogators that he hatched the plan after he came to know that Sajid was involved in a rape case and that the rape victim's mother had filed a complaint of life threat against him a couple of weeks ago.
Wasim and Iqbal on December 23 opened fired at the woman when she was on her way to a hospital, along with her daughter (the rape victim), in Jamia Nagar area. The bullet pierced her back, and amid the chaos, the shooters managed to escape, police said.
Police later arrested Sajid from his hideout in Uttar Pradesh. During the interrogation, he confessed to have raped the victim but denied shooting at her mother.
He hinted that Hussain could be behind the attack as he would have benefited if he (Sajid) is sent to jail for a long period, the officer said.
Kochi, Dec 31 : Into its third week, the third edition of the country's only biennale -- Kochi Muziris Biennale -- has won the hearts of international curators too.
A number of curators have by now had a close look at the premier event.
Liverpool Biennial founder-director Lewis Biggs and Aichin Triennale curator Shihoko Iida opined that India's only biennale is unique thanks to its geography, history, spaces and people, that make it stand out from every other art event in the world.
"KMB 2016 is not a replication of any other biennial or art festival happening around the world. This is my first experience and I am happy that more people are joining in because this edition has included performing arts with the visual art works," said the curator who helmed the Liverpool Biennial for a decade till 2011.
He highlighted the importance of the KMB 2016 theme -- 'Forming in the pupil of an eye'.
"We curators always try innovative titles to attract the art crowd. India has a very strong culture and heritage that add advantage to the festival. Moreover, Fort Kochi is geographically beautiful as well," he said.
Tokyo-based curator Shihoko Iida talked about the historical relevance of KMB in rebuilding a consciousness among the local people of the multiple cultural influences on this ancient town and its evolution into a vibrant place.
"A lot of change and mobility have happened since the 15th and 16th centuries. People tend to forget what has happened in the past, but KMB will function as a reminder to the past and build the future," said Iida.
"Also, the tropical and eco-friendly surroundings provide a very dynamic and organic atmosphere. I have become a great fan of KMB and am already looking forward to the next edition," she said.
The event that began here at multiple venues on December 12 will go on for 108 days.
United Nations, Jan 1 : Antonio Guterres began on Sunday his five-year term as the new United Nations Secretary-General with a call for peace.
"On this New Year's Day, I ask all of you to join me in making one shared New Year's resolution: Let us resolve to put peace first," Efe news agency quoted Guterres as saying in his first message as the head of the United Nations.
Without mentioning any particular conflict, the former Portuguese diplomat called for a ceasefire and compromises at negotiations, in order to achieve political solutions.
"Peace must be our goal and our guide," he said in a video message recorded in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
The new Secretary-General put a poser before the international community: What can it do to help the millions of people "caught up in conflict, suffering massively in wars with no end in sight?"
"No one wins these wars, everyone loses," lamented Guterres, who denounced the impact they have on the civilian populations.
"I appeal to you all to join me in committing to peace, today and every day. Let us make 2017 a year for peace," Guterres concluded.
New Delhi, Jan 2 : A constable shot himself dead inside the Supreme Court premises on Monday, police said.
Chand Pal Singh, 45, was deputed at the court for the last one-and-half-years, a police officer said.
"He killed himself with his service rifle between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.," the officer said.
Lucknow, Jan 2 : BJP President Amit Shah on Monday sought the support of the people of Uttar Pradesh to bring about a "parivartan" in the state in the coming assembly elections.
Addressing the 'Maha Parivartan' rally at Ramabai Sthal here, Shah said the state had been ruined by both the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party.
The time had come to change the destiny of the country's most populous state, he said.
Take potshots at the ongoing feud in the Samajwadi Party, Shah said the "chacha" and "bhatija" were squabbling while the development of the state had taken a backseat.
And referring to BSP chief Mayawati, he said even the "bua" had not contributed positively to the state and it was because of these two parties that Uttar Pradesh remained backward.
He said an all round development of Uttar Pradesh would become possible only when the BJP was voted to power.
New Delhi, Jan 2 : A court here on Monday sent to judicial custody, till January 16, hawala trader Paras Mal Lodha who was arrested for converting demonetised notes worth Rs 25 crore linked to industrialist J. Sekhar Reddy and lawyer Rohit Tandon into new currency.
Additional Sessions Judge Raj Kumar Tripathi sent Lodha to 14 days judicial custody after Enforcement Directorate told court that he is not required for further custodial interrogation.
Lodha was presented before the court after expiry of his four day ED custody.
Meanwhile, as Lodha's defence counsel Rebecca John moved the bail plea, the court has asked ED to file its reply on the plea and listed the matter for January 6.
The Kolkata-based businessman was arrested on December 21, after hours of questioning by the ED officials and booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Lodha, a leading businessman with interests in real estate and mining, had been intercepted by a team of ED sleuths at the Mumbai airport while he was trying to flee to Malaysia.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had last month arrested Reddy, a former Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam Board Member, and two others from Chennai for money-laundering after Income Tax (IT) department recently seized 177 kg of gold, Rs 96 crore in old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and Rs 34 crore in new currency from their premises.
Cash amount of Rs 13.65 crore, including Rs 2.60 crore in new currency notes, was seized from the office of Tandon in south Delhi's Greater Kailash-I area during a raid conducted by Delhi Police on December 10.
Sources said that Reddy had executed a lot of work for the Tamil Nadu government.
In connection with the case, IT officials raided 12 locations in the southern state including the house of Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary P. Rama Mohana Rao.
ED officials on December 1 raided multiple hawala operators across the country involved in illegal conversion of old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 to valid legal tender since November 8 demonetisation announcement.
AsunciAn, Jan 3 : Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah has claimed the first stage of the Dakar Rally as he aims to win the off-road endurance race for a third time.
The 46-year-old finished the 38.5km Asuncion-Resistencia special stage in 25 minutes 41 seconds in his Toyota on Monday, comfortably ahead of former world rally champion Xevi Pons, who was 24 seconds behind in his Ford Ranger, reports Xinhua news agency.
Pons' fellow Spaniard Nani Roma was third in his Toyota, a further five seconds off the pace.
Nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb was sixth - 55 seconds behind Al-Attiyah - while last year's champion Stephane Peterhansel crossed the line in 12th, 1 minute and 34 seconds adrift of the leader.
After the stage, Al-Attiyah revealed that he had to content with a fire in his vehicle.
"About a dozen kilometres out from the finish we smelt smoke by (co-driver) Matthieu's (Baumel) seat and there was a bit of a fire," Al-Attiyah told reporters.
"We slowed down to finish the stage and were able to put it out at the finish."
Earlier, Australia's defending champion Toby Price clinched the opening stage of the motorcycle event on his KTM.
The 2017 Dakar Rally will feature 12 stages, covering more than 9,000km in Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina before ending in Buenos Aires on January 14.
New Delhi, Jan 3 : Google's India-born CEO Sundar Pichai is all set to address a domestic technology market with a focus on small and medium businesses in the country on Wednesday.
Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will also join Pichai and other senior Google leaders during the event here, the company said in a statement.
"At Google, we are excited about partnering the businesses to help them unlock exponential growth through the power of digital," the statement said.
Seven Indian startups recently joined the third batch of Google "Launchpad Accelerator" -- a platform which brings together mentors and experts from Google and outside to help the startups see success -- along with startups from other countries.
Over the last one year, 13 Indian startups have participated in the programme and some of them have successfully raised funding.
Pichai, who has a BTech degree from IIT - Kharagpur, will also visit his alma mater on Thursday, according to sources.
"Sundar Pichai, CEO Google and distinguished alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, has expressed his desire to visit the campus in the first week of January 2017," Director P.P. Chakrabarti said last week.
Pichai passed out from IIT - Kharagpur in 1993 with a BTech in metallurgical and materials engineering.
New Delhi, Jan 3 : Three days into the New Year, the ATMs in the Delhi-NCR region are yet to catch up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise of normalcy, as on Tuesday many of these machines were still found either defunct or cashless.
Although many more ATMs are filled with cash now, compared to a week ago, it still requires a bit of scouting around before one can chance upon a machine that may dish out any money.
There was not a single ATM working on the way, starting from Vikas Marg to Sansad Marg (Parliament Street) when an IANS reporter visited them.
Many ATMs in Connaught Place in New Delhi area -- within a radius of barely two km from the Prime Minister's residence on the newly-christened Lok Kalyan Marg -- were found to be working while almost an equal number of them were either devoid of cash or non-functioning.
The ATMs of Standard Chartered and State Bank of India in 'B' and 'C' blocks were found with their servers down.
The cash machines of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), Punjab National Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, and ICICI Bank in 'A' Block had cash, with an average 15-20 persons queuing up for money at each one of them.
None of the ATM machines of IndusInd, SBI, Over seas Bank of Commerce, and Yes Bank at the Rajiv Chowk Metro Station had cash in them.
Modi had asked the people for a grace period of 50 days for relief from the cash drought, which swamped all public sector and private banks as well as ATMs post-demonetisation.
Although the Prime Minister's self-imposed 50-day deadline ended on December 30, what people get at the bank counters and through ATMs is only a trickle of cash. Most of the ATMs in the capital are still dry, while many machines remain even to be calibrated to dole out the differently sized new currency notes.
United Nations, Jan 4 : The new Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, defended on Tuesday the role of the United Nations as the "cornerstone" of the multilateral approach to solving the worst problems affecting the international community.
Guterres, on his first day as head of the UN, delivered a brief message to United Nations employees in the main lobby of the organisation's headquarters, in which he repeated some of the principles he stood up for in his message last Sunday, EFE news reported.
The Secretary-General said he feels proud to take the place of South Korean Ban Ki-moon for an initial term of five years, and also promised to do everything possible to rid the United Nations of its "straightjacket of bureaucracy".
The Portuguese Guterres added that countries acting separately cannot possibly resolve the challenges currently facing the international community, which makes multilateral action positively essential.
"We need to recognise that only global solutions can address global problems and the UN is the cornerstone of that multilateral approach," he said.
The UN Secretary-General promised to promote a dialogue with the organisation's personnel and insisted that only working as a team can the United Nations' goals be accomplished.
Chennai, Jan 4 : Veteran Telugu filmmaker Dasari Narayana Rao, who has expressed his desire to work on a biopic on late actress and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, says the project is yet to enter the scripting phase.
Jayalalithaa, aged 68, passed away on December 5 last year.
"The biopic idea has just started to take shape. The scripting work is just getting started. Jayalalithaa's story is fascinating, inspiring and it deserves to be told. I haven't thought about whom to cast yet as I can't zero in on anyone without completing the script first," Rao told IANS.
He also said that the film will be made in Tamil and Telugu.
Will he meet V.K. Sasikala, a confidante of Jayalalithaa, to take help in the scripting process?
"It's too early to even meet anyone. I just want to concentrate on writing for now," he said.
Southern actresses such as Ramya Krishnan and Trisha have expressed interest to play 'Amma' on screen in the past.
Chennai, Jan 4 : Actor Vikram, who was last seen sporting a thick beard for Tamil actioner "Irumugan", has undergone a makeover for Gautham Vasudev Menon's upcoming spy-thriller "Dhruva Natchathiram". According to a source, he will be seen in salt-and-pepper look in the film.
"For most part of the film, he will be seen in a salt-and-pepper getup. There might be some flashback portions where he will be required to look younger. The film's shoot will commence later this week in Coonoor," a source from the film's unit told IANS.
Tipped to be a high-octane action-thriller, the film will be shot on an international scale.
The makers are even ready with the film's first look.
"Over the New Year weekend, Gautham and Vikram met in Dubai to shoot the first look. The poster will be unveiled in a few days," he said.
Actress Aditi Rao Hydari is under consideration for the leading lady's role.
"She is one of the options. Nobody has been finalised yet. The official announcement will be made soon," the source added.
New Delhi, Jan 4 : The Election Commission of India on Wednesday said that it will implement the Supreme Court ruling that seeking votes in the name of caste, creed, religion, community and language is illegal.
"EC is committed to abide by the apex court order. The order of the Supreme Court will be implemented effectively," Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said while answering questions on the January 2 ruling.
A Constitution bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur had ruled that seeking votes on the basis of religion, race, caste or language of a candidate or his rival or even that of the voters is illegal and could jeopardise the electoral process.
The apex court's decision was termed as "historic and bold" by all the political parties.
Mumbai, Jan 4 : Actors Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur, who are gearing up for the release of "Ok Jaanu", will be seen promoting the romantic drama film on ace comedian Kapil Sharmas "The Kapil Sharma Show".
The actors, who were last seen onscreen together in superhit 2013 film "Aashiqui 2", shot for the special episode on Tuesday night.
"Promoting last night on one of my favourite shows 'The Kapil Sharma Show' with the most fun gang. 'Ok Jaanu'," Shraddha posted on Twitter on Wednesday alongside a photograph in which she and Aditya can be seen pouting alongside Kapil's gang.
Directed by Shaad Ali, the film is an official remake of Mani Ratnam's Tamil film "Ok Kanmani", which revolves around a young couple in a live-in relationship here.
"Ok Jaanu", which also stars Leela Samson and Naseeruddin Shah, is slated to release on January 13.
Mumbai, Jan 4 : Bollywood star Akshay Kumar has praised his wife Twinkle Khanna, saying he doesn't feel shy in calling her the 'yodha' (warrior) of his home.
"I don't feel shy calling my wife as a 'yodha' at all," the actor said at a launch event for Tata Motors' latest offering Xenon YODHA on Tuesday.
"Yodha does not -- Not -- necessarily mean one who is holding a gun. Yodha is a person who holds his own family. A soldier who fights a war, isn't only a yodha. It is all about holding your family and close ones. Everybody is a 'yodha' in his life," he added.
"It is a big responsibility when a person calls himself a fighter. He must be a person whom you can trust and rely on, no matter whatever happens. You have that feeling that he won't break your trust. So, that is a big responsibility," he said.
Akshay is looking forward to a happening new year with "Jolly LLB 2", "Toilet - Ek Prem Katha", "2.o" and "Pad Man". He will also feature in a film co-produced by Salman Khan and Karan Johar.
Talking about the new project, the 49-year-old actor said: "Being an actor, signing a film for another big actor is something new for this industry because it only happens in Hollywood, where an actor signs another actor for his production. I hope this trend starts in Bollywood too."
New Delhi : Electorally, 2017 is billed as the year of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, with commentators arguing that this is a crucial election for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Indias most populous state. True to its billing, as elections were announced on January 4, 2017, the theatrics continue in the Samajwadi Party (SP), which rules Uttar Pradesh, over a father-son duel triggering a vertical split in the party.
The overwhelming narrative is that the Uttar Pradesh elections will be a harbinger for the general elections of 2019. The drama aside, the only result of the elections that should be surprising is a BJP loss.
Let's understand why.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 71 parliament seats by winning 328 (81 per cent) of 403 assembly segments. This was unprecedented in the recent history of Uttar Pradesh elections. To put that in context, the last time a political party won more than 80 per cent of all constituencies in the state was in 1977, when the Janata Party won 80 per cent of the seats in a post-Emergency landslide Not only did the BJP win 81 per cent of seats in 2014, but it did so with a massive margin. There are four major political parties in the fray in Uttar Pradesh -- the ruling SP, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Congress and the BJP. These parties have historically contested elections in the state independently.
In a four-cornered, first-past-the-post system, the winning party needs only a 25-30 per cent vote share in each constituency. The BJP won 253 out of the 403 constituencies with greater than 40% vote share in the 2014 elections. This suggests that even if there had been opposition unity, the BJP may have still won well more than half of all seats.
Further, it won an outright majority (more than 50 per cent of votes) in 94 constituencies. There has been no political party that has won so many seats in Uttar Pradesh with such huge margins in recent history.
It was this victory in Uttar Pradesh that enabled the BJP to be the first to win an outright majority in Parliament since 1984. The enormity of the BJP victory in the state just three years ago should ideally mean only one very predictable outcome of the 2017 state elections -- a BJP majority.
Yet, there is palpable excitement over other possible outcomes.
For the BJP to get less than 200 seats and lose Uttar Pradesh in 2017, it would have to lose nearly 40 per cent of its seats from 2014. For that to happen, it would take nearly 15 per cent of BJP voters in the 2014 election to switch loyalties en-masse to another political party.
To put that in context, the BJP lost the Bihar elections of 2015 after winning it in 2014, by having no more than 4 per cent of its voters switch loyalties. The BJP would need a performance nearly four times worse than Bihar to lose Uttar Pradesh, given its magnitude of victory in 2014.
If any two of the opposition parties get together, the BJP would still have to lose more than 10 per cent of its voters to lose the election. Whichever way one looks at the data, it would take a massive shift of loyalties of 2014 BJP voters for the party to lose the 2017 election.
The standard counter to this analysis will be that the 2017 election is a state election while the 2014 election was a national election and hence voting patterns will be very different. That voters choose differently for state and national elections is one of the long-held myths about Indian elections for which there is little evidence.
The typical evidence dished out in favour of this argument is comparison of national and state elections across different time periods when many other changes have occurred to be able to attribute outcomes solely to voters choosing differently for the state and national elections.
The 2015 loss of the BJP in Delhi to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) coming on the heels of a BJP sweep of Delhi in the 2014 elections is another popularly cited example. This again misses the fact that it was primarily the collapse of the Congress vote share that helped propel AAP to victory as opposed to any conclusive evidence of voters choosing BJP in the national elections and AAP in the state elections. To the contrary, my research has shown that when elections are held simultaneously to state and Centre, 77 per cent of the voters choose the same party and do not differentiate between a state and a national election.
Further, in five of the last six state and national elections in Uttar Pradesh since 2002, the two regional parties have won a greater majority of the votes combined than the two national parties -- BJP and Congress -- except in 2014. The SP won the 2002 state election and the subsequent 2004 national election. The BSP won the 2007 state election and was the leading party in the 2009 national election.
Despite all this, even if one were to accept that voters may vote slightly differently for state elections vis-a-vis national, this difference alone cannot explain a BJP loss in Uttar Pradesh, if it were to occur.
The BJP's performance in the state in 2014 is so far ahead of the other parties that an outright majority in the 2017 elections should have ideally been par for the course. This is also the reason why the speculation about the Prime Minister's demonetisation initiative being motivated by the Uttar Pradesh elections is, perhaps, misplaced.
Should the BJP secure less than 200 seats in the coming election, it would only mean that a large number of people changed the decision they made in 2014 and would also, perhaps, go down as among the most significant vote-share swings in India's electoral history. Only under this scenario can the 2017 electoral outcome be a true harbinger for the 2019 national elections, not otherwise.
(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform. Praveen Chakravarty is Senior Fellow in Political Economy at IDFC Institute & Founding Trustee, IndiaSpend. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. Feedback at respond@indiaspend.org)
New Delhi, Jan 4 : From increase in the base price of food items, creating chaos and dispute during billing, increase of tip culture and an affect in the operating cost of the restaurants and employment -- these will be some of the ramifications in the food and beverage sector if paying of service charge is made optional, say restaurateur.
Eatery owners, who have their outlets in different parts of the nation, are in a fix since the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) issued a statement saying that customers dissatisfied with service at any hotel or restaurant can opt for the service charge not being levied as this is optional or discretionary.
Priyank Sukhija, who owns Lord of the Drinks, Tamasha, The Flying Saucer cafe and Warehouse cafe, told IANS: "Making service charge optional or discretionary will affect employment. Service charge is not a way for us to earn money, but it's for staff welfare and motivation. Leaving it on customer discretion, in my opinion, is not right.
"The decision should have been clear enough in the way that either the government should have completely waived it off or make it mandatory. They could have been better way like may be reduction of service tax."
The decision by DCA was taken in lieu of complaints received from consumers that many hotels and restaurants charged "service charge in the range of 5-20 per cent, in lieu of tips" and consumers were "forced to pay irrespective of the kind of service provided".
Varun Puri, owner of Imly, feels the step will lead to unnecessary chaos and disputes during the billing.
"Who is going to decide why guests shouldn't be billed with service charge. This is also going to affect the operating cost for the restaurants. Earlier what the customers paid as service charge, will now fall upon the head of the company to increase staff's salary," Puri told IANS.
Bhuvnesh Bhalla, director of Delhi-based restaurant Aanch, said: "With the implication of this rule, our staff will ask for more hikes as this income was purely their incentive apart from their monthly income. As any waiter earns approximately Rs 3000-4000 through this service charge per month in addition to their monthly income, it will come onto the owners of restaurants."
For Laurent Samandari, founder of L'Opera, one consequence could be an increase in the base prices at restaurants, to make up for the lost revenue."
Some restaurant owners feels that the service charge used to "omit the iridescent behaviour of the server (staff) who would demand tips with their body language", but now things won't be same.
Prashant Khurana, executive Chef at Andrea's Eatery, told IANS: "The service charge was also helpful for making up for restaurant breakages of crockery and glassware. Also, the most important thing was that the compulsory service charge has almost omitted the indecent behaviour of the server (staff) demanding the tip from a guest with his most inappropriate body language."
The move could also have a positive effect.
"This rule will bring in a little positive approach in the F&B industry as now every restaurant and hotel authorities will improvise on their services and quality, which will help them to get more customer footfall and revenue generation," Ashish Massey, director, The Ancient Barbeque, told IANS.
Inderjeet Banga, owner of Prankster and The Pirates of Grill, agreed.
"For restaurants and hotels who take guest satisfaction for granted, this is a big wake-up call. Also, if we see the long-term effect, this shall make better relations between service boys and guests on the floor. The others who don't want to perform, have to perish," Banga told IANS.
Umang Tewari, who owns The Junkyard Cafe, Garam Dharam, Vault Cafe and more under Big Fish Ventures, has already removed the service charge from all his restaurants as he does "not believe in over-burdening our consumers". But there's also Ajay Sharma, franchise owner of Playboy Cafe, who said: "As long as service charge is mentioned in our menu, it cannot be termed as unfair."
(Nivedita can be contacted at Nivedita. s@ians.in)
New Delhi, Jan 4 : Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa will pick new assemblies between February 4 and March 8 in the biggest popularity test since the Lok Sabha polls of 2014.
The results from all the states will be known on March 11, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said on Wednesday while unveiling a slew of new election-related rules.
The exercise will involve 160 million voters and a total of 690 assembly seats, 403 of them in Uttar Pradesh alone.
Zaidi said the Model Code of Conduct would come into effect from now and would be applicable to all candidates, political parties, concerned state governments as well as the central government in as much as its decisions relate to the five states.
Almost all the main parties in the fray - the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) - welcomed the much awaited election schedule.
This will also be the first electoral contest since the November 8 demonetisation, which has triggered an unprecedented cash crunch, leading in turn to an opposition onslaught on the Narendra Modi government.
While polling in Goa, the smallest of the five states, and Punjab will take place on February 4, Uttarakhand will vote on February 15 and Manipur in two phases on March 4 and 8.
Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, will go to the polls in seven phases: February 11 (73 seats), 15 (67 seats), 19 (69 seats), 23 (53 seats) and 27 (52 seats) and March 4 (49 seats) and 8 (40 seats).
Goa has 40 seats, Punjab 117, Manipur 60 and Uttarakhand has 70 seats.
All eyes will be on Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP is determined to take power by ousting the ruling Samajwadi Party -- now in the throes of a huge crisis -- and beating back a strong challenge from the BSP.
While the BJP rules Goa, it is a junior ally to the Shiromani Akali Dal-led government in Punjab. The Congress governs Uttarakhand and Manipur.
The AAP, the country's youngest political outfit and which rules Delhi, will contest for the first time in Punjab and Goa.
"We are committed to conduct the elections in a free and fair manner," Zaidi said. The Election Commission would also check the "misuse of black money and liquor".
For the first time, there will be separate polling stations for women and photographs of the candidates will be displayed on the electronic voting machines.
The poll panel would also insist on a certificate from candidates to show they owe no arrears to any government department vis-a-vis utilities bills and rent on official accommodation.
BJP spokesperson Siddhartha Nath Singh said: "Development will remain our plank but the opposition would like to attack demonetisation policy. Per se I think this will be very good for us."
Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said the issues in each states will be different and "it is not going to be a single issue on which the elections will be fought".
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the AAP was confident of taking power in both Goa and Punjab.
Agartala, Jan 4 : The opposition Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday reiterated its demand for a probe by the CBI and ED into the activities of all illegal NBFCs and chit fund organisations in Tripura and warned of a stir on the issue.
The state TMC announced an agitation from January 19 to force the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe the illegal activities of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and chit fund organisations.
The party claims that Chief Minister Manik Sarkar as well as ministers and leaders of the ruling Left Front in Tripura are involved in the activities of these organisations.
"Sarkar promoted the business of Rose Valley; his party colleagues, including two ministers, are either involved or promoted the business of NBFCs and chit fund organisations," TMC leader Sudip Roy Barman told reporters here.
He said: "The CBI and the ED are taking action against TMC parliamentarians and leaders in West Bengal but both the agencies are not acting in Tripura."
Alleging a tacit understanding between the CPI-M and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, Barman said they will soon meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask for CBI and ED probes into NBFCs and chit fund bodies' activities.
Denying the TMC charges, CPI-M state Secretary Bijan Dhar said Tripura's Left Front government was the first in India to enact laws to curb unlawful activities of chit fund companies and NBFCs and repeatedly asked the CBI to investigate their activities.
"The TMC leaders have no issue and they are playing an old record just to misguide the people," Dhar told reporters.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist is a dominant partner in the Left Front that comprises four Left parties.
The Tripura High Court last year asked the state government to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe illegal NBFCs and chit fund organisations.
Meanwhile, SIT head and Tripura's Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) K.V. Sreejesh told the media on Wednesday that the SIT is now probing 78 cases involving 48 NBFCs and chit fund organisations and had arrested 112 persons.
"We have seized bank accounts and attached properties of most of these organisations. We will soon complete our probe," the IPS officer added.
In 2013, the Tripura government referred 37 cases relating to chit fund companies and NBFCs to the CBI. The central probe agency, however, took up only five cases.
Lucknow, Jan 4 : The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Wednesday said it will contest assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand on its own.
BSP chief Mayawati said this was being done so as not to compromise the interests of the Bahujan movement.
She also urged the Election Commission to tell the central government not to present the annual budget on February 1 and to wait until elections in all five states end on March 8.
The budget announcements could influence the voters and take away the level playing field, the four-time Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh said in a statement.
She also demanded a larger presence of paramilitary forces and a tight vigil on the working of state government officials and police force in the states.
The Bahujan Samaj Party leader also welcomed the seven-phase polling to the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
New Delhi, Jan 4 : The United Naga Council (UNC) on Wednesday said that they will continue with the economic blockade despite the announcement of Manipur assembly elections by the Election Commission.
According to the UNC -- apex body of the Nagas based in Manipur -- elections cannot be held peacefully in the Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur until the prevailing problems are resolved.
"The blockade will continue. Solving of Manipur's problems has to be done through dialogue between the parties in conflict. So far, the government of Manipur has failed to respond politically.
"We have no other option but to intensify the blockade, no matter what the Election Commission has announced regarding the polls in the state," K.S. Paul, former President of the UNC, told IANS from Manipur.
The Election Commission of India on Wednesday said five states, including Manipur, will go to polls to elect their new assemblies between February 4 and March 8. Manipur will vote in two phases -- March 4 and 8.
Paul -- an active member of the UNC -- said the Manipur government has betrayed the Nagas of Manipur.
"We have been betrayed by the Manipur government, as it did not consult us on the creation of seven new districts out of our ancestral land. We do not know whether the situation will be conducive for holding free and fair elections in the Naga areas of the state," said Paul.
"Bulldozing the interests of the Nagas, particularly on the issue of our ancestral land, won't be compromised under any circumstances. We do not consider the Manipur government as a popular government, as the districts were created without consulting us," added Paul.
Tension has been simmering in Manipur due to an economic blockade called by the UNC in the state. National Highways (NH) 37 and NH 2 have been badly affected due to the blockade.
Although the blockade started on November 1 when the state government was planning to create new districts by bifurcating the existing Naga-dominated areas, it intensified after the government ignored the agitation and went ahead to declare Jirbam as a full-fledged district.
The state government also created new districts of Kangpokpi, Tengoupal, Pharzol, Kakching, Noney and Kamjongin.
According to the UNC, the creation of new districts out of Naga territory without their consent is a deliberate act to suppress the rights of Nagas in the state.
In December last year, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said the central government will extend all assistance to restore normalcy in the state.
Apart from sending 150 companies of para-military forces to Manipur when the blockade started, the central government also sent seven additional companies of para-military forces, a step condemned by the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim-Isak-Muivah(NSCN-IM).
Washington, Jan 4 : Sealing a historic breakthrough for Indian-Americans, five were sworn-in on Tuesday as members of the US Congress -- one of them, Kamala Harris, becoming the first to become a Senator.
Ami Bera, who was the only Indian-American in the 435-member House of Representatives and re-elected in the November elections, was joined by the four others, increasing the Indian-American contingent to five members in the Congress.
All five are Democrats and three of them -- Harris, Bera and Representative Ro Khanna -- are from California. The other two Representatives are Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois and Pramila Jayapal from Washington state.
Harris, whose mother was from Chennai and father from Jamaica, has a dual identity as both an Indian-American and an African-American. Vice President Joseph Biden administered her the oath of office which she swore on a Bible copy held by her husband Doug Emhoff.
Afterwards her family and friends gathered around the couple in celebration. Two of them were dressed in saris, although Harris wore a two-piece western outfit in blue.
In 1956, Democrat Dalip Singh Saund became the first Indian-American elected to Congress. Forty-eight years later, Republican Piyush Bobby Jindal was elected to the House in 2004 and re-elected in 2006. But in 2007 he was elected governor of Louisiana and left Congress. After a five-year gap for Indian-Americans, Bera was elected to Congress in 2012.
Republicans have the majority in both chambers. In the House of Representatives, they have 241 seats to Democrats' 194 and Republicans control the Senate with 52 seats to the Democrats' 46 with two Independents allied with them.
The opening of the new session of Congress was overshadowed by the Republican Representatives' decision on Monday to restrict the independence of the ethics monitors.
Faced with a firestorm of criticism led by their own party's President-elect Donald Trump, they backed down on Tuesday and agreed to not make any changes to the Office of Congressional Ethics, which was set up in 2008 following corruption scandals that ended with three members of Congress ending in jail.
Baghdad, Jan 4 : An Iraqi woman journalist and activist kidnapped from her Baghdad home by unidentified gunmen last week has been freed, the media reported on Wednesday.
"The militant group kidnapped Afrah Shawqi and set her free late last night (Tuesday) in Baghdad and the incident is under investigation," Xinhua news agency quoted an unnamed source as saying.
The kidnappers also returned Shawqi's personal jewels and her car after they stole them earlier from her house.
On December 26, masked armed men broke into the house of the journalist in Saidiya district in southern Baghdad and kidnapped her.
The journalist was deliberated as one of the critics of the country's corruption, and recently wrote an article which tackled the consequences of the proliferation of armed groups beyond the law.
Shortly after her release, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi phoned Shawqi to reassure her about her safety and promised to pay her a visit later, according to local media.
Iraq is considered one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, who have been frequently targeted following the chaos and insecurity since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
New Delhi, Jan 4 : President Pranab Mukherjee will send on Thursday a New Year message to the Governors and Lt. Governors of states and Union Territories through video conferencing from Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The message will be delivered through the National Knowledge Network (NKN) platform.
The NKN project is aimed at establishing a strong and robust Indian network, capable of providing secure and reliable connectivity.
Beijing, Jan 4 : China supports the Philippines in assuming the rotating presidency of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2017, said a Foreign Ministry spokesman on Wednesday.
"China hopes to push relations with Asean to a new level," Xinhua news agency reported spokesman Geng Shuang as saying.
The Chinese government has always regarded Asean as a priority in its diplomacy with neighbouring countries, said Geng.
China and Asean commemorated the 25th anniversary of dialogue relations between the two sides in September 2016.
During the meeting, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and leaders from the 10 Asean members agreed to lift China-Asean cooperation to a new level, which demonstrated the firm resolve of the two sides to deepen mutual trust and enhance cooperation, said Geng.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of Asean and it is also the China-Asean year of tourism cooperation.
Kathmandu, Jan 4 : Nepal Parliament Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar on Wednesday requested Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' to forge consensus with the opposition parties before the next session of Parliament, the media reported.
The Speaker, who went to the Prime Minister's residence in Baluwatar, made the request in order to resume the house meetings, which had been disrupted since November 29, the Himalayan Times reported.
In response, Prachanda expressed his commitment to end the stalemate and forge consensus with the agitating political parties.
Meanwhile, the leading political parties have begun fresh talks after the Supreme Court's order to let Parliament endorse the second Constitution amendment bill.
The main opposition Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist also hinted it would not obstruct the house meetings anymore.
The Speaker also held separate meetings with the leaders of other political parties to make her request for running the house.
Next house meeting has been scheduled for January 8.
New Delhi, Jan 4 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre and the Election Commission on a plea for disclosure of sources of income by candidates for parliamentary and assembly elections.
Citing instances of exponential increase in assets held by lawmakers in just five years, the petitioner Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said assets of four sitting Lok Sabha members had increased by 1,200 per cent. There was 500 per cent increase in assets of 22 other Lok Sabha members.
Rajya Sabha member Anil Madhav Dave declared an asset growth of over 2,100 per cent, the petitioner pointed out.
The ADR cited the example of an Assam state legislator with declared increase of over 5,000 per cent in his assets. In the case of another legislator, from Kerala, the increase in assets is over 1,700 per cent since the 2011 assembly elections.
The ADR, in its application to be impleaded as co-petitioner in an earlier plea filed by Lucknow-based NGO Lok Prahari, contended that a number of people filing self-attested affidavits on their assets were not disclosing details of Income Tax returns.
The petitioner said an analysis of assets declared during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and 2016 Rajya Sabha elections as well as elections to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Assam and West Bengal assemblies revealed "abnormal increase" in assets of many members of Parliament and assemblies.
The Supreme Court on July 19, 2016, issued notices to the Centre and the Election Commission on a plea by Lok Prahari that candidates should disclose sources of income and whether they hold stakes in entities with business transactions with the government.
Lok Prahari told the court that candidates filing nomination papers were disclosing their assets and those of their spouse, children and other dependents but not sources of income through which they came to possess these.
The NGO said some lawmakers were thriving on easy money and of the 542 Lok Sabha members, 113 have described their profession as housewife, social worker, social service and politics.
The court directed the next hearing on the matter on February 20.
New Delhi, Jan 4 : Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday said she favours a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav, and that she is ready to step aside as Congress chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pardesh.
"I am in favour of an alliance with the SP. I am ready to withdraw from contention as CM candidate if there is an alliance," Sheila Dikshit told the media here.
"Akhilesh Yadav is a much better chief ministerial candidate than me. Would be happy to step aside for him," Dikshit added.
The senior Congress leader said nobody in her party had spoken to her about a possible alliance in the state where elections will be held in seven phases from February 11.
There have been speculations about ongoing parleys between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party for alliance in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the assembly elections.
Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa will elect new assemblies between February 4 and March 8.
Uttar Pradesh -- the country's most populous and politically significant state -- will go to elect its 403-member state assembly in seven phases: February 11 (73 seats), February 15 (67 seats), February 19 (69 seats), February 23 (53 seats), February 27 (52 seats), March 4 (49 seats) and March 8 (40 seats).
New Delhi, Jan 4 : The Congress party on Wednesday said that the Delhi government was "intentionally" delaying the file pertaining to delimitation of municpal wards of Delhi as it fears defeat in polls.
The Congress said that it will approach courts if the file on the delimitation of the wards was not cleared within three days.
"AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) government is sitting on the file of the final draft order on delimitation of MCD wards for the last two months, instead of forwarding it to the Lt. Governor for his approval," Delhi Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee told media.
"It is done in a bid to delay the MCD (Municipal Corporations of Delhi) elections, which are due in April 2017 as the AAP fears its defeat in the elections," she alleged.
Mukherjee also said that "it has been learnt that the AAP government has sent back the file of the final draft order on delimitation to the Delhi Election Commission, seeking some changes in the draft order."
"According to rules, no changes can be made in the final draft order on delimitation of the MCD wards," the Congress leader said.
Mukherjee said the Congress has demanded that Lt. Governor Anil Baijal ask for the file and accord his sanction to the order on delimitation of MCD wards within in three days.
Panaji, Jan 4 : Goa Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza on Wednesday said there is a strong possibility of a Christian becoming the next Chief Minister of the coastal state.
D'Souza, one of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s senior-most minority faces in the state, said that having a Christian Chief Minister is wish of the people, so the BJP as well as other political parties could accordingly nominate a chief ministerial candidate.
"I was asked if there can be a Christian Chief Minister for Goa in the future. I said it is possible. I did not say it will happen, but it may happen. It is the wish of the people," D'Souza told a press conference in Panaji.
"It can be from any party... It's not that there is a ban on Christians becoming the Chief Minister," he said, adding that eventually it is up to the elected legislators to select their leader in the legislative assembly.
D'Souza was one of the contenders for the Chief Minister's post after Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, then Chief Minister, was elevated to become a central minister in 2014.
Eventually, D'Souza was beaten in the race to the Chief Minister's post by legislator from Mandrem and former state BJP President Laxmikant Parsekar, but was appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister some months later.
Christians account for nearly 26 per cent of the state's 1.5 million population.
D'Souza also said that the BJP-led coalition government in Goa has faced hurdles in fulfilling its 2012 poll promise of doing away with the offshore casinos in the state. But, he added, his party is still toying with the idea of closing down the casinos.
"On the issue of casinos, we have already spoken about our difficulties. Attempts are being made to relocate. But we are also in need of revenue. Hence, we have let casinos continue and when possible, we will shut those down," he said.
There are five operational offshore casinos parked in the Mandovi river off Panaji and nine onshore casinos functioning from various five-star resorts located in the coastal fringes of the tourism-oriented state.
New Delhi, Jan 4 : Indian Coast Guard Director General Rajendra Singh met his Sri Lankan counterpart Rear Admiral Samantha Wimalathunga here on Wednesday and discussed more maritime cooperation, especially in the context of fishermen from both countries.
A three-member delegation led by Wimalathunga is on a three day visit to India for a high-level meeting with the Indian Coast Guard.
It aims at furthering cooperation between the two countries on maritime issues of mutual concern and formulate a cooperative approach, an official statement said.
"Of late, the Sri Lankan Coast Guard has been proactive in meeting the challenges in the new global safety and security regime in this region. The recent visit is significant in providing continued impetus to the existing ties between the two organisations," the statement said.
The focus of the meeting was on further strengthening operational interaction for search and rescue, preservation and protection of marine environment and revalidating operational and communication procedures between the two Coast Guard.
The Sri Lanka delegation also called on Defence Secretary G. Mohan Kumar and deliberated on issues of common maritime interest.
It was mutually agreed to strengthen cooperation on evolving collaborative approach, in addressing a spectrum of maritime issues concerning safety and security and further streamlining the procedure for release/repatriation of fishermen, the statement added.
New Delhi, Jan 4 : With opposition parties demanding to postponing the presentation of the Union Budget during the poll process for five states, the Election Commission of India said on Wednesday that it is examining the matter and will take a call on it soon.
"The Commission has received one representation sent by some political parties. This representation is with regards to presentation of the budget. The Commission is examining this representation and in due course of time will take a call on this," Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi told reporters here.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, however, said presenting the Budget is a "constitutional requirement".
Without naming anyone, Jaitley said: "These are the same parties which say there has been no positive effect of demonetisation, so why are they are worried about date of budget."
The minister said an interim budget was presented even before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and earlier too budgets had been presented ahead of elections.
Apart from Congress, the Left parties, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal-United signed a memorandum submitted to President Pranab Mukherjee and Election Commission on December 14 requesting that the union budget must be postponed till assembly elections.
Congress on Wednesday reissued the copy of the memorandum to the media and expressed apprehensions that voters could be influenced through announcements in the union budget.
"Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad had written to the Election Commission and President on this. We are clear that the budget has to be postponed, you can take the vote in account, and have the budget presented after the final election day is over," Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar told reporters here.
"The norm of any parliamentary democracy is if there is election, you take the vote on account and have it after the election results are out. That has been the tradition. You don't argue on it or no debate on it," Kumar added.
Even BJP ally Shiv Sena demanded to postpone union budget till polls get over.
"A delegation of Shiv Sena MPs will meet the President of India for this soon. We feel that ruling Bharatiya Janata Party may try to manipulate and mislead people in the union budget," Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray said, addressing a meeting of district party leaders, in Mumbai.
He questioned why should the union budget be announced when the dates for the elections to five state assemblies - Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh - were announced by the Election Commission earlier on Wednesday.
Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party said it will be wrong to present Budget just three days before polling in five states.
"It gives undue advantage to the BJP as their government is at the centre. Election is all about level playing field. It is now upto the Election Commission. It should take cognisance and issue appropriate instructions," AAP spokesperson Ashutosh told IANS.
Another AAP leader Deepak Bajpai said : "It's EC responsibilty to provide level playing field to all political parties. Announcing the Union Budget just three days before elction is bound to effect electorate."
Asked if AAP would approach EC, Bajpai said, "We will explore all options available to us."
Moscow, Jan 4 : The Russian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday that the US-led coalition has caused serious damage in Syria, refuting the head of the Central Intelligence Agency's accusation that Moscow uses a "scorched-earth" policy in the Middle Eastern country.
CIA Director John Brennan said on Tuesday that Russia was pursuing scorched-earth tactics that have led to devastation and the deaths of thousands upon thousands of innocent people.
The US-led international coalition has since 2012 systematically and consistently destroyed all economic infrastructure in Syria to weaken its legitimate government, long before the start of the Russian forces' operation in the country, said Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry.
He blamed the coalition for the hardships being suffered by Syrian civilians that had created millions of refugees.
The oil production facilities captured by the Islamic State allowed the militants to earn tens of millions of dollars in illegal oil sales every month and recruit mercenaries from all over the world, the spokesman added.
"Sooner or later, for all this, (the United States and the coalition) will have to answer," Konashenkov said.
Last Saturday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution supporting a Syria ceasefire arrangement brokered by Russia and Turkey, as well as a new peace talks plan among Syrian conflict parties.
The nationwide ceasefire in Syria, agreed upon by the Syrian government and major opposition groups, came into force at midnight local time last Thursday, as the latest attempt to end nearly six years of civil war.
The chronic conflict in Syria has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced nearly 11 million others.
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New Delhi, Jan 4 : Admitting that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council was racing against time on the government's implementation target of April 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said it is hoping to resolve the vexed issue of dual control over assessees in its next meeting on January 16, even as states indicated a September timeline for GST.
"We know the difficulties, we are moving against time. Dual control is a complex issue. We started a discussion that was inconclusive. We have decided to meet on January 16 to untie the knots in this issue," Jaitley told reporters here after the two-day GST Council meet.
"We will be meeting to conclude the discussion on the gaps in draft laws. The gaps are on two issues. The first pertains to the definition of the word territory (in Integrated GST) and the second is on dual control and cross empowerment," he said.
Even after eight meetings of the GST Council, the deadlock continues between the Centre and the states on the vexed issue of "cross empowerment", or dual control of assessees and who will exercise control over them.
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 impact of demonetisation on states' tax revenues was also brought up at the meeting and Jaitley said that the states presented their estimates of December revenue figures based on collections made in November, the month of the demonetisation announcement.
"A number of state finance ministers gave details of how revenue has actually increased in their states during this period. We've asked for detailed data in this regard," he said.
To a query on the impact of the November 8 demonetisation of high-value currency, Jaitley said that excepting the next quarter of the fiscal, the demonetisation-led process of "integrating the informal economy into the formal one" will actually result in higher revenues.
"We will end this year with higher revenues...in both direct and indirect taxes we'll exceed the budget estimates," he added.
Instead, declining to set a dateline for implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST), West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra said demonetisation has hugely impacted states' tax revenues, while Indian industry itself required more time to prepare for the new indirect tax regime.
"States are making presentation to the Union Finance Minister, saying we're not geting any money from the Centre," Mitra told reporters.
"We could not pass the iGST law. There was no discussion on the dual control issue... the states' right to jurisdiction over small businesses with less than Rs 1.5 crore turnover. All that has still to be discussed.
"We cannot have a GST that is non-sustainable, a GST that does not work," he added.
Pointing out that Indian industry has said it is not fully ready for the roll-out of the GST regime, Mitra told reporters that the question on a GST timeline was better addressed to Jaitley.
"A number of steps have to be taken for business to prepare, of which there is no sight. Upgrading of companies' ERP (enterprise resource planning) is yet to take place.
"Besides, no fitment has happened," he said, referring to the alignment required to the GST tax rate structure that has been decided.
The possibility of roll out of GST has moved further to September as a new issue has cropped up - the states' demand for an increased share in the new indirect tax collections, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac said.
"I am not very optimistic about GST rolling in June or July. It is better to move to GST after all the preparations are done. To my understanding it will be implemented September onwards," he told reporters here.
Raising new issues between the Centre and the states, Issac said that the Council members discussed the four tax slabs under the GST and the states felt that the states and Centre share in the taxes should be 60:40 and not 50:50.
"Over the years, states' rights have been curtailed. This presents a historic opportunity to correct the states' share to 60 per cent and Centre's share would be at 40 per cent. The states today (on Wednesday) supported this understanding," he added.
Four tax rates of 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent have been decided under the GST regime.
New Delhi, Jan 4 : The CBI on Wednesday said it has so far registered 32 cases of violation of demonetisation and detected over Rs 200 crore across India during its probe against gross anomalies in banking sectors after the demonetisation announcement.
Out of 32, three to four case are against Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials, five against Post Office employees and the remaining cases are against those employed with different banks, said a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official.
They have been charged with illegally exchanging old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes into new currency after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's demonetisation announcement on November 8.
"We have so far registered 32 cases of violation of demonetisation and detected about Rs 200 crore illegal transaction. During raids at the office and residential premises of the arrested accused persons, we have recovered Rs 15 crore," said the official.
New Delhi, Jan 4 : A mechanical engineer and his accomplice were arrested on the charge of cheating various persons to the tune of Rs 50 lakhs by masquerading as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials, police said on Wednesday.
Accused Vikas Jha, 25, of Delhi and Ashutosh, 23, of Bihar were apprehended on December 31 near the Hyatt Hotel here on a tip-off.
On December 17, 2016, S.K. Nair of R.K Puram's Sector 6 said he had lodged an online complaint regarding non-issuance of a cheque book by his bank, a senior police officer said.
"A day after, Nair received a call from a person who identified himself as an RBI official and asked for his bank account number and details of his debit card. Afterwards, Nair received an SMS regarding debit of Rs 1,57,000 from his account," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Ishwar Singh said.
During investigation, the amount was found to be transferred to various e-wallet channels like Paytm and Free Charge. "This led to the arrest of the accused," the DCP said.
Jha and Ashutosh told police they used to get details on their potential victims from online portals. Posing as RBI officials, they called the victims and got their bank account details to fraudulently transfer money through their e-wallets, he added.
"They said they spend the conned money on shopping on online portals and further sell these articles again through online portals," Singh said.
New Delhi, Jan 4 : The Congress on Wednesday said the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is directly linked to the rise of abuses and hate-mongering in the digital media by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The party also dared the Prime Minister to constitute a special committee under judicial supervision to identify and punish the troll army, involved in suppression of opinion, promoting hate, communal polarisation and scandalous content, and issuing threats.
"...creating and propagating fake news and attacking individuals based on their race, gender, religion, region and caste has been the modus operandi of the BJP," said Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar.
"While the Prime Minister talks about "Beti Bachao" movement, his party members and supporters keep on attacking, trolling and threatening opponents, particularly women online," he added.
Kumar said: "It is unprecedented that the Prime Minister of the country follows, meets and actively encourages such trolls."
He claimed that a Bengaluru businessman, Rajesh Jain, had set up a campaign centre for Modi, directly under the instruction and supervision of the Prime Minister. It later became famous as 'Nadiad Army' or 'Namo Brigade'.
"Jain has since been rewarded by the Prime Minister by appointing him a member of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
"Later, this expanded to many other cities, with multiple people, with many directly run by the BJP's IT cell, earlier headed by Arvind Gupta and now by Amit Malviya," he alleged.
The Congress said it wants to know from Modi as to who are these individuals and organisations whom the Prime Minister hosts, follows, encourages and protects.
"Why does Narendra Modi act as the benefactor, protector and nurturer of these hate mongers and misogynists?"
New York, Jan 4 : A Long Island Rail Road commuter train derailed in Brooklyn here at the height of Wednesday's morning rush, injuring 103 people, media reported.
The incident happened around 8.30 a.m. at the Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, where a LIRR train from Far Rockaway, Queens failed to come to a stop, slammed into the bumper block and its first couple of cars derailed, Xinhua reported.
One hundred and three people suffered non life-threatening injuries, according to the New York City Fire Department.
Photos posted by passengers on social media showed the first cars of the train slightly leaning out from the tracks, with damaged doors and broken glass.
About 600 passengers were on board the train when the accident happened, according to local media.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said on the scene that the incident was "minor" comparing to the Hoboken train crash in September 2016, when a New Jersey transit train crashed into the Hoboken Terminal and caused one fatality and massive damage to the terminal structure.
Investigations were underway, Cuomo said.
New Delhi, Jan 4 : The VHP on Wednesday said Manoj Verma and Sohan Singh Solanki will be the new national convener and co-convener respectively of its youth wing, the Bajrang Dal.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) spokesperson Vinod Bansal also said, in a press release, that Milind Parande will be the organisation's joint general secretary.
United Nations, Jan 4 : After scathing criticism of the UN, US President-elect Donald Trump spoke Wednesday with Antonio Guterres, its new Secretary-General.
The Secretary-General's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters that Guterres called Trump and described it as an "introductory calla that "went quite well."
Trump spokesperson Sean Spicer in answer to a question at his briefing about the criticism of the UN and moves in Congress to cut US contributions to it, said that as the biggest contributor to the UN budget, Washington can demand some "reforms and changes" to make it more efficient.
The US contributes about 22 percent of the UN's budget and about 25 percent of its peacekeeping expenses.
Spicer did not give any specifics about their meeting and said that Trump will work with his UN Ambassador-designate Nikki Haley on the US agenda at the world body.
They discussed a number of issues and how the UN and the US can work together, Haq said. They will get into the specifics when they meet, he added.
He said that he did not think that the Paris agreement on climate change came up in their conversation. Trump has been sceptical about the Paris pact as well as about the UN version of climate change dangers.
Last month the Security Council passed a resolution critical of Israel and condemning the construction of settlements in occupied territories with the US refusing to veto it as it has in the past with resolutions criticising the strong ally of the US.
Trump attacked President Barack Obama for allowing the resolution to pass and said in a tweet, "As to the UN, things will be different after Jan. 20th," the day he takes over as President.
Efforts have also started in the US Congress to cut funding to the UN as a fallout of the resolution.
In another tweet, Trump mocked the UN as a "just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time." But he also added, "The United Nations has such great potential."
Last month Guterres told the Portuguese television channel SIC last month that he hoped to have an excellent working meeting with Trump and it was in his interest to meet him.
He also acknowledged that Washington was a major contributor to the UN and has a fundamental role in its activities.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
Syracuse (Italy), Jan 4 : Italian authorities on Wednesday expelled a Tunisian accused of belonging to a jihadist terror cell in the Sicilian town of Pachino.
The 46-year-old Tunisian, J.M.B., was deported on the orders of the Italian government's top representative in the nearby Sicilian city of Syracuse.
J.M.B. came to the attention of Italian intelligence services in December due to monitoring activities by French counterparts, Italian officials said.
The French intelligence services reported that members of the alleged Pachino cell often visited jihadist chat-rooms on the Internet where they were in contact with a young French militant of Italian origin who intended to travel to Iraq and Syria.
On December 23 last year, Italy deported another Tunisian terrorism suspect. The 37-year-old man had alleged tried to convert fellow inmates to radical Islam while he was in jail for minor offences, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Italy has expelled over 130 Islamic extremists since January 2015 according to the Interior Ministry.
New Delhi, Jan 4 : A nine-year-old boy accidentally consumed poison here, police said on Wednesday, adding he was hospitalised and is now out of danger.
Police said the victim has been identified as Muneer is a resident of Shaheen Bagh in south Delhi and a class four student. He was admitted to Alshifa hospital after he complaint of acute abdominal pain.
"The victim is fit and out of danger now. His father, Azhar Dilshad has given in writing to police that his son had accidentally eaten some poisonous substance and he wants no legal action," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Romil Banniya said.
Muneer's mother also said that her son had eaten rat poison by mistake, Banniya added.
Shillong, Jan 4 : A court in Meghalaya on Wednesday issued non-bailable warrant against Independent legislator, Julius Dorphang, who has been accused of raping 14-year-old girl.
Dorphang, a former rebel leader of the outlawed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council and now supporting the Congress-led government, went into hiding after police registered a case against him.
The district session court issued the non-bailable warrant against Dorphang after he failed to appear before the Investigating Officer, probing into the case, Public Prosecutor I.C.Jha told IANS.
Among other things, Dorphang was charged under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act.
On Tuesday, two civil society groups, including the powerful women's group Civil Society Women's Organisation, had asked police to issue a red alert for Dorphang.
The groups also reiterated their demand for the resignation of Home Minister H.D.R. Lyngdoh after his son's guest house was used for sexual exploitation.
They also asked Assembly Speaker Abu Taher Mondal to take action against Dorphang, while asking Chief Minister Mukul Sangma to take full responsibility and ensure action against the two legislators who are members of the Meghalaya United Alliance government.
Police have arrested five persons, which include three women pimps. A waitress at the Home Minister's family-run guest house has also been arrested.
John E. Brachna, Executive Vice President, Corporate Living; Randy Wilson, CRP, Chief Executive Officer, NEI Global Relocation; Michelle Anton-Brooks, National Account Manager, Corporate Living. Both NEI and Corporate Living strive to deliver an unprecedented relocation experience.
NEI Global Relocation recognized Corporate Living for demonstrating their mission of service exceeding expectations. Corporate Living met all of NEIs requirements in the areas of administration, compliance and quality assurance. As a result of their accomplishments, Corporate Living has been recognized as an NEI Certified Global Partner.
We are honored to have earned GPA+ status with NEI, says Corporate Living President and CEO, Karen Baldridge. Its a great fit as both NEI and Corporate Living strive to deliver an unprecedented relocation experience.
NEI Global Relocation is a full-service relocation and international assignment management company that prides itself upon financial stability, a focus on accuracy and fiscal responsibility, ethical standards of excellence, and independence from formal supplier affiliations. NEI Global Relocation partners with clients to distribute world class relocation management and consulting services.
Corporate Living has been a proud partner of NEI for over 12 years, adds Baldridge. Earning GPA+ recognition is due to our focus on delivering NEIs mission of service exceeding expectations.
Customer satisfaction is crucial to NEIs success, and the partnerships they form with clients and suppliers are the result of successful collaboration, communication and truly caring about the people they serve. Corporate Living demonstrates this mission of customer service and has been recognized for their exceptional performance in the relocation services industry.
About NEI:
NEI Global Relocation partners with its clients to deliver world class location management and consulting services, resulting in talent agility for those they serve. The company is a single point of coordination that manages any and all relocation services. NEI works to get the right people in the right place at the right time. Visit http://neirelo.com/ to learn more.
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About Corporate Living:
Corporate Living is a temporary housing company providing corporate furnished apartments throughout North America. A certified Womens Business Enterprise through the Womens Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), Corporate Living has a successful 23-year history in the corporate housing/furnished apartment industry. The company continues to deliver high-quality products, backed by exemplary service throughout the U.S., Canada, India and the UK, with stays of 30 days and longer. Corporate Living is headquartered in Twinsburg, OH, with regional offices in New York City, NY and Phoenix, AZ. Please visit our website at http://www.corporateliving.com to learn more.
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Our blogs are compiled by our research team, and are timely and often thought-provoking. What we really value is the feedback given by our blog readers, particularly on what can sometimes be controversial topics.
Concept Searching, the global leader in multi-term metadata generation, auto-classification, and taxonomy management software, and developer of the Smart Content Framework, has compiled the list of its most read blogs and thought leadership articles in 2016.
The readership of Concept Searchings blog, Smart Content Discussions, has increased each year for the past six years, with readers numbering in the thousands each month. Smart Content Discussions is platform and product agnostic, deals with the major topics of the day, and offers practical and independent assessments.
According to Martin Garland, President, As a vendor, our company focuses on the needs and requirements of our clients. Our blogs are compiled by our research team, and are timely and often thought-provoking. What we really value is the feedback given by our blog readers, particularly on what can sometimes be controversial topics. There is a certain amount of anonymity in blog responses, and it is through our blogs, we are able to learn what is important to our readers and the IT community.
The top read blogs and articles include the following:
The Digital Workplace Brand New or a Has-been?
If you havent heard about the digital workplace, trust me, you will. Everything old is made new, and comes around again, and with a few tweaks, voila, its new. And so the digital workplace is new again, almost by just renaming it. If we eliminate the fluff around the digital workplace, it boils down to Read more
Home on the Range Keep it Safe. Data Sovereignty and Security
The recent Microsoft versus the US Department of Justice (DoJ) is an interesting development in individual privacy, some laud it as a resounding victory on behalf of all citizens who still hold on to hope that our information will be kept private. That is yet to be seen. But lets take a look at Read more
Solve Your Search Nightmare. Stop Your End Users Tagging Content
Enterprise search. The perennial nightmare. It doesnt have to be. If 91% of SharePoint organizations would stop making their end users tag documents. As shown in the results from Concept Searchings recently published fourth SharePoint and Office 365 State of the Market survey, and also from surveys by AIIM, SharePoint organizations will not give up Read more
Lets Give In to the Millennials and Update or Rewrite All Our Processes
I can now see IT teams cringe, stomp their feet, or maybe cry. All that hard work and understanding, tricks of the trade dealing with difficult tools reinvented again, although probably not difficult for the IT folks. If you are an expert, your boss will of course ask how fast processes can be written. It Read more
Technology and Information Governance A Match Made in Heaven
Several years ago, we were already concerned about Information Governance long before it became a persistent and sometimes annoying subject. Almost all the articles and analyst viewpoints consist of definitions, whats involved, why you should do it, but rarely the how to do it. Although it is quite the subject of the day, not that many Read more
Concept Searching authors a variety of technical and business material throughout the year, which were well received. Those most accessed was:
About Concept Searching
Concept Searching is the industry leader specializing in semantic metadata generation, auto-classification, and taxonomy management. Platform agnostic, Concept Searching also has a Microsoft Gold Application Development competency, and offers a complete suite of SharePoint and Office 365 solutions. The award winning technologies integrated with Concept Searchings Smart Content Framework encompass the entire portfolio of unstructured information assets in on-premises, cloud, or hybrid environments. Clients have deployed the intelligent metadata enabled solutions to improve search, records management, identification and protection of privacy data, migration, text analytics, eDiscovery, and enterprise social networking applications.
Concept Searching is headquartered in the US with offices in the UK, Canada and South Africa.
All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
I appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit our organization was built on under Randys leadership
THINK Together, one of the largest educational nonprofits in California serving K-12 public schools, announced that Tia Dwyer has been named their Chief Operating Officer. Dwyer will work closely with Chief Executive Officer, Randy Barth, and the Executive Team as a full partner in THINK Togethers mission, vision and growth.
Dwyer will be working with Barth to establish THINK Together objectives, paying attention to key performance criteria with accuracy, urgency and insight, and lead strategic goals for the organization. Ensuring that proper leadership and support is provided to the Regional Leaders and their teams is imperative so that the numerous program models delivered across hundreds of sites will have consistent quality. Dwyer will work with regional leaders across the state and the executive team on an ongoing basis to review services being offered and to develop new programs as needs for THINK Together school customers emerge.
Tia holds such an integral role at THINK Together and has done significant work in her former position as Chief Program and Operations Officer. As THINK Together moves into our 20th year in 2017, I look forward to seeing her work and her team continue to flourish under her leadership as Chief Operating Officer, says Barth.
Dwyer, a credentialed teacher who holds a Bachelors degree in music from University California, Irvine and a Masters degree in education, oversaw the expanded learning programs in the Lawndale School District prior to joining THINK Together. Dwyer joined THINK Together in 2009 as Director of Learning Programs where she led the building of THINK Togethers nationally recognized summer learning program in Santa Ana. It wasnt long before she was promoted to Orange Countys Regional General Manager, overseeing THINK Togethers largest region in both students served and revenue. Dwyer was promoted to Chief Program and Operations Officer (CPOO) in 2015 where she directly supported regional leaders as well as High School and Early Literacy and Math programs.
Dwyer believes her new position will allow her to tie together the mission and the people at THINK Together and is excited about her newly developed role for the organization. She will be working more closely with the Human Resources team and learning new aspects of THINK Together while creating strategies to support their good work.
I believe 100% in what we are working to accomplish and have dedicated my professional career to working with undeserved students supporting their academic endeavors, says Dwyer. I appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit our organization was built on under Randys leadership and the opportunity to work collaboratively in shaping the future of THINK Together.
THINK Together is celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2017 and Dwyer is excited to celebrate the vision of where THINK Together is headed for the next 20 years and is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to such impactful work.
The people who work at THINK are amazing, I have so much respect for each person who comes to work every day to support the mission of THINK. I am looking forward to continuing the journey with the best teams across our organization, says Dwyer.
THINK Together
THINK Together is a nonprofit organization collaborating with communities, parents, teachers, administrators and other stakeholders to help transform and galvanize the K-12 educational system, creating excellence and equity for all kids. THINK Together is Californias largest provider of Expanded Learning Time programs. Through its affiliate, Principals Exchange, THINK Together also provides research, professional development and consulting to underserved schools. Combined, THINK Together and Principals Exchange serve over 130,000 students at 451 locations across 45 school districts from San Diego to San Mateo counties. Partnering with school administrators and teachers, THINK Togethers dedicated team of more than 2,500 employees are helping students statewide reach their full potential. THINK is an acronym: Teaching, Helping, Inspiring & Nurturing Kids. For more information, call 888.485.THINK or visit THINKtogether.org or Facebook.com/THINKTogether.
Dr. Katharine Hayhoe speaks alongside President Obama at recent climate change summit.
Evangelicals are usually the biggest skeptics when it comes to climate change but one Evangelical congregation and one scientist are teaming up to change that perception.
Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, one of TIME Magazines 100 Most Influential People of 2014, will visit Christs Church of the Valley in suburban Philadelphia on Sunday, January 8, 2017, to speak on the topic, How Climate Change Affects The Poor. According to Dr. Hayhoe, addressing climate change is not just a matter of politics, but of justice for those who are globally the most vulnerable.
According to Hayhoe, Climate change isnt just about the environment. Its about people. Climate change is affecting real people, and its affecting people who are poor and vulnerable.
Dr. Hayhoe is widely considered one of the leading authorities on climate change in the country. In October 2016, she spoke on a panel with President Obama and Leonardo DiCaprio at the White House. During that discussion, Hayhoe stated, If we want to fix poverty, hunger, inequality, disease, and water scarcity, we are pouring all of our money, all of our effort, and all of our hope and prayers into a bucket. That bucket has a hole in the bottom. And that hole is climate change.
At a time when climate change has become one of the most politicized issues in the country today, Dr. Hayhoe and Senior Pastor Brian Jones of Christs Church of the Valley believe its time for people of all faiths to step up and lead. This is not a liberal issue. This is not a Democratic issue. This is a life and death issue, and its time for the church to wake up from its slumber before it's too late," Jones said.
Dr. Hayhoe is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Texas Tech University and serves there as the Director of the Climate Science Center. Katharine is also the CEO of ATMOS Research and Consulting, which helps companies measure the impacts of climate change on their infrastructure and shows them how to plan for the future.
Hayhoe will speak during each of the church's three services that day: 9:00, 10:15, and 11:30 AM. This event is free of charge, and all perspectives are welcome.
Christs Church of the Valley is located at 1560 Yeager Rd, Royersford, PA 19468, in the northwest suburbs of Philadelphia.
For more information visit http://www.moviechurch.com/justiceday.
Core dnas innovative platform allows us to extend our existing digital solutions for customers who desire pre-built, ready to use applications,
Core dna, creator of the SaaS Digital Experience Platform (DXP) and Rightpoint, a leading national digital agency, have joined forces to provide a comprehensive technology, strategy and delivery platform for businesses seeking a turn-key Web Content Management System (WCMS) for digital marketing, content and commerce.
Core dna is a consumption-based platform that provides clients with a solution that simplifies both website development and ongoing management. Combining Rightpoints team of digital marketing experts with the Core dna DXP will enable delivery of fully managed solutions for corporate marketing, e-commerce, intranets and online communities to a mutual customer base.
In a world where websites have become increasingly complex assets, Core dnas innovative platform allows us to extend our existing digital solutions for customers who desire pre-built, ready to use applications, said Wendy Karlyn, Senior Vice President of Rightpoints Digital Marketing and Commerce Practice. Our agency can offer clients a broad range of technology that can be tailored to the entire digital ecosystem.
Sam Saltis, Founder & CEO of Core dna added, Rightpoints approach of rethinking the typical consulting model aligns well with the way we have shaped our perspective on website development and maintenance. We look forward to maximizing this synergy with Rightpoint as we pursue mutual endeavors to create sustainable value through smarter project delivery.
About Rightpoint
Rightpoint is a customer experience agency with technology at its core. Serving Fortune 1,000 companies, Rightpoint is the only agency driving transformational change from the inside out. Founded on the belief that great customer experiences are fueled by the people who deliver them, Rightpoints mission is to remove barriers and uncover new possibilities to connect companies with their customers across every touchpoint. From web, mobile and social to IoT, eCommerce and cloud, Rightpoint brings a holistic point of view that enables exceptional experiences with lasting impact. With a client base of more than 250 companies, Rightpoint was named to Forbes 2014 list of America's Most Promising Companies and Crain's 50 Fastest Growing Companies in Chicago in 2016. For more information, visit rightpoint.com and follow @Rightpoint.
About the Core dna
Core dna DXP is a fully managed all-in-one SaaS website platform that helps agencies with the build and ongoing management of website properties. Founded in 2000 Core dna has been deployed in thousands of websites, for hundreds of customers across over 20 industries. Core dna customers include Nintendo, Staples, Langham Hotels, Frontier Touring, Freedom Foods, and Tribeca Flashpoint College. For more information, visit http://www.coredna.com and follow @coredna
Contacts:
Alec Schidlovsky
+1 (617) 274-6660
alec.schidlovsky(at)coredna.com
Celia Jones
312-638-6056
cjones(at)rightpoint.com
Morrison & Foerster, a leading global law firm, is pleased to announce that Dennis Jenkins, a financial restructuring lawyer with 20 years of experience, has joined the firm as a partner in its New Yorkheadquartered Business Restructuring & Insolvency Group. Mr. Jenkins comes to the firm from WilmerHale. Mr. Jenkins is the fourth new business restructuring and insolvency partner to join Morrison & Foerster over the last year, following the arrival of Jonathan Levine in New York, and Peter Declercq and Sonya Van de Graaff in London.
I am pleased to welcome Dennis to our growing global restructuring team, said Brett Miller managing partner of the New York office and a partner in the Business Restructuring & Insolvency Group. Dennis is a well-respected bankruptcy and reorganization lawyer with an exceptional reputation. His understanding of complex issues will be invaluable to our clients, particularly at a time of continued global economic uncertainty.
The outstanding expertise and diverse experience that Dennis has with bondholders and indenture trustees deepens our already strong business restructuring and insolvency bench, and is an ideal complement to our existing platform, said James Peck, global co-chair of the Business Restructuring & Insolvency Group and a former bankruptcy judge who presided over the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. We are confident that Dennis will be instrumental in further enhancing our practices footprint globally.
During his career, Mr. Jenkins has represented ad hoc committees, creditors committees, indenture trustees, debtors, and other interested parties in highly contested U.S. and international corporate and debt restructurings, distressed mergers and acquisitions, and bankruptcy cases. Mr. Jenkins has also represented lenders, borrowers, and lessors in connection with some of the most complex and innovative debt-financing facilities and transactions. Additionally, he has extensive experience advising technology companies in connection with counterparty risk affecting intellectual property. Mr. Jenkins received his B.A. from Brigham Young University and his J.D. from Boston College Law School.
Morrison & Foersters global platform and highly respected restructuring group will be of great benefit to my clients, said Mr. Jenkins. Ive seen the firms restructuring practice significantly grow over recent years. I look forward to collaborating with my new colleagues to build on that momentum.
Morrison & Foersters Business Restructuring & Insolvency Group has one of the strongest practices in the industry and has advised on many of the most complex matters in recent years, including:
The creditors committee in the chapter 11 cases of Energy Future Holdings Corp., Peabody Energy, Inc., Patriot Coal Corporation, Walter Energy Inc., and UCI International, LLC;
Residential Capital, LLC, as the debtor in its chapter 11 case;
The chapter 11 trustee for MF Global Holdings Ltd.; and
The winding-up board of LBI (formerly Landsbanki) through its cross-border restructuring and composition.
ABOUT MOFO
We are Morrison & Foerster a global firm of exceptional credentials. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, investment banks, Fortune 100, and technology and life sciences companies. The Financial Times has named the firm to its lists of most innovative law firms in Northern America and Asia every year that it has published its Innovative Lawyers Reports in those regions. In the past few years, Chambers USA has honored MoFos Bankruptcy and IP teams with Firm of the Year awards, the Corporate/M&A team with a client service award, and the firm as a whole as Global USA Firm of the Year. Our lawyers are committed to achieving innovative and business-minded results for our clients, while preserving the differences that make us stronger.
By joining VGH, we will be able to dedicate even more time to our patients, reaching more people than ever before and spreading the gift of sight throughout New York.
Vision Group Holdings (VGH) announced today that it has acquired New York Eye Specialists. Renowned surgeon Dr. Ken Moadel will continue to serve his patients as the company is incorporated under the auspices of VGH.
VGH is the largest provider of LASIK vision correction in North America, and the well-known brands it operates include the LASIK Vision Institute and TLC Laser Eye Centers. Known for its professional service and top-notch eye care, VGH surgeons have performed more than 3.3 million successful procedures.
Dr. Ken Moadel now joins the ranks of these experienced surgeons with more than 100,000 laser vision correction procedures already under his belt. Dr. Moadel is truly an expert in his field, having dedicated his practice to LASIK. New York Magazine has recognized him as one of the nations top specialists in refractive surgery.
Like all VGH facilities, New York Eye Specialists is equipped with the latest FDA-approved technology. The staff will continue to attend to the centers patients in both English and Spanish to ensure continuity throughout the transition.
Dr. Ken Moadel is one of the most recognized and experienced providers of LASIK in the country, and it is an honor to have him join our team, said VGH CEO Ben Cook. He has built a great vision correction center and quite a following based on his superior care and his commitment to his patients.
I have been performing LASIK procedures and helping people across New York City see better for more than 20 years, said Dr. Moadel. By joining VGH, we will be able to dedicate even more time to our patients, reaching more people than ever before and spreading the gift of sight throughout New York.
New York Eye Specialists will continue to operate from its current location at 110 East 40th St, 6th Floor, New York, NY, 10016.
To learn more or to schedule an appointment, English-speakers can visit http://www.ny2020.com/about.htm and Spanish-speakers can visit http://www.ahoraveo2020.com/.
About Vision Group Holdings
Vision Group Holdings, based in West Palm Beach, Florida, oversees and manages two of the leading LASIK surgery providers in the world: The LASIK Vision Institute and TLC Laser Eye Centers. Between the two brands, the company has performed over 3.3 million LASIK eye procedures. Vision Group Holdings, the largest LASIK provider in North America, serves multiple markets in the United States and Canada, making it extremely convenient for patients to find a location that is both nearby and well suited to their specific needs.
ABC Family Fund 757 "We are excited to offer this unique, premier event to select guests who are interested in learning more about this exciting new market, while at the same time enjoying a ultra-exclusive six-star luxury travel experience says L. Gregory Loomar, Esq., CEO
Ancillary Business Consultants, Inc., a professional business advisory service and CannaServe, in association with the ABC Family Fund, Inc., (ABCFF), which provides assistance to children afflicted with severe forms of epilepsy, announced today an ultra-exclusive private jet tour for participants to learn about the enormous potential and opportunities occurring in the rapidly emerging legal cannabis and related business markets.
The ABCFF private Boeing 757 executive configuration jet will transport 50 guests on a unique 8 night travel adventure featuring 6-star accommodations, dining and select events with leading cannabis and related industry pioneers. Pairing prime cannabis strains with gourmet dining, this trip will include lectures by industry experts, tours of state-of-the-art facilities for cultivating, processing and distributing the finished product and the opportunity to meet some of the new leaders in the industry. The current itinerary includes the cannabis-compliant US states of Colorado, Washington and California as well as Toronto, Canada, where the Canadian pharmaceutical approach to cannabis will be showcased.
"We are excited to offer this distinct, premier event to select guests who are interested in learning more about this exciting new market, and at the same time enjoying an ultra-exclusive six-star luxury travel experience says L. Gregory Loomar, Esq., CEO of Ancillary Business Consultants.
This innovative ABC Family Fund (ABCFF) Jet Tour leverages two rapidly expanding markets the legal cannabis industry and luxury travel , which is the fastest growing sector in leisure travel. The event is targeted at high net worth individuals who want to learn more about potential investment opportunities in the cannabis and ancillary business market space, while experiencing an unparalleled, luxury vacation. Many high net worth clients are passing up long journeys to Europe and are instead looking for quick adventures closer to home. Coupled with the tremendous interest and evolution of the legal cannabis and ancillary business markets to a much higher branding scenario, the ABCFF Jet Tour presents a novel and incomparable travel experience.
Getting Ready to Open! Having the opportunity to bring our family to Florida and open a BumperDoc is the beginning of our long-term success plan! said Karla Mata, Co-Owner of the new BumperDoc
BumperDoc, an auto body paint shop franchise, (BumperDoc Franchises) is celebrating the grand opening of shop number six in the state of Florida, located in Oakland Park, FL. BumperDoc officially began welcoming customers to their newest Florida location on Thursday, December 1, 2016. The new BumperDoc is located at 793 NE 45th Street, Oakland Park, FL. Having the opportunity to bring our family to Florida and open a BumperDoc is the beginning of our long-term success plan! said Karla Mata and Rommel Rojas; owners of the new BumperDoc.
BumperDoc auto body paint shops provide a multitude of services and work with all major insurance companies. By repairing plastics before replacing them and using eco-friendly products, BumperDoc continues to set the standard in the auto body industry. BumperDoc leverages partnerships with SolarGard, LKQ and Akzo Nobel to provide quality results backed by industry leaders.
BumperDoc offers many services to help customers maintain the value and appearance of their automotive investment. With same day bumper repair service and 2-3 day express collision repair, BumperDoc is saving retail customers time and money on a daily basis. Receive a free estimate anytime without an appointment and BumperDoc is open 6 days a week to serve the Oakland Park community.
In addition to auto body and paint repairs, service offerings include window tinting, auto detailing, dent removal, wheel repair, windshield chip repair and headlight restoration.
In a time of high stress and anxiety, Bloomlife gave me peace of mind.
CES Booth # BT118 (PRWEB) January 03, 2017 -- Bloomlife, which has designed the first and only wearable for pregnancy, announced today that its namesake offering has added iOS support, is coming out of beta and is available for expectant parents to reserve now. The Bloomlife wearable is the first consumer-accessible sensor to measure pregnancy-specific parameters, starting with contractions.
From the comfort of home, Bloomlife provides a clinically-validated second opinion to help expectant moms understand what contractions feel like and for the first time easily track changes in contraction patterns throughout the 3rd trimester to see how her body is preparing for labor. Bloomlife also makes it easier to share her pregnancy journey with partners and family, while facilitating data driven conversations with care teams.
I learned firsthand that every pregnancy is unique and each baby is on their own timeline, says Sarah Bylsma, a Bloomlife beta user. With my third pregnancy, I started having preterm contractions at 25 weeks and was in the hospital three times. Hospital visits are expensive and disruptive, and despite being a neonatal nurse practitioner, and experiences with two previous pregnancies, the contractions were so frequent that I was having trouble deciding when I needed to go in. With Bloomlife I was able to see whether what I was feeling was actually contractions or just uterine irritability, and was able to quickly determine the regularity and frequency. In a time of high stress and anxiety, Bloomlife gave me peace of mind.
While empowering moms with accurate actionable information on her pregnancy, Bloomlife also looks to impact prenatal health on a global scale. Bloomlife is committed to using its technology to accelerate long overdue advancements in prenatal health research with a particular focus on preterm birth. In support of its mission to improve birth outcomes, and in partnership with the Bloomlife community of moms, Bloomlife intends to crowdsource the largest and most comprehensive data set on maternal and fetal health parameters to identify biomarkers for pregnancy complications.
Despite one in eight women delivering preterm, the underlying causes and triggers of preterm birth are poorly understood, says Eric Dy, co-founder and CEO of Bloomlife. Traditional approaches to clinical research are fraught with red tape when it comes to pregnancy. Naturally, anything that is perceived to risk a mother and her baby remain strictly off limits. Bloomlife has developed a better way to move beyond the clunky inconvenient 40-year-old technology that is used in hospitals today that requires strapping women to beds. In doing so we improve the overall usability, and, since we dont use ultrasound, allow for longitudinal recordings necessary to collect the missing data to advance our understanding of pregnancy and complications such as preterm birth. We see an opportunity to revolutionize medical discovery and innovation, leveraging the power of citizen science and crowdsourced consumer generated data, which is particularly needed in underserved areas such as pregnancy.
After nine months in beta, incorporating feedback from hundreds of users that were part of the early access program and four clinical studies, Bloomlifes commercial product can now help todays expectant parents as well as move the mission forward.
Key features available today include:
Real-time contraction view: Bloomlife delivers an accurate second opinion, no more guessing. Users can visualize each contraction as it occurs and learn how it corresponds to the sensations felt.
Automated counting and timing: Bloomlife calculates the frequency and duration of contractions so women can more easily communicate with their birth team.
Contraction patterns and trends: Bloomlife tracks changes in contraction patterns to see how her body is preparing for labor and easily visualize if contractions are becoming regular and increasing in duration and frequency.
Bloomlifes smartphone-connected sensor is offered for both iOS and Android and is available to reserve now at http://www.bloomlife.com. Bloomlife offers tiered pricing starting at $149 for the sensor and one month of service. Orders received today are expected to be shipped within Q1 2017.
For more information on the company or the Bloomlife pregnancy wearable, visit the website at http://www.bloomlife.com. For media inquiries, or to schedule a demo at CES, please contact Kimberly Angell of Wish Public Relations at kim dot angell at wishpr dot com or (415) 471-7272.
About Bloomlife
Bloomlife offers the first and only pregnancy wearable for expectant parents to measure pregnancy specific parameters, deliver prenatal insights and ultimately support its mission to improve birth outcomes. Bloomlifes clinically-validated pregnancy wearable automatically tracks contractions by safely and passively picking up electrical signals from the uterus, unlocking information for consumers previously only available at a doctors visit. In partnership with the Bloomlife community of moms, Bloomlife is crowdsourcing the largest dataset on maternal and fetal health to identify biomarkers for pregnancy complications to improve birth outcomes. Founded in 2014, Bloomlifes team has over a decade of experience developing advanced wearables for consumer and medical markets. Bloomlife has strategic partnerships with Stanford researchers and UCSF's Preterm Birth Initiative and was winner of Richard Bransons 2016 Extreme Tech Challenge and 2016 CES Innovation Award honoree.
A comprehensive telemedicine offering, SnapMD will now be integrated with athenaClinicals (EHR) and athenaCollector (revenue cycle management) services.
Telemedicine technology innovator SnapMD today announced a partnership with athenahealth, Inc. through athenahealths More Disruption Please (MDP) program, making SnapMDs Virtual Care Management (VCM) private-label, cloud-based telemedicine platform available on the athenahealth Marketplace. A comprehensive telemedicine offering, SnapMD will now be integrated with athenaClinicals (EHR) and athenaCollector (revenue cycle management) services.
SnapMDs VCM Telemedicine Platform is a white-label software platform with all the features and functions to practice any form of medicine suitable for virtual care. With comprehensive workflows and a robust tool set accessible from a single intuitive interface, the VCM platform delivers an easy-to-use experience for the patient encounter, suitable for most departments across a health system and with powerful back-end systems to manage the digital health enterprise.
SnapMDs partnership with athenahealth will make the companys enterprise-level VCM telemedicine technology available to a growing network of more than 85,000 healthcare providers. The end-to-end VCM platform enables healthcare providers to offer telehealth services to their patients, under their brand and using the clinicians they choose.
Developed to enable healthcare providers to directly engage patients remotely using readily available consumer-based devices, the robust, HIPAA-compliant platform easily extends care delivery.
SnapMD has been widely regarded for its fully integrated intuitive interface, providing a meaningful experience for patient encounters with a powerful back-end system that enables truly integrated care delivery, said Dave Skibinski, president and CEO of SnapMD. With the athenahealth relationship and integration, healthcare providers delivering single or multiple telehealth services can now effectively deliver care remotely in a convenient digital environment under their operating umbrella.
athenahealth is a network-enabled services company with a vision to build a national health information backbone to help make healthcare work as it should. As an MDP partner, SnapMD joins a network of like-minded healthcare professionals who are looking to disrupt established approaches in healthcare that simply arent working, arent good enough, or arent advancing the industry and help providers thrive in the face of industry change.
To learn more about SnapMDs VCM platform, please visit SnapMDs product listing in the athenahealth Marketplace.
About SnapMD
SnapMD is the Virtual Care Management (VCM) telemedicine software leader, enabling healthcare providers to engage their patients via a secure, HIPAA compliant, cloud-based telemedicine platform. SnapMDs robust, private-label, VCM application is specifically designed to give healthcare organizations another option to improve access to care by launching virtual care Telehealth services under their brand utilizing their highly qualified, patient-trusted providers. For more information, please visit http://www.snap.md.
Steven Lonergan, CPCU, Director of Business Development - Midwest
Capstone Associated Services, Ltd. welcomes Steven Lonergan, CPCU to its team as Director of Business Development - Midwest. Lonergan brings over 30 years of insurance, reinsurance, and captive experience to Capstone.
Lonergan is based in the greater Minneapolis area, expanding Capstone's local presence into the Midwestern markets.
Were excited to have Steven on board to assist clients on captive insurance / alternative risk planning opportunities, commented Capstones CEO, Stewart A. Feldman. Steven brings a wealth of captive insurance knowledge to our company, bolstering our talent pool. Capstone will continue to hire the industrys best professionals to spearhead our turnkey captive programs.
Lonergan holds the Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) professional designation and is a licensed Minnesota agent for Property, Casualty, Life, & Health insurance.
Lonergan was the managing director of General Motors captive, General International Ltd in Bermuda, and also has a strong background in Property and Casualty as well as Accident & Health reinsurance. He will be working to expand Capstones reach in health related captives, an area we see as a significant growth opportunity as the regulatory landscape evolves in 2017.
"In just the last few weeks, weve seen the benefits of having Steven Lonergan on our team," commented Feldman. "His experience and knowledge of captive insurance planning have had a direct and positive impact on relationship-building and new-client onboarding. We look forward to Stevens contributions in the months and years to come.
In furtherance of Capstone's continued growth, Lonergan will concentrate on establishing new business relationships for the Company, connecting directly with mid-market business owners and their advisors.
Steven Lonergan holds a B.A. in Economics and Psychology from Macalester College.
About Capstone
Capstone Associated Services, Ltd. is among the most integrated and largest outsourced providers of captive insurance services for the middle market. In association with The Feldman Law Firm LLP (http://www.FeldLaw.com), Capstone administers property & casualty insurance companies that provide alternative risk financing services throughout the U.S. Now in its 19th year, Capstone provides turnkey services usually under a joint engagement with its affiliated law firm to manufacturers, distributors, and professional organizations.
Capstone's staff of insurance professionals includes Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriters, Associates in Risk Management, accountants and administrators, in addition to the affiliated The Feldman Law Firm LLP's tax, corporate, financing and regulatory lawyers, and outside CPAs, risk managers, property & casualty professionals, and actuaries.
Together, this team offers middle market companies the most comprehensive risk planning solution available. Today, captives are the premier risk management and risk-financing tool for qualified middle market companies.
To learn more about how alternative risk planning and captive insurance can protect your business from uninsured risks, please visit us at http://www.CapstoneAssociated.com or contact us at 800.500.3190.
NOTICE: To the extent this communication contains any statement of tax advice, such statement is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by any person for the purpose of, or as the basis for, avoiding tax penalties that may be imposed by the Internal Revenue Service. Unless expressly stated otherwise in writing, this communication is not intended to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any matter addressed in this communication.
Senseware's wireless hardware Three new smart building patents issued
Senseware, Inc. (Senseware), an Internet of Things (IoT) company, announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued three patents that cover the smart building solution trends sweeping the commercial real-estate industry.
The patent for invention number 9,534,929 covers wireless control networks that add building automation functionality to commercial buildings of any size as part of a low-cost, retrofit strategy for improving building sustainability. With this invention, building owners and operators can augment their legacy infrastructure to improve the operational efficiency of their buildings by adding intelligent controls to critical facility equipment.
The patent for invention number 9,534,930 covers the remote configuration of sensors for rapid, low-cost installation of a wireless sensor service in a building. With this invention, customers can reduce installation time and costs and accelerate the delivery of real-time sensor data to a customer dashboard.
The patent for invention number 9,538,578 covers system status tools that allow monitoring of the operation and configuration of a sensor service delivered via a wireless sensor network. With this invention, customers can take control of their sensor service without relying on specially trained technicians to make needed adjustments in the reconfiguration of a sensor service.
These three patents represent the first returns on the Intellectual Property strategy we pursued from the outset of Sensewares entry into the booming Intelligent Building sector, said Serene Almomen, CEO, Senseware. We knew that Sensewares innovations would be recognized and rewarded. As a technology company, we are constantly looking to add value to our shareholders by developing strategic patent assets that cover features critical to the delivery of smart building solutions, she said.
Like other business sectors, the Intelligent Building sector is becoming increasingly data dependent. Building owners and operators are increasingly recognizing that their facility management operations can benefit greatly from actionable insights derived from real-time monitoring data. Efficiency gains in facility management operations reduce costs and have a direct impact on the bottom line.
About Senseware:
Senseware, located in McLean, VA, is a leader in developing commercial and industrial IoT solutions that combine hardware, software and cloud data solutions into a tightly integrated, full-stack solution. Additional information about Senseware can be found at senseware.co
Were looking forward to building on that foundation and more closely aligning Radio Systems strengths in product design and supply chain with CCDCs local expertise in sales and marketing.
Invisible Fence Brand announced that its parent company, Radio Systems Corp. of Knoxville, Tenn., has acquired New York-based Canine Containment Distributing Company (CCDC) including Invisible Fence dealerships in the Northeast region: Invisible Fence of Harrisburg (Pa.) and Invisible Fence of the Mohawk Valley (N.Y.).
Based in Rochester, N.Y., CCDC has been an exclusive distributor for Invisible Fence for 27 years. Its territory includes most of upstate New York, Delaware, parts of Pennsylvania (outside of Pittsburgh), and includes both independently owned and directly owned dealerships.
CCDC has done a tremendous job marketing, selling and servicing Invisible Fence Brand solutions over the last three decades, said Lance Tracy, Chief Commercial Officer for Radio Systems Corp. Were looking forward to building on that foundation and more closely aligning Radio Systems strengths in product design and supply chain with CCDCs local expertise in sales and marketing.
CCDC is always looking to evolve what we do best for the good of our dealer partners, our customers and for the brand, said Larry Lenick, President of CCDC. This acquisition will help to continually advance the dealerships that serve pet owners in New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Customers in this region will experience no disruption in the service and support that they have come to expect from their local Invisible Fence dealers as Radio Systems Corp. and CCDC work closely together for a seamless transition. For additional information or questions, customers can call (800) 578-3647.
About Invisible Fence Brand
Invisible Fence Brand is the original electronic pet containment system. It offers a comprehensive family of containment, avoidance and access products that are combined with a scientifically based training program. Owned by Radio Systems Corp. in Knoxville, Tenn., Invisible Fence Brand solutions are sold predominantly in the U.S. and Canada by professional, authorized dealers. These authorized dealers provide Perfect Start Plus Pet training and custom installation that have safely contained over 3 million pets. Invisible Fence Brand has taken pet care beyond the home and founded the Project Breathe program. To date, Project Breathe has donated more than 12,000 pet oxygen masks to fire departments and first responders throughout the U.S. and Canada. For more information on Invisible Fence Brand or to find a local dealer, visit invisiblefence.com or follow the company on Facebook or Twitter.
Attorney Daniel Gigiano Child Support Whitepaper In determining whether spousal support is reasonable and in determining the amount and terms of payment of spousal support, each party shall be considered to have contributed equally to the production of income.
The Ohio spousal support laws provide a number of factors for calculating spousal support payment amounts. Details of these factors are discussed in the white paper by Attorney Daniel Gigiano, which include:
The parties actual incomes or historical incomes.
Ages, and physical, mental and emotional conditions of the parties.
The length of the marriage.
The standard of living of the parties during the marriage.
The tax consequences of spousal support for each of the parties.
The white paper also discusses how courts will assume certain income levels for purposes of calculating spousal support. People cannot just quit their jobs and claim that they make less; the courts will often use the higher income the person used to make.
IRS definitions of spousal support are also discussed in the white paper. Usually, spousal support is taxable to the recipient and deductible to the person paying the support. However, some spousal support payments look like property divisions or some other creative way of moving money. This is where it is important to go back to the definition of spousal support and IRS regulations.
The white paper by Attorney Daniel Gigiano also discusses how spousal support ends. While the divorce decree may simply list a termination date which controls many circumstances, factors listed in Ohio law may cause it to end sooner. One common way spousal support ends is when the recipient gets remarried.
About Attorney Daniel Gigiano
Daniel F. Gigiano, Esq. graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and has practiced law since 1993. Attorney Gigiano is the owner of Daniel F. Gigiano Co., L.P.A. located in downtown Wadsworth, Medina County, Ohio.
Attorney Gigiano practices law in the following areas: OVI/DUI, Bankruptcy. Business Law
Civil Litigation, Collections, Criminal Defense, Divorce & Family Law, Estate Planning, Foreclosure Defense, Personal Injury, Probate, and Real Estate.
Brainsy, Inc. today announced the addition of (Ms.) Tra My Nguyen to its All-Star Advisory Board. Brainsy powers online knowledge sharing networks for private companies, trade associations, professional societies and other membership organizations.
Brainsy is honored to have Tra My Nguyen join our advisory board, stated Brian Christie, CEO of Brainsy, Inc. Tra My is an accomplished entrepreneur and she has helped build successful companies in multiple industries some listing publicly, employing thousands of employees and reaching markets of South East Asia, Japan, Europe and North America. Her guidance, as we explore consumer demand from international markets, will be greatly valued.
Social media platforms around the world continue to grow with Facebook claiming nearly 1.8 billion monthly active users, TenCentsWeChat (China) boasts approximately 850 million users, Twitter has nearly 320 million monthly active users and LinkedIn (acquired by Microsoft) counts over 100 million monthly visitors (450+ million total members). Brainsys Expert Calling Network (ECN) platform integrates with many leading platforms but stands in stark contrast to them all by offering the only identity-verified network with a direct pathway to monetization for participating experts.
Im pleased to be advising a company pushing the boundaries of the knowledge economy and working to make right, broad expertise and knowledge much more easily sought for, stated Tra My Nguyen. Brainsys unique revenue sharing model ensures that membership organizations can earn non-dues revenue when deploying a Brainsy ECN under the organizations own brand and these branded networks can be accessible to consumers anywhere in the world.
For experts, ECNs are by invitation-only, so expert participants require authorization by an ECN Network Sponsor. For consumers, a list of publicly accessible ECNs can be found at: https://expertcallingnetwork.com/Pages/Find-an-ECN
About (Ms.) Tra My Nguyen:
Tra My Nguyen is a global entrepreneur and Vice Chairperson of the 7,000-employee Pan Group, Chairperson of Pan Farm and Pan-Saladbowl, Board Member of National Seeds Corporation, Ben TreAquatex JSC and BioSpring JSC. Since 2007, she has been the founder, CEO, and Chairperson of CSC Vietnam Holdings. Her professional work and interests span agricultural businesses, real estate, and educational ventures. She holds a Bachelors Degree from the Foreign Trade University of Vietnam and an Executive MBA Degree from the Shidler College of Business, of the University of Hawaii, where she received a Hall of Honor Awards in 2016.
About Brainsy, Inc.:
Brainsy offers patented Software as a Service (SaaS) to power knowledge sharing networks for private companies, trade associations, professional societies and other membership organizations. Deploying a Brainsy powered Expert Calling Network (ECN) under their own brand, organizations can showcase mentors or subject matter experts while earning non-dues revenue. Brainsy is backed by successful entrepreneurs-turned-Angels and is a portfolio company of TomorrowVentures, founded by Alphabet (formerly Google) Chairman, Eric Schmidt. More information is at: http://www.brainsy.com
Barbara Dodson of Canton, OH, has joined quality and environmental management system consulting firm simpleQuE as Operations Manager, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Deanne Sparr announced today.
With over 25 years of experience in quality, manufacturing and certification, Dodson has an extensive management and quality background. Prior to simpleQuE, she was with the certification body, Smithers Quality Assessments for 15 years, where she was responsible for all activities concerning development, application, and maintenance of quality standards and accreditation requirements.
Sparr has this to say: Were thrilled to have Barb as part of the simpleQuE team! Her attention to detail and knowledge of certification requirements is exactly the support we are excited to add to our staff and to provide to our clients.
Early in her career, Dodson worked and audited in the metals, plastics, chemical and service industries. As Inside Sales/Quality Coordinator at Ohio Cast Projects (a Tier 1 supplier to Ford, GM and DaimlerChrysler), and during her time at Baerlocher USA and Dover Chemical Corporation, Dodson developed her ISO and quality system expertise.
Barbara has come full circle beginning with her quality system experience on the supplier/manufacturing level; then working for a registrar to assist companies with the maintenance of their quality standards and certification requirements; and now joining simpleQuE to coordinate the consulting and internal auditing services for companies seeking to implement or maintain their certification.
SimpleQuE Inc. performs consulting, training and internal auditing of management systems with a focus on quality excellence made simple. With certified experts in ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949 & IATF 16949 (automotive), AS9100 (aerospace), ISO 14001 (environmental), ISO/IEC 17025 (laboratory), and OHSAS 18001 (health and safety), simpleQuE can help customers achieve their certification management objectives in the simplest, most efficient, and sustainable manner.
Quality Excellence Made Simple is what simpleQuE offers its clients. For case studies and other press releases, please visit http://www.simpleque.com.
Being the longest standing self storage search engine with the largest membership base in the industry, we always want to add programs that will benefit our member base and help them get the most out of their online efforts.
USstoragesearch.com is the 1st self storage marketplace to now offer facility NAP (facility name, address, phone number) information on the storage facility member listings. This solution is offered to help our members see increased placement within local search and organic search results for their own websites. Having NAP information accurate across all online citation sources is key to getting the most out of local search results. Being the longest standing self storage search engine with the largest membership base in the industry, we always want to add programs that will benefit our member base and help them get the most out of their online efforts, says Michael Kucera, President and CEO of USstoragesearch.com. If our directory can help increase rentals whether it be through our own sites or our members websites, we are providing even more value to our customers.
Seeing how local search results are consuming more and more of the 1st page on search engines, we wanted a way to help provide a boost for our members in this key area of search, says Mike Jones, VP of Operations. Giving our members the ability to display their actual facility information on our listings is an invaluable resource which helps reinforce to the search engines that their facility information is correct and consistent. The NAP solution will help our members with increased local SEO and visibility.
Our focus has always been to boost online traffic for our clients and by adding the NAP information to our member listings, we are doing just that, says Nick Bilava, Director of Sales & Marketing. A facilitys website should be their number one online source for new tenants, so however we can help supplement that, we will.
The USstoragesearch.com Network includes the additional directory sites of Storage.com and Storageunit.com. With over 8,000 member facilities across the United States, the USstoragesearch.com Network has been helping operators of all sizes capture more tenants from their online efforts since being founded in 2004. To find out more, contact 866-880-0742 or email info(at)usstoragesearch(dot)com.
Ronald Pillsbury, COO of UAS Labs We are thrilled to have Ron join our team of dedicated probiotic experts. He will play an instrumental role in fostering our continued vibrant growth and global success in this exciting market Past News Releases RSS
UAS Labs, a leading manufacturer of probiotic supplements for the global market, announced today that Ronald Pillsbury has joined the company as the new Chief Operating Officer. Ron brings a wealth of experience in leading complex enterprises and striving for continual improvement in all areas of responsibility. Mr. Pillsburys most recent endeavors have been specifically within the supplement industry, including the VP of Operations for Pharmavite and most recently as the COO of NOW Foods.
We are thrilled to have Ron join our team of dedicated probiotic experts. He will play an instrumental role in fostering our continued vibrant growth and global success in this dynamic market, states Kevin Mehring, President/CEO of UAS Labs. Rons in-depth industry knowledge and extensive operations experience will prove to be invaluable as we look to the exciting future of our company.
As Chief Operating Officer, Ronald will oversee the day-to-day operations and efficiency of UAS Labs state-of-the-art probiotic manufacturing facility located in Wausau, Wisconsin. He will also be responsible for managing the manufacturing and administrative functions of the organization in accordance with industry standards, regulatory requirements, and organizational goals and policies.
About UAS Labs:
Founded in 1979, UAS Labs, LLC has delivered the highest quality, science-backed probiotics to the natural products marketplace for more than thirty years. Strictly dedicated to probiotic manufacturing, UAS Labs is committed to designing innovative and effective formulations including strains such as Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1 and patented Lactobacillus reuteri NCIMB 30242 (LRC) for cholesterol support. UAS Labs products are sold to private label and contract manufacturing customers in the U.S., and over 45 other countries. This GMP and organic certified company is fully integrated from formulation through manufacturing, packaging and marketing, and adheres to the highest quality standards. Learn more at uaslabs.com.
Leonard Perlmutter - Founder, The American Meditation Institute According to the U.S. government, 53 percent of all illness is caused by lifestyle choices. That makes a daily meditation practice the cheapest and most practical form of health insurance. --- Leonard Perlmutter
The American Meditation Institute (AMI) begins the year with new classes to relieve stress and burnout, enhance creativity, and strengthen the bodys immune system. Available to the general public, the six-session Heart and Science of Yoga: Empowering Self-Care Program will be taught by AMI founder Leonard Perlmutter from January 11 through February 15, 2017, and will provide attending physicians and nurses 15 continuing medical education credits.
The course curriculum is based on Leonard Perlmutters award-winning book, The Heart and Science of Yoga: The American Meditation Institutes Empowering Self-Care Program for a Happy, Healthy, Joyful Life. Each class from 6:30pm-9:00pm provides a complete training in following topics: AMI Meditation, easy-gentle yoga, therapeutic breathing, mind optimization techniques, Ayurvedic medical principles and the power of prayer. Noted medical, pioneer physicians Mehmet Oz MD (Dr. Oz), Dean Ornish MD, Bernie Siegel MD and Larry Dossey MD have endorsed this course curriculum.
In 2008, AMI conducted a retrospective case study of participants who previously completed and practiced the material taught in Leonard Perlmutters course. The study found that students experienced the following positive, reproducible, long-term health-promoting changes: lowered blood pressure, lowered heart rate, reduced cholesterol levels, decreased chest pain, diminished or extinguished acute and chronic pain, weight loss, increased breathing capacity, increased exercise capacity, improved quality and quantity of sleep, improved energy levels, increased creative capacity, diminishment of migraine headaches, significant reductions in stress and fear, elimination of irritable bowel syndrome, a general sense of happiness and optimism in all facets of life for every participant
According to recent course graduate, Joel M. Kremer, MD, who is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology in Albany, New York, This teaching has been an enormous benefit in my personal and professional life. I have less stress, more focus, and am able to serve my patients with greater clarity. It becomes surprisingly easy now to recognize the many clinical situations in which patients with somatic manifestations of 'dis-ease' could greatly benefit from Yoga Science.
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About the American Meditation Institute
The American Meditation Institute is a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization devoted to the teaching and practice of Yoga Science, meditation and its allied disciplines as mind-body medicine. In its holistic approach to wellness, the AMI combines the healing arts of the East with the practicality of modern Western science. The American Meditation Institute offers a wide variety of classes, retreats, and teacher training programs. AMI also publishes Transformation a bi-monthly journal of Yoga Science as holistic mind-body medicine. Call 800.234.5115 for a mail or email subscription.
Media Contact:
Robert Washington
60 Garner Road
Averill Park, NY 12018
Tel: 518-674-8714
Fax: 518-674-8714
NEW! SS207-5AX LaserSwiss Thread whirling is an ideal process for manufacturing bone screws because you can machine high quality threads directly from bar stock with a single pass. Its a huge time saver when compared to single or dual-point threading.
Tsugami/Rem Sales, the exclusive North American importer of Precision Tsugami machine tools, announced today that it will demonstrate its new SS207-5AX LaserSwiss at the MD&M West Expo in Anaheim, CA in February.
This will be the first time the company has displayed the Tsugami SS207-5AX LaserSwiss at an MD&M show. The machine combines Swiss style machining with laser cutting on one machine, allowing manufacturers to perform Swiss turning and laser cutting operations with a single setup. All operations are programmed and driven from the machines Fanuc 31i-B5 control. The laser nozzle standoff adjustment is NC controlled, and the lasers power level, frequency, pulse width, and lens focus are all adjustable on the fly.
The SS207-5AX is a step up from the first LaserSwiss machines we introduced, Tsugami/Rem Sales Vice President Mike Mugno said. This machine is a 7-axis Swiss Turn with a Servo-driven B-axis. The B-axis live tools cut in coordination with the C axis, facilitating the ability to quickly cut precise angles and sculpted contours.
The SS207-5AX LaserSwiss holds 33 tools, plus the SPI Fiber Laser, which is available in 250W or 400W configurations.
Tsugami/Rem Sales will also demonstrate thread whirling on the S206 CNC Lathe at the show. The S206 has an electronic servo-driven guide bushing and up to 39 tool positions. The 20 mm 6-axis Swiss turn is convertible, meaning it can be run as a traditional sliding headstock machine with a guide bushing or as a chucker without the guide bushing.
Thread whirling is an ideal process for manufacturing bone screws, Mugno explained, because you can machine high quality threads directly from bar stock with a single pass. Its a huge time saver when compared to single or dual-point threading. Tsugami/Rem Sales has an extensive background in thread whirling turnkey projects, Mugno noted, and the company holds a patent for a thread whirling milling head that one of its engineers developed.
To see live cutting demos of these machines at MD&M West, visit the Tsugami/Rem Sales booth, #1177. The show runs February 7-9 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA.
Local manufacturers unable to attend the show are invited to schedule private machine tool demonstrations at the Tsugami Technical Center in Fullerton, CA, or at Tsugami/Rem Sales distribution partner Ellison Technologies California facilities in Santa Fe Springs and Freemont.
About Tsugami/Rem Sales
Tsugami/Rem Sales (http://www.remsales.com) has been the exclusive North American importer of Precision Tsugami machine tools since 1978. A division of Morris Group, Inc. of Windsor, Connecticut, Rem Sales sells new Tsugami machine tools via national distribution channels and direct sales agents. The company also provides application engineering, service and customer training.
About Ellison Technologies
Ellison Technologies (http://www.ellisontechnologies.com) is the largest machine tool integrator in North America, representing 70% of the metal cutting market. With 16 locations across the U.S., Ellison is committed to the survival and growth of the manufacturing industry. In addition to distributing the latest CNC machine tool technology, Ellison provides engineering solutions, service and parts support, turnkey solutions, robotic automation and machine financing.
Hector Lujan (left) and Garland Reiter (right) I have had the great fortune of working directly with Garland for the last 14 years, and am honored to be his successor as CEO of RAC.
Reiter Affiliated Companies (RAC) announces that current COO, Hector Lujan, will assume the new role of Chief Executive Officer starting January 1, 2017, as Garland Reiter , Co-Founder and CEO, transitions to the role of Executive Chairman.
Under Reiters leadership, the organization grew from a small 5-person farm house on the Oxnard plains to an impressive expansion of farming acreage and investment in the United States, Mexico, Portugal and Morocco. Staying at the forefront of innovation and utilizing cultural farming practices allowed Reiter to revolutionize the berry industry; however, the companys history of investing in their people has left an indelible legacy of its own. Reiter established the first U.S. private primary health care clinic, La Clinica FreSalud, exclusively for farmworkers and collaborated with the University of California Davis and Berkeley to fund and implement an obesity and diabetes prevention program known as Sembrando Salud among Reiters ranch communities.
Over the past 40 years, I have had the privilege to work alongside many great individuals and steward the company along the way, guiding, engaging and navigating a path to where we stand today, said Reiter. In my new capacity, I will be responsible for leading our Board of Directors and guiding strategy. I have great confidence in Hector and the accomplishments that he has achieved have allowed him to establish a great depth of knowledge and business acumen for our diverse international business.
Lujan joined the company in 2002 as Vice President of Central Mexico for the companys Mexican affiliate, BerryMex. By 2005, due to Lujans strong leadership capabilities and development, his role expanded consolidating all of the companys Mexico farming operations in Jalisco, Michoacan, and Baja California. In 2011, Lujan and his family relocated to the U.S. to work for RAC as the Chief Operating Officer (COO).
Before joining the company, Lujan worked for Bionova Fresh, a subsidiary of Grupo Pulsar, as Operations Manager in their farming and marketing companies. He is a graduate of the Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico with a degree in Business Administration.
I have had the great fortune of working directly with Garland for the last 14 years, and am honored to be his successor as CEO of RAC, said Lujan. My goal is to bring renewed growth and excitement into the business so that we can continue on our path of success. With that goal comes great challenges, but I believe we have a strong team here who are ready to drive us forward.
To learn more about Reiter Affiliated Companies, please visit: http://www.berry.net
About Reiter Affiliated Companies
Reiter Affiliated Companies (RAC) is the largest fresh multi-berry producer in the world, growing Driscolls proprietary varieties of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries year round in the United States, Baja California, Central Mexico, Portugal, Morocco and Peru.
The Reiter family began farming in the San Francisco Bay Peninsula and by the turn of the century had migrated south into Watsonville and the Santa Clara Valley. By the late 1970s, operations expanded into Southern California where the headquarters is today. The company values of Honesty, Fairness and Respect line the corridors of every office, guiding and leading business principles and decisions. Those decisions have resulted in the organizations position as an industry leader, adopting health and wellness programs, opening primary health clinics and partnering with local organizations to improve the quality of life for the farmworker community.
Shulman According to Steve Hurley, VP of Sales for Tech Lighting and LBL Lighting, "Adrienne's background is very impressive. Shes been on the sales and client sides of the business so shell better understand our customers needs."
Generation Brands, one of the largest manufacturers of decorative lighting and ceiling fans in North America, has hired lighting veteran Adrienne Shulman as Northeast Specification Sales Manager for brands Tech Lighting, LBL Lighting and Ambiance Lighting Systems in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.
Were very excited Adrienne is joining our team, said Steve Hurley, Vice President of Sales for Tech Lighting and LBL Lighting, to whom Shulman will report. Her industry background is very impressive, shes been on the sales and client sides of the business so shell better understand our customers needs, and she has many strong relationships in the marketplace that will enable her to hit the ground running.
Shulman has a proven track record in exceeding sales targets and fostering key associations with lighting designers, interior designers, architects, engineers and more. In her new role with Generation Brands, shell leverage these strengths to support current and new customer specification agencies with product sales, marketing and training programs. Shell also promote Tech Lighting and LBL Lighting through local industry affiliations such as the Illuminating Engineering Society, Designers Lighting Forum and the International Association of Lighting Designers.
Prior to joining Generation Brands, she was Regional Sales Manager-Northeast Region at Eatons Lighting Solutions, where she was responsible for the evaluation and direction of the specification market. Before that, Shulman was Northeast Regional Specifications Sales Manager with GE Lighting. Her background also includes being an architectural and theater lighting designer, and she was the Exhibition Lighting Designer at New York Citys Guggenheim Museum.
Shulman lives in Montclair, NJ, with her husband John Lasitera theatrical lighting designerand their two boys, Sam and Elliot.
About Generation Brands
As parent company to Tech Lighting, LBL Lighting, Feiss-Monte Carlo and Sea Gull Lighting, Generation Brands is one of Americas leading companies serving lighting retailers and the electrical wholesale, home improvement and building industries. The company has an outstanding portfolio of residential and commercial lighting fixtures and ceiling fans which provide value to its customers and end-users with superior service, leading edge design and outstanding quality.
Netflix "Stranger Things: Vol 1" Nominated for 59th GRAMMY Awards Getting nominated for two GRAMMY awards is an amazing peak on our Stranger Things journey, said Dixon and Stein. The directors were previously fans of our synth band S U R V I V E. So to be a part of such a pop culture phenom is insane."
The original score soundtracks to Netflixs cult phenom Stranger Things by composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein of Austin, TX, experimental synth band S U R V I V E -- have earned two GRAMMY Award nominations. Distributed by Lakeshore Records, Stranger Things: Vol 1 and Stranger Things: Vol 2 both are nominated for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for the upcoming 59th GRAMMY Awards on Feb. 12, 2017. Also, iTunes chose Stranger Things: Vol 1 as #1 Soundtrack Pick of the Year and Rolling Stone named it the only soundtrack on its annual Top 50 Albums of the Year list.
Getting nominated for two GRAMMY awards is an amazing peak on our Stranger Things journey, said Dixon. The directors were previously fans of S U R V I V E. They used a song from our first LP in a trailer they made to pitch their concept to Netflix. Once the show was picked up, they reached out to see if we were available to score the show. Stein added, We wanted a classic synth tone and feel to the music for the show, while offering a refreshing quality so it felt modern. Now were nominated for two GRAMMY awards which is insane.
It's a great honor for Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein to be recognized for their work, which embodied the imagination and wonderful story telling of the Duffer Brothers, said Brian McNelis, SVP, Music & Soundtracks. Lakeshore Records is grateful to The Recording Academy and the Film/TV music community for its two GRAMMY nominations for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for Netflixs hit show Stranger Things. These nominations reward TV and filmmakers for making the kinds of creative choices that we believe are important to the art form. There is no question that the shows soundtrack helped it become a cultural phenomenon.
Stranger Things is the breakout Netflix original series set in 1983 Indiana where a young boy vanishes into thin air. As friends, family and local police search for answers, they are drawn into an extraordinary mystery involving top-secret government experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one very strange little girl. A love letter to the 80s supernatural classics that captivated a generation, Stranger Things stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Matthew Modine, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton. The series is now streaming on Netflix globally.
Formed in 2009, the prolific Austin, TX experimental synth quartet S U R V I V E has released two full-lengths and numerous EPs /singles since its inception, including recent contributions to the soundtrack for the acclaimed indie horror film The Guest. Additionally, two of the groups members recently scored the soundtrack for the first season of Netflixs breakout hit Stranger Things and received two GRAMMY Award nominations for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. S U R V I V E has appeared at esteemed festivals across the US including Moogfest, Levitation Fest, Fun Fun Fun, Beserktown, Day in The Desert, Decibel, etc. and has played alongside acts such as Goblin, John Maus, Tame Impala, Lightning Bolt, This Will Destroy You, A Place To Bury Strangers, Max Cooper, and many others; Noisey called their live show transcendental.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKb4Ks43oac
For more information, visit http://www.lakeshorerecords.com.
Rick Dreher, managing partner of Wipfli, said, Wipfli has been growing significantly in the Chicago area over the past five years and this combination with BIK will help us to further enhance our physical presence in this key market."
Wipfli LLP (Wipfli), one of the top 20 accounting and consulting firms in the United States, announced that Chicago-based CPA and advisory firm, BIK & Co., LLP (BIK) has joined the firm effective January 1. This combination marks Wipflis third combination in the Chicago market in 12 months.
As part of this combination, 58 BIK professionals, including 13 partners, have joined more than 1,700 professionals at Wipfli. The deal further expands Wipflis presence in the Chicago area.
Rick Dreher, managing partner of Wipfli, said, We are excited to welcome BIK to Wipfli. Wipfli has been growing significantly in the Chicago area over the past five years and this combination with BIK will help us to further enhance our physical presence in this key market. Further, BIKs long history in Chicago, their strong reputation for providing exceptional client service, and their industry and service focuses, greatly complement Wipfli."
Chicago-based BIK & Co., LLP is a CPA and advisory firm that provides a full range of audit, tax and advisory services to closely held businesses, organizations and individuals in the Chicagoland area and across the country. The firm has strong focuses in serving financial institutions, nonprofit organizations, schools and high-net-worth individuals, and provides a number of specialized services including fraud and forensics, employee benefit plan audits and estate and succession planning. Founded in 1968, BIK has three full-service offices in Chicagoland in Palatine, Vernon Hills and Burr Ridge, Illinois.
Similar to Wipfli, BIK has established a history of success through building strong client relationships and helping our clients to overcome challenges that are constantly changing, said Larry Schmitt, managing partner of BIK. Through this combination with Wipfli, we will continue to provide our clients with the same exceptional service, but can also provide them with access to a larger network of experts and resources and deep industry experience to help them as they continue to evolve. This combination will also provide our employees with access to more extensive training and professional development opportunities.
With 38 offices in the United States (including five offices in Chicagoland) and two offices in India, Wipfli ranks among the top 20 accounting and business consulting firms in the nation. For over 87 years, Wipfli has provided businesses and organizations in a number of industries with industry-focused assurance, accounting, tax and consulting services to help clients overcome their challenges today and plan for tomorrow. Since establishing their first Chicagoland office in 2011, a number of long-time, Chicago-based firms have joined Wipfli including The Condon Group, Ltd. (Tinley Park) in January 2014; Regulatory Compliance Associates (REGCOM) in January 2014; Steinberg Advisors, Ltd. (Northbrook) in January 2016; and Weltman Bernfield LLC (Buffalo Grove) in August 2016. Currently, Wipfli has approximately 160 associates based in Chicago who are serving clients throughout Chicago and the surrounding areas.
The combined firm will have over 1,800 associates (including over 200 associates based in the firms Chicago offices) and 43 office locations in the United States and India.
About Wipfli LLP
With offices across the United States and India, Wipfli ranks among the top 20 CPA and business consulting firms in the nation. For over 87 years, Wipfli has provided private and publicly held companies with industry-focused assurance, accounting, tax and consulting services to help clients overcome their business challenges today and plan for tomorrow. The firms clients include manufacturing companies, financial institutions, health care organizations, construction companies, real estate companies, insurance companies, nonprofit organizations, units of government, agricultural businesses, dealerships and individuals. Through the firms membership in Allinial Global, Wipfli can draw upon the resources of firms from around the world, helping businesses whenever and wherever they need it. For more information, visit wipfli.com.
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Stoel Rives is pleased to announce that Vanessa Soriano Power is the new Office Managing Partner for the law firms Seattle location. Power will be responsible for the day-to-day management of more than 80 attorneys in the national law firms second-largest office and will serve on the firms Practice Management Committee. Power succeeds Jeffrey W. Leppo, who served as the Seattle Office Managing Partner for two years and will be retiring at the end of 2016.
I am proud to lead the Stoel Rives Seattle office, said Power. We have a terrific team dedicated to providing our clients with unsurpassed service. I remain focused on the firms commitment to the broader community and fostering diversity.
An experienced litigator, Power focuses her practice in trial and appellate work involving commercial contracts, intellectual property, and class actions.
Stoel Rives Seattle office has served the Pacific Northwest for 30 years. The firm is focused on consistently enhancing client value through client services, knowledge management, efficiency and a continued commitment to diversity and innovation. Powers appointment and the hiring of the first OnRamp Fellow in the Seattle market, Sallie Lin, highlight the Seattle offices commitment to the firms objectives.
Stoel Rives has deep roots in the Pacific Northwest, said James E. Torgerson, Stoel Rives Firm-wide Managing Partner. We have provided trusted counsel to businesses of all sizes for more than a century, and with Vanessa at the helm, we know that the Stoel Rives Seattle office will remain committed to the growth of business and the economy throughout the region.
Power is an active member of the Seattle community. She currently serves as a member of the board of trustees for the King County Bar Foundation. She previously served as president of the board of directors of Legal Voice, and as a member of the board of directors for Crosscut Public Media and Washington Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest. Power regularly handles pro bono litigation cases, including work as a cooperating attorney for Legal Voice and the Child Rescue Coalition.
Power earned a bachelors degree and a Master of Public Affairs at the University of Washington, before going on to earn her law degree from its law school. She joined Stoel Rives in 2003 after beginning her legal career at Dorsey & Whitney LLP. Before practicing law, she was a teacher in Oakland, California, as a part of the Teach for America program.
Best known for its environmental, energy and commercial law practices, the Seattle-based Stoel Rives attorneys provide a wide range of business law and litigation services including full-service legal solutions in corporate and business services, labor and employment law, intellectual property, tax, employee benefits, and estate planning. Stoel Rives represents businesses at all stages of growth, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.
In 2016, Stoel Rives Seattle office was recognized by the Best Lawyers in America, which rated 25 Seattle attorneys among the region's best, while Best Law Firms in America rates 15 of the Seattle attorneys practices as "metropolitan top-tier."
About Stoel Rives LLP: Stoel Rives is a leading U.S. corporate and litigation law firm. One of the largest national firms focused on energy, natural resources, environmental law and climate change, Stoel Rives also serves the agribusiness, food and beverage, health care, life sciences and technology industries. With more than 350 attorneys operating out of 10 offices in seven states and the District of Columbia, Stoel Rives is a leader in regulatory and compliance matters, business, labor and employment law, intellectual property, land use, real estate development and construction law.
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For years, Pita Pit has been a partner with its loyal fans in creating meaningful New Years resolutions through the brands annual Resolution Solution campaign. This year, Pita Pit is making a resolution of its own by stepping away from the idea that better choices can only be made by individuals. Instead, Pita Pit is taking a stand against tired and boring restaurant options in 2017 by highlighting its Fresh Grilled, customized menu of healthy-on-your-terms choices, and imploring Canadians to refuse to settle for anything less.
As part of the innovative new campaign, launching January 2, Pita Pit locations across Canada will be asking customers to join the brand by posting their pledge to Refuse to Settle in one of two ways: online with the #RefuseToSettle hashtag, tagging @PitaPitCanada on Facebook and Instagram, or by posting a decal on a Pita Pit locations Refuse to Settle wall. Each post will have a chance to win one of 500 $50 gift cards. All entries will be pooled and winners drawn weekly throughout the month of January.
2017 will mark a turning point in Canadas QSR industry, because it will mark the year that Canadians stop accepting bland wilted veggies, soggy bread, microwaved meats and food thats been sitting under a heat lamp as acceptable options, said Kevin Pressburger, Pita Pit Canada President. At Pita Pit, our menu is made to-order, so you know its fresh, because you watch it as its made. Our customers get exactly what they want, customized to their unique tastes. Once youve had that fresh alternative, anything less truly is settling.
For the last two decades, Pita Pit has rapidly become the industry leader in healthy alternatives to traditional fast food. By providing consumers with customized solutions and choices when dining out, Pita Pit has discovered a unique new way to turn New Years resolutions into an ongoing commitment, pushing Canadians to demand the best from their food and from themselves all year long.
By demanding fresh, grilled taste and refusing to settle, we are helping Canadians to battle back against mediocrity, monotony and sameness. This year, were not just going to resolve to demand better, were going to actually do it. And, those efforts wont stop in January. Well be focusing on the demand for fresher, better food all year long, said Pressburger.
Pita Pit offers 10 unique pitas under 500 calories, along with countless delicious combinations of freshly grilled meats, vegetables and zesty sauces all wrapped up into one delicious pita. Pita Pit also specializes in 6-inch snack-sized Petitas, delicious Fresh Fuel smoothies and salads. This craveable combination of healthy alternatives has helped to jump-start millions of active, healthy, lifestyles, and the brand now has its sights set on the next level of success.
By Refusing to Settle, Pita Pit stands apart from its competition, satisfying each customers unique flavor demands. Pita Pit was founded on the promise of never settling for anything less than fresh, customizable options. Now, the brand is asking Canadians to join them in demanding more from their QSR choices in 2017.
Every year we all make extreme and unrealistic healthy resolutions for the New Year and then by February weve already tapped out and given up, said Chris Fountain, CEO of Pita Pit Canada. Being better shouldnt be that stressful, and it shouldnt be a goal we have to accomplish on our own. 2017 will be the year that Canadians will demand more from their food and all restaurants should take notice. We want fresh ingredients, healthy choices and meals customized just the way we want them and well Refuse to Settle for anything less.
ABOUT PITA PIT
Founded in 1995 in Kingston, Ontario near Queen's University, Pita Pit was a QSR restaurant with a new and unique approach. The goal was to offer quality, healthy, fresh food fast. After seeing great success, franchising began across Canada in 1997 and in 1999, the brand expanded to the United States. With more than 475 stores across North America and an additional 143 stores internationally across 11 countries, Pita Pit connects healthy food with people seeking alternatives to the typical fast food choices. Pita Pit's motto is "fresh thinking - healthy eating," and features a menu based on the customer's choice of grilled meats, fresh vegetables, zesty sauces and a pita rolled into a unique and convenient package. For more information about Pita Pit, visit http://www.pitapit.ca or http://www.facebook.com/pitapitcanada.
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A new report from the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform claims that Texas voucher legislation would reduce crime and thereby save the state a cumulative $194 million by the end of 2035. This claim is not warranted and has, in fact, already been discredited.
The reports calculations arise from another University of Arkansas analysis, by the same authors. The Arkansas researchers had argued that some subgroups of voucher-receiving students in Milwaukee, Wisconsin were less likely to commit crimes as adults. That earlier analysis was reviewed in April 2016 by Clive Belfield, Professor of Economics at Queens College, City University of New York.
There exist multiple errors and limitations in the two Arkansas analyses, but perhaps the most important are the poorly grounded claims regarding causation. As Professor Belfield explained, no causal inferences can be drawn from the type of data and analyses used by the researchers. This means that the researchers cannot responsibly make claims about results and impacts, as they do in their Texas report.
Professor Belfield observed that, far from establishing a causal relationship between voucher program participation and a reduction in criminal behavior, the Arkansas researchers had not even established meaningful and consistent correlations. As Belfield pointed out, one valid interpretation of the data and analyses presented in the earlier report is that vouchers and crime are, in fact, not correlated.
Instead of engaging with Professor Belfields critique of their Milwaukee report, the Arkansas authors used the unconvincing results of that study, plugged in crime numbers from Texas, and estimated that if that states legislators were to create a type of voucher program called Education Savings Accounts they would (19 years from now) have, in the aggregate, saved their state almost two-hundred million dollars.
This is a textbook example of garbage-in, garbage-out, said Professor Kevin Welner of the University of Colorado Boulder, who directs the National Education Policy Center. A figure derived from a study that does not allow for causal inference cannot then be brought back from the dead and magically support a causal inference in another study six months later. This sort of zombie causation could not possibly be of use to lawmakers looking for trustworthy information.
Find Professor Belfields review on the web at:
http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-school-choice
Find the recent Arkansas report on the web at:
http://www.uaedreform.org/whether-to-approve-an-education-savings-account-program-in-texas-preventing-crime-does-pay/
Find Documents:
Press Release: http://nepc.info/node/8408
The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: http://nepc.colorado.edu
Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique is excited to announce their upcoming, annual New Year, New You Party on January 19th. This year, Houstons premier nonsurgical provider will host three, one-hour sessions full of beauty, education, treats and prizes. With individual sessions on Botox Cosmetic and CoolSculpting, guests are encouraged to look, touch, and experience the latest innovations for aesthetic rejuvenation.
The New Year, New You Party at Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique marks a special time for prospective clients, as well as long-time patients, to start off 2017 in style. Januarys event is bigger and more extensive than in the past, with three one-hour sessions, each with only 10 spots available. Mini-consultations will be provided for each participant to create a unique treatment plan to tackle his/her specific aesthetic needs in the coming year. Participants can RSVP for the informational hour that best meets busy schedule.
Each session of the New Year, New You Party will start off with a live presentation of the latest noninvasive technologies and treatments available for physical rejuvenation. Beginning at 4:30, Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutiques first session will focus on Non-Surgical Body Contouring. Then at 5:30, we will change focus to Botox & Facial Aging. Finally, at 6:30, an additional Non-Surgical Body Contouring session will take place.
Guests at the New Year, New You Party will enjoy music, champagne and food from Houstons Keep Catering, as well as a raffle for over $2,000 in prizes. Those participating in the Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique event can purchase treatments and products with an unprecedented discount. Additionally, every purchase during the celebration will come with a complimentary gift.
Paul Vitenas, MD FACS, founder of Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique and Vitenas Cosmetic Surgery, is a board certified plastic surgeon and alumnus of Tulane University School of Medicine. Dr. Vitenas created Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique as a state-of-the-art medi-spa, offering noninvasive services, such as CoolSculpting, Fraxel Skin Resurfacing, Botox Cosmetic, and the full range of dermal filler injectibles. For over 25 years, Dr. Vitenas and his renowned staff of aesthetic professionals have been bringing patients exceptional results in a safe, comforting environment.
Mirror Mirror was recently awarded the highest level of accomplishment available to CoolSculpting practices by receiving the Diamond Crystal Award, which is presented to only a handful of practices in the US. The award is based on achieving the highest level in Crystal Rewards, a multi-tiered customer rewards program recognizing the most successful practices within the elite network of CoolSculpting Centers.
For additional information on Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutiques New Year, New You Party, contact the office at 281.810.9083. Reservations are limited, so RSVP for free today. The New Year, New You Party will be held at Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique, located at 4208 Richmond Avenue, on the corner of Drexel Street. Speak with a patient coordinator to reserve your seat at this coveted event. Driving directions and area accommodation suggestions are also available upon request.
Spex has built a valuable technology solution for the insurance industry, a market in need of major disruption. I believe the business is poised for rapid growth the next few years and Im looking forward to supporting those efforts," said Chis Onan
Spex--a digital property inspection and reporting platform--announced today the addition of Chris Onan to its board of directors as the business expands its team and operations for 2017. As a member of Spexs board, Onan will provide valuable financial guidance and company-building expertise to the business. Founded after Hurricane Sandy, Spex has developed the leading property inspection platform for the insurance market. Its solution is used today by insurance adjusters, restoration and engineering firms, P&C carriers and other leading organizations seeking more efficient, accurate property documentation, data capture and reporting.
Onan brings over two decades of investing and operating experience to Spex, having served most recently as a founder and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Galvanize. In his role with Galvanize, Onan was principally responsible for the financing of the business, which included raising over $70 mm in capital, culminating with a $45M Series B investment from ABS Capital. Prior to Galvanize, Onan has been investing in growing businesses for nearly 20 years. His investment and board participation includes a number of successful business exits including Auctionpay (acquired by Global Payments), Datalogix (acquired by Oracle for $1.2 billion) as well as a number of other Colorado early-stage businesses including Tendril, Wazee Digital and Active Junky (acquired by Purch).
Spex expanded meaningfully in 2016, as the insurance technology landscape takes flight. Insurance carriers and their service providers increasingly seek technologies and better solutions to meet growing customer demands and identify new operational efficiencies in claims and underwriting. Spex grew its customer base by over 1,000% in 2016 and supported major catastrophes including Fort McMurray and Hurricane Matthew. Onan joins a board that also includes two original members of the Eagleview Technologies business, Bob Hawk and Bob Grant.
Justin Douglas from Fullerton Investors became a Spex investor and board member recently as well. Douglas brings valuable investment and operations background to the business, including time spent in leadership roles at Corvis, a premier cleaning and janitorial franchisor based in Chicago.
Im excited by the opportunity to join the Spex board and work with such a hiqh quality team, said Chris Onan. Spex has built a valuable technology solution for the insurance industry, a market in need of major disruption. I believe the business is poised for rapid growth the next few years and Im looking forward to supporting those efforts.
Brett Goldberg, Spex CEO added, Chris brings significant financial and operational expertise to our business. Were very fortunate to have such a savvy, energetic executive and investor on our board as Spex continues to grow.
For more information about Spex, visit spexreport.com.
The addition of long-time equity partners Peter Lederman and James Paone to the firm name exemplifies the determination, perseverance and collaborative spirit that has been entrenched in what we have done for three decades, said Robert Munoz.
Davison, Eastman & Munoz, a prestigious multi-specialty law firm headquartered in Freehold, NJ, has changed its name to Davison, Eastman, Munoz, Lederman & Paone, with the addition of Peter Lederman and James Paone as named partners, the firm announced today.
The addition of long-time equity partners Peter Lederman and James Paone to the firm name exemplifies the determination, perseverance and collaborative spirit that has been entrenched in what we have done for three decades, said Robert Munoz, co-founder of the firm and chair of the Tax and Estate Planning Department.
Mr. Paone, chair of the Business Law and Litigation Department, is an experienced litigator with extensive state and federal court experience and has been designated by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Certified Civil Trial Attorney. His practice concentrates on commercial, corporate, construction and general liability matters with clients ranging from local closely held businesses to Fortune 100 companies. Mr. Paone, serves as a frequent speaker on civil and trial practice matters and as a Special Ethics Master for the Office of Attorney Ethics. He is also a member of the Defense Research Institute (Construction, Employment, Government Liability and Trial Committees).
With the new name, the firm enters into its second generation of service to its clients, said Paone. I am proud of the entire team that has contributed to the growth of the firm over the last two years, and we look forward to continued success in 2017 and beyond.
Mr. Lederman, who co-chairs the firms DWI-Criminal Defense Department, has represented drivers charged with driving while intoxicated across the state for the past 35 years. Certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as a Municipal Court Trial Attorney, he has been representing defendants charged with DWI for the firm since 2002. He is a frequent speaker at seminars throughout New Jersey and writes a bi-monthly op-ed column on municipal courts for the New Jersey Law Journal.
Were on a great trajectory now. Our focus over the past two years has been a more entrepreneurial and collaborative one that encourages growth, said Lederman.
In addition to the name changes, the firm hired four new attorneys and promoted two more to partner status over the past several months. The firm also completed a technology infrastructure overhaul in 2016, which enabled significantly improved efficiencies, security and productivity for itself and its clients.
Collectively, the moves are the culmination of a two-year effort by the firm to enhance its services through significant employee growth and a sweeping technology capabilities upgrade that has set the stage for continued success for many years to come.
About Davison, Eastman, Munoz, Lederman & Paone, P.A.
Founded in 1988, Davison, Eastman & Munoz, Lederman & Paone, P.A. represents clients in corporate litigation as well as in civil and criminal cases, business and employment law, trusts and estates, municipal, community associations, real estate and land use and DWI defense. Five of the firms attorneys hold the distinction of being certified by the New Jersey Supreme Court as trial attorneys in civil, criminal or municipal court. The attorneys are encouraged to be civic-minded, follow their passions and support their communities. Offices are located in Freehold and Toms River. For more information, visit http://demlplaw.com/.
Cindi Morris What you put into your pets body has a real impact on their health and well-being. At Pet Wants, our food is made in small batches with all-natural ingredients and its fresh.
Cindi Morris is proud to announce the launch of her new local pet food business, Pet Wants of Birmingham, Michigan.
Pet Wants carefully developed proprietary pet food is slow-cooked in small batches with fresh, all-natural ingredients once per month, so every kibble is guaranteed to be fresh and packed with nutrition. Pet Wants of Birmingham offers free, personal pet food delivery to Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Royal Oak, Pleasant Ridge, Ferndale and the surrounding areas.
I was always looking for a business that was related to the care of our animal companions, especially after relocating to the Metro Detroit area three years ago to be closer to family. When I learned about Pet Wants, I knew it was a brand I could bring to my community with confidence and that it would make a difference in the lives of pets and their families, Morris said.
Morris, who spent most of her career as an executive retailer for Macys and used to own a Camp Bow Wow doggie daycare in Kentwood, learned about Pet Wants from a neighbor. Morris has had four rescue dogs all of whom suffered from major health issues so the idea of a fresh, all-natural pet food perked her interest. Her current rescue, 12-year-old Bailey, has been cancer-free for five years.
With all the health issues my animals have had, Ive done a lot of research into pet food and the importance of quality nutrition. What you put into your pets body has a real impact on their health and well-being. At Pet Wants, our food is made in small batches with all-natural ingredients and its fresh. You can buy high-quality pet food at the pet store, but its still mass produced and, if you dont check the date on the bag, you have no idea how long its been sitting around losing nutritional value. At Pet Wants, you know exactly what youre getting and you know its fresh, Morris said.
In addition to being made fresh monthly, Pet Wants only sources the best salmon, chicken, lamb, brown rice and other ingredients available. Theres no sugar added, no fillers and no animal by-products and Pet Wants never uses corn, wheat, soy or dyes, which makes the food great for animals with allergies. Pet Wants Birmingham which offers multiple blends of dog food and cat food also offers healing salve, calming balm, anti-itch spray and paw wax.
Morris is also a huge advocate for no-kill shelters and animal rescue organizations. Shes looking forward to using Pet Wants philanthropic programs like Buy, Match, Give to give back to those organizations in the future, she said. She added that shes looking forward to getting to know the families and pets in her community and providing a one-of-a-kind pet food customer service experience.
Im not here just to try to sell you a product. I want to get to know you and your animal companions. I want to understand your lifestyle and any issues your pets are having. And I want to support you as your pets needs change, Morris said. Let me bring you a sample so you can see the difference Pet Wants can make for your pets.
Pet Wants originally launched in Cincinnati in 2010. Owned by Michele Hobbs, the business was built to provide proprietary crafted, fresh, slow-cooked, all-natural pet food delivered to customers through a retail store and a convenient home-delivery service. Hobbs, now the company founder, turned the business into a franchise in 2015 with the help of Franchise Funding Group, an investment and franchise-development company designed to help entrepreneurs scale their companies nationally as franchise systems.
Stop in to see Morris at her store located at 33772 Woodward Avenue for your free trial sample for your favorite companion. To learn more about the company, call (248)733-5745, email CMorris(at)PetWants(dot)com or visit http://www.PetWantsBirmingham.com.
About Pet Wants: Pet Wants was started by Michele Hobbs out of love for her pets and frustration. Veterinarians were unable to help relieve her dogs painful skin allergies. After doing much research, Michele discovered the national dog food brand she trusted was not fresh, not all natural, and lacked sufficient nutrition...and when pet food sits in warehouses and store shelves for months and months it loses even more nutritional value. She was committed to developing a better solution for all dogs and cats. Their food is exclusively crafted fresh, healthy, slow-cooked and all natural with no sugar added, no fillers and no animal by-products. They source only the best salmon, chicken, lamb, brown rice, and other ingredients. Fresh ingredients make for better food and better health for pets. And since they never use corn, wheat, soy or dyes, the common pet health problems associated with these ingredients are no longer worries. Their fresh food is conveniently delivered to the customer within weeks of production, not months. Roughly half of Pet Wants products are sold through their store and half through their convenient, home-delivery program. You can learn more at http://www.PetWants.com.
I could thank you a million times plus and it still wouldnt be enough. So Ill just say there are not enough thank yous or ways to express my gratefulness and love to each of you.
Alpha Omega Hospice brings new perspective to the last phase of life, offering superior quality of living to patients facing a terminal illness. Especially during the holidays, accepting death can add to the current stressors affecting patients and their loved ones.
As the end of the year approaches, people everywhere are deeply affected by both seasonal stressors and current events that are being reported on in the national news media. Facing a terminal diagnosis only piles on the worry and angst for both the terminally ill and their family members.
Local Texas hospice provider Alpha Omega Hospice note the increased need for emotional support during the holidays, for both their patients and those who love them. Alpha Omega provides spiritual guidance along with physical care and pain relief for hospice patients and those closest to them. Hospice nurses state that, Our main goal is to ensure that our patients and their families know theyre not alone.
Hospice care at Alpha Omega puts a strong emphasis on family, and providing patients with the necessary levels of pain relief and comfort so they can effectively enjoy their last stage of life with their loved ones. In fact, Alpha Omega goes so far as to state that their patients become like family to hospice providers, and each patient is treated as a unique individual.
Mourning the passing of a loved one after they have moved through hospice care onto a new beginning is never easy. Alpha Omegas care doesnt end with the death of a patient; their bereavement services provide necessary counseling and kindness during a very sensitive and emotional time.
About: Alpha Omega Hospice is an interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, therapists and volunteers working to provide end of life care to terminally ill patients and support to their family members and loved ones. To learn more, visit their website: http://alphaomegahospice.com/.
Entourage Account Manager, Ellen Sillery...was 'like a third member of the team.'
Lynn Greenberg and Kary Stele, yearbook advisors for Five Points Elementary, in Centerville, Ohio, have envisioned a coloring-book-themed yearbook which is fun, interactive, and unlike any yearbook previously produced by Entourage. Ms. Greenberg said that she could not have done a book like this without Entourage. She explained that this innovative project was possible because the duo utilized Entourages flexible service options and the organization tools provided through Entourages Link website.
Ms. Greenberg explained that yearbook advisors are able to submit yearbook content just weeks before their anticipated delivery date, and adjust these dates as needed, so working with Entourage has allowed Five Points Elementary to allocate more time during the development phase. Ms. Greenberg, who likes to do paper-crafts, said that this extra time enabled her to add personalized details to their digital book which reflect the interests of the individual classes. Inspired by the techniques she learned at the annual High School Advisors Conference hosted by Entourage, Ms. Greenberg added that the extra time provided the opportunity to explore design options with their Entourage Account Manager, Ellen Sillery, who she said was like a third member of the team. They decided to utilize special printing and paper options which enable the yearbook to function like a coloring book as well.
When asked for suggestions for new yearbook advisors, Ms. Greenberg recommended having a rough timeline of creative milestones to improve organization in the long term as well as short term. However, Ms. Greenberg said that Entourages flexible submission deadlines have been helpful during the organization process of their yearbook since the yearbook team is able to spend more time collecting photos from busy teachers and class parents. Additionally, the extra time allowed them to obtain photos taken later in the school year which they otherwise could not include. Ms. Greenberg and Ms. Stele originally attempted to supplement their own photos with those taken from the teachers class web pages but found that they needed to rely heavily on the class parents due to teachers time constraints. The yearbook team was able to organize the collection effort through Entourages Link website which serves as an online community space for each school as well as a school store. Each teacher at High Points Elementary School Yearbook was assigned a folder on Link which enabled approved members to upload photos directly to the yearbook accounts media folders. These photo organization tools helped MS. Greenberg and Ms. Stele to verify that they had even coverage of students as well as important school events.
For more information about Entourages services or how Entourage can help you to make your dream yearbook a reality, please contact Judy Jo via email at judy(at)entourageyearbooks(dot)com or 888-926-6571, ext.71. For more information about the annual High School Advisors' Conference, please contact yearbooks(at)entourageyearbooks(dot)com
Today the National Development Council (NDC) announces the promotion of Daniel Marsh III to President and CEO of the organization effective January 1, 2017. Mr. Marsh started at NDC in 1986, and has been instrumental in growing the organization into the most comprehensive economic and community development nonprofit in the country. This is only the third leadership change in NDCs nearly fifty-year history.
Founded in 1969 at the height of urban divestment in America, the National Development Council is guided by its core mission to bring capital investment to underserved areas, from urban to rural to inner-ring suburbs. Today NDC invests across all community development concerns: Homes, Jobs and Community. By delivering technical assistance, training and capital in the form of tax-exempt bonds, tax credit equity, as well as small business loans, NDC partners with communities and people that have been excluded from Americas economic mainstream.
Under Mr. Marshs leadership, NDC developed the American Model, a unique public private partnership structure, which utilizes tax-exempt bonds to develop social infrastructure.
Its unique in the world of public sector developers, because it possesses a group exemption letter from the IRS, Mr. Marsh explained to Bond Buyer in a recent article. We can incorporate any number of single asset standalone corporations.
This powerful tool has enabled NDC to become a national leader in structuring complex financial transactions through its affiliate, the Housing and Economic Development Corporation (HEDC), which Mr. Marsh founded in 1988. HEDC secured a Group Exemption Letter from the IRS, which enables NDC to issue tax-exempt bonds in partnership with institutions such as universities and cities to develop or recycle real estate, or build and repair infrastructure.
As federal funding for community development projects has declined by 75% since 1979, NDC has pioneered this approach to capture private investment on behalf of capital-starved communities. As a non-profit, NDC structures its partnerships to ensure local control of public assets. We have shown for decades that this model works, said Mr. Marsh, We believe it will become even more relevant as the new Administration takes shape.
For example, most recently NDC closed a $39M transaction with Scranton, PA to repair and manage the citys financially troubled parking garages and on-street parking meters. By partnering with NDC, the City of Scranton is able to repay outstanding bonds and maintain ownership of its essential public assets while NDC oversees repairs and day-to-day operations. Whats more, due to NDCs unique non-profit model, Cash Flow is returned annually to the benefit of Scranton in the form of 501 (c)(3) grants. In addition to parking structures, NDCs American Model portfolio includes municipal offices, city halls, justice centers, laboratories, student housing, libraries, biomedical facilities, and hospitals. NDC has completed over 3.7 million square feet of usable development space valued at over $2.6 billion:
In the late 1980s NDC developed one of the countrys first P3s when it financed and constructed a new fire station in Camden, New Jersey, which allowed locally owned businesses to secure fire insurance and stay in the community.
In the early 2000s, NDC partnered with the City of Ithaca to revitalize its downtown, now considered one of the most livable small cities in America. The three-phase development began with a mixed-use building that provided new office space for Cornell, a Hilton Garden Inn and a parking garage. Subsequent projects included 17,000sf of office and retail space, a movie theater and public transit hub. The most recent phase, completed in 2012, resulted in the construction of 8,000sf of commercial space, and 39 market rate apartments.
In the early 2000s, NDC began its partnership with the University of Washington to revitalize the long neglected South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, which is now one of the most dynamic job creation centers in the United States. In partnership with NDC, the UW School of Medicine has developed three state-of-the-art laboratory buildings and one administrative building in South Lake Union. In 2015 NDC and the UW School of Medicine announced a fourth biomedical building financed by a $143 million bond issue, bringing the developed square footage to 708,000 and total investment to just over half a billion dollars.
In addition to NDCs P3 projects, Mr. Marsh established NDCs Office of Policy and Advocacy in Washington, D.C. in 2014; he supervises the offices advocacy and education efforts in Congress. Through its policy and training conference, known as the NDC Academy, the organization has equipped hundreds of government and private economic development professionals with the financial knowledge and development expertise to have an impact in their local communities.
NDC has also worked directly with cities and nonprofits to train more than 70,000 practitioners in the art and science of economic and housing development finance by providing hands-on technical assistance. In Richmond, Virginia, for example, NDC worked with the Citys Economic and Community Development Department to move the Black History Museum and Culture Center to a long-neglected historic armory building. The museum moved into its new space in the spring of 2016.
NDC continues to create new approaches to economic development. In December 2016, The Urban League of Greater Cleveland announced a unique partnership with NDC, the National Urban League, Morgan Stanley and Cuyahoga County to create the Capital Access Fund of Greater Cleveland (CAF). With a goal of creating or maintaining a minimum of 300 jobs within three years, this model program will provide minority and women business owners with access to capital offering 50 loans totaling $8 million as well as pre- and post-loan counseling to ensure the success of those small business borrowers. For more about this program, which NDC plans to expand to other cities, click here.
More immediately, Mr. Marsh will be working with the NDC office in Washington, D.C. and a coalition of economic and community development experts to educate the incoming Administration and members of Congress about the impact of tax policies and other programs to realize challenging redevelopment projects in underserved communities. Cities are dependent upon tax-exempt municipal bonds to develop and repair critical infrastructure, a stated priority of the incoming Administration. Additionally, New Market, Low Income Housing and Historic Preservation Tax Credits are all essential to leveraging private investment to close the financing gap that persists for many community-based projects across the country.
As the national public policy debate unfolds, Mr. Marsh will utilize his experience and new position as President and CEO of NDC to highlight the need for programs that promote investment in our poorest communities.
We invest in people, places and projects that do not return an immediate profit, said Mr. Marsh. And yet communities could not function without affordable homes, small businesses and critical infrastructure. By leveraging every available financial tool, including the private sector, we are able to create value that accrues to the whole community.
919 Marketing, the nations leading franchise marketing agency serving franchise brands and non-profits, was featured in the November Forbes| Agency Council article titled "Six Underappreciated Traits or Skills That Will Give You A Competitive Advantage."
The article explored unique business skills that content marketing and public relations agency executives use to better position their firms in the marketplace. Relying on over 20 years of agency leadership expertise, 919 Marketing CEO David Chapman shared that the most important differentiator is to connect on a personal level when doing business.
Very few people take the time to make a person-to-person connection, but thats what makes you memorable, says Chapman, While nurturing that connection takes some time, it also makes doing business more rewarding because you tend to be more invested in and trusted by the people to whom you are providing service.
Chapman echoed that same sentiment in the article featured on the Forbes website, one of the nations most well-read and respected business publications:
Oddly enough, its little things like sending a thank you note, remembering birthdays, finding out what someones passion is and asking about it. Sounds simple, but very few people take the time to do it consistently.
Moving forward, Chapman will be featured regularly by the Forbes | Agency Council an invitation-only organization of public relations, creative and advertising agency executives that offers industry insights and advice. The knowledge-sharing forum drives conversation around trends and best practices in the content marketing, public relations, advertising and marketing industries. Participants are pre-screened to ensure that they have a successful leadership background and can effectively share insights on todays pressing topics.
Chapman was chosen as a leading expert due to his success growing 919 Marketing over the past 20 years. Chapmans company, 919 Marketing, is a franchise marketing firm that works with franchise and non-profit organizations to tell their stories through a variety of mediums, including public relations, video and digital content. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, the firm provides nationwide service to its clients with satellite offices in Florida, Texas and Washington D.C.
For more information about 919 Marketing, please visit http://www.919marketing.com.
For more information on the Forbes | Agency Council, please visit https://forbesagencycouncil.com/.
About David Chapman:
David Chapman has over 25 years of senior-level marketing experience working with emerging and blue chip national brands. Prior to forming 919 Marketing, Chapman worked in the publishing industry and served for nearly a decade as an Account Manager for the Interpublic Group, the largest agency network in the world. His patented LINK planning process has been used by over 75 companies to date, including the Rosetta Stone, to build winning content marketing programs. LINK has been the catalyst behind a growing roster of successful franchise marketing and franchise PR campaigns.
About 919 Marketing:
Formed in 1996 and headquartered just outside of North Carolina's Research Triangle Park and the capital city of Raleigh, 919 is a national content marketing firm with a proven track record of helping franchised based companies increase revenue, create a competitive advantage and improve franchise marketing results. We provide high-powered strategic planning, franchise marketing, public relations, social media, digital marketing, business development support and full creative capabilities each utilizing proven processes refined over hundreds of client engagements.
Our award-winning staff of marketing strategists, TV and print reporters, and social media trailblazers are seasoned experts, providing content marketing firepower needed to excite, motivate and engage your customers and prospects. 919 clients include startups, emerging growth companies and Fortune 500 corporations from high-tech to health care, hair care and elderly care. 919 Marketing is a proven, go-to source for national companies of all sizes that want to grow their businesses. For more information, please contact David Chapman, CEO at 919-557-7890 or email dchapman(at)919marketing(dot)com.
MOAA has had the privilege of working closely with NAUS as longtime members of The Military Coalition. During this time, we have gained a great understanding of NAUS mission and position on key issues, which have been closely aligned with MOAAs.
The Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) is pleased to welcome more than 2,000 former members of the National Association for Uniformed Services (NAUS) into its membership.
The leadership of both organizations worked closely to ensure the needs and interests of NAUS officer members would continue to be well-served following NAUS cessation of operations on Dec. 31, 2016.
The membership agreement with MOAA was first approved by MOAAs leadership last fall. NAUS membership then approved the measure by an overwhelming vote on Dec 27, 2016.
MOAA membership was granted at no cost to the currently serving, retired, and former officers within NAUS membership.
In welcoming the former NAUS members, MOAAs President and CEO Lt. Gen. Dana T. Atkins, USAF (Ret), said, MOAA has had the privilege of working closely with NAUS as longtime members of The Military Coalition. During this time, we have gained a great understanding of NAUS mission and position on key issues, which have been closely aligned with MOAAs. Atkins continued, Our Chairman of the Board Gen. John Jack Sheehan and I are confident MOAA will not only meet, but exceed, the needs of NAUS members.
This membership arrangement enables former NAUS members to continue to serve the military community and as new MOAA members, take full advantage of all benefits such as first-in-class advocacy for the military community and access to all MOAA publications, member programs, and products and services.
About MOAA:
Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) is the nations largest officers association with more than 355,000 members from every branch of service, including active duty, retired, National Guard, Reserve, and former officers and their families and survivors. MOAA is a nonprofit and politically nonpartisan organization and an influential force in promoting a strong national defense. MOAA represents the interests of servicemembers and their families in every stage of their lives and careers, and for those who are not eligible to join MOAA, Voices for Americas Troops is a nonprofit MOAA affiliate that supports a strong national defense. For more information, visit http://www.moaa.org or http://www.voicesfortroops.org.
Members of the news media who wish to be added to our media distribution list for MOAA news releases, please contact requestnews(at)moaa(dot)org. Visit MOAAs Multimedia & Press Room at http://www.moaa.org/media/default.htm.
Outdoor experiences play a key role in addiction treatment Haggling is perfectly acceptable when paying cash for addiction treatment, says Teri Gault, CEO and Administrator for Oaks of Hope
According to The American Society of Addiction Medicine heroin use more than tripled among adolescent Americans in 2015. With over 55,000 lethal drug overdoses in the past year, drug addiction is now the leading cause of accidental death in the US. Consequently, the addiction epidemic has lead families and friends of loved ones into the complex world of addiction treatment. While many are struggling with how to cover costs, there are a number of ways to save on addiction treatment.
1. Find no cost or low cost treatment through non-profit organizations or those subsidized by the state or federal funds. Eligibility hinges upon income and assets. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration offers a locator of addiction treatment providers and can be reached at (800) 662-HELP. Counseling for parents is available at the Partnership for Drug Free Kids or by calling 1-855-378-4373.
2. Apply for a scholarship - Many non-profit addiction treatment providers offer full or partial scholarships. Faith based organizations, such as Teen Challenge, may provide a limited number of need based scholarships to those who qualify.
3. Ask the courts for addiction treatment Theres a growing trend toward addiction treatment sentencing in lieu of incarceration. According to Dylan Rojas, Co-Founder and Clinical Supervisor for R & R Recovery in Huntington Beach, CA, When a court approved addiction treatment provider accepts an application, they will often appeal to the court on the defendants behalf and 'Uncle Sam' picks up the tab.
4. Use health insurance - The Affordable Care Act expands coverage for drug and alcohol addiction treatment in the same way as any other medical coverage. In varying degrees, plans should cover detoxification, inpatient care, doctors visits, therapy, counseling, medications, after care and sober living. Most addiction treatment providers accept insurance.
5. Compare costs, service and coverage - When shopping for an insurance policy, compare coverage and costs. Larry Marinelli, Co-Founder and Owner of True Intentions Sober Living in Tarzana, CA, advises choosing a policy that fits the insureds needs, The summary of benefits rarely shows PPO costs to the insured. For some PPO policies, costs could even double.
6. Negotiate the sticker price - Haggling is perfectly acceptable when paying cash for addiction treatment., says Teri Gault, CEO and Administrator for Oaks of Hope, a luxury addiction treatment provider in Southern California. Gault explains, Treatment providers jump through hoops and wait months to be paid by insurance. Gault says to expect at least a twenty five discount for paying cash.
7. Ask for a gift - Dont be afraid to ask for a gift to cover out of pocket expenses, such as copays, deductible or travel expenses. While some addiction treatment providers may offer to pay such expenses, many of these practices are unethical or illegal, Gault cautions, If an addiction treatment provider unethically fills beds, they may not be putting the client first. To cover your own expenses, dont be afraid to ask family or friends for help. We call these gifts of recovery, and they do happen.
8. Apply for emergency funding - Many colleges or universities have emergency fund applications that could cover some of the expenses like transportation to addiction treatment, Gault says. Long term recovery may benefit with a change in location, Marinelli explains, We know that its people, places, and things that can trigger relapse, so relocating for addiction treatment and after care could be one of the most powerful moves toward sobriety.
About the writer - Teri Gault, known as Americas Smartest Shopper and author of 'Shop Smart, Save More', is featured in local and national media, television news, magazines, newspapers and across the web. After two decades of suffering loss and death due to family drug abuse, Teri made a bold move to make a difference. In November 2016, Teri founded Oaks of Hope luxury detox residential treatment in Southern California. Teri continually speaks to the press, teaches thrift and good living at Oaks of Hope and enjoys seeing the rewards of addiction recovery.
Circlepixs suite of marketing tools work together to help agents sell more homes faster and for more money. "(With Circlepix,) we're able to use a single partner to execute a full suite of marketing services that both maintain our brand integrity and allow RE/MAX agents to focus on selling, says Casey Reagan, CTO of RE/MAX Northern Illionois.
Circlepix, the leader in real estate marketing automation, has been selected as the exclusive marketing partner of RE/MAX Northern Illinois, providing print, digital and photography marketing solutions to more than 2,300 agents throughout the region.
Providing the network of RE/MAX offices in the Northern Illinois region with effective and cutting-edge marketing technology is a key component of the RE/MAX brand, and we found Circlepix to be the most comprehensive solution available, says Casey Reagan, Chief Technology Officer of RE/MAX Northern Illinois. Instead of using multiple vendors to help offices and agents market listings, were able to use a single partner to execute a full suite of marketing services that both maintain our brand integrity and allow RE/MAX agents to focus on selling.
Were thrilled to be partnering with RE/MAX Northern Illinois. Our automated marketing services will help their agents market more effectively, increase engagement and get the maximum amount of interest in their listings without the burden of extra work, says Robert Davis, Chief Executive Officer of Circlepix. RE/MAX is a pinnacle of excellence in real estate, and we look forward to partnering with the Northern Illinois region as they look to exceed an already exceptional track record.
Circlepixs core marketing platform, PIXmarketing, is a comprehensive marketing automation tool that generates both print and digital marketing assets. Features include a mobile-friendly Property Site, a YouTube video, customizable print collections, automated MLS updates, lead generation tools, and more.
About RE/MAX Northern Illinois
RE/MAX Northern Illinois has been the leader in Chicagoland residential real estate since 1989. It is a network of 106 individually owned and operated, full-service real estate offices, with 2,300 Sales Associates that provide residential, commercial, referral and relocation real estate services.
About Circlepix
Circlepix is the leader in real estate marketing automation, with over 90,000 users across the US and Canada. Its three core platforms PIXmarketing, PIXsocial and PIXphotography give real estate agents the tools they need to sell homes faster and for more money.
Eskaton is proud to announce nine of its senior living communities and its in-home care provider recently achieved national recognition by earning five-star consumer ratings for outstanding service excellence among the caring.com audience. The Caring Stars program from caring.com, the leading resource website for senior care, measures consumer reviews to honor the best senior living communities and home care agencies in the United States.
Caring.com recognized five Eskaton independent living communities: Eskaton Hazel Shirley Manor, Eskaton Lincoln Manor, Eskaton Monroe Lodge, Eskaton Village Carmichael and Eskaton Village Placerville. Caring.com also recognized four Eskaton assisted living communities: Eskaton Fountain Wood Lodge, Eskaton Lodge Cameron Park, Eskaton Village Placerville and The Parkview at Pleasanton.
Additionally, caring.com awarded Live Well at Home by Eskaton a Caring Star. All reviews were collected between October 2015 and September 2016 and averaged 4.5 stars or better. Eskaton received positive feedback that distinguished it as a Caring Star recipient from a plethora of people, including a resident at Eskaton Village Placerville who said, Since moving in years ago, I have been very satisfied with the care...My apartment is cozy and I feel at home. The staff is friendly and open to suggestions. I enjoy all the activities offered.
In multiple caring.com research studies, the majority of family caregivers indicated they turn to the Internet and consumer reviews when researching and selecting a senior living community. These reviews help guide families when making these emotional senior care decisions.
Finding professional senior care for an aging parent or ailing spouse can be overwhelming and time-consuming, particularly if your need is urgent and you have little-to-no knowledge of your options, said caring.com CEO Karen Cassel. At caring.com we are focused on helping ease that burden for family caregivers, and the annual Caring Stars recognition list is one of the free resources we offer to support them in the senior care search. Everyone wants the very best care for their loved ones, and Caring Stars helps family caregivers find the providers that have delivered excellent service for others like them.
To learn more about the Caring Stars program and view the complete winners list, please visit http://www.caring.com/bestseniorliving.
About Eskaton
The vision of Eskaton is to transform the aging experience. Its dedicated team members provide services and support for nearly 12,000 individuals annually who live in Eskaton communities or participate in its comprehensive home-support services. Eskaton services include independent living, assisted living, memory care, short-term stays, rehabilitation and skilled nursing, adult day, home health, in-home care, and affordable housing. Eskaton is pet-friendly. For more information, please call (866) ESKATON, or visit http://www.eskaton.org.
About the NALA
The NALA offers small and medium-sized businesses effective ways to reach customers through new media. As a single-agency source, the NALA helps businesses flourish in their local community. The NALAs mission is to promote a business relevant and newsworthy events and achievements, both online and through traditional media. For media inquiries, please call 805.650.6121, ext. 361.
Kelly Lindsay Rogers has joined Movement Mortgage, LLC as Branch Manager in its fast-growing Woodlands branch office.
Movement Mortgage has been recognized as one of the fastest-growing private mortgage banks in the U.S., powered by its innovative process and culture. Movement believes real estate is a local business driven by individual agents and their local sphere of influence. The company has rapidly expanded nationwide by committing to upfront underwriting, seven-day processing on most of its loans and investing millions of dollars back into communities through its nonprofit Movement Foundation.
Kelly is one of the premier experts on mortgage lending in the Houston area. Together with her team, she has guided many generations of families through their financing process and is repeatedly referred by past clients. She has been recognized repeatedly as a President's Circle Honoree, as well as a Five Star Professional, an Elite Woman in Mortgage, in addition to her recent honor as one of the top originators in the country. Despite her numerous awards and professional achievements, she considers the personal referral of her past clients as the highest compliment.
Kelly was born and raised in the Houston area. She and her husband have 5 children that give her much joy in this fast-paced world. She is well known throughout the community for her involvement in charitable organizations and her commitment to giving back to her community. In 2011, Kelly co-founded Women of The Woodlands, a community based organization for professional women focused on building relationships, creating awareness & fostering community. Collectively, they have raised awareness and brought value to local charities and initiatives, while growing relationships among professional women within this special community. She gives of her time, talents and treasures, in hopes of making a difference in the lives of others.
Kelly has demonstrated a commitment to excellence in mortgage lending and a concern for each of her clients and proven to be a wealth of local market knowledge. She is a perfect fit with Movement Mortgage, says Heather Cox, Market Leader at Movement Mortgage.
Kellys office is currently located at Grogans Mill, with new offices to be announced soon. She can also be found online at http://www.KellyRogersTeam.com.
About Movement Mortgage
Movement Mortgage exists to love and value people by leading a Movement of Change in its industry, corporate culture and communities. Founded in 2008, Movement is one of the 10 largest residential purchase mortgage lenders in the U.S. It is committed to financing one out of every 10 U.S. homebuyers by the year 2025. Movement is known for its customer service-centric business model and innovative loan process, which begins with upfront underwriting and aims to finish the loan process in seven business days. In 2015, Movement originated more than $7.8 billion in residential mortgages and expects to exceed $12 billion in loan originations in 2016. The company employs approximately 4,000 people and has more than 500 branches in the U.S. The nonprofit Movement Foundation has reinvested more than $16.5 million in communities to date. For more information, visit http://www.movement.com
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Media Inquiries: press(at)movement.com
Every college that made the overall ranking offers an annual tuition rate under $7,200.
SR Education Group, an education research publisher founded in 2004, just launched the 2017 Most Affordable Online College rankings on OnlineU.org. The organization, which promotes tuition transparency in higher education, conducts extensive in-house research into program-specific tuition data and has compiled their research into affordability rankings covering 68 subjects. By the end of 2017, 102 subject-specific affordability rankings will be published. For the 539 schools currently included in the most affordable subject rankings on OnlineU, the average annual tuition rate is just $10,292. The new release includes an updated ranking of the top 25 most affordable online colleges overall, along with individual rankings for associate, bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees. SR Education Group named Georgia Institute of Technology the #1 most affordable online college overall.
To be considered for the overall ranking, colleges were required to offer at least 10 fully online degrees, with at least one degree at the bachelors or masters level. For the 739 colleges that met the criteria for inclusion, annual tuition rates were manually researched and calculated using data collected from schools official websites. The colleges were then ordered based on annual tuition rate, and the top 25 were named the 2017 Most Affordable Online Colleges Overall.
Every college that made the overall ranking offers an annual tuition rate of $7,200 or less. Georgia Tech is ranked #1 on the overall list and the masters list, offering an annual tuition rate of just $2,550. The College of Southern Nevada and Aspen University round out the top three overall, and both offer tuition rates under $5,000. Allen Community College is the #1 most affordable online college offering associate degrees, and offers the lowest yearly rate out of all ranked colleges at only $2,070.
One of the main considerations for prospective students is cost, but its not easy to find straightforward, standardized information about online college tuition, especially for specific programs said Sung Rhee, CEO of SR Education Group. Since the beginning of OnlineU in 2013, weve been working on developing the best way to research and present affordability data. These new college rankings, based solely on annual tuition rates for distance learning, provide students with concise, user-friendly resources to help with their search for a quality, affordable education.
Throughout 2017, SR Education Group will continue to expand their coverage of affordable online education. The organization intends to compile updated tuition research into affordability rankings covering over 102 subjects. The upcoming rankings will employ manually-researched, program-specific data, and will provide prospective students with information regarding colleges committed to offering affordable online education.
About SR Education Group
Headquartered in Kirkland, WA, SR Education Group was founded in 2004 by CEO Sung Rhee. The companys mission is to create authoritative online resources for students seeking an online education program that best suits their budget and career aspirations. SR Education Group is passionate about making quality education attainable for everyone and believes that objective information about education, careers, and educational financing should be free and easily accessible. For more information, please visit http://www.sreducationgroup.org/.
a2z, Inc. is pleased to announce that the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) will be utilizing two powerful and innovative technology solutions to offer networking, matchmaking, event promotion, time saving and planning tools to attendees and exhibitors for the 2017 NADA Convention & Expo. The event will be taking place on Thursday, January 26, through Sunday, January 29, 2017, in the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
The National Automobile Dealers Association is celebrating its 100-year anniversary at the 2017 NADA Convention & Expo in New Orleans (NADA100) this year. It is the world's largest international gathering of franchised new-vehicle dealers. The convention offers dealers a rare chance to meet face-to-face with executives of major auto manufacturers and features hundreds of exhibitors showcasing the latest equipment, services and technologies and dozens of workshops with the industry's best trainers.
myNADAplanner is an online networking and matchmaking solution that is an integral part of NADA100. Attendees are matched with exhibitors, based on their preference selections, and can then add their favorites to their expo plan, send them direct emails to ask questions about their products and services, and request meetings with them at the Show. myNADAplanner also provides exhibitors the opportunity to create an online eBooth to showcase their latest products and services. In addition, each exhibitor is matched with registered attendees who indicate interest in the product categories associated with its company profile, giving them strong, qualified leads before they even hit the showroom floor. Exhibitors can connect with attendees via direct emails.
The ChirpE eBooth Promotion Widget, a dynamic plug-and-play utility, is available to NADA exhibitors through their online eBooth console. Exhibitors can embed the widget anywhere on their website, blog or e-newsletter by copying and pasting a small block of code, making it one of the easiest and most effective ways of engaging prospective business leads and showcasing their attendance at the event. NADA100 attendees can add exhibitors as favorites to their personal show planners and register for the event with a single click.
To learn more about NADA100, please visit: http://convention.nada.org/
About a2z, Inc.
a2z provides powerful cloud-based event management and marketing tools that grow your brand by accelerating booth sales, helping boost revenue, and enhancing engagement and value for event participants. a2z's solutions are used by 1000+ leading trade shows and conferences across the globe every year. More than 45% of the TSE Gold 100 and TSNN Top 250 Events leverage a2z's innovative web and mobile solutions.
About National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA)
NADA represents all franchised new-car dealers domestic and import before Congress, federal agencies, the media, and the general public. NADA also represents dealers' interests with automobile and truck manufacturers, and develop research data on the retail automobile industry. Extensive training programs are also offered to improve dealership business operations, sales and service practices; and a charitable foundation that distributes funds donated by dealers and friends to emergency/medical and educational organizations, and private-sector colleges and universities.
Next Locksmith Now Offers Same-Day Lock Repair and Replacement Services in Chula Vista
Next Locksmith, a reputable locksmith agency from Chula Vista, California, now guarantees same-day locksmith services to all the residents in the Chula Vista area, as well as to the residents of greater San Diego area. The locksmith company now offers prompt services to the nook and nooks and crannies of the greater San Diego area. The company now offers more than one way to get connected with them and offers same-day lock repair and replacement services, irrespective the type of the issue faced by the customers or the distance of the work site from their company in Chula Vista.
The on-site locksmith services are now provided by the specialized team of locksmiths who work for Next Locksmith. The mobile team of Next Locksmith is now capable of reaching any corner of the San Diego area to offer their specialized services. Next Locksmith now offers residential, commercial and automotive locksmith services to the residents of the area. The owners said that they can now assure same-day services with no strings attached. They also added that their emergency locksmith service team is now committed to offering emergency locksmith services to Chula Vista and beyond.
Sara Anderson, the owner of the locksmith in Chula Vista company, told that the primary objective of her business is to be as prompt as possible in terms of service delivery. Sara said that they have already hired some of the best locksmiths in Chula Vista area to deliver the best-in-class locksmith services at the most competitive prices. However, the focus of the Chula Vista locksmith agency is to become the most trusted local business in terms of average turnaround as well as service quality.
We are committed to providing emergency locksmith services in and around the Chula Vista CA area as we believe that there are people who fall in lockout situations and other sorts of urgencies. Our mobile team is now able to serve all the areas surrounding Chula Vista and, of course, within the city borders, said Sara during a press conference.
About the Company
Next Locksmith is a leading locksmith company in Chula Vista, California. When talking about Chula Vista CA locksmith, Next Locksmith is always ready to serve.
To know more, visit http://locksmith-chulavistaca.com/
Tracx all-in-one social media management software The caliber of the executive team and other investment partners is second to nonewe believe theyre well equipped to take advantage of the large and rapidly growing social media software space.
Tracx is excited to announce today it closed a $12.5 million funding round led by Camden Partners, with participation by Edison Partners and Tracx CEO Rick Rudman. The funds will be used to support continued sales and marketing growth, as well as an expanded product footprint.
Tracxs social media management software is an industry-leader for its social listening and analytics capabilities offering the largest social network coverage and conversation monitoring while providing an all-in-one solution for reaping socials full ROI potential.
Were thrilled about our growth equity investment in Tracx, and supporting their continued innovation and market leadership, said Jason Tagler, Partner at Camden Partners who will join the Board of Directors as part of this round. The caliber of the executive team and other investment partners is second to none we believe theyre well equipped to take advantage of the large and rapidly growing social media space.
With spending in the social media space expected to reach $25 billion by 2020, Tracx CEO Rick Rudman is optimistic about the companys future opportunities. We are uniquely positioned with the most comprehensive listening and analytics tool, seamlessly integrated with engagement and cross-network posting, said Rudman. Our customers are uncovering crucial insights about their business, products, influencers and industry trends on social using our platform.
Tracx is expected to double new sales in 2017 and reach cash-flow positive on this round of funding. The company was recently listed on Deloitte Technologys Fast 500 for its 262% growth from 2012-2015; and was named a Top 100 North America Winner for Technology Innovation by Red Herring.
About Tracx
Tracx is an all-in-one social media management platform that helps social-savvy companies hear and react to the full conversation online. Tracx collects data from more sources than any other social listening platform, which is why companies like Sears, EA Games, Nestle, and BAE trust Tracx to help them navigate the social jungle. Learn more at http://www.tracx.com or request a demo.
About Camden Partners
Camden Partners, founded in 1995, is a multi-strategy private equity firm based in Baltimore, MD. This investment was made through its growth-equity strategy, which focuses on late-stage companies in the technology, business services, education, and healthcare sectors. For more information, please go to: http://www.camdenpartners.com.
About Edison Partners
For 30 years, Edison Partners has been helping CEOs and their executive teams navigate the entrepreneurial journey and build successful companies. Through the unique combination of growth capital and the Edison Edge platform, consisting of operating leverage, the Edison Director Network, and executive education, Edison employs a holistic approach to accelerating growth and creating value for businesses ($5 to $20 million in revenue) in financial, healthcare, enterprise and marketing technology sectors. Edison investment objectives also include: buyouts, recapitalizations, spinouts and secondary stock purchases.
Edisons active portfolio has created aggregate market value exceeding $10 billion. Its long-tenured team based in Princeton, NJ manages more than $1 billion in assets throughout the eastern United States.
We consider it a privilege to bring out the best smile in our patients. Our unique dental practice is equipped to provide a comfortable and highly rewarding experience for Wichita families, says Dr. Tanaka of Seneca Family Dentistry.
Seneca Family Dentistry is proud to serve Wichita patients with a unique experience in dental care. The modern office environment is equipped with state-of-the-art dental technology and highlighted amenities for all ages. They offer full service dentistry, including general, cosmetic, sedation and restorative dentistry. Seneca Family Dentistry prides themselves on their unrivaled ability to address all types of dental needs, through all stages of life.
The Wichita dental practice is led by Dr. Travis Tanaka, an esteemed dentist who understands the importance of providing top quality dental treatments with a compassionate, patient-centered approach. In fact, patient comfort is a priority at Seneca Family Dentistry. The office offers warm blankets, soothing music and sedation dentistry to ensure patients stay relaxed during their visit.
Seneca Family Dentistry also adopts the most advanced dental technology for faster, safer and more effective treatments. The 3D Cone Beam CT scan allows for the most comfortable patient experience and the most accurate placement of dental implants. This is just one way that Seneca Family Dentistry pursues excellence in dental care for the benefit of their patients.
From routine cleanings and professional teeth whitening to emergency dental care and special needs dentistry, Seneca Family Dentistry is a modern-day dental practice that can handle the entire family in one convenient location.
We consider it a privilege to bring out the best smile in our patients. Our unique dental practice is equipped to provide a comfortable and highly rewarding experience for Wichita families, says Dr. Tanaka of Seneca Family Dentistry.
More About Dr. Travis Tanaka:
Dr. Travis Tanaka was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii on the island of Oahu. He left the islands for California to receive a Bachelor of Science degree at Santa Clara University and then UMKC School of Dentistry for a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. Dr. Tanaka loves the Wichita community and prides himself on serving others with compassion and quality while spreading the Aloha spirit.
For more information about the practice or to schedule an appointment at Seneca Family Dentistry, please visit senecafamilydentistry.com or call the Wichita office directly at (316) 531-6303
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An iconic Tennessee bookstore prepares to close its doors; a New York and an Indiana bookstore mark major milestones; and more.
Booksellers at Laurelwood to Close in February: The Booksellers (formerly known as Davis Kidd) is closing its doors after more than 30 years. Owner Neil Van Umm told The Commercial Appeal that the 25,000 sq. ft. store had been losing $50,000 a year for the past few years, and the losses are growing. The store and its restaurant employ 50 people.
Bookstore and Bakery Swap Locations: Afterwords Bookstore and Bailey Cakes are changing places in Edwardsville, Ill. This will be the fourth move for the seven-year-old bookstore. It will hold a grand re-opening on January 14.
NYCs Drama Bookshop Enters 100th Year: The bookstore, which received an Honorary Tony Award in 2011 for excellence in theater, is marking its centenary this year. Its big anniversary bash will be held on Sunday, October 1, on current owner Arthur Seelens birthday.
The Griffon Turns 40: The South Bend bookstore, founded by Ken Peczkowski and Sarah Bird in 1976, has one of the oldest continuously-running dedicated game rooms in the country.
Hester Books to Close, New Store to Open: Last weekend Renee Hester closed the bookstore that her father, Ross, started in 1997, so that she can become a hospice counselor. The good news is that she has a preferred potential buyer, who will reopen the Lubbock store in the spring.
Obituary: Madeline (Mel) Bolen: Canadian bookseller Mel Bolen, founder of Bolen Books, one of Canadas biggest single-location independents with a 20,000 sq. ft. store in Victoria, passed away unexpectedly on December 21. She was 72 years old. Bolen retired in 2010 and sold the store to her daughter Samantha.
In a letter sent to employees Tuesday, Hachette Book Group USA CEO Michael Pietsch said the company had accomplished its primary objective of growing in 2016. The purchase of the publishing division of the Perseus Books Group increased HBG's revenue by about 15% and added to the company's nonfiction and backlist offerings, Pietsch said.
Excluding results from Perseus, Pietsch said revenue was down slightly from 2015 but earnings rose by 25%, which he attributed to costs savings and an increase in the number of bestsellers. When adding Perseus, "our revenues grew and our profits grew even more," Pietsch said. He said that the decline in revenue from HBG's core properties was due to a decline in e-book and paperback sales plus the transition of Yen Press to a joint venture with Kadokawa. Offsetting those trends was an increase in its Orbit publishing programs and the release of the first titles in the jimmy patterson, Goop Press, and Lee Boudreaux imprints.
The company's distribution business had a good year, Piersch said, citing strong years from clients Disney and Abrams. HBG also added PIKids to its distribution list, and Pietsch said the company plans to continue to grow its distribution business.
Much of the integration of Perseus was completed during the year, a process that was marked by some "difficulty," Pietsch said, pointing to the enormous IT efforts that slowed progress on several projects. More changes are coming in the first few months of 2017, as HBG relocates its customer service, claims, and manufacturing functions to Lebanon, Ind. and Boulder, Colo.
Pietsch also pointed to the changes coming at Grand Central Publishing following the departure of president and publisher Jamie Raab. He said he expects to name a replacement for Raab soon.
Looking ahead, Pietsch said that HBG's leadership teams are working on a number of "major strategic initiatives" in such areas as author partnership, cost control, risk management, consumer marketing, backlist sales, and content development.
Commenting on recent current events, Pietsch said HBG will continue to publish books that contribute to the national discussion on politics from authors on all sides of the political spectrum. Those books, Pietsch noted, will uphold HBG's "culture of respect, openness, diversity, and fairness."
With free speech more important than ever, Pietsch noted that until the end of February, HBG will pay half the cost of any full-time employee who joins PEN. Penguin Random House made a similar offer late last year.
Pietsch said he was excited about the many opportunities that HBG has ahead in 2017, led by a rich array of books it plans to publish in the year.
HarperCollins Publishers has purchased the remaining shares of HarperCollins Brasil, a 10-year joint venture with the Brazilian publisher Ediouro, and will take full ownership of the house, with plans to move its headquarters to Rio de Janeiros financial center.
Based in Rio de Janeiro, HarperCollins Brasil will operate independently going forward, but will continue to partner with Ediouro for warehousing and logistics. On January 9, HarperCollins Brasil will move its headquarters to Rua da Quitanda, in Rios financial center.
HarperCollins Brasil was originally formed as a joint venture that combined the existing operations of Thomas Nelson Brasil and Harlequin Brasil with Ediouros commercial trade publishing list and personnel. The house has more than 2,500 titles in print.
Brian Murray, president and CEO of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, said: While we have enjoyed a successful relationship with Ediouro, we are very pleased to take full ownership of HarperCollins Brasil. We see Brazil as an area of growth both for titles from our global imprints being published into the region, as well as for local authors. We are excited about this new structure and the new home for the organization.
Dorothy Day is, perhaps, one of the most controversial and fascinating figures in American Catholicism. Called everything from a communist to a great American (the latter by Pope Francis), the writer and activist abandoned her bohemian literary lifestyle and in 1933 co-founded the Catholic Worker newspaper and movementa movement that continues to advocate for the poor. Day was also a woman and a mother, and it is this woman-behind-the-saint that her youngest granddaughter focuses on in her book, Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved By Beauty (Scribner, Jan.).
This book is as much a story of your mother and your mothers relationship with Dorothy as it is a biography of Dorothy. Why did you choose to write the book this way?
There is no way I could have written a book about my grandmother without including my mother. Not only are they inextricably linked in my mind, but this is also one aspect of Dorothys life that I am able to provide that other biographers cannota portrait of her as a mother, which, after all, was the initial catalyst that put her on the path of conversion.
How did your understanding of Dorothy change as you researched and wrote the book?
When my mother died it became clear to me that if I did not write this story, an essential element of Dorothys lifethe story of her daughter and their relationshipwould forever be, if not lost, then severely limited. I knew this was going to be personally difficult, because I was still grieving the loss of my mother and there was much about the relationship between Dorothy and my mother that I didnt understand and struggled with. As I researched, I found myself falling in love with the two of them, their difficult relationship, their inexplicable choices, and their lives. With this deepening sense of love came greater understanding, not only of them as individuals but of their impact on me.
Did you worry about including what some might call sins, such as her abortion?
For me, there was never any point in writing a standard hagiography. That wouldnt represent the complex and paradoxical grandmother I knew. Often people who didnt know Dorothy would oversimplify her and her life, irritating my mother to no end. Separating Dorothy from her sins or her shortcomings does her, and us all, a disservice. These are essential elements of her life that helped make her who she was. Her formidable strengths came out of her failures and weaknesses.
Does writing about Dorothy as a mother complicate our understanding of her or of sainthood in general?
After years of listening to academics, theologians, clergy, and biographers speak of Dorothy, I have come to believe that one of the greatest impediments to understanding her is this desire to define her in ways that make us feel more at ease with herto make her less complicated and less complex, whether in order to revile or to praise her. If perfection were a requirement of sainthood, there would be no saints, and the same goes for motherhood. Our understanding of sainthood needs to be challenged.
What do you think the impact of your grandmothers canonization would be on the Catholic world?
It would certainly break the stereotype of traditional saints, and be controversial for many, not so much for her bohemian youth but for her radical views and activist life. Getting arrested, for example, is not normally considered saint-like behavior. Also, while Dorothy considered herself an obedient daughter of the Church in regards to Church teachings, she was not above chastising the Church on the behavior of its clergy. This distinction is sometimes difficult for people to understand, even though it is a trait to be found in many saints. However, for those who are inspired by her and try to follow her example, I think her canonization would be a tremendously hopeful gesture. She would be a saint for our time, a laywoman, and a mother in whom many, Catholic or not, could find paradoxically both comfort and provocation for change.
Samsung ha pubblicato questa mattina l'elenco delle migliorie implementate nel Security Maintenance Release (SMR) di Samsung per il mese di gennaio, aggiornamento che vedremo attivare a partire dai prossimi giorni sui top di gamma piu recenti della casa coreana.
L'ultimo SMR pone rimedio a ben 67 Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) scoperte su Android ed implementa inoltre 28 patch di sicurezza. E' interessante osservare che sono gia state adottate alcune patch relative ai processori Exynos 8895 e Snapdragon 835, che Samsung utilizzera sui prossimi top di gamma Galaxy S8 Galaxy S8 Plus attesi in primavera.
SMR-JAN-2017
Samsung Mobile is releasing a maintenance release for major flagship models as part of monthly Security Maintenance Release (SMR) process.
This SMR package includes patches from Google and Samsung.
Google patches include patches up to Android Security Bulletin - January 2017 package.
The Bulletin (January 2017) contains the following CVE items:
CVE-2016-3843(C), CVE-2016-3869(H), CVE-2015-8961(C), CVE-2016-6738(H), CVE-2016-3904(H), CVE-2016-6743(H), CVE-2016-6748(M), CVE-2016-6749(M), CVE-2016-7917(M), CVE-2016-5195(C), CVE-2015-8966(C), CVE-2016-9120(C), CVE-2015-8967(H), CVE-2016-6782(H), CVE-2016-6783(H), CVE-2016-6784(H), CVE-2016-6758(H), CVE-2016-6759(H), CVE-2016-6760(H), CVE-2016-6761(H), CVE-2016-6755(H), CVE-2016-6788(H), CVE-2016-6791(H), CVE-2016-8391(H), CVE-2016-8392(H), CVE-2015-7872(H), CVE-2016-6756(M), CVE-2016-8401(M), CVE-2016-8402(M), CVE-2016-8403(M), CVE-2016-8404(M), CVE-2016-8405(M), CVE-2016-8407(M), CVE-2016-8398(H), CVE-2016-8398(H), CVE-2016-8437(H), CVE-2016-8439(H), CVE-2016-8440(H), CVE-2016-8441(H), CVE-2016-8438(C), CVE-2016-8442(C), CVE-2016-8450(H), CVE-2016-6754(H), CVE-2017-0381(C), CVE-2016-5180(H), CVE-2017-0382(H), CVE-2017-0383(H), CVE-2017-0384(H), CVE-2017-0385(H), CVE-2017-0386(H), CVE-2017-0387(H), CVE-2017-0388(H), CVE-2016-3911(H), CVE-2017-0389(H), CVE-2017-0390(H), CVE-2017-0391(H), CVE-2017-0392(H), CVE-2017-0393(H), CVE-2017-0394(H), CVE-2017-0396(M), CVE-2017-0397(M), CVE-2017-0398(M), CVE-2017-0399(M), CVE-2017-0400(M), CVE-2017-0401(M), CVE-2017-0402(M), and CVE-2016-6720(M).
* Severity : (C)-Critical, (H)-High, (M)-Moderate, (L)-Low
Please see Android Security Bulletin for detailed information on Google patches.
Along with Google patches, Samsung Mobile provides 28 Samsung Vulnerabilities and Exposures (SVE) items described below, in order to improve our customer's confidence on security of Samsung Mobile devices.
Some of the SVE items may not be included in this package, in case these items were already included in a previous maintenance release.
SVE-2016-6362: out of bound read in gpu driver
Severity: Low
Affected versions: M(6.0), N(7.0) devices with Exynos AP chipsets
Reported on: May 31, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
Vulnerability in gpu driver does not properly check the boundary of buffers leading to a possible memory corruption.
The applied patch avoids an illegal access to memory by checking the boundary.
SVE-2016-6917: Forcing factory resets with a large manifest file on Samsung Android Devices
Severity: Medium
Affected versions: KK(4.4), L(5.0/5.1), M(6.0)
Reported on: August 13, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
A system crash at boot time can be triggered by a malformed manifest file during parsing of active install session APKs, resulting in a possible DoS attack.
The applied patch avoids parsing active install session APKs.
SVE-2016-7122: Unexpected SystemUI FC driven by arbitrary application
Severity: Low
Affected versions: L(5.0/5.1), M(6.0), N(7.0)
Reported on: September 13, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
Lack of appropriate exception handling in some applications allows attackers to make a systemUI crash easily resulting in a possible DoS attack.
The patch prevents systemUI crashes by handling unexpected exceptions.
SVE-2016-7183: Security issue patch that exposes path of files through log
Severity: Low
Affected versions: KK(4.4), L(5.0/5.1), M(6.0), N(7.0)
Reported on: September 21, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
The vulnerability exposes the lists of files stored in sdcard to the system protected log when receiving certain intent.
The patch restricts the senders capable of broadcasting the intent by permission.
SVE-2016-7340: Information disclosure via /dev/dsm_ctrl_dev
Severity: Medium
Affected versions: L(5.1), M(6.0), N(7.0)
Reported on: October 8, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
This vulnerability allows reading data outside of buffer boundary due to not checking the boundary.
The applied patch avoids an illegal access to memory by checking the boundary.
SVE-2016-7466: ko(Kernel Module) signature can be bypassed
Severity: Low
Affected versions: M(6.0), N(7.0) devices with Exynos5433, Exynos7420, or Exynos7870 chipset
Reported on: October 4, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
Assuming the device is rooted, a vulnerability allows an attacker to bypass kernel module confirmation by manipulating the count value of kernel modules required to check the integrity.
The patch prevents the modification of the count value at the build time.
SVE-2016-7484: Buffer overflow vulnerability in sensor hub
Severity: Low
Affected versions: KK(4.4), L(5.0/5.1), M(6.0), N(7.0) devices with Exynos54xx, Exynos7420, Exynos8890, or Exynos8895 chipset
Reported on: October 18, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
There is a potential buffer overflow problem due to not confirming boundary condition before memory copy.
The supplied patch prevents buffer overflow by confirming the sizes of source and destination, but the Linux file permission already protects access to this code.
SVE-2016-7500: Multiple Buffer Overflows in TSP sysfs cmd_store
Severity: Low
Affected versions: M(6.0), N(7.0) devices with Exynos8890 chipset
Reported on: October 20, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
There are some potential buffer overflow problems in TSP sysfs due to not confirming boundary condition before memory copy.
The supplied patch prevents buffer overflow by confirming the sizes of source and destination, but the TSP sysfs is already protected by the Linux file permission.
SVE-2016-7501: Race condition in sec_ts touchscreen sysfs interface
Severity: Low
Affected versions: M(6.0), N(7.0) devices with MSM8939, MSM8996, MSM8998, Exynos7580, Exynos8890, or Exynos8895 chipset
Reported on: October 20, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
There is no synchronization mechanism between getting the size of the readbuffer and its actual reading, which can result in buffer overflow by race conditions.
The fix avoids race condition by using locking mechanism, but the sysfs is already protected by the Linux file permission.
SVE-2016-7510: Buffer overflow in "fps" sysfs entry
Severity: Low
Affected versions: KK(4.4), L(5.0/5.1), M(6.0), N(7.0)
Reported on: October 22, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
There is a potential buffer overflow problem in 'fps' sysfs due to not confirming boundary condition before memory copy.
The supplied patch prevents buffer overflow by confirming the sizes of source and destination, but the 'fps' sysfs is already protected by the Linux file permission.
SVE-2016-7551: Exposure of Kernel Address on the Log
Severity: Low
Affected versions: All devices with Exynos5 chipset
Reported on: October 25, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
The vulnerability allows unprivileged users to get kernel addresses from the log due to using wrong format specifier.
The fix shows '0' value for the kernel addresses to unprivileged users.
SVE-2016-7650: VR Service Security Issue
Severity: Low
Affected versions: KK(4.4), L(5.0/5.1), M(6.0)
Reported on: November 8, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
There is no mechanism to limit to the number of active VR service threads, which can result in system crash by exceeding available number of system threads.
The patch prevents system crash by limiting the number of VR service threads at a time.
SVE-2016-7654: Secure data exposure in EAS autodiscover packet
Severity: High
Affected versions: KK(4.4), L(5.0/5.1), M(6.0), N(7.0)
Reported on: November 4, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
The vulnerability discloses user credentials to sub-domain whenever users log in at an email account under certain conditions.
The patch avoids disclosure by removing code sending user credentials.
SVE-2016-7751: Several Security flaws in libskia library
Severity: Medium
Affected versions: M(6.0)
Reported on: November 29, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
The vulnerability allows an attacker to trigger a crash when parsing malformed images.
The patch prevents a crash by using fixed values instead of variable ones for buffers.
SVE-2016-7897: Several RKP issues
Severity: Medium
Affected versions: M(6.0), N(7.0) devices with Exynos7420, Exynos8895, MSM8996, or MSM8998 chipset
Reported on: October 24, 2016
Disclosure status: Privately disclosed.
There are 6 vulnerabilities related with RKP, including memory corruption, information disclosure, privilege escalation, and authentication bypass.
The adequate remedies are applied to each vulnerability.
In addition, the following CVEs are included as part of Samsung security patches:
CVE-2016-8655(C)
* Severity : (C)-Critical, (H)-High, (M)-Medium, (L)-Low
Some SVE items included in the Samsung Android Security Update cannot be disclosed at this time.
Acknowledgements
We truely appreciate the following researchers for helping Samsung to improve the security of our products.
- James Fang and Anthony LAOU HINE TSUEI of Tencent Keen Lab : SVE-2016-6362
- Ryan Johnson and Angelos Stavrou of Kryptowire : SVE-2016-6917
- Quhe of Alipay unLimit Security Team : SVE-2016-7122
- Qing Zhang of Qihoo 360 and Guangdong Bai of Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) : SVE-2016-7183
- Gal Beniamini of Google Project Zero : SVE-2016-7340, SVE-2016-7466, SVE-2016-7484, SVE-2016-7500, SVE-2016-7501, SVE-2016-7510, SVE-2016-7551, SVE-2016-7897
- Yaoguang Chen of Ant-financial Light-Year Security Lab : SVE-2016-7650
- Nesterov Ilya and Goncharov Maxim : SVE-2016-7654
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Registration is open for Purdue Extensions 2017 Indiana Small Farm Conference and trade show, scheduled for March 2-4 at the Hendricks County 4-H Fairgrounds and Conference Complex, 1900 E. Main St., Danville.
This years conference begins with a series of daylong workshops March 2. Topics include hops production, starting a small farm in Indiana, on-farm fresh produce food safety, and an urban agriculture tour in Indianapolis.
Educational programs March 3 and 4 will cover topics ranging from vegetable and livestock production to farm management and marketing. Participants will also have an opportunity to network with Extension educators, expert speakers, other producers and vendors.
Keynote speaker is Eliot Coleman, author of the books The New Organic Grower, Four Season Harvest and The Winter Harvest Handbook and one of the countrys foremost experts on organic farming.
Other speakers include Sam Smith, farm business specialist with the Intervale Center, an organization promoting local food systems; Blaine Hitzfield, founder of Seven Sons Farms in Roanoke; Simon Huntley, founder and developer at Small Farm Central, a small-farm management services and technology provider; Collin Thompson, farm manager at the Michigan State University Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center; and John Hendrickson, coordinator of the Wisconsin School for Beginning Market Growers.
Vendors will display a range of agricultural equipment, products and services both days in the facilitys exhibit hall.
The number of small-scale farming operations is increasing in Indiana and throughout the country, said James Wolff, Extension educator in Allen County and one of the conference organizers. About two-thirds of all Indiana farms are 200 acres or less. The Indiana Small Farm Conference brings together the small and medium-scale farming community to share practical knowledge and build relationships.
Cost is $75 for one day, $135 for two days and $190 for three days for those who register before Feb. 6. Afterward, costs are $90, $162 and $228.
Registration is available at https://www.conf.purdue.edu/INsmallfarm. For more information, go to the Purdue Extension Small Farm Team website at https://www.purdue.edu/dffs/smallfarms/indiana-small-farm-conference/ or visit https://www.facebook.com/PurdueExtensionSmallFarms/ on Facebook.
Writer: Darrin Pack, 765-494-8415, dpack@purdue.edu
Sources: Michael ODonnell, 765-747-7732, modonnel@purdue.edu
James Wolff, 260-481-6826, jmwolff@purdue.edu
Agricultural Communications: (765) 494-8415;
Darrin Pack, dpack@purdue.edu
Agriculture News Page
CHICAGO (AP) The Rev. Jesse Jackson has met with Gov. Bruce Rauner to discuss violence and other issues in Illinois cities.
Jackson says he asked for Wednesday's sit-down in Chicago because it's a new political season with President-elect Donald Trump set to take office. The Chicago civil rights leader says Illinois' governor should be part of the equation to remedy the spike in Chicago violence and overlapping issues like poverty.
There were over 750 homicides in Chicago last year. That's the most in nearly two decades and more than New York and Los Angeles combined
Jackson calls it Illinois' "shameful urban crisis." He says he's developing a plan, including ideas for creating jobs. He says he'll share it with the first-term Republican governor.
Rauner's office declined immediate comment on the meeting.
On a busy first day of the 115th Congress, U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, took a few moments to chat about topics ranging from Republicans' decision to not overhaul an ethics office to what Illinois must do to fix its financial woes.
Rep. Bustos won a third term in Congress in November. During her four years in Congress, she has come to be seen as a rising presence for the Democrats.
She has a new House leadership position, co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, tasked with "improving outreach to the heartland" on her party's "working families first" values, according to a new release from her office.
She also was named one of Seven Rising Democratic Stars by The Hill, a U.S. political website, which noted she is the only Midwestern representative named to a new Democratic leadership post.
The tumultuous start of the new Congress began the night before Tuesday's swearing in when House Republicans voted to weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics by putting it under the jurisdiction of the House Ethics Committee.
They reversed that decision Tuesday after widespread criticism of the move, including a tweet from President-elect Donald Trump.
"In the dark of the night, they made an attempt to cut off the proper process for us to do our work and thwart the democratic process," Rep. Bustos said. "Fortunately, they quickly realized the error of their ways."
Emboldened by a Republican president, lawmakers also are expected to attempt a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Despite past unsuccessful attempts, Rep. Bustos expects to see it taken up again and to fight it.
"We can do it by talking about how this is going to hurt people," she said.
"It's going to be harmful to millions of people in Illinois" alone, Rep. Bustos said. Women's health services would be devastated, she said, and insurance would be "cut off from patients who need it the most.
"I'll be the first to say there are a lot of fixes that should be made," Rep. Bustos said. But the legislation was approved, she said, because "something had to be done."
She said millions more have health insurance and the costs of health care are going up at a slower rate than the decade before."
"That's a conveniently forgotten truth the other side is not sharing with the public," she said.
In a Tuesday news release, Rep. Bustos said she will work with Republicans to improve the economy.
"But I will not back down from a fight if they try to roll back the progress that generations of Americans have fought to achieve on behalf of working families, she said in the release.
A Rep. Bustos aide has said she is "seriously considering" a run for the Illinois governor's office in 2018 against Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. On Tuesday, Rep. Bustos said she's interested in "helping as many people as I can possibly help."
Winning the governor's office would be a way to "address the terrible gridlock in Springfield," she said, adding that Gov. Rauner's "ego has gotten in the way to the point where he won't sit down to negotiate a budget."
Sean Higgins, Rep. Bustos' press secretary, later sent an email saying, "I think its fair to say shes heard from a number of Illinoisans who have asked her to give (running for governor) consideration and she is doing so.
"Cheris (Rep. Bustos's) approach to leadership has always been about bringing stakeholders together, listening to everyones concerns and working collaboratively to solve the challenges facing working families," he said. "Cheri is committed to doing whatever she can to help as many Illinoisans as possible and, regardless of what she decides to do, shell continue this same style of inclusive leadership."
ROCK ISLAND Police and fire dispatchers could have just answered "10-4," when asked Tuesday if everything's going OK during a state-mandated decision to consolidate emergency call centers (Public Safety Answering Points).
Many simply responded that "everything's going well," when asked for an update during an Emergency Telephone System Board meeting held in the Rock Island Police Department's community room.
It was a good sign that everything's progressing, board chairman Steve Seiver said.
Cities affected have all entered into inter-governmental agreements, and staff members have been attending to all the technical matters and doing their due diligence when it comes to liability, insurance and staffing concerns said Mr. Seiver, who also is Milan village administrator.
A law signed by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on June 29, 2015, required emergency call centers across the state to consolidate by June 30, 2017.
Rock Island County was tasked with cutting its six centers to three. Emergency telephone system board members decided to keep Rock Island and Rock Island County's centers open, but close a Centre Station center handling Moline and East Moline calls, as well as Milan and Silvis centers.
Moline, East Moline, Silvis and Milan decided to create a new dispatch center to be housed in Milan.
Consolidating centers were given until June 30, 2017, to finish developing specific operational guidelines.
Mr. Seiver on Tuesday, said board members are expecting to get an extension to finalize specific plans, and will apply for the extension by mid-Spring, and complete the project by year's end or by early 2018.
His biggest concern regarding plans is not knowing what money will be made available in the state's budget once created and approved.
Port Byron trustees charged Green Committee Chairman Sarah Ford to come back with two detailed possible proposals to create a Freenotes Harmony Park in Port Byron.
In her presentation to the board Tuesday, Mrs. Ford said that after seeing a Freenotes Harmony Park in Durango, Colo., along the Animas River, she knew she wanted to bring a park like it to her hometown someday.
It was a magical experience of playing music along side of others, she said.
Mrs. Ford and her committee were asked to come with ideas to make the prairie park into an attractive welcoming space.
I believe a Music Park will be the perfect addition to this blank slate of a park," Mrs. Ford said. "We can install a variety of instruments along side a smaller selection of prairie plants to create an inviting atmosphere to families, bikers, day care providers, downtown patrons and any and all visitors who want to freely make harmonious music in our town.
Trustee Wes Wells said he liked the idea.
This park goes along with our goals, ties in with our music projects like Baby Blues Fest, and it will be something that only Port Byron has, Mr. Wells said.
It also would expand recreational opportunities along the riverfront, Trustee Bruce Peterson said.
Mrs. Ford said she believed the cost of the park would be approximately $18,000 and that much of the money could come from grants and contributions.
The instruments are designed by a Grammy-winning composer, made in the USA, durable for all weather, appealing to all ages and abilities and produce concert quality sound, which I can attest to. The residents of Robinson, Ill., just got a music park, and Port Byron can be the next town in Illinois to offer this amazing experience to the community. Itd be the first of its kind in the Quad-Cities region.
In other business, Finance Committee Chairman Scott Sidor was given approval to negotiate a $500,000 loan locked in at 2.75 percent for three years. The loan would not be used unless necessary and could be accessed by the mayor and the associate mayor.
According to Mr. Sidor it is possible that the village could face a shortfall on the sidewalk project because of the way money could be coming in.
We might need it for four months or for as long as a year, Mr. Sidor said.
Mayor Kevin Klute told the board that the village is committed to produce the funds when everything was in place. The loan means we will have it (the money) if we need it, Mr. Klute said.
Go To The Polls And Pull The Lever
We hope everyone turns out to pull the lever next Tuesday (Nov. 8). Actually, new voters wont know what we are talking about, as the...
Letters To The Editor
Street Closure Dangers Neighbors, Friends, Citizens of NYC/QUEENS: Many may not know that NYC has decided to close off miles of streets to cars in...
Were looking back on some of the cool stuff we brought you through the year, we spoke to Mickey Maher, and if you missed it, check it out here. Hes the guy got his break handing out icy cold cans of Coke some 26 years ago, Mickey Maher is the Head of Content for Regional Radio covering off 68 stations for Southern Cross Austereo.
Part 1 Here and Part 2 Here
The 1.5kV dc standard-gauge 5500 series trains will be equipped with VVVF traction and will have a maximum speed of 120km/h. There will be three sets of doors on each side of the 18m-long stainless steel cars.
A pre-series train will be delivered during the 2017 fiscal year, entering service in spring 2018, with a further eight sets due to arrive during 2018. The entire fleet is due to be in service by 2021, enabling the withdrawal of 5300 series EMUs dating from 1990-1997.
Union Pacific announced Jan. 3 its acquisition of Railex LLC's refrigerated and cold storage distribution assets in Delano, Calif.; Wallula, Wash.; and Rotterdam, N.Y. Acquisition does not include Railex Wine Services LLC.
UP says, Railex, a refrigerated rail service and third-party logistics leader, plays a key role in Union Pacifics Food Network transporting fruits, vegetables and other temperature-sensitive cargo across the United States.
The Railex team developed a fantastic business changing how fresh food arrives on Americas tables, offering food shippers fast, reliable door-to-door rail based transportation solutions, said Brad Thrasher, Vice President and General Manager, Agricultural Products. The integration of their highly efficient cross dock facilities and logistics capabilities into Union Pacifics broader Food Network allows us to offer our customers increased access to a wider range of capacity and service solutions in a rail-centric cold chain.
Union Pacific Food Trains directly serve Railexs Delano and Wallula facilities, located in major agricultural production regions. The Food Train network provides a service from these growing regions to the Midwest consumer base via Chicago and further into the Northeast region via the CSX. Railex will continue managing facilities during the transition and integration of its operations with Union Pacific.
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The Pardee RAND Graduate School (PardeeRAND.edu) is home to the only Ph.D. and M.Phil. programs offered at an independent public policy research organizationthe RAND Corporation.
Subscriber growth in the past two years has led to record-breaking 2016 audience figures for Spanish pay-TV.
During the past year, 20.4% of viewership time was spent on pay-TV options, almost two percentage points more than in 2015. According to an analysis published by Barlovento Comunicacion, this figure is the highest ever reached by pay-TV channels, with Spaniards traditionally preferring free-to-air (FTA) TV.And there is no doubt that audience figures are directly driven by a rising number of subscribers. According to recent reports, Spains pay-TV is going through its most expansive period ever, growing over 9% year-on-year and reaching 5.84 million households by June 2016, most of which have IPTV services.The quick expansion of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks along with the increasing competition among telcos Movistar, Vodafone and Orange has driven pay-TV consumption, said the report.Regarding channels, FOX has been the most watched network during 2016, gathering 6.4% of the total pay-TV viewership. BeIN La Liga is second, followed by the film and series channels TNT, AXN and Canal Hollywood.However, pay-TV figures are still far below those for FTA. There are no pay-TV representatives among the 50 most watched broadcasts of 2016, all of which belong to Atresmedia, Mediaset and the public broadcaster RTVE.
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In a 5-2 ruling, the conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court determined that the people of Wisconsin are not entitled to see training videos filmed back when Attorney General Brad Schimel, above, was the Waukesha County district attorney. The court's rationale for overturning rulings by lower courts was ridiculous and goes against Wisconsin's tradition of open government. PHOTO BY JOHN HART/STATE JOURNAL
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There are currently over 23,400 recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in the state of Georgia, none of which are eligible for in-state tuition for colleges under the Georgia Board of Regents.
Logan Square bar hoppers now have another place to keep the party going after 2 a.m. The folks behind second-floor nightclub East Room (2354 N. Milwaukee Ave.) announced in a release this morning that the bar is extending its hours until 4 a.m. Sunday through Friday and 5 a.m. Saturday.
Owner Russ Grant (Boiler Room, Parts & Labor) and other partners have been working for more than a year to obtain a 4 a.m. liquor license, and DNAinfo reported last January that some neighbors were concerned about the immediate area becoming too rowdy if East Room obtained the late-night status.
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East Room joins The Owl (2521 N. Milwaukee Ave.) as the neighborhood's only bars with late-night hoursthough The Owl's sister location Remedy (1910 N. Milwaukee Ave.), which opened this summer in nearby Bucktown, also has a late-hour liquor license. Since opening about three years ago, East Room has hosted DJ sets from Joey Purp and Best Coast, tattoo parties with downstairs tenant Logan Square Tattoo and bring-your-own vinyl nights.
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Prepare your replies with expert help, if necessary.
Keep relevant documents ready to support your replies, experts tell Sanjay Kumar Singh.
The government has asked banks to provide information to the Income-Tax (I-T) Department about savings accounts where deposits have exceeded Rs 2.5 lakh (Rs 12.5 lakh in the case of current accounts) after November 8.
If the deposits are higher than past levels or deviate significantly from what a person's savings are expected to be, based on the I-T returns he has filed in the past, he could receive a notice from the tax department.
As the government has gone into overdrive against black money, many more notices are expected this year.
Type of notice received
First, you determine the type of notice you have received.
Sometimes the tax department sends enquiry notices, where the officer asks for specific information.
A tax scrutiny notice is for examining your I-T return in great detail.
"For black money-related cases, the department could issue enquiry notices anytime, asking people to explain the source of large deposits in their savings accounts. Scrutiny notices will be issued only after the return is filed," says Rahul Jain, partner-direct taxation, Nangia & Co.
The seriousness of your problem also depends on whether you have received a limited or detailed scrutiny notice.
In the former, the officer can ask you to provide information only regarding limited points, say, about a mismatch between the tax return you have filed and the Annual Information Return (AIR) filed by a bank or mutual fund (MF) house for high-value transactions.
A detailed scrutiny is a more holistic investigation.
"A tax officer can convert a limited scrutiny into a complete scrutiny but not merely on the basis of suspicion or guesswork. He can do so, with the approval of a high-rank officer, only if he forms a reasonable view to believe income exceeding Rs 5 lakh (Rs 10 lakh in a metro) has escaped assessment," says Kuldip Kumar, partner and leader (personal tax), PwC India.
What should you do?
Just because you have received a notice does not imply wrongdoing on your part.
Instead, you should set about dealing with it methodically.
First, understand the objective of the notice: Is it a scrutiny notice or only asking for specific information?
Next, establish whether it is a valid notice and if the tax officer has the jurisdiction or power to issue it.
"The notice ought to specify the nature of proceeding and relevant provision under which the information is being requested. Additionally, it needs to be checked whether the tax officer has appropriate jurisdiction to inquire about transactions of the taxpayer," says Jiger Saiya, partner -- direct tax, BDO India.
Next, prepare your replies and provide relevant documents to support your claim. The notice usually specifies the information you have to provide. If required, seek the guidance of a chartered accountant.
Under a new scheme that is being optionally tried out in seven cities, you can respond by e-mail.
The taxpayer can also choose to respond and give supporting documents in physical form. Information should be properly vetted and only then submitted.
Some notices require a personal hearing, where you are called upon to explain the submissions made. "The taxpayer needs to ensure he replies to the notice within the stipulated time. If he fails to do so, there could be a penalty. The tax officer also has the power to make a best-judgement assessment and there are also provisions for prosecution," says Saiya.
After you have prepared and filed your returns for a year, store all the relevant documents, so that you can produce these in case of a scrutiny. "How long you need to preserve these documents depends on the source of income and limitation period to reopen assessments. In the case of income from foreign assets, you have to maintain records for 16 years. In case of income from a domestic source, where the income escaped is more than Rs 1 lakh, you have to preserve these documents for six years. In other cases, it is for four years," says Kumar.
Get the paperwork right
M aintain books of accounts. Keep documents to show vendors' genuineness
aintain books of accounts. Keep documents to show vendors' genuineness Those who file returns under presumptive tax should preserve proof of sales and service tax paid.
To justify inventory, have purchase bills, sales invoices, record of opening and closing stock.
PPF passbook, mutual fund and home loan statements serve as proof for Section 80C deductions.
For significant transactions like property purchase, preserve sale deed.
Always keep a copy of your bank statement for the year.
Ensure gift deeds are in place for large gifts.
IMAGE: Sand artist Sudarshan Pattanaik's work of art in Puri, Odisha, seems to say it all. Photograph: PTI Photo
The new army chief's highest priority must be to address the critical hollowness in the Indian Army's operational preparedness, says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
As the head of perhaps the most potent instrument of the national will, a combat force that has held the nation together through many wars and insurgencies, General Bipin Rawat, the new army chief, has his work cut out.
There must be synergy between the new COAS and the government to successfully defeat Pakistan's war against India through asymmetric means, manage periodic tensions on the Line of Actual Control with China and to continue to undertake effective counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-Eastern states.
Surgical strikes across the Line of Control and counter-insurgency operations in J&K took centre stage during the year gone by and engaged the attention of the nation and the army's top brass. However, it is operational preparedness and the improvement of the army's combat effectiveness that should be the highest priorities for General Rawat.
Next in order of priority should be the modernisation of the force, the development of infrastructure, improvement in training standards and the resolution of organisational issues, including human resources management and the welfare of personnel.
In March 2012, General V K Singh, then the COAS, had written to the prime minister about 'critical hollowness' in the army's operational preparedness.
He had pointed out large-scale deficiencies in weapons systems, ammunition and equipment in service in the army and the fact that many of the weapons and equipment were obsolete or bordering on obsolescence.
In particular, he had brought out that the artillery and air defence arms needed the infusion of modern guns, missiles and radars and the aviation corps required new helicopters to replace the ageing fleet.
The infantry was sorely in need of a replacement for the 7.62 mm basic rifle in use.
Two consecutive reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of December 2011 and November 2012 brought out that the state of defence preparedness was a cause for serious concern.
The Standing Committee on Defence in Parliament has also noted these developments with concern several times.
In an unprecedented move, the Standing Committee on Defence insisted on meeting the three chiefs to take stock of operational preparedness. The Standing Committee on Defence has repeatedly urged the government to increase the defence budget to enable the armed forces to undertake meaningful modernisation.
Weapons, ammunition and equipment shortages have persisted for long and several chiefs before General V K Singh had written to the PM and the defence minister for help to make up the shortfall.
During the Kargil conflict in 1999, the nation had heard General V P Malik, the then COAS, make the chilling statement on national TV, 'We will fight with what we have.'
Though the conflict was confined to Kargil district, 50,000 rounds of artillery ammunition had to be imported as an emergency measure because the stock holding was extremely low.
If it had become necessary to open another front, the shortage of artillery ammunition would have seriously hampered operational planning.
Military modernisation has two major facets: The replacement of obsolete and obsolescent weapons and equipment with modern ones, which results in increasing combat effectiveness; and, the qualitative upgradation of combat capabilities through the acquisition and induction of force multipliers.
General Rawat, like his predecessors, faces a major dilemma: How should a meagre budget be parcelled between improving operational preparedness while simultaneously making concerted efforts to modernise, especially the induction of force multipliers like state-of-the-art intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems?
Logically, operational preparedness should take precedence over modernisation. The art of military leadership lies in finding an optimum balance so that all efforts that are made to enhance operational preparedness also contribute substantively to modernisation.
The new COAS will preside over the transformation of the army to a 'network centric' force capable of executing 'effects-based operations' over the full spectrum of conflict.
General Rawat must forge a light, lethal and wired army that can fight and win India's wars on the battlefields of the 21st century -- jointly with the navy and the air force.
The Transformation Study undertaken by army headquarters in 2009 will provide good pointers to the shortfalls in cutting edge operational requirements and the measures necessary to overcome these. For example, the army must improve its rapid reaction capability.
Ahead of his time as he was, General K Sundarji had nominated an infantry division as an air assault division during Exercise Brass Tacks IV in 1987. Thirty years later, the army still does not have an air assault division.
Now, of course, it needs at least two such divisions -- both for conventional conflict and intervention operations.
The teeth-to-tail ratio needs substantial improvement. There is a requirement to reduce the costs incurred on manpower without cutting manpower itself; for example, by outsourcing routine maintenance assignments to trade.
The logistics chain must be streamlined to provide just-in-time logistics, rather than being dependent on numerous depots with huge inventories.
The troops engaged in providing perimeter security of army camps must be better trained to minimise casualties from terrorist attacks.
The battle drills of quick reaction teams must be snappier.
Training standards must keep pace with the induction of hi-tech weapons and equipment.
In the present era of strategic uncertainty, where some threats are predictable while many others are not, the policy should be to train for certainty and educate for uncertainty.
And, finally, General Rawat must pay attention to improving the welfare of the troops under his command, including improvement in combat gear, better rations and accommodation.
He must spend time resolving personnel issues, such as the grievances regarding pay and allowances, which have been sapping morale.
Civil-military relations have not been good in the recent past and the chief must work with civilian counterparts to improve relations by an order of magnitude.
No army in the world can be effective if it does not have the unqualified support of the civilian leadership and the bureaucracy.
Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) is Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi.
LAKE GENEVA A downtown Lake Geneva resort was evacuated early Tuesday morning after a fire was discovered on the resorts roof.
The Lake Geneva Fire Department was dispatched to the parking lot of The Cove of Lake Geneva, 111 Center St., at 5:23 a.m. Tuesday for a strong odor of natural gas, according to a release issued by the Lake Geneva Fire Department.
After completing a systematic and thorough investigation, firefighters discovered elevated levels of gas, but were unable to identify a source. The gas company was also dispatched, the release stated.
While crews continued their investigation, the automatic fire alarm began to sound. The hotel was then evacuated while firefighters reported to the area of the fire alarm.
A fire on the roof in a heating and air conditioning unit was discovered and was extinguished with dry chemical extinguishers. The damage was limited to the HVAC unit, the release stated.
A high-occupancy building like the Cove always has life safety issues when there is a fire, Capt. Mark Moller-Gunderson, public information officer of the Lake Geneva Fire Department, said in a statement.
The Cove is the largest resort in the city. It has five swimming pools and numerous rooms.
We are fortunate that we had crews already on scene when the fire alarm sounded. With the help of maintenance staff from the Cove, we were able to quickly gain access to the roof, locate the fire, and extinguish it before the fire spread to the rest of the building. Were glad that no one was hurt and that the Cove could return to operation.
The cause and origin are under investigation and no injuries were reported. Guests were back in their rooms at 8 a.m., the release stated.
'Of course, I would like a world in which candidates don't ask for my vote on religious (etc) grounds.'
'But will we ever live in a world free of such appeals?'
'More important, will a Supreme Court verdict, by itself, ever deliver such a world?' asks Dilip D'Souza.
Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com
Not long ago, a bright young film student dropped in to have a chat about the way religion influences our lives. It was well-timed, because I was still seething over a line I had heard in a sermon just two nights earlier.
After rattling off some (shaky) observations about his faith, this man concluded: 'And this is why our religion is greater than every other.'
I mentioned this incident to the student, saying it encapsulates so much that bothers me about every religion. There's the constant yearning to feel superior -- check the use of phrases like 'only way' and 'most tolerant.'
That is always coupled with the urge to belittle other faiths -- check the derogatory connotations of terms like 'infidel' and 'philistine.'
There is the assumption that you can say these things in public. Admittedly, most of the sermoniser's audience shared his faith, but there were others present, including agnostics like me.
What is such language supposed to make us feel?
Yet despite the distaste I feel, I'm also fully aware that religion is never going to disappear, for it speaks to and expresses some deep, fundamental, ineluctable human longing.
The challenge for agnostics like me -- and it is a stiff challenge -- is to understand and live with that.
All of which might hint at the spirit in which I react to the recent Supreme Court decision holding that asking for votes on the basis of 'religion, race, caste, community or language' is a 'corrupt practice.'
I mean, on the face of it, of course, I would like a world in which candidates don't ask for my vote on religious (etc) grounds. I think it is offensive and absurd for a candidate to say in a campaign speech: 'Vote for me because I am Christian.'
Just as offensive would be: 'Vote for me because you are all Christian.' (If I need to say it: You can replace 'Christian' in those two sentences with 'Muslim', 'Parsi', 'Hindu', 'Jewish', 'Bah'ai' or your own favourite or not-so-favourite faith).
Offensive, because these make the same empty assumption I heard in that sermon. What about your merely being Christian, I'd like to ask such a candidate, makes you deserving of my vote?
Why should a Christian vote for you merely because you are one?
Why don't you tell me about your record, or your plans for my constituency?
But will we ever live in a world free of such appeals?
More important, will a Supreme Court verdict, by itself, ever deliver such a world?
You might as well ask, will we ever live in a world free of religion?
There's a human reality out there that this Supreme Court judgment ignores. Simply put, we are naturally drawn to others of our kind.
Throw a group of French speakers in the same room as a group of Hindi speakers, and even if everyone is comfortable with a common language like English, you will find Hindi gravitates to Hindi, French to French.
Our matrimonial ads and sites tell the story of what's truly important to us when we select spouses. I'm yet to see a category like 'Long-haired' or 'Between 1.65m and 1.80m tall' or 'Car mechanics', like I see 'Kayastha' or 'Muslim' or 'Roman Catholic'.
No: If I'm a Kayastha, somehow I'm persuaded that my spouse must be one as well.
And political parties know these sentiments well. Which is why those that speak to caste, language, region or religion attract far more fervent support than those that pretend to cast wider nets.
These realities won't change, and certainly not because of this Supreme Court judgment. Again, that's the challenge for agnostics like me.
But finally, let's also remember that the judgment was actually a narrow 4-3 verdict. What that was about itself speaks of how far removed from our daily lived experience this judgement is.
The split judgment hinged essentially on the meaning of the word 'his' in Section 123(3) of the Representation of Peoples Act.
The Act makes it illegal for a candidate to ask for votes 'on the ground of his religion, race, caste, community or language' (emphasis mine).
Question: Does 'his' refer to the candidate alone? Or to the electorate as well? You are flabbergasted that I'm asking? Well, the Court's dissenting minority judgment went with the former; the majority with the latter.
To me, the language in the Act is clear. 'His' used like that is unambiguous. It refers to the candidate, just as it does in 'The candidate drove his bicycle into the river.' I can't imagine interpreting it any differently.
Yet the Supreme Court majority judgment -- and thus the binding one -- has effectively suggested that in that sentence, the bicycle belongs to us all.
This is the stuff on which I must rest my agnostic hopes of election campaigns free of religious appeals?
Forgive my lack of enthusiasm.
'My election slogan will be, kaam bolta hai.'
'Those who have lined up outside the banks will also line up on voting day and vote against the BJP.'
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav speaks to Radhika Ramaseshan about the assembly elections, demonetisation and its aftermath in the state. (This interview was conducted before the current feuds that have torn the Yadav family asunder.)
Are you set to return as chief minister?
Yes, of course. I will be back with a full majority.
What is the source of your confidence? You are up against anti-incumbency sentiments.
My work.
Right from day one after winning the election (in 2012), I started preparing for the next election.
I was clear if I did not fulfil the promises I made to the people, what would I tell them five years hence?
Today, I feel emboldened enough to say, my election slogan will be, kaam bolta hai (my work speaks).'
But your laptop distribution scheme, the high point of your party's manifesto in the last election, was angled in favour of beneficiaries in Samajwadi Party strongholds.
I challenge you: There was not a single complaint over procurement or distribution.
In fact, the success of that scheme goaded me to announce the distribution of smartphones.
The next big freebie before the elections?
Maybe you think of it as a freebie, but there has been tremendous response to my proposal.
Did you think of distributing smartphones after demonetisation and the Centre's propagation of a digital economy -- the phone as wallet?
It started before demonetisation; in fact, more than 10 million people have already registered for the scheme.
See, I wanted to shatter the myth that sarkari schemes are notional, they exist only on paper, and nothing translates into reality.
At the end of the day, people should get relief.
If there's a medical emergency in a village, the patient's family should get an ambulance immediately after calling 108 or 102 and not come running to my office.
If a cow is ill, the doctor should reach the animal; the villager should not be forced to carry the animal to a vet.
Smartphones will enhance connectivity.
Let's come back to demonetisation. Many people I have met in Lucknow welcome it for its potential to wipe out corruption.
Achcha? (really?) This BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) government at the Centre, what can I say?
First, it did a surgical strike across the border in Pakistan. That obviously did not fetch the expected political dividends.
Then came the surgical strike against black money. That's how it was initially projected -- as a way to weed out black money, counterfeit currency, terror funds.
But did you see how Narendra Modi's confidence waned after his first aggressive speech in Japan?
People are angry. So now the government talks about a cashless economy.
Where is the preparation? Are people ready for net banking? I am certainly not.
I am surprised, because your laptop drive across Uttar Pradesh's villages should have augmented Internet connectivity by now.
Certainly young people, even in the rural areas, are comfortable with the mobile, the Internet....
I have to admit that Internet connectivity is uneven.
Had I even an inkling about demonetisation, my government could have inserted the relevant app on laptops, trained people, who would have taught others how to do net banking, use Paytm and so on.
This is not to say that I am against technology. Not at all.
Technology can eliminate corruption, facilitate governance with the right software; but not in the way the BJP government has gone about it.
What does the government think: Money will fall from the sky?
Demonetisation is a bad decision and the government is looking for ways to save itself from a bad decision.
Your state, like others, has seen protests over demonetisation. Those queuing up outside banks were lathi-charged after they turned unruly.
Are you worried that law and order could go out of hand if the cash crunch persists?
The Centre is sharing no information with us.
I have been asking again and again that 'Please tell me how much money there is in which bank, so that we can help people procure cash?' I am pleading with the Centre to send more money to the district banks.
But it seems the Centre is trying to offload its troubles on my head.
There are law and order issues. I have a list of all the dharnas that were held.
The rulers in Delhi have no idea of what's happening on the ground.
Farmers have not been able to sow the next crop, development work has stopped, the Kanpur tanneries have closed and workers are unemployed.
Do you fear you will have to answer for the aftermath of demonetisation in the polls?
No, I don't have to.
In a democracy, one who harasses the people will reap the consequences.
Those who have lined up outside the banks, hoping to get some money, will also line up on voting day and vote against the BJP. I am confident of that.
Will demonetisation dominate your election discourse?
Yes, but it will be a part of my campaign, not the whole of it.
To me, my development work is paramount.
In the end, aren't the Uttar Pradesh elections about getting the caste arithmetic right -- selecting candidates who fit into a constituency's caste equation?
Yes, of course.
Social equations dominate elections in every democracy.
You know what happened in the United States -- the Whites versus the minorities.
We do not always give tickets on a caste basis. I do not want to, because this factor will detract from my emphasis on development, which I see as caste- and religion-neutral.
Ambulances, hospitals, schools, roads and mandis (marketplaces) are meant for everyone.
The feud in your family is out in the open.
I believe every member of my family wants the SP to return.
... With Akhilesh Yadav as the CM?
I am the CM. Maan na maan, main tera mehmaan (like it or not, I am your guest).
'Mulayam has by design cornered the people's attention back to the party and Akhilesh.'
'People were only talking of Modi and demonetisation, but now suddenly everybody is talking of Akhilesh and the SP.'
'My personal subjective impression is that the SP is neck and neck with the BJP.'
IMAGE: Mulayam Singh Yadav's war with his son has ensured that it is the only thing that people talk of. Forget Modi, forget demonetisation. Shrewd, isn't it? Photograph: Pawan Kumar/Reuters
As father and son continue to battle it out in the Yadav versus Yadav war in Uttar Pradesh, Dr A K Verma, director, Centre for the Study of Society and Politics, Kanpur, decodes the Samajwadi Party crisis and its impact on the UP assembly polls outcome, in an interview to Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
During our earlier conversation in September 2016, you had said 'Mulayam is an outdated ticket in the Samajwadi Party'.
But he is still trying to prove that he is the boss and is going all out against son Akhilesh. What is happening?
I would not buy this line of argument right now. I would rather subscribe to the original line that I took, that probably all this is to ensure that Akhilesh has full control over the party and the government.
I see a very shrewdly schemed approach in all this. Though publicly it appears that Mulayam is demonstrating that he is against Akhilesh, his real intention is to ensure that the SP is in the right hands.
Is this all drama, then?
As a shrewd politician and the person who has laid the foundation of the SP, Mulayam has to ensure that the SP has to move forward after he has completed his innings.
I do not think the people in his camp like Shivpal Yadav or his brand of politicians have any clout with the people.
The only person who could move the party forward and its ideology is Akhilesh.
Is there a secret understanding between Mulayam and Akhilesh?
It is not a secret, it's very much in the open and it is openly talked about. The body language and other things are clearly demonstrative of that.
In November, Ram Gopal Yadav's suspension from the party was revoked and it seemed that things were going fine.
What went wrong in a month's time before the party split in December?
As a patron of the SP, Mulayam has done a great service to the party by completely marginalising the prime minister and his demonetisation scheme. He has by design cornered the people's attention back to the party and Akhilesh.
For the last two months, nobody was talking about anything but Narendra Modi and demonetisation. But today, people are only talking of Akhilesh and the party; that is a big advantage.
Don't you think this will have a negative pushback from the voters because of all the infighting. Voters may not opt for Akhilesh.
I think we are under-rating the wisdom of the voters. Probably, voters are already with Akhilesh and even the Samajwadi Party is behind the Akhilesh faction and not the Shivpal faction.
Prime Minister Modi had a huge rally at Lucknow on Monday.
Don't you feel the infighting in the Samajwadi Party will benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party as the mood seems to be swinging in the BJP's favour?
As far as numbers and strength at the rally is concerned, it was mind-boggling.
But somehow, I found the rally to be unresponsive. I would not call it a successful rally, but, of course, in terms of numbers. it was fine.
However, with the kind of hype that was built around it, I could sense disappointment among the people.
Why do you think Shivpal misread the mood in the party that all the MLAs were with Mulayam and him?
In UP, Akhilesh in the last five years has developed a good, clean, image of a politician who is young and committed to development.
You may buy it or not, that is a different matter, as per your political orientation. But there is consensus that Akhilesh Yadav is focused on development and has a clean image.
These are the qualities people are looking in their chief minister.
The only disadvantage about Akhilesh is that he was a little shy and was on a weak ticket while taking strong decisions.
But now by eliminating his uncle Shivpal, who doesn't have a good image among the public, he has shown he has full control over the government.
Now people think that he is not only clean and development focused, but also in complete power.
That is a very important development.
IMAGE: 'Though publicly it appears that Mulayam is demonstrating that he is against Akhilesh, his real intention is to ensure that the SP is in the right hands. Photograph: Kind courtesy Akhilesh Yadav/Facebook
Why couldn't Mulayam build bridges between Shivpal and Akhilesh?
The bridge was beyond repair. If you remember in 2012 there was high voltage drama in the SP and with great difficulty Mulayam could keep Shivpal away from the chief minister's post.
He knew Shivpal's genuine desire to become chief minister, which was very natural. They have been together for a very long time.
It was not easy for Mulayam to brush away Shivpal's ambition and therefore he understood that if he could not brush away his ambition, then it is better to stand by Shivpal and at the same time do something that is in the interest of the party and its future.
Out of the 224 SP MLAs, only 22 turned up in support for Mulayam. Why is that?
There are two approaches to this. One is that it has the internal blessings of Mulayam Singh and therefore this happened.
Secondly, most of the people who are in politics clearly understand that Mulayam Singh's innings is at the fag end and therefore the future is with Akhilesh.
Also, Akhilesh is the incumbent chief minister and head of the party, so they feel there is a future for them with Akhilesh.
Is an alliance with the Congress possible for Akhilesh at this juncture?
It is probably a little late for that. It will be good for Akhilesh to go all alone.
If he falls short of certain numbers to form the government, then he can form a government with the Congress.
IMAGE: The Samajwadi Party's war has now spilled over to Delhi with both warring factions fighting over the party's 'Cycle' symbol. Photograph: Jitendra Prakash/Reuters
Why are they fighting over the symbol? Why is the 'cycle' so important?
Mulayam's intention would be, if my analysis is correct, then I think he would try that the cycle symbol is seized by the Election Commission and not be allotted to him or the Akhilesh faction.
He will not want his own faction to get the symbol because he would not want his own faction to get an advantage.
If they go separately without the cycle, then no one will get an advantage.
And whatever party symbol Akhilesh's side gets will become the symbol of the Samajwadi Party in the future.
This is what Indira Gandhi did when she split from the Congress. She got the 'cow and calf' symbol whereas the Congress' original symbol was the bullock cart.
Indira Gandhi split the Congress to form her Congress-R and the Nijalingappa Congress became the Congress-O.
Indira Gandhi got the 'cow and calf' symbol, which later on was allotted as the hand symbol which till today continues to be the Congress symbol.
Will Mulayam Singh end up like N T Rama Rao?
(Laughs). Don't under-rate Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Nobody can beat Mulayam without his own desire to be beaten.
Will this internal politics benefit Akhilesh politically?
He has already generated a lot of sympathy. People know that Mulayam Singh's innings is over.
They also know if Mulayam Singh is running the party, then it is actually Shivpal who is running the party.
Even party people went with Akhilesh and this means he is the real boss.
Shivpal Yadav's innings is almost over.
Do you feel Akhilesh will win the UP elections?
I am curious now. This is because in the first week of December our study was showing the BJP at number one, but after this drama I feel Akhilesh has the advantage.
People were only talking of Modi and demonetisation after November 8, but now suddenly everybody is talking of Akhilesh and the SP, which is a big electoral advantage.
Things have changed and my personal subjective impression is that now the SP is neck and neck with the BJP.
India will give a calibrated hard response to terror activities that will compel Pakistan to completely rethink its strategy on supporting insurgency and terrorism across the border, says new Army Chief General Bipin Rawat.
Gen Rawat, who as the vice chief was actively involved in the surgical strikes on terror camps across the Line of Control, also feels while it has to be ensured that pain is felt by the terrorists and their supporters, the response need not be in the same manner always.
He brushed aside Pakistans threat of use of tactical nuclear weapons, saying such statements will not deter India when it comes to defending its borders.
While we do agree that we have to retaliate and ensure that the pain is felt by the terrorists and their supporters, the response need not be the same every time, the army chief told PTI in an interview in New Delhi.
Gen Rawat, who took over as the 27th chief on December 31, said, We will calibrate the response in a manner it hits them hard and compels them to think in the long run whether they need to completely rethink their strategy on supporting insurgency and terrorism in our state.
He was asked about Defence Minister Manohar Parrikars statement that enemy needs to feel the pain too.
Gen Rawat also said that not every incident needs to be seen from the same perspective as there is a large number of terrorists operating in the valley who are always attempting to carry out some sort of violence against the security forces and citizens.
Asked about Pakistan's threat of using tactical nukes, the army chief said nuclear weapons are weapons of deterrence.
"And if Pakistan is reviewing their strategy on use of nuclear weapon, it is something that they have decided to strategise, he said, adding that Pakistans statements does not find favour either with India or with the international community.
Gen Rawat said one will have to wait and see what call Pakistan takes finally.
He said that the government, which decides the nuclear policy, may not be deterred by the threat in case India is forced to get into a confrontation with Pakistan along the borders.
Any policy that is made is subject to analysis and review. If a review is necessitated and it is felt that this review is necessary, we will go along with the government. -- (On India s No First Use policy)
Responding to a question on whether India needs to revisit the no first use policy, Gen Rawat said all policies are subject to review.
Any policy that is made is subject to analysis and review. If a review is necessitated and it is felt that this review is necessary, we will go along with the government, he said.
He said India is a democracy and nuclear policy is not decided at his level but by the government.
There are various guidelines that have been formulated and it will be issued. But if a review has to be taken, directions will come from the hierarchy, he said.
He also spoke extensively on modernisation of the army and said time has come to imbibe new technology and adapt them to weapon systems and equipment that we wish to bring and induct into the armed forces.
Admitting that while not everything can be made in India, he said the army is also looking at collaborating with some of the international firms manufacturing weapons and finally looking at transfer of technology which will give a boost to domestic industry.
Image: Army Chief General Bipin Rawat. Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI Photo
Coming close on the heels of the Trinamool Congress attack on the state party headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kolkata on Tuesday, West Bengal BJP general secretary Krishna Bhattacharyas house was attacked with bombs in Hooghly district on Tuesday night.
Three men, with their faces covered, came on a motorcycle to her house in Konnanagar Jorapukur Ghat at 9 pm and started hurling bombs.
They barged into the house, smashed a windowpane, damaged furniture, and abused and assaulted her, Bhattacharya said in her police complaint.
The BJP leader said in her complaint that it was the handiwork of anti-socials harboured by the TMC.
She has been admitted to UttarparaStateGeneralHospital where her condition has been described as stable, hospital sources said.
The police said they rushed to her house after getting the information, adding that investigation was on.
District TMC leader Tapan Dasgupta said no party supporter was involved in the incident.
Several BJP workers were injured on Tuesday when activists of the students wing of Trinamool Congress had attacked the state party headquarters here with stones to protest the arrest of the TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay in the Rose Valley chit fund scam case.
Three days after New Year eve revelry turned into a nightmare for several women who were allegedly molested at a large gathering in Bengalurus downtown area, police claimed to have found credible evidence of molestation and have registered an FIR.
As the incidents drew widespread outrage with no action from the police, Bengalurus new commissioner of police, Praveen Sood through a series of tweets, said his team was working on the case silently.
As promised we have found credible evidence repeat credible evidence in a case of wrongful confinement, molestation and attempt to rob, Sood had said in a tweet.
We have taken action by registering an FIR. Investigation is in progress. Police is working.... though silently, he had said in another tweet.
Stating that an enquiry is underway by an officer of deputy commissioner of police rank, he has said that they have gone through the feeds from 45 cameras on MG road, and unedited video is available with police.
Eyewitness accounts had suggested that women were molested and groped and lewd remarks were also passed by miscreants late night on December 31 in the posh area even as it was claimed that 1,500 police personnel had been deployed to control the crowds.
Police had earlier said that no one had come forward to file a complaint about the incident.
If any woman lodges a complaint of molestation that took place on December 31 night, the police will not waste even a minute in registering a case and launch a probe, Sood had tweeted on January 2, adding even without a complainant if police finds credible evidence of molestation, a case will be registered suo motu without waiting.
Sood took over as the city police commissioner from N S Megharikh, on January 1.
Bengaluru incident shameful, says Aamir Khan
Superstar Aamir Khan condemned the molestation incident in Bengaluru, terming it as extremely shameful and saddening.
What happened in Bangalore was very sad. We all are saddened and feel ashamed when something like this happens in our country. Every state government should take a step for this, Aamir said.
The 51-year-old actor feels it is high time the law and order becomes strong and works rapidly to set an example.
You see in America, if an incident like this happens, within two-three months the guilty person is punished and the case is closed. When this happens, I feel there will be a big change.
Aamir says it is important to punish the culprits so that a strong message is sent across.
In todays age, people who misbehave with girls think nothing will happen to us. When such examples come in front of us, that whoever did this is behind bars within 2-3 months, and continuously if we see this, situation will change. There will be fear among people, which is a very important thing.
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Brinda Karat on Wednesday attacked Karnataka minister G Parameshwara over his objectionable remarks after women were molested en masse in Bengaluru, saying he has no right to continue in office after the reprehensible statement.
With his utterly reprehensible statement, the home minister of Karnataka has forfeited the right to hold office, the CPI-M politburo member said.
Parameshwara had blamed the western ways of youngsters for the Bengaluru molestation incident. The remarks were widely condemned.
Questioning the law and order situation in the state, Karat said the mass molestation took place in the presence of police, yet there was not a single arrest.
The CCTV footage of the incident shows the licence the molesters enjoy as they are certain they will get away with their sexual crimes instead of getting punished, she said.
At the same time, the CCTV footage is a mirror to where India is today when citizens are so uncaring or afraid that they do not intervene to stop a crime against a young woman taking place before their eyes and instead many blame women for the crimes against them, she said.
The former Parliamentarian urged citizens to speak out against such incidents or else the number of such cases would only increase.
The incidents of molestation occurred on Saturday night in and around the junction of Brigade Road and M G Road, where thousands had gathered to herald the New Year.
Eyewitness accounts said women were molested and groped and lewd remarks were also passed by miscreants late night on December 31 in the posh area, even as it was claimed that 1,500 police personnel had been deployed to control the crowds.
Speaking to a TV news channel on the issue, Parameshwara had said, Unfortunately, what is happening is, as I said, days like new year, Brigade Road, Commercial Street, M G Road, large number of youngsters gather. Youngsters who are almost like westerners, they try to copy the westerners not only in the mindset, but even the dressing.
Trinamool Congress workers on Wednesday took to the streets in various parts of West Bengal to protest arrest of party leader Sudip Bandopadhyay and staged a demonstration in front of union minister Babul Supriyos house demanding his arrest.
IMAGE: TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay being taken to court from CBI office in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday . Photograph: ANI/Twitter
The Bharatiya Janata Party, whose office was attacked on Tuesday by the people carrying TMC flags, meanwhile, urged state governor K N Tripathi to send a report to the Centre demanding imposition of Presidents Rule in view of 'growing lawlessness' in the state.
TMC activists staged protest in front of the housing society where Supriyos house is located, demanded his arrest and resorted to rail blockade at some places.
Supriyo said the TMC activists burnt the BJP flag in front of the society and questioned the role of the police.
My parents and other residents are scared. Let Didi (Mamata Banerjee) give proof of my involvement in the Rose Valley scam, I will be arrested, he said.
TMC also took out processions at various places and organised rail blockade at Kankurgachi and staged a protest in front of the Central Bureau of Investigation office.
A TMC delegation led by party secretary general Partha Chatterjee also met the governor and complained of political vendetta by the Centre against TMC which is opposing demonetisation.
IMAGE: TMC supporters stage a rail-roko protest in Cooch Behar over arrest of TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay. Photograph: ANI/Twitter
Bandyopadhyay was on Wednesday remanded in six days of CBI custody by a special court in the Rose Valley chit fund scam case.
Following the court order, his party activists staged a demonstration before CBI's Odisha headquarters in Bhubaneswar.
The TMC MP's lawyer Rajiv Majumdar and others were present in the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court when judge P K Mishra remanded Bandyopadhyay for six days against CBI's appeal for a 12-day remand.
The CBI lawyer argued in the court that the agency should be given maximum time to interrogate the MP as he was not actively cooperating with the investigation.
The MP's petition for bail was also rejected by the court even as his lawyer pleaded that his client was unwell.
"I am innocent. I have no involvement in the scam. I have placed my point of view before the court and will again appeal the court to consider my point of argument," Bandyopadhyay told reporters after appearing in the court.
He was produced at the CBI-designated special court amid tight security after his medical examination at the Capital Hospital.
IMAGE: TMC workers protesting outside Babul Supriyo's house. Photograph: Babul Supriyo/Twitter
He also demanded that CBI arrest Supriyo in connection with Rose Valley chit fund scam.
They (BJP) cannot stop TMC by conspiring and arresting our leaders, he said.
On BJPs demand of imposition of Presidents rule, he said, They can demand anything.
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh led a party delegation to Raj Bhavan and apprised the governor of the attack on their party office yesterday by TMC men.
It was unthinkable. We did not expect this. Our party office was attacked at different places including Hooghly and Durgapur. Babul Supriyos house was attacked. We are concerned. It should stop," he said.
The state BJP chief also accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of provoking her party workers to attack BJP offices and leaders.
MPs marching towards PM's residence held
IMAGE: TMC leaders, including Kalyan Banerjee and Saugata Roy, protest after being detained at Tughlaq Road Police Station in New Delhi on Wednesday. Photograph: ANI/Twitter
In New Delhi, Trinamool Congress MPs took out a protest march towards the prime ministers residence but were taken into police custody before they could reach 7 Lok Kalyan Marg.
"We were marching peacefully towards the prime ministers residence, but the police detained us mid-way and manhandled few of our MPs, TMC leader Saugata Roy told reporters.
He added that as many as 36 MPs from the party took part in this protest march and they will continue to raise their voices against injustice done by the Modi government.
The counting of votes for all five states will be held on March 11.
Assembly elections in the politically-crucial Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur will be held between February 4 and March 8 in what will be the first major test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gamble on demonetisation.
While polling will be spread over seven phases in Uttar Pradesh, it will be a one-day affair in Uttarakhand, Punjab and Goa, and a two-day exercise in Manipur.
Counting of votes will be taken up together in all the states on March 11, the Election Commission announced on Wednesday setting in process the mega political exercise in the new year.
Announcing the schedule, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said the Commission will keep a watch on the use of black money, which is expected to come down due to demonetisation. Steps will be taken up to ensure that other illegal inducements are not used to influence voters, he said.
In Uttar Pradesh, which has a 403-member House, polls will be held on February 11 (73 constituencies), February 15 (67 constituencies), February 19 (69), February 23 (53), February 27 (52), March 3 (49) and March 8 (40).
SEE HOW UP WILL VOTE
Unlike last elections, Manipur, which recently witnessed violence raising questions whether elections would be possible now, will have a two-day polling on March 4 (38 constituencies) and March 8 (22 seats). Here, the Congress seeks to retain power.
Polling will be held in Punjab and Goa together on February 4 and in Uttarakhand it will be held on February 15.
The whole electoral process will begin with the issue of notification for polls in Punjab and Goa on January 11.
The family feud and the split in ruling Samajwadi Party have injected a new dimension in the politics in Uttar Pradesh where the Bharatiya Janata Party hopes to capture power after 14 years on the back of a sweep in Lok Sabha elections in 2014. The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress, the other main challengers, hope to make it a quadrangular fight but for some alliances being made.
Punjab, which a 117-member assembly, promises to be an essentially three-way fight between the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party combine, the Congress and the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party.
After sensational political developments in Uttarakhand in 2016, where the Congress was temporarily dislodged from power due to defections, the party and the BJP are set for a virtual direct fight on 70 seats.
In Goa, where the BJP seeks to retain most of the 40 assembly seats to remain in power, the AAP is being seen as a new player which plans to topple the applecart of national parties Congress and BJP.
Over 16 crore people will participate in these polls for 690 constituencies in five states, for which the commission has set up 1.85 lakh polling stations, up 15 per cent from the number during the 2012 polls.
"The model code of conduct will come into immediate effect and will apply on political parties and state governments concerned, besides the Central government in terms of announcements in these states," Zaidi said.
The CEC said candidates will have to open a bank account for all election expenditures and expenses above Rs 20,000 will be made through cheques from the new accounts. He added that donations above Rs 20,000 will also be accepted through cheques.
The maximum limit for expenses for each candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand is Rs 28 lakh, while that in Goa and Manipur is Rs 20 lakh, he said.
Responding to a question on poll funding, the CEC said the commission has already asked the government to cut down to Rs 2,000 the present Rs 20,000 limit on anonymous donations to parties.
He said as part of reforms, the candidates will have to submit a 'No-Demand Certificate' from agencies providing amenities and government accommodation. The certificate will come from agencies dealing with electricity, water, telephone and also the rent certificate of the government accommodation which these candidates may have occupied in past 10 years.
Defence personnel posted away from their homes constituencies can cast vote through one-way electronic transmission of ballot in the polls. But the facility may not be available in all the constituencies this time and could be extended in a select seats.
The commission had first experimented the initiative in a Puducherry bypoll recently.
Asked about suggestions that the Commission 'waited' for Prime Minister Modi's Lucknow rally before announcing the poll schedule, Zaidi said the poll panel "has its own mind."
"It does not make its schedule according to the request of political parties," he said.
The commission will issue photo voter slips to voters ahead of polls and will, for the first time, also distribute a colourful booklet that will guide the voters on date and time of polls and location of polling stations, besides Dos and Don'ts for them.
To encourage more participation of women in election management process, the EC will also have some all-woman polling stations this time around, besides making all polling stations friendly for differently-able persons.
The tenure of Punjab, Goa and Manipur assemblies are ending on March 18, while that of Uttarakhand's on March 26 and Uttar Pradesh assembly on May 27.
Of the total 690 constituencies going to polls in these five states, 133 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 23 for Scheduled Tribe.
To ensure full secrecy of a voter and that facial expressions don't indicate their choice of candidate, the EC had decided to increase the height of the shield that covers the EVM to 30 inches.
As per the schedule announced by the Election Commission, Punjab and Goa will go to polls on February 4 for which separate notifications will be issued on January 11 and the last date of filing nominations will be January 18.
Scrutiny of nomination papers will be carried out on January 19 and candidates can withdraw from the electoral battle till January 21.
In Uttar Pradesh, the notification for the first phase will be issued on January 17 and the last date of filing nominations would be January 24. The scrutiny will take place on January 25 and candidates can withdraw by January 27. The date of poll for phase 1 is February 11.
For phase 2, the notification will be issued on January 20 and the last date of filing papers is January 27. January 30 is the date set for scrutiny of nominations and February 1 is the last date when candidates can withdraw from contest.
The poll date for the second phase is February 15.
For the third phase in UP, the notification will be issued on January 24 and January 31 is the last date for filing nominations. The scrutiny date has been set as February 1 and by February 3, candidates can withdraw from the poll process. The date of poll is February 15.
The phase 4 notification will be issued on January 30 and February 6 is the date by which nominations can be filed. The scrutiny is the next day and withdrawal of candidature can be done till February 9. The polling date is February 23.
For phase 5, the notification will be issued on February 2 and the last date of filing nominations is February 9. The scrutiny is scheduled for the next day and by February 13 candidates can withdraw. The date of poll has been fixed for February 27.
For the penultimate phase, the nomination will be issued on February 7, and February 14 is the date by which nominations can be filed.
The scrutiny of papers is on February 16 and candidates can withdraw from the race by February 18. The date of poll for the sixth phase has been fixed for March 3.
The notification for the final phase of UP assembly election will be out on February 9. February 16 is the last date of making nominations and scrutiny will take place on February 17. Candidates can withdraw by February 20 and the date of poll is March 8.
Uttarakhand will go to polls on February 15 for which the notification will be issued on January 20 and the last date of filing nominations is January 27. The scrutiny will be held on January 30 and candidates can withdraw from the race by February 1.
The first phase of Manipur assembly election will take place on March 4 for which the notification will be issued on February 7. While nominations can be filed by February 14, the scrutiny will be held on February 16 and the candidates can withdraw till February 18.
The election in the second phase will be held on March 8 for which notification will be out on February 9. While February 16 is the last date of filing nominations, the scrutiny will be held the next day. Candidates can withdraw by February 20.
Click here to see which UP assembly constituency votes when
Image used for representational purpose only.
Christopher Scott Mueller was what some people might call a hermit.
He lived alone in a rundown trailer in the town of Bear Creek, about 30 miles southwest of Baraboo. His mobile home didnt have working heat or septic systems, and was situated in a field about 600 feet from a rural road.
Although some describe him as well-educated, Mueller also was strange and troubled by many accounts.
If you talked to him, he didnt have problems, said Joseph Bauer, a neighbor. The whole rest of the world had problems.
Mueller was 64 years old on Oct. 26 when he was found dead on a mattress inside his trailer. His passing was barely acknowledged by a two-sentence death notice in the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram that got his age wrong.
The same day his remains were discovered, the coroner ruled that Mueller died of natural causes. But documents raise questions about whether environmental factors played a role, and whether a government official should have intervened.
Jean Berlin, a member of the Sauk County Board whose district includes the town of Bear Creek, said a county attorney failed Mueller by not removing him from a dangerous environment.
I dont think that was acceptable, Berlin said. Why should someone live without heat? He didnt have indoor plumbing. He lived like an animal.
Health nuisance
Documents contained in a Sauk County zoning file show officials had declared Muellers property a danger to public health at least as early as December 2014, nearly two years before his death. And although a county attorney had a legal obligation to enforce Muellers removal, he never did.
A zoning inspector who repeatedly visited the 40-acre property off Cummings Road noted in reports that Muellers septic tank was broken. He alleged Mueller was using his front porch as a bathroom, with buckets and bottles holding waste that he illegally dumped.
Aside from the alleged dumping of human waste, there were bags of garbage, unlicensed vehicles, and piles of scrap metal strewn about. The inspector, Steve Sorenson, saw the property as an illegal junkyard.
Sorenson also determined that a permit for Muellers trailer approved under a 1970s zoning ordinance that allowed mobile homes for farm workers had expired. He wrote about his findings in memos to the countys chief legal counsel.
Memos show poor conditions
In one October 2015 memo to Sauk County Corporation Counsel Todd Liebman, Sorenson wrote about a conversation he had with Mueller during a visit to the property.
The memo said Mueller spoke non-stop for 45 minutes, expressing concerns for his health that included suicidal thoughts. But he never answered Sorensons questions about whether he intended to clean up the property.
Sorenson wrote that Mueller believed staying in the house for another winter would kill him. His feet were swollen, and he thought he had cancer.
Its unclear whether there was an effort to remove Mueller from the property for mental health reasons. Such records are protected by privacy laws, and a Sauk County Human Services Department employee who worked with Mueller declined a request for comment.
But the effort to remove Mueller due to a public health hazard was a separate matter. It didnt require the county to prove anything about his mental state, only that his property was a health nuisance.
In November 2015, Liebman had Mueller served with an abatement order under the countys environmental health ordinance.
The document demanded Mueller vacate the trailer and correct any violations. In a letter that accompanied the order, Liebman promised to commence action in Sauk County Circuit Court if Mueller didnt comply within 30 days.
Sauk County has sought voluntary compliance to no avail, Liebman wrote in the letter. At this time, Sauk County directs that you discontinue habitation of the mobile home, have it removed from the premises, and that you remove the junk from your property within thirty days.
A private detective who delivered the abatement order swore in an affidavit that Mueller was dirty, with sores on his left foot, when he arrived. Mueller told the detective, Im sick and I cant do this.
Documents show Sorenson, the zoning inspector, revisited the property in December 2015, after the 30-day notice expired, and found that Mueller hadnt complied with the order. He sent another memo to Liebman to inform him that the matter was unresolved.
No legal action taken
In an interview, Sorenson said he could not discuss Muellers zoning case directly because it still is active.
However, Sorenson said he gives violators many opportunities to correct problems before he suggests legal action. After a case has reached the stage Muellers was in, Sorensons involvement is minimal.
Its out of my hands at that point, he said.
The countys environmental health ordinance says Liebman has the duty of prosecuting those who violate abatement orders, and shall take steps that he deems appropriate to enforce them.
Violators can be fined up to $200 per day and jailed. In the case of improper sewage disposal, the ordinance says, the county can enter the property to remove the nuisance, or contract with a state agency to do so.
Ten months passed from when Liebman was notified that Mueller had not met the abatement deadline and the day he was found dead. Liebman never took legal action to enforce his removal.
Liebman: He wouldve died elsewhere
In an interview, Liebman said he stands by his handling of the case. The county bent over backward to help a competent individual who made poor lifestyle choices, he said, and further legal action would not have prevented Muellers death.
We try to seek voluntary compliance with every individual, Liebman said. The steps taken were appropriate under the circumstances. If we had filed (legal action) earlier, what theoretically would have been the result? If we had ejected him, where would he have gone? He would have died in his car, or he would have died in a hotel somewhere.
Liebman said the county had additional contacts with Mueller after serving the abatement order in which officials tried to get him to voluntarily comply. Evidence of such contacts is not contained in the zoning case file, and Liebman couldnt provide specific examples.
Memos removed
The Baraboo News Republic reviewed a group of memos from Muellers public zoning file before it was scrubbed. The memo that detailed Muellers poor health, and the one that showed Liebman was notified of his failure to comply with the abatement order, no longer are in the file.
In a records request response form, a zoning employee wrote that the Sauk County Corporation Counsels Office directed that any attorney-client communications be removed.
Call for help
The neighbor, Bauer, described Mueller as a bright man who was stubborn and often behaved erratically. The two men had a relationship that was sometimes turbulent.
Court documents outline one conflict between the neighbors that occurred in 1999, when Bauer notified law enforcement that Mueller had spray-painted something about him in the road. Mueller told a deputy he meant no harm, and only did it because he could not communicate his point adequately to Bauer.
The Sauk County District Attorneys Office charged Mueller with a misdemeanor graffiti offense, but later dismissed the case after Bauer said he no longer wanted to prosecute.
Despite their conflicts, Bauer looked out for his unusual neighbor. Mueller would hang an orange jacket on his trailer when he needed something. And when Bauer saw it, he would stop by to offer help.
On Oct. 26, Bauer said, he saw the jacket hanging. He knocked on the trailer door, but didnt get an answer. So he contacted a social worker who advised him to call law enforcement.
Bauer dialed up the Sauk County Sheriffs Department and asked that someone check on his neighbor.
Natural causes declared
Documents show a deputy arrived on scene and discovered Muellers decomposed body on a mattress in the bedroom. There was only a single walking path through the cluttered trailer.
A detective noted in his report that it appeared the corpse had been there for some time.
The deputys report notes that the last time Bauer saw his neighbor was in September, when Mueller talked to him through the trailer about how the county was trying to steal his money and trying to kill him.
The death investigation went like this:
The detective noticed no obvious signs of distress, assault, battery or robbery at the trailer. Later at the morgue, three law enforcement officers assisted Sauk County Coroner Greg Hahn in examining the body for signs of violence. They found none.
Hahn then consulted with a Dane County forensic pathologist by phone, and they determined there should be no autopsy. There was no evidence that his death was anything other than of a natural manner, the detective reported.
In an interview, Hahn said he was aware the property had been deemed a health hazard. Although he ruled the death was due to natural causes, he could not say whether environmental factors such exposure to the cold, or an infection played a role. It would have been expensive to find out, he said.
You can get into details, but that costs a lot of money to do the studies, Hahn said. What would it have accomplished? It was him himself. This was all his choices.
The Dane County pathologist who Hahn consulted with said he does not recall being informed that Muellers property was a health nuisance.
I dont remember having been told anything about that, Dr. Michael Stier said.
Those who live in squalor can die from factors associated with their environment, Stier said. But when someone has been dead for as long as Mueller, it becomes difficult to determine the true cause of death.
When someone decomposes, the yield for an autopsy goes way, way down, Stier said. Tissues literally go away.
Stier said listing the cause of death as unknown is an option, but took no position on whether that was a more appropriate designation than natural causes in Muellers case.
Supervisor: System failed Mueller
Mueller left no will. And his two siblings one from the state of Oregon and another from Maryland have been named as the only interested parties in an estate worth at least $50,000. Neither returned phone calls.
His death notice said the Cremation Society of Wisconsin, in Altoona, handled arrangements.
Berlin, the county board supervisor, said she thinks the system failed Mueller on multiple levels. And she questioned why Liebman didnt take legal action for 10 months when he knew about the state of Muellers living conditions and poor health.
I think hes avoiding his moral obligation as a public official, Berlin said. He should have acted upon it. I feel he had a responsibility. After all, it is a human life.
Berlin said she has heard from constituents familiar with Mueller who asked why the county didnt do more to help him.
Moving forward
Liebman said the property still must be brought into compliance with county ordinances. For now, he said, he will wait to seek a disposition until ownership of the property has been resolved.
Until then, Muellers mobile home remains in the field off Cummings Road. The orange jacket has been removed.
A Madison man arrested with a lighter in his pocket and starter fluid in his backpack was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday for setting fire in April to a Southwest Side house where he had rented, and been kicked out of, a basement room.
James T. Riendeau, 39, admitted setting fire to a house in the 1100 block of Sunridge Drive on April 24. As part of a plea agreement, charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide and violating a restraining order were dismissed.
At the hearing, Riendeau said he started fires outside the house because he was tired of sleeping outside as a homeless person and wanted to get arrested and put in jail.
Dane County Circuit Judge William Hanrahan sentenced Riendeau to three years in prison and five years of extended supervision. He will be credited with 316 days already served in the Dane County Jail.
The arson charge carried a maximum penalty of up to 40 years of combined prison and extended supervision.
Dane County Assistant District Attorney William Brown asked for three years in jail plus 10 years extended supervision.
Noting that Riendeau had been banned from the UW-Madison campus (from 2012 to 2016), where he was employed as a computer technician for 17 years, Brown said Riendeau clearly has serious problems with his thought processes.
After he was fired in 2012, Riendeau made several threats in front of police that he would shoot people on campus, according to a search warrant issued at that time.
In many respects he was a bad arsonist, but an arsonist nonetheless, Brown said in court Wednesday, and an extremely dangerous man.
He not only made threats, but he acted on those threats, said Brown.
The homeowner told police it appeared that Riendeau set three fires outside her house so they would burn the bedroom where she slept and the room where her computer sits at night, according to a criminal complaint.
The fire melted the siding on the house. Burn damage was also found on a wooden fence and a bush.
A boarder at the house for about three years, he had threatened weeks earlier, while in a mental health institution, to burn her house down, information relayed to the woman by police.
The night of the fire, police located him a short distance away. He was carrying a 10-inch lighter in one pocket, a bottle of charcoal fire-starter fluid in his backpack and a GPS bracelet from the Dane County Bail Monitoring program. That showed the wearer had visited the burned house area a few minutes earlier.
His lawyer, Murali Jasti, asked for 30 days of jail time and 5 years probation, recounted Riendeaus horrible childhood, a litany of institutional failures and resulting significant mental health issues.
In a short statement, Riendeau, who slumped in his chair during the hearing, intently staring at the table top, said his actions were not a game for me, this is my life. I have no excuses for what I did. I dont like sleeping out in the cold, that is why I did it.
Hanrahan also ordered Reindeau have no contact with the homeowner, make restitution, and not possess any weapons or lighters.
Disclaimer
This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
2016 prison census - China: Jiang Yefei
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Jiang Yefei, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8dda.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Jiang Yefei, Freelance Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State, Retaliatory Imprisoned: November 13, 2015
Jiang Yefei, a political cartoonist, was repatriated from Thailand alongside a Chinese activist, Dong Guangping, and detained by Chinese authorities on November 13, 2015 on suspicion of "assisting others to illegally cross the national border," according to the state news agency Xinhua.
In May 2016, police in Chongqing city in southwestern China added the accusation of "inciting subversion of state power," according to the Ireland-based rights group Front Line Defenders.
Jiang, who is also an activist, fled to Thailand in 2008 after being harassed by Chinese authorities, according to Human Rights Watch. The cartoonist was detained twice that year after giving interviews to the international press in which he criticized the government's handling of the Sichuan earthquake, according to Radio Free Asia. Jiang was granted refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and had been accepted for resettlement by Canada, according to Human Rights Watch and news reports.
While in Thailand, Jiang used his social media accounts and articles published on the overseas Chinese-language news website Boxun to continue to speak publicly against China's human rights record and other policies. The journalist's wife, Chu Ling, told CPJ that since 2014, Jiang has been publishing political cartoons on his Facebook and Google+ page. In 2015, Jiang published a series of cartoons on Boxun, Chu said. She told CPJ that in 2015, as her husband's cartoons became more popular, she and Jiang received several anonymous phone calls from China demanding Jiang stop drawing. Chinese authorities also threatened Jiang's brother in China, asking him to tell his brother to stop drawing, Chu said.
In October 2015, Jiang was arrested by Thai authorities for allegedly breaking immigration rules by helping Dong come to Thailand, according to reports. Dong had spent 10 months in a Chinese jail for participating in a commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre before being released in February 2015, according to the BBC. On November 13, 2015 the Thai government deported Jiang and Dong to China, despite objections raised by human rights organizations and the Canadian government, which had accepted their applications for asylum, according to news reports.
On November 26, 2015 Jiang appeared on the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, dressed in prison clothes, and confessed to human smuggling. He said he regretted his actions and pleaded for leniency. According to Chu, from the footage, Jiang looked as if he was in pain. "It was obvious to me that he had been beaten. A friend who was imprisoned for 13 years told me that from his experience in jail, it was clear to him that my husband was tortured," Chu told CPJ. CPJ was unable to verify her claims.
Jiang is being held at the No.2 Detention Center in Chongqing, according to Radio Free Asia.
Copyright notice: Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
2016 prison census - China: Ilham Tohti
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Ilham Tohti, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8de4.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Ilham Tohti, Uighurbiz Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: January 15, 2014
Tohti, a Uighur scholar, writer, and blogger, was taken from his home by police on January 15, 2014, and the Uighurbiz website he founded, also known as UighurOnline, was closed. The site, which Tohti started in 2006, was published in Chinese and Uighur, and focused on social issues.
Tohti was charged with separatism by Urumqi police on February 20, 2014. He was accused of using his position as a lecturer at Minzu University of China to spread separatist ideas through Uighurbiz. On September 23, 2014, at the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court, Tohti was sentenced to life imprisonment. He denied the charges.
Several foreign governments and human rights organizations protested the sentence. The European Union released a statement condemning the life sentence as unjustified. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. was concerned by the sentencing and called on Chinese authorities to release him, along with seven of his students.
Tohti's appeal request was rejected at a hearing in a Xinjiang detention center on November 21, 2014 that was scheduled at such short notice that his lawyer was unable to attend.
Tohti's wife told Radio Free Asia in February 2016 that authorities allow family members to visit Tohti for only 30 minutes every three months.
Seven of his students -- Perhat Halmurat, Shohret Nijat, Luo Yuwei, Mutellip Imin, Abduqeyum Ablimit, Atikem Rozi and Akbar Imin -- were charged with being involved with Uighurbiz during a secret trial held in November 2014, according to Tohti's lawyer Li Fangping. Many were administrators for the site, according to state media. According to the political prisoner database of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, an organization set up by the U.S. Congress to monitor human rights and laws in China, Rozi and Mutellip Imin wrote for the site. Imin, who is from Xinjiang and enrolled at Istanbul University in Turkey, has a blog, too. He was arrested when he tried to leave China.
According to The New York Times, three of the students made televised confessions on the state-run China Central Television in September, saying they worked for the site. Halmurat claimed to have written an article, Nijat claimed to have taken part in editorial policy decisions, and Luo, from the Yi minority, claimed to have done design work.
The seven students were sentenced to three to eight years in prison, according to the Global Times, a government-affiliated website. The length of sentence for each student was unclear and details of where they are being held were not disclosed.
CPJ was unable to determine the names or contact details of the lawyers representing the students. Liu Xiaoyuan, who is also representing, Tohti, told CPJ he did not have information on the students' cases.
Tohti is being held at the Xinjiang No. 1 Prison in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, according to Radio Free Asia.
Tohti is a member of the Uyghur PEN Center and an honorary member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center and PEN America. He was awarded the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.
Copyright notice: Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
A Madison man suspected of being a heroin dealer surrendered to police Wednesday morning at a residence on the city's Southeast Side.
Jason Jordan, 31, was tentatively charged with four counts of delivery of heroin, being a felon in possession of a firearm, eluding, resisting/obstructing and possession with intent to deliver marijuana, Madison police said.
The arrest came after a lengthy investigation into heroin dealing in the Madison area.
"The suspect was in a rental car when spotted by the Dane County Narcotics Task Force," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain. "Members of the force attempted to pull him over but he sped off."
Jordan was seen later on entering the Camden Road residence.
"After about 10 minutes, he peacefully came out and gave himself up," DeSpain said.
2016 prison census - China: Hu Yazhu
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Hu Yazhu, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8df27.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Hu Yazhu, Nanfang Daily Medium: Print Charge: Retaliatory Imprisoned: June 21, 2013
The Shaoguan People's Procuratorate, a state legal body, issued a statement in June 2013 that said Hu and Liu Wei'an had been arrested in Guangdong province after confessing to accepting bribes while covering events in the northern city of Shaoguan.
Hu and Liu were sentenced to 13 years and 14 years in prison respectively in June 2014 for accepting bribes and for extortion, according to Shaoguan Daily, a government-run newspaper.
Hu, a staff reporter for the official Guangdong Communist Party newspaper Nanfang Daily, and Liu, a freelance writer, had both written articles published in 2011 in Nanfang Daily and on news websites about a dispute involving the illegal extraction of rare minerals in Shaoguan, according to news reports.
The prosecutors' statement said Hu and Liu accepted 493,000 yuan (about US$82,200) in bribes. The pair were stripped of their press cards and banned from journalism for life, according to the state-run paper China Daily.
Users on Weibo, China's microblog service, said they suspected the reporters' arrests were in retaliation for their reports that exposed problems in the government and judiciary.
Details of the journalists' whereabouts were not included in local reports about their case. CPJ could not determine the state of their health in late 2016.
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2016 prison census - China: Huang Qi
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Huang Qi, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8df4.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Huang Qi, 64 Tianwang Medium: Internet Charge: No charge Imprisoned: November 28, 2016
Police detained Huang, publisher of the human rights news website 64 Tianwang, outside his apartment complex in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, on November 28, 2016, according to mediareports. More than 10 officers searched Huang's home and detained his mother, Pu Wenqing, who was in his apartment at the time. Police took Pu to her home in the nearby city of Neijiang. When Pu arrived, she found her residence had also been searched, according to media reports.
CPJ's phone calls to the Chengdu Public Security Bureau seeking more information about Huang's detention in late November went unanswered. Police had not announced any charges against him as of December 1, 2016.
Huang founded64 Tianwang in 1998 with his then wife Zeng Li, as a missing-persons service. The website started covering issues not reported on by China's mainstream news media, such as protests, allegations of government corruption and abuse of power, police brutality, and the detention of writers and activists. On November 23 and 25, 2016, 64 Tianwang reported on the arrests of demonstrators who were protesting the death of a petitioner allegedly beaten by government supporters. Huang told Radio Free Asia that such reporting "could bring him trouble."
Huang and his staff have been subjected to police harassment since he founded 64 Tianwang. In October 2016, police briefly detained Huang ahead of a gathering of the Chinese Communist Party Congress. Huang was jailed from 2000-2005 on charges of "subversion of state power" for articles posted on 64 Tianwang, and from 2008-2011 on charges of "illegally holding state secrets." A volunteer for the site, Pu Fei, was detained for two weeks in 2008 after Huang was arrested. In April 2016, Wang Jing, a reporter at 64 Tianwang, was sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble." She was arrested on December 10, 2014, while photographing protesters near the Beijing headquarters of the state-run broadcasting agency China Central Television, according to news reports. The website has been blocked in China since March 2003 and is frequently targeted by hackers, according to Radio Free Asia.
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2016 prison census - China: Gulmire Imin
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Gulmire Imin, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8e013.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Gulmire Imin, Freelance Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: July 14, 2009
Imin was one of several administrators of Uighur-language Web forums who were arrested after the July 2009 riots in Urumqi, in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. In August 2010, Imin was sentenced to life in prison on charges of separatism, leaking state secrets, and organizing an illegal demonstration, a witness to her trial told the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia.
Imin held a local government post in Urumqi. She contributed poetry and short stories to the cultural website Salkin and had been invited to moderate the site in late spring 2009, her husband, Behtiyar Omer, told CPJ. Omer confirmed the date of his wife's initial detention in a statement at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy in 2011.
Authorities accused Imin of being an organizer of demonstrations on July 5, 2009, and of using the Uighur-language website to distribute information about the event, Radio Free Asia reported. Imin had been critical of the government in her online writing, readers of the website told Radio Free Asia. The website was shut down after the riots and its contents were deleted.
Imin was also accused of leaking state secrets by phone to her husband, who lives in Norway. Her husband told CPJ that he called her on July 5, 2009, but only to check whether she was safe.
The riots, which began as a protest over the death of Uighur migrant workers in Guangdong province, turned violent and resulted in the deaths of 200 people, according to the official Chinese government count. Chinese authorities blocked access to the internet in Xinjiang for months after the riots, and hundreds of protesters were arrested, according to international human rights organizations and local and international media reports.
Imin was being held in the Xinjiang women's prison (Xinjiang No. 2 Prison) in Urumqi, according to the rights group World Uyghur Congress. CPJ could not determine the status of her health in late 2016.
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2016 prison census - China: Gheyrat Niyaz (Hailaite Niyazi)
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Gheyrat Niyaz (Hailaite Niyazi), 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8e113.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Gheyrat Niyaz (Hailaite Niyazi), Uighurbiz Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: October 1, 2009
Security officials arrested Niyaz, a website manager who is sometimes referred to as Hailaite Niyazi, in his home in the regional capital, Urumqi, according to international news reports. He was convicted of endangering state security and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
According to reports, Niyaz was punished because of an August 2, 2009, interview with Yazhou Zhoukan (Asia Weekly), a Chinese-language magazine based in Hong Kong. In the interview, Niyaz said authorities had not taken steps to prevent violence before ethnic unrest in July 2009 in China's far-western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
Niyaz, who once worked for the state newspapers Xinjiang Legal News and Xinjiang Economic Daily, managed and edited the website Uighurbiz until June 2009. A statement posted on the website quoted Niyaz's wife as saying that although he had given interviews to international media, he had no malicious intentions.
Authorities blamed local and international Uighur sites for fueling the violence between Uighurs and Han Chinese in the predominantly Muslim Xinjiang region.
According to the Hong Kong-based group Chinese Human Right Defenders, as of late 2016 Niyaz was being held in Changji prison in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. CPJ was unable to determine the state of his health or the conditions under which he is being held.
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2016 prison census - China: Ekberjan Jamal
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Ekberjan Jamal, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8e326.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Ekberjan Jamal, Freelance Medium: Internet, Radio Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: February 28, 2008
On two occasions in November 2007, Ekberjan used his cell phone to record sounds of riots in his home town of Turpan. The audio files, which included the noise of rioters, sirens, and a voice-over of Ekberjan describing what was happening, were sent to friends in the Netherlands, and later used in news reports by Radio Free Asia and Phoenix News in Hong Kong. Ekberjan posted links to the news reports on his blog, which was closed by authorities on December 25, 2007, according to the rights group World Uyghur Congress.
In an April 2009 Radio Free Asia report, Ekberjan's mother said he made the recordings on two occasions, but at his trial he faced 21 counts of sending information abroad. She told Radio Free Asia she believed he might have been motivated to send the files to help achieve his ambition of studying abroad. The Turpan Intermediate People's Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison on February 28, 2008 for "separatism" and revealing state secrets, crimes under articles 103 and 11 of the Chinese penal code.
As of April 2009, he was being held in the Xinjiang Number 4 prison in Urumqi, Radio Free Asia reported.
Uighur rights groups contacted by CPJ in late 2016 said they had no new information in his case.
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2016 prison census - China: Gartse Jigme
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Gartse Jigme, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8e33.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Gartse Jigme, Freelance Medium: Print Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: January 1, 2013
Police arrested Jigme, a Tibetan author and monk, at the Rebgong Gartse monastery in the Malho prefecture of Qinghai province, according to news reports. His family was unaware of his whereabouts until a Qinghai court sentenced him to five years in prison on May 14, 2013. The charges have not been disclosed officially, but the independent Chinese PEN Center said he was accused of separatism.
The conviction was in connection with the second volume of Jigme's book, Tsenpoi Nyingtob (The Warrior's Courage), according to Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. The book contained chapters expressing Jigme's opinions on topics such as Chinese policies in Tibet, self-immolation, minority rights, and the Dalai Lama, according to news reports.
Jigme was briefly detained in 2011 in connection with the first volume of his book, according to the Hong Kong-based group Chinese Human Rights Defenders and Tibetan rights groups. He had written the book as a reflection on widespread protests in Tibetan areas in the spring of 2008, Tibetan scholar Robert Barnett told CPJ. China has jailed scores of Tibetan writers, artists, and educators for asserting Tibetan national identity and civil rights since the protests.
Authorities did not disclose any information on Jigme's health or whereabouts. According to the Independent Chinese PEN Center, he may be in prison in Xining, a city in Qinghai province. In late 2016, CPJ was unable to verify if he was in jail in Xining or determine the condition of his health.
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2016 prison census - China: Drukar Gyal (Druklo)
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Drukar Gyal (Druklo), 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8e413.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Drukar Gyal (Druklo), Freelance Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: March 19, 2015
Tibetan writer Drukar Gyal, also known as Druklo, was detained on March 19, 2015, according to Radio Free Asia. Gyal's family discovered that he had been arrested after they reported him missing, according to Radio Free Asia, which cited an unnamed source.
A court in Huangnan prefecture in China's northwestern Qinghai province sentenced Gyal to three years in prison on February 17, 2016 for inciting separatism and endangering social stability, according to news reports. Gyal was not allowed access to a lawyer during his detention or trial, Amnesty International reported, without citing sources.
On March 16, 2015, police searched Gyal's room and pointed guns at him when he asked to see a search warrant, according to Amnesty International. The court verdict cited Gyal's posts on his blog and social media about this incident, his comments about religious freedom, and a repost of a news report about the Dalai Lama as evidence of "inciting separatism."
Gyal denied the charges against him in court and wrote a letter to Qinghai High People's Court to appeal his sentence, according to Washington D.C.-based International Campaign for Tibet.
Gyal was previously detained for more than a month in 2010 on allegations of conducting and instigating separatist activities, according to Radio Free Asia. Gyal had written about the Tibetan protests of 2008 and the harsh responses from the Chinese government.
CPJ was unable to determine where Gyal is being held.
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2016 prison census - China: Dong Rubin
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Dong Rubin, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8e513.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Dong Rubin, Freelance Medium: Internet Charge: Retaliatory Imprisoned: September 12, 2013
Dong was detained in Kunming city, Yunnan province, on accusations of misstating his company's registered assets, according to statements from his lawyer. On July 23, 2014, he was sentenced by Wuhua Court in Kunming to six years and six months in prison on charges of illegal business activity and creating a disturbance, according to the Hong Kong-based group Chinese Human Rights Defenders.
Dong, who runs an internet consulting company, used the name "Bianmin" on his microblog to criticize authorities and raise concerns about local issues. He also used the microblog to campaign in 2009 for an investigation into the death of a young man in police custody. Authorities had initially said the man's death was an accident but later admitted he had been beaten to death, according to news reports. In 2013, Dong raised safety and environmental concerns about a state-owned oil refinery planned near the city of Kunming and expressed support on his microblog for a protest against the project by Kunming residents in May 2013.
Dong predicted his arrest when he wrote on his microblog, which had about 50,000 followers, that strangers had raided his office in late August and taken three computers. "What crime will they bring against me?" Dong wrote. "Prostituting, gambling, using and selling drugs, evading tax, causing trouble on purpose, fabricating rumors, running a mafia online?"
Dong's friend, Zheng Xiejian, told Reuters in September 2013, "If they want to punish you, they can always find an excuse. They could not find any wrongdoing against Dong and had to settle on this obscure charge."
Although Dong is not a professional journalist, CPJ determined that he was jailed in connection with his news-based commentary published on the internet. From August 2013, authorities detained scores of people in a stepped-up campaign to banish online commentary that, among other issues, casts the government in a critical light, according to Chinese media and human rights groups.
During his trial Dong said he was questioned for seven to eight hours at a time for more than 70 days, while chained to a chair, according to Chinese Human Rights Defenders. He is in frail condition, the Hong Kong-based group stated.
Dong is being held at Wuhua prison in Yunnan province, his friend and democracy activist, Li Huaping, told CPJ in late 2016.
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2016 prison census - China: Chen Wei
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Chen Wei, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8e613.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Chen Wei, Freelance Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: February 20, 2011
Police in Suining, Sichuan province, detained Chen alongside dozens of lawyers, writers, and activists who were jailed nationwide after anonymous online calls for a nonviolent "Jasmine Revolution" in China, according to international news reports. The Hong Kong-based group Chinese Human Rights Defenders reported that Chen was charged on March 28, 2011 with inciting subversion of state power.
Chen's lawyer, Zheng Jianwei, made repeated attempts to visit him but was not allowed access until September 8, 2011, according to the rights group and the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia. Radio Free Asia reported that police had selected four pro-democracy articles Chen had written for overseas websites as the basis for criminal prosecution.
In December 2011, a court in Suining sentenced Chen to nine years in prison on charges of "inciting subversion of state power."
Chen has been jailed twice before. He served a year and a half in prison for participating in the Tiananmen protests in 1989. In 1992 he was sentenced to five years in prison for organizing the Chinese Freedom and Democracy Party.
He is being held in Jialin prison in Sichuan province, according to Boxun News.
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2016 prison census - China: Chen Shuqing
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Chen Shuqing, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8e713.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Chen Shuqing, Freelance Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: September 11, 2014
Chen, a freelance writer and member of the China Democratic Party and the Independent Chinese PEN Center, was detained on September 11, 2014, in Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province, on suspicion of subversion of state power, and his home was raided by agents from the Hangzhou Public Security Bureau. He had written several articles for the overseas Chinese-language website Boxun about pro-democracy advocates, many of whom are in the hospital or detention.
On June 17, 2016, a Hangzhou court sentenced Chen to 10 years and six months in prison for "subversion of state power." Chen's lawyer, Fu Yonggang, told reporters the verdict read, "Chen Shuqing published 14 articles on overseas websites Boxun and Canyu," and "through aforementioned proclamations, statements and articles, Chen Shuqing attacked and smeared the state power and the socialist system." Chen lodged an appeal with Zhejiang People's High Court and was awaiting the court's verdict as of late 2016, another of his lawyers, Liu Rongsheng, told CPJ.
Chen has been jailed before. He was placed under criminal detention on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power on September 14, 2006. On August 16, 2007, he was sentenced by Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court to four years in prison and one year's deprivation of political rights for subversion of state power. After the original verdict was upheld at the appellate court, Chen was jailed at Qiaosi prison in Hangzhou. He was released on September 13, 2010, after serving his term.
Chen is being held at Hangzhou Detention Center, his lawyer, Liu, said.
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Congressman Ron Kind of La Crosse was one of four Democrats to oppose re-electing Rep. Nancy Pelosi as U.S. House Minority leader, saying national Democrats need new leadership after a surprisingly poor showing in the November election.
In Tuesday's leadership election, Kind voted for Rep. Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat and member of the centrist "Blue Dog" congressional caucus, Roll Call and other publications reported.
"I think someone new would be a breath of fresh air," Kind told the Wisconsin State Journal in an interview.
Kind said another concern is the advancing age of House Democratic leaders. Pelosi, D-Ca., Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn, D-S.C., all are at 76 or older.
Kind's resistance to Pelosi is not new. Immediately after the closed-door vote that presaged Tuesday's public leadership election, Kind declined to say if he supported Pelosi. After the 2010 elections, when Democrats also took a drubbing and lost control of the House, Kind voted for Cooper in that leadership election.
The congressional district Kind represents, western Wisconsin's 3rd district, is emblematic of the Democratic Party's struggles. Made up largely of small- to mid-sized cities and rural areas, the district voted twice for Barack Obama. This time it went for GOP President-elect Donald Trump.
Kind said Democrats continue to fare well in areas with booming economies, such as the East and West coasts or, closer to home, places such as Dane County.
But in rural areas and small towns, many of which struggled to recover from the Great Recession, Kind said voters increasingly feel overlooked by Democrats. Kind said Democratic elected officials and party leaders need more events and organizing efforts in those communities to understand their concerns -- and show those voters they care.
"The Democratic Party has got to show up and listen to people, especially in rural areas," Kind said.
After Hillary Clinton became the first Democratic presidential nominee to lose Wisconsin since Walter Mondale in 1984, many have questioned her campaign's decision not to visit the state after the primary election.
Kind said Clinton's absence from Wisconsin was a clear misstep.
"She didn't set foot in Wisconsin once after the primary. I knew that was going to be a problem," Kind said.
2016 prison census - China: Atikem Rozi
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Atikem Rozi, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8e811.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Atikem Rozi, Uighurbiz Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: January or February, 2014
Rozi is one of seven students connected to the imprisoned Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti, who were charged with being involved with Uighurbiz during a secret trial held in November 2014, according to Tohti's lawyer Li Fangping.
Tohti, a writer and blogger, was taken from his home by police on January 15, 2014, and the Uighurbiz website he founded, also known as UighurOnline, was closed. The site, which Tohti started in 2006, was published in Chinese and Uighur, and focused on social issues.
Tohti was charged with separatism by Urumqi police on February 20, 2014. He was accused of using his position as a lecturer at Minzu University of China to spread separatist ideas through Uighurbiz. On September 23, 2014, at the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court, Tohti was sentenced to life imprisonment. He denied the charges.
Several foreign governments and human rights organizations protested the sentence. The European Union released a statement condemning the life sentence as unjustified. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. was concerned by the sentencing and called on Chinese authorities to release him, along with seven of his students.
Tohti's appeal request was rejected at a hearing in a Xinjiang detention center on November 21, 2014 that was scheduled at such short notice that his lawyer was unable to attend.
Tohti's wife told Radio Free Asia in February 2016 that authorities allow family members to visit Tohti for only 30 minutes every three months.
Rozi was charged alongside the students Perhat Halmurat, Shohret Nijat, Luo Yuwei, Mutellip Imin, Abduqeyum Ablimit, and Akbar Imin with being involved with Uighurbiz during a secret trial held in November 2014, according to Tohti's lawyer Li Fangping. Many were administrators for the site, according to state media. According to the political prisoner database of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, an organization set up by the U.S. Congress to monitor human rights and laws in China, Rozi and Mutellip Imin wrote for the site. Imin, who is from Xinjiang and enrolled at Istanbul University in Turkey, has a blog, too. He was arrested when he tried to leave China.
According to The New York Times, three of the students made televised confessions on the state-run China Central Television in September, saying they worked for the site. Halmurat claimed to have written an article, Nijat claimed to have taken part in editorial policy decisions, and Luo, from the Yi minority, claimed to have done design work.
The seven students were sentenced to three to eight years in prison, according to the Global Times, a government-affiliated website. The length of sentence for each student was unclear and details of where they are being held were not disclosed.
CPJ could not determine the names or contact details of the lawyers representing the students. Liu Xiaoyuan, who is also representing, Tohti, told CPJ he did not have information on the students' cases.
Copyright notice: Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
2016 prison census - China: Akbar Imin
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Akbar Imin, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8e911.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Akbar Imin, Uighurbiz Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: January or February, 2014
Imin is one of seven students connected to the imprisoned Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti, who were charged with being involved with Uighurbiz during a secret trial held in November 2014, according to Tohti's lawyer Li Fangping.
Tohti, a writer and blogger, was taken from his home by police on January 15, 2014, and the Uighurbiz website he founded, also known as UighurOnline, was closed. The site, which Tohti started in 2006, was published in Chinese and Uighur, and focused on social issues.
Tohti was charged with separatism by Urumqi police on February 20, 2014. He was accused of using his position as a lecturer at Minzu University of China to spread separatist ideas through Uighurbiz. On September 23, 2014, at the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court, Tohti was sentenced to life imprisonment. He denied the charges.
Several foreign governments and human rights organizations protested the sentence. The European Union released a statement condemning the life sentence as unjustified. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. was concerned by the sentencing and called on Chinese authorities to release him, along with seven of his students.
Tohti's appeal request was rejected at a hearing in a Xinjiang detention center on November 21, 2014 that was scheduled at such short notice that his lawyer was unable to attend.
Tohti's wife told Radio Free Asia in February 2016 that authorities allow family members to visit Tohti for only 30 minutes every three months.
Akbar Imin was charged alongside the students Perhat Halmurat, Shohret Nijat, Luo Yuwei, Mutellip Imin, and Abduqeyum Ablimit, Atikem Rozi with being with being involved with Uighurbiz during a secret trial held in November 2014, according to Tohti's lawyer Li Fangping. Many were administrators for the site, according to state media. According to the political prisoner database of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, an organization set up by the U.S. Congress to monitor human rights and laws in China, Rozi and Mutellip Imin wrote for the site. Imin, who is from Xinjiang and enrolled at Istanbul University in Turkey, has a blog, too. He was arrested when he tried to leave China.
According to The New York Times, three of the students made televised confessions on the state-run China Central Television in September, saying they worked for the site. Halmurat claimed to have written an article, Nijat claimed to have taken part in editorial policy decisions, and Luo, from the Yi minority, claimed to have done design work.
The seven students were sentenced to three to eight years in prison, according to the Global Times, a government-affiliated website. The length of sentence for each student was unclear and details of where they are being held were not disclosed.
CPJ could not determine the names or contact details of the lawyers representing the students. Liu Xiaoyuan, who is also representing, Tohti, told CPJ he did not have information on the students' cases.
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2016 prison census - China: Abduqeyum Ablimit
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - China: Abduqeyum Ablimit, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8eac.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Abduqeyum Ablimit, Uighurbiz Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: January or February, 2014
Ablimit is one of seven students connected to the imprisoned Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti, who were charged with being involved with Uighurbiz during a secret trial held in November 2014, according to Tohti's lawyer Li Fangping.
Tohti, a writer and blogger, was taken from his home by police on January 15, 2014, and the Uighurbiz website he founded, also known as UighurOnline, was closed. The site, which Tohti started in 2006, was published in Chinese and Uighur, and focused on social issues.
Tohti was charged with separatism by Urumqi police on February 20, 2014. He was accused of using his position as a lecturer at Minzu University of China to spread separatist ideas through Uighurbiz. On September 23, 2014, at the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court, Tohti was sentenced to life imprisonment. He denied the charges.
Several foreign governments and human rights organizations protested the sentence. The European Union released a statement condemning the life sentence as unjustified. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. was concerned by the sentencing and called on Chinese authorities to release him, along with seven of his students.
Tohti's appeal request was rejected at a hearing in a Xinjiang detention center on November 21, 2014 that was scheduled at such short notice that his lawyer was unable to attend.
Tohti's wife told Radio Free Asia in February 2016 that authorities allow family members to visit Tohti for only 30 minutes every three months.
Ablimit was charged alongside the students Perhat Halmurat, Shohret Nijat, Luo Yuwei, Mutellip Imin, Atikem Rozi and Akbar Imin with being involved with Uighurbiz during a secret trial held in November 2014, according to Tohti's lawyer Li Fangping. Many were administrators for the site, according to state media. According to the political prisoner database of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, an organization set up by the U.S. Congress to monitor human rights and laws in China, Rozi and Mutellip Imin wrote for the site. Imin, who is from Xinjiang and enrolled at Istanbul University in Turkey, has a blog, too. He was arrested when he tried to leave China.
According to The New York Times, three of the students made televised confessions on the state-run China Central Television in September, saying they worked for the site. Halmurat claimed to have written an article, Nijat claimed to have taken part in editorial policy decisions, and Luo, from the Yi minority, claimed to have done design work.
The seven students were sentenced to three to eight years in prison, according to the Global Times, a government-affiliated website. The length of sentence for each student was unclear and details of where they are being held were not disclosed.
CPJ could not determine the names or contact details of the lawyers representing the students. Liu Xiaoyuan, who is also representing, Tohti, told CPJ he did not have information on the students' cases.
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2016 prison census - Cameroon: Ahmed Abba
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Cameroon: Ahmed Abba, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8eba.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Ahmed Abba, Radio France Internationale Medium: Radio Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: July 30, 2015
Ahmed Abba, a correspondent for Radio France Internationale's (RFI) Hausa service, was arrested as he left a press briefing at the office of a local governor in Maroua, the capital of Cameroon's far north region, on July 30, 2015 according to RFI. He was taken to the capital, Yaounde. The journalist was denied access to his lawyer until October 19, RFI told CPJ. Officials did not take a statement from Abba until November 13, more than three months after his arrest, which is against the law, according to news reports that cited his lawyers.
RFI cited one of the journalist's lawyers, Charles Tchoungang, as saying Abba was interrogated in relation to the activities of the extremist sect Boko Haram, which has renamed itself the Islamic State in West Africa. Formed in 2002, Boko Haram, which is based in northern Nigeria, has been increasing its presence in northern Cameroon since 2014, according to news reports. The group is known for mass kidnappings and targeted attacks on civilians.
Abba's trial began on February 29, 2016, according to reports that cited Tchoungang and a second lawyer, Nakong Clement. A military tribunal charged the journalist with complicity in acts of terrorism and failure to denounce acts of terrorism under the country's 2014 anti-terrorism law, news reports said. According to prosecutors, Abba did not inform authorities he had been in contact with members of Boko Haram. The maximum sentence for the charges is the death penalty.
Abba pleaded not guilty at a hearing on August 3, 2016, reports said. The next hearing was scheduled for December 7, 2016, according to news reports.
RFI reported that Abba mostly covered refugee issues in the region but had also covered attacks carried out by Boko Haram. In a statement issued in June 2016, RFI said Abba's reporting had been professional and called for his immediate release.
Copyright notice: Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
2016 prison census - Bangladesh: Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Bangladesh: Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8eca.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, Weekly Blitz Medium: Print Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: January 9, 2014
A Dhaka court sentenced Choudhury, an editor of the Bangladeshi tabloid Weekly Blitz, to seven years in prison in relation to his articles about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh.
Choudhury was convicted of harming the country's interests under section 505(A) of the penal code, having been found to have intentionally written distorting and damaging materials, reports said. Choudhury had written about anti-Israeli attitudes in Muslim countries and the spread of Islamist militancy in Bangladesh.
The prosecutor in the case, Shah Alam Talukder, told Agence France-Presse that Choudhury was taken to prison after the verdict. The editor's family said that an appeal of the decision to the High Court is pending, news reports said. No details about his state of health, or where he is being held, had been disclosed as of late 2016.
Choudhury was arrested in November 2003 when he tried to travel to Israel to participate in a conference with the Hebrew Writers Association. Bangladesh has no diplomatic relations with Israel, and it is illegal for Bangladeshi citizens to travel there. Choudhury was released on bail in 2005.
He was charged with passport violations, but the charges were dropped in February 2004 and he was accused of sedition, among other charges, in connection with his articles, according to news reports. The editor was not convicted on the sedition charge, the reports said. He was arrested again in 2012 in connection with embezzlement charges, and the current charges relating to his writing were filed. In Bangladesh, judicial proceedings can take years to resolve. In February 2015, Choudhury was sentenced to four years in prison on the embezzlement charges, according to news reports.
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2016 prison census - Bangladesh: Abdus Salam
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Bangladesh: Abdus Salam, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8eda.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Abdus Salam, Ekushey TV Medium: Television Charge: Anti-State, Retaliatory Imprisoned: January 6, 2015
Salam, the owner of Ekushey TV, was accused of sedition and being in violation of Bangladesh's Pornography Act, according to reports. Some journalists said in news reports and to CPJ that the arrests were related to a speech by Tarique Rahman, the son of opposition leader Khaleda Zia, which was broadcast by the channel on January 5, 2015.
Salam was arrested at Ekushey TV's offices in Dhaka on January 6, 2015, alongside Kanak Sarwar, a former senior correspondent for the privately owned broadcaster, according to local news reports. At a press conference in Dhaka after Salam's arrest, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said police had charged the chairman of the channel under the Pornography Control Act of 2012. Police said a woman filed a complaint in November 2014 saying she had been vilified in a news program, according to reports. The police said Ekushey TV, which covers local and national news, aired pornographic images of the woman, news reports said. The channel denies the accusations, reports said.
Salam was also charged with sedition, according to news reports. Authorities claim he confessed to being guilty of sedition in a statement before a judge on January 19, 2015, news reports said.
In March 2015, Sarwar was arrested under the Pornography Act after Salam was said to have confessed to charges brought against him, reports said. According to news reports, Sarwar, who was fired from Ekushey TV in the days after the speech was aired, was later released on bail. In September 2016, authorities issued a warrant for the arrest of another former Ekushey TV correspondent, Mahathir Faruqui Khan, in relation to the broadcasting of Rahman's speech. Khan had not been arrested as of late 2016, according to news reports.
In the speech aired by Ekushey TV on January 5, 2015 Rahman, the senior vice chairman of opposition leader Zia's party, called for the toppling of the Sheikh Hasina-led government, reports said. Rahman, who has been in exile since 2008 and faces corruption charges in Bangladesh, is a fierce critic of Hasina's father, the founder of the country.
Ekushey TV was unavailable in some parts of the country after the airing of Rahman's speech, according to local and international news reports. Cable operators said they were instructed to take Ekushey TV off the air, according to Agence France-Presse. Authorities denied issuing any order, reports said.
Zia, who had been confined to her office earlier in the year after calling on her supporters to topple the Hasina-led government, accused the government of interrupting Ekushey TV broadcasts.
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2016 prison census - Bahrain: Sayed Ahmed al-Mosawi
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Bahrain: Sayed Ahmed al-Mosawi, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8ee4.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Sayed Ahmed al-Mosawi, Freelance Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: February 10, 2014
Al-Mosawi was detained on February 10, 2014, during a raid by authorities to arrest his brother, Mohammed, according to news reports. Security forces spotted al-Mosawi's camera in the apartment and asked who it belonged to, someone who spoke with al-Mosawi after his arrest and who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, told CPJ. After conferring over the radio, security forces arrested al-Mosawi as well. The freelance photographer was transferred to Dry Dock jail after being questioned about his work.
Al-Mosawi's internationally recognized photographs, most of which he posted on social networking sites, have won several awards. His work includes a range of subjects such as wildlife and daily life in Bahrain in addition to anti-government protests, a frequent occurrence in Bahrain since the government cracked down on large-scale demonstrations in 2011.
The journalist told his family in a phone call from prison in 2014 that he had been beaten and given electric shocks, according to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.
On November 23, 2015, al-Mosawi, his brother, and 11 other defendants were found guilty of participating in a terror organization that committed acts of violence against police forces, according to court documents reviewed by CPJ in 2016. The court sentenced al-Mosawi to 10 years' imprisonment and revoked his citizenship.
According to the prosecution, al-Mosawi and other employees at VIVA, a cell phone provider where he also worked, helped other defendants illegally procure SIM cards under false identities for terror purposes.
According to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, the government has frequently abused an overly broad definition of terrorism as a tool to suppress dissent and independent reporting. Since 2012, Bahrain has revoked the citizenship of more than 130 Bahrainis, including journalists, human rights defenders, and accused terrorists, according to local human rights groups.
On June 13, 2016, the public prosecutor announced that an appeals court had upheld al-Mosawi's sentence.
Al-Mosawi is being held in Jaw Central Prison.
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2016 prison census - Bahrain: Mahmoud al-Jaziri
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Bahrain: Mahmoud al-Jaziri, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8f3c.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Mahmoud al-Jaziri, Al-Wasat Medium: Print Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: December 28, 2015
Police arrested Mahmoud al-Jaziri from his home in Nabih Saleh Island, south of the capital Manama, on the morning of December 28, 2015. He was allowed to call his brother later that day to say he was being held as part of a criminal investigation, local human rights groups and his paper Al-Wasat reported.
The Interior Ministry named al-Jaziri, a reporter for the independent daily Al-Wasat, as among those arrested for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks funded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah, according to a January 1, 2016 report by the official Bahrain News Agency. That announcement came amid a diplomatic rift between Iran and Saudi Arabia and its allies, including Bahrain, after Saudi Arabia executed prominent Shiite cleric Nimr Al-Nimr. It also followed years of official persecution -- including the 2011 death in custody of a founding investor -- of Al-Wasat staff.
On January 4, 2016, two days after al-Nimr's execution, al-Jaziri was referred to a special prosecutor for terrorist crimes who charged him with supporting terrorism, inciting hatred of the regime, having contacts with a foreign country, and seeking to overthrow the regime by joining the banned political group, the Al-Wafaa Islamic Party, and the February 14 Youth Movement, which have organized anti-government protests since the 2011 uprising, according to news reports. The Interior Ministry statement carried by Bahrain News Agency listed al-Jaziri and three other co-accused as members of an armed wing of Al-Wafaa that was plotting bombings in cooperation with Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah.
Mansoor al-Jamri, editor-in-chief of Al-Wasat and CPJ's 2011 International Press Freedom Awardee, told CPJ that al-Jaziri denied the charges and told prosecutors his relationship with Al-Wafaa did not extend beyond proofreading the group's public statements, an activity he stopped after becoming a professional journalist in 2012. Al-Jamri said al-Jaziri covers parliamentary news for Al-Wasat.
Al-Jaziri was arrested on the same day that a report he had written was published on a member of parliament's proposal to deny housing to Bahrainis whose citizenship had been revoked for political activities.
Over the course of 2013-14, he wrote a series of opinion articles for Al-Wasat in which he blamed world and regional powers for what he called the "failures" of the 2011 uprisings collectively known as the "Arab Spring," criticized the lack of compromise in the region's conflicts, and called for closer relationships between predominantly Sunni and Shiite countries in the region.
According to the Bahrain Press Association, al-Jaziri's family said he was blindfolded for an unspecified number of days after his arrest. The family said he was banned from sitting or sleeping for three days during questioning and before he signed a confession, unaware of its content.
On June 28, 2016, the public prosecutor announced the commencement of a trial of 18 suspects, including al-Jaziri and another journalist, Ali Mearaj. The defendants are accused of belonging to an Iranian and Hezbollah-backed terror cell formed by the banned al-Wafaa party.
As of late 2016, Al-Jaziri was held in Dry Dock jail pending the outcome of his trial.
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2016 prison census - Bahrain: Hussein Hubail
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Bahrain: Hussein Hubail, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8f4c.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Hussein Hubail, Freelance Medium: Internet, Print Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: July 31, 2013
Hubail, a photographer who documented opposition protests, was sentenced to five years in prison on April 28, 2014, on charges of inciting protests against public order, according to news reports. Eight other individuals were sentenced in the same trial, including online activist Jassim al-Nuaimi and artist Sadiq al-Shabani, the reports said.
In January 2016, Hubail was informed that he had been sentenced to an additional year imprisonment on a charge of participating in an illegal gathering, the Bahrain Press Association reported.
Hubail was arrested at Bahrain International Airport and held incommunicado for six days before being transferred to Dry Dock prison on August 5, 2013, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights reported.
The arrest came amid political tension in Bahrain over an opposition protest planned for August 14, 2013, modeled on the demonstrations that led to the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa decreed new measures to crack down on protesters who the government believed were engaging in terrorist activities.
On August 7, 2013, Hubail was questioned by the public prosecutor, who accused him of incitement against the regime and calling for illegal gatherings. Hubail's lawyer, Ali al-Asfoor, said in a series of Twitter posts that investigators had questioned Hubail about his photography and purported posts on social media that had called for the protests on August 14.
Hubail's work has been published by Agence France-Presse and other news outlets. In May 2013, the independent newspaper Al-Wasat awarded him a photography prize for his picture of protesters enshrouded in tear gas.
Hubail said he was tortured in custody by the Criminal Investigation Department, according to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. The center said Hubail told of being beaten, kicked, forced to stand for long periods of time, and deprived of sleep. The Bahraini Information Affairs Authority told CPJ on August 28, 2013, that the government was investigating the torture claims. CPJ sent a written request for comment in October 2016 to the Information Affairs Authority asking about the outcome of the investigation. As of late 2016, it had not received a response.
The High Court of Appeals upheld Hubail's five-year sentence on September 21, 2014, according to news reports.
In April 2015, someone familiar with Hubail's situation, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, told CPJ that the photographer's health had deteriorated and he had been denied adequate medical care for a heart condition. The journalist is being held in Jaw Central Prison. His health had improved in 2016.
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2016 prison census - Bahrain: Ali Mearaj
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Bahrain: Ali Mearaj, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8f6c.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Ali Mearaj, Freelance Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: June 5, 2016
Bahraini security forces arrested Mearaj on June 5, 2016 at the Manama airport, only two months after he was released from prison where he had been serving a sentence on separate charges also related to his journalism, his brother Mohammed told CPJ.
On June 28, 2016, Mearaj's trial began with 17 other defendants, including Al-Wasat journalist Mahmoud al-Jaziri, on charges of belonging to an Iranian and Hezbollah-backed terror cell formed by the banned al-Wafaa political party.
The Bahraini Interior Ministry named al-Jaziri, a reporter for the independent daily Al-Wasat, as among those arrested for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks funded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah, according to a January 1, 2016 report by the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA).
On January 4, al-Jaziri was referred to a special prosecutor for terrorist crimes, who charged him with supporting terrorism, inciting hatred of the regime, contacting a foreign country and giving it information, and seeking to overthrow the regime by joining Al-Wafaa and the February 14 Youth Movement, which has organized protests since the 2011 uprising, according to news reports.
During this time, Mearaj was in prison in relation to a different case, and his name was not mentioned in any of the public announcements concerning the case. According to his brother Mohammed, Mearaj was not questioned after his new arrest or informed of charges against him before the June 28, 2016 hearing.
Before the new charge, Mearaj had been serving a two and a half year term on charges of "insulting the king" and "misusing communication devices" in relation to posts he was accused of writing on the opposition website Lulu Awal, according to news reports.
Mearaj's appeal in that case was repeatedly postponed as the government claimed a witness failed to appear in court, according to his brother Mohammed. On April 5, 2016, the appeals court reduced his sentence to one and a half years in jail, the Bahrain Press Association reported. Having already served two years while waiting for his appeal, he was released on April 7.
Mearaj is currently held in Dry Dock jail pending the outcome of his trial. By late 2016, the government had not publicly disclosed information or details of evidence as to why he had been added to the case.
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2016 prison census - Bahrain: Ahmed Humaidan
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Bahrain: Ahmed Humaidan, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8f813f.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Ahmed Humaidan, Freelance Medium: Internet Charge: Retaliatory Imprisoned: December 29, 2012
Humaidan, a freelance photojournalist, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on March 26, 2014, in a trial of more than 30 individuals charged with participating in a 2012 attack on a police station on the island of Sitra, according to news reports. The reports said three defendants were acquitted, and the rest were given three to 10 years in prison.
Humaidan was at the station to document the attack as part of his coverage of unrest in the country after anti-government protests erupted in February 2011, according to news reports. His photographs were published by local opposition sites, including the online newsmagazine Alhadath and the news website Alrasid.
Adel Marzouk, head of the Bahrain Press Association, an independent media freedom organization based in London, told CPJ that Humaidan's photographs had exposed police attacks on protesters during demonstrations. Humaidan's family said authorities had sought his arrest for months and had raided their home five times to try to arrest him, news reports said.
The High Court of Appeals upheld Humaidan's sentence on August 31, 2014, despite calls by CPJ and other human rights organizations to throw out the conviction.
In 2014, the U.S. National Press Club honored Humaidan with its John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award.
Humaidan is being held in Jaw Central Prison.
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2016 prison census - Bahrain: Abduljalil Alsingace
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Bahrain: Abduljalil Alsingace, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8f91a.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Abduljalil Alsingace, Freelance Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: March 17, 2011
Alsingace, a blogger and human rights defender, was among a number of high-profile government critics arrested as the government renewed its crackdown on dissent after pro-reform protests in February 2011.
In June 2011, a military court sentenced Alsingace to life imprisonment for "plotting to topple the monarchy." In all, 21 bloggers, human rights activists, and members of the political opposition were found guilty on similar charges and handed lengthy sentences.
On his blog, Al-Faseela (Sapling), Alsingace wrote critically about human rights violations, sectarian discrimination, and repression of the political opposition. He also monitored human rights for the Shia-dominated opposition Haq Movement for Civil Liberties and Democracy. He was first arrested on anti-state conspiracy charges in August 2010 as part of widespread reprisals against political dissidents, but was released in February 2011 as part of a government effort to appease a then-nascent protest movement.
In September 2012, the High Court of Appeal upheld Alsingace's conviction and life sentence, along with those of his co-defendants. Four months later, on January 7, 2013, the Court of Cassation, the highest court in the country, also upheld the sentences.
In 2015, Alsingace began refusing all solid food to protest the conditions at Jaw Central Prison, where he is being held. He ended his protest on January 28, 2016 after refusing solid food for 313 days, according to Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain.
In November 2015, Alsingace was temporarily released to allow him to attend his mother's funeral.
A family member, who asked for anonymity for fear of retribution, told CPJ in October 2016 that Alsingace was not receiving adequate medical care, including for injuries suffered during torture. According to findings by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, Alsingace was "sexually molested with a finger thrust into his anus" and repeatedly beaten with fists and batons. One officer placed a pistol in his mouth and said, "I wish I could empty it in your head." Security forces threatened to rape his daughter, the inquiry found. The commission was established by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in June 2011 to investigate the 2011 protest movement and subsequent crackdown, including allegations of abuse of prisoners, including Alsingace. Its findings and recommendations, based on interviews with inmates, officials, witnesses, and human rights defenders, were officially endorsed by King Hamad in November 2011.
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2016 prison census - Azerbaijan: Seymur Hazi
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Azerbaijan: Seymur Hazi, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8fa13.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Seymur Hazi, Azadliq Medium: Print Charge: Retaliatory Imprisoned: August 29, 2014
Police in the eastern Absheron district arrested Hazi, a reporter for the opposition newspaper Azadliq, over claims that he attacked a man at a bus stop, the independent regional news website Kavkazsky Uzel reported. The day after his arrest, the Absheron District Court ordered the journalist, who also uses the name Haziyev, to be held in pretrial detention for two months, the report said. He was charged with hooliganism.
Authorities said that while waiting for a bus on his way to work, Hazi beat a Baku resident named Magerram Hasanov, according to Kavkazsky Uzel. Hazi said in court that he had acted in self-defense, Kavkazsky Uzel reported. He said Hasanov had insulted and attacked him. Elton Guliyev, the journalist's lawyer, told Kavkazsky Uzel that he believed authorities had orchestrated the altercation because police arrived moments after it started. Guliyev said he believes Hazi was imprisoned in retaliation for his journalism.
Hazi often criticized the Azerbaijani government's domestic and foreign policies in his reports for Azadliq, according to Kavkazsky Uzel. As a host for Azadliq's online TV program "Azerbaijan Saati" (Azerbaijani Hour), he was critical of government corruption and human rights abuses.
Hazi was sentenced to five years in jail on January 29, 2015. A court upheld the sentence on September 29, 2015, according to the local press freedom group, Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety.
In 2016, Hazi received the Free Media Award, presented jointly by the Olso-based Fritt Ord and the Hamburg-based ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius foundations, for reporting on corruption and the abuse of power.
Hazi is being held at Baku Investigative Prison No. 1. In late 2016, CPJ could not determine the state of his health.
Copyright notice: Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
2016 prison census - Azerbaijan: Nijat Aliyev
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Azerbaijan: Nijat Aliyev, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8fb11.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Nijat Aliyev, Azadxeber Medium: Internet Charge: Anti-State, Retaliatory Imprisoned: May 20, 2012
Aliyev, editor-in-chief of the independent news website Azadxeber, was detained near a subway station in downtown Baku and charged with possession of illegal drugs. Colleagues disputed the charges and said they were in retaliation for his journalism. Aliyev's deputy, Parvin Zeynalov, told local journalists that the outlet's critical reporting on the government's religion policies, including perceived anti-Islamic activities, could have prompted the editor's arrest.
CPJ has documented a pattern in which Azerbaijani authorities file questionable drug charges against journalists whose coverage has been at odds with official views.
Aliyev's lawyer, Anar Gasimli, told the local press freedom group Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety that Aliyev said investigators tortured him in custody and forced him to admit he had drugs in his possession. The institute quoted another lawyer for the journalist, Yalchin Imamov, as saying that two of Aliyev's teeth were broken and his ear injured.
In January 2013, authorities brought additional charges against Aliyev -- illegal import and sale of religious literature, making calls to overturn the constitutional regime, and incitement to ethnic and religious hatred, the institute reported. In March 2013, investigators finished the investigation against the editor, according to local press reports.
On December 9, 2013, the Baku Court for Grave Crimes sentenced Aliyev to 10 years in prison, according to the independent regional news website Kavkazsky Uzel. In June 2014, Azerbaijan's Court of Appeals denied Aliyev's appeal, reports said.
In April 2016, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan denied Aliyev's appeal, the independent TV station Meydan TV reported. In July 2016, the journalist's attorney told the independent Azerbaijani news agency Turan that he planned to file a complaint with the European Court for Human Rights, but authorities were withholding the text of the verdict, which is required to file a complaint.
CPJ could not determine the state of the journalist's health in late 2016.
Copyright notice: Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
2016 prison census - Azerbaijan: Ikram Rahimov
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Azerbaijan: Ikram Rahimov, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8fca.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Ikram Rahimov, Hurriyet Medium: Internet Charge: Defamation Imprisoned: November 25, 2016
An Azerbaijani court on November 25, 2016 convicted Rahimov, editor of the online news agency Realliq, of libel and sentenced him to one year in prison, according to news reports. The charge relates to a May 25, 2016, story in the opposition news website Hurriyet, where Rahimov worked at the time. The story alleged extortion by a Sumqayit city official and tax evasion at a local chain of stores, reports said.
In the report Rahimov referred to a document that he said came from the state tax agency, and quoted an individual named Rahman Novruzov, who he said had informed him of the alleged wrongdoing. Novruzov was also sentenced to a year in prison for libel, according to reports.
In the article, Rahimov alleged that the head of the city administration, Zakir Farajev, instructed the stores to be closed, and allowed them to open only after receiving a bribe. Among the defense witnesses was a head of the chain who sustained the accusations of extortion, according to media reports.
When asked for comment by the news website Contact, the city administration denied Farajev was connected to the case and said that Farajev called the accusation "total nonsense."
The website Hurriyet is no longer active. A message on its home page says the site has been suspended.
Rahimov's lawyer, Elchin Sadygov, told CPJ that after the court hearing, the journalist wassent to the Sumqayit police department instead of to a prison, which is a violation of procedure. Sadygov said that the journalist was kept in the facility, which is meant for pre-trial detention, for three days and was tortured by police to extract an apology to Farajev. Police put a plastic bag over Rahimov's head and beat him, the lawyer said. Sadygov said Rahimov was left needing medical help.
In a letter given to his lawyer during a prison visit November 29, Rahimov gave a detailed account of how he was tortured for three days, according to news reports. According to local media, the Interior Ministry denied the allegations of torture. Ministry spokesman Orkhan Mansurzada described the claims as "unfounded."
Sadygov was transferred November 29, 2016, to a prison in Shuvelan, about 70 kilometers from Sumqayit.
Copyright notice: Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
2016 prison census - Azerbaijan: Araz Guliyev
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Azerbaijan: Araz Guliyev, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8fda.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Araz Guliyev, Xeber 44 Medium: Internet Charge: Retaliatory Imprisoned: September 8, 2012
Guliyev, chief editor of news website Xeber 44, was arrested on hooliganism charges in September 2012 while reporting on a protest in the southeastern city of Masally, news reports said. Residents were protesting about dancers at a festival who they claimed were not properly clothed, reports said. Police arrested the demonstrators, who were calling on the festival organizers to respect religious traditions.
During Guliyev's pretrial detention, authorities expanded his charges to include "illegal possession, storage, and transportation of firearms," "participation in activities that disrupt public order," "inciting ethnic and religious hatred," "resisting authority," and "offensive action against the flag and emblem of Azerbaijan."
Guliyev's brother, Azer, told the independent regional news website Kavkazsky Uzel that his brother's imprisonment could be related to his coverage of protests against an official ban on headscarves and veils in public schools. Xeber 44 covers news about religious life in Azerbaijan and international events in the Islamic world. The journalist's lawyer told Kavkazsky Uzel that investigators claimed to have found a grenade while searching Guliyev's home, but his lawyer said the investigators had planted it.
In April 2013, the Lankaran Court on Grave Crimes convicted Guliyev of all charges and sentenced him to eight years in prison.
Guliyev's lawyer, Fariz Namazli, told the local press freedom organization Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety that the charges against the journalist were not substantiated in court and that the testimony of witnesses conflicted. The lawyer said that Guliyev had been beaten by authorities after his arrest and that he was not immediately granted access to a lawyer.
News reports said that Guliyev filed an appeal, which was denied by regional courts. In July 2014, the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan upheld the journalist's sentence. In Azerbaijan, a case cannot be appealed once the Supreme Court has ruled.
Guliyev was being held at Prison No. 14, outside Baku, according to Kavkazsky Uzel and an August 2014 report on political prisoners in Azerbaijan by a group of lawyers, human rights defenders, and non-governmental organizations. In late 2016, CPJ could not determine the state of his health.
Copyright notice: Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
2016 prison census - Azerbaijan: Afgan Sadygov
Publisher Committee to Protect Journalists Publication Date 1 December 2016 Cite as Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Azerbaijan: Afgan Sadygov, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8fe7.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Afgan Sadygov, Azel Medium: Internet Charge: Retaliatory Imprisoned: November 22, 2016
Sadygov, the founder and chief editor of regional news website Azel, was arrested outside the eastern city of Jalilabad on November 22, 2016, on charges of aggravated assault, and authorities ordered him detained for three months pending investigation, according to news reports.
Sadygov reported on allegations of corruption in the local administration for Azel, and managed the Facebook page "Our Jalilabad" on which he often criticized local authorities.
The charge relates to an incident on August 9, 2016, when the head of the city's executive branch, Aziz Azizov, summoned the journalist to the city administration, according to local and international media reports. Azizov allegedly asked the journalist to remove his critical reports and allegedly offered him money to cease reporting, his lawyer Elchin Sadygov (no relation) told the independent regional news website Kavkazsky Uzel.
Azizov did not respond to CPJ's request for comment in late 2016.
Afghan Sadygov refused the offer and left the office. In the hallway of the building, he was attacked and punched by a woman who then filed a complaint against him, according to news reports citing his lawyer and family.
The journalist was charged with assault, according to the Azeri service of the U.S.-government funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. If found guilty Sadygov faces up to five years in prison.
Sadygov's mother, Ulnisa, told Kavkazsky Uzel that the accusations against her son were related to his journalism. "My son has managed this website for many years practically alone. He covered issues related to lawlessness, injustice. He was warned and requested to stop criticizing local authorities in his reports. They wanted him to write only praising articles but my son refused," she said.
Ulnisa Sadygova told Kavkazsky Uzel that police tortured the journalist but did not specify what had allegedly happened to him. She said that her requests to visit the journalist were denied. Sadygov is being held in the Kurdakhani pre-trial detention center in Baku, his lawyer told CPJ. The lawyer said that Sadygov needs medical assistance, but did not specify the reason why.
Copyright notice: Committee to Protect Journalists. All rights reserved. Articles may be reproduced only with permission from CPJ.
With needs for displaced in eastern Aleppo growing, UN renews calls for donor support
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 3 January 2017 Cite as UN News Service, With needs for displaced in eastern Aleppo growing, UN renews calls for donor support, 3 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cc10640c.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
3 January 2017 - The United Nations today reiterated its call for "immediate and long-term support" for more than 100,000 people in the Syrian city of Aleppo, warning donors that it will not be able to provide life-saving assistance without it.
In the first press briefing of the new year, the UN spokesperson in New York voiced continued concern for 116,000 people who have registered with its agencies and partners as "displaced" from formerly non-Government controlled neighbourhoods of eastern Aleppo.
"The scale of destruction in Aleppo is massive and needs enormous help," the spokesperson said, citing a lack of water and sanitation, electricity and housing, among the immediate concerns.
The UN and its partners are working closely with the Government to respond to these and other most urgent needs.
Also today, the UN called help with water shortages in Damascus, where at least four million people in the city and surrounding area have been deprived of water since just before 25 December.
The UN has rehabilitated and equipped a number of wells in and around the city, which since 22 December have been the sole source of water for the entire city, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Meanwhile, water authorities had activated emergency places to meet the minimum demands in Damascus city, OCHA said from the UN office in Geneva, with water being delivered on a rotational basis.
Iraq: UN envoy strongly condemns Baghdad terrorist attacks that kill many civilians
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 2 January 2017 Related Document(s) UN Casualties Figures for Iraq for the Month of December 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Iraq: UN envoy strongly condemns Baghdad terrorist attacks that kill many civilians, 2 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cc1e1412.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
2 January 2017 - The United Nations envoy for Iraq has strongly condemned today's triple bombings in Baghdad in which dozens of civilians were killed and injured.
This is outrageous. Terrorists of Daesh who are steadily losing ground in Iraq are now trying to sow terror and discord. They will fail here as they are failing at the frontlines, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq, Jan Kubis, said in a press release.
I call on the authorities to do their utmost in order to speedily bring the perpetrators to justice, he added, extending his condolences to the families of the lost ones, as well as wishing the injured a speedy recovery.
The attacks, which reportedly targeted a predominantly Shia Muslim neighbourhood, followed two bombings in Baghdad on New Year's eve that killed and injured scores of people.
Meanwhile, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has announced that it recorded 19,266 civilian casualties in 2016: 6,878 killed and 12,388 wounded. These casualty figures do not include the civilian casualty figures for Anbar for the months of May, July, August and December.
In December, 386 Iraqi civilians were killed and another 1,066 were injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq, UNAMI said.
Though the figures for December are lower than previous months, we are nevertheless noticing an increase in terrorist bombings towards the end of the month and in the last couple of days, targeting civilians, Mr. Kubis said.
This is, no doubt, an attempt by Daesh to divert attention from their losses in Mosul and, unfortunately, it is the innocent civilians who are paying the price, he added.
UN condemns terrorist attack in Istanbul on New Year's Day
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 1 January 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UN condemns terrorist attack in Istanbul on New Year's Day, 1 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cc2c040e.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
1 January 2017 - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres today condemned the despicable terrorist attack overnight on New Year celebrations at a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, in which dozens of people were killed and injured.
He hopes that the organizers and perpetrators of this heinous act will be identified and brought to justice swiftly, said a statement issued by Mr. Guterres' spokesman.
He extends his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and expresses his solidarity with the Government and people of the Republic of Turkey and of those countries whose nationals were impacted, the statement added.
The UN Security Council also denounced the terrorist attack at a night club that reportedly killed at least 39 people and injured 69.
The members of the Security Council condemn in the strongest terms the heinous and barbaric terrorist attack, said a press statement issued this afternoon, in which they also reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.
The Council members reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice and urged all States to cooperate actively with the Government of Turkey and all other relevant authorities in this regard.
They expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government and wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured.
Joining the condemnation of the attack was the High Representative for the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser.
The horrific attack which killed and injured dozens of innocent revelers is a despicable and an unjustifiable act regardless of the motivation, he said, extending his deepest sympathies to the families of the victims and to the people and the Government of Turkey.
UN welcomes signing of political agreement on elections in DR Congo
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 December 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN welcomes signing of political agreement on elections in DR Congo, 31 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cc2df40c.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
31 December 2016 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the signing today in Kinshasa, by the opposition and the Majorite presidentielle, of a political agreement on the holding of elections in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and transitional arrangements leading up to the polls.
The Secretary-General commends all actors involved in this effort, including the leaders of the opposition and of the Majorite presidentielle, and the Conference episcopale nationale du Congo (CENCO) for leading the mediation, said a statement issued by Mr. Ban's spokesperson. He calls on them to abide by the agreement just signed. He underscores the commitment of the United Nations to support its implementation, in line with resolution 2277 (2016).
According to the statement, this long-awaited development builds on an initial agreement signed on 18 October between part of the opposition and the Majorite presidentielle, and represents a significant step towards a peacefully managed transition consistent with the democratic principles enshrined in the country's Constitution.
Noting that all political actors must work to ensure an environment conducive to free, fair, and credible elections, including by refraining from violence, the Secretary-General encouraged the Government to redouble its efforts to uphold fundamental rights and freedoms, which are essential to a credible electoral process, the statement said.
On his final day at the helm of the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wishes continued success to the people and the Government of the DRC in their efforts to achieve peace and stability, the statement concluded.
Syria: Security Council unites in support of Russia-Turkey efforts to end violence, jumpstart political process
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 31 December 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Syria: Security Council unites in support of Russia-Turkey efforts to end violence, jumpstart political process, 31 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cc3601aa.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
31 December 2016 - The United Nations Security Council today unanimously adopted a resolution welcoming and supporting the efforts by Russia and Turkey to end violence in Syria and jumpstart a political process for the war-torn Middle Eastern country.
Also in the Russian-drafted resolution, the 15-member Council takes note of the documents issued by Russia and Turkey about the agreements the two countries have brokered, including a nationwide ceasefire and a plan to convene political talks in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, between the Syrian Government and opposition groups, in January.
The Council looks forward to the meeting in Astana, viewing it as an important part of the Syrian-led political process and an important step ahead of the resumption of negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations in Geneva on 8 February 2017.
Further in the text, the Council stressed the importance of fully implementing all relevant Security Council resolutions, particularly 2254 (2015) and 2268 (2016), which endorsed an inclusive and Syrian-led political process based on the Geneva Communique of 30 June 2012 as the only sustainable solution to the current Syrian crisis, now in its sixth year.
Millions in Ukraine are in need of humanitarian assistance, UN relief wing reports
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 30 December 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Millions in Ukraine are in need of humanitarian assistance, UN relief wing reports, 30 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cc3c540d.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
30 December 2016 - According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), an estimated 3.8 million people in Ukraine are in need of humanitarian assistance and 2.2 million are suffering as a result of no access to quality health services.
Compared to 0.7 million people needing humanitarian assistance earlier this year, the dramatic rise is due to the ongoing conflict, which has brought about restricted movement for both people and goods, suspension of social payments and pensions, and unsafe returns to non-government controlled areas. Meanwhile, ongoing hostilities have wrought extensive damage to infrastructure, leaving 3.7 million people in need of water and sanitation support.
Shelling occurring close to electricity and water installations has led to continuous interruptions in both water supply and heating systems. Due to freezing temperatures and a lack of clean water, some schools have been forced to close for days at a time. In additional to interruptions due to structural damage, there have been issues of non-payment, leaving some four million people under threat.
However, this month, several local authorities announced a plan to provide financial assistance to Voda Donbasa, a water supply company, in order to cover consumers' unpaid bills and avoid supply cuts during winter.
In order to respond to the crisis, OCHA and its partners are requesting $214 million from donors, which will cover the needs of the most vulnerable 2.6 million people. The 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) includes 94 projects and 215 partners, many of which are national non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Many homes on the front line in Ukraine have been so badly damaged by shelling that they remain abandoned. Photo: Daniel Gerstle/IRIN
OCHA's latest bulletin reports that as of 30 November, 9,598 people were killed, 22,311 wounded, and 1.1 million fled the country.
While the number of casualties has dropped slightly as winter sets in, the situation remains tense. OCHA reports that damage to housing and civilian infrastructure occurs on an almost daily basis, with the majority of incidents occurring in Mariupol, northwest of Donetsk, and Luhanska oblast, areas along the southern border.
Security checkpoints remain a threat to civilians, as both casualties and injuries have been reported over the past few months. With fewer hours of daylight and winter conditions, fewer people have been able to cross. While efforts have been made, checkpoints still lack adequate health, sanitation, and shelter facilities, putting those who are exposed to wind, snow, and freezing temperatures at greater risk as they wait in lines.
So far, the HRP has reached 33 per cent of its funding goal, compared to a 61 per cent funded plan in 2015. OCHA and other UN agencies are working to deliver humanitarian assistance alongside the Government of Russia.
UN experts criticize Ecuador's 'strategy to asphyxiate' civil society human rights groups
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 30 December 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN experts criticize Ecuador's 'strategy to asphyxiate' civil society human rights groups, 30 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cc49c40c.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
30 December 2016 - Five United Nations human rights experts have condemned Ecuador for suppressing civil society following a Government order to close a non-governmental organization (NGO) that supports environmental and indigenous rights.
"The Government of Ecuador seems to be systematically dissolving organizations when they become too vocal or challenge government orthodoxy," they said in a news release from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). "This strategy to asphyxiate civil society has been implemented via two decrees - 16 and 739 - which give the authorities powers to unilaterally dissolve any kind of organization."
"The direct consequences," they said, "are the progressive silencing of any group that challenges or offers alternative ideas to those of the government and thereby reducing visibility of the situation of vulnerable and marginalized people."
Accion Ecologica, an NGO, has been supporting the Shuar, an indigenous people who is trying to halt mining on a territory they claim as theirs. On 18 December, the NGO called for a Peace and Truth Commission to investigate attacks on indigenous and environmental rights. Two days later, the Ministry of the Environment began a dissolution process, allowing the NGO only 24 hours to respond and 10 days to present evidence in their defence.
"Dissolving groups is the most severe type of restriction on freedom of association," announced the human rights experts.
The city of Quito, Ecuador, which was declared a World Heritage Site by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in the late 1970s. Photo: UNESCO/Francesco Bandarin
The organization is only one of several who have recently been targeted by the government. Others include Pachamama, Union Nacional de Educadores, and Fundamedios, an organization that Ecuador has been trying to close over the past three years. The human rights experts have previously spoken out against the Government for these actions.
"This latest action once again violates international human rights standards, including the legitimate exercise of freedom of association. It shows consistent disregard for repeated calls by the international community to end the policy," they said.
"It is ironic that the same Government of Ecuador leading the positive international effort to make companies accountable through a binding treaty is itself reducing the space to be held accountable by domestic groups," they added.
The experts are urging the Ecuadorian authorities to guarantee that all members of all groups, particularly those that defend human rights, are fully able to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly - including their right to criticize government policies and practices. They renewed an offer to assist the Ecuadorian Government in reforming the current restrictive legislation.
Among the five Special Rapporteurs are Maina Kiai, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and association; David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; John H. Knox, Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, health, and sustainable environment; and Victoria Lucia Tauli-Corpuz, Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples.
Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. They work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work and are independent from any government or organization, and serve in their individual capacity.
In December alone, UN food relief agency assists one million people in northeast Nigeria
Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 30 December 2016 Cite as UN News Service, In December alone, UN food relief agency assists one million people in northeast Nigeria, 30 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cc4de40e.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
30 December 2016 - In December, the United Nations food aid agency has delivered food or cash to more than a million people in conflict-affected zones in northeast Nigeria, meaning that over half of those in need of urgent humanitarian assistance have now been reached.
The needs are of course tremendous, and more has to be done. Even so, this is a dramatic expansion from the 160,000 people we were able to assist as recently as October, said Sory Ouane, Nigeria Country Director and Emergency Coordinator of the World Food Programme (WFP), in a news release issued today.
The milestone came as WFP ramped up its response in Borno and Yobe States, where as many as four million people are food insecure. The region has been devastated by years of violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency: in some areas, more than half of all children under five suffer from acute malnutrition.
In areas with functioning markets, more than 170,000 people were assisted with cash. Nearly 800,000 people most of them internally displaced, in camps or in host communities benefited from food distributions; and almost 180,000 children under five were given specialized nutritious food.
Under its new Rapid Response Mechanism, which includes extensive use of helicopters and the pooling of logistics and telecommunications resources across the humanitarian community, WFP has managed to reach areas that were previously inaccessible.
Israel/Palestine: Some Officials Backing 'Shoot-to-Kill'
Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 2 January 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Israel/Palestine: Some Officials Backing 'Shoot-to-Kill', 2 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cc52218.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Some senior Israeli officials have been encouraging Israeli soldiers and police to kill Palestinians they suspect of attacking Israelis even when they are no longer a threat, Human Rights Watch said today in an analysis of those statements. Other Israeli officials have failed to repudiate the calls for excessive use of force.
Human Rights Watch has documented numerous statements since October 2015, by senior Israeli politicians, including the police minister and defense minister, calling on police and soldiers to shoot to kill suspected attackers, irrespective of whether lethal force is actually strictly necessary to protect life.
"It's not just about potentially rogue soldiers, but also about senior Israeli officials who publicly tell security forces to unlawfully shoot to kill," said Sari Bashi, Israel advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "Whatever the results of trials of individual soldiers, the Israeli government should issue clear directives to use force only in accordance with international law.
Elor Azaria, a 20-year-old Israeli soldier, is on trial for the March 24, 2016, fatal shooting of 21-year-old Abd al-Fatah al-Sharif. Al-Sharif stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron. At issue in the trial is Azaria's shooting of Sharif after he had been shot and injured by Israeli security officials.
There have been more than 150 instances since October 2015 in which security forces fatally shot Palestinian adults and children suspected of trying to stab, run over, or shoot Israelis in Israel and the West Bank. During that time, Palestinian assailants have killed 33 Israelis, including passersby and security officials, in Israel and the West Bank. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly condemned Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians.
International human rights law limits the intentional lethal use of firearms shooting to kill to circumstances in which it is strictly necessary to protect life, and in which no other, less extreme, option is viable. The Israeli open fire regulations do not note this limitation but do limit shooting at a person's torso or head to situations in which it is necessary to prevent an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury.
However, the calls by officials and the apparent conduct of some soldiers and police deviate from both international standards and the Israeli rules of engagement. With some notable exceptions, senior Israeli officials, including those who command security officers, have in some cases called for excessive use of force and in other cases failed to condemn such calls by others.
In one example, following a stabbing attack that injured two Israeli passersby in West Jerusalem on October 10, 2015, police fatally shot the 16-year-old Palestinian suspect. Jerusalem Police District Commander Moshe Edri told reporters that those who carry out attacks should be killed: "The police are doing their job and arriving quickly. Within less than a minute and a half, the attacker had already been killed. Everyone who stabs Jews or harms innocent people should be killed." Whatever justification may or may not have existed for shooting the child, Edri's final statement appears to be a call to kill all persons who use violence, even after they no longer pose a threat.
In October 2015, a radio interviewer asked Israeli Police Minister Gilad Erdan if he agreed with a statement by a lawmaker from an opposition party that "if a terrorist has a knife or screwdriver in his hand, you should shoot to kill him without thinking twice."
Erdan said yes: "Definitely. The question of course depends on the circumstances. There are clear instructions to the Israeli police. As soon as a police officer feels danger to himself or any other citizen, he needs to shoot according to the regulations. It's clear. We don't want to endanger any citizen or police officer. And also, every attacker who sets out to inflict harm should know that he will likely not survive the attack."
In contrast, the army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot gave a clear admonition to follow the Israeli military's rules of engagement, telling a group of students on February 17, 2016, that "the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] cannot speak in slogans such as, 'if someone comes to kill you, arise to kill him first.' A soldier can only unlock the safety catch if there is a threat to him or his fellow soldiers ... I don't want a soldier to empty a magazine on a girl holding scissors."
The next day, two 14-year-old Palestinians were arrested after allegedly fatally stabbing an Israeli soldier and injuring a passerby in a supermarket in the West Bank. Transportation Minister and cabinet member, Yisrael Katz, of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, referred to the incident on Facebook, saying that: "The attackers were caught and remained alive. I hope that the statements of the chief of staff, whom I appreciate and commend, against the automatic shooting of minors, were not misunderstood, causing hesitation and endangering lives. Because sometimes the message is greater than the words. The restrictions and codes are clear, but we cannot let attackers remain alive, risking the lives of Jews."
In the wake of the publication of a video of the al-Sharif killing, Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, then-Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, and Eisenkot affirmed the need to obey the Israeli military's rules of engagement, which limit the use of force to situations in which there is a threat of death or serious bodily injury and, in some circumstances, to stop fleeing suspects. Yaalon, however, was soon replaced by the current defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who in October 2015, when he was an opposition member of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, wrote on his Facebook page that the government should adopt a policy that "no attacker, male or female, should make it out of any attack alive."
Given the prevalence and prominence of statements encouraging security forces to shoot to kill even when not strictly necessary to protect life, and persistent and credible allegations of excessive use of force, Netanyahu and senior security officials should issue strong public and private admonitions to intentionally use lethal force only when strictly necessary to protect life.
The authorities should regulate the use of force by soldiers and police and conduct credible investigations of all cases in which suspicions of excessive use of force, including extrajudicial killings, arise. The authorities should also change the rules of engagement to limit intentionally lethal use of force to situations in which it is strictly necessary to protect life, in accordance with international standards.
"Now is the perfect moment for the top officials of the country to repudiate the shoot-to-kill rhetoric and clearly outline the limitations on soldiers and police opening fire to kill," Bashi said.
The Use of Lethal Force
Statements by senior Israeli officials, including those at the top of the chain of command, encourage violation of both the international standards regarding the use of force as well as the rules of engagement that Israel issues to its soldiers and police officers. In some cases, officials directly responsible for the conduct of law enforcement officers have publicly encouraged them to kill rather than to arrest suspected attackers when feasible. In other cases, senior political and religious officials who are employed and paid by the government have encouraged the killing of suspected Palestinian attackers, and other senior officials have failed to repudiate those statements.
In many of the more than 150 cases since October 2015, in which Israeli security forces fatally shot Palestinians who allegedly attacked or tried to attack Israelis with knives, guns, or motor vehicles, video footage and/or witness accounts raise serious questions about the necessity of the use of lethal force. Amnesty International, the Palestinian human rights group Al Haq and a coalition of nine Israeli human rights groups have called on Israeli officials to rein in excessive use of force. Citing video footage, forensic evidence, and eyewitness accounts in many of the more than 150 cases in which security officials lethally shot suspected attackers, the groups have said that security forces appear to have killed Palestinians after they no longer posed a threat, killed Palestinians who did not appear to be carrying out an attack at all, or used lethal force to subdue attackers when non-lethal force would have sufficed.
While the Israeli authorities conduct criminal investigations into every fatal shooting of Palestinians by security forces in the West Bank, Azaria is the only security officer to face trial for the shooting death of a Palestinian in the past year.
In October 2015, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel wrote to Israel's attorney general, expressing concern about official endorsements of a shoot-to-kill policy and demanding investigations into two alleged cases of excessive use of force. In a response letter, the Attorney General's Office affirmed the need to follow the rules of engagement and said that the attorney general had reminded police and government officials to do so. "Shooting after the threat of harm to life or limb has already been thwarted would violate the provisions of the law," the letter said.
Rabbis, Lawmakers
Yet official endorsement of a shoot-to-kill policy continues.
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who holds the state-funded, statutory position of Israel's Chief Sephardic Rabbi, said in a March 12, 2016 sermon, partly in response to Eisenkot's admonition to limit the use of lethal force, that the Bible authorizes a shoot-to-kill policy: "'Whoever comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.' let them afterward take you to the High Court of Justice or bring some military chief of staff who will say something else As soon as an attacker knows that if he comes with a knife, he won't return alive, it will deter them. That's why it's a religious commandment to kill him."
The Sephardic Chief Rabbi does not command police or soldiers, but he heads the Supreme Rabbinical Tribunal and is tasked with advising on the interpretation of religious law. He is chosen by a committee composed of public officials and more junior state-appointed rabbis and is the state-appointed authority on religious law for the roughly half of Jewish Israelis of Arab or Eastern descent. Netanyahu did not publicly repudiate Yosef's statement.
Such statements are also coming from politicians inside Netanyahu's government. For example, Bezalel Smotrich of the Jewish Home Party, part of Netanyahu's coalition, said in a February 2016 speech in the Knesset that: "An attacker who sets out to kill a Jew because he's a Jew, whatever his age, does not make it out alive. Period." Smotrich has repeated that statement multiple times since then on social media. Another lawmaker, Naavah Boker, from Netanyahu's Likud party, said in an interview on April 21, 2016 that: "A terrorist should simply be killed," also quoting the Biblical passage that "whoever comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first."
In July, Eisenkot reaffirmed his support for the incoming Chief Military Rabbi, Eyal Karim, after records came to light showing that, in 2003, Karim told religious followers that "suicide attackers who have been injured, should be killed." Eisenkot distanced himself from that statement and others considered contrary to the military's policy but confirmed that he would still give Karim the army's top religious post. In August, female lawmakers from the left-wing Meretz party petitioned Israel's Supreme Court to block the appointment, citing Karim's statements against integrating women in the army and negative comments he made about the LGBT community and non-Jewish soldiers. The petition was withdrawn after Karim articulated more moderate positions consistent with IDF policy on the above-mentioned issues. He did not address or repudiate his statements about killing "attackers who have been injured". On December 2, 2016, he was sworn in as the Chief Military Rabbi.
Public Opinion, Support
According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, about half of Jewish Israelis define themselves as religious or traditional, not including ultra-Orthodox Jews, who usually do not serve in the army. Conscription for non-ultra-Orthodox Jewish men is universal. Most soldiers are in their teens or early 20s, and after a few months of basic training, they can be sent to serve in the occupied West Bank.
In an August 2016 poll by the Israel Democracy Institute, 47 percent of Jewish Israelis said they agreed with the statement that "any Palestinian who carries out a terror attack against Jews should be killed on the spot, even if he has been captured and clearly does not pose a threat." Among young people ages 18 to 24, the age of most soldiers, support for that statement stood at 69 percent. In addition, 72 percent of Israeli Jews of all ages who identified as religious or traditional agreed with that statement.
In the past, most prominently during the 2005 "disengagement" from the Gaza Strip, soldiers who have refused to obey the orders of their commanders to withdraw from territory or dismantle Israeli settlements have cited rabbinical commandments as justification.
Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Iraq: IS bombings in Baghdad demonstrate an appalling disregard for civilian life
Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 3 January 2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Iraq: IS bombings in Baghdad demonstrate an appalling disregard for civilian life, 3 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cc5ffd.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
The armed group calling itself the Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for Monday's bombings, that targeted civilians in the predominantly Shi'a neighborhood of Sadr city, Baghdad. In response, Samah Hadid, Deputy Director for Campaigns at Amnesty International's Beirut regional office.said:
"The systematic targeting of civilians in busy neighborhoods during day time, shows the Islamic State's appalling disregard for human life and an intent to harm and terrorize a civilian population. By claiming responsibility for these horrific attacks, the Islamic State is boasting of committing war crimes.
"Such deliberate attacks on civilians can never be justified and constitute a clear violation of international humanitarian law. They must be stopped immediately and those behind the attacks must be brought to justice."
According to media reports, the multiple bombings left at least 35 people dead and more than sixty injured, with one targeting a busy market in the heart of Sadr city, another targeting the nearby car park of Al-Kindi hospital and the third exploding near the Jawader hospital.
The IS also claimed the 31 December twin bombings in Baghdad that have claimed at least 28 lives and led to a further 50 injuries, according to media reports.
Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International
Four injured during Baghdad protest about journalist's abduction
Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 3 January 2017 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Four injured during Baghdad protest about journalist's abduction, 3 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cf02f4.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) roundly condemns the use of violence to disperse yesterday's demonstration in Baghdad in support of kidnapped journalist Afrah Shawqi and reminds the authorities of the urgent need to shed light on her disappearance. Shawqi was abducted from her home a week ago.
The police fired shots in the air and beat four demonstrators with the butts of their Kalashnikov rifles, said Qais Qasim, one of the journalists participating in the protest, which coincided with a visit to Baghdad by French President Francois Hollande. One of the demonstrators was hospitalized in a critical condition.
Around 200 people gathered yesterday near the main entrance to the governmental "Green Zone" to demand progress in the investigation into Afrah Shawqi's abduction. Although Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi promised to "do the utmost to protect her, find her and capture the group or groups responsible," her family and colleagues have yet to be given any information.
Journalists have been gathering in central Baghdad's Tahrir Square at around 10 a.m. every day since her abduction. Yesterday, they decided to move closer to the government's headquarters to step up the pressure, and they were near the 14 July suspension bridge (on the route usually taken by official motorcades) at the very moment when Hollande was due to go to the presidential palace.
The police asked the protesters to return to Tahrir Square, where demonstrations are usually tolerated, but some refused to leave, Qasim said. It was at this point that the police fired in the air to disperse them.
The Baghdad-based Journalistic Freedoms Observatory confirmed that several journalists were beaten and were threatened with arrest.
"Iraq is already one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists, so the police should be protecting journalists instead of posing an additional threat to them," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.
"We also remind the authorities that shedding all possible light on Afrah Shawqi's abduction is a matter of the utmost urgency, and we call on the prime minister to keep his promise to do whatever is necessary to locate Shawqi and those responsible for her abduction."
Shawqi was kidnapped from her Baghdad home on the evening of 26 December by eight armed men in civilian dress claiming to be members of the security forces. They took mobile phones, computers, jewels and cash during a search of her home and finally also took her car as they left with her. There has been no news of her whereabouts since then.
Saad al-Massoudi, Al Arabiya's Paris correspondent, said Shawqi's professionalism as a journalist was widely recognized. "Her articles often draw attention to the problems in Iraqi society and the corruption, and she is not scared to tackle the sensitive subjects that concern Iraqis," he said.
Shawqi writes for many newspapers and websites including Aklaam (which means "Pens" in Arabic). Hours before being kidnapped, she posted an article on Aklaam that criticized how armed groups are able to operate with complete impunity in Iraq.
According to RSF's latest annual round-up, seven journalists were killed in 2016 in Iraq, which is ranked 158th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index.
Bahrain: Human rights defender Nabeel Rajab re-arrested on other charges despite court order to temporarily release him
Publisher International Federation for Human Rights Publication Date 30 December 2016 Cite as International Federation for Human Rights, Bahrain: Human rights defender Nabeel Rajab re-arrested on other charges despite court order to temporarily release him, 30 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cf0f74.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Following the court's decision to temporarily release Bahrain's most prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab in a Twitter case, he was immediately taken into custody on another investigation in relation to televised interviews dating back to 2015 and January 2016. The pending charges are without substance and must be dropped and he must be immediately and unconditionally released, say the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH-OMCT), the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Front Line Defenders and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), who mandated a joint trial observation mission.
On 28 December 2016, following an important mobilisation for his release, Manama's Fifth High Criminal Court acceded to an application for Nabeel Rajab's temporary release following a failure to give any basis or any sufficient evidence of a link between him and the Twitter account with respect to the Yemeni and Jaw prison tweets (see below).
" The quality of the evidence from the purported computer forensic expert was very poor. It extended no further than a recital of the results of a basic google search, " said the trial observer. " The supposedly neutral expert witness is an employee of the Bahrain government Ministry of interior, " he added.
According to defense submisisions made by Rajab's lawyer during the hearing: "There has never been any sound legal justification to hold Nabeel Rajab in detention in this trial because of a lack of evidence since the very start of this case. The evidence of the Ministry of Interior's so-called expert before the Court today makes it clearer than ever that at no point in time has there been, nor probably could there have been, any technical evidence to support this prosecution. Hence Nabeel Rajab's release should be ordered forthwith." The judge agreed and ordered the temporary release of Rajab until the next hearing scheduled on 23 January 2017 in which the court will allow the Public Prosecution to present new evidence against Nabeel Rajab, after such was requested by the Public Prosecution.
Nabeel Rajab thus continues to face charges of allegedly "offending a foreign country" (Saudi Arabia) and "offending national institutions," for comments about the alleged torture of inmates in Bahrain's Jaw Prison in March 2015. He still faces up to 15 years in prison notably for tweets critical of Bahrain's participation in Saudi Arabia-led military operations in Yemen, which according to the United Nations, have so far been responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians. A travel ban remains in place as it has been without a break for almost three years.
Then Rajab was taken to the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) for temporary release. However, he was re-arrested later on the same day and referred to the Public Prosecution in relation to an investigation into televised interviews dating from 2015 and January 2016, which commenced in mid-June 2016. He will be held for seven days on these charges. It seems that these interviews were with television networks which support the Bahraini opposition: a Bahraini network (based in the United Kingdom), a Lebanese network and an Iranian network.
" It is shocking that the Court has only ordered Nabeel Rajab's temporary release when there was a finding of no evidence after more than a year of the Twitter case. It is extraordinary that he has been immediately taken back into custody for investigation on charges relating to events that date back to 2015 and January 2016, in an investigation which has been completely dormant since mid-June 2016, " noted the trial observer.
Nabeel Rajab is the co-founder and President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), Founding Director of GCHR, Deputy Secretary General of FIDH from 2012 to 2016, and a member of the Middle East advisory committee at Human Rights Watch. Comments on his Twitter account about the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Yemen first led to his arrest on April 2, 2015. He remained in custody until he received a royal pardon for health reasons and was thus released on July 13, 2015. Again on 13 June 2016 he was arrested for the televised interviews. During his detention in relation to the televised interviews' investigation he was referred for trial in the criminal court in relation to the Yemeni war Tweets. He remained in detention on these charges until December 28, 2016.
He has suffered from poor health in prison including heart problems. Most worryingly, he has been held in solitary confinement for the vast majority of that period and denied access to proper care. It is reported that his cell is air conditioned but filthy and infested with cockroaches. On 3 October, 2016, he was taken to the Bahraini Defense Forces hospital for surgery to remove his gallbladder. Despite the risks of moving him back to jail, Rajab was taken from the hospital the day after his surgery and placed in solitary confinement in a dirty cell. Three days after surgery, he was taken back to court.
" The practice of holding a person in solitary confinement for prolonged periods is internationally recognised [1] as a form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment that may amount to torture. Solitary confinement can have a devastating effect on a prisoner's mental health " remarked the trial observer.
Charges regarding the Yemeni Tweets are based on Articles 133 and 160 of Bahrain's Penal code and provide for up to 10 years in prison for anyone who "deliberately announces in wartime false or malicious news, statements or rumors." Charges regarding the televised interviews are based on Article 134 of the Penal code, which provides between three months and three years of imprisonment for releasing deliberately "abroad false or malicious news or statements or rumours about domestic conditions or for exercising in any manner whatsoever activities that are harmful to the national interests."
In September 2016, an additional investigation was initiated against Rajab following the publication on September 05, 2016 of an Op-Ed in The New York Times with his by-line, which discussed the conditions of his imprisonment and arrest. The pending charge of "intentionally broadcasting false news and malicious rumours abroad impairing the prestige of the State" carries an additional one-year prison term if he is convicted.
On December 21, 2016, Rajab was interrogated in connection with a letter published in his name in the French newspaper Le Monde on December 19, which urged Paris and Berlin to "reassess their relationship with [members of the Gulf Cooperation Council], which actively work against democracy and human rights and fan the flames of violence and extremism."
Human rights organisations, the UN and government representatives worldwide have all called for Rajab to be released, including through ANRI "Their Freedom is Their Right" Campaign which named him Prisoner of the Month in September, FIDH #RT4Freedom website, and a case history by Front Line Defenders.
ANHRI, Front Line Defenders, GCHR and the Observatory (FIDH-OMCT) call on the Government of Bahrain to:
1. Immediately and unconditionally release Nabeel Rajab and drop all charges against him, as well as remove his travel ban;
2. Uphold international legal standards including ensuring that technical experts are independent; and
3. End all forms of reprisals against human rights defenders and other activists in Bahrain, including travel bans, to which they have been subjected in violation of their rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.
Conviction of Israeli soldier must pave the way for justice for unlawful killings
Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 4 January 2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Conviction of Israeli soldier must pave the way for justice for unlawful killings, 4 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586d077c4.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
The conviction of an Israeli soldier who shot dead a Palestinian man involved in a knife attack in Hebron as he lay wounded on the ground offers a small glimmer of hope amid the rampant impunity for unlawful killings in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said Amnesty International today.
The soldier, Elor Azaria, was found guilty of the manslaughter of Abed al-Fatah al-Sharif, one of two Palestinians believed to have been involved in the stabbing of an Israeli soldier on 24 March 2016 in Hebron, after a military court ruled unanimously that his actions violated the Israeli army's rules of engagement.
"Today's conviction of a member of the Israeli forces is a rare occurrence in a country with a long record of using excessive and unwarranted force, and where soldiers who may have committed crimes under international law very seldom face prosecution. The verdict is a small step in the right direction and offers a glimmer of hope that soldiers who commit unlawful killings may no longer go unpunished," said Philip Luther, Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
Video evidence which emerged of the incident showed Elor Azaria appearing to shoot the injured man with no apparent justification, and the court ruled that the only reason for the shooting was his wish to take revenge for the previous knife attack. For a soldier to carry out the deliberate killing of someone who had been captured and posed no imminent threat to life would amount to an extrajudicial execution and is a crime under international law.
Elor Azari's claims that he had acted in self-defence fearing the wounded man wore an explosive vest were firmly rejected by the court.
A spike in violence in the West Bank since October 2015 has seen a rise in unlawful killings including stabbing and other attacks on Israeli soldiers, police and civilians by Palestinians and apparent extrajudicial executions by Israeli forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Over the past year at least 16
Israelis have been killed during attacks by Palestinians and at least 110 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.
Previous Israeli investigations into such violations have fallen far short of international standards. In several cases Israeli forces were not held accountable despite strong evidence that a crime had taken place.
"Sadly, this case is just the tip of the iceberg. Time and again we have witnessed cases where Israeli forces appear to have carried out unlawful killings, displaying an appalling disregard for human life. The authorities' repeated failure to hold anyone accountable for flagrant violations has fostered a culture in which unlawful killings have become acceptable," said Philip Luther.
"To end this bitter cycle of unlawful killings it is crucial that those responsible for violations are held accountable for their actions."
In a memorandum sent to the Israeli authorities in September 2016 Amnesty International highlighted at least 20 cases of apparently unlawful killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces. In at least 15 of these cases those killed were deliberately shot dead, despite posing no imminent threat to life.
Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International
UN warns Myanmar that demolishing Rohingya homes will 'heighten tensions'
Publisher IRIN Author Emanuel Stoakes Publication Date 2 January 2017 Cite as IRIN, UN warns Myanmar that demolishing Rohingya homes will 'heighten tensions', 2 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586d0a234.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
The UN has warned authorities that plans to demolish hundreds of homes belonging to ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims will "heighten tensions" in Myanmar's Rakhine state, where the military is accused of abusing civilians during counterinsurgency operations.
The warning came in a 28 December letter, obtained by IRIN and addressed to Rakhine State Chief Minister Nyi Pu. It said that more than 100 structures have already been destroyed, and the UN has "received reports that the Border Guard Police have served orders to demolish 819 buildings owned by Muslims, including 696 houses."
The UN is also concerned about a "household survey" underway in areas where tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled military operations, according to the letter. The survey could mean that the displaced are struck from the official list of residents, leaving them unable to legally return home once the violence stops.
UN officials have confirmed the authenticity of the letter, which was signed by the UN's senior advisor on Rakhine State, Chris Carter.
In the letter, Carter called the demolitions and the survey "provocative".
The demolitions and survey are taking place in northern Rakhine State, where the military has been conducting "clearing operations" after a Rohingya insurgent group attacked border police posts on 9 October. Rohingya who fled over the border into Bangladesh have told journalists and rights groups that soldiers have committed widespread atrocities, including burning houses, as well as raping and killing civilians.
Government confusion
Demolitions are not unusual in Myanmar, where laws require the destruction of structures built without permits. But there is confusion among government officials as to why the survey and demolitions are taking place now, while the military is clashing with insurgents and about 80,000 civilians have been displaced.
"We already told them to hold their plan in this very sensitive situation," said Zaw Htay, a spokesman for the office of President Htin Kyaw, referring to orders given to state officials. "The central government has already intervened."
A UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IRIN the UN has received similar assurances from the central government, but structures are still being destroyed.
"We are still trying to determine whether the ongoing demolitions are just actions by rogue local officials... or a more calculated move by others," the official said.
Tin Maung Shwe, the deputy director for Rakhine State at the central government's powerful General Administration Department, told IRIN there has been "a misunderstanding at the grassroots level".
"We are making inquiries," he added.
Growing tensions
Rohingya Muslims comprise about a third of Rakhine State's population of just over three million, where the majority are ethnic Rakhine Buddhists. There have long been tensions between the communities, and violence in 2012 killed hundreds of people and displaced about 140,000. Almost all the victims were Rohingya, and about 100,000 still remain in camps.
Almost all Rohingya are stateless, having had their citizenship stripped by Myanmar's former military rulers. Although Rohingya have lived in the area for hundreds of years, many in Myanmar consider them illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. They are forced to live under an apartheid system in which their movements are strictly controlled.
Rakhine State conducts the household survey on a yearly basis for the purpose of monitoring the Rohingya community. Only those on the "household lists" produced by this exercise are eligible to reside in their homes.
"It usually takes place in January in northern Rakhine, but began in November this year," said the UN official. "It's not happening elsewhere in Rakhine at this time, only in the three northern townships."
The three northern townships of Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Maungdaw have been highly militarised since 9 October. The townships are home to most of the state's Rohingya - and all of those displaced by the counter-insurgency operations. That means tens of thousands of people who have fled their villages could be made permanently homeless, since they can't take part in the survey.
The decision to conduct a household survey now and destroy homes will have the effect of "heightening a state-led campaign of atrocity crimes and ethnic cleansing," said Matthew Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights, a group that has recently collected testimonies from Rohingya of atrocities committed by soldiers.
"If they aren't on the list, they will have no choice but to flee to Bangladesh," he told IRIN. "Giving people no option but to flee the country can be considered forced deportation."
The UN has similar concerns. The letter refers to reports that the "names of missing people identified by the new household survey are being permanently struck from the household lists."
More than 50,000 Rohingya have fled into neighbouring Bangladesh in the past three months, according to the government there, while the UN has said another 30,000 people are internally displaced.
As many as half a million Rohingya are already living in overcrowded camps Bangladesh, having crossed the border during attacks against their communities since the 1970s.
The roots and risks of Myanmar's new Rohingya insurgency
Publisher IRIN Author Jared Ferrie Publication Date 3 January 2017 Cite as IRIN, The roots and risks of Myanmar's new Rohingya insurgency, 3 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586d0aac4.html [accessed 4 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Proghyananda Vikkhu stood in his purple monk's robe in front of gleaming gold statues of the Buddha, recalling the night that a mob of nationalist Muslims attacked his monastery in eastern Bangladesh.
"This monastery is 300 years old and it was totally demolished on that night in 2012," he said. "Within one year, the Bangladesh government totally rebuilt it with help from the army."
The mob also sacked a village next door, motivated in part by twisted retribution for attacks by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists on ethnic Rohingya Muslims on the other side of the border, in Myanmar.
The government and military responses to violence against Bangladesh's Buddhist minority and Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority couldn't be more different.
Hundreds of people were killed in Myanmar's Rakhine State in 2012 and 140,000 were forced into displacement camps. Almost all the victims were Rohingya, burnt out of their homes by mobs of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, and about 100,000 remain in camps today.
The 157-year-old mosque in the state capital, Sittwe, is still damaged. It's now off-limits to worshippers, and instead serves as a police post.
Unlike Buddhists who enjoy the rights of full citizens in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims saw their citizenship stripped away during decades of military rule.
Today, overwhelmingly-Buddhist Myanmar is led by a nominally civilian government headed by Nobel Laureate Aung San Su Kyi, but this shift away from direct military rule has not helped the Rohingya. They live under an apartheid system, with their movements severely restricted, along with their access to healthcare, education, and employment.
Decades of oppression have fuelled anger in the Rohingya community, which has recently given rise to an insurgency that threatens stability in Myanmar as well as Bangladesh. Analysts warn that the insurgency could attract support from international Islamist militant groups, including the so-called Islamic State.
"We cannot take this lightly, either as Bangladesh or members of the international community," said A.N.M. Muniruzzaman, a retired major-general who now heads the Bangladesh Institute for Peace and Security Studies.
He said Bangladesh should sponsor a UN Security Council resolution that would aim to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State and stop Myanmar from forcing Rohingya over the border.
On 30 December, 11 Nobel Peace Prize Winners also urged the UN Security Council to take action, and they accused Myanmar of "ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity". Aung San Suu Kyi, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for her decades-long struggle against Myanmar's former junta, was not among the signatories.
Rising insurgency
It was in direct response to the 2012 violence that some Rohingya began organising the nascent insurgency, according to a recent report by the International Crisis Group. A committee of Rohingya in Mecca oversees the group, which is called Harakah al-Yakin ["Faith Movement" in Arabic], and 20 Rohingya with international experience in guerrilla warfare are leading operations on the ground, ICG said.
Harakah al-Yakin struck first on 9 October, with hundreds of insurgents carrying out coordinated attacks on Myanmar police border posts that killed nine officers in Maungdaw, a frontier township. Four soldiers were killed in clashes on 11 October, while another soldier died and several more were wounded on 12 November before the insurgents retreated to a village, pursued by troops.
"Several hundred villagers, armed with whatever they had to hand [knives and farming implements], supported the attackers, seemingly spontaneously," ICG said.
The military called in air support after a lieutenant-colonel was shot dead, and two helicopter gunships "allegedly fired indiscriminately" at villagers trying to flee, according to the report. After the 12 November battles, "the military considerably stepped up its operations" in Maungdaw, said ICG.
Since then, there have been reports of widespread military abuses against Rohingya civilians, including rapes, killings, and disappearances. Rohingya have been fleeing by the tens of thousands into Bangladesh.
"Violence and abuses are likely to boost support for the armed group," ICG warned. "People pushed to desperation and anger, with no hope for the future, are more likely to embrace extremist responses, however counterproductive."
Uncooperative
Allegations of abuse have been met by flat denials from the government, which refuses to allow journalists and investigators into Maungdaw. Myanmar's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Aye Aye Soe told IRIN she did not believe the International Organization for Migration when it said at least 34,000 Rohingya had crossed into Bangladesh since military operations began.
The new arrivals join as many as half a million Rohingya who have fled to Bangladesh during attacks on their communities over the past few decades. Impoverished and overpopulated, Bangladesh struggles to host the refugees, and it now faces the potential that the overcrowded camps could become recruiting grounds for Harakah al-Yakin. Already, hundreds of Rohingya refugees have crossed back into Myanmar to join the insurgency, according to ICG.
Still, Myanmar continues to insist the situation in Rakhine State is "not an international issue", as a 19 December article posted to the Ministry of Information website put it.
Muniruzzaman said Bangladesh has unsuccessfully tried to "woo" Myanmar into working together to resolve issues in Rakhine State. He noted that Aung San Suu Kyi has visited virtually every other country in the region aside from Bangladesh.
Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry summoned Myanmar's ambassador in both November and December to offer its cooperation on resolving issues in Rakhine State so that the Rohingya can go home.
On 23 November, the ministry urged Myanmar to consider allowing an "independent investigation" into allegations of military abuses. The ministry also requested that Myanmar "take urgent appropriate measures so that Muslim minorities in the Rakhine State are not forced to seek shelter across the border", according to a statement.
Myanmar has thus far failed to do either.
Complicated history
Many of the problems facing the approximately one million Rohingya in Myanmar are rooted in one overarching issue - statelessness. Unfortunately, full citizenship is largely based on membership in one of the 135 "national races", which do not include the Rohingya.
"It goes way, way past in history, whether they are citizens or not," said Aye Aye Soe. "And then it depends on a lot of issues. You have to consider both communities in Rakhine State."
The other community - ethnic Rakhines who comprise about two thirds of the state's population - largely consider the Rohingya illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. It is a sentiment widely shared throughout Myanmar, but it's based on a false history that nationalists have propagated over decades: that the Rohingya, whom they call "Bengalis", arrived during the British colonial period or afterwards.
Myanmar's Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture even announced in mid-December that it would publish a treatise showing that the Rohingya are not from Myanmar.
The ancient ancestry of the Rakhine and Rohingya people is the subject of much debate, but historians say that both identities emerged from the kingdom of Arakan, which encompassed much of today's Rakhine State, as well as areas that are now in Bangladesh. The identity of each is based to great extent on religion, and there is ample evidence of both a Buddhist and Muslim presence in the kingdom.
Archeologists have unearthed coins from the 15th century that show Arakanese rulers using Islamic titles. But Michael Charney, a historian at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies, argues that there were relatively few Muslims residing in Arakan until slave raids in the 17th century greatly boosted the population.
"Although there is very little evidence of a rural Muslim community in Arakan prior to the 1570s, they clearly made up a substantial proportion of the population in the 1770s, prior to Burman rule," he a href="http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/6119/" target="_blank">writes.
The Burmans, who comprise modern Myanmar's most populous and politically-powerful ethnic group, conquered Arakan in 1784. But Burma ruled for only 40 years before the British took it over, after which there was further migration into the region from what is now Bangladesh.
Citizenship
Myanmar insists that, in order to receive citizenship, Rohingya Muslims must provide evidence that their families were living in Rakhine State before the British conquest in 1824.
From an international perspective, it is anomalous to disenfranchise the descendants of people who arrived 193 years ago or even later. If other countries were to impose similar restrictions, many people who fled Myanmar during half a century of military dictatorship would suddenly find themselves stateless too.
It's also difficult for many Rohingya to prove their lineage, even if it does pre-date British rule. Identification documents have been lost throughout the years, including some that burnt along with their houses.
The differences between citizenship policies in Myanmar and Bangladesh are striking. Minority Buddhists who find themselves living in a predominantly Muslim country - on one side of a border arbitrarily drawn by the British - do not have to prove their right to be citizens. They are born Bangladeshi.
Buddhist teachings
Even so, anti-Rohingya prejudice is also common in the Rakhine Buddhist minority community in Bangladesh, according to Kya Thein Aung, who is Rakhine and head of Cox's Bazar City College.
"Our parents told us Rohingya means a floating culture: people who don't have a place," he said. In contrast: "We are the original people of this land."
Kya Thein Aung said he doubted that most reports of abuses against Rohingya were true. "If Myanmar denied to give them citizenship, then you can take them to another country," he added.
Proghyananda Vikkhu, the Buddhist monk who is associate director of the Sima Bihar monastery in Ramu, had a more enlightened view.
"The Myanmar military is responsible for torturing Rohingya people," said Vikkhu, who is a member of the Barua ethnic minority.
He said Buddhism teaches that all people have the right to be happy and live peacefully, and he condemned Buddhists who participated in attacks against Rohingya communities.
"The people who take part in this kind of violence don't follow the rules of Buddhism," he said. "They are not real Buddhists."
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Center for Performance is finished, more to do at Hall of Fame Village
Wang Qishan (C), head of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, visits Shanxi Dayun Automobile Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in Yuncheng, northern China's Shanxi Province, Nov. 17, 2016.
The discipline arm of the ruling Chinese Communist Party has aired a television propaganda film lauding President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign, which he has vowed will target both high-ranking "tigers" and low-ranking "flies."
A dramatization of the work of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), "Fighting Iron With Iron" will air in three parts on state broadcaster CCTV through Thursday at peak viewing time in the evening.
The film airs amid growing criticism of the CCDI's use of torture and extrajudicial detention of suspects and witnesses to cases under investigation.
Based on interviews with more than 30 CCDI teams across China, the film has been hailed by state media as "though-provoking, alarming and a strong warning."
Veteran journalist Xu Xiang said the movie is being seen as the political swan-song of CCDI chairman Wang Qishan, whose term in office is due to expire at the 19th Party Congress later this year.
"Will the next congress endorse him to remain in his job, or will [they decide] that he has reached retirement age?" Xu said. "Now is a very good time for him to be publicizing his so-called achievements to the world, while he is still in office."
"This is a showcase, a form of personal statement, from him," he said.
Independent political commentator Liu Rui said the film is part of a slew of propaganda offerings that will increase in the run-up to the 19th Party Congress.
"The main point of this attempt to clean up the party is to bolster its grip on power," Liu said. "There will be all kinds of changes in leadership at every level, and if they don't continue with the anti-corruption campaign during this time, they will find it extremely difficult to do so after the congress meets."
He said the fact that the CCDI has made the movie is interesting, however.
"Let me put it this way," Liu said. "Nobody is monitoring the monitors, and people will be asking who will be monitoring the central government in its supervision of governments and officials at local level."
Selling a lie
Beijing-based rights activist Hu Jia said there is a limit to what such a production can achieve.
"If they are aiming to create a harmonious and stable political environment for the 19th Party Congress, of course it's important to get public opinion on their side," Hu said.
"It's selling them a lie, and some people will build false hopes that are based on that lie, but more and more people are less willing to be brainwashed by party propaganda nowadays, in my view," he said.
"All of this is just scratching the surface, if the system doesn't change," he said.
The movie isn't the CCDI's first foray into film-making.
In October, the graft-busting agency aired an eight-part television series titled "Forever On The Way," giving its account of investigations into eight "tigers" netted by the campaign, including former Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai, former public security minister Zhou Yongkang and former top generals Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong.
Around the same time, President Xi Jinping was denouncing Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou, and Ling Jihua for "engaging in political conspiracy activities," according to a copy of a speech made by Xi at a high-level political meeting last October and published by state-run news agency Xinhua this week.
He told the meeting, which later described him as a "core leader," that the disgraced former leaders were also financially greedy and led corrupt lifestyles.
Xi's ideological campaign intensified earlier this year with his tour of the country's leading state media outlets, and is intended to send out a strong message that "careerists and conspirators" and "cabals and cliques" won't be tolerated in party ranks.
"There are careerists and conspirators existing in our party and undermining the party's governance," Xi said last January without naming any names.
Attempts to neutralize rivals
Political analysts said Xi's accusations were proof that the anti-corruption campaign has far more to do with the president's attempts to neutralize his political rivals than with genuinely cleaning up the party, however.
Critics say the anti-corruption campaign is highly selective, while rights lawyers have slammed the party's internal investigation system for resorting to torture and other abuses to elicit forced confessions.
Guangzhou-based writer Ye Du said the movie is being aired now, because it is crucial for Xi's administration to continue promoting the official narrative on the anti-corruption campaign.
"I am hearing that they plan to continue with the anti-corruption campaign beyond the 19th Party Congress, and so this has to be established and supported as the key narrative," Ye said.
"They are stepping up their propaganda about the campaigns with exhibitions and film and television, in the hope of improving the system and making it more effective," he said.
"But it is precisely because this is an undemocratic system that this problem remains unsolved, even after several years of the anti-corruption campaign," Ye said.
He said the only way the government has any control over what its officials do is to keep them in a state of constant fear.
Last month, a new report from the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that the shuanggui system run by the CCDI has no basis in Chinese law, but is the first to detain and question officials for suspected corruption, often holding them for long periods in secret and placing their family members under house arrest.
Detainees under its "special measures" are often subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation, enforced stress positions, deprivation of food and water, and beatings, it said.
HRW called on the Chinese government to abolish the shuanggui system, which is an extrajudicial process that takes place before any criminal charges are laid, and which sets a detailed blueprint for all the judicial processes that follow.
Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Lee Lai for the Cantonese Service. Translated by Luisetta Mudie.
The stage is set for the ground breaking of the$6-billion project, but issues over compensation and jobs remain, Dec. 25, 2016.
Work began on the controversial Laos-China railway as crews started clearing the right-of-way in the ancient Lao city of Luang Prabang late last month, but questions over who will get the bulk of the jobs building the $6 billion project and how much people displaced by the construction will get paid still linger.
After the construction was officially opened in a ceremony on Dec. 25, the company is gearing up for construction, Fasanan Thammavong, director general of Luang Prabang province public works and transport department told RFAs Lao Service. It was not clear if the company he was referring to is the main Chinese partner, the state-owned China Railway Corporation, or the bilateral project.
While Fasanan told RFA that his department was reaching out to the people affected by the construction, he admitted that they were still ironing out the final details.
Our duty is to cooperate and negotiate with the affected people for the government, he said. In Luang Prabang, the number of affected families as well as compensations are not finalized yet, and more details are being collected and studied.
The Lao parliament approved the high-speed railway project in 2012 amid hopes that it would lower the cost of exports and consumer goods while boosting investment in the poverty-stricken nation, but the project has faced numerous setbacks.
Some of those setbacks are now in the railways rearview mirror, but residents who will lose land and other property to the rail project have yet to receive any compensation.
And while officials told RFA that Lao workers would be hired to operate the heavy equipment, he declined to say how many Chinese workers will be employed to build the project.
Who gets the work?
They hired Lao workers to use heavy equipment to clear the land, he said. So far only the Chinese technical team is here. Their workers are not here yet.
It has been previously reported that more than 50,000 mostly Chinese workers will be hired to build the project.
A source in Oudomxay provinces Xay district told RFA that four villas are being built to accommodate Chinese workers in area, and that about 100 Chinese workers are already in the province, ant they are gearing up for the railways construction there.
Fasanan told RFA that he was unsure how many Laos would be hired in his district.
I do not know more details on the Lao workers who will work on the project, he said.
Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Khampheng Saysompheng recently told local media that his ministry has yet to be told about the make-up of the workforce.
We still don't know what kinds of skills are needed, he said after a December meeting in Vientiane of the cabinet, Vientiane mayor and provincial governors, according to the Vientiane Times.
Labor issues have been a topic of debate since the plan to build the U.S. $6 billion railway was proposed, and compensation for people displaced by the railroad has also been a hot topic.
Little is known about what the government plans to do, however.
Another excuse for a government land grab?
Lao villagers attending a meeting in October promoting the project were blocked from asking questions about compensation and where they will be moved when displaced from their land, Lao sources told RFA at the time.
The Oct. 27 meeting brought together more than a hundred residents of Nathom, Nongviengkham, Donenoun, and other villages in the Xaythany district of Laos capital Vientiane, and was convened by a district-level committee formed to boost the project, sources said.
Participants quickly came to feel that officials were ignoring their concerns, though, one woman who attended the meeting told RFAs Lao Service.
When the villagers wanted to ask questions, the authorities would not allow them to do so, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. So many of us became angry and left the meeting before it had really ended.
Among the concerns that villagers had hoped to raise were questions over how their homes and property would be affected by the planned construction, when they would be forced to move, and how they would be compensated, the source said.
The seizure of land for developmentoften without due process or fair compensation for displaced residentshas been a major cause of protest in Laos and other authoritarian Asian countries, including China, Cambodia and Myanmar.
Landlocked Laos expects the railways 420-kilometer (261-mile) route through the country to lower the cost of exports and consumer goods while boosting socioeconomic development in the impoverished nation of nearly 7 million people. It is part of a longer railway that will extend southward through the Malay peninsula to Singapore.
Political and financial setbacks have delayed the Lao-China stretch of the railway. The original construction plan called for work to begin in 2011 and be completed in 2015, but the plans now call for the railway to be completed in 2021.
The planned single-track, standard- gauge rail network would have 33 stations, of which 21 would be operational initially, according to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.
There will be 72 tunnels with a total length of 183.9 km, representing 43 percent of the projects total length. The line will also have 170 bridges of 69.2 km, accounting for 15.8 percent.
Passenger trains will travel at a speed of 160 km per hour, while the speed of rail freight will be 120 km per hour.
Reported by RFA's Lao Service. Translated by Avary. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.
The son of slain Myanmar journalist Soe Moe Tun pays his last respects to his father at his funeral in Monywa, northwestern Myanmar's Sagaing region, Dec. 14, 2016.
Myanmar authorities have arrested three suspects in the murder of a local reporter who was badly beaten and left to die on the side of a highway in the town of Monywa in Sagaing region last December, a local police officer said.
Soe Moe Tun, the Monywa-based reporter for Myanmar's Eleven Media Group who had been reporting on illegal logging and wood smuggling, the mining industry, and karaoke lounges serving as brothels in the northwestern part of the country, was found dead on Dec. 13.
On Monday, police arrested a truck driver working in the local logging industry, local news reports said.
About two weeks ago, police arrested two karaoke lounge employees in connection with the murder and questioned them between Dec. 19 and Jan. 2, on which day they were remanded until Jan. 16 because the questioning process remained incomplete, the reports said.
We detained one more suspected man yesterday, Lieutenant Police Major Thein Swe Myint said. Now we have been interrogating the three of them.
Soe Moe Tun, 35, had worked as a reporter in the town since January 2015, reporting news about Monywa and its surrounding areas, according to a previous statement issued by Eleven Media Group.
Eleven Media Group is doing necessary work concerning the death of Soe Moe Tun and [has] urged the respective police station to investigate the case as quickly as possible, the statement said.
His death marks the fifth killing of a journalist in Myanmar since 1999.
Reported by Kyaw Thu for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Nearly 7,000 Tibetans hoping to attend a major Buddhist ritual in India led by exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama have been barred by Chinese authorities from taking part in the event, ceremony organizers told reporters on Wednesday.
More than 100,000 devotees from around the world have now assembled in Bodh Gaya, Indiasite of the enlightenment of the historical Buddhato participate in this years Kalachakra empowerment, which is set to run from Jan. 11 to 13, with preparatory teachings and other events already under way.
Thousands of pilgrims from Tibetan-populated areas of western China who had hoped to attend have been forced to return home, though, while others have been blocked from leaving China, event organizers Karma Gelek Yuthok and Kalon Choekyong Wangchuk said.
It is extremely unfortunate and sad that so many Tibetans who wanted to attend could not come, and that many others who were able to come have had to return to Tibet under strict deadlines, Karma Gelek said.
These total nearly 7,000, Gelek said, adding, This raises serious questions concerning Chinas claim that it allows religious freedom.
Kalachakra, which means Wheel of Time, is a ritual that prepares devotees to be reborn in Shambhala, a celestial kingdom which, it is said, will vanquish the forces of evil in a future cosmic battle.
The ceremony and teachings are often conducted outside Tibet by the Dalai Lama, who is widely reviled by Chinese leaders as a splittist seeking to separate Tibet, which was invaded by Communist China in 1950, from Beijings control.
Passports seized, families threatened
In a bid to reduce attendance at this years ceremony, Chinese officials moved beginning in November to confiscate the passports of Tibetans authorized to travel abroad, at the same time ordering Tibetans already present in India and Nepal to return home.
Many had been told their families would be harmed if they failed to go back, sources told RFA in earlier reports.
Speaking at the end of December to Tibetan pilgrims in Delhi, India, the Dalai Lama assured those ordered home that he would keep them in his prayers, according to a Dec. 28 report by Tibets government in exile, the India-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).
Distance cannot dampen the sacred ties between a lama and a disciple. You can all pray from the far-flung areas in Tibet and I assure you that you will receive the Kalachakra empowerment, the Tibetan spiritual leader said, according to CTA.
From the Kalachakra ground, I will keep the Tibetans inside Tibet in my deepest prayers, the Dalai Lama said.
Reported by Sangye Dorjee for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Russia launched more kamikaze drones on infrastructure and civilian targets in southeastern Ukraine, officials said on November 4, as extensive damage to the power grid left millions of Ukrainians without electricity, prompting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to accuse Moscow of "energy terrorism."
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
Valentyn Reznichenko, the governor of the Dnipropetrovskov region, said the Ukrainian military destroyed eight Iranian Shahed-136 "kamikaze" drones in the region's southern Nikopol district.
"Our air defense did a great job this night. Eight enemy Shaheds downed," Reznichenko wrote on Telegram. It was the second day in a row that Nikopol was targeted by Russian drones.
Reznichenko said Russian troops also pounded four settlements in the same district -- Myrivska, Chervonogrigorivska, Marganetska, and Nikopolska -- with Grad rockets and artillery fire, damaging a gas pipeline and a power line and destroying residential buildings.
Russian troops regularly bombard the Dnipropetrovsk region, one of Ukraine's steelmaking hubs, with various types of weapons.
Moscow denies its attacks on civilians in Ukraine.
Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on November 3 that millions of Ukrainians were temporarily without power due to the Russian attacks.
"Tonight, about 4.5 million consumers have been temporarily disconnected from energy consumption," Zelenskiy said. "The very fact that Russia is resorting to energy terrorism shows the weakness of our enemy. They cannot beat Ukraine on the battlefield, so they try to break our people this way."
Russia has been targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure and other civilian buildings with missile, drone, and artillery attacks for several weeks amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive that has driven Russian troops out of the northeast and pushed them back in the east and southeast.
Over the past days, however, despite heavy fighting, there has been no significant change on the ground on the eastern and southern Ukraine fronts, with preparations building for a fight over the southern city of Kherson.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry accused Moscow of forcibly deporting Ukrainian citizens from Kherson to Russia.
"The Russian occupation administration has begun mass forced relocation of residents of the left bank [of the Dnieper River] of the Kherson regionto the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea or the Russian Federation," the ministry said in a statement on November 3.
Similar deportations are also being carried out by Russia in the Zaporizhzhya, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions, as well as in Crimea, the ministry said.
Russia in September proclaimed to have seized the partially occupied Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Luhansk, and Donetsk following referendums condemned by Kyiv and the West as shams.
Volodymyr Saldo, the Russia-appointed head of Kherson, announced on October 31 an expansion of what Russia has called the evacuation of Ukrainian citizens. Saldo said he was moving people further into the region or to Russia because of the risks of a "massive missile attack."
Just three days earlier, the Russian-installed officials announced that the evacuation process in Kherson region had ended.
Kyiv reiterated on November 3 that it saw the move as a "deportation." It also said reports continue to circulate about the alleged mining of the Nova Kakhovska hydroelectric power plant by Russian troops.
Zelenskiy previously said that Ukraine suspects Russia has mined the dam and units of the power plant on the Dnieper River, and that if it were blown up, more than 80 settlements, including Kherson, would be in danger of flooding.
The Foreign Ministry statement also accused Russian troops of looting industrial, cultural, educational, and medical institutions, as well as private houses and apartments.
Russian forces also removed roadblocks in Kherson. The head of the Kherson regional military administration, Yaroslav Yanushevich, believes that they did this to create the illusion that Russian forces have left the city.
WATCH: Near Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region, Ukrainian forces often rely on artillery from the 1970s and '80s. The front line there is one of the most hotly contested areas. The soldiers say that although the Soviet-era weaponry is old, it is still very effective.
It was also reported that the Russian flag was removed from the Kherson regional administration building. The head of the joint coordination press center of the Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine, Natalya Humenyuk, said that this could be a provocation.
The loss of Kherson, which Russian troops captured in March in the early days of the war, would signal a significant retreat.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, asked to comment on the battlefield situation in southern Ukraine, said he believes Ukrainian forces in the Kherson region have the capacity to retake the territory on the west side of the Dnieper River and Kherson city from Russian troops.
With reporting by Reuters
BRUSSELS -- Much ink has been spilled about a handful of pivotal elections in EU member states this year, and their potential to transform the European Union and its relations with neighbors and allies alike.
The populist backlash that fueled the Brexit vote and Donald Trump's U.S. presidential victory in 2016 -- and the Greek debt crisis before them -- is likely to continue in Europe.
The Dutch go to the polls in March, when the nativist, anti-Islam Freedom Party headed by Geert Wilders could win the biggest share of the vote and strongly influence coalition building.
France selects a new president in April and May, and the right-wing populist National Front's Marine Le Pen appears all but certain to reach the second round.
In September, the populist, Euroskeptical Alternative for Germany will enter the Bundestag in an election that threatens to weaken or unseat Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has become the public face of the current EU in many people's eyes.
But there are a number of other events on the 2017 schedule -- seemingly symbolic or plainly decisive -- that are keeping diplomats, military minds, and Eurocrats awake at night and could alter Europe's course for years to come. The result could be a European Union, and possibly NATO, that look a whole lot more introverted and chaotic to most observers.
NATO At 29?
The biggest get-together in Brussels this year is likely to be the "Trump summit" in the spring. It is an official NATO leaders summit and is meant to welcome the new U.S. president to Europe and get him acquainted with the workings of the alliance. Similar meetings were organized for both Barack Obama and George W. Bush when they entered office, but expect other NATO leaders and diplomats to be a bit more nervous for this one.
Will Trump be committed to the defense of NATO's eastern flank? Does he care about Afghanistan? Is he really that close to Vladimir Putin? Those are the questions they have been asking themselves ever since his election, and it is here that Europeans will get the first taste of what he really wants.
The reason no firm date for the "Trump summit" has been set is that NATO officials are keen to inaugurate Brussels' new NATO headquarters by hosting the meeting there. Construction of the 1 billion-euro ($1.1 billion) building started in 2010 and should be ready in the next few months. Ironically, it might be inaugurated at a welcoming summit for a U.S. president (and billionaire developer) who has been bluntly transactional about U.S. obligations under the alliance.
Around the same time, Montenegro will most likely become the alliance's 29th member (although some NATO countries, including the United States, must still ratify the accession). No diplomat who spoke to RFE/RL cited any major obstacles at this stage, but there is nervousness in the air. Montenegrin authorities have accused Russians of trying to destabilize their country during elections in October. Could such a move have been a desperate, foreign-backed effort to derail NATO accession, and, if so, is there more to come? Whatever the answer to those questions, one thing seems clear: This enlargement will almost certainly be the last for either NATO or the EU in a long time.
Centrifugal Forces
By the end of March, Brexit negotiations should be set in motion -- initially for two years, but it might take longer. The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU will consume a lot of attention and time for both British and EU diplomats, potentially leaving Brussels more inward-looking and toothless in the years to come. What impact will ongoing Brexit talks have, for example, on the renewal or expiration of the EU's economic sanctions against Russia, set to run out by the end of July?
EU divisions will otherwise be on full display at two events early in 2017. By the end of February, the EU Commission wants answers from Poland concerning the rule of law in that country, particularly the functioning of its Constitutional Court. It is a battle that has been going on ever since the right-wing Law and Justice party came to power in Warsaw in late 2015. Expect Poland to ignore the EU Commission and the EU Commission to abstain from sanctioning Warsaw since it knows that countries like Hungary are covering Poland's back. It will be widely perceived as a victory for illiberal democracy in the newish EU member states and a final blow for EU enlargement enthusiasts who frequently touted Poland as a poster child for the successful reintegration of former Warsaw Pact countries into mainstream Western politics.
Poland might also play a key role when it comes to renewing EU Council President Donald Tusk's mandate for another 2 1/2 years. The decision is likely to be made at an EU summit in March. But Tusk's archrival in Polish domestic politics, Law and Justice's Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has already signaled that he won't support a second term for his compatriot. Tusk can be reelected by a qualified majority, but questions over his standing could weaken one of Brussels' biggest Putin critics at a crucial stage in EU-Russian relations.
And on the topic of Russia, it's hard to imagine a complete thaw between Brussels and Moscow anytime too soon. But it's easier to envisage a possible settlement between the European Commission and Gazprom this spring over how the Russian state-owned energy giant operates on the EU single market. In 2015, the European Commission accused Gazprom of overcharging customers in Eastern and Central Europe and unfairly blocking rivals. Moscow is keen to avoid a massive fine, and might let itself be persuaded to respect Brussels' interpretation of those particular EU rules.
Shaken, Not Stirred
Then, on March 25, EU leaders will gather in Rome to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the treaty to launch the European Economic Community -- an early forerunner of today's EU. The plan is for leaders to come up with a clear new vision for the future of the bloc. But the question is whether this meeting won't instead be fraught by bickering over refugee quotas and cures to solve the EU's economic ills.
In November, the remains of the bloc's eastern policy will be scrutinized when the Eastern Partnership summit kicks off in Brussels. "Eastern partners" Georgia and Moldova already have Association Agreements with the EU; Ukraine is poised to have its Association Agreement sealed if the Dutch parliament manages to ratify the document in votes taking place in January and February. Moldovans will be joined by Georgians and Ukrainians in the spring for visa-free access to the EU.
Another Eastern Partnership member, Armenia, should finish negotiations on a partnership deal that excludes a free-trade area in the first half of the year; at around the same time, negotiations with Azerbaijan might commence on a similar deal. Questions will meanwhile be asked about what more the EU can offer its "eastern partners" and what the point really is of the partnership.
But the biggest headline could well be that Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka might show up after years as persona non grata during previous Eastern Partnership summits. The decision in February to lift sanctions against him and 169 other Belarusian officials (and several defense-sector companies) was criticized by Lukashenka detractors, who cited continued jailings and other repression targeting political dissidents and other regime critics.
France's far-right leader and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said on January 3 that Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014 was "not illegal."
In an interview with French television channel BFM TV, the leader of the National Front party sided with the Kremlin in a dispute that has contributed to the worst East-West ties since the Cold War.
"I absolutely disagree that it was an illegal annexation: a referendum was held and residents of Crimea chose to rejoin Russia," said Le Pen, who is running in the April 17 presidential election on a platform of forging stronger ties with Russia.
Russian forces swept into the Black Sea peninsula in February 2014 and a month later organized a referendum in which more than 95 percent of Crimean voters backed joining Russia.
"I see no grounds whatsoever to question this referendum," Le Pen said, adding that she views Crimea as a part of Russia.
The United States and European Union branded the referendum as "farcical" and have insisted that Crimea's annexation from Ukraine was illegal.
They cited the takeover as the principle reason for hitting Russia with tough sanctions that remain in place today.
Based on reporting by The Independent and TASS
The commander of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Hossein Salami, warned protesters that October 29 would be their last day of taking to the streets.
"Do not come to the streets! Today is the last day of the riots," Salami was quoted as saying by state media.
Iran has been gripped by protests triggered by the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of Tehrans morality police.
Since Aminis death on September 16, thousands have been demonstrating across the country against the clerical establishment.
Protests were reported on October 29 at several universities across the country where students chanted, Death to the dictator, and, Woman, life, freedom.
Iran has blamed its foreign enemies and their agents for the unrest.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) posted videos on Twitter showing protests at several universities. One of the protests showed people holding hands in a large circle and chanting: "If we don't unite, we will be killed one by one."
HRANA said 272 protesters had been killed in the unrest as of October 28, including 39 minors. Some 34 members of the security force have also been killed and nearly 14,000 people have been arrested, it said.
The Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights also posted a video of a protest at a university campus and said that in the city of Arak state security forces fired tear gas as mourners gathered for the funeral of Mehrshad Shahidinejad, a young aspiring chef who reportedly was killed after being arrested during a protest.
The IRGC warning on October 29 came as the United Nations expressed "increasing concern" about reports of deaths in the antiestablishment protests in Iran.
"We condemn all incidents that have resulted in death or serious injury to protesters and reiterate that security forces must avoid all unnecessary or disproportionate use of force against peaceful protesters, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York on October 28.
Those responsible must be held to account, he said, adding that the UN was urging Tehran to address the legitimate grievances of the population, including with respect to womens rights.
The United Nations urged the Iranian government in Tehran to respect human rights, noting that the crisis can and should be brought under control through dialogue.
In a separate statement, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also expressed concern about "rising fatalities and injuries" to protesters in Iran.
"Its essential that unfettered access to health care is provided to those in need, [including] the appropriate use of medical vehicles, facilities & the ability of health workers to help patients," WHO chief Tedros said on Twitter on October 28.
Protesters clashed again with security forces on October 28 in Zahedan, a city in southeastern Iran were dozens of people were killed in clashes four weeks ago during anti-government protests.
Activists posted videos on social media showing protesters in the city calling for the death of "dictator" Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and against the Basij militia, which has played a major role in a crackdown on the demonstrations.
The United States and Albania will hold an informal UN Security Council gathering on November 3 that will focus on the protests in Iran, according to a note outlining the event seen by Reuters. Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and Iranian-born actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi are set to address the gathering.
"The meeting will highlight the ongoing repression of women and girls and members of religious and ethnic minority groups in Iran," the note said. "It will identify opportunities to promote credible, independent investigations into the Iranian government's human rights violations and abuses."
Javaid Rehman, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, is also due to address the meeting, which can be attended by other UN member states and rights groups.
"The meeting will underscore ongoing unlawful use of force against protesters and the Iranian regime's pursuit of human rights defenders and dissidents abroad to abduct or assassinate them in contravention of international law," read the note about the planned meeting.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa
French police have arrested former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj on a Serbian war crimes warrant, Kosovos Foreign Ministry says.
Haradinaj, a former guerrilla commander during Kosovo's 1998-99 war, is accused by Serbia of committing war crimes during the conflict in the former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008.
Kosovo Foreign Ministry said on January 4 in a statement that "he was stopped by French authorities based on an arrest warrant issued by Serbia in 2004, which for us is unacceptable."
The ministry said it was doing everything possible to secure Haradinajs release.
The Reuters news agency quoted unnamed French police sources as saying Haradinaj was arrested upon his arrival at Basel-Mulhouse airport in eastern France on a flight from Pristina.
Haradinaj served briefly as prime minister of Kosovo in 2004 and 2005. He was tried and acquitted twice of war crimes at a United Nations court in The Hague.
In June 2015, Haradinaj was arrested in Slovenia on a Serbian warrant but was released two days later under diplomatic pressure.
Based on reporting by Reuters and Balkaninsight.com
Moldovan President Igor Dodon has met with the de facto head of the breakaway Transdniester region, Vadim Krasnoselsky, in the separatist-controlled city of Bendery.
Russian news agencies quoted Dodon as saying that "there are some complicated issues and there are different visions, but it does not mean we should not sit at the negotiating table or discuss and resolve our citizens' problems."
Krasnoselsky, the leader of the self-styled Transdniester Republic, said after the January 4 meeting that the talks behind closed doors focused on the free movement of people, railway connections, and recognition of documents, among other issues.
Ahead of the talks, Dodon wrote on Facebook that the meeting was "necessary for intensifying talks on a Transdniester settlement," adding that the issue of the breakaway territory would be a main topic during January 17 talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Krasnoselsky has said he favors independence for Transdniester and closer relations with Russia based on the results of an unrecognized poll taken in the region in 2006.
Dodon, who was elected president on December 23, has pledged to resolve the Transdniester issue while in office.
"We have a lot of issues that need to be addressed, and the situation where the talks have stalled for several years now is unacceptable," Dodon said.
The breakaway territory has been self-ruling since 1992, when a brief war was fought between Moldova and separatists.
Bendery is technically in a buffer zone along the administrative line dividing Moldova proper from the Transdniester region but it is controlled by the separatists.
Krasnoselsky was voted Transdniester leader in a December election not recognized by Moldova or the international community.
Based on reporting by TASS and RFE/RL's Moldova Service
Pakistani police say they have arrested at least 150 hard-line Muslim activists at a rally in favor of the country's harsh blasphemy laws in the city of Lahore.
The January 4 rally coincided with the commemoration for a former governor killed for supporting a Christian woman accused of blasphemy.
Authorities said around 300 clerics attended two separate rallies in Lahore, blocking main roads and clashing with police. Officers used tear-gas to disperse the rally, police said.
Governor Salman Taseer was shot dead in Islamabad by his own security guard on January 4, 2011, after he spoke out for Asia Bibi, a Christian mother on death row over blasphemy.
On December 3, one of Taseer's sons, Shan Taseer, angered hard-liners by calling on social media for a review of the blasphemy laws and supporting Bibi.
Under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of Insulting Islam can be sentenced to death.
More than 100 people are charged with blasphemy and jailed each year in Pakistan, many of them Christians and other minorities.
No one has yet been executed, but at least 65 people have been murdered by hard-liners in connection with blasphemy allegations since 1990.
Based on reporting by AFP, AP, and Reuters
Moscow is ready to become a "close friend of the Philippines" as the southeastern Asian country diversifies its foreign ties, Russia's ambassador has said.
Since taking office in June, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has made repeated threats and verbal tirades against the United States, a long-time ally, while taking steps to boost relations with China and Russia.
Two Russian warships are currently on a four-day visit to Manila -- the first official navy-to-navy contact between the two countries.
"We don't interfere with your relations with your traditional partners and your traditional partners should respect the interest of the Philippines and Russia," Russian Ambassador Igor Khovaev told a news conference on board the Russian antisubmarine vessel Admiral Tributs on January 4.
Khovaev also said Russia was ready to supply the Philippines with "sophisticated weapons," including aircraft and submarines.
Based on reporting by Reuters and ABS-CBN News
Russian police have briefly detained six people who staged a protest in Moscow demanding the authorities disclose the whereabouts of jailed activist Ildar Dadin, who has said he was tortured in prison.
The protesters were released after spending about four hours in custody on January 4.
Prominent opposition politician Aleksei Navalny tweeted two photos of a woman whom he described as a lone protester.
One photo depicts the woman holding a placard reading "Where is Ildar Dadin?" and another condemning "torture in Russian concentration camps."
The second photo shows the woman being escorted away by two policemen.
Dadin, 34, became the first Russian citizen jailed for participating in more than two unsanctioned public gatherings in 180 consecutive days under a controversial 2014 law that critics say is part of a redoubled Kremlin effort to stifle dissent during President Vladimir Putin's third term.
Dadin received a three-year sentence in December 2015, and it was later reduced by six months.
Last month, Russian human rights campaigners draped a banner calling for Dadin's release from a St. Petersburg bridge.
WASHINGTON -- President-elect Donald Trump has escalated his standoff with U.S. intelligence agencies over an alleged Russian cyber-campaign to meddle in the presidential election, ahead of congressional hearings and his scheduled briefing on the matter this week.
In a January 4 tweet, Trump repeated WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's assertion that Russia was not the source of leaked e-mails that were widely seen as having damaged Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the November 8 election.
"Julian Assange said 'a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta' -- why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!" Trump wrote, referring to Clinton campaign chief John Podesta and the Democratic National Committee, whose stolen e-mails were published by WikiLeaks before the vote.
Assange repeated his claim in a January 3 interview with Fox News, contradicting the assessment of the U.S. intelligence community, which has publicly accused the Russian government of directing the campaign to influence the U.S. electoral process.
Media reports quoted unidentified CIA and FBI officials as saying that intelligence assessments had concluded that the alleged Russian effort was aimed at tilting the election toward Trump.
The New York real estate developer has repeatedly said he wants to repair ties with Moscow that were badly strained over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.
Both the Russian government and Trump have dismissed that conclusion as absurd, and President Barack Obama's administration has yet to release details backing up the allegation that Moscow tried to help Trump with the stolen e-mails.
'Sycophant For Russia'
The Republican president-elect's apparent endorsement of the WikiLeaks founder's assertion was his latest -- and to many in Washington, his most astounding -- public challenge of the U.S. intelligence conclusions on the affair.
Trump has repeatedly cited the faulty CIA intelligence that led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 as the basis for his skepticism about Russia's alleged role in the hacks.
Defenders of Assange and Trump have deployed the same argument and said that the contents of the leaked e-mails -- including ones that showed some Democratic officials favoring Clinton over primary rival Bernie Sanders -- were more important than their provenance.
Senior Republican officials criticized Assange, whose organization has been under investigation by U.S. authorities for publishing classified government documents.
"I have really nothing [to say] other than the guy is a sycophant for Russia. He leaks. He steals data and compromises national security," Paul Ryan, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, said in a January 4 radio interview.
Current and former U.S. officials have expressed increasing concern at Trump's public dismissal of the conclusions of the intelligence agencies that he will oversee when he takes office on January 20.
Evelyn Farkas, who resigned last year as the Pentagon's top Russia official and supported Clinton in the election, said career civil servants in the Defense and State departments were "really alarmed" by Trump's approach to the U.S. intelligence establishment.
"The policy people who work in the Pentagon and in the State Department, they absolutely accept the intelligence assessments of their colleagues in part because they are also privy to some of the raw intelligence and other pieces of analysis that go into the ultimate findings," Farkas told RFE/RL.
Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) told CNN in a January 4 interview that it was "very disturbing" that Trump was giving credence to Assange's claims.
The WikiLeaks founder "has a history of undermining American interests," said Graham, who has been a vocal critic of Trump's hesitance to believe Russia was behind the cyberattacks. "I hope no American will be duped by him. You shouldn't give him any credibility."
Congressional Hearings And Trump Briefing
The dust-up over Assange comes a day before a hearing into the Russian hacking allegations by the Senate Armed Services Committee. In an interview with RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service last week, the committee's Republican chairman, John McCain, urged tougher action against Moscow.
"There are a lot more stringent measures we should take," McCain said. "After all, it was an attack on the United States of America and an attack on the fundamentals of our democracy. If you destroy the elections, then you destroy democracy."
Also on January 5, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland is set to brief a closed hearing of Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Obama administration's newly announced sanctions in response to the hacking.
The White House also expelled 35 Russian diplomats in response to what Washington calls a campaign of harassment of its diplomats in Russia.
On January 6, Trump is slated to receive a formal briefing on Russia's alleged effort to interfere in the election. Tensions over the meeting emerged between Trump and U.S. officials on January 3, when the president-elect suggested it had been postponed due to deficient evidence of Russian involvement.
"The 'Intelligence' briefing on so-called 'Russian hacking' was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!" Trump wrote on Twitter.
U.S. officials, however, denied that the briefing had been pushed back, saying it had always been scheduled for January 6.
Ryan, the Republican House speaker, said in his radio interview that the briefing will "hopefully" get Trump "up to speed on what has been happening and what Russia has or has not done. And he'll be better informed on that."
Obama has ordered a full report on the alleged Russian cyber-campaign to be completed by January 20.
CIA Director John Brennan said in a January 3 TV interview that the report "is in its final throes of production."
"The intelligence in there will be exactly what the president asked for, a comprehensive and thorough review about what happened during our recent election and Russian involvement," Brennan told PBS.
He added that the report "will address what Russia was doing, how it was doing it, and how we know that."
With reporting by Politico, CNN, and PBS
With his inauguration less than three weeks away, President-elect Donald Trump has made a fresh assault on the U.S. intelligence community.
Trump said on Twitter that an intelligence briefing he was due to receive on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election had been delayed until January 6, using quote marks around the word "intelligence."
"Perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!" he wrote on January 3.
However, U.S. intelligence officials were quoted as saying there was no delay in the briefing schedule.
U.S. intelligence agencies believe Russia directed hacks against the Democratic Party and the campaign of its presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, releasing information through WikiLeaks and other outlets to help Trump win the election.
In an interview aired on January 3, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange denied that he obtained thousands of leaked Democratic e-mails from the Russian government.
"The source is not the Russian government. It is not state parties," he told U.S. network Fox News.
Asked if he thought the leaks of Democratic Party e-mails led to Trump's victory in November, he said: "Who knows, it's impossible to tell."
Based on reporting by AP and the BBC
Turkish authorities say they have identified the perpetrator of the New Years Day massacre at an Istanbul nightclub, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that the country will not surrender to "terrorists."
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, speaking to the state-run Anadolu news agency on January 4, said the identity of the gunman had been established, without providing further details.
The gunman burst into Istanbul's waterfront Reina nightclub with an automatic weapon and began shooting people celebrating New Year's early on January 1, killing at least 39 people and wounding 69 others.
The dead included 27 foreigners, many from the Middle East.
The extremist Islamic State (IS) group said a "soldier of the caliphate" had carried out the massacre, calling it an attack on an "apostate holiday" and revenge for Turkey's military involvement in Syria.
The gunman, who fled after the attack, remains at large.
"Efforts to capture him continue," Cavusoglu said, adding that the house the suspect lived in "has been searched" and that the attack had been "professionally" planned.
Turkish media reported that the attacker rented a flat in the central city of Konya before moving to Istanbul to carry out the assault.
Despite not revealing the name of the suspect, police released the images of the attacker earlier this week, including one taken by security cameras on the night of the massacre.
A 28-year-old citizen of Kyrgyzstan whose name and passport have been circulated in Turkish and Italian media, as well as widely on social media, as the possible perpetrator was questioned by Turkish and Kyrgyz authorities in Bishkek but later released.
Several Arrests
Meanwhile, state news agency Anadolu reported that 20 suspected members of the IS group were detained in the western province of Izmir as part of the ongoing investigation.
Reuters news agency quoted police as saying the suspects were thought to be of Central Asian and North African origin. They were also believed to have travelled to Izmir from Konya.
Sixteen people had been detained earlier in the week in connection with the massacre, according to Anadolu.
In his first public address to the nation since the attack, Erdogan claimed it was aimed at dividing Turkey, but said the country would not fall for the ploy.
"The aim was clear: to create a fissure and polarize society," he said in Ankara.
"Nobody's lifestyle is under systematic threat in Turkey," Erdogan also said. "We will never allow this."
The president added that "to say Turkey has surrendered to terrorism is to take sides with the terrorists and terror organizations."
Turkey has suffered dozens of deadly terror attacks in the past 12 months, including on its international airport in Istanbul, with some blamed on the IS group and others said to be the work of Kurdish militants.
Late on January 3, Turkish lawmakers voted to extend by a further three months a state of emergency that was declared following a July 15 coup attempt.
The state of emergency was declared to crack down on a network linked to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of orchestrating the failed coup. Gulen denies any involvement.
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has once again denied that he obtained thousands of leaked U.S. Democratic emails from Russian sources in an interview with U.S. network Fox News aired on January 3.
Assange, in an interview at the Ecuadoran embassy in London where he sought refuge in June 2012, shed no light on who provided WikiLeaks with the hacked documents from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and from Clinton campaign chief John Podesta.
WikiLeaks released the documents during the U.S. election campaign in what U.S. intelligence established was an effort by Moscow to tip the election in favor of Clinton's Republican rival, Donald Trump, who went on to win the vote.
Assange insisted, however, that Russia was not the source of the hacked material.
"The source is not the Russian government. It is not state parties," he said.
Asked if he thought the leaks of the Podesta and DNC emails led to Trump's victory in November, he said: "Who knows, it's impossible to tell."
Based on reporting by AFP and AP
Ward 3 Councilman Jason Messier and his son, Jacoby, smile for a photo before heading to the West Warwick Civic Center to distribute gifts last week.
A veteran 6th Judicial Circuit Court judge found dead in his Prince George County Courthouse office on New Years Day committed suicide, the state medical examiners office has ruled.
Judge Nathan Curtis Lee, 60, suffered a fatal gunshot wound in his mouth, the medical examiners office said Wednesday morning.
Police, fire and EMS authorities were called to the Prince George Courthouse for reports of an unresponsive male at 9:46 p.m. Sunday, Prince George police said. Police immediately noted Monday that foul play was not suspected in the judges death but said the investigation was continuing.
Reached Wednesday, Prince George Commonwealths Attorney Susan Fierro said she has been monitoring the police investigation into Lees death and that at this point, given all the evidence we have, including the medical examiners findings, its clear that theres no criminal action here. And my offices interests are closed in the matter.
Fierro added that police have filed paperwork to trace the firearm Lee used a handgun to confirm the owner, if its on file.
In response to a question whether Lee left behind a note that may have offered some explanation for his death, Prince George police Capt. Brian Kei cited a Virginia code section that exempts from mandatory disclosure such documents (that) contain personal information that would jeopardize the privacy of certain persons.
Lee, a native of Hopewell, was appointed to the bench as a 6th Judicial Circuit Court judge by former Gov. Bob McDonnell in 2012 after the position was left unfilled by the General Assembly. He was subsequently elected to the position on a permanent basis by state legislators.
He practiced law in Virginia for more than 30 years and started his legal career with a small firm and ran a private practice for 18 years before his appointment to the bench. He also served as a substitute judge in general district court.
He and his wife continued to live in Hopewell and raised two daughters.
Judge Lee was just a gentleman, through and through, Fierro said. Very fair, he had an excellent demeanor for the bench and for the courtroom. He loved his job as a judge and was an active member with our Crater Criminal Justice Board. He was the judge who handled drug court, and he was always concerned about the participants and their successful completion of the programs.
He loved his family and spoke often of his daughters, she added. I think what Ill remember most about him is how he beamed with pride whenever he spoke about his daughters.
Lee was one of two judges appointed by the General Assembly to serve the 6th Judicial Circuit, which includes Hopewell and the counties of Prince George, Brunswick, Greensville, Surry and Sussex. Lee and 6th Judicial Circuit Judge W. Allan Sharrett sat in all six localities.
Open-government advocate Janice Denton officially traded her typical seat in the audience for one among Hopewell City Council members Tuesday. She also was the first to speak up during the councils first act of 2017, electing the citys mayor and vice mayor.
It was a milestone moment for Denton, who a couple of years ago took issue with the way council members chose the mayor through a closed-door discussion. She eventually took her complaint to court, and won. Among open-government advocates, it was believed to be the first legal test of its kind.
Just in case, Denton on Tuesday printed out Circuit Judge W. Allan Sharretts opinion that sided with Denton and carried it in a folder. This year, Denton said, there was no whisper of a closed-door discussion.
It was very good to know that the discussion was all out in the open, Denton said. I had no idea two years ago that I would be sitting up here participating in this.
Denton nominated Councilor Jackie Shornak, who was then elected Hopewells mayor by a split vote of 4-3.
I hope this year that we make changes and we are a unit of one instead of seven individual members, Shornak said. Im tired of listening to citizens saying that we are not conducting ourselves the way that we should. And I apologize to those people who we have let down.
She added that the council members are going to work together to get things done in the city.
But rancor among some council members seemed to persist. Like the vote for mayor, the vice mayor selection was not unanimous: Council members elected Jasmine Gore as vice mayor by a 5-2 vote.
I hope people stay true to what they have been saying this meeting, Councilor Christina Luman-Bailey said, her only comment of the evening other than her failed nomination of Councilor Anthony Zevgolis as vice mayor.
Luman-Bailey was nominated by Denton to remain as vice mayor, but that nomination failed by a 3-4 vote.
You see that, Denton said, pointing to the City Councils screen, where a large 2017 was shown. Weve got some work to do. Its 2017, whats behind us is behind us and weve got to look forward to the future.
Shornak thanked former Mayor Brenda Pelham and Luman-Bailey for their leadership.
Newly re-elected Pelham thanked the citizens and God for the past couple of years and being able to serve another four years.
A man was dropped off at VCU Medical Center on Tuesday evening with life-threatening gunshot wounds, according to Richmond police.
Investigators believe the shooting might have happened near the intersection of E. 16th Street and Gordon Avenue in South Richmond, police Capt. Gary Ladin said.
Police received reports of random gunfire near that intersection about 6:10 p.m. While investigating the shooting, police were informed that a victim with gunshot wounds had been dropped off at VCU Medical Center.
Police said they had no immediate information on suspects or a motive.
The longest stretch of cold weather so far this winter is on the way to Richmond. The cold air is on track regardless of the snow chances.
But if snow does blanket parts of Virginia this weekend, it could make some of the mornings even colder than the current forecast.
Noticeably colder air arrives on Thursday, but it won't be bitter cold at first. Expect highs in the lower 40s. Variably cloudy skies may block most of the day's sunshine.
Temperatures will drop another notch on Friday. It'll stay partly to mostly cloudy between weather systems and that shade would keep high temperatures in the upper 30s.
The close approach of a snowy system on Saturday may be the main weather story, but an even colder air mass will arrive right on its heels. Most of Saturday will hover in the 20s, barely peaking with a high near freezing.
Despite clear skies, a north wind will reinforce the cold air on Sunday. Most of Virginia will experience lows in the teens and a high close to 30 degrees. In areas where there's snow on the ground from Saturday, it could make Sunday's high and low several degrees colder.
High pressure will settle overhead on Monday and keep the air below average, probably similar to Sunday's readings. Monday should be the last of the frigid days, but at least the sun will be out.
Temperatures will turn the corner and return to seasonable levels on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. Overall, the next work week is on track to bring near-average to above-average temperatures to Virginia.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
RICHMOND The Virginia Automobile Dealers Association is going to court to appeal a recent decision by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles that would allow electric automobile maker Tesla Motors Inc. to open a company-owned dealership in the Richmond area.
The action by the dealers group was expected.
In a decision issued on Nov. 30, Virginia DMV Commissioner Richard Holcomb ruled that Tesla is eligible to operate its own dealership in the Richmond area. Under state law, that decision can be appealed to circuit court.
The dealers association, a trade group that represents independent automobile dealers in the state, has filed notice that it will appeal the decision to Richmond Circuit Court by Jan. 22.
Tesla, a California-based company founded by tech industry tycoon Elon Musk, sells its battery-powered cars directly to customers online and at company stores.
Tesla applied to the DMV in January to open its second company retail store in Virginia. Its only store in Virginia, near Tysons Corner, opened in February 2015 after the company reached a legal agreement with the DMV and the dealers association.
The dealers association opposed Teslas petition for a second location, arguing that under state law the company must sell its cars through independent, franchise dealerships, as other automobile manufacturers do.
State law prohibits automobile makers from owning dealerships except under certain circumstances, such as when there are no independent dealers available in a community to sell an automakers cars in a manner consistent with the public interest.
In deciding that Tesla is eligible to open another store, Holcomb rejected a recommendation by an appointed DMV hearing officer that Teslas request be denied.
When Holcombs decision was announced, the dealers association charged that he had apparently bowed to political pressure and that the ruling ignores the entire hearing record, from three days of testimony given at DMV hearings in March, April and July.
The auto dealer lobby continues to put its own financial interests before consumers, and we expect its latest attempt to harm Tesla and its Virginia customers to again fail, Tesla said in a statement released Tuesday after the appeal notice. The commissioners ruling clearly outlined the reasons why Teslas direct sales model serves Virginia consumers better.
Fired up by Rep. Bob Goodlattes failed effort to remake the congressional ethics office, about a dozen people, including former Roanoke City Council and General Assembly candidate Freeda Cathcart, delivered New Years cards to the representatives Roanoke office Wednesday.
Unlike the happy messages of typical greeting cards, these carried political points and suggestions for how Goodlatte should represent the 6th Congressional District in 2017.
In her card, Ivonne Wallace Fuentes, an associate professor at Roanoke College and a Roanoke Times contributor, wished Goodlatte a happy new year and said she hopes they can work together to make the community stronger.
While Fuentes considers herself politically motivated, she was propelled to become more of a political activist after Goodlattes actions earlier in the week.
Her representative in Congress seemed to be leading the charge to make government accountability more difficult, she said.
People want out of government a government that is clear, that is transparent, that works for their interests and if we take ethics review and we move it from an independent to a partisan tribunal conflict of interest becomes much more likely, she said.
At the SunTrust building in downtown Roanoke, Fuentes and her cohorts handed their cards to Pete Larkin, Goodlattes chief of staff at the office. One woman handed him clear plastic wrap a symbol for more transparency in government.
Larkin, who did not let the group enter Goodlattes locked district office, said he would pass on the messages to his boss. Two protests at the district office in the past six months have resulted in sit-ins in the office foyer. In both incidents, building staff called Roanoke police who escorted protesters out of the office at the end of the day.
RICHMOND A federal judge on Tuesday said he will decide within a week whether to delay Ricky Javon Grays scheduled Jan. 18 execution over concerns about drugs the state intends to use if Gray dies by injection.
Midazolam, a sedative, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart, are the first and third drugs used in Virginias three-drug procedure. The drugs were made by a compounding pharmacy and not by pharmaceutical manufacturers, which no longer provide drugs to states for executions.
The state strongly disputes that the compounded drugs tested by a state laboratory and made by a licensed Virginia pharmacy and pharmacist are anything less than suitable for use in an execution. The alleged problems are wholly speculative, said Margaret Hoehl OShea with the state Attorney Generals Office.
Under state law, Gray must choose execution by injection or electrocution by 15 days prior to the execution date. If he refuses to select a method, state law makes lethal injection the default method.
The Virginia Department of Corrections did not immediately respond Tuesday when asked if Gray had made a choice.
Grays lawyers also contend death in the states electric chair is cruel and unusual punishment. And they claim the use of compounded drugs have contributed to botched executions elsewhere and unnecessarily increase the risk of chemical torture.
They are asking U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson who heard more than four hours of testimony and argument Tuesday to delay the execution so they can better make their case.
An expert testified for Gray on Tuesday that execution by firing squad presents less risk of cruel and unusual punishment than Virginias proposed injection procedure.
Gray was sentenced to die for the New Years Day 2006 slayings of sisters Ruby Harvey, 4, and Stella Harvey, 9. He also killed their parents, Bryan Harvey, 49, and Kathryn Harvey, 39, in their South Richmond home, which was set on fire.
Less than a week later, Gray and accomplice Ray Dandridge, 39, killed Ashley Baskerville, 21, who had been a lookout when Gray killed the Harveys; Baskervilles mother, Mary Tucker, 47; and stepfather, Percyell Tucker, 55, in their Richmond home.
OShea, in her closing argument, told the judge that what Gray did was a nightmare for the community, the Harvey family and the two little girls.
Lisa Fried, one of Grays lawyers, asked the judge not to call off the execution, but to delay it so Grays concerns can be fully aired.
In response to a question from Hudson, Fried conceded the Constitution does not require a pain-free execution. But she said that while the public has an interest in seeing that sentences are carried out, everyone in the state has an interest in making sure executions are carried out constitutionally.
An expert, pharmacist Larry Sasich, testified that the testing performed by the state on the compounded drugs to identify them and ascertain their potency was inadequate. They should also been tested for sterility, acidity, and to see if there are any particulates in the solutions, which are injected into the inmate via an intravenous line.
Asked by Fried how likely it was that the use of a compounded drug would lead to pain and suffering, Sasich said, It is more likely compared to the use of an FDA-approved product.
However, a state expert pharmacist, Daniel Buffington, said the compounding of such drugs by pharmacies is common in the industry. Its done routinely, he said.
Buffington said he was not aware of any botched execution caused by midazolam. He said the problems that he was aware of were caused by the drugs administration.
Dr. Jonathan Groner testified there was less risk of pain in an execution by firing squad, which would be almost instantaneous if done properly, than in one using midazolam. Virginia has not used the firing squad, although Utah has twice since the death penalty was allowed to resume in 1976.
A Department of Corrections official testified that no employees were trained to conduct a firing squad, there was no facility in which to do so, and the General Assembly would have to change the law to permit that form of execution. He conceded under cross-examination that prison employees are trained in the use of firearms.
LYNCHBURG Lawrence Falwells brother had to beg and beg to get him to go to an air show.
But once Calvin Falwell got his little brother into aviation the pair went to South Boston for an air show after the end of World War II he couldnt get enough.
Each time he turned him down. And finally, one time, he accepted, said their sister, Edna Pee Wee Falwell Twiddy. And then Lawrence got hooked on flying.
Lawrence Falwell, who died Saturday at age 94, made a career out of his passion, running Falwell Aviation with his elder brother from 1946 until 2009, when Liberty University bought the company to absorb into its aeronautics program.
For a man as quiet and reserved as Falwell, there was some irony that his passions aviation and ham radio involved very specific verbal interaction.
He didnt have a lot to say, recalled Falwells son, Jimmy.
And so you cant talk about quiet, reserved Lawrence Falwell for too long without mention of his gregarious older brother.
Calvin I look at him as the politician. Hes the talker. Hes all over town. Lawrence is quiet, and hes the businessman, said Bob Walker, who worked for Falwell Aviation for more than 30 years and was its chief flight instructor.
Despite the dichotomy, Lawrence and Calvin Falwell were inseparable.
I never heard them really have an argument. Ive never seen brothers like that before in my life, said Lawrence Falwells nephew and Calvin Falwells son Terry Falwell.
Lawrence Falwells impact stretched far beyond aviation. From his early years, he helped his father, Charles Falwell, with the family businesses. They operated Falwell Fast Freight and the familys well-drilling operation. Lawrence Falwell ran Truck Body Corporation as well as Falwell Aviations charter airline service for the majority of his career.
He was a smart businessman; he was a good pilot, Jimmy Falwell, a charter pilot now based in Raleigh, North Carolina, said of his father. You could learn a lot just by watching him.
The company found creative ways to make a living, such as a U.S. Postal Service contract in the 1970s and a curious niche service transporting cadavers home to Lynchburg for local undertakers.
At one time, Walker said, Falwell Aviation owned the largest private twin-engine charter fleet in the commonwealth.
Through common sense and how they treated people, thats how they really made it, Walker recalled.
Lawrence Falwell devoted himself to pilot education. First trained by international aerobatic champion Woody Edmondson in 1946, the more reserved Falwell had an estimated 600 to 800 pilots, Walker said.
Falwell was inducted into the Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame in 1991, five years after his brother.
In Liberty Universitys early years, Falwell would taxi his cousin, Jerry Falwell Sr., to engagements free of charge.
In addition to the state hall of fame, Falwell served on the Virginia Advisory Committee on Aviation, was a Federal Aviation Administration-designated flight examiner, earned the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award an FAA recognition for 50 years of accident-free flight and, along with his brother, the Virginia Aviation Lifetime Achievement Award.
RICHMOND The four-legged partners who boost the officers of the Richmond Police Department Mounted Unit to a 10-foot-high view of the city live in a concrete-block building under Chamberlayne Avenue.
The stables concrete floors are strewn with shavings to provide some cushion. Trains often rattle past, and the low-lying area frequently floods.
An overpass shades the lot behind the building, so no grass grows.
Despite less-than-ideal living conditions, the units horses Rio, Toby, Scooter and Sampson receive good care, said Sgt. Jeremy Nierman, who heads the unit.
The city has set aside $328,721 in the current budget to build a new barn, but estimates for the 6,535-square-foot equestrian community center are about double that total.
Police officials said they hope to secure the remaining money in the citys next budget, and Friends of the Richmond Mounted Squad is raising money to match the allocated portion.
The new stables will be on about 7 acres the city owns in North Side. It will be near the new canine unit facility, which opened this year behind John Marshall High School and was funded completely by its nonprofit arm, Friends of Richmond K9.
Deputy Chief Eric English, who is heading the project for the department, said that once the city pays for the new barn, its coffers will be tapped out. So the department will rely on donations from Friends of the Richmond Mounted Squad for other supplies including saddles, equipment and possibly even more horses.
English said he hopes to have construction completed this year.
The department also has teamed with the state Division of Capitol Police, which hopes to keep its mounted unit with the citys, and is in discussion with Virginia Commonwealth University about a partnership.
Richmonds mounted unit, which dates to 1894, is one of the oldest in the country.
Its an older style of policing but still an effective style, Nierman said. We do a lot of the same police work as officers in police vehicles.
That includes making traffic stops and arrests.
Nierman called them 10-foot cops who provide a highly visible presence for the units four officers while patrolling and the ultimate four-wheel drive, because they are able to access areas where cars cannot go.
Its also one of the most beloved units in the department.
People love horses, Chief Alfred Durham said. I cant think of a better way to engage the youth in our city than with animals and our officers.
Durham said the horses, as well as the dogs of the canine unit, are an integral part of community policing.
He envisions the new location to be part stables and training facility for the horses and unit but also a community center with space for groups to meet and visit the horses.
Leslie Buck, a Friends of the Richmond Mounted Squad board member, said each horse requires $3,000 to $4,000 in annual upkeep.
The nonprofit accepts donations to pay for saddles and other supplies and even has purchased horses for the unit. The members also hope to buy pads for the stalls in the new facility.
These horses are not mistreated, Buck said. They are well taken care of, but their conditions could be better. They deserve for it to be better.
International diamond experts and ALROSA will discuss coloured diamonds during a Mediterranean Gem Conference, which will be held in Syracuse, Italy on May 11-14, 2017.
The event is to feature a range of discussions on coloured and fluorescent diamonds, cutting and jewellery.
ALROSA, largest diamond producer in terms of volume, expressed its interest in participating as major sponsor and speaker of the conference.
The major theme of the conference will be Colored Diamonds and 6 speakers will cover this topic. In addition, four international speakers will present their views on gems, cutting and jewellery.
During the conference, a range of international gem and jewellery experts will organize several workshops on optical gem screening and identification methods, including mounted and loose small and melee synthetic diamonds; grading of treated and natural coloured diamonds; use of special gemological devices for screening.
The conference will also feature a Round Table on "Coloured Diamondsdescribing and marketing and Fluorescence -Importance for ID and Value of Fluorescent Diamonds" moderated by John Chapman (Gemetrix) with experts from Aurora Gems, CGL-GRS, HRD, NCDIA, NAJA, Symmetry Jewellery Valuation answering questions from the floor.
The success of the conference in Greece 2015 and Spain 2016 led to the next event organized in 2017.
Theodor Lisovoy, Rough&Polished, Moscow
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Jan. 3 the appointment of Jim Trogdon to lead the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). Trogdon is an engineer with decades of experience in state government and the military.
Trogdon will leave his current position of national transportation director at SAS Institute, a provider of business analytics software and services, to take the helm of NCDOT. He served as chief operating officer for NCDOT in 2013, prior to his retirement. He previously held the position of director of strategic transportation planning for the North Carolina General Assembly.
Jim Trogdon knows North Carolinas transportation successes and challenges better than anyone, and he will bring technical know-how and smart solutions to the job, Cooper said. Our states growing population and business climate need good roads and smart mass transit, and he will lead the way.
Trogdon received his masters degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College and is an alumnus of North Carolina State University, where he earned two civil engineering degrees.
Gov. Cooper also announced the appointment of NCDOTs chief engineer, Mike Holder, as NCDOTs interim secretary for the duration of the process of appointing cabinet secretaries.
Were hitting the ground running by making sure veteran managers are in place across state agencies, Cooper said. Im grateful these experienced public servants have agreed to serve temporarily.
J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (JCP) announced that it has completed the sale of its Home Office building and surrounding 45 acres of land in Plano, Texas to Dreien Opportunity Partners, LLC, general partner of Silos Opportunity Partners, LP, for a gross sale price of $353 million before closing and transaction costs.
The Company previously announced that upon the transfer of ownership, JCPenney would lease back approximately 65 percent of the building, leaving the remaining square footage available for new tenants.
The company noted that the building lease expense would be offset by a reduction in maintenance costs, property taxes and interest expense as a result of paying down debt with proceeds from the transaction.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Business News
NASA plans to launch a $188 million science mission in 2020 to study black holes and cosmic X-ray mysteries.
In a statement, the space agency said the mission would allow astronomers to explore, for the first time, the hidden details of some of the most extreme and exotic astronomical objects, such as stellar and supermassive black holes, neutron stars and pulsars.
The expected cost of the mission includes the cost of the launch vehicle and post-launch operations and data analysis. Principal Investigator Martin Weisskopf of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will lead the mission. Ball Aerospace in Broomfield, Colorado, will provide the spacecraft and mission integration.
Further, the Italian Space Agency will contribute the polarization sensitive X-ray detectors, which were developed in Italy.
According to NASA, objects such as black holes can heat surrounding gases to more than a million degrees. The high-energy X-ray radiation from this gas can be polarized, vibrating in a particular direction.
The agency plans Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer or IXPE mission that will fly three space telescopes with cameras capable of measuring the polarization of these cosmic X-rays.
This will allow scientists to answer fundamental questions about these turbulent and extreme environments where gravitational, electric and magnetic fields are at their limits.
Paul Hertz, astrophysics division director for the Science Mission Directorate, said, "We cannot directly image what's going on near objects like black holes and neutron stars, but studying the polarization of X-rays emitted from their surrounding environments reveals the physics of these enigmatic objects."
It was in 2014 that NASA's Astrophysics Explorers Program requested proposals for new missions. Three mission concepts, in the total fourteen submitted proposals, were selected for additional review by a panel of agency and external scientists. NASA noted that the IXPE proposal provided the best science potential and most feasible development plan.
NASA's Explorers Program has launched more than 90 missions, including Explorer 1 in 1958, which discovered the Van Allen radiation belts around the Earth. The Cosmic Background Explorer mission led to a Nobel Prize.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the Explorers Program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate.
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Business News
President-elect Donald Trump has warned against releasing any more terror suspects from the US detention camp in Cuba, but the White House says President Barack Obama intends to transfer more inmates out of the Guantanamo Bay military prison.
Obama has a few days remaining to take executive actions.
"There should be no further releases from Gitmo. These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield," Trump said on Twitter.
But later, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters that he would expect, at this point, "additional transfers."
Obama had promised to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility after releasing the detainees or bringing them to fair trial during his second term.
But he later acknowledged that the deadline will likely be missed because of political and diplomatic hurdles.
After releasing more than 600 detainees, currently, 59 men are held at the U.S. naval base in southeast Cuba. The military jail was set up in 2002 by former president George W. Bush to hold terror suspects from around the world who are suspected of committing terrorist activities against the United States.
Five men charged with involvement in the 9/11 attacks are currently facing the death penalty after trial by military commission. The government is also seeking capital punishment for a sixth Guantanamo detainee in another trial.
Due to the fact that the inmates are detained indefinitely without trial and some of them were severely tortured, this camp is considered as a major breach of human rights, but Trump is skeptical of potential threat posed by the release of terrorism suspects in GTMO.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Political News
Canadian stocks look to carry over positive momentum from the holiday period Wednesday morning, with Toronto's main index at its highest since April 2015.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index surged up more than 100 points to 15,403 in the first trading day of the new year, powered yet again by gains in the financial and energy sectors.
Bay Street will be paying attention later today when the U.S. Federal Reserve releases the minutes of its December meeting. The Fed may provide clues about the criteria for further rate hikes.
Energy shares will be in focus this morning after some volatility in the oil . Crude oil has bounced between $52 and $55 a barrel over the past few days. Analysts point to doubts over whether OPEC and Russia are fully committed to slashing output.
In corporate news, EnCana (ECA, ECA.TO) announced the company now expects to deliver a corporate margin of greater than $10 per barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) in 2017.
The expected 25 percent improvement is a result of anticipated lower costs through the year and increased total volumes expected in the second half of 2017.
BlackBerry (BBRY, BB.TO) announced QNX Software Development Platform 7.0, a 64-bit operating system for self-driving cars.
At CES 2017, the technological capabilities of QNX SDP 7.0 will be demonstrated in BlackBerry QNX's 2016 Jaguar XJ and 2017 Lincoln MKZ concept cars.
Boyd Group Income Fund (BYD_UN.TO) named Tim O'Day As President And COO.
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Market Analysis
Finland embarked on a two-year long experiment this week to make regular payments to the unemployed in a bid to modernize the social security system and to explore if a basic income would help to boost employment.
The first stage of the Finnish basic income experiment, launched on January 1, involves 2,000 persons aged between 25 and 58, the country's Parliament-supervised social security institution, Kela said.
Participants were selected from a random sample of existing jobless benefit recipients. They are set to receive a monthly income of EUR 560 for two years, in addition to existing welfare benefits. The first payment will be made on January 9.
The basic income encourages recipients to seek employment, removes disincentives to work, and reduces bureaucracy, Marjukka Turunen, head of Kela's Legal Affairs Unit, said in a statement.
Unemployed persons may not gain any additional income even if they find work because earnings reduce social benefits, Kela said. In the present social security system, Finns can reject a low-paying job or temporary work if that will reduce their welfare benefits drastically.
The new income scheme allows the beneficiary to receive both the salary and the basic income even if they get a job. Thus, temporary or part-time work and self-employment will not affect basic income payments.
Kela said the basic income also helps to reduce bureaucracy as the recipients do not have to report the number of hours they work or to fill in various forms.
Further, the benefit also helps recipients to plan their finances and provides a sense of security, Turunen said.
The tax-free payment will be made in advance at the beginning of each month and hence, the recipients can count on having at least that amount of money at their disposal. Currently, recipients of the labor market subsidy have to claim it afterwards.
The latest experiment is the first step in a series of experiments testing various basic income solutions, Kela said. The institution will recommend an increase in the sample size in 2018 to include other persons with small incomes.
Finland's unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in 2015 and 8.7 percent in 2014. In November, the figure was 8.1 percent.
Universal basic income was often dismissed as an 'utopian' idea, for it found first mention in Thomas More's Utopia, a work of fiction and political philosophy published in 1516.
Later, American political activist Thomas Paine suggested the idea of a 'citizen's dividend' or basic income for everyone in his 1795 essay Agrarian Justice.
A darling for the Left to reduce poverty and inequality, the idea is being embraced by libertarians and some conservatives as they worry over rising unemployment in the era of robotic automation.
The Belgium-based Basic Income Earth Network is an international network that serves as a link between individuals and groups committed to or interested in basic income. The think tank defines basic income as "a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement."
Last June, Switzerland held a nationwide referendum on a basic monthly income for every resident, which was rejected overwhelmingly.
Elsewhere in Europe, Scotland is set to trial universal basic income schemes in Fife and Glasgow later this year.
The Netherlands also will carry out a two-year basic income scheme experiment in Utrecht and surrounding cities this year.
The Italian coastal city of Livorno launched a scheme to provide a guaranteed basic income to the city's 100 poorest families in June last year.
In Canada, Ontario's provincial government also announced plans to run a basic income pilot scheme.
Meanwhile, Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend is described as a working example of guaranteed basic income for all.
Countries such as Brazil, India and Namibia have also tried similar localized basic income schemes.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Business News
I have a journey with Saab that is now well into its second decade. Mine is a 9.3 convertible bought in 2003 and garaged in Perth, Australia. It is the only car I have owned which I thought the people who made the car liked their customers as opposed to being a calculated price/features trade-off. There is one photo of the car in the public domain, taken in 2008 with a boat I had:
A few years later a girlfriend ran the boat onto rocks. That is a story that I can only tell if I am heavily sedated. The Saab story is far happier so I will continue with that one. As a hobby I took up climate science, in which I published books and papers predicting solar-driven cooling. As a consequence of those efforts I met some of the good and the great, including Vaclav Klaus, then President of the Czech Republic. I was also invited to give a lecture on climate science in a US Senate hearing room in 2011. That led to a role with a Washington think tank and the publication of a book on geostrategic issues entitled Twilight of Abundance.
That led in turn to an interest in defence issues. One of the biggest issues in defence is the fighter aircraft that the western world will rely upon. I am not the only analyst who finds the F-35 highly deficient. The question then is What do we replace it with? Happily there is a fighter aircraft available now that does not have any shortcomings at all the Gripen E from Saab.
The Gripen E has much the same capability as the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Dassault Rafale. They are all good aircraft but the Gripen E is half the price of the other two and costs a lot less to operate. I wrote about how good the Gripen E is in a book called Australias Defence published in 2015. Believe it or not, the Gripen E, if armed with the right missiles, is almost as good as the F-22 which would cost three times as much if you could get one.
In late 2015, Saab sent two people to see me in Perth, Australia to discuss fighter aircraft design. One travelled from Linkoping and the other from Bangkok. They said, We like your work Mr Archibald. You just made some small mistakes and we hope you dont mind if we point them out. The journey from Linkoping was 30 hours of flights and connections each way.
I told the Saab man from Bangkok that I would write a book entitled American Gripen: The Solution to the F-35 Nightmare. That process started with an article of the same name published online in early 2016. That article was well received and republished in a number of languages. So I persevered and the book, American Gripen: The Solution to the F-35 Nightmare, is now available on Amazon.
I have not been to Sweden yet but I have been to Norway a few times. In the 1990s, I used to visit friends who were stationed in Stavanger. A couple of years ago I was invited to a climate workshop on Svalbaard. I have an ongoing interest in things that affect the climate of the Scandinavian countries.
My Saab convertible is a happy car and my whole Saab story is a happy story.
SANA'A, Jan. 04 (Saba) Vice President of the Supreme Political Council (SPC) Dr. Qasim Labuza met on Wednesday with charge d'affaires of the Russian Federation embassy to Yemen.
The meeting dealt with the efforts and international exerted efforts to resume the peace talks and the recent developments in the international position on peace in Yemen as well as the Russian role which is a reliable that seek stability and peace in the world.
The meeting also touched upon the repercussions of the Saudi-catastrophic aggression which increasing daily due to the continuous barbaric brutal massacres against the Yemeni people, especially after the decree of the Fugitive Hadi to transfer the Central Bank of Yemen to Aden province aimed at disrupting the bank's function as well as aggravating the humanitarian and economic situation on the Yemeni people.
The meeting discussed the challenges posed by the aggression forces which supports terrorism in the country representing by al-Qaeda and Daesh aimed at destabilizing and destroying the international peace and security.
At the meeting, Dr. Labuza reiterated the initial position of SPC and the Government of National Salvation with any peace initiative could lead to stop the aggression and to lift the siege, including reopening Sana'a International Airport for commercial and civilian air traffic and which also could lead to a political and peaceful and honorable solution that preserves the rights of the Yemeni people.
Dr. Labuza hailed Russia's rejection of the aggression and the blockade on Yemen and its constructive efforts towards peace and justice sought by the Yemeni people.
He pointed out the importance of Russia and the working peace-loving nations to stop the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Yemen and to intensify efforts to prevent further collapse, especially in the health and service fields and to move forward with the initiatives that lead to stop the aggression and to lift the siege and to convince other parties to stop messing perpetrated against the Yemeni people.
The Russian ambassador expressed his thanks and appreciation of facilities for the Russian embassy in Sana'a and its crew which reflect the depth of the Yemeni-Russian authentic and enduring and evolving relations.
He reiterated his country's rejection of the continuation of a military solution in Yemen, stressing that a political solution would bring peace for the Yemeni people in order to achieve peace and stability for Yemen.
HA
Saba
Transport Minister discusses with WFP acting resident representative support Hodeida port rehabilitation
SANA'A, Jan. 04 (Saba) Transport Minister Zakaria al-Shami discussed on Wednesday with the World Food Programme ( WFP) resident representative in Yemen Adham Muslim the support that would be provided by the programme to rehabilitate Hodeida port.
The meeting dealt with the possibility of renovating the fixed cranes at the port and purchase of large cranes which destroyed by the US-Saudi aggression warplanes on the port. In addition to maintenance roads and bridges between Sana'a and Hodeida provinces.
The meeting reviewed the difficulties facing the transportation food and humanitarian aid provided by the WFP for Yemen's provinces, in particular Taiz province.
The minister praised the humanitarian role played by the WFP in Yemen in support of food and other humanitarian aid.
He pointed out the need to develop a mechanism of transferring food and coordination in advance to avoid a delay in the delivery of humanitarian aid provided by the programme' trucks to some provinces.
The Minister of Transport affirmed the ministry's keenness to overcome the difficulties faced by programme, especially in human side.
He called on all organizations and the international community, particularly the United Nations to lift the ban on Yemen at the forefront of air embargo and opening Sana'a International Airport.
Meanwhile, chairman of General Authority of Civil Aviation and Meteorology Mohammed Abdul-Qader said that Sana'a International Airport is able to receive trade, commercial and humanitarian relief flights despite the constant bombardment on it.
HA
Saba
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[04/January/2017]
By SA Commercial Prop News
SAPOA CEO, Neil Gopal; SAPOA President, Amelia Beattie and, Henry Chamberlain, President and Chief Operating Officer of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) seen at the recent BOMA Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida.
The appointment of Neil Gopal to chair the International Region Council (IRC) of the US-based Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) is a significant step in bolstering South Africa's commercial property industry on a global platform.
Gopal is the current CEO of South African Property Owners Association (SAPOA) and will lead BOMAs International Region Council in 2014-15.
BOMA is a federation of almost 100 building owner and manager associations throughout the U.S. plus 13 international affiliates.
Gopal was elected to the position last month during a global gathering of BOMA members at its Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. He served as Vice-Chair of the BOMA IRC in 2013-14.
With its headquarters in Washington DC, BOMAs mission is to advance a vibrant commercial real estate industry through advocacy, influence, and knowledge.
This mission aligns closely with SAPOAs own strategic goals, as Gopal points out.
The role provides an exceptional opportunity to learn from colleagues around the globe, in addition to sharing our knowledge and experience from SA, says Gopal.
The IRC is specifically tasked with facilitating more robust engagement between the international affiliates to share not only global best practice, but also information and knowledge resources.
But given the scope of the Councils mandate, Gopal and his council colleagues will have their work cut out for them. BOMAs international affiliates include associations as far afield as Australia and New Zealand, Brazil and Mexico, and Finland and China.
We will be working together on issues such as property management and operations, development, leasing, operating costs, energy consumption and legislation, he adds.
BOMA President and Chief Operating Officer, Henry Chamberlain, says: We highly value our long standing relationship with the South African Property Owners Association and are very pleased that Neil has agreed to lead our international activities.
Neil has been an effective leader within the international region for years and has been one of the architects of an exciting new strategic plan to expand our global collaborations around standards, best practices, research and more and collectively advance our industry.
Manohar Parrikar ' title='Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar '>Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday said set procedures were followed in the Army Chief General Bipin Rawat ' title=' appointment of Army Chief General Bipin Rawat '>appointment of Army Chief General Bipin Rawat and all candidates were equally good.
The Defence Minister told media if seniority and date of birth were the only criteria, computers could have selected the service chief and there would be no need to have a cabinet process.
Parrikar also said all candidates for the post were equally good.
General Rawat was selected as the new Army Chief superseding Eastern Army Commander Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi and Southern Army Commander Lt. Gen. P. M. Hariz, both of whom have been in service longer than General Rawat.
The Defence Ministry justified General Rawat's appointment saying he was found to be the "best suited among the eligible Lt. Generals to deal with emerging challenges, including a reorganised and restructured military force in the north, continuing terrorism and proxy war from the west, and the situation in the north-east".
Trinamool Congress activists on Wednesday protested in front of the CBI office here to denounce the arrest of two of its MPs in connection with the Rose Valley group chit fund scam.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has brought two MPs -- Tapas Pal and Sudip Bandyopadhya -- to Bhubaneswar after arresting them in Kolkata.
Party workers led by TMC MLA Akhil Giri staged a demonstration in front of the CBI office here. They also announced a mega rally on January 10 in Bhubaneswar.
They alleged that the arrests were politically motivated and was a conspiracy of the central government.
"The BJP has hatched a vain plan to eliminate our party after Mamata Banerjee took out a nationwide movement against demonetisation. The allegations against our MPs are completely baseless", Giri said.
Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur will be held between February 4 and March 8, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi announced on Wednesday.
The results from all five states will be known on March 11, Zaidi told a press conference here.
While polling in Goa and Punjab will take place on February 4, Uttarakhand will vote on February 15 and Manipur in two phases on March 4 and 8.
Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, will go to the polls in seven phases: February 11, 15, 19, 23 and 27 and March 4 and 8.
This will be the single biggest electoral exercise since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and will involve a total of 690 constituencies, 403 of them in Uttar Pradesh alone.
Goa has 40 seats, Punjab 117, Manipur 60 and Uttarakhand has 70 seats.
"We are committed to conduct the elections in a free and fair manner," Zaidi said. The Election Commission would also check the "misuse of black money and liquor".
The main players in the five states include the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Manipur People's Party.
Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi on Wednesday announced a number of new measures for the upcoming assembly elections in five states.
Zaidi announced putting up of four posters at each polling station, informing the voters of locations of booths, and other Dos and Don'ts.
The posters were a statutory requirement at all polling stations, he said.
A voting assistance booth would also be kept at the polling stations.
Taking note of complaints received by the Election Commission (EC) in previous elections, the CEC announced that the height of the voting compartment would also be raised to 30 inches this time.
This was done to conceal the upper part of the body of the voters, the movement of which might giveaway the button they were pressing.
"This measure is being taken to maintain secrecy," Zaidi said.
The five states going to polls this year were Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur.
The Election Commission of India on Wednesday said that the candidates will have to submit a 'No Demand Certificate' from agencies providing amenities and government accommodation.
Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said: "The candidates will be required to file a no demand certificate and this certificate will come from agencies dealing with electricity, water, telephone and also the rent certificate of the government accommodation which these candidates may have occupied in past ten years."
Zaidi said this at a press conference while speaking on the additional affidavit required to be filled by the candidates in the upcoming state polls, in the light of an order of the Delhi High Court.
Any failure to file these affidavits would be a defect of substantial nature inviting scrutiny by the returning officer, he added.
Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi on Wednesday said any question about a possible freeze on the Samajwadi Party's election symbol 'cycle' was "hypotheical" and the poll panel would examine the matter before taking any decision.
"Any query on freezing of Samajwadi Party poll symbol 'cycle' is hypothetical right now," Zaidi told reporters.
"Let us first examine the documents submitted by both the groups," Zaidi said, referring to claims by warring factions of the Samajwadi Party led by its chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Both factions of the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh have submitted their representations to the poll panel, claiming they were the "real" Samajwadi Party.
Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh met Zaidi on Monday while Akhilesh Yadav's close confidant Ram Gopal Yadav met him on Tuesday. Both staked their claim to the party's election symbol.
Parliamentarians from Europe and North America along with speakers from Jammu and Kashmir will attend a seminar in Islamabad to discuss the Kashmir issue, an official said on Tuesday.
The two-day International Parliamentary Seminar organised by 'Young Parliamentarians Forum' of Pakistan's National Assembly will commence from January 5, a Foreign Office statement said.
The seminar is scheduled to be held in Islamabad in which guests from various countries including top Hurriyat leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, Syed Ali Shah Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik have been invited.
Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the National Assembly Speaker, Advisor to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi are also expected to address the seminar.
The seminar would analyze "various dimensions of the Kashmir dispute with a particular focus on its humanitarian aspect".
It will also look into the "prospects of its resolution in the larger interest of the global security," the statement said.
The Turkish parliament will vote this week to extend the state of emergency for another three months starting from January 19, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday.
The announcement came during a parliamentary group meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party, Xinhua news agency cited private broadcaster NTV.
The upcoming parliamentary vote will be for the third term of the state of emergency.
Turkey declared a state of emergency on July 20, 2016, days after a failed military coup, which Ankara blames on the US-based exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Under emergency rule, the government can bypass the parliament to enact new laws and limit or suspend rights and freedoms.
Yildirim also confirmed that debates on a bill to change the Turkey's constitution will start in parliament next week.
According to the report, the draft will be submitted to the General Assembly on January 9 and is expected to be approved by the end of the month.
The bill grants extended power to the President and allows the President to remain the head of his or her political party.
The Turkish government has said it would put the constitutional changes to a referendum, even if the proposals had gained enough support from lawmakers to pass through the parliament.
The US has signalled that it will not be drawn into the role of a mediator between India and Pakistan, saying both countries should work together to resolve their differences.
Asked during the daily briefing on Tuesday if Secretary of State John Kerry had offered to mediate between the two neighbours on the Indus Waters Treaty dispute, State Department Spokesperson John Kirby replied bluntly: "As I said, we encourage India and Pakistan to work together bilaterally to resolve their differences."
Kirby confirmed that Kerry spoke with Pakistan Finance Minister Mohammed Ishaq Dar last Thursday but would not give details of their conversation.
A Pakistan Finance Ministry statement on Friday gave Islamabad' version of their talk.
Asked if Kerry had discussed the Indus dispute with Indian officials and at what level, Kirby said: "We're in regular communication with the Indian and Pakistani governments on a wide range of issues. I just don't have any more details for you."
"The Indus Waters Treaty has served, I think as you know, as a model for peaceful cooperation between India and Pakistan for now 50 years," he said.
"We encourage, as we have in the past, India and Pakistan to work together to resolve any differences."
According to Pakistan Finance Ministry, Kerry made the call to Dar.
Seeming to invite that Kerry had asked for Washington's intervention, according to the ministry, "Dar indicated that US support on the principles and legal position of Pakistan will be greatly appreciated".
According to the ministry statement, Dar also told Kerry that the "Indus Waters Treaty is an international commitment and it is the responsibility of the World Bank to make sure that India honours this."
The statement said Kerry told Dar "that the President World Bank (Jim Yong Kim) had recently informed him about Pakistan's complaint against India on the subject of the treaty".
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft hit an Air France plane while taxiing at Toronto Pearson International Airport, the media reported.
The PIA flight from Toronto to Lahore was suspended on Tuesday evening after the plane clipped the wing of the Air France plane which was parked at Terminal 3, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported.
No one was injured and the damage to the plane was minor, said the report.
Confirming the incident, PIA spokesperson Danyal Gilani said the matter is under investigation, reported Pakistan's News International daily on Wednesday.
There's some damage to the equipment which may need replacement, he added. "Apparently it was due to some error during marshalling by the ground personnel," he said.
A night stop was declared at Toronto and flight passengers were provided hotel accommodation. All steps were being taken for making the aircraft serviceable as soon as possible, he said.
Whether you celebrated the New Year in church, in the comfort of your home, or you maybe you enjoyed the company of your friends counting down with others at one of Samoas hip watering holes, welcoming the New Year was a joyous occasion in Samoa.
On Saturday night, Apia was the place to be with the clubs pumping, people saying goodbye to 2016, police officers making sure everyone made it home safe, and yes, lets not forget all the many resolutions and promises for 2017.
For some who celebrated at the Edge Cocktail Lounge, they kept their resolutions simple.
Some just wanted to be kinder, others aiming to work harder and then there were those who just simply wanted to enjoy life.
For Mary Tiumalu who is based in New Zealand, and works as an advisor for the Ministry for Pacific People and is also a solicitor for the High Court, she wants to just be more kind towards others.
I havent had much time to think of my new years resolution, she told the Samoa Observer.
One thing I know, is I will be more kind to people. I feel like sometimes, being in my industry, you have to be quite direct and I want to be more empathetic and compassionate towards others.
She explains 2016 as a year full of challenges but looks forward to hopefully a great and prosperous 2017.
My New Years is great, Samoa has put on quite a good show and we are enjoying it, Ms. Tiumalu said.
To be honest, 2016 was quite a rough year, I didnt really enjoy it, and there were a lot of challenges that I wasnt able to overcome but I look forward to the New Year.
As for Darren Mauiliu, a hard working staff member of Tanoa Tusitala, he has decided to take a wiser approach to his resolution.
My New Years resolution is simple; I just want to continue my hard work, he began.
Many people want to lose weight, others want to change their lives for the better but I believe that if we just focus on what we do best and just build on that then you will improve your personal life eventually.
So thats all I want to do, I want to continue to do what I do best and allow God to do the rest.
And for one of our guests from Australia, Toni (last name withheld), enjoying Samoa and welcoming the New Year with the locals is all she wants to do for now.
I just want to be healthy, wealthy and wise, she explained.
My night in Samoa has been very good, I love Samoa. The highlight of my trip is just being able to relax here with the people; they are beautiful.
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The Member of Parliament for Urban West, Faumuina Wayne Fong, has called for tougher laws to control the growing number of vendors on the streets of Apia.
Faumuina also believes the time has come for the Police to charge parents, to hold them accountable for the behaviour of their children on the streets.
The Member of Parliament was responding to questions from the Samoa Observer following a story about three young children beating up a homeless man at the Bartley building in Apia.
According to Faumuina, the problem with street vendors is deteriorating. It is time for the government to get serious about addressing the issue.
There are no laws to protect these kids and keep them off the streets late at night, said the M.P. Even their parents are just hanging around near the kids when they are out selling this stuff.
Some parents say that they need quick money as the reason why their kids are out late but what they are doing is creating another problem that we are now seeing.
We need to strengthen our laws to prevent this from deteriorating. We need to reach out to their villages to run programmes to keep the children away from trouble and the street.
Faumuina also highlighted what he described as an illegal trend where young sellers are used by businesses to resell their goods on the streets.
He urged the Ministry of Revenue to look into the problem. He suggested that perhaps its time for the authorities to register the vendors so Police can keep track of them.
The M.P. said he had personally seen the young vendors causing trouble infront of McDonalds Restaurant. He recalled that one day when he didnt buy anything from a young vendor, the kid punched his car from the back.
I got out to tell the kid off and the mother jumped in and I told her to discipline her child, said Faumuina. What that tells me is that the parents are around where these kids are and that is all the more reason for them to be charged.
I also believe that education is not the problem but the fact that these parents are young and their mental state is not all there. Laws need to be put in place and be enforced.
Looking ahead, Faumuina said the problem will only get worse and the impact on Samoa especially in the tourism area will be huge.
He made reference to the governments Waterfront Project and how the young vendors will have a negative impact on it. He imagined the Waterfront being littered with young vendors night and day comparing the future of Samoa to the streets of Brazil.
Can you imagine what will happen if this is not controlled? asked the M.P.
I cannot imagine the things that we have not seen on video that these kids are doing. The reality is that people see this problem everyday but dont know what to do about it. They are depending on the Ministries who are not doing anything about it.
Furthermore, Faumuina said most of the young vendors have adopted a quick change from vendors to being beggars.
One kid would come up to you and say I have two more pens left and if you say you dont want it they will quickly ask you for a dollar or two and there you see the quick change of vendors to beggars at such young age.
Its a serious situation that our government needs to address and the community to work together to resolve it.
Remembering the past, the M.P. also believes that the lack of work done by pastors to conduct youth programmes and Bible studies after school is a factor.
In our days there were people who did not have much but we didnt have this kind of problem, he said. We used to have bible studies after schools and other youth programmes that keep us occupied as opposed to now children just go to school and come home do nothingthis is a big problem that will affect our country especially in the tourism sector.
Those that have also voiced their concerns about the problem are workers at the S.N.P.F. Plaza.
A security guard at the Plaza, Faasalafa Masinalupe Tini described the young vendors as nuisances at their nightlife.
Faasalafa said the young children roam the town area from night until morning. He stressed the need of addressing the problem before its too late to deal with them.
They used to sleep infront of Coffee Bean and we would chase them away, he said.
I was shocked when I saw them occasionally hanging around here with beer bottles and smoking. The youngest would be about 8 years old going up to their teenage years.
I dont know where they buy their bottles from or if they scab it off drunks but its very dangerous and they are a problem at night that people dont see this ugly side of it.
Faasalafa blames parents for the problem. Another security guard, Liki Ah Sam shared his view about the problem. He said the parents may say they are poor and the reason why their children are selling on the streets but he doesnt believe them.
They say they are poor but if you hear what they say to people who do not buy from them and how they sound like young prisoners, said Mr. Ah Sam.
I dont believe that they are out selling because they are poor. When someone is poor they have no food for months but what I see is they are using poverty as an excuse to harass people and steal from them. These parents are breeding and training their children to be young thieves and trouble makersin the next five years we wont be able to control this if we dont do something today.
Mosooi Faatuuala also shared her experience with the young vendors. The mother who is a cleaner at the S.N.P.F. Plaza said everyday the vendors are always harassing people. She recalled a few weeks ago when a 10 year old was taken by police.
That kid urinated in a plastic bag and threw it down where some adults were sitting here, said Mrs. Faatuuala. It was disgusting and if only I could catch him. The security officers chased him and when he was caught he was taken to police and saw him a few hours after.
I dont believe that police taking them in do anythingthey just release them back to community without really disciplining them.
Qualcomm unwrapped its latest integrated mobile processor chip on Tuesday the Snapdragon 835, which aims to deliver faster speeds and longer battery life to smartphones and other mobile gadgets without adding bulk to the devices.
The news from the San Diego wireless chip giant came as part of an avalanche of product announcements coming out of CES 2017, a massive consumer electronics trade show that opens Thursday in Las Vegas.
Several other San Diego companies also will be showing off their technology at CES, including 3-D headphone maker Ossic; senior-focused technology providers Great Call and Independa; and smart glasses start-up Aira, which offers an On-Star like service to help the visually impaired better navigate their surroundings.
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RELATED: 5 things to watch at CES 2017
For Qualcomm, the new Snapdragon 835 chip is one of a handful announcements it will make at the show.
Also Tuesday, Qualcomm touted the expansion of a partnership with managed health care giant UnitedHealthcare to offer certain health plan members discounts for using fitness trackers and hitting-steps-per-day targets.
Qualcomm Life is providing the secure wireless backbone to collect exercise data from UnitedHealthcare policy holders, who can earn up to $1,500 in credits toward their out of pocket annual deductibles.
The San Diego wireless chipmakers new Snapdragon 835 processor is expected to be the first chip to hit the market using leading edge 10-nanometer process technology from Samsungs semiconductor factories.
The complex manufacturing technique cuts down chip size and power demands by packing more tiny transistors more than 3 billion onto a piece of silicon smaller than a penny.
The mobile market especially Qualcomm is accelerating in being aggressive in new process node technology, said Keith Kressin, senior vice president of product development for Qualcomm Technologies. And 10 nanometers gets really, really small thousands of times smaller than a strand of hair small.
Qualcomm said the Snapdragon 835 will begin showing up in devices in the first half of this year. Osterhout Design Group (ODG), a San Francisco start-up that in December raised $58 million, is the first to use the Snapdragon 835 in two new smart glasses products.
The chip was designed to the ground up to support new and innovative products and experiences beyond mobile phones, said Raj Talluri, senior vice president of product management for Qualcomm Technologies.
But Snapdragon 835 clearly will target flagship smartphones with its integrated features that include a data mobile capable of peak download speeds of 1 gigabit per second. It is also 35 percent smaller size than Qualcomms previous top-end Snapdragon 820 chip.
The chip uses 25 percent less power, adding roughly 2.5 hours to a daily battery life on average. And it has a framework to enable fingerprint, eye and face-based biometric security.
You get an advantage because the power is lower and the thermals are better at the 10 nanometer, and you also can put in a bigger battery while keeping your phone the same size or shrinking it, said Kressin.
Rival chipmaker Intel also is expected to launch 10-nanometer products, but not until the second half of this year. The company hasnt said if 10 nanometer technology will be used for mobile semiconductors. Intel makes a variety of chips for everything from data center servers to PCs.
In addition to Snapdragon, Qualcomm said it has expanded its work with UnitedHealthcare to give certain insurance plan members incentives to exercise while earning credits against their deductibles.
In March, Qualcomm Life/UnitedHealthcare launched a pilot program in 12 states that included the custom built Trio Tracker wearable, which learned a users gait to prevent gaming the system.
Now, UnitedHealthcare has expanded the program to 40 states and will allow participants to use off the shelf fitness trackers starting with the Fitbit Charge 2.
Fitbit Charge 2 has the capability to be customized so users can see how they are tracking against UnitedHealthcares daily fitness goals which include walking 300 steps in under five minutes six times a day, walking 3,000 steps in 30 minutes and reaching 10,000 steps each day.
Qualcomm continues to provide the connectivity to monitor steps through its 2net Platform from subsidiary Qualcomm Life.
Wearable technology can help encourage employees to walk each day and earn financial rewards at the same time, using secure technology that we believe is intuitive and convenient, said Richard Migliori, chief medical officer of UnitedHealth Group, in a statement.
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mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com;
Twitter:@TechDiego
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Newly elected Helix Water District Board member Luis P. Tejeda has announced his resignation effective immediately.
In an email letter to Board President Joel Scalzitti, Tejeda said he was stepping down because new business opportunities could present a conflict of interest in his role as a board member.
Tejeda, who earned 5,636 votes in the districts Division 1 area, beat Dan McMillan (5,451 votes), incumbent John Linden (3,963) and Aaron Zajac (795) in November.
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Division 1 customers live north of Interstate 8 in El Cajon, and include the Fletcher Hills and Bostonia neighborhoods.
Tejeda retired from Helix in 2015 after 28 years in the districts operations and engineering departments.
He now works for a Santee-based company owned by his nephew that does asphalt and concrete work. The company, Anthonys Grading and Paving, has an annual contract with Padre Dam Municipal Water District for asphalt work.
Tejeda said he resigned to protect the district and ratepayers and made his decision as quickly as possible to ensure transparency.
Its a no-brainer, Tejeda said. I work for a contractor. If theyre going to want to do work for the district, it would be a conflict of interest. At the end of the day, I cant put the customers in that position, I cant put the district in that position.
Its strictly a business decision. Opportunities for me could impact the company I work for now. Its going to cost the company money. I didnt know that it was going to be such an impact at this level.
Board members will address Tejedas resignation and the next steps in filling the vacancy at tomorrows 2 p.m. meeting.
Tejeda said the resignation had nothing to do with a complaint filed on Dec. 3 by McMillan and El Cajon residents David Burton and Jeff Nelson challenging Tejedas residency in the district.
The complaint was sent to the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, the San Diego County District Attorney and the Helix Water District Board of Directors.
The complaint cites a code regulating irrigation districts, including Helix, that directors need to vote and reside in the division they represent at the time of nomination and throughout their terms.
Tejeda owns property on Grove Road in El Cajon in the districts Division 5 area; he also owns a home on Royal Road in Lakeside in the districts Division 1 area in which he was elected. Tejedas drivers license lists his Lakeside residence.
Tejeda said he met with the District Attorneys Office representatives with all of his residential documentation, including his voters registration, and was found in compliance.
He said Helix Water District General Manager Carlos Lugo called him to express disappointment at his resignation.
I told him that Im just bummed. I didnt know all the ins and outs, Tejeda said.
Tejeda has not ruled out running again in the future and said he expects to continue to speak out at board meetings.
Helix serves 268,000 East County residents in an area of 50-square miles, including the cities of La Mesa, El Cajon and Lemon Grove, plus portions of the unincorporated county, monitoring over 55,500 water meters.
National City recently began a pilot program that allows residents to eliminate or reduce their overdue library fines when they donate a nonperishable food item.
One item is equal to $1 in overdue charges forgiven up to $10 per library card account.
The Holiday Food for Fines program runs through Jan. 31 at the National City Library. All collected food items will go to a local food bank.
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The library will also accept food donations from people who do not owe fines.
Only overdue fines will be waived. Lost or damaged book charges and library card replacement fees are excluded from the waiver.
Participating residents must bring food items to a library staff member at the checkout desk during regular business hours.
Food items may not be opened, damaged or past their expiration date.
If the program is successful, the library is expected to ask for City Council approval to turn it into an annual event, which would typically run from mid-November to the end of December each year.
Nonprofit to make bike racks
Last month the National City council approved a contract with a local nonprofit to create custom bike racks throughout the city.
The citys public works department applied for and received $40,000 for whats called an Active Transportation Grant from the San Diego Association of Governments to oversee the creation, design and fabrication of the bike racks, which will then be installed by the city.
The project will design and fabricate a minimum of 30 custom bike racks at parks, recreation centers, community centers, business districts and along bicycle corridors.
A Reason To Survive successfully completed design and fabrication of about 40 custom bike racks through a previous active transportation grant.
It is currently finishing Phase I of the 2016 National City Bicycle Parking Enhancements grant project under a smaller contract with the city.
allison.sampite-montecalvo@sduniontribune.com
Cross-border super chef Javier Plascencia has pulled out of Bracero, his high-profile Little Italy restaurant, according to a report from Eater San Diego.
Eater called the move the first culinary bombshell of the year an apt description in light of the breathless buzz that surrounded the acclaimed, telegenic chefs 2015 arrival to San Diegos fiercely competitive and exceptionally expensive dining neighborhood.
RELATED: Why did Baja star chef Javier Plascencia leave Bracero?
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In a statement provided to Eater, Plascencia gave few specifics about his decision to split from his Mexiterranean Hospitality partnership.
Bringing my cuisine to downtown San Diego with Bracero two years ago was an experience I truly enjoyed. It brought many unforeseen challenges and with that, learning and growth. The experience was equally rewarding as it was challenging for me, and I will be forever grateful to San Diego, he said. (See Plascencias full statement below.)
With the opening of Bracero, a stylishly-designed, two-story restaurant at Kettner Boulevard and Beech Street, Plascencia entered Little Italys big-time restaurant scene. Among Braceros neighbors are some of the most-heralded, showcase eateries in San Diego, including Juniper & Ivy, Herb & Wood, Ironside Fish & Oyster and Kettner Exchange.
Plascencias former Mexiterranean Hospitality partner, and brother-in-law, Luis Pena told Eater that Braceros menu is being revamped.
Named in homage to Mexican laborers, Bracero featured earthy, albeit elevated, street food, including tostadas and sopes.
Whether the restaurant could sustain mid-range fare in such a high-end location is unclear. When reach for comment Tuesday night, Plascencia said he would be available Wednesday. Updates will follow.
Plascencia has also left Romesco, the 10-year-old restaurant in Bonita that marked the chefs first culinary entry in the county where he went to high school. His severed ties to Romesco are believed to have preceded the Bracero split.
Plascencia, who recently represented San Diego on Bravos Top Chef and PBS Moveable Feast, told Eater is considering future projects here.
Fellow chef Flor Franco called Plascencia the No. 1 Ambassador for the cross-border culinary scene.
Javier is the leader for many of us that work cross-border, she said. We look up to him and we cant wait to see the new projects coming into his life.
Below is the full statement Javier Plascencia gave to Eater San Diego:
Entering 2017, I will be parting ways with Mexiterranean Hospitality which includes Bracero Cocina de Raiz as well as Romesco. Bringing my cuisine to downtown San Diego with Bracero two years ago was an experience I truly enjoyed. It brought many unforeseen challenges and with that, learning and growth. The experience was equally rewarding as it was challenging for me, and I will be forever grateful to San Diego for embracing myself, Bracero and Romesco.
Together, we were nominated for a James Beard award as well as several other accolades from the San Diego community. I consider myself lucky to have been able to share my passion in the kitchen with Mexiterranean Hospitality; however, it is important for me to shift my focus into my independent projects. Going into the new year I will be taking time to focus on my restaurants in Tijuana, Valle de Guadalupe, as well as a new project I have in the pipeline in Todos Santos, Baja California Sur. Additionally, I will be further developing my boutique hotel concepts.
San Diego will always be a second home to me and I have future plans to pursue new ventures there independently. I wish Mexiterranean Hospitality continued success in the upcoming years.
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Chubby Checker and Misty Copeland wont be performing as part of the San Diego Symphonys Our American Music series, but there will be some exciting twists and turns regardless.
The concert lineup includes at least one gifted dancer, Cartier Williams, who co-starred in the touring production of the hip-hop-fueled Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk.
We all know that music has the power to bring people together, to unite us and to connect us, and we have created this festival in that spirit, said San Diego Symphony CEO Martha Gilmer.
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Aptly billed as a monthlong celebration of music inspired by America, the 15-concert program opens Thursday and concludes Jan. 29. It will include a number of firsts for the San Diego Symphony, which is Californias oldest orchestra, having launched in 1910.
How unexpected? Let us count some of the ways.
On Jan. 14, top San Diego trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos will lead a specially assembled band in an orchestra-free West Coast jazz tribute that will feature classics by Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker and others.
On Jan. 13, veteran rapper Talib Kweli will perform the first hip-hop concert ever presented by the symphony, although hell be accompanied by his own band, not the orchestra. Because of his sometimes blunt lyrics about everyday life, Kwelis performance is the first symphony-sponsored concert here in the orchestras history to be billed as recommended for mature audiences only.
On Jan. 12, multiple-Grammy Award-winner Rosanne Cash the oldest of country music pioneer Johnny Cashs seven children will perform a celebration of American roots music with her band.
On Jan. 11, fellow Grammy winners La Santa Cecilia will perform its exuberant, borders-leaping songs, also sans orchestra.
Coming just nine days before the inauguration of president-elect Donald Trump, this eclectic Los Angeles groups concert should have added resonance. After accepting La Santa Cecilias 2014 Grammy for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album, band co-founder Jose Pepe Carlos a native of Mexico disclosed to reporters backstage that he was an undocumented worker.
The band further solidified our identity as bi-cultural people and as children of immigrant parents, and what that all means and continues to mean to us, La Santa Cecilia percussionist Miguel Ramirez told the Union-Tribune in a late 2014 interview.
Megan Swan, who in June became the San Diego Symphonys associate director of artistic planning, booked La Santa Cecilia, Cash and Kweli for the Our American Music series.
She chose them specifically to help reflect the diversity of homegrown American music. She also had direct discussions with all three artists to explain the goals of the monthlong series and explore how each fits in.
Should their inclusion help draw listeners who dont usually attend San Diego Symphony-related concerts or lure longtime symphony attendees to their first hip-hop or Americana music performance so much the better.
American music is a melting pot that reflects our community, said Swan, who previously worked as the Los Angeles Philharmonics Collaborative Learning Manager.
So many styles of music have been born in this country because of the mix of people in America from so many different places and ideologies who talk to each other and interact. Once we started looking at that bigger picture of what American music is, and how diverse it is, we knew we wanted to represent as many genres as we could. Something that rings very true about La Santa Cecilia, Talib Kweli and Rosanne Cash is that they each have a very authentic voice.
The orchestral concerts in Our American Music will showcase a similarly broad range of styles and approaches, often within the course of a single performance.
To cite one example, the Jan. 11 concert by Art of Elan, conducted by La Jolla Symphony & Chorus Music Director Steven Schick, will include the world premiere of Hannah Lashs Tree Suite for Harp. It will also feature Aaron Coplands stirring Appalachian Spring and visionary minimalist composer Steve Reichs instrument-free Clapping Hands.
Even more intriguing is the same concerts inclusion of I will not be sad in this world, a composition for bass flute and electronically treated voice by Michigan-born maverick Eve Beglarian. It is based on a haunting 18th-century ballad Ashkharumes Akh Chim Kashil by Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova, which was popularized around the world in in 1989 by Armenian duduk virtuoso Djivan Gasparyan.
Another example of the scope of Our American Music within a single performance comes with the Jan. 20 and 22 concerts entitled LA/NY. Among the four pieces that will be performed are expatriate Russian composer Igor Stravinskys Symphony in Three Movements, which he completed in 1945 as his last work for full orchestra, and John Adams City Noir.
Adams has accurately described his piece as jazz-inflected symphonic music that is inspired, in part, by French composer Darius Milhaud. By coincidence, in the 1940s Milhaud taught future jazz piano legend Dave Brubeck, whose work will be performed as part of Our American Music at the Jan. 14 Birth of the Cool: A West Coast Jazz Salute concert.
Were not trying to answer any questions with this festival, stressed the symphonys Swan.
But we are posing questions. What is American music? Is there an American music? What makes American music different? These are questions we want people to go through and recognize for themselves. These concerts will provide a pathway to these questions and an avenue to explore.
Our American Music
When: Thursday through Jan. 29; times vary.
Where: Joan and Irwin Jacobs Music Centers Copley Symphony Hall, 650 B Street, downtown.
Tickets: Prices for each concert are shown below.
Phone: (619) 235-0804
Online: sandiegosymphony.org/ouramericanmusic/
(* Indicates concerts without the San Diego Symphony)
7:30 p.m. Thursday
Art Connection: What is an American Composer?
Discussion with American composers Gabriela Lena Frank and Andrew Norman, San Diego Symphony CEO Martha Gilmer and Chicago Symphony Orchestra programming advisor Gerard McBurney, moderated by James Chute. Music by Frank and Norman will be performed by San Diego Symphony musicians.
Free, but online reservations are required: sandiegosymphony.org/ouramericanmusic/
8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday
Americans and Paris
Andrew Gourlay, conductor, Inon Barnatan, piano, San Diego Symphony
Program: Piano Concerto and Billy the Kid Suite (Aaron Copland), Suspend (Andrew Norman), An American In Paris (George Gershwin)
$20-$96
8 p.m. Saturday
Our American Music Festival highlights and musical surprises
Program: The San Diego Symphony features musical highlights of works that will be performed throughout January as part Our American Music.
Free, but online reservations are required: sandiegosymphony.org/ouramericanmusic/
7:30 p.m. Tuesday
Art Of Elan: Our American Chamber Music *
Program: World premiere of Tree Suite for Harp (Hannah Lash), plus I will not be sad in this world (Eve Beglarian), Clapping Hands (Steve Reich) and the original 1944 version of Coplands Appalachian Spring for 13 players, conducted by Steven Schick.
$35
7:30 p.m. Wednesday
La Santa Cecilia *
Program: Will be announced from the stage
$24-$40
7:30 p.m. Jan. 12
Rosanne Cash *
Program: A celebratory performance of her triple Grammy Award-winning album, The River and The Thread.
Tickets: $35-$65
8 p.m. Jan. 13
Talib Kweli *
Program: Will be announced from the stage
$25-$40 (concert is recommended for mature audiences)
8 p.m. Jan. 14
Birth of The Cool: A West Coast Jazz Salute *
Program: The music of Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan, performed by Gilbert Castellanos, Chuck Berghofer, Charlie Shoemake, Jeff Hamilton, Graham Dechter, Tamir Hendelman and others.
$20-$65
8 p.m. Jan. 20, 2 p.m. Jan. 22
LA/NY
Cristian Macelaru, conductor, Andrea Overturn, English horn, Micah Wilkinson, trumpet, San Diego Symphony
Program: Symphony in Three Movements (Igor Stravinsky), City Noir (John Adams), Quiet City (Aaron Copland), Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein)
$20-$96
8 p.m. Jan. 21
Bernstein, Perlman, Hollywood
Cristian Macelaru, conductor; Itzhak Perlman, violin, San Diego Symphony
Program: Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront (Leonard Bernstein), (Erich Wolfgang Korngold), Hollywood Scores: Perlman Plays Hollywood (arranged by John Williams)
$20-$96
8 p.m. Jan. 27, 2 p.m. Jan. 29
American Riffs and Rhapsodies
Program: James Gaffigan, conductor, Cartier Williams, dancer, San Diego Symphony
Hymn, from Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 2 (Henry Cowell), Rhapsodies (Steven Stucky), Symphony No. 1, Op. 9 (Samuel Barber) Prelude, Fugue and Riffs (Leonard Bernstein), Tap Dance Concerto (Morton Gould), Harlem (Duke Ellington)
$20-$96
8 p.m. Jan. 28
Beyond The Score: Things Our Fathers Loved
James Gaffigan, conductor, members of the San Diego Symphony
Program: Symphony No. 2 (Charles Ives)
$20-$96
Twitter @georgevarga
george.varga@sduniontribune.com
Bracing for an adversarial relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, the California Legislature has selected former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. to serve as outside counsel to advise on the states legal strategy against the incoming administration.
The unusual arrangement was announced as the Legislature returned to session on Wednesday, underscoring the extent to which the action in Sacramento in the coming months will be shaped by Trumps presidency.
The agreement will give Holder, leading a team of attorneys from the firm Covington & Burling, a broad portfolio covering potential conflicts between California and the federal government. Former Los Angeles Rep. Howard Berman, a Democrat who is now a senior advisor to the firm, will also be part of the effort.
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[Holder] will be our lead litigator, and he will have a legal team of expert lawyers on the issues of climate change, women and civil rights, the environment, immigration, voting rights to name just a few, Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) said in an interview.
Such a task typically falls to the state attorney general. On Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown formally nominated Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra to replace former Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, who now serves in the U.S. Senate. Becerra, whose nomination hearings in the Legislature begin next week, is expected to be easily confirmed.
A spokesman for Brown declined to weigh in on Holders hiring on Wednesday. Becerra could not be reached for comment.
De Leon and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon began contemplating hiring outside legal counsel for the Legislature almost immediately after Trumps election, in hopes of protecting existing state policies that are at odds with the president-elects stated positions. Legislators have already signaled an emphasis on protecting people in the country illegally, proposing legal aid in anticipation of stepped-up deportation action by Trump. They have also indicated that fights are on the horizon over expanded healthcare coverage through the Affordable Care Act and policies to combat climate change, two issues that mark a major departure from Trumps positions.
While we dont yet know the harmful proposals the next administration will put forward, thanks to Donald Trumps campaign, cabinet appointments and Twitter feed, we do have an idea of what we will be dealing with, Rendon said in a statement.
The Covington team will be an important resource as we work with the governor and the attorney general to protect Californians, he added.
The two legislative leaders have taken an unabashedly combative posture against Trump in a state that voted for Hillary Clinton by a wide margin. Rendon, in remarks last month at a swearing-in ceremony for lawmakers, described the incoming administration as a major existential threat and asserted that Californians do not need healing. We need to fight.
The incoming Trump administration did not respond to a request for comment.
Republicans, who are outnumbered by Democratic supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature, chafed at the announcement. Assembly GOP leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley dismissed the hiring as a stunt.
This is a distraction from the very real problems facing everyday Californians. Donald Trump did not cause Californias transportation crisis, nor did he play a role in our states sky-high housing costs. Democrats should focus on solving these real-world problems instead of wasting tax-payer money to score political points before the president-elect even takes office, Mayes said in a statement.
He noted that Becerra, the states incoming Attorney General[,] has spent decades in Washington working on federal policies. Its not clear why legislative Democrats needed to hire a DC insider to litigate the exact same issues.
De Leon said the additional counsel would offer more legal firepower that would complement and bring additional heft to the state attorney generals efforts.
Bringing on outside counsel is not unprecedented for the Legislature. The state Senate hired special counsel for a select committee investigating price manipulation in the wholesale energy market by Enron in the early 2000s. The Senate also sought outside counsel to sort through the federal investigation of former Democratic state Sen. Ron Calderon, who later pleaded guilty to corruption charges.
Updates from Sacramento
But it is far more unorthodox for both houses to join together in retaining counsel in a preemptive bid to prepare for as-yet-unknown litigation and policymaking at the federal level. Much of the arrangement remains murky, including how Holders efforts will differ from or align with Becerras.
Also unclear: the ultimate cost to the state. The initial contract, according to an engagement letter between the firm and the Legislature, totals $75,000 for three months, with the tab to be split between the two chambers operating budgets. The agreement is capped at a maximum of 40 attorney hours per month.
A protracted legal battle would likely require far more manpower and resources, raising questions as to how the arrangement would proceed in the event of lengthy litigation.
The cost of additional attorneys can quickly add up under an aggressive legal strategy. In Texas, former state Atty. Gen. Greg Abbott now governor sued the Obama administration at a relentless pace, racking up nearly $2.6 million in costs to the state in less than three years, according to the Associated Press. Of that, $1 million went to outside counsel and expert witnesses.
Holder, who was a partner at Covington from 2001 to 2009 before rejoining the firm in 2015, will direct the efforts from the firms Washington, D.C., office. The firm, which has a long-established presence in the nations capital, has in recent years expanded its footprint in California. Covingtons Los Angeles office, which will play a major role in working with the Legislature, was launched in part by former federal prosecutor Dan Shallman, whose brother, John Shallman, is a prominent Democratic strategist whose clients include De Leon.
I am honored that the legislature chose Covington to serve as its legal advisor as it considers how to respond to potential changes in federal law that could impact Californias residents and policy priorities, Holder said in a statement provided by De Leons office.
I am confident that our expertise across a wide array of federal legal and regulatory issues will be a great resource for the legislature.
Holder, a close friend of President Obama and one of the most liberal figures in the Obama administration, left the Justice Department in 2015. His tenure was defined by a focus on civil rights and criminal justice reform and was marked by a tumultuous relationship with Congress and scandal stemming from the failed gun-trafficking operation known as Fast and Furious.
Representing California lawmakers against Trump wont be Holders sole involvement in politics in the coming years. He is also overseeing a Democratic campaign focused on redistricting, the process of redrawing political maps that, in recent years, has tilted state legislative and congressional landscapes in the Republicans favor.
California Democrats hoped hiring the nationally known figure would provide an extra dose of credibility to their anti-Trump stance.
Hiring the former attorney general, the nations top lawyer it shows that were very serious in protecting the values of the people of California against any attempt to undermine the policies that have made us the fifth-largest economy in the world, De Leon said.
melanie.mason@latimes.com
Follow @melmason on Twitter for the latest on California politics.
ALSO
California is itching to take on Trump. Here are the prominent figures leading the charge
Texas was Obamas chief antagonist. In Trumps America, California is eager for the part
Californias new legislative session begins with a message: Were ready to fight Trump
UPDATES:
3:35 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the contract between the California Legislature and former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holders law firm, and with comments from Republican legislative leader Chad Mayes.
This article was originally published at 5 a.m.
If ever there was any doubt Democrats in Sacramento were serious about the trench warfare strategy in the era of President-elect Donald Trump, look no further than the lawyer theyre hiring to help fight back in 2017.
That lawyer is Eric Holder. You might recognize that name.
Good morning from the state capital. Im Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers, and legislators gather today for a new two-year session shaped, in so many ways, by their counterparts in Washington, D.C.
Which explains why theyre bringing in a very big hired gun.
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LEGISLATORS HIRE HOLDER TO WATCH TRUMP
As the former attorney general of the United States, Holder brings gravitas to the effort by legislators to take the fight to Trump and the new GOP congressional dominance on Capitol Hill.
Melanie Mason reports that Holder is expected to complement the efforts of Californias new attorney general in a whole host of policy areas in which Democrats differ from the incoming presidential administration.
And speaking of that new attorney general
HARRIS IS OUT, BECERRA IS ON DECK
The oath of office taken on Tuesday by Sen. Kamala Harris also meant her official resignation from the job shes held since 2011 as attorney general. Gov. Jerry Brown wasted no time in officially nominating Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) for the job, sending notice to legislative leaders in a brief letter.
(And after that, Brown caught a flight to Hawaii for a short siesta.)
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) quickly announced that his houses select confirmation committee will meet to consider Becerras nomination on Jan. 10.
And keep an eye on this nugget: Becerra was given a questionnaire to fill out by the end of this week. Lawmakers want him to opine on topics including immigration, civil rights, the environment, policing and consumer protection.
The conventional wisdom is that Becerra is a shoo-in, but dont be surprised if next weeks hearing features some attempts by his fellow Democrats to set a baseline of whats expected once they sign off on his new job.
HARRIS, HOUSE MEMBERS CELEBRATE THEIR NEW JOBS
Californias new United States senator made history Tuesday by becoming the first black woman the Golden State has sent to the Senate and the first Indian American to ever serve in the body.
Her guests at the swearing-in included more than two dozen family members and friends from across the world, and they all jumped in for a big group photo with Vice President Joe Biden.
On the other side of the U.S. Capitol, the states five new House members were sworn in, calling the day a whirlwind and saying they are ready to start legislating.
REPUBLICANS REVISE PLANS AS TRUMP TWEETS
What otherwise would have been a first day full of Republican huzzahs on Capitol Hill was disrupted when President-elect Trump took to Twitter.
How many times will we write that sentence in 2017?
Trumps criticism was focused on the House GOPs decision to revamp its ethics operation.
As Lisa Mascaro points out, the instant reversing of course by Republicans may be a sign of things to come for their relationship with the man who will soon be sitting in the Oval Office.
AND THEN THERES OBAMACARE
Meantime, congressional leaders are still debating how to handle the tricky policy and political calculus of dismantling the Affordable Care Act. That includes whether to scrap hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes that have helped provide health insurance to more Americans.
In the era after Obamacare, the issue of money as in, how to pay for healthcare programs will be key.
VICTORY FOR CALIFORNIA GUARD MEMBERS
After more than two months of scrutiny over the efforts to require repayment of enlistment bonuses from members of the California National Guard, the Pentagon said Tuesday its changing course.
More than 15,000 soldiers and veterans will have the repayment mandate waived, though about 1,000 service members will not.
We think that the number of cases in which well be recouping will be a few hundred, as opposed to the many thousands of cases that are under the sword of Damocles right now, said personnel official Peter Levine.
TODAYS ESSENTIALS
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan was easily reelected on Tuesday, a sign of how hard hes worked behind the scenes to close ranks with the various GOP factions.
The president-elect again challenged U.S. intelligence agencies on Tuesday on their evidence of Russian hacking.
Trumps choice for U.S. trade representative is Robert Lighthizer, an advisor the president-elect may be talking to a lot if Tuesdays criticism of General Motors is any indication.
And GM wasnt alone: Trump also jabbed at Ford Motor Co. as the week began, apparently with some success.
Dream assignment as fly on the wall: The presidential inauguration platform on Jan. 20, as Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton have confirmed they will be on hand for Trumps oath of office.
Three prominent Democrats vying for governor in 2018 are bragging about the size of their campaign coffers. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday hes raised $11.5 million, which would put him in the cash grab lead.
Longtime Sacramento watchers are mourning the passing of John Keplinger, a former executive director of the state Fair Political Practices Commission.
LOGISTICS AND SOME CHANGES
You may have noticed weve shifted to a Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule. It will be the same great newsletter, just not every day. You can keep up with breaking news on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics?
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Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com.
Whats in your pantry? Anthony Sinsay, executive chef of JSix, lists off all sorts of items in his some basic, others reflecting both his Filipino heritage and his training under famed Spanish chef Jose Andres. So theres unsalted butter, kosher salt, garlic and canned tomatoes. And also Filipino sea salt, soy sauce, a variety of vinegars, Spanish olive oil along with oils from local producer Temecula Olive Oil, smoked paprika and tons of teas.
Both at the restaurant and home, Sinsay will forage through his pantry, searching for intriguing flavor combinations. But he doesnt mix them at random.
When I think of developing a dish, I think of a key ingredient and supporting flavors, he explained. Recently, I was thinking about a dish inspired by raw fish. Chamomile is one of my favorite teas. I do word associations with food, so when I thought of chamomile, I thought of lemon. And when I thought of lemon, I then thought of butter. Now brown butters nutty aroma plays off the florality of chamomile. Its like a circle of flavor.
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Then Sinsay thought to add mint. Mints herbaceousness plays into the chamomile. And, going back to the butter, the French love combining butter with radishes, which add a nice bite.
By the end of this word/food association, Sinsay had drawn the outline of a dish sea scallop crudo with slices of Meyer lemon and radishes surrounded by brown butter and it would feature a bright, surprising chamomile salt and some mint leaves. Its a simple dish but with complex flavors that pop.
Since every flavor pairing is different, Sinsay and his team had to test out proportions for the chamomile salt until they settled on 2 to 1, chamomile to salt. He chose flaky Maldon salt because its abrasiveness helps break down the tea using a simple mortar and pestle. Once the two ingredients were crushed together, he sifted the mixture onto parchment paper to get a smooth, consistent texture.
Making this at home is just as easy. You just need the two ingredients, a mortar and pestle, and a sifter. You can sprinkle the chamomile salt on raw seafood, but also as a quick seasoning on vegetables, as they do at JSix. Not a chamomile fan? Check whats in your pantry. Maybe its Earl Grey tea or a Chinese green tea. Maybe you like other herbal teas. Would they necessarily work with raw fish? Maybe. Maybe not. But using Sinsays approach, you can develop a dish for which a tea salt or other ingredient from herbs or spices would turn up the volume.
The concept works even for some unusual combination. Would you immediately think of pairing citrus with coffee? Sinsay was inspired by a drink he enjoyed at New Orleans restaurant Cafe Brulot. Orange peel was soaked in brandy, lit on fire, then doused in coffee. So, why not combine orange zest with maldon salt and ground coffee? Its perfect, he said, as a rub for steak or lamb.
Sinsay is a fan of compound butters, something home cooks can easily create, but he thinks that people tend to focus more on what to combine with the butter than what the finished dish will be and using that as the inspiration for the butter.
So, for example, if Sinsay was going to saute chanterelle and other mushrooms, which are the epitome of umami, how about adding miso to make a compound butter and really amp up the umami? He turned that into a dish with seared scallops topped with Asian greens and enhanced with a spicy Meyer lemon vinaigrette.
Of course, you can use that miso compound butter in other ways. Its something to spread on bread. Take it further and make an umami-punched grilled cheese sandwich with truffle cheese and, of course, mushrooms.
The circle of flavors can lead to other intriguing combinations. Do you have curry paste languishing in your pantry? Do you enjoy cauliflower? Curry is traditionally paired with cauliflower, so, Sinsay suggested, how about making a curry compound butter to drizzle over cooked cauliflower?
Theres a yin and yang to melding flavors. By pantry foraging and associating one flavor with another to create a circle of flavor, you can elevate a simple roast chicken or stir-fried vegetable dish into something more unusual, more memorable, and far more enjoyable. And those pantry items wont languish until you finally toss them.
Golden is a San Diego freelance food writer and blogger.
Sea Scallop Crudo, created by JSix chef Anthony Sinsay. (Eduardo Contreras / U-T )
Sea Scallop Crudo
Serves 4
Chamomile Salt
3 tablespoons loose-leaf chamomile tea
2 tablespoons Maldon Sea Salt
For Crudo
2 tablespoons whole butter
4 sea scallops
2 Meyer lemons, peeled and cut into segments
2 farmers market radishes, shaved
1 ounce fresh mint leaves, picked and torn
To make the Chamomile Salt: In a mortar and pestle, combine tea leaves and sea salt and grind until well incorporated. Then sift through a mesh strainer onto a piece of parchment paper. Pour the salt into a small bowl.
To make the brown butter: In a saucepot melt butter and gently cook until it turns deep caramel color. Remove from heat.
To plate the dish, slice scallops thinly into five slices and arrange like a flower on a plate. Season liberally with Chamomile Salt. Arrange the lemon segments over the scallop slices. Drizzle with brown butter. Garnish with sliced radishes and torn mint leaves.
Chef Anthony Sinsays Seared Sea Scallops With Chanterelle Mushrooms, Miso Butter and Choi Sum. (Eduardo Contreras / U-T )
Seared Sea Scallops With Chanterelle Mushrooms, Miso Butter and Choi Sum
This dish has a few components that need to be made separately and then will come together. You can make the Miso Butter and Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette in advance. Yu choi and sum choi are Chinese greens that are part of the mustard family and have lovely yellow flowers that you can use to garnish this dish.
Serves 4
Miso Butter
pound butter, softened
pound white miso paste
Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette
3 Meyer lemons, zested and juiced
ounce serrano chilies, finely chopped
Kosher salt to taste
cup extra virgin olive oil
Sauteed mushrooms
1 ounce olive oil
2 ounces chanterelle mushrooms
1 ounces maitake mushrooms
1 ounces shitake mushrooms
1 ounce white wine
1 1/2 ounces miso butter
For scallops
1 ounce olive oil
3 sea scallops
Kosher salt to taste
2 tablespoons whole butter
To plate
1 ounce yu choi (can be found at Specialty Produce or Asian markets)
1 ounce sum choi (can be found at Specialty Produce or Asian markets)
To make Miso Butter: In a mixer equipped with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and miso together until completely incorporated. Set aside.
To make Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette: In a mixing bowl combine the Meyer lemon juice and zest with serrano chilis and salt and slowly drizzle in olive oil until emulsified. It will break again. Just whisk and stir each time you use to ensure even dispersion. Set aside. Chefs tip: Use a mason jar and just shake each time you need to use it after covering it tightly.
To make Sauteed Mushrooms with Miso Butter: Add the oil to a hot saut pan. Watch for the oil to dance, then add the mushrooms and saut until they turn a golden brown. Deglaze with white wine and add Miso Butter to glaze.
Prepare the scallops: Add oil to a hot saut pan. Season the sloped side of the scallops with salt and place them sloped side down into the pan. Apply even pressure to the scallop with a spatula to ensure that the sear is even. Once the color starts to peek through on the bottom side of the scallops gently flip them over with the spoon and add the butter to the pan. Immediately baste the scallops with the butter by tipping the pan slightly and repeatedly dipping a spoon into the melted butter and pouring the butter from the spoon over the scallops. Once the scallops are cooked, transfer them from the pan to a lined plate or sheet pan.
To plate the dish: Place the sauted mushrooms with miso butter on the plate. Top with the scallops. Roll the yu choi and sum choi leaves and place around the scallops. Drizzle the ingredients with the Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette and garnish with sum choi flowers.
Recipes from Anthony Sinsay, executive chef of JSix
Update: Heres a photo of Chinas second aircraft carrier, under construction at the Chinese port of Dalian.
Apparently, China is unhappy that the photo was published by a Japanese news service earlier this month. Chinese news outlets say the photo is an infringement on Chinas national security.
ORIGINAL STORY:
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Chinas first aircraft carrier performed its first drills with jets and other warships in the South China Sea on Monday, a sign of the nations rising naval air power.
What can or should the United States do about it? (Take the poll below.)
China bought the flattop, now called Liaoning, from the Ukraine in 1998.
The Kuznetsov-class Soviet carrier started life in 1985 in a Ukrainian shipyard under the name Varyag.
After the Soviet Union disintegrated, work stopped on the ship in 1992 because Russia couldnt afford to pay Ukraine to finish construction. The vessel was 70 percent complete but lacked engines or rudders.
Welcome to The Intel, a blog examining the hot military news of the day
It was towed to China amid international skepticism about whether it could ever be operational.
But Chinas Defense Ministry has confirmed that J-15 Flying Shark fighter jets took off and landed from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier on Monday, while spending several days in the South China Sea, according to the Associated Press.
Chinese media is reporting that, after performing well in heavy seas this week, plus other exercises in recent months, the ship has made the transition from testing platform to combat-ready status.
The Chinese J-15, based on the Soviet-designed Sukhoi Su-33, practised inflight refueling and air combat, in addition to touch-and-go landings.
This class of carrier does not use a steam catapult for launching fighters unlike the big U.S. carriers. It is equipped with a so-called ski jump at the bow to allow takeoffs by jets that dont require long runways.
The situation has made Chinas neighbors nervous.
Taiwan deployed its fighter jets to watch the Liaoning and its escorts as they passed passed south of Taiwan a few days earlier.
The United States and the Philippines have voiced concern over Chinas construction of man-made islands in portions of the South China Sea. Chinese military planes have begun landing on the islands and there are reports that China has positioned weapons there.
The move is seen as China asserting its dominance in areas also claimed by other Asian nations.
Military scholars have long said that China getting an aircraft carrier capability could affect the balance of power on the seas, especially among its rivals in Asia. The flattop gives China a much longer range for its air power.
A second Chinese aircraft carrier is reported to be under construction.
jen.steele@sduniontribune.com
Facebook: U-T Military
Twitter: @jensteeley
Rising addiction rates and disputes among street-level drug dealers were key factors in driving up homicides in Tijuana last year, making 2016 the most violent in the citys history, authorities said Tuesday.
The total for the year came to 910 for Tijuana, according to figures for the Baja California Attorney Generals Office. That represents a 36 percent increase over 2015, when authorities registered 670 homicides. The 2016 tally surpasses the citys previous record in 2008, when authorities reported 844 killings.
There is a tremendous conflict in the street over the sale of drugs, said Miguel Angel Guerrero, coordinator for special investigations in the Baja California Attorney Generals Office in Tijuana. Every day, we see more addicts, and as we see more addicts, there will be more drug consumption, more problems, and more deaths as a result.
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With a population of more than 1.7 million residents, Tijuana is Baja Californias largest city and has traditionally led the state in homicides. Last year was no exception: By comparison with Tijuanas 910 killings, Mexicali, the state capital, had 112 homicides, Ensenada had 85, Rosarito Beach had 80 and Tecate had 77, according to the Attorney Generals figures.
The violence has cast a cloud over Tijuana as it has struggled to shed its reputation for drug violence in recent years, with promoters striving to spread word of the citys innovative cuisine, rich cultural life, booming manufacturing industry, and burgeoning startup sector.
Though homicides are higher than ever, the violence has not held the city in its grip as it did from 2008 to 2010, when rival drug gangs waged open warfare on the citys streets, leaving mutilated corpses and threatening messages to their rivals. This was a period when the dominant Arellano Felix Cartel was fighting off a challenge from the Sinaloa Cartel for control of the Tijuana plaza, a key smuggling corridor to reach the lucrative U.S. market for illicit drugs.
In those years, the executions were with the clear intention of sending messages of uncertainty to society and to rival groups, said Victor Clark Alfaro, a Tijuana human rights activist who studies organized crime.
As the Sinaloa strengthened its control over the region, the violence subsided for a few years, but then began rising again, as Sinaloa itself became the target of a group from central Mexico, the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion in alliance with the remnants of the Arellanos.
The violence of recent years has a different pattern, with most of the victims and perpetrators of the citys homicides the lowest-ranking members of the drug trade, many of them addicts themselves.
The leaders of the three groups that are present here no longer have control over the street trade. There is an enormous army of street dealers that they can no longer control, Clark said.
The homicide victims are people with a very low public profile, theyre drug dealers, not heads of cartels or important groups, Clark said.
Guerrero of the Baja California Attorney Generals Office said that 85 to 90 percent of the homicide victims in 2016 were neighborhood drug dealers, often addicted to the drugs they sold.
This is not going to end until there is a true policy in terms of addiction, he said. Until governments in large cities do something for addicts, this is going to continue. This is a health problem, its not a law enforcement problem.
Tijuanas homicides rose just as Mexicos over-all homicide numbers increased in 2016, but every story is local in the sense that the particular dynamics are playing out differently in different places, said David Shirk, a political science professor at the University of San Diego who has studied trends of drug violence in Mexico.
But Shirk also sees the arrest last January of the Sinaloa Cartel leader, Joaquin Chapo Guzman, as one factor driving a rise in drug violence in different parts of the country. Though nobody is talking about it it has to mean something in terms of the reaccomodation of drug trafficking networks in Mexico.
Another factor that cuts across geographic regions, Shirk said, is youve got to figure out what to do with young men ages 18 to 30. Though civic groups have worked hard to improve Tijuanas reputation, and getting people to come out and shop and go to restaurants...what do you do with all those young men, and make sure that they are finding ways to engage either in their studies or gainful employment? Shirk said. Thats the heart of the matter for a lot of different parts of Mexico.
The rise in violence has led business organizations in recent months to call for greater coordination among the local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in the state. The high numbers numbers put pressure on Tijuanas new mayor, Juan Manuel Gastelum, to come up with a plan to reduce the violence during his three-year term.
The mayor, who took office on Dec. 1, has appointed a new public safety secretary, Marco Antonio Sotomayor. I feel hes good, hes got a good reputation, he has all the credentials to do a good job, said Roberto Quijano, a Tijuana attorney and member of the City Council. But in a month, I havent seen any strong plans or strong actions to fight crime.
Quijano, who previously led the business group Coparmex and has been active in monitoring crime trends, said that many crimes are down, including kidnapping, extortion, car theft, bank robbery. The only one that went up is homicides, and that no question is related to drugs, Quijano said.
To combat that problem, the citys residents have a responsibility as well, Quijano said. We dont have enough voices clamoring for security, he said. I dont feel society and in particular the business community has been strong enough in calling on the mayor to and asking him, What are you going to do about this?
sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com
@sandradibble
If only all crimes were so easy to solve.
Alvin Lee Neal robbed a downtown San Diego bank, but before he did he inserted his ATM debit card at the teller window revealing his name and other personal information.
Neal, 56, was sentenced in San Diego federal court Tuesday to three years and 10 months in prison for the robbery, the U.S. Attorneys Office said.
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Neal entered the Wells Fargo branch on First Avenue on May 13 and approached a teller window, according to his plea agreement. He first swiped his card through the card reader at the window. When the teller asked how he could be helped, Neal replied: Youre being robbed. Dont make a mistake. He then handed the teller a note that had a similar statement.
When the teller hesitated, Neal said: You dont want anyone to get hurt, dont make a mistake.
The teller handed him $565 in $20s and $1s and Neal ran out of the bank, pulling a metal cart from the bank behind him, according to the complaint.
With his debit card information on hand, investigators found his drivers license and address and discovered Neal is a registered sex offender. He was previously convicted of attempted rape and sexual battery, according to the California Megans Law website.
FBI agents and San Diego police officers set up surveillance at a hostel on 10th Avenue downtown and stopped him as he left the building that afternoon. He agreed to a search of the room he was staying in, which turned up a checkered, double-breasted jacket that the robber appeared to have worn, as well as Neals debit card, the complaint states.
He admitted to robbing the bank when questioned by investigators, according to the complaint.
As part of his sentence, he was ordered to pay $565 in restitution to the bank.
kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @kristinadavis
In October, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said she was undecided about her future plans. She said she might run for another term in 2018, retire earlier or finish out this term and not seek re-election after serving as the countys top prosecutor for 16 years.
Then three weeks ago, Dumanis told top administrators in her office that she has a definite succession plan in mind: She wants Chief Deputy District Attorney Summer Stephan to succeed her and David Greenberg, another chief deputy, to take over as the top assistant.
That is what Dumanis said at a meeting of division chiefs, according to a Dec. 15 summary of the meeting provided to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
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Dumanis future plans have been the subject of steady speculation in the legal community over the past year.
At a training meeting with deputy district attorneys in October, she addressed the rumors that she was considering resigning in 2017. She said she was undecided about her future and it was possible she would seek a fifth term in 2018.
In an interview with the Union-Tribune a few days after that training session, she said it was just speculation that she might resign midterm but that she would be very supportive of Stephan replacing her.
If Dumanis were to resign, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors would appoint a successor.
Her comments in December to her division chiefs were more explicit, according to an email obtained by the Union-Tribune. It was written by Rachel Cano, a former deputy district attorney and South Bay division chief who became a Superior Court judge last week.
In the email, Cano told the deputy district attorneys in her office that Dumanis does not have a retirement date but her succession plan is to have Summer take over as DA and Dave Greenberg take over as ADA.
She wants to make sure there is a smooth transition when she does decide to retire, Cano wrote.
That appears to be a more definitive plan one that backs Stephan as the top choice to succeed Dumanis and favors Greenberg to be the offices top assistant, replacing Assistant District Attorney Jesse Rodriguez.
Dumanis communications chief, Steve Walker, declined to say if the comments to the division chiefs on Dec. 15 represent a shift in how his boss is thinking about her future.
Were declining to provide any comment at this time, he wrote in an email Tuesday.
Stephan has handled high-profile cases, including prosecuting Brendan ORourke, who in 2010 opened fire on the playground of Kelly Elementary School in Carlsbad, wounding two students. ORourke had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but a jury found him legally sane and he was sent to prison.
She also has led the district attorneys sex crimes and stalking division and been the head of the North County branch of the District Attorneys office.
Greenberg is a veteran prosecutor who has served as a division chief under Dumanis since 2003.
Twitter: @gregmoran
greg.moran@sduniontribune.com
Hundreds of students enrolled in court-reporting and paralegal training classes at Sage College were left in a lurch Tuesday, when owners of the for-profit school closed the business two weeks before the end of the quarter due to a long-simmering accreditation issue.
Sage College officials say the action came in response to the schools accrediting agency, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, losing its authority under a U.S. Department of Education decision last month.
Effective immediately, it is with great sadness that we announce the closure of Sage College, the company emailed students late last week. This situation affects every school that was formerly approved by ACICS. It is not Sage College specific in any way.
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Jilted students are upset that other schools accredited by the council managed to stay open. They said Sage College withheld information and in some cases continued to collect federal student loan funds and tuition payments as recently as a few days before closing.
They told us in October that we had 18 months and that they would take care of us, said Marissa Maginnis, a single mother from Spring Valley working toward her court-reporting certification. We were supposed to have finals next week. A lot of us feel like weve just been scammed.
Maginnis said she owes $23,000 in student loans money she thought was a good investment because court reporters can earn $80,000 a year or more in San Diego. She hopes to get all or part of her loan forgiven.
Sage College is one of about 250 schools accredited by the council, which was targeted by federal education officials for pervasive noncompliance with regulations over government-backed loans and grants for students.
Last month, the Department of Education revoked the councils accreditation authority. The nonprofit group sought a restraining order to halt the process but a federal judge rejected the request.
Most of the other colleges accredited by the council accepted a provisional certification, meaning they could remain in business if they secured an alternate accreditation under stricter operating standards within 18 months.
The notice Maginnis received from Sage College three months ago assured students they had more time and advised them to keep up with their coursework.
Although we dont know how long the ACICS appeal process will take, the ONE thing we do know is that if they are denied all schools will have 18 months to secure approval through another accrediting agency, Executive Director Lauren Somma told students on Oct. 4.
Robert Rasha, who was the Sage College chief technology officer until he was laid off, said Tuesday he could not explain why company owners did not accept the governments offer of provisional certification.
He said Somma and co-owner Sharon Goupil were concerned that Sage College could not immediately meet the new standards and were skeptical that another accrediting agency would approve them going forward.
They dont want the burden of accepting an ACICS school, and the second thing is the standards are being modified to make them more rigid, Rasha said.
About 350 students at the San Diego and Moreno Valley campuses of Sage College were affected by the school closure, Rasha said. About 50 employees also lost their jobs.
Kimberly Myers of San Clemente was taking online courses in court reporting through the Moreno Valley campus when she learned the school closed unexpectedly. She paid $40,000 in tuition over the past three years as she worked up to the transcription speed required for certification.
Im just devastated, Myers said Tuesday. Were kind of on hold because we dont know whos going to get the next rug yanked out from under them.
The Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools, a nonprofit based in Washington D.C., said in a statement that it has a hearing scheduled Feb. 1 on its request for an injunction against the Department of Education revocation decision.
The council says it wants to regain its government recognition and recover our historic role as a highly-regarded accrediting agency.
According to the groups most recent federal tax filing, ACICS has $17 million in net assets and paid its chief executive $325,000 in the year ending June 30, 2015. It reported $3.6 million in travel costs for the year, its biggest expense after salaries and benefits.
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jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
Bail was set at $300,000 Tuesday for a Tijuana City Council member facing money laundering charges in San Diego Superior Court.
Judge David J. Danielsen rejected the prosecutions request of $5 million bail for Luis Torres Santillan. The councilmans attorney, Anthony Colombo, said Torres had never been arrested before, has numerous local connections, and his wife is a teacher at a Montessori school in Chula Vista.
The case is being heard by Judge Runston Maino. At a hearing following the bail decision, Maino noted this is a very complicated case. Prosecutors said the case involves several thousands of pages of discovery documents and hours of audio recordings. The next hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 9.
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Torres had been in office for 16 days when he was arrested at the border Dec. 16. He was charged with 10 counts of money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty and is currently on leave from the council.
The case is one of three resulting from an investigation and Torres is one of 12 defendants named in a complaint filed by the state of California. The investigation is headed by the Drug Enforcement Administrations Narcotics Task Force, in collaboration with other agencies.
According to court documents, prosecutors say proceeds from illegal activity were being smuggled from Mexico into the United States, deposited into banks there and then wired back to Mexico.
Earlier, Colombo said his client is a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen who is general manager of Productos Diamond, a family-operated Tijuana business that imports rice, beans and lentils from different parts of the world and sells them in Mexico.
His attorney said that Torres had been living at a house in Coronado but that his primary residence is in Tijuana.
A long-awaited fire station might finally be coming to the rapidly growing campus of UC San Diego, university and city officials said this week.
The station was among 19 new facilities recommended in a 2011 independent consultants report that declared emergency coverage inadequate in several parts of San Diego, including the neighborhoods around UCSD.
And the new station has become even more important in the wake of the City Councils decision last month to delete from planning maps the controversial Regents Road Bridge, which could have shortened emergency response times in the area.
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Since the 2011 study, city and university officials have discussed a partnership where the university would provide land and pay for construction of the new station, while the city would fund operations and maintenance.
But no formal agreement has ever been presented publicly, and community leaders in University City have called progress on the project frustratingly slow.
A spokesman for the citys Fire-Rescue Department said this week that city and university officials are still discussing the project and expect to unveil a proposal this spring, most likely in April.
Meanwhile, the university issued a statement on Wednesday including similar information.
The city and UC San Diego are discussing the potential fire station project and look forward to bringing more details to the City Council for consideration, hopefully in April, the statement said.
The city and the university declined to provide any additional details.
The website for the universitys Physical and Community Planning division says the new station would be built in the northwest corner of the campus, just south of where Genesee Avenue and North Torrey Pines Road intersect. The site also estimates the station will be completed in spring 2020.
City Councilwoman Barbara Bry, who was elected in November to represent University City, La Jolla and nearby areas, has listed the new station and another planned for southern University City among her public safety priorities.
I look forward to working with UCSD and the city to ensure that the station is built on time and on budget, Bry said.
She has praised the plan to have the university fund construction, which is expected to be $10 million to $12 million, and have the city cover personnel and operations, which is expected to be somewhere between $1.5 million and $4 million per year depending on a variety of factors.
The other fire station planned for the University City area, slated for the intersection of Nobel Drive and Shoreline Drive near University City High School, is already funded by $14 million the city has collected from developers of projects in the area.
Ground breaking for that station is expected in late 2017 or early 2018.
The community was the second in the city last year to get a fast response squad, an experimental effort to use two-man crews to quicken emergency responses in poorly served areas.
Janay Kruger, leader of the University Community Planning Group, said shes been frustrated there hasnt been more progress on the campus fire station.
Weve thought it was a done deal for the last five years, she said.
Kruger complained that university officials have made the new station a lower priority than many other recent projects, which have increased the demand for fire coverage on campus.
City statistics show that roughly one third of the calls handled by city Fire Station 35, located near the eastern edge of UCSD, are incidents that take place on campus.
City officials have said the biggest hurdle to solving the emergency response challenges identified by the independent consultant in 2011 isnt building new fire stations, but having enough money to operate them year after year into the future.
It was primarily for that reason that the City Council declined to place on the ballot last year a proposed $205 million bond measure that would have paid for construction of nearly all of the stations recommended by the consultant, Citygate Associates of Folsom.
The UCSD station was not included in the proposed bond measure because city officials expect the university to cover the construction costs.
The citys Independent Budget Analyst said last summer that city expenses would increase $1.3 million per station for personnel and another $155,000 for finance charges to lease fire engines and other equipment.
But the Citygate report said the UCSD station would need double staffing, so annual costs could approach $4 million if that recommendation is embraced.
The report, however, is being revised at the request of the city, and the new recommendations may differ from 2011 based on changes in population and traffic patterns since then.
RELATED: UCSD OPENS DOWNTOWN CAMPUS
UC San Diego, which previously held classes in rented space, has announced a $42 million, 66,000-square-foot downtown outpost. Construction is expected to begin next year with completion by late 2020 or early-2021. (Carrier Johnson + Culture)
david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
A busy Bay Terraces intersection near two schools was cordoned off Wednesday morning after a 6-year-old girl was hit by a car, police said.
The 6-year-old victim was near the intersection of Briarwood and Paradise Valley roads when she was struck about 8:05 a.m. The driver stopped after the crash, police said.
Paramedics arrived, and the victim was taken to Rady Childrens Hospital with minor injuries.
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Boone Elementary School is located nearby.
Twitter: @LAWinkley
(619) 293-1546
lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com
The 24-year-old woman who was gravely injured in a Mira Mesa crash that a witness said was fueled by road rage died Tuesday, police said.
Denise Aragon said that she saw most of the Monday conflict and ended up trying to help the driver, identified by authorities as Tayler Tannenbaum.
The Poway resident was 24, the Medical Examiners Office said.
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Aragon said she was at a stop light across from a Target shopping center at Mira Mesa Boulevard and Camino Ruiz when she noticed two car drivers honking at each other as they left the parking lot about 6:30 p.m.
The vehicles, a gray Toyota Camry with its lights off and a white Toyota Scion, turned left onto Mira Mesa Boulevard and soon stopped at a red light. The driver of the Scion continued to honk. Aragon hadnt seen any altercation between the two drivers, but said it was clear to her that the driver in the Scion was upset.
When the light turned green, the cars took off. Aragon said the Camry sped away, with the Scion close behind. Both cut other vehicles off in the process, she said.
It escalated really fast and turned into a dangerous racing situation, she said.
In about five blocks, Aragon thought she saw the Camry clip the Scion. The Scion spun a couple of times before smashing into a tree in the center median near Aderman Avenue. She said the Camry driver appeared to brake quickly before speeding away.
Police said they have found no evidence the Scion was hit by the Camry, and instead suspect the Scions speeding driver lost control. Investigators spoke with the second driver on Tuesday, and no criminal charges were forthcoming.
Aragon parked her car and rushed over to the mangled Scion. The driver was unresponsive.
I basically had a front row seat to the whole thing. It was surreal, Aragon said. You hear about these things or see them in movies, but to actually see it there are no words.
The injured driver was taken to a hospital with critical injuries to her head, neck, spleen and liver, and later died. No one else was in the Scion at the time of the crash, but a car seat was in the backseat.
Twitter: @LAWinkley
(619) 293-1546
lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com
UPDATES:
10 p.m.: This article was updated with the identity of the driver who died. This article was originally published at 2:40 p.m.
A man remains jailed on $1 million in bail, accused of murder in a Mira Mesa gang shooting even though he didnt fire the gun and it was one of his own companions who died.
Chien Ngoc Pham, 22, was the getaway driver for James Martinez, 18, and a 17-year-old boy intent on killing a rival gang member, according to a criminal complaint and investigators.
Authorities allege that on Dec. 19, Pham drove to Menkar Road and parked around the corner from where a gang rival and other people were standing in a front yard.
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The 17-year-old is alleged to have armed himself with a pistol and walked up to a Markab Drive home with Martinez. The teen is suspected of opening fire on the gang rival, an 18-year-old.
The rounds apparently missed the rival, but Martinez ended up wounded. Pham and the teen drove Martinez to a hospital, where he died, police said.
Investigators have remained vague as to how Martinez was killed. The criminal complaint says the 17-year-old was armed and Pham was not, but San Diego police homicide Lt. Ray Valentine said they have not determined which person shot Martinez.
There are no outstanding suspects, Valentin said Tuesday.
Early on the day after the shooting, a SWAT team surrounded the Markab house, looking for the original target of the shooting. He was not there then, but was later found, questioned and released.
Authorities have not said whether he might have fired a gun in self-defense, wounding Martinez.
Pham and the 17-year-old then were arrested on murder and other charges in connection with Martinez death.
Pham was arraigned Dec. 23 in San Diego Superior Court and pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy, attempted murder and shooting at an inhabited residence.
Deputy District Attorney Christina Arrollado said an individual can be charged with any crime, including murder, if they aided and abetted or acted as a co-conspirator in that crime.
California law allows a person to be charged with murder if a fellow conspirator to a crime kills someone, accidentally or on purpose.
The complaint against Pham states that he committed the various felonies for the benefit of, at the direction of, and in association with a criminal street gang.
It adds that although not personally armed with a firearm (Pham) was himself a principal and was vicariously liable for the shooting.
Arrollando gave no specifics about the shooting at the arraignment.
A preliminary hearing for Pham has been set for March 20, to determine whether he should stand trial.
The juvenile faces a hearing to determine whether he should be charged in the case as an adult, authorities said.
Consumers who use voice-activated, always-on digital assistants such as Amazon Echo and Google Home could soon learn whether outsiders notably attorneys, police and the courts can gain access to the audio thats recorded on the increasingly popular devices.
Prosecutors in Benton County, Arkansas are pressuring Amazon to turn over electronic data that was recorded on one of its Echo smart speakers in November 2015. Authorities are hoping the recordings will reveal what led to the death of Victor Collins, who was found dead in a hot tub owned by one of his co-workers, James Bates.
Bates has been charged in Collins death.
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So far, Amazon has refused to give prosecutors the data, saying that it is protecting the privacy of a client.
The privacy case is reminiscent of the unsuccessful attempt that FBI made last year to force Apple to unlock an iPhone that had been used by one of the assailants in the mass shooting in San Bernardino in December 2015. The FBI later hired professional hackers to unlock the phone.
The Union-Tribune asked James Goodnow, a tech attorney at Fennemore Craig, P.C. in Phoenix, to put the latest privacy battle into perspective. Goodnow said:
This case may indeed be illustrative of what these type of voice-enabled home assistants are recording and perhaps foreshadowing another legal battle over requests for technology-based evidence versus a consumers expectation of privacy very reminiscent of Apple vs. FBI.
Up to this point, it been unclear what these devices are actually recording. What we do know is that devices like Echo are always listening. Once the device hears the wake word, it then records your voice and transfers it to a processor for analysis, so that it can accurately fulfill your requests. The Alexa app will also say your last query to make sure that it got it right. Its thus always listening, and the recordings are streamed and presumably stored remotely with a digital trail much like if you were typing an email.
Technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) is obviously moving faster than the law where everyday objects are now sending and receiving data. We will see how this case proceeds and whether a subpoena will produce the requested data.
And while consumers should expect privacy from these type of devices, if you have concerns, you should probably also know that retrievable data probably exists.
Goodnow noted in an earlier email to the Union-Tribune: Weve seen a lot of concern in past years about what Google collects and what they do with it, and Apple is also reportedly jumping into the niche soon with a similar device.
The Echo and Home work best when they know everything about you and they get that info by you (the user) allowing them access to it. Google especially will take everything that you feed to Google to allow Home to be as efficient and knowledgeable as possible. The Echo works the same way. For it to be good, you have to feed it a lot of data.
And that data, whether youre using the Home or the Echo, is sent to a cloud-based server somewhere for analysis. Is it stored there? No one knows, but some of it must be for the Echo and Home to maintain and learn your habits to be as useful as possible.
gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com
Rep. Duncan Hunter used campaign funds to pay for $600 of airline fees to fly a pet rabbit, one of the more colorful expenses to surface in an ongoing review of his practices.
Hunters staff told the Press-Enterprise newspaper that the House Office of Congressional Ethics questioned the bunny expenses offered as an example of over-reach by the agency.
The ethics offices independence was nearly clipped this week as one of the first orders of business for the GOP-controlled House, until President-elect Donald Trump and others questioned the timing of the move.
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Critics saw the proposal as weakening an important check on legislative abuses of power. Hunter spokesman Joe Kasper defended the proposed procedural changes, according to the Press-Enterprise.
The concerns are strong enough that it nearly prompted a significant structural change, Kasper said.
The ethics office last year conducted a review of Hunters campaign expenses. Release of the report, and any follow-up action by the House Ethics Committee, was recently postponed pending swearing-in of the new Congress.
Hunter, R-Alpine, has reimbursed his campaign about $62,000 in campaign expenses that were personal in nature or lacked proper documentation, including oral surgery, a garage door, video games, resort stays and a jewelry purchase in Italy.
The expenses came to light after inquiries by the Federal Election Commission and The San Diego Union-Tribune, and Hunter then hired a law firm to conduct a review that has not been made public.
Use of campaign funds for personal benefit is prohibited by federal law, as it might give undue influence to contributors. Most of Hunters campaign funds come from defense and transportation companies whose business is affected by committees upon which he serves.
In the Press-Enterprise, Kasper criticized the as-yet-unreleased ethics office report on Hunter, saying findings or implications are significantly misrepresented or even exaggerated.
As an example, Kasper mentioned the rabbit transportation fees which were apparently charged to the campaign credit card by mistake, instead of using airline miles racked up on the campaign dime.
(The office) has in their report $600 in campaign expenditures for in cabin rabbit transport fees, Kasper said. Since travel is often done on (airline) miles which is entirely permissible the credit card connected to the account was charged several times even when his children were flying.
This was nothing more than an oversight. In fact, its such an obvious example of a mistake being made but (the office) wants to view it through a lens of possible intent, Kasper said. The same goes for many other expenditures. Many of Rep. Hunters repayments had to do with mistakes under specific circumstances, and in other cases there were bona fide campaign activities connected to expenditures that (the office) was not aware of and didnt account for.
Hunter has previously explained problems with campaign spending that included the campaign charge card being blue and therefore confused with a more appropriate card.
The congressman has repaid more than $6,000 to United Airlines for personal or undocumented uses of campaign funds. His accounting of the repayments did not itemize pet travel costs.
Previously: Hunter
Who would ever eat anything described as a wet envelope of cat food?
Hundreds of millions of Americans, apparently. And thats good news for one San Diego company.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that San Diego-based Jack in the Box sells 554 millions tacos a year. Yep, the menu item that one person in that story called vile and amazing is eaten across the country more than 1,000 times a minute. Jack in the Box sells more monster tacos than any other menu item.
The companys website describes the tacos like this:
This is the taco that eats other tacos when its craving tacos. Because this large-and-in-charge, crunchy taco is topped with American cheese, shredded lettuce and taco sauce. Uh, huh. Youll want to sit down for this.
The taco that EATS OTHER TACOS? What does that even mean?
And why will we want to sit down?
The nutrition facts also openly say that these tacos have soy in them. So who is eating these horrifying things?
San Diegans are at least partly to blame because Jack in the Box was founded here in 1951. And a quick Yelp search of area locations show that people who live in the home of world famous fish tacos also like tacos that come from a hamburger restaurant.
I love the dog food tacos! North Park
The only thing Jack in the Box has ever really done right is tacos. Downtown
I'm a sucker for their Monster Tacos. I have no idea what is in them, but they are delicious! Mission Valley
Cat Food Tacos call my name when ever I get close enough to the entrance of a Jack in the Box Sherman Heights
Dont be embarrassed, San Diego. The Wall Street Journal also pointed out several celebrities like Selena Gomez and Chelsea Handler who openly admit to loving these tacos.
And now watch as people try to come to grips with Americas most shameful secret being revealed.
And here are even more Americans expressing their love for Jack in the Box tacos. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
Send us your love (or hate) for Jack in the Box tacos to @sdutideas and we may retweet or add them to this story!
Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @abbyhamblin
Who has the best taco in town?
Quest for the fish taco
A Ramona man who was charged with wire fraud in the alleged defrauding of a homeowners association has pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in San Diego.
Robert Walsh, 37, has posted $25,000 bond and remains free. A magistrate judge ordered him to appear in court on Jan. 27 to set a trial date.
Walsh is the owner of Cornerstone Management Professionals Inc., which is also charged with him in a grand jury indictment of devising a scheme to defraud a homeowners association of $247,413 over the removal of asbestos in a project in San Diego.
The U.S. Attorneys office is seeking forfeiture of $247,413 to be returned to the association if either Walsh or the company is convicted.
The four wire fraud charges say the alleged scheme started in September 2012 and continued into June 2016. Each count represents separate email communications in the project and the use of email was wire communications.
It was alleged the company obtained bids from contractors for various improvement projects for the homeowners association and submitted its bid without disclosing there were other lower bids for work on a clubhouse and a pavilion project.
It was alleged the company falsely represented that the material involved was not asbestos and that services from an asbestos abatement firm were unnecessary. Both Walsh and the company denied the charges were true.
Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenue collected from Ramona lodging facilities during the 2015-16 budget year increased 31.5 percent from 2014-15.
Lodgers in Ramona provided $182,801 of TOT payments during the fiscal year that ended June 30. Ramonas total was $138,427 the previous year. Collections in Ramona were $111,622 in 2013-14, $110,282 during 2012-13, and $105,516 in 2011-12.
Countywide TOT revenue dropped from $4.16 million in 2014-15 to $4.13 million in 2015-16. A repayment from a previous fiscal year due to excessive payment dropped unincorporated Escondido net revenue from $481,441 to $239,148 and revenue from unincorporated San Marcos declined from $687,212 to $534,840.
The Transient Occupancy Tax, which was reduced from 9 percent of the lodging unit rate to 8 percent in October 2007, is collected from occupants of hotels, motels, bed and breakfast venues, mobile home parks, private campgrounds, and other structures occupied or intended for occupancy by non-residents for lodging or sleeping purposes.
Campgrounds at the eight county parks are not subject to the TOT, nor are lodging units on Indian reservations or other areas where the County of San Diego has no taxing power. A federal or State of California officer or employee on official business is exempt from the tax, as is any foreign government officer or employee exempt under federal law or international treaty.
The tax is not collected if the regular rent is $4 a day or less or if the lodger receives a free room where the only consideration received is publicity for the lodging site. Units occupied or rented for more than 30 consecutive days are not subject to the tax. Tax payments are made to the county quarterly. The tax is collected only from hotels, motels and other lodging sites in the countys unincorporated area, but the revenue is used for the countys Community Enhancement program that may be given to organizations in incorporated cities as well as unincorporated communities.
Community Enhancement funds, which are allocated during the countys annual budget process, are intended to promote tourism.
A scholarship honoring slain student Nicolas Leslie will help future Torrey Pines High School graduates study global entrepreneurship.
Leslie, a 20-year-old UC Berkeley student from Del Mar, died in the July terrorist attack in Nice, France. He was of 84 people killed when a Tunisian attacker drove a box truck through a promenade filled with people celebrating Bastille Day.
On Saturday, a fundraiser at Powerhouse Park in Del Mar will help launch the scholarship in memory of Leslie, who hoped to make a difference in the world by founding a sustainable food business.
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The scholarship will benefit Torrey Pines students who aim to study entrepreneurism as a means to social good and social justice, said Sharon Rosen Leib, the organizer of the scholarship drive and parent of a Torrey Pines senior.
A graduate of Torrey Pines High School, Leslie was enrolled at UC Berkeley and hoped to found a sustainable food company, said his father Conrad Leslie. The younger Leslie was attending the European Innovation Academy in Nice last summer, when he was struck during the July 14 attack.
The scholarship will provide between $500 to $1,000 to a Torrey Pines graduate with plans to study business and international affairs, Leib said. Organizers have raised about $2,000 so far, and aim to offer the scholarship annually.
We hope to support the kind of endeavor Nick was interested in, which was global entrepreneurism, Leib said. I know he was specifically interested in food justice, which is very big at Berkeley, and is very important.
Leslies parents, Conrad and Paola, are also involved in efforts to create an endowment through UC Berkeley for a foreign study scholarship to help other students study abroad. Leib said she shares their belief that foreign exchange is crucial to fostering peace and international cooperation.
In this increasingly globalized world, its every important to understand other cultures, and other peoples lives, and how privileged we are in this country, and to have that empathy and compassion, Leib said.
The fundraiser will take place from noon to 2 p.m. at Powerhouse Park in Del Mar. and will include sandwiches donated by Jersey Mikes and salads from Local Greens.
Tickets are $20 in advance and $30 the day of the event, and may be purchased at www.tphssf.org. All proceeds will benefit the scholarship. For more information, contact Leib at (858) 775-9051 or srleib@me.com.
deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan
Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/04/2017 -- Future Market Insights (FMI) announces the release of its latest report titled, "Asia Pacific Flexible Glass, Market Opportunity; 2014 to 2020 Forecast." According to the report, the Asia Pacific flexible glass market is expected to account for $612.7 Mn by 2020, registering a CAGR of 36.5% during the forecast period. Incorporation of flexibility threshold in displays is expected to contribute to the growth of the Asia Pacific flexible glass market over the forecast period.
In terms of application, Asia Pacific flexible glass market is mainly segmented into display and solar PV (photovoltaic). Currently, display application segment dominates the Asia Pacific flexible glass market. The display segment was valued at US$ 74.2 Mn in 2013, and is expected to reach US$ 417.3 Mn by 2020, exhibiting a CAGR of 33.4% for the forecast period. Moreover, the development of Roll2Roll process is expected to create a demand for flexible glass in solar PV application. As a result, solar PV is projected to be the fastest growing application segment for the forecast period.
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The display application is further sub-segmented as smartphones and tablets, curved TV, building mounted displays and, wearables. Among all the aforementioned sub-segments, smartphones & tablets segment is expected to dominate the market with 50.1% of the total revenue share by 2020. However, curved TV is anticipated to exhibit the highest CAGR of 37.1% during the forecast period. Additionally, influx of new entrants is predicted to fuel the growth of curved TV application segment over the forecast period.
Country-wise, the Asia Pacific flexible glass market is segmented into Japan, China, South Korea and others. Japan is the most lucrative market, followed by South Korea and China. Moreover, Japan is expected to contribute 40.0% market share to the Asia Pacific flexible glass market by 2020. The growth of South Korea market is supported by the strong presence of smartphone & TV manufacturers along with growing number of R&D centres in South Korea.
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Assessing the various factors driving this market, FMI lead analyst, Abhishek S. said, "Incorporation of flexibility threshold in displays, development of Roll2Roll process for flexible PV and growing R&D investments in flexible glass by key glass manufacturers are expected to fuel the demand for Asia Pacific flexible glass market."
Key players in the Asia Pacific flexible glass market are Asahi Glass Co., Ltd., Corning Inc., Schott AG and Nippon Electric Glass Company Ltd.
Sarasota, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/04/2017 -- Global Ascorbic Acid Market for Pharmaceutical, Food & Beverages, Personal Care and Other End-user Industries: Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Segment, Trends and Forecast, 2015 2021.
The report provides analysis and forecast for the ascorbic acid market on a regional and global level. According to the report, the global ascorbic acid market was around 150.2 kilo tons in 2015. The global ascorbic acid market revenue accounted for USD 820.4 million in 2015 and is expected to reach USD 1083.8 million by 2021, growing at a CAGR of around 4.8% between 2016 and 2021. The study provides drivers and restraints for the ascorbic acid market coupled along with the impact they have on the demand over the forecast period. Moreover, the report also covers the analysis of opportunities existing in the ascorbic acid market on a global level.
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With the objective to give the users of this report a complete view on the Ascorbic Acid market and to better understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porter's Five Forces model for the Ascorbic Acid market has also been covered. The study shares a market attractiveness analysis, wherein end-user segments are benchmarked based on their growth rate, market size and general attractiveness.
Ascorbic acid production is hugely dependent on availability of raw material. Thus, any fluctuation in availability and prices of raw material can severely affect ascorbic acid market. This is expected to curb the growth of ascorbic acid market over the years. However, investments in research and development by major industry players coupled along with exponential technological advancements in pharmaceutical industry is expected to act as a major opportunity for ascorbic acid market.
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In terms of geography, Asia-Pacific was largest consumer of ascorbic acid in 2015. The consumption in Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a rapid pace mainly due to availability of low cost manufacturing facilities in China. China is the largest consumer and producer of ascorbic acid. Moreover, the ever increasing demand for food and health supplements primarily in Asia Pacific is expected to boost the demand for ascorbic acid in this region. Europe and North America also consume ascorbic acid on large scale. The demand for ascorbic acid in this region is also expected to grow in coming years as a result of increasing demand from personal care and food & beverages end-user industry. Ascorbic Acid demand is increasing in emerging nations such as Brazil, India and China.
The study provides a clear view on the ascorbic acid market by segmenting the market based on end-user segment and regions. All the segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2015 to 2021. Based on end-user segment, the Ascorbic Acid market has been segmented into pharmaceutical, food & beverages, personal care and other end-users. The regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, and Middle East and Africa with its further bifurcation into major countries including China, Japan, India U.S. Germany, France, UK, and Brazil.
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Some of the key players of the market include, DSM, DuPont, BASF SE, Northeast Pharmaceutical Group, Shandong Luwei Pharmaceutical, Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical Co, North China Pharmaceutical Group, Bactolac Pharmaceutical Inc, CSPC Pharmaceutical Group, Dishman Group, Aland Nutraceuticals Group, NBTY Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Plc. and others. The thorough description of players includes parameters such as company overview, business, financial overview, and recent developments of the company.
This report segments the global ascorbic acid market as follows:
Global Ascorbic Acid Market: End-user Segment Analysis
Pharmaceutical
Food & beverages
Personal Care
Others
Global Ascorbic Acid Market: Regional Segment Analysis
North America
U.S.
Europe
Germany
UK
France
Asia Pacific
China
Japan
India
Latin America
Brazil
Middle East and Africa
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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/04/2017 -- Implantable Medical Devices Market: Snapshot
An implantable device is a "device that is placed into a surgically or naturally formed cavity of the human body if it is intended to remain there for a period of 30 days or more." In recent past, the global market for implantable medical devices has undergone rapid growth, and the expansion is expected to continue in the near future. The expansion of the market is attributed to the technical innovations in the field of implants, which is motivating implantable device manufacturers to infuse more capital in the research and development of their products. However, high price of sophisticated implantable devices often demotivates the end-users and in turn is hindering the growth rate of the market.
The opportunity in the global market for implantable medical devices was valued at US$32.3 bn in 2015. Rising at a healthy CAGR of 4.9% during the forecast period of 20162024, the valuation is estimated to reach US$49.8 bn by the end of 2024. This substantiality and sustainability of the market is also attributed to factors such as rising geriatric population, and the rise in the incidences of musculoskeletal, dental, and other chronic degenerative health conditions.
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Rising Geriatric Population Driving Reconstructive Joint Replacement Sub-segment
Damage to the joint is highly painful and results in loss of agility and hampers the normal activity of an individual. Such damage can be treated through pharmacological therapies and arthroscopy. But depending upon the severity of the damage to the joint, physicians often prescribe joint replacement, which is the most in-demand sub-segment of the orthopedic implants segment in the global implantable medical devices market. The other sub-segments of orthopedic implants are spinal implants, orthobiologics, and trauma fixation implants.
The market for reconstructive joint replacements is primed for the fastest growth rate during the forecast period due to the increase in the instance of orthopedic disorders and growth in aging population. In addition, focus on the development of less invasive surgeries for joint replacement and awareness about its advantages will spur the demand for reconstructive joint replacement. Pricing pressures by bulk buyers will be the major holdback of this market. However owing to the advantages of products such as cement-less implants, patients will continue to opt for reconstructive joint replacement. The other product segments of the global implantable medical devices market are cardiovascular implants, dental implants, intraocular lens (IOLS), breast implants, and other implants.
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Japan Emerging as Second Most-lucrative Market
North America currently contributes to the most prominent demand for implantable medical devices, accounting for nearly 42% of the revenue in the global market in 2015. The demand is expected to sustain in the region due to factors such as the well-established healthcare infrastructure, effective reimbursement policies, rising geriatric population, increasing number of obese people, and high purchasing power. The U.S. currently is the most profitable country-market for implantable medical devices in the region of North America, serving 92% of the overall demand. However, the Asia Pacific implantable medical devices market is expected to expand at a faster rate due to a vast population base, of which major chunk is geriatrics, and investments by governments in the region toward improving their healthcare infrastructure. Japan is the second-most-prominent country-wise market globally. Factors that are augmenting the demand for implantable medical devices market in Japan are high life-span among the population, which is leading to rising prevalence of orthopedic conditions, and the demand for advanced technologies.
This is a fairly consolidated market with the top five companies accounting for more than 50% of the share in 2015. These five companies are Johnson & Johnson, Zimmer Biomet, Medtronic plc, Institut Straumann AG, and Stryker Corporation. Other key vendors in the market include Abbott Laboratories, Smith & Nephew plc, Danaher Corporation, Dentsply Sirona, and Boston Scientific Corporation.
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[ISLAMABAD] A severe infestation of the papaya mealybug (Paracoccus marginatus) nearly wiped out papaya orchards in Pakistan before the largely farmed country decided to replace conventional chemical pesticides that were ineffective with natural predators that proved to be successful.
The system was developed by agro-biotechnologists and entomologists at the Pakistani chapter of the UK-based Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) who introduced the use of Acerophagus papayae, a parasitoid (insects whose larvae parasite upon and eventually kill the host), to effectively control the mealybug infestation.
Farmers are happy with this cost-effective, pesticide-free technique to deal with the mealybug and now see possibilities of recovering their papaya farms, says CABI research coordinator Abdul Rehman.
He regrets though that by the time the biological method became available many farmers had already shifted to other crops.
Papaya once covered some 921 hectares in the two coastal provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, according to the National Agriculture Research Council (NARC). But, after the first mealybug attack on papaya was reported in 2008, the area under papaya had shrunk to 307 hectares by 2014.
Demonstration of the bio-control technique and awareness building among farmers helped wide-scale adoption and resulted in over 80 per cent control of the papaya mealybug. Amjad Pervez, NARC
Rehman tells SciDev.Net that after the pest had gripped almost 80 per cent of the papaya orchards, CABI, US Development Agriculture and the US Agency for International Development initiated the biological control programme in close collaboration with NARC to stop the pests possible spread to other more important commercial crops.
In 2014, under CABIs papaya pest management programme, A. papayae specimens were collected from the coastal areas near the port city of Karachi, reared in the laboratory and then released into papaya plantations after screening and environmental assessments.
Field reservoirs of predators
CABI researchers also set up a Natural Enemies Field Reservoir on the farmers fields to breed the A. papayae parasitoid as well as eight other natural predators of the papaya mealybug.
Amjad Pervez, director-general at the NARCs Karachi-based regional office, says that the advantage of the bio-control approach lies in its simplicity and in the fact that it is self-sustaining.
Demonstration of the bio-control technique and awareness building among farmers helped wide-scale adoption and resulted in over 80 per cent control of the papaya mealybug, Pervez says. Besides, the process was non-laborious, highly affordable and simple enough for farmers not to need support from government agencies.
Rehmans team has hammered out a three-pronged plan to promote the field reservoirs through public-private partnerships.
The bio-control approach has saved the papaya (farming) and also increased profits by reducing expenses on the pesticide sprays once used to fight the pest. Abdul Majeed Nizamani, Sindh Abadgar Board
The plan shall be implemented to boost research and development to strengthen the bio-control process to completely contain papaya mealybug. Sindh and Balochistan provinces farmers organisations and vegetable and fruit traders associations will also be engaged in this regard as key stakeholders, Pervez explains.
Controlling the papaya mealybug has helped contain its potential spread to commercial crops like citrus, tomato, aubergine, peppers, mulberry, beans and peas, sweet potato, mango, cherry, and pomegranate. Annual losses, had these crops been affected, would have run into millions of dollars, says Pervez.
Rehman says Pakistans experience in safely controlling the mealybug has been shared with CABI chapters in the Asia-Pacific, European, and African countries.
Entomologists and fruit pest experts have already communicated possibilities for replication of the bio-control approach, with some necessary modifications in countries like Congo, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand he says.
Pesticide resistance
Mealybugs have great resistance to most pesticides. For one thing they exude waxy secretions that can insulate them against chemicals and for another they have developed resistance to most commonly used chemical insecticides, according to a comprehensive Indian study published by Springer earlier this year.
First detected in Mexico in 1955, the papaya mealybug had spread to the Caribbean and Latin America by the 1990s and to the Pacific and South Asian countries through the first decade of this century.
Abdul Majeed Nizamani, president of the Sindh Abadgar Board, a farmers organisation, believes that papaya farming would have been completely wiped out in Pakistan if not for the bio-control measures.
"The bio-control approach has saved the papaya (farming) and also increased profits by reducing expenses on the pesticide sprays once used to fight the pest, Nizamani says.
This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Asia & Pacific desk
This article is part of a series on invasive species supported by CABI
Severe thunderstorms swept across the southeast states that include Georgia, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. The storms had killed five people and brought many damages in the regions.
Chris Judah, the Houston County Emergency Management Director, said that it is a very dangerous scene. He further said that one of the trees cut the trailer in half. He added that those killed had huddled in one area of the mobile home, while the other three were in another part.
At least 4 killed in Alabama, 1 in Florida after severe storms sweep through Southeast -- and the threat continues https://t.co/yfePwDcAY1 pic.twitter.com/ekh381DOhr CBS News (@CBSNews) January 3, 2017
According to Kris Ware, the spokeswoman for Dothan-Houston County Emergency Management Agency, four people were killed on Monday when a tree fell on their mobile home in Rehobeth, Alabama. She also said that most of the damage was in Rehobeth as winds damaged carports and other buildings. Alabama Governor Robert Bentley offered prayers for those impacted.
Meanwhile, in Florida, it was reported that a 70-year-old man named Patrick Corley was found dead outside his home. The authorities said that the cause of his death could be an accidental drowning, according to Fox News.
In Mississippi and Mount Olive, the storms were identified as tornadoes by the National Weather Service. These storms damaged the homes and farm buildings. In Louisiana, a serious damage in the southwestern parishes of Beauregard and Allen was reported. About tens of thousands had lost power in Louisiana and Mississippi.
The National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, stated that the rains in recent weeks have relieved the drought conditions across parts of the southeast. On the other hand, the large parts of north Alabama and north Georgia are in "exceptional drought," which is the most severe category. Meanwhile, a new report will be released on Thursday, according to CBS News.
NASA shows its conceptual model of a building that may someday be a structure that is located on Mars. The model house, if it happens, would serve as a shelter for the astronauts on the Red Planet. It is part of the daring goal of NASA to send humans to Mars by 2030.
NASA revealed that the structure called as "Mars Ice Home" would bank on a protective coating of ice coming from the planet's surface. The low-tech building would serve as a protection of astronauts from the harmful cosmic radiation found on the Red Planet.
The researchers mentioned that the Red Planet is equipped with ice reservoirs beneath the surface. They compared it with the Lake Superior. Thus, experts look at the material while envisioning the future house for residents in Mars, according to The Huffington Post.
Ann Thibeault, a researcher from Langley, said that, "The materials that make up the Ice Home will have to withstand many years of use in the harsh Martian environment, including ultraviolet radiation, charged-particle radiation, possibly some atomic oxygen, perchlorates, as well as dust storms - although not as fierce as in the movie 'The Martian'."
The facilitator of the design session at NASA's Langley Research Center who produced the idea teams up with Clouds Architecture office Kevin Vipavetz said that, "After a day dedicated to identifying needs, goals and constraints, we rapidly assessed many crazy, out of the box ideas and finally converged on the current Ice Home design, which provides a sound engineering solution," according to Express.
However, the design is not yet final as it is one of the potential concepts for buildings that will be sent to Mars. The idea still holds a different question. Just like it needs to be lightweight and be able to launch using robots and filled with water before the residents will arrive.
Furthermore, the "Ice Home" is an amazing idea. However, it is not yet sure which design will NASA choose for the Red Planet. One of the drawbacks of the dome would be it would take them more than a year to fill it with ice.
Kevin Kempton from the Langley Research Center said that the timeline does not worry him. He added that the design of the dome would make the astronauts feel like "in a home and not a cave. After months of travel in space, when you first arrive at Mars and your new home is ready for you to move in, it will be a great day."
Astronauts are getting ready for two International Space Station (ISS) spacewalks scheduled in January. It is for the crucial update of the power generating system of the orbital lab.
The Expedition 50 crew members are designated to venture outside the ISS on Jan. 6 and Jan. 13. They will replace the old nickel-hydrogen batteries with the new lithium-ion batteries in the truss structure of the station.
Public Affairs Officer of NASA Dan Huot told the SpaceFlight Insider that, "The spacewalks will be an important upgrade to the station's power generation system."
The first EVA or the extra-vehicular activity will be performed by Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson, both are NASA astronauts. A week later, Thomas Pesquet from the European Space Agency (ESA) will join Shane Kimbrough.
Dan Hout shared that, "The spacewalkers will have the task of installing adapter plates and hooking up electrical connectors, something that they have done extensive training on in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston."
This will be the first to happen that the adapter plates will be installed. Back in 2009, NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy replaced four nickel-hydrogen batteries.
The new batteries known as lithium-Ion battery Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs) were previously delivered to the ISS in December 2016 by the sixth Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-6), according to SpaceFlight Now.
The batteries weigh about 550 pounds each and were designed by Aerojet Rocketdyne and are manufactured by the GS Yuasa Technology Ltd. that is a Japanese company. In total, 24 new batteries will be installed on the ISS. The remaining ones will be scheduled to be delivered by the future HTV missions.
Aerojet Rocketdyne CEO and President Eileen Drake said that, "Efficient, reliable and safe electrical power systems is absolutely critical for the astronauts who live on the International Space Station. It's also important for the research they conduct to better understand life in space and here on Earth. It's a privilege to know our lithium-ion batteries are helping to make that possible."
The current 48 nickel-metal-hydride batteries on board the ISS that were made in the U.S. are needed to be replaced. It is because they are currently approaching the end of their service life, which is more or less 6.5 years.
FLORENCE, S.C. The Rev. Vandroth Backus will be remembered for wearing many hats during his 91 years of life.
The funeral home director, pastor and veteran or two wars died Dec. 26 following a brief illness. He is survived by his wife, Florence, and three children. Funeral arrangements have not yet been determined, according to Backus Funeral Home.
Robert Jones, deacon at Monumental Missionary Baptist Church, knew Backus for more than 50 years and described him as an all-around man who was devoted to his business, his family and his community.
He was one of the best people you could talk to, Jones said. He loved to work and be involved with the business. He loved being around people. He was always there for anybody.
Backus son Vandroth Backus II works at the family funeral home as an apprentice and has learned many things from his father, including the value of a strong work ethic and being an honest person.
He was a wonderful provider, the younger Backus said, welling up with emotion. He was a hard-working, loving man who cared for his family, the community of Florence and this great nation.
Backus, a Florence native, served in World War II as a Montford Point Marine and later served in the Korean War. He was part of a select group trained out of Montford Point, North Carolina, who helped desegregate the military. Backus was assigned to the first all-black combat group. The men were assigned to defend an island in the south Pacific when the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
In June 2014, Oakland Avenue toward Norfolk Street was renamed Rev. Dr. Vandroth Backus Way as part of a resolution from the South Carolina House of Representatives, with a concurrence from the state Senate, to honor Backus.
In October that same year, Backus was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal for his military service by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C. Of the 20,000 African-Americans who trained at Montford Point alongside Backus, only 300 received recognition for their service.
Before and after his time in the military, Backus worked as an officer for the Florence Police Department, one of the first American-Americans to do so. Backus also was employed as an educator in Darlington County for 14 years and was a member of the board of directors at Morris College and a Florence County councilman. He later retired to enter the ministry and founded the Monumental Missionary Baptist Church in Florence as well as Backus Funeral Home.
FLORENCE, S.C. The Pee Dee Shrine Club will sponsor its 33rd annual Gospel Sing at 7 p.m. on Jan. 7 at the Pee Dee Shrine Club Auditorium at 3053 Crescent Circle in Florence.
This concert originally was scheduled for October but was postponed because of Hurricane Matthew. All previously sold tickets for this event will be honored.
This concert will feature four-time Grammy Award-nominated and four-time GMA Dove Award-winning Southern Gospel group Karen Peck & New River.
Peck has more than 15 No. 1 hits, and her soprano voice has made its way into the hearts of gospel music lovers across the country and has garnered an unprecedented 11 Favorite Soprano Fan Awards from the readers of The Singing News Magazine, Southern Gospel Musics leading fan and trade publication.
Tickets cost $15 in advance and $17 the day of the show. Call 843-766-6633 to order tickets. All seats are general admission.
The Pee Dee Shrine Club contributes to the Greenville unit Shriners Hospital for Children. There are 19 Orthopedic Shriners Hospitals and three Shriners Hospitals dedicated to treating children with severe burns and one Shriners Hospital that provides orthopedic, burn and spinal-cord-injury care.
Shriners Hospitals are located throughout North America 20 in the United States and one each in Mexico and Canada providing medical treatment to children of all races and religions at no cost to the children, their family or any third party.
Since the first Shriners hospital opened in 1922, hundreds of thousands of children have been cured or substantially helped.
Just as quickly as 2016 came, it is gone, and 2017 is upon us.
Our country has a new president, and people will have a new way of looking at their lives. Most will look at the leadership change as either positive or negative, while some will remain neutral or partisan-oriented.
In the bigger picture, we need to see leadership changes as an opportunity to form a clean slate. One aspect of our society we must continue is to evolve with creativity and camaraderie.
The ability to innovate and develop new methods of thinking can stimulate the economy and encompass modes of thinking across party and socio-economic lines.
The business community has an opportunity to push the limits of improving free enterprise. With a pro-business president, there is no better time than the present to oppose pricey regulations that, in many instances, restrict business movement and growth. Small businesses have a chance to advocate for the strategies that are best for business and will create generational wealth and growth for their respective families.
At the same time, those interested in social change must be willing to objectively and subjectively engage the new administration, promoting the understanding that social equity and inclusion are also key benchmarks for economic success.
Some people believe social change does not influence economic success, a feeling that many studies and statistics have proved to be false. Division is created by economic disparity and the tensions those disparities create, so to effect change, there must be a balance between the success of business and social aspects of development.
To develop a proactive and robust economy, change must initiate circumstance, not the other way around.
As a nation, we have a huge opportunity in front of us: a chance to advocate for both social and economic change on an unprecedented scale.
We should take this opportunity very seriously as we move forward into 2017.
Les Echols is a Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce executive with an emphasis on leadership, diversity and small business affairs. He is active in the community, serving on several local boards and organizations. Contact him at citizencolumnist@florencenews.com.
The opinion column by Cal Thomas was heavy with misinformation and unsubstantiated opinions. He should read the book "Beyond Tribal Loyalties" that has articles by 20-plus disillusioned Zionists who deplore the treatment of the Palestinians by the Israeli occupation forces. They condemn the spread of settlements that involve the demolition of Palestinian homes and occupying more territory as well as destroying olive trees. Netanyahu comes from a line of terrorists and his actions show a complete disregard for human rights.
ANZ also sold another 10% stake in SRCB for the same consideration to Shanghai Sino-Poland Enterprise Management Development Corporation Limited as part of the deal.
Cosco Shipping is formed from the merger of Chinas two largest state-owned shipping conglomerates China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company and China Shipping (Group) Company.
Chicago saw 762 homicides in 2016 and 3,550 shootings - a nearly 50 percent increase over last year and a record number of shootings since police began tracking them in 2011. The number of gunshot victims totaled 4,331, according to the Chicago Police Department.
A new study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, may shed some light on how gun violence spreads through communities, and offers potential solutions.
The study, conducted by researchers at Harvard and Yale, found that people who associate with victims of gun violence are more likely to be shot themselves.
"A great deal of research in recent years has shown that many behaviors such as obesity, smoking and political opinions spread through networks due to social influence," Ben Green, Harvard graduate student and one of the study co-authors, told Seeker. "Since crime and violence are known to be social behaviors, they are likely candidates to also be intimately connected with social networks and contagious processes."
RELATED: How 'Media Contagion' Fuels Mass Shootings
Based on arrest records from 2006-2014, Green and his colleagues examined every gunshot injury that occurred in Chicago. They created social networks by identifying relationships between pairs of those who were arrested together for the same offense.
For every gunshot victim who was influenced by social contagion, researchers identified which person in their network was primarily responsible for him or her becoming a victim of gun violence.
"All of the individuals in our network are individuals who were arrested during the study period, although not necessarily for anything related to gun violence," Green said. "While such individuals are typically considered 'offenders' and therefore addressed with increased policing, our [findings] highlight how we should also recognize them as likely victims. Our study aims to shift the narrative toward saving lives and reducing trauma, regardless of other societal labels," Green said.
Previous studies of gunshot violence have primarily focused on demographic factors such as race, gender and socioeconomic status, but Green and his team are some of the first to trace gun violence through social networks and track the spread.
Over the Christmas weekend, police investigated 27 shooting incidents in Chicago, 12 of which resulted in fatalities. There were also six people slain and 49 people injured in various shooting incidents in the city over New Year's weekend.
From Jan. 1-Dec. 25, 2016 there were 753 homicides in Chicago, but there were 3,495 shooting incidents. Gun violence is most often reported by the media only when it involves a fatality, but the number of incidents involving gun violence in Chicago is much greater than the number of fatal gun incidents alone.
According to Green's study, Chicago's rate of gun violence is more than three times the national average, but from 2006-2014 more than 70 percent of all subjects of gun violence were located in networks containing less than 5 percent of Chicago's population.
This indicates that not only is gun violence concentrated within certain communities, but it spreads specifically via social interaction. It may also explain why some individuals become subjects of gun violence, while others who encounter the same high-risk environments do not.
"We observed that gunshot victims are highly clustered in particular pockets of the social network, and meanwhile there were other large segments of the network with few or no victims," Green said. "One potential explanation for this clustering is that victims influence those around them to also become victims, thus generating concentrated victims in the social network."
Green's study is consistent with findings from another recent study out of Ohio State University, which also observed that violence spreads in disease-like epidemics, particularly among adolescents. Results showed that adolescents were up to 183 percent more likely to commit some act of violence if one of their friends had also committed the same act.
Insights like these are particularly valuable in understanding how to create effective anti-violence initiatives.
"If we can stop violence in one person, that spreads to their social network. We're actually preventing violence not only in that person, but potentially for all the people they come in contact with," Robert Bond, lead author of the Ohio State study told the University's news publication.
RELATED: Does Gun Safety Tech Work?
Based on their findings, Green and his team discovered a need for violence prevention to be a matter of public health, rather than exclusively a matter of law enforcement.
"Our results suggest that approaches developed to curb other epidemics may be valuable for limiting gun violence," Green said. "Violence prevention efforts should focus on identifying and blocking the pathways of transmission."
The study explains that offender-based intervention programs used in the past have often relied on law enforcement, but the subjects observed in the study are not often in direct contact with the criminal justice system.
They are, however, very much embedded with housing, education, and other government programs, indicating that prevention efforts should target these systems more often. "The ability to identify individuals at high risk to be shot means that it is possible to target social services to individuals in new ways," Green explained.
According to Green and his co-authors, an effective public health approach to gun violence reduction should focus on the specific networks that create these situations in the first place.
"Previous approaches to predicting gun violence that focused on hotspot locations where violence was likely to erupt typically led to an increase in policing efforts in predominantly urban minority neighborhoods," he said, adding, "Our study allows for a more targeted approach that could provide coordinated services such as mental health and housing to potential victims at the exact times they face the highest risk."
Photo: Wooden crosses with names of Chicago's murder victims in 2016 are marched down Michigan Ave. Credit: Getty Images WATCH VIDEO: Why the Government Stops Gun Violence Research
Police in China's Sichuan province have seized more than two tons of animal parts and whole carcasses, in a large-scale wildlife poaching arrest in the city of Mianyang.
According to the Huaxi City Daily, the seizure is the culmination of a six-month investigation and was 2016's largest wildlife parts arrest.
In total, 193 animal carcasses or parts were seized, from a wide variety of animals. Included were 9 bear heads, 11 bear claws, 42 owl bodies, eagle bodies, 3 crocodile parts and a collection of pangolin scales.
The investigation was kicked off in summer 2015 with a citizen's tip that Mianyang restaurants were selling bear meat.
Police learned that all manner of wildlife parts were trafficked from within and without the province by the criminal network they shut down. The final illegal transaction before arrests commenced saw four live bears sold to the accused leader of the illegal parts scheme.
The market for illegal wildlife parts in China can be a lucrative one for poachers, and the country is the destination for a wide range of poached animal parts. Pangolin scales alone - believed to have value in traditional Chinese medicine - can fetch some US $20,000 per kilo The news comes as China would seem to be stepping up its prosecutions of illegal wildlife traffickers. Last month came word of an enormous seizure of pangolin scales, and the country just announced a complete ban on illegal ivory.
Top Photo: Police inventory animal parts, including limbs from slaughtered bears. Credit: Police Handout WATCH VIDEO: Just How Large Is The Black Market Wildlife Trade?
Two drones powerful enough to carry passengers could usher in the era of autonomous flying taxis.
A year after debuting its passenger drone at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Shanghai-based Ehang released video footage this week showing its Ehang 184 undergoing unmanned test flights.
The Ehang 184 has been designed with an urban setting in mind. The single-passenger vehicle has eight rotors to accomplish vertical take-off and landings in narrows spaces. It can carry a payload of 220 pounds for about 20 miles or 23 minutes of flying time, just enough distance to make it to that meeting downtown. It flies by an app and so the passenger doesn't necessarily have to be a pilot - he just needs to plug in a pickup location and destination, ala Uber.
As you might imagine, overcoming the regulatory hurdles will be quite a challenge in the United States, where commercial drones have received limited approval to take to the skies. Ehang has been working toward that goal, though. Last June, the company struck a deal with the state of Nevada to collaborate on flight testing and training at the state's FAA unmanned aircraft systems test site. But to date, no such testing has taken place, according to Engadget.
It's possible Ehang might need to overcome some internal struggles before it can get its $200,000 passenger drone off to market. Earlier this month, the company laid off about 70 people from its staff of 300, reported the Chinese media site Xtechter. Those interviewed for the story told Xtechter that the layoffs were a scratch on the surface of bigger problems, including quality issues with the firm's smaller UAVs, executive infighting and improper use of funds.
Perhaps to distract from those concerns, reports Engadget, Ehang released the video of the test flights, albeit with vague details. Company co-founder and CMO Derrick Xiong, told Engadget that a few 184s have undergone a total of 200 test flights in China to date, but offered no further information.
In 1897, President Grover Cleveland established the Lewis and Clark Forest Reserve under the provisions of the Forest Reserve Act. At that time, the reserves were administered by the Department of the Interior. In 1905, the Forest Service was created along with the Department of Agriculture and in 1907 the Forest Reserves became known as National Forests. Until 1910, Glacier National Park was part of the Lewis and Clark National Forest Reserve; then the area was given national park status.
On Aug. 16, 1940, Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace designated the 950,000-acre Bob Marshall...
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January 4, 2017 On 'pork' in the 2017 General Appropriations Act The Department of Public Works and Highways regained its slashed P8-billion "pork" in the General Appropriations Act of 2017. Not only that, it got an additional P497 million, at the expense of the Calamity Fund. Apparently, the P8.557 billion plus another P497 million added to the budget of the DPWH, which increased by P9.054 billion (from P445.766 billion to P454.721 billion), came from the huge cuts suffered by NDRRMF (National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund) or Calamity Fund under the Special Purpose Fund, which was reduced from an original budget of P37.255 billion (in the NEP) to a mere P15.755 billion (in the GAA), or a reduction of P21.5 billion. What is unfortunate is that with massive devastations brought by recent calamities starting with Pablo, Yolanda, Karen, Lawin, Nina, to name some, most of the victims might be left to fend for themselves instead of getting sufficient assistance from the government. Yolanda for example still needs at least P100 billion to fully recover. As then PARR, I recommended a funding of Php167.8 billion and up to now, looking at the annual budget being appropriated for that purpose since 2014, the amount has been a trickle in the bucket compared to the total budget required. What is sad here is the thought of sacrificing the victims of calamities for political favors and alliances. The details of the DPWH budget and other agencies are not yet out. Once we get hold of the budget books, we will diligently scrutinize. I and my team will continue to be the watchdog to guard against abuses in the use of public funds. I tell you - it is tiring and frustrating and not a few times, I have paused and felt resigned, simply step aside or abandon this advocacy. It is a lonely crusade, to say the least. I am quite sure that these realignments are all about pork. I'll tell you why. During the budget plenary debates, the ARMM congressmen came to see me to plead their case. Inabot nga kami ng 10 p.m. sa office ko explaining in so many words, thus - "buti nga daw sila, tig P1.5-B lang na projects, yung iba raw mga congressmen abot ng tig P5-B." Change is coming? Maybe, pero it's pork allocations changing hands from LP congressmen to those from Mindanao. At least two of my colleagues commented in the lounge during session suspensions, "Sobra naman sila... tayo ngang mga senador, tig P300-M lang... " By the way, I did not submit my P300-M list of projects. Senators Tito Sotto and Kiko Pangilinan approached me on separate occasions to inform me that they too did not submit. I don't know who else among my Senate colleagues likewise did not submit their list. There is no saying here that those who identified their projects in the 2017 national budget, both from the Senate and the House would get commissions from contractors. What I'm trying to say is, Filipinos are made to believe that PDAF is dead after the SC ruling in 2013. I am not stupid. Filipinos are not stupid. They are just resigned, I think. After all these years that I and my staff scrutinize the budget books year in and year out, I know pork when I see it. I believe our people, especially our taxpayers, should know the real score behind all these pretenses and denials about the existence of pork.
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Street Spirit, the longtime newspaper voice of the homeless and their advocates in the East Bay, is taking a dip in the fountain of youth.
On Friday, the monthly issue will hit the streets with a new look and a new energy infused by Youth Spirit Artworks, which is taking over the publication. The sheet will have the same mission of illuminating the struggles and victories of those without homes, but this time it will be principally overseen by about 20 homeless and low-income youths with a passion to include more narratives of young people in the mix.
The American Friends Service Committee had funded the paper since its inception 22 years ago, but in July said budget cuts were forcing it to cut the publication loose. Thats when the paper swung full circle.
Sally Hindman, executive director of Berkeleys Youth Spirit Artworks, had helped co-found the publication with editor Terry Messman back when she was working in a different poverty-aid nonprofit and when she heard it was in trouble, she stepped in.
She negotiated a free handover of the publication to her nonprofit and led a drive for $27,000 in donations to keep the place open past the last pay date of Jan. 1. The American Friends Service Committee agreed to continue to loan out Messman a Friends staffer as editor through July, when he plans to retire.
When about 20 members of Hindmans youth group stepped forward to help put out the paper, she was off to the races.
She and an army of supporters are lining up steady donors, foundation grants and fundraising concerts to take the paper into the future. The financial situation looks stable for most of the coming year, Hindman said.
We want the mission of Street Spirit to remain intact, she said. We would never in a million years want to change the principle or the prophetic mission that has meant so much for 22 years. But now were adding a youth voice, and their opinions and experience will be a new dynamic element of Street Spirit.
Hindmans organization trains young people ages 16 to 25 in art, writing, marketing, social services and entrepreneurship with an aim toward employment. As a dozen of the newspapers new staffers all volunteers, though some could get small stipends gathered the other day at the nonprofits offices, the ideas were flying.
We have to write about waiting lists for shelters, safety, how to get housing when youre a kid, said one new staffer, a 24-year-old writer who goes only by the name Zef.
We have to really put a spotlight on whats going on in all those houses where kids are being kicked out, abused by their families, chimed in Devon Allen, 25.
Michael Macor/The Chronicle
I want new people to read this newspaper, said 17-year-old Malina King, a community organizer for Youth Spirit Artworks who intends to use that skill to gather support for the paper. It says its for the homeless, but I want everyone to read it. I want coloring pages for kids. I want it to continue to also speak to an older generation I want to break the generation gap.
Messman, who was a longtime advocate for homeless and peace causes before starting the paper, sees the new ownership as a great thing. He will bring his stable of about 20 steady writers with him, and because they include everyone from homeless people to doctors, he believes hell have a terrific mix to work with.
I have always been very impressed by the young people Sally brings together in her organization, Messman said. I thought it was a perfect match with Street Spirit. They are creative artistically, but they also have been full of dedication and life at the protests for homeless rights that I have seen them at. Im really glad for this partnership.
He said he will continue to edit as a volunteer if the paper still needs him after July.
The masthead of the newly recharged Street Spirit will be redesigned, but it will still carry the motto: Justice News and Homeless Blues in the Bay Area.
Messman, who has conducted many interviews with civil rights leaders and mounted campaigns against mental health hospital abuses and homeless crackdown laws, said his mission was never more urgent.
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Theres more poverty and less housing than ever now, and there are constant police attacks on homeless people and encampments, he said. Homeless vendors need the income Street Spirit provides, and the whole homeless community needs the support and the voice that we give.
The paper prints about 20,000 copies a month and is distributed by about 100 vendors, most of them homeless, who sell the paper for $1 a copy on the streets of Berkeley, Oakland and other East Bay cities.
This paper is my lifeline, Donald Cistrunk, 51, said as he hawked Street Spirits near Ashby and Telegraph avenues the other day. Hes been a vendor since 2002, he said, and since losing his steady housing in June, he and his wife depend on the $80 or so he makes each eight-hour day to help pay for a motel room.
I can take care of myself and my wife because of this paper, and it speaks the truth to people, Cistrunk said. We all need it.
Leaders in poverty-aid agencies all over the Bay Area said they breathed collective sighs of relief upon learning that Street Spirit was not dying.
When we heard they were having trouble, but that Sally was getting involved, I thought, OK, itll be all right, said Paul Boden, organizing director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project, which advocates for homeless people. Thats Sallys gut. Thats her heart.
He said Messmans continued involvement will be crucial, because hes a true investigative journalist and knows what hes doing. But keeping that and adding the young people? That is just going to make it all better.
Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron
House Republicans stumbled on their first day of unified control of Congress Tuesday as they abandoned a planned gutting of an independent ethics office after the move drew a public backlash and a Twitter scolding from President-elect Donald Trump.
California also got its first new senator in 24 years, as Democrat Kamala Harris took the oath of office on her family Bible and walked down the Senate aisle with her California colleague, Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Republicans had voted 119-74 in a secret House GOP Caucus meeting Monday night to hobble the Office of Congressional Ethics as part of new rules to govern the incoming Congress. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, told reporters Tuesday morning that he was one of the first to urge his colleagues against the change, defending the plan on the merits but conceding that it was generating bad publicity.
Republicans quickly dropped the provision after Trump tweeted that they had better things to do.
With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority, Trump tweeted. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance!
The tweets hit Republicans like a shock wave, said Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa. Weve never seen a president like this who has this kind of following, he said. He comes here with a tool of communicating directly with the American people, and it sends shivers down the spine of Congress.
The Office of Congressional Ethics is an independent, nonpartisan entity established in 2008 to review allegations of misconduct against House members, officers and staff. It operates independently of the House Ethics Committee, which is composed of members of Congress. Set up after complaints that the Ethics Committee buried allegations of misconduct, the independent offices findings must be made public in most cases, and it can investigate anonymous charges from the public.
The ethics office was responsible for investigating San Jose Democrat Mike Hondas alleged use of his House office staff and other resources in his campaigns. The office referred the allegations to the Ethics Committee, and they played a role in Hondas November defeat by fellow Democrat Ro Khanna, who was sworn in Tuesday.
The reversal on gutting the office came before Republicans had even opened the new Congress on its first day in session. After abandoning the ethics changes, Republicans voted to re-elect House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi was re-elected minority leader, this time losing only a handful of Democratic votes compared with the 63 who voted against her leadership in a secret caucus ballot after the November election.
Pelosi sat with two grandchildren as Democrats registered their outrage over the attempted ethics change during the open roll call. Many called out Pelosis name as their choice for speaker, citing their belief in ethical behavior, open debate and the Constitution.
Pelosi had blasted the rule change after it was made Monday night, saying, evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.
Democrats were pleasantly surprised that the barrage of activity they have been expecting from Republicans got off to such a rocky start, but they were still furious that Republicans retained a rule change prohibiting members from taking photos or video from the House floor.
The new video ban is Ryans rebuke to Democrats spontaneous, all-night sit-in last fall, when they commandeered the House floor to protest lack of action on gun control. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, was part of a team feeding video of the protest from the floor after Republicans ordered C-Span cameras to go dark. C-Span soon picked up the Democratic video feed and broadcast it on national television.
I dont think its an auspicious start, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, said of the Republicans. It shows they really dont want to be held accountable.
Democrats still dont really know what the incoming president is going to do, since hes said contradictory things on many subjects, Lofgren said. The congressional agenda is much clearer, which is to dismantle programs that Americans rely on, and our job is to try to stop them.
Political scientist Jack Pitney of Claremont McKenna College, said he thought House Republicans were reacting as much to a backlash from their own constituents as to Trump on the ethics changes.
Two-thirds of House Republicans werent in office during the GOP scandals of the early George W. Bush administration that forced out former House Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and Florida Republican Mark Foley, Pitney noted.
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They may not realize that ethical laxity is bad politics, he said, adding that he expects more stumbles and more scandals. Republicans will be able to get certain things done. Theyll be able to repeal Obamacare. The hard part is replacing it.
The same will hold true for tax reform, Pitney predicted, treacherous terrain that requires not just cutting tax rates, but eliminating popular tax breaks. Tuesday afternoon, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced a resolution to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Harris, filling the seat vacated by retiring Democrat Barbara Boxer, took the oath from Vice President Joe Biden, along with six other freshman senators, five of them Democrats: Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a wounded Iraq War veteran who walked to her oath-taking on artificial legs; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.; and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.
Harris promised that one of her first acts would be to co-sponsor a bipartisan bill that would protect young Dream Act immigrants from being targeted for deportation by the incoming administration, her office said in a statement, referring to immigrants who were brought into the country by their parents without authorization.
Democrats netted an additional two seats in November, narrowing the Republican majority to 52-48, far short of a filibuster-proof 60 votes. The GOP majority may be stronger than it looks, however, because 23 Democrats and two independents are up for re-election in 2018, including 10 in states that voted for Trump. How those Democrats vote in the year ahead is one of the big unknowns of Republican-dominated Washington.
Senate Republicans also appeared ready Tuesday to drop any notion of an independent investigation of Russias alleged interference in the November election. Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John McCain, R-Ariz., backed off their demand for an independent panel, which Pelosi supports. The two Republicans lacked support from their caucus for the probe, which now will be left in the hands of the Intelligence committees, chaired in the House by Tulare Republican Devin Nunes and in the Senate by Richard Burr, R-N.C.
Carolyn Lochhead is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: clochhead@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carolynlochhead
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf has named Venus D. Johnson the citys new director of public safety, a position intended to bring principled law enforcement to a city that hasnt had a police chief for seven months.
Johnson, 37, born and raised in Oakland, began her career in the Alameda County district attorneys office, prosecuting homicide and sexual assault cases and bringing Oaklands most violent offenders to trial before moving on to advise Attorney General Kamala Harris in 2014.
She will assume her post on Monday. The city, meanwhile, is expected to name a new police chief soon.
Johnson is the first head of public safety in the Schaaf administration, though not the first in Oakland City Hall Mayors Ron Dellums and Jean Quan also appointed people to fill the role.
The new public safety director is expected to help steer the city in what Schaaf hopes is a new era of holistic law enforcement.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the mayor said she hoped to beef up sworn and civilian personnel, boost early intervention programs, and provide more employment services for ex-offenders.
Suzy Loftus, who heads San Franciscos Police Commission, said Johnson is a brilliant pick to help achieve those goals.
Shes a former prosecutor, and she comes with those credentials, but also with the understanding that public safety is about looking at neighborhoods where people work and go to school, Loftus said. This is Schaafs way of saying that public safety is more than just arresting and prosecuting people its much broader.
Schaaf, who ran for office on a platform that emphasized public safety, was dogged earlier this year by a massive sexual misconduct scandal that began in Oaklands Police Department and spread to several other Bay Area agencies.
The scandal led to the abrupt resignation of Police Chief Sean Whent, whose two replacements each lasted only days one was fired and the other resigned. City Administrator Sabrina Landreth has run the beleaguered department since June.
As the city cycled through chief after chief, it also struggled to chip away at its homicide rate. Oakland ended the year with 85 homicides, a slight increase from 83 in 2015. While many residents are pushing Schaaf and other city leaders to end the bloodshed, others are demanding more transparency and accountability from law enforcement.
In November, voters overwhelmingly approved a new citizen-led police commission that would have broad powers to discipline officers and even fire the chief, if five of its seven members voted to do so.
The city is also conducting an audit of its recruitment and hiring practices to determine what caused a string of disciplinary cases last year, which culminated with the misconduct scandal.
In an effort to build trust with constituents, Schaaf began an exhaustive, community-oriented hiring process in the fall in which she conducted a series of town hall meetings to find out what residents desire in their new police chief. She said the new chief would start early this year, and on Tuesday her spokeswoman, Erica Terry Derryck, said the city is on track to meet that goal.
Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
Theres a lot of glass in the Pauley Ballroom at UC Berkeley, and campus officials hope it holds when the explosive provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos delivers his message to students there on Feb. 1.
He typically aims his barbs and taunts at women, people of color and anyone left of Donald Trump. But it isnt Yiannopoulos that campus officials are so worried about. Its the people he infuriates and there are plenty of them who are causing the administration to consider hiring 40 extra police officers on top of the usual seven, said UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof, whos been bombarded with emails from students demanding that the university cancel the invitation.
Yiannopoulos, a gay conservative, is a public speaker and editor for the right-wing opinion site Breitbart News Network. Hes been making the rounds at college campuses across the country with his Dangerous Faggot talks, specializing in remarks meant to insult, offend and disgust those who disagree with his ideas.
A What to Do About Milo instruction sheet is circulating that tells critics how to express their outrage in writing and where to show up in person including a protest at UC Davis on Jan. 13, when activists hope to shut down Yiannopoulos talk there. A No Milo Yiannopoulos at UC Berkeley Facebook page had been shared 1,800 times by Monday, with 529 clicks from people saying theyll attend the protest.
Thats compared with the 500 sold-out seats to the event, hosted by the Berkeley College Republicans.
Even if there were a specific threat (of disruption), that would not be grounds to cancel the event, Mogulof said, adding that the students hosting the event are required to help the university pay for basic security. Their contribution is estimated at $7,500 to $10,000 for about seven officers. And although high security fees required at Yiannopoulos events have led to cancellations on some other campuses because students couldnt afford them, Mogulof said UC Berkeley may not set fees with the intention of blocking the event and will pay for any additional officers needed. What would be grounds to cancel would be if the speaker said, Im going to come to your campus and break the law.
On the contrary, Yiannopoulos has gotten a good workout exercising the law that distinguishes the United States from countries that dont have a First Amendment, such as his native Britain.
But private companies set their own rules, and Twitter banned him in July for repeatedly breaking harassment and abuse policies.
Yiannopoulos, who has called feminists the most easily offended group of people on the planet, took such offense at his banning from Twitter that he devoted a speech at Florida State University in September to a eulogy for the company.
He also accused college students in August of running for safe spaces at the slightest hint of a challenge to their coddled worldview, and defended Internet trolls perpetrators of the kind of activities for which Twitter banned him as harmless pokers and prodders of the most vulnerable among us.
Trolls are experts at finding soft targets, he wrote, offering a euphemism for what is usually called bullying.
Yiannopoulos found a soft target on Dec. 13 at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, where in front of 350 people in the Student Union and countless others watching on the Web, he mocked and identified by name a student who had protested a new rule requiring students in locker rooms to cover their nonconforming genitalia.
The rule was imposed after the student, who was making the physical transition from male to female, used the sauna in the womens locker room last January, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The newspaper reported that Yiannopoulos held up the students photo, accused her of being a man trying to go into womens bathrooms, and said: The way you know hes failed is I can still bang him.
In September, he took a dig at people who protest the disproportionate use of excessive force by police against black people, suggesting that no such imbalance exists and that protesters should focus on weight loss instead.
If Black Lives Matter cared about black people, in addition to their fact-free musings about police officers they would be organizing aerobics classes, not protesting the police, he told students at Louisiana State University.
The apparent joy Yiannopoulos takes in making young adults feel bad then mocking them for feeling bad has prompted an array of student protests. Hes joined some of them incognito, carrying a sign that reads Milo Sucks.
Seven people were arrested for blocking the entrance to his speech at Michigan State University on Dec. 7, the Lansing State Journal reported. And on Dec. 15, some 40 protesters showed up at Minnesota State University chanting, Yiannopoulos, out of Minneapolis! reported the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Its enormously good fun, he told the paper. All of the very worst people in the world get triggered by the mere mention of my name.
Among those worst people are UC Berkeley students, including about three dozen so far who have emailed campus spokesman Mogulof with requests to cancel the speech. The What to Do About Milo paper also recommends contacting at least a dozen other campus leaders, from Chancellor Nicholas Dirks to Nailah Nasir, vice chancellor of equity and inclusion.
Yiannopouloss visit would very likely pose a direct physical threat to individual students on this campus, a student identified only as Gerard wrote Mogulof, calling the speech at the University of Wisconsin an act of sexual harassment.
Echoing the claims of other critics, Gerard urged the university to prohibit the College Republicans from holding this event on campus property on the ground that, in his view, harassment of that kind is not protected free speech.
Meanwhile, the Berkeley College Republicans have found themselves in the ironic position of championing what they call the New Free Speech Movement on the same campus where students of the political left gave it life a half century ago. Club members could not be reached for comment.
Mogulof has been sending out a four-paragraph response to those asking UC Berkeley to cancel the event. It says that registered students groups like the Republicans can invite speakers onto campus and that the university has no authority to disapprove the speaker. Nor can opponents use the hecklers veto to shut down a speaker they dont like.
The courts have made it very clear, contrary to widely held beliefs, that there is no general exception to First Amendment protection for hate speech or speech that is deemed to be discriminatory, says the response, which adds that officials and campus police will not hesitate to act if there is a threat to security.
Some private universities have barred Yiannopoulos.
In July, DePaul University banned him from returning because his presence had created a hostile environment in May, when protesters took over the stage, grabbed his microphone, and hit him in the face. Campus President Dennis Holtschneider later called Yiannopoulos a self-serving provocateur and unworthy of university discourse.
NYU canceled in October, citing physical altercations at Yiannopoulos events.
At some public universities, students rescinded invitation because of costs. The College Republicans group at North Dakota State uninvited Yiannopoulos on Dec. 2, saying it didnt have enough money for security. And Students 4 Trump at Iowa State canceled after the campus tacked an extra $1,900 on to the security fee.
These cancellations suggest that UC Berkeley should find a way to do the same, Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda, a doctoral student there in the department of east Asian languages and cultures, told Mogulof.
In order to preserve student safety, I urge the university to do everything in its power to cancel this event, she wrote. If not, students and community members will take the initiative.
Yiannopoulos schedule calls for eight campus stops before UC Berkeley, including the UC Davis event, UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 17, and Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo on Jan. 31. His tour ends at UCLA on Feb. 3.
Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov
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Molly Cruit attached a small device to her pregnant belly, and a few minutes later, a graph on her smartphone suddenly spiked.
Oh my god! the 38-year-old Portrero Hill resident exclaimed.
She was having a contraction. But without the device, a small sensor she stuck to her belly called Bloomlife, and its corresponding app, she probably would have just passed the faint tightness in her belly off as nothing, she said.
Bloomlife is a digital pregnancy wearable that helps women track the frequency and duration of their labor contractions. On Wednesday, the San Francisco startup announced that the product had completed trials and is commercially available. An update, expected this year, will be able to track the babys movements, heart rate and position, and the mothers stress levels.
You go through so much of this so blindly, and you lose complete control of your body, said Cruit, a jewelry designer who is 8 months pregnant. The device gives me more peace of mind, and I know that things are working, and doing what they are supposed to be doing.
Bloomlife, which has been tested by doctors, is one of a crop of apps focused on womens health care, such as birth control, fertility and pregnancy. These types of apps have proliferated over the past few years, according to Rock Health, a venture fund and research firm dedicated to digital health.
When Cruit became pregnant this year, she had hundreds of apps to choose from, ranging from one that helped her create a registry, to another that would periodically tell her how big her baby had become.
In 2011, no company focused on womens health raised more than $2 million, according to Rock Health, which has not invested in Bloomlife. By late 2015, nine such companies had collectively raised $82 million. Pregnancy-focused apps alone raised $26 million in that period, according to the most recent Rock Health data available.
Bloomlife has raised $4 million from investors including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and Kapor Capital. The wearable can be leased at a cost of $149 for one month; those using it for longer can get a lower per-month price.
Eric Dy, one of the two male founders of Bloomlife, touts the device as the first and only pregnancy wearable that allows women to measure pregnancy-specific parameters. It can currently only measure contractions and be used with an Android device, but a February update will expand to iPhones, Dy said.
Since Dy cannot use the device himself, he relied on feedback from women who tested it many of whom complained about the antiquated technology that hospital maternity wards currently use.
Some of the women he signed up to test the device, he said, were still using pen and paper to track their contractions.
The idea of Bloomlife, Dy said, is to provide reassurance to pregnant women.
Its a way to connect with her pregnancy a little more, and a way to decode those weird pregnancy sensations she might be feeling, Dy said.
Bloomlife said the majority of testers are in their early to mid-30s, with a handful in their 40s, and live across the United States.
While Dy said pregnancy is an area of health care ripe for disruption, the idea has its skeptics.
Laurie Green, a partner at the Pacific Womens OB/GYN Medical Group, said that while tracking ones pregnancy closely may be interesting and beneficial in some cases, having too much information can bring its own kind of stress and and confusion.
If a patient is accumulating the data and trying to interpret it themselves, that could be a problem, Green said. Anything pregnancy-related is the most anxiety-provoking area.
Contractions late in pregnancy, for example, are common and do not necessarily signal that birth is imminent.
Bob Wachter, an expert on digital health care and chairman of the Department of Medicine at UCSF, said the market for digital health care is oversaturated.
While thousands of devices and apps related to health care have popped up over the past few years, Wachter warned, just because you can measure it doesnt mean that is useful data.
There is a lot of stuff in medicine that we dont know what it means, and (how) to understand and interpret it correctly, he said. There is a reason why people go through years of training.
Despite that, Erica Hager, a mother who went through two pregnancies without Bloomlife, said she loved being able to track the information herself during her third one especially because the hospital closest to her in North Dakota is 20 miles away.
She said the device and app helped ease the constant worries.
The most trying act of patience is your last month of pregnancy, and your mind constantly plays tricks on you, she said. It was a nice way of knowing it was not just in my head.
Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
Four men killed in separate shootings over a violent four-day stretch in San Francisco, including two gunned down on the first day of 2017, were identified by authorities on Tuesday.
The string of slayings happened in neighborhoods throughout the city including the Mission District and the Tenderloin. No arrests have been made.
The first shooting occurred at 5:14 p.m. Thursday on the 200 block of Golden Gate Avenue, just north of the Civic Center and U.N. Plaza. Laurice Barrett, a 39-year-old San Francisco resident, was shot near the front entrance of the Service Employees International Union. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
A 41-year-old man was also hit in the shooting, but his injuries were not life-threatening, police said.
A little over an hour after Barrett was slain, 39-year-old Mathew Fiame was killed by gunfire outside the Burma Love restaurant on the 200 block of Valencia Street in the Mission District. Fiame of San Francisco was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Police continued their search Tuesday for a 35-year-old suspect in that killing.
On Sunday, shootings claimed the lives of two men.
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.
Ernesto Rosales, a 21-year-old San Francisco resident, suffered a gunshot wound to the chest in San Franciscos first killing of 2017, police said. The shooting occurred at about 2 a.m. at 26th and Shotwell streets in the Mission District.
Later that day, Mitchell Smith, 35, was killed in the Bayview neighborhood. The San Francisco resident was found with a gunshot wound to his face at about 11:25 a.m. at Third Street and Oakdale Avenue.
Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
In 2008, when Carrie Fisher was performing Wishful Drinking at Berkeley Rep, fine art and documentary photographer Rebecca Martinez and I were there on opening night. I thought about that last week when I heard of Fishers death, and I called Martinez and asked for her recollections of the evening and what ensued.
Martinez had recently started preTenders, a project in which she had photographed a community of people who loved startlingly lifelike life-size baby dolls. The first part of the project was community. At a convention where the babies were displayed and on sale the sellers called it putting them up for adoption Martinez purchased several. In the outsiders part of the project, she focused on reaction to the babies.
When a friend, director Amy Glazer, mentioned she needed a baby for a production being rehearsed, Martinez volunteered to let her borrow one. She brought it to the theater that night to give it to Glazer, who had said shed be at the opening, too.
She kept it wrapped up, but at one point, when I saw Carries mother, Debbie Reynolds, said Martinez this week, I went up to her and asked her if she could hold this doll. She snapped a quick picture, but I wasnt there to take pictures and just had a little camera.
Martinez gave the doll to Glazer at a post-performance reception, where I wasnt even planning on talking to Carrie. But Carrie saw the baby and she rushed up, and she became mesmerized by it. Fisher, fascinated, walked around with the baby and finally asked me if she could spend the night with the baby. She told Martinez she could retrieve it the next morning at the Claremont Hotel.
The next morning Martinez brought her camera, and Fisher really got into posing, stretching her imagination, pretending to nurse the baby, blowing smoke in its face, flinging it around. She really understood performance art. ... It was me just following her around because she had so many ideas, I could barely keep up with her. ... She was outrageous, bold. I thought she was brilliant, fabulous with the baby.
That session went so well that after Martinez gave the doll to Glazer, she returned for another session with more dolls, and she did more things with them. She looked different. ... We worked together; she was my main photo muse.
Martinez worked on the digital images, sent them off to be printed, and then received a phone call from the printers. They asked me about these babies being abused, she recalls, telling her theyd have to inform authorities if it couldnt be explained. I had to explain that they werent real, Martinez says, and referred them to an item Id written describing the project.
When the photos were printed, Martinez gave Fisher prints. Unbidden, she signed a bunch and gave them back to me, says Martinez. But she kept a whole set. She liked the outrageous ones. ... At the end of the last session, I gave her a doll. I lined them up for her, and she picked one. And I heard she carried one around for a while.
Martinez has shown a few of the photos, sold a few at auction, but never promoted them. They seem so personal, she says. The photographer is intent on being respectful.
I dont want her to sound wacky. I admired her freedom to do and say what she wanted. She was just there. She just saw it as an opportunity to perform in a different way. ... She was just present all the time.
I found her to be so brave and open and generous to me. ... And my biggest regret is that I was going to contact her to be a subject for another project, but I let life get in the way.
P.S.: Also, during that run of Wishful Drinking, Fishers father, Eddie Fisher, not in great shape, dropped in several times to see Carrie perform. After one Friday night performance, according to a report, Pop Fisher was brought onstage in his wheelchair. Daughter knelt down to father, and at Carrie Fishers suggestion that they sing, they performed If I Loved You, gazing into each others eyes. They received a standing ovation.
Happy new year 2017, which began with a New Years Eve bang in North Oakland, where Laura Ingram read a Nextdoor notice from a man who said he had a wife, a baby and two dogs at home.
Dear person shooting your gun in the air right now, he said. Just stop. Its not even goddam midnight yet. Its a few days after goddam midnight now, but the message bears repeating. Just stop.
Leah Garchik is open for business in San Francisco, (415) 777-8426. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @leahgarchik
Public Eavesdropping
He lacks the ability to pretend other people arent idiots.
Justine Burt calls herself borderline vegetarian. The Palo Alto resident makes an exception for lionfish, which she first tried during a community service trip to Belize, where the invasive species has taken over barrier reef habitats.
I dont normally eat sentient creatures, but this one needs to be eaten, she said. Because its really destroying life down there.
It didnt hurt that the fish tastes light, flaky and buttery. Thanks to Burts year-and-a-half campaign since returning from that trip, lionfish achieved Best Choice status from the Monterey Bay Aquariums Seafood Watch program, which helps consumers make more sustainable food choices, and is available by special order from Whole Foods. At Fish restaurant in Sausalito, executive chef Douglas Bernstein recently began bringing in another invasive species, Asian carp, from the Mississippi River Basin to serve in fish tacos.
New to the region, the two species are part of a growing sustainable seafood movement that unites Caribbean divers and Kentucky fishers with Bay Area diners through a simple idea: Eat invasive fish to help eradicate them.
Asian carp is the generic name for four species of fish that originally were brought from Asia decades ago to filter aquaculture ponds in Arkansas. Lionfish arrived around the same time from its native Indo-Pacific region as an aquarium pet. In a scene seemingly out of Finding Nemo, the fish either escaped or were released into local waterways: the carp into the Mississippi River Basin and the lionfish into the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. With staggering rates of reproduction and no natural predators, each has taken over its adopted habitat, devouring native fish and plant life.
Creating a viable market for these invasive fish is one sure way of removing at least some of them from the environment. Both Asian carp and lionfish have been on menus in the East Coast for several years, via purveyors like Normans Lionfish who are closer to the source, but theyre new to the Bay Area.
Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle
During the winter we usually have a hard time finding a lot of fin fish to keep the menu diverse. This is a perfect plug-in for our fish tacos, said Bernstein of Asian carp. The pink, meaty fish almost tastes like tuna but has a flaky, tender texture. He goes through about 400 pounds of it a week.
The Bay Area has plenty of invasive marine species of its own, brought in by container ships, but they arent good to eat. For example, the overbite clam has colonized the San Francisco Bay and Delta, consuming more than its share of phytoplankton and filtering pollutants not what youd want to put on your pasta.
But lionfish and Asian carp are another story. Fisher Ronnie Hopkins, who lives in Ledbetter, Ky., has been catching Asian carp in local lakes and rivers since the 1980s, when he saw how the fish, which originally escaped into Southern waterways during flooding, began crowding out the native species that his father and grandfather caught for a living.
I seen how fast these things were going to grow and how good they were to eat, said Hopkins, 66, in a growly Kentucky drawl. I started fighting to build a market for them.
He originally shipped them to Asia, and then his market grew to New York, California and Chicago. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife has encouraged fishers like him by helping establish three new local processing plants for Asian carp in 2015, which led to the harvest of 1.2 million pounds of it that year.
Bighead carp, one type of Asian carp, is already found in 23 states, while silver carp has been found in the waters of 17 states, according to the National Wildlife Federation, which monitors the invasive species steady movement toward the Great Lakes. There are some electrical barriers to try to keep the carp from entering the lakes via the Chicago water system, but the organization has proposed creating physical barriers that it says are more effective.
Marc Smith, policy director for the National Wildlife Federation, said preventing the fish from entering new environments is more of a priority than encouraging fishing.
Youre never going to fish them down to extinction, he said. We think its fine for states to encourage fishing them. We just dont think a lot of money should be going to that.
Yet with so many types of protein problematic from a sustainability standpoint, it can be a boon for a seafood purveyor to find a product whose consumption has a positive impact, rather than a negative one, on the environment.
One lionfish, for example, can produce 2 million eggs a year. Scientists believe they were originally released into the Western Atlantic by pet owners, and it didnt take long for them to begin eating up the phytoplankton native fish depend on and the native fish, too.
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The downside to serving lionfish is its venomous spines, which resemble billowing red and white feathers underwater. The spines do not cause the fish to be unsafe to eat and are removed when you buy lionfish at the store but can cause severe pain and swelling.
We brought it in whole once and my fishmonger got stung, said Bernstein, who had to send him home and finish the job himself, very slowly. Ultimately, that made it too cost-prohibitive to serve on a regular basis, which is a shame, Bernstein said. (However, its relatively affordable at Whole Foods, at $11.99 a pound for whole cleaned fish.)
Lionfish is one of the most amazingly delicious fish Ive tried, said Bernstein, describing it as clean and sweet, perfect for ceviche. I wish I could have it on the menu every day.
Asian carp, though very bony and also difficult to clean, costs less and is more reliable. But it could take a while for it to be fully accepted. When Susan Lindsay of Corte Madera came into Fish for tacos on a recent December day, she said the Asian carp tasted great, but she wasnt sure about the name.
Carp sounds like garbage fish, she said.
Hopkins points out Asian carp is not a bottom feeder like common carp. But he understands the attitude. After all, the fish did kind of come out of nowhere.
Theyre clean. Theyre freshwater fish. Theyre all-natural. Theyve got everything going for them, he said. Its just getting the public to try something new.
Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan
Some of the changes that Eric Kim has made to Woori Food Market in San Franciscos Fillmore neighborhood since buying the business 18 months ago are easy to notice: The lights are brighter, the floors less gray. The produce looks more taut and crisp. Kim has added new refrigerated cases on both the right and left sides of the narrow store, and crowded more products onto the shelves.
What isnt obvious to shoppers is that theyre only seeing half of the store. A door at the back leads into a deep commercial kitchen wide enough to march the Stanford marching band through. At one end, chef Basilio Gang cleans fillets of flounder to make a pot of saengseon jjim, a chile-red stew. Further back, one cook carefully blanches spinach and lays out the stems in parallel stripes. Two more assemble gimbap stout, nori-wrapped rice rolls that Westerners usually call Korean sushi to restock the case in front. And this is a slow time for the kitchen.
For many years, San Francisco has had only two small Korean groceries, both around for several decades: Seoul Market, a.k.a. First Korean Market, in the Richmond, and Woori in San Franciscos Fillmore District. Yet they both operate like the larger Korean supermarkets east and south of San Francisco, preparing pickles and dishes in house.
Kim, who also owns Hollywood Cafe, a successful diner near Fishermans Wharf, took over Woori Market because he wanted to run a Korean restaurant. It took him six months to clean up the store, replace leaking refrigerators and hire a chef. For that last task, he traveled to Seoul, bringing back Gang, who has spent the bulk of his 20-year culinary career in the South Korean capital, most recently at the Kyungnam and Bupyeong Hotels, cooking Korean, Chinese and Western food.
The reason Kim wanted to hire a proper chef for the market lies in his definition of Korean food. Korean food is analog, he says. A lot of Korean restaurants in San Francisco make food mechanically. The taste is OK. But the real Korean food is like my moms and grandmas: very homemade.
The scope of the analog food at Woori is only partially visible in those new refrigerated cases. Gang doesnt set a menu as much as respond to the meat and produce that arrive: The pint-size tubs in the refrigerator case could contain fish stew, seaweed soup or soybean-paste stew. The pancakes range in size from savory seafood ones, no bigger than a quarter, to kimchi jeon that cover a mans palm.
Russell Yip/The Chronicle
If Gang has a specialty, the stores staff say, its jokbal, a pork shank that is braised with soy and aromatics, boned and sliced into even quarter-inch half-moons.
The cooks make a half-dozen kinds of pickles, including the standard crimson-red cabbage kimchi, but also seasonal young-radish water kimchi, whose light, tart brine is meant for sipping. The eight or 10 banchan, or side dishes, are just part of a roster of 20: garlic stems, perilla leaves preserved in fermented soybean paste, tiny dried anchovies, dried radishes with sweet chile.
Dishes like this lend themselves to half-scratch cooking, a mix of dishes from the market and ones made at home. But many of the customers waiting in line have stuffed a few trays of Wooris gimbap into their baskets, ready for a snack or light lunch.
Gimbap resembles a futomaki those familiar Japanese sushi rolls in its girth and the multicolored makeup of its fillings. Standard versions contain shredded carrots, spinach, yellow radish pickle and egg. It is the only area where Kim permits a little artistic license, which he calls editing. Traditional gimbap sticks to beef, or perhaps all vegetables, but his edited gimbap can center around salmon and avocado, eel, dried cuttlefish strips coated in chile paste or even cheddar cheese. New batches hit the shelves every two hours throughout the day, to avoid letting the rice seize up into pebbly grains.
Kim has ambitious plans for Woori: Eventually, he wants to swell the market to supermarket size, with more banchan, more dishes, more analog food. Perhaps then, hell be able to start up the machine that the markets former owners used to make tteok, or fat rice noodles. They had to stop making them when the only woman who knew how to operate the machine properly, who was 90, had grown too old to walk.
Woori Food Market, 1528 Fillmore St. (at OFarrell), San Francisco. (415) 673-9887, www.woorisf.com.
Jonathan Kauffman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jkauffman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jonkauffman
Virtually every movie award youve ever heard of is chosen in one of two ways. Theres the peer group model, used by the Oscars, in which members vote in two waves of secret balloting, the first to nominate candidates and the second to choose the winner from among them.
And then theres the critics group model, in which a collection of people who like or merely tolerate each other lock themselves in a room and argue for hours. These arguments are sometimes so badly reasoned that they can leave members depressed for days. But out of such meetings, selections are made, and theyre often not bad.
But for the Mickies Ive devised a much more efficient model. I pick everything. The Mickies are my annual chance to show what movies and performances I would acknowledge if I were the only one who did the choosing.
A word about what follows: This fourth annual installment contains most of the traditional awards categories, but also a few novel ones, such as awards for performances in small roles; in bad or not very good movies; and by newcomers. The newcomer awards dont necessarily go to novices, but to people who emerged from obscurity during the year.
Finally, because the Mickies are independent of heavily financed Oscar campaigns, quality movies released in the beginning or middle of the year can find their way onto this list. And thats a good thing.
Best supporting actress: The nominees are Viola Davis (Fences), Naomie Harris (Moonlight), Anna Kendrick (Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates), Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) and Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea).
And the winner is ... Viola Davis for Fences. Its a full-bodied performances with great depth and nuance, something that will be looked at with admiration for decades.
Keith Bernstein/Photo by Keith Bernstein, courtesy of Bleecker Street.
Best supporting actor: The nominees are Ralph Fiennes (A Bigger Splash), Martin Freeman (WTF), Tracy Letts (Indignation), the late Alan Rickman (Eye in the Sky) and Jason Sudeikis (Race).
And the winner is ... Alan Rickman in Eye in the Sky. Rickman played a general, sitting around a boardroom in London, watching politicians debate whether to order a drone strike on terrorists. Rickmans last screen performance showed how the actor could be a kind of genre unto himself. Though the film was a drama, he injected notes of wry comedy and yet rose to the great dramatic moment at the films conclusion, when he admonishes a politician, Never tell a soldier that he does not know the costs of war.
Special citation for the years most memorable moment (drama): The scene between Michelle Williams and Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea, in which she apologizes for terrible things she has said to him. Honorable mention: Parker Sawyers as the young Barack Obama, addressing a community group in Southside With You.
RJ/DreamWorks Pictures
Best newcomer (female): The nominees are Ruby Barnhill (The BFG), Haley Bennett (The Girl on the Train), Lily Collins (Rules Dont Apply), Sarah Gadon (Indignation) and Haley Lu Richardson (The Edge of Seventeen).
And the winner is ... Haley Bennett in The Girl on the Train. This is a strong category, and a case could have been made for any of these nominees. Bennett takes it for her complicated performance as a woman with a tragic personal history and conflicted impulses.
Best newcomer (male): The nominees are Michael Barbieri (Little Men), Blake Jenner (The Edge of Seventeen), Jharrel Jerome (Moonlight) and Parker Sawyers (Southside With You).
And the winner is ... Blake Jenner in The Edge of Seventeen. As the oldest sibling in a fatherless household, Jenner suggested a whole personality forged out of family necessity.
Gemma LaMana/Associated Press
Special citation for the years most memorable moment (comedy): Kumail Nanjiani and Sugar Lyn Beard in the massage scene from Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. Honorable mention: The performance of Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song) in Popstar.
Best actress in a small role: The nominees are Sugar Lyn Beard (Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates), Rebecca Ferguson (Florence Foster Jenkins), Sidse Babett Knudsen (A Hologram for the King), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Free State of Jones) and Keri Russell (Free State of Jones).
And the winner is ... Keri Russell in Free State of Jones. This was a drama about a free state that was set up in Mississippi in the last years of the Civil War. Russell, as a farm woman made destitute by the pillage of two armies, suggested a 19th century essence, as well as the spine of simple folk who wont be defeated.
Best actor in a small role: The nominees are Irrfan Khan (Inferno), Gary Oldman (Criminal), James Purefoy (Equity), Hayden Szeto (The Edge of Seventeen) and Hugo Weaving (Hacksaw Ridge).
And the winner is ... Hugo Weaving. He was the father from hell in Mel Gibsons war drama, but Weaving made us understand why: Hed actually been through hell, in World War I, and the experience was before his eyes every minute of every day.
Bruno Calvo/Associated Press
Special citation for carrying on despite epic miscasting: Peter Sarsgaard as Bobby Kennedy in Jackie.
Best documentary: The nominees are Amanda Knox, Cameraperson, De Palma, O.J.: Made in America and Weiner.
Jody Shapiro
And the winner is ... a very tough call. Theyre all great. Ultimately, it goes to Jake Paltrow and Noah Baumbachs De Palma, about the career of Bryan De Palma. In addition to raising De Palma to his rightful stature as one of the important living film directors, its one of the most entertaining films of the year.
Special citation for including a completely unnecessary and perplexing nude sex scene: The Bronze.
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Best director: The nominees are Damien Chazelle (La La Land), Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge), Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), Terrence Malick (Knight of Cups) and Denzel Washington (Fences).
And the winner is ... Denzel Washington. You could say, But the material was so strong that it couldnt fail. Really? How about August: Osage County, another great play, which was destroyed when brought to the screen? Washington put together a world-class ensemble and directed them to the performances of their lives. And he did it while guiding himself to one of the best self-directed dramatic performances in history. (Great self-directed comic performances are common, but dramas are notoriously tricky.) There was a sense of place, a sense of era and a command of the plays very specific tone, a kind of poetic hyper-realism. And there was a generosity about it, too, a feeling of actors collaborating as equals. This was beautiful work.
Murray Close/AP
Special citation the third time is the charm award: With Allegiant Part 1, the world of the Divergent series, now in its third installment, finally made sense.
Best actress in a bad or not very good movie: The nominees are Emily Blunt (Huntsman: Winters War), Dakota Johnson (How to Be Single), Elizabeth Olsen (I Saw the Light), Kristen Stewart (Cafe Society) and Kristen Wiig (Masterminds).
Sam Emerson/AP
And the winner is ... Elizabeth Olsen in I Saw the Light. As Hank Williams untalented, jealous wife, Olsen made it easy to see what drove the poor man to drink. She was pitiless and scary, alert to every slight and resentful of any hint that Williams singing career was ascending while hers was remaining earthbound.
Best actor in a bad or not very good movie: The nominees are Steve Carell (Cafe Society), Will Ferrell (Zoolander 2), Zach Galifianakis (Masterminds), Tom Hiddleston (I Saw the Light) and Christoph Waltz (The Legend of Tarzan).
And the winner is ... Steve Carell. This is an actor with such a hold on truth that he can play extreme and contradictory impulses, so that even as hes nasty and lashing out, he is suggesting an inner state of total helplessness. And he makes it funny.
Special citations for first film: Kelly Fremon Craig for an honest and specific presentation of a teenagers struggles in The Edge of Seventeen and James Schamus for Indignation, which somehow maintained an undertone of unease throughout, even during lighthearted scenes.
Claire Folger/Associated Press
Best original screenplay: The nominees are Damien Chazelle (La La Land), Guy Hibbert (Eye in the Sky), Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea), Mike Mills (20th Century Women), and Gary Ross and Leonard Hartman (Free State of Jones).
And the winner is ... Kenneth Lonergan, who did what is seemingly impossible. He took a static character, a character who is defined by the very fact of his being static, and fashioned a drama around him, through strong scenes and the careful arranging of backstory revelation.
Best adapted screenplay: Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford), James Schamus (Indignation), Whit Stillman (Love & Friendship), August Wilson (Fences) and Erin Cressida Wilson (The Girl on the Train).
And the winner ... depends on how you think adapted screenplay should be awarded. If its an award for great writing, then it has to go to the late August Wilson. If its about fashioning an unexpected adaptation in a compelling way, then it should go to Whit Stillman (Love & Friendship), for taking an unpublished epistolary novel by Jane Austen and making it into a successful comedy. I choose to split the difference between the two, and so the Mickie goes to Erin Cressida Wilson, who lent Paula Hawkins novel a compelling element of moody eroticism.
Sony Pictures Classics/TNS
Best actress: The nominees are Amy Adams (Nocturnal Animals), Kate Beckinsale (Love & Friendship), Emily Blunt (The Girl on the Train), Jessica Chastain (Miss Sloane) and Isabelle Huppert (Elle).
And the winner is ... Isabelle Huppert. Her performance in Elle is so rich; so fun; so full of wit and genuine feeling; and so thoroughly twisted, arresting and odd, that it can be watched and savored again and again. Its one of the acting marvels of the last few years.
Claire Folger/Sundance Institute/TNS
Best actor: The nominees are Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge), Jake Gyllenhaal (Nocturnal Animals), Viggo Mortensen (Captain America) and Denzel Washington (Fences).
And the winner is ... a tie. After several recounts, Casey Affleck and Denzel Washington emerged with the same number of votes (one each). Choosing between their performances in these films is like choosing between Bob Dylan and an opera. Theyre doing something very different and theyre doing it at the absolute summit of achievement.
Broad Green Pictures/TNS
Best picture: The nominees are Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Knight of Cups, La La Land and Moonlight.
And the winner is ... Knight of Cups. Terrence Malicks film about an emerging screenwriter in Hollywood was like walking into someones mind. It simulated the experience of memory and consciousness. No one else is taking chances like Malick is, and no one (besides Malick) has ever made a movie like this. Its not for everybody, but in the right frame of mind, Knight of Cups is a spiritual encounter.
Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicles movie critic. Email: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MickLaSalle
And thus started nearly six decades of official animosity.
The Chronicles front page from Jan. 4, 1961, covers the breaking of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba.
President (Dwight D.) Eisenhower issued a statement at 8:30 p.m. EST saying, There is a limit to what the United States in self-respect can endure. That limit has now been reached, the story read.
Mr. Eisenhower gave as his reason for severance of relations the ultimatum delivered by Cuba this morning which ordered the U.S. to cut the personnel in its embassy and consulate in Havana to 11 persons within 48 hours.
The bad blood lasted decades. Fidel Castro and a succession of U.S. leaders traded barbs and threats from the 1960s through the beginning of the 2000s. With the Cold War as a backdrop, the tension peaked with the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
In 2015, President Obama announced that diplomatic relations between the two countries had resumed. Less than a year later, he would visit Cuba, the first U.S. president to step foot on the island since 1928.
See more front pages: Go to SFChronicle.com/covers to search a database of hundreds of Chronicle Covers articles that showcase the newspapers 151-year history.
More from the Archive The Vault Home of the San Francisco Chronicle's archive and more than 150 years of journalism covering the Bay Area and beyond.
Chronicle Covers is a yearlong project highlighting one classic Chronicle newspaper page from our archive every day for 366 days. Library director Bill Van Niekerken 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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The dawn of a new conservative era in Washington is looking a little cloudy. On Monday night when much of Washington was closed in observance of the federal holiday House Republicans overrode their leadership and voted to significantly minimize the power of the independent ethics office that serves as a watchdog on the congressional membership.
The office was created in 2008, in the aftermath of corruption scandals that sent multiple members of Congress to jail. The most famous of these events was the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.
These are strange times, because one of the first people to slam the House Republicans move was Jack Abramoff. Abramoff, who emerged from federal prison as a self-styled ethics reformer, called the move exactly the opposite of what Congress should be doing, in an interview with Politico.
He wasnt alone the vote, which happened without advance notice or debate, met with immediate bipartisan criticism.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, both opposed the measure.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said that ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.
Even President-elect Donald Trump criticized the timing of the measure Tuesday morning on Twitter. With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the independent ethics watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority?
Faced with a lack of support from leadership and facing, in the case of many Republican legislators, a barrage of irate voters calls GOP lawmakers changed plans to target the ethics panel just before noon Tuesday.
The swift development is good news. But since so many members of Congress are so opposed to the independent ethics watchdog, its worth discussing why its so important for voters and for the democratic process.
Unlike many congressional committees, the ethics panel is composed equally of the majority and minority parties.
That means the panel has been able to act effectively in investigating members of both parties. The Bay Area recently had a high-profile Congressional race turn on the results of one of the ethics panels inquiries, into now-former Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose.
But it also means that a majority party has a difficult time acting to protect its own members from an ethical inquiry.
If youre a voter, thats exactly what you want an independent panel that can investigate anyone in leadership for wrongdoing.
But thats exactly whats made the ethics panel a threat to many power-hungry members of Congress. With their reckless action Monday, rank-and-file House Republicans alerted the public that they dont think ethics are important. Fortunately, the public and Washingtons leadership knew better.
The November election caused shock throughout the nation, but there was an underlying story that was not shocking at all. As expected, seven more states legalized marijuana in some form. In 2017, 60 percent of Americans will have legal access to medical marijuana, and 20 percent will also reside in areas where recreational marijuana is legal.
Given this new reality, I am renewing my call for Congress to remove its outdated and harmful federal prohibition on marijuana.
Every Congress since 2013, I have introduced legislation that removes marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and leaves the decision to legalize up to the states, where it belongs. I plan to reintroduce the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act in the next Congress.
This legislation removes marijuana oversight from the jurisdiction of the Drug Enforcement Administration and gives that authority to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
It does not require any state to change its existing policies, but rather allows states to set their own policies on recreational and medical marijuana without interference from the federal government.
It is past time for Congress to acknowledge that there has been a resounding shift in the way Americans think about marijuana, and science supports this shift.
For some, the shift is about access to medicinal marijuana, which is used by patients who suffer from everything from cancer to post-traumatic stress disorder. For others, its about choice and the freedom to use marijuana. Still for others, its an economic argument, as estimates say it will contribute more than $17 billion to the U.S. economy in 2016.
On a national security level, its about the need to fight crime and diminish the power of criminal cartels by decreasing underground sales.
On a human level, conflicting state and federal laws mean that in Colorado you can buy and grow marijuana with little risk, but possession of 1 or more pounds of marijuana in Utah can result in a felony conviction.
On a business level, because the DEA unscientifically and unfairly classifies marijuana as a Schedule I substance (on par with heroin), legal marijuana retailers operate in a gray area. For example, marijuana distributors and dispensary owners are ineligible for federal tax deductions, and employees in the marijuana industry lack basic workplace protections, such as health insurance.
I am hopeful that the new Congress and the new administration will support removing the federal ban on cannabis. Time and again, President-elect Donald Trump has said that marijuana legalization should be left for each state. My legislation does exactly that.
While its discouraging to see that the president-elect has picked an attorney general who is hostile to marijuana reforms, it is the president who sets the policies. We must hold Trump accountable to what he has said in the past about marijuana legalization.
It is time for the federal government to get out of the way of states that have voted to legalize cannabis. Law-abiding businesses and customers in the states that allow the regulated sale of marijuana should not be forced to worry constantly about federal enforcement actions.
Congress should look to states like Colorado as an example where allowing responsible adults to use marijuana generates money for classrooms, not cartels; creates jobs, not addicts; and boosts our economy, not our prison population.
Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2009. He has authored legislation to lift the federal prohibition on marijuana and advocated for amendments to prohibit the DEA from undermining state medical marijuana laws.
A couple visiting California for the holidays has an amazing vacation story to tell, after a falcon hitched a ride on the hood of their car!
Marie Kubin and her husband were driving to Anza Borrego Desert State Park near Palm Springs Sunday when they slowed down to take a picture of a rainbow. That's when a falcon dove down out of the air and straight toward their car, then landed on the windshield wiper, Kubin told SFGATE.
Oaklands new police chief, Anne Kirkpatrick, promised to create a culture of accountability and earn residents respect in her first public address at City Hall Wednesday.
Kirkpatrick is the first woman to head the embattled department, which for years cycled through chief after chief and has been without a leader for seven months. Schaaf deemed her the reform-minded leader that Oakland has been searching for.
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CORCORAN, Calif. A California prison official says cult killer Charles Manson is alive following reports that he was hospitalized.
TMZ reported Tuesday that Manson was taken to a hospital in Bakersfield, about 60 miles south of the California prison where he has been incarcerated.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terry Thornton declined to say whether the leader of the notorious Manson family has been hospitalized.
Thornton says Manson is still assigned to the prison in Corcoran but declined to say whether he's there, citing safety and security protocols.
She says privacy laws prohibit her from discussing an inmate's medical situation.
Manson was convicted of orchestrating the 1969 murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others.
Manson has been back in the news recently as a state parole panel put off a decision on whether to release Patricia Krenwinkel, convicted in the 1969 murders. Krenwinkel's lawyer contends that as a teenager Krenwinkel was browbeaten and intimidated by Manson.
Krenwinkel, 69, California's longest-serving female prisoner, has been denied parole 13 times. After a hearing that lasted all day and into the evening Thursday at the California Institution for Women in Chino, a panel of the Board of Parole hearings postponed a decision "because they felt information discussed at the hearing was cause for an investigation," said the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The only Manson acolyte to be paroled is Steve Grogan, who took part in the 1969 slaying of movie stuntman Donald "Shorty" Shea and helped police find Shea's body in 1977 at the Spahn Ranch in Chatsworth, west of Los Angeles. Grogan was freed in 1985, three years before California voters empowered the governor to override parole decisions. Manson himself has never been approved for parole.
Krenwinkel was convicted of the murders of actress Sharon Tate and four others, at Manson's orders, in August 1969, and of the murders of supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, the next day.
Prosecutors said Manson hoped the killings would trigger a race war that he called Helter Skelter, after the Beatles song. Witnesses said the words "Death to Pigs" and a misspelled "Helter Skelter," scrawled in blood at the LaBiancas' home, were written by Krenwinkel.
Krenwinkel, Manson and three others were sentenced to death for the murders, but the sentences were reduced to life with the possibility of parole after the state Supreme Court struck down California's death penalty law in 1972. Legislators reinstated capital punishment over Brown's veto in 1977, but the law does not apply retroactively.
Foul-smelling water and fecal matter flowed into the San Francisco district attorneys offices in the Hall of Justice on Tuesday, the latest sewage flood in the aging home of courtrooms, police bureaus, legal offices and jail cells.
The surge of sewage began about 3 p.m., forcing at least 30 employees to evacuate the premises at 850 Bryant St. The district attorneys computer network was knocked offline when the water seeped into the server room.
As the mess oozed into at least a dozen offices on the third floor and dripped into the domestic violence unit on the floor below, prosecutors scrambled to save their files and belongings, with some wrapping plastic bags around their feet before wading into the pond.
They would never allow this to happen at City Hall, an employee muttered as a putrid odor permeated through the entire third floor, including several Superior Court rooms.
The Hall of Justice dates from the 1950s and has long been considered the ugly stepchild of city buildings, with its outdated decor, often-broken elevators, pest problems, asbestos and dust. The hundreds of courtroom workers, prosecutors, sheriffs deputies and police officers in the building are constantly on the lookout for mice and rats and the fecal matter they leave behind.
In September, one of District Attorney George Gascons staffers stepped outside an office on the fourth floor to find feces that was described by office spokesman Alex Bastian as unequivocally human.
The origin of Tuesdays flood is unknown. In the past, officials believed that urine dripping from the ceiling on the third floor came from the jailhouse toilets located on the floor above.
Unfortunately, its a new year, but we are still encountering the same problems in our building, Bastian said.
He wouldnt venture a guess for how often sewage water leaks into the district attorneys office because it has happened so many times.
I myself have had sewage impacting me directly, Bastian said. Ive had it drip on me before, as well as today. Its really disgusting, but those are the conditions that we work in.
Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo
It is perhaps the most significant artifact documenting the arrival of Jews in the New World: a small, tattered 16th century manuscript written in an almost microscopic hand by Luis de Carvajal the Younger, the man whose life and pain it chronicled.
Until 1932, the 180-page booklet by de Carvajal, a secret Jew who was burned at the stake by the Inquisition in Spains colony of Mexico, resided in that countrys National Archives.
Then it vanished. The theft transformed the manuscript into an object of obsession, a kind of Maltese Falcon, for a coterie of Inquisition scholars and rare-book collectors. Almost nothing was heard about the document for more than 80 years until it showed up 13 months ago at a London auction house. The manuscript was on sale for $1,500, because the house had little sense of its value.
But last year, the relic caught the eye of a prominent collector of Judaica, Leonard Milberg, when it showed up for resale at Swann Galleries in New York City, priced at more than 50 times what it had sold for just a few months earlier. Milberg consulted a variety of experts, who told him it might be the actual manuscript, and worth as much as $500,000. They also warned him to be careful the original had been reported stolen.
After a swirl of activity unleashed by Milbergs inquiries, and financed by his generosity, the manuscript will be returning to the Mexican archives in March. As part of the arrangement Milberg coordinated, the manuscript is on display through March 12 at the New-York Historical Society, part of an exhibition depicting the experience of the first Jews in North and South America.
It is the earliest surviving personal narrative by a New World Jew, said David Szewczyk, an expert in ancient books of the Americas, and the earliest surviving worship manuscript and account of coming to the New World.
The manuscripts odyssey from its creation in Mexico to its recent arrival in Manhattan is a tale laced with intrigue.
De Carvajal was a Jew who posed as Catholic in New Spain, now Mexico, during a period when the Inquisition ruthlessly persecuted heretics and false converts with deportation, imprisonment, torture and grisly public executions.
De Carvajal, a trader, was arrested around 1590 as a proselytizing Jew and, while in prison, began writing a sometimes messianic memoir, the Memorias, on pages roughly 4 by 3 inches. In it, he called himself Joseph Lumbroso Joseph the Enlightened.
It begins: Saved from terrible dangers by the Lord, I, Joseph Lumbroso of the Hebrew nation and of the pilgrims to the West Indies in appreciation of the mercies received from the hands of the Highest, address myself to all, who believe in the Holy of Holies and who hope for great mercies.
The memoir tells how he learned from his father that he was Jewish, circumcised himself with an old pair of scissors, secretly embraced the faith and persuaded siblings to embrace it.
He was freed for a time possibly so that the authorities could track his contacts with other secret Jews and finished his autobiography, stitching it together with a set of prayers, the Ten Commandments and 13 principles of the Jewish philosopher Maimonides.
Scholars believe he made it miniature so he could conceal it inside a coat or pocket. In 1596, after having been found guilty again of observing Jewish practices, he was burned at the stake. He was 30.
His manuscript, discovered in his clothing, eventually ended up in the National Archives, which by the 1930s was located in a building adjacent to the presidential palace.
How the book disappeared remains a matter of conjecture. At the time, at least three scholars were delving into the atlas-size volumes of the Inquisitions proceedings against de Carvajal. They have all been suspects of one kind or another over the years.
One of them, a historian on the archives staff who was writing a book on the de Carvajal family, accused a rival of the theft. The rival, Jacob Nachbin, a Yiddish-speaking Polish and Jewish history professor who had taught at Northwestern University in Illinois and what is now New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, spent roughly three months in jail but was released for insufficient evidence. Some scholars think his accuser may have actually been guilty.
The whereabouts of the manuscript remained a mystery until its emergence in London. One scholar, Rabbi Martin Cohen of Hebrew Union College in New York, said in an interview that he believes he read the manuscript at the Mexican archives in the 1950s while doing research for The Martyr, a 1973 book on de Carvajal. Other scholars think it more likely that what he saw was a transcription.
In London in December 2015, Bloomsbury Auctions listed the de Carvajal materials in its catalog as three small devotional manuscripts. The catalog did not mention de Carvajal. It described the manuscript as a 17th or 18th century work and said it had come from the library of a Michigan family, and in their possession for several decades.
Timothy Bolton, Bloomsburys Western manuscripts chief, said he could not identify the family because one of the fundamental cornerstones of the auction world is our clients privacy.
The subsequent Bloomsbury buyer, described by a Swann official only as a rare-book dealer, brought the manuscript to Swann, which priced it at $50,000 to $75,000. Though some experts value it closer to $500,000, Swann thought the de Carvajal manuscript to be a transcript a very old copy not the original in de Carvajals hand, and listed it as such in its catalog.
Thats where it was spotted last summer by Milberg, 85, a Brooklyn-reared owner of a Manhattan commercial finance company who collects Judaica and Irish poetry. He decided to buy the manuscript copy and include it in the planned exhibition at the New-York Historical Society, which was to include many pieces from his Judaica collection. Then he was going to donate it to Princeton University, his alma mater.
But experts he consulted, like Ilan Stavans, a professor of Latin American culture at Amherst College, convinced him that it was both authentic and stolen. (One reason Milberg believes it to be the original: No transcriber, he said, would have bothered to make the handwriting so tiny.)
Swann ultimately pulled the manuscript from the sale, and Mexican curators confirmed its authenticity.
Rick Stattler, head of Swanns rare-book department, said that when he realized he had de Carvajals original, I actually had the hairs go up on my arm.
Milberg told Diego Gomez Pickering, Mexicos consul-general in New York, that he would try to arrange a return of the manuscript. But he needed a few months so that it could be displayed in New York. Gomez Pickering agreed.
To avoid any argument over rightful possession, Milberg agreed to pay Swanns consignor $10,000 still a tidy profit. Swann got $2,500 for its trouble from Milberg. And a dealer who helped him coordinate the transactions, William Reese, received $25,000 for his labors.
Milberg also insisted that digital copies be made for Princeton and the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue in Manhattan. He said that highlighting such objects is his way of getting back at anti-Semitism.
I wanted to show that Jews were part of the fabric of life in the New World, he said. This book was written before the Pilgrims arrived.
The U.S. Department of Labor said Wednesday it filed a lawsuit against Google because the company failed to provide compensation data, which it had agreed to do as a federal contractor.
The data requested include job and salary history of employees as of Sept. 1, 2014 and 2015, as well as the names of employees and their contact information, the department said in the suit, which was filed with its Office of Administrative Law Judges. The department said it is requesting this data as part of its efforts to make sure there is no employment discrimination by its contractors and subcontractors.
For U.S. tech behemoths like Google and Facebook, Europe can be both a blessing and a curse.
The region and its 500 million consumers represent one of the companies most important overseas markets. And in cities like Lisbon, Portugal, and Ljubljana, Slovenia, people often cant get enough YouTube videos, Amazon purchases and Twitter messages.
Yet policymakers in the 28-member European Union have also become some of the most ardent critics of how Silicon Valley companies dominate much of the digital world. The criticisms include the companies perceived failure to pay local taxes and their collection of reams of personal information.
These tensions took center stage in 2016: Apple was ordered to pay about $13.7 billion in back taxes to the Irish government; Google was accused of unfairly favoring some of its digital services over those of rivals; and Uber was prohibited from operating some of its ride-booking services in the region. The companies deny wrongdoing.
The next 12 months are shaping up to be potentially even more painful. Many of the investigations that started in 2016 will be decided in the coming year. If Silicon Valley companies lose the battles, they could be forced to change how they operate not only in Europe, but also farther afield.
Here is what awaits in 2017.
Google: The Mountain View company is facing three sets of antitrust charges in Europe related to some of its search services and Android, its popular smartphone operating system.
The first set of charges linked to accusations that Google unfairly promoted its shopping product over those of rivals could be decided by early spring and might lead to a fine of up to 10 percent of the companys global revenue, or about $7.5 billion (though most penalties are significantly less).
The company has repeatedly denied that it favors its own services over those of others, and it is spending close to a half-billion dollars across Europe to endear itself to locals. Any appeal of the decision would take years.
Googles European woes also extend to taxes, and French officials will most likely decide this year if the company must pay more than $1 billion in back taxes on its operations there.
It also has appealed a decision by Frances data protection regulator that it must apply the Right to be Forgotten rule across its global domains, including those in the United States.
That allows people with connections to Europe to ask search engines to remove links to online content about themselves, under certain circumstances. The appeal will be heard in this year.
Apple: On the top of Apples agenda in 2017 will be its appeal of the $13.7 billion tax bill. Lawmakers in Ireland are also appealing the decision, claiming that the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, overstepped its jurisdiction and that the Cupertino company did not receive preferential tax treatment.
Both appeals are expected to be heard by Europes top courts in late 2017, at the earliest.
The cases will most likely take on an increasingly political angle. President-elect Donald Trump has suggested that U.S. companies with significant cash held overseas might be able to repatriate these nest eggs at a reduced tax rate. If Trump goes ahead with this plan, expect a standoff between American and European lawmakers over where such money including from Apple should be taxed.
Facebook: The social media giant is becoming an increasing target for European officials because of its ever-expanding role in the regions economy.
In 2017, Facebook will face the outcomes of investigations in France, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands about how it tracks both members and nonmembers who use the companys services and visit third-party websites with embedded Facebook like buttons. The Menlo Park company won a similar case on appeal in Belgium.
Facebook also has until the end of January to respond to European charges that it misled regulators when it sought approval for its $19 billion takeover of WhatsApp, the Internet messenger it now owns.
Amid concerns that Facebook did not sufficiently clamp down on fake news during the U.S. presidential election, the company has faced similar worries in Europe, where some officials have called for it to be held responsible for such content, and for hate speech.
In March, a German task force will report on how Facebook and other social media companies have responded to these issues. Legislation could follow if lawmakers believe the companies have not done enough.
Uber: The San Francisco ride-hailing company has been locked in a years-long struggle to operate freely across Europe after some taxi associations and policymakers accused it of flouting local rules and promoting unfair competition.
In April, the European Court of Justice, the regions highest court, is expected to rule on whether Uber is a transportation service or a digital platform a decision that will have far-reaching consequences.
If Uber is deemed a transportation service, it will have to comply with Europes tough taxi rules and would not be able to offer some of its low-cost services. If the court rules Uber is a digital platform, the company will have greater ability to expand aggressively in the region, one of its more important international markets.
Amazon: The Seattle e-commerce giant is awaiting the results of a lengthy investigation into whether it received unfair tax treatment from authorities in Luxembourg, where it has its European headquarters.
Amazon denies the charges and says it complies with the tax rules where it operates. An outcome is expected by early summer at the earliest and follows similar tax cases against U.S. companies like McDonalds and Starbucks.
In a sign that it was trying to get ahead of the issue, Amazon announced in 2015 that it would start paying taxes in a number of European countries where it has large operations, instead of funneling nearly all of its sales through Luxembourg.
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A Corte Madera woman was arrested Tuesday for allegedly stabbing her 72-year-old mother.
Tegan Alisa Shipp, 48, was booked to Marin County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse, said Margo Rohrbacher, a spokeswoman for the Central Marin Police Authority.
The victim drove herself to the Kaiser hospital in Terra Linda part of San Rafael around 2 a.m. and told hospital staff that her daughter had attacked her with a knife, waited about 15 minutes, then attacked her again.
It wasnt clear what motivated the stabbings or what happened in the interlude, Rohrbacher said. The mother and daughter live together in the Corte Madera home on the 100 block of Edison Avenue.
The woman suffered multiple stab wounds. She was in stable condition following treatment, Rohrbacher said.
Police officers later arrested Shipp without trouble at the home. They were in the process of securing a search warrant for the residence Tuesday afternoon.
Shipp is being held on $500,000 bail, and her first court appearance was scheduled for Thursday morning, Rohrbacher said.
Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
Some interns slave away working long days for zero pay. Others earn a paycheck by traveling the world for free.
Royal Caribbean UK & Ireland is currently in search of an Instagram user, aged 21 and up, who wants to embark upon the Ovation of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas, and Freedom of the Seas this summer. The lucky winner will debark at various ports in New York, the Caribbean, Asia and the Mediterranean, including Beijing, Barcelona and New York.
WASHINGTON Members of the 115th Congress were sworn in at noon Tuesday, setting off an aggressive campaign by Republicans who control the House and Senate to dismantle eight years of President Obamas Democratic policies.
The first and biggest target is Obamas signature health care law, which Republicans have long sought to gut and blamed as a primary cause for a lackluster economic recovery. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday encouraged a wholesale overhaul of the system, tweeting hours before the new Congress convened that Obamacare just doesnt work, is unaffordable and, it is lousy health care.
Majority Republicans also are targeting decades-old programs that millions of Americans rely on every day, such as Social Security and Medicare as they seek to shrink both the size of the federal budget and the bureaucracy in Washington.
We have a lot to do and a lot to undo, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfied., said in a letter to fellow Republicans.
Democrats will try to block the far-reaching conservative agenda by swaying public opinion and using the power they have in the Senate to filibuster legislation.
What we will always do is hold the president-elect and his Republican colleagues in Congress accountable, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in prepared remarks Tuesday. We will be a caucus that works to make sure the president-elect keeps his commitment to truly make America great, in its finest sense and tradition.
In the Senate, seven new members joined those who won re-election, taking the oath of office administered by Vice President Joe Biden. The Senate will be controlled 52-48 by the GOP and includes two new Republicans and five new Democrats. They include Illinois Tammy Duckworth, a double-amputee Iraq war vet, who walked to the dais and stood for the oath.
The House will number 241 Republicans and 194 Democrats; among the members are 52 freshmen.
On Wednesday, Obama plans a rare trip to Capitol Hill to meet with congressional Democrats and discuss strategy for saving the health care law. Vice President-elect Mike Pence will meet with Republicans.
The first week of the new Congress will be a preview of the hectic pace planned by Republicans.
Votes also are expected on resolutions to denounce the United Nations for condemning the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Republicans blasted the Obama administration for refusing to veto the decision. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who was re-elected to another term by the House on Tuesday, pledged to rebuild our alliance with Israel.
NEW YORK A Long Island Rail Road train crashed at a major transportation hub in Brooklyn during the morning rush Wednesday, injuring more than 100 people and disrupting the commute for thousands, authorities said.
Officials said the train rammed into a bumper as it pulled into the Atlantic Terminal station in downtown Brooklyn around 8 a.m., knocking at least the front two cars off the tracks.
Donette Smith, 55, who was on board, said people had begun to stand in the aisle as the train moved into the station. Then an extremely hard jolt sent everyone falling to the floor. People just went flying, she said. Bodies were everywhere. It was very scary.
The passengers emerged to find the station filled with smoke. I couldnt see, Smith said.
People were removed from the train on stretchers, and one person had a bloody mouth, she said.
Fire Department officials said the crash could have been far worse. One rail of Track 6, on which the train was traveling, sliced through the floor of a train car, they said. And the train crashed into what the officials characterized as a small waiting room or workroom beyond the track, causing substantial damage.
Most of the injuries occurred when the train, which was traveling from the Far Rockaway neighborhood in Queens, came to an abrupt stop after crashing into the bumper block at the end of the track, said Thomas Prendergast, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the Long Island Rail Road.
Prendergast said the trains operator had been supposed to brake before the train reached the bumper block; there are no other mechanisms on the train to prevent it from hitting the block at that point. He said that he did not know whether the train had been fitted with a camera, and that the trains operator was being interviewed.
Most of the passengers, who numbered 600 to 700, were able to walk off the train. Officials said 106 people had been taken to hospitals. The most severe injury appeared to be a woman who may have broken her leg, Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters on the scene.
Photographs and videos shared by commuters on social media in the moments after the crash showed the train askance on the platform, its windows broken. Firefighters escorted injured passengers away from the train while police worked to disperse the crowd on the platform.
Steben Medina, a doorman from Sunset Park, was having a coffee at Atlantic Terminal when he heard a loud crash followed by a series of screams. The entire structure started shaking, Medina, 47, said. I thought a bomb had gone off or something.
The derailment was reminiscent of a New Jersey Transit train crash in September that killed a woman who was standing on a platform at the terminal in Hoboken and injured more than 100 others.
As villains go, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange once found little sympathy in the Republican Party, not after he leaked U.S. military secrets from Iraq, published purloined diplomatic cables that could have gotten U.S. sources killed or sought refuge in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, fleeing charges of rape.
But now, President-elect Donald Trump appears to be siding with Assange over the conclusions of Americas intelligence services.
Assange appeared on Fox News on Tuesday night with Sean Hannity, one of Trumps biggest media boosters, to declare once again that the Russians were not the source of the purloined emails that WikiLeaks released from the Democratic National Committee and the personal account of Hillary Clintons campaign chairman, John Podesta.
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Trump followed that appearance with a series of Twitter posts Wednesday that appear to be preparing his followers for battle once more information on intelligence findings is released, likely by Thursday.
There were actually two separate hackings that the Obama administration has said came from Russian intelligence with 100 percent certainty.
As he has previously, Assange said: Our source is not the Russian government. It is not state parties. But Assange has often said that the organization does not always know the identity of its sources. It is highly unlikely that anyone approaching WikiLeaks with the emails obtained by Russian government hacking would acknowledge the source, so it is likely that Assange himself cannot be sure of the origin of the emails.
Assange and Hannity did not address the fact that in addition to WikiLeaks, the leaked Democratic material was published by two other mysterious websites, DCLeaks.com and a blog written by someone called Guccifer 2.0. U.S. intelligence agencies say they believe both were created by Russian agents.
In addition to U.S. intelligence agencies, most private researchers also say they believe that the DNC and Podesta hacks were carried out on orders of Russian government officials, although a few skeptics believe the case is unproven by evidence made public. Assanges statement is unlikely to change that conclusion.
On Twitter, Trump posted: The Intelligence briefing on so-called Russian hacking was delayed until Friday, perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!
The Obama administration quickly let it be known that, in fact, intelligence leaders always intended to brief Trump on Friday in New York. And intelligence officials were not amused. Nor were some Republican political consultants.
As recent questionable expenses paid by Rep. Duncan Hunter's campaign fund are now being clarified and defined, the California public is getting a closer look at the things the San Diego County Republican has been buying during his tenure.
One of the more "colorful" items reported thus far: $600 in "cabin rabbit transport fees." In other words, $600 was spent to fly the family's pet rabbit in an airplane, according to a report by the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Hunter was under investigation in 2016 for $62,000 in personal campaign expenses not clearly documented, for which he reimbursed his campaign fund. The $600 spent on the family pet is merely a small portion of the previously unaccounted-for expenses.
Hunter's staff, however, maintains that the House's Office of Congressional Ethics overstepped during its investigation, and is not looking at the expenses in an appropriate context. As they told the Tribune, they believe such expenses like the rabbit air travel are being viewed by the OCE as potentially malicious.
"This was nothing more than an oversight. In fact, it's such an obvious example of a mistake being made but [the OCE] wants to view it through a lens of possible intent," said Hunter's spokesman Joe Kasper. "The same goes for many other expenditures. Many of Rep. Hunter's repayments had to do with mistakes under specific circumstances, and in other cases there were bona fide campaign activities connected to expenditures that [the OCE] was not aware of and didn't account for."
In the past, Hunter attributed improper use of campaign funds in part to the fact that two of his credit cards look similar.
The OCE's report has not yet been formally released, but in the meantime, Hunter did vote yes on gutting the independent office in a controversial political move earlier this week. According to the Union-Tribune, however, his staffers said he "didn't mind" when the plan was later pulled after criticism by President-elect Donald Trump.
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Fundraising is already ramping up for Californias 2018 gubernatorial race, and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has an early lead over his announced competitors.
According to memo his campaign sent to donors Tuesday, Newsom raised $2.7 million in the second half of 2016, giving him a total of $11.5 million cash on hand. Thats far more than his major announced rivals, who include state Treasurer John Chiang, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin.
Newsoms camp reported having more than 30,000 individual donors. Thanks in part to winning two statewide races and having a national profile, Newsom also led the field of announced and potential 2018 candidates in a November Field Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley Poll, with 23 percent of the registered voters surveyed.
In second place was San Diego GOP Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who has said last May that he wouldnt run, with 16 percent support. In this very early temperature-taking, 25 percent of the polls respondents were undecided.
Nearly two years before Election Day, the Newsom camp sounded optimistic Tuesday about the depth of its support and its early fundraising.
Thanks to you, we have exceeded our goal and we start the new year with a significant resource advantage, the memo read. We have a long way to go and much more to do (and much more $ to raise!), but thanks to you, we are in a very strong position.
Villaraigosas campaign was also upbeat Tuesday, noting that it had raised $2.7 million over the holidays, he officially announced his candidacy in mid-November.
Antonio is humbled by this significant early support for his campaign to give voice to every Californian, spokeswoman Michelle Jeung said.
Chiangs campaign spokesman, Parke Skelton, said Tuesday the treasurer raised in excess of $1.93 million over the last six months. The campaign now has $7 million in cash on hand, including the $3.2 million in the treasurers account (from his last campaign) which can be transferred to the campaign fund, Skelton said.
Eastins operation just completed its official campaign paperwork this week and will begin fundraising later this month, campaign chair Katherine Welch said Tuesday.
And while Newsoms camp sounded sunny Tuesday, the memo also included a foreboding note.
The breadth and depth of Newsoms support is the only way to compete with the possibility of a self-funded candidate jumping into the race, as has happened in every California governors race for the past 20 years, the Newsom campaign memo said.
It was perhaps a nod to billionaire Democratic environmentalist and former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer of San Francisco, who has long been considered a potential candidate.
However, after Novembers presidential election, Steyer told KQEDs California Report that President-elect Donald Trumps victory is giving him second thoughts about how to focus his political energy. Steyer said Trump has flashed fascist tendencies that need to be contested.
Steyer spent $52 million on Democratic on progressive campaigns during the fall election season, $17 million on a voter registration drive and millions more on TV ads aimed at turning out the vote. A spokesman said Steyer hasnt decided whether to run.
Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
HAMDANIYA, Iraq With the offensive to reclaim the Iraqi city of Mosul now in its third month, smartphones are everywhere on the battlefield, where the appetite for selfie photos is proving to be irresistible and problematic.
Troops and commanders pose atop tanks, Humvees, checkpoints and even on the front lines with bullets flying. They snap pictures of themselves with a mix of generals, civilians, reporters, priests, doctors, babies and anything associated with the Islamic State, including flags, detainees and bodies.
They document themselves with reality-show glee clearing Islamic State tunnels, hoisting salvaged weapons, pointing to graffiti, prisoners and corpses. The photos are far from an official archive of events. But as questions arise about the Iraqi militarys treatment of detainees and the bodies of dead fighters, amateur images may become evidence.
Human Rights Watch has cited the amateur photos and videos in complaints about extrajudicial executions of prisoners and other abuses during the offensive.
The organization posted photos and video stills online in accusing Sunni militias and allied Iraqi Security Forces of dragging the bodies of at least five dead militants and executing at least one after he surrendered in Qayyarrah, about 40 miles south of Mosul, on Oct. 3. On video, a fighter could be seen stepping on the militants body and posed for a photo, the group said. A man in an Iraqi special forces uniform calls for a razor, saying he wants the head of the dead fighter.
It never ceases to amaze me, nor stops disturbing me, that armed forces take pleasure in photographing themselves during or after committing an abuse. Over the last year, we were able to document the most serious abuses because of forces own photos, said Belkis Wille, senior Iraq researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Last week, troops snapped selfies with the top U.S. and Iraqi commanders as the top brass arrived at an army post east of Mosul for an update on the offensive, which began Oct. 17. Among the most popular: Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq; Maj. Gen. Najim Jabouri, Iraqi commander of the Mosul offensive, and Lt. Gen. Abdul Wahab Saadi, Iraqi Special Forces commander, recognizable thanks to Facebook.
I dont have a Facebook account, but because of the selfies they are posting, I became like a hero, Saadi said as he stood among the uniformed crowd. Many held cell phones aloft.
Saadi said the photos are good for morale, and help reassure families back home.
But they can be risky.
U.S. forces are allowed to take selfies in Iraq, as long as their commanders approve, but they may be restricted based on security classification, operational security, safety, or force protection, officials said.
JAKARTA, Indonesia Indonesia said Wednesday that it has suspended military cooperation with Australia over an alleged insult of Indonesian state ideology.
Indonesian military spokesman Maj. Gen. Wuryanto said that cooperation has been suspended indefinitely, and that the decision was made after considering many matters.
Although Wuryanto, who like many Indonesians uses one name, declined to give the exact reason for the decision, he said among the factors were reports of an Indonesian instructor saying that a laminated paper displayed at the Australian Special Forces base where he worked was insulting.
This is not a protest ... we would like to establish a useful cooperation for the two nations based on mutual respect, Wuryanto said. Technically, it is not running well. The suspension will remain in effect until the technical matters are corrected. There is no time limit. The Australian side has responded very well, and they claim to understand.
Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne said in a statement that Indonesia had informed Australia of the decision.
Some interaction between the two militaries has been postponed until the matter is resolved. Cooperation in other areas is continuing, Payne said.
According to Indonesian media reports, the allegedly insulting paper displayed at the Special Forces base contained words that demeaned Pancasila state ideology that mandates belief in monotheism and unity among Indonesias 250 million people. Indonesia is the worlds most populous Muslim nation, and blasphemy is illegal there.
Payne said Australias army has looked into the serious concerns that were raised and the investigation into the incident is being finalized.
Indonesia and Australia have developed close military and economic ties, with Jakarta receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in development aid annually from Australia. The two nations have cooperated on fighting terrorism ever since bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in 2002 killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. The two countries are also seen by the United States as a bulwark against Chinese naval expansion in the region.
More recently, military ties between the two nations had been improving since 2013, after Indonesia downgraded its relations with Australia over the alleged bugging of phones belonging to Indonesias then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and members of his inner circle in 2009.
The New York Times contributed to this report.
1 Impeachment trial: South Koreas Constitutional Court formally opened President Park Geun-hyes impeachment trial on Tuesday, despite the absence of Park, whose lawyers said she was unlikely to attend any of the proceedings. The nine-member court has until June to decide whether Park, whose powers have been suspended since the National Assembly voted on Dec. 9 to impeach her over a corruption scandal, will be reinstated or removed from office. By law, Park cannot be compelled to testify. If she declines to appear for a second time, the court can proceed without her. Park has been accused of conspiring with a longtime friend and confidante, Choi Soon-sil, to extort $69 million from South Korean businesses.
2 Britain police shooting: An investigation has been started after British police fatally shot a man during an operation in which five other people were arrested. West Yorkshire police said the operation related to information received about criminal possession of a firearm, and was not related to terrorism. The man who was killed was identified as 27-year-old Mohammed Yassar Yaqub of Huddersfield. His family issued a statement through a lawyer saying they are in shock and distraught. Police shootings are rare in Britain and there is an automatic investigation when someone is killed.
KIDAPAWAN, Philippines More than 100 suspected Muslim rebels stormed a jail in the southern Philippines before dawn Wednesday, allowing 158 inmates to escape in what officials said was the biggest jailbreak in the country.
Six of the inmates were killed in firefights with pursuing police and army troops, while eight others have been caught and were being returned to the facility, said Senior Inspector Xavier Solda, spokesman for the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
Solda said the heavily armed gunmen emerged from a forest and attacked the North Cotabato District Jail in Kidapawan under the cover of darkness. Kidapawan city in Cotabato Province is about 580 miles southeast of the capital, Manila.
To my knowledge, this is the biggest jailbreak in the history of the bureau, Solda said.
Acting Provincial Jail Warden Superintendent Peter John Bongngat Jr. said one of the about 20 prison guards on duty was killed, and an inmate was wounded in an initial gunbattle.
Kidapawan Police Chief Superintendent Leo Ajero said gunfire continued for hours after the attack as army troops and police, some in armored tanks, hunted through the surrounding forests for the escaped inmates and the gunmen who freed them.
Bongngat said the attackers were suspected to include members of the outlawed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and guerrillas who broke away from the main Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has signed a peace deal with the government. He said the assault was believed to have been led by a bandit known as Commander Derbie, who once led a faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Philippines largest rebel group.
The jail held 1,511 inmates, including Bangsamoro members facing murder charges for a series of bombings in the province, officials said. It was the third attack on the provincial jail facility since 2007.
Local village leader Alexander Austria said he and his men captured one escaped man.
He said the gunfire woke his village, which is several miles from the prison, and he immediately posted guards because of worries the attackers and escaped inmates could enter the village.
We heard the gunfire and we sprang into action to guard our village, Austria said. We were afraid the escapees could try to enter our village to hide or take hostages.
ISTANBUL Police increased security around Istanbul on Wednesday and detained about 20 people with suspected links to the deadly New Years nightclub attack as the hunt for the gunman stretched into a fourth day.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the gunman who killed 39 people during New Years celebrations at the Reina club before reportedly escaping in a taxi had been identified, but did not name him.
Police set up checkpoints across Istanbul as security levels remained high. They stopped cars and taxis, with passengers and drivers holding up their identifications while officers inspected the vehicles.
The city has been on edge since the attack on the upscale club popular with local celebrities, and on Wednesday residents beat up a man said to resemble the wanted gunman before handing him over to police, the Dogan news agency reported.
About 20 people, including 11 women, were taken into custody in police raids in the Aegean port city of Izmir, the state-run Anadolu agency said.
The suspects, from the largely Muslim Russian republic of Dagestan, as well as members of Chinas Muslim Uighur minority and from Syria, were believed to have lived with the gunman in an alleged Islamic State cell house in the central Turkish city of Konya, the agency reported. About 20 children who were with the detainees were also taken to a police station.
At least 16 people were previously detained in connection with the massacre.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in reprisal for Turkish military operations against their fighters in northern Syria. Of those killed, 27 were foreigners many from the Middle East.
In his first public address to the nation since the killings, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the attack aimed to set Turks against each other and deepen fault lines, but warned the country would not fall for this game.
His comments followed a campaign before the attack by some ruling party supporters and pro-Islamic groups who warned against New Years celebrations they depicted as Western or Christian traditions, as well as some social media postings that seemed to support the attack on the New Years revelers.
The campaign and social media postings were condemned by more secular-minded Turks who said their lifestyles were being threatened.
The government has said authorities were taking measures against social media accounts that allegedly support terrorism and foster divisiveness in society.
Meanwhile, details about the suspected gunmans movements trickled in on Wednesday.
The Hurriyet newspaper said he had previously entered Turkey twice, in 2014 and in 2015. He is believed to have slipped illegally into Syria, where he received training in the use of guns and bombs and fought.
The pro-government Sabah newspaper identified the suspect as a Kyrgyz national who was born in 1988.
Mayor Javier Gonzales loves La Plazuela.
He dined at the restaurant housed at La Fonda Hotel 19 times in 2016. And he almost always ordered a table for two: Coffee with Alan Webber, the former gubernatorial candidate and founder of the magazine Fast Company. Breakfast with former district attorney Jennifer Padgett in the midst of her election bid. Lunch with Lee David Zlotoff, the producer behind MacGyver.
"They have this great spinach salad with grilled chicken," Gonzales tells SFR of La Plazuela, adding that the city doesn't foot the bill for his lunch meetings. "It's usually a guest check whenever I go."
Meet The Press Heres a look at the mayors media appointments in 2016. Gonzales national profile rocketed after Nov. 15, when he went on Fox News to defend sanctuary cities.
The City Council last year established an independent salary commission to decide how much the mayor will make when the position officially becomes full-time with the arrival of "strong mayor" power changes in 2018. An ordinance approved by voters three years ago bumped the mayor's salary from $29,600 to $74,000 until the commission completes its work. With the upcoming salary discussions, we felt it appropriate to inspect how our current mayor spends his time.
SFR reviewed about 1,200 scheduled blocks from Gonzales' 2016 calendar, obtained through a public records request. Notably, it only took one day for his office turn over an hour-by-hour breakdown of his working hours. (We're still waiting for Gov. Susana Martinez' daily calendar, which we asked for five years ago.)
Also to Gonzales' credit, the results of our request mostly bored us.
Local Big-Wigs
Gonzales, former chair of the states Democratic Party, occasionally dines with big donors. He says these meetings have nothing to do with a potential run for governor in 2018. Heres the value of recent state and federal political donations:
$19,533 Sande Deitch
2 Meetings $114,789 Charmay Allred
5 meetings $314,383 Earl and Deborah Potter
5 meetings
He already treats the mayorship like a full-time job, often working 40-hour weeks, including weekends. About 25 percent of his appointments were meetings with city employees. He sat down for bi-weekly meetings with heads of his tourism, arts and youth services departments. He also checked in regularly with the police and fire chiefs, parking director and asset development manager. The mayor spent roughly another quarter of his working hours making appearances at ribbon-cutting ceremonies, art shows, trade fairs, benefit dinners, weddings and funerals.
When he wasn't taking care of city business or showing his face for the public, Gonzales chatted with business owners, journalists, political operatives, foreign consuls, consultants, union leaders, nonprofit directors, artists, and officials from the state and federal government.
Some of his most frequent visitors reflect his policy priorities. Of non-city employees, Gonzales met the most (14 times) with Beth Beloff, chair of the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission, which worked with the city to establish the Verde Fund to take aim at climate change and poverty.
He met five times with Jeannie Oakes, a senior fellow at the Learning Policy Institute who helped devise a soda tax plan to fund early childhood education. (Gonzales later also consulted with Bloomberg Philanthropies, the nonprofit project of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who championed a beverage tax during his tenure.)
One-On-One Meetings The mayor doesnt hold many one-on-one meetings with his city council colleagues. When he does, its most likely with Councilor Peter Ives.
Mayor Gonzales, a former state Democratic Party head, also met with prominent locals who happen to contribute large sums to political campaigns. Charmay Allred, a prominent art collector and big-time donor, met with Gonzales at least five times this year. "She is a big patron of the arts and regularly introduces me to artists or people who have contributed to the city," he says.
Why did you meet?
Richard Mares Realtor, three meetings
My visits with the mayor were to find out his agenda with regards to infill.
Matthew Chase-Daniel Co-founder of Axle Contemporary, one meeting
There was a bill before the governing body to restrict mobile vendor access to Canyon Road, so we talked about that.
Yasmin Glanville
CEO of Rethink Sustainability (based in Toronto), one phone call
Youre a reporter. Why would I tell you why I met with him?
He met with either Earl or Deborah Potter, the proprietors of Five & Dime General Stores, five times. (Deborah Potter sits on the city's film commission.) Combined, the couple has given more than $300,000 to state and federal political campaigns since 1997.
Given that Santa Fe has a public campaign finance system, he's not likely fundraising for the next mayor's race. Asked whether meetings with Democratic donors could have any relation to a potential run for governor, Gonzales says, "Absolutely not. These are individuals that significantly invest in the city of Santa Fe and nonprofits. Santa Fe is a big Democratic town. There are people who participate in civic organizations that also participate in politics."
Gonzales took 15 trips during the year, spending 73 days out-of-state or racking up airline miles. The city paid for travel on six of the mayor's out-of-state forays. Grants, fellowships and federal funds covered the rest. His longest trip was to Harvard University, where he spent 23 days (including travel) participating in a fellowship for LGBT leaders, which he called "an incredible opportunity." He also journeyed to the Middle Eastern country of Qatar on a junket with the US Conference of Mayors and to Paris for a meeting about "inclusive growth."
"There's a list of questions we go over before I'll agree to a trip. Is it going to help me build upon some of the initiatives I've said are priorities? Is it a place I can advocate on the needs of Santa Fe at a federal level?"
Applications for the independent salary commission must be submitted to the city by Monday, Jan. 9. The mayor will nominate seven members for approval by City Council.
Table for Two
The mayor says he tries to bring his lunch to work, if possible, but heres a sample of his restaurant meals.
WHO WHERE Al Lucero and Greg Templeton, Southern Wine and Spirits The Compound James Whipkey, Real estate developer Santacafe Alan Webber, Founder, Fast Company La Plazuela Andrew Fleming, Film director The Bull Ring Lee Zlotoff, Television producer La Plazuela Larry Burke, Chairman/editor, Outside Magazine La Plazuela John Bingaman, Investor La Plazuela Judith Cantu, Taos City Councilor La Plazuela Veronica Garcia, Superintendent of SFPS Santacafe Chip Chippeaux, CEO of Century Bank, Santa Fe Santacafe
New York, New York
On the mayors first trip to the Big Apple in 2016, he met with close friend Bill de Blasio. He also spoke with several Hillary Clinton operatives, none more important than campaign chair John Podesta.
New York, New York On the mayors first trip to the Big Apple in 2016, he met with close friend Bill de Blasio. He also spoke with several Hillary Clinton operatives, none more important than campaign chair John Podesta. Bill de Blasio Mayor of New York City March 29 John PodestaChairman of the 2016 Clinton Campaign Sept. 13 Bloomberg PhilanthropiesNov. 15
Where in the world is The Mayor?
Gonzales took 15 trips in 2016, including two international trips.
Where in the world is The Mayor? Gonzales took 15 trips in 2016, including two international trips. January 10-11, Des moines 19-22, Washington, DC February 22-24, Kansas City March 27-30, New York City April 12-17, Doha, Qatar May 5-9, Beijing, China (OVERBOOKED FLIGHT) 22-24, Washington, DC 24-27, Indianapolis July 10-1, Harvard September 12-13, New York City 14-16, Washington, DC 20-22, Chicago October 29-2, Oklahoma City November 13-17, New York City 18-22, Paris December 7-11, Washington, DC
10-11, Des moines
19-22, Washington, DC
22-24, Kansas City
March
27-30, New York City
April
12-17, Doha, Qatar
May
5-9, Beijing, China (OVERBOOKED FLIGHT)
22-24, Washington, DC
24-27, Indianapolis
July
10-1, Harvard
September
12-13, New York City
14-16, Washington, DC
20-22, Chicago
October
29-2, Oklahoma City
November
13-17, New York City
18-22, Paris
December
7-11, Washington, DC
Santa Fe Reporter
After the Fire
A historic Albuquerque church community is reeling from a suspected electrical fire that heavily damaged the building's interior. The Joy of Light Church of God in Christ was the former home of the Grant Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of New Mexico's oldest predominantly black congregations and a hub for the civil rights movement in the city in the 1950s.
Bottom Feeders
Our state's schools have earned another sad grade from
Education Week
magazine's "Quality Counts" report. No states earned an A grade in the analysis, but nine are labeled with B or B-. New Mexico has a D. Here's a
that breaks it down.
The Santa Fe New Mexican
analyzed the Wednesday report on today's
.
Action!
SFR's Alex De Vore takes a deep dive on the status of
that helped New Mexico lure productions and their spending. The story re-introduces Eric Witt, the director of the new regional film office opened by the city and county of Santa Fe.
Election Question
Did
Breaking Bad
actor Steven Michael Quezada fill out his own candidacy paperwork before his recent election to the job of Bernalillo County commissioner? Breaking reports
indicate State Police are looking into the question as part of a criminal investigation. A civil case about the election is already pending.
Benefits Blunder
The City of Santa Fe says it has updated its HR policies after an internal audit showed temporary and seasonal employees were
despite being eligible.
Schools Sued
A new
alleges gender discrimination and nepotism at the Mora Independent Schools. Dora Romero, former superintendent, says the board fired her to make way for Charles Trujillo, a nephew of a board member who later stepped down from the job after reports in the
Las Vegas Optic
that Trujillo faked his credentials to obtain his administrative license.
Dozen Club
Police dashcam footage published this week by KRQE News 13 shows a man near Las Vegas
chase before getting nabbed on his 12th DWI. It's the kind of repeated news story that's right on time for the upcoming legislative session, in which Gov. Susana Martinez says she will push for
.
Bad Idea
Even though it appears massive social media outcry stopped the madness, the big news of the last couple days has been the Republican plan to gut the independent ethics office. New Mexico Political Report says New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce was
.
Santa Fe Reporter
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala figures at number eight in the "12 destinations to watch in 2017" by Britain's largest and prominent travel and tours operators association.
The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has ranked Kerala higher than premier destinations like the U.S., Sardinia (island of Italy), South Africa and Vietnam. The list also features Andalucia (Spain), the Azores islands (of Portugal), Bermuda, Chile, Croatia and Denmark.
The rankings consist of locations that are expected to capture traveller's imaginations over the next year.
"This latest recognition of Kerala's stature as a must visit destination is a matter of pride for us and bodes well for the year ahead," said state Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran.
Among the not to miss experiences of the state mentioned in the report is a journey through the placid backwaters in the traditional houseboat, the life of the local people, spice plantations and forests.
There is also a special mention of the rejuvenating touch of Kerala's traditional ayurveda therapies.
"Making the list signifies an excellent start to the year and will add momentum to our ongoing efforts to promote and showcase Kerala around the world. This is especially important in Britain, which is our primary source market for tourists," said Principal Secretary, Tourism, V. Venu.
In 2015, Kerala received 1,66,792 tourists from Britain, which accounted for a 17.06 pct share of the total foreign tourist arrivals to the state.
The predictive ranking by ABTA, whose members reportedly sell 32 billion euros worth of holidays and other travel arrangements every year, suggests the outlook for the state will remain bright.
"Kerala's prominent ranking in the ABTA list suggests that the trend of higher tourist footfalls from Britain to continue this year," said Kerala Tourism Director U.V. Jose.
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Donovan de Blasio.jpg
Congressman Daniel Donovan and Mayor Bill de Blasio are on opposite sides of the aisle but both expressed a desire to work together to get the city some green. (Advance composite photo)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Rep. Daniel Donovan will go to bat for New York City and try to recover the rest of the $35 million it expects to spend on protecting Trump Tower until the Jan. 20 inauguration, he said Wednesday.
As Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration continues its criticism of Donald Trump and the Republican Congress, Donovan, the sole GOP congressman from New York City, is working with the mayor to forge a productive relationship with the new administration and is hopeful in the mayor's recent gracious comments.
De Blasio appeared on Errol Louis' NY1 show during the segment "Mondays with the Mayor" and spoke about his hopes for the new Congress, including getting the rest of the $35 million it is costing the NYPD to patrol Trump Tower.
When Congress was wrapping up its funding bill last year, the city requested the money, getting only $7 million. They're hoping for the additional $28 million.
That's where Donovan comes in.
Louis asked the mayor specifically about his relationship with the GOP congressman.
"He has certainly been very very helpful to New York City," de Blasio said. "I commend Congressman Donovan particularly on the issue of security funding."
When President Obama proposed cutting the city's federal anti-terrorism funding in half, Donovan was one of the members of Congress who opposed the cuts, which were restored in the final budget.
De Blasio testified about the cuts in March in front of the subcommittee that Donovan chairs.
"Congressman Donovan stood up and was a very effective advocate," de Blasio said Monday. "We've worked closely together on that; I know we'll work closely together on getting reimbursement for the city for the security costs at Trump Tower. He's already been supportive. So I think he'll play an important role."
The mayor said he has also been working with upstate GOP Rep. Chris Collins to get reimbursed.
"I'm ready to work with anyone who will help New York City, whether again it's on those day-to-day issues, the smaller things, or whether it's on the big picture issues like saving Obamacare and making sure that the tax code is fair to New Yorkers."
That's music to Donovan's ears.
"It's good to hear the mayor speaking in that tone rather than criticizing the administration and criticizing Congress," Donovan told the Advance in an interview.
He has spoken with the mayor about the reimbursement, and once the city provides documentation to back up the $35 million estimate, Donovan will request the federal funding, he said.
But it hasn't helped that de Blasio's office has been critical of Trump and Congress, criticizing the $7 million reimbursement.
The funding bill that pays for the government through April 28 was already completed when Washington got the request from New York City.
"We were quite fortunate" to get the $7 million at all, Donovan said.
That figure was the amount that was given to the Chicago Police Department in 2008 when then-President-Elect Barack Obama's residence was protected.
The cost, paying for overtime for NYPD, should "not fall on the city of New York and our taxpayers," Donovan said.
But blaming partisan politics or alleging it was an intentional slight isn't going to get the city closer to the other $28 million, Donovan noted.
"That rhetoric wasn't going to be helpful in my efforts to get that other [money] that I believe the federal government owes the city of New York," he said.
He will advocate for the funding, the GOP congressman said, and hopes the mayor's comments on Monday were a turning point, "where the criticism turns into constructive, productive negotiations between the city and Congress. I am certainly in a position to advocate for that."
No left turn.jpg
A "no left turn" sign like this was posted -- and promptly removed -- in Arden Heights in November. The DOT said they didn't authorize the sign and removed it but a cop ticketed several residents for turning left. (Advance file photo)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - An unauthorized "no left turn" sign in Arden Heights has resulted in traffic tickets and headaches for several residents who must pay even though the sign shouldn't have been there in the first place.
Residents noticed the sign, at the corner of Woodrow Road and Arden Avenue, the third weekend in November down the street from where construction had been ongoing months before.
Several ignored -- or didn't see -- the non-regulation sign, which was smaller than an official Department of Transportation sign and was posted to a telephone pole.
Councilman Joe Borelli said about 10 people contacted his office about getting tickets from a police officer posted there.
A DOT review of the sign concluded it was not the agency's sign and was not authorized to be there.
It was removed after a day or two of being posted.
It's unclear who put up the sign, although some suggest it may have been the contractor in charge of construction down Arden Avenue.
Contractors doing work on city streets can post informational signs about the work, but cannot place street signs like the one posted without DOT permission.
While the sign is long gone, people who received tickets for their moving violations must still go through the system, either pleading guilty on paper and paying the fine -- and getting points on their license -- or going to court and pleading not guilty.
Those who have fought the charges brought with them a letter from the DOT, explaining that the sign is not theirs.
"This is in regard to the traffic controls at the intersection of Woodrow Road and Arden Avenue," the DOT letter from borough Commissioner Tom Cocola reads. "A review of our Borough Engineering Office's records does not indicate a left turn restriction at this intersection."
The letter was dated Dec. 1, 2016. Carl Sansone lives in the area and got a ticket for violating the "No left turn" sign on Nov. 19, 2016, when he made the turn from Woodrow Road to Arden Avenue.
During the Dec. 29 court date, Judge Brian Levine told Sansone that the dates don't line up and the sign may be the contractor's, either ignoring or unaware that it's not permissible.
The judge ordered Sansone to pay the $125 for the ticket.
Levine has been known to be disrespectful and mean and has the highest conviction rate of any traffic court judge in New York City.
Sansone hadn't noticed the sign up previously.
"I go down that road a hundred times a day," he said. He has heard from drivers like him who travel there all the time and never noticed it, blowing past it that weekend and getting a ticket.
"An hour after I got the ticket, they came down and took the sign down," he said.
Borelli said, "Once again, Judge Levine proves to be a notorious headline maker, this time by now intimidating and convicting people of violating unauthorized signs. He has long disregarded all common sense in his decision making, but can now add ignorance of the evidence to his repertoire. This is not the end and we will continue to try to rectify the situation for those innocently and wrongly ticketed."
The councilman posted on his Facebook page in late November about the sign, warning drivers that it wasn't authorized and to contact his office for a copy of the DOT letter if they got tickets at the intersection.
Several people on the Facebook thread commented they too got tickets and were surprised the sign was there.
Besides Sansone, it's unclear whether other people going to court with the letter to fight the ticket had any success.
"There's many people in my area that's really upset about this whole thing," he said.
The NYPD's public information office didn't answer questions about why a police officer was stationed at the unsanctioned sign to ticket drivers.
This story has been updated to include a comment from Borelli.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Maria Pappas, who owned Staten Island's once-iconic Victory Diner, has died.
Mrs. Pappas, a native of Cyprus and a long-time Dongan Hills resident, passed away Tuesday at home. She was 87 years old.
For more than 30 years, Mrs. Pappas greeted patrons with a warm smile from behind the counter of the diner, a classic Staten Island institution. It was a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week home-away-from-home, where folks looking for a homestyle meal, a hot cup of coffee and a family-friendly atmosphere could congregate.
The Victory Diner was purchased by Mrs. Pappas' husband, the late Paris Pappas, and Angelo Sbiliris in 1965. In 1982, when her husband passed away, Mrs. Pappas and her son, Steve, with the help of another son, Andrew, continued to operate the establishment.
"My mom was very warm and hospitable. She made everyone feel welcome," said Andrew, who noted that his mother really enjoyed working at the diner.
The shiny blue and chrome building, which started out on Victory Boulevard and Manor Road in Castleton Corners in 1932, remained a popular meeting and dining place until 1964, when it was moved to 1781 Richmond Rd. in Dongan Hills.
There the diner served as a backdrop for many special occasions, including marriage proposals, wedding receptions -- and it even made appearances in several Hollywood films and television shows.
When Mrs. Pappas retired in 2007, the diner was slated to be demolished and the property sold to a developer.
Through joint efforts -- led by then-Borough President James Molinaro and the Staten Island Advance -- the Victory Diner was saved from demolition.
Using jacks and an an oversized flat-bed truck, the diner was moved ever-so-slowly to Capodanno Boulevard in Midland Beach, near the Ocean Breeze fishing pier.
Plans called for the diner to be refurbished and become an attraction on the Island beachfront as part of the planned Splash Plaza at the foot of the South Beach Boardwalk and the Midland Beach promenade.
Groundbreaking for the project took place in May 2012, but sadly, months later, in October 2012, the diner was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. Though not completely destroyed during the storm, it was damaged beyond repair, so much so that it had to be dismantled.
Mrs. Pappas was a long-time member of Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Bulls Head.
Surviving are three sons, Nick, Andrew and Steven; two grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
The funeral will be from Casey Funeral Home, with a service on Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. A burial will be at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- He's sweet, he's loving, but on the job he's all business.
K-9 Timoshenko, named after slain Staten Island Officer Russel Timoshenko, is featured as "Mr. January" in the newly-released 2017 NYPD K-9 Unit dog calendar.
"Timmy thinks it's no big deal that he's Mr. January," tweeted his partner, NYPD Detective Benny Colecchio of Pleasant Plains.
Timoshenko has been helping to solve crimes as part of the K-9 unit for over five years.
Tatyana Timoshenko, mother of the slain officer, attended the promotion ceremony in September, where both Colecchio and K-9 Timoshenko, who is nicknamed Timmy, received a gold detective shield. Mrs. Timoshenko put a detective's shield on the canine's collar during the ceremony at 1 Police Plaza.
Russel Timoshenko was one of two officers shot during a routine traffic stop in Brooklyn in July 9, 2007. He died five days after the attack
Members of the NYPD's K9 unit are the stars of the first-ever calendar published by the New York City Police Foundation, a nonprofit that raises money and conducts research on behalf of the NYPD.
In addition to "Timmy" as Mr. January, other dogs in the K-9 unit are pictured on the job, with tasks including sniffing for bombs and tracking down missing persons.
The police foundation is sending copies of the 13-month calendar, which runs through January 2018, to contributors who donate at least $20.
That money will "directly benefit new and ongoing NYPD programs and initiatives," according to the organization's website.
nws Apostol-Marius
Philippe-Edner Apostol-Marius taking part in a state Senate model legislative session in 2012. (Photo from Apostol-Marius)
Philippe-Edner Apostol-Marius supported and volunteered for Sen. Bernie Sanders. He wants to unseat Councilwoman Debi Rose on the North Shore. (Photo from Apostol-Marius)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 26-year-old Stapleton resident is the second person jumping into the Democratic primary race for later this year, hoping to unseat Councilwoman Debi Rose.
Philippe-Edner Apostol-Marius recently filed campaign papers with the state Board of Elections a few weeks after North Shore activist Kamillah Hanks filed her papers.
Hanks filed with the city Campaign Finance Board for the 2017 election and neither of the two of have officially announced their candidacies for the North Shore's 49th Council District.
Rose was first elected in 2009, re-elected in 2013 and is running for her third and final term this year. She was elected when, for a short time, Council members had a three-term limit -- those elected after the three-term limit was overturned were held to the two-term limit.
Apostol-Marius, a registered Democrat, has never run for public office before and isn't involved in the local Democratic Party or other political or community organizations. He volunteered on the Bernie Sanders campaign for president.
He moved with his family from Forest Hills, Queens, to Staten Island in 2004, attending Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens and CUNY for his undergraduate degree.
He got his master's degree from the School of Public Policy at Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.
A 2012 internship with state Sen. Bill Perkins (D-Harlem) and a one-year fellowship in Albany with then-Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson (D-Bronx) between 2014 and 2015 led to a job working as a legislative assistant for Perkins.
He married his college sweetheart, Victoria Apostol, in July, taking her last name to hyphenate with his, Marius.
He is running not because he thinks Rose is doing a poor job -- he had no criticism of the councilwoman other than to say he wished she could do more for affordable housing needs and funding higher education -- but because he dislikes how government functions.
"I would like to change how policy makers and how policy making operates," he said. "People in the community are thought of and spoken of as numbers, with which to aluminate, forecast, instead of human beings" who should inform public policy.
People have become alienated and see no reason to vote and participate in civics because of it, he argued.
His priorities would include "making it a living hell for landlords who abuse tenants," making housing more affordable and providing access to better education. His proposals for how he would go about those things will come later, he suggested.
"I hope Cuomo's announcements yesterday will bear fruit for making higher education affordable," he added.
He wants to see easy access to affordable health care and wants to see the Affordable Care Act repaired, not repealed. He dislikes the penalties imposed on people not buying health insurance.
Apostol-Marius is putting together a campaign team now and expects to officially announce in February or March.
Rose said in a statement, "Competition is a great part of the democratic political process, and I am excited to run for re-election to build on my many successes and gains for the North Shore of Staten Island."
trump.JPG
President-elect Donald Trump is using WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to cast doubt on the U.S. intelligence community's case that Russia was behind hacking of the Democratic National Committee ahead of the 2016 election. (Associated Press)
NEW YORK -- President-elect Donald Trump is using WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to cast doubt on the U.S. intelligence community's case that Russia was behind hacking of the Democratic National Committee ahead of the 2016 election.
And he's suggesting that the DNC is to blame for the hacking of its computers and emails, including those of top Hillary Clinton adviser John Podesta.
Trump continued his tweetstorm Wednesday by arguing the DNC did not have a "hacking defense" and questioning why the Democratic Party had not responded "to the terrible things they did and said." He appeared to be referring to information in the DNC emails that was made public and led to the resignation of the DNC chairwoman and other officials.
"Julian Assange said 'a 14 year old could have hacked Podesta' -- why was DNC so careless? Also said Russians did not give him the info!" Trump tweeted early Wednesday.
Assange has said his source for the hacked emails WikiLeaks published during the campaign was not a government, but his assertion has left open the possibility they came from a third party.
The American intelligence community and Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill insist that Russia was behind the hacks, but Trump has repeatedly dismissed that allegation, challenging the intelligence experts who will help him make the weightiest possible decisions once he becomes president Jan. 20. Trump has insisted that the government doesn't really know who's behind the attacks. He has said he'll release more information this week.
In a series of tweets Tuesday and early Wednesday, Trump wrote without evidence that the timing of an upcoming intelligence briefing on suspected Russian interference in the 2016 election had been delayed. "Perhaps more time needed to build a case.
"Very strange!" he wrote, using quote marks around the word "intelligence."
Trump's tweets, in line with repeated criticism of his nation's intelligence leaders, caused confusion among intelligence officials, who said there was no delay in the briefing schedule.
The fresh clash came as Trump took further steps to fill his Cabinet and key White House positions, with his attention shifting toward the challenges of governing.
Trump's plans for repealing President Barack Obama's signature health care law are expected to be the focus as Vice President-elect Mike Pence and secretary of state choice Rex Tillerson meet with top Republicans on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Pence issued a direct challenge to Washington Republicans Tuesday: "The president-elect has a very clear message to Capitol Hill. And that is, it's time to get to work."
Trump signaled he would not bless all of the GOP's priorities on Capitol Hill, openly questioning the timing of the House Republican push to gut an independent ethics board just as the new Congress gathered. The House GOP later dropped the effort.
The president-elect promised late Tuesday to hold his first formal news conference since his Nov. 8 election victory next week in New York. He has already waited longer than any other president-elect in the modern era to hold his first exchange with journalists. Most have held such events within days of their elections.
It was unclear if the news conference would be the venue for his delayed announcement on how he plans to avoid potential conflicts of interest involving his businesses after taking office. Transition officials said multiple topics could be covered, but would not specifically say whether they included Trump's businesses. Trump was supposed to detail the arrangements at a mid-December news conference, but postponed the event.
His Cabinet nearly full, Trump also picked a handful of new White House aides.
Omarosa Manigault, a contestant from the first season of "The Apprentice," is expected to focus on public engagement in the White House.
Trump also hired Rick Dearborn as a deputy chief of staff and Marc Short as White House legislative director. Both previously served in chief of staff positions on Capitol Hill. The new hires were confirmed by two people familiar with the decision, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the hiring process publicly.
Trump spent time interviewing prospects for the Department of Veterans Affairs as well, including Leo MacKay, a senior executive at a military contractor who previously served in the VA under President George W. Bush.
trump.jpg
Not going to change a thing.
(AP photo)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Maybe now we can get down to business.
The new Congress has been sworn in, just weeks before Republican Donald Trump takes over as president of the United States.
And even though I'm not one of those people that's burning see Obamacare repealed, it'll be better to hear a debate about that than to keep hearing about how the Russians hacked the election and cost Democrat Hillary Clinton the White House.
Because even if the Russians did hack the Democrats (and we're still waiting to see all that proof we've been promised), it's still not the reason why Clinton lost the election. It wasn't even the actual election that was hacked, even though there are plenty of people out there who continue to believe it was. And even thought there are plenty of better-informed people who don't mind that others believe that the election itself was hacked. Because it serves their purposes.
Does the hacking-doomed-Hillary narrative qualify as fake news yet? Probably not. But here's something that does: The supposed Russian hack of a power grid in Vermont. Turns out one laptop at the utility had some malware on it, likely because somebody visited a questionable website. Yep, that's why they tell you not to look at porn on your work computer.
But we're sort of getting used to fake news. A Muslim woman in New York claimed that three men yelling Trump's name tried to rip off her hijab in December. Police said she made the story up to cover for the fact that she'd been out late drinking with friends.
There was an outcry when an African-American church in Mississippi was burned and had "Vote Trump" spray-painted on it. Another hate crime? Doesn't appear so. Police said a member of the church's congregation was to blame for the blaze.
Police also said that a University of Michigan's student's claim that a man threatened to set her on fire if she didn't remove her hijab was false.
And we're still waiting for D-lister Tom Arnold to pony up those tapes from "The Apprentice" that have Trump using racist and sexist language. Maybe the footage is in the same vault as the KKK documentary that got cancelled by A&E because producers paid participants to take part and in some instances to do things to make the episodes more lively and dramatic.
We thought America was crawling with KKKers. These documentary producers had to pay people to gild the lily?
In other words, there's plenty of fake news to go around. You really do have to be careful, no matter what side of the political spectrum you're on.
President Barack Obama got tough on the Russians, sanctioning Russian individuals and entities for the Dem hacks.
Obama also tossed 35 Russians diplomats out of the country and closed two of their clubhouses. But those folks didn't actually have anything to do with the hacking. They were tossed for being spies. Not that we like spies, but if they were such a danger, why did Obama wait until the closing days of his presidency to expel them?
Maybe Hillary can talk to Trump about it all at the inauguration on Jan. 20. Both she and former President Bill Clinton will attend. So are former Presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush. So at least some folks haven't been bullied into staying away from the Trump swearing-in.
And if they really can't get any entertainers to perform, maybe Bill can blow a few notes on the saxophone.
Meanwhile, Istanbul saw another deadly terror attack over New Year's weekend, thanks to ISIS. This after ISIS took responsibility for the Berlin Christmas market terror attack as well. The terrorist organization may have been weakened, but it still seems capable of striking at will as well as inspiring others to carry out its bloody agenda.
But who's got time to talk about all that?
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"The House Republican plan to give away America's public lands for free is outrageous and absurd," Grijalva said in a statement. "This proposed rule change would make it easier to implement this plan by allowing the Congress to give away every single piece of property we own, for free, and pretend we have lost nothing of any value. Not only is this fiscally irresponsible, but it is also a flagrant attack on places and resources valued and beloved by the American people."
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